Mercystar
| Mercystar | |
|---|---|
| Abilities | Returned, Cognitive Shadow |
| Titles | Goddess of Kindness |
| Residence | T'Telir |
| Nationality | Hallandren |
| Homeworld | Nalthis |
| Universe | Cosmere |
| First Appeared | Warbreaker |
Mercystar is a Returned from Hallandren on Nalthis.[1] She is the goddess of kindness and benevolence.[2][3]
Appearance and Personality
Mercystar is a gorgeously voluptuous woman. Like nearly all Returned, she exemplifies physical beauty. Lightsong describes her as very curvaceous, even plump, and quite busty.[2][4] Her colors are orange and gold.[1][2] Her clothing is typically quite garish.[2]
She is a good woman, although she is vain and a bit of a drama queen.[5] She seems to live in excess, as she is seen lounging on a couch while serving men fan her with large palm leaves.[2]
Attributes and Abilities
As a Returned, Mercystar has a Divine Breath which gives her the benefits of the Fifth Heightening. This includes:
- Aura Recognition - allows her to assess the number of Breaths a person possesses.
- Perfect Pitch
- Perfect Color Recognition - allows her to instantly and instinctively determine exact shades of colors and their hue harmonics.
- Perfect Life Sense - allows her to sense people around her.
- Agelessness - makes her immune to most toxins and physical ailments, as well as making her functionally immortal.
Mercystar is known for her involvement in politics, yet she is not all that influential.[1] She can be easily swayed by other Returned such as Blushweaver that are more skilled with rhetoric.[2]
She has the command of ten thousand Lifeless, and is one of the Returned who had access to a series of tunnels that connected different palaces, including the God King's palace. A lockable grate prevents unwanted access to her palace from the tunnels.[2][6]
History
Vasher broke into Mercystar's palace to investigate the tunnels that she and several other Returned had running underneath their palaces.[7] Blushweaver used this incident as an excuse to visit Mercystar with Lightsong. Blushweaver convinced her that the attack had been perpetrated by an Idrian and to join them in "preparing for war".[2]
Lightsong, however, was interested in why one person would have caused so much damage and left behind a Lifeless squirrel yet at the same time tried to kill as few people as possible. He went to Mercystar's palace to ask questions about the incident. Although Lightsong was actually just curious about what happened, his interest seemed to help persuade Mercystar to give Blushweaver control of her Lifeless.[4][8]
She sent her priests to the King's palace via the tunnels, which helped Lightsong understand their existence and importance.[9]
On the night of the Pahn Kahl rebellion, Lightsong and Llarimar entered the tunnel complex under Mercystar's palace, where he stumbled upon Blushweaver being held captive by Pahn Kahl scribes disguised as priests.[10]
Trivia
- Mercystar is supposed to hint at what a lot of the goddesses are like. There would be a good number of them who would turn out just like this—given anything they want, told how important they are, and blessed with a beautiful and perfect body no matter what they eat or how they act.[11]
- In the 10th Anniversary leatherbound edition of Warbreaker Mercystar's colors were changed from yellow/orange and gold to just orange and gold.
Notes
- ↑ a b c Warbreaker chapter 21#
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Warbreaker chapter 23#
- ↑ Warbreaker chapter 31#
- ↑ a b Warbreaker chapter 30#
- ↑ Warbreaker Annotations
— Arcanum - 2010-10-19# - ↑ Warbreaker Annotations
— Arcanum - 2011-05-23# - ↑ Warbreaker chapter 22#
- ↑ Warbreaker chapter 34#
- ↑ Warbreaker chapter 38#
- ↑ Warbreaker chapter 53#
- ↑ Warbreaker Annotations
— Arcanum - 2010-10-28#