Ripheus23 Posted January 5, 2025 Posted January 5, 2025 We got some symmetry out of the ketek idea for the book titles. This last one throws it off a little, for me, but makes me wonder then about the back half titles. And then other structural stuff, what about that? I guess some of it wouldn't necessarily work right: having book 6 be the same number of parts as book 5, or making book 10 into ten parts, IDK... The epilogues were about Wit, the meta-prologue was the abandoning of the Oathpact, the recurring prologues were about Gavilar's death. One way to mirror Gavilar's death would be in Navani's awakening. Have this be 6 years after Retribution's Ascension, so 4 years before the back half starts, so "FOUR YEARS AGO" becomes a key flashback heading. Do it from Navani's POV in book 6, to emulate how 5 gave us Gavilar's perspective on his own death (so: it starts out in the Spiritual Realm, where her POV is before she wakes up). Go in some kind of analogy-reverse through to the POV of the person who awakens Navani, to mirror the case of WoK showing the prologue scene from the POV of Gavilar's killer. Having one of the POVs be the Sibling's would be interesting, and I wonder whether they could be the one to awaken Navani? But it could be any number of people, even someone we've not been shown yet. Maybe it could even be Sylphrena who does this, in conjunction with the Sibling, with Sylphrena capitalizing on her status as the Ancient Daughter and possible new oath-accepting spren to be for the Sibling what the Stormfather was before. Depending on how it was handled, what about the scene of the previous Azish emperor's assassination by Szeth? Sanderson could think to highlight how the non-Alethi domains really are just as important to the flow of the story/history, maybe by showing that just like how in the East everyone was up in arms about Gavilar getting killed, there was something about the other emperor's demise that was important on the conspiratorial level too (or whatever). Part of Lift's introduction, and Yanagawn's, is then augmented, etc. I mean, they do worship Jezrien there, and think about what Kaladin and Sylphrena now are. So, Kaladin's true godhood, if it comes to that, could be underscored by an exploration of Azish culture. (E.g. suppose that there is a moment for Kaladin in relation to the Shards, similar to Adolin's miracle/outcome re: his weakness in the context of new Radiants: a moment where Kaladin attains power like unto a Shard's, but without taking up a Shard. For example, depending on what Adonalsium left behind in the appropriate way, then if Kaladin can command the Wind with a certain degree of glory, maybe he can be as powerful as a Shard, without taking up a Shard. Maybe the similarity between "Adolin" and "Adonalsium" is even somehow Spiritually relevant to all this ) Also, will it not be the Sleepless talking on the backs of the books anymore? If not, then who? Maybe the Sleepless will have Wit's role in the epilogues now, and Wit will switch places with them (to symbolize how much he is "outside of" Roshar now). 1
Nitpicking Posted January 5, 2025 Posted January 5, 2025 3 hours ago, Ripheus23 said: Also, will it not be the Sleepless talking on the backs of the books anymore? If not, then who? Maybe the Sleepless will have Wit's role in the epilogues now, and Wit will switch places with them (to symbolize how much he is "outside of" Roshar now). May I hope that it's Khriss? She's the most interesting character in the Cosmere to me, personally, and it's way past time to learn more about the Seventeenth Shard. 1
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