Harbour

I kinda want him to not be redeemed but going down in better way than Amaram. I dont want Moash to die just in simple combat, pierced by arrow, throwing angry tantrums. I want his death to be ironic and symbolic, reflecting the path he chose. While i like well written redemption arcs, i admit, that im tired of redeemed villains. In our age i feel there is not enough well written motivated villains who, well, stay villain till the very end. Sometimes redemption simply doesnt fit the villain's arc and set off traits. Moash right now still can be redeemed for sure. But i kinda want him to dive farther into villainy and become Kaladin's nemesis, and end up dying alone.

While i like this theory, i dont want it to become the major point of Kaladin's arc. If Brandon started to explore it in WoR, it would have enough room to deal with. In second to last book though... i dont want it to interrupt the ongoing narrative about Kaladin struggles (honor, not killing people, being alone and so on). Its the same as with Shallan's kid. Its fun stuff to explore. But its too late to dive deep into it now. We have only two books left and so so so much stuff to solve even without Stormlight addiction. Id like Brandon to go with this idea for Teft. For Teft the addiction is the major point of the character arc. Stormlight addiction plot would fit him greatly. Dont add another brick of crem for Kaladin to deal with. He has already enough problems to struggle with.

I just want to say that in 25 hours we will get another chapter. Im giga excited. Want to see the consequences of Moash therapy. Also hope for Venli appearance.

If to assume that Syl Interlude will happen after Part 1, there will be something that will damage Kaladin heavily. And i doubt Moash words would be the single reason for Kaladin to be in a condition for Dalinar to move him to surgeon work. I actually think something will happen with B4 at Herdaz. Then fade to black and skip to Urithiru.

Shallan wasnt born Davar. She is the daughter of Cultivation's vessel. She was picked up by Davars when she was very little and their memory was twisted by Cultivation herself so they treat Shallan like the member of the family.

Next week finally the chapter beyond what we already knew.

I have a feeling Dalinar will die this book in a blaze of glory like a champ. First it would be unexpected to loose such a central character. But after first thought you will see it should have been totally expected. This is second to last book in a front five book arc. After that there will be a significant time skip. Second to last book have to be a downer before the finale. Situation should become extremely bad and difficult. Characters must face the challenge they never faced before. All this is kinda hard to set up without killing the right character. Such was the death of Obi-Wan Kenobi, capture of Han Solo by Vader, death of Dumbledore in HP and so on. Kaladin and Shallan didnt fullfill their roles. All Kaladin did was creation of Windrunner and saving Kholins. For protagonist thats not enough. He will live on for sure. The same with Shallan. Her deeds werent that impressive yet. She will certainly has stuff to do in Book 5. Jasnah, Renarin and Navani, i guess, will appear in back 5 books. Adolin isnt important for global story enough to use his death as something that will make situation extremely bad for all humanity. Dalinar is the only one who more or less achieved alot of what he wanted to achieve, became better person, married Navani, became Bondsmith with OP powers. His death in the end of Book 4 would be the gut wrenching, shocking moment that will massively impact everyone and set up the uneasy state of our characters before Book 5. His death will open up the many ways for Adolin, Renarin, Kaladin to progress. Who will fill the hole as a leader of humanity? How will Adolin and Renarin react and change? Dalinar's death is vital for those characters to make a jump in progression or regression. More over, i think, the scene Brandon was excited about to write decades ago, directly involves Dalinar last moments of life. I think he will do something extremely BADASS and AMAZING to save everyone and ascend in the process so while technically dead he will be able to influence the story in back 5 books. Also Navani would mourn two her husbands in a single book and that also would be kind of tragic.

This book will end very bittersweet. Good guys more or less won three books in a row and i suppose RoW will be Empire Strikes Back in the stucture of this series. Title also suggest something bad, Rhytm of War, sounds like the victorious chant of Singers. I predict that while some characters will have local victories (like Kaladin saying 4th ideal) overall it would be a massive loss for good guys so the stakes for Book 5 would be incredibly high and serious. I predict the death of major or important secondary character. update: i think abit about what characters seems to fullfill its purpose and can still influence the plot while being dead. well, i think Dalinar will die in this book. reasoning: -he is already did what he wanted - he more or less united Alethkar. probably by the end of RoW he will achieve even more -he became way better. it seems he reached the destination in terms of character development, or will reach it by the end of RoW -he and Navani got married and had at least a year of life together -he possess pretty OP power that may be not handy to take into account while planning the story -he possess so OP power that you can successfully kill him and yet let him influence the plot -in fact he possess so OP power that there is danger of him turning into purely power tool to influence the plot. there is no reason to show a character if he can solve things via new powers. i supposed Brandon doesnt like it. -his death will put other characters in an extremely vulnerable position. and that kind of challenge seems like the one Brandon would like to write about. how other character will react loosing the center of all their dynamics? how they will handle it in the face of growing threat? thats interesting challenge for Book 5. Think of Dumbledore death in Half-Blood Prince and how cool it was written. -this would allow for jump in progression for both Kaladin and Adolin and Renarin. update: minor thing i just realized that if that will happen we will see Navani PoV after Dalinar death and it will mirror her PoV in the Prologue after Gavilar death but be significantly different. It would be quite heart breaking scene i guess.

Just like Kaladin was called a Son of Tanavast (Honor's vessel), Shallan secretly is a "Daughter" of ???? (Cultivation's vessel). Hence why the love for nature, being special even for Lightweaver (just like Kaladin seems more special than just regular Windrunner), a lot of blank spots in the childhood, great mental health problems, and constant comparison to "a little horneater princess" (Cultivation's Perpendicularity located in the Horneater Peaks). I think this is the last truth Brandon hints at and keeps in secret to reveal somewhere in Book 4 or Book 5. I think with accepting it Shallan will complete own path as Radiant. What does this mean for a story? I dont know. Kaladin being specifically named the Son of Tanavast has to bear some significant importance. Cultivation Vessel's "Daughter" has to bear it as well.

Well, this confirms that all three personalities are one character, and not some separate entities.

The amount of focus that was made on killing-not killing Ialai gives off the case of murder.

In before she will realize it was her fourth personality who killed Ialai and she now has the touch of death. Also she was Ialai's spy near Dalinar, she just didnt realize that.

Inspired by Malazan's famous Hood's balls.

Shallan is becoming paranoic. How long until she will become paranoidal towards Adolin and hurt him just like Gavilar hurt Navani?

I have the same feeling. I mean, knowing the tropes, its pretty safe to predict potential ways for Kaladin characters. Brandon doesnt simply describe Kaladin understanding of Parshendi. I believe he is gonna save Singers, took them from Odiums grip and bring together with Humans.

Im not a fan of mental health problems being the key problems for SA characters. At this point to me it feels like those problems has too much focus and relevancy. Just like in real life, yes, but in fiction stories they simply overshadow both Shallan and Kaladin personalities. In case of Kaladin he has very solid portrayal to not be completely overshadowed by it, yet it heavily influence him preventing me from fully enjoying his personality. In case of Shallan mental problems ARE basically her character and that sucks. In WoK and WoR she was more or less complete and fine enough, but in OB he became so fractured that i lost her and lost interesting in reading about her. She doesnt feel like a real person or even fiction character. More like android with very different personalities and constant shifts in views. Probably very realistic depiction of person with such diagnosis but not a good book character.

Also, Kaladin is NOT gonna kick the bucket. He will live long happy life through all 10 books.

Brandon Sanderson's prose is better for reading experience and story/character comprehension than the "beautiful, great" prose of many other authors. I will prefer his prose over Rothfuss' one all the day.

I think if there will be a kid, it will happen in between 5 and 6 books. Kid of one of the main characters will require a lot of space on pages and we have only book 4 and 5 left. Also Adolin and Shallan have a lot of problems to solve. Putting kid on top of that would be an overkill for both characters and readers imo.

I honestly crossed fingers for Kaladin/Venli now since i think action girl(boy)+scholar boy(girl) suit each other the best. Leshwi is interesting now but at the same time still written like a a glorified episodic character. Venli on other hand seems way more enriched character.

Kaladin and Leshwi relationships are toxic in the literal sense.

I think this is not the cases of some character arc going on, just a touches Brandon gave to Adolin to not make him a walking cardboard. After all he is a good writer and even if the character is more of tool or function, he still has set of features. in case of Adolin i see that he is more or less cocky, more or less stoic, sometimes possessive, and WoR ending was pretty reasonable and logic result of the build up that Brandon had through the whole book. He is able to kill in cold blood. The biggest proof to me that Adolin isnt major character at all is that Brandon didnt intend to show Adolin in Part 1 of OB, and did this only after beta testers pointed at lack of Adolin in Shallan chapters. In case of Shallan health, i see next problem Adolin may create: First in WoR (i wont let anyone hurt you) and then in the end of OB (where he said that he let Kaladin have her) he show the glimpse of possessive behavior. It didnt happen much, i guess its his deeply buried trait that appeared in very special cases. This triggered Shallan a lot since she is all about freedom and was left by Brandon on purpose to outline what are the problems Adolin may bring to their relationships. This has a reflection in RoW already, where Shallan wants the freedom of action as a spy and Adolin rushed to the rescue and potentially could ruin her plans. In terms of relationships between both characters another big problem are the secrets if Shallan still keeping them and how poor Adolin can deal with it. Prologue between Navani and Gavilar also were pretty interesting if to project them onto Shallan and Adolin. In both cases one keep the secrets and hurts the other. Im afraid, Shallan may seriously hurt Adolin refusing to trust him just like Gavilar hurt Navani in prologue. Not only that. Navani interest in Dalinar made Gavilar cruel. Im afraid Veil interest in Kaladin (if there will be any of course) may turn Adolin cruel too. He has that dark thing in him that made him killed Sadeas and show possesive attitude and that may be triggered by Shallan lies easily.

I honestly got the same vibe here. It becomes ridiculous but in just 6 chapters Brandon in one way or another connected Kaladin to more female characters than in all three previous books combined. Glances, dating info, interactions, positive reactions. This is getting weird.

Rushladin confirmed.