[OB] On Shallan's possible character progression - and why Adolin is hindering it

[Blacksmithki]

2 minutes ago, SLNC said:

Look. I'm trying to go by textual evidence here, I can't say whether or not she would rather have a mental breakdown in front of Dalinar, because there is no textual evidence for it. There even is no indication, that Dalinar even planned to bring her to train with the Blade

The point I was making is that Adolin is not the catalyst, and that IF someone else made her use the blade extensively and train with it she would not have been willing to have a mental breakdown and instead use an avoidance methed like we saw happen

 

 

Edited October 4, 2017 by Blacksmithki

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Blacksmithki said:

that IF someone else made her use the blade extensively and train with it she would not have been willing to have a mental breakdown and instead use an avoidance methed like we saw happen

But there is no evidence for that.

[Blacksmithki]

Just now, SLNC said:

But there is no evidence for that.

Do you honestly believe she would be willing to have a mental breakdown in front of, say Dalinar if he tried to train her? What about his ardents? Anyone?

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Blacksmithki said:

Do you honestly believe she would be willing to have a mental breakdown in front of, say Dalinar if he tried to train her? What about his ardents? Anyone?

No, but there is no textual evidence, that proves that. It is not about what you and I believe.

[Blacksmithki]

12 minutes ago, SLNC said:

No, but there is no textual evidence, that proves that. It is not about what you and I believe.

Based on the sheer amount of detail about her character we can make a extremely reasonable guess that she would not be willing to have said breakdown, at a certain point very likely guesses have to be considered as good enough. In this case the odds are so far in favour of shallen not being willing to have said breakdown that we can say that the catalyst for Radiant's creation was not Adolin forcing her to use the blade extensively but being forced to use the blade extensively. There is no direct evidence saying the copycat murders aren't a regular person, but every theory leans on indirect evidence of the uncanny detail in the murders, and there is no real reason to question that.

 

Even beyond that there is less evidence supporting Adolin being the only one that could have been that catalyst then that others could have been based on no one at all wanting to break down, no matter who it is with, everyone does everything possible to avoid triggers, especially if one is not thinking straight because they are about to have a mental breakdown! (Shallan's vision even darkens at one point)

Edited October 4, 2017 by Blacksmithki

[Guest]

Just now, Blacksmithki said:

In this case the odds are so far in favour of shallen not being willing to have said breakdown that we can say that the catalyst for Radiant's creation was not Adolin forcing her to use the blade extensively but being forced to use the blade extensively.

Fine.

Adolin definitely has a bigger emotional impact on her. Maybe she wouldn't even have had an emotional breakdown in front of Dalinar. Maybe she would have been able to push past her barrier again, like she did countless times. I have argued this before in this thread. If we start to begin to talk about possibilities.

[Nebty]

I mean...I don't really think it matters? The bigger problem is that Shallan doesn't have anybody to lean on right now except Pattern. And that's going to be a problem going forward as she keeps using her powers in order to try and cope with her trauma and self-loathing in an unhealthy way.

Adolin would probably be able to help but Shallan is so freaked out about the prospect of him thinking badly of her that she isn't telling him anything. Which leads to stuff like the creation of Brightness Radiant.

[Guest]

14 minutes ago, Nebty said:

Adolin would probably be able to help but Shallan is so freaked out about the prospect of him thinking badly of her that she isn't telling him anything. Which leads to stuff like the creation of Brightness Radiant.

Which is my point. Well, and the fact that Adolin didn't even let Shallan speak.

Quote

She wanted to hide. But she couldn’t. This truth refused to budge from her mind. Could she explain? “So, you’re right, but—”

“Great!” Adolin said. “Great. I brought the Blade guards so we won’t hurt each other. I stashed them back at the guard post. I’ll go fetch them.”

He was out the door a moment later. Shallan stood with her hand stretched toward him, objections dying on her lips. She curled her fingers up and brought her hand to her breast, her heart thundering within.

 

Edited October 4, 2017 by SLNC