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Have Lirin and Hesina even tried to contact Kaladin after he joined the military? In his own PoV, I think it's implied that neither have for some time, perhaps never in his entire military career, but in his earliest flashbacks, it is obvious that they both loved him very much. In fact, before Kaladin and Tien were recruited, his mother basically told him that he didn't have to follow his father's path and choose another career if that's what made him happy. Sure, Kaladin may have disobeyed his father's wishes and disrupted his plans, but he is still as much their son as Tien is. No parent ever wants to see their kids die before them, not when your last conversation ended with bitter and angry words. So whatever the reason for their silence, Tien's death should be more than the incentive they needed to contact him, even if it's just to mourn his death together through letters. Unless they got real busy and popped out another one in the past five or six years, he is their last son. Plenty of men have joined the army and survived. He's also done very well for himself before the Amaram incident, youngest squadleader and all. There's no reason for them to completely ignore him as they did... ...Unless Tien's and Kaladin's recruitment into the military was not Roshone's final stroke. As weak as Roshone is, he is still a brightlord, a cousin to a Shardbearer. What little power he has, he can still use to inflict a lot of damage if he wanted to do so. And the loss of his only son could be the last push he needed to dish out the hurt. Kaladin have suffered so much, and it chills my bones just to think of it, but could something have happened to his parents that prevented them from something as simple as responding to their son's letters? And if so, what does this mean for Kaladin as a character? A part of me thinks that they're both alive and well, that Amaram decided to take it upon himself to protect/provide for them after the way he stabbed their son in the back, but this whole situation at Hearthstone stinks if you ask me.