Future Flashback Anticipation

[Draginon]

Which flashbacks are you most looking forward to versus ones you don't care about? You can list your reasons if you want:

1. Ash and Taln, because of seeing what the ancient Roshar was like

3. Jasnah, she's one of my favorites so I want to know more about her life before the books

4. Szeth, just seeing what he was like before being made Truthless and what brought him to being used by the listeners to kill the king

5. Renarin/Adolin, I'm very curious on what could possibly be told from them

6. Eshonai, I'm not against learning more about her, I'm interested in fact and like learning about listener society in WOR, but I'm more interested in what the others bring to the table

7. Lift, would honestly pick anyone before her. You just know her flashbacks are going to feature her before she met Wyndle and stealing lots of food since she's a glutton, and not a lovable glutton like Jughead and Shaggy.

[cantabile21]

Hmmm... i'm thinking that for Books 6-10, the flashbacks might cover more ground on the 10-year time skip between Books 5 and 6. So characters like Lift and Renarin would have grown up some, and their flashbacks would have more scope for character development than they would at this point in time. 

But i do agree that Ash and Taln would be really interesting, to see history from the Heralds' point of view and how it all came to this. And while i don't care for Szeth that much, i am very curious about his backstory, and it would be cool to see mysterious Shinovar and its people and culture, if through his eyes. Eshonai's flashbacks would also similarly give us a better understanding of Listener society and how they had survived hidden for thousands of years and kept their culture.

[+Extesian]

Taln finding out he's in hell alone. That's it. That's the reason I'm reading 12000 pages. Since the first 25 pages of Way of Kings. That's the reason. Always Taln. 

[Steeldancer]

2 minutes ago, Extesian said:

Taln finding out he's in hell alone. That's it. That's the reason I'm reading 12000 pages. Since the first 25 pages of Way of Kings. That's the reason. Always Taln. 

glares at Extesian Stop taking my motivations!!! 

[Draginon]

4 hours ago, cantabile21 said:

Hmmm... i'm thinking that for Books 6-10, the flashbacks might cover more ground on the 10-year time skip between Books 5 and 6. So characters like Lift and Renarin would have grown up some, and their flashbacks would have more scope for character development than they would at this point in time. 

I kind of figure the gap period will be covered but then it's figuring out if Lift, Renarin and Jasnah will be covering just the gap years or if it'll cover stuff from 1-5 or earlier as well.

[CrazyRioter]

There's a couple of details I hope we get from before the books like whatever happened to Jasnah that led to her being locked up, and Lift's visit to the NW.

[goody153]

Taln is who i'm most curious about. I think Jasnah and Szeth might be really good but Taln is likely the key to all this. The key to conclusion stormlight archives series.

There must be a reason that Sanderson said his favorite character and storyarc is Taln.

[Sherlock Holmes]

The only flashbacks I want are Szeth and Lift's. I enjoy both characters, and I think that it would really kolo (Elantris joke, I'm so hilarious) to see what Lift's life with her mother was like before see was bonded to Wyndle, and how she was lead on the path of an Edgedancer. I'd also like to see what Szeth did to deserve being Truthless, though I'm under the impression that he attracted a spren and was punished for it, and how he was trained to use all of the Radiant powers (seriously, ice skating? That's awesome). 

I'm assuming that Jasnah's having her turn in the spotlight the next book, and then Szeth in the fifth. I'm not that excited about Jasnah being a star, since I really don't like her; she's just a smart jerk 90% of the time. Of the past flashbacks, my favorite was Dalinar's. 

[Calderis]

@AxeliustheGreat the next book is confirmed to be Venli's, with Eshonai flashbacks, then Szeth. The order of the back half isn't set in stone but  Lift is tentatively slated for book six.

Quote

Questioner [PENDING REVIEW]

So, I was gonna ask about which character the next book would focus on?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

Oh, no, that's not spoilery... I said from the get-go I am perfectly all right writing a flashback sequence for a character who has already died in the books. So it's not telling you any spoilers to tell you who the various characters are. So, the front five are Kaladin, Shallan, Dalinar, Eshonai, and Szeth. Those are our front five. And our back five are Lift, Jasnah, Ash, Taln, and Renarin. And, not in that order. I've flipped the order quite a bit as I've been going. 'Cause Dalinar was gonna be book five, and now he's book three. So now Szeth is book five, and Eshonai is book four. Right now, Lift is book six. But the back five, I'm not concerned about, other than making sure I'm setting up the right things, and it's gonna come together.

source

 

[Toaster Retribution]

Ash and Taln for me. I am very interested in Heralds, so I want those two. I think Szeth can be interesting as well. The Shin are mysterious, and seeing them through him will be exciting. 

[WhiteLeeopard]

Szeth.

1. The Shin are to me one of the biggest mysteries in Roshar. We got some clues in OB about their origins but are still pretty much blank when it comes to their present culture and reasonings.

2. Redemption stories are always amazing if properly written, partly because they are not so easy to fully capture. 

3. If the bunch of clues we have put together are right, Szeth bonded or semi bonded a spren years before killing Gavilar, making him the first new (proto?) KR of this era. 

4. Szeth flashbacks will most likely equal more present Szeth which equals more Nightblood.  

[Draginon]

@goody153 It'd be almost poetic if Taln was the focus in the final book, meaning getting the beginning at the end of the story since I think Ash would be showing a little of her pre-Prelude life but mostly on how she came to be destroying her own image. Also it almost seems obvious that his stuff will be on how he became a Herald and everything before the Prelude with a final flashback on Braize but I'm almost wondering if there's more here than we're seeing, especially on the Braize side.

When the back half comes here the order that I think would be interesting: Ash, Renarin, Lift, Jasnah, Taln. This is my pick because it would be go Herald, Kholin, random, Kholin, Herald as a pattern and the information would be spaced good since we can see what the post-Prelude world was like with Ash, what was going on during the gap period and more on the KR with Renarin and Lift, learn about some unknown stuff through Jasnah that would then be confirmed through Taln. I mean what other reason could there be to pick these 5 specifically for the end?

[Calderis]

@Draginon so far, Brandon has done a alternating male female focus. That's confirmed for the front five, and lift opening the back five makes me think it will continue. 

[Draginon]

3 hours ago, Calderis said:

@Draginon so far, Brandon has done a alternating male female focus. That's confirmed for the front five, and lift opening the back five makes me think it will continue. 

I'm thinking that as well but it'd be fun if he mixed it up for the back half. If I did have to go the alternate way and starting with Lift maybe it'd go Renarin, Jasnah, Taln, Ash since it would make more sense for the Heralds to be Last in this version, though it breaks the theme I had of having the final book be the beginning and the end timeline wise since I'm sure Taln will be the focus of the pre-Prelude era and Ash will focus on the moment she was picked and how she came to be by the time of WOK.