Kaladin's Role

[Nitpicking]

Now that Kaladin is a god ... what does that mean in story terms?

Will he spar with Vasher again? It would be way more even now that they're both gods.

Will he be very uncomfortable getting worshiped?

Will he finally end the stupid lighteyes dominate rule in Vorinism, thus utterly undercutting Moash by solving the actual problem Moash was obsessed with?

[bdoble97]

I don't think anyone knows he is a Herald I believe they Ll think he is dead at this point. I don't think he would like being worshipped at all. I have imaged him returning as decending from the Sky with pillers of stone in the back ground with scenes of  him carved into the pillers. Kaladin holding his honor spear with Syl full size decending next to him 

[IcedOutPenguin He/Him]

I think that they are going to piece it together. if not with the book Knights of Wind and Truth which has the accounts of what happened. I mean, they were literally talking about turning Szeth into a herald and then he fell asleep and then Kaladin was gone. Someone is going to connect the dots, either Vasher or Jasnah. 

Or they will just figure it out when he returns in ark 2...

[CognitiveShadow he/him]

17 minutes ago, bdoble97 said:

I don't think he would like being worshipped at all.

I think there is still room for this - we've seen times when Kaladin has been given special reverence from people and even times when he has been a symbol to people at large. Two major examples are below:

1. Kaladin and Shallan in the Chasms - Bridge 4 knows he will come back even when everyone thinks he is dead. They have faith that he will survive and come back because he always does. They were unbothered by everyone else's skepticism and even used their free time to stand watch and wait for his return
2. RoW & Kaladin saving the tower - A significant following was garnered and people even drew shash glyphs on their foreheads to represent their belief/faith in Kaladin to save them

I think it's interesting to think about how those previous experiences could develop over the next 10 years (on Roshar at least). I wouldn't be surprised if there are still people who think Kaladin will come back somehow and kind of build some faith around him - even if it is just as a symbolic representation of belief that someone will always step in to protect when it is needed. Bridge 4 members in particular may just outright reject the idea that Kaladin is dead. Moash's reaction to this news would be interesting as well.

I'm most curious about Lirin though. My little crack theory/prediction is that Lirin continues Kaladin's work of kicking of therapy care in the medical world, and the people who take on that work/profession may even get shash tattoos in rememberance of him or something. 

And all that is to say that I would not be shocked if there is some level of worship and religous development built around Kaladin while he is gone - even if people don't know that he is a herald now. But once he returns... well I don't think the herald worship will be quite what it used to be now that the general populous has a better understanding of what Heralds are/were and all that jazz

19 minutes ago, IcedOutPenguin said:

I mean, they were literally talking about turning Szeth into a herald and then he fell asleep and then Kaladin was gone.

But the did find his body after right? He left that behind cause he had to die at first. And I don't think the assumption was that Szeth would have to die in order to become a herald

[IcedOutPenguin He/Him]

9 minutes ago, CognitiveShadow said:

But the did find his body after right? He left that behind cause he had to die at first. And I don't think the assumption was that Szeth would have to die in order to become a herald

I still think Jasnah or Vasher is going to figure it out.

[CognitiveShadow he/him]

4 minutes ago, IcedOutPenguin said:

I still think Jasnah or Vasher is going to figure it out.

Yeah I don't disagree there - for sure some people (particularly those two) will make that assumption. I was just saying he didn't just vanish. So the default assumption will have to be that he died, but people who care to dig into what really happened will have some clues pointing to the truth

[Treamayne]

On 2/27/2025 at 5:16 AM, Nitpicking said:

Kaladin the Herald

Please edit your thread title, you are spamming Spoilers on the main page where this title shows even though it is a Spoiler Zone thread. 

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Edited February 28, 2025 by Treamayne
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[Knuti]

Let us not forget Shallan. Maybe she visits her mother in the SR and encounters Kaladin.

[Master Silver]

I still am hoping for a Jasnah and Kaladin marriage. And this means Jasnah need to become a replacement Herald. I don't like that the age gap is increasing, but when they are both immortal it won't matter. Besides Jasnah has a little experience dating a god. Also, after the 10 year time skip, I'd love to see a rematch sparing contest between Kaladin and Nale. 

[bdoble97]

2 hours ago, Knuti said:

Let us not forget Shallan. Maybe she visits her mother in the SR and encounters Kaladin.

Oh that's a great idea I had not thought of that.

[#1 Taln Fan he/him]

@Nitpicking Please keep spoilers out of post titles, as per our Spoiler Policy. I've gone ahead and changed the title of this post for you.

 

[Returned he/him]

The role of all of the Heralds will be different now that the war against the Fused has changed so radically. I'm not sure exactly what this will look like, especially now that the Heralds don't need to endure acute torture to seal Braize. I suspect that their new role will be more insurgent. They are still running on some portion of Honor's power and the initial commitments they made with the Shard, but Honor is different now that it has some sapience as well as being subject to Taravangian's efforts to direct it in directions that will suit his aims.

I think that Vorinism is dead both as a religion and as a social organization system. Everything about it has been upended by Retribution's conquest of everywhere but Azir and the Shattered Plains. Moash being undercut doesn't seem like it will matter as he's left behind basically everything he used to believe in.

As for Kaladin specifically I think that he will be juxtaposed directly against Retribution. He was already too great a fighter and soldier to keep finding mid-boss type enemies, and immortality plus sparring with the superhumanly skilled Heralds will only widen that gap. His new focus on mental perspective and healing strikes me as being very opposed to Retribution's conceptual theme of focusing on past wrongs and getting back at people. But who knows? The thing I'm most confident of is that we'll see a lot less of him on screen now that he's become what he's become.

Edited February 28, 2025 by Returned

[RedBlue]

If anyone is going to see Kaladin in the Spiritual Realm and know he’s alive, it will be Lift. She has a history of seeing things she shouldn’t in the SR.

Beyond that, Vasher, Jasnah and Renarin all have a good chance of working it out from the clues available to them. Wit too, assuming he investigates when he comes back.

[bdoble97]

I just can't imagine A Stormlight Archives book with out Kaladin for me Stormlight is Kaladin.  To think book 6 without Kaladin would just make me sad. Does anyone think there won't be any Kaladin in hook 6. We have to wait what 6-8 year for book 6 and then another 3or 4 year for book 7 could be up to 12 years of no Kaladin and Syl that just would be horrible for me haha. So I guess let's just have the Heralds front in center in book 6 haha

[Nitpicking]

4 hours ago, #1 Taln Fan said:

@Nitpicking Please keep spoilers out of post titles, as per our Spoiler Policy. I've gone ahead and changed the title of this post for you.

That's the second time I've done that. Sorry about that.

24 minutes ago, bdoble97 said:

I just can't imagine A Stormlight Archives book with out Kaladin for me Stormlight is Kaladin.  To think book 6 without Kaladin would just make me sad. Does anyone think there won't be any Kaladin in hook 6.

I don't expect it. I hope for it, because Kaladin has bored me for about 3 books now. I know I'm in the minority. Also, I'm unlikely to read the Back Five due to the Grim Reaper. (I'm older than Brandon.)

[bdoble97]

10 minutes ago, Nitpicking said:

That's the second time I've done that. Sorry about that.

I don't expect it. I hope for it, because Kaladin has bored me for about 3 books now. I know I'm in the minority. Also, I'm unlikely to read the Back Five due to the Grim Reaper. (I'm older than Brandon.)

Oh Kaladin has become my favorite.  There are many aspects of his characters that I relate to. I'm just shy of 40 so I'm about 10 years young then Mr. Sanderson I hope to be reading cosmere books into my late 50s 

[Nitpicking]

13 minutes ago, bdoble97 said:

Oh Kaladin has become my favorite.  There are many aspects of his characters that I relate to. I'm just shy of 40 so I'm about 10 years young then Mr. Sanderson I hope to be reading cosmere books into my late 50s 

I hope you will, too.

[AlmightyGir]

There is also the possibility that instead of being worshipped, Kaladin is instead reviled, and his name cursed, as someone who left when the world needed him the most, on a fools erand to the other side of the world, on a quest nobody, not even he understood... And everybody knows that Kaladin's presence at either of the two major sites of battle would have turned the tide, because he always did before. But he didn't, because he abandoned everyone.

This, I believe is going to be the unfair perspective of the common man. The Windrunners, and everyone in Urithiru, even many of the fused would know it's not true, but to the commonfolk of whom Stormblessed is a legend... I don't see time or history being kind to him.

Edited March 2, 2025 by AlmightyGir

[bmcclure7]

On 2/27/2025 at 4:16 AM, Nitpicking said:

Now that Kaladin is a god ... what does that mean in story terms?

Will he spar with Vasher again? It would be way more even now that they're both gods.

Will he be very uncomfortable getting worshiped?

Will he finally end the stupid lighteyes dominate rule in Vorinism, thus utterly undercutting Moash by solving the actual problem Moash was obsessed with?

I think he has bigger problems for now

[Ailvara]

On 3/2/2025 at 6:37 PM, AlmightyGir said:

There is also the possibility that instead of being worshipped, Kaladin is instead reviled, and his name cursed, as someone who left when the world needed him the most, on a fools erand to the other side of the world, on a quest nobody, not even he understood... And everybody knows that Kaladin's presence at either of the two major sites of battle would have turned the tide, because he always did before. But he didn't, because he abandoned everyone.

This, I believe is going to be the unfair perspective of the common man. The Windrunners, and everyone in Urithiru, even many of the fused would know it's not true, but to the commonfolk of whom Stormblessed is a legend... I don't see time or history being kind to him.

I think this is possible, but would be really quite heartbreaking. My hope is in the last epigraphs. They show that Szeth's wife is aware that Kaladin did something to protect the spren, so I think people will assume that this is what the mission was all about. Now I think we may still see a wide variety of reactions to that depending on how cultures perceive the spren, from an inconsequential trait of nature to gods, which would be interesting.

[OverlordBob999]

On 2/28/2025 at 12:33 PM, CognitiveShadow said:

I think it's interesting to think about how those previous experiences could develop over the next 10 years (on Roshar at least). I wouldn't be surprised if there are still people who think Kaladin will come back somehow and kind of build some faith around him - even if it is just as a symbolic representation of belief that someone will always step in to protect when it is needed. Bridge 4 members in particular may just outright reject the idea that Kaladin is dead. 

I think it would be really neat if Kaladin became something like the Protector, similar to Kelsier being the Survivor, and further influenced Vorinism and/or became a splinter religion like what we see in Era 2 with the Path and the Church of the Survivor.