What's a Seawolf?

That's a good point. I'm going to spitball for a second here: -Odium was the human god on whatever planet they came from before Roshar. -Odium grants these humans Voidbringing powers on said planet. To not get into Cosmere spoilers, I assume Surgebinding is an end-positive magic system or neutral. If we assume Voidbringing is end-negative, I can envision ways how that would have gone about destroying a planet. -Humans flee planet and arrive on Roshar, thinking 'Surgebinding' is actually this terrible thing that destroys planets. They originally agree to stay in their little plot of land that is now Shinovar, but learn that the Parsh have Surgebinding as well. (I believe, as per the songs, that Parsh had the powers before humans.) -Not realizing they were tricked by Odium and Voidbinding does not equal Surgebinding, humans go out to keep Parsh from Surgebinding, leading to the initial conflict. The defeat causes the Parsh to align with Odium (hatred,) not knowing who or what he is. -Humans win the initial conflict and Surgebinding disappears for a time, though humans forget their aversion to it over many generations. But Odium is working with the Parsh and launches a new attack. Queue Honor/Cultivation creating the Heralds and spren copying the Honorblades. I can already see a few glaring holes (like how simple communication between the two warring sides could probably have solved something,) but that comment got me thinking of just how those early events went down. Odium mimicking Surgebinding to trick humans into starting the initial war sounds feasible. Would be a reason for similar but slightly different surges as well, and the humans-not being Cosmere aware-would probably just assume Stormlight was what Voidlight looked like on a different planet.

Gonna copy something I wrote in the full book reaction thread. "The Recreance felt weak. Maybe we Sharders speculated too hard, but that revelation would have cause the KR of old to kill their spren? We're talking relationships that were probably greater and longer than Kaladin/Syl, and ALL OF THEM shattered that relationship just because of that revelation? Not buying it. There's more there than what we've been told. I still think it has something to do with the Nahel Bond imitating the Oathpact upon death, and leading to Braize. We know (I think) there's something wrong with the Roshar afterlife. (I still think Kaladin dies in book 5, but remains in the back 5 books as the major afterlife POV.)" So as a few others have mentioned, there's more to the Recreance than what we've been told so far. (This IS Brandon after all.) Thousands upon thousands of Kaladin/Syl relationships, and they ALL willingly ended that? Nope. What we've seen is just the tip of the iceberg.

As seen in the interludes, book 4 will clearly be named after the in world work titled 'An Accountability of Virtue.'

And one more thing I forgot to add. When Dalinar, Adolin and Shallan were discussing who should be king after Adolin's refusal, and the text cut to Palona... I thought FOR SURE they were going to appoint Sebarial. Which may have been the best thing short of Lift. Jasnah was the next best choice though.

10/10 with ease.

On Ash, yes. I believe it was both guilt on abandoning Taln and abandoning the Oathpact in general. She felt she was not worthy of being worshiped. Brandon's comments on Taln were almost certainly a means of poking fun at us Sharders/superfans to keep us guessing. I love that he does little things like that.

I’ve needed a couple days to process that glorious monstrosity of a book. It’s the greatest book Brandon’s ever written, and one of the greatest of all time. Better than WoR and WoK. As a comp to the only series I consider equivalent, WoT, I’d say the first three books of that series went TEotW>TGH>TDR (1st>2nd>3rd) while for Stormlight I’d say OB>WoR>TWoK. However for WoT, Jordan’s 4th and 5th of the series were two of the three best, both series wise and all time wise. Will be VERY interesting to see how SA compares going forward, but as of now I’d say SA is on track to top it. Lift Lift is one of my favorite characters ever, and fast approaching the top 2 Cosmere characters, currently held by the two Mistborn mains. I LOVE that we don’t have to wait until the back 5 to get more Lift. She’s in the main story far earlier than I thought she’d be, and Edgedancer is basically required reading at this point. She first met with Dalinar and talked about butts. Then she stole his dinner. Then she convinced the emperor to be reasonable, then she stayed behind to be Awesome in the final battle. Oh, and her personality IMPRINTED ON NIGHTBLOOD. Every quote, every interaction with her is fantastic, and I want a book of her interacting with every main and minor character in their everyday lives. Why oh why was the eating contest between her and Rock off screen? That needs to be a Novella. Can you imagine Lift being adopted into Rock’s family? I can, and it would be the greatest thing ever. Loved the little quote how she was ‘fairly certain’ Wyndle was not a Voidbringer anymore. Loved her asking Dalinar, in the midst of an epic battle, if he had any food. Loved that she is MAKING FRIENDS WITH NIGHTBLOOD. And something very important I haven’t seen talked about, Lift saw a Voidbringer doing ‘professional’ Edgedancing (on their feet and graceful) and tries to imitate it, realizing she can’t ‘be a kid’ and win. Huge moment, both for her and for showing us just how awesome Edgedancing can be. You guys can mock my ‘Lift eats Vasher’s Divine Breath and becomes Returned Awakener Edgedancer Lift wielding Nightblood’ all you want, but it’s happening. Cultivation foresight + Endowment foresight = that. Kaladin Speaking of favorite Cosmere characters, Kaladin rounds out the top 4. Tons of great growth in this book, and as much as I was ready to leap into the air with joy when he said his 4th oath, I was glad he didn’t. Worked better for the story and his character. I still think Kal’s being set up to be the main hero and probable final, noble sacrifice of the first 5 books, but I don’t think that will be the end of him. (More on that later.) Oh, and he HAS A BABY BROTHER NOW. I don’t want to touch on much of the part 1 stuff here, just because I feel like that has been covered fully with the pre-release chapters, but I felt the need to mention that again. Hopefully Lirin becomes a major player too, would love to see his and Kal’s interactions in the future, especially as Kal becomes the main ‘not all Parsh are evil’ character. Szeth and Nightblood SZETH PLAYED DODGEBALL!!! In. The. Air. I can stop right there but I won’t. The interaction between these two were great, and after thinking I would not like the Skybreakers, I really like what we saw of them. I’m not entirely sure I buy that they could have kept themselves secret this whole time, but I guess when you have a mad Herald going about killing like he does, it’s not hard to cover up leaks. I’m also not sure if I buy all the High Spren these Skybreakers are bonded to siding with Odium, but hopefully that becomes a plot point in the future, and I think it will. For all we know, maybe the High Spren think it would be better if Odium won. (I can think of a couple reasons for that to be the case.) Regardless, great reintroduction to Szeth, Nightblood, and Nightblood’s abilities. Also, SZETH PLAYED DODGEBALL!!! Bridge Four Rock’s POV chapter was my favorite in the entire book and one of my favorite things Brandon has ever written. When he was hurt later in the story I almost lost it, thinking he might be dead. Love that his family showed up and can’t wait to see more of them interacting with Rock and Bridge 4. REALLY curious if Rock is on his way to Radianthood. I’m not even sure if I want him to get a spren, or remain a non-magic character. Lopen is the Lopen and fantastic in all things. (Second in command. Ha.) Was terrified Skar and Drehy would either be killed after the main characters get teleported to Shadesmar or somehow corrupted by the Parsh. Happy to see that didn’t happen, unless there are serious shenanigans going on. (Wouldn’t put it past Brandon.) I was lukewarm to Teft in the beginning in OB, I think because I expected his problems to have greater implications than just personal problems, but once I came to grips with that, I enjoyed his scenes. All in all, I would read an entire novel about the everyday lives of Bridge 4. One of them being in danger hurts more than most main characters. Shallan Something I haven’t seen talked about much is how the revelation at the end of WoR COMPLETELY changed Shallan, and it was done in such an incredible way. Story wise, the revelation was not glossed over and had a huge impact, and led Shallan on a fascination path of multiple personalities. Before the marriage, it really seemed like she may have been on the path to losing Pattern because she became so lost in herself. Despite her current happiness, I see dark things ahead for her character. Ghostbloods+her brothers finally arriving+mental problems+being married to the happiest, upbeat character in the series? Yeah, I’m very excited to see what the endgame for her is. (Crackpot theory: She never actually solves her multiple personality problem, and thus becomes the perfect candidate to pick up Odium. It’s all about Intent and how you see things, to a degree right? Well one of her personalities ‘picks up’ Odium, and the others help keep her in check. Like I said, not going to happen, but fun to think about.) Dalinar What a damnation good arc. I wasn’t as horrified as some here were about the Rift, I guess because I kind of expected worse, and we knew something utterly terrible happened to begin with. But all of his flashbacks were great, as was his main story. Truly felt for him at all places, and oh man that battle with Odium. I really thought he was gonna turn. The question is what exactly happened to him at the end? In story someone used capital ‘A’ Ascended, but there’s no way he Mistborn level Ascended. (I think.) I like the theory that he said all the Bondsmith oaths in succession rapid fire at the end. That would help explain a lot. As Shallan changed significantly because of her WoR truth, I hope a similar change occurs to Dalinar in book 4. (But on a more positive level this time.) Adolin I want him to revive his blade so badly. But I want him to stay as a non-magic character so badly. But I want Lift to teach him to slide around on his butt so badly. But I love how he’s the best at being the ‘normal’ superhero in a world increasing not normal. But Lift! Gah! For the longest time I thought Adolin would die, especially because I believe Brandon has said Adolin was never meant to be a major character, but damnation I love his happiness, upbeat attitude and how he handles most situations. He’s the perfect foil narrative wise for all the Radiants popping up. So compromise. He revives his blade, makes friends with and can talk to Maya, but doesn’t get powers because he is not sufficiently broken. (True or not just role with it for now.) Then, when something dark happens to Shallan because that’s almost certainly going to happen, it and THE resulting impacts finally cause the cracks in his soul required for Maya to fully bond. There, problem solved Jasnah Did you read that utter domination? I mean all of it. Basically every scene she’s in, but especially the part 5 battle, and verbally crushing and utterly smoking Amaram. Jasnah was a character, who coming in to OB, I didn’t really get the hype for. She’d done essentially nothing that interested me. And now she is one of my favorites. She makes Soulcasting seem like far and away the best Surge. (And now Wit has unlimited Investiture Soulcasting…think about that.) Queen Jasnah will be fascinating. She will put up with exactly ZERO politicking and general bs. Cosmere Implications Oh boy. I LOVE LOVE LOVE that Stormlight is not as standalone as Brandon originally said. It truly looks like it’s going to be a major turning point Cosmere wide, and it would have been weird for that to happen without outside SA forces present. Azure was great. I was disappointed in myself for not recognizing her until the color statement. Can’t wait to see what Vasher did to tick her off and what’s up with Nightblood 2.0. I really think Endowment and Cultivation are working together in some way. Perhaps unknowingly, but they’re both trying to take out Odium. Speaking of Odium, damnation! Not a one dimensional villain at all. Here’s to hoping we get more screentime for him outside of battle scenes. And speaking of battle scenes, what happened in this book was a lot of what I thought it would take the whole first 5 to get too. Talk about exceeding expectations and leaving a ton of mystery for both books 4 and 5 and the SA as a whole. What was missing? Really only two things. The Recreance felt weak. Maybe we Sharders speculated too hard, but that revelation would have cause the KR of old to kill their spren? We're talking relationships that were probably greater and longer than Kaladin/Syl, and ALL OF THEM shattered that relationship just because of that revelation? Not buying it. There's more there than what we've been told. I still think it has something to do with the Nahel Bond imitating the Oathpact upon death, and leading to Braize. We know (I think) there's something wrong with the Roshar afterlife. (I still think Kaladin dies in book 5, but remains in the back 5 books as the major afterlife POV.) The other was a scene or two with Szeth and the other characters who spent two books in utter fear and/or hatred of him. I get in the midst of an epic apocalyptic battle you're not going to question the Assassin in White mysteriously coming back from the dead and fighting for your side. But if not at the end of OB, then in the beginning of book 4 we need at least some Dalinar/Navani/Kaladin interaction with him. Oh, and I would remiss if I did not mention… Taln and Ash When I first heard these two would be getting back 5 books I was a little disappointed. HA! Was I wrong. Taln is the man and I loved Ash’s POV’s, despite the small amount. Hopefully they too become big players in the front 5, instead of having to wait until the back. Wit Loved the Shallan scenes that humanized him. And as mentioned…he can Soulcast now. Combine that with his other Investitures and what we know about combining Investiture sources…I’m pretty sure he now has unlimited Soulcasting. That seems…powerful. Absurdly so. There is so much more I can write about because damnation this book had so much depth, but for now that's enough. *Begins formalizing Returned Awakener Edgedancer Lift with Nightblood theory*

Based on how I understand the various magic systems Hoid has acquired work (and in relation to Surgebinding,) I assume Hoid now has unlimited access to Soulcasting. He just needs to convert other Investiture, which I believe is fairly simple for someone of Hoid's knowledge and already acquired magic systems. Anyone he goes from now on, he can essentially abuse (arguably) the most powerful surge on Roshar. I just took that scene as a means to that end.

Just finished part 4. Incredible. Cosmere tidbits hiding storming everywhere. Every character just has so much going on with them and so much depth. Worldbuilding is out of this world. (Learned that from Shallan.) I'd type out my full reactions but that would delay reading part 5. Just had to stop by to see if I missed anything. One thing I'm curious about is everyone's reaction to the cause of the Recreance. Perhaps us Sharders overhyped the cause too much, but I was a little underwhelmed by the dual causes mentioned. I'm thinking there's going to be much more to that, either in part 5 or a later book. Also, c'mon other rulers. Impending army of complete death and destruction on your doorstep, ready to obliterate you and everything you love. Philosophical quandaries can wait.

Dodgeball. Szeth, the Assassin in White, slayer of monarchy all across Roshar, is playing dodgeball. In the air. I love this storming book.

She is definitely older, not sure by how much. Based on the little we know about the timeline of her sickness and whatever happened to her, Elhokar seems unlikely. But it's possible the sickness lasted a long while, or perhaps the hurt from a loved one happened after, possibly as a result of the sickness. (The text may may directly contradict that, I don't remember the details exactly.)

Finally done with part 2. Brandon Sanderson is one of the greatest authors of all time, if not the greatest. And this is only part 2. @Leyrann @BlackYeti Thanks to you both. No worries about spoilers, I avoided reading anything else on this thread until now for that reason Now for more reactions on top of what I already posted: -LIFT MET DALINAR AGAIN AND SHE AGREED TO HELP! DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS?! LIFT WILL EAT ALL THE DINNERS, SAVE THE WORLD AND MOST IMPORTANTLY TEACH ADOLIN HOW TO SLIDE AROUND URITHIRU ON HIS BUTT! -Slightly more serious, Lift really really needs to meet Nightblood and Vasher at some point. I joke about Returned Awakener Edgedancer Lift wielding Nightblood because of the combined foresight of Cultivation and Endowment, but those are meetings I really want to see. And come on, the storming awesome girl can hide from Odium and enter Honor-sent dreams at will. Already. Before taking Vasher's Divine Breath and obtaining Nightblood. -That Odium scene. Unreal chills. Not at all what I was expecting. And the meeting so soon! And Dalinar even remembered to offer the challenge! I love that Brandon is not pulling punches or drawing the story out. And this was supposed to be the slow worldbuilding part? Damnation. I know Odium's flame/Investitutre seems to be purple, but he had a lot of gold going on too if I remember right. I really think Dalinar's end of WoR dream and the glowing light early in part OB part 1 was from Odium. -I need to reiterate again how much I love Bridge 4, and how I would gladly read a book solely about their everyday lives. Lopen and Rock are the best. (Coincidentally, they also need to meet Lift. I imagine the three of them would get along absurdly well.) -It's fascinating how much more fleshed out all the characters have become in just two parts. From main to minor, everyone feels so much more complete. Especially Jasnah. I know a lot of people loved her already, but I was never really feeling her character until her POV chapters. Now I cannot wait to read more from her POV. And which of her loved ones harmed her. Obviously not Navani or Dalinar. Which seems to leave Gavilar or Elhokar. I'm so happy this thread is here. As much as I want to dive right into part 3, I need some time to process everything. Plus you know, work

Further reactions through chapter 47: -LIFT MET DALINAR AND THEY TALKED ABOUT BUTTS!!!!! -Lift is totally part of Cultivation's long term game plan. *inserts my crackpot Lift eats Vasher's Divine Breath and obtains Nightblood because of Endownment's and Cultivation's foresight to become Returned Awakener Edgedancer Queen Lift here* -Jasnah finally has a POV and of course it is huge. Honorspren tried to take over Shadesmar? (Book about that please.) So many juicy tidbits, especially about the Skybreakers. And what else did Wit tell her?!?! I really want to read the replies on this thread, but have to avoid until part 2's completion.

Chapters 36 and 37 (I think I promise to not do this for every few chapters) -Chapter 37 is one of my favorite things Brandon has ever written. Not only do I love Bridge 4, but especially Rock and Lopen, and everything about that chapter was beautifully written and full of such powerful emotion. I predict terrible terrible things for them, but damnation they got a helluva moment in the sun. 'Some days, it seemed you couldn't break Kaladin Stormblessed with all the stones on Roshar. Then one of his men would get wounded, and you'd see him crack.' -Chapter 36, Dalinar flashback, was a pleasant change from past flashback chapters. Not that I minded them either, but it was nice to see some of Evi and see how Dalinar was changing even back then. I'm assuming Evi is most definitely not Vivienna, so I got a good laugh at Brandon's trolling at the first line out of her mouth in the chapter. (As an aside, it is so so hard not skipping ahead to read the entirety of the letter. What pact did Aoni and Skai break?)

Only read two chapters of part 2 so far, and not reading a single comment on this thread or any other, but damnation I already miss weekly discussions. So here goes: -Lopen is unbelievably fantastic at all things in life and needs to meet Lift so the two of them can become the undisputed king and queen-nay ultimate power duo in the history of literature-of Roshar. -If Brandon had a midlife crisis and said 'screw it, I'm done with all my stories and am just going to write an archive of the everyday life of Bridge 4,' I'd be more than okay with that. A redshirt Bridge 4 member dying would hit me harder than most named characters. -Jasnah is so testing Shallan to see if Shallan can stand up for herself or if she still sees herself as 'second' to Jasnah. I feel like that's kind of obvious so I hope it's not a major plot point for Shallan in part 2. -Priority number one better be infusing that magical crystal pillar of magic with Stormlight, cause that undoubtedly makes Urithiru fully armed and operational.

No mating.

Lift and everyone's dinner. (Hey, you said cereal.)

Wouldn't put it past Brandon. I'm going to be looking for references to a 'rebellious sister' or other roundabout Warbreaker references. Colors is already covered by another, so I don't think Brandon will go that route.

This right here. This needs to happen. Rick and Dalinar could make for a very interesting power struggle.

My initial reaction was shardplate too, but in the context of the scene it doesn't make much sense. (Plus, Brandon can be a bit of a troll sometimes.) Shardplate would protect Kal, but not create the bubble of protection that Kal created. Adhesion has seemed grossly underpowered compared to the other surges we know about, and Kal's display of power being a result of Adhesion would go a long way to putting that surge back on a level playing field.

Crappy cliffhanger? That would, quite literally, be the greatest cliffhanger in the history of cliffhangers. To the point where I'd bounce around to every bookstore within hundreds of miles until I found someone willing to give me the book early.

All this talk about Voidforms and matching KR order's got me thinking. Kaladin's Going to Summon a Highstorm I don't want to derail this discussion too much, but with what we saw in Kal's chapter (finally seeing advanced level Adhesion, or so I think,) Stormform=the voidform of Windrunners, and because of his surges Kal is going to be able to do the same thing.

He just showed off advanced Adhesion (finally!) and one day he's going to be able to make a Highstorm. Bear with me for a second. There have been some discussion about Voidforms and how they mimic KR forms. I was against this theory at first (as recently as minutes ago,) in part because we had no equivalent Stormform KR equivalent. But we do. What is Adhesion? The surge of pressure and vacuum. That sounds exactly like what Kal did in the latest Oathbringer chapter at the end of part 1, using pressure and vacuum to create a pocket that resisted the storm. And what happens when there's enough pressure and vacuum (with gravitation thrown in for good measure?) Weather. Storms. Now can Kal by himself summon a storm? He's just one guy. But Windrunners have a stormton of squires. (And Kal did claim the skies, after all.) One additional point. The Adhesion+Gravitation combo for summoning Highstorms is not necessarily dependent on Voidforms having KR equivalents, but just to point out, the voidform that took to the skies at end of part 1 to chase Kal could very easily have been the Skybreaker voidform equivalent, leaving Stormform to match Windrunners.

I am 99% certain this is correct. Massive Cosmere spoilers ahoy.

Perhaps instead of corrupting a spren, they copy the abilities that sprens bond grants? And Syl's pain was that Voidform's moment of copying. I would like that better than each order having a seemingly equivalent mock voidform. (Plus it fits with Stormform not really matching any Radiant order.)