scottos

Kal becoming a Herald moves him towards being more spren-like. I completely got romantic vibes from them in book 5 and expect this to develop more in the second half of the series.

Yeah, I feel like she is going somewhere for help and will be back. She seems too invested (not referring to investiture here ) in the events of Roshar to just move somewhere else.

I missed this too. Thanks for pointing this out!

Brandon is awesome. W&T is awesome and the post he made is great, but it is kind of sad he had to write the post in the first place. Just an observation on some of the backlash, it's interesting to me that folks will put down a book for a portrayal of a non-toxic G rated romantic relationship, but not bat an eye at graphic war, murder, death, and violence. Murder by a protagonist is just fine to be entertained by (enter Kelsier), but I draw the line when it comes to hand holding and a kiss.

I like this theory as well. It makes me wonder if she will be able to bring the Highstorm when the Heralds return.

I wonder if Syl will bring the Highstorm when the Heralds return.

I thought the book was great. There have been quite a few really good things that have come out in the past decade that people have missed out on because of woke labeling. It's ironic that folks would struggle with Stormlight though; a major theme in these books is people finding strength in the things that make them different. I applaud Brandon for taking on issues that challenge his readers.

I can't remember the exact lines, but it seemed like Honor didn't want Dalinar to take the power. Dalinar realized this and lets go of the power. This is a leap of faith for Dalinar, requiring him to trust in the sentience that Honor has developed. Hoid knows Dalinar did something really clever and I'm guessing part of this is the time bubble on Roshar. My guess is that this move by Dalinar was more important than we realize at this point, that Taravangian's life just got much more complicated, and this will be one of the mysteries we explore in the second half of Stormlight.

I feel like Brandon did an excellent job of addressing scrupulosity with Szeth's arc. He also did a great job of addressing this in Nightmare Painter. I think this is particularly interesting coming from Brandon Sanderson specifically.

I loved the book and felt really satisfied with the way things wrapped. This gave me more closure than I expected for the end of act 1 and I love the way it sets up part 2. I was starting to feel concerned about what was left to explore in part 2. I love how Brandon turned everything on its head, making it really hard to predict the ramifications of the resolutions of W&T.

With the Stormfather vaporized and no more Highstorm, I'm curious to see what role Syl plays in the future. The ending of W&T made it sound like some changes take place in Syl, possibly inheriting her fathers role: This makes me wonder if when the heralds return, if Syl will help address the Stormlight problem and the current lack of Highstorm.

I don't think Adonalsium is a person. Just like Lerasium, Atium, or Trellium, I think it is a metal, specifically the "God Metal." I think that means there was one person that held it, probably Adonals (based on the naming convention of other shards, but sounds weird with an s at the end). Maybe it could have been held by others. That would be a lot of incentive for others to try and kill Adonals. Additionally, I could see how some would be uncomfortable with one person holding all that power and push for that power to be divided.

That was my thought as well, that the shattering of Honor is likely related to the insanity of the Heralds. My guess is that in order to be immortal they required a great deal of investiture from Honor. That would make them closely tied to Honor. When Honor was shattered it would have shattered the heralds as well.

In the battle of Theylen City there are a few times when a figure of black smoke is mentioned hovering around Odium: "Odium had retreated into nothingness, though his Fused remained, as did most of the troops, and one strange spren - the one like black smoke." And then earlier: "the area around Venli - once crowded by the spirits of the dead - was now empty for the single black figure of swirling smoke. She missed that one at first, as it was the size of a normal person. It stood near Odium, and she did not know what it represented." Is this one of the Unmade or is it something else?

I thought it was interesting that when Dalinar combined the three realms for a short period of time, Taln was lucid. Then when they separated Taln lost his mind again. Was this just a coincidence or is the declining sanity of the heralds caused by something broken across the three realms?