JohnnyKaizen

I always assumed that there was light armor, because of how detailed (and strangely, but for obvious reasons, French) the names of the various pieces of Shardplate armor are named. I could be wrong, but I could have sworn that Sadeas said that the Listeners completely ignored the bridge crews when they had shields (or maybe some people with shields ran out in front of them?) or something to that affect? I'll have to look when I get home from work, but I could have sworn that was the case.

Ok, that makes sense in that context. Madness doesn't necessarily take away from their awareness. And Nale was, in his broken way, trying to continue to help Roshar. So that definitely tracks. Ok..so did she actually have Nightblood in her hand??? That's a little bit shocking to me, only because this is the first I'd ever considered it. I do remember that she asked him if he wanted a sword and she describes Nightblood. I guess I just assumed that the Nightwatcher could manifest it if he asked for it..since it was on Roshar at the time. I honestly never considered the less magical, and easier alternative, that she was simply holding it.

I was just reminded of this today, and it is something that has irritated me for years about how the battles on the Shattered Plains played out in WoK and in WoR. So, Dalinar has these slow, lumbering siege bridges for crossing the chasms, and Sadeas has the bridge crews. Multiple times, Dalinar is chided by Sadeas and Elhokar to give into the fact that Sadeas' bridge crews are "better" because they are so much faster. Dalinar lists off all the reasons and codes as to why he would never use such a method (Never ask a soldier to do something you wouldn't do yourself...It's such a waste of life..etc). In all of that talk, Sadeas even admits that he used to give the bridge crews armor and shields but that it worked better for him to use the bridge crews as bait. All of that is to say this...why did one of the most brilliant military tacticians/generals on Roshar, Dalinar Kholin, not see that he could make his own bridge crews with armored troops, and duplicate Sadeas' speed without his callous disregard for life by using the bridge crews as bait? Sadeas had already demonstrated, and admitted, that the enemy would ignore them in they were armored? So why not!?! Ok, end of rant that's been simmering for years.

I mean, his family was murdered..he went to seek some kind of justice, was enslaved, abused..nearly killed multiple times a week, for months on end (all while the prevailing opinion amongst the army was that it was "best for everyone else" that he be live bait). After all that..I don't know what measures I would or wouldn't go to. I say that because my mental limits have changed multiple times throughout my life, as I assume they will many times more, in the future. It seems to me that one of the tropes that BS used with Bridge 4 was the Joker's "All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy. That's how far the world is from where I am. Just one bad day" which for one thing, isn't true. Clearly the heralds had thousands of those "bad days" before their minds broke, and everyone else in Bridge 4 came out of hundreds of bad days without breaking the way Moash did. But for me, I will always be extremely hesitant to claim what I would or wouldn't do under extreme torturous situations (like what Moash went through) because the more life I live, the less confident I am that I know what I would do if/when my mind broke. That's why I'm so ademament that Moash could be redeemed, even though he most likely won't. It is very easy to look at the rest of Bridge 4 and say, "See, they're all doing fine and didn't murder their friends and the innocent!" And, while that is true, Moash is an extremely damaged person. The Heralds did a noble thing, beyond nearly all acts of heroism described in the SA to date..but I also expect that we are going to hear of some nasty, nasty things that the Heralds have done since they broke, in the back 5 of SA. None of that takes away from the monstrous person that Moash has chosen to be. If I was a Radiant in the Coalition Army, and came across Moash..I'd do my best to kill him, because he is a clear and present enemy. If I disarmed and disabled him, I'd certainly take him as a prisoner if possible. It it were not for whatever reason, then he probably should be executed there. That, in and of itself, is a pretty horrible thing. War is a horrible thing, full of horrible actions. Sanderson is doing a really good job at articulating that.

OK, this just brings up another question for me. Nale told Szeth that Nightblood would be a good match for him, and Sanderson confirms that "it's hard to find a more perfect alignment than those two" So the question that begs is, how did Nale..who is extremely unstable..understand the Intent of Nightblood and also understand that Szeth would be/is the perfect barer for that weapon? I know that Nale is a Herald and once was one of the greatest beings on Roshar, but it's been 5,000+ years of decent into madness for him. I feel like his understanding and giving Nightblood to Szeth is even more significant in light of Brandon's comments on it. Also, it's interesting to know that the answer to my question of "Is Nightblood a god metal" is yes and no. And, it feels like there's a whole hell of a lot that can fit in between that yes and no.

well isn't that a whole other kind of terrifying, that I hadn't considered.

Isn't she metabolizing food into investiture instead of sugar? She could just drink a lot of Mountain Dew or Coke and store some pretty high-volume amounts of investiture. That said, she does love to eat, so a buffet would probably be right up her alley.

@Quantes So, whether or not Nightblood became a god metal, it has taken on various investitures and that has specific expression in how Nightblood interacts with the Cosmere? Hmmm...So...

I realize that Nightblood is currently on Roshar, but I put this in Cosmere discussion because it deals with multiple planets. So it felt appropriate. If you haven't read Warbreaker, Oathbringer, and Rhythm of War, you should wait until you do.

or just a few perfect gemstones that are capable of holding far more investiture than would be considered reasonable, by Roshar's educated.

He was the stormchild back then.

The style is certainly different from the humans, but I always felt that was on purpose? The Parshendi have a culture that's uniquely distinct from any other people group that's been described in the Cosmere so far. I also assume that those distinctions will be used to unload some massive amounts of knowledge about early Roshar (at some point in the future), if not about the Cosmere as well. If the style is more of a hindrance to your re-read, then you could always skip those chapters, and read a quick summary instead? Better to enjoy your read than feel like you're struggling through it?

I am not sure how spoiler-y this is, but talking about greatshells and ecology and whatnot

I actually haven't read anything about SP3 or 4 because I felt like being surprised. It's a rare opportunity to not know what's coming..but also (and mostly) I am too impatient so it's easier to manage that if I don't know

Bah! I was hoping. O well, thanks.

The thing that popped out in my head after reading the premise was, "Did the Singers become deadeyes (the Singer/PR version of deadeyes anyway) when BAM was imprisoned?" I have never framed it that way in my head before and now my brain is slightly exploding trying to understand the ramifications of that.

Are there any WoB about

Ok, I got it..I was being dense. Thanks!

Yeaaaaaah...that gets real tricky real fast, doesn't it?

I would think with a stamp that re-writes that Jake had burned tin for years, it would be, at the very least, possible. And, if you had some liquid investiture laying around to dip that stamp into..all the better. (which I think is what @alder24 was getting at?)

Ok, I feel stupid for asking this, but

Adolin confirms to Kaladin later that Elhokar failed them by upholding the system, instead of following through with the plan. It would be a really hard sell to argue that Dalinar didn't feel the same way about what went down. But instead of vocalizing that, he upheld the system. Which one could argue was the proper military thing to do..except that Dalinar had slowly been usurping the throne for a while at that point..so picking and choosing which thing(s) are most important get dicey. It was while Kaladin was in prison that I first started to like Adolin..because he didn't hedge his words or his actions as to the injustice that was done to Kaladin. He used his power, position, and body to protect Kaladin. And he should have. Systemic oppression shouldn't change from the bottom up, but from the top down. Apartheid South Africa is an excellent (historical and recent) example of a majority oppressed by the minority. And, the system of rule on Roshar when Dalinar made those comments to Kaladin are very akin to it. How @Greywatch described Dalinar's statement (the person in power, talking to the person without power because the system defines it that way) is accurate. Dalinar told Kaladin to distinguish himself in spite of the unfair system. Dalinar wasn't willing to call that system what it was. He wasn't willing to tell Kaladin what Adolin was doing. He left Kaladin in the dark, because he felt that it was a "good lesson" for Kaladin to learn. He knew what Kaladin had suffered in Sadeas' camp, but ignored that trauma, pretty much from the time Kaladin became his captain. He was inclined to believe Amaram at the time, in large part, because of the system. He did decide to investigate further, but again,did not tell Kaladin anything about it until after it was done. He didn't have to tell Kaladin, but considering what Kaladin did for him, Adolin, and the rest of his army..as well as being the Captain of his guard..I feel it was a failing to leave Kaladin in the dark, and with the intentionality with which BS writes, I am confident that he was aware of that when he wrote it. I cringe when I read the aforementioned quote, and I believe/hope that BS wrote it on purpose to show that someone like Dalinar (who many readers/characters respect and admire) can be wrongheaded about systemic oppression (especially when you are the one in the position of power) and will use it to show his growth and change. Dalinar is sworn to unite instead of divide, and a system that gives the vast majority of power to the few and strips it from the many does not hold up well to that oath. And I do think we'll see that at some point, because of the various POVs we've gotten of Nahadon, and how he is someone Dalinar wants to emulate.

An unbroken person would be able to apologize, most likely. Moash may possibly be the most broken person currently in the SA. And a lot of that is self-inflicted. Moash lies to himself (and by extension to the reader) constantly. He's been lying since we met him. He will probably lie up until he dies. But based on what I've seen him do, and then relate back on later, his mind is at least as fractured as Shallan's and his grip on reality is probably less secure. He contradicts himself constantly. because he is a deeply, deeply broken person. He tried to apologize and hit a block, one that in my experience, is present from deep trauma. To make a judgement that if you are truly sorry, you can say it, is a pretty ableist stance to take (while i recognize we are talking about a fictional character, BS goes out of his way to consult with mental health professionals to depict trauma, mental illness, and healing in an accurate and realistic manner). I have long struggled with mental health issues, and have been truly, deeply sorry about many things in my life that I was unable to vocalize at the time. Moash loved Kaladin. He loved Teft. He loved Bridge 4, but his trauma whispered to him from the beginning that he would screw it up..that it was a fluke...that his happiness would all go away. I imagine that was at least one of the reasons that he pursued his revenge against Elhokar so doggedly in the first place. Because, if he just went ahead and messed it up himself, he could "get it over with." That is an urge that I have been intimately familiar with many times in my life. Broken people do broken things, and quite often cannot make amends without healing first. Moash will most definitely have to do some healing to his soul if he is ever going to be anything besides a whirlpool of self-deception and self-harm. As I've said repeatedly in this thread, I believe the chances of Moash actually finding redemption are about as likely as winning the powerball back to back, but there is still that sliver of a chance that technically exists, especially because BS has made it clear that anyone can find redemption, but not everyone will. And if it were to happen, I'd welcome it because it would bring a lot of healing to a lot of characters that I cherish.

He was clearly lying to himself. Moash is a less reliable internal narrator than Shallan is. Because the second he lost Odium's smothering, he internally wildly freaked out that he had just killed Teft. It is later that he tells himself that he wasn't sorry for it. If he wasn't sorry, then he wouldn't have had that extreme visceral reaction the second his emotions returned. If he wasn't sorry, his internal dialogue would have been something like, "Well Teft, you shouldn't have gotten in my way. Too bad for you." But like I said, that's not at all what happens. And as soon as he possibly can, he starts lying to himself again.

This brings up the fact that Cultivation foresaw that Renarin would, in fact, gain future sight..thereby blinding Odium...but also steered Taravangian and Szeth and Rayse all to exactly where she wanted them to be. And, did allm of this, in spite of Renarin's futuresight abilities. Something is real weird (and massively OP) about Cultivation's ability to orchestrate that 4500 years in advance. And at first, I agreed with (when i read it) TOdium that Cultivation has "no idea" what she'd done by helping him to ascend. But now I think that Ol TOdium doesn't have the least clue of what her ideas are.