NysemePtem

Up until this book, I agreed completely. But Vyre has been a major disappointment. His obsession with Kaladin is bizarre, inexplicable and only grows more so with the book. His most satisfying moments should be with Kaladin, but instead Kaladin fights the Pursuer (who I also don't like) and Moash gets a moment with Navani. It's pretty cool admittedly, but I'd be ok with this being his exit from the series.

This makes sense. I've always been fond of the sincere spy used to lure protags into a trap trope.

I also have mixed feelings about Navani's bond. Going into this book, I assumed as a matter of course that Navani would bond the Sibling and I was deeply excited for it. Then we got to know the Sibling, and it's opinion of Navani - and more importantly, fabrials. Our assumption that Navani and the Sibling would be great for each other was based largely on the idea that they're both into fabrials - but Urithiru is run by fabrials made out of the Sibling itself, not enslaved spren. Even by the end of the book,the Sibling is still uncomfortable with her use of them. Furthermore, the introduction of Rlain as a candidate excited me. However, he never had on screen interactions with the Sibling that let us judge their compatibility. In the end, I'm mostly happy with how things turned out. But Navani claiming the Sibling felt... Not unearned, but badly done.

He's not human. His attitude towards them in the epigraphs is one of studying something foreign, not a self defense.

I sincerely doubt there are human Fused. Remember how they reacted in OB when told to bow to Dalinar? Lezian the Pursuer? Sure, some Fused think well of humans but they're a minority. And why would Dalinar being told he will join the Fused be weird? It's exactly what he's doing.

It's worth remembering that old fabrials weren't made by trapping spren in gemstones. They were made by spren manifesting as metal in the physical realm, using gems as a power source (and in the case of soulcasters, control). So the power blocking fabrial is an innate part of the Sibling, and apparently also a way for a voidspren (or corrupted radiant spren) to manifest.

I think Tod is more willing to Invest in Roshar. Rayse was always reluctant, scared to expose himself, determined to escape. He was willing to sacrifice his plans for conquest or severely impede them in the name of freedom. Tod seems more patient, more careful.

Full spoilers from here on out. Sorry for the bland title, but I wasn't sure how to present this. Basically it's about Raboniel's relationship with Odium. The thing that kicked this off was a brief mention by Venli that Odium granted Raboniel her own rhythms. This is never mentioned again, and it's implications are unexplored. But this seems substantial right? No other Fused is given this privilege! Add to that the fact that she was one of the Nine, this suggests that Odium has great trust in her - which is very interesting considering her later actions. This book also tells us a lot about Odium. While this is rendered less relevant due to Tod, it's still worth remembering that Odium had a vision MUCH greater than Roshar. The highest Singers seem aware of this too, El and Raboniel for example. I suggest that the unprecedented step of granting a singer her own rhythms means Odium felt her research would further his greater cosmere goals. While capturing Urithiru is important, Raboniel in particular was in charge. I think Odium knew that something like Anti Investiture is possible, for these reasons. First, he believed in her research. He consistently supported her and gave her power. Second, he had to know she was wrong about Storm light and Voidlight being opposites. His inherent realmatic knowledge as a Shard would make this obvious... But he still believed she could discover worthwhile, powerful things that would help his grand plan. Like anti-light. Odium doesn't fear it, probably because mortals can't produce nearly enough to damage him. But Shards wield way more Investiture. Could Odium WILL Anti Investiture to exist and use it to destroy shards? Could this be how he already has destroyed shards?

Yes, that's an interesting possibility. There's quote in part 2 about the Sibling being created to fight Odium.

Yes! Oathbringer made him really interesting, and his descent into apathy was relatable. I was curious about his destiny. Now, he's just weird and crazy - like, deifying Kaladin and ordering Fused and being basically psychotic. Like he's basically Heath Ledgerman's Joker...

Yes, that makes sense. So when was the Sibling created? And was it somehow designed to inhabit Urithiru? Does Urithiru predate the Sibling, do they predate Urithiru, or were they created at the exact same time by the same action? Did the Sibling actually create Urithiru, or did the KR build the whole structure and add in fabrials and all that, and then the Sibling just stepped into it? What is Navani's connection with Light? The Sibling creates Towerlight, and it seems Navani can too. But what can it be used for? It powers Fabrials, or at least the tower's fabrials. Can Navani use Towerlight to power her Surgebinding? If she infuses other people with Towerlight, can they power Surgebinding with it? If so, it could solve the Weeping problem or mitigate it. Even if I'm wrong about Navani producing Towerlight or it powering Surgbeinding, Stormlight can be extracted from it - if slowly.

Well, Spren are sentient Investiture. I think it makes sense that changing which kind of Investiture a Spren is made from would change the nature of that Spren, even to the point of making it forget who it used to be. Interestingly, Sja Anat seems to do somewhat similar to lesser (and now Radiant) Spren. I wonder if the affinity between her power and what Odium did to her allows her to understand it better and resist it the way she is. Personal note: I had always assumed that the Unmade were one entity, and the Unmaking was Odium splitting his Godspren into 9 lesser Spren for unknown reasons.

If Raboniel had succeeded, and the extent of the Sibling's consciousness had been discovered, would they have become the 10th Unmade? If so, this suggests that Roshar was home to numerous Bondsmith-level (or near bondsmith level) spren, and possibly an entire shadesmar ecology of superspren which Odium then corrupted. It also suggests that Bondsmiths aren't actually limited to 3 members, their Spren species is just endangered . I'm also surprised that the Sibling is the child of Honor and Cultivation, I'd seen some WOB indicating that their child would be human with some extra abilities, not a Spren.

I think you're mostly right, except for the fact that Spren can be connected to the Physical Realm. I think if Ishar just connected Spren to the PR, they would just take on the forms bonded Spren do. I think there must be different kinds of connection, even to your realm. For example, humans have one kind of connection to the PR and a different to the CR, while Spren have a connection to the CR different from a human's. I think Ishar didn't just give Spren connections to the PR ,but gave them the same kind of Connection that humans have to the PR. This, to me, is what would induce their complete physical transfer to the PR including the construction of bodies. I wonder what these Spren looked like in Shadesmar before they died.

I don't think Odium is just all of Adonalsium's emotions. It was described (by Wit, I think) as "God's divine wrath, separated from the virtues that gave it context". I think this is what makes Odium so terrifying - all this power, with a destructive bent to it, that has none of the checks that the rest of Adonalsium provided. As for Rayse claiming to be the God of all emotions, I feel like that is an individual notion. I theorize that all the Shards feel incomplete to some extent. We can see this very obviously in Ruin and Preservation: neither can accomplish its desires without the other, so they reluctantly team up. Similarly, despite the pact a LOT of Shards decide to work together - possibly because of similar gaps in their powers. Rayse doesn't want to work with anyone else, so to cope with knowing he only has 1/16th of God but feeling as powerful as Ado itself, he pretends he is special and actually has a much greater domain than is true.

I made a threat about this, and Ishar speculation in general. Some suspect that he's doing this to kill Spren and end the KR. However, this strikes me as too simplistic considering the method and the observations about Spren viability in the physical realm.

Yes. The Epigraphs suggest that Mishram is very, very important to Roshar. Further, the that Raboniel was "unmaking " the Sibling suggests that the other Unmade could be pre-Odium spren similar to Stormdaddy and Nightweirdo

Oooh that makes a lot of sense! I like that!

So, I read the book pretty quickly. But as I recall this part, Shallan bonded Testament as a very young child. She advanced far enough in oaths to summon a blade. I'm a little confused about the timeline. Testament is the Shardblade used to kill her mother, but was Testament alive at this time? I would assume so, since she appeared physically in a smaller form. Did Shallan then break her oaths in horror at what she'd done? Hiw does this work out with her months of not speaking? Or, did Shallan kill Testament and use her corpse to kill her mother? If so, why did she break her bond with Testament?

Ok, so I'm really, really glad Ishar showed up. Like when he was mentioned in OB I was pissed that nothing happened... but now I'm just like totally reeling after everything we've learned about and from him: 1. He recovered his Honorblade 1.1 He can literally just manipulate any connection?!?! The implications are insane To what extent can Dalinar do this? 1.2 The Shin serve the Unmade somehow? This connects to an earlier comment (can someone find it?) About an Unmade taking up residence in Shinovar 2. His insanity. He's delusional. But, like Taln, the perpendicularity inspired a lucid period. Why does the perpendicularity do this, but only sometimes? Is it the presence of Honor somehow? 2.1 He implies he wants to refound the Oathpact, during his lucid moment. Will this happen? I've heard it suggested that the series will end with a new oathpact refounded using the main characters as heralds, but it is frequently met with derision. I don't like this theory, for reasons i won't go into unless asked. However, considering the other twists in this book (looking at you, mr. T) I doubt Brandon will go with this approach. I do see this as plausible, however: 3. THE SPREN. THE DAMNATION SPREN. What. The. Actual. storm. ISHAR!!! why is he doing this? What is he even doing? How could he possibly do this? Is he manipulating connection somehow? I don't like it.

So, I definitely knew the whole Odium-glowing thing was going somewhere, probably some kind of weakness. I had absolutely no idea Taravangian would ascend. What confuses me is: 1) what will Taravangian do if he wins the duel 2) why is he pretending to be Rayse

Hang on... white hair, and possible investiture from another world? Could that be Hoid?

I'm personally curious about what in-universe book RoW is named after. Could it be an ancient singer text, or is Venli or Rlain going to write an account of the true desolation?

I'm sorry, but how do we know that Szeth is in prison? Is it mentioned in the chapters and I missed it, or is there a WoB?

Ahh, but holding stormlight wards off the cold!