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

Chapter 85 (Dabbid)
Icons: Chach (obedient/brave) and Vev (healing) makes sense as attributes of Dabbid and his actions in working to heal Kal

Epigraph: meh. Nothing to comment on

I’m not sure how I feel about Dabbid’s continued mutism being a deliberate choice to hide his mental slowness. It makes a lot of sense for the character and is a great examination of belonging, but it also feels like a retcon after three and a half books established that character trait. It feels like the wrong kind of reveal.

Lift is great. “Fused still gotta poop, poor saps.” And Rlain just cannot comprehend anything she says has a point.

Yes, Lift. Leaving food out to go bad is exactly like leaving a sword out to get stepped on by a baby. Definitely the queen’s fault you got food poisoning.

Kaladin’s healing was even harder than reviving Gawx, presumably because Odium was taking a direct hand in keeping him ill. Was Odium interested in killing him or just in tormenting him?

“Touched” as a euphemism for mental slowness is a very English term and feels strange to me to read in Alethi translation. It is certainly plausible either as a literal convergence in terminology or as a tone-appropriate translation, but it doesn’t feel natural to me to hear Lift say it, for whatever reason.

Curing Dabbid’s mental deficiencies by bonding a spren, that sounds like a can of worms.

Lift can wake up all the Radiants? How? That doesn’t sound like regrowth or healing directly, because the tower isn’t injuring them. It’s just suppressing something. If I were to guess, she’s giving them access to enough stormlight to resist the suppression…but that would mean that once it runs out the resistance will wear off and they will fall unconscious again. So as long as they have access to infused spheres they’ll be okay? That’s as good a hypothesis as any. I’m not sure what the realmatic explanation would be if this really is a one-shot cure.

Quote

"Listen, shellhead."

I'm disappointed in you, Lift. But I guess having access to super communication skills for each individual you're talking to allows for personalized insults as much as compassionate understanding.

Wait, Wyndle is gone? Where did he go? And I guess this means Lift wasn’t listening to any second conversation during Venli’s chapter about breaking her out. Too bad.

Quote

“Thank the purest tones.”

New swear for the list, and a really unique one compared to all the others we’ve compiled so far.

Fun little mirroring of the “pulled from Damnation” bit, especially because this time it was more literal than Dabbid knows.