Best scenes in the Stormlight Archives

[Nathrangking]

Kaladin's fightin the storm definitely top 5.

[Calderis]

Every page excluding stick. 

[Steeldancer]

Where did the stick actually come from? Was it just a plot device? Or did it fall off a tree? What kind of tree? 

[Calderis]

1 minute ago, Flash said:

Where did the stick actually come from? Was it just a plot device? Or did it fall off a tree? What kind of tree? 

I said what needed to be said. I will not be baited into discussing the abomination further. 

Enjoy your speculation on the origins of the anathema. 

Good day sir!

[Steeldancer]

Just now, Calderis said:

I said what needed to be said. I will not be baited into discussing the abomination further. 

Enjoy your speculation on the origins of the anathema. 

Good day sir!

It's a stick. It's not any more evil than Jar Jar. 

I'd say Jar Jar is more evil. 

[Stormrunner1730]

1. Kaladin swearing his second oath- One of the most powerful and inspiring moments I have ever read in a story.  

2. Kaladin fighting Szeth in the Everstorm.  One of my favorite fictional fights ever.

3. Dalinar binding the Stormfather.

4. The Radiants assembling in Urithiru

5. Kaladin, Dalinar, and Adolin fighting Szeth in the hallway.

6. "Honor is Dead, but I'll see what I can do."

7. Kaladin "flies" (falls upward) for the first time.

8. Szeth assassinating Gavilar (the entire WOK prologue, really).

9. Lift hugging Nale.

10. Szeth starring out at the mountains (I think it's in WOR before he goes to attempt to kill Dalinar).

[Aon Ene]

In no particular order, I just like numbered lists:

1) Taln interlude in WoR, the servant says he crossed paths and rode with Wit. Wit's insult about the ride registering at around 4-5 blows to the head with a rock was hilarious to me.

2) The sequence from Kaladin training with his mangled leg to "Stretch forth thy hand!" and Kaladin's swearing the second oath. Whenever I read it I'm torn between laughing and crying. 

3) Chasm scene in TWoK when Kaladin picks up a spear shaft and performs the kata exercise. You can almost feel the shift in the bridgemen. 

4) Amaram's apology scene. It was so satisfying to see him finally subject to the truth, and it was a huge relief to me that Kaladin didn't end up killing him in the name of vengeance. Also, the whole part with Kaladin assuming he had to apologize and Dalinar saying, "Not you, son," melted my heart. 

5) In TWoK, when Navani finally gets Dalinar to see her as a person rather than a threat. The cracks in her facade added a lot of depth to her character. 

6) Lopen's POV at the end of WoR. Proved once and for all that 1) Herdazians are all incredible people, not just Lopen and 2) Lopen will not ever underestimate himself, and rightly so. 

7) Every scene with Lift in it. She is a light to all the world. 

8) Beginning of WoR, when Jasnah tells Shallan she apologizes too quickly. Shallan's reply is embarrassingly funny to me: "I'm uh, indignant?"

9) In TWoK, when Kaladin fights Eshonai in order to help Dalinar. That image is frozen in my mind, and makes me wish I had even an inkling of artistic ability

10) In WoR, when Kaladin and Szeth enter the storm while fighting. I'd been waiting for another Kaladin scene inside a Highstorm, where he was less helpless and was able to use the stormlight provided to survive. Reading that scene felt like exhaling a long-held breath. 

 

(Obviously, Kaladin's my favorite character)

[Tesh]

Well, now I've read Edgedancer, (previously I didn't even know it existed) and I am more active in the shard, and have done more with my Sanderson related part of life. So, here's a list: (not in order of how great theynare)

1. Boots
2. Stick
3. Pancakes
4. Shardfork
5. After the highstorm in WoK
6. Most of chapter 84 in WoR
7. Chapter 1 and 2 in tWoK
8. Shallan and Adolin's date at the winehouse
9. Lift hugging Nale
10. The first Lift chapter
11. The king was Dalinar's Tein
12. What is a man's life worth? (I have that whole exchange in my signature).
13. Any scene with Hoid

So, those are my favorite scenes just off the top of my head.

[IndigoAjah]

A few obvious ones (lots of Kaladin, my favourite being either when he says the Second Ideal, or when he jumps into the arena to help Adolin - even if he balances that out with his foolish impetuosity a bit later)

But less obviously for me was when he gives Shen a spear

 

And the Shallan flashbacks where we see the gradual breakdown of her father

[geralt]

4 hours ago, IndigoAjah said:

A few obvious ones (lots of Kaladin, my favourite being either when he says the Second Ideal, or when he jumps into the arena to help Adolin - even if he balances that out with his foolish impetuosity a bit later)

But less obviously for me was when he gives Shen a spear

 

And the Shallan flashbacks where we see the gradual breakdown of her father

Totally agree on the scene where Kaladin gives Shen a spear. I don't often see discussions about it, but the way the parshmen are treated by pretty much everyone in the books is very disturbing, so even a simple gesture like that was nice. I'm very much looking forward to see how this issue is dealt with in Oathbringer, especially considering the discrimination towards them will only get worse due to Everstorm

[Penumbra]

I'm rereading SA right now and while there are so many large, epic scenes that I absolutely adore that have already been mentioned, I just realized that in hindsight and after knowing how they will grow closer later on, the scene where Moash and Kaladin interact for the first time is becoming one of my favorites. 

Spoiler

Quote

"Storm off! Moash snapped, pulling his arm back.
Kaladin punched Moash right in the gut, where he knew it would wind him.

Ah, yes. A blooming friendship right there

.

Edited August 26, 2017 by Penumbra

[flying_shadow]

My favourite part was the story of Fleet, I found it inspiring. I teared up.

[Seloun]

I tend to prefer critical moments in dialogue or points of revelation. Not that I don't like awesome action scenes, but I sometimes feel those are 'cheap' because the author can often throw those in without a lot of preparation. Turning points in conversations that cause character development or put previous actions in context? Lot less cheap.

In no particular order, and not exhaustive:

• Then she smiled. Oh, storms. She smiled anyway.

• But this was who she was, who she had to be.

• “For the bridgemen,” he said.

• “A true scholar must not close her mind on any topic,”

• “We enslaved them.”

• He clung to her, this monster, this callous thing that had once been a Herald.

• “Sometimes,” Taravangian said, “you must tear down a structure to build a new one with stronger walls.”

• “I’m sorry,” she whispered, unhooking her necklace. “Thank you for what you did for me.” She wrapped the necklace around his neck.

• “You are what I’ve been looking for.”

• “I believe I can actually agree with that, though I suspect for different reasons than you imply. Perhaps this walk won’t be as bad as I had feared.”

   

   

[Asrael]

Man how to pick a favorite... Words of Radiance is a masterpiece practically from beginning to end, and Way of Kings is almost just as good

 

Here's hoping Oathbringer lives up to the hype!!

[+Wax]

12 hours ago, Seloun said:

He clung to her, this monster, this callous thing that had once been a Herald.

Once Had Been? Not any more? 

I've said it is Shallan's book and she had the best scenes.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, unhooking her necklace. “Thank you for what you did for me.” She wrapped the necklace around his neck.
Then she began to twist.
She used the handle of one of the forks 

“that had fallen from the table as her father tried to steady himself. She looped one side of the closed necklace around it, and in twisting, pulled the chain very tight around Father’s throat.
“Now go to sleep,” she whispered, “in chasms deep, with darkness all around you . . .”
A lullaby. Shallan spoke the song through her tears—the song he’d sung for her as a child, when she was frightened. Red blood speckled his face and covered her hands.
“Though rock and dread may be your bed, so sleep my baby dear.”
She felt his eyes on her. Her skin squirmed as she held the necklace tight.
“Now comes the storm,” she whispered, “but you’ll be warm, the wind will rock your basket . . .”
Shallan had to watch as his eyes bulged out, his face turning colors. His body trembling, straining, trying to move. The eyes looked to her, demanding, betrayed.
Almost, Shallan could imagine that the storm’s howls were part of a nightmare. That soon she would awaken in terror, and   

“Father would sing to her. As he’d done when she was a child . . .
“The crystals fine . . . will glow sublime . . .”
Father stopped moving.
“And with a song . . . you’ll sleep . . . my baby dear.”

Funnily all 3 of her best scenes involved her killing people.

[Killik]

My favorite one-liners are from The Lopen but the only line I have actually laughed out loud to was the stick scene while listening to the audio book.  I knew it was coming, read it more than once, but the way it was delivered I thought was perfect.

Other than that comedy relief, I am a huge fan of world building in general and the things that really get me excited in a book is when the author hits at hidden history or direct contradictions to something that has been taken as truth to the characters.  For example, in Dalinar's vision of the purelake when he sees the fortress:

Quote

"There's a fortress ahead," he said, continuing forward.  "It must not still exist - if it did, it would be famous."...

Hinting at Sela Tales and the Silver Kingdoms.

[Nymeros]

Is it possible for me to use a number other than 10?

........Of course not. 

 

1: Szeth-son-son-Vallano, Truthless of Shinovar, wore white on the day he was to kill a king.

2: Atticus Finch: "You've threatened violence against me. Come. Hit me. Rob me. Do it knowing I've lived among you almost my entire life.....Come in. Bleed one of your own!"

3: Standing before the deathspren was a tiny figure of light.....That glow was so pure, so sweet. It seemed to be the glow of life itself.

4: Szeth found himself crying. His orders were simple. Kill. Kill as you have never killed before. Let the innocent screaming at your feet and make the lighteyes weep. Do so wearing white so all know who you are.

5: "I am honorspren. Spirit of oaths. Of promises. And of nobility."

6: "What is a man's life worth?"

"The slavemasters say one is worth about two emerald broams." 

"And what do you say?"

7: "Who am I? I... I am Talenel'Elin, Stonesinew, Herald of the Almighty. The Desolation has come. Oh God...it has come. And I have failed."

8: Even after saving Bridge Four, darkness had shadowed him.

That evaporated.....He grinned. Then, he looked upward, towards the sky.

9: A single awespren, like a ring of blue smoke, burst out above him, spreading like the ripple from a stone dropped in a pond.

10: "Honor is dead.....But I'll see what I can do."