Ba-Ado-Fisherman

We will never see a large scale, high budget anime production for the Cosmere. It's too high of an investment with a pretty small target audience. Stormlight Archive alone could be as big as Game of Thrones. I personally would love to see an animated series, especially for Stormlight. I think it would lend itself nicely to Roshar, but I just don't think it's realistic to assume any producer with enough money to actually make that series would take that much of a financial risk.

I think we aren't going to get much Renarin simply because his internal voice alone would reveal a ton of information that isn't ready to be shared yet. Renarin is surely going to be one of the more important characters going forward, but I don't see us getting too many viewpoint chapters from him until the second arc.

Considering that Taln was HAPPY to learn that the other 9 betrayed him to torture for 4,500 years which gave humans time to evolve, I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that he would have the conviction to never break. It's also quite obvious that the Everstrom circumvented the Oathpact entirely in the first place, meaning that Taln didn't have to break for the Fused to return to Roshar. It would be AWFULLY convenient for Taln to break and be sent back immediately before the Everstorm arrived. He lasted for 4,500 years... What could Odium possibly do to him after that long that would finally break him? This, along with the Everstorm and Taln's eerily specific physical description in the epilogue of WoK all point to him not breaking. And that doesn't make him perfect. He's still a man with flaws, but I do think his undying loyalty to mankind and his refusal to allow the Fused to escape Braize are critical to Brandon's characterization for him.

If saving Roshar meant destroying a part of it, I think the Sleepless definitely would. But I do agree that the theory is shaky.

I feel like if that were the case, Stormfather or the Sibling would have mentioned it, and there would be other clues or something pointing to it. That seems like a very significant detail that would be difficult to forget over the ages.

Yes, by the end of the series, I think that will be apparent.

My thoughts exactly

1. Cultivation had her husband killed by Rayse, so I'm sure that revenge was part of it. 2. Rayse was also trying to kill her. Taravangian might very well try to kill her too, but she probably wanted to be able to show herself without Rayse going ballistic. 3. I've been thinking about that line, "bear this power with honor". Now, this is probably a long shot, but could the word "honor" be a double-meaning? Does Cultivation want Taravangian to somehow acquire the Shard of Honor as well?

I always thought that Honor would just open his perpendicularity to bring the Heralds back to Roshar himself.

I would say that instead, the Fused found a way to circumvent the Oathpact which is what allowed Taln to return to Roshar. I don't think that there is any precedent to lock them away on Braize though. For that the happen, I think Dalinar would have to form a new Oathpact of some sort.

Taln is one of the most intriguing characters in the SA imo. The idea of a man who sacrificed everything, and more, for humanity. A man who was apparently never supposed to be a Herald, and who never broke. At the end of WoK, Taln returns, supposedly from Damnation, after 'allegedly' finally breaking after 4500 years of torture. I don't think that happened. I think Taln, even after 4500 years of constant and unending pain, never gave in. “His hair was long and matted, his clothing nothing more than a ragged, sacklike length of cloth wrapping his waist. He stood with head bowed, wet, ratty hair hanging down over his face and mixing with a beard that had bits of wood and leaves stuck in it.” “His muscles glistened, wet as if he’d just swum a great distance.” Something doesn't seem right about this description. I don't believe that in a normal Return that Heralds would appear on Roshar as wet, and with bits of wood and grass on them. Brandon writes that it looks like he had swam a great distance. I think that Taln, while on Braize, discovered that another Desolation was coming without the Oathpact being involved, and so he found a way to escape using a perpendicularity within the Purelake, then swam to where we see him at the end of WoK. The only part I'm not sure about yet is what caused Taln to have enough time while sane to do so. What could've triggered a time of clarity for Taln to do this? Whatever happened exactly, I'm sure we'll find out at some point, maybe in Taln's book. I just really love the idea of Taln NEVER breaking. I think it's part of Brandon's characterization for him, and even after 4500 years, I think the idea of him finally giving in would go against his character.

This seems so plausible that I almost think you have some insider information...

Taln is one of the most intriguing characters in the SA imo. The idea of a man who sacrificed everything, and more, for humanity. A man who was apparently never supposed to be a Herald, and who never broke. At the end of WoK, Taln returns, supposedly from Damnation, after 'allegedly' finally breaking after 4500 years of torture. I don't think that happened. I think Taln, even after 4500 years of constant and unending pain, never gave in. “His hair was long and matted, his clothing nothing more than a ragged, sacklike length of cloth wrapping his waist. He stood with head bowed, wet, ratty hair hanging down over his face and mixing with a beard that had bits of wood and leaves stuck in it.” “His muscles glistened, wet as if he’d just swum a great distance.” Something doesn't seem right about this description. I don't believe that in a normal Return that Heralds would appear on Roshar as wet, and with bits of wood and grass on them. Brandon writes that it looks like he had swam a great distance. I think that Taln, while on Braize, discovered that another Desolation was coming without the Oathpact being involved, and so he found a way to escape using a perpendicularity within the Purelake, then swam to where we see him at the end of WoK. The only part I'm not sure about yet is what caused Taln to have enough time while sane to do so. What could've triggered a time of clarity for Taln to do this? Whatever happened exactly, I'm sure we'll find out at some point, maybe in Taln's book. I just really love the idea of Taln NEVER breaking. I think it's part of Brandon's characterization for him, and even after 4500 years, I think the idea of him finally giving in would go against his character.

Since reading RoW, I’ve wholeheartedly believed that Dalinar will become the primary pawn in Odium’s coming war against the Cosmere. Dalinar is one of Brandon’s oldest characters, along with Hoid. He is also one of his favorites. Dalinar is deep and nuanced, and incredibly interesting to read. I think ending the first arc of Stormlight with Dalinar becoming an immortal Fused would be a fantastic way to break for a few years before book 6. The heroes could still win, with Odium leaving Roshar entirely to attack somewhere else in the Cosmere, but the cost is losing Dalinar. The second arc of Stormlight could largely surround our heroes doing whatever they can to stop Odium, with the help of other worlds, and the conflict between them and Dalinar would be amazing. Dalinar would also provide for a very nice conduit for us to see what exactly Odium is doing at any given moment. He would be like a major villain viewpoint character, but not really since we all love Dalinar. I’ve never really like the whole-Dalinar becoming Honor-idea, because it just seems so predictable. I know a lot of people think that will happen in book 5, but I think that if it does happen, it won’t be until book 10 or maybe 9.

I don't buy into this idea. Infinity plus infinity is still infinity, but there are different levels of infinity. More importantly, combining Shards might expand the abilities of the vessel. Sazed completely altered Scadrial on almost every level after Ascending. Rayse didn't want to take up other Shards because he didn't want their Intent to change his perception of his goals, not because they wouldn't make him more powerful. I'm pretty certain that the right combination of Shards would yield incredible results. Ambition + Odium + Ruin for example sounds pretty gnarly.

Can't Dalinar essentially stop the flow of time and work within that void? He stops Kaladin in midair and then proceeds to forge a Connection and show him a vision. Honestly, I don't think that Radiants are necessarily stronger than other forms of magic in the Cosmere, but Bondsmiths (particularly Dalinar) in the absence of Honor seem to have almost literally taken up the power of Honor itself. Dalinar seems to be almost on the power level of a Shard.

I'm willing to bet that a Bondsmith could easily render any magic user powerless by tampering with their Connections.

You can't just brush off what Ishar did as impressive, it was straight-up OP. He nearly stole the Stormfather away from Dalinar at will. Ishar formed the Oathpact and trapped Odium on Roshar. He can manipulate Connections at will and form new ones. This has to be the most powerful ability of any non-Shard that we'e seen in the Cosmere so far.

So what's up with you and Ookla the Unnameable? I didn't even realize you were two different people!

Oh, lol. Yeah Hoid is probably more of a threat than any Radiant.

Also, who is Hour? I haven't read everything. What book do we see him in?

But can he open a perpendicularity? Does he have access to essentially infinite Investiture? Can he forge and manipulate Connections at will? From what we saw Ishar do with the Stormfather, I think it's reasonable to assume that Dalinar has the ability to strip anyone of all of their power by ripping away their Connection to the Shard that gives them that power. Once Dalinar becomes fully aware of the extent of his abilities, I think he will even be powerful enough to go one-on-one with a Shard, if not just Ascend to Honor altogether. Don't get me wrong, there are other extremely powerful beings in the Cosmere that would completely mess up Shallan in a fight, but Bondsmiths in particular scare me.

When I go back and read Words of Radiance, I always get completely sucked in to the plot. It feels like something exciting happens in every chapter, and there is always mystery and a constant sense of dread leading up to the ending. In WoR, we get to see our main characters from WoK meet and interact, which Brandon does in a fantastic way. The action in WoR is spaced out extremely well. We don't get a ton of it, but it always feels like it comes at the perfect time. We get the fight between Szeth, Kaladin, Adolin, and Dalinar. We get the scenes of Szeth going on a rampage around Roshar. We get the duel scenes with Adolin, as well as the best action scene of the entire series IMO: The duel with Adolin and Kaladin vs. 4 Shardbearers. And then we get the awesome climax. Shallan's arc in WoR is the best Shallan we've ever gotten IMO. We get introduced to her ability to split into separate personas, and we get to see her interact with the Ghostbloods. I also enjoyed the relationship between Shallan and Adolin the most in WoR. By my username, you should tell that I strongly ship Shallan/Kaladin, and the chapters with those two in the chasms were amazing for me. Overall, there isn't a single chapter in WoR that I don't love. The book is massive, but I can read it easily in two days. It's honestly a perfect book in my opinion.

Sorry for the late reply, but when I said that anyone could essentially gain their own Honorblade, I meant that anyone could form a strong enough Bond with a Spren that gives them access to Surgebinding without the limitations of sworn Oaths. Sort of like Szeth wielding Jezerien's blade. He committed awful acts of violence that no Knight Radiant would be able to do without severing their Nahel Bond.

Sadly, we barely got ANY Taln at all in RoW. I was very disappointed about this, as Taln has been one of the most intriguing characters in the entire series so far, to me. After the end of OB, I had a little hope that he would gain some of his sanity back, but now we know that the Heralds regain their minds when a Radiant swears an Ideal, which is so very interesting on its own. Unfortunately, it looks like we won't get any substantial Taln stuff until probably the back 5 books. I could see this going a few different ways. Maybe Dalinar will swear the 4th Ideal in book 5 and permanently fix the Heralds? Doubt it. Maybe the Oathpact will be reforged? Doubt it. Maybe Kelsier will show up and explain to all of the Heralds how to fix their conditions? Yeah, that's the one. Anyways, one of my favorite sections of RoW was the scene where Ishar fights the Windrunners and shows off his insane abilities. The Stormfather then tells Dalinar that Ishar is nothing when compared to Taln. Personally, I am not looking forward to anything in Stormlight more than the inevitable moment when we get to see Taln go full Super Sayian and absolutely mess everyone up.