Unpopular Brandon Sanderson Opinions

[Truthless of Shinovar he/him]

My work here is done

[Toaster Retribution he/him]

On 2019-03-23 at 3:42 AM, not an Evil Librarian said:

Jasnah is overpowered and unintirestingly perfect. she is to good at everything, and has no flaws at all. This makes her boring.

 

On 2019-03-23 at 9:36 PM, Shard of Thought said:

Amaram is awesome and I would have loved to see more of him. He's intriguing to me and much, much better than Moash.

What? I’m gone for like, a month, and people start sharing my most controversial opinions? Thanks guys!

[ShardShaper he/him]

WARNING

After reading this post, you may be tempted to hunt me down with a hemalurgic spike.

Dalinar is an Idiot. There. I've said it. But seriously, the person who KILLED HIS WIFE is the hero of the stormlight archive? His character development literally is: 

Pre-archive

      1. Starts as bloody psychopath, killing whoever he wants

      2. Goes through numerous war campaigns with his brother, contemplates killing his brother, decides to wallow in self pity instead as his brother steals his girlfriend.

      3. Kills his wife

      4. Wallows in more self pity, gets drunk.

      5. Goes to the nightwatcher so he can forget he's an idiot instead of learning from it.

      6. Goes back to being a bloody psychopath.

Way of Kings

      7. Gets drunk & lets his brother die at a feast

      8. Gets mopey about Gavilars death, and decides to hunt down his killers, simply for the sake of killing them (Probably because he's bored).

      9. Becomes obsessed with a ancient philosophy book, and gets REALLY self righteous. 

    10. Starts dating his dead brother's widow.

     Etc, Etc.

But seriously, how does everyone stand him?

[+Doomstick he/him]

5 hours ago, ShardShaper said:

KILLED HIS WIFE

at least it's only once

also we can stand him because he is learning from his mistakes now

[Pathfinder]

On 4/12/2019 at 4:11 PM, ShardShaper said:

WARNING

After reading this post, you may be tempted to hunt me down with a hemalurgic spike.

Dalinar is an Idiot. There. I've said it. But seriously, the person who KILLED HIS WIFE is the hero of the stormlight archive? His character development literally is: 

Pre-archive

      1. Starts as bloody psychopath, killing whoever he wants

      2. Goes through numerous war campaigns with his brother, contemplates killing his brother, decides to wallow in self pity instead as his brother steals his girlfriend.

      3. Kills his wife

      4. Wallows in more self pity, gets drunk.

      5. Goes to the nightwatcher so he can forget he's an idiot instead of learning from it.

      6. Goes back to being a bloody psychopath.

Way of Kings

      7. Gets drunk & lets his brother die at a feast

      8. Gets mopey about Gavilars death, and decides to hunt down his killers, simply for the sake of killing them (Probably because he's bored).

      9. Becomes obsessed with a ancient philosophy book, and gets REALLY self righteous. 

    10. Starts dating his dead brother's widow.

     Etc, Etc.

But seriously, how does everyone stand him?

As this is the "unpopular brandon sanderson opinion" thread, totally respect your opinion, and you are entitled to it. Only responding because your last sentence is literally asking why other people do not have a problem with him. For me it is because your list is not accurate.

1. the society coupled with the culture, coupled with the thrill, coupled with his own issues led Dalinar down the slippery slope into the man we meet in the past. To me, there is a core being inside young Dalinar that we get to meet as old Dalinar. Evi saw that core being inside him. The tragedy is they didn't have a chance to bring it out together. 

2. Personally wouldn't call it wallowing in self pity. He loved his brother, who used him as a tool. What Gavilar wants, he gets. So Dalinar scared of his own impulses chose to clamp down on them with an iron vice. It shows the depth of his emotion for Navani how much he had to control himself to hold himself back. 

3. It was not his intention nor purpose to kill his wife. 

4. He was devastated at her loss and over what happened to the Rift. That is another glimpse of the man Dalinar could one day be, and becomes. The man Evi saw inside.

5. Goes to the nightwatcher to ask forgiveness. Did not ask to forget. Cultivation took a gamble. Dalinar could have just have easily become the champion Odium wanted. Dalinar chose the other path. 

6. He does not go back to being a bloody psychopath. He keeps away from the capital and focuses on maintenance. Only when he is forced to return, and is overwhelmed by the screams, he goes back to drinking to block them out. 

7. Number 6 explains why he was drunk at the feast. As Dalinar, and Adolin learn when facing Szeth, Dalinar wouldn't have accomplish anything. Gavilar would have still died. So it didn't let Gavilar get killed. Nothing would have prevented it short of a radiant. 

8. He doesn't decide to hunt for Gavilar's killers. Elhokar does. He is the one that calls for the vengeance pact and makes all the highprinces swear to it. 

9. because like any addict, you have to be strong all the time. You cannot allow yourself a single moment of weakness otherwise it will roll out of control. He draws strength from that book to hold true to the man he has become. 

10. Navani pursued him doggedly. Its been roughly 6 years I believe, or more, and Gavilar wasn't a saint. People are entitled to move on and find love again after losing their significant other. 

 

Having said all of that, everyone's got their thing. As mentioned earlier there are those who cannot stand Jasnah while love Amaram. I personally love Jasnah (and wrote a rather long thread quoting every instance with her showing what I feel to be the depth of her character) and conversely cannot stand Amaram. So if Dalinar does not do it for you, I totally respect that. 

Now for my own unpopular brandon sanderson opinion. Originally I just saw Adolin as any other character. I enjoyed his parts like all the other characters. Now I am kind of tired of hearing about him to the point where I have begun to hate the character. 

Edited April 15, 2019 by Pathfinder

[Snorkel]

(\|)(o,,,o)(|/) - Alcatraz is bad and Brandon should feel bad

[not an Evil Librarian]

6 hours ago, Snorkel said:

(\|)(o,,,o)(|/) - Alcatraz is bad and Brandon should feel bad

Why should Brandon feel bad? He didn't write those books. 

[Kidpen he/him]

9 hours ago, Snorkel said:

(\|)(o,,,o)(|/) - Alcatraz is bad and Brandon should feel bad

Any chance you could explain this more?

*poised to sic my alivened on you*

[Snorkel]

9 hours ago, Kidpen said:

Any chance you could explain this more?

*poised to sic my alivened on you*

More:

[Orlion Blight he/him]

Sure, Alcatraz is bad... but you still got Zoidberg, YOU ALL STILL HAVE ZOIDBERG!

[Ishar]

On 4/15/2019 at 11:45 AM, Pathfinder said:

Now for my own unpopular brandon sanderson opinion. Originally I just saw Adolin as any other character. I enjoyed his parts like all the other characters. Now I am kind of tired of hearing about him to the point where I have begun to hate the character. 

I agree with this 100%. Adolin has basically no development, and unlike other underdeveloped characters in the Stormlight Archive (Jasnah), he has had significant page time, and several chapters written from his POV. The only use I have seen for him is to help develop other characters, specifically Shallan, Kaladin, and his father.

Into SA spoiler territory now: (Still about Adolin, and I know most people have probably read all the SA at this point, but just in case)

Spoiler

I feel that having Adolin kill Sadeas was sorta pointless. Sadeas was actually (in my opinion) a great character, and killing him to then replace him with Amaram, who then died, felt a bit like a waste of not one, but two characters with huge potential. I also feel that having Adolin kill Sadeas was meant to develop character, and sure, the murder was hanging over Adolins head for a lot of Oathbringer, but it felt trivial to me, especially when after he confessed the murder to Dalinar, it was pretty much just dismissed.

Non-Adolin Unpopular Opinions:

I don't think this is unpopular, but it is worth saying anyway: Sanderson romances suck. They just do.

Veil is better than Shallan.

Lift can get tiring (I actually really like Lift, its just I can't take to much of her. I do hope that in future SA books she matures)

Making theories and predictions about what will happen/has happened is a waste of time.

Edited November 3, 2020 by Ishar

[Eluvianii he/him]

The story and characters in Mistborn Era 1 are great. But the world is so empty it gets seriously boring.

[not an Evil Librarian]

6 hours ago, Ishar said:

Making theories and predictions about what will happen/has happened is a waste of time.

You think we don't know that?

[Ghanderflaffle she/her]

I like Calamity.

[ebfritz]

@Truthless of Shinovar You truly are Stick.

 

[The Ryshadium]

I've read Elantris twice and I found it extremely boring both times. The Hrathen chapters were the most boring and I don't really like him as a character. I have always felt that Elantris could easily be cut in half. I do enjoy the ending, but there is almost no excitement leading up to it. I actually gave up on this book at first which almost made me give up on Sanderson. Mistborn is what brought me back.

[Mushroom Catalog he/him]

I personally have no problems with the books. I do agree that some are less entertaining than others, but I don't actually dislike any of them. That might be because I have virtually no standards for books apart from the kind of content . I am the kind of guy who just reads the books for fun and doesn't really analyze them all that much, except for the magic systems.

Although, you have to agree, most of them are better than the general fantasy rubbish that usually gets thrown around. (Ok, you don't...)

Edited May 24, 2019 by Mushroom Catalog

[Snorkel]

I have a serious unpopular Brandon opinion.  I can't stand Michael Kramer's reading voice, and I find it very hard to follow.

I wish Brandon would be one of those authors who has two versions of audiobook narrators to choose from!

[Frustration]

Unpopular fantasy opinion: Character development is overrated.

Unpopular Brandon opinion

Brandon's stories could improve by exploring softer magic. I know Nightwatchwer is sort of like that but Shards where pretty soft to begin with.

[Harbour he/him]

Brandon Sanderson's prose is better for reading experience and story/character comprehension than the "beautiful, great" prose of many other authors. I will prefer his prose over Rothfuss' one all the day.

[NattyBo]

He uses colloquial, made up swear words a bit too much.

"Storms! Rust and Ruin!" etc etc.  I don't need him to go like, GRRM low fantasy low, but it *does* come off as a little hokey to me sometimes. 

 

Edited August 14, 2020 by NattyBo

[+Oltux72 he/him]

Vasher is a treasonous man of little personal value, who does not deserve any admiration. A man who advocates censorship as a scholar and murders his wife and best friends is despicable.

Edited August 14, 2020 by Oltux72
typo

[I Am A Fish he/him]

Adolin's gonna kick the bucket. 

[Harbour he/him]

Also, Kaladin is NOT gonna kick the bucket. He will live long happy life through all 10 books.

[Frustration]

3 hours ago, Oltux72 said:

A man who advocates censorship as a scholar and murders his wife and best friends is despicable.

When did he advocate censorship?