Warbreaker (92 page)
Authors: Brandon Sanderson
Perhaps Susebron’s innocence is a bit of a stretch, but I believe it’s a possible reaction—if not the average one—to his seclusion.
Annotations for Chapter Twenty-Five
Vivenna and the Mercenaries Attack the Salt Merchant’s Shop
A very quick and efficient way to hurt the future Hallandren war. Denth doesn’t mention that there are ways of preserving meat (drying and smoking) that don’t require salt—but even in most jerky methods, one uses a brine solution, so his argument is reasonably satisfactory.
Vivenna notices the Tears of Edgli here, the flowers that drive Hallandren wealth and trade. I added these in an early draft, as I realized that there needed to be a cheap, easy source for all of those dyes the Hallandren use. (This was pointed out to me by my friend Jeff Creer, I believe.) The Tears offer something else as well—a reason for the wealth of the people. In early times, dye trades were extremely lucrative, and being able to control a method by which unusual dyes could be created would have been a very good basis for an economy.
I also like what it does for the flavor of Hallandren as a whole. This story happens in the place that is, in most fantasy books, far away. A lot of fantasy novels like to make their setting someplace akin to rural England, and they’ll talk of distant countries that have exotic spices, dyes, and trade goods.
Well, in this world, Hallandren is that place. It’s at the other end of the silk road, so to speak.
Vivenna Talks to Jewels about Religion
I’m very conscious of the fact that all of my major viewpoint characters in this book—Lightsong included—don’t believe in the Hallandren religion. That worries me because the book presents a very one-sided view of their beliefs.
Religion isn’t a simple thing. In my books so far, I fear that I’ve presented the religions in a far too one-sided way. Hrathen with his Shu-Dereth, the Lord Ruler and his religion—these were not the types of religions that are very enticing to readers. The characters, even those viewpoint characters who followed the religions, didn’t present them very well. (And, in truth, the Lord Ruler’s religion—the Steel Ministry—was a pretty despicable religion.)
In this book, I wanted to present several different viable religions. There is something to be said for Austrism, with its goodly monks and teachings on humility through the Five Visions. But it’s a very superstitious and xenophobic religion at the same time, and it is very biased against the magic of the world. The Hallandren religion has more going for it than the characters would like to accept.
So, even though most readers might consider this a throwaway scene between Vivenna and Jewels, is a very important one to me. It is the place where we get to see a follower of the Iridescent Tones really stand up for what they believe. Vivenna deserves to be smacked down here, I think.
Vivenna Talks to Denth, and Considers Her Faith
Vivenna’s line here—to believe is to be arrogant—is something I’ve thought about a lot myself. How do you believe that you’re right, yet also not be dismissive of others or arrogant about it?
This applies to more than just religion. It bothers me that in things like religion or politics, our natural inclination as human beings is to assume the worst about the other guy. If you look at the recent political elections in the United States, it seems that the other side—whichever side—can never do anything right. There is no candidate that the Republicans could have chosen who the Democrats wouldn’t have dismissed completely, and vice versa.
Isn’t it possible for you to think that you’re right without deciding that any who believe differently are stupid and corrupt?
I believe that my religion is true. And, by the definition of that religion, it means that everyone else is wrong. And yet my religion teaches me to be humble. I think there’s a way to do that and hold to your belief, but it seems to require more effort than a lot of people are willing to make.
Annotations for Chapter Twenty-Six
Lightsong Gets Up Early, Excited
Let this be a lesson to aspiring writers. People’s reaction to these Lightsong sections—where he goes to investigate the murder—is proof of a long-standing rule of writing. Characters who do things are more interesting than those who don’t.
Now, this may seem obvious to you. But let me assure you, when you start to write, you will often be tempted to include viewpoint characters with internal conflicts. Many times, poorly written, these conflicts turn into the character being inactive. They can’t decide about things, or they’re a coward, or they’re depressed or indifferent. All of these things are flaws the characters are going to grow out of during the story, and you’re very tempted to build them into the character as a way of giving the character more growth and things to overcome.
That’s not a bad instinct, but it’s much more difficult to pull off than you think. The problem is that a lot of characters like that don’t really
do
anything for the first part of the story. They’re reactive, and they don’t care about the plot, which makes the reader not care about the plot.
Until you’ve practiced a while, might I suggest that you stick with characters who are passionate about what they’re doing and who try consistently to achieve their goals? Give them different internal conflicts, things that don’t keep them from acting. Learning to write a good book is tough enough without tackling an inactive character in your first few stories.
Lightsong Sees the Painting of the Red Battle
This is our first major clue (though a subtle one at the same time) that there might be something to the religion of the Iridescent Tones. Lightsong does see something in this painting that a regular person wouldn’t be able to. A well crafted piece of art, made by a person channeling the Tones and connected to them via Breath, can speak to a Returned. Now, in this case, it doesn’t work quite like Llarimar says it does—Lightsong doesn’t actually prophesy about the black sword in the way the priest thinks. In other words, Lightsong isn’t prophesying that he’ll see the Black Sword (Nightblood) in the day’s activities.
Instead, Lightsong is seeing an image of a previous war, which is prophetic in that another Manywar is brewing—and in both cases, Nightblood will be important to the outcome of the battle.
To continue, I go into spoilers.
Spoilers
The person Lightsong sees in the abstract painting is Shashara, Denth’s sister, one of the Five Scholars and a Returned also known as Glorysinger by the Cult of the Returned. She is seen here in Lightsong’s vision as she’s drawing Nightblood at the battle of Twilight Falls. It’s the only time the sword was drawn in battle, and Vasher was horrified by the result.
It’s because of her insistence on using the sword in battle, and in giving away the secret to creating more, that Vasher and she fought. He ended up killing her with Nightblood, which they’d created together during the days they were in love—he married her a short time before their falling out. That marriage ended with him slaying his own wife to keep her from creating more abominations like Nightblood and loosing them upon the world.
Nightblood is part of a much larger story in this world. He’s dropped casually into this particular book, more as a side note than a real focus of what’s going on, but his own role in the world is much, much larger than his supporting part here would indicate.
Also, just so you know, the second person who snuck into the palace was Denth—tailing Vasher, trying to decide what he was up to. Bluefingers let Denth know that Vasher would try to enter, but warned him not to attack the man. Not while it could expose Denth and possibly Bluefingers.
Denth would have attacked anyway, if he’d decided he had a good opportunity. But he didn’t, and he decided it was better to watch.
And yes, he’d hidden away his Breath so that Vasher couldn’t sense him following.
Lightsong Inspects the Murder Scene Again
The interesting thing about this scene is that it reveals almost nothing about what happened. At least, it doesn’t reveal anything to the readers.
However, it reveals a whole lot about Lightsong as a character. I waited until he’d been established before starting to bring up questions like the ones in this chapter, where I begin to dig deeply into who he was before he died. In a way, he’s not investigating the murder so much as he is investigating himself—and that’s why the scene works, even though we know the information about the murders he reveals. (Though we don’t know who that second person was. Unless you read the spoiler above, of course.)
Annotations for Chapter Twenty-Seven
Bluefingers Avoids Siri, So She Goes to Find Lightsong
I considered having the men performing the athletics competitions in the court be naked. After all, there’s been so much female nudity in the book so far that it would only be fair to balance it out . . .
I decided it would just be gratuitous. Just because the Greeks competed nude doesn’t mean that it would naturally happen everywhere else. Still, thinking of how much it would embarrass Siri almost made me put it in. ;)
The toughest thing to balance about Lightsong was how genuine to make his sense of indolence. His discussion with Siri here is probably the most candid he ever gets in the book in regard to the fact that, in part, he’s just putting on a show with all of his humor and remarks. They’re intended to distract, and are also a subtle commentary on what he thinks of the other gods and the way they’re all treated.
The problem is, unless he really
is
somewhat like he pretends to be, it wouldn’t work at all. His advice here to Siri is based on his perception of the world.
When he first Returned, his first inclination was to act like this. (I believe he brings that out later in the book.) However, after meeting Calmseer and having a relationship with her (it wasn’t love, not in the traditional respect; more of a sincere mutual respect that turned physical), he spent a lot of time trying to be the god who everyone expected him to be. He failed miserably, and his people were dissatisfied with him. He blames his failure mostly on the other gods, who mocked him for turning into a hypocrite.
So he returned to being Lightsong the indolent, and he sharpened his wit against the others and let loose with as much vengeance as he could muster. The others weren’t offended, however—they just took it as natural that he act that way. We find him several years after that in this book, where he’s just given up on being able to change things.
Annotations for Chapter Twenty-Eight
Vivenna Drinks Juice at an Outdoor Restaurant and Plans the Meeting with the Idrian Leaders in the City
Here we have Vivenna showing off her end of the reversal quite well. This is one of the few places where I have a character point out the reversal taking place. Vivenna has learned to blend into Hallandren—she’s learned not to judge quite so much. She’s still not where she needs to be, but the transformation is happening.
The conversation she has with Denth, where he discusses every man seeing himself as a hero in his own story, is a kind of subtheme for this book. In this novel, everyone does think they’re doing what’s best. The only exception to that is, perhaps, Denth himself—which makes the conversation particularly poignant.
This is one of the very first conversations I imagined for this book, as I knew it would be very important to a later one, where Vivenna talks to Vasher. And that particular conversation might just have been the first I came up with.
Vivenna and the Mercenaries Meet the Forgers in the D’Denir Garden
[Contains Spoilers]
This part is spoilerific, I’m afraid.
This particular plan, as Vivenna says, was her idea. Denth goes along with it, obtaining the forgeries that (falsely) prove that priests have been extorting Idris. However, he doesn’t plan to let them get out.
He knew that turning down this idea from Vivenna would either annoy her or even make her suspicious. He has to let her feel that she’s in control; that way he can remain in control himself and get her to the meetings he wants. Unfortunately for him, that means letting her do this, creating fake documents that could hurt the war effort.
After she vanishes, he cancels the project immediately, which is why the papers never end up materializing.
Oh, and if you’re wondering, she got the letter from her father from Lemex’s stash. Some people asked about this.
Jewels and Parlin Chat and Laugh
Vivenna isn’t in love with Parlin. She has affection for him, but it’s the affection one might have for a younger brother. That’s all she’s ever felt for someone so far, however, as she’s never given herself a chance for romance in her life. She’s always stamped it out. She was going to marry the God King. No room for childish things like love for her. (That will bite her eventually, of course. In a later book, I’m afraid.)
Her affection for Parlin, however, makes her possessive of him. He’s her best tie back to the life she left, and she’s always kind of seen him as hers. So you can probably see why she might be annoyed to see him spend time with Jewels.
Denth is right. Jewels might be amused by Parlin, but she’s not interested in him romantically. She has other ties, which I believe I discussed in a previous annotation.
Annotations for Chapter Twenty-Nine
Siri and Susebron Discuss Mountains
One of the things I like about having wildly different plots and viewpoints put into one book is that I can use the viewpoints for different things. In the case of this section of the book, we’ve got death and tension in Vivenna’s plot, and we have soul-searching and mystery in Lightsong’s plot. Amid this, I was able to sprinkle Siri scenes that are more relaxed, with her and the God King talking and falling in love. The scenes add a nice balance to the book.
