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

Chapter 87 (Trial by Witness)
Icons: Another triple icon set. I’m starting to think I am putting too much stock in this supposed departure from the norm. I’ll keep tracking it to see if anything important shows up, but in all likelihood this was just how Dragonsteel decided to do a more-or-less random set of chapters. Anyway, this time it’s Palah doubled, with Jez and Nan opposed.

Epigraph: I suppose that loss of memory could be blamed for feeling dissolute or not oneself, but from what we know of the Returned on Nalthis I suspect the memories would have minor effect compared to the continuity of soul.

Interesting that the weather in the cognitive realm directly affects the moods of spren. It makes sense, but it’s not something I’d have necessarily predicted.

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“Stand over there until this show finishes and we can execute you.”

Ah, top of my list of encouraging things I hope my impartial judge will say to me.

Only twenty honorspren deadeyes in the fortress, out of two thousand total. Did the others not gather to Lasting Integrity for the trial, along with the rest of those outside the fortress? Where are they now? I presume they are wandering the bead sea, as mentioned before. Still, only 1% is a lower number than I expected. Also, 2000 blades is a lot. It lines up with estimates of pre-Recreance shard counts, but we really have no idea where all of those could still be hiding.

That the first argument focuses on deadeyes reinforces again that Maya will be the key. I hope Shallan doesn’t do anything rash before Mayalaran can make her case.

Woah. Lore drop! Melishi ended his bond with the Sibling immediately prior to the incitement of the Recreance. How? Why? And why don’t the honorspren (or anyone else) know about it? Surely someone has gone to talk to the Sibling or learn about the Recreance in the past few millenia?

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“I hear their voiceless sorrow; I see their sightless pain.”

Good line.

Adolin, I had the exact same thought. Is Kelek writing anything related to the trial, or is he just doodling?

Is…is that an apple? Where did Kelek get that, and how did it stay good? Was it manifested in Shadesmar? Can you eat a manifested item? I guess the answer might be pretty different for a herald and a mortal.

What does he mean by “unchained” Bondsmith? I’m not sure what that term is meant to indicate. Haven’t we already established that Dalinar is subject to the same restrictions that Ishar implemented back in the beginning?

Oof. Yeah, having your attorney be called as a witness for the prosecution is not an encouraging look.Blended is a good speaker, but I won’t quote a bunch of her lines. Good turns of phrase, though. I like Adolin’s rebuttal about bonds being natural, and I’d like to see him or someone like Shallan bring up the example of Ryshadium. That would take us into a lengthy digression that doesn’t actually serve to case, so it’s probably for the best that I’m not there to make the argument.

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Which of the ten fools was he for starting all this?

 

Ironic, that he’s being tried by a fallen herald who embodies one of the ten fools, then…and that Adolin doesn’t seem to make that connection.

Oh dear. Notum is the third witness. That’s a kick in the pants.

Nice. Adolin succeeds by being himself rather than the man he thinks his father would be in his place. Reaching out to Notum is a good move, and wholly in line with who Adolin is as a person.

Oh dear. I’m concerned about the effect this uproar is having on Kelek. It’s rough that something that can turn the audience to his side might have the opposite effect on the judge, even one as fickle as Kelek is currently said to be.

I’d appreciate a little more elucidation of the political schisms within the honorspren. Kelek mentions several, but we don’t really have a sense for the balance and what nuances might exist.

***
Wow. This is a horribly transparent ploy, and you are letting Pattern do the talking for you? This is one of those “so bad it’s good” plans isn’t it. Are honorspren just unused to deception to the extent they don’t look for it?

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This wasn’t the worst self-inflicted wound she’d sustained in the name of science. At least this time her scheme hadn’t involved deliberately embarrassing herself in front of several attractive men.

I feel dumb for not recognizing this reference. What event(s) is she talking about here?

So the Ire have an alternate method for storing Light. Is it more permanent and less prone to leakage? It’s jar’s or vats–what’s the mechanism here? I don’t recall if we got a closer look at this stuff in Secret History.

Looks like they also have leak-proof perfect gems for storage. I wonder if that emerald Veil stole is going to be more valuable than the stormlight it contains. Probably not, but it would be a neat twist.

And Pattern’s response is “Thank you for letting me lie.” Why didn’t he get to be involved in Kaladin’s heist scene? I mean, other than the fact he’s terrible at it.