Zea mays

Argent, thank you so much for keeping tabs on the thread and collecting these answers. ETA: Kaladin the flute player. Yes we wants it precious, we wants it.

But he never did get that wish. He still loved Navani deeply from the very beginning of his part in WOK. Sorrt Admir, but the mystery of Dalinars boon and curse is a fascinating topic. Much is there to be speculated and posted - and most of us will probably be proven wrong eventually. Whether forgetting his wife was the boon or the curse has been left pointedly vague (ruddy Sanderson). My guess is that Dalinar will eventually have to face the truth: his brother was not the flawless paragon he wants to remember him as. Now that he is over the guilt over Gavilar's death, this will be the next step. I do not think his memories of Gav were magically altered though. I think he just always wished to believe the best of his older brother. Edited to add my own out-of-left-field theory: Dalinar's wife was Shai. Then she re- forged herself out of that existence so that her family members could become radiants. Dalinar asked NW to know only the real truth about his wife - so now he knows nothing about her. How's that for convoluted.

My guess is older, at least in "non fae" time. It is weird though. chronicler attends the school after Quothe has already been expelled, but he is already a famed author by Quothe's first day there: Quothe encounters a copy of "Mating Habbits of the Common Dracus" the very first time he enters the archives.

Egads! Is this Odium's ultimate plan! Run! Run! Hide the children!

So is Hoid. Remember, he really wanted Kal to learn to play that flute... Music is somehow a great power on Roshar. The right song can summon an everstorm. Could another dispell it?

Since rocks were mentioned up-thread, the Most hated inanimate object comes to mind more easily: Szeth's oathstone. It makes bad things happen. Favorite object: the leaf Syl gives to Kaladin.

Yeah, The notion that Laral was betrothed to Roshone was town rumor. My dark suspicion is that she was secretly engaged to the other brightlord present in the scene. When they finally meet their reunion will be something like

A question that occurs: what was the usual time interval between the arrival of the heralds and the advent of a desolation? I ask, because "Taln" thinks that he is late, and mentions another heralds teaching people metallurgy, etc. a new bronze age doesn't happen overnight, y'know. If Taln is late arriving, and the processes that started this desolation (Odium acting through intermediaries? One of the numerous secret societies?) began before he hopped over from torture-land to Roshar, than his 'breaking' is not the immediate cause. Or, he's not really Taln.

I have thought of it at a time. Some Evidence Kvothe really is The Kvothe: • Kote/Kvothe does destroy all the evil spider demons things that attack him and Chronicler. • He does have a lot of scars. • Kote figures out Chronicler's unique shorthand in moments • Bast. Full stop. All that said - I still take everything he narrates with a grain of salt.

Can't get worse than death? Nah. All the main characters will become heralds. And then end up in Damnation.

Are you suggesting that Roshone was/is working for the diagram? I would like it, except, Moash's backstory and Roshone's exile to Hearthstone happened before Gavilar died. Have we found out when the diagram plan was founded?

The Parshendi had to agree to the bond. The regular parshmen don't have any independent volition, no will of their own. That said, no one seems to know exactly how the storm will affect them. (For one thing it wrecks traditionaly built shelters so being inside won't keep you safe )

Moash wanted the King dead for a long time. When did hurting (killing!) Kal in the process become acceptable? Adolin, Dalinar (Aladar, etc) have been bonded to a blade a loooong time. Moash only recently acquired his. The previously mentioned three have intensly questioned their moral stance. Moash has not ( despite Kal's influence). In fact (damnation the patenthesis) Moash (uniquely amongst bridge four) has shown extreme resistence to Kal's influence. He is the kind of person more succeptible to Odium. And Odium's influence (I belive) has been gradually increasing, with the advent of the desolation. Good fantasy/sci-fi (such as Robin Hobb's Elderling-verse books) uses "magic" to expound about the human condition, not to short change or over-write it. A man obsessed with revenge is so much more suceptible to HATE than a man re-evaluating his whole moral compass. Notice how Kal is always questioning his own motivation for his actions. This is partly a symptom of his depression - always doubting and second-guessing himself, but it also demonstrates a well developed conscience. Ek, I hope my inane rambling make some sort of sense for somebody. I can never express myself properly.

My pet suspicion is that Odium has some influence on persons who have bonded dead spren shardblades, and that influence increases as the everstorm approaches.

That's an interesting thought. We know crem is essential for agriculture on Roshar, that seems to imply it is of cultivation. What would the everstorm drop? Acid, to corrode the very rock as hate corrodes the soul? Too melodramatic, probably.

Good theory LJ. Remember the Shallan's frame of reference is based on Rosharan flora, rather than "normal" earth trees.

A sad day. Nothing more to say. A fantastic writer in every sense of the word.

Words of Radiance, epigraph to chapter 34 Blossoms and Cake: Our gods were born splinters of a soul, Of one who seeks to take control, Destroys all lands that he beholds, with spite. They are his spren, his gift, his price. But the nightforms speak of future life, A challenged champion. A strife even he must requite. - From the Listener Song of Secrets, final stanza There you have it. My interpretation: Odium is broken, his splinters, AKA the Unmade, are the Parshendi gods.

On a semi related note... does anyone know if the audiobook version going to be altered? It seems a bit excessive to drag Michael Kramer and Kate Reading into the studio just to say a couple of lines each (and then have the editing elf splice them into the right place in the narrative). On the other hand, the different formats of the book should be consistent, no?

Thank you for explaining, Hoser, I think I see your point better now. No matter how much she forgets or remembers, it is unusual for Syl to flat out tell Kaladin what to do. As for Kal not asking Szeth the obvious questions - oh, I agree so much. The honorblade is still an open question for me though. We don't know enough about it yet. It seems possible that had Kal let it fall, Nalan would have grabbed it, and used it to - whatever it is he is actually doing. Maybe someone even worse was lurking around. What is the Honorblade? Is it a part of honor himself? Is it a key to some of his power? Syl seems to imply that losing it would be very dangerous, possibly it is vital to saving the world somehow.

I'm not sure I understand your quibble. Syl already knew exactly what the Honorblade was in the first edition. This will probably have a bigger impact in later books, on the interactions between Szeth and Kaladin in the future. I mean, they will obviously meet again, I'm sure no reader doubts that. Now Kal (and by extension, Dalinar, et al) has an inkling that Szeth may not be completely dead and would be less surprised to see him up and about (Vasher, at least, should be genre savvy enough to anticipate this). Should Kal have tried to save Szeth instead of the Blade? I can sort of see a case made either way. Ultimately he was not trying to kill the assassin in white, he was trying to put a stop to him. That necessitated grabbing hold of the Weapon of Doomtm lest some other passing madmen/ voidbringer/ unmade/ worldhopper/ umpteenth conspiracy member/ something else grab it and run with it.

They should probably include a note about this in the beginning of book 3. I find myself agreeing with this change also. It fits Kaladin's character better and makes Szeth's 'resurrection' less egregious.

Headcanon accepted.Question raised: Who (or what?) assasinated them?

Tanavast = Honor. You're thinking of Nohadon, the guy who wrote (in world) The Way of Kings. If any document codified spren ethics, that book would be it. Maybe the book was altered? Nah, that's to close to the Mistborn backstory.

On the nature of spren and written records: if Shallan looked at Sylphrena, blinked and drew a picture, would Syl get stuck in that one form?