Warmth coming from a place beyond

[+mdross81]

I'm guessing there are some good pre-RoW threads discussing the "warmth from a place beyond" that Dalinar has felt at various points in the Stormlight Archive. But it seems easier to discuss here where we can delve into RoW material as well.

I've been going back through the books to find the times when Dalinar experience that warmth, with an eye toward putting together a list of candidates of who/what is responsible for that warmth. Below I list the five times that I think Dalinar has experienced this warmth/light and suggest some possible culprits.

Dalinar's Experiences with the Warmth/Light from Beyond

Dalinar first experiences the warmth in WoR 89, on the morning of the day when he would later formally bond the Stormfather:

Quote

Dalinar stood in darkness.

He turned about, trying to remember how he’d come to this place. In the shadows, he saw furniture. Tables, a rug, drapes from Azir with wild colors. His mother had always been proud of those drapes.

My home, he thought. As it was when I was a child. Back before the conquest, back before Gavilar …

Gavilar … hadn’t Gavilar died? No, Dalinar could hear his brother laughing in the next room. He was a child. They both were.

Dalinar crossed the shadowed room, feeling the fuzzy joy of familiarity. Of things being as they should be. He’d left his wooden swords out. He had a collection, each carved like a Shardblade. He was too old for those now, of course, but he still liked having them. As a collection.

He stepped to the balcony doors and pushed them open.

Warm light bathed him. A deep enveloping, piercing warmth. A warmth that soaked down deep through his skin, into his very self. He stared at that light, and was not blinded. The source was distant, but he knew it. Knew it well.

He smiled.

Then he awoke.

When Dalinar asks the Stormfather about this vision, the Stormfather says he didn't send it.

Dalinar later tells both Kadash (in OB 4) and Taravangian (in OB 28) about this warmth and light he has felt coming from a place beyond.

He feels the warmth again, just before swearing the third Ideal and opening a perpendicularity in OB 119:

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“YOU CANNOT HAVE MY PAIN!” Dalinar bellowed, stepping toward Odium. The god frowned. His Fused companions shied back, and Amaram raised a hand before his eyes and squinted.

Were those glryspren spinning around Dalinar?

“I did kill the people of Rathalas,” Dalinar shouted. “You might have been there, but I made the choice. I decided!” He stilled. “I killed her. It hurts so much, but I did it. I accept that. You cannot have her. You cannot take her from me again.”

“Dalinar,” Odium said. “What do you hope to gain, keeping this burden?”

Dalinar sneered at the god. “If I pretend … If I pretend I didn’t do those things, it means that I can’t have grown to become someone else.”

“A failure.”

Something stirred inside of Dalinar. A warmth that he had known once before. A warm, calming light.

Unite them.

“Journey before destination,” Dalinar said. “It cannot be a journey if it doesn’t have a beginning.”

A thunderclap sounded in his mind. Suddenly, awareness poured back into him. The Stormfather, distant, feeling frightened – but also surprised.

Dalinar?

“I will take responsibility for what I have done,” Dalinar whispered. “If I must fall, I will rise each time a better man.”

This passage shows that whoever or whatever the source of the warmth is, is also the one that Dalinar hears in his head at times, telling him to "Unite them." There's actually an earlier time in OB when this is hinted at as well. In OB 111, Dalinar hears the words in his head and asks if it is the Stormfather. The Stormfather says he didn't say anything.

Dalinar feels the warmth again in OB 122 in his rooms in Urithiru with Navani, just as he's completing the introduction to the in-world Oathbringer. In that introduction, he shows that he has discovered what the most important words he can say are (I will do better) and the he has truly come to understand the concept of journey before destination.

The next instance comes in RoW 107, just before Dalinar Unites/Connects Kaladin, enabling Kal to swear the Fourth Ideal and save Lirin:

Quote

Have you no compassion? Dalinar demanded. Have you no heart?

I am a Storm, the Stormfather said. I chose the ways of a storm.

Choose better, then! Dalinar searched in the darkness, the infinity. He was full of Stormlight in a place where that didn't matter.

In a place where all things Connected. A place beyond Shadesmar. A place beyond time. A place where ...

What is that? Dalinar asked. That warmth.

I feel nothing.

Dalinar drew the warmth close, and understood. This is where you made the visions happens, isn't it? Dalinar asked. Time sometimes moved oddly in those.

Yes,the Stormfather said. But you must have Connection for a vision. You must have a reason for it. A meaning. It cannot be just anything.

Good, Dalinar said, forging a bond.

What are you doing?

 

Connecting him, Dalinar said. Uniting him.

The Stormfather rumbled. With what?

Note that Dalinar does this immediately after feeling a "warmth" that the SF does not feel. Note also that shortly after drawing the warmth close, and gaining some kind of understanding,  Dalinar speaks as the storm, as indicated by the small caps font.

Why do I say that he was speaking as the storm here? Because earlier in RoW, in Chapter 71, we see Dalinar's words in the small caps font for the first time. While riding the storm to try to figure out what is going on with Urithiru, Dalinar grows angry with the Stormfather for refusing to spare some foragers caught in the storm:

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You are not merely a storm! Dalinar bellowed, his voice changing to rumbles of thunder. You are capable of choice! You hide from that, and in so doing, you are a coward!

Then later in the chapter, Dalinar forces his way from the stormfont to the middle of the storm to get a second look at Urithiru (the first went by too fast). He sees Kaladin climbing the outside of the tower, and after he is unable to get through to him speaking normally, Dalinar does this:

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The young man didn’t move. Dalinar calmed himself, resisting the furious winds, and drew power from the soul of the storm.

Kaladin, he said.

Kaladin shifted, turning his head. His skin had gone pale, his hair matted and whipped into rain-drenched knots. Storms … he looked like a dead man.

What has happened? Dalinar demanded as the storm.

“Singer invasion,” Kaladin whispered into the wind. “Navani captured. The tower on lockdown. Other Radiants are all unconscious.”

I will find help.

“Radiant powers don’t work. Except mine. Maybe those of a Bondsmith. I’m fighting. I’m … trying.

Life before death.

After the stormriding vision ends, Dalinar reviews the scribe's written account of what he said and notes that the scribe "hadn't heard the parts where he'd spoken as the storm."

Even more interesting, however, is this bit about Dalinar drawing power from the soul of the storm. Well that's new.

So to recap, the four times that Dalinar explicitly mentions feeling this familiar warmth/light are:

1. The vision of his childhood home at the end of WoR (WoR 89)
2. During the battle of Thaylen Field, just after telling Odium that he can't have his pain and just before opening the perpendicularity (OB 119)
3. In his rooms in Urithiru with Navani while writing Oathbringer (OB 122)
4. Just before majorly leveling up his Bondsmithing game and Connecting/Uniting Kal with Tien so he can swear the Fourth Ideal (RoW 107)

In addition to these, although warmth is not specifically mentioned, I think that the second Nohadon vision (the one with an aged Nohadon after he'd written The Way of Kings) may be related to the warmth/light beyond. The Stormfather did not send this vision, and Dalinar sees an intense light:

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Yes, he remembered this place well. This was the vison where he’d met Nohadon, author of The Way of Kings. Why wasn’t it playing out as it had before? He and Nohadon had walked to the balcony, talked for a short time, then the vison had ended.

Dalinar started toward the balcony, but storms, that light was so intense. It washed over him, making his eyes water, and he had to raise his hand to shield his eyes.

The Nohadon in this vision seems to know who Dalinar is, even calling him by name at one point, and seems to know that Dalinar is having a rough go. This vision comes when Dalinar has fallen off the wagon after being excommunicated from the Vorin church. Nohadon gives some advice about how a hypocrite is sometimes a person in the process of changing, and the very last thing that happens before the vision ends is that Nohadon asks Dalinar "what are the most important words a man can say?" This question jogs Dalinar's memory, taking him back to the night of Gavilar's funeral. That was the night he first heard a reading from The Way of Kings, courtesy of Jasnah. Here is the passage Jasnah reads (slightly edited for clarity and to consolidate the passage):

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"You must find the most important words a man can say."

Those words came to me from one who claimed to have seen the future. "How is this possible" I asked in return. "Have you been touched by the void?"

The reply was laughter. "No, sweet king. The past is the future, and as each man has lived, so must you."

"So I can but repeat what has been done before?"

"In some things, yes. You will love. You will hurt. You will dream. And you will die. Each man's past is your future."

"Then what is the point?" I asked. "If all has been seen and done?"

"The question," she replied, "is not whether you will love, hurt, dream, and die. It is what you will love, why you will hurt, when you will dream, and how you will die. This is your choice. You cannot pick the destination, only the path."

This started my journey. And this begins my writings. I cannot call this book a story, for it fails at its most fundamental to be a story. It is not one narrative, but many. And though it has a beginning, here on this page, my quest can never truly end.

I wasn't seeking answers. I felt that I had those already. Plenty, in multitude, from a thousand different sources. I wasn't seeking "myself." This is a platitude that people have ascribed to me, and I find the phrase lacks meaning.

In truth, by leaving, I was seeking only one thing. A journey.

At this point, Dalinar thinks about how, for years, it seemed that he'd been seeing everything around him through a haze. But those words reach him and he thinks "Could words give off light?" After to listening to the whole thing again from the beginning, Dalinar decides then and there to go on a journey, specifically to the Nightwatcher (though he keeps that part to himself).

Given that the Nohadon vision reaches Dalinar at a point of despair and points him back towards Gavilar, and the Way of Kings, and remembering his visit to Cultivation in the Valley, I feel pretty confident that the vision is tied to the other instances where Dalinar experiences warmth from beyond.

More generally, all of the times that Dalinar experiences the warm/light from beyond seem to relate to a deepening understanding of the meaning of the first ideal of the Knights Radiant, to the concept of Unity, and to Dalinar's growth as a Bondsmith.

The first instance (the childhood home) comes just at the end of a book where Dalinar has successfully united the highprinces of Alethkar to try to stop the Everstorm, and just before before Dalinar swears the first two oaths and bonds (unites with) the Stormfather.

The second (the old Nohadon vision) causes Dalinar to remember Gavilar's dying words, the Way of Kings, and the beginning of his journey to Cultivation, which helps him remember that his memories of Evi would return.

The third instance (battle of Thaylen Field) comes at the end of a book where Dalinar has united multiple nations into a coalition to fight Odium and just before he swears the third oath and unites the three realms to summon a perpendicularity.

The fourth (while writing Oathbringer) comes once Dalinar has come to understand what the most important words are for him to say, but also that the words will not be the same for everyone. The key is to keep taking the next step.

The fifth (before Uniting Kaladin) comes as Dalinar begins to more fully understand his powers as a Bondsmith and uses them Connect Kaladin and to allow him to continue his journey and take the next step at a time when he didn't think he could go on.

So Who/What is Responsible for the Warmth/Light from a Place Beyond

The short answer is that I don't know for sure. But I think that we can draw up a fairly narrow list of candidates.

1. Adonalsium - I mean, if Dalinar has concluded that the Almighty was never truly god, and that there was/is something larger/more powerful, this seems like a pretty obvious possibility. I don't think we know enough about Adonalsium at this point to really come up with persuasive arguments for or against this possibility.
2. Honor/Tanavast - Maybe through some sort of spiritual mumbo-jumbo, possibly related to the idea that Honor is not dead so long as he lives in the hearts of men, and tied to the visions, Dalinar is experiencing some sort of Connection with some aspect of Honor/Tanavast that persists in the Spiritual Realm even though he was killed.
3. Nohadon - Almost all of the instances where Dalinar experiences the warmth/light are tied to Nohadon in some way, and there's that WoB that says that even among kings and surgebinders, he was someone special. Maybe Tanavast set up the young Nohadon vision in such a way that would allow Nohadon and Dalinar to make a Connection despite the fact that they lived millennia apart. Also, when Dalinar notices the warmth while writing the introduction to Oathbringer, it feels like a very obvious mirroring of the introduction to The Way of Kings that Jasnah read to Dalinar.
4. Cultivation - Just as most of the instances are tied to Nohadon in some way, they are similarly tied to a recognition of the way that Dalinar has "grown" and "changed." Also, I mean, the female who can see the future that Nohadon spoke with? Who is encouraging him to experience his own journey of growth/change. I'll be shocked if that wasn't Cultivaton he spoke to.
5. Hoid - this one is a little far-fetched maybe; but perhaps part of his vow to be there when needed involves him delivery these little Connections at crucial points; see also how Hoid's small bubble of protection for Kaladin during the nightmare when Hoid tells the Dog and the Dragon, is described as "a pure white light, a longing warmth," and Hoid's assurances that Kal will feel warm again
6. Someone else - I think the five candidates above are the most likely, but who knows. Maybe it's another Shard. Maybe it's the Dawnshard of Unity. The God Beyond (thanks for the reminder @Frustration). Or [insert your favorite crackpot theory]

Thanks for reading what turned out to be a long post, and I look forward to hearing others' thoughts.

Edited March 12, 2021 by mdross81

[Frustration]

The God Beyond.

[+mdross81]

6 minutes ago, Frustration said:

The God Beyond.

Duh! I totally forgot I meant to include the God Beyond in the Other category, as something else that we don't really know anything about.

[Bejarden]

I think it’s Cultivation and Gavilars CS and the Unite Dawnshard 

She gives Dalinar the Dawnshard in the forest after she meets with Gavilar CS 

Gavilar then goes and speaks with Taravangian and Dalinar telling them to “Unite Them” 

Taravangian then goes bad causing Gavilar and Cultivation to only focus on Dalinar 

The Dawnshard provided warmth in the vision that cultivation sends

And in the “you can’t have my pain” Gavilar is the one that gives him the strength to defeat odium

Spoiler

 

[apepi]

Maybe his wife or his brother.

Has anyone else experienced Warmth before? In any of the books? Or is it just Dalinar?

[LewsTherinTelescope]

1 hour ago, mdross81 said:

I don't think we know enough about Adonalsium at this point to really come up with persuasive arguments for or against this possibility.

I mean, the rather large flaw with this one is that it was killed and torn to pieces. Though, Spiritual Realm is a hell of a drug, so who knows.

[+mdross81]

19 minutes ago, apepi said:

Has anyone else experienced Warmth before? In any of the books? Or is it just Dalinar?

There are some other instances in SA of characters feeling warmth, although I don’t think any of them describe it as being familiar or coming from some distant/beyond place.

Most notable are probably:

Kal in WoK 11:

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One more try. Kaladin opened his eyes. He was cold and wet, but he felt a tiny, warm candle flame of determination come alight inside him.

and

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Perhaps Kaladin would die in the next bridge run, or perhaps he would break under the strain, and give Amaram one final victory. But as he settled down on the ground to plan, he felt that tiny warmth burning steadily within him. It was the warmth of decisions made and purpose seized. It was responsibility.

Then in RoW 8:

Quote

Kaladin knelt, bathed in that warm light. Yes, warmth. Kaladin felt warm. Surely … if there truly was a deity … it watched him from within that light.

And RoW 38:

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Strength before weakness. He was coming to understand that part of his first oath. He had discovered weakness in himself, but that wasn’t something to be ashamed of. Because of that weakness, he could help in ways nobody else could. Syl glowed a little brighter on his shoulder as he acknowledged that, and he felt a warmth within.

And finally the warmth associated with Hoid in the nightmare when Hoid tells The Dog and the Dragon.

The other SA warmth that kinda jumped out at me was Adolin during the climax of his trial:

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Maya’s howls came to a crescendo of anguish, then she fell silent, gasping for breath. Weak. Too weak. Take it, Adolin thought to her. Take some of my strength. She looked right at him, and despite her scratched-out eyes, she saw him. Adolin felt something, a warmth deep within him. Maya drew in air, filling her lungs. Her expression livid as she gathered all of her strength, she prepared to shout again. Adolin braced himself for the screech. Her mouth opened. And she spoke. “We! CHOSE!”

I haven’t finished looking through other Cosmere books yet for similar references. 

[apepi]

I went ahead and went through all of Sanderson's cosmere books and look for "Warmth".

Wow, there is a lot of "Warmth" in all of Sanderson's cosmere books. I still tried to filter out the ones people feel from actual heat. Some of these may not be applicable to the conversation, but I am still listing them here just in case. Some of them are repeats,

Spoiler

like Wax feeling warmth from using metals

(mistborn), or people feeling it from stormlight, so I try to not repeat those.
Lot of other cosmere spoilers here Elantris and Mistborn, doing spoil tags here since Mdrosss said they have not read any other cosmere books:

Spoiler

 

Elantris, I am not sure there is something here, but it tends give more evidence that warmth=spritiual

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But what of the boy Hrathen? What of the faith, the almost unthinking passion he had once felt? He could barely remember it. That part of his life had passed quickly, his faith transforming from a burning flame into a comfortable warmth.

Final Empire, Vin with Pewter, investiture giving warmth(though not like Feruchemist Brass)

Quote

Immediately, she felt a flare of heat from within her chest. It wasn’t discomforting, but it was obvious and distinct. Along with the warmth came something else—a feeling of rejuvenation, and of power. She felt…more solid, somehow.

Alloy of Law, Wax feeling warmth from metal, like above but another metal than Vin got it from
 

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They were thin this night, and so visibility was still good. Another crack broke the silence. There, Wax thought. Steel
burning with a comfortable warmth within him, he leaped over another street in a flurry of mistcoat tassels, spinning mist, and calling wind.

Again in Shadows of self?
 

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The window shook. Waxillium stopped, then grabbed the gun at his side and burned steel. The metal created a sharp warmth within him, like the feeling after drinking something too hot. Blue lines sprang up pointing from his chest toward nearby sources of metal, several of which were just outside the shuttered window. Others pointed downward. This saloon had a basement, which was unusual out in the Roughs.

Secret Histories, Kelsier, after dying
 

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Touching it was like remembering a fond experience. Familiar scents from his youth. His mother’s voice. The warmth of lying on a hillside with Mare, looking up at the falling ash.

Kelseir being saved by preservation, this one seems close to our topic, but maybe not applicable as it is remembering warmth?
 

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Moments later he blinked awake. He lay in the misty world still, but his body—or, well, his spirit—had re-formed. He lay in a pool of light like liquid metal. He could feel its warmth all around him, invigorating.

Kelseir again, this one is different
 

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Something thrummed through him, a familiar jolt of power, a warmth within. It reminded him of burning metals. Preservation’s own essence, empowering him.

Kelseir got a lot, this one feels like close to ones body warmth, but because he is in the spiritual plane, I placed it here
 

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Kelsier felt a comforting warmth upon seeing the quiet Terrisman stepping up to Spook. Sazed always had answers. But here he looked haggard, confused, exhausted.

Wax has a good amount burning metals and getting warmth from it in Bands of Mourning, so I will ignore those but this one...

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Wax seized the left hand with his own. He was immediately pulled toward something, like air being sucked through a hole. Warmth bathed him; then it became a fire. Pulling breath into his lungs, he screamed, heaving, throwing the boulder off. It clattered to the side, and he found himself in the low-roofed chamber beneath the temple.

 

 

 

WoK, Szeth kills people, feels it from stormlight
 

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Szeth could feel the Light’s warmth, its fury, like a tempest that had been injected directly into his veins. The power of it was invigorating but dangerous. It pushed him to act. To move. To strike.

WoK, Kaladin, I am not sure about this one, maybe from Syl, but idk
 

Quote

He clutched to these names, repeating each one in his head, holding them like precious gemstones. The names mattered. The men mattered. Perhaps Kaladin would die in the next bridge run, or perhaps he would break under the strain, and give Amaram one final victory. But as he settled down on the ground to plan, he felt that tiny warmth burning steadily within him.
It was the warmth of decisions made and purpose seized. It was responsibility.

Wok, Shallan blood being soul casted?
 

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Something happened. A flash of warmth burned through Shallan, something inside her skin, as if she had been dumped into a steaming hot cauldron. She screamed, arching her back, her muscles spasming.

Oathbreaker, Dalinar, feeling that warmth again
 

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Storms. Does everything I imagine have to be about destruction? About dying, broken bodies, smoke in the air and blood on the stones?
The warmth inside of him said that it did not.

Oathbreaker, Dalinar finishing the book(or was he just starting it?), I think the is talking about that warmth, instead of from the window.
 

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As Navani shut the balcony doors, he closed his eyes and felt the warmth of a distant, unseen light. Then he smiled, and—with a hand still unsteady, like the legs of a child taking his first steps—he took another page and wrote a title for the book.

RoW, Kaladin, being saved by Ren boi, we might got something here chief, It might just be Renny but...idk
 

Quote

Kaladin knelt, bathed in that warm light. Yes, warmth. Kaladin felt warm. Surely … if there truly was a deity … it watched him from within that light.

RoW, Adolin with Maya...this one might be something here

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She looked right at him, and despite her scratched-out eyes, she saw him. Adolin felt something, a warmth deep within him. Maya drew in air, filling her lungs. Her expression livid as she gathered all of her strength, she prepared to shout again. Adolin braced himself for the screech. Her mouth opened.

There is also a few times Kaladin mentions warmth in Braize, but I feel it isn't applicable because it is Wit and Shallan/Veil/it is confusing feels warmth and stuff, not going to list it here, this one is confusing and there is a bit of it to me

Sanderson might be trolling with us, in RoW with Kaladin feeling warmth, idk.

But this does prove investiture

Spoiler

(not just brass)

can give a feeling of warmth.

Spoiler

And Preservation can also give off that same feeling.

 

Edited March 12, 2021 by apepi
spoil tagged

[Leuthie]

I've always interpreted the warmth (and intense heat in the case of Odium) as the Cognitive interpretation of the Physical being making contact with the Spiritual Realm. The warmth is the increased intensity of gathered Investiture. Calmer, more measured Shards (like Honor) feel warmer, while more chaotic Shards (like Odium) bring intense heat.

In each case, Dalinar is making closer contact to Honor, being pulled ever so slightly into the Spiritual.

[+mdross81]

8 hours ago, Leuthie said:

I've always interpreted the warmth (and intense heat in the case of Odium) as the Cognitive interpretation of the Physical being making contact with the Spiritual Realm. The warmth is the increased intensity of gathered Investiture. Calmer, more measured Shards (like Honor) feel warmer, while more chaotic Shards (like Odium) bring intense heat.

In each case, Dalinar is making closer contact to Honor, being pulled ever so slightly into the Spiritual.

I like this idea, and agree that the feelings of warmth likely involve making contact with the Spiritual Realm.

But is there an entity responsible for sending the feelings to Dalinar and pulling him slightly into the Spiritual or is he doing it on his own?

If it's Dalinar doing it, maybe this is what Tanavast meant when he said "Act with honor, and honor will aid you" in the Starfalls vision.

[Bejarden]

I think his connection to the Stormfather who is Tanavasts CS would be sufficient 

[Leuthie]

1 hour ago, mdross81 said:

I like this idea, and agree that the feelings of warmth likely involve making contact with the Spiritual Realm.

But is there an entity responsible for sending the feelings to Dalinar and pulling him slightly into the Spiritual or is he doing it on his own?

If it's Dalinar doing it, maybe this is what Tanavast meant when he said "Act with honor, and honor will aid you" in the Starfalls vision.

Tanavast, Stormfather, and Honor's remaining power that reside in the Storm all serve to pull Dalinar in. Initially, it was part of the Vision process. Since Tanavast created the Visions to find and nurture a strong Bondsmith, he probably placed some other pushes and pulls within the "Frankenstein's monster" that is Stormfather that compels Dalinar toward certain actions through the Bond.

Just like Cultivation has set up Roshar to succeed against Odium (there are a couple threads around here that list the things going on that could only be put in place by Cultivation), I'm thinking Tanavast set up a weapon to defeat Odium before his death (hell, he may have sacrificed himself to create that weapon) and that weapon is most likely Dalinar and Stormfather. The interesting things we see Dalinar doing are that weapon asserting itself.

[Kyn]

It makes sense to think of this warmth being created/instigated by a person (or at least an entity). Especially in a universe with the Shards and emotion spren. But what if it’s just a force/concept, perhaps not even something with as much reality as an actual Unity Dawnshard, but just like the idea of Connection itself?

How would it change the way we have to consider the issue if this is something built into the fabric of the Cosmere but not currently embodied or connected to a will? Would it then likely be something seeking its own avatar of sorts, and perhaps that’s why it gravitates toward Dalinar, as a Bondsmith devoted to the Unity so close to connection? Or would it just be something (else) that “lives in the hearts of men” (people of all kinds), and thus appears à la Kingdom Hearts whenever an emotional or spiritual connection is made between the hearts of men? I mean, that would still make sense given the appearance of this warmth in (or through memories of) some of Dalinar’s emotionally-fulfilled or -connected moments.

I’m not sure how much of a difference it would make, though. What changes with knowing whether it was an amorphous concept of human Connections that might want someone to act on its behalf, a leftover missing component of Adonalsium seeking to restore the unification of the shards, the Beyond itself or the God Beyond striving to link all the realms, or even a potential Unite Dawnshard that is a Command holding a key to reality?

I’m actually asking, because I can’t extrapolate in what different directions those differences would drive the story.

[IAmTheStick]

I always thought warmth was something with the spiritual realm. Like you said,

"Dalinar drew the warmth close, and understood. This is where you made the visions happens, isn't it? Dalinar asked. Time sometimes moved oddly in those."

Seems pretty obviously spiritual realm to me. Investiture largely comes from the spiritual realm, right? So that explains some of those instances of warmth, but I'm not sure what other examples of warmth could be, but

...They don't all have to be the same. I recently had a lesson in my creative writing class where we learned about descriptors we can use for emotion, and warmth in your chest is a common one. Could just be a writing tool/emotion.

Could be the god beyond.

Dalinar does seem to have the most experience with this warmth, and I think Branderson is intentionally shoving those in our face. While other characters are feeling a similar warmth, all of Dalinar's examples are ...louder? More dramatic, I should say.

Basically I think there IS something going on with this, but not all examples of warmth will be related to it.