This is my reaction blog for Wind and Truth. Beware of spoilers! Index post here. 

 

Title: Lost Blades

This is one of the big mysteries for the series so far. Where have all of the dead blades gone since the Recreance? We're talking thousands of them that have gone missing over the centuries. Has someone in Shadesmar been doing something to sequester the deadeye Spren away from the physical realm? How would that be possible? 

 

Icon: Battah

Elsecallers have affinity for Shadesmar, so that's a good guess for the speculations about the title, but attributes of wisdom and care (caring? carefulness?) might match as well. 

It's also interesting to note that so far we haven't had any repeated icons in the chapter headings. That hasn't been the case in previous books, I believe. 

 

Epigraph: the Wind is being spoken of in the past tense. Is the vanishing that will occur the sort of thing that will result in its death in some degree, such that the Wind will cease to exist as it is now?

Also, Jasnah says that the inhuman thinking of spren is becoming less common, which makes it sound like modern spren are adopting more human characteristics. I'm not sure if that's meaningful or not given that humans weren't on Rosharan at the time that Wind came into being. It's natural and expected that more recent entities would reflect the new residents of the planet.

 

Adolin is riding the horse while the windrunners fly it back to the tower. I love it. 

 

Poor Adolin had to leave behind 90% of his clothing. Living really rough here.

 “Adolin’s pet greatsword.” I don't think you understand what a pet is, Shallan. This sword is way less alive than spren-derived blades. 

 

Ryahadium have stone hooves? I don't think I knew that detail. An interesting adaptation. That sounds like the sort of adaptation that would have additional consequences beyond durable feet, and not all of them positive biologically.

 

Maya has a sense of humor now! She's progressing so well

 

Oh, it's a passive process–when a Shardblade is forgotten, out of sight and out of mind, it gradually fades away and the spren returns to the cognitive realm. Nobody needed to pull them back, they just returned naturally when they were lost and forsaken. That also means that my hypothesis about someone either protecting our preying on the deadeye Spren is wrong. They are lone wanderers with nobody yet paying attention to them for good or ill. 

 

Looks like Vathah is the designated lightweaver to stay behind. Oh, maybe not, there's just not enough room so none of them can come along on the windrunner express. He's just taking the long way home. 

 

Vathah’s got a crush on Ishnah, and…Ishnah is a goth. With lightweaving supplying the makeup. I didn't anticipate that as being a thing on Roshar, but I guess edginess is universal. 

 

Shallan figured out Felt is from off world, and it's notable that this has become a pretty prosaic observation. Worldhoppers aren't a shock to encounter anymore. 

 

Shallan's musing on the benefit of an alerted perspective to find hidden beauty in the world is beautiful. And it prompts Kelek to advise her about making her illusions more real–something that she's done before. The example she comes up with is Veil and Radiant manifesting at the battle of Thaylen Field.

 

His advice: something fleeting can be important despite its transience, and something eternal doesn't have to be important or relevant to you. 

 

Shallan takes that to mean that her personal journey with accepting her aspects and her memories makes the expedition a personal success, and the good she did for Kelek is worthwhile on its own regardless of any contribution to the war effort.

 

Shallan passes on the hug again. To Wit before, now to Kelek.

 

A heliodor fabrial…that's the detecting kind. Is it going to detect the oathgate for navigation? It's called a compass, but it's explicitly for use in Shadesmar so what is used as “North”? It's not detecting the oathgate or any other nearby landmark since they use it by keeping a particular heading for the full distance. It can't be the strange sun either, since they would hardly need a fabrial for that.

 

And Wit didn't give them any news about Urithiru after all. The first they hear about Navani or the Sibling is Drehy’s comment. 

 

The Sibling reviving apparently convinced the oathgate spren to cooperate with the human forces. That's a switch. Large repercussions spread far and wise. 

 

Gallant is so excited to fly, it's adorable. 

 

Why does Radiant emerge here in the sky? Is it because Shallan retreated or because something about the situation (enduring physical discomfort, perhaps?) matched her aspect? But Shallan comes out again moments later because she loves Adolin and wants to take a memory of him being adorably goofy. 

 

“Right up until they were attacked.” Knew things were going too smoothly. The real question is whether it's Fused or Skybreakers or both. And since the next chapter is a likely a Kaladin chapter, we will have to wait for a while to find out how badly it goes.