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Speculation on the Identity of the AAA

Kurkistan

By Kurkistan
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Kurkistan

Kurkistan

Posted
Posted (edited)

Of all the quotes we have on the Ars Arcanum author, our most definitive is from the AoL release:

 

Source:

WETLANDERNW

In whose voice is the "Ars Arcanum" written? Hoid's?

 

BRANDON SANDERSON

I've avoided answering that question. It's either Hoid or a member of the 17th Shard. That's as much answer as I'm giving anyone right now.

 

What follows is not based on much fact. More so on intuition. I think it fairly clear at this point that Hoid is the one and only AAA. The above quote indicates that there's only one, as does the similar tone in all of them across the worlds.

 

Given that, I find that singular tone to be Hoid-ish and in line with his character as we've seen in the books, particularly the AAA's fascination with Hemalurgy paired with Hoid's general "gotta-catch-em-all" attitude towards magical abilities. Also the many many "friends" he can draw on for information, it would seem (assuming here that the "Nazh" sections are for Hoid's benefit, as well as the map of Elendel in AoL).

 

The fact that the AAA explicitly compared Lightweaving (Hoid's "main" magic if he has one, by my understanding) on Roshar to that of Yolen and expressed his excitement about it pretty much seals the deal in my mind.

 

Going forward, then, I think it fair for us to walk around with the general assumption that Hoid is the one writing the Ars Arcani. It could be wrong and could be overturned by evidence or WoB without Discontinuityspren descending on us all, but it feels right.

 

Am I crazy here?

 

EDIT: Oops, should have looked at the body of quotes more closely. They're all written by one person and Brandon makes a point of saying how they're in the first person in WoK.

Edited by Kurkistan
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Scriptorian

Scriptorian

Posted
Posted

I'm actually leaning away from Hoid as the author. To me, it just feels wrong. Also, if we're assuming that Nazh is collecting info for the author, then it is quite likely the author is female...

 

I know you wanted me to draw every plateau, but shadows woman! Even I'm not THAT crazy. -WoR

Emphasis mine

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Chaos

Chaos

Posted
Posted

I'm actually leaning away from Hoid as the author. To me, it just feels wrong. Also, if we're assuming that Nazh is collecting info for the author, then it is quite likely the author is female...

Well now that is interesting.

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asterisk

asterisk

Posted
Posted

Nazh, I believe is someone in the warcamps in Wor we have seen indirectly.

1.when kaladin is on his way to the king, rock mentions about an ardent painting the bridgemen. Then we get to see Nazh's work on the tattoos.

2.When shallan is painting the wherebouts of the oathgate, a scout arrives and corrects her work of the plateaus. Then there his mapwork of the plains. I suspect the person is nazh. both of the times he has been described as thin man with a light beard.

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Delightful

Delightful

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Posted

It could be Nazh himself writing the Ars Arcanum.

I agree, on the basis that he/she is collecting information on important figures. it's not the strongest proof, but it's an argument. I feel like Hoid is too obvious of an answer. Could it be the terriswoman worldhopper, perhaps?

If not the AAA, I think Nazh could be the writer of the back cover blurbs - "there are four we watch" and so far he/she has definitely been watching (dare I say stalking?) Kal and Shallan.

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Asha'man Logain

Asha'man Logain

Posted
Posted (edited)

I actually posted this Nazh theory when I noticed that I seemed to recall that name also in the Alloy of Law maps. Peter promptly set me straight with a very direct "Nazh did not write the ars arcana"

 Good thoughts though

 

EDIT: Also good catch on the constant Sel references. I had noticed that myself and thought it odd as Sel does not have the most impressive of magics (and personally it is my least favorite Sanderson book.) But I never went that step farther to wonder if there might be an in character reason for it. Good show!

Edited by Asha'man Logain
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rhaiynebow

+rhaiynebow

Posted
Posted

So, if we go down the path of the author being female, could it possibly be Kalami, the wife of Teleb? I'm doing my TWoK reread now, and I had highlighted from my previous read of the book the passage that identifies Teleb of being an Oldblood, and this about Kalami:

 

 

She wore her dark hair with only two small side braids pinned up, the rest hanging down the back of her violet dress to brush the top of the stool. She was a historian of note, and had requested permission to record meetings like this one; she planned to scribe a history of the war.

 

Granted, I haven't done a search for her name yet in TWoK or WoR, and I honestly don't recall if she was mentioned anywhere else. But since she was pointed out as being a female historian who was recording the war, I thought I'd bring this up as a possibility. :) 

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Shardlet

Shardlet

Posted
Posted

1:11:10 - Question about Ars Arcanum?

A: It’s not Hoid. IDK if I’ve released who it is; but its probably not who people are thinking but it is in-world.

 

From San Fransisco Signing

 

Okay, that is challenging to work through.  The Ars Arcanum spans multiple worlds.  In which world?  Does that mean that the writer has appeared on screen in all the series which have portions of the Ars Arcanum attached to them?  

 

My guess, since Nazh has been ruled out as per Asha'Man's post, is that it is Khriss (i.e., the most cosmere knowledgable person as per Brandon).  Question is, who is she?  My guess is Iyatil (the masked woman) in WoR.  It is also my guess that Mraize's collection actually belongs to Iyatil.  Especially since she is his "Babsk".  I also think that she is the "woman" Nazh is writing to on the Shattered Plains map (as well as all other notations from Nazh).

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Lady Radagu

Lady Radagu

Posted
Posted

I think I have to agree with Shardlet. I was so excited to speculate that Kriss was the AAA, but it's impossible to have an original thought around here. ;)  Making notes in the form of the Ars Arcanum completely fits what I know of her character, and easily something "the most cosmere knowledgeable person" would do.

 

That being said, I do not think that Iatil is Khriss. Iatil is described by Shallan as "tan-skinned," which is how people describe Alethi. Peter confirmed (somewhere on these forums, but I can't seem to find the link just now) that Khriss is dark-skinned enough to be thought Makabaki.

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Awesomeness Summoned

Awesomeness Summoned

Posted
Posted

That being said, I do not think that Iatil is Khriss. Iatil is described by Shallan as "tan-skinned," which is how people describe Alethi. Peter confirmed (somewhere on these forums, but I can't seem to find the link just now) that Khriss is dark-skinned enough to be thought Makabaki.

Here is the quote: http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6803-who-is-khriss/?p=118100

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Shaggai

Shaggai

Posted
Posted (edited)

I had assumed that it was an Elantrian. Both of them compare the local magic systems to that of Sel. Seems strange that they would do so if the author him/herself was not from Sel.

The author is a member of the Seventeenth Shard, though. They'd know about magic systems from other worlds no matter who they were.

Edited by Shaggai
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Patrick Star

Patrick Star

Posted
Posted

Come on guys.

 

There's only one character in the stormlight archive, or the entire cosmere for that matter, who is knowledgeable and wise enough to write the AA.

 

Quite obviously, the author IS THE STICK!

 

In all seriousness, I think that the dragon-leader of the 17th shard (the guy who responded to Hoid's letter) is the author of the AA.  Just because I want to have a dragon write a book.

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Meg

Meg

Posted
Posted

Peet, from Bridge 4. He's also dating a woman named Ka in the books, and iirc Peter's wife is Karren.

Thanks!

 

 

The first Mistborn trilogy has an Ahlstrom street or something like that, right?

This, too, but it's not helpful for my idea. :)

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Moogle

Moogle

Posted
Posted (edited)

Had a thought, decided I should revive this topic: What if it's Vasher? He does seem to have a scientific bent.

 

He's a candidate, certainly, but I don't think it's him. I do not think the AA sounds like it has his 'voice' at all, and due to his status as Returned, I do not believe he could live on other worlds for the length of time required to study them and understand their magics without having a huge store of Breath (which he is unwilling to acquire, since he's on Roshar in the first place despite disliking it).

 

He was also (probably) born too late to qualify. As I recall, the events of the Stormlight Archive take place in the latter 'half' of the Cosmere timeline, Warbreaker takes place a decade or two before that, and Elantris took place thousands of years prior. Vasher is old, but he's not old. For the timeline to work, he'd have had to Worldhop constantly just after that one war of his, learn all the systems, then return to Nalthis and not think about all his travels for all of his PoVs. And at what point would he learn about Yolen during all of that? WoR's AA talks about Yolish Lightweaving. (This assumes the Ars Arcanum of each story is written roughly at the same time as the story takes place, but this is not a bad assumption I think. WoK's talks about the Assassin in White, after all.)

Edited by Moogle
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WeiryWriter

WeiryWriter

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Posted

He's a candidate, certainly, but I don't think it's him. I do not think the AA sounds like it has his 'voice' at all, and due to his status as Returned, I do not believe he could live on other worlds for the length of time required to study them and understand their magics without having a huge store of Breath (which he is unwilling to acquire, since he's on Roshar in the first place despite disliking it).

 

He was also (probably) born too late to qualify. As I recall, the events of the Stormlight Archive take place in the latter 'half' of the Cosmere timeline, Warbreaker takes place a decade or two before that, and Elantris took place thousands of years prior. Vasher is old, but he's not old. For the timeline to work, he'd have had to Worldhop constantly just after that one war of his, learn all the systems, then return to Nalthis and not think about all his travels for all of his PoVs. And at what point would he learn about Yolen during all of that? WoR's AA talks about Yolish Lightweaving. (This assumes the Ars Arcanum of each story is written roughly at the same time as the story takes place, but this is not a bad assumption I think. WoK's talks about the Assassin in White, after all.)

.

Elantris does not take place "thousands" of years prior.  It takes place "hundreds but not quite thousands" of years before Mistborn Trilogy which is about 340 years before Stormlight.

 

Also I don't think knowledge about Yolen is quite as scarce as you are portraying it.  We know that some of the shardworlds were inhabited before the Shards got there and that humanity originated on Yolen which means some Yolish people had to migrate to those worlds were they would have Yolish knowledge.  And there are the Shards themselves, if I was creating something like the Ars Arcanum I would definitely try to speak with them whenever possible.  (And then there is Hoid...)

 

Of course that implies that Yolen is no longer "active", which we really don't have any indication of.

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