Read Warbreaker Online

Authors: Brandon Sanderson

Warbreaker (102 page)

BOOK: Warbreaker
12.47Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

 

Vivenna and Siri Reunite; Vasher Shows Off His Returned Breath

 

I believe that this is the
first
time in the book that Vivenna and Siri talk to each other. (Weird, eh?) I knew I couldn’t make their reunion very effusive, since they’re both Idrians, and Siri has learned to control herself. Plus, the situation is very tense. (And beyond that, despite Vivenna’s coming to rescue her sister, the two were never terribly close. They were sisters, but separated by five years or so.)

This chapter focuses on other things, primarily the changes in the God King’s personality and the revelations about Vasher. For the first, I hope they are plausible. Remember, the God King has grown a lot with Siri’s help. Beyond that, he’s been trained to look regal and act like a king, even if he’s not had any practice talking like one. I think he works well here, projecting more confidence and nobility than he really feels, speaking in ways that don’t make him sound too stupid, yet still betraying an innocence.

The bigger surprise is Vasher’s revelation about his nature. I almost didn’t put this in the book, instead intending to hint at it and save it for the second book. The reason for this is that I knew it would be confusing.

The big question is, if Vasher is Returned, why can he give away his Breaths and Awaken things without killing himself?

The answer is simple, in many ways, but I’m not sure if I have the groundwork for it properly laid in the book. (Which is why I hesitated in explaining it.) Remember when Denth said that Awakening was all or nothing? Well, he lied. (I think you’ve figured this out now.) A very skilled Awakener can give away only part of their Breath. It depends on their Command visualizations. So Vasher needs to always give away everything except for that one Returned Breath that keeps him alive. As long as he has that one Breath (which he’s learned to suppress and hide), he can stay alive.

 

Back to Chapter Fifty-Eight

Annotations for the Epilogue

The Phantoms Charge Away

 

Did they succeed? Yes, they did. The Lifeless were destroyed, and only a couple of the phantoms were lost. That leaves Hallandren with a very powerful army. Fortunately, Siri and Susebron are the ones in charge of it, so things will be all right for a little while at least.

 

Vivenna Goes with Vasher

 

I was always planning this ending for her. She’s still got a lot of growing she can do as a character, and I think she’ll make for a very interesting heroine for a sequel. She could never return to Idris and face her father; doing so would be returning to a lot of people who expect her to be like she was. But she can’t stay with Siri either. She still hates Hallandren and just wants to be free of it—free where she can calm her fury and really explore who she is now that her life is no longer dominated by the need to go marry the God King.

Life has been very unfair to Vivenna. It’s time for her to live for herself. Here we finally have the final reversal of the book. Siri has become the queen; Vivenna is running away from responsibility, out into the wilds. And it (hopefully) feels very natural for them to be in these roles.

 

Vasher Explains Some Things, but Leaves Some Things Hidden

 

I’m worried about leaving Vivenna’s two questions unanswered. One is pretty obvious—how Vasher can hide how he looks—but the other is unintuitive. I wish I could explain better in the book, as I said above, but I decided in the end to just leave it hanging. It’s a bit of a violation of Sanderson’s First Law, but not a big one. The reason I feel I can get away with it is because Vasher didn’t use his nature as a Returned to solve any problems. It is more a flavoring for his character than it is important to him getting out of danger or fixing things. He could have done everything he needed to in this book without being Returned. So I feel it’s okay not to explain why he can be Returned and not die when he gives away his Breaths.

Can Vivenna change her appearance more? She can indeed. She could actually stoke that fragment of a divine Breath inside of her and start glowing like a Returned. She can’t change her physical features to look like someone else, but she can change her age, her height (within reason), and her body shape (to an extent). It takes practice.

And yes, the scraggly miscreant is how Vasher sees himself. Not noble and Returned, which is part of how he suppresses his divine Breath.

Events in the second book may change that.

 

Back to Epilogue

Warbreaker
Book Wrap-Up

 

And...those are the annotations! I hope you enjoyed reading them. As you can probably tell, I write them rather quickly. This, of course, is to give them that feel of an improvisational director’s commentary. (And it has nothing to do with the fact that when I work on them for a book, I’m usually about three weeks behind deadline on turning in the copyedit. Why do you ask?)

Joking aside, I’m quite proud of this book and what it does. I think it’s the first time where I’ve really blended plot twists, humor, worldbuilding, and romance all together in a book the way I’ve wanted to from the beginning of my writing career.

Would I do anything different? Perhaps. I still wish Parlin had a more compelling character, so there was more emotional impact when he died. I wish the ending had a bit less of a deus ex machina feel to it. But overall, I think the writing here is a big stride forward for me.

Thanks again for reading, both the book and these annotations.

 

Brandon Sanderson

October 2008

 

Back to the Table of Contents

BOOK: Warbreaker
12.47Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Thrill-Bent by Jan Richman
Slashback by Rob Thurman
Copy That by Helenkay Dimon
Van Gogh by Steven Naifeh
Rage by Pace, Michelle, Coons, Tammy
Part of the Pride by Kevin Richardson
The Green Face by Gustav Meyrink
The Art Whisperer (An Alix London Mystery) by Charlotte Elkins, Aaron Elkins
Rumours by Freya North