This annotation is almost all spoilers, I’m afraid.
Calmseer
Calmseer was indeed a spectacularly good Returned—the last of the old guard, so to speak. She Returned, in fact, in order to save the life of her daughter. She of course forgot this once she got back.
She did complain about not being able to do enough for people, though she had that personality even before Returning. She was the self-sacrificing type who took care of those around her and always had a kindly attitude. She died from an illness she caught while caring for the sick family who lived next door to her. (They’d lost their father to the same illness, and while all eventually recovered, Calmseer herself came down with their disease and passed away from it.)
She didn’t give up her Breath because of what Lightsong assumes, that she felt so guilty for not being able to do more for people. Instead, she saw her daughter come through the petitions line. The woman was brought by her husband, who felt he had no other option. His wife had the same disease Calmseer had. She remembered, at that moment, why she had come back—indeed, she remembered her entire life (that’s common for Returned the moment before they give up their Breath)—and gave away her life to heal her daughter.
Llarimar Is Never Mad or Excited
I put these references in—Lightsong trying to get a rise out of his high priest and never succeeding—because I wanted it to be all the more dramatic when Llarimar really did lose control.
Lightsong Uses the Word “Statistical”
It’s very subtle, and my editor tried to cut it three times as not being appropriate, but I managed to fight and get Lightsong’s little thought about statistical probability into his narrative here. This is just one of several tiny clues in the way he thinks and talks that indicates he was an accountant before he Returned.
Lightsong Thinks about How Hallandren Wouldn’t Fall
He’s wrong here. If he hadn’t intervened and taken responsibility, the God King would have died, and another Manywar would have begun. It would have ended with Hallandren in flames, destroyed by the advancing Idrian coalition, who by then would have gained the secret to creating swords like Nightblood from Yesteel, who is hiding in one of the kingdoms across the mountains and who secretly knows what Vasher did to create the sword. He would have brought his kingdom into the conflict. And the world would have burned.
I’m not sure what readers’ reactions to this will be. No, she’s not his wife—or even his lover.
In a way, this probably makes it okay for him to harbor his love for Blushweaver like he does, though I suspect that some readers are a little disappointed to find that he isn’t imagining the face of his wife.
They keep them in the dark. This is a bad idea. They don’t realize it, but the Lifeless are far more aware than everyone assumes. Clod in this book is a foreshadowing of that, and there won’t be much more about it in the rest of the novel. It’s one of the focus points for the sequel, if I ever write it. (Which will actually have a Lifeless as a viewpoint character, if I can find a way to swing it.)
