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discrepancy between 9 unmade and 10 heralds


Harfyn

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Hi everyone! This is my first post, this is a pet thoery of mine I thought of while reading through SA. I was paying a lot of attention to numbers and their significance, and the lack of a 10th unmade really bothered me, so I tried to figure out what caused that discrepancy.

 

My theory is that the 10th unmade was held imprisoned the 4000 years Talanel was resisting Odium's torture. My thought is that each herald returning to braize did not hold ALL the unmade back, but only the unmade that corresponds with them. Taln's sacrifice did not hold all of the unmade at Bay - only the 10th. All reference to their being 10 unmade is lost, since the last desolation marked a new recorded history essentially.

I haven't done a full reread yet so I don't have specific examples, but this lines up with the levels of voidbinding, the incorrect histories, and just creates the symmetry that tends to exist in the cosmere. One counterpoint, maybe, is that Dalinar was supposed to be Odium's champion, which implies there isn't a 10th unmade.

 

Let me know what you think/ if there's an alternate explanation for why the numbers don't line up! 

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The numbers don't line up because the Unmade are of Odium, and Odium being tied to Braize, and not Roshar, gives him a 9 centric alignment. 

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Herald (paraphrased)

Is there more significance to the 10 other planets around the Rosharan star system and them being gaseous? We know that Roshar's moons have unnatural orbits; so there seems to be some astronomical manipulation in the system.

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes there is significance of 16 in cosmere and 10 in Rosharan system.

Herald (paraphrased)

The outer 10 gas giants in the Rosharan system suggest a tie to the number 10 that predates the arrival of the current Shards. Is the prominent numerology we see around the cosmere an inherent property of the planets, rather than the Shards who invest them?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Big RAFO.

Herald (paraphrased)

Would Ashyn/Braize share the 10-centric numerology of Roshar?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes 10-centric is for the entire Rosharan planetary system...wait Braize is 9-centric.

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Argent (paraphrased)

Is the number of Unmade fixed?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes.

Argent (paraphrased)

Is it ten, is it ten, is it ten, is it ten, is it ten?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Is it ten? No, it's not ten.

source
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Pagerunner [PENDING REVIEW]

The Starfall vision. Ten Deaths, referring to the Midnight Essence. That's what the one Radiant said, they're the Ten Deaths. Is that the Unmade, the Ten Deaths.

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

Well, there's nine Unmade, so...

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Sorry to kill your theory, and it's a pretty observant one for a first post. 

Welcome to the Shard. I look forward to more ideas. Have an upvote. 

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3 minutes ago, Harfyn said:

Ahhh man! That makes a lot of sense, but now I wonder what causes Braize to NOT be 10-centric, especially if it's related to numbers of planetary bodies. Something causing braize to ignore one of the gas giants? 

I wish I had an answer for you... A single anomalous planet in the entire system is... Weird. 

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This is just crazy speculation now, but could be related to the timing of when Odium arrived there? Perhaps one of the 10 is much younger than the others, created post-shattering, pre-arrival of Cultivation and Honor on Roshar. Long enough to influence the forms investiture took on Braize... Though it seems unlikely that Odium would have gotten there first, given how busy he was early on. 

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Yeah i like this theory, it's a good one to come up with just from reading, even though those who obsessively read Words of Brandon know it's not the case. 

The numbers seem, like focuses, to be based on the shard interacting with the planet. The Rosharan system was clearly 10-centric prior to the Shards moving there as it has 10 planets. Odium was involved in Ashyn but I don't think he invested there, which is why Braize has a different number I guess. Still its always been a bit odd to me. I suspect Brandon just wanted us to call them The Nine :ph34r:

We know that the Herald analog doesn't extend to Bondsmiths.

Quote

XS-Terrain [PENDING REVIEW]

Also, does each of the Unmade have a corresponding order of the Knights Radiant?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

Eh... Kind of.

XS-Terrain [PENDING REVIEW]

Ok. So there are nine Unmade right, so which one is left out?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

Bondsmith. But it's not as one to one, there's some fuzziness in there.

source

 

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  • Pagerunner changed the title to discrepancy between 9 unmade and 10 heralds
On 8/14/2018 at 8:13 AM, Extesian said:

Yeah i like this theory, it's a good one to come up with just from reading, even though those who obsessively read Words of Brandon know it's not the case. 

The numbers seem, like focuses, to be based on the shard interacting with the planet. The Rosharan system was clearly 10-centric prior to the Shards moving there as it has 10 planets. Odium was involved in Ashyn but I don't think he invested there, which is why Braize has a different number I guess. Still its always been a bit odd to me. I suspect Brandon just wanted us to call them The Nine :ph34r:

We know that the Herald analog doesn't extend to Bondsmiths.

 

Er.. I thought there was 10 gas giants, 3 planets and 3 moons. (16)

starchart_roshar_color.jpeg

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