Clarity-Art

When invading Urithiru through the tunnels below the tower, Raboniel refers to aluminum as "ralkalest" during a conversation with Venli. Ralkalest is a Selish term for aluminum, originating from the Rose Empire. It's mentioned in The Emperor's Soul. This is a really small detail, but given that it's incredibly dangerous to travel to Sel through the Cognitive Realm, I wonder how the term reached Raboniel. We know Hoid has visited Sel, that he spent some time in the Rose Empire, and that he's interacted with the Fused before. Could the term predate Sel and Roshar as we know them today? Is Hoid messing with us again? Am I spitballing like crazy?

That was oversimplification in the moment. To be fair, since we know nothing else about her, the fact that she possessed a gemstone containing Ulim was suspicious. The fact that she gave the gemstone to Venli and heavily persuaded her to accept it also warrants some eye-narrowing. Could she have been using Feruchemy to influence Venli in that moment? And how on Roshar did she know how to appeal to Venli's desire of wanting to restore her mother's mind?

Since Mistborn Era 2 takes place between the first half of Stormlight and the back half of Stormlight, I think that Axindweth's connections to Trell could go either way. The fact that Ulim was contained in a red gemstone seems to connect to the fact that red Investiture signifies corruption, and in Era 2, Harmony describes Trell's influence as a red mist surrounding Scandrial. Axindweth could be part of a precursor organization to the Set on Scandrial, or she could be something entirely different, as you stated. It would be interesting if she appears in Wax and Wayne 4 or future Mistborn works, since it seems likely she won’t be coming back to Roshar anytime soon.

Because Axindweth occupied a position close to Gavilar, as shown in Venli and Eshonai's flashbacks, I believe she must've been part of the Sons of Honor. Even if she wasn't a part of the Sons of Honor, her interactions with Gavilar indicate a kind of familiarity that no average attendant could reach. She's most likely a Feruchemist, since her rings serve as metalminds, and she outright tells Venli she has a gift for learning and speaking langauges. Sounds a heck of a lot like Feruchemical abilities to me. The man who discovered her in the palace, the steward Gereh, is also Terris and a Feruchemist. I think he could easily be an agent of Harmony, or associated with an organization of the Terris that's dedicated to preserving secrets. My personal theory is that he's associated with the Worldbringers, who have ties to the Rosharan Worldsingers through Hoid. It would be plausible for individuals in both groups to be Cosmere aware, given that Hoid played a part along the way.

I just finished Rhythm of War today, and let me tell you, Sanderson has done it again. I screamed, cried, laughed, and thrashed around like an eel. My reaction nonwithstanding, I wanted to ask if there would be a similar "update the Coppermind with RoW information" to the event that occurred with updating the Coppermind for Dawnshard. I've used Coppermind so much that I reckon I'd like to give back by updating the relevant pages.

I've been paying close attention to Navani's POVs since the beginning of this book. After her amazing prologue, I was really invested in her storyline and what she had to say, so I've been carefully observing her notes on fabrials. Both her observations on the airship fabrials and the headers taken from her fabrial lecture mention metals. Throughout The Stormlight Archive, we hear that aluminum has weird properties on Roshar, which matches up with the fact that aluminum seems to meddle with all kinds of Investiture in the Cosmere. In Chapter 7, Navani says that the spren inside a fabrial gemstone interact differently with zinc and brass wires. Contact with zinc wires will make the spren manifest more strongly, while contact with brass wires will make the spren withdraw. These effects mimic the properties of their Allomantic counterparts: zinc Riots emotions, while brass Soothes emotions. I found it interesting that the metals' interactions with the spren parallels the Allomantic properties of the metals on Scandrial. While I'm convinced that Brandon is inserting these tidbits as a little reference for those of us who have read Mistborn, I have a strange feeling that something here is connected. Or Connected. I'm not sure. I could be reading too much into it, but then again, reading too much into things is how we have some cool theories on this site.

I think it would be a neat subversion if Navani turns out to be a Truthwatcher! A lot of people theorize she'll end up bonding the Sibling and become the second Bondsmith, but for some reason, thinking about that possibility just didn't fit her character for me. She and Renarin both fit the description of the Truthwatchers really well. Even if she doesn't become a Radiant, having her serve as that nexus helps her bring unity and parallel Dalinar's actions on a smaller scale.

After some deliberation, I've decided to move my RoW musings over from the main discussion index and isolate them here. I'm always late to the party because I don't live in the Eastern time zone, and I'm insanely intimidated by all the intellectual discussion happening. I'm just a tiny little Truthwatcher who wants to record her findings, that's all. Anyways, onto some takeaways that I got from Chapter 6! 1. I'm not surprised that Veil supported Adolin's decision to assassinate Sadeas, even though the other personalities don't agree. There's a poetic sense of justice in her decision to kill Ialai. She does have a point in noting that Dalinar and Jasnah need to focus on Alethkar, but does Veil have the authority to do that? 2. Leshwi, in a nutshell: Finally, a worthy opponent! Our battle will be legendary! In all seriousness, though, her battle sequences with Kaladin have been the most gripping ones so far. 3. Getting a glimpse at Renarin's current situation and how his abilities differ from authentic Truthwatchers was intriguing. I'm a Truthwatcher, and I'd love to learn more about their order, their Ideals, and how their Surgebinding abilities manifest. 4. A lot of people have been discussing Navani's ability to hear a "tone" when Dalinar opens the perpendicularities. This chapter shows that it's not something isolated to her, but I still feel like it's a massive sign of foreshadowing for her character arc in this book. Along with her quest to understand the secrets of the tower, I'm more and more convinced of the theory that Navani might stumble upon the Sibling in her research. 5. Ew, Moash is here? I mean, it makes sense, considering he interacted with Leshwi in Oathbrniger, but why? Nothing good is going to happen as long as he's around. I've got a bad feeling about this. 6. I feel like Leshwi is fast becoming one of those character whom you don't like, but you admire them for their actions and discernment. Although she and Kaladin are on opposite sides of the battlefield, Brandon characterized them so well that you can clearly see how much they respect each other. This week's observations are a bit short because there was only one chapter. Since chapters seven and eight have been released to the public, I'll probably skip over those and write my observations on Chapter 9. Thanks for reading these ramblings, Radiants!

Hello, Radiants! Week Two of the Writing Roshar prompts over on r/stormlightarchive has come and gone, so here's my second shot at the prompt. This one doesn't have any spoilers for The Stormlight Archive, so I'll be copy and pasting it down below. Again, it also requires some heavy editing, but at least I remembered to include the spren this time. Enjoy. Prompt: [No spoilers] As a woman with one dark and one light eye, you've always had an. . . interesting life. As you lay on your deathbed, you begin to reminisce about your life. I selected the no-spoilers prompt this time. Content warning for mentions of illness, blacking out, body horror due to spren, and verbal abuse. Benla had always thought she’d go to the Tranquiline Halls after a fight, but not like this. The blood sickness had weakened her body to the brink of death, so she spent most of her days in her bed, letting her servants take care of her townhouse during the day. Her fellow thieves hadn’t come to visit that day, but she didn’t mind. As the leader of the thieving crew, she was in charge of organizing their newest marks, not helping them run day-to-day operations. Even if she wanted to help them, she was far too frail these days to think about stealing, thievery, and an active life of crime. With a wince, Benla looked out the window, down at the cityscape below. Farcoast wasn’t an unpleasant town to die in, and besides, she’d spent her entire life in the Vamah princedom. She was born here and she could easily die here. As a halfeye—her left eye was light violet, her right eye was brown—she hadn’t expected to live this long, or even die from a pathetic sickness. Most halfeyes were murdered before they reached adulthood, beaten to death by someone in the streets or sent away to starve by their own families. And if it wasn’t her halfeyes, it would’ve been her dark skin that drew suspicion; her father was part Makabaki, and despite his sheltered position as a lighteyes, there would’ve been someone who judged her for it. But she’d done well for herself as the leader of the crew. After all, when she’d first joined up with a merry band of thieves, it’d been one of the few avenues open to someone of her status. She reminisced about when she first became a part of the crew. It was right after the assassination of King Gavilar. Her father had enlisted as a soldier in Highprince Vamah’s army. He’d argued with her mother about it for ages, and at the height of their bickering, Benla had slipped out of the house. She wasn’t sure where she was going, but she’d run into a former schoolmate, a woman named Melyan. One conversation led to another, and Benla had told Melyan that she didn’t have many friends, much less anyone who was willing to employ her. So Melyan took her to a thieving den, where she introduced her to the crew. There was Sahi, a brunette from Jah Keved who worked as their resident intelligence gatherer. There was Kteth, a Thaylen trader with a sensitive heart but a knack for haggling. And then—most importantly—Natalah, a darkeyed Alethi lady from the second nahn. Back then, she’d simply been Natalah, or Nattie, or Nat, before earning the name of Natalah the Silent. Benla had never considered the life of a criminal before then. She was well aware that she occupied a precarious position in Alethi society: with a lighteyed father from the eighth dahn and a darkeyed mother from the third nahn, her opportunities in both echelons of society were limited. Her darkeyed and lighteyed relatives were wont to associate with her. People from all nahns and dahns balked at the idea of letting her work in polite society. It was no surprise that after Natalah welcomed her into the crew, she dove headfirst into thievery and never looked back. She coughed slightly. Her chest had begun to throb. The blood sickness, according to her physician, affected her circulatory and cardiac functions. Just last week, she’d had near-fatal heart spasms. If Sahi and Melyan hadn’t been at the townhouse, helping Benla count the loot from their latest theft, she would’ve died. All it would take was another spasm, and she’d be nothing more than food for a greatshell. Almighty, she wished that Natalah was still here. Nat had been the closest thing the crew had to a medic, and although she never finished her training to become a licensed apothecary, she knew plenty about anatomy, physiology, and medicine. She’d be able to help Benla with her blood sickness. But that was in the past, and she forced herself to keep reminiscing, to keep remembering, to keep recalling her history with the crew. For five years, they worked together, starting with small thefts and working their way up. She befriended everyone in the crew, but most of all, she sought to earn Natalah’s respect. Natalah was a darkeye of the second nahn, and in Alethi society, she had a higher position than Kteth, Sahi, and Melyan. Benla, who was of the ninth dahn, was the only one in the crew who outranked Natalah. They treated her as their leader for the longest time, until one day, Benla decided that things needed to change. Her father perished at war, cut down by Parshendi as he was trying to cross a bridge over a chasm. The soldiers under Highprince Vamah were unable to recover his body. While grieving, Benla’s mother eventually moved back home to Revolar, where she now lived with her sisters and brothers. She’d wanted Benla to make the move with her, but Benla had been so single-minded, so short-sighted back then. Her desire to make the lighteyes pay for his death drove her to seize control of the crew’s operations. Without consulting Natalah, she organized hits on countless lighteyed businesses, mercantiles, and estates, plundering their properties down to the last crem-covered brick. When Natalah’s back was turned, she took Kteth, or Sahi, or even Melyan with her, as an extra pair of eyes and hands to help her accomplish the thefts. It was a profitable project, yet not the most discerning one. The authorities in the Wistiow and Aladar princedoms caught wind of their trail, and when Natalah heard the news, she’d confronted Benla. Even as the pain in her chest grew and grew, Benla drifted into her hazy memories, thinking about their confrontation. They were back in their thieves’ den. Kteth was getting stagm from the market, but Melyan was there with Sahi, watching Benla take out her temper on Natalah. “You can’t do this anymore, Benla,” Natalah said. She adjusted her spectacles, which were beginning to slide down her nose. “I know you’re furious about what happened to your father, but he enlisted of his own free will. And the whole problem with Wistiow and Aladar—it’ll get us all in trouble. Do you want to languish in a prison for the rest of your life? Do you?” “You don’t understand, you storming crem-brain!” shouted Benla. Natalah flinched back, and Benla pressed her advantage, advancing on her like a whitespine stalking its prey. “All your life, you’ve never had trouble with the lighteyes! Perfect Vorin girl from her perfect storming darkeyed family! Perfect thief with her ability to flawlessly forge art and writing! Perfect, perfect, perfect. And you’re second nahn, for the Almighty’s sake. Second nahn!” “Parentage is irrelevant to this argument—” Natalah said, but Benla interrupted her with a slap across the face. Natalah stuck out her elbow to catch herself as she fell. Her spectacles clattered to the ground. One of the lenses shattered. “Get out,” said Benla. “You’re not in charge and you’ve never been willing to take charge. Decent thief, for sure, but a poor excuse of a person. Are you going to open your mouth and challenge me, or will you shut up and skulk away, Natalah the Silent? Like you always do, you quiet whore?” Natalah lay on the ground. Then she put her broken spectacles back on and stood up. With nothing but a single glance at Benla, Melyan, and Sahi, she left the den. She only carried the clothes on her back. Benla held her breath and counted to ten, and when Natalah didn’t come back, she breathed a deep sigh of contentment. “Back to work,” she said to Melyan. “When Kteth comes back, start preparing supper. For now, we need to organize another hit at Highlord Paladar’s summer home.” Melyan gazed numbly at Benla, but after a moment, she gulped and nodded. She darted over to the map of the Vamah princedom that Benla had pinned against the wall. They’d marked each and every one of their lighteyed targets with a dot of colored treb paste, with a circle drawn around the territory of Highlord Paladar. Sahi followed her over, deliberately avoiding Benla’s gaze. The aftermath was a blur, but Benla picked through the few moments she could remember. The frown at Melyan’s mouth when she was consulting the map, the hurt in Kteth’s eyes when she came home from the market to find Natalah missing, the blankness on Sahi’s face when she studied her records on Paladar—Benla could tell that something unspeakable had happened between them all. And she had been the one to cause the rift. As she emerged from the maze of memories inside her head, she gasped, with tears streaming from her eyes. A gigantic crop of angerspren, no doubt fueled by her feelings from that past confrontation, bubbled around her feet. They emerged from her blankets like a massive pool of blood. The sudden, sharp pain in her chest had now spread throughout her torso, stabbing at her insides like a thousand tiny Shardblades. A blood sickness spasm. She tried to sit up so she could see the angerspren better, but her body went stiff and she sprawled against her own pillows. That was when the painspren began to swarm her. Tiny orange hands swarmed her body, crawling up from her carpet or pushing through the pool of angerspren. Benla tried to scream, but the painspren kept coming, latching onto her body with their sinewy fingers. Darkness crept at the edges of her vision as she struggled to breathe. It was like a scene ripped straight from someone’s nightmares: dying slowly and painfully, all alone except for a bunch of irritating, storming spren. The door to her room banged open. Her stewards were standing in her room, accompanied by Sahi, Melyan, and Kteth. Benla knew nothing about how, why, when, and where they had arrived, but none of that mattered, now that she was on the threshold of death. Though her vision was fast deteriorating into a mass of shadowy blobs, she opened her mouth, doing her best to call for help. Faintly, she heard Melyan shouting at Kteth and Sahi, telling them to send the servants for a physician. It was the last thing Benla remembered before she blacked out.

I was not aware of that. Thank you for bringing it to my attention! Nice to know GRRM doesn't have a complete monopoly on the phrase, ahaha.

Hello, Radiants! As usual, I've decided to show up three hours late to interrupt your regularly scheduled discussions with my own observations about the new chapters. I've blasted through Season 3 of The Expanse and my college course is coming to a close soon, but I still haven't started my entire Stormlight reread. Is that bad? I have no idea. Anyways, without further ado, here are my takeaways from Chapters Four and Five: 1. I'm not entirely sure if this is an actual Easter egg or me being sleep-deprived, but the Arnist method sounds like it's named after the honorable Alice Arneson. I could be wrong, though after the mentions of Isasik (Isaac Stewart) and frequent appearances of Lyn (Lyndsey Luther), I wouldn't put it past Brandon. 2. I find it interesting that Mraize's goal to get rid of the Sons of Honor coincides with Dalinar's goal to tie up the Sons as a loose, but dangerous end. Initially, I was concerned that Shallan/Radiant/Veil would have a hard time serving multiple causes. However, it's satisfying to watch her kill two chickens with one stone. It's interesting that the Sons decided to name Ialai their leader, although I will note that after Oathbringer, they were probably short on viable candidates. Also, what happened to Shallan's quest to recruit Sja-anat? I have a feeling we aren't finished with that subplot yet. 3. The phrase "you sweet soft breeze" made me snicker. It reminds me of the "oh, you sweet summer child" phrase from A Song of Ice and Fire, but this take feels very unique to Roshar. The mere use of weather phenomena as curses and emotional expressions fits the worldbuilding well. (Edit: apparently, "sweet summer child" has been around for at least two centuries and GRRM doesn't have a monopoly on the phrase.) 4. What the crem? The Sons of Honor have a spy that's close to Dalinar? I strongly suspect it's one of the highprinces or someone close to the Knights Radiant, or even someone from the coalition of monarchs. 5. Ash serving as a source of information about the Fused is unexpected, but not unwelcome. I guess this means she's recovered from whatever shock she suffered at the end of Oathbringer, upon realizing that Jezrien was dead. A lot must've happened in the year-long gap between Oathbringer and Rhythm of War, and I was under the impression she'd be in a coma or something. I'm glad she's fully awake and aiding the Radiants, though. It makes me wonder if Taln has recovered as well, even if thousands of years of torture in Damnation can't easily be erased with a snap of stormlight-infused fingers. 6. At this rate, the Windrunners will easily be the most prominent and largest order of Knights Radiant on Urithiru. I'm not particularly sure why there aren't willing honorspren that can initiate the Nahel bond between Kaladin's prospective Windrunners, but I think it comes down to two reasons. Firstly, there's a limited number of honorspren, perhaps far more than the spren of the other orders, because they're Splinters of Honor. Secondly, they must still be wary of bonding with humans after the Recreance happened, and though the Stormfather himself has bonded with Dalinar, the honorspren must be hesitant to trust people again. 7. How often can Dalinar open perpendicularities? I'm fairly sure there's a limit on how often he can open a perpendicularity, but I guess this power is one of the perks of being a Bondsmith. It implies he can create his own perpendicularities instead of relying on the ones from the Shards, which is fascinating. 8. I spy another cameo from a team member of Dragonsteel: Kara (Kara Stewart)! Again, maybe I'm sleep-deprived, but Brandon wasn't too subtle about this one. 9. The reason why Ash can provide information about the Fused is because Jasnah has been interviewing her and Taln? That's intriguing! I think this certainly falls in line with Jasnah's character, since she pursues knowledge and scholarship. Despite her known heresy, she wouldn't pass up the chance to speak with millenia-old Heralds about the past and whatever information they have on Odium's forces. 10. Sassy Syl is best Syl. There is no contest. Given enough time and training, she'll be insulting people like Wit in no time. 11. Teft's concern for Kaladin shows how far that Teft has come as a character. I think everyone was moved by his storyline in Oathbringer, regardless of their opinion on the overall book, and seeing him as a fully-fledged Windrunner in action is inspiring. For real, though, Kaladin actually needs to rest. Lopen and Teft have a point: it seems like after Oathbringer, Kaladin hasn't been in the best state of mind, and he's beginning to become burned out by his leadership of the Windrunners. His depression is probably taking a significant toll as well. 12. Aww, it's sweet that Adolin and Shallan (and Pattern, because he's the "chaperone") are working together to bring down the Sons of Honor. So far, we haven't had any cute married-life interactions between them, but I sincerely hope we see them have a conversation in the next few chapters. Adolin seems very supportive and embraces Veil and Radiant as well, though I wonder if their collaboration is actually more of a risk-filled contingency rather than a cute couple activity. 13. For the Stormfather's sake, Kaladin, PLEASE TAKE A BREAK. You can't fight the Fused and Leshwi if you haven't gotten enough storming sleep. Someone please get this poor man a bed and some hugs. He needs rest now, more than ever. 14. I think it's endearing and kind that Lyn decided to check on him, but again, Kaladin takes it the wrong way and reacts like he did to Teft and Lopen's inquiries. I genuinely feel bad that their relationship didn't work out, even if it was for the best. Kaladin bears an immense burden of responsibiilty for everything that's gone wrong in his life, taking the loses personally even if it isn't his fault. It's adding to the mental and physical drainage he feels, though I suppose it's also foreshadowing his path to potentially swearing the Fourth Ideal. 15. WHOA WHOA WHOA, slow your ROLL. CORD WAS IN AIMIA?! I know we'll probably get our answers to this far sooner than we think, with Dawnshard on the way, but stormwinds. My guess is that Cord will probably be a central character of Dawnshard and might get her Shardplate during that novella, though I'm probably off the mark. Windrunners, Fused, perpendicularities, Sons of Honor. These chapters were jam-packed with everything I've been looking forwards to in RoW. I enjoyed the new information and plot details immensely, and the characterization was amazing. Keep the hype train going, Radiants! This show is just beginning, and it's swiftly shaping up to be a blast.

After rereading the prologue and Chapter One obsessively last week, I was way too excited for these chapters to drop. They're easily becoming the highlight of my week. Is it sad that I don't have much better to do besides finishing college coursework, slouch around while eating trail mix, and watch The Expanse? Probably. But this is sustaining my hype for RoW, so here are a few takeaways that I gleaned from Chapters Two and Three. 1. The Fused's tactic in stabbing Kaladin repeatedly to sever his spinal cord was well-reasoned. Go for somebody's central nervous system, and even Radiants will be having a bad time. Also, the name reveal for the type of Fused that parallels the Windrunners was interesting! I've heard people theorize that the reason why the Fused have nine orders and not ten is because they lack an order that's analogous to the Bondsmiths, since Odium doesn't focus on Connection. That seems more and more accurate as we learn more about voidlight, the Fused, and the singers. 2. I feel like Syl is growing into her own role and becoming more of an independent, expressive character. She was very unique before, but she seems more personable and less. . . spren-like, if that makes any sense. Her interactions with Kaladin's family make her seem more like an adoptive sister than anything. Additionally, when Kaladin notes that she manifests with a new style of dress due to Adolin's fashion pointers, I found that super endearing. I'd love to see more interactions between Syl and Adolin. Fingers crossed! 3. Veil, Radiant, and Shallan are coexisting in relative harmony, as indicated by their ongoing internal dialogue. After the events of Oathbringer, I'm glad that Shallan found a balance between her own identity and her other personas, but I'm hoping that she doesn't develop a fourth personality in Rhythm of War. While I don't think she would, and she certainly would be able to deal with it much better than before, it's still a concerning prospect. The hunt for the Sons of Honor seems to be going well though. I'm curious to see who's now in charge of the Sons, now that Amaram is dead. 4. Kaladin can't even have happiness in his love life? Storms. Well, I hope he continues to work on himself while being a strong, independent Windrunner. At least he has a loving family and the cutest little brother ever. 5. Roshar is now one step closer to space travel. Give Navani enough time and she'll be on the path to inventing something like the Rosharan version of the Epstein drive. I think her airship's name is a nice homage to Bridge 4, and I'm glad that working on the fabrial technology helped her process the grief of Elhokar's death. Speaking of Elhokar, I wonder who's watching Gavinor. Now that the people of Hearthstone are leaving for elsewhere on the airship, is there a chance we could embark on the path towards an Oroden-Gavinor bromance someday? 6. Aluminum has even more special properties on Roshar, especially when paired with fabrial technologies. Considering how many worlds throughout the Cosmere have unique Investiture-related reactions with aluminum, we might as well declare aluminum Adonalsium's god metal and call it a day. (I kid, but seriously, aluminum is something special. Brandon is up to something.) 7. The Mink is already great. He and Dalinar seem to be getting along well, since they both value being straightforwards in terms of communication. But Dalinar disregarding Navani's insistence that Fourth Bridge was hers? That's irksome. I hope that their marriage doesn't deteriorate into the same relationship she had with Gavilar. Dalinar seems to be doing alright with his newfound leadership, but as we've seen a thousand times over, he could easily begin shunting aside his family in favor of better running the Radiants. I'm also happy to see that there are more Edgedancers, most likely trained and pushed into awesomeness by Lift herself. A potential collaboration between the Edgedancers, Lirin, and other field surgeons would be amazing. As for Navani's airship defenses, I can't wait to see them in action next week! These chapters provided a lot of information about the timeskip between Oathbringer and Rhythm of War without overwhelming us through giant infodumps, and I enjoyed them thoroughly. All aboard the RoW hype train, Radiants!

I can understand what you're saying here. It's been a while since I read Oathbringer, but I remember how it was frustrating to see Kaladin revert back to the emotional state he was in during TwoK. However, I think we should also remember that growth, healing, and recovery, especially with something as serious as depression, is rarely linear. In real life, people who are trying to overcome mental illness can regress at times, and that's most likely what we're seeing with Kaladin. Because character-driven storytelling revolves a lot around the premise of making positive steps forwards (legitimately the message of the Immortal Words), watching Kaladin go backwards is hard to deal with, both from a narrative and personal standpoint. I also wasn't a huge fan of the Luke Skywalker arc in the sequel trilogy, yet I have faith that Brandon will be able to portray Kaladin's struggles in a sympathetic way. He reassured us that Kaladin won't go the "Daenerys" route, so if anything, I'll take that as affirmation that Kaladin will ultimately be okay.