Cemci

Ah well it was worth a shot. Maybe I should have been better in phrasing my question. But at least the consistent RAFOs mean that Adolin will have quite a story to live through in the next book, I think. His future is quite uncertain. To be fair, Ym fits the 'remembering the forgotten' aspect of the Edgedancers extremely well (making shoes for urchins for free and asking them for stories). And Ym didn't appear to be esoteric or secretive, as Truthwatchers are meant to be. So that potentially puts us at 2 Edgedancers already, although Brandon didn't specify whether we met at least two Edgedancers.

I agree with Maxal here. Plus the way Brandon worded his response indicated to me that we haven't met a Dustbringer yet. I might be projecting my own expectations here, but since Brandon said that, without the heralds, we hadn't met a representative from every order here, and since he avoided my question about the POV Dustbringer, I'm tentatively saying that we've met Chanarach, the Dustbringer Herald, or alternatively that we've met a character who will be or is a Dustbringer, but has not been POV character (so in any case not Adolin).

Considering the unique relationship that the Bladespren and their respective Shardbearers have, getting an oath from somebody external (as in a father) wouldn't do the trick. Maybe Dalinar as a bondsmith could do something with his Radiant-powers, but since relationships like Kaladin and Syl's, Shallan and Pattern's are quite private and contained, I find it unlikely that Adolin would need essentially a reference from someone else. It's rare for spren to interact with people other than the humans they're bound to (Syl prefers to stay invisible to anyone but Kaladin, Ivory vanishes whenever Shallan spots him and Pattern typically doesn't speak when other people are near). Considering how close the relationship between the Bladespren and the previous Radiant probably was, I think it takes something else from Adolin, a personal sacrifice or something magical (the Nightwatcher clearly has some sway over Radiant-spren relationships, since Lift can touch Wyndle and eat to regain stormlight). However, all of this is pure speculation, so (maybe) we'll find out in November 2016...

I had a few questions for Brandon as well, and since I'm writing this 4 hours after the fact, these might not be the exact answers. But here's what he said: 1) You mentioned at a previous signing that we have already met a member of every order of the Knights Radiant. Have we met two Edgedancers, and has the Dustbringer been a POV character? Brandon: Well it depends on whether you consider the Heralds members of their order. They are part of their respective orders, because they are the head of the order. If you take out the Heralds, you actually haven't met a member of every order yet. I'm pretty sure that you have met two Edgedancers. 2) Have we met a Dustbringer yet? Brandon: The Dustbringers are a bit of a special case, so let's shelve that one for later. As you might be able to figure out, I was trying to get a hint as to what order Adolin may one day belong to (there's been some debate on Dustbringer/Edgedancer). Considering Brandon's answers, I'm going with Edgedancer, because there are only very few characters that fit the Edgedancer characteristics.

I sincerely doubt that you need to physically read the Way of Kings in order to qualify for Surgebinder-status. Kaladin never read it, Teft told him the first oath. Anything beyond the first ideal he had to generate by himself. The pattern has been that Syl turns up at the critical point in the story and asks Kaladin the words. As a street urchin, it's entirely possible that Lift at some point heard or had a discussion about the Knights Radiant with her friends (just like Kaladin did). I think it's fair to assume that Dalinar and Renarin (and maybe Shallan) may be the only ones who had the book read to them or read it themselves. Shallan was presumably quite young when she said the first oath. We're told that she has read Nohadon (when she interviews for Jasnah's wardship); unless Nohadon wrote multiple books, what Nohadon work Shallan read was likely Way of Kings.

Have to say, WoR is the clear favourite to me. Simply for the fact that the different perspectives we were introduced to in WoK become interwoven. Even if some exchanges appear quite cheesy or forced (Adolin and Shallan's date, Shallan and Kaladin's chasm-trek) I really looked forward to watching these characters interact, and with parts like Adolin and Kaladin's arena fight and the procession across the plains, I really enjoyed WoR more than WoK, where every perspective was quite distinct.

Mistborn has another...5 books to go, excluding Shadows of Self? Alloy of Law was a stand-alone, I believe, and Wax and Wayne are supposed to make up the second of three trilogies. Stormlight Archive has another 8 to go, we'll get Dragonsteel at some point in the distant future, and then there's the multitude of different stand-alone novels, cosmere and non-cosmere, novellas and various other bits. These include the continuation of the Warbreaker and Elantris series, 'The Dark One' (no info yet on that) and the Rithmatist series. Let's just say we won't lack for reading material for the next 100 years or so. Stormlight Archive and Mistborn alone should last until 2025 I think, since there'll be a break between the first 5 and the second 5 Stormlight Archive books and the Mistborn series will potentially have a break between trilogies as well. I think it says somewhere that Brandon needs some time to come down from writing something as massive as Stormlight.

I found an epigraph in WoK Part 2, Chapter 46 "Child of Tanavast". Though I was due for dinner in Veden City that night, I insisted upon visiting Kholinar to speak with Tivbet. The tariffs through Urithiru were growing quire unreasonable. By then, the so-called Radiants had already begun to show their true nature. Regarding the question for how long Kholinar has been called Kholinar, this should give some indication: since the time of the Radiants at least. Either the Kholin house has been around for that long, which we would need some family history of the Kholins to verify, or the Kholins took on the name 'Kholin' because they ruled Kholinar. At that point, was Alethkar still known as Alethela? When Dalinar has the vision with Nohadon where he sees the destruction of Kholinar, that city looks different to what Dalinar is used to, so where can that vision be placed in the timeline, at what point did the Kholins start ruling Kholinar and for how long did the Radiants and Surgebinders help humanity before, as the epigraph suggests, 'show their true nature'?

We're not given an extensive amount of information about how many lighteyes exist in Roshar, relative to darkeyes. It's entirely possible by the way that lighteyes in Roshar aren't descended from people who took a dead Shardblade, but who are descended from people who just happened to have light eyes, essentially what Yata said. Over the years, it's possible that society, which in Nohadon's time put the Radiants at the very top, remembered that the leaders of civilisation had very bright eyes, and therefore established (in the absence of the Radiants) the hierarchy that continued to put people with genetically light eyes at the top.

To come back to Kaladin, falling into the sky and having your stormlight run out before you could come back down far enough. Depending on the height, that could very well be deadly.

It seemed to me that Syl's 'death' at that point in time is that he needed Stormlight in order to save himself and Dalinar when he fell into the chasm, and because of his at that point extremely weak bond with Syl, forcibly drew in Stormlight. The fact that he did this while uncertain about right and wrong (his conflict regarding Moash and the king) seems to me to be the primary issue here: Kaladin can only use Stormlight if he stays true to his oaths. At the time when he fell, he wasn't staying true, and therefore killed Syl, saving himself with the last breath of Stormlight. I don't think that the moment of Syl's death had anything to do with the Stormfather specifically, there has been some evidence showing that the Stormfather can only interact with humans during a storm - highstorm or otherwise (Dalinar receives all his visions during highstorms, he communicates with the Stormfather in the battle as it's raining heavily). The only exception to this would be the point when Dalinar establishes a Nahel bond with the Stormfather at Urithiru on the roof. However, since at this point, there has already been a long-term bond slowly building between Dalinar and the Stormfather, I would attribute their conversation to that. The Stormfather is only angry with Kaladin after Kaladin killed Syl. He's mistrustful of humans, certainly, but I don't think that translates to him actually killing one of his own in order to injure or kill a human. Syl is incredibly precious to the Stormfather, she (and presumably all honorspren) are referred to as daughters (or perhaps sons in the case of a 'male honorspren') and beloved ones. The Stormfather knows that severing a Nahel bond leaves the spren dead, since that's what he accuses Kaladin of doing, so killing one of his beloved in order to make sure one single human falls fatally seems a bit far-fetched.

Natanatan was a kingdom, not a city, and as such couldn't be buried underneath the crem. Do you mean Stormseat? That city was limited mostly to Narak, or in any case close to and around the plateaus that the Parshendi make their home. Stormseat was indeed not flat, but as we see in WoR, the buildings that the Alethi know as crem hills and weirdly shaped structures are only vaguely hill-like. The picture shows craggy mountains and enormous cliffs. If Natanatan indeed lay underneath the crem and had not been flat (if Natanatan had been a mountainous kingdom), the highstorms, with gale winds, boulders tossed around and the sheer amount of rain could probably have altered the geological picture considerably, especially since the Shattered Plains are one of the first places usually hit by a highstorm on Roshar.

Well, Sigzil is probably aware that Hoid is a little bit special if nothing else. He did react shocked when Rock told the story of meeting the god of mischief, and Rock's story included a description of Hoid with white hair. Kaladin has only known Hoid with black hair. It's hardly unusual for people to dye their hair in Roshar, as many women do so, but it could be worth noting that Hoid may have only started dyeing his hair black after losing Sigzil as an apprentice. The people looking for Hoid on Roshar are looking for someone with white hair. Wild speculation incoming: Sigzil's apprenticeship with Hoid ended when Hoid was made aware that he was wanted by people from another Shard. Not wanting Sigzil to become involved in something he had no idea about and since it could become dangerous, Hoid left Sigzil and Sigzil....somehow...ended up with the bridgecrews.

I'm not sure if he's acting mysterious on purpose or if he's just refusing to adapt to Alethi social customs and being a bit of an idiot regarding blending in, therefore seeming odd and mysterious to the Alethi. Hoid comes from a different culture, and he multiple times remarks how strange he finds Roshar. He's not exactly being subtle about not being from Roshar, but because he doesn't say 'I'm not from around here' and because nobody has ever heard of a Worldhopper (except maybe those who suspect that Hoid may not be what he seems, like Sigzil, and the suspected Worldhoppers Mraize, Zahel and Demoux and his companions) or even entertains the idea that Hoid could be one, he seems mysterious to Dalinar and Kaladin (for example), and odd to everyone else. I also wouldn't say that anybody is in awe of Hoid's wit, because the reaction he provokes is either resignation, anger or bafflement. Almost everyone Hoid ever makes a comment towards is either angry or annoyed that Wit chose them to be snarky to. The times when Hoid inspires awe would seem to me to be the times he uses his flute and zither for Kaladin, and each time Kaladin isn't sure what to think of the encounter. So mysterious? On very rare occasions. But Hoid certainly isn't trying to be mysterious and odd, he just knows that the Rosharans have no idea what he can do.

First of all, excellent artwork. As a former student of art, I'm jealous of your skill. Regarding the setting: The Alethi armies marched for hours, and the Shattered Plains are enormous. I would consider it unlikely that the Plains are themselves that mountainous, and after hours of walking, the army wouldn't be in this close proximity to mountains. Furthermore, there are multiple maps of the Plains in the books. None indicate that any plateau is this elevated, except for the Tower and one other plateau (where Adolin and Jakamav fight once - it's 30 feet high on one end). I would also consider it unreasonable that Kaladin pulled his injured bridgeman companion this far away from the chasm, or that, if we assume the chasm is directly to their right, the bridge is that huge that it could span anywhere near the distance between the armies behind the boys and on the plateau far below. Added to that, from the book we know that the Tower is an elevated plateau, but not mountain-high, and that no Alethi army has ever won on that plateau. It would be unlikely therefore that Kaladin heals his friend on an elevated plateau. The bridge is only about 40 feet long I think? Curved at front and back, 5 feet across or so (I'm probably getting the dimensions wrong). That's nowhere near big enough to span any sort of chasm with that big a height difference.

We're not discussing the possibility of Kaladin finding a some yet unknown partner in Emul or somewhere entirely different. The available women in relative geographic proximity to the warcamps (or now Urithiru) that are of sufficient social standing (around 4th or 5th dahn I would expect, from maxal's estimate about Jenet's dahn) to be able to court Kaladin have all been courted by Adolin previously. And I'm sure it's obvious by now that almost nobody else believes dating somebody else's ex would be awkward. In fact, Kaladin probably doesn't consider it awkward, since he displays some romantic interest in Shallan. Under any circumstance where Kaladin and Shallan dated, she would be, as you put it, 'Adolin's left-overs', and it doesn't bother Kaladin. Shallan was only bothered by the fact that Adolin had dated virtually everybody else, and mildly annoyed that his eyes wandered extensively during their first date. Dalinar wasn't bothered by Navani being previously married, only by dishonouring the memory of his brother. I would bet that Dalinar's insistence Adolin be seen as unavailable also has something to do with his helplessness regarding women. How long did it take Danlan to start calling on Adolin? One day? He's the single most available bachelor of available bachelors (prior to meeting Shallan). That, and the potential political threat. Danlan did turn out to be affiliated with Graves, who was behind multiple assassination attempts. And I believe it was Malasha or Janala? One of his courtships during the book series (I can't remember if it was WoK or WoR, and it's 2 am, so I'm not going to check) was fond of epic poems, so to make up for some slight, Adolin at some point considers phrasing his apology in the form of a poem xD Shallan reacts shocked when in WoR her illusion dissipates and she wears Veil's glove. You're correct in that it's frowned upon, but depending on the woman, it could be a relatively minor breach of etiquette. It is said that Shallan as a lighteyes of medium rank would be expected to show more modesty than a glove. Also, Jenet's disregard to wearing a long sleeve is exactly why she and Kaladin would fit! Kaladin barely understands lighteyed conventions, he shows obvious disdain for Adolin's and Shallan's mannerisms. I'm getting on this ship

There is no privacy between a spren and their Surgebinder. While Syl sometimes goes away from Kaladin, we can assume that there is little to nothing that Kaladin keeps from her or that she hasn't seen. To give an example of another spren-surgebinder relationship, Pattern is there when Shallan undresses and bathes. He displays nothing more than scholarly interest at the sight. I sincerely doubt that spren are able to partake in the kind of romantic relationship that Kaladin might be looking for. Spren can manifest into weapon forms, but that's hardly the same as having a physical being to hold and be intimate with. In woman-form, Syl has no weight, and she herself can carry almost nothing in the Physical realm. She's capable of communicating with Kaladin telepathically, I would consider this relationship a little too close to develop into a romantic relationship. Also, Syl seems to me more of a child, as opposed to a woman eligible for that kind of relationship. The close relationship that Kaladin and Syl have might be to me exemplified by somebody trying to have a romantic relationship with their dual personality or their own consciousness. Syl is a personification of Kaladin's honour. She might have a personality, wit, thoughts of her own and be able to argue with Kaladin, but she isn't as distinct from Kaladin as another human would be. This may seem harsh, but Syl isn't enough of a distinct person for me to consider her separate from Kaladin's persona. Would you honestly want to have sex with the personification of your honour? I'm also disturbed by the idea because there has been nothing whatsoever to indicate that Kaladin has romantic feelings for Syl, or the other way around. Any contact or exchange of feelings they have had has been of two close friends, nothing more. In addition, it's relatively clear to me that Kaladin considers Shallan a more eligible romantic partner, judging from his thoughts about her in the later parts of the chasm scene and after the return from the chasm. We don't even know if Syl understands love, let alone is capable of feeling it for somebody she knows as intimately as Kaladin. Clarification regarding Adolin's ex, not every woman in the warcamps. Adolin has literally dated every single eligible woman in the warcamps. Yes that means there are probably women of lower social status that Adolin has not courted, but the pool of women that could be potential matches for Adolin is exhausted, except for Shallan. Considering that Kaladin now has the status of Radiant, which puts him very high indeed in Vorin society, his potential romantic partners and Adolin's would overlap considerably. Kaladin doesn't hold the social status of a darkeyes anymore, at least not in the warcamps.

By my own time reckoning, Adolin and Shallan cannot have dated for much longer than a month at the end of WoR, so I agree their relationship would by our standards still be in it infancy. I will point out that it is remarked several times in the book by both Dalinar and Adolin that he appears more fond of Shallan than his previous partners. Adolin's admission to Kaladin "I'd really like to keep this one" and Dalinar's observation that Adolin seemed very fond of Shallan indicate to me that Adolin is growing relatively committed to the relationship. In the past, his first instinct when girls have grown distant is to buy them a present, try to compose a poem or go on a walk with them. Adolin appears genuinely confused about how to make sure that his relationship with Shallan last. This might seem contrary to his obvious reluctance to be physically forward with Shallan, but at their last kiss in the book, Adolin apparently gets quite into it. My money, in regards to Adolin's feelings, would be that he is crushing heavily on Shallan. I agree that no woman or man should be labeled a 'left-over'. The capacity to become involved in romantic relationships doesn't decrease as you date more people, and the more vulgar meaning of the phrase(used up) can't even be applied to any of Adolin's previous partners, considering how inexperienced he obviously is. No man or woman should be too 'pure' or 'impure' to date somebody else, and I will point out that neither Adolin nor Kaladin are such fantastic guys that Jenet couldn't hope to become involved with either (Adolin could be considered unintelligent, while Kaladin by virtue of his horrible mood 90% of the time probably isn't a great guy to be around). It should be noted, however, that Vorin society places men and women in very distinct roles, and considering the rank differences between Adolin and Jenet (we don't know her dahn, but can assume it to be below Adolin's, else she wouldn't be working at a stables), I wouldn't be surprised if the role of finding and choosing a spouse fell primarily on men, especially men of higher dahn, as Adolin obviously is in both Shallan's and Jenet's case. On a side note, I quite like the idea of Jenet and Kaladin...she's described as forward, uncomplicated, uncaring for eye colour and she wears a glove (like Kaladin's mother - he always considered gloves more practical). For any ship to sail on this though, we desperately need a lot more character development on Jenet.

It is made clear to us through Adolin's and Shallan's interactions that Alethi propriety dictates relatively little physical contact between two romantic partners before their wedding. The time Shallan returned from the chasm, Adolin hugged her, which was the most physically forward he had ever been (with her at least). By the end of the book, we can assume that Shallan is one of the women whom Adolin has dated for the longest time, although this speculation is based only on the time passed between Adolin's courtships in WoK (talking about Janala, Malasha or Danlan within the space of a few hundred pages). It's likely there have been many courtships prior to WoK, some of which may have been longer in duration. Regarding Kaladin's supposed experience, we are given more insight into his past courtship with a woman named Tarah than we are into any of Adolin's courtships. Kaladin several times remarks to himself that he made mistakes with Tarah, or that the physical proximity to Shallan in the chasm was the closest he had held a woman since Tarah. Clearly, there had been some physical intimacy between Tarah and Kaladin, although there are (frustratingly) no flashbacks showing us any of their interactions. Through this, it's possible to speculate that Kaladin may have more romantic experience than Adolin, albeit probably having had fewer partners. It's possible that the Alethi sense of propriety doesn't extend to darkeyes, and as a lighteyes of very high rank, Adolin is most likely expected to marry a virgin, if not remain one himself (there are whorehouses in the warcamps, so I would consider it unlikely that ALL unmarried lighteyes of high rank are actually virgins). I think what maxal is trying to say is that in our world, the vast majority of people in the western world (and this doesn't include extremely orthodox christian places) date more than one person in their life. For many people who are not so 'traditional', the idea of going until their wedding day a virgin is relatively uncomfortable. For women (like me) for example, the first time is often quite painful, and it's only with experience that romantic intimacy can become pleasurable. Not to speak of having sex with a virgin, which to some people isn't as fun as having sex with someone experienced. Adolin and Shallan live in a world where it is expected of you to remain 'pure' until your wedding day, so we can assume that Jenet and Adolin haven't had any extensive intimacy. Very little information has been given about propriety like this in darkeyed society, but since whorehouses are most likely extensively populated with darkeyed women, it's possible that darkeyed lovers are physically intimate before their wedding, or indeed are physically intimate with people they won't marry. On a side note, if Jenet is Adolin's 'left-overs', then every other woman in the warcamps is too, including Shallan. So you would prefer if Kaladin dated Syl? I must say I'm profoundly disturbed by the notion. I always viewed the relationship between Kaladin and Syl as more of a brother-sister relationship, and I've never picked up on any romantic undertones between the two. Would you also support Shallan dating Pattern?

What I was pointing out was that we don't know enough about any order to make any assumption about whether Lopen is anything more than a squire. What's the point of speculating if you have little to nothing to go on? I was rehashing the evidence since cuimhne was requesting a return to the main topic.

There has been no mention whatsoever of any spren following Lopen. Whether this was deliberately done by Sanderson to leave open the possibility of Lopen becoming a Surgebinder with the Nahel Bond is left open, but the viewpoint sequence we get from Lopen would have been a prime opportunity to introduce any abnormally-behaving spren. We do know that Syl was the only honor spren who came from wherever (Shadesmar? What we know of Shallan's experiences in that realm didn't look like there were any amount of spren hanging around, but this is obviously still early days). We also know that Lopen has been trying to suck in Stormlight ever since he discovered that Kaladin could do it. Presumably he desperately wants to be able to do this, despite his humorous comments regarding glowing and 'the ladies'. My bet would be on Lopen being a squire to Kaladin. We know that Windrunners were numerous and had many squires, and the obvious implication with the suddenly glowing bridgemen, Lopen's ability to use Stormlight, but no sudden rush of new spren following the bridgemen about would be that many of the bridgemen are turning into squires. Somebody speculated whether a bridgeman could be a squire to Shallan, for example. I find this unlikely, for the fact that Lopen and Shallan have a tenuous link at best. Lopen isn't really part of the bodyguard rotation guarding the Kholins, the king and Shallan, and I would assume that, for a person to become a squire to a Radiant, some sort of relationship has to exist between them. Kaladin seems the more likely, also merely for the fact that we are given no information about whether the Lightweavers had squires. It would be interesting to find out what exactly distinguishes you as only able to use Stormlight, be a Surgebinder or be a Radiant. Obviously to be a Radiant there are certain words to be said, a society to be a member of and a Nahel Bond that has to be present, but are Surgebinders the same thing as people who can draw in Stormlight? I would assume that Surgebinders are somewhere in the middle between Radiant and Stormlight-user. We know that Kaladin is a Surgebinder because he mostly unknowingly used his powers to divert arrows during his time with the bridgecrews. Does the ability to heal using Stormlight make you a Surgebinder? I would assume that there is a little more to it than that, since the 'Surgebinders' referred to by Nohadon in one of Dalinar's visions did an apparently obvious and devastating damage to the surroundings in Kholinar. It would follow therefore that Surgebinders are able to do more than merely heal themselves using Stormlight. I will add that, since all we know about Lopen's abilities is that he has started regrowing his arm, it may be too early to even try to distinguish. If we are given more evidence regarding 'Surgebinder' abilities, squire abilities and Radiant abilities, it would be possible to place Lopen distinctly in one camp or the other.

The times that I use him as an example are either quotes from Teft, who observes Kaladin as a trained soldier and therefore presumably knows how to recognise someone who is a master of the spear, and Teft's recollection of his memories. Quote for the first: Teft had known many a battlefield, but he had never seen anything remotely like this. Kaladin held the ground before the bridge by himself. White Stormlight streamed from him like a blazing fire. His speed was incredible, nearly inhuman, and his precision - each thrust of the spear hit a neck, side, or other unarmored target of Parshendi flesh...[description of Kaladin fighting Parshendi]... No, this wasn't just Stormlight. This was a master of the spear with his capacity enhanced to astonishing levels. Quote for the second: Teft had only fragmentary recollection of the things his family had tried to teach him, but those memories all agreed. Stormlight did not grant skill. It could not make a man into something he was not. It enhanced, it strengthened, it invigorated. It perfected. I don't understand why you are so predisposed against anything coming from Teft. Yes he admits to not being an expert on the subject of Radiants, but surely the things the Envisagers taught him, if confirmed again and again in different memories, can be assumed to be correct? Just because he exhibits some self-doubt and didn't pay close attention in the past, should everything he says be assumed false? I find that an extreme position, particularly since Teft's observations and memories are confirmed by things Kaladin does. Everybody (not just Teft) can see that Kaladin is an incredibly talented spearman. More importantly, the times that Kaladin doesn't have the Bond, he still manages to kill a chasmfiend with a Shardblade, but struggles to complete a kata during the Weeping on the training grounds. This second instance I would attribute to him being troubled about Moash's plans and his own conscience regarding Dalinar. In the second scene, he is in the process of discovering that he cannot let Elhokar die, even if it would be right. He is clearly still capable with a weapon. As an aside, your tone is insulting, and I would appreciate it if you could at least show some respect to the people presenting you with evidence that contradicts your own convictions.

I agree with your statement then. A distinction can be made perhaps between Kaladin with Stormlight, dodging like that because it feels natural to him and because he is holding Stormlight, and Vin burning Atium, who can (because of and only because of the metal) subconsciously anticipate where a blow will land and dodge out of the way instinctively. I think we can also attempt to make a distinction between supernatural skills being applied to a natural weapon and natural skill being applied to a supernatural weapon. Natural skill with a supernatural weapon is what I would call Adolin with a Shardblade. Supernatural skill with a natural weapon is to me Kaladin with a normal wooden Spear. Supernatural skill with a supernatural weapon might be Kaladin with Shardblade-Syl? Like you said, the difference may be minimal and the line is certainly blurry, but considering that Kaladin manages to hold his own with a Shardplate-Helmet against two full Shardbearers would indicate to me that supernatural skill could prove superior to the supernatural weapon. If Kaladin had had a capable weapon when holding off Jakamav and Relis, or even Shardblade-Syl, I would say he could have defeated both Shardbearers at least as easily as Adolin could.

I would note that many Radiants were not warriors. Would it be fair to assume the Truthwatchers, whose powers presumably have little applicability in combat, could not be warriors? It would follow that Renarin's skill would not be enhanced. After all, neither does Shallan's, a far better example I think. While she uses her Shardblade in an admittedly limited capacity, she does not display any skill with the sword. On a side note, would it even be fair to assume Renarin could have his sword-wielding abilities enhanced, considering he can apparently barely stand holding the Blade? From the first time he has it, he displays signs of discomfort at holding it. Also, Teft notes in WoK that Kaladin is 'a master of the spear, with his capacities enhanced to astonishing levels'. This is noted just as Kaladin says the second Oath of the Windrunners, so I would agree that the Bond (for the Windrunners) enhances combat skill. Teft also notes that the Stormlight does not grant innate skill, merely enhances it. I would also note that there is something special about the first time Kaladin holds a quarterstaff. He manages to make his opponent, who had been trained for some time already, bleed, the sight of which ultimately makes him lose more harshly than he might have if he hadn't choked at the sight of blood. One more thing: When Kaladin dances in the winds in the arena, he does have the bond and he is using Stormlight. An important qualifier to your argument that Kaladin could dodge like that without Stormlight. He clearly couldn't. His Stormlight runs out seconds later and he stumbles, barely managing to avoid a Shardblade coming for him. In fact, the only thing saving him then is Adolin jumping on Jakamav's back, disabling him. I would conclude therefore that Kaladin is talented with the spear/quarterstaff, and therefore even without the bond better at combat with one than an average soldier. The Bond does not grant innate skill, but it does enhance Kaladin's innate skill and talent. Kaladin would not be as good a fighter without the Bond. That being said, the Bond does probably make him one of the best fighters in Alethkar if not Roshar.

There was a first Kaladin chapter published by Brandon Sanderson where Kaladin reaches Hearthstone. You can find it here: http://www.tor.com/2014/09/30/brandon-sanderson-stormlight-archive-book-3-first-chapter/ It should be noted that no chapters are canon until the final publication, but this is one of a few that we have been allowed a look at. Since this chapter was released in Septemer 2014, it's possible that the chapter has now been updated or in another way altered, but it should give an idea of where Brandon Sanderson started out with the Kaladin storyline for Stormlight Archive 3. EDIT: The chapter doesn't reveal much regarding your questions, but from the tone of the chapter and Kaladin's initial observations, it's fairly clear that not all is well in Hearthstone (Kaladin mentions at the end of WoR that Roshone had parshmen, the reason for his desperate rush to that town).