Shadow Guardian

I already have the time off work so I can binge with impunity. Let me binge in peace! D:

Given that most of the things I read are already serialized, I need more opportunities/reasons to sit and read something all the way through...

I would guess that they might have some kind of parallel, or at least tangentially related arc, albeit, separately, from Kaladin's own point of view, and Leshwi from Venli's point of view.

While I think Kaladin will eventually make his way back to the battlefield and they will likely meet again there, he has a character arc to travel before that, and logistically, I can't think of very many ways for them to more directly interact until that point. Maybe if they were both moving pieces on the chess board as it were, but I think Kaladin and Leshwi have both been battlefield commanders moreso than strategic generals. 

That said, I do think it would be super interesting to see them have a non-violent encounter, where they could have an actual conversation. Someone more creative than me would have to think of the feasible scenario for that though. 

Something that I have noticed is that the words of whoever is writing to Navani are mostly being taken at face value. There is someone or something that is strongly against the creation of fabrials/imprisonment of spren. While not unlikely, the more I think about it, the more this feels like something the diagram would do, not for any actual altruistic reason, but to plant that seed of doubt and to sew mistrust. Possibly as part of a larger plan to try to sabotage the humans in the fabrial "arms race" or for something else we don't quite see yet. 

To bring up an earlier theory again, I actually kind of like the idea that there is an unmade per herald who broke under torture. 

Now, I think that the idea of there only having been 9 desolations so far is ridiculous, but if my memory serves, we have WoB that a desolation begins when a herald breaks under torture, then they all are sent to Roshar, desolation begins, etc. So let's say there have been 50ish desolations so far (the exact count doesn't matter). 1st herald breaks, we also get the 1st unmade, and the 1st desolation (I somehow doubt it would have actually been the 1st, but whatever). 2nd desolation, a different herald breaks first, we get a 2nd unmade. 3rd desolation, same herald breaks again, no new unmade, since that herald was already checked off the list as it were. Spread this out over 20, 40, 70, or whatever number of desolations that have happened, and eventually we have 9 unmade, 1 for each of the heralds that has broken first that particular time around. 

Given that Taln was somehow able to hold it solo for 4500 years, I could see him never having been the first one to break before now, hence only 9 unmade so far. Though this could mean a 10th is or will be added to the list soon enough. 

I think Odium's champion having 9 shadows and there being 9 unmade so far are both pretty big counters to the entire idea of 1 unmade per herald (or surge for that matter), since, despite the importance of the number 10 on Roshar, these theories currently require a lot of leaps in logic though some very specific hoops, but nonetheless, I think there's some merit, and we do have a penchant for crackpot theories that occasionally turn out to be true.

My much simpler theory for why there are 9 unmade instead of 10 is that sometime in the past, one of them was actually destroyed permanently somehow.

I was thinking about this because of the TOR reread, and I'm kind of inclined to think that Nightblood is probably shaped pretty similarly to a Feder, the type used in HEMA, though probably sized more like a montante.

Feder

Montante

Not finding a good size reference, but think what people typically imagine for a claymore. The practice ones we use are Overall Length: 61", Handle Length: 16", Guard Length 12"

At the moment, I have to vote that Amaram is the bigger cremling, purely because Sadeas is at least honest about being the traitorous, selfish bastard that he is. Amaram goes to great lengths to hide what he is, so he gets my vote at the moment. This is, of course, subject to change depending on the day, because. 

It is worth noting, Lightweavers don't speak "oaths", they speak "truths", about themselves primarily (afaik). All of Shallan's truths were exactly that, not oaths or anything binding, it was "I'm afraid", "I killed my father", "I killed my mother". As Maxal pointed out, it's far more about staying true to themselves as contrary to affixing themselves to a code or structure beyond that of the first ideal.

Certainly Windrunners have a pretty narrow line to walk comparatively, but we know that different orders are more open to different things that they would not be (ie. at least one or more of the orders would have approved of Adolin's actions at the end of WoR). Even the Windrunners, I would argue have some flexibility, depending on the individual, because "what is right" is a subjective matter, and one person's sense of honor may vary from someone else's, and if they truly believe and "know" that their actions are honorable, I think their spren is likely to agree.

Again, there's a spectrum here, and while Lightweavers may have the widest spectrum of flexibility that we currently know of, I don't think we know enough about the other orders and to say that they are "the most powerful" by any stretch. Each order simply has a certain core beliefs that they prioritize, and for the Lightweavers, that's being true to themselves, which to varying degrees, I think applies to all of them, just not at the same "priority level" as it would be.

Since this seems as good a place as any to put it, here's my Q/A from the BYU signing (paraphrased from memory):

Q: We know that Hoid likes to collect various "trinkets" and powers from the various shard worlds he visits. If he could, would Hoid choose to have access to 'every' magic system within the Cosmere, or are there some that he would rather avoid for any reason?

A: *nervous laugh* Let's just say that he's not very good at avoiding things that are bad for him.

Contrary to what most people seem to feel, I don't necessarily think that all of the bonded spren were 'betrayed' per-se.

I tend to think that whatever the root cause of the recreance was, it had to do more with the nature of the nahel bond or what it may have been causing in the long term (I have a loose side theory that surgebinding may weaken the heralds, causing them to break sooner, but that's getting off track) rather than a response to anything that the spren had done (such as bond farming).

The bond between knight and spren is not something to take lightly. Just with Kaladin and Syl, we know how close they are, and I just don't see every person in the organization being willing to break something that precious. Even if the spren 'were' farming bonds, to judge an individual because something their entire people were doing just seems harsh to me, and I think a lot of knights would chosen to judge their bonded spren individually rather than as a collective. An example would be Kaladin's prejudice against light eyes as a collective and how he judges them "all", but those closer to him, such as Dalinar and Adolin, he judges more accurately as the individuals that they are instead of just hating them as light eyes. That's not to say he doesn't keep some of his bias with them, but that's not the only thing he sees. I think it would be similar case between each Knight and his spren, judging the individual that they know, rather than only seeing what their "people" had done.

My inclination has always been that the spren who were bonded to knights at the time of the recreance were just as aware as the knights as to whatever the "wicked thing of eminence" was that caused them to to disband in the manner that they did. Barring the individuals that must have felt otherwise, as a collective, I think that both the knights and bonded spren must have agreed that the route they took, and the manner in which they did it, was absolutely necessary.

The primary argument against the spren being complicit to recreance is all of the modern spren, who clearly see it as a betrayal on the side of the humans, but I counter that just because the bonded spren knew why, does not mean that they ever passed that on to the rest of their kind, most likely by intention. Whatever the secret was, if the purpose in disbanding the KR was to cease the existence of surgebinders and to prevent the spren from forming more nahel bonds in the future, it makes sense for the spren populous as a whole to see what happened as such a betrayal that they would completely cease to form those bonds at all.

One good reason for the spren to see a betrayal, instead of maybe an explanation by the bonded spren of "hey, this is why this has to happen" is the longterm effect. Where knowledge maybe wouldn't get passed on, or some maybe wouldn't care as much about it as it became more a thing of the past, the deep rooted feeling of being completely betrayed is, I think, far more deep rooted and long lasting.

Perhaps I'm applying too many human attributes to the spren and their reactions, but from my interpretation as I've read, I don't think it nearly so far-fetched.

The biggest counter to my theory, I think is the Stormfather and the sense that he gives off that the humans will betray the spren, since, if he was bonded at the time of the recreance, which is most likely, if not confirmed (memory is fuzzy ATM), than he would know the reasoning behind it, and I do not at all get the impression that the recreance was something that he agreed to. But then again, he, and also pattern, speak of the humans killing their spren in more of a "inevitable outcome" vibe, rather than a "you're going to stab me/them in the back one day"

This.... Turned out a whole lot longer than I anticipated.... Sheesh. This is what happens when I rarely post, when I do, everything I have to say comes out in a giant wall-o-text.

tl;dr: I don't think the reason for the recreance was because anything the spren intentionally did, and I think that at least the majority of the bonded spren were complicit in the decision to disband, but chose to let the rest of the spren think it was a betrayal in order to prevent future surgebinders. The Stormfather kinda throws a wrench in my theory.

He has flaming wings. The stick will never give in like that.

He is just a stick.

Don't worry. The stick is merely wreathed in flames of power (in the shape of wings). It has not changed form, merely been made more visible so that more may bask in its deificness.

I have always seen Syl as a glowing yellow/gold color instead of blue (or the green that seems to be prominent). I swear there's a wallpaper somewhere that illustrates perfectly how I think of her, but for the life of me, I cannot find it. (Could be another figment of my imagination that my mind is determined is real when it's not)

For anybody that reads Berserk though, I've often likened Syl to Evarella and Puck.

In that case, how would you explain when he (supposedly) has no breaths at the beginning? Is it fatal to give away all your Breaths if you Awaken something, or, because it is temporary, he can recover them, so no big deal? He said something about forcingly receiving Breath, but he didn't want to do that, so... I don't know.

He actually states that "One could not take breath by force." I think the line you're referring to though is when he mentions that he "...could, of course,have up to the Fifth Heightening at any time, if he wished. That would require certain sacrifices he wasn't willing to make."

Vasher keeps his divine breath (which would give him 5th heightening) repressed all the time and only ever uses the breath he's collected on top of that. Since his single divine breath is what keeps him alive, I believe that using it for awakening would kill him, but his body only consumes a single (of the extra) breath, once a week to sustain him, instead of consuming his divine breath, which leaves him free to use all of the extra breath as he pleases, with no ramifications to himself as long as he has that 1 extra to consume weekly.

Based on my temperament and what we know of the orders, I think I would likely end up being a windrunner most likely, which I would be totally OK with.

Conveniently, being a windrunner is also what would appeal to me most based on what we know of the the current "ability" pool, though I reserve the right to prefer or want a different ability in future, even if I don't think it's abilities I necessarily "would" have per se.

My biggest fear would have to be hurting or losing my friends, which I don't believe I could overcome by any stretch. I'd be curious to see how that would manifest as an weakness though, but at least there would probably be a built-in insurance plan on their behalf.

1) Get turned into epic

2) Go after friends during rending

3) Powers negated

4) Error

Hmm, the best approximation I can think of is Shardlet's profile pic. With this vector of the chapter art by Awesomeness Summoned being another alternative.

Something like this? 

Or more like this or this ?

Or something more specific? I'm really bored at the moment and don't have much better to do, though I may sleep soon, in which case, I'll respond once I wake up.

Are you after the whole picture with background, or the double eye symbol? Check the link in my sig. I made a bunch of vectors a while back, some of which may be similar to what you're looking for.

If you want some variant of what I have that's not in the post, let me know and I may be able to make it.

Words of Radiance spoilers:

 

I think young David's popsicle was actually a dead spren.

OK, so it's never revealed for certain. I'd thought it was going to be something related to symbols of justice.

 

My best guess is that her weakness was aging, which is actually a somewhat powerful weakness to have. Can only die of old age is an interesting reversal on the normal immortality trope of 'can only die from violence'.

Obliteration wasn't killed. He teleported (which isn't a word according to spell check) after leading David to Regalia's lair.

You are totally right. I knew that, but I don't know why I made the mistake when I posted. Probably because my mind was bouncing every which way right after finishing.

Though my point about them having started a war still stands

I think we're able to speak a little more openly now that the book has been release? But I'm spoilering this just in case, since this thread started well before the release:

My only complaint is that I want more and I want more now, lol

I was super bummed about Prof getting caught by Regalia's trap, but I still have hope for him, though ultimately I think it's going to end up with David having to put him down, just because of the conversation they had early on about it being a mercy, much like putting down a rabid dog. Though Brandon has been known to deceive us before, the foreshadowing implications there are pretty strong.

I'm curious about David too, throughout a lot of Steelheart I felt that maybe he was something of an epic-in-the-making because things things didn't always seem to add up, in addition to his ability to inspire people like Sparks said. Seeing how Calamity grants powers though, it kills a lot of my old theory/suspicion, but I do have the same question. Did he outright reject the power and get nothing? Or did something change in him, giving him yet unseen powers that aren't actually giving the typical moral decay that we see with other epics.

The other thing that I think is extremely curious is David's almost innate ability to pick up on how to use other epic powers. We saw in Steelheart that he quickly became one of the best in the team with the tensors, and in Firefight, he picked up the spyril, another epic power exceptionally quickly.

Can we theorize, now that we know that Calamity itself is an epic, that the ultimate end-goal is going to be to search out a way to kill the first and foremost epic of them all? I think Prof is going to be a huge part of the next book, but ultimately, bringing him down, or bringing back his sanity, whichever it ends up being is still going to be just a battle in the greater scheme of things, and as they mentioned several times, killing Steelheart, and now Regalia and Obliteration, they've started a war, and they've committed to winning the larger war, not just individual battles with singular epics.

Now to wait for the book Calamity

There's not nearly enough posts here yet to spend hours reading discussion to try to sate my thirst for more.

Firefight Spoilers:

Realistically, I don't think any adaptation could easily do the Stormlight Archive proper justice, for plenty of reasons that people have listed. Not to say it's impossible by any stretch, but I would consider it unlikely in the current landscape of things. Depending on how things progress in the film landscape in the next however many years it is before there is an end in sight to the series, the possibility of an adaptation I think may change, but until such and end is even in sight, I wouldn't even begin to trust Hollywood to not make a butchery of it.

If pressed, I think an anime series has the most potential of any cinematic adaptation, probably as a series per book, but I certainly don't have any expectations of it ever actually happening. I think a lot of books/series would have there best cinematic adaptation (if any) as an anime series, but I can't even think of any situations where I've seen that be a thing. 

I think a game adaptation of some sort might be the most possible adaptation with some merit, though it would have to focus far more on narrative, and be a lot less gameplay, a recipe which tends to garner mixed reviews in the games market. Something like a visual novel maybe, but those have a very small market, and most other game presentations lack the ability for the required narrative detail for something with the scope of the Stormlight Archive.

In short, I don't really like the idea or see any possibility of any SA adaptations happening, except maybe in the distant future, but that's a very big maybe. And any medium, be it film, tv series, anime, game, or something else, would require a LOT of work to even approach being able to properly portray the awesomeness that is The Stormlight Archive.

On my mobile so I can't quote properly
Agree with you about the wife but.. why the heck should Elhokar step down? Yes, he's a mediocre king and weak human being. Yes, he needs to learn how to be a leader. How would step down help him in this?
Similarly, Dalinar really needs to learn how not to be a well meaning tyrant and let people decide for themselves, and part of the reason Elhokar is this way is how overshadowed he feels by the rest of his family. King Dalinar would be a disaster, not to mention cheap storytelling - not all main fantasy characters have got to be kings, they can live just fine as kings' uncles.
Also, Kaladin would join new in being horrified at the idea of Crown Prince Adolin

I'm inclined to agree with _Elena here. Despite Dalinar being the power behind the throne, he's mentioned on multiple occasions that he absolutely does not want to covet his brother's throne.

I think it's more likely that there will come a point where Elhokar will have to grow into a proper leader. I think that Kaladin's growing as leader will mirror or be alongside this. It wouldn't surprise me if Kaladin perhaps grows as a leader to further his own progression as a Knight Radiant, and then he may go back to Elhokar and take him up on his request that he (Kaladin) teach him (Elhokar) to be a better leader. I don't think that "teach" is necessarily the appropriate term, but I think that he could very well help Elhokar grow as part of his own growth.