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First of all I want to apologize for any grammer\spelling mistake I did in that post. english is not my mother tongue and even tho i'm learning english for a lot of time, it's not perfect and there's a good chance I'll use phrases you won't understand and\or grammer mistakes. After I cleard that out of the way, we can move on to the topic. the basic of my theory is that Nohadon was a bondsmith. I know that this is a realy common theory, so i'll try to make the reasons for why I think so short: 1. It make sense that the guy who wrote the book that changed Dalinar to the person he needed to be to become a bondsmith whould be a bondsmith himself. 2.the stormfather thinks that Nohadon was a good man, and I don't think he'll think that about Nohadon if he was not a bondsmith. I mean, the stormfather dosen't like kaladin, and kaladin is bound to a honorspren. 3. Nohadon's personality sounds like he'll fit in as a bondsmith. I also belive that Nohadon's spren was the nightwatcher, because the stormfather was also confused when dalinar talked about Nohadon, and the sibling was asleep et the time. And now for the final steps of my theory. We know that Nohadon was a king during a desolotion, and I think that Nohadon is the tipe of guy that will do whatever it takes to save his people, so he went to the valley and asked the nightwatcher for a way to save his people, and got from the nightwatcher (or from cultivasion) the smae boon and curse Taravangian got, or something similar to it. I have only one reason to think that, but I think that its a preaty good reason: in dalinar's last vision of nohadon, dalinar sais that Nohadon remines him Taravangian, and I don't think brandon'll put this without a good reason. Plus, even before dalinar notices that, It's not very hard to see that Nohadon is a little wierd. Nohadon is also having a godlike day, but instead of creating his own diagram because he understands that It probably won't last to the day it will be needed in the war in our days, he askes the nightwatcher-which is according to my theory Nohadon's spren- to insert a vision of his inside dalinar's minde when he comes to visit her. If that's true, it'll explein why the stormfather didn't knew about dalinar's last vision of nohadon and why it seemed like nohadon actually talket to dalinar in that vision. It also means that theoreticaly ther are more visions we did'nt see yet,and that it's harder to see dalinar's future because of it, which explains why odium, the diagram and even hoid mistake all the time when dalinr involved.

So, the diagram is a work of beauty, it's so complicated that it took a literal god to understand most of it, and what little was understood by Taravangrian and The Diagram (the organization) was basically prophetic. However, there has always been a flaw to me, when Taravangrian meets with Odium, Odium has a copy... How surprising considering The Diagram (the organization) was made of thousands of members, and quite a few that had access to the Diagram in its entirety. So it seems weird to me that Taravangrian (on the day that he was intelligent enough to impress a god), wouldn't have figured out that Odium would eventual find himself a copy... Or perhaps he did. I'm proposing that Taravangrian created the diagram not to succeed in saving humanity, but to set up the world for the Diagram 2.0. When Taravangrian created the Diagram, he did so vouching on the Idea that he will be granted a similar intelligence later. He used the Diagram to create a world perfect for his second faze to begin, everything from the predictions that were wrong to Odium figuring out his plan were all part of the plan from the start, however he could not write all this down, since then Odium would know. Another note: Taravangrian's deal with Odium seems stupid, first of all, Odium seems to have no reason to exterminate the humans, just the spren (the remaining remnants of honor), and second is that Odium would easily see through that plan, he makes it seem obvious, and he probably would have seen what Taravangrian was doing even if he didn't have a copy of The Diagram himself. TLDR: The Diagram was a farce set up by Taravangrian to properly prepare the world for his real plan to save humanity

I made one of these for OB but couldn't find one for WoR, probably because the search option hates me. Anyways, I'm just going to post this for anyone who wants to look through, and because I was going to compile it anyways. Everything is copied word for word, and the only changes I make are the occasional rearrangement of sections that are not in order (e.g. the listener songs' stanzas are written out of order in the book; I write them in stanza order) and formation of paragraphs (in letters I add breaks where it feels natural so there isn't just a massive block of text). There are 11 sections, all labeled. If you find any mistakes, please tell me. I'm running on four hours of sleep and I doubt that I didn't miss anything or screw something up. Oh, and this is long. Like, really long. Have fun! 1. Navani Kholin's personal journal Jeseses 1174 To be perfectly frank, what has happened these last two months is upon my head. The death, destruction, loss, and pain are my burden. I should have seen it coming. And I should have stopped it. Our first clue was the Parshendi. Even weeks before they abandoned their pursuit of the gemhearts, their pattern of fighting changed. They lingered on the plateaus after battles, as if waiting for something. Soldiers reported being watched from afar by an unnerving number of Parshendi scouts. Then we noticed a new pattern of their penetrating close to the camps in the night and then quickly retreating. I can only surmise that our enemies were even then preparing their stratagem to end this war. The next clue came on the walls. I did not ignore this sign, but neither did I grasp its full implications. The sign on the wall proposed a greater danger, even, than its deadline. To foresee the future is of the Voidbringers. We had never considered that there might be Parshendi spies hiding among our slaves. This is something else I should have seen. Jesesach 1174 I was unprepared for the grief my loss brought -- like an unexpected rain -- breaking from a clear sky and crashing down upon me. Gavilar's death years ago was overwhelming, but this... this nearly crushed me. I seek not to use my grief as an excuse, but it is an explanation. People act strangely soon after encountering an unexpected loss. Though Jasnah had been away for some time, her loss was unexpected. I, like many, assumed her to be immortal. I wish to think that had I not been under sorrow's thumb, I would have seen earlier the approaching dangers. Yet in all honesty, I'm not certain anything could have been done. But, understandably, we were focused on Sadeas. His betrayal was still fresh, and I saw its signs each day as I passed empty barracks and grieving widows. We knew that Sadeas would not simply rest upon his slaughters in pride. More was coming. Unfortunately, we fixated upon Sadeas's plotting so much that we did not take note of the changed pattern of our enemies, the murderers of my husband, the true danger. I would like to know what wind brought about their sudden, inexplicable transformation. 2. Listener Song of Listing, rearranged by order of stanzas 5th Stanza Mateform meek, for love to share, Given to life, it brings us joy. To find this form, one must care. True empathy must one employ. 15th stanza Warform is worn for battle and reign, Claimed by the gods, given to kill. Unknown, unseen, but vital to gain. It comes to those with the will. 19th Stanza Workform worn for strength and care. Whispering spren breathe at your ear. Seek first this form, its mysteries to bear. Found here is freedom from fear. 27th Stanza Nimbleform has a delicate touch. Gave the gods this form to many, Tho' once defied, by the gods they were crushed. This form craves precision and plenty. 33rd Stanza Mediationform made for peace, it's said. Form of teaching and consolation. When used by the gods, it became instead Form of lies and desolation. 69th Stanza Scholarform shown for patience and thought. Beware its ambitions innate. Though study and diligence bring the reward, Loss of innocence may be one's fate. 90th Stanza Artform applied for beauty and hue. One yearns for the songs it creates. Most misunderstood by the artist it's trus, Come the spren to foundation's fates. Final Stanza Dullform dread, with the mind most lost. The lowest, and one not bright. To find this form, one need banish the cost. It finds you and brings you to blight. 3. Listener Song of Winds 4th Stanza Stormform is said to cause A tempest of winds and showers, Beware its powers, beware its powers. Though its coming brings the gods their night, It obliges a bloodred spren. Beware its end, beware its end. 4. Listener Song of Secrets 17th Stanza Nightform predicting what will be, The form of shadows, mind to foresee. As the gods did leave, the nightform whispered. A new storm will come, someday to break. A new storm a new world to make. A new storm a new path to take, the nightform listens. 27th Stanza Decayform destroys the souls of dreams. A form of gods to avoid, it seems. Seek not its touch, nor beckon its screams, deny it. Watch where you walk, your toes to tread, O'er hill or rocky riverbed Hold dear the fears that fill your head, defy it. 40th Stanza The betrayal of spren has brought us here. They gave their Surges to human heirs, But not to those who knew them most dear, before us. 'Tis no surprise we turned away Unto the gods we spent our days And to become their molding clay, they changed us. 51st Stanza Smokeform for hiding and slipping 'tween men. A form of power -- like Surges of spren. Do we dare to ear this form again? It spies. Crafted of gods, this form we fear. By Unmade touch its curse to bear, Formed from shadow -- and death is near. It lies. Final Stanza Our gods were born splinters of a soul, Of one who seeks to take control, Destroy all lands that he beholds, with spite. They are his spren, his gift, his price. But the nightforms speak of future life, A challenged champion. A strife even he must requite. 5. Listener Song of Histories 12th Stanza 'Tis said it was warm in the land far away When Voidbringers entered our songs. We brought them home to stay And then those homes became their own, It happened gradually. And years ahead 'twil still be said 'tis how it has to be. 127th Stanza Smokeform for hiding and slipping between men. A form of power, like human Surges. Bring it 'round again. Though crafted of gods, It was made by Unmade hand. Leaves its force to be but one of foe or friend. 6. Listener Song of Wars 55th Stanza They blame our people For the loss of that land. The city that once covered it Did range the eastern strand. The power made known in the tomes of our clan Our gods were not who shattered there plains. 7. Listener Song of Revision 279th Stanza Artform for colors beyond our ken; For its grand songs we yearn. We must attract creationspren; These songs suffice 'til we learn. 8. Listener Song of Spren 9th Stanza The spren betrayed us, it's often felt. Our minds are too close to their realm That gives us our forms, but more is then Demanded by the smartest spren, We can't provide what the humans lend, Though broth are we, their meat is men. 10th Stanza But it is not impossible to blend Their Surges to ours in the end. It has been promised and it can come. Or do we understand the sum? We question not if they can have us then, But if we dare to have them again. 9. Words of Radiance, excerpts Chapter 2, Page 4: But as for Ishi'Elin, his was the part most important at their inception; he readily understood the implications of surges being granted to men, and caused organization to be thrust upon them; as having too great power, he let it be known that he would destroy each and every one, unless they agreed to be bound by precepts and laws. Chapter 5, Page 17: And thus were the disturbances in the Revv toparchy quieted, when, upon their ceasing to prosecute their civil dissensions, Nalan'Elin betook himself to finally accept the Skybreakers who had named him their master, when initially he had spurned their advances and, in his own intersts, refused to countenance that which he deemed a pursuit of vanity and annoyance; this was the last of the Heralds to admit to such patronage. Chapter 6, Page 2: As to the other orders that were inferior in this visiting of the far realm of spren, the Elsecallers were prodigiously benevolent, allowing others as auxiliary to their visits and interactions; though they never did relinquish their place as prime liaisons with the great ones of the spren; and the Lightweavers and Willshapers both also had an affinity to the same, though neither were the true masters of that realm. Chapter 7, Page 1: And now, if there was an uncut gem among the Radiants, it was the Willshapers; for though enterprising, they were erratic, and Invia wrote of them, "capricious, frustrating, unreliable," as taking it for granted that others would agree; this may have been an intolerant view, as often Invia expressed, for this order was said to be most varied, inconsistent in temperament save for a general love of adventure, novelty, or oddity. Chapter 8, Page 6: They also, when they had settled their rulings in the nature of each bond's placement, called the name of it the Nahel bond, with regard to its effect upon the souls of those caught in its grip; in this description, each was related to the bonds that drive Roshar itself, ten Surges, named in turn and two for each order; in this light, it can be seen that each order would by necessity share one surge with each of its neighbors. Chapter 11, Page 6: Now, as the Truthwatchers were esoteric in nature, their order being formed entirely of those who never spoke or wrote of what they did, in this lies frustration for those who would see their exceeding secrecy from the outside; they were not naturally inclined to explanation; and in the case of Corberon's disagreements, their silence was not a sign of exceeding abundance of disdain, but rather an exceeding abundance of tact. Chapter 12, Page 12: Malchin was stymied, for though he was inferior to none in the arts of war, he was not suitable for the Lightweavers; he wished for his oaths to be elementary and straightforward, and yet their spren were liberal, as to our comprehension, in definitions pertaining to this matter; the process included speaking truths as an approach to a threshold of self-awareness that Malachin could never attain. Chapter 13, Page 1: Now, as each order was thus matched to the nature and temperament of the Herald it named patron, there was none more archetypal of this than the Stonewards, who followed after Talenelat'Elin, Stonesinew, Herald of War: they thought it a point of virtue to exemplify resolve, strength, and dependability. Alas, they took less care for imprudent practice of their stubbornness, even in the face of proven error. Chapter 16, Page 14: But as for the Bondsmiths, they had members only three, which number was not uncommon for them; nor did they seek to increase this by great bounds, for during the times of Madasa, only one of their order was in continual accompaniment of Urithiru and its throunes. Their spren was understood to be specific, and to persuade them to grow to the magnitude of the other orders was seen as seditious. Chapter 17, Page 11: And when they were spoken of by the common folk, the Releasers claimed to be misjudged because of the dreadful nature of their power; and when they dealt with others, always were they firm in their claim that other epithets, notably "Dustbringers," often heard in the common speech, were unacceptable substitutions, in particular for their similarity to the word "Voidbringers." They did also exercise anger in great prejudice regarding it, though to many who speak, there was little difference between these two assemblies. Chapter 20, Page 12: When Simol was informed of the arrival of the Edgedancers, a concealed consternation and terror, as is common in such cases, fell upon him' although they were not the most demanding of orders, their graceful, limber movements hid a deadliness that was, by this time, quite renowned; also, they were the most articulate and refined of the Radiants. Chapter 21, Page 10: Yet, were the orders not disheartened by so great a defeat, for the Lightweavers provided spiritual sustenance; they were enticed by those glorious creatures to venture on a second assault. These Lightweavers, by no coincidence, included many who pursued the arts; namely, writers, artists, musicians, painters, sculptors. Considering the order's general temperament, the tales of their strange and varied mnemonic abilities may have been embellished. Chapter 28, Page 3: There came also sixteen of the order of Windrunner, and with them a considerable number of Squires, and finding in that place the Skybreakers dividing the innocent from the guilty, there ensued a great debate. The considerable abilities of the Skybreakers for making such amounted to an almost divine skill, for which no specific Surge or spren grants capacity, but however the order came to such aptitude, the fact of it was real and acknowledged even by their rivals. Chapter 30, Page 18: So Melishi retired to his tent, and resolved to destroy the Voidbringers upon the next day, but that night did [resent a different strategem, related to the unique abilities of the Bondsmiths; and being hurried, he could make no specific account of his process; it was related to the very nature of the Heralds and their divine duties, an attribute the Bondsmiths alone could address. Chapter 32, Page 17: In short, if any presume Kazilah to be innocent, you must look at the facts and deny them in their entirety; to say that the Radiants were destitute of integrity for this execution of one of their own, one who had obviously fraternized with the unwholesome elements, indicates the most slothful of reasoning; for the enemy's baleful influence demanded vigilance on all occasions, of war and of peace. Chapter 35, Page 9: Twenty-three cohorts followed behind, that came from the contributions of the King of Makabakam, for though the bond between man and spren was at times inexplicable, the ability for bonded spren to manifest in our world rather than their own grew stronger through the course of the oaths given. Chapter 38, Page 6: Now, as the Windrunners were thus engaged, arose the event which has hitherto been referenced: namely, that discovery of some wicked thing of eminence, though whether it be some rogueries among the Randiants' adherents or of some external origin, Avena would not suggest. That they responded immediately and with great consternation is undeniable, as these were primary among those who would forswear and abandon their oaths. The term Recreance was not then applied, but has since become a ppopular title by which this event is named. Chapter 38, Page 20: This act of great villainy went beyond the impudence which had hitherto been ascribed to the orders; as the fighting was particularly intense at this time, many attributed this act to a sense of inherent betrayal; and after they withdrew, about two thousand made assault upon them, destroying much of the memberships, but this was only nine of the ten, as one said they would not abandon their arms and flee, but instead entertained great subterfuge at the expense of the other nine. 10. Letter I'll address this letter to my "old friend," as I have no idea what name you're using currently. Have you given up on the gemstone, now that it is dead? And do you no longer hide behind the name of your old master? I am told that in your current incarnation you've taken a name that references what you presume to be one of your virtues. This is, I suspect, a little like a skunk naming itself for its stench. Now, look what you've made me say. You've always been able to bring out the most extreme in me, old friend. And I do still name you a friend, for all that you weary me. Yes, I'm disappointed. Perpetually, as you put it. Is not the destruction we have wrought enough? The worlds you now tread bear the touch and design of Adonalsium. Our interference so far has brought nothing but pain. My path has been chosen very deliberately. Yes, I agree with everything you have said about Rayse, including the severe danger he presents. However, it seems to me that all things have been set up for a purpose, and if we -- as infants -- stumble through the workshop, we risk exacerbating, not preventing, a problem. Rayse is captive. He cannot leave the system he now inhabits. His destructive potential is, therefore, inhibited. Whether this was Tanavast's design or not, millennia have passed without Rayse taking the life of another of the sixteen. While I mourn for the great suffering Rayse has caused, I do not believe we could hope for a better outcome than this. He bears the weight of God's own divine hatred, separated from the virtues that gave it context. He is what we made him to be, old friend. And that is what he, unfortunately, wished to become. I suspect that he is more a force than an individual now, despite your insistence to the contrary. The force is contained, and an equilibrium reached. You, however, have never been a force for equilibrium. You tow chaos behind you like a corpse dragged by one leg through the snow. Please, hearken to my plea. Leave that place and join me in my oath of nonintervention. The Cosmere itself may depend on our restraint. 11. Sections of The Diagram Book of the 2nd Ceiling Rotation, Pattern 1 Obviously they are fools The Desolation needs no usher It can and will sit where it wishes and the signs are obvious that the spren anticipate it doing so soon The Ancient of Stones must finally begin to crack It is a wonder that upon his will he rested the prosperity and peace of a world for over four millennia Book of the 2nd Ceiling Rotation, Pattern 15 1118251011127124915121010111410215117112101112171344831110715142541434109161491493412122541010125127101519101112341255115251215755111234101112915121061534 Book of the 2nd Desk Drawer, Paragraph 14 The Unmade are a deviation, a flair, a conundrum that may not be worth your time. You cannot help but think of them. They are fascinating. Many are mindless. Lie the spren of human emotions, only much more nasty. I do believe a few can think, however. Book of the 2nd Desk Drawer, Paragraph 15 There is one you will watch. Though all of them have some relevance to precognition, Moelach is one of the most powerful in this regard. His touch seeps into a soul as it breaks apart from the body, creating manifestations powered by the spark of death itself. But no, this is a distraction. Deviation. Kingship. We must discuss the nature of kingship. Book of the 2nd Desk Drawer, Paragraph 27 One is almost certainly a traitor to the others. Catechism of the Back of the Flowered Painting, Paragraph 1 Q: For what essential must we strive? A: The essential of preservation, to shelter a seed of humanity through the coming storm. Q: What cost must we bear? A: The cost is irrelevant. Mankind must survive. Our burden is that of the species, and all other considerations are but dust by comparison. Coda of the Northwest Bottom Corner, Paragraph 3 They will come you cannot stop their oaths look for those who survive when they should not that pattern will be your clue. Floorboard 17, Paragraph 2 (every second letter starting with the first) AhbuttheywereleftbehindItisobviousfromthenatureofthebondButwherewherewherewhereSetoffObviousRealizationlikeapricityTheyarewiththeSinWemustfindoneCanwemaketouseaTruthlessCanwecraftaweapon herehastobeananswerWhatistheanswerStopTheParshendiOneofthemYestheyarethemissingpiecePushfortheAlethitodestroythemoutrightbeforebeforethisoneobtainstheirpowerItwillformabridge Floorboard 27, Paragraph 6 One danger in deploying such a potent weapon will be the potential encouragement of those exploring the Nahel bond. Care must be taken to avoid placing these subjects in situations of powerful stress unless you accept the consequences of their potential Investiture. North Wall Coda, Windowsill region, Paragraph 2 1173090605 1173090801 117309091 1173091001 1137091004 1173100105 11731173100205 1173100401 1173100603 1173100804 (This appears to be a sequence of dates, but their relevance is as yet unknown) Tenets of Instruction, Back of the Footboard, Paragraph 1 You must become king. Of Everything. West Wall Psalm of Wonders, Paragraph 8 But who is the wanderer, the wild piece, the one who makes no sense? I glimpse at his implications, and the world opens to me. I shy back. Impossible. Is it? (Note by Adrotagia: Could this refer to Mraize?) Writings upon the Bedstand Lamp, Paragraph 4 Chaos in Alethkar is, of course, inevitable. Watch carefully, and do not let power in the kingdom solidify. The Blackthorn could become an ally or our greatest foe, deoending on whether he takes the path of the warlord or not. If he seems likely to sue for peace, assassinate him expeditiously. The risk of competition is too great. (Adrotagia's 3rd translation from the original hieroglyphics)

Okay so, as far as we know, there are four secret societies on Roshar; the Sons of Honor, the Skybreakers, the Diagram, and the Ghostbloods. The Sons of Honor want to return the Desolations in order to force humankind to reach it's full potential. The Skybreakers want to enforce justice, and they currently serve Odium in order to return Roshar to the Parshendi. The Diagram also wants to serve Odium; in this case, they wish to serve Odium in order to gain favor for themselves when/if he wins. As for the Ghostbloods, well... We don't know what their motivation is. We have almost no clue. Based on the points of data, I have created this theory; the Ghostbloods serve Odium as intelligence agents in the wider Cosmere and on Roshar. The three points are this: 1) All the other three societies we know of serve Odium in some way. The Diagram serves him directly, the Sons of Honor work to return the Desolations, and the Skybreakers want to help the Parshendi reconquer Roshar. 2) Odium has been defeated before. We know that Odium has lost before. This is why Honor believes he will agree to a contest of champions, and presumably why he is currently trapped. Odium is an extremely powerful shard, having splintered four(?) other Shards in his time. Knowing this, I doubt that local forces alone would have been enough to trap him, especially with Tanavast's reference to forces in slumber. This would give him a strong reason to keep an eye on the Cosmere at large. 3) We know the Ghostbloods contain worldhoppers, or the descendants of worldhoppers. Of course, the Ghostbloods aren't an exclusively off-world operation. This leads me to think there is some kind of division in the organization, with some agents working on-world, others working off. This makes sense, as if is theory is correct, they would be the only one of the secret societies completely under Odium's control, and the only one he would be safe trusting with important and covert operations.

So, from the Oathbringer prologue, we have some new information. Specifically, we now know what the motivations of each of the three men trying to "unite them" might be (based on the instructions obtained from the Almighty's vision-diary). Gavilar & Dalinar each received the visions from the Stormfather, and Taravangian heard about the visions from Gavilar. We are directly told that Gavilar intended to "unite them" with a threat of danger. We can infer that Dalinar is determined to "unite them" through common purpose & a sense of honor/duty. We can also infer that Taravangian is attempting to "unite them" with deception, political conquest, and esoteric methods (e.g. death rattles, Nightwatcher-granted super intellect, manipulating a truthless) Obviously, Dalinar is the only one of the three who is going about his efforts at unification in a manner consistent with the first oath of the Knights Radiant. However, my thoughts go from this observation to the secret societies. We have the Diagram society, the Sons of Honor, and the Ghostbloods. Of those three groups, two are represented in this group of men (Gavilar → Sons of Honor & Taravangian → the Diagram society). We also have two of the three shards whose power influenced the formation of two of the societies (Honor → Sons of Honor & Cultivation → the Diagram society). So, where do you all think the Ghostbloods fit into all of this? Acknowledging that it's pure conjecture, likely coincidental, and that correlation does not equal causation; is there any chance the Ghostbloods have a connection to Odium? Wild Cosmere theory: The Ghostbloods do a lot of world-hopping. If the Ghostbloods are connected to Odium, do you think there is a chance that Kelsier might have created a link between Roshar and the Southern Scadrians via Iyatil? What about the possibility that a chance encounter between Kelsier & Odium (or a more mundane connection via the Ghostbloods) is influencing the "other god" goings-on on Scadrial in the Wax & Wayne era?

So I hopped into this thread and it got me thinking. The "death rattle" in question, which I don't believe is truly a rattle, involves a "patient" getting a glimpse of the Cognitive Realm and there just happens to be a a cryptic there watching. At least that's my understanding of the "head of lines" comment. I see two possibilities. 1: The person who the diagriamists recorded at this moment was being considered to become a Lightweaving. 2: The Cryptics are watching the Diagriamists, or at least the death rattles. I lean towards option two for the following reason. In tWoK, before Shallan soulcasts and fakes suicide, she observed the Cryptics through her drawings. At the time, I reasonably assumed that she was why they were there. Why though, would someone already bonded to a Cryptic require so many Cryptics to observe them? If my thinking is correct she doesn't. They came to see her because she is already bonded to one of them. She's a curiosity that they couldn't ignore. The timing of their appearance could be explained through them feeling Patterns reawakening and wanting to witness it, but their purpose in Kharbranth is to observe the Death Rattles. Shallan's interactions with Pattern have shown us that the Cryptics are scholars of a sort. The interactions of one of the unmade, on a regular basis, essentially being harvested to update and maintain the Diagram would be a pretty fascinating source of information for them. So if this is going on, is it just the death rattles, or are they interested in Taravangian and the Diagram as a whole? Thanks @retrorocket1 and @Andy92 for drawing my attention to that little tidbit.

The last we saw of Kaladin's father was the day that Tien and Kaladin were both drafted into the army. At this point he seems completely and utterly defeated, and it is unclear if either of the two had any communication with their parents when they were in the army (we know that Kaladin sent a message telling them Tien had died and that he would not be returning to Hearthstone, but, so far as we know, there was no reply). Now with Stormlight 3 coming and Kaladin returning to Hearthstone for the first time, the confrontation with both Roshone and his father are two of the highlights (or cringe moments) most readers are expecting. However, I am not sure that Leerin is still there. I doubt that Roshone ended his smear campaign against Kaladin's father, and with Leerin so completely dejected following the loss of his sons, he probably wouldn't have been able to stand it. An additional stressor--such as the news of Tien's death, Kaladin's enslavement, or something else (perhaps his mother died in the intervening years)--could have pushed Leerin over the edge, changing him into something rather dark. I think he may have gone to Kharbranth, and I think it is possible he has become involved in The Diagram. I don't have any real evidence to support this theory--no references to Leerin, or a man matching his description, were made in any scene involving Taravangian--but given the importance that Taravangian will play in the overall plot of the Stormlight archive I think we are going to start seeing more ties between him and the other characters. Having a family member in his direct orbit would do that. Additionally, it would play well into Kaladin's development: he still has yet to confront and deal with the contradiction of killing to protect. What character better exemplifies this belief than Taravangian and his "silent gatherers"? If his father has become involved in this, it could even lead to another ideal. Something like, "I will protect those I love, even from themselves." Thoughts? How do you think the reunion (if it happens) will go? How has Leerin changed, do you think?

Gavilar seems to be a hot topic of discussion, and what I see most often is people placing him into an organization, and the quick retort that we don't know who he supports, so it is high time we have a thread on the matter. Personally, I do think he is part of the Sons of Honor, despite their proclivity to do nasty things to achieve their goal. First, there are the statements that Amaram makes about Gavilar being proud and blah blah blah is Amaram done talking yet? I don't trust much of what that guy has to say, but it's probably the most direct lines we have on the subject. I think that it's important to note on this line of thought, that Gavilar did seem to have a huge respect for Amaram. They're caught in conference in Jasnah's prologue, and it's even mentioned that Gavilar favored Amaram to be wed to Jasnah. That seems like a large step to take if you're only pretending to be someone's ally. I also want to point out that Gavilar is friends with Sadeas. This might not seem like it relates, but I think it does. Amaram says that he and Sadeas are similar in that the ends justify the means (paraphrased.) While Gavilar could be fooled by Amaram's reputation, it doesn't seem likely, considering he's also such good friends with Sadeas, (I will also concede that it's hinted Sadeas and Gavilar are good friends as well before.) There's also the speculation from the Parshendi that Gavilar was trying to bring back their Gods. (I will admit we don't know what he specifically said to get this reaction from them, but it does seem to weigh in more on the Sons of Honor side.) All that being said, there's still the nagging suspicion in the back of my head that keeps whispering there's too much damning evidence against him for him to be bad. I suspect we'll have to wait for Book 10 and his epilogue to finally close the book on Gavilar Kholin. (Maybe that's why Jasnah was so concerned with having Shallan look through his histories, did she want to figure out his allegiances as well?)