Patrick Star

I'll probably join the Kholins. It would be awkward, though. Just think about how much we'd jump around, and how nonsensical we would sound! "Hey, so I have all this information that will help you survive the upcoming desolation. First, we have two radiants on the loose. There's an edgedancer named Lift in Azir, she's friends with the new prime there. Also, Jasnah's alive and traveling around with Hoid. They're in some forested region about a week from civilization. She's an elsecaller. Also, don't trust Tarivangian. He made a trip to the Nightwatcher, and asked for the capacity to save the world. He has fluctuating intelligence, and made a large diagram that instructs him on how to survive the desolation. He slowly kills the poor of Kharbranth in order to record their death rattles. The hospitals are a facade. Also, he knows what caused the recreance. I don't know what it is, but I know that he knows what it is. Also, he sent Szeth to kill Dalinar. Speaking of Szeth, he's on his way to Shinovar with the Herald of Justice, who used a fabrial of regrowth on him after Kaladin killed him, in order to slay the stone shamans, who hold 7 honorblades. Also, he hid a captive unmade in Jah Keved, you should find it. How did he get the unmade? Gavilar gave it to him. He founded the sons of honor, who feel that causing a desolation would bring back the heralds. That's why the Parshendi killed him. Amaram and likely Restares are active members. You should go get them, and Taln. By the way, that Taln fellow was either the real deal or a doppelganger sent by Odium. Not sure which. But don't fight Szeth! He has Nightblood, a sentient sword from another world that is stronger than a shardblade by many magnitudes. If you want to know more, ask the Ardent Zahel. He made Nightblood, and followed him here from Nalthis." And I'm only touching the tip of the iceberg...

We need even more ridiculous shardweapons/items, like a Shardlasso of Truth. Or maybe a shardtank. Or a shardcycle. Or a shardhat (like Oddjob's). Also, I really like the idea of a shardarang.

Also, Renarin refines and masters his truthwatcher powers. He then uses them in order to place winning bets in the NBA finals, Belmont Stakes, NHL finals, and world cup.

So, this is an opinion piece of mine, and a discussion of Dalinar and Kaladin. In my opinion, Kaladin is by far the better hero character. Here's why. Major events in Kaladin's life include: seeing his brother killed because of an incompetent and selfish squadleader, watching his men get killed by and being enslaved by a corrupt brightlord, and possibly foresaking his freedom (and life) in order to go on a suicide mission to rescue a highprince who had allied himself with Sadeas. Major events in Dalinar's life include: Getting so freaking plastered that he allowed his brother to be killed by Szeth, putting himself in the best possible position for Sadeas to betray him, and being bailed out of said betrayal by Kaladin. Kaladin's major mistake so far was his plan to allow Moash to murder Elhokar. While this is quite a bit of a transgression, Elhokar WAS indirectly responsible for Kaladin's troubles (his brother, the shardblade, etcetera), and Kaladin has proven to have severe depression and PTSD. As soon as he thinks of Tien, he loses grip with reality. Dalinar's mistakes are a... bit more varied and numerous. Let's see here: getting drunk in the prologue, allying himself with Sadeas, allowing Roshone to retain a degree of power, and naming Amaram the head of the Knights Radiant while simultaniously not realizing that there wasn't anything special about Kaladin (or Shallan). Also, Dalinar really hasn't had to address his mistakes. Kaladin and some of the highprinces bailed him out Sadeas' betrayal, and nobody other than Kaladin (with Amaram) has really harped on Dalinar for the others. You could argue that Gavilar's death is punishment enough, but I really don't think that works, especially if Gavilar was a twisted as the Sons of Honor. I really don't think that the same argument can be made for Kaladin. Between the bridge runs, fighting Szeth, and saving Dalinar, Kaladin has almost single-handedly made up for his and others' mistakes. I know that I should probably reserve this judgement until Highprince of War comes out, but at this point in the series, I think that Dalinar is relatively undeserving of the leadership of the new Radiants, and that Kaladin is simply a better hero. Also, while I commend Dalinar for not taking the throne, I really think that he should have. For him to put the entire kingdom in jeopardy just so that he could keep an outdated promise to his brother is a bit selfish. If he had the support that he said he had, he should have at least overseen Alethkar during the Parshendi war. Elhokar was in no way ready for the throne, and Dalinar could have used those few years to stabilize the kingdom and demonstrate to Elhokar how to be a better king. To me, his refusal to take at least temporary control was the wrong move. Sorry if this is a bit disjointed and/or ranty. What do you guys think of this? Who do you think is the better hero? Or the better character?

I'm waiting...

I'd say that the opposite is true. During the duel, Kaladin's shardhelm boxing glove literally sucked the stormlight out of him in order to repair itself.

Are you leaking Sanderson's upcoming work again? He did say that he's doing a short story about how Lopen became the King of Alethkar...

Of course Shallan would be an awful antagonist. Anybody who can be stopped by a stick would be an awful antagonist.

To? Probably nothing. From? Probably something like this (I hope):

As long as Amaram doesn't become the face of the KR/PR, I'm happy (WHY, Dalinary, WHY?! Why would you do such a thing?!)

I have something that will defend us from them!

Lopen should get a shardcousin. That'll protect him from anything. Even better: a ShardStick. Not quite as good as the real thing, but it should defeat anybody who dares to fight it.

Quite obviously, Adolin is going to end up with the Stick. At some point, Adolin will grow tired of Shallan's empty flattery and will find out about the ghostbloods. At this point, he will seek solace with another being whom Shallan attempted to use. Enter the Stick.

How about a vehicle? It would be cool for there to be a shardmobile.

It's over 9000! Way, way over 9000. At least half a million, with all the parshmen changing.

The Frost? That's just because of how cool Kaladin is When shardblades are summoned, they're coated with a layer of mist and condensation, and Shardplate mists together. Probably related to the frost.

Good post! Take an upvote. I would like to tack on a couple of things. First, it was heavily implied that Venli and some of the Parshendi scholars had used stormform before Eshonai, which means that Desolation was going to happen no matter what. Kaladin just sped it up slightly because he gave Venli some bargaining power. On the topic of the black sphere, there's speculation going around that it contains an unmade. My personal guess is Yelig-nar, known as Blightwind. There's a good chance that Blightwind was talking to Szeth through the screams, which is why I think this. We know that the unmade can be bonded and that they are of Odium, so your idea of investing a radiant with Odium is possible. Also, I think that Brandon said that the Heralds cause the Desolation. It's certainly possible that Gavilar hoped that killing a bunch of people with his new pet unmade would cause the heralds to return, but I'm not too sure about that. Overall, this is some good, healthy speculation.

That would support shipping Kaladin and Shallan. In both cases, the main hero ends up with the redhead

Kaladin in killed Shallan's brother, so there's that.

Why? And How? Cultivation is still alive, so Odium will have to kill her for Dalinar to be able to pick up the Shard. Also, Honor is shattered. There's no feasible way for Dalinar to reassemble it and become Tanavest 2.0.

Lift is going to eat Rayse and Odium, then turn them into Stormlight. That'll keep them from killing more people.

Nope!

So, we know that the Unmade are odious sprenlike ancients that hate humanity, cause the thrill and create death rattles. I have a specific question about the death rattles. Moelach, one of the unmade, causes the death rattles. Dying humans are given valuable snippets of information that they blurt out right before flatlining. Why is he doing this? Tarivangian's plan to save the world relies on the information that Moelach is feeding him through these deaths, so why would Moelach help him? If the unmade really hate humanity, then why are they supplying the information necessary to save it? Is Moelach forced to? Is he feeding humans false and/or meaningless information? If not, will he? If they are always true, then why? Perhaps they are meaningless (true, but don't really help humanity) in order to spur Tarivangian to kill more people? What do you guys think? Note: I am trying to analyze the premise of death rattles, not specific ones.

My reaction to this: I really don't see him being a Bondsmith. Or a Radiant. At all.

I think that Syl kind of answers this question in WoR. She tells Kaladin how if you break a rock, it's still a rock (sort of). Kill a spren, still a spren (sort of). Kill a person, and all you have is meat. I think that's why there's nothing left over. Could be wrong.