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Top3 Stormlight Characters


Schneeente

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Excellent thread @Schneeente !

These are my top 3 (as of now):

  1. Dalinar - He impresses me as the best character I've ever read in any work of fiction, in whatever my brain interprets "best" to be: noble, disciplined, ethical, strong, humble (in the SA books, at least, though not in his flashbacks), willing to admit he's fallible but trying anyway, and all this is only deepened by what we learn about his tragic past in Oathbringer. I love the way he interacts with Gallant too; how people treat animals is a very telling thing. Dalinar has been my favorite from the first time he appeared in Way of Kings, and TBH if he dies during the series, I'm done at that point. But since one of Brandon's sons (Dalin) is named after him, I'm hoping that won't happen, or at least not till book 10. (I'm tempted to put Dalinar for my #s 2 & 3 as well, but I'll respect the thread and not do that.)
  2. Lift - She is just so wild! Funny but also compassionate, seemingly shallow but then you get a glimpse that her heart is deep and tender. I love her use of language, which is one of the things we're supposed to notice about her - - she reminds me of Wayne from Mistborn 2nd Era, and both of them are delightful.
  3. This one is difficult - so many possibilities! - but I'm gonna go with Adolin - I like how Brandon has subverted the trope and not made him a spoiled rich kid, like most of us probably expected at first, but that he's actually a good guy. And I hope hope hope that he's able to help Maya to wake up, and that that results in all the other deadeyes waking up too.
Edited by Iarwainiel
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  • 2 weeks later...

1. Rysn

2. Szeth

3. Dalinar

4 is Taravangian right now, but Venli could potentially break into the list once RoW comes out.

Dalinar and Szeth are pretty easy to explain, they're awesome and powerful with a lot of potential. Taravangian and Venli are a little less powerful right now, but they've still got a lot of potential going forward(though I confess I'm more interested in the Fused/Singer worldbuilding than Venli herself right now).

Rysn is more of a personal quirk. In addition to my penchant for villains, I have a habit of latching onto less.. central characters. Luna and Bellatrix in HP, Angie and Toko in the Dangan games, Darcy in the Thor movies, Rysn, etc.. a lot of franchises seem to have a character or two with some sort of endearing charm that I end up gravitating towards, and it's difficult to pin down what exactly hooks me in because the characters are often vastly different, but there's a consistent pattern of enjoying their time on-screen and always wanting more.

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Kaladin: he’s relatable, runs a funny-yet-dependable team, and has been through some horrible situations that  make him stronger each time.

Navani: Fabrials. I love Fabrials, and Navani’s viewpoints explain them a lot. She is also a good person that helps Dalinar and aids his dreams. 

I can’t really decide for this one. There are so many awesome characters in the Stormlight archive and I really can’t choose one beyond the two I already listed. 

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Hoid - I enjoy his humor, and he has so many mysteries and ties to the cosmere around him.

Nale - The Skybreakers are my favorite Order, and it's intersting to see where his madness takes his interpretation of the ideals.

Nightblood - I really like the contrast between his cheerfulness and his destructive power.

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On 9/27/2020 at 5:05 AM, Schneeente said:

1. Shallan

The only downside she has is that it is very hard for me to understand why it is so hard to say these truths. She just has to admit what happened to herself (and her spren, granted) - how hard can that be? That requirement always makes me wonder if only "damaged" people can become lightweavers in the first place. Because for most people .. are there truth we are not telling ourselves that would be so painful to admit? Anyway.. 

=> I do enjoy Shallan's chapters most because they are exciting, you often learn some well kept secrets and she is funny.

The truths that Shallan is hiding from herself are as elusive (for her) as the one that Kaladin was hiding from in WoK.  You know, where kept thinking that he was cursed to fail every time that he tried to protect people he cared about.  Even though he didn't specifically need to face and confront that truth, it remained a stumbling block for his ability to speak additional Words.  And that lie was one that he told himself over and over again for much the same reason as Shallan keeps lying to herself--it's comforting and familiar.  Even though the lie brings with it pain, the familiarity of it is enough to fight to keep hold of it with all you have.

In WoR, Shallan says multiple times that she needs the lies to be able to function.  And she holds on to that belief with as much as she has, searching for any other path to follow that allows her to keep the lies instead of giving them up.  In the end, I don't think that the lies themselves matter nearly as much as that conviction and belief that she holds.

The (current) list!

1. Shallan.  Probably the most accurate representation of me personally in a book ever, even though I'm a man jealous of the quality of stick figures most 4 year-olds are capable of which as yet elude me. I do lay claim to the same magic, even though that's a lie.

2. Rysn.  Love the outside viewpoint of different areas of the world from someone who is an interesting mix of prejudiced, naive, and open-minded.  (Prejudiced isn't quite the right word.  She has some fairly certain preconceptions about other peoples that are very wrong.)

3. Really tough choice here.  Dalinar because we start off by seeing who he is, and then later see how far he had to travel to become that person.  Eshonai because all she wants is to explore but it falls to her to defend her People--and arguably her exploration in the first place is the cause of the conflict between the Listeners and the Alethi.  Would have loved to get another chapter or three that delved into that.  Cusicesh the Protector because dang is that spren weird and I love it.

I guess all of my Tied for Number Three choices are those that I've spent a lot of time theorizing over.

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My top three:

1:rock. He is great. He is honestly the peak (I’m hilarious) of comedy. And I. Want. His. Soup. He is a source of positivity, soup, and Hilarity. The perfect trifecta.

2. The lopen. He is pretty darn close to that peak. He’s the equivalent of Kazan from AvsEL (is that the acronym?) and I love it. He is also the best and I want a full battalion of his cousins. He is a source of positivity, cousins, and hilarity. It is the almost perfect trifecta.

3. Kaladin. He is a really dfun and in depth character. I love traumatized characters, and oh boy, he is the holy grail of trauma. He is sad at EVERYTHING. You don’t die? Sad cuz people did die.   You are free from slavery? Sad cuz people don’t quite respect you, leading to you being in jail. Are you just existing? Sad cuz you are worried for LITERALLY EVERYONES PROBLEMS. He has many, many reasons to be a traumatized child, but he is also great because he will stop at NOTHING to be sad. and I love that. He also has a really dry sense of humor, which is great. Oh and not to mention he is the best leader anybody can ever be. I love him.  He is a source of motivation, trauma, and sadness.

 

as you could see from my top three, I value silly over anything else, then trauma. An interesting combo, but one I love, mainly because stormlight is full of both.

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  • 2 weeks later...

1) Szeth - He's all about doing the right thing, and I(unfortunately, like Nale) appreciate that. I think he's one of the best(and most confused) characters. I think that Szeth, of all Cosmere characters, is the most fit to wield Nightblood. Vasher is too Cosmere-aware and therefore too likely to use it to serve his own interests, Kelsier is Kelsier, Hoid is... well, Hoid. Szeth as a Skybreaker is, in my opinion, the individual least likely to use Nightblood in a way that would be judged as "wrong". I think he's responsible enough for it, and also not a Worldhopper.

2) Lift is nice, but Wyndle... Wyndle makes me laugh every time. IMO Wyndle and Lopen could have some great convos, but I think Lift is the best match for him to get humor.

3) Leshwi - I love that we have a Fused that has character, a sense of honor, and seems to genuinely be a decent being(aside from the whole Cognitive Shadow sworn to Odium thing). I'm not shipping her with Kaladin, but I definitely want to see more of her. She seems important, and like she could be a good character(not protagonisty good, just characterwise good).

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