Winds Alight

You are one evil person.

Kaladin will swear his fourth Oath when he fights and ultimately kills Tien aka Odium: "I will let go of those I cannot save."

On a more serious note than my first post, some ideas about the second half: Odium will be dealt with, one way or another. During the gap, some rebuilding takes place, like trying to make peace between humans and listeners. Maybe the Fused won't be gone completely, but without Odium, they won't pose as much a threat as before. In book 6, we will have a still shaky truce between humans and listeners, constantly being strained by the Fused. A solution for dealing with the Fused, maybe enabling them to move on the Beyond, is the ultimate goal for the characters, as well as a way to release the Heralds from the Oathpact for good. (Hence Ash's and Taln's books.) Also, Aimia will play a bigger role.

I will never accept any other theory ever again. Have an upvote!

I say everything will be fine with the ending of book five and the back five are just the main characters chilling, recovering from the first five, getting enough sleep for once and meeting famous worldhoppers.

I believe it was also stated somewhere in OB that the listeners knew about Surges before humans came, but bonding spren and using the Surges was forbidden?

Granted. Everyone else feels the urge to tell you stupid beard puns. I wish for customers in retail to just ... be less stupid.

vs. So, what now? You're starting to contradict yourself here. I believe neither. Both are possible, though I hope it's ging to be something entirely different. He could even die in book 4 and rock book 5 as a cognitive shadow! Also, since when has Sanderson been an author whose books are easy to predict?

So you're saying you know and understand better than Sanderson himself and the dozen or so people here on the forums? Also, if you believe "simple" is the answer to go when talking about SA then I'm starting to ask whether you actually read the books. Yeah, it's very likely that Lift will live in book 6, that doesn't mean she'll live through it and still be around in 7. It's also possible that all of the main five of books 6-10 live through book 5 and then die in arc 2 before their flashback book comes around. Renarin could die in book 6 and then be the flashback character in 7. "Kaladin will be important" is 1. a very old WoB and 2. Eshonai is dead too and she's still important. No one is safe. No one is doomed.

Do you understand that there is a difference between "he might die" and "I do believe he WILL die"?

I believe, from the screenshots you posted from Reddit, that English is not your first language. So maybe it could be a fundamental misunderstanding of what a sepcific sentence can mean and what it does mean. Because for me (and obviously almost everyone else on this site) it's very clear that there was no confirmation - be it intentional or not - on anyone's survival. Do I believe Lift will be alive in book six? Damnation yes, I do. Do I take every WoB, no matter how old, word by word? Certainly not.

With book ten as Jasnah's flashback book, I assume it will be one big Sanderson-Avalanche from start to end with big revelations on every page.

I don't know which parts of the fandom you know because I have no idea where you get that impression. I know this forum and I know Tumblr and especially on the latter Dalinar gets DILFed A LOT. I've never come across anyone voicing "hate" for Dalinar. People care about him a great deal. Also, it has been mentioned before, but it's official from several WoBs that Dalinar is one of Sanderson's favourites ...

I think he is, judging from how he's doing the outlining of SA 4+5 at once right now to have the firs thalf properly resolved! As for Szeth, I had hoped for more reactions on this too. I hope for some flachbacks or at least some mention of past reachtions.

The theory won't work, as two of the ten focal characters will be Ash and Taln of the current Heralds. Also, I hope the Oathpact won't be reinstated but abolished for good. It's a horrible solution and will always be only temporary. There's only so much torture a person can take. Sooner or later everyone's going to break.

The question I ask myself is, what would happen if an actual therapist were to sit down and try assess Kaladin's issues. I'm naming him because he has (as stated by Sanderson) pretty much textbook depression. From what we have in the books, the word "depression" isn't known and psychotherapy is non-existent, or rather, people with severe mental health issues are quite stormed when in the hands of ardents. So if a good therapist talks to Kaladin and tries explaining to him what depression is (or can be), that he's had it almost his whole life and that something most likely can be done, how would he react? He could have a minor "so that means I'm weaker than everybody else and can never be happy?" breakdown, but then, he knows a lot about medicine and is very able to think rationally about medical issues and the concept of biochemistry wouldn't be too hard for him to understand. If you get him to understand his condition and that it can be managed, via therapy and medication, would the medication still be something he would see as an "Intruder" that needs to be healed away Stormlight instead of doing the healing? Or could Stormlight even heal depression if the patient sees his condition as a sickness instead of "it's just who I am"? Ooouuuh, I'd like to ask Sanderson about that.

A good night's sleep for Kaladin. Also, a whole bunch of psychotherapists for Roshar.

How about Queen Fen? She seems like someone a spren might be interested in.

I've been picturing Szeth as being the biggest Kaladin fan ever because Kaladin was the one who finally beat him, proving that the Radiants have returned and freeing Szeth from his oathstone. So book 5 is Szeth reading (and probably writing) Kaladin fanfiction. Book 5 is called ... Kaladin of Windrunners! We could make a Ketek out of the first five titles ... lemme see ... The way of kings, wording radiance, bringer of oaths, bringing radiant words: kings on their way! Kinda.

I believe it was H? KoW for book 5? ... Knights of Wonder! It's an in-world fanfiction of the Radiants!

I have one complaint about the possible title. So far, we have WoK, WoR, OB, and now RoW. There's going to be a lot of confusion.

Nobody ever said "unite them" is gonna be easy. I agree with @Mailnaise here, I'm 100% sure "unite them" means humans and listeners. Will be hard, but hey, when has "ending Desolations" ever been easy?

In Szeth's case, he decided to seek justice in Dalinar too.

That's something I'd consider more important than the wedding. I actually was a bit confused about him just ... being there. I really hope we get to see some conflict later on.

Granted. You get my former English teacher as one. (She looked like Umbridge and was similar to her in other aspects.) I wish for more rain this summer.