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[OB] Kaladin's love life ?

Stromblessed

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DeployParachute

DeployParachute

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3 hours ago, A Dopey Spren said:

Definitely possible. Tarah has been mentioned multiple times, almost hinting at the idea that she'll appear in future books.

Honestly, I think that Tarah was introduced purely to provide an insight for us readers into Kaladin's past interactions with romance, and how he explicitly chose the path of soldiering over it.  The flashbacks to Tarah, imo, are there to provide a fleshing out of that aspect of Kaladin's character, nothing more.  

Personally, I think that Kaladin should throw caution to the wind, and take the "Bender B. Rodriguez" approach and start a nightclub in Urithuru, complete with blackjack and hookers.

 

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@mariapapadia

I don't want to police anyone or stop them from expressing their opinion, but let's not let this escalade and transform into a Shalladin vs Shadolin thread or another "Shallan's choice" thread. That can put off people who have something else to say and are tired of the same arguments. Just my two cents..

Here here.  I'll take this as a call to bring back the AKS thread.  That way, at least they can keep us contained somewhere and pretend we don't exist. :P 

"Sailing before landing"

Edited by DeployParachute
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aemetha
aemetha

^ This. Honestly, I don't see a great deal of character growth for Kaladin in having a romantic partner. I'd be much happier if he didn't find one. I don't think he is a fit to having a commitmen

Calderis
Calderis

@Jerich I think perhaps, you were thinking about this.

Rainier
Rainier

If Kaladin isn't going to end up with Shallan (which I haven't given up on yet, onwards good ship Shalladin), I don't see any other character we're familiar with as a good partner. I'm baffled at the

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Info_Drone-0451

Info_Drone-0451

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17 minutes ago, Dreamstorm said:

Oh, those Bavland girls, so naughty

Do they have a reputation or am I missing something? I though Bavland was like this semi-autonomous region in Jah Keved where people speak a Scottish accent of the equilevant of accented Veden, judging by the the Graphic Audio audiobooks. I just think it'd be interesting to have a Bav as I think we haven't seen much of them and they kinda stand out from the rest of the Veden.

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Dreamstorm

Dreamstorm

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9 minutes ago, DimChatz said:

Do they have a reputation or am I missing something? I though Bavland was like this semi-autonomous region in Jah Keved where people speak a Scottish accent of the equilevant of accented Veden, judging by the the Graphic Audio audiobooks. I just think it'd be interesting to have a Bav as I think we haven't seen much of them and they kinda stand out from the rest of the Veden.

Haha, not that I know.  I was just spicing up my fanfic :)

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straits

straits

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10 hours ago, mariapapadia said:

It's not necessarily true and I will be dissapointed if his only role is to fight and protect others. I think a relationship will make his character more complex. Dalinar is the leader of the new Radiants and such a big role in leading the fight, Shallan is also an important pawn in the fight and they both have romantic relationships, so I don't think one necessarily excludes the other.

This is also not necessarily true. In fact, thus far in the series, it is Kaladin's difficulties with relationships that gives more depth to his character. Not every individual in this series (or any) is necessarily enriched by a relationship. For some, it is a way of escaping their problems.

If he does enter a relationship, I suspect it will either be a slow buildup that develops into something more concrete after the 5-book time gap. That, or a fling. Although the latter doesn't quite go in line with his personality.

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Meghan1Q84

Meghan1Q84

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There are some epic posts! I like it.

Things to consider

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10 hours ago, mariapapadia said:

To me he seems more like a monk or a person brought up to be a weapon. Even though he's 35 I think he still has the mind of a child and I can only speculate at this point that he skipped a lot of the common social experiences most of the other characters or people have in general. He was bound to that stupid stone for more than half of his life and he was only in the service of others, so I think it's time for him to do his own thing and be awesome with Nightblood.

 

 

1. Szeth. He spent 28 years as a fully integrated, respected, and grown man in Shin society. It's diminishing to say that he has the mind of a child and if you were a character in the book that would be a particularly insulting assessment because of all the Shin slurs accorded to them because of their racial configuration...but you aren't, and it is only a book, and this is where I sincerely hope I have not offended you.

But, he didn't spend half his life this way, it was 7 years after reaching full adulthood. He didn't skip social experiences, he doesn't have the mind of a child--goodness gracious he is extremely intelligent, thoughtful, discerning (remember the purelake prison sequence), and he is loooooonely. I know you were kidding on this next part, but Nightblood really does seem to be the closest thing he has to a friend, and while NB is an entertaining parasite... I think we can all agree that NB is not exactly a "healthy" friend to have around. I don't even care if we ship him with a pal...this poor guy needs a connection. Maybe it will be his spren? Szeth is many things, but he is also the one man who is more like Kaladin than anyone else in the novel, and if we are comfortable shipping charismatic Kal, even with his PTSD, we should ask why it's uncomfortable to consider Szeth-- and I do acknowledge that it is uncomfortable. Even with just a very close friend. 

2.  I appreciate the "darker" sides of Syl that some of you mention and I chortled at the Pinocchio comparison^_^  The thing is that if Syl had no shading, she wouldn't be a real girl. 

But when we discuss characters and their future arcs, it's this weird amalgam between seeing them as people and  then stepping back to see them as creations of the author. If Sanderson chooses to make Syladin, it wouldn't be his style have typical divorce-causing issues in their future, certainly not with the stakes involved. So for me, that isn't a concern. Also if he does go for Syladin, I'm like 90% sure Kal will need to have some sort of relationship with a human first. Maybe Laral? Syl liked her and Roshone the Gouty didn't seem too healthy the last time we saw him.  I could see him flirting with the idea of a relationship with a proud, widowed mother Laral. One way or another it feels necessary to develop Syl's feelings for Kal and to deepen her understanding of a romantic relationship as well as to hone Kal's feelings for Syl in a way that other people on this forum are probably better equipped to describe than I am.  I mean storms, Syl is just now playing around with convering her safe hand. She has some growing up either to do or to remember. Lastly, I think Mr. Sanderson has spent ALOT of time and effort to present Syl as a whole, albeit, developing (because really, who isn't?) person. She's the ancient daughter...and I don't think we can go back to seeing her as *just* a piece of investiture. 

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A Dopey Spren

A Dopey Spren

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2 hours ago, DeployParachute said:

Honestly, I think that Tarah was introduced purely to provide an insight for us readers into Kaladin's past interactions with romance, and how he explicitly chose the path of soldiering over it.  The flashbacks to Tarah, imo, are there to provide a fleshing out of that aspect of Kaladin's character, nothing more.  

Personally, I think that Kaladin should throw caution to the wind, and take the "Bender B. Rodriguez" approach and start a nightclub in Urithuru, complete with blackjack and hookers.

 

Here here.  I'll take this as a call to bring back the AKS thread.  That way, at least they can keep us contained somewhere and pretend we don't exist. :P 

"Sailing before landing"

That's a valid point. And I totally hope that Kaladin does open up a nightclub (got to stick it on the upper tiers, make it exclusive, etc). It'll definitely add to his character arc (in ways we wouldn't expect).

And is gambling and hookers considered honourable? Hmm... <_<

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Arch

Arch

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32 minutes ago, A Dopey Spren said:

And is gambling and hookers considered honourable? Hmm... <_<

I don't know about gambling, but considering Sly's enthusiasm getting laid seems to have the honorspren stamp of approval :D

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Rainier

Rainier

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4 hours ago, Meghan1Q84 said:

we should ask why it's uncomfortable to consider Szeth-- and I do acknowledge that it is uncomfortable.

I'll take a stab at this. In short, it's because he hasn't been a real character to us for very long, and thus we don't know much about him.

Szeth is an assassin, feared throughout the lands. When we get inside his head, we don't understand his motivations, or the context of his suffereing. He's a mystery to us, and the answers aren't forthcoming, so it makes it hard to empathize with him as a real character. What are his hopes and dreams? What does he love, and what makes him smile?

Not only is Szeth an outsider by virtue of his Shin heritage and upbringing in Stone Shamanism, he's doubly an outsider due to being Truthless. He's an exile and an outsider. After his tenure as Truthless, he's as broken a man as any we've seen in the Cosmere. He holds on his shoulders the deaths of countless souls, and they haunt him. Once, he may have been a regular man (most likely extraordinary, given he saw the Desolations coming), but now he seems capable of little else but his word and keeping the screams at bay.

Essentially, we haven't had time to see Szeth as a real character. He's tragic, and menacing, and he's got a cool sward, but we know almost nothing about him as a person, and whatever personality he may have had has been scoured away by his time as Truthless. 

Given these struggles, how can you try to find him a partner? Do we try to ship him was Jasnah because they're opposite sex and similar ages? I say yes, because why not. And that's about as much as you can do with Szeth when it comes to romance.

Combine this with the dearth of available women and you'll see my point. Who is there to ship him with? Shallan is thoroughly covered, Jasnah is the most likely due to no choices, and who else is there? Anyone of note?

I expect we'll see him slowly become more human, but given his soul isn't perfectly aligned with his body due to being killed and revived, it also wouldn't surprise me that he stays forever an outsider. 

EDIT: Rather than clutter up this thread with posts about Szeth, I'll put the rest in a spoiler.
 

Spoiler

 

I must mention two people I'm ashamed I hadn't mentioned: Vasher and Vivenna. Vasher for a buddy/mentor like @Meghan1Q84 requested and Vivenna as a possible partner and definite point of conflict. For obvious reasons these three people will be coming together over a common thread: Nightblood. All of my speculating about romantic ties for Szeth is overshadowed by his importance in the story as a bearer of Nightblood. What face-time he has in book 4 will surely be dominated by his multiple commitments: Dalinar as the subject of his third oath, his fourth oath and the purging of the Shin, reforming the Skybreakers, and Nightblood. If he's going to get a romantic partner, it's likely going to intertwine with one of these threads. Dalinar leads to Jasnah by proximity. His return to Shinovar could mean he meets someone he knew long ago, such as an old flame. We haven't seen any Skybreaker candidates, but we can be sure that not everyone will follow Nale and thus someone from that pool could emerge.

And finally, by bearing Nightblood Szeth will draw Vivenna and Vasher eventually. This seems the most certain to happen in book 4 and especially before the end of book 5 (I hope, I pray), although I can absolute imagine being teased for a full 10 12 books on Nightblood's fate and influence so I won't will get my hopes up. Whenever it happens, these three will either be enemies or intimate, depending on Vasher and Vivenna's motives. All of this deserves it's own post, which I'll go make right now.

 

 

Edited by Rainier
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Meghan1Q84

Meghan1Q84

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Well reasoned as usual RuinationDay, I will have to chew this over. Jasneth. That's a potent if rather unlikely combo--gives a lot of people what they want even if they didn't realize it.

Really, I kind of just want him to have a friend, Sesame Street style.  It doesn't have to be Burt and Ernie ^_^ but, you know something...Now he's going to be thrust into association with Bridge 4 just by attaching himself to Dalinar. Rlain?

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I'mAStickFanClub

I'mAStickFanClub

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This topic has been fantastic! I can't believe all the great ideas everyone has come up with. It has got me thinking though about what each of the women mentioned have in common with Kaladin. Having things in common with romantic partners is pretty important and we haven't discussed it too much IMO.

The first place to look would be the other Radiants. They all have some sort of mental trauma that gives them problems in common. But to say that two characters are both broken and so they should therefore get together feels incomplete. The guilt that Shallan feels for killing her mother and father is not quite the same as Kaladin's survivor's guilt. The isolation and loneliness that Jasnah feels due to the charges of heresy and Vorin condemnation is not quite the same as Kaladin's isolation and loneliness due to the hero worship of bridge four. There needs to be something more to connect them.

The second place to look might be in a fellow soldier. Someone Kaladin might be able to commiserate with on the trials of the battlefield. Lyn and Azure both would have this type of appeal, and Azure at lest seemed to quickly develop a rapport with Kaladin along these lines. Their relationship felt strictly platonic though, and why wouldn't it? Fraternization is a big transgression and breach of professionalism in the military. Any romantic developments would have to fight against that programming.

Then there are the dark horses. These are super fun to ponder and speculate about but we don't know much about them and some of them haven't even met Captain McBroody-Face yet. Lyft, Rysn, Jennet, Tarah, Laral, and some others I am probably forgetting all fit here. Rysn is probably my favorite of the bunch just because she is just SO different from all the other female leads in Stormlight. With the Radiants being basically gods, having a plucky little merchant around is so fun and refreshing.

Ultimately I have difficulty deciding. My own logic tells me that Lyn, as a soon to be Windrunner and someone from the Alethi military, is the one with the most in common with Kal potentially. Also, I know a lot of people here wanted to see him end up with a major butt kicker, and another Windrunner fits that perfectly. She will probably be the one with the most proximity to him in bridge four and will have more opportunities to start something as well. But the heart wants what the heart wants and mine wants go go gadget flying wheelchair to happen SO BADLY. I'd love to hear what everyone thinks though. This turned out a lot long than I intended so I'd like to say thank you for those who stuck around until the end. I'm sending you your electronic cookie as we speak.

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Meghan1Q84

Meghan1Q84

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Posted (edited)

You know you bring up a separate point that I hadn't really considered before. Jasnah is a heretic and so is Dalinar. And the ruler is the head of the Vorin church as well as state. There is going to be some serious, high sparrow level religious upheaval to deal with...until now I was too caught up with screaming "slay Jasnah slay"

@Ruinationday Rainer--great edits! I love it when people do the hard thinking for me. YAS. And I could actually see Vivenna warming to Szeth. If Szeth and Rlain are allowed to spend too much time together, Roshar might actually implode into a black hole of silent, existential isolationism ^_^ 

Vivenneth? No no I've got it--Szezure. Lopen would have the perfect explaination for why their union should sound like a medical condition :lol:

Edited by Meghan1Q84
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Taliax

Taliax

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When it comes to a ship for Kaladin, my gut instinct says Rysn, though having not seen them interact yet I don't have a real idea.  I think (and hope) it will be a while before Kal has a relationship though; he's a character who has so much development on his own without a relationship and I think from a narrative standpoint I like it better that way.  (Let Shallan and Adolin handle all the mushy stuff and let Kal just go kick some butt please :P)

Plus, if Rysn were to somehow become a Radiant that would be awesome :D  I do think that she has some significance to the plot beyond just happening to be in Thaylen City when the gem storage place is getting robbed, and I always look forward to seeing her parts.  I feel like she has the most characterization out of all the seemingly "throwaway" interlude characters.  Even if she doesn't end up with Kal, I hope we get to see more of her.

I also feel like if Kaladin weren't to have a romantic partner then his bond with Syl would be good enough for him, but I don't want that pairing to be romantic.  Like some other people have said, that just seems wrong to me.  (Though with 7 more books to go, you never know what could happen.)

Kaladin x happiness is the real OTP though B)

Edited by Ookla the Short
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DeployParachute

DeployParachute

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Posted (edited)
17 hours ago, A Dopey Spren said:

And is gambling and hookers considered honourable? Hmm... <_<

Honorable is what is collectively agreed upon between the honor spren and Radiant in question.  Honor is not necessary bound or constrained by one societies cultural mores, thus if Kaladin and Syl wanna open up a nightclub with the most honorable hookers you've ever seen, then dag gummit, they should be able to <_<

Also, this thread is moot. Kaladin's future love interest and romantic relationship is already established. It's just a matter of how long it's gonna take us to get there...o.O

"Sailing before landing"

Edited by DeployParachute
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Meghan1Q84

Meghan1Q84

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@Ookla the Grey Hey think of me as that nosy PTA mom making annoying play dates for her weird kid (ok now I'm the one making Shin slurs, but I don't take it back). It's totally interesting right?  I mean Kal does have a Moash shaped hole in his heart and they started out as enemies too. Maybe Szeth will be broody enough to fit the bill? Imagine them flying the skies together, playing air games and stuff (eventually. Once Dalinar orders Szeth to have fun...I mean train people and develop his powers and other very serious things). 

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Harbour

Harbour

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Posted (edited)

Kaladin and Shallan always reminded me this couple. The archetypes isnt 100% accurate but the main traits are pretty the same. And their dynamic is pretty great. And, well, that moment with removing the glove is near perfect. Almsot like removing the glove from the safehand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z3THzjr48c

 

Edited by Harbour
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FuzzyWordsmith

FuzzyWordsmith

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So, my hopes for Syladin have been well and truly bashed. I'm sad now.

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/171-oathbringer-release-party/#e8267

Questioner [PENDING REVIEW]

Is there even the babiest tiniest little bitty babiest chance of Syl and Kaladin ever being able to be together?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

That would take a lot.

Questioner [PENDING REVIEW]

But itty bitty babiest chance?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

Itty bitty babiest chance? Sure.

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