paulinor_of_the_fields

Brgst13, I admit I think it's possible for Hoid to make a lightweaving that appears like that, but I wonder why make an illusion that says, "My body is invisible but my feet look like a mink," when you could say "My everything is invisible." Also I realized after posting last night that shapeshifting wouldn't be COMPLETELY new cosmere magic, because kandra can do it, but I didn't think that was something Hoid could mimic, since it's more investiture-fueled biology and not a wielding of investiture. I've begun to think warging is more of a possibility, especially if you take his quip to Dalinar about making Chasmfiends sing and dance as more than just a zany idea. natc, re: "smuggled itself out of Shinovar" - theory confirmed: mink are the invasive exotic species of Roshar. kaellok, good point! Although birds are too rare to need any kind of differentiating names, whereas mink like mammals, at least in lush places like Jah Keved, are less so. I think partly the mink must be adapted to living alongside human civilization and taking advantage of its affordances, like raccoons or foxes in cities on earth, because of the way they show up in Kharbranth

Part 1: So I've been on my nth reread of Words of Radiance recently, and I noticed an odd bit of detail in Shallan's Middlefest flashback: This tails a bit of purely scene-setting description, and could have been inserted as just another bit of color, as it would be if Shallan noted songlings in the trees or something. Instead it's pulled out as incongruous. The law of conservation of detail screams at me it wouldn't be there if not for a reason. Shallan has just left Hoid and her father at the dueling grounds, where Hoid took special notice of her, and she's about to encounter him again, just after she gives Wikim her math problems. Seeing it so cleanly set-up this way, at first I thought to myself, "Oh, Hoid is tailing her, obvs." And then I stopped, because if that was right, then it's a type of magic (either shape-shifting or warging) that AFAIK is totally new to the cosmere. I don't want to go that far on just a single line, but if not Hoid (and I can't shake the feeling that he would be a mink [or a sable] if he could), I believe there's something else going on there, and I'd like to know what. Any other reason for this animal to be there other than mundane coincidence? Also, are there perhaps other mentions of small animals in incongruous places in other cosmere books? Part 2: In getting my thoughts together to post the above, I began to wonder about minks in general. They're an odd sort of thing to see outside of Shinovar: squishy, unarmored, earth mammals not raised by humans. On earth they burrow in riverbanks as far as I can tell, but I guess on Roshar they must just find cracks in the stone to use as homes and Highstorm shelters. Why are these present but not, say, weasels or meerkats or prairie dogs? Oddly, a text search of my books tells me that of six occurrences in Words of Radiance and one in The Way of Kings, only once is the word "mink" mentioned outside of Shallan's viewpoint, and never when it's concerning an actual animal present in the scene. I feel like mostly that's only natural, since Shallan is the one with the natural history Calling, but a part of me wants to believe ... I don't know what. That Shallan is the Lost Queen of the Minks? Oh well. Make of it what you will! =============================================================================== Book Page (iBooks) Chapter Viewpoint Actual nml? Text =============================================================================== WoK 149 3. City of Bells Shallan Yes In a street inland of the docks, a prowling mink skulked in the shadows, watching for morsels that might be dropped. WoR 426 17. A Pattern Shallan No “A man hunting game will return with a mink if there are no telm to be found,” she said. WoR 461 19. Safe Things Shallan No No mink pelts, as his grandfathers might have worn, but otherwise very, very traditional. WoR 472 20. The Coldness of Clarity Shallan No A little like the mink wandering into the whitespine’s den and asking when dinner is . . . she thought. WoR 909 45. Middlefest Shallan Yes She was surprised to see a mink slinking in the shadows; she’d expected all those in the area to have been trapped by now. WoR 1093 54. Veil's Lesson Shallan Yes Mraize passed his blowgun to the side. The short, masked girl was there, holding the cremling that Mraize had speared along with a dead mink, a blowgun dart in its neck. No, its leg twitched. WoR 1861 89. The Four Adolin No A fanciful picture, with animals from mythology. He recognized a few from children’s stories, like the enormous, minklike creature with the mane of hair that burst out around and behind its head. =============================================================================== Side note: getting something resembling a table here was a serious struggle. Anyone have a better way?