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  1. Inspired by the later chapters in Rhythm of War, this is a tribute to Teft. While I still don't know exactly what I'm doing, I'm imagining members of Bridge 4 standing in front of his statue--having flashbacks. Please enjoy a part of me! https://youtu.be/eDzutoVMT48
  2. So I was thinking and I'm pretty sure Navani's third oath won't be "I am Unity" like Dalinar, it'll be something specific to her and the Sibling. Not to be pedantic, but something akin to "I am Science" would be really cool, except she's already had her revelation that Cultivation's light + Honor's light = Science, and I wish that could have been the moment of her third oath. Obviously her swearing the third one so soon after the first 2 would be a bit ridiculous, but still I think it would have been a cool moment. She could have held Stormlight in one hand and Lifelight in the other and slammed her palms together and copied her husband lol.
  3. This theory came to my mind after I read some of death rattles that still have no meaning Turns out there are some sentence that foreshadow a great body of water that fall from a very long storms. That storms can possibly be everstorm/highstorm or perhaps combination of both A man stood on a cliffside and watched his homeland fall into dust. The waters surged beneath, so far beneath. And he heard a child crying. They were his own tears —Collected on Tanatesev 1171, 30 seconds pre-death, by the Silent Gatherers. Subject was a cobbler of some renown. I believe this rattle refers to szeth’s feeling. Sinovar, Szeth’s home, have many mountain that surround it. Will sinovar crumble then got flooded? I'm cold. Mother, I'm cold. Mother? Why can I still hear the rain? Will it stop? —Collected on Vevishes 1172, 32 seconds pre-death, by the Silent Gatherers. Subject was a lighteyed female child, approximately six years old. This one refers to a rosharan people feeling amidst this very long storm. Light grows so distant. The storm never stops. I am broken, and all around me have died. I weep for the end of all things. He has won. Oh, he has beaten us. —Collected on Palahakev 1173, 16 seconds pre-death, by the Silent Gatherers. Subject was a Thaylen sailor. This might implied that it will be cause by odium (Now Todium). Very long storm will cause the sun to be blocked so sky will turn into night. You might also can find ‘long night’ foreshadowing from this : So the night will reign, for the choice of honor is life... —Observed circa Ishi 1173 by Taravangian. Subject was King Valam of Jah Keved. The day was ours, but they took it. Stormfather! You cannot have it. The day is ours. They come, rasping, and the lights fail. Oh, Stormfather! —Collected circa Tanat 1173 by Taravangian. Subject was a young boy. The darkness becomes a palace. Let it rule! Let it rule! —Collected on Kakevah 1173, 22 seconds pre-death, by the Silent Gatherers. Subject was a darkeyed Selay man of unknown profession. I believe this will happened in book 5. Brandon need a bitter ending for book 5 so stormlight archive can continue through book 6 to 10. I believe Todium will somehow create eternal global storm on roshar. This will cause catastrophic apocalyptic event that make living people of roshar migrate to shadesmar. Remember that shadesmar have reverse ecology to the real world? Land in shadesmar is sea in real world while sea in real world is land. So this flood will make shadesmar more occupiable with more land than before. But I believe not all of roshar will be flooded. Mountain will still stand tall above waters so urithru and horneater peak most likely still be safe. This will become a great strategic tool to make dalinar lose. If dalinar lose, Todium will have him to become his general to conquer the rest of cosmere. With this, Todium will be not afraid to lose. If dalinar win, he will still need to have conquer another cosmere’s world or at least will have to find any new world to occupy. They can’t live in Shadesmar forever. After all, if they can, why did people of ashyn (Human in Roshar ancestors) conquer roshar in the first place?
  4. Hey there everyone! We've had concerns be brought up about content from RoW being used in games. This is a fair thing to wonder about, as nine months can be a bit long. We have decided that our policy here is to make a new thread for that game if you wish to play it with RoW content, and title it appropriately. For example, Who's That Cosmere Character [RoW]. Spoilers themselves are not permitted in the name of your topic, as anywhere else on the forums. These threads will be locked after the nine months is over. If it is not a game that lends itself well to splitting threads, or you only wish to go on a small tangent in a chatting thread, please tag anything and everything that you think could possibly be called a spoiler, no matter how vague, and be clear that the tags are for RoW and not being used in a joking or spoiler-chain manner. Please report any posts you see that are not following these rules. If you have any questions, feel free to address them here.
  5. One of my most enjoyable memories of Oathbringer's pre-release was the Meme thread on the OB spoiler board here on 17th Shard. I saw a new meme on one of the threads here already, so I figured, it is time. Here are three memes I'm going to start the thread with. I'm sure you all will make better ones as the chapters come out. I look forward to seeing them.
  6. I couldn't help but notice that a relatively large point repeated throughout RoW is how Venli thought she was the last listener. How she organized Thudd and some others to escape fused rule. But at the same time, I couldn't help but notice that Thudd and Eshonai were kinda taking bets on venli going into mate form when she was looking for war form. Meaning he must too be a listener, who Venli grew up with and would have known. Maybe I missed or misread something but I haven't been able to find much on Thudd in general
  7. Basically what the title says. RoW spoilers. Unless I'm missing something, Shallan's 3rd Ideal was acknowledging that she killed her father - then she used Pattern as a Blade in WoR. Her 4th comes at the end of WoR, the death of her mother, and Radiant (who seems Shallan's way of bypassing the 4th Truth) has Plate in the battle of Thaylen Field. Then the truth about Testament would be her 5th. But there are still things for her to overcome. Even if Radiant is a mask to hide from the 4th Truth (and only merging her back would give Shallan full access to the Plate), there is the question of her family's relation with the Ghostbloods and how she bonded Testament in the first place. It seems big enough to be a Truth too. It's been hinted at that Shallan believes she can find out the truth herself, without Mraize revealing it, if only she can face her past. So, do you think it's possible that Lightweavers say as many Truths as it takes? Is there maybe some WoB on it?
  8. Hello So. We saw in RoW, finally, how Shardplate is "made". The windspren that always staned Kaladin turned out to be the Windrunners "Platespren" We see some similar behaviour from Gloryspren towards Dalinar as early as in WoK when he beats Elhokar in a race, and later on in OB when he rejects Odium´s offer to take away his pain. In both instances Gloryspren surrounded him much like Windspren surround Kaladin. So we can assume that Gloryspren are Bondsmith´s Platespren My question is what are the other order´s Platespren? I can guess Edgedancers have Lifespren and Lightweavers would have Creationspren But what about the rest?
  9. In the final few chapters before taravangian became odium. Odium told taravangian "I have lost my champion again" who did odium lose as his champion?
  10. In row ishar said " I only prepare for the end of worlds " emphasis on worlds could there be a bigger threat to everyone, even bigger than odium?
  11. Could the Sibling and Ba-ado-Mishram be one and the same? - a Godspren - light-producing - stuck inside a gem - missing a part of itself - wary of Knights Radiant! - both went dormant about the same time Could "Mishram" have been a three-part spren, an equal divide between the three Shards - the three pure tones - of Roshar... perhaps even created to symbolize the unity of the three when the Ashynian Refugees were accepted? Perhaps even created as *part of the Oathpact*?
  12. All spoilers - RoW, Dawnshard, Cosmere, WoB, r/cremposting, whispers of fictive headmates, etc: In a nutgreatshell: I propose that the herald Ishi and the radiant Melishi are one and the same. 1. MELISHI We know that Melishi was a Bondsmith prior to the Recreance. He was bonded to the Sibling. He enjoyed a position of authority among the Knights Radiant. He lead a strike team to capture Ba-ado-Mishram. He was warned that this would have unintended consequences. He ignored this warning. 2. ISHAR We know that Ishar was a Herald of the Almighty. He is currently the mad God-Priest of Tukar. He is obsessed with spren, the Nahel bond, and Connection in general. He is preposterously skilled in combat - far more than even the Blackthorn and several Knights Radiant. Before he was a Herald, he was a part of the development of surgebinding on Ashyn, which led to the destruction of Ashyn, and was part of the subsequent exodus of humans from Ashyn to Roshar. He is still studying the fundamental forces of the Cosmere with an eye towards their manipulation. 3. SIMILARITIES I mean, basically all of it? ISHI, MELISHI - their names are pretty dang similar. Both had positions of authority in the Knights Radiant - Melishi from the way he is spoken of in the Gem Archive, and the Knights Radiant being literally called "Ishar's Knights." Both are closely associated with Bondsmiths. Melishi was a Bondsmith (bonded to the Sibling), the historical Ishar was the Heraldic patron of Bondsmiths, and the modern Ishar tried to steal a Bondsmith's bond to the Stormfather. Both are closely associated with Connection. We really only know Melishi in the context of gems mentioning Ba-Ado-Mishram, who in another gem is specifically discussed in terms of majuscular Connection. Ishar, in RoW, is all about that Connection. Melishi captured Ba-Ado-Mishram in a perfect gem (much the way Dalinar does to The Thrill). Ishar is studying a new way to capture spren, one that involves less jewelry and The historical Ishar was part of the development of surgebinding on Ashyn. The modern Ishar is trying to mess with the fundamental forces of Roshar. Melishi messed with the fundamental forces by capturing Ba-Ado-Mishram. The historical Ishar was part of the exodus of humans from Ashyn to Roshar. The modern Ishar is studying the persistence of Invested entities outside of their home. (This is pretty close to what Restares is doing on Roshar, and what Thaidakar is doing on Scadrial.) In the same way, Melishi was studying how to stop Voidlight from getting from Braize to Roshar by means of a spren. These seem similar - even progressive, one two three. The historical Ishar was part of the Surgebinding investigations that destroyed Ashyn. Melishi was part of the spren-capturing that caused the False Desolation and turned the parshendi into parshmen. The modern Ishar is on his way to becoming the subject of a Behind The Bastards episode. This guy genocides. And I mean, the methods of his madness are bad enough, but his *goals* are probably even worse! The guy should really be the Herald of Ignoring Externalities. "Playing with forces too big for him to control" seems like his bag, baby. He answers the question: What if Lanfear was like "okay, so we've got this Bore. What if we bored a BIGGER bore and then put THAT Bore in THIS bore? Problem solved!" This guy probably has a coffee mug that says "That's a problem for Tomorrow Ishar!" OMG I hate him so much. 4. PROBLEMS From the Gem Archive, we are told: ""This generation has had only one Bondsmith[...]" This suggests that there are multiple, changing Bondsmiths. But it does not imply that it all Bondsmiths are new. Heck, it tells us clearly that the 'multiple' part is not constant. I expect that none of these parts are constant. A) Heralds can bond spren. Look at Nale. Heralds can lead their Order - again, Nale. C) Heralds are immortal. Look at... well, 9 of them. (Sorry Jezza) D) We know that Ishi is older than the Heralds themselves. He was definitely alive during the time Melishi was alive. E) Again, Ishar tried to steal Dalinar's bond to the Stormfather - but another way of saying that is, he tried to bond a Bondsmith spren himself. F) Back in the day, the Nahel bond was less permanent. Maya says that she thought the breaking of her Radiant bond would hurt, but would not kill her. This implies that it would have left her able to be re-bonded to a new person, making a new Knight Radiant - much as she is on the road to doing with Adorablin. By this same method, a bondsmith could well have bon G) We are told by the Gem Archive that "This generation has only one Bondsmith." It does not imply that this one Bondsmith hasn't been a Bondsmith for generations - since, indeed, the beginning. And it does not imply that, just because there's only one bondsmith, only one of the Bondsmith spren is bonded. A person can have more than one Nahel bond at once. And if anyone was ever to do this it would be Mr. Bondypants himself. H) As a result, Melishi could have been bonded to more than one of the Bondsmith spren - before his attack on Ba-Ado-Mishram, or even, during it. I) Storms, it wouldn't surprise me to discover that Ishar CREATED the Sibling - using his Bonding powers to combine Stormlight and Cultivationlight into a new "Bondsmith-level spren." (We need better vocabulary, here. Bondspren? Shardspren? Greatspren? Pleez halp.) J) Storms, I'm guessing that Ishi-Melishi is the one who created the Nahel bond entirely. 5. SIDE THEORY THAT'S TOTALLY BATSHIT, I KNOW Since Ba-Ado-Mishram was a Light-level spren, and the only other Light-level spren are the Bondsmith spren, I'm going to go ahead and suggest that Ba-Ado-Mishram could have been a Bondsmith-bondable spren. Ba-Ado-Mishram might have been a regular ol' spren of Odium, and her only association with Light was to forge a Connection between a Light-source - say Odium himself - and the parsh. Or, Ba-Ado-Mishram could have been the spren of Odium in the way the Stormfather is the spren of Honor, or the Nightwatcher the spren of Cultivation. BUT. What if Ba-Ado-Mishram was a spren like the Sibling - a meeting of the two? And what if, as I theorized about the Sibling, Ishar was involved in her creation? Ba-Ado-Mishram might have been a 'sibling' of Honor and Odium, or of Cultivation and Odium - creating a 'towerlight'-like blend of the two lights. Maybe the creation of such a blended greatspren was part of the Oathpact by which Odium and the Ashyn Refugees were allowed onto Roshar. Maybe there were two of them - three blended greatspren, in addition to one pure greatspren of Odium. Meaning there's one mixed greatspren, and one pure greatspren, that we have yet to meet - or at least to understand. If Ba-Ado-Mishram was a Bondsmith-spren, Ishi/Melishi could well have bonded her at one point - or indeed, could have been bonded to her even while he was imprisoning her. This might be the reason that the Sibling went into hiding, and refused to bond any new Radiant. His last Bondsmith had betrayed one of his other bonded spren! (Aside: I kind of wonder if the Sibling being tied to the Tower is actually not that far off from Ba-Ado-Mishram being trapped in a gem. But that's a bit metaphysical for the moment - save 4 l8r.) And, ifffff this is all true... ISHAR COULD STILL BE BONDED TO BA-ADO-MISHRAM. Still bonded. All this time! This could well be the reason that Ishar is so double extra super crazy at the moment. He could be bonded to a spren who is trapped in a gem and has been stuck underground for a few millennia. That's probably halfway to being trapped himself - halfway to being Taln. Probably not super awesome for the ol' mental health - just guessing. 6. PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER My guess is that the history/mechanics went something like this. -Ishar was a human living on Ashyn -He was interested in the Surges - kind of the way Dr Faustus was interested in the spirits, Dr Oppenheimer in the atom, Dr. Eronaile the Power, or the current Ishar in playing Dr. freakin' Mengele with living spren. -Odium tempted Ishar with the power to manipulate the fundamental surges -Ishar did so, creating Surgebinders - probably creating the Nahel bond as we know it. -In doing so, he also delved_too_deep.gif, and created such instability on Ashyn that the planet was rendered uninhabitable - all but destroyed. (Side note - the name "Ishar" is quite a bit like the "Ishtar" of Biblical times. There's a lot of cross-pollenation among old deities, and their names... but Ishtar is associated with the serpent who tempted Adam and Eve with the forbidden knowledge that saw them cast out of Paradise. RIP Tranquiline Halls.) -Odium then asked Honor and Cultivation if he, and his people, could flee to Roshar. The Avasts agreed, under the condition that Odium would stay on Braize and not do, y'know, Odium Stuff. This was the Oathpact. -The Oathpact was created, not just by the power of the Shards, but by the power of Ishar the Bondsmith. He created the rules of the Oathpact. -The reason Ishar was able to bind Shards to an agreement, is the same reason that he was able to bind spren of the cognitive to people of the physical by means of the Nahel bond. It's the same reason that he is all about that Connection and always has been. You see, Ishar is - or at least, was - a Dawnshard. It could be UNITE, as in UNITE THEM; or it could be BIND, as in Surgebinding, as in Bondsmith ("binding contract" sounds a lot like an Oathpact to this attorney.) I'm guessing it's BIND. -Specifically, Ishar was given th Dawnshard of Binding by Odium. And specifically, he was given it by Odium *specifically* so that it would lead to the ruination of Ashyn, so that Odium could play upon Honor and Cultivation's sympathies to admit his people to their system - and in doing so, let him in, to war upon them, and kill them. -Ishar then wrote the Oathpact, and Bound the parties to it. The problem, here, is that - pacts are hard. Words are hard. Hell, I'm a lawyer. Writing contracts is hard. Ambiguities are unavoidable, and can be exploited by other parties - and sometimes ambiguities can be hidden by the drafter to exploit themselves. Odium found, or made, those ambiguities, and exploited them - leading to the death of Tanavast, the splintering of Honor, and the cycle of Desolations. -Hell, Odium might have done this same trick to the other Shards he Splintered. The Bondsmith's power to turn human words into the laws of the Universe is as beautiful and terrible as the very dreams of the skybreakers. (When you've got the Hammer of Gods, everything looks like a Nale. Sorry. No, no I'm not.) -I don't understand the current status of the Dawnshard of Bind. I know it profoundly affects Dalinar. That's all I know. It could be held by the Stormfather. It could be hidden, but was held long enough by Bondsmith-related entities that it suffuses all that they are. But, if I had to guess, part of the Oathpact was that the Dawnshard of Binding was splintered into ten pieces, and divided amongst the Heralds, whose main goal was not to be interplanetary warlords, but simply keepers of a power that was too great to combine - and too dangerous for Honor and Cultivation to want anywhere near Roshar. The Heralds, as prison-guards of the power that destroyed their home planet, were then banished to Braize, and never meant to return. Then Odium went all rules lawyer on them, found mad sploits, and thus the endless cycle of free-trips-to-Damnation. -Whether by Ishar's bindings, or the natural reordering of the world after Odium's people came to Roshar, the Nahel bond became as tied to Voidlight as it was to Stormlight and Cultivationlight. My guess is that three spren were created to be co-equal blends of the Shards in the system. The spren who resides in Urithiru is part Honor, part Cultivation. That spren has two siblings: Ba-Ado-Mishram, and an as-yet-unnamed (or at least, as-yet-unidentified) spren, one of which is of Honor and Odium, the other of Cultivation and Odium. -As a result of stacking playing-god on top of playing-god, Ishar/Melishi's capture of Ba-Ado-Mishram stopped what could well have been the imminent conquest of Roshar by Odium. But in doing so - well, Lews Sealing The Bore. Prepare For Unforseen Consequences. OOPS I DID IT A GAIN. This deprived the parshmen of cognition, deprived the spren of the ability to survive the breaking of their bonds, and probably other things that we don't even understand, because THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU STICK YOUR DICK IN THE UNIVERSE. And... storms, it is quite possible that the name Ba-Ado-Mishram is a sobriquet. "Ado" could come from "Adora," the same root as the first syllable in Adolin's name, meaning "light" - and "Mishram" contains "Ish" and even "Ishr," which could be linked to the Herald. Maybe there's a Ba-Ado-Mishram and a, idk, Tet-Ado-Mishram, indicating Honor/Odium-light and Cultivation/Odium-light (or vice versa). Heck, maybe the "Sibling" is actually like Asha-Ado-Mishram - three Siblings, created simultaneously by the powers of a Dawnshard, in the hopes of a harmony that Odium immediately sought to destroy. Three multi-shardic blends - three little Harmonys - three little Adonalsiums - simultaneously beautiful in their unity, and terrible in their return towards that which was Shattered. -The phrase UNITE THEM is probably just a general, all-encompassing idea of the Dawnshard of BINDING. It might even be a mixed version, resulting from the Intention of dead Tanavast and mere echoes of the splinitered Dawnshard. However, I doubt it will be satiated until it has united the splinters of itself (if such they are), and, indeed, the Shards of Adonalsium. -I expect that is Hoid's biggest interest in the Rosharan system - the unification of the shards of the Dawnshard of Binding, towards his ultimate goal of the reunification of Adonalsium. -...which interest could very well be at conflict with the best interests of Roshar. -And, as a result, the biggest single piece on the Rosharan chessboard is probably... Rysn. Because A] maybe the only way out of the BINDing Oathpact is to CHANGE it... and B] because my girl Rysn real good at contract negotiation. TEAM RYSN BABY. ALL ABOARD DAT WANDERSAIL! Best from Great Barrington, Massachusetts, where I am off-Trail hiding from a thunderclaststorm -Silver the Ridgerunner
  13. name me anything, (im not changing my name) but name me anything!! this is going to be weird, but whatever I live for weird.
  14. Something I have been thinking about is how Adin was introduced in RoW. I wonder if we are getting setup for someone who will be a major character in the second 5 book arc of the series. I know there are also theories of how he could be Odium's champion in book 5. I could also see a character like Gavinor also being important in the second arc if he is older. What do you think will happen with Adin?
  15. So I’ve seen it thrown around that if Dalinar breaks the Contract Odium can free himself So what is everyone’s thoughts on that; Would it work? If it did what if someone like Jasnah broke the Contract? And what if Dalinar appointed someone to break it for him I would put this in Q&A but it’s an RoW spoiler Hope to see everyone’s thoughts!
  16. so Taravangian knew about sleepless, he had sleepless on his side, working for him like Kandra, or are they Kandra just the Rosharan form.
  17. So I seem to see that a lot of people here don’t like the Child Champion Theory This is to be expected as saying those words mean absolutely nothing, so I’m going to write what I interpret it to mean Gavinor is Odiums Champion while Dalinar is his own Champion, that is the only way it works (which is why TOdium wants to know who Dalinar will pick as a Champion) It also will happen around part 2 or 3 of KoW for reasons that will become apparent Here’s how it goes So you see we have three options here 1: End the Contest (if that’s even possible)- 2: Let Gavinor win 3: Kill Gavinor Option 1 Option 2 That leaves us with Option 3 A few things to add on to the end 1: Taravangian doesn’t want to win. He’s human and has only ever wanted for humanity to survive. If he can have Dalinar win the Contest and also have Dalinar as his right hand man, and willingly to boot, I think he’d take it 2: As people have pointed out Gavilar is probably alive, so he could whisper and push Dalinar off the deep end (I think Gavilars pretty evil) 3: What else can happen, I haven’t seen that many alternatives to the Champion Theories that factor in loopholes in a meaningful way Problems people have pointed out: (preemptive response) Deathrattles:
  18. I was rereading the Stormlight Archives and i found something confusing. In RoW Page 527 it said, "Before beginning their assault. the humans had poured barrels of water into the breach here- and it had rained on the stormform Regals below. Their powers reacted poorly around water, something Venli had always found somewhat ironic." Then in WoR Page 1183 during the Everstorm It said "Nearby, another crash of lighting left a small group of Parshendi." and it was raining during that time. Do their powers work in rain but not covered in water? I thought that the form was for moving through storms.
  19. I saw a topic for movie trailers for the first 3 SA books, where basically people would write out a script for a trailer. I think it would be really fun to do that with RoW, so here you go. (Try to make the trailers as exciting but non-spoilery as possible. Imagine someone who hasn’t read the book is going to see it) Now go and make one!!!
  20. Warning: wall of text, privilege, systemic social issues Spoilers: complete Cosmere works, up to and including Rhythm of War I’m going to lay out what I see as an underlying thesis and theme of the various depictions of anger/vengeance/redemption/justice in the Stormlight Archive. My positionality in approaching this issue is that of a well-off, well-educated, cis-het white male, so keep that in mind any time I make an assertion that contradicts your lived experience. I expect that to happen, and can and should be challenged for it where warranted. I’d like to start with the concept of redemption, which is a strong theme of the Stormlight Archive, and more broadly speaking Brandon’s works in general. It’s important to separate our extra-textual understanding of Brandon as a religious person, because while that can inform his writing, it’s important to treat the text on its own explicit and meta-narrative levels without resorting to ‘because the writer is ___________’. All text has its own purpose the writer intends, as well as possibly contradictory understandings some or many readers form as they engage with the text. So, many characters of the Stormlight Archive are either in some process of redemption or have the ability to undergo a process of redemption: Dalinar, Moash, Szeth, Shallan (amongst many others) have either explicit harmful actions in their backstory or some kind of ‘low point’ to climb from. Whether that is specifically due to their own conscious choices varies, but the idea of redemption is present throughout the whole text. I was struck by the assertion in the latest Shardcast that ‘redemption is not something you deserve’, which I think is apropos here. To reduce it to its simplest form: you cannot ‘make up’ for killing someone. There is no price you can pay that is worth the pain of that cut-off life to those who are left behind. Questions of fairness cannot enter into a discussion of ‘redemption’. I teach a variety of subjects to middle school students, both music (my specialty), as well as religious studies, ethics, and health education (all kind of wrapped up in one course). One of the ideas we discuss frequently is that it is really problematic to answer the question ‘what is good?’ or ‘what does it mean to be a good person?’ No one would think positively of someone who walks into a room and says ‘Yes, I am a good person!’ We would interpret that as bragging, covering for hidden flaws, and various other negative connotations. So, then, what is ‘good’? What does it mean to be in the process of redemption? In judging this, we can take some textual evidence for what the Stormlight Archive envisions. Dalinar at one point states that ‘a hypocrite is just someone who is in the process of changing’ (paraphrase mine). I think this is perhaps the most obvious lampshading of the text’s understanding of redemption. Dalinar acknowledges that inconsistency is not a flaw of the process, it is an integral sign that redemption is possible. Only by acting counter to the way one used to can you demonstrate a true change - after all, if it’s not visible and clear to understand, you haven’t really changed. Another element to this process is the importance of choice. The Stormlight Archive, in spite of the strong ties to the typical ‘prophecy/future-sight’ approach of much epic fantasy, goes to significant lengths to show the critical impact of the free will of individuals. The fact that Elhokar is cut down at the very beginning of his journey towards what we might consider (potential) heroism by an individual who has begun a downwards arc of villainy demonstrates that choice matters. An individual has far-reaching and irreversible consequences on the lives they touch. Once freed from the blind obedience to the Oathstone, Szeth could easily have chosen to end his life permanently in dealing with the trauma of acknowledging his pain and the consequences of his actions. But he did not. I think this goes a long way towards contextualizing why we react so differently to the various characters (who are or have been pretty terrible people). Dalinar is someone who was, objectively speaking, a monster. He was a war criminal, a sadist, and a butcher, responsible for hundreds of deaths at his own hands, and thousands more committed under his direct orders, including all manner of non-combatants, who were bystanders in an aggressive war of conquest where their families were trying to resist what they saw as an invader. This is the kind of person that anyone would be justified in taking pleasure or relief if they were to be executed for their crimes. The amazing thing about Dalinar as a character is that the easy path would be one where he continues to drink himself into oblivion, especially once he regains his memories. We almost get that in Oathbringer. Having gone through all that he has gone through, knowing what he knows about the person he used to be, he could abdicate his positions, insist he be jailed or executed, and attempt to go for what we might consider a typical form of accountability. But he doesn’t. He chooses to live with his pain, and chooses in spite of that pain to attempt better. There is no forgiveness. He can’t and doesn’t expect it. Forgiveness is a demonstration by the wronged that they are strong in spite of the pain, not an absolution for the guilty. Now we can contrast this with Moash. Moash is justified in feeling anger towards Roshone and Elhokar for the injustices committed against his family. He has experienced a similar loss to Kaladin, Teft, and others who have all suffered at the hands of the nobility. He feels incredible pain, and seeks methods to redress those wrongs. And so he chooses to attempt (and of course, eventually succeed) at taking the lives of those who have taken so many others. What is interesting about Moash is that his choice is one that in fact copies what was done to him. The way it is written makes it clear that Moash is another tragic event in an endless cycle of tragic events. His choice continues the cycle, in contrast to Dalinar’s, which attempts to alter the cycle. It’s worth noting that although Moash succeeds in ending Elhokar’s life, he does nothing himself to address the possibility of another ‘Moash’ happening in the future. Jasnah talks a good game about changing the way the monarchy works, but that cannot be laid at Moash’s feet (we’re not here to take away her agency). After getting his vengeance, Moash goes on to experience the result of giving up his emotion to Odium, feeling vacant, and outwardly pursuing a course of extreme nihilism, attempting to encourage others to seek oblivion. It wouldn’t be hard to imagine Moash’s ideal end goal becoming the nothingness that we might remember from Ruin’s viewpoints in Mistborn. So Moash chooses a path that brings him some kind of warped form of peace, but certainly drastically alters how others perceive him, as well as inflicting another cycle of pain on those left behind (we can already seen the results of this in how Gavinor envisions his future as a warrior in Rhythm of War). But, for better or (especially in this case) worse, Moash’s choice matters. From the comparison of these two viewpoints, let’s turn towards Kaladin and the Knights Radiant in general. The text has gone out of its way to show that the Radiants are flawed. Both in past and current incarnations, oaths have been broken, injustice has been allowed to continue, and even those chosen for Radiance almost by necessity exhibit near-fatal flaws. Kaladin suffers from mental health issues, trauma, and an almost crippling inability to let others take responsibility instead of him. Syl is constantly trying to work with him on how to take that drive, that pain, and turn it into action to help and protect others. And he frequently fails - boy, how does he fail! In spite of that failure, we get great moments where he chooses the hard way, standing up for his beliefs in spite of his failure. Nowhere is this more obvious than the scene in Words of Radiance where he defends Elhokar (from Moash, no less). Kaladin up to this point has actively chosen courses of action that make Elhokar’s death at the hands of his friend more likely. His key realization is a version of the statement earlier on that no price is sufficient for a lost life! He realizes that people are people, and someone murdering the king would be in many ways identical to his brother being killed. He explicitly calls out that what matters is that Elhokar is trying. Elhokar’s choice matters, and if his choice matters, then Kaladin’s matter, too. And he swears the second oath as a result. We are shown through the relations between Kaladian/Syl, and the Radiants and their spren that that is not what matters. What matters is that they try. What matters is their choices. I face this issue a lot when trying to teach students about social justice and systemic oppression. The problems confronted by any imperfect society are monolithic, and the reproduction of those systems is buried deep in the patterns of how we are raised from a very young age. And so it can seem daunting to contemplate changing it. In fact, it is actually impossible that any one person will effect enough change to see the results in their lifetime. It would be easy in that situation to throw one’s hands up and say ‘I can’t change the world, so I might as well not go through the heartache.’ I think that the text is saying that that is no excuse. Just because you can’t change the way the world works by yourself is not an excuse to not choose to try. If enough people make that choice, that is what changes the world. As the text says “What is the most important step a man can take? It’s the next one.” So what is good, or justice, in the Stormlight Archive? Good means choosing to do better. Not best, but better. Anyone is capable of this at any time. Is it justice that they are not killed for their crimes? Not precisely. It is justice that the attempt is made, and it is justice that the wrongs are acknowledged. Dalinar’s story so far has done a better job of showing us that acknowledgement than, say, Szeth’s. Although everyone else acknowledges what Moash has done, critically, he has not. He has not chosen the path that leads to redemption yet. Is it possible? If what truly matters is the person’s choice, as I would argue the text believes, then it is possible that Moash may make the choice at some point to pursue that road. It will be painful. It will be unpleasant. Readers and in-text bystanders alike will have a hard time stomaching it. But, and this is why we love those stories, it reminds us that none of us are so imperfect that we cannot, too, choose redemption.
  21. Back when RoW was first released, I noticed that Brandon seems to have used an element from Final Empire Prime for the Shards. Before RoW was out, i was reading the Final Empire Prime sample chapter and there is one part where the Conqueror(Lord Ruler character) is thinking to himself that he had to seperate part of his mind from the power of "Sha" that he holds, lest it overwhelm him.(if FEP was current cosmere. "Sha" would be a Shard I think) then in RoW, in Sazed's letter he states that Hoid said "that the power itself must be treated as separate in our minds from the Vessel who controls it" After reading that sample chapter, the idea that a Vessel would have to seperate their mind from the power never left my mind. It just seemed too good of a good idea that i knew Brandon wouldnt throw it out, and then when RoW came out, Hoid/Sazed just up and stated it. i just think its awesome that Brandon is always looking back at his unpublished works for ways to use elements from them in the Canon Cosmere.
  22. Someone may have already thought of this so if there is another thread discussing this please link it. So we've seen Hoid use some form of lightweaving before he bonded a cryptic. He was also very ecstatic about bonding a spren, this got me thinking. Could Hoid's goal perhaps be to master all types of investiture? Would the mastery of all investiture possibly make him the closest being to adonalsium? Just my thoughts on this hoping to hear what all of you think of this idea.
  23. Zu is a transgender worldhopper. The events of The Emperor’s Soul happen before those of The Stormlight Archive. Shai states that the common guards... well, guarding her when she was forging Ashravan’s soul would “probably find themselves assigned to [...] guarding the passes leading down to the distant Teoish peninsula or the like” (Day 98). Earlier (Day 3), Gaotona states that Zu “is the only one of our Strikers to know the extent of the emperor’s injury, and only [Zu] knows of our plan with you. Other guards will watch you [...] and you are not to speak to them of your task”. If regular guards are being sent to the passes leading to Teod, is it too much of a stretch to assume Zu was sent further? To Arelon, even, where she could enter Devotion’s Perpendicularity like Galladon, Riino and Hoid, all of whom have been seen on Roshar since? In RoW, we see a Zu that is rather obscure when referring to her past, but we know she has had weapon experience. She could have used that experience when acting as a Reshi guide. Especially since the Coppermind states “She is more skilled with weaponry [...] than her account of her past allows”. Looks can be faked, better so in the Cosmere than on Earth. Just saying.
  24. From the album: Memes!

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