[OB] Teft annoyed me

[ICanDream]

So when Teft swore the ideals it really annoyed me. Around the forum everyone is commending the moment when he swore the Third Ideal and saying it is emotional, while I just found it frustrating.

I find things like this to be a common theme in books. What one character took years to accomplish, another accomplishes in a couple days. I just hate it when everything that one character worked for is made practically worthless when another character does it, three times faster. 

Now I know Teft probably bonded a spren long ago, but Brandon didn’t show it properly. I think that at the end at the Oathgate he should have sworn the Second Ideal. 

[Calderis]

The squires progress faster specifically because they have Kaladin to help guide them. 

He discovered this all on his own, where they have his experience and guidance to learn from. 

Add in that from his time in the slave cage to the end of OB is barely more than  a year, and they've done in a few months what he did in a year, because of his help. 

I understand the reason your frustrated, but I don't see it as an invalidation of what Kal has achieved. It's an additional achievement of Kal's that they're doing so well. 

Edited December 1, 2017 by Ookla, the Incalculable

[Vissy]

Kaladin had to learn that he couldn't do everything himself. Part of being a leader was also to help the others to stand shoulder to shoulder with you... and help you. Teft achieving Third Ideal is indicative of Kaladin's exemplary leadership.

[kmosiman]

I see the first Radiants as a bridge to the Cognitive realm. Sly had to escape at a great cost to herself. Pattern and Wyndle were sent and also lost memories and awareness. We don't know about the other spren yet, but it seems like the first spren of each order was severely limited by coming to the Physical realm. 

While the Skybreakers may be a little different, it appears to be much easier to join. They are told the words and know what to do. If they prove themselves worthy, they attract a Highspren. If they don't, they remain a squire (or fail entirely).  

What Kaladin has done with the Windrunners seems to be similar. Now that he is there to guide his Squires, it becomes much easier for future Windrunners to attract an Honorspren. 

[Toaster Retribution]

It felt a bit sudden, I agree (actually, adding some pages to OB wouldn't have hurt any) but it was mostly the fact that Teft apparently had a Honorspren following him for quite some time that surprised me. I thought him becoming a Radiant was a nice addition to the story. I don't really think it is as awesome as a lot of others did, but it was a good moment.

 

[Noblehunter]

I'm not sure they could physically add more pages to OB. One of the things I like about Sanderson is that he ends his stories when he runs out of book.

From the memory stone regarding the Windrunner's fourth ideal and the Skybreaker training it seems when there were extent orders of the KR, potential recruits don't have quite the same difficulties that Kal faced. Being first and alone is always the hardest.

[MonsterMetroid]

37 minutes ago, Ookla, the Incalculable said:

I understand the reason your frustrated, but I don't see it as an invalidation of what Kal has achieved. It's an additional achievement of Kal's that they're doing so well. 

This is what really stood out to me too. Because of Kaladin the squires know there is a progression, that there is more, and that they should seek it. I mean in the first two books kaladin goes to just discovering there is a bond to then slowly discovering there is more to the bond and more words to speak. To me it is much as real life that competition and collaboration brings forth better results and bridge four have both of these with an example of what to chase guiding them.

[Rainier]

For a while I thought Teft was Jezrien, who had somehow bonded an Honorspren and was becoming a Windrunner. I'm not sure why I thought that, maybe an offhand comment by Teft about Damnation, but I spent the whole book waiting for him to reclaim his Honorblade and acknowledge that he was a Herald.

Needless to say, I felt rather foolish at the end of the book.

I'm curious to find out when, exactly, he first started seeing his Honorspren. We're led to believe that Syl is the only one who defied the Stormfather, and that she's special somehow because she was the last Honorspren 'born' of Honor who wasn't killed by the old Knights Radiant. However it seems clear that Teft may have had an Honorspren much earlier. If he wasn't broken by his strange upbringing, he certainly was when he turned in his parents. 

[Randall Thor]

I don't think it was very sudden.

Teft was raised in a cult that was actively trying to bring back the Knights Radiant. He's the one who tells Kaladin about Surges and absorbing Stormlight from spheres. He has more information about the KR than the average person.

Teft's spren is following him around the entire latter half of the book, reminding him that he "swore oaths" – multiple.

When I first read Teft's oath, "...even if the person I hate most is myself," I actually thought he'd gone and said the Fourth Ideal, since it differed from Kaladin's Third. And given that all of the squires can fly, which Kaladin couldn't do previous to speaking the the Second Ideal, it's safe to assume that all of the squires have spoken their second oaths.

[straits]

Besides the other posters pointing out that Teft's achievements (and that of other bridgemen) only add to Kaladin's own, it is worth pointing out that Kaladin bonded with the Ancient Daughter, not just "some honorspren".

[Aleph-Naught]

I understand the frustration, and sort of identify with it.

I mollify myself by thinking of it as analogous to a scientific discovery/process: the initial, originating, part is arduous/tedious/difficult but once you have realized what's going on, the ability to replicate things or streamline them becomes way easier.

[Aleksiel]

2 hours ago, straits said:

Besides the other posters pointing out that Teft's achievements (and that of other bridgemen) only add to Kaladin's own, it is worth pointing out that Kaladin bonded with the Ancient Daughter, not just "some honorspren".

The whole 'Ancient Daughter' was unnecessary. Syl was special and amazing as it is, no reason to over do it. 

[Andy92]

Szeth was another character who progressed through his Oaths quickly. But he had Nale and the other Skybreakers to train him fairly rigidly. I think it's natural that people who are being trained to become potential Radiants would progress in their Oaths faster than characters who had no guidance from other Radiants. 

[aemetha]

This is to my mind the same issue with all the disagreement over whether Adolin is broken or not. Teft's progression isn't shown in detail, nor Adolin's internal monologue because they are supporting cast, not main cast. It's a false equivalency to compare their progression or lack of comparatively with the other characters because we can't be in both their heads and the heads of the main protagonists at the same time without the book getting stupidly long and repetitive.

The comments about the path they take being charted beforehand are valid, but I don't think you should interpret that in any way as it being easier for them. They have their own internal struggles but we only see it when it is necessary to advance the plot.

[Lord Spiral]

The point about the Squires flying when we see them at the battle at Thaylenah. From what Lopen says about Rock, I took it that they only started drawing Stormlight once they got transported to the city.

I know a theory a while back was that the lesser Spren, Windspren in Kal's case would form Shardplate.  But what if they are what gives Windrunners an increased Squire capacity? Maybe they can only facilitate up to second ideal abilities, at which point they must bond with their own Honorspren to progress. Or possibly, if the winds are of  Honor, maybe they can somehow evolve in to Honorspren by the Nahel Bond.

My other theory is that their squire bond is stronger because they inadvertently use spiritual Adhesion to improve the Connection between would be Squires and themselves, and by extension of the Nahel Bond, the Honorspren.