How soon did you realize Nomad was Sigzil?

[Velsii]

As the title suggests- when did you realize Sigzil was Nomad?

Some of my first clues and thought processes-

"Those plants... their movements reminded him of home- a place without soil."

I knew this was Roshar at this point. "Aux was a shapeshifting metal tool" I knew that it was a knight radiant.

"He'd always been inquisitive. even after he'd become a soldier- pointedly turning away from the life of a scholar-" Thought it was renarin here

"Many had pale skin, though nearly as many had darker skin like his." This was when I assumed it was Sigzil.

"His distant, former master would be proud of him." And this was where I confirmed it was Sigzil.

Any other clues y'all found before this point? His meeting with Wit basically confirmed it.

[Treamayne]

Very similar progression. I had had it accidentally spoiled before release that Nomad was somebody from Bridge Four, so I went into the book expecting him to be from Roshar. I guessed Sig when he mentioned his skin tone (combined with the Scholar references) and these:

• Ch 6 - "He’d often felt short compared to the towering Alethi, but here he was the tall one."
• Ch 6 - "He said this in Alethi on purpose, which wasn’t his native tongue." 

[Leuthie]

I think it was made clear in the initial reading of the 4th secret project by Brandon at the end of last year. Nomad had aftereffects from holding a Dawnshard, was from Roshar and was a student of Hoid. In any case, I already knew Nomad was Sigzil before cracking the book open.

[Velsii]

25 minutes ago, Leuthie said:

I think it was made clear in the initial reading of the 4th secret project by Brandon at the end of last year. Nomad had aftereffects from holding a Dawnshard, was from Roshar and was a student of Hoid. In any case, I already knew Nomad was Sigzil before cracking the book open.

I tried to avoid any spoilers, so I hadn't seen this

[trav]

These namechanges are pretty pointless to be honest. If it is revealed anyways then what is the point? No to mention that you could piece it together before even reading the book.

 

[Treamayne]

On 10/12/2023 at 5:41 AM, trav said:

These namechanges are pretty pointless to be honest.

That would depend on what you perceive the intended point to be - vs - the actual reason why Sanderson decided to use name changes.

Please remember that one of the intended themes of the Cosmere is exploring how a name (or name change) affects how a person sees themself and how others view that person. It's why Kelsier became known as Survivor (and eventually other psuedonyms not listed for spoiler reasons). It's why Warbreaker became known as Talaxin, Kalad, Peacegiver, Vasher and Zahel (and why the Vasher Identity helps him hide his Divine Breath). Names are powerful, and Identity is important to the Cosmere. I think Brandon wants to explore that interaction.

But, I can see that if you only think of a name change as "keep the reader guessing until I tell you who it is" then I understand why you might find that pointless.

Edited October 14, 2023 by Treamayne
SPAG

[Poi]

I realized Nomad was sigzil after he mentioned Kal and called Hoid his master.

[The Sibling she/her]

I read the entire preview without noticing it and then went on to the shard and immediately found out. I never really figure this stuff out on my own. I just devour the book and hope that someone smarter than me was paying attention and puts it in the coppermind.

[Duxredux he/him]

On 10/12/2023 at 4:16 AM, Treamayne said:

That would depend on what you perceive the intended point to be - vs - the actual reason why Sanderson decided to use name changes.

Please remember that one of the intended themes of the Cosmere is exploring how a name (or name change) affects how a person sees themsef and how others view that person. It's why Kelsier became known as Survivor (and eventually other psuedonyms not listed for spoiler reasons). It's why Warbreaker became known as Talaxin, Kalad, Peacegiver, Vasher and Zahel (and why the Vasher Identity helps him hide his Divine Breath). Names are powerful, and Identity is important to the Cosmere. I think Brandon wants to explore that interaction.

But, I can see that if you only think of a name change as "keep the reader guessing until I tell you who it is" then I understand why you might find that pointless.

To echo this, there are several reasons in-world for someone to choose to obscure their name, particularly when being hunted by a planet depopulating group that tortures bystanders for information.

Retaining a name from your home world can also tip your hand regarding what Invested Arts you may have access to, and that can become more and more important as the worlds and conflicts become more interconnected. The word "nomad" probably has an equivalent in nearly every language and will translate well via Connection.

Quote

Avery Hinks

Is there a canonical reason why Vasher and Vivenna changed their names to Zahel and Azure on Roshar?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, it kind of comes into the fact that Vasher has gone through a bunch of name changes and there are a couple of answers to this. One is, in the Cosmere, like in a lot of like fantasy worlds, names and identity are just a pretty big deal, part of how the magic works is how you view yourself, and I like, in that instance, indicating that time has passed and the character has adopted a new name and things like this, it's just that's a thing.

You've also probably noticed that behind the scenes in the Cosmere there are lots of different groups vying for control and power and things like this, and so going under a pseudonym's actually a pretty good idea. I guess an alias, they're not writing books, it's not pseudonyms, you know what I mean, going under an alias's generally a pretty good idea for just if you don't want attention from the wrong people.

That said, I do have to balance this because, for instance, in Azure's case, you know, I picked something that Vivenna had, you know, blue had been associated with her in the previous book, so it's not a completely, that's partially for the reader's benefit, so it's easier for you to track who is who, just a little bit, and just a little bit easier to figure out who is who.

But if run into someone like Felt, right? Felt doesn't care. He's not hiding from anybody. Felt is, you know, he's more like "I moved from Nebraska to Texas," right? "And now I'm living in Texas." That's more how he views it a little bit. He's not a secret agent (ooh, big spoilers). Felt just, you know, he moved, so he goes by the same name. And that's, you'll see some of that as well. If someone's going by an alias, I'm doing it to indicate one of those two things, usually.

YouTube Spoiler Stream 2 (June 3, 2021)

 

[GeoMantrix]

It was spoiled for me by an unreliable source, though that was good since I was leery of the resemblance to SP2.  

[KSub]

I want to say at the first clue. Of course that’s the first clue that I noticed but I immediately thought it was Sigzil. I’m not sure why. 

As for the name change @trav it isn’t pointless. Brandon is telling us what happened to this character Sigzil. Nomad isn’t the person we left on Roshar, he’s changed. And in a more practical way he’s also in hiding from the dusk brigade. Then the name change to Zellion is indicating to us that he is changing again. 

I hope to find out what that means for our hero in future book.

[Tigersharkcub]

I assumed he was Sigzil early on. Considering all of the Cosmere secret projects have had some connection to Hoid, I figured nomad must be tied closely with him in someway. After the first few clues it seemed obvious.

[Landis963 he/him]

I think I knew when he had the blow-up at Hoid.  His synopsis of Wit's actions in tWoK and WoR was too specific - and too personal - to come from anyone else.  It's been a while since the preview chapters, though.  YouTube comments might just as easily have spoiled me.  

[Elegy he/him]

Interestingly, I noticed it through a detail in the preview chapters that was then edited out in the published version!

At the end of chapter 9, it says:

Quote

“I needed a shower anyway,” Nomad said, wiping the water from his face, then running his fingers through the tight curls of his hair.

- at least in the preview chapters; in the published version, it's this instead:

Quote

“I needed a shower anyway,” Nomad said, wiping the water from his face, then running his fingers through the stubble on his head. His hair had been burned away in the flash of sunlight.

... which of course makes sense, that his hair would be burned.

Anyway, at first I thought he was maybe one of the Heralds (specifically Nale, Kalak or maybe Taln, but obviously in some form that we couldn't know of at this point), then after a while it became more obvious that it had to be a Bridge Four member, and then that detail with his hair (that isn't even part of the book anymore) made it all fall into place, because his curly hair was somehow a very distinctive thing about his appearance in my head.

In the published version, I'm pretty sure that it would have been clear with the clarification of Hoid being his mentor, which happens just after that.

Edited November 12, 2023 by Elegy

[Boomslug he/him]

The airsick comment threw me off

[One of the Ten Fools he/him]

as so as he meet Hoid

[bwehan]

Managed to hide myself from all spoilers! Just got the book from the library....first reader as it just got in!

 

Page 41. That's when I decided there were too many pieces of evidence pointing toward bithe roshar and the time period of bridge four.

 

At the begining of the book all I knew was that he was dark skinned based off the picture and that he could skip worlds. I started to understand that he had live a while once we got into the Breath units and keeping up levels to maintain body and mind.

 

The gap tooth man being save is what triggered it finally for me. Of being reminded of an old friend.

 

So I searched to confirm and found this page.

[Treamayne]

Welcome to the Shard

1 hour ago, bwehan said:

Managed to hide myself from all spoilers! Just got the book from the library....first reader as it just got in!

Page 41. That's when I decided there were too many pieces of evidence pointing toward bithe roshar and the time period of bridge four.

At the begining of the book all I knew was that he was dark skinned based off the picture and that he could skip worlds. I started to understand that he had live a while once we got into the Breath units and keeping up levels to maintain body and mind.

The gap tooth man being save is what triggered it finally for me. Of being reminded of an old friend.

So I searched to confirm and found this page.

Does this mean you have not yet finished the story then? Hope you enjoy it - it's a wild ride. 

[laserz667]

As soon as he started taking to hoid