Thoughts about Warbreaker (Could be spoilers)

[ryos]

This really bugged me, too. Why does anybody die with their breath? Pass it on to your children, for Colors' sake! Nobody should have to give up their own breath until they are very old, because everyone should have an inherited wealth of the things from generations of passing it down.

[Plasman]

so i have something to say about why vivenna couldn't just awaken something small, give away the rest of the breath and then take back her breath from the object she awakened.  This is not a flaw in the logic of the magic system, it fits.

The reason she could not do this is because the only objects that take only one breath to awaken are Lifeless and the breath given to these dead bodies is irretrieveable.  if vivenna were to attempt what u suggest and awaken some other object she would have to invest in it any number of breaths depending on the objects resemblance to a man and its relation to living material.  There is no way for her to invest only one breath and still be able to retrieve it. Following your method she would have fewer breaths true, but she would still be left with more than one breath.

I suppose if she were incredibly determined, she could attempt to find an object that would take exactly one less breaths than she had to awaken and then just get rid f the object, but seeing as biochroma is fairly imprecise, this would be extremely difficult. Unless, of course, she went around creating Lifeless after Lifeless, decreasing her stores one by one until she only had one breath left. but i doubt Austre would approve of that...

[happyman]

so i have something to say about why vivenna couldn't just awaken something small, give away the rest of the breath and then take back her breath from the object she awakened.  This is not a flaw in the logic of the magic system, it fits.

The reason she could not do this is because the only objects that take only one breath to awaken are Lifeless and the breath given to these dead bodies is irretrieveable.  if vivenna were to attempt what u suggest and awaken some other object she would have to invest in it any number of breaths depending on the objects resemblance to a man and its relation to living material.  There is no way for her to invest only one breath and still be able to retrieve it. Following your method she would have fewer breaths true, but she would still be left with more than one breath.

I suppose if she were incredibly determined, she could attempt to find an object that would take exactly one less breaths than she had to awaken and then just get rid f the object, but seeing as biochroma is fairly imprecise, this would be extremely difficult. Unless, of course, she went around creating Lifeless after Lifeless, decreasing her stores one by one until she only had one breath left. but i doubt Austre would approve of that...

It's not a flaw in the magic system because the technique is perfectly possible.  Vivenna just didn't think of it.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Late in the book Vasher uses basically that trick to give a breath to that little girl.

A lot of the rules described in the book are simplifications, based on in-world understanding, or what one character deliberately wants another character to think.

[sinisterroo]

After going through a complete read today, there's only one thing really bothering me, and was posted in another Warbreaker thread.

"Of course I didn't realize it the first time through, but now the reference to having up to the Fifth Heightening at any time makes sense ... Vasher could, as he did at the end of the book, revert back to Returned status with its accompanying mega-one-breath-equal-to-2,000-normal-breaths.  This raises a number a questions/presumptions.  Do all Returned have the ability to revert back to normal human proportions? (i.e., could Lightsong or Blushweaver or any of the other Hallandren gods have done the same thing?)  In this process, what happens to the uber-Breath?  Vivenna and others with Breath did not sense it ... has it been transferred to an object? or does it just become muted?"

[Chaos]

From what I've gathered from the threads, it requires a lot of mental gymnastics on the part of the Returned. As the Returned can alter their shape, if they go through some weird mental gymnastics and believe they aren't a god, they will return to a more normal shape. In the process, I believe, their divine breath is hidden.

[firstRainbowRose]

Eric, you've hit it dead on, and used some of the terminology that EUOL used at a signing when someone asked him.  I almost thought you were quoting him... it was kind of odd.

[happyman]

From what I've gathered from the threads, it requires a lot of mental gymnastics on the part of the Returned. As the Returned can alter their shape, if they go through some weird mental gymnastics and believe they aren't a god, they will return to a more normal shape. In the process, I believe, their divine breath is hidden.

This agrees with what I remember as well.  Does anyone remember the source?  I think it was a third-hand report from Brandon.

[Chaos]

I distinctly remember the "mental gymnastics" part. I'd guess, perhaps, the Barnes and Noble Q&A thread.