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[spoilers] Theory - Elsecalling


kraefzke

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Wild speculation ahead:

Could Elsecalling be related to the Spiritual Realm? This is just based on Wit's / Hoid's going on about the "other side", but with Jasnah's apparent death to start with there might be something to this....

Maybe for Elsecallers, the Nahel Bond provides some means to travel the Spiritual Realm and return to the Physical without the soul passing on or something. Also, "Elsecalling" sounds that way (to me).

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As I said, this is merely speculation.

We know that the cognitive is the realm of the spren, their origin and their home, but since there are plenty of spren in the physical, how can we exclude some being in the spiritual as well? And who's to say that Jasnah didn't pay a visit to both realms? You make a valid point but since you didn't say anything I hadn't already taken into consideration, I won't so easily discard the idea.

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No, nothing solid. Call it a hunch, a feeling, whatever. It's like when we first heard about Red Carpet Once White, when everybody thought Shallan's father was the "monster" that should not be held in love. To me it automatically felt that the phrase referred to Shallan herself and I was the first to say so here on the forum. It took quite a while for anyone to come up with the same idea and the best reactions I got at first were "possible, but I don't buy it".

This feels the same somehow ... there is a lot of talk about souls throughout SA and the soul is the part of a thing that resides in the spiritual realm. Then there is Wit, referring to the "other side", why not call it Shadesmar? Of course, this could be a Hoidism [witticism?], but it doesn't feel that way to me.

And a blade through the heart should definitely kill the body pretty fast and it just would feel more natural to me, if her soul did the survival-trick via the spiritual realm (which would probably make it a resurraction-trick instead of mere survival).

I also suspect that Szeths resurraction went along the same lines, though by Nalan's words fabrial-powered.

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I don't remember which offhand, but one of the epigraphs mentioned that there were three orders able to deal with the "realm of the spren". Elsecallers, willshapers, and lightweavers.

Seems to me that both elsecalling and transformation allow a surgebinder to enter the cognitive realm. It's possible that elsecalling can also interface with the spiritual, but that's presumably in addition to the cognitive, not instead of.

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The Surge allows for "Realmatic Transition" according to the Ars Arcanum. I believe it can indeed go to the Spiritual Realm. Jasnah makes a point of noting she was visiting the highspren, however, so I do believe she's only been in the Cognitive throughout WoR.

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I don't remember which offhand, but one of the epigraphs mentioned that there were three orders able to deal with the "realm of the spren". Elsecallers, willshapers, and lightweavers.

Seems to me that both elsecalling and transformation allow a surgebinder to enter the cognitive realm. It's possible that elsecalling can also interface with the spiritual, but that's presumably in addition to the cognitive, not instead of.

 

Do we know for certain that Willshapers have the Elsecalling surge? I can't remember at the moment.

 

If so, that would be a blow to my idea, but it still could hold if it were as you suggested: That Elsecalling deals in the spiritual realm additionally to the cognitive.

 

Edit:

 

The Surge allows for "Realmatic Transition" according to the Ars Arcanum. I believe it can indeed go to the Spiritual Realm. Jasnah makes a point of noting she was visiting the highspren, however, so I do believe she's only been in the Cognitive throughout WoR.

 

Thanks Moogle! I hadn't noticed that! This actually goes very well with my idea that she went to both places: Spiritual for survival/resurrection and cognitive to chat with Highspren (and maybe to soulcast her body into liveable shape again before returning to physical or something).

Edited by kraefzke
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Spiritual for survival/resurrection

Personally, I side with those that claim stormlight is enough to explain her survival.

Given that stormlight can replace oxygen enough to hold a single breath for fifteen - twenty minutes, it's completely plausible that a heart wound would not be fatal in the time it takes to heal.

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Personally, I side with those that claim stormlight is enough to explain her survival.

Given that stormlight can replace oxygen enough to hold a single breath for fifteen - twenty minutes, it's completely plausible that a heart wound would not be fatal in the time it takes to heal.

 

Good point! I must admit, I hadn't thought about stormlight being able to substitute for oxygen (stupid of me). This definitely makes it plausible for her to survive on stormlight alone.

 

I still like my idea better though. Just not enough to start betting away body parts B)

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Personally, I side with those that claim stormlight is enough to explain her survival.

Given that stormlight can replace oxygen enough to hold a single breath for fifteen - twenty minutes, it's completely plausible that a heart wound would not be fatal in the time it takes to heal.

 

Also in the final battle Kaladin and Szeth have ridiculously fast healing rates. They are healing faster than a storm that is tossing around plateaus like frisbees can hurt them. Kaladin's healing may even be getting better as he advances. I don't remember him being able to heal like that in WoK. If Jasnah is far along I believe stormlight easily explains her survival. I wouldn't be surprised if the only way to kill Kaladin right now is to cut off his head.

Edited by dionysus
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