[OB] Melishi=Ishar

[grinachu]

This is a tiny theory, really.  We know that the Heralds stuck around on Roshar, and that at some point following the Last Desolation the Parshendi were enslaved as Parshmen.  We know that it was done, according to Gavilar, by "capturing an ancient, crucial spren". (Oathbringer, Prologue).  We also know the process was undertaken by Melishi, one of the Bondsmiths, and that it was shrouded in mystery. 

So Melishi retired to his tent, and resolved to destroy the Voidbringers upon the next day, but that night did present a different stratagem, related to the unique abilities of the Bondsmiths; and being hurried, he could make no specific account of his process; it was related to the very nature of the Heralds and their divine duties, an attribute the Bondsmiths alone could address. ”

—Words of Radiance, chapter 30, page 18

So here's my theory: Melishi =Ishi =Ishar.  Ishar pretended to be a Bondsmith and came up with a way to enslave the Parshmen.  After all, no one knew as much as Ishar about the very nature of Heralds and their divine duties.  And his supposed hurriedness preventing him from recording what was done was because by that point his madness was already incipient., i.e. he didn't want anyone to know what he did so that they could replicate it or steal the credit.  

[Calderis]

In order to pretend to be a Bondsmith he'd have needed to either recover his Blade, or actually be a Bondsmith. 

Melishi may indeed be a name for Ishar, or it may be someone whose name is based off his. If it was him though, I believe it would have to have happened before the Heralds left. Faking a bond with a Bondsmith spren seems... Implausible if the Stormfather is any guide to their magnitude. 

[paperstones]

I don't he would have needed to. It states it was "related to the very nature of the Heralds and their divine duties." I think this relates to the Oathpact and not their surges. This could've been a mini oathpact.

[Blacksmithki]

The thing is, the two of them would have been alive at the same time, and probably would have been involved in the same battles, unless the "destruction" of the voidbringers happened over a human lifetime later, in which case, no one noticed that this guy has no family or really close friends or didn't go through the bondsmith path/oaths?

[Patrick Star]

So, serious question.  Do we actually have confirmation that Melishi was a Bondsmith?

I know it's super likely, but as far as I know, he only appears in that one epigraph, and it simply says that he figured out a way to use the Bondsmith's abilities.

[grinachu]

We don't have specific confirmation that Melishi is a Bondsmith, no. 

The reason I think that Ishar could masquerade as a Radiant Bondsmith is that Bondsmiths seem to be in a category apart: as the Stormfather warns Dalinar, he will be a Radiant without shards.  And of course we don't know what the Heralds can do even without the Honorblades. 

I don't think the Parshendi were bound before the Last Desolation.  The preface to the Way of Kings suggests that the Parshendi did in fact fight in the battle. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Calderis]

2 hours ago, grinachu said:

The reason I think that Ishar could masquerade as a Radiant Bondsmith is that Bondsmiths seem to be in a category apart: as the Stormfather warns Dalinar, he will be a Radiant without shards.  And of course we don't know what the Heralds can do even without the Honorblades. 

Except we do know that they aren't surgebinders without their Blades. Whatever abilities Ishar possesses without his Blade are not Bondsmith abilities. He would be masquerading as a not only a Radiant without a blade, but a Radiant who can't use the Bondsmith surges. 

Edited October 27, 2017 by Calderis

[ShardplateJoe III]

I was always under the impression that the Herlads' bonds to their honorblades was special, and that they could always just resummon it. I thought this because a while ago, I saw a WOB from a Q&A in which he said that the honorblades could be gifted, but not properly bonded.