LuckyJim

I don't think there's any way to disprove this theory until we get more information, but I feel like it would do more harm than good to the story, because it makes Shallan's character arc even more repetitive than it already is. By the end of RoW, Shallan's finally worked past the guilt she's had over the pain she's caused to others in her childhood, and finally worked through her repressed memory and at the end of the book says she's filled all the gaps in her memory. After taking such a big step forward the next step is to do the whole thing over again. More repressed memories from her childhood and more guilt about harming people through her actions. I realize that she isn't a reliable narrator and her whole backstory is full of weird twists and turns but at this point shouldn't her arc go in a new direction rather than just being "Shallan's secret murders: part three"?

It just seems really excessive to me for the entire end of the world to basically be Shallan's fault.At the end of RoW, Shallan's narrations says there are no more holes in her memory, and yes she's not exactly a reliable narrator, but I would hope that after four books of this we can finally start moving forward. Making her arc about uncovering repressed guilt over some murder yet again is just repetitive, and regresses Shallan's character after the progress she finally made in RoW.

I think the reason most people assume Shallan is hallucinating is because in one of the flashbacks, Shallan is with Helaran and sees light coming from the safe "so bright that it's blinding" but Helaran claims to not see anything. Unless Helaran's lying or only Shallan can see the light for some reason, it might just be the simpler answer that she's hallucinating.

I think there's a tendency for Cosmere fans to come up with complex explanations through magic rather than just accept the simpler mundane answer. It's like how everyone was saying that Dienno must be a surgebinder because how else could he possibly be able to escape shackles? In this case, the purpose of the scene is to show how the millenia of combat have made the heralds superhumanly skilled at fighting. He fights as though he can see the moves they're about to make because he's just that good, but he's not even the best of the heralds in sword fighting.

That's more of a personal journey of addressing repressed memories in order to heal and progress. Pattern didn't help Shallan remember those events any more than Syl helped Kaladin reach the breakthroughs of his oaths. (To be clear, she did help but more in a supportive friend way)

A lot of the singers they're fighting just want to be free after spending countless generations as mindless slaves. They aren't monsters, and you could argue they're rather innocent as well, but they serve Odium and are supporting his war so there's really no choice but to fight and potentially kill them. This is the same for anyone who willingly chooses to serve Odium.

Something I noticed in the epilogues is that there's kind of a recurring pattern of characters arriving late or missing something crucial. In The Way of Kings, Hoid directly states that Taln has arrived too late to warn people of the coming desolation. In Words of Radiance, Jasnah escapes from Shadesmar, only to find that the Desolation has come and Urithiru has been discovered without her. The next two books don't fit as well, but if we're a little generous with the definitions, you could say that in Oathbringer Hoid meets Design, who was too late to bond Elhokar before he died, and Hoid himself was too late to meet with Rayse before he was killed (or something like that). I'm not sure it's a solid enough pattern to really point to anything, but its something I thought was kinda cool, and could make for interesting foreshadowing in what the potential end of book 5 could be if that is what Brandon is going for.

Hasn’t it been pointed out again and again, both in universe and out, that being under Odium’s influence is not an excuse for one’s actions?

I mean I don’t think that justifies abuse. I don’t know, but we never got her side of the story, would that really be fair to her?

Uh, what about the women he murdered and all the abuse of his sons?

It seems kinda far fetched to me. It just feels weirdly petty for her to use a child as blackmail over Hoid. I mean she's supposed to actually care about him, she's not that ruthless. Also, if having children was so important for Jasnah as a member of the royal family, she probably wouldn't have gone unmarried through her late thirties. (That's not even getting into the issue of having an illegitimate child as the queen of Alethkar.)

Maybe they have a tolerance to the poisoning, but if they hold on to it for too long, their body starts to react badly to it. I wouldn't think about it too hard though, this seems to be a handwavey "works the way the story needs it to" kind of deal.

In his chapter at the end of WoR, he thinks that he's been "played as one of the ten fools" so he realizes that he's been taken advantage of. It does disturb him quite a bit, as he doesn't understand the full scope of what he's been dragged into and he hates himself for betraying his friend over it.

You know, seeing the child champion theory and Taravangian's Kharbranth deal brought up together, it's made me think of something. I think choosing not to fight Odium's champion, regardless of the circumstances, is insanely selfish. If Odium's champion is Gavinor and Dalinar concedes defeat, then he'd be allowing Odium to run free for the sake of protecting his family. It's kinda similar to Taravangian allying with Odium in exchange for keeping Kharbranth safe, except worse because he's saving even fewer people. Yes, killing your nephew is horrible, but as a Radiant and the Stormfather's Bondsmith Dalinar has greater responsibilities than those to his family.

I have to disagree here. Spren are able to travel freely between realms because they are sentient investiture. Humans are not, they are physical beings and can only travel between realms through the use of a perpendicularity. Unless Adolin and Maya’s bond somehow allows them to open one at will, Adolin won’t be getting pulled into Shadesmar. I will concede that it could be possible for him to interact with Shadesmar in the same way Lift does though.

This is a really good take on the subject. Maybe instead of the bond happening "in reverse" what's going on is the balance is shifting a little bit, Adolin's giving more and receiving less than he would if it were a traditional bond between spren and human/singer.

I’ve never liked the “reverse Nahel bond” idea, because the Nahel bond doesn’t seem to be something that can be reversed. It’s always been a two way thing, with human and spren gaining something from the bond. I’m RoW, we also see Syl changing in ways she doesn’t completely understand, becoming more human like, gaining something from her bond with Kaladin.

Syl was pretty clear about this, killing for Windrunners is 100% okay as long as you're killing your enemies.

I mean, at that point why make it such a major part of the story to begin with? If it's just going to get dropped 2-3 books in without ever being seriously addressed aside from "oppressed people shouldn't generalize their oppressors" then what's even the point of having an system of eye color superiority at all? Sanderson built the world and characters from scratch, he had complete freedom in developing Kaladin's formative years and what shaped him into the man he became. He never had to make eye based racism such a huge problem within the Vorin nations. In fact, Way of Kings Prime didn't even have a lighteyes/darkeyes distinction.

This is like, 50% of the reason that I’m for a potential redemption arc.

My philosophy is this, there's nothing wrong with taking concepts from another work at all. Nothing is off the table here, and you can take whatever it is you want, however you want. The only condition is this: you have to understand the elements you're taking on a conceptual level. You need to fully analyze what makes these concepts interesting, what makes them work, and why specifically you want to include them in your story. If you understand all that, it will come across as far more organic.

Are you saying his inclusion in Fortnite was actually an elaborate Ghostblood recruitment scheme? Rusts, the man is simply unstoppable.

Like I said, it probably doesn't mean anything. But like, what if it did?

On a related note, Brandon recently "RAFO'd" a question regarding whether or not the epilogue would be from Hoid's pov. Probably doesn't mean anything, but, maybe...

Personally, I'd like it. One of the benefits of telling long term epic stories is that you can have your characters grow up over the course of the story, and I think having one of the couples start a family would be a really cool way of exploring that. I think too often, starting a family is seen as something that's done when the character's journey is at the end, and not really important to the characters, but it can potentially be a great way to examine how they've matured through how they interact with and raise a new child.