Timeline of the Night Gavilar was Assassinated and Questions

[Philomath she/her]

So I’m starting Stormlight again, but I decided to start by listening to all the prologues together to get a better sense of what was going on chronologically. So in doing that I noticed a few things and have a few questions. So I’ll summarize how I feel the timeline goes then ask my questions. 

The earliest thing we see in the evening is Eshonai helping the Listeners with drums then wandering off to explore. She accidentally stumbles across Gavilar meeting with others of the Sons of Honor (one being Amaram). Gavilar sends everyone out, tells Eshonai he plans to bring back her Gods and gives her a mysterious black sphere. Eshonai leaves and tells the Five what Gavilar said and they plan to kill him. After this, Gavilar shows up at the feast (or may have been at it previous to his meeting, I’m actually not sure about that part)

Sometime in the middle of the feast, Jasnah leaves to meet with Liss the assassin. On her way out she notes Sadeas still there. She runs into her father talking to Amaram. She remarks that she didn’t notice her father leave the feast. After a short conversation, she continues on her way, has her first experience in Shadesmar, and meets Ivory. She is late but finally shows up to meet with Liss where she hires her to spy on Aesudan instead of killing her right away. After meeting with Liss she leaves, overhears the 2 “visiting dignitaries” (aka heralds) notes their odd conversation, then hears chaos break out. She follows the trail of destruction and witnesses Szeth’s final lashings on the balcony that result in her fathers death. Gavilar gives Szeth another black sphere and tells him to make sure the Parshendi don’t get it along with his last words to his brother.

Meanwhile, before Szeth started killing people and after Jasnah left the feast, Sadeas gets to the Kings rooms and must have been meeting with Gavilar, thus making him available to pose as the decoy king.

So now my observations and questions. Navani is not mentioned at all. Szeth wonders about where Elhokar and Jasnah are and makes note of Dalinar, but makes no mention of Navani. Jasnah’s POV doesn’t give us anything either. I know there is a recent WoB that the next prologue will probably be Navani, but what could she have been up to? 

Whay was Sadeas up to? Gavilar seems to have been having sketchy meetings all night, so what was he doing with Sadeas?

Why are Nale and Kalak posing as dignitaries? Did they meet Elhokar on purpose or were they there for other reasons? 

I’ve already seen discussions on the black spheres (no need to get into that mess here) and speculation on who the unknown Sons of Honor were. 

And last question (as a joke): Where was Hoid for all of this?

Alright. Any answers, thoughts, or things I’m missing?

Edit to add one more question. What if Gavilar meant “brother” not as Dalinar, but as someone from the Sons of Honor? They have a cult like “brotherhood” feel. 

Edited November 27, 2018 by Philomath
Added one more thought

[Use the Falchion]

2 hours ago, Philomath said:

Where was Hoid for all of this?

In all seriousness, I have no doubt we'll find out during Galivar's part. But maybe he's meeting with Navani! 

[Rasarr she/her]

9 hours ago, Philomath said:

Whay was Sadeas up to? Gavilar seems to have been having sketchy meetings all night, so what was he doing with Sadeas?

Plotting, I imagine. Sadeas' job during Gavilar's reign seemed to be underhanded politicking (the way he did during Dalinar's where's-my-knife flashback), so he might've been talking with Sadeas for perfectly mundane reasons.

I am curious what Navani was up to, though. Given how her marriage with Gavilar seemed to be an unhappy one, she might've decided to sit this one out. This seems dubious, though - with how keenly interested in science she is, I imagine she'd want to meet the listeners.

[ScavellTane]

We're getting her part on the next book I believe. All the Parshendi were at the feast though right?

Edited November 27, 2018 by ScavellTane

[Rasarr she/her]

2 hours ago, ScavellTane said:

We're getting her part on the next book I believe. All the Parshendi were at the feast though right?

Not all. From the prologue:

Quote

Indeed, most of the listeners couldn't attend the feast upstairs (...) but the Alethi has seen to their refreshement anyway, providing mountains of food and drink for the group down there.

(...)

[During the party:] Eshonai hadn't seen her sister since earlier in that day.

So there was a group down in the unloading bay, and Venli was off somewhere as well. (the last one seems... suspicious to me)

[ScavellTane]

Sightseeing with Ulim most likely.

[Turtle373 he/him]

16 hours ago, Philomath said:

 

Why are Nale and Kalak posing as dignitaries? Did they meet Elhokar on purpose or were they there for other reasons? 

 

maybe they wanted to look at the parshendi and see if they were close to returning the fused? it seems like the most likely option to me

or I guess Nale could have been hunting a radiant, Jasnah maybe? 

[Philomath she/her]

19 hours ago, turtle373 said:

maybe they wanted to look at the parshendi and see if they were close to returning the fused? it seems like the most likely option to me

or I guess Nale could have been hunting a radiant, Jasnah maybe? 

These are the 2 thoughts I had regarding them as well. Trying to decide if the Parshendi were a threat is what I lean to most, though, perhaps they had heard rumors about what Gavilar and the  Sons of Honor were up to. I think the last thing they’d want was people actively trying to get them back. 

I’m not sure about Nale hunting Jasnah though. I don’t think she’d be alive come the time of the books if that was the case. 

[+robardin he/him]

Quote

Gavilar gives Szeth another black sphere and tells him to make sure the Parshendi don’t get it along with his last words to his brother.

Oh no, it's not the Parshendi that Gavilar was keen on hiding that black sphere from. When he said "they must not get it" while handing over the black sphere to his own assassin who just said he was hired by the Parshendi, how could he be referring to those selfsame Parshendi?

I think he's referring to the Ghostbloods, as the first thing he says to Szeth after his death blow was "I... expected you... to come... You can tell.. Thaidakar... That he's too late...", and then is confused when Szeth replies, "I don't know who that is."

Edited November 28, 2018 by robardin

[Philomath she/her]

4 hours ago, robardin said:

Oh no, it's not the Parshendi that Gavilar was keen on hiding that black sphere from. When he said "they must not get it" while handing over the black sphere to his own assassin who just said he was hired by the Parshendi, how could he be referring to those selfsame Parshendi?

I think he's referring to the Ghostbloods, as the first thing he says to Szeth after his death blow was "I... expected you... to come... You can tell.. Thaidakar... That he's too late...", and then is confused when Szeth replies, "I don't know who that is."

You could be correct. I assumed he meant the Parshendi because they were talking about them just before he gave it to Szeth. But listening again, it is rather vague and could mean someone different. 

[Lidolas he/him]

4 hours ago, Philomath said:

I’m not sure about Nale hunting Jasnah though. I don’t think she’d be alive come the time of the books if that was the case. 

Only if she'd broken a law and Nale had received authority to execute justice.  Both seem unlikely.

[Philomath she/her]

 

1 hour ago, Lidolas said:

Only if she'd broken a law and Nale had received authority to execute justice.  Both seem unlikely.

I’d say Jasnah’s morals are questionable enough at times to get her in trouble with him. Her philosophy lesson with Shallan in Kharbranth for example may not have been completely legal. And we don’t have enough information on how she worked with assassins to know if she’s never done anything questionably against the law. Nor do we know how Nale always seems to get absolute authority to execute justice. Something about that seems weird to me. I guess my point was that if Nale really suspected Jasnah, she would be under a lot of Skybreaker surveillance and he would pull whatever strings necessary to mete “Justice”

[Personification he/him]

1 hour ago, Philomath said:

 

I’d say Jasnah’s morals are questionable enough at times to get her in trouble with him. Her philosophy lesson with Shallan in Kharbranth for example may not have been completely legal. And we don’t have enough information on how she worked with assassins to know if she’s never done anything questionably against the law. Nor do we know how Nale always seems to get absolute authority to execute justice. Something about that seems weird to me. I guess my point was that if Nale really suspected Jasnah, she would be under a lot of Skybreaker surveillance and he would pull whatever strings necessary to mete “Justice”

I think that Nale was granted his superlegal jurisdictions by kings when he was a Herald or over the last four and a half millenia, and then just keeps his documents really well preserved. 

[Rasarr she/her]

2 hours ago, Philomath said:

Nor do we know how Nale always seems to get absolute authority to execute justice.

I seem to recall from Edgedancer that Nale had the appropriate document naming him the local... uhm, sheriff equivalent, so he probably goes around bullying people into giving him papers (or just legitimately earns the proper ranks). 

On another note, how many Heralds do we suppose were at that party? I remember Kalak, Nale, Jezrien and Ash confirmed - or, in Ash's case, at least her handiwork was present. Ishar is playing God-Priest over in Tukar (well, not playing, that's literally what he is), Taln is still tortured at this point (I think?), and Battar is apparently in Kharbranth Diagramming it up (if Mr T's words are to be believed). So, that leaves Chana, Paliah and Vedel unaccounted for. Should we be looking for them?