hoser

I assume that Shallash left her Honorblade in the prelude to tWoK, but picked up a Radiantblade along the way somewhere. I do wonder whether she would experience the screaming. I assume that when a Radiant dies without violating their oaths, the spren is not killed. Could she have bonded a spren of Kak's order? Amethyst, per Wikipedia, is a purple variety of quartz, with a violet color.

In the prelude to tWoK, it says "Blood mixed. Red. Orange. Violet." The violet blood would seem likely to be from greatshells and would correlate to the picture that Jasnah had Shallan send to Dalinar. The Santhid and Reshi Islands seem intelligent and kindly disposed toward humans. The Chasmfiends might be intelligent, but I can imagine them being affected by Odiumspren to fight against the humans.

Welcome! Please accept an introductory upvote. I've been wondering some of the same things. He has had chances to be jealous. I haven't seen any signs of it so far. He could be jealous of his father for his power, of Elhokar for his position, now Kaladin and Shallan for their exalted roles and abilities. I think if Adolin were inclined to jealousy, he would have experienced it already. We saw how quickly Elhokar manifested his jealousy toward Kaladin after Kaladin saved Adolin. It remains to be seen how he will react to something developing between Shallan and Kaladin, should that come to pass. As for his development, he seems to be a good man, but maybe not broken enough to attract a spren. Maybe this will precipitate a crisis that could lead to his further development. I almost think the greater crisis for his honor would be how he reacts to being a suspect than the act itself. Concerning the orders, it seems that there would need to be a legal rationale for a skybreaker to kill someone. A windrunner, it seems, would need to be protecting, and there is no immediate danger. OTOH, he has not really taken any oaths yet, so he can't violate them. I think his actions might be entirely permissible to an order like the Elsecallers or the Lightweavers. I wonder about the Shardic influence. It seems that Sadeas was entirely given over to Odium. I could imagine Odium being happy to exchange Sadeas for a foothold in Adolin's soul. Adolin, while killing Sadeas, is just described as "completely, totally, and irrevocably enraged." This rage seems more righteous than corrupt to me, but it still might subject him to Odium's influence. From there he might be tempted to more vigilante actions and the slippery slope of temptation. I know nothing, but feel quite curious.

Signed up!

{speculation} Apparently Shards operate off a finite power base. To have influence on a planet involves "investing" part of that base. Further, an agreement between Shards (which I believe the Oathpact is) can really only be anchored by a similar investment. This leaves Odium tied to the Rosharian system. If he leaves the system, he leaves that power behind. While he might derive some gratification from torturing the Rosharian inhabitants, he's got bigger fish to fry. He wants to finish off Cultivation and liquidate his investment in the Rosharian system so he can move on to splintering the remaining Shards with all his power. I believe the Desolations were a struggle for dominance on Roshar constrained by the Oathpact which Odium always lost. With Honor gone and Taln returned, presumably Odium will not be as constrained by the Oathpact, hence the Everstorm. Somehow the Everstorm must advance Odium's goals of splintering Cultivation and deinvesting from Roshar. It is worth noting that we are seeing the viewpoint of a long-dead being who had limited prescience and Odium/Rayse was "crafty" and "dangerous". Odium's plans may well differ from Tanavast's thoughts about them. {/speculation}

Hi guys, I will try to make it to the signing. Shardlet, I'm sorry I won't get to see you. Karaokeang, do you need any backup or support? I can get a recorder app for my phone, for example. I don't know about gushing fanboy. Maybe a filmy white dress and pretend to be Syl. Not! Would brown vests over normal clothing and Birkenstocks count as bridgeman attire? I could wear a temporary tattoo on my forehead. Part of me wants to make a miniature bridge w/toothpicks.

I think the readings were not final but read during the Steelheart tour. Since Brandon could just as easily have changed or eliminated Ym as change his order, it seems that his order is as certain as his existence. Since Brandon says he is using the interludes to show us other parts of the world, it does make sense for Ym's potential order to be different.

There are some unreliable hints in tWoK: In Hoid's story, the Wandersail goes to find the origin of the Voidbringers. The midnight essence show up in rural Natanatan. The corrupted "spren" that turns into a thunderclast shows up at the purelake. There are supposedly the ten fools, and the Parshendi came from somewhere to be away from their "dark gods", so these people could be arriving geographically. The Wandersail travels westward, but if they know the world is a sphere, they may figure that they can get anywhere. Taln dies holding a passage near a northern waterway. All these locations are near coasts, so maybe the enemy arrives from overseas? Edit: filled in real information for vague memories

Excellent work! I do have one minor suggestion. A number of things happen "shortly (on the scale of this timeline)" before Gavilar is killed. You reference some of them with "Death Rattles began about 7 years ago, about the time Gavilar was first investigating the Shattered Plains". I wonder whether it would be helpful to start the general timeline about a year earlier, as Szeth's punishment started about that time and we will be getting more related events by book 3 at least. Events that happen about a year before Gavilar's assassination: Szeth commits whatever he did. Szeth is caught/turns himself in/is sentenced. Szeth completes surgebionding training, starts itinerant slave existence (these three could be combined, as we don't know them with precision, nor their significance). Death Rattles start. Gavilar starts exploring Shattered Plains. Eshonai starts exploring Shattered Plains. My initial thought is that they could be done as G-0, but I could also see doing it as Sz-0. Hope this helps.

I like a lot of this, but have one alternate interpretation. At the end of tWoK, Mr. T says to Szeth something like, "Given that monstrosity of a Shardblade by your people", and Szeth, who is behaving rather contentiously at the time, doesn't disagree. I think that the Shardblade, surgebinding training, etc., are all part of his sentence.

Commence operation sour grapes: Szeth doesn't keep his Shardblade in a scabbard. Surely a two edged sword would be straight. There, I feel better about not having one (not).

Just to add to the pile. Whatever Szeth is being punished for is nearly coincident with the start of the death rattles, and a year before Gavilar was killed. This quote from Szeth in the prologue seems to indicate much to me: "He had heard that the Voidbringers could hold it in perfectly. But, then, did they even exist? His punishment declared that they didn't. His honor demanded that they did." Mr. T makes reference to somebody called the Lifebrother. Random not very well justified deductions + questions: Szeth is being punished for something he did related to the Voidbringers The Lifebrother lives for a long time (possibly a Herald?) and/or can do healing. If his punishment demands that the Voidbringers don't exist, then do the Stone Shamans (who seem to rule in Shinovar) deny the existence of the Voidbringers? If fighters are the lowest class in Shinovar then the Stone Shamans can kick their butt whenever they try to improve their status (maybe with a Shardblade?). Szeth is some sort of renegade (and part of a renegade faction, or he couldn't have learned non-conventional things about the Voidbringers) among the Shin. edit: added stuff about Lifebrother, deductions/questions

Whoa, Meg! Looking up quotes! Good job! The numbers from WoR seem a bit different. WoR Spoiler If the overall number is 20, the the logic above still applies divided by two. The average highprince would have a little less than 2 blades with Sadeas less, but the Kholins more. It makes Sadeas' situation less anomalous, but not much.

Seems totally weird: for a status symbol paperweight, the thing would be totally rotted before the traders got it anywhere. Do they even have refrigerators? Bizarre speculation: For use to create fabrials? Weird tiny gemhearts? Necromananimalcy?

I thought you said they were in your attic, making a racket whenever being summoned or unsummoned . It doesn't add up for me either. In particular, Sadeas not having had a blade seems weird. If a neighboring highprincedom has about 6 sets of Shardblades, you would think they would have taken over Sadeas's territory. If someone else in the Sadeas' highprincedom had a blade and plate set, you would think that Sadeas would be serving under them. One possibility is that one or both of the two other highprincedoms that were allied wSadeas and the Kholins have a bunch. Elhokar could have a fair number under control: his, Gavilar's the two that Dalinar won from the Parshendi, Adolin's, Dalinar/Renarin's, ? Let's say the Kholins have about 10 and the rest of the Alethi have about 30. Let's say that Dalinar and Gavilar's skill made the difference and their alliance of four highprincedoms had half the Shards. That gives each of their two allied princedoms about 5. Kholin: 10 Sadeas: 0.5 Kholin-Sadeas ally 1: ~5 Kholin-Sadeas ally 2: ~5 Kholin-Sadeas enemy 1-6: average of 3 With a greater ability to consolidate weaponry, the Kholins wouldn't even need to be in control of fully half the Shards. With a large royal treasury of Shards, the average nonroyal princedom could have 3 Shards.

Great point! These "true lies" can be extremely powerful. In a way, good and evil are both self fulfilling prophecies. When Syl coaches Kaladin to move forward and help recreate the Radiants it is a sort of "true lie" that can become true. Just like when Yalb suckers the new guy into doing his chores, but says it can help his standing among the crew. If the new guy takes it well, it can help him get along (until he turns out to be a Ghostblood agent and sinks the ship, anyway). If the new guy acts surly, it can make things worse.

It sounds like Kaladin to me too, with the medical metaphor. OTOH, I can see a number of other characters using it as justification for their creepiness: Torol Sadeas justifying an assassination attempt on Dalinar. Mr. T justifying nearly anything. Jasnah might even be up to something. Not that I can imagine what he would be talking about, but it seems to me that it could even be Lirin. It seems splendidly tantalizing.

Szeth's inner monologue suggests that he is free to disobey the holder of his Oathstone whenever he wants. The final scene w/Mr. T has him considering it. I think any of his oathstone holders could free him. Possibly by destroying the oathstone. I wonder what he does w/the blade then? Szeth's self talk reveals that the Shamans believe that one's spirit resides in the stone after death. This seems to be part of their belief about the holiness of stone. What he said! Here's one quote. I'm pretty sure there are others.

Awesome! All your speculations are belong to us. Read the glimpse, read the thread, find everything that I might contribute has already been suggested, upvote 3 posts. My work is done here.

I was in the "Szeth has Jezrien's Honorblade" camp until the three types of Honorblades quote. I then recanted hard and will now be admitting my error in the "I told you so" thread. I still don't buy the same blades being two different types theory. I am stuck because I can't think of anything distinctive about any of the other Shardblades we've seen. I am pretty sure that Taln is not dead. There might even be a quote. I'll look. I'm back: In the event signings and stalking forum there are references to WoB about a Taln PoV in WoR and maybe being the focus character for a book. That's good enough for me.

Based on the WoR excerpt, we know that Mr.T is heavily engaged with the stormwardens, who make ideal intelligence agents. They are presumably somewhat unified in training, if not in organization and able to communicate in writing. With spanreeds, he would have nearly instantaneous communication over distance. Another likely source of intelligence agents is healers. The finest healers are trained in Kharbranth and I would be amazed if Mr. T did not recruit operatives from their number. They can also communicate via glyphs.

I don't believe that Amaram ever offered the Shardblades to Kaladin. When Kaladin first denied them, Amaram was alone, with a broken leg. Amaram was in no position to offer them. If Brandon hadn't needed the whole enslavement and murder scenario to happen, Koreb puts on the Shardplate, grabs the blade and parades proudly back to camp as the newest Alethi lighteyes. In fact, if not for Brandon's dramatic needs, Kaladin would have ordered Koreb to take up the Shards, make a few practice swings, then win the battle, saving countless darkeyed lives on Kaladin's side and pretty much guaranteeing them the chance to join the war on the Shattered Plains. In Amaram's HQ Amaram asks Kaladin why he saved him, but his entire team moves into action based on a preexisting plan without any discussion. Amaram doesn't offer him the Shards then either. If Koreb had picked up the Shards initially, the "unacceptable" would have happened and Amaram would have dealt with it. He would have just had one less selfish, greedy option.

I encourage you to reread the scene in question, if you haven't recently. Amaram only asks why Kaladin saved him. Kaladin claims the shards and team Amaram moves into action without discussion. The murder, enslavement and theft were totally premeditated. Amaram even talks about discussing it. Of course, all that had to have happened was that Koreb picks up the shards immediately, then no problem.

Yes, I believe that she came recently, based on the following from ch 9: She came from the cognitive realm with a sense of urgency, so I think it was recent. At the very least, I don't think spren were forbidden to come 4000 years ago.

I will upvote introductory, interesting, thoughtful and humorous posts. I will make positive and helpful posts. I will respond to topics to inspire further discussion. I will do my best not to threadjack. I will hide spoilers appropriately. I will not argue repetittively. I will provide supporting quotes. I will not downvote posts. Goals not always achieved, obviously .