king of nowhere

I dismissed the idea that it was not jasnah so far, but after rereading the phrasing, I also believe it's not her. She's already a godless heretic, nobody would need further proof of that. jasnah would have more likely written something like "proof that a godless heretic such as myself is not to be trusted". I am now more in the "dalinar dictated the book" field.

I'll go with "somebody threatened his wife if he didn't stop, and dalinar called their bluff". Even with the thrill, I have a hard time thinking he'd go as far as killing a woman he obviously loved. Unless... unless he didn't really love her enough to want to forget, but it was more about guilt for how she died. First of all, we don't know when it happened, they may have been both farily grown up when it happened. Second, those are important noble people; historically, the children of important nobles were raised more by nurses than by their actual parents, who were more like distant figures too important to be bothered by the needs of children, even if those children were their own. In that case, adolin and renarin simply wouldn't feel much attachment for their mother in the first place. Third, not everyone who goes through something bad develops mental trauma, and most who do overcome it by themselves. Some people are stronger than others, and I already commented that adolin seems pretty strong to me in that regard; a lot of stressing/traumatic things happened to him during the first two books, and he was doing a pretty good job of hoolding himself up until the end. I don't think losing his mother would have scarred him in the long run. Can't speak for renarin, we've never got his pow.. I believe feeling no grief was his boon, and forgetting his wife was the curse

Well, it makes more sense to group the voidbringers in units around 1000 strong. Consider it: earthstone was a medium sized town, and it had some parshendi among the castle servants. How many? A dozen, maybe two? If two dozen voidbringers attack every village, the villagers with torches and pitchfork can repel them easily enough. End of the voidbringers. You could then try to mass up a huge amount of them, but that would be impractical: first thing, they would need to travel across all roshar to gather, and that would take a long time. Second, and most important, voidbringers still need to eat, so having too many in one place is not optimal, as they lack supply lines or an economy capable of sustaining them. So the best use of this force is the middle way: gather all parshendi of an area into a mid-sized fighting unit that is capable of pillaging a town, but can still live off what it loots. Have hundreds of those units around all of roshar. Assault the farming communities, they are poorly defended but they play a vital role in the economy. Yes, they can soulcast food, but they would not have farmers if it was practical to soulcast on such a large scale. Start chewing at the roots, undermine the economy and the army will fall.

Yeah, with everything moash owes kaladin, I was expecting that when kaladin stood for the king moash would have thrown away his shards and declared his support for kaladin out of sheer trust earned. failing that, as kaladin was unarmed and in no condition to fight, moash could have simply ignored him while he proceeded to finish the king. that he had the guts to punch the man who saved his life, trained him to fight and got him shards... ouch. As moral standing go, moash is the lowest one in the whole stomrlight archive. I can't think of anyone who did things as despicable as he did. Not roshone, not amaram, not sadeas himself, though the latter is the only one who can compare. Also, I will upvote your post tomorrow if I remember to do it.

As for Navani, Dalinar said that whenever someone pronounces the name of his wife he cannot hear it, and whenever he sees a painting her facce is smudged. It is likely that if navani told him the story of his wife, dalinar would hear nothing of it, or he would forget immediately afterwards anyway. Reminds me of a guy with a mental illness that prevented him from making new memories. He was stuck believing he was in a certain day in 1973, and while you could explain to him that it wasn't the case, he would just forget in a few minutes. As for the glass, it is high enough that it is above highstorms, which also means no crem. But yes, it should still be quite dirty. Maybe it is. Aluminium cn be soulcast. During one of shallan's flashbacks, she was gifted an aluminium necklace, and it was remarked that you could only make aluminium by soulcasting. I wonder who discovered it first, by the way. I would so much like to upvote this, but out of upvotes. I didn't even realize I used so many today. So, how exactly does he unite warring highprinces with his surges? Does he stick them together with adhesion? I don't think it will work Absolutely This should go under SPOILER. It contains details from the thrill. Already the name of shshshsh is revealed like that. By the way, does anybody notice how shshshsh is a good alethi name? very symmetrical if the h can stand for everything in symmetry But knowing that the chapters are out and you haven't read them is more painful, and knowing that everybody on the 17th shard will be speculating on them and you'll be missing the experience of it is even more painful! Gotta choose the lesser evil I read that statement as "they will dismiss what I'm saying because I'm heretic". Of course everybody knows she's an atheist, but it may hurt her academical credibility on roshar. And epigraphs don't need to be red herrings all the time. The letter looked like it came from Hoid, and it really did. Navani's diary was really navani's diary. Sometimes a cow is just a cow. The concepts of atheism and divinity are ill-defined, as most of the things that we take for granted. In ancient times, everything with power beyond humans was considered divine. You imagine a guy in the sky throwing lightning, and he's a god, because he is superhuman. Then came the monotheistic religions, with the idea of an all-powerful, all-knowing god. So the superhumans got demoted to just superhumans, saints at most. And one who does believe in superhumans but not in an all-poweerful god can be an atheist. But in the end what's more defining is the attitude: do you think you should worship something as a god? if not, you're an atheist, even if you believe in an enthity greater than yourself. Tvtropes call this attitude nay-theism

There was a thread that got locked and deleted but got infamous enough that many still remember it. And there was at least another thread on the topic of human-spren romance, which was ok and didn't get locked, but only concluded that we have nowhere near enough information on the topic and that syl is still way too childish for that at the moment. We'll have more ammunitions for it after we get the fulll book, though.

I don't read it as kaladin becoming a fashionista, but merely as an indication that roshone is fallen very far for a lighteye of high rank. you don't need to care about fashion to figure out what a specific attire means. As sadeas said to dalinar on this very topic: you are avoiding the fashion game entirely with your uniforms, but those who play it should do it properly

1000 meters being symbolic doesn't work because roshar doesn't have meters. anyway, urithiru has 100 levels, so there's that for powers of 10. not every number can be rooted in symbolism

Showing a shardblade together with all the rest points to an even greater thief. I doubt people in earthstone know enough of shardblades to realize the oddities, and even if roshone realizes the eye color change and shape change don't fit with a regular blade, he's not likely to buy the knight radiant as an explanation, nor is anybody else. I mean, nobody knows anything solid about the KR, so showing something assumed impossible and justifying it that way will definitely look like a trick. Especially if they are already suspicious of you; say, for example, that you have a shash brand and just punched a brightlord in the face. EDIT: ninja

From the tone, I get the feeling that the book is written either at the end of the whole story (after all, jasnah is rather busy right now, i doubt she has the time to write a storming book), or after something particular happens. So, it does not really iimply death of dalinar; I'd say dalinar has even odds of making it to the end of the five books without croaking. in the second five, he'll probably be either dead of old age, or very old anyway.

it is impressive for us sedentary people, but a well trained men can do that easily. men have impressive endurance compared to other similar animals. every physically able person can learn to run marathons with some training. kaladin is a soldier accustomed to marching. 50 km per day is within his capabilities. it is also in keeping with the general fact that kaladin has grown much. he remembered other people as big, but he is now bigger than they are. the town soldiers were strong and intimidating, but now that kaladin fought with real soldiers he knows them to be third-rate. roshone was the height of fashion in town because he was the only lighteyes, but now kaladin has been around highprinces, he knows fashion much better. I am surprised there was no remark about the castle itself being smaller than kalafin remembered. I hope not, I like navani.

I was surprised when no mention of dating was done. It was stated that adolin had dated all the women of proper age and rank in the warcamps, and in WoR every single time he met a girl - or even when a girl was simply mentioned! - dialogue implied they had been dating at a point. I wonder if May could be a romantic foil, as we have been told that there will be Shalladin moments in the book.

In a previous version of the chapter, he was referred to as Teleb, and the same name identified one of dalinar's officers who died either at the tower or at narak, I'm not sure. But this final version doesn't have the name, so it is slightly possible that brandon has decided to retcon it and give the archer another identity. Not very likely, but still possible

When there are some posters advertising a "cashmere" shop, and you misread it as cosmere. Every. Single. Time. You see one of those. When you play dungeons & dragons and you throw at the party a bunch of infernal zucchini that can take control of people (it makes sense in our group; don't ask), and you put among them a few people with zucchini stuck where their eyes should be and call them zuccchinifolk inquisitors. I also considered giving them inquisitor-related powers, like pushing and pulling on vegetables and use it to throw bundles of carrots against the party, but I ultimately decided there's a limit to how much I want to get surreal. but did he specify whether in a minefield or in another context?

He wanted to stress adolin to the breaking point, beause that would weaken the whole kholin family. He didn't anticipate that adolin's first action as an insane man would be so unpleasant to him It makes me wonder on the account of being broken to bond a spren, adolin is broken in a very different way from kaladin and shallan. K&S are truly broken and will bear scars for the rest of their lives, even if they both recovered and managed to function well enough. But no matter how much they recover, they will never recover fully. Adolin, on the other hand, isn't really broken. He is under a lot of stress and pressure, but with some vacation and some less responsibility he'd be back to being fine. Is that enough to become a KR? Or adolin will need to become more broken for that? Oh, well, I guess he will become more broken anyway just for sstory reasons.

There is also a metastory problem with this: I don't see a trial arc where the heroes are desperately trying to bring in front of the court enough proof to demonstrate what is already well known to everyone. It just doesn't seem an enticing story, looking for witnesses that can testify that sadeas' army wasn't in bad shape after leaving the tower, painstakingly reconstructing all the provocations of sadeas on adolin, that kind of stuff. I think Dalinar will be very harsh at first, because he always put a lot of pressure on adolin without realizing it. Problem is, Adolin is so good at being a reliable support for Dalinar that Dalinar never realized how much Adolin is at risk of collapsing. So at first Dalinar will be shocked, as he always takes for granted that he can completely count on adolin. Then father and son will have a big showdown (hopefully immediately, possibly delayed if the plot requires it) where dalinar will realize how much he charged adolin with, and he will then become very supportive of his son. I can even see dalinar declaring that as adolin's commanding officer, he should take the blame. But anyway, I picture two phases: first very harsh, then very understanding

She didn't vote, but she certainly was a close confidant to one of the voters (eshonai mentions she was given a vote because of her knowledge of humans) and she could have swayed the vote by arguments alone. I suppose it is possible that the mode of assassination was nothing but the decision of an unsophisitcated tribe who lacked the political savy to figure out the consequences. Maybe they never realized that if they did not escape and denied any involvment in the assassination, they would have most likely been believed. Maybe they assumed that those of their leaders who remained behind to be executed would be enough to placate the alethi. Not completely outside the real of possibility, but it still seems too contrived to not have a deeper explanation.

Good point there That's because, if someone broke into your home, he certainly had unlawful intentions, and it is reasonable to assume they threaten you. I mean, the only reason someone would break into your home is to rob (or possibly rape), and while most burglars will flee when confronted by resistance, some will turn violent, and you have no way to tell which is which. So if someone broke into your home he is pretty much threatening you, by the very act of breaking into your home with unclear intentions. There is proof he was threatening you. This stands for our moral evaluation of Adolin, because we know all this stuff. However, an alethi tribunal will have a hard time accepting that. Where is proof that sadeas threatened adolin? the two were alone when the killing happened, and of course Adolin would claim whatever would get him a reduced sentence. Everybody knows sadeas betrayed dalinar at the tower, but can you pass that in a trial? Sadeas claimed that he was swarmed by overwhelming forces and he had to cut his losses and retreat, and Dalinar acknowledged it, publicly. An omniscent judge would be very light with adolin, but a real jury with the information an alethi jury has would not. I wonder if Dalinar will buy into those arguments himself. It may even be that his next radiant oath will be related to adolin; something like "I will accept those that defy my autorithy, if they do it in good faith", where he forgives adolin for killing someone he would have wanted not killed.

Wait, I'm not sure what this mean. Temporary insanity is not something that can get people forgiven for murder. At best, they are absolved but they are also hospitalized to fix their mind issues - or at least they should be. I'm sure a jury would give plenty of mitigating circumstances to adolin, to the point where he may actually end up sentenced to nothing worse than a few months of "socially useful labor", but I doubt he'd be acquitted entirely. He'd either get a very reduced sentence because of mitigaating circumstances, or he'd get hospitalized for mental disease.

Yes, I was told that already, and I am looking forward to those flashbacks (unlike the flashbacks of kaladin and shallan, I always found a chore to read those). I was just commenting what was relesed so far, which is the first flashback, and in it dalinar behaves no worse than any conqueror and better than most. I have to say, reading the chapter was a shock for me too the first time, but it's actually a pretty realistic account of medieval warfare. Well, except for dalinar's feats of superhuman badassery; although it could have a correlation to the berserker.

@ Calderis: I am aware those are the answers given in the book. But they still make no sense, and seem unnecessarily convoluted. They seem exactly the kind of answers that are given to pave the way for some deeper revelation. Especially considering who's the guy writing the books. Because until we see in excruciating detail everything that went on behind the scenes, I'm going to consider the idea that those guys started an unnecessary war with the world's main power... when they could have achieved all their goals without war... just for honor and tradition... highly suspicious to say the least. At the very least, venli, influenced by odium, influenced the decision. That's the smallest of the secrets that could possibly be underneath the assassination's modus operandi.

Ok, in the oathbringer prologue we've learned why the listeners had gavilar killed, and it certainly made a lot of sense. And here we think we found the answers; but when we look past the surface, we are actually left with more questions than before. 1) Why was szeth ordered to be seen? If the only purpose was to stop the return of odium and his spren, then there was no reason to attract attention.They could have ordered szeth to kill gavilar in secret - and, if they cared about human lives, they should have done so to minimize casualties anyway. In fact, if gavilar had been murdered by an unseen shardbearer in his chambers, nobody would have blamed the parshendi, which would have saved a lot of trouble. And since all the ruckus let gavialr prepare for battle, it means it also sabotaged the chances of a successful assassination. Why would the parshendi sabotage themselves? What can be so important about szeth being seen? 2) Why wasn't szeth ordered to recover the gem? Securing it was crucial to the effort of preventing gavilar to return those spren. Especially since eshonai saw gavilar with other people, so she knew gavilar had accomplices; killing gavilar would achieve nothing, if those accomplices were free to keep on with his agenda. recovering the sphere would at least have slowed them down. 3) Why acknowledge the assassination? Ok, maybe the parshendi just had a strong sense of honor, but really, it looks like they were striving for the destruction of their people. A shin shardbearer attacks the alethi king, who would suspect the parshendi? Ok, he was seen among their servants, but they could prove that they only bought the man that day, so he could have easily been a plant. Everyone acknowledges that the assassination makes no sense. Nobody would have seriously accudes the parshendi if they hadn't admitted the fact themselves. I can't find any plausible answer to those questions, but I now believe we've not seen the end of surprises from the prologues.

Going back to how bad people dalinar and sadeas were, I would like to point out that we are the ones projecting modern sensibilities on people coming from a medieval culture, which is totally inaccurate as far as realism goes. It is however one of the underlying assumptions of fantasy that protagonists will have modern sensibilities. In ancient times (not even that much ancient) conquer, rape and pillage were all perfectly normal actions during war. And waging war to expand your nation was also perfectly normal. As much as we find sadeas and dalinar disgusting, we have to keep in mind that every. single. conqueror. in history. was like that. Alexander the great, julius caesar, charlemagne, all manner of people lauded in history books, all committed similar actions, without ever a thought that they may be wrong. Except maybe the rape part, some of them may have been considerate enough to realize it was unnecessary abuse of the defeated foe (or simply faithful to their spouses), but they were certainly cool with their troops doing it. Even in modern time, mass raping of enemy civilians is common after capturing a city. I've read some diaries of german people who lived in berlin during the second world war. So, while I do not like nor condone dalinar's actions, I still see him as a man of his time, doing stuff that everyone living at the time agreed was right, and being already more honorable than most. He was willing to call off a pillage for the sake of a person who impressed him. Sadeas, on the other hand, had no redeeming qualities that we can discern. Still, I can see dalinar's point: he was an intelligent, resourceful man, and if he could have been swayed to the side of good, he would have been an invaluable resource. The only problem is the swaying part.

On the other hand, it's a short question, it has a short answer, so you can likely get away with asking it plus another question. And it would provide useful information on the working of both nightblood and gold feruchemy, and what does it really mean to kill someone in the cosmere. I don't know, it depends if one reads it as vasher having nightblood or not. It's not trivial, because while vasher is associated with nightblood, it still is a piece of equipment, and furthermore vasher lost nightblood eventually, so him having the sword is not a given.

plate that is not infused don't enhances strength, and it is too heavy to move in. How did they used plate without gemstones?