Lirin's hand

We have a new champion... Finally de-throned!

Following on from 1) the shattered plains (Stormseat) reflect a cymatic pattern and 2) all the dawncities have cymatic patterns associated that are unique. Kabsal uses a plate to show the patterns of the major cities, does he have the beginnings of a weapon of mass destruction without even knowing it? Is the Shattered Plains the result of such a WMD: a big enough plate with a big enough gong (w/ magical enhancement, of course) in the exact center of the pattern? So if you get the tones right, you can destroy each major city with one calibrated attack? Perhaps this is what Dalinar saw in his vision of Kholinar: not just a "the end of the world" vision but the result of what an actual cymatic attack on the city would do. Makes me wonder when the cymatic connection was discovered, because that seems like a huge potential weakness to continue to build your population centers around.

Another way to think of it: the sun is the #1 constant; other physical points on the planet (mountains, river, ocean, etc) are the second constant; you are the variable, the third point, for triangulation purposes. If your whole life is centered on those two constants, I would think the triangulation for direction would become second nature. Khriss, being from darkside, would not have that habitual triangulation/direction sense on dayside.

" in the end. / It has been promised and it can come. / Or do we " OK, this just totally caught my eye, in light of Edgedancer. Who promised? Instead of a shard, could it be another native species? In light of having found out who wrote the back cover blurbs, could those same folks have enough insight to predict this? Could the Aimians actually be their old gods?

This part, though, happened after visiting the NW. It was what got her thinking that maybe the NW had cheated her, iirc right around the same time she notes that she's growing taller. If she just doesn't want things to change, though, why does she travel? Or, especially, why doesn't she go back to her heritage - the Reshi Isles. Things there seem to be in a permanent stasis, much more so than the rest of Roshar. No, I think there was a cataclysmic change in her life that was not 'just' the death of her mother. I hear what you are saying about processing grief/trauma, but it just doesn't feel right to me. I'm wondering if it was her mother that changed from her idealized image that we've seen so far, to something much less, something bitter or angry or hateful. Her avoidance of change seems to be for her alone, as if her not changing can prevent something. As you grow up you also have to take responsibility and that is the other way I'm leaning - that by not changing/growing up, she won't have to think about/acknowledge/take responsibility for something she did as a child. Perhaps she abandoned her mother when she needed her most and as long as she is busy with everything as a street urchin she can't/won't have time to think about that. She only has time to think about the good parts, because, "oh look at the time, I need to get some more food to be awesome!" whenever she stops to think.

So we know that Lift asked "not to change" of the Nightwatcher. In her mind that would mean never growing up but apparently the Nightwatcher interpreted that differently. She is definitely physically still aging and growing. She can now see into or is permanently pulled partially into the Cognitive Realm. She can physically touch her spren when he is not in shard form (can she touch other spren as well, or only Wyndle?). She can metabolize food directly into Stormlight. There are several other interesting things about her now as well. But these are all post-Nightwatcher things (or are they? was she already on the KR path before going to the Nightwatcher? How long ago did she bond Wyndle vs how long ago he was following her?). My question is: Why did she go to the Nightwatcher? What is it about change that frightened her? Does change inevitably lead to negative effects? Is it related to mental attitude? perception? physical (health)? She never mentions her father, all the blurbs are about her and her mother. Her mother got sick and things changed. Who ran away, was it Lift or her father? Or someone else entirely (all the people her mother had helped)? What change is she trying to avoid, about herself or others? Was she trying to avoid responsibility by never growing up? Or was she trying to avoid guilt by staying always a child? She is constantly changing everything around herself by traveling so she is not afraid of many forms of change. She does mention the "change of expectations" several times, including why she left the palace. So does she not want to change herself or is she looking for insulation from how others interact with her? A lot of her memories just make the "why" question more interesting to me. Sometimes I feel like she is avoiding something she did/should have done by staying a child, other times that she is avoiding the inevitable change of future, other times that she doesn't want others to change around her. OK, can't quite articulate what I have rambling around in my head on this so am going to stop for now. Why do you think she went to the Nightwatcher?

Anyone see Lirin as a war-weary herald? We have no back story on him except that he's not from hearthstone and that he learned his surgery outside of kharbranth, iirc. There are a couple of things that just seem off. His statement "you can't save people by fighting", I hear "trust me, I've tried" in my head every time now. I can see thousands of years of torture interspersed repeatedly with brief bursts of murder, mayhem, and destruction leading him to that conclusion His refusal to take payment, a never-ending atonement for his past actions, along with becoming a healer, arguably the opposite side of war. His understanding of human nature, both when the villagers come for the diamonds and when he faces down (Roshone?) oh, and how he does end up spending the chips to make (Roshone) think he's winning. This is not the first time around the block for him. As well his taking of the diamond chips, he's not as pure as he seemed to be at first. I also thought his reaction to both sons going into the army was odd. I can see it being essentially a death sentence but it just didn't feel right. That scene struck me as off and now I can't let it go. And lastly his speaking of it only taking one to spark a change. A new direction for him to try since war just led to a never ending circle of pain. Maybe the whole family is seen as odd by the town, not because of Lirin's surgeon job but because there really is something odd about them. Hesina's back story is also weak but she seems knowledgeable about spren and ward glyphs, although Lirin is dismissive of that type of magic. I am pretty sure Tien had some basic spren or storm light sensitivities, and Kal seems on his way to full KR status. Good genes?

Just finished reading it the first time and going from memory. I thought all along there is something special about Kal's whole family. Tien's rock collecting just seems too specific and I think he is either finding rocks with embedded gems (storm light that Kal used when he first picked up the quarter staff) or with accessible spren (faces, lights, designs). It comes up too often to be random feel-good thoughts, I think. Lirin and Hesina also don't seem to fall in any mold we've seen so far with no definitive back story. Kal and Tien may be adopted/selected by them for their potential or K&T may have inherited their potential from Lirin and Hesina directly.