[OB] I FOUND HER! IT'S THERE!!!!!!!!!

[NoiseSpren he/him]

When you look at this well known picture:

You see a pretty woman that know things. She is also crazy (heralds ARE crazy). I think she is Rushu (I don't know how do you write it. I write it Rušú) the ardent working with Navani. She is pretty, odd and smart. It fits.

 

Any other thoughts?

BRANDON, IS THE ARDENT VEDEL???

[RShara she/her]

Rushu is on my list for being Chana or Vedel,  yeah.  I wish we had accurate physical descriptions of the Heralds.

 

Quote

“Ah,” said Rushu—a young female ardent with long eyelashes and buttonlike lips. “Look at the sloppy lines! The improper symmetry. Whoever did this is not practiced with drawing glyphs. They almost spelled death wrong—it looks more like ‘broken.’ And the meaning is vague. Death follows? Or is it ‘follow death’? Or Sixty-Two Days of Death and Following? Glyphs are imprecise.”

“Just make the copy, Rushu,” Navani said. “And don’t speak of this to anyone.”

“Not even you?” Rushu asked, sounding distracted as she wrote.

Quote

“You really should read this, Navani,” Rushu said, looking over a report. The young woman was an ardent, and had no right whatsoever to have such lush eyelashes or delicate features. Rushu had joined the ardentia to escape the advances of men. A silly choice, judging by the way male ardents always wanted to work with her. Fortunately, she was also brilliant. And Navani could always find a use for someone brilliant.

 

[NoiseSpren he/him]

That's exactly what I mean.

The description of Ash is accurate to picture, so this picture is accurate.

 

And Rushu is obviously crazy

[Subvisual Haze]

It's as good of a guess as any.  I was surprised that we got a painting of Vedel when so far she is the only Herald that we don't even have a good guess regarding present location.  Chana has also lacked info, but I think Liss is a pretty good guess there based on the connection of Chana's chapter icon to those that contain killing/assassinations.  Battar was also a blank slate, but Mr. T gave us the theory that she is the ardent Dova.  Vedel has so far been remarkably absent though.

My wacky guess is that Kaladin's mother Hesina was Vedel's daughter/granddaughter/descendent.  I was guessing this simply based on Vedel's association with surgeons, Kaladin's parents meeting at surgeon academy in Kharbranth, and Hesina acting 100% like an educated lighteyed woman from an important family (her family disapproved of her match with Lirin).

[StormingTexan he/him]

Trying to picture Vedel without hair now. 

[RShara she/her]

Someone should ask if the Heralds have any living descendents.  Does anyone want my list of "possible Vedel/Chana candidates"?  There's maybe 5 people on the list after combing through the first two books.

Edited February 27, 2018 by RShara

[WhiteLeeopard she/her]

Vedel been Kaladin's grandmother would be curious, but she looks darkeyed in that picture (if realistic). Knowing if the Heralds can have children would be interesting. 

It would be interesting if one of the Heralds had gone to the Nightwatcher and asked to forget all and get fake memories every 30 years or so, as that might be an attempt to have semi normal lifes.

[The One Who Connects he/him]

1 minute ago, WhiteLeeopard said:

Knowing if the Heralds can have children would be interesting. 

I'm not sure if there's really anything that would prevent the Heralds from having children.

• Shalash is Jezrien's daughter. I know that she was almost certainly born before they became Heralds, but it shows that they were beings that could reproduce. The reproductive system should be included in the spiritual templates for humans, and Stormlight heals passively, so that should still be functional.
• Szeth didn't seem to have adverse effects from wielding an Honorblade(though I suppose he hadn't experimented to find out).
• I'm pretty sure TLR and Vin weren't rendered sterile in the process of becoming Slivers(or from TLR's multi-Savanthood), so I doubt the Heralds would be prevented from having children due to high levels of Investiture exposure.
• (Something I'm forgetting) may edit in later

What else could be preventing them from having children beyond their personal choice?

[WhiteLeeopard she/her]

11 minutes ago, The One Who Connects said:

I'm not sure if there's really anything that would prevent the Heralds from having children.

• Shalash is Jezrien's daughter. I know that she was almost certainly born before they became Heralds, but it shows that they were beings that could reproduce. The reproductive system should be included in the spiritual templates for humans, and Stormlight heals passively, so that should still be functional.
• Szeth didn't seem to have adverse effects from wielding an Honorblade(though I suppose he hadn't experimented to find out).
• I'm pretty sure TLR and Vin weren't rendered sterile in the process of becoming Slivers(or from TLR's multi-Savanthood), so I doubt the Heralds would be prevented from having children due to high levels of Investiture exposure.
• (Something I'm forgetting) may edit in later

What else could be preventing them from having children beyond their personal choice?

Mainly been Cognitive Shadows. The part which I highlighted is the main question mark. They are immortal or at least have been around for 4500 looking identical, so for all we know all of them could be "frozen in the state they were in when they swore the Oathpact". Of course all the Heralds which we have seen in SA so far would be in the running for worst parents ever, but that just seems to happen everywhere in Roshar.

[RShara she/her]

It's mostly because they're Cognitive Shadows stuffed into a body.  In the other instance of this that we've seen, most offspring are stillborn.  I guess I should amend my question to "other than other Heralds" though.

[The One Who Connects he/him]

Just now, WhiteLeeopard said:

Mainly been Cognitive Shadows.

They have bodies to walk around Roshar with. I'd consider a CS that's in a human body to be a human. Case in point, our friend from Scadrial. Use Rashek if you want, since he'd be able to stick around long enough to make this a fairer comparison.

2 minutes ago, WhiteLeeopard said:

For all we know all of them could be "frozen in the state they were in when they swore the Oathpact."

At that time, they should have been normal humans, which would make them capable of reproduction.

2 minutes ago, RShara said:

In the other instance of this that we've seen, most offspring are stillborn.

Is this from OB, or am I just forgetting something from his other Books?

[RShara she/her]

5 minutes ago, The One Who Connects said:

Is this from OB, or am I just forgetting something from his other Books?

Uhhh if I say what book that's a spoiler too.  So...other-cosmere-book spoiler?

Spoiler

The Returned from Nalthis.  Mostly, when they manage to get pregnant or get someone pregnant, the offspring is stillborn.  They CAN have live children, but there are hoops that have to be jumped through for it to happen.

 

Edited February 27, 2018 by RShara

[Rainier]

27 minutes ago, RShara said:

Uhhh if I say what book that's a spoiler too.  So...other-cosmere-book spoiler?

Book annotation spoiler:

Spoiler

From the Warbreaker annotations, I remember a mention of how the Returned thought they couldn't reproduce, but they were wrong. They were missing a crucial piece of information about how they could conceive. This was also wrapped up in Vivenna's Royal Locks, which were somehow connected to her ancestor being Returned.

I suspect we'll learn more whenever Brandon publishes Nightblood.

 

Edited February 27, 2018 by Rainier
Spoiler, not quote

[The One Who Connects he/him]

27 minutes ago, RShara said:

  Hide contents

The Returned from Nalthis.  Mostly, when they manage to get pregnant or get someone pregnant, the offspring is stillborn. 

:facepalm:  Right.

Spoiler

The key word is "mostly." We know for a fact that Returned can bear living children, or else the Royal Locks wouldn't be a thing.

Quote

She reminds me of a Returned, the sword said.
Ah, Vasher thought. Of course. That makes sense. He moved on.
What? Nightblood said.
She’s descended from one, he thought. You can tell by the hair. There’s a bit of Returned in her.

Edit: oh right, my point. It's not impossible in our other example, so it stands to reason that the Heralds could manage it too.

4 minutes ago, Rainier said:

Book annotation spoiler:

That's a quote bubble, not a spoiler tag.

Edited February 27, 2018 by The One Who Connects

[RShara she/her]

11 minutes ago, The One Who Connects said:

:facepalm:  Right.

  Reveal hidden contents

The key word is "mostly." We know for a fact that Returned can bear living children, or else the Royal Locks wouldn't be a thing.

Edit: oh right, my point. It's not impossible in our other example, so it stands to reason that the Heralds could manage it too.

Right, but it's likely harder for them than for normal people, and we have no idea what the hoops are.  It may or may not be feasible.

Edited February 27, 2018 by RShara

[The One Who Connects he/him]

Just now, RShara said:

Right, but it's likely harder for them than for normal people, and we have no idea what the hoops are.

True, although the original [Redacted] didn't know what the hoops were either. The Heralds have also had 4,500+ years to try things out, which is monumentally more time than the others had.
It's still not that likely, but I think it's possible that it could have happened.