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In "Way of Kings", why didn't Dalinar have spanreeds during his battle at The Tower where Sadeas betrayed him to be surrounded by the Parshendi? Of course, Dalinar didn't have any allies back in the war camps that could have come to his aid in time, but he could have at least written to Elhokar and the rest informing them of Sadeas' betrayal. At the least, he could have dictated a heartfelt farewell to Renarin and Navani. Is it established that spanreeds aren't used during battles because only women could read and write? Spanreeds would be so much more efficient than runners in giving orders throughout an army, but was this addressed already somewhere? I suppose Tien was (supposed to be) a messenger in Amaram's army, so we do have some insight into this. Seems like an oversight of the Alethi; up to that point (in WoK), we've usually seen that they take whatever "tech" is available and use it to make war/fighting more efficient.