Is Adolin dead/captured?

[Shacharma]

There seem to be too many hints about Shallan's reality being substantiated for my comfort - could Adolin have been left behind in the beads, with Shallan unconciously Substantiating a new replacement Adolin? (Drowning? captured by the fused?)

Or is this too dark a direction to think in?

[JustQuestin2004 he/him]

18 minutes ago, Shacharma said:

There seem to be too many hints about Shallan's reality being substantiated for my comfort - could Adolin have been left behind in the beads, with Shallan unconciously Substantiating a new replacement Adolin? (Drowning? captured by the fused?)

Or is this too dark a direction to think in?

Yeah, a little bit.

I think that we shouldn't go too overboard with this kind of thing, otherwise eventually someone's going to say that the entirety of the Stormlight Archives is just Shallan on a treadmill.

[Erklitt]

18 minutes ago, Shacharma said:

Or is this too dark a direction to think in?

This.

Also, Sureblood's spren recognized Adolin AFTER they came out of the beads for good. I think that counts as an all-clear. 

[Master Silver]

And Kaladin said goodbye to them. A very scary thought but too much evidence against it. 

[Ookla she/her]

1 hour ago, Master Silver said:

And Kaladin said goodbye to them. A very scary thought but too much evidence against it. 

(Relieved sigh) Oh, good. 
 

Though that doesn't preclude Brandon doing something with that later on in the book, now that the foreshadowing foundation has been laid...

[Inevitability]

I think you are on to something, although maybe Adolin isn’t the target. 
I think Radiant is the personification of her mother and I think at some point Shallan substantiates Radiant as a real person. When a Fused recognizes Radiant, this will lead to Shallan’s next reveal that her mother is a certain red headed Herald

Edited September 20, 2024 by Inevitability

[Ookla she/her]

12 hours ago, Inevitability said:

I think you are on to something, although maybe Adolin isn’t the target. 
I think Radiant is the personification of her mother and I think at some point Shallan substantiates Radiant as a real person. When a Fused recognizes Radiant, this will lead to Shallan’s next reveal that her mother is a certain red headed Herald

I like your thought, but isn't Radiant blonde?

[Inevitability]

11 minutes ago, Ookla said:

I like your thought, but isn't Radiant blonde?

Wow, you are correct about Radiant being blonde. I won’t surrender my take on it just yet

Let’s just pivot this theory kool-aid to Shallan’s mum, a herald, being of the Royal line from Nalthis and being able to change her hair color at will. 
Let’s drink deeper and theorize that her mum is actually the daughter of a certain Scholar present on Roshar and that Shallan has a grand father roaming around that she hasn’t bumped shoulders with yet

Take another sip of the kool-aid, the Scholar’s daughter being a herald would provide one explanation why he returned to Roshar to aid in Gavilar’s research. He could be motivated to find a way to free his daughter

And let’s be real - wouldn’t it be awesome to pair Shallan and the Scholar on a journey? Why haven’t we had this combo yet?

Edited September 20, 2024 by Inevitability

[Ookla she/her]

1 minute ago, Inevitability said:

Wow, you are correct about Radiant being blonde. I won’t surrender my take on it

Let’s just pivot this theory kool-aid to Shallan’s mum, a herald, being of the Royal line from Nalthis and being able to change her hair color at will. 
Let’s drink deeper and theorize that her mum is actually the daughter of a certain Scholar present on Roshar and that Shallan has a grand father roaming around that she hasn’t bumped shoulders with yet

Take another sip of the kool-aid, the Scholar’s daughter being a herald would provide one explanation why he returned to Roshar to aid in the research. He could be motivated to find a way to free his daughter

And let’s be real - wouldn’t it be awesome to pair Shallan and the Scholar on a journey? Why haven’t we had this combo yet?

It's a little out there, but Brandon has been known to do crazy things in the past.  My question with this edition is how the timelines line up. We know that this certain Scholar is very old--but is he tens of thousands of Rosharan years old? I think that could be one of the biggest obstacles to this working. 

[Inevitability]

11 minutes ago, Ookla said:

It's a little out there, but Brandon has been known to do crazy things in the past.  My question with this edition is how the timelines line up. We know that this certain Scholar is very old--but is he tens of thousands of Rosharan years old? I think that could be one of the biggest obstacles to this working. 

We know that this Scholar visited Roshar in the past, which is presumably where the idea for creating Nightblood came from. To your point - did he witness a Radiant blade or an Honor blade

[alder24]

2 hours ago, Ookla said:

I like your thought, but isn't Radiant blonde?

She was redhead at first (because Shallan didn't want Adolin to realize she was switching personas), but later Shallan changed it to make it recognisable for Kaladin and Adolin. OB ch 15:

Quote

Veil. Veil would be fine holding a sword. She didn’t have Shallan’s broken soul, and hadn’t killed her parents. She’d be able to do this.
No. No, what would Adolin do if he returned and found a completely different woman in the room? He couldn’t know of Veil. The lines she sketched, ragged and unrefined from the shaking pencil, quickly took the shape of her own face. But hair in a bun. A poised woman, not as flighty as Shallan, not as unintentionally silly. A woman who hadn’t been sheltered.

RoW ch 12:

Quote

It was sometimes difficult to treat Shallan’s personas as three distinct people, but it was what she seemed to prefer. Fortunately, she tended to change her hair color to give the rest of them cues. Black for Veil, and she’d started using blonde for Radiant.

 

2 hours ago, Inevitability said:

Let’s drink deeper and theorize that her mum is actually the daughter of a certain Scholar present on Roshar and that Shallan has a grand father roaming around that she hasn’t bumped shoulders with yet

That certain Scholar is around 400 years old, the Royal line on Nalthis is 700 years old at best, while Chana is more than 7000 years old. It's kind of hard to be a father for someone older than you. Way too much kool-aid.

How do we know this? The Manywar happened around  300 years before Warbreaker, the first Returned Vo Returned around 600 years before Warbreaker and the book itself takes only a few generations before WoK - let's assume at most 100 years. And of course, Kalak said in RoW 7000 years had passed since the first Desolation.

Spoiler

LewsTherinTelescope

How long after Warbreaker does Way of Kings take place? I know you usually don't finalize timeline details until they actually are stated in-book, but are you willing to say how far apart the books are, in the current plans?

Brandon Sanderson

I have Warbreaker happening a few generations before, right now.  However, I'm very likely to move Elantris up in time, so it's a little in the air at the moment.

LewsTherinTelescope

Thanks! I assume asking why Elantris being moved affects how far apart Warbreaker and Way of Kings are is a behind-the-scenes thing and/or RAFO?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, it does.  The big linchpin is going to be when I need Sel and Scadrial to align when big crossovers start happening.  We'll know in a few years; there are things I intend to write that I could imagine needing to change, after they're finished, that will influence the timeline structure.

General Reddit 2020 (Aug. 5, 2020)

 

Edited September 20, 2024 by alder24

[Inevitability]

39 minutes ago, alder24 said:

She was redhead at first (because Shallan didn't want Adolin to realize she was switching personas), but later Shallan changed it to make it recognisable for Kaladin and Adolin. OB ch 15:

RoW ch 12:

 

That certain Scholar is around 400 years old, the Royal line on Nalthis is 700 years old at best, while Chana is more than 7000 years old. It's kind of hard to be a father for someone older than you. Way too much kool-aid.

How do we know this? The Manywar happened around  300 years before Warbreaker, the first Returned Vo Returned around 600 years before Warbreaker and the book itself takes only a few generations before WoK - let's assume at most 100 years. And of course, Kalak said in RoW 7000 years had passed since the first Desolation.

  Reveal hidden contents

LewsTherinTelescope

How long after Warbreaker does Way of Kings take place? I know you usually don't finalize timeline details until they actually are stated in-book, but are you willing to say how far apart the books are, in the current plans?

Brandon Sanderson

I have Warbreaker happening a few generations before, right now.  However, I'm very likely to move Elantris up in time, so it's a little in the air at the moment.

LewsTherinTelescope

Thanks! I assume asking why Elantris being moved affects how far apart Warbreaker and Way of Kings are is a behind-the-scenes thing and/or RAFO?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, it does.  The big linchpin is going to be when I need Sel and Scadrial to align when big crossovers start happening.  We'll know in a few years; there are things I intend to write that I could imagine needing to change, after they're finished, that will influence the timeline structure.

General Reddit 2020 (Aug. 5, 2020)

 

I appreciate the legwork!

This one was debunked…. 

[Ookla she/her]

58 minutes ago, Inevitability said:

I appreciate the legwork!

This one was debunked…. 

Looks like we were both wrong, but it was a fun discussion while it lasted.