[OB] Interlude 10

[RazeU]

I’m feeling really dumb. But on my second listen through of the audiobook and can’t get any meaning from interlude 10, the one with the Herdazians and “the Hog”. Other than the existence of some monster with a claw lol. Anyone help me with some understanding of the significance here?

[Willow]

I think it's in part to show that Alethkar has been overrun, and the Alethi have had to flee to neighbouring countries. On the other hand, the guy in this particular interlude, Sheler, was the commander of Tien's squad back in the day, and he was probably responsible for sending Tien out onto the battlefield, (and to his death).The squadleader was Varth, but Sheler was the one who decided to send the messager boys to fight.

[The Sovereign]

On 12/10/2017 at 2:57 AM, Willow said:

I think it's in part to show that Alethkar has been overrun, and the Alethi have had to flee to neighbouring countries. On the other hand, the guy in this particular interlude, Sheler, was the commander of Tien's squad back in the day, and he was probably responsible for sending Tien out onto the battlefield, (and to his death).The squadleader was Varth, but Sheler was the one who decided to send the messager boys to fight.

This is what I had thought was the significance of the interlude. 

[StormingTexan]

Wow this one must have not left much of an impression on me because I totally forgot about this one until this thread. 

[Aleksiel]

For some reason I thought it alluded to eyes of blue and red story. It was an odd interlude even if we've heard of this character before.

[Toaster Retribution]

53 minutes ago, StormingTexan said:

Wow this one must have not left much of an impression on me because I totally forgot about this one until this thread. 

Same here. Which is wierd in a sense, because herdazian attack forces are interesting.

Cred to @Willow for remembering Sheler. I had totally forgot about him. With him and Amaram both dead as of this book, OB should be renamed "Justice for Kaladin",

[Stark]

I missed the connection to Tien - but I did notice the guy was being listed as one of Amaram's officers.  And that he was off doing something not legit rather than being with Amaram.

 

I personally took it as further confirmation as to Amaram's character if this was the caliber of officer he had representing him in the army, and the sort of behaviour he allowed to go unpunished.

[Willow]

4 hours ago, Stark said:

I personally took it as further confirmation as to Amaram's character if this was the caliber of officer he had representing him in the army, and the sort of behaviour he allowed to go unpunished.

Yes, it definitely looks that way. It's also a continuation of the hints we got about the quality of Amaram's officers back in tWoK, in chapter 51, Sas Nahn (emphasis mine):

Quote

Kaladin served Amaram because of the honor he had shown. He let spearmen share his comfort in the warcenter during highstorms, a different squad each storm. He insisted that his men be well fed and well paid. He didn't treat them like slime.
He did let his subordinates do so, though. And he'd broken his promise to shelter Tien.

On the surface, Amaram is the perfect lighteyed officer, but it doesn't hold water when you look deeper. It's all just appearance.

[RazeU]

Thank you all for the clarification. It just seemed an odd entry. To me it felt disconnected from the rest of the book. Really random. Obviously still love it as a whole though. 

[Willow]

58 minutes ago, RazeU said:

Thank you all for the clarification. It just seemed an odd entry. To me it felt disconnected from the rest of the book. Really random. Obviously still love it as a whole though. 

I think that's the point of the interludes though. There's one interlude character that shows up in all the parts who is more connected to the rest of the characters, but the other interludes are used as small views into the rest of the world, since there's no time to address them during the main narrative. It's a chance for Brandon to show off the world he created. Other interludes, such as Geranid (the two ardents doing spren research), Ellista, Puuli, Ishikk (from the Purelake) are all mostly disconnected from the rest of the book, except for worldwide events or  vague references. In that way, this particular interlude is not so different.

Quote

 

Questioner
You mentioned you like the interludes-- that the assigned characters don't take over the story. Is that to say that we will never really see those characters again or do--

Brandon Sanderson
You will see them on occasion. For instance, in the first book there's a guy named Axies the Collector, right? And in the second book in one of the interludes somebody walks by him, right? But the idea is that the interlude characters, for the most part are-- I'm not promising you an entire story about them. They-- you're getting a glimpse of the world and most of them will not return. A few of them will, on occasion. You'll see references to them and things like that. Their main point-- the main point of them is so that we can-- I can just have a pressure valve to just tell stories about Roshar that don't have to necessarily be in the main plot. Though I always choose one-- I choose them very specifically, right? I do them knowing that there's something-- some part of the world that you need as a clue for later on. If you like foreshadowing and stuff, a lot of these have foreshadowing.

 

So this interlude is both a closure for one part of Tien's story, and maybe a introduction of the (awesome) Herdazian general, so we won't be too surprised if he shows back up (I hope he comes back, I liked him).

 

[NotBurtReynolds]

I think it serves to show some comeuppance for Shelar but mostly as an introduction to the Herdazians(that’s not The Lopen;) but more as an introduction to the General that cannot be contained...Budding Edgedancer, anyone?

Edited December 12, 2017 by NotBurtReynolds