Warbreaker (100 page)

Annotations for Chapter Fifty-Four

Vivenna Meets with the Beggar, Then Goes to Get Nightblood

She lays it on a little thick here. But hey, if you’re a beggar, sometimes you like to be brownnosed. Plus, she’s new to this kind of thing, and she
did
give him a very pretty handkerchief...

It was sad to kill off Old Chaps so fast, but at least he went out with style. Besides, he wasn’t a very good person, as you can guess. He quite literally sold out his own mother once. He wanted her apartment, so he pinned a theft on her when he was a teenager. That’s the room where he was still living. He didn’t realize, in his youth, that she didn’t even own the place, and all he ended up inheriting was a rent payment. Not exactly the brightest guy around. But at least he waited until after she had died in prison to tie rocks to her feet and toss her into the bay.

Nightblood was interesting to write in this book as he makes a very nice contrast to Vasher. Vasher doesn’t want to say anything about his past; he’s so tight-lipped about it that he rarely even spends any time thinking about it. Nightblood, however, dwells quite heavily on the past. Though in some ways his mind is very capable, he has the quirk of being an Awakened object. The first hours of his life—during which time he met Shashara, Denth, and Vasher—imprinted heavily on him. It’s like...a part of his mind is hard forged in that moment with read-only memory that cannot be changed. Much of him can learn and grow, despite what Vasher says, but he cannot overwrite those initial concepts, states, and understandings that were burned into him during his birth. Shashara was alive then, so he will always think of her as alive, even if thousands of years have passed. Denth will always be pleased with him. Vasher will always be friends with the other two. Those things were some of Nightblood’s first impressions.

Vasher is Tortured More

It’s very important to note that Vasher is hiding and saving his strength here. Writing his scenes here was tricky, since I knew that he would need to be able to pull off some feats of strength later in the book. I figured that one night of torture wouldn’t do very much to him, though I also didn’t want to spoil the tension by drawing too much attention to that fact.

Denth is frustrated, here, that he’s not enjoying the process of torturing his old friend—much as he’s frustrated with his life as it exists presently. He wants so badly to just be the carefree, work-for-whoever-pays thug. But he can’t. He can’t be like Tonk Fah, and it frustrates him. Hurting Vasher hurts Denth too, as it reminds him of so many things that have been lost.

Siri Is Taken to the God King, Then Discovers Who Is Really Behind the Attacks

I’m hoping that by this point, readers will be very confused about the nature of this third force that is attacking. I hope it’s the good kind of confusion, though.

Let me explain. When I write, I sometimes want to inspire confusion. It helps keep the mysteries of the book shadowed and vague. It helps the reader connect with the characters, who—presumably—are also confused. But there’s a danger here in being too confusing. If the readers think that they’ve missed something, or if they can’t follow what is going on at all, then they will just put down the book.

The trick is to make certain to telegraph that the characters are confused as well, as I mentioned above. If the reader knows that they are supposed to be searching for answers, then it will be all right. (As long as it doesn’t get prolonged artificially.) If, instead, they get the impression that the author has simply made a mistake and isn’t explaining things clearly, they’ll react very differently.

Anyway, I hope that you’re feeling the first and not the second. The twist of who is really behind everything should come as a shock, but I hope that it’s also well foreshadowed. The big clincher is the question that, perhaps, you’ve been asking this entire book. If the war is going to be so bad for everyone involved, then who could possibly be pushing for it to occur?

I’ve seeded quite a number of hints about the Pahn Kahl in the book. The first is Vahr and his rebellion, but there are a number of others. The first time that Siri assumes Bluefingers worships the Returned, he purses his lips in annoyance. We’ve got a lot of little hints like that that the Pahn Kahl are frustrated by their place in the empire. They controlled this land long ago; we discovered that from Hoid’s storytelling.

It’s well foreshadowed, but I still worry that it will be too surprising to people. This is primarily because I think that readers will just pass over the Pahn Kahl while reading. They’re forgettable by design. Easy to ignore, and most of the other characters have trouble remembering that they aren’t just Hallandren. They aren’t an angry and vocal minority, like the Idrians. They’re just there, or at least that’s how everyone sees them.

One of my big goals for this book, however, was to have a good reversal for who is the bad guy pulling the strings. It’s not the high priest. It’s not the crafty god. It’s not even the brutal mercenary. It’s the simple, quiet scribe. It’s one of the biggest conceptual reversals in the book. Hopefully it works for you.

Siri Saves Them from Bluefingers

Some people, as I’ve said, have complained about Siri’s damsel in distress place in the book during the next couple of chapters. I want to draw their attention to this chapter, however, which is where she shines. She’s in control and careful. She’s become a leader out of necessity. She’s able to make demands of Treledees and get answers. And she’s gotten good enough at politics to make the connection that nobody else did, seeing through Bluefingers’s ploy.

If she hadn’t acted here in this chapter, this book would have ended very differently. She saved Susebron’s life here. Because of what she did, Bluefingers wasn’t able to implement his plan to sneak the two of them out onto the waiting boat in the Inner Sea. Her delay gave just enough time that Bluefingers had to go with his secondary plan of getting the God King to the dungeons for the next few chapters.

More than that, however, Siri became the person she needed to in these chapters. She was able to grow as much as Vivenna, but she didn’t have to be knocked down for it to happen first.

Lightsong Gives Up

Oddly, Lightsong’s character arc here in this chapter was to give in. To give up, to abandon his mocking and his glibness. To finally accept what he’s been pretending all this time. That he’s useless.

Back to Chapter Fifty-Four

Annotations for Chapter Fifty-Five

Treledees Almost Tells Siri about the God King and How to Pass On His Breath

We get to see more of Siri taking charge here. In this tense situation, a lot of others would have been reduced to hysterics, but she’s come into her own, taking command, trying to get the information she needs.

Treledees lies to her here about two things. First off, he
does
know how a God King can have a child, but he also knows that the secret is also held by a secure group of priests on the islands. He doesn’t think letting Siri in on that one for now is a good idea. But he does want to pass on how to get Susebron’s Breaths away from him, should it become necessary. He knows that those
need
to be passed on, even if the God King does have a child. That’s the greater secret, but the one that needs to be known to Siri. Those Breaths cannot die with Susebron.

So, anyway, he’s lying about the God King not being able to have a child. (Or at least he steps around it. He says that the God King can’t sire a child, which is true unless certain steps are taken. He also says that he doesn’t know how the First Returned bore a child, which is true—he doesn’t know for certain if the First Returned used the same method that Treledees knows. He’s also sidestepping the fact that he
does
believe that the blood of the First Returned flows in the veins of the royal Idrian line.)

So why not bring this up in the book? Well, I learned in
Elantris
that it’s easy to overtwist an ending by having too many reveals. This is a very small point, and there is good rationalization for why Treledees doesn’t let on what he knows. So I felt it was better to let the story stand as is, without delving into this.

Of course, there is a hint in the text about it—or just a question. If they only just depended on a Returned child taking Susebron’s place, then why were they worried about Siri having sex with Susebron? They didn’t need her to sleep with him unless they expected that sex to do something.

I’m sorry to leave this issue a mystery, and I’m even more sorry to not explain how Susebron can give away his Breaths. It’s not important to this book, and so I felt that having Treledees give the explanation here would just bog things down. I’d rather wait until a sequel, where I detail the magic system in a more complete form, to give you these explanations.

That leaves us with the cliché of someone who
almost
passes on information, then dies. As I said, I am sorry to do this. I almost didn’t put it in, but I felt it very important to include something that let you know that the priests
did
have a way to get those Breaths.

Note that Treledees is not lying about letting Susebron live out his life with Siri in peace. They have allowed previous God Kings to do that, once they had a successor in place.

The Priests Sacrifice Themselves

As I said, one of the reversals for this book is a reversal of my own books, where priests have traditionally been the bad guys. Here, Treledees and his people throw their lives away in an attempt to save Susebron. They’re zealous; I would say too zealous. But they’re good men, trying their best to serve their god. They go to their graves in that service.

Vivenna Sneaks (Poorly) into the Court of Gods

We also show Vivenna being very proactive here. Both of the sisters are having a much larger effect on events here than their male counterparts. There are a few interesting things to note in here.

First is Nightblood’s mention of Yesteel. I believe this is the first mention of him in the book. If you’ve been paying attention, you probably realized that there was one person missing out of the Five Scholars. Vasher, Denth, Arsteel, Shashara...and this guy. You’ll see him in the sequel. (And yes, he’s much better at sneaking than Vasher or Vivenna.)

Another note here is that Nightblood can sense where Vasher is. This is because Nightblood has ingested and fed off of Vasher’s Breaths in the past. When he does that, it connects him to someone. It’s also, by the way, one of the secrets as to why Vasher doesn’t get sick when holding Nightblood, even though he’s a good person. It’s not simply familiarity (though that is part of it). Nightblood has a built-in test. If he feeds off of you and you survive, then you become somewhat immune to his powers.

Vivenna Throws Nightblood at the Soldiers

These men in soldier uniforms, as hinted at by how they react to Nightblood, are just a bunch of Denth’s mercenaries wearing uniforms to hide them. The guards at the front gates, however, are actual court guards. They don’t know that insurgents are now in control of the palace; they’re confused and are taking orders from Bluefingers, whom they see as someone with respect and authority.

The priests of the various gods are not so accommodating. There’s mass chaos among them, though many parts of the city don’t even know something strange is going on. The tunnels out of the Court of Gods are clogged with priests getting their various deities out of danger, which is why Bluefingers is slightly frustrated in the Siri scenes. He can’t get the God King out to the boat he has waiting. (He wants to keep him as a prisoner. Executing him as he outlines to Siri is a backup plan, one he decides to implement.)

Lightsong Notices the Pahn Kahl are Imitating Priests

If you’re still confused about this, most of the priests you’ve seen in the Lightsong sections are Pahn Kahl scribes imitating priests to increase confusion. The skin tone is the clue, and Lightsong noticed it a chapter or two back, but couldn’t figure out what exactly was bothering him.

The previous chapters of the book—everything before the evening of Lightsong’s infiltration of the tunnels—never included Pahn Kahl imitating priests. We’ve only seen them a couple of places, mostly in the Lightsong sections here.

Bluefingers Explains That He Has to Execute Siri

Bluefingers is right when he says that there’s a good chance Idris will do better in the war than everyone assumes. Of course, the main reason they’ll do better is because of how the Lifeless were launched without support or planning.

If this war were allowed to progress, Idris would be able to draw support from across the mountains (as I mentioned earlier), and Yesteel’s ability to create swords like Nightblood would end with T’Telir falling and then the entire world itself being cast into chaos and destruction.

Back to Chapter Fifty-Five

Annotations for Chapter Fifty-Six

Vivenna Saves Vasher—Kind Of

Vivenna has a few things going for her here. First off, Denth has gotten rid of his Breath. He doesn’t want to have it as he tortures Vasher. It made him too aware, too pained. Being a drab as he does it is easier for him. With Tonks dozing, that means that nobody in the room has enough life sense to notice Vivenna hanging outside.

Secondly, Denth doesn’t really like what he’s doing. He feels he took Vasher too easily, and the torture isn’t satisfying. He’d much rather kill Vasher in a fight, as he later realizes. So there’s some hesitance to him in this scene, as you might notice. He doesn’t just stab Vasher or Vivenna. He goes to free Tonk Fah, then hesitates before turning back and challenging Vasher. Denth was actually hoping that something like this would happen. (Plus, he does care for his friend Tonk Fah. Again, Denth is far from purely evil, no matter what he would like people to assume.)