Goatbringer

I really hope this was meant to be read in Morgan Freeman's voice a la end of The Shawshank Redemption.

I like this theory. Terraforming certainly makes sense given that in Oathbringer they pretty much say that Shinovar was given to the humans... why would it have looked like that before the humans arrived in Roshar? There's also the whole question of the Shattered Plains and how they got that way. Terraforming with the Dawnshards sounds like it could be the answer to the whole third magic system (besides Surgebinding/Honor and Voidbinding/Odium) as it has a distinctly Cultivationy bent to it: growth, change, life, etc.

I quite like the interpretation of this death rattle - whether or not it means that Kal is destined to be King of Alethkar or Urithiru or Roshar, I do like the idea that it points to a low-born or darkeyes being thrust into the position of king. And we do have the WoB that says that there is a hidden ending to the whole series smushed somewhere in the first two books like the Mistborn Era 1 ending being mentioned in the epigraphs of the Final Empire.

I've seen this a couple different places... was this a WoB?

Rysn and Rlain for sure, but I've also got a soft spot for Lyn. Really hope she gets to shine in RoW.

Ohhh that would be an early birthday present!

Absolutely agreed. I remember being blown away by Oathbringer and then going online and seeing such intense criticism - not enough Ghostbloods, Kal too broody, hate for Shallan... I can only see RoW being the same.

After having re-read Oathbringer recently, here are some thoughts: 1. Dalinar not telling his sons about murdering their mother (that'll probably be spoken about in the in-world Oathbringer though, right?) I noticed that Adolin has really hateful feelings towards the Rift when they hit Shadesmar in OB part 4. Once Dalinar comes clean to them, that's going to be a BIG point of contention, considering every action Adolin takes he weighs his actions against those of his faultless, honourable father. If this is what cracks open Adolin's spiritweb enough for Maya to bond him, I am a-okay with that. 2. As little of Jasnah as we saw in book 3. I was hoping for more perspectives from her, but she's obviously more Cosmere-aware than most of the other characters, so it can be dangerous to be in her head for too long from a secrets perspective. BUT - she's great and I want more Jasnah in book 4. 3. Shalladin. I've been a huge fan of Shalladin since the first book, but I think OB did a great job of wrapping it up. I don't want smooth sailing with Adolin and Shallan's marriage, but I don't want Kal dragged into it again. 4. Having a principal character be dead by the beginning of the book. I know it's fairly likely to happen - it's war, right? And this is the first biggish time-jump we've had in the series since books 2 and 3 picked right up where the preceding one ended. I don't think it'll be a protagonist, but I'm afraid of it being like Leyten or General Khal or someone...

I really like this idea, not necessarily that each SL book will be named after an in-world book, but rather an in-world story. Lots of cultures on our planet have a rich history of oral and storytelling traditions, and it would be really cool to see this reflected in Brandon's choice of a title to be inclusive to that different culture, since that's one of the main forms of conflict in the books. The Listeners being the original inhabitants of Roshar and the humans being the invaders reminds me a lot of the European settlement of North America. The Europeans came in with their advanced technology, their germs, their weaponry, their idea to 'civilize' the 'savages'... the native people were almost decimated by the colonizers and it feels like only now in Canadian/American history are we coming to terms with the absolute devastation of that action. It seems like it's the same thing is happening on Roshar - the guilt associated with being the descendants of murderers and colonizers, but still having to fight. GAH I love SL so much! Anyway, long story short - I would really like to see that included: an alternative medium of transmitting history being seen as 'on par' with books. Does it make sense? I don't know. But I like it.

My recommendation is read all of Brandon's Cosmere works before getting into the specifics of Shards and Adonalsium being reborn - it's sort of the overarching plotline of all of his books so far. I will say though, there seems to be a prevailing theory that Dalinar could be some kind of Honour or even Adonalsium reborn, or forging his own unique shard or something (notice how he used that capital U in 'Unity' when he told Venli who he was on the battlefield), so kudos for finding that theory on your own!

I also think that there's a healthy dose of opacity when it comes to the old-timey Radiants. From what we can glean from them from the gem archive and all the other older writings the orders were already rife with in-fighting and disagreements. It seems to me just a matter of course for each order now to have their own goals, ambitions and perceptions about the world, especially that the old institution that was the Knights Radiant is nothing more than just a legend. So Ishar's death wouldn't have much impact other than an up-tick in the chaos that is going on on Roshar.

Good day fellas. It's been a while since I've posted on here and since I've checked in, so if this theory is old hat, I apologize. Tear me to shreds. But if not, I humbly submit this to the 17th Shard. I reread OB recently and I've been thinking of Brandon's repeated mentions of how the entire structure of Stormlight is going to be ordered; specifically that each order of Knights Radiant will have a flashback book through a different character's perspective. What I've not been able to wrap my head around is with who he's chosen for his flashbacks for the subsequent books - it seems we have an extra Lightweaver in the bunch with Ash - the Herald and Patron of Lightweavers - being present in the back five. With her inclusion, we've got representatives from each order present in Brandon's planned 10 book sequence: Kaladin/Windrunner, Shallan/Lightweaver, Dalinar/Bondsmith, Eshonai/Willshaper (probably), Szeth/Skybreaker, Renarin/Truthwatcher, Lift/Edgedancer, Taln/Stoneward and Jasnah/Elsecaller. So that leaves our interesting friend Ash - who according to tradition is the leader of Lightweavers. And we're missing a Dustbringer (or Releaser if you're gonna be PC about it) book. I think Ash is going to become a Dustbringer. This way she will make the flashbacks of the books nice and ordered and sequenced and each order gets one book. But I also think it works with the text. We know the Heralds are essentially just immortal (unless you have a special knife!) humans and thus fallible to human emotions that might attract the right type of spren. It also seems like another prerequisite for being a KR is to be flawed or damaged in some way and the Nahel bond is an avenue for that KR to explore their flaws and come to terms with them (Kaladin's depression, Shallan's repressed memories, etc.) Look at Ash's character for a second: what do we know about her off the top of our heads? She destroys. Brandon has spent three books putting in overt references to Ash destroying her own visage in works of art depicting the Heralds. Sounds a little Dustbringery to you? Ash is also sane, as we saw in her handful of viewpoints in Oathbringer but is dealing with an incredible amount of guilt for the last four and a half thousand years by leaving Taln to be tortured on Braize. There we also have the unofficial KR flaw - her mountain of guilt that gives her a compulsion to destroy any art depicting her as a way of ... atonement, maybe? Either way, I think this is enough to probably attract an Ashspren. We know from Malata that Ashspren like to destroy and have a bit of a chip on their shoulders. I think they would love the fact that Ash has spent nearly five thousand years destroying. If you were an Ashspren looking for a Nahel bond, she would be a prize catch, right? I think there's a little aversion to her being a Dustbringer in my head because I'm thinking along the lines of "but she's the Herald of Lightweaving! She just CAN'T be anything else!" But I think I've argued my brain out of that position. First, we know that Heralds can form a Nahel bond - Nale mentions he became a Skybreaker and shows off his fancy non-Honourblade shardblade. Who is to say that a Herald who joins an order has to join THEIR order though? There doesn't seem to be a hard and fast rule about it. Especially when they've gone through such changes in the past five thousand years. Ash is not simply the herald of beauty and creativity anymore. While some of the other Heralds have gone insane, Ash seems to have just gotten flipped around. She represents destruction now. So there ya have it. Let me know what you think.

I got Lightweaver! Kind of surprising since I certainly don't identify that much with them, but hey I got an Arts degree so what the hell

Loved Dalinar's storyline. His entire arc in this book is nothing short of magnificent. He really shone in this book. Kal's storyline is solidly second place for me, whereas he was far and away #1 for me in WoK and WoR, so I'm a bit disappointed with his diminished presence, but if it comes at the expense of Dalinar's storyline taking the limelight I have no problem. Shallan was third for me, mainly because we didn't get to see a nice completed arc for her split personalities nor did we get to see her being as.... for lack of a better word: cute. She injects some much needed lightheartedness into the series dominated by brooding males like Dalinar and Kal and her antics keep us nice and level. I suppose it's just her growing up that has made her storyline a little more adult, but I really wished there were more instances of her being genuine, like her reaction to Jasnah telling off Amaram or reveling in Windrunning. Then again, that's kind of her story, in that she doesn't know who is the real Shallan. Anyways I'm just waxing lyrical now!

This is hard for me, it's like picking which is your favorite kid. All of them are important but in different ways. Ill say though that right now I think WoR had more OH MY GOD moments for me, like discovering Urithiru, the Chasms with Shalladin, Kal and Adolin vs 4 Shardbearers, Szeths first attack on Dalinar, Kals third ideal... the list goes on. OB doesn't have as many of those cinematic moments yet for me, but it might be because it's new and still fresh. Like certainly Dalinar's speaking of his third ideal gave me HELLA GOOSEBUMPS, and I absolutely lost my mind when both Evi and Elhokar died, and the ENTIRE last scene, but I don't think there are as many big amazing scenes as WoR had. But I'll give it time to digest, it's a lot to process in less than a week lol

Wow. Just wow. Finished 15 minutes ago and my body is still shaking from adrenaline. That must have been the heaviest Sanderlanche I've ever read. There was so much in that tome to unpack that it's going to be hard to wrap my head around all that I learned, conceived and experienced in this last week since getting the book. Suffice to say, it was such another wonderful adventure and worth the 1351 day wait. Here are some of my reactions to the whole thing: Kal's Story: Though I was excited for him to say it, I'm glad we didn't get to hear Kaladin actually say the 4th Ideal of the Windrunners. Syl makes a good point where Kal can't save everyone, and just once it would be okay for someone to save him. I absolutely LOVED his fight with mecha-Unmade-Amaram and that Amaram's true self really shone through there. I think that by the time book 4 rolls around, Kal's 4th ideal will have a lot to do with not being able to save everyone, and the lessons he learned being with Bridge 4 will help him discover that. I'm upset - being the consummate Shalladin supporter that I am - at Kal and Shallan's fizzled romance. BUT: I get it. Shallan's Story: I can't help but feel that Shallan's Dissociative Identity Disorder story will continue well into book 4 until she can accept that she is all of these people instead of compartmentalizing parts of herself into Veil and Radiant. I think that her brothers and her marriage to Adolin (who I do think is the best fit for her, despite my Shalladin leanings) will play no small part in her finding her next Ideal. I feel like Shallan's story wasn't as rounded or as meaningful as her progression in OB as it was in WoR, but that's kind of to be expected in the wake of WoR being her flashback book. I loved her ending though, she really deserves happiness. Only thing I wanted more of, however was more Ghostbloods! Dalinar's Story: My god, it was wonderful. I can't believe Brandon's had that one locked and loaded for so long. Everything about Dalinar's progression here from ambitious but uncertain grumpy warlord to multi-dimensional transcendental grumpy warlord was nothing short of spectacular. My singular favourite moment in the entire book (potentially the entire series) was him taking the next step and realizing that the Nightwatcher's Cultivation's boon and curse was really what saved Roshar. Everything from his story was important, insightful and wonderful. I loved his Third Ideal, I loved discovering his powers, I loved that he was Odium's preferred champion.... damnation this book was phenomenal. Will probably post more reactions on ALL THE OTHER THINGS when I have time, but my goodness what a wild ride that was. And I think I speak for all of us when I say: GIVE ME BOOK FOUR ALREADY! You've had a week, Sanderson!

Alright gang, it's 11 pm here in sunny South Africa and I'm going to bed, ready to read Oathbringer tomorrow morning. Good luck and happy reading to all you other Cosmerenauts! Journey before destination!

Love that no matter where I go - even if it's a Brandon Sanderson fan forum - there's some hockey chirping going on. I'm a Senators fan!

*Goatbringer frantically opens up his iPad to check if this works*

I'm gonna say the Lopen and his new hand (if ya catch my drift)

Isn't this the premise for The Silence Divine? Maybe it's an entire planet of people who are getting sick waiting to hear what happens on Roshar.

I'm downloading it tomorrow from my Kobo order onto my iPad. I have two exams I have to study for: criminal law which I write on Wednesday and civil procedure on Thursday. Unfortunately that means I don't get to close all windows and blinds for three days and read until my heart's content; rather I'm going to give myself some Oathbringer chapters as a reward for getting though X number of pages of notes.

Not entirely sure I have specific sounds for rhythms, but when the Parshendi stormforms at the end of WoR were summoning the Highstorm, I could not think of ANYTHING other than a Haka or war dance.

Took me a minute, but I got it. Well done, have an upvote!

Jealous. I live in South Africa so I'll only be able to get it at 7 am tomorrow morning.