Liss as Vedel

[+En-priestess she/her]

Rereading Words of Radiance and it jumped out at me that Liss could be Vedel. I searched if any others had theorised this and saw a post by @Toaster Retribution that had the same theory, but I had some other thoughts to add! My first thought was that her characteristics as an assassin are the opposite of loving and healing, which is what Toaster Retribution also pointed out. But also, a lot of attention is paid to her unusual ability to shift her accent. Jasnah comments on this twice:

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She could've been Alethi, or Veden, or Bav, depending on which part of her accent she chose to emphasise. - WoR prologue

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"You're the one payin'" Liss said. A faint Bav dialect showing through. If it showed, it was only because she'd wished it. - WoR prologue

This thing with accents reminded me of what Lift does in Edgedancer when talking to the street urchin in Yeddaw - how she naturally adapts her speech to be able to communicate/connect with him. I feel like Liss's ability to shift her accent to sound native to any of these places seems a lot like the theorised Edgedancer resonance of enhanced communication with others. 

Lastly, on the previous thread by Toaster Retribution (which is now closed), somebody commented that it doesn't make sense for Liss to be a herald since she had Szeth as a servant at one point and would have recognised his blade an an Honorblade if she were a Herald. But I don't think this has to be the case as she only had him as a servant for a short time and was maybe unaware of Szeth's blade, as most others who have held his oathstone don't seem to know this either. It was only because of Makkek's increasingly difficult commands that Szeth had to resort to using his shardblade under his ownership. OR, she did recognise his blade and was the one who gave him to Nale and Kalak - the two "ambassadors from the west" that Jasnah overhears:

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"I don't like this. What we've done was wrong. That creature carries my lord's own blade! We shouldn't have let him keep it." - WoR prologue

Anyway, I haven't yet read Rhythm of War so maybe this will all be irrelevant, but if all the remaining heralds were present at the feast, then Liss seems a very likely candidate and I'm more convinced that she is Vedel than Chana!

Edited November 23, 2020 by Kahlani

[Bearer of all agonies he/him]

Wow. That’s very interesting. That could very well happen. Nice catch. 

[Toaster Retribution he/him]

Hah, I had forgotten I wrote that :-D Glad you found it though. It is a good theory, and you did a great job with the accents thing. I can add an another argument in support of Vedel = Liss as well. We have art for both Vedel and Chana now (back in 2018 we only had Vedel) and if we compare them to the official Coppermind description of Liss, we see that Vedel fits way better:

"Liss is of Vorin heritage, although which nation she is from is uncertain, it may be Alethkar, Jah Keved, or Bavland.^[1] She has long dark hair, which she sometimes wears loose, and a plump, attractive figure."

 Vedel on the artwork appears to be Vorin (Alethi) in appearance, with black hair. Chana on the other hand looks Shin, and has non-black hair (I am a bit colorblind, but it aint black, that´s for sure). As far as we know, Heralds dont change appearance. And yes, Brandon has said that the artwork is not a 100% canon representation of how they look, but rather in-world art. Still, the art of Taln, Ash, Nale and Jezrien seems to be quite good representations of them, and given that Shin are quite rare on Roshar, it would be wierd if the art portrayed Chana like that if that wasn't actually what she looked like. 

Tl;dr: Vedel seems to fit Liss better, appearance-wise.

[Bearer of all agonies he/him]

Good thinking Kahlani!

[+En-priestess she/her]

Yes! Definitely agree about the appearance too @Toaster Retribution

Liss doesn’t appear to have an athletic body as I imagine Chana does based on little tidbits like her racing Fleet.

[Lightflame he/him]

I never liked Liss as Chana, so Liss as Vedel sounds great to me.

 

[Honorless he/him]

Liss... actually fits Vedel better than her being Chana.

Err... the opposite of fit... which is what makes it fit that Liss would be Vedel- oh you get the point! 

[Necessary Eagle she/her]

On 11/23/2020 at 10:33 AM, Toaster Retribution said:

Still, the art of Taln, Ash, Nale and Jezrien seems to be quite good representations of them, and given that Shin are quite rare on Roshar, it would be wierd if the art portrayed Chana like that if that wasn't actually what she looked like.

Isn't Actual Jezrien very dark-skinned?

[Spren of Kindness she/her]

58 minutes ago, Necessary Eagle said:

Isn't Actual Jezrien very dark-skinned?

According to the Coppermind:

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Jezrien has dark eyes and black hair.  He is tall and appears almost Alethi, although his skin is a little darker than a typical Alethi man and his features are slightly off.

I guess it depends on what you consider an Alethi tan.