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Lord Spiral

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  1. I raise the possibility that spiritual Adhesion is what gives Windrunners their enhanced squire resonance. They Connect others to them and because they are connected through the Nahel Bond to their Spren and the powers that grants, this means more people can get the fringe benefits of a Spren bond. I don't know if Windspren being sisters to Honorspren mean that they are able to facilitate this squire bond until they form their own Nahel Bond or are transformed/evolved in to Honorspren as the bond grows. Even with Kaladin's ascerbic personality he draws alot of respect and followers. Almost like he affects some kind of spiritual gravity well that gets people interested.
  2. Elhokar doesn't know what Dalinar's motivations are. What is distinct to us from a POV narrative might not be clear to other characters in world. (Hence the problems forming the coalition). Especially Elhokar who was very paranoid and not exactly the most shrewd of people. Most of my points aren't strong and aren't logical from an informed perspective but that's the point. Elhokar isn't informed about the exact details. Just the gossip everyone is saying. And as for Dalinar swearing not to covet the throne, does anyone actually know about that? I thought he kept that he almost walked up to his brother and wanted to kill him a secret? (If only for a moment during the Thrill). As for the Dalinar rockslide assassination... So Dalinar is really effective at winning battles, to say the least. Obvious decision for Sadeas is to suggest to Gavilar to send Dalinar to fight on the border. If Dalinar is successful, great, good stuff for the kingdom. If the enemies manage to kill him, we'll just send a bigger force to destroy them in retribution and Dalinar is dealt with. As an added benefit to having Dalinar isolated on the border, he isn't making political allies (not that he had the savvy for it anyway) and is growing distant to the king while Sadeas grows more invaluable as his most trusted advisor. Years later, with no more border wars left to fight Sadeas would fear a more experienced and perhaps wiser Dalinar returning to replace Sadeas as Gavilar's most trusted advisor. With Sadeas being Sadeas, he was double dipping and profiting from both sides in the Rift rebellion. He promises them that he will give them a chance to claim revenge on Dalinar. Dalinar is sent to deal with the Rift. Sadeas sets it up so there is an opportunity to catch him unaware with the hint that a traitor just left and he could catch him if he was fast. So a small force chase down the traitors and fall in to the rockslide trap. For the most part this works, unfortunately, a mostly dead Dalinar is still enough of a threat to deal with the small force left to finish him off and retrieve the Shards. Had this worked, Sadeas, arriving early, takes control of Dalinar's army and then uses both to destroy the Rift as retribution for killing a *dear* friend and the king's brother. If he did negotiate the shards away, he claims them back after defeating the Rift. Best case for them, they wouldn't have enough Shardplate to do anything with and an unbonded Shardblade doesn't mean much (shards can't hold ground) when you have 2 armies to throw at them. Worst case, Sadeas sends some troops to chase the retrieval team (if not his) before they can rejoin their army. Unfortunately for Sadeas, Dalinar survived. There is a chance though. Dalinar is currently angry enough to want the whole city killed and gives Sadeas the orders. Sadeas takes advantage of this order since he knows Dalinar would choose a softer approach once he calms down and sees how to destroy the entire city. Including any evidence of his betrayal (although I am sure all supplies would be unmarked, there are now no survivors to speak their word, and fortunately Dalinar dismissed any truth of Sadeas' betrayal). And of course, this terrible thing which Dalinar now regrets and was disgusted by was all by Dalinar's order, an order he specifically authorised over the king's order to hold back. "But don't worry, Sadeas has your back. We'll tell Gavilar you had no choice." That the death of his wife sent him into an alcoholic depression (is that the right phrasing?) practically killed Dalinar and took him out of the running for any strong political power, allowing Sadeas to remain number 1. I mentioned Gavilar earlier and that's something else. Maybe he would have been okay with taking out Dalinar once he fulfilled his purpose as he seemed to be very involved with The Sons of Honor and we're only slowly learning just how untrue Dalinar's perfect vision of Gavilar was. But I don't think he was involved in my Sadeas conspiracy, at least not Rift part. The isolation of a potential threat? seems like standard politicking. (Basically everyone else is playing Lord of the Rings but Sadeas is playing Game of Thrones). I'm sure there are plenty of holes with this theory. I initially took the too neat uniforms to mean that they were authentic uniforms just not Sadeas' actual troops. Or potentially soldiers from Amaram's unit.* (I can't remember where Amaram was narratively at this point. ) I take the rockslide comment to be sarcasm and not a literal belief. It would help if I had a physical book with me to pull quotes from or look at passages and check exact wordings.
  3. With what we know of Dalinar's past, with what Elhokar knew about Dalinar for most of his life, it makes it all the more sense why Elhokar would have entertained the idea of Dalinar being a possible traitor. Hey, fun thing to do: read all the Blackthorn RAGE flashbacks. Then go back and read the bit where Dalinar starts beating the rust out of Elhokar. Elhokar must be thinking that the drunken bloodthirsty maniac is back. It makes his timidity around Dalinar in WoR all the more logical. And his concern for his mother? Warranted concern for her safety rather than just concern over impropriety. Am I the only one who thinks that the attempt on Dalinar was not a trick but Sadeas and Gavilar trying to dispose of a warlord general they no longer have a use for?
  4. If people still think of Dalinar as the bloodthirsty warlord Blackthorn they may not actually think anything of him having the assassin. To them, Blackthorn finally tracked him down and rather than kill him, made use of what is obviously a great and powerful tool. It's the natural thing to do.
  5. It's probable that they were the first humans. It seems that Aimians and Listeners/Singers were the native population. Human refugees to the world were given Shinovar as it was the most hospitable region for the human like plants and animals. As Humans have a tendency to do, they made like Captain Kirk through the native population and each other. This led to a population boom which led to an expansion drive. Over time the humans adapted and evolved. This leads to peoples like Herdaz with crystalline fingernails (a diluted Listener trait perhaps) and the physically big Horneaters (with their closeness to the cognitive realm, ability to almost hear the rhythms and perhaps other traits that aren't explicitly stated. It is probable given their isolated tribal life that Horneaters have a more recent divergence from Listeners than other nationalities. Perhaps Rock's origin story was more factual than even he believed? This could go both ways. Maybe they were humans looking for a new place to live. Or maybe they were Listeners trying to avoid what was happening to them during desolations. Just how high are the Peaks? Are they above the Storms like Urithiru? Back to the original point, there may have been pre-voidbringer human like visitors such as Nalthians or Elantrians depending how far back the Cognitive Realm travelling community had been around. But I doubt there has been a "native" human population before the voidbringers based on just how inhospitable and "unmammalian" the planet and local biolife are to humans.
  6. It occurs to me that when I went to the Shadows of Self book signing (the most recent one I could get to in UK) Brandon read the flashback chapter where he recruited Telib (I think) the archer assassin. And Sadeas makes a point of saying that Dalinar goes around recruiting enemies (what is he, the hero in Fire Emblem?) By the end of the book Dalinar has the storming Assassin-in-White recruited to his side with no effort and is working on a "voidbringer" radiant. Next book may see him recruit an Unmade. In hindsight that was such an informative chapter as it showed something that was the core of Dalinar's personality even back in the Blackthorn days and was an important foundation for his Unity mission. ...Shallan sealed an S rank relationship with Adolin... I can find a lot of strong similarities to Fire Emblem games here. I guess a few did come out while Oathbringer was being written ;P
  7. As others have mentioned Jasnah's soulcasting during the fight was supercharged through practically unlimited use of Stomlight and for being closer to the Cognitive Realm so she could see the beads and the Spren without having to "work" on the soulcasting mindset. (I imagine this is somewhat similar to the cross-eyed thing we have to do for those 3d illusions). She specifically mentions to Shallan that air is usually extremely difficult and then does it anyway because it's easier right now. She also mentions how the realms being close is dangerous because the power boost is making her feel invincible and she is worried about being too cocky. As for Renarin getting squished, his use if Regrowth means he can heal super fast compared to natural Stormlight healing that the others do. Adolin mentions it based on the speed minor wounds got healed (compared to Kalladin and Shallan) before he charged the Thunderclast. Also from the one time we see a POV of Renarin using Regrowth on Adolin, he healed him instantly. It wasn't clear if he did some sort of Identity overlay on him (Adolin felt perfected for a moment) and was then healed instantly or if Renarin accidentally used a "full power" healing rather than specifically trying to heal the arm. It would make sense if healing faster took more Stormlight, similar to Feruchemical Gold Health usage (and why only compounders would heal that fast). But Stormlight running out wasn't an issue for Renarin. Not like... Not like for Elhokar. I may need to reread the passage to be clear on the specifics of that scene. But I got the impression that Elhokar didn't have enough Stormlight and wasn't a high enough level of Surgebinder to heal the spearwound rather than that being instantly lethal. Moash specifically kept twisting that spear until the Stormlight visibly went out. Not only was this wound getting refreshed by Moash but the Stormlight was healing everything (the gut wound and halberd wound) and would have been unable to focus on healing the lethal wound (similar to what happens in Elantris). For Shallan's crossbow bolt in the head, she was; a) already holding Stormlight, and b), it was a relatively small wound and would have used little Stormlight to heal. People do survive similar wounds to the head, usually with brain damage, like Shallan (one of the Dwarves in the Hobbit has an axehead in his head). In her case it was because she couldn't push the bolt out with healing like Miles does with the bullets in Alloy of Law And so she couldn't heal the parts of the brain where there was still a bolt. I think this is why the training with Szeth is such a good chapter to compare with the others. Szeth is arguably the most skilled Surgebinder we have POV of but his abilities are hindered by the fact that he only has so much Stormlight and can only do so many lashings within the test. Compare this to Kaladin (who is almost equally skilled in lashings thanks to Highstorm training) just taking it from every gemstone nearby to the point where fused are tidying up so he can't cheat any more. (It was just 1 sentence in the book but imagine watching this fight on t.v. with a bunch of Fused in the background litter picking throughout the duration.) And for all the supercharging at the end I can't help but think of Lift telling everyone to wait so she can inhale a buffet to replenish her Stormlight.
  8. It's not confirmed that I am aware of but it seems pretty clear that this is what is going on. He wore the other disguises because that's all they were to him disguises--ugly old dude and whatnot. But hiding the brands with an illusion was (to him) lying. He'll happily hide them with his hair but he won't deny them.
  9. If I remember correctly, the scouring of Amia resulted in the extinction of the Larceryn. Based on what we've seen of Larkin being able to suck in Stormlight and possibly also Voidlight, and that Larkin are baby Larceryn. Is it possible that the gemhearts of Larceryn are perfect gemstones? And that this was the reason why an Unmade went to great lengths to destroy them? Maybe the underground caverns were succesfully kept hidden, and were kept hidden in order to breed/ cultivate/ guard a perfect gemstones reserve/ prison?
  10. The point about the Squires flying when we see them at the battle at Thaylenah. From what Lopen says about Rock, I took it that they only started drawing Stormlight once they got transported to the city. I know a theory a while back was that the lesser Spren, Windspren in Kal's case would form Shardplate. But what if they are what gives Windrunners an increased Squire capacity? Maybe they can only facilitate up to second ideal abilities, at which point they must bond with their own Honorspren to progress. Or possibly, if the winds are of Honor, maybe they can somehow evolve in to Honorspren by the Nahel Bond. My other theory is that their squire bond is stronger because they inadvertently use spiritual Adhesion to improve the Connection between would be Squires and themselves, and by extension of the Nahel Bond, the Honorspren.
  11. I let out a whoop when reading/ hearing that (audiobook). It was just so deserved. And delivered in slow motion too.
  12. From what was said Shadesmar, current Honorspren are created by existing Honorspren. It is possible the other higher Spren do the same. With the possible exception of the more Cultivation dependent Spren, which may be made by her or her shadow.
  13. As for Kaladin's scars not healing, it is a matter of Identity. His view of "Kaladin" is something along the lines of the guy who failed to protect and save his brother, and his friends. The person who keeps failing to save the people important to him. The person people look to to save them and help them but who will always fail them. The slave brands were literally his punishment for not being good enough to protect those he was in a position to protect. The Kaladin before his branding truly believed he could help. He accepted that he would lose some but that he could at least save others. After the branding he is constantly trying to save everyone and failing because this is impossible. His sense of Identity was so strong that it even overwrote Shallan's Identity filled illussion. Not wanting to be healed is one thing. But to not even accept pretending that those brands and what they represent to him weren't a part of him is something else entirely. I do believe that once Kalladin is ready for the 4th ideal or maybe even the fifth depending on how much time progresses he will have reached a point where he can accept the failure and move on. The current theory is that the 4th and 5th ideals will be based on leadership rather than protecting and a part if that I think will be coming to terms with responsibility. I'm getting more interested in The Lopen. Just how long was he a one-armed Herdazian? His sense of Identity must be rock solid to regrow the arm. He seems to think he isn't broken like the others. But he's either some level of insane (which counts) or hiding some super tragic past. (Could there be some truth to this King of Herdaz idea of his?)
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