LuckyJim

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.

I once entertained the idea of Moash being the partner to the final Hoid monologue of era 1, contemplating what to do now that he has nothing, and setting up his character arc for the next sequence. I then dismissed this idea because I assumed that Sanderson had no big plans for Moash, but reading this makes me think maybe it's not such a long shot. I mean, it's unlikely sure, but not impossible. I'd definitely love to see the fandom reaction if Moash was the character to close out book 5.

Gaza had a minor viewpoint in WoK, and his name wasn’t listed in the part title.

I highly doubt that book 5 will only last 10 days, but aside from that, Moash doesn't need to go through a complete redemption in book 5. He only has to decide that he's wants to make the change. Depending on where Sanderson decides to take Moash's character, he could reach that point fairly soon. After RoW, he's beaten, broken and blind, he tried to reach his potential, but ended up hitting rock bottom instead. Throughout RoW, he tried to prove his view of the world correct over Kaladin, but Kaladin beat him, so the only conclusion Moash can take from this is that he was wrong, and now he has to figure out where to go from there. I like the idea suggested in the Shardcast, that Moash will try to gain some redemption in death. It wouldn't be weird if he's become completely suicidal by book 5, believing that he's so useless that the only way to make things right is to die, and spend most of book 5 trying to find a way to make that happen. Ultimately though, it doesn't work, and he's forced to fully confront his flaws for the first time and actually put in the work to be better. There's the issue of how much of his development would then take place over the timeskip, but there's also the possibility he could get a novella set in between books 5 and 6.

I was not expecting such a nuanced take on the topic, even going so far as to assess the character on a meta level and the implications of his character arc on the way the narrative treats oppressed groups. I think Moash discourse has become a lot more polarized and one sided since RoW, which I kinda blame on Branding giving Moash a few too many "kick the dog" moments. Regardless, I have very complex feelings on the subject, and I found this episode to be very validating. I'd really like to see Moash get some form of redemption, because there's a lot of value his perspective can bring to the story. I initially wanted him to become a Windrunner who protects the singers, but I've since become more fond of the idea of him becoming a Dustrbringer. Taking control of himself after spending his entire life being controlled by tyrants, and channeling his righteous anger into a more productive form.

That death rattle is a reference to the end of WoR, where Kaladin raises his hand against Moash while defending Elhokar and regains his powers. The chapter were Dalinar tells Kaladin Elhokar's side of the Roshone affair, including how that resulted in Roshone coming to Hearthstone, is titled "The One Who Killed Promises".

Alternatively, he may end up deciding to pursue revenge anyway, continue the cycle of hatred and become a villain.

Truthwatcher was one of the most common results from the Knights Radiant quiz (according to internet polls anyway) so that's probably influencing the results here.

I'd like to point out that the war will not end in 10 days. Even if Odium is defeated and sent back to Braize, it will not end the Everstorm. The Fused will still be able to fight, and the singers will still be able to access Regal forms of power.

Wasn't he literally recognized as the "Bridger of Minds" by the end of the book? Not saying he should have been a Bondsmith, but I thought the idea for his character was that being part of both human and singer groups makes him capable of helping them come together. Acting as an emulsifier, you might say.

I feel like the question is a bit unfair, since Sja-Anat is the only one with any actual development, but I digress. Anyway, I voted for Ba-Ado-Mishram. When Taln was keeping the Desolation at bay, she stepped up and gave the singers forms of power, allowing them to fight back against their much more powerful enemy, and I gotta respect that. Yelig-Nar seems really cool though, and I wanna see a character bond it and become a proper Blightwind, because they could potentially be a really threatening force. Really I just wanna see the Unmade be involved a lot more in general.

I kinda liked that she clashed so dramatically with Hoid. I find Hoid more likeable the less he plays into the "mysterious all knowing trickster" archetype, so having a companion that constantly ruins his rhythm just makes him that much more tolerable.

I don't think the story needs Odium to stick around (at least in an active capacity like it was in the last couple books) to maintain a conflict. Even without the shard, there's still the millennia of violence that would prevent the singers and humans from reconciling and creating an easy peace. Not to mention, there's no way Narak is big enough for all the singers across the entirety of Roshar to settle there, and many of them would probably want to stay in the lands they claimed while serving Odium. It's pretty unlikely that there's just gonna be a clean peace once Odium is defeated. They can fight without him, as they did during the False Desolation, and with Ba-Ado-Mishram likely to make a return in book 5, she could give them access to the Regal forms of power once again, even if they can't gain the Fused brands. Not to mention, with the recent turn of the Lightspren, it's possible other spren might decide that they want to support the singers' independence.

I really don't think he has hemalurgic abilities. If that were the case, he'd have to get new spikes every time he was reborn, which sounds like it would be difficult logistically, not to mention there'd be a bunch of hemalugic spikes lying around from where he was killed. Also, if he was actively using hemalurgy, why wasn't it used by the other fused/singers?

Kinda surprised Skybreakers are so high (although there are relatively few responses, so that's probably part of the reason) anyway, I might as well explain why they're my favorite. While I can appreciate the gung ho idealism of the Windrunners that's more common in tv and movies, it often bothers me how little foresight people can have in those cases. Especially when you have a "by-the-books" character who wants to take a more careful but limited approach who's clearly framed to be in the wrong. On another note, I like the acknowledgement that the Radiants are not perfect people to the point that they needed an order with the specific purpose of making sure they didn't abuse their power, and I appreciate the Skybreakers for being that order.