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Taravangian went to the Nightwatcher some time after Gavilar's death. And the Roshone affair happened shortly before that. So he would not have been able to direct the affair. However, if he did, it would tight up a lot of aspects together. Basically Moash killing Elhokar, Kaladin enllsting in Amaram's army, Tien and Helaran dying, and Shallan seeking Jasnah could all be linked with one prescient action by Taravangian. That's basically a huge part of Kaladin, Moash, and Shallan's backstory in one single affair. Could the Roshone affair have been Taravangian's doing event though he had not seen the Nightwatcher at the time of the affair?

Something I just quickly wanted to bring to light: after three, gigantic books that have spent time focusing on him, we still don't know the entire story of why Kaladin distrusts lighteyes so much. While we definitely see his resentment beginning to dampen, the main causes are not all fleshed out yet. While the obvious ones (Roshone and Amaram) have been addressed, and their arc in his storyline almost, if not completely, done with, that still leaves ones example of betrayal in Kaladin's past that is unaccounted for. And that's where Katarotam comes in. If you don't remember that name, I can't blame you in the slightest as I forgot it myself since it was mentioned only one time in the entire series thus far. From The Way of Kings; Chapter 4, pg. 82: "Under previous masters, he'd demanded his wages be given to him. They had always found ways to cheat him- charging for his housing, his food. That's how lighteyes were. Roshone, Amaram, Katarotam . . . Each lighteyes Kaladin had known, whether as a slave or a free man, had shown himself to be corrupt to the core, for all his outward poise and beauty. They were like rotting corpses clothed in beautiful silk." However, even with this being his only mention the reader can see the obvious mark this man, Katarotam, left on Kaladin. This raises the question: Who was Katarotam, and what did he do? While from the text and timeline it's obvious to tell that Katarotam came into Kaladin's life during his enslavement, there is no way to tell the specifics of that as Kaladin said himself that he's, "changed hands a half-dozen times" (pg. 76) since his enslavement. Though with Kaladin choosing Katarotam to be among the men who has hurt Kaladin the most, we can assume that he had left a big impression and I therefore have three possible reasons for this: 1.) Katarotam was the first master to be over Kaladin. This would make sense as he would inevitable leave a lasting impression on Kaladin, and could even explain how he would manage to betray him. With Kaladin going from 'youngest squad leader in Amaram's army' to 'disgrace slave' in just one day, it would make sense that he wouldn't really know what to do with himself at first. And with no experience in surviving or even living the life of a slave, Kaladin would have no way of knowing what the average life of a slave would be. With that opening, he may have seen Katarotam as he once did Amaram: a man who cared for those under him. Perhaps Kaladin thought he got lucky and ended up with a master who was lenient, but later proved himself to be brutal? 2.) Katarotam was one of the most brutal masters This is one of the more simple reasons: Kaladin had suffered the worst of his times as a slave under Katarotam. This could still go in a number of ways though- with Katarotam being brutal because he was a horrible man, plain and simple, or being brutal specifically to Kaladin because he had heard of his escape attempts and wished to break him, or perhaps he noticed that Kaladin (a tall, well-built, natural leader) would ultimately bring hope to the other slaves and decided to use him as an example. While I'd say this is plausible, I don't think it's very likely as this leaves no room for betrayal, no room for Katarotam to hide himself behind poise and beauty as Kaladin specifically mentioned in the text. While those examples may refer specifically to Roshone and Amaram (though I don't see how it fits to Roshone seeing as he had it out for Kaladin's family at the beginning) the pause between the mention of Katarotam and the descritpors leads me to believe that most of it was inspired by Katarotam himself. 3.) Katarotam was the one to give Kalain the shash brand This is the most likely of the possibilities to me as the pain of the branding and the long term consequences it would have on his life would definitely be enough of a reason for Katarotam to be up with Roshone and Amaram. Not to mention the branding takes place just shortly before Kaladin's perspective starts in the first book, with his last master making the decision to brand him 'dangerous.' Not only does it make it recent, life changing, and painful, but it also opens Kaladin up to betrayal. This is where the reasoning would spread out a bit, with a number of possibilities being present to why Kaladin would consider Katarotam to be a prime example of how lighteyes are always different from how they prevent themselves. One reason could be referred back to reason 1, Katarotam had somehow convinced Kaladin that he cared for his slaves. Though this seems a bit flimsy to me, it could also be a good reason for how Kaladin can't even bring himself to fully trust low-ranking lighteyes. Another reason could be that Katarotam used bribery to earn loyalty from his slaves, promising them extra pay or even a chance at freedom if they do their work just right. This could to Kaladin to discovering he's a fraud, ultimately leading to the branding. These are just my thoughts, obviously we have very little to go off as he's only mentioned in one chapter but I do believe Katarotam will make an appearance in the form of a flashback in the next book (Slight Spoiler) - much like it did with Tarah- by that I mean her rarely being mentioned until we eventually met her in Oathbringer.

The lives of Kaladin, Moash, and Elhokar were placed on a collision course for tragedy after The Roshone Affair. In this event we infer that Moash's silversmith grandparents were imprisoned, and later died in prison, based on the greed of Roshone who used his influence over King Elhokar (in charge of Kholinar due to the absence of his father and Dalinar) to carry out the plot. When Dalinar was alerted to the disaster details were suppressed and Roshone was exiled. This single critical event would have a domino effect resulting in: the death of Moash's family and embittering of Moash the exile of Roshone to Hearthstone and the eventual levying into the army and death of Tien (destroying Kaladin's "innocence") Kaladin and Moash uniting in a temporary treasonous plot against Elhokar Kaladin temporarily losing his bond with Syl and nearly turning against Dalinar Kaladin and Moash experiencing a falling out, resulting in Moash being exiled from Bridge 4, and ultimately joining The Singers The death of Elhokar at Moash's hands. Many classic literary tragedies tend to have a critical miscommunication or misunderstanding at their root. There is also often a single antagonistic character whose manipulative or evil actions result in the downfall of others. I believe Queen Aesudan, not King Elhokar, was ultimately responsible for the death of Moash's family. Elhokar however, displaying his usual characteristics of loving and protective husband, along with his propensity to trust the wrong people, chose to assume responsibility for his wife's actions. This sets the perfect recipe for a tragedy wherein Kaladin and Moash are set on a path of vengeance based on the incomplete assumption that Elhokar was entirely responsible for the tragedies in their life. Moash ends up killing a person who did not bear true responsibility for his plight, and indeed Moash is now serving one who did bear responsibility for the evils done to him (Queen Aesudan, likely already acting under the influence of Odium+Unmade). I can't really prove this was likely the case, but it is a fun thought to consider, and it would connect a lot of clues and offer an important twist on the story. A couple possible clues: 1 - Approximate Time of the Roshone Affair This quote places the time of the Roshone Affair pretty accurately. It occurs in the brief interval where the Listeners had been discovered and King Gavilar had developed an interest in them, but before Gavilar had been assassinated. Perhaps one year or less before the assassination? Dalinar was likely in an alcoholic bender at this time instead of watching over and instructing Elhokar, another tragic "what if?" element to the event. The second half of this quote is interesting because at first glance the "someone he trusted" is heavily implied to be Roshone. It is worded just loosely enough though that Dalinar could be referring to a third party. 2 - If Aesudan was suspected of being involved in this affair, it explains certain reactions by Dalinar and Jasnah. We are never given a specific reason why Jasnah was arranging for an assassination of Queen Aesudan via Liss, nor why she eventually retreats from her request opting for further observation. If Jasnah highly suspected that Aesudan bore responsibility for the Roshone Affair (but wasn't completely certain due to Elhokar covering for her), that may be enough to make Jasnah highly consider an assassination, but then decide it needed further observation. We learn later that Jasnah considers the stability of her family's rule to be of critical importance, thus her recognizing that Aesudan is both a terrible ruler/person and also has the blind loyalty of Elhokar would establish Aesudan as a clear risk to the family's ability to maintain power and not coming into internal conflict with one another. We also are given heavy hints early on that Dalinar does not trust Aesudan. Mraize's letter indicates that Dalinar's trusted soldier Bordin was purposefully left behind in Kholinar to keep an eye on the Queen (Bordin later leaves the city to deliver Taln and the shardblade to Dalinar). Dalinar also seems distressed that Navani has left Kholinar, hoping that she would provide leadership advice to Aesudan. Navani declares however that the Queen is politically competent (and reading between the lines, likely ignores Navani's advice entirely). We later learn that Aesudan is a cruel and petty ruler who has been under the influence of Odium's Unmade for an indeterminate period of time. 3 - Characters of Elhokar and Roshone What was done to Moash's grandparents was monstrous, but in hindsight it doesn't seem to match the characteristics of either Elhokar or Roshone, the two characters we are told are responsible. Elhokar was a pretty terrible ruler for much of the time we are with him, he trusts the wrong people, and occasionally displays a temper. Even so, agreeing to throw some elderly artisans in the palace dungeons merely to financially benefit an ally seems much more cold-hearted than the Elhokar we know. If however Aesudan was responsible for throwing some inconvenient darkeyes in dungeon, it is fitting with Elhokar's character that he would try to protect her and refuse to think ill about her. Roshone is another character who while greedy, underhanded, and unpleasant doesn't seem to sink to the level of murderous to achieve his goals. Indeed in the Hearthstone flashbacks Roshone seem to rely on bullying and peer pressure to try to get back Lirin's stolen spheres, rather than directly threatening his family or imprisoning them. Lirin notes that he is of high enough Nahn to have rights against unlawful imprisonment by Roshone, but the events of the Roshone Affair clearly demonstrate a flaw with that line of thinking. The fact that Lirin and Hesina seem to have grown accepting of Roshone's presence by the events of Oathbringer may indicate that Roshone isn't as malicious as has been suggested. Perhaps Roshone originally proposed an underhanded scheme to pressure Moash's parents into joining his monopoly, but it was Aesudan who chose to escalate matters into imprisoning them? 4 - Elhokar's Cryptic Elhokar had attracted the attention of a Cryptic (liespren) and was on the path to becoming a Lightweaver before his tragic end. We'll never know for certain what specific lies Elhokar had been telling himself that attracted a Cryptic ("I am a good and effective King" seems one painful possibility). His uncompromising belief that his wife was a good person and just ruler seems very likely to have been one of them though. During the infiltration of Kholinar when he otherwise displayed traits of a good leader he repeatedly refused to consider the possibility that Aesudan was responsible for the situation in the city. Admitting this would likely have been one of his Truths for a Lightbringer oath. Thus completes the tragedy of Elhokar, his greatest flaw and the seed of his downfall was loving and trusting his wife too much. 5 - Random Quote That Probably Means Nothing Behold the offhand reference to a card game that Lirin makes when Roshone first arrives at Hearthstone: "The tower" is commonly used as a symbol of House Kholin, it and a crown are the chapter header image for Dalinar. Mentioning the Queen in contrast to the tower here would be a fantastic wink from Brandon if did turn out that the Queen (Aesudan), not the Tower (Elhokar) was responsible for the Roshone affair and its fallout. Or it might mean nothing at all

This is a brief theory I had regarding the next series. Kaladin still has 2 more ideals to reach, and is likely to speak more Words while visiting his home. Personally, I think that he will swear his next oath while saving or sparing Brightlord Roshone's life. We know that both times before when Kaladin swore to the ideals, it was at a point where he was suffering from intense despair, (out on the shattered plains, exhausted, empty of Stormlight and watching the parshendi kill his men, and suffering a flashback to the day his brother died,) or doubt (lost his connection with Syl, having to choose between fighting one of his closest friends or letting Elhokar be murdered.) What would define "doubt and despair" more for Kaladin then having to save the life of the man who singlehandedly turned his family into outcasts, forced Kaladin and Tien into military service, (thus resulting in Tien's death), and killed Moash's parents (thus resulting in the betrayal of one of Kaladin's own men)?

OK, so after I read (most of) Words of Radiance, I spent a long time fantasizing about how Kaladin would return to Hearthstone, Challenge Roshone and basically just do stuff. I didn’t really develop it into a real story, but I wrote down some initial ideas about what could happen. Here’s what I came up with: Kaladin practicing half lashings (where you’re weightless, since your Gravitation and gravity are equal). When he masters this, he disguises himself as a lighteyes who’s visiting Hearthstone so that no one recognizes him. He then lashes himself to Hearthstone in about an hour (that’s a lot of lashings, which means a lot of Stormlight. Sigh), but sets himself down a few minutes’ walk away from the main gate, out of sight from the town. He then goes in and Roshone invites him to stay at his place for dinner and a place to rest. Kaladin accepts and keeps a calm demeanor, but is raging inside. At this point, a few things could happen. Either he goes to the town square and reveals his true identity, he stays at Roshone’s house for a night and does that the next day, or travels about town and meets his parents, who at first don’t recognize him, but eventually realize who he is, and the next day he reveals himself to everyone else. Whichever one happens, it doesn’t really affect how the story will turn out (or at least, not too much). Either way, he reveals his true identity and summons Syl as a Shardblade. In the first and second options, everyone (including his parents) is amazed to see that Kaladin has returned, and shocked to find that he is a lighteyes, he has a Shardblade and that he is a Knight Radiant. The only difference with the third option is that Kaladin’s parents know that he has a Shardblade and that he is a lighteyes, but they don’t know that he is a KR. Anyway, after a few moments of silence, Roshone sneers and says something along the lines of ‘So, the underdog has returned, has he? Or will he leave and betray us, just as those who did before him.’ Kaladin quiets him and warns them of the Everstorm. When he is done, he covertly threatens Roshone by saying something like ‘Oh, and by the way, you better not try anything, or-‘. After, this, Kaladin goes home (all three options) and tries to persuade his parents to come to the Shattered Plains. ‘It would be safer’ Kaladin insisted. ‘Roshone wouldn’t be able to do anything, and even if something does happen there, I’ll be around to protect you.’ His father replies that he must stay here, to help the townspeople if they get injured or ill, and repeats what he said all those years ago: ‘If no one starts to do the right thing, then no one can follow.’ This pretty much ends the argument, but before he leaves, Kaladin leaves a spanreed for them to contact him if the need ever arises, so that he can come and do whatever needs to be done. ‘I’ll send you some of my income.’ Kaladin said. ‘It’s not like I don’t have enough of it; I’m the leader of the personal guard of the Highprince of War, and on top of that I’m a KR. You don’t need to worry about money anymore.’ With this, he leaves. What do you think? Please tell me whether you find it interesting or not (of course, since it isn’t a fully formed story and it hasn’t been edited, it’s sure to be at least a little bad, but tell me what you think of it anyway)

So in Words of Radiance (can't give the direct quote or page number since I am moving and my copy is in a taped-up box), Sadeas says that he likes his wife Ialai's name because unlike most Rosharan names, which are palindromes except one letter off, her name is a perfect palindrome and therefore a bit arrogant. Similarly, Kabsal compliments Shallan on her name in Way of Kings because it's one sound off from a palindrome. So why does Laral, Kaladin's childhood friend/almost-fiancee/it's complicated, have a perfect palindrome name? Or, for that matter, Rillir, Brightlord Roshone's ill-fated son who died of idiocy when he tried to kill a whitespine? Any ideas on the inconsistency? Perhaps giving your (light-eyed) kid a perfect palindrome name was less of a taboo in the countryside, but Rillir came from the capital city, where it would have been heavily frowned upon.

Yup. Laral will be a Knight. Reasons: her name is palindromic* her dad died and she became engaged to a tyrant Kaladin's probably going to fall for her* And... yeah, thats it. But I'm almost certain. * Not quite relevant. More, uh, jokinglyish-things.

Spoilered for length. TL;DR version is that Dalinars biases are causing him to interpret the visions incorrectly, and this is making Bad Things happen. Also Alodin killing Sadeas was a really good idea, And Kaladins Wangst could have been avoided if he had gone in a slightly different direction. Here is an excerpt...

So while everyone talk about powers and swords, I want to talk about something more personal. A while back, I made this topic about Kaladin's parents. In Words of Radiance, our boy has went from rags to riches when he finally accepted his role and became a part of Dalinar's new Knight Radiant order. Now, it's almost certain that he'll return to Hearthstone in the next book. But. What exactly will he go home to? As I've said in the last thread, the situation in Hearthstone really stinks. Kaladin's parents have always been portrayed very positively in his flashbacks. It's really out-of-character for either of them to just cut off their sons as coldly as they did Kaladin and Tien when the boys were recruited into the military. Seriously, not one letter from them in Kaladin's entire military career. It's a bit heartless of them, ain't it? There are a lot of ways for his parents to contact Kaladin if they wanted to. His mother can read and write, and there should be fresh recruits for Amaram's army every year. They also have the spheres for it too, if they wanted to be fancy. It's not like they still held out much hope for Kaladin to be a doctor after his recruitment. So unless Kaladin's flashback is really unreliable and his parents truly are heartless, there are only two explantions: 1) Someone with power and money intercepted/stole all of the letters between two parties. 2) Roshone continued to prove to us what a bastard he is and has done something terrible to Kaladin's parents after Amaram snatched up their sons for his army. After the latest book, I lean more towards latter option than ever. To be honest, I've always thought that Roshone was a really petty and evil person. Now, Dalinar has confirmed this for us. He's the ambitious kind who'll even kill people for profit. Even for a lighteyed, he's a horrible person. He is dangerous. Like it or not, he have the most authority over Hearthstone, and he is a cousin to Amaram, a powerful lord and a shardbearer for almost two years. Roshone can easily use his cousin's name to increase his power in that time. Even if this weren't the case, I have doubts that this would stop at Kaladin and Tien. Roshone and Lirin already had a fierce rivalry between them prior to his Rillir's death. After Roshone robbed Lirin of his own sons, you can say they're even, but Kaladin's father still has the spheres that Roshone so desperately wants. It's hardly over. Roshone was exiled to Hearthstone because it was an unknown town. It's not so that he won't be able to hurt anyone anymore, it's so that the damage he caused to others won't make as much noise and can be ignored. Roshone won't be able to do much to lighteyes, but he can still dish out a lot of hurt on the people he is charged to watch over. People only need a little power to abuse it. The fact that he's in exile won't change the fact that he's a greedy S.O.B. Have Kaladin's parents finally been subdued? Are they currently sharing a cell in Hearthstone? Or worse, are they dead? Either way, I hope Roshone gets what's coming to him, and I hope Kaladin's the one to do it too. Thoughts? Also, I hope Kaladin won't fall for Laral all over again. He just barely slipped away from a complicated relationship with Shallan the last book. Him and Laral will be a trainwreck, me thinks.

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.