[OB] The Fate of Dalinar

[Llarimar he/him]

I've been thinking about the ending of Oathbringer, and was wondering if anyone else thought that Dalinar should have died.  I noticed recently that there haven't been very many major character deaths in Stormlight so far, and with Oathbringer being a bit darker than the previous books I really thought there would be a higher body count.  Plus I think that killing Dalinar off at the end of Oathbringer would have made a lot of sense for his story arc.  Let me explain.

After Kaladin's flashback book, Way of Kings, there was still plenty of character development for him and characters like Tarah we hadn't even met yet.  The same is true for Shallan after Words of Radiance.  But Dalinar's story arc really felt completed to me after Oathbringer - I can't imagine him going in very many new directions after this.  After Oathbringer, Dalinar has come to terms with his past, his wife has forgiven him, he's conquered the Thrill, and he's unlocked his true potential as a Bondsmith.  It would have been perfect, I thought, for him to die at the end of the story in a heroic and dramatic way, perhaps sacrificing himself to open Honor's Perpendicularity or something like that. 

Do you guys think Dalinar should have died at the end of Oathbringer?  And if not, what plot threads and character development do you see for him going forward?

Edited December 8, 2017 by Llarimar

[Farnsworth]

 A few things: Eshonai did die, and while she wasn’t as major character as say, Kaladin, her she was pretty big. Also I think that well Dalinar has finished with the arc of him coming to terms with basically killing his wife, he still has to “become unity” as he said he was for fighting Odium. He has some interesting powers as we saw when he created the perpendicularity, it’ll be interesting to learn what else he could do. It’ll also be neat to watch him unite all the nations, and gather the Radiants.

[Llarimar he/him]

Yeah, I definitely agree that it'll be cool to watch Dalinar unite the Radiants and gather the nations - if he had died at the end of Oathbringer, it would have set back the plot because someone like Jasnah or Navani would have to take over for him.  And it will interesting to have a character whose story arc is mostly resolved, instead of characters like Shallan with all their emotional baggage and inner turmoil.  I can see that Dalinar will be important moving forward, although I still think it would have been fitting for him to die at the end of the book, mainly because I was kind of disappointed by the finale of Oathbringer and thought his death would have been a perfect punctuation mark to end the story.  

Also, I totally forgot about Eshonai's death - it really shocked me when she died, especially since I read somewhere that Brandon had planned for her to be one of the flashback characters in the next books.  Also Elhokar died, although he's kind of easy to forget about.  

[Willow]

5 hours ago, Llarimar said:

Do you guys think Dalinar should have died at the end of Oathbringer?  And if not, what plot threads and character development do you see for him going forward?

Dalinar never actually told his sons how his wife died.. and now he's writing his tell-all book at the end of Oathbringer. So that will have consequences.

[StormingTexan he/him]

If he died who would be the Bondsmith? I think there will be some pretty significant plot lines going forward regarding the Bondsmith abilities. It has been alluded to that a Bondsmith is what caused the Listeners to change into Parshman and I think this may be re-visited at some point. Others disagree with me on this but I think Dalinar is going to have to do a little damage control to regain the trust of the coalition as well. Anyway I think there is still a lot more for Dalinar to do. I don't really get how killing him off once he comes to terms with his past helps the story. Plus we kinda got that already with Elhokar. 

[Toaster Retribution he/him]

We need a major good-guy Bondsmith, at least for a while. The "uniting Roshar" arc isn't over yet either, and I also see him facing off against Ishar in the future. 

As for deaths, Elhokar, Eshonai and Amaram were all major, and we also had minor deaths like Graves, Sah and Beard.

[Guest Procrastinationspren]

I was going to say that it wouldn't be a good idea killing one of the most important characters in the series even before halfway to the end, but then I remembered mistborn, so I'm gonna keep my mouth shut. Still salty about Kelsier, though.

[NotBurtReynolds he/him]

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Edited December 8, 2017 by NotBurtReynolds

[NotBurtReynolds he/him]

8 minutes ago, Procrastinationspren said:

I was going to say that it wouldn't be a good idea killing one of the most important characters in the series even before halfway to the end, but then I remembered mistborn, so I'm gonna keep my mouth shut. Still salty about Kelsier, though.

Pleased don’t take this as insulting, but have you read Secret History yet? Might decrease your sodium levels

[Guest Procrastinationspren]

13 minutes ago, NotBurtReynolds said:

Pleased don’t take this as insulting, but have you read Secret History yet? Might decrease your sodium levels

 

Spoilers just in case

Spoiler

Oh yeah I have. I'm here hoping for some Kelsier love in The Lost Metal. I'm pretty sure there's a WoB somewhere that he'll be important in the next trilogy.

 

Edited December 8, 2017 by Procrastinationspren

[NotBurtReynolds he/him]

4 minutes ago, Procrastinationspren said:

 

Spoilers just in case

  Reveal hidden contents

Oh yeah I have. I'm here hoping for some Kelsier love in The Lost Metal. I'm pretty sure there's a WoB somewhere that he'll be important in the next trilogy.

 

Me too, man! He’s my favorite in the Cosmere..Just needs to attach his string to something  

[The Sovereign]

@Llarimar, you ought to change the title of this thread. It is a pretty big spoiler. Maybe go with somthing like [OB] The Fate of Dalinar or something.

[Knight Oblivion]

If Dalinar dies in the series, his death would be better used in one of the more climatic parts of either story arc. As of Oathbringer we're just in the middle of the first arc and Dalinar still has work to do (both with himself, his culture, and the coalition). Killing him off in before books 4 or 5 (9 or 10 would also work but less well) just seems too preemptive.

 

Also, you've touched one of Dalinar's arcs and issues being solved but ignore the others. Besides the coalition and general unification arcs that have been touched upon, Dalinar has this whole dynamic involving Alethi culture going on. He goes from being subsumed by base stereotypes to unsuccessfully bringing back old cultural norms and is now actively subverting them. I don't think he's done with this and the world would have been poorer if Dalinar was killed off before it was explored more 

[Llarimar he/him]

2 hours ago, StormingTexan said:

If he died who would be the Bondsmith? I think there will be some pretty significant plot lines going forward regarding the Bondsmith abilities.

I had thought it possible while reading the book that Dalinar would die and Navani would become the new Bondsmith.  However I think the dynamic between her and the Stormfather wouldn't nearly be as good as it is with Dalinar.  

[StormingTexan he/him]

7 minutes ago, Llarimar said:

I had thought it possible while reading the book that Dalinar would die and Navani would become the new Bondsmith.  However I think the dynamic between her and the Stormfather wouldn't nearly be as good as it is with Dalinar.  

I like the idea of her becoming the Siblings Bondsmith. 

[Melriken]

The Alethi church excommunicated Dalanar... that relationship needs to be explored.  The joining of the nations, the joining of the Knights Radiant, the joining of the heralds, the true meaning of 'unite them' (the shards of honor? The spren? Humanity? The spren and humans? I am sure it means more then he currently suspects.

[Llarimar he/him]

Just now, StormingTexan said:

I like the idea of her becoming the Siblings Bondsmith. 

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense, especially since the Sibling seems to somehow be the energy source for the giant fabrial that powers Urithiru, and Navani is a fabrial scientist.  I wouldn't be surprised if she is the one in the coming books to figure out what the Sibling is, and to awaken it.  

[Llarimar he/him]

27 minutes ago, Knight Oblivion said:

Besides the coalition and general unification arcs that have been touched upon, Dalinar has this whole dynamic involving Alethi culture going on. He goes from being subsumed by base stereotypes to unsuccessfully bringing back old cultural norms and is now actively subverting them. I don't think he's done with this and the world would have been poorer if Dalinar was killed off before it was explored more 

Yeah, that's a good point.  I can definitely see this plot thread going in a lot of important ways moving forward.  I had seen his attempts to subvert cultural norms as a sort of a joint effort with Jasnah and to a lesser extent Navani, though, so I thought they probably could have kept it up without him (although the personal relationship with Kadash would be lost).  As a side note, I thought it was amusing that they got ride of one heretic ruler just to replace him with another one (Jasnah).  The church is probably pretty exasperated by that.  

[Samrat he/him]

Read only if u habe spoken the third ideal....i mean only of u habe read the third Book. The name is Oathbringer.

Dalinar has just become a radiant. That means something, and not a radiant of any order but of the Bondsmiths...

There can be only three BS in total and Dalinar is only one of them so that makes him important both narrative wise and plot wise. There is the Nightwatcher, another Bondsmith spren and we don't know who will bond with her and of the sibling, the remaining Bondsmith spren the Stormfather will say nothing. So not until another Bondsmith comes into scene Dalinar is going anywhere otherwise the whole Radiant group will fall out.

Unite Them. Not yet over. At the end of Oathbringer the coalition shattered...kind of. The Thaylen guys will be happy to stick with the Radiants whereas the Azir people are fleeing after the truth of voidbringers revealed and getting the incomplete information of Alethi attacking the Thaylens for Odium. There is also Ishar the God Priest of Tukar babbling worthless things. Shinnovar, as usual silent but have the seven honorblades which will definitely come into the plot sometime plus they have an Oathgate. Alethkar breaking off with Kholinar in ruins, and the rest Northern Roshar slowly being engulfed by Odium's pals. Jah Keved, well Taravangian's the king and has secretly sided with Odium to stab Dalinar in the back. A ton of challenges for Dalinar to unite Rosharans geographically.

There are problems with Knights Radiant also. Venli is a Willshaper and the only known one, bit how she will come in contact with Dalinar is unknown. Jasnah is only known one of the Elsecallers whereas no Stoneward has yet come out to reveal himself/herself. The confirmed Dustbriger Malata sides with Taravangian and ultimately Odium. To few, no only one Edgedancer that's Lift and Renarin is a Truthwatcher with a corrupted spren. Windrunners are growing in numbers and that's a good sign. Skybreakers following Nale are now in Team Odium after the Herald chose to fight for the singers. Sezth is the only skybreaker Dalinar has but Sezth's reputation all over Roshar is surely going to hamper the re attempt to form the coalition. Hoid is now a lightweaver alongside Shallan and that's a fine thing. Moreover i would say the whole Knights Radiant are a shell of what they were and the enemies they face are nearly as strong as the old ones. Dalinar leading the Knights will have a tough time facing Team Odium. The battle is over but the war is still on.

And finally the book Oathbringer, a controversial text that Dalinar is writing...WRITING!! ALETHI MEN DON'T WRITE! But still he is. And with that he reveals a long suppressed truth about his wife's death, the truth hidden from his sons as well and the whole Roshar. Dalinar burned Evi during the battle of Rathalas. This will be too great for Adolin and Renarin. An untimely highstorm hitting them. Also now that Adolin has murdered sadeas is known to Dalianar, it will be upon him to do justice with Adolin.

A lot on the table for Dalinar to consume. So, nope he is not dying with so much work left.