[OB] Adolin-Shallan-Kaladin Discussion

[Dreamstorm]

41 minutes ago, Furry-And-Lovable-Grover said:

I don't have the text in front of me, so I can't say for sure, but I was under the impression that Shallan was wearing different clothes at the point when that particular conversation happened?

However, it doesn't take well fitting clothes to make someone look good to you when you're genuinely attracted to them anyways. My wife wakes up with bed head and walks around in unflattering tanktops for a good portion of her day, but a lot of the times, there's something about the way she looks that just rings my bell.

I hope you stick around! You have interesting things to say (and as you can tell, a lot of us love to talk about this topic, haha!) 

In response just to the above:  Shallan is wearing the same clothes when Adolin mentions they are ill-fitting and when he tells her he doesn't think she's capable of looking terrible.  (Ch. 101, Deadeye.)  I totally agree with you that someone can wear unflattering clothes and still look good to you when you're in love/super attracted to them.  But, given I assume this book is skillfully written, there is a juxtaposition between the thoughts we see from Adolin and what he says to Shallan.  It would be really easy for the line to have been something like "Shallan's clothes were ill-fitting but she looked gorgeous anyway" if that's what this was meant to convey.  That would have lined up with what Adolin says to Shallan later.  Instead we are given two examples (the clothes and being distracted by the highstorm) where what Adolin says to Shallan does not align to what we see earlier in the chapter.  That seems pretty intentional, no?  Especially when the Adolin/Shallan exchange otherwise serves zero purpose in the narrative; Adolin talks to Azure and muses about it and Shallan comes up to stand besides him.  If you take the two paragraphs where she asks the question and Adolin answers out of the text literally nothing changes in the story; it adds nothing except as a contrast to the thoughts/actions we see in Adolin earlier in the chapter.

[Furry-And-Lovable-Grover]

@SLNC So I'll address what I mean quickly and then away

1: That quote says to me that Adolin enjoys a life of luxury. I would happily spend my life reading, eating, sleeping, learning an instrument and working out if I could. If I didn't have to work, I certainly wouldn't. Adolin's work happens to be that of a commander on a battlefield. That entails spending lots of time doing things that aren't dueling, lounging, courting etc. because that if they aren't done, your unit's effectiveness falls off. Everything that you do while waiting to fight matters, because everything you do matters when you're in battle. The Kholin's are different from most other houses. Very martial and very dedicated. Adolin drinks the kool-aid and exemplifies what Dalinar expects from his soldiers. That spills over into your personal life. Adolin doesn't have as much time to lounge around with friends as his friends do. They don't really understand why Adolin acts the way that he does and try to leverage him as a way to change things in the warcamps. When you spend a lot of time in an environment where everything matters, it can be frustrating to hear about things that don't matter. The average "Vorin Flower" doesn't care about war and isn't interested in it. Shallan asks about something that is a huge part of Adolin's life and engages him in a way that other women don't making her much more personally interesting.

 

2: I am honest with my wife and tell her if I don't like the clothes she's wearing. Granted to your point, we have been together for the better part of ten years now. In those moments I mentioned, I'm usually "struck" for lack of a better word, and anything that I thought looked unflattering before does not even warrant attention. I don't notice it at the moment.

 

3: I do think that Adolin wants Shallan to be happy. He's an example of headstrong sexist thinking in the moment where he tried to tell Shallan to go after who he thought she really wanted. I would absolutely fight tooth and nail to keep a relationship that I cared that much about. I can't really point to something about Adolin as a character here that really explains his motivation, except to say that it felt more to me like a moment that Brandon chose to polarize Shallan and used it to try and highlight some of Shallan's growth this book. 

 

4: Again, I have to point to the cultural difference here. The closest thing I can think of in our culture hearkens back to the church a little bit. Families who know each other, talk and decide that their kids are cute together and set them up. You could argue that both Shallan and Adolin are taken advantage of by Jasnah and Navani here. But they're two strangers that are trying to make the best of their situation and get to know someone new.

 

5: I can definitely see the sexual attraction between the two of them. But I also think that the types of gifts that Adolin brings and the way he engages with her shows that he values her opinion, and the fact that he opens up to her shows that he's willing to let himself be vulnerable to her. Platonic affection blooms into romantic attraction all the time, particularly when compounded by sexual attraction. I do think they'll both probably end up at least a little hurt before the whole thing susses out, but I'm comfortable with the idea of them working on a relationship together, even if a marriage is, admittedly, probably a little premature. She's going to have to explain all this to her brothers one way or another. 

 

EDIT: So yes, Adolin brought work to hang out and talk about. They don't have netflix.  But he also brought food like four books about politics from countries that Shallan publicly admitted to knowing nothing about, and he mentions that he brought them because he liked them and thought she would too.

 

@Dreamstorm Thanks! I'm glad to be here, and it's great to be able to enjoy these books with other people. My wife doesn't do high fantasy, so I don't have many IRL folks to talk with about it.  You bring up good points, and I would need to go back and re-read those parts before I could say anything else there. I'm in the middle of my first re-read now. 

Edited January 11, 2018 by Furry-And-Lovable-Grover
added UL for missing thought

[Kav]

All I have to say is... 77 pages?! Really?!

 

 

[Furry-And-Lovable-Grover]

@Kav That's why I'm not trying to get sucked in here. lol

[DeployParachute]

7 minutes ago, Furry-And-Lovable-Grover said:

@Kav That's why I'm not trying to get sucked in here. lol

Too late, you're ours now....*evil laughing ensues*

[JamesMc6]

 I want to jump in here--which is probably jumping back 75 pages or so in this thread--and talk about the Kaladin and Syl discussion about "losing" Shallan and the "ooooh, pretty!" rock. You all know the scene I'm talking about. I just come across it again on my reread of OB and it's got me frustrated. The first time I read it I really thought Kaladin was saying Shallan reminded him of Syl. And it might be foreshadowing a romance with Syl- and before you start I'm not shipping Syladin here, and I wasn't when I first read it. That was just how I interpreted the scene my first time through.

Okay, when I mentioned my interpretation of the scene here in the forums I got a lot of "yes, that's how I read it too," but also got a lot of "no, Kaladin was comparing Shallan to Tien." Well, on my reread yes I finally got the Tien connection because my memory was jogged about Tien loving rocks and always lightened Kaladin's mood. My frustration is that unless BranSan mentions Tien's mood lightening rocks earlier in OB and I missed it, then that is a very old, and some might say obscure callback for that very, very important scene. Frustrating. And truthfully, after rereading it a couple of time I'm still not sure which interpretation is correct and it seems like it has to be one or the other. Or could it be neither?

Sorry, I'm not trying to reopen any cans of worms, but it does seem relevant to this thread. Anyone else frustrated with the ambiguity of this scene?

[Guest]

23 minutes ago, Brightlord Brooding Eyes said:

 I want to jump in here--which is probably jumping back 75 pages or so in this thread--and talk about the Kaladin and Syl discussion about "losing" Shallan and the "ooooh, pretty!" rock. You all know the scene I'm talking about. I just come across it again on my reread of OB and it's got me frustrated. The first time I read it I really thought Kaladin was saying Shallan reminded him of Syl. And it might be foreshadowing a romance with Syl- and before you start I'm not shipping Syladin here, and I wasn't when I first read it. That was just how I interpreted the scene my first time through.

Okay, when I mentioned my interpretation of the scene here in the forums I got a lot of "yes, that's how I read it too," but also got a lot of "no, Kaladin was comparing Shallan to Tien." Well, on my reread yes I finally got the Tien connection because my memory was jogged about Tien loving rocks and always lightened Kaladin's mood. My frustration is that unless BranSan mentions Tien's mood lightening rocks earlier in OB and I missed it, then that is a very old, and some might say obscure callback for that very, very important scene. Frustrating. And truthfully, after rereading it a couple of time I'm still not sure which interpretation is correct and it seems like it has to be one or the other. Or could it be neither?

Sorry, I'm not trying to reopen any cans of worms, but it does seem relevant to this thread. Anyone else frustrated with the ambiguity of this scene?

No, I am pretty sure, that it is supposed to be an allusion to Tien, but I can understand, that if someone forgot the connection between the colored stone and Tien, it seems pretty ambiguous. What really annoyed me about the scene was how it was portrayed as some kind of new revelation to Kaladin, when he already compared Shallan to Tien in the chasms during WoR. Which, for me, more makes it seem like another forced repression of his feelings for Shallan, like he has been doing throughout OB already, instead of providing closure.

There could be more to it. If you want to read more about it, I'd like to refer you to this excellent post by @DeployParachute:

 

Edited January 11, 2018 by SLNC

[Rainier]

3 hours ago, SLNC said:

Another thing, I know there is all this low self-esteem stuff, that I personally don't really buy, but if he truly were in love with Shallan... Wouldn't he fight for her and not just give her up, especially after searching so long for the right one? Wouldn't he get angry (internally not externally) at seeing Shallan leering at Kaladin?

This is what bothered me too. Adolin has already let Shallan go. He's already given her up. This might be him resigned to something he feels is beyond his control, but I agree with your questions. If I were Adolin, and I actually liked my betrothed and wanted to marry her, I'd be pissed if I caught her making moon eyes at the bridgeboy. Confrontation of some sort would be inevitable. Instead it seems like Adolin knows the betrothal isn't really serious and can see the writing on the wall. He's protecting himself from getting hurt. Unfortunately Shallan pushed past his hesitation and I think Adolin is going to get hurt because of it.

47 minutes ago, Brightlord Brooding Eyes said:

And truthfully, after rereading it a couple of time I'm still not sure which interpretation is correct and it seems like it has to be one or the other. Or could it be neither?

27 minutes ago, SLNC said:

There could be more to it. If you want to read more about it, I'd like to refer you to this excellent post by @DeployParachute:

I'm going to second this recommendation without following the link because I know what it says and I agree. I think the rock is the figurative weight of the people who Kaladin has failed. The weight of his failures and the deaths on his conscience. The lightening of that burden is what he felt with Tien, and it's also what he feels with Syl and with Shallan. It's all connected.

Edited January 11, 2018 by Rainier

[GoddessIMHO]

Sorry, veering off topic here. I was really surprised at the WOB someone posted several pages back. I TOTALLY missed that Shallan had a gay/bi type of reaction to Jasnah. I thought there was hero worship for a time sure, but I missed the rest.

On the bromance, Adolin and Kaladin had both been brought up to be a certain type of person with a specific career. Both of them were being shaped by their station in life and then the war more than what they might have wanted. You are what your dad was if you are a son, especially a first born son, but Kaladin rejected that and become a soldier while Adolin just accepted it. Both of them wanted relationships. Both of them have younger brothers they feel responsible for. I do think that Adolin looks at Kaladin and sees him as MORE. But Kaladin respects him also.

I could totally have seen a scenario where they Both gave up Shallan for the other guy.

[Dreamstorm]

31 minutes ago, GoddessIMHO said:

On the bromance, Adolin and Kaladin had both been brought up to be a certain type of person with a specific career. Both of them were being shaped by their station in life and then the war more than what they might have wanted. You are what your dad was if you are a son, especially a first born son, but Kaladin rejected that and become a soldier while Adolin just accepted it. Both of them wanted relationships. Both of them have younger brothers they feel responsible for. I do think that Adolin looks at Kaladin and sees him as MORE. But Kaladin respects him also.

I could totally have seen a scenario where they Both gave up Shallan for the other guy.

I genuinely thought this was where things were headed post WoR (before I knew anything about Brandon), and it was so sad to have my hopes dashed. I could maybe (HUGE maybe maybe maybe) see Adolin being bi and having that explored (the guy does seem to be quite attracted to Kaladin), but there's no way Brandon's going to make his main character anything but hetero. Even if Brandon was ready for it (he's said he's not ready to do viewpoints of a gay character hence my doubt he'd make Adolin anything but hetero also), his American audience sadly is not. It's sad - Adolin and Kaladin IMO have the most fun set up (I know it gets maligned here a lot in reference to Shalladin, but I love a good "braided rose" romance) and the best chemistry. They are so supportive of and intuitive about each other. The cuteness of Adolin's Bridge Four salute. Kaladin's indignation over the wall guard making fun of Adolin. Adolin starry eyes over every time Kaladin uses his powers. I could go on 

If anyone else has read Rainbow Rowell's Carry On, Adolin and Kaladin remind me of Baz and Simon a bit. And I love, love that book!

[Rainier]

2 hours ago, GoddessIMHO said:

I TOTALLY missed that Shallan had a gay/bi type of reaction to Jasnah. I thought there was hero worship for a time sure, but I missed the rest.

I kinda forgot about this on previous reads, but on my re-read before Oathbringer it stood out strongly to me. The scene where Shallan finally steals the soulcaster is preceded by a lot of description of Jasnah's naked body. Then when she creates Radiant she specifically makes her bustier, like Jasnah. In between are enough side remarks about her beauty. I don't know if it's envy or sexual attraction or both, but Shallan is inordinately interested in Jasnah's figure.

Jasnah is slightly out of scope of this thread (as much as anything can be 77 pages deep), but my personal theory is that her trauma from childhood left her asexual, and her logical and rigorous mind (stripped of emotion and passion) attracted the Inkspren in the first place. They seem to value reliability and find humans unpredictable mostly due to their emotions, which explains a lot of Jasnah's peculiarities.

I don't see their relationship changing in that way, but I am interested in how their relationship changes. We've already seen some of it, as Shallan is stuck is this weird place where she's a ward but also a Radiant, so in some cases she's subservient and in others she's equal to Jasnah in being superior to others. Now Jasnah is the Queen, and Shallan is her cousin-in-law, so we've got yet more roles for them to play around each other. I didn't much like Shallan's chapters in TWoK, but I was hoping for more Shallan/Jasnah scenes. Obviously WoR did not deliver, and while OB gave us some, I still feel more than a book behind.

Edited January 12, 2018 by Rainier

[wotbibliophile]

I think Jasnah is still on topic because she is a romantic interest of Shallan. I have been thinking that Veil might still flirt with Kaladin because she will claim Shallan is married but she is not. But maybe Shallan will avoid Kaladin altogether like she sort of implied she would to Adolin. Instead she suddenly gets super flirty with Jasnah and Jasnah just won't get it because Jasnah does not pick up on some cues.

[Vissy]

4 hours ago, Brightlord Brooding Eyes said:

 I want to jump in here--which is probably jumping back 75 pages or so in this thread--and talk about the Kaladin and Syl discussion about "losing" Shallan and the "ooooh, pretty!" rock. You all know the scene I'm talking about. I just come across it again on my reread of OB and it's got me frustrated. The first time I read it I really thought Kaladin was saying Shallan reminded him of Syl. And it might be foreshadowing a romance with Syl- and before you start I'm not shipping Syladin here, and I wasn't when I first read it. That was just how I interpreted the scene my first time through.

Okay, when I mentioned my interpretation of the scene here in the forums I got a lot of "yes, that's how I read it too," but also got a lot of "no, Kaladin was comparing Shallan to Tien." Well, on my reread yes I finally got the Tien connection because my memory was jogged about Tien loving rocks and always lightened Kaladin's mood. My frustration is that unless BranSan mentions Tien's mood lightening rocks earlier in OB and I missed it, then that is a very old, and some might say obscure callback for that very, very important scene. Frustrating. And truthfully, after rereading it a couple of time I'm still not sure which interpretation is correct and it seems like it has to be one or the other. Or could it be neither?

Sorry, I'm not trying to reopen any cans of worms, but it does seem relevant to this thread. Anyone else frustrated with the ambiguity of this scene?

I had the same first thought as well! I do have to disagree a little with @SLNC - I think it might just as well be a Tien allusion as a nod to Syladin, or perhaps both..

6 hours ago, Furry-And-Lovable-Grover said:

@Kav That's why I'm not trying to get sucked in here. lol

One of us..

Edited January 12, 2018 by Vissy

[Humming]

Wow, so many replies these days! I had to catch up.

Was this 'braided roses' thing discussed in the thread? I thing I've read about it but I can't find the page...

[Rainier]

48 minutes ago, Humming said:

Was this 'braided roses' thing discussed in the thread? I thing I've read about it but I can't find the page...

I'm not even going to try to find the page, but it's a reference to one of Brandon's writing classes about how to write a romance. The braided roses indicates that when the characters first meet it's all about the thorns before eventually becoming intimate. 

Here's what I found for the video, he says braided rose at around 5:50. There may be more, but this is where it comes from.

 

[Humming]

@Rainier Thank you! I'll listen to the video while I dive a bit in the thread

[Dreamstorm]

1 hour ago, Humming said:

Was this 'braided roses' thing discussed in the thread? I thing I've read about it but I can't find the page...

It came from a Brandon lecture video (originally posted by @mariapapadia): https://youtu.be/V9cdgE6FjRs?t=1h2m10s.  If you go back to the 56/57 minute mark you can get the whole discussion on romance, including commentary on "Twilight emotions" being realistic for teenagers but they won't last and a realistic romance taking a lot of time to make it work.  (I personally think both of those latter points tie into this arc.) (Ninja'd by @Rainier on this!)

On another note, I finished my OB re-read last night, and this passage really stuck out for me on why Shallan needs Veil and Radiant in order to access her true potential; she could not have raised the Thaylen City "army" without them.  More pointedly, she cannot face her memories of her mother without them.  Related, this was when she decides she doesn't need to fracture further, which IMO is the "step forward" Brandon is talking about in the WoB.

Quote

Her father stepped from the Light. And her mother. 

The illusions immediately started to fail, melting back to Light. Then, someone seized her by the left hand. 

Shallan gasped. Forming from mist was … was Veil? With long straight black hair, white clothing, brown eyes. Wiser than Shallan—and more focused. Capable of working on small pieces when Shallan grew overwhelmed by the large scale of her work. 

Another hand took Shallan’s on the right. Radiant, in glowing garnet Shardplate, tall, with braided hair. Reserved and cautious. She nodded to Shallan with a steady, determined look. 

Others boiled at Shallan’s feet, trying to crawl from the Stormlight, their glowing hands grabbing at her legs. 

“… No,” Shallan whispered. 

This was enough. She had created Veil and Radiant to be strong when she was weak. She squeezed their hands tight, then hissed out slowly. The other versions of Shallan retreated into the Stormlight. 

Then, farther out, figures by the hundred surged from the ground and raised weapons at the enemy.

OB, Ch. 102, The Spear That Would Not Break

On the much sillier (and likely inconsequential) side, I looked into when Shallan mentioned Kaladin or Adolin first in her viewpoints.  (I first noticed this when Hoid asks Shallan who is in Kholinar, and Shallan mentions Kaladin first.  This struck me as odd because wouldn't Adolin - her betrothed - or Elhokar - the king - be a more natural first mention?)  Statistics below... I personally think it could be meaningful she mentions Kaladin first to Hoid and thinks of Kaladin first with the safehand embarrassment, but besides that it can easily be attributed to Kaladin being the main character who Brandon thinks about first.

• Kaladin before Adolin (5 times of 6)
  • Ch 61, Nightmare Made Manifest (2x): once when discussing faces she will be lightweaving on them ("'All right,' Shallan said, turning to Kaladin and Adolin. 'You two will get new faces [....]'"), once when discussing following each other into the city ("Elhokar followed as Kaladin and Adolin continued forward - and so did Shallan")
  • Ch 62, Research: when noting who she exposed her safehand to ("not just the king, but Kaladin and Adolin")
  • Ch 68, Aim for the Sun: aforementioned noting to Hoid who came with her to Kholinar ("'Who came with you to the city?' he asked her.  'Kaladin. Adolin. Elhokar. Some of our servants.'")
  • Ch 118, The Wrong Passion: when noting they are standing besides her when looking at the Thaylen City oathgate ("Kaladin and Adolin stood like two statues to either side of her")
• Adolin before Kaladin (1 time of 6)
  • Ch 62, Research: noting who is staying to discuss plans ("Adolin and Kaladin stayed in the showroom to talk quietly about the Wall Guard")

Edited January 12, 2018 by Dreamstorm
Ninja'd by Rainier! I think that video is a clip of the longer one, though not totally sure.

[DeployParachute]

Excellent post, @Dreamstorm.  I think that definitely lends more weight to the side of the argument that Radiant and Veil are indeed pieces of her that she needs to be whole.  

Also, was thinking to myself this morning: I'd like to put forth a motion to rebrand "personaShallan" into "Shallan Kholin", since that is indeed what she is, and no longer Shallan Davar (what she was in WoK and WoR).  She is the part of the whole Shallan that could be married to Adolin, so calling her a Kholin seems to fit.

[Dreamstorm]

1 hour ago, DeployParachute said:

Also, was thinking to myself this morning: I'd like to put forth a motion to rebrand "personaShallan" into "Shallan Kholin", since that is indeed what she is, and no longer Shallan Davar (what she was in WoK and WoR).  She is the part of the whole Shallan that could be married to Adolin, so calling her a Kholin seems to fit.

I like it!  Will be her official name when we next see her too (unless a divorce happens off screen which I can't imagine and wouldn't want but would also delight me at the same time.)

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, Dreamstorm said:

Will be her official name when we next see her too

But doesn't make it that extra confusing? We coined the term "personaShallan" to distinguish between the personality and, well, Shallan, as in all of her personalities combined. Pre-Oathbringer.

[Dreamstorm]

6 minutes ago, SLNC said:

But doesn't make it that extra confusing? We coined the term "personaShallan" to distinguish between the personality and, well, Shallan, as in all of her personalities combined. Pre-Oathbringer.

Not if you think of it that only Shallan Kholin actually entered into the marriage, i.e. Shallan Davar is composed of Shallan Kholin, Veil and Radiant.  I mean, personaShallan (or what have you) was the only one attending the wedding ceremony, i.e. the "celebration of being herself."  And Veil and Adolin we know won't be sharing a marriage bed...  (Honestly, I'm just kind of arguing for the sake of it, but I do like the idea that it's really only "Shallan", i.e. Shallan Kholin, who commits to Adolin.)  Ha - funny question to ask Brandon:  Would Veil consider herself married to Adolin?  Would Radiant?

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, Dreamstorm said:

Not if you think of it that only Shallan Kholin actually entered into the marriage, i.e. Shallan Davar is composed of Shallan Kholin, Veil and Radiant.  I mean, personaShallan (or what have you) was the only one attending the wedding ceremony, i.e. the "celebration of being herself."  And Veil and Adolin we know won't be sharing a marriage bed...  (Honestly, I'm just kind of arguing for the sake of it, but I do like the idea that it's really only "Shallan", i.e. Shallan Kholin, who commits to Adolin.)  Ha - funny question to ask Brandon:  Would Veil consider herself married to Adolin?  Would Radiant?

Oh, I'm pretty sure, that is what we should take away from it. Well, maybe Radiant does commit too, but if she does only out of pragmatism. Veil's lack of commitment was pretty clear, I think. ("Well, he's good for you, I suppose.")

Regarding the naming thing: I dunno, it kinda seems overcomplicating things

Edited January 12, 2018 by SLNC

[DeployParachute]

2 hours ago, SLNC said:

But doesn't make it that extra confusing? We coined the term "personaShallan" to distinguish between the personality and, well, Shallan, as in all of her personalities combined. Pre-Oathbringer.

The way I see it is:
Shallan Davar = the whole and made up of:

• Shallan Kholin = the perfect lightened bride, and Vorin lady.  The one Adolin loves, and wants to be married to and who in turn wants to love and be married to him
• Radiant Shallan = the knight radiant, who is strong, confident, and capable of being essentially a demigod among humans.  the public face for the expectations of this position
• Veiled Shallan = the spy, the thief, the potential hitman.

and when she is finally reintegrated, she may not be able to be Shallan Kholin any longer, both figuratively and literally...

[MonsterMetroid]

I can't believe this is still going, I was going to put this is the Shallan and Adolin won't last thread but here is something Brandon just posted that is applicable

Most pertinent is this part

Quote

Shallan is coping with her pain in (best I've been able to do) a very realistic way, by boxing off and retreating and putting on a mask of humor and false "everything is okay" attitudes. But she has magical abilities that nobody in this world has, including the ability to put on masks that change the way everyone perceives her. She's playing roles as she puts them on, but I make it very clear (with deliberate slip-ups of self-reference in the prose) that it's always Shallan in there, and she's specifically playing this role because it lets her ignore the things she doesn't want to face.

She's losing control of what is real and what isn't--partially because she can't decide who she wants to be, who she should be, and what the world wants her to be. But it's not like other personalities are creeping in from a fractured psyche. She's hiding behind masks, and creates each role for herself to act in an attempt to solve a perceived shortcoming in herself. She literally sketched out Veil and thought, "Yup, I'm going to become that person now." Because Veil would have never been tricked into caring about her father; she would have been too wise for that.

 

[Dreamstorm]

@MonsterMetroid This is a brilliant find!  The most WoB we've had on this subject since OB came out...  A couple preliminary thoughts:

1. There's no real-world analog he's using to create what is going on with Shallan, so we (unfortunately) can't rely on any real-world diagnosis and treatment to guess his actual resolution.
2. I can't tell if what we call "Shallan" (in the various names we use) is "real" Shallan by this... some of it "boxing off and retreating and putting on a mask of humor and false 'everything is okay' attitudes" and "she's specifically playing this role because it lets her ignore the things she doesn't want to face" make me think no (i.e. "Shallan" is not real Shallan) because the "mask of humor and everything is cool" is a hallmark of "Shallan" and "Shallan" is ignoring/repressing so much.  But when he says "I make it very clear (with deliberate slip-ups of self-reference in the prose) that it's always Shallan in there" that makes me doubt it.  So I'm still confused in this regard.
3. Some of this makes me think the personas are not integral parts of her, such as this line "She literally sketched out Veil and thought, 'Yup, I'm going to become that person now.'", which makes it seem like Veil is just a fantasy, like a role she's playing as an actor, instead of Veil's traits actually being part of herself.  I don't get this from the books at all (since she is shown as needing Veil (and Radiant) in order to be fully functioning, e.g. the Thaylen City battle scene), so this confuses me.
4. This seems to be the crux of it: "she can't decide who she wants to be, who she should be, and what the world wants her to be" which makes me think the resolution will be tied less to figuring out what to do with these "masks" but more with Shallan figuring out who she wants to be.  Right now she wants to be a princess and lead a comfortable life with Adolin, so that really could be the conclusion if seen through this light.  But again, I can't decide if "Shallan" is a mask too or if not (based on this), but really the masks may be less important than Shallan figuring out who she is.

Such a goldmine, haha!  I realized (by clicking on your link!) you could search reddit for Brandon posts and found this about the timeskip.  No clue if this pertains to anything on this subject, but it looks like we will "miss" things which will be seen in flashbacks to fill us in later in the book.  Interesting...

Quote

Things will happen during the gap, I'm afraid. You might like it, you might not, but I do plan some of the flashbacks in the second half to help cover this time--so you'll see it eventually.