Okay, I am a new fan. I read and finished the first three books starting in December of 2020. My friend introduced them to me, and I fell in love pretty quickly. After I finished the third book, and while trying to get ahold of Rhythm of War (I am now reading it, I got an ebook since the paperback is still a long way off) (and there will be no spoilers for the limited part I've read of it), I fist finally looked online to what others thought of these great books. I tried to of course avoid any Rhythm of War spoilers, and think I entirely avoided them, but perhaps Moash's haters are affected by the book, I don't know. Anways, now to get to the point of this : I was flipping shocked by all the Moash hate. Like saying he should die. Saying he was the worst person ever. Hating every aspect of him. Keep in mind, the only book fanbase I am part of is ASOIAF, a fan base where Tywin storming Lannister has fans, so even the concept of everyone hating one character is impossible coming from that base. The most hated character in ASOIAF is probably Cersei, and even she has defenders or at least some nuance to the discussions involving her. And by the way, hated is relative, they like her as a character often, just hate her as person lol. Anyways, I came away from the first 3 books with, quite seriously, 0 hate toward Moash. I thought his actions were disappointing. He made the wrong decisions, and I see him as being written as a mirror for Kaladin, a Kaladin who decided to give into hate and revenge rather than protect and save. However, I'm not Kaladin. I understand Moash. I understand desiring revenge. I want to be Kaladin, I reach to be someone like Kaladin, but far too often do I end up seeing things like Moash does. Again, I don't know what happens in the 4th book, but..Moash through book 3 doesn't look a whole lot different than super popular characters like Tyrion or Daenerys or Arya in ASOIAF. I don't want to spoil anything in case people haven't read those books, but they have done things that I would argue are less forgivable than Moash. Half of American media, Moash would be a hero. John Wick kills hundreds for revenge. Moash just killed one dude. LIke, so much of American media glorifies characters who look...a lot like Moash. Revenge obsessed. Punishing those who have wronged or hurt them. There was a scene in the third book, when Moash first kind of goes over to the other side, and I thought it was hella realistic. He hates Alethi society, and he has a good reason to hate it. I personally think the fused are worse, and obviously Odium is worse; but...Moash doesn't know that. At least I don't think he does, from how he has been written so far. He's a lost soul. Someone who know longer can tell right from wrong, as his life has been tainted by people, that from his perspective, have acted unquestionably wrong, and yet are allowed to continue to exist, don't lose anything from their wrong actions, while his grandparents, and him by extension, have suffered despite in the past doing nothing wrong (now he has done wrong things, but...in the past).
Now to get to an even more controversial opinion. I think Moash will have a redemption arc at some points. There are 6 more books after the one I'm currently written, and Moash being brought to his lowest point in many ways mirrors Kaladin, Dalinar, and Shallan being brought low. I mean, I'm sorry, but Dalinar has done way worse things (to the point I've read) than Moash has. Yet, he is redeemed. storm, if Dalinar can be redeemed, literally anyone can be redeemed in this universe. And I see Moash as probably eventually coming around, in fact I think Kaladin's ultimate form (whatever that may be) may be centrally located around saving Moash. Or perhaps Moash himself will come to that realization. I see the potential there anyways for a lot of redemptive things happening around Moash. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong, but although Brandon Sanderson does not border the line along black and white with gray characters as well as GRRM, he does have many of those aspects in his writing, and a lot of the characters could indeed be seen as gray.
Now to get into what I really do like about Moash. One thing I loved, absolutely loved about The Way of Kings, is that Kaladin and Bridge 4 were so decidedly unimportant for large sections of the book. While Dalinar and Adolin were involved in heavy politics, Kaladin was just trying to save a group of 30ish men from death, and didn't care about the larger struggle nearly as much. I loved also that they were from the lower rungs of society, not at the top like Dalinar, Adolin, and Shallan (although not as high as the others). However, and perhaps unsurprisingly, they moved out of those ranks. By the beginning of Rhythm of War, all of them are important. They are radiants, they have moved up the rungs of society. Kaladin is essentially almost a prince a this point. Moash, in his chapters in Oathbringer, brought back at least some of what I loved about the Kaladin's chapters in the first book. As well, other members of Bridge 4 also brought some of that back. I think my favorite section of the book was the part where we just got Bridge 4, and not Kaladin's PoV. I loved it. Moash also brought at least some more nuance to the other side, much like Eshonai had in the previous book, and Venli did as well in Oathbringer. Tehy aren't just evil dark beings without thinking. When Moash helps train the Singers, it reminded me of Kaladin so much, and I actually wish that Sanderson had dived more into the relationship between Moash and the Singers. Given him some hope, some goodness. I actually think the writing doesn't have enough nuance so far, to be honest, Moash is too dark at the point we left him. Granted, he is probably bonded with a voidspren now? And we know from Eshonai and Venli that can effect your personality a lot. Finally, and I want this to be clear. Alethi society is incredibly unfair, incredibly unequal, and most of our main characters are from the upper class of that society. Moash is right about the injustices of that society. Kaladin has seemingly backed off on being angry at that society, but...they've done nothing to deserve him backing off. Things are still unfair. Things are still unequal. Granted Dalinar is changing things, so 'yay' I guess, but...in the injustices in that society aren't gonna storming evaporate overnight. Moash's hatred and not getting over those wrongs is UNDERSTANDABLE. I think one of the problems I see from the people who hate Moash is, quite frankly, they are probably white. They were born with white privilege. They don't flipping get it. Kaladin, and even more so, Moash, were born to a minority, a legally discriminated group, at that. Their society is like....worse, and more unequal than the United States in the 60's, and y'all expecting everyone to be a heavenly being like Kaladin? Kaladin's forgiveness of the higher ups in society is flipping Jesus like in his ability. Well y'all, I'm not Jesus. Are you? Can you forgive that easily. Like actually, the people who have wronged you in your life, can you instantly forgive them? Would you be able to let things go, save thoses who had hurt you, like Kaladin. I would guess that is a ridiculously rare, like over the top ridiculously rare percent of people who can do that. We are all Moash, we aren't Kaladin. I'm done. Out. Finish. Enjoy. lol. Tear me apart if you will. But turning the other cheek is not easy, and never has been. Very few people can actually do it.
