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“They named it the Final Desolation, but they lied. Our gods lied. Oh, how they lied. The Everstorm comes. I hear its whispers, see its stormwall, know its heart.” "Do you mind, Kobold? I'm trying to watch the Weather Channel."

This is why my ears aren't pierced. Just sayin'...

Today there were huge thunderstorms in our area and during lunch, the cafeteria lights flickered and this low rumble of thunder went off.I just whispered "the stormfather is angry" My friend beside me completely lost it.

"Err... riiiight. I'm going to have to administer a shot now..." "NO! NO SPIKES, AGENT OF RUIN!"

You know you're a Sanderfan when someone mentions a 17th Shard swim calendar, and you can't stop yourself from assigning a Sanderson character to every month. I am so sorry. Cosmere 2015 A Year of Physical, Cognitive, and Spiritual Beauty! Vin in her corset as Ms. January! Picture taken just moments before she beat our stealth photographer into a pulp! These Newcagoan girls prove just how stylist steel swimsuits can be! Setting aside the obvious discomforts and glaring design flaws, of course. Eshonai's carapace swimwear as Ms. March is beautiful as it is mildly unsettling! You might think Regalia's past the age to be modeling in a swimsuit calendar. Ms. April proves you wrong! Satisfaction and sanity not guaranteed. Ever wonder what a lady Inquisitor in a bikini looks like? If we've spiked your curiosity, you'll love Ms. May! Shai as Ms. June! No, she isn't a model. But her nifty diagram will tell you how to stamp any article of clothing into swimwear! It's great at parties! Navani Kholin might raise a few eyebrows with her line of transparent swim-gloves... check out Ms. July for more info, wink wink. You know the Lord Ruler is immortal, invincible, and inexorable... but did you also know that he looks fabulous in a leotard? We can't see her, but our friend Stephen Leeds assures us that Ivy's modeling quite the one-piece as Ms. September! If you could see Ms. October's attire, you'd be amazed. Unfortunately you can't see her. As a White Sand character, the page with Khriss' modeling is available only on special request from Team Sanderson. Did you know there are female chasmfiends? Do you know how hard it is to design a swimsuit for a giant flesh-eating crustacean, let alone getting the storming thing to wear it? Maybe if you did, you'd appreciate Ms. November a little more. Just sayin'. And last but not least, Ms. December--surprise, it's Stick! This piece of waterlogged wood may not be fire, but that doesn't mean it can't be hot! ... Again, I am so, so sorry. Not very sorry though.

When it's impossible to read other fantasy because they never provide enough justification or explanation of the magic system(s).

Marched our marching show in a Mistcloak with my friends. Was cool. Before the performance we threw pennies at people. Ah, October. Such a great month.

“Fixer upper” was thought up by @Oudeis, if anyone does it it ought to be him, or at least with with his blessing. BUT, here’s a little diddy I’ve been working on for a while. When I first stumbled across this thread my initial thought was “someone really needs to do a parody to the song ‘Gaston’ from Beauty and the Beast.’” Well, now I present to you: ”Lightsong” enjoy

This is a very, very long read as it involves reframing the entire Stormlight Archive and trying to figure out the ending to Stormlight. Thanks to all my friends who read it and provided feedback! Spoilers for everything, including the Prologue to Stormlight 5! “The end of the world. Was it a lie?” (Prologue to Stormlight five) There is misdirection regarding Taravangian's learning of the desolation and his pursuit of the Old Magic. Taravangian tells Dalinar that Dova, who he thinks is the herald Battah, told him about a desolation approaching, which leads us to infer that this is how Taravangian learned about "the Desolation" (OB 121). In the prologue to Stormlight 5, Taravangian tells Gavilar the death rattle he heard from his mother's death bed which occurred 10 years prior to Gavilar's assassination. The conversation with Gavilar most likely confirmed, to Taravangian, that a desolation was coming. That means Taravangian went to Cultivation before the herald told him about the desolation. When Dalinar questioned Taravangian about his assertions that Odium would inevitably win, Taravangian said that Cultivation gave him one day of brilliance to show him that Odium would triumph (ROW 66). Cultivation’s motivations were entirely different from what Taravangian thought. It was about learning the importance of intelligence and emotions so that Taravangian could replace Rayse and be able to "bare the power with Honor” (RoW 114). Taravangian makes a lot of assumptions about the future. The Diagram itself might be true but the information divulged from it is based on interpretations. While some of the events came true, others didn’t. It’s like Renarin’s visions. One of his visions said Jasnah would kill him but it didn’t account for her heart. When you look into the future you do not know the hearts of those who act. When Taravangian ascended to Odium, his final line in chapter 114 was “And now, Taravangian was going to save them all.” Save them from who? If Taravangian is Odium and he wants to save Roshar, who is supposed to destroy Roshar? Wasn't Dalinar led to believe that Rayse was going to destroy Roshar? Taravangian saw that Kharbranth was safe so did his “agreement” with Odium work? In OB 121, Dumb Taravangian asked Rayse if they should write a contract, which Rayse replies “Our word is the contract. I am not some spren of Honor, who seeks to obey only the strictest letter of a promise. If you have an agreement from me, I will keep it in spirit, not merely in word.” In ROW 112, Rayse says that if he breaks his word then the contract is void, which would create a hole in his soul. Odium needs to be bound by contracts to keep his word so this means that Odium wasn't serious about saving Kharbranth because Kharbranth was never at risk of being destroyed. Rayse's actions and motivations did not align with destroying humanity. He wanted Dalinar to be under his control to serve his greater interests in the Cosmere. Since Taravangian is Odium, his motivations to prevent the oncoming destruction of Roshar means Odium was not the cause of it. Dalinar learned about the Desolation from the visions, but the most important vision was the Kholinar one - which occurred 3 times to Dalinar. It was presumed that only a god was powerful enough to cause that amount of destruction. There was a recurring sense that someone was coming and wanted to destroy Roshar. There is no vision of other cities being destroyed. Why do we only see Kholinar being destroyed? The third source of the Desolation was Jasnah's notes. In The Way of Kings, Jasnah and Shallan conclude that the Singers, who had their forms taken away, were the Voidbringers. At the end of Words of Radiance, Jasnah returns and concludes that the ancient writings wouldn’t help them because they were living through a much different time. Wit confirms this statement. But what is different? It could be that they’re living through multiple desolations at once and the fruition of the acts of the Knights Radiant are being uncovered. In Oathbringer, it was revealed that humans were the real voidbringers, which leads us to reframe Jasnah’s voidbringer notes to mean that these are translations of sources that originally meant that humans were the real voidbringers. However, Rhythm of War went to great lengths to show that humans are a part of Roshar and have been for a very long time. So who the hell is destroying Roshar? What the hell are we supposed to be afraid of? What are the visions and the death rattles warning about? The definition of voidbringer changes because a voidbringer is whatever is scariest at any moment - the same goes for desolations. The return of the fused didn’t turn apocalyptic. These characters make assumptions based on their interpretations. That doesn’t mean they are right. It remains that nothing has matched the fear that was in Jasnah’s original voidbringer notes and that lore was warning about something. Jasnah has been wrong before so we shouldn’t discount ancient writings. Every Stormlight book reframes all the books that came before it because Stormlight is about perception. It’s reflected in how the ideals are shaped by perception. The story has an ability to reframe itself given more context. Stormlight 5 has to do the same - maybe even in bigger ways so I should change my perspective. “...the Sons of Honor explicitly worked for the return of the Desolations. They believed that only the Voidbringers would cause the Heralds to show themselves-and they believed that a Desolation would restore both the Knights Radiant and the classical strength of the Vorin church...Nale believed that men speaking the Words of other orders would hasten the return of the Voidbringers.” (OB ch. 40) Pattern tells Shallan that there are lies in this message from Mraize. He says Nale kills other radiants & that he has records of killing someone who bonded a spren in Amaram’s army but we don’t see it. If the implication here is Tien, it’s false. Tien is in Kaladin’s vision and he says it was his choice to stand with those boys (RoW ch.108). Also, these are two contradictory concepts of desolations. How is speaking the words going to return a desolation? Why are the Skybreakers exempt? Nale isn’t the only herald who went after radiants. If Shallan's mother is the herald Chanarach, then Chanarach was so terrified of something that the knights radiant could do that she would attempt to kill her own daughter. What about the knights radiant would be associated with a desolation? There’s one more group that is conflated with Voidbringers and the herald to die and return the Fused is the Herald of the Dustbringers. They are said to have the most destructive powers of the Knights Radiants. So what’s up with the Dustbringers? “Curious,” the woman said, “that we have only the word of a few stuffy Alethi about this entire ‘Desolation’ business, eh sister?”(OB ch. 27) Coincidentally, the only Dustbringer radiant (Malata) that is shown questions the nature of this desolation. The other instance where a non-Alethi culture's definition of desolation is brought up is with the Azish talking about Szeth: “...Storms . . . I almost think it’s another Desolation come upon us.” “A Desolation in the form of a single man…” (WoR I-9) The Dustbringers In the prologue to Stormlight 5, Gavilar fixates on the perplexing design of Chanarach’s Honorblade. Its most engrossing detail was seen as a “symbol” to Gavilar as “unnatural,” “impossible,” and “highly impractical.” The bifurcated blade reflects the composition of The Dustbringers and encapsulates a pattern of duality that exists within the order. Rubies, their associated gemstone, are used in conjoining fabrials where an infused ruby splits in half. Rubies soulcast to fire, which has a dual nature. Fire symbolizes an uncontrollable nature that consumes anything in its path. On the other side, controlled fire symbolizes light, energy, and rebirth. Reflected in their title: Named Dustbringers, by the common people, because they say there is little difference between them and voidbringers. This pattern is most likely a result of Odium’s influence on the order. If combining Honor and Odium creates “war” and if the Dustbringers have access to Odium, that would explain why their order has a pattern of duality and why their oaths center around control and responsibility. The herald iconographies of Oathbringer ch1 titled “Broken and Divided” is Chanarach, 4 times, which could indicate that the order itself is split. When Taravangian ascended, he observed that the shard comprised two sides - knowledge and fury (RoW ch.114). In addition, the herald iconographies of the chapters when Odium appears suggest a connection between Dustbringers and Odium. The Oathbringer chapter, where Rayse is introduced, is titled “Passions” and it features the herald iconographies of Chanarach & Vedel, who share the surge of abrasion. Lift appears in this chapter. Ishar (the bondsmith) is not present in the herald iconographies for this chapter, which is peculiar because this is where Dalinar converses with Odium for the first time. The Rhythm of War chapter, where Taravangian ascends to Odium, is called “Emotions” and it features the herald iconographies of Chanarach and Nale, who share the surge of division. Szeth appears in this chapter. The Surge of Division: “Marks spread out from the point of contact, little swirls of blackness etching themselves into the wood. The scent of burning filled the air, but the flames didn’t persist if she didn’t will them to. The swirls and lines extended across the tabletop, a masterwork of engraving accomplished in moments. Malata blew off the ash. The Surge she used, Division, caused objects to degrade, burn, or turn to dust.” (OB 107) Take the visuals of Malata’s use of division and amplify it – how does it change the context of Jasnah’s notes on the Voidbringers? Voidbringer Epigraphs “The ones of ash and fire, who killed like a swarm, relentless before the Heralds …” Division can cause anything a Dustbringer touches to turn to ash. “Who kill like a swarm” indicates they killed as if they were one, but the Dustbringers are a naturally divided group - maybe this isn't a warning about the order but someone within the order. “They take away the light, wherever they lurk. Skin that is burned.” What type of voidbringer takes away the light? This is not talking about the Everstorm - that’s a new phenomenon. If you take the word "Dustbringer" as someone who "brings the dust" because their powers can destroy swaths of lands then it's possible a dustbringer can create a massive dust storm which would block out the sky. The surge of division can cause skin to burn. “Like a highstorm, regular in their coming, yet always unexpected.” The word Desolation is used twice in reference to their appearances. The only other thing that is described as a high storm but isn’t was the vision at the end of the Way of Kings. This epigraph is about the past so it can’t be about the Everstorm. “They changed, even as we fought them. Like shadows they were, that can transform as the flame dances. Never underestimate them because of what you first see.” Purports to be a scrap collected from Talatin, a Radiant of the Order of Stonewards. A Stoneward is a foot soldier. Why would a soldier underestimate their enemy? Furthermore, the inclusion that the source of this information was a Stoneward may be relevant. In the vision where the Windrunners and Stonewards abandon their shardblades, Dalinar points out that there were 8 other orders that weren’t accounted for in this vision. There are 3 militarized knights radiant orders – Windrunners, Stonewards, and Dustbringers - the ones who are always missing. “Transform as the flame dances” fire imagery - associated with the Dustbringers “Born from the darkness, they bear its taint still, marked upon their bodies much as the fire marks their souls.” "taint" could be a reference to how the Dustbringers are partially of Odium. “darkness that marks their bodies” is the ash created from their powers. “Fire makes their souls” fire and soul are both associated with the dustbringers. “Death upon the lips. Sound upon the air. Char upon the skin.” “Sound upon the air” - Dalinar's vision referenced a grinding sound and “...a terrible roar of dying rocks.” “Char upon the skin” - the aftermath of a dustbringer using their powers “Flame and char. Skin so terrible. Eyes like pits of blackness.” Fire imagery “Skin so terrible” - Division can be used on the skin. It could also reference the ash produced. “Eyes like pits of blackness” -> there’s only one human who is described as having eyes like this. I’ll come back to this later. Additional notes The Everstorm is sky based destruction, while the one described in the epigraphs and at the end of The Way of Kings is land based. This could be a 3rd storm, which would fit into the motif of threes. Also, the destruction the Everstorm carried was just secondary. The primary purpose was for the Fused to gain power. There’s no mention of carapace – just skin. The reason Shallan and Jasnah assumed that the Singers were Voidbringers was because of the black and red skin patterns on the Singers that they know and see. A lot of Singers, like Venli, have a white and red skin pattern. Similar things are happening in the death rattles. Death Rattles “They are aflame. They burn. They bring the darkness when they come, and so all you can see is that their skin is aflame. Burn, burn, burn….” – Subject was a baker’s apprentice Fire imagery “Skin is aflame” - the surge of division “They bring the darkness when they come” - creating so much ash or dust that it blocks out the sky “I have seen the end and have heard it named. The Night of Sorrows, the True Desolation. The Everstorm.” – Subject was a darkeyed youth of unknown origin. The Everstorm is in a different sentence than the Night of Sorrows & the true desolation What makes the true desolation different from the other desolations? The night of sorrows hasn’t happened so the true desolation hasn't happened “A man stood on a cliffside and watched his homeland fall into dust. The waters surged beneath, so far beneath. And he heard a child crying. They were his own tears.” – Subject was a cobbler of some renown. This can not be a Skybreaker because they can not destroy swaths of land. The surge of abrasion combined with division allow for a radiant to move around and destroy land. These are Dustbringer powers. This matches with this part of the Kholinar vision: “...staring out at that oncoming wall of dust. The land was trembling. The wall of dust was being caused by something. Something approaching . The ground was falling away. Dalinar gasped. The very rocks ahead were shattering, breaking apart, becoming dust.’ “Light grows so distant. The storm never stops. I am broken, and all around me have died. I weep for the end of all things. He has won. Oh, he has beaten us.” – Subject: Thaylen sailor. Reminds me of the epigraph: “Like a highstorm, regular in their coming, yet always unexpected.” Who is he? Odium? As stated before, this can’t be Taravangian because he wants to stop this destruction. The rest of the death rattles and epigraphs use "they" as reference to a group which was inferred as the Fused. The Fused nor Odium cause this amount of destruction. Is it possible that these powers are of a single Dustbringer? “They break the land itself!” he hissed, eyes wild. “They want it, but in their rage they will destroy it. Like the jealous man burns his rich things rather than let them be taken by his enemies! They come!” —Subject was Gadol, a member of Bridge Four. If there are “sky breakers” then those who break the land are the Dustbringers. The Fused can’t cause that much destruction because they only have access to one surge. “But in their rage” - Odium is the God of anger. Dustbringers are the order where radiants have access to Odium. This could be a Dustbringer channeling their rage. “And all the world was shattered! The rocks trembled with their steps, and the stones reached toward the heavens. We die! We die! —Subject was Maps, a member of Bridge Four. Another death rattle of the same event This is the 2nd death rattle from a Bridge four member The victims of the death rattles are unaware of what they are witnessing. If they witnessed this level of power, they would presume that the world was ending and that a certain party was to blame, but Dalinar was led to believe that this power was Odium from his visions. The magnitude of destruction from the epigraphs and death rattles appears to be from a single Dustbringer. It can’t be a group because the order is divided and it’s challenging to gain this much power. Skybreakers already have a tough time progressing to the 3rd ideal, so it stands to reason that the order with access to the most devastating powers would be more difficult to advance. The radiant has to be at the last ideal, and they have to be channeling Odium's fury side. Aren’t Dustbringers supposed to fight for humanity? What is the context that would allow for Honor to accept this? Also, why is Chanarach considered "Herald of the Common Man" if Dustbringer powers are similar to voidbringers which terrify the common people? Justice “You’d let it go, then?” “Storms , no.” Kaladin said. “I’d find my own justice.” “Oh … ” Syl settled on his shoulder…” You’re not a Skybreaker, Kaladin.” Syl finally said.” (WoR ch. 22) Finding your own justice is not justice to the Skybreakers. A Skybreaker must put their personal convictions aside. They uphold moral codes (spirit of the law) and protect societies. They exist, in the world and in the story, to make sure people believe there is only one form of justice. Chapter 44 of Words of Radiance titled “One form of Justice” features the Herald iconographies of Chanarach and Nale, who share the surge of division. Is there another form of justice? A Dustbringer kind? If Skybreaker justice calls for protection of civilizations that means Dustbringer justice would call for the destruction of one. “Justice is what you brought to those people. “That was not justice. That was a massacre.” The Stormfather rumbled. I have burned and broken cities myself. I can see … yes, I see a difference now. I see pain now. I did not see it before the bond.” (OB ch.86) The Stormfather says this casually, but it highlights that destroying a city can be regarded as justice to Honor. “If you could see the result of Honor’s influence, you would not be so quick to name me a god of anger.” (OB ch. 57) The Voidbringer notes sounded biblical, so I searched for the attribute of God associated with Sodom and Gomorrah - it's called divine retribution, an aspect of God's wrath. How would this fit into the world? “Retribution” is a punishment inflicted on someone as vengeance. As a collective form of vengeance, retributive justice punishes crimes according to severity. The purpose of it is to restore balance in society as it aims to rebuild it. This is the honor that seeks destruction because their society is corrupt to the core. This is the justice of one's heart. Since they are destroying a society, they must break it down, find the right reasons, and understand why everything went wrong so this could be avoided in the future. In his rage, Dalinar set fire to Rathalas, declaring that he did so no one could rebuild it. Dalinar can’t be this type of Dustbringer because his anger is not the same and he already has a vast amount of power as a warlord. This power is meant to be an equalizer which would explain why Chanarach is called the herald of the common man - only a commoner would be allowed to feel so wronged. Why hasn't this occurred more frequently? It has to be a rarity. A society has to be so corrupt that it’s better destroyed than fixed internally. Since justice is about balance, it serves no purpose to wipe out a whole country if its religious institution (ie. Stone Shamans) is the problem, such injustices committed can be resolved by a powerful Skybreaker. In other words, Shinovar is not a highly militarized, politically unstable, and enslavement-dependent civilization - like Alethkar. In Alethkar, not only were the religious institutions corrupt and in service to the indulgences of the Queen, but thousands of impoverished people lived on the streets. Information about Shinovar is purposefully hidden while the injustices of Kholinar and lighteyes atrocities are detailed. The common people of Alethkar are powerless while their ruling family is gaining more and more power - 2 bondsmiths, an elsecaller, an enlightened Truthwatcher, and a lightweaver. Things are vastly unequal. Because Dalinar is the bondsmith and everyone must cooperate with him, the larger crime, the burning of Rathalas, has gone unpunished. Anyone who might have been outraged enough to fight was burned. Revisiting Taravangian’s observations of holding the shard of Odium, he stated that the shard had 2 sides - knowledge and fury. The knowledge side possessed millions of potentials and the fury was nearly uncontrollable. Controlling the force of Odium - its rage element - is a significant obstacle to reaching the goal. The nature of Odium is warped in the hands of a Dustbringer seeking retribution, yet the magnitude of rage needed is enormous, and a radiant needs complete self-control. This Dustbringer radiant has to be the outlier of outliers - represented by the “impossibility” in Chanarach’s Honorblade. Remarkably, Taravangian and Adrotagia dispute the nature of the impossible. Taravangian questioned when he'd have another day exactly like the one he spent creating the Diagram: “If you were to live another two thousand years, Vargo,” she said, “you’d maybe have one single day like this among them." (WoR I-14) The Recreance occurred ~2,000 years ago so it’s likely that a Dustbringer radiant destroyed a city and that’s what started the Recreance. The Recreance “You said I was wrong about what caused the Radiants to abandon their oaths. What was it really?” Odium smiled. “Passion, son. Glorious, wondrous passion. Emotion. It is what defines men—though ironically you are poor vessels for it. It fills you up and breaks you, unless you find someone to share the burden.” (OB ch.57) To fit into the pattern of threes, something during the Recreance had to be taken away from the humans to break them. Spren broke because of the abandonment. The Singers broke because of the imprisonment of Mishram. The regular humans broke because a form of justice, that could change their societies, was taken away from them. Even though an aspect of god sees this as justice doesn't mean the other orders are going to see it that way. Some might think that no one should be allowed to have enough power to destroy a city. Others might think that this takes away a check and balance for the powerful. Honorspren died the most because Windrunner oaths are about protecting people and who they perceive as worth protecting. “They killed their spren. They betrayed their oaths! They may not be villains, as history paints them, but in this moment they failed to do what was right and just. They failed Roshar.” (OB ch. 56) The irony of this line is that the Knights Radiant ultimately protected someone like Dalinar. Look at the death rattles. Taravangian killed the sick, dying, and the forgotten to understand an apocalypse. He was never marred by the amount of destruction the civil war in Vedenar produced (WoR I-14). Common People The first scene in Stormlight is the leader of the heralds abandoning the one Herald that was a regular person to endure Damnation, a job they were supposed to share, making Taln the first person who was abandoned. After that, the Knights Radiants abandoned humanity, the Singers, and the spren. This leads to why modern day Roshar is the way it is. Remember what Lift said about the nature of Nale’s murders – when he kills regular people nobody cares, but when Szeth kills kings it’s a big deal. Nale encourages detachment from emotions from his Skybreakers. His letter-of-the-law interpretation protects the powerful. He said to Lift “Others may be detestable, but they do not dabble in arts that could return Desolation to this world.” Gavilar said to Nale’s face that he wanted to return the Desolation yet Nale didn’t stop him. It makes sense why we don’t see Nale try to kill Malata because she’s a highborn lady. Is it a coincidence that the only radiant order we see Nale go after is the one centered around compassion for the common person? Edgedancer honor is about being compassionate, refusing to look away from other’s pain, and healing those who need it the most. The art that could return Desolation Nale was referring to was the surge of abrasion - the one Dustbringers and Edgedancers share. The compassion of our main radiants is constantly attacked by those more powerful than them. When Kaladin voices against war or for the listeners, the Kholins talk down to him. The same thing happened when Venli voiced compassion for regular humans to Leshwi. When Nale was empathetic, he created laws that protected the lower classes (RoW ch.47). In the chapter “Emotions,” Szeth convinces himself that he lost his honor, but he dropped the type of honor that was holding him back and gained the confidence to make his own choice to kill Taravangian. This led to vessels being changed – that is a good thing. The underlying philosophy here is that emotions are important, but they need context. The fear wasn’t the surges itself returning, it was that common people who are driven by morals, emotions and compassion, would get power which might lead to societies changing. If the Knights Radiants returned, then there was a possibility of the Dustbringer outlier returning. What happens if you learn that ancient knights' radiants stopped you from seeking the honorable path? Even Odium didn’t want this type of destruction because he wanted to control you. What happens if the person who has the right to be angry at their society and has no path of honor available for them? They’ll feel hopeless and turn to nihilism. Righteous anger was withheld from Roshar. Moash is like that because he doesn’t have another path available. Currently, he is the truest example of a Voidbringer. He attempted to bring the void to Kaladin. The world prevented him from channeling his rage and made him a worse person. We see the Kholins care about each other and make exceptions for their family members but Moash isn’t allowed to get mad. This is who the Knights Radiant protected and who they disenfranchised. The irony of a lot of Moash’s lines about reaching his potential when he couldn’t feel anything is that if he felt his emotions and controlled them, he would have so much more. Voidbringer Returning to the epigraph that stated “Eyes like pits of blackness.” “Moash. He stood on the edge of the chasm near Kaladin. The man turned, and Kaladin saw his eyes - black pits.” (ROW 46) “The ones of ash and fire…” Ash and Fire rhymes with Moash and Vyre. "Something about that man unnerved her to the point of panic. He wasn’t human. He was a Voidbringer. If that word had ever applied to any, it was Moash." (ROW 104) “...Well were they named Voidbringers, for they brought the void. The empty pit that sucks in emotion. A new god. Their god. These Voidbringers know no songs. They cannot hear Roshar, and where they go, they bring silence.” (The Eila Stele) “At the mention of Kaladin, Moash felt a hint of old, painful emotions - though Odium quickly sucked them away.” (RoW 1-4) “You are a monster,” Teft whispered. Moash took Teft calmly by the front of his burned shift and hoisted him up. “I am no monster. I am merely silence. The quiet that eventually takes all men.” (ROW 104) Dustbringer Moash Before he met Kaladin, Moash genuinely believed in the myth of the honorable lighteyes. Moash came to the war to win a Shardblade (a false promise to get men to join war) believing that he’d be made a spearman but he was sent to Bridge 4. It’s also the only way regular men can gain power in their society. It was Kaladin that changed him. He’s the one who turned him against the lighteyes. Despite knowing in his heart that something was wrong and someone needed to be punished, Moash wasn’t satisfied with killing Elhokar because he recognized, earlier in the story, that Alethi society was broken. Whether subconscious or not, Moash has been searching for power and his journey could potentially fit into the pattern of 3’s. Shardblade - Given to him by Kaladin. Honorblade - Given to him by the Fused after killing Jezrien. He gave his negative emotions away to Odium which turned Moash into a worse person who attacked his friends and lost control of himself. An order where he earns massive power in exchange for vows of control and responsibility. Moash’s journey and his blindness would make him the Dustbringer outlier. His blindness would help him regain control of his body. There is truth to myths the common people say. Kaladin is the embodiment of the myth of the darkeyed man who ascended society. His name reflects that. When Kaladin was younger he wanted to be called Kal because Kaladin sounded like a lighteyes name. It was specifically stated that the “common people '' spoke of the similarities between Dustbringers and Voidbringers so Moash, his narrative foil, is the Dustbringer mistaken for a Voidbringer. Just like Kaladin, Moash’s name reflects the myth he embodies. Moash is an ancient Singers’ name and the Singers were misunderstood as Voidbringers. One story is seen as heroic. The other is demonized. Moash doesn't just compare and contrast with Kaladin. Moash's journey parallels Szeth's journey. I wrote an essay last year on this topic but came to a different conclusion and I didn’t fully understand a lot of the parallels. Now, I conclude their similarities have more to do with the surge of division shared between Dustbringers and Skybreakers as well as representing the two forms of justice available in the Knights Radiant. In addition, Lift & Moash spent their lives moving from place to place - Lift roamed around Roshar and Moash worked on caravans. The surge of abrasion shared between Edgedancers and Dustbringers is the surge where you move around a lot. The crossover between a Skybreaker and an Edgedancer is a Dustbringer. It started with Gavilar “But the dying see something. It began seven years ago, about the time when King Gavilar was investigating the Shattered Plains for the first time.” His eyes grew distant. “It is coming, and these people see it. On that bridge between life and the endless ocean of death, they view something. Their words might save us.” (TWOK ch.71 ) Gavilar's expedition to the Shattered Plains in pursuit of immortality and a return of the desolation is where this all began. Elhokar was put in charge after his departure. This is when Moash's grandparents were sent to prison and died. When Dalinar returned, he exiled Roshone to a place where "he couldn't do any harm" rather than punishing him, which resulted in Kaladin and Tien being drafted into the army and Tien's death. “… although your figure raises a sword high, it’s facing the wrong direction. You’re fighting and you’re fighting, but not him. I think I understand the meaning: you want a deal, you want a contest of champions, but you’re going to keep fighting, and fighting, and fighting distractions. Because why would the enemy agree to a contest that he can theoretically lose?” - Renarin’s visions (RoW ch.54) This is not the true Desolation! Dalinar is fighting all the wrong things. All of the visions observe what various kinds of people experienced throughout Roshar's history. Jasnah, Dalinar, and Navani talk about time periods and the destruction of culture and society but never on preventing the amount of death that these wars caused. Dalinar experienced the terrors of an Unmade from the point of view of a regular person without access to a Shardblade. That leads us to believe that Dalinar is brave, but he only protects what’s in front of him. The Unmade were in Kholinar, but he didn’t go back and protect those people. They were abandoned. “…Heads will roll in Kholinar when Odium hears about this.” “I doubt he cares much about one town,” Kaladin said. (ROW ch.12) The vision at the end of The Way of Kings and in the beginning of Oathbringer (called “Divided and Broken” featuring Chanarach - 4 times) is not done by Odium because Odium doesn’t care about one city. “No, that wall in the air wasn’t a highstorm. It wasn’t rain making that enormous shadow, but blowing dust. He remembered this vision in full, now. It had ended here, with him confused, staring out at that oncoming wall of dust. The land was trembling. The wall of dust was being caused by something. Something approaching . The ground was falling away. Dalinar gasped. The very rocks ahead were shattering, breaking apart, becoming dust . He backed away as everything began to shake, a massive earthquake accompanied by a terrible roar of dying rocks. He fell to the ground. There was an awful, grinding, terrifying moment of nightmare. The shaking, the destruction, the sounds of the land itself seeming to die.” Stormlight is about perception. At first, we see this from Dalinar’s perspective and he wants to prevent this from happening. He went to Odium and wagered his eternal soul to protect his legacy from this destruction, but the surge of division is destruction with context. Just like not all anger is the same -not all destruction is the same. The context matters. If you realized this destruction was caused by Moash the Dustbringer, then the entire story changes. tl;dr: there is a dustbringer form of justice and that’s what the epigraphs are warning about. there’s a lot of misdirections about the “end of the world.” It’s not the end of the world! It’s just a ultra powerful dustbringer!! you can guess who it is

LOL this one! And this one! Dang it, I had things I wanted to get done tonight. Oh well, here goes. "Do you wanna kill some evil?" *I can't claim credit for the original idea on this one: that goes to @tecslicer and @Claincy who came up with it in this thread (which has some other great song ideas in it, like Bridge Four signing "He's a bit of a Fixer Upper" to Shallan and Kaladin).

Everyone is assuming Wayne owes people money, but I think, for two reasons, that the situation is actually reversed. The reasons: Previously, Wayne invested money with and in the work of Sophi Tarcsel, who is the equivalent of Nikola Tesla's daughter, and who is likely doing very well in this modern age Dramatic irony - nowhere does Wayne say these people are after him due to him owing them anything, and everyone else is just assuming that he does because of his past habits Wayne doesn't owe people money, people are trying to track Wayne down to give him money, as a return on investments. This also might explain why he hasn't been as big a drain on Marasi in terms of metal nowadays, but that is a side issue. The bowler hat people, contrary of the beliefs of those around Wayne, are there to give him money due to his financial backing of Sophi Tarcsel's business.

General stormlight memes Random Hoid shenanigans Secret Project 4

Just has been a good day :)) I feel real happy and peaceful rn. Day 16: Fowl

Ha ha! You didn't think we were done, did you? With all of the clever and subtle foreshadowing about "core crewmembers" in the previous posts, you should've known that we'd dip into some less central members of Kelsier's gang, and what better way to start this second batch than Mare herself? Viridia, often known as viridializard (Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr), is better known in this fandom for her Stormlight art (just look at this Evi), but she liked the idea of tackling Mare enough, and who are we to stand between the artist and her art?

The outline looks like Plate, which barely narrows it down. So, in order of my own personal Hopes: Unrevealed Singer Dustbringer Unrevealed Listener Radiant Unrevealed Radiant, other. Unrevealed dead-plate Shardbearer (Fused or otherwise). EDIT: Idea I saw on reddit: "The most terrifying would be Dalinar's Fused Name/Form"

General stormlight (row spoilers) General sanderson stuff, no spoilers and one that describes this thread

Day eighteen: friend.

Day seventeen: errand. Posted late on accident, made while listening to Words of Radiance.

No, I didn't quit. I fell behind because I got a job. Here's some backlog to keep y'all occupied: Oct 6: Oct 7: Aight luvya bye

I mean, it's possible, but I think that the guy with immense power that you thought was mute and couldn't use it bursting into the room you are in suddenly, yelling at you to stop, glowing in all his glory, and clearly being mad at you would provoke such a reaction from basically anyone.

MAN. It’s been a great day today :DD Day 18: Scrape

So my sister and I just finished watching Avatar: The Last Airbender for the first time, and uh. Wow.

I give you, "City in the Clouds" (To the tune of "Castle on a Cloud" from Les Mis) Minor WoR spoilers:

My guys I HATE Multiplying fractions. Anyhow, I am now a mistborn, you may clap now if you so desire. Just feeling a little... a little tense. Math is just... geh. I binge reread books 2-4 of PJO on Monday and started book five at like 10 something o-clock. I finished it today. (PJO=Percy Jackson and the Olympians (spoilers for book four of PJO) The soundtrack for Dark Phoenix is just sweet. The Score's (a cool band) songs push me through the day. So much awesome songs... Sorry if I seem all over the place.

Never fear! I do have art today! Day Eighteen: Scrap Here is Sierra Satrebil from my other series Keyed.

Whoa I think I got hacked Lemme know if you see any other random images in my posts. I'll be changing my password and stuff for the time being.

Yalb, definitely Yalb. If you don't remember he was the sailor who help Shallan in WOK when visiting Kharbaranth originally. Think he would be a fun radiant and buddies with Lopen.

I second (third) the suspicions that the "bean counters" from the "accounting department" that is sending out men in bowler hats to find Wayne are not dunning him for debt collection (given how rich he reflected on having become in BoM), more likely trying to give him his share of profits from investing in Sophie Tarcsel's experiments with electricity at the end of Shadows of Self and him wanting her basically to keep it. There seems to be a huge point in favor of the theories that the "second earring" that Harmony implied he'd need to make "with the proper metal, when it arrives" is trellium; though given its effect on Paalm/Bleeder/Lessie, it would be circumspect to use the first earring he's got, to confirm that of Harmony, before plugging in trellium into his other ear.

I'm looking at the bowler hat people, and I think that Wayne might be helping other people out of trouble rather than being in it himself. And the Set is obviously trying to sneak a bomb into Elendel.

So I have a theory. The Malwish have so far in chapter 9, been changing to be more unified and more aggressive to the Northeners, mostly from Wax's POV but I digress, I wonder if these rather rapid political decisions might be because of another group like the Set, just set (heh) up in the Southern Continent by Trell. After all Trell wouldn't be hindered by measly distance and would definitely want a way to influence the Malwish. And sure it might just be natural tensions rising, but I think that just as the Basin's politics are being influenced by the Set to go to war, so too are the Malwish. What do you think?

Alright, I didn't have time to do much for today's, but I think it's still cute. Upon thinking of "salty/thrill," my mind immediately went to the ocean. So that's what I drew. And then I decided a wave was too boring so I added a cute lil sailboat cuz sailboat aesthetics are *chefskiss* So enjoy Salty/Thrill also I feel lonely in here so please reply even if it's not even about my art

Had a good day playing live Hungry, Hungry Hippo. Got a headache afterwards, but it was good. I enjoyed it :)) Day 17: Salty

Look what I just drew in FireAlpaca!

I am almost above average in every single thing on the human benchmark heccin reaction time is awful though and i have no idea why. better than it was though, used to be like 12th percentile i heavily reccomend everyone make an account on this and periodically train the different skills. it's pretty fun and increases a lot of rather important abilities.

I think that if there existed a second clandestine group serving Trell, the Northern Set would not have to study the crashed Malwish ship in BoM so hard: they would have allies in the Southern continent to share the tech. Unless, of course, Trell keeps them both unaware of each other for some reason

It was explained in the annotations; more specifically, this one:

I just got a spam call and I was like, Ooh, maybe it’s a call center and I can mess with them! It was, indeed, a spam call center. I made my voice sound old and went through all the pleasantries, then the guy on the other line said, “I understand you’re looking for the best Medicare plan.” And I said, (still in my old lady voice), “Well, I’m 14 so my parents take care of everything.” There was a pause. “Hello?” I asked. ”Shut up, [b-word],” the guy replied. Commence immediate laughter from my sister and I and a hanging up of the phone.

In the most recent minis kickstarter update, they announced a mini for a character called Zellion. My best guess is that this is El, the Fused we briefly see at the end of RoW. If it is a Stormlight character like I assume, they certainly look like a Fused. What do you think?

I made some champurrado and it is soooo good! In case you don’t know what champurrado is, it is a Mexican cinnamony thick hot chocolate. Basically chocolate atole. I love it!!! It just makes me so happy! … Until I remember all the stressful stuff, but that is future me’s problem

Against the grain, but I do want to see Adolin become a Radiant. I don't think there needs to be a normal guy, this is the people becoming Knights Radiant series, becoming a Radiant is tied to tons of catharsis in characters' journeys and growth, and that's what I want to see. Other than the Kholins, though, I like the idea of more middle-aged people being chosen by spren. I would enjoy Kaladin's mom being chosen.

Alright cool, I will take this back to Mod HQ and we shall let you know if we need anything more from you. Again thanks for being so willing to work with us it’s really setting an awesome precedent for the era

congrats! very well put together post. I don't necessarily agree with everything that was said, but the overall idea makes absolutly sense to me. Dustbringers bringing vengence as the only possible justice is the intepreatation of what they do that makes the most sense. Besides, it is true that in the visions it is often dust that is described. Also that Nale would be avoiding the return of such dustbringers makes a lot more sense than just 'killing radiants to avoid everstorm'. I don't know about Vyre, he seems to be taking a different path with his development. I also don't think the surge of division is necessarily "Odium's" surge, which doesn't exclude the fact that Ashpren might be "more of Odium" than others Don't think that would be necessarily the case, it's been said over and over that "Voidbringers" has been used throughout the ages for just "whatever really bad thing is up", so it makes sense to me that it keeps meaning different somewhat similiar events\peoples\monsters, it makes sense in-universe.

Ever feel stressed out about something, and then whatever that thing is gets resolved, but it takes a second for your brain to register and so you still feel like there's more to do?

Do you blame yourself? What? Well, it's quite common in this situation for a patient to feel a kind of... guilt. What situation? The Accident.