What I don't like in this book is..... how predictable it was!

[Bloodless]

First of all, I have to say I do like the book very well. And even the things I dislike may not strike a similar vein with many others. 

My main beef with the story in RoW is that it has become a very typical hero story. Specifically, the story has become so much about character development, and not about actual realism. 

I see this most in the Kaladin's arc. To see my point, I want you guys to look at only the story, without his internal dialogues. The guy at this point is like a god, there is no one who he can't outfight in the planet. His only weakness is his internal mental problems. The Pursuer is introduced as this super powerful, super experienced warrior with OP powers. But Kaladin kicks him left and right all the time, without most of his powers. And at the end, the Pursuer is just like a normal foot soldier to Kaladin, dispatched without even thinking about it. This completely breaks the realism that the Pursuer has been fighting for millenia, and has never lost a fight twice. If a level 3 Windrunner could defeat him so consistantly, how did this guy ever outfight a level 4-5 Radiant in the past, a Radiant with full powers and full plate? The only logical answer would be that Kaladin is simply better than any previous Radiant, or that Pursuer only chose weaklings to fight. But in the latter case, how did he ever built respect among other fused?

Again with Kaladin, whenever he sets his mind to do anything, he succeeds no matter what the opposition does. The fights for the 3 Nodes all showcase this. Alone against a whole army, without powers, his mind in tatters, he always accomplishes his task somehow, and survives! Not once, but again and again and again. From a character perspective, in terms of how Kaladin is succeding despite his problems, and in terms of the theme of "hope", "determination", "effort", this is awesome. But realism, and genuine surprise in the plot, goes out the window. In fact, everything else in the world precisely aligns to allow Kaladin to go through his 'hero's journey'. For example, Fused routinely lets him fight one on one. Leshwi (who is supposed to be a awesome flyer) just lets Kaladin outmanuever her to get to the well. The Fused only thinks of covering the well after he jumps into it. They know the well has other entrances, but don't secure them also. Raboniel is a soulcaster, but never erects a wall to simply block the passage to the Node. Raboniel gets several chances to kill Kaladin, but lets him go. Raboniel never orders Pursuer and other Fused "to Damnation with your bloody traditions, just kill the bastard, get a crossbow and shoot him from the sky". Simply put, the Fused are not putting their full creativity, full effort to win their interests. 

These are only some examples, but there are many others.

I hope you all get my meaning. What I want to say is the character development is driving the plot, and therefore everything becomes so predictable. The character has a big emotional problem, the character can't function properly because of it, character overcomes said problem, character succeeds, character is a better person than before and all the problems are solved. Where is the realistic situation? Character does all these, but everything goes to rust anyway.

Anyway after rereading what I have written, I feel this is too short to fully convey what I want to say. But I hope you get my meaning.

 

 

Edited December 7, 2020 by Bloodless

[+Oltux72]

25 minutes ago, Bloodless said:

I hope you all get my meaning. What I want to say is the character development is driving the plot, and therefore everything becomes so predictable. The character has a big emotional problem, the character can't function properly because of it, character overcomes said problem, character succeeds, character is a better person than before and all the problems are solved. Where is the realistic situation? Character does all these, but everything goes to rust anyway.

Anyway after rereading what I have written, I feel this is too short to fully convey what I want to say. But I hope you get my meaning.

Thank you for well founded criticism. You formulated it better than I could hope to.

Do you agree that this was limited to Kaladin in Urithiru? Adolin fighting the Tukari was fine, Kaladin in Heartstone was fine and the fight against Ishar was too short?

[Shuffel]

I see you point with Kaladin and not denying it  I just want to point out Raboniel was letting him get to the stones, so she could delay the inevitable and keep doing her research. For example she knew were the last node was for a while, but she wanted to keep experimenting on anti storm light. I'm pretty sure she even says this.

[Blackwarder]

Don’t forget that Kaladin is special. I’m not buying the 4th ideal theory about why he stayed up when every one else fell unconscious.

There’s something wrong with that boy.

[Mason Wheeler]

45 minutes ago, Blackwarder said:

There’s something wrong with that boy.

Or something very right.  We've got a WoB saying that there's a reason that the Stormfather calls him "Child of Tanavast."

[Gderu]

6 minutes ago, Mason Wheeler said:

Or something very right.  We've got a WoB saying that there's a reason that the Stormfather calls him "Child of Tanavast."

I'm pretty sure that's simply because he acts like Tanavast did. There have been threads about this in the past.

[HoidIsAdonalsium]

4 minutes ago, Gderu said:

I'm pretty sure that's simply because he acts like Tanavast did. There have been threads about this in the past.

A past WoB has indicated that Kaladin's maternal lineage has a lighteyes connection. There could be a stronger connection to Tanavast lurking somewhere.

[Seloun]

There's likely a literally magical reason why Kaladin wins all of his fights. And based on what Moash has said, and what Kaladin has noted in the past, his survival (and inability to die) is probably not just a coincidence (think mark of Cain). It's been foreshadowed from the very beginning:

Quote

It was odd. It fed his nagging worry that he was subject to some kind of supernatural curse of the type that were supposed to happen to people who sought the Old Magic. There were stories of evil men made immortal, then tortured over and over again—like Extes, who had his arms torn off each day for sacrificing his son to the Voidbringers in exchange for knowledge of the day of his death. It was just a tale, but tales came from somewhere.

Kaladin lived when everyone else died. Was that the work of some spren from Damnation, toying with him like a windspren, but infinitely more nefarious? Letting him think that he might be able to do some good, then killing everyone he tried to help? There were supposed to be thousands of kinds of spren, many that people never saw or didn’t know about. Syl followed him. Could some kind of evil spren be doing the same?

A very disturbing thought.

Sanderson, Brandon. The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, Book 1) (pp. 688-689). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition. 

It's not really accurate that Kaladin succeeds at everything he tries to do. Instead, he's (likely supernaturally) successful at two things: not dying, and combat. While we don't know the specific mechanism of either, the former seems to be a real thing; though Moash may be crazy, he might be onto something.

With respect to Kaladin's ability in combat, Honor + Odium is War. Kaladin show supernatural attunement with combat, more than anyone else in the series:

Quote

Wind. Motion. Kaladin fought two Shardbearers at once, knocking their Blades aside with the helm. He couldn’t attack— didn’t dare try to attack. He could only survive, and in this, the winds seemed to urge him.

Instinct . . . then something deeper . . . guided his steps. He danced between those Blades, cool air wrapping around him. And for a moment, he felt— impossibly— that he could have dodged just as well if his eyes had been closed.

Sanderson, Brandon. Words of Radiance (Stormlight Archive, The) (pp. 670-671). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition. 

There are multiple passages like this one, where combat just seems to click for Kaladin. It's more than 'he's just really naturally good'. Given what we know from RoW, he appears to somehow be linked/bonded to the rhythm of War.

So yes, Kaladin's successes are unrealistic - but that's almost certainly the point; he has external help that has been hinted at but hasn't been fully revealed to this point.

 

WRT Raboniel: Keep in mind that Raboniel is stalling throughout the book because she's looking for a way to permanently kill her daughter (and ultimately, end the war). The reason she proposed converting the Sibling is because she thought Stormlight could be the anti-Voidlight and thus be used to kill her daughter if she figured out how to combine it in the proper manner; once Navani showed her she was wrong about that, converting the Sibling becomes much less of a priority for her. Having Kaladin around to slow things down doesn't really impact her plan, and arguably benefits her overall. Likewise, Leshwi clearly doesn't care to be killing Windrunners; the Fused aren't of one mind with Odium or even each other. 

Edited December 7, 2020 by Seloun

[Mason Wheeler]

10 minutes ago, Seloun said:

With respect to Kaladin's ability in combat, Honor + Odium is War.

No.  The Rhythm produced by the combination of their power is War.  Would a person who picks up Honor and Cultivation become the god of Towers?

[Seloun]

1 minute ago, Mason Wheeler said:

No.  The Rhythm produced by the combination of their power is War.  Would a person who picks up Honor and Cultivation become the god of Towers?

Honor + Cultivation = Science

Quote

Then, a pure song. Rising up from within her. Orderly, powerful. Had she done harm without realizing it? Possibly. Had she made mistakes? Certainly. But she’d been trying to help. That was her journey. A journey to discover, learn, and make the world better.

Honor’s song welled up inside her, and she sang it. The pillar began to vibrate as the Sibling sang Cultivation’s song. The pure sound of Lifelight. The sound began to shift, and Navani modulated her tone, inching it closer and closer to …

The two snapped into harmony. The boundless energy of Cultivation, always growing and changing, and the calm solidity of Honor—organized, structured. They vibrated together. Structure and nature. Knowledge and wonder. Mixing.

The song of science itself.

Sanderson, Brandon. Rhythm of War (The Stormlight Archive) . Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition. 

And yes, I think the implication here is that someone who had both would be Science (or something along that line).

[Mason Wheeler]

5 minutes ago, Seloun said:

The song of science itself.

Oh hey, I know that one!

 

[Ghanderflaffle]

Looking back, I try to see that simple ‘hero's story’ but it isn’t. Kaladin is special. Odium didn’t (I wrote doesn’t and realized that didn’t fit as well anymore) have complete control over his forces. They have other motives, which end up working in Kaladin's favor. The heavenly ones particularly are very motivated by honor. If the windrunners follow their rules, then they will continue to meet them in 1v1 combat.

[Elegy]

I think this is a natural outgrowth of the fact that this book always throws everything it can at Kaladin ... He's traumatized from the Kholinar battle and still has to fight in Urithiru, alone, without his powers, against a whole enemy force, while being depressed and having nightmares by Odium himself, showing him the very things that traumatized him, and the very real possibility that people he loves will die (and one of them does). And then there's also a super annoying macho Fused who really wants to kill him, relentlessly. No character can plausibly pull through this, it's just so insane, so unreasonably much. He just couldn't make it without some trickery along the lines of "and then he pulled himself together and struggled on, although it, well, defies human physis". I think what you mean is a very real thing, and it's a result of Brandon going over the top on how much he wanted Kaladin to hit rock bottom. And he obviously wanted that in order to get to that huge jump from Urithiru at the end, and his Oath as a super emotional moment. And I get that this was an important thing to work towards. But ... well, he kinda piled it on this time.

[Knight of Iron]

 Relevant WOBs:

Kaladin has no more than a natural aptitude for wielding a spear:

Spoiler

Questioner

Why is Kaladin so proficient-- Like naturally born to wield a spear. Is that a weapon he likes or is it a destiny for him?

Brandon Sanderson

So destiny is a strong term... I would say he has natural aptitude, but no more so than a normal person who has a natural aptitude for something. But the way the Spiritual Realm works in the cosmere and the way Connection works, there were certain things that were happening to Kaladin before they happened...

It's like Syl says in one of the books. "You didn't know me then, but I knew you then. Even though we hadn't met yet, I still knew you." You see some weird Connection things too. And these are mostly just for fun sort of cosmere connections. Like when you see Syl take on the look of Shallan standing on the beach. There's gonna be a connection there. It's forming, it doesn't exist yet, but all things are one in the Spiritual Realm, and we're just kinda seeing echoes of that. It's not meant to be destiny, it's more meant to be, "Hey there's little connections happening".

I would not say Kaladin is any more naturally gifted in that than your average professional sports player is naturally gifted in what they do.

Emerald City Comic Con 2018 (March 1, 2018)

Kaladin is one of the greatest soldiers in the cosmere:

Spoiler

Questioner

Who is the greatest warrior in the cosmere? I think it's Kaladin?

Brandon Sanderson

Well, define "warrior" versus "soldier" versus--

Questioner

Who could win at an all-out fight? Even with powers taken away, I think he could still take on a lot of the other warriors.

Brandon Sanderson

A question. Are they on a battlefield? 'Cause Kelsier just murders him in his sleep.

Questioner

Battlefield.

Brandon Sanderson

The actual soldier, battlefield, is probably Kaladin. Problem is, you could put Dalinar in his prime. And they're both pretty good. But, Kaladin is a true soldier.

Oathbringer Edinburgh signing (Dec. 2, 2017)

There is a little more going on with Kaladin's natural aptitude than just him being cocky:

Spoiler

When Kaladin jumps in to help Adolin, and he's fighting and he says he feels like he can fight with his eyes shut. Is that just Kaladin being cocky? Or is that Investiture related? ...It reminded me of atium.

Brandon Sanderson

There's a little more going on there, but it's not as far as you think.

 

[Rorzikel]

Let's also remember though that pre-RoW wobs are full of lies and deceit.*
*(More likely Brandon is just telling a good story and can't be locked down by statements said in a signing line years ago)

Quote

Khyrindor (paraphrased)

Are there Surges that could be considered as God Surges, like the God metals on Scadrial?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes.

Khyrindor (paraphrased)

Progression and Adhesion, perhaps?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

No, but they could be considered as such.

Footnote: Brandon has since clarified that what he actually said was "it was possible to make an analogy between the god metals on Scadrial and certain powers on Roshar."
When Worlds Collide 2014 (Aug. 9, 2014)

Quote

Argent

The "God Surges" you mentioned recently, are they a part of the Way of Kings frontsheet?

Brandon Sanderson

All I said regarding this was to tell a fan that it was possible to make an analogy between the god metals on Scadrial and certain powers on Roshar. However, these are not a codified part of the magic system.

Footnote: Argent is referring to an exchange from When Worlds Collide earlier in the month.
Goodreads: Ask the Author Q&A (Aug. 13, 2014)

Ah yes Brandon nothing codified about Adhesion in the magic system like, say, "The Truest Surge of Honor that is only of Honor and cannot be surpressed like all the other surges and which enables Kaladin to stay awake and the Windrunners to be the closest to awareness of all the orders." Progression is a little funky too, given Lift can power it but not Abrasion. Nothing special about those surges at all.

Or the Mistspren, our resident Truthwatcher spren.

Quote

Pagerunner

The mistspren, who crewed the Honorspren ship. Are they Radiant spren?

Brandon Sanderson

No they are not.

JordanCon 2018 (April 22, 2018)

Some people have tried to make the argument that Brandon was saying that those specific spren weren't the spren of Radiants rather than him saying they weren't Truespren, but I call bull on that. Both Brandon and the fandom are on record numerous times calling nahel bond Truespren "Radiant spren." Brandon can and does change his mind.

Basically all that is to say is that Kaladin is definitely special, in my opinion, even if he wasn't intended as such originally or if Brandon was obfuscating the details earlier to lay red herrings away from future plot points.

[trav]

as the OP outlined. its not about Kaladins aptitude or w/e. its also about the rest aligning so he succeeds.
especially the Fused fighting him 1v1 was irritating to read.

for me, it takes away the suspense. once I know a character will always make it (and yeah, I get that Kaladin ultimately will not fail. there can still be suspense) I lose interest in that character.
it probably did not help that I never cared for Teft. that hit me like a wet noodle. thats on me though, obviously.

Edited December 8, 2020 by trav

[Karger]

On 12/7/2020 at 5:27 AM, Bloodless said:

Raboniel gets several chances to kill Kaladin, but lets him go. Raboniel never orders Pursuer and other Fused "to Damnation with your bloody traditions, just kill the bastard, get a crossbow and shoot him from the sky". Simply put, the Fused are not putting their full creativity, full effort to win their interests. 

I don't want to debate the rest until I have come to my own conclusions but this actually makes sense.  Raboneil is not trying to kill Kaladin nor does she want to destroy the Sibiling too quickly.  As long as she is making reasonable progress and getting Navani to do what she wants succeeding too quickly actually undermines her goals.  If Navani gives up then that is game over as far as Raboneil is concerned.

Edited December 8, 2020 by Karger

[Bloodless]

3 hours ago, Karger said:

Raboneil is not trying to kill Kaladin nor does she want to destroy the Sibiling too quickly.  As long as she is making reasonable progress and getting Navani to do what she wants succeeding too quickly actually undermines her goals.  If Navani gives up then that is game over as far as Raboneil is concerned.

But isn't the second Node fight specifically orchestrated to trap and take care of Kaladin? I remember several characters alluding to it in their internal monologues. Even if Raboniel is trying to delay the Sibling corruption, wouldn't it be better to just mitigate the huge risk of Kaladin running around to the overall plan of keeping Urithiru in Singer hands?

And this delaying tactic itself is also kind of iffy, right? Raboniel should know Sibling going online alone means her plans are all stormed, she can't hold Urithiru, she can't manipulate Navani anymore. After that point, if Navani was going to find anti-light, she would find it alone without Raboniel at her shoulder, and Singer's will have basically lost. In summary, losing Urithiru means Raboniel losing, but corrupting Sibling irreversably and consolidating Urithiru means Raboniel still could follow her goals, possibly with Navani, or with other human scholars. (An aside here - Navani being the only scholar Raboniel is so interested in is also one of my lesser "hero's journey" beefs. Why is Navani this uber-Einstein all of a sudden? Just like Kaladin is winning fights left and right, this woman is inventing stuff left and right. Before this point, it was her and her team together which built awesome stuff, with her mainly doing a manager/facilitator role. But now she is doing raw science better than her dedicated scientists, all the while without any help from her team, and with very "impossible" circumstances.) In my humble opinion, realistically, Raboniel's first priority should have been the Sibling, even if her goals were different from Odiums, and playing games with Kaladin should not have been very logical. 

Edited December 9, 2020 by Bloodless

[Karger]

3 minutes ago, Bloodless said:

But isn't the second Node fight specifically orchestrated to trap and take care of Kaladin? I remember several characters alluding to it in their internal monologues. Even if Raboniel is trying to delay the Sibling corruption, wouldn't it be better to just mitigate the huge risk of Kaladin running around to the overall plan of keeping Urithiru in Singer hands?

No for one spesific reason.  As long as Navani thinks she has a chance of retaking the tower she will actually work hard to help Raboniel with her reserch.

4 minutes ago, Bloodless said:

And this delaying tactic itself is also kind of iffy, right? Raboniel should know Sibling going online alone means her plans are all stormed

The sibling going online is not a possibility as long as they are unbonded as I understand it.  Remember the protections did not go back online until Navani bonded the sibling and undid Raboneil's damage.  Either way the sibling would have to drop the protections and leave themselves vulnerable as those protection cut them off from the tower.  You are also making the same mistake as most others in terms of Raboneil's plans.  Raboniel cares far more about her research then any, in her view, temporary military advantage.  As such it is worth basically any risk to keep Navani productive.

11 minutes ago, Bloodless said:

An aside here - Navani being the only scholar Raboniel is so interested in is also one of my lesser "hero's journey" beefs. Why is Navani this uber-Einstein all of a sudden? Just like Kaladin is winning fights left and right, this woman is inventing stuff left and right. Before this point, it was her and her team together which built awesome stuff. But now she is doing everything alone, without any help from her team.) In my humble opinion, realistically

Technically speaking she was only replicating work by other people while logically adding in new capabilities she learned from Raboneil herself.  Raboneil chose Navani because Navani was intelligent(not ridiculously but still), organized(used to putting together desperate pieces of information), and had motivations and feelings Raboneil herself understood and could exploit.

[Bloodless]

 

4 minutes ago, Karger said:

The sibling going online is not a possibility as long as they are unbonded as I understand it.  Remember the protections did not go back online until Navani bonded the sibling and undid Raboneil's damage.  Either way the sibling would have to drop the protections and leave themselves vulnerable as those protection cut them off from the tower.  You are also making the same mistake as most others in terms of Raboneil's plans.  Raboniel cares far more about her research then any, in her view, temporary military advantage.  As such it is worth basically any risk to keep Navani productive.

While Sibling is alive, Sibling bonding is a very very very real possibility. Kind of obvious, isn't it? As it is exactly what happened. If she believed Sibling dead, then delaying is okay. But she knows they are alive and plotting. Manipulating Navani doesn't have to have the Sibling uncorrupted. There are infinite other lies she could use to keep Navani motivated. Convincing she is okay with killing Odium with anti-investiture, as long as it finishes the war, for instance. 

Furthermore, being an immortal, Raboniel should be patient. She has other human researchers to work with, and she has years to come up with a solution. There is no time constraint to her quest for anti light (but there is one for Sibling). If there is an answer to be found, science will find it eventually. But science takes years or decades. Her delaying tactics at maximum would only give her weeks before Odium figures something is up. Can she reasonably expect anyone to figure this out in weeks, when she herself couldn't do it for millenia? Specially when she believes an answer is not possible. 

But my point here is not in-world, but in relation to writing stories. Raboniel is not acting in her best possible interests, in her most logical, straightest route to victory, because then there won't be a story left. The villains have to take round about, illogical paths so that heroes can have their journey. I think TvTrope's "Bond Villain Stupidity" is somewhat similar to what i mean. It is not a clear cut case here, since Brandon is no doubt aware of this. But still it is doubly difficult to build both logical villains and logical heroes. So Odium, Raboniel and Lezian didn't completely avoid this. I think the best villain to avoid this was Sauron from LOTR. At least i can't pinpoint any place where he didn't act logically. Maybe this is because Tolkein had been writing the book for decades.

[Karger]

28 minutes ago, Bloodless said:

While Sibling is alive, Sibling bonding is a very very very real possibility

As previously stated they can't without dropping the protections which leaves them vulnerable.

29 minutes ago, Bloodless said:

Kind of obvious, isn't it? As it is exactly what happened

Barely.

30 minutes ago, Bloodless said:

Manipulating Navani doesn't have to have the Sibling uncorrupted. There are infinite other lies she could use to keep Navani motivated. Convincing she is okay with killing Odium with anti-investiture, as long as it finishes the war, for instance. 

Would rely on Navani believing she understood or could trust Raboneil.  Neither possibility is a particularly good one.

31 minutes ago, Bloodless said:

Furthermore, being an immortal, Raboniel should be patient. She has other human researchers to work with

Raboniel has no idea how long humans will retain their current edge and understanding.  Desolations are called this for a reason.  Ten years from now most literate humans might be dead.  Additionally she is up against the clock as a move by Odium or Dalinar could foil her plans.

34 minutes ago, Bloodless said:

If there is an answer to be found, science will find it eventually. But science takes years or decades. Her delaying tactics at maximum would only give her weeks before Odium figures something is up. Can she reasonably expect anyone to figure this out in weeks, when she herself couldn't do it for millenia? Specially when she believes an answer is not possible. 

It is exactly because she could not do it herself that she embarked on the quest for human input.  Even if she does not get the answer in her lap additional information(like the warlight discovery) or even learning human methodology(modern fabrail creation) could eventually give her the pieces she needs to come up with an answer.  Finally we don't know what Raboniel was doing to any other human researchers.

36 minutes ago, Bloodless said:

But my point here is not in-world, but in relation to writing stories. Raboniel is not acting in her best possible interests, in her most logical, straightest route to victory, because then there won't be a story left

As has been stated several times you and Raboniel define victory very very differently.  In Raboniel's view military advantages are temporary.  The fused might keep the tower for the next century and some fused would not even notice the difference.  Raboniel is not fighting for Odium she is fighting against the possibility of a continued conflict.  All other goals are secondary.  If she risks the tower it is because she believes it to be of transient value.  Only information actually matters to her.  To state it mathematically(because I am a nerd) the tower has value = the integral of a continuous decreasing function well human data has value = the integral of a constant function.  Given, as you stated, she is immortal Raboneil should take human data far before the tower.

39 minutes ago, Bloodless said:

I think the best villain to avoid this was Sauron from LOTR. At least i can't pinpoint any place where he didn't act logically. 

Sauron did not really guard the one place that could destroy the ring because he could not understand someone wanting to.  Too be clear I am not stating that your interpretation is entirely without merit I am just saying that in this one spesific instance you are slightly wrong.

[Aon Tia]

@Bloodless At the outset I would like to say that I totally respect your opinion. Kaladin surely has a Hero vibe to him and the internal mental issues are the one thing that make him human, as in someone who does  struggle and is vulnerable sometimes. 
However, things are not so bad as you think. 
 

On 7/12/2020 at 3:57 PM, Bloodless said:

there is no one who he can't outfight in the planet

He almost failed to defeat Amaram, Rock saved his life. 

 

On 7/12/2020 at 3:57 PM, Bloodless said:

The Pursuer is introduced as this super powerful, super experienced warrior with OP powers.

I don’t think Leshwi thought that much of him. But I think the reason for all his past successes has been the legend that pursuer carried behind him. I think most of the times, people he targeted, well got intimidated by his legend. 
Ignorance sometimes is a bliss. One thing going for our current gene KRs is that they have no knowledge of the legends of the fused. They don’t even see them as half mythical beings. 
And The  Pursuer is quite unstable mentally also. 
and he relied too much on his powers. As also did the KRs in the past. 

 

 

On 7/12/2020 at 3:57 PM, Bloodless said:

whenever he sets his mind to do anything, he succeeds no matter what the opposition does. The fights for the 3 Nodes all showcase this. Alone against a whole army, without powers, his mind in tatters, he always accomplishes his task somehow, and survives!

I don’t see him as succeeding at that much in this book, he failed to protect every single one of the nodes! He had to destroy them. And Raboniel almost allowed it, because destroying the nodes weakened the shield around the pillar and only delayed the inevitable corruption of the tower. And we all know that she wanted time. And allowing Kaladin to break the nodes, gave her the time without her getting the blame for delaying. 

She obviously felt that her research with Navani was more important than corrupting the tower. 
 
I also think that Odium wanted Kaladin as his champion. He himself did not want to kill him but to turn him to his side. 

On 7/12/2020 at 3:57 PM, Bloodless said: