Stormrunner1730

I mean I really like alot of the concepts in Warbreaker. And some of the character interactions are cool. I just thought it dragged too much (until the end). I love how Vivenna, Vasher, and Nightblood are playing into Stormlight so far though. I'm sure those conversations between Brandon and Rothfuss can get slightly awkward haha (Although Rothfuss has Lin-Manuel-Miranda working with him now, so he gets a lot of points for that haha). Martin and his "Kingslayer" could give Moash a run for his money though haha... I totally agree that Moash meant the salute as a sign of respect and kind of a "at one point you would have done the same thing." I'm saying it was dirty because it crushed Kaladin.

My general thoughts on Oathbringer (after about a week or so of reflecting on it)... 1. This is Brandon's best book. Dalinar was one of the first characters he ever wrote about. As such, this is a story Brandon has been waiting decades to tell; and it's apparent in the quality of the work. 2. The Battle of Thaylen Field might be my favorite fictional battle scene ever. Brandon managed to weave almost every major character into the battle in a meaningful way (with the exception of maybe Navani, but one could argue that she was doing... strategy stuff with Queen Fen. The moment where Dalinar rejects Odium, speaks his Third Ideal, brings together the three Reams (thus creating Honor's Perpedicularity) is beyond epic. The exact quote sequence here is fantastic, but I don't have my book in front of me to type it out. Kaladin (perhaps my favorite fictional character ever) gets to fight a messed up version of Amaram! (Amaram's dialogue in this scene is great.) Jasnah basically wishing her way through the city via Soulcasting was awesome (not to mention her powerful scene with Renarin right before this). Szeth and Lift working together with Nightblood was one of the most entertaining things ever. 3. The fall of Kholinar was one of the most heartbreaking scenes I've ever read. Elokhar's death was one of the saddest fictional deaths ever (he's on a redemption path and, more importantly, about to speak the First Ideal). The whole sequence was brilliantly plotted and executed. 4. The Szeth/Skybreaker storyline was so cool. I love all of Szeth's scenes in this book. His relationship with Nale/Nin is super interesting. (I also can't wait for him to go to Shinovar on his quest. Unfortunately, Brandon is probably saving that for book 5 since that's going to be Szeth's book). 5. Vivenna and Nightblood! (I'll admit, I think Warbreaker is one of Brandon's weakest books. But I love Vasher and Nightblood, and what he seems to be doing with Vivenna's character is really cool.) 6. I really liked all of the political/negotiation scenes. They showed how Dalinar had to "adapt to his audience" to win them over (i.e. showing dominance in Thaylen City, but having to "bureaucrat" his way in Azir. 7. Odium onscreen! I was super pumped during his initial "vision scene" with Dalinar. His presence at the Battle of Thaylen Field was a brilliant narrative move. I also love his character as a villain. Playing up the "I am Passion" aspect of hatred is really cool and gives a level of complexity to Odium/Rayse' character. 8. Hoid bonding a spren! Oh boy. He has to be getting real serious about something. 9. Moash deserves a long, painful death (killing two kings in one book. The Bridge Four salute was so dirty too). On a semi-related note, all of the Heralds are going to die by the end of book 5 or book 10, thus breaking Odium's prison. Narratively, we have to see a fully powered-enabled Odium at some point in the series. I have more that I need to think more about, but there are my general initial reactions for now.

The Shin trained with all of the Honorblades (well, except for Taln's, but they would have had access to his Surges through two other Blades). So I bet there are quite a few Shin who at least know how to use all ten Surges (Szeth being one of them, per one of his POV chapters). Whether we'll see one with mastery of all ten actually have access to all ten at once remains to be seen. Amaram would have been making educated guesses about some of the Surges after being taken over by Yelig-nar. He also wouldn't have been in his right mind. I do think we'll see someone with the skill, knowledge, and access to all ten of the Surges by the end of the series though. I think the fact that Brandon RAFOd a question about Honor choosing to split up the Surges in the Honorblades is a big clue to this.

I agree with this. He's thinking of the bigger picture more than anymore besides Dalinar (and maybe Navani). As much as this would be terrible, the Nightwatcher (who probably influenced the DIagram) might be willing to bond with him. The key factor with Taravangian is if the Nightwatcher or the Sibling is if they're knowledgeable of his deal with Odium. I don't want Navani to become a Radiant. I think at least one of the main POV characters needs to not be a Radiant to ground the others and show that it's special to be a Radiant.

I agree that Moash meant it as a sign of respect. Almost like "You knew this had to be done, and you almost helped me do it last time." But to Kaladin, it's the ultimate "F-U". I also hope Moash dies a slow, painful death.

This is also my favorite book that he has written. I feel like this was the book Sanderson has waited his whole career to write (well, Dalinar' story more specifically). I'll give a more detailed reaction later, but the Battle of Thaylen Field might be my favorite fictional battle ever. This is about to be very stream of consciousness. Sanderson managed to weave just about every major character in the story into the plot of the battle in a believable way. There were several moments when I had tears in my eyes (Namely, Dalinar's final rejection of Odium). The battle never seemed one-sided, even after Dalinar spoke his Third Ideal (although it was clear the Radiants still had an upper hand since Odium had retreated). Speaking of which, Odium's "physical" presence is brilliant and chilling. I loved that Kaladin got to fight Amaram. I literally started yelling (in joy) at my book during most of Szeth's POVs during the battle. Jasnah showed us (the audience) how devastating Soucasting can be in battle (well, when the user knows what they are doing). I definitely teared up when Teft spoke his Third Ideal (especially when he reference himself as the person he hates the most). More yelling in joy when Dalinar spoke his Third ideal/created Honor's Perpendicularity. I'm still trying to grasp how crazy powerful Dalinar is (and he isn't even a fully realized Bondsmith yet).

The final sequence in Kholinar was awesome. Sanderson hit me in all of the feels. I was almost cries tears of joy as Elhokar started speaking the First Ideal. Half a page later it was a very different feeling... I'm not glad that he killed Elhokar. However, his death and the fall of Kholinar gave Odium/the Voidbringers a weight and made them a more formidable opponent. Having Aesudan bond with Yelignar was brilliant. I love that we are getting humans who are on Odium's side.

Ultimately, it's not something that I'm super frustrated with. It was more just something I noticed and wanted to think about more in the context of the story and that fight. In regards to Feruchemical Gold... (Alloy of Law Spoilers)

Thank Jezrien I got Kaladin, although I don't love the answers to some of the questions.

Pay attention to the Interludes. There are a lot of little Easter Eggs and cool details there.

I totally agree with the idea that (if) there is a "higher being" then what they set as a moral standard is a moral standard. Yes, Adolnasium is said being in the cosmere. That being said, we don't yet know if Adonalsium ever set that moral standard. Brandon is very careful about prescribing labels of "good" and "evil", so I very much doubt that he will ever make a statement in the cosmere about what Adonalsium thinks the "moral standard" is. The over-arching question of the cosmere above all else is: What happens when humans become deities? Outside the cosmere (in the "real world" so-to-speak), we don't know if there is a being like Adonalsium who sets the moral standard. Or at least, humanity does not agree upon it. If we did, there would not be the multitude of religions around the world (all of which have differing moral imperatives). Now, I would tend to cite Joseph Campbell's "Hero of a Thousand Faces" as an example of certain common threads that run throughout many different religions and mythologies (largely based on different milestones in the human life cycle). Regardless, there is no consensus "higher being" that all humans agree on (nor is there proof of one), and so there cannot be an absolute moral "right" or "wrong" that applies to all humans. I don't mean to make this a big discussion about religion, but does what I'm saying make sense? For the record: I love this whole conversation, so I'm just curious on people's thoughts on this type of stuff.

I love the scene with Jasnah in the alley. It's probably the best scene in the series in terms of moral ambiguity (which is the point of what Jasnah is teaching Shallan). In order to have an absolute "good" or "evil" every single human on Earth would need to agree with that point of view. If even one person dissents, there is no longer an absolute good or evil. Humans are too varied in their upbringings and inherent personalities for there to ever be an issue where ever human in existence agrees on an absolute moral "right" and "wrong".

First off, I absolutely love that scene between Kaladin and Dalinar. I agree that whether or not a character is "evil" can change. But the idea of having pure motives and being "evil" goes back to my original point about good and evil being defined by a point of view. Taravangian might view many of his own actions as evil. However, enough people view them as at least necessary to allow him to have an inner circle of people who know everything that he's trying to do and still willingly help him. I would agree that certain actions could be argued as being evil, but once you apply the context, it gets murkier. For example, was the assassination of Gavilar evil? The Parshendi leaders broke a very newly minted peace treaty and killed him. However, to them, whatever Gavilar was doing that could have resulted in the return of their "gods" was much more evil than the idea of killing him. (I personally don't have a stance on this yet since I think we know too little about this event/Gavilar in general, but it serves as a good example for one's viewpoint.)

Or, not have to wait ten seconds haha...

Yeah I ultimately agree with your final statement. The sequence is so cool that it's fine. I would say that Kaladin was probably pretty accurate at assessing his injuries given his medical training background though (like you said). Yeah I definitely see how the Nahel bond is allegedly (and so far) a mor efficient way of using Stormlight (although I think that Honoblades were equal to the Nahel Bond in this way while Honor/Tanavast was still alive). I guess the idea of Stormlight healing being so OP is kind of annoying to me. Granted, they're obviously going to need it to be OP once they start fight Voidbringer/binders. It's a small gripe that I ultimately don't really mind that much. But it is slightly annoying when so much of Surgebinding is so well done/thought out. That's a fair way of looking at it. He moves pretty well if that's the case. But you could argue that it's enough for him to move and function in the fight.

I recently re-read the Adolin/Renarin/Kaladin vs. Relis, Elit, Abrobadar, and Jakamav fight (such an epic scene). There's a point in the fight (my personal favorite part besides "Honor is Dead, but I'll see what i can do) where Kaladin performs a Lashing-enhanced jump kick on one of the enemy Shardbearers. He effectively knocks the Shardbearer over, but breaks both of his legs in the process. Now this isn't a huge deal and is kid of a nit-picky detail, but his legs seem to heal pretty damnation quickly. It almost seems like Stormlight healing for Radiants is kind of a deus ex machina, where they can heal (or not) depending on what the plot needs them to do in that moment. Now, I know that this will be much needed once they start facing Voidbringer/binders, but it just seemed to break my suspension of disbelief slightly. Maybe I'm being too nit-picky with this, but I just don't want Stormlight healing to become a deus ex machina where it can be used as-needed to either heal just enough, or not enough depending on what the plot demands.

You start saying the Oaths of the Knights Radiant (Windrunners once you're past the First Ideal) when you're on a run to help deal with negative emotions. You imagine yourself "falling" down the hallway at school/work.

They shouldn't be adapting Way of Kings first. The Final Empire should be the first movie they adapt, because it is a completed story that *can* stand on its own. I also really don't want the Stormlight movies catching up with the books too soon. However, I would give thousands of spheres to see the... WOR Spoilers

So I'm re-reading Words of Radiance and I recently read the scene where Kaladin first uses Gravitation. Just before he Lashes himself to a chasm wall, he sees a dark sun on the horizon. Is this him briefly glimpsing Shadesmar? Or am I just reading/remembering the passage wrong?

Probably depends on the amount of Stormlight you currently have vs. the amount of Stormlight in the Lashing. For example, Lift (with plenty of pancakes haha) would probably at least be able to move around per Pagerunner's comment.

I don't think Odium's champion will be Eshonai. I large scale civil war would be really interesting. Part of me thinks it's more likely to be related to Taravangian's meddling than the Radiant question though,

Oh if this scene happens, there's no way Amaram survives that encounter haha.

Kaladin is my favorite character in just about any story ever. But he does always save everyone all the time haha. He fails when he needs to fail in order for his character arc to progress: i.e. Tien, *almost* breaking his bond with Syl, etc (I don't think this is a terrible thing, but it's similar to how Shallan basically succeeds at everything in WOR). I almost think he should have failed at either 1. Saving Adolin in the 4 on 1, or 2. Saving Elokhar from Moash (he could have still said his third oath, but failed to save the king), or 3. Some other super plot-relevant moment.

Winddancer Gravitation Abrasion Second Ideal: I will remember those I have protected. Third Ideal: I will protect those who have been forgotten.

Ah, I see. That would be cool. Doesn't transportation require that you go to Shadesmar though (that we know of at least)?