| Mraize | |
|---|---|
 Mraize | |
| Biographical information | |
| Ethnicity | Thaylen[1] |
| Nationality | Rosharan[2] |
| Gender | Male |
| Status | Alive |
| Abilities | Worldhopper[3] |
| Physical Description | |
| Hair Color | Jet-Black |
| Eye Color | Light Violet |
| Social Information | |
| Aliases | Mraize |
| Occupation | Ghostblood |
| Appears in | Words of Radiance, Oathbringer, Rhythm of War |
Mraize is a member of the Ghostbloods who appears, at first, to be a leader within the organization. (It is later revealed by Iyatil that he is her student.[4])
He is pursued by Shallan, who hopes to infiltrate the secret society, due to both her father's and Brother Kabsal's involvement within it. Mraize tests Shallan (as Veil, by which name she chooses to be known within his circle of influence) by setting her to the task (supposedly, through her mistress, Tyn) of breaking into Amaram's manor to investigate therein and learn his hidden secrets.[5]
Later, when Mraize inspects his Azish cavalrylord's suit, he tells his laundress Mem that she is a genius in having removed the aether from it. As he has already accurately identified her new laundry assistant (i.e., Pom) as Shalash, he then tells Mem that she'll now have to find a new wash-girl.[6]
Appearance[]
Mraize is described as being straight-backed, with jet-black hair, light violet eyes, and a scarred face (old wounds including a scar which runs down his cheek and deforms his upper lip). Initially, he reminds Shallan of what she remembers of her childhood encounter with Hoid (i.e., the messenger with the smiling eyes, the enigma who knew so much).[5]
While Hoid had been dressed all in black, Mraize wears all white. While Mraize looks refined - holding a goblet of wine in his left hand and dressed in the finest of suits - his face and hands tell another story. Of battles, of killing, and of strife.[5]
The right hand of Mraize is scarred, the fingers crooked, as if they had been broken and badly re-set. However, on his middle finger, he wears a signet ring that bears the same symbol that Shallan had drawn; that her father's steward, Luesh, had carried; and, that Brother Kabsal had tattooed on his body.[5]
To Shallan, Mraize's violet eyes seem like glass, his scarred face expressionless.[5]
To Mem, Mraize's face looks like it had seen the wrong side of a sword a couple of times.[6]
Character[]
Mraize, and his inscrutable master Iyatil, are deliberate, precise people.[7]
Mraize would not say that he's not nice. He would just say that his niceness is an analogous threshold that does not intersect with the threshold of competence and capability of things he's trying to achieve, those things don't need to overlap in his life.[8]
He'd say he's a very nice person. He was very nice to Shallan by his definition. He was very nice to Lift by his definition of things. Think of all the things he could have done with Lift, and what did he do? He gave her as a present to an ancient being who ruled the tower, who could properly take care of one such as Lift.[9]
| “ | "Mraize is nice, and he also wanted to keep his fingers ... and he felt that a better way to keep his fingers was to make sure Lift was someone else's problem. He got what he wanted, which was being able to capture her, which was not that easy, he would say. So he deserves to have whatever reward, because it was quite a difficult enterprise on his part. She is not easy to capture." | ” |
–Brandon Sanderson[10] | ||
Characteristics[]
Mraize likes his clothing to look sharp.[6]
He lives near the markets in Vedenar, in a large townhome. His quarters are at the top of a staircase, his overstuffed den - according to Mem - a little overwhelming. He keeps his evening jackets there.[6]
His friends are the type who keep careful track of everyone near them.[6]
Again according to Mem, Mraize appears on occasion to drop off dirty clothing, then gallivants off someplace to find new types of crem to stain his shirts.[6]
Further, Mem says that Mraize doesn't want to be called 'master' and that he is of the finest and most refined taste. That he has exquisite taste in clothing and in garment-care professionals.[6]
In his family line, Mraize has a fain branch.[11][12]
Beliefs[]
Mraize believes that in learning the local weapons of a people, one can truly come to understand them.[13]
| “ | "The way men kill one another says far more about a culture than any scholar's ethnography." | ” |
–Mraize to Veil[13] | ||
Further, he believes that morality is an axis that doesn't hold interest within the Ghostbloods.
| “ | "Only loyalty and power are relevant, for morality is as ephemeral as the changing weather. It depends upon the angle from which you view it." | ” |
–Mraize to Shallan[14] | ||
Knowledge[]
Mraize seems to know more about such subversives as Thaidakar, Restares, Taravangian, and their respective groups and activities, than anyone else (save the possibility of Iyatil).[13]
Accoutrements[]
Mraize with Aviar
Fan art by Botanicaxu
Mraize possesses an attracting fabrial, powered by a smokestone, to draw smoke through his chimney. He also makes use of a blowgun with poisoned darts (apparently a Parshendi hunting weapon) during Shallan's initial meeting with him, ostensibly to unsettle her.[5]
Additionally, within Mraize's chambers are several enormous, un-infused gemhearts, which could possibly be from the Tai-na; vaguely recognizable shells; a tusk, probably from a whitespine; an eye socket that looks like it might've belonged to a santhid; a vial of pale sand from the world, Taldain, ... Invested because it is pale;* a couple of thick hairpins, which might be Hemalurgic spikes; a lock of golden hair, which could be from one of several locations: the Iri have golden hair, and some consider it lucky; on Sel, royal individuals both in Elantris and The Emperor's Soul have golden hair; and then on Nalthis, the lock of golden hair could be Royal Locks - locks from Warbreaker. Additionally, there is a seon,** also from Sel/Elantris, and the branch of a tree with writing on it, likely from Yolen. This makes a certain amount of sense, but could possibly be the petrified bone of a Dahkor monk from Sel/Elantris: there is evidence in Words of Radiance of Shallan (semi-intentionally?) assuming that some bones in the chasms are actually branches, and it is known that Dahkor bones are both deformed and have writing on them. There is a silver knife, likely from Threnody (Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell) as a silver knife is invaluable there; an odd flower preserved in solution - probably the flower known as the Tears of Edgli from Nalthis/Warbreaker, which are related to Endowment (they give the best dyes, thus being very helpful in Awakening); a chunk of delicate, flaky, pale pink crystal, possibly from Aether of Night, another unpublished novel which Brandon doesn't intend to publish. So, most of these seem to be Invested, or at least capable of being Invested.[5]
The mantel in his dwelling is covered with these curiosities, each in its own glass display. Further, he possesses deep rugs from Marat, and five paintings of the finest skill, each of a different Herald.[6]
He is also in possession of a chicken, which is actually an Aviar.[15]
Confrontation[]
Ghostblood Agent
Artwork by Soph Peralta[2]
Before he initially speaks with her, Mraize raises his right hand (in which he holds a kind of long reed), and places it to his lips. He holds it like a weapon, pointing it right at Shallan (as Veil). Just before he blows on the weapon, she yelps and jumps to the side. The small dart he blows passes within inches of her before embedding itself in the wall hanging behind her.[5]
Once he begins to speak with her, he does so quietly and this makes Shallan shiver. Further, he has an accent that she can't place. He narrows his eyes, raises his reed again and blows another dart, again hitting the wall hanging. He then states that Tyn is a coward not to have come herself, and that Shallan is bold; coming anyway knowing that he might've killed her.[5]
Later, after again meeting with Shallan (again, as Veil) in the Unclaimed Hills, whereupon she delivers to him her drawings of the interior of Amaram's manor, Mraize realizes that Shallan has killed Tyn. In voicing his approval and offering her the chance to join the Ghostbloods, he concurrently indicates to those others with him that they are given leave to kill Shallan.[13]
Later still, Mraize reveals that he knows Veil's true identity by placing an invitation for "Shallan Davar" in Urithiru. He stands inside the tower, twisted and scarred, yet refined in his gentleman's clothing.[16] He has guessed at the true nature of her powers, and wonders whether others will be able to do so. He also reveals that her family home was destroyed in the Veden succession war and that her brothers are in Ghostblood custody. To her surprise, he again invites her to join the Ghostbloods, promising that her brothers will be safely brought to her no matter her answer, and says that her status as a Knight Radiant does not contradict their goals.[16]
Leverage[]
Given the demise of Shallan's family's standing, Mraize informs Shallan that he holds her brothers - Nan Balat, Wikim and Jushu - as leverage for her continued participation within the Ghostbloods.[16]
| “ | "Your house is no more," Mraize said. "Your family's grounds seized by a passing army. I rescued your brothers from the chaos of the succession war, and am bringing them here. Your family, however, does owe me a debt. One Soulcaster. Broken."[16] | ” |
Nevertheless, rather than blackmail Shallan, Mraize chooses to gift her with her family, indicating that he has mentioned her debt so that it finds purchase within her mind.[16]
| “ | "You don't know who we are. You don't know what we're trying to accomplish. You don't know much of anything at all, Veil. Why did your father join us? Why did your brother seek out the Skybreakers? I have done some research, you see. I have answers for you."[16] | ” |
| “ | "I will give you time to consider. You seem to think that your newfound place among the Radiants makes you unfit for our numbers, but I see it differently, as does my babsk. Let Shallan Davar be a Radiant, conformist and noble. Let Veil come to us. ... And let her find truth."[16] | ” |
So, he sets for her a task: to secure Urithiru, because it must remain strong if the Ghostbloods are to properly use the advent of the Voidbringers.[14]
| “ | "This is a power we will control, but we must not let either side gain dominance yet. Secure Urithiru. Hunt the source of the darkness you feel, and expunge it. This is your task. And for it I will give payment in information." ... "Helaran."[14] | ” |
Directives[]
Mraize sends Veil to find - and, perhaps, kill - the Herald Kalak.[17]
Notes[]
From the Words of Radiance: Epigraphs ...
| “ |
But who is the wanderer, the wild piece, the one who makes no sense? I glimpse at his implications, and the world opens to me. I shy back. Impossible. Is it? |
” |
–From the Diagram, West Wall Psalm of Wonders: paragraph 8 (Note by Adrotagia: Could this refer to Mraize?) [18] | ||
*
| “ | So a handful of sand is a really useful amount of sand to have if you're not a sandmaster. Because sand reacts to Investiture. So if you let it fade and you take it somewhere, as soon as Investiture goes kinetic, it'll turn white again. So you'll be able to use it to tell who's using Inve - it works just like a Seeker like bronze pulses ...
|
” |
–Brandon Sanderson[19] | ||
**Apparently a Splintered seon.[20]
Q&A with Brandon[]
Q. Mraize is said to come from Thaylenah. If it is true, then what about his eyebrows? 'Cause we didn't see any related descriptions from Shallan's PoVs. Did he cut/shave/dye his eyebrows?
A. Mraize ... well, let's just say that much about him is mysterious. But no, you would not place him as Thaylen by his eyebrows.[21]
References[]
- ↑ Thaylen?
- ↑ Rhythm of War Preview Q&As, 7/28/20
- ↑ Mraize
- ↑ Words of Radiance, 63. A Burning World
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 Words of Radiance, 43. The Ghostbloods
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 Oathbringer, Inter8.
- ↑ Rhythm of War, 9. Contradictions
- ↑ Shardcast Interview, 1/23/21
- ↑ Shardcast Interview, 1/23/21
- ↑ Shardcast Interview, 1/23/21
- ↑ Fain
- ↑ YouTube Spoiler Stream 4, 6/16/22
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 Words of Radiance, 54. Veil's Lesson
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Oathbringer, 22. The Darkness Within
- ↑ YouTube Livestream 32, 6/3/21
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 16.5 16.6 Words of Radiance, 88. The Man Who Owned The Winds
- ↑ Rhythm of War, 78. The High Judge
- ↑ Words of Radiance, 85. Swallowed By The Sky
- ↑ Emerald City ComicCon 2018, Seattle, WA, 3/1/18
- ↑ YouTube Spoiler Stream 1, 12/17/20
- ↑ Stormlight Three Update #4, /r/Stormlight_Archive, 9/8/16
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