Lift, the Third Bondsmith

[EnderW420]

Yeah, title.

 

Personally, I do think there's a decent change that Lift becomes the Kaladin of the latter half of the series, with her as the arguable main character of books 6-10 the way that Kal has been for 1-4 (first book of the era both establishing the greater world at the current moment and also the past of the main viewpoint character, character deals with trauma related to their parents and deals with their own problems relating to doing violence for a good cause,) and we've seen her grow solidly through the present books, while also keeping her out of focus enough to prevent her from overplaying her hand in terms of history and things she has to work through. But as we've seen, she's already pretty far in her bond with Wyndle; Lift becomes a Third-Ideal Edgedancer as of, well, Edgedancer, and I'm not certain a Fourth and Fifth Ideal would be enough to deal with whatever craziness goes on in the latter half of the series. For this reason I believe Lift will bond the Nightwatcher (assuming that it is in fact a Bondsmith spren), as well as a few others.

 

Firstly, there's the fact that Lift is a magical little goblin person. Lift is one of three characters we know of to have been gifted a boon by Cultivation directly rather then the Nightwatcher, and I personally believe her modifications are a bit more in depth then either Dalinar's or Taravangian's. Lift's spiritweb being modified to 1. run on Lifelight rather then Stormlight, 2. metabolize said Lifelight directly from caloric intake, and 3. exist a bit more in the cognitive realm (if i remember correctly) is to me a much more overt changes then Dalinar's temporary amnesia, and maybe even more overt then Taravangian's intelligence and passion. By modifying her spiritweb to run on Lifelight, it's possible that Cultivation is setting Lift up to deal with significantly more taxing abilities, such as the Connection-based powers of a Bondsmith. Lift also being an Edgedancer means she has one of the more simplified powersets of the Radiants IMO, so giving her access to four surges would be not too strong to be a main character, as neither Edgedancers nor Bondsmiths have been primarily combative in terms of abilities and instead forces Lift to continue using her intelligence and instincts in combat. (Also, having a living Shardblade already accounts for Bondsmiths so far not giving Blades.)

 

The other important part of Lift's cultivation ties is looking, again, at Dalinar and Taravangian, more importantly looking at where they ended up due to Cultivation. Dalinar went from the Blackthorn, a man who treated the Geneva Conventions like a checklist, to the leader of the Radiants who sold a priceless weapon from an ancient time to free slaves, who is imperfect but trying, and who is one of two present Bondsmiths (and you could also make a pretty solid argument that him being in close proximity to Navani and helping her deal with her trauma due to Gav put her in a better position to be the other Bondsmith), and Taravangian, who's a frickin' Shard. Cultivation does not mess around, and that means Lift is definitely in for great things.

 

"So," you say, "when would this happen? How do you see it going down?" Well, firstly, it's kind of rude to interrupt me while I'm writing, isn't it? But because I'm just that magnanimous, I'll tell you anyway. I see this bond being either the epilogue of book 5 (unlikely), first third of book 6, (maybe) or ending of book 6 (now we're cooking with oil!) I'll go through these in reverse order of likeliness. I doubt this'll happen at the end of book 5, because I imagine book 5 will be crammed tight already with Szeth and Kaladin vibing, the challenge, and everything else that I'm forgetting for the moment, and also because when this doesn't happen in book 5 I want a few years to hold out hope that my theorizing isn't wrong, dagnabbit. First third of book 6 I could see, but it would require a good amount of more obvious buildup in 5 and 6, and again, there's already approximately five billion irons in the fire for book 5. This bond occurring at the end of book 6 I really like, though, because buildup to a spren bond has generally taken a full book for a PoV character (Kaladin, Shallan, Dalinar, Navani, etc) so having the Sanderlanche of Book 6 include a Lift Bondsmith Bond would be enough time to establish dual spren bonds, etc; this also gives a character the ability to play with the Connection-based powers of a Bondsmith in combat more often, as Dalinar has been more of a logistics guy then a boots on the dirt combatant since gaining his Bondsmith bond, and I don't expect Navani to be jumping into combat soon but instead to explore the realmatic/scientific ramifications of Bondsmith powers instead. (Plus the whole can-the-sibling-bond-live-outside-urithuru thing.) Additionally, since there'll be a 10 year gap between books 5 and 6, I could see quite a few things going down. Dalinar either loses or ties the contest of champions and suffers a bad fate, removing him from the battlefield; and if Urithuru was destroyed/conquered again, that would serve to demoralize the Radiants and remove our second Bondsmith, giving the characters ample reason to seek out a combat-based Bondsmith to assist in the retaking of Roshar. This would give Lift, as a uniquely gifted individual in terms of Spiritweb, someone who already knows the location of the Nightwatcher, and theoretically one of the last remaining Radiants, significant motivation to be the one who directly seeks out Cultivation in order to see if she'll help them; and when she gets to where she met Cultivation as a young child, she's instead met with the Nightwatcher, who offers to bond Lift in addition to Wyndle, either on Cultivation's orders or just because Lift is that... Awesome.

 

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the theory, been brewing on it for a while. Thank you for reading this, and have a lovely day.

 

(Edit - Totally forgot that Lift has an Aviar now too. I don't think that factors into this theory, but it does give Lift a way to grow in book 5 without going up an Ideal, and if it has an ability like sensing other minds, could also help Lift find the Nightwatcher. )

Edited January 29, 2022 by EnderW420
Information remembered about the post after I published it. So I guess the reason for edit is "OP is a dingbat"

[CryoZenith]

It definitely has a nice ring to it in terms of light-symmetry. With Dalinar using stormlight, Navani using towerlight/sciencelight, and Lift using lifelight, which she has already been modified to be able to do. I like the idea.

(also, from Edgedancer, Wyrdle does seem like the type of spren who is willing to be bossed around and make concessions, so if any Radiant spren is willing to be bonded to someone with multiple bonds, it's him)

Edited January 30, 2022 by CryoZenith

[Kandrafish]

I don't know...

Lift is an amazing character, but part of her power as a character is the vast implications of her weird powers. I am unsure about the Bondsmith bit. I can totally see Lift playing a Kaladin-like role in the next book, like how you said, but I think her becoming a bondsmith would require a lot of maturing. Right now I would almost expect her to turn the Nightwatcher down and try to steal her breakfast instead. You could be correct, though. Over the 10-ish year gap between book 5 and 6, Lift could mature immensely. I think that Lift's big moments might come later in the series, though... 

I really like the idea of Lift playing an integral role in the future of Stormlight and being the Kaladin-like person. I kind of think that she could be an agent of espionage and you put Lift and Renarin and/ or Rlain and some others in a strike team trying to discover Taravangian's plans. Renarin protects Lift from his sight and Lift helps them sneak around. I really think it would be funny to see the Lift-Renarin dynamic  I'd like to see a more confident Renarin try stopping Lift from going in over her head.

Sorry for opposing your theory. I do think it could happen later in the series. But, I kind of don't fully like that idea either. I think it might be because ever since Lift got an Aviar, I have been hoping for her to do some world hopping... Thaidakar's breakfast wouldn't stand a chance...

[Blackwarder]

You forgot about Lifts’ request, she asked to always remain herself, even when everything else is changing around her.

She meant to never age and remain 10, but Cultivation usualy takes the request and twist it to her own ends (as seen with Dalinar and Taravangian). My theory is that Cultivation changed Lifts’ spirit web to not change by external sources - essentially Lift is the ultimate shard holder, the shard won’t be able to change her spirit web.

I think that Lift will end up reforging Adonalsium.

Edited February 9, 2022 by Blackwarder

[Bort]

22 minutes ago, Blackwarder said:

You forgot about Lift request, she ask to always remain herself, even when everything else is changing around her.

She meant to never age and remain 10, but Cultivation usualy takes the request and twist it to her own ends (as seen with Dalinar and Taravangian). My theory is that Cultivation changed Lifts’ spirit web to not change by external sources - essentially Lift is the ultimate shard holder, the shard won’t be able to change her spirit web.

I think that Lift will end up reforging Adonalsium.

Storms... Now that would be playing the really long game. It would be awesome!!!

Or, instead of Adonalsium, imagine someone being able to hold Odium without being corrupted by it, and indeed, holding it to the standards of an Edgedancer, one of the Radiant orders most suited to caring.

We know Shards can corrupt their vessels with their Intent... Can vessels corrupt the Shards too?

Edited February 1, 2022 by Bort

[Blackwarder]

4 hours ago, Bort said:

Storms... Now that would be playing the really long game. It would be awesome!!!

Or, instead of Adonalsium, imagine someone being able to hold Odium without being corrupted by it, and indeed, holding it to the standards of an Edgedancer, one of the Radiant orders most suited to caring.

We know Shards can corrupt their vessels with their Intent... Can vessels corrupt the Shards too?

I also though about that but I don’t really want to see Taravabgian go.

[Bort]

I can totally see that. I don't want to see the back of him either, but this would make for a spectacular twist around book 8 or 9.

[The Sibling]

On 1/29/2022 at 7:10 PM, CryoZenith said:

It definitely has a nice ring to it in terms of light-symmetry. With Dalinar using stormlight, Navani using towerlight/sciencelight, and Lift using lifelight, which she has already been modified to be able to do. I like the idea.

(also, from Edgedancer, Wyrdle does seem like the type of spren who is willing to be bossed around and make concessions, so if any Radiant spren is willing to be bonded to someone with multiple bonds, it's him)

And then we just need a Voidlight Bondsmith and a Warlight Bondsmith, and we're all good.

[Olmund]

Lift will undoubtedly have a big role in the back half, but I can't see her becoming the Kaladin viewpoint character (i.e., always having enough screentime to rival the primary viewpoint character in their own book) mainly for the sake of tone. Lift is a flippant, semi-ridiculous character in a very serious story, and I think she functions well as a someone who offers a fringe perspective as well as a healthy mixture of levity & suspense nearly every time she appears. Her character arcs will likely take her in a more "heroic" direction, but I don't think you'll see her lose much of her weird factor (since that's a big part of what makes her unique and appealing).

If Lift did become the Kaladin of the back half, all but the most die-hard Lift fans would likely experience Lift-fatigue -- similar to Jack Sparrow-fatigue which killed more and more Pirates of the Caribbean fans as the series wore on -- and Lift already has many detractors who would likely be put off of the series completely.

[EnderW420]

14 hours ago, Kandrafish said:

I really like the idea of Lift playing an integral role in the future of Stormlight and being the Kaladin-like person. I kind of think that she could be an agent of espionage and you put Lift and Renarin and/ or Rlain and some others in a strike team trying to discover Taravangian's plans. Renarin protects Lift from his sight and Lift helps them sneak around. I really think it would be funny to see the Lift-Renarin dynamic  I'd like to see a more confident Renarin try stopping Lift from going in over her head.

Sorry for opposing your theory. I do think it could happen later in the series. But, I kind of don't fully like that idea either. I think it might be because ever since Lift got an Aviar, I have been hoping for her to do some world hopping... Thaidakar's breakfast wouldn't stand a chance...

Ooh, this would be excellent. I'm a sucker for fun, off the wall character interactions, and a Lift/Renarin duo would be a great time. A sort of espionage style Stormlight book or two would be an excellent change of pace, and would be a good reason to have a book or two of comparatively lower stakes as the series gears back up into the Cosmere-wide implications of the latter quarter of the series (I assume).

 

And no need to apologize! It's just a theory, one that probably isn't right, and there's no way to prove or disprove it without discussing and possibly disagreeing.

[EnderW420]

2 hours ago, Olmund said:

Lift will undoubtedly have a big role in the back half, but I can't see her becoming the Kaladin viewpoint character (i.e., always having enough screentime to rival the primary viewpoint character in their own book) mainly for the sake of tone. Lift is a flippant, semi-ridiculous character in a very serious story, and I think she functions well as a someone who offers a fringe perspective as well as a healthy mixture of levity & suspense nearly every time she appears. Her character arcs will likely take her in a more "heroic" direction, but I don't think you'll see her lose much of her weird factor (since that's a big part of what makes her unique and appealing).

If Lift did become the Kaladin of the back half, all but the most die-hard Lift fans would likely experience Lift-fatigue -- similar to Jack Sparrow-fatigue which killed more and more Pirates of the Caribbean fans as the series wore on -- and Lift already has many detractors who would likely be put off of the series completely.

Of course, this'll be a Lift with ten more years of life experience and time to mature. Lift being 13 as of RoW means we'd get 23 year old Lift for Stormlight 6, which is definitely long enough for a person to develop a more serious worldview; if anything, starting with a more jaded Lift would provoke an immediate mystery of "what made her lose what she was like?"

[KaladinWorldsinger]

To find the Kaladin of the next half, we can be pretty sure it will be the book6 flashback character. Are we sure lift is book 6? I thought that was Renarin

[EnderW420]

There's a good couple WoBs out there that say Lift is book 6, I just grabbed this one as an example.

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/370/#e11796

[LewsTherinTelescope]

20 hours ago, KaladinWorldsinger said:

To find the Kaladin of the next half, we can be pretty sure it will be the book6 flashback character.

Iirc, Brandon's indicated in his current plans the biggest major character is intended to be Jasnah (who is book 10), but he's not setting it in stone until he actually writes the books so that could change.