IceBaka

I'm starting to wonder if Tezim is not necessarily a crazy leader, but is rather a figurehead who is propped up by some oligarchy. Or maybe he is a little loony, but the fanaticism is something he's cultivated in followers rather than expressing himself. The message refers to Tezim in the third person. While he could have referred to himself that way, I'm thinking it was actually written by someone else who wants others view Tezim with terror because the message writer knows Tezim is a figurehead or a less-crazy leader who cultivates maniacal worship in his followers. Navani seems to think Tezim's soldiers are crazy. Maybe it's just the followers that are crazy, not the leader. They're not immediately informing their leader about potentially important communications from a foreign nation, almost as if they are keeping him in the dark? This certainly could suggest that the scribes, or someone(s) close to the scribes, are actually in charge.

The politics will be reduced, perhaps, but they won't go away. Even Sadeas was smug in his confidence that he could turn it to his advantage despite everything else that happened just before Adolin killed him. While some may view the Everstorm and related events as a crisis that requires relinquishing political activities, others will see it as an opportunity to feed their aspirations.

Looks like I'm a little late, but initial reactions... Chap 4 Preface writer sounds like Jasnah. In the process of resolving a minor issue, Dalinar reveals interesting info (1st wife was hostage? Dalinar takes vengeance ... alone? The Rift and Rathalas - is that related to his wife being taken hostage? Is it the 'There' that Kadash mentions?) and opens up a bigger can of worms (the ardentia will be pissed!). Stormfather gives the OK in front of a big group - gonna be hard to deny Dalinar anything. And he finally acknowledges to himself that he's usurped Elhokar - will Dalinar attempt to become emporer of all Roshar with Elhokar still as king of Alethkar? That's a lot to take in for a chapter that's putatively about Dalinar marrying Navani. Chap 5 Preface writer sounds even more like Jasnah. Syl still doesn't understand so much - why are other bonded spren seemingly more capable in that regard? At least this time Kaladin's gloominess seems a little more justified because his parents may be dead. Chap 6 If the preface writer isn't Jasnah, then Brandon is trolling us hard. That reunion was more emotional for me than I was expecting. What did happen to the voidbringers - weren't there some parshmen in Roshone's household? When will Kaladin speak up to at least tell his parents what's going on? That punch - symbolically satisfying, but ultimately an empty gesture likely to cause more trouble for his family.

Which is why he would probably pass off most of the investigation to Adolin, like he did with the broken leather strap in WoK. Adolin heading up the search for Sadeas' killer would make an interesting story line.

Based on this explanation and what Wyndle says about Lift having low body fat (WOR p. 699, kindle version), it sounds to me like Lift is able to selectively convert glucose (not sucrose, see below) into awesomeness when the glucose is in her blood, assuming Rosharan anatomy and physiology are nearly the same as ours. Catabolism (break down) of carbohydrates results in monosaccharides (simple sugars). There are a lot of these, but the three most common in the human diet are glucose, fructose, and galactose. Sucrose (the sugar you buy at the store) is actually a disaccharide (double sugar) of glucose and fructose. These monosaccharides are easily absorbed via cotransport by the the adluminal cells of the small intestine, and facilitated diffusion allows their rapid movement into the blood. In other words, when you eat something with a lot of sugar, it can move into your blood fairly quickly. Sausage is mostly proteins (which break down into amino acids) and lipids, aka fats and oils (which break down into monoglycerides and fatty acid chains). The amino acids also can move into the blood pretty quickly after digestion, but then it will take some time for cells to absorb them, convert them into glucose by enzymatic action, and release them back to the blood. Hence, the increase in blood glucose is slower and more prolonged. Lift wouldn't even need to eat to derive some investiture from the molecules currently in her body. Catabolism of carbohydrates and metabolism of other types of molecules into glucose, would allow her to "eat" herself to generate investiture. However, as noted by Wyndle, that would make her dangerously emaciated, and could lead to death if pushed too far. Unless she had large muscle and fat deposits, it would only be useful for small amounts of awesomeness. Thus, she has to derive most of her awesomeness by ingesting materials. What I'm getting at is that Lift could get a massive surge in investiture more quickly if she used a syringe to inject a glucose solution directly into a blood vessel. I'm not sure if Roshar has that technology, but they do seem pretty advanced in medicine. Lift could carry around little vials of "Instant Awesomeness".

It may not really matter what Taravangian asked for, if Av is a reliable source (when telling Baxil how the Old Magic works): That seems to indicate that the Nightwatcher doesn't twist your words because your request is, to some extent, irrelevant. I've always read the "sometimes related" part as meaning that the curse and boon may or may not be related, but I guess it could also mean the boon (and/or curse) may or may not be related to the request. Either way, Av's description strongly suggests that Taravangian's fluctuating intelligence may have been his curse (and/or boon) regardless of the wording he used when asking a boon of the Nightwatcher. As a side note, when I went back to read this section to make sure I got Av's words correct, I realized that Baxil's mistress (presumably Shallash) using henchmen was a good foreshadowing of Darkness (presumably Nalan) using henchmen.

No, not really. Evolutionary pressure does not drive every organism to develop the same adaptations. More importantly, humans are not native to Roshar, and on a geological time scale they've only just arrived there. The physical and ecological pressures of Roshar have had little influence on humans. However, the Parshendi are native to Roshar. In addition to their ability to they have many anatomical and physiological differences from humans, despite the overall similarity in body form. This isn't surprising given that they evolved on different planets. And that's what I'm saying about Earth humans versus Roshar humans. They have different origins, so it would be weird that they have exactly the same pool of primary blood types.

Jasnah is lighteyed royalty, while Kaladin is a darkeyed former slave. That's a lot of complications for a society that has a very rigid structure. Even if she does fall for him (which I think is unlikely), I doubt it would go anywhere.

Based on what we've seen of Renarin so far, there is really no support that his condition is hemophilia. I'm not sold on anemia, either, but at least some of his "symptoms" match up with what you would expect from anemia. And anemia has dozens of possible causes -- some genetic, some environmental. It could be that he is anemic as a result of some other condition, like leukemia. Mini-rant about "common" v. "rare" blood types: Blood typing is simply a way for us to classify which self-antigens are present on red blood cells. In reality there are hundreds of them, but most are only of interest to geneticists and molecular biologists. In most cases, there are only three self-antigens that are clinically important, that is, important for blood donations and transfusions. It is the presence (or absence) of those three that we use to derive the eight blood types you noted. Other types aren't "rarer" in occurrence, they just don't matter as much on a daily basis, so we rarely hear about them. However, you could use "common" and "rare" to describe the frequencies of the eight types you mention within a population. I really hope the "eight kinds of blood" mentioned by Jasnah do not equate to the blood types that we use for medical purposes. It would be kind of jarring for me to have the blood of Rosharan humans not differ in any significant way from Earth humans -- especially when so many of the other biological and ecological aspects of life on Roshar have been shown to differ because of the selective pressures caused by low gravity and regular highstorms.

This is a minor nitpick that probably has no bearing on your main ideas, but human blood isn't blue. Human blood color mostly depends on how much oxygen is bound to the pigment hemoglobin: bright red (scarlet) when highly oxygenated to dull, dark red in the absence of oxygen. It can take on more of a "purple" color when carbonated, especially sans oxygen. But in the body, even "deoxygenated" blood still has around 70% max load of oxygen, so it is closer to scarlet (check out an oxygen-hemoglobin dissociation curve and note that "deoxygenated" blood typically has a PO2 around 40 mm Hg). However, blood still inside the body often looks "blue" when viewed externally because of the odd diffraction of light as it passes through other tissues (skin, adipose, blood vessel wall, etc.). Also, hypoxia (lack of oxygen in tissues) can give skin a bluish cast (cyanotic). And, unfortunately, the myth of blue blood (no pun intended) is perpetuated by biology texts which continue to show veins as blue vessels, even though they have more of a dark red appearance when you cut away other tissues. That said, some arthropods have blue hemolymph (blood equivalent) because of the pigment hemocyanin. One of the reasons for the color difference between vertebrate blood and hemolymph is that hemoglobin uses iron whereas hemocyanin uses copper. Um, I'll get off my biology soapbox now... While I'm not sold on Alice's OP, I don't think this is very damaging to it. I think this statement ('Never underestimate them because of what you you first see') fits with Listeners because Brandon wants it to appear that way, for now. I think it's just as likely that "them" refers to some group we haven't yet encountered. As the main characters gain more knowledge and the next desolation commences, we're likely to see a whole boatload of new, interesting stuff.

I saw some discussion about Shallan's safehand being gloved in another thread, so I went to Tor.com to see for myself. While looking at the endpaper of Shallan, I started to focus on the creature next to her on the ledge. Then I went to the page that shows preliminary sketches by Ben McSweeny and Michael Whelan. Most of the sketches included a similar looking creature. That got me thinking that it might be Shallan's spren, Pattern. I realize that the descriptions of him so far do not support that. However, it's possible Pattern could experience a physical change. Syl's appearance doesn't change much, if any, from the first time Kaladin describes her. But that isn't surprising because she seems to remain largely ephemeral and non-physical, even with her cognitive growth. (Side note: not sure that it's Cognitive, as in realmatics, but I think it is since the return of her memories allow her a better perspective on how she sees herself.) Perhaps Pattern will go through development of a physical nature like Syl is undergoing development of a cognitive nature, giving rise to the creature with the arthropod-like appearance in the endpaper. Honestly, it seems like becoming more physical than cognitive would be a step-down for Pattern at this point, but perhaps some aspect of his bond with Shallan will require or enable such physical changes. What do you think?

Actually, fire could still be her weakness. The Reckoners cremated her dead body. Since she had already died at that point, burning the body may have had no effect. Perhaps burning her while she lives would be her weakness. Maybe a remnant of her human past when she was nearly killed in a burning building? On second thought, she does seem paranoid of dust, which doesn't quite jive with a fire weakness.

This is almost exactly what I thought when I read it. After Kabsal attempted to kill Jasnah, she says something to Shallan about him not being the first assassin, IIRC. Seems the Ghostbloods have been trying to get her for some time.

Not necessarily. Navani may have evidence that suggests a Parshendi (or voidbringer), but they may be misunderstanding the evidence.

Navani may believe the Parshendi are voidbringers at the time she writes the journal entry. Jasnah is definitely convinced they are, and she's on her way to the Shattered Plains. Most likely she'll persuade Navani, and this isn't that long before the entry is written. Whether or not the Parshendi are voidbringers is a different question. But if Navani believes they're voidbringers and she's indicating that a voidbringer left "the writing on the wall" - does that mean Navani will find evidence that a Parshendi scratched the note? We don't have much at this stage, but I'm inclined to believe Dalinar wrote on the wall. I think he did it subconsciously, perhaps with some external influence. Look at what we know: Dalinar uncharacteristically - you might say, mysteriously - falls asleep. He's by himself for some time (I take the fire being out as evidence that several hours have elapsed rather than the fireplace being a secret entrance). Even though he's alone in the room, there are probably servants, guards, and others in the rooms and hallways leading to his room (getting there and away undetected would be difficult). His mind is already tainted by outside forces (visions during highstorms). The glyphs are written with a rock already in the room (if someone were sneaking in to leave a message, they probably would have brought tools to ensure they could). Dalinar reads the glyphs, but that doesn't mean he regularly writes them (that could account for Rushu's assessment that they're not well-drawn).