A few of my own predictions for KoWT

[stonehand]

Follows are some of my own predictions for things that may happen in book five. Nothing here is particularly groundbreaking, some are from my own musings, others are things I've read here.

 

• 5th windrunner ideal is something to the effect of "I will empower people to protect themselves"
• Honor returns and the vessel is Dalinar or Kaladin, (I'm leaning towards the former)
• Cultivation becomes more directly involved.
• Someone bonds the Nightmother Nightwatcher.
• Someone mantles Cultivation
• Navani and the Sibling figure out non-spren fabrials
• TOdium proves more reasonable an opponent than ROdium **OR** TOdium is far more dangerous because Taravangian is far craftier and intelligent than Rayse was.
• I am ABSOLUTELY convinced that Adolin will continue to rehab Maya. Maybe enough to form a Nahel Bond, maybe enough to become something else entirely. Either way, Adolin's personality and how he treats the people around him vibe real well with Edgedancer oaths. 

That's all I have for now, I would love to hear what all you theorycrafters think!

Edit: typos

Edited June 17, 2022 by stonehand

[Lego Mistborn]

Some of these are very likely, others, like the one about honor, seem very far fetched to me. I think it would be cool to see your reasoning though.

[AerionBFII]

You raise some great points OP, I won't lie I particularly wanted Kaladin to pick up the Honor shard because I wanted him to have a larger role within the Cosmere but it is far more likely that Dalinar will pick it up.

I think Taradium (It will catch on) will be far craftier than Rayse because Rayse had millennia of being subsumed by the shard Odium. I think it will make him far more dangerous due to the fact he will be far more himself than Rayse was. Cultivation is suffering from the same issues as are many of the other older shards of being overwhelmed by their respective shards. This will be Cultivations blind spot, she will be teaching Taradium and all the while he will be planning on getting rid of her. 
 

The thing I am most curious about Taradium is that he was near stupid/empathetic when he took on the shard and was nearly subsumed by it and he found it difficult to control  when he becomes super smart or merely intelligent will he be more able to control it? I’m a parallel to when he was mortal?

Adolin will develop a new form of surge binding or at least get access to it via a different method than what is standard. 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 18, 2022 by AerionBFII

[PurpurPhönix]

20 minutes ago, AerionBFII said:

The thing I am most curious about Taradium is that he was near stupid/empathetic when he took on the shard and was nearly subsumed by it and he found it difficult to control  when he becomes super smart or merely intelligent will he be more able to control it? I’m a parallel to when he was mortal?

Will he even still be affected by that magic? Can he be? Can Cultivation affect the intelligence of another Shard like that?

[AerionBFII]

1 hour ago, PurpurPhönix said:

Will he even still be affected by that magic? Can he be? Can Cultivation affect the intelligence of another Shard like that?

I think because T was ‘tainted’ by the old magic pre ascension it’s a gray area and it affects the holder, not the shard itself.

 

Brandon has only said ‘RAFO’ so far but I think it’s possible 

Edited March 18, 2022 by AerionBFII

[AquaRegia]

8 hours ago, stonehand said:

Someone bonds the Nightmother.

Do you mean the Midnight Mother?  Or the Nightwatcher?

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Someone mantles Cultivation

What does that mean?

8 hours ago, AerionBFII said:

Taradium (It will catch on)

I very much doubt it.  ;-)

[crème de la crèmling]

11 hours ago, stonehand said:

5th windrunner ideal is something to the effect of "I will empower people to protect themselves"

I really agree with this theory! Kaladin's story seems to be moving in this direction, in my opinion. Him forgiving himself for not being able to personally protect Tien and all the people who he swore to help/protect feels to me like he is about to get clarity and insight on how to help/protect people on a grand scale, now that he's given up on a fixation with doing it all himself. This fits with other things I've observed in the story: on a larger thematic scale, there's always been an emphasis on how strong people are when they have a team supporting them. (The Nahel bond, the Oathpact, "honor lives in the hearts of men", etc.) And complementing that, there's always been this subtle (and occasionally outright) criticism of the sacrificial heroic figure. Even though Windrunners have a guiding trait of "leadership", it seems to me that their leadership is more about empowering other people. 

And to that end ...

11 hours ago, stonehand said:

Honor returns and the vessel is Dalinar or Kaladin, (I'm leaning towards the former)

I actually disagree with anything where Kaladin takes up a Shard (and keeps it). I can see it happening with Dalinar, who believes more fully in a monarchy type leadership where one person is given the to make decisions for everyone else. But to me, this feels very much like just putting different people in charge of a broken system that will chew them up like it chewed up the previous Vessels. Because there's such an emphasis on sharing power (and the rules about investiture have changed so drastically), I've been wondering for a while if it's possible that instead of a Shard reforming as a conclusion, Honor might be more thoroughly splintered. 

And if it does get reformed and offered to Kaladin, like, this guy has made a career out of refusing Shards that get offered to him. (Syl being the exception, I suppose!) When he refused those Shards, it was always because he refused to be a part of a system that killed people he loved. What he chose to do with power when it was offered to him has always been to distribute it to the people who followed his leadership. So that, to me, is a strong hint of what might happen if Kaladin gets offered the limitless power of a Shard.  

[Letryx13]

On 3/18/2022 at 11:13 AM, stonehand said:

• Honor returns and the vessel is Dalinar or Kaladin, (I'm leaning towards the former)

I would love either of them as Honor, but considering the Hero of Ages misdirect in Mistborn, I doubt either of them would be permanently. I like the idea of Kaladin restoring the power somehow, and then giving it away. Like he's given away shardblades and shardplate in the past.

On 3/18/2022 at 11:13 AM, stonehand said:

• Someone mantles Cultivation

Lift is heavily hinted at being the next Cultivation.  She wants to stay the same while everything changes around her. And Cultivation is all about things changing.

On 3/18/2022 at 11:13 AM, stonehand said:

• TOdium proves more reasonable an opponent than ROdium **OR** TOdium is far more dangerous because Taravangian is far craftier and intelligent than Rayse was.

Taravangian will no doubt be a bigger problem than Rayse was, if only because Dalinar doesn't know about it. And because Taravangian is convinced he's saving everyone, instead of Rayse's desire to conquer, his delusions will fuel his actions.

On 3/18/2022 at 11:13 AM, stonehand said:

• I am ABSOLUTELY convinced that Adolin will continue to rehab Maya. Maybe enough to form a Nahel Bond, maybe enough to become something else entirely. Either way, Adolin's personality and how he treats the people around him vibe real well with Edgedancer oaths. 

There really needs to be a main character that isn't a radiant. The only way to justify Adolin becoming a radiant is if it heals Maya, in my opinion. As much as I'd like to see Adolin as an edgedancer, I think healing Maya will involve something else.

 

Edited March 24, 2022 by Letryx13
Incomplete

[Returned]

On 3/18/2022 at 10:13 AM, stonehand said:

5th windrunner ideal is something to the effect of "I will empower people to protect themselves"

It's definitely on-theme, but I feel like that's both something he's already done a lot of and is pretty committed to. Plus it seems too easy for him; the third and fourth oaths were hard, and the implication I've read into his progression is that the fifth will be even more difficult. Most people can't reach the fifth ideal. Maybe I'm being too reductive though. If it were something like empowering people to protect themselves and then not need Kaladin, that would be very hard for him and would fit with the fourth ideal and his struggle in RoW.

 

I buy most of the other predictions though, and I'm excited to see if they pan out (especially Adolin and Maya, that was one of my favorite threads from RoW).

[stonehand]

On 3/18/2022 at 10:24 PM, crème de la crèmling said:

When he refused those Shards, it was always because he refused to be a part of a system that killed people he loved. What he chose to do with power when it was offered to him has always been to distribute it to the people who followed his leadership.

 

On 3/18/2022 at 10:24 PM, crème de la crèmling said:

Because there's such an emphasis on sharing power (and the rules about investiture have changed so drastically), I've been wondering for a while if it's possible that instead of a Shard reforming as a conclusion, Honor might be more thoroughly splintered. 

!!!What if Kaladin takes up Honor, then purposefully splinters it into a billion pieces, perhaps putting those pieces......into the hearts of men?

[Treamayne]

On 3/18/2022 at 11:13 AM, stonehand said:

• Honor returns and the vessel is Dalinar or Kaladin

If Honor (or any other Splintered Shard) were to be reformed, I would expect it to be during/near Book 10 of Stormlight Archive (or after that for any Shards outside of Roshar). Reforming a Splintered Shard would be too huge for the SA5 "pause" finale

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• Someone bonds the Nightmother. Nightwatcher

I can see this happening, if not in SA5, then either btwn 5 and 6 or in SA 6. Furthurmore, I think it will be a Singer/Listener.

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• Someone mantles Cultivation

Not sure what you mean by "Mantle." Do you mean that you think TOdium will kill Koravari, but another vessel will pick up the Shard before it can be Splintered? (as done in Secret History)

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• Navani and the Sibling figure out non-spren fabrials

Sibling already knows how to make non-Spren Fabrials; but didn't realize that Humans had lost that knowledge. So, I expect Sibling to teach Navani about it, but I also expect Navani to maybe consider a volunteer version of creating Spren Fabrials if they can't duplicate the Spren Fabrial mechanics with the older methods.

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• TOdium proves more reasonable an opponent than ROdium **OR** TOdium is far more dangerous because Taravangian is far craftier and intelligent than Rayse was.

I would expect that TOdium's plans will be entirely different than ROdium's plans (other than getting free from the Rosharan System), but until ROdium's Oaths that bind him are fulfilled or removed, he will have to play the script. By the end of SA5, I think his plans will significantly differ from ROdium's previous goals. Since TOdium was all about preserving Humanity, I think he might not be against a Roshar where Singers and Humans can coexist - but only if they all answer to him and help his plans to leave Roshar. . .

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• I am ABSOLUTELY convinced that Adolin will continue to rehab Maya. Maybe enough to form a Nahel Bond, maybe enough to become something else entirely. Either way, Adolin's personality and how he treats the people around him vibe real well with Edgedancer oaths. 

Adolin's arc has been all about what to do with himself in a world with Radiants. I expect that to continue. I also expect he will continue to try helping Maya - and that will be the purpose he has been looking to find. I doubt he will become an Edgedancer in TKoW (though possibly in the back half) - more he will devote himself to "remembering" the "deadeyes" and helping, not just Maya, but finding a way to apply what he learns with Maya to helping as many Deadeyes as possible. 

Edited June 17, 2022 by Treamayne
SPAG/Clarity

[Master Silver]

One thing to note about Todium, is that as a human, he really was trying to save humanity on Roshar. He did the best he could with the diagram. Now he has way way better information. He may still be very new at being a Shard, but he certainly would be able to tell what would happen if he showed up and talked to Dalinar, and said, "Yo Blackthron, you know that god you were fighting a war against. I killed him."  And with being able to see into the future somewhat that would tell him if having that conversation would be a good ideal. 

[stonehand]

1 hour ago, Treamayne said:

Not sure what you mean by "Mantle."

I mean that Cultivation gets a new vessel, yes

[stonehand]

10 minutes ago, Master Silver said:

One thing to note about Todium, is that as a human, he really was trying to save humanity on Roshar. He did the best he could with the diagram. Now he has way way better information. He may still be very new at being a Shard, but he certainly would be able to tell what would happen if he showed up and talked to Dalinar, and said, "Yo Blackthron, you know that god you were fighting a war against. I killed him."  And with being able to see into the future somewhat that would tell him if having that conversation would be a good ideal. 

Yeah TOdium is truly a mind-bending wildcard. It's worth noting that while his overall goal was to save as much of humanity as possible, the boon he specifically asked for was "to be given the capacity to stop what was coming." Well, the vessel of the shard Odium certainly has the capacity to stop what is coming, so Cultivation unequivocally gave him what he asked for. What he does next is anyone's guess! Will he continue trying to save as much as possible? Will he do so by going back on the deal and letting Dalinar win? (I hope not, because then what even is book 5 about?) So many questions. I have no idea where it'll go next. Needless to say, SA5 will give us some major resolutions to things, but it will also certainly leave us with some massive cliffhangers.

[Treamayne]

46 minutes ago, stonehand said:

Yeah ... cliffhangers

Please don't double post. If there hasn't been a new post since your last post, just edit the last post (Edit button on the bottom, next to the Quote and Multi-quote buttons). 

Edited June 17, 2022 by Treamayne
SPAG

[Jerfier]

On 18.03.2022 at 6:13 PM, stonehand said:

 

• 5th windrunner ideal is something to the effect of "I will empower people to protect themselves"

If that's the fifth ideal, I'll be really disappointed.