Twenty@20

What I believe is that some of the more extraordinary powers of KR caught the imagination of the public and gained fanciful names. Like the Transformation surgebinding came to be known as soulcasting, illusory powers via Illumination surgebinding became popular as Lightweaving and flying with the help of Basic Lashing came to be known as Windrunning. With time Lightweaving became associated with Shalash's knights(perhaps they became known as experts of Lightweaving) and they got the epithet of Lightweavers. Similarly for Windrunners.

To clarify, if a Windrunner uses the Full lashing or Reverse lashing, will you call that Windrunning?

The author of the AA has some sources for backup. Also the author is known to be a scholar so her writing should not be dismissed. And obviously Mr. Sanderson approves of the AA author or s/he would not be writing it. Agreed the terminologies may be updated in the next AA but until then there is no harm in using them. There is no evidence that the names of the Orders and surgebinding terminologies (eg. Soul casting, lightweaving, windrunning) were established by any authorised body. The names seem to have developed by common usage (the Heralds may have given 1 or 2)and in the present era the names are more mythological. Dustbringers in fact had several names. In such a case there can be no correct or incorrect names, only more popular and less popular names

From the above quote it seems like the term Dustbringer arose from common speech. In fact fantastic names like Windrunner, Skybreaker or Lightweaver probably are colloquial in origin. When scholar decide to intervene even amazing surges get boring names like Cohesion, Division, Transportation.

The WoR Ars Arcanum describes Lightweaving as- A (second) form of Surgebinding involves the manipulation of light and sound in illusory tactics common throughout the cosmere. I think the key word here is 'illusory'. So even if Truthwatchers can manipulate light and sound but don't make illusions, it should not be referred as Lightweaving. And if we see Renarin making illusions, we can say he is Lightweaving. What I understand is that terms like Lightweaving and Windrunning describe the act of using the Surges, that is the process of surgebinding. When a Windrunner surgebinds using the Basic lashing( noun form), he is said to be windrunning. Windrunning also aptly describes fly through the wind, which is probably why the term was coined. (Windrunning is also mentioned in the WoR Arcanum. So we are correct in using the verb form) This I think is true for all the Radiants.(I am trying to think what Skybreaking implies.) Once we see Skybreakers in action it will be confirmed if their flying through the sky is called Wind running or Skybreaking. Perhaps Skybreaking will describe the simultaneous use of Lashings and the Division surge(breaking). We also have a WoB both orders use the Lashings in the same way so an observer won't know if it is a Windrunner or Skybreaker who is flying so a Skybreaker may as well be referred to as windrunning. As regards to the point Crystin Radiant is making, I think what he is trying to say is that for different artistic abilities, the Cryptics can manifest differently. Shallan, for example, is expert in drawing and she literally drew Pattern into the Physical world. For a singer or a sculptor, the cryptic may manifest differently. Perhaps the singer will sing a specific pattern of notes, or a sculptor might carve out his Cryptic, a mathematician might develop a new formula (all cryptics have a pattern, it can be a pattern of anything, a pattern of notes, a rational number, etc). I think the possibilities are mind boggling.

Funnily Moogle, agree with you completely. I have upvoted you. The stereotyping and dehumanizing of people who are different creates a lot of damage. This is specially relevant when there are no good sides in the arena. We have no Knights Radiant to support in our world. @ Aleksiel, you may be right. However my theory is based on the simple belief that among all the wrongs in Amaram's army, Mr. Sanderson showed Hav in a positive light, at least in Kaladin's thoughts. For that sole reason I hope that some good may come out of Hav.

@ Moogle. I think the 'us versus them' question has two aspects. First, it is undoubtly bad to raise 'us versus them' issues for selfish reasons(fighting for gemhearts and Alethi border fights) or as a way to stereotype people(Kaladin stereotyping all lighteyes as evil and all dark eyes as good). A second aspect of the 'us versus them' is the fight for greater good. When in later books the Knight Radiants talk about Voidbringers as 'us versus them' can we find fault with them? Also in a war loving society where the religion endorses fighting and soldiering is a way of life, can we fault a soldier caught in bad situation trying to cope with the tragedy by thinking in terms of 'us versus them'? This is how soldiers in our world are made to fight because otherwise only mercenaries would be fighting not soldiers. Back to topic, Hav may not become a Bondsmith, but perhaps he may still become a Windrunner because of his protective attribute.

Hav is one of the many minor characters in Stormlight Archive. He gets mentioned once in WoK Hav has a speaking part in WoR This quote suggests that Hav is a honourable soldier and prefers protecting others. He most likely played a significant role in training Kaladin and therefore Kaladin thinks of him as his mentor.Shallan meets Hav during chapter 52(Into the Sky) of WoR when he is again in a protecting role. He also looks like a close confidante of Amaram. Strangely Kaladin and Hav seem unaware of each others presence in the warcamp during WoR considering the fact that Dalinar and Amaram were quite close during a major part of the book. We can also speculate about Hav's reactions to Kaladin's slavery and whether he might have pleaded in Kaladin's favour with Amaram. Also if he comes to learn of Amaram's treachery, his reaction could be interesting. A meeting between Kaladin and Hav at some point in the future may be bad news from Amaram's point of view. I am of course assuming Hav will be with Amaram wherever he goes post-WoR. I hope Mr. Sanderson has plans for Hav and the way he has been portrayed points to a future Radiantship. Comments awaited..

I don't know if this is a typo but it has been niggling me for sometime. In chapter 89 WOR “It’s horribly unfair you managed that on your first try,” Kaladin noted. “It took me forever.” “I had instruction,” Dalinar said, walking into the room and tucking the sphere away. “The Stormfather called me Bondsmith.” I think Dalinar meant that since Storm father had called him Bondsmith previously, he had a good idea about his second oath. But I could not find any instance of Stormfather calling Dalinar Bondsmith prior to his speaking of the second oath except in the back cover introduction in WOR. Will that count. Please someone correct me if I am wrong

The question of Szeth's morality is a fascinating one. I heartily thank Mr. Sanderson for creating Szeth. In discussing whether Szeth's action are morally right or wrong, it is us who are being challenged to rise above viewing people in superficial ways. Regarding Szeth we have to remember that he comes from a non- military society, where most probably violence is abhored and soldiers r looked down upon. Now in such a society he punished for a crime, which I will not bring into discussion here, and how. He is turned into a soldier and made a Truthless. Truthless, from what I understood, is another way of saying that you no longer have free will. So Szeth's will is taken away but his conscience is mostly intact(he knows he is wrong to go about murdering people). And to top it all he is turned into a weapon of mass destruction(but only a weapon since he has no free will) with the idea that the more he is forced to kill, the more he suffers. As a side note, I wonder how the Shin developed such a method of punishment. Szeth on his part, tries not disclosed the fact that he has a shardblade to his owners but he is discovered. So his killings begin. He walks on sacred stone. He has no way out for he has been bound to obey. He has to blaspheme against his society's culture because not to do so means he is rejecting his society's law. Such tragic ironies. Let me also point out Szeth with his shardblade could at anytime decided to go on his own forsaking his Truthless state if only to satisfy his conscience. That he choose not to do so at great cost of his conscience and his sanity, to follow the laws of a society which had abandoned him, points only to his sense of honour, however misplaced it might be from someone else's perspective. As a tangent, I would like to point out that in people in our world have committed suicide in the name of honour and even killed for it. While it is easy to say that these people have a misguided sense of honor, for these people honor and morality have different connotations shaped by their society. Sounds familiar to Szeth? While all cultures have a basic policy of not murdering others,Szeth's example only shows other compulsions trump this basic and ideally inviolable principle. Only one problem that I have with the story line is the redemption of Szeth by Nalan which rewards him for following the law while papering over the fact that he killed people. This seems to hint at the subtle moral degradation of Nalan and is in line with his actions elsewhere Over the course of the two books it is clear that the concept of Honor has being degraded in Roshar and Szeth is an example of that. Perhaps Odium has a role in that.. That's it. Sorry for the long rambling post. Long time lurker. Feel free to comment on my thoughts. P.S. I will be busy till the end of next month, so please don't mind if I reply infrequently..