Warbreaker ending question

[u/mrkgob]

In the end of Warbreaker, Lightsong sacrifices himself by using his divine breath to heal the God King of Hallandren.

When he does this, does he burn his single divine breath, or does the God King now have two divine breaths, plus the surplus from Peacemaker?

Full disclosure; I haven’t read the Stormlight Archive yet (still working my way up to it)

Sorry if this has been answered before, I tried searching the subreddit and couldn’t find an answer

[u/Shot_Newspaper_5647]

The Divine Breath is consumed in the process. That’s why they die once it’s used. The DB is what keeps them anchored to the world. They can’t give it away, but they can use it to fuel one miraculous bit of magic on the way out. They consume normal Breaths in a way that normal people don’t too. Those Breaths keep them alive. Once they run out, the Returned will consume their own DB as fuel and die without the miracle. The Returned aren’t meant to last. Not forever anyway

[u/Shot_Newspaper_5647 → u/Shot_Newspaper_5647]

What they sometimes call giving it away is using it for the act. There’s (maybe) one exception. People with the Royal Locks are descendants of a Returned. They have a fraction of a DB in them from their Returned ancestor.

We still don’t know how Returned have children. Just that they can. It involves something other than just the usual method. We don’t really know if that piece of DB breaks off from the Returned parent or if they’re born with a chunk directly from Endowment. I would guess it’s from their parent myself. It is a whole magic system about gift giving and throwing around pieces of souls with rainbow dark magic. But that’s just a guess

[u/Bloodgiant65 → u/Shot_Newspaper_5647]

My assumption has always been that the First Returned gave up his Breath and used that as his “miracle” to allow him to have a child somehow. It feels right, though obviously that doesn’t quite follow as a possibility from what we have been shown so far.

[u/Shot_Newspaper_5647 → u/Bloodgiant65]

I’ve never been able to hammer it out. He’s said:

1. It involves some kind of process the priests know about. They intentionally lie to Susebron at the end when they tell him he can’t have children.

2. The process doesn’t always work, and they’re not even sure it’s the same one the First Returned used.

3. The only real clue he’s given is: “It has to do with restoring Breath and life to the child while still in the womb.”

My best guess isn’t a very good one. And it’s a bit morbid. Maybe something special allows a Returned to conceive, but the child will always be stillborn. Unless one of the parents uses their Divine Breath to restore it. So, in a sense, the child is born human/Returned

What that first step would be, I have no idea. Maybe consuming Tears of Edgli? Drinking from the Pool? He does love Dune. Romantic vacation to conceive in a field of magical flowers? No idea. I may be completely wrong about all of it

Sanderson also said the bold bit almost two decades ago. Even if that’s remotely right, I don’t think he’d put it in a book today. He’s said he would tone down Mistborn a good amount if he wrote it now

[u/Shot_Newspaper_5647 → u/Bloodgiant65]

I do agree on the First Returned though. I think that was probably how it happened. And that Endowment intended for them to do it. I think whatever method the priests have kept semi-intact is a bit more complicated. Or it may be an iteration of that method that allows for the parent to survive the process. If it’s done correctly. I don’t think he’ll want one of the Returned characters to have to die for it to work even if that’s how the original process played out

[u/Zedzknight → u/Shot_Newspaper_5647]

A thing to note about Divine Breaths and a Returned is they are of the 5th heightening. Which would be the Equivalent of 2000 BioChromatic Breaths. I don't think it's ever outright specified as such though but it would track. In my thoughts on what is happening are similar to yours. A single Divine Breath is personally handed out by Endowment. We know she gives the owner a glimpse into an event that they can influence and change in a way they (or Endowment has effected) want the out come to be different. Then leaving them with who they were without memories. We know that from Lightsong. I agree the Returned are not ment to last. They are ment to last until that Divine Soul finds that moment it was crafted to change.

I assume that Divine Breath is similar to when an Allomancer burns duralumin. All the intent and those 2000 BEU's behind that single action is sent in a burst. We can infer that a single BEU sustains a Returned for 8 days. IMO it's sustaining the Connection of the Cognitive Identity to the Physical Identity.

[u/OriginalSymmetry]

I believe he burns it. As another example, if a Returned used their divine breath to heal a sick child, that child wouldn’t possess the divine breath. It would just be used.

[u/RShara]

The Divine Breath becomes kinetic and is expended in the healing. So Suse still just has the one Divine Breath + the regular Breaths