Arondell

Well the specific quote is : If he was referring to the ability of a bonded blade to heal the wielder then it is indeed a very confusing way to state it. I didn't think he was referring to the honor blade since it was never alive in the first place. Also at least two of the honor blades should have the regrowth surge that should enable such soul healing for the wielder. Indeed that is part of the lie that Taravangian used on Szeth. So yeah, I am now unsure.

Well thanks to the recent changes to the end of Words of Radiance we know that a living spren blade is supposed to have some sort of healing effect on the soul when killing that a dead one does not. Mr. Sanderson said that loosing this was the one aspect of the changes that he regretted but he would just have to find a place to put it in latter on.

I felt both the Nohadon vision and the in-world Words of Radiance hinted that the Knights hadn't always been restricted by the Oaths. I have the impression that before the oaths were put into effect they probably were not even an organized group but just surgebinders whos only restrictions were the very general intents of their spren. Now at least even Cryptics have to follow the still very broad direction of the first oath.

I don't think I ever said Roshone would leave Lirin and Hesnia alone. It also seems quite possible that Lirin might have sold some of the bromes to get supplies. I'm just pointing out that we don't know what the situation is. Does Lirin still have the bromes? Did he sell some of them? Did he sell all of them? What I meant buy them not needing them was right now when Kaladin returns. Kaladin now has enough resources at his disposal to take the financial pressure off of his parents. Even assuming he doesn't call in any favors from Dalinar. Also as I pointed out all of this could now be irrelevant with the coming of the Desolation.

My point was that if Kaladin still had the intent to pay back the value of those thousand diamond bromes he could just as well give the actual bromes back. Outside of surgery what did Lirin need them for now? As for them effectively going to Roshone I'm not sure what the issue is at this point.(Personally I would think it would give at least a little satisfaction to be able to hand them back because they didn't need them anymore.) The ones Kaldin borrowed to get to Hearthstone didn't even enter into my thinking on the issue. Kaladin could easily support his parents on his bodyguard/captain salary. Perhaps he could ask Dalinar for a favor and get him to donate another thousand diamond bromes to replace those. Given how many times Kaladin has saved members of the Kholin family I think Dalinar would see that a pretty minor favor. Of course this might all be moot. We have to find out what the situation is in Hearthstone before we can do anything more then wildly speculate. Oh and the new Desolation has arrived. So even if everything had remained static in Hearthstone up until now it probably isn't anymore.

I still hold out hope that maybe Cultivation intervened to make this possible. It certainly falls into an area that would involve her intent. Mr. Sanderson has gone to some effort to maintain real world laws of nature where he could so I cringe at the idea that species with such different biochemistry could successfully produce offspring without supernatural intervention.

Typos not withstanding that kind of depends on what happened to those diamond bromes since Kaladin left Hearthstone. If Lirin still has them then Kaladin could just suggest he simply hand them back. It isn't like he or his parents will likely need them. Of course with the coming of the Desolation this might all be moot depending on what has been happening since the Everstorm hit.

That is...a highly speculative way of looking at it. I guess my view is that at this time no one has stated, implied or even hinted that Dalinar is currently guilty of being in violation of any of the laws of Alethkar. Either currently or in the past. Explicit or implicit. Assuming Naln is still hunting surgebinders he would have a very difficult time both finding an excuse and getting the authority to kill Dalinar. Another thing that the Lift interlude made clear is that Naln needed to have the authority to carry out such an execution. He actually had a leave of execution to kill Lift. In whatever nation he is operating in he must follow the local laws. Even Amaram, who publicly admitted to outright murder, was due a trial. So even if Naln could find a crime to pin on Dalinar he still couldn't just walk up and kill him out of hand.

Actually as the Lift interlude shows being pardoned is extremely relevant. Also the kings power to pardon has been shown to be effectively unlimited.

I think your looking for this line. It doesn't seem like a formal thing. It seems more like Kaladin's and perhaps Wistion got them to interact in ways that would encourage a marriage. That all went out the window with Wistion's death. I'll add that I'm not really hoping that Kaladin rekindle any kind of romantic relationship with Laral. Not because I dislike Laral or that she doesn't "deserve" him so much as that just seems like a part of his past life that he has moved on from.

As the "Blackthorn" it is implied that Dalinar was rather brutal on the battlefield and in subduing his opponents but that does not equate to illegal. Indeed he was apparently admired for this in Alethkar. If in the past Dalinar has actually committed some explicitly illegal act I would bet money that he has long since been pardoned. Something the king has apparently unlimited authority to do. Any Radiants among the royal family of Alethkar would be very difficult targets for Naln because of this. I would add that with the arrival the desolation Naln may well be changing his strategy. It was implied in Lift's interlude that he was hunting potential surgebinders because they could return desolation to Roshar. With the arrival of the Desolation why would he continue? Also at the end of WoR I had the distinct impression that the Shin leadership was now at the top of his list.

For the moment I'm inclined to give Laral the benefit of the doubt about her behavior. We were never really shown what her life was like after her father died but I'm betting it wasn't "blossoms and cake" under Roshone's guardianship. Particularly after Rillir died. She certainly had no power or authority to do anything to help Kaladin or his family from Roshone's campaign of persecution. I suspect Odium's influence in that whole situation.

This has been discussed before and I don't recall any general consensus being arrived at. Based on the last scene of her in Kaladin's flashback and length of time involved it seems likely she is now married and children are a possibility. She probably isn't very happy though. Roshone being a living happiness sink in my opinion. It is all speculation though since we have had exactly no information about Hearthstone since Kaladin left there. I also still suspect Roshone might have some Odium investiture working for him based on that scene at Roshone's dinner table when his eyes seemed to almost glow. Very suspicious turn of phrase that.

Just beacause Hoid doesn't get a lot of screen time doesn't make him minor. He has already shown the most amazing ability to show up at pivotal moments and influence outcomes. Likewise Zahel has had a number of influential scenes. (e.g. Advising Kaladin to take the action that would let him sleep.)

You get a Word of Brandon or Peter backing that up and I'll agree. Until then I'm going with that distant character being Eshonai. Neither scene had a highstorm approaching either. As the cover of Words of Radiance shows a novels cover is rarely perfectly accurate. I'm betting they gave a general description and Whelan drew what he envisioned. One isn't picky when Michael Whelan agrees to do your novels cover.

I kind of had the vague impression that Hoid was in part surprised by Shallan because of something Heleran had told him. We know that Heleran sought out the Skybreakers and from Lift's interlude we know that the Skybreakers as they exist now are actually hunting down surge binders. I have the feeling whatever Heleran was wrong about is somehow related to Shallan's surge binding.

Well my favorite looking back to the early 90s would have to be Star Control 2. A combination exploration, resource gathering, adventure that had a great deal of humor while still being a fairly serious overall story. It also had a great ship vs ship combat system. The original developers also graciously allowed the fan community to revamp the game and release it with an upgraded soundtrack and distribute it for free some years back. If I want to go back into the eighties things get a bit less clear. I played a lot of good ones but none stand out as the single best to me. A few that stand out as classics that were great are Archon, MULE, and just about any of the text based adventures from Infocom(e.g. Zork, Planetfall, Wishbringer) and Sierra On-line.(e.g. Leisure Suit Larry, Space Quest)

While I do like the little touch in how Mr. Sanderson portrays such curse words I did feel he overplayed it in the case of Steelheart. I found it kind of odd that the new curse words had already completely eclipsed the old even among those people who would have been adults long before Calamity even showed up. In all his other stories the cultural origin of the curse words is long established for centuries if not millennia. In Steelheart the cultural basis has only been around for around twelve years. It just seemed a bit jarring to me that the curse words of the old society would have been so thoroughly supplanted. At the very least I would have expected some older people doing a bit of eye rolling at the young peoples vocabulary on occasion.

In a sense there is a force that locks a shard in place if they stay in one location long enough. In this case it is their own power. Once it gets a chance to seep into an environment it is apparently very hard to get it back out. So if a settled shard wants to move then it either has to leave some of its power behind or go to great effort to yank the power out. I think this might be related to the reason why Odium is now currently trapped.

Don't look at it as Honor having been destroyed. It is all still there just in little pieces without a central focus. The original holder is dead but the power of the shard is still present.

I'll use a quote from Tarvangian.

It seems I'm looking farther back then you are. Kaladin started protecting long before he was made a slave. It started when he followed Tien into the army. After Tien died he became obsessive about his spear training for the purpose of protecting. It was made clear by Syl that that is what finally caught her attention. Prior to the battle, before he was made a slave, when he "bought" Cenn the squad leader specifically questions his actions. Also during the battle itself. So long before Kaladin was standing next to that chasm he had already exhibited traits and attitudes in line with the second oath. Syl specifically states it is what finally drew her too him. It took most of a year of brutal abuse and failure to reduce Kaladin to a suicidal state and, yes, Syl drew him out of it and convinced him to give it one more try. That doesn't mean he wasn't inclined to do so before he got made a slave. Does the first Oath have a purpose? I would say yes but it is not entirely clear what. The first Oath is a bit of an odd ball. It is the only one that surgebinders don't need to figure out for themselves and is required by all regardless of personal philosophy. My guess at this time is that it is a kind of initiation oath that simply promises adherence to the Knights overall philosophy and allows passage to the later oaths. One comment by Taravangian does imply it has some level of importance on a practical level. As for Gawx's relationship to Lift, he was neither a friend or acolyte before they entered the palace. For that matter she largely viewed him as a bit of a pest. As for Lift not exhibiting any care for the forgotten as I define it, a primary reason she went along with Tigzikk rather then going alone was to help him out if he got into trouble. Lift does not have the ability to solve the inequalities of all of society. She is trying to help the lowly where and as she can. In my view if Adolin is of a similar mindset then he could be doing a lot more in this matter then he is currently doing with enormously more resources. Is Adolin callous or uncaring? No. On the other hand he doesn't really pay it much attention unless the situation is right in front of him. This is, in my opinion, a critical difference. Lift actively seeks out such people and situations. Adolin does not. In regards to Adolin's sword I never really questioned it being an Edgedancers blade. It seemed reasonable based on the description when it forms from mist.

There has been no Word of Brandon on whether the Oath stated is the second or third. Until and unless there is such a WoB I'm going with it being the second. As for my expectation...Err...I don't believe I have stated anything about where the story will go. I have expressed skepticism on how likely Adolin is to turn out to be an Edgedancer based on my interpretation of forgotten and his behavior as I see it. I guess that could be a direction I, at the moment, think it probably won't go. Beyond that I don't think I have stated any expectations or likely directions Adolin or the story in general will take.

Adolin has shown potential to be a variety of things. I simply feel your putting a bit too much emphasis on the attributes and not enough on the oaths. Of those Radiants who we have experience with they showed a distinct tendency towards behavior in line with at least their second Oath. Even before Kaladin became a slave he showed a strong desire to protect the weak. Dalinar shows a strong desire to unify. LIft exhibits a desire to help those who are largely ignored by society. Adolin, while showing generally honorable behavior, has not shown any particular emphasis, in my opinion, to helping those who have been otherwise forgotten by society as a whole. Using my perhaps overly strict definition of the "forgotten". The only hints(foreshadowing) I see that might be an indicator of him becoming an Edgedancer is the rather vine like appearance of his blade before it snaps fully into the physical realm. A blade he appears to have formed a stronger then usual emotional attachment to.

Minor point here Lift doesn't steal money. She only steals food. It is unclear if she ever stole anything but food. Another one of her rather amusing quirks.