The Kraken's Daughter

So, after picking the pieces of my brain up off the floor following the Toadium event in RoW, I formulated a theory on how Odium might eventually be dealt with. Odium has been described as being particularly dangerous, and one of the epigraphs in RoW indicates that this is due to the Intent of the Shard itself, not just the personality of Rayse as its (former) Vessel. The standard way of dealing with something like this would be to kill/destroy it. But clearly Brandon laughs at the idea of doing what we expect, so what if there was some other way to neutralize Odium as a threat? What if instead of being destroyed/splintered, the Shard could be changed? Rysn now holds (or is) the Dawnshard Change. I think that Dawnshard may eventually be used to mitigate the worst parts of Odium's Intent. This might be a straight-up softening, like changing it from Odium (hatred) to Anger. Or it could be a more subtle change, like directing hatred only toward evil things. (I'm thinking of something like the TV show Dexter here, which is about a serial killer who targets other murderers. It doesn't change his essential nature, but he manages to channel it in a way that's less harmful for society overall.) What do others think? I recognize that changing the nature of a Shard would be a very tall order, but if the Dawnshards were used to shatter Adonalsium, I think they'd be up to the task of changing a piece of Adonalsium. (And because of their power, I think it's entirely possible Toadium will want to get his hands on the Dawnshard if he finds out it's on Roshar. I really hope he doesn't piece it together from whatever info about the expedition to Aimia the other monarchs let King T have.)

Dawnshard spoilers: I think any plausible way for the good guys to rules-lawyer a victory would have to meet some loose definition of being "honorable" to avoid an oops-Dalinar-just-broke-his-bond-and-killed-the-Stormfather moment. Of course, as we saw with the honorspren, not everyone agrees on what qualifies as "honorable." But I think something like "Jasnah, as absolute monarch of Alethkar, issues a royal decree changing the name of the next month so that the agreed-upon date never comes" wouldn't work.

I agree, I got Skybreaker vibes from that guy too. I wondered a bit about the Shardgun. Have we seen a living Shardblade in the form of a projectile weapon before? And do "regular" Shardbows like the one Rock used come with their own ammunition, or do they take regular arrows/bolts? I guess I'm just curious about the Radiant spren being able to separate itself into parts to make both the gun and the ammo.

Just finished Sefira and Other Betrayals by John Langan. Now reading The Gameshouse by Claire North.

Thanks for finding those! Of course, Hoid wanting to become a Lightweaver raises questions of its own: What Truths would he speak to gain Lightweaver powers? I can think of two moments in SA that have felt like he was revealing something personal. One was when he told Dalinar that he shouldn't trust Hoid too much because he would "let this world crumble, with tears yes, but I would let it happen" if necessary to achieve his goals. The other is when he tells Shallan that he's old, and you get the definite impression that, as in many stories, immortality is not all it's cracked up to be. (That, in turn, makes me wonder if the goal he alluded to in the Dalinar quote is to find some way to stop being immortal. Then again, I don't know if Brandon would see that as too derivative, since mortality was the great prize in Highlander and possibly other stories dealing with immortality as well.) Yeah, that quote to Dalinar I referenced above makes me wonder when the other shoe's going to drop. I don't know about him setting up Elhokar's death, since he seemed to be working against the Fused a little bit (giving Azure those metal plates to shield the Soulcasters), but I suspect we are going to see him getting in the heroes' way at some point.

Brandon's created a wide variety of cultures for Roshar, each with their own customs, food, clothing, governments, religions, and so on. If you were in the Stormlight Archive, which one would you want to live in? The Reshi Isles and the Purelake both seem pretty cool to me.

I'm a little disappointed that we won't be getting the Rock novella yet, but not too disappointed since I find Rysn intriguing as well. Since she has a ship now, I wonder if she'll be leading some sort of expedition to Aimia?

I voted Other, because honestly Rock is my favorite of all of them. But of the ones listed, I think Lift and Dalinar are about tied.

@Extesian and @Ghanderflaffle, if you liked Uprooted, you might also enjoy Novik's "Spinning Silver." It's set in a similar Eastern European fairy tale-esque setting, and I liked it even better than Uprooted. My top ten for 2019: 1. The Way of Kings 2. The Kingdom of Copper, by S.A. Chakraborty 3. The Wrong Stars, by Tim Pratt 4. Oathbringer 5. Words of Radiance 6. The Dreaming Stars, by Tim Pratt 7. The Forbidden Stars, by Tim Pratt 8. Edgedancer 9. In an Absent Dream, by Seanan McGuire 10. Snowblind, by Christopher Golden

I just became a lighteyes! I hope Airsick Lowlander is one of the ranks.

Hi all, This is a flintlock fantasy short story. I know it's a little on the long side, but it didn't feel quite long enough to split into two. Happy New Year, everyone!

Adolin makes progress on healing Maya More Lift! Some information on the Stonewards and Willshapers. (And also some on Truthwatchers, since we don't know much of what they can do, and Renarin's abilities may be non-standard for the order anyway.) More Rock! Maybe even a trip up to the Horneater Peaks to deal with Moelach? The awakening of Urithiru The emergence of more Radiants/Squires. I feel like Team Honor/Cultivation is going to need a lot more surgebinders to defeat Odium and his army. Rysn taking her new ship on an expedition somewhere important. (Perhaps to Aimia? I assume the hordeling Aimians need Stormlight to keep their bodies together, so maybe Chiri-Chiri can get them past the guardian who poisoned that Soulcaster by eating all her Stormlight.)

I do think Adolin will gain some degree of power, simply because the events already shown with Maya (summoning her in fewer than ten heartbeats, her attacking one of the Fused of her own volition in Shadesmar) would feel like unfired Chekov's guns if no further development happens. That said, I don't think Adolin needs powers to contribute meaningfully to the war against Odium. Martial experience is clearly not a necessary criterion for becoming a Radiant, since we've seen spren bond to a cobbler and an orphanage administrator. As the series progresses, there may be more Radiants like Ym and Stump, who had civilian jobs prior to bonding a spren and don't know much more about swordfighting than "stick 'em with the pointy end." And even Radiants who are military trained may not be as adept at strategy as Adolin is--we see Adolin explaining principles like "shardbearers can't hold ground" to Kaladin a couple of times during OB. So I could see a non-powered Adolin acting as a teacher and general for the Radiants. Training them in combat techniques during downtime and directing them in battle.

I'd like to submit on Monday if there's a slot. I hope everyone's enjoying the holiday season!

At the very end of OB, Hoid retrieves the Cryptic that was about to bond with Elhokar. He says he thinks the reason he came to Kholinar may have been to find that spren. I find myself wondering what's so special about this particular spren? It's described as small and trembling, so clearly it's upset by having lost its Radiant. (Thanks fer nuthin', Moash.) But I don't get the impression that this is just a random act of kindness like him uniting the little orphaned girl with the woman who lost her baby. This feels like something that's meant to have a larger importance, and I'm curious if any Sharders have theories about why. Could this Cryptic be its species' equivalent of an Ancient Daughter, a spren that was made in an earlier era and might have knowledge about Aharietiam and/or the Recreance? Is it some sort of leader among the spren that could give whoever bonds it extra influence in Shadesmar? Something else?