Warbreaker (98 page)

Lightsong Sees the Lifeless and Takes Command of Them

They keep them in the dark. This is a bad idea. They don’t realize it, but the Lifeless are far more aware than everyone assumes. Clod in this book is a foreshadowing of that, and there won’t be much more about it in the rest of the novel. It’s one of the focus points for the sequel, if I ever write it. (Which will actually have a Lifeless as a viewpoint character, if I can find a way to swing it.)

Back to Chapter Forty-Seven

Annotations for Chapter Forty-Eight

Siri and Susebron Decide to Reveal What Has Been Done to Him

Another short chapter here. You probably have guessed that we’re beginning the push toward the ending. Now that Siri and Susebron have gone about as far as they can (both in their relationship and in their personal growth) without being free, it’s time for them to begin pushing against their boundaries.

As I said before, I think their relationship is one of the most pure and romantic that I’ve ever written. For some reason, they just
fit
together. I tried to explain it in the narrative in the beginning of this chapter, and I think I did a good job. However, it’s more than that—it’s just a feeling that these two belong with each other. Kind of like when one of your friends shows off the person they’ve been dating, and you just feel that it’s a good match.

I don’t think I ever got this far in their relationship when I wrote the original book, Mythwalker. One of the reasons I decided to go back to the story was because I’d always missed writing an ending for Siri and Susebron. (Though I think he had a different name back then.) [
Editor’s note: In the
Mythwalker
draft, he was just called the Emperor
.] I did a much, much better job of the story this time as well; I’ve increased in skill as a writer. I was finally able to tell this story and bring it to a conclusion, something I’d been waiting for years to do. I’m glad I finally found the time, even if writing stand-alone novels isn’t the fastest way to bestsellerdom in fantasy.

Back to Chapter Forty-Eight

Annotations for Chapter Forty-Nine

Vasher’s Temper

Giving Vasher temper issues is part of a minor quest on my part to find more realistic conflicts and personality traits for my characters. It seems that much of the time, the flaws that writers give their heroes are really just backhanded talents. A hero is “too bold” or “too much of a bookworm.” I’m guilty of this as much as anybody. (Siri’s character flaws are an example.)

It’s a tough balance. Real people tend to have flaws that make them...well, unlikable sometimes. Or at least difficult to get along with. We get grumpy, we make bad decisions, we say things we don’t mean. It’s hard to convey this in a story without making the characters unlikable. There are authors who are fantastic at doing so, and Vasher here was me toying with making a person have a more realistic temperament. There’s no hidden advantage for him being like he is; he’s simply got anger issues. Not extreme ones—it’s not like he has to go to therapy. He’s just prone to losing his temper like any number of people out there in the world.

Vivenna and Vasher Realize That the Attack on the Salt Merchant Was a Cover

Denth did dozens of things like this, subtle methods of bringing the two kingdoms closer to war. This is the only one that Vivenna and Vasher figure out soon enough to be able to counter.

In this scene, Vivenna’s chapter arc is her struggle with deciding when to make judgments and when not to. It seems that in our society, it’s taboo to judge someone. If you judge, you’re seen as intolerant. And most of us hate being labeled that way. I remember seeing an advertisement online just a few days ago that said something like “Please teach your children tolerance; teach them not to judge others.”

Now, those who read my blog know that I’m big on trying to understand other people’s viewpoints. I don’t like how harsh our dialogues about charged issues tend to be. I’ve said I’m a peacemaker by temperament. However, I think telling someone, “Don’t judge others” is just plain ridiculous. (Of course, maybe it’s all just semantics.)

We have to judge. We do it every day. We decide who we want to be friends with. We judge which candidates we want to vote for. We judge which activities we want to be a part of. A lot of these judgments are influenced by our thoughts on the people involved in them.

It’s not good to be racist. Skin color is a terrible reason to judge someone. But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t sometimes make judgments about people for other reasons. I think maybe we’ve become hypersensitive to this sort of thing.

They Visit the Building in the Slums, and Vasher Uses Straw Figures to Find the Tunnel

I wanted to bring the straw men back into the book, as I felt I needed to show you—and Vivenna—just how capable Vasher is with Breath. He’s leaps and bounds above most people. I think this book gives a skewed perspective, since we don’t see any regular Awakeners. We see those just learning (Vivenna) and we see one of the greatest masters of the art to ever live (Vasher).

With his practice and years of Awakening, he’s able to get Awakened objects to do things that others wouldn’t be able to. The straw men are a good example. As for why he apologizes, well, he doesn’t even know that himself. I think it’s because he realizes that Breath
can
make something sentient and aware, like Nightblood, and worries that the straw creatures become (even just slightly) more than just mindless automatons.

Vasher Kills

As I said, he has a temper. He tends to lose it when he fights. He’s not a berserker or anything like that; he simply lets his passion get in the way when he’s in battle. It makes him worse at fighting, particularly when dueling. It also makes him a lot more dangerous sometimes.

Vivenna looking back at him, his hand on Nightblood’s hilt, slowly pulling it forth as the bodies lie around on the ground is one of my favorite scenes in the book.

Spoilers

This is how Vasher lost his Breath before, by the way. If you recall, he began the book with barely enough to Awaken in weak ways. He remembers having much more Breath. Beyond feeding on one Breath a week, slowly eating away his supply, he drew Nightblood a few months back. That drained away his Breath and left him with only a few remaining. As for who he killed that time . . . I’m going to hold off on saying, just in case I decide to incorporate it into a future book.

Notice how he grows in size here when he isn’t paying attention. That’s his Returned nature beginning to manifest, much like Vivenna’s hair reacts to her emotions, because of the moment of great passion from him during the fight.

In this chapter, we also get the first hints that children and animals like Vasher. That’s another hint—though a very, very subtle one, since I haven’t talked at all about how animals and children all like Returned. They can sense the divine Breath within him, and it comforts them.

Priests as Scapegoats

I do think that someone being a different religion from yourself makes them a good scapegoat. We tend to be put off by anyone who is too devout toward religion, even if their passion for it mimics our own passion for something we are dedicated to. It’s easy to divide ourselves along religious lines.

Once again, I think I need to mention that I didn’t write this comment (or the ones about not judging) into the book as an intentional message. It just seemed appropriate for the characters to say or consider, and I happen to agree with them. What I think is important influences the book. How can it help but do otherwise?

Back to Chapter Forty-Nine

Annotations for Chapter Fifty

Lightsong and Blushweaver Banter One Last Time

Lightsong wonders if maybe he was a prude in his former life. I can answer this—he was indeed. That’s why he’s always so critical of Blushweaver’s clothing choices. That, and he’s in love with her and feels a little jealous at how flagrantly she shows her body and attracts the attention of so many men. These are little things; he wouldn’t even mention them to others. But he does feel them.

We get some final verbal sparring from the two of them. I wanted to do this to give a nod to the earlier portions of the book; we haven’t gotten this from them in quite a long time. However, I also wanted it to be forced. I was tempted to rewrite this scene a couple of times until the most amusing lines in the book came here, in this chapter, but in the end I chose to go for something with a little more tension in it. Something that felt contrived, like they were trying too hard—which, indeed, they are.

Beyond that, outside of the banter, they both make some very astute comments—and I think their wisdom in the moment undermines any random joking. Lightsong mentions how ridiculous everything is, and can finally point out and prove what he’s been saying all along—that the rest of the pantheon is more useless than he is. Blushweaver, however, probably makes her most astute comment in the book by explaining to Lightsong just why everyone looks up to him so much.

You set yourself above them, Lightsong, and through your mockery—which they know to be true, deep down—you earn their grudging respect. That puts you apart from them. In a way, he’s become the greatest leader of the pantheon in its current incarnation, all by avoiding contact with most of them and by being bitingly sarcastic when he does meet them.

Siri Gets Taken by the Priests
[Contains Spoilers]

What’s going on here behind the scenes is that the priests know what is likely to happen at the Court Assembly. The declaration of war is going to come, and they’re truly worried for Siri’s safety. They take her into custody because they anticipate riots and maybe even an attack on the Court of Gods. They want her taken and kept safe.

Bluefingers is, of course, aware of this. But he thinks that their taking her captive is because they’re suspicious and might know of his plans. That forces his hand, and when Lightsong decides to forestall the vote, Bluefingers gets really worried. So he puts things into motion and grabs Blushweaver from her palace, then seizes the God King’s palace and Siri.

Vivenna and Vasher Watch the Vote

With this chapter, I wanted to bring together another focus chapter, a bookend—so to speak—with the one earlier in the book where everyone came to the court when Siri was first shown off. If you recall, that was the first time Vivenna saw Vasher, and also the first time we had all of the viewpoint characters together in one location.

Now we’re back, kind of. Siri is here in this chapter, but she’s pulled away before she can make it all the way to the arena. It’s the best I could do, under the circumstances, as I knew I needed to launch us into the “Brandon Avalanche” after this chapter. That meant Siri getting taken captive.

Lightsong Refuses to Vote

I think this is appropriate for him. He doesn’t do what they want to do, or even what they fear he will do. He just walks away to think some more.

He’s frustrating like that.

Back to Chapter Fifty

Annotations for Chapter Fifty-One

Vasher Considers Killing Lightsong

I remember reading a book a few years back where the heroes are separated from one another. One group of them is doing something clandestine, while another group is traveling in the area posing as ordinary peasants. Neither knows what the other is up to.

Well, some soldiers capture the ones posing as peasants, then go and talk to the main group of heroes. The main group says, “Well, I guess we’ll have to kill those poor peasants who inadvertently passed by and discovered we have an army here.” It’s supposed to be dramatic irony, I believe. The protagonists nearly end up killing one another through a cruel twist of fate. (The group posing as peasants avoid death, however, for reasons I can’t quite remember.)

Anyway, I put the book down shortly after. I didn’t remember the scene I’d read until writing this particular one. Why wouldn’t Vasher just kill Lightsong, thereby ending the war?

Because. That’s not a good solution. It’s a shortsighted one. If you do terrible things in the name of trying to do what is right, I think you’ll just end up creating bigger problems. Vasher couldn’t have killed Lightsong, not and remain the man he wants to be. He knows this, I think. Even a man with the reputation of Lightsong is not someone you can kill just because they’re inconvenient to you. Not if you want your conscience to go untarnished.

And if innocent peasants happen to spy your good-guy army, there are
much better
actions to take than deciding to execute them in the name of the greater good. You do that, and you stop being heroes. (That’s not necessarily a book killer. It’s only one if you expect me to keep on reading and still consider your characters heroic.)

Nightblood and Vasher Interact as He Sneaks into the God King’s Palace

Note that Nightblood is capable of more change than Vasher assumes. Vasher has a bit of a blind spot when it comes to Nightblood. He makes assumptions he wouldn’t make regarding other people or elements of Awakening. It’s hard for him to regard the sword without bias. If you want to know more about this, read the sequel. (Er, if I ever write it.) Which is tentatively named
Nightblood
.

Anyway, Nightblood is named for the smoke he leaks, and he originally had a different name when he was created. Vasher himself dubbed the sword Nightblood after he had used it to kill the woman he loved. The blackness that leaks out is actually corrupted and consumed Breaths, the ones that Nightblood leeches off anyone who draws him.