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

Chapter 115 (Testament)
Icons: Kalak and Ash, mirrored as per usual. My guess about the symmetry being broken is wrong, or only applies to chapters with the new Odium.

Epigraph: This El seems like a jolly fellow. Let’s support his candidacy for overlord.

Shallan is trying to rehabilitate her first spren, now named Testament. This is going to be a long, laborious process. Props to Shallan for embarking on it essentially without hesitation (once the decade of repressed memories finally resurfaced, at least).
Huh. Mraize’s radio is a seon. Looks sadly abused :-( I don’t know Aons at all, so no clue what Ala means. I’m sure it’s on the wiki by now, though.

So Radiant has stuck around. That’s interesting. I’m not sure how that dynamic is going to work without Veil. Nor am I quite certain why Veil is the one who was reabsorbed for this set of memories. I’m going to have to review my notes and see how the developing personas interacted with those forgotten parts of Shallan.

This is a cool speech you’re giving Mraize, but it feels a little bit like you’re giving up way more information than you need to. Why tell him you’re coming after him? That’s way more warning than you should offer.

Thaidakar. The Lord of Scars. Someone Wit threatens to slap around. Again. 
Gah!  This is where I facepalm. 
Thaidakar is Kelsier. Kelsier is leading the Ghostbloods. 

Let the record show that I was the one who asked this question years ago, allowing Brandon to troll us on this:

ccstat
If Kelsier (when Vin knew him) were to join one of the Rosharan secret societies, which one would he choose?

Brandon Sanderson
He would become part of the Ghostbloods, most likely, and would be in charge of them within a year.

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/100/#e3585

So close, and yet so blindly, stupidly far.

Quote

“You’ve always been at war. I’ve finally picked a side.”

Okay, that’s a cool line. Good work, Shallan.

***
Yeah, that’s a pretty quick turnaround to let Venli do strange things with strange spren. I can see why she got away with it the first time. 
I mean, I get that we’re in the epilogue and can’t belabor the point much, but really? You just let her waltz into the camp and talk about bonding new spren again? It’s convenient that she’s right this time, and we the readers want you to listen, because otherwise I’d be pretty cross.

“Hundreds.” She’s going to turn the whole listener encampment into a band of Willshapers? That’s pretty awesome, and that would be a significant deterrent to summary destruction by a handful of Fused. Good move.

Venli singing the old songs for her mother is very sweet. 

And the listeners have allied with the chasmfiends. That’s pretty awesome, and another strong deterrent. I guess I’m not too upset after all. You had good reason to allow her into the camp. If she tried something, there was a defense available. 

Aww, Jaxlim wakes up, her senility cured (? at least partially) by radiance, and she gets to reunite with Venli.
And that’s the moment that Venli’s words are accepted, because she’s made enough of an effort to make them real. …but we don’t get to see her second-ideal power up. Too bad.