RedBlue

I found it very difficult to pin down where this book might be in the timeline. There seem to be things pointing both ways. On the ‘near future’ hand: Sigzil apparently left people who love him back on Roshar, and they are still alive. There’s a general lack of advanced technology in the setting (relative to what they have in Stormlight). There aren’t any references to space age stuff (that I could tell). On the ‘far future’ hand: Sigzil has been very busy. He’s gone through a lot. He’s been many places. That takes time. Wit also seems to have had some character growth since Stormlight, which seems a bit future-y to me. I hope someone will ask Brandon about the timeline during the spoiler stream. He could RAFO it, but he’s answered timeline questions in the past, and I would like to know how this all fits together.

So they could be in on it a second time ... oh no

This seems very plausible to me. Sigzil needs to take up the Dawnshard, but can’t do it while bonded to a spren. So he breaks his oaths. After the Dawnshard business is done with, he forms a new and different kind of bond with his deadeye spren. The rules for deadeyes are now different, because Ba Ado Mishram reasons, and whatever Adolin and Maya are figuring out. (I have a different - and much worse - idea, as well. The current Radiants still haven’t figured out why the past Radiants all broke their oaths during the Recreance. When they do learn the truth, what if they realise they have to do it again, for the same reasons? What if Sigzil broke his oaths as part of a second Recreance? Will all the Radiants have to do the same, hoping to afterwards nurse their deadeyed spren back to health? I apologise for this terrible, horrible idea.)

I’ve actually been lowkey interested in finding out what Sigzil’s deal is since tWoK. There’s a lot about him that seems like it should be a big deal, and it’s never been properly addressed in Stormlight. Loads of unanswered questions. Firstly: he’s Wit’s apprentice. Why would Wit take an apprentice? What is he teaching Sigzil, and for what purpose? Secondly: Sigzil almost died, and probably would have if Kaladin hadn’t shown up. What happened between Sigzil and Wit? How did Sigzil end up on the bridge crews? Why didn’t Wit intervene? Did Wit expect Sigzil to die? Thirdly: Sigzil was non-Alethi before it was cool. Does it bother him to be away from his homeland? Why did he leave? Why did he stick around, in a culture that didn’t fit him well, after he was free to go? Why did Sigzil choose to be a soldier, when his skills would benefit a more administrative role? He’s a minor enough character that the questions he raises don’t feel like loose threads exactly. But the more I think about it, the more hyped I am for a book that expands on his character. And adding more depth can only make Stormlight 5 better, in my opinion.

It makes a lot of sense that Sigzil’s Windrunning and Radiant oaths are the key to getting around his Torment. Makes me wonder if Wit was hoping to circumvent his own Torment problems when he bonded Design. I’m leaning towards thinking that Aux is Sigzil’s original spren. Firstly, they apparently knew each other quite well when Aux was alive, which isn’t common between spren and humans who aren’t bonded. Secondly, Sigzil is implied to have killed Aux, which would be difficult to do if they weren’t bonded when Aux was alive. I suppose it’s possible that Sigzil could have bonded a second spren and then killed him, but a Windrunner bonding a second spren seems unlikely given what’s going on in Stormlight. There aren’t enough spren to go around as it is.

My first thought is that Aux is a deadeye, who is functional because he has been revived in some way that hasn’t been discovered by ROW-era Radiants. Aux is Sigzil’s original spren, who died when Sigzil broke his oaths, and Sigzil rebonded Aux. But that does leave some questions. Why is Auxillary’s name weird? Why is he referred to as a knight? Why does he call Sigzil a squire? Why is Aux able to manipulate Connection? The Connection thing is especially weird. Usually, the Radiant uses the Surges, and the spren cheers them on. Syl never uses Lashings - that’s Kaladin’s job. So is this a reversed bond? Aux taking the role of the Knight Radiant, and Sigzil taking the spren’s role? Has Aux sworn oaths? Does any of this make sense???

Yeah, I don’t think we can read too much about the fate of Roshar or the other Stormlight characters from this. Brandon wouldn’t put SA5 spoilers in a mostly-standalone book like this. The most I think we can tell is that Sigzil ends up offworld, some weird things happen to his spren, he holds a Dawnshard temporarily, and he’s had a very difficult time of it.

So ... in the SP3 spoiler stream, Brandon said that the fandom already knows what the last Shard is. Not the exact word, but the general idea. I think he must be referring to the survival/wisdom theory. That’s the prevailing theory in the fandom, and Brandon has often fielded questions about a survival/wisdom-based Shard, so he’s definitely aware of it. As for the name of the Shard, Prudence (Caution? Discretion?) seems like a strong possibility. Or maybe it’s more along the lines of Wisdom. Sagacity?

I find it interesting that so many people think Hoid’s coatrack status effect is about his immortality. Reading that part, I assumed that plot had happened offstage somewhere and this was an unfortunate predicament that Hoid will have to get out of somehow.

I think he meant foregoing the guise of using the fabrial and just using the surge to do the deed, though I may have misinterpreted what he wrote! Yes. Unless I remember wrong, what Jasnah did was clearly beyond the normal use of soulcasters. And while many would have written off the resulting rumours as a tall tale, there are people like Taravangian and the Skybreakers around who would hear about this and join the dots.

I’m seeing a lot of discussion here about whether Jasnah could realistically have captured the men alive, but I don’t think anybody has mentioned that Jasnah’s soulcasting was a secret at that point in the story. If she had used soulcasting in front of the thugs and then turned them over to authorities, stories about her would have been floating around beyond Jasnah’s control, and people who know what they’re looking for would have put the pieces together and known that Jasnah was a Radiant. In short, even if Jasnah were capable of capturing the thugs alive, this would have jeopardised her own safety.

Jasnah has some good ideas, for sure. But I think there’s a very big gap between having an idea about how laws should work and actually designing and implementing a better system. What I’m getting at is that Jasnah did not have any realistic options other than going the vigilante route or ignoring the situation. Personally, I think what she did was justified in the circumstances.

I agree with this, but I think you’re understating it. Jasnah is more of a scholar than a politician (at this point in the story) and has no policymaking power in her own country, let alone a foreign city. She also lives in a world where nobody knows what ‘police reform’ is. The law enforcement and legal systems are not anywhere near as sophisticated or reliable as the ones we’re familiar with, and that’s all Jasnah has ever known outside of books.

Ruin was all about entropy, right? This is just speculation on my part, but entropy isn’t an immediate threat to Odium. He can put off dealing with Ruin until after he’s sorted out his more active rivals. As for why he didn’t take advantage of the conflict between Ruin and Preservation, we don’t have a very clear picture of what the situation was on Scadrial before Odium got trapped on Roshar. It’s possible that the conflict hadn’t properly started at that time.

Judging from the Shards which Odium did choose to go after first, I think he’s gunning for the Shards he feels most threatened by first. Out of the Shards we know of, Ambition and Dominion sound like they would be most likely to hatch a plan to take over the cosmere (other than Odium, of course). Devotion is less threatening, but just happened to be there. Which would imply that the third most threatening Shard was either Honor or Cultivation. My guess is that Rayse thought Cultivation’s Vessel was dangerous and wanted her out of the way.

Broad impressions of this chapter: - I'm not clear on Ao's practical role in the community. Does she hold an official position of authority, or is she just very respected in the community? Does she legally own the land, or is she talking nonsense when she threatens to kick W out of the village? - The sudden appearance of plot feels like a bolt from the blue this late into the story, especially as it comes in the form of two characters we don't know much about having an argument that the main characters just happen to be there for. - The ongoing idea that importing food and electricity from outside the village makes Ao a hypocrite is a bit weird to me? I mean, it's totally legit for her to want to buy food and electricity from outside but not want any other contact. The thing that seems dodgy to me is that she seems to be imposing her decisions on everyone else in the village, so I'm not sure why it doesn't register for W as a red flag. - From the setup in this chapter, I'm expecting the conflict between the village and the outside world to be important. I think that, for that to be engaging, I have to like the village first, before the story gets into moral ambiguity territory. So far, it seems like it wouldn't be a huge loss if the village were destroyed, because it's so shady and iffy anyway. The people who live there might be better off if they got out. General comments about the story as a whole and subbing it: - I'm happy to keep giving feedback on this draft version if you think that's helpful, or I'm happy to switch over to a new draft if you think this one is a dead end. I don't know what your process is, so it's up to you to judge whether continuing with this draft will help you sort out characters/theme/plot/tone for the next draft - A suggestion for plotting the next draft: nail down what the B-plot is and make sure to get it in the story early. And if you're leaning into the monster fantasy aspect, you may want to shore up the rules for how exactly the magic works and what the fairies can do.

As I go: p4 - Did W really consider that the tea might be enchanted or drugged? I thought W was fairly relaxed and trusting of the situation, but now I'm not sure if she feels threatened. p6 - It feels a bit weird that N's mom feels the need to explain the village's history and its historical revisionism to W before she visits. I'm not sure why this is important for W to know when she's only going to be visiting for a few hours. p7 - I'm a bit confused in general by the conversation between W and N's mom. Did B-d only pull W aside to tell her that N isn't going to get Huntington's disease? Why does she bring up her parenting issues? Why would B-d be so vague and ominous with W, when she had the option of just not saying anything and acting like a normal mom? p9 - This explains why N was going into the woods and coming out covered in glitter p10 - W's ability to lie being seen as an incredible magic power by the kids is a neat touch, I like it The scene of N interacting with the village kids and being interrupted by Bad News Grandma really worked for me. The scene with N's mom I found a bit confusing in terms of what I was supposed to take away from it. Am I supposed to come away with the idea that B-d is friendly and trustworthy? Or am I supposed to be weirded out by her? I'm getting mixed signals. The part where they enter the village could also do with being spiced up a bit. I was expecting something really cool and magical, or maybe a surprise twist or something. There's been so much build-up to this moment and seeing what's being hidden from the world in the magic fairy forest. The descriptions of the drive in, the scenery and the market just fall a bit flat. As I noted, I'm not sure what to make of B-d. I like the introduction of the grandma, though. The way she's set up makes me interested to find out what's going on with her, even though I didn't know she existed before this chapter, which is pretty good in terms of efficiency.

Honestly, I’m not expecting any Szeth flashbacks from after the point where he leaves Shinovar. Unless we’re missing something major, we’ve already seen everything important that happened to him from that point. Definitely there aren’t any big gaps after the Gavilar assassination. Other things I would like to see in his flashbacks: Unmade activity in Shinovar (assuming their influence there did not start recently) Skybreaker activity in Shinovar (it seems like Nale has been keeping tabs on Szeth for a long time, so there is probably something to dig into there) Szeth’s family. (Seriously, who raised him to be like this) The Stone Shamans (how they operate, and what exactly they did to make Szeth this mad)

My understanding is a mistwraith and the corresponding kandra are the same person - as you pointed out, de-spiked MeLaan was still MeLaan - the only difference is that mistwraiths have some kind of issue with their Connection to the Cognitive Realm. The spikes fix the Connection problem, which is why kandra are more aware. I think that means the person doesn’t start when the mistwraith is spiked and becomes a kandra. The person (and the spiritweb) starts when the mistwraith is born, but they are only able to reach their potential as functional people when they are spiked.

I think people are overestimating how powerful the Ghostbloods are. Thaidakar is very capable, has access to a lot of magic, and puts on a good show, but at the end of the day, he’s just a guy. His crew are just people. The Set, on the other hand, work for Trell, a force which Harmony struggles to deal with. The Ghostbloods are cool, but the Set is out of their league. (Also, I have no doubt that the Ghostbloods would oppose the Set if they could. The Set works for a tyrannical god. That goes against everything Thaidakar stands for.)

That’s an angle I hadn’t thought of before. When I read it, I thought the eyepatch blindspot thing was just paranoia on Gaz’s part, since he really doesn’t have his life together and is afraid that his problems will blow up in his face soon. It also works on a metaphorical level (since Kaladin is turning Bridge 4 into a functional fighting unit right under Gaz’s nose and Gaz doesn’t see it).

I don’t think the Ire could have a fabrial. They couldn’t have gotten it to Scadrial. To get a fabrial off Roshar, you need to get a spren off Roshar, and while it’s been hinted that this is a thing people will figure out how to do in the future, it’s a plot point right now that they can’t do that yet.

Hi! p1 - I'm struck by the amount of trust that B seems to have now for W. Given B's whole deal with playing the popularity game, and her tendency to assume the worst about people, it seems like a big deal that she's letting W see behind the mask when she doesn't absolutely have to. It's interesting to see this side of B, but I do wonder why she's so comfortable with W after so little time. p4 - When E and W are talking about physically protecting N from bullies, I think there are bigger logistical problems than W not knowing how to fight properly. Is E suggesting that they guard N at all times? It's not very practical for them to always be hanging around him. p7 - It sounds like W is just putting together that E's grandpa is an evil pharma CEO, but didn't we already learn that from the beach chapter? p9 - So E has a brother that W doesn't know about? Isn't it a bit weird that E never mentioned having a brother to W before? I'd expect W to have questions about how she didn't know that one of her closest friends has a sibling. p15 - I like how W lays out exactly how their hang-ups are creating this feedback loop of problems. It seems like some actual villains are being introduced! 1. Things that I liked: the cop continues to be mysterious and creepy and I want to find out more about what's going on with him. I also like the second part of W and N's conversation, where W actually hammers out the things that are causing problems in the relationship and addresses them. Things I found less engaging than they could have been: the evil rich grandpa came off as a bit generic. He has enough pages in this chapter that I want to come away with more of an impression than just rich, evil, and controlling in a typical bad guy way. I also found the first part of W and N's conversation to be a bit rehash-y. As the others said above, I'm not sure why nobody is questioning the situation with the creepy cop more. Doesn't he have actual work to be doing? How does he justify all this shady hanging around to his bosses? Aren't cops supposed to work with a partner? Is he even on duty?? I also feel like I'm missing some details about E's living situation. He keeps talking about how this isn't his money and it isn't his house, but ... it kind of seems like it is? Even if he's not set to inherit, this is how his family lives, right? I would understand if he decided to just disown the lot of them, but if that's what he's doing, why go along with their plans for his dating life? 2. Everyone seems to be in character, and I've already given my thoughts on the new characters. Interested to see where this is going.

On my initial read, I assumed that the person Azure is hunting (the one who brought Nightblood to Roshar) was Zahel. On reflection, that doesn’t make sense. If Azure were hunting Zahel, she would surely have tried to get more info from Adolin and Kaladin when she learned that they know Zahel. Now, I think Azure must be after someone else. Possibly someone we haven’t heard of yet. And that person, not Zahel, brought Nightblood to Roshar for purposes we don’t yet know.

I was always under the impression that a person being Connected to a Shard doesn’t have anything to do with investiture. It’s just what happens when the way a person acts/thinks/feels is aligned with the Shard. So, (Mistborn spoilers) I think the reason Kaladin’s eyes glowed yellow in that scene is because he (briefly) felt a huge amount of hatred and rage. This allowed Odium to (briefly) establish a Connection. Then the moment passed, and Kaladin didn’t lean into those feelings, so he went back to normal. I’m not waiting on a mechanics-based explanation for the eye colour change, as it doesn’t seem very important to me.