mdross81

I’ve never been a Lopen-hater. But I have always understood why he would grate on some people. What Brandon pulled off with him in this story was amazing. I saw where it was going right before it happened that Huio would essentially be the stand in for all of the people who are exasperated by the Lopen and it gave me chills. Then, to top it off, the Lopen acknowledges that by loving himself so much, he’s essentially acting as though he hates everyone else. So he vows to protect everyone else from himself via a hilarious convo with the Stormfather. Storming brilliant.

Good point. Right after posting I remembered that it's hard to get to Sel through the Cognitive Realm and that probably explains the omission.

a mispronunciation/mispelling of "the Dakhor?" The names of the Cosmere planets in Ialai's notes are spelled slightly differently but not as much as this would be. Sel feels like a glaring omission though (and the "ai" could be derived from Skai maybe?). Ialai notes that the name seems to be a title, which could fit with Dakhor. Somewhat unrelated, but as I went searching the Coppermind for a refresher on the Dakhor, I realized that some of what we know about the Dakhor reminds me of Singer forms and our new friend the "hulking fused." Elantris spoilers from the Coppermind: I could be grasping at straws here, looking for patterns that don't exist. But it just jumped out at me and I wanted to throw it out there to see if anyone else can make other connections.

This is an interesting alternative theory on Kal's fourth oath. I have, like most people, assumed that it will be something along the lines of accepting that he can't save everyone. But with the release of the preview chapters I've begun to think about another possibility - something along the lines of acknowledging that sometimes he is the one in need of protection and allowing others to do the protecting. Think about all of the characters who have come around to check on Kaladin and how he reflexively shrinks away from it every time. The more I think about it, the more I like it, because it's also the oath that will lead to Kal gaining a form of self-protection in Shardplate. Something along the lines of allowing others to protect him would also tie in nicely with Kal's longstanding depression. It's so hard when in the grips of depression to acknowledge that you need help and accept it from others. It all just seems to fit. Would love to hear others' thoughts.

I'm not sure I'm sold on the idea that Gavilar was using guinea pigs, but this line about the SoH from the chapters released today stuck out like a sore thumb :

Now THAT is an arms race for you. Nice thinking.

So much to unpack in such a short synopsis. I have so many questions. 1. What has the intervening year of war been like? Has it just been an attempt to exert control over as many of Roshar's nations as possible? Or just the cities with Oathgates? 2. Why has neither side gained an advantage? We know that at the end of Oathbringer, Odium was still awaiting the arrival of some of the most powerful fused. Presumably they've arrived by now, but that seemingly hasn't changed the balance of power? I imagine the growing ranks of Windrunners have had at least some counterbalancing effect, but I wonder what else has allowed the KR to hold the line. Have they gone on the offensive anywhere? 3. What are the new technologies changing the face of the war? Fabrials obvi, but what kind and how so? 4. What is the "bold and dangerous operation" (BADO) that Odium is preparing? Going after the Heralds? If so, is he doing that just to take potentially powerful players off the board or is it something more? He's already got the Everstorm workaround to get the fused back from Braize, but maybe that's Investiture he'd rather devote elsewhere? Attacking Urithiru itself? More generally I wonder about Odium's overall strategy. Does he win if he just kills all the humans? I don't think so. He still seems to need something more to be freed from the bonds that Honor and Cultivation set up. 5. Why does the BADO spark an arms race? I could be reading too much into the phrasing here, but it certainly suggests that it's the BADO that sparks the arms race. Is that because it succeeds? 6. Why does the arms race challenge the core of the Radiant ideals? This is one of the most intriguing questions to me because it suggests that the arms race may result in weaponry with the potential to cause death on a massive scale. One imagines that post-OB Dalinar (and certainly Kaladin) might have reservations about ends-justify-the-means usage of such weaponry. But what about Navani and Jasnah? Intriguing potential conflict there. 7. How will the arms race potentially reveal the secrets of Urithiru? And why was Urithiru considered the heart of the Radiants' strength? Wish I had more answers to offer, but thought at least listing the questions might help spur discussion.

Definitely seems like all signs point to Navani as the main character. I had assumed Navani would be working on waking Urithiru. But the publisher's summary makes it pretty clear that they haven't made much progress on Urithiru in the year between OB and ROW. It suggests that first "the enemy prepares a bold and dangerous operation." And then "the arms race that follows will ... potentially reveal the secrets of the ancient tower." Maybe the human coalition decided that Navani's skills were needed more on the front lines working on the "new technological discoveries" that are changing the face of the war. I can imagine Navani spending a significant chunk of time in Alethkar developing new fabrial technologies for the war effort. Putting Navani in Alethkar would possibly set up nice mirroring viewpoints between her on one side and Venli on the other.

For those interested (and to aid the discussion/theorizing) I re-listened and wrote up a quick quick transcription from around 6:40 minute of the video: This is the Venli/Eshonai book, right? But really it’s the Venli/Eshonai flashbacks, and the main book is focusing a lot more on another character. This just naturally happened during the writing process. There’s another character that ended up taking a lot of the time. It’s not a person who has a flashback sequence in the books. So, you can theorize on who that would be. It’s somebody who does not have a flashback sequence. So it’s not Kaladin, Shallan, Dalinar, Szeth, Eshonai. But really it’s this character’s book mixed with flashbacks for Venli/Eshonai. … It really turned into this character’s book, a lot more than I was expecting. It was one of those happy accidents where I really liked how it turned out. But fans who go into this expecting something that’s as much Veni’s or Eshonai’s book as the last book was Dalinar’s book are probably going to be disappointed because it’s more of a split between these two characters. These three really. Venli and Eshonai in the flashbacks and then someone else in the present. … Hardcore fans, expect another character to really be the focus of this book.