NinjaAlligators he/him Posted November 7, 2017 Report Share Posted November 7, 2017 So, minks have popped up in suspicious places. In this week's readings, Dalinar found a mink in the air vent, but minks have already been seen in two unusual situations. In WoR, in the Shallan flashback chapter Middlefest, we find a mink slinking around in the shadows, surprising Shallan, who expected that all the minks in that area would have been trapped by now. Unusual but not notable, right? Except that in Veil's Lesson, Mraize shoots a cremling and a mink with a blowgun, both of which are retrieved by Iyatil. We already know that cremlings are suspect of being Aimian hordelings; is it possible that minks are similarly suspicious? I am not sure whether we should be suspecting them of being minks made of hordelings or some other weird creature, but I suspect there is something odd going on there. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ElephantEarwax he/him Posted November 7, 2017 Report Share Posted November 7, 2017 Hmm, I never thought about minks, but they are relatively common on earth so I didn't think about them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbsentKeeper he/him Posted November 7, 2017 Report Share Posted November 7, 2017 (edited) It's been theorized before that the Rosharans use 'mink' the same way they use 'chicken,' to refer to a whole family of animals rather than a specific species. I'd be interested to see if anyone has spotted anything strange about them, but I think that in both the cases you mentioned the 'mink' was probably just a rat, doing rat stuff. (Or similar animal) Edited November 7, 2017 by Cowmanthethird 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NinjaAlligators he/him Posted November 7, 2017 Author Report Share Posted November 7, 2017 I agree with you that "mink" is a generic word for a carnivorous mammal, as evidenced by a lion being thought of as a big mink. I wouldn't be surprised at all if some of the "minks" we've seen have been cats, weasels, etc. They can't be rats, though, as we know there is a different word for rats, which has come up several times. If the mink in Urithiru is just a mink, I imagine both it and the rat in the vent must have both come in with the Alethi. What other food would there be to support a rat population in an abandoned tower for hundreds of years? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aminar Posted November 7, 2017 Report Share Posted November 7, 2017 See... This bothers me. Because Shallan's dad wears Minkfur clothing. And if they're just mink that's fine. My great grandpa had a mink farm when I was a kid. But the mink mentioned in the tunnels of Urithiru is almost certainly a cat. And if Rosharans wear cat fur... I just don't want to picture a catfur robe anymore. I need to know this is wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ciridae Posted November 7, 2017 Report Share Posted November 7, 2017 I don't think there's anything suspicious going on like with the cremlings. But it's interesting that minks are the only larger mammals or generally non natively rosharan animals living in the wild, at least that we've seen. (I'm not counting rats). I don't think there's a consensus on where horses, pigs, minks and maybe birds come from, but I'm one of the people who think that they were brought by worldhoppers in one of the suspected immigration events in Roshar's past. To me it feels similar to the results of when europeans brought foreign species like foxes and rabbits to Australia. I'd love to know if what rosharans call minks caused any of the native species to go extinct as well. To me it's a cool bit of worldbuilding in the background showing a phenomenon that's not unheard of on our planet while being a living reminder of rosharan history. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Portz he/him Posted November 7, 2017 Report Share Posted November 7, 2017 (edited) 3 hours ago, Ciridae said: I don't think there's anything suspicious going on like with the cremlings. I am confused, but perhaps you DID read Edgedancer and just forgot; iff so, open the follwing Edgedancer Spoiler, if you did not read it so far, do not open: Spoiler In Edgedancer there is something deep revealed about cremlins and Amians. I might just completely misunderstand you, though :-D EDT2: Oh, just noticed I DID misread you, sorry! Completely missed the "like" ... *BLUSH* Edited November 7, 2017 by Michael Portz more precise quotation, final enlightment 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Portz he/him Posted November 7, 2017 Report Share Posted November 7, 2017 (edited) 7 hours ago, NinjaAlligators said: So, minks have popped up in suspicious places. In this week's readings, Dalinar found a mink in the air vent, but minks have already been seen in two unusual situations. In WoR, in the Shallan flashback chapter Middlefest, we find a mink slinking around in the shadows, surprising Shallan, who expected that all the minks in that area would have been trapped by now. Unusual but not notable, right? Except that in Veil's Lesson, Mraize shoots a cremling and a mink with a blowgun, both of which are retrieved by Iyatil. We already know that cremlings are suspect of being Aimian hordelings; is it possible that minks are similarly suspicious? I am not sure whether we should be suspecting them of being minks made of hordelings or some other weird creature, but I suspect there is something odd going on there. I think its a good catch and that it IS significant. Have an upvote. Minks seem to be either something cat-ish or dog-ish, as in Way of Kings, at the docks, Shallan observes a "mink" prowling near a "rat". So, the cat-fur coat just might be Rosharan reality, sorry, @Aminar Edited November 7, 2017 by Michael Portz removed emoticon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marktheEE Posted December 13, 2017 Report Share Posted December 13, 2017 [Ob] [Oathbringer] I think there is something to this mink theory in oathbringer chapter "stormshelter" There is a mention of a mention of a hordeling Spoiler [Ob] [Oathbringer] Quote Kaladin finished his drink, wishing it were one of Rock’s concoctions instead, and flicked away an odd cremling that he spotted clinging to the side of the bench. It had a multitude of legs, and a bulbous body, with a strange tan pattern on its back. Then a couple of paragraphs later there is a mention of a mink. Spoiler [Ob] [Oathbringer] Quote As they walked, she had to step over a dead mink sticking half out of a broken tree trunk. Not the most romantic of strolls, but it was good to hold on to Adolin’s arm—even if he had to wear a false face. It's interesting that both are mentioned so close to each other in the text. Additionally, perhaps they could be advirsarys in some way, after all one was alive and the other is dead. Any thoughts on this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RShara she/her Posted December 13, 2017 Report Share Posted December 13, 2017 I thought they use minks as rat and vermin catchers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScavellTane Posted December 13, 2017 Report Share Posted December 13, 2017 I was under the impression that mink refer to felines (cats). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marktheEE Posted December 13, 2017 Report Share Posted December 13, 2017 6 hours ago, ScavellTane said: I was under the impression that mink refer to felines (cats). A mink is more akin to a ferret, assuming it's the same as reality lol. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mink 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocHoliday he/him Posted December 13, 2017 Report Share Posted December 13, 2017 1 minute ago, marktheEE said: A mink is more akin to a ferret, assuming it's the same as reality lol. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mink Well yes, in our world. Also IRL, Chickens are not green with a hooked beak and usually don't ride on people's shoulders. Almost all of Roshar is unused to most life we'd find common on Earth, hence the use of blanket terms: cremlings are insect, chickens for birds, and now possibly minks. It was actually part of my notes that minks were mentioned repeatedly in OB, but I can't find references in WoK or WoR. At least I didn't make any note of it. The trouble is we don't get any description of minks, just the locations where they were seen. Almost all of them are in small, enclosed spaces or high up somewhere; and while we know cats love those sorts of spaces there are many species of small mammals with the same behaviors. We should probably get a WoB on what "mink" means to an Alethi (not Rosharan, cause that would include Shin). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Messremb Posted December 13, 2017 Report Share Posted December 13, 2017 On 11/6/2017 at 9:59 PM, Aminar said: See... This bothers me. Because Shallan's dad wears Minkfur clothing. And if they're just mink that's fine. My great grandpa had a mink farm when I was a kid. But the mink mentioned in the tunnels of Urithiru is almost certainly a cat. And if Rosharans wear cat fur... I just don't want to picture a catfur robe anymore. I need to know this is wrong. On 11/7/2017 at 1:55 AM, Michael Portz said: I think its a good catch and that it IS significant. Have an upvote. Minks seem to be either something cat-ish or dog-ish, as in Way of Kings, at the docks, Shallan observes a "mink" prowling near a "rat". So, the cat-fur coat just might be Rosharan reality, sorry, @Aminar Shallan's dad had a coat made of 99 Dalmatian puppies! I predict another world hopper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RShara she/her Posted December 13, 2017 Report Share Posted December 13, 2017 If they're like ferrets (which minks are), it's very likely they're used to hunt rats and cremlings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Necessary Eagle she/her Posted December 13, 2017 Report Share Posted December 13, 2017 46 minutes ago, DocHoliday said: It was actually part of my notes that minks were mentioned repeatedly in OB, but I can't find references in WoK or WoR. At the end of WoR, in Urithiru, Adolin sees a tapestry of a mythical "mink-like" animal that's probably a lion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digitalbusker he/him Posted December 13, 2017 Report Share Posted December 13, 2017 1 hour ago, DocHoliday said: cremlings are insect They do actually draw a distinction between cremlings and insects. There are ten instances of "insect" or "insects" in The Way of Kings, which is the only Stormlight book I have handy in a searchable format. Some of them appear near terms for other Rosharan life, so it's not likely to be just a case of forgetting to replace the word with "cremling". Your broader point stands, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aminar Posted December 13, 2017 Report Share Posted December 13, 2017 19 minutes ago, Ookla the Busker said: They do actually draw a distinction between cremlings and insects. There are ten instances of "insect" or "insects" in The Way of Kings, which is the only Stormlight book I have handy in a searchable format. Some of them appear near terms for other Rosharan life, so it's not likely to be just a case of forgetting to replace the word with "cremling". Your broader point stands, though. Cremlings seem more like Hermit Crabs and the like(small crustaceans) than insects. They don't seem to be six legged/have 3 body parts like would be necessary for insects. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subvisual Haze Posted December 13, 2017 Report Share Posted December 13, 2017 They probably use it to refer to most small fur-having mammals. The original natural life on Roshar seems mostly shell and crustacean based (to actually survive highstorms) so names were probably haphazardly given to invasive furry species that didn't fit the pattern. Good catch on them stalking rats though, that certainly implies cats are included in this designation. That gives me hope though! What Kaladin needs more than anything is a pet to care for. In my personal experience a huge number of inpatient psych patients were motivated to get better primarily so they could go home to their pets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocHoliday he/him Posted December 14, 2017 Report Share Posted December 14, 2017 12 hours ago, Ookla the Busker said: They do actually draw a distinction between cremlings and insects. There are ten instances of "insect" or "insects" in The Way of Kings, which is the only Stormlight book I have handy in a searchable format. Some of them appear near terms for other Rosharan life, so it's not likely to be just a case of forgetting to replace the word with "cremling". Your broader point stands, though. There's actually a note about insects some where in OB. I think it's Nazh who mentions that cremlings do indeed cover a broad spectrum of creatures in the eastern lands, insects are pretty much only known to scholars as a small variety of creatures in the eastern mountains near Shinovar. Which is interesting considering the implications of the first desolation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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