Argent

Just a heads up, a few of us are working on transcribing the audio for the new WoB archive and we'll post a public transcript once that's done. So no need to start a fresh transcription document.

You are good people. Sucks about the spot in the line, events that don't have numbered tickets can be annoying like that...

Huh, that's weird. Don't think Brandon has done this before. Poor Peter...

Looks like it is accessible. I'll get the squad to work through it

Oh, you managed to upload it here? Huh. Usually we upload big files like this to a cloud server (Google Drive, Dropbox, pick your poison), make sure it's publicly visible, and then just share a link. I suspect the staff wouldn't want too many large files eating up the storage (not that you are in trouble or anything). As for uploading the rest - my recommendation is a cloud server again.

Trying to see if giving your Breath away divests you of all of your innate investiture?

Plutonium.

A word of caution about the Ultimate List - it can be out of date sometimes. Here are some of my own questions, ones that don't require much background into why I am curious about them: The Immortal Words and the Commands in Awakening feel a little similar, in the sense that both require vocalization of an idea or a mental state. Is this similarity shared by other magics in the Cosmere, or are those two more of a coincidence? Do the many faces of Cusicesh belong to real people? Are they all dead? Do Feruchemical metalminds experience physical change over time, such as wear and tear? Would Aons work even better if they were drawn with a cartographer's attention to detail? Would Soulstamps? Does Awakening drain colors outside the visible spectrum? I've offered the same set of questions to the 17S Discord, so let me know if you like any of them well enough to ask them, so I can let the other guys know, so you don't ask the same questions.

Huh. I had assumed that's fine, since goats have rectangular pupils.

Chapter 10: ... Heh. I chuckled. Like Kaladin. Guys, Kaladin chuckled! Huh. Warform? That's not a form of power, the ex-Parshmen might not be Voidbringers at all. The way I see it, they were freed by either the unchanged listeners (and so they are sticking to the safer forms; which could explain why they only went after the food), or they were freed by some stormforms... but then nothing else makes sense. I am heavily leaning towards the former, but I'll keep an eye out. I will personally hold Brandon accountable if this scene never happens. Check in with me after SA10 comes out. Also, Syl? The greatest thing ever. All the time. Forever. I do wonder if there was an actual bond between a Radiant and their Ryshadium. It sounds like a weird thing to have - I mean, both have a spren bond, but a bond between them? Maybe it was just some interference... Loooreee! Hey, that's kind of like a rapier. Renarin is pirate, confirmed. Also, I do so love the dynamic between the Kholin boys in this scene. I am revisiting my well-formed "Renarin is a creeplord" theory from before. I still think there's some fishy stuff going on with him, but maybe Shallan is just picking on those aspects a little too strongly. Which could make sense if she is also sensing something weird about Urithiru. Radiance. I wonder how we are going to be using the term, I like it. It's probably something Adolin made up on the spot, but it's good. Also, Lightweaving (from the perfected self-image, something we've seen Shallan do too) and Regrowth (from the healed hand)? Lightweaving might end up being a little more complicated than anticipated... Chapter 11: The Rift Maybe worth keeping this in mind when we start learning how Plate works. Young Sadeas is me, as a raid leader. The Kholins are my raid group. This is a big part of why I read Stormlight. Everything about it is excellent, but the one thing I can get in virtually no other book is the alien-ness of the world. Much like Tanavast, in fact. Tanalan. Tanavast. Hmm... What did you do, Blackthorn? Are you ashamed you killed a child, or that you spared one? Gavilar says you killed the boy, and at this point of your life I can believe that, but "Dalinar closed his eyes, distracted by the shame he felt. What if Gavilar found out?" doesn't fit. I think the kid's alive. This is the first time we hear Sunmaker's name, isn't it? The reveal that Oathbringer used to belong to Sunmaker was in this chapter's version included in Unfettered II, but not Sunmaker's name, I think. Good to know. Chapter 12: Negotiations Aww, that's nice. If I ever catch up on all of the (120+ so far) replies I've missed, I'll be looking at what Ch. V. D. stands for. It's certainly a very Azish thing to do though. It's interesting how the story has deviated from the truth. What. Wow, I actually feel frustrated at the Azish. That's amazing. Same here, buddy. Same here. Oh, you still have the Honorblade, don't you. Of course. I wonder if that refers to someone holy and pious, or is just another term for Surgebinder/Radiant. Well. Okay. Did not see that coming. Yeah, I am pretty shocked actually. I absolutely approve, and it's awesome, I just didn't think Elhokar was good enough, strong enough, to do something like this. I'll have to revise my opinion of the man, that must've taken a lot of courage, to submit himself to Dalinar like that. Oh, hey, on a different note, you know who likes bravery and obedience? Chana. And the Dustbringers. Just saying. Storms, I am beginning to really like Elhokar! That's a very charming fatalism and self-depreciation you've got going for you, kid. I dig that. Oooh, boy. Ohboy. This is ten ways not good, no, no, no. But I am curious about this supposed Radiant he has.

This may be something we just disagree on then. The "you've seen all the Heralds" has, I believe, been clarified to suggest that "seen" includes "mentioned", in which case Hoid's story about Fleet would cover that. As for Mraize's comment, he suspects Tezim might not be local. Regardless, my main issue with your candidates is that it's a meta-issue - it relies on chapter headers and comments by Brandon or Peter. Time will prove one of us right, and I think little else will. We seem to disagree on what constitutes evidence.

Funny you should say that, I happen to think similarly Though there is more to it. Not Splinters in the traditional sense - they are pieces of Honor's soul, which we understand to mean Honor's investiture made physical. Tanavastium, as it were. I just did, and I have to disagree. The chapter headers are not only metaphorical, they are metadata about the chapters. If they are the only thing we relied on, we'd be looking for random Heralds in every chapter.

Oh, hello there. Didn't see you amidst all the Oathbringer hype in the air. Please, make yourself comfortable, pour yourself a glass of wine (one cup of the orange, then stick to the yellow; don't even look at the violet, can't have you get drunk in my post!), and read on... Almost four years ago (storms! It's been this long?) I put together a theory I called The Fallen Heralds - which, to be fair, was less of a theory and more of a summary of some things some people within the community had already kind of agreed to at the time. But in it, I posited that all of the Heralds (except for Taln) have turned into "twisted versions of themselves. Not polar opposites, but their divine attributes have become... perversed". Well, it's been a few years since then, we've seen the release of Words of Radiance, Edgedancer, and several Oathbringer preview chapters (and readings), and I've been feeling the need to revise the original theory a little bit, especially in recent months. Well, I was hanging out with @Zmann966 today, and we were talking about all things Brandon (as we do), and the conversation steered towards the Heralds, and I felt the final (for now) pieces of my four year old theory click into place. Let me present it to you. The Theory Over the course of their incredibly long lifetime, all of the Heralds who chose to abandon the Oathpact after the Aharietiam, Last Desolation, have grown obsessed with what Vorinism calls the Divine Attributes. As we all know from the Ars Arcanum at the end of The Way of Kings, much of the philosophy and culture of Vorinism revolves around the idea of the Ten Essences, which ancient Rosharan scholars also associated with the ten Orders of the Knights Radiants and the ten Heralds. Each Herald (and each Order, but we are interested in only the Heralds right now) then became associated with two Divine Attributes – Jezrien was known to be Protecting / Leading, for example. I now posit that, for reason I will touch on a little later, each one of the surviving Heralds has also become obsessed with the Divine Attributes he or she is supposed to embody. They have, in one way or another, become the living embodiments, the avatars, of the traits they once merely stood for. The Heralds We Know So, what evidence do we have for this theory? Precious little, but not as little as you might think. Nalan Nale, commonly known as Nalan, Herald of Justice, embodies the Just / Confident Divine Attributes. He is one of the very few Heralds we see “on screen”, and the image we see of him is one of a relentless pursuer of those who break the law. I probably don’t need to spend much time convincing you, dear reader, that Nin-son-God has grown obsessed with the concept of justice, nor do I need to do anything but direct you to the chapters he shows up in to present him as somebody who is utterly confident in himself. He had to search 40 years back to find Ym's crime (either that, or his backlog of crimes is really long...). He believes that "justice does not expire" and that "justice waits upon no man or woman." During every moment he is on screen, he projects utter and unshakeable confidence. When confronted by Lift about his pursuit of her specifically, instead of other, bigger criminals, he explains that "Others may be detestable, but they do not dabble in arts that could return Desolation to this world." All of these practically scream confidence and pursuit of justice, perhaps with a small hint at why. An argument can be made about Nalan’s obsession arising from his desire to prevent another Desolation (whether that is because he is afraid it might mean the reinforcement of the Oathpact, or simply because he doesn’t want to see the world end) leads to him focusing on what he is (just and confident), but I don’t know if that’s a productive discussion to have. Shalash Shalash, known as the Herald of Beauty (also known as Ash) was supposed to embody the Creative / Honest Divine Attributes, and also happens to be a Herald we know we have seen – she is Baxil’s mistress from his interlude. We don’t know as much about her as we do about Nalan, but we very strongly suspect that she is methodically destroying art, likely art that depicts her. What we do know is that in the interlude she slashes a painting of “Epan, Lady of Dreams” (who may be a character inspired by her). She also does not approve of stealing, and destroys a statue, though Baxil doesn’t note of whom. Finally, she also muses that getting herself a Shardblade (so she can be more effective at destroying the statue) would almost make it too easy. Outside of this interlude, Vorin culture seems to suggest she has a temperament (Sadeas cites his “Shalashian temperament” to Dalinar as the reason he gave up his post of Highprince of Information). Chapter 55: An Emerald Broam’s epigraph also refers to her as a woman who “sits and scratches out her own eyes” – which is the primary reason we believe she destroys art of herself specifically. At the night of Gavilar’s assassination Szeth also notes that Shalash’s statue is the only one missing among all the Heralds, which many feel points to her being in the palace recently. So why would someone who is supposed to embody creativity and honesty sneak around destroying art? Well, to me Shalash embodies the other way one can obsessed with something. Where Nalan leans heavily on his sense of justice and confidence, Shalash goes the other way – she becomes the antithesis of creativity, and – one might argue – honesty, as she sneaks in the night like a thief. Zmann966 suggests it is for a different reason – he thinks she destroys art because she feels people are not being creative enough, considering that they’ve (likely) been depicting her the same way for thousands of years; and so her destruction of art is her way of forcing people to be creative. You could also see her actions as honest then, as she not only does all this work herself, she also refuses to make it “too easy” by acquiring a Shardblade – honest labor, and all that. Either way, I think there is a solid argument that she is obsessed with at least creativity – one way or another. Pailiah The final confirmed Herald is Pailiah, sometimes known as Pali – the Herald who embodies the Learned / Giving Divine Attributes. She was recently confirmed to be the ardent Shallan sees in the Palanaeum when she searches for a copy of Shadows Remembered – you know, the one Shallan thinks that “Lit that way—with her figure hidden but the light streaming between the shelves—it looked as if one of the Heralds themselves were walking through the stacks.” Even less is known about Pailiah than the other two Heralds we looked into, but besides her Divine Attributes, she also seems to be known for her mind – as evidence by Adrotagia invoking “Pali’s mind” in Taravangian’s interlude of Words of Radiance, and maaaybe Adolin thinking that “Pailiah knew, this wasn’t the time to offend the Almighty” (though I wouldn't read too much into that one). But she certainty could fit the theory we’ve been building so far – she is now an ardent, people known to give themselves to causes that are not their own, and she serves in the Palanaeum, the largest repository of knowledge on Roshar. It’s impossible to tell whether she is obsessed with those attributes at the moment, but she definitely could be. The Heralds We Don't Know Okay, we talked about the Heralds we’ve definitely seen on page, but those of you familiar with the scientific method know that the strength of a theory is measured by its predictive power – a theory that only explains what we know is just a hypothesis. So let’s look into the Heralds we haven’t officially confirmed and see if they can possibly fit the bill. Jezrien Jezrien’s Divine Attributes are Protecting / Leading, so if he has grown obsessed with these we would expect to see him either zealously protecting everyone he can while assuming sole leadership of whatever group he is in, or completely abandoning the people around him, not caring about protecting (or possibly even harming them) or leading them. The only somewhat decent candidate we have for Jezrien is the drunk – or addled – beggar Szeth briefly meets in the Kholinar palace, the one that hangs out near the Heralds’ statues and asks Szeth whether he has seen him. Flimsy evidence at best, I agree, but it could at least fit the theory if Jezrien has gone more the Shalash route, where he now manifests traits opposite to his Divine Attributes. As a beggar who is either drunk or insane, he is certainly in no position of responsibility. He is not protecting anyone, and he is certainly not leading anyone. Is he obsessed with his... carelessness, let's say? Maybe, maybe not. It's hard to tell whether he is always like this (which, to me, would suggest obsession or addiction), or if just made use of the free booze at the feast just that one time. Zmann966 once again disagrees with me on this – or at least entertains a different line of thinking. To him, the Shin society as a whole and the Stone Shamanate specifically speak strongly of Jezrien’s Divine Attributes. They do seem overly protective of their beliefs and culture, and they are obviously leading the Shin people. Jezrien could fit into this as a high-ranking member of the Shamanate, or perhaps even its leader (if they have one). It would also allow him to manifest his Protecting attribute, as he would be de facto in charge of protecting Shinnovar, and perhaps more importantly, the Honorblades. It could also make Jezrien the one to give Szeth his (and, in a beautiful turn of phrase, “his” here can refer to either one of them!), which feels like a nice wink from Brandon. The other possible interpretation I came up with, assuming Jezrien exhibits the extreme versions of his attributes, is someone who leads and protects people regardless of their desires – someone who, for example, throws people in prison “for their own protection” or leads armies in a way and to places they don’t want to be led. But this version has even less supporting evidence than the others, as we haven’t really seen anyone like this, so I won't spend any time on it. Chana Chanarach, the embodiment of the Brave / Obedient Divine Attributes, is unfortunately one of those Heralds we know virtually nothing about. She seems to be associated with strength, as evidenced by Dalinar thinking that “Chana help the man or woman who stood between Navani and one of her own” and Navani saying (on an unrelated occasion) the following about Jasnah: “Chana knows, I wondered sometimes how I raised that child without strangling her” (but like Adolin's "Pailiah knew", maybe don't read too much into this one). Now, I know some people are already boarding the “Navani is Chana” train, but this is not a train I am willing to ride. She is also referenced in Hoid's story about Fleet, where he Fleet races Chanarach and wins, but I don't think that has any relevance to the theory, other than to maybe enhance our "strength" association with "speed," maybe give physicality to her nature as a Herald. This section of the post is about predicting, however, so let’s do a little bit of that. What would Chana be like if she has become obsessed with her Divine Attributes? On one end, we’d have someone who is likely extremely brave, but also extremely obedient. There are other possible interpretations – she could be someone who values bravery and obedience in others to the extreme, but I feel like the Heralds’ obsessions, their personal insanities, are more, well, personal. So if she was someone very brave and obedient, I feel like a position of, essentially, a bodyguard would fit her well. Someone who is willing, even eager, to throw herself at danger, but also someone who puts themselves under the control of another. I wouldn’t be surprised if she ended up being the Rosharan equivalent of a berserker. On the other end, we have someone who is cowardly, but also independent or controlling – to the extreme. The image of a queen comes to mind – a queen who listens to no one, but also one who is terrified all the time. I thought briefly of Aesudan, Elhokar’s wife, but I personally doubt it. So I’ll say we don’t have a good candidate for Chana. Vedel The Herald patron of the Edgedancers is one we know even less about than we do about Chana! Other her “golden keys” being featured in an oath once, and Taln’s mantra claiming that she would train the surgeons, we don’t know anything else about her. Her Divine Attributes – Loving / Healing – certainly fit Taln’s words, but that’s about it. So where would she be with those attributes turned up to eleven? Well, if she follows Nalan’s method to madness, she would be someone who loves unreasonably deeply, and also devotes herself to healing. Some people like one of Taravangian’s nurses for Vedel, but while I can’t discount that possibility, I don’t support the idea. The other extreme, where Vedel’s love has turned to hate, and her healing has turned to harming is, admittedly, far more interesting – and terrifying – to me. I don’t think we have a good candidate for this version of her either, but it would definitely paint her in some very dark tones. Battar Also known as Battah to Vorinism, Battar was supposed to be Wise / Careful. Unfortunately, neither her “positive” extreme nor her “negative” one (foolish and careless) are very telling or very interesting to me, so I’ll just go ahead and move on. Kalak The Resolute / Builder Divine Attributes of Kalak, combined with the one somewhat decent candidate for him that we have – Nalan’s companion from the Words of Radiance prologue – might make him worth looking into for a bit. If the man Jasnah overhears speaking with Nalan is, in fact, Kalak, then we can see that him being, essentially, a giant wimp who panics and worries about everything, could be a result of his resolute attribute turning into something like indecisiveness. Which is not an obsession, it's more akin to my original theory where the Heralds' Divine Attributes had turned into their opposites (I wasn't focusing on obsessions then). I can’t really see him showing the corrupted version of his other trait either, as he is not particularly… destructive in that scene, so I won’t dwell too much on him. If anything, this theory has made me like Nalan’s companion for Kalak even less (though I admit it is difficult to discard his casual mention of Ash, and his “we weren’t supposed to get worse” line; maybe he will end up being evidence against my theory). So Kalak is a weird data point right now. Ishar Ah, Ishar. The Herald who practically made me rewrite this theory. Let’s just get it out – I am now convinced Ishar is the Tukari god-priest Tezim. Granted, there was already evidence that something was not quite right with the man, and some members within the community already liked him for Ishar, but still. Mraize is suspicious of him: “This creature in Tukar, however, is different. I’m not convinced he is human. If he is, he’s certainly not of the local species…” Edgedancer tells us that “there were all sorts of wild rumors about [the god-king of the Tukari]”. More recently, Chapter 8: A Powerful Lie of the Oathbringer previews, tell us that “[Tezim] claims he’s an aspect of the Almighty” – which alone would be pretty interesting, but the thing that pushed me over the edge on that particular bit of the theory were Ishar’s Divine Attributes – Pious / Guiding. Because who could be more pious and guiding than somebody who a god-priest-king?! Seriously. That's like Nalan assuming the title of Confident Judge, or Jezrien calling himself Protective Leader! He obviously does some more guiding – specifically, he seems to direct Nalan on his quest for justice – but I honestly feel that’s secondary at this point. Plus, this theory has already broken the 2,500-word mark, and I imagine you are as tired of reading it, as I am of writing it, so we won’t quote and dwell any further. Conclusion First of all, I should apologize for misleading you. I said early in this post that I will address the reasons why the Heralds have become the way they are today, and that kind of implied that I will do so in this post. Unfortunately, while that was my intention, I realize that it would not only add significant length to the theory, it would also distract from what I think of as its focus. I’ll put another post up, hopefully soon, where I’ll speculate about this (and other related things), but for now I think we’ve all had enough of me running my mouth. So. What do you think? Do you feel compelled that all of the Heralds who have been, presumably, hanging out on Roshar for the past 4,500 years are now… not insane, though Brandon has used that term, but… obsessed? Specifically, with their Divine Attributes, whether it is in a way that turns them into avatars of said attributes (almost like tiny Shards, you might say), or of antitheses of them? Let me know*. Let’s all be wrong together before Oathbringer shows up and shatters all our theories. *God, this feels like such a YouTube thing to say. "Let me know in the comments below, and don't forget to like and subscribe!"...

Eh, once again, I discourage you from digging into this. I'll share it publicly in a couple of months anyway, and it's (in my opinion) not intuitive at all. But it's your time It was fun for a while. These days it's torture. As new Oathbringer chapters are being released, it feels like I am just waiting for the other shoe to drop...

It's Brandon who feels he's dropped "blatant" hints about Renarin's character arc. I find them blatant only in retrospect. All I said is that The Page doesn't have Renarin's name on it. It could still say something like "Dalinar's younger son" For example.

Oh no, I meant that he allowed me to share it with the lady who asked a similar question. Not publicly It's juicy though. Gon' blow your minds.

I had Brandon's explicit affirmation that I could share the secret. I think Oathbringer will make my knowledge on this commonplace though, so there is no need to lynch me. But it's true, I do enjoy my secrets

Some news, folks. Several months ago I was talking with @Pagerunner in the (then only) Discord server, and the conversation turned to some of the finer points of the women's script. He was going to ask Isaac about them, but I since I was already trading emails with him (about something else entirely), I offered to take his questions and send them instead. Isaac has been busy with Oathbringer until just a few days ago, but he finally got back to me. Here's my original email: And his answers:

Chapter 7: A Watcher at the Rim Shut up, I did not choke up when Kaladin went all floaty at the end, you choked up! Chapter 8: A Powerful Lie More new spren! Nice! Also, huh, Shallan can't draw. It looks like something in her brain her gone funky, and that's a little scary. Official new name! Interesting. I suppose nobody has seen much of the Radiants' powers, but I wonder if there is someone in the army who knows about the Orders to go "wait a moment, why isn't she, you know, Elsecalling?" You know, I feel like we are getting a lot about these lines of strata. Can we get our geology nerds to look into this, see what's weird about them? Could it be that Urithiru was transported from elsewhere, where such lines are more prevalent? Why are you cold, little Renarin? Hey there, Ishar. How's life? :D:D Whaddayaknow, it's almost like there is a bond between them. The passage after that makes it look like Bondsmiths can empower other Radiants, which is certainly an interaction I hadn't seen coming. Either that, or we are seeing more of this "knowledge sharing" we saw between Kaladin and Syl, where (Spiritual?) connections can transfer actual knowledge. The tugging is still weird though... WHY WON'T ANYONE TALK TO RENARIN ABOUT THIS??? WHY WON'T RENARIN TALK TO ANYONE ABOUT THIS??? Oh, boy. Adolin, dear, I think you may have opened some people's eyes about the countless ambush possibilities in Urithiru. Let's go see what's going on... Also, Lyn? Was that the... I don't know, we have seen her before, right? Chapter 9: The Threads of a Screw This feels like a really weird thing to name a chapter after. Oh, somebody is trying to make this look like Sadeas' murder. As if there is a serial killer around. Storming Ghostbloods... The irony of the Windrunners, the Order famous for flying, needing more feet does not elude me, Brandon. I am onto you. Okay, never mind, there is something else going on. It's not just Shallan's recent trauma that's affecting her, something about Urithiru is messing with her more so than with others. What are you sensing, you ginger... Ah. That. Oh, Shallan. <3 I can't possibly imagine how this would turn out poorly. Woah, easy there creeplord. Easy, I said!

Ah, the double double whammy. Announce Oathbringer previews, then reveal some 200 pages of Oathbringer previews, then reveal some annotations. It's the balls and cups magic trick, only while you were tracking where the ball is, Brandon has switched it for another cup. And the original cups are now tents. Also, there is an assassin dressed in white stalking you. I like that the original name for the element of stone was Taln. As @Pagerunner pointed out, the four "traditional" elements being in the corners, while their... composites are between them, that's a nice touch. It's also interesting that the original version had time manipulation in the magic, when that doesn't seem to fit in our current understanding of any of the Rosharan magics (unless you count futuresight / visions). I also like the basic Double Eye - it's a pretty shape. I was pretty excited about using the names of all the elements in our translation effort, but yeah, it doesn't look like that's feasible. Still nice to see some of them show up as roots for some names we are familiar with, such is Ish in Ishar and Rosh in Roshar. It would be interesting to monitor those and see if they end up being more meaningful than we assume at the moment (maybe Roshar moved! maybe Ishar can't sleep! the sky's the limit).

Happy Tuesday, everyone! Let's jump in some thoughts: The in-world Oathbringer? Has to be written by Jasnah. Feels like her. So "true spren" and "lesser spren". Can't say that I am a fan of the terms. Maybe I'll use lesser and greater instead. Why, hello there, May. Glad to see you become an important character. I am still curious about this... dislocation the Stormfather carries with himself. Both Kaladin and Eshonai have experienced it in the middle of a highstorm, and apparently it is also present (to an extent) simply when he shows up. I've always headcanoned that he pulls things into Shadesmar a little bit, but that's a very fuzzy feely-touchy impression of what's happening. I hope to find out more. Hmm. That's Bridge Thirteen, they are not squires. I wonder why the Stormfather's presence would drain them... So Dalinar's interpretation of the "warmth and light", presumably from his last vision in Words of Radiance, is that it belongs to a true God - the God Beyond, in our terms, perhaps. It'll be interesting to see how much of that belief is just his own, and how much of it foreshadows later reveals. Chapter 5: Hearthstone Ah, so nice to follow-up a wedding with some classic Kaladin gloom. "Soft-skinned" is a made-up terms, right? Not an English phrase? Because it feels very appropriate for Roshar where everything has a shell. Good to know. Still need to figure out where voidlight comes from though. Oh, Kaladin. He's perfected gloom. Chapter 6: Four Lifetimes Yeah, that's Jasnah. Perfect. Oh, Kaladin. He's perfect glares too. Team, I am not gonna lie, I breathed a sigh of relief when I read this. I think I'll remember this tiny little scene fondly, whatever hell breaks loose in a paragraph or two - 'cause we can't have Kaladin happy, of course not, things don't work that way. Ayy, a new type of spren! Glorious day! Well, no, of course not. He is Kaladin. Hmm. I'll need to think about how this works. Another candidate for a bond? In Hearthstone? Lirin? Yes! You get him, Kel-- er, Kal!

They do, but that has to do with the fact that each Order gets different color glowy eyes. The eye glow seems to match the color of the gemstone associated with the Order (at least in the Ars Arcanum) - so ruby for the Dustbringers and garnet for Lightweavers.

Alright, let me post a few thoughts before I read all the other replies (in the interest of keeping my opinion pure). I will then edit. So we open up with excerpts from the in-world Oathbringer. Which is always something to be excited for, but for a moment there it almost sounded like Brandon talking about our Oathbringer: "I’m certain some will feel threatened by this record. Some few may feel liberated. Most will simply feel that it should not exist." Which was funny to me. This is such a Brandon Sanderson line. I've been getting This is his style - something about this feels like a Brandon opening line, though I can't quite put my finger on what exactly. Well then. That's terrifying, and we are not even a full chapter into the book. I do have to wonder about the golden light though, because Dalinar saw a similar light at the end of Words of Radiance. Is this him peeking across realmic boundaries, and into the Spiritual? Who knows. I also have to wonder if, since the wave of destruction is meant "to represent the darkness and devastation that was coming upon humankind", is Odium's champion meant to represent that destruction? Oh my, Dalinar, did I hear you refer to Navani as "thicc"? You old rascal you. That's a beautiful line. Morbid, but beautiful. Ah, so they need to hang out around Kaladin. But hey, good to know, Lopen did some more glowing! Now that world can actually see all the rude gestures he shows it. Whoah, Shin invasions!? This could add a little bit of an evidence in the "the Shin came to Roshar after everyone else, and from another place" bucket. Because Shinnovar is not a very big country, they can't exactly wreck too much havoc. I still love the fact that awespren are the prefect expression of being mindblown. Spoiler for The Thrill chapter sequence available in Unfettered II. So let's go and see what you all are saying about these chapters.

Look what the cat dragged in.

Oh, look, another thread derailed by Renarin and his special brain...