Isilel

They'll have to pick up the herdazians first, but there is no way that they'd be able to make it back to the Shattered Plains across the whole of conquered Alethkar, now that they have been made, IMHO. Nor will they be able to escape the Fused pursuit at the chull pace. And the image of them flying before the stormwall, with the Windrunners, Edgedancers and artifabrians all making it happens would be a true moment of awesome. Oh, and the Lightweaver(s), which I am sure they have on board too, calming and distracting the civilians in the holds with Illumination theatre performances similar to Shallan's back in OB.

Another thing - it doesn't seem possible that they'd be able to escape at their slow speed, now that the Fused are aware of them, so I fully expect that they will have to disengage the lateral movement lattice and fly before the stormwall, with all the Windrunners continually lashing the ship while having their stormlight constantly removed replenished, while the Edgedancers reduce friction to make the task easier ditto. This will allow them to escape at the speed that the Fused can't match and to unexpectedly arrive in the capital of Jah Keved to use the Oathgate there before Taravangian can betray them. This would happen as the climax of part 1 or even mid-way through, IMHO.

Time for Venli's PoV to make it's entrance. She'll observe the events from the other side and maybe even help via some careful sabotage? Which will probably result in her discovery, escape and joining the rest of Group 1 by the end of Part 1. It also occurs to me that as a listener, and a talented scholar, no less, she might have some critical insights on the Sibling problem and on fabrials in general. Maybe the gem column is like a giant gemheart. So, I'd say that one of next 2 chapters is Venli.

Either the day that the Oathpact was made or the one when it was broken, I bet.

Well, now that we have chapters 2 and 3, it is obvious who Vyre wants to kill once he is "taken prisoner" - Dalinar. Destroying "Fourth Bridge" as a bonus. Thankfully, the Syl Interlude confirms his failure.

Don't Kaladin and Laral have a "Tien issue" - which is possibly even worse? I like Laral and would like her to become a recurring minor character, but I have always found her failure to stand up for Tien at the drafting to be awful. I mean he had been her childhood friend too - she knew how unsuited he was to violence and he was also just a scrawny, undersized 13-year-old. She should have at least tried to talk Roshone into relenting about Tien after Kaladin volonteered to fill the last spot, and she didn't. I don't think that Kal and Laral had any kind of romance in the past, BTW - they were just childhood friends, who were mostly thrown together by their circumstances and who later experienced the first stirring of hormones, nothing more.

Wasn't it known for a while that Group 2 would have a separate climax in RoW, rather than everybody coming together like in OB? I don't see their absence in part 5 as any kind of impediment for them ending up on the cover - there is no iron-clad rule that it _has_ to be something from part 5. Nor is it impossible for characters from separate groups to briefly intersect in the beginning before going their own ways.

Speaking of group 3, there is this: https://imgur.com/tcE4p4Q So, apparently the group 3 characters might have roles in part 1 without having PoVs, if nothing changed later in the writing process. Which has all kinds of interesting implications.

Oh, and imagine the Fused's unpleasant surprise if they ever try this fabrial on Azure! I'd really love to see it .

Can it be that my cherished hope that Azure will bond Captain Notum will come true? Did her sharing of awakened blade technology somehow affect the proceedings? If the honorspren can have shardblades of their own now and fight the Fused and voidspren in Shadesmar, they might be less inclined to bond. I can't see how they could mass-prdouce them, though, unless the process became much more efficient in the interim and Azure was prepared to sacrifice a chunk of her investiture to make them. In any case, here is to Shallan and Adolin running into her again and her transitioning from a cameo to a tertiary recurring character.

If Odium-daggers can be dismissed and summoned like honorblades, he might have a garnet and topaz-topped ones in store for Shalash and Taln, too. Or the same dagger, with stones to swap, maybe. IMHO, Moash will most likely try to steal back or free the Thrill or kill the Heralds. And if he could lead Kaladin into doubting his course/breaking his oaths in the process, that would be a cherry on top. In fact, the whole encounter may have been staged so that Kaladin would capture him and unwittingly allow him access to Urithiru. It would be too much of a coincidence otherwise.

I agree with your theory, but in addition I'd like to point out that the Fused have something fundamentally different from the Nahel bond - surge-binding is somehow baked into their Cognitive Shadow, so they aren't 2 conjoined beings, but one. Which is why they are not affected, IMHO - once embodied the Fused are all in the Physical Realm and while increased distance between the realms likely makes the use of surges harder for them, it can't stop it entirely. IMHO, they are in for a big surprise when the fabrial won't affect Singer Radiants, because them housing Nahel spren in their gem hearts creates a closer connection that can't be interfered with. Ditto the fabrials. I have long thought that the breaking point for the struggle would be decreased reliance on the traditional Radiants on the side of anti-Odium forces, because the use of fabrial will give normal people a chance against the Fused - this is bound to accelerate the trend and also to bolster the acceptance of singer Radiants among the humans. The first of them being a Willshaper is very appropriate, given what we now know about the Order.

Yea, he obviously plans something nefarious. Hopefully, Kaladin isn't dumb enough to take him to Urithiru... And also thinks to demand the surrender of the shardblade. This is odd though - why aren't his eyes blue? Szeth's eyes remained blue for a few hours after summoning Jezrien's honorblade.

Sanderson talks about it in the newest AMA: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/430/#e13980 And the takeaway from it is that in the end: Which supercedes these old WoBs, from when he still wanted to incorporate most of the Prime Taln-related things into canon. I think that some of the details that are going to be retained are:

This only applies to physical maturity, not to life experience, of which Venli still only has 14-Rosharan-years-worth. No wonder that she was taken in by Ulim rather easily. As to overall singer life-span, I guess we'll see. In RL animals, maturation rate tends to correlate with longevity, though there are a few outliers. Anyway, a couple of intriguing new snippets from Livestream 12: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/430-youtube-livestream-12/ This is the first time that we have heard about Lopen coming along on this adventure, right? And: Is a confirmation of what most of us have expected - that we'll see a number of new Radiants in RoTW, not all of whom are going to be former squires or otherwise connected to the first 8. So, it is now official that a Lightweaver going along on undercover missions, such as the one in Lirin's chapter, doesn't have to be Shallan.

Sanderson confirmed on reddit something that was rather obvious: Nice to have the definitive word on it, though.

So, concerning these plot points: So, honestly, there are a couple of possible spoilers, but no more. Most things were already incorporated into canon SA and Warbreaker, in various combinations.

But the Elinrah also have weaker seers, who aren't frauds - like the crusty old man from whom Renarin swiped his obsidian piece and got some ideas for refining his technique. These aren't Epellion, IMHO. As to the Shin retaining Epellion powers, hm. You'd think that Jek would have had some reaction to Merin using Windrunning on him in such a case, like he had to the Onyxseers. There also weren't any other hints of it in his PoVs. I do think that you are right about Ishar's motivations - that he thinks that supporting strife somehow keeps stronger powers from manifesting. I also suspect that he was behind the Elinrah support of Ahven and their existence in general. Well, IMHO Vasher needs to have something in common with his canon self. He is obviously , so what remains? Also, there is the fact that Dalenar suggested Ehlokar becoming a monk as an alternative resolution to their conflict and this quote about Dalenar from one of Vasher's friends (who are all ex-soldier monks, BTW): "A wise man", Chadrin said quietly, "A liar, but still wise". BTW it suddenly occurred to me that I am not sure that Shaping is different from Awakening Shardplate. The arts of creation of both shardblades and shardplate are supposedly lost. Which makes me suspect that in this version Jasnah was supposed to rediscover them and make a certain black sword. She is an extraordinarily strong Awakener and her polestone is obsidian, which in WoK prime is used to turn things into smoke - that looks like a foreshadowing of her making a black smoking sword. Kaza's interlude in OB is a glimpse of prime Jasnah's eventual fate in Proto-SA if her ability had been discovered and all the world-changing stuff hadn't been happening, BTW.

It seemed to me that there also existed a non-Epellion variant of Onyxseeing, which the Shin Holetatinal (proto Stone Shamans?) practiced, as well as the poor kids exploited by Elinrah. Jek was certainly familiar with it. If Khothen are intelligent and somewhat human-formed, it would only make sense, no? Also, Ishar/Balenar could be working with them and he might have requested it. Well, I am pretty sure that Jarnah just gave up because he had truly believed in the imminent Return and didn't want to keep going with his conquest once he became convinced that he was wrong. He is Vasher, of course. Didn't one of his friends say that "Dalenar is a liar"? No, it wasn't. Jasnah is still 34 in this version, and she had her illness when she was 7 here. Also, it was explained as the first manifestation of her Awakener powers, so not particularly mysterious. The kids, yes, not sure about Jek. His exile didn't seem connected with the issue of the Returns, nor did his brief thoughts on Jarnah's conquest hint at any personal involvement. Yea, I didn't understand this. I would have suspected him of being a Herald, only Taln didn't recognize him. Not sure about the Unmade, because the effect on him seemed to be purely beneficial and nobody else was affected. Ishar/Balenar was obviously the killer, right? He was supposed to be the only witness to the murder. It looks like he likes to push people towards conquering and supports the conquerors. Beats me why the Prallir would have suicidally defended the "Traitor", though. I don't think so, unless the Fused souls already are a combination of a cognitive shadow and a a voidspren. Voidspren seem to have a different dynamic than the Honor/Cultivation ones. For one thing, they don't need a bond to retain their minds in the physical realm. And for the other, there were no spren on Ashyn, but I am pretty sure that there was Voidbinding. Please, no. I like Queen Fen! Besides, it would be absurd if they lost Thaylenah, too, but still managed to bounce back. Would also make the climax of OB feel pointless. But wouldn't it be just a repetition of Shallan's arc in canon, if Jasnah also started bonding a spren as a child (she was 10 in canon during her illness) and then supressed the memory? And as I said above, the incident was 27 years ago in WoK prime. Ishar may not have been a traitor to humanity yet when he broke the Oathpact in canon, but I very much agree with @Q10fanatic in the RoTW spoiler interlude thread that he is going to be the big bad of the second half of SA. It would finally explain to my satisfaction why the second half of SA will have the Herald focus, when so far it seems that the Heralds have become largely irrelevant and are about to be killed off for the most part. Yea, proto-Taln's situation is clearly due to the betrayal, but what confuses me is that there is a WoB that he was supposed to be stuck in another man's body, like a Fused, which would have added to the difficulty of him being believed, because people would have recognized him as that other person. But that doesn't seem to be the case here, so was it part of an even earlier draft? Or was it supposed to happen at his "sudden, but inevitable" return from the dead? He and Renarin are only "mostly dead". It is clear that they would have bounced from their respective predicaments in the future. Isn't there a WoB that if Sanderson had finished SA back then, it would have been a trilogy with Taln as the main protagonist? Well, it is very strongly hinted that Jasnah would have brought him back somehow if the series continued, so... Beats me about dual-sharding, though - it is such a silly idea for anybody except canon Nale, IMHO. P.S. I do think that canon Jasnah is significantly different (and superior) to the proto-version and canon Dalinar is a combination of Dalenar and proto-Taln, with the possible madness angle and the futile attempts to prepare humanity for the Desolation. The problem with proto-Jasnah is that her supposed talents are all informed attributes, which aren't remotely believable, and she gets Worfed constantly. The first time she got outwitted was impactful and shocking, but then it kept happening again and again and when she does get her way it is mostly because various men indulge her for their own reasons. Her military genius while working exclusively from maps is complete nonsense (it doesn't help that I have just finished Shaara's "Killer Angels", which highlights how essential it was for military commanders to see the ground with their own eyes even in the late 19th century). Ergh. Meanwhile, Ahven does a lot of what she is supposed be good at in a much more plausible manner, even though he is also a Thrawn pastiche. IMHO, canon Jasnah is also not as good at intrigue and intelligence work as she thinks she is, but it isn't her sole or even main focus. And her curiosity and search for truth are her most appealing qualities, which are totally absent in the Prime. P.S.S. Thinking about it a bit more, another thing that makes no sense for this proto-Jasnah, who only supposedly cared for her own power and her family's safety, is her publicly avowed atheism, which could only hinder her goals. It just looks like a randomly thrown in trait, without any basis in the rest of her character and seems to set up an eventual realization of how wrong her position is.

No. They don't have a tradition of child rulers and it is actually beneficial to her to have a ready-made heir, so that she won't be pestered about marriage as much. It would have been far more problematic if Dalinar took the throne or Adolin did and later had children of his own. This would have really muddled the succession, but with Queen Jasnah, it is very clear. Assuming that something like that will even remain important.

Really? Given Vasher's history you'd foist him on poor Vivenna? It is also kinda disheartening if just because they are different genders their relationship couldn't be a teacher and student one, growing into friendship... I'd much rather see Vivenna with Kaladin or whoever.

Wow, I just read this most excellent report: and learned a major new fact, namely: This really changes my perception of Venli - she is so young! Also, I thought that the singers were longer-lived than humans, but it looks like they are the opposite. This explains the lack of children in Eshonai's chapters - the Listeners must have largely stopped breeding during the war. We still saw a few mate forms, so there ought to be some kids, but not the tens of thousands that should have been expected otherwise. Hopefully, the kids are with Thude's group of refusniks.

I have a theory about that:

Or he just wanted to take as much time as he could getting back to the meeting place. Given his state of mind, he certainly wasn't likely to want to use the quickest option available. Personally, from the hints so far I think that there is a kind of investiture gradient that determines how difficult it is to Transport to a given place in the physical realm and that maybe only 4th - 5th Ideal Elsecallers and Willshapers have a wide selection of points of arrival. The Oathgates were probably built on the most beneficient of these locations. But Urithiru in general is likely easy to transport to, because they had these odd niches formed like Star Trek transporters in the Radiant assembly hall, which were intended as places for the Elsecallers and Willshapers to arrive safely, IMHO.

This is very likely, but would be quite boring and repetitive, IMHO. How many times did Kaladin save the day at the last minute already? Must he usurp the Skybreaker book, too? I think that it is strongly hinted in the books that the Heralds didn't expect the Oathpact to turn out the way it did and this may have something to do with Honor's interference. I mean, it is not just Ishar who has no excuse, including a parent and child duo in their number if they had any inkling of what they were getting into was just insane. IIRC, quoting from memory there is even an in-world expression "unprepared as the Heralds on the day of Reckoning". There is also a WoB that some Heralds blamed Honor for what happened to them. Looks that way, though they were seemingly used up by the great feats they have powered. I don't agree that it is quite the same level of power as planet-reshaping, though. You know, this is a great idea! It is widely believed that Odium will change Vessels in book 5 and I was hard-pressed to envision how having some newb acsend to it wouldn't severely undercut the sense of danger in the back half. Also, having the Heralds be the focus of the back half in such a situation seemed a very odd decision to me, since all this history should have become largely irrelevant. But Ishar as Odium? A man who already knows so much and wielded such power? That would be scary and exciting. Brilliant! Maybe we could even have our first villanious dual-Shard if he picked up Honor too, somehow... Unlike Rayze he needn't be into purity of Intent.