Dangling Plot Threads - What Will We Find In Book 5

[Crylorenzo]

What a book Rhythm of War is, but for all the loose threads it ties, there are a number left dangling for book 5. We know that Brandon outlined the two books together and so has a clear reason why he included each plot and its consequence in Book 4.

Here I'm trying to compile (please help add or correct me where you think I'm wrong) what we can be sure will DEFINITELY be resolved, LIKELY be resolved, and things that are good questions but are UNLIKELY to be resolved (because they are either for 6-10 or for other books).

To Be DEFINITELY Resolved In Book 5

In the main plot arc

Gavilar's Prologue and his true intentions

There are 10 Days left for the contest, will they be filled with war? Or are the Fused okay with peace until then?
    - First and foremost, Book 5 will have to quickly help us understand why anything else is important other than the Contest of Champions in 10 days.
    - I feel like it's safe to say that some if not all of our main characters in the first 5 will have character arcs. Sanderson likes his books to have strong character drives and motivations, so how what is left for our cast to learn in order to grow? What are their next ideals and can they make it?

We will see Warlight, Towerlight, Anti-Light and possibly other lights meaningfully in use. We just had an entire book about these, how will they actually impact the story?
          We will almost definitely see both more Radiants and more spren deaths as well as Fused deaths due to the Anti-Light

Taravangian will figure out a Champion to pick
          Some names I have thought of/seen tossed around
                             Moash - Human with a grudge - a predictable pick, but also a boring one (unless more is revealed)
                             Gavinor somehow tricked - I've heard many reference the Death Rattle about a child crying with a knife to their throat and how it's dishonorable to kill a child
                             Hoid with memories altered - Random thought I had after the epilogue, very very unlikely, but definitely a surprise pick                        

The Contest of Champions will happen after 10 days
              We know it is not JUST a fight
              Who will be the protagonist champion will be resolved for good - we currently are led to believe Dalinar, but Kaladin will always be an option. Szeth is also a sleeper potential.
              Dalinar Win? Toadium Win? Tie?
              Depending on Cognitive Shadow Memory, The Oathpact, Cultivation, Taravangian's actual plans, Loopholes, I could see any of these having a satisfactory ending

Meanwhile…
Shallan will have a "war" with the Ghostbloods
    - Ba-Ado-Mishram will be found and released

Dalinar, Kaladin, Szeth will go to Shinovar
    We'll discover what Szeth means by the "Cleansing Of Shinovar"
    Kaladin will discover a way to heal Ishar
    Dalinar will improve his Bondsmith Powers

We'll learn Szeth's backstory
    What did he see coming and how will this add to the narrative?

Oathpact Resolved/Restored

We'll learn more about the current Listeners
    How are they working with the Chasmfiends?

El will be someone important.

A Satisfying Conclusion will happen because Brandon Sanderson (note: some feel like this may not be the Contest, but aren't sure what it might be)
    Protagonists win!
    Protagonists lose, but Oathpact!
    Protagonists lose, but Dalinar still awesome / can’t be turned bad / Cognitive Shadow stuff
                and/or other meaningful things happen to make it satisfying
    Tie, but Oathpact!
    Tie, but Cultivation/Taravangian!
    Tie, but war resolved in different way.

Either way, I think it's safe to say that Books 1-5 will conclude the wars as we currently know them.

LIKELY places to show progress

True Cause Of The Recreance
Sja-Anat & The Unmade’s loyalties/effects
Lifelight x Voidlight (Especially now with Cultivation & Todium in league?), All 3 Light? Their Anti-Lights?
How a cognitive shadow and the like can persist without going crazy - Kelek, Ishar, Nale, Hoid, Thaidakar, Fused, Dalinar if he loses
Finding out how Cognitive Shadows get offworld.
People are going to die, possibly main characters
The Importance of Urithiru now being bonded
Adolin and the true nature of the Recreance
Renarin and Rlain getting better at foreseeing the future/tricking the Gods.
Ishar's Tukari attacking Lasting Integrity.
Horneaters and Cultivation's Perpendicularity
Wit’s flute is going be part of some minor plot point in book 5
We'll learn more about the Sleepless
We'll learn about the SoH spy (was it the Sleepless listening in on Wit?)
Dalinar's unusual visions of Nohadon and impressions of warmth and light will be explained

Unlikely To Be Resolved /  Might Show Minor Progress If Any
    Hoid vs Odium/Toadium
    Hoid wanting help from other shards/Harmony (The Letters)
    Herald Origins
    Dawnshards
    Dawnsingers
    How the war started in the first place
    Ashyn & Braize
    Lighthouse prophecy - people sailing from across the ocean

-----------------------------------------

What have I missed? What have I overestimated/underestimated the importance of? Are there any clear Character Arcs set up (I wasn't sure about this one)?

Edited December 1, 2020 by Crylorenzo

[GameOfGroans]

I don't have enough focus right now to analyze all those things, but just to mention that considering there are supposed to be 10 books in the series, it's unlikely the duel will bring a solution. Except if the last 5 books will start a new but related story some years later with new characters?

[DracostarA]

I think one thing that's likely to progress is finding out how Cognitive Shadows get offworld. Thaidakar and Kalak are both after that secret and Odium plans on armies of the fused travelling the stars and since we have Zahel present on Roshar who is proof that this is possible, that could be a way to uncover this.

[Crylorenzo]

1 hour ago, GameOfGroans said:

Except if the last 5 books will start a new but related story some years later with new characters?

I believe this will be the case largely because
1. RoW sets us up for, if not a permanent, then at least a temporary conclusion to the hostilities where either way the war ends
2. While the series is a 10 book series, it is also purposefully split into two sets of 5 with a time skip in between the two sets (Coppermind has it as a "a time gap of about five to ten years between the two arcs). Even if the only conclusion is a temporary solution, some conclusion will happen.
3. The next set of 5 WILL likely have different focus characters - the flashback characters will be Lift, Renarin, Shalash, Taln, and Jasnah and while he could write long detailed flashbacks about side characters, I highly doubt it.

4. RoW sets up for us, in my opinion, the conflict of Books 6-10 with Toadium stuck on Roshar, but still preparing for a larger conflict and trying to send people offworld.
5. We'll be waiting a while for the next set of 5 since, at a minimum Mistborn Era 3 (1980s) and Elantris sequels. I think Nightblood will possibly come out first too, thought Coppermind says it may come out after Book 6. It's not like Brandon to leave us hanging without some resolution.

All that to say that I think a number of the main conflicts will be resolved without Odium the shard being resolved until Book 10 (yes, Rayse is dead, but we just got a worse one).

[Crylorenzo]

41 minutes ago, DracostarA said:

I think one thing that's likely to progress is finding out how Cognitive Shadows get offworld.

Thanks! I'll add it!

[Bridge Boy]

The main question for me is; what is the real cause of the recreance? Why did the radiants dismantle? The only thing I can think is they were headed towards massive technological advancement (i.e. the manhattan project but fueled by storm light). Maybe they even used that sort of power and after seeing the damage done they decided the only way to preserve Roshar was to dismantle. 

[Voscaia]

While I can't decide whether I agree or disagree with your predicitons, I absolutely LOVE the name Toadium. It brings a new dimension to Dolores Umbridge of Harry Potter...

[Maya]

The first thing I expect to see in Book 5 is Ishar's Tukari attacking Lasting Integrity. Considering that his study determined the Honorspren to be the best match for whatever he was trying to do, the attack his minions carried to capture Notum and the placement of his camp in Tukar, where he opened the perpendicularity, is suspiciously close to where the Honorspren fortress is on the other side, in Shadesmar - it will suggest this as a likely move. 

I also expect to see more of Rock and some serious action near Cultivation's perpendicularity. 

Shinovar, Szeth flashbacks, the real reason for the Recreance and its consequences, and a lot more merger of things that used to be decidedly separated such as various Lights, spren, singers/humans and their powers, etc.

 

[Samasaur]

6 hours ago, Bridge Boy said:

The main question for me is; what is the real cause of the recreance? Why did the radiants dismantle? The only thing I can think is they were headed towards massive technological advancement (i.e. the manhattan project but fueled by storm light). Maybe they even used that sort of power and after seeing the damage done they decided the only way to preserve Roshar was to dismantle. 

Not an additional plot thread, but I saw something (on Reddit, I believe) theorizing that the reason for the Recreance was the death of Honor and the subsequent removal of all limits on Surgebinding — as they destroyed their previous planet with Surgebinding before coming to Roshar.

[+Oltux72]

6 hours ago, Bridge Boy said:

The main question for me is; what is the real cause of the recreance? Why did the radiants dismantle?

They didn't just dismantle.

6 hours ago, Bridge Boy said:

The only thing I can think is they were headed towards massive technological advancement (i.e. the manhattan project but fueled by storm light). Maybe they even used that sort of power and after seeing the damage done they decided the only way to preserve Roshar was to dismantle. 

I am sorry, but that makes no sense. If they were so unified and afraid of that, they surely would not have abused this possibility. Where they about to collectively go mad? Why?

If they were just worried about the next generations, the Spren could have just stopped bonding new Radiants. The method they chose shows that the Recreance was either extremely urgent or had to happen synchronously, as far as they could tell.

[Crylorenzo]

52 minutes ago, Maya said:

Ishar's Tukari attacking Lasting Integrity.

I'll add this to the likely section - it would make sense to me.

[Kuram]

The ending of 5 is definitely going to be a 'the final empire' sort of ending, in my opinion.  Personally, I think Dalinar is going to lose the contest.  However, that might put too much in Odium's corner from a narrative perspective (fused bondsmith immortal bound to both Odium and the cognitive shadow of Honor).  But I don't see how him winning will be very *interesting* from a story perspective either.  So definitely expect Brandon to do something unexpected here, I would imagine.

[TheGirlWhoLookedUp]

Not a big thing, but I think that Wit’s flute is going be part of some minor plot point in book 5. Every single Stormlight book has brought it up and now Kaladin’s finally got it back. Something going to happen...

[Rainier]

If all of book 5 is just the ten days, I will be massively disappointed. Think about these novels: they are each a trilogy of smaller books. This will be the same for book 5. Usually it's parts 1 and 2 as one book, parts 3 and 4 as another, and part 5 as a shorter concluding novel to the 'trilogy.' Brandon doesn't take a whole book to answer all the questions from the previous book, he answers them relatively early then introduces new, more interesting questions to ask by the end of the book.

For RoW, it was strange, but part 1 was basically the ending of the first book in the trilogy. Parts 2 and 3 were book 2, culminating in the fall of Urithiru. Parts 4 and 5 were book 3, with the conclusion of this particular trilogy. Whatever your expectations for the next book, I think it would be illuminating to think in this framework. We're going to have more questions to answer by the end of book 5 that we don't yet know to ask. We might even get some answers to questions we don't yet know to ask.

Ten days is enough for the opening novel of a trilogy, it isn't enough for a trilogy unto itself. I think we'll see parts 1 and 2 as the lead up to the contest, the ten days themselves. Part 3 will have the contest itself, the revelation of whatever twist we'll see, and the characters start to react to what just happened. This is the end of the Answering Questions section of the book. Parts 4 and 5 will be leading towards the ultimate conclusion of the front half of the series, which I don't think is the contest itself. I think we'll get some perspective early in book 5 that resets our sights higher.

[Master Silver]

To my mind, it kinda seemed like this book was 200 pages short. I would have liked to see More Adolin & Maya at the end. A little more Shallan & Veil being merged. Definitely a little more Sibling and Navani. And more what is happening with the Spren. There were a lot of lose threads including the state of the war and if they are mass producing anti-void light, etc. Also, Kaladin and Dalinar talking with Zaehl at the end of the book would have been good. I feel like you would need two books to resolve everything that is left (unless you just kill everyone). 

[Crylorenzo]

4 hours ago, Kuram said:

 Personally, I think Dalinar is going to lose the contest...  So definitely expect Brandon to do something unexpected here, I would imagine.

I agree - I expect Dalinar to lose and die and thereby become a major Cosmere player along with Odium, but always chomping at the bit so to speak. It'll set up good conflict in 6-10.

2 hours ago, TheGirlWhoLookedUp said:

Not a big thing, but I think that Wit’s flute is going be part of some minor plot point in book 5. Every single Stormlight book has brought it up and now Kaladin’s finally got it back. Something going to happen...

Agreed. I'll add it.

2 hours ago, Rainier said:

If all of book 5 is just the ten days, I will be massively disappointed....

Ten days is enough for the opening novel of a trilogy, it isn't enough for a trilogy unto itself. I think we'll see parts 1 and 2 as the lead up to the contest, the ten days themselves. Part 3 will have the contest itself, the revelation of whatever twist we'll see, and the characters start to react to what just happened. This is the end of the Answering Questions section of the book. Parts 4 and 5 will be leading towards the ultimate conclusion of the front half of the series, which I don't think is the contest itself. I think we'll get some perspective early in book 5 that resets our sights higher.

I like this thought and wouldn't be surprised by it because Master Sanderson.
That being said, I feel like he will actually manage 10 days into the entire thing (with a denouement after the 10 days of course). Why? In part because Master Sanderson, in part because we also know Brandon likes to try new things with his writing and push the envelope. It's not like there isn't a lot that could be covered in 10 days with all that is happening, but I do agree that the ending itself will be more than the contest - it has to be, otherwise the only events to matter would be the ones directly affecting the champion whereas we can see that there are many more plot points dangling.

[Necessary Eagle]

Noticed one on my current reread... the spy that Ialai had listening in on the Kholins. The SoH may be defunct, but I think it's going to come up again. Especially with how Brandon immediately distracted us-- er, how Mraize immediately distracted Shallan with the (probably imaginary) Ghostblood spy.

Unless that does get hammered out later in the book and I just missed it. But I don't think it was.

 

[kaellok]

On 11/26/2020 at 3:18 PM, Crylorenzo said:

There are 10 Days left for the climax

There are 10 days left until the Contest of Champions is scheduled to start.  This Contest has been hammered home so hard from the very beginning that I highly doubt it will occur as expected, especially given Toadiums thoughts ("Ugh, why enter a contest if you aren't okay with any outcome?  Ugh, I want to be free of this system.  Ugh, Dalinar is so dumb that he can fail.")  I'd move this to Likely, instead of Definitely.

10 hours ago, Necessary Eagle said:

Noticed one on my current reread... the spy that Ialai had listening in on the Kholins. The SoH may be defunct, but I think it's going to come up again. Especially with how Brandon immediately distracted us-- er, how Mraize immediately distracted Shallan with the (probably imaginary) Ghostblood spy.

Unless that does get hammered out later in the book and I just missed it. But I don't think it was.

The spy is a Sleepless that is listening to everything Wit says.

[ScadrianTank]

It seems likely that we'll find out what the hell Gavilar wanted to do in general and why he needed all these different types of Light. Did he just intend to kill Fused permanently, or maybe he wanted to use it to somehow destroy Heralds' connection to Braize?

[Crylorenzo]

15 hours ago, Necessary Eagle said:

the spy that Ialai had listening in on the Kholins....

Unless that does get hammered out later in the book and I just missed it. But I don't think it was.

5 hours ago, kaellok said:

There are 10 days left until the Contest of Champions is scheduled to start.  This Contest has been hammered home so hard from the very beginning that I highly doubt it will occur as expected, especially given Toadiums thoughts.... I'd move this to Likely, instead of Definitely.

The spy is a Sleepless that is listening to everything Wit says.

I can't remember exactly if the Sleepless was the same as the SoH spy, so I'll mention both up above.
As for the contest of Champions, I suppose saying that it is THE climax would be technically incorrect - I'm honestly expecting the KoW Book 5 to be one giant climax sort of like HoA was. That being said, while I agree that the contest won't be quite what we expected, I doubt with such monumental set-up over all previous 4 books if it wasn't part of the main climax. If you've watched his class he talked this last year about how in Oathbringer the initial Shadesmar sequence didn't land the way he thought it would at first because his audience had been led to believe that they were seeking out Cultivation's perpendicularity, not go off to Thaylenah and so the whole sequence felt really off and unenjoyable to his beta-readers because there was no hinting at a different goal. In my mind, unless you've seen evidence of a different conclusion being pointed towards, I feel like the contest of Champions will have to be that conclusion. How it will work and what exactly its outcome will actually mean I don't know, but I would be very surprised in Brandon, after working so hard to hype up the contest for 4 books would minimize or trivialize it in Book 5 just to subvert expectations. I think he fully intends to fulfill expectations, though perhaps more in a "you want a car; I've promised you a car; you really need this car, finally in 10 days you'll have this car; OH MY GOSH IT'S A LAMBORGHINI WITH WINGS AND A ROCKET LAUNCHER!" sort of fulfilling expectations. I'll note the possibility though.

 

2 hours ago, ScadrianTank said:

It seems likely that we'll find out what the hell Gavilar wanted to do in general and why he needed all these different types of Light. Did he just intend to kill Fused permanently, or maybe he wanted to use it to somehow destroy Heralds' connection to Braize?

Good point - Book 5 prologue should fit this bill.

[ScadrianTank]

Also, we still don't understand much about Dalinar's unusual visions of Nohadon and impressions of warmth and light. Brandon said that the fifth book is going to have many Dalinar moments and, hopefully, he will explain these as well.

[Maya]

On 11/29/2020 at 5:33 PM, Crylorenzo said:

I feel like the contest of Champions will have to be that conclusion. How it will work and what exactly its outcome will actually mean I don't know, but I would be very surprised in Brandon, after working so hard to hype up the contest for 4 books would minimize or trivialize it in Book 5 just to subvert expectations. I think he fully intends to fulfill expectations, though perhaps more in a "you want a car; I've promised you a car; you really need this car, finally in 10 days you'll have this car; OH MY GOSH IT'S A LAMBORGHINI WITH WINGS AND A ROCKET LAUNCHER!" sort of fulfilling expectations. I'll note the possibility though.

 

That is more or less what I expect too. 

Besides, 10 days can pack a lot of action if properly structured (sort of like 24 season). For example, If the contest will settle the borders between both parties to just what they are right before the beginning of the duel, well then that means everybody will have 10 days to go on the offensive and conquer as much as they can - the possibilities for clashes are many. 

[Frustration]

37 minutes ago, Michael C. Phillips said:

In my opinion, we will see the resolution of one conflict and the movement/development of another

Dude, this thread has been dead for two years.