The new Last Word card implies that it was 7 months and 4 days after they left the settlement that Jaren Ward walked off on his own to transform alone into Dredgen Yor and fake his death so his legend would remain an inspiration. Shin finds Wards' ghost moving towards him, not Ward, and understands that it means his master is no more. In the Thorn fragments it states that whoever becomes Dredgen Yor was once an inspiring legend of a man before he was arrogant enough to think he could control a weapon of sorrow without a cleansing. This slowly ate away at him until he became consumed by the darkness. In Thorn Ghost Fragment 2 the associations include Jaren Ward, Dredgen Yor, Last Word, and Thorn implying they are one in the same as Dredgen Yor was the sole forebearer and last descendant of his lineage (fragment 1).