Subvisual Haze

That article is pseudoscientific nonsense. The only actual research this author did involved 43 rats dosed with nicotine and then exposed to a hotplate.

She has first hand experience that Moash is an exceptional warrior. It makes sense that she'd be interested in the person who trained Moash.

I don't want him to die necessarily, but from a narrative perspective it seems likely. He just has it a bit too "together" for the size of his role in the story. It's not like you can't have a more "normal" perspective in a cast full of psychologically scarred heroes, but usually due to their lack of internal conflict they'll be relegated to a more minor side role like Lopen. He's remarkably devoid of character flaws, burdens and external conflicts. Without those it's very hard for him to grow internally or have much of an arc moving forward. His sword is an interesting plot thread and he seems to have a minor disagreement with his father, but that's about it. His murder of Sadeas was his biggest remaining thread of doubt/guilt/apprehension, and that plot thread seems to have been largely resolved with minimal consequence. Even worse (from a survivability standpoint) he's something of an emotional load bearing pillar for Shallan, Renarin, and Kaladin. He has sort of filled the emotional equivalent of the "mentor" role in the monomyth, helping our other protagonists survive and grow in the early stages of the story. His death (or sidelining by an permanent injury perhaps?) would force our other heroes into conflict and finding new methods of coping with their burdens and personal growth. It's hardly guaranteed or anything, Brandon will of course do what he thinks is best for the story, but Adolin as a character has some big danger signs.

A "person" that Shallan purposefully created 1-2 years ago (and we watched her do it! First as a role to play and then losing herself in the role)? A person that she can suppress with intent? A person that all of her other persons are aware of and share memories with

Veil is just Shallan's id. Libidinal desires and uninhibited speech.

Adolin is such a wonderful person. Caring companion to all and paragon of supportiveness for his friends in distress. No real character flaws and doesn't even seem to feel an inferiority complex regarding all the other important characters becoming Radiants before him. He's going to die soon isn't he?

Brandon continues to absolutely nail the weird contradictions of depression. You want someone to help you, but you also want to hide from the world. You push people away because your brain is in such a self-loathing state that you imagine your mere presence will make others miserable.

Serotonin deficiency

That's true, I'm not sure how I forgot the presence of beards when the infused gems in them played an important part in WoK's ending. That still feels a little unusual to me. The general pattern I had assumed was very little dimorphism with the specific exception of mateform.

If you're going with the established idea that the singers have very subtle sexual dimorphism, adding in the need for Leshwi to have her face shaved in her new malen body seems an odd detail to add.

It does seem like Brandon is trying quite hard to demonstrate how progressive his views are regarding gender and biological sex.

I like the idea that Sja-Anat's defection is the "dangerous" change mentioned by Leshwi. It stands to reason that if Sja-Anat was powerful enough to corrupt a Radiant spren (Glys), she might also be powerful enough to corrupt Odium's spren in turn. Including potentially the "spren" form of the Fused.

Leshwi's comment on Kaladin was interesting Based on her not expecting not to face him again, she was probably aware of Moash (+/- an Unmade) dropping the psychic despair assault on Kaladin. She also seems unusually interested in seeing Syl. Why would she expect Syl to choose to appear for her?

So many expectations would be subverted

Willshapers share the Transportation surge with Elsecallers like Jasnah. Said surge lets them gaze into Shadesmar, or when fully expressed transport entirely to the Cognitive realm. Shallan and the Lightweavers can also peak into Shadesmar, however in their case it is a function of Soulcasting (also shared with Elsecallers). They can't move realms at will though, just peak into Shadesmar (Jasnah kind of mentions this at the end of Oathbringer).

Removing someone from the front lines of war is quite different from forcing someone to give up command. Dalinar especially serves as an example of that. There's a lot more to being a Knights Radiant than just fighting and I'm hoping that will be an important theme of the book. Kaladin being regarded as the Leader of the Windrunners isn't really contingent on his combat role, official command structure position, or even really oath progression. He's the leader because everyone regards him as their leader and he has earned their personal loyalty. Look no further than the end battle in Oathbringer for the amount of sway his wishes have: the Windrunners were initially planning to sit out the battle completely because the revelation that Roshar wasn't home for humans contradicted the justification Kaladin gave for fighting (we're protecting our homes from invaders) and they planned to wait for Kaladin to return before joining the battle.

Yep, I was thinking the same thing. The weekly chapter by chapter release makes this particular kind of arc feel much more drawn out than it would otherwise.

Ah, this is what I was thinking of regarding the Shin and hints that they disapprove of fabrials (WoK Rysn's interlude) Normally the Shin avoid venturing outside of Shinovar or imposing their cultural restrictions on others. They might make an exception with regards to Urithiru though. Navani using the holy city as her site of largescale fabrial experimentation / spren imprisonment might be a bridge too far for Shin honor. If Shin of the past had no ethical concerns with visiting Urithiru, they might well be willing to attack/sabotage Urithiru today. I also think it's important to note that previous era experimentation with fabrials was very primitive. This is not necessarily an indication that modern Roshar is significantly more technologically advanced than the Silver Kingdoms at their heights (as Navani immediately assumes). There might well be a good reasons (ethically, ecologically, or diplomatic) why humanity avoided advanced fabrial research before.

As someone with recurrent depression I actually find Kaladin's sections strangely encouraging. He has the same type of defective brain that I do, suffers through similar annoying and recurrent symptoms, and endures. Despite it all he's still a hero, still helping people, still (mostly) doing his job. I 100% understand why many would find his chapters draining or repetitive though. And I don't think you're being insensitive at all! Oddly enough I think there is a deeper depression empathy projection occurring than people reading these POVs may realize. A lot of the things that readers don't enjoy about Kaladin's POVs mirror the very thoughts that depressed people feel towards themselves. Am I never going to get better? Am I stuck in place while everyone around me moves forward? etc.

Using a spanreed (powered by an enslaved spren) to communicate your opposition to the enslaving of spren is odd. Why not just write a letter? I suppose it explains the terseness of the language. I think the person communicating this message is fulfilling some sort of honorable protocol. Deliver a warning to cease and desist that you can verify was received and acknowledged by the target. If they persist then you move on to direct action. Which kind of reinforces my gut feeling that this is the Shin and they are about to finally enter the greater conflict.

Ooh, I bet it's the Shin / Stone Shamans. Just as the Shin regard the stone of Roshar as a holy thing that they should not step on or mine, they likely have a similar reverence for the spren of Roshar. The Shin recognize that humanity are guests on the planet Roshar, and their cultural beliefs tend to keep them inside the original area set aside for humans. Shinovar itself had no visible spren during Rysn's visit, and while the Shin barter for soulcast scrap metal, they do not seem interested in acquiring soulcasters fabrials of their own. While they've allowed the existence outside of Shinovar of a small number of fabrials and soulcasters until now, Navani's research as well as sharing of her knowledge to multiple kingdoms has the potential to result in the enslavement of an enormous number of spren with potential dangerous ecological effects to Roshar. As for who planted the communication ruby inside Navani's travel pod: one of the Shin holding an honorblade with the Illumination surge would be an exceptional spy/infiltrator.

As someone with depression, oddly enough these preview chapters aren't hitting me as hard as previous Kaladin sections have. I guess it's all a matter of individual variances and life experiences. I read these chapters as being at the end of a depressive experience, where things are about to get better. The chapters that hit me the hardest are where Kal can feel himself slowly worsening and sinking into a depressive episode. WoK part 1, WoR when Syl was mostly dead, OB in Shadesmar are big examples. I guess from my perspective its more important where I feel the depressive cycle is moving rather than where it currently is.

To me I see this as a necessary shock to Kaladin's character, he's overdue for soul searching. Mostly, I don't think Kaladin was ever really cut out to be a soldier. He's talented at fighting, but that alone doesn't a soldier make. He mostly just latched onto the role of soldier and bodyguard to Dalinar as a role to give his life focus. Now he can actually start asking himself the important questions about what he really wants to do with his life, and how he can best help himself and others. Kaladin's real purpose is to be a leader. He gives hope to the hopeless, a sense of meaning to the lost, and looks out for the most vulnerable in the group. He helps others shine. It's important to remember what drew Sylphrena to Kaladin in the first place was how he protected his squad in Amaram's army. Not just physically protected, but gave them a sense of purpose and belonging. And that's what he's done to so many other hopeless souls along the way. Various Alethi slaves, all the original Bridge 4, Rlain, Renarin, the parshmen group at the start of Oathbringer etc. Kal is at his best when he's guiding and leading others, so in a way it's a blessing that Dalinar is forcing him to leave the front line fighting.

It's 106 miles to Urithiru, I've got a full tank of stormlight, half a legion of unbonded honorspren, it's dark, and we're wearing sharplate.

He might just go on his own volition. A natural side effect of Dalinar taking Kaladin out of a structured military command is that Kaladin might show more personal initiative in planning his actions. Or Renarin might grease the plot wheels and tell Kaladin he had a vision that Kal and Syl need to be there or something-something-disaster It would be kind of foolish to send a diplomatic mission to the Honorspren that didn't include Kal and Syl. The Honorspren have a natural respect for chains of command, and even taken out of combat Kaladin is widely recognized as the leader of the Windrunners. More than any other human they'd listen to him. Syl also has a unique position in Honorspren society, being the only Honorspren created pre-Recreance, she could offer a unique perspective on the events of the Recreance (assuming she spends time dwelling on the painful memories and loss of her previous bonded Windrunner).