Ahriman

Mountains, among other high places, have been considered holy places in all sorts of areas and mythologies. Olympus, Sinai, Fuji, various mountains revered by Native Americans, all sorts. The belief that they are a connecting point between different worlds, primarily that of humans and gods, is fairly pervasive. It makes sense that Sanderson would call on the same idea, especially when remote areas, as people have pointed out, serve a functional purpose as well.

With her fantastic mental state, I wouldn't be surprised. I'm probably going to start suspecting any new characters of being her now. Eshonai wasn't among the Parshmen, so I wouldn't call it so much a minority as a nation that is being badly beaten in a war. I'll be interested to see what Listener society was like before contact with Alethkar, if we get the chance to see that. We've been told things, but we haven't actually seen it for ourselves. In other news, I expect another Herald to be dead by the end of the next book.

Isn't Shallan part Singer? I remember reading that red hair was a sign of Horneater blood. If so, I don't think her bond seems that unique, other than the deal with truths instead of oaths, but that's because of Pattern, not her.

Yeah, they adopted the new language rather than keeping their own and blending. If they had just blended, it would have been like Japanese and Chinese--there might be similarities, and someone unfamiliar with either might assume they were related, but they would be from entirely different families. What I find strange is the fact that Shinovar is the place that was made for the refugees (not sure if we have explicit confirmation on that, but logic dictates that it was), and they seem to have more ties to ancient human history than anyone else. So why do they have the only purebreed human language that's in the Dawnate family? Clearly something very interesting happened. I cut out the rest of what you said for space but that's a solid theory as well, and I think I'm willing to say that we could both reasonably be right. What I had forgotten in my first reply, however, is that the Shin tried to take over the world at least once, so they clearly haven't always had these views. I think it was Gavilar who mentioned Shubreth-son-Mashalan as a conqueror who overextended himself, up there with the Sunmaker and the Hierocracy. Maybe the Shin's deal isn't so much the result of millennia of culture and has more to do with reactionary changes after a failed empire. It's hard to say, with how little we've seen from them.

I always viewed their treatment of warriors as being fairly similar on the surface, but due to very different cultural reasons. The Shin's treatment of warriors, as well as their treatment of merchants, struck me as a logical result of their focus on pastoral life and aversion to travel, among other things. On the other hand, the Horneater treatment of warriors is less derogatory, and seems more based on the importance of family and clan in Horneater society. It's more important for a family to continue than to fight, and so the eldest children are kept from being soldiers. It's possible that, way back when, these came from similar, or identical, belief systems, but I'm not sure about that. As a side note, you cited the linguistic relation of the three languages as a source for your theory. I can't remember right now, but do we know how Parshendi/Singers view warriors, or did before the war and the Everstorm? It would be worth bringing them into the matter. What the language family really makes me wonder is how the Shin fit into it. If they're the remnants of the humans who came from Ashyn, why is their language part of the same family as the language of Roshar's original inhabitants? Surely they had their own languages before then, and the Eila Stele implies that there was no contact between the civilizations before they came and settled in Shinovar, so their languages couldn't have been related before then.

If that's all it was, I think it would have happened a lot sooner. I mean, if they could have stuck around Roshar for a couple thousand years without consequence, maybe they could have lasted longer before they got to the point of abandoning their oaths.

All this talk of Adolin joining Odium, somehow by accident, seemed incredibly silly to me until I thought about it. Now, I can't help but think that seeing someone joining Odium without even noticing would be fantastic. Ideally, even the audience wouldn't notice until it was too late.

Elantris, because I like standalone novels, which are rare in the fantasy series, and I love all the main characters. It's really the only one of his books that I don't forget half the characters from when I look back on it. I like the simple structure, and the way it's played with, and I like Hrathen and everything he does.

Yeah, that's my main beef with it. But I suppose it's possible that he wants to encourage people to separate everyone into the useful and the useless, and prey on the useless. I can see that fostering powerful people who are more aligned with Odium's will. And maybe that could be used to instigate the kind of despair we've seen Odium take advantage of, where he goads a follower into surrendering responsibility for their actions, giving him blame and accepting his control over them (Now that I think of it, Autonomy would hate that. Why would they ever work together?). Maybe we shouldn't just be asking why it gives these visions. Could there be any significance to which people get Death Rattles? We're looking at the people who hear them as the main target, but what if we look at the people who say them? Other than being on the cusp of death, is there something that makes one person more likely than another to have a Death Rattle, assuming Moelach is however nearby it needs to be?

No. If a Fade dies, the Trollocs linked to it die. If an Aes Sedai dies, her Warder usually goes crazy, but lives until something kills him. I guess it might be that Fades use the Dark One's version of a bond, like how Ishamael's healing was more painful and weird than healing with the Power. But I can't see it being deliberate, since the didn't know about Warder bonds when Aginor made the Shadowspawn. The Forsaken were surprised to discover it.

I don't think he's cold. He says he'll watch Roshar burn if he has to, but with tears in his eyes. And he really does seem to care about people, with all the help he gives Shallan. I have no idea what his purpose is, though, but I'm secretly hoping that he wants to restore Adonalsium so he can be the greatest King's Wit of them all. God's Wit.

I always wondered if the future visions might be a way to encourage people to kill each other so they could see the future. It doesn't seem like a great plan to me, but it did work on Taravangian. Maybe it's supposed to make people obsessed with the Death Rattles and depend on Odium's power. Or maybe it originally had another purpose and was then co-opted by Odium, and that caused weirdness. I'm not sure how the Unmade were formed. Y'know, that made a lot less sense when I typed it all out.

I just looked over that scene, and I noticed that that's the last internal thought for like an entire page, and the only thing that comes after it was raving about how it had been too long. I took it as breaking and giving up on making any kind of sense. I feel like it's more of a breakdown than a coherent thought. It reminds me of when I let my phone write my texts for me. As far as the timeline goes, I don't think this works. Taln was betrayed by the other Heralds 4500 years ago, and I don't think it's clear how long he was a Herald before then, but it was a while. Since Stormlight and Wax and Wayne are more or less contemporary, Spook and his slang would have been around about 300 years before this, which would be over 4000 years after Taln last went to Damnation. Now, I know Scadrial and Roshar have years of different length, but not that different. The idea of a shared ancestry also seems weird, since we know humans on Scadrial didn't come from anywhere else, they were made by Ruin and Preservation right there. And weird, weird slang wouldn't be passed down like that, through millennia. It does look a lot like it though, considering the... creativity of the syntax. I don't remember this at all; I think my brain just skipped that sentence both times I read it. It kinda hurts to read.

I never thought of her doing anything interesting before, but that would be fascinating. I may have a bit of bias here, since she's one of my favourite characters, but I don't expect her to die at all. Granted, I don't expect Dalinar to die either, and you see her dying as a consequence to him dying. But even if he did, she could well live on. Sanderson has no problem with killing characters, but I've never felt that he killed someone just because he had no more use for them. She could continue as a minor character if Dalinar dies at some point, or just sort of fade out if there was nothing else for her. I would tend to agree with that, or at least most of it. I don't see a conflict between Shards being about territory so much as influence and power. For instance, if Dalinar had succeeded in drawing Odium out with a contest of champions and defeating him that way, that could have won it without going to Braize.

But so, so beautiful. This is my favourite theory now. If, through some twist of fate, this is true, or even close, I will be coming to you for answers to everything in my life. I don't see any kind of replacement Heralds thing happening, even as a temporary measure. Not only do we know the Oathpact wasn't a great plan, but I don't think it works that way ever since the Everstorm started. I think the landscape is something entirely new now, and it will require a different solution. My guess is that Odium will spend a great deal of effort in book 5 to kill Renarin, and that will lead to whatever the conclusion is. Renarin might die.

Tien's "death" really messed up Kaladin, Odium tried to mess up everyone... it fits. It all fits.

I got the feeling that, since so many spren died during the Recreance, most spren aren't thrilled with the idea. I know Syl really wasn't supposed to bond with Kaladin, and the rest of the Honorspren only came around later, and I think Ivory had a similar thing going on. But from what I recall, the Cryptics were in favour of a bond, and Pattern was either selected or volunteered (I can't quite remember). They saw it as more of a study in humans and bonds, I think. I could be wrong about all of that. Presumably, the highspren don't mind at all, since they've been making Skybreakers for a long time.

Proof: That is why he spends so much time reassuring the ground that he loves it. Because he knows that one day, he will have to go far away from it. Theory: Aimians are related to Koloss.

Either a very active Brown or a very reclusive Grey. Probably a Brown, because you can pass yourself off as vacant and dotty. And because most Browns really are like that, and they have so many important positions, advancement opportunities shouldn't be too hard to get.

I liked him as a standard crazy guy until he started reminding me of certain people I know. Now I use similarity to him as a litmus test for the craziness of whoever I meet.

I'm a bit confused here. I'm also a huge Dalinar fan, although I could see him living or dying depending on what happens. But even if he does die, that's not going to upset me, because I'm sure it will be done well. Killing a character isn't the same as wasting them. But you said that you expected him to die from the start, so why does what you've taken to be implicit confirmation of that bother you so much? I don't agree that Sanderson confirmed anything about Dalinar's fate, but if that's what you think he said, I don't think I would be any more than mildly irritated for losing the element of surprise. And is Dalinar the only character you care about? I certainly think he's one of the best, but I can't imagine reading books of that size and only liking one person, especially considering that he wasn't the central character in the first two books. Either way, I'm sure that if the conclusion to Dalinar's arc includes his death, my fondness for him will leave me even more satisfied with it. A story doesn't have to go the way I want, or to necessarily have a traditionally happy ending, for it to be good.

They kinda look like spider eyes to me, which would just be awesome.

I'd be surprised if any Heralds survived, just because their time is long up and it would clear the rubble of the Oathpact. On top of that, Kaladin doesn't strike me as smart or non-suicidal enough to live through the whole thing. I can't imagine Jashah actually dying, but given that she's just as mortal as anyone else once she's out of Stormlight that would be a good gut punch. I also think either Shallan or Pattern is going to die. He keeps telling her she's going to kill him, and the further she progresses as a Radiant the worse her mental state gets, so I can see either her falling apart or her abandoning her oaths for her own sake. It would be a pretty interesting development, and it could tie in with her dual loyalties. Also I'm terrified that Moash will live just long enough to make me feel bad for him again and then die. Because that's what I would do.

I definitely will.

I keep hearing that, and I probably will get around to it, but I just don't have the time these days to read everything I want to. I'm always hesitant to read anything YA-ish too, since I don't normally like the genre.