Loose Ends: Predictions, Speculations, and Questions Before Monday

[Confused]

Not much new stuff to talk about right now. I’ll throw out a few open topics for your comments and reactions. Enjoy!

Ghostbloods and Kalak

I think Kalak will join the Ghostbloods. His most sincere self-truth is his desire to survive:

Quote

Even after all this time, he didn’t want to die.

...

But he’d survived. He’d survived.

- WaT, Interlude 1.

I think Kalak and the Ghostbloods will accompany Shallan and Adolin on their mission to the Spiritual Realm to recover BAM. Kalak knows the Spiritual Realm “site” where she’s hidden. If Kalak goes, Felt will too. I think Ala, Mraize, and Iyatil will join them. Kelsier will follow their journey through Ala.

Is Ala a Fjorden Spy?

Seons come from Sel, and we know the Fjordell use them. Wulfden the Fourth, current Wyrn of Fjorden, communicated by seon with Hrathen in Elantris. What if Wulfden sent Ala to spy on the Ghostbloods? Ala doesn’t show many scruples or much loyalty – the perfect Ghostblood...it seems.

The Fjordell want to dominate Sel. Why not expand Derethi domination to the greater cosmere? Capturing BAM might serve Fjorden’s interest. Ala could tell Wyrn where in the Physical Realm the Ghostblood expedition will return to. The Fjordell could be waiting for them, ready to take BAM off their hands.

How Will Shallan’s Ability to “Define” Reality Work in the Spiritual Realm?

What’s the current consensus about Shallan’s declaration?

Quote

“Reality,” Shallan hissed, “is what I decide it to be.”

- WaT, Chapter 9

It’s not an ideal; that’s the “I’m terrified” bit just before this statement. My guess is Shallan’s statement capsulizes the artist’s credo. Few artists paint with perfect verisimilitude. They interpret.

What happens when Shallan decides what the reality of the Spiritual Realm ought to be? Can a Radiant use their powers in the Spiritual Realm? If so, could the Spiritual Realm distort their powers? I expect we’ll find out.

Spren, Stone, and Wind

I believe the Eila Stele’s Spren, Stone, and Wind are Roshar’s native gods. Many Forum folk think there is a spren of Stone and a separate spren of Wind. I do not. Stone speaks directly to Venli, and Wind speaks directly to Kaladin. No spren represent and speak on behalf of these gods in these scenes. Why have Spren as a separate god if spren are the also the gods of Stone and Wind? I suspect the Unmade – spren personifying the Surges? – are (or were) “Spren.”

I think the Venli-Stone scene shows that Stone reacts directly to the tones of Roshar. Dawnsingers, IMO, used the harmonic tones of Cultivation and Honor to animate Stone. Venli’s Stone says Odium is now part of Roshar, and Venli can harmonize his tone with Cultivation’s.

I’m unclear how Wind talks to Kaladin. It’s not through Syl, windspren, or the Stormfather. Syl doesn’t even hear Wind. Kaladin asks her,

Quote

“Syl, is the wind… alive?”

“Everything is alive.”

- WaT, Chapter 1.

Strong evidence, I think, that Roshar is a living planet. Wit tells Kal to listen to the rhythm of Roshar that comes from its native gods:

Quote

“Long ago,” Wit said softly, “that rhythm guided humans across the void from one planet to the other. They followed it to reach your world.”

“One of the rhythms of Roshar,” Syl said with a nod. “Made into a song, with the tones of the gods.”

“Gods older than yours,” Wit said from beside Kaladin on the couch.

- WaT, Chapter 3

Whether as whispers on the wind or Rosharan Rhythms whose frequencies sound like words, Wind speaks to Kaladin directly. Why, then, was Wind silent until Odium changed Vessels?

Wind’s Fear

Kaladin thinks Wind fears the 10 days of battle before the contest of champions.

Quote

“Is this the storm?” he whispered.

Syl glanced at him, frowning. But he wasn’t talking to her.

No… that voice replied. Worse…

- WaT, Chapter 1

What can be worse than the carnage Kaladin envisions? Worse for whom? Humans and Singers, or Wind itself? Worse for the cosmere if Odium launches his “greater war”? An Everstorm magnitudes more powerful than previous ones, designed to destroy the Stormfather, Honor’s Cognitive shadow, and Wind? This latter is my best guess.

Your thoughts?

Kaladin’s Ascension

I’m confident Kaladin ascends, and the Fleet story describes how. The open question is what he ascends as. Wind, Wind’s Knight, Honor?

Wind itself is a possibility. Wind has “vanished”:

Quote

The Wind told me, before she vanished, that it was the change in Odium’s vessel that restored her voice. I wonder. Perhaps it is the new storm, making people begin to reconsider that the wind is not their enemy.

—From Knights of Wind and Truth, page 3

- Chapter 3 Epigraph

A long thread questions who wrote the Knights of Wind and Truth. This Epigraph sounds like it was written by the first of many people who added to the book. Maybe it was a journal or diary kept by each Knight of Wind. This particular Epigraph seems like it was written by Kaladin, Syl, or someone else the Wind spoke to.

Regardless, if Wind has “vanished,” and remains “vanished,” perhaps a vacancy exists for Kaladin to fill. This fits the Fleet story. Kal ascending as the original Knight of Wind also makes sense and also fits Fleet.

Will Kal ascend to Honor? With two other Shards around, and all the spren worrying how dangerous Surgebinding is without Honor, a mind to guide that Shard seems like a good idea. Kaladin is as likely as anyone to fill that role, for all the reasons Wit says. But I doubt Kal will become Honor in this book. That ascension doesn’t fit the Fleet story. I can see Kal possibly becoming Honor in Books 6-10. If other Shards or people decide to invade Roshar, Kal’s ascension to Honor may then be the planet’s only defense.

Overall, I lean towards Wind. But who knows.

Thanks for the read! C.

Edited September 22, 2024 by Confused

[LewsTherinTelescope]

5 hours ago, Confused said:

An Everstorm magnitudes more powerful than previous ones, designed to destroy the Stormfather, Honor’s Cognitive shadow, and Wind? This latter is my best guess.

We still don't know why it's named Everstorm...

[Master Silver]

It seems like somehow they end up destroying the planet with surges. How? Also, can the Storm Father be killed? Is the Everstorm going to develop a spren? What ever happened to Rayse Cognative shadow?

+

[JustQuestin2004 he/him]

23 minutes ago, Master Silver said:

Also, can the Storm Father be killed?

Yes, Dalinar nearly killed him in Oathbringer by forcing him into becoming a Pseudo-Shardblade. 

Plus Odium could kill Stormfather anytime, it's just that Cultivation might kill him while he does that.

25 minutes ago, Master Silver said:

What ever happened to Rayse Cognative shadow?

Sent to the Beyond, or maybe in Nightblood's 'stomach'. Either way he's no longer around.

26 minutes ago, Master Silver said:

It seems like somehow they end up destroying the planet with surges. How?

Ashyn was destroyed with mixing Dawnshards with Surgebinding, so Surgebinding can't destroy the planet on its own, as far as we know.

27 minutes ago, Master Silver said:

Is the Everstorm going to develop a spren?

Probably? Though it might not have properly formed yet. Or it could even just be a part of Odium, since he's been able to stop it, direct its lightning and even use it to communicate with others.

[Dofurion]

I will take advantage of this post to also leave my predictions:

Dalinar will lose the duel of champions, and right in parallel Kaladin will be swearing the 5th ideal, there Ishar will regain consciousness for a few moments and will tell Kaladin that he does not have much time at that moment he will guide him to take the connection between the Stormfather and Dalinar, thus preventing said Spren from being Undone. Thus Kalladin will take the fallen title as in the Death Rattle (Spear, crown and tower) but without the need for Navani to die here.

Edited September 22, 2024 by Dofurion

[BinarySecond]

18 hours ago, Master Silver said:

It seems like somehow they end up destroying the planet with surges. How? Also, can the Storm Father be killed? Is the Everstorm going to develop a spren? What ever happened to Rayse Cognative shadow?

+

I think it's inevitable that it will develop one. The investiture is shaped by the perception of others so I suspect it will - Whether or not it would happen within mortal time frames is something I'd like to know.

[CognitiveShadow he/him]

On 9/21/2024 at 11:55 PM, Confused said:

Stone speaks directly to Venli, and Wind speaks directly to Kaladin. No spren represent and speak on behalf of these gods in these scenes.

Venli speaking to “stone” is more akin to Shallan speaking to a stick and urging it to change. That’s not communication with a spren or a higher being, it’s communication with a personalization of a particular object. She was speaking to the local stone and encouraging it to use her investiture to make changes.

Kaladin is being contacted by a specific entity / god / ancient spren of Adonalsium. This is confirmed. Many of us suspect there is a similar counterpart that could be referred to as Stone. How does Kaladin ascend to the Wind though? Isn’t it just an ancient spren that has been worshipped in the past as a god? Maybe he can bond with the Wind and become a new kind of bondsmith or something?

I personally suspect that the Stone entity is hiding in the Horneater peaks and that Rock may have made contact with it previously and have a similar proto-bond situation like Kaladin with the Wind.