Secret Ardent Man

Szeth, when he had the Windrunner Honorblade, did not need it physically in his hand to use the surges. Conceivably we could end up with one single person bonding all the Honorblades and having access to ALL the surges. Kind of like Roshar's version of a Mistborn.

I just want to say that Dalinar is the badassinest badass who ever badassed.

Have we actually seen Ishar yet in the series?

Dear Lord. Those Kaladin reveals to Hearthstone were six years in the making. And they were glorious.

Am I the only one who was incredibly disappointed at Lopen's two-armed reveal? I guess since it was from Dalinar's perspective it makes sense that he would be an afterthought, but I'm really excited for the first Kaladin/Lopen scene where Lopen has both arms!

Agreed. Dalinar also thought he heard screaming when we ran among the fading blades and plate. I similarly believe that this was a point of no return for the Bond...either repair or break...and in this instance, the scales tipped the wrong way.

The Lopen. Any one-armed Herdazian jokes. They're armless little jokes, but I love them.

I would also argue that Parshendi are distinctly not human. My question on darkeyes was more for the human characters...but boy, did that WOB shut me down. Thanks Brandon!

This is more a general question that I'm hoping can be answered relatively quickly, but I am searching for instances in either WoK or WoR where darkeyes feel the Thrill. The only instances of feeling the Thrill I can think of come from Dalinar and Adolin viewpoint chapters and possibly a conversation between Sadeas and Dalinar. Essentially, the only examples I can come up with where a character specifically feels or notices another character experiencing the Thrill come from lighteyes chapters. During Taravangian's viewpoint Interlude it is mentioned that the Thrill had been particularly strong during the battle of Vedenar, but that single mention still doesn't prove that darkeyes feel it--it could still mean that lighteyes commanders were affected and gave irrational or vindictive orders intending to totally crush their opponents. It may be that we have a tainted sample size of darkeye chapters, as our main darkeyes are Kaladin the Radiant and all those in Bridge 4 who are his potential squires. With Dalinar losing the Thrill throughout WoK, there is a strong argument to be made that being a proto-Radiant or nascent Radiant--or even just receptive to stormlight like squires--makes it more difficult for the Thrill to latch on to you. This would also mean that Kaladin and Bridge 4 are similarly protected from the recklessness of the Thrill, which would explain why I can't come up with a specific instance of a specific darkeye experiencing the Thrill. Taravangian also mentions that certain Unmade are more intelligent than others...it may be that the Unmade causing the Thrill specifically targets the leaders of a nation and its most powerful military commanders and warriors (i.e., shardbearers) in order to foment additional pain and destruction, leading to more hate. I apologize if this topic exists already...I couldn't find it. I'm eager to read others' thoughts or receive a swift correction if I'm in the wrong.

This is the most interesting part of the problem for me too. It's difficult to conceive of Odium peacefully coexisting with the other Shards at any point, even if it was for just a short time. Ruin and Preservation were able to work together to create Scadrial, and I believe Ruin says that both of their powers were needed to create humans, and his power is what causes them to age and eventually die...there could be a continuing theme in Brandon's work of a perfect "paradise" not being all it's cracked up to be. One cannot appreciate life without struggle and death. Maybe Honor and Cultivation, ruling by themselves, could only create a boring pastel world where no growth or development occurred. It could be that Odium and "hate" were necessary to provide context and value to "honor," as there is no value in honor easily obtained without consequence or challenge. The question I still have, then, is what does it mean to "rule?" Could it just mean Odium had a hand in influencing the creatures/humans on Roshar, such that a bit of him is in everything? I really don't know, since he's supposed to be stuck on Braize.

First-time Skybreaker! I guess that fits me, as I am an attorney, although I'm not big on their current iteration of flat-out murder...that wouldn't be good for my business.

Guys, I can't wait that long. Like Veruca Salt, I WANT IT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In WoK, Dalinar feels the Thrill when he sees back in time in one of his visions and fights the Midnight Essence. My question is, did Dalinar feel the Thrill there because of his physical body's location in the Shattered Plains near the specific Unmade who causes the Thrill, or did he experience the Thrill through the Unmade's likely presence during the Midnight Essence's attack? The only reason I ask this question is because Dalinar's visions seem incredibly real, with sensations and deviant free-willed conversations with others in his Visions appearing to be the norm. A tangential question raised is whether Dalinar ever felt the Thrill in his visions in WoR once the Unmade causing the Thrill departed. I don't know the answers and welcome idle speculation!

I think it would kind of make sense if the one Order that didn't break its oaths was the Bondsmiths. Think about it: we know that they were always extremely few in number (no more than 2 or 3 at a time), so it would be easy for 2 people to disappear in the greater realm of Roshar. We also know/speculate that Bondsmiths can only bond with extremely powerful/unique spren, so the rate of "repopulation" of Bondsmiths would be extremely low, even in three thousand years, and especially when at least one massive spren (the Stormfather) hates humanity and doesn't want to grant them surges anymore. If the Bondsmiths of yore broke their oaths, wouldn't there be fewer great spren around? Or maybe legends of great spren who no longer exist on Roshar? We could have been introduced to that concept by the Collector who is attempting to document all spren on Roshar, but instead we encounter unique but unthinking spren, like spren who weren't betrayed but whose Bond was nonetheless dissolved by the death of a Radiant..... This is pure speculation, but if the Bondsmiths had broken their oaths like the rest, wouldn't their unique spren have "died" with their broken oaths? So spren like the Stormfather, the Nightwatcher, and that giant one in the sea wouldn't exist in the physical realm. Actually, now that I think about it, what if Cusicesh the Protector WAS a spren for a Bondsmith who broke his/her oaths? It certainly seems unthinking and unable to hold a rational form. So I think that it was probably the Bondsmiths, who have a thing for creating and maintaining BONDS, who didn't break their bonded oaths with their spren. We just don't know about it because 1) the spren are unique and few and far between, which makes for a smaller chance of creating a Bondsmith; 2) these Bondsmith spren seem to have some sentience and actually can refuse to grant a bond so long as the right words are avoided--it seems entirely possible that the original Bondsmiths simply died out and the unique spren were so appalled at the death of so many of their cousins that they refused to grant more Bonds to potential Bondsmiths, who are recorded as being very few anyway. Just something to think about. I don't know if this has been debunked yet.

My favorite character is Szeth--he is a character of conflict, both internal and external, and you can't help but pity him when you read his POV's. That said, my favorite moment in SA is Szeth's introduction in WOK. We knew from the prologue that Shardblades were wondrous weapons, but the very next chapter showed us that we were only scratching the surface of this 10 volume epic. Not only did we get a firsthand account of the astounding powers that Blades possessed, we also received a hint at the abilities this world's Investiture provided, which, in Szeth's hands, proved stunningly powerful. In fact, it took until the very end of the book with Kaladin's "Radianting" for another character to start to close the gap on his abilities. He's awesome. That palace murder-rampage scene is a great introduction.

I'd like to see him grow his arm.

That was an awesome quiz! I wasn't even close to the other categories . . . sorry Kaladin. I got: Elsecaller 76% Dustbringer 33% Lightweaver 29% Truthwatcher 28% Edgedancer 24% Skybreaker 22% Bondsmith 18% Stoneward 17% Willshaper 11% Windrunner 11%

My thoughts are this: We know that Gemstones hold stormlight (they glow when they contain it) We know that the KR can hold stormlight (they glow when containing it) We DON'T know whether the Parshendi can hold stormlight (they have never glowed "on screen") We know that gemstones can hold spren (like the stormspren) We also know that the Parshendi hold spren (the spren wriggles into them during a highstorm to effectuate "the change") I believe that, while the KR likely do not develop gemhearts within their body, the Nahel Bond functions as a surrogate gemheart-like relationship, giving the KR the ability to hold stormlight without the gemstone/gemheart middle-man. The Radiants ARE the gemhearts in this analogy. Similarly, the Parshendi may or may not contain gemhearts (although there is a slightly better argument that they may when compared to humans, as we know that spren can be contained both within a gemstone and within a Parshendi), but I believe that, unless these postulated gemhearts within the Parshendi function as some sort of necessary organ**, the Parshendi also have an ability to function as a gemstone without being or containing a gemheart. Of course, their resemblance with gemstones differs from the Radiants', as the Knights assuredly hold stormlight, while the Parshendi as of yet do not. This means that the Parshendi share the spren-containing function with gemstones, while the Knights share the stormlight-containing function with gemstones--two different functions. I am particularly interested, then, in how the Parshendi are able to attract the spren into their bodies. Eshonai's transformation chapter didn't reveal much--the spren just ran into her. For that matter, we don't know how Rosharans trap spren in gemstones in the first place. If we did, maybe we could draw additional connections. But for now, I don't think we can say much more. **So, if the Parshendi had a gemheart, wouldn't a spren being contained within it isolate the spren from the organs of the Parshendi? Wouldn't such isolation pose problems in the transformation? Unless the gemheart functions like an actual heart, pumping...stormlight...or...spren juice?...throughout a Parshendi's body, I don't see how a Parshendi containing a gemheart utilizes that "organ" in their transformation. I think it much more likely that the Parshendi simply share an ability of gemstones, much like the Knights Radiant.

Storming never.

Oh, I wasn't aware that was the main theory. I looked for a similar theory for a little bit and couldn't find it. Thanks for letting me know! Guess that means I came up with a good theory then!

I have little basis for this post, but it is, after all, a theory. So bear with me. I postulate that the Heralds are the cause of the Desolations. Roshar believed that the Heralds always came back in time to fight and lead humanity against a Desolation, but what if that Vorin belief is only partially based in truth? What if the reason that the Heralds always showed up in the brink of time to lead humanity in the face of an oncoming Desolation is because they knew about its oncoming because they caused it? We know that Brandon is a fan of having his Shard-gods (like Preservation and Ruin) make deals with each other to preserve life on their respective planets. What if Honor and Odium struck a similar agreement? Odium is full of hate and wants to destroy anything that isn't as miserable as he is (since misery loves company), and he is incredibly powerful. He can eventually overcome Honor and Cultivation, so Honor devises a plan to extend the life of Roshar--he strikes a deal with Odium. The deal could conceivably have taken place like this: Honor can't stop Odium from destroying life on Roshar, but he can limit Odium's influence in some way. The key to Odium's getting full access to the planet: the Oathpact. Honor and Odium agree to a deal (much like Ruin and Preservation), where Odium is allowed to vent his hate on Roshar, subject to Honor's terms. This is where Honor's nature comes into play, as he asks for 10 volunteers to hold the key to Roshar's future in their hands. These 10 people will hold Odium's access to Roshar in their honor. Honor and the Heralds are honor-bound to conform to the terms of the deal and give Odium a chance to destroy Roshar, so the Heralds go to Odium's stronghold to be tortured until their honor breaks and they grant Odium access to Roshar. Odium, however, is bound by the agreement to return the Heralds to Roshar so that they can resist him. This is why the Heralds always arrived before the Desolations--they broke and granted Odium access to cause the Desolations! I propose that whenever one Herald broke, all 10 Heralds were sent back to Roshar. That would explain why Taln, known as Stonesinew and possessing (I infer) the strongest will of the Heralds, was able to resist allowing another Desolation for 4500 years until the book. Without the other Heralds to break first, Taln could resist the torture he was subjected to up to his natural breaking point. This could explain why he said that "I have failed," when he arrived in Kholinar--his will broke and he was returned to Roshar according to the terms of the Oathpact with Honor and Odium to resist the Desolation. This theory of the Heralds themselves allowing the Desolations, that their honor and will was all that stood between Odium and Roshar, and the as-of-yet unrevealed provisions of the Oathpact is an interesting one. I'd like to hear your thoughts. I didn't word this well at all. I'm tired. Sue me.

So their days ARE shorter. 24 on Earth, 20 on Roshar. That answers a lot, and means my calculations are incorrect. Thanks, everyone!

I agree with you that the younger a person on Roshar is the smaller the difference in age would be, but with people like Dalinar and Sadeas, their equivalent Earth age is nearly seventy! A twenty year difference for warriors is pretty significant.

This is a question leading out of an idle observation that I had during this interminable waiting period between Books 2 and 3. I don't know if it was already answered by a WoB, so I ask someone who knows to kindly illuminate me. We know that Roshar's calendar year consists of 5-day weeks, 10-week months, and 10-month years, totalling to a 500 day year. This is obviously a significantly longer year than we have on Earth (365 days), yet all of SA's characters identify themselves as "X-years old." However, a SA character's corresponding age on Earth would be significantly higher. (I calculated each character's corresponding Earth age thusly: (Stated age of a character x 500 days) ÷ 365 = character's age in Earth-years Kaladin, by the end of WoR, is 20 on Roshar. In Earth years that's 27. Shallan is 17 on Roshar. 23 on Earth. Adolin is 23 and Renarin is 19 on Roshar. 31 and 26 on Earth. Sadeas and Dalinar are around the same age, which Sadeas reveals is 50. In Earth years, that's 68. From the descriptions of the characters in the books, it seems clear that Brandon wants us to picture the characters as their given ages rather than their Earth-equivalents, meaning that despite a 500 day year characters' ages and development closely correspond to an Earth equivalent. Does this mean that the planet Roshar has an approximately 1.4 times faster rotation on its axis than Earth? Are its days not 24 hours? Could it have something to do with the lighter gravity on the planet? Any thoughts are appreciated!

The only issue I have with your post is the implication that he hid somewhere before he got warform, which you said is necessary to cross the chasms, since Shen said he needed to leave "immediately," and did so. He walked out onto the Shattered Plains as a dullform and somehow stayed hidden on the permanent bridged plateaus for days? Those plateaus are the most closely watched! I realize that there's really no reason to wonder about this--as far as plotlines goes, his journey from the warcamps to Narak is insignificant and will probably get shunted aside in favor of the Eshonai book, but I'd just like everything to add up if that were possible. Why didn't he just leave the camp on the night of a highstorm, transform out on the Plains when all the Alethi were holed up against the storm, and make his way across then?