Chaos

Let's keep this thread focused on your thoughts on Stormlight 4, and sharing how you feel.

Please focus this thread on explaining your personal disappointment in the series rather than arguing with others. That would be best. Thanks!

Great, do that then.

This is not a Cosmere Discussion topic. I am moving it to General Discussion. Please keep topics in the book discussion boards about the books.

You're welcome to ask Alleyverse what they think, if they want it allowed. If they do, then that's fine.

I've removed OB tag in the title as that is only necessary nine months after release, which is the spoiler period. All good now.

I'm going to close this topic as tensions seem to be rising rapidly. This thread has run its course. Please feel free to PM me with concerns. If you're off from reading the rest of Stormlight, I wish you all the best, but you are welcome here any time.

Thank you for sharing the WoBs. I think everyone has effectively come to their opinions, and no one will budge. I think we should close this topic before this spins in circles more. Is that okay with you? I completely understand your disappointment, and it is possible, but not guaranteed.

Just ask the person who made the topic to put the topic tag in, if they want to?

Well, it is a possibility, but it is yours, and it is not a fact that Dalinar must die. He might. It is a simple answer, but also, OB showed that there can be some very complex and intriguing answers to many mysteries. So I wouldn't be surprised if Brandon surprises you... I think Dalinar dying is the obvious thing, so to me, I think he'd prefer to subvert that expectation, or make it a massive bloodbath, but that's just my opinion. I appreciate however you qualifying that with saying "I think so". Many of your statements were stated more strongly and factual than this, and you did claim that your WoB definitively said that he died, which is false. So I do thank you for your qualifications. All I can say is, Journey before Destination. I think the story will be good even if he does die. If you don't want to read the books anymore, that's up to you, and that's your decision.

More importantly, "he definitely will die and it is a fact, and I will accept no other possibilities."

I think it's possible he's going to die. I expect many characters to die. That doesn't mean he will, though. It's just a possibility. That's not the same. I purely disagree with you stating as a fact. And I strongly disagree that Brandon said he would die in his PMs to you. That's just false. You constantly assume he's a walking corpse, and you're very firm on this. Nothing is confirmed! You should couch your opinions as that: opinions, not facts.

I want you to just read exactly what was said in the PM, no more, no less. For example, in the original post, Brandon said things about Books 4 and 5. He did not mention later books, but this is an omission. He did not say, as you claim, "He dies, that's it." He did not say he is not in the back five. He did say that you read too much into his words--which is the sign, by the way, that maybe you should consider that your claims could possibly be false. I teach math. Math is about going logically from one step to another in such a way that it is indisputable to get from one step to another. You state things as fact that are not, and go from one step to step ten and state it as the truth. I'm... going to need you to show your work, sorry. Let's think about this logically. Brandon said book 4 Dalinar would get less screen time. Okay, so I'm expecting more like Words of Radiance. Book Five will have more Dalinar, but not as much as Oathbringer. But he was thinking Book 5 could have been Dalinar's book. He's going to have some big, big story beats. Why would he not mention what happens to Dalinar in the back five, aside from not giving spoilers? Does Dalinar have to die? Let's come up with some ideas. 1. Dalinar lives, and he's still the Radiant leader in the back five. We see him a lot, but we don't get viewpoints (or maybe at most interludes, like Taln). 2. Dalinar ascends to Honor, and is more in the background in the back five, but we still communicate with him as he struggles with Odium. 3. Dalinar joins up with the Oathpact somehow and is on Braize, and thus can't be as active with the main characters of the back five. 4. Dalinar dies, and becomes a Cognitive Shadow and can only exist in Shadesmar. We interact with him when characters explore Shadesmar. 5. Dalinar dies and goes into the Beyond. We never see him at all in the back five. 6. Brandon isn't telling anyone about the back five for his main characters, because he has more secrets. So is it possible for Dalinar to die? Yes. Absolutely. I can 100% get behind you since you love Dalinar that this is disappointing to you. I'm with you, and I aggressively validate that opinion. However, this is not guaranteed with what Brandon said. I think all of these possibilities--and more--are valid hypotheses for what Brandon said. All are possible. You're predisposed for believing Dalinar would die, but please understand that this is not an ironclad thing. That's your interpretation. With minimal creativity, it is easy to determine alternatives. I imagine we could come up with several more that fit what Brandon said. I think we should all be happy we have an author who truly, genuinely wants to tell fans what is up, and it's difficult for him to balance that with protecting against spoilers. I'm sorry you feel he spoiled things for you, but as the man himself said, maybe you're reading too much into it. Accept that that is possible. (It is also perfectly possible Dalinar dies! But this is not the only thing that could happen, and is far from confirmed.)

Hi, I removed the [OB] tag, as that was only valid for topics started in the first nine months of OB's release, which was the spoiler period. It is not necessary now.

In the original post, he only mentions book four and five, and then he said you're reading too much into the exact wording of what he said. This is, once again, not what he said. Yeah, if he said "that's it," then yes, I'd give that to you, but that's your interpretation of what he said, and this does not follow logically from what he said. I would really appreciate if we could stick precisely to the facts on what he said, not what people think he said. We're sharing a set of facts, and many of your secondhand things that Brandon said, he did not. It is very frustrating.

Just to be clear, Brandon didn't say Odium in his current form would survive: 2dark_22 RAFOed I'm sure, but you said you are planing 2 arcs of 5 books each in Stormlight Archive. Having read all of your published works (and some unpublished:)) I know your storytelling pace is astronomicaly quick. I'm positive you will end current desolation story in the first 5 books, since as I understod, other 5 books will be set in near future in SA universe. So I guess my question is; can you drop any hint will Odium survive to see 6th SA book:)? Brandon Sanderson Oh, Odium will survive. Now, whether the one HOLDING that power will survive...that's a different question. (Not quite a RAFO.) /r/books AMA 2015 (April 8, 2015) So the thing that you're saying is a spoiler really is not; Rayse might die. But the power in the cosmere does not stop existing. It could be in a lot of forms, but the power will still exist.

They can be singular or plural these days. Remember, he is saying these in long signing lines. It is not going to be stated with absolute precision. If you wanted to be vague, this is what I would also say. I can definitely see a scenario where Kaladin dies as well as Dalinar. You're certainly entitled to your opinion regarding Odium, but to me, the Prelude makes it very clear Odium and the Voidbringers are the thing for the entire series.

The first WoB you cite is from 2010. It is clear at this stage that Kaladin is not getting a second book. Additionally, a character can be important for the series and still die... I can sure think of an example in Mistborn that fits the bill. The second WoB you cite does not say that only one of them will die: That's just... not what it says. It definitely, 100% does not say that only one character dies. This is objectively not what it says. Maybe there's another one, but it certainly isn't these, and I don't remember anything like that. I find your interpretations of these WoBs to be critically flawed. Did anyone think Odium was going to be stopped book five? I don't really think that's a spoiler, but it's fine if you feel differently. To me, that's like saying there will be Surges in the back five. EDIT: One more thing. He did not say this. You are interpreting it. He tried to correct you in the second PM. This statement here is not what he said. Please stop stating things as fact when they are definitively not facts.

There is an importantly inaccurate assumption, which Brandon himself said was inaccurate in the second part of your PM thread, which has been shared with the moderation team. You should share it, as it directly addresses this. It is very clear to me that Brandon simply is not going to talk about our main characters in the back five. It is a perfectly valid point of view to suspect Dalinar would die. I think Kaladin could also die. Dalinar, Shallan, and Kaladin could all die, if book five is a bloodbath, perhaps. However, you stating that "Sanderson said Dalinar has "moments" only in books 4 and 5 and that's it. That means he has no "moments" in the second half of the series and that means his role within the series will end in book 5." The second sentence does not logically follow from the first. The first sentence does not guarantee the second. It could, but does not need to. It is perfectly fine for you to be disappointed with Dalinar's smaller word count, but I am excited to read the powerful scenes for him. (Please post the second thing Brandon said. It is important.)

I am overall much less concerned about Skyward spoilers in RP threads if everyone agrees that such spoilers are allowed and clearly marked. For example if someone wanted to make a Skyward RP, that would be an acceptable scenario which would obviously have spoilers. The situation you state should be fine but it could be good to have in the thread title if you want Skyward Spoilers.

Defending Elysium would always be allowed to be talked about in book discussion board that is relevant to, similar to any other story. Can you be more specific as to what you are looking for? Context would be useful.

This will purely be a matter of when IPS supports things. You're probably having too much fun though EDIT: To be real though, if I had the choice I'd probably remove the ability to do these unicode shenanigans... Call me old school, but it's just harder to read this.

That's ... I do not know why this would be. I'm familiar with that error and thought for sure it is a size issue which I resolved. The three images is likely because you tried multiple attempts. I really don't know why this would be the case... Can you PM me the file or email it to me at [email protected]? Not sure when I'll have a chance to try and fix a thing with this, but hopefully this week... I am extremely frustrated this error still occurs. It is driving me insane and I don't know what the hell is the problem. Especially because sometimes it will just work again on the exact same images, because who needs things to make sense. Sincerest apologies.

There is a maximum size for the files. I thought I had set it appropriately. What are the file sizes you are uploading? They will need to be under 10MB (I forget the exact figure).