Oltux72

Why Dalinar? He is a Bondsmith and king of Urithiru. Those titles Gavilar has no right to. Jasnah would be in big trouble.

Not really. An act can be justified and horrible at the same time. These are not mutually exclusive concepts.

The reason for Honor to create the Heralds was the oathpact. Hence he chose the Desolations.

Honor gave the Heralds superhuman bodies. Honor gave the Heralds superweapons. Those superweapons are conviniently tied to the Heralds so that they cannot be lost in Desolations. Honor foresaw the cycle of Desolations. He intentionally sacrificed generations of Rosharans, human and parsh to tie Odium down. Maybe he even forsook the Dawnsingers for that outcome. Possibly he even took away their bonds to the old gods to rob them of Regals.

This may just be me but this book just seems to explode with locations: The sites of battles: Azimir Thaylenah Narak Herdaz The expeditions already sent out: Shinovar Lasting Integrity Searching important entities the search for honor the search for Ba-Ado-Mishram And whereever the strike against the Ghostbloods will leave Shallan. From the readings we also know that Iri will play a role. And unless Navani is supposed to be left out from now on, Urithiru will also be important, leaving out that the contest is supposed to happen there. Sigzil also needs to find a Dawnshard in this book. Is El supposed to show up during one of the battles or do we also need to see Kholinar? At a minimum that amounts to 10 important locations. It could be 15. Yet even that means that we would hear nothing from Venli and Leshwi. It would mean that we do not learn what is going on with the Horneaters. We would not learn why the Sleepless put a spy into Jasnah's tent. If Brandon really goes wild we will have stuff with Thaidakar or Frost's sister. Something does not quite add up here. Yes, it is supposed to be a thick book. But I don't understand how this is supposed to fit into one book, no matter how thick it be.

Provided those ships go where the Radiants expect them to go and do carry troops at all. That fleet may simply be a ruse to make the Radiants divert troops needlessly. Worse if Odium gets the gate spren of Thaylenah to defect at the right time, these troops will be cut off.

What is Dainar doing? If he picks up the shard, he is no longer a representative of Honor, he is Honor. It would seem to me that he could not longer fight in the contest or the simple reason that you cannot be your own champion. So how is this supposed to work?

Binding Odium to Roshar is by itself dishonorable, as it inflicts the Desolations on the peoples of Roshar who are butchered for somebody else's benefit. Also you left out a fourth option: How did Honor and Cultivation become the gods of men? It is possible that foul play was involved.

It is that or giving up the idea of striking at all. As far as she knows she has a critical advantage that will be lost over time. The problem here is strategic in nature. There is no real need to go to war against the Ghostbloods now. In fact it is a pretty stupid idea. Provided that attack is even real. I would not put it past Taravangian to make sure that one of the attacks is a feint. Or one bridge too little. Calling off the defense of Narak in order to attack Herdaz would have made sense. First Dalinar will learn of the shame. Then we'll see whether he still wants to fight Odium. Jasnah has suggested the alternative. They might make a deal. Virtuosity?

You'd just burn it. Thermite reactions are spectacular, but not difficult to arrange. Only the metal is immune to soulcasting.

Why does it have to be a human character? It could be a Spren or a Singer.

That is certainly true for Lezian. Though in his case I must ask whether this was actually a good move allowing a contrast to Raboniel to show. But is it true in general? Moash was, no two ways about it, betrayed - again. Arguably so was Gavilar. As far as for screaming at the sky, that is not true. It is unfortunately true for Venli. It seems to me that you are attributing to the whole pentology what is the issue with Rhythm of War, which is the weakest of them all so far.

If the Radiants are to be relevant in an age of automatic rifles, grenades and armored vehicles, they won't be challenged by people with bladed weapons and arrows. Who was redeemed? I am sorry, but I have to ask. The obvious candidate is Venli, perhaps Leshwi and Raboniel. However, that triggers the main point of Oathbringer. Are the singers villains? I would say they are not. The Stormlight Archive is a war story, not a story of good and evil. In fact, I would say that Rhythm of War made the fundamental error of making Venli's actions evil instead of just ruthless and desperate. The librarian is not a villain. She is a petty bully. Kaladin could have pulled rank and made her suffer for her insolence.

That was badly phrased, I am sorry. The Knights Radiant must grow in power during the books. The system of oaths requires that. Hence people like Sadeas are no longer physical threats. Nor are they good political threats after a year of war tolerance of schemes must have waned. Therefore if we are to have credible villains they must either grow themselves in power or new villains need to be introduced. Amaram going over to Odium's side was barely credible. So I see the lack of villains, but I don't see a remedy at this point. Sanderson can't keep introducing new villains all the time. He already did that and promptly killed her off. Promoting Taravangian was a good move and what he did to Moash presumably has a deeper meaning. So who is to be the villains in Wind andTruth? I think his error was to effectively waste Venli in the last two books. Rhythm of War turned her into a seduced victim instead of the ruthless scientist who did what she had to do, disregarding taboos and ultimately going too far. Or are the Ghostbloods to be the villains and the next chapters will see Shallan be beaten spectacularly?

I get what you are saying. Tough I must ask a question: Isn't that a weakness of having a villain, who for practical purposes is evil incarnate and having heroes who are bound to ethical codes by magic oaths? The last books have seen the elimination of House Sadeas, Venli, Eshonai, Raboniel and Moash as acting characters without replacement. Part of that was inevitable. In a war people have to kill enemies. So what was the alternative?

She failed in that attempt. I would assume that she has learned from the result. Her victory would secure the Singers a homeland. She has very good reasons to fight.

If you are taking Urithiru, you go all the way. You destroy it. Why else would you spend the resources? That also gives you the loophole. The champions are to meet on the top of Urithiru. No Urithiru, no contest.

Azimir. Holding the Shattered plains is not very useful if you have to relinquish Alethkar and Herdaz. It is basically cut off from everywhere else. The Thaylens are traders. If the Singers hold Azimir, Jah Keved, Kharbranth and Alethkar, the Thaylens will have to trade with them for lack of an alternative.

I do have to point out that vessels succumb to the power over time. It is possible that his motivations at the time he destroyed Ambition were not what they were later on.

Nothing in that statement says that Rayse discovered it by suffering the consequences himself. It could also be that he made experiments with Ambition before splintering the Shard. In fact that may be the reason he did rule out taking up another Shard. He had to abandon plan to take up Ambition because it came with conditions attached. EDIT: As for whom Adonalsium would make a formal agreement with, I think there is a possibility: himself Would a formal, signed promise count?

The purpose would be to get a Bondsmith with a Nahel bond to an Unmade.

That seems implausible. As Rayse was the original vessel of Odium, how would he learn that Odium as opposed to himself is affected?

As @coolsnow7 has pointed out, a draw would be boring. But how about Odium making the Radiants forfeit? That is the basic idea of the child champion theories. Those have the drawback that there is no good reason a child would want to fight and consent to be Odium's champion. Furthermore Dalinar is a soldier to the core. He would do his duty. You should not use personal consequences as your lever on him. The man expects to die in the contest. It has to be the impact on his people. Taravangian understands him. Ba-Ado-Mishram doesn't lack motivation to fight for the Singers. The Radiants themselves, at least Shallan personally, are planning to free her. Let's suppose Odium helps her and they free her in time. Odium promptly names her champion and the Heralds reveal what killing her would mean. Now Cultivation steps in and brokers the deal Rayse would not make. Odium is set free under the condition that he leave Roshar unharmed for now.

Why does the outcome have to be terrible for Dalinar? Isn't it much better for the outcome being inacceptable for Roshar? Like Odium nominating Ba-Ado-Mishram and the Radiants learning what killing her would mean. There is that. Has he been able to, though?

War is a time for young men (and sometimes women), for it is a time of extremes. Compromise is deadly in military plans. Hence its decision making and thus interactions tend towards the stark and brash.