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Chapter 83


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

Chapter 83 (The Games of Men and Singers)
Icons: Vev for healing, Kelek for Willshaper shenanigans?
Epigraph: It feels like a partial homage to Bilbo’s “butter scraped over too much bread” line, though it could just be coincidence with the similar underlying idea.

The name of the tower being Ur came up back in chapter 49, but Venli confirms here that Ur has the same meaning as one would expect from Earth linguistics: “original.”

Listeners have accelerated childhood and abbreviated adolescence compared to humans. Adulthood comes at age 10. That is bound to have some major impacts on culture and society.

Hm. That’s interesting that the passions that appear to be missing from Odium’s “God of Passion” schtick are love and caring–the emotions most associated with passion in (modern Western) English culture. I’m not sure if Venli is correct in the general sense, but it certainly seems to have been the case for her experience.

The ancient singers didn’t just reject the Fused, they rejected the Fused’s war, the conflict. That is an important clarification, Venli. Well considered.

Venli, by searching for Cultivation’s tone, is able to instantly mix and harmonize Odium and Cultivation together, drawing on both or the combination of them. Is that helped by the fact that she has Timbre and a voidspren in her gemheart already? Or because she is in the tower where the Sibling has already been attuned to a mixture of Tower light and Voidlight?  This was much faster, more instinctive, and more natural than the duet that Navani and Raboniel managed together. How important is that difference?

I’m not sure that leaving a diorama of the “traitorous” listeners out to be discovered is the best move, Venli. You might want to clean that up.

I wonder if Venli’s obvious spying on behalf of Leshwi is what has allowed her to hide her status as Radiant. Raboniel hasn’t internalized the idea of “always another secret,” so any of the things she might notice get written off as plotting by another Fused rather than the effect of growing Radiance.

I don’t remember which one nightform is. A quick search shows I haven’t made a note of it in my liveblog yet, so it is possible this is the first mention of them by that name. If the Ars Arcana doesn’t have a list of Regal forms this time, I’ll have to do a dive through the coppermind.

Leshwi has a deep respect for Raboniel’s plotting and says her goals are inscrutable to her, much less to mere mortals. I’m not encouraged about knowing which way she’ll push things.

Quote

“What are we watching Raboniel for, if not to understand how she’s trying to gain advantage over us?”
“We watch because we are frightened. To Raboniel, the games of men and singers are petty things–but so are their lives. We watch her, Venli, because we want a world to remain when she is finished with her plots.”

Let me expand my earlier statement. I’m not encouraged about anything to do with the Lady of Wishes. Odium at least seems to want the world to still exist when he’s done with things.

Lirin is really struggling here with his principles. Claiming that Kaladin doesn’t want to be his son any longer is a poor interpretation of their disagreement, and a big stretch from what Kal said, but I can see how Lirin would think that’s what was meant. This argument with Rlain is rough.

Go Hesina! That’s right, Kal’s mom is awesome, and her position isn’t in direct support of either side in the Kaladin–Lirin debates, so she can help her son without being conflicted.

Oh, that’s exciting! I definitely didn’t see where Timbre was going with things, but a daring rescue of Lift sounds like an excellent swerve from this morose defeatism. Yay Timbre!

How do Venli’s powers help get through the aluminum shielding? Is Lift not inside the ralkalest box any more?

It’s interesting the different reaction that spren have to lies. Venli here hiding her Radiant status, the type of blade she has, her role in summoning the Everstorm, everything else, doesn’t seem to phase Timbre at all. Dalinar had so much angst about coming clean to those around him, Kaladin can’t lie to himself or anyone else without hurting his honor. Contrast with Cryptics who are attracted to deception of all types. I guess I wasn’t expecting to find a spren that simply didn’t care either way.

Hm. The expression of surges is different for Venli’s Willshaping versus the Deepest Ones. They merge with the stone, while Venli displaces it. I think they’re still using the same surge, but I’m not certain. I may need to make another chart.

I wonder what Wyndle was telling Lift during this conversation. I’d like to get his take on things.

Lift seems to buy the “not a Radiant” line, but it’s hard to tell.

She’s still looking for the chicken. Love it. Also, new favorite word is “buttress.” Prison is good for pondering the important things in life.

I wonder if the further corruption of the tower has caused further suppression of Lift’s abilities, or if she remains largely immune due to her special circumstances.
 

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