Adolin "The best of them all"

[Leuthie]

Adolin exists as a foil to several character traits (provide a touchpoint so we aren't completely numb to the possibility of stability in the face of so much chaos), currently for Shallan, but he has also been a foil for Kaladin and Dalinar in past books. He's become more of a main character to provide a path for Maya to awaken. The whole journey to Lasting Integrity was climaxed by Maya, while Adolin was completely ineffectual in the entire thing. He's also someone you'd like to have a beer with.

That's it. He serves that person in the books well. Aside from his relationship to Maya, he'll mainly disappear in Book 5 and might die before the 6th book.

[Bigmikey357 he/him]

Of all the characters in danger for book 5, Adolin is the one I'm least worried about.  As far as I'm concerned he's going to live forever; his narrative purpose is served much more by living than dying.  The man is a walking talking emotional support animal and I love him for it. 

[quackquack]

Adolin shines with his interactions with others.  He is left dull on his own.  Over all I like Adolin. Even though he now has a chip on his shoulder, it fits though, because he acts like a chip to the radiant around him, and seems to be as cheap as one too.  

His murder of Sadious still feels vaguely glossed over and as if it hasnt paid off.  Now that everyone in the Sadious camp is taken care of, the only tention of Sadiouses death comes with his interactions with Dalinar.  Dalinar seems to be blind to the journey of other people's.   He has gone through his own and his interactions with his son are tone deaf and hypocritical.  I hope this resolves. 

I like Adolin.  But I feel as if Elend was shattered into two characters, Adolin and Renarin. Adolin is Elend, switch the scholory nature with fashion, throw in new tention with Dalinar, bamboo, Adolin. Renarin is Elends bookestness and self doubt in extreme.   

 

[Argel he/him]

Didn't Brandon split some of Dalinar's aspects off into Adolin between TWOK Prime and TWoK?

[Leuthie]

On 12/4/2020 at 6:55 AM, quackquack said:

His murder of Sadious still feels vaguely glossed over and as if it hasnt paid off.  Now that everyone in the Sadious camp is taken care of, the only tention of Sadiouses death comes with his interactions with Dalinar.  Dalinar seems to be blind to the journey of other people's.   He has gone through his own and his interactions with his son are tone deaf and hypocritical.  I hope this resolves. 

Sadeas was Dalinar's closest friend prior to the stuff in Way of Kings. He held hope that, once the Shattered Plains work was over, they would be friends again.

Dalinar, like any father, hopes his children will be better than he is. This will cause him to key on the weaknesses in himself that he sees in his kids. He harps on Adolin because killing Sadeas shows the possibility of Adolin moving down the path Dalinar followed. Why would he want that path for his son? He doesn't know how to keep Adolin off that path, so he does the best he can. This grates on Adolin because he knows (as does the reader) that killing Sadeas was a one time thing with extremely special circumstances and, especially with no Thrill to coax it, there's no chance that Adolin will go down the same path as Dalinar. 

But this is a normal father son dynamic. It shouldn't completely play out. This is one of those things that will linger for the life of the two of them. That's how this stuff works. Narratively, I'm not sure why Brandon is continuing with it. It's annoying for the people involved in real life, and annoying for the people reading it on the page. But it is real and adds humanity to both characters. A simple father-son argument in the middle of an apocalypse.  

Then again, I see everything Adolin does as grounding for the other characters. Everyone else has severe mental challenges and extreme powers. Adolin is a consistent touchstone to what is actually normal on Roshar. These perfectly normal interactions with his father are part of that.

[Bri-Y]

Honestly, Adolin’s worst flaw is his preference for sewed-up pockets for looks rather than having them functional. Anyone else and that would be a big turn off, but he can be forgiven, if just barely.

[IllNsickly he/him]

47 minutes ago, Bri-Y said:

Honestly, Adolin’s worst flaw is his preference for sewed-up pockets for looks rather than having them functional. Anyone else and that would be a big turn off, but he can be forgiven, if just barely.

I remember having to sew my pockets closed on my uniforms for inspection... If Adolin has a major flaw, that is it. 
 

Storm the fashion, give me functional pockets.

[GroundPetrel]

1 hour ago, Bri-Y said:

Honestly, Adolin’s worst flaw is his preference for sewed-up pockets for looks rather than having them functional. Anyone else and that would be a big turn off, but he can be forgiven, if just barely.

 

52 minutes ago, IllNsickly said:

I remember having to sew my pockets closed on my uniforms for inspection... If Adolin has a major flaw, that is it. 
 

Storm the fashion, give me functional pockets.

You savages just don't understand the value of good fashion!  Why, I bet that when you go to prison in protest of injustice, you don't even bathe every morning!  

;P

(in all seriousness Adolin is my flaming bi dandy of a walking therapy blanket and I love him to pieces)

[joesleepsalot he/him]

I picture Adolin reviving Maya and instantly getting whatever level her ex-KR used to be at the time of the Recreance... new territory, unlimited possibilities I guess, I just hope it's level 5 right away. As far as his character, he's definitely a good dude but it's been mentioned a bunch: he's killed hundreds, his dad accidentally burned his mom alive, he had an emotionally abusive childhood, the dude has been through way more than most people so I'm not sure it's fair to say that he doesn't have holes in his spriritweb. Worst case scenario, if revived Maya and Adolin are the equivalent of a level 2 or 3 knight, at a minimum she will have full-knowledge of all sorts of radiant tricks and know-how that no one else will have. I feel like he is going to somehow revive all the dead eyes though based off the quantity who were at lasting integrity.

Boring or not though, he's one of my favorite characters.... I REALLY hope he and Kaladin have another arena style moment where they merge their skills and slaughter an entire battlefield...those two at peak condition together are gnarles barkley.

[GroundPetrel]

1 hour ago, joesleepsalot said:

Boring or not though, he's one of my favorite characters.... I REALLY hope he and Kaladin have another arena style moment where they merge their skills and slaughter an entire battlefield...those two at peak condition together are gnarles barkley.

Mid-stage Edgedancer Adolin and Full Windrunner Kaladin in a berserk reverse of the duel in WOR vs. a bunch of Odium's top minions?  I am so here for that.  

[RIP Sureblood]

On 12/2/2020 at 5:13 PM, Leuthie said:

The whole journey to Lasting Integrity was climaxed by Maya, while Adolin was completely ineffectual in the entire thing. 

Personally I disagree, I think Maya speaking at all would have been impossible if not for his constant kindness, and I think that's really the point kind of, that he's not going to win a trail through thought out arguments or fighting or something, because his true strength is his kindness, so maya speaking at all was partially his accomplishment

[SylStorm]

I feel like this argument is a bit reductive.  I won’t dispute if he had a good core, so many did as proven by their actions when the going got tough. But which human is ‘good’ all the time in real life? The essence of humanity is growth and change… It is also much easier to maintain “perfect balance” “all the storming time” if you have never known hardship or life-defining challenge? Further there seems to be a negative connotation implied for people who do the hard work to grow and deal with overcoming terrible things? This idea of putting down the incredible strength & determination to make a conscious effort to change, to shift, to become better after knowing another way all your life is a fallacy (keep in mind eg. Dalinar was honed by the brother he trusted as a tool, & the system that allowed Adolin his nice life where he could be a paragon of Alethi ‘virtue’ created people like Kaladin, who Adolin resented at first for seeming to show him up once his life wasn’t the ideal anymore). He was embarrassed of his father because he wasn’t the ideal soldier-leader Adolin thought he should be at one time to his standard, then judgmental even after Dalinar changed for better because he then learnt about past sins (though he himself had invoked the blackthorn), then critical of his efforts as a leader while he shirked the mantle of leadership. So what made him this perfect understanding person? It also begs the question what reason did he have not to be? He was born into an advantageous position with parents who made him feel special, he was loved & things were generally good for him partly because of the hard fought pains of those who crafted the world he could be princeling of.. yet he despised his father the instant he learnt of the price for that in real life because it cost him not just others. 
 

The very first time Adolin’s mettle was challenged/tested he resorted to the lowest level .. he murdered in anger and though that could’ve been understandable he then hid it!  In pretending even with his father and those closest it seems he felt himself to be wrong. So no…he needed to grow up and evolve as well. Look at his full and unequivocal acceptance of every devious thing Shallan did but his overwhelming judgment of his father for being less than an ideal, keeping in mind this was only because of him killing his mother unwittingly not because of the general brutality of the actions of the Blackthorn which he had previously been proud of.  That seems to be a reflection of his own idealization and who he thinks he has to be, & why he was so thrown off and lost purpose because there were others who could do what he did and better. He also never tried very hard to analyze his role or responsibility in subjugation of people like the dark-eyes (also my issue with Shallan and Jasnah) until he lost his privileged position in a changing world. Kaladin on the other hand fought through pain and betrayals to still care and protect even when it hurt and when the people didn’t love him or he them. So yes Adolin does try to do things right as he sees them but he also enjoys being liked and is defined a lot by this so that plays into how he treats people as well.

None of this discounts who he is or growing to be but I wanted to point out that he is given a lot of grace, sometimes more than many, even who take just as worthy steps coming from much further  … 

Edited April 23, 2025 by SylStorm
Clean up

[Treamayne]

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4 hours ago, SylStorm said:

I feel like this argument is a bit reductive. <Snip>

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