Which characters will be more/less important?

[Toaster Retribution he/him]

Rather self-explainatory. Is there any character(s) which you believe will have a larger or smaller role in Oathbringer? Who? Why?

For my part, I guess that Mraize and Iyatil will be a bigger part of next book, because of Shallans involvement with the Ghostbloods.

[Stick. she/her]

Roshone and the people of Hearthstone, maybe? They might have a larger role since Kaladin's returning to Hearthstone.

[Argel he/him]

Lesser: Lift, because she's getting the Edgedancer novella.

[goody153]

Adolin and Jasnah larger role. Kaladin(i think his personal arc is done or at least on hold until later books and he's more on saving as much people as possible and starting the fight against void bringers) and Elokhar lesser( i think we won't see much coverage of this guy)

[DSC01 he/him]

I think Elhokar can only become more important at this point. In the long run, he probably won't be a major character, but he is still the king of Alethkar. There are also pretty strong hints that he's attracting spren, a likely proto-Radiant. They sure sound like Cryptics, too, so he'd probably become a Lightweaver. Shallan ended WoR positioned to grow pretty quickly as a Radiant, and she will probably be the leader of the Order (at least for the near future), which would make her relationship with Elhokar very interesting. Not only would the king be her subordinate within the Knights Radiant, but her connection with the Ghostbloods will probably complicate things.

I'm on the fence about how much of an important character Jasnah will be. It's possible that she'll have about as much presence as she did in TWoK, but both more and less seem equally likely possibilities. Being that Wit is travelling with her, and he's bound to show up, she ought to at least be in the book a little (but there is also plenty of precedent for Wit doing something like abandoning her halfway through the trip, so maybe not).

For more minor characters, I think that Shallan's brothers will probably show up, if only briefly. Lift probably won't. I expect a cameo from Axies but won't be surprised if there isn't one (nor will I be if he gets a little more than before). I expect Rysn to once again be an interlude character and anticipate that we'll start to get more of a clue about what she has to do with the story. Hopefully, we'll get a little more about Taln; although, I expect it to be very minor. I assume that Zahel will be around but not a lot.

The big mysteries for me are characters like Taravangian and Eshonai. Surely, the coup Taravangian pulled off is important, but his storyline could easy be put on the back burner for now. The chances that Eshonai is really dead seem close to 0% to me, and she is going to be important later on, but with the Shattered Plains abandoned, hers is another arc that could be left in the background for now. And yet it is equally possible that both characters will have relatively large presences in Oathbringer. Szeth and Nalan are in the same boat. Important characters all, but some of these are going to have to take a backseat right now.

One character that I am fairly certain will have a much larger presence is Sadeas's widow, Ialai. We only barely met her in WoR, but I guarantee that she is not going to sit still after Sadeas's killing. She may even get a POV (if a brief one) in Oathrbinger. 

[thegatorgirl00 she/her]

I think that Aesudan will show up more. She had such a small role in WoK and WoR that it wouldn't be hard. I think she and Kaladin will have some conflict when he comes to Kholinar. 

[DSC01 he/him]

Oh, yeah! I forgot about Aesudan. So far, the only things we know about her come in the form of others' opinions, so it will be interesting when she actually shows up in person. I would be surprised if that doesn't happen in Oathbringer.

[geralt]

Considering it's his book, Dalinar will obviously be the most prominent character and get the most focus. I think Brandon already stated Kaladin and Shallan will have about the same presence as Kaladin had in WoR, so they'll still maintain their relevancy. I guess Adolin could be getting more viewpoint chapters than before, as he hasn't had many so far and there should be quite a few plot threads to explore with him. For someone less obvious, I think Moash could get a decent amount of pages, even though I'm not exactly sure where his character will even go.

Szeth could go either way i reckon. He will be involved in what is probably going to be one of the most exciting part of the book, but I woudn't be surprised if that won't be in Oathbringer.

[DSC01 he/him]

Yeah, the fact that Oathbringer was originally going to be Stones Unhallowed definitely makes Szeth's prominence in this volume a big mystery. How much of his arc will be put on hold because Dalinar's book was shuffled in front of his? Or did the overall structure of the series change in response to the shuffling of books? Or is very little in-universe time going to pass over the course of Oathbreaker, thereby preventing the planned events of Szeth's book from getting too off-course in the context of the overall timeline? It could be a lot of things, and whatever the actual approach to handling Szeth is will greatly affect how much he is in the book.

[Argel he/him]

3 hours ago, DSC01 said:

(but there is also plenty of precedent for Wit doing something like abandoning her halfway through the trip, so maybe not)

Odds are he is there to convey information to her, which will hopefully will not take a week. But they could also be headed in the same direction, so who knows. 

1 hour ago, DSC01 said:

Or is very little in-universe time going to pass over the course of Oathbreaker

There is ample opportunity for flashbacks, we know Brandon has discussed there being less action in parts, especially the "lore" section (part 2 IIRC) that will feature a new character. So it could be a lot of set up. 

Different books could also cover different concurrent events. I'm expecting to see Szeth in Shinovar, but we may e.g. just hear about that and not get a chance to learn details till Szeth's book.

Brandon is aware of the plot inertia problems Robert Jordon ran into in CoT with books overlapping in time, so he knows to avoid those mistakes.

Edited August 11, 2016 by Argel

[Khyrindor he/him]

3 hours ago, DSC01 said:

One character that I am fairly certain will have a much larger presence is Sadeas's widow, Ialai. We only barely met her in WoR, but I guarantee that she is not going to sit still after Sadeas's killing. She may even get a POV (if a brief one) in Oathrbinger. 

I bet Ialai is pregnant, and in the back five books, little Sadeas will be grown up and be even more of a cremling than his dad. In that one little scene from Sadeas' POV, Ialai was thinking about the future all worryied (though that would make sense for anyone on that planet at the moment).

It's hard to think about who will get a lot of screen time or not, so many things are happening to so many people. Adolin and his future troubles. Dalinar and his new role as Bondsmith. Szeth with his new acquisition. Kaladin and his Alethkar business and some Voidbringer killing. Shallan and her spy stuff.

 

I feel like Szeth, Moash, Ialai, Eshonai, Jasnah, etc will likely be Interlude characters, with the focus on our main three.

[Toaster Retribution he/him]

I also have a little theory about Axies traveling to the Radiants in order to investigate the spren around them. Maybe he arrives at Urithiru.

Hearthstone folk seems a given.

I think Adolin will have less POV time. In WoR, he took much of Dalinars space, which aint happening this time. He will probably affect Dalinars plotline a LOT but I think he will have fewer POVs.

[maxal she/her]

10 hours ago, Argel said:

Lesser: Lift, because she's getting the Edgedancer novella.

I believe Brandon confirmed Lift was getting one interlude which would mean she'd have equivalent page time as in WoR.

7 hours ago, DSC01 said:

I think Elhokar can only become more important at this point. In the long run, he probably won't be a major character, but he is still the king of Alethkar. There are also pretty strong hints that he's attracting spren, a likely proto-Radiant. They sure sound like Cryptics, too, so he'd probably become a Lightweaver. Shallan ended WoR positioned to grow pretty quickly as a Radiant, and she will probably be the leader of the Order (at least for the near future), which would make her relationship with Elhokar very interesting. Not only would the king be her subordinate within the Knights Radiant, but her connection with the Ghostbloods will probably complicate things.

I'm on the fence about how much of an important character Jasnah will be. It's possible that she'll have about as much presence as she did in TWoK, but both more and less seem equally likely possibilities. Being that Wit is travelling with her, and he's bound to show up, she ought to at least be in the book a little (but there is also plenty of precedent for Wit doing something like abandoning her halfway through the trip, so maybe not).

For more minor characters, I think that Shallan's brothers will probably show up, if only briefly. Lift probably won't. I expect a cameo from Axies but won't be surprised if there isn't one (nor will I be if he gets a little more than before). I expect Rysn to once again be an interlude character and anticipate that we'll start to get more of a clue about what she has to do with the story. Hopefully, we'll get a little more about Taln; although, I expect it to be very minor. I assume that Zahel will be around but not a lot.

The big mysteries for me are characters like Taravangian and Eshonai. Surely, the coup Taravangian pulled off is important, but his storyline could easy be put on the back burner for now. The chances that Eshonai is really dead seem close to 0% to me, and she is going to be important later on, but with the Shattered Plains abandoned, hers is another arc that could be left in the background for now. And yet it is equally possible that both characters will have relatively large presences in Oathbringer. Szeth and Nalan are in the same boat. Important characters all, but some of these are going to have to take a backseat right now.

One character that I am fairly certain will have a much larger presence is Sadeas's widow, Ialai. We only barely met her in WoR, but I guarantee that she is not going to sit still after Sadeas's killing. She may even get a POV (if a brief one) in Oathrbinger. 

For myself, Elhokar is a wild card: he may end up being played with more depth or he could remain a rather superficial and minor character.  I can see his character take both avenues, but I certainly do not expect him to rise up too high in terms of page time.

I personally do not think there will be many Jasnah within the book. Brandon has stated on numerous occasions how Jasnah was to be a major player in the second half of SA which implies her current role will be much lesser. While there certainly will be more of her than in WoR, I do not expect her to take up much of the main narrative. I'd even see her as an interlude character... I do not recall what Brandon said about the interlude novella, but Jasnah appears like a good choice.

Rysn is also expected to get her interlude: I believe this has been confirmed, somewhere.

Brandon has stated Zahel would remain a very minor character within the Stormlight Archive, so I do not expect anything but a few appearances from him.

Eshonai and Szeth are true mysteries. While we do know there are to be focus characters within book 4 and 5 respectfully, we also know they aren't major characters going into book 3. It has been hinted they would be tertiary characters within book 3, but nothing very conclusive has been said.

5 hours ago, DSC01 said:

Yeah, the fact that Oathbringer was originally going to be Stones Unhallowed definitely makes Szeth's prominence in this volume a big mystery. How much of his arc will be put on hold because Dalinar's book was shuffled in front of his? Or did the overall structure of the series change in response to the shuffling of books? Or is very little in-universe time going to pass over the course of Oathbreaker, thereby preventing the planned events of Szeth's book from getting too off-course in the context of the overall timeline? It could be a lot of things, and whatever the actual approach to handling Szeth is will greatly affect how much he is in the book.

Brandon has also stated the book with "a lot of Szeth" would be book 5 (don't ask me to find the reference, I don't even remember where I read this one). My personal interpretation is Szeth was never meant to play a large role within the main narrative of book 3, but the author thought it would still be the best place to put his flashbacks until he started outlining the book. I certainly expect to read some chapters from his POV and I expect him to have a small arc, but I doubt it will be much larger than the ones he had in previous books.

3 hours ago, Chull #445 said:

I also have a little theory about Axies traveling to the Radiants in order to investigate the spren around them. Maybe he arrives at Urithiru.

Hearthstone folk seems a given.

I think Adolin will have less POV time. In WoR, he took much of Dalinars space, which aint happening this time. He will probably affect Dalinars plotline a LOT but I think he will have fewer POVs.

Words I have heard are the Heartstone story arc plays itself rather quickly, so I do not expect much from it. 

Adolin doesn't get less POV time: Brandon said he is getting about the same amount. He is confirmed to be one of the tertiary characters, though we do not know which one. All I know is Adolin's arc is supposed to be really good and there will be more of him. 

Edited August 12, 2016 by maxal

[Radiant Returned he/him]

22 hours ago, geralt said:

I guess Adolin could be getting more viewpoint chapters than before, as he hasn't had many so far and there should be quite a few plot threads to explore with him. For someone less obvious

Adolin actually had almost as much wordcount POV as Dalinar in WoR, so while Dalinar's role will increase, I don't think Adolin's will increase that much since there won't be a lot of room if Dalinar's word count is increasing but Shallan's and Kaladin's stay about the same. 

16 hours ago, maxal said:

Brandon has stated Zahel would remain a very minor character within the Stormlight Archive, so I do not expect anything but a few appearances from him.

Was this statement just for Book 3, or the first cycle, or the entire 10 book series? I was really hoping he'd start doing some more stuff later on...

I also think it's fun to look at how many words, instead of chapters, each of these characters has gotten in the first two novels. In Way of Kings, the primary characters had Kaladin-167K, Dalinar-87K, and Shallan-66K, with the secondary characters had Adolin-22K, and Szeth at 17K. Considering it was Kaladin's book and 40K of that was flashbacks, while Kaladin has the edge Dalinar and Shallan still take up a large role. 

Words of Radiance was a lot different. Kaladin still had about 124K (about the same minus flashbacks as WoK), and Shallan, as her book, went all the way up to 147K. But Dalinar fell all the way to 30K while Alodin rose a bit to 29K. However, the list of side characters with bit chapters grew, as Eshonai received 15K and Lift had 10K, while Szeth fell below people like Rysn, Taravangian, Jasnah, Sadeas, Ym, Lhan, Navani, and Wit to a measly 1.6K from his POV. 

So how this will work out in Oathbringer will be interesting. If Kaladin stays at around 120K, Dalinar increases to at least his WoK word count at ~90K, and Shallan stays over 100K, that's already over 300K of the supposed to be 400K novel. Adolin, Eshonai, Szeth, Jasnah, and other characters will have to fight out the remaining 100K.

Edited August 12, 2016 by Radiant Returned

[maxal she/her]

1 hour ago, Radiant Returned said:

Adolin actually had almost as much wordcount POV as Dalinar in WoR, so while Dalinar's role will increase, I don't think Adolin's will increase that much since there won't be a lot of room if Dalinar's word count is increasing but Shallan's and Kaladin's stay about the same. 

I think we have to be careful when taking Brandon to the letter when he says a given character has about the same number of pages as before. In WoR, Shallan was the main character and Kaladin/Dalinar were the secondary main characters. Adolin was tertiary character number 1 and while, word count wise, it may be possible he had more words than Dalinar, Dalinar had less presence within the story. In other words, Dalinar has more viewpoints chapter than Adolin, but he is totally absent from most third person's perspective while Adolin was very active within Shallan/Kaladin POV time. When we look at the true word count for both books, Dalinar has twice more words than Adolin, so the fact Adolin got more than Dalinar is... an illusion. He didn't, but he still had a more visible role within WoR than Dalinar who remained within the background for most of the story.

There is also the fact, Brandon does consider Kaladin has a lesser role into WoR as he did in WoK while readers perspective has it, minus the flashbacks, it was roughly the same. After all, Kaladin has had POV during all 5 parts, but it won't happen in book 3. Already, we know the three main characters have all but one POV chapter within Part 2. We know the third main character has no POV within Part 4, so while Brandon said Shallan/Kaladin both have similar roles, all clues point towards them having less POV chapters. I suspect when Brandon says "about the same", he does not mean word count wise, he means "who has POV into which Part of the story". Kaladin has POV in almost all Parts, so does Shallan, therefore their role is about the same, but it may translate in a lesser word count. 

Therefore, when Brandon says Adolin has about the same presence as in previous books, he likely means he has POV in three Parts, which would make him tertiary character number 1, but this hasn't been confirmed yet. How many POV chapters would Adolin get in mysterious Part 2 dealing with lore/world/character building and focusing on another character? I have no idea. The whole Part won't solely be about this character, the main ones aren't getting much in it (one chapter each), so Adolin may very well be getting the rest. I do not know this, but I can hope. I certainly do not think Brandon would have Part 2 focus on characters we never heard of, to the expense of the regular ones: it would break the pacing in a terrible manner, therefore a link has to exist. It may be Adolin, but it may also be Szeth or Eshonai. I can't say, but I hope it is the former and not the later.

Also Adolin's page time isn't a function of Dalinar's page time: Dalinar's increased role does not come at Adolin's expense, it comes at Shallan/Kaladin's expense. These three are the three main characters, when Dalinar moved from primary secondary character back in WoK to second secondary character in WoR, his page time decreased. Shallan's page time increased when she moved from second secondary character back in WoK to main character in WoR. Yes there will be many more Dalinar chapter in SA3 as there were in previous books, but Brandon also told us Dalinar has less main narrative viewpoints than expected because his flashback took too many page time already. We must also take into consideration being the focus character does not mean you have as many words as Kaladin/Shallan did. There is no such rule, it merely means this character has flashbacks and is one of the main actors into the main narrative.

1 hour ago, Radiant Returned said:

Was this statement just for Book 3, or the first cycle, or the entire 10 book series? I was really hoping he'd start doing some more stuff later on...

I also think it's fun to look at how many words, instead of chapters, each of these characters has gotten in the first two novels. In Way of Kings, the primary characters had Kaladin-167K, Dalinar-87K, and Shallan-66K, with the secondary characters had Adolin-22K, and Szeth at 17K. Considering it was Kaladin's book and 40K of that was flashbacks, while Kaladin has the edge Dalinar and Shallan still take up a large role. 

Words of Radiance was a lot different. Kaladin still had about 124K (about the same minus flashbacks as WoK), and Shallan, as her book, went all the way up to 147K. But Dalinar fell all the way to 30K while Alodin rose a bit to 29K. However, the list of side characters with bit chapters grew, as Eshonai received 15K and Lift had 10K, while Szeth fell below people like Rysn, Taravangian, Jasnah, Sadeas, Ym, Lhan, Navani, and Wit to a measly 1.6K from his POV. 

So how this will work out in Oathbringer will be interesting. If Kaladin stays at around 120K, Dalinar increases to at least his WoK word count at ~90K, and Shallan stays over 100K, that's already over 300K of the supposed to be 400K novel. Adolin, Eshonai, Szeth, Jasnah, and other characters will have to fight out the remaining 100K.

This statement was for the whole series: Zahel is to remain a very minor character. The Stormlight Archive is not Zahel's series: his role will be limited. Brandon does not want his readers to be forced to read the whole Cosmere to enjoy his series: each is meant to be read as a stand-alone. The world-hoppers are thus not supposed to get large roles. Zahel using awakening is therefore very highly unlikely to happen.

Considering your word count, I think you over-estimate Kaladin's word count in SA3. I think it is more likely he'll be down to 80K (I wouldn't be surprised to see him drop to 60-70K), Shallan at 60-70K, Dalinar at perhaps 100K. The other characters aren't going to be fighting for POV time. As I mentioned above, Kaladin is going to be practically absent in Part 2 and I suspect he is the second secondary character which would make him absent from Part 4 as well. His story arc happens far away, much like Shallan in WoK: the focus won't be on him as it has for the first two books. With Dalinar as the main character, the action will likely revolve in Uritihiru, which means Dalinar, Shallan and Adolin.

All this of course is pure speculation, but words I have gotten from SA3 say the Heartstone story arc isn't a large one and it gets resolve very quickly. In other words, Kaladin does not spend 10 chapters hunting for his parents: he finds them right away. After, I have no idea and a lot of this is interpretation. On the reverse, I also know I should not be disappointed (too much) by Adolin's role within the story and he is around in Part 1, quite a bit even if he isn't scheduled to have POV time. 

Edited August 12, 2016 by maxal

[Argel he/him]

1 hour ago, maxal said:

I certainly do not think Brandon would have Part 2 focus on characters we never heard of, to the expense of the regular ones: it would break the pacing in a terrible manner, therefore a link has to exist. It may be Adolin, but it may also be Szeth or Eshonai. I can't say, but I hope it is the former and not the later.

What about Jasnah? Seems like a good place to slip her in as well (vs. an Interlude).

1 hour ago, maxal said:

In other words, Kaladin does not spend 10 chapters hunting for his parents: he finds them right away.

I so hope you are right. That is such an overused trope and some fast resolution for Kaladin would be a welcome change of pace.

[maxal she/her]

56 minutes ago, Argel said:

What about Jasnah? Seems like a good place to slip her in as well (vs. an Interlude).

I so hope you are right. That is such an overused trope and some fast resolution for Kaladin would be a welcome change of pace.

He said this character never had POV before and was unexpected, I thus understood it excluded Jasnah. Of course, he may be playing on wording, he has forgotten at times he had written Jasnah's POV, which is why it is hard to draw complete fail-proof conclusions based on his words unless he is being very very explicit. 

My personal thoughts have thus gone towards other characters such as Elhokar, Reddin, Aseduan or Uncle Toh, providing he is still alive.

As I said, I consider Elhokar to be a wild card. The author has drop hints something may be happening with him and while it may end up panning into a fuller arc, it may also not happen. However, if it does happen, the Part 2 novella may be the right place to have it. Especially if Adolin is getting those viewpoints: a parallel or a story arc in between the cousins may actually be interesting.

Reddin is one character I have personally pinned up to grow in importance. He has had all but a dedicated paragraph, but what an entrance. I wouldn't be surprised at all if it were him.

Aseduan may be a valid contender: with Kaladin most likely heading towards Kholinar, we may need to have her viewpoints to get a clearer pictures of the events happening there before he actually makes it. I personally suspect the Heartstone story arc wraps up within Part 1 and that one Kaladin chapter in Part 2 has him move to Kholinar or perhaps arriving interlacing with Aseduan's POV. 

Uncle Toh is a new one... Who is this mysterious uncle we never heard of? Is he still alive? And what is the genetic difference in between Rirans and Iriali? This is very far-fetched, but I was so curious, I have decided he'd be a candidate  

As for Jasnah, I quite seriously do not expect many viewpoints from her. Her trekking from her unknown locations to Urithiru is likely not to be featured within the main narrative. Brandon has a rule to never have too many characters being scattered around as character interaction is what makes story dynamics. Despite what others are thinking in other threads, I personally do not expect Jasnah to show up until Part 4. In fact, I suspect she may be this tertiary character having viewpoints within this part only or maybe she'll be the interlude novella character or maybe she's the Part 3 tertiary character, but I do not expect her to have a larger role than that. Her role could even be "occasional viewpoint" and I would not be surprised. 

As for Kaladin, Brandon once explained how he advanced a large chunk of Kaladin's story within WoR. In other words, many elements weren't supposed to happen until a later time and while he didn't say which ones, I suspect he meant the "killing of Syl" and the "chasm scene". It may be why Kaladin's arc felt, for some readers, like reading endless chapters of him brooding and being depressed: these were supposed to scattered across a longer period of time, but when Brandon changed the planning, he condensate this story arc into a shorter time period. Therefore, I personally suspect Kaladin was not supposed to have as many chapters in WoR, but he ended up having them because his story planning has changed. It thus seems reasonable to assume he would get less in future books to compensate. 

Also, Brandon has said we wouldn't learn the Windrunners 4th oath in book 3 which means Kaladin is not leveling up. He also is the character "going away", which leads us back to Brandon's rules for pacing: do not scatter all of your viewpoints across the world, it makes for a boring story. Kaladin being alone in his location with no significant character to interact with implies his role will be lesser. The Heartstone story arc, for instance, isn't relevant to the main narrative: it is a side arc and I expect it to be treated as one. 

Of course, I could be wrong, but to remove all POV time from the other characters which have started to move up in importance just so Kaladin could keep on having his 150K word count, especially considering he is far away from any other character of importance, seems illogical. We have to read about Eshonai and Szeth, especially Eshonai. Her book is coming up and she is not exactly the most popular character out there: the author has to create some sort of excitement for book 4. We also have to read about Adolin because quite frankly his arc currently is more relevant to the main narrative than Kaladin finding his parents.

These are my thoughts. 

[geralt]

If the Hearthstone arc gets resolved quickly, Kaladin will likely then head to Kholinar afterwards and I'm pretty sure that would actually be  relevant to the story.

Anyways, didn't Brandon suggest there may be new characters getting viewpoint chapters as well or did I imagine that?

[maxal she/her]

24 minutes ago, geralt said:

If the Hearthstone arc gets resolved quickly, Kaladin will likely then head to Kholinar afterwards and I'm pretty sure that would actually be  relevant to the story.

Anyways, didn't Brandon suggest there may be new characters getting viewpoint chapters as well or did I imagine that?

We do not know how important the Kholinar story arc will be. All I am assuming is Kaladin isn't likely to keep on having 120K word count for the remaining three books of the first arc. My reasoning to say so mainly is there are other characters which are in dire need of page time and Kaladin, all in all, isn't more important than they. 

Brandon said the Part 2 novella featured a new character. By new character, I am unsure if he meant "introduced character whom never had a POV" or "introduced character who had all but one or two small viewpoints" or "completely new character we never heard of". It wasn't exactly clear. In order to let you be your own judge, here are the exact words from the author.

With respect to "page time" for each character, here is what the author had to say:

The “main character” for the book gets, beyond their flashback sequence, a role in each part of the story.

So this means a slightly larger plot for Dalinar, and a slight scaling back for Kaladin and Shallan. (Don’t worry; both will be in the book around as much as Kaladin was in Words of Radiance.)

In here he is being contradictory: he both says Kaladin/Shallan will have less page time, but at the same time he says they'll be around about as much as Kaladin was around in WoR. My understanding therefore is, when he says they'll be around about as much, he means they'll have presence in almost all parts: it doesn't mean they'll have an equivalent word count. Kaladin can't reasonably keep on getting such a high word count, because then it means everyone else has much less and with the increasing in size cast, I do not see it happening. I therefore take it, Kaladin will have a regular, steady presence, but his arc is probably going to be smaller than in the previous books, the same for Shallan. 

On famous Part 2, here is what he had to say:

“Book One” of Oathbringer is all of Part one, plus the interludes. “Book Two” is parts two and three, plus two sets of interludes. “Book Three” is parts four and five, plus interludes. Of these, part two is going to be the biggest oddball, as I’m putting another novelette (separated into six chapters) in here as I feel I need a glimpse at another character. So it’s going to have the least focus on primary viewpoints.

In here, he says the novella will have 6 chapter. Earlier he said:

 Each volume, then, has a complete trilogy’s worth of arcs and climaxes for the primary characters (Kaladin, Shallan, Dalinar) while also having a self-contained flashback sequence, at least one secondary novelette about a character that hasn’t had viewpoints so far, and a related short story collection. The “main character” for the book gets, beyond their flashback sequence, a role in each part of the story.

The volumes are separated as follows: Volume 1=Part 1+interlude, Volume 2=Part 2-3+ interludes novella and Volume 3=Part 4-5+interludes. Since Kaladin's arc in Part 1 is Heartstone, then it seems to confirm this arc ends with.. Part 1. As for Part 2, I made a mistake previously: he said the main character had about 4 chapters in it and not 1, only one gets only one chapter and it isn't Dalinar, so either Kaladin or Shallan gets only one viewpoint in Part 2. My money is on Shallan as I think the secondary main character is Kaladin and not her, but I could be wrong. He also says each volume contains additions viewpoints featuring new characters. In the case of Volume 1, there are no tertiary/novella to be featured in there, so the new characters either is within the interlude or within the "occasional viewpoint" characters which he mentions right here:

It is important to me that these books, though epic in scope, retain a tight view of the primary characters through all volumes. You will see a lot of Dalinar, Kaladin, and Shallan. You will see a moderate amount of Szeth, Eshonai, Jasnah, Adolin, and Navani. There will be a few surprises regarding other characters who have slightly larger places in the plot, but in general, anyone not on one of the above lists isn't allowed more than a viewpoint here or there. (Until the second five books, where our primary characters will shuffle. So you Renarin fans will have to be patient.)

Part 1 could therefore have POV for additional occasional characters such as Renarin, Ialai and/or Amaram or "others". The same could be said about the other Parts. I personally expect Renarin to get those "occasional viewpoints" even if he seems discouraging. I also expect Amaram and Ialai to make an apparition. I expect Taln to be present as well, but for all of those, you heard the man: only 1-2 viewpoints. The Part 2 novella appears to be about "someone not having had viewpoints before", but Brandon has wrongly thought given character has not had viewpoints before. Is this one of those instances? I doubt it, so I have to rule any characters having had viewpoints so far. He however does not say anything specific about the interlude novella, so I gather it can be about anyone. About this one, he says:

I’ve finished all of the flashbacks, all of the viewpoints for part one, the novelette for part two, and part of the other novelette (the one that will take the place of Szeth from book one or Eshonai from book two.)

Does it rule out Szeth/Eshonai being the novella again? It doesn't rule out Jasnah either, so anyone's guess is as good as mine. 

I hope this makes more sense. Please all bear in mind I am posting my interpretations: I may be wrong. The only additional information I do have is concerning Adolin's specific role, everything else is my own speculation based on words from the author.

 

 

 

[Rellar he/him]

On 8/11/2016 at 10:22 AM, Argel said:

Lesser: Lift, because she's getting the Edgedancer novella.

Sounds edgy. 

 

I'll continue to not contribute meaningfully else where

[zmunkz]

I would think Jasnah will get a nice increased role, making up for her detour in WoR.

[Toaster Retribution he/him]

I think Moash could be the character who gets viewpoints. He has been rather prominent in Kaladins story so far, and he obviously has a further purpose in the story. Plus, it would let us learn more of the Diagram.

[maxal she/her]

4 hours ago, Chull #445 said:

I think Moash could be the character who gets viewpoints. He has been rather prominent in Kaladins story so far, and he obviously has a further purpose in the story. Plus, it would let us learn more of the Diagram.

In this case, I'd rather have Taravangian POV whom I did not mention. I expect him to get his occasional viewpoints and to perhaps end up being one of those with an increased role. Personally, I do not wish for Moash POV. It seems to me as we have dig enough into the character back in WoR: I do not see which purpose he could add. He was a traitor, he feels sorry for himself and while I expect to see him again, I do not expect him to take over a significant role. When it comes to the Diagramists, I'd rather have Graves or Danlan's POV which strikes to me as more interesting than Moash pitying himself: give us a real villain, someone who is truly convinced in his alternative, not some deluded angry vengeful kid who hates the whole world. I do not want a redemption story for the Diagramists: I want to read them carry their crazy plan and to be stopped by the Radiants but, in the meantime, I want to worry over their actions.

In other words, we need more villains, real ones.

7 hours ago, zmunkz said:

I would think Jasnah will get a nice increased role, making up for her detour in WoR.

I personally do not expect it. Book 6 is the book with "a lot of Jasnah" and the one where her story arc is kicking up. Until then, I expect her to remain a relatively minor character, perhaps of a similar importance to Navani. Brandon once explained how Way of Kings Prime had a focus story on Jasnah, but the author ended up realizing scattering his viewpoints too much made up for a bad pacing and a boring story where each character has little connection with the other. It didn't work. This is why he moved Jasnah's story to a later time: I thus do not expect him to go back on his word and to start scattering the story in book 3. Already, we have Kaladin whom is far away, we have Szeth and Eshonai whom are far away: he isn't going to give Jasnah who also is faraway a large role. 

I would not even be surprised if she didn't get more than 2-3 viewpoint chapters, but this may be unlikely as well. Brandon said we would see a moderate amount of her, but he also says that of Navani whom we never see much of. It is really hard to judge.

[Toaster Retribution he/him]

1 hour ago, maxal said:

In this case, I'd rather have Taravangian POV whom I did not mention. I expect him to get his occasional viewpoints and to perhaps end up being one of those with an increased role. Personally, I do not wish for Moash POV. It seems to me as we have dig enough into the character back in WoR: I do not see which purpose he could add. He was a traitor, he feels sorry for himself and while I expect to see him again, I do not expect him to take over a significant role. When it comes to the Diagramists, I'd rather have Graves or Danlan's POV which strikes to me as more interesting than Moash pitying himself: give us a real villain, someone who is truly convinced in his alternative, not some deluded angry vengeful kid who hates the whole world. I do not want a redemption story for the Diagramists: I want to read them carry their crazy plan and to be stopped by the Radiants but, in the meantime, I want to worry over their actions.

In other words, we need more villains, real ones.

I think we will get Moash redeeming himself sooner or later. And if Brandon wants a Diagram POV, Moash and Taravangian are the only possible choices. Graves, Mrall and Adro are all established, but very minor. While I like Graves, I dont think he will get a POV. Not a full chapter anyway. And we dont even know if Danlan is Diagramist. We dont know wether Graves used the group without telling them of the Diagram. Moash apparently did not know.

Mr. T is said to have an interlude, I believe, so that makes me think that a longer Diagram section will have Moash. We left him in a sorry state, and I think Brandon may want to show at least a bit of how he develops, and what is reasons are.

Then, this unknown POV might not even have anything to do with the Diagram. My hopes are it is someone entirely new (or Axies). But I would not have anything against Moash. Rather him than Jasnah.

[maxal she/her]

12 hours ago, Chull #445 said:

I think we will get Moash redeeming himself sooner or later. And if Brandon wants a Diagram POV, Moash and Taravangian are the only possible choices. Graves, Mrall and Adro are all established, but very minor. While I like Graves, I dont think he will get a POV. Not a full chapter anyway. And we dont even know if Danlan is Diagramist. We dont know wether Graves used the group without telling them of the Diagram. Moash apparently did not know.

Mr. T is said to have an interlude, I believe, so that makes me think that a longer Diagram section will have Moash. We left him in a sorry state, and I think Brandon may want to show at least a bit of how he develops, and what is reasons are.

Then, this unknown POV might not even have anything to do with the Diagram. My hopes are it is someone entirely new (or Axies). But I would not have anything against Moash. Rather him than Jasnah.

Considering the fact we are already getting a redemption story with both Eshonai and Szeth: it'd be great if Moash did not add himself to the lot. I also fear Moash's personal voice would sound too much like Kaladin: I'd really rather get Danlan. We have so few women, I'd also be interesting to add another one. While it is true we do not know if Danlan truly is a Diagramist, but it'd be a nice addition to the story arcs.