Can Theories Spoil a Book?

[Kobold King he/him]

This is the second post I've created today, but it's about something I've been contemplating for a bit.

 

What I have been wondering is as follows: does theorizing about a book alter your perceptions of the novel, particularly if the theories turn out to be true? Let me give an example. Spoilers for Words of Radiance, I'm afraid.

 

 

An article on Stormblessed posited an interesting theory, published long before WoR. The writer Copes, in 2011, predicted that Shardblades were dead spren. Now, he didn't get all the details right-- for instance, he believed that the change was always permanent, and that Szeth was Truthless because he'd murdered his spren. We know this to be untrue, but he was most certainly correct that most modern Shardblades are the bodies of dead spren.

 

I was well familiar with this theory when I read WoR. When I came to the chapter just before Kaladin's confrontation with Szeth, the Stormfather said this (paraphrased):

 

You will kill her and leave her corpse for evil men.

 

At this point, I was absolutely certain that Copes' theory was correct. Shardblades--at least some of them--were dead spren.

It was an odd feeling, perhaps because it was the first time it had ever happened to me. A bit of speculation turned out to be correct. And while there were still plenty of surprises left in the book, it felt odd knowing a bit about the Stormlight Archive before Brandon Sanderson specifically decided to reveal it. It felt somewhat like a book spoiler, though not quite as spoiler-y.

 

I'd be interested in hearing other people's opinions. If a theory turns out to be true, does it affect your perception and enjoyment of a novel?

Edited May 7, 2014 by Kobold King

[bartbug he/him]

I kind of felt the same way. Don't get me wrong – I loved Words of Radiance, and I felt like it met the extremely high bar set by Way of Kings. But part of the oomph, I don't know – the x factor – was taken out of the reading because I (we, the 17th Shard) had called it already. Lots of the reveals were more like, "Come on. Wasn't this obvious?" When it really wasn't.

[Moogle]

I agree that it 'spoils' the book (as a casual browser of Dragonmount, the ending to The Wheel of Time was pretty much predicted and discussed before AMoL ever came out), but I don't think that's a bad thing. Spoilers apparently don't reduce enjoyment of books anyways, though it may be possible for books for which twists are a big aspect (Sanderson's books might fall into this category).

[skaa he/him]

Upvote to Moogle for providing empirical validation for my long-held love for spoilers.

 

As for Kobold King's question, if there was a theory that I hated, and if I was confident it was incorrect, and then it turned out it was correct, then I can imagine how I'd be a bit pissed. (I've yet to see a theory I actually hated, though.) Otherwise, well, I don't really see why I shouldn't be happy that a theory was proven correct.

 

I sort of see the whole Cosmere as a puzzle that we, as die-hard Sanderson fans, can try to solve before Brandon gives us the answers. Why? Because the pieces are already there, or at least some of them are.

 

One could just sit back and wait for all the pieces to come together, I guess. That's perfectly fine, but it's not for me. I enjoy puzzles too much.

Edited May 7, 2014 by skaa

[Bloodfalcon he/him]

For me it's about constantly reminding myself that I don't know any of it for certain. I have theories that I like, but none that I go into the book thinking "I'm just looking for any clues to X,Y, and Z."

The only time that theorizing effects me is when we have been talking for a long time about a certain subject, going over several possibilities in every possible detail, and then there is nearly no mention of it at all in the book. This has happened to me in 3 series that I've spent a lot of time on - Harry Potter, Wheel of Time, and Stormlight Archive. For example, there are nearly 0 mentions of Cultivation in Words of Radiance. The best we can do is assume that the Nightwatcher is Cultivation, or something like that, but it hasn't been made known and she is virtually nonexistent. There was hardly mention of the Nightwatcher this book too. When Cultivation is one of 2 "gods" on a planet, you end up including her in a lot of theories. When she hardly comes up at all, it kind of leaves me deflated a little bit. 

 

On the other hand, I know Brandon can reveal something huge, like certain Ideals allowing spren to turn in to Shardblades, which we had called, and then turn around and in just a couple more pages reveal that they can turn into any weapon in an instant. That's something that we had forecast happening between books 3 and 5. Boom. Right there on the paper. So it's not all disappointment; he definitely keeps me surprised enough. 


EDIT: Oh man. This thread just has me thinking about the summer before Half Blood Prince came out. There were so many theories that people went into deep deep detail on. Didn't see a single one with the correct answer. Absolutely none. That was such a great summer. 

Edited May 7, 2014 by Bloodfalcon

[Awesomeness Summoned he/him]

I reread my favorite books all the time. I know exactly what's going to happen but I still enjoy reading them and the character's reaction to big twists. I kinda view reading theories in the same way. If I don't enjoy the book due to having a few hints prior to reading it, it wasn't worth my time anyway. Yes, theories can sometimes spoil the wow factor and I definitely don't want to know actual spoilers prior to reading a book but I don't feel like it is a detriment to the experience. The countless hours of enjoyment you get while creating and reading theories far outshines that one moment of surprise in my opinion.

[Aether he/him]

EDIT: Oh man. This thread just has me thinking about the summer before Half Blood Prince came out. There were so many theories that people went into deep deep detail on. Didn't see a single one with the correct answer. Absolutely none. That was such a great summer. 

I was never heavily into the Harry Potter fandom. But this intrigues me. Would you mind sharing some of the more ludicrous ideas the fans had?

[Observer]

While you can never redo a first impression, odds are you're going to be reading a Sanderson book for the (> 1)th time a lot more that you'll be reading it for the first. His books are written to still be amazing and enjoyable even if you know everything that's about to happen. Yes, it can be a little annoying to know something yet to be revealed, and it can flatten the moment a bit, but overall the book is still built to be enjoyable regardless of what you know. The plot twists don't carry his books, characters, setting, and all that other stuff helps with the load. Losing one pillar isn't going to topple it. Insert more metaphors here. Yeah.

[Bloodfalcon he/him]

I was never heavily into the Harry Potter fandom. But this intrigues me. Would you mind sharing some of the more ludicrous ideas the fans had?

 

I'm not sure if you remember, but the Half Blood Prince turned out to be Professor Snape because his mother's last name was "Prince". 

 

Before the book was released, we were only given the title of the book, so you can imagine how impossible it truly was to make any sort of accurate guess. If there had been previous information on Snape's mother, maybe. If the book cover with the cauldron had been released at that point, maybe. Instead everybody was creating theories based on hidden (or not so hidden) royal blood lines. I'll list out a couple that I can remember, but needless to say, people got very very deep into conversations over minor characters potentially being wizard princes. The royalty part was never very intriguing to me, but the lengths that people went to to rationalize them.... wow. 

 

• The main theories revolved around several well known, half blooded characters that were potential incognito princes. Choices included characters like Hagrid (who could be prince of the Giants), Neville (whose family seemed relevant in the last few books, but not for any real reason), and of course main characters like Hermione - but that was just fans being fans, honestly. 
• ​Another theory was built around Lord Voldemort (being the Lord of Darkness or whatever) having a son somewhere who would either challenge Voldemort himself or come across the story as a sort of mini-boss.  This one could have been pretty fun.
• One of the least likely that I saw people get passionate about was the possibility of the British Royal Family producing a half blood wizard who is enrolled in Hogwarts/needs to be protected by the wizarding world. It sounds really stupid to me at first, but it could have been the beginning of assimilation between the wizards and muggles somehow, which would have really prompted Voldemort into launching his war. 

If you really think about it, "The Half Blood Prince" is one of the most useless titles out there if you find it before the book is released. It is a nickname based on a pun that a character created and then retired based on his mother's maiden name that you have never heard. It's like the best website security question you can ever imagine. So it was an entire summer of forums like this one throwing these ridiculous(ly fun) ideas out that were far far more dramatic and exciting than the actual half blood prince. I mean, people were outlining books based on the theories above. 

It was so fun. 

Edited May 8, 2014 by Bloodfalcon

[Zizoz he/him]

Well, obviously theories can't spoil a book in the sense of telling you what's going to happen, because they're not proven. And I personally find it really enjoyable when a theory I have turns out to be correct. Sure, I don't get an out-of-nowhere twist, but I get the vindication of being right, and prior to that I get to enjoy the anticipation of the reveal, and pick up on all the foreshadowing. On the other hand, if a theory I don't care for is proven correct, it's possible that that's worse than not knowing the theory.

 

An example of the latter occurred in A Dance with Dragons. Spoilers for that book follow.

 

Prior to ADWD, one of the more common theories about the identity of the three-eyed crow who appears in Bran's dreams was that it was a character called Bloodraven. A lot of the basis for that speculation came from the Dunk and Egg novellas, set around ninety years before the series, which I hadn't read. So the theory never really grabbed me. When ADWD came out, the three-eyed crow was indeed revealed to be Bloodraven, and my reaction was "so I guess those people on the internet were right after all". I was even a little bitter because I felt it could be a case of people having to read the novellas to understand the story. But after thinking about it, I suspect if I hadn't been exposed to the theory online, I'd have had no problem with it being true. At best, I would have remembered the few times Bloodraven had been mentioned earlier in the books, and been excited at the reveal; at worst, I would have forgotten and it would have still fallen a bit flat, but I wouldn't feel left out in the way I did having read the theory.

Edited May 15, 2014 by Zizoz

[Khyrindor he/him]

I grin like a fool even through other read-throughs. And when a theory turns out to be right, I'm like "Wow! Kudo's for calling that!"

[Firiel she/her]

I re-read WoK before the WoR release.  Partway through, I was like
 

Oh my gosh!  I bet in WoR we find out that Jasnah is Soulcasting without the aid of a Soulcaster!  I'm so great at figuring this crap out!

 

And then at the end of WoK, I find out I was right.  But the fact that I had read the book, forgotten a key element, and then predicted said key element during the second read-through kinda took the wind out of my sails.

 

Someone was a little too in love with Kaladin the first time through to pay attention to those pesky other storylines...

[18th Shard he/him]

Most of the theories I enjoy are not revealed in books. I enjoy mechanics questions, so many of the mechanics, even if they are predicted, can be used in ways you don't imagine. Same with spoilers. You know that Syl is going to be a Shardblade, but you never predict how effective that Shardblade is.