Why Send Shallan and Adolin?

[Watchcry]

Question based on the Amazon RoW description. 

 

So why send Shallan and Adolin to visit the honorspren? Why not send Elsecallers since they are the primary liaisons?

The only thing I can think of is that Adolin has spent lots of time talking to Maya and she is slowly reviving.  Sending Adolin to demonstrate this would be smart. 

If not,  it'd be extremely stupid to send a guy with a dead spren to convince the honorspren to recommit...

[+Oltux72]

37 minutes ago, Watchcry said:

So why send Shallan and Adolin to visit the honorspren? Why not send Elsecallers since they are the primary liaisons?

Because the only Elsecaller or at least Elsecaller with actual experience in Elsecalling they have is Jasnah, who happens to be the queen of Alethkar. In addition:

• Shallan has been to Shadesmar
• She knows how to manifest stuff
• She is fairly advanced as a Radiant
• She is fairly trustworthy. She is married to a Kholin, her brothers are in Urithiru .
• She is literate.
• She has some training by Jasnah

Why send Adolin? Well they are married and he is second in line to the throne and in a sense rules House Kholin.

37 minutes ago, Watchcry said:

The only thing I can think of is that Adolin has spent lots of time talking to Maya and she is slowly reviving.  Sending Adolin to demonstrate this would be smart.

The Spren know people are using dead blades. There is no point in hiding that. In fact, it may be seen as dishonest. Spren are not human.

 

[KandraAllomancer]

39 minutes ago, Watchcry said:

So why send Shallan and Adolin to visit the honorspren? Why not send Elsecallers since they are the primary liaisons?

The only Elsecaller the KR seem to have for now is Jasnah and the Inkspren as a whole aren't exactly eager to increase their ranks. She's now a queen and, well, she's not exactly the most diplomatic person on the planet... Shallan, on the other hand, still officially pretends to be an Elsecaller

[Lightspine]

I haven't seen anyone point this out yet, but the fact that Shallan is a Lightweaver certainly makes this decision mysterious. Cryptics and honorspren do NOT like each other, so it seems like a very odd choice. Maybe it has something to do with @KandraAllomancer's point? What if Shallan has to disguise Pattern as an Inkspren for the mission?

 

[Vambram]

2 hours ago, Lightspine said:

I haven't seen anyone point this out yet, but the fact that Shallan is a Lightweaver certainly makes this decision mysterious. Cryptics and honorspren do NOT like each other, so it seems like a very odd choice. Maybe it has something to do with @KandraAllomancer's point? What if Shallan has to disguise Pattern as an Inkspren for the mission?

 

There's all kinds of possible trouble that Shallan and Adolin, with Pattern and Maya, can run into inside Shadesmar. Maybe the reason they are being sent into Shadesmar is because Adolin is Dalinar's son and Jasnah's cousin. I think that negotiating with the honorspren means that humans are going to need someone with the authority to speak for both Dalinar and Jasnah. 

Edited July 26, 2020 by Vambram
spelling

[Watchcry]

44 minutes ago, Lightspine said:

I haven't seen anyone point this out yet, but the fact that Shallan is a Lightweaver certainly makes this decision mysterious. Cryptics and honorspren do NOT like each other, so it seems like a very odd choice. Maybe it has something to do with @KandraAllomancer's point? What if Shallan has to disguise Pattern as an Inkspren for the mission?

 

I'm not certain she'd be able to keep enough Stormlight to keep him disguised for so long, especially if it takes months to bring the Honorspren around.

[+Oltux72]

52 minutes ago, Vambram said:

 I think that negotiating with the honorspren means that humans are going to need someone with the authority to speak for both Daliman and Jasnah. 

I find that extremely plausible.

1 hour ago, Lightspine said:

What if Shallan has to disguise Pattern as an Inkspren for the mission?

That would be extremely unwise, for eventually the truth would come out and that would jeopardize a vital agreement.

[Karger]

2 hours ago, KandraAllomancer said:

Shallan, on the other hand, still officially pretends to be an Elsecaller

I think she has outed herself at Theylen field.

Of the three people they have with shadesmar experience they are sending two.  This makes sense. .Adolin might be able to partially heal Maya at this point.  Even if he can't he still knows her name.  He is also a persuasive person and Pattern at least likes him.  Potentially other spren will too.

[rjl]

Are we aware of any elsecallers other than Jasnah at the moment?

[Karger]

1 hour ago, rjl said:

Are we aware of any elsecallers other than Jasnah at the moment?

No.  The Inkspren have taken an antihuman hard line.

[Dracnor]

3 hours ago, Karger said:

Of the three people they have with shadesmar experience they are sending two.  This makes sense. .Adolin might be able to partially heal Maya at this point.  Even if he can't he still knows her name.  He is also a persuasive person and Pattern at least likes him.  Potentially other spren will too.

And Adolin is a trained fighter who can protect Shallan with conventionnal weapons, while Shallan doesn't really know how to fight. They really complement well for this task.

[Honorless]

Shallan belongs to one of the Orders who can access Shadesmar. She's been there before and so has Adolin. Plus, I think Adolin just went with her.

[Mage of Lirigon]

Well Adolin and Shallan are basically the only people that have Shadesmar experience so sending them makes sense. I do think there is some merit to the idea that they're also sending Adolin because Maya is getting better and they either want to use that to assist in negotiations or to ask for help.

[Aglaia]

And sending Adolin makes sense, when you remember how the honorspren reacted to Kaladin telling them about Dalinar bonding the stormfather. 

 

That obviously means a lot to the honorspren. 

 

[StormlightFan23]

I know this is an older topic, but I think Adolin going makes complete sense when combined with the Maya storyline.  Adolin can show that a "dead" spren isn't really dead, and can be revived by the right person   (And this lines up so well with how Adolin is going to "revive" Shallan... will be such a lovely arc for Adolin this book after a rough Oathbringer and feeling like he doesn't have a place in this new world order )