Chiastic Pattern in Stormlight Archive (Theory)

[Wyndrunner]

I was reading an article a friend had sent me on Facebook about the artistic importance of the Star Wars Prequels. You can read it above if you like but it will take you a storming long time so I'll condense it here: The article proposes that Star Wars has what is called a Chiastic Pattern or a Ring Composition, meaning that it is somewhat palindromic. In a rhyme scheme it would look something like ABCC'B'A'. 

 

Now I'm sure many of you will probably see how this fits with the Stormlight Archive. For those of you who don't, here's what stood out to me: 1) Both Star Wars and the Stormlight Archive are broken into two halves and there is a time gap between the first and second series and 2) The nature of the titles for each Part in the books of the Stormlight Archive are palindromic poems (Above Silence, Illuminating Storms, Dying Storms, Illuminate, The Silence Above). 

 

This has led me to the conclusion that the end of the 5th book in the Stormlight Archive could be very, very depressing. Not that some beloved (or unbeloved, as it may be) character will turn evil but there could be the chance that the world will "perish" and it'll be up to the next generation of characters to fix it. 

 

Star Wars is focused on balance in life and about opposition of light and dark. In the essay linked above, the author compares the arc of the story to the symbol Yin Yang, stating that the first half reflects the dark side and the other half the light. This appeals to me because a lot in the Stormlight Archive is about "Journey before Destination" and that makes me think of a circle, like the ring composition.

 

Of course, I have no real evidence in the Stormlight Archive to support this theory (especially with only two books out) but hopefully someone out there can help me out and if you want to read this article above perhaps you all might think of something that has slipped my mind.

 

Happy hunting!

[kaellok]

Read through the first page of the article you linked.  Then saw there were 7 more and bailed, since each page was approximately 4,000 words long

 

My thoughts: By far the largest flaws with the Star Wars prequels is dreadful and terrible acting/writing/dialogue.  Even if Lucas was setting out to create some massive epic on scale and scope never before seen in cinema (and not likely to be repeated ever), it failed because of horrific decisions he made and that actors (whether talented or awful) were unable to breathe into life on screen.

 

If Sanderson is trying this, I think it's incredibly more likely to be successful for two reasons.  First, the chiastic pattern is native to book/storytelling format, and in part relies upon it (see point 5 of the 7 'rules' listed on page 1 of the essay.)  Second, Sanderson is actually a gifted storyteller, and Lucas is not (at least, not when it comes to movie storytelling.)  Lucas's gift and genius (aside from the alien fungus that has attached itself to his face and supplanted his entire person) is as a movie producer.

 

tl;dr: Maybe.  But Sanderson is actually good at what he's doing if that's what he's going for, and Lucas wasn't.  So, Sanderson is far more likely to be successful at it than Lucas.