Pathfinder

She is a descendant of a returned which is why she can change her hair color. So without a returned, Vivienna would not have been a thing to begin with. Kind of a rabbit hole theory, but wouldn't it seem like a smart thing to overtly seem like you are supporting the non-aggression pact, while working in the background? Cultivation is pretending not to care about the humans since honor died, and acting as if she isn't doing anything, yet we know the reality is quite different. So why not potentially Endowment in her own way?

Lol, well if there is anything this thread taught me, it is how much stuff Oathbringer answers lol. So guess what? There are scenes in oathbringer that delve further in the Elhokar and Dalinar relationship that could cause you to draw more parallels between Dalinar/Elhokar and Kaladin/Tien, including something very very big they both share, but I won't spoil. Hmmm, just so after you read Oathbringer you will know what I am referring to, I will spoiler tag that as well Oathbringer spoilers Personally makes sense to me. Kaladin, the guard of Dalinar notices a threat and runs towards it. Adolin son of Dalinar, notices the guard noticing a threat, and given his father has a giant bullseye on his father's head, runs to his father assuming he is the target (which he was). Assassination attempt revealed too soon results in bungled attempt that not only takes out Kaladin and Shallan, but a whole bunch of officers and retainers that were also on the bridge. So it was not purely Shallan and Kaladin that fell. They were just the only two to survive (thanks to ole stormlight). But that is my own opinion. If it doesn't sit right with you, then I respect your view.

Short answer, yes knowledge of molecular and nuclear physics would have an effect on what things could be transformed into. For the long answer, WoB shown below: Phantine At the risk of getting too technical, is there anything besides lack of knowledge preventing a soulcaster from turning some rocks into a bunch of plutonium and exploding? I know you've got some rules attached to time bubbles to avoid those going nuclear so I wouldn't be surprised if there was something or another. Brandon Sanderson Well, Soulcasting isn't fission or fusion. It's a spiritual transformation process, not a physical one, and so you don't have to worry about some of these issues. There IS historical precedent of accidentally setting off fission reactions in the cosmere using the magic, but that was a different process. Soulcasting is actually pretty safe. (Well, on a grand scale.) You could end up irradiating yourself, though, which wouldn't be very fun. If you know what you were doing, making plutonium or uranium on Roshar wouldn't be difficult. The problem is more a matter of knowledge, and room for scientific exploration. They're unlikely to make atom bombs for the same reason they haven't made gunpowder. Once they figure out that some substances are important, they can learn to make them with Soulcasting (assuming they have Radiants) but some substances just don't occur naturally--so discovering them in the first place is difficult, and would require more modern scientific process. Phantine Okay, just to clarify here (since I'm not sure how up you are on early nuke designs) A big enough chunk of uranium or plutonium will explode regardless of whether it's in a bomb or not. Early bomb designs just slammed two smaller chunks together so they'd be one big chunk. For plutonium 'big enough' is about 35 pounds in one place - a chunk somewhere between the size of baseball and volleyball. If I understand properly, people can soulcast from the cognitive realm into the physical, which implies once we get into a more modern stormlight setting soulcasters will make nuclear submarines look like small potatoes. Brandon Sanderson Slamming two chunks together so they became one big chunk seems an understatement, from what I remember. I'm under the impression that you had to use a great deal of explosive force to ram them together in order to set off a viable fission reaction. Doesn't it have to be compressed somewhat in order to react with itself? I'll admit, it's been a long time since I've looked at this, but I remember glancing it over, and deciding that you'd need more than just soulcasting to get it to happen. Though it's not outside of reason that a soulcaster could learn to create super-dense plutonium. The problem is one of understanding, however. Just like it's totally possible that we, with our current technology, could figure out some huge breakthrough in science allowing FTL or other incredible discoveries. But we don't have the understanding to pull it off yet. In a modern setting, however, a lot of these complaints go out the window. Let's just say that this isn't the only reason a modern society that can instantly transmute one substance to another is potentially a very interesting place. Phantine You're totally right that everyone currently uses an 'implosion' style compression design. It's a lot more bang for your buck, and you need less radioactive material to work with. They're also a lot safer, because just sitting around they're well below critical mass - without the power-boosting tricks they basically can't go off. The old "nobody uses these anymore" designs were 'Gun-Type'. Very simple - shoot a uranium bullet into the center of a uranium ring (or vice versa). Inefficient as heck (the Hiroshima bomb only fissioned 1.4% of its uranium), but also super simple to put together. Despite being simple to build, gun-types were also super unsafe relative to modern implosion devices (among other worries, dropping a gun-type device into the ocean could potentially set it off because of how neutrons react with water). Also, getting the timing perfect on the fissile 'bullet' was a problem, so practically speaking it could only be done with uranium. After WWII, the only use the US ever had for gun-types was in bunker busters and nuclear artillery (because of course that was a good idea). Darn, that post turned out longer than I expected it to. Anyway, I'm looking forward to see you make something really cool out of a post-scarcity transmutropolis setting (especially since the liespren would be in charge of nuclear treaties), and also my roommate just pointed out all the laying out of nuclear bomb details is pointless if they could just make antimatter instead. D'oh. Brandon Sanderson This is useful information for me, but my gut says that Rosharans couldn't get this working with their current tech level. That said, the REAL issue (as you mentioned in your original question) is knowledge, not feasibility. They'd have to know how to make the right kind of Uranium or Plutonium--and would need to be able to get this across to a soulcaster in a way that works, then THEY would need to get this across to spren. Cross that hurdle, and I suppose it's not at all implausible to imagine Alethi during Dalinar's era with nukes. I suspect the right kind of fabrial could make a trigger device to match ring and bullet at the right time. Depends on how quickly it needs to be going, though.

Personally the idea that amaram is speaking in the third person in that case doesn't make sense to me. Otherwise he could have just said: No" Amaram said "No, I'll never forgive myself" I dont see why he would he would chose to speak in the third person at that moment but to each their own

I will reply to @equinox and @Karger in one go below Amaram was not referring to the Unmade, nor to himself. Oathbringer page 1139 Dalinar took his hand from the glowing pillar and held it out "You can change" he said "You can become a better person. I Did. Journey before destination "No" Amaram said "No, he'll never forgive me" "The bridgeman?" "Not him" Amaram tapped his chest. "Him. I'm sorry, Dalinar" So at this point Amaram is not referring to himself, and has not swallowed Yelig-nar yet. Reference below: Oathbringer page 1145 For now, he'd been given a second chance to protect Dalinar Kholin. Stormlight raging inside of him, the Sylspear a comfortable weight in his hand, he Lashed himself downward and crashed to the stones near Amaram. The highlord, in turn, fell to his knees. What? Kaladin thought. Amaram was coughing. he tipped his head back, faceplate up, and groaned. Had he just swallowed something? @equinox Thank you regarding my reasoning. I think Moash still has "free will" in so far as he can take whatever actions he chooses and I think he can disagree with Odium, and even act against him if he desires to (like Sja-anat), but based on my theory, he still will be unable to redeem himself because again it will just be everyone else's fault. If he acted against Odium, it wouldn't be in an attempt to atone for his actions, and fix what he has caused. He would be acting against Odium to further validate his world view, or increase his own power. I am not saying there isn't a mechanic to take back "his pain", but I think until that is discovered, I do not think Moash can be redeemed.

Not all Aviar have the mind shielding, and the communicating telepathically was only shown regarding the rodents. If all Aviar had that by default then why would Sixth say this: "It passed directly underneath. Sak chirped quietly from Dusk's shoulder; the second bird seemed to have some sense of the danger. Creatures like the shadow did not hunt by smell or sight, but by sensing the minds of prey. Dusk glanced at Kokerlii again, his only protection against a danger that could swallow his ship whole. He had never clipped Koerlii's wings, but at times like this he understood why many sailors preferred Aviar that could not fly away." So Sak was not providing any shielding of minds.

Oathbringer page 1030 "Won't meet my eyes, Notum?" Syl said "I suppose locking me away here isn't too different from all those days you spent running about at Father's whims back home." Adolin is familiar with the soldiers that Dalinar commands. Shallan was familiar with her father's servants. That is the only mention of familiarity I have found so far. I will continue to look, but if that is the reference you are referring to, then to me that still does not mean that the society is small in number.

Bronze seeking can detect other investitures. It can detect feruchmey, but the feruchemist has to be tapping the stores at the time to be detected. As to detecting Yelig-nar, if Szeth uses the powers Yelig-nar provides, I think it would be detected.

Now a lot of this is based on my own interpretation of things, rather than concrete mechanics. So at this point I believe Moash is beyond redemption, but the reason is because how I feel certain aspects of his journey work. Was what happened to Moash's grandparents wrong? Totally! Was Moash justified in being upset over it? Totally! However where he found himself as of Oathbringer was his own doing. Every moment he could have taken responsibility for his own actions, he pushed it off to blame on someone else. He chose to isolate himself from bridge 4. He chose to lie to Kaladin about plotting to kill the king (prior to Kaladin confronting him about it). He chose to move forward with the assassination attempts and he chose to fight Kaladin and then flee with the lighteyes (Graves I think?). A continual personal narrative that all lighteyes are bad/evil excuses his actions in his head. When Kaladin disproves this, then he rationalizes Kaladin is the exception, and humanity on whole is at fault. That Moash was only acting like what he was born into. And we find out Moash really was always like this. In Oathbringer he muses how he never belonged in the cities, or even in the caravan crew. He just roamed from place to place, with everyone seeing him as some guy with a chip on his shoulder. Now having said all of this, during all of that Moash to me could have still been redeemed. But in order to be redeemed, he has to take responsibility for his own actions. Szeth took responsibility for the murders he did, and he is seeking to atone. Dalinar took responsibility for the murders he did and he is seeking to atone. Odium tried to get Dalinar to give up his pain to Odium, and let Odium take responsibility. When Amaram did that, and Kaladin tried to get Amaram to come back, Amaram said "he won't let me". My question is, how can Moash redeem himself, if by giving himself up to Odium, he cannot take responsibility for his own actions and seek to atone? Unless there is a mechanic where Moash can "take his pain" back, and take responsibility, I think it is too late for Moash. Not because of the extent of his actions, but because I theorize he functionally cannot take responsibility because he gave up responsibility to Odium and Odium now holds his pain.

Brandon Sanderson What did Blushweaver achieve? In fact, she Returned in the first place to be involved in this ending as well. One thing to note about the Returned coming back is that they do see the future, but when they Return, they aren't guaranteed to be able to change anything. Before her Return, Blushweaver was a powerful merchant in the city, and very well known. She was assassinated after denouncing a group of dye merchants she'd worked with for their deceptive and criminal practices. Her testimony ended with them in jail, but it got her killed. That's how she earned the title of Blushweaver the Honest (which, if you'll remember, she eventually got changed to Blushweaver the Beautiful). She Returned because she didn't want T'Telir to fall to the invaders she saw taking it after Bluefingers and the others caused their revolt. That was why she gathered the armies. While she didn't succeed in her quest as well as Lightsong did, she did help out quite a bit. I think she's pleased, on the other side, with how things turned out.

Lol, no problem. Didn't say anything you wrote was incorrect. Just that Jasnah being Jasnah, that is going to change very quickly. She already has a decent base with her understanding of the three realms, and acknowledging that the shards are not gods. The rest (there being other planets out there and other magic systems), I think will come pretty naturally to her, especially given her power set (once she learns how to get a spren off planet and still fuel her surges of course)

Regarding the Parshendi: CarolaDavar's brother [My cousin] thinks the Parshendi were made by someone so that spren could have a physical form. And he would like some critique on that. Brandon Sanderson Parshmen were created to be an essential part of the Rosharan ecosystem.

Not sure how Notum knowing of Syl, favored daughter of the Stormfather, and the only honorspren to survive from the ancient ones that died during the recreance means they know each other intimately, nor means they have a very limited population. Kaladin became well known in the warcamps because he survived being strung up in front of the storms and he was a nobody slave bridgeman.

Glad to help. No problem. Feel however you wish about the books. I was just responding to your questions and presenting any information I did have to possible answer them. That is correct. In the boulder situation, people have reasoned that the soulcasting should have resulted in an explosive worth of a large amount of TNT, killing anyone nearby. Also when they soulcast a person to stone, because of the density of stone, the person should technically shrink. Brandon does try to keep things as accurate as possible, but sometimes you just have to wave your fingers and say "its magic!", and err on the rule of cool. His words. That is why I explained my understanding of deus-ex machina (the god machine). Because from my understanding of it, it isn't just solving an issue "easily". It is when the "solution" is something that 1. does not make sense in the overall narrative 2. is not explained. 3. negates the protagonist's agency So for me, soulcasting does not apply. As to not relating to them, in your case sure, but that is not everyone. There have been threads on here, and other places where people say "hey I wonder what happens to a soulcaster who soulcasts blood or flesh? Do they start oozing blood out of everywhere, or grow cancerous tumors?". Usually what accompanies those statements is horror for the person experiencing it. Lol again was about to type something but then remembered it was in oathbringer. I will spoiler it below, but suffice it to say, there is a scene in there that makes me very much sympathize and relate to a soulcaster Oathbringer spoilers: Well I was more mentioning just another literary device that tends to be tossed around. There are a few people feel are Chekhov's gun that should fire in upcoming books, but again I really think you should read Oathbringer first. That I would need to dig to check. I know if a soulcaster just soulcasts without an intention of a particular thing, it will default to a standard "ideal" version. But once a material is discovered or developed, a soulcaster can learn to reproduce it. Again, you really really really should read Oathbringer. If you pay attention it shows how/why and it makes sense for the context. That was one of the instances where he had to do the "wavy fingers" magic moment. If red shift was included regarding his mistborn series, the power users would fry and die. So he had to acknowledge the issue, but disregard it, to get it to still work. So he does his best, but no one is perfect. One can only do so much. But at the same token just because 1 person disagrees, does not mean that person is correct, nor does it mean a fact cannot still be a fact despite a dissenting minority. Not saying that applies to you in this case. Just saying there are still people that believe the earth is flat, and that evolution isn't a thing. That doesn't negate the veracity of those facts. And I believe Scion's point is that is great that you noticed it, but others did not and those individuals felt it was inconsistent with the character. Just like in this thread there are things you did not notice causing you to feel something is consistent that others did notice and feel it is not. I believe what it comes down to, is what do you now do with this new information? Personally I very much suggest you read Oathbringer lol. Could you expand on what you feel is still inconsistent regarding the bridges and procrastination? If I recall correctly, there are posts from Sanderson where he goes into detail about the bridges being far longer than the gap they need to traverse to allow for it to be slid across and in the novels they do mention how they frequently have to go out of their way to scout and find chasms that are traversable, resulting in what could have been a straight line ending up being a zig zag that even has to double back on itself just to find a path that will work with the bridges. It is that slowing down, that is why Sadeas uses bridge crews to make up for the delay.

I believe (though I do not think we have anything concrete to go on at this point), that copper would function as a masking effect, not a disabling one. As in, if someone soulcasted in a copper cloud, then depending on the strength of the copper cloud, a bronze seeker outside the cloud would not be able to detect the soulcasting, but the soulcasting could still take place. Now regarding the copper cloud somehow limiting soulcasting. When you soulcast the way we see Jasnah do quite a bit (she is standing in physical realm, and soulcasts another thing in the physical realm), that is when the soulcaster "astral projects", by sending an "investiture bubble" of the soulcaster into the cognitive realm. That "investiture bubble" person can be interacted with with individuals in the cognitive realm, as well as if the "investiture bubble" is harmed or killed, so too is the person. Hence the danger inherent in soulcasting. You potentially leave your physical body vulnerable, as well as your cognitive self. I could believe that theoretically a copper cloud could hide someone's cognitive representation in the cognitive realm, preventing a soulcaster from soulcasting it, but personally I do not believe that is the case. In addition, even if it was (which I acknowledge is a possibility), we do have a WoB stating that soulcasters (the fabrial, we aren't even getting to the radiant version being stronger, and having more possibilities) are used to pushing through investiture to soulcast. The same WoB says a soulcaster (the fabrial) could soulcast metal minds. So if a copper cloud could mask someone's cognitive self in the cognitive realm, I think the soulcaster could push through the interference, and still soulcast their target.

Although I do think I can recall what you are speaking of, I think he or she was asking for a reference. From what I remember it happened once with Kaladin and once with Shallan, but I am going off of recollection. If you could produce a page number, I think that would help.

All true, but she will catch up fast Cultivation's Champ I wonder whether Jasnah has been to the Cognitive Realm of planets other than Roshar? Brandon Sanderson She has not, she is not horribly cosmere-aware as of the end of Oathbringer, she is starting to get-- *inaudible* Give her some time and you might be impressed with how quickly she can come up to speed.

Finishing up Trails of Cold Steel Remaster while also occasionally playing Valkyria Chronicles 4. When Cold Steel is done, going to possibly start Trails of Cold Steel 2 while finishing Vakyria 4. Looking forward to Fire Emblem Three Houses release, then Borderlands 3, then Disgaea 4 complete+, and then Trails of Cold Steel 3, plus a bunch of other games in between. I usually try to play one game at a time, so I am set for a very long time.

So I don't know if this was ever outright confirmed, but I thought it was due to Kaladin being a windrunner and other orders of knights "level up" and their powers manifest differently. Szeth was using the windrunner blade at the time and that Word of Brandon takes place prior to Oathbringer. I would need to pull it up, but when Szeth levels up as a skybreaker, he does not do the frost thing. Kaladin last did the frost thing when he hit the third oath in the palace in defense of Elhokar. He didn't level up in oathbringer which is why I feel we haven't seen it again. Might take me a bit to find the two scenes Szeth levels up in (once when being trained, and once at the battle of thaylenah) edit: checked both scenes briefly and couldn't find the description. I could have sworn there was a scene where pedals seemed to fall from the sky around Szeth when he swore an ideal, but I guess I am confusing it with something. I will re-read the scenes with Szeth closer to see if I notice something.

Pretty much. Which is why I am looking forward to Szeth's continuing evolving character. Lol sorry. Enjoy reading them! No problem. it happens. So I started, but unfortunately have lagged, looking at every quote associated with Amaram to give him a thorough over look like I did to Jasnah. Amaram is a glory hound. He tried to convince Dalinar to leave behind Sebarial and the other highprince, so just Dalinar, Amaram and Dalinar's men could go off to the center of the Shattered Plains for glory. Dalinar said how they should be beyond such vainglory. Dalinar wasn't sure he would have any other Highprinces to back him up at all, but if you know a military leader lied to you, stole from you, and killed men under his command in the past to further his own goals, would you trust him to lead your own men? For myself, I most certainly would not. So I would out him before leaving, to minimize the potential sabotage he could do to my excursion in retaliation. But that at least is just me. So I do believe Dalinar would have done it around that time regardless, but since Kaladin returned, he did it the way he did. So although not the quote I thought, it does still answer your question: Words of Radiance page 709 "He had just enough Light to free himself from the mo9untains and land in a village in the foothills. They often set out spheres for him there as an offering, considering him some kind of god. He would feed upon that Light, and it would let him go farther distance until he found another city and more stormlight." This was the scene where Szeth hung out at Urithiru Brandon tends to focus heavily on world building and thinks of this stuff in advance. The chasmfiends are a prime example of this. Insects and crustaceans cannot get larger than they are due to the inverse square law. Their own body would crush them from the weight. So in order for chasmfiends to still be a thing, Brandon had Roshar have lower than what we know of on earth gravity. But he didn't stop there because the reduced gravity would still result in the chasmfiend crushing their own body. It isn't enough by itself. Which is why he came up with the ecosystem having natural fauna have natural bonds with various spren. The spren the chasmfiend is bonded to, and hangs around it, cause it to be lighter, and thereby exist. Roshar also has a higher oxygen content which scientists theorize would allow for larger insectoid life forms which we do see on Roshar. The is one of the big reasons a lot of people do love Brandon's writing. Because he does account for these things. Or at least to the best of his ability. For instance soulcasting is mass conservative unless certain situations where it is not. Not sure if you know what I mean by that, so if you would like me to explain, let me know! As to deus-ex, with all due respect, I do feel you are not using that term correctly. It originated during greek tragedies, because the play would put the protagonist in such a horrible situation that there was no way the person could come back from that. The writers wanting the audience in some situations to still have "a happy ending", would insert a literal god, who would take pity on the protagonists plight, snap their fingers, and "fix everything". This is a problem because the god insert had no foreshadowing, no reason, and took away agency from the protagonist. It also removed any means of drama, because you would know that no matter how bad things got, it could just be "fixed". So it became known as a literary device for whenever something has not been explained, foreshadowed, or makes sense in the world it is in, occurs for no discernible reason. Soulcasting comes up repeatedly throughout the novels. It is explained at length. It was a very real cost to those using the fabrials. It is a rare relic and it is employed as such. The ardentia regulates and restricts it extensively. The fact that Jasnah has one is seen as a great heresy, danger, and she has to fight off people trying to rob her of it constantly. It is discussed in the novels how the highstorms and soulcasting create a great military dilemma. Do you go for the high ground to lay siege to a city, risking your army getting wrecked in a highstorm, or do you go for cover, but lose the advantage? Siege warfare is not something you can wait out. Between highstorms battering your troops, and soulcasters keeping a city supplied despite loss of access to their farm land, generals have to find someway to cope. This is further expounded upon in Oathbringer, but there are plenty of mentions of it in Way of Kings and Words of Radiance. Just like it is constantly mentioned how those in the stormlands live their lives by the storm. Sloping buildings, and the materials they are built with. Purelake functions completely different due to their experience. Shin act even "stranger". As an aside, another literary device that is tossed around a lot is Chekov's Gun. I am not sure if you heard of that or not, but that is when something is mentioned, and then forgotten. So if the writer makes a point to mention a gun. Describe the gun and call the reader's attention to the gun, then the gun had better matter or fire at some point, otherwise it is just wasted page space.

Ah, i very much missed that part. In that case (assuming my theory on Yelig-nar is correct), then as far as I am concerned the Lord Ruler doesn't have to do anything. Just by drawing Nightblood, and activating Yelig-nar's powers, two beings will be feeding from Szeth at the same time, unless Szeth can find a way to be fueled directly by a shard, I see him going "poof" really fast all on his own.

Still personally of the opinion that assuming the Honorblades still functioned the way they did prior to Honor's death (where the shard fueled the surges for the heralds), then I think they would be on equal footing with the lord ruler. Having Szeth have all the honorblades, and thereby all the powers I think would help even further. From what I have seen, I believe all the powers associated with the Lord Ruler and the Heralds activate at the speed of thought. So at the same time that the Lord Ruler activated his increased physical speed, mental speed, strength and etc, Szeth could transport to the cognitive realm and then soulcast the lord ruler's metal minds to smoke (WoB confirm a regular soulcaster could soulcast metal minds as they are used to pushing through investiture). Once the lord ruler is without his metal minds, either let him die of old age, or soulcast him to smoke as he is no longer as heavily invested. Or as soon as the Lord Ruler taps all his abilities, Szeth could (since he is touching the ground) cause a huge gravitation effect strong enough that the lord ruler could potentially be crushed, or result in a stalemate where the lord ruler cannot move and must continually heal himself from the pressure, while szeth must constantly maintain the gravitational pull. Then again Szeth could then use division or soulcast to finish the lord ruler off. Division maybe affected by the gravitation pull, but the soulcasting shouldn't. Now I admit I am completely guessing on the levels of strength of the surges that the heralds had access to prior to Honor dying, but we do have WoB that stated the Heralds had access to levels of investiture no radiant could come close to and that the blades originally were fueled directly by honor. Just some thoughts

edited to account for spoilers.

Theoretically you could do a chess set for all of Brandon's books. Why just one? lol

Karger answers this pretty well already, but I just have one more thing to add. Szeth hating killing, but felt forced to because of the oathstone. If the Shamanate is wrong, then all the murders Szeth did, were by his own hand, and laid at his own feet. That is why he ultimately let Kaladin kill him. He owned up to responsibility for all the deaths he caused. That is also why he was upset Nale revived him, and by extension why he now tries to atone for his actions. Stormlight continually heals while you hold it. Oathbringer spoilers Edgedancer spoilers Oathbringer spoilers So the idea would be their bodies would hit the ground, and as soon as damage was done, the stormlight was already actively healing them. As Kaladin falls into the chasm, it notes he forced his bond with Syl resulting in her screaming in pain. So he was able to use stormlight in that moment, but after that the bond completely left him. Well personally I wouldn't call it a deus-ex machina considering there are very real costs to the people who soulcast, and what can be soulcasted via the fabrial is relatively limited in scope, and access. Now having said that, it is commented throughout the novels how soulcasting completely changed how warfare was done on Roshar. Armies could move far faster because there was no need to wait on supply lines, or guard them in transit. Whole cultural foods arose from finding ways to make soulcast food more edible (herdazian chouta if I recall the name correctly). Glad to help Lol never said Sadeas was infallible. I see where you are coming from. All I can really say is the novel said that Kaladin kept his stormlight from being visible, and although it is noteworthy that he was able to avoid strikes from full shardbearers, Kaladin himself technically didn't land any "big" hits. So at least with the lighteyes, their eyes were focused on Adolin. I do not believe so due to the level of pre-planning required to ambush Amaram. I believe Dalinar had laid the trap, and gathered the info in the background before Kaladin disappeared in the chasm. Dalinar then finished gathering the information while Kaladin was missing. Dalinar said at least he chose to do what he did when he did it, because they were about to leave for the center of the shattered plains if I recall correctly, and he wanted it resolved before they left. (I just checked and I was right, it was just before they were going to leave for the center of the shattered plains.) So I would imagine he wouldn't want a traitor behind his back in the middle of a war zone. If I recall correctly, Szeth mentions in Way of Kings or Words of Radiance that Urithiru for some reason causes the gemstones to lose stormlight slower so he keeps a cache there to grab as needed. Oathbringer (spoilers below)