Shardsplinter

I was an advocate of it being a Sleepless, but now I'm in doubt. I still find the Sleepless theory one of the most logicals, but I'm struggling with the fact that because of the events of Dawnshard Navani has a context for what the Sleepless are. The problem here is that IFRC Brandon has said you can dive into RoW without reading Dawnshard. Thing is I don't see a scenario where she doesn't reference that previouse knowledge from Dawnshard if her blackmailer turns out to be a Sleepless ( which would be a Dawnshard spoiler IMHO) The other possibility is that it's a Sleepless but she doesn't find out on this book, but that would simply seem like no pay-off on a plot set from part 1. But then again, it is Sanderson, if someone can Dodge spoilers it's him. So maybe it's a Sleepless and -no surprise- it will be delt with beautifly.

Personally, I struggle to read the true emotions behind those lines for one main reason: Kal is depressed, lost and thinking less of himself throughout this chapter ( at all point his go-to thought is "what did I did wrong now?") so I find him to be an unreliable narrator. When he says, for example, Deep down, Kaladin had known there was only one place he could go once the spear was taken from him. Does he mean only one place that made him feel ok, or just one place like he has no other choice. Which way did you interpreted this? Am I the only one double-thinking this lines? In general I believe going back to surgery will be very positive for Kaladin. On his WoK flashbacks,like some have stated here, he actually decided after many thought that he preferred being a surgeon. This only changed through necessity. Either this is temporary or long-term, I do believe it will do our good pal Kal some benefit to reconnect with that part of himself and also with his dad. On the other hand the way the chapter adressed this choice left me a little bit worried. Lirin's reaction was unappropiate IMHO. He completely disregarded his son's emotions on the matter and skipped to deciding for him. Kal just seemed to roll with the punch. So, like I said, I do think this is can be a possitive experience for him but only if old Lirin starts to put his pride aside and actually helps his son.

Drehy's sexuality was adressed in a direct way without the need to use the term gay like you said so yourself. I agree Rosharans probably don't have any terms for bisexuality either, but that doesn't keep them from being able to reference Shallan's sexuality in a more explicit way. I actually agree that this being aproach explicitly is actually unlikely, but that doesn't change the fact that I would like for it to be. You might be unto something with your example. Adolin has been stated to be jealous and/or distrustful of Veil, so maybe we could get a scene with him being jelouse of a woman hence showing Shallan is bi in a more direct way. Last but not least I love the fact that Brandon shares so much extra information about his worlds and magic systems( it's a big part of why the Shard is such an amazing place) I just don't think a charachter's sexual orientation should fall under that category. No worries. I'm a college student myself and currentrly there's an Economy essay driving me nuts too ( I really shouldn't be on the Shard right now) I think we just have different opinions on the matter and I believe that's ok. It's probably a coincidence but I happen to be a TGP and Arrowverse fan. Sara Lance's bisexuality is extremely explicit on the show DC Legends of Tomorrow ( a spin-off), she has a girlfriend and it's the most beatiful healthy relationship on the show; so that's just people being blind ( really really blind) Eleanor on the other side, well, I have opinions in the matter and this is definitively not the place to adress them but this article here kind of sums up how I feel https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a30763385/the-good-place-bisexual-eleanor-queer-lgbtq/ If I got your point right then you don't agree with me or the article and again I believe that's ok. I just feel like it's becoming a regular trope to show a charachter "kind of bi"( quoting Kristen Bell here), then canonizing it outside the story but never on the story, like if they wanted to live the possibility of that charachter being straight open to fans that don't want the charachter to be queer (maybe this is not at all what is happening, but this is how I'm perceiving it and it doesn't sound good to me and if this is a real trope and I'm not just making it up on my mind, then I wouldn't want Brandon-who I adore- to fall on it) Tl;dr Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Mine is Shallan's sexuality shouldn't be a way people read her charachter, should just be one more amoung the many other things we know about her ( not more or less important, simply one more) PS: Sorry if I'm derailing this thread that shouldn't be about Shallan's bisexuality. It just seems that some very helpful possitive conversation on the matter has naturally occur. If a mod feels this is out of place there's actually a thread on the matter on this forum.

Ok, since I'm not a bisexual person I might have no storming idea of what I'm talking about, but I'm gonna run you on my experience on the subject. I read WoK WoR and OB(I'm a recently cooked fan) and I read Shallan as simply being straight. Then came here to the forums, read theories and WoBs and realized that many people had read her as bi. In retrospective I realized this made sense, but it was a PoV as valid a reading her hetero. There was no actual way to tell for sure wich was right, if you check WoBs Brandon himself didn't intend on writing her bi. Then on RoW previews we had that scene with Veil on the bar which read very bi to me, so I created a thread on this very forum on Shallan's bisexuality to see what people thought and some still didn't read her as bi( and this was still a valid view cause wandering how another woman's boobs feel doesn't make a woman bi) Until today any reader could have his/her personal view on Shallan's sexuality, but now they can't. It would be at least IMHO like saying " I'm sorry, I don't read them as a woman, I believe being a man fits the charachter better" She's bisexual, it's a fact, Brandon said so ( technichally he said something like She's coming more bisexual as I write her, but close enough) The problem is we only know this because of a post in reddit. If this is canon it should be on the books in a way everyone could read it. Let's retake my gender example: No one goes saying "Shallan is a man" becaues the books make it obvious that she's cisgender and identifies as a woman. The books should make it obvious that she is bisexual (not just drop subtle clues, obvious!) I'm not saying it should be a big matter or a main part of her personality ( couldn't be farther from what I'm saying) I just believe it should be referenced in a more explicit way. People who only read the books and don't come here or on Reddit and didn't notest the previouse references should know she's bi and people who read her as bi from the very beginning but aren't on the forums right now should get the explicit confirmation that we all enjoyed today. Drehy's sexuality got a few lines and Kal and Sygzil's reaction, why not Shallan's? I don't know if any of this made sense, it's so late it's actually early in my country and I should be sleeping hours ago. I would love to hear what you think about this since I guess as a bi person you would have a better insinght( apollogies for possible poor spelling and/or typing, again it's late)

So I guess option 2 is out of the realm of possibilities. 3 could still be cause well, She's heteroro, but like I said, I just don't see it. Meaning it's clearly number one! In general terms when I read Brandon's annotation I almost screamed of excitement cause we now have official confirmation on our first 2 LGBTQIA(losttrackofallthenewletters)+ protas. Really happy for all the fans like @AonEne who wanted a decent ace charachter ( it doesn't get better than that) and well, Shallan was almost a sure thing by now, but I do hope we get a more obvious bi development from her charachter despict of her marriage to a man( which is 100% a valid choice for a bisexual woman, but you know what I mean) Both are women, so I guess @Honorless will have to keep waiting for that gay male main charachter. As for me, I'll stick to hoping Hoid's pan. This is possible rigt? I'm not going crazy on this??

(I was inspired by the great haikus on this thread, so I decided to write my very first one and ended up with 3. If any of the more experienced Sharders have any feedback on my haiku-writing it's more than welcomed) Face to face with pain I choose life instead of death. A piece of God's touch. I look for my strenght Weakness is the eassy way. Cracks filled with God's oath. The journey greets me No sense skipping to the end. My soul is Honor.

Like many have stated before me there are a number of possibilities for the nature of this relationship and without further data and considering Navani's skewed PoV we really can't reach any conclussion. But this is the Shard, what would become of us without speculation? I'm gonna start with what I think we can mostly agree on: they are sharing information and probably have been since the WoR interlude; they are conspiring together; Hoid is advicing the Queen and Jasnah is teaching him how to soulcast( this is more speculative than the others). I think this kind of relationship (albeit there could be more to it) fits both their personalities and interests. The only question IMHO is how much do they actually trust each other because trusting Hoid 100%is not something I would recomend anyone to do. The bigger question comes on wether or not there is more to this relationship. Here I believe some people have been too quick to dismiss the possibility saying that the rumors and Navani's suspicions are simply the result of a society that can't see a strong independent women commonly surrounded by a man without assuming they're having sex or some how involved. This is obviously one possibility, but not necessarily the most likely like I see some people stating. The Alethi gender biases are huge enough that this would be a very logical missunderstanding; but after reading the chapter I felt a certain complicity between the 2 of them that doesn't simply come from working together. That scene where Hoid serves himself some wine and then handed over a cup to Jasnah screamed lover, at least to me. The only reason I didn't just assume there was something going on between the 2 of them was because casual sex doesn't seem very Sanderlike and Roshar is a very oath-based society. Then again that doesn't seem like something that would stop Hoid or maybe even Jasnah. Those 2 facts aside ( and one of them is more meta than actually based in the story) I don't see a reason why they couldn't happyly be FwB. Last but not least there's also the possibility that they have fallen in love, but given their personalities a romantic relationship just doesn't add up completely for me. Still, love comes im the weirdest of ways and in the most unexpected times so...who knows, maybe this will be a love for the ages!! PS: This topic has also brought out the theme of Jasnah's sexuality and I would like to say that the only information we currentrly have on that is that she has rejected a high number of male pretenders; but knowing her this could be only because she didn't want to simply become wife to Brightlord ______, so while I know there's a big fanbase #Jasnahisace and I completely support and desire more inclusive non-straight charachters, by this point in the story Brandon could claim that she is hetero, lesbian, ace, pan or pretty much any sexuality and I would find it logical and consistent. (Hoid on the other side is clearly pansexual and nothing Brandon says can change my mind on that) TL;dr IMHO 1-They are working together towards a commun interest: Almost surely, matches their personalities. 2-Afterwards they're sharing a bed: No way to know, but matches their personalities. 3-They have fall in love: Not likely, doesn't seem to match their personalities.

I'm actually a bit surprised of how much I like the french covers!!! The WoK with Kal and Shallan actually gave me huge chills. Bulgarian WoR is pretty amazing too. The way they represented such an iconic fight is quite good( but I only like it in retrospective, I prefer my covers less spoilery)

Just 17thShard level crazy like the rest of us........ I think it's a requisite to join in!

This sounds like a pretty interesting theory and having literally living buildings would be very cool. I can't think of any reason why this wouldn't work but my initial thought was Cohesion because of the builder parallel and it would be very practical to transform simple rock into buildings(before Team "It's obviously Transformation" says it: I think they can deal with the limited amount of materials and the potential wholes, after all normal builders have it much worse). Also Brandon naming something "of Transformation" and then that actually being of Transformation seems way to eassy. I don't think we have enough info right now to actually tell wich surge they actually have, but where would us Sharders be without a place to theorize? BTW thanks @Karger for making this thread. It seemed like any other thread that mentioned the fannah-im turned into "What's their surge" thread. And with good reason: I can't seem to turn my eyes somewhere else before someone has come up with a new surge theory.

Obviously their sacrifice isn't as big as if they were mortals, but that doesn't mean they aren't making a sacrifice at all. The body they took over sacrificed exactly the same as any other singer taken over by a Fused: it's life. But the Nine, as "spirits" with a brand (pun-intended) new body, are sacrificing spending their time back in Roshar following their own personal interests and instead are devoting themselfs in body and soul, quite literally, to advancing the Fused as much as possible in the war. Some people have stated that this sacrifice isn't exactly altruist because they're doing it to hold a position of power. While this is true and they do seem to like a little bit too much being superior to their fellow Fused; I believe they are still putting the interest of their people over their own and their ambition is within logical limits. If not for anything else this makes sense when we see a clear example of what happens when said ambition falls out of reasonable limits and we end up with someone like our dear Lady of Wishes; whose personal interest have obviously outpassed the interests of her kind and in regard to her position upon the Nine "decided it was too… hampering upon her ambition" I agree with you completely. When I was reading the chapter I thought to myself: "Now we know what's happening on both sides of the conflict. Which knowing BS means that we're gonna get lots of details of how everything will happen and then, somehow, when the events actually develope will be even more surprising and unexpected than if we were hearing about'em for the first time" That's just the Sanderson touch. The wait until November is gonna kill me.

None of them realize she’s trying to protect that Windrunner, Venli thought. Maybe she doesn’t realize it herself This weeks episode definitively went deeper to show us what Leswi really thinks of Kaladin. It's very clear that she has respect for him and doesn't want him to get killed in Pursuer's silly Vendetta. But if it comes down it, would she actually kill him or does she hope for a different outcome subdoing him like she claims in this chapter. Could it be that she could grow into seeing humans worthy of this Land and not only the invaders of old? Since this isn't a shipping thread I won't mention that

I can't put in words how much this chapter excited me!!!!! So many interesting info!!!!! - Logicspren bait for next chapter (now is gonna drive me crazy all week) - Singer politics was amazing! Getting to see the culture, the Lore and the interactions firsthand Made for an excellent chapter. Not sure how practical the whole liders trapped in stone part is, but it sure impressed me a lot. So The Rool of Cool wins. And is also a good metaphor to how this ancient Fused have move beyond the simplicities of mortality like eating or moving. - Also curiouse as to what The Land of the Second Advance really means. - The Villains: Lezian is a crazy egotist, I don't like him but in the good way( Kal killing him without Powers is the highlight of this first part) Raboniel seems super intriguing and powerful ( in the political term, but maybe in the literal one, too?) Vyre, well, let me start by saying I'm normally on team Moash sucks and F him; but on the context of Fused politics his high position and general actitude seemed kind of cool( don't kill me Moash haters, I'm one of you) it's just interesting to see a human speak however he wants when inmortal Fused have to follow so much protocol. Is Vyre' rol on Odium's plan more important than we might think?? - Leshwi, note that I almost didn't include her on the Villains. I have to say, after this chapter I kind of like her a loooot. That moment when Venli thinks that Leshwi is trying to save Kal and doesn't even notest I stopped reading and said to myself " Kalashwi shippers, I hope I'm welcomed in your ranks" In a more serious note until now Leshwi actually caring( in a messed up enemy kind of way) for Kal seemed like some sort of stretch for me( so good eye on those who called it) but now it looks way more real. Leshwi please turn out to be good( which doesn't necessarily mean turn to team Radiant, just be the kind of charachter I can love) - Venli, thank u for being a POV on this book looking forward to your arch. TL;DR BEST CHAPTER EVER( until next week when we get the super Cosmere reveal and I end up jumping and running like a crazyman around the house.......again)

This was quite interesting and I really liked it. I think if Magnus Hearthstone and Jack somehow ended up on Roshar this would be pretty close to how it would look like. And did I missread or did Hearth took in Strormlight to fuel his runes. Bottom-line great work with the fanfic, but you left wanting MOOORE. I'm very curiose and now you have me dying to know what happens next?? Are you planning on continuing this story???

I agree that we still need more information to decide ir this is a horrible thing or not. When I first started analyzing the subject of conjoiners I for one felt a little bit like breaking a spren in half was an aweful thing to do. Even if it's spiritual aspect was still one and not separated because the SR is not location bounded, I still saw it like something unnatural to the spren and, hence, inmoral. But, then I read this week's epigraph and started seeing it from a different POV. It could still be hurtful to the spren, but now I find it more unlikely. Would you consider introducing a stick on a bonfire and carrying that fire somewhere else as hurtful to the fire? This isn't the best metaphor because a flame isn't alive in the same way a flamespren is, but the flamespren is after all how humans perceive flames. My guess is that Navani has find them the easiest to split because of its desire to grow, to be in different places, to light everything on fire. Other spren are harder to split because they don't have this intent so expressed as flamesprens and maybe forcing them to split would be a very horrible thing to do. So TL;DR Flamespren want to devide themselfs and are not hurt in this process. Other spren might, so conjoiners ( and probably fabrial science in general, like all science I think) aren't evil by definition, they just need to be made with respect of the spren involved and balance not to alter Roshar's complex spren ecology.

I'm pretty sure Brandon said at some point that such travel limitation for Returned dis exist but that Vasher and Shashara found a way around it. Now I'm starting to wonder if getting big amounts of Investiture out of Roshar could harm the Rosharan ecosystem. I mean, maybe the storm is part of an Investiture cycle like rain on the water cycle and if you take it off-world it can't regenerate. Probably small amount would have no repercussions, but commerce on a huge scale like the GB want... I guess the question here is when transformed in another wordl does Strormlight return to Roshar if its connection to it has been completely severed?

Even if we cannot understand exactly all the uses Stormlight could have on other planets, there is no arguing that there is no other way probably on the whole Cosmere to obtain that much Investiture almost freely. In an Universe where everything is made up of matter, energy and investiture this would be the Earth-equivalent of monopoly over a clean affortable energy source. I remember a WoB saying that as technology advances on the Cosmere there'll be more artefacts (like the Southern medallions) capable of replicating any kind of "power" and that in time all of this artifacts would come to be know as fabrials. I think this was a hint at the fact that fabrials, spren and Stormlight are eventually getting off-world and the consequences of a eassier way to gain Investiture will impact places like Scadrial or Nalthis greatly. It makes sense that the Ghostblood would want in on that. Whoever achieves this first will not only be very rich, but also extremely powerful. After all, holding an exclusive and important commercial route has been one of the most commun ways of having dominion over other nations throughout Earth history.

To those who wanted Shallan confronting Mraize, here it is! and is even better than expected!! The road to Cosmere awareness seems to be getting more real every chapter. I know some people have said that it's Brandon's intention that Stormlight Archive can be read without reading other Cosmere books, but this just means that the explications on the Cosmere will feel like a cohesive and necessary part of the story. We are getting our first serious Cosmere sized plot and I for one can't wait to get in on the ride!!!!

What if Siah Aimians are actually the descendants of sprens that were granted this Boon/Curse from Cultivation? Kind of tin-hat, but was the first thing I thought of when I read that theory that Syl might ask Cultivation to become human to better understand and help Kal( in wich chase I'm shipping them soooo hard)

Hi, Sharders!! It has been a recurring topic that this book will have some very painful deaths...and a lot of people seem to put their bet on Adolin. A lot of really great arguments have been made as to why his charachter arc appears to be heading that way and in comparison to other main charachters maybe he does play a smaller role in the fight against the forces of Odium. But at the same time I feel like he still has a lot to accomplish( I stand on the Maya has to come back to life and Shadolin is the best fandom) and as a charachter he adds a breeze of fresh air that I would miss deeply. So, where does the fandom stand? Do we need to prepare ourselfs to say goodbye?

Am I the only one who thought the name of this ship sounded a little bit like Wayne+Veil Whale?? This story was pure GOLD, I loved the interactions between Shallan and Wayne....and trading Kal's boots that was just priceless. Also this dialogue: "I'm on a mission from God," said the man. "No relation." literally made me laugh so hard I fell.

Well...... guess we have to start changing the fanarts....

Silverstars Every time Shallan thinks about Jasnah it's so gay which is #relatable, @BrandSanderson did you realize how bi you wrote her?? Either way, thank you. Brandon Sanderson This wasn't directly on my mind while writing, but looking back, I think it was in my subconscious. I'm flattered to hear it. General Twitter 2016 (Sept. 26, 2016) So, until now I felt like Shallan might be simply admiring Jasnah and besides this or other WoB there was no canon for her bisexuality. Which is why this episode really excited me, I mean, that Adolin-Veil banter was amazing. And asking her husband (or her alter'salter's) how Dakhnah's breast feel....just great! So, what do you think: do we officially(in-book Canon) have our first bisexual protagonist??? Edit: I'm a huge fan of Shadolin, but we need a girl to ship Veil with ASAP!!!

This episode was so well written. It's incredible how it torn me apart on the inside, but at the same time I couldn't stop laughing. It's a feeling I didn't thought something I read could give me. When Kal breaks in his room and remembers Moash's words I literally felt overwhelming pain and almost wanted to stop reading; but then throughout the rest of the chapter, though I could still feel Kal's sorrow, Adolin and Veil were such a comic relief and just a storming light of fresh air (if that even makes sense) TL;DR The episode just seems to work really well. I know some people hadn't like the tone of Kal's chapters, but this was a very Smart way of dealing with his depression and still have a very fun chapter.