Oathbringer Typos (spoilers)

[Jofwu]

Quote

He nodded. He couldn’t write to them of course, but he could flip the reed on and off to send signals, an old general’s trick for when you lacked a scribe.

Oathbringer, Chapter 64

Spanreeds are a relatively recent invention, so it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for this to be "an old general's trick"?

---

I think there may be an issue with Dalinar's timeline visiting Cultivation, but it involves some minor RoW details so I'm going to put all this in a spoiler block:

Spoiler

• Dalinar visited Cultivation "5 and a half years" (OB chapter 114) prior to 1174 month 2, meaning somewhere in in 1168 month 7.
• In RoW Interlude I-6 we have Taravangian claim that his day of brilliance was "seven years gone" as of 1175 month 4, meaning he visited Nightwatcher prior to 1168 month 4.

In the OB flashback, Cultivation outright says it's the first time she's spoken to a human in centuries, so Dalinar's visit needs to be before Taravangian's.

It's worth noting the time references don't have to be precise of course... But I don't interpret "seven years gone" as anything less than 7 years, and if Dalinar's "5.5 years ago" is closer to 6 years ago then it should just say "6 years ago." You'd need to shift Dalinar's visit at least 3 months earlier to beat the Taravangian date, which would put the OB reference closer to 6 years. (and even that assumes Taravangian came right on Dalinar's heels and had his day of brilliance soon after)

• ALSO... RoW chapter 81 is an Eshonai flashback putting the humans' arrival to the Shattered Plains "7 years ago" relative to 1175 month 2, meaning 1168 month 4.

For the two events above, you could just say that RoW is at fault, and Taravangian's day of brilliance needs to be later. But I think this reference strengthens Taravangian's date? Dalinar's goal was to strike off as soon as possible. The trip to the Valley was going to be an "unexpected" delay of a few months... So the 1168 month 7 visit feels extreme. He would have arrived on the Shattered Plains until practically a full year after Gavilar was assassinated. Meanwhile the rest of the Alethi get there just 4 months after? (three months before Dalinar even made it to the Valley?) There's some wiggle room on that RoW flashback date to make it less extreme, but I think it fits awkwardly with Dalinar's visit regardless. It shouldn't take Dalinar 7 whole months to reach the Valley if they were moving with any kind of haste.

The previous OB Dalinar flashback (Gavilar's funeral) is "6 years ago" (and the one before that is "7 years ago"). Maybe there's a desire to not have two flashbacks say "6 years ago" when those flashbacks obviously don't happen back to back. If that's the case, I think you could make chapter 114 "6 years ago" (referring to early 1168) and the chapter 105 flasbhack (funeral) be "6 and a half years ago". I don't know the official timeline's date of the assassination, but the OB events surrounding chapter 105 are roughly 1174 month 2 week 5. Gavilar died sometime in 1167 month 10, I believe. So chapter 105 is technically at at least 6.25 years ago. Close enough for it to be labeled 6.5.

Aaaaaal of that said... in OB chapter 24 there's a reference to Taravangian having a "strange illness" 5 years ago. If this is supposed to refer to his day of brilliance (or events shortly after it), I guess it suggests the RoW I-6 date is off by about a year?

If it's important to keep the OB date in place, I guess it's vital to note that it has several ramifications for RoW. The Taravangian visit mentioned above needs to be later. (or  he needs to visit her before Dalinar) The humans probably should arrive on the Shattered Plainsn later. Also, RoW chapter 81 mentions the discovery of warform being one year prior, so the shift might affect the warform flashback's date as well. Maybe other things if I kept digging.

 

[Frustration]

On 12/21/2020 at 10:33 AM, Jofwu said:

Spanreeds are a relatively recent invention, so it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for this to be "an old general's trick"?

Dalinar mentioned at the Rift that they were becoming cheep enough that most nobles had them, meaning that nobles with higher status probably got them sooner.

[Jofwu]

This is rather obscure, and it is very likely that the number is "intentionally converted" for the reader's sake...

But from Oathbringer 108:

Quote

“Look low on the horizon, at two hundred ten degrees.”

This comment by Peter suggests to me that there are 200 "Rosharan degrees" in a circle:

If that's the case, "two hundred ten degrees" is a bit nonsensical.

[Jofwu]

Oathbringer chapter 68

Quote

She trembled, looking into those blue eyes. Shadows played within them. Shapes moved, and were worn down by time. Boulders became dust. Mountains became hills. Rivers changed course. Seas became deserts.

Do they have deserts on Roshar? I would think highstorms mean they don't have true deserts. Is it a word in their vocabulary? This is a Shallan PoV.

Though maybe they would just use the term in a relative sense, kind of like the seasons are used. And she is getting a trippy visions looking into Wit's eyes here so maybe some weirdness is reasonable.

 

[Wandering Shade]

4 hours ago, Jofwu said:

Oathbringer chapter 68

Do they have deserts on Roshar? I would think highstorms mean they don't have true deserts. Is it a word in their vocabulary? This is a Shallan PoV.

Though maybe they would just use the term in a relative sense, kind of like the seasons are used. And she is getting a trippy visions looking into Wit's eyes here so maybe some weirdness is reasonable.

 

They totally have deserts on Roshar. Its just not deserts as per our world's definition, which relates to the amount of rainfall. On Roshar, a desert is just an area of land which doesn't stay wet for very long after a highstorm is over. I think most of the Makabak region counts for that.

[Jofwu]

On 6/6/2022 at 7:31 PM, Wandering Shade said:

They totally have deserts on Roshar. Its just not deserts as per our world's definition, which relates to the amount of rainfall. On Roshar, a desert is just an area of land which doesn't stay wet for very long after a highstorm is over. I think most of the Makabak region counts for that.

That's possible. This is what I was referring to with using the word in a relative sense.

But as far as I could find in a quick search, this is the ONLY time that "desert" has been used in Stormlight Archive.

[Wandering Shade]

On 6/8/2022 at 7:31 AM, Jofwu said:

But as far as I could find in a quick search, this is the ONLY time that "desert" has been used in Stormlight Archive.

Hmmm. That's very true. I don't think its a typo though, if only because I'm not sure what other word would be used in that place.

[Personification]

On 6/10/2022 at 1:33 AM, Wandering Shade said:

Hmmm. That's very true. I don't think its a typo though, if only because I'm not sure what other word would be used in that place.

Plains? Fields? Plateaus? 

[Frustration]

2 hours ago, Personification said:

Plains? Fields? Plateaus? 

All of those imply a level of fertility or altitude that you wouln't get from a drained saltwater body.

[Personification]

4 hours ago, Frustration said:

All of those imply a level of fertility or altitude that you wouln't get from a drained saltwater body.

Not exactly. On Roshar, fertile land isn't determined by soil, but by crem. On Earth, a drained saltwater body isn't particularly fertile because there generally won't be much soil and there is lots of salt, but on Roshar, any large area of clear land will get covered in crem, and therefore make a good home for many plants. The only issue really would be the lack of cover, but most Rosharan grasses are evolved for that.

[Frustration]

1 minute ago, Personification said:

Not exactly. On Roshar, fertile land isn't determined by soil, but by crem. On Earth, a drained saltwater body isn't particularly fertile because there generally won't be much soil and there is lots of salt, but on Roshar, any large area of clear land will get covered in crem, and therefore make a good home for many plants. The only issue really would be the lack of cover, but most Rosharan grasses are evolved for that.

The salinity of the eviroment would prevent the roots from absorbing water.

And now that you mention it Roshar wouldn't even be aware that oceans could become deserts as without plate tectonics their planet should have remained mostly unchanged on a macro scale.

[Treamayne]

6 hours ago, Frustration said:

And now that you mention it Roshar wouldn't even be aware that oceans could become deserts as without plate tectonics their planet should have remained mostly unchanged on a macro scale.

Except for the whole "Continental Drift due to Crem deposits and erosion."

WoB

Spoiler

Rybal (paraphrased)

How did you come up with the geography on Roshar?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

The geography on Roshar was developed as a natural outgrowth of the highstorm, which was the first concept for Roshar, which was inspired by the storm of Jupiter, which was me wanting to tell a story about a world with a continual magical storm. And then I built the ecology and all of these things up from that. Roshar had to grow up--I had to find a mechanism by which stone was deposited by rain, because I felt that the constant weathering over that long of a time would leave no continents. So the crem was my kind of scientific-with-one-foot-in-magic hack on keeping the continent. So the continent does drift. They don't have plate tectonics. The continent actually moves as it gets weathered on the east and gets pushed that direction over millennia of time.

 

Edited June 13, 2022 by Treamayne
Formatting

[Frustration]

30 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

Except for the whole "Continental Drift due to Crem deposits and erosion."

WoB

  Reveal hidden contents

Rybal (paraphrased)

How did you come up with the geography on Roshar?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

The geography on Roshar was developed as a natural outgrowth of the highstorm, which was the first concept for Roshar, which was inspired by the storm of Jupiter, which was me wanting to tell a story about a world with a continual magical storm. And then I built the ecology and all of these things up from that. Roshar had to grow up--I had to find a mechanism by which stone was deposited by rain, because I felt that the constant weathering over that long of a time would leave no continents. So the crem was my kind of scientific-with-one-foot-in-magic hack on keeping the continent. So the continent does drift. They don't have plate tectonics. The continent actually moves as it gets weathered on the east and gets pushed that direction over millennia of time.

 

Which wouldn't dry up any water bodies, It's only been around 10,000 years since the continent was made it has maybe shifted east by a few feet or so, but Rosharans should have zero concept of oceans once covering a large water body and then being evaporated.

[Treamayne]

8 minutes ago, Frustration said:

Which wouldn't dry up any water bodies, It's only been around 10,000 years since the continent was made it has maybe shifted east by a few feet or so, but Rosharans should have zero concept of oceans once covering a large water body and then being evaporated.

I don't disagree. I was merely adding the WoB to your statement about how Continental Drift applies to the continent when plate tectonics are absent.

[Frustration]

1 minute ago, Treamayne said:

I don't disagree. I was merely adding the WoB to your statement about how Continental Drift applies to the continent when plate tectonics are absent.

Oh, alright, my bad.

[Cinnamon]

I just noticed that Isaac Stewart is spelt “Isaac St3wart” in the acknowledgments of the UK version, page ten. 

Spoiler

I have also found a discrepancy with the book number 

On the contents page it says “ Book Two: Oathbringer” however Oathbringer is book three. This is confirmed in two pages time on the title page where it says “BOOK THREE OATHBRINGER”

I believe they are both meant to say Three.

This is an older copy and these mistakes very well may have been caught, I thought I should let you know just in case.

 

 

Edited October 29, 2022 by Cinnamon

[AonEne]

On 10/28/2022 at 9:42 PM, Ookla the catastrophizer said:

I just noticed that Isaac Stewart is spelt “Isaac St3wart” in the acknowledgments of the UK version, page ten. 

This is intentional; in every book Brandon spells Isaac's name with some wacky new symbol. It's one of his running jokes in the acknowledgements.