Tarachin - Tumblr Posts

One great mystery in the Cosmere still bugs me, and has seemingly no hope at a resolution is...

How is Lightsong so good at Tarachin??? (the returned's ball game) Despite not knowing the rules, picking spheres at random, and throwing them wherever he feels like, Lightsong wins every time. Not just occasionally, but every single time.

There is of course the theory that he suggests: that the game is stupid. But this doesn't hold much water. You can make a game where it feels like there's a lot of decisions, but it's mostly luck, that's certainly possible. But to be able to win every time? That seems to require a game where thinking actively harms you, and I can't see any way that makes sense, nor have I seen any example of such a game.

Perhaps he played it in his past life? It's certainly possible - he was an accountant, working for presumably wealthy clients, so maybe he played the game with them, as it's described as a game for the wealthy. Or maybe he played it as a hobby; he and Llarimar also had expensive hobbies like going on a boat for fun, so they could have played Tarachin. His abilities in mathematics could have also helped him be good at a game like this, where the scoring is incredibly complex.

Maybe it's his future-sight (Fortune) as a returned. He picks the ball that feels right, while the others use their minds, so maybe he's allowing himself to be influenced by it unlike the rest of them.

I've heard one theory that luck is his power as a returned. This theory points out that other returned have special abilities in things like wisdom or exceptional beauty. Maybe Lightsong gets luck? Maybe things work out well when he takes risks- he is the god of bravery after all.

Or maybe none of the above. Maybe a shard is just intervening.

Anyway, I hope we can get an answer from Brandon, or at the very least, have a Tarachin tournament at the next convention so we can verify for ourselves which one makes the most sense.