Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers.

Chapter 68 (One Family)
Title: I can’t help but think of the song from Tarzan, “Two Worlds, One Family”

That’s creepy–the listeners had tales of “souls of the dead said to wander the storms, searching for gemhearts to inhabit.” That’s remarkably accurate compared to most of what was handed down from pre-Recreance days. Unfortunately, it is very much true.

Jaxlim bugging Eshonai for grandchildren is great, especially as a mood reset.

The link between puberty and formtaking is odd and unexpected. Why would not adopting a form at that point limit their options later? Especially since we know a whole continent of slaveform who suddenly achieved another form later in life. To the extent that it is true, I have to guess that it’s an effect of the gemheart itself. Maybe without acquiring a spren to house there, it doesn’t retain the necessary shape internally?

Unrelated: 7-8 years old is a much earlier maturation that humans, even accounting for the 1.1 Earth year correction. Good to note, and possibly to analyze later.

So Eshonai gets the new form rather than Jaxlim. That’s bittersweet. Looks like determination is the correct passion to bring for a painspren bond to become warform. That’s not the combination I would have predicted, but it makes  a lot of sense. Also worth cataloging: workform comes from binding to a gravitationspren. 

Is the pure note of Honor that she hears related to restoring the lost form, or her own exultation in the moment? Or is it something about her specific form? I might have expected a Rhythm, but why is this form so closely aligned with Honor?

Eshonai: “Look at these muscles! Armor and strength and an imposing physique!”
Thude: “I can sing bass notes now!”
Looks like it’s not just down to a form’s mentality.

Hm. So the first workform heard Cultivation’s tone, but only on the initial unlocking event. I am curious why the two forms were associated with the shard they were, and whether future unlocking events will be similar.

Interesting that warform comes with an instant “band of brothers” mentality. It’s practically soldierform in that way.

That timing of the attack is fairly ridiculous. Oops. 

Notably, the whole attacking army is wearing white in the traditional listener fashion–it’s not just for assassinations apparently. It’s also very ritualized. Combining that with the smaller populations, their “battles” are very much skirmishes. Deaths are not something they experience nearly to the degree of most human societies, much less the warmongering Alethi.

Quote

“Praise the ancient storms”

--another swear for the list.

Eee. Venli is already breaking the deeply held tradition tying the Shards to the land and to not use them on other listeners. I was already thinking about the disruption to their governing council by the addition of new forms, not to mention the change in warfare. Multiple things are changing at the same time, but this is how you break things badly. 

Looks like not everyone is excited about someone finally achieving warform. Sharefel responds with the Rhythm of the Lost. Oh, except he’s sad he didn’t get to do it himself? 
Good. Eshonai is wise enough not to let the Shards change hands right away.

This ritualized warfare is such a painful contrast to the tragedy of the shattered plains. There is an easy analogy to our world (which is obviously intended and worth considering) but the loss of the listeners is worth considering on its own as well. 

“Did you learn to give speeches by talking to trees?” Burn.

Oh, well done. For the chapter titled “one family,” in which the first steps of uniting the listener tribes are taken, end with sisters becoming further estranged, failing to take time to give each other support and acclaim. This is a great juxtaposition to where that unity is failing, where the dream is weakest and falling apart.