(Theory)Eshonai's Mother is a seer (Spoilers)

[Fifth of Daybreak he/him]

So again, I'm reading into the tiniest of details, but I believe that Eshonai's mother can see the future, and that is part of the reasoning behind her dementia-like condition. 

 

 

"I found some of your things," Mother said, breaking the song. "when cleaning today. You should take them. They clutter the home, and I will be moving out soon."

WoR Chapter I-4 the Last Legion

 

Moving out? Where could she have gotten that idea. From the story she tells immediately before, I infer that the listeners have been living in Narak for quite some time. They also revere their dead, so I can't imagine Listeners moving into nice home's because the owners have died. It seemed very strange to me that she would think something like this, and then have it happen.  Here's a people who have been stagnant for years and years, and she thinks that she is going to move out? 

So to make this theory work, I think her condition is being caused by seeing the world through different time periods. Take this quote:

 

"Ah, now that's an old song, not for a child like you. Why, it's not even your day of first transformation."

-See above

This makes us assume she's suffering from some Listener form of dementia, all the classic symptoms are there, but what if instead, she actually is seeing Eshonai from that time? We know there are magic systems that do something simlar (e.g. Gold in Allomancy) so maybe she's become adept at that sort of magic. Then, soon after, she sees into the future, and see's the house ruined, or abandoned, and realizes she's going to have to move soon to survive.

I'm also assuming that the maps she gives Eshonai are an important part of snapping her out of Stormform, and that Eshonai's mother gave them to her for that reason, but that's a whole different speculative can of worms. 

 

 

 

[shawnhargreaves he/him]

I like this theory a lot.  Admittedly not much solid evidence yet, but it just smells right to me and is exactly the kind of thing Brandon would do.