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Local Authors => Brandon Sanderson => Topic started by: Munin on September 06, 2010, 05:31:35 PM

Title: The curse and the blessing (WoK Spoilers)
Post by: Munin on September 06, 2010, 05:31:35 PM
Well, we know that Dalinar got something out of the ancient magic when he was younger, and that he also got a curse out of the deal.

Now, I think the curse is his inability to remember his wife. What I'm curious about is what he asked for.

Any ideas?

I can think of a few nebulous theories.

First, maybe he asked for his wife, then forgot her when she died. It would be somewhat ironic, so it depends on how poetic the giver of blessings/curses is.

Second, his shardblade. Personally, I doubt it's this one. More likely, he just inherited that.

Third, something related to helping Gavilar form his kingdom.

Fourth, something that hasn't been hinted at yet, and as such, we have no chance of guessing.


Any other ideas?
Title: Re: The curse and the blessing (WoK Spoilers)
Post by: Fireborn on September 06, 2010, 05:50:44 PM
My thought is that, in true Brandon form, Dalinar asked to have his memories of his wife taken away, either because she died and he couldn't take the grief, or she betrayed him somehow and he didn't want to deal with it.

I also thought it could have been his Shardblade, but that doesn't seem too much like the Dalinar we know.  On the other hand, that could be exactly something the Blackthorn would do.
Title: Re: The curse and the blessing (WoK Spoilers)
Post by: zarepath on September 06, 2010, 05:53:54 PM
I also think that Dalinar asked for his memories of his wife to be taken away, probably because it was too painful for him to remember.  What I think the curse was, however, was his son's illness (I forget his name right now, starts with an 'R'.)  When they start talking out loud about using the Old Magic, he looks over at his son and wonders what he would think if he knew. 

I don't know the exact page numbers, but I'm pretty certain it'll have something to do with his son. 
Title: Re: The curse and the blessing (WoK Spoilers)
Post by: Munin on September 06, 2010, 06:43:46 PM
I also think that Dalinar asked for his memories of his wife to be taken away, probably because it was too painful for him to remember.  What I think the curse was, however, was his son's illness (I forget his name right now, starts with an 'R'.)  When they start talking out loud about using the Old Magic, he looks over at his son and wonders what he would think if he knew. 

I don't know the exact page numbers, but I'm pretty certain it'll have something to do with his son. 

Hm. That would make a lot of sense.

I hadn't thought of the memory loss being what he asked for.
Title: Re: The curse and the blessing (WoK Spoilers)
Post by: Nightfire107 on September 07, 2010, 01:07:16 AM
I don't think the curse affects anyone but the person who makes the request.
Title: Re: The curse and the blessing (WoK Spoilers)
Post by: Comatose on September 07, 2010, 01:23:42 AM
He could just be worried about what Renarin would think of him making himself forget his own wife.
I think the curse and the wish could be the same thing.  A man in one of the interludes talks about hoping to avoid a curse by wording his wish right, which implies when some people word their's wrong, the wish could become a curse.  Perhaps Dalinar asked to be rid of his grief, because he was too weak to face it, and they way that was accomplished was the removal of his memories of her.

Do we know if Dalinar's wife died before or after Gavilar?
Title: Re: The curse and the blessing (WoK Spoilers)
Post by: happyman on September 07, 2010, 05:48:37 PM
I don't think the curse affects anyone but the person who makes the request.

Probably not.  Otherwise I expect the Ardents (and everyone else, really) would consider it a rather more heinous sin.  Putting your own self on the line for an ancient "heresy" (albeit one that works) is one thing.  Putting other people on the line would be much more taboo, in my opinion.

I'm guessing that Dalinar is ashamed at the fact that he can't remember his son's mother---knowledge of that probably would hurt them.  It would certainly hurt me!
Title: Re: The curse and the blessing (WoK Spoilers)
Post by: andygal on February 09, 2011, 09:32:26 AM
I'm guessing that Dalinar is ashamed at the fact that he can't remember his son's mother---knowledge of that probably would hurt them.  It would certainly hurt me!

I agree with this. My mother died 1o years ago, and it would depress the heck out of me if my dad had got his memories of her erased, even if it was an accident.

And I also suspect Dalinar asked for the grief to be taken away and got his memories erased as well.  And his wife died a few years before Galivar did, I believe.

Also, we know when he got his Blade, it was when he was quite young (2o I think), so it wasn't the Blade.
Title: Re: The curse and the blessing (WoK Spoilers)
Post by: Tortellini on February 09, 2011, 10:11:07 AM
I actually thought that his gift was Renarin's health (as in, he was actually a lot worse somehow without going to the Old Magic) and the curse was not remembering his wife. So he gained a son but sort of lost his wife for it.
Title: Re: The curse and the blessing (WoK Spoilers)
Post by: dhalagirl on February 10, 2011, 03:59:11 AM
My theory during my first read through was that the boon was having memories of his wife erased and the curse was not hearing others speak of her.  I vaguely remember him being frustrated that he couldn't hear others talk about her.  I tried to find the page just now and couldn't, but it's the part with the fading whisper text.

I admit, that with this theory the curse and the boon are very similar.  It is possible that the latter is a side-effect of the former and that the curse is something else entirely.
Title: Re: The curse and the blessing (WoK Spoilers)
Post by: andygal on February 10, 2011, 05:15:01 AM
my gut feeling says, it doesn't make sense for him to have wished to have his  memories erased, it makes more sense for his memories to have  been erased after he asked for the grief over her death to be removed.

of course, that may just be because I have major issues about not liking the idea of having large portions of memory removed from my mind.
Title: Re: The curse and the blessing (WoK Spoilers)
Post by: dhalagirl on February 11, 2011, 03:37:50 AM
Having holes in your memory isn't so bad.  I have large gaps in mine from a medication I took as a kid.  But most of my missing memories don't involve loved ones so that might be the difference.
Title: Re: The curse and the blessing (WoK Spoilers)
Post by: CabbyHat on February 11, 2011, 07:37:03 AM
I rather lean towards the theory that the boon is something that we haven't seen hinted at yet, or possibly has been hinted but was so obscure that we'll only get it in retrospect. I don't think Brandon would do something that we could so obviously guess; the mysteries have to last for ten books, after all. :)
Title: Re: The curse and the blessing (WoK Spoilers)
Post by: andygal on February 11, 2011, 07:53:28 AM
well Dalinar's going to get focus either book 2 or 3, I expect we will find out what happened when he gets his focus book. Until then, wild speculations ahoy!