Szeth-son-son-Vallano

Shallan fully joining the Ghostbloods. I was certain this would happen one way or another, either as a double agent or after a straight up break with the other protagonists, but I guess not.

I was very pleased with how the Odium thing turned out. Taravangian had been built up right from the beginning as a fascinating, ruthless, utterly driven villain with understandable goals and a bizarre affliction. We saw from him everything I love to see in a complex villain: moments of triumph, unconscionable depravities, humanising affection, personal virtues, fatal flaws, moments of weakness, deep introspection. Even a genuine friendship with his heroic counterpart, whose morals and philosophy are incompatible with his own. Good rust. Great writing. He was hamstrung only by his place in the narrative, as the expendable, second fiddle antagonist next to Rayse... who was far less interesting (the kill!destroy!death! flavour of evil god) while being infinitely more powerful. Odium's characterisation in general throughout OB was one of the low points of the series for me, as he stood out as a fairly uninspired dark lord archetype (he put me in mind of the Dark One from WoT, only with Voldemort's glib charm and sneery personality) in a cast otherwise brimming with flavour and uniqueness. I really disliked seeing Rayse divest T of all his intrigues and resources and just kick him into total subservience, as it felt like the more compelling antagonist was being sacrificed by the meta need to have a god-level character present the foremost threat to Roshar. So, the bait and switch here -- Rayse being taken out in an abrupt, shocking way and supplanted by the dark horse villain whose journey we've all been following since book 1 -- is quite fitting to me, and bodes well for the second half of the story.

You are wise. I think I'm with OP though. I've always leaned hard on Sylladin and this was my first thought when Frankenstein's spren laboratory was uncovered.

Such a kind welcome. Heh, I try, but admittedly not as much as I'd like these days. The other four things I listed kind of cannibalized it. I should've included Disney in that list too, now I think of it. Guilty pleasure.

Now that he's presumably out of Taravangian's thumb and working for someone who inclines more to the lawful end of the spectrum, could his story go in that direction? I think he's got the right temperament for some redemption. He's always hated what he's forced himself to do, believing (or at least convincing himself) that he had no actual choice in the matter. He's still tormented by his evil deeds, but he's been given another chance at life all the same. I don't know, I think Szeth's story could take him on a slightly better road this time, or at least give him some introspection. He's been a straight anti-villain up until now, but this is the point where everything could change. I personally think he's been brought back to play a bigger role than just the dreaded monster for royal families to fear. But would any amount of repentance be enough? Could Kaladin or Dalinar or, well, anyone ever really forgive him for what he's done? Would Szeth even try to redeem his name in the first place?

I thought the opposite really. I generally found Adolin the weakest link in the main protagonist line-up, due in part to how classically perfect he seemed. I mean, he just struck me as too good to be true in the world he lives in. He's a badass warrior prince with dazzling good looks and modest intellect; he's a master duelist and a renowned ladies' man and the heartthrob love interest for our heroine, quickly overcoming his flaws (class discrimination) and befriending those he'd been ungrateful towards. He's like the perfect guy. He's also a murderer who unlawfully stabbed an unarmed man to death because he thought it was the only to dish out some real justice. That's great development IMO. It's made him vastly more interesting to me.

Hi there, I'm new here. My hobbies include reading, writing, gaming, swimming, running, and committing mass murder at the behest of this quasi-bipolar crazy guy whose mental health is even worse than mine. Life is tough, eh? But uh, no, really, nice to meet you all.