Homicidal tendency and MacDonald's Triad. Sanderson's used it again.

[anthonydraco]

This might not be new, but I think it's worth mentioning. Anyone has noticed that Sanderson has placed MacDonald's Triad in his one of his characters again?

 

For those who don't know what the triad is, it's a set of traits that point out people with homicidal tendency, possibly even serial killers. It's a part of a well-known criminal psychology.  Here are the properties that made up the triad:

 

1. Obsession with fire setting (pyromania)

2. Animal cruelty 

3. Persistent bed-wetting (enuresis)

 

Nan-Balat definitely has two of these. In a chapter of Words of Radiance, it says that Shallan's father got mad because Balat almost set a building on fire. In The Way of Kings, it is shown very prominently through his POV that Nan-Balat likes to torture animal. I recognized these traits as soon as I saw them because I've studied some psychology. If you've read Warbreaker, you know which one, and it shows that the character isn't what he seems to be after all. I really think that this is foreshadowing something bad about Nan-Balat. I don't know what, but it can't be good.

[Numb]

Balat's symptoms are getting less serve though. Does them mean he has another outlet or is he becoming less homicidal?

[Morsk he/him]

I remember reading about this on Wikipedia, so I took another look at it. Its entry on "Macdonald triad" is dismissive, and the section on enuresis goes so far as to call it "a destructive myth entirely discredited". It's amazing how callous and dehumanizing psychology could be 50 years ago, compared to today.

 

It doesn't mean Brandon isn't using it for Nan Balat, since nothing stops authors from using bad science. It's not the impression I got from his Interlude though. I saw it as dramatic irony, that Balat thinks only him and Shallan weren't "broken" by abuse. He's unaware of how it effected him, but the reader can't miss it. I didn't get the impression that he was getting worse.

[kari-no-sugata]

Here's a quote from chapter 48 (set 3 years ago, from Shallan's point of view):

So far as she knew, he'd given up on his habit of killing cremlings for fun. Being in love strengthened him, changed him.

 

We know from his own interlude that he's killing them again - no way to tell if he's improving, worsening or stable though in the months since Shallan left.

[Ren he/him]

If we're going to delve in deep, pretty much every PoV character (interlude or not) in TWoK and WoR is suffering from some psychological issues. Some are fairly obvious, some are not.

Edited April 29, 2014 by Ren

[Chrono she/her]

Nan Balat either reduced his cremling-torture habit or he simply was more covert about it, I think. He probably didn't want Eylita to notice his habit, and in one scene, Shallan goes to find him and steps on a bunch of cremling corpses. He probably had a major relapse (if I remember correctly, it was just after Daddy Davar killed his axehound litter). Either way, notice how everyone in the Davar family has issues. Nan Balat has violent urges. Tet Wikim is very quiet and reserved, with severe depression (thoughts of suicide). Asha Jushu has a chronic gambling problem. Shallan has memory repression issues. These are all well known and common ways of either distracting or suffering from serious abuse. Really, I'm surprised none of them have delved into substance abuse yet. 

 

Also, I'm betting Nan Helaran had some problems too. This is not a very happy family, after all.

[PorridgeBrick he/him]

Nan Balat either reduced his cremling-torture habit or he simply was more covert about it, I think. He probably didn't want Eylita to notice his habit, and in one scene, Shallan goes to find him and steps on a bunch of cremling corpses. He probably had a major relapse (if I remember correctly, it was just after Daddy Davar killed his axehound litter). Either way, notice how everyone in the Davar family has issues. Nan Balat has violent urges. Tet Wikim is very quiet and reserved, with severe depression (thoughts of suicide). Asha Jushu has a chronic gambling problem. Shallan has memory repression issues. These are all well known and common ways of either distracting or suffering from serious abuse. Really, I'm surprised none of them have delved into substance abuse yet. 

 

Also, I'm betting Nan Helaran had some problems too. This is not a very happy family, after all.

Isn't Asha Jushu a drinker, too? I think that counts as substance abuse.

[Delightful]

If I remember correctly Lin Davar was a big drinker. There's your substance abuse.

Interesting how nobody is picking out Lin as someone with serious psychological illnesses. Seeing what happened to him, and how his wife was driven to kill Shallan, I wonder if their family is more genetically prone to mental illnesses?

[Kobold King he/him]

If I remember correctly Lin Davar was a big drinker. There's your substance abuse.

Interesting how nobody is picking out Lin as someone with serious psychological illnesses. Seeing what happened to him, and how his wife was driven to kill Shallan, I wonder if their family is more genetically prone to mental illnesses?

 

Ooh, substance abuse. Reminds me of this old thread which posits that Shallan is predisposed towards alcoholism. Possible evidence?