#Shalash Stormlight

[wyndlerunner]

“Are you worth it?” She rested her hands on Taln’s arm. “Do you know the price that was paid on a distant world for your peace, by a man who never wanted this? A man who would have been content with his horses? Are you worth it?”

“I don’t know,” Adolin said, honest.

[blindradiant]

I’m wondering about the Heralds’ relationship with their associated Radiant orders. Like obviously Nale has had a lot of influence over the Skybreakers. He’s the Herald of that order, a Skybreaker himself, and the only living one who has sworn the Fifth Ideal. Modern Skybreakers are the way they are largely because of Nale’s direction and enforcement of the order’s structure and methods.

But what about the other Heralds? Have any of them been involved with the Radiants at all, or do they try to forget? Does it depend on the Herald?

I don’t know if Jezrien was aware enough to be involved with the Windrunners before Moash killed him. We know pretty much nothing about Chanah and Vedel. I wonder what they think about modern Dustbringers and Edgedancers. Same with Pailiah and the Truthwatchers. I kind of think Ash would have absolutely no interest in being associated with the Lightweavers, and would actively try to distance herself as much as human(ish)ly possible. Batah and the Elsecallers??? Kalak is another one who I think would try to avoid any reminders of the past. Taln has been locked on Braize for 4500 years, and is now in no shape to be involved with the Stonewards. And we’ve seen how Ishar treats Dalinar.

I just think there’s a lot of potential to see how Heralds who aren’t Nale might have guided their Radiants at various points over time

[themetalhiro]

[gavilarkholin-deactivated116710]

I think Ash is going to be a bit resentful of Kaladin at first. Like really, the other heralds accepted this 21yo punk as their leader/therapist? And they don't treat him like a child for 60 years?? So unfair

[kevin-sedai]

"'Slaughter them,' Abidi ordered. 'It will demoralize the defenders.'

Silence. Oh, people were whimpering or groaning. Some wounded soldiers were standing up, trying to find weapons. But it was silence in one stark way that made Ash shiver.

Taln had stopped whispering.

The bed behind her creaked and shifted, and she blinked away tears to look up. To see him towering there in the shadows at the end of the hall.

One of the Fused at the other end of the room raised a sphere. Then tossed it their direction.

Then gasped.

In the light, Taln stood bare chest and wearing only short breeches, practically filling the hallway that had been made into a sick room. His hands clenched into fists.

'You fools,' Ash said to the Fused. 'You could have had the city, but you came here. For the broken.'

Abidi pointed, seeing them for the first time, and his eyes went wide with abject horror. It was so satisfying to watch him turn and flee. Because Talenel'Elin, unarmed and without his Blade, was still the most terrifying warriors on the planet.

A crash broke the silence, windows cracking, air rushing to fill the hole Taln left when he moved. And for the first time in over four thousand years, the Bearer of Agonies fought back."

-Wind and Truth, Brandon Sanderson

[17th-shard]

November 2024 Art Commission

We've got a bit of a backlog to get through, so I'll cut right to the chase: ART! PRETTY PRETTY ART! But also SPOILERY ART. If you've read Wind and Truth, or just like living life on the edge, see below the cut for the full piece. Otherwise, skedaddle.

Without further ado, here are the Heralds of War and Beauty kicking some Fused ash, illustrated by Caio Santos:

While you're at it, why not check out Caio's other Taln too?

The observant among you might notice that Wind and Truth wasn't out in November 2024. Are we time travelers??

Alas, the answer is more mundane: our Patrons (who get to vote on commission topics) elected to save the September, October, and November 2024 budgets until after it came out. So expect more art very soon!

(And by that I mean very soon, because those of us who run this page kind of missed the most recent ones and are now playing catch-up... If you don't want to deal with our forgetfulness, we humbly and non-biasedly suggest joining our Patreon, where someone with a better memory than us always remembers to post them right away! Don't worry, the free tier still gets to see all the final pieces, it's just voting on upcoming ones that's restricted to the paid tiers because it's their money we're spending.)

[theskytraveler]

Honestly the biggest plot twist of this book so far is that Ash sees Taln as a brother and not her boyfriend/situationship

[thatsastepladder]

https://bsky.app/profile/17thshard.com/post/3lgy3tppzd22w

Pictured: me and my mutuals after blocking legions of pornbots in our follower lists.

(Art by blacksalander.bsky.social for the 17th Shard.)

[theelfdruid]

A long overdue doodle once againat the request of my friend, namely that Taln would probably get along GREAT with kids (Ash... maybe not so much), who also propositioned the idea of a therapy book club at Urithiru that I ran out of steam to do. Bonus points if you know the exact video I referenced Taln's pose from

Proper drawings coming soon... someday.

[shouldprobablybereading]

Who the fuck is Baxil?

[zadrinz]

Shalash, Herald of Beauty (Fanart)

[toxictrannyfreak]

TWoK chapter 55 death rattle:

“A woman sits and scratches out her own eyes. Daughter of kings and winds, the vandal.”

—Dated Palahevan, 1173, 73 seconds pre-death. Subject: a beggar of some renown, known for his elegant songs.

Shalash! Destroying images of herself and the other heralds, “scratching out her own eyes”. She’s the daughter of Jezrien, Herald of Kings, and apparently either she or her mother had some connection to the Wind?

[happy-little-cloud]

Is there an in text explanation or WOB that discusses the common ground between the dead eye spren and Shalash scratching out the eyes on her art? In ROW when adolin, shallan, and crew enter shadesmar, adolin even directly describes Maya as looking like a work of art with scratched out eyes.

From my current remembrance, I'd guess it's the way shalash's insanity is presenting in possibly seeing herself as an abandoned tool, and representing her broken bond in regards to the oathpact.

I dont remember where, but I also recall shalash saying something about not wanting to be deified before destroying her likeness so it could be a coincidence, but it seems too similar for that to be the case.

[thisgalliz]

Recently started rereading stormlight, shalash was totally at the feast. I mean restares (I forget his herald name) mentioned seeing the work of another herald using she/her, her statue was missing (she defaces depictions of herself), AND there was an unusual person jasnah met with (who had a shardblade)

[onaslansside]

Lego Digital Designer versions of the Heralds from The Stormlight Archive (all made before the “official” art came out, but since those are also supposed to be based on legends rather than actually seeing them...I’m satisfied)

[lesbianimus]

Quick Stormlight theory from a conversation with a friend

(WaT chapter 29)

This scene finally confirmed that Shallan actually went to Shadesmar physically in WoK, during the scene where she asks to be Jasnah's ward for real. At the time, Shallan explains this as her two spren pulling her into shadesmar, but later, after talking to her mother, Shallan thinks

(Wat chapter 118)

The heralds were all Surgebinders on Ashyn. We don't know how Ashyn surgebinding works, but we know that it tended to run in families (see: Shalash and Jezrien, Makibak and Nale). Lots of invested powers in the cosmere are inherited (see: allomancy, ferucmhemy, the royal locks of nalthis, whatever the fuck is happening on Threnody), so it's reasonable to guess that Ashyn surgebinding might've been inherited too. What if Shallan inherited the surge of Transportation from her mother, in the same way that a mistborn might have a misting child? The descriptions of her looking and falling into shadesmar are very similar to descriptions of Venli using Transportation.

If that's the case, then she'd likely have a resonance between Transportation and Lightweaving. That resonance would be something radiants can't normally do, because there is no radiant order with both of those surges. We know from her conversation with Kelek that Shallan's ability to see the Spiritual is not commonly found among radiants

(WaT chapter 7) I think that Shallan's ability to see the Spiritual might be a resonance between Lightweaving and Transportation. Lightweaving has a spiritual component (best seen in how Truthwatchers use it), and Transportation is used to see into Shadesmar as well as visit it. The ability to see into (and perhaps even visit) the Spiritual realm seems like a possible resonance for those two abilities, and it would fully explain all the weird unexplained shit we've seen Shallan do if that's the case. It also makes sense that, when Honor was picking the surges to grant his heralds, he'd avoid this particular combination -- Tanavast fears the Spiritual Realm (see the vorin prohibition on future sight, and Stormfather's objection to Dalinar's journey during the final 10 days), so when organizing the Oathpact, he would not have wanted heralds having this resonance.