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Chapter 22


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

Chapter 22 (No Use Talking)
Epigraph: These letter segments are too short. It does sound like Sazed may be more open to helping than he seemed from the last correspondence.

Alright, this has nothing to do with the chapter at hand, but I was thinking about how Mraize was bugging Shallan about getting the Ghostblood tattoo. She was rightly hesitant, and correctly pointed out that it probably wouldn’t stick. But what if the physical tattoo isn’t the point? What if there’s something realmatic about that symbol? Could it possibly be tied to Selish-type investiture, such that it would leave a persistent effect on her? We already theorized that there was a possible tracking function to it when Mraize knew about her carving it into the table at the pub in Oathbringer. It feels like a stretch, and I’m probably just engaging in baseless conjecture--more likely, it’s just the mental commitment of taking that step. Nevertheless, it’s an interesting (and worrisome) possibility.

The oathgate spren call the Sibling their parent? What is the relationship between the various spren and the big three (Stormfather, Nightwatcher, and Sibling) ? 

So Jasnah hasn’t mastered the return portion of Elsecalling yet, more than a year after making it back at the end of Words of Radiance. I’m not surprised, since she clearly hasn’t earned her plate yet, but it’s interesting that that step in particular is the difficult one. Why is it harder to return to the physical realm than to enter the cognitive?

The otherworldly image of Urithiru as seen from Shadesmar is striking. It’s clearly heavily invested--the whole tower, not just the central gem pillar--and that manifests on this side. The swarms of emotion spren raise some interesting questions about spren travel through the cognitive realm. How did so many of them get here through the bead sea? Also, did they come only because of the people who rediscovered the city, or did the tower itself sustain some number of them even through its long abandonment?

The nahel spren descriptions are good to have, but nothing jumps out to me here. Except that yes, Mistspren are actual nahel spren as speculated from the preceding sketchbook page (rather than cousin spren). Maybe we already knew that and I forgot? It’s also odd/amusing to me that the cultivation spren is described as aloof when that is antithetical to the calling of an Edgedancer.

Why are the masked spren the ones associated with Truth? That seems very strange to me from my Earthling sensibilities. I’m not sure if this is actually a contradiction or merely a case of culture clash that will be explained.

Oh, also, where does a name like Ua’pam come from? Is it related to a human culture and language, as there are some potential similarities to the Unkalaki, or do spren have their own languages and naming traditions (relatively) independent of the minds that spawned them?

More Maya! I’d forgotten her name was longer than that: Mayalaran. Adolin is wonderful for treating her like a person. You go, Adolin!

Oh, Evi was from Rira, not Iri. I guess Zu isn’t going to be someone who knew her after all.

I wonder if Adolin will be able to convince the Mistspren of Maya’s comprehension and personhood, as the spren seems to possess an ability to tell when someone speaks what they believe to be truth. Will that entice it to learn more, or is it too used to people believing contradictory things that it won’t care and will write him off? It does make me worry about the Truthwatchers in general, and Renarin by extension, that their Truth is more subjective than objective. It’s not surprising given that every order has subjective morality, but it feels like that is an easy lever to exploit if you are Odium and have access to true believers who can speak damaging truths or even received falsehoods without lying.

Is Gallant’s afterimage at all related to Szeth’s? 

Pattern with the group hug! Just there to remind Adolin that someone else came along with his marriage to Shallan. I wonder if “I like having arms” is going to be the next “No Mating!” meme.

Quote

Adolin assumed those were the guards who watched over the complex of tunnels and caverns beneath Urithiru. Indeed, there were more lights than he’d expected; Aunt Navani must have gotten her wish to have the caverns better guarded.

Aaaa! There’s a potential hostile force hiding in the secret tunnels, and you just say “yeah, they’re probably on our side.” NO! That is not how you keep your city safe, young highprince.

“They resembled chickens” Thank you, Adolin, that was a singularly unhelpful description of the gloryspren. What kind of chicken? This could go anywhere from hawk to kiwi or emu to sparrow.

All these conversations are fun. I like seeing Godeke’s devotion, and his life in the ardentia shining through. It’s a good counterpoint to the doubt and questioning so pervasive in the main cast. Stump is great, valuing her nickname as a title of endearment. 

Syl being worried about the reception they are going to get from the honorspren makes me suspect that this group will be spending some time in jail when they get there. Good think Adolin practiced that a couple books ago. He’s a jail-attending pro!

Yeah, Ua’pam the peakspren has a very similar manner and mannerisms to Rock. I’m going to go ahead and assume a very close tie to the Unkalaki.

Quote

“Fused to the east, strange things in Shinovar, and honorspren acting uppity”

Yeah, that all sounds like bad news. The honorspren thing is going to impact this particular voyage, but I’m gonna guess that the Shinovar Unmade is Ba-Ado-Mishram, the one who gave the listeners forms during the false desolation and who Sja-Anat described as exceptionally clever. She is most likely to be behind “strange things” that manifest in both realms.

Wait a minute. Tukar? Lasting Integrity isn’t the counterpart to Sesemalex Dar, is it? Because going to the home of insane Ishar sounds like a terrible idea. Okay, just checked the map. No, Sesemalex Dar is located at the corresponding location of the Oathbound Spires in Shadesmar, which makes a lot of sense. There’s no other Tukari cities on the continental map of Roshar, but sneaking a peek ahead at the Emuli map later in the book, there is a human city at roughly the same location as Lasting Integrity: Linder Mar. However, looking again at the Sea of Souls map, Adolin and Shallan’s path goes straight by Lasting Integrity without stopping, and continues on toward the Expanse of Vibrance (Nalthis, correct?). I guess that gives some indication of how well this expedition will go to plan.

What did Shallan discover about Mraize’s radio? Her lie about the paints was painfully obvious. More than that, I’m disappointed that she’s not telling Adolin more. I thought that he knew about the Ghostblood stuff at least to some degree. They have a good working dynamic of trust.

Maya is helping take care of Gallant! She’s coming out of her shell and they are bonding! Aaa this is wonderful! Can she please be part of the group hug next time? Pattern, that’s your job.

Oh, we get a little Shallan snippet of her observations. Someone appears to have used the radio and put it back in the wrong orientation. I’ll tentatively accept her explanation and say that, sure, there is a spy around. However, I want to float the possibility that something so obviously invested might experience changes during the transition to Shadesmar. The Shardplate couldn’t even come, and some of the travelers look different than they did before. Surely it’s not too much of a stretch to say that the radio could have undergone a reflection or rotation when moving between realms.

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