FeatherWriter

Hehe, whoops. I've been working and Eric's been on vacation! We should have some more up this weekend sometime! I have... so many of these to edit, whoops.

Whew, absent is fine! Go read your WoR! Abandoning me will not be tolerated! Muahaha.

That would pretty much be the greatest thing ever.

It was Renarin, though he wasn't framing Dalinar persay, just... not stepping forward and revealing himself. He let Dalinar think it was him because, I'm guessing he was afraid. I'll need to get a source on this, but I'm pretty sure we got it confirmed that Renarin is conscious during his glyphwriting -- unlike Dalinar's theory about himself, because Dalinar thought that he was blacking out and writing -- but Renarin is not fully in control of his body. That one is fairly obvious, since writing glyphs is not something he would choose to do on his own. (I have just checked with the source on that. Yep. It's correct. Hopefully the full source will be publically posted soon!) Also, I've gotten confirmation that, even aside from the having a spren/being a Radiant reveal, Brandon said that part of the reason we're not seeing Renarin POVs is that this is going to be covered in his flashback book. So there's that to chew on. I'm wondering how much the future sight is a surgebinding trait though. What we know about the Truthwatchers implies that this is an ability of their order, and the way Renarin speaks about "I see," so, does it run on Stormlight? Could he do it willingly if he absorbed Stormlight from a sphere, and it hits him during storms because he can't get away from the Light that's coming from the storm? We haven't seen any other surgebinders absorbing and using stormlight against their will, though we have seen Kaladin and Shallan surgebind unintentionally. Is that what's going on here? Is Truthwatching a process that, once unintentionally started, cannot be stopped even if the Surgebinder wants to -- as would surely be the case with Renarin? We'll have to see. There's a lot of unknowns still.

There is a time and a place for Thin Mints. "Never" and "In the trash". They are chocolate covered toothpaste cookies and the only solution to this epidemic is cleansing by fire.

Whoops, yeah these were my friends who got this question, I think. I heard that night on skype from them about it! And then yelled loudly for about an hour. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah baaaaby. So, with his book being in the back half, I hope this means: A.) We get to see older Renarin in canon. B.) We get to see his POV for these early books possibly as flashbacks C.) MORE PEOPLE APPRECIATE HOW AMAZING RENARIN IS. Just. Thank you, Brandon. Everything I ever wanted. The fact that it's going to take years and years to get it doesn't even bother me because I know it's going to be worth the wait.

Hehe, I love that passage. "How you can be 100% positive that Brandon Sanderson wrote Alcatraz."

Yeah, I reaaaaaaaally don't think that Renarin's got a voidspren. But anyone who's ever talked to me before would not find that surprising at all. He's selfless, noble, and has a strength of will that I don't think many other characters come close to matching. I don't think that Glys is a voidspren or one of the unmade, and just because Moelach can see the future doesn't mean that he's the only one who can. We have Honor himself saying that he sees the future and that Cultivation sees even better than he does. It's not a "voidish" ability, it's a Shard-related ability. I do think there's more that we need to learn about Renarin of course. I'm willing to be there's something interesting about the fact that he and Glys are both male when all the other pairs (except for Dalinar and the Stormfather, but that's a bit of a different story) are opposite gender pairs. And if we've got Truthfinders arranged correctly, that gives him Growth and Illumination. I'm wondering how exactly he's getting his future sight. Is it a different kind of Illumination than Shallan uses for her lightweaving? Or is there something more going on.

I don't have a link, but that one was definitely confirmed by Peter at least.

What. My loyal legions are abandoning me? This is unacceptable! What must I do to win you all back?

I'd actually just read that part aloud to my mom, so it was fresh in my brain! Also, I'm kinda really good at remembering obscure little quotes.

On a more lighthearted note, we know exactly why Brandon writes his novels! It's the same reason Alcatraz writes his, I bet! Because he likes to torture people!

No, actually you've been wonderfully reasonable about all of this! And I gave you an upvote for that! If you're curious at all about further discussions about heteronormativity on Roshar, I can send you (or anyone else who's curious) a PM with some great links to discussions of Rosharan heteronormativity and why it may not be quite as prevalent as you might assume. However, I don't want to derail the thread, and this is a Shallan shipping thread, so I won't go into crazy long length here.

ExMakina. You are a gift to humanity. (And if you draw me blushy, embarrassed shirtless!Renarin I will probably love you 5ever. After I deafen the world with my screeching over it. And make it the background image on everything I own.)

You're fine! It was a simple misunderstanding and she was more than happy to clear it up! I know I never shut up about Ellie but I just can't help it! She's so wonderful!

Consider me summoned. You're right, there is very little relationship talk in regards to Renarin. We are not made aware of any significant others of any gender with him nor any kind of preference either way. Adolin talks about the girls he talks to thinking Renarin is creepy (and we get that devastating Shallan quote about him being creepy and useless in WoR) though I think the default here is that Adolin talks to mostly girls, not just that girls are being singled out in reaction to Renarin. This puts us in an interesting position actually. (And this is something I've had to re-train myself into thinking about. My friends are very good about helping me see things differently, so I want to help you guys be able to see this as well.) I find it interesting that you don't think he could be gay because we don't have much to go on for him. So... if there's not evidence, what makes you think he's straight? You'd say "he's not gay because we haven't seen him express interest in male-identifying people." Couldn't someone else come back and say "Well, he's not straight because we haven't seen him express interest in female-identifying people either"? It's a new mindset, that "straight" isn't the default state of mind. Renarin's sexual and romantic preferences are not het until proven otherwise, they are unknown. And there's a difference in that. Like I said, this is very possibly a new idea for most people and it may even be an uncomfortable idea. But it's something to keep in mind.

True, and Syl implies that all spren are gendered by the human conception of the objects they represent. I'd actually forgotten about Dalinar and the Stormfather counting as a same-gender pair since they are both male as well. I mean, gender is a mental concept, no matter whose gender we're talking about. It makes sense that spren, as beings who are almost entirely Cognitive, would have their gender concepts being influenced by the people around them.

I am afraid that if I comment on shirtless!Dalinar the picture will disappear because it is too amazing. also I am now imagining another Kholin getting caught shirtless and being blushy and adorable and embarrassed whopps please ignore me thanks

Glys uses masculine pronouns actually! (Bold mine.) Interestingly enough, Renarin and Glys are the only surgebinder/spren pair of the same gender thus far! All the others are opposites. I was keeping a very close eye on that during my readthrough.

HE'S SO CUTE I'M GONNA DIIIIIE. Oh, also! Because you fanartists are so wonderful and we know so very little about Renarin's appearance, I went ahead and asked a few clarification things at the signing. Renarin's hair is black/blonde the way Adolin's is, but Renarin has more black than blonde in his. And I asked about eye color as well, but Team Sanderson said they'd get back to me on that one.

Dang, well that's ominous. I know no one's probably checking this thread anymore after it's been solved, but I did want to clear something up: Ellie's notes were about Renarin, however she would not classify herself as having Asperger's, just ASD. I actually let her know on skype that this was going on and she asked me to pass along a message about it. (And she's right. I'd be more than happy to pass along any messages.)

I'd bring up the argument that we do see Shallan's point of view during the Weeping, and it almost seems to be deliberately contrasting with Kaladin. Shallan talks about how relaxing she finds the Weeping and how much she enjoys it and is feeling relaxed as we flip back and forth between her and Kaladin, who is dragging and loathing every moment. And Shallan is a surgebinder, of quite a bit of skill at this point. There isn't anything shown of Kaladin or Shallan missing Stormlight -- in fact, both of them still have access to Stormlight through spheres and such. (Though Kaladin misses having it because Syl is gone during the end of the book here.) I feel like the text is fairly clear that there's something different about Kaladin that has nothing to do with his surgebinding, and I almost want to say that Brandon confirmed this somewhere, but I don't know where to find it. Kaladin Shallan

The word "shipping" is pretty vague and can mean a lot of different things. Some people use it as "this is what I think will actually happen between these characters" whereas others are more "I appreciate these characters' chemistry and like seeing them interact." I tend to be in the later group. And... I used to not be quite this crazy about all of it, but SA has turned me into a multishipper. Not all of the ships are ones that I specifically want to be kissing or doing explicit romance stuff, but sometimes I just want to see two characters caring about each other and being affectionate - whether it's friendly or familial or romantic. I like imagining situations where those characters could interact and be cute or engaging together. Like I said, not always romantic, but sometimes. It's an appreciation of a dynamic, of two characters' personalities working together to create something awesome. It's character enjoyment taken to the next level, as you don't just appreciate the character themselves, but also how they interact with the people around them. And I think that's awesome, whether it's het or not, canon or fanon, AU or regular, romantic or platonic. I know it's not everyone's method of enjoying fiction, but it's a favorite of mine. Characters are by fiction bread and butter, and relationships between them are just so fun to pick apart and put back together and rearrange and find cool things between them. Some of you guys like worldbuilding, some of you guys like theories and discovering all the secrets. Me? It's all character arcs, all the time.

Ah, yeah, I checked your profile for preferred pronouns, but couldn't find any. The neutral "singular they" seemed better than an assumption as to your pronouns.

Heeeeeeeeeeey there. Paradox, I like you. You are an awesome person with awesome taste. And you should join some of the queer SA ships because they are pretty much all awesome and there's too much het in this thread. (I even prefer het ships to queer ones, and there's still too much het in this thread.) *aggressively keeps throwning non-het ships at the thread in hopes that something sticks* There are a few canon queer characters running about. You mentioned Alloy of Law, and Rannette is a lesbian, though she still needs a girlfriend. Drehy from Bridge 4 has been confirmed to be getting a boyfriend at some point down the line as well. My current pick for him is Lopen, because they would be cute and with as often as Lopen talks about Herdazian girls, it'd be fun to have a canon bi- character as well! I totally agree that a main viewpoint character would be awesome though, even though I realize how unlikely it is. Doesn't stop people from shipping things though. It's awesome that you mentioned Shallan and Jasnah because the Shasnah ship is a pretty popular one and has been for years! I still don't know why Jasnah's not listed on the top poll thing. She really ought to be. Shasnah's been around far longer than either the Shalladin or Shadolin ships. Come on, you new shippers. Respect your elders. Kalarin (Kaladin/Renarin) was the main rival of the Shallarin (Shallan/Renarin) ship for the longest time -- but... I've kinda defected over to the Kalarin side, which means we're all allies now or something. Seriously though. Kalarin is the cutest thing ever and how did it take me so long to see this. I am a moron for fighting this for so long. After that joining Bridge 4 scene and all the excellent evidence for it... there is so much fodder for cuteness here. Let's be honest, I'll ship anything that involves people appreciating and taking care of Renarin. After all of the excellent Kaladin/Adolin interaction this book, I'm pretty sure the Kadolin ship is growing in popularity too. It was more of a background ship earlier, but it's become a fan favorite. They're just so delightfully bickery and petty and the way they move from actually rivals to super tight bros is perfect. Like, come on. Adolin stayed in prison for him. And then totally tried to play it off like he didn't. And they call each other "Bridgeboy" and "Princeling." Like, for crying out loud. Stop it you two. I can't even handle them. So yeah, if you're looking to get away from all the Shalladin and Shadolin (and I suppose the Shallarin too) for a bit, there's quite a few people around who'll be right there with you. Hit me up, I'd love to talk and introduce you to the rest of the excellent shippy side of the fandom.