A Bunch of Figgldygrak

[Sart he/him]

Quote

Nonsense. Balderdash. Figgldygrak. Isn't it odd that gibberish words are often the sounds of other words, cut up and dismembered, then stitched into something like them—yet wholly unlike them at the same time?

I wonder if you could do that to a man.

After mentioning the name Adonalsium to Dalinar Kholin, the King's Wit, aka Hoid, quickly plays it off, claiming he's speaking gibberish. He drops this quote. Interestingly, while he does use two 'real' nonsense words of Nonsense and Balderdash, the term Figgldygrak was apparently a wholly Brandon invention. It was an amusing word, nothing more. Then, a user by the name of Natans had an interesting idea. Balderdash could be anagramed into the word Shardblade. Perhaps, the same could be done to Figgldygrak, in turn revealing some deep truth about the Cosmere. You can find the thread here:

Surprisingly, Peter Ahlstrom himself weighed in, calling the people in that thread "Very special people"

Clearly, we were reading way too much into this. The theory was basically abandoned, and we moved on.

However, the word reappeared in Rhythm of War, this time in Navani's inner dialogue.

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Well, let them waste their time trying to figure out a reason to the figgldygrak she wrote.

Specifically, it was used in the context of writing ciphers that meant absolutely nothing. It was literally meant to be a waste of time. I was surprised to see it reappear, but laughed it off as Brandon lightly poking fun at his fans reading too much into his words.

Then the secret projects happened.

In Tress of the Emerald Sea, Hoid once again uses the word in his narration.

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Beyond that, there are those among us who have the uncanny ability to read another’s emotions. Not through magic, or mystical Connection, or any such figgldygrak. No, they are simply students of human nature.

It was another callback to the same forgotten joke. It's clearly used as a synonym for mystical nonsense in all of its appearances, but it kept cropping up. Why keep the joke going?

The word then reappears a fourth time in Yumi and the Nightmare Painter.

Quote

Tojin frowned. “What about . . . drama-horoscope-figgldygrak— whatsit?”
“Old news,” Izzy said. “I’m going to be a viewer critic instead. It’s going to make me famous.”

At this point, I'm starting to get paranoid. While it does not show up in SP4, this nonsensical word has appeared in four separate places, uttered by three different characters.

Some of you might guess that this is a word that Hoid has invented. However, this is tenuous at best. While he was the first to speak it, we have to consider that both Navani and Tojin used it in everyday speech. You could maybe stretch that perhaps Navani overheard Hoid make up the word, but that doesn't explain Tojin. Hoid is a statue for most of that book, and Design wasn't bonded to Hoid when he said that line. It's at least two degrees of separation.

Even more interestingly, Hoid claims he doesn't make up words. Again, from Yumi,

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"...Investiture—raw Investiture in particular—is kinda wahoopli.”
“. . . Wahoopli?” Painter said.
“Word I just made up,” Design said. “It means weird. Hoid says I should be more literary. He makes up words all the time. So I’m trying it out.”
(I do not make up words. I have no idea where she was getting that part.)

Admittedly, this is spoken with the indignation of someone who probably makes up words, but the point still stands. Hoid denies that he makes up words. Where, then, does the word figgldygrak come from in the Cosmere?

Let's consider that three different characters of wildly different origins and planets have used this word. Therefore, I propose a theory. The word figgldygrak  is Yolish in origin. It's the only root language all of these human characters would share.

Is this wahoopli and figgldygrak? Probably. Is it fun to speculate about? Absolutely. Leave your own takes on this mysterious word down in the comments.

[Treamayne]

10 hours ago, Sart said:

this nonsensical word has appeared in four separate places, uttered by three different characters.

Note, it's actually only used by two people - the use in Tress and YatNP are both Hoid telling the story and using his own lexicon to do so (as he "translates" it). 

I agree there is probably something there to be found. It is likely cypher based rather than anagram based. 

More when I have the time. . . 

[alder24]

11 hours ago, Sart said:

Let's consider that three different characters of wildly different origins and planets have used this word. Therefore, I propose a theory. The word figgldygrak  is Yolish in origin. It's the only root language all of these human characters would share.

Is this wahoopli and figgldygrak? Probably. Is it fun to speculate about? Absolutely. Leave your own takes on this mysterious word down in the comments.

You're probably right. I didn't notice this word repeating. Interesting. 

1 hour ago, Treamayne said:

I agree there is probably something there to be found. It is likely cypher based rather than anagram based. 

A cipher you said... I got a little bit overboard, trying different ciphers, got stuck on Vigenere Cipher unable to find a key word for decryption. 

[The Sibling she/her]

3 hours ago, alder24 said:

A cipher you said... I got a little bit overboard, trying different ciphers, got stuck on Vigenere Cipher unable to find a key word for decryption. 

Same. I've tried so many keywords, but so far no luck.

[Green Hoodie Mistborn he/him]

This a very interesting catch, great job!

I mean figgldygrak obviously is an anagram for "dark giggly f" but the idea that it could be a Yolish origin word that somehow survived to multiple planets is interesting. 

If it's a cipher it is a very short one. 

My heart of hearts tells me that Brandon (maybe via Peter) noted how much people were paying attention to figgldygrak and decided to keep using it as a tongue in cheek joke to us

[Leuthie]

I don't think Brandon had anything in mind for the word when he first wrote it. I don't think Brandon is the type to take our speculation and shoehorn a created meaning into it after the fact. Robert Jordan literally changed a plot point from one book to the next because speculation turned out to be right and I believe Brandon has learned from that.

So this is just a nonsense word that Brandon made up for Hoid to use. Hoid continues to use it, and Navani overheard his original use or Dalinar has repeated it enough for Navani to take it up.

[Duxredux he/him]

16 hours ago, Green Hoodie Mistborn said:

My heart of hearts tells me that Brandon (maybe via Peter) noted how much people were paying attention to figgldygrak and decided to keep using it as a tongue in cheek joke to us

Whaaaaat, like Hoid's asides in TotES where he mentions those people who compulsively track tool material compositions if they seem metal? Or those people who are meteorologically inclined and were wondering how exactly the weather patterns operated on Lumar? Would Brandon do that to us, considering he knows exactly how we will react whenever he announces YASP (yet another secret project)?

Regardless, if it is relevant, it's certainly not plot relevant, probably just a little easter egg. I can't think of any particular importance regarding the fact that balderdash is an anagram of Shardblade, and there's no way he could have such a little detail be important to the general audience. If it is important, it will be abundantly clear within the context of that book.

Edited March 7 by Duxredux

[Lord Spirit he/him]

Similar to how "Hoid" is the 16th Ceaser cipher of "Rysn" I think that Balderdash being an anagram for Shardblade is just a coincidence.

Edited March 7 by Lord Spirit