Give the Man his Leg

[Master Silver]

The man I am talking about is Adolin Kholin of course. They live in a world with regrowth. Even after the death of the Stormfather, the Shard Honor still exists. Taravangian is working to keep both the Shards of Odium and Honor happy. In his person we have Retribution, but Retribution is composed of two Shards. Regrowth is still possible in Roshar. Commerce still happens and there is still plenty of investiture around. Yes, it takes longer to get places without the Oath Gates, but why wouldn't the kingdom work to bring in Fused healers or Listeners to perform regrowth. To have the means to be healed and not pursue it seems very farfetched to me. Yes, Adolin has a functional prosthetic, but with his wealth, why wouldn't he pay for healing? Also, will the Shard Honor still give a burst of power when ideals are sworn? It still seems implausible that no new Radiants were created either on the Shattered Plains or in Azimeir during the fighting. 

[AsherCrane]

Have we seen proof the fused with progression can heal in the same way Radiants can? We haven't seen evidence any mistspren have been willing to bond listeners, there are currently no advanced enough radiants in Azir to perform it. On top of that, the only place we know that gets reliable stormlight is the shattered plains, and we have no evidence mistspren will bond listeners. It may be possible, but it seems very unlikely that it will happen before has adapted enough to make progression unusable on it.

[reisleK she/her]

I personally don't think he's getting his leg back. And that's something I'm fully fine with.

[Ashbringer he/him]

There’s really not a lot of Investiture available. That seems to be a running theme in the final chapters.

I presume that even if the Fused were capable of using Regrowth on others (which IMO, they would, but we don’t know), they would want to charge a very heavy cost to the man who lost them a nation, and Adolin’s selfless and stubborn enough he wouldn’t pay for something as trivial as a leg.

It’s also been a month by this point, it may be too late to regrow that. Generally late Regrowth requires specific circumstances (a largely spiritual would like Shardblades, or a special mindset like Lopen).

[Ninth of the Night]

No way, Adolin and Szeth are gonna be cyborg-lite from now on, Shardleg and Shardarm respectively.

But there is a chance Adolin will be able to Regrow his leg if he can manage to be like The Lopen. Just have to hold on to the correct self perception, I don't know if he's truly capable of that though.

[Nitpicking]

Of course, the answer will tend to be, "We don't know what will happen until Brandon writes it." Speculation is fun, though.

Crackpot theory: Adolin replaces Taln as a Herald, and his body-of-Investiture has two legs. Taln has to get peace at some point. Both Taln and Adolin are famously skilled warriors whose greatest virtue is determination, never giving up, right?

[alder24]

17 hours ago, Master Silver said:

The man I am talking about is Adolin Kholin of course. They live in a world with regrowth. Even after the death of the Stormfather, the Shard Honor still exists. Taravangian is working to keep both the Shards of Odium and Honor happy. In his person we have Retribution, but Retribution is composed of two Shards. Regrowth is still possible in Roshar. Commerce still happens and there is still plenty of investiture around. Yes, it takes longer to get places without the Oath Gates, but why wouldn't the kingdom work to bring in Fused healers or Listeners to perform regrowth. To have the means to be healed and not pursue it seems very farfetched to me. Yes, Adolin has a functional prosthetic, but with his wealth, why wouldn't he pay for healing? Also, will the Shard Honor still give a burst of power when ideals are sworn? It still seems implausible that no new Radiants were created either on the Shattered Plains or in Azimeir during the fighting. 

Fused have no interest in allowing their former enemy to regrow his lost leg. They are at peace now, but there would still be a lot of hostility between both sides. Listeners are on the opposite side of Roshar, way too far away to even know about Adolin's leg, not to mention help him in some way (and they can't heal). Urithiru is surrounded by a crystal dome and it's inaccessible from the PR, you can get there only on the CR side - but you can't get to the CR at all now. Urithiru is fully cut off from the outside world.

And if Adolin's solitude wasn't enough of the reason, they simply have no investiture to perform healing. Stormlight is gone, Warlight is now given directly by Retribution to those who follow him, Azir is not one of them. Towerlight is stuck behind Urithiru's glass dome, Listeners with Warlight are still on the other side of the globe and Fused don't care and would be even glad that the best fighter and duelist on their enemy's side lost his leg. Adolin has no way to heal his leg and seeing how quickly he adapted to his new cripple life, it seems like, after the month has passed, the wound might already be considered as an old wound, and thus it would be unhealable without some mental gymnastics. I don't believe he will get his leg back.

[MagicMaggot]

If Sanderson wanted to heal the leg, he would heal the leg. There are enough options available, with the easiest being Lift, who probably isn't affected by the lack of Stormlight at all.

I don't expect it to happen any time soon, though. The loss of the leg allows for the impression that at least some stakes apart from death remain. And, probably more importantly, I just think that Sanderson would like to explore the consequences of this disability and how it works in his magic world further. He certainly seemed into it in WaT itself, and broadening the spectrum of representation in his novels has been of interest to him. Considering he was also thinking about some cyberpunk content in Mistborn, the topic of powerful prostetics might have been on his mind as well, and with the Shardplate he can go and experiment a bit. 
Then there is that Adolin is likely transitioning into a new role. A leader instead of a dueling champion, as the book suggested. The change here can be quite symbolic this way. Oh, and there could be something interesting in Shallan's reaction when they are together again, though I personally don't much expect that to be a factor. 

Brandon very deliberately maneuvered Adolin into a position, where the rules of the extremely powerful rosharran magic could still plausibly allow for the permanent loss of the leg for one of the highest-ranking people around. That was no coincidence. 

[Elite01]

I think Brandon also foreshadowed that adolin incorporates his injuries into himself pretty quickly. I can’t remember which part but in SA5 Adolin mention he still has a scar because even after a radiant healed him he had thought about the wound too much and how it would scar. 
so I think even if there was regrowth a month after Adolin would have already started to see himself as missing a leg. The day it happens to him it’s already affecting his mindset pretty negatively. I feel safe saying he would think about it near constantly for the next month.

[BinarySecond]

I think it's important to the story that Adolin lost his leg. Our main characters have to suffer some real consequences and growth (haha) opportunities.

 

 

[Roscoe Any Pronouns]

By the time they have Stormlight available once more, Adolin will have likely gotten so used to his prosthetic (y'know with it being nearly a decade) to the point the lack of a proper leg will have imprinted on his own perception of himself.

Kaladin couldn't heal his scars because he believed it was meant to be part of him, until he finally accepted the Fourth Ideal.

The Lopen never attributed the lack of an arm to himself, he attributed them to the one-armed Herdazian jokes.

Adolin may not take the missing leg as a negative trait anymore necessarily, but it's still likely to be a part of himself that he can't get rid of anymore.

Additionally from a writing perspective; the consequences being between "Injury that can be healed easily" and "Death" and nothing more is a bit of an iffy thing. Adolin proves that even in a world where people can easily heal lost limbs, it is still possible for the stakes to be high. It's the same with Kaladin before he swore the Third Ideal, despite the powers, people can be in a low spot and come back from it, with Kaladin, he just got Stormlight, but with Adolin, he'll likely adapt. 

[LeondeBowa]

I think Adolin has definitely incorporated his loss into his identity, I think he did it during his final duel with the monarch. There was a point where he started anticipating the problems his pegleg would cause and incorporated it into his fighting, it requires a level of internalisation which I think is key.

From his viewpoint I can't help but think Adolin has a very accepting identity, he deals with life based on what it is and is happy to incorporate others and build Connections in a very interesting way. He isn't a bond smith but he gathers people and is shaped by them in a way I look forward to in the next books

[DSCrankshaw]

So, a couple of things: aside from the Truthwatcher, there were a bunch of Edgedancers on their way to Azir with the army. They should have arrived by the time of the last scene we have of Adolin. But, without Stormlight, I doubt there's much they could do. And even if Radiants can use Warlight, that's hard for them to come by. By the time any healing is possible, it's probably too late for Adolin. He's just going to have to settle for a Shardplate leg. 

Now if he ever becomes Radiant, that could change. Personally, I think Bondsmith fits him best, not least because "I will lead them" sounds like a Bondsmith Oath, and because forming Connections, and sometimes altering them (Gallant, Maya), comes naturally to him. Also, he seems to be drawing unusual spren in this book (a Betrayalspren and a Sincerityspren, and that was a lot of Gloryspren on the first day, considering), similar to how Navani draws spren.

[bmcclure7]

On 3/8/2025 at 12:52 PM, Master Silver said:

The man I am talking about is Adolin Kholin of course. They live in a world with regrowth. Even after the death of the Stormfather, the Shard Honor still exists. Taravangian is working to keep both the Shards of Odium and Honor happy. In his person we have Retribution, but Retribution is composed of two Shards. Regrowth is still possible in Roshar. Commerce still happens and there is still plenty of investiture around. Yes, it takes longer to get places without the Oath Gates, but why wouldn't the kingdom work to bring in Fused healers or Listeners to perform regrowth. To have the means to be healed and not pursue it seems very farfetched to me. Yes, Adolin has a functional prosthetic, but with his wealth, why wouldn't he pay for healing? Also, will the Shard Honor still give a burst of power when ideals are sworn? It still seems implausible that no new Radiants were created either on the Shattered Plains or in Azimeir during the fighting. 

I don’t think you’re factoring in time. Remember that the longer you have an injury the less likely regrowth will work on it. By the end of WaT he has already had it for months. It is unlikely that we growth would work on it and if it takes him years to find the storm light to do it then he might as well just give up

[Master Silver]

 

40 minutes ago, DSCrankshaw said:

So, a couple of things: aside from the Truthwatcher, there were a bunch of Edgedancers on their way to Azir with the army. They should have arrived by the time of the last scene we have of Adolin. But, without Stormlight, I doubt there's much they could do. And even if Radiants can use Warlight, that's hard for them to come by. By the time any healing is possible, it's probably too late for Adolin. He's just going to have to settle for a Shardplate leg. 

Now if he ever becomes Radiant, that could change. Personally, I think Bondsmith fits him best, not least because "I will lead them" sounds like a Bondsmith Oath, and because forming Connections, and sometimes altering them (Gallant, Maya), comes naturally to him. Also, he seems to be drawing unusual spren in this book (a Betrayalspren and a Sincerityspren, and that was a lot of Gloryspren on the first day, considering), similar to how Navani draws spren.

 So we saw what two of the Bondsmiths did. I imagine Nightwatcher was the god spren on the battlefield. You had the Stormfather as the Strategic planner, the Sibling as the homebase spren, so having the Nightwatcher wreck devastation on the battlefield makes sense. Also, if Adolin;s self-image is of himself in Shardplate, he may wake up one day after bonding a spren to dismiss his plate leg to find a real leg underneath it. It really makes sense that he would be the third bodsmith. 

 

We don't know if swearing oaths connects the Radiant breifly to the spiritual realm or not.