Words Of Radiance Changes Pole

[Ammanas]

I know there were a few small changes to WoR, but I am referring to the bigger change of the Szeth/Kaladin showdown. I know there were previous threads about this, but no poll. Personally it feels to me a little like George Lucas changing the Han Solo shot first scene. It is not a big deal to me though. Here is a link to refresh anyones memory:

https://brandonsanderson.com/three-stories-in-new-formats/

[Calderis he/him]

Yeah. In my head, it's still the ending in my hardcover. I don't really care though, as long as it doesn't become a narrative contradiction in future books. 

[The One Who Connects he/him]

4 minutes ago, Calderis said:

as long as it doesn't become a narrative contradiction in future books. 

It shouldn't.

Quote

Brandon Sanderson (Reddit)

It was a tough decision. I think Lucas has ruined doing things like this for a lot of people, and I was certain many readers would dislike it. (Turns out, there have been fewer voices against it than I'd assumed.)

One of the things I'll be doing is making sure Book Three works with either version of the ending. I consider the changes minor. The big reason I made the swap, however, was that (I hope) these books will be read for years to come, and I wanted to get the right ending.

It shouldn't be TOO bad logistically. Remember, the changes shouldn't matter too much for the story as a whole.

[Calderis he/him]

3 minutes ago, The One Who Connects said:

It shouldn't.

I know that, it's why the change doesn't bother me. 

If he's not able to hold to that my opinion will probably change, but for no... Whatever 

[The One Who Connects he/him]

6 minutes ago, Calderis said:

If he's not able to hold to that my opinion will probably change

I kinda have to agree with Brandon and consider the change as a pretty minor one. I'm having a lot of difficulty seeing how the change can even affect the story.

All he has to do is have Kaladin encounter a similar situation, where he remembers the last time he was faced with an opponent who had given up. Have him remember the urge to end Szeth, to finish the fight once and for all(referencing the original ending where he did kill him, and giving added depth to his hesitation before swinging in the new ending). He remembers that darkness within him, and vows not to let it control him again. Page and a half, maybe 2 if includes resolving the situation with whomever he's fighting.

[Calderis he/him]

1 minute ago, The One Who Connects said:

I kinda have to agree with Brandon and consider the change as a pretty minor one. I'm having a lot of difficulty seeing how the change can even affect the story.

All he has to do is have Kaladin encounter a similar situation, where he remembers the last time he was faced with an opponent who had given up. Have him remember the urge to end Szeth, to finish the fight once and for all(referencing the original ending where he did kill him, and giving added depth to his hesitation before swinging in the new ending). He remembers that darkness within him, and vows not to let it control him again. Page and a half, maybe 2 if includes resolving the situation with whomever he's fighting.

I understand and mostly agree, the only place I could even see it being an issue is in interaction between Kaladin and Szeth in the future. 

I don't think it will have an impact, so whichever version people read it should work. 

If for some reason though it is brought up and presents in a way to favor one ending, that's where it would bother me. 

It probably won't ever be an issue other than to purists who think published works should remain unchanged. Throughout history though, even unintentional changes happen regularly and are mostly overlooked. I doubt long term this will be an issue at all, other than  to increase the value of the original printing. 

[Stark he/him]

I personally am not a fan of going back and doing something over to that extent, to the point where it makes me really uncomfortable with the... I dunno, sanctity of what comes after?  If we can go back and have do-overs, it makes me worry about future works, or other elements were authors have said they weren't entirely happy with how situation x, y, or z was handled, and making changes down the line.

42 minutes ago, Ammanas said:

George Lucas changing the Han Solo shot first scene

This is a perfect example of why this is not a good thing to do.  The raging fan controversies that stemmed for all the post release changes are terrible.  Deleted scenes and director's cuts are one things, but going back a modifying scenes bugs me.

 

That said, I get why Brandon did it here.  It makes far more sense than the original ending.  It massively lessens the feeling I got at the end of WoR that death was becoming meaningless.  So as much as I dislike the method used to fix the story, I can accept that in this case it needed doing, and won't complain, as long as this sort of fix doesn't become common in the future.

 

And then I do all sorts of ludicrous mental gymnastics to help convince myself it is okay, partially by looking at it as a big typo fix (because those happen between editions and are okay) and a belief that the difference between my HC copy and my kindle copy is an alternate timeline.  The HC copy (version 1 - is a doomed timeline, Odium wins because Kal made the wrong choice, and the entire Cosmere is doomed, etc, etc, over dramatic etc.) ended not long after and will no longer be written, and the Kindle timeline survives.

 

So I can accept it was done and move on, but I cannot honestly claim to be 100% happy with with it, even if I agree it was necessary to handle the characters properly.

[Calderis he/him]

11 minutes ago, Stark said:

That said, I get why Brandon did it here.  It makes far more sense than the original ending.  It massively lessens the feeling I got at the end of WoR that death was becoming meaningless.

This is actually why the change bothers me. And why if it doesn't remain contained to the book that was changed I'll be unhappy. 

From Kaladin's perspective, he had no way of knowing that Szeth wouldn't block. He was attacking a known threat in an active battle. 

Then Szeth falls and dies and is resurrected. 

He's dead either way and it changes nothing in Kaladin's choices (or it makes him appear inhumanly forgiving in his ability to stop attacking midfight because his opponent paused, which in most battles is the perfect opportunity to just end it) 

And Szeth is dead either way. 

So I'm honestly less bothered by the potential for contradiction, and more bothered by it seeming like a pointless change. 

[Guest]

I voted no. 

While it is true the change appears inoffensive and it certainly doesn't seem to impact the overall plot, I did prefer reading Kaladin killing Szeth as opposed to him allowing him to fall to his death. I am standing onto the fence as to whether or not I appreciate the book being edited to change the ending, I agree with other commentaries I will close my eyes on it for now, but I will hope it won't become a habit. If it is just this one time, then it is true it is a small deal. This being said, as a reader, I did prefer the original ending. 

[gbazz4 he/him]

I have WOR on my nook. When i found out he was changing the scene i tried to get on my nook and see how the original version was written. But as soon as i opened the book the new version had updated so i didn't get to write down the exact original ending. I honestly can't remember how that was written just the concept. Given i can't remember i am not overly invested one way or the other. Though i would like to be able to see the original wording at some point to compare to the new version and see how different it was outside of the concept of what happened. Maybe seeing that would make me feel more one way or the other. But for now I don't feel strongly one way or the other. Like others have said i just hope it doesn't happen more throughout the series.

[Unhinged he/him]

I don't think it will be that big of a deal but I do hope Sanderson can avoid doing this sort of thing in the future. At least this change seems like something he can easily write around. Instead of Kaladin saying "I killed you" to Szeth he'll say something along the lines of "I watched you die". Still I think it's a bad idea to make changes since eventually he's going to write himself into a corner and make a change he can't explain which leaves any fan who bought the original book wondering what happened.