little wilson she/her Posted November 20, 2017 Posted November 20, 2017 While reading Oathbringer, I noticed a rather fascinating similarity between the arc of Dalinar's flashbacks and part of the climax of the book. It's actually one of the things I love the most about Oathbringer. Taln was left alone on Braize for 4500 years, and when Ash finds him and tells him this, his reaction isn't condemnation of his old friends. It's gratefulness, because that 4500 years gave mankind time to recover from all the Desolations that came back-to-back previously. Had they joined him and not broken the Oathpact, the next Desolation would've come less than ten years later, and mankind may have been destroyed. But they didn't, and now, they might have a chance to beat Odium. (Also, I find it absurdly impressive that Taln was never supposed to be a Herald, yet he never broke for any of the prior Desolations and it took him 4500 years to break for this one. Oh, Taln, you lovely, mad person, you) So how is this similar to Dalinar's flashbacks? Dalinar couldn't handle the pain of killing Evi and burning the Rift. He would've been destroyed completely, and lost to Odium. After all, one of Odium's biggest things is about people not accepting responsibility for their actions - blaming others for them. Dalinar would've done that; he already was. He was blaming Evi and anyone but himself. Had he kept on that path, he would've been Odium's Champion, and nothing could've changed that. But he went to the Nightwatcher, and Cultivation stepped in. By taking away Dalinar's memories, she gave him a chance to recover, to find someone new and better. To learn and grow and get to a place where maybe, just maybe, he could say no to Odium. I find this beautiful. 6
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