Oathbringer was misnamed

[Turin Turambar]

If anyone noticed, both Way of Kings and Words of Radiance were named after books inside of the books (yeah, it's a bit strange.) Therefore, the book really should have been titled Mythica, after the book on the unnamed. It has more relevance to the novel than Oathbringer, too. What's up with that?

[Karger]

Dalinar decides to write a (biography? philosophy?) that he entitles Oathbringer.  Passages are quoted throughout the book. I imagine that this work will be finished by book 4 and we will get to see its impact.

[Turin Turambar]

Great! At least the pattern isn't broken. OCD was kicking in.

[Calderis]

The Epigraphs from part one are what he writes at the end. They're the preface of the in world Oathbringer. 

The speculation when we got them chapter by chapter during the sample chapters was... Ridiculous at times. 

Edited March 20, 2019 by Calderis

[+Child of Hodor]

Terrible preface, btw. I know Dalinar just learned to read and write like a week before he started writing the book so it is in character, but it is still not a good read. By far the worst epigraphs.

The # of chapters in OB really dragged that preface out. 122 chapters versus 89 in WoR, 75 in tWoK. Other Parts have stand-alone excerpts from Mythica, or several different letters from Shards. Part I epigraphs are one long meandering passage.  Especially when he starts listing things and rephrasing the same idea of things he's not.  

My suggested edits spoilered for length

Spoiler

The most important words a man can say are, “I will do better.” These are not the most important words any man can say. I am a man, and they are what I needed to say. The ancient code of the Knights Radiant says “journey before destination.” Some may call it a simple platitude, but it is far more. A journey will have pain and failure. It is not only the steps forward that we must accept. It is the stumbles. The trials. The knowledge that we will fail. That we will hurt those around us. But if we stop, if we accept the person we are when we fall, the journey ends. That failure becomes our destination. To love the journey is to accept no such end. I have found, through painful experience, that the most important step a person can take is always the next one.

I'm certain some will feel threatened by this record. Some few may feel liberated. Most will simply feel that it should not exist. I needed to write it anyway.Best Line

I know that many women who read this will see it only as further proof that I am the godless heretic everyone claims. This thought is just dangling here and feels like it should go before "I needed to write it anyway". And don't single the women out, Dalinar. 

I can point to the moment when I decided for certain this record had to be written. I hung between realms, seeing into Shadesmar—the realm of the spren—and beyond. I thought that I was surely dead. I question the accuracy of this description. You were more kneeling in Odium's cognitive nightmare and you weren't thinking about writing any books. 

Certainly, some who saw further than I did thought I had fallen. I did not die. I experienced something worse. That moment notwithstanding, I can honestly say this book has been brewing in me since my youth. The sum of my experiences has pointed at this moment. This decision. Perhaps my heresy stretches back to those days in my childhood, where these ideas began. I ask not that you forgive me. Nor that you even understand. I ask only that you read or listen to these words. In this record, I hold nothing back. I will try not to shy away from difficult topics, or paint myself in a dishonestly heroic light. I will express only direct, even brutal, truth. You must know what I have done, and what those actions cost me

. For in this comes the lesson. It is not a lesson I claim to be able to teach. Experience herself is the great teacher, and you must seek her directly. You cannot have a spice described to you, but must taste it for yourself. However, with a dangerous spice, you can be warned to taste lightly. I would that your lesson may not be as painful as my own. I am no storyteller, to entertain you with whimsical yarns. I am no philosopher, to intrigue you with piercing questions. I am no poet, to delight you with clever allusions.  NO!

I have no doubt that you are smarter than I am. I can only relate what happened, what I have done, and then let you draw conclusions. I will confess my murders before you. Most painfully, I have killed someone who loved me dearly. I will confess my heresy. I do not back down from the things I have said, regardless of what the ardents demand. Finally, I will confess my humanity. I have been named a monster, and do not deny those claims. I am the monster that I fear we all can become. So sit back. Read, or listen, Don't tell us what to do

 to someone who has passed between realms. Your niece does this all the time and she's a better writer. 

 Listen to the words of a fool. If they cannot make you less foolish, at least let them give you hope. For I, of all people, have changed.

 

[Turin Turambar]

What exactly is Oathbringer, though (what is the book that Dalinor wrote) about? 

[Calderis]

5 minutes ago, Turin Turambar said:

What exactly is Oathbringer, though (what is the book that Dalinor wrote) about? 

His flashbacks. His story. All we were shown is the preface. Spoilered for length. 

Spoiler

I'm certain some will feel threatened by this record. Some few may feel liberated. Most will simply feel that it should not exist."
2	"I needed to write it anyway."
4	"I know that many women who read this will see it only as further proof that I am the godless heretic everyone claims."
5	"I can point to the moment when I decided for certain this record had to be written. I hung between realms, seeing into Shadesmar—the realm of the spren—and beyond."
6	"I thought that I was surely dead. Certainly, some who saw further than I did thought I had fallen."
7	"I did not die. I experienced something worse."
8	"That moment notwithstanding, I can honestly say this book has been brewing in me since my youth."
9	"The sum of my experiences has pointed at this moment. This decision."
10	"Perhaps my heresy stretches back to those days in my childhood, where these ideas began."
12	"I ask not that you forgive me. Nor that you even understand."
13	"I ask only that you read or listen to these words."
14	"In this record, I hold nothing back. I will try not to shy away from difficult topics, or paint myself in a dishonestly heroic light."
15	"I will express only direct, even brutal, truth. You must know what I have done, and what those actions cost me."
16	"For in this comes the lesson."
17	"It is not a lesson I claim to be able to teach. Experience herself is the great teacher, and you must seek her directly."
18	"You cannot have a spice described to you, but must taste it for yourself."
20	"However, with a dangerous spice, you can be warned to taste lightly. I would that your lesson may not be as painful as my own."
21	"I am no storyteller, to entertain you with whimsical yarns."
22	"I am no philosopher, to intrigue you with piercing questions."
23	"I am no poet, to delight you with clever allusions."
24	"I have no doubt that you are smarter than I am. I can only relate what happened, what I have done, and then let you draw conclusions."
25	"I will confess my murders before you. Most painfully, I have killed someone who loved me dearly."
27	"I will confess my heresy. I do not back down from the things I have said, regardless of what the ardents demand."
28	"Finally, I will confess my humanity. I have been named a monster, and do not deny those claims. I am the monster that I fear we all can become."
29	"So sit back. Read, or listen, to someone who has passed between realms."
30	"Listen to the words of a fool."
31	"If they cannot make you less foolish, at least let them give you hope."
32	"For I, of all people, have changed."

 

[Turin Turambar]

I meant the context. The Preface doesn't say what the book is about. Is it the novel oathbringer? Is it his life story, is it like WoKs,where Nohadon writes metaphorical ramblings about his adventures?

[Calderis]

33 minutes ago, Turin Turambar said:

I meant the context. The Preface doesn't say what the book is about. Is it the novel oathbringer? Is it his life story, is it like WoKs,where Nohadon writes metaphorical ramblings about his adventures?

It does... He says he's going to tell the brutal truth about the things he's done. 

The Rift. Evi. All of it. 

[+robardin]

12 hours ago, Calderis said:

It does... He says he's going to tell the brutal truth about the things he's done. 

The Rift. Evi. All of it. 

Which is the subtitle of his in-world work. "Oathbringer: My Glory, and My Shame". What he did to get the Blade, and what he did with it once he got it.

I wonder if there is a chapter in there with his POV of giving it up to ransom all of Sadeas' bridgemen. That would be interesting.

[+Invocation]

1 minute ago, robardin said:

I wonder if there is a chapter in there with his POV of giving it up to ransom all of Sadeas' bridgemen. That would be interesting.

That's probably included, considering it seems to a collection of what Dalinar has learned, and that would probably factor in.

[+robardin]

3 minutes ago, Invocation said:

That's probably included, considering it seems to a collection of what Dalinar has learned, and that would probably factor in.

I hope so. Because that's the single most glorious thing he did with the Shardblade, in the sense that nobody had ever done that with a Shardblade before, and almost nobody else would ever do or have done that with a Shardblade.

BTW, is it just me or does it seem like Dalinar threw in the additional clarification that his offer of its exchange "for the bridgemen" to mean "all of the bridgemen, every one you have in your camp" to have been a last minute throw-in? His honor and his pledge to Kaladin demanded he get Bridge Four freed, and surely the Blade would have done that. But at the last minute, some part of him thought "you gotta get more than that for a storming Shardblade", with maybe a tinge of "man Sadeas is brutal with his bridgemen", except that he'd known that last bit all along.

He should've asked for the bridges themselves, too! (Actually it seems like he did, or was able to argue that "they aren't bridgemen without their bridges", because Bridge Four and Thirteen and other crews talk about their bridges in a way that makes it clear it's the same exact one as the one they used to carry for plateau runs for Sadeas.)

Edited March 22, 2019 by robardin