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

Chapter 98 (An Unwholesome Shade)

Icons: Ishar and Shash. Coming up with a creative way to meet Ishar?

Epigraph: Musings of El. Having just gone back through the Rhythm of War notebook epigraphs from part three, the identity of El is a question at the front of my mind. Looks like we may get an answer by the end of the book. “I look forward to ruling the humans” doesn’t really sound like an Unmade necessarily (since I don’t get the impression they have designs on ruling things) but we know so little about them I won’t rule out that possibility yet. Most obvious option is that he is a Fused, but Navani already cast doubt on that. A sleepless perhaps? One working with the Fused? Or what about the Siah Aimians? We have only met Axies so far. There could be others with very different plans for their ageless lives.

Where did the Horneaters get goose feathers? Do they have sadistic long necked chickens on the peaks? 

I had completely forgotten about the burial customs of the Alethi where nobility were directly soulcast into statues, then returned to their homelands. That is so weird to me. I guess it means that you have a good likeness of your ancestors to remember them by? Shipping statues overland has got to be inconvenient and a huge sink of effort. Only the highest tier of nobility would command that sort of observance. 

“Singer and human bodies smelled the same when they burned”–that seems odd, given the crab people thing. Surely there’d be different chemistry going on inside?

Huh. the soldier’s patches have their names on the back, serving a similar function as dog tags here.

Emul reveres archers, which strikes Dalinar as bizarre. I want to learn more about the sort of influences that would promote that hierarchy.

I’d forgotten that the Iri had allied with the Fused. I guess it will be a while before we learn more about Evi’s heritage and family.

“Stargyle the Lightweaver”--where did that name come from? He’s described as Alethi, I think. Did we meet him earlier in the book under Shallan? I don’t recall the name at all.

Oh, Dalinar thinks it’s a stupid name too, and is sure it’s a self-chosen one. That makes sense. From his height…is this Vathah?

Whoever he is, he grew up a pigmenter’s son before joining the army he later deserted. So, color is his thing.

Ishar is with the army? That’s unexpected. Also, he looks Shin. I need to look again at the descriptions and figure out the relationships between the heralds, and which ones look like offworlders. It’s probably just indicative of the distribution that arrived from Ashyn, rather than any timeline of arrival, but it’d still be worth doing.

Ishar magically draws the glyph for mystery, to entice Dalinar closer. That’s a weird thing to do for someone who denounced the new radiants in such strong terms.

Szeth wants to do the same thing, apparently. He didn’t seem to realize that one or more heralds came from his ancestry.