Solitary Recluse

We've had confirmation for a few months now that Kaladin's mother Hesina had a Lighteyed parent. Seems simple enough. There was some speculation early on about who she, and by connection Kaladin, was related to, but no one had evidence to supply so it was all being discussed frivolously. I may have just discovered Hesina's relative though through a single line in Oathbringer. Setting: the castle rescue attempt in Part Three with Kaladin and Elhokar moving down the final hallway leading to the Queen. (Page 811 in the Hardcover) This is the clue. Hesina and Aesudan, the queen of Alethkar were related. (Personal guess: Hesina is Aesudan's Aunt) Kaladin is a relative to the Crown. I also think this leads into why Aesudan was worried that the Almighty was displeased with her. She was hiding the fact that she had darkeyed parentage. According to the Vorin religion, all lighteyes are born to rule and are superior to the darkeyes. If it became known that one of her Grand?parents was darkeyed, she could lose standing among the nobility. It's easy to see how an Ardent could have found out and used the information to influence her behavior.

I think you may have missed one important thing from the Nightwatcher's offers. Just because she gives examples of things Dalinor could ask for doesn't mean she has those things or that she would give them in any case. From the Way of Kings Interlude: "You ask a boon. She gives what she feels you deserve, then gives you a curse to go along with it." ... "A few got what they wanted." I think the offers are a kind of test to determine the intent of the supplicant. Those who ask for selfless or benign items will probably get exactly what they wanted, but those who ask for things extreme like Shards or Power will instead get lesser boons. Dalinar broke things by asking for nothing at all.

I guessed the Melhi as female almost immediately. I blame anime. Anytime a character is assumed to be one gender without clear evidence I just naturally assume that they are the opposite. That said, I completely fell for the Sophie being a machine-born construct twist. Until this bonus chapter and annotation, I wasn't fully into the Sophie=Melhi theory. I just thought that Sophie was Melhi's idea of whom a man like Kai would be interested in. Knowing now that Sophie was a version of her self will be interesting to note on rereads.

I may have stumbled onto the answer to two running mysteries during a recent reread of The Way of Kings. The theory is running so strong in my head I was forced to register to these forums to see what others think. I've yet to see this theory anywhere yet which is amazing considering the vast multitude that these forums produce. There are a few pieces of information that are needed as a base so I'll go through those first. In Chapter 61 we get part of the answer. The curse he speaks of is of course his loss of memories of his dead wife. Few doubt this obvious part, but the Boon has been more elusive. Later in Interlude I-7 Many have commented on the unlikelihood or seeming incongruous nature that nearly every Kholin character is either a surgebinder or at least has been seeing spren. When the other surgebinders from the interludes and Kaladin have been far apart and alone, every single one of Dalinar's family is becoming a Knight's Radiant. In Words of Radiance Interlude I-9, Wyndle says that Lift was chosen for him to bond to because she had visited the Nightwatcher. That there is the connection. The Boon Dalinar received was for every one of his relatives to become a surgebinder. Now of course this wouldn't be what he asked for. Surgebinding was a fantasy at the time. His request was almost certainly more like "I wish that all members of my house to succeed in whatever way they wish," but the Nightwatcher through some form of Cultivations clairvoyance knew that surgebinders would be needed and the Alethi would need them more than any others. I like this as his request because it is vague enough where he could believe to have been granted it without being aware of what was actually delivered. I have no direct confirmation of this theory, but the fact that it can solve two ongoing mysteries at once just feels right.