Stormlight reread - things to look out for

[+Extesian]

This may be a strange Q&A question. I’m about to start my pre-Oathvember re-read of WoK and WoR. My last two were for enjoyment, this one I’ll take a forensic approach to. I’m reasonably full-bottle on general Cosmere lore, realmatics and WoBs so it’s about time I really get down some specific quotes and references from the books themselves.

 

So my question is – any things I should look out for? Any issues people can think of where WoBs are just not sufficient but you think there may be hints in the books I can look out for over the next 2 months? I’m far better at finding specific patterns than noticing them.so throw at me any thoughts. I’m thinking of things like eye-colors (not them, I’ve already done that, but things like that that are very hard to search for, but much easier when you track them as you read).

 

Things on my list so far: trying to identify the remaining Heralds; looking for evidence of the Iriali; looking for evidence of Honor’s perpendicularity; general evidence of potential worldhoppers, particularly kandra or DRAGONS; trying to find any mythology that may have been inspired by Cultivation (other than the Nightwatcher); evidence of any differences in the way different Nahel-bonding spren manifest, behave, self-identify and the way their surgebinders manifest new Oaths (eg Kaladin’s glyph explosions); any evidence at all of the main secret societies that isn’t immediately obvious; evidence of the origin of various ‘dead’ Shardblades; any evidence of cremlings or similar things that could be Aimian; anything that could indicate Rosharan and Cosmere timelines better than we know; and just generally any evidence that matter we consider canon or canon-ish may be mistaken.

 

Thanks in advance for any suggestions guys.

[Ammanas]

I doubt you will be able to find anything, but if you could locate any, and I mean any, evidence to support my (probably wrong) pet theory of Tezim being a Dakhor monk.

Also is seems like Khriss and Nazh are very active in era 2 of Scadrial. Perhaps any subtle reference on Roshar?

Also, you probably already know this, but the letters in both books are a correspondence between Hoid and a dragon called Frost. Just thought I would mention in case you have not heard.

[Calderis]

Cremlings. Cremlings everywhere. 

You covered pretty much everything I could think of in your list and more. 

Good luck, and I look forward to discussions based on what you find. 

[maxal]

1 hour ago, Calderis said:

I've looked at literally every incident of the word "Renarin" appearing in the way of Kings. 

I'm at a total loss. In the majority of scenes in which he's present, that the extent of things. He's just there.

His most notable interactions are those with Wit. His obvious bitterness at his perceived worth due to his health.  His knowledge of the Nightwatcher, in both conversations with Dalinar. Finally his fits occurring just after highstorms, though we, at least think, we know what that about. 

The only thing in all of those interactions that seems to have never really been addressed is the Nightwatcher. 

In the first instance, Renarin is the one to bring her up in the conversation. 

In the second Dalinar is surprised at Renarin's lack of concern over having gone. I always assumed that this was due to Dalinar's excessive sense of guilt. 

Is the unaddressed secret supposed to be that Renarin has been to the Nightwatcher? I find that hard to believe. True, we haven't seen a lot about Renarin's past specifically, but how would he have gone there and it not ever have been noticed? 

Unless his mother took him there as a child trying to heal his illness, I just don't see how it's possible. 

The only other alternative though, is that it's something to do with the storm visions, and I don't see anything there that we haven't already discussed to death. 

Your findings correspond to my personal recollection: nothing special nor noteworthy truly happened to Renarin during WoK.

Brandon has been asked about Renarin's interactions with Wit and the answer was while Hoid isn't on a crusade to uproot all Radiants, he will tell people what he thinks they need to hear. In Renarin's case, he thinks he needs built-up. I personally think this passage is supposed to foreshadowed Renarin's upcoming Radiant's status as even if Hoid isn't out there looking out for Radiants, he has treated each one of them in a special manner: it is particularly obvious when we note how he treats Adolin next to the Radiants. He doesn't care about him and he will be mean to him if it helps a Radiant progress. So huh, I don't think this is it.

Renarin knowing about the Nightwatcher seems more to indicate his "learned attribute" then anything else. Him not being surprised his father has went seem to indicate he probably guessed his father forgot his mother and added one and one together. The boys likely traveled with their father when he went there, so while Adolin didn't pay attention and remains clueless, "learned" Renarin probably figured it out. I read it as clue of what may happen in Oathbringer when Dalinar admits the truth. As a sick 19 years old boy, Renarin certainly never had the means nor the opportunity to seek the Nightwatcher on his behalf, so I would drop this one.

The last point is the one where I'll say: maybe is the one saying his fits seem to happen whenever a Highstorm approaches. It may be the fits are the visions, as some have suggested, but then again having seizure is so common among autistic individuals it doesn't seem to be it. Or it may be his visions are hidden by his fits or he was chosen because he has them or maybe he has them because Dalinar has his. 

Really, not much come to mind. Whatever clue there is, it isn't an obvious nor a very direct one.

 

[maxal]

2 minutes ago, Oversleep said:

Now you're discussing out-world reasons. I'm just pointing out it could probably be possible for Nightwatcher to do; I'm not saying whether Brandon would or would not go this path.

Yes but with this specific case, off-world reasons trump all in-world reasons. I am also completely unsure in-world magic would regenerate every single one of a given individual brain connections to magically yield autism. That doesn't work within my mind: in-world magic cannot alter fundamental aspects of a character such as skin color, hair color and yeah how your brain is working.

[+Extesian]

4 hours ago, maxal said:

Sure, now we just need to carefully examine every single page where Renarin's name is not mentioned  Easy task.

 

[Jonathon]

I have this working theory that literally every cremlingn we see in SA is in fact part of a sleepless. So, watch out for any correlation between cremlings and main events in the book to see if you agree

[King Cole]

Pattern saying odd things about another lady... 

Just had a cool idea, doing a read through while documenting your thoughts on each chapter here, I may try to do that some time

[AbsentKeeper]

I've been meaning to do a reread, looking specifically at Hoid, as Stormlight is his biggest appperence as a character so far. Obvious things to watch for would be:

1.Correlations between when he disappears, and the arrival of a temporary character that could be him in disguise.

2. Evidence of times he is using allomancy, other than the one we were supposed to catch.

3.Evidence of him awakening anything.

4. And any general evidence for his goals on Roshar.

Other than that, the only thing I can think of is to keep an eye on any parshmen who seem to be acting too smart. 

 

Edited July 26, 2017 by Cowmanthethird
Spelling

[The One Who Connects]

Chana. We've seen/heard mention of the other 9 Heralds in WoK, but Chana is still an unknown.
So uh.. women, suspicious or otherwise. Preferably not ones that we see die, not ones that appear to get older(that'd be people in Kaladin's flashbacks), etc..

Otherwise, I can't think of too much to look out for before reading Oathbringer. After it, sure. But before we get the revelations in OB, I think most of the cryptic things you'd be looking for will still mean nothing.

[Nathrangking]

Renarin's behavior as perhaps a sign of traitorous intentions?

[AbsentKeeper]

On 7/31/2017 at 6:36 PM, Nathrangking said:

Renarin's behavior as perhaps a sign of traitorous intentions?

I think most of Renarin's odd behavior is cleared up by the end of WoR.

Spoilers for WoR because I can't remember where this post is

Spoiler

He's hiding a spren that he has bonded, accounting for his increase in health and most suspicious behavor. Not to mention, he's given a shardblade that screams at him and he doesn't know why, explaining why he won't use it.

I suppose there could be more I missed, I'm curious as to why you think he's suspicious though?

Edited August 2, 2017 by Cowmanthethird

[Calderis]

6 minutes ago, Cowmanthethird said:

I suppose there could be more I missed, I'm curious as to why you think he's suspicious though?

There's a theory that Renarin has bonded a voidspren, due to the fact that Brandon has repeatedly avoided saying what type of spren Glys is. 

I personally think people are looking into it way more than necessary. 

[AbsentKeeper]

Just now, Calderis said:

There's a theory that Renarin has bonded a voidspren, due to the fact that Brandon has repeatedly avoided saying what type of spren Glys is. 

I personally think people are looking into it way more than necessary. 

Ahh, I hadn't heard that theory before.

Personally, I don't think it's likely, possible though I suppose.

[Calderis]

Just now, Cowmanthethird said:

Ahh, I hadn't heard that theory before.

Personally, I don't think it's likely, possible though I suppose.

My feelings exactly. We've seen Truthwatcher spren already. We'll see his eventually, and if it looks like a growing piece of light... There you go his spren is normal. 

Until I see some in book evidence, or a WoB that says Glys is not normal... I'm not on board. 

[Nathrangking]

I don't much believe the theory either, but I thought that perhaps a close read might reveal the truth one way or the other.

[Oversleep]

I have some stuff here

4 hours ago, FiveLate said:

Asyldin, she has shown up on 2 worlds already.

Which are...?

Edited August 4, 2017 by Oversleep

[Calderis]

Signs of Hemalurgy and/or Kandra. 

[Nathrangking]

indications of the identity of the Nightwatcher 

[Landis963]

16 hours ago, Oversleep said:

I have some stuff here

Which are...?

Scadrial and Nalthis, although whether or not Aslydin is in fact the Terriswoman nurse is unconfirmed.  

[Oversleep]

33 minutes ago, Landis963 said:

Scadrial and Nalthis, although whether or not Aslydin is in fact the Terriswoman nurse is unconfirmed.  

So she basically showed up nowhere aside from her original world.

[Calderis]

10 minutes ago, Oversleep said:

So she basically showed up nowhere aside from her original world.

We know she's in the Seventeenth Shard and a worldhopper. 

Being as she her and demoux met with her family being among the Terris during HoA, most assume she's the Terris nurse, but nitpicking has shown that Brandon has never actually explicitly stated the name and the "Terriswoman" worldhopper together. 

We know she has her own work in the Seventeenth Shard, so looking for her wouldn't be completely useless, but if she's not the nurse, I have to wonder if she's on a world we haven't seen yet. 

[maxal]

On 8/2/2017 at 0:57 PM, Calderis said:

There's a theory that Renarin has bonded a voidspren, due to the fact that Brandon has repeatedly avoided saying what type of spren Glys is. 

I personally think people are looking into it way more than necessary. 

Yes, but then again neither Stump nor Ym seemed to have been plagued by visions which made quite a few people wonder. There is also one WoB asking if Renarin's visions had something to do with Odium (I may not recall the exact wording) which was answered by RAFO.

Also, about two years ago @Argent was given a massive spoiler with respect to Renarin, something he promised he would not share and, as far as I am aware, he hasn't. If he pops in, he will be able to give us more information than my memory is allowing me to trace back, but I seem to remember him being told to look out for one specific passage about Renarin. Something telling, but not quite obvious. 

I would look for that into a re-read.

[Oversleep]

5 hours ago, Calderis said:

We know she's in the Seventeenth Shard and a worldhopper. 

Yeah, I know. But so far it's only a speculation that she and the Warbreaker nurse are one and the same.

I personally think, given that information:

Quote

...You’re not supposed to be able to guess who the Terriswoman is, by the way.

DrogaKrolow

So we will see her somewhere else?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, you will see her somewhere else. Yeah, you're not supposed to be able to guess. So that's why I'm surprised.

that the Warbreaker nurse is someone who we have yet to meet. It could be Aslydin but it's far from confirmed. We jump at conclusions too often.

For all I know it could be Wax's grandma.

Edited August 4, 2017 by Oversleep

[+Extesian]

I agree with Oversleep, I think the nurse is probably not Aslydin. Or at least there's insufficient evidence. We know a Terris worldhopper and we know Aslydin is one. We don't know there's only one. 

Hmmm I hadn't heard that about Argent finding out a huge spoiler (implying there is a huge spoiler to be found). I will pay particularly close attention to Renarin I think. 

[Calderis]

1 minute ago, Extesian said:

Hmmm I hadn't heard that about Argent finding out a huge spoiler (implying there is a huge spoiler to be found). I will pay particularly close attention to Renarin I think. 

@maxal how long ago was this? Was it before we knew Renarin was the one writing the countdown?