Zelly Posted July 14, 2018 Report Share Posted July 14, 2018 The Setup Is it possible that one of the Davar family (Dad and/or brothers) went to the Nightwatcher at some to ask a for boon? The resulting curse might be part of the reason the Davar family suffered such instability/unhappiness. A big reason for this idea come from a WoR quote from the flashback in which Shallan meets Wit for the first time. He tells her, Quote "Keep cutting at those thorns, strong one, and make a path for the light. The things you fight aren't completely natural." There's been some discussion that this could refer to the influence of one of the Unmade. However, I think the mention of thorns is interesting since both the Nightwatcher and Cultivation have a strong imagery connecting them with plants and gardening. Wit mentioned this in the same conversation earlier, telling her not to end her hunt for beauty just because thorns grow in her way. The Culprit Trying to pin down which family member (assuming it was only one, not several) may have gone to the Nightwatcher is tricky. I think there are 3 main possibilities: I could see Papa Lin seeking power and influence. The same could be said for Heralan, who we know was getting involved with Skybreakers and possibly other groups. Jushu is a possibility due to his gambling problem (the Nightwatcher told Dalinar he "smelled like desperation", which I could see Jushu doing as well). Cultivation Gets Involved Cultivation has shown she's definitely pulling threads behind the scenes. We have to assume that she knows Shallan will be a figure of importance in the following years. Can't say if she was directly involved and appeared as she did to Dalinar, or simply influenced the boon/curse to best suit her interests. But Why? We know Cultivation "pruned" Dalinar to be able to withstand Odium's influence when his memories returned. Cultivation may similarly have been prepping Shallan to be able to handle the tough situations she knew to be approaching in the future (or, creepily, setting her up to not be able handle the situations and thus forcing her to create personalities), or setting up her family's financial ruin in order for Shallan to seek out Jasnah. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calderis Posted July 14, 2018 Report Share Posted July 14, 2018 (edited) It's not impossible that someone did, but I don't think that would have an effect beyond the person who visited. We do have WoBs that there is some kind of Unmade influence in the Davar household though. Quote Questioner [PENDING REVIEW] Was Shallan's family, during her childhood, being influenced by an Unmade? Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW] Um, yes. Questioner [PENDING REVIEW] Was it <the corrupt...>? Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW] I'll RAFO that, but yes, there is some external influence there. source Quote Questioner There's a scene where you can see from the perspective of Nan Balat, Shallan's brother, where he's maiming an insect. It's described as soothing his aches. Is that in any way related to how Kaladin feels depressed and down during the Weeping even in his early childhood? Brandon Sanderson What's happening to Nan Balat is magically enhanced. What's happening to Kaladin is mostly just chemical depression. Be he is really too young to be diagnosed with depression during some of these events, but he's got the seeds in there. So Kaladin is not magically depressed. Kaladin is just legitimatly a person with depression. Nan Balat... What's up with him is... ah... being exaggerated by certain forces moving in on Roshar. (last bit is a bit indistinctive) source Quote Macen Is her [Shallan's] father affected by Odium? Brandon Sanderson Yes. source Edited July 14, 2018 by Calderis 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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