HoidsRock

Wow, you have all got me thinking and if I could ask BWS one question right now it would be: "Can you use breath to awaken a deadeyes and would it recapture its some of it original spren personality?" (sprenality?) In book, we know that Adolin feels both loyalty to Maya and awful about her fate. The Stormfather has said he does know any way a deadeye can be awakened." Real world, BWS has simply it would be extremely difficult. So maybe Zahel worked with Adolin and his sword is an awakened Maya?

What a great post. I was planning on doing one titled “windrunner roll call” but figure I will add it here so that it is all in one place. Surviving members of the original Bridge 4 would be at least 28 people not including Kaladin. My math is as follows: 34 not including Kaladin went to the battle of the Tower. Shen/Rlain were left at the warcamp, along with the wounded Kaladin wanted to go back for (where I get the at least from). 3 were lost at the battle of the Tower. 2 were lost at the battle of Narak, Eth dies in the attack on Urithiru. Since it reads “almost all” versus “all,” who is missing? I will assume Rlain (who I am hoping has his own story arc in ROW), and Dabbid. As to Rock, I have omitted him here as I plan on writing a separate post about him. Teft, Lopen, and Drehy have all reached the 3rd ideal. Teft at the end of OB, Lopen and Drehy have shard spears: Sigzil clearly has a spren but I could use some help interpreting this line: Who is clutching the Shardspear? I read it as Sigzil. But when he drops his spear in recognition of losing the fight, there is no further comment about the spear vanishing. Sigzil: a bonded knight that I am guessing has reached the third ideal. Skar: We see that he has a spear as Kaladin has to dodge it in his first fight with Leshwi, but it is not identified either as a normal spear or Shardspear. Nor is a spren identified. However, I am assuming he is included in the “most” of bridge 4. Leyton: Only mentioned as flying by, chasing a heavenly one. Kara: Distinctly mentioned as someone who should be at the 3rd ideal but does not have a spren. Lyn: No mention of a spren but if she has one, she is not at the 3rd ideal. Lyn “carried a functional—but ordinary—lance under her arm.” Did I miss anyone?

Interesting points about Mraize. We do agree that he is reliable in regards to his opinion about Ialai. I was taking my lead from Pattern in response to Mraize's letter to Shallan: Of course, Pattern has a broad definition of "lie."

I've argued in the past that I think he was, at he was in WOR. Certainly, the one POV we get from him seems to imply that he believed in the cause. Don't get me wrong, I think he was a narcissist with delusions of grandeur and I agree that Gavilar could easily manipulate him. Now "true believer" needs defining of course. I'm using in the most non-cynical sense that when Amaram says it, he believes it in that very moment even if he stops believing it later on (i.e. not I am talking about sincerity of belief and not depth of belief). The only thing Amaram believes with any depth is that Amaram is great!

It definitely would explain the tension between Restares and Gavilar, particularly if the former is the truest of true believers. But then it makes Gavilar an even lower form of crem for forcing Jasnah to marry Amaram. (not saying Gavilar wouldn't do it; the side of him we see in this prologue is someone who clearly feels justified in whatever actions they need to take).

I hope so. As I mentioned in another post, I find it so interesting that Gavilar lists him as suspect #2 in his assassination. Did they disagree over direction/control of SoH? Or (my pet theory) does something change Gavilar's mind about SoH between seeing Jasnah and his death so that his final appeal is to his "mediocre" brother (ROW prologue) as opposed to Amaram or another SoH. Also at end of WOR, we get Amaram POV and he does not seem to recognize any daylight between the two. I think he will turn out to be some high ranking ardent. I bet it is a marriage of convenience as the SoH want to undermine Dalinar and she wants revenge. I don't think Mraize is necessarily a reliable narrator but I think he is correct that Ialai is too unstable for any cause except her own. My guess is they are still independent. I have no idea how big an organization they are, but Odium trying to corrupt the entire religious organization...well it seems like there would have been some resistance and somebody in the organization would have said something. The battle of Thaylen Fields needed the surprise of Amaram's betrayal. I think Odium corrupted Amaram with a long, slow burn, believing that that, along with Dalinar becoming his champion, would be all he needed. Well, they were more focused on the Heralds than the Radiants and the latter are led by a heretic who thinks the Almighty is dead. Maybe they adopted a new theory: The Almighty is testing their faithfulness with one last additional test and they need to remove Dalinar to truly bring back the Heralds! They would not be the first group to modify their revelation on the fly. I bet they are and I hope they're not! Bad news!

Thank you! Complete and utter brain freeze! I meant Restares the entire time! I will edit.

Actually, I think there is still an important plotline out there about the Sons of Honor--namely, Restares. In the flashbacks, Gavilar seems to have at the very least a "passing grade" opinion of his fellow Son of Honor, Amaram and a low opinion of Dalinar. Yet, while dying, his second guess, is that Restares has enlisted Szeth. Why? Did he and Restares fight over control of the SoH? Was Gavilar not really a member but used them for his own ends? But also, in those dying moments, he asks Szeth to leave a message to Dalinar and not to Amaram. Yeah, I know Dalinar is his brother but Dalinar apparently could not be trusted to be brought in on his plans. Why didn't he reach out to Amaram? My working theory is that something changed in the time period when Jasnah sees Gavilar and Szeth fights him that makes him no longer trust the SoH. Gavilar's POV in Book 5 will reveal it.

I think you are right. And the Fused probably left not only to get reinforcements but may also have used up the voidlight he brought to Hearthstone.

Somehow, seeing that Kaladin has regularly been visiting Hearthstone surprised me. I don't why but it did. I think Kmakl's speech is a foreshadowing for Lirin. I.e. just as navies will in the future be less necessary so surgeons are less necessary in the world of edgedancers. How Lirin deals with this and how it effects his relationship with Kaladin remains to be seen.

Count me as perplexed as Kaladin. I understand that windspren are the lesser spren to windrunners but how they help Syl know Kaladin’s parents or how these non-sapient windspren can pass on memories is beyond me. For that matter, Syl says “the winds” and it is an assumption that “the winds” equal “windspren” But my confusion did not stop me having a moment of sheer joy in the chapter 7 reading. The fabrial takes Kaladin’s powers though he can still feel the stormlight inside. The listeners began to taunt him as having nothing beyond his stormlight driven powers to protect him. Mid-taunt, Kaladin strikes and: Is that just the wind being pulled into a burning building or is the wind actively aiding Kaladin? I searched the other three novels for "Kaladin" and the "wind" and as you might guess there is a lot—way too many to discuss here. But two passages struck out to me. One is from the first scene where Kaladin appears, where he defends Cenn: A second passage is from WOR and is the opposite, after Kaladin has failed (for the time being) to be a KR and broken the Nahel bond. He goes to the training ground and performs a kata: In this same passage, Kaladin ponders if his skill comes from the Nahel bond alone. The answer is no as he had it before he met Syl (and Teft at the end of WOK notes that Radiance does not give skill). But clearly Kaladin is at his best with the winds around him. Why? Do the winds convey power to Kaladin, apart from the bond? Are the winds searching for potential windrunners and conveying small bits of power as part of an audition? I have no answers here. But I will give my answer to my own question above: The winds are actively aiding him when the Nahel bond is not.

That is my theory. Kaladin has him surrender the original blade Adolin gifted and Moash holds on to the honor blade. I wonder if that explains the eye color--the green eyes caused by the eye colors of the swords mixing (sapphire and light tan).

Okay, I love this idea. Does he have some sort of a gemheart or just a general symbiotic relationship? (And do we know the same answer about the Ryshadium?)

Totally! Where is THUDE???!!!

Yes, kind of what I was thinking. Just the threads here and there. May and may not turn out to be something.