kari-no-sugata

I think it's fine to post about anything that interests you so long as it's relevant (and fits within the posting guidelines). I don't think fans should be discouraged from being fans. Sometimes it can be lost in the heat of the moment but I try to avoid saying things like "you should like/dislike character/scene X" and instead will argue about reasons. There's certain types of topics I tend to find annoying but I'll just try to avoid them. I think it's fine for people to post spontaneous theories or the like. Even if it's wrong it can lead to interesting discussions. So long as the "signal to noise ratio" stays fine, at least - something I think this site is doing well with.

I've had a few ideas knocking around my head recently. One is that the more action orientated Radiant Orders might have a series of Oaths like this (or maybe I should say the more Honor orientated Radiants): Prime Directive (for all Orders) Core directive (for the specific Order) Qualifier: equality / impartiality (don't pick and chose, don't play favourites) Qualifier: proportionality / reasonableness (don't go overboard) Qualifier: honour / integrity (don't cheat) side note: the words used in the list above are more to convey general concepts. The exact words used do not matter so much as the general concepts. The "prime directive" (sorry, couldn't resist) is obviously "Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination". For each Order their "core directive" is what they "do". So for Windrunners it's "protection" and for Skybreakers it's "justice" (or "law enforcement"). Stonewards might be "defendence" (or "tanks" to use a role-playing term), Bondsmiths might be about "unity". Not sure about the other Orders but I suspect the Lightweavers are about "hope", not that they actually get Oaths. For the remaining 3 Oaths I suspect they're all "qualifiers" (or "constraints") for the "core directive" to help them keep to it in a good way. So Kaladin's "I will protect even those I hate so long as it is right" fits because it forces him to treat Lighteyed and Darkeyed (and everyone else) as equally deserving protection. I suspect Skybreakers would have something along the lines of "All are equal before the law" and Bondsmiths would be about "equal rights". Getting more speculative here I suspect the 4th Oath is about concepts like proportionality, reasonableness etc. I suspect Skybreakers would have something like "let the punishment fit the crime" while Windrunners would be more like "minimise need to inflict casualties / injuries" and Bondsmiths be about "freedom from oppression". For the final Oath I'm thinking it would be to protect against subverting or perverting their other Oaths - eg you can't make someone do something you couldn't do. While this is a neat little theory I have no idea if it's in any way accurate since we have so few example Oaths. It's certainly not complete since I don't see how orders like the Edgedancers would fit in - even excluding the Lightweavers I don't expect all the orders to follow the exact same pattern. For example, maybe the Edgedancers would be about "standing up for the little guy" (sort of thing) and each of their unique oaths would be about a particular type of "little guy" to stand up for.

Hi StormDamned, welcome to the forums. Nice first post My own thinking is pretty similar. In the vision Dalinar gets of the Recreance in tWoK I think the "other side" in the conflict is another (human) nation and there's also Radiants fighting on the other side. We know that there were thousands of Radiants at the time of the Recrance (or at least, Pattern says that thousands of spren died at it) and there's no known force that could stand up to so many Radiants (except the Voidbringers, who haven't been seen since the Last Desolation). I don't think this is the only option but I think it's the simplest and most interesting.

I don't remember baka-tsuki translating that much properly. Incidentally, the last novel is number 17 - it's called "epilogue" Maybe your best bet is to find someone selling novels second hand and see if they do international delivery. Failing that try to see if you can find someone nice who will purchase it on your behalf and send it on. I've done this sort of thing in the past. I actually used to order Laser Discs from Japan back in the day - kinda miss the nice big artwork you got with them...

I'm by no means a Jedi expert but the similarities seem tiny to me - too small to make for a useful comparison. Certainly in the movies the Jedi "magic system" feels soft (not precisely defined and detailed) while the Radiants are a hard magic system - much more well defined (and much more complex). I think you would have more luck in comparing story structure (beginning with Episode IV) in that tWoK starts in a situation where the knights of old have vanished... but are starting to come back. But even then there's big differences - there's no Evil Empire already established in tWoK that needs to be overthrown.

It would seem to fit the rough spren bonding pattern we've seen in the others. However, we also know for certain that Shallan is a special case because her bond with Pattern was dead for about 6 years. Does this explain how Shallan can advance as a Lightweaver by speaking Truths (in tWoK) before she actually summons Pattern (back) to the physical realm in WoR? I don't think so - still seems odd to me. If Shallan and Pattern are talking in tWoK then why isn't she able to summon him properly after using Soulcasting the first time? Why doesn't Pattern talk to her at all in the days between her second Soulcasting (end of tWoK) and summoning him near the beginning of WoR? He should have been more likely to talk to her. I also found another relevant quote. In chapter 60 ("Veil Walks"): I take this to mean that he could not speak until after Shallan summoned him (that's how she interpreted him) - ie they could not have talked in tWoK. I think what happened in tWoK is that Pattern's friends/colleagues were prompting Shallan to interact with Jasnah by making her Soulcast. We know that there were multiple Cryptics there - if Pattern was one of them he should have stood out more, I'd think. So they formed a weak (temporary) bond with her. This and her talks with Jasnah start removing some of the mental blocks that Shallan has had since her mother's death. After that, Pattern starts waking up (as it were) and this is how Shallan starts to see him again at the start of WoR. Incidentally, I suspect that the real reason why Elhokhar stops seeing things in the corner of his eye is not because of Kaladin turning up but because he was the Cryptics' backup plan in case Shallan wasn't able to re-form her bond with Pattern. Once she does so, the Cryptics around Elhokhar stop scoping him out. Do I really think Elhokhar was a potential Lightweaver? Well, I have trouble seeing him able to become a good one but maybe it's no co-incidence that he and Shallan are the only people on Roshar who actually like Wit/Hoid

Shallan's inner thoughts from chapter 6: I do not think that voice belonged to Pattern, but I cannot say, as he seems to have forgotten much about himself. IIRC that was the only reference. Hmm, interesting thoughts on Parshendi and Surgebinders. I wonder how "smart" most spren were back then? Maybe they preferred a bond where they had more control? My mental model of "proto" Radiants is currently something like: some spren see Heralds doing interesting things and try to copy them by looking for humans that are similar to the Heralds. Multiple spren types are trying this in parallel and the prototype orders are quite diverse in terms of approach. Over time, the close relationship between spren and humans causes new types of spren to form - honorspren come from windspren, Cryptics from creationspren etc. Ishar does some things to organise the orders - possibly he is able to change how they function in certain ways (being the Herald Bondsmith), make them more consistent and safer. Maybe later Bondsmiths added their own touches. However, I doubt Bondsmiths can just change anything. Maybe all the Radiant spren except the Cryptics had a system of Oaths/Ideals and it wasn't possible to force the Cryptics to change - it's more of a historical artefact in some ways. From what the in-world WoR book says it seems that becoming a full Lightweaver is more of a challenge compared to most (?) of the orders. A serious mental challenge - in tWoK the Cryptic Shallan was talking to rejected one of her offered Truths and demanded something stronger and deeper: Regardless of how it happened or why it does seem to me that the underlying nature of the Truths that Lightweavers must speak are entirely individual. They need to be strong and deep enough, is all. While we could imagine replacing Lightweaver Truths with Ideals instead but that's not what we actually have. Maybe the Truth constraints that Lightweavers work under are strict enough that "rouge" Lightweavers were extremely rare in practice and so the order did not need additional safety measures.

WoB states that Shallan and Kaladin were briefly at the same level in WoR but Shallan went up a level right at the end of the book. However, it seems likely that the total number of truths that Shallan has spoken in her lifetime is somewhat higher than that implies since she regressed on killing her mother. I'm not sure how much her actual level has changed over time. Did speaking those truths in tWoK actually increase her "level" or just help re-form her bond with Pattern? Shallan thinks that the Cryptic she spoke to in tWoK was not Pattern, so it was effectively a temporary bond it seems. New WoB: Hmm. For orders like the Windrunners I wonder if the first unique oath/ideal is basically their "mission" and the later Ideals are more to constrain them to carry out their mission in an "honourable" way? So the Windrunner Ideals could be something like: I will protect I will not discriminate in who I protect I will not respond disproportionately while protecting I will not require someone to do something I wouldn't do to protect others For the Lightweavers their overall mission might be to "bring hope" - they see things as they really are yet still have hope for the future to be better. For example, Shallan knows that Balat has a habit of torturing animals to death but rather than confront him directly she looks for ways to help him improve overall. This is why I think of Cryptics as "fictionspren" since you can create better works of fiction if you understand the subject matter better - start from the truth then add (plausible) lies on top of it. This is more or less what Wit/Hoid suggests to Shallan in the Middlefest flashback.

A small note for anyone who watched and enjoyed Fate/Zero but hasn't seen Fate/Stay Night - the studio that did Fate/Zero (ufotable) is going to re-adapt Fate/Stay Night to TV anime, starting 4th October... though they're going to do the "unlimited blade works" route (the original TV series followed the main/default route of the game). Fate/Zero is basically a prequel to Fate/Stay Night.

1) I think the Parshendi patrol itself was entirely normal so there was nothing to comment on (it wasn't unexpected). Was it too much of a co-incidence that the assassin flipped the bridge just as the scouts sounded the warning horn? Maybe, but it could also be intended as a hint that it was partially engineered: we know that there were multiple infiltrations and it could be that one of the scouts was a plant, who then signalled to the assassin when he spots Parshendi, who then calls Dalinar back across the bridge (this we see) and then the plant scout sounds the horn when he sees Dalinar walk back. Would Sadeas/Ialai go that far? Well, it would be a good way to really trash Dalinar's reputation (can't even bring his corpse back for a funeral) and maybe get some more Kholins killed. 2) Some things along these lines annoyed me on first read a bit but after some re-reads I was okay with it. Shallan is intentionally written to be more complex to understand - for one thing she's an unreliable narrator, particular with regards to events in her childhood. When we see her in the second flashback ("Safe things" chapter) she's pretty much a zombie - Helaran suggests she forget about the past and also asks her to keep drawing and look after her brothers. This is the only real help she gets with her problem and by the next flashback she is much improved, but still if she even slightly thinks about events around her mother her mind goes blank for an hour or something. It seems clear to me now that over time she learned to avoid thinking about it all (though her mind still does go blank once or twice outside the flashbacks). She still sort-of knows what she did (people were theorising she killed her mother years ago) but also is simply not able to think about it - and is terrified that being forced to will turn her into a zombie again. Pattern pushes her during the book and she is able to acknowledge more and more over time. Even the first time she summons her Shardblade (to kill Tyn) she is aware that it's not a normal Shardblade (doesn't need 10 heartbeats) but forces herself to pretend otherwise, even at risk to herself. 3) Actually Brandon has said that he wishes he'd done things differently. The main problem I have with Szeth's resurrection is not so much that he got one but that it makes it hard to trust characters to stay dead in future - I really don't want to have lots of discussions about whether a character is really dead or whether a passing Herald saved them. 4) I'm fine with it this way around. I also think it's better if we see different Radiants progress in different ways. I think it's better for the Oathgate to be a pretty straightforward mechanism and forcing Shallan to go up a level to use it would probably feel more contrived (how would she have known?). She's also under such big pressure during that scene that she pretty much ignores a screaming Shardblade (when she touches Adolin's) - not the sort of situation to have a revelatory flashback in. However, it is a bit of a shame that her big success (saving the entire army) is overshadowed by other events. In some ways, this final scene for Shallan is setup for the next book - Pattern basically tells her she needs to be stronger to confront the Ghostbloods and that the people need a proper Radiant. Anyway: welcome There's no problem with having frustrations about the book. Everyone is going to have some. One thing that frustrated me for a while was the whole "boots" scene - it felt too telegraphed (that Kaladin would meet Shallan when going for a horse ride) and also unnecessary (their relationship wouldn't have been much different without that). For some time I felt the whole chapter could have been cut. But... after thinking about it I came to realise it was doing several useful things (ignoring the humour aspect): it was useful training for Shallan (to deal when difficult situations when impersonating someone), it (probably) gives her the tip to do something similar to Iyatil later... and also, I think it's there so that Kaladin will dismiss her as just another lighteyes until the chasm scene (ie it's to delay him getting to understand her so that we can see faster and more obvious development during the chasm scene).

Ouch. Maybe you can borrow the DVDs? The novel series is being translated too - it's actually further along than the anime is now. The anime is very nicely done though, highly recommended (though not for everyone obviously)

Some background detail about myself: I started reading manga and watching anime when I was at university. I became so interested in a particular manga (Ranma 1/2) that I decided to teach myself Japanese so that I could read the originals, though about a year after I started that series ended. Anyway, I continued to watch and read... though these days it's hard for me to find a series that feels fresh and original. Generally I find that my favourite anime series are ones that are anime original or based on novels - I tend to find that ones based on manga tend to suffer in the change of medium and very very few surpass the original. Not that this is unique to manga/anime but I think it's more of a problem for manga, probably due to pacing of chapters vs pacing of episodes. Anime based on 4-koma manga seem to do better - most well known ones being Azumanga Daiouh and Lucky Star. There's a lot of anime I could recommend but most of them have been pretty well covered. I'll definitely recommend The Twelve Kingdoms which is a fantasy series with some unique world-building (and the most awesome "rat" ever), though it takes a while to get into it. Episode 39 is probably my favourite episode of anime of all time still. I see that Spice and Wolf is recommended above and I'll re-recommend it: a delightful fantasy series which is more a slice of life / travelogue (it's nice to see fantasy which isn't all about saving the world/kingdom). I'll also recommend the Crest of the Stars and Battle of the Stars series, which is a space opera that is more from the point of view of the "aliens". Side note, probably my second favourite anime episode of all time is the penultimate episode of Slayers Next, mostly because it ends with the "big bad" screaming in fear (normally the exact opposite of what you expect to see). Shame that the Slayers TV series dialled up the slap-stick so much over the original novels. The OVAs/movies were much better. Some more recent anime that I can recommend to try out (not to everyone's taste) that I've not seen mentioned yet: K-on! Best music anime since Nodame. Emma - romance / drama in Victorian England. Servant x Service - by the same author of Working! (which I also recommend). Romcom series set in a civil service office. Humanity Has Declined - surreal light fantasy / satire set in future Earth where humans have declined to a sort-of medieval state and faeries are taking over. Bodacious Space Pirates (unfortunate name translation) - space opera / comedy / action series with female space pirates (technically privateer since they're state licensed). I thought it started well but felt bit let-down by the ending. I think all the other good action anime of recent years have already been recommended. Usagi Drop - slice of life. Middle-ish aged man adopts young girl who is the hidden daughter of his grandfather (who just died) and his careworker. Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun - sort of parody of the whole "shojo manga" genre (and some other things). The TV series is new for the current season and ongoing. Here's some manga recommendations too while I'm at it (not all available commercially in English): Vinland Saga - vikings / action. Sort of heroic fantasy but is loosely based on real historical figures. Set in Europe in early 11th centuary. Content warning for violence but much better than most "heroic fantasy" stories I've read. Best manga I've discovered this year. Teppu (Iron Wind) - MMA action series. Main character is a fairly twisted girl who has the kind of personality that you'd normally see in an antagonist. Blood and Steel - actually a manhua (Chinese manga). Wuxia / martial arts that keeps things relatively grounded Beelzebub - action / comedy. Hoodlum is forced to adopt son of Satan. Last Innings - baseball manga, from coach's POV. Otoyomegatari (A Bride's Story) - set in 19th centuary middle Asia. Some of the earlier chapters are more "slice of life" but there's some heavy drama later on too. By same author of Emma. One Punch Man - superhero comedy / action. Think you can't have a good story with a totally overpowered hero? Think again! (note, there's two versions of this - one is the 'original' and the other is a re-write/draw by a pro manga artist)

Interesting discussion. I suspect a big reason is that generally fantasy authors do not tend to have studied science that deeply and its a lot easier to do convincing world-building with a good science element when you have a strong background and interest in science (and worldbuilding). Brandon studied biochemistry at university and to me it shows in this writing that he does enjoy science. Short answer, we need more Brandon Sandersons!? Things seem to be improving in general though. Maybe it helps that geeks aren't considered to be uncool by definition anymore...?

Regarding the "human" races on Roshar in general, I have sometimes wondered about their diversity since it's not the sort of thing that is likely to occur naturally. Since we know that Shards have been active on Roshar since ancient times it does seem pretty likely that one or more Shards have created these variations deliberately - it does seem like the sort of thing that Cultivation would do. Incidentally, I wonder what Cultivation thought of the Desolations: while they were highly destructive to culture when occurring it also means that all sorts of interesting new cultures can form when they end. Creative destruction, much? So anyway, I could easily imagine Cultivation magically mixing up new races by combining bits of existing ones. This seems far more likely than multiple long-term hybrid species occurring by random chance - it's certainly possible for hybrid children to be born of two different species but that doesn't lead to a new long term species by itself, even if the child is healthy and fertile. You would need an isolated population of hybrid-only children to create a long term persistent new species (short term is a different matter). I certainly agree that the known differences between Parshendi and humans would likely make viable hybrid offspring impossible - having a fundamentally different blood chemistry is a huge huge problem. Hybrids between distinct species definitely occur on Earth but healthy and fertile hybrids are much rarer and almost always only occur between species with a recent common ancestor - generally within 2m years for large mammals. For reference, the last common ancestor for modern humans and Neanderthals was 350-400k years ago. Talking of human/Neanderthal hybrids, it would probably be safe to consider estimates of common genes between them to be preliminary and likely subject to large revisions. It's possible that convergent evolution (ie local adaptation) and genetic drift could explain some of the similarities. Though I don't think any experts say it's impossible. It should be noted that the "common" genes are mostly clustered in specific areas, indicating that they provided a selective advantage (and that the commonality could have been much higher in the past). Another interesting aspect of this is that the only hybrid children with descendants that survived to this day were between Neanderthal males and human females. This is not to say that there weren't hybrid children between Neanderthal females and human males, just that none of them had descendants surviving to this day.

This is the first we've heard (AFAIK) that Horneaters have Parshendi blood. My first thought was "ick" but after further reflection I'm guessing this is something the Shards did. I'm not sure what other peoples' theories on this are but I suspect that Parshendi were on Roshar before "normal" humans though I also suspect that they were created by Honor/Cultivation based on humans. Maybe the first humans to arrive on Roshar were pretty normal and then Honor/Cultivation created some of the more unusual human races (Horneaters etc) by combining humans with different Parshendi forms. I sometimes felt that Brandon brought up Shallan's partial Horneater ancestry too often to be natural and that he was foreshadowing something. I guess this means she has a tiny amount of Parshendi blood in her too. I wonder if its just her (among the main characters) or if Radiants in general tend to have a tiny amount of Parshendi blood. I've no idea what you're referring to in your Bondsmiths question. Everyone can attract spren but if Horneaters can have different forms with spren that maybe that could explain Rock's tale of how the Horneaters were hated for being too strong (though it could also be that they were persecuted for having Parshendi blood). So maybe the Horneaters we see today are the equivalent of "dullform"?

Thanks. I was fearing that this had come up before but it seems not. There's all sorts of little background things that give the story a certain extra depth - like the Vorin kingdoms only having flatbread iirc while the Thaylens get risen bread. Ooh, nice! Yeah, chapter 44 has them all going "x son of y". Reminds me of the manga "Vinland Saga" (recommended!) which has all the characters introducing themselves as "x son of y".

This may be another case of me missing the original discussion but Google turns up nothing. I also hope I've not missed some obvious counter-example (Kaladin Stormblessed does not count). But I figured it wouldn't hurt to post, just in case. So anyway, as best as I can tell in Vorin culture darkeyes do not get family names. As well as the lack of family names for all known Vorin darkeyes there is this quote: That part would seem unnecessary if darkeyes did get family names. This is an interesting bit of world building and I wonder if it has always been the case or if it was imposed at some later stage by the lighteyes (or something else). Historically for Earth, it's not that unusual. To take a more recent example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_name#Customs Considering how many darkeyes there are in the army I wonder how they distinguish between them, legally. Father's name like the Shin? Location of origin? Something else? Would be fascinating to see events if this gets changed (ie all darkeyed can chose a family name)

I missed one instance out from my long list:

Yeah, according to the Silver Kingdoms epoc map Kharbranth was in Thalath but it's also been Vorin for a long time as one of the "five Vorin Kingdoms". I guess the royal family could be of Thaylen decent but could also be the decent of some opportunist Vorin family. It probably has pretty mixed bloodlines these days. It should be noted that Mrall (Taravangian's "bodyguard") is Thaylen and shaves his eyebrows and head. It would be interesting to know what information Androtagia had on Mraize to speculatively connect him to the epigraph quote. Could be pretty juicy On Mraize's origins, Shallan can't place his accent and never speculates on his ethnicity that I can see. To Shallan, "Mraize" is a non-Vorin term that she finds hard to pronounce. I'd be surprised if he's not in some kind of disguise though so his physical description (tall, darkhaired, violet eyes and battered) might not mean too much. If he's not deliberately disguising his accent too then I'd suspect that he's been outside long enough to lose his accent. As far as I can tell there's just two things to connect him to being Thaylen - his name/title and use of the term 'babsk' (both of which could also be borrowed). I don't remember him referencing any other Thaylen things like the Passions, unless "to hunt or be hunted" is a Thaylen thing. Anyone got anything else...?

Bah... it's the "anti-bugs" that get me - when something works when it shouldn't. I hate those. Well, maybe the thing I hate most is when a bug has messed up data in the database and need to clean it up... very very carefully. Had one last year that was really awkward and took about 4 weeks to fix all the bad data. I currently work as a software developer at a medium sized enterprise company. All my previous jobs were at tiny companies, so this is quite a big change. Last job was at this live broadcast TV company where they needed all this backend software to make the show work - that was quite interesting since I got to do a huge variety of different things.

Thanks for all the replies so far! Would be nice to see some more comments on what pressure it could possible put on Renarin though. Hmm, interesting. In that scene, Shallan and Kaladin give me every impression that they were just calmly waiting for Dalinar to return, that they were waiting expectantly below the whole time - I hadn't ever thought of them rushing back. I think Dalinar would just have delayed things a bit to ensure Shallan and Kaladin could be there. I have wondered about Honorblades being able to active the Oathgate too. I would expect it to work. However, I think it would be very dangerous to do that (even if they realise it works) because it would be at huge risk of theft. They wouldn't want another Assassin in White. Hmm, good point but Blades are much more in the physical realm I think. I wonder if something like this would work: at regular times of the day Shallan (or whichever Radiant is on duty) summons Pattern as a Blade and hands it over to an ardent who uses it to active the Oathgate. I presume activating the Oathgate causes a swap (ie whoever is on the Urithiru portal moves to the Shattered Plains and vice versa) which means that activating the Oathgate from Urithiru can bring people from the Shattered Plains. As soon as it activates, Pattern de-materialises like a dead Shardblade can and effectively returns to Shallan instantly. This may use up a certain amount of Stormlight. The lack of crem is the main evidence. There is some around but far far less than would be expected otherwise. It may be that only very occasionally does rain from a Highstorm hit Urithiru. Yep, but she could be heading elsewhere based on her chats with the Highspren - Shinovar would be an interesting option It's also possible that they specifically wanted to make Urithiru dependant on trade so that it stays integrated with the rest of the world. Teft would be Kaladin's choice I'm sure but Teft has also shown to be reluctant to take on more responsibilities. I could see Dalinar wanting to push more responsibility onto Renarin to help him grow.

This is something I only recently noticed. I don't remember it being discussed before but maybe I forgot/missed it. Anyway: at the end of WoR when Dalinar goes to the top of Urithiru for the first time he looks down and sees the Oathgate being activated. However, the only known Radiants at Urithiru are one floor down. So, either Shallan or Kaladin would have had to lend their Shardblade to someone down below, since there's no other way known to activate it. With Kaladin leaving and Dalinar not getting a living Shardblade then Shallan's the only one left we know for sure has one - I guess we'll have to wait and see just how far Renarin has progressed. He seems fairly new to it all so I'm guessing he's a beginner. It would be interesting to know if Shallan can Lightweave etc with Pattern elsewhere. I would be surprised if it made no difference. I guess in an emergency she can summon him back though. All this and the logical need for having backup living Shardblades could end up putting Renarin under pressure to "level up" quickly. Another problem for those at Urithiru could be lack of Stormlight, if it's hard to re-charge spheres up there. Maybe there's some lower levels in Urithiru that are actually low enough to catch the Highstorms and so allow gems to be infused again. Would seem like a design flaw otherwise. If there's no levels low enough did the old inhabitants entirely rely on outsiders? I guess for now they could pack up all the gems together, go through the gate to the Shattered Plains and charge them there - but that has a lot of risks. If they get multiple gates open they could do some neat tricks though, when re-charging spheres: when a Highstorm is coming, go to most eastern gate with all your gems, get them charged, go back to Urithiru, quickly use the Stormlight in the gems, then open a gate more to the west and take the gems there, so that you can re-charge them again from the same storm. You could maybe get 3-4x the Stormlight per Highstorm that way - so long as you have something useful to use it on quickly. PS Who do you think will be put in charge of of all the bridgemen while Kaladin is away? I'd bet on Renarin.

I remember something along those lines for Mistborn. I don't remember this being confirmed for Roshar too. I remember being implied it could apply to Roshar though it's worth remembering that spren being involved could change things a lot in practice.

I would agree that he is a victim. His life has been hell recently and it has driven him insane. He never remotely wanted to do what he felt he was forced to do and now that he is free again he is entitled to seek revenge. However, he is definitely also at fault. I think he would be getting a lot more sympathy is this happened to him when he was 10... but he was in his 30s when this all started. He doesn't seem to have any excuses that people in general could accept (that we know of). It's not like he absolves himself of blame, guilt or sin either. I doubt he'll be forgiving himself anytime soon. If he brings those who wronged him to justice and then willingly turns himself in for the crimes he has committed then he could get redemption.

I entirely agree that Pattern has a very loose definition of "lie". However, this is what Pattern says: I know... little of humans. They break. Their minds break. You did not break. Only cracked. It is the lies that save you. The lies that drew me. To me what Pattern means here is "I was attracted by the lies that saved your mind from breaking". Logic and the context strongly suggests that this is what originally drew him to Shallan in her childhood. It would be nice if we had an example of a Radiant becoming one via a positive method and Shallan's positive personality would fit that but I don't see any way to reconcile Pattern's quote above with such a theory. Also, it may be that Radiant spren specifically look for people who almost "broke" (and came out stronger) because such people would better handle the horrors of a Desolation. I tend to think of Shallan's mental state as a "dancing elephant" - it's not how well the elephant can dance that is impressive it's that it can dance at all. (ie it's amazing that Shallan isn't more messed up than she is)