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A very significant dead body [RoW spoilers]


Mason Wheeler

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Several years ago in a Q&A, Brandon said,

Quote

InsurrectionistFungus

Did Sazed do anything with the bodies of Ati and Leras after he Ascended?

Brandon Sanderson

No, I'm afraid not. Those might have been useful to have around, though.

Now we've got the body of another dead Vessel... and they have no idea.  Everyone thinks it's the withered remains of Taravangian after Nightblood got through with him.  There are indications that Renarin might have some clue as to what's really going on, though.

Will we finally find out what's so "useful" about the body of a dead Vessel in book 5?

Edited by Mason Wheeler
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45 minutes ago, Mason Wheeler said:

Nope.  Read page 1190 carefully.

Didn't really take a careful read, but yeah. I didn't read past that first section where he Ascended. Oops. Thanks for catching that.

Here's the paragraph:

Spoiler

He was aware of what he'd left behind in the mortal realm. Szeth had long since climbed to his feet and sheathed Nightblood. Beside him, the assassin had found a burned-out corpse, mostly eaten by the sword's attack. That was Rayse, Taravangian's predecessor, but Szeth wasn't able to tell. The sword had consumed clothing and most of the flesh, leaving bits of stone-grey bone.

 

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Well even if they think it is Taravangian, he was a king and there bodies are preserved via soulcasting so I am sure that Rayse’s body will not be discarded. So OP is correct and we might learn in the future what is so special about their bodies. I had know idea though that they were useful to keep around.

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2 hours ago, The Traveller said:

Well even if they think it is Taravangian, he was a king and there bodies are preserved via soulcasting so I am sure that Rayse’s body will not be discarded. So OP is correct and we might learn in the future what is so special about their bodies. I had know idea though that they were useful to keep around.

Unfortunately Taravangian was no longer a king and was in fact a traitor as of his death.  They will probably just burn the body.

More generally it being useful.  You might be able to use the shardic power to learn about the individual's lives and experiences prior to and maybe even during ascension.  Sure they are dead but their brain is still around.  With effort you might be able to reconstruct some stuff the way the lifeless are semi aware.

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I'm sure the Connection between the Vessel and the Shard is so strong that it continues after the death of the Vessel. I wonder if Dalinar performs his Connection vision trick on the bones if he'll see this Connection to Odium and be able to exploit it.

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Well, neither Ati nor Leras were killed by Nightblood. Whatever oomph was in Rayse's body was likely consumed, in part, by Nightblood. Still, 1% of the body of a god is still pretty significant.

Isn't the godmetal supposed to be the body of a god? Shouldn't that body have some Raysium somewhere? Or is it poetically the body of a god and specifically the condensed power of a god that makes the godmetal?

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3 hours ago, Rainier said:

Well, neither Ati nor Leras were killed by Nightblood. Whatever oomph was in Rayse's body was likely consumed, in part, by Nightblood. Still, 1% of the body of a god is still pretty significant.

Isn't the godmetal supposed to be the body of a god? Shouldn't that body have some Raysium somewhere? Or is it poetically the body of a god and specifically the condensed power of a god that makes the godmetal?

The latter

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10 hours ago, The Traveller said:

Well even if they think it is Taravangian, he was a king and there bodies are preserved via soulcasting so I am sure that Rayse’s body will not be discarded.

7 hours ago, Karger said:

Unfortunately Taravangian was no longer a king and was in fact a traitor as of his death.  They will probably just burn the body.

Yeah, there was literally that entire chapter where King T is repeatedly thinking about how he isn’t going to get a funeral because they will burn him as a traitor. The chapter where he disbands the Diagram iirc. 

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7 hours ago, Ookla the Disproportionate said:

Yeah, there was literally that entire chapter where King T is repeatedly thinking about how he isn’t going to get a funeral because they will burn him as a traitor. The chapter where he disbands the Diagram iirc. 

Maybe that's the importance of the final "Dirty Tricks", Hoid realising that something happened and prompting him to investigate and find out that the body is Rayse's. Remember that he sometimes have access to Fortune, which directs him towards locations or people at relevant moments, without the clear understanding of why he has to be there. So, maybe he realises something is amiss, checks on the body and swaps it to do shenanigans. We'll probably even have a scen in book 5 (or several) firmly stating that Taravangian's body was cremated, to misdirect us.

On @Mason Wheeler's OP, that WoB is very good, but I don't know if it applies for something very relevant here. As @Karger says, maybe it would have been useful for Sazed to scramble the brains for their knowledge on how to control the Shards and get some insight from the Shattering. In this sense, it would be useful for Taravangian. Or maybe it will be relevant, who knows at this point.

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16 hours ago, Leuthie said:

I'm sure the Connection between the Vessel and the Shard is so strong that it continues after the death of the Vessel. I wonder if Dalinar performs his Connection vision trick on the bones if he'll see this Connection to Odium and be able to exploit it.

this would be the most obvious thing. it was mentioned that there are ways to get information post mortem.
in this case I doubt its possible since Nightblood was responsible for the death.

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On 12/1/2020 at 0:03 PM, Subvisual Haze said:

Good catch, unfortunately I think Nightblood sucked all the good stuff out of that body.

The sword literally burped afterwards. lol, you have to love nightblood. i think it would be highly amusing to get a POV from nightblood when he ate Rayse! thats some Lopen level funny rust!

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