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

Chapter 11 (Passion and Courage)
Title: I’m immediately looking at this as a reference to the Passions (thus a Venli chapter or a focus on the forces of Odium), but in the last chapter Dalinar very conspicuously called Kaladin passionate as a compliment. This just after Vyre’s emotional emptiness is shown to be an exploitable weakness seems to emphasize that Odium’s forces are robbed of their passion. So this could well be a reference to something else. None of the Heralds have a particular association with courage, as far as I remember, so probably not a specific order of Knights.

Epigraph: Iron=pulling, is anyone surprised? This is an obvious allomancy connection, but the feruchemical association with gravity/mass could also be a worthy connection to make. The fact that the Rosharan artifabrians haven’t yet discovered the complementary metal is interesting, perhaps suggesting that they don’t have the capability of creating (the appropriate alloy of) steel. 

Speaking of which, have any of the metals mentioned so far in these epigraphs been alloys or have they been pure metals? I’ll go back and check … So far we’ve had zinc/brass, bronze, pewter/tin, and iron. It’s not surprising that iron is known while steel hasn’t been tried, but the odd one out here is definitely bronze. How do they discover the alloy before the base metal? Have they not dried regular copper, or have we just not gotten to the epigraph that talks about it yet?

I also wonder whether the requisite alloys are as demanding/restrictive as those for the metallic arts. Do the percentages have to be exact for the fabrial to function? If so, that may be another indicator of the sort of developments that won’t occur until there is greater cross-pollination of knowledge from worldhoppers to/from Scadrial. Getting information about the exact composition needed to make fabrial cages sounds like a huge leg up on the research front. This could well be another hint of why the next Era of Mistborn needs to be written before we get the back five Stormlight books.

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Oh, look it is Venli after all. I shouldn’t have second guessed myself on the title. See, this is where those chapter header art pieces would be useful. 

“The lady returns” is probably a reference to Leshwi, but I didn’t think Venli was working for her. It’s not like Brandon can’t introduce another singer/Fused character at this point, obviously, but of the people we know so far, Leshwi is pretty much the only choice.

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she’d gotten very good at playing the role.

Well, that’s certainly a loaded phrase. Let’s see just how deep the layers of deception have formed in the past year, shall we?

“Shanay-im” is that a word we knew before? I don’t think so. I presume it refers to Fused and/or regents. (Is that the word we used for higher forms that don’t overwrite a singer’s mind? I don’t recall. Pretty sure it started with an R.)....Ah, nope it was Regals. That sounds much better. Thanks for the reminder, Venli.

Venli has a scepter. Huh. I wonder what significance has been attached to that, and whether it is a feature borrowed from a human culture or something instated by Fused with their long memories.

Above the Fused in hierarchy are “mysterious creatures like the thunderclasts and the Unmade.” Looks like Venli isn’t going to infodump for us. Come on, Venli, why haven’t you been studying the fans’ questions this past year? 

Venli is in Kholinar. I was sort of expecting her to be on the front, or traveling around the continent to some of the disconnected populations, taking advantage of her envoyform abilities. Still, it’s been a year. She might have already done that and been recalled, or I could have just had a mistaken idea of her intended tasks.

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There was little use seeking logic in the ways of the fused.

Good to know that your ruling class are all some flavor of insane. If they weren’t immortal, I expect at least one group of the singers would have cast them off by now. I’m fairly certain the process of creating an independent singer culture is going to be more difficult than that, though. (i.e. 6 books worth of difficult, including time skips).

… and I just realized how that insanity comment is also applicable to the Heralds and humanity. Great. There are multiple methods of achieving longevity/immortality in the cosmere, but I think it’s safe to say that some of them come with significant drawbacks on the mental stability front.

Yup, she’s serving under Leshwi. Oh, shanay-im was the word translated as “Heavenly Ones” before, rendered here as “Those Ones of the Heavens.” I’m going to have to learn a whole new set of singer and human names for the so-called “voidbinding chart” aren’t I? 

Wait, those topple-prone towers are individual penthouse suites for the flying Fused? That’s definitely crazy. Why would you want to do that? “I know what sounds like fun: getting right up next to the lightning and flying boulders during a highstorm! Experiencing it on the ground is just too tame.”

Leshwi is uniquely sane--and she still wants the sky room. Awesome. Interesting that the Heavenly Ones are less affected by raving madness than the other “brands” of Fused. I wonder if we’ll learn a realmatic reason for that, or if it’s just a quirk to memorize?

I wonder how many bodies Leshwi (and the other Fused) have gone through in the past year. Venli speaks of the transitions as something of a regular occurrence. That’s really pretty horrifying in the cultural sense, where at any moment the theological leaders may ask a random singer to sacrifice themself so that a Fused can reincarnate. It evokes the Hallandren gods in Warbreaker, but without the arguments about “it’s a privilege to give up my Breath, and it’s not really my soul so donating it doesn’t harm me anyway.” In this case, sure, you may see it as a privilege but it outright kills you.

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Venli had the advantage of her ability to look into Shadesmar—which immediately told her if someone was Fused, Regal, or ordinary singer. She tried very hard not to use that ability except in the most secret of locations. 

 

Looking into Shadesmar, huh? And that’s being attributed to the Willshaper powers here. I would have thought she could access that particular ability through her Regal form. We saw way back in WoK interludes that the listeners could see deeper into Shadesmar than humans, to the extent that spren appeared noticeably different to them. I presumed that greater degrees of investiture, such as a Regal form, would enhance that. Maybe it does, just not to the same extent? But I guess others can’t do that trick. I’m not sure why it would be visible to others when she does it, though, unless it actively consumes stormlight. As long as she doesn’t glow, she ought to be okay, right? Maybe voidspren can sense when someone uses stormlight?

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It would be a disaster of incredible proportions if anyone figured out that Venli—Last Listener, envoyform Regal, Voice of Lady Leshwi—was a Knight Radiant.

 

This does make me start to wonder how far Venli has progressed in her bond with Timbre in the past year. I hadn’t really considered that she might have spoken more ideals during the time skip. I guess we’ll find out. When she does advance in her oaths, will that alter her form at all? If not, is that because Timbre is trying to be stealthy? Will it make her more or less obvious in an investiture-sense way? When Kaladin advanced he seemed to use stormlight more efficiently, leaking less, which would be a good thing for Venli. On the other hand, it was always pretty spectacular, which would be less good. That could well be a Windrunner thing, though, since Lift was a lot more understated when she progressed.

...and Timbre immediately answers my question. Venli’s not a KR yet, not having spoken her second ideal yet.

Oh no, creepiness intensifies. Is this “new recruit” being brought as a potential host for Leshwi?
Ah, thankfully not. Venli is conspiring to get her own loyal network into positions of power. Interesting. I wonder what form the subversion is taking.

“Stormsetter” sounds like a great job. “Your job is to clean up before the super hurricane so that nothing blows away. In the open-air penthouse. Good luck.”

Hm. This whole translation business serving as Leshwi’s voice is quite cool… but it doesn’t really help sell the image of Leshwi as “super sane Fused who can talk normal.” It also makes me wonder if other Fused have an envoyform Regal to be their voice. Venli was very much a special case when she assumed this form, so I wouldn’t think so, but why waste a super rare interpreter on one of the more sane Fused who doesn’t need one?

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It was the great contradiction of serving the Fused. They did not want simpering children who were too quick to obey, but they also expected exactness in service. They wanted only the strongest of wills among their followers—but wished to control and dominate them.

 

That sounds like a horrible system. This is not going to build the strongest of societies.

The conversation about “did you kill your crush the evil Windrunner this time” is a lot of fun and does nothing to dissuade my shipping senses.

Pursuer as a name for the teleporting Fused is fitting and ominous. 

A Thaylen tailor. That really just rolls off the tongue. I wonder if that’s part of what made Brandon create this character, or if he really just loves elaborate eyebrows.
Oh, she doesn’t get the job. Will we see Yokska again in the story? (Is the penalty for failing the job interview getting tossed off the tower?)

She picked a human for the job of “He Who Quiets,” and I really don’t know what that entails. All of my ideas from that job title are creepy.

Oh, good. Yokska survives to teach the singer who will actually be Leshwi’s tailor.

Leshwi floating off to meditate in the clouds really drives home that they are not limited by stormlight reserves in the way that Radiants are. She can just hang out indefinitely in the sky, and that’s all kinds of cool.

Venli “thumped her scepter against the wooden floor.” How big is this scepter? I might need a description, because I was imagining something more club-sized, either along the lines of the European royal scepters that would be ~2 feet long, or the similarly sized but differently shaped items from Asia that Brandon based the Moon Scepter on for the Emperor’s Soul.

Dul and Mazish following human (Alethi) marriage customs is sweet but also leaves a somewhat bitter taste.

I like the metaphor Venli uses here of  a cremling shedding its shell, but not until it outgrows it. It fits so well in meaning and also in context.

Shumin swearing with the Alethi “Stormfather” is notable, but not surprising seeing all the other cultural absorption that has been shown. Calling Venli “Brightness” is more disconcerting to me, despite having that be the address for Abiajan back in chapter 1. That was in a town with a majority-human population, in contrast to the apparent center of singer power.

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“Our organization is formed from those who are strong enough to resist, and eventually break free of, all chains.”

I like that as a mission statement, Venli. It is the right flavor of empowerment to attract a wide base of support, and it lends itself well to spreading in the until-recently enslaved population of singers.

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“I’m ready,” Shumin said. “When do we attack the Fused? Each storm I worry I’ll be next, and that one of the waiting Fused souls will boot my mind out and take over.”

This, on the other hand, is terminally stupid overconfidence. Good luck, Venli, if this is what you have to work with. It is good to see that I’m not the only one noticing the horror of the situation.

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Accepting the soul of a Fused into your body had an element of agency to it.

Agency, however, was difficult to define. If you took a Regal form, Odium got inside your mind. New forms with their new rhythms altered your mannerisms, your way of seeing the world. Even common singers were carefully indoctrinated, constantly told that sacrificing themselves was a great privilege.

 

Ayup. That’s… basically what I was thinking. Eeesh.

Venli is generalizing to a disturbing degree. “All humans are the same. They and Fused only care about controlling others.” She’s doing such good work, though, I feel bad hoping that she’ll be more nuanced about it. Her position really demands a degree of absolutism. (Like the Assuredness movement! Callback!)

Ooo, Venli gets to use both flavors of light. That’s almost as convenient as Lift getting to use food. More useful for the covert role Venli is taking, of course. It’s notable that voidlight can apparently fuel normal surgebinding, provided the user can invest with it. No further conversion between types appears to be required.

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Using that Light, she peeked into Shadesmar [...] They’d tested Venli’s other power—the ability to mold stone—only once, and it had drawn secretspren

 

I’d forgotten, or not really thought about, where Willshapers fall on the chart. The stone manipulation power was one I’d forgotten they had. It’s also fairly obvious that looking into Shadesmar isn’t the limit of her ability (at least eventually), though I imagine that more active use of that surge would draw secretspren when more passive use for just looking does not. Just like the Lashings vs. Lightweaving we observed in the last book.

Mavset-im “Those Ones of Masks” are Fused that presumably use the illumination surge equivalent? Or do they physically take other forms through reshaping their own bodies?

Workform comes from gravitationspren? That is not what I would have guessed. Time to make a new list, I suppose. Someone else will probably beat me to cataloging the forms and their associated spren, but I’ll note the ones we learn about to see if I can come up with anything useful.

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“We are not a rebellion,” Venli said. “We are a group of objectors who do not like the choices we’ve been offered. Fused oppression or human tyranny? The god of hatred or the supposedly honorable god who abandoned us to slavery? We accept neither. We are the listeners. We will cast off everything—including our very forms if we must—to find freedom.

 

Preach, sister!

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“Once we have enough members, we will leave the city and travel someplace where no one will bother us. We will remain neutral in the conflicts between humans and Fused. Our only goal is to find a place where we can thrive on our own. Our society. Our government. Our rules.”

 

All aboard for a road trip to Shinovar...Shadesmar...Ashyn...Braize...whole lotta nope. Scadrial maybe? Nalthis? (Silverlight?)
...First of the Sun? Oh, God Beyond that’s a terrible idea. Do not go there! You need a lot more chickens before anyone with the cognitive presence you have can possibly survive in that neck of the cosmere.

Ah, here comes the nuance. Venli is recognizing the Fused are people with personalities and individuality.

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I have been contacted by a spren who represents an entire people in Shadesmar. They realize that perhaps we deserve a second chance more than humans do.

Does this actually mean that the Willshapers as an order will be fully or mostly composed of listeners? Is Timbre really representative of her type?

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“Gather yourself, Last Listener,” Leshwi said to the Rhythm of Agony. “Something is happening. Something dangerous. I fear the war is about to take a distinctly different turn.”

Dun dun dun! 
Rhythm of Agony, huh? Good work, Leshwi. That’s how you make a properly ominous pronouncement.