mariapapadia

I understand where you are coming from with this, but I belive that when people say "arranged marriage", they mostly think at "forced marriage". Which I don't feel is the case here. I would consider this more along the lines of "suggested marriage" .I will have to go back and check, but the way I read it and remember, this situation was presented to both Shallan and Adolin and they were excited about the prospect of having that weight lifted off their shoulders. They weren't forced into it and they were given the option of agreeing with it or not. And I think that says a lot about the way the trope and the gender roles were handled in this instance. It didn't feel to me that Shallan was to be beneath Adolin in this whole situation. That she freaks out and puts this image of "the perfect bride" and goes to incredible extents in order to preserve that, is another story.

I don't deny that on some level I would be interesting in seeing that, but on the other hand I feel it has a high probability of that getting out of hand if the idea behind this is "let's see where this is going", that is if it's not already set and planned. It's interesting to see real life issues in a fantasy book and I agree that is part of the appeal SA has for me and is one of the main reasons I read this series. But like @PhineasGage well said, when do you know reading about mundane issues becomes too much? I for one don't feel particulary excited about the prospect of exploring marriage issues. It could be interesing, but at the same time I think that from a narrative point of view, it will take too much of the focus from other characters, plus other world issues.

This made me go look in to the reddit rabbithole, because I knew I saw Brandon commenting on this once. The context was on an Oathbringer update post, where he said something along the lines of " So this is an update about YOUR book" and then some people commented that he doesn't owe us anything and referenced the Neil Gaiman article. Brandon responded to that with the following comment (sorry for being technologically inept and not providing the direct link to the reddit thread and adding this as an image) This here implies, that even Brandon agrees to some extent with the "X author is not my slontze", he knows and is aware of the promises he makes to the reader ( in this particular case this refers to number of books or how open someone is with their writing process), but I think that could be extended to expectations the author creates for the reader when it comes to the plot and characters. In his lectures he constantly brings out this point. So yes, while I agree there is a posibility of this being part of a longer game he's playing, I think is also realistically, considering how many threads are coming to life in the next books and how difficult it will be to manage everything, that there is no room for exploring Shallan's consequances for jumping into a problematic marriage. And I don't think it's absurd of people feeling this is not satisfactory or having other expectations, when they were set for those.

I do agree with the first part of your comment and how in a way it feels, so I gave you an upvote. I also feel Brandon has decided to play it safe with the arranged marriage working. While I don't think there will be any more to this plot, a part of me, after reading all the evidence people have provided wants to keep some options open. But.. since I fell for the Kaladin bait, I am wary now. Regarding his choice with placing this story in a patriarchal society.. not so much, but I have a feeling we'll disagree. I read this certain sociaty as having nuances and for the most part I feel like the men have certain advantages and women others. It doesn't solely read to me as women being opressed in this world. So far I had no problem with the way he presented certain problematic issues as race, class, mental health issues, sexual orientation , gender and for me those things read naturally and not like having an agenda of checking the most unpriviledged or opressed categories, as a lot of other books and authors do today. Nowadays it's like a trend to have a character from each category in order to be politically correct and it feels fake when all this comes out at once. IMO Brandon did a good job when he tackled those issues because he always allowed his characters to be more than a certain aspect of their identities.

I agree with you that if we expect to have kids, get married or other os those life changing things, until we are ready on all plans for them, no one would ever progress. That being said, like so many people have already said, Shallan is still not stable enought and making a child with the hope that will make her less self absorbeb or less selfish I think is wrong. There is a reason everyone thinks that is not healthy to have a kid while a relationship is not stable. The same reasoning can work here as well. There is no indication that a child would make her better and it would also be fundamentaly wrong to imply that. If she were to have a child now, that would either give her some more time to run from some problems she hasn't come to term with or would make her even more unstable. What is she can't love the child? What if one of her personas hates the idea of being a mother and then it become a never ending stuggle between different parts of herself? Of course, this is only speculation and things could go great and a child could make her better, but that is a huge gamble to take, especially when it comes to playinf with another life. We have seen in Dalinar, that yes, having a child had a great impact on him, but it still didn't make him a better person and once hell broke loose, he was a poorly father. I would at least like her to be able to be less self absorbed and give something to someone else, by being in a relationship with Adolin. But I doubt that will happen anytime soon. She doesn't even know herself well enough so she can stand on her feet and don't loose her agency while having a kid. Of course having a kid will change you and shift your whole world no matter what, but in order to don't loose yourself in that process you should at least have a basic understanding and grasp or who you are as a person and what your values are. Shallan has been sheltered for most of her life, she;s been in the real world for only a couple of months, it's true she's been trough a lot in those months, but in a way I feel like she is still learning and her views are challenged daily. I don't think she is mature enough to have someone else's life in her hands right now. That being said, I can agree that it would be interesting to have her go through this whole experience in some future books, maybe after she went through some growth as a person. In regards to Dalinar, I think you have a lot of aversion towards him. I feel like you only look at his bad traits, instead of balancing things out. He is even aware of how undeserving he is of his wife and that he wasn't such a great father. Yes, as a father he did a lousy job, he was selfish and he still is in some regards, but at the same time his problems with alchoolism are relatively recent, the world is ending and he just remembered the monster and lousy father he was. His sons didn't even know yet, what he did. He's just finding out. It's not ridiculos to think that he was overwhelmed by this and his first thougts weren't straight to his kids, who on the surface appear to manage everything at the moment. And I think he's even trying to better himself as a father, we see that scene in OB when he comes to one of the scholar's meetings only to support Renarin and for him not to feel that uncomfortable. It's baby steps. Now that he knows what he did, he will bear the responsability of telling the truth and work even harder on the relationship with Adolin and Renarin. But considering the world is ending and he is an important pawn in everything that's happening and bears the responsability of saving human kind, I think the work on his fatherhood is not the most pressing of problems, even though is important. He is a flawed human and he can't do everything perfect. He did and will make more mistakes down the road. EDIT: The only mother perspective in fantasy, beside Navani, that comes to my mind is Catelyn Stark in aSoIaF. It's been a couple of years since I read the books and some things are fuzzy in my mind, but I think she was really into protecting her kids and talking about them. I remember being annoyed by her character, but it wasn't because of that. I just didn't like her for some random reason I don't remember now. On another note.. The topic has changes since yesterday, but I wanted to say something. I think it was one of your comments, @FuzzyWordsmith, on one of the previous pages, I can't find it right now, where you said something along the lines of Brandon failing as an author if this is the end/conclusion of Shallan's arc. Sorry if I'm remembering things wrong. I think that is unfair and it disregards all the wonderful job and writer and human Brandon is . I've also been very vocal about how poorly I think this arc has been handled and if this is the end of it, I am dissapointed, but you can't say that when Sanderson did and accomplished so much more than this. These books are so complex and have so many layers, that sometimes things have to be prioritized. Nobody is perfect and it's a shame everything can't have the turnout we want or expect, but not being able to do a character justice, is not the worst thing possible the grand scheme of things. I know it sends a wrong message, but Brandon isn't god. And while he bears some responsability, as we all do, to put a positive message in the world and be good members in our society, he never signed up for the job of giving life lessons through his books. I think he even says it at one point in a Q&A, that he doesn't want to preach or for people look at his books like lessons to live by. He writes the books as he sees fit and I think it;s impossible for him to bear the responsability of how people will interpret them. That would hurt his creative process, always being aware of how a certain thing could hurt or trigger anyone. Overall I think he expresses a great message and values through his work and yes, sometimes he might not be ideal or perfect. Of course, this is just my opinion, but Brandon's books gave me so much more, that even though I critizice him and I am upset about some things, I can't give up on him as an author only because of this.

Actually I think he was about 14-15 when we see that in him. The scene that comes to mind is the one with him, Laral and Tien, when they were looking for stones. That can be counted for adolescence and a pretty clear indicator of how his personality my evolve. It's true he was more lighthearted then and he was like that only sometimes, whereas in the present that is more or less his constant state as a result of what he went through. What are you saying?! Kaladin spends most of WoR judging and bein prejudiced towards Shallan because she's a lighteyes. Yes, in the end he comes to a resolution and he accepts that she's not that bad, but that doesn't change the fact he thought the worst of her and was treating her harsh. The way Shallan acts towards Kaladin, especially in OB I think is a result of her not wanting to accept her attraction to him and the fact he killed her brother. I know he doesn't hold that against him logically and it looks like she doesn't care that much, but I think in her subconcious it matters. Especially because she never adressed it, as far as we ve seen, and my belief is that if you don;t let something out, it will always be there nagging.

Look, I have been one of the most vocal people from what I have seen, before the release of OB to say that reducing characters to tropes, especially in the case of Shallan and Kaladin's relationship is unfair, since the same can be easily done for Adolin. I am well aware that Kaladin is so much more than "dark" and "broody" and those traits are a product of his upbringing in that certain society, but for the purpose of the post, I chose not to go into full Kaladin characterization and chose two problematic traits that can be disscused when it comes to relationships. I am not saying you can't call someone out, I just think is unfair to dissregard why she is like that give how she was brought up. She didn't have any examples and in a society where this is consider as normal, it would be unlikely for her not to regard those norms. She's been in the real world for a couple of months now and I am sure her opinions and attitude towards others will change, but you can't expect that to happen overnight, when she was brought up like that for 17 years. I am not saying to give her a pass, but that it's unfair to consider her a bad person because of that. You're saying the exact thing about Kaladin, he is the way he is because of his hardships, why couldn't the same argument be made for Shallan? Kaladin was broody, even before Tien's death and being enslaved. We see that from the beginning.

I feel bad in a way to reply, because so many people already jumped on you, but I also wanted to add some things. Personaly I like Kaladin and Adolin the same and Shallan is my favourite character between the three. If we were to talk what makes reading more exciting for me and I am sure for a lot of other people, I would gravitate towards a dynamic like Kaladin and Shallan, but if we are real here, I will always pick Adolin as a life partner. I feel like a lot of people find it fun to read about the broody,dark and passionate character and it's been romanticized a lot, but it real life it doesn't work at all. Anyway, my point is I would've been happy either way, because I pretty much like everyone and I am here for conflict and character development and I was sure this love triangle could've bring some interesting scenes. So I am not only "accepting Adolin, but preffering Kaladin". I genuinely like and can find strong arguments for both. Where Brandon did a mistake, or at least I think he did, was when he was obviously hinting at a love triangle that didn't have any conflict, confrontation, growth payout. As @Dreamstorm greatly summarized it a few pages back, all of this could've been skipped and it wouldn't hurt the story in any way. I really love Brandon's writing and I do think that the is incredible, but here he left a loopwhole that people can criticize him for. I feel like in general, a story is good when something is tied up so neatly, that removing anything from the story would hurt it and you couldn't imagine it without that certain element( character, plot, scene, fight etc) . In this case, Kaladin's conclusion about Shallan and how to be able to cope&smile, could've been achieved without him pining over her the whole book, the same goes for her conclusion about Adolin. So I don't really see the point of promise something and not comit to it. And I say this, because Brandon always has said the writer should be really careful when he makes promises to the reader. If Adolin and Shallan were supposed to be endgame from the start I would've like to read something more powerful from them, I would've like to see their relationship go through some sort of difficulties, instead of being baited with Shallan/Kaladin. I don't want to point fingers at anyone, I do think everyone can twist and present things in a certain way, so they would fit their narrative, but if you look on the beginning pages of this thread, you will see a lot of people liking Adolin and complaining about the payout, because it didn't make sense for how the characters played in this book . I did read your posts about Adolin and Shallan and I do agree, they could be great together, but I think at this point Shallan isn't there. You said how good Adolin is for Shallan and I totally agree that he can offer her a lot, but I don't see what she can bring to this relationship for him rigth now. I think Dalinar's and Evi's marriage is the best example. On paper you would say "Hey this is really good, she is so great for him and can offer him a lot of love, compassion, understanding" and all that. But we've seen how that turned out. I don't think Shallan is on the same level of brokeness as Blackthorn was, but she is troubled and right now, instead of being in a marriage that requires effort and selflessness, she should so some soul searching and reflect a bit on her problems. This is why I don't think them getting married was the right move. I've also seen a lot of people complaining about how annoying, selfish, mean, classist Shallan is and I have to admit I think that was quite harsh and unfair. I feel most people forget that she's only 17, it's normal to be self absorbed at that age. It's not like she grew up in the perfect loving environment or had any examples of that. For how sheltered she was and all the trauma she got, I would say that being mean or classist sometimes are the least of her problems.

I really hope this goes on the OB spoiler board, I am not that great when it comes to managing threads. Anyway.. We've got some interesting stories in Oathbringer : The girl who looked up, the story about the 3 moons and the one about Nankhet, I feel like I am missing one, but these come to my mind now. The one I wanted to talk about, ever since I read it in Oathbringer is the Nankhet one, about a king in Jah Keved. It's in the beginning of one of Jasnah's chapters. One king that in 3 months has 6 assasinations attempts, mostly from his family or people close to him. He survives all of them and gathers the people who tried to kill him for a feast then kills them one by one, only to die choking with the food and having no one else there to save him. What I am curious to know if anyone has heard of a similar story or has knowledge where the inspiration for this one might have come. I am asking because there is a story in Romanian folklore that has a similar synopsis and outcome : ruler that was having problems with his subjects, invites them to a feast, then burns them and I think he dies as well. I highly doubt there is any posibility of Brandon knowing about this, as it's a very obscure story, not translated in any other language and I don't think he has any knowledge about Romanian literaturre, so I wonder if it's a motive/plot popular in other cultures as well.

i died

holy rust! you guys are crazy ! I browse this thread every morning on my way to work and I read some posts and make a mental note what to reply, then when I get home there are 3 more pages! When do you guys have time for this ? it's so funny because it reminds me of when we had to discuss a book or analyze a character in highschool for literature class and I was dreading those classes, when we were nit picking every little detail trying to understand what the author meant. Who knew I would grow to enjoy it ? I... will probably try to come with something more meaningful to say, but it's hard to keep up with you!

I had problems with it as well, but I wouldn't consider it poor. Of course, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. That beeing said, I don't know what your experience with Brandon's book has been before, if you had to wait for them or not, but it sounds to me that a big part of your discontent with the book was with expectations you created. I have noticed that on myself, since I've joined this forum that I became a more aware reader when it comes to these books and of course all the endless disscusions, set me up for potential dissapoinments. This was the first of Brandon's book that I waited for, since all of his other works were already out when I was interested in reading them. For me it was the most anticipated book ever and I don't think the hype ruined that, but actual things that everyone mentioned above. I don't think the problem with this being not as good for some as the others is Brandon having too many side projects. Actually I think those help him a lot and he said multiple times that he needs those in order to keep working on SA. The epicness that is SA can become really tiering and such a creative person like him needs other outlets of expression as well. In a creative field you always need some distance from your work in other to see some things better, analyze and get inspiration. Good books, paintings, songs etc don't come from working non stop on them. Haha! it's funny how we have complete opposite opinions on some stuff. I actually found WoK really slow when I first read it. It took me a while to get into it and it only picked up for me around the middle. While I was reading it the first time I was thinking Kaladin's arc was soooo looong and boring here and there. So on my first read I just thought it was ok. On my secon I flew through it and couldb't belive how I could consider it slow in the first place and by the 3rd re read I absolutely loved it ! Hopefully something similar will happen to OB as well. Haha! Another instance where I totally agree with you. I loved the Shadesmar sequence as well and I liked most of the new places we got to see, but somewhere deep downI missed the Shattered Plains so much The feeling that the first two books created for me in regards to the setting is one of the things that I love most SA. It was so vivid in my head and it grew on me so much.That and the fact that I don't deal well with change in a series of show, after I got used to something for a long period of time, made me a bit less excited about some of the otherr places we've seen in OB. Maybe I'm nitpiking here or arguing semantics and in that case I am sorry, but the sentence I highlited implies that other of Brandon's works are one dimentional, which I don't think is ever the case. Especially when it comes to Cosmere books here or SA. OB is great because the other two, which I would never even think of as one dimensional, created the world and the setup for this third book to be great. As a lot of people have said, the first two are still complex and explore a lot things, but also wrap the plot in such a satisfying way and give the feeling of self-contained books, while I don't think that happens completelly with OB. I didn't have big problems with the pacing in this book, but I though part 2 was a bit too long and sometimes slow for me, as I wasn't that interested in all the POV's of Bridge 4 and some broke the rithm. Also, the end sequence had a big of a wierd pacing. Of course these are just my 2 cents. 1.WoR 2.WoK=OB For me Words of Radiance is still the best Sanderson book I've ever read and right now I would put WoK and OB at a tie. WoK grew on me and it became and I have to give it more time and rereads to know exactly if I like OB more or not.

I knew there were some other things in the back of my mind, but i couldn't pin point them. But you raise some very good points, especially about Dalinar's talk with his sons. I guess this isn't a thing to resolve in just a few pages and would be an ongoing challenve/conflict Dalinar has to deal with in the next book, but i would ve at least wanted to be adressed here. I feel like we got a lot of cool, flashy stuff in this book which is amazing, but one quality about the SA ,so far, has been the how the less epic moments were adressed and tied up everytime and how those confrontations even though they weren't supposed to become big, stand as great. We've had 2 fake deaths in the last book and we didn t got to see the characters immedoate reaction/thoughts for any of them. @Subvisual Haze huh! I never even realised that but you are totally right. I feel thought, Teft came to his third ideal and then everyone got back to Thaylen city, so you have to give them some credit for that. But yeah.. It s like windrunners are popping out like mushrooms after a storm. We better get to see some of those honorable men do some honorable things. I am in a moment when i m starting to nitpick at things, but i do it because i became more self aware as a reader after spending time on this forum. But ultimately Brandon wrote a good, complex book, i can only wish to be as good in my field of work as he is in his. It's ok to have a critical view even when it comes to things you like. And of course so much depends on individual expectations and everyone s reading experienve is different.

As a big Hoid/Wit fan I liked him in SA because even though he puts this careless face, he's always been there when someone needed him. And that was happening before OB. In WoK he is aware of Renarin's situation and instead of moking him for it, he teases him in a positive way ( that's how I read it at least). He was there for Shallan when she needed to hear some things, both in WoR and OB. I feel like he generally gives people a push or a lesson or mocks the ones that need to be mocked. I was only aware of him after I read a couple of Sanderson books and I started looking more into Cosmere. So in the beginning I started liking him because he always had good stories and he made me laugh. It's not just the mistery surrounding him, that's a bonus. But I never read him as an annoying character. Probably only in Secret History a bit. These are not the strongest argumets, but for me it's his vibe, not the hype.

Hahaha ! Thank you ! Fortunately or unfortunately, I am still in withdrawl from all the emotion and anticipation, I built in me waiting for Oathbringer, so I still need my daily Shard dose I am sorry to hear about your depression. It's hard to get out of that dark place, but I'm happy you managed to find a balance with someone and it works for you Every relationship and experience is different and unique to those people, but there are always some lessons and general things you could draw out or summarize. It often happened in my case, that my ex(s) was feeling guilty for things he couldn't control or a burden, because I was trying to pull everything together on my own or couldn't be there for me when I needed it and that always ended up in a spiral where he blamed himself, then I would feel guilty for him feeling bad and so on. But he was oblivious to things that actually happened as a result of his actions. It takes a lot of selfawareness to function in a relationship like that. It's a neverending cycle , this is why i think it depends so much on the other person accepting they deserve to be loved and cared for In my experience a person who stuggles with long time depression, mood swings or has low self esteem issues, ends up being really vulnerable and a lot of their feelings intensify. Sometimes that allows one to create a connection on a deeper lever or makes them really unstable in some situations. In any case that requires a lot of patience and comitmment from a partner. And there is no better way to give back or greater joy for someone that truly loves you than see that you love and actively take care of yourself. As cheesy and cliche as it sounds " we recieve the love we think we deserve", whether that is in a romantic relationship or not. Anyway.. I am blabbing.. I don't know at this point I won't have any other expectations when it comes to romances in books. It's too emotionally draining to stress about fictional character's love life (Who am I kidding ? I am already waiting for Lift and Gawx ship to be built )

From what I have seen here and there, he doesn't look on this forum, but he is mostly active on Reddit. Also, I've seen multiple videos/interviews of him saying that he won't let himself be influenced by the general opinion, but he will write the story as he feels right, even if some people might dissagree with some of the choices he makes.

I agree that in the "heat of the moment" with giant stone monsters, a maniac god and an army of posessed soldiers, you don't question who helps you and you take what you can get. But it read incredibly wierd for me and I could've go with that for the battle part if we would've had at least an explanation on page after. Instead, Szeth just becomes Dalinar's new bodyguard and overprotective Kaladin doesn't even question it. .... WHAT?!?! It just makes my mind hurt. I was also really anticipating their talk so I feel like I was deprived of that. OHHHH... OHHHH! Don't get me started on Moash. The more time it passes, the more I hate his character with a passion that comes from Odium. I didn't even hate Joffrey that much. The last character I remember hating so much was Umbridge. So given that, Moash's chapters and his whole arc was a total waste for me, when we could've had his space to tie up some other plots in a more satisfying way. I understand why it was done that way and I totally think the fast sequence of multiple POVs is the way to go in a situation like this, but this time it just didn't work for me. This was the first Sanderson finale, that didn't left me emotionaly drained. It started like that, but after the "you can't have my pain scene", it went down on normal levels for me and I didn't feel like anyone was in any kind of danger anymore and some parts were just tiering to get through even though they were half a page long. There were some great parts in there, but I feel like they lost some of their epicness in everything that was happening. Actually my problem was with them having little to no dialogue in parts 3 and 4. I wasn't interested to see Shadesmar through their perspective necesarilly, but see more of that juicy banter. Some dialogue between Syl and Pattern. Having all three together + Syl+ Pattern, I expected to be explosive. I can barely remember any intervention of Syl in part 3. The bits we had of Syl in Shadesmar were some of my favourites. The Girl who stood up was one of my favourite chapters in the book and it was promising so much for Shallan's development and acceptance, but then the ending with Adolin blew it. I've already written essays on the Kaladin-Adolin-Shallan disscusion thread, so I won't go to much into it here, but for me Shallan choosing Adolin for the reasons you mentioned, read as her looking for an ancor, validation or healing through a romantic relationship, instead of finding herself on her own. So needless to say, that the conclusion of that was another drawback for me. Anyway, I can see where you are coming from and respect that, in this case is mostly a matter of preference or taste. The more I think about it, the more I realise I loved some scenes a lot, but that doesn't translate to the book as a whole. It's like when you love some clothing items individually, but when you try to put them together in an outfit they might not work that great for everyone

Pff... I should get a life or do something productive instead of being consumed by this forum. But.. here we go. @SLNC Oh! Firstly I'm happy to hear I influenced you in sharing such a personal story. Secondly, I know how hard it must've been and I am glad in the end everything worked out well. Since we are on the sharing business.. I wasn't sure if this was the right place to share this, but this is a shipping thread with people who are too emotionaly involved for their own good in the love life of fictional characters, so I don't think it will be the most wierd thing to happen. My ex wanted us to get married, because I was good for him, I stabilazied him, I was "making the darkness go away"(literally those words. I couldn't help but roll my eyes at the cheesiness), I was always there for him, I saw " the real him and accepted it", bla bla.. Basically all the reasons Shallan told Adolin in her big speach. Well.. despite those things, it didn't work out. For a relationship to work you have to be partners, to share and take care of one another. It's not only one way. Most of the times when you are in a relationship you become really selfless and you want to see your partner happy and you confuse that with doing everything only for them. But one of the most precious gifts you can give them is to love yourself, to take care of yourself. It's really easy to lose track of that. in order for everything to be ok between 2, you have to be ok as an individual. As @PhineasGage well said, you can't expect them to carry you all the time, instead of walking side by side. This is where my problem comes in the resolution of Shallan choosing Adolin. Shallan doesn't know herself, Shallan doesn't love herself and to look for validation through Adolin is doing both of them a disservice. I don't want to see Shallan loving Adolin, I want to see her loving herself, forgiving herself, finding herself and AFTER that she can be with Adolin/Kaladin whoever she wants and I wouldn't have anything to object. While those question marks still exist I don't think it's right to be with someone, as much as you love them or you feel they are good for you. Works both ways. I wouldn't have liked Kaladin to be with Shallan because she "makes the darkness go away". Most of the time when it comes to depression, the darkness will never go away, but you have to learn to accept it and learn to live with it. I feel like Kaladin is somehow on that path and maybe soon he will be able to be with someone. But before that he has to master it on his own. I mostly agree with some of the arguments you make in favour of Shallan and Adolin and it's true that they were going on a good path. But for me it felt like they were in the middle of their journey and they were teleported to the destination, skipping the second half and all the potential struggles and growth that would've come to it. Also as a general thought and a response to no one in particular, but some things I saw here and there. One can't say there wasn't any trace of a potential for Kaladin and Shallan, because it's very heavily implied with the chasm scene( + others) and the poorly adressed thoughts in OB that there could've been something to explore there. That the author and implicitly the characters, choose to ignore it in the end, it's another story. But the end of WoR left us with a promise not for Shalladin, but for conflict, that was not delivered. I don't know where I'm going with this post, but.. yeah ALSO! I really don;t think we'll see more of this in other books. It was pretty clear from Kaladin's side as well ("I don't think I ever loved her"), plus the wedding and everything else, that this subplot it's pretty much done. Even if we would see something more, I would find it distasteful to poke at things once they are married, when you had all the chances to do it before. I don't find that scenario to help anyone or bring something to the story, but would only produce drama and transform it into a soap opera. Plus there are other things happening for this to become an actual subplot Let's be real, if Brandon didn't do anything when he had it on the table, he won't do it after he wrapped it up.

Trapped in bed for 3 days, with the grey Stockholm weather, a cold and a bucket of tea

I don't want to sound harsh, but I don't understand how this is healthy, RL or not. I've seen others being ok with it because of this reason and I really don't get it. It's about the message that is sent. I don't think in any kind of circumstances(books, fantasy, real life, vitual life whatever kind of life) reinforcing the idea of healing through a romantic relationship is a good thing. It's also unfair to the other person to use them as a fixer. There is a difference in having a support in a partner and putting it all on him/her, which I feel Shallan does in this instance. I think there could;ve been other things explored in their relationship or other motivations for them being together, rather than "he is stable for her" as one of the main focuses.

I have a feeling that Gavilar was somehow involved in what happened to her as a child. I am not sure if she said that someone from her famility did that to her, but what Navani said to Dalinar, that he wasn't the man he thought he was and Gavilar's annoyance/ dismissiveness when Dalinar asks him about Jasnah, made me suspect that he had something to do with it.

Things that made my icy heart melt in this book (in no particular order) Teft saying the third oath. That, the Dalinar scene and Elhokar's death were the only things that made me cry Dalinar's "you can't have my pain" Jasnah's moment with Renarin and Dalinar, reading WoK When Renarin comes to Dalinar with a bottle and he cracks and hugs him and they cry on the floor Ash and Taln's lucidity moment Venli bonding Timbre and her realisation that her friend/partner (I'm forgetting the name now) is dead all of the Nightblood(one of my favourite characters) moments and Szeth Syl explaining to Kaladin what humas do behind closed doors Evi, it broke my heart that from the beginning everyone was so dismissive and was treating her bad Lopen saying he tried to cry to pretend he's broken Wit being there for Shallan and in the epilogue Lift casually appearing in Dalinar's vision with Odium Adolin taking Kaladin from the fight when he broke down and distracting him in Shadesmar Syl telling Kaladin that is time for someone else to save him I think I could go on, but these are some of the first that pop into my mind

I know, I know. She did some pretty cool stuff in this book, but her highlight for me was when she eviscerated Amaram. I was trembling with excitement, especially because it came after she chastised Shallan so many times on her quick tongue I can't wait to find more about who tormented her as a child. It's totally unrelated, but I got a major Lisbeth Salander vibe when I read that. I also enjoyed her bickering with Kaladin and the person she is when no one is looking. Like when she talks with the two informants and she's amused by them or how she puts this strong face for the world, but is really affected by her fathers death.

I don't have anything with cheesy dialogue in private, but in public or PDA.. that just makes me cringe

I would say Renarin bonding a corrupted spren. Because it's directly connected with someone from Dalinar's family and they already have problems with trusting him. I think it will add up with the whole Dalinar hiding visions of Odium from them and the highking stuff.