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Rosharans sure do love boulder metaphors


mdross81

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It's not surprising, given the geology of Roshar, but man do Rosharans like them a boulder metaphor. Here's a rundown, sorted by character.

Dalinar: highprince of boulders; basically everyone, himself included, thinks of him as a boulder; though only Sadeas is foolish enough to think he can take the boulder on

  • OB 3 (Dalinar flashback): He hit the spearman like a boulder rolling through a grove of saplings, his sword tossing blood into the air. A good fight was about momentum. Don't stop. Don't think. Drive forward and convince your enemies they're as good as dead already.
  • RoW 57 (Eshonai flashback): He turned, moving with the momentum of a shifting boulder, and walked toward his stormwagon.
  • TWoK 69 (Sadeas talking to Dalinar): If it means anything, I'm fond of you. I really am. But you are a boulder in my path, and a force working - without realizing it - to destroy Gavilar's kingdom. When the chance came along, I took it.
  • WoR 38 (Shallan): Dalinar stood up. He moved like a rolling boulder. Inevitable, implacable
  • WoR 50 (Adolin): Dalinar was a rock, a boulder too big for even storms to move. He seemed so sure. It was something to cling to

Dalinar's burdens: the boulder carries boulders

  • TWoK 15 (Nohadon parable about helping carry a large stone): If a king is seen to assume the burden of the poorest men, perhaps there will be those who will help him with his own load, so invisible, yet so daunting
  • TWoK 18 (responding to Elhokar asking why the Parshendi offed Gavilar): That question has churned in my head, over and over, like a boulder tumbling down a hill.
  • WoR 85 (Dalinar realizing Szeth would have wrecked him if he hadn't been too drunk the night Gavilar died): I couldn't have saved him. It brought peace, and Dalinar finally set down that boulder, the one he'd been carrying for over six years.
  • OB 4 (Navani, after Dalinar claims he won't carry the failure to prevent the Everstorm as a burden): I don't believe you, Dalinar Kholin. I can read the tightness of your muscles, the set of your jaw. I know that you, while being crushed beneath a boulder, would insist that you've got it under control and ask to see field reports from your men.
  • OB 65 (Cultivation's prunings have an expiration date): Storms. He remembered. It came crashing down on him, the weight of a thousand boulders. He remembered what had happened to Evi.

Navani: a boulder love story

  • OB 1 (Dalinar): Navani Kholin was not some timid, perfect idea - she was a sour storm of a woman, set in her ways, stubborn as a boulder rolling down a mountain and increasingly impatient with the things she considered foolish. He loved her the most for that.

Jasnah: fights like a boulder; but Navani - ever the pragmatist - just walks around

  • OB 104 (Navani): Navani would talk to Renarin and encourage him to go out more with the men. There was no arguing with Jasnah, any more than there was arguing with a boulder. You just stepped to the side and went around
  • RoW 64 (Jasnah): Her vision was clear enough to see the horror of the nearby singers as they witnessed a burning Shardbearer explode from the fires, as if from the center of Damnation itself. That fear stunned them as she hit their line like a boulder, working death upon their collapsing ranks.

Kaladin: waah! I have no choice but to be the hero everyone thinks I am

  • TWoK 9: Kaladin charged the chasm, not even flinching as men were slaughtered around him. It wasn't bravery that drove him; it wasn't even a wish that those arrows would take him and end it all. He ran. That was what he did. Like a boulder rolled down a hill, or like rain fell from the sky. They didn't have a choice. Neither did he. He wasn't a man; he was a thing, and things just did what they did.
  • RoW 43: They were going to take Teft. Kaladin pulled open the door and stepped into the hallway, feeling the inevitable shift of a boulder perched on the top of a slope. Just. Beginning. To tip.

Venli: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

  • RoW 77 (Venli flashback): But what could she do? She'd started this boulder rolling down the cliff. If she tried to stop it now, she'd be crushed. So she continued doing as he said. Even if, without him in her gemheart, she felt old and dull.

Taln: obviously

  • TWoK Epilogue: All was chaos and confusion as the gate boomed yet a third time, powerful, shaking, vibrating as if hit with a boulder. And then a bright, silvery blade rammed between the massive doors, slicing upward, cutting the bar that held them closed. A Shardblade.
  • WoR 63 (Shallan): The man did not move. He did not look up, did not shift. He was life a boulder that had rolled to a stop here.

And finally ... Hoid: Did someone say boulder? Let me share this thematically-relevant metaphor about boulders (OB 68)

  • There are those who, when the boulder of time rolls toward them, stand up in front of it and hold out their hands. All their lives they've been told how great they are. They assume the world will bend to their whims as their nurse did when fetching them a fresh cup of milk. Those men end up squished.
  • Other men stand to the side when the boulder of time passes, but are quick to say, "See what I did! I made the boulder roll there. Don't make me do it again!" These men end up getting everyone else squished.
  • (Shallan asks whether there is a third type): There is, but they are oh so rare. These knew they can't stop the boulder. So they walk beside it, study it, and bide their time. Then they shove it - ever so slightly - to create a deviation in its path. These are the man ... well, these are the men who actually change the world. And they terrify me. For men never see as far as they think they do.

So, there you have it. Boulders for everyone.

As a final note, searching my ebooks for the word boulder really made me appreciate the ferocity of highstorms a whole lot more. I think I had just started skimming past the descriptions of them. But holy freaking crap they are just CONSTANTLY throwing boulders around. How long until the Stormfather accidentally throws Dalinar at someone?

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15 minutes ago, Bejardin1250 said:

Wow never realized!

only one question... how long did it take you to find this:P

Luckily I picked up on the frequent boulder references while doing a full SA reread to prepare for RoW, so I had most of them highlighted in my ebooks already. It was just a matter of pulling them together.

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I hadn't realised how close what Venli said was from Hoid said about the two first types of people

On 12/02/2021 at 9:05 PM, mdross81 said:

How long until the Stormfather accidentally throws Dalinar at someone?

XD

On 12/02/2021 at 10:17 PM, Halyo_Alex said:

I somehow imagined this happening after dalinar earns his shardplate. :D

Dalinar, returned to the state of living weapon that should always have been his

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2 hours ago, mathiau said:

I hadn't realised how close what Venli said was from Hoid said about the two first types of people

Yeah, I noticed that she fit that one really well.

It’s a bit harder to find as close a fit for the other two (and I don’t know that they are necessarily meant to describe a particular character). Candidates for the first type that I considered though were maybe Sadeas and Elhokar.

With all of the schemers on Roshar type three could refer to lots of folks. Taravangian, Mraize, even Cultivation or Hoid himself. 

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