[OB] Kaladin and Jasnah as a couple

[Blacksmithki]

12 minutes ago, FuzzyWordsmith said:

Could you elaborate please? I don't quite understand

Compare your parents or yourself at ages (Kal is around 19 I think, add a few for maturity why not, so 25) and at age 35 or so, odds are you/they have a stable career, old friends, and are completely different to how they were when younger, they have very very little in common with their younger selves most likly.

I'm not the best at explaining things but in general most people get along much better with people around the same age and maturity as them.

[AubreyWrites]

On 11/16/2017 at 11:27 AM, Leyrann said:

". But as I said before, I don't think that it is even possible to get people to agree on wheter or not the age difference is too much, and in my opinion it should not play a role in this discussion, as it will undoubtly take over the thread and keep doing so, while it does not actually look at the characters as characters, and therefore doesn't actually discuss them as a couple; it only discusses what age difference is appropriate and what age difference isn't.

The reason why age keeps coming up is precisely because their respective ages are a huge factor in character growth at this point in time. Despite Kaladin having lived through some horrible experiences that DID mature him comparatively to others his age he is still very much prone to the vagaries of youth and navigating the adult world as evidenced by one example- his obliviousness when allowing Lyn to join the windrunners.  The human brain doesn't even finish developing until around the age of 25. 

Jasnah is in her mid 30's. She had traveled the world and made a career for herself. They are on completely different planes of experience when if comes to life experience so yeah at his point in time age is gonna be a huge factor in character.  

On 11/16/2017 at 2:31 PM, Salkara said:

This of course is assuming that surgebinders don't have extended lifespans. We've seen that excessive Investiture can make people live longer on other cosmere worlds (Elantrians, Spook, Awakeners at the fifth heightening, etc.). It's entirely possible that a full Radiant may have a life expectancy in the hundreds of years which would make the age difference between Kaladin and Jasnah much less significant.

Now this is interesting. And much more acceptable to me as an actual possibility in distant future.

1 hour ago, Salkara said:

Shallan was the first to fall for him, but basically all the women are going to have a thing for Kaladin:

He is clearly Stormlight Batman, and it's a well known fact that all women have a thing for Batman, even if they publicly say otherwise.

This seriously cracked me up

1 hour ago, FuzzyWordsmith said:

So, I don't really have a horse in this race either way. But I see a lot of people bring up age. To those people, I must ask a question. Have you read Warbreaker? If so, how do you feel about Siri/Susebron? Because the difference in their age is how old Jasnah is, just for perspective. No one seems to bring that up. If that relationship is OK, why is Jasnah/Kaladin not?

It comes down to life experience. In this case even though Susebron was 50 he had only the life experience and understanding of a 10 year old. So Siri was actually the more mature one here. 

In RL we equate age with life experience more because as you get older, naturally your perspective and physical needs change and so your needs/wants also change and may not be in line with someone further away from your age. In fiction susebron physically doesn't age  so all we have to contend is the mental- which Siri tops out on. 

Jasnah/Kaladin are completely different circumstance. Jasnah is older physically and she was not stuck mentally for the disparity of their ages. She has experience that Kaladin has yet to catch up on. 

And I don't think Jasnah needs a relationship to make her better. She is already amazing. She knows herself and what she wants. ....

All that being said- while I don't ship this as endgame I do think it would be an interesting idea for Jasnah to flirt with the idea (and have trouble coming to terms with desiring a younger man not even a light eyes) I could totally see that doing some interesting things to upset the apple cart so to speak of her plans in life and crack open her character and allow for more growth. ( and it would be so fun to watch their interaction as it's clear Kaladin can go toe to toe with her ) 

Edited November 23, 2017 by AubreyWrites

[Leyrann]

3 minutes ago, AubreyWrites said:

The reason why age keeps coming up is precisely because their respective ages are a huge factor in character growth at this point in time.

I understand and fully agree that they are a huge factor in their character growth. However, we shouldn't be looking at why they are the way they are, but rather how they are. Age is a cause of character, but it's not a part of character by itself.

Oh and I feel like this thread should stay light-hearted. It's not the most serious ship imo, but that only makes it more fun to discuss.

[AubreyWrites]

3 hours ago, Leyrann said:

I understand and fully agree that they are a huge factor in their character growth. However, we shouldn't be looking at why they are the way they are, but rather how they are. Age is a cause of character, but it's not a part of character by itself.

Oh and I feel like this thread should stay light-hearted. It's not the most serious ship imo, but that only makes it more fun to discuss.

At this point in time it is basically impossible to separate age from how they act- especially on Kaladins side as he has not yet reached full mental maturity. Now in a couple hundred years or even a couple decades if they age differently as KR this will be a moot point but right now they aren't on a level playing field. 

I do love that Kaladin isn't afraid to challenge her and can keep up with her. Amaram was much nearer her age and she ran circles around him! 

Im totally looking forward to their future clashes

And I agree- this is a fun thread and I having been having fun running with it- I apologize if I came off as taking it too seriously

. 

Edited November 23, 2017 by AubreyWrites

[mariapapadia]

22 hours ago, The Invested Beard said:

i died 

[rjl]

I'm just thinking, I would actually like to see more scenes of Kaladin and Jasnah interacting but not romantically.

[aemetha]

3 hours ago, AubreyWrites said:

The human brain doesn't even finish developing until around the age of 25. 

Maturing. It never stops developing at any age. 25 isn't a hard rule either, it's more like 21-25 years.

The reason for the preoccupation with age differences can largely be attributed to procreation. Young people are supposed to make babies with young people, because young people are more fertile than older people, of both genders, and their offspring have less developmental issues. Evolutionary drives force young people together. Yes, sometimes people with an age gap fall for each other, but society will never approve of it because deep down the basis of human behaviour is the perpetuation of the genetic line. As far as people are concerned, it is abnormal behaviour, because it is contrary to the optimal pairing.

We can assign all the societal excuses to that we want, they will only ever be a minor factor compared to the evolutionary one. Sorry people, I know we want to think we are more evolved than that, but we are not. We eat, sleep, procreate and raise children just like every other creature on our planet has since life developed.

[Harbour]

No one answered me yet. Can we consider it as weird flirting?

Quote

-Id love that, - Kaladin responded. - In turn, I'll get you some eels to cuddle. You'll feel right at home.

Jasnah, curiously, smiled.

-I'd happily cuddle skyeels, as you offer, if your team would be willing to spend some time imitating them.

Ill change it from subtle to more straightforward.

Quote

-Id love that, - Kaladin responded. - In turn, I'll get you some eel to cuddle. You'll feel right at home.

Jasnah, curiously, smiled.

-I'd happily cuddle skyeel, as you offer, if you would be willing to spend some time imitating it.

 

Edited November 23, 2017 by Harbour

[AubreyWrites]

22 minutes ago, aemetha said:

Maturing. It never stops developing at any age. 25 isn't a hard rule either, it's more like 21-25 years.

That's what I meant although you clarified it better than I did. 

[RenegadeShroom]

Jasnah and Kaladin as a couple is, no. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again: if Jasnah's attracted to men either romantically or sexually, I'll eat a hat.

[Leyrann]

42 minutes ago, RenegadeShroom said:

Jasnah and Kaladin as a couple is, no. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again: if Jasnah's attracted to men either romantically or sexually, I'll eat a hat.

Are you setting up an Adolin-Shallan-Jasnah love triangle now?

[PhineasGage]

17 hours ago, Salkara said:

Shallan was the first to fall for him, but basically all the women are going to have a thing for Kaladin:

He is clearly Stormlight Batman, and it's a well known fact that all women have a thing for Batman, even if they publicly say otherwise.

 

16 hours ago, Blacksmithki said:

Still, Jasnah is in a completely different phase of life then Kaladin,  and brain development goes on untill around age (25 I think), those two things are still most of the arguments about the age difference I can find.

 

12 hours ago, rjl said:

I'm just thinking, I would actually like to see more scenes of Kaladin and Jasnah interacting but not romantically.

 

I love shipping threads. They are just so much fun. Also, I'm rubbish at coming up with theories but I'll happily find canon evidence for someone else's till the cows come home.

People have mentioned the maturity thing several times and raised the issue of the maturity of the physical brain. This is an interesting if difficult topic to discuss because how do you define "stops" and "developing"? Its complicated because as we age, the brain changes. This is true throughout life - an elderly person's brain just looks different to a younger person's brain. And that's assuming a healthy brain - we aren't even talking about dementia etc, just simple aging. So, does that mean the brain is still developing? Do we class that at deterioration? In which case when does deterioration start? Children over the age of 2 start pruning their temporal lobes of phoneme recognition centres if those haven't been stimulated. It is one of the reasons children learn languages better than adults - they can literally hear and understand the sounds better. So is this part of the first stage of deterioration? Or is it simply good housekeeping? Anyway, you see my point.

What about wisdom which is something that is achieved over time? Wisdom is often classified as the ability to take new information, run it through known information and come up with a result using abstract thoughts. It therefore takes time to get because you need a good baseline of information in your brain before you can even start using it. Intelligence is a factor in how fast you can learn stuff and therefore clever people could, in theory, achieve wisdom early, but it is more than that. You need to be able to manipulate data, to tie things together in ways that may be seen as unusual so that connections can be made that others who are less wise would miss. 

Typically though the brain is most "intelligent" between the ages of 20 and 30. It can assimilate the most varied amount of information at the fastest rate during this period of life. It is most "wise" between 40 and 70. After that, it tends to tail off a little, although some of that may be due to the presence of conditions like stroke/dementia etc.

Given this, I think it is fair to say that Jasnah is wiser than Kaladin. She has had more time alive, which not only means she has had her full period of peak "intelligence" but she has also had access to some of the best information available to anyone - Kaladin has barely reached his peak level of intelligence, and due to the Vorin way of segregating learning, can't read so his access to varied information is limited.

Wow, for a lighthearted thread i've gone a bit mad, sorry! And I'm not even done.

Do I think the age is a barrier? Well yes, but mainly because of Jasnah's high WIS score. As Kaladin ages, this barrier will get smaller and smaller. I think Jasnah would find Kaladin trying to keep up tiresome and I think he would get equally irritated because he would hate being told stuff like he was a child. Once that is over though, I could see it working. Of the men in Jasnah's life only Renarin and Kaladin seem clever enough to keep up, and a) Renarin is her cousin and almost more like a baby brother given the way she thinks about him, and b ) he is probably not assertive enough to keep her interested. I like Renarin, but he would simply go round her. Kaladin would stand up to her. Jasnah seems to like it when people do that.

 

My own personal opinion though is that this is not going to happen - despite the way they interact being great reading. I think Jasnah is either gay (or possibly asexual but i'm not so sure about that) so we'd be better off looking at possible female companions for her. I haven't seen any - I can't see her going for Shallan, she treats her too much like a child.

 

[AubreyWrites]

3 hours ago, PhineasGage said:

My own personal opinion though is that this is not going to happen - despite the way they interact being great reading. I think Jasnah is either gay (or possibly asexual but i'm not so sure about that) so we'd be better off looking at possible female companions for her. I haven't seen any - I can't see her going for Shallan, she treats her too much like a child.

I personally don't see her as either of these. I see her as uber focused. And really, until now we haven't really seen any one other than Kaladin challenge her in any meaningful way and come out at least breaking even. Amaram definitely lost his fight.  Dalinar doesn't really even challenge her and he's the freaking BlackThorn!! (Obviously he is not in contention as a romantic option -just pointing out that basically NO ONE stands up to her and doesn't get mowed down)   Why WOULD she waste her time on inferior quality partners. Especially when we take into her consideration her tendency towards logic. Logically, if no acceptable candidate has presented himself there is no point in messing around with inferior goods. And besides, she's got stuff to do. You know, like save the world. 

I think her lack of empathy has less to do with a true desire for connection (although not completely because I also think that what ever trauma they were shutting her away in the dark for as a child also plays a big part in her personality) and more a hyper focus to the exclusion of all else on her mission. That mission before WoR being the voidbringers and preventing their rise and in OB mitigating the damage. 

Like i stated upthread- right now at this point in their lives I don't really see this happening as an end game. Maybe in a couple decades assuming being KR makes them long lived. But man it really is fun to watch them clash and I could totally get behind the flirtation of the idea. 

Seeing what that flirtation would do to Jasnah as it begins to pull her focus from Very Important Work. could be so much fun. Oooh even better if it was onesided on jasnah's part and seeing that interfere with their interactions...

Jasnah: "yes run along little wind runner and guard that terrace over there. While you are at it maybe you can identify with the downtrodden  cremlings  and start the Grand Cremling Revolution against their human oppressors. The big kids are gonna be saving the world over here." ( Storming man! Always looming over everything! Can't he give a woman space!)

Kaladin: (glowers) "If I'm to lead the cremlings, shouldn't you come along. You are a little bigger than normal but I'm sure they won't have any issues identifying with their own."

Jasnah: "Are you calling me fat?"(Oh dear, I've got you there. No impressive flying is gonna save you!)

Kaladin: " Only for a cremling."(Smirks) "But I'm pretty sure that's a good sign among them. Means you are eating well...then again I doubt cremlings would appreciate your particular brand of privilege; you would probably would just end up squishing them."

Jasnah: "Better them than you! If I decided to squish you, no amount of intense stares and fancy flying will save you." (Great I sound like Shallan...intense stare???) 

Kaladin : " Are you saying you want to squish me? I don't know if I'm comfortable getting close enough for any squishing to occur. It would be inappropriate for the leader of the cremling revolution to fraternize with his subordinates."  (Plants feet and crosses arms. Lips twisted in smug smile. Raises an eyebrow in question) 

Jasnah: "What?! No! I'm not, I mean- " (stop standing like that! I don't care how much you loom, You are not winning this argument! Lower your- stop it! Lower that eyebrow! No I'm not looking at your lips- get that smug smile off your face....why am I even thinking about this??!! This is not logical!) "just go do your job! You have a job right?  Mr. All-Floating glowy-pants. "

Kaladin: (smirks and bows) "As you wish Your Cremlingness"

 

 

......I really should actually do the work I'm supposed to be doing instead giggling over mock arguments that I make up in my head... 

Edited November 24, 2017 by AubreyWrites

[PhineasGage]

6 minutes ago, AubreyWrites said:

I personally don't see her as either of these. I see her as uber focused.

Fair enough! As I said, it was a personal opinion. Either way, I think their interactions will be enjoyable to read so I don't mind either way. I think many people here agree it could work in the future but its too soon at the moment. I did enjoy the argument you wrote between them though  

[Salkara]

13 hours ago, RenegadeShroom said:

I've said it before and I'll say it again: if Jasnah's attracted to men either romantically or sexually, I'll eat a hat.

A lot of people seem to think Jasnah doesn't need a romantic storyline, but that ignores a pretty general trend in Sanderson novels (also, pretty much every other author too) where main characters get a romantic pairing. I'll spoiler tag this both for length and potential spoilers for those who are for some reason on a spoiler board without having read any other Sanderson stories.

Spoiler

Reckoners

• David & Megan
• Prof & Tia

Mistborn Era 1

• Vin & Elend
• Sazed & Tindwil
• Kelsier & Mare
• Ham was already married and had kids
• Breeze & Allrianne
• Spook & Beldre

Mistborn Era 2

• Wax & Steris
• Marasi & Allik
• Wayne & MeLaan

Elantris

• Raoden & Sarene

Warbreaker

• Siri & Susebron
• Vivenna & Vasher (I will accept an argument that they're platonic, but she has followed him to another planet)

The Rithmatist

• Joel & Melody

Stormlight Archives

• Dalinar & Navani
• Shallan & Adolin
• Taln & Ash
• Syl & Pattern [1]

Did I miss any? I think that's pretty much every major character in Sanderson's major works. I will agree that Jasnah comes off as very asexual; however, the same could be said of a certain eunuch during the first book we saw him, and his romantic arc shaped an entire world. I'm not married [2] to the idea that Jasnah will pair off with Kaladin, but she's most likely going to have some sort of romantic arc, eventually. The reason for this is simple: readers connect with characters through emotion, and strong emotions are found in relationships. When did we connect more with Jasnah: when she was lecturing Shallan on Soulcasting, or when she decided not to kill Renarin?

There are numerous ways to do a good romantic plot-line for a character like Jasnah without being a cheesy rom-com, Shadolin-style affair, so I think it's a bit shortsighted to say a relationship will ruin Jasnah as a character. Does she need one? No. Will a well-matched, well-executed romantic arc make her better? Most assuredly.

[1] - Just checking if anybody read this.
[2] - Pun completely intended.

 

[Greywatch]

4 hours ago, Salkara said:

A lot of people seem to think Jasnah doesn't need a romantic storyline, but that ignores a pretty general trend in Sanderson novels (also, pretty much every other author too) where main characters get a romantic pairing. I'll spoiler tag this both for length and potential spoilers for those who are for some reason on a spoiler board without having read any other Sanderson stories.

  Reveal hidden contents

Reckoners

• David & Megan
• Prof & Tia

Mistborn Era 1

• Vin & Elend
• Sazed & Tindwil
• Kelsier & Mare
• Ham was already married and had kids
• Breeze & Allrianne
• Spook & Beldre

Mistborn Era 2

• Wax & Steris
• Marasi & Allik
• Wayne & MeLaan

Elantris

• Raoden & Sarene

Warbreaker

• Siri & Susebron
• Vivenna & Vasher (I will accept an argument that they're platonic, but she has followed him to another planet)

The Rithmatist

• Joel & Melody

Stormlight Archives

• Dalinar & Navani
• Shallan & Adolin
• Taln & Ash
• Syl & Pattern [1]

Did I miss any? I think that's pretty much every major character in Sanderson's major works. I will agree that Jasnah comes off as very asexual; however, the same could be said of a certain eunuch during the first book we saw him, and his romantic arc shaped an entire world. I'm not married [2] to the idea that Jasnah will pair off with Kaladin, but she's most likely going to have some sort of romantic arc, eventually. The reason for this is simple: readers connect with characters through emotion, and strong emotions are found in relationships. When did we connect more with Jasnah: when she was lecturing Shallan on Soulcasting, or when she decided not to kill Renarin?

There are numerous ways to do a good romantic plot-line for a character like Jasnah without being a cheesy rom-com, Shadolin-style affair, so I think it's a bit shortsighted to say a relationship will ruin Jasnah as a character. Does she need one? No. Will a well-matched, well-executed romantic arc make her better? Most assuredly.

[1] - Just checking if anybody read this.
[2] - Pun completely intended.

 

I don't think it's a very good argument to say that Jasnah will end up with somebody, not because of any of her own qualities, but of other characters? There are plenty of characters Sanderson writes who don't get romantic partners, and it doesn't follow that because Jasnah is significant the way Brandon writes her, that she's automatically going to end up with someone else.

I really strongly disagree with the idea that romance is the way to connect to characters? That isn't remotely true, and many people on these very forums have chosen their favourite characters not based on their romance arc, but on other qualities that we find relatable. 

Those just aren't strong enough arguments for Jasnah absolutely positively getting a romantic partner.

I really think she doesn't need one, and if Jasnah ends up with a man, I'll be really disappointed.

[FuzzyWordsmith]

So, a lot of people have expressed the notion that they would be disappointed if Jasnah ended up with someone romantically. I understand the sentiment, but I'm not sure why. I think Jasnah seems like she's perfectly fine on her own. But two points.

We don't actually know as much about her, and who she is as a person, as the rest of the main cast. We have a good idea, but we have mainly seen her in high stress situations, and from the eyes of other people. We also have no first hand accounts of her past. There may be stuff there that surprises us. It is also possible that there are things she is repressing in her viewpoint chapters.

Second, I personally don't see anything wrong with her having a romantic partner of any gender, as long as it's written well. What I'm trying to say is that I wouldn't think any less of her, or be disappointed if she ends up in a well-written romantic relationship. Am I alone in that?

[RenegadeShroom]

18 hours ago, Leyrann said:

Are you setting up an Adolin-Shallan-Jasnah love triangle now?

Not at all. Jasnah knows women closer to her own age who she's not in a mentor role with, even assuming she does get any love interests at all. Of the established characters in canon, there's always Liss, I suppose, but nobody jumps out at me so far. So far being the key point, the narrative hasn't devoted a lot of time to exploring Jasnah's personal life up close yet, so until we see more of her, there's going to be very few candidates whom she actually knows. At any rate, my preferred outcome is aroace Jasnah.

4 hours ago, Salkara said:

A lot of people seem to think Jasnah doesn't need a romantic storyline, but that ignores a pretty general trend in Sanderson novels (also, pretty much every other author too) where main characters get a romantic pairing. I'll spoiler tag this both for length and potential spoilers for those who are for some reason on a spoiler board without having read any other Sanderson stories.

  Reveal hidden contents

Reckoners

• David & Megan
• Prof & Tia

Mistborn Era 1

• Vin & Elend
• Sazed & Tindwil
• Kelsier & Mare
• Ham was already married and had kids
• Breeze & Allrianne
• Spook & Beldre

Mistborn Era 2

• Wax & Steris
• Marasi & Allik
• Wayne & MeLaan

Elantris

• Raoden & Sarene

Warbreaker

• Siri & Susebron
• Vivenna & Vasher (I will accept an argument that they're platonic, but she has followed him to another planet)

The Rithmatist

• Joel & Melody

Stormlight Archives

• Dalinar & Navani
• Shallan & Adolin
• Taln & Ash
• Syl & Pattern [1]

Did I miss any? I think that's pretty much every major character in Sanderson's major works. I will agree that Jasnah comes off as very asexual; however, the same could be said of a certain eunuch during the first book we saw him, and his romantic arc shaped an entire world. I'm not married [2] to the idea that Jasnah will pair off with Kaladin, but she's most likely going to have some sort of romantic arc, eventually. The reason for this is simple: readers connect with characters through emotion, and strong emotions are found in relationships. When did we connect more with Jasnah: when she was lecturing Shallan on Soulcasting, or when she decided not to kill Renarin?

There are numerous ways to do a good romantic plot-line for a character like Jasnah without being a cheesy rom-com, Shadolin-style affair, so I think it's a bit shortsighted to say a relationship will ruin Jasnah as a character. Does she need one? No. Will a well-matched, well-executed romantic arc make her better? Most assuredly.

[1] - Just checking if anybody read this.
[2] - Pun completely intended.

 

First off, I didn't claim that she wouldn't have a romance arc, or that it would ruin her as a character. I said that I find it extremely doubtful that she'll have a romance arc with a man. I'd be perfectly happy for her to have a romance with a woman, but the idea of Jasnah being involved with a man is... bizarre and strangely upsetting to even consider. In particular, because this "defrosting the ice queen" trope that I most often see being applied to Jasnah by Jasnadin shippers, really grosses me out. That's a bad trope, and I'd hate for Jasnah to have to undergo it.

Jasnah doesn't need a romantic storyline. And I'm in complete disagreement that a romantic arc, any romantic arc will necessarily make her better, at all. And romance isn't a requirement for relatability and emotion? Jasnah's not emotionless, like people seem to perceive her as, and you seem to be ignoring that one of the most powerful emotional moments in the series involving Jasnah was, as you pointed out, when she decided not to kill Renarin; which has absolutely nothing to do with romance. A character can be fleshed out entirely without romance, because romance is not a necessity for any given individual human being to be an interesting and fully fleshed out person. Strong emotions exist independent of romance! She can be a powerful character, who people connect to and like, through any number of interpersonal relationships and on her own.

All of that is especially relevant to female characters, especially ones like Jasnah, who has so far expressed absolutely zero interest in any romantic or sexual pursuits. There are people like this in real life, and it's not dull or uninteresting, it just is. Forcing a romance on Jasnah just for the sake of having her be in a romance would undermine a lot about her, in particular how absolutely refreshing it is to have a female character who has no interest in romance and who doesn't pursue it and isn't punished by the narrative for doing so. That goes double if she's aroace, and still applies if she's lesbian, for a number of reasons.

I'd also point out that what happened with other Cosmere characters when it comes to romance is not at all relevant to what will happen with Jasnah? She's not any of those characters, and Sazed is a very different person, in very different circumstances from Jasnah, and his feelings on romance aren't an indication of Jasnah's feelings on romance, because they're two different characters. 

[Calthrop]

There's a lot in this thread, so I haven't gone through the it all, but I think there's an interesting angle to a potential Kaladin/Jasnah relationship that I haven't seen discussed anywhere; the Alethi social structure as we knew it is done for. 

The economic/employment problems that stem from the loss of the Parshmen as slaves will be nigh impossible to overcome, and at some point the Radiants/Monarchs will have to negotiate with at least a subsection of the Parshmen, and abolition will be the basic sticking point.  As a corollary, the darkeyed population/leaders will start to get very concerned that the lighteyes will just make them the new Parshmen (because of course they'll try).

That will open the door for Alethi social structure to be addressed at some point, particularly the darkeyed/lighteyes imbalance and the slavery laws.  At the very least, the darkeyed leaders/Radiants (at the very least those with principals, like Kaladin) won't stand for rounding up darkeyes as cannon fodder for the war with Odium without some social concessions, and the traditional Vorin justifications for lighteyed dominance are looking weaker and weaker by the day. 

As an athiest queen, Jasnah will see the logic/necessity behind the restructuring as the Vorin religion doesn't hold much truck with her, but of course she won't want to go through all the motions during a war.  Of course, there's an easy way around that problem, but you'd need to earn the trust of the darkeyed population very quickly somehow...

Which she could do by taking a particular famous former darkeyed slave as her groom/king consort/whatever. In one move she can signal to the masses that their problems won't be overlooked; a man/Windrunner like Kaladin would never let the issue rest after assurances are given.  As a basis for a marriage pact, it fits both their characters to a T and helps skirt a very messy problem in the middle of a war for survival. 

We get a really fun courtship to read about, and come on, he was practically the first thing Jasnah asked Shallan about during their reunion conversation (before she found out Shallan was into him)!  Jasnah might be a little less sexual than most, sure, but she's not dead, and in my opinion this path is more in character than her simply deciding she needs to bag the hot bridgeman. 

Edit: We'd also get to see a pissed-off Veil try to take over Shallan and do Honor-knows-what, so there's that, too!

Edit 2: Changed wording of final sentence.

Edited November 25, 2017 by Calthrop

[Greywatch]

19 minutes ago, Calthrop said:

We get a really fun courtship to read about, and come on, he was practically the first thing Jasnah asked Shallan about during their reunion conversation (before she found out Shallan was into him)!  Jasnah might be a little asexual, sure, but she's not dead, and in my opinion this path is more in character than her simply deciding she needs to bag the hot bridgeman. 

Do you know what asexual means?

[FuzzyWordsmith]

In all fairness, we don't really have in-text evidence of Jasnah's preferences. That's why I feel like this is jumping the gun a bit. We know about her, but I'm not sure how well we know her. Her past as well. We have seen that Dalinar was a completely different person in the past, and learning about who he was has been just as important as knowing who he is. I believe we might run into something similar with Jasnah.

[Calthrop]

7 minutes ago, Greywatch said:

Do you know what asexual means?

Come on, don't be rude.  I wrote a fairly long post that was at least reasonably thought out, and that's where you go with it?

I consider Jasnah someone who doesn't indulge that side of herself because she considers other pursuits more worthy of her time, not in the sense that she doesn't have those interests at all.  The commentary on how well she keeps up her appearance is enough to justify that, I think. 

I'll edit my previous post to say, what, less-sexual or something, to address your concerns on my knowledge of the term.

Edited November 25, 2017 by Calthrop

[Greywatch]

1 minute ago, Calthrop said:

Come on, don't be rude.  I wrote a fairly long post that was at least reasonably thought out, and that's where you go with it?

I consider Jasnah someone who doesn't indulge that side of herself because she considers other pursuits more worthy of her time, not in the sense that she doesn't have those interests at all.  The commentary on how well she keeps up her appearance is enough to justify that, I think.

Okay, yeah, that's a fine interpretation, nothing wrong with it.

My question was meant more to clarify that someone being asexual and yet still being attracted to another person was an oxymoron; asexual means to not feel sexual attraction. 

[Calthrop]

1 minute ago, Greywatch said:

Okay, yeah, that's a fine interpretation, nothing wrong with it.

My question was meant more to clarify that someone being asexual and yet still being attracted to another person was an oxymoron; asexual means to not feel sexual attraction. 

No worries.  I edited my previous post to remove the word asexual.

[AubreyWrites]

@Calthrop

what an intriguing notion- I could totally run with that down the rabbit hole for a bit and see where it leads!