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I've been meaning to post this thread for more than a year, but I just want someone else to appreciate as much as I do how perfectly the music and lyrics to the songs on Snow Patrol's album "A Hundred Million Stars" fit the plot and themes in Oathbringer. As a teaser, here's the chorus from the first track, "If There's A Rocket Tie Me to It": A fire, a fire You can only take what you can carry A pulse, your pulse It's the only thing I can remember I break, you don't I was always set to self-destruct though The fire, the fire It cracks and barks like primal music A sampling of some of the other titles: "Take Back the City" (*cough* Kolinar), "Please Just Take These Photos From My Hands" (about unwanted memories), and "The Lightning Strike." I could flush everything out for you all, but I'm just going to leave it here for you to discover yourself instead.

The process of Oathgate transportation is likely Physical -> Cognitive -> Spiritual -> Cognitive -> Physical in another location, with the Cognitive bit going by too fast to notice. Is this related, perhaps, to the two spren of the Oathgates? One is white, one is dark. The Cognitive is (mostly) an obsidian wasteland and the Spiritual is described as a place of blinding white light. Now, in order to corrupt the destination of an Oathgate, such as the one in Alethkar, would you not have to corrupt the Spiritual one? Then, you cannot be transferred to the Spiritual Realm and come out in a different place, and instead are stuck in Shadesmar, again, as shown in the Alethkar venture in Oathbringer. What happens if Sja-anat were to corrupt the Cognitive Realm spren? Do you just disappear, or go nowhere, or skip directly to the Spiritual (unlikely, because that would be really difficult to do, I believe)?

So, we have some Hemalurgy on Roshar. Not only is what Moash did considered at least partially Hemalurgy, but we have apparently seen some people who have Hemalurgy. Who have we seen with Hemalurgy? An Inquisitor? A Kandra? Something I'm curious about is if the dagger Moash used was made of Odiums godmetal, if he has one, and how this somehow stole the part of Jezriens soul that makes him go back to Damnation when he dies. Another thing that REALLY stuck out to me when reading Oathbringer was this line I feel like Odium was using some form of Hemarlurgy to transform Dalinar into his champion, giving him acces to the other surges, and giving him the "9 Shadows" this is supported by this WoB Thoughts?

It...has to do with the Unmade, right? That's about all I know.

Back in Way of Kings, chapter 19, Dalinar is having one of his visions. It's the scene where he acts as Heb, husband to Taffa, and protects his family alongside two Radiants. At the end of the chapter, the female Radiant says, “Every pasture needs three things. Flocks to grow, herdsmen to tend, and watchers at the rim. We of Alethela are those watchers—the warriors who protect and fight. We maintain the terrible arts of killing, then pass them on to others when the Desolation comes.” When I reread Oathbringer, Kaladin says to his father in chapter 7, "You're a surgeon, Father, but I'm something else. A watcher at the rim." Kaladin never experienced the visions, thus never heard the Radiant's words. Was this poetic overlap on Brandon's part? Or just something the Radiants intrinsically feel about themselves?

I was rereading chapter 32 of OB and guys... Does it seem to anyone else like Jasnah's rejoining of the story felt kinda...skipped over? I think this whole arc would have been a very good window into Jasnah's character and her relationships with her family; i.e. it'd be real easy for Brandon to show she's not an emotionless slab of granite (cue Dalinar's mention of Momvani's and Jasnah's reunion), as so many readers seem to think. For such a sudden plot twist, Brandon really let it fall flat, which, as far as I've seen, is not like him. The only explanation is that this must be purposeful. Any thoughts?

(3 posts in one day. I'm on a roll. Reading OB for 3 hours this morning makes me curious.) Anyway, I seem to remember Jasnah being competent with a Shardblade. That could just be my love-struck brain embellishing that time when she threatened someone with her Blade (can't, for the life of me, remember who), but even if it is, it's slightly odd that she can hold back a legion of Fused with no martial training. Alone. Unless I'm missing something about the fantastical abilities provided by Elsecalling, which, don't get me wrong, I totally want but am skeptical of.

Just a wild idea that came to me when I was reading a Brandon forum. There were 10 Heralds for the Oathpact, right? And supposedly 10 books will be published for the SA series, each book with a focal character. What if those 10 focal characters will be responsible for taking the place of the previous Heralds? It would be a suitably melancholy end to the series — I would be satisfied with it, anyway. Additionally, Brandon noted that the series will be split into two sets of 5. I think it'd make sense if the first half of the story was focused on the Radiants rise to power, and the last half was focused on their end. With their end would come the end of the Desolations, as well, which would make for a distinct close indeed.

Hello! Fairly new to the Shard and this is my first post. I apologize if this topic has been covered but I searched and couldn't find a direct answer. I have recently finished my third listen of Oathbringer and started thinking about greater implications of Odium's creepy new dagger. If Ishar is killed (for real) by this dagger, will the requirement of Oaths become removed from the nahel bond? Since Honor is dead, it seems like the rules of being a Radiant are already starting to flex and bend more and more, what with the Skybreakers literally fighting for Odium, or Malata and her very anti-social spren who seem largely intent on destruction for its own sake. However, it seems like the first Oath is still required for the bond to form, regardless of the difference of other higher Oaths. Since Ishar was the one who decided to implement the Knights Radiant and lay down this codification of Oaths, would his death lead to the relaxation of this requirement? Would we get the problems on Roshar that Nohadon speaks of in Dalinar's flashbacks, with surgebinders that can bond spren in a more private contract between just the two of them, allowing someone who is less-than-nice to wield great powers? Would this in turn actually cause the destruction of Roshar - as feared by Honor in his last days - due to surgebinding? It seems like Honorspren have always largely been rather strict with their bonded human partners, but I get the sense other spren wouldn't be nearly so choosy or demanding unless they had to be. And if Ishar isn't the one holding the collective Radiant spren to the necessity of Oaths, then what is? I get the impression that the spren aren't exactly all in a unanimous vote with one another about most things. What else, aside from divine/semi-divine will, could cause all of them to agree on Oath requirements? The other option could, of course, be that Cultivation would hold everyone to the Oaths regardless of Ishar living or not, but she's so mysterious and rarely seems interested in interfering with humans in a large, authoritative oversight kind of way. I'm really hoping one or more of you clever people have some answers or ideas!

Can Renarin see the future because he’s a Truthwatcher, or because Glys is corrupted? Vorin culture says that seeing the future is forbidden, and Hessi (in Mythica) said that was because seeing the future was of Moeltach, the Unmade who causes Death Rattles. I find it hard to believe that the Vorin people would frown upon seeing the future so much if a whole order of their sacred Radiant protectors could do it. If this is an ability that only Renarin can have because of his spren, will he get other special abilities too, or are there perhaps Truthwatcher powers that he doesn’t get?

So I was browsing Arcanum when I came upon this little WoB: And immediately something stuck out to me (highlighted in blue) - Brandon says that he made it so that Shadesmar has air so that people wouldn't have to worry about bringing plants to get oxygen, or a Windrunner, or - wait. What? The way he says it, it sounds like (were it the case that Shadesmar had no air) a Windrunner would be helpful - if not absolutely crucial - in getting air into Shadesmar. This leads me to believe that, as they progress in the Oaths, Windrunners gain access to some sort of air/wind manipulation abilities; this seems to be supported by Kaladin's pressure bubble in Oathbringer. I'm curious to see how this could be applied by Kaladin, and other Windrunners, but I'm more curious to see if other orders have similar abilities not exactly related to their surges. Personally, assuming some (if not all) other orders have abilities we haven't seen yet, I like to think that the Skybreakers could summon lightning. It fits with their name (breaking....skies....), and would definitely be storming cool (yes, I will admit, I just want to see Szeth shoot lightning while dual-wielding Nightblood and his sprenblade). What do you think about this? Am I reading too much into this WoB? Do you think the orders could have abilities other than those strictly defined by their surges?

Reposting this from my introduction post **Warning: This post contains MASSIVE spoilers for Oathbringer. Proceed either with caution, or not at all.** Hi guys! This is my first post here, and I want to talk about Dalinar. Near the end of Oathbringer, Dalinar is able to recreate Honor’s perpendicularity by joining the 3 Realms. I was wondering what the extent of these powers are. Could Dalinar travel to the Spiritual Realm? What would happen if he did? Does this require Stormlight? At the end of Oathbringer, Kaladin said that Dalinar was able to renew gemstones for his trip, which indicates that Dalinar is able to combine the Realms at any time. Can Dalinar do this because he is a Bondsmith, or is it something else entirely? We know that Bondsmiths are somewhat special among Radiants, as there can only be three, and the order was founded by Ishar, who (I think) Ash said was the only Herald that didn’t lose his mind. Dalinar seemed able to do something similar when he operated the Oathgate, despite having no Shardblade. This power is surely the same as the one Dalinar used later on to unite the Realms, but this quote makes it sound less like a Bondsmith power, as opening the Oathgate seemed to hurt the Stormfather, or at least bother him deeply. This probably wouldn’t happen had this been typical Bondsmith behavior. This raises a question: if it’s not a Bondsmith ability, then where did this power come from?

**Warning: This post contains MASSIVE spoilers for Oathbringer. Proceed either with caution, or not at all.** Hi guys! This is my first post here, and I want to talk about Dalinar. Near the end of Oathbringer, Dalinar is able to recreate Honor’s perpendicularity by joining the 3 Realms. I was wondering what the extent of these powers are. Could Dalinar travel to the Spiritual Realm? What would happen if he did? Does this require Stormlight? At the end of Oathbringer, Kaladin said that Dalinar was able to renew gemstones for his trip, which indicates that Dalinar is able to combine the Realms at any time. Can Dalinar do this because he is a Bondsmith, or is it something else entirely? We know that Bondsmiths are somewhat special among Radiants, as there can only be three, and the order was founded by Ishar, who (I think) Ash said was the only Herald that didn’t lose his mind. Dalinar seemed able to do something similar when he operated the Oathgate, despite having no Shardblade. This power is surely the same as the one Dalinar used later on to unite the Realms, but this quote makes it sound less like a Bondsmith power, as opening the Oathgate seemed to hurt the Stormfather, or at least bother him deeply. This probably wouldn’t happen had this been typical Bondsmith behavior. This raises a question: if it’s not a Bondsmith ability, then where did this power come from?

So I made a few quick sketches during the work week so I couldn't put a lot of time into them. Here they are. The first one is Vin's only dagger. (she broke the other in the 2nd part of The Final Empire) The second one is Vin at the 2nd part of The Final Empire. The third one is the shardblade called Oathbringer.

I got the impression (unless I read it somewhere and forgot) that Elhokar wanted to lead the raid on Kholinar because he expected to die, but he wanted to bring Kaladin because he thought he would make sure it would succeed. Maybe he intended to go out with honor or glory, or maybe he just wanted to get himself out of the way. Or maybe he really did want to be responsible for freeing his city, and wanted to have a hand in it. Thoughts?

I just reread Oathbringer and noticed that when Dalinar goes to see the Nightwatcher he has a guide named Felt whose physical description is; "Had to have some Shin blood in him, judging by those eyes". Felt helps guide Dalinar to the Valley and the Nightwatcher. He says that he came to see the nightwatcher, but she didn't show up. His reason is "she doesn't like foreigners" and when Dalinar mentions he is from Alethkar Felt says, "You're a little less foreign". Given that he doesn't look like a full Rosharan and he consideres himself an outsider I am guessing he is a world hopper. What I don't know is what his purpose is. Does anyone know if Felt shows up in anything other scene in SA? He might just be a random character, but I wonder if behind the scenes a secret society (ghostbloods maybe?) was guiding Dalinar toward the nightwatcher. I'm curious if anyone else has a crazy theory.

Hi, I just signed up to this forum, so this is my first post. Therefore, if there's another topic about this, please redirect me. Thanks! I finished my 1° reading of Oathbringer llst week, and I was just wondering: If the greatest impediment for Team Voidbringer during the desolations was the trapping on Braize of the fallen fused, then why didn't Odium sought to create the everstorm before, thus enabling multiple resurrections for the fused, many desolations ago? I'm looking forward to your opinions on the subject!

Hello 17th Shard, I've just joined the forums yesterday and as much as I want to get into this Stormlight Archive section to dive into theories and analysis, I currently can't. This being because I haven't read neither Edgedancet nor Oathbringer yet, so the reason for this post to be is to ask for help in order to start them without having to re read the whole first two books again!!! I read the two prequels almost two years ago, so I mostly remember the main plot and characters. The things I'd love you to help me recall are the little details, things like a certain king doing something dark with ill peopke, and a herald coming to the present again or something like that. I also remember a kind of secondary plot refering to a kind of night genius-like goddes who made wishes come true or something like that. Or if you don't want, or logically, don't have the time to go over all of this (as even the secondary aspects of this saga are enormous and complex), could you please share with me either videos or links to the coppermind that might help? I guess it is needless to be said that I'd appreciate it if you marked anything about Oathbringer's or Edgedancer's plots as spoiler in this topic. Thank you!!!

"No mating!" Plus dividing by zero. "You cannot have my pain!" No words, just all the feels. "Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before pancakes." Words to live by, gancho.

Posted this on Reddit today. Thoughts?

Posted this on Reddit earlier today: I noticed a strong similarity between Glys and Ym's spren regarding how they prefer to remove hostile threats. When Nale approaches Ym after he ran away, Ym thinks he may be able to use his Stormlight to fend him off. His spren says "light". At first I thought she meant Stormlight, but then when you read Glys' solution to ending the Thunderclast, he also says "light" after which Renarin lights his hand like a green lantern torch and banishes the Thunderclast. "“So … Glys?” he asked. “What do I do?” "Light. You will make it go with light." "Renarin raised his fist and summoned Stormlight. It glowed as a powerful beacon. And … The red molten eyes faded before that light, and the thing settled down with a last extinguishing sigh." I'm pretty sure Ym's spren was also trying to imply to Ym that he could use light as an offensive weapon to fend off Nale, too. Now we all know light can be manipulated into laser beams and stuff, but even so I think it was obviously something else specifically that Thunderclasts don't like. Any thoughts?

Hello All, I'm excited to join and be a part of the community! I am new-ish to Sanderson's writing, but have move through it pretty quickly. I've read through SA (including Edgedancer), Mistborn Era1, and Warbreaker. I have started Elantris and own Mistborn Era 2, but haven't read either. BUT, enough about me...to my question...Also, Oathbringer Spoilers, I guess... SO! As we know now after Oathbringer, the Alethi are actually from another world that was destroyed by their predecessors after some calamity using/involving Stormlight. My question pertains more so, however, to the planet of Roshar. The plants, animals, and landscape of Roshar bear an incredible resemblance to underwater life. From how the plants retract, to the description of massive crustacean like creatures, to even eels that fly! Is it possible, or has it been confirmed, that the arrival of what was left of the Alethi transformed/destroyed Roshar to the point of drying out oceans and such. Just a curious topic I have always wondered about and am interested to any possible answers.

So I saw a lot of theories about the cause behind the recreance, but none of them seemed to come close to the truth revealed in oathbringer: that proto radients/ bonded humans/ dawnshard users destroyed their planet. I’m curious what the communities thoughts on this reveal are.

So, this is my first attempt a writing a SA fic. Please excuse bad language, English is not my native tongue. Also, this (and following chapters, there will be at least one more) is mostly me having fun with the characters and not to be taken all too seriously. It involves Adolin doing for Maya what we all want him to do, Adolin meeting Kaladin's family, some fun and maybe some vague Kaladin/Adolin undertones even though I don't actually ship them. You can also read it on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17042888/chapters/40070771?view_adult=true (There's currently a not-so-revised version online, will update it later) Well, uh, have fun. And, of course, this contains Oathbringer spoilers. (With spoiler tags to not use too much space.)

I hope it's okay to make a thread like this, but I really really need a little bit of support right now. I'm reading OB for the first time right now and have reached a point where I don't know how to continue my life. (That's more serious than it sounds, I have to work now and won't be able to continue reading for about 13 hours. I don't know how I'm supposed to concentrate on work right now.) I'm talking about Elhokar, of course. I mean. He was about to speak The Words! He was starting to GLOW! Oh why must this happen? And why has Kaladin have to be there? He did not deserve this. This whole scene was so, so utterly unfair. I cried more than during any other scene throughout all books. He had such a good run during the book so far! It's not that I was utterly surprised about this. I mean. Of course things can't be good for Kaladin. Not for more than two days in a row, it seems. Nobody deserved this to happen. Please. What am I supposed to do? ;______;