Doomsday writings on the walls

[lookingglass]

I'm not sure if this has come up before or if its just an idiotic question: Was it Renarin who wrote the countdown on the walls in WoR or Dalinar? I know at the end of the book Renarin starts writing on the wall but if so how did no one notice a Kolin Prince running around and mumbling writing in walls seeing as they were always guarded?

 

Please forgive my stupidity

[Vasteel]

I always say it's better to ask questions than to live in ignorance forever.

 

I thought it was definately Dalinar all along, but Renarin writing on the wall pretty much seals the deal in my mind that it was him. Who else would have access to the Kholinar's living quarters?

[Haradion Drogon]

I wonder if a Truthwatcher 'sees' something like Dalinar's visions, but to a lesser degree? Explaining the similar behaviour...

[Vasteel]

I always thought Renarin's little fits were him having visions.. Jasnah has said that not all Orders were made or meant to be fighters. Maybe all of the Truth Watchers have fits when they "see" things?

[Aleksiel]

I think it was Renarin, giving how he wrote at the end of WoR. He had access to Dalinar, illumination surge to hide his presence. The only time the writing appeared not a while after a highstorm, but are already there when Dalinar is conscious again, is when Navani wasn't with him.

 

However, Renarin still had glasses when the writings first appeared, which isn't in favor of this theory because it might mean he was not a surgebinder at that point and therefore wasn't writing the glyphs. Though this can be explained with his visions being a passive non-stormlight consuming ability, meaning he could have visions without healing. We saw from both Kaladin and Shallan's PoVs, it's not easy to invest at first when you don't know how it works.

Edited April 22, 2014 by Aleksiel

[Jaaxter]

I seem to recall that at one point it was discovered that the carvings were done with Dalinar's belt knife, but wasn't he always watched during the storms so that Navani could record what he saw? I, likewise, thought that Renarin's actions in Urithiru indicated that he was the one, all along. And as Vasteel pointed out, he would arouse no suspicions in the halls.

[Vasteel]

Maybe the visions that truth watchers get are a secondary kind of gift they receive - similar to how Shallan gets her eidetic memory from her order, which she can use with out being invested so maybe Renarin is using the foresight before realising how stormlight works.

Edited April 22, 2014 by Vasteel

[lookingglass]

The Stormfather doesn't seem to like Dalinar very much. He was forced by Honor to send the visions but he seems like he has given up on humanity and that to me means he wouldn't help in any other way like giving them a time for the everstorm. However, we have no clue what Bondsmiths powers are so maybe its a side effect of that?

 

I think it was Renarin, giving how he wrote at the end of WoR. He had access to Dalinar, illumination surge to hide his presence. The only time the writing appeared not a while after a highstorm, but are already there when Dalinar is conscious again, is when Navani wasn't with him.

 

However, Renarin still had glasses when the writings first appeared, which isn't in favor of this theory because it might mean he was not a surgebinder at that point and therefore wasn't writing the glyphs. Though this can be explained with his visions being a passive non-stormlight consuming ability, meaning he could have visions without healing. We saw from both Kaladin and Shallan's PoVs, it's not easy to invest at first when you don't know how it works.

 

I really like the idea of Renarin hiding himself but I don't think he's reached the level to preform lightweaving. Remember each potential KR starts using one ability before the other.

[Sphinx]

It was Renarin.

 

The princes are always guarded in the sense that in order to reach them, people have to get through guards, and if they leave home they're accompanied by bodyguards. They're not under 24/7 surveillance, particularly during the highstorms when the entire family is in one place, and therefore relatively easily guarded and contained.

 

Rereading the book, it becomes pretty clear that Renarin has access to all the locations the writings show up in. He could easily have Dalinar's knife. No one would question his presence there, but because Dalinar is known for having visions, it's much more natural to assume that he's the culprit. I don't think Renarin's using illumination to hide what he's doing, I think it's just that during the highstorms when it seems to be happening, everyone's usually completely distracted by duties/Dalinar/assassins, and Renarin's left to his own devices. Renarin gets overlooked a lot.

 

The quality of the handwriting is also something that would make a lot of sense for Renarin. Renarin's been subtly encouraged towards the ardentia, so we can expect that he knows glyphs. The quality of the work is shaky, as one might expect from someone very emotionally disturbed by what he was doing, or with epilepsy.

 

I vaguely remember Renarin's glasses disappearing quite early on, then reappearing, before seeming to vanish for good.  Even if this weren't the case, it may have taken some time for his mental view of himself brought him to a place where stormlight healed his eyesight, or even until he breathed in enough stormlight to be able to heal it. Unless he did it while learning regrowth.

 

Edited to add the most important piece of evidence: Renarin pretty much confesses that it has been him all along, but that he did not want to admit it because he thought telling the future was of the Voidbringers and what with that and the screaming shardblade he thought he was going insane.

 

I really like the idea of Renarin hiding himself but I don't think he's reached the level to preform lightweaving. Remember each potential KR starts using one ability before the other.

 

Lightweaving is what Shallan does. Illumination is the surge. We actually don't know enough about how the abilities develop or interact to state that all Lightweavers learn illumination first or learn transformation first. It's likely that Shallan used illumination before transformation, but it's not at all clear that Jasnah would have used transformation before teleportation.

 

Which raises an interesting question. We've seen both Illumination and Progression in action. Renarin's predictions do not neatly fit our understanding of either. My pet theory is that they're a product of both, much like Shallan's inspiration of others is called transformation by Pattern, which she uses illumination to help achieve.

Edited April 23, 2014 by Sphinx

[Vasteel]

Does that mean that Windrunners would start using the adhesion surge before gravity? Considering they are the masters of the sky/wind you would think otherwise. The first surge I remember Kaladin unknowingly use was a reverse lashing on arrows while running the bridge, which is gravity. The only reason I say this is because if you look at the chart, if else callers used transformation first, light weavers would have to use illumination first. If you follow the pattern Sky Breakers would learn gravity first not windrunners.

 

P.S I am at work sorry and had to type really fast lol. If this doesn't make sense I can clear it up later

[name_here]

It has to have always been Renarin, because he's the only one of the Knights who can actually see the future. No one would question his presence in any of the areas where the countdown appeared, and everyone would be distracted during Dalinar's visions so they wouldn't necessarily notice him scratching on the walls. That would ordinarily depend on luck, but he could use precognition instead.