Meg

A Stormlight-savant? I'm not sure whether this to things can be compared, though I agree with Argent, that holding Stormlight surely makes Kaladin feel good. @Shardlet: I can agree (mostly) with you at this point of "knowledge" . @all: Do you really believe that all "magics" on all Shardworlds will be the same at the end of the day? I'd be really disappointed (though I don't say there are no similarities).

(emphasizes mine) The bold type tells us that he does it unconsciously as well as wittingly. I want to say: he doesn't try "to keep a charge at all times", but he draws Stormlight in even if he doesn't want to. As a side note: More interesting is the italicized part, I think. He gets better and better at holding it. We already knew he was better in holding Stormlight than Szeth, but he gets better. I'm quite sure this is an effect of his bond with Syl and -- probably -- too of his "level up" by speaking the Second Ideal.

Ahh, thanks for clarification! I admit that I didn't really pay much attention on the capitalization in your posts. Sorry for that. I will read your posts more carefully now.

I'm with you here. I didn't in any way miss to know whether Vin and Elend had sex or not. It's totally not necessary. Agree. (1) Here I agree, too. Some of the fighting-scenes in Mistborn are -- for my feeling -- described in too much details. That's one of the reasons why I don't like Mistborn (though it's interesting in regard of Cosmere-"knowledge"). (2) It has been a while since I've read ASoIaF but I'm sure that there is not only "one" sex scene described regarding Tyrion. But I will not re-read it know for bringing evidence. (1) I'm not sure about this. He's good in plotting and I think if he decided so, he could have done very good and better readable books without that lots of violence and sex. (2) I admit that I haven't read the second half of the fifth book yet, so: Dany is "ultimately good"? Does she change in this last part? She might be "well meaning" (trying to get her realm back) but good? There's a lot of destruction following her way to Westeros, isn't it? ------- @Jaime and Jersey: That's not love, that never was love. They are siblings -- twins, IIRC -- I'm sure their "relationship" aside from being siblings was only about sex. You see, I agree with Aetae about what love is. Love between people isn't at all about sex. It's much more deeper. Sex doesn't need love. As we see with Jaime and Jersey and the existence of prostitutes throughout human history.

Because the editor hates me I've put those remarks in the quote. (1) Kandra aren't immortal (deathless, invulnerable). We know for sure that they can be killed (TenSoon killed OreSeur). As a side note: I understand the word "immortal" as not only having an endless lifespan (so not dying by age), thus immortal means: doesn't die by age and cannot be killed. (2) I think most of us agree to this, it's not a new point. (3) My gut feeling says this is very unlikely (though my gut feeling has no evidence ). (4) "The other shard"? I might have missed something again. Is there WoB that there is only one other Shard in the Greater Roshar System? And: How does your idea fit with Odiums "visit" on Sel?

. There are some terms that didn't get definitions yet by Mr. Sanderson. I for one will stay with "Someone who binds surges is a Surgebinder." as long as we are told otherwise by Mr. Sanderson. . . As I said, I agree. . . Yes . . Again, I agree. . . I don't think he's immortal. But aside from that, the Heralds, too, aren't immortal in the meaning of being deathless, invulnerable. They can die. When they die they would be sent to Damnation. Oh wait, that's not sure. Kalak said in the Prelude: . . But does this happen now, after leaving their Honorblades, after leaving the Oathpact? I think: yes. But that's only my assumption. . edit: typo

Exactly, thanks! Yes, we know that Szeth doesn't have a spren. But he uses Stormlight for his lashings (he inhales it from infused gems as does Kaladin). I don't know whether he could be called a "surgebinder" but the things he does are similar to those of Windrunners. And he refers to himself as somebody with the abilities of the Windrunners of old (totally paraphrased, I don't have TWoK at hand now). He must have knowledge about the Windrunners. So why should he refer to them, if there is no connection? Do you believe he was taught lies? Edit: here's the quote from TWoK I-6 I referred to (emphasizes mine): (I added this for completeness.)

Thanks Weiry, I apparently lost track. Now I remember that scene and yes, I'm with you here. Sorry for confusion.

I hope my post didn't sound critical. This wasn't my intention.

I have to ask for my understanding, please apologize: "the scene Shallan drew"? You mean the reading and what Shallan tells there? If yes I'm sorry that I can't follow your thought: Shallans memories in "Red Carpet, Once White" apparently are from her youth. And a second point: I'm strongly sure that the assassination of Jah Keved's king happened while Shallan stayed in Kharbranth. It's impossible for her to be a witness of this event.* *As a side note: I'm sure Szeth's Interludes fit in the timeline of TWoK.

This thread has 37 pages now and I don't know whether my question has been asked before but I don't remember (and could find) an answer: Was mankind cast out of the Tranquiline Halls prior to when Honor and Cultivation came to Roshar or did mankind and Honor and Cultivation arrive together on Roshar? and: Had there been Desolations prior to Odium's arrival on Roshar?

. . This is from the Prelude to TWoK. I think it's quite clear that the Heralds thought they could "end the cycle of Desolations" by leaving the Oathpact. For the nine of them that survived that meant leaving their Honorblades. For Taln it meant Damnation. . . Humans had not been native on Roshar ... they were cast out of the Tranquiline Halls to Roshar and had to find ways to survive in their new home. . . And more of this interview because it's interesting: . . I dare remark that Dros' quote is from April 2004 and mine from July 2009. And: I think neither of them has an "absolute" value now in 2013. . But back to the Heralds: My idea is that they were normal people who were chosen by Honor (and Cultivation?) to become Heralds, leaders and inspiring examples for mankind to defy Desolations and Voidbringers. To be able to stand this task they were given special abilities (Surgebinding(?), their Honorblades, their "immortality" and perhaps others, we don't even think of). . We know that Shalash is Jezrien's daughter, and I think this is a strong argument for my idea. .

This is new to me, where does this come from?

PM = Private Message? lidat.?

When I started writing this post I thought that Hoser is right and Gloom is wrong. But now I think, Gloom might be nearer to the timeline than Hoser thinks. I think at least the first Prime was murdered prior to Szeth meeting Taravangian in TWoK Chapter 71. Because there was only one week between the murder of the first and the second Prime I could imagine that the second prime was murdered, too, before Szeth came to Kharbranth. Taravangian surely knows about the Azish rules and terms to find a new Prime. He could have ordered Szeth to stay that one week and assassinate the second Prime, having in mind that this would worry the Azir decision makers long enough to destabilize Azir. Szeth had the order to kill "some two dozen" people. And we only know a few of them: The king of Jah Keved, Taravangian and Ashno of Sages*, the emperor of Azir. * Lift-Interlude-spoiler Once again from Lift's Interlude: Though I don't see that Lift's Interlude occurs "a couple of months" (Gloom) after the last Prime's death but surely weeks later and not only one week (Hoser). As for I'm sure that in TWoK, and following in WoR, too, the chapters are chronologically this implies that the timeframe between TWoK Chapter 71 and WoR Interlude 9 is at least a few weeks.

Thanks for asking this. Sorry for nitpicking but I think its not "Asha Jushu" but: "Asha" Jushu (so the honorifics (or what else) would be: Nan, Tet and Asha). Edit: Preservation was already weakened by forming Ruin's prison, and Preservation's "physical" Shard died in the advent of the end of HoA, so that his powers weren't yet controlled by a mind then, it "flowed around" as long as nobody took it. Ruin's control of his powers by contrast grew again after his imprisoned "part" was released at the Well of Ascension.

After having a little break from here I today found this thread and -- naturally -- had to read immediately that new steelhunt chapter. I love it. I've looked over this thread but not that intensively. Anyways I dare throwing in some thoughts. 1. Tattoos I don't know about tattooing but my first thought reading Kaladin's part was that him holding Stormlight permanently made the little wounds heal far too fast to keep the ink in. I was kind of happy to find out here that my thought was right and not only my "idea". 2. Syl It was said already that she doesn't behave different to earlier scenes from TWoK. I read the question whether she hides her "safehand". I didn't look further, I admit. Anyways: Why should she participate in this tradition? She's a spren not a woman. She's not "Alethi" but a person totally of her own. 3. Timeline There is one mentioning about timeline in one of the Mistborn-Annotations that (very paraphrased) says that each chapter follows the last in time. So Chapter 2 takes place after Chapter 1 (except Epigraphs and in the case of the Stormlight Archive, the flashback chapters). I know, it's from Mistborn (and I can't find the right Annotation at the moment, I apologize) but I'm under the impression that this works for the other books (I mean Elantris, Warbreaker, Stormlight Archive), too. 4. Shen Shen was left in the warcamps when the Battle of the Tower occured: This means he doesn't know what (exactly) happened in this battle when he was fetched back with the other bridgemen that stayed in the warcamps while the Battle of the Tower happened. Edit (I forgot that): Because Shen hasn't been in the battle I'm not surprised he's loyal to Bridge Four. And I think he feels kind of good there, where he is not treated as a slave or a minor person. Thus I understand that he wants to furthermore be part of the team.

Hoid doesn't have a shardblade but he seems to have an Awakened blade (similar to Nightblood but it's not Nightblood) (this is from my mind thus I don't find the reference). Here's the quote about the three types of Shardblade we've seen in TWoK: And: Honorblades are Shardblades.

In the Kaladin-reading Teft didn't say he saw Kal's eyes become light. The sentence has an open end. Too, Kaladin's eyes apparently are still dark. Given that Kal kind of "bursted" with light after saying the Second Ideal, I'd say it could be that Teft errs and only saw what he wanted to see. That leads me to the thought that the use of Stormlight (Stormlight leaking from the body -- and from the eyes) might have had an impact (right word?) on the eye color. So the longer people used stormlight the brighter the eyes became. We see that Dalinar mentions that the eyes of the KR he saw in his visions were apparently much lighter than the eyes of nowadays Lighteyes. Those changes might have been given to the children. Mixing with Darkeyes and no longer using Stormlight made the eyes of Lighteyes darker again (than they were before the Recreance). Thoughts?

As far as I understand it not Kaladin is riding the storm but his mind. And he didn't choose to do so but was carried away by the storm. His part was a passive one so if anybody (anything?) was able to find Szeth through him surgebinding, it was the force that carried Kaladin's mind away in that dream. (Hopefully this is understandable.)

I think Hoser's referring to events much much earlier in history than you: Given that the Starfalls-vision describes a scene prior to the Recreance it seems obvious that (all) Radiants had light eyes (--> so Lighteyes might derive from Radiants?). From where should those light eyes come if not from ancestors? I think it's safe to say that the nowadays-Lighteyes don't have light eyes because of bearing a Shardblade, is it?

Upvote for pointing out the obvious: Why didn't I see this?

I disagree. We don't have any idea when -- if it's Szeth's blade they are talking about -- they found out about Szeth having it. It could have been after him becoming Truthless (and getting the blade). Though we don't know how, the Stone Shamans seem to have the task to ensure Szeth's blade will be recovered if he dies. edit:

As a side note: I really hope that the development in the cosmere will not be that in the end all is the same, every human or not-human race, "magic" etc. on every planet in the Cosmere (at least not that soon, maybe in thousands upon thousands of Cosmerian years). I'd be really disappointed. On Topic: As far as I understand it, Kaladin will not Snap because he lacks Preservations Investiture.

Ooops, I misremembered that word. Borrowed words have never been my strong point not even in my native language. I didn't want to say that the ur-Shin were cast only to Shinovar, but there they stayed protected and mostly on their own. Other ur-Shin would have mingled with other races, loosing their characteristics.