Odd info about Rlain

[Chiberty]

Quote

Logicrazy12

I didn't see Rlain [on the poster for the Way of Kings Leatherbound Kickstarter].

Brandon Sanderson

There were reasons relating to upcoming books that I didn't want to put Rlain in this. I agree, it would be great with him, but for now, I left him off intentionally.

General Reddit 2020 (May 6, 2020)

This has me very confused. The depictions on the poster are from roughly the WoR time period and from sometime while they were still bridgemen. What could a depiction of Rlain from those points in time spoil about upcoming books? Is there something about his appearance that us readers would notice, but the characters wouldn't?

The only plausible explanation for this that I can think of right now is that Brandon meant to say that he didn't want to put a depiction of Rlain glowing blue with Stormlight. The problem with that explanation, though, is that it would have made sense to depict not-glowing-Rlain, as it would fit in with the time period.

Does anybody have ideas on what a WoR depiction of Rlain would spoil about upcoming books?

Edited May 12, 2020 by ChickenLiberty

[Karger]

1 hour ago, ChickenLiberty said:

The depictions on the poster are from the WoR time period

No they are not.  Kaladin has what appears to be a shardspear and the rest of Bridge Four is glowing indicating that he is of the third ideal.  I would place this mid Oathbringer.

1 hour ago, ChickenLiberty said:

The only plausible explanation for this that I can think of right now is that Brandon meant to say that he didn't want to put a depiction of Rlain glowing blue with Stormlight. The problem with that explanation, though, is that it would have made sense to depict not-glowing-Rlain, as it would fit in with the time period.

IIRC we actually don't know what is going on with Rlain after his OB interlude.  He could be up to something or have gone off on a private mission.

[earthexile]

Rather than trying to position the poster in time, we could work from the point of "What reason could Brandon have for not wanting Rlain to be pictured here?" Because if it was a deliberate, future-story-based choice to not have him there, which we now know it was, then it doesn't really matter what time period is depicted. Even if he was supposed to be there, he's not, because of this other thing.

So what reasons can we come up with that it would be meaningful to include or exclude Rlain?

- Brandon doesn't want to depict a listener glowing with stormlight? Maybe to make Venli seem more special?

- We're not going to like Rlain for much longer and it would piss us off having him on our nice posters?

- He becomes a Radiant of some variety besides Windrunner?

- Brandon doesn't have any listener art that he's satisfied with yet?

 

Any other ideas?

[Chiberty]

2 hours ago, Karger said:

No they are not.  Kaladin has what appears to be a shardspear and the rest of Bridge Four is glowing indicating that he is of the third ideal.  I would place this mid Oathbringer.

Quote

The idea was to have Kaladin and some of the original bridge men standing on a plateau on the bottom of the poster, but then up in the sky above them, there would be images of the bridge men as something more—almost Radiants—from roughly the Words of Radiance time period.

To be fair, he does say "roughly," but this would fit with the end of WoR, during which their depictions here would match up.

Edit: Even if Isaac was just way off here, this couldn't be after Rlain's "disappearance," as Moash's Shardblade gets taken before then. Actually, it seems that Moash is missing his Bridge 4 patch, which places this in early OB. Again, this is before we lose track of Rlain.

Edited May 12, 2020 by ChickenLiberty

[BasementDwellingRadiant]

Maybe Rlain leaves Bridge Four? Having him on the Bridge Four poster wouldn't make a lot of sense if that were the case.

[Karger]

MB spoilers

Spoiler

He could pull a Tensoon

 

[Honorless]

Maybe Rlain discovers a new form that Brandon didn't want to reveal yet? 

[Sandra]

2 hours ago, earthexile said:

We're not going to like Rlain for much longer and it would piss us off having him on our nice posters?

This is not a good enough reason, because Moash is there 

I think it has something to do with the appearance of a Radiant listener. Have no idea how that could spoil anything in the upcoming books though. Maybe his gemheart glows? 

[Quantus]

7 hours ago, Sandra said:

This is not a good enough reason, because Moash is there 

I think it has something to do with the appearance of a Radiant listener. Have no idea how that could spoil anything in the upcoming books though. Maybe his gemheart glows? 

As I understand it, different Orders glow different colors relative to their Order's associated Essence.  Which once again makes me hopeful that Rlain is going to be the Sibling's Bondsmith, which is one of my favorite theories

[Frustration]

8 hours ago, R J said:

Maybe Rlain discovers a new form that Brandon didn't want to reveal yet? 

I've been thinking Rlain will show us, 'RadiantForm'

[Karger]

8 hours ago, Sandra said:

This is not a good enough reason, because Moash is there 

Is he?  Which one?

 

[+Q10fanatic]

10 hours ago, BasementDwellingRadiant said:

Maybe Rlain leaves Bridge Four? Having him on the Bridge Four poster wouldn't make a lot of sense if that were the case.

This makes the most sense to me. He went off looking for the missing Listeners. Maybe he finds them and has to leave his former duties as Bridge 4.

Assuming he finds them, they are certainly not on Team Odium. They will need someplace to go where they can be safe, since they will be obvious targets by the Fuzed. The Listeners completely undermine the arguments that Odium and Fuzed make to the awakened parshmen, so they represent a serious threat. What is the one place on Roshar that 1: is reasonably safe and 2: has enough space for all of them? Uritihiru. 

Once in Urithiru, Rlain is going to be too busy keeping the peace and acting as the bridge between the Listeners and the humans. He may even have to formally withdraw from Dalinar's forces or Kaladin's squires. If that happens, it makes sense to leave him off a poster of Bridge 4.

[Nuatoma]

18 minutes ago, Karger said:

Is he?  Which one?

 

He's the one with the shardblade, right above Kaladin's left shoulder.  The names at the bottom make it kind of clear.

[Karger]

1 minute ago, Nuatoma said:

He's the one with the shardblade, right above Kaladin's left shoulder.  The names at the bottom make it kind of clear.

You have a version with names?

[Nuatoma]

I've just seen the ones posted on 17th shard.

Here:  

https://www.17thshard.com/news/brandon-news/bridge-four-poster-steel-alphabet-bar-pendants-and-yallfest-keynote-r547/

Below 'Bridge Four' it says 'Starring...' and then lists the names going clockwise from Kaladin.  Also, Moash doesn't have a tattoo or scar on his forehead like the others.

Edited May 12, 2020 by Nuatoma

[Karger]

58 minutes ago, Nuatoma said:

Below 'Bridge Four' it says 'Starring...' and then lists the names going clockwise from Kaladin.  Also, Moash doesn't have a tattoo or scar on his forehead like the others.

Wait this is actually clearly at the very end of Oathbringer.  Because Moash is glowing which means he has been given Jes's honorblade.  We don't know what Rlain was doing then.

[NameIess]

5 minutes ago, Karger said:

Wait this is actually clearly at the very end of Oathbringer.  Because Moash is glowing which means he has been given Jes's honorblade.  We don't know what Rlain was doing then.

I don't think Moash is glowing.

[Karger]

Just now, Nameless said:

I don't think Moash is glowing.

The blade very clearly is.  Dead blades don't do that.

[NameIess]

Just now, Karger said:

The blade very clearly is.  Dead blades don't do that.

It's artistic license. The blade looks nothing like Jezrien's.

[BasementDwellingRadiant]

1 hour ago, Q10fanatic said:

This makes the most sense to me. He went off looking for the missing Listeners. Maybe he finds them and has to leave his former duties as Bridge 4.

Assuming he finds them, they are certainly not on Team Odium. They will need someplace to go where they can be safe, since they will be obvious targets by the Fuzed. The Listeners completely undermine the arguments that Odium and Fuzed make to the awakened parshmen, so they represent a serious threat. What is the one place on Roshar that 1: is reasonably safe and 2: has enough space for all of them? Uritihiru. 

Once in Urithiru, Rlain is going to be too busy keeping the peace and acting as the bridge between the Listeners and the humans. He may even have to formally withdraw from Dalinar's forces or Kaladin's squires. If that happens, it makes sense to leave him off a poster of Bridge 4.

This would lend itself really well to the Rlain becomes a Bondsmith theory that floats around every once in a while.

[Karger]

16 minutes ago, Nameless said:

It's artistic license. The blade looks nothing like Jezrien's.

Could the blade also looking nothing like Jezrien's not also be artistic license?

[NameIess]

4 hours ago, Karger said:

Could the blade also looking nothing like Jezrien's not also be artistic license?

Glowing a little bit is completely different from the sword's shape being completely wrong.

[+Q10fanatic]

8 hours ago, BasementDwellingRadiant said:

10 hours ago, Q10fanatic said:

 

This would lend itself really well to the Rlain becomes a Bondsmith theory that floats around every once in a while.

I actually really like that theory and I hope it’s correct!

[BasementDwellingRadiant]

5 hours ago, Q10fanatic said:

I actually really like that theory and I hope it’s correct!

Agreed. Wholeheartedly agreed.

[ScavellTane]

I'm hoping for either Windrunner with the emphasis on the Leading Divine Attribute or Dustbringer for Rlain.