Zea mays

Er, Gryffindores can be ambitious, the thing about Slytherines is that they may sacrifice other things (like say principles, or friendships) for ambition. In The defining moments of Kaladin's character in WOK he gives up on his personal ambitions, for love or principles. - he gives up his ambition to be a surgeon to join the army with Tien (that one is iffy, because he wanted to be a soldier too) - he refuses to take up shardblades. Full stop. - he, and the rest of Bridge Four, give up their chance to escape in order to rescue Dalinar's army from the tower Kal does not seem to be ruled by ambition. But mostly I agree with Dumbledore when he concedes that they sort too soon.

I'm waiting for Kal to try wind-running while seriously drunk. That would go wrong in all kind of exciting directions.

The Alethi society is wildly inconsistent with any Earth period, but this isn't a bug, it's a feature. Notice that in Amaram's section of the army, the soldiers wear Roman-style leather skirts, while Dalinar's Cobalt Guard dress like extras from the Napoleonic wars. There is an in-text reason for the inconsistency: the Heralds. Taln's mantra is all about how the others will teach humanity everything they have forgotten after the last desolation. Except, this time, not everything's been forgotten. Some things have been preserved - Lirin cites "wisdom from the heralds" when he admonishes Kal to wash his hands thoroughly and keep the surgery room clean. Other things, one presumes, have been independently re-discovered. I'm not sure if any herald dictated a manual for success in the hospitality industry, but some notions of money management and commerce surely have been passed down or been re-developed, especially in a cosmopolitan trade city like Kharbranth.

Um, I must be phrasing my thoughts badly. When I say "I do not think Mr. Sanderson is quite done torturing Kaladin" I do not mean that he intends to place him in a room with white walls, blaring lights, constant barrage of atrocious 'music', electrodes in uncomfortable places, etc... I am merely making a facetious reference to the fact that he likes to write about his main characters going through difficulties and sufferings (and I love to read it, of course). I expect him to "torment" Kaladin in exactly the ways you describe - impossible situations he is not prepared for, difficult moral choices, and personal relationship troubles (any kind of personal relationship, not necessarily romantic ones). I guess I could point out that Kaladin goes through NO physical or emotional torture during WOR. He was not betrayed or tortured, and his short imprisonment was caused mainly by his own blundering. He mainly has to deal with a new, unfamiliar situation - being in command of ~1,000 men, and being a member of the Kholin faction of Alethkar politics. His epiphany at the climax of that book was partially about learning that simply killing the "bad king" would not solve any problems. Unfortunately, he did not got a chance to resolve his issues with Elhokar further - he had to run off fly off and fight Szeth immediately. We didn't see his next meeting with Elhokar, or what details of his involvement with the assassination attempt (if any) he actually divulged to Dalinar. But I digress. This will eventually have to be addressed in book 3 anyway. Lawl, an angst-less Kaladin would be something to see read about. I don't think he could get there quickly enough though. He would have to go through a lot of (unfortunately, rather angsty) character development. So, I guess we... agree?

One of the first things Kaladin says to Teft in WOK is "my own brother died because of me". Later we learn that Tien's death was in no way his fault, but that in no way stops him from feeling deeply guilty about "failing" to save him. Kaladin likes to take responsibility for things. He gets that from his father. Does Lirin feel deep personal guilt about what happened to Tien? Whether or not it was truly in any way his fault is irrelevant to how he feels. My guess is that when Kal and Lirin eventually meet their feelings will mirror each other. Having an emotional break-through that releases the hero of the festering baggage of guilt he has been carrying like a clingy monkey on his back for years - it doesn't feel like something that happens in the beginning of a book. It's more of a climax or dénouement sort of thing. Besides, I don't think Mr. Sanderson is done torturing Kaladin quite yet. My prediction is that he will have the cards stacked for maximum angst levels. That means that either: 1) Lirin and Hesina would have left Hearthstone for parts unknown (most likely Karbranth), or 2) Both will still be living at Hearthstone, but, initially, at least, the reunion will not go well. Lirin and Kaladin will butt heads through out the book before eventually reconciling during the inevitable Sanderson Avalanchetm . For bonus points, Dalinar and Adolin will go through a parallel struggle. I'm not married to any prediction though. Ask me next week and I'll be thinking something completely different.

Shipping discussions bring up disturbing (kinda stick-figure) images for me. I apologize in advance for this. *lets self out*

Amazing. The man doesn't even need to say anything. Even when he RAFO's questions, he has his uber-fans doing this for him.

Elhokar is a peacock, you mean. Dalinar is a wolverine. No other animal is hard-core enough. Jasnah is... IDK, an octopus? Intelligent and dexterous. I would give Kal a flying animal, but I'm not sure which one. If only wolves could fly... the world would be more interesting, I guess. Welcome to the 17th shard Lilaer!

At some point in WoK Dalinar reflects about Renarin, and mentions that he abjectly refused joining the Ardentia. To me that suggests he is not mindlessly devout. Remember also that it was Ren who suggested testing the veracity of Dalinar's visions, this after an ardent all but described them as blaphemy to Adolin. We need to know more about Ren before we can inderstand him. For one thing, when did he actually know that he was a radiant? When did Glys say "Truthwatcher"? Maybe he "came out" as soon as he found out.

*looks at Kobold's reputation label* Do you get a vote?

Yeah, update 1000 is just outstanding. I do wonder about the Belkster. I expect that when he does die, he will really be dead, but hopefully we'll get at least a glimpse of his afterlife. I hope he gets to find out about what happened at the goodmoot.

*makes sad puppy dog axe-hound eyes at spokane sharders* Can you not give us one or two tid-bits of new info to chew on until October?

Psst, friend Kaymyth, the image of a submarine battling a hippopotamus is truly epic, but a dugong is a marine mammal, a cousin species to the manatees of Florida. You are correct, of course, about the tiresomeness of the seemingly never-ending recitation of latinised sea fauna.

Nah. Hoid was going to play Tom Bombadil.

Just to throw a wrench in the Kaladin-as-future-ruler discussion, I will mention the new Alethi territory that now needs a permanent government: The Shattered Plains. The War of vengeance has been won, and the Everstorm is loose. The remaining Highprinces may want to turn their attention back to their domains in Alethkar proper (working together as a nation, because now they really have no choice), but the war camps will not be abandoned completely. Someone will need to be in charge of "harvesting" the gems from the Chasm Fiends. The capital of the new territory could be established at the now Parshendi-less Stormseat, and I think everyone's favorite bridgeleader is the perfect candidate for "High-Lord of the Shattered Plains". Probably not "High Prince of the Shattered Plains" though, because that would spoil the #10 motif

Hoid: "A chick and a bunny romped on a sunny day..." Kaladin: "...a chick, a baby chicken... and a what?" I do not remember the exact wording, but I believe Mr. Sanderson is referencing that exchange.

*looks askance at Weiry* How do you keep doing that? Do you possess some manner of cybernetic enhancements that connect your consciousness directly to the database? Maybe a magic parchment archive? Were you bitten by a radio-active Google spider, causing your Sanderson-sense to tingle whenever anyone anywhere posts an answered question, so you can instantly shoot WoBs at them?

Just finished the quartet "A Man of His Words" by Dave Duncan. Overall it was a very fun and engaging fantasy runaround (A little shaky on the dismount though). I appreciated the approach to fantasy "races", they were all some sort of sub-species of human, and there were no plain vanilla 'human' humans to be found (The two main protagonist were both hybrids).

Shallan should use a ShardMagnifying glass as effective as a telescope. And a Shardscope too of course, to spy on star-sprens.

Yes! Bring on the Blackthorn! Dang it, In have to wait a year. The problem with Mr. Sanderson's writing pace, is the same problem I have with the writing pace of every single one of my favorite writers: none of them write a fraction as fast as I can read!

Huzzzah, a juicy confirarmation! Which only raises more questions. The way he phrased his answer... someone involved... was Shashara the one trying to "hack" a Shardblade? If she figured it out, yeah, that explains why .

Personally I love the Fitz and Fool books, but it did take me a long time to warm up to them. I would recommend at least finnishing the first trilogy. Things get very epic there at the (bittersweet) end. You owe it to nighteyes (you've met him by now, no?). Also, Royal Assassin ends on a bit of a cliff- hanger. The next trilogy, The Liveship Traders, I did not care for as much. You could skip it and go right ahead to the Tawney Man trilogy, though itvis still worth reading.I read those "trilogies" in close succession so they melded into one long book in my mind. I for one cannot wait for Fool's Quest to come out next month.

Whait what? Is he saying that Ol' Vasher tried to bake a Shardblade using only common household Nalthis ingredients and that's how he came up with Nightblood? That implies that Vasher was going between worlds waaaay back when he was multi-name the legendary king/scholar. What era was that in Roshar? Has he been there before the recreance? Did he try to make a dead Shardblade or a proper radiant blade, a man-made pre-bonded spren? *mind asplodes* Thank you for the reporting Connoisseur!

Now I imagine a fight in WOR looking like this: *Glances sideways at own avatar* It's possible I imagine Renarin looking like Watanuki Kimihiro from 'Holic. And that means that in my head (at least until I hear differently) the Nightwatcher looks like Yuuko Ichihara.

The chapter titled "Ideals" in WOR, Kaladin gets to guard a Kholin family meeting from inside the room. "Kaladin wasn't sure what to make of Renarin. The youth- he might be older than Kaladin, but sure didn't look it- wore spectacles and walked after his brother like a shadow. Those slender limbs and dicate fingers had never known battle or real work". If Ren has slender limbs, than he's probably slender all over. Even if he later explains that he does not get violent seisures, he just gets half- paralyzed and starts twitching (that's what he tells Kal when asking to join bridge four). In his introduction in WOK, when the Kholins go chasm-fiend hunting, Ren is described from Adolin's POV "As usual, the younger Kholin rode with a straight back and perfect posture, eyes hidden behind his spectacles, a model of propriety and solemnity" It is my head- canon that Renarin loves to ride and is an excellent horseman. He is probably not at all bad-looking, objectively, he just doesn't fit the Alethi idiom of "what a man should be".