WaT: What I Liked, What I Didn't, and What I Wonder

[NerdSandwich she/her]

What I liked:

The worldbuilding is still awesome!

Szeth/Kaladin story arc was super fun to read

The Contest of Champions was sooo well written

The Taln Scene

Everything Makes So Much More Sense Now

HOID LIVESS!!!! (well ofc I know that from Space Age but... still)

What I didn't:

A Looooot of Buildup

No More Stormlight?!!! WHYYYYY

Poor Adolin 

(he loses his leg, goes through a mental health crisis, then comes home to find that he CAN'T ACTUALLY HE'S TRAPPED IN AZIR, his father is DEAD, his mother is COMATOSE, his wife is TRAPPED in Shadesmar)
ok I accept a lot of those but Shallan trapped is just sad.

I don't like how separated people are at the end of the book.

Renarin/Rlain

What I Wonder (if you can answer tell me):

Why is Shinovar affected by the Night of Sorrows?

How is the next return "the Final return"?

Why did Battar join the Heralds on Braize again if she's so corrupt?

What happened to Design?

Why are Navani and the Sibling comatose?

What's Szeth even doing now?

 

How is the Blackthorn alive?

What happened to Dalinar's soul?

Where's Lift?

 

[Through The Living Ash he/him]

2 hours ago, YouCantHaveMySandwich said:

What I liked:

I honestly would have liked it if Shallan was trapped and then it didn't give us the scene of her finding the Seon to make it seem more complete. I thought that the separation and sort of utter defeat contrasted with how Taravangian also feels defeated is what made the ending great, and would have liked to see it be even darker. 

For your questions: 

Odium said that he had sent agents to corrupt and topple the Shin government while Ishar was distracted. 

I have no idea. 

Maybe she'll turn traitor on the Heralds? That would be interesting. 

Hoid says that Design is stuck on Roshar. She should be protected by measures that he took, but he won't be able to see her or summon her as a Blade. 

The Sibling, seeing how Retribution was going to try to destroy them as he destroyed the Stormfather, activated the same defensive measures that they had been using after the Recreance and a side effect of that was Navani entering a coma. 

Feel free to speculate

 

Dalinar is dead. When he was in the Spiritual Realm, Odium placed him in a vision of him burning Rathalas. Dalinar met up with who he was before, the Blackthorn, and used a Bondsmithing to share with it all his memories since the burning of the Rift to try to get it to understand why it was wrong. The Blackthorn is a legend, having outgrown Dalinar, the man himself. As such, it persists in the SR with its own spiritweb (sorta). Retribution won Dalinar's allegiance per terms of the contract, and was able to find the Blackthorn spren that Dalinar had accidentally created and basically make it into a sort of Fused. 

Soul is tricky word. His Cognitive Aspect stretched into the Beyond, voluntarily so by Dalinar, and despite Retribution having Dalinar's allegiance, he was claimed by a mysterious third party which prevented Retribution from being able to control the Cognitive Shadow. His Spiritual Aspect persists, as all Spiritual Aspects do after death. 

It is safe to assume that Lift is still in Urithiru until we learn otherwise. 

[Nitpicking]

For me, the whole Journey to the Spiritual Realm was quite boring and drawn-out. I skimmed.

[Ookla the Newt she/her]

What I liked:

The worldbuilding is still awesome!

Szeth/Kaladin story arc was super fun to read

The Contest of Champions was sooo well written

The Taln Scene

Everything Makes So Much More Sense Now

HOID LIVESS!!!! (well ofc I know that from Space Age but... still)

Yeah i basically agree with all of these. I barely remember the contest of champions though bc I read it at 4 am, after not moving for 9 hours from one spot on the floor of my room. 

What I didn't:

A Looooot of Buildup
Yeah... I found it pretty slow paced at points

No More Stormlight?!!! WHYYYYY
I was sad about that, but I kinda figured the ending is kinda the empire strikes back of the stormlight archive, and there's still potential for it to come back (Syl => new stormfather foreshadowing)

Poor Adolin 

(he loses his leg, goes through a mental health crisis, then comes home to find that he CAN'T ACTUALLY HE'S TRAPPED IN AZIR, his father is DEAD, his mother is COMATOSE, his wife is TRAPPED in Shadesmar)
ok I accept a lot of those but Shallan trapped is just sad.
I was rly sad, so I didn't like it, but I liked the writing.

I don't like how separated people are at the end of the book.
Again, kinda viewed it as the Empire Strikes Back of the stormlight archive.

Renarin/Rlain

No comment.

What I Wonder (if you can answer tell me):

Why is Shinovar affected by the Night of Sorrows?
No clue

How is the next return "the Final return"?
Bc the Oathpact now just holds together the spren, instead of being an endless cycle of fighting / defeating, so it won't become an infinite loop again. Basically what Dalinar did - try to avoid infinite loop.

Why did Battar join the Heralds on Braize again if she's so corrupt?
Battar's corrupt?

What happened to Design?
Ig probably protected by new Oathpact, but will have to relink back up with Hoid at a later date (indicating Hoid'll come back to Roshar in the back half)

Why are Navani and the Sibling comatose?
No clue. I need to read at a point in time other than 4 am for good theories

What's Szeth even doing now?

Being a happy farmer with his new sheep named Molly idk

How is the Blackthorn alive?
idk. 

What happened to Dalinar's soul?
Went into the Beyond, Sanderson was pretty clear about that, which makes me think there won't be shenanigans.

Where's Lift?
She wasn't at the Tower?

Take everything I said with a very large pinch of salt, bc I missed this moon that so many people are talking about, Sigzil breaking his oaths, and probably other things. So my conclusion from this is I need to reread WaT during winter break. much slower.

[NerdSandwich she/her]

ok thanks!

also:
What happened to the Fused?

[Clarkmon22 He/Him]

Most of those were right, @Booknewt but there were a few lil thingies

Why is Shinovar affected by the Night of Sorrows?
No clue Yeah idk, I think that they should not be affected along with the big Reshi greatshells

Why did Battar join the Heralds on Braize again if she's so corrupt?
Battar's corrupt? Yes, but I think that all the heralds' curse was kinda lifted a but, as they were all corrupt a little bit.

Why are Navani and the Sibling comatose?
No clue. I need to read at a point in time other than 4 am for good theories presumably navani entered the same or a similar sleep to before they discovered the Tower.

How is the Blackthorn alive?
idk. Todium used the peice of Investiture from that vision of the rift to make a sort of "Blackthorn Spren"

Where's Lift?
She wasn't at the Tower? She was. she is going to start training with Vasher

[Through The Living Ash he/him]

2 hours ago, Clarkmon22 said:

 

Why is Shinovar affected by the Night of Sorrows?
No clue Yeah idk, I think that they should not be affected along with the big Reshi greatshells

 

15 hours ago, Booknewt said:

 

Why is Shinovar affected by the Night of Sorrows?
No clue

Odium mentions at one point (I don't have the book with me now) that he had secretly corrupted or in general done a coup of the Shin government during the final ten days, effectively bringing it under his control. 

2 hours ago, YouCantHaveMySandwich said:

ok thanks!

also:
What happened to the Fused?

Nothing? The Fused are mentioned in multiple of the post-contest chapters as basically becoming the new political elite of Roshar, but other than that it doesn't appear that anything's changed. 

[NerdSandwich she/her]

ok i just didn't know for sure with the refounding of the oathpact

that makes sense now that i think about it