cfphelps

Regardless of whether they care about the land or the people, they still need supplies to be an effective fighting force. The number of Fused is still relatively small compared to the whole army of singers, which need to eat. Plus while they may not care about the humans who are slaves and servants, without them to do the work, the function of the army collapses. The point of scorched earth is to prevent the enemy from having the supplies needed to effectively wage war. So I think it would still be effective against the Odium forces. That said, I agree radiants, especially wind runners, might have moral issues with it, so you might have to run a modified version where things like weapons are stolen or destroyed to prevent their use against the coalition, but that wouldn't directly cause people to suffer. War is war though and any way you slice it, people suffer and die, and not necessarily the ones that have any control or responsibility for the war, as Kaladin has mused in the past. Currently he's having trouble doing the "us vs them" thinking that let him fight before, but book 4 may have him progressing past that hurdle.

Lots of great info in that interlude! Most of my thoughts have been covered by others, but I do want to say that it's possible Dalinar gave Kaladin additional duties leading/training the surgeons, that adds to but doesn't replace being a soldier. Syls talk about her past bond doing civic works shows there are ways wind runners can protect without fighting. Dalinar and Syl's conversation makes it sound like Dalinar noticed Kal having a hard time getting pulled in so many directions and gave him changes to try to break the cycle. Based on him mentioning what he's been told, it seems like he is aware of Kal's depression and has had someone research it for him, or had a pretty frank conversation with Kaladin himself. Cord is definitely being setup to be more important in the story. Did Rock give her just the plate to keep her safe, or does she have a larger roll to play? Did he keep the blade? Would carrying a dead blade that has so much bad history with Kaladin, not to mention discouraging any spren bonding be a factor to Rock's decision? Syl mentioning The Lopen spren suggests that they've been continuing to work together over the time gap, so hopefully regardless of Kaladin's new duties, he still works with Bridge 4 closely.

I think the consensus is that Sadeus didn't betray them and it was a frame up then having Sadeus' uniforms. It's certainly an interesting coincidence that Sadeus would say that he didn't even think a rock slide could kill Dalinar and then someone tries with a rock slide though. I don't believe there is a direct WoB in this, but I'm sure if there is someone will post it up!

Actually the way I read Szeth's chapter of Oathbringer where they are hunting the escaped criminals at the pure lake is that they DID want them to think through everything for themselves. The other proto/squire Skybreakers just looked at the task on the surface, and went off to kill the escaped criminals. Szeth "passed"/"won" the challenge because he thought about it enough to realize that the lord in charge of the jailer was the true criminal here. Yes, that's still following the law/code, but it is thinking for himself the implications of the situation and drawing his own conclusions about who is at fault, rather than just assuming the escaped criminals should be punished by death and that's the end of it.

I always interpreted that part of Brandon's answer to mean he hasn't gotten plate yet, so he must be third (as opposed to being a level high enough to have it), but "he doesn't get plate (at any level), so it's harder to keep track of where he is" is an interpretation that seems even more valid than the way I did, so glad you posted this!

That's a fair point, there's still just so much we don't know about the Shin. Szeth trained in all the surges, so obviously some people in the society are able to use Stormlight and the blades, but the interaction in the Rysn interlude makes it sound like soul casting things is so rare it doesn't really enter into their economy. At the same time it's a little difficult to draw any firm conclusions since both sides of the trade try to be overly humble about their offering. The Shin farmer may have been putting on a show about how rare soul cast metal is to make his offering seem relatively worse.

They don't have soul casters but trade for metal that was never in stone.

Certainly, what type of chair would you like that served on?

Kaladin offers Windy talks Killer of Wrongful Truthlessness Kitchen of Wyndle Tacos

I'll have to go back to that section then, but I thought the description was similar to how they had described dead plate crunching rock.

The time when Dalinar pulls Venli into the vision and Odium breaks in strongly hints at Dalinar having plate, since he uses his hand against stone to slow his descent down a rock wall when the area is crumbling down around them,which Venli notices.

Tried to answer as honestly as possible and not "game" it based on order knowledge. Stoneward, Skybreaker, and Windrunner.

Amaram gave him the brands so it makes sense that he'd be hyper aware of them when facing him again.

In the same scene as Rock shooting the arrow doesn't Kaladin even remark that Stormlight doesn't enhance strength that much? Are we assuming he's an unreliable narrator in this case, or that perhaps different orders get a different balance of the benefits from Stormlight and maybe Rock will be something else instead? Also noticing that the bridge felt so much lighter might just be Stormlight enhancing endurance and healing any body damage from the strain, similar to how it allowed Dalinar to lift the stone chunks with full strength and Stormlight healed the damage the effort did on his body. The fact that the entire bridge crew was able to draw on the endurance of Stormlight would make carrying it much easier. I'm in the camp that there's more to this than just Stormlight, and that something special about Rock either let's him gain more of a benefit from Stormlight than normal, or something special about him not related to Stormlight makes him way stronger (at least compared to Alethi norms) . Like someone said, during sparring Kaladin was shocked by his strength and that would presumably be before Rock was using Stormlight even unconsciously or before Kaladin had progressed enough to have squires, so that to me is hinting at more than Stormlight.

I disagree. His methods are different with refusing to fight, but he's always been willing to put himself in harms way to help his team. From early on being one of the few to support Kaladin earning the possible ire of the rest of bridge 4, to donating his rations to feed the injured. Losing out on half of his already stingy food portion when you're subjected to the physically trying bridgerun definitely can be risky beyond just the discomfort of being hungry. There's also the time when they are approaching the bridgerun where Kaladin plans to distract the Parshendi with their bones, his response is, "This thing you are doing, it will be dangerous?" when Kaladin answers "very", he says "can I come with you?". He even takes up the bow to protect Kaladin, which breaks his vow of not fighting. Not willing to fight to protect is not the same as not being willing to risk himself to protect. If anything it's even braver putting yourself at risk unarmed.

He already gave Oathbringer to Dalinar, so he only has one blade left. I don't see him giving it to people he barely knows (Shallan's family) when so many horneaters have struggled so long to get shards. That said, since he is unwilling to fight, he may not want to keep the shards himself. Although after killing to save Kaladin, and with his family depleted, maybe he steps into a role that uses shards at least for what they represent to the peaks.

If I remember correctly Azure mentions someone that matches Hoid's description (who Kaladin recognizes as Wit) showing up with the aluminum sheets and helping/instructing them to use it to shield the room, when Kaladin gets her to spill the beans on what's happening.

He did explain that "the Lopen" was started by his cousins because he's the only person named Lopen they've ever heard of. Also it's somewhat convenient about his cousins, however it also makes sense that he would only mention them when it could be of use. Either way fun to think about Lopen having more going on! I do think one of his big purposes is to level set us on the "all radiants are broken" thing though, but maybe there's more!

@Goatbringer or should we call you Goatboi? Does she apply the Boi suffix to people you meet in real life too, or are they reserved for books?

Agreed. When he pulls Venli into the vision and Odium is breaking into the vision, it strongly hints at him having a shard gauntlet on his hand as he slides down the rock.

He learned complex medical subjects very quickly, knows gliphs which is rare for dark eyed men based on the reactions of bridge 4 and understands battlefield tactics (when he isn't so depressed he forgets the big picture). Fairly quick of wit when he verbally spars with Shallan he does decently well.

But when she has Mbot relax the shielding slightly, she heard the varvax saying that her experiences were being overwritten and she couldn't even see them (they were wrong because they didn't know about Mbot's shielding capabilities). This means they were clearly aware and responsible for breaking into Spensa’s mind.

I believe after the purposeful cave in they do as part of the repair process (I think to get Mbot out to test things maneuvering only on impulse thrusters) Spensa asks him to hologram to make it look like the cave did before and hide himself, but I'm not exactly sure.

When Spensa escapes the debris field and gets into space above Detritus at the end of Skyward, the varvax prison guards there encounter her. They are scared but remind each other that the illusion is active over Spensa and she can't even see them. Of course this is wrong because Mbot was able to shield her from the effects, but it strongly suggests that the varvax guarding Detritus are able to use Cytonics to replace what someone sees and experiences. It's possible this doesn't even require the "victim" to have the defect. In Chaser's case he was able to hear the FTL communications and was drawn up to the space station, where they were able to apply the illusion. We don't know if not being Cytonic means the illusion can't force its way in or not. Either way it seems like the prison guards were able to make him think that the humans had lost the battle of Alta and he was fighting the Krell, attempting to avenge his wing. That's why he was taking with such sad hatred.

This was my impression as well