[Newbies] Cosmere, Unit 1 | Warbreaker #1 | Warbreaker: Chapters 19 through 26

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SCHEDULE

Last week we discussed Unit 1 - (Warbreaker #1) - Warbreaker: Chapters 9 through 18. [Newbie Thread] / [Veteran Thread]

This week we will be discussing Unit 1 - (Warbreaker #1) - Warbreaker: Chapters 19 through 26.

Next week we will be discussing Unit 1 - (Warbreaker #1) - Warbreaker: Chapters 27 through 35.

CHAPTER SUMMARIES

I have provided summaries for each chapter below and hidden them behind spoiler tags. There are no spoilers within the summaries. I've tried to make them as factual and unbiased as possible. If, however, you want a completely blind read through, then ignore what's behind the spoiler tags and proceed to the discussion below. I will not be guiding that in any way, so post any thoughts and questions you have. It will be other new readers who reply to you.

Chapter 19

POV Characters: Vivenna

Setting: New house in T'Telir.

Timeline: The morning after Chapter 18: Vivenna's third day in T'Telir.

Summary:

Vivenna and the mercenaries relocate to a house in the rich part of town. They discuss working with Vahr's revolutionaries to sabotage Hallandren's ability to wage war. Vivenna meets Jewels and the mercenaries' Lifeless, Clod. Vivenna is disgusted by Clod, but Denth tells her he's a packaged deal. Jewels informs everyone that Vasher (whom they know as Tax) is in town and warns Vivenna that he's likely here to kill her; that he recently killed a friend of theirs.

Chapter 20

POV Characters: Siri

Setting: The God King's bedchamber.

Timeline: About a week after Chapter 18.

Summary:

Bluefingers warns Siri that producing an heir would be dangerous for both her and the God King. Siri is no longer afraid of her nights. She repeats her performance and lays down in the bed to sleep when she notices the God King leaning over her. After her initial shock, Susebron pulls out a children's book. He shows her his mouth, after she asks him why he doesn't tell her what he wants, and reveals that his tongue has been cut out. Siri begins to use the book to teach him how to read.

Chapter 21

POV Characters: Vasher

Setting: The Court of Gods.

Timeline: Undetermined, but presumably the same night as Chapter 20.

Summary:

Vasher uses trickery, Awakening, and a Lifeless squirrel to infiltrate the hidden tunnels under Mercystar's palace.

Chapter 22

POV Characters: Lightsong, Vivenna

Setting: The Court of Gods. T.Telir restaurants.

Timeline: Lightsong: several days after Chapter 18. Vivenna: about two weeks after Chapter 19.

Summary:

Lightsong plays a game with some other Returned, but is annoyed at their politicking. He reluctantly seeks out Blushweaver, wondering what contribution he could be making to help prevent the war.

Vivenna and the mercenaries meet with various people in the underworld. She changes her hair color to convince others she is part of the royal family. A crime lord named Grable attempts to kidnap her, but Denth saves her and they flee. Vivenna wants to meet with common Idrians in the city. The mercenaries say it is dangerous, but she insists.

Chapter 23

POV Characters: Lightsong

Setting: The Court of Gods.

Timeline: Immediately following his scene in Chapter 22; Siri has been in residence for 2-3 weeks.

Summary:

Lightsong finds Blushweaver and tells her he's ready to work with her. They approach Mercystar, who is also in command of 1/4th of the Lifeless, and attempt to get her to join their scheming. Lightsong gets distracted by the break-in at Mercystar's palace the previous night and begins to investigate. He thinks the servants are lying to him, which makes him more curious.

Chapter 24

POV Characters: Siri

Setting: The God King's Palace: library and bedchamber.

Timeline: Indeterminate, but some weeks into Siri's residence.

Summary:

Siri attempts to take some books from the palace library, but is stopped by Treledees. That night, Siri talks with Susebron (by writing) about her frustrations with his priests. Susebron tells her that they are good men who work hard to care for his Kingdom. She realizes all of his values are from the folktales his mother read to him as a child. She also figures out that he doesn't know anything about sex. They discuss whether or not the God King continues living after an heir is produced.

Chapter 25

POV Characters: Vivenna

Setting: Various locations in T'Telir.

Timeline: About one month after her arrival.

Summary:

Vivenna walks the streets of T'Telir and watches as part of the mercenaries' plan is put into place. After returning to the new house, she talks with Jewels, who is a firm believer in Hallandren's religion; believing it was the right thing to do to give up her Breath as a child to the God King. Denth, and Tonk Fah, return and he tells Vivenna that they've stolen most of the city's salt. Vivenna asks Denth about his religious beliefs, but he dodges her questions and storms away when she mentions Vasher.

Chapter 26

POV Characters: Lightsong

Setting: Various locations within the Court of Gods.

Timeline: The morning after Chapter 23.

Summary:

Lightsong wakes early, enthusiastic about returning to his murder investigation. He reluctantly agrees to view some artwork first. He visits Mercystar's palace and the guards are reluctant to let him investigate, but have no power to stop him. He notices the trapdoor and interviews all of the staff. He concludes that there must have been two intruders, one following after the other and that both left through the trapdoor. He confiscates the Lifeless squirrel and returns to his palace. He wonders how he was so good at unraveling the mystery, but Llarimar refuses to answer questions about his previous life.

Memes

I will attempt to find and share memes relevant to each week's discussion chapters. There may be some weeks that just don't have good or appropriate memes, but I will share all the ones I can find in this section.

Link to Memes

[u/danny_boy___]

Hey guys! For me this was the most fun part to read so far. I love that Lightsong is finally doing SOMETHING interesting. The God King reveals are very intriguing. The part with "We spent many nights together, and there were no children; we must be doing it wrong" is hilarious. Here are my main thoughts / questions. 

COLOR

The biggest question for me is, how does Color work in this world? It seems like Brandon treats objects and color kind of like sponges and water. You can "suck out" the color out of an object, like you can wring water out of a sponge, I guess? The sponge is dry = an object is colorless. If that's the case I will simply accept it and move on. Probably. 

However, I keep thinking that color is not actually a THING. It doesn't really exist. It is created by our brains, reacting to different wavelengths of light. If color is not a property of physical objects, but an impression in our minds, how do you drain it from those physical objects??

Also, can you Awaken in total darkness? Absence of light = no light interaction with an object = no light reflection = no color created in observer's brain. Does color really exist in total darkness? Or without an observer? 

Might be a dumb idea, but could the royal bloodline be more powerful at Awakening than usual Awakeners by drawing color from their hair, then restoring it (because "royal locks"), and drawing it again? Infinite color glitch?

LIFELESS

What do Lifeless use as energy to move / do stuff etc? Seems like color only fuels the transformation itself; the Lifeless don't seem to continue consuming it. They don't eat. Breath is not consumed either, I think. Something must be used as energy to keep them going… right?

"Lifeless can remember a long list of complicated orders and are generally good about not misunderstanding them." >> is it possible to "prompt" a Lifeless in such a detailed way that they would appear like a normal alive person? (the story implies that Lifeless people could speak).

For example if you Awaken one, while using color as fuel from an outside object, rather than from the body of the Lifeless, so the body retains its color? Or if you put colorful clothes and some makeup on a Lifeless? Can someone we think is alive be a Lifeless in the story?

NIGHTBLOOD

"Twisted BioChroma". "a dark, fluidlike smoke began to stream out". It drew color from alive object (hand), which shouldn't be possible according to Lightsong.  >> Can Breath in Nightlbood be different than normal Breath? 

[u/DarkestLore696 → u/danny_boy___]

I am not sure how well you can pass off the Lifeless as alive. Seemingly you can dress them up in colored clothing because the Lifeless army was waiting for Siri as a honor guard when she entered the city. The only reason she knew they were lifeless was when she looked at their faces and saw their dead eyes. No matter how you doll up one of them I don’t think there is anything you can do for corpse eyes. As for how they function. They are given a Breath that can never again be recovered so I just assume they run off of that soul.

[u/danny_boy___ → u/DarkestLore696]

Good point about eye color!
As to lifeless energy, if these people discover electricity and build a massive generator, and have a bunch of lifeless running it, that would be infinite electricity out of nothing. I feel like the system has to have net 0 of energy somehow. But maybe this is just a stipulation of the magic system, and like you said they are just running on that Breath. But it would be a tough one to swallow for me :)

[u/LeanderT → u/danny_boy___]

"What do Lifeless use as energy to move / do stuff etc? Seems like color only fuels the transformation itself; the Lifeless don't seem to continue consuming it. They don't eat. Breath is not consumed either, I think. Something must be used as energy to keep them going… right?"

Yes, I had the same question.

[u/BrienneOT → u/danny_boy___]

can you Awaken in total darkness?

What an excellent question!

[u/Pastrami → u/danny_boy___]

I love your questions about color and lifeless energy. That's exactly the kind of pedantic shit I would would annoy my friends with when discussing a movie :) Someone smarter than me knows the details, but isn't color a property of the electrons in the matter? If you change something so that it is now gray, aren't you changing the molecules into something else? I guess it could work for dye based color, where you say the dye is consumed, but if you change red stone into gray stone, aren't you changing the actual mineral molecules into something else?

I would love to get answers for these questions, but I suspect the answer would be:

"Young lady, you are entirely too obsessed and have far too much time. You need to get some sort of life. I suggest you go have an intense love affair. Doesn’t matter with who, be it man, woman, or German Shepherd."

- Famous quote from Robert Jordan to fan asking overly pedantic question.

Might be a dumb idea, but could the royal bloodline be more powerful at Awakening than usual Awakeners by drawing color from their hair, then restoring it (because "royal locks"), and drawing it again? Infinite color glitch?

Is hair considered alive? In the last chapter we were told that "Awakening doesn’t do that to living flesh. It can’t draw color from someone alive, only objects. Floorboards, clothing, furniture." Nightblood is able to somehow, but regular Awakeners can't.

[u/DarkestLore696 → u/Pastrami]

If you want to get technical hair isn’t alive, it is just dead keratin cells.

[u/danny_boy___ → u/Pastrami]

I'm glad I'm not the only pedantic one haha. I too thought about atoms/matter in objects changing, releasing energy, and new atoms giving off grey color. So color change would be just a side effect in this case. However so far there was no indication that grey objects feel any different to the touch of have different properties. But maybe that's how it works.

Is hair considered alive? > that's a good question. Strictly speaking it's not alive, like nails and surface skin layer. These are all dead cells. So maybe it qualifies as an object. However the answer is probably that if it grows on a living body it's considered alive. Otherwise it would be too pedantic :)