The Thrill

[Kon-Tiki]

I've done some hunting but there's something about the Thrill I don't understand.

We know that the Thrill isn't genetic but instead has to do with the location of Nergaoul. That's probably recursive; Alethela was designated to train soldiers, so Nergaoul got to do his thing, so the Alethi liked to fight more.

I understand Kaladin is immune to the thrill:

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Shardlet (paraphrased)

In response to the RAFO I complained that I didn't even get to my third question which was, "Does Kaladin feel the Thrill?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

*Laughs* No he does not. Kaladin is "immune" to the Thrill.

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but I'm not clear on why. His immunity seems to extend to his squires, none of whom display the affects of the Thrill so far as we can tell. Seems to me that if you were to ask Kaladin "do you feel the Thrill?" he'd be like "what?" Is it a function of Windrunning? Being Radiant doesn't seem to be mutually exclusive from feeling the Thrill and frankly I don't know why it would be. The Unmade's aura effects seem to behave differently (Ashertmarn's temptation is highly localized and intense, Moelach's deathrattles are widespread but inconsistent, and Re-Shephir's presence could be felt by some but not by others). Also, despite the Nergaoul taking over Sadeas' army, Adolin doesn't seem to feel the Thrill at all at Theylan Field, despite having admitted in WoK that he does feel it. He misses like the first half of the battle, sure, but doesn't feel it or seem to notice that its missing.

I could keep rambling about weirdness that I keep noticing about the Thrill (Szeth, for example, also doesn't seem to feel it) but the bottom line is there seems to be something I'm missing regarding how it works and who feels it and who doesn't.

Also, yes this is my first post. Been lurking for a while though. 

[Calderis]

Welcome, good observations. What follows is my opinion. 

I think that Kaladin's immunity is purely due to his mindset. You can probably blame Lirin for that. 

Kaladin does not enjoy killing. He enjoys the spear. He enjoys the art of fighting, but he doesn't enjoy causing pain, or conquest. Killing is something distasteful that occasionally needs to be done. The same applies to Szeth and his Shin past. Killing is the antithesis of what he believes. 

In contrast, Dalinar always loved a fight, and a challenge. 

As far as Adolin goes, I think it's just a part of the mental shift he's been experiencing over the course of the books. He has grown from the duelist wishing to prove himself to everyone and win himself and his house glory, to a man willing to set aside kingship and accept all of the judgements and rumors that will come along with that... I think he's a very different man than most people think he is, and I don't think killing something he enjoys unless the cremball deserves it. 

[Ripheus23]

Kaladin doesn't feel the Thrill because he is so depressed that his heart has turned into a black sphere that sucks all, even negative, emotions into it. Kaladin is going to become a new Unmade---in fact, the new Nergaoul---and a new Herald (replacing Jezrien), combined, so he will be the villain of SA arc 2 once he takes up Honor and Odium. Syl will take up Cultivation after Lift and Dalinar accidentally kill Her so the final battle in SA10 will be Kaladin fighting Sylphrena.

*removes blackspherefoil hat*

*Squawk!*

Spoiler

 

[Kon-Tiki]

In that case, could someone be so immune to the temptations of the Revel that they could walk right into the Oathgate in Alethkar and just sort of wonder what everyone is up to? (If such a person existed it'd have to be Jasnah.) To me, feeling then resisting or turning away the Thrill is substantively different than being totally ignorant of it entirely. And the Thrill is more than just killing, its competitiveness. Kaladin doesn't seem to have much of a concept of competition for competition's sake, sure, but does that mean he's totally devoid of that feeling? And Adolin doesn't fall into the whole Dalinar thing of "yeah I'm killing Alethi oh wait I'm killing Alethi", he too just seems to be totally ignorant of a force that is enormously present at that particular location. So ignorant that he can take a moment to ponder over what he's doing. Something isn't adding up for me.

[Solant]

I may be misinterpreting, but I was under the impression that Syl was protecting Kaladin from the effects of the Thrill, even prior to his first oath... that she had already claimed him, so to speak.  I had thought that perhaps there was a Spiritual Connection component to the Nahel bond enabling this, but that doesn't explain Dalinar, so that's probably wrong.

As for Adolin, there is a subtle distinction between duelist and soldier, and he always considered himself more the former. I forget the quote, but I remember there being a line saying he preferred formal contest to slaughter on the battlefield.

[Ashertliden]

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LadyKnightRadiant [PENDING REVIEW]

Kaladin not ever feeling the Thrill. Is there a reason for that?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

There is a reason for that. What do you think?

LadyKnightRadiant [PENDING REVIEW]

I think it's because he's too good and too pure for this world.

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

That is, I would say... Let's just say that there are points where Kaladin could have felt the Thrill. But once he had the attention of certain nebulous spren, somebody was watching out for him.

Questioner [PENDING REVIEW]

That was gonna be my second. I thought "He's probably just too good for it," and then I was like, "It's probably Syl's fault."

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

There's a bit of a war inside of Kaladin.

 

[Quantus]

Especially in light of the WOB @Ookla the Indefatigable posted, I think it's a combination of his own nature making him less vulnerable to it, but that being Invested by Syl is also going to offer some defense (if not a complete immunity all on it's own, by the "war inside of Kaladin" statement.  For example, when he was first brought to the shattered Plains he was so on the edge of rage that he was ready to kill anyone he perceived being unjust to him; at that point he'd likely have been vulnerable tot the Thrill.

In general terms though, I think the Thrill is looking for more or less the same spiritual foothold that Nightblood is testing for, and Kaladin's immunity to Thrill is similar to Vivenna's "immunity" to Nightblood's Test of Evil. 

[Kon-Tiki]

Wow thanks for the responses.

Does that mean most/all Radiants are immune to the Thrill if the Thrill hasn't "claimed" them in the same sort of way it claimed Dalinar? None of the Radiants at Theylan Field seem to notice, and neither does Adolin (who depending on where you come down on that argument is a proto-spren-necromancer and potential Radiant himself. Indeed, if a spren can lay claim to someone in this way, that might explain why Adolin is pretty much the only non-Radiant Kholin, because of his unusual relationship to his sword. But this is a different topic). I doubt this is the last we've seen of Nergaoul, so I'm interested to see where this goes

[Ripheus23]

5 hours ago, Kon-Tiki said:

proto-spren-necromancer

Explain a subplot badly:

Adolin's character arc: The most handsome man in the East develops a knack for raising swords from the dead (double entendre, en garde! ) and contends with a boy made of tears and wind for the heart of a woman with multiple personality disorder.

[Kaladin Zahel]

I always figured that Kaladin's first experience with a weapon back home was the thrill having an effect on him.

Otherwise it seems like some kind of odd 'magically-predisposed' situation.

The WoB saying that the spren were protecting him does seem pretty reasonable. Maybe Maya was doing likewise with Adolin. And maybe the Stormfather was too rattled by Odium or Dalinar was too intimately familiar with the thrill to prevent the effect.

[Calderis]

5 minutes ago, Kaladin Zahel said:

Otherwise it seems like some kind of odd 'magically-predisposed' situation.

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Questioner [PENDING REVIEW]

Why is Kaladin so proficient--like naturally born to wield a spear. Is that a weapon he likes or is it a destiny for him?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

So destiny is a strong term. I would say he has natural aptitude, but no more so than a normal person who has a natural aptitude for something. But the way the Spiritual Realm works in the cosmere and the way Connection works, there were certain things that were happening to Kaladin before they happened.

Questioner [PENDING REVIEW]

*inaudible* Time and space.

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

It's like Syl says in one of the books. "You didn't know me then, but I knew you then. Even though we hadn't met yet, I still knew you." You see some weird Connection things too. And these are mostly just for fun sort of cosmere connections. Like when you see Syl take on the look of Shallan standing on the beach. There's gonna be a connection there. It's forming, it doesn't exist yet, but all things are one in the Spiritual Realm, and we're just kinda seeing echoes of that. It's not meant to be destiny, it's more meant to be, "Hey there's little connections happening".

I would not say Kaladin is any more naturally gifted in that than your average professional sports player is naturally gifted in what they do.

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[Lord of the Dark Lands]

I reckon that the thrill is a bodiless spren that feeds off of death so it posesses people so that they kill loads more people.