Nick11

I was talking with my wife about whats in store Adolin. Theres theories that he will revive his blade and become an edgedancer. He fits an edgedancer. Remembering those who have been forgotten...his blade...and his interaction with the prostitute, such down to earth conversations with bridgemen. It fits, if not perfectly. I initially thought that Adolin reflects a stoneward. The best infantry, reliable, dependable, selfless in service to others as the coppermind points out. I've also seen that as an unparalleled duelist,a shardbearer, a tactical and strategic expert, and an heir to a princedom and not far from heir to Alethkar is suddenly outclassed in a world of voidbringers and radiants so he finds his humble way in the shadows of giants. I've also heard of him going darkside in search for meaning (least likely IMO). After talking about all of this a thought occurred to me. He remembers those who are forgotten, he protects those that cannot protect themselves, he locks himself in a dungeon on principle, he is as good as Dalinar without a past of war crimes, he transforms others into better people, he brings people together, he is passionate about his life, he ruins and kills when it is necessary, yet he preserves when it is wise, while progressing others when its needed. He is not a radiant because he is not broken, and never needed to be forged anew because he was forged a great way the first time. My wife constantly said he is the most balanced person of all of our cast of characters from Kaladin to Kelsier. I'm casting my chips on this, he is meant for something more than surgebinding or holding a single shard like Tanavast. Theres no evidence in the writings but I'll take a wild guess and say that if Adonalsium requires a host, he is a candidate. Besides this is Brandon.....like I saw Sazed being Hero of Ages....so Im learning lol. What are our thoughts?

I picked up my 10 year old copy of WoKs a while back and read the back summary and it is foreshadowing a redeemer and a destroyer. I'm wondering if its a red herring, a mistake, or still relevant. This has been in the back of my mind for years, hopefully you guys can help me out! The whole summary is : "I long for the days before the Last Desolation. Before the Heralds abandoned us and the Knights Radiant turned against us. When there was still magic in Roshar and honor in the hearts of men. In the end, not war but victory proved the greater test. Did our foes see that the harder they fought, the fiercer our resistance? Fire and hammer forge a sword; time and neglect rust it away. So we won the world, yet lost it. Now there are four whom we watch: the surgeon, forced to forsake healing and fight in the most brutal war of our time; the assassin, who weeps as he kills; the liar, who wear her scholar's mantle over a thief's heart; and the prince, whose eyes open to the ancient past as his thirst for battle wanes. One of them may redeem us. One of them will destroy us." Is Szeth the destroyer? But he opens the way for Dalinar before he joins the Skybreakers. Or maybe Kaladin who see's parshmen as people he should protect; or perhaps Kaladin's odious feelings against light eyes is the spark? Perhaps Shallan with her connection to a world hopping organization that fears the contest with Rayse? Or is it Dalinar that somehow releases Odium from the Rosharan System? Or perhaps this was a red herring or edited for a change of perspective. What are your thoughts?

It's on the back of the print copy of WoK. "In the end, not war but victory proved the greater test. Did our foes see that the harder they fought, the fiercer our resistance? Fire and hammer forge a sword; time and neglect rust it away. So we won the world yet lost it."

I think you are on the right track. This seems like a hint at the nature of the big picture conflict in the Cosmere. "To be human is to seek beauty Shallan. Do not despair, do not end the hunt because thorns grow in your way. Tell me what is the most beautiful thing you can imagine?" Shallan then describes a loving family. What is beauty in this context? It is not just art, it is the embodiment of mankind's greatest ideals. Love, selflessness, life before death, strength before weakness, and journey before destination. "What if all that remained to you was pain? You could not know beauty then. It can be taken from a man." - Second blind man on the cliff Love and selflessness were taken from him. “Does the pain change day by day?” “Let us say it does,” the messenger said. “Then beauty, to that person, would be the times when the pain lessens." So if you have beauty taken from you, all that is left is pain, and what you look forward to is lessening the pain, how would you do it? In the Wheel of Time Moridin had a very drastic way to lessen the pain by ending existence. So we have Blind Man 1 trying to convince Blind Man 2 you can still find beauty, love, happiness, and great ideals even if there are thorns in the way. So how would Blind Man 1 (who may be Wit) lessen pain? The answer may in this next quote. "Expectation. That is the true soul of art. If you can give a man more than he expects, then he will laud you his entire life...Conversely, if you gain a reputation for being too good, too skilled . . . beware. The better art will be in their heads, and if you give them an ounce less than they imagined, suddenly you have failed. Suddenly you are useless. A man will find a single coin in the mud and talk about it for days, but when his inheritance comes and is accounted one percent less than he expected, then he will declare himself cheated.Wit shook his head, standing up and dusting off his coat. 'Give me an audience who have come to be entertained, but who expect nothing special. To them, I will be a god. That is the best truth I know.'" So beauty in art, in idealized human nature gives us what? I'm going to say happiness or peace. People who do not get what they want are unhappy, even people who get exactly what they want still suffer. The journey, not the destination, is what brings us happiness. "How you lived will be far more important to the Almighty than what you accomplished".People must learn how to live, before they die. In Wits musings the greatest truth he knows is about expectation. This is tied closely to happiness. If a man gets more or less than he expected in an inheritance will that make him happy? Will an inheritance at all make him happy? Now apply this concept to all human interaction. So does lowering expectations or standards the key to happiness? I think it's more on finding the truth in reality and aligning one's expectations with it. If Kaladin is looking for the perfect leader without flaws and does not find one he will be unhappy, closer to hateful. However if he realizes a great leader is less than perfect his perspective will change, he will follow the Ideals more closely, and his entire world will change. That is from Hoid's greatest truth. We have Blind Man 2 who can only experience pain and he wishes to end it. Blind Man 1 is trying change his perspective or expectations so he can find beauty. So if the blind men were metaphors for the Cosmere shaking forces we have a very odious blind man (perhaps not Odium who knows) hellbent on bad things and someone who is trying to stop these bad things by helping him find beauty again. Since Sanderson is the type to not have pure good and evil I find it appropriate that to destroy your enemy you make him your friend. Or I could be full of rust. You decide. Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 281018368 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 444201264 bytes) in Unknown on line 0

Hahaha, I like it

Let's start this with Brandon. You're awesome, I love the books. Next on the agenda, me. I am pretty neutral on this topic. This is my first post, but I have read most of Mr. Sanderson's books and I have been a fan of this site for awhile. I am an enlisted turned officer in the US Army with a bachelors in organizational psychology that focused on leader development.I like to think I have 2 or 3 cents to add on a number of things concerning leadership, perseverance, and moral philosophy. I was talking with a close friend about this series. Shocking I know, but we started to get on to a topic a little less discussed. It started when I thought " The Stormlight Archive in today's world is a near equivalent to Nohadon's book The Way of Kings on Roshar". What I mean by that is when Dalinar picks up the book The Way of Kings by Nohadon he reads a book on how we ought to think and act. When us fans of Mr. Sanderson pick up The Stormlight Archive we pick up a series on how we ought to think and act. When my mind finally came up with this idea after a lot of reading (and a lot of drinking...responsibly...ish) I started thinking why would I become a writer? To find this out I reflected on why I joined the Service. Soldier's join this organization that is devoted to protecting Americans and their inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. If you're an anti government protester then we join the Army to kill and commit war crimes ( I know that is a generalization, but I had a poor experience). Anyway I joined because of the former. It was for a purpose greater than myself, and greater than an organization that is worried about profit. It was to make myself better, and to launch a career outside of the Army if I chose not to serve for 20 years. I joined to make a difference by bettering myself and the lives of others. If I became a writer I would do it to make a difference by bettering myself and the lives of others. So that leads me to my main point. Why does Brandon Sanderson write these books? Well I have no idea since I do not know him, but this what it looks like to me. In a world where war has dominated an entire generation, where children commit atrocities in school shootings, where politicians call each other Nazi's, where a sense of entitlement is the norm, where pop culture is re-enforcing superficial values, where families end up broken, we need a counterbalance in the culture that idealizes love, honor, humility, integrity, loyalty, perseverance, and many other values you can find in Mr. Sanderson's writing. If you have read Dave Grossman's On Killing you will realize the extremely significant impact our culture of movies, video games, media, and general entertainment has on the population. Through these books Sanderson commits a set of constructive ideals, philosophies, and critical thinking into the culture of this nation. As an Officer I can make a powerful impact on 7-10 people, who can make a powerful impact on roughly the same amount of people, and so on. So if we take a battalion commander who is in the military for 20 years and they could influence around 500-900 people (that influence may or may not be too large). In his or her entire career he/she could influence thousands in some way, but only significantly influencing a handful at a time over 20 years. I also should add that when I or my commanders and mentors train me and others we often read. As a successful writer Mr. Sanderson can influence as many people who picks up his books. To make a significant change over 350 million people or more you cannot just have a single leader, parent, president, CEO, or general that is an excellent person. That will most certainly make a difference, but to change an entire nation or the world you need an entire people making better choices. To make a difference over an audience that large you need to adjust the culture. In American culture entertainment is very dominate. It takes a massive amount of resources and a great many people to inject constructive movies, media, video games, gossip etc into the culture. As an author you need relatively less resources and people, and you can impart a more detailed concept and potentially greater impact through a story people want to read ( in my case I can barley put the books down). What I see Brandon Sanderson doing is creating a story that entertains us ( which does make a nice living for him and his family), but he does it in a lens that inspires us to be better. When we make ourselves a bit more honorable and competent, we in turn can influence others to do the same. He has the potential in reaching millions, which is a step this world needs to making it a better place. So I salute you Brandon for making a difference in this soldier's life and any others that agree.