It was small. It was subtle. It was, in fact, kind of sneaky. But hey, when you’re building a series of novels that may very well end up being over thirty books, dealing with the cosmic ramification of shattering what is essentially God across about ten planets or more, well, sometimes subtlety is okay.
But it doesn’t excuse the fact that something is up with Trell.
Warning: Spoilers for Shadows of Self, but no spoilers for the forthcoming The Bands of Mourning.
“Who?” you may ask. “Huh?” you may go. But make no mistake. Trell is a name that sparks a reaction in readers of Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere novels—first introduced in Mistborn: The Final Empire, Trelagism is one of the dualist religions Sazed mentions to Vin during her training. And over the past two Mistborn books in the Wax and Wayne adventures, the name Trell has been getting more and more attention.
In The Alloy of Law, we get a brief mention of Trell by Miles “Hundredlives” Dagouter, the gold twinborn thief who was using his gold compounding to essentially become immortal, and who believed that those who were Metalborn were somehow divine. Miles claimed to worship Trell and believed that Trell created mankind, but whether or not he was a Trelagist is not clear; he referred to his religion as “Trellism,” and all signs point to worship of Trell, whatever it is.
And in Shadows of Self, when they’re examining the spike that gave Paalm her allomantic and feruchemical abilities—something that no spike should be able to give to a kandra—Marasi learned that even Harmony cannot identify the metal used for the spike, which terrified the ever-living heck out of her. She then thinks back to her interactions with Miles, and vows to determine who or what Trell is.
You and me both, Marasi.
So what do we know about Trell? Not much. Not really. But the fact is, Trelagism/Trellism is more than just a religion. Whoever its adherents are, Trell itself is a force acting upon the world of Scadrial, and Harmony doesn’t know a single damn thing about it. Trell seems to be seeding Scadrial with its influence, and actively manipulating events through the use of its own magic. Trell appears to be a force of great change, one that is very eager to get things moving on Scadrial. So we don’t know a lot, but the being called Trell has been mentioned too often to just be a passing hint.
So who could it be?
Odium: The Big Bad. The Master of Evil. The Great Hate. Whatever ’90s-wrestler-name you want to use, this is a huge possibility. While relegated to the Rosharan star system, trapped there by the actions of the Heralds, Odium still knows what’s going on in the larger Cosmere, and has no love for Harmony. Why he would decide to influence Scadrial, or even how, has no answers at the moment. But his basic mission of destruction, dominance, and chaos line up with Miles’s intense belief in ruling as a Twinborn, and Paalm’s mission to overthrow the city of Elendel. Whether or not it’s really Odium remains to be seen, but there’s good evidence.
Another Shard: It may not be Odium at all, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a Shard. With the destruction of Leras and Ati, the original holders of Preservation and Ruin, who’s to say there isn’t some larger Shardic force in the Cosmere going, “Hey, what the hell?” Each Shard is a mystery—even the ones we’ve met across the Cosmere—and so it’s not outside the realm of possibility that another Shard, either by conscious choice or by fulfilling their own Shardic Intent, is coming after Harmony and Scadrial.
Something New Entirely: The Cosmere is huge, and Sanderson has wheels within wheels within wheels we don’t even know about yet. I would be totally unsurprised to learn that Trell is some new threat from some far off veil. But I doubt it. Still, who knows?
Total Wildcard Theory: Trell is just a local punk rock band using their music to mess with allomancers. They post really obnoxious fliers all around Elendel: “Please support Trell’s newest CD, listen to them on the radio tonight at 9.” “Sign up for our mailing list, new CDs and interviews at your door, only a steelpush away. Tshirts are twenty boxings, koloss sizes are extra.” “New track, “Tineye Blind,” now up for your listening pleasure at Spotify.”
…
Just saying… it’s a possibility.
In any case, I’ll be very curious to see who Trell may be, and what secrets Brandon has yet to reveal!
Read the first six chapters of the next Mistborn novel, The Bands of Mourning, starting with Chapter One.
Martin Cahill tried eating metal once but it just made him sick. When he’s not slinging words at Tor.com, he’s contributing to Book Riot and Strange Horizons. You can find him on Twitter @McflyCahill90. Tweet him about delicious east coast IPAs, ideas on who Rey’s parents are, and your worries about the DC Movie Universe.
Given the theme of Shadows, the Shard Pool revealed in that book, and how Paalm was ranting, it could be the Shard Autonomy horning in on Scadrial. It would certainly set people off in a “you’re not my real dad” huff against Sazed/Harmony.
It could be some sort of manifestation of something from the Cognitive or Spiritual realms. It would be ironic if Trell were the Lord Ruler or someone’s spirit being able to manifest on Scadrial because Sazed spread word of the old religion and it, of all the old religions, gained a new following. That would make Scadrial’s old religions more interesting. They would have all be “true”, with actual Gods from the spiritual realm manifesting, but the Lord Ruler killed off the old religions and they were banished to the Spiritual realm until someone believed in them again. That would explain why Kelsier could still be important in the series going forward…
Trell is almost definitely working for Autonomy/Bavadin. Just gonna leave it at that for now.
A lot of people think that Trell is an alias for Autonomy, the Shard held by Bavadin (who is mentioned in a letter probably written by Hoid, in one of the Stormlight Archive books, in a way that suggests that he is/was in cahoots with Rayse–that would be Odium’s holder). Autonomy’s planet is Taldain, which will be featured in the upcoming graphic novel, White Sand. Here’s a fun complication: there is a very minor human character in White Sand named Trell.
@4 Not really supposed to talk about details online. But I can confirm that the Trell in White Sand is connected to Trell in Mistborn, per Brandon on the Shadows of Self tour.
I think it’s likely that Trelagism, i.e. the religion Sazed talked about, and its idea of Trell don’t actually have much significance. Miles in AoL could have had some strange experiences and then tried to connect them to a random religion from the Words of Founding in an attempt at explanation. On the other hand, if the original Trelagism does have something to it, could it be a distant memory of Taldain, hinting at past connections between worlds?
@6 It definitely does. The day/night aspect of Trelagism is very evocative of Taldain’s two sides, and the twisting of Trelagism into Trellism certainly seems indicative of a transformation or manipulation by an outside force. From asking Brandon a few questions on the SoS tour, my current theory is that Trell is a worldhopper who founded Trelagism, and Autonomy (Bavadin, who’s in cahoots with Odium/Rayse) is now acting on Scadrial to twist the Taldain connection there and undermine Harmony at Odium’s command.
@7 – I don’t think Autonomy would follow anyone’s command. Odium may be the White Hot Ball of Rage of the Cosmere, but he’s not the source of all evil.
Autonomy could be doing this on his own for his own purposes, no Shard team-ups required. Harmony is a new player (cosmically speaking) and his efforts at shepherding Scadrial are by his own admission too permissive and sheltering. Autonomy may have taken a look and become metaphysically ill at the sight, and could be working to spread his Shardic intent to the poor oppressed folk.
I’ve always seen Scadrial as a world of balanced opposites. Before you had preservation and ruin. After Sazed took up both shards and became Harmony, he was something new. It seems to make sense that Autonomy would be drawn there to balance out Harmony.
@8 Definitely some truth to that. And Odium’s current limitations may prevent him from communication across worlds. But we do know that Bavadin was, to some extent, working with Rayse, per The Letter.
Either way, it seems pretty clear that this whole Trell thing is some kind of plot involving Trell, Autonomy, and Taldain. It would make even more sense, considering that this is the era in which Nazh started making maps of Scadrial, and he works for Khriss…who’s also from Taldain.
On top of that, there’s the fact that the first White Sand graphic novel is slated for release soon, so it just makes sense for Brandon to start weaving that element into the greater Cosmere.
As a concept, Harmony is rather collectivist. It’s about the whole thing working together whether from emergent properties of the combination of individual parts or the well-ordered function of parts working together. If it’s more than just a name, it makes sense Autonomy would object to it.
Heteronomy is the opposite of Autonomy. Basically, follow others.Sounds like an Odium lick spittle. Makes sense that this is the other Shard.
@7 That’s exactly what I think. I think the Nu Ralik religion might have the same source, too. My hypothesis is that Bavadin messed his planet up real good, and in the aftermath, Trell took off across the Cosmere, acting as a worldhopping missionary, hoping to spread the idea that gods aren’t always good guys. With Trelagism, there does seem to be a subtle reference to Taldain, with the sun (supposedly the Sand Lord’s home on Taldain, if memory serves) representing the evil god. If Autonomy is trying to influence events on Scadrial through religion, it makes sense for him to corrupt an existing religion rather than try to start a new one. And what better religion to corrupt than the one his wayward former subject seeded, the one that subtly slanders Bavadin himself?
Well, it should be somewhat obvious why Autonomy is on Scradrial and “allied” with Odium. His Intent is for all things to show autonomy, i.e. Independence. When two Shards are not in opposition (Honor/Cultivation or even more so Preservation/Ruin) he doesn’t approve. When there’s another Shard out there smashing Shards so they cannot be held and threaten to be combined, he’s not opposed to letting that happen or even helping it along. If shattered, it is not probable they can be combined or assisting other Shards.
This has probably been mentioned, but
Trell = Moon God
Main Characters = Wax & Wayne (wane)
Not sure what connection I’m trying to make, but I think there is something there.
Fredweena, Trell is the god of stars, not the moon.
Can I just say, that this mega series has so much in it and so many possibilities that it just smacks of great things to come.
@15: this planet does not have a moon.
@17: agree.
@18 This is the second time I missed the absence of a moon. I’m not very observant, I guess.
@19: It took me a re-read to realize the possibility. Then I had it confirmed on coppermind.net.
No one talked about moonlight reflecting off the mist or anything. Since we (Earthlings) note moonless nights, when it’s never noticed in a book, I’ve started thinking that world has no moon.
@20 Once you point it out, it seems obvious. Anyone who goes above the mists talks about the stars but no one ever mention the moon. I really hope it’s not plot relevant this time.
@21: If so, than Roshar having 3 might be plot relevant. But honestly, I think it is just Brandon wanting each planet to be different from Earth. You know, his whole thing about alterative environments not being fully explored in fantasy books.
Now that Sel is very Earth like, the lack of a moon still really makes it stand out as “not Earth.” I think it’s easier to notice in the Wax and Wayne books because we are not distracted by the skies full of ash.
@22: It seems like it could be a nice way to sneak in a Cosmere easter egg. A character on Scadrial mentions something about the moon and only the more observant readers would realize that they must be a worldhopper. In Words of Radiance Hoid mentions coins twice. It is very easy to miss since we all know what coins are, but then we have to remember that on Roshar they use spheres as currency.