The tower, the crown, and the spear

[Ander Stormwindrunner he/him]

Wow, this is a pretty well-detailed post. Or so I assume, I'm new here. I personally think Dalinar is going to become Honor reborn, which my brother first suggested to me. I hadn't thought about the leadership vacuum that would create, but Kaladin is the perfect character to fill Dalinar's shoes.

[ElMonoEstupendo]

The Bondsmiths seem to make the most natural heads of state from among the Orders, but perhaps that perception is just skewed by Dalinar being so boss. In terms of line of succession - Urithiru is a new state, they have no precedent and a brief opportunity to make the rules as they go. I don't see any scenario where Navani and the Sibling don't have the ultimate authority at least within the tower, but as for coordinating the Knights Radiant I can imagine it turning into a coalition of Orders rather than a single organisation with one leader.

Kaladin makes an excellent battlefield commander but he doesn't seem to have much if any interest or experience in politics or grand strategy. 

I count 15 lines in Kaladin's icon. There's 15 Shards now. Just saying.

[LewsTherinTelescope]

On 5/4/2021 at 9:05 AM, ElMonoEstupendo said:

There's 15 Shards now.

No, there are sixteen.

[ElMonoEstupendo]

2 hours ago, LewsTherinTelescope said:

No, there are sixteen.

Ah, good shout! You sent me off on another WoB dive, thanks. Here's an interesting related WoB:
 

Quote

Questioner

So, the sixteen Shards. Is it possible that there are more than sixteen, yet they do not know of them?

Brandon Sanderson

This would be possible but I'll just go ahead and tell you no there aren't. *laughter* That'll stop a lot of theorizing, though it is possible that Shards have been divided and things like this. And so you can call two subsets-- But it's kind of like there are twelve tribes of Israel. They became twelve other tribes of Israel. There were still twelve because two were the sons of one. Yeah, stuff like that.

Footnote: Brandon was referring to Ephraim and Manasseh, sons of Joseph. The land of Israel was divided among twelve tribes that were slightly different from the original twelve, as Joseph's was replaced by those of his sons and Levi's was not a landed tribe.
Skyward San Diego signing (Nov. 7, 2018)

 

[elihaun]

I know this is REALLY outside the realm of plausibility, but those spears look like spacecraft with afterburners, and the circle a planet. Maybe they will take the fight to Odium on the planet he is stuck on?  We know 'bridge 4' is a name of a ship, and the series has even mentioned the ship of Theseus. Maybe in era two, they will get spacecraft (from the ghostbloods, navani, etc).  Possible

[Light In the Darkness]

So, the lines parallel to the spears seem most likely to be other spears, that are just out of focus, so to speak. If the ring is representing the edge of a chasm or cliff, then they could also be representing the cliff face, but that seems less likely to me. In a battle with the sun behind them, this would look like Kaladin rallying his men and them raising their spears in a cheer or salute. That banner seems to be the oddest piece; Kaladin has never, that I remembered a banner when leading his men; kinda useless to him. Which to me is the strongest evidence in support of this theory; the glyph is too obscured to make out right now, but it might be sideways? Like it was a pennant-type banner hanging vertically, like a lot of commander banners, originally, and Kaladin just tied it to his spear and so now it waves in the wind sideways, because the o.g. banner pole got destroyed. That by itself implies that whoever held it is now dead or something, and Kaladin stepped into the power vacuum. That’s the main piece that hasn’t occurred solidly in the book from the icon, and seems strong evidence to me of the tie from the death rattle to the icon and Kaladin.