FatSpren

No, I think Taravangian set up the free healthcare as a front for what he was really doing. How else was he going to get close to that many dying people? But, yeah, it's hard to consider him a true villain. He doesn't enjoy the suffering he causes. He regrets the pain and death that his plans necessitate But he also seems to be operating on a very misguided premise--that somehow his actions will prevent the formation of the Knights Radiant, and by doing so, will prevent the desolation from coming. (Did I get that right?) And how, I wonder, did he come to such a conclusion?

Yeah, I guess the blades have been described with similar enough designs that there's really nothing left to my theory. And I totally missed that bit about Kaladin's dead Shardbearer being a red-haired Veden. Bummer. Kaladin killed Helaran. That's gonna be a wedge between Kal and Shallan when she finds out. There's still something funny about the time between getting the Shardblade (from Helaran via Kaladin) and then telling people he's a Shardbearer. Why would Amaram (or any high lord) take a Shardblade and then not immediately let everyone know that he's a Shardbearer? Why keep it hidden for months? Yes, Amaram is a known liar, but it seems like an awfully elaborate and patient lie for someone who covets Shardblades so deeply. I can't see Amaram as a guy who would have a blade for months and not use it or let anyone know he had it.

(How do I do quotes?) "Highlord Amaram continued to stare at the Shardblade in the night. ... Could it be a coincidence? Two weapons that looked the same? Perhaps her memory was flawed. No. No, she would never forget the look of that Blade. It was the one Helaran had held. And no two Blades were the same." Words of Radiance. Chapter 52 Yes, no doubt that Shallan recognized Helaran's Shardblade correctly in Amaram's hands. I'm only thinking (hoping) that Kaladin didn't actually kill Helaran. I'm thinking that perhaps Amaram got his first blade via Kaladin. Then at a later point, Helaran came as an assassin, but was killed, thus giving Amaram a second blade. We know that Kaladin killed a shardbearer in battle. And that Amaram took the Shardblade. My question is, do we know for sure that the Shardbearer that Kaladin killed was, in fact, Helaran? And here's something else that's a little suspicious too: Kal got Amaram his blade over a year ago. So why is Amaram saying he got his blade only four months ago? Why hasn't he been using it since the moment he made Kal a slave?

I got the impression that the shardblade that Amaram shows to Shallan (who appears as a messenger boy) is not the one that Kaladin got for him, but is, a second, newer one. Amaram says, "The blade is still new to me. I find excuses to summon it." This is consistent with Amaram's story that he got the blade only four months ago from an assasin that was sent after him (Helaran). I do audiobooks, so it's hard for me to go back and find and compare the right supporting quotes. But I figure this might be proved or disproved by comparing the description of the shardblade Kaladin sees on the battlefield to the one that Amaram shows to Shallan. Thoughts?