[OB] Oathbringer Back Cover

[Siaun Sanche she/her]

Just now, Varenus said:

I think it is referring to her sister's ambition.

Oh, that would make sense.

[Salkara]

Don't have time to do this right now (and on mobile anyways), but has anyone thrown it into GIMP or PS to fix the angle and then tried to run it through OCR?

Edit: Here's what I can see:

And finally the King, broken by war, he seeks the past. That which was [???]. That which he [??? ??? ???].

Edited September 26, 2017 by Salkara
Mobile autocorrect + my eyesight isn't completely shot yet.

[Ammanas]

Hah you guys are the best! As soon as I saw that picture I was hoping some of the sharders would decode the back of the book!

[Yezrien]

My poor eyes! I feel like a Steel Inquisitor.

Edited September 26, 2017 by Belzedar

[Nymeros]

30 minutes ago, maxal said:

I think it is pretty straight-forward:

The Captain is Kaladin broken by Tien's death.

The Spy is Shallan.

The Stonewalker is Szeth looking for truth.

The King is Dalinar looking for his past.

The Traitor has to be Eshonai looking for redemption.

I honestly doubt any other character than the main five are mentioned on the back of the book cover.

Winner winner, chicken dinner. 

 

What a big, beautiful book.

[Farnsworth]

Could the Traitior be Lift? She feels like she has betrayed her parents, so maybe? Also, she did see a Sleepless so they probably know a bit about her.

[17th Splinter he/him]

5 minutes ago, Farnsworth said:

Could the Traitior be Lift? She feels like she has betrayed her parents, so maybe? Also, she did see a Sleepless so they probably know a bit about her.

Probably not. In AU Arclo talks about "the others" ignore Lift. So she's most likely not on the cover

[Yezrien]

Quote

"This war is not, and never was, what they thought it to be.

"We may soon hold surges again. For the [Radiance?] has [resurfaced?] in [some?], and [done something to] [others?].

This sentence before "The Captain" seems to be the blurriest part, but I think that's roughly what it says.

Possibly "resurfaced in some, and shifted against others." It's very rough guesswork, but that would fit the general theme of the passage.

Edited September 26, 2017 by Belzedar

[Flying she/her]

I'm so amazed by the fact that you guys can even make out any of the words on the back of the book that I'm not thinking properly 

[YKDG22]

The first section I can read pretty clearly.

A new storm has come.

Ash and red lightning sweep the land, awakening our ancient enemies. The Unmade- Shadows of the Enemy's soul- stir, while the eyes of men open. This war is real, and never was what they thought it to be.

[+Extesian he/him]

So i played with color and i think this is more legible. What i have, building on feather, is this. Obviously happy for corrections. 

A new storm has come.

Ash and red lightning sweep the land, awakening our ancient enemies. The Unmade—shadows of the Enemy's mind—stir, while the eyes of men open. This war is not, and never was, what they thought it to be.

We may soon hold Surges again. For the Radiance has resurfaced in some and [illegible] others. The Captain, broken by loss, seeks reconciliation. The Spy, broken by cruelty, seeks vindication. The Stonewalker, broken by oaths, seeks truth. The traitor, broken by ambition, seeks freedom. 

And finally the King, broken by war, he seeks the past. That which was abandoned. That which he must not learn.

For those secrets will crush him as they did the Knights which came before.

Edited September 26, 2017 by Extesian
Updating with suggestions i agree with

[Andy92]

Kind of ironic that the traitor was broken by ambition since Ambition was broken by Odium (presumably). 

[Snipexe he/him]

@Andy92while you might have been joking, there might actually be some logic to that statement. The traitor gets really ambitious, and breaks free from Odiums control (I am pretty sure it is Eshonai)

[Siaun Sanche she/her]

13 minutes ago, Extesian said:

And finally the King, broken by war, he seeks the past. That which was abandoned. That which he [??? ??? ???].

Taking a look at your image, maybe it's "That which he must not know."?

[Botanica she/her]

@Extesian Thanks so much for the decipher!

Unseriously,

Quote

The Spy, broken by cruelty, seeks vindication.

So Shallan goes to Scadrial and finds Wax's gun 

[+Extesian he/him]

1 minute ago, Harry the Heir said:

Taking a look at your image, maybe it's "That which he must not know."?

Thanks mate, I've put that in, I agree

[Calderis he/him]

What I see per @Extesian's image

Quote

A new storm has come. 

Ash and red lightning sweeps the land, awakening our ancient enemies. The Unmade—shadows of the Enemy's mind—stir, while the eyes of men open. This war is not, and never was, what they thought it to be. 

We may soon hold the surges again. For the Radiance has returned to some, and shepards forward others. The Captain. Broken by loss, seeks reconstruction. The Spy. Broken by cruelty, seeks vindication. The Stonewalker. Broken by oaths, seeks truth. The Traitor. Broken by ambition, seeks freedom.

And finally The King. Broken by war. He seeks the past. That which was abandoned. That which he must not know. 

For those secrets will crush him as they did the Knights who came before. 

Thanks Extesian. Still sketchy on a couple spots but that was a massive improvement. 

[+Extesian he/him]

Just now, Calderis said:

What I see per @Extesian's image

Thanks Extesian. Still sketchy on a couple spots but that was a massive improvement. 

Yes, the shepherd bit i like. Nice. 

[Yezrien]

Shepherds forward? That's perfect! Much better than what I had there.

[+Wax he/him]

Did you guys see the marketing plan on the side?

Salt lake city tour and a few other details there...

[Silarn]

I'm going to take a stab, without reading the whole thread yet.

Edit: after my initial post I've read some other attempts and included those I agree with. I'm now reasonably confident in this rendition. I had a lot of overlap with @Calderis and pulled in a few phases in the first paragraph and confirmed hunches in the second and third with a final cross check.

----

A new storm has come.

Ash and red lightning sweeps the land awakening our ancient enemies. The Unmade - shadows of the enemy's mind - stir, while the eyes of men open. This war is not, and never was, what they thought it to be.

We may soon hold Surges again, for the Radiance has resurfaced in some, and shines toward others. The Captain, broken by loss, seeks reconciliation. The Spy, broken by cruelty, seeks completion. The Stonewalker, broken by oaths, seeks truth. The Traitor, broken by ambition, seeks freedom.

And finally, The King. Broken by war, he seeks the past. That which was abandoned. That which he must not know.

For those secrets will crush him as they did the Knights who came before.

 

----

I think "seeks completion" is the only one I'm unsure about from a story point of view, but it's the only word I can see that accurately fits that blur, based on the length and shape.

Edited September 26, 2017 by Silarn
Final clarifications and credit.

[+eveorjoy she/her]

4 hours ago, Harry the Heir said:

I will say this: this is a lot of work we're doing to decipher something that won't be that revealing in any case, and regardless this is a fun exercise.

Oh this is nothing. Remember when just before WoR came out Tor released random pieces of dialogue from the book. The message boards had a field day with those. Most of our theories were wrong. 

[ParadoxicalZen he/him]

Ooo, i wonder if secrets is deliberate rather than secret, given what was written on the Diagram.

[Ciridae]

You guys never cease to amaze me, great job.

Knowing that this was written by Sleepless, is anyone else wondering why they may hold surges again? 

I agree the traitor is Eshonai, I interpret the ambition as something external, the ambition of her sister resulted in the loss of her free will, forcing her to do atrocious things to her own people. When she loses the stormspren I'm sure than knowledge is enough to 'break' her. Knowing how much Eshonai craves freedom it's especially bad. 

Also, it's interesting that Kaladin is referred to as Captain instead of surgeon on this blurb. 

[Mestiv he/him]

5 hours ago, Salkara said:

Don't have time to do this right now (and on mobile anyways), but has anyone thrown it into GIMP or PS to fix the angle and then tried to run it through OCR?

There is no OCR sotfware better than human brain.

I thought traitor is Rlain, but after reading your comments I agree Eshonai fits better.