Stormlight Prologues

[Oversleep]

So, we know that we will have at least five accounts of that fateful night. I can't help but notice a pattern:

1. WoK - Kaladin's book - Szeth Prologue
2. WoR - Shallan's book - Jasnah Prologue
3. Othbrngr - Dalinar's book - Eshonai Prologue
4. Eshonai/Szeth book - ??? Prologue
5. Szeth/Eshonai book - ??? Prologue

So, there is a connection between Kaladin and Szeth - both were WIndrunners and designated enemies which culminated in Kaladin killing Szeth at the end of WoR.
Shallan is apprentice of Jasnah, there is a connection.
Both Eshonai and Dalinar are generals in their respective armies and Eshonai tried to seek out Dalinar to make peace while Dalinar was the only highprince who thought of trying to understand why Parshendi killed Gavilar.

There are various characters who were present that night. BTW, I wonder whether we will get Gavilar's perspective on that night; it would be certainly carrying a lot of knowledge. Anyway, it's possible that in Eshonai's book we would get Dalinar's PoV - but he didn't do much and all three characters (Szeth, Jasnah, Eshonai) were doing something very unusual as for the feast night (Szeth - assasinating, Eshonai - orchestrating assasination, Jasnah - meeting with assassin). So maybe someone else.

I think that in Szeth's book we might get Nalan's PoV - he surely was there and he certainly was doing something there and his connection to Szeth is indisputable.

What do you think? Who could get the other two PoVs?

(BTW, I wonder whether the back five will have Gavilar's assasination - I doubt it. Brandon may be exceptional writer, but doing ten different viewpoints of the same event, with each being interesting and unveiling some new events? I don't think it possible.
Maybe the back five will have another important event for prologues.)

Edited July 2, 2016 by Oversleep

[thegatorgirl00 she/her]

I think we will see an Amaram perspective. He was speaking to Gavilar that night and was sent by Gavilar on an errand. He also has ties to multiple secret societies. 

[ParadoxicalZen he/him]

IIRC, there will be a diff prologue for the back five and Gavilar's would be the last of the firstrfirstr half, but I can't remember where it was so take it with a pinch of salt

[maxal she/her]

Has it been confirmed Eshonai was speaking Oathbringer's prologue?

[Sam Script he/him]

I remembered that the 4th book will take the POV of Szeth while 5th will be Eshonai. (But I can't provide any quote@@)

Nale also appeared in the very night, would it be possible that he become the POV of 4th SA?

While, maybe Gavilar himself will be of 5th prologue. Just blindshots.

Edited July 3, 2016 by Sam Script
Postscript

[maxal she/her]

5 hours ago, Sam Script said:

I remembered that the 4th book will take the POV of Szeth while 5th will be Eshonai. (But I can't provide any quote@@)

Nale also appeared in the very night, would it be possible that he become the POV of 4th SA?

While, maybe Gavilar himself will be of 5th prologue. Just blindshots.

The 4th book is Eshonai, Szeth is the 5th book. Having Eshonai as one of the prologue makes complete sense, but it hasn't been confirmed, as far as I know unless I completely missed this announcement.

Other candidates would be Amaram, Gavilar himself (probably in the 5th book) and Sadeas.

[Jondesu he/him]

I would expect Gavilar's perspective in either Dalinar's book, or Eshonai's. She was one who voted to assassinate him based on him boasting he would bring back their gods; I want to see that conversation from both of their perspectives.

jW

[dvoraen]

Gavilar's perspective would very likely be last.  He's had all these mysterious secrets and plots going on, to say nothing of his final words, that seeing events of that night from his perspective would be... considerable from an information perspective.

 

As far as the last two views go, there are plenty of options:

- Taravangian: Gavilar confided the visions to him the night of his death.  Taravangian, therefore, was either communicating via spanreed, or was in Kholinar for an undisclosed reason.

- Eshonai, for reasons stated.

- Elhokar: Why was he talking to Nale (and Kalak?) that night, and what about?

- Any Herald, for a long list of possibilities as to why, but Nale would surely be near the top choice if not the choice.

[Jondesu he/him]

2 hours ago, dvoraen said:

Gavilar's perspective would very likely be last.  He's had all these mysterious secrets and plots going on, to say nothing of his final words, that seeing events of that night from his perspective would be... considerable from an information perspective.

 

As far as the last two views go, there are plenty of options:

- Taravangian: Gavilar confided the visions to him the night of his death.  Taravangian, therefore, was either communicating via spanreed, or was in Kholinar for an undisclosed reason.

- Eshonai, for reasons stated.

- Elhokar: Why was he talking to Nale (and Kalak?) that night, and what about?

- Any Herald, for a long list of possibilities as to why, but Nale would surely be near the top choice if not the choice.

Agreed overall. I could definitely see Eshonai's perspective being last instead, but we do seem to have gotten a fair bit of the Parshendi view of what happened, so that may not be likely.

jW

[Erklitt]

3 hours ago, dvoraen said:

- Taravangian: Gavilar confided the visions to him the night of his death.  Taravangian, therefore, was either communicating via spanreed, or was in Kholinar for an undisclosed reason.

That's a very interesting fact, one I've missed so far. Is that somewhere in the text? Or a WoB? Would appreciate quote/source!

[dvoraen]

8 minutes ago, Erklitt said:

That's a very interesting fact, one I've missed so far. Is that somewhere in the text? Or a WoB? Would appreciate quote/source!

Words of Radiance, Taravangian's interlude.  Hardback page is 917; it's the last page of that interlude.

...Visions Gavilar had confided in him six years ago, the night of the Alethi king's death...

[Oversleep]

5 hours ago, dvoraen said:

- Elhokar: Why was he talking to Nale (and Kalak?) that night, and what about?

When Jasnah sees them talking, she thinks about them as "ambassadors from the west" and that Elhokar invited them along with all the other important dygnitaries from foreign countries who were currently in Alethkar. Jasnah also remarks that she already checked them and found nothing interesting.

So probably their conversation with Elhokar is not of importance.

[Botanica she/her]

23 hours ago, maxal said:

Has it been confirmed Eshonai was speaking Oathbringer's prologue?

It hasn't yet been officially confirmed, but one year ago Brandon said via Twitter that the character would likely be Eshonai:

Source: https://mobile.twitter.com/BrandSanderson/status/611385080485810177

Edited July 4, 2016 by Botanica

[WayneSpren he/him]

On 7/2/2016 at 4:53 PM, Oversleep said:

So, there is a connection between Kaladin and Szeth - both were WIndrunners and designated enemies which culminated in Kaladin killing Szeth at the end of WoR.

Teeeechnically Szeth wasn't a Windrunner because he didn't bond with a spren-he just had one of the Honorblades that grant powers.

Edited July 4, 2016 by WayneSpren

[Lightflame he/him]

Eshonai, Jasnah, and Szeth are among the "ten main characters" of the series (unless Brandon changed them again since I was last aware), so maybe book four will have another one of them?

The other seven are Kaladin, Shallan, Dalinar, Renarin, Lift, Shalash, and "Taln", I think.

Kaladin and Shallan weren't there, so they're out. Dalinar was getting plastered, so unless Alespren really are a major plot point, he's probably out as well. Unless the "Lift doesn't age" theory is true, I'd say she's out as well, since she would have been six back then. (Although I did have a dream one time that Lift was at the feast, and she convinced the two Heralds talking with Elhokar to give her their supper.)

Renarin was there, but since he's not much of a schemer, I don't think his POV could add much. Shalash was there at least recently to destroy her statue, and her POV could probably shed light on other stuff, so I'd consider her a good option.

Unless there's a major plot twist, "Taln" wasn't there that night. However, a major plot twist concerning him does seem like a safe bet, so there's a chance he'll get one. Maybe not a strong chance.

Gavilar for the fifth prologue also seems like a safe beat. Since the first two prologues are both "To (verb)", I wonder if Gavilar's would be "To Die". Then again, we could get a plot twist where he faked his death.

[Oversleep]

16 minutes ago, Lightflame said:

Gavilar for the fifth prologue also seems like a safe beat. Since the first two prologues are both "To (verb)", I wonder if Gavilar's would be "To Die". Then again, we could get a plot twist where he faked his death.

Unless Gavilar pulled the same trick Jasnah did, with slipping to Shadesmar and leaving Soulcasted fake body behind, I don't see any way for him to survive. His body was on display since the fall from the balcony, Szeth talked to him, then Gavilar stopped moving and a while later his Shardblade dropped. And Jasnah was observing all that. Then he was buried or whatever is the ritual in Alethkar.

[Rasarr she/her]

10 minutes ago, Oversleep said:

Then he was buried or whatever is the ritual in Alethkar.

For lighteyes, it's Soulcasting into stone. Unless he substituted a body double, there's no way he survived that.

[CaptainRyan he/him]

2 hours ago, Oversleep said:

Unless Gavilar pulled the same trick Jasnah did, with slipping to Shadesmar and leaving Soulcasted fake body behind, I don't see any way for him to survive. 

I don't think Jasnah left a fake body behind. I think the body Shallan saw was Jasnah and Jasnah was holding a small amount of Stormlight to heal her wounds and then, once they lost interest in her, she retreated to Shadesmar.

[Dani she/her]

24 minutes ago, CaptainRyan said:

I don't think Jasnah left a fake body behind. I think the body Shallan saw was Jasnah and Jasnah was holding a small amount of Stormlight to heal her wounds and then, once they lost interest in her, she retreated to Shadesmar.

Is this canon? http://www.tor.com/2014/08/06/stormlight-archive-scene-after-words-of-radiance/ 

 

[CaptainRyan he/him]

15 minutes ago, Daniyah said:

Is this canon? http://www.tor.com/2014/08/06/stormlight-archive-scene-after-words-of-radiance/ 

I believe it is canon. This is where my idea stems from. Thanks for the link! That makes it a lot easier to reference!

[Argel he/him]

55 minutes ago, Daniyah said:

Is this canon? http://www.tor.com/2014/08/06/stormlight-archive-scene-after-words-of-radiance/ 

 

From the actual link, Brandon says that:

Quote

This scene is even rougher than most—first draft, and shouldn’t be taken as canon quite yet, as I haven’t firmed up or fixed all the terminology or Shadesmar interactions.

 

[CaptainRyan he/him]

I took that to mean that Sanderson might still tweak some of the specific wording given but that the overall plot (Jasnah faked her death and then retreated to Shadesmar) is canon.

[Eki]

4 minutes ago, CaptainRyan said:

I don't think Jasnah left a fake body behind. I think the body Shallan saw was Jasnah and Jasnah was holding a small amount of Stormlight to heal her wounds and then, once they lost interest in her, she retreated to Shadesmar.

I think Oversleep's point was that Gavilar's body didn't disappear, so HE must have created a body double if he was to survive.

I'm sure Gavilar died that night, but he might still be 'around'... just a bit more dead. I doubt it, but it is possible.

[CaptainRyan he/him]

2 hours ago, Eki said:

I think Oversleep's point was that Gavilar's body didn't disappear, so HE must have created a body double if he was to survive.

I'm sure Gavilar died that night, but he might still be 'around'... just a bit more dead. I doubt it, but it is possible.

Ah. That makes sense. Thanks for clearing that up for me!

[maxal she/her]

7 hours ago, Lightflame said:

Eshonai, Jasnah, and Szeth are among the "ten main characters" of the series (unless Brandon changed them again since I was last aware), so maybe book four will have another one of them?

The other seven are Kaladin, Shallan, Dalinar, Renarin, Lift, Shalash, and "Taln", I think.

Kaladin and Shallan weren't there, so they're out. Dalinar was getting plastered, so unless Alespren really are a major plot point, he's probably out as well. Unless the "Lift doesn't age" theory is true, I'd say she's out as well, since she would have been six back then. (Although I did have a dream one time that Lift was at the feast, and she convinced the two Heralds talking with Elhokar to give her their supper.)

Renarin was there, but since he's not much of a schemer, I don't think his POV could add much. Shalash was there at least recently to destroy her statue, and her POV could probably shed light on other stuff, so I'd consider her a good option.

Unless there's a major plot twist, "Taln" wasn't there that night. However, a major plot twist concerning him does seem like a safe bet, so there's a chance he'll get one. Maybe not a strong chance.

Gavilar for the fifth prologue also seems like a safe beat. Since the first two prologues are both "To (verb)", I wonder if Gavilar's would be "To Die". Then again, we could get a plot twist where he faked his death.

 

Why does the prologue have to be from the perspective of one of the "main protagonists"? Seriously, apart from Eshonai, it makes no sense to have Gavilar's death being told through the eyes of Renarin or Lift or one of the Heralds. I'd rather find out what Amaram or Sadeas were up to.