What was he doing there??

[DalinarsThrill he/him]

Wit/Hoid usually has good reasons for showing up at certain places, this is known. During a re-read of WoK's I came across a section that intrigued me...after the giant battle with the Chasmfiend Wit engages Sadeas, and afterwards Elhokar asks what he was doing the whole time. Wit responds with "I had...things to be about." 

Now I think it has something to do with the Chasmfiend. Specifically I think he wanted to observe the special spren that they have. "Nobody knew what kind of spren they were; you only saw them around the freshly killed bodies of the greatshells." For what reason I have no idea...possibly trying to find a spren to bond thinking that if he was close enough to the recently deceased he could attract it to him..I just thought it was interesting.

Does anyone else have any theories as to what he was doing? Or if this has been answered somewhere before I would love a link! 

[Stormlightning she/her]

You've definitely got something worth digging at there, although I don't think there's enough evidence to reach any good conclusions. I'm inclined to say it wasn't because of the spren, since there's plenty of other places he could have gone to see that. It might have had to do with budding KR, because--as we later learn--this chasmfiend fight is one of Dalinar's first real uses of his Surges. That's something important that Hoid can't predict, but can be led to by his powers, which seems like how he usually operates. Or it could have been a million other things. I guess we'll RAFO:)

(Also, welcome!)

[Yata he/him]

Your idea has merit, but you have to realize that Spren like that will not bond to Humans.

Actually there is more into Wit's involvment into Roshar's affairs than his usually business...so I will not exclude also a more mondane reason to be' with the people Who are setting the path of the world.

As Wit is confirmed to have parts in OB, you will be' able to profile his actions Better After Reading it

[DalinarsThrill he/him]

14 hours ago, Stormlightning said:

one of Dalinar's first real uses of his Surges

Mind if I ask how you know this, friend...was there a WoB mentioning this specifically? Nothing he did really stood out to me surge-wise, unless catching the giant claw and holding it was one! Also, I don't think he could have seen that happen whenever because it was mentioned multiple times that the Greatshell was the largest that had ever been seen and or killed. And Elhokar said that Wit wasn't seen anywhere near the battle, so observing the budding KR aspect I kind of ruled out, again I'm just theorizing here .

@Yata Why won't spren like that bond with humans...evidence/WoB? Also, I'm pretty sure that Wit isn't exactly human in the proper sense. Lastly I've read OB....kinda thought that my name gave that away, haha 

[Doomdrinker she/her]

4 hours ago, DalinarsThrill said:

Mind if I ask how you know this, friend...was there a WoB mentioning this specifically? Nothing he did really stood out to me surge-wise, unless catching the giant claw and holding it was one! Also, I don't think he could have seen that happen whenever because it was mentioned multiple times that the Greatshell was the largest that had ever been seen and or killed. And Elhokar said that Wit wasn't seen anywhere near the battle, so observing the budding KR aspect I kind of ruled out, again I'm just theorizing here .

"Dalinar charged toward the king, moving with a speed and grace no man—not even one wearing Shardplate—should be able to manage."

And

"Dalinar held back the claw and matched its strength, a figure in dark, silvery metal that almost seemed to glow."

These two lines seem to suggest he was using stormlight 

[TJtheWiz]

I guess, at a stretch, that the quotes seem to suggest it, but I seriously doubt that he was using stormlight that early on. At that point, he hadn't bonded the Stormfather yet, so how would he be able to access the surges? In my opinion, those descriptions are meant to show just how great a warrior he is, so that us as readers can understand to a better extent what Dalinar was like before Alethkar went to the Shattered Plains.

[Strifelover]

At first I thought that seemed pretty unlikely as well, but maybe it's not so crazy. We know that before Kaladin ever said even the First Ideal, Syl was hanging around him and he was unconsciously drawing in stormlight and using surgebinding. He quite obviously drew in stormlight both during and after being out in the highstorm in order to survive, and he also was able to slightly deflect oncoming arrows during bridge runs. In times of great desperation or need, he's able to access these powers without knowing it.

We also know that Dalinar is clearly connected to the Stormfather, as he's been sending him visions for some time. Is his connection with the Stormfather the same as Kal's with Syl? Almost certainly not, but clearly there is some connection there. Perhaps it's enough that Dalinar could similarly draw in stormlight at a time of great need to save Elhokar.

The only thing to me that really goes against this is that we see him handling Oathbringer quite a bit afterwards. You would think that if he had any sort of bond that would allow him to draw in stormlight, that he wouldn't be able to handle the shardblade. In the end I agree with TJ, it was probably just meant to show how awesome Dalinar is as a warrior, and then contrast that to how he's trying NOT to use force when dealing with the other highprinces.

[Bort he/him]

There is a bit later on where Dalinar draws in some stormlight, the healing process begins, and he realises he has done that before, on the battlefield. So, he has been known to draw in stormlight prior to bonding the Stormfather.

[Jeffo]

I don’t think Hoid knows why he was there.

we know the power/gift he has is for him to be in the right place but not always knowing why, I think this is an example of that.

I’m sure it will be made clear at some point though because it is weird and sticks out in the book.