Author Topic: Timespan for Stormlight Archives? (Spoilers)  (Read 19166 times)

jrh1524

  • Level 2
  • **
  • Posts: 24
  • Fell Points: 0
    • View Profile
Timespan for Stormlight Archives? (Spoilers)
« on: October 02, 2010, 05:18:33 PM »
Has anyone asked Brandon what kind of timespan the 10 books of the Stormlight Archives series is going to cover?  I suspect it'll be about a year or two timespan, since the desolation is hanging over everyones' heads, but I'm not 100% sure.

Salkara

  • Level 4
  • *
  • Posts: 72
  • Fell Points: 0
    • View Profile
Re: Timespan for Stormlight Archives? (Spoilers)
« Reply #1 on: October 02, 2010, 07:01:04 PM »
So far the novel has covered over 4,500 years  :P

Fireborn

  • Level 9
  • *
  • Posts: 307
  • Fell Points: 0
  • Geniusness Explosion!
    • View Profile
    • Rampant And Rhetoric
Re: Timespan for Stormlight Archives? (Spoilers)
« Reply #2 on: October 03, 2010, 05:14:12 AM »
So far the novel has covered over 4,500 years  :P
lol

I'm really not sure.  I doubt we'll find out what kind of timespan we'll be looking at until book 2 so we can see what kind of gap we'll get between books.
When to live is to die, and to die is to live, does either really matter?

Lord Terrisman

  • Level 4
  • *
  • Posts: 92
  • Fell Points: 0
    • View Profile
Re: Timespan for Stormlight Archives? (Spoilers)
« Reply #3 on: October 03, 2010, 06:08:12 PM »
I'm guessing the time gap will probably be a little less than in between the Mistborn books ( because there was a year between each).  I think this because there still needs to be time for the events to set in but I'm pretty sure the whole Stormlight Archive series wont take place over the course of 20-30 years.

Cheese Ninja

  • Level 4
  • *
  • Posts: 93
  • Fell Points: 0
    • View Profile
Re: Timespan for Stormlight Archives? (Spoilers)
« Reply #4 on: October 03, 2010, 08:30:52 PM »
1. “The love of men is a frigid thing, a mountain stream only three steps from the ice. We are his. Oh Stormfather…we are his. It is but a thousand days, and the Everstorm comes.”—Collected on the first day of the week Palah of the month Shash of the year 1171, thirty-one seconds before death. Subject was a darkeyed pregnant woman of middle years. The child did not survive.

1000 days doesn't seem like enough time for the series to take place in, given the bit we have so far.  I'm also a bit confused here, are the years 500 days?  (5 days a week, 10 weeks a month, 10 months a year)  And is a day in this series the same length as a day in our world?  Should we be multiplying their ages by 1.37 to get their age in our years?


Munin

  • Level 8
  • *
  • Posts: 256
  • Fell Points: 0
    • View Profile
Re: Timespan for Stormlight Archives? (Spoilers)
« Reply #5 on: October 03, 2010, 08:36:09 PM »
1. “The love of men is a frigid thing, a mountain stream only three steps from the ice. We are his. Oh Stormfather…we are his. It is but a thousand days, and the Everstorm comes.”—Collected on the first day of the week Palah of the month Shash of the year 1171, thirty-one seconds before death. Subject was a darkeyed pregnant woman of middle years. The child did not survive.

1000 days doesn't seem like enough time for the series to take place in, given the bit we have so far.  I'm also a bit confused here, are the years 500 days?  (5 days a week, 10 weeks a month, 10 months a year)  And is a day in this series the same length as a day in our world?  Should we be multiplying their ages by 1.37 to get their age in our years?


You're assuming that the whole series has to take place before the Everstorm comes.
There's a difference between what's best and what's right. What's best might be different tomorrow or the day after, but right and wrong will stay the same after a thousand years.

Cheese Ninja

  • Level 4
  • *
  • Posts: 93
  • Fell Points: 0
    • View Profile
Re: Timespan for Stormlight Archives? (Spoilers)
« Reply #6 on: October 03, 2010, 09:34:38 PM »
Not exactly, what I said was: "1000 days doesn't seem like enough time for the series to take place in, given the bit we have so far."
We have various things to contend with, the inaccuracy of prophecies and the ability to alter/disrupt/inhibit the manifestation of a prophecy. 

We don't know the actual dates during the series, only in the epigraphs, which cover nearly(?) 1 and half years worth of time while the events in book aren't more than a few months, if that.  (Dalinar only has 4 visions during the course of the books, while highstorms are supposed to come ever other week or so.) If the Everstorm is that massive wall of destruction that Dalinar sees in the Almighty's vision, then I can't imagine much happening after that hits in the series. Edit: Unless the vision is just a metaphor for destruction.

Even the epigraph that I consider to be prophetic about Kalidan's chasm leap might have actually come after the fact, despite us seeing it earlier in the book than the actual event:
Quote
“Above the final void I hang, friends behind, friends before. The feast I must drink clings to their faces, and the words I must speak spark in my mind. The old oaths will be spoken anew.”—Dated Betabanan, 1173, 45 seconds pre-death. Subject: a lighteyed child of five years. Diction improved remarkably when giving sample.
Quote
Map of the Battle of the Tower, drawn and labeled by Navani Kholin, circa 1173.
There's one of our few vague/if solid dates.

FollowYourMuse

  • Level 2
  • **
  • Posts: 19
  • Fell Points: 0
    • View Profile
Re: Timespan for Stormlight Archives? (Spoilers)
« Reply #7 on: October 06, 2010, 02:07:30 AM »
What we do know on the timing in the books:
The Vengance pact  and the War on the shattered plains has been going on for 6 years.
Shallan leaves home and meets up with Jasnah 6 months later in Kharbaranth.
Shallan spends an additonal 2-3 months with Jasnah before the end of the book.

7.5 years agoTien was 10 and  Kaladin was 12
5.5 Years ago Kal is 15
5 Years ago Tien and Kaladin are conscripted into the army ( 4 year term)
Tien dies 4 months after joining. Took Kaladin a year before he pulled out of depression. Kaladin now 16-17)
Kaladin is 19 years old at the time he is in the Slave wagon arriving at the Shattered Plains 8 Months after leaving* Amarams Army.


Szeth becomes Truthless.
2 years Later Szeth Kills Gavilar.
5 more years yater Szeth is owned by Took and is in Bavland and is 35 years old.

Harakeke

  • Level 3
  • ***
  • Posts: 50
  • Fell Points: 0
    • View Profile
Re: Timespan for Stormlight Archives? (Spoilers)
« Reply #8 on: October 06, 2010, 04:09:30 AM »
Once again, the illustrations have bits of meta-information for us hardcore fans...

In 1167, a not-yet-dead King Gavilar commissioned a map of Roshar from one "Isasik Shulin"  ;), as well as a map of Alethkar.
All of the illustrations referencing the Parshendi Campagin are circa 1173.
This includes Navani's map of the Battle of the Tower and the nameless spearman's map of Sadeas' camp.
Also in 1173, the painter Vandonas visited the warcamps and later painted a picture of them from memory.

Kaladin leaves Amaram's army five years after Gavilar's murder.

Which by my calculation suggests (with an estimated error of +/- 1 year)...

YearWorld EventsSzethKaladinyBPKaladin's AgeSzeth's Age
(3332*)Heralds resign------4,505*------
1138---Szeth born---35------
1154------Kaladin born19---16
1156------Tien born17218
1166---Szeth becomes Truthless---71228
1167Gavilar comissions maps------61329
1168Gavilar diesSzeth kills GavilarKaladin & Tien conscripted51430
1171First death visionrecorded------21733
1173Battleof the TowerSzeth owned by TookKaladin leaves Amaram's army, arrives at Shattered plains 8 months later01935

*note: the prelude's date of 4,500 years before Gavilar's murder may be an estimate

edit: yeah, I'm definitely off a year someplace. Tien is 13 when he's conscripted "five years ago", according to ch. 44.
« Last Edit: October 06, 2010, 08:43:21 AM by Harakeke »

Fireborn

  • Level 9
  • *
  • Posts: 307
  • Fell Points: 0
  • Geniusness Explosion!
    • View Profile
    • Rampant And Rhetoric
Re: Timespan for Stormlight Archives? (Spoilers)
« Reply #9 on: October 06, 2010, 06:31:03 PM »
What does yBP stand for?
When to live is to die, and to die is to live, does either really matter?

Harakeke

  • Level 3
  • ***
  • Posts: 50
  • Fell Points: 0
    • View Profile
Re: Timespan for Stormlight Archives? (Spoilers)
« Reply #10 on: October 06, 2010, 08:51:43 PM »
What does yBP stand for?
Sorry -- archaeology shorthand.  "years before present"

Peter Ahlstrom

  • Administrator
  • Level 59
  • *
  • Posts: 4902
  • Fell Points: 2
  • Assistant to Mr. Sanderson
    • View Profile
Re: Timespan for Stormlight Archives? (Spoilers)
« Reply #11 on: October 06, 2010, 11:04:15 PM »
I'm tempted to answer things like how many hours in the day, how long those hours are compared to our hours, how many minutes to the hour, etc. But I think I'll hold off a few months (or years...) and see what you can come up with just from the book.

But I will say that the "XX years later/ago" chapter timestamps in the book are only accurate to half a year. (Except for the eight months one.)

Also, "ago" is a moving target based on the timeline of the surrounding chapters.
« Last Edit: October 06, 2010, 11:19:35 PM by Peter Ahlstrom »
All Saiyuki fans should check out Dazzle! Emotionally wrenching action-adventure and quirky humor! (At least read chapter 6 and tell me if you're not hooked.) Volume 10 out now!

Harakeke

  • Level 3
  • ***
  • Posts: 50
  • Fell Points: 0
    • View Profile
Re: Timespan for Stormlight Archives? (Spoilers)
« Reply #12 on: October 07, 2010, 09:08:32 AM »
If I recall... age is measured in terms of number of Weepings experienced (survived?), not by birth date.
Do we know when in the year Weepings fall?

nomti

  • Level 1
  • *
  • Posts: 7
  • Fell Points: 0
    • View Profile
Re: Timespan for Stormlight Archives? (Spoilers)
« Reply #13 on: October 07, 2010, 01:00:28 PM »
If I recall... age is measured in terms of number of Weepings experienced (survived?), not by birth date.
Do we know when in the year Weepings fall?

Remember, seasons on Roshar last only a few weeks and don't follow any discernible pattern.  The only thing that repeats predictably is the Weepings.  So, they fall at the end.

Cheese Ninja

  • Level 4
  • *
  • Posts: 93
  • Fell Points: 0
    • View Profile
Re: Timespan for Stormlight Archives? (Spoilers)
« Reply #14 on: October 07, 2010, 04:48:19 PM »
I'm tempted to answer things like how many hours in the day, how long those hours are compared to our hours, how many minutes to the hour, etc. But I think I'll hold off a few months (or years...) and see what you can come up with just from the book.

But I will say that the "XX years later/ago" chapter timestamps in the book are only accurate to half a year. (Except for the eight months one.)

Also, "ago" is a moving target based on the timeline of the surrounding chapters.

So if their days are 17.5 hours in our time, we don't need to really need to make any adjustments for them having more days in their years.  It looks like their hours might be a bit shorter than ours.  I wouldn't be surprised if there were 20 of their hours in a day, with the way the love multiples of 10 in this series.