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This is a bad place to start reading these comics from. First. Previous. Next. Archive.

Introducing Tien's cryptic, Semblance (name democratically chosen by The People). I think a spren who Talks Like That would be the perfect companion for an illiterate 13-year old from a rural village.

I was planning to wait for a bit before making explicit references to Tien's radiance, but I think this comic is necessary. He's been coming off as uncomplicatedly cute and wholesome, and that's not what I want for one of our main characters. He isn't secretly some monster, he doesn't have a deep, repressed trauma, no massive revelations from his past. But at the same time he isn't quite so sunny and innocent as he presents himself. I wouldn't interpret his outlook as insincere, but perhaps it's somewhat exaggerated for the benefit of others. Something to keep in mind.

#i am still in disbelief that i came out of the whole tien singularity thing wanting to do a legitimate character study for him #i didn't even care that much about him when i read wok!! i mean he was fine but i mostly saw him as a plot device for kaladin's story.#(which he was. that's not a bad thing I'm not opposed to the concept of supporting characters. but it is true nonetheless.)#but after five books of haunting the narrative from his golden pedestal i guess i started to feel differently.#what if someone had recognized his flaws? what if he'd gotten to live long enough to outgrow his persona? and then maintained it anyway?#he's a good and kind person don't get me wrong. he really does like making people happy. and szeth really does want to be of service.#those aren't REALLY lies....#kaladin's surface level read: szeth and tien are alike because they were both innocent kids forced into a life of violence #my cooler deeper better read: szeth and tien are alike because they both devote themselves to fulfilling the needs of others #and they both choose that themselves but mostly because they don't think they deserve to exist if they're not useful to those around them #(now obviously that's just the tip of szeth's problems. he's a mess. but in terms of the way he very literally spends his life...)#compare to kaladin who wants to help and protect people but he isn't quite so interested in being useful.#he's more of an active agent than a passive one. a leader not a follower. the contrast is relevant i think.#(and to me it's also a more compelling angle to approach the kaladin and lirin conflict from.#because if that's just soldier vs surgeon than i'm 100% no nuance team lirin. but passive vs. active outlook...something fun there.)#tien finds a very special rock au #tien #semblance the cryptic #i personally voted for symbol in the name poll but now i think maybe it was for the best that semblance won #it shares less phonetically with the another spren who might be appearing in this au at some point (i do still like symbol though)#i was looking for a defining trait to give it so it wouldn't just be pattern 2. i landed on frustratingly verbose and uses big words.#between szeth and semblance we can only hope tien doesn't grow up to be the most pretentious-sounding person on the planet #i suspect the decision to draw cryptic dialog like this is going to come around and bite me when i get to the tien third ideal comic #but that one is so far down the line that i'll probably be dead by then with this project long abandoned. so who cares.#anyway these links are getting unwieldy. i should make a masterpost or something. probably.#hnnnn also my god this is a lot of words. sorry.

#semblance the cryptic

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#semblance the cryptic