WoR Re-read

[vividox]

Not really sure where to put this, but I am the kind of person who absolutely loves finding additional details or nuance in a re-read. For me, re-reads are often much more exciting than the first read. I'm currently re-reading Words of Radiance and just came across a part that could potentially be taken to be something drastically different than the way I read it as the first time. At the very beginning of chapter 51:

Quote

The next day, Adolin stomped his feet into his boots, hair still damp from a morning bath. It was amazing the difference a little hot water and some time to reflect could make. He'd come to two decisions.

He wasn't going to worry about his father's disconcerting behavior during the visions. The whole of it - the visions, the command to refound the Knights Radiant, the preparation for a disaster that might or might not come - was a package. Adolin had already decided to believe that his father wasn't mad. Further worry was pointless.

The other decision might get him in trouble.

Adolin goes on to confront his father and insist that Dalinar doesn't go out onto the Plains to meet with the Parshendi. On the surface, this seems to be the "other decision". But could there be a deeper subtext here?

This chapter immediately follows the Adolin POV chapter where Adolin and Shallan have their Highstorm balcony date. After the Highstorm hits, Adolin is confronted by Sadeas in the bunker. During the particularly vitriolic encounter, Adolin displays even more direct hatred toward Sadeas than usual. He even has the thought of killing Sadeas right then and there, but his inner monologue rationalizes non-action because killing Sadeas would "undermine the very laws and codes Adolin's father was working so hard to uphold".

Could the "other decision" quoted above have a deeper meaning? Could Adolin have decided right then and there that if he cornered Sadeas he would, in fact, kill him?

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Also, is there an area anywhere on the forums where people can simply post things like this? Something like a "Things I just noticed for the first time" thread? Because I think a thread like that would be cool, but the only Cosmere-wide forum is the Q&A forum, and it doesn't make sense to put it there.

Edited November 3, 2016 by vividox

[Eki]

Cosmere theories is Cosmere-wide too. It tends to contain things other than theories quite often.

[Jondesu he/him]

That's a very interesting thought on a passage I didn't give any real thought to.  Good catch, and I think that might have been simply intentionally vague, but without the benefit of knowing what Adolin would later do, it wouldn't be at all apparent that he was deciding to kill Sadeas if he had the chance.

[Guest]

I think he just meant standing up to his father and telling him what to do as opposed to meekly obey. This chapter is called "Heir" and I believe it refers to Adolin being Dalinar's heir and stepping, perhaps for the first time, into his father's shoes. There, he shows authority, determination and resolve to have it his way because he genuinely feel his way is the best way. 

In the subsequent scene, Dalinar has a very hard time accepting Adolin's suggestion, not because he truly fears for his son, but because he hasn't been the one to make it. Kaladin had to step in to convince him.

I thus do not think the passage is referring to him later killing Sadeas. It wasn't something he planned, he got out of control.