Dalinar's dream in the Tower

[Ardjet]

I'm not sure if this has been asked before, but does anyone know the significance, if any, of Dalinars dream during the first week in Urithiru? For ease, I'll transcribe it here:

Spoiler

"Dalinar stood in darkness.
He turned about, trying to remember how he'd come to this place. In the shadows, he saw furniture. Tables, a rug, drapes from Azir with wild colours. His mother had always been proud of those drapes.
My home, he thought. As it was when I was a child. Back before conquest, back before Gavilar...
Gavilar...hadn't Gavilar died? No, Dalinar could hear his brother laughing in the next room. He was a child. They both were.
Dalinar crossed the shadowed room, feeling the fuzzy joy of familiarity. Of things being as they should be. He'd left his wooden swords out. He had a collection, each carved like a Shardblade. He was too old for those now, of course, but he still liked having them. As a collection.
He stepped to the balcony doors and pushed them open.
Warm light bathed him. A deep, enveloping, piercing warmth. A warmth that soaked down deep through his skin, into his very self. He stared at that light, and was not blinded. The source was distant, but he knew it. Knew it well.
He smiled.

Then he wakes up in his new room in Urithiru. Any ideas what that light was? Could it have been related to the Nahel Bond? Shadesmar(given the distant source of the light)?

[The Sovereign]

I had always assumed it was related to his Bondsmith powers:

Quote

"So Melishi retired to his tent, and resolved to destroy the Voidbringers upon the next day, but that night did present a different stratagem, related to the unique abilities of the Bondsmiths; and being hurried, he could make no specific account of his process; it was related to the very nature of the Herald and their divine duties, an attribute the Bondsmiths alone could address."

The "but that night did present a different stratagem, related to the unique abilities of the Bondsmiths" seemed to imply while dreaming to me.

[BrightVoid he/him]

I always assumed that emotional allomancy was being used on him in his sleep by some benevolent world hopper, but an ability unique to the bondsmiths makes a lot more sense.

[Ardjet]

1 hour ago, Iron Eyes said:

I had always assumed it was related to his Bondsmith powers:

The "but that night did present a different stratagem, related to the unique abilities of the Bondsmiths" seemed to imply while dreaming to me.

That's an interesting theory. I was thinking it had something to do with his mind "opening" to accept the Stormlight(bright, deeply piercing light) or him dreaming himself to Shadesmar's threshold, perhaps similar to how Kaladin kinda-almost glimpsed Shadesmar when he first consciously used Gravitation. It'd be interesting if that was him experiencing the first instance of his Bondsmith ability.

[BeskarKomrk he/him]

Someone in another thread (linked below) suggested that it may be a vision sent by the Nightwatcher.

 

[Garglemesh he/him]

Am I the only one here who sees it as an allusion to his future death, as his soul moves on to the spiritual realm?

[maxal she/her]

I personally feel it tells us Dalinar's visions will be working in a different manner in book 3... Perhaps glimpses of the past, small events he needs to remember to progress.

[WayneSpren he/him]

1 hour ago, Garglemesh said:

Am I the only one here who sees it as an allusion to his future death, as his soul moves on to the spiritual realm?

 

29 minutes ago, maxal said:

I personally feel it tells us Dalinar's visions will be working in a different manner in book 3... Perhaps glimpses of the past, small events he needs to remember to progress.

Now I'm wondering if Dalinar will die in Stormlight Three. Does anyone else think this is likely?

[1stBondsmith he/him]

Nope. Won't happen. There is to much to do in the upcoming fight. I think maybe in or after book 5, but not before.

[Ardjet]

4 hours ago, BeskarKomrk said:

Someone in another thread (linked below) suggested that it may be a vision sent by the Nightwatcher.

 

Apparently my curiosity is not unique in this regard.
 

 

For some reason, I can't help but draw lines between Dalinar seeing this bright light, and Shallan with the "blinding light in Father's strongbox". I wonder if, perhaps, that bright light in Dalinars dream is related to either his Godspren bond in some way, or to something he blocked out(maybe witnessing his own Father doing something Ghostblood/Son of Honor-related?)

Edited October 19, 2016 by Ardjet

[BeskarKomrk he/him]

9 minutes ago, Ardjet said:

Apparently my curiosity is not unique in this regard.
 

 

For some reason, I can't help but draw lines between Dalinar seeing this bright light, and Shallan with the "blinding light in Father's strongbox". I wonder if, perhaps, that bright light in Dalinars dream is related to either his Godspren bond in some way, or to something he blocked out(maybe witnessing his own Father doing something Ghostblood/Son of Honor-related?)

The bright light being related to something he blocked out is an interesting hypothesis. I'm gonna throw out something completely out of left field here just for fun.

Warbreaker spoilers:

Spoiler

I wonder what memories that have been removed by Awakening look like to the person.

At the very least, there seems to be a difference between the "blinding light in Father's strongbox" with Shallan and the way Dalinar's wife is removed from his memory. So I think it's likely that those two examples have different underlying mechanisms.

[marianmi]

I agree with the theory that it was Cultivation/Nightwatcher. 

"The source was distant, but he knew it. Knew it well." - he knew it because he's been to the Nightwatcher before. He was sure it was similar to the Almighty visions, because it was a vision - but not from Almighty, but from the other God on Roshar.

[kenod]

Sounds interesting, but can you please use Urithiru, because The Tower is the name of a plateau and it really confuses me.

[Rasarr she/her]

I recall seeing a similar discussion once, and someone suggested an interesting possibility that the dream was Nightwatcher's curse beginning to slip off Dalinar thanks to his Nahel bond. I'm not quite sure if it's likely - or possible - but it's an interesting option.

Then again, it could be simply a dream showing that he's finally managed to deal internall with his brother's death, with maybe glimpses of Shadesmar 'bleeding through', so to put it.

[Eki]

19 minutes ago, Rasarr said:

I recall seeing a similar discussion once, and someone suggested an interesting possibility that the dream was Nightwatcher's curse beginning to slip off Dalinar thanks to his Nahel bond. I'm not quite sure if it's likely - or possible - but it's an interesting option.

That would be interesting for sure, but since the dream was about something that happened long before Dalinar met his wife, I doubt it.

[Ardjet]

That was my feeling as well. The Nightwatcher curse wouldn't affect this memory or vision or what-have-you in this sense, because Dalinar met his wife when he was a young man(according to that released scene). I feel it's something separate from his Curse. Although that doesn't preclude that the light in his dream could be related to his Boon, since we have no idea what that was.

[thegatorgirl00 she/her]

5 hours ago, Ardjet said:

That was my feeling as well. The Nightwatcher curse wouldn't affect this memory or vision or what-have-you in this sense, because Dalinar met his wife when he was a young man(according to that released scene). I feel it's something separate from his Curse. Although that doesn't preclude that the light in his dream could be related to his Boon, since we have no idea what that was.

Technically we're not sure if the memory loss is the book or the curse. There's been speculation that Dalinar asked the Nightwatcher to help him move past his wife's death, losing the memories as a result. 

 

Maybe the light has something to do with Stormlight and the Origin. That would fit with the distant source and could connect it to his bond with the Stormfather. 

[Treamayne]

 

On 10/19/2016 at 0:46 PM, Iron Eyes said:

I had always assumed it was related to his Bondsmith powers:

Quote

So Melishi retired to his tent, and resolved to destroy the Voidbringers upon the next day, but that night did present a different stratagem, related to the unique abilities of the Bondsmiths; and being hurried, he could make no specific account of his process; it was related to the very nature of the Heralds and their divine duties, an attribute the Bondsmiths alone could address.

—From Words of Radiance, chapter 30, page 18

- WoR, Ch 58 Epigraph

The "but that night did present a different stratagem, related to the unique abilities of the Bondsmiths" seemed to imply while dreaming to me.

I agree.

More specifically, I think Dalinar (and possibly Gavilar before him) in reading Way of Kings, thinking on it, and reciting it stumbled upon the first Oath. Being a proto-radiant, for a while now, was how he was selected by Stormfather to receive the visions (since we don't know specifically why he was chosen for visions).

We also know that Kaladin and Shallan both glimpsed Shadesmar when first "unlocking" conscious control of their surges (Gravitation and Transformation respectively). I think the dream was a Bondsmith-style foresight glimpse of Shadesmar that he would progress with his Oaths and be able to surgebind.

[kenod]

1 hour ago, Treamayne said:

We also know that Kaladin and Shallan both glimpsed Shadesmar when first "unlocking" conscious control of their surges (Gravitation and Transformation respectively). I think the dream was a Bondsmith-style foresight glimpse of Shadesmar that he would progress with his Oaths and be able to surgebind.

(WoR spoilers)

Kaladin could already consciously use Adhesion (the practice fight in the chasms chpt. 12)