Firiel

Vin 11 Susebron 10 Eventeo 6 Raoden 12 Elend 12 TLR 8 King Mr. T 14 Dalinar 11 Dedelin 6 Eshonai 4 Gawx 14

The Stormfather is essentially a representation of Honor. Considering the Knights Radiant broke their oaths, it makes sense that his connection with Honor would make him very reluctant to bond again.

I personally do think that Adolin has used Stormlight, particularly because it seems that the one is less likely to feel the Thrill when use Stormlight or are somehow connected to Radiants. Sanderson specifically states that Adolin was not feeling the Thrill while Eshonai was. But I think he uses Stormlight as a Squire, not as a Radiant. I'm pretty much alone in that opinion, but I'll stick to it until I see strong evidence otherwise because I'm fond of that idea from a narrative perspective.

I think age and maturity are a big differentiating factors here too. And I think in that case, Dalinar has two big advantages over Kaladin. The first is impetuousness. Impetuousness is part of what makes Kaladin a great warrior and hero. He decided to risk everything to save Dalinar from Sadeas' betrayal. He jumped into Adolin's duel without really thinking about it. Those were great moments for him. However, that impetuousness also caused him to demand to duel Amaram. Dalinar also had his "impetuous" phase-- he was the Blackthorn and a great fighter. He's older now and his youthful passions and ideals have settled down and solidified. I am sure Kaladin will get there as well, but he's just not yet. And I think that Dalinar has matured in a very important way that Kaladin hasn't yet. Kaladin hasn't learned how to properly take responsibility yet. It seems like he needs to either blame outside circumstances ("I must be cursed" and "They threw me in jail and it wasn't my fault") or take 100% of the blame and beat himself up over it ("It's my fault Tien died"). Neither leads to positive change. Dalinar is (better) able to take blame where blame is due and use it to make positive changes instead of letting it paralyze him with guilt. He felt responsible for Gavilar's death, so he changed his actions, started following the Codes, and stopped being a drunkard. And when he realized just how adept Szeth was and that there was no way he would have been able to help his brother anyway, he let his guilt go. Kaladin holds onto the deaths of those people close to him even when there was nothing he could have done. I love Kaladin, and I am really looking forward to him learning these lessons in real time. As someone said above, we haven't seem Dalinar's hero journey. I think Dalinar is currently a better leader than Kaladin, though I think Kaladin will get there as he matures. I mean, he's what? 20? It would be unrealistic if he were as strong a leader as Dalinar. You could make the case that Kaladin is a better hero, depending on your definition of hero. One thing that I think is very heroic about Kaladin that the other characters may not have is the ability to push on in the absence of hope. We see that in tWoK a lot, and that will come into play as the situation on Roshar gets more dire. Perhaps when other characters can't, he will be able to ask the question, "Is there any way, any sliver of hope, that this will turn out okay?" And when the answer is "No," he'll breathe in some Stormlight and carry on anyway because it's the right thing to do.

The spren and the future Knights Radiant, maybe? Especially with the theory that Bondsmiths have some sort of ability to affect the Nahel bond...

Honor and Devotion combined could be Loyalty. Odium and Dominion combined could be Tyranny. Although I don't know what I think about the way you've laid things out specifically, I do like the idea that Shards are related to either the Physical, Cognitive, or Spiritual Realm. Thus far, we've only seen two Shards combine. They were clearly complementary Shards, and they were also on the same planet. As Zaci-Chan said, every push has a pull in the Cosmere, so I feel like Adolnasium would be "stasis," or close to it. So would Shards that oppose each other (a la Ruin and Preservation) combine more naturally? Would Odium and Devotion combine to create Indifference? I mean, kind of a joke, but you get the idea. How would the logistics work to combine Shards that are not located on the same planet/in the same planetary system? What if Ruin and Odium had combined? *shudder*

Or you could do Crono. I always liked that that is how the title character's name is spelled in-game because it needed to be five letters. Like the programmers understood what we players had to go through when we wanted to name our character "Sabrina" but had to settle for "Brina" because of character restrictions. My name comes from a poem by Tolkien about Firiel, a human woman who is called by the Elves to join them on their ship to the West, but she is forced to stay behind because of her mortality. I've got a portion of it quoted in my signature.

I don't think we know the context of the word "asexual," though. I think it could mean that they cannot reproduce (i.e. do not have reproductive organs), but it could also easily mean that they have no sexual desire, as it would were the word applied to an asexual human. In that case, they could reproduce, but probably wouldn't unless they were ordered to because they would have no sex drive. There are also creatures that reproduce asexually, which perhaps could relate to that answer? I don't know. I find it very odd that, if they are immortal, either no one knows it or it wasn't mentioned. That seems like a potentially huge plot point, and it would be pretty irresponsible writing for Brandon to let his characters know a potentially Roshar-shattering fact like that but to keep his readers in the dark because none of them bothered to mention it.

If I were a Feruchemist, I would store Mental Speed while playing Candy Crush Saga and 2048 and then tap it to read difficult theory and write groundbreaking papers. Holy crap, I'm such a nerd!

Ha ha! I see what you did there! Either a great pun or the best misspelling in history.

I really don't think Elhokar will become a Bondsmith. BUT. Maybe Dalinar does die near the end of the first arc, at which point his squire Adolin becomes a Bondsmith in his place, and the Stormfather gives him the ability to reawaken and bond to his Shardblade! And then all of my dreams will have come true except that Adolin will be a KR, but I suppose it will be okay because it's late enough in the series and he's already learned all his lessons about privilege and humility.

Yeah, it's inconsistent, and I wonder if that's intentional. Generally, the reasons for any social hierarchy are arbitrary. The fact that the logic behind this particular system of governance breaks down under examination reveals to us (the readers) and to the characters able to see it so far (Kaladin and Dalinar) that it's unfair and is only accepted because "that's just how it is." I wonder if Kaladin's physical DNA has changed with his eyes. Like, will he pass light eyes on to his kids, or is his DNA still that of a dark-eyed man? Physical DNA aside, does his spiritual or cognitive DNA change or is his Radiance-y just fulfilling what was already there? What about Moash? Did any aspect of his DNA change?

Like I said, I'm glad that Kaladin has learned that not all light-eyes are morally corrupt or actively bad people. But I do see him breaking convention and refusing to "stay in his place" as a dark-eyes is ultimately a very good quality and doesn't reflect poorly on him. Despite being good people, Adolin and Shallan both assume there is something about their light-eyes that makes them inherently better than dark-eyes, and that's not okay. You can see it when Shallan is scared about the possibility of dark-eyes passing as light-eyes when she learns about Tyn's eye-darkening drops. Accepting privilege and discrimination without question is still contributing to it, albeit passively. Kaladin and Dalinar are (I think, correct me if I'm wrong) the only major characters we've seen actively question or subvert the social hierarchy. Dalinar does it by making Kaladin his bodyguard, and Kaladin does it by refusing to be treated as less-than-human because of his eye color. Note: Interrupting a date is rude. Interjecting with a good idea in a strategy meeting despite being "outranked" is activist and is more what I am referring to.

But can you really blame him? Every single ligheyes that doesn't actively stand up to the current light-eyes/dark-eyes hierarchy is passively supporting and perpetuating the system as it is. I think that dark-eyes can very reasonably be compared to the African-American population post-Emancipation Proclamation, pre-Civil Rights Era. Many white people during that time were very nice to African-Americans and were not bad people overall, but felt that it was just the "natural order" that white people be in charge. Being kind to your servants doesn't excuse the belief that a whole subset of people is only really capable of servitude or believing that certain groups of people are innately more intelligent, capable, etc. Kaladin is RIGHT. He's standing up to an unjust system. Dalinar is the ONLY light-eyes to show even one iota of initiative to change the system, and that's only because Kaladin performed a heroic feat. I like Adolin. I really do. But I can see how he would appear obnoxious and arrogant to someone who understands first-hand the privilege that Adolin has (unasked for, but also unrecognized) that comes at the cost of others. I like that Brandon had Kaladin learn to accept Adolin and Shallan more and basically realize that an unjust system doesn't mean that all the benefactors of said system are individually morally corrupt, but I do want the opposite to happen as well. I would really like to see some of the noble characters (Shallan and Adolin, specifically, because I really like them but see a lot of unquestioned belief in the social hierarchy) to recognize their light-eyed privilege in the future books.

To get my ex into Sanderson, I read him the Prologue to Warbreaker. After I was done, he was just like, "...could you keep reading?" Good news, got him to read Brandon. Bad news, ended up reading out loud for most of the 24 hour road trip that happened soon after that.

Another reason I'm not a huge fan of Shalladin is something that has been touched on before-- they seem like they would make a good platonic couple. I suspect that, with Kaladin's obvious attraction to Shallan, the idea of a romantic relationship will be explored, but ultimately, I hope they have a brother/sister relationship. I am a huge fan of platonic, cross-sex friendships because I loathe the idea that men and women can't be friends, and so often it seems like TV/books/movies support that idea by having everyone sleep with everyone (especially in TV or book series that go on for years). If they could realize without having to date and break up that they are a great support system for each other platonically, even though they are both attractive young people, I would be tickled pink.

We all love Brandon Sanderson. I suspect many of us try to get others to love Brandon Sanderson. What are your favorite "Proselytizing for Brandon" stories? I recently got my roommate to start reading Warbreaker. I don't think she has EVER read a fantasy book besides making herself read The Hobbit before she saw the movie, and she kind of looks down on the genre as ridiculous. I think Warbreaker might be the best Sanderson book for non-fantasy/sci-fi fans, and she and her sister have a relationship much like Siri and Vivenna. So I figured she'd really enjoy it. SOMEHOW I managed to convince her to read it, though I had to promise her it was a fast read. I asked her how she was enjoying it a few days later, and she said, "Ugh. I found myself thinking about it at work and wanting to know what happens. And then I was ashamed." She's super embarrassed about enjoying it so much and desperately wants to hide the cover because other people will know what she's reading. But she's reading a 500+ page epic fantasy novel and thinking about it at work. Success.

I won with 20168! First try (on the Knights Radiant version)!

Interesting. So then, is it fair to say that Honor seems more reluctant to bond/send Spren than Cultivation? Syl says that she's the only honorspren and that she came against her father's (presumably the Stormfather's) wishes. We see Dalinar bonding with the Stormfather, of course. And we see Nalan gathering Skybreakers, but we don't have any evidence that most (or ANY) of them are bonded with spren, right? On the other side of the chart, we've seen two Truthwatchers, an Edgedancer, a Lightweaver, and an Elsecaller. I mean, that difference in numbers could be coincidental, but then... it might not be, specifically when one keeps in mind that BS calls attention to Honor's reluctance through Syl. Maybe?

Yep, it all makes good sense! The wording here would seem to agree with what you are putting forth about all Bondsmiths bonding with the Stormfather: If they each bonded to different spren, one might expect it to say "Their spren were understood to be specific." Do you think that the Truthwatchers bond to a Cultivation-equivalent of the Stormfather? Perhaps the Nightwatcher? Does that mean that Renarin will not have a Shardblade? I wonder if a difference in the bonding between the two orders relates to the fact that Honor is dead and Cultivation is still alive...

Just curious-- how do we know Bondsmiths are pure Honor and Truthwatchers are pure Cultivation? I'm not intimately familiar with all the WoB or all the discussions here yet, and so I'm interested in learning more about this idea. To me, it seems that Dalinar bonded the Stormfather-- well, yeah, Honor. But then if there are potentially two other Bondsmiths bonding with unique spren, then those two other Bondsmiths may not even be honor-based. Right? And Syl is an honor-spren, so even if Windrunners are not PURE honor, they would be pretty close, implying that Windrunners would have very few squires. On the contrary, they seem to have the most... Interesting thoughts about what is more important in a squire bond-- an adherence to the traits or a closeness to the KR. On that topic, there is a good chance that the men in Bridge Four were already becoming squires in WoK, before they were bodyguards. And not many of them had protecting/leading tendencies when that process started. Perhaps becoming a squire draws those tendencies out of a person? Adolin has certainly become more pious/guiding throughout the books so far (murder of Sadeas aside... ). He gains a lot of respect for the Codes throughout the first and second book.

That's true. I forgot about his goons. Good point. But imagine being Szeth's squire?! Only the most terrifying role on Roshar.

Okay. To me, learning humility and learning to play second-fiddle gracefully when he's always been top dog and lovably haughty would actually be a step forward in character development and not a step back, so we just differ in that. I loved Shallan talking to Kaladin about how Adolin gets along with people/is friendly when Kaladin was ragging on Adolin (true!), but I also felt like one of the reasons Adolion is so personable is because he has it so easy socially (upper class, talented, naturally friendly, etc.). It's easy to be friendly when you are on top. I'd love to see Adolin learn to be just as friendly and gracious when things aren't going his way and he is no longer leading the pack. That'd be great character development, I think.

So, the Shattered Plains. Is this during the Vengeance Pact era? Because the floors of the canyons would be littered with metal stuff with much more mass than coins. What if Kelsier could Pull a fallen warrior's shield (or even a shardhammar, though find one of those would be unlikely at best) up and then Push it at Dalinar? I agree that a coin is unlikely to penetrate Shardplate and that the bigger danger comes from the cracks it could create. But what if Kelsier were pushing something far heavier at him? That would be much more likely to cause significant damage with a single hit, right? But then, it also may be easier to dodge.

Hmmm... seems to know everything about the cosmere but refuses to speak of it except in hints and riddles... well, they have at least one thing in common!