Toaster Retribution

Mraize is officially the coolest character in Stormlight at the moment. I suspect that he will wind up being pretty nasty to the protagonists sooner or later, and probably die violently (hopefully not in this book), but he is still one of my favorite characters. I also like that he never seems to be lying. Also, I´m increasingly certain that Sebarial is a Ghostblood, and possibly Thaidakar himself. He is a merchant, which goes well with their stated objective of trading in investiture. He is putting up an act of caring about politics a lot less than he is doing. He joined Dalinars excursion to Narak for no good reason in WoR (Roion and Aladar joined since it was right, but I dont think Sebarial did). And now Mraize is masquerading as a Sebarial guard. The first GB-meeting Shallan attended was in Sebarials camp as well.

No, I don’t think Brandon forgot Gaz. I just pointed out that it feels that way, regardless of wether he has or not.

Dalinar is the ONE character (along with Szeth) who won´t die in this book. Those two will be very major in Book 5. Since Dalinars flashback sequences are in book 3, he has to be alive in book five in order to be a main character. Szeth on the other hand has not done very much for the good guys yet, and the pretty small role he will have in RoW is not enough to make up for that, so he will also live on to be a major player in Book 5. I agree that the book probably will have the darkest ending yet in Stormlight though.

My main issue with Gaz is that it felt like quite a big moment when he joined Shallan in WoR, but since then Vatahah and Red have actually gotten more screen-time than him, despite the feeling I got during WoR that he would be a major supporting character going forward. So now, it feels like there is a chasmfiend in the room whenever Gaz is around. The fact that he has a previous history with Bridge Four and Kaladin (and thus the readers) hasn´t really been adressed. It almost feels like Brandon kind of forgot that he was an important character back in WoK. I have long wondered if there is some endgame/point to him going forward, or if he is just going to be a Lightweaver minion from now on?

Didnt he feel incredibly bothered by it in his POV back in WoK? As for the chapter itself, it is pretty cool. The main takeaway, Roshones death, was something we already knew though. But it was cool to see Moash confront Kaladin, and almost bring him down. And what exactly happened there at the end? With the light and Renarin and all that stuff?

Right. My bad. Missed the part about Heralds being excluded.

Indeed.

I will do so. Thanks!

We have gotten the prologue, seven chapters, and parts of the eight one as well. In this short time Brandon has whacked: *Gavilar (he tends to do this around once per book though, so it doesnt really matter) *Thanadal *Vamah *Ialai *Roshone Point being, we have two recurring secondary antagonists dead, plus a minor character (Vamah) and an off-screen character (Thanadal). This is quite a lot for being the first chapters of a Stormlight-book. So do you think this will mean that Brandon is making this his "lets trim the cast" book, or will he slow down now? How many more heads will roll during RoW?

I think we would be seeing a fourth persona if Shallan had a baby. She handles situations that she feels are scary or pressuring by creating a new part of herself which is an "expert" at this area. Veil for stealthing, Radiant for warring, and she would no doubt create "Nursie" for a baby. In that case, we would see Nursie being a part of Shallans internal monologues, which we haven´t.

I thought Dalinar at first, but since she considered Shallan a Ghostblood and not a Kholin agent, she wouldn´t have referred to him. Also, were Thanadal and Vamah (RIP) both Sons of Honor? Or is Mraize just whacking highprinces for shits and giggles? But hey, this makes me happy! Feels like the Ghostbloods will be a major part of this book, and I have wanted that since WoR. Oh, and "Nales nuts" has to be the best swear-expression ever.

Apparently there is a sneaky spy who tells Ialai what Dalinar is up to. Who do we think this is? I have made a poll (I love polls)! I added characters who I know are close to Dalinar, but who could presumably be the spy (so I didnt do Lift/Szeth/Kaladin/Adolin/etc). Some of my alternatives are extra interesting to me: *Taravangian/The Diagram - Mr T is currently employed by Odium, but Odium might love Ialai as an independent distraction for Dalinar. Thus, he has Taravangian use one of his agents to give Ialai information that she can use against Dalinar, thus shattering the war effort of the KR. *Sebarial - Sebarial has always felt shady to me. I personally have a crackpot that he is a high-up Ghostblood, but I suppose that he could be a Son of Honor as well. *Kmakl - This is somewhat crackpot-y, but he did recently get a scene with Navani. Was that so that people will remember him before his treason is revealed? We know that Gavilar hung out with several important figures (most notably Taravangian). Kmakl could reasonably have been a member of his inner circle. And he has managed to make sure that Dalinar and Navani trusts him, and gives him information. *Rushu - Rushu is an ardent, and Navanis aide. She has been present since book one, and it wouldnt surprise me if Gavilar and the Sons wanted an agent close to the queen. *Hatham - The guy did involve ardents in his politicking. Who else loves ardents? The Sons of Honor. *Ruthar - Ruthar was a loyal ally to Sadeas during WoR, and, unlike Aladar, never seemed to side-switch wholeheartedly. He is presumably involved with Dalinars war efforts though, so he would be privy to information. Who gets your vote?

Göteborg (Gothenburg) in Sweden. It´s on the west coast, rather far south.

Three years after her much talked about debut in the Cosmere, she will finally gain relevance.

We now know the following: Shallan, Mraize and Dalinar all seem to belive that Amaram was in charge of the Sons of Honor until his death () at the end of OB. After that, Ialai has taken up the command. The assumption that Ialai is in charge, and has turned the Sons of Honor into the Sadeas Fanclub seems to be correct based off what the people Shallan speaks to is saying. I buy that Shallan and Dalinar believed that the Sons were run by Amaram. However, Mraize is awareof Restares power in the Sons. He mentions it in WoR. So either Mraize is lying/allows Shallan and Dalinar to believe the wrong thing, or something happened to Restares between the end of Words of Radiance and Oathbringer. If Ialai truly is in charge now, something has to have happened to Restares. The only other option is that Restares is allowing Ialai to be the face of the organization, similarly to how Amaram was their primary agent until his unfortunate demise. In that case, Ialai is just a puppet, and the Sons won´t fall until Restares is defeated. What do you think? Is Mraize keeping information on Restares to himself? Has Restares died or left the Sons? Or is he still in charge?

What would be the point of that. Amaram at least was a renowed general and warrior, who distributed beat-ups to various people in Alethkar while the highprinces where on the Shattered Plains. The guy also had a Secret Society at his back, the support of Gavilar, and, at the end of OB, two Shardblades and ten surges, which allowed him to best Kaladin. The most impressive thing Leshwi has done is flying well.

Cord went to Aimia?? Okay... wonder if that will be part of Wandersail? Seems likely, I´d say. I also wonder what happened to Restares. Both Shallan and Mraize seems to believe that Amaram was the leader of the Sons of Honor, and that Ialai has taken that position. Yet we know that Amaram reported to Restares, and we know that Mraize knows that too, since he refers to the SoH as "Restares cronies" in WoR. So, either he is keeping information from Shallan, or Restares has died somewhere between WoR and now. Also, Brandon is not really doing a good job of making Leshwi intimidating. She has died twice now, and the only thing she could do against Kaladin was fly away.

They at least have a very complicated and important relationship: I personally feel that if any of the current main five characters are going to be Odiums Champion, it will be Shallan. Szeth and Venli have already been villains, and gone good. Kaladin is Kaladin. And Dalinar quite clearly turned him down. Shallan is the most likely, by process of elimination.

Not to be that guy, but I want to make a case for Nale. No one else is at the fifth ideal. No one else has two Blades and Plate. No one else has thousands of years worth of experience, not only with their own Surges, but fighting against a ton of crazy stuff. Nale has to be number one, unless we count Szeth + Nightblood, or whatever happened to Dalinar at the end of OB.

This sounds dangerous.

I find that I do things in cycles. I can be very into a book series and read a ton one week, and then I won’t touch a book. Same with games: I will play the heck out of something, just to put it down and not touch it for six months.

Here it is:

For most people, hating their parents is probably harder than hating other wierdos. As for OPs idea on Aesudan, her being in SoH has been brought up earlier. There is a theory that she is in fact Restares daughter. I have always liked that one.

Most likely because he wanted to go if Navani went. And no one really tells Dalinar that he cant do anything. At least not successfully. In prison. Dalinar apparently told him to go there. I have always thought that it would be cool if Mraize, who is Cosmere-aware, and presumably a skilled warrior just whipped out aluminum knives or something and started to take out Radiants.

@Frustration thanks, I fixed it!