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The heralds all apparently know about Adonalsium after Ash cursed by his name, which implies either some world-hopping or that Tanavast explained everything about shards and his origin. Which somehow doesn't seem likely to me considering they're being consigned to be tortured forever to protect what turns out to be just one of many, many other livable, and populated, worlds

This could apply to Taravangian at the very end. After ousting Dalinar didn’t work, he seems like he’s trying to find any way at all, out of the situation he’s made for himself

I think it’s basically the blinding knife from Lightbringer. It sucked away whatever kind of investiture was making Jezrien immortal and stored it in the gemstone, so he died from his knife wound like any normal person. I’d guess Moash will be given that immortality in a similar way, if it wasn’t already transferred to him automatically. That would explain why the fused couldn’t do the job themselves

I don’t see it. She’s too calous and analytical in her reasoning, and his whole thing is about doing what is right because it FEELS right. Also the age thing. For context, Lift is much closer to Kaladin in age

Maybe...that could be what happens when you try the same thing as Vasher did to make Nightblood, but using stormlight instead of breath

I still maintain that The Way of Kings was the best. Kaladin's time in Bridge 4 is such an amazing story. I've never, in reading anything of any genre, been so on the edge of my seat (for 40 hours!) to find out how someone would get out of such a hopeless scenario that just kept getting worse and worse despite all his efforts to save everyone else who was in the same boat. Later books have had more magic, cooler individual moments, But nothing in the series has matched the journey you go on with Kaladin in that first book.

Could they talk to Honor directly? Since Nightwatcher and Stormfather are still alive(ish) and kicking, as is the 3rd bondsmith spren as far as we've been told, that would mean there weren't any bondsmiths during the recreance. So maybe they couldn't talk to Tanavast at all. But then we don't know anywhere near that whole story either. Maybe whatever Odium did to kill Tanavast also cut off the lines of communication to him beforehand, or set it up so that Odium could talk to them pretending to be Honor. There's so many pieces missing from this, but based on what we've been told, I think Stormfather doesn't really know the story. We can't trust the authenticity of the visions either since Honor or Odium could have set them up to show people literally anything.

In the audiobook, Dalinar talks about supporting "Galivar" during a flashback (don't have a timestamp but it was in the flashback where the Thrill almost drove him to kill his brother)

The recreance happened long after the oathpact was (believed to be) broken and the desolations stopped forever. At that point, they became the greatest danger to their world. Why that meant they had to kill their spren over it, I don't know. Seems to me, they could have just stopped using their powers, died of old age, or retired to Shadesmar. It really doesn't track. I suspect the Stormfather doesn't even know the whole story, and we'll find out what really happened later, maybe when Adolin manages to revive his sword.

Made me wonder whether Adonalsium, rather than being just a name, translated to Alethi, means "unity"

It's a sword and shardblades are swords, so it's hard to tell at first glance how totally opposite they are from each other. From what I can tell, shardblades don't actually destroy anything in any of the realms, but sever the bond between their manifestations in all the realms. Since stormlight investiture works as a catalyst to bridge things between realms, it makes sense that it can heal the bonds broken by shardblades...assuming enough of them still exists in the realm to heal the connection there (burnt out eyes is a clue). But based on clues from the books, Nightblood does the opposite, destroying the things themselves, but leaving the bonds intact as long as you fuel it with enough investiture to destroy said things. At least in the physical and cognitive. Spiritual is hard to verify. But what you're left with is a power that none of the forms of investiture we've seen so far on Roshar can do anything against. Kind of makes you wonder what would happen if Szeth smacked Odium with it. From how the sword works, he would need to be overcharged with an absurd amount of stormlight/breath, but maybe Dalinar could pull that off.

Moash was really the dark horse of this book. He only appeared for 1-2% of it, but impacted the story more than probably anyone else besides Dalinar, and even then not by a very wide margin

I honestly never expected Dalinar to have so much character development. His whole thing was amazing. Kaladin was kinda shunted to the side in this one. He did finally fight Amaram, but that whole sequence was less interesting than the rest of the crazy stuff happening in that battlefield. It really lacked gravitas and felt more than anything else in the series so far, like a video game boss fight. Except the part where Rock used a weapon in combat to save Kaladin. Shalan had serious progression, but the multiple personalities thing was driven to the ground for the sheer number of times she had the same inner monologue about who she really was. Also nobody got their armor. Except Jasnah, but I'm pretty sure she had that before book 1.

“Storms, boy. What did you do? Hit a lighteyes?” “Yes,” Kaladin said. Then punched him

Kaladin becomes Honor Moash becomes Odium They clash and kill each other. Lopen takes up both to become a new shard: Sarcasm

He's been told when and where to go every moment since he left Shinovar, so he doesn't know or understand how or where people get new clothes. His character arc will conclude when Adolin introduces Szeth to his tailor

I didn't consider that. I'm not too sure what the fused actually are, but you may have something there if they are the dawnsingers who have become cognitive entities (maybe like Kelsier but tied to Braize like Odium?) I could see that as a reason they would defend Odium-controled lands from being attacked by humans. And also why they would defend human lands from being attacked by Odium. But Roshar doesn't have a singular ruler (yet), so it wouldn't line up with the Skybreaker's code of conduct to automatically imply that autonomous, independent nations were automatically conquered once Odium held the majority share of Roshar. Did Honor actually rule anything? My understanding is that he was more of a passive caretaker god who only helped humans fight Odium because he, himself was so focused on fighting Odium. After all, Odium already killed at least 3 shardholders and had his eye on Tanavast next. He was definitely the ruler of the heralds and to a lesser extent, the radiants. But they were all in turn, separate from the ruling classes of the rest of society after putting on those mantles.

So then why side with them now that the humans are the rightful owners?

Not quite. What I mean is that even before the Everstorm appeared, they should have been enforcing the dawnsinger's original code of law even in human-held lands. That would probably also involve executing anyone owning or abusing Parshmen slaves. Nale obviously knew about the origins of humans on Roshar, so the translation wouldn't have been news to him at all.

It all comes down to how you define justice. I think all the orders pursue their own definition of justice. To the skybreakers, everything about morals is relative to each person's interpretation. So, they follow the letter of the law, which serves as a sort of compromise between different interpretations so that they could form into something resembling a society. I don't agree with Brandon's decision to have them side with Odium though. It just doesn't track with enforcing current laws elsewhere. If their definition of what was right defaults to that of the original owners of the land, they should be trying out oust every last ruler and replace them with the descendants of the people who ruled that land originally, or at least as far back as they have records of (which would be around the time Nale became a herald). More than likely, it would be some darkeyes peasant somewhere. Or, they should be enforcing the dawnsinger laws everywhere they go in human civilization since they're now the earliest known inhabitants.

I think I'm on the Adonalsium train. In particular, access to the spiritual realm isn't something I can remember any individual shard, or invested person, doing before, but might have been something all the shards could do together

I suspect he has different aspects of himself across all the shardworlds, acting kind of like Hoid, but more subtle and knowingly planned. In particular, the captain of the Luthadel guard in Mistborn, Bevidon, besides having an almost identical name, always stuck out in my head as a strange character. He appears suddenly in the story, gives Ham some news that winds up being the catalyst that completely changes the course of the story, and then disappears from the narrative never to be heard from again.

I think it's something legitimately hard for Kaladin to do, and I don't think anything like vowing to protect more people would be hard for him. Something like: "I will abandon those who cannot be protected, to protect those who can"

Jezrien by far. When the fused asked Moash if he could kill a god, I never expected the next thing to be "and then he casually walked outside and stabbed the king of heralds who was hanging out on the front porch"

My distaste for the match is less about aspects of it being identifiable as tropes, and more about it feeling contrived. So much about what happens around Kaladin and Shalan feels like it happens just because they're main characters. To an extent, that particular syndrome is unavoidable just because you've gotta keep people interested in them from book to book. But thanks to such a tight focus on the from the get-go Shalan and Kaladin always felt inevitable even From before they met each other, regardless of what they personally wanted in a relationship. At the end of Oathbringer when Adolin confronted her saying she would be better off with Kaladin, it's like Shalan got a copy of the script she was supposed to read and decided "hey, you know what? Screw that". I love that. I mean sure, it's not the best choice available. She obviously SHOULD have ran off to be with Rock. But no story is perfect I suppose.