Five Little Returned went out one day, through Shadesmar and far away…
Hey Internet, I’m Steve and this is RAFO. Considering the relative level of technology
on Nalthis, the terms used in describing BioChroma and Awakening are surprisingly sophisticated.
This is because at least some of the Five Scholars - the group of Returned who studied
Nalthian Magic - had visited worlds that had gone through an Industrial Revolution, and
therefore had more of a grasp on scientific theory.
However, the only obviously “industrialized” society we’ve seen is in Mistborn Era 2,
which takes place after the Stormlight Archive, which itself happens after Warbreaker. So
what planet, or planets did the 5 Scholars visit?
We’re going to dig in to the timeline of the Cosmere here, so if you haven’t read
at least Warbreaker, Stormlight, and Mistborn, beware. Here there be Spoilers…
The general consensus is that the 5 Scholars gained their scientific savvyness from their
visit to Roshar, which at least Vasher is confirmed to have visited, because Nightblood
is a direct attempt to make a shardblade with a different magic system. However, I don’t
think the dates match up for that to have been their only stop.
The events at the end of Warbreaker occur roughly 300 years after the Manywar, which
was the conflict that essentially established the kingdom of Hallandren. The Tears of Edgli,
a flower exclusive to the valley of Hallandren and used in making valuable dyes, and potentially
a solid form of Endowment’s investiture, was one reason behind the war; another was
the discovery of ichor-alcohol and Commands to make Lifeless out of 1 Breath rather than
50, allowing the creation of huge armies that didn’t need to eat or feel pain. These discoveries
were made by the 5 Scholars, who broke up at the beginning of the war. This was also
when a certain sword-nimi was created and used for the first time though apparently
he was called something else at this point. Vo, the first Returned, ...returned about
300 years before the Manywar, but Awakening wasn’t discovered until 100 years previous.
So we’ve got a timeframe: the 5 Scholars - a group of Returned who studied Awakening
- could not have gone off-world any earlier than about four centuries before Warbreaker,
and no later than 3. Sounds like a pretty wide margin, but in relation to the rest of
the Cosmere, things really start connecting because of it.
So LET’S GET A TIMELINE. We know Alloy of Law, or Mistborn Era 2, occurs
after the first half of Stormlight, but before the second half (for convenience I’ll call
them Stormlight 1 and Stormlight 2), so there’s a 15-20 year space. Mistborn Era 1 takes place
341 years before that. For 1024 years, the Lord Ruler ...ruled the Final Empire, keeping
technology stifled. Previous to this, Khlennium had nearly reached the development of railroads.
So Scadrial was almost at Industrialization, but they got pushed back 1000 years.
Originally though, Warbreaker and Alloy of Law were set to happen at about the same time,
several hundred years before Stormlight 1. Due to realizing a timeline conflict, Alloy
was pushed back. However, given that Brandon wrote Way of Kings Prime with Vasher in mind,
and then wrote Warbreaker in order to flesh out his backstory, it’s probably safe to
assume that duration between the two is still reliable. This puts Warbreaker a little bit
before Mistborn Era 1, so 400 years before that, when the 5 Scholars went a-hopping,
would have been solidly in the middle of the Final Empire, pre-industrialization. So Scadrial’s
out. Right, right, but what about Roshar? We know
they visited there, why couldn’t they just have had one stop?
Here’s why. On Roshar, the Last Desolation occurred about 4500 years ago. Each Desolation
would wipe out up to 90% of Roshar’s population, basically reverting them back to the Stone
Age, and there was less than a year between the last two. In the Prelude to the Stormlight
Archive, the Heralds give up their Honorblades and go into hiding, humanity thinking they
went to reclaim the Tranquiline Halls. The Heralds knew how to smelt steel, but that
knowledge had to have vanished with them; we see in the Prelude soldiers with bronze-head
spears, putting Roshar in the early Bronze Age technologically, and having to rebuild
from the stone up. 2500 years later, Roshar was into the Iron
Age. When (SPOILERS) Dalinar sees the Recreance at Feverstone Keep, his spearhead is of good
steel, but most everyone is still wearing bronze armor - roughly equivalent to ancient
Roman tech - which means 2000 years later, present day Roshar would be at about the Renaissance,
which matches what Brandon has said. However, we need to consider the popularity of chouta.
First, it’s delicious. Second, it’s reminiscent of the street-food explosion that accompanied
the Industrial Revolution here; so Roshar is on the cusp of Industrialization. But 700
years ago when the 5 Scholars went a-hopping? Nowhere near that level of scientific thought.
So Roshar, even though they definitely visited and saw Shardblades, is out. And if there
were additional stops, Vasher went home by this point.
What else do we got? First of the Sun has barely hit industrialization by Era 4, so
that’s out. Threnody, while they’ve got gunpowder, takes place after Warbreaker, and
it’s really hard to get to, so that’s out.
Sel might be a viable option, given the scholarly focus of the Elantrians, but you’ve got
the Dor to contend with in getting there, so it’s less likely.
What about Silverlight? It’s almost confirmed that the 5 Scholars visited this country that
exists solely in the Cognitive Realm, but in the exact same WoB Brandon says they are
considered early Cosmere Scholars, which to me means they had to get their Scholarship
elsewhere. So Silverlight, though still possible, is likely out.
That leaves us with my favorite contender: Taldain.
In terms of chronology, White Sand is the earliest published work in the Cosmere, solidly
taking place before Elantris, which itself is at least hundreds of years before Mistborn.
However, even at this point they were incredibly technologically advanced, with Darkside rivalling
Mistborn Era 2. They already have pistols and explosives, and at least according to
some, stereo systems. They’ve got the technology to produce instant noodles, which you’d
have to be Wit-less not to appreciate. This level of technology puts them at least at
the beginning of industrialization, and the level of scientific thought shown by Khriss
seems appropriate for that era. Given our timeline, White Sand should occur between
600-800 years before Warbreaker, so the 5 Scholars could have been on Taldain as early
as 200 years after White Sand. That’s plenty of time to fully experience a Revolution,
but is probably far enough back that Autonomy was still allowing visitors. We’re not sure
when Bavadin’s tourism embargo went into effect, only that it’s been many many years.
If all the Arcanum Unbounded essays were written around the same time, that would have to be
at least after the end of Mistborn Era 1 - 600 years later, because Khriss references the
movement of the planet and changes to its ecology.
So there it is: a Cosmere timeline in all its relative, circumstantial glory.
Speaking of Khriss, my next video will be digging into the Investiture of Taldain, so
please subscribe so you get notified when it comes out. If you’ve missed any of my
videos, you can check them out here. There’s a lot of White Sand to pull from for next
time, so if you haven’t gotten the prose version, it’s well worth your time to Read
And Find Out.