Chrono

Hoid/that one chick that's actually old enough for him. And maybe Wyndle/Syl. Syndle?

Emphasis mine. Such a beautiful understated moment.

Kaladin fighting the Chasmfiend. A huge panoramic view of Urithiru. I really want to get the scope of how freaking large it is. A sketch by Shallan of Syl and Kaladin, with Pattern monkeying around in the background. And, finally, the scene of Kaladin and Shallan together in chasms, preferably while running away from the chasmfiend or while huddling in that cave during the highstorm.

"Hey, up there? Anyone? We're down here, and we're making bad puns. Please save us from ourselves!"

Well, it's obvious what happened. Sadeas was walking through the warcamps when the Everstorm arrived. Seeking shelter, he ran into a group of parshmen that were just hanging out. These parshmen, however, were good friends of our dear buddy Rlain. Agreeing to give the Brightlord some room in the basement they were going to hide in, the parshmen decided to get back at Sadeas for their friend. After brutally murdering Sadeas by using very large rocks, the parshmen decided to hide the Blade somewhere no one would find it... So, braving the highstorm, they went out to look for their friend Rlain. Unfortunately, they were swept away by the wind, and the Blade flew away out of reach... ...Only to land in the hands of an aimless bridgeman: Skar. Skar was elated at catching the Shardblade. However, at that second, he was transported to Urithiru. Once there, he was sent out with one of the scouting teams. Afraid that someone would want to mug him in the hall and take it, Skar threw it into a nearby flowerpot. Eventually, he will come and get it, turning out to be the villain of book five.

They may know about Tien's death, but losing a child is a huge emotional loss. Fingers start getting pointed, and blame becomes a very large issue. Parents who have lost children are often bitter and depressed for years after the loss. It's a heartbreaking thing, as awful as losing a parent. This, combined with the fact that Kaladin told them he wasn't coming home and continuing his military career probably hurt Lirin in more ways than one. At first, Kaladin just signed up so that Tien would be safe and not alone. Lirin probably wished with all his heart that Kaladin would come home after this, but he chose to stay with the army. Not only has Lirin lost Tien, he's also lost Kal, in a way. His son will no longer be the surgeon that Lirin wanted him to be so much. Fighting with Roshone over keeping the spheres no longer has a purpose. The struggle to ensure that Kaladin would go to Kharbranth was all for nothing. That sort of thing leaves a man very bitter and angry, even. Now, will Lirin hate Kaladin? I don't think so. He's still his father, and he loved both his children. But he could be resentful of Kaladin.

It'll be interesting to see how Laral reacts to Kaladin's homecoming. I'm guessing that getting married to a angry and vindictive old geezer is not the best way to go. I actually feel rather sorry for her; she's under the pressure to conform to lighteyed standards, and that means leaving Kaladin. And getting married at the tender age of sixteen. I'm guessing she'll be neutral or happy to see Kaladin. As for Kaladin's parents, I'm expecting anger from Lirin and love from Hesina. Both of them would be crushed to hear of Tien's death, but I think Lirin would be more bitter about it than Hesina. Kal was Lirin's only assistant and his great pride and joy. Learning that Kaladin is going to become a soldier - the very antithesis of what he wanted for Kaladin - probably broke his heart. Hesina, however, made sure that she let Kaladin know that she supported him in whatever he chose. Either way, it will be a very emotional time.

Good point, Feather. I was just trying to point out that just because Renarin doesn't express interest in women doesn't mean that he's homosexual. It doesn't mean that he's heterosexual either. It just seemed that people were pointing to his spren being male as a sign of being gay, when I saw it as a sign of being whatever. To me, it doesn't really matter what his sexual preferences are. I was just trying to provide contrast. If I offended anyone, sorry.

If we're going for animation like Avatar: The Last Airbender, Legend of Korra, or Hayao Miyazaki and the rest of the Studio Ghibli films, then I wholeheartedly approve. The animation is beautiful, the voice acting is superb (of course, your opinion may vary on that one) and they manage to do a great job with special effects (Princess Mononoke is famous for the seamless CGI effects that it has... Avatar, not so much). It would require less money, time, and hassle working with trying to get the right actor. Live action is a very hard endeavor for these books, because of all the ridiculous amounts of money you have to spend. Like Inkthinker said, Shardplate sets alone would drive the budget through the roof. Combine the budget for all of the Lord of the Rings movies and Avatar (the one with the blue aliens), and you have a big enough budget for one movie. This is totaling up prosthetics for Parshendi (similar to Uruk-Hai and Orc prosthetics), props, costumes, sets, and most expensively, CGI. Avatar had a massive budget because of all the CGI it had to do to make Pandora look foreign. Think about how alien Roshar looks. It's incredibly different from our world. CGI is cheaper these days, but you have to create the entire world of the Stormlight Archive. Live Action TV wouldn't even come close to having a budget like this. And in shows like Merlin and Once Upon a Time, where there is a ton of CGI involved, it looks awful. That's the budget a regular TV show has to work with. It ain't happening. Okay, okay, rant over.

Let's see. I called the Stormfather being a Splinter of Honor... Except he's not, more like his spren. But he's still a part of him, so that should work, right? I also called Syl coming back, Nightblood being at the end of the book, and that Kaladin killed Helaran.

Hilariously enough, I was going to suggest that. However, I don't think Renarin is gay, mainly because there's just so little to go off of on him. He's never seen really interacting with any woman except Shallan, and that was maybe five pages at most. Women describe him as "weird and creepy" but one doesn't have to be homosexual for that. I know plenty of guys who are creepy and completely straight.The same gender spren thing reminded me of the daemons from His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman. In an interview, a person asked him if a person with a daemon the same gender as them was an indication of homosexuality, and he said "Oh, sure. Let's go with that." EDIT: Feather, I'm calling upon your Renarin Quote summoning skills. Is there anything in the books that mentions him in a relationship at all? I don't think there's anything besides the things I mentioned.

Adolin turning to the Dark Side really depends on how he deals with Sadeas' death later on. He could feel guilty enough about it to come clean to Dalinar. He could feel guilty enough to not come clean, but decides to never do something like that again. Or, he could rationalize and say that it was for the greater good, he was justified, Sadeas would do more harm than good alive, etc. This, as has been mentioned already, could be enough to turn him into a Radiant. It'll be interesting to see. As to if you could be evil and a radiant, probably. However, I think most spren would rather die than take it that far. Syl certainly would. Alakavish could have legitimately thought he was doing the right thing, so his spren could have stuck with him. On that note, Nohadon mourns that "Alas, not all spren are as discerning as Honorspren." Apparently, the Windrunners were really solid good guys.

I consider this unlikely. Shallan's father has been keeping this secret away from everyone, including his own sons. Often, when we are in pain and suffering from someone else, we tend to project the blame onto something. Shallan was untouched by her father for all of her life, while Malise had to deal with arguments, beatings, and basically domestic abuse every single day. She easily could have become bitter towards Shallan for being relatively safe. She's saying that she deserves it because everyone else is abused, broken, and has to deal with her father's temper, except sweet little Shallan.

Haha, what I meant to say is that it's impulsive, even for our crazy Adolin. Even though he usually runs into the fray screaming at the top of his lungs, he usually doesn't do something like this. He's been holding himself back from killing Sadeas for two books now. Suddenly breaking at a time of relatively little stress is unexpected. Impulsive, even.

"You wish to become fire, do you not?" "I am a stick!" "Technically, you are a collection of atoms and molecules with the right combination of oxygen, carbon, and other organic matter to form a stick." "I... am a stick?" "That may be your reasoning, but logic dictates that you could have become a tree, or a shrub, or even defecation matter instead of a stick. The fact that you are a stick is a random happenstance." "... I am a stick." "Again, correct, but you could have been many other things than a stick. Compared to those minute differences in molecular structure and form, it is not unreasonable to presume that you could have become a piece of wood meant for burning. Do you not desire to become something different that what you are? To become a piece of wood for burning?" "...Maybe." "Indeed. To be a piece of wood for burning is noble. You, as a stick, could burn. You could be different from the other sticks out there. This difference is not nearly as large as you think. No change of molecules or atoms would take place. You would be the same stick as you are now, except that you are now meant to burn. To be a part of a noble calling." "... I am for burning!" "Very good."

Hoid is most probably an allomancer, as he put something in his drink when meeting with Shallan's father. Brandon confirmed that it was something that most humans would not want to drink but that helps Hoid. I'm guessing bronze to sense Shallan's Lightweaving. Brandon has already confirmed (I think) that Allomantic bronze is able to sense multiple types of investiture, not just allomancy. As for the other stuff, I think it's already been covered. Welcome to the forums!

Was killing Sadeas a really good thing? Absolutely. Sadeas would have just caused more problems, even if nobody believed his whole "Dalinar had a Parshendi in his personal guard, so obviously he rigged the entire thing," spiel. It's a distraction from what needs to be done, it's a potential hazard, and it's a headache Dalinar doesn't need. But was it the right thing to do? For Adolin, I don't think so. For Jasnah, maybe. For others, absolutely. The main problem I had with Adolin killing Sadeas was not the fact that he killed him, but how he did it. It was shockingly wrong for his character. Adolin has always been extremely straightforward with everything, from emotions to killing on the battlefield. To kill Sadeas - an essentially unarmed middle aged man who, even with Adolin in his condition, was on the losing side of the battle - goes against everything he is. It's murder, straight up. Not only does it clash against Adolin's character, it's also brash and impulsive. Adolin just snaps and goes crazy. Sure, Sadeas had been taunting him all throughout the book, and he was a major nuisance to Dalinar, but Adolin always managed to hold his self control. The fact that he snaps here makes me very worried for him. Either Adolin is shocked with himself and vows to keep better control of his emotions, or he becomes weaker and more susceptible to this kind of thing. Eventually, someone's going to find out, fingers are going to be pointed, and words will be spoken. Ialai might even decide to go after Adolin himself. Will Adolin snap again and kill more people this way? I certainly hope not.

Yeah, shipping a spren and a human is a little weird. Not that it couldn't happen, of course, but I just don't see it happening. Syl and Kaladin seem to just be in a Platonic Life-Partner relationship. Yes, they may care about each other a lot, but that doesn't mean automatically that they're romantically inclined. Also, there's definitely chemistry going on between Kaladin and Shallan. He compares her to Tien. She describes him in very flattering terms (natural rock formation, rugged soldier build, that passion, etc). He smiles in a depressive moment of his life (the Weeping) when he realizes that he's wearing the same boots Shallan stole from him. It is stated several times in both tWoK and WoR that Tien was the only one who could make him smile during the Weeping. Then, there's the whole clinging, bickering like an old married couple, Shallan begging Kaladin not to leave her alone, giving him her Shardblade... Need I go on?

I interpreted it differently. Syl probably was dead. She said as much when Kaladin asked her about it. What probably happened is the second that Kaladin decided to go back for Elhokar, Syl started to come back to life. She was fully restored and made whole when Kaladin spoke the Third Ideal. As for Pattern, he probably died in the interim between Shallan killing her mother and her going to Kharbranth. Does anyone remember the first time she heard the Cryptic's voice? I swear it was after she went to the alley with Jasnah and nearly summoned her Shardblade. That action may have started to bring Pattern back to life.

Oh man, that first cover. The pose looked awkward, the face was wacky, and that bandanna was weird. The final version was much better. I can now say that I am attracted to the Kaladin on the cover. Like, really attracted.

I really want this ship to happen, but at the same time, I'm very sad for Adolin. The poor guy has mentioned several times (to Kaladin, no less!) that he really wants to keep Shallan and get into a serious relationship. I just don't see it happening, though... EDIT: The time where I really got hooked was the entire scene in the chasms. All of it. And then, during the Weeping, when Kaladin is walking around and smiles because he's wearing the boots that Shallan stole from him. D'awww...

Roshone trying to imprison Kaladin? I give him two seconds to try, then five seconds to run once Kaladin glows it up. Roshone's gonna have a fun time with Kaladin. As for Laral, I'm curious to see where it will go. I'm much more interested in the reunion with Kaladin's parents, though... It could either be really sweet or really sad or both. In which case my eyes will blow up.

I never saw Shallan as being outright manipulative of Adolin. In truth, most girls when flirting with boys do the exact same thing that Shallan does: they put on a mask of seduction and allure to keep the boy interested. Shallan is trying desperately to get him attracted to her, and she does seem to like him: comments on handsomeness, talks about how nice he is to Kaladin, etc. However, Shallan's relationship with Adolin has always been on shaky ground, in my mind. To Shallan, the number one priority of marrying Adolin is not for love, it's for protecting her house and her brothers. Entering into a relationship with that priority is dangerous and frankly, unhealthy to both partners. Shallan never seems to grow attracted to Adolin for any reason other than his looks and charm. And, as many people have proved, looks and charm just won't cut it if you want to have a deep healthy relationship. As for Shallan treating Kaladin as a jerk, remember how they first met. Yes, Shallan did demand Kaladin's boots for kicks, but Kaladin also says some pretty mean and mocking things towards her. It's much less of a "treating him like crap" so much as a mutual snark fest between them. The second time they meet, same thing: rudeness towards Shallan, retaliation, snarking. And then, there's the whole stretch in the chasms. Shallan drops the innocent and demure Brightlady act awful fast around Kaladin. In fact, she reveals her true self rather quickly around him, as evidenced by the snarking. But not only does she do this, she also confides in Kaladin about her past. That is something that I just don't think she would do with Adolin. She doesn't interrupt Kaladin when he tells her his backstory. They listen to each other and learn from each other's experience. Now, who knows how this whole thing will work out? But, most importantly, I think the love triangle or however Brandon decides to resolve it, will be just fine. Think about the last few chapters of Words of Radiance. Shallan and Kaladin are both under high pressure and don't even think about each other. That pressure is not going to back down for a while. One of the main protests about love triangles that I have heard is that the characters spend way too much time thinking about it in situations where they should be focusing on their job. If the last few chapters of WoR are anything to go by, then the triangle should be just fine.

Aw man. Well, something has to happen to Kaladin on the way to Hearthstone...

Kaladin would have a cow if he came to America. So much fast food around. In fact, when he's talking about how gross a chouta is, I instantly thought of it as an anti-fast food argument. Swap "Soulcast grain" for grease, and you essentially have the same argument. Kaladin, you health nut, you!