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[OB] Oathbringer chapters 13-15


Mestiv

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So, total thoughts:

 

I am unbelievably happy that not all listeners have gone dark side.  And that a non-red spren seems to be helping them.  I'm hoping that Kaladin helps these ones, and links back to the end of WoK when he told Dalinar that Bridge four would not fight them.  I want to see what happens here.  And that spren are helping them, that is huge.  And it seems like truespren, sapient in its own right if it is communicating and standing guard, so who is it bonding to?

 

I think Shallan's next truth will have to do with accepting that she is all of her persona's, that they are all her, not separate personalities to be discarded when not needed.  She is each of them.  But until she can accept that truth, they are a good crutch.  Similarly fascinating, the truths she used as her ideals cannot be forgotten or hidden from, without breaking her Oaths to Pattern and killing him.  It breaks my heart that he is willing to leave her and let a different spren take his place because he thinks she hates him.  I need them to resolve this.

 

Adolin and Shallan is fun, especially the frantic realization that her hand is exposed.  I also like that she was better able to replicate the stances once she understood the necessity of balance to include in her drawings.  And how much did Adolin pick up on about her transformation?  I hope he will be the first to notice her changes, and help her towards the next truth.

 

Want more Kaladin, I want him to interact with freed listeners.  

 

Finally, for now, Shallanspren, Sylblade...  So... Uncle Stormfather? Wyndlefork? Glysblade? Ivory-balest?

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I think my earlier theory is right, the Parshmen are not voidbringers (at least not yet), the everstorm gave them back their souls, their ability to bond spren, or just broke whatever had been done to enslave them in the first place.  I have another theory that desolations are wars between groups of people with Odium driving everyone to be worse in these wars, and maybe he follows up at the end with an evil army.  

 

One thing I caught rereading WoR:  "The Parshmen wouldn't need to turn violent to throw us into chaos - though I'm certain that is what's coming- they could simply walk away.  It would cause an economic crisis."

I think this will pose huge economic problems for Kholinar, and it will cause Kaladin huge problems because he can't just kill innocent Parshendi.  He didn't want to fight Parshendi in WoR because they were so honorable.  At the same time, the worlds economy is going to be collapsing, which will cause wars.

I predict this book will be about Kaladin protecting two mostly innocent sides from each other, when both sides have reasons to hate the other.  One side thinks the other is ancient monsters, the other side knows they were enslaved.

 

Edit: the quote from WoR is from page 111 kindle edition.

Edited by Daishi5
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1 minute ago, PunSpren said:

“Not that I know of,” she said. Her heart was beating quickly, her skin growing cold, her muscles tense. She fought against the sensation. “I don’t know where Plate comes from.”

 

 

Guys,.... this really seams like a sander-hint , much like when she wouldnt think of her shardblade........ 

Good catch! I didn't notice that.

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Shallan feels a somewhat closer to normal in these chapters. Normal in her case being juggling six different things at once, equal parts mocking herself and the person she's with, both trying to be proper and improper at the same time, bouncing between joy and sadness in the blink of an eye.

It would be interesting to know if Shallan's ability to create and take on alternative personas is typical of Lightweavers or not. She seems quite naturally good at it but that could also be a side effect of her underlying personality, background and experience. It's not like these alternative personas are fixed as well and we see Shallan mixing and merging. I think it's quite understandable for her to want to try not to think too much about the blade that killed her mother and while there are downsides to having a genuine split personality, as long as she's in control and deciding what personality to use in a particular moment then it's a very useful mental skill.

On a more positive side, I'm glad that Shallan and Adolin got to sit down and talk about Shallan being a Radiant. She specifically brought out Pattern as a chaperone (something that I had wondered about) as well as Kabsal. She clearly enjoyed being with Adolin and with her various problems, she needs some happy moments in her life too. I'm glad that Adolin decided to teach Shallan how to wield a Shardblade and that Shallan is already putting her art to good use for that.

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My thoughts, before reading comments.

Chapter 13:

So Shallan learned to make sounds, huh? Interesting, and she's working on not needing sketches either. Good to see her progressing. I was laughing so hard reading pattern. "such as . . . dividing by zero?". Men's food is indeed spicy (to Shallan, at least). NO MATING. Finally from chapter 13, Shalladin takes quite a hit. Whatever ground it gained last week has more than been reversed by this chapter.

Chapter 14:

More evidence for Voidbringers not being as evil as we expected. The end of the world is looking surprisingly calm, so far. The parshmen just seem sad and lonely. Strange yellow spren maybe a voidspren? We will see.

Chapter 15:

Adolin obviously trying to figure out what's going on with the copycat killer, Shallan immediately assuming that one person killed both. I'm super curious to hear if there were more killings, of darkeyes, that we haven't heard about yet. Also, nobody has found Oathbringer yet. The really intriguing thing though, is what Shallan does in shifting persona. I'm not 100% sure if this is just a psychological shift, but her heart rate slows down as she does it, I think it may be a specialized use of transformation, in addition to the lightweaving she does. The way Adolin talks about respecting the blade and things is definitely a point in favor of Blade revival.

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*Pattern is the best spren. No contest. No mating and dividing by zero are the best things any spren has ever said.

*This chapter kind of made me take a stance in the Shipping War. I liked Adolin and Shallan very much in this chapter.

*When will Shallan learn the truth about Sadeas murder?

*Card-playing voidbringers. Wierd...

*I serioulsy thought that Mraize would be up this week, when she changed into Veil.

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Quote

Wait until Adolin sees a Cryptic in Shadesmar form, she thought, with a full body but twisting shapes for his head.

Could this be a foreshadowing? I hope so.

Can't wait to read Kaladin's chapter next week!

Edited by Herald
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Just now, Pagerunner said:

Also, is Brandon throwing some shade at us?

 

No, our theories are arrived at through careful deliberation of all the facts and evidence without any bias or logical fallacies.  We would never cling to a theory just because we liked it. :D

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Shallan and adolin are sooooo sweet! I love seeing them interact. I'll have to go reread them after I finish posting. Waiting for adolin to make his confession about the murder at any time, by the way.

And that line about the monstrous voidbringers playing cards made me laugh so hard.Too bad the chapter was cut so short; I want to see what those voidbringers are thinking. Also how they are related to the mythological monsters, but that will likely come later  in the story.

5 minutes ago, Stark said:

I think Shallan's next truth will have to do with accepting that she is all of her persona's, that they are all her, not separate personalities to be discarded when not needed.  She is each of them.  But until she can accept that truth, they are a good crutch.  Similarly fascinating, the truths she used as her ideals cannot be forgotten or hidden from, without breaking her Oaths to Pattern and killing him.  It breaks my heart that he is willing to leave her and let a different spren take his place because he thinks she hates him.  I need them to resolve this.

But it shows how deeply pattern cares for shallan.

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So whats the deal with the orange yellow streak of light that warned the awakened Parshmen,

Thats a talking spren, the only others of which we have seen have been KR spren have been particularly hidden.

Whats the deal with this spren talking and being out in the open for all to see.

Thats really strange!

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So, a few observations:

- Confirmed as many of us already suspected, the Everstorm is "just" releasing Listeners from slaveform; they'd have to consciously choose to bond the right (wrong?) spren to change to warform or stormform or whatever else.

- Also (to me) confirms that it wasn't Parshendi at the other end of the Azir spanreed conversation Dalinar had earlier. They didn't "learn" all that well in slaveform.

- As I predicted, Adolin is TERRIBLE at dissembling, or keeping secrets. "So, uh, I think the murders were done by two different people." So much for taking advantage of a Deus Ex Machina cover story for his killing of Sadeas.

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I'm wondering if Zahel is going to make another appearance in this book. I'd be interested in seeing his interactions with Shallan. The Sprenblade concept reminds me a lot of the whole Nightblood thing... I wonder if he will avoid the radiants or embrace them because of that.

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