The emotional impact of Brandon

[hgleclair]

I will preface this with this. I’m not an emotional guy and I’ve never (before this) cried over a book, even when I first read these scenes. 

So I was just talking with a friend. They were having a hard time. And I told them the Immortal Words. Life before death, Strength before Weakness, Journey before Destination.

They asked me what this meant and I explained what it meant and where it was from that life is all about the journey and such.

But then I told them about Bridge 4. I explained all that Kaladin and everybody around him went through. I explained the bridge crews and I talked about when Kaladin was standing before honor chasm and Syl convinced him it was worth at least one more shot.

As I was going through this I started getting emotional, and by the time I got to the end where Kaladin and Bridge 4 decide to save Dalinar instead of taking their possible only shot at freedom. And Dalinar repaying them and all they went through with a weapon worth kingdoms. I started tearing up. 

Retelling the story showed to me just how powerful the Bridge Four arc is. I personally believe it might be the single most powerful single arc ever written and as I said retelling it actually led me to start crying. 

What other scenes have caused you to have had reactions like this to any Stormlight arcs/scenes or any in the cosmere in general?

[+Invocation]

Ending of Mistborn Era 1 got some people pretty good. 

[Use the Falchion]

Dalinar's third Oath really helped me through a dark time. If I ever get a tattoo and the whole Oath won't fit, I'll gladly settle for the Bondsmith glyph on my shoulder (and potentially the Bridge Four one on the opposite shoulder...but I'll wait and see how Moash's arc ends before making any decisions like that). 

Edited February 26, 2020 by Use the Falchion

[+Q10fanatic]

The two that always get me are:

"You cannot have my pain!"

and 

"I will protect those I hate, even if the one I hate most is myself."

[Karger]

The above for obvious reasons. 

1 hour ago, Q10fanatic said:

"You cannot have my pain!"

Helped me get back on track once.  Also Lightsong's jealousy at the even more useless people around him has always struck me a one of the most fascinating things Brandon has ever written.

Edited February 26, 2020 by Karger

[+robardin]

Since this is in the Stormlight Archive forum, I'll stick to SA examples...

In addition to multiple examples from the very powerful Kaladin arc in TWoK ("Somebody has to step forward and do what is right, because it is right... This is death I'd lead my friends to... Journey before destination. Death, and what is right."), what got me in the feels was the Shallan flashback in WoR, after her father refused to settle Jushu's massive gambling debts (almost one hundred emerald broams), and her other two brothers present initially refused even to offer their expensive gifts along with her own aluminum necklace to try to defray them, until she begged them to do so.

Quote

"You've been weeping," said the man in the carriage. "You care for him that much?"

"He is my brother."

"So?" the man asked. "I killed my brother when he tried to cheat me. You shouldn't let relations cloud your eyes."

"I love him," Shallan whispered. ...

"I'm often in the mood to remind myself that lighteyes bleed the same as darkeyes," the man said. "And sometimes it is useful to have a deterrent for others, a way to remind them not to take loans they cannot repay. ..."

"No," she said, blushing at her tears. "You are the type of man who profits from the gambling of others. You know that it usually leads to loss. I give you items of real value. Take them. Please?"

The man considered. ... "Name for me one reason I should show this man pity. In my house, he was an arrogant glutton, acting without thought for the difficulty he would cause you, his family."

"Our mother was murdered," Shallan said. "That night, as I cried, Jushu held me." It was all she had.

The man considered. Shallan felt her heart pounding. Finally, he tossed the necklace back to her. "Keep that." He nodded to his man. "Cut the little cremling free."

And then, in true Shallan style, she didn't tell Jushu or her brothers what really happened. She simply said that Balat and Wikim had offered their knives to his debtor, and he eventually accepted.

[SingingMosaic]

Brandon is so good at that, honestly, I can't decide. Yes to ending of Mistborn era 1. All of that ending. Almost especially the silent bits. But I won't go into that here.

So much in Stormlight, Dalinar's entire book three arc, the sequence where Pattern is pushing Shallan to confront everything, Kaladin and Rlain's last exchange in OB, Syl bringing Kaladin the leaves yes I know this isn't in order. Rlain surrounded by hostile humans, having to tell them his entire people is gone. And him again, in the first book when kaladin's armor idea goes off so spectacularly. This probably isn't all of it. But those are the ones that always get me, that I can feel like their own senses. The ones I can't even think of without tearing up, that I would write so much music for.

I know there are more, but there's so much in Stormlight I'm going to need to read it several times before some of it properly sinks in, there are a couple half remembered scenes floating in the back of my mind that I want to mention but can't get enough detail out of.