#epigraphs

Declare, if thou hast understanding.

TARNIT

Atqunarnarniqšaitchuuřuq inuuhirmi inuit tarniinnarnik niqautiqa’mata. Hapkuat anŋutikšaqqut niqautikšaqqut, hapkuaraaluit aŋuvaktaqqut tuquhaqpaktaqqut a’nuraaqaqu’luta, tarniqa’mata, uvaptut, tarniŋit tuquvaŋŋi’mata timiŋit tuqugaluaqti’lugit, ta’nai’mallu haturiaqaqtavut akinahuaquŋŋi’lugit uvapti’nik timii’nik aturapta.

—Kunuuti Rasmusan (1879-1933) qiniqtitauqatauhimali’mat Akukitchumiutaq Inuŋmik anaanalik Tainisimik ataataqaqłuni, akiani’ŋaaqtunik hivulliitchuuhimaliqłuni qimukhikkut ukiuqtaqtuup apqutiaguuqtunik.

SOULS

The greatest peril in life lies in the fact that human food consists entirely of souls. All the creatures that we have to kill and eat, all those that we have to strike down and destroy to make clothes for ourselves, have souls, like we have, souls that do not perish with the body, and which must therefore be propitiated lest they should avenge themselves on us for taking away their bodies.

—Knud Rasmussen (1879-1933) was a Danish-Inuit explorer and anthropologist, and the first European to cross the Northwest Passage via dogsled.

The love of men is a frigid thing, a mountain stream only three steps from the ice. We are his. Oh Stormfather...we are his. It is but a thousand days, and the Everstorm comes. - They are of “the enemy” the Heralds fought against. The Everstorm will be a disaster caused by him

Ten orders. We were loved, once. Why have you forsaken us, Almighty! Shard of my soul, where have you gone? - The Knights Radiant returning to the world after millennia. But instead of abandoning humanity, they’re now abandoned by the Almighty. And they don’t have Shardplate or Shardblade. Or maybe… this is a reference to the past?

I have seen the end, and have heard it named. The Night of Sorrows, the True Desolation. The Everstorm. - Three apocalyptic events caused by “the enemy.”

I'm cold. Mother, I'm cold. Mother? Why can I still hear the rain? Will it stop? - I was confused by this at first. Still am. But since this followed the previous one, and a key part of Roshar’s climate are the highstorms, I think this refers to the Everstorm. The Everstorm bringing eternal rain

Ten people, with Shardblades alight, standing before a wall of black and white and red. - The ten Heralds standing against the Voidbringers