What would people in the cosmere get tattooed?

[clementina]

I’m currently obsessed with The Stormlight Archive right now in preparation for book 5 so I just have Roshar in mind but I’d love to hear opinions about tattoos in the rest of the cosmere.

On Roshar, we know that tattooists exist. (Also, how are tattoos done? Is there a tattoo fabrial?) So far, we’ve mostly seen people on Roshar get tattooed for more practical purposes: declarations of freedom from former slavery, affiliation with organizations, etc. But Nazh’s embarassing glyph tattoo had me thinking about what people on Roshar would get tattooed for artistic purposes. Tattoos don’t seem that popular, but considering how military history has affected tattoos on Earth, what would you think tattoos would look like for the militaristic Alethi? Or Thaylen sailors? I assume things like anchors still get tattooed. But if the American traditional movement resulted in common motifs such as roses, panthers, and eagles, what would the Rosharan equivalent of that be? 

Would people still get chickens tattooed? People also got lucky symbols tattooed so santhids? Or would people get tattoos of spren that represent ideas aligning with their values? Luckspren, or maybe gloryspren or passionspren? Huge back pieces of chasmfiends?

Sorry for any poor grammar but I need the questions out of my head because it’s almost 5 AM.

Edited May 14 by clementina

[reisleK she/her]

I never thought about this! I would say things significant to them? Like (I don't think he's one for tattoos) but if he was, Dalinar would get his brother's last words on him. If it would actually stay, Kaladin would get Tien's date of death or a pretty looking rock (are color tattoos a thing?).

I feel like the Alethi wouldn't be big fans of meaningless tattoos. But I'm no worldhopper so I have no idea.

[clementina]

Ooh, I just had their general society in mind rather than specific characters, but I like your thoughts! I don’t know if I could see Dalinar getting a tattoo either, but I love the idea of Kaladin honoring Tien. But maybe a tattoo of that wooden horse Tien carved instead of a pretty rock? (Not sure if color tattoos are a thing on Roshar sadly. I love color tattoos. Okay, I love all tattoo, whether they have color or are black and white.)

Self-expression doesn’t seem to be very highly valued, so I don’t think the Alethi would care much for meaningless tattoos either. But oaths are really important to them and if you think about it, a tattoo is an oath. I don’t know how much of Oathbringer you’ve read but really early on, the Stormfather says there are no foolish oaths. I wonder if as Alerhi society progresses, this view will apply to things like tattoos. It doesn’t matter how foolish or frivolous the tattoo is because an oath is an oath. I think they would at least respect the lifelong commitment, but I could be wrong.

[reisleK she/her]

I agree with this! I'm a little over 40% of the way through Oathbringer, so yes, I've gotten to that point!

I think drunk tattoos/firemoss tattoos or even tattoos through dares may eventually become more commonplace, I'm sure someone on Roshar has one. There may not be foolish oaths, but Adolin tattooing the names of his girlfriends (before he met a certain someone) knowing how fast he went through them is stupid. 

For general culture, I feel like I don't know enough about Rosharians besides a few specific ones. So I can come up with some specific tattoos for characters (Just thought about Adolin getting his sword tattoed.)

Some general tattoo ideas: Family glyphs/crests (are family crests a thing?)
Glyphs in general
I agree that maybe spren would be tattooed

I imagine these tattoos to be of a stick and poke manner, ridiculous detail is likely rare--not to mention expensive.

Side note: Is tattooing a feminine or masculine art? 

[Treamayne]

27 minutes ago, reisleK said:

Side note: Is tattooing a feminine or masculine art? 

Well, the tattooist working on Bridge 4 was female, so it's either Feminine or, like raising horses, it is not specified in Arts and Majesty and is therefore open to both. 

WoR Spoilers:

Spoiler

Ch 2:

Quote

And yet, he sat stubbornly until Kaladin drew out the proper glyphs for the tattooist—a calm, sturdy darkeyed woman who looked like she could have lifted a bridge all on her own. 

Ch 25:

Quote

“Lots of women on your staff,” Kaladin noted to Jenet as the grooms worked.

“Horseback riding isn’t mentioned in Arts and Majesty,” she replied. “Horses weren’t terribly well known back then. Radiants had Ryshadium, but even kings had little access to ordinary horses.” She wore her safehand in a sleeve, unlike most of the darkeyed groom women, who wore gloves.

“Which matters because . . . ?” Kaladin said.

<snip>

“ Look, I’m not going to give you a lecture on the arts—I’m tired of talking to you people already. Let’s just say that anyone who wants can be a groom, all right?”

 

Also, we know the Oldbloods have a face tattoo to show their lineage, so there is some of that going on. I feel like the region might be a huge factor, both due to culture and biodiversity (for example, a Babath's prominent blue veins might be something they do not want covered with a tattoo - while the The Pure Lake and Reshi Isles, where less clothes may be worn, might be more open to displays of personal expression via tattoos). I think most traditional fare would carry over to the appropriate Rosharan Equivalent, including:

• Religious Symbology
• Flora
• Fauna
• Mythological Creatures
• Writing
  • Glyphs or other forms
  • Especially those foreign to the region (people tend to find foreign words and phrases more "artistic" for tattoos - even when they do not speak the language)
• Personal references (something specific that is reminder of the person who inspired the tattoo)
• Ancestry and lineage references

Really, the only major styles of which I am aware that I don't see an equivalent for would be "tribal" and "knotwork," at least so-far.

[reisleK she/her]

On 5/15/2024 at 10:11 PM, Treamayne said:

Writing

I assume (Alenthi) men wouldn't get writing on them, right? Just glyphs? Unless they got like "I love you" in woman's script for their wives or something.

[Treamayne]

7 minutes ago, reisleK said:

I assume (Alethi) men wouldn't get writing on them, right? Just glyphs? Unless they got like "I love you" in woman's script for their wives or something.

Well, I think that's a Vorin thing (and most Alethi are Vorin) but I could see Vorin men getting any script that interested them. . . it's not significantly different than getting a foreign language you don't read (anecdote below) - though culture and individual piousness may also play a factor; so I can see some being offended by tattoos of (recognizable) writing. 

 

Spoiler

Stationed in Korea, I was working out in the gym and saw somebody with the Chinese long-form character for "Bird" (鳥). After a while, when we were near each other curiosity got to me so I complemented his tattoo and asked why he chose "bird." He got very upset with me and said his tattoo was Chinese for "Cowboy" (馬人- lit. Horse man). I tried explaining to him that Bird and Horse were very similar characters and 'Cowboy' should have had two characters, not just one. He was not happy (and claimed to not beleive me, but I don't think he would have been so upset if he really thought I was lying)

 

[Dunkum he/him]

Don't have the patience to try to form this into proper sentences/paragraphs, so here are some thoughts, just sort of strewn about:

General:

as others have noted, animals and text both tend to feature heavily in existing tattoos, as do patterns. I'd expect this to carry over, with the addition of things like Spren on Roshar.

 

ROSHAR

I'd imagine Greatshells and some of the more interesting spren to feature heavily. Storm motifs as well.

Not sure about shardblades - they look cool, but tend to be owned by the wealthy, and I could see some nobles getting upset if you tattooed their blade on your body. likewise I could imagine shard bearers tattooing their own shards, but then what if you lose it? duelists in particular seem the most likely to do this and the most likely to face consequences of it.

Glyphs would probably feature pretty heavily in Alethkar, and in probably in other nations as well, if they have been at peace with Alethkar for a while - sort of like getting Kanji tattoos. they are very picturesque.

IN Vorin nations, I'd expect symmetrical designs and patterns to show up pretty frequently. things like Irish knots (Vorin knots?). Among Women (and others who aren't forbidden to read) I'd imagine Keteks would be relatively popular the way poems or bible verses are here

Among sailors, luckspren and skyeels would probably appear a fair amount.

Axehounds and horses (especially ryshadium) would probably also be pretty common

Knights Radiant getting tattoos of their partner spren

wannabe KRs getting better-known oaths tattooed

 

SEL

in Arelon and its surrounding areas, Aons would almost certainly be popular especially ones like Aeo (bravery), Ata (grace) etc.

in Fjordell, their equivalents may NOT be common, because the Dakhor monks would likely consider it an insult.

in the Rose Empire it may vary. Seals used in Bloodsealing would probably not be used very much, but the ones from forging may

 

SCADRIAL

the metallic alphabet symbols would likely be popular. Especially the Allomantic and Ferruchemical symbols for Pewter (for strength) and, to a lesser extent, Tin. others, especially the ferruhemical ones, may get some use as well: e.g. F Gold symbol representing Health.

Among survivorists, i wouldn't be surprised to see Tattoos of scars on hands.

Once available/if possible, I expect Metallic looking tattoos would prove popular as well.

 

NALTHIS

Hallandren tattoos would feature lots of colors. I considered whether they might also have upscale ones using the artisan's script, but I think sin color changes too much for that. not just person to person - a 3rd heightening artist could compensate for that, but I mean things like blushing or veins being more or less prominent from day to day whcih could alter the shades and mess up the meaining

Idrians probably don't get a lot of tattoos, and if they did they would probably just be basic designs in black

 

THRENODY

Given the extreme risk of blood when poking a person with a sharp thing, I doubt tattoo technology gets very far on Threnody until modern eras.

[reisleK she/her]

On 5/15/2024 at 9:09 PM, reisleK said:

I think drunk tattoos/firemoss tattoos or even tattoos through dares may eventually become more commonplace

As I progress in Oathbringer I've realized they actually may be a commonplace as Nazh notes that horneater lager is the reason he got a tattoo

Edited June 5 by reisleK
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