junior

IMO, the most interesting Diagram quote is this one from the chapter 86 header - "One is almost certainly a traitor to the oth-" You've got the writings of, well, let's be blunt, a man who's so intelligent that he's effectively insane. And in the middle of his writing, he suddenly cuts off. Why? Also, the Diagram segment that appears to talk about the Shins' hidden Honorblades also seems to strongly suggest (at least to me) that the Diagram suggested manipulating events to bring about the creation of a Truthless. Or in other words, Taravangian may very well be responsible for the creation of Szeth.

If he recognizes Kaladin but pretends not to, then the narration will probably mention a startled glance or something similar that's quickly masked over by Amaram.

Joel actually brings up the possibility himself - not to seriously entertain the idea, but just because his pondering over the whole situation with the thing in the church and Nalizar and everything else has made him realize that someone could theoretically gain powers that way. For what it's worth, I don't think he'd go for it. He'd no doubt at least think about it if the opportunity presented itself. But I don't think he'd consider the idea for very long, and would ultimately reject it. You might want to check the post regarding the coin just a couple of entries above yours.

Except... Lately word through the warcamps has been that Dalinar's gone soft. Even accepting that the rumors aren't exactly true, it's clear that Dalinar's not the person he once was. If T's information network is good enough to know that Dalinar plans even before the official announcement is made, then it seems highly unlikely that he wouldn't also have a good read of Dalinar's shift in personality.

Deep down, Amaram is a pragmatist. He wants to believe that he's a noble and honorable man. And given what the vast majority of the Alethi nobility is like, it's probably not hard to convince himself of that. But when push comes to shove, he's a pragmatist. And he always has been, even back before he stole the shards. IMO, the slaughter of the messenger boys - who were used up as fodder to slow an enemy advance - should have made that clear.

Ironically, if Amaram were truly the kind of man his reputation suggested he was, then Syl might have become drawn to him instead of Kaladin. And then Amaram wouldn't need the plate and blade. Or at the very least, not killing Kaladin's squad would have meant that Kaladin was still in his army, which would have meant that when Kaladin developed his powers and abilities, he would have been capable of acting as protection for Amaram. So while Amaram's choice looked like the right one from a purely pragmatic amoral standpoint, the reality is that he probably made the worse of the two decisions no matter how you look at it.

WoR spoiler regarding the face in the storm -

If you accurately predict a calamity, then people will believe you. But if you give slightly inaccurate advice about how to deal with it... That's just one possible rationale. I'm sure there are others, but they'd probably all work along similar lines.

I think sparing Kaladin was Amaram's way of assuaging his own guilt. Kaladin saved Amaram's life. Only a completely monstrous individual would murder the man who saved him. So by letting Kaladin live, Amaram can continue to tell himself that he's not a monster. (of course, killing Kaladin's squad was a monstrous act; but that was pretty much required if Amaram was going to take the shards)

I've hooked my Dad, my sister, and possibly my sister-in-law (she might have read one of his books before she started devouring my collection; I don't remember for certain). And then just the other day, my brother (the one married to that same SiL) asked me if he could borrow my copy of TWoK. He felt a bit intimidated by it after he got a look at it, though... I also mentioned in FFXIV last night how excited I was about Words of Radiance being released next month. That got a "What's that?" question from someone, followed by, "Who's Brandon Sanderson, and should I know who he is?" followed by a "I'll go look him up on Wiki." We'll see if anything comes of that.

It's possible that this is a nod to Eshonai. Her interlude notes that she's one of the ones who had the most early contact with the humans, and that she'd also prefer to be out exploring. I can see her eagerly asking for maps of places that the Parshendi haven't visited.

Agree on the spren thing. Personally, I'm in favor of the Shardblade, in part because we know that Shallan has one. And is hiding it. And the rest of her family likely doesn't know about it. My guess is that was obtained immediately after it was used to kill her mother, and her father locked it away instead of using it (or at least he didn't use it immediately). Then for unknown reasons, she acquired it later.

I dunno. Even the most cynical of the bridgemen seemed to hold it as a basic fact of life that if you beat a shardbearer, you got to keep their shards. This seems to be ingrained pretty deeply into Alethi culture for some reason. While Amaram might officially be unharmed if word were to get out about what had really happened, it's possible that others might start to hold him in deep contempt. Additionally, Amaram has apparently built his reputation on being an honorable Alethi. Word getting out about what really happened would wreck that reputation.

iirc, it was suggested in another thread that either the plate or the blade were actually their spren. In any event, there appears to be something going on there that we don't know about yet. Syl is happy when Dalinar gives up his blade, and it appears that her happiness isn't because Dalinar used the blade to free Sadeas's bridgemen.

Contrast it with - "Rock-a-bye baby, on the tree top. When the wind blows, the cradle will rock. When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall. And down will come baby, cradle and all." Though I think you're right that there's something significant about the lyrics. Regarding the dead bodies in the flashback... It appears that there was a shardblade involved. iirc, Shallan specifically recalls her mother's body lying face down, and is grateful that's the case because there's something off-putting about her dead mother's eyes. That sounds like a shard-blade to me...

Doubtful. Remember that Elohkar's mother (whose name escapes me at the moment... ^^;; ) shows off a fabriel that she designed that relieves minor pains, and for her it's a small triumph. If relieving minor aches and pains is something to get even the tiniest bit excited over, I strongly doubt that there are fabriels capable of much more than that where healing is involved.

Kaladin needs to let Dalinar know that there might be sparks between Kaladin and Amaram. But he doesn't need to say anything further than that. A simple, "I received this scar while in Amaram's service, and I don't want to talk about the details," should be sufficient. It would also let Dalinar know that Amaram might not be happy being around Kaladin. Dalinar will probably misunderstand the reasoning (by assuming that Kaladin did something that justified the scar, and that if Amaram recognizes Kaladin then he'll hold the young man in contempt). But he's also unlikely to pry further unless he suddenly feels that the specific reason is important. The complication, of course, is that if Amaram does recognize Kaladin, then the former's guilty conscience might cause him to disparage Kaladin in Dalinar's presence as a way of attempting to ensure that no one suspects the truth of what happened (which, ironically, is more likely to backfire, given that it would cause people to become more curious about the details behind the scarring). Quite likely. But it's important to keep in mind that so far we've only had Kaladin's rather biased perceptions of Amaram. It's quite possible that Amaram really does view himself as an honorable man, and generally does try and do the right thing. And that he keeps feeling forced by pragmatic concerns to do things that he'd rather not (like put the messenger boys in harms way to help win a battle, or slaughter the squad of men who pulled off a miracle and saved his life). I don't think things will turn out well for him in the end, and at least some of his actions will justify any bad fate that results. But we need to be cautious about prematurely forming a cheering squad for his eventual demise. I'd still love to see the look on his face if Kaladin ever challenges him. It would be a richly deserved bit of karma, and Kaladin's already demonstrated once in front of Amaram that a shardblade and shardplate don't make someone immortal. But that doesn't guarantee that I won't have mixed feelings about the possibility of Amaram's death.

Doubtful. There's a brief comment from one of the bridgemen that suggests that the story is pretty firmly in place that Amaram won the shards. Though the comment leaves open the possibility that no one's exactly sure how Amaram won them. The entire army was probably fleeing from the shardbearer during the attack - except for Kaladin's squad. So likely the only people paying any attention were too far away from the battle to make out the details of who was doing what. So I suspect that there is exactly zero suspicion that Amaram murdered his way into owning the shards. Except that they're not rightfully his. He didn't want them, and likely still doesn't. They "rightfully" belong to the heirs of his squad. Be careful about this. We don't know what Amaram's been doing in the meantime. For all we know, he could be using the shardplate to do great and wonderful things (that was his ostensible excuse for stealing the items to begin with), and it's possible that he'll be Dalinar's biggest ally in the camps. Be *very* careful about what you wish for...

Or Anakin Skywalker *shudder* Better question - Given how rare Shardblades are, who's going to let you experiment on *two* of them at the same time, particularly since it's entirely possible that your experiment in attempting to link them together might end up damaging one or both? ^^;;

Eh... Kaladin's the kind of guy that talks his lost slavemaster into handing over the map, and then tearing up the map in front of the slavemaster. He doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who would have needed additional encouragement to attempt an escape. Plus, he owes his dead squad vengeance on Amaram. It's not so much that Amaram screwed Kaladin over (though he did, and Kaladin's not happy about it). It's that Kaladin's squad was slaughtered by their own leader. And on that note... Though it's unlikely to happen, I'd still love to see the look on Amaram's face if Kaladin ever challenges Amaram to a duel.

No, Dalinar's been acting in a fashion opposite that of every last one of his peers. It's *been* difficult for him. His alliance with Sadeas only came about after every last one of the other Highprinces had rejected him. Further, if Taravangian knows about the recent changes that Dalinar forced onto Elohkar, then he *also* knows about Dalinar giving up his shardblade (news about something that unusual is going to spread like wildfire). And that's not the move of a man who's "acting". (Or as Kaladin puts it later when he's mulling over the issue, at what point does pretending to be honorable essentially become being honorable? If Dalinar's willing to give up his shardblade in order to "pretend" to be honorable, then won't *all* of his actions essentially be those of an honorable man regardless of the actual motivations?)

Maybe, maybe not. His regenerative powers are pretty strong, as evidenced at the end of the fight with Steelheart (iirc, David initially thinks Prof is dead). However, unlike Steelheart, getting him on the ropes is a straightforward "hit him until he stops moving" proposition. In fact, one of the tricks used during the fight with Steelheart would work quite well. Put him in the middle of a lot of smoke, and then shoot fully automatic weapons at his suspected location. He won't be able to use his repelling ability because he can't see the incoming fire and is thus unaware of which direction he needs to use his repulsion powers to block the bullets. A sniper catching him unawares would also work quite well - and could probably instantly kill him. I wonder what Conflux would have to say about that?

? Might as well ask how you overcome Steelheart. Both are extremely powerful. And according to the rules as we understand them, both have something that will bypass their powers. We know what that was in the case of Steelheart. We don't know what that is for Prof (though I wouldn't be surprised if we eventually find out). As for gifters not having any particular weaknesses? The gifting power itself has a couple of weaknesses. First, powers can't be gifted to other epics. Second, gifting in and of itself is useless to the epic (except as a way of reducing the power-induced sociopathy, as Prof notes). In short, gifting allows the epic to help other people. But it provides no immediate benefit to the epic.

Eh... I think the "no powers for Adolin!" option would be a waste of his potential. The guy is apparently an *insanely* good duelist, and the only reason that this isn't obvious to the entire Alethi nation is because he's intentionally withheld his abilities in accordance with his father's wishes. He's also started to finally come around to his father's point of view. And you want to waste him by having him be "that guy" who gets jealous because everyone around him is developing cool super powers and he isn't? What a waste... There's nothing wrong with making him wait a while to develop them. We've got nine more volumes to work through. But not giving him anything special would be a waste of his potential, imo. Further, if some of our speculation about The Way of Kings being the guidebook for Knights Radiant is correct... Adolin is one of the two people that we know of who actually *gets* it at the end of TWOK.

Well... Keep in mind that he has no clue who's getting his messages or what their situation is. In fact, his final message seems to suggest that he's not sure that anyone will *ever* get his messages (since he's not sure how the viewer found them). So the whole thing is presumably a hodge-podge of what he thinks will be useful and make sense to the viewer. And if the modern Alethi hadn't lost so much of their history, it might very well all be crystal clear to Dalinar.