[OB] How Realmatically Aware Are The Heralds?

[Elerubard]

Do we have any ideas how widely the Heralds would have travelled the Cosmere before they entered into their contract with Honor? I ask because Shalash refers to Hoid, if Liar of Partinel is even partly still canon, by his real name/oldest known alias before she passes ut.

[RShara]

They seem to be pretty Cosmere aware.  They refer to Adonalsium as well.  But remember they had direct access to Honor for a long time, and he might have told them a lot of things.  They're also very old and have likely interacted with a number of worldhoppers.

[Rainier]

Mraize says that the Heralds are only maybe human, and definitely not the local type, so I'm taking that to mean that the Heralds were not originally from Roshar. That's the bare minimum Realmatically aware they could be.

Of course who knows what Mraize knows, and it's possible this is instead referring to the exodus from Ashyn that the Elia Stele records. 

[Weltall]

They're described (with the exception of Taln) as having been kings, generals and scholars before they became Heralds and Ash is Jezrien's daughter so they were clearly part of the human culture or cultures that were around at the time, including ethnically as none of them are remarked upon for having Shin-like features (contrast with Odium as seen through Dalinar's eyes) so it's unlikely they came from 'somewhere else' before the start of the Oathpact. Mraize does appear to suspect that 'Tezim' isn't of the local species but that's open to a couple interpretations. Despite all the things he does know, he may not be aware that Tezim is Ishar. He also might be referring more broadly to Ishar not being a 'modern' Rosharan but part of an ethnicity that no longer exists due to thousands and thousands of years passing, though that's a bit of a reach. It's also possible that we've been guilty of assuming he was talking about Tezim (being the only named individual we know in Tukar) when in fact Mraize wasn't referring to him at all. The last possiblity I can think of right now assumes that Mraize was referring to Tezim and that the Heralds were still part of the original group of humans from Ashyn, so they're the only living people not born on Roshar. The timeline of early Rosharan history is sufficiently fuzzy that it's at least possible.

Anyhow, to get to the main question they're aware of Adonalsium which is a pretty big deal but as RShara says they had a long time in which they could have learned things from Honor (who we know was not an aloof god, given the Stormfather's explanations and the gem archive making it clear the Radiants of old were also directly communicating with him) and Ash at least knows Hoid, who also could have given that sort of information. They've probably encountered other worldhoppers as well but Hoid's all you really need. How much they know beyond 'there's something beyond Honor, Cultivation and Odium' is up in the air right now. Though I imagine that Dalinar would be most interested in learning about Adonalsium given the mental gymnastics he's been performing trying to keep his faith and deal with the Ardentia's reaction to his rationalizations.

Last point of some interest is that Ash knew Hoid as Midius. While not canon, Liar of Partinel seems to establish that was Hoid's original name and we know from Warbreaker and the WoR Letter that 'Hoid' not being his birth name is canon. There's no way the Heralds actually knew Hoid in his youth given the latter's comments about their relative age, but it's interesting that at some point in the post-Shattering era he actually used Midius as a name.

[recneps]

On 1/12/2018 at 0:47 PM, Weltall said:

Though I imagine that Dalinar would be most interested in learning about Adonalsium given the mental gymnastics he's been performing trying to keep his faith and deal with the Ardentia's reaction to his rationalizations.

Imagine the conversation if Dalinar proves Adonalsium's existence:
So, there is a larger, more true god.. But it's dead too?
..Yeah.