Aon Tia

agree with you completely. I too feel that Twok for me, although a great book to start a seroes, but is my least favourite. The scale is smaller with promise to become bigger as series progresses which is exactly what it was supposed to be. OB is my ultimate favourite book followed by book 2,4 & 5 as very close 2nds. I too loved the Navani Science part in RoW although while reading it also I knew that a lot of the readers might not enjot it as much as I did. and thats fair too. At the end, every one is entitled to their own opinions, and as the fandom grows, there will always be many who will love the series and many who will not. Going more cosmere forward as the series progresses is what I expected and wanted from the SA books. Changing the whole ecosystem of Roshar, magic system etc which is so much loved by the readers, is a big risk that he took, I think it paid off. Anti-light research could easily be the building blocks of anti-investiture research and will be useful everywhere in the cosmere. Ghostbloods have the research, they are not restricted to Roshar, they can continue the work on it and make use of it going forwards.

That is a very interesting observation! This time warp has put Roshar way back in terms of technology development where earlier they were poised to get at par with Scadrial. Same here. I might have a few issues with the book, but it was extremely difficult to provide an ending that would be as awesome as this one is. There were bound to be things we have predicted along the way and a few that I got spoiled on following the fan theories. But there is no predicting anything by anyone what the book 6 is going to be like. He has changed everything about Roshar and it takes guts to do that! I loved Wind and Truth!

Agreed. And may be, shard of ambition did not, and that is why the effects of the clash was far more detrimental in the Threnodite system also.

I think that Todium had been working on Gav for a while, even before he went to the SR. Gav was awake and was having nightmares! He was probably going to get him as his champion either way. He went to SR and learnt a great lot about the history of Roshar, from visions, from Tanavast, He realised that Odium can not be defeated through this contest, it is not possible to defeat a shard of hatred and all bad emotions by fighting him as the suffering and pain and hatred war causes, only makes the shard Odium more happy! While Honor, heralds, Knights Radiants, fused, singers and even the vessel of Odium are suffering from the prolonged war, this makes the power of Odium have a gala time! Through Tanavast pov, he learnt that there is very little he can do, even after holding Honor, that will even make a dent to Odium. He can frustrate its vessel but then Odium will change its vessel. In the meanwhile the Rosharans will just keep on struggling. He never would have given up the power, if he had not gone to the SR. It is also possible that Cultivation manipulated him into going to SR, give up Honor and look, now she is also free of Roshar and far safer from Odium now that she is run away! Yes because the power changed hands to Taravangian! it is not Dalinar's fault. And this just proves that Tanavast's plan of contest of champions was faulty and Dalinar should never have forced it. Dalinar did realise that the contest favours T'Odium and was a bad plan to begin with. So, he was left with no other option but to do what he did.

I like this post. You have made some really good points. Also, i want to mention that she did achieve the goal of preserving Roshar. Rayse hated this planet/system and saw this as his prison. He had said to Dalinar also that he would destroy Roshar. While making his deal with Taravangian also, he was willing to only spare Kharbranth. So, in having Taravangian replace Rayse, she also ensured continued existence of Roshar. In fact, T'Odium would not want to destroy Roshar, he wants to rule it. She also ensured that T'Odium will not try to kill Cultivation atleast not immediately. Yes she tried to make his see that he can give up war but she must have known that that would not work and that is not something Taravangian can do, given the nature of his power. So, it might have been a ruse, to keep him busy. buy time. She also went to Dalinar and pointed him towards Honor, Did she really thought Dalinar will take up honor and save them? Because I think she knows the reason Honor can never really defeat Odium, that path would only lead to a temporary truce at max and continued war on Roshar. May be she foresaw the possibility of Retribution, may be not, it is hard to tell at this point. But her nudging Dalinar towards SR and learning about Honor's history caused Retribution to form. Was that what she had secretly intended? it is an intriguing possibility. You are right that she has wanted to be free of Roshar for a long time, she finally managed to be free. After Dalinar, she is probably the single person/entity who knows and understand Taravangian and the shard of Odium and the shard of Honor. I hope that she makes up for it, even if it indeed was a mistake and not part of her plan.

I think it is almost possible that Tanavast atleast knew that it was a possibility. It is also strange that he attributes Heralds madness to the fact that he had provided them with a lot more of his power than a human body can endure. But as per the visions we saw, he does not seem into take into account the fact of them enduring millennia's worth of torture and trauma at the hands of the fused. One more thing that made me wonder is that could they have change the old oathpact to incorporate this new, mind is trapped in a vision and escape all that happened? Could he have swapped the heralds, found new people?

I think that Honor chose to hide his perpendicularity in the highstorm because a) it gives him the ability to provide stormlight to everyone on this world and b) more importantly it was a security measure. Shards, it seems, have to have a place where their power coalesces and these shardpool are a security hazard. They act as perpendicularities and allow all host of people easy access to your planet and vice versa. I think shards do like to keep a tight leash on who comes and who goes. But I also think that these shardpools are vulnerability of the shard. Too easy an access to one, can allow some with enough knowledge to partake of their power and create a lot of mess. In a world like Roshar, where there are 2 shards, cultivation already has her perpendicularity at the horneater peaks, she has tried to make it as difficult to access as it is possible to make, Honor probably decided that a second stable perpendicularity will simply be too big a liability. Odium did try to hide his perpendicularity but as we now know there have been people who found out about it and used it for their purposes. whereas Honor's moving perpendicularity so far has proved to be most secure and inaccessible.

A lot of the fans and readers out there do not keep up with all the information and fan theories as we, the ones active on 17th shard or discord, do. There is a huge fanbase out there who did not already know about the Shallan's mother = Chana! It is one big reveal that comes from her chapters it will have further impact on the story. if BAM were released by Ghostbloods, it would have led to something catastrophic for the humans! Mraize would have goaded her and god knows used her for what! Her being released by Renarin and Rlain, another human-singer couple, played a huge role in her not instantly destroying all the humans on Roshar and choosing to sit tight, observe and act in the future. Her being free to be a contender for Odium or even retribution int he future is a big plot!

We learnt that honor had gone to Ashyn chasing Odium! The two had engaged in this war at Ashyn, both were equally responsible for providing surges to humans and the ultimate destruction of Ashyn and not just Rayse. We learnt how and why the heralds were chosen, I want to know why and how Taln had tried to kill Cultivation, we learnt how the deal was made between the 3 gods also that Honor was present at the time of ahreitiem and he allowed the oathpact to be put on Taln alone! That he could have helped more, he could have helped heralds, replaced them but he chose not to. As desolations continued, he gave more and more access to Heralds of his power, thereby accelerating their suffering! we also learn how a 2nd deal was made between Honor and Odium where he had agreed for the contest of champions. We learn that BAM was a contender to Odium's power! and that Honor agreed to imprison BAM. Then he allowed and rather instigated his radiants to draw BAM into negotiations for peace, only so that he could backstab her and imprison her! I did not know all of that! the level of Tanavast's failure despite his good intentions! it was interesting to learn just how flawed, utterly unprepared these vessels for the power of the shards! And this is the first time (that we know of) where a vessel has been rejected by a shard and has died as a result of.

She will be a mojor player in SA 6-10. It is a mid way book. I actually like that we have a mystery power and a possible contender to Retribution sitting right in his backyard and he can not do anything about it! answers, long awaited answers! They needed tp be there because while this book is the end of arc 1, it is also is required to set up for arc 2! Venli, Renarin and Rlain all 3 will have a major role in uniting the humans and singers eventually and therefore her entire storyline was important. I loved learning about the Chasmfiends! The mystery of the 4th moon, stone singing is clearly going to be important and odium's, now Retribution's perpendicualrity!! All of these seem to be very important for 2nd arc.

I think the intent of shard of Honor makes it difficult for him to go on a complete rampage. It would not like that. T said to Honor shard before he took it. I think he needs to show tot he power that he cares about his contracts and oaths. Power that has resisted taking a vessel for a long time and then chose Dalinar who immediately renounced his oath. T needs to pretend to be better than Dalinar. Also unbeknownst to T, shard of Honor has sentience equivalent to a little boy (10 yrs old?), T is going to find it extra difficult to mold it to his desires. Now that other shards have taken notice of him, he can not afford to be rejected by Honor.

This book he certainly was as you said. RoW not so much because he was trying to get Kaladin to kill himself just so Moash can say he is right! No redemption for Moash! He closed that door long long ago! Can you please, Brandon, kill this guy for good in the next book! He is a total waste of space! Kaladin the Herald of second chances will take one look at Moash and say "not you" and kill him.

I personally do not trust her much! Her expression, her greed, not to mention the prize which T offered, getting off the Rosharan System was something too tempting for her. Some of the blackness has lifted after BAM was released but I dont think that magically completely cures them, so she is, if not a mole, then a dangerous opportunist. She is a big liability on the Team Herald.