yulyulk

I like the idea that Shallan's 2nd ideal with Testament was "I'm terrified", then she swears it again in Kharbranth. I think Shallan's 3rd ideal to Testament (if the 3rd ideal grants Lightweavers a shardblade), was probably something like "I hate my mother" or "I wish my mother wasn't here" or something, spoken in the heat of the moment and suddenly summoning a blade in self defense, killing Mrs Davar. Then immediately afterwards, Shallan breaks her bond with Testament out of horror.

Oh, I suppose you're right. That hadn't occured to me before

Yeah, this is actually remarkable to me. Dumb Taravangian does not feel hatred. He breaks down and cries at the slightest instance of cruelty. The power of Odium being drawn to someone so tender-hearted indicates to me that the vessel could actually be re-interpreted. It's funny because when Rayse was trying to claim that he was Passion, it felt like blatant propaganda, 100% false etc. But the moment of Taravangian's ascension made me think that maybe Rayse wasn't just pulling it out of his ancient a**. But ascended Taravangian we have seen thus far does not have the capacity (ha) to re-imagine the power of the shard, I think. He knows he picked up Odium and he's treating it as such. Maybe if he becomes aware of Harmony's existence, he can approach the power differently? But narratively speaking, I don't know if that's in the cards for him.

I have a question about this and this topic seems a good place to ask. So my understanding was...In TWoK, flashback Nohadon complains about his Radiants to Dalinar. Then he writes The Way of Kings to inspire the Radiants(?) and that's where journey before destination comes from. But if Ishar was the one to set the oaths upon the radiants...was there a different first ideal before Nohadon? Or am I just misremembering the TWoK flashbacks.

When I read this in the books, I just interpreted the delegation offer as Sigzil being rather Azish, and his honorspren probably having a similar approach as him. We've had Sigzil pov but it didn't smell of unreliable narrator like Shallan "dissociates when her mother is mentioned" Davar, so I think it would be a shocking, but not a particularly well telegraphed twist if Sigzil was a spy. His odd (non)relationship with Wit raises some questions, but what do I know. Maybe he thinks Wit is too obnoxious to be around (I wouldn't blame him)

I don't really have anything to add, except hearing Honor/Cultivation's tone while adopting war/workform sounds like a one-time event. I think Eshonai switches out of warform, and back into it, and doesn't hear that same tone again. Because there had not been any warform singers in millenia, Honor's tone was building up without anywhere to go, so it suddenly bursts forth? But does that make sense with the physics of Investiture, idk. (I really enjoy reading your insights on here btw)

1) would like to be friends with most: ...Szeth. Ok everyone is picking Adolin because they want a supportive friend. But I think his personality and mine wouldn't mesh well. And Szeth...maybe I want to be Szeth's emotionally supportive friend. 2) feel is most believable in terms of motivation: all of them! 3) enjoy reading about most: Nale 4) find most confusing/intriguing: Sja-Anat, Ba-Ado-Mishram, Cultivation. Very mysterious ladies, those three are. 5) find makes you laugh the most: the Stormfather. 6) would like to punch in the face: no one 7) personally relate to most: Venli as of late (don't hate me but Moash in Oathbringer before killing Elhokar was relatable too) 8) feel is emotionally most realistic: all of them 9) shamelessly crush on the hardest: in TWoK it was Jasnah, after RoW it's Leshwi 10) is most like someone you know IRL: no one, I think? But I'm bad at judging personalities irl, books make it easy

Oh!! There was a hilarious throwaway line about this, where Dalinar (I think it was him?) says that they now call the enemy "singers" instead of "Voidbringers" because "Voidbringer" had turned out to be an imprecise word. I imagine that after the battle at Thaylen city, the Urithiru PR team decided: let's delete that term from our propaganda so that people don't think too hard about the implications of humans bringing Odium to Roshar. (And, somebody either on here or on reddit pointed out that labeling an entire race as your enemy is also not a good move. It probably makes Rlain's life a massive pain and discourages coalition building with the common singers that don't necessarily want to fight.)

Venli became one of my faves in RoW but this is a ymmv sort of topic I guess. She interests me because she's a coward, and not a very good person, and she's aware of it. But she decides to make steps, small but nonetheless important ones, to do better. Do I enjoy this kind of character because I too am cowardly? Perhaps. I also think her opinions about the conflict between the humans and the Fused mirror my own. She distrusts both sides and doesn't want to join either. But at the same time she's awed by the knowledge that the Fused have of the singers' past culture. She has a front row seat to their insanity, yes, but she's also curious about their traditions. Even before Ulim, Venli was hunting for warform, and when she met the humans and saw their script, she wanted to make an alphabet too. After Ulim, she passes herself off as a "scholar" when she's just being guided by him. But I do think she probably has an innate scholarly drive; if she hadn't been given envoyform, she likely would have picked up scholarform. In Alethkar she sees the Fused building a palace with their own style of architecture, and she's so wistful thinking about the rich craftsmanship her people must have had, ages ago. When she gets a chance to use Cohesion on the stones of Urithiru, though, it's amazing, because the stones remember her people. And the stones remember the abilities of the Dawnsingers; things she wouldn't have learned from the Fused. And it's so beautiful to me that she goes back to the Shattered Plains and gives this gift to her people. (It's also kind of tragic, like sorry I wanted you dead but here! I have magical powers for you now! I promise I'm a better person.) I love that in Oathbringer, the Reacher captain who's presumably Timbre's father says that his daughter is chasing foolish dreams. But in Rhythm of War, it's mentioned that large amounts of Reacher sailors have been disappearing from Shadesmar. Timbre was a trendsetter! Also the scene when she reveals to Leshwi that she bonded Timbre is my favorite thing ever. She's like "sorry...I swore the first ideal of the Knights Radiant." And Leshwi is like "sorry?? This is the happiest moment of my 7000 year life! I'm defecting immediately from Odium, f*ck that guy." The listeners rightfully made songs about the dangers of their gods, Venli decided to ignore them. But some of those gods actually ended up being decent at heart :') Anyway this was long, and may not convince you to like Venli. But it's what I enjoy about her and her chapters

Oh, that rings a bell. (I just completed a RoW reread and there are still so many details I immediately forgot...)

well since we are being grim... Order or procrastinators 1. Death before life, weakness before strength, & never reach the destination. 2. I cannot budget my time properly. 3. I will avoid tasks, even those that bring me joy. 4. I will accept that some tasks will not be finished, even after the deadline. 5. I have made a terrible mistake.

Is everything alright at your school, @Voidspawn?

So, everyone found out Dalinar killed his wife Evi because Oathbringer (in world book) draft copies were distributed. in RoW we get two mentions from Adolin that he's disturbed by this, but trying not to think about it. (Very Shallan coping mechanism, that.) We get one Renarin chapter in which he says he has to think of it as Odium killing Evi, otherwise he gets upset. But...did we get anyone else's reactions? Especially Navani and Kaladin's. Navani because THAT'S YOUR NEW HUSBAND!!1! I know Navani didn't think highly of Evi and she probably trusts Dalinar's reformed personality but still. And Kaladin because Dalinar's his commander and Kaladin feels strongly about protecting people. I could see him having reservations about serving under Dalinar after learning about this. ... Anyway, this is not a very strong complaint, I understand these books are massive and sometimes I have to fill the blanks myself, I accept that. But this seemed like a matter of great moral import. Did I maybe miss some other people's reactions?

Raboniel manipulated/cajoled/etc Navani to create a permanent way to kill Fused and spren. That is a terrifying prospect for the assorted magical beings of Roshar. It's the fact that Raboniel is sane enough to pursue such goals that make her scary to people like Leshwi. (Does this make her evil? That is a separate matter.) And good question about her title. We know it used to be the Lady of Pains but she wanted a less harsh title, and became the Lady of Wishes. So it might just be a meaningless euphemism. But it might also indicate that she represents the wishes of the singers and the Fused: to actually end the war for real and enjoy peace.

When it comes to new spren candidates, I usually think about the Everstorm, but this would be really cool! Would it be localized to the Shattered Plains, like Cusicesh with its city?

Ahh I know right? I suppose at this point bonding a Sja-anat spren is a better indication of homosexuality than a same-gender spren

Some other same gender spren: Shallan - Testament Venli (and Eshonai before her) - Timbre Renarin - Glys Dalinar - Stormfather [tho the Bondsmith spren may be an unusual case. E.g. Navani is bonded to the Sibling, who has no gender at all] Brandon has been asked this question before:

That's an easy one to extrapolate, I think. She and Navani wrote the book together, so Navani told her of the tradition. Some of the undertexts are also from Navani.

Omg. Aren't they both married to other people :0

Hi, I'm going to revive this dead topic to talk about the best worst ship Nale/Kalak. We know they were together on the night of Gavilar's death. We've been told they were together when Ba-Ado-Mishram was captured. All this, despite the fact that the Heralds made an unofficial vow to leave each other alone. Now, who else made an unofficial vow to leave each other alone? That's right, our plucky band of Adonalsium-shatterers. And who among the Vessels ignored that vow? Our favorite couple, Mr and Mrs Avast* <3. Therefore thru my impenetrable logic, Nale and Kalak are married. [*As far as I'm concerned Ati and Leras were hate-married so this only adds to my pile of evidence. Poor Sel is not relevant enough for me to speculate about whatever Aona and Skai were doing]

I thought maybe, because Veil was hiding the fact that Shallan did bond Testament before, Veil had to pretend like she didn't understand any of the surgebinding stuff. But it could just be because Veil's whole thing is to be a grizzled spy instead of a radiant.

The Taln epilogue makes very sad, so I picked that one. Seeing Wit treat him so delicately was a punch to the gut, too. Sanderson always mentions how grateful he is that Michael Whelan paints the cover art but I have always found them underwhelming oops. (Maybe because I'm not much of a high-fantasy reader?) But I like the Rhythm of War one due to its superior color scheme.

Tamu kek is the word you're looking for!

Logicspren are little stormclouds, right? The portrait of Pailiah in RoW has logicspren flying around her. But she's actually the patron Herald of the Truthwatchers, not Elsecallers ... *thinking emoji*

From the official brandensanderson dot com description of Bondsmiths: So it's doable I think. Although idk why a group of engineers would swear oaths about uniting people.