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Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 62 (Keeper of Forms) Alright, let’s see what this El dude is up to. Oh, not yet. Looks like we’re starting with Eshonai. So is warform achieved via painspren? I find it hard to believe that over the years of listeners going out into violent, deadly storms, not one has ended up attracting a painspren from injury on their way to change forms. This isn’t a form that should have stayed lost if it’s really painspren as the key. Still, painspren and warform are remarkably apt for one another. I appreciate the dilemma here with the Five asking about forming a government. How much of the dominant culture is it worth adopting? If you don’t meet them on their terms at all you will have to way to resist being taken advantage of, yet if you convert to their system completely you’ve already capitulated. It’s easy to see since we have examples of imperialism in our recent history to look to, but the listeners are at a distinct disadvantage in even recognizing the question. Void-corrupted Venli is a jerk sister. Hm, that reminds me that back in Rhythm of War we saw Eshonai being the dutiful daughter while Venli was busy with her “research,” which is opposite to how these flashbacks started. Is this point (perhapse later in this chapter, even) where that situation reversed? “Riddens of my life” is a sad metaphor. Partly for the violence it implies in the more energetic years, but partly just from the English translation bringing to mind associations like “be rid of” and “good riddance.” I can only presume/hope that the peaceful tapering rain at the trailing edge of a storm has more positive cultural significance. The irony here is painful. If we didn’t know that Venli’s motivations had already been compromised this would be a wholesome scene about two sisters trying to find a treatment option for their aging mother. Instead, it’s undercut by El and Venli’s subversion. I also think it’s interesting that the baseline listeners can’t even recognize the darker rhythms when they hear them. That doesn’t seem to be the case now.

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 61 (Oil and Water) Title: I presume this is about the stormlight/voidlight/lifelight that Navani is going to discover don’t mix well? Icons: Betab and Shash, associated with the essences of oil- and water-based liquids this may be the most straightforward one we’ve had yet. Epigraph: Why are we talking about sand now? It’s the sand itself that’s interesting so it’s not anything to do with cymatics. Presumably Venli was shown something by El, Sand from… Braize? Somewhere else offworld? It’s the main text not the undertext, so it’s her words. So, “corrupted” spren. Are they really Sja-Anat’s progeny? I would default to trusting Syl in this case to recognize what’s been done, but “corruption” has been an inaccurate term both in books and as explained by Brandon, so there are other possibilities. I’m especially curious, though, about whether the corruption took place before or after the spren were captured in the spanreed gems. That would make a big difference in what is possible to interfere with. I’m surprised that Kaladin didn’t try to deliver the spanreeds via Dabbid. It’s good that Syl can analyze them at least to some extent, but we already had the first part of the heist movie. You can’t leave us hanging before the tricky handoff scene! Yes, Kaladin, good plan. Let’s jump off a cliff and hope that our flying powers reactivate before we hit the bottom. I’m not sure why I didn’t think of something that brilliant, but at least you’ve identified a drawback: you would be gone on a mission and unable to help. Yes, that’s definitely the only thing wrong. Oh, Kal gets to use the spider man glove, or however we want to characterize it. Stick spanreed rubies all over it, to give enough power, and he’ll have the gaudiest personal floatation device ever. I’m excited to see this in action. Brandon just loves to put Kal in awkward situations, doesn’t he? Ooo, show off Elhokar’s blade to hurt Navani. That’s an effective ploy, and once again spren make it really hard to keep a poker face. Sorry, Navani. Raboniel is not fooled. Hm, shardblades can cut through the shield, not just in the “pass through it” sense, but removing chunks of the visible light. That’s unexpected and a cool interaction. Fortunately, it’s regenerating. Ah, Raboniel thinks it’s fascinating as well. I’m in good company. I thought she was living up to her Lady of Wishes reputation, but I’m inclined to believe her that she genuinely didn’t know the provenance of that Blade. Her reaction reads to me like frustration at finding an unexpected variable ruin her planned manipulations. So the Fused hear the screaming of dead blades, and some of them are insane enough to enjoy that? Eeew. Oh, the shield is regenerating glass, not a hardlight construct. All the better to soulcast things with… I am amused that the crystal pillar is therefore encased in glass just like the currency in use throughout Alethkar (and other nations, but presumably not all of them, even ignoring Shinovar). It’s like one of those giant checks that get delivered for publicity stunts. “Here is the biggest Broam in the world!” Oh, maybe not quite. It’s in a half-state, according to Navani. Neither glass nor air. Still, the resemblance remains. I’m uncomfortable with how much progress Navani is helping Raboniel to make. “Oh, just add a third ingredient that can bind them together.” I’m excited that this forced isolation means Navani will be acting as a scholar not just a patron. She’ll discover that she does in fact have a talent for these things beyond paying skilled people to do good work.

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Shallan’s Sketchbook Part V (Reachers) See image here. I’ve gotta say that this spren in particular does not match what I would have expected. It’s very a different appearance than I feel matches my mental image for Timbre. In fact, I don’t have a problem at all with the descriptions of Reachers working on the ships etc. It’s merely the association with the physical realm form that creates the disconnect for me. I do love the character designs though, both physiology and clothing. They definitely look like statuesque golems, idealized forms of people. The comment about their pupils dilating despite appearing as a single piece of worked bronze helps to convey that this is a life form that does not conform to our expectations from the physical realm. I do wonder whether Timbre has adopted a form closer to listener in appearance, or whether that is beyond her personal choice. Fashion Folio #2 (Envoyform Fashion) Image here. Every time I look at this picture I love it more. In contrast to the previous folio page, which I thought borrowed too much from human aesthetics, this one very gracefully highlights the carapace, the skin striations, the silhouette that all depart from the human norm. As the caption suggests, the fashion is very much supplementary to the body itself. And it’s delightful that we see Envoyform here, giving us an image of Venli’s current appearance. I admit that I was picturing her much stockier than this lithe figure, and I’ll have to reevaluate my mental image. I also wonder about the flowers and chains in her hair. EDIT: I went to link the entry on the previous folio page and realized that I didn’t actually write my thoughts about it. Here it is now: Fashion Folio #1 (Contemporary Singer Fashions) The image is here. I need to start by saying that I love the way that the background and the clothing and the carapace patterns complement one another. The whole thing is exceedingly artful. The singer forms are also great. My complaint is that the poses and composition of the piece play heavily into human gender dynamics, something that has to be learned from the dominant culture. The singers have a significantly de-emphasized gender dichotomy, their multimorphism based on the fluid nature of the forms they can adopt. I wish they had been posed in a way that didn’t lean into the “human gaze” so much.

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 60 (Essai) Epigraph: Oh look at that. Confirmation that the undertext is written by someone else. Presumably a human. Hello, Navani. Man, I have danced all around this thing. She's happy to see Rlain! But, because we can't have nice things, he's very much not happy to see Venli, if he even recognizes her. Also, a quick aside to remind everyone that "Mazish" sounds a whole lot like "Moash" so renaming him Vyre when he defected was stupid. This message brought to you by the local chapter of You Suck, Moash. We now return you to your regularly scheduled content that is actually relevant to the chapter. Direform. Are we in an RPG world now? *facepalm* What am I asking? Roshar was designed specifically to make anime swords a thing. I still think it's dumb to just use dire this way. Hahaha! "Szeth" vanished because the light weaving of him failed in the suppression field. This adds a grand new layer to his mystique. "Soft" and "warm" are not words I expect to be associated with cremstone, but you do you. Whatever you find comforting is fine. I like the etymology of essai. Neat that instead of staring someone down Regals will have a hum-off. Whoever attunes Destruction more convincingly wins and the other backs off. Is that really a voidspren in a cremling? Or did you just identify a Sleepless? Hm, further description doesn’t suggest connections to anywhere else, so I guess it could just be a run-of-the-mill voidspren. Seems unlikely, though. Yeah, Rlain isn’t making for a very good spy when people can actually talk to him. You’d think he’d be better at lying, but he didn’t really need that skill before since he was functionally invisible to start with. What are they doing with Dalinar's stuff? Mraize? I thought you were hiding out on the upper floors. What are you trying to pull here, and how much does Raboniel know about you and yours? Was it really the Ghostbloods who first delivered El to kick this whole thing off? If so, the Fused may be under the impression there is an alliance. I'm kind of looking forward to that inevitable betrayal if that's the case, though I doubt Raboniel will be at all taken in. Not that the Ghostbloods would have any qualms working with the Fused and their current order, but they are already trying to recruit Sja-Anat, and obviously have interests that don’t align with the Fused. Okay, so she doesn't know much about him yet, but he's making a move. I wonder what kind of light he’s giving her. Oh no! He's giving Raboniel a chicken, one that can presumably detect investiture. An Aviar-assisted Lady off Wishes will immediately figure out Timbre's secret. This is not good timing, Venli. WAIT Oh, no! Oh no! This is worse. I was totally wrong in that assumption. He gestured at his aviar not because it was the gift but so it would signal the others. The gift is Lift. This is very much worse! Hmm, and she was warned about Mraize. I do so love when two masterminds try to play each other. I hope at some point we learn who won this round. Also, it's been a while since we saw Iyatil. She's apparently still calling the shots. What's she been up to while Mraize has been doing things here at the tower? If we find out she’s been at Emul I’m going to be impressed. Words not accepted? Burn. Also, fascinating that Cultivation (or maybe the Nightwatcher?) is taking a hand in that gatekeeping. Usually the Stormfather is the one to rubber stamp these request forms or send them back. And yeah, Venli had a good idea of how much is left for her to internalize those words before they can be accepted. It's a lot. But she has the resolve now. Very nice turning point for the character.

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 59 (The Lattice of a Growing Crystal) Title: Growing, huh? I misread it as glowing at first glance. Icons: Not sure what Vev is doing, but Nale is there so I’m guessing Kaladin is in for a tough fight. Epigraph: I feel stupid for my comments on the last chapter’s epigraph. This one makes it obvious that I was right about this being Venli’s early research journal. Presumably from the title and subject, it’s her research into warform. Not sure how I didn’t make that connection earlier. It’s right there in the name. My problem in the last chapter was that “modern scientific theory” doesn’t sound like something listeners would develop in their apparently subsistence agrarian society. I shouldn’t have assumed that phrase ruled out listeners. Now that I know what’s going on with the book, though, I wonder even more about the adoption of the undertext approach to writing. Why did Venli incorporate this Alethi tradition, and possibly even Alethi writing? Is her use of Alethi a way to disguise things from other listeners? I don’t think I understand that piece of it yet. I like Kaladin’s nonlethal approach at this point. Oh, and he gets to do grappling hook tricks with his flight unavailable. That’s fun and cinematic. Go Kal! I’m a little surprised the singers he faces are culturally Azish. They certainly fight well enough. That was a fun chase scene, and I got to the end and realized I hadn’t said anything about it. Must have been engaging :-) Exhausted, power suppressed Kal up against Pursuer and Lady of Wishes seems like not a happy day. I’m a little surprised there aren’t any mooks there with them, though. Oh, and they expected Kal to come and prepared for him. That’s definitely a bad matchup. Well, Kaladin lost more quickly than I expected, but he had some good moves. And is this Leshwi coming to the rescue or someone else? Oh, it’s Syl’s disguise again. Good work, Syl. You even fooled me! She’s very confident that a Windrunner can’t hurt her if she’s not an immediate threat. That seems like it could be a miscalculation. But it also looks like she’s got some of the same theories about Windrunner resistance being due to proximity to Honor. The stick-him-to-the-floor trick is a good tactic against a teleporter, but it’s not sustainable with the mismatch in light resources. Locking him in a closet is an even better idea. Yup, it worked, and we got to have a classing leap through closing doors moment. Very nice. He broke the gem, but now he’s stuck without a good way to escape. And Raboniel is living up to her Lady of Wishes reputation. “Oh, don’t worry, it’s not poison. I’m just stabbing you for science.” Oh, the growing crystal of the title is not the one in the fabrial, just a metaphorical one that is growing in a predetermined natural way. And she just let him go, so she can study him later. Doesn’t even need to catch and cage him, she’s that confident/patient. Creepy.

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 58 (Spanreeds) Icons: Jez and Chach...a Windrunner stealing a ruby-powered fabrial. That fits. Epigraph: Modern scientific theory, huh? Thousands of years of tradition. Well, at least the undertext of Rhythm of War is authored by a human. And one working with Raboniel at that, which leaves Navani (duh) or one of her staff (unlikely). So much for my recent change in theory. Is there any reason to think that the main text and undertext would be written by different people? Raboniel, you turned off your plumbing fabrials. Not a smart move in a kilometer-high city complex, even if only the lowest floors are occupied. Kaladin locking the door with a magic broom should be humorous, but it’s immediately followed by a traumatic flashback. No jokes today. This heist just got more interesting. We’re not going to steal someone’s cell phone, we’re going to rob the regional communications hub. Syl and Kal can see the secretspren, and Syl knows that’s weird. Good, we have another advantage. Oh, unless the visibility effect makes Syl worse at hiding. That would not be advantageous. Good point, Syl. It is a heist movie! We’re going in through the air vents and everything! Oh, I guess that idea got rejected. Next up: impersonate the commanding officer. Yes, we’re going to hit all the tropes, aren’t we? Quality acting, Syl. Good work. Although it does occur to me to ask whether spren use the rhythms. That’s something that would immediately stand out to singers. Oh, and the air vents are go! As is the dangling from the ceiling trick! Brandon must have had a lot of fun outlining this sequence. Ah, and instead of exfil Kaladin gets to protect the spanreeds while racing for the next Macguffin (in this case the node that Raboniel is on her way to sabotage).

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 57 (Child of Odium) “All song and no crescendo” is one of the few idioms that really doesn’t work for me so far. Its parts don’t fit the role they’re given in that phrase, and it feels like it’s an attempt to port a familiar phrase into another culture by simple substitution. I’m gonna give this one a thumbs down. That’s uncomfortable how Eshonai is fitting into the blindspot humans have for their parsh slaves, but doing so with a feeling of exploration and without recognizing why that hole is there. Meeting this version of Dalinar is going to be interesting. This is far more philosophical than I expect from the Blackthorn. He’s not usually this self-reflective. Exactly when is this in Dalinar’s timeline? He’s obviously post-Evi, and I’m pretty positive he’s post-Nightwatcher, but I had in mind that he had returned to his former brashness at that point up until Elhokar’s death. Dalinar warning someone against Elhokar at this time feels out of character. I suspect I am just in need of an Oathbringer reread--at least the flashback sections--to get the context better, but with my current memories of his progression I didn’t think he had become critical of the Alethi until after Szeth’s assassination visit. I like the listener version of stormshelters. It’s not something that would be comfortable for humans, but it feels like a companionable atmosphere. I also like the way the covering is described as “animal carapace.” Because obviously that’s a thing that animals have, why would we need to specify further? It’s like saying leather on Earth. We don’t have to specify it’s from a cow or something else, because it’s the function that matters and everyone knows where leather comes from. Venli’s description of the rain is a neat bit of narration to externalize her anxiety. I’d forgotten that the listener’s call the Stormfather “Rider”. Good reminder. I’m currently predicting that Venli’s determination and combative mindset at this stage is going to unintentionally give her the key to the warform breakthrough, and that’s what will help postpone a mishap with the voidspren. Seeing the rainspren is a lot creepier through listener eyes than through human ones. I hope that any film adaptation of the series presents some scenes like that, where they can observe the predatory nature of the spren lurking out of phase with the physical realm. Ah, nope. I was wrong. Venli just chickened out when the Rider asked if she was sure she knew what she was doing. I’m glad she waited until after the perpendicularity passed to break the gem. Certainly chatty, isn’t he? I was not expecting the spren that came out to have so much to say. Oh, I guess it didn’t matter that she waited. The spren (I don’t remember his name) had a different plan all along. I didn’t realize that Venli had experience with a disguised spren in her gemheart before Timbre tried it. It’s trickier now since Timbre is actively suppressing/capturing the voidspren as an annoying roommate, which I doubt what’s-his-face has the patience for, but I’m curious what parallels she experiences and if that changes what she’s able to accomplish now. I’m glad Eshonai recognizes her sister’s jealousy for what it is, but I can’t say I’m surprised. Venli isn’t super subtle and Eshonai isn’t dumb. Oh dear. Cut off from the normal rhythms, heavily influenced by the void. Venli is in for a rough few years, even before the war starts.

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 56 (Nodes) Epigraph: You know, I’ve been blithely assuming that if the in-world Rhythm of War text is modern that it would be written during the events of the current book, but there’s no reason that must be the case. If Venli is the author then this might well be her research notes from the Shattered Plains when she was working toward Stormform. Going by my (admittedly spotty) memory of the epigraphs so far, that could actually fit quite well. I’d need to go back and reread to form a firmer opinion, and I think I’ll wait to do that until I’ve gotten a few more chapters in. Raboniel let Venli install her personal inner circle in guarding the Radiants. That seem suspicious to anyone else? I’m curious about the Windrunner effect here. Are they being fed by something like the “strength in squires” effect from Kaladin’s proximity, or is it their nature as “pure Honor” spren that gives them a little more resistance to the suppression? I’d almost have thought that nature would make them more susceptible, so I’m hesitant to give that latter possibility much weight yet. “What we need is a surgeon.” Come on, Dul, be a little more transparent. Why not just say “The plot wants Lirin here. Let’s do that!” I mean, it makes sense, but after Leshwi just saved Kal’s family this feels like a staged moment/development. Wait, are the Fused using cymatics to locate fabrials? Talk about your callbacks. I am excited to see that come into play going forward in much more meaningful ways that Kabsal’s demonstration. Even if it’s not working right now, it’s obviously something they expect to be able to use. The screamers are called secretspren, apparently. I bet Mraize has a whole flock. Oh, the invisible watchers are called chaosspren, and they aren’t invisible anymore with the dampening field. Plus, they just answered my earlier question--the tower is too invested for the secretspren to work inside it. Radiants are safe from passive detection here. (Including Venli, as she just realized!) The fabrial of protection is new? Does that mean that the Sibling physically altered the tower when creating the shield? That doesn’t seem right. Oh, and they just found Rlain. (I mean, I can hope that the lost legion will turn up again, but I doubt it will be this soon. And we already know Rlain is around.) Can’t wait to see that interaction.

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 55 (Friendship with the Open Sky) Epigraph: Yes, between this one and the last one, I’m heavily leaning toward Raboniel as our mystery author. Disturbing. “Spren are immortal, even if you kill them.” Thanks for the cheery thought, Syl. Is this the first time we’ve gotten a name for Syl’s previous Radiant? I don’t remember reading the name Relador before, but I’ve also been going through this book in fits and starts, so it wouldn’t be surprising if I forgot it. Hm, just did a search and I commented on this back in Syl’s interlude I-1. I’m just forgetful. Good work Syl, calling Kaladin out on his poor coping strategies. That one in particular was a particularly blatant contradiction. “Good, you’re confronting loss. I always just ignore things to feel better.” Aww, that was a very sweet paragraph about how spren are people. It’s obviously the reader’s view since we see these characters from the outside, but I didn’t even realize that spren would be dealing with that existential question of being a product of mankind. The soulcast syringe is cool. Makes sense that’s how they’d produce metal items. A Syl-syringe? Interesting idea. How about a Syl-scalpel, or clamp or suture needle. She could really help out with the surgeon thing in ways I hadn’t thought about. Dabbid being directed to Kaladin by the Sibling makes sense, but how did he get past the patrols and checkpoints? More hidden doors, I assume? Kaladin and Teft are still on an upper floor, correct? Alright, we get some wall climbing, since apparently the Full Lashing falls under the “quiet” form of surgebinding. Did we know that already from the Kholinar segment of the last book? Actually, do we have confirmation that the remaining abilities under the suppressive effect of the tower are the same set that don’t attract the screamer spren? It makes sense that would be the case, but I don’t think there’s enough data points to really conclude that for sure. Kal, why’d you take off your socks? I don’t understand this plan. Oh, are the socks a barrier to being able to infuse the boots? I wouldn’t have thought that was an issue. Interesting that the windspren are being attracted while he’s using Full Lashings rather than doing anything to do with flight. That seems to be a first for him. Well, that’s an answer to the reader at least. Not sure if Kaladin will conclude that they are using voidlight to power everything, since he hasn’t seen any of the other fabrials powered that way. Oh, he doesn’t need to figure it out. He can mug the scouts for their spanreed and let Navani do the thinking part. Good division of labor, and lets us have an exciting stealth sequence… soon. Since the next chapter is apparently Venli, it will have to wait.

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 54 (The Future Become Dust) Icons: Palah and Chach, truthtelling and destruction. Matches the title well. Epigraph: Combining Voidlight and Stormlight, and realizing they aren’t antitheses of one another… I want to say that this feels too scientific/scholarly for Venli, but the previous flashback just reminded us that was precisely her position before she set off the listener apocalypse, so it would be stupid to rule her out on that gut feeling. In fact, it hasn’t been demonstrated yet but I’m suddenly concerned about the path she might find herself walking as the de facto apprentice to the Lady of Wishes. Aww, poor little Gavinor. “Evil people… like Mommy?” Oh, my heartstrings. Obviously you don’t tell a kid this, but from what little we know of her, the answer may well be a simple “yes” not this nuanced “Odium made her do it” excuse that Dalinar responds with. No, Dalinar. Gav isn’t weird. I’ll have you know that plenty of young children want to go to bed. I won’t say it’s the majority, and it’s certainly not the stereotype, but it absolutely happens. It’s a sign of a healthy sleep schedule, and not uncommon. Nice to see Dalinar’s elitism shining through. No degradation of former nobility for him, no sir. Jasnah can stick her egalitarianism down with the darkeyed plebs where it belongs. Multiple orders of Azish scribe. I can’t say I’m surprised, but how do you functionally distinguish such tasks? More bureaucracy minutia, please! Hmm. The communal Windrunner stewpots attract “whichever soldiers felt most out of place.” It’s interesting that Dalinar has the insight to recognize this, and I wonder what he would do with this knowledge. It also strikes me as a bit of overlap with the Edgedancer credo of finding the forgotten, but again communal rather than individual, which gives it a Windrunner bent. Renarin’s interactions with Dalinar are very wholesome. We needed more of this. Dalinar reminding himself that Renarin is strong and was a strength to him when Dalinar was weak is particularly great. Oooo, we get to experience one of Renarin’s visions? Yes! I was expecting to be teased again with sparse descriptions. Also noteworthy that he can call them up again at will after they accost him. Oh, wait. He can’t do that to all the visions--only the ones that Glys manages to capture when they happen. How hard is that? How many can Glys hold onto? Too bad, I thought he was going to show the vision to Dalinar, but that’s not the case. He gets to see it again himself, but not bring others into it (yet). Hm, that’s a thought. I’m not sure if this is where Renarin is going with it, but the cycle of desolations is broken and the Fused can no longer be locked away. Possible outcomes: one side annihilates the other, the oathpact is reforged with new terms and new heralds, or they learn to coexist. Now obviously that last one is what would be ideal, but until now I’d been interpreting that as “everyone coexists...except for the insane Fused, who get exterminated by some means similar to what was done to Jezrien.” But Leshwi is our example of a reasonable Fused with whom a rapport is possible. Is it in the cards to remove some of Odium’s taint from the other Fused and deal with them as people rather than monsters? A blackness infecting both Dalinar and Odium? If someone else were seeing this I would have thought it was Renarin being a blindspot, but this seems more likely to be Sja-Anat’s influence. Which, now that I think about it, may be gaining entry via Glys and Renarin, so it could be him after all. Then again, it’s not at all clear yet. Huh. Guess I didn’t need to speculate. Renarin outright says it’s him. Interesting that he has deduced his own status as a blindspot, though. I expected that to be a mystery until Taravangian revealed it to them. For all that Renarin describes it in the same way as atium interference in Allomancy, I feel like it has to be more than that because Odium’s status as a shard should give him far more power to bring to bear on future sight, enough to overwhelm the interference from a single spren with precog abilities. More wholesome Dadlinar time. Very nice. They’re looking for more Radiant potentials to bond Sja-Anat’s children. That will obviously be a crucial point of leverage against Odium, but I’m unconvinced that they will be “like Renarin” in his blindspot ability or really anything else. Lots of unique individuals coming up. And yay! They can only be talking about Rlain as the next candidate. He does seem like the right kind of misfit for Renarin’s crew. I’m seeing a theme-within-a-theme here for liminal spaces in society being valued for their otherness.

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 53 (Compassion) Header icons: Jez and Vav. Protecting and Healing. That matches the title, at least. Epigraph: Welp, this very nearly rules out a human author for the epigraphs. Not entirely, though, since the undertext isn’t necessarily written by the same author as the main text (as far as I remember it’s sometimes something akin to footnotes not intended to be read aloud, but sometimes also a note from someone performing a transcription, etc… I could be wrong on that, though). It’s important to note, though, that modern listeners didn’t have written language until… wait, what about the Dawnchant? Was that lost until returned by the Fused, or have I misinterpreted the bits from Venli’s flashbacks? Their oral tradition certainly sounds like a culture relying little or not at all on written words. Anyway, my point was going to be that the in-world Rhythm of War text could only have been written by a modern singer (most likely Venli, of course) but with the Dawnchant existing we can’t actually rule out prior generations. If the book is by Raboniel I’m going to feel disturbed. Relayform? What can they do? Their position in the central scouting operation is certainly suggestive, plus the name. That’s right, Venli. You bet Leshwi will want to know about Kaladin. What did Timbre do to block out all rhythms? Not just Odium’s but everything--that should be antithetical to the spren, shouldn’t it? Being a mixture of Honor and Cultivation, they… oh, wait. I forgot that the rhythms predated the shattering, as do the listeners. Hmm. Still, what did Timbre do to block it, and what other effects could that be used to produce? Timbre, are you sure? You want to tell Leshwi about being Radiant? That seems foolish. In the extreme. I’m sure this is going to come back and bite Venli for not listening to you, but I’m with her on this one. In the moment, I would have said you were crazy, too. “You are merciful...do not reveal this Passion to others.” Yes, I knew there was a reason we liked you, Leshwi, and it’s not just the shipping.

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 52 (A Path Toward Saving) It's cool that Venli is devising a written language for the listeners from scratch. I forgot that she was basically their head scholar before all this. Oh dear. The senility is setting in, and it's so much more apparent in someone whose role in the community is to remember the oral tradition. That contrast of the sisters standing on the scout tower is a good image. Very symbolic of their characters, if a bit unsubtle. Yeah, it’s not just you, Venli. That happens to us humans all the time, too. This is the description used to emphasize that listeners from lots of different families were present to see the humans. But until this point I don’t think we’ve seen any indication that the skin patterning is familial at all, right? Certainly not in coloration, as closely related individuals have been shown to have different mixtures of white, black, and red. I guess we don’t have any more detail about the actual patterning. Is this a real inheritable trait or am I reading too much into this possible throw-away line? It’s also still surprising to me that warform wasn’t known to the listener families prior to contact with humans. I had not considered that as a possibility. The period of some of these rhythms must be quite long to allow for that. I wonder if some are linked to the moons? Or, more mundanely, the sun. Holy surprise Terriswoman, Batman! Hello, Axindweth. As much as I am predisposed to like the Terris, you are acting mighty suspicious. On which secret society’s behalf are you approaching our soon-to-be-betrayer / Odium’s patsy? Ghostbloods seem most likely at a first glance, but Sons of Honor is also possible given the timeframe. I will withhold judgement until we’ve at least gotten past introductions. Oh dear. That is a very painful lie to read when we already know how that turned out.

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Note: Hey hey! Look who’s back after a ridiculous hiatus. Yes, it’s me! Hopefully the next chapter reaction will be delayed by days rather than months. But you aren’t here to read excuses, so let’s get right back into it. Chapter 51 (To Sing Hopeless Songs) Epigraph: Maybe it’s just Venli’s chapter icon sitting above this one, but the epigraph is feeling more like a singer/listener than Navani. Still ambiguous though. I’m sure I’ll be kicking myself for not seeing things sooner when the reveal is given. Ah, Venli gets her team. Not sure which way she’ll try to lead them, but at least she has resources of (probably) reliable loyalty. Raboniel is really giving that Craving rhythm a workout. She uses it for a ton of things. Good answer, Venli, justifying your questioning of Odium’s wisdom. That sort of defense will serve you well and earn you points here. Hmm, and Raboniel is speaking almost like a collaborator. She’s none too impressed with Odium either, I think. Or, maybe impressed is the wrong word. She’s determined to be independent minded despite what he has to say on the matter. Stormsetter? Is that the same as someone in stormform? Ah, nope. He’s in “mediationform” whatever that is, so what is “stormsetter” supposed to be? Interesting that Venli is peering into Shadesmar in an active manner. I rather thought that listeners were constantly seeing a little ways into both realms, in kind of a visual overlay. Is this active peering an aspect of her form of power, or was I misinterpreting things before for the base state? Wait, duh! I already commented on this back in (*checks*) chapter 11. It’s not to do with her envoyform at all, it’s the Willshaper ability. Man, I feel dumb for forgetting that. I think Venli is overly optimistic that she will only have a few dozen people following her in the event she enacts her planned escape. When she says Timbre’s kind were treated similarly to the enslaved parsh, does she mean nahel spren in general? Or the Willshaper spren specifically? Actually, now that I think of it, why is Venli not being affected by the inverted protections on the pillar? At a guess, Timbre is being protected by the gemheart she’s hiding inside, but as reasonable as that sounds I don’t think I have much support for it beyond speculation. Not really a curse, but an idiomatic phrase of note: “never touched anything in her life without making a storm of it.”

Sorry for the delay, everyone has now been added/updated. I used your physical location on the map. If you'd rather be marked "in spirit" let me know.

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. (Side note: Many apologies for the long delay. Between an intense work schedule and spending time on writing, it took me forever to get back to this. Hopefully I'll be able to make meaningful progress and not keep you waiting forever. Also, I want to actually read through this book. It's honestly a weird feeling to take this long to get through a cosmere book. I feel like I'm going to miss out on all of the theorycrafting and discussion.) Chapter 50 (Queen) Epigraph: “detachment is enviable; I have learned that my greatest discoveries come when I abandon lesser connections.” Yeah, that line doesn’t sound like Navani. I’m not giving up on my working theory yet, but it’s a mark against. Jester in the chapter icons. Wit is around, I guess? Oh, right, because he’s hanging with Jasnah, and she’s part of the campaign. Hence the chapter title, I presume. Why am I not surprised that the preeminent bureaucracy on Roshar is legitimately threatening cross-generational lawsuits? Mr. T’s daughter is named Savrahalidem. I don’t think I’d seen the long form of that name before. It’s harder to pronounce than I expected. Took me a couple times to get it out naturally. I’m fairly surprised that the false letters from Navani are working. Spanreeds necessarily transmit the writer’s own handwriting, and you would think that Jasnah and others would be intimately familiar with Navani’s hand. It’s not shocking that Raboniel would have access to someone with forgery skills, but to be prepared to emulate the dowager queen’s written word implies a lot of preparation beyond the martial side. Why are they uncovering spheres around the perimeter of the pavilion as the meeting ends? I don’t get it. Is it important to hold the meeting in semidarkness? I’m really not following the choreography of the group that way. Dalinar: “Hm, after this war, we should probably go fight another one to make sure Queen Fen can be an absolute monarch, without any of those pesky checks to her power.” On one hand, I like that he’s feeling confident in taking on Odium and that he’s looking forward to something after the existential war they are waging. Way to plan ahead! On the other hand… sorry, Dalinar. Many of us think that letting other people have a say in the government is actually a good thing. That is such an entitled approach to things, and I love it. Also, Dalinar, your unkalaki characteristics are showing through. If you do take that flight, I hope you bring Cord with you so she can commiserate about needing thinner, cooler air. Thinking about Evi? Oh, right, his memories aren’t blocked at all anymore. I like that he’s also becoming comfortable with those memories, despite the pain they bring him. Glad to hear that he at least tried to Connect with Ash and Taln, after what happened with Nale. It apparently didn’t work, but practicing with those powers is important and it shows that they are being intelligent about things. They’re still thinking about the contest of champions that Odium agreed to, but don’t know how to force it or what it entails: Yup, Wit has us covered. I can’t tell if Wit’s cannibal joke is a real anecdote or not. I think it is, and I want to know what planet it was on...so that I can never go there. Wit being surprised by Dalinar’s idea is unexpected. I wouldn’t have thought him one to overlook audacious solutions, or things that require realmatic understanding. He’s been counseling with Jasnah, and I want to see what their plans were before this idea superceded them. Jasnah thinks Dalinar’s penchant for tyranny is quaintly charming, as does Wit. “Endearing despot” indeed. At least she understands the direction that things appear to be going in the world. I wonder what her opinions are on the merits of alternate governmental systems, as she’s obviously studied such things. I wonder whether Wit has told Jasnah about his cryptic? He has a lot of secrets I doubt he’d share, but he also appears to be more open with her than most others. Is his status as Radiant one of those? Also, the idea of Wit staying behind at the tower… Would his bond to the cryptic open him to harm/suppression by the tower, or would his other sources of investiture protect him? I suspect the latter, but can’t rule out the former. Side note for swears: “Kelek help him.” We’ve seen this construction before, but not with Kelek, I believe. Might need to double check. Could be worth looking at the context later to see if there’s a reason different heralds are invoked in different situations or by different characters. For reference, this one was a Dalinar internal thought, asking for help with a specific need for patience/longsuffering. Oh, more intrigue from the highprinces. This should be fun. Well, at least Dalinar is taking steps to surveil Urithiru and get the clues he needs. Hm, looks like Jasnah is trying to provoke a response to the way she’s flouting Alethi gender roles. Not sure why this is the chosen venue for that, yet. Aha. I love that we get to see the Queen’s Wit in action according to the role they supposedly fill in Alethi society. In the past it’s all been informal insults and rumor mongering, but it’s very cool to have Jasnah explicitly defer to Wit so as not to lower herself (and to preempt Dalinar from doing something energetic, perpetuating the martial society she’s trying to curb). It’s more than that. Jasnah demanding a harsher insult repeatedly is a very foreign dynamic, and I love it. I do have to say, though, that having Hoid in the role of Wit takes a lot of the sting out of the “anyone can kill the Wit” tradition. I honestly don’t remember what the intended consequence to that was, though. Might have to go back to Way of Kings to take a look. Oh, Dalinar just reminded us: exile and forfeiture of title. Yeah, Ruthar’s an idiot. I have to say I’m shocked to see Dalinar step in as the mediator here, and moreso that he would outright call attention to Wit’s esoteric abilities/durability. Oh, I can see where this is going. Pretty easy to guess who Wit’s champion will be. Ruthar vs Jasnah sword fight is only going to be disappointing for how short it will be. Huh. It was indeed short, but not in the way I expected. I wasn’t thinking Jasnah would be less skilled, or that Ruthar would back out, or that Renarin would be called to heal him. Huh. She’d already accomplished the coup (if that’s even the right term for this) and the “duel” was just a way to formalize it and cow the man. Wait, you can’t taunt us with another Renarin vision and then say “we’ll deal with it later,” that’s simply not allowed! Renarin continues to be criminally underrepresented in this story, and that needs to start changing soon. We need Ren! We need Glys! We need Teravangian to start sharing the news about Odium’s blindspot! Oh, look at that. Dalinar is already thinking about how to create a similar trap for Odium. “What on all of Roshar could a god possibly fear or hate so much” that they could use as bait, indeed? Certainly not the enigma serving as Queen’s Wit. Honestly, though I’m a little confused about why Dalinar finds this intrigue so distasteful. He prefers the direct approach to manipulating people, sure, but he also has a pretty solid history of seizing and consolidating power by whatever strategy suits him, and of picking and choosing which traditions to grant weight. This production doesn’t seem like it should be that much of a stretch for him.

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 49 (Soul of Discovery) Epigraph: Yes, I would expect someone in your situation to have trouble focusing on the right knowledge, when everything is so tangled and obfuscated, and you must hide your discoveries. Good luck, Navani, I believe in you! Busywork to buy yourself time to think and get organized. Makes sense, but Raboniel will anticipate this. I vote for boldness! Is Navani mistaking Venli for a Fused instead of a Regal, or is there another Fused down there with them? Ah, whoever it is seems to be insane like most Fused, so it’s not going to be Venli. Don’t underestimate any of them, though. Still not sure why garnet is the telepathy stone. Maybe just by analogy, where it serves as the tower’s blood? Feels awkward as a reason. Sibling hid from Re-Shephir for centuries? That’s storming impressive….and Sibling just discounts that as unimportant. Time doesn’t matter to them. Radiant spren “think like humans because they want to be humans. I do not pretend. I am not human. I do not need to care about time.” Methinks the Sibling doth protest too much. Who are you really angry at that you want to relish the distance between yourself and humans? Is it Melishi? Someone else? As an aside, this is a good point to bring up that I’m having a hard time remembering to keep Sibling agender. I gendered it as female in my head up until it was introduced, and I’m taking a while to recontextualize that. “We are not friends, human. You are a slaver. I do not trust you.” Well, good. Nice to see we can rely on each other here. Navani sees the human thought processes that the Sibling follows. She sees through the protests just like I did, except with actual analysis instead of just intuition and skepticism. You go, Navani! The shield is soulcasting air into glass, in an ongoing manner rather than the one-off that most soulcasting uses. That’s fascinating, and a workable method for preventing someone from just breaking the wall that you’ve erected--constantly recreate it. The tower is called Ur. That gives us half of the palindromic name. What is the central bit, then? I also like the connection to our use of “Ur”, both as the ancient city and the “ur example” etc. It’s a fun linguistic overlap. The Sibling was harmed when the Unmade were bound and the listeners enslaved. Specifically, they lost the Rhythm of their Light. And Honor couldn’t or wouldn’t help them. So, which lights/rhythms were affected? Surely it couldn’t have been everything except Stormlight, right? On second thought, though, that might be the easiest way to implement it. Give a sample of “permitted” investiture to act as a key, and shut down everything that doesn’t match. It’s the same as Ur’s suppression field, except scaled up to Bondsmith epic proportions. Lift got caught! Oh no! Mraize, you are on my list, now. And she’s in a ralkalest cage? Not good. Hmm. Sibling’s awareness of the tower is mediated by the Connection to radiants. That’s interesting mechanistically. --- Kaladin sneaking through the tower didn’t seem like a big deal to me, until I realized he was doing it in complete darkness. Syl doesn’t illuminate her surroundings, so even though she can guide him she can’t help him see. This is a terrifying situation to be spelunking through what amount to twisted caverns. At least they are sized to fit a person walking, but it still holds a frightening risk of getting hopelessly lost. Kaladin’s mind jumps to them using collaborators from Amaram’s army or some other group outside the tower, rather than finding actual Alethi soldiers who will cooperate. It’s possible that he’s right and those uniforms are stolen, but I find it much more likely that the new overlords are forcing humans to do what they wish. Lirin and company are safe, so that’s good. I wasn’t expecting otherwise, but it is great to have confirmation. More lashing practice. I guess he hasn’t tried the Reverse Lashing much, since he mostly just loves flying. Oh, now that’s interesting. I hadn’t clued into it previously, if the hints were there, that the reverse lashing can be selective in what it targets. The explanation in Way of Kings was that objects in motion are naturally more affected, which is why the arrows were attracted to the bridge he was carrying but clothing, rocks, and bridgmen were not. I wonder if this is a new aspect to the magic that Brandon decided to develop, or if it’s something that we just didn’t learn before because Kaladin didn’t have the practice and terminology to share it. I’m honestly leaning toward the retcon/new idea side of things, but either could be the case. Ah, getting supply from the ardents running the mental ward. Makes sense, and it looks like he’ll be coming back for more. Bet you a skymark that his eventual resistance involves all the soldiers he’d been starting group therapy with. It’s obvious that the Sibling is facilitating this little telepathy session, but I’m curious whether that’s necessary. It’s certainly possible that the garnet veins could function for that purpose if infused and operated by someone with the right knowledge/ability. I’m really not understanding the priority here. Why is figuring out the oathgates the first thing they need to do? I would absolutely send Kaladin after Lift first, get two free radiants on your side. (Although I suppose that’s largely because I know that it’s the Ghostbloods not the listeners that have captured her. Navani doesn’t have that information and it would be bad to tip off the occupying force just to get a second asset.) Okay, I take it back. She’s acting reasonably. I’m not sure if Kaladin sneaking around to investigate the oathgates is going to lead to a Vyre or Pursuer confrontation first. If this were a different kind of book I would expect Vyre to save him from the pursuer before having a talk of his own, but that doesn’t really jive with what we’ve seen from Vyre so far. I’ll put it at low odds for now.

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 48 (Scent of Death, Scent of Life) Flashback time :-) Still 9 years ago, by the heading. I love that Eshonai describes the humans as living relics. That perspective is utterly at odds with the human conception of things, not only in the ethnocentrism each side brings with them, but also because the listeners have an oral history that tells them about the humans, while the opposite is obviously not the case. It’s also fascinating and tragic that she doesn’t recognize the parshendi as listeners. They don’t listen to the rhythms, so they can’t possibly be related despite the physical similarities. Klade and Eshonai teaming up to talk to the humans. Go team! Well, there’s the title: old plants die and new plants grow in their place. A bit heavyhanded as a metaphor, except that it’s ironic because Eshonai doesn’t see it yet. This has got to be Jasnah, but I was initially confused at her position being described as “surgeon’s assistant.” She’s got the scholar thing down, obviously, but she’s being far less subtle with her questions about nahel spren than I would have expected. Dalinar = warform human. I didn’t know that was a theory, but call it confirmed. Nice, Eshonai! Ah, so the confusion about their gods and the chasmfiends was a language issue. When you define “worship” as “respect” you are bound to get a different answer than you suppose. Eshonai’s continued misapprehension about the scale of the world is somewhat comedic but more painful as a reminder of just how isolated her people are and have been. It strikes me as interesting that Eshonai doesn’t recognize the soulcaster at all. The listeners have shardblades, but no ancient fabrials. Why is that? We learned before that the human assumption about listeners soulcasting their food was wrong, but I didn’t think it was wrong to the extent that they’d never encountered a soulcaster. I mean, it makes sense, but it’s an intriguing point. For some reason I’m surprised to hear Jasnah refer to the False Desolation as such. I thought that name for it was based on more recently discovered knowledge. I may have to review who knows what about Rosharan history. “As if the Rhythm of Awe had been given life.” That’s a good description of a chasmfiend. Honestly, I was expecting Dalinar to start running at the chasmfiend to attack it as soon as it emerged. That he’s standing back and talking about it first shouldn’t be a surprise, but I guess he has a little more sanity back then than I gave him credit for. She calls the spren that follow chasmfiends ‘chasmspren’ which is odd, except that if they really only see them in company of the greatshells in the chasms, it could make sense. Humans see them with skyeels first, so they have a different association. Gavilar perks up at the mention of ruins. What was he looking for at this time? I really don’t have a sense for the timeline of his development. (Honestly, I still don’t know much of what he was up to, but I know even less about the timing.) He asks her about the Radiants too, as though that aspect of things clinches his interest, but I get the sense the ruins are his focus. It’s got to be the oathgate he’s searching for, but how much did he know? Why did he think to look for ancient cities? If he knew enough to do that… you know, I was going to say something about the one in Kholinar, but I’m remembering that it was locked and Jasnah couldn’t get it open. So it makes sense he’d look elsewhere. Ooo, crafty. Give your tentative allies (a.k.a. exploitable resource) better weapons so they can conquer their rivals for you. It’s irresistible for Eshonai’s tribe, and so this is the point where tragedy begins to loom.

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 47 (A Cage of Forced Spirits) Epigraph: and now we’re citing the undertext. This really convinces me that despite the title we are dealing with a human author rather than a listener. New working theory: this is Navani’s research notes while working under Raboniel. The comment here about “answers are all that should matter” is her own doublespeak and misdirection while working under the enemy; the previous excerpts make a lot of sense in that context, describing that she’ll keep her notes in the same way she’s used to despite working with a very different collaborator in very different conditions than she ever has in the past. I’m much more comfortable and confident in this working theory, and expect it to hold up much better than my wild guesses in the previous chapters. Skybreakers. Great. At least Dalinar took most of the Windrunners with him to help in the aerial combat. Honestly, it feels like we’ve seen too little of the Skybreakers so far, even though it’s only been since the end of Oathbringer that they decided to side with Odium. There hasn’t been opportunity to show them fighting, and they’ve been doing so for a year since the previous book, so it’s not really a failing in the story, but it sort of surprises me that it’s been this long before we see combat against them. The Mink’s glee at being up in the air for good vantage over the battle is adorable. And also slightly concerning. I’m looking forward to seeing him and Dalinar work together. Three hundred yards is a pretty high vantage point. It makes sense to be both high enough to see the whole battle and to keep out of range of weapons, but still. Very high. It’s fun to see them being tactically minded, even if it’s all illusory through prose. Dieno is the Mink’s name. I don’t remember if we learned that before. Huh. Escape boat waiting in Shadesmar. That is not a tactic I considered, but I really like it. Hm, message from Navani is conspicuously missing the key information about an occupying force. I’m not surprised, just intrigued by what they will manage to communicate. Glad to see that both the Mink and Dalinar sense something off. As for the concern about Azimir’s potential siege, I’d forgotten that they still hadn’t figured out the way to connect peripheral oathgates to each other. It was mentioned earlier in this book, even, but I’m going slowly enough that I forgot about that detail. For some reason I was thinking cities with oathgates were able to contact each other directly now. Cord assigned herself as one of Dalinar’s bodyguards! Awesome! Cord shooting Nale in the face mid-speech is great. Bit of reader catharsis, there. Nale can see at a glance that Dalinar has no Blade. That’s a reminder of how far Heralds are beyond the current Radiants, and makes me quite concerned about Ishar. Ooo, yes. He manhandles Szeth, casually catches an arrow from a shardbow that was fired mere feet away. He’s out of their league by a long, long way. The exchange between Jezrien and Nale is hugely fascinating. They were enemies before the oathpact formed, while Jezrien and Ishar were allies and came up with the scheme together. Lots of respect on both sides. Dalinar can see the Oathpact. Jezrien’s bond is the only one fully broken, while the others are simply “impotent.” ...except for Taln, whose bond still has full efficacy apparently. That’s interesting. And now Dalinar is asking about reforging the Oathpact, something that readers have been speculating about for a while. I look forward to seeing what he and the Stormfather conclude, because that will doubtless give us new directions for our speculation. Stormfather is surprised by how much Dalinar can do as a Bondsmith, which is odd because he’s bonded to Bondsmiths in the past. Most likely it is a result of Tanavast’s death and some of Honor’s power becoming available for Dalinar to wield--supported by Stormfather’s declaration that Dalinar “wields the power of gods.” But it’s also possibly related to his blessing from Cultivation. With the resolution for Dalinar to explore his powers more, I can see why Brandon might have planned to make his book number 5 instead of 3, swapping with Szeth. I can only guess that there are a lot of awesome Bondsmith moments in book 5 that this book will give us the setup for.

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 46 (The Weight of the Tower) Epigraph: I still don’t know who this could be. In a fit of insanity I almost assigned it to Taravangian, but Raboniel is still the best fit despite everything. I don’t believe it’s her, though. I guess Venli could fit, at a stretch--we were just reminded she does research. Oh, wait. Is this her memoirs / study journal of her early form research? That could actually work well. She’s not really the writing type, but she did have a partner in her research back in Words of Radiance, and apparently Eshonai’s record keeping suggestion got their mother’s approval so Venli might have adopted it. I’m still not convinced, but it’s a better working theory than I had before. Why is this a Raboniel and Navani section if Kaladin gets the chapter icon? I mean, obviously it’s going to be split for viewpoint, but Brandon usually waits to do that until he’s approaching a climax. Oh, well. Let’s check in with the former queen. Well, that’s a big info drop. Navani is appropriately awestruck, and sees the implications immediately. I love seeing smart characters, and this is shaping up to be an enthralling match of wits between Navani and Raboniel. There’s a lot more information changing hands quickly than I expected. I thought there would be more stalling. I trust that both of them have already identified which secrets are most important to keep. It’s a very different prospect to try to lie and keep secrets herself, as compared to leading a conclave of scholars to misdirect as a group, while under constant observation. Good luck, Navani. I’m also looking forward to seeing Navani start to parse out the different rhythms. She’s going to need to quickly learn to read Raboniel’s moods, as a matter of self preservation, so she has the motivation. Raboniel’s insistence on decorum feels like a compulsive act based on ingrained arrogance rather than a decision to keep her underlings in place. I wonder if that’s exploitable? --- What is this vision of, and more importantly who is showing it to Kaladin? Vyre’s interlude indicated Odium was going to send a particular spren to manipulate him, while we also know the Sibling led Kaladin to this refuge in the tower. Oh, you’ve just made an enemy, whoever you are that’s sending this vision. Showing Kal Tien’s death is not going to help you here. And now they are showing him all of Bridge Four killing each other. Yes, this is his weak point, but really. It’s a bit too heavy handed if you don’t want him to rally and swear your utter destruction. Oh, harsh. Waking up to have Syl far away is rough. Radiant spren can’t pass through walls… it’s never been a problem in the past because they were always summonable. But now it might be possible to actually isolate Radiants from their spren in the tower. Oh, and that’s really a very bad thing since Raboniel already told Navani that she’s looking for a way to capture nahel spren and prevent them from bonding any more Radiants. This could get messy. --- And because the maps are not particularly helpful on their own until the story catches up, I’ll include the map of Emul in this entry: My main comment is that it’s strange for Sesemalex Dar to abut against Odium’s controlled portion of Emul. I would have that Ishar kept a greater buffer zone between his main city and the occupying forces. Similarly, why is his army all the way over by the border with Marat? Shouldn’t it be closer to him? Unless he’s powerful enough on his own to not need an army (unlikely), or unless his other forces just aren’t annotated since they aren’t relevant for Dalinar’s campaign (much more believable). I was going to comment on the proximity of Urithiru or Yeddaw to various other things, but then I look again at the scale of this thing which is very much continental in scope. It’s covering everything from the Southern Depths up to the Purelake, so things that are nearby on the map are not necessarily close to one another. The names are interesting, but aside from some frequent double consonants (including four different qq names) there’s not much I can draw from them. It’s also worth noting, though, that Urithiru’s location is only identified thanks to Nazh’s annotation. So this map is something that hasn’t been updated with recent knowledge by the native Rosharans.

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 45 (A Bold Heart, A Keen and Crafty Mind) Eshonai flashback! Notably, we haven’t seen any flashbacks in the first two parts of the book. Does that mean that Eshonai’s bits are going to be confined to part 3 only, in a departure of format from the previous books? Or does it mean that her parts were too spoilery to include until after the Urithiru invasion? It’s really hard to imagine the second one being true. This stuff is nine years old and there isn’t much from the listeners back then that would impact our reading of current events, at least assuming that Brandon wants to space out his reveals to the end of the flashbacks. Anyway, that title. Except for “crafty” it seems like a description of the Willshaper virtues, or just virtues in general. Crafty is unexpected, especially in reference to Eshonai. Oh, unless it’s a split description? Maybe the first part is about Eshonai and the “keen and crafty mind” is about Venli. That could jive with the chapter symbol which shows two listeners: one holding a blade and one talking to a spren. “She found this to be flat out ridiculous.” Good, because I was thinking the same thing. Mapping the world steals its secrets and is therefore a bad thing? Sounds like someone woke up in idiotform after last night's highstorm. In the eyes of a listener, lifespren look like green balls with white spines poking out (as compared to the no-spines version that humans see.) Oh, you went all the way around the forest, did you? Obviously the world isn’t big enough to have two rivers. --Not that I’m sure she’s wrong, just that it seems like the setup for getting her very lost. Conquer is a weird word to use here. They aren’t trying to fight humans at this point, and the ancient cities should just be ruins. What do they need to do to conquer one? Also, I realized that this is presumably the moment she meets Gavilar for the first time. It will be interesting to get the other side of that. The Song of Making Paper--a good reminder that nearly everything they have is oral tradition. Oh, I get it. The listeners are living in small family groups and tribes. There are inter-clan conflicts over the cities. I hadn’t thought about the way their war with the humans would serve as a unifying force or how fractured their society might have been before it started. I like that phrase, “turned their faces to the storm.” I wonder if it is idiomatic or just a direct description of what happened. I’d be interested to see if it is used/applied in other situations. Instead of sitting by the fire and complaining, she would experience the beauties Cultivation offered. The listeners obviously have known more about the major figures of Roshar than the humans did, but I’m curious about what their traditions say about Cultivation, as well as honor. As far as I remember the only thing we’ve heard so far is that Honor and his spren betrayed them by creating nahel bonds for humans instead of listeners. Hm. I know it’s not the case everywhere, but I’m used to “river” being used to refer to constant feature of the landscape rather than a temporary or periodic one. There’s places in the world where streams are really only present after rainfall, but the regularity of highstorms would make that a different beast on Roshar. (On that note, I was already feeling bad about predicting that Eshonai didn’t realize she was lost and had found a different river. It discounts her intelligence and experience for the sake of a joke. This idea that rivers usually don’t exist constantly really kills the idea, which is probably a good thing. Eshonai would be able to tell what was going on. Riverspren have carapace? Weird cremling = sleepless? Who knows? They look like regular ones too, supposedly. Scattering flamespren to ensure the embers won’t reignite. That’s an application I hadn’t considered, and a neat companion to the medical progress based on rotstpren. Yup, there’s the human meeting. --- Ninety one stanzas about forms? That’s a lot of forms. Way more than I was guessing. They really did lose a lot when they abandoned the old ways. Almost didn’t realize we’d switched over to Venli. It’s shocking how that change in association taints my impression of “dutiful daughter with loving relationship to her mother” with a cast of “jealous sister” even without anything changing about the scene beyond my assumption of which character it was. Aww, Venli thinking her mother is perfect is just such a wholesome moment. I love it. It’s also nice to see that Jaxlim (we didn’t know her name before, right?) still has all her faculties at this point, though of course that’s tinged with the sorrow of her looming senility. What does it mean for them to be a First-Rhythm family? I really don’t have a good guess without more information. It’s a strange parallel to see the parshendi being warlike on the shattered plains and compare that to the Alethi. There are more similarities in culture, or at least situation, than I anticipated. The (non-city) listeners are living in hogshide tents? I’m surprised that they farm hogs. I wouldn’t have thought that an Easter Roshar activity or a listener activity. Ah, Jaxlim says Eshonai has a bold heart, which means the title is indeed speaking of both sisters. Oh, there it is in the next bit of dialogue. She compliments Venli’s keen and crafty mind. Oh, Jaxlim is the keeper of songs. I sort of thought that all of the listeners tried to learn the songs to some degree, and it was just personal interest that made Jaxlim focus on them. While that may also be true, she has a designated position within their society to remember and teach the oral tradition. Hm. Venli’s comparison of Jaxlim’s coloring to “marbled stone” as a compliment makes me think of Urithiru and its strata. But surface stone is mostly crem covered, and except for the windblades at Kholinar we haven’t seen any marbled rock. Shallan’s family quarried marble itself, so it’s possible that the ruins at the shattered plains were built using marbled/stratified stone, but that’s not the apparent norm on Roshar. I’m curious where the listeners stand with respect to stone and their interaction with it. It’s certainly not going to be anything like the Stone Shamanism of the Shin, who I would think more likely to consider natural stone for comparisons to something beautiful. Huh. Their dad is gone, “seeking the eastern sea.” Is that abandonment and wanderlust or just misfortune on a journey? Also, what was he looking for? I like that Venli takes after her father physically but identifies with and emulates her mother, while the inverse is true of Eshonai. It makes them more complex as people. The singing together and the reverence Venli has for her mother is more wholesome goodness. Yay! Wait, Venli helped discover warform (or maybe did it singlehandedly) ?! Wow. I had no idea. I thought her research had yet to bear fruit besides the voidspren treachery. You go, Venli! I am suddenly excited to have her in proximity with Navani for the fabrial science and spren research sessions. Her time as envoy made me forget that she started out as a researcher. Yes, looks like it was a personal success to rediscover warform. Neat. The desire to be bold like Eshonai is woven in here very well to convey a natural envy/respect for her sister. Hm. The Five. I don’t think that’s a significant numerology association, but it’s hard not to look for one. As far as I can recall, the latest WoBs as of Oathbringer had pretty firmly indicated that the number associations were primarily planetary rather than shardic. I.e. 10 is important for Roshar, not for Honor specifically, and 16 is Scadrian not of Harmony or its constituent parts. However, it’s also sort of an emergent property of shards plus planet, so hard to say. The Nine who lead the Fused are therefore a Braize connection rather than an Odium connection specifically, though the two are probably interlinked in some way. With that in mind, I’m going to avoid speculating about the Five being half of ten or possibly a Cultivation associated number. It’s probably just cultural. On that topic, though, I do have to wonder about the three bondsmith spren. It’s natural that there would be one for Honor, one for Cultivation, and one that’s a mix, but at the same time it makes me wonder if there’s more to it realmatically as opposed to simple math. Okay, other listener families include Pure-Song, and Fourth-Movement. Combined with First-Rhythm I have even less of an idea of those derivations than I did before. Poor Venli, stuck in Eshonai’s shadow.

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. PART THREE! Here we go. I’ll note again that I’m hyped about the inclusion of Eshonai in the POV list at the start of this section. And also Renarin, obviously. He has been horribly underrepresented so far, and I’m hopeful that he’s actually a regular viewpoint rather than just once or twice. I don’t feel confident that we’ll actually get answers about Glys yet, but maybe we’ll be fortunate. Also, if the ketek pattern is to hold, this will have to be the section where we get our epigraphs from the eponymous Rhythm of War. I’m looking forward to that, but also a bit hesitant because the awkward cadence of the listener songs in Radiance really didn’t work for me. I’d prefer blank verse over that. I know Brandon based them on poetic forms from other languages or something, but if that’s the case he should have left out any attempts at traditional English rhyme. Anyway, let’s see what they contain. Oh, and speaking of keteks, this one isn’t making sense yet, and may not even be one. “Songs of Home” certainly doesn’t fit the center line that you would expect. Anyway, Chapter 44 (Tinder Waiting for the Spark) Epigraph: Wait a minute. This is not a received wisdom or an oral tradition. This is someone writing or dictating a book. My first wild guess jumped to Khriss, but there’s no way she’s going to be suddenly prominent, and the title must necessarily be a listener or singer. Oh, Storms, it’s Raboniel isn’t it? No, I don’t actually think so--there’s not nearly enough arrogance here. I just hope we find out before the end of the book (preferably before the end of part 3). I thought we’d jump into the Dalinar/Renarin sections first, but it’s nice to get some continuity with Kaladin. I like that he’s most bothered by what he’s leaving behind rather than what he’s up against. Kaladin navigating the cavernous tower by his own glow is a cool image. I guess that is one advantage to leaking Stormlight all over the place. Yes, sink into the nostalgia of the good old days, running bridges on a death march. That will cheer you right up. What is it that gave Kaladin the sixth sense for when the Pursuer was coming, when Syl herself couldn’t sense it? The Fused seems to sense him, too. Kaladin is really good at being the underdog, isn't’ he? He tends to get into these situations with some regularity, despite how much power he accrues. Well, that’s me wrong again. I honestly thought the Shardblade mutilation of spren was enough to kill or maim them permanently. So much for that theory. It only took me four books to let it go. The flashback to past slave escapes is a good reminder of the experience that Kaladin has in this kind of evasion and pursuit--which means he knows how dicey it is going to get. It doesn’t help that he’s carrying someone on his back. Neat image. I don’t recall if we’ve seen these before, though i think we have. Sibling to the rescue! I didn’t think it was going to be helping much, but I guess it’s capable thanks to Navani and it is much more inclined to support Radiants that artifabrians. It’s notable that spren make it a whole lot harder to hide when you’re scared, etc. I thought that a few times through this chapter, and it was good to have it noted directly in the text and also factor into the chase sequence.

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Interlude I-6 (Taravangian) Title: “A boon and a curse” Surely that doesn’t mean we’re going to see him on a bad day, right? Hmm, actually I don’t think I paid any attention to the chapter icon last time. It’s similar to the kings you see decorating many playing cards. There are two, one upside down compared to the other. One is holding a sword with eyes open, another has eyes closed/sad and grasps a vine or cane, presumably symbolic of nurturing. Looking back, the previous Vargo interlude had the sword rightside up (clear eyed, intelligent, cruel) while this one is flipped the other way (downcast, compassionate). So he’s on one of his less intelligent days, but going by the title he may be about to realize the fan theory about which one of those is intended as the boon. (images: intelligence, emotion) Looks like Mr. T has already contemplated the question of boon vs. curse, but when he’s smart he assumes he already knows the answer. He’s so old :-( Constantly plagued by exhaustionspren, joints painfully creaking, heart about to give out… he’s been spending himself for this task. “A god made you what you are.” Surely you’re not going to tell us that you saw Cultivation too, are you? I can buy her hand in your situation, but I think having all three of the prominent Nightwatcher visitors be secretly blessed/cursed directly by Cultivation is a bit of a stretch. The diagram can’t see Renarin... the obvious answer is Glys, but realmatically why would that matter? Presumably it can account for beings aligned with any of the three flavors of investiture dominating Roshar, so it’s not just as simple as Odium or Cultivation or Honor being immune. Similarly, all Radiants and nahel spren are mixtures of Honor and Cultivation, so admixtures themselves are not the issue. Is it because Sja-Anat is betraying Odium and acting against her supposed nature? Is she doing something specific with the spren she enlightens that shields them from connection/precognition? Good callback to the vision where Renarin was the blindspot. I’m glad Taravangian remembered that right before the next vision started. So much for capturing Nergaoul. I guess Odium can directly inspire the Thrill anyway? Great. What is the light that Taravangian sensed? I thought it might be Odium’s disguise slipping, but he suppressed it to hide. I’m not sure how that works. What was Odium’s original plan for the Blackthorn? Taravangian seems to think it’s more than just conquest of Roshar. Would corrupted Dalinar have led the charge across the cosmere? That’s a terrifying thought. Wow, “dumb Taravangian” is quite clever. Good job manipulating Rayse into showing you what you wanted to see! And he has a further insight about Rayse’s (former and lingering) humanity. “Slow to think but quick to understand” indeed. And he’s smart enough to look for the name an obsessive brilliant schemer would plan around..and he finds Szeth. Obviously we know it’s probably due to Nightblood, but I wonder what everyone in-world is going to make of this? Brilliant idea that the “capacity to save mankind” comes down to the capacity to understand Odium. His vacillating days of brilliance and compassion showed him how Odium thinks and how to anticipate him. It’s not either that is the gift but rather the experience...the journey. Good grief, did Sanderson just subvert his own foil for “means over ends” by making Taravangian’s journey the thing that mattered?! Also, I am impressed with this chapter because i still don’t know if it is going to end with triumph (Taravangian makes the decision to talk to Renarin and Dalinar) or tragedy (he has the opportunity but doesn’t follow through). Oh, on the page turn I see that Taravangian immediately figured out the Nightblood connection. Good on you, Vargo. And it looks like we get a mix of triumph and tragedy--he has to follow through on the betrayal, but he’s planning to make the strike that matters. Also, unrelated to this interlude, but I turned the page to see the title page of Part Three, on which the POV list includes Eshonai! Hype! Taravangian_Chapters_-_Emotion.svg

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Interlude I-5 (Lift) Lift! It’s Lift! Hooray! I know Lift is a divisive figure among Stormlight readers, but while she occasionally feels a little over the top she almost always lands really well for me. I’m excited to see what she’s up to now. My main worry is that she’ll be dropping lots of hints about Dawnshard, which I am still waiting to read until after finishing Rhythm. (I don’t actually know if Lift goes on the mission to Aimia, but I’m kind of guessing that she does? Where did I get that idea? Did I hear it somewhere or am I just making things up? Nobody knows.) Plus, having just seen Shallan’s cultivationspren page, I have a lot of visual references for Wyndle looking ridiculous when he tries to be serious. (As an aside, I’ll make another plug for the Stormlight X Worm crossover fanfic called Leaf, which I recommended and linked in my intro post. I’m not sure how well it holds up if you aren’t familiar with the dark superhero world of Worm, but the character of Lift is presented very authentically to how she appears in Edgedancer especially.) Anyway, on to the interlude! I suddenly realized that I don’t know where Lift is. Did she follow the army? Did she stay at the tower? Ah, looks like she’s still at Urithiru, and this is pre/peri-invasion. But with her unique nature, she’s bound to interact oddly with the Sibling’s suppression field. At a guess? She’s going to end up stealing Raboniel’s lunch. Aww, people think her kleptomania is cute and leave food out for her. That’s adorable, except Lift wants to actually steal stuff, so she’s all frustrated. I wonder who left this particular basket. I want to say Rock, but he’s gone. Hah. Wyndle the whineyspren. That’s alliterative and therefore almost punny. Good job, Lift. Yup, Everstorms bother Lift because she’s too close to the other realm. I do not feel good about a hideaway that is reached through a tunnel so tight you have to negate friction to get through. Lift, this is what we call a bad idea. To use a purely random example, what would happen if a scheming Fused decided to turn off everyone’s surgebinding? Or, and hear me out on this, what if you grew slightly larger? You know, that thing you’ve started to admit might actually happen despite the Nightwatcher’s promise? Bahaha! It’s Rock’s son. And he wrote “love” on the jar of jam. Someone’s got an admirer! I’d forgotten the boy’s name, so I’m glad Wyndle mentioned it: Gift. However, this is bad for two reasons: first, it sounds silly to talk about Gift and Lift as a potential couple. Second, you can’t make a shipping portmanteau out of their names. And it’s not worth trying with a proper unkalaki name. We’ll have to come up with something descriptive, and that’s less likely to catch on, especially when we know so little about the other half of the potential relationship. Yes, Lift. That is definitely you. Can’t think of anyone who would disagree. I’m with Wyndle on this one. There’s something inconsistent about that metaphor. Ah, she’s recognizing that the passageways have been shrinking over the past year. No other possible explanation. Lift has a strange old flute in her collection. Surely it’s not Hoid’s from Way of Kings? If it is, it’s only because so many people asked Brandon about it. Actually, even if it isn’t that’s probably the reason she has one here. I initially thought this nest might be the hidden place on the fourth floor where Sibling told Navani they could still see a cage, but the description really doesn’t match that as far as I can tell. Oh no. She’s growing. And a full inch? When was the last time she measured? Wyndle captures my own incredulity. Lift stop eating? I very much doubt the possibility. Then again, it does convey the gravity of her displeasure. That capital letter on Connected is what we like to call significant. But why was it important to create her that way? I want to know more, Wyndle! Oh, wait, you keep explaining. Thanks! So, the disconnect allows her to escape the perception-dependent shaping that other spren undergo. Hmm. Presumably, that is mentioned here because it makes her unique, even compared to the Stormfather and Sibling? Confirmation that Lift met Cultivation, not just the Nightwatcher. Brandon has phrased answers to say that Lift got her boon from the Nightwatcher (as opposed to Dalinar) but I guess Cultivation intervened as well. And Wyndle just said that she’s not using Stormlight, but Cultivation’s investiture, which is another good indication that Lift will be less impacted by the suppression effect. Not totally immune, I expect; the nahel bond is still an implementation of Honor’s power via Ishar, and most nahel spren are a mix of Honor and Cultivation even if the fuel for their granted abilities is Stormlight. That sounds like you get a cognitive/spiritual forcefield around your soul, plus maybe some added resilience or feedback loop. Yup, no stormlight for you. You’re luck you still fit through that tunnel. Whose chickens are fighting in the sky? Is the green one Mraize’s? But then who else would have a chicken? (Initially I thought the red thing Lift saw was a voidspren. Surprise murder chicken is better.) She bit the chicken! Ha, take that! Such a perfect thing for Lift to do. Does the healing (regrowth) still work because it’s closer to cultivation that her other surge, or is it more of the loud vs. quiet abilities being suppressed differently? I love the image of Lift randomly chatting at cremlings since she doesn’t know which are sleepless and which are just bugs. I’m starting to think that the red chicken is Mraize’s. But if that’s the case then who sent the green one? It’s still a mystery. Very good, Wyndle. Love the brainstorming. Hm, I don’t recognize this old guy. A stormwarden perhaps? This is obviously a targeted killing, not just some opportunistic looting/mugging. Oh. Oh, that’s not good. I was right, the green chicken did belong to Mraize, and now he’s hunting Lift. And worse, that’s where the chapter ends! What is this?! Storming cliffhangers!

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Shallan’s Sketchbook Part IV (Cultivationspren) Cultivationspren! (Image here) First thought on seeing the page is, "Why no Mayalaran?!" I guess it makes sense to not feature a personal connection like that in a scholarly work, especially if Adolin might object, but still. It would be nice to get her picture. At the same time, these living spren are great to see. That upper left portrait looks like it could definitely be Wyndle, even though the one in the bottom left corner is supposed to be closer to his physical realm appearance. (It’s a little goofier than I was imagining for him.) The crystals are more prominent in their hair (and in the physical realm manifestations) than I pictured. Also, what’s going on with that spiky thing between the two full-body portraits? Is that a less-common physical realm form? Or is it a close up of something? I can’t tell. The crystals are supposed to be perfectly clear, but with lots of reflections. I’m wondering if those are meant to be bright light / lens flare reflections or faceted mirror reflections with lots of tiny images. I really like their clothing, both in style and in the subtle patterning of the cloth. That the interweaving of the vines is so fine as to be barely visible to the human eye is unexpected, especially with the physical realm descriptions but also with the more prominent corded vines making up the faces here. Seeing the smooth texture of the hands, though, I’m led to believe that the heads and faces are a special case.

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Interlude I-4 (Vyre) Here we go. Vyre. You know, Brandon is really going to have to sell me on this interlude. I am not the most ardent hater of Moash in the fandom, not by any stretch, but on top of being an unlikeable traitor (who kept eye contact with Kaladin while murdering proto-Radiant Elhokar, grrr!) he’s so much a pawn of the forces around him that it’s hard for me to get invested in what he’s doing. Moash is doing the same “throw my shardblade” training exercise that Adolin did in the previous book, but failing at it while feeling like he’s so much better than the mere mortals. Not a good look. At least in Vyre’s hands the honorblade does indeed take ten heartbeats to summon. Presumably that’s confirmed as a true feature it shares with dead spren blades, as compared to living blades, though I doubt that’s the case for a bonded herald. Oh, he’s intentionally copying Adolin. I wasn’t sure. Huh. Outside evidence that Maya has been in tune with Adolin for a lot longer than we’ve seen her actively healing. I hadn’t expected that to show up in this PoV Yes, Moash. Having your emotions suppressed entirely is a sure sign of freedom. Definitely not manipulation. It does show a bit of self awareness that he knows he would have been feeling anger and humiliation at holding the mythical weapon of Jezrien. Even Moash knows he’s a self centered, vindictive jerk. Khen is leaving because she doesn’t want to fight, which is not what I expected her to say. I thought she was going to say she was fed up with his obsessive, self-absorbed self. You know, seeing what I’m writing about Vyre, I think maybe I’m a bit upset about this guy. I’m not one to swear, but like the meme says, F(orget) Moash. Oh, I’d forgotten that Moash was originally a caravaneer. The mention of caravans initially made me think of Tvlakv and Kaladin’s slave cart, and I wasn’t sure where the positive associations came from. How big is this rock he’s carrying? I was imagining an immense cube of stone, but apparently he’s carrying this without stormlight assistance. Must be not huge. More self awareness: He knows that is what it’s really about. You know, this talk of chains and Vyre’s inability to move on puts me uncomfortably in mind of the Heralds who were bound to Braize. I wonder how much the mentalities are parallel? Especially since Moash is wielding the blade of the first herald to truly die. Is he becoming a corrupted replacement somehow? Fascinating that Vyre’s bridge four tattoo is still intact, despite stormlight use. He still views himself as a member of that group despite his repudiation of it and his attempts to hide the mark. Throwing himself into manual labor like this is an unexpected reaction. It makes sense, but it’s not what I would have thought Vyre would get up to with his new life. Huh. Odium’s guise as a hundred foot tall Fused is “majestic like a king should be.” Elhokar is still bugging you, isn’t he? Sounds like Kaladin isn’t the only “chain” you still cling to. Wow, hero worship, much? If they weren’t so diametrically opposed at this point, I’d be shipping this. But Kaladin isn’t that forgiving. Wow, that is dedication and loyalty, warped as it has become. Vyre is not fully your creature yet, Odium, no matter how strong the Connection is becoming. I’m very concerned about who Odium is going to send to get into the holes in Kaladin’s soul. And is he saying that you can manipulate a Connection directly, bypassing the immunities that may exist at either end? That’s sure what it sounds like. Moash, are you intentionally… you are. You’re bringing up Honor Chasm and suggesting that you will drive Kaladin to it again. The first real impression you had of him was overcoming suicide, and now you’re drawing on that initial meeting to try to undo your whole relationship with him? Thematic, yes, but also a real dickish move.