The King's Servants (contains spoilers)

[stormlight]

I was reading through WoK for the 4th time (because I'm cool like that) when I became curious about Taravangian and his death quote collection and how he was recording them. The obvious answer was he was getting women (as men cant read or write) to record the dying statements of the poor people in his hospital. But would a seemingly half-insane king only seek to gather info ONLY from his hospital?

No.

He'd try and expand the search to other places. And so I decided to scan the book and see if Brandon hinted at any possible spies around the place working for Taravangian. It makes sense that it would be a woman placed somewhere where there is considerable death and bloodshed...

...namely, the Shattered Plains.

Now whose names are sneakily added seemingly without purpose in the Shattered Plains when important things are happening? Adolin's ladyfriends.

I had a look through them and one particularly stood out to me. Her name was Malasha.

start of Quote ~ As they did, Dalinar did note Adolin waving to a young woman who stood beside the way, wearing a red dress, her hair up in a very nice braiding.

"Is that...er..."

"Malasha?" Adolin said. "yes."

"She looks nice."

"Most of the time she is, though she's somewhat annoyed that I wouldn't let her come with me today."

"She wanted to come into battle?"

Adolin shrugged. "Says she's curious."

Dalinar said nothing. Battle was a masculine art. A woman wanting to come to a battlefield was like...well, like a man wanting to read. Un-natural. ~ End of quote

Having Malasha so close to Adolin (which means Dalinar too) would also be a way for her to report back to Taravangian on new developments because, as he tells Szeth at the end, he only needs Dalinar dead because of 'recent events'. Plus its known that Adolin switches partners regularly, so it was no mystery to anyone if she disapeared. He would just start courting someone else.

Sorry its so long, just thought I share an obsession with everyone. Maybe its nothing but still

[Sunblesser]

a good theory. the constant reference to adolin's turnstile-style romances was always kind of confusing to me. i first just thought of it as some minor character development between dalinar and his two sons, but i like the idea that there's more to it. his words in the epilogue reveal that taravangian is remarkably well informed concerning the shattered plains. wouldn't be surprised if this is the case.

[Argent]

I'll go ahead and play the party pooper here, and say that I think this is too far-fetched. While this is theoretically possible, I don't think it's plausible to assume anything. Taravangian most likely has spies in the Shattering Planes, and there are probably some women among them (so they can write down any death quotes... though getting them out of the battle will be a little hard). I don't think Adolin's women are among them though. I just don't see any solid evidence or foreshadowing.

[Xavien]

I think if any of Adolin's ladies are secret spies it is more random chance than planned: he goes through them too quickly. As Argent said, Taravangian definitely has spies in the plains but setting them up to be next to Adolin would be difficult.

If there is any foreshadowing in the women I think it has more to do with Shallan arriving in the Shattered Plains, particularly when you combine it with her quick wit and how she says things that aren't "proper" for a lady.

[LightReader]

I mentioned in the speculation-for-book-two thread that I thought Adolin's girlfriend Danlan would turn out to be some sort of spy. I was thinking Sadeas or the Ghostbloods. I hadn't thought of Taravangian specifically, though he might be a Ghostblood, that seems unclear still. I think sending girls to date Adolin would be a very Taravangian thing to do though. I thought Danlan beacause she seems to last the longest, and is the one he's still courting at the end of the book. I hadn't thought that Malasha and the others could be spies too. I like this theory, I think it could make for a cool twist if this turned out to be true.

[stormlight]

Twas just a suggestion. I read allot into things I love and tend to find conspiracies where they aren't. But it would be interesting Thanks for not completely bagging my idea. First time on forums.