Toaster Retribution

Okay, seriously, one of the most shocking things for me was learning that Restares is Kalak, the Herald. This raises a bucnh of questions which didn't really get discussed in the book at all: *Why? Why would Kalak decide to lead an organisation looking to bring back Odium and the Voidbringers? Sure, he is insane, but his insanity seems to manifest as fear and paranoia. Kalak isn't Ishar, and doesnt believe himself to be a god, nor is he Nale, who trusts blindly in said false deity. He just wants to get away from Roshar and stay alive, so why is he leading an organization that wants a new Desolation? *Was the Sons of Honor founded by Kalak? Or did he take over at some point. We know that he was a powerful figure before Gavilars death, since Gavilar suspected him for the assassination. So did Kalak actually found the Sons of Honor? If not, then who did? *Also, side-question, is Kalak in need of money or something? He seems to take any job that comes his way. Herald of Mankind? Check. Leader of a secret society? Check. High Judge at Lasting Integrity? Check. Unofficial provider of infodumps for Shallan and Adolin? Check.

If the Ghostbloods are being led to Kelsier, and if all Kelsier needs from Kalak is information (these are two big ifs, in my opinion) we also have to accept that there are multiple possible reasons as to why the Ghostbloods decided that the best way to get Kalak was to have Shallan stab him. He might have turned down cooperation with them for some reason (he might have realized that they would keep him captured, had issues with their morality, believed them to be agents of Odium, has a personal vendetta with them, etc).

Can Els grandpa get a flashback sequence? Also, El is obviously the big scary Fused. He killed Lezian, who was presented as one of the scariest ones in this book, and he basically did it just to "check" if Raboniel and Navanis discoveries worked. So I think its safe to say that he will be a big presence in at least book 5, and possibly beyond that as well. The metal-thing seems really cool too, so I hope and believe that he will appear for more than just Book 5.

He just spoiled the thread. As for me, I was most impressed with the part where Cultivation showed up out of nowhere and proposed to Sadeas. It was especially shocking given that Sadeas is dead. Still, pretty beatiful nonetheless.

I didnt really care for Eshonai in Book 2, or in her flashbacks here. Until the final one. That was such a great moment, and such a great way to end her arc. I especially loved how she was excited to go to the Beyond, and see what was there. I hope she got to be happier in death than she got to be in life.

At the release of OB I gave out character awards for every part of the book. That was a bit exhausting, but I figured I´ll do a big one here, for the entire book. Here goes, Toasters Character Awards for Rhythm of War: *MVP Award: Adolin, for being Adolin. I should probably give this to Navani, Venli or Kaladin, but Adolins stuff, be it the trial, the swordfight, or him trying to help Shallan, was stuff that he wasn't exactly forced into (Kaladin and Navani basically had to act given their situation) and they were super-tough things to do. He was simply the most engaging character for me in the book. *Best Villain Award: Has to go to Mr T, right? With that ending and all. Shout out to Moash though. You can say whatever you want about the guy, but he does get stuff done. *Most Incredible Achievment Award: Mraize, for pulling off the feat of appearing in all 5 parts of the same book, which for the record is more than he had in books 2 and 3 combined. Well done, Mraize! *Biggest Screw-up Award: Rayse, for managing to get himself whacked by an old man despite having the powers of a god. Also, he basically threw away his advantages in the war, couldn't find Hoid, and made a crappy deal out of desperation. Great job, Rayse. *Best New Character Award: While not new in the sense that we never heard of him before RoW, Ishar still made an intriguing debut, when he in short order claimed to be Honors Champion, bested four Windrunners, set up the major plot of Book 5, showed off amazing Bondsmith-skills, and made spren manifest with their CR-shape in the physical realm just so he could murder them. All this in... one chapter, I think. *Best Moment Award: Eshonai & The Stormfather (sounds like a band name). Eshonais final scene before passing into the Beyond was genuinely beautiful. *Most Wasted Character Award: Adolins swords. They got a whole monologue to build them up, and then they wound up not being used (well, except for one of them). And yes, before you ask, these are characters. They are spren. Every object is a spren. *Most Emotional Death Award: Meridas Amaram. Teft. I'm glad he got to go out with hope, and that he will have a place in the Hall of Dead Radiants. RIP. *Character-Worthy-of-Mention-who-didn't-get-an-award-Award: Goes to Pattern, because he is ALWAYS worthy of mention.

I suspect Nale was a king. Makes sense from how he seemed to be leading a faction opposed to Jezrien, who we know was a king. I also really loved the Nale flashbacks. They show that Nale was once (and hopefully, beneath the madness, still is) a good person. I also think about the vision of him protecting a child from some kind of monsters. Wonder if that was some random kid he found, or someone significant to him.

Phew, I finished it. What a ride. Anyway, thoughts: I really liked it. More than I did Oathbringer, actually. Kaladin, Shallan and Adolin had really great arcs. Kaladin especially managed to do have even more story centered around his struggles with loss and depression, without the feeling that Brandon was treading on ground he covered in the past. Very well done. Shallan worked a lot better here than in OB, where her arc felt pretty unclear. Here it did pay off, we finally learned of her (hopefully final) suppressed murder, and the Ghostbloods/Kalak-plot was more interesting than her infilitrating the Cult of Pleasures and trekking through the CR was in OB (also we finally got a good chunk of Mraize-time, which was great). Adolin had an arc that really felt like his own, which was nice, and I loved how he helped Shallan, and how dedicated he was toward the goal of convincing the Honorspren. Navanis arc was cool as well, even though I feel Brandon could have used some of her pages elsewhere. Might just be that I'm not overly interested in the making of fabrials, but it got a bit much at times. I'm way more hyped about the history/lore/culture-aspect of Stormlight (and the Cosmere in general) than I am about the magic. I honestly didnt grasp all the rhythm-stuff 100%, but thats fine. Her payoff was good though, and I enjoyed her showdown with Moash. Dalinars arc was smaller, but Im really glad we got to see Ishar, who seems to be the most insane out of all the Heralds, despite what Ash or Nale wants to claim. Found it fun that Stormfather got a bit of a character arc as well. I also really liked a lot of the new characters. Raboniel was a really interesting antagonist, even though she lived absurdly long despite being stabbed and basically cut into pieces by Moash. Lezian was also really cool, and his powers and his Passion made for a really entertaining villain, who I'd honestly would have liked to see in Book 5 as well. This El guy seems legit scary though, and he was apparently the old Vyre, so hopefully he can fill the "evil maniac-void" for the finale of the first batch of books. I also liked Zu the Stoneward, and the Mink. Hopefully they will both get more to do in future books. One negative I have is the flashbacks. They were fine, but a lot of them felt like they were in the book because Stormlight-books always have flashbacks, and not because they were really necessary.They simply felt more... tacked on, than any of the others. Venlis storyline also felt like one of the more forgettable ones, in that she didnt really have the same powerful development that Kaladin or Shallan had. And then, finally, the twists. I knew Teft was a goner as soon as he ran into Moash, and it was a shame, since he was awesome. Kalak being Restares really shook me, and I hope Brandon explains why he decided to hijack the most stupid of the Secret Societites and lead them to... whatever they were trying to do after WoR. And then, of course, Rayse being killed and replaced by Taravangian. That was brilliant, and something that I honestly didnt see coming until the moment Rayse got sucked into Nightblood. I am extremely excited to see exactly what Taravangians gameplan will be, and what he will try to accomplish. And I wonder how Moash, El, Nale and the Singers will factor into this. Will they keep on fighting for Mr T, or will they do something else? Anyway, great book.

Great work Chaos (and all the other mods!). The Shard is truly the nicest place on the internet, which is amazing.

I dont necessarily think this will happen, but... the Interlude character could very well be Nale. Brandon has said in the past that we will learn a lot more about him, and I suspect that much of that information will come in the front five, seeing as Nale has actually been quite a prominent character this far, defenitely the Herald with the most screen time. I also think that it could be useful to start showcase a bit more about Helaran, the Heralds dealings with Gavilar, and Ishars shenanigans, all of which are things tied to the front five. Nale is also on the side of Odium at the moment, and would give us a point of view on that side of the war. In addition, due to his ability to fly, he is a very mobile character, and can thus cover various locations if needed.

Swedish, so Scandinavian. Thankfully not a danish slave. Danish is not a pretty language, and they have tried to steal Sweden numerous times in the past. Plus, their football team is usually better than ours. Also, yeah, makes total sense! Thanks, I get it now!

Presumably one of them. No, but seriously, if we go by Worldhoppers we know the names and identities of, probably Scadrial. We have Demoux, Felt, Aslydin, WalDo the Worldhopping Kandra, and, by cultural heritage, Iyatil. There are also a couple suspected worldhoppers who could be Scadrian. Edit: Storms, how could I forget Nalthis???

As someone born in the cold north, and not naturally proficient in the english language, would someone kindly explain the meaning of "flex" in this thread?

I´m mostly just happy that Brandon found something he thinks works, and is sticking with it. It is good for him, for us, and for the story.

And the Dustbringers seem to be... questionable at the moment, judging by Malata and Spark.

It was a very beautiful chapter, I think. Really nice how Kaladin put together a new life for his parents in Urithiru. And I wonder if he will spend his time in New Hearthstone reconnecting with Laral?

Exactly. If it aint got cheese, it aint no burger.

You have a strange taste in burgers, my friend.

This is the most shocking thing I have seen on this thread, and I´m pretty sure I have read more or less every reply. A burger without cheese is like a Cosmere book without Hoid. What do you even have on your burger if you don't do cheese?

I havent discussed Kelsier in a while, but he is my favorite character, not just in the Cosmere, but in fiction overall. I think he is amazing. And part of that is due to the fact that he is very morally grey, a lot of the time. He is an egocentric, cocky psychopath with a heart of gold. Ish. Just that sentence is completely fascinating. Is he a great character? Undoubtedly. Is he a good person. I´d say that he is more of a good guy than a bad guy, but he is not like Elend, Vin, Ham, Wax, etc. I know Brandon has said that the exciting thing about Kelsier is that he could just as easily have been the villain of the story, but just happened to be on the right side. Also, as far as I know, Kelsier isn't really disliked. Sure, there are a few who hate his guts, but he generally does really well in community polls over favorite characters and such things.

@Aspiring Writer I don't think that we will agree with eachother regarding entertainment/art as subjective or objective (and I also see that you felt that you wanted to stay away). So I thank you for an interesting discussion, and we will have to agree to disagree.

Agreed. I have been going back and forth between Claflin and Jake Gyllenhaal for Kelsier for a while now. Both would do great I think.

I just love how you are casually making videos when there is a storming ashfall outside due to nearby wildfires...

Looks very plausible, wierd that no one has thought of that yet, because we have suspected Pailiah being that Ardent for years. She is supposed to be the Truthwatcher Herald, and destroying truths in the shape of records or books feels like a likely madness for her to have. This also makes Pailiah a really crem librarian.

Episode 1 of season 2 of the Mandalorian: Fire Emblem: Three Houses