It's all about Gavilar, stupid!!

[Sasukerinnegan he/him]

I've been thinking about this for some time now. Has anyone noticed, Gavilar is directly or indirectly related to nearly all of the factions interested in the Voidbringers? 

 

To the ghostbloods, they are the ones whom Gavilar suspected of ordering his assassination. The ghostbloods i.e Mraize atleast believes that Gavilar was harbouring secrets of an extraordinary nature. He believes Thaidakar to be behind his assassination.

 

The Diagram was practically inspired by Gavilar's visions. It is Gavilar's visions which caused Taravangian to visit the Nightwatcher. If you think about it, it was odd for Gavilar to tell Taravangian about the visions to a mere ruler of a city, while keeping them secret from his own family. Did Gavilar know about Taravangian's presumable  hidden influence over those who would later become part of the Diagram?

 

The Sons of Honor presumably considered Gavilar one of its leaders from what we know of Amaram's viewpoints. But dig a little deeper, Gavilar suspects Restares to have ordered his assassination who is presumably the leader of the Sons of Honor. Also he wants to restore the Radiants which doesn't really seem to be one of the concerns of the Sons of Honor.

 

Gavilar invited Nalan, leader of the Skybreakers and another Herald, to his peace treaty. Its possible that he didn't know who they were, but evidently the Skybreakers considered the Sons of Honor enough of a threat to attempt to murder his minion Amaram. Also note, Nalan could have stopped his assassination if he wanted to, but he didn't attempt it.

 

Gavilar was fascinated by the Parshendi and their culture and didn't expect them to assassinate him. Something odd here, perhaps?

 

He acquired a sphere with a different Light from the normal Stormlight. Voidlight, perhaps? Where from?

 

The Stormfather first chose Gavilar for his visions, why? Some reason, perhaps?

 

Gavilar's assassination is to be presented from a diff standpoint in each of the first five Stormlight Archive books. He has to be significant, therefore in the story.

 

 

[WeiryWriter he/him]

Moving this to the spoiler forum.

[Ati]

I think a couple of these may be iffy (are we sure Sons of Honor don't want to restore the radiants, I suspect Gavilar may not have been the first with the visions) but in general, a lot of interesting points.  In particular, not only did Nalan fail to come to Gavilar's rescue at the feast, he appears to have been in some way complicit in the assassination plot.  His companion notes that he, presumably Szeth, has his lord's own blade.  To me, this implies knowledge of Szeth's presence and purpose before things even got started.  Will be curious to see how others weigh in on these.  

[Fifth of Daybreak he/him]

Another small point of contention, Elokhar invited Nalan, not Gavilar.

[Bloodfalcon he/him]

Gavilar is no doubt involved in all of this, but he was also the king of maybe the greatest nation on Roshar. He might be involved with them naturally due to his position. The wealth and diplomatic power alone make him the perfect candidate for goals so large as the ones held by those groups.

[Moogle]

The separation of Roshar into ten kingdoms is curious, because there's nothing inherently stopping someone from ruling all of it. I suspect Gavilar had very large ambitions, ambitions extending far beyond just uniting Alethkar. This would require help - foreign help most of all.

 

If there's one thing Taravangian has, it's spies. He's so amazingly up to date on information that it wouldn't surprise me if Taravangian was originally going to take more of a role like Varys in Game of Thrones as Gavilar attempted to unite the entirety of Roshar. But then Gavilar got himself knocked off, so Taravangian had to go ahead with the plan by himself.

 

I don't know. Gavilar's plans were almost obviously to start a Desolation, given he planned on bringing back the Parshendi gods. I wonder why Taravangian was allied with Gavilar when his plans are to stop the Desolation? (The epigraphs urging the Alethi to destroy the Parshendi make me think Taravangian wanted to make sure the Everstorm never came, but you could also read it as Taravangian forcing the Parshendi to embrace their gods just to survive.)

[kaellok he/him]

Gavilar's involvement with two secret societies--one willing to do anything to cause a Desolation (for reasons), the other willing to do anything to stop a Desolation (maybe just survive?)--certainly seems a bit, well, off to me.  And he also considered a third secret society the most likely candidates to assassinate him, and took the time to mock his assassin about their failure because it was too late.

 

The idea of King T the spymaster turned reluctant ruler of the world simply because Gavilar was selfish enough to die not only fits, it makes me laugh.

[Stormfather-in-Law]

I think it's going to be true that Gavilar was the impetus behind the big movings and doings of the book. What I don't get, though, is this:

 

He didn't tell what he was going through to his brother, with whom he conquered a kingdom.

He didn't tell his daughter, one of the greatest living scholars, who could help him understand what was happening.

He didn't tell his wife, a scholar in her own right.

He didn't tell his son...well, let's forgive him that one.

 

But he did tell (at least):

The Parshendi, whom he had effectively just met,

King T,

and Amaram

 

Surely he had at least a little trust for his own family, surely the visions would seem like a weakness not to be spread willy nilly to others, including other kingdoms whose goals may or may not be aligned with his. So was this method or madness?

[Ati]

Good post.  Great name.  

[Numb]

I think it's going to be true that Gavilar was the impetus behind the big movings and doings of the book. What I don't get, though, is this:

 

He didn't tell what he was going through to his brother, with whom he conquered a kingdom.

He didn't tell his daughter, one of the greatest living scholars, who could help him understand what was happening.

He didn't tell his wife, a scholar in her own right.

He didn't tell his son...well, let's forgive him that one.

 

But he did tell (at least):

The Parshendi, whom he had effectively just met,

King T,

and Amaram

 

Surely he had at least a little trust for his own family, surely the visions would seem like a weakness not to be spread willy nilly to others, including other kingdoms whose goals may or may not be aligned with his. So was this method or madness?

 

I also find it really weird that he told the parshendi. Why would he think they would welcome the return to them being "slaves" when they were the ones that abandoned their gods in the first place. Seems he either didn't actually know as much as he seemed to or something else was going on. Could Gavilar have been under the influence of Odium and not Honor(Stormfather sending visions)?

[ericth]

I suspect that whatever Gavilar mentioned to the Parshendi, he wasnt fully aware of the implications they would assign to it.  It could be as simple as letting them see that black sphere he had which they knew to be associated with their old gods.  It could be something about wanting the heralds to return which they knew was unlikely unless their old gods also returned.

[Numb]

Well Gavilar wanted to bring the desolations back it seems. That goes completely against the Radiant ideal of Journey before Destination. Sounds very odd for someone that into WoK to want something so horrible to occur.

[happyman he/him]

Well Gavilar wanted to bring the desolations back it seems. That goes completely against the Radiant ideal of Journey before Destination. Sounds very odd for someone that into WoK to want something so horrible to occur.

 

Let me rephrase this:

 

Amaran believes that Gavilar wanted the desolations to return.

 

The Parshendi believed that Gavilar wanted to bring their gods back, which seems to also involve the desolations returning.

 

So this is decent evidence that he was trying to get the desolation to return, but it is still second-hand and there is a lot we don't know.  There were obviously tensions, not to mention misunderstandings, going on.  Gavilar's pre-death confusion makes that very clear.

[Sasukerinnegan he/him]

I haven't elaborated completely about my suspicions regarding Gavilar. Its not just about the fact that Gavilar is linked directly or indirectly to all the factions in Roshar, its also about the fact that Gavilar represents himself as different things to different people.

 

To Amaram, he is someone who is attempting to return the Heralds by returning the Desolation. To Mr T., he is the one who warns him that a desolation is about to arrive and asks him to prepare.

 

To Dalinar, he is an honorable man. To Navani, he is a dishonorable man.

 

He is at first sight, a devout worshipper of old Vorinism, seeking to return the Heralds and a member, if not founder, of the Sons of Honor. On the other hand, he is suspicious of Restares and suspects him of trying to assassinate him, despite the fact that Restares is one of the leaders of the Sons of Honor.

 

The Ghostbloods consider him very knowledgeable (The masked lady says so to Shallan.) but he is taken completely by surprise by the fact that the Parshendi object to the return of their gods. He finds it surprising that they would try to kill him. At the time, Sadeas risked his life to save Gavilar but he is still very suspicious of Sadeas, suggesting that he hired Szeth. He also seems completely unprepared for possible Surgebinding assassins.

 

My question is simply this: Who is Gavilar? What are his motivations? What are his aims? How does he hope to achieve them? What are his views vis-a-vis Odium and the Desolation?