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Theory: Lift is going to be the Chekov's Gun character of book 5


Cocoa

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Well, one of them anyway. I doubt we'll make it through the finale of the first Stormlight cycle without big character moments going off all over the place, but I think Lift's going to be especially significant. My reasoning is as follows:

First and foremost, for me, is the fact that she's the only character who has a boon from Cultivation that we haven't yet seen come to a climax. We've seen the end result of her meddling with Dalinar in Oathbringer with him resisting Odium, and her plans for Taravangian when he killed Rayse and took up Odium in Rhythm of War, so it makes sense to me that we'll get a hat trick and see the big payoff of what she's done with Lift in this next book.

Secondly, Szeth is going to be the big viewpoint/flashback character for book 5, and him and lift already have the foundation for a rapport on account of working together at the Battle of Thaylen Field. Szeth's fought Kal and talked with Navani, sure, but the only other radiant I can think of who he's got a stronger connection to than Lift is Dalinar, because he pledged himself specifically to his service.

Thirdly, Lift currently has one of the more diverse powersets on Roshar. She's an Edgedancer. She's got a boon and a curse from the Old Magic. And as of RoW, she's bonded a chicken aviar. That last one might be doubly significant, since Brandon's said that a seon bond on Roshar would act like a Nahel bond, just not grant the same powers. This raises the possibility that not only will she get the abilities conferred by that species of aviar, but also more surgebinding or surgebinding-like abilities.

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7 hours ago, Cocoa said:

That last one might be doubly significant, since Brandon's said that a seon bond on Roshar would act like a Nahel bond, just not grant the same powers. This raises the possibility that not only will she get the abilities conferred by that species of aviar, but also more surgebinding or surgebinding-like abilities.

oooh, that's interesting!! You're saying that any bond would on Roshar produce surgebinding-like effects, even if its not with a Rosharan Spren? So we might see Shallan's new Seon have some effect too? ooooo

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Yes, Lift is a cool character, but I think you're setting yourself up for disappointment if you think she's going to be the big cheese of Book 5. Here are some counterpoints to the points outlined in the OP:

Counterpoint 1: Lift's book is in the back half, so it would make sense if Brandon holds off on most of her major character moments until then (especially dealing with her past and the implications of old magic) -- I think that for Book 5 it's more likely that she'll have a significant role on par with her roles in Oathbringer and Rhythm of War.

Counterpoint 2: Szeth has had one major interaction with Lift -- that's really not much to build off of. Szeth has had much more interaction with Taravangian, or Nale, or even Kaladin given their repeated confrontations. If Szeth and Lift had been paired together at all during Rhythm of War, we'd definitely be looking at a different situation.

Counterpoint 3: Aviars have access to investiture, yes, but they are not pure splinters like spren and seons. They are biological entities which gain their powers through a symbiotic relationship with an invested parasite -- which is also a biological entity. According to the OP's interpretation, we should expect feruchemists and awakeners to suddenly manifest new abilities on Roshar, which we don't really have any evidence for. I'm not saying that it couldn't happen, but I would expect something like that to require a lot of time and exposure to the rhythms of Roshar -- possibly over the course of many generations.

8 minutes ago, Nameless said:

I could see this happening in the back half, but not in book 5.

Ninja'd. I see how it is -- short posts reign supreme.

Edited by Olmund
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7 hours ago, Olmund said:

 According to the OP's interpretation, we should expect feruchemists and awakeners to suddenly manifest new abilities on Roshar, which we don't really have any evidence for.

I'll happily concede to the plausibility of your other points, but I do want to clarify something. I actually don't see any particular reason for Feruchemists and Awakeners to develop other abilities on Roshar, because their abilities don't use bonds as a foundation, which is what I think is the important thing here. Seons and aviar, on the other hand, do work through forming bonds, just like spren do. Of course, as you pointed out the fact that aviar are biological rather than Type 1 entities could be a limiting factor, I just wanted to clarify that I'm proposing bond magic specifically has extra effects on Roshar, not just any kind of invested art.

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16 hours ago, Cocoa said:

I'll happily concede to the plausibility of your other points, but I do want to clarify something. I actually don't see any particular reason for Feruchemists and Awakeners to develop other abilities on Roshar, because their abilities don't use bonds as a foundation, which is what I think is the important thing here. Seons and aviar, on the other hand, do work through forming bonds, just like spren do. Of course, as you pointed out the fact that aviar are biological rather than Type 1 entities could be a limiting factor, I just wanted to clarify that I'm proposing bond magic specifically has extra effects on Roshar, not just any kind of invested art.

Fair point, Feruchemy (a heritable art) is different from an art granted through a temporary bond to another creature, though my point was that all invested arts involve connection -- so that doesn't seem to be enough. Like I said initially, I wouldn't be surprised to see Aviar eventually gaining new powers after prolonged exposure to Roshar, but I don't think it would be an instantaneous process as might happen with a direct bond to a splinter.

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