Subvisual Haze

I think the counter-examples you listed are much more the exception than the norm. Pattern actually has been bonded with Shallan for a long time and is more re-discovering his bond/mind than blazing a new one. Stormfather is a lesser God, he doesn't so much cross over to the physical side (how most spren temporarily lose their sentience) as he does talk with Dalinar and pull him into dream visions. Wyndle breaks the rules, he doesn't know why he remembers so much, but he suspects it has something to do with Lift's special boon from Cultivation. Other spren are probably closer to the norm like Syl: pretty stupid and child-like at first. Ivory didn't talk at all when Jasnah met him, Lopen's spren doesn't seem to talk at all, Ym's spren just whispered small sentences etc. Also it's important to remember that Syl was a pioneer. Other honorspren have the benefit of piggybacking on Syl's work with the Bridge 4 Squires. The newer Radiant squires are more "prepared" to bond spren, by wielding stormlight through Kaladin/Syl their spiritwebs are probably more ready for a bond. Syl had to start her bond with Kaladin from scratch, which made her extra stupid at first.

I took a course on Jewish History and Thought as an undergrad, and some of those terms are from Kaballah. Kabbalah was a medieval religious mystical tradition originally primarily Jewish, but quickly spread and had widespread influence on Christianity too. Mysticism was highly popular for several centuries with monks and scholars before the Reformation triggered a suspicion of unorthodox beliefs on both sides of the Catholic/Protestant divide. It's enjoyed a recent resurgence of popularity in newer syncretic mystical views. A lot of the worldview of Kabbalah actually parallels pretty well with the worldbuilding of the Cosmere. God was conceived of as having 10 Eminations/Essences from which creation flowed called Sephirot, which had names and were linked with certain aspects of God (clear connection to Adonalasium's 16 Shards). There were also ascending levels of existence as one moved closer to God (which loosely ties into the Cosmere's Physical/Cognitive/Spiritual Realms, although this is common in many Neo-Platonic schools of thought). Names, words and letters were also regarded as building blocks of creation and potentially keys to ascending one's soul closer to the heavenly realm (Words/Oaths unlocking power on Roshar).

"He must pick it up, the fallen title! The tower, the crown, and the spear!" -Death rattle. Hm, Tower and Crown is the Kholin glyph, Kaladin is the spear. I could definitely buy this as hinting Kaladin marrying into the Kholin family and becoming High King. I could almost interpret the spears on the chapter header image as being prongs on a symbolic crown.

Dear Shallan, If my calculations are correct, you will receive this letter immediately after you saw Urithiru struck by lightning. First, let me assure you that I'm alive and well. I've been living happily these past 8 months in the year 1885.

I definitely see the seeds of a Jasnah/Kaladin union. Whether the plot actually goes that direction I couldn't say, but the framing has been set up enough that it could. Personality wise they aren't incompatible. Both are intelligent, passionate and committed to doing the right thing. Jasnah's more practical than Kaladin's idealist streak, but neither one is 100% inflexible in that regard. They both also hold a lot of their thoughts/emotions inside. With Kaladin we know what those thoughts are, but Jasnah is still something of a blank slate though. It's possible Jasnah is asexual or not interested in men, but I think it more likely she's like Kaladin, "married to her job" (saving the world), not necessarily adverse to the idea of a relationship, but not really seeking one out either. I could definitely see both growing closer and more familiar with each other as they spend time together. I also see the story kind of maneuvering them into a situation where they likely will spend a lot more time together. I think Queen Jasnah will struggle with her position. Despite being extremely intelligent and capable the fact that she's a woman, a heretic, and is rather emotionally closed-off will present plenty of reasons for her subjects to not like her. Knowing that Jezrien/Windrunners were associated with Leadership, and seeing the personal loyalty that Kaladin inspires from his squires, I think Jasnah will try to learn leadership soft skills from Kaladin. Unfortunately though he wouldn't be able to teach his hilarious Charisma Aura he seems to have unlocked with the 3rd Oath which makes crowds of people stare at him whenever he's brooding or gazing into the distance though

Good eye! I kind of forgot about Jasnah wanting to hook Shallan up with Adolin for Kholin political reasons. I knew she was doing it for the benefit of Shallan's position, but it's good to remember that she saw a match with a Radiant as politically desirable for her family. This also matches with an observation that Navani makes in Oathbreaker when Dalinar is having his breakdown and Navani briefly assumes the position of ruler: So I could see the political/practical angle giving a clear opening for Kaladin and Jasnah to hit it off.

Or so he says. Lirin has shown a capability to lie to Kaladin's face if he thinks it is for the best (spheres incident) so he isn't by any stretch a perfectly trustworthy source. It's also notable that Lirin as a hobby likes to predict the timing of Highstorms. I think he received a much more classical (if incomplete) education than he has implied. Even if Lirin isn't from Kharbranth I would place very good odds that Hesina was.

Maybe "he should stand out more" is implying that he's a soother? If someone starts to get suspicious of the short guy with the big mustache and funny eyes, he gives them a bit of soothing to lose interest?

I think the Lord Ruler's changes on Scadrial also resulted in shorter humans. Harmony mentioned "fixing" some of LR's changes, but Spook doesn't mention feeling suddenly taller at the very end of the original trilogy, so maybe that quirk was kept in? I know Shallan mentions Iyatil seems short to her...I admit i'm stretching here

I've somehow gotten the impression in my head that Scadrial natives would appear noticeably short compared to Roshar natives. That could be a mistake on my part, but I swear I've read implications of that somewhere (both that Scadrial natives are a bit shorter than usual, and that Roshar natives are unusually tall).

I dunno, I feel absolutely zero inclination to want to smack Kaladin. Nor would I want to yell at him, nor do I feel frustrated towards him as a character. When he fails at something I mostly just feel really sad for him, because he seems like an incredibly caring and generous person that the world has crem'd all over. If anything the scenes that others describe as "frustrating", make me just want to give Kaladin a hug and tell him he's appreciated/loved/forgiven for doing his best to help others in a world that has treated him like garbage. If I were in his shoes and had experienced half the loss and suffering that he has I doubt I would be anywhere near as caring and functional as he is. Which of course isn't to imply that the way I read SA is the "correct" one. I like Stormlight Archive primarily because I love the characters and find it extremely easy to empathize with them as broken people who keep heroically struggling to help the world despite their inner scars. That's not the only reason to enjoy a story though! One of my favorite movies is "Back to the Future", and I never realized until I watched a documentary recently that Marty McFly is a completely flat character who experiences no real arc, and doesn't significantly grow as a person at all in the movie. I still love that movie and that character though. Sometimes you can enjoy a story just as a passive spectacle, rather than getting too tied up into the character growth and empathy angle. I guess it mostly boils down to what you want from a story. When Kaladin "messes up" the Kholin's plans for defeating Sadeas, I wasn't frustrated in the slightest. In fact I loved the hell out of that plot. It was a great source of inter-protagonist conflict that felt earned and consistent with individual character motivations, rather than a contrived source of cheap conflict. Because the reason I'm really reading this is be along for the character's struggles and inner growth, not just to see the bad guys get defeated. Temporary setbacks are what makes the journey a journey!

I'll freely admit to loving the hell out of Kaladin. I think it's a lot easier to understand what makes him tick if you've ever suffered from depression though. Even though he hasn't been in a full depressive episode since the earliest part of Way of Kings, he's always living in fear that he'll slide into another episode of "the wretch" at any moment. The remembered pain from his previous depressive episodes and traumatic past events is so vivid that he's terrified of doing anything that could disrupt his current relative happiness. He knows it isn't very logical that someone would steal Syl if he revealed his powers, but panic and anxiety by their very nature aren't rational processes. When you get annoyed at and frustrated at Kaladin for his failures, you can be 100% certain that he is even more annoyed and frustrated at himself. One of the hardest parts of living with depression is breaking this cycle of self-hatred/guilt and ruminating on your failures.

I too dislike it when fictional characters do not preform at perfect logical consistency and have inner "flaws" which they need to strive against and overcome in a journey of personal growth which I the reader can emotionally identity with.

Kind of tied into this: what if the lightening of iris color in Radiant descendants functions like the Royal Locks/Godly physical forms we saw in Warbreaker? I think both are an indicator of ancestors being heavily tied to investiture. It's kind of a cognitive self-image thing. Vasher can look like a bitter scruffy hobo instead of a broad chested Greek God (which the investiture defaults to) because that's how he views himself. Vivenna can control her magical hair and stop it from changing colors with her moods if she focuses enough. Perhaps a lighteyes who strongly believed themselves to be a darkeyes (and saw themselves as such), would manifest in that way?

He's lived a long time, and during that long life he's probably had to say goodbye to far too many people he cared about. I think his eccentricities and odd behaviors are just what keeps him going. He's set himself a long-term goal (???) involving the fate of the entire cosmere, but still allows himself to help individuals on occasion (the little girl with the doll) to keep his sanity/humanity intact.

That's not so much a theory as it is a running gag at this point. From the very earliest chapter and in almost every chapter since Kaladin and Hesina have acted like the most culturally idealized lighteyed people in the entire book. Kaladin has an active mind that asks appropriately probing questions, can read glyphs, has a basic grounding in most sciences, can process battlefield tactics at a glance, and understands group leadership dynamics. He never fit in with the working children in his hometown, and the members of Bridge 4 immediately see him as something different and suspect he is a "secret lighteyes" in Sizgil's words. Kaladin tries structure his worldview as him being "just another darkeyes" being oppressed, but this isn't the case at all. The way he thinks, talks, and processes the world around him is how a classically educated lighteyes would, not really at all how a uneducated peasant would. This dynamic is a good source of conflict for Kaladin's identity though: he doesn't truly fit in with darkeyes, but he refuses to accept the reality of lighteyed status, thus he's a classic outsider from the social order. In this sense he's a lot like Kelsier, who also liked to imagine himself a champion of skaa while ignoring that his own cultural identity and mannerisms were much more noble than they were skaa. As for Hesina herself...I'm still holding out hope in my theory that she's a descendent of one of the Heralds (Vedel?). I think several of the Heralds have had darkeyes so far in the story. I also think there's a decent chance she might be related to Navani or was herself a former Ardent. This is hard to guess though, because thus far we know absolutely nothing about Navani's family and life pre-Kholins. Hesina does seem pious (she burns glyphs, encourages Kaladin to speak to the Ardents, seems delighted when she discovers Kaladin is a Radiant), but also practical in her adherence to social norms regarding glove on safehand. She also mentions receiving a letter from her estranged family at one point discussing new fabrials, which seems like a subtle clue regarding her family origins. Heck, Kal's family owned the only fabrial clock in their city, and Hesina showed an interest in the nature of spren, which would be appropriate if she came from a family of fabrial researchers.

I suppose it's a good thing Brandon clarified that scene, because he was being ridiculously opaque if he expected anyone to pull that interpretation out of the scene as written. Syl is standing by a pool and her face looks vaguely different in a way that is not elaborated upon...Aha, of course, it is Shallan!??? I'm not sure I buy that Syl encouraging Kaladin to spend time with Shallan is somehow a time-loop of predestined fates either. I think Syl just wants Kaladin to be happy, and Kaladin (sometimes) is happier after he has spent time talking with Shallan, notably after their heart to heart in the chasms. Shallan is one of the very few people that Kaladin has ever been open with about his inner demons, I imagine Syl encouraging him to talk with her is because she realizes on some level that Kaladin desperately needs a friend/confidant he can share these things with.

Dude was hanging upside down from the ceiling at a time when Siz/Peet/Teft were the only other members of Bridge 4 who could even draw in Stormlight.

I agree that Lopen has had his spren following him for quite a while. It also helps to explain how Lopen seemed to master the Windrunner surges so much quicker than everyone else. He's had extra practice time on the side It may not necessarily be the case that this precluded him from being a squire also! He only swore the 2nd oath at the end of Oathbringer, so if he is following Kaladin's progression, this would only give him access to Stormlight and Adhesion powers before that point. Being a squire to Kaladin may have been what allowed him to use the gravity surges and fly around.

Buy! Dalinar suffers a brief descent into madness after publishing "Oathbringer", spends weeks arguing with spanreed critics and trolls.

What's the deal with The Skybreakers? You'd think an order with the essence of smoke/vapor who bond with Highspren would be a lot more chill!

I had also guessed she was abused as a child, both based on her thoughts that even those you trust can hurt you, and her great anger she shows in disposing of the murderer/rapists in Kharbranth. Perhaps by an Ardent or someone Gavilar trusted like Sadeas/Amaram? I never got the impression that her father was the abusive party, just an extremely distant parent. She mentions that Gavilar's interest in scholarship regarding the Parshendi was the first moment she ever felt close to him. I do think he may have dismissed or ignored an abusive instance in her past though. The screaming in a dark room part is explained by how they treat perceived madness in Roshar. We see Taln placed in similar conditions in WoR when they thought him just a madman. Historically, locking "the crazies" in a dark and isolated place to avoid "over-stimulating" them, was an all too common theory of treatment in pre-modern mental asylums . It's possible that her madness and time in an asylum were a result of her abuse. It's also possible that Jasnah manifested her powers (glimpsing into Shadesmar) at a young age and confided in this to someone she thought was trustworthy, and they responded by declaring her mad/hallucinating and handing her to the Ardents for treatment.

It's as good of a guess as any. I was surprised that we got a painting of Vedel when so far she is the only Herald that we don't even have a good guess regarding present location. Chana has also lacked info, but I think Liss is a pretty good guess there based on the connection of Chana's chapter icon to those that contain killing/assassinations. Battar was also a blank slate, but Mr. T gave us the theory that she is the ardent Dova. Vedel has so far been remarkably absent though. My wacky guess is that Kaladin's mother Hesina was Vedel's daughter/granddaughter/descendent. I was guessing this simply based on Vedel's association with surgeons, Kaladin's parents meeting at surgeon academy in Kharbranth, and Hesina acting 100% like an educated lighteyed woman from an important family (her family disapproved of her match with Lirin).

It's been a bit of a running theme that Nale is stealthy. You could just call this a classic creepy plot device, but perhaps there's something more going on here? Lift quite appropriately nicknamed him "Darkness" as he seems to have a supernatural tendency to just appear from the shadows when ambushing his victims like Ym. He also dramatically appears at a meeting of the Skybreakers, interrupting Szeth's 3rd oath without anyone seeming to notice him beforehand. Again, could be just be a dramatic plot element, but it also might be something more. The Highspren themselves seem to be highly elusive, rarely seen or even heard by their Radiants, communicating to them mostly only at night (Ki). Their appearance in the physical realm is as a very subtle tear in the fabric of reality. The element/essence of the Skybreakers/Highspren also seems to connect to this phenomina: smoke. Even their fortress overlooking the Purelake draws surprisingly little attention. This got me thinking about surges. We rather clearly understand gravity, but their second surge has been a bit more opaque (ha!), the surge of Division. We're repeatedly told by the Skybreaker masters and Nale himself that the surge of division is "dangerous", and Nale offers to train Szeth in its use for his own protection. Brandon takes care to never show this surge being used by the Skybreakers though, making me wonder if some clever trickery is at work here. The Surge of Divison: This surge is shared by the Dustbringers and the Skybreakers. The Ars Acanum describes it as "The Surge of Destruction and Decay". In Oathbringer we see Malata use the surge to burn a beautiful pattern into a wood table. This combined with the following quote from The Stormlight Archive Prologue: Gives the clear impression that Division is a surge that destroys stuff. (Side note: I like how Kalak also refers to them as "Dustbringers" even though the author of Words of Radiance implies that The Releasers don't prefer that name). However, I think it is important to note, that Kalak specifically refers to the Dustbringers when seeing the smouldering rock, not mentioning the Skybreakers. Perhaps the Skybreaker Division surge manifests in different ways? I think we have some hints already that surges can work differently for different orders. Perhaps being more internal versus external in their effects, or having a more spiritual effect versus a physical one. Jasnah uses Transformation in a much more classic sense, while Shallan seems to use it largely to augment her Illusionary powers (inspiring others to transform themselves with drawings, giving physical weight and properties to her illusions). The Adhesion surge seems to serve Dalinar and Kaladin in similar (sticking rocks to things) ways sometimes, but the spiritual effects are implied to be quite different. Finally we have the famous Skybreaker ability to supernaturally separate the guilty from the innocent. What if this is actually a function of the Skybreakers possessing an ability to be stealthy/hidden. A kind of physical Division surge they use internally to blend into the shadows, or directly observe criminals at great distances (possibly utilizing the senses of their spren and projecting a piece of themself into it)? Like a more advanced version of the spying and reconnaissance that Malata uses her spren for. A Big Brother like ability to observe their prey from the shadows would certainly go a long way to explaining their judgement capabilities. It's kind of a stretch, but I kind of like the idea of Nale's magic KGB/Inquisition. Thoughts?

I want to say Brandon has hinted at that it would be possible under specific circumstances for a Radiant to bond multiple spren. Szeth certainly meets a lot of theoretical qualifiers for special circumstances. His original spren bond was probably frayed almost to extinction, then he himself was "mostly dead", doing weird things with his body and soul when he was revived. Could his original spren still be loosely bonded to him, but on life support? Does the especially cracked nature of his soul and previous experience with training with all surges somehow allow him to advance up the Skybreaker oaths without specifically having bonded a Highspren? Do Nale's powers as patron of Skybreakers have anything to do with it? Does Nightblood somehow meet the qualifier as a weird Highspren, since Szeth definitely has a bond with Nightblood and Nightblood has a connection with the smoke element and is practically the Division surge incarnate. I do think Szeth's original bonded spren is still around though and slowly recovering its bond with him. What weird combination of powers is allowing him to advance up Skybreaker oaths is a completely open question though in my opinion. Maybe he has just bonded a new highspren, but there are a lot of other strange possibilities that could be at play.