Shallan, Veil and colors

[ajotatxe he/him]

Veil sees the colors 'muted'. (RoW 13)

Has Shallan, or Lightwavers, some investment from Nalthis?

[Treamayne]

2 hours ago, ajotatxe said:

Veil sees the colors 'muted'. (RoW 13)

Has Shallan, or Lightwavers, some investment from Nalthis?

Not that we know of. If Breath were involved, then Shallan (no matter the personality in charge) would always have a breath aura and people around her would also be able to notice a change (especially anybody with Breath like Wit, Azure, and Zahel). WHile it's possible that something more is "going on" here - I think the primary purpose of the passage was to illustrate how Shallan's DID personas have become so "real" to her that it wasn't just knowledge or skill that was segragated amongst the personalities - but even her perception of the environment has started to shift.

TLDR: it's a sign she is getting worse, not better (as she keeps lying to herself)

[ajotatxe he/him]

Answer to TDLR:

Some subtle suggestion about Veil sees the colors different as Shallan is done much before. Perhaps in KoW or WoR. Surely Radiant didn't "exist" at that moment. But I don't remember exactly when. So... I don't think show.

Thank u.

[alder24]

2 hours ago, ajotatxe said:

Veil sees the colors 'muted'. (RoW 13)

Has Shallan, or Lightwavers, some investment from Nalthis?

14 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

Not that we know of. If Breath were involved, then Shallan (no matter the personality in charge) would always have a breath aura and people around her would also be able to notice a change (especially anybody with Breath like Wit, Azure, and Zahel).

Not necessarily. She can unwillingly suppress them when changing between different personas, Warbreaker spoilers:

Spoiler

Just like Returned suppress their Divine Breath, by investing them deep within themself:

Spoiler

Mark

It was said throughout the book that you cannot just give some of your breath, but must give all of it. Perhaps I'm simply forgetting part of the book where this changes, but wouldn't Vasher have to give his Returned breath along with his others?

Brandon Sanderson

[...]

Vasher has learned to suppress his Returned Breath. When it's suppressed, it's as if it doesn't exist to him. He's Invested it into a place within himself, much like you can Invest your Breaths into a shirt, and when he gives away the rest of his Breaths, he doesn't give that one away. He could split off others of his Breaths if he wanted to—he's learned to do that, so that he could give a few Breaths and not all. It's just a matter of practicing as long as he has. But even people who aren't as practiced as him do it all the time when they Invest an object with not all of their Breath but just enough to bring it to life

Goodreads Fantasy Book Discussion Warbreaker Q&A (Jan. 18, 2010)

 

 

Also the Heightening-like effects are native to all investiture, more intense color recognition happens when somebody is highly invested (which she could suppress too when changing personas). She doesn't have to have Breaths for it to work. But there is likely something going on here. If she's Chana's daughter, she would likely be more invested which might manifest as Heightening-like effects.

Spoiler

tskyeguye

From Rysn's observations in the epilogue, it seems like she has a lot of the same aspects of a Fifth Heightening/Returned at the least. Is this because her Dawnshard is particularly connected to Endowment or because the effects of a certain level of Investment result in similar effects?

Brandon Sanderson

The latter.

Skrimyt

Interesting. So are actively Surgebinding Radiants or metal-burning Allomancers just not Invested enough to gain those passive effects, or do they not experience perfect pitch/color/etc. because their Investiture is just not as tightly bound to their Spiritweb as Endowment's Breaths or a Dawnshard would be?

Brandon Sanderson

Be aware that the two groups you mention don't generally hold much Investiture themselves, at least not in large quantities over time. More in Surgebinding. Almost none in Allomancy.

But RAFO to specifics.

Dawnshard Annotations Reddit Q&A (Nov. 6, 2020)

 

But it also might be something really natural - Shallan is an artist, she has a good eye for colors, and that's showing up when she is Shallan. But Veil is terrible at art, she would just be far worst at that. It might be her perception shaping the abilities of her different personas, like Treamayne said.

[Quantus he/him]

As a purely physical option: Ligthweaving is the manipulation of wavelength, not Light creation, and Veil-form takes more work to maintain.  Perhaps the colors are literally muted  while in that form, because light is being diverted into the illusions of her Veil (and presumably Radiant) persona's and less reaches her eyes (along the lines of the trope that invisible people dont see normally).

 

[J. Magi she/her]

A lot has been said already, but I just want to add that I agree with what @alder24 said about Shallan vs Veil's perspectives being different because Shallan is an artist. As an artist myself, I have noticed myself being more aware of the colors around me. It could have something to do with investiture, but I would doubt it. It sounds silly but there really is a difference when you look at the world with eyes that are trained to see colors. (Not to say colors appear brighter, you just notice them more in places you wouldn't before).  I think Brandon simply wanted to highlight the differences in their perspectives.

Anyway, that's my two cents.

 

 

[Green Hoodie Mistborn he/him]

There's always this to consider (with a mound of salt given the r/crempost subreddit):