Singer

I didn't know about the Rock and Lopen short stories! Sweet. I want all the Stormlight short stories. Reading the comments just tripled the number of things to be excited about.

I'm imagining a Christmas special of "Edgedancer" like a double length episode of Lift and Wyndle and Gawx. And maybe include the Ym interlude as a prologue to the episode to properly set up Nale.

That would actually be awesome for a TV show. To do mini episodes released online between seasons or something along those lines. I think it makes more sense to go chronological-ish or at least have multiple viewpoints per episode if the story beats work well. As awesome as a live action series would be, I think it would be awesome-er to have an animated series, especially of it was in the animation style of Into the Spider verse. The spren would look awesome in that style.

Maybe TLR was going to divide up the empire betwixt his children but changed his mind for reasons. Like maybe they were useless "trust fund" babies or something. That would be a great reality show.

I can't tell if it was Brandon's books that did it or just that my tastes have changed, but I struggle to get into books that I am sure I should enjoy. I couldn't get into the Earthsea books and I think it was just the prose voice was a little lofty for me. I don't think I used to notice that but thanks to Sanderson and Rothfuss I notice and care about that a lot more now.

That's a very natural way to read that word in English. It just makes my music nerd self happy to see a very musical word associated with a Singer's spren!

Fun fact: timbre is a French word. That is why the spelling is confusing for English speakers .

A slight twisting of the topic, do you think Jasnah would be surprised about the realities of the Cosmere? Based on her stated beliefs in book, is there anything she might learn about the shards that would have her head reeling with a possibility she hadn't even considered? She seems to be pretty good at weighing data and making an informed decision and tries not to let her biases take control, so is there something out there is is going to learn about that would really challenge her? She took the reveals in OB so well that I am struggling to think of anything that could throw her at this point.

As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons), I can say there is a lot in Brandon's books that bring my faith to mind, but much of it is just stuff that is present in many different ways of thinking and religions. It is the inspirational themes of redemption, of right and wrong, and characters experiencing growth through adversity. In his BYU lectures he talks about how much he hates "straw man" arguments, where characters are set up to argue their view point poorly and then be proven wrong, and he was determined not to do that in his books. The results are brilliant characters like Jasnah! Me too! To the point that I am weirded out with other book series that don't really mention varied and different belief systems and how they effect society. IRL they are pretty darn influencial! Brandon is probably not going to venture into anything particularly pornographic or extremely dark because that isn't the kind of person or writer he is. I don't like reading that myself so I am grateful for it, though there are plenty of phenomenal books and authors who go there. Basically, I think it is awesome that his characters can be so diverse and varied so that they speak to so many different people. He's going to keep branching out and pushing himself and I can't wait to see where that takes us. There is going to be more and more representation in his books and I am stoked!

I tend to do lots of re-reads, I see things differently every time I read a book. I have to go back and find the foreshadowing I missed, then I had to got back to tWoK and WoR in the context of OB. I like each book more as part of the whole. OB has my favorite flashbacks, but I think the other books have interludes that I like better. The most recent re-read the emotions were what stood out to me, I was crying with the characters more than I ever have, because of what was going on in my life it just hit me so hard. That is what great books do! They grow with you and remain a good friend your whole life long.

I haven't seen Aquaman yet (waiting for redbox and a slow weekend) but I finally saw Spiderman: Into the Spider verse and while I was watching that I was thinking how well the animation style would work for a Stormlight movie/TV show/Mini series. Whatever the format or style, I am very interested to see if/when we see any cosmere on the big screen!

Thanks for making me laugh as I spend a thoroughly crappy weekend sitting around a hospital. You do noble work!

I would love to see Singers throwing off Odium an the Fused. Even if they don't side with humans, I just want to see them escaping all their oppressors. Rlain as a Bondsmith would rock, I'd also love to see him as a Windrunner. I hope he finds the Listeners and becomes their leader either way. I would like to see Shallan confronting her issues, maybe she has a break down, maybe a fight with Adolin, but something comes to a head so she can become more honest with her self and speak more truths. I want to see how everyone treats Szeth, that is bound to be awkward and fraught. Kaladin can swear another oath now. I think he's earned it. I want to see all the Unmade we've not seen yet and I think that is actually likely. Gavinor. I just need to see him being well taken care of, that's all. My sincerest guess is that something I never saw coming and couldn't begin to guess at.

Thoughts on ancient Singers: My guess is that most of the non-sapient spren that are necessary to bond and create the various Singer forms were around before H and C arrived. They were just part of the ecology of Roshar and evolved alongside the Singers. I think that they had a culture and society already established and as H and C came to Roshar their culture shifted to include them as gods and higher, smart spren started to develop. So non-smart spren were there before, it was only the smart spren who developed because of Honor and Cultivation's investing in Roshar. The Singers and the intelligent spren probably interacted, even if the Nahel bond wasn't a thing yet, then the humans show up. I also really want there to be some awesome singing based magic. That is my jam, I need that to be a thing! Edit: I looked at the pronunciation for "epoch" and both are correct. The second vowel can be either a schwa (which is a neutral "uh") or "ah" as in father. So thanks, college, making me learn IPA even if I'll never make a dime from it.

I want to see Lyn (the scout who wanted to be a squire) become a full windrunner and see more women breaking the gender mold. I want to see Renarin doing bookish scholarly things and more men breaking the gender mold. I want more Singers and Listeners and Unmade. I want to see Lift steal Jasnah's dinner.

My favorite post so far! It is so much more complicated than "thing good/thing bad". Adolin is a combination of good and bad and neutral traits and it is just a matter of whether the good out weighs the bad. For me it does, but for some readers clearly not. I think we can all agree there is some grey area, right?

From Brandon's lectures I know part of his inspiration for Jasnah is because he hates "straw man" arguments. He feels strongly that characters should represent views other than the authors in ways that aren't simply bad arguments set up to be knocked down. So while he isn't himself atheist he wanted to make sure Jasnah was a sincere one who didn't exist to be proven wrong. Which is half of why she is so great! The other have being that she is a BA super boss Elsecaller. And I would hope Brandon, and every person, has questioned what they've been taught and found answers for themselves, just like Jasnah does. In keeping with the topic at hand I will say that I believe there is some kind of abuse in Jasnah's past, all the theories I've read here are really interesting! And I think we'll see some with ardents treating her for insanity, we'll intentioned as they might be, but I think we'll also see something with Amaram. Either she witnessed something he did that was horrible or befriended someone who was victimized by him. She just seems to have such strong reactions to him when she interacts with him, very similar to Kaladins. There is a history there that is fraught.

I think most people in world are happy Sadeas is gone, but Adolin will face fall out for it. Everyone expected fall out in OB, but it didn't come yet so there is some disappointment. I understand that. And, hey, this will give Shallan and Adolin something to bond over. "Remember sweetie, how we both murdered in cold blood someone who certainly was a threat to society?" I say that jokingly, but I do see it as very similar Shallan killing her father and Adolin killing Sadeas. Both were gruesome, and unplanned, but the foreshadowing was different for each. If you think it was gross, then I agree. If you think it wasn't well foreshadowed then I'd disagree, but that is subjective. Everyone reads a little differently and pays attention to different things. You're right that Kaladin would never do that. It certainly isn't honorable, but I still like Adolin. I'm not perfectly honorable either so I can't say as I blame him.

We all approach the stories and characters with our own biases, and there are as many interpretations as there are readers. Everyone's reading experience is personal, individual, and valid. That being said, Adolin lost his mother in his youth. That is a big deal. He doesn't seem to be as "broken" in the same way the others are, but he has still been through some real pain and trauma. As for Sadeas, they spent the better part of WoR trying to maneuver him into the dueling ring with Adolin. Adolin definitely wanted to kill him in a duel, whatever Dalinars plans. I, for one, am going to side with Adolin on this. Feel free to disagree. Sadeas practically commits treason, definitely commits murder--bridge crews, betrayals, and assassins--and Dalinar still thinks he can find a way to work with him? Adolin made the decision to put Sadeas down after the tower and when the opportunity came he took it. Call it immoral, sure, but it's also realistic. The Adolin trait I like is that he is happy for the success of his friends and family. It is a trait I endeavor to cultivate in myself and I like that about him. That is all.

Things that I thing would be awesome: -Maya coming back with the help of Sja-Anat so that Renarin and Adolin both have corrupted spren. Then we could see the two of them working together to figure out how all that works. -Adolin becomes an Edgedancer and gets trained by Lift. I would like to see Adolin in a situation where he isn't good at something and has to really work on it. We're too late to see him learning how to duel, so maybe radiant training instead. Pattern said dead spren could be revived, so we know it can be done. I think that means they can be restored completely to their former selves, but if not I like the idea that Sja Anat can help heal them but corrupts them at the same time.

I never knew I wanted Rlain to be a Bondsmith until now. I need that in my life.

This makes me wonder if this is something that humans used to know and the information was lost. If so, and humans really did steal gem hearts from murdered singers, that is terrifying. but maybe the Voidbringers stealing hearts myth just came from humans taking gem hearts from other animals as they do now. possibly anicent Singers thought that was disturbing and it became part of their folklore.

I had forgotten about that little piece of lore. It is much creepier now knowing that humans might be the voidbringers referred to in this case.

I've been thinking for a long time about possible origins of the Listener's tradition of not touching their dead. Maybe it is only in there because it is a convenient plot point in Way of Kings, but Brandon likes depth to his cultures so I think this was thought out a little more than that. I suspect it is related to the Fused essentially being body snatchers. Maybe they refuse to touch their dead out of respect to their gods. Based on a history of the Fused inhabiting Singer bodies then when those bodies were killed they didn't touch them out of reverence or fear of their gods. The tradition continued after the desolations had ended and remains part of even the parshmen's cultural memories. Has anyone else been thinking about this? Anyone have some good theories and/or juicy WoBs?