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School of Radiance. Life before death. Strength before Weakness. Journey before pancakes.

That was my understanding - I expect him to remain at 3rd Ideal level for some time.

Oathbringer Chapter 121 page 1198 The conversation continues but doesn't pick up on that quest/4th ideal again and there is no further mention of the spren.

This is difficult; there are lots of great characters. I probably enjoy Jasnah and Navani POVs the most - but partly that may be because they're so rare. I also really like Adolin (and really hope he gets to become an Edgedancer by reviving Maya). On the opposite end... I really don't like reading Moash.

Szeth hasn't sworn his 4th Ideal - he swore his 3rd (which got the reaction I quoted). Then he said what his crusade for the 4th ideal would be if Dalinar approves of it but didn't formally swear his 4th ideal - perhaps waiting for Dalinar's approval first.

1. We're in agreement here - my point was made in response to Isilel's comment further up that all Highsprens would disagree with the idea of a desolation coming as they'd be on board with Nale hence a highspren bonding a younger Szeth wouldn't have thought a desolation was coming. 2. That quote was indeed from when Szeth swore the 3rd ideal (I assume 4th was a typo). BUT my argument was that the tone/feel of that statement implied a longer relationship whereas if Szeth only bonded a highspren after becoming a squire their relationship would have lasted maybe a week so far at most. 3. Seems like we're entirely in agreement on this point - it could be either or both.

I was suggesting above that Nale had a reason for thinking that Szeth could jump to the 3rd Ideal - being aware of a suppressed bond could be such a reason. As for how he found out about the voidbringers there are indeed several possibilities - that is not my primary reason for thinking he bonded a spren years ago.

That's the other thing it could mean.

I'm hoping that Moash is not in any of the 3 groups. If he has to have POVs hopefully he's just in the interludes.

I definitely see the argument here - BUT I can think of a couple of counter points: 1. From the epilogue of Words of Radiance Jasnah talking to Hoid: "The words of the highspren could be inaccurate" - it seems that in Shadesmar highspren gave Jasnah information about the desolations - this doesn't sound in line with the highspren following Nale's line of no desolation is coming. 2. The point I quoted above about how Szeth reflected on his highspren when swearing his 3rd Ideal - which implied a longer relationship 3. This comment that could imply a past involvement with highspren? Chapter 90 of Oathbringer (bottom page 867 in the hardback)

My current speculation is that this spren is his current highspren - particularly with his thought when swearing his third oath from chapter 121 of Oathbringer: Whilst it says nothing explicit about the length of the bond with this spren that way of describing it sounds a little too familiar if Szeth had no relationship with it before swearing the second ideal in Oathbringer additionally "even still" implies that the relationship with this spren has changed in some way over time - but if he only met this spren after swearing the second ideal their relationship would have been very short. Though I am not certain of this point and also it feels too similar in some ways to Shallan's past.

We indeed know that Szeth thinking that the voidbringers were returning was part of why he became truthless. But could this not in some way be related to him bonding a Spren? Could the Spren have told him that the voidbringers were returning? OR could he have bonded the spren because he thought that the Voidbringers were returning?

Chapter 92 of Oathbringer Did Szeth bond a spren at a very young age but suppress/forget it later? Possibly when he was made Truthless? Could this in fact be what he was made Truthless for?

I recall reading that WoB before but I don't think it answers this point. Yes it says that in some way HonorBlades plugged straight to Honor and that won't work now. BUT this doesn't tell us: 1. Why HonorBlades feed on stormlight - and how this relates to NightBlood doing it. 2. How Honrblades work now they're not plugged into Honor. 3. Why HonorBlades seem to work like the Nahel Bond but badly.

Is there a source for that point or is it speculation?

I'm sure someone else will have noticed this but I can't see a topic. The Heralds were supposedly greater than the Knights Radiant, they were the leaders, the best etc. BUT their Honorblades are seemingly less efficient/useful than SprenBlades BUT feed on stormlight. There is one other thing that feeds on stormlight that we know of - Nightblood. Nightblood in many ways seems less useful than a SprenBlade: Doesn't grant the ability to Invest (or at least not as far as we know) Drains Stormlight fast Kills you when you're out BUT we also know that Nightblood is one of the most powerful weapons in the cosmere. QUESTIONS: What does it mean that something feeds on stormlight? And what practical use is the apparent greater power of these weapons?

@yurisses when the full recording is available there's a bit Brandon said to me about Red not always meaning what we think it means or something, it was in response to the questions in two of my books but I can't remember exactly what he said. Correction - this will be on @yurisses recording; so maybe wait for the actual quote before taking this anywhere - I was half asleep.

Well I had to try.... I asked Brandon this quesiton at the London signing today Q: "Will Shallash/Ash become a Dustbringer" A: That's a RAFO - here's your card

The recording won't be the whole event - the crew got kicked out when the main store closed - though we then got a 17th Shard Q&A session at the end after everyone else had gone. I did 3 on my first go through that won't be in the recording(s); I had them signed in my books so have uploaded images below. Also one more that won't be on the recording a non-sharder in front of me showed Brandon the Kaladin chapter icon and asked if it's meant to look like an Aon, Brandon said no BUT there is something going on in that chapter icon.

If you read the text carefully - it's clear that having a spren bond is a pre-requisite for being able to swear the 3rd ideal; this implies that Szeth knew he already had such a bond before they took off for the flight as he was about to swear before Nale stopped him.

He didn't need proximity to the skybreakers during that battle; read the section you quoted again - he's clearly bonded to the spren before that and hence had power from it. The key bit is this: If the bond wasn't formed untill he swore this oath then this line wouldn't make sense.

I don't recall that - when do we see Odium being wrong about this?

7.5 hours for this book is around 4 times the "average adult" reading speed.

I'm pretty sure that Nightblood is the most powerful sword in the cosmere though it does have its downsides...

I think it's worth noting that it's possible for the same person to meet the criteria for more than one order; maybe Adolin had what it takes to be an Edgedancer OR a Willshaper and then he happens to have an Edgedancer blade.