Frostlander

We're already seeing the pieces put into place for Kaladin to have a big group of Windrunner squires. Both to show readers how that works and, possibly, to set up a new arc. A logical next Kaladin-angst-arc would be for him to have to deal with some of Bridge 4 becoming KR, some following him around and glowing, and some not needing his protection. I imagine a cool scene where a bunch of them drop in at just the right time, but I can also see the potential for a next oath to be about letting go when others can protect themselves or something like that. There are too many possibilities for Kaladin-angst and plot development. One point in favor of Lopen remaining a squire: more Lopen, as he'll be hanging around Kaladin more.

Does this mean that Lopen is not a KR potentially in training? Oddly (even though my idea conflicted with the medieval use of the word), I'd assumed that squires would always be loyal helpers who received benefits from their bond with their KR. This WoB almost seems like the strongest evidence that it is possible for Lopen or one of the others to get their own spren. Am I reading this wrong?

I like the idea of Heralds being tied to specific cities, especially since Taln is the Herald of War and Alethela was associated with war historically (and now). I also agree that Urithiru was meant to be neutral ground. I'd been thinking of Tukar and/or Sesmalex Dar for Ishar, though that region strongly identifies, I believe, with Jezrien. It's possible that the region has reconstructed its memory. An alternative would be that part of Ishar's Heraldic corruption turned him into a theocrat and he's moved in on Jezrien's turf while Jezrien is drooling.

This post brings in some of my thoughts on Oathbringer, Voidbringers, and Voidbinding but also builds on a lot of the ideas I've read on this site. I’ve been speculating about the title of the book, Oathbringer, (and its likely in-world literary counterpart and Dalinar’s old sword) in light of the idea that “void” refers to the breaking of oaths, bonds, and contracts. If this is the case, “Oathbringer” serves as a very clear opposite to Voidbringer in a more substantial way. We know that this book will be about Bondsmiths, but I suspect that it is also necessary to lay the groundwork for the final two books of the first five. The idea that Roshar is bond-focused, rather than spren-focused (borrowing from others here!), makes a lot of sense when thinking about the tactics and strategies of the parties involved. There are those who create protective, consensual bonds and oaths to protect Roshar, and those who void oaths and (likely) form twisted, nonconsensual bonds. Spren are willing, and perhaps unwilling, partners in forming these bonds, too. In addition to learning more about the significance of bonds and oaths and the role of Voidbringers and Voidbinding, I think the consensual nature of bonds and oaths will come into play. We know that it’s possible for Listeners to voluntarily give up forms, so the bondage of the Parshmen is even more terrible. If humans used something on the void-side of things to deprive the Parshmen of forms, that would demonstrate a corruption of the honor-based system of bonds, as humans showed a willingness to use voidlike tactics. I’m also thinking about the bondage of spren. Nahel spren, as far as we know, choose to bond, sometimes even against the wishes of other spren in the Cognitive Realm. But we’ll likely be seeing more about the consequences of bondage, perhaps especially with regard to spren trapped in gemstones against their will or against nature. From WoR, it seems that the Parshendi may have started down a dangerous path when they learned how to trap spren, rather than attract them: And who knows what the dark side of fabrial science might be? We might find out more in this book, though. At any rate, I think that Oathbringer will help set up the opposition between forming a bond and voiding or twisting a bond, while also exploring the nature of bonds made freely and bonds that more closely resemble bondage. This will establish more specific stakes for the last two books. I’m interested to see where others think this possible focus for the book might lead! P.S. Sorry if I got carried away with hiding spoilers on a spoiler board!

I suspect that Sanderson has more of a say in marketing than many authors, but sometimes marketing teams will let the author "choose" the cover. As in "you can choose which image of war, or battle or action scene you want to feature on the cover." It's possible that, despite his popularity, there are still some compromises with the publisher. If they wanted a battle or action scene and he gave Whelan a handful to choose from, maybe this was the one from the book that made the best, least spoilery cover. And (this is my fault), but if I hadn't read the artist's explanation of how he designed the image, I'd just be speculating like crazy and not worrying about this so much.

Thanks so much for the thoughtful responses! Just to throw this out there, is it possible that Odium adjusts his strategies to the situation? Facing Honor, he’d need to void oaths, pacts, etc. If he were facing Cultivation, he may chip away at the learning, civilized, educated qualities associated with the word. This might be part of the series’ interest in forgotten knowledge and scholarship. And why the bits with Lift and Wyndle work so well, given her order. Cultivation might be stretching it, but we've certainly seen shards on other planets tailor their approaches to shard destruction. And I've always really appreciated the layers upon layers in Sanderson's writing, especially when it comes to wordplay and themes.

So, this is a very theoretical post. It's not mega-sourced (which I hope is ok), because it's more about how we look at larger, more abstract concepts related to language and literary themes. I don't believe there are any spoilers here. Here goes. As I’ve been thinking about SA’s language, I’ve realized that a lot of the terms it uses sound like they could be part of a standard fantasy series with stock villains who have generic goals. We often take them for granted. But we see in some of the archaic meanings of words in in-world songs and texts, the terms can be opaque or have a second, often older meaning. Sanderson has had some fun with misunderstood words in other series, too... This led me to try a linguistic analysis of SA’s in-world terminology and to contextualize it with some of the major thematic elements of the series. Major Themes: Loss, Corruption, Recovery of Knowledge The Integrity, Durability (or Fragility) of Bonds, Barriers, Seals, and Oaths Terminology: I, and perhaps others, have been thinking about “Desolation” in terms of a goal of essentially sending Rosharans “back to the stone age” and wiping out civilization. It’s a familiar goal in an ordinary fantasy series. Additionally, because of the theme of the loss and gain of knowledge, this makes even more sense to the reader in the early stages of the series. But “Desolation” can also mean forsaken or abandoned (the Latin root). The word “Void” also sounds like it would be a cliché end-goal of a “big bad” in a fantasy novel. More like emptiness, the void of space, etc. But “Void” also means the breaking of a contract or agreement, or even a hole or breach in a wall meant to shelter or protect. What I’m suspecting, is that these terms—and their compound and modified forms—are interconnected. Some of these connections are familiar, but I think that they are much more complex and work on more levels than we realize. I’ve thought of a few ways that these terms apply to the series, but I imagine there are many more. This is in no way comprehensive. It’s more about looking at the series through a lens that I suspect the author uses. Here are a few: Shards and their goals: Odium is the “Broken One.” He breaks bonds, vows, oaths, he renders them void. He shatters. What helps the Broken One break/void pacts and oaths? Voidbringers and the Unmade. Honor is the shard most associated with oaths, bonds, fulfilling/adhering etc. He creates walls to protect, walls made out of humans, spren, and oaths. Here, we see the root of their opposing interests. Stormlight, bonds, and cracks: We know that Honorblades let too much stormlight in, perhaps making the user more susceptible to malicious influences. Knights Radiant, too, have cracks, but the symbiosis of the Nahel bond protects in most cases. And Voidbringers (whoever/whatever they are) are perhaps the “Knights Radiant” of Odium, though without patterns, laws, and can include species that have an affiliation with gems, stone, or are actual stones. They are able to hold in stormlight because Odium’s influence has corrupted them, sealing the cracks to only his influence, and making them like stone. Misunderstanding the purposes of Stonewards and “Dustbringers”: I suspect that Stonewards, in particular, have become confused in popular understanding, at least in the past. They may be strong like stone, but more important, they guard and protect against things made of stone or like stone/rock. They “ward” against stone-like bonded Voidspren. “Releasers” or “Dustbringers” may turn animated stone enemies, perhaps even VoidListeners, to Dust, releasing—and hopefully destroying—the bonded Voidspren. Part of the reason they are feared, even though they are needed, is because they break bonds, not unlike the Broken One and his friends. An example of language and double meanings from the Listeners: Conclusion: Perhaps the conflict, at least for the first 5 books, is about Odium’s attempt to shatter bonds, pacts, and oaths, layers upon layers of these protective forces that put up a barrier between Roshar and Odium. Should Odium render these protective bonds void, perhaps weakening them with the help of a loss of knowledge about the larger conflict and the less abstract assistance of the Unmade and Voidbringers, he will break through and fully touch Roshar and destroy its shard and cognitive shadow shard. The True Desolation involves a final forsaking or abandoning of the vows and bonds that protect Roshar and the more literal, catastrophic abandoning of its inhabitants, by shards, heralds, and others sworn to protect Roshar from Odium’s influence. This may not all be new, but I think that really digging into words that Sanderson chose for very specific reasons could lead to some fun ideas...

I can't really think of a good Shallan action scene for the cover of WoR. The tent with Tyn? Sneaking around in disguise? In the portal on the Shattered Plains? What these books have in common is that they all have war or battle scenes on the cover. Since it looks like Jasnah will be taking on the role of combatant, rather than strategist/scholar, it works here.

If the cognitive realm is 2D, how can people go there physically? To worldhop, Elsecall, etc. I'm actually pretty puzzled by this.

I'd been considering the potential for mining novellas. For example, with Edgedancer, I know he wanted to make sure he got a certain character's development "on screen" before Oathbringer came out. Because Edgedancer seemed to have a lot of relatively big reveals, it made me wonder what other developments needed to be set up before Oathbringer. (Info on Ishar, Taln and his pancakes, etc.) Same goes for Secret History.

That does bring up the interesting fact that Shallan is drawing shardplate because it happens to be very poorly documented. The scene does give her an excuse to watch training, but there's no way Sanderson introduced this big gap in their recordkeeping unless it would serve the plot later on. It could be for Graves, or in preparation for a large-scale betrayal, or even a surprise rescue. Lots of possibilities.

Would Trell? If I were Trell, I'd find any remaining Mistwraiths and start spiking away. It seems too convenient to have the scientists say that the Mistwraiths were gone...

I don't know if this is the boon, the curse, or a blending of the two, but we know Lift asked either not to change, to stay the same, or not to get older. It seems like she might have said one of the first two, thinking that physical maturity was included. One passage that stood out as almost a throwaway line was this: What if Nightwatcher interpreted Lift's ability to steal food, her hungriness, and her fear of not having to search for food as something that could fall under "not changing"? By metabolizing Stormlight and always hunting for food, even if her life became more comfortable, Lift would, in a sense, not change.

I suspect that it really was more a matter of Ishar setting Taln up to die, though we don't know how. One other passage that stood out to explain why Odium might recruit a traitor Herald comes from Stormfather: The loss and recovery of knowledge, which is a major theme of these books, lines up with the idea that Odium understood that his best chance of winning was to keep the span between desolations long enough that Roshar would forget how Desolations and Voidbringers/Voidbinding worked. Then, something "new" like the Everstorm could be set in motion. Jasnah says that even the Highspren were in the dark about this and that her information was likely all wrong. So, it seems possible that Ishar "choreographed" things so that the person who could hold out the longest under torture and buy Odium enough time for humans and spren to forget would be the only one to die. Kalak speculates that the Heralds were broken in the Prologue, and that might be how Odium worked Ishar. The most exciting thing is that now that Ishar is the main suspect for the traitor mentioned in the Diagram, much of what we thought we knew is potentially suspect, up to the very highest levels.

Not sure why the Heralds were seemingly all at the breaking point (with the possible exception of Taln) during that last desolation, but assuming they were, did Ishar make plans with Odium knowing at least eight would accept his theory? And if so, is it possible that Ishar killed Taln in that final battle because he was the least likely to go along with the plan and/or the most likely to hold out under torture for the longest? All we know about Taln in the battle is what Jezrien said: Where did Jezrien get this information, and is it true? The whole thing is speculation, and Ishar's motives aren't clear, but it's an intriguing possibility.

Maybe that's who Senna is/was...

I agree with these explanations for Ash, Nalan, and Ishar's quotes. Chana is invoked when there is mothering involved. Both quotes in WoR: The thing that is most striking to me is how often Kelek is mentioned, particularly given how little sense the phrases seem to make. One thing that seems to tie them together is confusion, truth, or disbelief. For example, Adolin: And Zahel and Teft: Kelek-related curses seem to show up with much more regularity than the others: 13 in WoK and 11 in WoR. I suspect that this is an indication that Kalak will turn out to be very important in the series. Partly because his PoV opens the series, and because Sanderson seems to keep reminding (perhaps more general readers) of his existence without giving too much away at this point. Also, that's a funny observation about Nalthis, given the breath connection and also eta: more spoiler tags

I also think that the plague at the Purelake mentioned at the end of WoR suggests that something special cosmere-wise is going on there. Not to mention the two gods (one of which is not benevolent). Perhaps it is a more porous place in the physical realm, where Odium & Friends might obtain early access? Or a shared space of some sort, but where Odium is usually kept at bay? Given the Interlude's talk of not attracting Vun Makak's attention (the eyes of the gods?) and the fact that you can speak about his malevolence in special "holy grottos," there is definitely a Void-type connection. One that is probably connected to the plague and how early it appeared, especially since the Everstorm hadn't reached Purelake yet.

I’ve looked for an answer to this question, but haven’t been able to find one. Apologies if it has already been discussed to death. I don’t have a theory to associate with the following observation, but am wondering: it is significant and, if so, do we have enough information to make sense of it? During the highstorm when Eshonai bonds the stormspren, Szeth also attacks the palace in an attempt to assassinate Dalinar. During this sequence, the Stormfather, Syl, and Pattern become extremely agitated. When I read the scene for the first time, I was so caught up in the atmosphere that I didn’t notice the possible overlapping. From the beginning of the chapter “The One Who Hates,” it is clear to the reader that the ongoing highstorm is Eshonai’s highstorm but not that Szeth is on the way. Eventually, based on Syl’s reaction and the narration, Szeth appears to be an agent of Odium. Starting off, in Kaladin’s storm dream, he speaks with Stormfather: Stormfather seems to be referring to Odium and the Everstorm that Eshonai will set into motion by bonding the stormspren and converting other Parshendi in a later storm. Pattern also agrees that something is off: And when Syl finds Kaladin, she also expresses alarm: Kaladin immediately begins to evacuate the palace, even though he still doesn’t know what is happening. It’s still not clear to the reader that Szeth is there. Syl's quote that "He's coming" still seems to refer to Odium. Once they reach the hallway where the spheres have been drained, but right before they see Szeth, Syl comments: Finally, we (the readers and characters) know that an assassination attempt is happening. When Kaladin tries to explain Szeth’s powers as deriving from the Nahel bond, Syl is adamant that he is something else, either having seen the honorblade, his use of stormlight, or not sensing a spren. Syl later points to Szeth’s blade as particularly troubling: What I don’t understand is why Syl makes the connection between the other ominous events and the arrival of Szeth. She clearly says “He’s here” in reference to Szeth when they find him during the evacuation. She’d already said “He’s coming,” but it seemed much more tied to the stormspren bonding and Odium. I know there are theories about Szeth having a connection to one of the unmade re: "the screams" as well as concerns about consuming so much stormlight. Is this Sanderson just writing an awesome chaotic scene or is there a clue in there?

Given that Pattern is there to study human beings and is excellent at understanding patterns, Pattern and Shallan may be able to update the Diagram in the absence of another super-day for Mr. T. Or they might find a game-changing piece of information. It might not happen soon, as Pattern still has some learning to do, but it's hard to imagine that Pattern and Shallan wouldn't get at least a look at the Diagram. Especially after the work they did in Amaram's house.

I do wonder if something "hemalurgic-ish" could be going on with the soulcasting fabrials and creepy ardents. If there are currently no spren in the soulcasting fabrial gems, and no nahel bond or nahel spren to act as a guide for those ardents, how would that magical transaction/interaction play out? The ardents are possibly giving up aspects of their humanity in order to soulcast. We know from Jasnah that soulcasting is very dangerous (and also has a somewhat ominous-sounding name). Does the stormlight power from the gem combined with the imprinted pattern on the soulcasting fabrial require the sacrifice or corruption of the ardent's sDNA when soulcasting, as they have no buffer or intermediary spren? Almost a form of self-hemalurgy, but Roshar-style?

Disregarding the Tanavast (Taravangian?) bit, I would really like to see Pattern "do his thing" with the Diagram. And we've only seen fragments of the Diagram. It's almost like the narrative was set up this way; Pattern's talents have only been hinted at so far. I could see this playing out as espionage or a cooperative last-ditch effort.

That's a good question, and I suspect that it is a combination of introducing Nalan/showing regrowth before Lift used it and wanting to preserve some mystery about the remaining orders. We know something about or have been introduced to Windrunners, Lightweavers, Bondsmiths, Elsecallers, Truthwatchers, and Edgedancers. We'll be learning a lot more about Skybreakers (who for now are mysterious) in the next book. Dustbringers, Willshapers, and Stonewards are the only three that he still has in his pocket by the end of WoR. From a narrative standpoint, he would lose the ability to surprise us with those remaining orders if he spent another one on a single interlude. I think it actually makes more sense to do it this way.

I'm thinking Venli gave him Midnight Essence, the force behind the creatures Dalinar fought in a vision in WoK: We know from Dalinar's vision that Midnight Essence (perhaps ReShephir herself) can be released, perhaps by a person, before a desolation even occurs: I agree that Venli was corrupted a long time ago (perhaps while in scholarform?) and it seems likely that Gavilar got the sphere from Venli. Given that Midnight Essence seems to be something actively released, often before a Desolation, it is actually strange that we haven't seen any yet. Perhaps because Szeth buried it in WoK: We should have seen it by now. Perhaps the Everstorm will unearth it when it hits Jah Keved.

I agree with the idea that the word "snapped" is significant, since Adolin really did need something more if he's going to become a KR. And I think he is, partly because we're going to need more than one knight representing each order by the end of the series. (Unless we come back from the break after book five and there are a whole bunch of anonymous redshirt KR's running around.) Anyway, there was an interesting quote from a signing that got me thinking about a potential oath for Adolin's hypothetical order: Bold text is obviously mine. It has the feel of a proto-oath, the idea behind the eventual oath. Something like a grim: "I will do what needs to be done"?