earthexile

I find that both the messaging and composition of Tool's music lines up magnificently with the ideas expressed in the Stormlight Archive. A Cryptic would crap his angular pants at the mathematical tomfoolery they're playing with, the harmonies and dissonances, the polyrhythms. The way numbers unfold into exquisite beauty, the way tones and vibrations seem to reach through your nerves and bones and draw forth specific emotions, somehow, like the universe has secret sounds that embody their feelings intrinsically. Any Radiant would find their lyrics deeply relatable and familiar: they sing of addiction, depression, self-destruction, of rage and disgust at the state of the World and the state of the Self, and how those intertwine... and they sing of rebirth and redemption through awareness, through perceiving the sacred and transcendent, through being here right now and grateful to be alive at all. This one goes out to Teft.

The Highstorm is of Honor, and it simply blows because it must blow. It starts where it starts, moves the same direction at the same speed, and scours across everything without regard for what's there. It is a blind, all-encompassing force. The Everstorm is of Odium, so it doesn't behave the same. It lurks, it picks targets. It's hateful like an angry toddler, smashing things with lightning but not randomly. If Odium isn't specifically trying to mess you up, the Everstorm is less terrible than the Highstorm. It can pass over Hearthstone and just break some stuff, or it can focus on Thaylen City and smash up everything.

Yep. Honor seems to be drawn to anything orderly and regular, anything where balance is expressed. Mathematics expressed as physical shapes will produce symmetrical outcomes, same thing with waves. Vorin culture connects symmetry with divinity because the signs of Honor's direct expression in reality have usually involved complex symmetrical shapes: The Dawncities, the glyphs that appear with Radiants, the way properly cut gemstones retain Stormlight much better, etc.

I think it's because the Raysium knife channels Investiture through itself and into a gemstone, and this separates the target soul from whatever else it's Connected to. Murdering Jezrien with it yoinked him out of the weave of the Oathpact, and so unraveled it. The specifics aren't clear but it apparently matters that there were TEN people in it, and messing it up at all makes the whole thing not work. Chana just regular ol' died. Shardblade death is magical and horrifying but you're not more dead than a guy who fell off a cliff.

Skybreakers under Nale are taught to revere the Law *because* it is the Law, not because it makes the most sense to them. An orderly, valid legalistic argument is more important to them than however any individual feels about something, or whether the Skybreaker in question completely approves of what it means they have to do. When Gawx becomes a ridiculous child Prime through the cynical, cowardly assent of the legitimate government, and calls for his friend Lift to be pardoned and released, Nale does it. He is completely personally certain that Lift HAS TO DIE to STOP THE APOCALYPSE, but the rightful legal authority where he happens to be standing says he can't do that, so he can't. He drops what he's doing and leaves. It is completely obvious to everyone that what's happening is a wacky farce, but the letter of the Law is being obeyed, so that's that. This is how they justify submitting to the Singer cause. The argument is presented that Roshar rightly belongs to the beings who have lived there the longest, and that their grievance against humanity is valid. And when it's put that way... I'm not sure I disagree, either. Those things shouldn't have been done. Singers shouldn't have been displaced, or enslaved. They were put here by God, on a world made for them by God, and the undeniable reality is that in this context, humans are weird aliens who came from somewhere else and took more than they were offered. The argument that the Skybreakers should have remained loyal to their species, or nations, or their own hearts, is basically an emotional appeal. The facts are the facts, but I'm a human and I don't want to be exterminated or subjugated or hated. I think that's valid, in its own way. I think it's horrible to pick up ancient grudges and just keep battling each other. But where is it written in stone that people must forgive and forget what's been done to their ancestors? Where is that the Law?

Wow good call, I did completely forget which conspiracy Helaran was thugging for. It's nutty when you lay it all out. Lin is a Ghostblood, Chana is storming Chana, Helaran is a Skybreaker, his Blade winds up with a Son of Honor. All we need now is to find out their maids were Envisagers, and Balat likes to murder bugs because he's a renegade Sleepless.

I'm carrying a torch for Kaladin + Tarah. There's an offhand mention of a curvy Alethi woman in Thaylen clothes, hanging out in a bar in Urithiru, when Shallan is teaching herself to do Veil things. She wears bright colors, and Shallan decides that she's "confident, used to playing with the attention of men," and that she seems to have "came here looking for someone." I think that's enough clues to reasonably put us in mind of Kaladin's Perfect Girl That I Blew It With. I have my half-articulated Story Sense reasons that I think it'd be nice. The back half of the story is going to have a lot to do with reckoning with the past, with getting back in touch with the happier, healthier pieces of who you used to be. All the Heralds need that, not just the other nine. And I like the idea that our Herald of Second Chances could somehow have a nice future ahead of him, when he's ready to come home and make things right. An ordinary cool human lady, one shining thing from the darkest time of his young life. One way to have something again that he's given up as lost.

Here's a weird one: No Kaladin means Helaran probably lives. Amaram's forces lose, that day. Amaram doesn't gain the Shardblade that Kaladin won. Maybe he even dies. Maybe Helaran succeeds on his mission, gets in touch with home, learns that his jerk father is dead, and swoops in to reclaim the Davar family name as a Ghostblood-aligned Shardbearer. Bam, we're Fourth Dahn aristocrats, House Davar is golden. Shallan's mission to capture the Soulcaster either never happens or gets called off, because now it's not the Only Way To Save My Family. Shallan does not get involved with the Ghostbloods by happenstance, but by grooming. Her wonderful mighty hero brother is there instead, to offer her a whole new way to disengage from the world she knows. She probably learns the truth about what went down with her parents a lot sooner, although it's hard to imagine her being ready for it.

El's "crime" against Odium was that he suggested an honorable, quite reasonable course of action. I think it's interesting that his proposal mirrored what Taravangian would wind up deciding to do, unite the world under one banner and march on the Cosmere as an unstoppable military and economic force. Rayse found this idea infuriating and worthy of punishment (though I suppose Odium would feel that way about most anything) even if it seems to make sense as far as accomplishing his goals, and stripped El of his Rhythms for bringing it up. But he didn't kill him. Or withdraw his Fused status. Why not? It occurs to me that in seeking the unity of the world, and looking past the skin of his enemies to perceive their worthiness and potential, El may have connected to Honor, the way we see Kaladin connect to the power of Odium when he's cutting loose against Lezian and partially separated from the other powers. And maybe that made him someone Odium wasn't allowed to fully smite.

If I could pick any two, I'd go Gravitation/Progression. I like the idea of an Order of heavy search-and-rescue and disaster-recovery Radiants. They could deploy with ease, flying to where they're needed, and establish healing centers and fast food production. They could easily and safely move rubble and wreckage, restore damaged crops, and so on. And I had this kind of psycho idea where they could potentially pull off an emergency rescue move, based on Wax and Wayne's "Spoiled Tomato" combo: Infuse the subject with a Lashing and a heaping helping of Progression, and just launch them away from danger. When they land, they aren't going to enjoy it at all, but the Progression ought to sort them out quickly. I'm not sure whether pouring two different Surges into a person is actually feasible, since being Invested causes one to resist new infusions, but maybe the factor of coming from the same Radiant and sharing that Identity would make it work. And I suppose you could always infuse the person with Progression and just yeet them with their belt or something.

I think Sadeas was almost an idealist, strange as it sounds. He just had a set of ideals that made him monstrous. He's a man of his culture and time. He spent most of his life at war with other Alethi, and as we know from a lot of Vorin people, constantly battling your neighbors isn't bad. It's what the Almighty wants. The Highprinces are attending parties together at the war front, while the people they 'rule' are still fighting wars against each other. Kaladin regards his time in Sadeas' army as an audition for a chance at meaningful service, not the appalling tragedy of misrule that it so clearly is. Imagine living in Vermont, having violent regular battles against New Hampshire, and meanwhile both your Governors are hitting nightclubs in Tunisia and acting like friends. Telling these traditional Alethi aristocrats to stop fighting and act like a real nation, is like trying to tell Americans to stop driving cars and watching TV. You can stand there explaining how obviously better it would be, but most of them aren't going to hear you. You'll just be a weirdo who snapped under the pressure of keeping up with how life is supposed to be. We see Sadeas make choices against his own preferences, *just* to spite Dalinar and stay fighting, while knowing for sure that Dalinar has the right idea. The uniform thing, for example. His inner monologue is that he'd like to stick to old school respectable military dress, but Dalinar's making a point of it, so he's got to make a point of going the other way. Letting his men be slovenly, disorganized, and cruel to each other, because Dalinar's being such a prude about these Codes. Leaving thousands of able-bodied Alethi to die uselessly on the rocks, men who are (on paper) on HIS side of this war. But they're Dalinar's men, so... screw 'em. His need to be the opposition and bedevil Dalinar leads him into many impractical, wasteful moves. I don't think Sadeas is a utilitarian, I think he's the product of a culture and politics designed to make men fight everything around them, forever.

After reading Wind and Truth, and then going back and reading Way of Kings? Absolutely intentional. Dalinar's entire arc is bent around the conflict between following one's heart, acting practically, and acting honorably. Do I hang all the suspects or let them all go? Can I really make this darkeyed kid a Captain just because he saved my life and my son's life and thousands of my men with acts of superhuman courage and skill? Do I marry the woman I've loved for years, even though nearly everyone around us will be disturbed and offended by it? The specific idea of 'killing one guy to benefit everyone' comes up a lot. And in Sadeas' case, Dalinar also makes the choice to fully let the confessed murderer off the hook, because of who he is, and what he means, and what he brings to the war effort. He was specifically betrayed and nearly killed by Sadeas, along with a son and army he loves, but Dalinar's the only 'good guy' in the story who really gives a rust that his explicit "yes I am going to get you some day" Enemy has been murdered. Everyone else thinks it's either fine or good. Are they right? I sure don't know. Elhokar was a useless prick for the most part, but he started to turn it around. Alethkar was about five minutes away from having a Radiant King reigning over a rescued capital, directly connected to Urithiru. The whole war could have gone different if just that one guy had made a little more personal progress. So what could another year in a city of spren and heroes have done for Sadeas? What could a changing Sadeas have done with his armies, rather than leaving them to be devoured by Odium's desires and needs? Amaram sucks, but he's not worse than Dalinar, if we want to chalk up bodies and betrayals. He knew useful things and people, he was skilled, he knew how to be devoted to a cause. His life had value, and rather than being used, it had to be destroyed. The only reason we wouldn't rather see these guys all united is that they've done terrible things and deserve to be hated. Is it wrong to hate them? It doesn't feel wrong, it feels correct and rational. The dictionary definition of "Odium:" The state or fact of being subjected to hatred and contempt as a result of a despicable act or blameworthy circumstance. It always makes sense in the moment.

The logical development for Urithiru would be to work real hard on establishing a foothold in Shadesmar. Jasnah needs to get it together and expand the scope of her Elsecalling, maybe create fabrials for it or something. That's going to be the way in and out, if the force field thing remains for long. The city can probably sustain itself for a really long time, maybe even for generations, and the people there will live an isolated technological arcology life. Jasnah and Renarin's new representative government, the political and physical isolation of the city, the bizarre economic potential of a city with Transformation abilities and infinite access to Towerlight, it's all going to be a cultural revolution. On the Shadesmar side, Urithiru is not especially useful but it's very defensible, at the top of a very long spiral ramp. The draining of Cultivation's Perpendicularity will probably lead to a mass migration of the Shadesmar side of civilization, since the whole reason so many beings are living there is the interaction with the rest of the Cosmere. One of the logical places to expect a lot of them to turn up is Urithiru. Worldhoppers and merchants whose interests depend on traveling the Realms will be racing towards the city once they hear about the situation it's in: An impenetrable arcane city flowing with endless free Investiture, that hasn't decided how it's going to work yet. Every secret society and galactic conspiracy with guys in-system is going to want to be the one handling Urithiru's needs. I think it's possible Urithiru becomes deeply connected to Shadesmar and the other worlds, way faster and more effectively than Retribution, the Listeners, or Azir can. It's going to be where the agents of the other Shards start showing up, because Taravangian is the universe's least favorite guy now. It might have a hell of a lot of interference and corruption and outside interests to contend with, but it'll all be happening anyway. And if that all goes as crazy as I think it could, it's possible Urithiru is who breaks the stalemate, and begins to act against Retribution's world. Once again, alien humans will invade Roshar.

I know she's not everyone's favorite character, but Lift's chapters and the Edgedancer novella hit me like a ton of bricks. A grown man, laid low by a deliberately goofy tween's little adventures in basic, essential compassion. Me and Nale, destroyed together. To be brief about it, being a kid was kind of weird, being a teenager was awful, and a lot of how I got myself through the lean, lonely part of my early 20s was by disconnecting. If things stressed me out too much or made me afraid, I'd let them drift away. I was barely even conscious of doing so, a lot of the time. Lost touch with a lot of people, lost interest in the wider world and the troubles of the people around me, living in a dreary rut working a pointless job and scurrying home to play World of Warcraft in an undecorated room. I had no plans. I had a girlfriend who was great, and would eventually join me in making a better life together, but she was away at college most of the time. I was always afraid she'd realize I was worthless and meet someone cooler, so I just tried not to think about it. I tried not to think about a lot of stuff. I let everything slide unless it'd get me arrested or homeless this month. I was existing. "Wasn't even like being alive." Getting better was a process of waking up again, caring about things again. Trying again. I had to remember who I'd been forgetting, and listen to what I'd been ignoring. I didn't have those Words, this was all awhile ago now. Coming up on twenty years. I tried therapy, tried the gym, all the things you do to sort yourself out. No one thing really 'did it,' nothing clicked and made me feel fixed, but something about just living as though my effort was worthwhile and imagining that I even could be better began to make a difference. At some point I realized it had made a huge difference. I would look back on my self of years past and feel pity. And I'd realized how just the attempt, just trying right now, was everything I really needed. And then I stumbled into reading these books, and I could relate to Kaladin or Dalinar or Shallan just fine. But the annoying little Edgedancer hit me like a thunderbolt. I saw my path articulated, examined, and vindicated. Codified and coherent. Sometimes hearing something you already believe can be a kind of revelation, if you'd never laid it out and considered it quite that way. The concept of the Edgedancers has become deeply meaningful to me, and I try to live like it. These days I'm working for a subsidized childcare program, which feels right in a way that my jobs mostly haven't. And I feel like I know some of what's to come for Lift, because I know what the next step was for me. There is still someone Lift has been fanatically ignoring and forgetting, the same person I was neglecting to care for, for awhile: herself. She has poured herself out on helping and healing, on being the best Edgedancer she knows how to be, but she's also been lonely and starving and delusional a lot. Letting things about herself slide away on the Awesomeness. She is going to have to look herself in the face at some point and realize, that's a person who deserves my attention and care too.

I don't think so. We haven't seen a Night Watcher Bondsmith yet, but we do know that Cultivation's touch (which seems to at least somewhat mimic a Night Watcher booncurse, whether or not She is doing so on purpose) made Lift able to synthesize Lifelight. The Sibling produces their own Towerlight, and the Stormfather is part of the force that brings Stormlight. These greater spren are connected to greater forces, and when things line up right they can draw forth their own Investiture rather than gathering it from what's already in the world around them.