Darvys

@Willow It could be that the rest of the family, seeing how Dalinar neglected one of his sons tried to compensate by doting on Renarin, which a young Adolin, not really understanding the reason behind it, could have been envious of. I think he'll focus on Moash next, i reread his scenes to fuel my hatred and noticed that he keeps repeating that what he did wasn't his fault, they made him do it, he had to let go ... Same things Odium kept repeating to Dalinar when he wanted him to succumb, so i figure he's been shaping Moash as well in part of the book. Kaladin is beyond him, he'll go for the moron instead.

The interpretation is wrong, that bit was clearly showcasing Veil taking over, had nothind to do with Kaladin's effect on people.

A lot of good things in this book, but the only thing i feel like commenting on right now is how much Moash disgusts me, i had some hope for him with his first povs but no, he had to decide to remain a fool and a tool because the world is unfair, when i reread the scene in which he saluted Kaladin, i wished for nothing more than to rip his arms out.

I feel i need to pause here, just read Rock's first pov, that was beautiful.

Hmm, i liked that theory then remembered Jasnah's talk with Shallan about Gavilar's interactions with the parshendi and how he had noticed one of their warriors make the gesture indicative of summoning a blade.

@Fifth of Daybreak One of two would not be bonded, but in that same scene both blades were being used, point still stands.

How does that fit with lending your blade to others for practice ? Elhokar spends his days focusing on maintaining his blades formed ? That would explain much in a way. I always assumed the challenge was in conveying your will to the blade, and once that was accomplished you would only need to send a command to dispel it or summon it back when you needed to.

@WhiteLeeopard That might have fit if every other radiant we have wasn't (or on his way to be) a perfect embodiment of his order's ideals, though i totaly expect some of them at one point or another to challenge those ideals and go beyond, but that's not the point. Really you could say that each character fits a mold the story needs him to, but that doesn't change that my impression right now is that trading Eshonai for Venli is a deal i wouldn't sign up for, there's no doubt in my mind that Brandon would make it work but i just can't summon any excitement for it right now. @Nymeros For the blade, we don't know how mind commands work, particularly how they are dispelled, is losing consciousness enough ? maybe, maybe not. Or maybe we do know and i forgot.

I meant the death of a character readers are invested in, we only got a set of interludes but those were enough for us to infer all the possible and interesting ways her arc could go. We could see Sadeas had reached the end of the road, Eshonai barely took a step. To throw all that away for no real reason would be a shame. Yeah sure that's what death can be like, but if characters just start dropping left and right because that's life, i as a reader will stop connecting with them, there's only so much fictional loss my little heart can take.

I can't belive so many people are considering her "death" final, such a waste just to give us an out of the blue redemption arc for the sister ? nah, for this alone i won't believe it yet, let alone the mysterious spren and the convinient reason given for her blade to be around. If there were many fake outs in the previous book, i'd expect the first real death to have meaning and impact, not leave me more disappointed than anything.

You argue over how long days and years are and how old they would be on earth but just assume that rosharans develop the same way and at the same rate we do, this argument is a dead end, one of those cases where the author can do whatever he wants and only need to say that's how it is (not that this is even an issue).

Syl stating the winds knew him and led her to him or something like that, there was also that sparring match in his youth but i went back to check and i guess it only showcases his gift with the spear (which might or might not be related). That's all i can think of right now, i can't tell for sure if there was more.

Well for the Kaladin bit, nothing yet explains his affinity with the winds, which manifested before Syl was in the picture. Regardless of its cause, whether that was a prerequisite for all windrunners or something special, we have yet to find out (i think).

Radiant spren circling Ehsonai already ? I'd assume Venli would recognize the spren used for stormform, so it can't be that one leaving.

About that scene, wasn't it odd that Syl didn't know what he did ? She always seemed to be one step ahead of him when it comes to knowledge of what they can do, but not now. Anyway, really looking forward to the reveal of his full skillset, and the epic displays Brandon has in store for us.

I think i'm going to stop reading these, all i could think after Shallan's chapter was "meh ...". Three chapters are no longer enough to satisfy me, especially when we get one from each pov, and i only end up disappointed by the slow weekly progression. So i'll see if i can hold back next week, and then wait to dive in the whole book.

@WhiteLeeopard Huh, Shallan's path is the more predictable one in my opinion, it's the discoveries she'll make in the process that are interesting. As for the Ghostbloods, you really think her ability to open the oathgate will make them even hesitate before killing her if she becomes an inconvinience ? There are other Radiants in the tower and more on their way. She has close to nothing to hold over them, she knows names and can draw pictures yes, but i'm pretty confident no one else knows them by those names and if there's one thing they should have mastered it's disguise. Urithiru is a big place, how hard would it be for the known ones to just fade away ? I completely expect Mraize and co to play her like a fiddle in the majority of this book, the girl is quickly getting too cocky for her own good when dealing with the "underworld". But all of this is beside the point as long as we don't know their motives, we're almost as ignorant as Shallan (and as hungry for truth).

I'm aware, but allowing it to happen would pretty much amount to the same, with the weight he already carries, i have a feeling Szeth will be more merciful than that. Come to think of it, doesn't take much to be more merciful than Nightblood ...

To be fair, we still don't know what he would do to someone who'd reach for the sword, and I don't think he'll start blindly slaughtering anyone Nightblood deems unworthy. I don't quite remember Nightblood's temperament, it's been a while, but i'm sure it's not the kind of being a careful guy like Szeth would readily trust. From the little we saw of him in Edgedancer, i'd say he has yet to decide the direction he'll go, he is right to question Nale's near worship of the law, as i assume back in the day the Skybreakers enforced the laws set by the Heralds, not by some dude who managed to put his chull on a throne. I'm curious to see which way he'll go, and if being on Roshar will somehow allow Nightblood to grow thanks to the bond i assume he'll form with Szeth.

@Zea mays On that note, i believe we got scenes with both Dalinar and Kaladin in which they warn themselves of the danger of relying too much on stormlight, did we ever get something similar from Shallan ? I might be wrong on my assumption, but that's the impression i have right now.

Don't latch to an idea i never said, the addiction itself is harmless, what happens when you try to fight it is another matter as Pattern explained above, that's what we're speculating about here. What the inventor called it doesn't explain how it functions, what could even "taking away" the pain be other than what i suggested ? You are quick to decide it's unrelated to stormlight healing when we don't know how the first operates and know close to nothing of the second.

I never said it would be gone, i said it would be irrelevant, harmless save for what i pointed out. We already have fabrials shutting down pain signals i don't think it's much of a stretch to assume stormlight can "rewire" you if you accept that your brain function is not as it should be. After all, it would only be part of an organ that's "damaged" and needs fixing.

I don't see how this relates to what you quoted, can you clarify ?

@SLNC Remove the physical harm and the addiction itself becomes almost irrelevant, most of us are addicted to one thing or another. The only problem remaining would be the surgebinder's limited mental faculties while drunk, i don't want to imagine the kind of mess they can make, especially if they are unwilling to let the stormlight heal them and so retain full access to their surges. Honestly, this isn't something i want to read about, it's just ... meh.

@Mulk If things were worse for the whole household i figure we would have seen signs of it during her flashback, those should be safe from Shallan's tampering with her memories. So whatever caused her to crack i believe involved her alone (among the children at any rate). I'm going to take a shot at understanding Shallan's oath situation, Kaladin's experience isn't helpful as he didn't so much regress as run headfirst into a wall by making two contradictory promises. Still, If we assume that Shallan hiding behind her lies did to Pattern what Kal's idiocy did to Syl, then as Syl herself said the only way to save the bond would have been to speak further oaths/truths. But in a Lightweaver's case, to be able to progress, you'd first need to reach the same level of self-awareness you possessed before regressing, and that's what Shallan has been doing for the first two books and into the third, she isn't even one step closer to being a full Radiant than she was at eleven (?). If this theory is true, then none of the truths she spoke to date count as an oath. This could perhaps help explain why Pattern came back an idiot where Syl retained all her memories. On the other hand, it could be that Lightweavers are not limited in the number of truths they can speak, this wouldn't contradict the WoB quoted earlier as there would be an upper limit, but it would simply be different for each individual lightweaver, as the more they are hiding from themselves, the more truths they would need to admit to reach true self-awareness and with it knighthood.