thetntm

I haven't read through this whole thing quite yet, but one big thing that stands out to me is the quote "The world ended, and Shallan was to blame." from Words of Radiance, Chapter 10. In that theory, they seem to attribute this quote to shallan's memory being overwritten, but I wonder if instead it may refer to the ending of, or at least being forced to leave, an actual world, before arriving at Roshar. The more I think on it the more certain I am that Shallan was not born on Roshar, because we've seen her draw things in the past that were not of Roshar, which could be repressed memories. There's also the fact that Mraize has been heavily pushing the concept of alternate worlds towards shallan for a while, and the greater nature of the cosmere has factored into shallan's chapters much more heavily than any other character. I also think that the "soul" shallan's mother places in the safe could likely be the warbreaker god's equivalent of stormlight. Breaths, stored in a gemstone as light. Perhaps at some point shallan took in those breaths, and that is why she sees more vibrant colors.

Man this was a fun journey, but it's kind of sad that I caught up so quickly having started stormlight only a few months ago. That said I love it, it's my favorite sanderson series and I look forward to book 5 immensely. I read the audiobooks, listening to them at work. I think Michael Kramer is absolutely killing it, I understand some people love him and others don't like him but I really like him, although it always feels weird to hear him voicing characters Kate Reading normally voices, such as pattern. Kate's pattern voice is just perfect, sells the comedy of the character a lot. Here's some wild shot predictions: Prediction 1: Shallan I don't know how, I don't know what caused it, but somehow Shallan has been invested with breaths of life from warbreaker. There was a scene, I think it was in either RoW or Oathbringer, where Veil notes that Shallan sees colors with more detail than her, and the way it was phrased was exactly like the warbreaker breaths. There's also the way that Shallan's drawing powers only work for her and not her other personalities, as well as the similar ways that her drawing power works to things like perfect pitch or sight from warbreaker, makes me so confident this is the case. It also explains why a cryptic like pattern was willing to bond with her, even though she'd already killed her previous cryptic. It makes the fact that Wit reacted so strongly as soon as he saw her as a child make more sense as well. It makes me wonder if maybe Shallan's whole family isn't actually from Roshar, and maybe they were brought there from the Warbreaker world after some big conflict there. My gut feeling is that they may in fact be a royal family from there, just because Shallan's father reminds me of Siri's father for some reason. This would also explain why BS has said he can't write the Warbreaker sequel until after stormlight book 5. I think Shallan's Mother was almost certainly a member of the ghostbloods, and tried to kill Shallan, after which Shallan responded by summoning Testament to defend herself. There's still a lot about Shallan that doesn't add up and after the Testament reveal I want to re-read way of kings because there's a lot about what happens to her in that book that still doesn't make sense to me. In particular the line "what are you" that I believe one of the cryptic spren said to her back then feels off now. Prediction 2: Kaladin I think we'll definitely go to the horneater peaks in book 5 for sure. I don't know how book 5 is going to end, or how different "part 2" of stormlight archive is going to be from "part 1," but BS has been promising the horneater peaks since book 1, it's clear that whatever's going on with Rock is a BIG deal in the narrative and I am certain Kal hasn't seen the last of Rock yet, despite what was said in RoW. Kal has come a long way in swearing the 4th ideal, and while I once thought he would swear the 5th for sure in book 5 after finishing RoW I no longer think this. The 5th ideal definitely needs to span at least 2 books of buildup because otherwise it wouldn't feel like as big and important a deal as the 4th. As for bridge 4, I don't know where they stand to go as characters. It feels sad how lately a lot of them seemed to be killed off in order to help kal come to terms with the 4th ideal, maybe now we won't have to worry about so many of them dying off since he's come to terms with it, as unrealistic as that sounds. I really just want a scene of the remaining members of bridge 4 getting together and hanging out, having fun. They deserve it. Prediction 3: Dalinar I have a feeling, a sinking feeling, that Dalinar is going to lose the contest of champions. It just doesn't feel right, it wouldn't work for a big climax for this massive story with so many key characters to be a battle between only two, especially when one of the champions was only introduced at the end of book 4. I think he'll fully realize his powers as a bondsmith but lose the contest somehow. Anyways, those are my predictions! I don't know if the community as a whole has already predicted similar things, or if people feel I am wayyyy off base with these, just wanted to get my thoughts out since the story is fresh out of my mind. really glad I can finally discuss this series now that I've hit the current end.

It might be a bad idea to post here, as I'm still starting RoW, and I know that I might be necroposting, but I strongly believe that Kaladin will swear the 5th ideal, but we'll get a reveal of some kind that the 5th ideal is not what we thought it was. Maybe upon swearing the 5th ideal you become a herald yourself, or something else happens upon swearing the 5th ideal that'll push the story forward in such a huge way that it justifies the separation of part 1 of stormlight and part 2.