10 Books

[bridgemenspren he/him]

So I'm sure someone has noticed this before, so I really want to point it out--

I noticed from before WoK came out, that Brandon mentioned his plan of 10 books in the series.

10 books? I'd think to myself. Why?

 

That seems like such a random number - how can an author have such a good idea in advance how many books his story is going to take? What if, in the process of writing the story, something doesn't work so he has to cut things out? Or, what if more likely, in the process of writing he finds a character or side story or two that are so compelling he has to include them, and the story lengthens in size?

 

So from the beginning, I couldn't think of very good reasons for Brandon to state that he was planning on 10 books, nor why he would bother to share that specific detail. Why not just say, "this is going to be a long story and cover several novels" and not pin himself down.

But then, after I finished WoK, I thought about it some more, and realized that there were 10 Heralds. What if each book in the Stormlight Archive corresponds to one of the 10 Heralds?

 

So WoK would be: Jes / Jezrien / Protecting / Leading

The next Words of Radiance, could be: Nan / Nalan / Learned / Giving

(or perhaps Betab / Battar / Wise / Careful, if that Herald corresponds to Jasnah)

 

Thoughts? Has anyone else noticed this or has it been pointed out before? Seems like each of the novels could correspond to those themes. (or the story of the main character therein)

 

[Kurkistan he/him]

Welcome to the forums and well spotted.

 

Source: (32:30 in video)

Brandon: Each of the books, I want to be dedicated to one of the Orders of the Knights Radiant, kind of thematically.

Edited November 29, 2013 by Ookla the Inveterate

[bridgemenspren he/him]

Thanks for the welcome.

 

Hey perfect! That makes sense.

 

Aren't each of the Orders aligned with a Herald as well?

[Shardlet he/him]

Presumably, yes.  There is evidence (such as the KR table in the front cover and the table in the Ars Arcanum) that suggest that each Herald was associated with a different order.  If I recall, there is info in the book that suggested that each Herald led one of the respective orders during the desolations, but there is much debate here about how closely the Heralds worked with the KR and others. 

[Windrunner he/him]

I imagine that WoR will deal with the Lightweavers (Shalash) since it's Shallan's book.

[Kurkistan he/him]

I imagine that WoR will deal with the Lightweavers (Shalash) since it's Shallan's book.

 

And since its binding is garnet-colored and Lightweavers was a potential name for WoR... 

Edited November 29, 2013 by Ookla the Inveterate

[WeiryWriter he/him]

And since its binding is garnet-colored and Lightweavers was a potential name for WoR... 

 

I thought it was supposed to be purple?

[Kurkistan he/him]

I thought it was supposed to be purple?

 

Garnet/the Lightweaver glyph is kind of a purplish-red on the chart.

[bridgemenspren he/him]

And since its binding is garnet-colored and Lightweavers was a potential name for WoR... 

 

How does the garnet-colored binding serve as a clue? 

[Kurkistan he/him]

That's the corresponding polestone for the Shallash. Also, the glyph on the surgebinding table is reddish-purple too.

[Shardlet he/him]

Without having seen what has been termed to be purple, I would find that a bit presumptive.  If the color of the binding approximated the color of the garnet on the KR table, I doubt anyone would simply describe it as being "purple".  At best a deep purplish-red. 

[WeiryWriter he/him]

Garnet/the Lightweaver glyph is kind of a purplish-red on the chart.

 

Okay, if you think so.  Personally I see it as just a darker red, since garnets are a red stone.

 

(by the way can you link me to where we found out the binding color, I can't seem to find it. From what I remember though he said it was supposed to be "purple" not "reddish-purple" which would indicate order 8?)

 

Edit: Ninja'd by Shardlet...

Edited November 29, 2013 by Ookla the Indubitable

[Kurkistan he/him]

It was "purple", but fRR was a bit unclear... 

[bridgemenspren he/him]

One more question, semi-related, and likely this has already been addressed.

 

But, in the Herald table, it also has their Primary and Secondary divine attributes -

 

Has someone already posited that a Nahel bond could potentially be created when the person is exhibiting those attributes? When exhibited, the relevant spren are attracted to the person, and at some point, the bond is created?

 

 

[Shardlet he/him]

One more question, semi-related, and likely this has already been addressed.

 

But, in the Herald table, it also has their Primary and Secondary divine attributes -

 

Has someone already posited that a Nahel bond could potentially be created when the person is exhibiting those attributes? When exhibited, the relevant spren are attracted to the person, and at some point, the bond is created?

 

People have made the assumption that the divine attributes are exactly what is required by the spren for bonding.  In my opinion, while this may well be true, perhaps even likely, many are too entrenched in this idea to where they are discounting people's ideas based on this assumption.

[11thorderknight]

I think it's pretty clear that Brandon is sticking to a theme of 10 for the series, since it's clearly an important number. And it would definitely make sense to have each book be related to one of the 10 orders. The cool thing though, is that as the series goes on we'll be able to figure out which order is going to be featured prominently in which book, since some of them will have been eliminated already. For instance, Jez/Windrunners was obviously the theme of Way of Kings. So if Brandon is able to stick to his plan, that means Szeth's book will have to focus on a different order, even though he's currently using Windrunner powers (or 1st order surgebinding, or whatever you want to call what he's doing without a spren). 

 

Theory: Szeth will lose his Honorblade, thereby losing his abilities, but then bond with a spren and join a different order.

[Kurkistan he/him]

Theory: Szeth will lose his Honorblade, thereby losing his abilities, but then bond with a spren and join a different order.

 

<tangent>Theory: Szeth is not using an Honorblade. I find the mass acceptance of that theory a bit silly, I must say.   </tangent>

[Aether he/him]

Theory: Szeth will lose his Honorblade, thereby losing his abilities, but then bond with a spren and join a different order.

<tangent>Theory: Szeth is not using an Honorblade. I find the mass acceptance of that theory a bit silly, I must say.   </tangent>

Theory: Szeth is using a Dishonourblade.

 

 

Concerning the 10 book thing, it's well to know that Brandon is a heavy outliner(-ish), which is to say that he usually have more or less the whole story for several books to come planned when he starts a new series. In this particular case, he realised while outlining that he had enough material for roughly 10 books and decided to aim for that because it is such an important number in-universe. Also, Brandon has pointing out that the Stormlight Archive is supposed to be two series of five books with two separate (but related) main story arcs.

[hoser he/him]

I think it's pretty clear that Brandon is sticking to a theme of 10 for the series, since it's clearly an important number. And it would definitely make sense to have each book be related to one of the 10 orders. The cool thing though, is that as the series goes on we'll be able to figure out which order is going to be featured prominently in which book, since some of them will have been eliminated already. For instance, Jez/Windrunners was obviously the theme of Way of Kings. So if Brandon is able to stick to his plan, that means Szeth's book will have to focus on a different order, even though he's currently using Windrunner powers (or 1st order surgebinding, or whatever you want to call what he's doing without a spren). 

 

Theory: Szeth will lose his Honorblade, thereby losing his abilities, but then bond with a spren and join a different order.

While I also disagree with the idea that Szeth has an Honorblade, but I like the other association you made. It would be very pleasing to me to have Szeth redeemed, maybe even immediately following the attempt on Dalinar's life.  He could then start to become a Radiant of a non-windrunner order.  

 

It does not seem like a given, though.  Although Brandon has said that each book will focus on one character and one order, I can imagine the featured character not being of the featured order or even not a Radiant at all.  

[Swimmingly he/him]

While I also disagree with the idea that Szeth has an Honorblade, but I like the other association you made. It would be very pleasing to me to have Szeth redeemed, maybe even immediately following the attempt on Dalinar's life.  He could then start to become a Radiant of a non-windrunner order.  

 

It does not seem like a given, though.  Although Brandon has said that each book will focus on one character and one order, I can imagine the featured character not being of the featured order or even not a Radiant at all.  

For example, by having them consistently opposed to a character from that order? Because that would make the dynamics a lot more interesting