earthexile

He seems to have been a Surgebinder. He could very well have walked up the cliffs.

An aluminium blade would not hold up against iron and steel in battle, it would get smashed into scrap. Shardblades are truly indestructible as far as we know.

Adolin and Renarin have both had POV passages about how cool they think Dalinar is, I suspect that they would have at least mixed emotions if they knew about his role in her death.

I suppose it could still be painted from the last time it belonged to a human.

I suspect that the Vorin Almighty is really Odium, but they've convinced themselves they follow Honor, similar to how they've convinced themselves they aren't the Voidbringers. Vorinism has some really sick ideas hiding inside it, like the idea that slaughtering people just sends angels to Heaven to fight for the good guys. If you like killing, being really good at it is a GOOD thing. All of the Vorin people who become Radiants so far have been outcasts and heretics, which suggests that a connection with Honor is anathema to Vorin doctrines somehow.

Even if you're not into Venli chapters, remember that all three books so far have featured progression and cool moments for the whole cast of characters. Oathbringer was "Dalinar's book" but everyone got to shine, just like Dalinar had his storyline in the two prior books. We won't miss out on the humans. I don't think you're right about Venli being a minor character, either. She's the last of the Parshendi tribe, the first Parsh Radiant, she has a direct relationship with Odium and the Fused. She was the person who damned her own race, like a sort of dark inversion of a Messiah. The Parsh are weird, but I'm looking forward to spending more time with them and learning more about them.

Another thing to consider is that the Highstorm is connected to the other Realms. If the creatures are spren, maybe we are seeing their full-sized expression as they would appear on the Cognitive Realm.

I've been thinking of them as Highstormspren. The Stormfather is a spren of storms, but it's also the Cognitive shadow of a Shard, by way of human conceptualization of the Almighty, etc. etc. The gigantic, many-legged whatevers that live in the storms seem like more basic spren, the sort that accompany fire or rot. They are the storm as a great beast that strides over the land.

Sebarial is a civilization-builder, a logistics genius who likes the finer things in life. He is the kind of guy who will help put things back together after it all goes bad. He sees darkeyes as people. He is contemptuous of all the shittiest parts of Alethi society. I think he's the man.

Lightweavers are better at presenting an acceptable image.

It seems clear that the Oathgates are using Transportation, and they are extremely precise. Maybe the surge is easier to use in some places than others, and those places were chosen as the locations for the Oathgates for that reason. The cities could have been a secondary thing, the way cities always spring up around hubs of travel and trade.

It could always be some kind of Spanreed situation, where there is a central hub that one can exchange messages with, using Invested technology.

The First Oath is really nothing more specific than a declaration of determination. I want to survive as long as I can, I want to be strong as long as I can, I have things I want to accomplish while I'm here. The Punisher could swear the First Oath with a straight face.

Overall I love Oathbringer, but I also have a lot of questions. And not the fun Cosmere Mystery type of questions, I mean straight up logic questions like "Are we really all just going to be cool with the Assassin in White being here?"

I think the subtext heavily implies that Renarin was quiet and withdrawn, right from the start. Dalinar fails to take an interest in him because he doesn't see himself reflected in the child, the way he does with the robust and athletic Adolin. There is never a point when anyone says "Wow, Renarin has really changed from when he was a kid." In fact he does go through major changes in front of everyone, but they're all so used to him being weird that most people fail to notice.

It looks to me as though those designs are for wind-powered airships, rather than pulled by creatures.

I'm pretty excited to see the rearrangement of social structures over all of Roshar. We are seeing the first signs already. The loss of parshmen has Alethi reduced to work that used to be considered beneath slavery, like carrying water. Female shardbearers are popping up and gaining power, especially Jasnah. Human cities are submitting to the singers willingly. ITS GONNA BE WILD

We know Szeth can't lash shards, it's in his narration in the very first chapter.

Some quotes about Rial, all from Oathbringer: Dalinar eyed the man. Clean-shaven, he was a little pale for an Alethi and had dark brown hair. Dalinar vaguely thought the man had shown up among his guards several times during the last week or so. He liked to roll a sphere across his knuckles in what Dalinar thought to be a distracting way. "Your name?" Dalinar asked as they walked. Here we have a whole bunch of clues. Worldhoppers are traditionally hinted at by slight ethnic offness. He's arrived since all the big magical stuff started happening. He's got a weird habit, like someone who spent his life handling coins rather than spheres. Most interesting, Dalinar accepts his presence despite usually being very strict about the Codes, and his mens' appearance and behavior. Rial mouths off to the Blackthorn like he's deliberately trying to piss him off. "Where did you get this habit of questioning officers?" "It isn't a habit if you only do it once, Brightlord." "And you've only ever done it once?" "Ta you?" "To anyone." "Well," Rial said, "those don't count, Brightlord. I'm a new man. Reborn in the bridge crews." That sounds like the kind of thing you might say if you didn't think you could bluff Highlord Kholin with a fake Alethi military background. I'm sure people have noticed by now that the bridge crews provide a way for random dudes from anywhere, regardless of background, to find themselves as personal bodyguards to the Highlord. It's the perfect cover for a Worldhopper who wants to keep tabs on Dalinar. Oh, and the place allomancers come from is ScadRIAL. But that almost seems too obvious.

This may or may not be related, but Dalinar has a certain bodyguard named Rial. Rial has a habit of looping a sphere around his fingers over and over again, the kind of thing you do with a coin, which apparently isn't a thing most people do. He's always got a flask on him, and even though he's been reprimanded for it, he openly admits where he's hiding it when Dalinar asks. Despite his insubordination and apparent on-the-job drinking, there's just something Dalinar really likes about the guy. It feels like being around an old friend. He likes having him around, he kind of can't help it. That dude is an Allomancer, I'm certain of it.

Imagine if New York City was the only group of humans to escape Earth. You would wind up with a ton of white, black, and hispanic people, many of whom lived together and intermarried all the time. There would be somewhat smaller, somewhat more separate communities, like the people from Chinatown. And then there would be even smaller, very isolated communities, like the Orthodox Jewish, who remain private and together because they have a very different concept of how life is supposed to be lived. That's kind of what Roshar looks like to me. There are a couple of races that seem to be everywhere, and familiar with each other, sharing language, religion, writing, and customs about gender and sexuality. There are a couple of somewhat more separate people with somewhat different ways, but who still mixed with the majority, like Horneaters. And then there are the Shin, who totally do their own thing and have their own divergent ideas about how life is supposed to be lived. Roshar could very well be populated by the descendants of one large urban society. I have this idea in my head of a big portal in Times Square that's only going to be open for a few hours.

Dru is Drehy's boyfriend, and at this time everyone thinks Drehy died in Alethkar.

I like what you're thinking, now add this: We know that some of the early myths about Voidbringers and such, were actually about Humans. Humans who, somehow, have damaged the Parsh in such a way that their souls remain bound to a cycle of violence. Maybe they're the ones who got kicked out of the Tranquiline Halls, they are the Dawnsingers after all.

It would have been nice if there was more foreshadowing about Bao. The Aiel trade with Sharans, don't they? They should have heard news or rumors about a new leader taking over the country. Rand and other powerful male channelers should have sensed mysterious flares of saidin, way on the other side of the Waste, when Bao was using Sakarnen. Maybe a population of escaped slaves washes up in the south and shares crazy-sounding stories about the Wyld. Something! As it is, you're right, the whole Sharan army pops out of nowhere with a complex mythos behind it.

Transportation also seems to be how she casts her Transformations at a distance, instead of having to touch things like most Soulcasters.