Arondell

I think it was that the continent resembled some sort of visual representation of...oh drat I'm blanking on the term.  Mathematical wave form?

Even if they were assassins she could have just turned their weapons into fire or just turbed the first to move into a statue and let the others run. Assassins or not, it is equally dark.

For some reason this reminded me of Marv from Sin City when he commented on hitmen.  "I love hitmen.  No matter what you do to them you don't feel bad." 

I suspect what you see as a certain level of inflexibility I tend to see as an adherence to military discipline under wartime conditions.  A truly inflexible mind would make for a terrible general.  In battlefield situations in particular Dalinar has shown quite a bit of flexibility  (e.g. Quickly changing from a defensive to offensive strategy when Rlain warned him of the danger of the singing.)  His understanding that he is going to have to become more of a politician.  His ability to quickly use new fabrials on the battlefield in effective ways.

That being said yes there is a certain inflexibility in some of his attitudes.  In some measure he binds himself with rules so that he does not fall back to the man he was.  He basically says as much on a couple of occasions.

I think Dalinar has very good analytic skills when it comes to battles, but he relies too much on his faith. He is a man with a strong respect for authority, for rules, for codes of conduct, for order. If he believes something is right, he won't second guess himself and he tends to interpret things rather literally. Take his visions... He decided, without having any proof, they must be real, so he takes them to the word and put them into practice. He never entertains the possibility he MAY be wrong about it, because it fits within his own personal set of beliefs.

 

All in all, Dalinar lacks flexibility. 

I think your overstating this a bit.  Much of Dalinar's part in the Way of Kings he was wondering if he was going mad.  He very nearly abdicated in favor of Adolin because of it.  Even when he decided not to he required Adolin to agree to depose him should he actually become mentally unstable.  It was not until Navani found objective evidence that his visions were real that he had any real confidence in the visions and his own sanity.  Even then the scene in Words of Radiance when Shallan reveals her abilities to him was quite telling in regards to Dalinar's self-doubts.

 

“I’m not mad,” he said, more to himself, it seemed. “I had decided that I wasn’t, but that’s not the same as knowing. It’s all true.

Sanderson, Brandon (2014-03-04). Words of Radiance (Stormlight Archive, The) (p. 948). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition.

. Kaladin moved from high nahn (third) to slave on the word of less than a highprince without judicial involvement. 

Small quibble.  Kaladin was of the second Nahn.

 

“Amaram’s army,” Kaladin said. “A citizen, second nahn.”

Sanderson, Brandon (2010-08-31). The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive) (p. 97). Macmillan. Kindle Edition.

Well...Wouldn't you kind of need to have some awareness of how the subatomic particles interacted?  Does Roshar even have a working theory of matter at the atomic level?

If computer animators manage to finally cross the "uncanny valley" in the next twenty or thirty years then we might get the best of both worlds.

Actually the Nahel bond spren didn't gain awareness through the bond precisely.  They need the bond to maintain awareness in the physical realm.  When the Knights broke there bond they apparently damaged the part of the sprens mind that made a bond even possible.  Which is why I speculate that one of the divine breaths, which seems to have the purpose of healing, could repair the damage.  At the moment I consider it a "maybe."

Brandon did state the original knights would be required to revive the dead-Blades. He then corrected himself in stating this was true for most cases, thus opening the door for the possibility of a rare Blade revival story line. In another WoB, he also said Adolin could do it, if he says the oaths (one, two, three? I can't believe he'd need to say all 5...) and if something more happened.

 

It does fit my personal guess a Radiant is needed to help kick-start the revival process. Once the spren gains back enough conscience, I suspect the bond would work as any other Nahel bond.

While thinking of something else entirely in the Cosmere this thought occurred to me.

Possible Warbreaker Spoiler

Well the Kholin head quartermaster, Rind, has "a belly that stretched to next week."

My, admittedly vague, memory of Mr. Sanderson's description of a dead shardblade is that the part that enabled a bond got ripped out.  I would guess that whatever part was lost would have to be replaced or repaired before anything else can happen.  I suspect that this is why it would be so very hard to revive a dead spren.   According to Pattern this has been attempted without success in the past and he suggests that the original Knight might be required to actually achieve a revival.

For the moment I'm betting that bringing dead Knights back from the dead isn't actually required but whatever could fix the problem would be of a similar level of difficulty.

Since the other name for the Adhesion surge is "Atmospheric Pressure" that could give some hints as to things that might be possible.  When Kaladin first learns to lash himself upwards he notices that the air at high altitude doesn't seem to feel thinner.  His ability to sense incoming highstorms might also be related to that since atmospheric pressure is an important measurement in weather forecasting.

 

There was also the one of Jasnah burning words after running out of ink. When Shallan had seen her burning letters into a page, she’d been amazed at the Soulcaster’s precision.

Sanderson, Brandon (2010-08-31). The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive) (p. 501). Macmillan. Kindle Edition.

I was under the impression that Stormlight Archive related information doesn't need spoiler tags if it is in the Stormlight Archive forum.  Has this policy changed?

Well the most relevant comment from Syl regarding the Highstorm at the climax of WoR made me think that there was just one storm that the Stormfather hurried along.

 

“A highstorm ,” Kaladin said, shooting up through the sky after Szeth. “The red storm is from the Parshendi, but why is there a highstorm coming? This isn’t the time for one.” “My father,” Syl said, voice growing solemn. “He brought the storm, rushing its pace.

Sanderson, Brandon (2014-03-04). Words of Radiance (Stormlight Archive, The) (p. 1031). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition.

Also the Stormfathers comments at the end sound, to me, as if there is a single Everstorm.  Since it is of similar design to the Highstorm it also inclines me to think there is only one.

 

THE EVERSTORM. IT IS A NEW THING, BUT OLD OF DESIGN. IT ROUNDS THE WORLD NOW, AND CARRIES WITH IT HIS SPREN. ANY OF THE OLD PEOPLE IT TOUCHES WILL TAKE ON THEIR NEW FORMS.

Sanderson, Brandon (2014-03-04). Words of Radiance (Stormlight Archive, The) (p. 1070). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition.

I don't have the quote off hand but as I recall the context of that was more in regards to any of the characters and their books.  Dalinar was the one he used as an example.

I've heard that Scadrial is like Earth, just with allomancy and the Lord Ruler's modifications.

Only in a vague kind of way.  The continents aren't the same so far as we know.  The only habitable regions are the far northern and southern hemispheres.  All the space between those are apparently inimical to long term habitation.  So much so that the two regions don't even know of the existence of a civilization in the other region because no one has been able to make the journey.

On the flip side though, given the nature of the power, Pulsers probably live longer on average.

But that's... not the way I feel about what happened. It was a lot more of "I had personally invested a lot of stuff into these two characters and seeing them not getting along hurt me a lot." I still have trouble forgiving Shallan for what happened, but I don't expect that there were many other people who were also upset by her. It's a lot more of a personal issue for me.

This is a primary reason why I consciously avoid investing myself in potential relationships.  Particularly between characters that haven't even met.  Though I'll grant that I don't think I have ever seen such a potential relationship get blown away like that. 

Actually I don't think Shallan was present when Dalinar ordered Renarin to help the scholars.  Renarin was giving a report to Dalinar from Shallan and Dalinar gave him orders in response to that.  That being said when Shallan made the observation that he was "creepy and whiny" it is fair to say that Renarin was indeed being quite whiny.

Just to be clear, I like Renarin.  I think he is a fundamentally good person.  On the other hand, just like every other surgebinder, he has serious issues that he is obviously going to have to get over to progress.

I imagined Shardplate as being formed of Crystal as well, but it's definitely a "metal" that cracks like a crystal would

And I imagined Shardblades kinda like this

http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs28/i/2008/047/2/d/Kenji_Crystal_Swords_by_Lee99.jpg

Stormlight is white(ish). Diamonds are the clearest Gemstone used, and their light is white. Zircon's give a blue-white light.

The Japanese cover for The Way of Kings had a very crystalline looking shard plate.

http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/4153350176?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

I remember several occasions her mentioning storm predictions that have been written up but I don't recall her ever actually seeming to "feel" an incoming storm the way Kaladin did just after returning from the patrol.

 

Some of the stars moved— starspren, nothing to be surprised by— but something felt odd about the evening. He breathed in deeply. Was the air stale?

Sanderson, Brandon (2014-03-04). Words of Radiance (Stormlight Archive, The) (p. 362). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition.

 

“Highstorm,” Kaladin realized. It seemed like too soon since the last one, but they weren’t always regular— not in the way he thought of it. The stormwardens had to do complex mathematics to predict them; Kaladin’s father had made a hobby of it. Perhaps that was what he was noticing . Was he suddenly predicting highstorms because the night seemed too . . . something?

Sanderson, Brandon (2014-03-04). Words of Radiance (Stormlight Archive, The) (p. 364). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition.

Maybe I'm totally wrong, but I always thought of Kaladin's "Stormsense" as him being able to feel a MASSIVE source of Stormlight. Wasn't Shallan able to sense approaching Storms as well?

Was she?  I don't recall any time Shallan specifically "felt" an approaching storm hours ahead of time.  Part of my reasoning for basing Kaladin's sensing of the storm is that atmospheric pressure is one tool that is used to predict storms in real life so it seems reasonable to speculate it being one of the benefits of the Atmospheric Pressure(Adhesion) surge.  Also thematically appropriate given that Sylphrena is a daughter of the Stormfather. 

Some time back I wondered if it would be possible to stick a reverse lashing to the knights bonded spren.  Since it has been demonstrated that a Lightweaver can have their illusions attached to and maintained by their spren it seems like a reasonable speculation.  It wouldn't work quite like a forcefield but having your spren flying around with a reverse lashing would really screw up the aim of any ranged weapons in the area.

Also there have been some hints of a sensory component to Atmospheric Pressure surge.  Kaladin being able to sense an impending high storm is an example of this.  Syl being able to sense some events at a distance.  Also Kaladin's ability to avoid the attacks during the arena duel.  Was Kaladin's impression that he could have avoided the blades even with his eyes closed simply a manifestation of being infused with stormlight or was there some surge based sensory enhancement in effect?

Shallan can attach illusions to pattern. I assume that if Lightweavers had squires they could do the same to them.

That assumes squires have access to the surges.  So far we have only seen squires use the effects that simply breathing stormlight grants.