DeployParachute

Because it is Adolin Kholin. He's just so good, so pure...inhumanly so, you could say. /sarc I seriously hate this plot point the most. The idea that Adolin is going to revive a Deadeye spren just because he's the nicest, most noblest guy around. The only one who ever thought to treat their blade like something with an individual identity. I'm still holding out hope that this was just a one-off thing that Brandon thought would be fun to throw out there. Though as the more questions and excitement about it arise, and the more WoBs we get, I see that this hope is foolish. I swear, this Maya revival better cost Adolin something dearly, or he is officially the lamest hero character in the Cosmere.

Szeth's imprisoned, huh? Missed this on the first read. Wonder if he is there voluntarily or not. Looking forward to some of the past year being revealed.

There is a WoB somewhere, that Brandon speaks on his needing to get Shallan and Kaladin introduced to us and each other quickly in the narrative, as they will be spending a LOT of time together over the course of the entire SA narrative. Also, Kaladin dying by book 5 is laughable. Kaladin becoming a Type 2 invested entity, however...

I disagree with parts of your assessment, chiefly that you've taken Shallan off the table, which I don't think you can. My post that @Bliev referenced: Both Shallan and Kaladin are in vulnerable positions, both have different reasons for why Odium's offer of taking their pain would be attractive. Only one, however, is not having their problem widely recognized by people who could help, and will become isolated from most support structures over the course of this narrative. Only one is currently in the process of actively severing their pain in order to function, much like what Odium would do for them, should their current mechanism for doing so fail.

I think it comes down to what you believe Brandon's individual take on what he likes to communicate using these cover blurbs. Is he just summing up what to expect within that given book? Or since it is Book 1 of a series, is he putting forth something that tells us what are going to be the main themes/events for the entire length? Personally, I'm looking at that verbiage from a "meta" perspective, IE Brandon is trying to sell the first book in the series using the limited characters he has to as wide of an audience as possible. The fact that he has now been able to tie the "external story perspective" to a creative race of unobtrusive "watchers" is a perk that helps with the immersion factor now that we're in it. So again, I'm not looking at that blurb as "what do the sleepers know or not know, think or not think", but instead view it as Brandon's words telling us what the main setup/premise of (at least the first 5 book arc) is going to be. And in it, one of these characters "may" redeem us, but one of them "will" destroy us. So looking at it from that lens, you still have a wide possibility of interpretations to make. What do the sleepless mean by "we". Just themselves, or the collective peoples or life on Roshar? A new reader, not knowing anything about the sleepless, would assume the latter. Thus I lean more heavily towards the cover blurb describing the larger narrative arc. Also, as far as "fortune foretold" goes, I do not recall, was Dalinar being Odium's champion part of the Diagram? I'd have to find the motivation to go back and reread the final epilogue content of OB. To save me from that effort, could you clarify what mechanism of foretelling being used that Dalinar would be Odium's champion (the Diagram being the only one I can think of, which is not so much prophecy but an extremely well reasoned, intelligent "guess" at the future). I wouldn't have thought that Odium's plans for Dalinar would be widely enough known that the sleepless would be clued into it.

This thought had occurred to me as well, and I took it a bit deeper. Narratively, it is very likely that Dalinar will NOT be the only main character in this front 5 book arc that will have to be presented with the choice of accepting Odium or not. Our two remaining main MC's are Shallan, and Kaladin (both by page time and by narrative importance). Both of them are likely to face this choice, as both of them are in vulnerable positions that open them to viewing what Odium is offering as attractive. However, for a good story, it is very unlikely that BOTH of them will overcome that temptation on the first go around. One will succeed, and the other will fail. I keep thinking back to the cover of WoK: Szeth, Dalinar, Kaladin, Shallan: these are the key four for this front half, and we still need a "destroyer". I doubt that Dalinar's major arc completion in OB is going to be walked back. Szeth is a toss up, we don't really know much there, but he's already done the "bad turned good" arc, so he is less likely IMO. Kaladin has a lot of problems right now, a lot of stuff to deal with, and to overcome. However, there are no hidden secrets in his past, nothing that we as the readers aren't aware of. We know what his problems are, and he's been suffering through them for a long time. With his recent "demotion", and refocus of attention to things not on the battlefield, he is much better positioned for recovering from some of those feelings that would make him susceptible. More importantly, he is not currently engaged in a form of "giving up the pain" that is akin to what Odium is offering. Which brings us to Shallan. There is something more about her past, something more traumatizing than what we think we know about her actions in regards to her family, that she literally had to sever the very memories of it in order to function as a person. She has already given up her pain to someone else: whoever it is that she is repressing. She has thrown her pain away, lost to the inner recesses of her ill mind. Imagine, should those memories be forced back into her consciousness at the wrong time, she would be very ripe for an offer to take it away again, only this time permanently. She has not had any time to develop any coping mechanisms for the sudden intrusion of her psyche that such new revelations would make. Combine that potential past pain with any new pain from actions she may yet commit in the coming narrative, and whooo boy, we've got ourselves a very eager champion for Odium. Shallan is the one who will be spending this book moving away from the main action, away from the main support of the human coalition, and will be more isolated than Kaladin or the others. Also, I think the very vague, one off comment from Radiant: "You being here helps" is probably more important to her stability than Brandon is letting on to us. She'll have Adolin with her, yes, but what should happen if something happened to him? Yeah, though I don't completely discount Kaladin still being the one to fail, my money is all in on the more likely candidate.

Rather than get into the very fraught, and murky implications of how an embryo or fetus is treated in the cosmere (ie having their own spirit web and presence in all three realms OR not) and how that dictates how Stormlight can affect it, I think a much more simpler, and less conflict prone explanation is that Adolin's...ahem..."troops" are being cleansed from the body before they can accomplish anything. Sounds more an answer Brandon would be likely to give at any rate, imo.

Couldn't have said it better myself, and I have been trying since the end of OB. One thing I want to expand on, and would be interested in your take, would be the manner of his death, and this is related to one of the poll options. Is Adolin fated for a NOBLE death, or a TRAGIC death, and can we speculate based on some of the tropes and traits that Brandon has taken with this character. I personally lean towards the latter, and here is why: What are the potential motivations or reasons an author would insert a main character death? Serving the plot would certainly be of principal importance. Serving the arc of another character would be another. Generating a strong emotional response within the reader would be close behind. Ideally an author can accomplish all of these, though there are instances where a main character death can serve the plot, another character, but not elicit much of an emotional reaction for the reader, and this is totally fine. Probably the last thing an author should do is kill a character solely for the purpose of eliciting an emotional reaction, as it is generally considered a cheap play, and tends to piss readers off. Brandon certainly will not do this. If Brandon were to kill Adolin, it would most certainly be in service of the plot, another character's arc, or both. And he will do so while trying to maximize the emotional reaction of his readers. A noble death. What does this mean for Adolin, how does it play out? Well, a noble death for a character would normally involve a form of self sacrifice in order to accomplish something that benefits others. Whether it be securing an item of great importance, or saving a nation, or even a single life, the noble death involves Adolin choosing to exchange his life to the benefit of others. That is where the "noble" part comes into our understanding of the act: choosing to prioritize someone or something else over something that we as mortal creatures are programmed to hold most dear: our own life. If the character chooses this sacrifice, and the cause is worthy, it is thus noble. (choosing to sacrifice oneself for a cause that is not "worthy" would be tragic, but more on that later) My problem with this ending for Adolin is that such a "noble" death that does not come at the end of an arc for him, does not carry as much of an emotional weight as it would otherwise. I'm not saying NONE, but I don't think it is necessarily maximizing the emotional reaction of the reader as it could. I'll give an example of how I'm viewing this. Let's look at Star Wars OT for a moment. Old Ben sacrificed himself in ANH, to buy his companions time to escape the Death Star to avoid capture and possibly death. Now most people likely felt the loss, and felt for Luke as he experienced the loss. But it was not something that I think many people dwelt on for very long. We expected it from him, it was within his character, and he had no particular arc that was concluded in that moment (though after the prequels came out one could try and claim that a bit of an arc was added retroactively). There was no believable possibility that this character wouldn't make such a sacrifice. He was who he was, who the audience knew him to be. He served his purpose to the plot, he acted in accordance with his character, and we as an audience grieved briefly, but moved on. The death carried a bit of a shock, but in the aftermath, the general reaction is: well, he wouldn't have done anything else. Alternatively, you have Vader at the end of RotJ, sacrificing himself to save his son. His sacrifice was not so expected, not so in accordance with his nature. Vader had to make his choice acting against the person he had been for most of the films. He had to choose to prioritize something other than what we as an audience had come to expect of him: his desire for power, and control. Thus him choosing to sacrifice himself for his son closed his character arc: he had to change in order to be able to make that choice. His life may not have been noble, but his death was. His arc concluded, and then he died. To this day, Vader's sacrifice had far more impact to most audiences as a result. Adolin, unfortunately, currently fits an Old Ben style of "Noble Death". He has no arc, nothing about himself that he would have to change in order to be able to make the choice to sacrifice himself for others. He will do it because, well, he's ADOLIN KHOLIN, the most noble of nobles in existence in Roshar. If the cause is right, he won't hesitate, and of course we wouldn't expect him to. There is nothing in text across the 3 published novels thus far that would indicate to me that he would balk at such a decision. So he'll do it, and we as readers will think: well, it needed to be done, and he was the man to do it. How much of an emotional weight is that going to carry for us the readers? Some, but not as much as his death could, I believe. A tragic death. Now we move on to what I think is a much more interesting option, a tragic death. What does it mean for a death to be "tragic"? Well, my brief summation would be a death that did not have to happen, but was only the result of the poor choices of the character themselves, or the poor choices of characters around them. A life cut short, snuffed out in its prime. Tragic deaths automatically have more emotional weight for readers because it leaves you with that sinking feeling in your stomach. That gut punch that has you saying after, over and over: "It didn't have to be this way, why did <character> do that?" And the more innocent, the more noble, the more likeable and unsullied character that suffers such a death, the greater the visceral reaction from the reader. A sacrificial lamb, so to speak. And who better fits the bill than Adolin as he currently is? That, I think is the state that Brandon has written himself into for Adolin: a choice between a mediocre "noble self sacrifice", or an emotionally supercharged tragic death. He hasn't done the writing leg work to make a maximally emotional Noble Death ala Vader (not the "evil turned good" part, but the acting outside his nature to sacrifice himself part). He would have already had to have been writing for that since OB at least. And before any of the Maya shippers jump on me: reviving Maya is a task, not a character arc. Also, for the record, a "noble death" for Kaladin would have the very same problem as it does for Adolin. And hey, perhaps many readers would actually prefer the mediocre noble death over the alternative, but not I. If Adolin is to be the only MC death we get this 5 book arc, then it better be good, it better shake me to my core. Otherwise, I think the overall narrative (you know, the one about this epic interplanetary eternal war that thus far has been short on tragedy), will suffer for it.

Yeah, the only thing I can think is that perhaps Mraize used a proxy in most (or all) of his dealings with the family. My impression is that he has built a vast network of subordinates who do most of the actual "work" of the GB, and he gets "personally" involved in active work rarely, and in circumstances he cannot trust to others. I doubt that the Davar family was his only active scheme to achieve Surgebinders, so it seems likely to me he would have used subordinate proxies for that kind of work. We'll have to see though. Ah, got it. Ok, so this is assuming that Mraize himself personally knew Shallan would be there, or if it was just his proxies who knew. Again, he has skilled members of GB to do the work he wants done, and my additional impression is that he largely leaves it up to them how to go about it. In this case, it was Tyn who did the actual orchestration of the Jasnah "hit". Who is Shallan Davar to her? So unless Mraize indicated that she was someone not to be meddled with, Tyn wouldn't concern herself with Shallan's presence. And if Mraize did know that Shallan was with Jasnah, can we assume he would care about her at that point. Perhaps to him, she was Shallan Davar, a potentially broken lighteyed girl, who was part of one of his failed ventures. He didn't take special interest in her until after she had infiltrated his organization as Veil. Clearly, I'm really playing up the "failed venture, lost/discarded/broken tool (Shallan), rediscovered, newly useful" angle here for how Mraize views Shallan Davar. I could be completely off, but it seems plausible.

Why can't Mraize fall into one of these holes? I'm not necessarily saying that Mraize "trained" Formless, I'm just saying that he is benefitting from her existence NOW, after she approached him, probably because Formless remembers him, or whatever proxy he may have been using. Also, could you refresh my memory, which assassination attempt are you referring to? My further refined thoughts, after your valid comments and complications are: Mraize had a special purpose for Shallan and her family, likely in relation to gaining access to a Surgebinder who could get him easier access to Shadesmar (Oathgates), or something else entirely that has yet to be revealed (I don't take his "power" explanation entirely at face value). Neither he nor his agents set out to "create" Formless, she's just a consequence of whatever problems or issues that befell the Davar family as a result of his initial meddling/plans. Perhaps he considered whatever plans he had for the Davars a failure, and cut his losses. That that "consequence" finds him later, many years down the road is perhaps a surprise to him, but he recognizes its usefulness. So in WoR, he is approached by a woman he does not recognize or know, Veil. This makes sense as she didn't exist before then. He decides to make use of her, but then is pleasantly surprised to find out that she is in fact Shallan Davar, a loose thread, a lost tool that is now suddenly back in his arsenal. And not only that, someone he knows he has leverage over through his history with her and her family. He also knows that the two faces she presented to him at that point are not the entirety of her whole self. Recall his response to Shallan's insistence that "Veil is the mask"..."I think not". Formless is likely to be what "Shallan Davar" doesn't want to believe she is capable of: a ruthless killer. She alludes to it in this chapter. Do you not think that that will be played out later down the road?

I could be wrong, or missed some very important wording in text some where in one of the preview chapters, but my impression was that Veil only knows that the memories exist, but not what is actually contained within them. She wants Shallan to remember because she knows it is what needs to be done. However I'm certainly open to being wrong on this, especially if there is verbiage somewhere that suggests Veil knows the full history, although Mraize's recent comments seem to indicate that none of the primary 3 do: I think the wording here "Shallan's past" refers to the Cosmere entity known as Shallan Davar, and not just the alter. Veil, Radiant, and Shallan currently seem to all know what each other knows, about what is going on in the world, and shared memories. Why would Veil not share with Shallan if she knew? The "Shallan" before Veil and Radiant were created didn't, so how would Veil? Again, I could be wrong. Perhaps Veil really is holding out on the other two. But for someone who potentially already knows everything, she seems awfully eager herself to get those answers out of Mraize.

100% agree and appreciate this. Provided, of course, we can all also agree to not lob the old "that's not how X disorder works in real life, so your plot predictions have no merit" at people as well.

You are assuming that Mraize was the one who had to work to get her on his side, or to even train her, rather than her seeking him out in the first place. Perhaps he's had a lot more time with her than we thought. This is why I believe that it was a bad decision for Brandon to ground Shallan's problems into a real world disorder. Because of this, right here, this response of yours. It narrows and limits the creative freedom of telling an interesting and thrilling story, and he'll never EVER get it right for some people, because they will say this: "That is not how that really works, and it is harmful that you wrote it that way." It is a statement that can be used whenever and wherever convenient. Brandon could have had this idea and plot point in his head and outline BEFORE he committed to doing DID "right", whatever that means to you. I doubt he would abandon it entirely in his efforts to present a DID depiction more realistically. The DID does not exist in this narrative for it's own sake. It is there to serve the character, and it is there to serve the plot. Sounds like if Brandon's fiction deviates one iota from the current prevailing consensus of the mental health community, you are going to have a problem with it, because it is going to "hurt" people. Well, what can one say to that? What defense is there? None. Agree to disagree. I refuse to limit my imagination of where this story could go simply because something doesn't line up 100% with a textbook definition of a real world mental health diagnosis.

Only if you make the assumption that the 3 primaries know with absolute certainty there are no others, which they may not be capable of. And there is a good reason for this, from a writing standpoint. If Brandon wants to keep it a secret, this surprise alter, then the primary 3 can't know about it, because then we, the readers, would know.

You may have personally rejected the idea, but there is no textual evidence yet that would allow us to rule it out entirely. Formless being another complete alter that acts independently of the others without their knowledge is still very much on the table. Veil and the others may actually know nothing about the extent to which formless is complete or independently functional. Also, there has not been much touching on the "memory loss" side of DID in the current presentation of Shallan/Veil/Radiant. Formless could be the manifestation of this symptom. I find both Shallan's and Mraize's comments very suggestive of a fully formed and functional "Formless" being a reality. Formless may be older than either Radiant or Veil, who knows. What's more literarily interesting and likely for Brandon to write? The spy being a different lightweaver, or the spy being Shallan herself. I can totally see a different alter taking control, perhaps when the others are not aware, awake, or weakened, and seeking Mraize out to "introduce" themselves. At least one alter will, because Mraize has been secretly working with her for the past year. Yeah, there's a lot of evidence even in this chapter to keep "Formless as an independent actor" a very real and likely plot point. Now my own, completely biased predictioneering:

That's actually a pretty solid point. As much as I rag on Adolin's character for not having much narrative arc, or developed depth, he at least has hobbies, interests, things that he enjoys doing for the sake of doing them. Kaladin, by comparison, seems to be at risk of becoming one note. I've noticed this myself, that Kaladin's depression as of late (over OB and now into the beginning of RoW) seems like it is becoming his singular defining character trait. Hopefully, with his expected break from the battlefield and into daily life in Urithiru, we'll get a chance to pull back from that a bit, explore what Kaladin chooses to do with his time when he is not running from slavery, fighting to protect people, or leading others on a battlefield. Though, with major depressive episodes, one could find it extremely difficult to feel motivated to do much of anything, even things they may have used to enjoy. We'll have to see, I'm actually more excited about that aspect of this book than battles at this point. Related sidenote: I was always sad that Brandon never really did anything with the flute that Hoid gifted Kaladin in WoK. I thought it would have been a nice addition to his character to have something to fiddle with, to play and experiment with, learn from and derive some pleasure. Would have been a good way to demonstrate some of his innate intelligence that we're always told he has but rarely see. I even asked Brandon about it at a signing long ago, but alas it wasn't meant to be. Yeah, but Ned's death served a very big narrative purpose: it kicked off the War of the Five Kings, the events of which serve as the basis for the rest of the main narrative. He also wasn't in the middle of a character arc (a personal journey of internal change). In ASoIaF, you also have many more main viewpoint protagonists in that first book: Jon, Arya, Dany, Sansa, Tyrion, Caitlyn, etc etc. SA has 3: Dalinar, Kaladin, Shallan. Easier to maintain the integrity of your narrative when you are axing 1/7 of your MC's vs 1/3rd. For Brandon to utilize Kaladin in a similar fashion, the impact to the main SA narrative will also need to be of similar scale, and Kaladin will need to have any lingering internal character arcs wrapped up, imo. (Fleet's story in WoR is probably the strongest available foreshadowing of Kaladin's death available, so you have that going for your argument).

So here is the thing about drama, as it pertains to the real world, versus a world of fiction. When you are writing fiction, whether it be for movies, television, novels, graphic novels, short stories, whatever: the writer has to create the drama. The writer is not creating this drama for the characters in the story, they are creating this drama for you, the reader. The drama has to be present for you while consuming the media. Yes, the characters themselves have to feel like they are experiencing the drama, but the purpose of the entertainment media is to bring that drama to you, and to wrap you up with it so you can feel engaged with it, and get satisfaction from it. The way you create drama in fiction is by creating stakes for whatever conflict is being presented. When you are dealing with relationship drama specifically, much of the stakes are boiled down to: will they or won't they. Will they or won't they get together, will they or won't they get married, will they or won't they work through their issues and choose to stay together. The drama comes into play by us, the readers, not knowing or not able to surmise easily what the end state of the drama is going to be. If I'm reading a scene about a couple, where one partner is saying to the other "I don't think I can do this anymore, I just don't know how to deal with this...", that scene carries more weight if I believe there is a strong reasonable chance that they don't stay together, that they don't make it work. That it ends in their personal failure, or personal decisions to end it. If I know, or can at least surmise what the "end state" of the drama is going to be, then my enjoyment of the media is going to be lessened. This is why the concept of "spoilers" exists, because it applies everywhere in consumption of entertainment media, and to all kinds of drama, not just relationship drama. In the case of let's say, a young newly married Jewish couple in the real world, the drama is present for those involved: the couple, the immediate family members, the community that supports them. They are actually living it, and know the stakes involved: the marriage could fail. It could become so bad, so toxic (Navani/Gavilar) that one or both parties decide to walk away. Granted, in some communities, the social/moral/legal pressures may make such a thing more difficult, or downright impossible, however the possibility, however remote, still exists because it is the real world, and anything could happen. And more importantly, there are no "reader" expectations to be met in the real world. So now we come back to the SA, and Brandon's current challenge with selling the drama that is Shadolin: how does he create appropriate drama for this couple based on what he has laid out to date? Well, he has to give us believable scenarios for success, and for failure. The possibility of failure, in this case, must come from the Shadolin themselves, not from external forces. From here on, we are now delving into more of my own personal opinions in struggling to understand some of the baffling writing choices that Brandon has made for this romance. I am placing it in spoiler tags because I believe that the content has a very high chance of ruining the dramatic experience for anyone who happens to take what I say seriously. There is also a strong chance that a moderator may suggest I create this as its own topic elsewhere. Also, @Karger this gets into more detail in continuing to answer your question from earlier. Seriously, don't open this if you don't like these kinds of discussions, or do not want any chance (however remote) of ruining surprises or twists through the act of analyzing story structure

Kal is still in the middle of his character arc in the overarching narrative. He has seen some growth, but still has much growing to do. Doing so will still take him on some highs, and some lows in his mental state. The point of telling the story is to take us on his journey as he works through it. There is growth, and there is growth potential. Kaladin still has plenty. It's valid to say that you are tired of reading his arc, or that it is taking too long for your tastes, but it is not valid (imo) to say there is not much growth potential left for him. I think you would need to present a stronger argument here Kaladin is not the "surprise tragic death" that awaits us. That is reserved for another character. I'll give you a hint: he's the character that actually does not currently have any growth or growth potential, nor any agency in what happens to him in the story. He also likes to peruse fashion folios to cope with 2/3rds of his wife not being that into him. It is called clinical depression. He was born with it, and it will be with him for his entire life. A constant disorder he will have to learn to live with and manage, once he understands it better. He unfortunately doesn't live in a world where clinicians, therapists, and prescription drugs to help him correct chemical imbalances exist. Welcome to the life of those people afflicted with it, I'm sure the ever cyclical nature is very tedious to them as well.

My point was written to address specifically any lingering questions about "Shallan Davar"s potentially unresolved physical attraction for another character, not that there were not any other serious issues for the married couple still on the table. On that we are in agreement

I highly doubt this. I took those lines as almost a required statement Brandon needed to insert, because he knew it would be at the back of any readers' heads, and needed to address it up front so that it is out of the way. Almost like he needed to do some more cleanup on his sloppy resolution for Shallan's physical attraction to Kaladin, which was shoved onto the Veil alter, and hastily denoted as inconsequential. He's reminding us: hey, this is where I left this in OB, and nothing has changed about that, in case you were worried, don't be. Because realistically, even if he intended this to be a setup for future events, how would that even happen in the narrative. Out of the two people other than Adolin that the cosmere entity known as "Shallan Davar" has expressed any kind of attraction for, one is dead (RIP Brother Kabsal), and the other is extremely unlikely to spend any amount of screen time with "Shallan Davar" to where such a situation (where an alter and lightweaving is used) can be developed in the narrative in a believable way. And if not those two options, then do you REALLY see Brandon taking the required narrative time to write such an interaction with some rando? Maybe Mraize, now THAT would be interesting (but also extremely unlikely). No, I think it much more likely that Brandon is using Adolin here to address both Adolin's in narrative concerns, and our own (as readers) meta concerns, owing to the rushed and ambiguous conclusion to "Shallan Davar"s physcial attraction for the "bridgeboy".

Yes, several, but I don't really want to derail this thread as I've been known to do, so I'll try to send you a more detailed message at length when I have more time. I'll just say this for now: I am not unhappy with their interactions as it is written now, per se. I am a big fan of all phases of love, and appreciate them for what they are and the role they play in the maturing of any relationship. I would in fact enjoy reading their "honeymoon" like stage a lot if it weren't for one thing: how we got here. What bothered me then, and continues to bother me now is how the build up to their marriage was written, and it's complete lacking of any kind of drama, tension, conflict, as well as its inclusion of another character that ultimately served no purpose for any of these things. Of course one could make the argument that they had this, it just took place at the very end of the book. However, I disagree with this argument, and have detailed it numerous times on this forum, and will do so again later in a more appropriate discussion form.

But...but...Adolin knows Shallan is the real one. He knows her. That's what OB ending told me. And Adolin is never wrong! In all seriousness though, I thought that after 3 years of not reading Stormlight, and stepping away from Brandon's work for a while that I would be over my distaste for the way Shadolin was done. (I still have not done a full reread of OB, and no reread of of the other books either). But nope, this chapter just brought it all back to me. I'll cop to that, I'll own it. I'm massively @#$-hurt over it, and it has become clear that time has not changed that fact. I don't know how I'm going to read a book where half the plot is going to involve a major journey of two characters whose interactions with each other trigger a mild form of revulsion in me. But, you know, that's my problem to figure it out, and it's not the end of the world if I don't. I'll just know its time for me to bow out of this series.

True, but I ain't holding my breath. If I'm wrong, great, it means that Adolin has become interesting to read again. If I'm right...well that's fine by me too.

...

Not much interpersonal drama or conflict between Shallan and Adolin. It's mostly internal character conflict for Shallan. Doesn't bode well for any development of a "character arc" for Adolin. He continues to do and say all the right things. No changes to make, no personal journey of self discovery to undergo, but is probably the most universally beloved person on the Radiant side. He's a dead man walking for sure.