Search the Community

I was looking at a suggested book reading order to send to someone I'm indoctrinating into Sanderson, and it mentioned that you should read Elantris before Rhythm of War. What did I miss??? I don't remember anything of note related to Elantris from RoW.

I'm late to this topic, but I was shocked at the sheer stupidity of Navani in Rhythm of War. When I search threads and posts from before, I see people saying that she engaged in a careful battle against Raboniel. This doesn't make sense to me. She gives Raboniel everything she wants and more, despite Raboniel making it blindingly obvious that she is going to use Navani's results to destroy humanity. What did she think would happen if she came up with what she thought was a weapon capable of killing gods while she knows Raboniel is carefully watching her every move? Couldn't she have just kept her revelation of using math to invert sound to to herself until she was safe (or dead, but still better to keep the secret that she knows is incredibly powerful out of the hands of the enemy)? Raboniel immediately broke her promise to leave the Tower after Navani first produced Warlight, but for some reason Navani is still motivated by her empty promise of "ending the war together" and simply hands over her extremely detailed notes right away. She even goes through all the effort of setting up traps in the hallway, but couldn't set one up to destroy the notebook. She wasn't even under any immediate threat. Raboniel makes it clear that she's happy to leave Navani safely alone because she thinks that her question was answered already with the first experiment. Raboniel isn't even harming any humans at the moment and all of Navani's family is safe. There's no reason to do what she did aside from making Navani feel like a cool scholar. This honestly ruined what up until then was a very enjoyable book for me, and felt like a very juvenile attempt to make the enemy more powerful before the climax.

To preface this, I'm tired, so I'll probably delete this topic later. Now for the "theory" (please point out all the things I get incorrect): Cultivation is going to die at the end of KoWT. but that's not the end of her story. Since the vessels of Honor and Cultivation were in a relation and Honor died, Cultivation went fully into her shardic intent, while still being able to join Tanavast in the beyond (or whatever it's called). At some point I think Wyndle said something (in Edgedancer?) along the lines of (about Cultivaiton and Honor) I feel like of the shards we know of, Cultivation has the best future sight. So, Cultivation has some plan that "maximizes" growth in the peoples of Roshar (and not necessarily in the good or bad way). The protagonists are going to spend the second half of the Stormlight Archives trying to figure out what Cultivation's plan is. And just to throw this in at the end with nothing to back this up, Adolin has a chance of becoming cultivation, due to his "cultivation"-like relationship with helping Maya "develop" consciousness.

Could the Stormfather be an Awakened being? It could help explain why he does not recollect a Herald dying as mentioned in the SA5 Prologue: He does not remember, because his memories have been tampered with. in the same manner as Wit's as seen at the end of RoW. Other theories seen so far: Current Stormfather being a fake/SA5 Stormfather being a pretender-Ishar/Cultivation shenanigans.

At the end of Words of Radiance the following interaction occurs: In the following books it is shown that spren did deal with living people, if not in their own major cities. These people are almost all various worldhoppers and they are not all that numerous, but they are not non-existent. I'd imagine that Jasnah would make a disturbance regardless. There are not that many people and Jasnah is specifically a radiant. It just seems there is a contradiction, perhaps a subtle retcon. Perhaps I am misremembering and there were absolutely no interactions between worldhoppers and spren, but I recall otherwise and I have been rereading the stormlight archives over and over again recently. Still doesn't mean I cannot be wrong of course.

Is Sixteen (the one in Lasting Integrity Shallan thinks at first thinks is Restares) Spook, he is Scadrian (there’s a WOB for this but since I’m new here I can’t put the link it’s in YouTube Stream 5, #55), he seems to be using cadmium and duralumin to jump into the future and he appears at chapter 75 of ROW and chapter 76 is called Harmony. PS: I’m new to the forum, I already posted something similar on Reddit but I haven’t found a similar post here.

The Call to Adventure! (see what I did there) 39,000 words, Teen/Mature/Explicit (see below for more details) Shakadolin, romance, friendship, sexual situations, polyamory negotiations, choose your own adventure style, asexual Kaladin, aroace Kaladin, bisexual Kaladin, questioning Kaladin, demisexual Kaladin Shallan and Adolin have been sort of kind of engaged for the last few years, and Kaladin has been an increasingly closer friend. But Shallan and Adolin have been talking about their relationship, and now Shallan has a proposal of her own for Kaladin… This is a choose your own adventure for Kaladin! What kind of relationship does he want to have with them, and how will he make that happen? The story guides through three questions and has eight happy endings ranging from platonic friendship to explicit sex. It takes place in a Canada modern AU setting and it references characters, themes, and quotes from Stormlight, all the way through to RoW. You will be amply warned for the rating of each chapter before you click! Teen chapters have discussions of sex and relationships in broad terms that one might find in a teen drama. Mature has discussions with more blatant sexual themes, complex emotions, and/or internalized acephobia/biphobia. Explicit has detailed descriptions of people having sex. There will be more details given at the top of chapters to help you out. Teen-rated excerpt below:

We see Kaladin use the Reverse Lash to rip off the Pursuer's head after he reaches the fourth ideal in Rhythm of War. Is this something he could've done before the fourth ideal, if he had practiced the Reverse Lash more? He starts using the ability in creative ways due to lacking the ability to use the Basic Lash for most of Rhythm of War, and don't really see anyone use it besides Kaladin in the first book. I thought surges don't become more powerful as you make oaths, you just gain access to new ones and your Shardblade/Shardplate, plus becoming a better "container" for Stormlight.

[double post glitch]

Rated Teen, 3000 words, Lyn/Laran Summary: Lyn just broke up with her boyfriend a couple weeks ago. Laran has caught her eye, but is it too soon? To be respectful to her ex’s feelings, Lyn decides to wait a while, but it’s difficult when Laran looks at her Like That… Keep reading (link to ao3)

Hello everybody, I am excited to post a topic for the first time! I’ve been thinking a lot of RoW and there has been something constantly bugging me ever since finishing the book. Why is Nale holding back his full power? As revealed in RoW Nale is a fifth ideal Skybreaker. This means he not only has access to shard plate but also whatever mystery power is granted by the fifth ideal. If he were to use these resources he would not only have absolutely smoked any radiant he fought, he would also have been more effective at his mission. Instead he chooses not use his shard plate. Any thoughts?

Disclaimer: I have no idea where to put this, so please benevolent mods, move this if necessary. SPOILER WARNING: Alright so, this theory contains the heaviest spoilers in the world for Stormlight Archive Rhythm of War, Warbreaker, Elantris, Tress of the Emerald Sea, and I might have to borrow from Mistborn Era 2 It also spoilers ALL of Avatar the last airbender and Legend of Korra. The world of Avatar almost perfectly fits into the cosmere, here me out. I'll be using cosmere words like Bond, Connection, Investiture, Spren, Shards, cognitive realm, Intent, and the like, so if you don't know any of those, read the cosmere books before reading on in this theory. I'll to capitalize those words in order to make them stand out. I will call the Avatar-World the Avatar-World in order to avoid confusion. --- Let's get started, first of all, of course there are not really fitting shards left over for this planet, but to put it simply, something similar to Roshar is going on. Spren-like splinters called Spirits inhabit the Cognitive Realm known as the Spirit-world of the planet Avatar-World, and two perpendicularities known as Spirit Portals in the North and South pole of the planet exist. This is a fact that points towards two Shards of Adonalsium having been shattered on that world. The Spirit World, Spirits, and the Perpendicularities Judging from the original humans having been in the Cognitive Realm first, they might've migrated over from another planet, before having been changed by Cosmereological Intent (see Pure Lakers on Roshar) to let the ever present but Mist-like (see Scadrial) invisible form of Investiture known as Chi, flow through their bodies. The Spren/spirits/splinters of those Shards known as the lion turtles could thus grant the humans a special form of Bond to allow them to use the power of an element. In the Avatar-World there must be two new types of Bonds: one that lion turtles use to grant the ability to use investiture to control and element, and one bond that Spirits use to possess a human. Bending and Investiture - an End-Positive System Forming a Connection to the power of the Splintered shards (see what happened on Sel), this Bond is not very similar to the Nahel Bond (Roshar & Spren) and a Luhel Bond (Lumar), but instead only requires an initial bond that unlcoks the power in a human and can then be passed on genetically. Investiture in the Avater-World in the physical realm is an invisible gas, or at least humans have evolved to not see it, and is ever-present, seeping into the humans where it is called Chi. The unlocking of bending and chi-gates might form cracks in the soul that are passed on genetically, seemingly even the more powerful Splinters or rather Cognitive Shadows can hold such powers, as evident by Raava and Vaatu. Bending itself is a way of Accessing Investiture, requiring intent and specific physical movements that look almost like a martial art. This is similar to Aons drawn by Elantrians using AonDor or the martial arts on Sel. The Avatar Both bonds were used by Raava and Wan to create the first avatar: A cognitive shadow that holds memories of all prior avatars, held together within a human body by the Spirit Raava. Whenever an Avatar dies, the memories are added to the cognitive shadow known as the Avatar, and the spirit Raava carries it on to a newborn human from another nation to use the possession Bond with. Similar to a Bondsmith, the Avatar can create and sever connection, such as completely taking someone's ability to bend, or temporarily elsecalling into the Spirit World (Cognitive Realm). Chi-Blocking Chi-blocking blocks spiritual pathways for the Soul which investiture would need to take. Healing Healing works well in the Avatar-World since due to the physical movements through which investiture is accessed, the humans of the Avatar-World have developed a stronger image of self and their cultures, even associating them directly with how they can use investiture. Savantism Savantism in bending might require something more than just a lot of investiture and using their power, but these are known as specialized bending types. --- Tell me what you think. Did I make any mistakes? Any way you can fix my mistakes and still make it fit?

Chapter 100 of RoW is titled “Watchers at the Rim”. Why is this so familiar, and what is its meaning?

May have been discussed before, but why is the Sibling called the Sibling? Why not the Child? I feel that this is hinting that Honor and Cultivation created more than one spren together. Perhaps they made 10 children, all siblings of each other, and 9 of them fell to Odium as the Unmade. Sja-Anat calls the Sibling her cousin. She also says Odium can unmake spren: She mentions that their memories are lost, and we saw the Sibling slowly losing control in the chapters after all nodes were destroyed. Will there be a way to remake an Unmade, as Book 5 will deal with BAM?

Zahel mentions something interesting regarding Cognitive Shadows: Going back to this scene after the book, I see that it ties in nicely with the idea of Heralds being like spren. So who is “she” here? Is it Ba-Ado-Mishram (BAM)? I’m wondering because Kalak mentions something similar in his last epigraph, and we know BAM affects the memories and thinking of spren and natives of Roshar (singers): If it is BAM, how does Zahel know so much?

What exactly is happening here? This is when Moash is in the burning manor basement with Kaladin. Moash is taunting him when a pure, concentrated light explodes into the room: The figure in the light was Renarin, so is this his attempt at lightweaving? Does he lightweave possibilities (as he is able to see them), and he saw Moash’s alternative path which would’ve led to him living as a respectable Radiant Windrunner? Why does this cause Moash to feel pain again (he says to take the pain away)? This also ties in with Moash at the end, when he begins to feel pain: Is this weakening of the Connection similar to the scene in Ch. 8? Thoughts?

Why does Shallan name Formless as male? Is it just another coping technique to distance herself from who she was?

Realizing that if Book 5 ends 10 days after the end of RoW (day of the contest), what part do Shallan and Adolin play? They'll still be traveling in the Cognitive Realm for at least 10 days, and they have no idea what's happening except with Wit and his communications box. They may be the part of the story that reveals a few big twists, investigating what truly happened at the Recreance. Thoughts?

The Stormfather said that a Highstorm naturally cycles higher and lower in the sky and will at the highest point engulf the top of Urithiru. The last Highstorm we saw was at end of RoW, a few days before the end of the book yet before the 10-day countdown began, and Kaladin described it as being just below the rooftop. So in 10 days, the Highstorm will likely envelop the rooftop and make for a great battle scene! The timing of the contest is important, as the Stormfather may be able to extend time in Dalinar's last moments of the fight (if Dalinar does indeed serve as his own champion). He may ask for this if, say, he becomes severely wounded. It would be very interesting to see Dalinar take a pause in the fight and be able to think it through, and given the additional Investiture from the Tower (and potential Investiture from the Valley if the Highstorm lines up with both locations simultaneously— see linked topic below), then he'd have a lot of time to work with. The only problem is that Odium set the date and time of the contest, and he probably knows when the next storm will be, so does he want a Highstorm for the contest? If so, why? Perhaps Odium has done this so that he can command the Everstorm to meet with the Highstorm at this moment, causing a WoR-level phenomenon that we saw before. This is just speculation, so maybe we won't see any Highstorm, but we've seen either a Highstorm or the Everstorm used in the last battles since WoR, so it would only make sense for us to see them used again.

I’ve been wondering about this one, partially because I feel like this will play a part in Book 5 (theory coming soon): How does the Stormfather slow time for someone in the highstorm? We saw this a little bit when Taravangian Ascended, that a high concentration of Investiture dilates time around those present. Also, how long can this last? The Stormfather says not too long, so let’s say a few seconds. But how long does that feel to the individual? For Kaladin, it was just a few minutes, but could it be longer?

Ever since I’ve read this Death Rattle, I believed that to truly break the bond with spren, you need to say Words opposite and contradictory to the Ideals you’ve spoken. This WoB suggests saying words is one of the ways to break the bond with spren. However up until RoW ch 93 there was nothing more to suggest this was the case. Until we saw Shallan breaking her own bond with Testament, by speaking words that might not feel important at first, yet are the key to her original Truths. To fully break the bond, she spoke inverted words of her original Truths and the First Ideal. First Ideal is contradicted with the last three sentences, as they fit together very well, this means breaking of the Oaths is in order from the one recently spoken, to the First Ideal “Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destination” - “You never existed. You are nothing. And I am finished!” Life never existed, the Strength is nothing, and the journey is finished. This bears very close resemblance to the Death Rattle quoted above. Knowing this we can say that Shallan's bond with Testament was on the 4th Ideal. “I’m done!” negated her 2nd Truth, “I hate you!” was for 3rd one, and “I don’t want you!“ inverted the last, 4th Truth she had spoken. These seems like a simple statements and I believe her Truths were also childishly simply, even Shallan said it herself: We can now guess her original Truths with Testament: 2nd Truth is the opposite of “I’m done!”, so it would be about starting of something, Shallan just simply admitting that “this is a new beginning” fits well enough. 3rd Truth was contradicted with “I hate you!”, so her Truth would be saying that she likes Testament. “I like you”. 4th Truth, the last one, was broken with “I don’t want you!“. Her Truth might be realizing that she wants to spend time or be with Testament, or even that she needs her. Now Shallan's situation with Testament is different from Kaladin’s with Syl in WoR. Kaladin didn’t say the contradicting words, he didn’t fully break his Oaths, he just didn’t live up to them. And when he started living by Ideals again, Syl was brought back to life, and he was able to say the 3rd Ideal. Shallan contradicted every single Ideal she’d spoken with inverted words. She can’t say the 5th Truth and make Testament alive again, she needs to reconstruct every Ideal she’s broken. And we have WoBs confirming it. She has already started doing it. She must have said her first Ideal somewhere in the past, maybe even at the same time she said it to Pattern unknowingly. Shallan said in RoW that she remembered using her surges after breaking the bond with Testament but before bonding Pattern, she soulcasted in WoK, and she was using Testament as a Shardblade during WoR. The most obvious candidate for her new Truth with Testament is “I’m terrified” spoken to a spren during events of WoK, when she soulcasted the goblet into blood. However, which Truth was reconstructed with these words is hard to say. It might be the 2nd one, or even the 3rd one, thus granting her ability to summon Testament as a Shardblade again, and allowing the blade to change shapes, open Oathgates, and look like a living Shardblade. To add more, Shallan admitting to killing or bonding Testament in RoW might be reconstruction of another Truth, as WoB posted above suggests this is a step in reconstructing her Oaths. But if that's true, then "I'm terrified" can't be 3rd one, as with the one in RoW she would be at 4th Ideal, and would fully reconstruct her Oaths. Yet Testament is still Deadeye. There might be something more needed, or her admitting to killing her spren might be just laying the foundation, not Oath reconstruction, because now she's aware of this, and now she can knowingly work on reconstructing more Oaths. What do you think? What were Shallan’s original Truths spoken with Testament? What Truths has she managed to reconstruct?

When Dalinar speaks to Kaladin as Tien, right before the 4th Ideal, it reminded me of his “I am Unity” scene in OB. His message to Kaladin is being there in the moment for others, not just thinking about the end goal. It’s a reiteration of the First Ideal, journey before destination. Dalinar likes to focus on that one, similar to OB, where he says it can’t be a journey if it doesn’t have a beginning.

I realized that Kaladin doesn’t use adhesion the same way that Dalinar does. Is this because of his radiant order, or because he doesn’t want to make a Connection with others in fear of losing them?

How can Odium make Fused? This seems like Adhesion or using Connections. This also begs a more serious question: if Adhesion is the surge of pressure and vacuum, and Odium is the Void, has this surge been touched by Odium?