Warbreaker (91 page)

I imagine that Mercystar, somewhat vain though she is, intentionally hired men to be her guards who were of a kindly disposition. She’s a good woman, if a bit of a drama queen. In my mind, most of the people working in the Court of Gods are generally good people. But perhaps that’s my personal bias that religion—when it’s not being manipulated and used for terrible purposes—does wonderful things for people.

Vasher Fights the Guards, Then Creates a Lifeless Squirrel
[Contains Spoilers]

I wanted to show the creation of a Lifeless somewhere in this book, as I think the process is interesting. The drain of color happens in a slightly different way than in regular Awakening, though it’s similar. In this case, the creature draws color from its own body in order to come to life.

The better your imagining of the Command when you make it (not the orders you give it, but the one when you give it the Breath), the more intelligent and capable of following orders the Lifeless is. Later in the book, for instance, people are surprised at how good this little squirrel is at doing what it is told.

The contact Vasher mentions in this scene is Bluefingers. The little scribe is working very hard to push the court toward war, and he thinks that if Vasher sneaks into the hidden tunnels, he might do something dangerous like kill a few guards. More than that, Bluefingers is hoping that by giving away that tidbit of information, he might be able to get Vasher to trust him, therefore get the chance to manipulate him toward helping with the war.

At this point, Vasher has contacted Bluefingers pretending that he’s interested in the politics of the court and the war. Bluefingers inaccurately assumes—from intelligence he’s gathered, from what Denth has said, and from some faint awareness of who Vasher might be—that Vasher wants to drive Hallandren back to war with Idris. At the very least, Bluefingers assumes that Vasher will want to kill and destroy, since death and destruction have often been his wake.

And so, Bluefingers sells to Vasher a little tidbit that he assumes is innocent (the presence of the tunnels). This gives Vasher an unexpected edge. He now knows that it’s possible to get to the Lifeless garrison, and into the court itself, in ways nobody knows about. That makes him suspect that something greater might be going on, perhaps a coup of some sort.

I apologize for only showing little pieces of this in the book. But, to be honest, I don’t think it’s that interesting—mostly because everybody is so wrong about what they’re assuming. And the assumptions are rational enough that I think it would be confusing in the book. Vasher is wrong about the coup, and Bluefingers is wrong about Vasher’s motives. Denth only cares about getting a chance to punish Vasher for the death of his sister.

Back to Chapter Twenty-One

Annotations for Chapter Twenty-Two

Lightsong Plays Terachin With Three Other Gods

This is the newest scene in the book, added in the last revision before the novel went to copyedit. I added it for two reasons. My editor wanted to see another chapter between the previous Lightsong chapter and the next one. He felt that the god made up his mind to help Blushweaver too easily, and wanted to spend more time with Lightsong mulling over the decision.

I reacted quickly to the suggestion, as I’d been wanting to show Lightsong interacting with some of the other gods. It’s sometimes too easy for me to build my books around a small core cast and rarely involve any others, and I have to force myself to include more characters to round things out. This book had a distinct lack of scenes with “regular” gods. We got to see a lot of the exceptions, but never the run-of-the-mill divinities who make up the ranks.

I wanted to show how they schemed and how they acted. Putting Lightsong with three of them here helps the book quite a bit, I think. It makes the world feel more real and helps his character by providing contrast.

The game is something I developed in order to make this scene work. I wanted a divine game—one that wouldn’t require too much effort, would require a lot of preparation and extravagance, but would still qualify as a sport. So, we have a game where the gods can sit on a balcony attended by a fleet of servants and scribes tallying their throws.

When my editor read the scene, he loved it instantly. He called to tell me it was one of his favorites in the book, partially because of some particularly good Lightsong quips. He says that he fully expects some Sanderson book readers to develop the rules for the game someday, then play it at a con.

Vivenna Goes to Two Restaurants to Meet with Crime Lords

Can you tell that I hate seafood? How does anyone eat that stuff? I mean, honestly. I’ve been forced to choke down raw clams before, and it was just about one of the most traumatic events in my life.

Only Potential Heirs of Idris Have Royal Locks

This is true. It’s not a matter of genetics, but lineage. That’s a subtle distinction. Only the children of the person who ends up inheriting will have the Royal Locks. (Though there are a couple of notable exceptions to this, they won’t show up in this book, as it will take another novel to explain why and how the Royal Locks really work. If I ever write a sequel, that should be in it.)

This factoid about the Royal Locks should be one of several hints about the lineage of the Idrian crown. There is something odd about their heritage.

Clod the Lifeless

Yes, Clod is Arsteel, in case you were wondering. After Vasher killed him, Denth’s team decided to have him made into a Lifeless. Partially because Denth was curious if it was possible, and partially because Arsteel was such a capable warrior that they knew he’d make for an excellently skilled Lifeless. It isn’t as good as having Arsteel himself, of course, but Clod is probably the greatest Lifeless swordfighter in existence right now in the entire world. Literally.

Another tidbit that never comes up is that Jewels was in love with Arsteel, which is the primary reason why she joined Denth’s team in the first place. Arsteel joined it because he wanted to try to redeem Denth; he felt that a reconciliation between Denth and Vasher was possible, and as a peacemaker, he thought he might be able to make it happen. As for why Vasher killed him...well, I’m afraid that’s another story that will have to wait for the sequel.

Jewels is still in love with him. And yes, she still sleeps with him on occasion. And yes, she’s a little bit unhinged emotionally and mentally because of his death.

Vivenna at the Safe House

Vivenna is right about what happens to a person when they lose their Breath. It
is
a part of your soul, and without one, you are more prone to depression, you get sick much more easily, and you’re generally more irritable.

I included this mention here because I’m betting that most people who read the book side with Denth and assume he’s right when he talks about these things. But don’t be too judgmental about the Idrians—yes, they’re biased, but the Hallandren are too in a lot of ways. It’s not as simple as one side always being right and the other wrong. In this case, the Idrian teachings are correct, and most Hallandren are looking for justifications when they say that giving up one’s Breath isn’t all that damaging to them.

Spoilers

Yes, Denth is inhumanly fast. He’s a Returned, after all, and has all of the physical enhancements that come with that. Even when he’s chosen not to manifest most of them, he’s still got an edge, just like Vasher does.

How do they hide that they’re Returned? Well, it comes down to mastery of their ability to change their appearance. They can’t shape-shift entirely; they can just alter some things about their appearance. They can change their weight, their hair color, and things like that at will. Vasher doesn’t do this often, but Denth has been known to use it as a disguise. The problem, once you do this once and someone realizes it, your nature becomes very suspect.

They have learned to suppress their divine Breath. This allows them to hide, but they must be careful never to give away all of their Breath. Denth has been a Drab before—he’s not completely lying—but never for longer than a few days. And his divine Breath is always there, suppressed. So he doesn’t know what it’s like to be a true Drab, which is why in this chapter he says he doesn’t think it changes you that much. He’s never felt it.

Tonk Fah is a sociopath. He doesn’t feel an emotional connection to other people, nor does he feel their pain when he hurts them. He tortures and kills animals when it strikes his fancy. There’s actually a dead parrot in the basement of the safe house, which is why Denth keeps Vivenna from going down there. There aren’t any bodies of Idrian soldiers down there currently, though Denth has had a few of them killed already. The fact that he has people watching their house, plus Vivenna’s mention of her father’s soldiers checking Lemex’s house first, are tiny clues. They do indeed go there first, and Denth has his people there watching. That’s how he catches the Idrian soldiers.

By this point in the story, he’s killed about three people who have come looking for Vivenna. The death count will eventually reach several dozen.

Back to Chapter Twenty-Two

Annotations for Chapter Twenty-Three

Lightsong Visits Blushweaver While She’s Enjoying a Gardener’s Art

One of the things I wanted to do with this book was come up with different kinds of art that the gods could enjoy—things that we wouldn’t normally look at as traditional “art” but which in this world have been developed to the point that they’re just that.

I liked the concept of a gardener whose art came from the movement and arrangement of pots of flowers and plants into patterns on the fly, like—as Lightsong says—the leader of a musician leading an orchestra. He directs, gesturing and pointing, and dozens of servants rush about, holding different pots. Then they set them down and retreat, leaving them for a few moments. Then it repeats, different servants rushing in with other pots and laying them in other patterns. A little like synchronized swimming, but with plants.

Blushweaver and Lightsong Visit Mercystar

Just like the last scene showed off what a lot of the standard gods are like, Mercystar is supposed to hint at what a lot of the goddesses are like. I think that there would be a good number of them who would turn out just like this—given anything they want, told how important they are, and blessed with a beautiful and perfect body no matter what they eat or how they act. Imagine what that must do to a person.

A lot of alpha readers, upon reaching this chapter, said things like, “I was really waiting for something like this to happen,” or “This is just what Lightsong needed.” They’re referring to him beginning to investigate the death. (A lot of these comments come from the next Lightsong scene too, after we’re certain this little plot structure isn’t going away.)

They’re noticing something that I did—that Lightsong needed something to drive him, something to keep him proactive. Something that wasn’t just a political game. I like this sequence a lot, and it’s an example of something that developed during the writing process rather than being planned out ahead of time. I just felt I needed something else, a way to have Lightsong be involved, but which would also give me a chance to start delving into his past.

The Priests Give an Account of the Murder

This should set off red flags, since you saw what happened that night. Vasher didn’t kill the man who was tied up, nor did he flee out the way he had come. He went into the tunnels.

Someone else was there that night. I hope that readers can put that together from the discussion; if not, however, the next Lightsong chapter lends some explanations to the occurrence.

Back to Chapter Twenty-Three

Annotations for Chapter Twenty-Four

Siri Visits the Palace Library

The Priests here think that Siri is making a play for power, asserting her will in the palace. They wouldn’t have stopped her from reading in the library, if she’d wanted to. Treledees just wants to enforce his will over her and show that she can’t bully the priests. They’re worried about her trying to assert her independence. They assume she already knows the things in the histories that Bluefingers mentions, and so they aren’t concerned about her studying them.

Siri mentions sounding out words as she reads. This was actually a very common thing in most cultures, even literate ones, up until the modern era. People would speak to themselves as they read. Even someone who could read, like Siri, wouldn’t be particularly accustomed to reading. Their society didn’t demand it the same way that ours does.

In her scenes with the God King, I didn’t have her sound out the words for reasons of brevity and clarity. However, if you were there watching, you’d hear her reading out loud each word that the God King wrote on his board.

Susebron and Siri Chat

This first scene with the two of them chatting is one I’d been looking forward to writing since the beginning. Siri’s scenes become much more interesting to me now that she has someone to talk to. Plus, their relationship is—in my opinion—the most natural romantic relationship I’ve ever written. I’m not sure why that is. They just seem to naturally fall for one another in a way that seems smoother to me than Sarene/Raoden or Vin/Elend.

The priests know about Susebron’s book of stories from his mother, but they haven’t had the heart to take it away from him. They know how he cherishes it, and they don’t see any real danger in him having it. They think it’s just a memento of his mother.

I worry that Susebron is too innocent in his regard for sex. Some readers like this; others think it’s unrealistic. He’d have had sexual urges, after all. It comes down to the question, how natural is it? If someone had never had sex before, and had never had it explained to them or had friends to talk with about it, would they know what to do? I’ll bet they could figure it out, but I’m not sure it would be something one could simply reason out ahead of time.