Canticle is a great place to live actually

[Synapticsam]

The surface of Canticle is ever bombarded by a pillar of light which scorches the entire surface.  Nothing survives this, causing even souls to be transmuted into little Investiture batteries.  The people on this planet have to constantly stay on the run to survive, never truly knowing more than a fleeting moment of peace.  

Sounds like Hell right?  Well, no.  As many of the people living on Canticle told Nomad again and again: This Isn't Hell.  Their ancestors lived in Hell and fled it.... they fled to Canticle to escape Hell.

You might simply attribute this to the nature of Threnodites, especially those we see on Canticle.  They take things in stride.  Even when faced with certain death, they carry on without complaint.  Back in the past of Threnody, Silence exemplifies these qualities as well. 

I however think that there is more to this.  The people who fled Threnody had space flight technology.  Advanced enough space flight technology that they left not just their planet, but their entire solar system.  Canticle is not one of the planets listed in the Threnodite solar system.  If these people could escape the entire Threnodite system, why would they choose Canticle of all places?  Perhaps they had no choice, but I think they may have chosen it intentionally.  

Consider the reason these people left Threnody.  When a Threnodite dies, their soul becomes a shade.  Nomad describes Shades as one of the most dangerous forces in the Cosmere. Every single Threnodite becomes a shade someday, and as far as we know Shades don't go away once created.  The entire planet of Threnody became overrun by shades, making the place unlivable.  So the people evacuated the planet.  However, these people may have had enough foresight to know that wherever they ran, their Shades would eventually overrun that planet as well.  Nomad notes that the way that Canticle zaps people into little batteries is precisely the reason Canticle is not overrun by shades.  The Chorus essentially confirms this as well, and seems to me to imply that they came here intentionally,

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"Then we fled Threnody. We are your Chorus.  We remember. We came here, to the land of the twilight rings, to make our own world. Do not forget. Adonalsium will claim us eventually. Live. And remember."

 

If we establish that the people came to Canticle to intentionally avoid another Hell, then I think there are two possibilities of how they found Canticle. 

The first is that they searched through the Cosmere until they found a planet that would obliterate shades.  This would require a tremendous amount of technology.  Perhaps possible in the far future of Era 4, but not at all possible with the level of technology we've seen so far (even I think with the level of technology we see in Sunlit Man, which is likely hundreds of years after the Threnodites arrived).  I think this first possibility would require an incredible amount of luck.

The second possibility is that Canticle was created for them.  By a Shard.  One popular theory I've seen is that Canticle is an experiment created by Invention.  We don't know anything about Invention, but it seems a fitting manifestation of the idea that Shard represents.  It could be that the planet is just an experiment left running, that the Threnodites happened to stumble upon.  Experimentation is definitely part of invention.  However, another thing about invention is that usually it creates something that fulfils a need.  That need could be the creation of some sort of core battery in the planet, or it could have instead been to create a planet where Threnodites could live without causing Shade apocalypses.  Perhaps the people of Threnody knew enough Cosmere lore to seek out Invention.  Perhaps Invention came to them knowing that following in Odiums wake would provide a great place to rationalize some experiments. 

 

TLDR; Canticle is actually the only place a Threnodite can live without fear of Shades, and it may have been created by Invention specifically so that Threnodites could escape Hell.  

[AquaRegia he/him]

There is a lot to like about these ideas.  Certainly everything about Canticle seems to point to an unusual origin; Shard involvement is easily imagined.  An intentional design for Shade-free living?  Could be.

Unfortunately, I don't think we'll ever know (unless through WoBs).  I won't be surprised if Canticle never appears in another story.  I think Brandon may leave all these questions unanswered.

Also, don't the last few chapters of TSM clearly imply that the Shade-removal mechanism of "leaving people for the sun" is no longer going to happen anymore?  Everybody seems happy about the Sunheart-recharging plan; no more sacrifices, no more lotteries... which means, going forward, LOTS of Threnodites will peacefully die on Canticle without being turned into Sunhearts.  The Reliquary, the Ghostbusters™ Containment Unit where Shades end up (and made USEFUL!) seems to be the real solution to the Shade Apocalypse.  Presumably, as long as they can keep building new Reliquaries, they can keep Shades from overrunning the planet.

[Treamayne]

4 hours ago, AquaRegia said:

Also, don't the last few chapters of TSM clearly imply that the Shade-removal mechanism of "leaving people for the sun" is no longer going to happen anymore?  Everybody seems happy about the Sunheart-recharging plan; no more sacrifices, no more lotteries... which means, going forward, LOTS of Threnodites will peacefully die on Canticle without being turned into Sunhearts.

That is not the implication I drew from the last few chapters. I thought it was implied that recharging batteries means they can live to a normal age, and will go to the Sun when they are dying (rather than needing more Sunhearts than a mere aging population can provide - and therefore sacrificing people randomly or as capital punishment). Only those killed by violence/accident in the dark should become Shades.

[Synapticsam]

12 hours ago, AquaRegia said:

Also, don't the last few chapters of TSM clearly imply that the Shade-removal mechanism of "leaving people for the sun" is no longer going to happen anymore?  Everybody seems happy about the Sunheart-recharging plan; no more sacrifices, no more lotteries... which means, going forward, LOTS of Threnodites will peacefully die on Canticle without being turned into Sunhearts.  

No more sacrifices for battery power yes, but as time passes and generations of Threnodites die, their souls would become shades and I assume would get zapped by the sun. There wouldn't be a chance for shades to build up like they did on Threnody.

 

12 hours ago, AquaRegia said:

The Reliquary, the Ghostbusters™ Containment Unit where Shades end up (and made USEFUL!) seems to be the real solution to the Shade Apocalypse.  Presumably, as long as they can keep building new Reliquaries, they can keep Shades from overrunning the planet.

This is a really good point though.  And actually I feel like this must be sort of what the Night Brigade has done.  Somehow harnessing the power of the Shades.  At that point the Shades become less of a looming threat and more of a source of power.

[Stormfather43]

Could it be the planet Ashyn? In Arcanum Unbounded, Ashyn is described as "the burning planet, which suffered a cataclysm long ago. People here live in very small pockets of survivability, including the famous floating cities." This certainly seems to fit with the descriptions of the planet in The Sunlit Man. I know there are other unknown issues at play, like how the Threnodites would have arrived. But that just seems such a close description. Thoughts?

[alder24]

9 minutes ago, Stormfather43 said:

Could it be the planet Ashyn? In Arcanum Unbounded, Ashyn is described as "the burning planet, which suffered a cataclysm long ago. People here live in very small pockets of survivability, including the famous floating cities." This certainly seems to fit with the descriptions of the planet in The Sunlit Man. I know there are other unknown issues at play, like how the Threnodites would have arrived. But that just seems such a close description. Thoughts?

No, it's not. It would be named Ashyn if it was Ashyn. Those planets are separate, Ashyn has no rings, Ashyn has a normal size, Ashyn has disease based magic system and Nomad was on Ashyn and would have recognized it. TSM ch 2:

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They flew for what felt like an hour until they finally reached something interesting: a floating city. It moved through the landscape, an enormous plate, lifted by the thrust of hundreds of engines burning underneath it. Nomad had been on flying cities before, including one on a planet near his homeworld, but rarely had he seen one so ramshackle.

 

[Ninth of the Night]

On 10/31/2023 at 11:26 AM, AquaRegia said:

Unfortunately, I don't think we'll ever know (unless through WoBs).  I won't be surprised if Canticle never appears in another story.  I think Brandon may leave all these questions unanswered.

Eh I wouldn't give up hope yet, there was a WoB confirming that Canticle was built by a very powerful being. He left it open to interpretation, but could it really be anything other than a Shard?

And if Sando wasn't planning on revisiting Canticle I kinda doubt he would continue to keep secrets about it. We may not see these same characters again, I'm still betting we'll see the planet though. Likely set even further into the future than Sunlit Man.