Master Silver

I suppose I get where you are coming from, but there are many who hold different values, usually informed by their religion. They are respectful to other members in the community, but the 17th Shard forums should also be a space for them too. Pendullems can swing too far one way or another. Just thought that was worth saying.

I know what you mean by them not being Spren shards, but they are bits of Honor. And we still know very little about the Honor blade/ Oathpact bond. It does seem like the other Heralds had to retrieve their blades from Shinovar, but that was after breaking the Oathpact (which wouldn't apply to Tal). Also at the end of the book they seemed to magic themselves and their blades there.

that doesn't make sense though. Tal never broke his oaths or his bond. He should just be able to summon it.

I'd agree that there is bloat. I think we all would say that. Part of the disappointment is that some of the pay offs just weren't really there. Ascending to Honor seemed seamed not to have the payoff we wanted. Same thing with swearing the fifth ideal. We were looking for Tal to fight (it happened off screen and no reason was given why he didn't use his honor blade or what happened to it). The contest of champions, again seemed like a ploy. Oathbringer being Gav's weapon, again it didn't seem well done. We thought the payoff with Maya would be bigger and more unique to Adolin seems like an opportunity lost. Mink character arc had no point since the Radiants lost so hard. Ghost Bloods should have been slaughtered and scattered. Mraize let go and then run into Shallan in postlude. Spiritual realm flashbacks shorter and in a choppy style so it is more of a vision/flashback. In terms of Romance/relationships cut some of them out, doing way too much there. If stormlight is meant to be an epic, make it an epic.

Is there a reason why Talin didn't fight with his blade in WaT?

Even though the speech patterns are going to change, that doesn't mean the prose need to suffer. Look at how Mark Twain wrote different characters and conversations. I know lots of people hate on Oathbringer, maybe because for many Words of Radiance was the best book in the series, but I do think that it would have been better for Brandon to take a step back and delay it by a year and make this the best book in the series. I love Brandons productivity but for his crown jewel of a book series more time is fine by me.

True, but apparently Nale could just go after Szeth if he felt Kaladin wasn't living up to the agreement to fight. Also there is some strange preference that stormlight has for Heralds. So who knows how long Kaladin would be able to fight. I feel robbed that we didn't get to see Kaladin fight after achieving the fifth ideal. Both him and Szeth got a bunch of stormlight... ok big deal. It is immediately consumed by Nightblood. Now having them achieve the fifth ideal after Dalinar dies and Retribution reclaims all the stormlight, making it so that there is stormlight contained in a perfect gemheart with a tiny connection to the spiritual realm, that would have been very very cool.

That is interesting. It is true that when it comes to flying, Kaladin seems to be a prodigy, he outflew the ancient Fused. But Kaladin very likely would have still lost because of division. Adding less restrictions favors the warrior with more use of their powers. Just like when Nale said Kaladin was new to his plate.

I get that likes and dislikes are a matter of taste. I think academics, like English PhDs and such would give Tolkien the win on prose. In terms of story, being an old soul, I prefer the age-old themes that Tolkien clearly puts forward in his books. I think there is strength there that endures the test of time. This likely why Way of Kings is my favorite of the series. Cheers

I really enjoy the quantity of Sanderson, but as has been mentioned before, Tolkien's prose in The Lord of the Rings are just better. Part of the issue is that Sanderson's sheer volume lessens the quality of his prose. I also think his volume affects the quality of the story sometimes. Wind and Truth is a prime example of this. I think both Rhythm of War and Wind and Truth were hurt by deadlines. Most readers rank them as the worst of the series. Someone else mentioned that this is largely subjective and a matter of taste, that is true too. I think The Way of Kings had a chance to be the next LOTR but in my opinion the last two books really brought down the quality of the series. But it isn't like he can retcon them, although I think some fans might be for it if it improved the last two books by 10%

Nale wins this for now, I imagine by book 10 Kaladin wins this no problem.

We saw Kaladin force Nale to use his powers as a Herald. So arguably, the best Skybreaker cannot beat Kaladin without using his powers as a Herald. When you consider that feat of Kaladin's (pushing Nale to use his true abilities) Nomad doesn't stand a chance. Not to mention Nomad is hindered by when he held the Dawnshard. This makes one wonder, how much of the sure of not being able to harm will actually grow back.

So we saw what two of the Bondsmiths did. I imagine Nightwatcher was the god spren on the battlefield. You had the Stormfather as the Strategic planner, the Sibling as the homebase spren, so having the Nightwatcher wreck devastation on the battlefield makes sense. Also, if Adolin;s self-image is of himself in Shardplate, he may wake up one day after bonding a spren to dismiss his plate leg to find a real leg underneath it. It really makes sense that he would be the third bodsmith. We don't know if swearing oaths connects the Radiant breifly to the spiritual realm or not.

The man I am talking about is Adolin Kholin of course. They live in a world with regrowth. Even after the death of the Stormfather, the Shard Honor still exists. Taravangian is working to keep both the Shards of Odium and Honor happy. In his person we have Retribution, but Retribution is composed of two Shards. Regrowth is still possible in Roshar. Commerce still happens and there is still plenty of investiture around. Yes, it takes longer to get places without the Oath Gates, but why wouldn't the kingdom work to bring in Fused healers or Listeners to perform regrowth. To have the means to be healed and not pursue it seems very farfetched to me. Yes, Adolin has a functional prosthetic, but with his wealth, why wouldn't he pay for healing? Also, will the Shard Honor still give a burst of power when ideals are sworn? It still seems implausible that no new Radiants were created either on the Shattered Plains or in Azimeir during the fighting.

This is as close as I could get it. let me know if the picture works Image Creator

Well, I hope Kaladin is a Bondsmith, that way Syl can get glory spren armor to keep her safe.

This is an excellent recap. I think we are underestimating how invested Dalinar was. Yes it was for a short period of time in the physical realm, but time is somewhat irrelevant in the spiritual realm. We also, don't know how much time elapsed between Dalinar's death and Retribution trying to claim him, maybe a couple hours. If surge binders of the first ideal last a couple of minutes, how long would a Bondsmith last before going to the beyond. Now not only a Bondsmith but also he held the Shard of Honor for a little while. I don't know how much time a Shard needs to imprint upon the soul, but like a Dawnshard the effect begins immediately. So, how much time ellapsed? I don't think it was enough time for Dalinar to fade to the beyond naturally. I also don't think it was Cultivation who claimed him because she fled. I think it was Valor who claimed Dalinar, whether to let him go into the beyond or to continue to fight I don't know. Dalinar's goodbyes to everyone seems to indicate he has reached his destination (The Beyond).

Lol, might be a bit of comedy there. We know that looks wise, Shallan was his type, and mother and daughter share some of the same features. Obviously, Shallan was too young for Kaladin, far too immature, so in classic Kaladin fashion he will go to the other extreme and date an ancient. Besides now Leshwe and Chanarach can fight over Kal and make him super uncomfortable.

I agree that the romance detracts from the book. Also, making Renarin be an autistic man with an interspecies gay roman from a blood line of warlords who is more of a pacifist is putting a lot of unicorns into one character. It definitely makes it seem very agenda driven (and to the detriment of the story). I think a Frodo and Samwise relationship might have served better and taken less space allowing for Brandon to close some loopholes and not rush certain things. Why not do a better job paying off the swearing of the fifth ideal for Szeth and Kaladin?

I feel like Ambition would end up getting me killed. Honor would be fine as long as you get the Shard to understand the true sense of the word.

I still am hoping for a Jasnah and Kaladin marriage. And this means Jasnah need to become a replacement Herald. I don't like that the age gap is increasing, but when they are both immortal it won't matter. Besides Jasnah has a little experience dating a god. Also, after the 10 year time skip, I'd love to see a rematch sparing contest between Kaladin and Nale.

I think that what Dalinar did would make the Shard of Valor take notice, perhaps make Dalinar her avatar. Battar is a traitor still I think so maybe she will be replaced.

So they didn't removed Honor from stormlight they simply inverted the tone. so that when played with honor's tone it would make zero. It is best to think of it as a wave and chart it. When those are opposite they would cancel and you would always get zero. That is what anti-stormlight does. You are correct that the solid state of investiture is a metal.

Perhaps the Chasimfeids are atuned to Valor. The way they are described seems to not fit the pattern of Honor or Odium. Yet, they are very intelligent and there is more than just instinct at play. Also, if Valor is a dragon, the Chasimfeids seem more like intelligent dragons than Thunderclasts.

For that last WoB, I can see how Elhokar was filled with despair in Words of Radiance. He has had a hit on him for over 20 years. Practically his whole life. Poor guy indeed!