king of nowhere

obsidian is a kind of glass, so there is little distinction

it's actually even weirder than that. shallan's past is a gold mine. you keep getting nuggets and more nuggets. we got the last big piece at the end of book 4, and we suspect there may yet be something more for book 5. do note that most everything we gradually discover is true. it's just not the whole truth (I hate when mystery stories go about "oh, but we've been lying all along, the truth is X. and 100 pages later, no wait, that's actually false, the truth is something else". I give up those stories, because what's the point if you're just fed lies all along? but "there's another detail that changes the context", that's something I can get along with)

consider that most alethi wars are petty things. the highprinces are constantly battling each other for minor territorial gains, all the while they are supposedly united. it really makes no sense to get themselves killed in those conflicts.

nice to see that you're picking up pace; it's the mark of a good book. you are in for many surprises there. shallan's plot starts slow, but it has some great payoff. you'll have to wait the end of the book to get the answers to all the secrets, though

when a friend does not remember a conversation you had with him in the past and you accuse him of having been swapped by a kandra

it's not really a spoiler. it gets implied in passing at some point once, and it's even easy to miss. it's a small piece of characterization on a very minor characteer in a very big book. I'm still putting it under spoiler, but there really isn't any amazing revelation there

some of those interludes are purely for worldbuilding. interludes are there for stuff that doesn't fit into the story proper. regarding the spoilered question, we don't know.

don't forget the red sun, but it should be easy to change color palette

regarding a SA adaptation, I really doubt it's happening anytime soon. at least, nothing we'd actually want to see. Do you have an idea how much it would cost? There are spren all the time you've got to add. You can't even shoot on the outside, because they have a different ground and different plants. The buildings look different from out own, because of highstorm considerations. There isn't a single scene that wouldn't require extensive and expensive editing. I've never heard of that kind of money being spent on a project like that. At most we can get something animated, that would certainly be feasible - drawing spren would not be an issue in that case - but it's not quite the same thing.

dalinar is not stupid. he is absolutely right in questioning himself. I dare say it's a required quality of a good leader. Ok, he's a major character, so you know his visions are right. You know that, because if dalinar was a random madman we would not be following hi pow. but dalinar does not know that. in fact, dalinar has every reason to think he's going mad, and he's taking rational decisions. Would you want to be ruled by a religious fanatic claiming to receive visions from god and making policies according to them?

there isn't any spoiler to it. Kaladin was called stormblessed in the military, because of how all-around remarkable he was. it basically just means he's da boss. and everywhere he goes, he keeps being a boss, so he keeps earning that title.

It may interest you to know that the epigraphs are collected in the coppermind wiki: https://coppermind.net/wiki/The_Way_of_Kings/Epigraphs So you can read them all without jumping through the various chapters. saves some hassle. but beware of spoilers Dalinar and Eshonai. You still haven't met the second one.

I would not want to give spoilers, but since you are explicitly asking, I will vaguely say that

nothing more detailed was stated

actually, it was stated that they tried to scuttle it. made a couple holes in the hull, left it to sink. except that modern taylen shipbuilding is better than that. modern taylen shipbuilding is migthily impressive, when you think of it: a ship adrift for five months, with no crew to care for it, with the storms and everything, and with some holes in the hull, and still it didn't sink.

You are making good observations. All of your questions will be answered. But most of them, somewhere along books 2 and 3. The stuff with the old radiants and the heralds, especially. the payoff is worth the wait, though.

Rereading dawnshard, I noticed a detail that's hard to explain. The book opens with yalb finding the first dreams, the ship that tried to reach akinah and had her crew murdered five months prior. The ship has been adrift for months, so it should have followed the oceanic currents. Meanwhile, while Yalb's position is not specified, as a scouting ship he should be somewhere in the southern depths, or in longbrow strait. it doesn't make sense for him to be further west, in seas that are firmly controlled by the enemies. So, the first dreams must have been found there, east of aimia. the problem with that is that, as far as I know, it is ascertained that the oceanic currents are circling the continent of roshar clockwise. It fits with the climate, with warm water coming down from the steamwater ocean and making taylenah mild for its latitude, then getting cooler and becoming a cold current by the time it reaches aimia, justifying the difference between the two lands that are at the same latitude. furthermore, by the coriolis effect, storms in the southern emisphere rotate clockwise. So, the currents should have pushed the first dreams north, up past the coast of shinovar and iri, and into the steamwater ocean. All territories controlled by the singers. unless it made a full cycle and returned to longbrow straits, but five months seem a bit low for that. Maybe? So, where did the first dreams drift when yalb found it? did it return all the way to longbrow strait after circling the entire continent? was it pushed by highstorms all the way across the endless ocean until it fully sailed around the world (but how did it survive highstorms in this case?)? Was it maybe in the reshi isles north of jah keved, near human-controlled lands? I'm probably overthinking this

Those kind of social mores don't drop overnight anyway. Only in bad movies the hero does something and suddenly everyone goes against everything they've ever being taught. Culture changes slowly. Dalinar said it right: if you want to change the world, distinguish yourself in this important position, and show everyone that a darkeyes can lead. All of human history shows that prejudices are dropped gradually. First exceptions are made, then gradually a significant fraction of the population becomes in favor of more equality, then gradually laws are made that gradually reduce the discrimination. But even when the law states that there must be no discrimination at all, it still remains ingrained in culture for a few generations. And after it's been cleared from mainstream culture, it still remains in subcultures. It went that way for racism, for xenophobia, for women emancipation, for voting rights, for social mobility, you name a process of social inclusion, it went that way. Kaladin and Dalinar have ushered several important changes, and culture has already shifted as a result. I guess that darkeys battallionlord wouldn't have been there if somebody hadn't set a precedent. If kaladin suddenly waved his hand and the world became egalitarian, I wouldn't find it believable. Furthermore, I wouldn't be so harsh to judge the vorin system. Every culture has values that other cultures would find abhorrent, and every culture works in its historical context. Pretty much every culture was heavily discriminating in the past. And it had to be; our modern system of social right and equality only works in a rich industrial society. Emancipation from serfdom can only exhist if the society has the resources for public schooling - which requires that many people are removed from working to teach; in a society that depends on 90% of its population to be farmers to eat, that's just not feasible, nor is it feasible to grant much social mobility if you still need that 90% of people working the fields. In a society with the kind of child mortality we had a few centuries ago, it was necessary for women to make many children to replenish the population; and with most work being hard physical labor, and women having to spend most of their adult life pregnant or breastfeeding, emancipation just wasn't feasible. Today we look at those old values as bigoted and backwards, but in a low-tech society they are needed for survival. Of course, in our own high tech society, they are detrimental - we no longer need lots of farmers and mothers, but we can never have enough educated people. The point I'm trying to make is, we can't expect roshar to suddenly embrace modern values. It can't happen, and it would be detrimental for them anyway. They are hitting an industrial revolution, though, which will likely cause that shift in values gradually over a few generations. And all this will happen regardless of what anyone does.

While all the arguments for the stormfaker are sound and certainly possible, one reason I'm in the "real stormfather, prior character development" field is that brandon likes to deconstruct, reconstruct and justify the fantasy tropes. And one of them is the jackass genie, the powerful supernatural entity that's bound to help you, but will try not to. I mean, the stormfather is not particularly cooperative with Dalinar, he withold information and often fights back for no particular reason. And the stormfather would be killed by odium; he's got even more to lose than humans. Why the stormfather would be so obstructive? And if this prologue features the real stormfather, it makes perfect sense. The stormfather tried to cooperate, he tried to give gavilar all he needed. In turn, gavilar swindled him and tried to use him and his power for personal gain. The stormfather got a lot more mistrustful of humans, and he's been oppositive partly as a test of character to make sure dalinar is really committed, and partly for fear of being taken advantage of again. it's the perfect setup to how the stormfather behaves now

the kholins are not regular shardbearers. gavilar alone put up a better show than all the people at vedenar combined. dalinar too. this make me think that gavilar+dalinar would stand a much better chance. it's also possible that szeth was a lot less effective against gavilar because he wasn't as practiced as he was in vedenar, after he'd already performed many killing sprees. which makes no difference, it still means the kholins would have stood a better chance.

Disagreement here. Dalinar didn't because you don't sentence someone for murder just on the word of a single person. If general khal, or teleb, or anyone else of dalinar high-ranking officers had accused someone of murder, i'm sure dalinar would have reacted similarly: by asking for proof and conducting an investigation. And that goes whether the accused was a highlord of third dahn or a darkeyes. I doubt even king elokhar could have someone of third dhan arrested just on his word - though he certainly could arrest a random darkeye. And even most darkeyes can't be sentenced without trial. I don't understand why people expect dalinar to throw an exception to that. Kaladin himself should have known it. Actually, the only thing that should have gone different was that dalinar should have announced to kaladin his intention of making inquiries. because remember, dalinar did make inquiries - and he got 17 different people confirming that amaram won his shards months after kaladin was enslaved. So he didn't take jkaladin's word lightly. that he asked 17 people means that even after he asked 16 people, and everyone confirmed, he still went to the trouble of asking a 17th, just for confirmation. I wonder how kaladin would have reacted if he had known that

Just rereading WoR, I came to the point where Dalinar fights Szeth and loses. he realizes there that he could not have saved his brother 5 years before, the assassin would have defeated both. is that so? i never bought it. gavilar put on a good show against szeth on his own. he actually came close to winning, in the end. dalinar was never close, but he resisted for a minute or so. while wounded and without plate. two people at once have a much better chance than two people alone. I'm sure szeth could have defeated dalinar and then gavilar one after the other, but both at the same time, both in plate? Judging solely on how the fights were described, I'd have bet on the kholins.

1) kaladin is a hero and savior for dalinar and his army, and we only get told the story from their point of view. for sadeas, he's a traitor and terrorist who deserted his place in battle to join the enemy and undermined the whole plan. for the other highprinces? many of them would have rather seen dalinar dead. in the view of many, kaladin is somebody who took sides in a conflict that wasn't his. 2) regarding amaram, dalinar had been amaram friend for over a decade, and amaram has a spotless reputation. So, assume that a guy you hold in high esteem - someone whom you met recently, but who saved your life and gained your trust - suddenly told you that your best friend, whom you've known a very long time and have a spotless reputation, is a murdered. You certainly wouldn't believe that just on his word; yes, you won't discount this new gfriend, but you also would not just go and arrest your old friend. In fact, as an authority - somebody who passes judgment - dalinar cannot sentence someone for murder based just on someone's word. it's basic justice. Dalinar did the right thing: he investigated. I'm sure, in that situation, you'd also have tried to investigate. And he got 17 different people swearing that kaladin's story didn't check. would you trust one witness against 17 just because the one did something heroic? 3) in the arena, again, we're told from the pow of kaladin. from the public perspective, adolin has been alternative between 1v2 and 1v3 the whole time. kaladin came in and distracted one opponent for a while. sure, great skill, but the winner is adolin, with some help from kaladin. actually, renarin also kept an opponent away, it can be said that he contributed as much as kaladin. No, i actually agree that kaladin wasn't given enough credit. his battle skill is incredible. i'm sure, if he had asked for a socially-appropriate boon at a more appropriate time, he'd have gotten it. the only one truly ungrateful there is elokhar. 4) as for everything else in general, dalinar said it right: you won't change things by going around raving like a lunatic and challenging important people. kaladin is fighting an uphill battle against his whole society. not just that; he could get good recognition there; but he's pushing too hard against ingrained traditions. he keeps doing inappropriate things and insulting people and their beliefs, even when he's got no reason to. it's unsurprising that he eats up all the good credit he earned otherwise.

I would not read much into any italicization, capitalization, or lack thereof. the text we have is a transcription of an audio recording. the guy who wrote it down could not know whether brandon wanted those words italicized or not. and i've seen a few mistakes on capitalization, like one word is not capitalized. unless it's meant to represent an accent subtly slipping, but it's a huge stretch. regarding shallan's mother as chanarach, there are enough coincidences that it can be considered almost certain. and it does explain why she'd be so adamant in trying to kill her daugther when she bonds a spren. However, I don't see the narrative point of it all. an herald taking up a normal life as wife of a noble? she doesn't behave like any herald we saw. in the few scenes with shallan's mother, she never seem unhinged - well, except when she tried to kill her daugther, of course. and all for what? a revelation that would pile a bit more trauma on shallan because she didn't just kill her mother, she *gasp* started the desolation personally! Nah, I'm not seeing it. I'm confused. On one hand, it's highly unlikely that there was the exact coincidence of the death time and the specific mention of hair and all that was not done intentionally. On the other hand, I can't see how this plot twist could make the story any better, and I can see many ways it would make it worse.

If tanavast merged with the stormfather, then gavilar was still interacting with the stormfather. The way i see it, every mild difference in mannerism can be easily explained in the very same experiences the stormfather was having here. We often complained on how uncooperative he is, and this explains it: he tried being cooperative, and he got betrayed for it. He gave informations, and gavilar used them against him. As for the herald stuff, it could have been the plan back then, before the desolation started. Find new heralds, restore the oathpact. Then the new desolation came, and the plan changed. After gavilar, the stormfather dtarted giving visions to a random guy that was killed by taravangian's silent gatherers, it's in some epigraph. By then dalinar was changed - and perhaps cultivation also implanted connection in him. Anyway, the stormfather must have realized that a random guy taken from the street, no matter how good he could be, can't do what he needs - he needs someone who's already in power. Cue dalinar... I find all the small discrepancies a lot more easily explained by character development on the stormfather in the intervening years. More easily explained than someone else hijacking the stormfather. Edit: though i will admit, there is enough ambiguity that i would not be overly surprised if i was wrong Also, it's incredible how errorgant gavilar was. He was meddling big time with forces he didn't understand. He was trying to manipulate them, but all those forces were manipulating him. Good job in conveying all that, brandon