Veez

@CamilleDesmoulins 100% agree. I really enjoy Shallan's arc and storyline, but I dislike her for this exact reason as well.

It's actually confirmed in the very passage you copied.

@Erklitt I'm flattered! You articulated your points much better than I was able to. Especially the one about the Divine Attributes. 'Obedient' also sort of works for Helaran, I think. He was a Skybreaker acolyte after all. They're great at following rules. It might have played into Lin's respect for him. Hi @Bort! Tbh part of the reason I finally got the confidence to post something is because I realized you were there.

That's a fair point.

It's not necessary. From the scene you mentioned (Chapter 38):

That would be neat.

Vin sure is popular. Also in no particular order: Steris Lift Adolin Shai Vasher TenSoon

He did not. If I remember correctly, Dalinar said that. Or maybe Navani. I did call it a crackpot theory! I do agree that that's the weakest part of my agrument, but unless we get actual confirmation that Chanarach has never been in a man's body, I'm going to keep believing it. Thanks! This is mostly me trying to explain away how Chanarach could be a man, tbh. And while I admit it's reaching quite a bit, I still think it remains possible, if tenuously so. We don't have confirmation that Chanarach is a woman. The portraits are in-world portraits, confirmed to not necessarily be accurate. Between Aharietiam and the current times, the Hierocracy happened, with the church destroying or altering historical records to suit their needs. It might not mean anything, though.

Beautiful vorin symmetry. And we know historians and ardents never lie. Is there actual confirmation that the Heralds are five men and five women, besides what characters think they know?

I've been entertaining the idea that Chanarach is not Shallan's mother. Chanarach is Shallan's father. Feel free to poke holes in that theory. Here's the breakdown: We know the Heralds’ madness is tied to their heraldic attributes being twisted in some way. Chana’s attributes are “Brave” and “Obedient.” Lin Davar is a paranoid man, controlling to the point he’s obsessed with being obeyed and enters a blind rage whenever someone defies him. Heralds (and other highly Invested entities) have been shown repeatedly to be more resitant to physical damage. When Shallan kills her father, she uses the blackbane her brother Wikim gave her years ago. Blackbane is stated several times and by different characters to become more potent over time. Yet, when Shallan poisons her father, not only does it not kill him and only paralyzes him, he actually begins to recover from it, which is what prompts her to strangle him instead. And when she strangles him, she uses her necklace, which for Brandon felt the need to specify on-screen was made of aluminum. I feel like this is probably relevant. Do we know for certain Chanarach is a woman? We have the portraits, which we know aren’t accurate, and that’s about it. People who know Chana (Hoid, other Heralds, Shards and spren), never refer to her as a “she”. The Stormfather doesn’t contradict Gavilar when he does, but that doesn’t mean anything, given that we know the Stormfather can lie by omission. And even if she actually is a woman, we don’t know the process used to give the Heralds a body when they return. Something could have gone wrong. We don’t know which Herald dies the night of Gavilar’s assassination. We do know that there were several of them in the palace that night, and that Szeth was on a killing spree at the time. In fact, the unknown Herald’s death happened only moments before Sadeas came to warn Gavilar.