Siaun Sanche

Jezrien says "Ishar believes" in my copy of TWoK, not thinks. And in any case, I don't know that the argument follows. If I say, "My niece thinks that Santa Claus gave her a bike for Christmas," am I saying that my niece isn't sure about Santa Claus giving her the bike, or does that mean that I'm not so sure the bike came from Santa Claus? In other words, it reads to me like Jezrien isn't 100% sure in his heart of hearts.

It doesn't necessarily conflict, but the more peculiar things we assume about this friend, the more unlikely it sounds to me. Now Helaran of the Skybreakers gives his Blade and Plate to a friend who, what, just so happens to be a Ghostblood assassin? (Or does Helaran know? Is he putting out a hit on Amaram? What's his motivation for that?) It's just a very messy theory that requires making up a few extra elements to make it work. Djarskublar's theory strikes me as a lot cleaner.

Nale's people don't seem so clear on the subject. One of them cut Gawx's throat in front of him, for example. I suspect it's hard for him to simultaneously sell the message that Surgebinders need to be stopped to prevent a Desolation from coming to the world _and_ that they need to be stopped within the law at all times.

That's good to know, thanks.

I didn't know that. If I bought WoR in mass market paperback in October '16, would it have the new ending in it?

Yeah, I wouldn't use the term 'inevitable', and neither side looks particularly eager to launch a major war right this second. But it seems pretty likely to feature in the first five books.

I did just read Secret History; how Kelsier reacts to the "insult battle" is one of the funniest things that Sanderson has ever written. I don't have strong feelings about what Allomantic powers I would want, except for a vague feeling that for most people in the real world emotional powers would probably be the most useful day-to-day (at job interviews and so forth). Yup. I have spent long hours creating elaborate theories only to see them disproved in a single sentence.

Jah Keved's new king doesn't seem to want to be united with Dalinar so much.

After he talks with Szeth in his interlude chapter in WoR:

What actions are those? I find this theory pretty convincing. It seems pretty clear to me that (a) Helaran _was_ the man that Kaladin killed, (b) the man that Kaladin killed was not a Surgebinder, and (c) Taravangian clearly thought that Helaran was a Surgebinder. This theory covers all three of those facts pretty well. Also, I think it explains why Mraize would want to highlight this for Shallan, which other theories don't. If the truth was Helaran was happily part of the order that caused her mother to try to murder her, then it seems weird that he would highlight Helaran's involvement in particular. (Why not ask her why her _mother_ sought out the Skybreakers, in that case?) It makes more sense to me if Mraize's pitch is going to be, "You can finish what your brother started and bring down this terrible organization that tore your family apart." That would draw her closer into the Ghostbloods going forward.

I dunno. Aside from the fact that the friend also matches a loose description of Helaran, it strikes me as weird that a Veden Shardbearer would sign up to fight in an Alethi border dispute. Is he a soldier for hire? A relative to Amaram's rival? In either case, why wouldn't Amaram have known who he was? A Ghostblood on a mission of assassination has reason to cover his tracks, but I don't know why somebody who was just the lucky recipient of a Shardblade and Shardplate would keep his presence there a secret.

I tend to agree with your assessment, which makes me think... if everybody believes that Adolin is the killer, and (more to the point) if Dalinar himself believes it, doesn't Dalinar have to take action? It seems to me that his conscience would demand it, and how could he rally the other Highprinces if he's willing to turn a blind eye when one of their number gets murdered?

I only recently started reading Brandon Sanderson, but I've read 10 of his books since Labor Day (Elantris, Warbreaker, all Mistborn books except for Band of Mourning, which is coming from Amazon as we speak, both SA books, & Arcanum Unbounded) and really enjoyed them. Words of Radiance is probably my favorite of his books, and I really love how the Stormlight Archive books are done in general. I've been lurking a bit in the Stormlight Archive section because the theorizing reminds me of my time on Westeros.org back in the day, and because I want to get a handle on what I missed in my initial read-through before Oathbringer comes out. I know a bit about the Cosmere, but there is a lot there that I'm still putting together. I really enjoy that kind of storytelling, and just knowing that there are connections between the different worlds added to my enjoyment of the books.