Stormrunner1730

I'm sure a D&D alignment thread has been posted, so if there's already one in existence, let me know. I figured that it'd be cool to re-visit post-Oathbringer. My big asterisk with these alignments is that it depends on your point of view. I'm going to look at it from the point of the Radiants (at least Dalinar and those who follow him). Kaladin- Neutral Good: By the nature of the honorspren, he'll do things that are against the letter of the law. I.e. Fighting against Sadeas/his other slave masters, (initially) agreeing to help kill Elokhar. Szeth- Neutral Good: In general, I'd say he's Neutral Good, but there's an argument that he's neutral evil (following his "masters'" instructions) or lawful good (choosing to follow Dalinar because he is a man of his word?) depending on what point in the story we're in. But I'm going settle on Neutral Good for now, as he is Pro-Dalinar's Radiants, who are in turn for saving Roshar from Odium (that's a HUGE oversimplification, but I'll go with that for now until I've thought this through/hear what people have to say). I'm probably most interested to hear people's thoughts on his alignment. Dalinar- Lawful Good: He's probably the only character I'd classify as Lawful Good. His entire character arc (especially in WOK) is learning how exemplify the positive qualities that he (as a person, man, Highprince, father, etc) claims to have. Nale- Lawful Evil: He's very interesting, but at the end of the OB, I'd say he's Lawful Evil (assuming Dalinar's Radiants are "good". Again, a major oversimplification, but for the sake of the discussion, I'll go with it). He is very much following the law in supporting the Singers, since they were the original occupants of the land. But he's also someone aligned to Odium because of this. Odium/Rayse- Neutral Evil: The big asterisk to this and any Shard is that an alignment is based off of information we have onscreen. But there are instances where he both acts exactly as the "law"/code of conduct states he must (Needing Dalinar's permission to leave his bonds), but is also super sneaky in how he interprets parts of those.. pacts (?) (His whole deal with Taravangian at the end/manipulating Dalinar into a position where he (Dalinar) could become Odium's champion. Honor/Tanavast- Neutral Good: Again, sticking with the asterisk on this one haha. But Honor's ability to do "good" is constrained (or arguably boosted, depending on your perspective) by retraints he places on both himself and other (i.e. the Oathpact, Radiant Ideals, etc). So while those parts are "lawful", they can still be twisted. Shallan- Chaotic Good: Now, Shallan post-OB will be interesting, but at least in WoR and OB, her multiple personalities have multiple effects on different characters and situations. These effects are now always foreseen/thought of by Shallan/Radiant/Veil. Nighblood- Chaotic Neutral: This one could go either True Neutral, or any of the Chaotic options. I'm using Chaotic Neutral because the instances we've seen Nightblood do stuff. Adolin- Chaotic Good: He's pro-Dalinar' Radiants, but he'll pretty much do whatever he wants (i.e. killing Sadeas haha). Jasnah- Neutral Good: She's pro-Dalinar's Radiants. I'm tempted to put her under Lawful Good because of how logic dictates most of her decisions, but I feel like she's spent too much of her life spurning authority in general to be classified as such. Please share your thoughts/add other characters (or rip my arguments to shreds as the Internet was designed haha). But these were just a few thoughts I've been thinking about and wanted to see what people think.

Kaladin- Human Jasnah- Badass Elend- Aloof Dalinar- Honor Moash- Broken Szeth- Strong

So theoretically, a fullborn could be killed by someone using Aons creatively? But per your comment, the big variable here is the meaning/effect of certain Aons and the fullborn's metal reserves.

I agree with this on the basis that the diversity of Raoden's power is limitless as far as we're concerned. But I can't think of anything that isn't a Shard that could be a Fullborn. The asterisk with Raoden is that we don't know the limitations of his abilities beyond "the strength of his glyphs (I forget the technical word) decrease with physical distance from Elantris." Even so, I can't think of how he'd actually kill TLR given the sheer power a fullborn has.

I actually think they get progressively better. Kaladin is my favorite character in the series, but I think his best moment is when he swears his Third ideal at the end of WOR (even though WOK is his book). Oathbringer is my favorite because we're finally seeing promises from the first two books fulfilled. You can tell that this is the book that Brandon has waited his whole career to write (until we reach book 10 haha).

I understand why people don't like Zane, but I think he's a really good foil for Vin in Well of Ascension. He's also one of the only parts of Well of Ascension that I like haha. In terms of characters I don't like, I have to say Siri. Her situation with Sussebron is cool/funny, but her character is kind of annoying to me.

Harmony vs. Odium (I'd love to hear Sazed and Rayse' interactions) Kelsier vs. Vasher Kelsier vs. Szeth

I totally agree with all of this. Moash is essentially a Windrunner who chose the opposite path as Kaladin/Bridge Four (albeit without a spren, but philosophically he's Kaladin's foil). The reason we have a generally negatively skewed view of the Skybreakers is because the only context we've seen them in is their current state, where they've been following Nale's every word to "prevent a Desolation" (well, now to help the natives of Roshar, but either way...). Szeth is our example of what a more discerning Skybreaker can be.

I do see what both of you are saying about certain parts of OB being slow/long-winded. However, I think alot of that is necessary for everything he is setting up. (Side note- This and The Last Jedi were also my most aniticipated entertainment pieces of 2017 haha. Although I absolutely loved The Last Jedi). Yes, the book is long winded (All of the Stormlight Archive books are haha), but there is a ton of good world building and character info throughout the book. I personally love all of the political negotiations, but that could be because I'm interested in that stuff in general. As far as Brandon's prose goes... In general his prose works because it "stays out of the way". His language is not as beautiful or cool as, say Rothfuss, Martin, or Tolkein. However, the's not trying to be like them (at least not in terms of language). Brandon focuses on and excels at character, plot, and world-building. His language is therefore more oriented towards serving those goals.

Oh boy haha. There's too many to count, but here are a few... 1. Kaladin's third oath in WOR (the situation also built that up) 2. "You cannot have my pain" through "I am Unity" 3. Teft's third oath. 4. Jasnah and Renarin in Thaylen City. 5. Kaladin at the Chasm with Syl... 6.

Oh, but both of these characters create such brilliant conflict haha.

Moash currently holds most of my... hatred (haha).... but I think he's a great foil to Kaladin and everything he has done works super well for the narrative. I also loved Rayse onscreen sooo much. Straff would be my least favorite, mostly because his motivations are mostly "because I deserve it". He doesn't really make me super angry, nor is he super nuanced/sympathetic.

The most important step quote. I've been quoting that to myself every day since I finished the book.

Why didn't Nale/the Skybreakers try to take Szeth down while he was the "Assassin in White"? I mean obviously Szeth makes a good Skybreaker/was recruited by Nale because of his dedication to the law (in the form of his Oathstone/the Shin religion) in WOk and WOR. But he had to have broken dozens, if not hundreds of laws while breaking into various keeps/strongholds around the world to kill the people on Taravangian's list. So why wouldn't Nale have wanted to take Szeth down while he was breaking these laws?

I was tearing up/jumping in excitement for basically the entire last two hundred pages. But the gut punchers for me were... "You cannot have my pain!" So epic. Teft's Third Ideal. "Do it Elokhar"... Most of Wit/Hoid's conversations with Shallan. Speaking of Hoid... "Life before death, friend." Jasnah hugging Renarin.

This would be super interesting. I kind of think that Rayse will be dead by the end of book 5 too. There's a WOB from somewhere of him slyly saying that Odium's Shardholder might not be alive at the end of book 5. Dalinar as "Vengeance"/ the villain/antagonist of the back 5 would be a really interesting twist.

I do think Ash is going to die. I think all of the Heralds will die by the end of the series. This will lead to Odium being free from his prison (unless a new Honor/Oathpact is formed). But I think Brandon will show us Odium at his full strength (or close to it) by the end of the series. In order for this to happne, all of the Heralds need to die. As far and Ash becoming Dustbringer, I buy into this theory. She's also been going around.. destroying...anything with her likeness (the key word here being "destroyed"). I don't think Malata is going to be our Dusbringer POV and/or focus book character. I think we'll see multiple members of each order, and Malata just happens to be the first Dustbringer that we've seen.

No, but you can fly/fall over it haha.

I don't entirely disagree with this. However... A Song of Ice and Fire spoilers

The Lord Ruler vs. Susebron. It'd be super interesting to see Awakening at it's fullest potential against a fullborn.

I've been looking for a new podcast that talks about Sanderson stuff. My friend and I might actually be starting a podcast to talk (primarily) about sci-fi/fantasy book too.

Elend would probably be an Elsecaller. Outside the Cosmere... Aragorn would be a Bondsmith. (Although "Strider" would probably be a Windrunner.) Hermione is 100% an Elsecaller. Arya Stark is a Lightweaver. Jon Snow is a Bondsmith. Ned Stark is 100% a Windrunner. Palpatine would be either a Lightweaver or Bondsmith (He technically united the galaxy, but through underhanded/deceptive means.)

Elokhar's name sounds really cool.

His characters (specifically Dalinar, Kaladin, and Szeth) have helped me to face and come to terms with some of my own personal issues. How he presents different views on morality and worldviews has (helped) influenced me to understand people's motivations for why they view the world the way they do/why they take the actions they take. He also sparks my imagination more than any author since J.K. Rowling. I think Stormlight (and the Cosmere) will be for me in adulthood what Harry Potter was for me in childhood.

When you mutter Stormlight quotes to yourself as motivation when running.