Shashara
| Shashara | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||
| Died | Slain with Nightblood by Vasher[2] | ||||||||||
| Abilities | Returned, Awakener, Worldhopper[3], Cognitive Shadow, Shardbearer (formerly), Royal Locks[4] | ||||||||||
| Titles | Glorysinger | ||||||||||
| Profession | Scholar | ||||||||||
| Groups | Five Scholars | ||||||||||
| Homeworld | Nalthis | ||||||||||
| Universe | Cosmere | ||||||||||
“The waves of men pointed toward one figure at the center. A woman, vaguely depicted by a couple of curved brushstrokes. And yet it was obvious. She stood high, as if atop a cresting wave of crashing soldiers, caught in mid-motion, head flung back, her arm upraised.
Holding a deep black sword that darkened the red sky around it.
”
—Lightsong seeing a painting of the Battle of Twilight Falls,[5] with Shashara wielding Nightblood[2]
Shashara is a Returned and one of the Five Scholars on Nalthis.
Attributes and abilities
Shashara is a Returned. As such she can have the fifth Heightening whenever she wants. This includes all the abilities granted by it, such as agelessness. She held the ninth Heightening at least once, using it to make Nightblood.[6]
As one of the Five Scholars Shashara has a good understanding of Awakening,[6] and has made several discoveries. It is also likely she can use her Divine Breath to alter her appearance, as the other scholars have been seen doing this.
As she is known to have wielded Nightblood she was probably bonded to him. This makes her resistant to the effects caused by Nightblood.[5]
As her brother VaraTreledees had the Royal Locks it’s safe to assume she had them as well.[4]
History
Early life and Returning
Shashara's life before she Returned is a mystery. She had a brother however, who would later return as VaraTreledees.[7] At some point she died.
Upon her Return, she was found and taken in by the Cult of the Returned. They gave her the name Glorysinger.[2] At some point she and 4 others, VaraTreledees, Talaxin, Arsteel and Yesteel formed the Five Scholars. During this time she researched Awakening, becoming one of the most talented Awakeners of the Five Scholars.[6] She did multiple notable inventions during this time, known examples being the creation of the one-Breath Command to create Lifeless and also the discovery of how to create a sentient Awakened object of steel, leading to the creation of Nightblood.[6]
Sometime after her first death she traveled the cosmere.[3]
During this time Talaxin and Shashara fell in love, and eventually married. Talaxin and Shashara collaborated on their Awakening research.[2] Shashara and Vasher worked together to create the Command for Nightblood, "Destroy evil."[6] After Nightblood’s creation she argued with Talaxin, claiming the sword could be a poet or a scholar, like a man.[8]
The Manywar and Death
After the Manywar began, the Five Scholars split and joined different sides, Shashara joined Talaxin on the side of Hanald and eventually she and Talaxin convinced her brother to join them as well. During this war she and Talaxin provided Hanald with information and techniques regarding Awakening. She might have also been a general, as she’s known to have fought at least once.[2][5]
Shashara participated in the Battle of Twilight Falls, here she drew Nightblood, killing many soldiers.[2][5] While the exact details of the Battle of Twilight Falls have yet to be revealed, Talaxin was horrified by what happened.
Shortly after this event Shashara told Talaxin that she wanted to reveal how metal could be Awakened, possibly leading to more swords like Nightblood. This sparked a massive argument between them, only ending when Talaxin slew her with Nightblood in order to prevent more deaths.[7]
Legacy
Due to Shashara’s death VaraTreledees developed a hate for Talaxin, which would only end with his death during the Pahn Kahl rebellion.[4]
Nightblood's first memories are very important to him, and cannot be overwritten. Due to this he always thinks of Shashara as alive.[7]
She is considered an early cosmere scholar by those at Silverlight.[3]
Trivia
- Shashara was not known to have worn red scarves.[9] This strongly implies that she was not the person who inspired the story of The Girl Who Looked Up.
- There is no significance with Shashara's name bearing a close resemblance to the Herald Shalash's name.[10]
Notes
- ↑ FanX Spring 2019
— Arcanum - 2019-04-19# - ↑ a b c d e f Warbreaker Annotations
— Arcanum - 2010-11-16# - ↑ a b c Arcanum Unbounded Chicago signing
— Arcanum - 2016-12-06# - ↑ a b c Warbreaker chapter 57#
- ↑ a b c d Warbreaker chapter 26#
- ↑ a b c d e Warbreaker chapter 51#
- ↑ a b c Warbreaker chapter 29#
- ↑ Oathbringer chapter 92#
- ↑ Oathbringer release party
— Arcanum - 2017-11-13# - ↑ Stormlight Three Update #1
— Arcanum - 2015-09-16#