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Several people have mentioned the important reveal that many (most?) of the parshmen have taken on non-voidish forms. I'll quote the two that phrased it best.
39 minutes ago, WhiteLeeopard said:Voidbringers going to kholinar. Except they aren't voidbringers, they are parshendi, hmmmm, interesting. Do you have the right to fight them if they are just slaves throwing off their shackles, no evilness involved?
13 minutes ago, redbishop said:I wonder if there is a limited number of voidspren to go around, or if maybe having non-voidspren as the majority will make people feel conflicted at first. Red-eyed monsters that summon storms to destroy your house are pretty easy to exterminate without having to really hate them - even Lirin gets that. People that are suddenly sapient and just want to get away and survive? Way harder to kill out of hand, and a better setup for Phase 2.
From a storytelling point-of-view, Brandon hinted that this was coming. In a reddit comment a while back, he said:
QuoteSome of the most controversial (and in some cases straight up racist) pieces of storytelling done in the modern era were done by well-meaning, but at the same time oblivious, white people trying to tackle the topic.[...] So writing a series where racism and class-ism are major themes--and an entire minority population has not only been enslaved, but had their cultures stripped away and their souls partially stunted, preventing them from thinking--is a dangerous thing. It's entire possible that I'll stumble on this, and make a big offensive, embarrassing mess.
So let's just say it's something I'm watching very carefully.
The conflict with the listeners could never have been as simple as our heroes assumed: "Suddenly our slaves have all been suborned by Odium! We humans have to kill or save them!" I for one am glad to see the complications appearing early. I was surprised when all of the parshmen, even the ones indoors, transformed with the coming of the Everstorm, and I worried that this wholesale conversion to voidforms would short-circuit the in-world ethical discussion. It appears, though, that the Everstorm didn't force a particular form on any of the listeners, it just unlocked whatever was done to them that prevented them from bonding new spren. (Does this give us any hint as to what it was? I still presume it was Melishi, as most have guessed.)
1 hour ago, Stark said:Syl has to go under or around doors, not through them, requiring space. Even intangible she must respect the physical constraints of matter? Or is it the cognitive concept of a door/wall keeping things out that she must respect?
This was a surprise to me. I also wonder if it's true of all spren.
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I remember seeing a WoB (from the past year, I'm pretty confident), in which he talked about the dangers of stereotypes. He discussed the line between a respectful reference and a tired cliche, using the example of Herdazians having large families and a culture of hospitality like Hispanic families are known for. In the same section he talked about the issues of slavery with parshmen and listeners, and the danger of addressing the topic of slavery in a useful way.
I thought it was on Reddit, but couldn't find it in Pagerunner's compilation. I also looked through the Writing Excuses transcripts, thinking it might have been there, but didn't find it.
Does anyone else remember this WoB?
Edit: Found it! (link) @Pagerunner, is there a preferred method for submitting missed reddit comments to your compilation?
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3 hours ago, JoyBlu said:
Seriously? Blushing? A love triangle between Adolin, Shallan, and Renarin? I've been rereading WoR and seen/noticed a few other times where this is being set up. I wonder how much they have been "practicing" their skills together
Great thoughts for most of the chapter. This part, though, doesn't seem likely at all too me. As I read it, the blush was for being startled, not for anything about Renarin. Shallan still thinks he's weird and creepy.
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27 minutes ago, SilverTiger said:
There is no shardpool on Ashyn,
We don't know this, and I think it's unlikely to be true. Khriss mentions the "famous floating cities" in her essay in AU. For the cities to be famous, worldhoppers most visit regularly, and for that there must be a stable perpendicularity.
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Great work! I'm super impressed on how thorough this is.
For the Everstorm timing, it seems to me that things would be easier if you abandoned the assumption that the storm is a straight line north-south, traveling across the continent. Portions of Roshar are far enough south that it doesn't make sense to assume a constant angular progress by longitude. What if, for example, the storm is traveling on a great circle that would take it through the northern hemisphere on the opposite side of the planet? Honestly I'm having trouble visualizing it, myself. I had some quibbles about the local time assignments, but I need to go back and re-read those sections before I am confident enough to comment on those.
18 hours ago, DiamondMind said:Unless you've cracked the highstorm pattern already? I wouldn't put it past this forum
I'm pretty sure we have confirmation from Brandon that the regular highstorm pattern is much more complex than simple periodicity. I'll try to find that quote.
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16 hours ago, heroofpages said:
Now we just need to estimate the volume.
Using the numbers so far, the total volume of the structure is very close to 1/3 of a cubic kilometer. More meaningfully, we can guess at the usable area, comparable to the square footage of a house. If the entirety of Urithiru (on all levels) was open space, we'd have 62 square km (24 square miles). That's almost exactly the land area of Manhattan. Clearly there are walls taking up some portion of that space, so depending on how much of the tower you think is rock vs. usable space, you could guess that our heroes have access to anywhere from 1/5th to 2/3rds of that area.
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@Extesian is right. Just to be clear: there is no way to make these cities work without invoking either magic or far-future sci-fi tech that allows large-scale manipulation of gravity. Given what we've seen of the setting so far, it's got to be magic. (That includes both the ability of the cities to float in the first place, and the local gravity they exhibit that keeps everyone from falling off the upside down half.)
On 9/13/2017 at 1:39 PM, SilverTiger said:However, a passing mention of the danger of the diseases in the reading indicates that a disease-granted power may have been the cause.
I agree. The implication is that a powerful "Incubation" spread epidemically their the population and the destruction was a result of all those people with an as-yet-unspecified ability.
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3 hours ago, redbishop said:
- Do your calculations for required thicknesses account for 0.7g surface gravity?
- In a similar line of thought, is 5.5m the average, or a set number?
Good questions! The height value is intended as an average, but I think it is probably pretty uniform for the purposes of this discussion. Adolin describes his enormous chamber as being four stories high, which makes me think that within each tier there is some communication between levels (vaulted ceilings, etc.) but the levels themselves are more-or-less consistent.
So, here's the thing about material strength. I'm not an engineer. I spent way too long this afternoon trying to research tunnel strength in stone mines, pillar stress, and engineering constraints of stone. I can share my calculations if you care about the details, but the upshot is that allowing for ideal design (think perfect arches and flying buttresses) and using a very strong stone (like granite), in Roshar's 0.7g gravity the building could be self-supporting for at least 2 km of vertical height, possibly more than double that. So we aren't even close to maxing out the foundation.
The thickness of the floors becomes important for two things. The less demanding task is supporting the contents of all the rooms and tunnels. That's no big deal with the right design, and the original 4.5m level+ceiling guess would easily cut it. The bigger issue is transferring loads and forces between pillars and walls that aren't precisely aligned between levels. For that, thickness matters, and I would like to go with at least 5m for that. However, this is the part where I don't have a great grasp of the forces involved, so I'm ready for an engineer or stonemason to jump in and correct my guesses with their expert knowledge.
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The consensus seems to be that each level+ceiling should be more than 4.5 meters. I've upped it to 5.5, which rounds us out nicely at 1km high.
I agree that the terraces should be wider to accommodate more garden area. For some reason I second-guessed myself on there being gardens on every tier, but that is how it is described. Does 50m per tier sound reasonable? More?
Several of you commented on the shape. As far as symmetry, yes, Urithiru is sheer on the eastern side. If viewed from the north or south, you would only see half of the presented silhouette. The shape I drew should match what you would see if you were looking from the west, which I believe is where the Oathgates are located. I'm not entirely sure how the mountain fits into things, though. Initially I was imagining the city up against the mountain, with more uncarved cliffs abutting it. However, after compiling these quotes it sounds more like the city is alone on top of the peak.
I also think I've severely underestimated the size of the Oathgate platforms. Looking at the Battle of Narak map from WoR and reading the descriptions of the number of soldiers, I'm inclined to revise it up to at least 120m across, probably more. I'm tempted to go as high as 300m, mostly based on the map, but if you have 10 of those platforms arranged in a circle around a field the whole area is between 4 and 6 times larger than that each individual platform, depending on how closely they are spaced. I highly doubt the Oathgate entrance field is 2 km across. I think I will wait for more descriptions/art before I to try to pin that part down.
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EDIT: Updated with some suggested numbers from the thread
It is a little hard to grasp the scale of the tower city. Even Shallan can't capture it on the page! (To talk about that issue and whether it is driven by scale, psychology, or magic, see this thread.)
Here are all of the physical descriptions we have of Urithiru. (If I've missed something you consider important, include a quote and I'll add it to this post. My chapter 87 quote is incomplete at the moment.)
SpoilerWoR Interlude I-10 (Szeth)
SpoilerThe highest tower in the world, hidden in the tops of the mountains, was perfect for his contemplation. […]
He did not look up. He would not meet the gaze of the God of Gods. But it was good to be in the sunlight. There were no clouds here to bring the darkness. This place was above them all. Urithiru ruled even the clouds.
The massive tower was also empty; that was another reason he liked it. A hundred levels, built in ring shapes, each one beneath larger than the one above it to provide a sunlit balcony. The eastern side, however, was a sheer, flat edge that made the tower look from a distance as if that side had been sliced off by an enormous Shardblade. What a strange shape.
He sat on that edge, right at the top, feet swinging over a drop of a hundred massive stories and a plummet down the mountainside below. Glass sparkled on the smooth surface of the flat side there.
WoR Ch 86
SpoilerThe plateau everyone was crowding onto was relatively small, by the scale of the Shattered Plains—but it was still several hundred yards across. [...]
Beyond them spread the peaks of an unfamiliar mountain range. It was the same plateau, and here was in a ring with nine others. To Shallan’s left, an enormous ribbed tower—shaped like cups of increasingly smaller sizes stacked atop one another—broke the peaks. Urithiru.
WoR Ch 87 (Shallan)
SpoilerShallan stood at the front gates of Urithiru, looking up, trying to comprehend.
Inside, voices echoed in the grand hall and lights bobbed as people explored. [...]
The large stone field in front of the city bore very few rockbuds, and the ones that did grow were tiny, smaller than a fist. They would provide little wood for fires.
The field was ringed by ten columnar plateaus, with steps winding around their bases. The Oathgates. Beyond that extended the mountain range.
Crem did cover some of the steps here, and dripped over the sides of the open field. There wasn’t nearly as much as there had been on the Shattered Plains. Less rain must fall up here.
Shallan stepped up to one edge of the stone field. A sheer drop.
WoR Ch 89 (Dalinar)
SpoilerFor such an enormous tower, the roof was actually relatively small, and not that encrusted with crem. This high, less rain likely dropped during highstorms—and everyone knew crem was thicken in the east than in the west.
Storms, this place was high. His ears had popped several times while riding to the top, using the fabrial lift that Navani had discovered. She spoke of counterweights and conjoined gemstones, sounding awed by the technology of the ancients. All he knew was that her discovery had let him avoid climbing up some hundred flights of steps.
He stepped up to the edge and looked down. Below, each ring of the tower expanded out a little farther than the one above it. Shallan is right, he thought. They’re gardens. Each outer ring is dedicated to planting food. He did not know why the eastern face of the tower was straight and sheer, facing the Origin. No balconies along that side.
He leaned out. Distant, so far down it made him queasy, he picked out the ten pillars that held the Oathgates.
WoB (source)
SpoilerFLETCHERSHAIR
Why is Urithiru safe from the Everstorm?
BRANDON SANDERSON (PARAPHRASED)
It's on the east side of a mountain, and it might be high enough to be above the storm. So it's not SAFE, it's safER.
Oathbringer Ch 2 (Dalinar)
SpoilerAbove him rose the enormous tower city of Urithiru, a strikingly high structure built up against the mountains. Created from a sequence of ten ringlike tiers—each containing eighteen levels—the tower city was adorned with aqueducts, windows, and balconies like this one.
The bottom floor also had wide sections jutting out at the perimeter: large stone surfaces, each a plateau in its own right. They had stone railings at their edges, where the rock fell away into the depths of the chasms between mountain peaks. At first, these wide flat sections of stone had baffled them. But the furrows in the stone, and planter boxes on the inner edges, had revealed their purpose. Somehow, these were fields. Like the large spaces for gardens atop each tier of the tower, this area had been farmed, despite the cold. One of these fields extended below this balcony, two levels down.
Dalinar strode up to the edge of the balcony and rested his hands on the smooth stone retaining wall.
Oathbringer Ch 2 (Adolin)
SpoilerThey were deep within the tower, for all the fact that this cavern was as large as a small town.[…] Oil lamps on the ground did little to push back the darkness of the enormous room, which had a ceiling that went up four stories.[…]
“Section two,” Adolin said, rapping the knuckles of his left hand against the wagon. “Taverns are being set up along the central corridor with the lifts, six crossroads inward. My aunt expressly told your highlords this.”
Oathbringer Ch 4 (Dalinar)
SpoilerHe passed Navani—who sat at the writing desk working on her memoirs again—and stepped onto his balcony, which hung straight out over the cliffs beneath Urithiru. […]
The Everstorm appeared in the distance, its black clouds lit from within by crackling red lightning. It was low enough in the sky that—fortunately—its top wouldn’t reach Urithiru. It surged like a cavalry, trampling the calm, ordinary clouds below.
Dalinar forced himself to watch that wave of darkness flow around Urithiru’s plateau. Soon it seemed as if their lonely tower were a lighthouse looking over a dark, deadly sea. [...]
Oathbringer ch 4 (Dalinar)
SpoilerDalinar was surprisingly nervous as, several hours later, he rode one of Urithiru’s strange fabrial lifts toward the roof of the tower. The lift resembled a balcony, one of many that lined a vast open shaft in the middle of Urithiru—a columnar space as wide as a ballroom, which stretched up from the first floor to the last one.
The tiers of the city, despite looking circular from the front, were actually more half-circles, with the flat sides facing east. The edges of the lower levels melded into the mountains to either side, but the very center was open to the east. The rooms up against that flat side had windows there, providing a view toward the Origin.
And here, in this central shaft, those windows made up one wall. A pure, single unbroken pane of glass hundreds of feet tall. In the day, that lit the shaft with brilliant sunlight. Now, it was dark with the gloom of night.
The balcony crawled steadily along a vertical trench in the wall
The balcony ground its inexorable way toward the top of the tower. Only a handful of the dozens of lifts worked; back when Urithiru flourished, they all would have been going at once. They passed level after level of unexplored space, which bothered Dalinar. Making this his fortress was like camping in an unknown land.
Although each tier was smaller than the one below it, this roof was still over a hundred yards wide.
Oathbringer Ch 8 (Shallan)
SpoilerA simple landscape; she should be able to draw a simple, calming landscape. She sat on the edge of one of the ten Oathgate platforms, which rose ten feet higher than the main plateau. […]
The city dominated her view. It stretched impossibly high, and she struggled to contain the enormous tower on the page. […]
If she locked it down into a sketch, would she finally be able to grasp its incredible size? She couldn’t get an angle from which to view the entire tower, so she kept fixating on the little things. The balconies, the shapes of the fields, the cavernous openings—maws to engulf, consume, overwhelm.
Oathbringer Ch 15
QuoteRadiant stood in what felt like a very stiff pose, Blade held before herself in two hands. She’d only scraped Pattern on the ceiling two or three times; fortunately, most of the rooms in Urithiru had high ceilings.
Oathbringer Ch 18 (Shallan)
SpoilerMost rooms on the outside had these small balconies, but hers on the second level was particularly advantageous. It had steps down to the field below. Covered in furrows for water and ridges for planting rockbuds, the field also had boxes at the edges for growing tubers or ornamental plants. Each tier of the city had a similar one, with eighteen levels inside separating them.
Summary:
- There are 10 tiers of 18 levels each, seemingly carved into the mountain.
- Each level is larger than the one above it, at least by the width of a balcony.
- The whole thing looks like
- The roof of the top level is ~100 yards across.
- The lowest level has a large plateau in front with the 10 oathgate platforms
- The oathgate platforms are raised 10 feet over surroundings, and are large enough to hold three armies worth of Everstorm survivors
- The lowest level also has large gardens/farms surrounding it.
Assumptions: We have to make a lot of these. I'll update them as we get more information, or as others make convincing arguments, but for now let's go with:
- A Rosharan yard is close to 1 meter.
- Each balcony is 1.5 meters wide.
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Each new tier extends
20m50m past the bottom of the one above, to accommodate gardens. -
Each floor is
4.5m5.5m high, including the thickness of stone that supports the floor above. -
20,000 people crowded onto the oathgate plateau at the end of WoR. (Does someone have a better number for this?) They pack closely but don't stab each other, about ~4 people/sq meter.
This gives us an 80 meter diameter platform. The plateau is described as several hundred yards across, so we'll assume 300m for now.
Conclusions: Using these numbers, we get a tower that is 1.5km wide at the base, and 1km high. Here's how that looks when compared to tall buildings on Earth (modified from this image on Wikipedia). A circular arrangement of ten 300m Oathgate platforms has an inner diameter of ^700m, and an outer diameter >1300m.
To my mind, these are probably underestimates. As has been mentioned, Burj Khalifa is the tallest building on earth at 830 meters, and it has 160 floors to Urithiru's 180. At 4.5m per level+ceiling, I don't believe that our assumed thickness of stone has the structural integrity to hold up that massive a structure when it is filled with tunnels and cavernous spaces. Yes, surges could augment that strength, but I'm skeptical of a fabrial that would function to keep the city standing for millenia. I think we need to add more thickness to these load-bearing floors, and probably more width to the tiers. But before I modify the above assumptions, I'd like to see what the rest of you think.EDIT: Here is a perspective view of the tower and the oathgate complex. There is some disagreement in the thread about the arrangement of oathgates relative to the city, so I've included three versions here. Please comment to make your case for the arrangement you think is correct (one of these, or something different).
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Previous images:
SpoilerFirst estimate:
Overhead view:
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I'm one who thinks this is a magical effect. Shallan has an incredible ability to reproduce what she sees, with or without a taking a Memory first. She has drawn images of Shadesmar itself so I think it can't be cognitive realm slippage.
The chapter 9 title references the hallway where the striations in the truck looked like threads on a screw, and Shallan takes a conscious Memory of it to draw later. I think this is setting up for scene where she is unable to sketch from that Memory, leading to more clues about the city.
The alternative explanation I would accept is that Shallan is distraught after speaking her truths and can't draw anything. But that seems unlikely to me since we have seen her messed up before, and she took refuge in her art then.
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Mraize says Tezim is likely to be either nonhuman or a world hopper (or both). I've been leaning towards world hopper, possibly kandra, but if he's sincere in his claim about the Almighty that makes me think Tezim might be local. So far we've only seen the Sleepless as observers, but do you think one of them might be acting as a world leader in this way?
Aside: I'm pretty sure when Mraize says "The old fool sows chaos..." earlier in that quote he's referring to Taravangian, not to Restares.
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I was having trouble remembering where "watcher at the rim" came from. It's part of this quote from the Starfalls vision (with the midnight essence).
Quote“Every pasture needs three things,” the woman said, voice changing, as if she were quoting from memory. “Flocks to grow, herdsmen to tend, and watchers at the rim. We of Alethela are those watchers—the warriors who protect and fight. We maintain the terrible arts of killing, then pass them on to others when the Desolation comes.”
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Lots of new and fascinating magical interactions to speculate about. The one that disturbs me most is Shallan's inability to draw Urithiru. Ominous!
Also, I love that she called Kal "Brightlord Brooding-Eyes"
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On 9/8/2017 at 10:34 PM, Pagerunner said:
The Surges have changed drastically. Awakening! Time! Stasis! (Wait, that seems like time.) Energy! (That's a little broad, and seems like more of an element anyways.) I think I like how the concept of Surges have been refined, so they're more connected to specific forces, whether real or imagined.
Unfortunately for the glyph translation effort, I don't think we can use those names to decipher the glyphs.
Agreed, though I did notice that the surge for movement is named Rosh. I'm pretty convinced that is part of the decision to name the place Roshar.
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The first of Brandon's annotations for The Way of Kings just went up on his website. The introduction says that he only wrote annotations up through chapter 12, but I'm sure there will be plenty of interesting things to learn. For example, the first post discusses the endsheets, including some early versions of the surgebinding chart which have marked differences from the final chart we ended up with. I never realized that the front endsheet was supposed to be a mural made of stones and gems.
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Let's talk about spheres. (This post assumes you've read chapters 4 and 5 of the Oathbringer preview.)
From the chasm scene in WoR, we know that spheres recharge during highstorms, specifically at the moment when the Stormfather appears with his odd timelessness. But we just saw the Stormfather appear like that at the wedding, and he doesn't bring stormlight so it isn't him causing the recharge. The evidence points to sphere infusion being a specific effect of Honor's perpendicularity, which we have good reason to think travels with the highstorm.
In addition, we have confirmation now that the Everstorm doesn't charge spheres with either stormlight or voidlight. We can assume then that the Everstorm does not carry a perpendicularity with it. So now I have three questions:
- If you took a sphere to/through Cultivation's perpendicularity in the Horneater peaks, would it infuse? If so, would it contain regular stormlight or a different flavor of investiture? i.e. Does Cultivation's investiture manifest as stormlight?
- How confident are we that Gavilar's sphere contained investiture from Odium? The first Szeth interlude in WoK features a (very unreliable) tavern tale in which a similar sphere is stolen from the Nightwatcher. For the record, I still think it's 98% likely to be from Odium, but I want to float alternatives for discussion.
- Where did Gavilar's "voidlight" come from? Until shown evidence otherwise, I'm going to believe that Rayse doesn't have a perpendicularity on Roshar. But then we need an avenue to get his investiture into a sphere.
Let's pull some hints together, getting us to my current theory:
- We've seen surgebinders infuse things (including gems) with the stormlight they held inside them.
- We've seen Lift get stormlight from a route other than inhaling. We also know from WoB that Honor powered the Heralds directly, without them needing to inhale stormlight.
- We've seen magically enhanced strength and speed from people feeling the Thrill (i.e. influenced by an Unmade), which mirrors some of the passive effects of holding stormlight.
I propose that someone feeling the Thrill (or accessing another of the Unmade's powers) could learn to take that Odious investiture and infuse it into something else, and that is how Gavilar did it.
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10 hours ago, Hafrigado said:
I was running out of unreasonable causes of Kaladin's depression (I didn't think that was possible).
What about the time he was sad because chouta tasted good?
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6 hours ago, Musica said:
is it possible Shallan said and done nothing in her few appearances because SHE WASN'T ACTUALLY THERE?? Could she have sent an illusion of herself so that nobody would be looking for her while actually meeting with the Ghostblood/spying on someone/studying???
Glad I wasn't the only person to think this! I can't quite say I think it's true, because that would be a lot of stormlight to use when there is almost none to be found. But as fun, longshot speculation goes, I approve!
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2 hours ago, kari-no-sugata said:
I'm having severe Shallan withdrawal symptoms here. I can't imagine her quietly hanging out in the background is by accident though, so I can't help but wonder what's going on in Shallan-land.
I am in full agreement that Shallan's silence is intentional and mysterious, a way for Brandon to make us suspicious. Then I read this comment by @sooyangi
2 hours ago, sooyangi said:I don't think she was there at the wedding. ...Maybe she's out exploring via a disguise?
While unlikely given how little stormlight is available, what if the Shallan we've seen so far is actually a lightweaving attached to Pattern? It would explain her silences. If so, what is she actually off doing?
Quote“Was that real?” he whispered.
Yes, the Stormfather said. The enemy rides this storm. He’s aware of you, Dalinar.
This is concerning. Is it true of all Radiants or is Dalinar special? Kaladin hid underground, but didn't mention being noticed.
Finally, while this conversation has been great fun, carefully reading last week's thread and trying to meaningfully contribute to the discussion has been a huge time sink for me, and I am sorry to say that I will not be able to keep this up. I'll be skimming the discussion threads and commenting where I can for the rest of the preview chapters, but I won't be nearly as active. Props to all those who keep the conversation going!
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Two minor thoughts after rereading the Tower scenes from WoK:
Regarding squires, the first evidence for squire abilities comes immediately after Kaladin swears his second ideal. Teft watches Kaladin land on the other side of the chasm, and notices "his wounded arm didn't seem to hurt as much as it should." That's a pretty clear indication of how soon a KR can empower squires, at least with passive abilities like healing.
Dalinar's apparent habit of acquiring talented people and paying the price they name adds extra dimensions to the way he buys the bridgemen from Sadeas with Oathbringer. The exchanges are framed differently, especially in how Dalinar thinks of them (his purchase of Kaladin and company being explicitly made in gratitude, rather than in expectation of further service) but the parallels are unavoidable. I'm interested in reanalyzing Dalinar's conscious and subconscious motivations in light of what we'll learn from the flashbacks.
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16 minutes ago, Agent34 said:
Could the one yelling to unite them be Tanavast in the vision?
I considered that, but I don't think so. The corresponding vision in WoK (ch 75) ends after the Everstorm blows through, with Honor calmly saying he is dead. There's no yelling or "unite them" instructions while the storm is destroying things. When Honor is present in the vision he seems to speak normally, and though his disembodied voice is described as booming, it isn't shown in all caps.
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I read the vision again, and noticed an oddity that hasn't been mentioned yet. Both during and after the vision, the Stormfather is using his inside voice (depicted with italics), but the last thing before the vision shatters is a line from someone speaking in all caps.
QuoteThe Stormfather rumbled. It is time to go.
“No,” Dalinar said, standing atop the rubble. “Leave me.”
But—
“Let me feel it!”
The wave of destruction struck, [...] he saw something.
A golden light, brilliant yet terrible. Standing before it, a dark figure in black Shardplate.
[...]
This was the enemy’s champion. And he was coming.
UNITE THEM. QUICKLY.
Dalinar gasped as the vision shattered.
I'm not sure whether the Stormfather interpreted Dalinar's demand "leave me" as "don't pull me out yet" or "go away." He didn't see the light or the figure, but we can't say for sure if that's because it came from another Shard or because he ducked out of the vision early. Either way, I don't think he suddenly decided to yell "UNITE THEM" with no context just as the vision ends. That was someone else.
To me, this is the best evidence for the theory proposed earlier in this thread that Cultivation inserted that "champion" sequence into the end of the vision.
(And just to reiterate, there is plenty of room for misinterpretation here. Dalinar is the one who assumes the figure is a champion, and the Stormfather identifies Odium and the Unmade from Dalinar's description since he couldn't see that part. I'm not sure what parts I trust yet, but I personally would be surprised if all of Dalinar's chapter one conclusions are correct.)
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So, thinking about squires...
We know that Windrunners had more squires than other orders, but most of the orders had some. We can only speculate which orders didn't have any (though I suspect the Bondsmiths for one). But the important question I have is whether the Lightweavers went in for squires? Because Kaladin isn't the only current radiant with a loyal following, or with a follower missing a body part. Shallan has her crew of former deserters, including a certain one-eyed gambler.
So will Gaz pull a Lopen and get his depth perception back?
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[OB] Dimensions of Urithiru
in Stormlight Archive
Posted
Thank you for that quote! I knew there was a description somewhere. If we assume 300 meters across, and 10 Oathgate platforms spaced evenly in a circle, the enclosed space is a minimum of 700 meters in diameter (measuring between the closest sides of opposing Oathgates), and the whole complex a minimum of 1300 meters in diameter. That requires the platforms to be barely separated from the ones adjacent to them. It scales up as you space them further apart.
:-) Half the point of these speculations is to map that rabbit hole!
Good points. I was thinking about the ceilings functioning as horizontal beams to transfer force between the pillars, but that is only necessary if a LOT of the structure is hollow, and is probably a poor design decision using rock. I agree that it is safe to assume that there is sufficient rock in place to support itself pyramidally.
In light of this I think we could safely revise our ceiling height back down a bit. I'll wait to do that until we have another description, though.