ConfusedCow

So the chapter where Jasnah kills those men (36 The Lesson) and the following chapter (37 Sides) where Kaladin and Lirin confront Roshone and Kaladin learns Lirin has been lying about the spheres are deliberately juxtaposed. On the Shattered Plains, Kaladin hangs strung up before the highstorm in a delirious state and we the reader are offered these two chapters about morality and ethics to chew on while we await his fate. The two chapters are structured in a similar manner, like Brandon was teaching a class. They begin in a safe place, Hesina's Kitchen, the Bath House. They travel towards a tense confrontation. Then the ethics of the parent figure are revealed to be complicated and dubious. Shallan and Kaladin each experience this as a sort of growing moment, a progress toward maturity. Following the confrontation there is a period of reflection between the adult and child, and the chapter is concluded by the child making a choice in imitation of the parent. Shallan choses to steal the soulcaster. Kaladin chooses to become a surgeon and go by his full name. The Juxtaposition is not meant to be entirely deconstructed. As hoid says, the storytellers job is to raise questions not answer them. Yet, these experiences are meant to be compared by the reader, even if only subconciously. What are we to make of this comparison? In many ways, Lirin's methods are more deceitful, his motives less pure. Yet, he does not kill (not even later when he could) and his acts inspire Kaladin to be a better person. Jasnah's righteous anger and dazzling magic are stunning. Yet, in the end her actions seem more like theater. Jasnah's casual priviledge and wealth seem almost nauseating besides Lirin's peaceful, desperate struggle for a handful of spheres. What a mix of character traits?! Lirin seems weak, duplicitous and genuine, Jasnah dazzling and horrific. Most telling, however, might be that Shallan despite all Jasnah's wisdom is left confused and alone. Brandon is teaching us the ideals of the Knight's Radiant in the Way of Kings. When Kaladin turns away from the honor chasm, Brandon explains life before death. Then Kaladin teaches the bridgeman to carry the bridge, putting himself the 'strongest' literally before the 'weakest'. These two chapters are meant to teach journey before destination.

I think, Taravangian was trying to determine the extent or existence of her bond and powers. Obviously, immoral the classic judge, jury and executioner.

Best wishes for your health. Your letter ranged quite a bit. If you could make one addition or change to Brandon's work, alter one character arc, what would it be? Where do you think he does the best and the worst?

I think the best theories are about a 7 on the above scale. You don't want so much evidence that it's obvious but you don't want just a guess either. Vaguely related but not specifically, tells us nothing. You could describe anything that way.

Changed my mind. I have free will. This is obvious. I can make a choice, petunia. The problem with the majority of arguments here is not the concept of free will but the concept of I (or whatever being we're talking about). I is a complicated concept that appears simple and thus is often misunderstood. Is the pencil I hold in my hand part of me? Is the skin on my hand? I control both but I can put them down and walk away. How about the muscles and the bones? How about my car, my organs? Which part of my brain is me or is my brain itself not part of me but merely the thing that holds me? How about my memories? Which memories can I lose and still be myself and how many times can I revisit the same memory and rewrite it before it's not the original? What of my beliefs, my senses, my life, my family, which of these are part of me and which are not? The truth is there is no easy line. Our skin is a deception. Even our most basic cognition is far different than we imagine, neuroscience has shown that our minds are far less unified than we naturally believe. We present as a neat package and people treat us that way. We learn to draw this line, this is me and that is you. When we realize that the line is not so solid, we experience this emotional reaction, discomfort, rebellion, crisis of faith. You ask, who is this we I refer to? I have just deconstructed the individual and yet now I refer to hir. The truth is that what you think of as I is a choice. We have drawn a circle in the sand and said that I am this and this is a part of me and that is not. Indeed, you can see people drawing and redrawing that circle around themselves every day. The fact that you have drawn the circle does not mean it does exist nor that it lacks meaning. When I say "I have free will, the ability to make a choice", the I in question is a deterministic set of quark reactions, a chaotic biologically driven electrical storm filtered through a somewhat loquacious literary voice and most of all a compilation of experiences located an and bound to a particular sociohistoric context. That does not mean it is any less I. Or that I have not made a choice. People see this fact that the individual can be deconstructed and reduced as problem , this depressing, even horrifying fact. The importance of individuality is so strong in our species and our culture. To me it is not depressing it is liberating, even transcending, we are part of each other, we are who we choose to be, we can grow and change. Your 'I' is not some tiny thing hiding in a philosophical loophole it is the entirety of your life and your thoughts. This is a message of hope.

My favorite Theories: (1 (Wild speculation) - 10 (Would bet money) -> Lift has the power to heal dead shardblades. 8 -> Jasnah is Sadeas's daughter 4 -> Gavilar's black gemstone is contained in Shallan's aluminum necklace. 6

@Gderu, I agree we don't know what exactly voidbinding is. Don't you think there's a kind of symetrical pattern though. Radiant surgebinding makes broken people whole. Voidbringer surgebinding makes whole people broken. etc....

As regards voidbinding, I was thinking of the fused, Oathbringer 1172, chapter 115, Shallan sees an army of 'fused' prior to fusing. Do we still call them fused before they cross over? Venli also calls them twisted and strange, Oathbringer 1177, same chapter. The fused are also clearly driven mad by their magic. The act of their return costs a soul by itself. Further in 121 ideals, Leshwi says to Moash The casual way Leshwi says this makes me thinks this is a process that has happened to her, the usual way it works. The effects of the Unmade also seem to me to essentially be a warping twisting damage to the soul. Sja-anat twists and warps spren directly. Ashertmarn as another example seems to feed on peoples joy and hope, twisting those feelings into hedonism and abandon. Every kind of magic related to Odium seems to damage the soul. I am loosely grouping all these together under the title voidbinding. It's possible voidbringing refers to human interactions with voidspren, but I think we can expect the established pattern to hold. @Elegy, I think Brandon refers to fabrials as a magic system in a broad sense, the way cytonics or Star Trek transporters might be a magic system. Roughly, analogous to Southern Scadrian's technology. Indeed, both use invested technology to make flying devices. Though your point about Shardic intent on Scadrial is a good one.

As we know on Scadrial, Am I stating the obvious by saying that magic on Roshar obeys a similar system but with respect to your soul? The radiants access surge binding by adding to their souls literally fusing together with a spren. They go from various kinds of broken souls to better people. Old magic, the deals with the nightwatcher, often seem to involve an exchange. One part of your soul for another. Voidbinding accesses the surges by driving people slowly insane, damaging, twisting and deforming their soul. Odium seemingly consumes parts of peoples souls, twisting their souls in a manner reminiscent of Dakhor. Then he seems to return those parts of the soul with voidlight flowing through and around their broken soul. We might then label the Radiant surgbinding, Soul positive, the Old Magic Soul Neutral, and Voidbinding soul negative. Some might object that old magic doesn't fit this theory, you just have to think a little imaginatively about the Boon's and Curses. I know Av's father got a heap of good cloth. Perhaps the Nightwatcher gave Av's father the ability to weave beautiful cloth or knowledge about where he could trade or find cloth. The Nightwatcher in similar fashion offered things to Dalinar that might not technicallybe part of his soul. Perhaps, she meant that she could alter his soul so he could obtain such things. I know Brandon said old magic is suppose to be mysterious and without rules. I suspect that Brandon's desire to invent complex rules to govern magic systems is almost an obsessive disorder. I imagine he interrupts his children to ask why that unicorn has the power to run across water. Anyway, what are the implications of this theory? One implication might be thinking about the Unmade differently. Perhaps the Unmade's power comes from what they lack, not what they are? Nergoul lacks empathy, Ashertmarn lacks hope, Re-Shephir lacks imagination, etc...

Cities burn, people suffer. Why? Injustice, why suffering people burn cities. Reading, I smile and sigh. Daughters finally asleep? Finally, daughters! Sigh and smile. I read. I'll add one more about a miscarriage, sad, potentially triggering.

Respectfully, Agrabes it's somewhat contradictory to lead into a plee for respectful discourse by saying how little you respect Kaepernick. Life as a second string NFL quarterback is far from "a life of obscurity". Do you really think Kaepernick is so vain, so insincere? Why? The BLM movement has been so patient and so restrained, despite routine violence against them and so little justice for the lives lost. Let's talk about civilian review boards, anti-bias training, deescalation tactics, bail bond reform, scaling back sentences for minor drug possession, standardizing policing across the country, changing the police culture of fear and silence. I dont want to have another conversation about when and how I should be upset.

Alright those wobs arent super helpful. Though there's some wiggle room. Maybe the sphere didn't corrupt her brothers directly, but was still there. Still I think that the black spheres are part of some fabrial, designed to use the powers of Ba ado Mishram to enslave the singer's. I've long thought that enslaving the singers was the ultimate goal of the Ghost Bloods. How else to properly use the advent of the desolation?

@karger I've seen other people suggest there were more than 2, but where are you getting that from? Also I love your oaths series and your theory of radiant oaths. One day you and I should get some drinks.

Lift offering Dalinar the bowl of dried fruit after eating his lunch. Bff Dalinar discussing philosophy with Taravangian in their armchairs by the fire at the top of the ivory tower. Kaladin and Shallan dripping wet pressed against each other in the heart of the storm.

What was Gavilar doing with the Parshendi treaty? Why does he have at least two little black spheres filled with voidlight. Why does he give one to Eshonai and one to Szeth? Where are they now? There are lots of hints that the sphere contains Ba-ado-mishram, and I agree with this theory but how can one fused be trapped in two spheres? She was captured in one perfect gemstone and then split. Somebody tried to make a conjoined fabrial out of an unmade. Someone was trying to use Ba-ado-mishram's powers, to connect with the parsh, to grant forms of power, to grant voidlight, to lead them. Or to put it simply to create an army of loyal voidbringers. Gavilar's gift was a Trojan horse, his treaty and his words to Eshonai lies. Gavilar meant to seduce the listeners with power, transform them into an army and then enslave them to his will. Who on Roshar could oppose such a force? The radiants at his back, the stormfather on his shoulder, the voidbringer armies at his left hand and Dalinar at at his right. He could make the conquests of the Sunmaker, his idol, look like a footnote. He could bring Vorinism to every corner of the continent. He could unite Roshar. The sphere Gavilar kept on him has the power to connect to and enslave singers in regal form. Szeth drops it in Jah Keved. Lin davar finds it where it corrupts him, turning him power hungry and violent. He attempts to control its horrific influence by wrapping it in aluminum and protects it by hiding it on his 'precious' daughter. Then all the nosy treasure seekers come looking, ghost bloods, hoid, daybreakers, etc... The sphere Venli has can summon voidspren and grant voidlight. We see her scholars producing stormspren somehow on the shattered plains. Odium must know she has it though, perhaps it's been taken by the fused.

I could prove I have free will but I won't.

I've always wondered why Hoid, the Skybreakers, the Cryptics, the Ghostbloods, and Jasnah(maybe) were all interested in a minor destitute backwater Veden house led by a psychopath. Speculation, Lin Davar had something important. Something deeply invested, something twisted, something he doesn't entirely understand. My guess, Gavilar's little black sphere. Now where would you hide a little black magic sphere that everyones looking for? You could do worse than to wrap it in plain aluminum and hang it on the neck of the heavily guarded daughter you always keep close by. This is speculation, not theory. Several times I've worked at fleshing this out to a full theory but I can't quite make the timeline line up. Shallan's mother dies the same month Gavilar does, Tanat 1167. That is a stunning coincidence and suggests a connection but it makes the whole story not quite fit. Gavilar dies, Szeth steals his gem, leaves it in Jah Keved, Lin finds it, the Cryptics send Pattern to bond Shallan, Shallan's mother notices, Shallan's mother contacts the skybreakers or the skybreakers find her, then they try to kill Shallan. Too much for one month. There's something I don't understand, about Shallan's mother perhaps. Also how is Lin using this gemstone to bargain with the Ghostbloods? Does it contain an unmade? Is he giving the Ghostbloods voidlight? Why are there two little black spheres? This theory has haunted me, it seems so close. Of course, he's angry she tried to trade her necklace for Jushu. No wonder Lin smiles when he sees her wear it. How fitting that she uses it kill him? Any ideas?

Hoid seems in total control of every situation he's in.

@kingofnowhere, sorry for my incorrect assumption. Also, I find your opinions on socialism and immigration quite agreeable.

The people killed aren't really random and they aren't being killed because of a bad day. The existent and extent of systemic racism in policing (and more generally) is very much not a given fact in American politics. Reading your post in it's entirety, I suspect racism in America is just different from racism in Poland. I know next to nothing about Poland. I certainly don't understand racism there. I have a vague recollection of watching soccer 'hooligans' on the news, something about antisemitism. Racism where I live, North Carolina, is a kind of daily experience. It's old and violent, it reaches into schools and workplaces, hospitals and courthouses. I don't think I'm the right person to explain it, maybe read Tim Tyson's, Blood Done Sign My Name. Anyway the point is the protests are highly contentious and sometimes dangerous to be a part of. Just take my word for it. Friends of mine were attacked by police. I washed their faces with milk.

Brandon released a thoughtful and personal political statement about BLM which I appreciated. Nevertheless, I'm having too much fun posting my theories on here. This one ranges quite a bit so bear with me and as always I welcome disagreement and correction. Spoilers for Stormlight. Blackmail Theory: The Real Recreance A certain epigraph in WOR suggests that Taravangian has a secret that broke the knight's radiant in the Recreance. We then see him releasing a secret to attack Dalinar by decoding the Eila Stele. It is revealed that human's are not the original inhabitants of Roshar, they came, invaded, and displaced the singers. This causes Kaladin and others some moral guilt and we are led to believe that this is the secret that broke the Knight's Radiant. Except I don't buy it. The knights who abandoned their oaths, abandoned their fight against a mad god, gave up their super powers, and killed their best friends. I might have felt guilty if I was a knight during the Recreance, attempted to make peace with the Singers, find a way to co-exist, even some kind of reperations. I wouldn't abandon everything because my ancestors were guilty of a horrible crime. I don't really have to wonder about this. I'm a white man in the south. I think we should build a world that's good for all of us now (liberal socialism) and not hold people accountable for the sins of their ancestors. I also get that this is a self serving point of view. My own ethics aside, it is hard to imagine an ethical system that would require the Radiants to abandon their entire civilization and way of life because of their displacement of a native people in the distant past. Nor did the Radiants actually help the Singers during the Recreance they left them a broken enslaved people. Finally, the idea that humans aren't from Roshar (excluding Shinovar) can't have been that big a secret. Jasnah figured it out without help. Dalinar who though sometimes clever is not a scientist almost figures this out. Really anyone familiar with evolutionary biology would figure this out pretty quickly. Where is the human evolutionary branch? There are barely any other mammals. If that's not enough a quick examination of the fossil record would be. Scholars on Roshar had to think human's came from Shinovar at least. Perhaps this information was subsequently suppressed by Vorinism but I don't think it came as a surprise during the Recreance. Taravangian hasn't played his trump card. He was attacking Dalinar, trying to control the Knight's Radiant not destroy them. Indeed, destroying them completely would have removed his bargaining power with Odium. So what is the secret that broke the Radiants? Before we answer that, we need to pause and consider two seperate questions. First, what does the ecology of Roshar look like? We have seen that spren are deeply tied to several species of greatshells, but there are continual references to spren being involved intimately with other animals, Ryshadium, sky eels, fish in the pure lake. The spren involved with the greatshells seem to be exploiting something similar to a surge of gravitation. Can other species access other pseudosurges? Perhaps fish in the Purelake access regrowth through a spren, which explains why they can cure aches and pains. Grasses could access cohesion to help them burrow into rocks. Birds could use adhesion to glue their eggs in their nests during highstorms. Cremlings could access illumination to hide from predators. Rockbuds could use transformation instead of nitrogen fixing bacteria. The possibilities are endless. I believe that spren are tied far more deeply to the ecology on Roshar than we are aware of. Such an ecology would be far stranger than any we are familiar with on earth. Ecosystems on earth are rather strictly bounded by things like, amount of sunlight, available water, temperature, oxygen levels, and available nutrients. Answer a few basic questions about these types of things and I can predict a great deal about the kind of life you are likely to find in such an ecosystem. Not so on Roshar, spren and the surges they offer allow all kinds of work arounds to these limitations. We can expect life on Roshar to be stranger, more varied. Indeed, the spren have their own ecosystem. There are clear references to spren eating each other during the trip to Thaylen city. These sprensystems must overlap somehow with Rosharan ecosystems. We know so little about spren. What do they get out of their interactions in the physical realm? Are they immortal? Do they reform or reproduce in someway? What sustains them? What would a spren food chain look like? I don't have the answers here except to speculate that this deep connection to spren makes the Rosharan ecology almost 4 dimensional in nature. Second, how does Odium plan to kill Cultivation? He is not simply seeking to conquer Roshar. He is planning to cause the total ecological collapse of all life on the continent. This is how Odium killed Honor, he caused Honor to invest himself in humans and then he caused those humans to act dishonorably breaking that investiture away from Honor leading to his madness and death. Similarly, Odium observes Cultivation causing life to florish all across Roshar. When Odium kills all of that life he will cause her investiture to act against her intent. This is foreshadowed by the fate Ashyn, the scowering of Aimia, and Honor's ravings about the Radiants and the danger of their Shards. It is also a not uncommon theme in Brandon's other books. How does Odium intend to end all life on Roshar? This is the secret that broke the Knight's Radiant. Humans and especially surge binders are destroying and are fundamentally destructive to the ecology of Roshar outside of Shinovar. The human presence outside of Shinovar is causing a slow but inevitable environmental catastophy, not unlike global warming. Humans with their mere presence and emotions are attracting Spren and interacting with them, surgebinders even more so. They are disturbing the key element that makes the Rosharan ecology work. There are limited numbers of spren in each area, many of whom are drawn preferentially to humans. Even in victory the Radiants are destorying Roshar and Cultivation. That's why the humans were originally confined to Shinovar. That's why the Shin refuse to leave the valley of truth. That's how humans ended up harming the sibling. That's why so many parts of Roshar are barren and empty, unclaimed hills, frostlands, Aimia, etc... That's why the Radiants betrayed humanity. It was a noble gesture to save Roshar or at least forstall the end. Odium is confident in victory not because of his past record of success but because there is no path to victory. Fall before Odium's armies and he will orchestrate the systematic destruction of Roshar's ecology unopposed. Defeat Odium by using surgebinding and the ecosystem will collapse everyone will starve, Cultivation will die, and Odium be set free. (Not really, I think Stormlight will have a happy ending where everyone lives) Thanks for reading my theory.

@kingofnowhere , speaking for myself I felt confident in my understanding of Brandon's politics based on reading his books. He needed to make that post anyway. Public statements like Sanderson's, or Obama's, or Target's, or even the quite insincere comments of Roger Goodell serve to legitimize the demands and protect the safety of protestors. They need to be explicit and clear for mayors and police chiefs, not buried in hundreds of pages of implication and analogy. Also on second thought, Roger Goodell can go to Braize.

I'm glad Brandon spoke out. The BLM movement is currently in a struggle for legitimacy. The support of public figures and a broader community is the difference between politicians treating protestors as citizens participating in democracy or treating them as violent dangerous radicals. I applaud Brandon for his well thought out political position and his writing which shows a rare sensitivity to racial issues in the epic fantasy genre. I also applaud Nattybo who I think was right to pursue this matter.

Any way of interacting with art is valid, though you might enjoy pondering what Sanderson's political and philosophical motivations are and how he arrived at them. To answer the second question, Ender's Game Spoilers

@KingofHerdaz I don't boycott artists based on political views, though I find overly political rightwing works (Terry Goodkind) unreadable. I suppose there are different schools of literary criticism, but let me make my point by contrasting Sanderson's Skyward and Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. (mild spoilers for both) Both books feature a young protagonist with violent impulses saving their desperate world from an alien invasion. They have grumpy sergeants, an opaque military bureaucracy, a difficult peer group, and underlying mysteries. They both have peace loving characters to provide contrast. They are very similar books. I happen to know, however, that Orson Scott Card is rather religious and conservative. The books feel entirely different to me. Card is not criticizing the military or even presenting a debate they are our saviors, taking our collective sins upon themselves. Sanderson feels like he's offering us a picture of broken child and broken world on their way to being healed. This difference ultimately located in the authors political differences about war changes the whole book. Ender's game is dark and tortured; clinical, vicious and preachy. Skyward is punchy even silly, but richer more hopeful. If I thought Sanderson shared Card's politics Skyward would come off as bloodthirsty and shallow and characters like Kimmalyn, Cobb, and Jorgen would feel very different.