RoW Chapter 19 Discussion

[Jofwu]

Here's a discussion thread on RoW Chapter 19 You can read it here: https://www.tor.com/2020/11/10/read-rhythm-of-war-by-brandon-sanderson-chapter-nineteen/

This is the FINAL preview chapter! Rhythm of War comes next week!

[Pattern]

Only one week left! I'm soo excited. Dawnshard didn't sooth my anticipation in any way ;-)

Navani really should secure herself a Windrunner (or Szeth) to lash the dropped weights up the shafts again. This way she could truly convert energy from Stormlight to potential energy. Also possibility of multiple lashings.

Edited November 11, 2020 by Pattern
Addition concerning content

[+honorblades]

The Sibling is clearly tied to Urithiru somehow... is it possible that they “inhabit” the tower similar to how the Oathgate spren inhabit the Oathgates? 

I wrote up a whole thing about how I have been thinking about how to power the Fourth Bridge and then Navani just addresses it straight away in this chapter, lol. So clever. I should have suspected she had this mostly figured out already. 

 

Finally we get some mention of the Stonewards! I was starting to get worried, honestly. 

I wonder... Is it possible that Taravangian could be a candidate for a Bondsmith? Something about the way Dalinar describes him in this chapter makes me think about how different members of the same Order can have such different personalities. I would say T is probably too old... but... Hmm. Is it possible? 

AND NOT BRANDON FORESHADOWING DALINAR’S DEATH NOOOOOOOOOO I CAN’T TAKE IT 

Edited November 10, 2020 by lightweaver spy

[Karger]

What the hell happened to the tower's suppression?  Finally aluminum is confirmed.  Dalinar and Navani are adorable.

[+robardin]

Hmm, with Navani openly sharing her artifabrial knowledge with all allied human kingdoms and inviting the same... What about Taravangian? They don't trust him, but can they freeze him out of such an open call, considering he had the half-shard technology to share already?

(Which of course means the Fused would gain insight into the advances that led to the construction of the Fourth Bridge?)

Rushu speaks of inspecting the fabrials "from Shadesmar" - how are they doing this? With Jasnah's help? Because the Oathgates are still forbidden from transporting directly between the Physical and Cognitive Realms, are they not?

Edited November 10, 2020 by robardin

[HipsterStick]

Holy cow- I don’t think I’ve ever given Navani enough credit, she’s clearly more of a genius than I thought.

As a final chapter for part one, this felt very- understated? I suppose? Which is certainly not a bad thing, but it feels like it fits a different pattern than the other SA books. Still, I appreciated that we got some more Coalition politics. 

Also- Stonewards!!! Oh yeah! This is awesome! And it was really good to hear about the other Radiants as well. It makes me wonder (discussion of spoiler-free reviews under the cut)

Spoiler

Are they going to be some of the newly introduced characters that become important so quickly? I mean, we’ve already seen Godeke once before, and now we have a Stoneward going with the envoy... it sounds as if they’re going to be interacting frequently with Adolin and Shallan at least.

Other thoughts:

-Good to see my boi Sigzil stepping up- though, I feel that Kaladin is going to be sorely missed.

-Taravangian terrifies me. At this point, I have NO idea how the coalition is going to deal with him.

-I think Sanderson definitely missed a chance to have Lift go with the envoy... if only for the potential humor alone.

[Karger]

When did we get stonewards?  Seriously they just showed up?  Do we have all ten orders at the tower?  There goes that theory I guess.

[+honorblades]

5 minutes ago, robardin said:

Because the Oathgates are still forbidden from transporting directly between the Physical and Cognitive Realms, are they not?

They are not, it was mentioned in a previous chapter that the Oathgate spren acknowledged Dalinar as the successor to Honor and so opened the Oathgates for travel that was once forbidden. Shadesmar, and presumably direct travel from one Oathgate to another though this second part was not directly confirmed. 

[Eternal Khol]

I thought brandon said that each part was supposed to culminate in their own little climax?

that was rather anticlimactic, as far as this novels been going so far

Edited November 10, 2020 by Eternal Khol

[+honorblades]

24 minutes ago, Pattern said:

Only one week left! I'm soo excited. Dawnshard didn't sooth my anticipation in any way ;-)

Speaking of Dawnshard, isn’t it crazy how much lore we got from that book? Especially considering Brandon treats all his novellas as “not required reading”, it makes me think that we are gonna get some heavy lore stuff in RoW. I can’t wait! 

[Michael Portz]

2 minutes ago, Eternal Khol said:

I thought brandon said that each part was supposed to culminate in their own little climax?

that was rather anticlimactic, as far as this novels been going so far

That was not anticlimactic but postclimactic :-)

[Dlyol]

4 minutes ago, Eternal Khol said:

I thought brandon said that each part was supposed to culminate in their own little climax?

that was rather anticlimactic, as far as this novels been going so far

AIUI, Brandon plots these books as essentially three novels each with their own climax - in OB Part 1 was an entire 'novel' but that doesn't have to be the case we're probably in the middle of the 1st 'novel' here which will climax at the end of Part 2

[Ramona Tehradin]

So now we got three groups sporting out in different directions? Just like TWoK I believe. 

We'll get Navani, Kaladin and whoever remains in Urithiru probably awaiting an attack by a fused. More about Sibling? Those windmills and utilization of storming kinetic energy is wonderful. This group along with singers are going to take major focus of story I believe after seeing review videos. 

Then, Dalinar and Jasnah and their team marching to Emul. Trap? What is Stormfather going to talk to honorspren? His involvement would be very essential. 

And finally, Adolin and Shallan's group to Lasting Integrity. What's wrong with Shallan? Adolin excited to reunite with Maya? 

CAN'T WAIT!

 

[Inky]

10 minutes ago, Karger said:

When did we get stonewards?  Seriously they just showed up?  Do we have all ten orders at the tower?  There goes that theory I guess.

What theory?

[Karger]

Just now, Inky said:

What theory?

That once we had all ten radiants the tower would start up.

[Michael Portz]

Why ... is the title of this chapter "Garnets" ??? From the coppermind:

Quote

Garnet is associated with the Essence of Blood. They are used to Soulcast the eight types of blood and all other non-oil liquids.^[11]

Garnets are used in a type of water attracting fabrial.^[19]

Garnet spheres are given the "blood-" prefix.^[20]

It is associated with the Order of Lightweavers

So lets add the question: Why Lightweavers?

[LuckyJim]

8 minutes ago, Karger said:

When did we get stonewards?  Seriously they just showed up?  Do we have all ten orders at the tower?  There goes that theory I guess.

They didn't mention any Willshapers, but it's possible they have a few in their number. Other than that I think so.

Kaladin and all of his men represent the Windrunners,

Szeth is the only Skybreaker.

Malata, the Reshi King and several other Dustbringers.

Lift ,Godeke and several other Edgedancers.

Renarin and 2-3 other Truthwatchers.

Shallan, her squires and probably some other Lightweavers, considering the Crytics were open to bonding.

Jasnah is the only Elsecaller.

No word on Willshapers.

An unknown number of Stonewards, but at least one.

Dalinar as the one of three potential Bondsmiths.

[Ramona Tehradin]

After reading Dawnshard and effects of Aluminum, it made me wonder if...a Surgebinder/Radiant wears gauntlets made of aluminum, would it block the screaming they hear of dead sprens in their mind? Maybe it could give a chance to wield deadeye Shardblades. 

[Govir]

20 minutes ago, HipsterStick said:

-I think Sanderson definitely missed a chance to have Lift go with the envoy... if only for the potential humor alone.

As soon as they started eliminating people and they came to Edgedancers, I really wanted Lift to go. Who knows, maybe she'll sneak off an end up going anyway

 

6 minutes ago, RamonaTehradin said:

Then, Dalinar and Jasnah and their team marching to Emul. Trap? What is Stormfather going to talk to honorspren? His involvement would be very essential. 

Isn't this exactly what the Fused wanted, to get the Bondsmith and Elsecaller out of the tower? It definitely makes you think that Taravangian is still working directly with the Fused. But it also doesn't rule out the Mink, given that he's the one who persuaded them to take the fight there. I could see a plotline where Dalinar and compnay are so focused on Taravangian, that they overlook a betrayal from someone else (e.g. the Mink).

Edit: in the time it took to write this post, there were a few replies and as I was going through them I thought "Oh, someone else wanted Lift to go on the envoy....oh, that someone is me. The post I just wrote..."

Edited November 10, 2020 by Govir
Funny

[Karger]

1 minute ago, LuckyJim said:

They didn't mention any Willshapers, but it's possible they have a few in their number. Other than that I think so.

Oh good point.  I suppose hope remains.

[Kered]

From what Kaladin said, about there being 50 or so Edgedancers, I assume most of the orders are filled out. Most curious about the Dustbringers and if they'll all be a bit more loyal to old man T instead of the rest of the orders. 

 

3 minutes ago, Karger said:

That once we had all ten radiants the tower would start up.

 

[+honorblades]

5 minutes ago, Michael Portz said:

Why ... is the title of this chapter "Garnets" ??? From the coppermind:

So lets add the question: Why Lightweavers?

There was some discussion of the Masked Ones, the Fused Lightweaver equivalents.. Perhaps this is foreshadowing that there is a Masked One spy in Urithiru? Maybe even at that very meeting?

If you’ll don your aluminum hat with me - isn’t it odd that Taravangian no longer requires aides and is, according to Navani, very lucid and present basically all the time now? Shouldn’t he still be having his “stupid” compassion days?

Has T been replaced by a Masked One? He could be alive and well, coaching this one in his mannerisms and such, so that no one is suspicious. I don’t know if I believe this, but it is fun to think about. 

[Awakened Cremling]

In regards to the anticlimactic ending, didn't Sanderson state that this part 1 was reversed from its normal format? That the "climax" happened at the beginning instead of the end? I'll try to find a quote.

edit: found it in the annotations:

So, for a little commentary on these chapters, you might find it interesting that I plotted this opening sequence as if it were a climax section of a book. In the Stormlight novels, I generally limit myself to one viewpoint a chapter. This is to give a stronger identity to the chapters and characters--we usually get big chunks from a person's viewpoint (with chapters that average two or three times as long as chapters from something like Wax and Wayne or Skyward.) This gives each chapter a kind of short-story feel with their own arcs and themes.

However, as I approach climactic sections of books, I bleed the viewpoints across one another, adding to the frantic feel of a building crescendo. Viewpoints alternate in quick succession, with bite-sized chunks, hooks and payoffs, like one might plot closer to what you'd see in a thriller novel. The goal here is to evoke quick scene changes, lots of twists and turns, and a general sense that viewpoints are piling up on top of one another to enhance the feeling of an impending climax.

In a normal stormlight book, I generally start slow and build to such a climax near the end of part one. (Though I usually don't start the full viewpoint bleeds until the end of the book.) Here, I wanted to give the feeling that the year that passed had its own narrative arc, and some of those threads were culminating here. So we're beginning the book at the end of the "previous book" (imagining the in-between year as a "book."

That led to some confusion and consternation among alpha and beta readers, since this isn't how a Stormlight book generally begins--but in this case, I decided I was all right with that feeling, as this truly was the tone I wanted starting out.

Edited November 10, 2020 by Awakened Cremling
added context

[KidWayne]

36 minutes ago, lightweaver spy said:

AND NOT BRANDON FORESHADOWING DALINAR’S DEATH NOOOOOOOOOO I CAN’T TAKE IT 

See I thought the foreshadowing and T's eagerness for the Emul offensive was foreshadowing for Odium's forces to attack Urithiru. Interesting that you saw it as a foreshadowing of Dalinar's death. I wonder which of us has the right read on this? Maybe both of us are right...

[+honorblades]

Just now, KidWayne said:

See I thought the foreshadowing and T's eagerness for the Emul offensive was foreshadowing for Odium's forces to attack Urithiru. Interesting that you saw it as a foreshadowing of Dalinar's death. I wonder which of us has the right read on this? Maybe both of us are right...

Oh man. I hope neither of us are right.. I do think an attack on Urithiru is very likely this book though. There is too much talk about the tower’s defenses and such for them not to be tested soon. 

Plus, it would give a nice opportunity for someone to ‘revive’ the Sibling in a dramatic and heroic way