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Chapter 40


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

Chapter 40 (In For All)
Epigraph: So (in Sazed’s opinion) it sounds like we have an Ati situation here, where Rayse is merely a personality overlay on the destructive will of Odium. “It’s been thousands of years. Rayse isn’t going to stick to his personal goals that long. He’s been subsumed.”

I am really worried about how many of the soldiers are going to die now that Navani gave them orders and there’s no functional mechanism to relay a surrender/retreat/stand down order. 

The little crisis of “what title do I give someone who got promoted despite being darkeyed” is fun. Such a tiny thing to derail you during your pep talk about fighting an invading force.

“Halls above” --I’m pretty sure we’ve seen that formulation before, but I’m noting it just in case.

Navani is getting reasonable advice from her military captains, which is encouraging. I’m glad they’re not all yes men and that they’re not all bloodthirstily stubborn. But Navani is decisive, choosing the all-in plan.

“By the blood of our fathers” -- again, this is similar to one we saw in Words of Radiance, but I’m not sure it’s identical. Added to the swears list.

You know, I just realized that Raboniel is the researcher. Sure she does more torture and soul extration stuff, but that’s uncomfortably close to Navani’s fabrial expertise. I am eager for (but kind of dreading) the face off between the two of them. It’s a really fitting matchup and will draw out some interesting themes. Raboniel has centuries of experience, a proven will and penchant for cruelty. She also has options of personal violence that are not open to Navani, which gives her the choice to sidestep the engineering and esotricism if it looks like she’s losing that battle.

Teofil is earning his promotion here. Also, “Anyone worth his stormlight” feels awkward. Have we heard this phrase before?

Oh, that’s bad news. I was expecting there to be more non-Radiant shardbearers to shore up the defenses. Turns out there was only one and he already got taken out by the invaders. “May the Almighty accept his soul to the eternal battlefield” indeed. Not that it’s a particularly comforting wish for a non-Alethi.

I’m glad Nightblood isn’t an option. That would have gone poorly for everybody. Good thinking Teofil, but for those of us with metaknowledge, that’s a really, really bad plan.

“A small twinkle of light, like a starspren” she says. That hits quite a bit differently after seeing the majestic creature in shadesmar.

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“Those ancient Radiants gave up their oaths because they worried they had too much power.”

Wow, that is a very different take than any we have heard so far. It’s a clever spot for Brandon to slip it in, too, since nearly all readers will be focused on the conflict at hand. I’m no exception, and won’t spend much time theory crafting this or trying to extrapolate / reinterpret what we know of the Recreance yet. Still, this strikes me as a profoundly significant line that will give us important insight into Roshar’s history.

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Honor’s Truest Surge, the Surge of Binding and Oaths.

Not gonna lie, that’s a mouthful. Still, it’s an interesting data point. The Fused don’t acknowledge the tenth surge exists, and they can’t suppress it through whatever they did with voidlight. I’m not sure how the surge stuff all works in the realmatic sense with Honor and Cultivation both contributing (and with the magic of Roshar predating the Shattering) but it’s looking more and more that the Bondsmiths command a surge uniquely associated with Honor (and perhaps uniquely antithetical to Odium). 

The significance of that surge still working is a bit lost on me, since even if it does govern the process of forming a nahel bond that won’t be useful at this point (unless the Sibling is immune somehow, and Navani gets to become a Bondsmith). I don’t expect that to be the way this plays out, but I’m not sure how that surge will be part of the solution.
 

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