Penultimate(?) Release Chapters - 33

[Slayd_07]

So, the Wind was being suppressed somehow by Rayse, but since Taravangian took the Shard, he hasn't been paying attention to her. I'm guessing this is similar to how we saw Shards work in Mistborn - the power might hold a tremendous wealth of knowledge, but the Vessel needs to know what to look for to extract that information. Taravangian hasn't looked into these primordial spren, so he hasn't "learned" about the Wind from the Shard yet. 

[Ashbringer he/him]

5 minutes ago, teknopathetic said:

But all the Heralds think Ishar is the most sane usually? So…. How is that working? 
 

I don’t think I trust or believe Ishar on this one. If anything, I could see him pushing his pain on the regular heralds or somehow sending all his pain to Taln somehow

Ishar seemed to fake or have true functionality for a long while - the whole God-Priest of Tukar is only a recent development, only when Gavilar (and a Herald) died. Alternatively, the other Heralds seem to crave structure, with Nale needing someone to give him the law to work with and Kalak needing someone to force him to make a decision. Ishar is still a Leader, he's just convinced he's a diety.

I also wouldn't trust much he says. Especially since he says he gave Szeth his task, when Szeth says an Unmade did it. 

[Subvisual Haze]

Ishar not seeing Kaladin in his plans is interesting.  That implies someone else who can glimpse the future has been "shielding" him.  The Wind seems the most likely option, but there's always room for one more Cultivation secret plan too I suppose.

Regarding Ishar I now suspect he was intending to ascend to Honor in the past, but Tanavast forsaw how disasterous that would be and intentionally gave up the power + stuffed it away in the spirit realm to prevent Ishar's ascension.

The way Ishar talks about taking the pains of the other Heralds reminds me of the Odium/Moash dynamic.  Possibly under influence from the same Unmade (Dai Gonarthis)? 

I do like the implication that Ishar was behind Szeth's whole arc.  Poor guy, always another level of being used as someone's weapon that he didn't even realize.

[Dreamwa1ker she/her]

Really worried what is going to happen with Gavinor. If instead it ends up being he finally gets some quality time with Dalinar and Navani on a family adventure - I would love it but seriously no way is that going to happen.

The insight into Lift from her vision really tugs at the heartstrings.

I loved seeing Syl talk Kal through pulling himself out of negative headspace. I did also notice the "storming woman" comment Kal had showing he is thinking of her more as a person and less as a spren (feels like even more Syladin foreshadowing, maybe it will grow on me).

The Wind telling Kaladin they need to preserve a piece of Honor really does seem like foreshadowing for him picking it up.

Ishar showing up so early was a big surprise. I was VERY concerned when he eyed Syl, considering his experiments. I'm pretty confused about what he is saying about Szeth. 

But this I was so excited for:

Quote

“Do you know what I do for them, child? I founded the Oathpact, so I can siphon some of their pains onto myself. I bear their darkness. Each of them would be crushed by it, were it not for me."

I had theorized a while back that the Death Rattle "the burdens of nine become mine" might not actually be about Taln but rather about Ishar, since the other Heralds say he has helped them or done so much for them. This seems like it might confirm it. I suspect there are consequences though for all of them.

And then Ishar speaking in small caps is quite concerning, has he somehow already connected to the remnant of Honor's power?

Navani eating chouta has to be Lift and absolutely cracks me up to think about her trying to act the part.

Also wanted to add that the little bit with Lopen makes him seem ready for 4th ideal - accepting the things he cannot change (I relate the 4th ideal to the Serenity prayer if you have ever heard of it).

[feruchemicalrockband]

30 minutes ago, Ashbringer said:

Ishar seemed to fake or have true functionality for a long while - the whole God-Priest of Tukar is only a recent development, only when Gavilar (and a Herald) died. Alternatively, the other Heralds seem to crave structure, with Nale needing someone to give him the law to work with and Kalak needing someone to force him to make a decision. Ishar is still a Leader, he's just convinced he's a diety.

Rather than the other heralds needing structure, it's that they've become the opposite of what they originally were meant to represent. Where Nale was once just and valued the spirit of the law, he is now a slave to the letter of the law. Kalak was once decisive and sure, and is now indecisive and paranoid. Ishar in myth was meant to be pious and guiding, now he has become heretical and discordant.

[The Sovereign]

1 hour ago, The Stick said:

Wait, Hoid had nine shadows, scary.

He doesn't? He has a backwards shadow. We have seen this several times before, it's just the Cognitive representation of someone who's Spirit Web has been altered by Investiture. Lift can see it because she sees partially into the Cognitive Realm.

1 hour ago, robardin said:

I wonder when Ishar reclaimed his Honorblade?

We can narrow this down somewhat; He hadn't reclaimed it when Szeth was made Truthless and banished and he had it in Tukar so we have a roughly 8 year window.

[+robardin he/him]

Just now, The Sovereign said:

We can narrow [when Ishar reclaimed his Honorblade] down somewhat; He hadn't reclaimed it when Szeth was made Truthless and banished and he had it in Tukar so we have a roughly 8 year window.

Yes, that is true; so that means Ishar's talk about having made Szeth his servant or disciple, returning to Shinovar "to fulfill the task I set for him many years ago" couldn't have been done with him wielding his Bondsmith powers.

Or it could be, you know, that he's cuckoobananas crazy in the head and is retconning all sorts of events to fit his narrative that he's Ascended to being the Almighty and whatnot.

He does seem to have bonded some kind of spren, though, to be speaking in smallcaps and having Light blazing from his eyes and whatnot... Or found some other splinter of Honor somewhere? Egad.

 

[The Sovereign]

1 minute ago, robardin said:

He does seem to have bonded some kind of spren, though, to be speaking in smallcaps and having Light blazing from his eyes and whatnot... Or found some other splinter of Honor somewhere? Egad.

I think this is more like when Kelsier looked into Preservation's eyes/Dalinar looked into Odium's eyes; Kal may have been getting a small glimpse into the Spiritual Realm. 

[listerfeend]

2 hours ago, the_archduke said:

"The burdens of nine become mine" death rattle was referring to Ishar not Taln.  

That doesn't make much sense to me, as I think someone else has pointed out, "the burdens of nine" in Ishar's case would actually be the burdens of eight, as he specifically said he isn't taking Taln's, and it makes no sense for Ishar to consider his own burden amongst the burdens he is taking. Also, now, it would technically speaking on be the burdens of seven, as Jezrien is dead dead.

 

51 minutes ago, Subvisual Haze said:

The way Ishar talks about taking the pains of the other Heralds reminds me of the Odium/Moash dynamic.  Possibly under influence from the same Unmade (Dai Gonarthis)? 

That was my immediate thought when reading that section as well! Seems very very Odium-esque to me, though I don't think Dai Gonarthis was involved with Moash, so I'm not quite sure what you mean by "Possibly under influence from the same Unmade". Do you mean that you think this is the Unmade causing issues in Shinovar? That seems likely, as we only have, really, two options for the Unmade in Shinovar: DG and Chemoarish. (Though, it could very well be both of them in Shinovar, there were three in Kholinar)

 

 

1 hour ago, Elder said:

Perhaps the Ghostblood spy in Urithiru is in fact the Sleepless.  In fact that makes more sense than anything.  

This makes WAY more sense than any of the other candidates bandied about: The Mink and Lift. Lift has literally no reason to want to give the GB's anything at all after being captured and traded to Raboniel by Mraize. And The Mink never made much sense to me as a spy for the GB's as he's already extracted promises from Dalinar to get what he wants out of them. The only reason I was even remotely interested in that theory is just the fact that we know very little about the Herdazian King. Him being the spy hasn't sat well with me from the jump, however. We know, since RoW, that there is a Sleepless allied with the GB's on Roshar, and most of us seem to have forgotten that tidbit until now. But OF COURSE it was a Sleepless spying on them. It's too perfect.

Gavinor being sucked in the SR is an interesting new issue for everyone to deal with. This could lend credence to the child champion theory, though I still don't see it being super likely. Some SR shenanigans could cause him to age in the time that he's in the SR, or maybe his mind ages and his body doesn't, that would suck really bad I think. Hopefully he gets to visit with his parents a little bit in the SR, or at least, Connections to them.

 

 

[anna she/her]

I'm not used to getting jump-scared while reading a book, but Ishar got me good!

I'm worried about so many things after reading this chapter: Gavinor and the Ghostbloods in the spiritual realm. Ishar and whatever his plans are for Szeth and Kaladin. Lift pretending to be Navani can't possibly last for long. I'm even worried about the chapter arches, which seem to be cracking apart.

[teknopathetic he/him]

I wonder if Kal is the wind’s champion and Szeth is Ishar’s? There is a battle of outlook and redemption going on maybe? 
 

Truth was capitalized in this reading, so maybe they have a hand in some champion picking too? 

Edited November 25, 2024 by teknopathetic

[Aither of Olumpia]

27 minutes ago, listerfeend said:

That doesn't make much sense to me, as I think someone else has pointed out, "the burdens of nine" in Ishar's case would actually be the burdens of eight, as he specifically said he isn't taking Taln's, and it makes no sense for Ishar to consider his own burden amongst the burdens he is taking. Also, now, it would technically speaking on be the burdens of seven, as Jezrien is dead dead.

I thought about this too, and the wording is a bit janky, but I think it does make the most sense to be Ishar. If 9 people are going for a walk, and each of them have to carry a heavy rock, but then one man (Ishar) offers to carry all of them, it would be strange to say he had only 8 burdens, because he is carrying 9 rocks. He is taking 8 more burdens, but the burdens of 9 people total. So in the deathrattle, burdens of 9, he has to be counted from among the 9. Another way to think of it, if a 10th person without their own burden took all the burdens, they would say the same, burdens of 9 become mine, because there are still 9 burdens to be taken. 

[Inevitability]

Combining a few things here to make a few predictions:

1) we know the back cover blurbs are written by the sleepless

2) Ishar talks about not knowing Kaladin but he definitely knows Syl

Prediction 1: Based on the WaT back cover blurb, I wonder if the Sleepless have been monitoring things under the direction of Ishar

Prediction 2: remember the Tower, Crown, Spear death rattle? Again, with the WaT back cover blurb in mind- I think the Spear will actually turn out to be Syl. Side note - the tower probably is Urithiru but the crown? My guess is the forgotten Alerhi heritage that is hinted at. 
Prediction 3 - Ishar isn’t quite so insane as we all think - that is to say he’s found clarity amidst megalomania. He’s on a super villain arc to bind shards (he is the binder of gods). His twisted experiments in mind, he seems to have potential to be one of the most powerful sub-shard of entities and he could take aim at neutralizing the shards themselves, aka Cosmere Hitman

 

[Namle84]

I think this would work if the language were “the burdens of 9 are mine” or “I carry the burdens of 9,” but “the burdens of 9 become mine” means that all 9 burdens came upon him at a particular moment… which does not work for Ishar

[CognitiveShadow he/him]

14 minutes ago, Aither of Olumpia said:

I thought about this too, and the wording is a bit janky, but I think it does make the most sense to be Ishar. If 9 people are going for a walk, and each of them have to carry a heavy rock, but then one man (Ishar) offers to carry all of them, it would be strange to say he had only 8 burdens, because he is carrying 9 rocks. He is taking 8 more burdens, but the burdens of 9 people total. So in the deathrattle, burdens of 9, he has to be counted from among the 9. Another way to think of it, if a 10th person without their own burden took all the burdens, they would say the same, burdens of 9 become mine, because there are still 9 burdens to be taken.

There is definitely room for this interpretation to be correct, but I personally lean towards Ishar being out of his mind. The fact that this tidbit of information was sandwiched with ramblings of madness lead me to be skeptical of it's truth. I lean much more towards the weight of the entire oathpact resting solely on 1 (as seen by Dalinar when touching Nale and seeing the Connections), and I believe that one person is Taln. If the burdens of 9 became anyones at a certain time it was Taln when the others abandoned the Oathpact. It also just doesn't make sense that Ishar would actually be siphoning off the darkness from the others and still bearing it - if anything he might be siphoning it off from them to him... and then from him to Taln..

But maybe I'm just an Ishar hater? Lol I just think hes a bad dude, disguised as a good dude masquerading as a bad dude. But deep down he's just a selfish, ambitious, 'my ends justify my means regardless of how my means impact other people' kinda guy that causes massive problems and then convicnes others to give him more power so he can fix the problems he causes 

[CognitiveShadow he/him]

25 minutes ago, Inevitability said:

Prediction 2: remember the Tower, Crown, Spear death rattle? Again, with the WaT back cover blurb in mind- I think the Spear will actually turn out to be Syl. Side note - the tower probably is Urithiru but the crown? My guess is the forgotten Alerhi heritage that is hinted at. 

There's a lot of chatter recently about this death rattle referring to Kaladin ascending to Honor or stepping in Dalinar's place. The crown and tower is what makes up Dalinar's family glyph thing and people anticipate that Kaladin will just add a spear for his. 

26 minutes ago, Inevitability said:

Prediction 3 - Ishar isn’t quite so insane as we all think - that is to say he’s found clarity amidst megalomania. He’s on a super villain arc to bind shards (he is the binder of gods). His twisted experiments in mind, he seems to have potential to be one of the most powerful sub-shard of entities and he could take aim at neutralizing the shards themselves, aka Cosmere Hitman

Again, I'll admit to being an Ishar hater, but I'll say that he's got mad scientist vibes. I don't think the stuff he says can be trusted at all as being true/relevant, but I do think he is able to use his powers to make some crazy stuff now that Honor is not holding him in check. I don't think there is much of the sane Ishar present at the moment, so he's just driven by instinct and wherever his madness takes him lol

[FollowYourMuse she/her]

16 minutes ago, CognitiveShadow said:

There is definitely room for this interpretation to be correct, but I personally lean towards Ishar being out of his mind. The fact that this tidbit of information was sandwiched with ramblings of madness lead me to be skeptical of it's truth. I lean much more towards the weight of the entire oathpact resting solely on 1 (as seen by Dalinar when touching Nale and seeing the Connections), and I believe that one person is Taln. If the burdens of 9 became anyones at a certain time it was Taln when the others abandoned the Oathpact. It also just doesn't make sense that Ishar would actually be siphoning off the darkness from the others and still bearing it - if anything he might be siphoning it off from them to him... and then from him to Taln..

But maybe I'm just an Ishar hater? Lol I just think hes a bad dude, disguised as a good dude masquerading as a bad dude. But deep down he's just a selfish, ambitious, 'my ends justify my means regardless of how my means impact other people' kinda guy that causes massive problems and then convicnes others to give him more power so he can fix the problems he causes 

I think he is delusional and he may have convinced himself this is what he is doing, but more likely if he he is siphoning off anything it is their memories or their identity.  Nale not feeling anything, good or bad, is very Odium like.

 

[Diomedes]

I really liked this new spin on Lift, she really messed up this time and could be responsible for getting Gavinor killed. How is this guilt going to change her character of constantly goofing around?

I guess taking responsibility is part of growing up, though Gavinor will probably live. 

Kaladin getting Szeth to talk was almost too easy. 

I am not sure, wether I like that the viewpoints change so many times each chapter. One characters story needs to be told without it being interupted all the time. 

 

[FollowYourMuse she/her]

2 minutes ago, CognitiveShadow said:

Again, I'll admit to being an Ishar hater, but I'll say that he's got mad scientist vibes. I don't think the stuff he says can be trusted at all as being true/relevant, but I do think he is able to use his powers to make some crazy stuff now that Honor is not holding him in check. I don't think there is much of the sane Ishar present at the moment, so he's just driven by instinct and wherever his madness takes him lol

This is the scary part, Insane does not mean not intelligent or able to function, especially since he has the ability to control the world around him. 

1 minute ago, Diomedes said:

I really liked this new spin on Lift, she really messed up this time and could be responsible for getting Gavinor killed. How is this guilt going to change her character of constantly goofing around?

I guess taking responsibility is part of growing up, though Gavinor will probably live. 

Kaladin getting Szeth to talk was almost too easy. 

I am not sure, wether I like that the viewpoints change so many times each chapter. One characters story needs to be told without it being interupted all the time. 

 

I am afraid that we are going to be flipping POV's back and forth with the Day at a time structure. Reading them chapter by chapter is difficult enough, but I am hoping that this has been a get everyone where we need them and the chapters get more focused on specific POV's or POV groups for a while, and then back to the last day sanderlanche format. 

[listerfeend]

45 minutes ago, Aither of Olumpia said:

I thought about this too, and the wording is a bit janky, but I think it does make the most sense to be Ishar. If 9 people are going for a walk, and each of them have to carry a heavy rock, but then one man (Ishar) offers to carry all of them, it would be strange to say he had only 8 burdens, because he is carrying 9 rocks. He is taking 8 more burdens, but the burdens of 9 people total. So in the deathrattle, burdens of 9, he has to be counted from among the 9. Another way to think of it, if a 10th person without their own burden took all the burdens, they would say the same, burdens of 9 become mine, because there are still 9 burdens to be taken. 

I sort of agree with what you are saying, the problem I have is that these are not external things to the person doing the carrying, like it would be for rocks. I also don't think that I would say "the burdens of 9  become mine" if I was taking rocks from 8 other people. I was already carrying a rock, so only 8 burdens became mine. Including yourself in the count of things like that is very very strange. “the burdens of nine become mine” works if it means: "I’m taking the load of nine people in addition to my own." It stops making sense if they count themselves because they can’t “take on” what they’re already holding. They started with their own burden—adding nine others would logically refer to the rest of the group.

I think there are two possibilities with this. Either the death rattle is a continuity error, or it actually refers to Kaladin, therapizing the 9 mad Heralds.

[+robardin he/him]

2 minutes ago, listerfeend said:

I sort of agree with what you are saying, the problem I have is that these are not external things to the person doing the carrying, like it would be for rocks. I also don't think that I would say "the burdens of 9  become mine" if I was taking rocks from 8 other people. I was already carrying a rock, so only 8 burdens became mine. Including yourself in the count of things like that is very very strange. “the burdens of nine become mine” works if it means: "I’m taking the load of nine people in addition to my own." It stops making sense if they count themselves because they can’t “take on” what they’re already holding. They started with their own burden—adding nine others would logically refer to the rest of the group.

I think there are two possibilities with this. Either the death rattle is a continuity error, or it actually refers to Kaladin, therapizing the 9 mad Heralds.

Hmm. I would say it's exactly like taking (some if not all) of the rocks from another person in terms of what Ishar says he's doing, relieving eight other Heralds of part of their pain and "darkness". And yes, I totally would call carrying my own rocks plus those of eight other people as "bearing the burdens of nine".

I mean it's a little dramatic or poetic to phrase it exactly that way, but certainly if you were to say "how many loads are you carrying?" I'd say "nine", just as I would say "one" if I had not taken on any additional burdens but simply had my own allotment to bear.

16 minutes ago, FollowYourMuse said:

I think he is delusional and he may have convinced himself this is what he is doing, but more likely if he he is siphoning off anything it is their memories or their identity.  Nale not feeling anything, good or bad, is very Odium like.

This is a good observation. I mean, Ishar even called it "siphoning (some of) their pains onto myself" and "their pains are upon me", which does sound a lot like what Odium does, and explicitly offered (in those terms), to Dalinar, Amaram, and Moash, especially if you interpret the chief source of their pain he's siphoning being the guilt and remorse of having abandoned the Oathpact and having left Taln to suffer alone on Braize, an idea which he pushed or signed off on to the others at Aharietiam ("Ishar believes that so long as there is one of us still bound to the Oathpact, it may be enough.")

Which is another obvious reason "the burdens of nine" refer to the Aharietiam Heralds, Ishar included. He can't take Taln's guilt for that, because he doesn't have that burden at all.

And we even know Ishar was no stranger to Odium's "void". The Dawnsingers recorded that the humans "brought the void with them", that God of Voids being Odium, who had "tricked" Ishar into "experimenting" with "the Surges that destroyed Ashyn" before they decamped to Roshar.

[BinarySecond]

I can't see the "burdens of nine become mine" being Ishar, the language of it just doesn't make sense.

[listerfeend]

23 minutes ago, robardin said:

Hmm. I would say it's exactly like taking (some if not all) of the rocks from another person in terms of what Ishar says he's doing, relieving eight other Heralds of part of their pain and "darkness". And yes, I totally would call carrying my own rocks plus those of eight other people as "bearing the burdens of nine".

I mean it's a little dramatic or poetic to phrase it exactly that way, but certainly if you were to say "how many loads are you carrying?" I'd say "nine", just as I would say "one" if I had not taken on any additional burdens but simply had my own allotment to bear.

I think we are going to have to just agree to disagree on this. Linguistically and semantically, the statement doesn't make sense if it is to be considered to be taken from Ishar in this context. The issue with the rocks analogy is that rocks are not an internal attribute of the person carrying them. If I am supporting a friend through a hard time, I wouldn't say that I am taking on the burden of two people's negative emotions. I bring my own burdens with me everywhere I go, supporting another person isn't adding 2 to the burden.... I don't have a better way of explaining it honestly. It's my opinion this death rattle exemplifies what Kaladin is meant to do with helping the Heralds with their madness FAR more than anything Ishar is doing. But, that's just my opinion. It could also very well be the case that, when that Death Rattle was given to us, Taln was meant to be included in the group of Heralds Ishar was doing this for, but that changed. 

[+robardin he/him]

7 minutes ago, listerfeend said:

I think we are going to have to just agree to disagree on this. Linguistically and semantically, the statement doesn't make sense if it is to be considered to be taken from Ishar in this context. The issue with the rocks analogy is that rocks are not an internal attribute of the person carrying them. If I am supporting a friend through a hard time, I wouldn't say that I am taking on the burden of two people's negative emotions. I bring my own burdens with me everywhere I go, supporting another person isn't adding 2 to the burden.... I don't have a better way of explaining it honestly. It's my opinion this death rattle exemplifies what Kaladin is meant to do with helping the Heralds with their madness FAR more than anything Ishar is doing. But, that's just my opinion. It could also very well be the case that, when that Death Rattle was given to us, Taln was meant to be included in the group of Heralds Ishar was doing this for, but that changed. 

Yes, I totally agree that that's the case, ... in the REAL world.

But what Ishar is saying, I think makes sense if you consider it in the context of Odium "taking the pain" from Moash and Amaram to allow them to "reach their full potential" in his service.

It's Cosmere magical, presumably Connection based, emotional burden sharing/taking (which may actually be pushing a numbing effect rather than "taking" as a pulling effect, to use Allomantic terminology, but it's how Odium and Moash both describe it).

[alder24]

Lift, you break my heart with those thoughts. 

Sleepless were watching Hoid and Dalinar this all time. Hoid was right to find a place so loud they wouldn’t have been able to listen to their conversation.

So you guys were right, collapsing perpendicularity actually sucked people into it. But not Wit, he somehow was able to resist it - Allomancy?  Lift making herself un-awesome was awesome, it’s confirmed Abrasion works in both ways. And why is Lift so highly invested? I know Cultivation and all of this, but what did she do to Lift which made her that invested?

This is bad. Not only Dalinar and Navani are trapped in the Spiritual Realm, but now Gav is as well? This is really, really bad. I wonder if he will experience time dilation and leave SR as an adult? Weird time skip? And what sorts of horrors will he see in SR? Her mother being consumed by Yelig-Nar? His father being killed by Moash? Him being tortured by all those spren and Unmades around him? I hope he will find some peaceful visions of his father at least, hopefully he won’t be disappointed by the Elhokar from WoK or WoR. 

And with that Mraize, Shallan and all who were on the other side were sucked into the SR. I would like to know why this collapsing perpendicularity did what Nightblood couldn’t. I simply thought that the release of energy from annihilation would push everything outwards, as a normal giant explosion would do.

I’m glad to see Kaladin and Szeth having some quality time over a crem soup. It could have been better, but a bad soup is a soup. Kal, you have to stop pressing on Szeth and forcing him to start healing. That’s not going to work on Szeth. You did it differently in RoW, you took people away from dark rooms, changed their surroundings to something better and they opened themselves, willingly sharing their pain with those who can understand them. You sure don’t have that much time now, but bluntly forcing him to do the therapy session won’t work on Szeth - you need to find something to bond over with, a soup was a good start. 

Oh, Kaladin and the Wind have to preserve the remnant of Honor. What’s that? Splintered piece of Honor? Can Kaladin Ascend to that piece? Or is that everything that remains of Honor, including the hidden core in the Spiritual Realm?

Ishar?? That was a surprise. What is he doing there? Why? How? When? Wut??? That was a great jumpscare! Finding Ishar was just that easy?? 

Wait a minute, “Navani shrugged at the news??” Did Hoid make a Lightwaeving of her?? Is he pretending to be Dalinar when Lift plays as Navani? Oh that’s hilarious! And worrisome because Hoid can now make sure that Roshar will play as he wants them to.

Ishar’s plot is getting more and more interesting. He has his own plans, he set up Szeth on this path long ago, what else did he do? Does he hold this remnant of Honor the Wind mentioned? He explained what Kalak said earlier, that he carries the pan of other Heralds - “the burdens of nine become mine.” However if he makes them better, shouldn’t he be worse with all of their insanity compound onto him? Something doesn’t check out. He already lied in RoW saying that he alone carries the Oathpact, but we saw from Dalinar and Nale confrontation that only one Connection was unbroken and that has to be the one who didn't abandon the Oathpact - Taln. Ishar actually said in RoW that Taln is “the Bearer of their agonies,” which suggests that Taln is carrying all of their pains, not Ishar.

Maybe Ishar’s insanity is partially caused by his guilt? He is the one responsible for leaving Taln on Braize, he came up with this idea. Maybe deep inside he blames himself for this, thinking it should have been him stuck on Braize for 4 millenia, that he should have executed this terrible idea instead of Taln. And as a consequence of this blame, he partially thinks he’s in Taln’s place or something like that - that he’s the sole keeper of the Oathpact (Taln is), that he takes the pain of every other Herald (maybe Taln is actually doing this, he’s on Braize, where all Heralds were supposed to share their pain through the Oathpact, maybe due to this parts of their insanity fall on Taln and that made him as broken as he is right now). Anyway, I don’t know what to think of this, but I don’t trust Ishar. 

Also, his interest in Syl is worrisome, I know what you’re thinking Ishar, don’t even try it!  

Thoughts on potential champions. Gav is more and more suited to be Odium’s champion and whatever will happen to him in the SR can have devastating consequences, but Adolin too - for all he knows his wife was just killed. And not just his wife, but his father is now lost in the Spiritual Realm instead of being where he’s needed - he may even blame him for her death. I’m not trying to argue for those specific theories, but I am just looking at the seeds that keep growing. Odium can try to exploit both of them. 

Just one more week to go. I feel like Renarin in WoR, counting days to the day the visions shown to me (pre-released chapters) will come to pass!