Oathbringer Cover Revealed

[Araz]

1 hour ago, Argent said:

The original Elsecallers would often bring other people into Shadesmar, it's in one of the excerpts from (the in-world) Words of Radiance. Jasnah also obviously doesn't emerge from there naked at the end of the book either, so she can carry stuff in and out as well. But it would be cool if she used Ivory as a portal - I don't think it works like that, but it would be cool.

It sort of makes sense right? In the same way that usually Sanderson magic makes sense. Jasnah binding her Transportation surge to Ivory, the same way thay Shallan binds her Illusions to Pattern to move them around. It's so internally consistent that I'd almost br mad it doesn't end up being the case. Poetically simmetrical, I'd say.

[Zeldan]

5 hours ago, Samaldin said:

I´m a bit disappointed by the cover. I like that it shows the Desolation is already in full swing or at least that the fighting is already serious enough to threaten cities, but why is Jasnah looking away from the thunderclast? She doesn´t even seems to be looking to the people she potentially just saved but is looking upward, why? I would have prefered one of the other two options shown.

If you look, you'll notice that the Thunderclast is walking on the opposite side of the wall, away from Jasnah, and that there are spears/soldiers(maybe even Kaladin) on that side which means they're being attacked from the side that Jasnah is on. I suspect that she is looking up at yet another Thuderclast on her side of the wall, which is why she is now in the process of summoning her shardblade, which would explain why the middle of her blade is not yet fully formed(at least I think that's what the hazy portion is supposed to be, considering the rest of the blade is very well defined and solid).

[maxal]

My thoughts on the front cover, apart from "it is amazing", are there appear to have a few things going on: 

1) Soldiers bearing a red flag trying to breached into the broken wall Jasnah is apparently trying to fix with her soulcasting.

2) Jasnah is soulcasting a starway going upwards, away from the fighting soldiers, not towards them, hence maybe she is escaping?

3) There is a thunderclast is looming in the background.

However what struck me the most is the soldiers appear to be attacking the side Jasnah is on which means Dalinar is probably under attack. They have a red flag... Sadeas's soldiers?

[Kurkistan]

25 minutes ago, maxal said:

However what struck me the most is the soldiers appear to be attacking the side Jasnah is on which means Dalinar is probably under attack. They have a red flag... Sadeas's soldiers?

I thought Sadeas's colors were green?

[Delightful]

2 hours ago, Ironeyes said:

We actually have confirmation from a panel at Boskone that this scene is from the very end of the book. It's buried in the middle of the "Career Panel" linked here:

 

awww, it would have been cool if we had void bringers attacking cities halfway through.

4 minutes ago, Kurkistan said:

I thought Sadeas's colors were green?

yeah. 

but he's dead. Would his wife (Iri? Ialai?) take over?

[Modal Seoul]

All hail Michael Whelan. He is the Radiance of the Words, the King of our Ways, the Light of our Memory, and the Bringer of our Oaths.

The Captains Domon salute you.

[maxal]

12 minutes ago, Kurkistan said:

I thought Sadeas's colors were green?

Oh is it? Crap. I was thinking of his Shardplate which was painted red... oh well. I really like the idea of a civil war in between the princedoms 

[Faceless Mist-Wraith]

The cover looks awesome! It's cool to see Jasnah in action. Some other thoughts:

1. How is Jasnah walking on floating stairs? Is she creating solid air?
2. Slightly disappointed that we didn't get to see Szeth and Nightblood in action.
3. Is she soulcasting the wall? I thought that soulcasting looked more lightningy.
4. Thunderclasts are much larger than I thought they were. That's frightening.
5. I couldn't help thinking to myself "That wall isn't going to even slow that monster down."

All in all, this just makes me look forward to the book more. Is there going to be an Oathbringer Subforum?

[Steeldancer]

6 hours ago, Blightsong said:

1 hour ago, maxal said:

My thoughts on the front cover, apart from "it is amazing", are there appear to have a few things going on: 

1) Soldiers bearing a red flag trying to breached into the broken wall Jasnah is apparently trying to fix with her soulcasting.

2) Jasnah is soulcasting a starway going upwards, away from the fighting soldiers, not towards them, hence maybe she is escaping?

3) There is a thunderclast is looming in the background.

However what struck me the most is the soldiers appear to be attacking the side Jasnah is on which means Dalinar is probably under attack. They have a red flag... Sadeas's soldiers?

It appears as if the flag is bearing the symbol of dalinar. I'd say they are probably attacking the giant thunderclast

Edited March 16, 2017 by The Flash
Sorry about the weird formatting

[maxal]

13 minutes ago, The Flash said:

It appears as if the flag is bearing the symbol of dalinar. I'd say they are probably attacking the giant thunderclast

Doesn't look like they are attacking in the picture. The thunderclast is too far away to have breached the wall and why would Jasnah try to breach it in front of a fighting army looking towards her? It really seems to me as if the soldiers are attacking and Jasnah is defending.

[Zeldan]

1 hour ago, maxal said:

My thoughts on the front cover, apart from "it is amazing", are there appear to have a few things going on: 

1) Soldiers bearing a red flag trying to breached into the broken wall Jasnah is apparently trying to fix with her soulcasting.

2) Jasnah is soulcasting a starway going upwards, away from the fighting soldiers, not towards them, hence maybe she is escaping?

3) There is a thunderclast is looming in the background.

However what struck me the most is the soldiers appear to be attacking the side Jasnah is on which means Dalinar is probably under attack. They have a red flag... Sadeas's soldiers?

 

2 minutes ago, maxal said:

Doesn't look like they are attacking in the picture. The thunderclast is too far away to have breached the wall and why would Jasnah try to breach it in front of a fighting army looking towards her? It really seems to me as if the soldiers are attacking and Jasnah is defending.

What if Jasnah was defending the wall when the Thunderclast broke through, and so she fell to the ground on the outside of the wall. it would take her some time to recover from a fall like that which is why the Thunderclast would be so far away, and also explain the staircase: she's trying to get back on top of the wall. Until the wall is reconstructed, the spearmen are forming a sort of phalanx to protect the opening. As Jasnah gets close to the top of the wall, she notices something looming above her(another Thunderclast?) and begins to begins to jump toward it in order to attack(which is why her lower foot is hovering slightly above the one of the last steps, and her other is raised highly as if in mid leap). Thoughts?

[Steeldancer]

3 minutes ago, Zeldan said:

 

What if Jasnah was defending the wall when the Thunderclast broke through, and so she fell to the ground on the outside of the wall. it would take her some time to recover from a fall like that which is why the Thunderclast would be so far away, and also explain the staircase: she's trying to get back on top of the wall. Until the wall is reconstructed, the spearmen are forming a sort of phalanx to protect the opening. As Jasnah gets close to the top of the wall, she notices something looming above her(another Thunderclast?) and begins to begins to jump toward it in order to attack(which is why her lower foot is hovering slightly above the one of the last steps, and her other is raised highly as if in mid leap). Thoughts?

Very plausible. This might be an offhand moment. 

[ccstat]

I'm glad they got Whelan to do another "making of" post for the reveal. I particularly love the in-process 'value study', which feels even more dynamic than the final version:

[geralt]

That is a sweet cover! 

On a different note, these quotes make me wonder what city is being invaded. If I'm not mistaken, there was no mention of city walls in Urithuru, so if I had to guess I'd say it's Kholinar. I would love the climax of Oathbringer being the current knight radiants assembling Avengers style to save the capital.

 

“We’re centered on a scene where Jasnah confronts the invaders,” Whelan says of the cover. “A giant has smashed a breach in the city wall, and Jasnah is called upon to restore it.”

“After dispatching several invaders with her Shardblade sword, she covers the gap with a brassy wall of magical metal. It’s a very visual scene, in which I saw a lot of possibilities for good images.”

 

 

Edited March 17, 2017 by geralt

[king of nowhere]

I am surprised. really astonished. there is a fantasy illustration with a pretty girl fighting, and yet she doesn't have a stripperiffic outfit, nor is she battling in high heels! Must be unique in its realism. (I would still point out that a dress is not the most practical garment to fight in, but it is possible jasnah got surprised by the attack and did not have time to change into something more comfortable. plus, she may have chosen the dress to project a better leadershipto the soldiers).

 

6 hours ago, Rhaegar'Elin said:

The cover is simply astounding (even if Jasnah is floating for seemingly no reason) but... but I was hoping for Dalinar (legends say he's featured in the WoK cover but to me seems only a random Shardbearer) 

On a side note, nice info on the Thunderclast.

So we have the first book, which is kaladin's book, with dalinar in the cover. Kaldin actually appears in  the cover of the second, which is shallan's. and in the third we have jasnah, which we know will be a flashback  character in one of the ten books, while the book is dalinar's...

Now, my dear students, we have a problem for you. The stormlight archive has 10 books, and every book has a main character, and every cover features one such main character, but not the one of that book. Calculate how many cover combinantions are possible.

 

 

 

2 hours ago, maxal said:

Doesn't look like they are attacking in the picture. The thunderclast is too far away to have breached the wall and why would Jasnah try to breach it in front of a fighting army looking towards her? It really seems to me as if the soldiers are attacking and Jasnah is defending.

seems to me the pikes are there holding the position, but we don't see what they actually do

[Delightful]

2 hours ago, king of nowhere said:

I am surprised. really astonished. there is a fantasy illustration with a pretty girl fighting, and yet she doesn't have a stripperiffic outfit, nor is she battling in high heels! Must be unique in its realism. (I would still point out that a dress is not the most practical garment to fight in, but it is possible jasnah got surprised by the attack and did not have time to change into something more comfortable. plus, she may have chosen the dress to project a better leadershipto the soldiers)

I KNOW RIGHT ITS AMAZING

 

re practicality, there's also the element of Vorin modesty to consider. What she's wearing is already a leap from traditional Havahs, she's got a glove and actual pants. Besides, she looks flippin badass. 

[Guest]

13 hours ago, jofwu said:

Intellectual equals? I mean, the guy knows a lot about a very specific trade (surgery). But I would absolutely not call Kaladin an intellectual.

He might not have the knowledge, but he has the mind.

[king of nowhere]

7 hours ago, Delightful said:

I KNOW RIGHT ITS AMAZING

 

re practicality, there's also the element of Vorin modesty to consider. What she's wearing is already a leap from traditional Havahs, she's got a glove and actual pants. Besides, she looks flippin badass. 

right, I did not notice the glove. So she's already being very progressive

re: jasnah-kaladin:

I'm not sure anyone can qualify to be jasnah's intellectual peer. kaladin is close enough, though.

[bdoble97]

This gets me so excited. Jasnah is one of my favorite characters who who am I kidding I love all the characters from this book series period but I love on tour.com Michael Whelan shows his process and explains things it's so interesting. It sounds like this is going to be some absolutely epic battles in this book.  And just think if the rumors are true we're going to get a second and third cover for the interior of the book. And all the in book art. O man this so exciting. Brandon Sanderson book are just simply on another level then all the other Epic Fantasy.

[DSC01]

So, someone made a comment on the thread on the Tor article with the cover reveal, and I'm really confused. He said that he finds "Jasnah’s pose problematic, it looks unnatural, like she’s twisting round to show off her body rather than fighting. That’s not Jasnah from the books, that’s Jasnah in male fantasy."

Uh... I don't see it. I see the opposite of that. Like, I could imagine someone telling Michael Whelan, "Hey, you know how women on fantasy covers are only ethereal elf maidens or scantily clad barbarians--do you think that you could do the exact opposite of that for Jasnah?" 

Am I crazy here? Or is that commenter just looking for controversy?

[DAdam]

A bunch of little details struck me as odd until I decided that the stairs must be Ivory too, and this is a snapshot of Ivory changing back into blade form as Jasnah starts to leap back into battle as she finishes the soulcasting.  It would explain why the pure white stairs are fading from the bottom up at the same time the blade is forming, why the stairs can float without visible support, why the shardblade is hovering without Jasnah actually touching it even though it looks like it's almost fully formed, and why she would be jumping off the stairs right at that moment (like others I thought she was levitating somehow, which made no sense with the levitating stairs right under her).

@DSC01, I won't speculate as to why that person made the comment, but I certainly don't see what they described either.

[Andy92]

@DSC01 That's just someone looking to nitpick things I'd imagine. I don't see it. 

[Erandeni]

21 hours ago, geralt said:

I would love the climax of Oathbringer being the current knight radiants assembling Avengers style to save the capital.

I hope at least Kaladin and Jasnah team up, as at the end of WoR

Spoiler

Dalinar ask him to go to Kholinar after he finish in his home.

And I think those might be Kholin spearmen.

Btw, might Ivory being weird in the middle of the blade, because she is soulcasting sharblade´s metal like the one in the oathgate?

[maxal]

9 hours ago, DSC01 said:

So, someone made a comment on the thread on the Tor article with the cover reveal, and I'm really confused. He said that he finds "Jasnah’s pose problematic, it looks unnatural, like she’s twisting round to show off her body rather than fighting. That’s not Jasnah from the books, that’s Jasnah in male fantasy."

Uh... I don't see it. I see the opposite of that. Like, I could imagine someone telling Michael Whelan, "Hey, you know how women on fantasy covers are only ethereal elf maidens or scantily clad barbarians--do you think that you could do the exact opposite of that for Jasnah?" 

Am I crazy here? Or is that commenter just looking for controversy?

I was about to answer @king of nowhere post by throwing a friendly pun asking where was Jasnah's boob armor...  when I read yours. I then proceeded to read the Tor.com comments which I hadn't and well... huh... I'll just say these weren't my first thoughts when I saw the cover.

My first thoughts were: 

1) It looks amazing combined with "It is Jasnah" as Brandon said it would.

2) She is jumping into the melee while soulcasting a wall.

3) Wait. No. She isn't jumping, she is moving upwards on a staircase she is soulcasting as she goes.

4) Oh look at the gigantic monster behind...

5) I wonder which city it is and who are those soldiers: are they fighting with or against Jasnah?

As you can see, none of them were: "Oh my, Jasnah looks like one of those amazons and gee, have you seen her breasts, how totally inappropriate.". 

This being said, I have however read the comments onto the Fantasy Reddit sub, not to mix up with the Stormlight Archive one: I find it more interesting in the sense the commentators aren't die-hard Sanderson fans. They thus merely judge the cover based on their personal impression: "yay" or "nay" and they aren't afraid to say "nay".

There were a few "nay". Some thoughts it looked too old school while others thought it was too spoiler-y. I do not recall anyone saying anything about Jasnah herself except most people seem to be happy to see a fully dressed up woman, for once, on the cover of a fantasy book. Looking back into the picture though, I can see where this other guy comes from: Jasnah's curves are evidently being up into strong evidence. She may be wearing clothes, but not much is left to the imagination.... but huh... OK... I don't think I would have think of it had not someone raise the point.

If I were to push my thoughts further down this road, I would say while the full picture is mind-blowing, the portion of it which is featured on the book most definitely puts Jasnah in strong evidence. I feel this is a drastic change from the previous covers where I felt the star was the Shattered Plains, not the character, just Shallan's gorgeous drawing wasn't amazing because it had Shallan on it, but because the view merely inspiring. On Oathbringer though, the focus is certainly being put on Jasnah and we definitely see her full figure which wasn't the case on the Dalinar and the Kaladin's covers.

I can't help but think this change was triggered by the fact a woman was on the cover and, when it comes to women, they always display their physical attributes. As much as I love Stormlight, I have noted how every single female character is simply stunningly beautiful: Navani, Jasnah, Shallan, Danlan, Rushu, Laral, how the book does mention how stunningly beautiful they are. The only disfavored female character is Ialai and she is a villain... On the reverse, Dalinar is allowed to be plain ugly while Kaladin is allowed to be "ordinary looking", neither handsome nor ugly.

I thus do not think it is a coincidence Jasnah is so prominent on her cover... and I do see why there are those who feel it is a step back. After all, aren't we all trying to have fantasy become more mainstream? Is this cover fulfilling this task? As much as I do love the cover, I think it does not. If I didn't know the series, I would say it shows a pretty woman doing magic and handling a sword: nothing ground-breaking, nothing new, nothing which hasn't been down before, but the cover of WoK... Now it definitely got my attention. I haven't even read the book, but just looking at it I wanted to.

So there, this might be where this individual on Tor.com is coming from... I need to re-stated it: I absolutely love the full drawing, but on the cover, I feel we lose most of its impact. I can see why there are those who does not like it. 

 

[king of nowhere]

Quote

 

There were a few "nay". Some thoughts it looked too old school while others thought it was too spoiler-y. I do not recall anyone saying anything about Jasnah herself except most people seem to be happy to see a fully dressed up woman, for once, on the cover of a fantasy book. Looking back into the picture though, I can see where this other guy comes from: Jasnah's curves are evidently being up into strong evidence. She may be wearing clothes, but not much is left to the imagination.... but huh... OK... I don't think I would have think of it had not someone raise the point.

ok, but it makes sense for jasnah to be dressed like that. when doing physical activity, you want stuff that won't tangle or catch into something. You may notice how gymnasts and dancers (of both sexes) also routinely use outfits that leave little to the imagination, simply because they are the more practical to do that kind of activity. So it makes sense for jasnah to have a form-fitting dress, what actually makes little sense is the cape and the things dangling from her waist - bad for fighting. Ok, the best choice would be an armor, but since jasnah isn't armor-trained, and she can heal very well, an armor would probably hinder more than protect. Plus, jasnah is described as beautiful in several occasions (how did she got that physique by being a scholar, by the way? she must have done some really heavy book-lifting), and she cares for her appearance, not for flirting but for power. I can totally see her getting her hair and makeup done before a battle before she thinks the soldiers will follow her better if she does. Anyway, when you have a beautiful woman, pretty much any outfit you put her in could qualify as fanservice. The only way to completely avoid it would be to use a burqua, and really, better not go down that lane. Especially, the problem is not pretty women being shown in revealing clothes when it makes sense for them to dress such; the problem is pretty women being shown with revealing clothes completely inadequate to what they are doing for the sole purpose of fanservice.
 

Quote

 

I can't help but think this change was triggered by the fact a woman was on the cover and, when it comes to women, they always display their physical attributes. As much as I love Stormlight, I have noted how every single female character is simply stunningly beautiful: Navani, Jasnah, Shallan, Danlan, Rushu, Laral, how the book does mention how stunningly beautiful they are. The only disfavored female character is Ialai and she is a villain... On the reverse, Dalinar is allowed to be plain ugly while Kaladin is allowed to be "ordinary looking", neither handsome nor ugly.

I thus do not think it is a coincidence Jasnah is so prominent on her cover... and I do see why there are those who feel it is a step back. After all, aren't we all trying to have fantasy become more mainstream? Is this cover fulfilling this task? As much as I do love the cover, I think it does not. If I didn't know the series, I would say it shows a pretty woman doing magic and handling a sword: nothing ground-breaking, nothing new, nothing which hasn't been down before, but the cover of WoK... Now it definitely got my attention. I haven't even read the book, but just looking at it I wanted to.

So there, this might be where this individual on Tor.com is coming from... I need to re-stated it: I absolutely love the full drawing, but on the cover, I feel we lose most of its impact. I can see why there are those who does not like it. 

 

Alas, that's a real problem, though one of media as a whole. In movies, women who are supposed to be ugly just... aren't. I think sanderson is less guilty here than others are. navani is described as beautiful only by dalinar, who had a preexisting attraction for her. jasnah is described as beautiful, but she also spends a lot of effort for her looks. I always got the impression that without that, she'd be above average, but nothing special (I don't know where I get this idea; it may be totally unsupported and just triggered by my standard reaction to any woman with a lot of makeup). Laral is described as beautiful by kaladin, a teenager who is getting into puberty and who is only allowed to hang out with one girl. Shallan is very pretty and Danlan is at least pretty, but they are both in their late teens; most girls are pretty at that age.

I look at events through the eyes of a scientist and I tend to latch on statistical oddities (did anyone notice how the number "7" turns up in a lot of Marasi's statistics? That's because people asked a random number between 1 and 10 will generally say 3 or 7. From that you can see those statistics are made up), and female beauty distribution is one of the things I keep track of, and none of sanderson's books triggered my "improbable-o-meter". When his whole production is taken into account, you get vin, siri, vivenna and marasi as the only other main characters who are really beautiful - with many others of ordinary or mid-high looks, like tia (no remarks), steris (plain at best), sarene (some older people complimented her, but I never got the impression that she was exceptional), tyndwil (sazed loved her, but I don't recall any other character remarking on her beauty), ranette (we can see she's ugly even through the pink-tinted descriptions of vayne).

Even among those who are actually described as beautiful, I always got the impression - again, personal impression - that vivenna, like jasnah, was more groomed than really beautiful (incidentally, women judging other women tend to overstate much those kind of things, along with lack of flaws, "poise" and "elegance". Don't care much about those stuff. That's why many girls fixate on dieting, only to go to their male friends to say "look, I lost 3 kilos" and get replies like "I don't see any difference" or "I liked you better before". Last time I explained all this to a girl, she answered "I am fully aware, but I'm not doing it to be liked better by men; I am doing it to be more envied by other girls". Well, can't argue with that All this long digression because both jasnah and vivenna were described as beautiful specifically by women who remarked a lot on their poise and impeccable clothing and makeup). And that Vin was more "kitty-cute" than beautiful. And siri was given a full beauty treatmment every day before her meetings with the god-king. The statistic distribution is realistic enough; the main anomaly is that the protagonists tend to be most beautiful and the supporting characters are more plain. Shallan is probably the only one who is really, objectively 1-in-100-beautiful (and also very kitty-cute). And being the only one among several dozens characters, she is statistically appropriate.

And the more I think about it, the more I think the drawings are realistic. Marasi, as seen in the cover of SoS, is pretty, but you can walk around and find many girls as pretty. Steris has been groomed to her best, but you can guess her plainess underneath. and jasnah, she looks like a pretty woman in her late thirties who used makeup to get some extra points.