Fistsofrage

I can totally see Kaladin going home with Jasnah showing Laral he's moved on to greener pastures and better fields.

I think Jasnah x Kaladin is extremely viable. Probably because Kaladin is the only person I've seen up til now that is worthy of her and can keep up with her. Jasnah is extremely used to getting her own way, especially with men. I think she'll find a challenge in Kaladin. She'll either love him or hate him

I was referring to the interview (dunno if it was called something else) with Pat and Brandon together. I'm pretty sure he called him a rival but he meant that he respected him as an author in the same age bracket/group. I didn't mention the rival thing with any negative connotations or that Brandon would try to copy Pat, only that he might be motivated to improve in the area of sexual scenes.

To be honest, I have read a few stories (manga/manhwa/novels) where relationships like Kaladin and Syl's end up with happy endings. The mc finds a way to make his partner into a human and they live together til she dies.

Yeah. Maybe rather than looking at it from Taln's point of view, we should question what Hoid's purpose was in waiting for Taln at that place.

I haven't read enough of Brandon so I don't know, but I heard he considers Patrick Rothfuss as a rival so you never know how he might try to test his writing abilities. After all, he did write the last few Wheel of Time books and there was some sex in there (no real graphic scenes but you know...)

I guess it's a matter of opinion. I don't watch much anime anymore, I just read the manga. Naruto fillers and some the things in one piece and other manga based animes sort of dampened my enthusiasm. Animes can be done well and enjoyed, but there are a lot of people would love to see Brad Pitt or some other actor wielding a spear or acting as Dalinar. The descriptions of the bridgeman outfits and Kaladin's battle formations make it seem like this could be "300" all over again.

Renarin will do his part to help House Kholin. Whether that is as a KR or as a normal person idk. Im not really all that interested in Renarin at the moment but I am watching to see how he changes in the next book. Once we can see his thought process, more may become clear. I'm actually more interested in whether Kaladin will keep his promise to train Lopen or if it was just lip service. He said he'd train him to fight with one-hand...

Nice analysis. This brings a whole new aspect to the story. Wonder if it will ever be explained in detail or just left to our imagination. It's one of those things that can be left alone without affecting the story much.

I will agree that some people do the right thing, but it's usually in the moment. It's easy to be good for a moment but not make it a lifestyle. That's where the problem lies. If a child is gonna be hit by a car will I attempt to save him/her? The answer is yes (or at least I hope so , I haven't been tried yet). But will I go out of my way to help the thousands of children starving in third world countries and lacking a education? I might throw some money at the problem and then focus on myself and succeeding in life. It's easy to do good for a moment or in the instant something bad happens but it's difficult to make it a lifestyle like Kaladin and Dalinar are attempting. I doubt many of us would have been as good as Adolin at following the Code even though we wanted to party, or drink or whatever else interests us. I'm sorry to say it but the world right now is all about doing what is best for "you", and to be honest, most people don't know what is best for them and end up hurting themselves in the process. People "care" about others but never really in the way that matters. Almost everyone is terribly indifferent to what they don't think concerns them. The world as we know it seems to be rotting I'm rotting too but at least I know it and perhaps I have a chance lol.

It's true that in this fantasy genre the characters can somewhat be seen as human, but we're all used to them overcoming great odds or doing things that normal humans don't usually do. We can exaggerate and say that there are great people in real life who would do the same thing given the chance, but to be honest we don't really know that. The people in these stories constantly make decisions that I doubt a lot of "normal" people would make. Kaladin's stint as a bridgeman...I seriously doubt there is a human being in this world that would do what he did. Probably someone in <5% of human beings on the planet. People are weak/soft, naturally selfish, and usually have an agenda. I'm sorry to say it, but it is what it is. Most of us read these books because they have a standard that we wish humanity held. We really wish people were good like that. But for the most part they are not. People who are "different" and try to hold a better standard are usually beaten down out of jealousy or some other base emotion. If we had "real" people in instead of these fantasy chars in those positions, Odium would have won thousands of years ago, maybe at the beginning. The desolation would have killed everyone while all the world governments fought wars over the power of surgebinding. Yeah...so...I don't really hold the characters in stories to a "human" standard, I just look at what's expected to be morally right and if they didn't do it, I point it out. Especially if at least one dude did the right thing. Because you can't become better until you accept that something went wrong or that there is a problem, and I sincerely wish for all the Heralds to one day stand again in the light together. Probably, because it'd be impossible in real life. Note: If I was in that purgatory, I'd probably have given up after a second.

I really wonder how the Heralds were chosen. Most people wouldn't do what they did so where did Honor find people of their caliber anyway?

Ouch. Don't judge until we find out the whole story friend Yes, the Heralds had every right to quit since they signed up freely (as does every other superhero/hero), but they quit for the wrong reasons? (question mark because everyone has different opinions) They quit while thinking that it was best for them to do so. They valued their physical well being more than their mental/spiritual well-being (not quite sure what to call it). If you think about it, heroes are people who save others, or fight instead of fleeing because they know what effect not doing so would have on them (or their psyche or w.e). There are many reasons why people do things, but heroes do what they do because they want to be true to themselves. The Heralds "gave up" when they put down their blades. They probably didn't realize it but among the list of things they "gave up", they gave up on themselves as well. Which is why their current situation reflects that decision...

Yes...maybe they were would-be radiants, and this is the first instance of darkness dude's effort to put a stop to spren-human bonding...maybe darkness managed to cover it up as a conspiracy of the priests to takeover... Edit: I know I've been mentioning darkness in all my theories lately but he is such a good scapegoat lol.

What's the phrase... "the higher they are the harder they fall"? What the Heralds did was a very serious thing. By abandoning their post they have pretty much doomed humanity. And although Taln was in a physical purgatory, the others were in another of the worst kind, the emotional purgatory that stems from guilt, shame, and failure to do what's right. They could be jealous of Taln, even though he's suffered, because his spirit is still clean and whole (he's still the hero he always was). Shalash may supposedly be defacing any monument that's purpose is to honor her, darkness has supposedly attached himself to a twisted version of what he thinks the law/justice is, and jezrien is supposedly a drooling mental mess. They lacked the heroic instinct to understand that by abandoning Taln they weren't really escaping anything, but making it worse for themselves. At least in purgatory they'd still be themselves and together in their pain, but now they're separated by shared guilt, and wallowing in their own self-destructive cycles. Point is, they have fallen so low that I think one of them ambushing Taln is a possibility, and even if they didn't, it'll take a lot to raise them up to where they once were. It might even be impossible, and Kaladin and the rest will have to fight on their own against the worst desolation mankind has yet to face.

Pretty sure there's a trope where allies or heroes give up while the others continue on and when those heroes return they get ambushed by the others who are trying to hide their shame. Happened in a manga called Ubel Blatt and it's pretty amazing. And then we have darkness dude trying to prevent the desolation in his own way, so it might be nothing personal and he just doesn't want Taln helping people make more spren-human bonds. But yeah, it just seems a little strange to me that enduring thousands of years of torment would make him look like that. I figured he'd come out looking fine but his mental aspect would be skewed. If he was really fatigued, he'd probably never make it to Kholinar, I mean its THOUSANDS of years of purgatory. Anyway that's where the question came from.

Its a good theory but I'm fond of the idea that Taln stuck with it and didn't break. The lone hero that didn't subscribe to mob mentality and stayed the course. Good to know someone did the right thing even though he got doomed doing it. If Kaladin hears about it he's sure to get fired up. What's the phrase? That thing Kaladin's father said? Someone needs to do the right thing simply because its right. Someone needs to show the way...

Hmm, its possible. Any ideas why he thinks he's failed?

I can see Kaladin's leap from the bridge into the midst of the parshendi happening as a movie scene. It'd be epic. And the scene where he kills the shardbearer too. Seems like Brandon wrote this book with a movie in mind xD

Anyone think Taln was ambushed by darkness dude? Seems plausible that one or more of the Heralds may have attacked him... Just a thought. I figured he was tired because of his time in purgatory, but his "I have failed" line makes me think something may have held him up or he lost a fight or both

Lol, like I said, it's off the top of my head and I just read the one piece chapter. Okama Way ftw.

The hat store? Lol.

There are a lot of AMAZING homosexual characters in other stories. Off the top of my head I can bring up the One Piece manga that has homosexual characters I really enjoy (don't know if anyone here reads One Piece). Mr. 2 Bon Clay is a true bro. What I don't like is forming a rapport with a main character and choosing to follow a series because of that emotional connection and then suddenly having my world turned upside down with this kind of revelation. If he's homosexual they need to do it right, lead into it properly and make it so that its not a random surprise. But I understand the "shipping" now and realize that my reaction might have been a bit excessive. I had a bad experience once where something like that happened in a series and I didn't wish to repeat it with this one.

Nobody has a problem with gay characters. If they do, they can find books that don't have them. What I was saying is that when people decide to follow a series, the main character plays a huge role in the decision process. Changing the dynamic of the main character later on when people have a firm model of the main character in their minds can cause confusion and can cause a lot of people to decide that the series was not what they thought it was and decide to find something more easier to swallow. If you want to introduce a gay character into the story later on fine, but it's not very smart to make such a change to a main character and expect nothing to happen to the fan base. There will obviously be fans who are disappointed because their image of the character has been turned around. It's simply super main character love and main characters should be dealt with very carefully.