Part Titles in Way of Kings

[Andrew the Great]

So maybe everyone else caught this and I'm just unobservant, but the titles to the parts of Way of Kings form a palindrome. Just saying. That's pretty awesome.

Not that it doesn't make sense, what with the importance of Palindromes on Roshar, but I just hadn't noticed.

EDIT: I don't mean a palindrome. I mean the other thing, where the words are mirrored, not the letters. I just can't think of the word right now.

[Silus - Shard of Flame]

Yeah...they talk about it in the Endnote, just before the Ars Arcanum.  It's an example of a holy Vorin poem, very difficult to write.

[Deano Stormblessed]

Symmetry is very important in WoK. I think we might find that the shard held by the Almighty might be something called Symmetry. Either that, or the sign of the Almighty might be symmetry (just as 16 was the sign of Preservation in mistborn). These small things are very important, as Brandon has said numerous times. Thx for picking that up, I actually missed it  :-[.

[Ryan]

I'm fairly sure the Almighty held Cultivation.

[Munin]

I'm fairly sure the Almighty held Cultivation.

...What? He refers to Cultivation as a female and a separate entity near the end of the book.

[Silus - Shard of Flame]

Way of Kings p.995

The figure [the Almighty] squinted at the horizon.  "I cannot see the future completely.  Cultivation, she is better at it than I."

[Chaos]

So maybe everyone else caught this and I'm just unobservant, but the titles to the parts of Way of Kings form a palindrome. Just saying. That's pretty awesome.

Not that it doesn't make sense, what with the importance of Palindromes on Roshar, but I just hadn't noticed.

EDIT: I don't mean a palindrome. I mean the other thing, where the words are mirrored, not the letters. I just can't think of the word right now.

A ketek.

I... never noticed this either until you mentioned it. Certainly it explains the endnote how each ketek has five distinct parts

Way of Kings p.995

The figure [the Almighty] squinted at the horizon.  "I cannot see the future completely.  Cultivation, she is better at it than I."

Yeah, the Almighty didn't hold Cultivation.

[Finallity]

Umm, I'm not sure whether to classify this as a prediction or a suggestion to Brandon, but how amazing would it be if the entire Stormlight Archive were a ketek? Meaning he would finish the series with a book focusing on Kaladin, and then the second book and second to last would have the same focus character, etc. It'd be insane from a stylistic point of view.

[Zas678]

Oh! an even better idea. His last book- the Way of kings BACKWARDS! He'll call it the Kings of Way, and it will have every sentence exactly opposite, so it ends  with "ago years 4000".

Seriously, I don't think he will. I think he wants to be able to go into more characters than five.

[ALT]

I did notice this, and while we're on the subject...

The word "ketek" itself is a palindrome.

When written in Alethi script, Urithiru is a palindrome ("th" is one character).

The book is 1001 pages long (10 mirrored).

I'm sure there must be more of these around, maybe we should start a new thread for them?

[Ari]

Ketek is clearly just an in-world word for a palindrome across several words. Very cool that Brandon put the part titles in palindromes, I honestly hadn't noticed that.

[FeatherWriter]

All of the Silver Kingdoms Epoch nations are Alethi palindromes. (remember the "th" "ch" and "sh" sounds are each one letter in Alethi) Even Valhav- someone mentions it in the book as such. Kabsal maybe? I would assume that the h is there for English pronunciation purposes. Although I think Natanatan should get extra credit because it's a four part palindrome (each mirrored half is also a palindrome)

One of the names for the Almighty, Elithanathile, is one of the longest single-word palindromes in the book.

All glyphs are vertically symmetrical, and the written Alethi script is horizontally symmetrical around the line on which it is written.(except for vowels for some reason, they don't have a bottom connecting line).

Many lighteyes names are very close to being palindromes; Kabsal mentions that Shallan's name is only one letter off.

Four of the major cities; Akinah, Thalen City, Vedenar, and Kholinar; are built around naturally radially symmetrical rock formations. These exact shapes can also be reproduced in other natural ways, including cymatics, as Kabsal showed Shallan with his powder-on-a-metal-plate demonstration.

The "ketek" form of poetry is somewhat of a palindrome with words instead of letters: something extremely difficult to do. Two appear in this book. One is the ketek from which we draw the names of the parts, "Above silence, the illuminating storms - dying storms - illuminate the silence above." The second is found in one of the epigraphs, “Radiant / of birthplace / the announcer comes / to come announce / the birthplace of Radiants.”

I'm a little obsessed with catching the symmetry of everything. I find it beautiful and fascinating.

[Silus - Shard of Flame]

If you intend to catalog every example of symmetry in the book you'll take up the whole topic!

[FeatherWriter]

That's very true. Brandon does such a good job of showing that the symmetry thing is saturated in Vorin culture, but without being hamhanded about it. I think it's all so pretty though. I've kinda started subconsciously checking names and such for symmetry whenever I meet a new character.

[Earendil]

The book is 1001 pages long (10 mirrored).

If it turns out that Brandon did that on purpose, I might just die of awe. As it is, I'm assuming that it's a happy coincidence, and he's just smiling at our vain attempts to puzzle out the numerology of Roshar.

[Never]

I'm fairly sure the Almighty held Cultivation.

I believe the Almighty held Honor.

[Earendil]

I believe the Almighty held Honor.

That depends on what you mean by "The Almighty". Brandon has mentioned that Vorin understanding of the Almighty is muddled, and so I don't think you're correct in saying the Almighty held a shard. The more I look at the Vorin ideas of the Almighty, the more confused I get--in some ways, the Almighty seems like a pretty good reflection of Adonalsium (sp?), more so than just Honor (for instance, each of the devotaries has different aspects...).

Of course, there's also the being that has communicated to Dalinar through the Highstorms. Dalinar refers to him as the Almighty, and I think there are some good indications that it is, in fact, Honor.

Either way, you're most likely correct that the Almighty did not hold Cultivation.

Edited July 4, 2011 by Earendil

[Kaurne]

Just a tangent, but has anyone tried writing a ketek? I haven't really tried but it appears to be really really hard. Maybe there should be a Ketek writing competition.

Also, I wonder if the part titles in the rest of the books will form a ketek. If they do, then Brandon Sanderson should apply to be Poet Laureate.

EDIT: This is the best I can come up with. Singer and song are technically different nouns, but close enough. I'm not sure it divides into 5 precisely, and the full stop cuts it in half and makes it feel disjointed, but its the best I can come up with on short notice.

The despairing singer watches his love – silently watches. Love, the song of despair.

DOUBLE EDIT: Slightly improved in my opinion, but none of the problems is actually removed. What do you guys think is the better one?

The despairing singer watches his love – silently loving. Watching, and singing of despair.

Edited July 7, 2011 by Kaurne

[Zas678]

Just a tangent, but has anyone tried writing a ketek? I haven't really tried but it appears to be really really hard. Maybe there should be a Ketek writing competition.

Also, I wonder if the part titles in the rest of the books will form a ketek. If they do, then Brandon Sanderson should apply to be Poet Laureate.

EDIT: This is the best I can come up with. Singer and song are technically different nouns, but close enough. I'm not sure it divides into 5 precisely, and the full stop cuts it in half and makes it feel disjointed, but its the best I can come up with on short notice.

The despairing singer watches his love – silently watches. Love, the song of despair.

DOUBLE EDIT: Slightly improved in my opinion, but none of the problems is actually removed. What do you guys think is the better one?

The despairing singer watches his love – silently loving. Watching, and singing of despair.

I like the second one more. And there have been some Ketek's written here:

http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/567-keteks/

[Truthless]

That depends on what you mean by "The Almighty". Brandon has mentioned that Vorin understanding of the Almighty is muddled, and so I don't think you're correct in saying the Almighty held a shard. The more I look at the Vorin ideas of the Almighty, the more confused I get--in some ways, the Almighty seems like a pretty good reflection of Adonalsium (sp?), more so than just Honor (for instance, each of the devotaries has different aspects...).

Of course, there's also the being that has communicated to Dalinar through the Highstorms. Dalinar refers to him as the Almighty, and I think there are some good indications that it is, in fact, Honor.

Either way, you're most likely correct that the Almighty did not hold Cultivation.

Yes, it makes it both interesting and difficult to have the common people (realistically) confused about the labels of their long-dead or long-vanished deities. Without much proof to back it up, I believe that the Stormfather refers to a specific Herald, while the Almighty refers to Honor. However, with most of our theories pointing to the Highstorms being directly related to Honor some way or another, it would make sense for him to be the Stormfather, and the Almighty to be something else - perhaps Adonalsium itself, as was suggested.

[CrazyRioter]

The Stormfather is Jezrien. Although some people think Jez got hold of some of Honor's power after the original holder of that Shard (Tanavast) was killed.

[Kaurne]

Wrote another one:

The dead lord watches with soulless eyes empty. Through soulless eyes, watched by the Lord of Death.

What do you guys think?

Edited July 8, 2011 by Kaurne

[happyman]

That depends on what you mean by "The Almighty". Brandon has mentioned that Vorin understanding of the Almighty is muddled, and so I don't think you're correct in saying the Almighty held a shard. The more I look at the Vorin ideas of the Almighty, the more confused I get--in some ways, the Almighty seems like a pretty good reflection of Adonalsium (sp?), more so than just Honor (for instance, each of the devotaries has different aspects...).

Of course, there's also the being that has communicated to Dalinar through the Highstorms. Dalinar refers to him as the Almighty, and I think there are some good indications that it is, in fact, Honor.

Either way, you're most likely correct that the Almighty did not hold Cultivation.

Didn't the person talking to Dalinar identify himself as "The one you call the Almighty?"

It would make sense that Vorinism attributed more to the Almighty than he's actually capable of (or than he actually claimed for himself) and folded the attributes of other gods they had heard of into him, but from Dalinar's last vision, I get the feeling there is a direct continuity between the Shardholder who held Honor and the Almighty as he is worshiped in modern Vorinism.

[Jimmy moon]

Yes, it makes it both interesting and difficult to have the common people (realistically) confused about the labels of their long-dead or long-vanished deities. Without much proof to back it up, I believe that the Stormfather refers to a specific Herald, while the Almighty refers to Honor. However, with most of our theories pointing to the Highstorms being directly related to Honor some way or another, it would make sense for him to be the Stormfather, and the Almighty to be something else - perhaps Adonalsium itself, as was suggested.

Could storm father and the almighty be the same being?

[Dahak]

Could storm father and the almighty be the same being?

Not really. The Stormfather is the first of the Almighty's Heralds [Jez], and still alive [1]. He's worshipped as a god in one of the non Vorin kingdoms [which might cause some confusion, except it seems to be known he's the same individual] and apparentlyspoke to Kaladin when he was stormriding. It's his bearded face that shows up in the chapter headings for chapter's Kaladin is in.

Talinvast is the Almighty and dead. His Apocalypse Log forms Dalinar's visions.[2]

There is no reason to think they are the same individual.

[1] Each of the Heralds appears to have an epithet of this form, Taln [the only Herald not to break the pact] is Stonesinew for example.

[2] Note the way no one suggests that the timing of Dalinar's visions has implications of holyness.