Solant

Told ya, Night Watchers broken now.

@Rainier that's true. The only reason the Nightwatcher came to mind is because she implied to Dalinar that she could gift him a sword which leaked black smoke. @Toaster Retribution have a +1 for using "Cosmere Boba Fett" in a sentence.

@Rainier I'm excited about all of that, too. I get sort of a retirement vibe from Vasher in the SA books. I wonder if he didn't just get tired of shouldering the responsibility, and found a person he trusted with Nightblood in Cultivation... or Nale, maybe? Hmm, Nightblood.... Nightwatcher... it would be interesting if her purpose was literally to guard Nightblood for the right person, Lady of the Lake style.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Braize yet

Ok, to summarize.. The remainder of our Kholinar expedition is trapped in the CR and being harried by Fused. They are nearly out of stormlight. Shallan had unsuccessfully attempted to open the Theylan City oathgate back to the PR, and now Adolin has taken a spear to the gut and is bleeding heavily. He tells the party to leave him, and asks for Kaladin's knife. Kaladin thinks to himself, "this can't be the end, I can't fail him". Syl looks at him, nods, and tells him to say the words. We also have this: My spren claims that recording this will be good for me, so here I go. Everyone says I will swear the Fourth Ideal soon, and in so doing, earn my armor. I simply don’t think that I can. Am I not supposed to want to help people? —From drawer 10-12, sapphire And this: I will protect even those I hate, so long as it is right. The Third Ideal meant standing up for anyone, if needed. But who decided what was “right”? Which side was he supposed to protect? The Fourth Ideal was unknown to him, but the closer he drew to it, the more frightened he became. What would it demand of him? I feel like the answer has to be in this somewhere. Assuming Syl wants him to swear the oath, enabling him to save everyone involved, it doesn't make sense to swear to allow the opposite to happen. Also it may or may not be important to note the name of the chapter with the sapphire gem is "That Others Might Stand". Sounds slightly oathy to me.

It's the meeting between Vasher and Vivenna I an most interested in with this. I'm hoping we can get some hints as to how they parted ways before, assuming there is anything interesting there to tell.

I never picked up on the alternating genders for the books (I can be slightly dense at times ) That's interesting.

The other difference between capacity and forgiveness is the person being changed in the equation. To grant capacity, she only need change the person asking. To actually grant forgiveness would be to change the way someone else feels about the person asking. I can't think of any examples of a boon/bane directly affecting someone other than the person asking. For all we know, the request could actually be a requirement for the night watchers magic to work. Just something to consider.

Great, you broke the Nightwatcher.

The part of me that knows that Dalinar was the starting point for the entire Stormlight idea from the very beginning thinks that he will remain central to the story until the end of the 10 book run. Whether or not he survives that, I can't begin to guess.

If anything, switching it to a third party will keep the method of having a flashback character every book from feeling too formulaic.

@equinox the only thing I can think of are the screamers, maybe they can tell when radiant spren are nearby, or the fact that Elhokar was on the verge of swearing an oath, so a spren had to be nearby? I don't have any great ideas.

Based on the wind runner gem from Urithiru, this oath almost has to be in regards to actively not protecting someone, or allowing others to protect or sacrifice if they so choose (it's been awhile, but wasn't it happening at the same time Adolin was having a "go on without me and save yourself" moment?).

I tend to think that they were searching for Hoid's cryptic with the same intensity they would search for any Radiant spren. I'm sure they are aware that any spren they could end is potentially one less Radiant to deal with later. I suspect there was nothing special about it, or at least that is how I understood it when I read it.

I want this so badly to be the back cover synopsis.

Vivenna as a dual wielding Willshaper Awakener would be pretty awesome, too. Who needs shard plate when you have a Dr. Strange cloak?

The champions battle will be the Alethi card game. I call it now.

Part of me believes the time gap is specifically happening to allow Radiant ranks to grow organically. It's that, or we spend a lot of time reading about this and that minor character being recruited.

That is correct for every flashback character, and for the first time as well!

I feel like Moash was always presented as a contrast to Kaladin, showing us how two very similarly motivated characters can make drastically different choices culminating with Kal progressing through the oaths and Moash giving in to Odium's influence. As it stands now, I don't think Kal would give in because he would see it as abandoning his oaths and his allies (especially Syl, considering the events of WoR), who he feels completely responsible for.

I mostly agree, but they made a point of getting him to agree to the contest because it was implied that it was a binding agreement he had to adhere to. I'm sure we are thinking about it all the wrong way, but I'm certain he is still bound to it. I think he will still have to find another champion, or forfeit the contest, and I'm guessing he's not the forfeiting type . My guess it's that the champion thing will still happen, it just won't be the end.

I don't know if it's confirmed yet, but in chapter 44 we have the probable Tarah sighting in Urithiru. It's the scene where Ishnah is teaching Veil's men espionage, and Veil is talking about the Alethi woman wearing the Thaylen dress with a brightly coloured blouse, who keeps looking over her shoulder like she's looking for someone. In chapter 112, Kaladin thinks about how she preferred old-fashioned Thaylen dresses, often paired with bright colored shirts.

Tineye. I dig it. I'm a fan of the gauze blindfold look. Whoever is muttering under their breath back there. . . I heard that, and it wasn't very nice.

Interestingly, I saw someone mention a while back that Adonalsium is an anagram for "a mind, a soul"

I can dig it. A Squad of Their Own. With Jasnah as queen, she would likely throw the entire gender specific arts guide in the garbage, if she could. I think it was a post Recreance Vorin power grab to keep shard blades out of the hands of women (Shardblades are held two-handed; can't do that if your "safehand" is properly covered up)