Timewaster's Guide Archive

Which would make you wonder, what was so shaming that she no longer wants people to look at her>

Maybe she realizes the True Desolation is coming, and expects everyone to hate her and the other 8 heralds that abandoned Taln. So she'd rather be forgotten instead.

Oh someone PLEASE!!!!!! waterboard Goodkind!! My hope is that he is working with scientists to manufacture shardblades. 

This would no doubt inspire Goodkind to write a novel about the incident, explaining -- at great length -- how waterboarding him was perfectly justified. Unfortunate side-effects would be a) sex scenes involving waterboarding, and b) Goodkind writing another novel. So I have to say it's not worth it.

The drunk guy is actually Shalash, and he got rid of his statue using his Heraldic powers because he thought it would be a good practical joke.  He's not actually speaking in gibberish, just a language unknown to Szeth.

I had something like this idea on one of the other fan sites, and the main objection I got was that Shalash is almost certainly female, because of the similarity to Shallan's name, and because 5/7 remaining Heralds are female. The drunk was standing between Szeth and a row of Herald statues when he asked, "Have you seen me?" though, which I think is very suspicious. So even if he isn't Shalash, maybe this guy is a Herald who tried to hide as a beggar and forget his past, then got too drunk and started blabbing it to Szeth.

Richard fife's review on tor.com says that its implied she was a victim of sexual abuse.  Did any of you see a hint of that?

I did not. It's just as likely he jumped to conclusions. There was verbal abuse, and physical abuse of her brothers, but that doesn't suggest sexual abuse. Shallan's feelings for the ardent are awfully innocent for someone who's been sexually abused.