| Yesteel | |
|---|---|
| Siblings | Arsteel |
| Abilities | Returned, Awakener |
| Groups | Five Scholars |
| Homeworld | Nalthis |
| Universe | Cosmere |
Yesteel is one of the Five Scholars on Nalthis, and a master of Lifeless Commands.[1] He is Arsteel's brother. His most well-known achievement is his discovery of ichor-alcohol.[2]
Attributes and Abilities
“You're not any better at this than Vasher is. You people can’t sneak at all! Yesteel would be so disappointed in you. ”
—Nightblood on Vivenna.[3]
As a Returned, Yesteel can have the Fifth Heightening whenever he desires, and all the effects that implies, such as agelessness.[4][5] Like Vasher and Denth, Yesteel probably is well aware how to hide his divine Breath and appear as he wishes.[6]
Yesteel is very skilled at sneaking around, a fact which Nightblood knows of and mentions to Vivenna.[3] This could mean that Yesteel is especially good at surpressing his divine Breath and shaping himself to whatever he needs. At the very least, he is much better at stealth than Vasher and Vivenna.[7]
As one of the Five Scholars, Yesteel is extremely knowledgable about Awakening, and he is an expert in Lifeless Commands. Jewels seems to believe that Yesteel could bring back the memories of Arsteel's Lifeless body, which is far beyond Vasher's capabilities of working with Lifeless.[1] He invents ichor-alcohol during the Manywar,[2] and around the time of the Pahn Kahl rebellion, he has devised a stronger form of the substance.[2] Despite Yesteel's knowledge of Lifeless, he didn't create the original Command to make Lifeless with a single Breath--Shashara did.[8]
He knows Shashara's secret on how to make Awakened swords.[9] However, it's unclear if he knows how to make swords on the power level of Nightblood, or more on the level of Vivenna's Blade.
Yesteel's current Heightening is unclear, but if he discovered advanced Lifeless Commands, he had to have at least attained the Seventh Heightening at some point.[5]
History
Return and Scholar
Like all of the Five Scholars, Yesteel was a Returned.[10] It's unclear how both he and his brother, Arsteel, Returned and how they know that they are brothers. Since Returning, they lack memories of their past life.
He joined the Five Scholars, and there was a golden age in discovering Awakening Commands for several years. Among them, Yesteel was considered a master of Lifeless Commands.[1] Unfortunately, these discoveries were part of the reason for the Manywar, such as Shashara's discovery of a Command that could create a Lifeless with a single Breath.[11][8]
Involvement in the Manywar
“Shashara had been spurred on by the knowledge that she’d been shown up by Yesteel and the development of ichor-alcohol. She had studied, experimented, practiced. And she’d done it. She’d learned to forge the Breath of a thousand people into a piece of steel, Awaken it to sentience, and give it a Command.”
—Vasher on what drove Shashara to make Nightblood[12]
During the Manywar, The Five Scholars split, joining different sides.[11] Vasher persuaded Denth to join his side of Hanald,[13] and it seems likely that Shashara also joined Vasher. It is likely that Yesteel and Arsteel went to different kingdoms and opposed Hanald, but it's unknown which kingdoms they went to. They could have gone to Kuth and Huth, Hanald's primary enemy in the Manywar,[2] or one of the many nations in the Pahn Unity, who also opposed Hanald.[14]
During the Manywar, Yesteel developed ichor-alcohol for Lifeless,[2] blood for a Lifeless that meant a Lifeless could stay active longer without requiring additional Breath.[15] It also made it so Awakening them was cheaper.[16] The discovery of ichor-alcohol drove Shashara to research a way to make an Awakened sword--a Shardblade--eventually resulting in Nightblood.[12] Somehow, Yesteel secretly learned how Shashara and Vasher created Nightblood.[9]
Nightblood hastened the end of the Manywar, but Yesteel's involvement in the war's finale is unclear.
Post-Manywar
At some point, Yesteel went in hiding, his whereabouts unknown to Vasher.[2] This could be because of Yesteel's skill in stealth.[3]
Three hundred years after the Manywar, an unknown tyrant recruited Yesteel to restore Kuth and Huth, an action which finally revealed Yesteel's whereabouts to Vasher. Yesteel had created a stronger form of ichor-alcohol, and could be helping the tyrant to cause conflict on Nalthis.[2]
If, during the Pahn Kahl rebellion, the Hallandren Lifeless army had not been stopped, Yesteel would have brought Kuth and Huth to Idris's aid, revealing the secret of the Awakened swords to them. He would have pressed towards Hallandren and destroyed T'Telir.[9][17]
In the aftermath of the Pahn Kahl rebellion, Jewels sought out Yesteel, bringing Arsteel's Lifeless corpse. Jewels hoped that Yesteel, with his mastery of Lifeless, could help bring back some of Arsteel's personality and memories.[1]
Relationships
Arsteel and Vasher
Little is known about Yesteel and his brother's relationship. It seems likely that he and Arsteel joined each other during the Manywar. It's unknown how Yesteel feels about Vasher killing his brother,[18] but the murder probably doesn't endear Vasher to Yesteel.
Shashara
It seems as though Shashara and Yesteel had a competitive relationship when it came to their scholarship. Shashara came up with the first Command for creating Lifeless with a single Breath,[8] but since Yesteel is referred to as a master of Lifeless Commands[1] he was likely spurred forward to do more with Lifeless. He eventually created ichor-alcohol,[2] and the creation of the substance made Shashara want to show up Yesteel. She did this by researching and creating Awakened swords, resulting in Nightblood.[12]
Notes
- ↑ a b c d e Warbreaker Annotations
— Arcanum - 2011-07-18# - ↑ a b c d e f g h Warbreaker epilogue#
- ↑ a b c Warbreaker chapter 55#
- ↑ Warbreaker prologue#
- ↑ a b Warbreaker Ars Arcanum#
- ↑ Warbreaker Annotations
— Arcanum - 2010-10-26# - ↑ Warbreaker Annotations
— Arcanum - 2011-06-22# - ↑ a b c Warbreaker chapter 53#
- ↑ a b c Warbreaker Annotations
— Arcanum - 2011-03-21# - ↑ Barnes and Noble Book Club Q&A
— Arcanum - 2009-07-08# - ↑ a b Warbreaker chapter 32#
- ↑ a b c Warbreaker chapter 51#
- ↑ Warbreaker Annotations
— Arcanum - 2010-10-26# - ↑ Warbreaker chapter 26#
- ↑ Warbreaker chapter 33#
- ↑ Warbreaker chapter 58#
- ↑ Warbreaker Annotations
— Arcanum - 2011-06-22# - ↑ Warbreaker chapter 29#