parvoneh

Hi everybody, First of all, just in case, this post has spoilers for Elantris as well as WoR. I noticed something in passing and I didn't see this discussed anywhere - my apologies if I just missed it. Pattern mentions that all of the originally bonded Cryptics were rendered mindless when the KR broke their bonds: This seems remarkably like Seons - symbols disrupted by a missing component when the Chasm formed and the Aons didn't sufficiently resemble the Physical landscape to convey the Dor. The Seons were restored by making the alteration in the Physical Realm when Raoden drew in the Chasm line in the master Aon of Elantris as well as the individual Aons, restoring the connection between the Spiritual (the Dor) and the Physical Realm, allowing the flow of Investiture. In this case, the KRs breaking the bonds tore the sentience out of the spren - not a Physical event. The Cryptics have tried to restore the broken spren but to no avail, suggesting the breach isn't in the Cognitive Realm. Shai mentions in Emperor's Soul... So oaths appear to forge Spiritual bonds rather than Cognitive. Pattern suggests that there may be a way to reforge that bond, if the original knights still lived. Shardblades sever the link to the Spiritual Realm, but is the reverse possible? There is precedent for healing from Shardblade wounds via Stormlight, when Kaladin restored the severed Spiritual connection to his deadened arm; not the same as regrowing from existing living Spiritual inventory as Lopen seems to be doing. Saying The Words appears to have restored the severed bonds with Syl: "I was only as dead as your oaths." (HC, p. 1031). So I guess my questions boil down to these: 1. What causes Cryptics or spren with the potential of bonding to people to be 'born', separate individuals from their respective forces or concepts? 2. Can the spren be reborn by new proto-KR saying The Words, or are they less able than 'unborn' spren? (spren reincarnation?) Can proto-KR saying the words restore those bonds with broken spren like adding the Chasm line in an Aon? 3. Can Stormlight itself reforge Spiritual bonds, like Kaladin healing his arm? Is there a way to infuse a proto-KR with Stormlight they couldn't otherwise channel to create the Spiritual connection with a broken spren?

Thanks for the replies and insight, everybody. I haven't delved into many of the interviews and such. Dang! I was hoping I found something to add here! I had caught 'Elend' as well (my undergrad degree is in German, though my command of the language has gotten rusty with disuse). I too figured that must be coincidental given Elend's character's optimism.

I haven't seen this question addressed anywhere, but does anyone know whether there are any real-world connection or inspiration for the names in Way of Kings? Apologies if this is out there and I missed it. I am learning a bit of Farsi and came across the word for 'island', transliterated as 'jezreyeh'. This caught my eye, so I looked up a few other words as best I could*. It turns out that 'shash' is indeed the Farsi word for the number six, and 'chechem' is 'eye', Kelek is 'con artist' or 'thief', and 'Davar' came back as 'judge'. Some of the other words and names look like they could be of Persian origin - betab, Kharbranth, (khar is donkey), Nalan, etc. This could all just be coincidence, or maybe a nod that the Origin is offshore. *since I spell in Farsi at or below the kindergarten level and have an English keyboard, I can't look things up directly.

I don't disagree, but this passage also makes me think of The Thrill from Dalinar's perspective. Battle and war can be a valid means to an end, but the Thrill seems to be a fugue state, a euphoria or intoxication resulting from/fueled by taking grotesque quantities of life almost independent of purpose. There's almost a berserker quality - battle is artificially reduced to "us" and "them" with only Kaladin noting the nobility of the opponents' tactics. As Dalinar moves toward The Way of Kings philosophy, it and the Thrill are mutually exclusive: he can no longer maintain the Thrill, and that former strength becomes a liability in battle as his revulsion actually hampers him physically. The last bit indicates that he's gone as far as he can with the Thrill without noting that he has found a new journey.

The only unmatched Blade we know of is Shallan's. I don't see her learning swordplay; first, it's too masculine and she's too traditional; second, she's got Soulcasting to master and presumably that's as incompatible with Plate as Surgebinding seeing is it drains Stormlight from gems, so it's superfluous as well as a reminder of the death of her father. She's headed to the Shattered Plains so perhaps she'll hand it off to Renarin. If that happens on Dalinar's behalf, then the second half of the oath is fulfilled. Plus, then Renarin can equal Sadeas in battle hardware. The Renarin -> Sadeas smackdown was foreshadowed a bit by Dalanar when he talks to Renarin about starting up his sword training again: p. 282 hardbackOr either Jasnah or Shallan could just Soulcast that little blood weakness away. One way or another, I think Renarin's story is going to get more exciting in the future.

Hi all. Long time lurker and finally registered. I have been wondering about Urithiru for some time and noticed the (apparent) paradox that you could both walk and not walk to Urithiru. While not discounting the plausibility of the ideas in this thread, nobody has mentioned yet whether the city might be on an island. This would be inaccessible by foot until a bridge (or Oathgate) was constructed, solving that tea/no tea impasse. Anyway, forgive me if that's been discredited already but it hadn't come up yet.