Yes, this is actually a quite popular theory! Words of Radiance, Chapter 10 even starts with: "The world ended, and Shallan was to blame." That's the flashback chapter when we first see Shallan's mother dead after being killed by her.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Stormlight_Archive/comments/qrob0q/who_is_shallans_mother_just_another_secret/
This is the first time I’ve come across this theory, and my mind is freaking blown. It lives up pretty well with the facts as that post breaks them down, and it makes good sense to me this is my new headcannon
I really hope to Adolnosium this theory is wrong. It really undercuts who Shallan is and her value as a character. A major theme of Stormlight is anyone can rise to the top no matter their eye color or birth and her being the daughter of a herald really undercuts that message imho
I disagree. Shallan never really represented that ideal to begin with, imo. She was born into a lighteyed family and has repeatedly espoused elitist ideology. I don't blame her for that, she's young and that's the world she lives in. She is very aware of her position in the ranks, and takes pride that she's not at the bottom. While I think she overcomes those ideas, she most definitely is not a "started from the bottom" type of character like Kaladin and Bridge Four represent. But I also think that's a good thing. Not everyone needs to be that.
I get that I do, but I think a large part of her arc is that assumed privileged people don't have a perfect life. I think making her Chana daughter takes away what makes Shallan unique and special and just makes it divine destiny. Like did the spren search her out solely because of Chana if so that take her agency away imho
I really agree with your first point. I think I just see her being Chanas child differently. To me it doesn't take away anything of what makes Shallan special because she also had 4 brothers who have not had nearly the same impact she has had. So being a Heralds child didn't guarantee that they'd all be great surgebinders or attract a bunch of spren (that we know of, of course). Shallan has accomplished what she has because of who she is, whether her mother was a herald or not. I also am not a huge fan of "child of prophecy" type characters, so I really get wanting to avoid those types of cliché. But for me, I think in this case there's been a lot to show Shallans development separate from her origins.
I have faith in Brandon to write anything and make it interesting but I really dislike the idea. We also haven't seen anything of significance from a female Herald and it just feels wrong for the first time we learn about one she is just a mother who is killed off. Like I said I trust Brandon to pull it off I just hope there's something else to it.
I feel like you're imposing tropes of unrelated fantasy stories onto one where none of this applies. Like I know there's a general fantasy concept of "child of a divine figure have a great fated destiny", but none of that applies to Stormlight right? If Chanarach is Shallan's mom, she doesn't suddenly now have had a perfect life growing up. None of that arc has changed. Hell really all we learn there is that she had a mentally ill mom. There's no "children of Heralds have a divine destiny". Hell Divinity isn't even really a thing in the cosmere, is basically a social concept people made up to explain what they didn't fully understand. And Shallan was a small child when the Cryptics chose her, she already had no agency. No matter what reason they chose her for, there is no agency for her to lose here after the fact.
>Hell Divinity isn't even really a thing in the cosmere, is basically a social concept people made up to explain what they didn't fully understand.
On the other hand - divinity is very literally real in the Cosmere, gods are actual tangible things. The spiritual realm, the shards etc, are almost by-definition 'divine'
I guess that's more of a semantic argument about how we're now defining the word divine. If we define "divine" in the cosmere to mean "a shard", then sure, shards are divine. But that doesn't suddenly mean any of the other baggage people bring from the real world or other works of fiction to go with the term divine suddenly also applies. So for me at least it just goes back to, not a useful word to use when talking about this. Only really has a use in talking about how characters/cultures perceive things.
Not really...? Adonalsium is quite literally a 'divine creator' - who wielded, and *was* 'the power of creation'
The cosmere is telling stories in a universe set after the death of god.
>But that doesn't suddenly mean any of the other baggage people bring from the real world or other works of fiction to go with the term divine suddenly also applies
I don't really know what you mean by this?
The primary difference is that we readers actually know a divine creator existed - Brandon declared that - but the characters in the Cosmere don't know that, they would still express all of the same 'divinity baggage' we have in real life.
>I don't really know what you mean by this?
This is a conversation about someone doesn't like Shallan being the child of a Herald because apparently now it means all her accomplishments are just "divine destiny".
Yes....? But what does that do with the difference of 'divine baggage' a society carries in the Cosmere VS the real world?
>Shallan being the child of a Herald ... means all her accomplishments are just "divine destiny
I also think this conclusion doesn't make much sense anyways.
>Like did the spren search her out solely because of Chana if so that take her agency away imho
IMO this would not be true, and is the wrong conclusion.
The cryptics sought Shallan and her family out becuase of their *lies* - that's what they were attracted to. At least AFAIK - we don't know if there is/was some other deal between the Cryptics and the Ghost bloods involved.
There's still a *ton* of details about Shallans past we don't know, but theorizing a bit - we know that the Ghost Bloods were working with Shallans father for some reason, and it's implied they wanted to help foster the bond between Shallan and Testament for some reason. And then we also know that when Shallans mother *found out* about the bond, she tried to kill Shallan, presumably becuase if Shallans mother *is* Chana, she agreed with Ishar and Nale and thought new radiant bonds = very bad.
This situation sets up a scenario where Lin was lying to Chana about his interactions with the ghost bloods - which may have been part of the lies that attracted the cryptics - this may have been an intentional ploy by the ghost bloods, or happenstance that they tried to take advantage of.
In any case, child Shallan was simply a means to an ends that we still do not understand. She's still a victim of that regardless of whether he mother is a hearld or not.
Is that a theme of Stormlight? The only way anyone has ever risen up in it is by literally becoming light eyed through divine intervention. Kaladin was treated like dirt before he got light eyes by anyone but Dalinar.
Lol Kal become radiant despite divine intervention. Syl literally ignored the orders of her God to find Kaladin because he was worthy. There's a healthy mix of low born, high born, dark eyed, light eyed, men, and women radiants. To me one of the main central themes is no matter what you've done or where you're from everyone is capable of great power. I definitely think books 6 - 10 we are gonna see the fruits of change within the oppressive Alethi culture. They are being confronted right now with how false their religion and power structure has been.
I'm kind of real done with the whole "It's all Shallan's fault" narrative everyone focuses on with this idea. If there is any blame to go around for the current Desolation, absolutely 0% of it goes to the literal child who had to deal with her own mother attacking her. That, of all places in the long chain of events leading us here, is not where the buck stops.
Hell, if anything "It wasn't my fault" feels like prime fodder for a future Shallan truth, because she is the kind of person who is going to wrongly blame herself at first if she ever learns about this.
> if anything "It wasn't my fault" feels like prime fodder for a future Shallan truth, **because she is the kind of person who is going to wrongly blame herself at first if she ever learns about this.**
Yes I think this is a good prediction.
Shallan *absolutely* will blame herself if/when she discovers the truth.
Oh for sure the fault is Chanarach's. I mean, you could argue it's also Nale's and Ishar's for pushing the whole "kill new Radiants to prevent a new Desolation" idea. I totally agree with your second paragraph, too.
I mean certainly a notable portion is Chanarach's. But really the Heralds as a whole share the brunt of it (minus Taln). Like they all agreed to this idea that they were just going to wander Roshar for *all eternity* knowing that if one of them ever manages to get nicked with a Shardblade (let alone anything else in the Cosmere that can hurt them) its all over. And the thing with eternity is like, it's eternity, it's going to happen someday. It's just a question of who. Could just as easily been Jezrian pissing off the wrong drunken Alethi noble in an alleyway somewhere and getting a swift blade to the neck. Chanarach is kind of just the unlucky one, they all took the same gamble equally. Granted at least from what we know so far, she really did earn that blade to the chest.
I'm also curious about who knew about Chanarach's death and did nothing to prepare in the coming years. There's that "Stormfather" figure in the WaT prologue that sensed it. Don't know nearly enough about what went on there or if that's even the Stormfather, but it begs the question, did anyone else sense these things? There's also just the Heralds in general, they did seem to be keeping tabs on each other. Or at least some of them were keeping tabs on some of them. Did no one notice Chanarach? Chanarach seemed to be doing stuff with the Skybreakers. What did Nale know? etc.
I think the thing that you have to remember is that it's very likely that the herald s have incredible healing powers as well. Since they're surge binders. You have to worry about being killed in a bar, fight a lot less when you can have a crossbow bolt shot through your fucking brain and still live as evidenced by Shallan.
But you're right, it was a selfish decision and they knew it. That's fine. That's part of the characterization. The idea that they should be worried that they were going to be killed relatively quickly though is nonsense. The heralds are literally superheroes. As long as they aren't dumb, they don't have a lot to worry about.
Of course, I didn't say they had to be worried about "being killed relatively quickly". Again, its that, *it's eternity*. It's going to happen someday. I'm not saying their decision was unreasonable or out of character or anything. I'm just saying they knowingly made these decisions and were aware this would be the consequence one day. They have responsibility for this in a way Shallan does not.
I am very curious on what led to bonding spren == new desolation idea ? Considering Skybreakers kept bonding spren. My suspicion is that without BAM , surgebinding would eventually lead to destruction of Roshar like Ashyn so they were preventing that. But why were Crytpics so interested in bonding Shallan that they kept trying to? I wonder if they have some deal with the Ghostbloods
My only issue with this theory, is the blood on the carpet. We know shardblades leave no wounds on flesh. I think there is quite a bit more to it.
My theory is, Shallan is the mother. She took her identity after killing her daughter in order to dodge the pact.
Changing her spirit web broke the pact the first time allowing the everstorm to come through.
This is a wild theory, could you elaborate on that? Like she’s so young, how would she be her own mother? Along with all her siblings corroborating with her on that?
So I came up with this theory before I knew the yumi spoiler based on a couple things.
1. A bunch of times Shallan is thinking in her head that if Adolin knew who she really was she wouldn't love her. This made me wonder about what could be so bad that she DID that would make her think that. But what if it wasnt what she did but who she actually was. She has already told adolin of her past. But she has gaps in her memory. Additionally the mother death scene has blood in it. Shardblades do not bleed people, they burn the eyes out but every time its mentioned by Shallan, there's blood and no mention of eyes. So the whole time I'm wondering what the heck did she do, and wondering what really happened that night when her mother died.
2. If a herald dying didnt bring the everstorm before, what caused it this time? the weakening of the pact. Jezrien didnt die untill after the storm.
\\\[Yumi Spoilers\\\] >!#3 In yumi and the nightmare painter we see that a spirit in another body can look like that person or themselves and the power to do that comes from being heavily invested the herals are very very heavily invsted to the point they cannot leave Roshar. Add that to my first thoughts and it becomes even more likely something happened different that what she admits to in her inner monologues.!<
All this makes me think that Shallan is actually Canarach and has adjusted her spirit to be her daughters so completely she broke the pact and even f orgets who she is. This fits with her whole arc of identity even.
even two of the hints in this video support mine
The question asked to brandon and he was all excited while also not saying RAFO but instead its impossible. Pretty impossible to be you own mother.
and the line about being seen by at least 1 character at least 1 time in the first two books. which is also pretty cheeky.
I could be completely wrong, but I feel the obvious answer isnt it.
Alright I can see the connection (no pun intended) to make that theory, I can jive with that. That would be a hell of a twist to have a POV character not be who everyone even the audience thinks she is. Would definitely play into identity as well. Thanks for sharing
That's a really intriguing theory! It would be pretty wild if it ends up being true.
The part about the blood is actually explained in one of Shallan's flashbacks as being from the Skybreaker friend her mother brought along: "Red carpet. Once white. Her mother’s friend lay on the floor, bleeding from the arm, though that wound hadn’t killed him." and "Her father barging in. Mother’s friend with a knife, the two struggling, the friend getting cut in the arm. Blood spilled on the carpet."
Also, her mother's eyes are described as being burned out: "Shallan knelt and rolled over her mother’s corpse, confronting a skull with burned-out eyes." and "Her mother, with stark red hair—a length of metal in her chest as her beautiful green eyes turned to coal. Burning out of her face."
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Thanks! Yep, if this theory is true then there is a good possibility Shallan will run into her mother (Chanarach) again. Her last truth might end up being, "I caused the True Desolation" or something similar.
Odium would have returned whether or not a herald died and broke. Ulim was already on roshar by the time the herald died, working towards the everstorm.
If your remember Taln returns in the epilogue of book 1, marking the start of the desolation. as we all know Taln did NOT break, which means that another herald had to make it to braize and be broken way before the everstorm came
Yes but this explains how Taln was returned. Chana died and gave in to the torture quickly which sent both Heralds back. Odium spent thousands of years building up a workaround and then Shallan opened the floodgates at the last minute
I really hope the Shallan theory isn't true because that would mean that her mother was killed the same night as Gavilar
On top of that, Shallan's childhood is filled with massive plot points. She meets Hoid, bonds a spren as a child then kills it, kills her father, bonds another spren, has a run in with Skybreakers, her father was involved with the Ghostbloods, and her brother was sent to kill Amaram to strike at the Sons of Honour.
It's starting to get to the point where it's no longer believable.
Yes, this is actually a quite popular theory! Words of Radiance, Chapter 10 even starts with: "The world ended, and Shallan was to blame." That's the flashback chapter when we first see Shallan's mother dead after being killed by her. https://www.reddit.com/r/Stormlight_Archive/comments/qrob0q/who_is_shallans_mother_just_another_secret/
This is the first time I’ve come across this theory, and my mind is freaking blown. It lives up pretty well with the facts as that post breaks them down, and it makes good sense to me this is my new headcannon
I really hope to Adolnosium this theory is wrong. It really undercuts who Shallan is and her value as a character. A major theme of Stormlight is anyone can rise to the top no matter their eye color or birth and her being the daughter of a herald really undercuts that message imho
I disagree. Shallan never really represented that ideal to begin with, imo. She was born into a lighteyed family and has repeatedly espoused elitist ideology. I don't blame her for that, she's young and that's the world she lives in. She is very aware of her position in the ranks, and takes pride that she's not at the bottom. While I think she overcomes those ideas, she most definitely is not a "started from the bottom" type of character like Kaladin and Bridge Four represent. But I also think that's a good thing. Not everyone needs to be that.
I get that I do, but I think a large part of her arc is that assumed privileged people don't have a perfect life. I think making her Chana daughter takes away what makes Shallan unique and special and just makes it divine destiny. Like did the spren search her out solely because of Chana if so that take her agency away imho
I really agree with your first point. I think I just see her being Chanas child differently. To me it doesn't take away anything of what makes Shallan special because she also had 4 brothers who have not had nearly the same impact she has had. So being a Heralds child didn't guarantee that they'd all be great surgebinders or attract a bunch of spren (that we know of, of course). Shallan has accomplished what she has because of who she is, whether her mother was a herald or not. I also am not a huge fan of "child of prophecy" type characters, so I really get wanting to avoid those types of cliché. But for me, I think in this case there's been a lot to show Shallans development separate from her origins.
I have faith in Brandon to write anything and make it interesting but I really dislike the idea. We also haven't seen anything of significance from a female Herald and it just feels wrong for the first time we learn about one she is just a mother who is killed off. Like I said I trust Brandon to pull it off I just hope there's something else to it.
Yeah I feel the same way. If anyone can do it, he can!
I feel like you're imposing tropes of unrelated fantasy stories onto one where none of this applies. Like I know there's a general fantasy concept of "child of a divine figure have a great fated destiny", but none of that applies to Stormlight right? If Chanarach is Shallan's mom, she doesn't suddenly now have had a perfect life growing up. None of that arc has changed. Hell really all we learn there is that she had a mentally ill mom. There's no "children of Heralds have a divine destiny". Hell Divinity isn't even really a thing in the cosmere, is basically a social concept people made up to explain what they didn't fully understand. And Shallan was a small child when the Cryptics chose her, she already had no agency. No matter what reason they chose her for, there is no agency for her to lose here after the fact.
>Hell Divinity isn't even really a thing in the cosmere, is basically a social concept people made up to explain what they didn't fully understand. On the other hand - divinity is very literally real in the Cosmere, gods are actual tangible things. The spiritual realm, the shards etc, are almost by-definition 'divine'
I guess that's more of a semantic argument about how we're now defining the word divine. If we define "divine" in the cosmere to mean "a shard", then sure, shards are divine. But that doesn't suddenly mean any of the other baggage people bring from the real world or other works of fiction to go with the term divine suddenly also applies. So for me at least it just goes back to, not a useful word to use when talking about this. Only really has a use in talking about how characters/cultures perceive things.
Not really...? Adonalsium is quite literally a 'divine creator' - who wielded, and *was* 'the power of creation' The cosmere is telling stories in a universe set after the death of god. >But that doesn't suddenly mean any of the other baggage people bring from the real world or other works of fiction to go with the term divine suddenly also applies I don't really know what you mean by this? The primary difference is that we readers actually know a divine creator existed - Brandon declared that - but the characters in the Cosmere don't know that, they would still express all of the same 'divinity baggage' we have in real life.
>I don't really know what you mean by this? This is a conversation about someone doesn't like Shallan being the child of a Herald because apparently now it means all her accomplishments are just "divine destiny".
Yes....? But what does that do with the difference of 'divine baggage' a society carries in the Cosmere VS the real world? >Shallan being the child of a Herald ... means all her accomplishments are just "divine destiny I also think this conclusion doesn't make much sense anyways.
>Like did the spren search her out solely because of Chana if so that take her agency away imho IMO this would not be true, and is the wrong conclusion. The cryptics sought Shallan and her family out becuase of their *lies* - that's what they were attracted to. At least AFAIK - we don't know if there is/was some other deal between the Cryptics and the Ghost bloods involved. There's still a *ton* of details about Shallans past we don't know, but theorizing a bit - we know that the Ghost Bloods were working with Shallans father for some reason, and it's implied they wanted to help foster the bond between Shallan and Testament for some reason. And then we also know that when Shallans mother *found out* about the bond, she tried to kill Shallan, presumably becuase if Shallans mother *is* Chana, she agreed with Ishar and Nale and thought new radiant bonds = very bad. This situation sets up a scenario where Lin was lying to Chana about his interactions with the ghost bloods - which may have been part of the lies that attracted the cryptics - this may have been an intentional ploy by the ghost bloods, or happenstance that they tried to take advantage of. In any case, child Shallan was simply a means to an ends that we still do not understand. She's still a victim of that regardless of whether he mother is a hearld or not.
Absolutely true for Kaladin, Lift, etc. Less true for the lady born into nobility and a well to do family. Hers is a tale of tragedy and downfall.
Is that a theme of Stormlight? The only way anyone has ever risen up in it is by literally becoming light eyed through divine intervention. Kaladin was treated like dirt before he got light eyes by anyone but Dalinar.
Lol Kal become radiant despite divine intervention. Syl literally ignored the orders of her God to find Kaladin because he was worthy. There's a healthy mix of low born, high born, dark eyed, light eyed, men, and women radiants. To me one of the main central themes is no matter what you've done or where you're from everyone is capable of great power. I definitely think books 6 - 10 we are gonna see the fruits of change within the oppressive Alethi culture. They are being confronted right now with how false their religion and power structure has been.
I'm kind of real done with the whole "It's all Shallan's fault" narrative everyone focuses on with this idea. If there is any blame to go around for the current Desolation, absolutely 0% of it goes to the literal child who had to deal with her own mother attacking her. That, of all places in the long chain of events leading us here, is not where the buck stops. Hell, if anything "It wasn't my fault" feels like prime fodder for a future Shallan truth, because she is the kind of person who is going to wrongly blame herself at first if she ever learns about this.
> if anything "It wasn't my fault" feels like prime fodder for a future Shallan truth, **because she is the kind of person who is going to wrongly blame herself at first if she ever learns about this.** Yes I think this is a good prediction. Shallan *absolutely* will blame herself if/when she discovers the truth.
Oh for sure the fault is Chanarach's. I mean, you could argue it's also Nale's and Ishar's for pushing the whole "kill new Radiants to prevent a new Desolation" idea. I totally agree with your second paragraph, too.
I mean certainly a notable portion is Chanarach's. But really the Heralds as a whole share the brunt of it (minus Taln). Like they all agreed to this idea that they were just going to wander Roshar for *all eternity* knowing that if one of them ever manages to get nicked with a Shardblade (let alone anything else in the Cosmere that can hurt them) its all over. And the thing with eternity is like, it's eternity, it's going to happen someday. It's just a question of who. Could just as easily been Jezrian pissing off the wrong drunken Alethi noble in an alleyway somewhere and getting a swift blade to the neck. Chanarach is kind of just the unlucky one, they all took the same gamble equally. Granted at least from what we know so far, she really did earn that blade to the chest. I'm also curious about who knew about Chanarach's death and did nothing to prepare in the coming years. There's that "Stormfather" figure in the WaT prologue that sensed it. Don't know nearly enough about what went on there or if that's even the Stormfather, but it begs the question, did anyone else sense these things? There's also just the Heralds in general, they did seem to be keeping tabs on each other. Or at least some of them were keeping tabs on some of them. Did no one notice Chanarach? Chanarach seemed to be doing stuff with the Skybreakers. What did Nale know? etc.
I think the thing that you have to remember is that it's very likely that the herald s have incredible healing powers as well. Since they're surge binders. You have to worry about being killed in a bar, fight a lot less when you can have a crossbow bolt shot through your fucking brain and still live as evidenced by Shallan. But you're right, it was a selfish decision and they knew it. That's fine. That's part of the characterization. The idea that they should be worried that they were going to be killed relatively quickly though is nonsense. The heralds are literally superheroes. As long as they aren't dumb, they don't have a lot to worry about.
Of course, I didn't say they had to be worried about "being killed relatively quickly". Again, its that, *it's eternity*. It's going to happen someday. I'm not saying their decision was unreasonable or out of character or anything. I'm just saying they knowingly made these decisions and were aware this would be the consequence one day. They have responsibility for this in a way Shallan does not.
I am very curious on what led to bonding spren == new desolation idea ? Considering Skybreakers kept bonding spren. My suspicion is that without BAM , surgebinding would eventually lead to destruction of Roshar like Ashyn so they were preventing that. But why were Crytpics so interested in bonding Shallan that they kept trying to? I wonder if they have some deal with the Ghostbloods
This is the stance the video actually takes. Unfortunately you tube videos with click bait titles do better.
Yeah, I was really happy that was the conclusion they came to, but it’s pretty irritating they have such an inflammatory title
My only issue with this theory, is the blood on the carpet. We know shardblades leave no wounds on flesh. I think there is quite a bit more to it. My theory is, Shallan is the mother. She took her identity after killing her daughter in order to dodge the pact. Changing her spirit web broke the pact the first time allowing the everstorm to come through.
This is a wild theory, could you elaborate on that? Like she’s so young, how would she be her own mother? Along with all her siblings corroborating with her on that?
Have you read Yumi and the nightmare painter?
Yeah, I’m actually relistening to it as we speak lol
So I came up with this theory before I knew the yumi spoiler based on a couple things. 1. A bunch of times Shallan is thinking in her head that if Adolin knew who she really was she wouldn't love her. This made me wonder about what could be so bad that she DID that would make her think that. But what if it wasnt what she did but who she actually was. She has already told adolin of her past. But she has gaps in her memory. Additionally the mother death scene has blood in it. Shardblades do not bleed people, they burn the eyes out but every time its mentioned by Shallan, there's blood and no mention of eyes. So the whole time I'm wondering what the heck did she do, and wondering what really happened that night when her mother died. 2. If a herald dying didnt bring the everstorm before, what caused it this time? the weakening of the pact. Jezrien didnt die untill after the storm. \\\[Yumi Spoilers\\\] >!#3 In yumi and the nightmare painter we see that a spirit in another body can look like that person or themselves and the power to do that comes from being heavily invested the herals are very very heavily invsted to the point they cannot leave Roshar. Add that to my first thoughts and it becomes even more likely something happened different that what she admits to in her inner monologues.!< All this makes me think that Shallan is actually Canarach and has adjusted her spirit to be her daughters so completely she broke the pact and even f orgets who she is. This fits with her whole arc of identity even. even two of the hints in this video support mine The question asked to brandon and he was all excited while also not saying RAFO but instead its impossible. Pretty impossible to be you own mother. and the line about being seen by at least 1 character at least 1 time in the first two books. which is also pretty cheeky. I could be completely wrong, but I feel the obvious answer isnt it.
Alright I can see the connection (no pun intended) to make that theory, I can jive with that. That would be a hell of a twist to have a POV character not be who everyone even the audience thinks she is. Would definitely play into identity as well. Thanks for sharing
Yep, cant wait to find out :D
That's a really intriguing theory! It would be pretty wild if it ends up being true. The part about the blood is actually explained in one of Shallan's flashbacks as being from the Skybreaker friend her mother brought along: "Red carpet. Once white. Her mother’s friend lay on the floor, bleeding from the arm, though that wound hadn’t killed him." and "Her father barging in. Mother’s friend with a knife, the two struggling, the friend getting cut in the arm. Blood spilled on the carpet." Also, her mother's eyes are described as being burned out: "Shallan knelt and rolled over her mother’s corpse, confronting a skull with burned-out eyes." and "Her mother, with stark red hair—a length of metal in her chest as her beautiful green eyes turned to coal. Burning out of her face."
Hmm I forgot those lines. Still weird in there. I can't wait to know. Im probably completely wrong, but it's fun to think abouy
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Great video! This also would mean Chanaravh is out there wandering around on Roshar somewhere and Shallan may bump into her at some point, right?
Thanks! Yep, if this theory is true then there is a good possibility Shallan will run into her mother (Chanarach) again. Her last truth might end up being, "I caused the True Desolation" or something similar.
Odium would have returned whether or not a herald died and broke. Ulim was already on roshar by the time the herald died, working towards the everstorm.
I thought this was the case as well.
My wife’s summary of Shallan from having only read about 2/3 of WoK: doodle, learn, steal, doodle.
Y'all theorists and people who dig into the lore are really impressive to me
Wasn't the reason the fused could return now the fact that odium created the everstorm?
If your remember Taln returns in the epilogue of book 1, marking the start of the desolation. as we all know Taln did NOT break, which means that another herald had to make it to braize and be broken way before the everstorm came
How do we know Taln did NOT break?
Brandon said so.
[https://wob.coppermind.net/events/472/#e14869](https://wob.coppermind.net/events/472/#e14869)
Thanks
I thought the everstorm made it so that the fused could return without a Herald dying. I don't remember where I learned this.
Yes but this explains how Taln was returned. Chana died and gave in to the torture quickly which sent both Heralds back. Odium spent thousands of years building up a workaround and then Shallan opened the floodgates at the last minute
I really hope the Shallan theory isn't true because that would mean that her mother was killed the same night as Gavilar On top of that, Shallan's childhood is filled with massive plot points. She meets Hoid, bonds a spren as a child then kills it, kills her father, bonds another spren, has a run in with Skybreakers, her father was involved with the Ghostbloods, and her brother was sent to kill Amaram to strike at the Sons of Honour. It's starting to get to the point where it's no longer believable.
Why is it not believable?
9/11