Sliverofnone

WOB confirming your thinking.

Some pretty serious Evil destroying, yah?

Yes. I think he means unite all peoples (including listeners) and spren against Odium. As seems to be a consistent theme in OB. I can't seem to find any WOB excluding the possibility of un-sharing a shard. This could be another meaning behind 'unite them.' if Odium is to be stopped, they need a shard, preferably two, considering Odium's previous history.

WOW! Can't wait for next week. Best cliff hanger ever! I think that all arguing the spren-as-shardplate theory must be pretty happy this week with all the windspren hanging around. Infusing spren other than the bonded one is pretty good evidence. I would think that Shallan would have a similar relationship with creation spren too. At least Pattern seems to be as jealous/peeved at them as Syl gets with wind spren.

If the Everstorm is the opposite of the Highstorm, and if it is similarly a spren, then the champion of Odium can be the one who binds the Everstorm. If it turns out the the Everstorm is the final Unmade, I like this theory, we saw in today's chapters that KR can supplant a nahel bond. Which means one of the characters we have seen already can become the Champion. The champion of Odium, would be an surgebinder of Odium, and an opposite of the Bondsmiths. Kinda fits?

As Ishar is the herald of the Bondsmiths, and he has gone mad, what if he flips and is the traitor/ champion of Odium? Maybe bonded to an Unmade?

As great of a battle scene as that was, I think I enjoyed the philosophical debate between Dalinar and Mr T. I thought that Mr T. would veil his 'greater good' philosophy, but it seems he is very genuine about his belief in that. Hang all 4 is exactly what he has been doing, to save all, he sacrifices as many as necessary. This will be a great driver of the KR strategy moving forward, I mean this definitely puts Mr T in the driver seat for second bondsmith role. Also, the fact that Dalinar is being rejected by every kingdom is certainly pushing him into becoming the warlord again. I think this is pretty significant, given that this conflict is mentioned in the Diagram. Will he become the warlord, and a ready ally to Mr T, or will he continue the path of the peacemaker, and gain the enmity of the diagramists? It certainly would provide an excellent contrast with the background chapters, where is war lust is unbridled. I can't wait for another Dalinar/Mr T chapter!

I think this WoB that explains why the effect is feruchemical and not allomantic. Basically, it isn't the metal that is responsible for the power, it is the filter, like the aons in Elantris. Storing a feruchemical charge in a metal changes the structure of the metal, which filters the investiture differently and more powerfully. The feruchemical charge changes the metal in a way that allows more feruchemical investiture. @Yata agreed, was writing when you responded.

I believe that Elhokar has two sets. He lends one set out for training/dueling lighteyes.

Anyone else get Ruin vibes from Dalinar's battle scene? We know that Odium is playing the long game. He is still trapped on Braise, (whatever that entails) but can make use of the Unmade. Considering how we have seen Shards manipulate humans, this must be something like that, if only a little piece.

I think these are definitely the most interesting chapters so far. I think that the Kaladin story line will finally go some where soon, and I can't wait for a syl-voidspren encounter. Also, confirmed that Ialai is not a ghostblood. I thought this might be the case because it seemed her interests were singularly focused on consolidating power for Sadeas. And another confirmation that the stormfather is not responsible for Dalinar's memory coming back. The best though was the first on screen appearance of Mr T. he is definitely playing the fool, everyone assumes him to e a simpleton, and this gives him and advantage. He can say things to elicit different reactions and he will be dismissed easily. The fact that he asked Dalinar if he would seek the path of the warlord, I think, is hint that he at least is not on a dumb day. When I read this I immediately thought of the passage in the diagram that says if he seeks the path of the warlord, he could be an ally, but if he seems likely to sue for peace to remove him (don't have my copy handy, so I'm paraphrasing from memory). Of all the silly questions Mr T could have asked on a dumb day, would he have asked something that refers directly to the diagram? I think he is probing to see where the diagram would apply, given the coming of the everstorm, Dalinar becoming a radiant, and Urithiru being discovered. This will have to lead to some tension between the two monarchs befoer they can come to any agreement, if they are able to reach one.

This was my immediate thought when I read it. We know that all the heralds have gone mad. Maybe this is what has happened to Jezrien. He has latched on to his 'king of the heralds' title and is maniacal in this interpretation. Would make sense.

I completely agree. I am really enjoying Shallan's arc here. A little bit of dark and scary peaking in and we haven't even gotten to Mraize yet, let alone a Jasnah reunion!

How many people know that Mraize is a Ghostblood do you think? They are not shy about tattooing their mark, but could Mraize be playing a role?

Mraize's day job is as man servant to Ialai, so he can finance his evening and weekend Ghostblooding...

The best part of the chapters today was Mraize's first OB appearance IMO. I wonder if this has to do with Sadeas' proximity to Amaram and the Son's of Honor, or whether Ialai herself is connected to the Ghost Bloods. There is certainly some connection between the Sadeas' and the Sons of Honor, I think. In WoR after Amaram joins Sadeas on a plateau assault, Amaram says that Sadeas alone knows him like no other, and is bound to him in that way. Whatever the meaning behind that interaction was, it did not deter Amaram's further investigations for the Sons. I do not think Sadeas himself was party to any of the Sons' agenda, but unless there is something else he had on Amaram, it must be his secret associations. If Sadeas knew then Ialai was likely the one to discover his secret. So if Ialai herself is a Ghostblood, was she waiting to learn what she could from Amaram? She was not, as far as we know, acting to deter him. Perhaps she was the one to put Mraize onto Amaram's trail. She is clever and informed, and definitley has an ulterior motive, but it did not seem that her cause was further than consoldating power under Sadeas. I think Mraize is taking advantage of the turmoil in the Sadeas camp, and making his presence there more deliberate. It will be great to see where this goes.

I think this is really close to the mark. There are definitely similarities between Shai's testing of soul stamps and Shallan's attempts to create an identity. So far we have only seen Shallan disguised as someone else, but not really becoming someone else, until the OB chapters, where she has really began to make a change similar to Shai's essence marks. I think this will definitely be the struggle for her character. We kind of saw this with Brightness Radiant, I think, when she drew Adolin in a stance and strike and was able to replicate it. It would make sense that Shallan's powers allow her to forge her soul into a different version of herself with different experiences, just like Shai. But I think that she could also transform herself into someone completely different and lose herself in the identity, as you suggest. This should be a very interesting read.

True, that is her first spoken truth, but is she really a murderer? She killed her mom and Tyn in self defense. Her father's death is a little muddy. She was protecting Balat, and her family at the time, but also avenging Malise's murder, but would you call her a murderer? I'm not sure that I would, its a grey area, and I think that's what makes this path so interesting.

It wouldn't break her truths, but she spoke the first oath, 'life before death.' I was just speculating on the possibility of her committing murder as Veil. So there is a WoB that Adolin killing Sadeas would not be excluding him from the KR, but do we know what Pattern would be ok with?

Yeah, I agree, this is definitely different. At first I saw similarities to Wayne, but this seems more extreme. She is going to lose herself in these illusions. Veil is already starting to go full on Ghostblood and its only Shallan's 3rd(4th?) chapter. Here we go!

I am really excited with Shallan's chapter. I hope this goes very dark, and Shallan goes full on La Femme Nikita, complete with substance abuse problems. I find it interesting that she did not heal the wound on her hand and just ignored it. How long until Veil actually kills someone? Would that violate her oaths/truths? I think it is definitely going to lead down a very dark path before it gets lighter and I can't wait to read it!

-Mr T. getting one more day of perfection. -Someone figuring out shardplate and telling me - A herald doing something heraldic (-ish), but something cool -KR/VB deathmatch, with or without thunderclast devastation -literally anyone not withholding important information (looking at Kaladin) -unmade getting into the mix

I get that its the most obvious, but it seems too close what happened in Mistborn Era 1. I think that we will see something different for Eshonai.

I'm not sure it has to be one of these 4. The back cover for OB has 5, the captain, the spy, the stonewalker, THE TRAITOR, and the king. Granted the traitor does not need to be the one who will become the champion. It could refer to a few possibilities, I like the idea of a Herald. Taln's mind being broken a la Manchurian candidate?

I agree with @Tai'shar-Malkier @jofwu. I imagine that Shallan's story arc will inevitably be to reconcile the personas/lies she has created to protect herself and to save the world. I think that the reason the Lightweavers speak truths is to ground their identity. She will have to grow has a person and radiant, and continue to speak truths about herself. If she doesn't progress, or becomes trapped in her illusions, denying her truths, this will break her oaths as a Lightweaver.