Book 2 speculation *Spoilers*

[CrazyRioter she/her]

I'd rather we get an all new viewpoint character by book 4.

Nothing saying we can't get new non-focus viewpoints as well, just saying Szeth will get the focus in book 4.

Also, I was reading the other day, and I noticed that in the part where Dalinar saves Bridge 4 from being shot to bits by enraged Parshendi, Kaladin notices that his armour "seemed to glow.". So that's another apparent example of Dalinar's Plate being glowy. Also Syl likes him apparently, which is quite telling. He's almost certainly on the path to Radiantnenss.

[Asha'man Logain]

I figure why not speculate what stuff with happen in book 2?  I'll start by throwing out some stuff that occurs to me:

The Brighteyes who cheated Kaladin of his Shardplate and Shardblade is said to be on his way to the Shattered Plains.  He's in for a nasty shock when he sees Kaladin is favored by Dalinar.

Szeth and Kaladin having a throwdown in full sight of everyone.

I've seen reactions from this that range from, that they'd fight to the death and Kal would win, to thinking that Szeth would lose the fight, then change sides abandon being Truthless. I think based on some info i just ran across I may have figured it out.

They're both right!

I think Szeth will lose, die, come back, no longer Truthless and get with the Good Guys. The ONLY reason I think that this is even possible let alone likely is a quote from Brandon in his HoA annotations:

The trick with saying this is, of course, that I'm as guilty of this as anyone. I've got two books in the works where I'm planning deaths and resurrections—though, of course, I'm building in these elements as plot points of the setting and worldbuilding.

Well, start picking it apart guys. I can't wait to see what you come up with.

Edited July 25, 2011 by Asha'man Logain

[Mad_Scientist he/him]

Actually, it's funny, because I was recently myself wondering if Stormlight Archive might be one of the series Brandon referenced in that annotation. Look at the chapter 65 epigraph:

"They come from the pit, two dead men, a heart in their hands, and I know that I have seen true glory."

But I'm still not certain. Right now, I'm kind of thinking that Szeth will fight Kaladin and be forced to flee, and that we delay things for a little bit.

I know the reaction of some people to that would be "Szeth fleeing? Never." But we know that Szeth is not allowed to seek death, and must do his best to fufill his orders. If he found himself facing a fight he knew he had absolutely no chance of winning (which he easily could, considering an attempt to kill Dalinar could easily find him fighting Kaladin and Adolin at the same time), what would he do? Continue to try and fight them, and die? That's what Szeth would want to do. But wouldn't his honor demand that he flee if possible, and then try to kill Dalinar at another time?

[Chaos he/him]

I've seen reactions from this that range from, that they'd fight to the death and Kal would win, to thinking that Szeth would lose the fight, then change sides abandon being Truthless. I think based on some info i just ran across I may have figured it out.

They're both right!

I think Szeth will lose, die, come back, no longer Truthless and get with the Good Guys. The ONLY reason I think that this is even possible let alone likely is a quote from Brandon in his HoA annotations:

The trick with saying this is, of course, that I'm as guilty of this as anyone. I've got two books in the works where I'm planning deaths and resurrections—though, of course, I'm building in these elements as plot points of the setting and worldbuilding.

Well, start picking it apart guys. I can't wait to see what you come up with.

I was under the assumption that that quote referred to Warbreaker and its sequel, Nightblood. There are the Returned and they are indeed plot points and integrated into the worldbuilding. Plus, he said two books, not ten.

Honestly, I wouldn't be very comfortable if, in a big series, resurrections can happen. That's a little deus ex machina for me. Or deus ex Shard, as the case may be.

[Asha'man Logain]

I was under the assumption that that quote referred to Warbreaker and its sequel, Nightblood. There are the Returned and they are indeed plot points and integrated into the worldbuilding. Plus, he said two books, not ten.

Honestly, I wouldn't be very comfortable if, in a big series, resurrections can happen. That's a little deus ex machina for me. Or deus ex Shard, as the case may be.

I didn't even think about the returned being obviously resurrected..... And Lightsong was a main character, who died and was brought back, and this was built so well into the magic system i didn't even think of it like that. Poops, foiled again!

[Squallor he/him]

Aren't the Heralds technically resurrected? Tal explicitly dies in the prologue, and now hes back again. There's your second book/series with resurrection as a major world building point.

[Mad_Scientist he/him]

I was under the assumption that that quote referred to Warbreaker and its sequel, Nightblood. There are the Returned and they are indeed plot points and integrated into the worldbuilding. Plus, he said two books, not ten.

Honestly, I wouldn't be very comfortable if, in a big series, resurrections can happen. That's a little deus ex machina for me. Or deus ex Shard, as the case may be.

I don't know if Warbreaker was one of the books he was refering to, because while the Returned are indeed resurrected, there were no "deaths and resurrections" during the course of the story. All the Returned had been brought back before the story began, which isn't quite the same thing as having someone die and come back during the main story. The impression I got from that annotation was that we wouldn't just be learning about someone coming back from the dead in the past: it would actually happen to a character we see die.

Could happen in Nightblood though.

As for Stormlight Archive, if it does happen, I'm guessing it won't be for a while yet, and it will probably be related to some yet unrevealed and highly limited aspect of the magic. Something we know can't be repeated.

Edited July 27, 2011 by Mad_Scientist

[happyman he/him]

I don't know if Warbreaker was one of the books he was refering to, because while the Returned are indeed resurrected, there were no "deaths and resurrections" during the course of the story. All the Returned had been brought back before the story began, which isn't quite the same thing as having someone die and come back during the main story. The impression I got from that annotation was that we wouldn't just be learning about someone coming back from the dead in the past: it would actually happen to a character we see die.

Could happen in Nightblood though.

I agree with this.

And how cool would it be to see an established character come back as a Returned, then have to use their powers? We'd get a much better insight into what Returned can and can't do. Given what Brandon said is going to happen in Nightblood, I'm thinking this just might be the case.

Incidentally, given that in the Annotations, Brandon keeps telling us why each of the Returned, Returned, I'm wondering what will happen when we learn about Warbreaker's past. That's gonna be one heck of a reveal. Of course, I've also wondered the same thing about Denth, etc.

[Silus - Shard of Flame he/him]

I was under the assumption that that quote referred to Warbreaker and its sequel, Nightblood. There are the Returned and they are indeed plot points and integrated into the worldbuilding. Plus, he said two books, not ten.

Honestly, I wouldn't be very comfortable if, in a big series, resurrections can happen. That's a little deus ex machina for me. Or deus ex Shard, as the case may be.

But I like seeing characters come back from the dead! It's super awesome! And if anyone can do it right, it's Brandon.

[CrazyRioter she/her]

it's bad when it happens out of nowhere just because the author wanted to do it, it's good when there's a coherent in-world reason why they got resurrected and it doesn't render the part of the story involving their death pointless.

If a monster eats a bunch of people and then they all come back to life the next day like nothing happened that's lame. If a monster eats a bunch of people and then the hero goes on a great quest for the gods to win the right to have them all resurrected that's cool.

[Meandering Monotreme]

Back to talking about the Szeth vs Kaladin stuff: I'm not sure how someone who recently discovered his powers and wields a spear could defeat someone who wields a shardblade and has honed his powers for a lifetime. I don't think Kaladin would win that battle without help--but I can easily imagine Shallan helping him. It would be an awesome scene at the very least. However, neither Szeth nor Dalinar can die, because they both get viewpoints, and besides: I don't want any of the VP characters of SA 1 to die off in SA 2.

About who's getting the major viewpoint in SA 2: Hasn't Brandon said that he has started leaning towards Shallan?

[Xavien]

I wonder if seeing someone else doing what he can do with Stormlight would cause Szeth to reconsider what he was doing. Or at the very least give him enough of a pause so that Kaladin or someone else could disable him. Kaladin also has Syl, who has performed Full Lashings (binding objects together) as pranks but we haven't seen her use these abilities in combat or know what other things she can do. Szeth doesn't always rely on his Shardblade either, relying on lashings and hand to hand. He could find himself in a battle with Kaladin and without his blade and lose before he realizes what is happening or, realizing what is happening forgo using his Blade.

As for the fight between them: Would they be able to perform a lashing on the other? Could one steal Stormlight from the other? Or when Stormlight leaks from one can the other breathe it in? How much more efficient/powerful is Kaladin (though untrained) over Szeth with Stormlight now that he has said the first ideal?

[CrazyRioter she/her]

I can't see Kaladin winning one on one if the fight happens anytime soon, Szeth is just too good, even with Kaladin being able to use Stormlight more efficiently thanks to having said the first two Ideals Szeth has way more experience and a Shardblade. I think it'll have to be Kaladin and Adolin working together to beat Szeth. Unless Kaladin learns really bloody fast.

Edited September 8, 2011 by CrazyRioter

[Arcanist Lupus he/him]

I want to see Syl's reaction to Szeth. I feel that whatever it is, it will give us loads of information while raising about five times as many questions.

[CrazyRioter she/her]

I'm going to predict that she won't like him, at all. something's kinda screwy with Szeth and his powers and his Shardblade, and we know Syl didn't like Dalinar's Shardblade, I think she'll hate Szeth's worse.

[LightReader she/her]

I think that Szeth's assasination attempt on Dalinar will be awesome and something totally unexpected will happen. I also think it won't be right at the beginning of the book. Since Jasnah is friends with Taravangian, I think it would be really interesting if he sent Szeth to travel with them to the Shattered Plains. Jasnah will be suspicious of him since he's Shin, or maybe he'll be in disguise so she doesn't realize he's Shin. I could see Taravangian being good at disguises.

I don't think Szeth will become a good guy, at least not for quite a while, but I do think he's going to be totally shocked to meet another Windrunner who can use his powers. I really want to find out how Szeth learned about the Windrunners in the first place, I'm wondering if he could have something to do with Teft's people being mostly killed off. I think there will definitely be a big Szeth/Kaladin/Adolin fight, and maybe Jasnah will use her lightning too. Shallan will get out of the way, not wanting to expose her secret shardblade but she'll take several Memories of the fight and then draw them. I don't think anyone will die in the fight though, except maybe some unnamed soldiers or one of Kaladin's bridgemen since they'll be acting as Dalinar's bodyguards (that'll make Kaladin really mad). I think Szeth will decide he has to pull back and try again later to kill Dalinar, because he's not sure he can win (he'll be excited about fighting people who might actually stand a chance of killing him but he won't be able to let them do it) and since they aren't his targets, he won't want to kill them if he can avoid it. Kaladin will learn a lot from the fight though, and I think it will also trigger some manifestation of Dalinar's Radiant abilities. Elhokar will freak out and assume that Szeth was really there to kill him instead, maybe he'll manifest some powers too. I could see Szeth returning to Taravangian after the fight and having recognized the honor and goodness of Dalinar & co. decide to kill Taravangian, or maybe just steal back his oathstone and take off on his own for a while.

I think that there won't be a direct confrontation between Kaladin and Amaram for a while, I think there will be some politicking there, and Dalinar will want to know why Kaladin hates Amaram so much - even more than he hates Sadeas.

I think Shallan will have a big crush on Adolin, but Renarin will have a big crush on Shallan. Adolin is still going to be courting that girl Danlan (who I think might turn out to be some sort of spy for Sadeas or maybe the Ghostbloods, she did sort of show up out of no where). I think it will take longer for anything to develop between Shallan and Kaladin because of the whole darkeyes/lighteyes scandal of it all, plus Syl is going to really hate Shallan since she has a shardblade.

I'm hoping for a Shallan book. I want to learn more about the Ghostbloods and about how she killed her father, etc. I also hope we get some Jasnah viewpoints, and maybe a bit of Taln again too. Hopefully we'll get to see some of Kholinar through Taln. Maybe he'll be our interlude character like Szeth was in book 1.

Elhokar is going to have fits over Dalinar courting his mother, while Jasnah will have more of an "its about time" reaction. I'm curious to see what sort of relationship Jasnah and Elhokar will have as siblings. Elhokar needs to tell Jasnah about seeing the symbol heads so she can help him get over his paranoia a little. I would also like to see them both interact with Navani.

Anyways, sorry this is so long and rambling... I think I might actually be more excited about Stormlight 2 than I am for aMoL.

[Link Von Kelsier Harvey he/him]

LightReader, I like all of your ideas! They're well thought out, and I can totally see all of those things happening. I especially like the idea of Szeth traveling with Shallan and Jasnah. If nothing else, they wind up on the same boat.

Except the one about Szeth stealing back the oathstone. He's a little too obsessed with it to do that just yet.

[Arcanist Lupus he/him]

Rock can see Syl, right? I wonder if he'll be able to see Shallan's Truthspren?

[Cheese Ninja he/him]

I've considered some of the same things as Lightreader.

A Shallan/Renarin/Adolin love triangle for instance, although I won't bother guessing at which way the feelings will flow.

I also like the idea of Jasnah and Shallan traveling with Szeth to the Shattered Plains, but again I won't try to guess at what Szeth's assassination attempt will result in. I don't think Szeth can truly oppose Taravangian or that Szeth can kill Dalinar, so I think it more likely that Taravangian will end up changing his plans to include a living Dalinar.

I'm looking forward to the Amaram/Kaladin confrontation a whole lot, and if I'm right about who Kaladin killed, a brief Amaram/Shallan interaction.

The Reddit interview said that Brandon was tending towards a Shallan book. I guess Dalinar will have to wait for book 3 for his flashbacks.

Jasnah and Shallan will be able to recognize what's going on with Elhokar seeing the symbolheaded truthspren if they learn of it. Whether he or Dalinar will actually talk about it to them is something else entirely.

Edited September 14, 2011 by Cheese Ninja

[CrazyRioter she/her]

Dalinar might mention it in private to Jasnah, we know he trusts her and he might figure that Jasnah's one of the best people to talk some sense into Elhokar, or Dalinar might mention it to Navani, and Navani might mention it to Jasnah.

I don't think Taravangian would deliberately put Szeth on the same boat as Shallan and Jasnah, because if they saw him on the boat and then during the assassination and the didn't get killed i the process they'd know to trace him back to Khaarbanath(sp) and Taravangian won't want to risk anybody having any chance of tracing the assassination plot to anywhere near him.

There's definitely going to be a reckoning between Kaladin and Amaram sooner or later, and if you're right about who Kaladin killed and Shallan finds out that Kaladin killed him there's likely to be an awkward scene between Kaladin and Shallan eventually. I hope she'd have the sense not to be really mad at him, but still awkward.

[Aashyma she/her]

I predict that Kaladin gets hold of Szeth's Oathstone-if not in the next book,then somewhere down the series.

[whynaut]

As much as I like Szeth, I think he is shaping up to be a very major villain. Unlike other villains in the books who are already bullies and extremists, the fact that Szeth started blaming his victims is the first step on a dark road to becoming a merciless killing machine. The only difference is that we as readers are going to have to watch as his soul gets picked to pieces as he becomes this.

[Sinitar]

As much as I dislike to even voice this theory(because I like Dalinar way more than Adolin), I think he will most likely die in book 2. My theories:

1. The heritage-After returning to Sadeas' warcamp, Dalinar trades his shardblade in exchange for the bridgemen. That weapon was a part of his soul, and I don't see him living in good conscience now that he had been parted from it. Worse, the one who left him for dead owns it. After he talks with Sadeas and beats some sense into Elhokar, he's talking about giving his Shardplate away. This is going to left him exposed, with nothing valuable to pass on once he dies. Except for his visions. But these have already been scribbled down by Navanni, so Dalinar is not unique anymore.

2. His sense of honor- Szeth only wants to kill Dalinar because of his order. I strongly doubt Dalinar is going to summon all of his men for protection, when he knows what Szeth is capable of. He killed his brother, who was rumored to be one of the most skilled Shardbearers in Alethkar. And Dalinar is pretty much naked in front of this threat. That's why he will most honorably order his men to stay away and not die a pointless death.

3. The Visions- Brace yourselves, because that's the part I don't really like, and thoroughly hope it does not happen. Most recently, the voice that tells him to 'Unite them' speaks to him outside of Hightstorms. Dalinar has already suspected what this means, but he's still far from the truth(I think 'unite them' includes the Parshendi, because I don't think they are the bad guys. Maybe they are manipulated by a force, like Ruin from Mistborn). He already spoke to Adolin about this, and he always scoffed at the ridiculous idea. To hinder his progress, I think Brandon will kill Dalinar so that the quest falls to someone who is not going to be dedicated to it, as Dalinar has been.

Last but not least, I really hope Kaladin does not get an important position in the Kholin Warcamp. While I like that guy, I don't want to see a 'from zero to hero' scenario taking place.

[CrazyRioter she/her]

there's no way Dalinar's going to just roll over and let himself be killed, and there's no way Adolin would let him roll over and let himself be killed. Besides Dalinar's focus book is probably going to be book 3 so he can't die in book 2 cause then it wouldn't make sense to have flashbacks from his point of view in book 3.

[Sinitar]

I didn't say he is going to let himself killed. Even without his Shards, he is still a fighter, but I don't think he will invite all of his soldiers to a carnage if Szeth pays him a visit. That guy killed two Shardbearers easily. Now, that's just a theory. I really hope he does not die, because he's one of my favorite characters. Still, I have not yet discarded that possibility.