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[OB] The implications of “An Accountability of Virtue.”


Awesomness

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“She could still hear ardents arguing, but they were distant. She opened her book, intent on finally getting something done today.

Wema spun away from Brightlord Sterling’s forward advances, tucking her safehand to her breast and lowering her gaze from his comely locks. Such affection as to excite the unsavory mind could surely not satisfy her for an extended period, as though his attentions had at one time been fanciful delights to entertain her leisure hours, they now seemed to manifest his utmost impudence and greatest faults of character.
“What!” Ellista exclaimed, reading. “No, you silly girl! He’s finally pronounced his affection for you. Don’t you dare turn away now.”

How could she accept this wanton justification of her once single-minded desires? Should she not, instead, select the more prudent choice, as advocated by the undeviating will of her uncle? Brightlord Vadam had an endowment of land upon the highprince’s grace, and would have means to provide far beyond the satisfactions available to a simple officer, no matter how well regarded or what winds had graced his temperament, features, and gentle touch.


Ellista gasped. “Brightlord Vadam? You little whore! Have you forgotten how he locked away your father?”

“Wema,” Brightlord Sterling intoned, “it seems I have gravely misjudged your attentions. In this, I find myself deposited deep within an embarrassment of folly. I shall be away, to the Shattered Plains, and you shall not again suffer the torment of my presence.”
He bowed a true gentleman’s bow, possessed of all proper refinement and deference. It was a supplication beyond what even a monarch could rightly demand, and in it Wema ascertained the true nature of Brightlord Sterling’s regard. Simple, yet passionate. Respectful in deed. It lent great context to his earlier advance, which now appeared all at once to be a righteous division in otherwise sure armor, a window of vulnerability, rather than a model of avarice.
As he lifted the door’s latch to forever make his exodus from her life, Wema surged with unrivaled shame and longing, twisted together not unlike two threads winding in a loom to construct a grand tapestry of desire.
“Wait!” Wema cried. “Dear Sterling, wait upon my words.”

“Storms right you’d better wait, Sterling.” Ellista leaned closer to the book, flipping the page.”

“Decorum seemed a vain thing to her now, lost upon the sea that was her need to feel Sterling’s touch. She rushed to him, and upon his arm pressed her ensleeved hand, which then she lifted to caress his sturdy jaw.
It was so warm out here in the forest. Practically sweltering. Ellista put her hand to her lips, reading with wide eyes, trembling.

Would that the window through that statuesque armor could still be located, and that a similar wound within herself might be found, to press against his own and offer passage deep within her soul. If only—”

------

“An Accountability of Virtue.” He grunted. “Good book.”
“You’ve read it?”
“I have a fondness for Alethi epics,” he said absently, flipping through her pages. “She really should have picked Vadam though. Sterling was a flatterer and a cadger.”
“Sterling is a noble and upright officer!” She narrowed her eyes. “And you are just trying to get a rise out of me, Ardent Urv.”
“Maybe.” He flipped through her pages, studying a diagram she’d made of various Dawnchant grammars. “I have a copy of the sequel.”
“There’s a sequel?”
“About her sister.”
“The mousy one?”
“She is elevated to courtly attention and has to choose between a strapping naval officer, a Thaylen banker, and the King’s Wit.”
“Wait. There are three different men this time?”
“Sequels always have to be bigger,” he said, then offered her the stack of pages back. “I’ll lend it to you.”

Excerpt From: Brandon Sanderson. “Oathbringer.” iBooks. 

 

Can we please talk about the implications of this?

Is it a wink to the readers worried about "the infamous Angle"? Is Vadam Adolin, Sterling Kaladin, Shallan a little whore? :ph34r:

What about the sequel´s quadrangle? Is Hoid involved in this?

Theorisation apart, I love how this reads as a Jane Austen kind of novel. And, I am dying to know exactly what´s the deal with safehands.

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2 hours ago, Awesomness said:

Can we please talk about the implications of this?

Yes. What this indicates (and perhaps it should have been obvious from the start) is that all Vorin literature can be plotted on a continuum with Twilight at one end and Fifty Shades of Grey at the other. 

This was Galivar's true motivation for attempting to start a Desolation. After learning to read, he discovered the state of Alethi literature, and thus decided to try and return the Voidbringers in the hopes that they'd destroy all of it. 

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As much as I'd like to find meaning in this passage, I think the only thing that matters is there at the end:

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Sequels always have to be bigger

Everything else is Brandon teasing us about the Triangle, but that sentence is like one of Wit's where you can tell it's not the character saying the line, it's the author. Brandon is acknowledging the difficulty of constantly escalating the story. If sequels always have to be bigger, imagine what that means for a 10 book epic fantasy series.

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3 hours ago, Calderis said:

It's a meta joke. That's it.

Of course it is! Maybe what we should be wondering is exactly about what this joke is? Many times in OB I felt like Brandon was having fun with us hehe.

 

2 hours ago, What's a Seawolf? said:

Brandon just wanted to show the title of Book 4 in-world

Hhahahah If book 4 is like this then I am officially hyped!

53 minutes ago, Heir of the Void said:

Fifty Shades of Grey at the other. 

Luckly this is so outrageous, she didn't uncover her safe hand :rolleyes: But I could almost side with Gavilar for this.

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