Author Topic: Seeing the Future *Spoilers for all books*  (Read 2900 times)

Stormblessed

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Seeing the Future *Spoilers for all books*
« on: September 30, 2010, 07:44:03 AM »
From WoK, we know that the Almighty can see vaguely into the future:
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"I cannot see the future completely. Cultivation, she is better at it than I. It's as if the future is a shattering window. The further you look, the more pieces that window breaks into. The near future can be anticipated, but the distant future...I can only guess."

In Elantris, we also know that the Wyrn also has the ability to look into the future, as can be seen by the placement of Fjon in Teoin in order to kill Hrathen. Brandon himself says:
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I definitely meant to imply that Wyrn managed to see, limitedly, into the future and sent Fjon to the place where he'd be able to slay an important traitor to Fjorden.
My question is: does Wyrn have access to a shard or a shards power to access the future? Or is the power to access the future not exclusive to a shards power?

EDIT: I believe Preservation also has some ability to see the future in Mistborn.
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Kykeon

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Re: Seeing the Future *Spoilers for all books*
« Reply #1 on: September 30, 2010, 10:16:08 AM »
Returned see the future IIRC...

Stormblessed

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Re: Seeing the Future *Spoilers for all books*
« Reply #2 on: September 30, 2010, 12:53:39 PM »
I forgot about that.  :-[

So we have the Wyrn from Elantris.
Preservation (and probably Ruin) from Mistborn.
All Atium burners with help from the body of Ruin. (Thx happyman)
The Terris People BLR (before Lord Ruler) most likely with help from Preservation. (Thx Pechvarry and Salkara)
The Returned (with the help of Endowment since the voice corresponded with the vision of the future) from Warbreaker.
And the Almighty (and Cultivation) for WoK.

The only one who isn't a shard is the Wyrn, so how does he see the future?
« Last Edit: October 01, 2010, 09:29:38 AM by Stormblessed »
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happyman

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Re: Seeing the Future *Spoilers for all books*
« Reply #3 on: September 30, 2010, 05:43:52 PM »
I'd like to add to the list of future-seers:

All Atium-burners.

They don't see far, and it splinters fast, but I have the feeling it's a lot like what the Shards experience.

Of course, this strengthens the notion that Shard-power is needed to power future-seeing, what with Atium being the body of a god.

I've often suspected that Wyrn had access to something shardish.  Perhaps it's the largest piece of Skaze, or something Odium left behind?
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Pechvarry

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Re: Seeing the Future *Spoilers for all books*
« Reply #4 on: September 30, 2010, 05:55:20 PM »
More from Mistborn, scraping a failing memory...

*The Lord-Ruler, but he was burning the essence of a deity at the time, so I'd say that counts as a Ruin/Preservation point.

*The Kandra prophecies.  Were these things the Lord Ruler told them upon creating them?  Or did they find the future another way?

Rew

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Re: Seeing the Future *Spoilers for all books*
« Reply #5 on: September 30, 2010, 06:27:11 PM »
This might have interesting implications in tWoK, as there is such a cultural taboo with anything about predicting the future (especially in Alethi culture).  I'm guessing as the plot progresses we will see someone who will gain an ability to do such a thing and really struggle with it.  We've seen Dalinar's struggle with similar things by seeing the past.

My guess though is that it would be someone like Shallan or Jasnah.  Jasnah wouldn't have as big a problem with it, being a heretic already (any tension would come from her having to convince others what she is predicting is true, and then not being burned as a witch), but it would cause Shallan to really have a crisis of faith and inner struggle, so to speak (Navel-gazing is something that Brandon seems to play with a lot as a writer). 

Perhaps another possibility is Elhokar, but he just seems too shallow at the moment for something that monumental...

I agree though with the above that it would seem almost universally that this ability is connected with either using the "body" of a deity or the power/influence of that diety, making me think that Stormlight and/or spren could fit in that category.

Kykeon

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Re: Seeing the Future *Spoilers for all books*
« Reply #6 on: September 30, 2010, 07:09:51 PM »
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*The Kandra prophecies.  Were these things the Lord Ruler told them upon creating them?  Or did they find the future another way?
They might have learned it the same way their ancestors did.
Is it ever said how old the Terris prophecies were when they found the chosen one?

Kykeon

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Re: Seeing the Future *Spoilers for all books*
« Reply #7 on: September 30, 2010, 07:11:53 PM »
Quote
*The Kandra prophecies.  Were these things the Lord Ruler told them upon creating them?  Or did they find the future another way?
They might have learned it the same way their ancestors did.
Is it ever said how old the Terris prophecies were when they found the chosen one?

Stormblessed

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Re: Seeing the Future *Spoilers for all books*
« Reply #8 on: September 30, 2010, 11:32:46 PM »
More from Mistborn, scraping a failing memory...

*The Lord-Ruler, but he was burning the essence of a deity at the time, so I'd say that counts as a Ruin/Preservation point.

*The Kandra prophecies.  Were these things the Lord Ruler told them upon creating them?  Or did they find the future another way?
Does the Lord-Ruler see the future, or just know whats happening, and thus makes a guess of the possible future?
The Kandra prophecies may come from Preservation, or maybe someone completely different. The Terris people always had a knack for prophecy.
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Salkara

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Re: Seeing the Future *Spoilers for all books*
« Reply #9 on: September 30, 2010, 11:40:24 PM »
More from Mistborn, scraping a failing memory...

*The Lord-Ruler, but he was burning the essence of a deity at the time, so I'd say that counts as a Ruin/Preservation point.

*The Kandra prophecies.  Were these things the Lord Ruler told them upon creating them?  Or did they find the future another way?
Does the Lord-Ruler see the future, or just know whats happening, and thus makes a guess of the possible future?
The Kandra prophecies may come from Preservation, or maybe someone completely different. The Terris people always had a knack for prophecy.

I'm fairly certain that Brandon said somewhere that the Terris prophecies were from Preservation. They were supposed to be a manual-of-sorts to reinforcing Ruin's prison.

guy

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Re: Seeing the Future *Spoilers for all books*
« Reply #10 on: October 01, 2010, 05:34:52 PM »
Does all of this mean that seons have some limited ability to see the future, as they are spinters of a shard?

Pechvarry

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Re: Seeing the Future *Spoilers for all books*
« Reply #11 on: October 01, 2010, 06:51:21 PM »
That's 2 conclusion jumps in one sentence!  Though it's a good theory, we can't say definitively that Seons are splinters.  And while we're at it, I don't think a being created from a splinter can automatically see the future.  Feasible, sure.  But there's really no reason to think they can, yet.