Song

At the end of chapter 47 in the UK edition Ivory says "No knowledge is that can destroy you."

So I only joined the 17th Shard after OB came out, so I missed any anticipation for the new book. And one of my favourite things about this place is the fun of theorizing about the coming books. But it makes me curious about what things happened in OB that people guessed. The ones I have heard about are the humans being Voidbringers and that Glys wasn't a normal radiant spren but I am sure there were others. So what did people guess right about OB?

We only get Renarin's name explanation from Dalinar's POV. Dalinar tended to assume Evi was culturally backward and didn't understand things, but she comes across as brighter than everyone says. It is possible she named him not just after her and Dalinar but that she knew the meaning and liked the idea of Renarin being an individual, different from Alethian culture she despised. Reguardless of the in-world reasons, I suspect Brandon was very deliberate in the choice of name.

Remember she wrote him two letters which he never replied too (because her living not the dead comment hit too close to home). She might be nervous about seeing him, and bumping in to him might seem easier than approaching him, particularly now he is one of the most important people in Roshar. Though I hope there is more to her story too. Love the idea that she is a member of a secret society (someone told the Ghostbloods about Shallans new recruit...) or a proto radiant.

Shallan is doing an exercise with Ishnah where she has to close her eyes and remember the room. Gaz commented earlier about a cute Thaylen women. Shallan says this: "She's not Thaylen, but she is wearing Thaylen dress with a deep violet blouse and Forrest-green skirt. I don't like the pairing, but she seems to. She is confident, used to playing with the attention of men. But I think she came here looking for someone because she's ignoring the soldiers and keeps glancing over her shoulder." The clothes discription is too close to Tarah to be a coincidence. And it is also possible that she is looking for Kalladin as the whole of Urithiru must be talking about him.

I agree with pretty much everything you said! I didn't mind the love triangle resolution, though I feel like Shallan's issues were brushed over a bit to give the book more of a resolution than her arc had earned.

The fact that Shallan spots a lady at the bar in Urithiru who dresses like Tarah...

This is really interesting! Syl's reaction implies it is possible, but I can't actually imagine Kal giving up Syl or windrunning

I have been thinking about this for a while. It probably goes without saying that if Shallan had a friend on equal level that she trusted then maybe she could process her past rather than avoiding it. Pattern plays that role a little but just isn't quite the right personality to help. It was one of the things that hurt when Jasnah seemed to die. It looked like they were about to properly bond, Shallan saw her pain and wanted to help, Jasnah finally had someone who believed her. It had the makings of a terrific friendship, it got cut off, and the time away has pulled them apart. I think Jasnah needs to be that friend, because under her resentment Shallan respects her. And Jasnah needs a more emotional friend to move forward as a character. My theory is that someone (probably Adolin, maybe Kaladin) will have to say to Jasnah in the next book something like this: Jasnah, Shallan needs a friend more than a tutor. And so do you. Just open up to her about what is really going on with you, and see what happens.

This seems the place to ask. Do we have a Son as to whether Hoid can/has Fathered Children? I know thos is a joke thread but I am genuinely curious.

@MountainKing If all that happened in book 4, I would be a happy women! Great list. I doubt we will get all Bridge 4 as other orders but I think Rock is a definite candidate for Stoneward or Bondsmith. I suspect book 4 storywise will have some big catastrophe. We need a big fall in book 4 to prepare for the huge resolution that will be book 5.

Do we have any WoB on Adolin never being more than a side character? I keep reading comments that hint at this and I am just curious. I have sometimes wondered if he might move more to the centre in the back half, but maybe we already know that is not the case.

I like Adolin a great deal, though he isn't quite in my favourites. I was trying to work out why. I usually don't like the good at everything, popular characters. I think I like him mainly because he is behaves in unexpected ways with the characters I do like. He is popular, and fits in with his society, and yet despite his brother being the oposite he is sweet, protective, and respectful towards him. Despite dating so many women, when it comes to his relationship with Shallan he is a total dork. And after a rocky start he is a great bro to Kaladin, despite Kaladin being dark-eyed and a Radiant and a potential romantic rival. Every time I start to dislike him (ie Sadeas) he does something nice to Kaladin or Renarin and then he wins me back again.

Can we add some questions about Elhokar? I feel like with maybe the exception of Jasnah's flashback, we aren't going to get more of his story. So I would love to hear Brandon's take on what his truths might have been and whether he could have been a good king.

I wasn't on the shard back then, and it was the experience of reading the comments that made me hunt out this forum. I loved it! I enjoyed the anticipation, I don't know if Brandon writes with the slow release in mind but it felt like each week ended on a cliff-hanger. But I was also glad to gobble up the rest in one go

I don't want any of them to die! Though I am convinced one or two will! But now I want to hear your Jasnah theory

Can someone put the WoB about the love triangle? I would be curious to see. Great questions, though I suspect many would be RAFOs, given how much of the coming story rests on the answers.

This assumes that all the flashback characters will be alive for their own book, which we know might not be the case. I am convinced Taln won't survive the next book, and that a Stonewarden Radiant will be the head character of his flashback book. I can also imagine Renarin giving his life to defeat the fused somehow at the end of book 5, but that role could also be taken by Kaladin or Dalinar. I agree with the idea that the fuse are defeated at the end of book 5, but Odium is still trapped.

Yep, I suppose it is a stretch. I do love the idea of Hessina having a fasinating backstory, she is one of my favourite characters and there are clear hints she is more than she appears to be. Given the Heralds have been around for Millennia, if they can have children I would assume there would be thousands of people decended from them. It would be so common as to be pretty insignificant.

Crazy idea, is there any chance that Hessina is a straight up light-eyes? We know there are eye drops you can use to make your eyes dark. You can imagine Hessina coming from a low dahn family, meeting Lirin and deciding she was happy to live as a dark eyes for him. It would add impidious to her wish to marry Kaladin to a lighteye because their kids would be more likely to be light-eyes than dark.

Love a Renarin heavy ep! I have to agree with @FeatherWriter on illumination. I think he is has progression, illumination and the void surge. Mainly because the light he makes when battling the Thundercaste sounds like what Ym's non-corrupted Truthwatcher spren wanted him to make. But I also think that it sets up something really facinating if he does because if illumination is of honour (I am not sure) then Renarin could have surges for all the Rosharian shards. Which would have to be significant. I do suspect that the fused recognised Renarin as a fellow void-binder. The how is the interesting question.

I think the back-story will be facinating mostly because of their Mother. We know she favoured Venli and didn't like Eshoni's wanderings, and that she held on to the history of the people. I think we will have heaps of questions about the past answered, and get some huge character moments within that as her memories go. We also haven't seen much of how Venli and Ulim met, and I bet we will see hints of their relationship that Eshoni won't pick up on but as readers we will understand. I've said this in other posts but I think Venli's arch will ve much more interesting, as she carries the guilt for all that has happened (including the death of her sister). Eshoni's transformation would not have been so significant.

I didn't love the shadesmar bits of OB in my first read, mainly because the characters seemed so helpless. But I hope we get to see Jasnah and Shallan together there, that would be a very different experience. I would be very interested seeing Glys in Shadesmar and to find out how other Spren feel about the corruption.

I have really enjoyed the snippets of mama Navani- even though we didn't get to see any actual interaction, her discussion of how hard it was to parent Jasnah was facinating. She clearly loved her children but didn't always 'get' them and I can't wait for Jasnah's book to see that rocky relationship. (added to the list of other flashback books I can't wait for!)

I did wonder about this. We get it from Dalinar's perspective, who sees the name as proof that Evi isn't great with language. But the name, as well as being part Evi and part Dalinar- could almost mean- one born to be themselves. We know Evi didn't love her husbands culture, and was brighter than people supposed. I wonder if she hoped Renarin would be different from those around him, and liked the name for that reason.