a Faceless Immortal

Gives me strong Colonialism/Imperialism vibes - "we bring enlightenment and knowledge, in return you give us servitude and your natural resources" - or maybe really any form of 'benevolent' authoritarianism. And surely this is just the shard of creative writing, or maybe just the arts in general? Possibly even the shard of cool math teachers

I voted for Taln waking up, specifically for the moment when Adolin & co find Taln and Ash together, but probably my favourite 'moment' is a bit of a meta pick because rather than being a specific scene it is the moment I turned the page and saw an entire page of small caps that started with 'I, ɢoᴅ...' I genuinely slammed the book shut and had to get up and go for a walk until I was calm enough to continue

I feel like Autonomy is either strongly with Retribution or strongly against. We know that they seem to be the first Shard to make any big moves after Retribution forms, but whether they were trying to claim Scadrial as a show of good will towards Retribution or out of fear that Harmony was too hamstrung to properly act as the centre of a coalition remains to be seen.

We seem to have read very different books. Dalinar and Navani went to the Spiritual Realm as an absolute last resort. They knew that either outcome of the contest simply played further into TOdiums hand by giving him time to prepare for his eventual conquest of the Cosmere on a Roshar that is mostly under his control. They went specifically because they wanted to find out more about Honor, a goal they succeed with and turned out to be vital in making things go the way they did. Without spending their time there, Dalinar would never have been able to ascend, and never would have been able to develop his plans. It most certainly did not. Because of what they learned Dalinar was able to force Taravangian into a situation where a) he has no time to prepare when he would have had millennia (in fact, the time bubble means that the other shards have the prep time now), and b) he has Shards that will actively oppose him when they would have otherwise left him alone. Not only that, but Dalinar was able to plant the seed of change in the Shard of Honor itself, setting it up to eventually oppose Taravangian and potentially cripple him in a way similar to how Sazed finds himself. TOdium was thrown into the contest after Rayse had agreed to it and likely wouldn't have been sure about his champion anyway. And besides, holding the power of a Shard gives incredible foresight and mental capacity so he doubtless could have predicted the situation occurring, and had several options running at once (Moash and El are some options that come to mind, either of which would have been just as solid of a champion) should any not pan out. To call it luck seems silly. If you see it as his victory, how was it not earned? Nearly everything went exactly as he planned. Honestly I would recommend reading the book again, maybe at a slower pace.

I see this sentiment everywhere, about many different media properties, from many different people. I think generally it boils down to a few things. When you are in the beginnings of your journey with a new story, it's normal to enter with an open mind. Sure, you have some expectations that come with the genre or the medium, but you also expect these to be played with, and so largely you have no preconceived notions of what you are getting into. Because of this, everything the author does feels plausible and even exciting. The first few instalments are spent establishing the new world's most interesting settings, it's most engaging characters, and it's most enticing mysteries, and a property that does well at introducing this will be remembered fondly, carrying with it a certain nostalgia and sense of wonder, or sense of 'magic'. From there, the remaining time spent is developing and answering the questions posed by the first instalments. The 'magic' breaks down here, because it's no longer an unanswered mystery; we get to peek behind the curtain and see the answers that were veiled from us. Things become a lot less interesting when they feel known and comfortable, but by virtue of spending time in a world that world will become less novel, losing what made it feel magical in the first place. With this in mind, it starts to make sense why people might dislike Rhythm of War, a book that is largely about science-ing up that magic and making an effort to explain everything. Not only that, but in a long running project like the Stormlight Archive that will have long breaks between each novel I believe a certain amount of the magic is ruined by our own expectations. The huge amount of hype and discussion that follows a beloved piece of media makes it easier to believe that the next step will be larger than we have any reasonable right to expect. You quite often hear from fans of Stormlight that The Way of Kings (or maybe Words of Radiance) is a 'perfect book,' and that's a fine opinion to have, but if that's your opinion, how on earth is the next book ever going to live up to that? When you have this kind of history it's inevitable that any new works will be compared to the idealised experience people believe they had reading the earlier works. For example, a lot of people have complaints about the dialogue in Wind and Truth. While I won't deny that the tone of the writing probably has shifted from that of the earlier books, I don't think the difference is as drastic as people think. A lot of the complaints about language that was too modern or too profane seem to miss that a lot of the language was already present in earlier books. A lot of people complain about Brandon showing and telling, especially when it came to the metal health focused parts of Wind and Truth, but seem to have forgotten that this was also a common complaint about the more politically involved segments of the first two books. People seem to think the dialogue has gotten too corny, but don't seem to remember that time Kaladin told Adolin that 'he had traded his sense of humour in a long time ago' and got 'scars' in return, which seems pretty corny to me. Finally, Brandon spent nearly twenty years writing Way of Kings. Of course that book will be a little more polished than the one that took four, but can you really expect him to take that long on each book? Is it reasonable to expect Brandon to spend two centuries (hyperbole, I know) writing just Stormlight? Perhaps he could have done a better job, but do I hold it against him releasing books that aren't perfect? Not in the slightest.

I don't remember it being mentioned, but I believe so; Nale's spren certainly goes with him, and Renarin's visions saw 12 figures standing in a grassy field, one of them having blue skin (aka the Heralds + Syl + 121). I agree with this theory, but also, Kaladin would kinda be too OP if he was also a Bondsmith in addition to being a Herald and a 5th Ideal Windrunner. Would he have more Oaths to say? The double surge of Adhesion would also probably have some weird interactions. As whether she will be able to produce Stormlight or not... I'm leaning towards not. I feel like Retribution could just flat out deny her access to that investiture, even if he can't directly control the Spren. And plus, it would feel kind of like a cop out to me if Sanderson were to set up the next arc as being Stormlight limited only for it to be a non-issue anyway.

If he bonds The Thrill and manages to summon it as a Shardblade can we call it Loathebringer?

Feeling drained is fine, but I really just cannot agree with most of your points, especially your third one; We've been doing this since Way of Kings, two that stand out to me include We've also been doing this since Way of Kings, a book that is famously about the saddest man alive, a woman who is exceptionally sad but pretends she isn't, and a man who would be the saddest man alive if he hadn't forgotten it all.

It's not in the time skip necessarily, but storms, Kaladin, Adolin and Shallan need to have those drinks they promised.

Would Fused who are defeated off-world still be able to be regenerated? Is the Everstorm bound to Roshar? If Roshar gets to bring a source of light and has a never-ending supply of soldiers I don't think there is much the Scadrians can do about it.

Yep, that would be Koravellium. She was (and still is, I guess) a Dragon before she took up the power of Cultivation.

The Wind is one of the three Primordial Spren created by Adonalsium at Roshar's founding before he was shattered. Knights of Wind and Truth is the name of a book written by Szeth's future wife detailing the events of Kaladin (the knight of Wind) and Szeth's (the knight of Truth) journey through Shinovar. I believe you are referring to Kor, which is Tanavast's nickname for the holder of Cultivation, Koravellium Avast. He's optimistic because it forces their hands. They may have seemed passive, but it would be a death sentence for them to remain so now. (Edit) Additionally, the now more self-aware power of Honor may act to restrict how Retribution is able to act, so while he may be more powerful he is also more limited. I don't know how much Hoid knows of this, but it's possible he has seen this.

"Want a godly physique? Other so called fitness 'experts' throughout the Cosmere would have you rely on demonstrably unreliable processes like Shaodification or Endowment's blessings to build the perfect body, but we here at the Ten Heralds know that the path to true beauty is a millennia spent in Damnation. Nothing burns fat or sculpts muscle quite so well as the burning hooks wielded by an army of vengeful spirits -- and always remember; Life before Death, Strength before Weakness, Pain before Gain."

I agree, my first thought was definitely a Dawnshard. However, my instincts tell me it can't be change either. Taln is remarkable for being unchanging and constant, and just like how the curse of 'Exist' is an inability to harm, 'Change' will undoubtedly leave some kind of mark that resists stagnation. I do however find it extremely unlikely that there was a third Dawnshard in residence on Roshar, so perhaps it must be 'Change' after all? Perhaps Taln exemplified change by breaking the cycle of Desolations, and so the shard was okay with this even if he personally was kept in stasis for some five millennia.

I think the fact that Heralds are unkillable cognitive shadows probably puts them significantly ahead of a fullborn power wise.

The Honorspren are influenced by people's perceptions of Honor and what it means to be honourable (and are also sentient; they aren't confined to what the Shard wants), and the Ideals were made by Ishar. I believe that the Highspren claim that they are closer to Honor than the Honorspren, and it's a source of their rivalry.

I think the entirety of Era 2 happens between Taravangian claiming Honor and Shallan's conversation with Kelsier. The information about Iyatil and Mraize doesn't come out until after the events of TLM.

It would be absolutely wild if this was how we found MeLaan. It would be equally wild that she's stabbing people through the eyes with crystal. However, I was under the impression that this was Battar, as I believe Taravangian's earlier conversation included him asking her to perform certain services with crystal spikes.

That interlude existed for a reason. I can almost guarantee that she will be a problem at some point, no matter how conflicted she feels about it.

I'll do you one better - Zahel starts using Lift's made up words.

I was under the impression that the in world 'Stormlight Archive' referred to the messages left by the ancient radiants in the gems they found in Urithiru.

I don't know if this can be correct though, because Hoid's ending has him waking up on Scadrial and then applying for a job as Wax's coachman after the last one 'drove off a cliff,' (ie. the accident that faked Edwarn's death) and I'm fairly certain that he is Wax's driver as early as Shadows of Self, so as far as I can tell that's where our timelines align with each other. Which means that Retribution is known to them throughout the majority of Era 2.

So now that we know that Retribution exists before the events of the Wax and Wayne novels, and that the Shards of the Cosmere took notice of it very quickly... why on Earth would Autonomy move against Harmony? Did we get any hints that she was for the purposes of trying to unite the powers against a coming threat? I don't remember any such references, but it has been a while so I could be wrong. Another potential option is that Autonomy decided to side with retribution, and we were seeing the beginnings of an inter-Shardic war, but if that's the case how did Sazed not see any of it coming? Additionally, in The Lost Metal, we get a line (that if I remember correctly is from Kelsier's perspective) that states that Dlavil's sister runs rampant on Roshar. Wouldn't Kelsier have the knowledge of Iyatil's death by this point? Or is the time distortion so great that by the time he and Shallan manage to have their conversation about the Ghostbloods the events of The Lost Metal have already happened? Am I missing some things?

Formless when this happens: (no spoiler, just don't want to take up lots of space with an image)