Prediction: Szeth vs Kaladin.

[Draconis he/him]

The herald at the end of WoK didn't die. Remember from the prologue Herald’s blades act the opposite of Shardblades. They disappear when their owners die. Still it’s another point to consider the Herald himself, what is Hoid planning on doing with him and how does Stone Shamanism treat the Herald’s and Knight Radiants in their theology. I can’t help but feel the important aspect of this fight is not whether Szeth’s ability to kill exceeds Kaladin’s ability to defend but how he reacts when faced with a Herald or Surgebinder (or four depending on whose present) with a Nahel bonded Spren. From one of his interludes we know he kind of considers the spren holy, atleast going so far as to mention them alongside walking on stone, and stormlight.

 

On the 'Who dies before their book?' front, Kaladin has another book right? I can see Brandon not wanting to start the series with two books from a single flashback character in a row. Just saying, might be the sort of situation where the flashbacks have to come after the death

 

Any idea as to how szeth would respond if syl popped up and told him to knock it off?

[Crysanja]

brandon was allways hinting that pov chars can die - how he liked it from martin.

so if Sazeth realy attacks, i think a pov char is going to die, not sure which one.

otherwise it could be just some heroic death against the voidbringer forces.

[Guest Alaxel]

I think Szeth will be the POV character to die. Out of all the characters, Szeth's past is the most mysterious. What events led to a transformation of character so profound that it can compel Szeth to weep even as he slaughter innocents? That is what makes Szeth interesting. Not, "What can he do?" but, "What has he done?" That makes his past more important to the story than his future. Sure, he's intriguing. But he's also a one trick pony. He's has surgebinding powers without a Nahel Bond and is at the complete mercy of the will of the person who holds his Oathstone. Those are all things we want to know the history of far more than the future.

Kaladin and Dalinar, on the other hand...they have interesting pasts, but it's their potential futures that are really intriguing. "What will they do?" is a much bigger question than, "What have they done?" Just look at our own forum here at the 17th Shard! Everyone has theories about what Kaladin is planning on doing with Bridge Four, or wondering if he'll overcome his mistrust of ligbteyes. His past isn't as important as his potential. And Dalinar is in the same situation.

I know what you're all thinking: "But this is Brandon Sanderson, master of misdirection, the bait and switch, and bamboozlement." I agree. He often has delightful twists in his books. But remember, We haven't even read the second book of a ten book series. This series will take a minimum of 10 years to complete. It's far too early for Sanderson Trickeries this early in the novel.

So there you have it. My meta reasoning on why Szeth will die in a confrontation with Kaladin. Because Kaladin and Dalinar have important futures and a dead character has no future, while Szeth's past is important and dead character's can still have flashback sequences.

(Also, if Szeth has an Honorblade, I wonder which one he wields? I know Nalan's Honorblade was known as the sword of retribution, but I don't know if that was an offical honorific and all Honorblades have a unique one, or if that was merely a nickname for the Honorblade that depended more on the nature of Nalan himself rather than the nature of his weapon.)

[Rade]

Just a quick thing about the Honorblade note right there at the end: I haven't had time to look this up yet, but I remember that each of the Heralds were rougly linked to one of the elements in the Ars Arcanum, and if every Honorblade is different, it would make more sense to have the HONORBLADES linked to the Ars Arcanum and the Heralds linked to the Shardblades. Therefore, I think that the sword of retribution wouldn't just be a empty nickname about the person wielding it. (Unless they have some sort of weird capacity to seek out wielders who would fit them, kind of like that one sword in...agh, I can't remember its name. It is the sword in the book where everybody has a Breath and they can "Awaken" stuff with Breath.)

[Zizoz he/him]

I don't know that we should assume there is an actual "sword of retribution". I read that as being more metaphorical: retribution represented artistically by a sword.

[Argent he/him]

Really, it could be either one. But considering that the ten Honorblades were completely unique and different not only from each other, but from anything else in the world, it sounds possible that each Herald's Blade would be giving a name derived from that Herald's divine attributes. 

[Levian]

I have a feeling that they will meet, possibly sparring with either a draw, or Kaladin et all winning and Szeth retreating, but not before Kaladin manages to impact him with some of his ideals. 

 

I highly doubt that Kaladin would take Szeth's blade however the situation turns out - it is pointed out that Kaladin doesn't want a Blade, and being such a master of the spear I doubt he'd take a weapon he doesn't know how to use. Not to mention the theory that Szeth has a special blade that grants him his abilities - What use would Kaladin have of that blade, when he has his own abilities through Syl?

[Aether he/him]

Maybe it would supercharge his powers? That would be awesome! But yeah, he won't take the Blade.

[Swimmingly he/him]

Or maybe he will take it, but go through a long conflicted period where he doesn't use it in situations where he should

[CrazyRioter she/her]

I believe Kaladin will end up with a Shardblade eventually, but I do not believe it will be Szeth's Shardblade.

 

Also, in response to a post about the black sphere, I remind you that Szeth is not currently carrying that thing, he hid it somewhere so he couldn't readily be compelled to give it away.

[Fistsofrage]

Maybe Renarin will lose his life trying to save Dalinar, and Dalinar will say the most important words a man can say

 

 

(I'm trolling to find out the extent of feather's wrath hehe)

Edited December 3, 2013 by Fistsofrage

[FeatherWriter she/her]

Yeah, you're gonna have to try harder than "Renarin dies" to get a real response out of me. I'm the fandom monster, FoR. Emotional trauma and tragic headcanons are my bread and butter. In the great words of Inara: "You don't play a player."

 

Also, I find very little chance that Renarin's going to die anytime soon, considering the growth arc being set up for him. Fridging him for manpain would be sloppy, and an unnecessary rehash of the same situation that we had with Kaladin and Tien. And Brandon's anything but sloppy. 

 

In regards to the Kaladin getting a shardblade topic, I'm going to say probably not, for a lot of reasons. Foremost among them would be that he hates lighteyes, doesn't want to be one, and also Syl hates shardblades. The only way I see Kaladin taking a shardblade is under duress and in a moment of panic, IE: "I have to take this because if not it will be like Amaram all over again and I can't go through that again." 

 

...which is actually a situation I'm very interested in. Kaladin taking a shardblade as a panicked moment of sacrifice to protect those he cares about? Now there's an interesting scene that twists about the idea that obtaining a shardblade is the most desirable situation there is.

[Aether he/him]

Maybe Renarin will lose his life trying to save Dalinar, and Dalinar will say the most important words a man can say

 

 

(I'm trolling to find out the extent of feather's wrath hehe)

Just up-voting to counter the unnecessary down-vote.

 

Myself, I'm more in the "Kaladin will get a Shardspear" camp.

Edited December 13, 2013 by Aether

[FeatherWriter she/her]

I am definitely in the camp "Kaladin will get a Shardspear" with you, Aether. I like to think that Syl's problem with Shardblades is that the people who have them didn't "earn" them so to speak? So if Kaladin goes through all the KR protocol and says all the Ideals and such, he'd then be worthy of wielding a shard weapon.

Edited December 3, 2013 by FeatherWriter

[CrazyRioter she/her]

well I think it would be cool if it was a Shardnaginata. Because those are just awesome.

[Aether he/him]

well I think it would be cool if it was a Shardnaginata. Because those are just awesome.

I think that is what most people think of when they say Shardspear. But lets agree to call it a Shard-ashandarei from now on, because Matrim Cauthon.

[FeatherWriter she/her]

Fun fact: back before Way of Kings published, Tor released sample chapters on their website as part of the lead-up. One was the first Kaladin chapter, and I remember thinking while reading it: "Wait a second, an unexplainably lucky spearman who is loved by his men and is highly protective of them? Oh no, Brandon, you did not just write a Matrim Cauthon clone, did you?"

 

But no, despite their surface similarities, Mat and Kaladin are very different characters, haha.

Edited December 3, 2013 by FeatherWriter

[Aether he/him]

And both are favourites of mine!

 

Also, I find this comparison amusing, considering how much difficulty he had in writing Mat.

[marianmi]

I was always a Perrin guy. Mat was just too annoying...

[Looter he/him]

I have been thinking how interesting it would be if Kaladin, Dalinar, and Adolin were attacked by say Szeth, Sadeas, and Amaram all at once out on the plains.  Now who else thinks that Kaladin in the position to try and make a hard choice to fight his personal foe's vs. the one he is most equipped to fight and how much do you think having a scene where each could be crazy awesome would truly make for a good scene with the following:

 

1 Kaladin first fighting a full shard bearer but needing to move to szeth in mid fight and going full surgebinder on him.

2 Dalinar coming up to fight Sadeas without his shards and still winning.

3 Adolin for a time holding off both shard bearers and seriously impressing, before defeating Amaram. 

 

Yeah it would be awesome,  but who would personally torment Kaladin?  Darkness?  Shallen? Maybe just girls in general.  That would be fun; awesome darkeyed Captain with the girl troubles and the best sidekick ever Lopen who glows on command for the girls to take one for team Kaladin.     

[Swimmingly he/him]

I have trouble believing that a honorable, one-on-one duel between a Shardbearer and someone with more mundane weapons would go any way but badly for the mundane one. On the other hand, those fabrial-shields could ostensibly be modified into a blade capable of parrying a Shardblade, though heavier, shorter, etc... I could see Dalinar using one of those and a shield to get a standard sword and shield approach. If you could afford to burn the Stormlight, you might even be able to trap an enemy's blade for a moment

[Aether he/him]

From what I understood from Navani's comments and the descriptions from Szeth's attack on (Titants! No, wait...) the Jah Keved king, the current fabrial technology seem to limit "the Halfshards" to their current round and shield-like form,

[Natans he/him]

From what I understood from Navani's comments and the descriptions from Szeth's attack on (Titants! No, wait...) the Jah Keved king, the current fabrial technology seem to limit "the Halfshards" to their current round and shield-like form,

 

Give Kalladin one or two halfshard shields, and he have great chance against Szeth.

 

One thing I'm certain, I'm very anxious to see the next fabrials in this series. I'm sucker for pseudo-scientific gadgets, the pain Knife and the Emotion detector are nice, but, a fabrial weapon that would be nice =)

[Aether he/him]

From what I understood, the pain knife is a weapon, though it incapacitates rather than kills.

[Swimmingly he/him]

It's also possible that we will be introduced to some new surgebinders in WoR...possibly the occasional soldier in the highprinces armies.