[OB] Ending *spoilers*

[Wishell she/her]

Was anybody else actually disappointed that Shallan and Adolin got married? I understand the reasons why she choose him over Kaladin but I guess I just wasn’t ready for that to no longer be a possibility. I just can’t help but feel sorry for Kaladin, he doesn’t seem to have a lot of luck in the love department!

Edited April 1, 2018 by Wishell
Stupid storming title that contained spoilers

[King Cole he/him]

Dude you spoiled it in the title

[Wishell she/her]

Storms!!!

Can I edit it out? Am using a phone and have no idea what I’m doing 

 

EDIT: fixed it! 

Edited April 1, 2018 by Wishell

[BraidedRose]

There were quite a number of people who were disappointed in this part of OB. I think a lot of them have been posting less or not at all recently.

For me, I was very disappointed that Shadolin got married because it seemed so abrupt and not justified by the rest of OB, and Shallan seemed in such a bad state to be making a decision like that. Honestly I don’t really feel it was Shallan who made the decision, and I wish she hadn’t gotten married or chosen a partner at all given that both of them had doubts. And now she is married to a person who she continues to keep enormous secrets from and in my opinion hasn’t even shown her real self to.

I can only hope that not all is as it seems and isn’t really over. If in the next book Shadolin are happy and everything is magically fine between them I will think this was very poor writing sadly.

[Andy92]

I thought it seemed abrupt given all that was going on in the book before it. Not upset she chose Adolin so much as how the timing played out. 

[Zelly]

I agree it seemed tacked on and rushed.  It's possible Brandon didn't want it to be a big affair.  Adolin and Shallan had already had their "you're the one I want" scene in the street.  Also very possible that there was a bigger wedding scene and it simply got edited out and scraped for length.

I very much doubt they're in for marriage bliss though.  Drama makes a story.  And there's a lot of secrets that I think will come to light.

[Toaster Retribution he/him]

7 hours ago, BraidedRose said:

she continues to keep enormous secrets from

I don't think we could name one character, except Pattern, who she doesn't keep enormous secrets from.

[BraidedRose]

3 hours ago, Toaster Retribution said:

I don't think we could name one character, except Pattern, who she doesn't keep enormous secrets from.

Agreed. Maybe Wit. And at that point in the story I wouldn’t have been happy with her marrying anyone (Pattern and Wit included ).

[IronBars he/him]

To be honest the way the wedding was just thrown in at the end  screams of just being bad writing, technically they hadn't even been engaged, just betrothed, which isn't the same thing atal.

Couple that to the point Adolin thought she wanted Kaladin toward the end it just all seemed rushed.

Add to that, that between book 3 and book 4 there is an in world time skip of 1 year, and to me at least it comes across that the whole thing was an after thought and just thrown in for the sake of it.

[Toaster Retribution he/him]

32 minutes ago, BraidedRose said:

Agreed. Maybe Wit. And at that point in the story I wouldn’t have been happy with her marrying anyone (Pattern and Wit included ).

I think Mraize might know a lot as well, which is kinda fun. But she should probably not marry him either. 

@IronBars I feel like Shallan might become pregnant and give birth to her and Adolins child during the gap. That would explain the wedding, and also the time-gap. It might be easier to skip over her pregnancy from a storytelling perspective.

Edited April 2, 2018 by Toaster Retribution

[Elandera she/her]

5 hours ago, Toaster Retribution said:

I don't think we could name one character, except Pattern, who she doesn't keep enormous secrets from.

Honestly, she keeps huge secrets from herself! I'm rereading WoK now, and was struck by a line that went vaguely like "she didn't like thinking about things that made her uncomfortable." All I could think was 'understatement of the year.' 

And as for the wedding, it was rushed enough I completely forgot it happened until I came across this post. I like the pairing, and the marriage does set up some interesting character conflicts (internal and external) for future books. Shallan and Adolin will both have to figure out how involved they are in the other's work. 

[Wishell she/her]

12 hours ago, Toaster Retribution said:

 

@IronBars I feel like Shallan might become pregnant and give birth to her and Adolins child during the gap. That would explain the wedding, and also the time-gap. It might be easier to skip over her pregnancy from a storytelling perspective.

I agree it might be easier to skip over a possible pregnancy but I would be very disappointed as I think it would be quite entertaining to read Shallan’s ‘other selves’ reacting to that. Veil would be horrified and find it a massive inconvenience...particularly as she is the version of Shallan that is most drawn to Kaladin. 

 

11 hours ago, Elandera said:

Honestly, she keeps huge secrets from herself! I'm rereading WoK now, and was struck by a line that went vaguely like "she didn't like thinking about things that made her uncomfortable." All I could think was 'understatement of the year.' 

And as for the wedding, it was rushed enough I completely forgot it happened until I came across this post. I like the pairing, and the marriage does set up some interesting character conflicts (internal and external) for future books. Shallan and Adolin will both have to figure out how involved they are in the other's work. 

Yes! It was a ‘blink and you’ve missed it’ sort of scene. I would have liked there to be more description of the actual wedding itself as I think that would have made it seem more integral to the story. I liked the fact that her brothers arrived in time for the wedding but even that was very quickly brushed past. I think her reunion with her brothers should have had a bigger focus and would have liked to read their reactions as she told them exactly what she’s been up to since she left home.

[RShara she/her]

TBH, a lot of the characters are keeping huge secrets from other characters.

[Calderis he/him]

Lying to themselves is what people are best at. Shallan's lies are just a little bigger than normal. 

[Yata he/him]

19 minutes ago, Calderis said:

Lying to themselves is what people are best at. Shallan's lies are just a little bigger than normal. 

So true

[Angsos]

The wedding happened because Shallan thought it should. She wasn't ready but like she created Veil and Radiant to solve issues she didn't want to deal with, she married Adolin for form's sake. I wouldn't surprised if there's a Gollum scene in the next book, maybe complete with a hologram, where Veil is arguing with Shallan about who she married. For the sake of a hypothetical child, I certainly hope Shallan isn't pregnant because almost anyone, upto and including Stephen Leeds hallucinations would be better mothers than Shallan.

[Wishell she/her]

@Angsos, I agree in some respects that Shallan married Adolin for forms sake but at the same time I do think there is part of Shallan that really did believe it was time to marry him and that he is the right choice. After all, I’m sure she doesn’t want pattern shouting “No mating!” at them for all eternity . For me it just seemed a bit rushed over and I would have like to have seen some sort of heart to heart between her and Kaladin before the wedding took place although, I did find his gift of boots to her on her wedding day to be quite funny.

[Angsos]

I don't Shallan and heart to heart conversations are in the same universe yet so give it time. Seriously though, I wouldn't be surprised if there is some kind of scene with Shallan and Veil arguing over her marriage.

[Xtafa]

I was also disappointed, I liked the tension. Though it does open possible drama instances in future books if there are any fights or.. swaying. I imagine Pattern salivating for a truth/lie that could be involved.

[Leyrann]

1 hour ago, Xtafa said:

I was also disappointed, I liked the tension. Though it does open possible drama instances in future books if there are any fights or.. swaying. I imagine Pattern salivating for a truth/lie that could be involved.

Now I cannot banish the mental image of Pattern salivating.

[IronBars he/him]

23 hours ago, Toaster Retribution said:

@IronBars I feel like Shallan might become pregnant and give birth to her and Adolins child during the gap. That would explain the wedding, and also the time-gap. It might be easier to skip over her pregnancy from a storytelling perspective.

I don't like the idea of her having a child during the time skip, honestly i don't even think that makes sense to happen.

Does anyone know why there is an in world time skip of a year ? I mean by the time a year passes, surely the likes of kaladin will be on 4th/5th ideal,shallan surely would of sorted herself out a bit, completed her mission regards sja anat, Dalinar be surely on 5th ideal, Adolin (if he is gonna) should of revived maya, Renarins role should of got clarity, bridge 4 should have more radiants, as well as other radiants showing up, list goes on and on....

So why we gonna miss all that, instead of seeing it as it happens? 

[Calderis he/him]

12 minutes ago, IronBars said:

So why we gonna miss all that, instead of seeing it as it happens? 

Don't think will miss anything more than we did in the year jumps between the first three Mistborn books. 

[Leyrann]

26 minutes ago, IronBars said:

Does anyone know why there is an in world time skip of a year ? I mean by the time a year passes, surely the likes of kaladin will be on 4th/5th ideal,shallan surely would of sorted herself out a bit, completed her mission regards sja anat, Dalinar be surely on 5th ideal, Adolin (if he is gonna) should of revived maya, Renarins role should of got clarity, bridge 4 should have more radiants, as well as other radiants showing up, list goes on and on....

I doubt that's gonna happen.

Kaladin wasn't able to say the Fourth Ideal when it really mattered, so I really doubt he's going to be able to say it at a random point without a major event happening. Pressure causes change and growth.

As long as Shallan doesn't encounter problems related to her multiple identities, it's not gonna sort itself out. She also has no idea where Sja-Anat is, so I don't see why she'd be able to finish the mission.

Dalinar won't be on the Fifth Ideal for the same reason Kaladin isn't - he's just not gonna be pressured to advance.

Same holds true for Adolin.

Renarin is clear now, right? He bonded a corrupted spren but he's still on the good side. Again, don't see what would happen there.

Bridge 4 might very well have more Radiants - but do we really need to see every single one? I think we'll survive if we hear "oh and this guy swore his first two Oaths now".

Other Radiants will probably show up as well - again, I think we'll survive hearing "there's now some fifteen windrunners, three truthwatchers, three edgedancers, oh, and there's also a new elsecaller".

[IronBars he/him]

1 hour ago, Leyrann said:

I doubt that's gonna happen.

Kaladin wasn't able to say the Fourth Ideal when it really mattered, so I really doubt he's going to be able to say it at a random point without a major event happening. Pressure causes change and growth.

As long as Shallan doesn't encounter problems related to her multiple identities, it's not gonna sort itself out. She also has no idea where Sja-Anat is, so I don't see why she'd be able to finish the mission.

Dalinar won't be on the Fifth Ideal for the same reason Kaladin isn't - he's just not gonna be pressured to advance.

Same holds true for Adolin.

Renarin is clear now, right? He bonded a corrupted spren but he's still on the good side. Again, don't see what would happen there.

Bridge 4 might very well have more Radiants - but do we really need to see every single one? I think we'll survive if we hear "oh and this guy swore his first two Oaths now".

Other Radiants will probably show up as well - again, I think we'll survive hearing "there's now some fifteen windrunners, three truthwatchers, three edgedancers, oh, and there's also a new elsecaller".

Ya thats all true in a manner, but its a bit of a stretch to say nothing happens in that year skip that could cause any of what you said, if as you imply nothing of significance happens in that year then there is no point in the time skip to begin with is there ?

Can't skip a year and the characters not of changed atal, 

[Calderis he/him]

20 minutes ago, IronBars said:

Ya thats all true in a manner, but its a bit of a stretch to say nothing happens in that year skip that could cause any of what you said, if as you imply nothing of significance happens in that year then there is no point in the time skip to begin with is there ?

Can't skip a year and the characters not of changed atal, 

Here's what Brandon had to say on it. 

Quote

Mrrobot112

Eshonai is flashback character [for Stormlight Four], but she is dead in the present. So...who will be main protagonists in the main timeline? Hope for Dalinar, Shallan and Kaladin will be as important as they were in first three books)

Brandon Sanderson

Eshonai will still be the flashback character, and Venli will take a larger role to provide counterpart past/present. But, as always, you will find a focus on all five protagonists from this sequence. (I view them as Dalinar, Kaladin, Shallan, Eshonai/Venli, Szeth.)

Mrrobot112

I heard it would be one year time gap(in world) between books 3 and 4, which make me think about structure of the book.Does it mean, something important could happen during this year, and then it will be explained in some form(maybe another set of flashbacks)?If so, it's hard for me to visualise the book structure: main timeline, Eshonai's flashbaks and another set of flashbacks for past year?Seems like a mess. Or it will be like Mistborn era 1 time gaps between each book?Main narrative just continues without getting stuck with one-year break, and nothing important happens off-screen. It will be nice to get some qualification from you, if possible.Cause now I'm a bit confused.

Brandon Sanderson

Right now, I've got it like Mistborn--we're checking back in a year, as I need to give some things time to progress in world. We'll see when I actually write it, though.

Mrrobot112

Thanks! But please, don't do things like Alien 3-movie, if you know what I mean. It's when they did a time gap between two movies and at the beginning of the new movie they told you that your favorite character died during the time gap, deal with it. This is the worst thing ever and a reason I'm always a bit skeptical about time gaps in fiction. Just hate when things like that happen off-screen.Just don't do it with your books, please.At least can you promise you wouldn't?And what do you think about this trope in general?

Brandon Sanderson

I actually want to write an essay about that very trope (I call it the Newt Principle.) You might see it on my website at some point.

Things will happen during the gap, I'm afraid. You might like it, you might not, but I do plan some of the flashbacks in the second half to help cover this time--so you'll see it eventually. If it helps, I'm pretty sure I understand the dangers of the Newt Principle, and how to not fall into that trap.

source

I think most likely, it's going to be a time of solidification for both sides. Necessary action to progress in war, but boring to read.