Branadar

I think it'll depend on how Brandon wants to end the front five. If the front five are a mostly inclusive story, with the back five having a mostly new plot line, I can see Brandon tying everything up nicely. BUT if his goal is to directly set up the scene for the back five (Renarin et al being on the back foot, desperately holding back the forces of Odium, etc.) then I can see him ending book 5 with whoever is left standing in a pretty desperate place. Personally, seeing as he's said that our main POV characters will be present but not center stage in the back five, I see the former being the more likely. Or something between the two.

I've been relistening to SA and I horrible thought occurred to me. I read through this thread and don't see it mentioned but I might have missed it. IF the contest of champions plays out in such a way that Dalinar becomes Todium's, it could lead to a drastic change in the nature of the Stormfather. If events take place that lead to Daliner technically breaking his oaths, the Stormfather could "die." I realize death is a confusing term for Spren, especially for one as powerful as the Stormfather, but it could mean that Stormlight is no longer easily renewable, which would be an incredible blow to the Knights Radiant. OR the Stormfather could become corrupted, changing the nature of the Light that is replenished, possibly harming the Knights in some way. I dunno how out there this could be, but I'm horrified by the possibilities.

Oh I’m sure he does. Think I heard him say something like that during that the last Livestream or on Reddit... somewhere. thank YOU for the consideration!

I know Rhythm of War just came out and there’s a deluge of material for the Shardcast. I wish, SO MUCH, they there’d been more time between Dawnshard and RoW because I feel like DS has kind of been forgotten. I would love to see a Shardcast episode dedicated to the representation of Disabilities in the Cosmere. I realize this would be a ways down the list... but it would make me so happy.

I agree that there should have been more time between Dawnshard and RoW. I wanted Dawnshard to shine and get a lot of recognition, but I feel like it was overshadowed.

I commented on the YouTube video but wanted to mention something here; thank you for mentioning the focus on Rysn's Disability and how it educated you, Evgeni, on what it's like to live with a disability. I was one of the "expert" beta readers and I'm incredibly grateful for the experience!

If there were Sleepless Radiants, couldn't there have been Sleepless that were working with Odium at some point in the past? This group of Sleepless seem to be fond of the current Radiants, so maybe they were betrayed by those that chose to support Odium.

I want Kaladin to learn to lead properly. He cares, yes. He has good ideas, yes. But leading does not mean constantly putting yourself at risk to protect those following you. It's about trusting those who follow you to do their best and reap the benefits/suffer the consequences. He needs to learn to trust, and he just doesn't. I think that going the surgeon route now will be a step back, but it might also help consolidate who he was and who he is. As we learned in OB, there's a new version of each of us every day. Kal was a surgeon's son, he was a field medic, he was a solider. I don't want him to go backward, I want him to move forwards.

Hi So... probably a really similar story compared to most of you here, but here we go. I've been a long casual fantasy fan. I started WoT in middle school, took me three times to get through it. But when I finished I liked this new guy, Sanderson. A friend of mine said, "Oh you should read Mistborn!" So I did, and I was hooked. I stumbled across the 17th Shard Podcast over a year ago. Now, here I am. I live and breathe the Cosmere and am excited about digging more deeply into the fandom community. From my interactions so far I'm eager to get to know folks better. Is it too cliche to say, "Journey Before Destination" here? Oh well. I will unite instead of divide. I will bring people together.