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Shallan's struggles:

Here is a things I think may be important to understand: while, in reality no one can draw, use stormlight, and turn themselves into different people, some people do something similar in their life. I can relate to Shallan because, I , no matter how much it hurts changing, end up almost "becoming" a different person, depending on who I'm talking to. At one point I found it so difficult to be myself around anyone including those who have known me my whole life. And honestly, one of the best ways that I could be with people and still be as close to being myself as possible, I make jokes. Aweful ones. I'm not so good at humor, but I make some people laugh occasionally, and I sure found Shallan's jokes hilarious. If you don't find her jokes funny, that's fine, you probably just don't have the same sense of humor. I understand that you may feel she's written crappily, but understand that she is more real to some people than others. That is what is fun about having a diverse cast of character like in SA. None are catered to be likeable for everyone, and any characters I hate you may love and vice versa, and that is one of the joys of reading these books, and talking to others in the community.

From the perspective of watching a villain being created, Moash's progression has been great. He's a perfect anti-Jezrien, which seems to be what Odium (and BS) is setting him up as.

No need to be so harsh. It was a better ship than Siri/Susebron, at least. And I'll be honest, Syladin was probably a better ship than Shadolin, all things considered.

There is no option for Apache Attack Helicopter. Outrageous

Sanderson is more than capable of creating extremely solid characters (as we've seen with many other characters). We need to keep in mind the manner in which she was raised, her naivety, etc. Also the fact that, although cringey for some, it creates diversity, and actually contributes to her character's arc. Personally she's not in my top five, or even ten, favourite characters, but those things that make her cringey set her apart from all the other characters. Dont forget she's a somewhat spoiled lighteyes who's been through an incredibly painful childhood, leading to her not being the most stable (leading to her imagining being other characters.) In terms of drawing on the pad, etc, that could relate to the Order of the KR she's in, as they tended to be the artist type of people. I do know what you mean in terms of wanting to skip to another chapter, mainly because I found a lot of the other characters very solid and easy to associate with (whereas I couldn't as much for Shallan). I think it's all down to viewpoint, and as an aspiring writer, I can see how Sanderson is capable of showing such diversity across a multitude of character's in an assortment of manners. Personally, I feel it's necessary to have characters that are so different, and even not pleasant to read about, otherwise the story will end up bland as all the chapters are the same. Also, welcome to the Shard! Don't accept any cookies, they're dangerous.

@maxal Reading you is confusing, you seem to want for Adolin the same things you find so annoying in the main 3's arcs. We can already see from his early appearances that he had some trouble handling the immediate aftermath of the murder, being involved in the investigation would if anything show him how safe he was as there was nothing to link him to the murder; why ask for more navel gazing as you call it ? Their world IS ending. Sure, it wouldn't have hurt to add a pov or two to show all this, but all the clues we need are there. To be honest, i would have been bored if any more attention was given to the murder case, and i don't think it was ever presented as any kind of big deal, Sadeas was killed and Dalinar dealt with it in the only way he could, end of story. As far as Adolin's arc is concerned, i reserve my disappointement for the role he didn't play in the third part, Brandon only included him there to get him to Shadesmar. But i wouldn't say that he's got no character development, his arc was all about accepting his place in the new world that is emerging, it may be shallow compared to the main characters ( well it's huge if you consider Shallan .... ) but it's enough for me for the moment. I don't want to go too much off topic and into the other characters' arcs, i'll only say that what you wanted out of this book is pretty much what i got, i think your assessment is tainted by your disappointment in your favorite character's treatment, perhaps some time and a later reread will serve to enhance your opinion of the book.

Honestly, given the "mass murderers find redemption" theme of Oathbringer, I wouldn't be too surprised if SA ended with Odium himself laying down his +5 Golden Scepter of Symbolism and reciting the first oath. With the ghosts of Sadeas and Amaram as his squires.

Honorable is what is collectively agreed upon between the honor spren and Radiant in question. Honor is not necessary bound or constrained by one societies cultural mores, thus if Kaladin and Syl wanna open up a nightclub with the most honorable hookers you've ever seen, then dag gummit, they should be able to Also, this thread is moot. Kaladin's future love interest and romantic relationship is already established. It's just a matter of how long it's gonna take us to get there...o.O "Sailing before landing"

As someone with moderate to severe depression myself, Kaladin has always been pretty spot on. The rationalization of disliking/hating things to fit the mood you're in because being sad/angry/annoyed at everything doesn't need a reason but you can't accept that there isn't one. His battles with "The Wretch" and the overwhelming apathy/numbness that can consume you and all your motivation... And freezing under high stress. Your mind shutting down and being completely unable to process what's happening... And then blaming yourself for it later. Remembering it all in little vivid flashes amidst blank spaces. Yeah. I understand that people who don't have to deal with this crem can't understand, and get frustrated. They get frustrated with us in real life too. It's spot on.

So, finished Oathbringer last night. I was talking with my husband, and he made an interesting point. When Dalinar reconstructed Honor's perpendicularity, it seemed to unite all three realms. Evidence: Stormlight doesn't originate in the cognitive realm (it manifests as a wave there too), but the perpendicularity released a huge amount of Stormlight. Whatever that means, I want to focus on Odium's reaction. Odium/Rayse looked on in horror and said "No! We killed you!". Note that he said we, not I. Since he hasn't used the royal we anywhere else, that means he was talking about a group of which he was a part. From this, I think he was looking at the Spiritual Realm and seeing Adonalsium, not Honor. Further evidence: whatever he saw made him shrink back in horror and lessen the Everstorm. The only thing that would be more powerful than a shard (save Harmony's two shards) is Adonalsium his/itself. I think that, in the Spiritual Realm where everything is perfected, Adonalsium never died. To paraphrase Navani, if it was really God, it couldn't have been killed. I think that the shardbearers merely broke the part of Adonalsium that showed up in the Physical and Cognitive Realms. What do you think, sirs?

For obvious reasons these three people will be coming together over a common thread: Nightblood.What face-time Szeth gets in book 4 will surely be dominated by his multiple commitments: Dalinar as the subject of his third oath, his fourth oath and the purging of the Shin, reforming the Skybreakers, and Nightblood. By bearing Nightblood Szeth will eventually draw Vivenna and Vasher. This seems the most certain to happen in book 4 and especially before the end of book 5 (I hope, I pray), although I can absolute imagine being teased for a full 10 12 books on Nightblood's fate and influence so I won't will get my hopes up. Whenever it happens, these three will either be enemies or intimate, depending on Vasher and Vivenna's motives. The crux of this conflict will lie in Nightblood's chain of custody and the creation of Vivenna's Type IV BioChromatic sword. The last we saw Nightblood before he showed up in Nale's hands, he was with Vasher and Vivenna at the end of Warbreaker. We've been promised a sequel which should clear up these custody issues, but regardless of how (at least) three two Nalthians and their two sentient swords ended up on Roshar, we know they're all coming into conflict. This whole post started from speculation on 'shipping Szeth, so I'll end with a twist. How will the two swords react to each other when they meet for the first time? Nightblood is ostensibly masculine, and Vivenna refers to her sword as she. Can we get some Type IV BioChromatic lovin' on?

Vin instinctively burning metals is a known fact. She was burning Tin and Pewter without even knowing when she tried to scam March. In my third read of the book, I notice a small passage, in chapter 24 right after the spook slang joke: Vin felt…contented. As she sipped at her wine, she caught sight of the open doorway leading into the darkened workshop. She imagined, just for a moment, that she could see a figure out in the shadows—a frightened wisp of a girl, untrusting, suspicious. The girl’s hair was ragged and short, and she wore a simple, untucked dirty shirt and a pair of brown trousers. Not only vin could see her other self but she also was able to know what she was thinking. It feel more like burning gold to me that just imagination. It made me wonder if vin did instinctively burn some unknown metals (her that era) like Bendalloy or Cadmium. This is my first post and English is my third language, I am sorry in advance if I made any mistakes.

Adolin reviving his Maya is the only way I accept him becoming a Knights Radiant

I just had to sign up to the forums to get this out. I just absolutely loath Shallan, every time I see her name in the book I just want to skip the whole chapter. I kind of liked her when I started reading the series but the more we progress through the story, the more I find she's just a badly written character. (edit: Someone reminded me of the "jokes" she was telling in the first book, Jesus, I guess I never liked her at all) I feel like a beta nerdy virgin would imagine women are just like her. It disgusts me and that comes in extreme contrast to all the other characters and the rest of the story that I love so much. I don't want to hint to any spoilers, but when she starts imagining she's another person and drawing that rust on her pad... Eck, the cringe, I barely could finish reading the sentence, it physically hurts me to read these parts. Anyone else feeling like that?

This is the argument that Adolin makes a much better Stoneward than Edgedancer, and that it's possible he might actually become one. There's a lot of stuff to get through here, so I'll try to be concise. And yes, this theory addresses the fact that Adolin is already sort of bonded to Maya. I've already posted this idea on tumblr and reddit (with mixed reactions) and am now posting it here with some new arguments and evidence I've thought of since. Why not Edgedancer? Why Stoneward? How could this even happen? Seeing as Adolin is already bonded to Maya, a cultivationspren? Why would this even happen? Why would Brandon or any of the characters in the book want this to happen? That's it. Please tell me what you think.

Hi all, so I was thinking about Rock, aka "Lunamor" and his use of Stormlight. I apologise if anyone has posted a similar thread - I couldnt see one like it though. So from OB we get quite a lot of info about Rock which I'll list here. He calls himself Lunamor in his PoV He is married with children and we meet those people He has lied to Bridge 4 a number of times He can draw Stormlight like any squire of Kaladin's He doesn't seem to bond a spren despite many of Kaladin's top level officers managing it by the end of OB. So I was thinking that Rock could be a proto-Lightweaver rather than a WR. So my evidence is pretty complicated. I'll try to put it in as much a chronological order as possible. We see that Rock can "transform" people right from the start. He helps them by making stew for the bridgecrew as one of the first things Kaladin does to get them together. He is creative - he can sing and he is experimental/creative with cooking. We don't see him comment on unusual spren (like Elhokar) because he can always see them (he was born able to). He tells stories (like about the Horneaters came to live on the Peaks) and uses them to tell truths in a roundabout way. He met Wit at the Peaks - coincidence? He is clearly lying about being 3rd son in some way though the exact story isn't coming out. It seems that he is lying to himself about this too. "I am a chef" is repeated a lot. He "transforms" 2 different bridge 4 members in his PoV champter - Skar (who benefits from helping Rock draw in stormlight) and Renarin (who he helps by making him realise that he isn't "the wierdest") He also has a good idea about everyone's stories and how to help them as individuals. He also sees the "tenderness" in Kaladin that isn't something that many comment on - and he's right. He thinks that he is glad that Bridge 4 can't speak Unkalaki because they would find out all the lies he told them. He is horrified after killing Amaram (presumably because he promised he wouldn't fight) and this may suggest a moment of him "breaking" and opening himself up to a spren. On top of that, I feel that Lunamor has a somewhat "light" feeling to it. It sounds a bit like Luna (the moon) , or Lumina (latin for lights iirc). He also is a person who can "lighten" Kaladin's mood at times. He is always lit up because he is near the fire etc. He also doesn't like the wind/air the way Kaladin does - he says it is too thick - light is much less dense than air If you read through his PoV chapter with this in mind there are a number of other things that you might spot that might also point in this direction and I'd love some input on this. What do y'all think?

To be honest I laugh at her jokes all the time... That being said Shallan is probably one of my least favorite characters but for a different reason, I dont feel she is poorly written but I feel like she is slipping backwards in so many ways with the multiple personalities and I just want her to "get it". The way she blames anything that makes her feel uncomfortable on one of her other personalities (Veil is the one that likes Kaladin) bugs me.

My thoughts on her are that I'm also personally not a huge fan of her character. However, I don't think she's poorly written. I do cringe when I read about some of the things Shallan does/says. But I cringe because of the decisions she makes and the way she acts. I don't cringe because I think it's bad writing. If a character tells annoying jokes, it's probably a good thing if you're annoyed by them. That means that the character is written properly. I do understand where you're coming from, but I disagree that your distaste must exist because of poor writing. I think your distaste comes from the character's personality, and imo, that's okay.

So, @maxal I have a few comments, but I think this annotation from Mistborn says it best. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/142-the-well-of-ascension-annotations/#e2953 Brandon Sanderson Chapter Sixteen Vin in her room This first scene is a classical Brandon scene–a character studying, thinking, and exploring who they are in their own head. Some people find my narrative style–with the thoughts, the conclusions, and the debates in the head–to be a little slow. I can understand that, even if I don't agree. I like knowing my characters. A chapter like this really works for that, in my opinion. It seems to me that in too many books, you never really know a character's thoughts, feelings, and logic enough to understand why they do what they do. So, I spend time on those things. This scene is important for the decisions Vin makes about herself. She is not the type of person to second-guess herself. In a way, she shows some of the very things Tindwyl tries to get across to Elend later in the chapter. Vin encounters a problem, mulls over it, then comes to a firm decision to trust herself. So, I think this is the main point, emphasis mine. You keep making the point that you don't like the characters navel-gazing. The problem is that Brandon disagrees. Navel gazing is his narrative style. That's what he does. I think these quotes illustrate the problem. To use your examples, if you take the personal issues and navel-gazing out of the stories, they are completely different. The case is the same in the previous books. To some extent, the interactions are incidental. It's part of why some people are annoyed about the Shadolin storyline. Because it ultimately wasn't down to navel-gazing, but dependency on interaction with another character. I am curious to hear your thoughts on Sanderson's other works, because navel-gazing seems to be all anyone does, a lot of the time. It's his preferred style. I think this might just be an issue of personal taste, then. Because for a lot of people, the characters don't feel alive if they don't navel-gaze. For some people, hunting clues is why they read in the first place. I am not trying to demean your opinion in any way, and I am not trying to offend. I apologize if I have done so. But there are times when I feel like we're reading two Cosmeres.

By "hated", do you mean that we hate them in-universe, or find them to be badly written? Because those are two very different things.

So I voted for Shallan because I'm pretty sure she's the only character who's POV I don't want to see when I turn the page. I like her a bit more when she's with other character's, for example I really enjoyed her scenes with Adolin (my favorite being the highstorm/stormwall... cafe(?) in WoR), but when she's alone with her thoughts I feel like she's always focusing on the wrong thing, or at least to not give the impression that I agree with other characters at all times, on an uninteresting thing compared to the other characters. I don't want to seem like I feel the books would be better if we took Shallan's POV out or something, or that I completely hate her chapters, I just feel like they are worse/more boring than other characters chapters. I also don't really like her character as such. This might just be me, but I took the question as to which I dislike hearing from more, because I find other characters that I hate/dislike more, but I enjoy reading about them because I find them interesting. When I read about Shallan I either want to skip the chapter or shake to get her to stop being such an idiot (accompanied by many Wheel of Time Flashbacks). I did like her in WoR, I think this is because she had a clear goal in that book, and I feel she works best when she has a clear goal or challenge in mind, but in OB I felt like she was just there to be there and to frustrate me, and in WoK I was giving her a chance because I found Jasnah so interesting and she was the only POV who showed her, but I still didn't look forward to her chapters. Tl/dr: I voted for Shallan because in general I don't like her chapters.

I dont know but it sounds like miss Jasna wants to be "blessed" by the "storm"... Anyone else read that as Jasnas attempt at flirting whilst trying not to be to peeved that this passionate man is calling her heartless and questioning her scholarship.! You know, Jasna being Jasna shes not very good at displays of emotion and human interactions outside of scholarly context. Im thinking in a better world she may have said; "Captain, maybe if you were a skyeel.." And its not a far fetched idea to think she would be impressed by the man called Stormblessed, who "killed" the assassin who murdered her father, who saved her uncle, cousins (adolin twice) and her brother amongst all his other accolades of heroism. And wouldnt it be just fun if lil ole kal with his issues with lighteyes hooks up with the storming queen! I think syl would be happy for him !~ HIF ~!

This. I would like some human/Listener long-term antagonists. Sadeas, Graves and Amaram are all dead, Venli and Szeth are having redemption arcs... Mr T and Moash (and probably Nale as well) are the ones we got. Mraize is there too, but he is basically a wild-card, but yeah... well-developed long-term villains would be awesome. Call me silly, but I wouldn't call Moash evil. He has given up on society, and on the human race. Circumstances has formed him into the person he is. I don't want a redemption arc either, but I wouldn't say that Moash deserves to be remembered as evil. I think he is more complicated than that.

Welcome! Hope to see you around in the future! That said, I disagree with you :-P Shallan is one of my favorite characters. First off, I like her jokes, and I do find them funny. I also feel symphaty for her because of her past, which I found extremely tragic. In addition, she has some awesome moments, such as when she uses her drawings to make others see the best side of themselves, which has led to some heart-warming moments. Her insecurities, mental unstableness, and split-personas also makes her interesting to read. As an added bonus, she has the best spren (Pattern). That said, I know she is a controversial character. People mostly tend to like Kaladin and Dalinar, but Shallan has always been subject to discussion.

Hello! I’m semi-new here! I can’t wait to (hopefully) start interacting here! I picked up the Rithmatist about four years ago and ever since have been reading Brandon Sanderson’s works. And... um... I prefer brownies over cookies? Do you guys have any cool info for the 17th shard other than don’t accept cookies? : )

Malata is a member of the Diagram. The Skybreakers execute people at the drop of a hat. We have WoB that multiple orders would be fine with Adolin's murder of Sadeas. The first oath does not mean what people want it to. That argument should be long buried at this point.

So, as an Arcanist, I've listened to a fair bit of people talk to and with Brandon, and people diagnosed with depression are (unsurprisingly) eager to share their stories with him (usually) because of Kaladin. Regardless of how you spin off your story, I think the one thing I can guarantee you is that Brandon will be genuinely honored to learn about the impact his work has made to your life. Deeply personal stories like this are one of the rare times I feel we get the real Brandon - not that he is playing a role, but anyone who sits while hundreds of people line up to meet him goes into a bit of a robot mode. So, ignoring your request, I'd say speak from the heart. If you find the situation funny, smile and laugh as you are telling him about it. But if you want to give it a funny twist just for him... I don't know, it's your story, you do what you want with it, but from one stranger to another, I'd recommend you be honest with both Brandon and yourself. It's probably a good bonding experience, and one many people don't get.

As requested: There were actually very few changes to that one. And more requests please, this is fun! Edit: I realized how well this works: With literally ZERO changes.... WARNING! MAJOR OB SPOILERS!

Hello! I've been dipping in and out of the Cosmere Theories while getting up to speed on the canon works over the last couple of years. Now that I'm at speed, and there are talks/signings going on near me, I thought now would be a good time to dive head-first into the mass of ideas bouncing around, and share recordings of the talks, as well as an opinion or two!

@FuzzyWordsmith Dude. Sanderson plays it close to the chest, BUT HE DOESN'T LIE. Yes, anyone who has ever considered Syladin for more than a hot second knows that it would take a LOT for them to be together. Our man is not saying anything we don't already know. Frankly, Sanderson could easily have said no there is no chance for them to be together. He. Didn't. If he had said a typical RAFO he might as well have given the whole narrative away---that is, if Syladin is in the narrative. And again, to repeat my past posts, I think Kal is going to have to at least flirt with a human relationship first. At the risk of repeating myself ad nauseam, I'm not sure that's the direction I truly want this to go... but I (still) think it is highly likely. PS. I really want Rysn to radiantly get the use of her legs back. I know that suffering and I cried when it happened for Hobber. PSS. Mostly dead. Lol. Nice

A hemalurgist is both. Why would you want either when you can have both?

I really hope Moash doesn't get a redmption arc. I am firmly of the belief that some characters should remain unredeemed. There are a lot of stories where defeat=redemption, or villains are redeemed in death, or by death, or after death. Some evil people should just stay evil and be remembered as evil. If every villain ends the story redeemed, they story gets old pretty quickly. And I do hope Kaladin kills has to kill him. There are far too many stories where the friend turned villain is not killed by the hero because of sentiment. At the end of the day, Moash is Kaladin's fault.

What? I've been dead for two cycles now why are people analyzing/tagging me?

THIS IS NOT AN "BAD" INSIDE JOKE. Our work pushes the bounds of Hemalurgy further every day, and will eventually encompass the entire world. Its not a bad inside joke, it is the future.

Done.

Hmmm, for some reason this feels like a blast from the past, somehow. Kandra proposing another worldhopper...sigh. Bad kandra. However, this is not the first time someone has mentioned it, but with the new Kaladin flashbacks in Oathbringer, I would like to again propose a simple idea: Tukks was indeed a worldhopper, but with new evidence. Originally, this idea was mentioned in Way of Kings when Kaladin's drill sergeant (Tukks) advised Kaladin thus: WoK, 435. In which Tukks, oddly, uses soil in a way that Rosharans do not. However, what's more proof is Kaladin's description of him in Oathbringer, which fits the descriptions used for other worldhoppers from Sel and Scadrians (to some extent): Oathbringer, 869-870 Other worldhoppers, like Felt and Iyatil are described as short, and while Kaladin doesn't notice that kind of detail here, he does think there's something off about Tukks such as his height. Perhaps something non-Alethi and foreign. I think that while this isn't really all that near to 100% proof that Tukks is a worldhopper, it's maybe enough now to ask about (and I know others have mentioned it before). At least I'm not using coats this time, eh?

So sorry about the recent inactivity guys, I'm currently at a super full-on music camp and I haven't had much time to get on the Shard. I'll catch up soon, hopefully.

@sctfn alright. I like it. Quite a bit. And it made something coalesce in my brain, so here's a lengthy response with a theory I've talked about before mixed in that you just happened to expand in my brain. I've said before that I don't believe that Adonalsium had a Vessel, but developed sapience on its own, as we've been told that investiture will do without a mind to guide it. In developing in this way, the mind was a part of the power itself rather then a separate mind that could be killed. So when Adonalsium was shattered, the mind was ripped apart and became the intents. That is the theory in a nutshell that I've had for a while now. This just made my brain explode, because as OB told us with spren in the Cognitive Realm "they were apparently easy to injure, but extremely difficult to kill." If portions of Adonalsium's mind still exist in the Shards themselves, then if they are reformed, would the mind reform as well? Gives a completely different meaning to "unite them." even if Dalinar isn't the one to do it. I managed to keep that relatively short.

The squires progress faster specifically because they have Kaladin to help guide them. He discovered this all on his own, where they have his experience and guidance to learn from. Add in that from his time in the slave cage to the end of OB is barely more than a year, and they've done in a few months what he did in a year, because of his help. I understand the reason your frustrated, but I don't see it as an invalidation of what Kal has achieved. It's an additional achievement of Kal's that they're doing so well.

Thicker skin...I wish. I moved to Houston when I was 12. Kids weren't as nice there as where I was from and it cases it got bad. I've been dealing with depression since I was 13 and I'm past 40 so you can do the math. This was hard to post, and I almost didn't post it but I think it's instructive to hear from someone who has what Kaladin has to see what it's like. You probably know someone like this, going by the odds. And it won't look exactly like this but there are commonalities. For me the typical cycle looks something like this. Good things are happening for a while, I'm trying my best, and then something bad happens. Something not my fault. Sometimes not even happening to me but it affects me. A spiral starts. I start to believe I can't ever make it. I can't overcome. It will never be better than it is right now. And then I make a mistake. Something that is my fault. And it gets worse, until I believe I deserve the bad, and I start doing wrong or failing to do right and feed the cycle. The hell of it is, I know exactly what I'm doing, and I can't stop. The part of me in control no longer believes I should have what good I have. I look okay, even mostly act okay, but when your back is turned I tend to do things calculated to cause me pain or make it harder on me because I deserve it. The only real way up for me is love and compassion from friends and family who give it even when I'm at my worst. Like, you don't dig your own way out of depression. You need a ladder - a lot of times that's a therapist, but even if a therapist is part of it you need people close to you. I think that's why Rock needed to save Kaladin - why others had to come through and he had to fail. I can't even reach out at my worst. I can't tell people I'm hurting. I can't succeed when I'm hurting. I need someone to save me sometimes. I hate it, so very much. But it's reality - I need friends who call/text/message me just because. They are like my final line of defense. Kaladin has those things in Syl and in Bridge 4 now, so I don't worry much about him ever wanting to kill himself (or at least following through on it) but he won't be immune to spiraling down and locking up, no matter how good it gets. That's as far as I'm going to go down this track for now. For me, Kaladin is incredibly real. In a way, he's me. I can't be disappointed in him - this is what I do myself. I fail and it isn't always my fault that I fail, but I blame myself, do harm (not physical in my case) to myself, hate who I am at times...it's like Brandon interviewed me and squeezed every drop out of me that has to do with depression and wrote it onto the page in words far better than I could ever use.

I know some already replied and I agree with what everyone said above. I just wanted to add a thing. We are shown from part 1 that Kaladin is going to have a dilemma to choose between what is right and what is expected of him. Given his 3rd ideal, with protecting the ones that can't protect themselves, who is to say who can't protect themselves ? What makes the Parshendi more worthy to protect than the humans or the humans more than the Parshendi? It's all a matter of perspective. Here is the dilemma that Kaladin encounters. Assuming you love both of your parents the same, if you were to choose between killing one knowing it will save the other, what would you do? Things are not always that black and white. Through Kaladin, I think one of the things Brandon tries to accomplish is to show a realistic portrayal of depression. I don't know if you've ever had experience with that, but depression is not just something that goes away one day and never comes back. You will always have it in you and you will have a predisposition to it and relapses, but you have to keep going. It's not as easy as someone telling you to get over yourself and there, you are fixed. Kaladin has to learn and accept some things, that he won't always be able to save everyone and he will fail sometimes, but he has to push through it.

So, there is a WoB that might help. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/222-words-of-radiance-houston-signing/#e5616 Questioner (paraphrased) Can you write an unknown Ideal [in my book]? Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased) They are still rough so this might not be the exact wording but: "I will stand when others fall." This strongly suggests Stoneward. If this is a Stoneward Ideal, we actually see Adolin exemplify this in some scenarios. The strongest would be Facing down the thunderclast. Which he does fully expecting to die. In Stonestance. That last bit could be coincidence, but it makes a certain amount of sense. He is universally described as solid. Edgedancers are at least a little flighty.

I'm pretty sure that this one doesn't hold. I could be wrong, but I'd want to see a source of that. This is very unlikely with the release of Oathbringer, as it contradicts that Desolations started happening faster and faster because the Heralds had suffered more, all the way from "hundreds of years between Desolations" to "the last two Desolations happened within a year of one another". This both implies that there have been more than 9 Desolations, and that "breaking" isn't something that happens for good, but rather something that has to happen every time again.

I wasn't very surprised about them not making a big deal about Vivenna's sword. It's a shardblade, and hers apparently killed like a normal shardblade instead of on all 3 realms. Some of the characters have been exposed to different types of Blades already, like Honorblades. The world is completely changing... surges are new, parshman were slaves, and now parshmen have surges. How unique is a shardblade that doesn't dismiss after everything these people have been through? What I was a bit surprised about is how no one wondered about Nightblood after the battle. He 1shot 360 noscoped a thunderclast, and wiped out half of the Sadeas army. That should have raised some questions beyond Lift wondering why it tried to eat her. As for Hoid he has his own concerns beyond the fight for Roshar. Bonding a spren was more important than winning the current battles for him.

I made this one a looooong time ago (though I did steal the idea from someone else who did a similar one for GRRM):