Isilel

Gavilar, in particular, was an interesting case because he completely messed up and failed despite, yes, having been chosen as a recepient of the visions and even possessing characteristics that should have allowed him to become a Bondsmith. But he took a complete left turn. Elhokar, I didn't like that he was succeeding, as his character didn't evolve _that_ much, and we saw no hint of artistic inclinations from him. OTOH, it has been established that cryptics sometimes bond wrong people, like that one warrior, who was unable to progress. But as to people striving to come together - those characters need some fleshing out for us to care. Opportunities for which are rather limited with the 3 main PoVs hogging the lion's share of the text. _And_ it has been stated that proximity to a Radiant makes it much more likely that a person will be looked at, and, if compatible, bonded by a nahel spren. Hence also the squireship system that serves to properly attune a person to the Ideals and to bring them to the attention of the spren. Waking up of the Sibling to unlock full capacity of Urithiru has been foreshadowed as an important plot arc for the next 2 books. The character who is going to do that should have already been introduced and somewhat established. So, who? But does he actually want that? Because if so, OB was a spectacular missed opportunity, with both Adolin and Elhokar positioned to be involved and also being people whose world was turned upside down the most by the emergence of the Radiants. I do agree with you that people who are currently in other Orders may become Bondsmiths. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if that is how it mostly happened before the Recreance, because Bondsmiths require a certain level of life experience to be able to guide effectively and at the same time are too unique to have squires. Which would have led to all the best candidates in Urithiru being snapped by other Orders long before they attained the necessary qualifications for becoming a Bondsmith or a position became vacant. OTOH, I really don't see Jasnah as one. Frankly, she already has too much on her plate as queen-in-exile and the only currently existing Elsecaller. She needs to be exploring Shadesmar and talking some sense into the Nahel spren, as well as figuring out new ways to deal with a Desolation and counter-act the Everstorm, not ruling a displaced nation or running Urithiru. There is nobody else who can do what she needs to do as an Elsecaller and a brilliant thinker in order to give anti-Odium alliance a chance.

Just because the Windrunners get Plate with the 4th Ideal doesn't mean that every other Order does too. IMHO, it is quite likely that some less combat-oriented Orders get it only at the highest level, while others - such as Stonewards, say, get theirs earlier, at the 3rd Ideal. Also, isn't there a WoB that other spren are more flexible than honorspren about manifesting as a Blade, too? Particularly in extreme circumstances? So, child Shallan didn't need to be at the 3rd Ideal to do so. Additionally, has it been clearly stated that the number of Truths a Lightweaver has to speak to progress is the same as the number of Ideals? Can't their developement be more incremental, with more Truths being needed than 4?

Speaking of which, in the Soulcaster Kaza interlude in OB, it sure seemed like she turned into a spren when she died. I mean, non-Nahel soulcasters end up permeated by the investiture and eventually even look like spren while still in the physical realm. Could this be another source of sapient spren? And are there more types of sapient spren than the Nahel ones? Because IIRC one of our heroes runs into an intelligent smokespren in Celebrant and they don't correspond to any of the Orders. I thought at first that this spren may have been poor Kaza from the interlude, but it was too eclectically dressed to be a recent ex-human. Concerning other aspects of Nahel spren interaction with the physical realm: The more I think about it, the more I wonder about the absence of a support team, or at least a boat of Elokhar's Cryptic when our heroes tumbled into Shadesmar in part 4. How on Roshar did it follow and observe the king? It is true that the spren can walk on the bottom of the ocean of beads, but from what has been hinted, it is somewhat dangerous - and should have been very much so in the cognitive reflection of Kholinar with the Unmade parked there. People's soul-flames are on the surface, to boot, and from Shallan's experience it looks like observing somebody in the physical realm from Shadesmar involves entering their flame. So, is this odd omission a continuity error of some sort? As a corollary to this - both Pattern and Wyndle were part of group bonding efforts, so shouldn't their respective associates have been checking on them and communicating with them? According to Skybreaker master Ki, bonded highspren do communicate with their collegues in Shadesmar, so it should be possible for the other Nahel spren as well. Syl also was theorethically able to communicate with the as yet unbonded honorspren watching Kaladin's squires, even if they refused to talk to her. Consequently, shouldn't the cryptics and the cultivationspren have been aware of what Nale and his Skybreakers - and, by extension the highspren, have been up to?

IMHO, waking up Urithiru and bonding of the Sibling will be an important plot-line in the next 2 books. It has already been hinted that it would be impossible to hold Urithiru long-term without access to it's full capabilities. This would mean that a prospective Bonsmith would have to be introduced and fleshed-out sufficiently for us to care about their struggles rather quickly, particularly given that anybody other than the big 3 gets few PoVs and that people like Venli, Szeth, etc. can't be ignored either. Given these constraints I really don't see how a new character could feasibly handle this in a satisfying manner. And Navani stays in Urithiru almost full-time anyway, so it wouldn't be much of a change. Her pashion for fabrials, civil planning and documented affinity for keeping things together make her the best candidate for Sibling's Bondsmith so far. Who else is there? Queen Fen and Rock both have Bondsmithy inclinations, somewhat, but no particular connections to fabrials and both will be sorely needed in their homelands. I am less than enthused that an Alethi noble couple will likely take 2 out of 3 spots... but that's nothing new, as I have also always been skeptical about so many Kholins becoming Radiants. That's how the cookie crumbles in this series, though. Oh, and I am quite sure that the third Bondsmith is going to be a listener - most likely Rlain. Nothing less will suffice for making the unprecedented allaince between anti-Odium humans and singers, IMHO.

Actually, there is some evidence that BAM's control was more extensive than what we have seen from Odium so far. I am currently re-reading WoR, and there are many mentions in Parshendi lore from Eshonai's chapters that not only could she force forms on the Last Legion, but that prior to their rebellion and escape, they had been unable to transform on their own except into the mate form. Then somebody discovered the dull form - that, apparently, somehow healed whatever deficiency BAM introduced into the parsh, but the newly free listeners had to re-discover how to assume other forms basically from scratch. Indeed. Creation of the parshmen was a 2-step-process. BAM had already mutilated the parsh by robbing them of their natural transformation abilties and making herself into the only source of forms - both void and normal ones (except for the mateform) and Connected to all parsh who wore them, so that when she was imprisoned, they were transformed into the parshmen.