Cad

I feel really old now for some reason.

Makes me wish I was still in college. Worked at a Borders and while we weren't allowed to buy books before they were released, we could borrow them. Finished Winter's Heart from WOT before the book was released. Really wish I could do that again...in a few weeks to be exact.

Eshonai wasn't part of the council, but the council included her in the discussion and decision because of her knowledge of humans.

I assume that Transformation is the same as nuclear fission or fusion. The atoms reconfigure from one substance to another. The Surgebinder doesn't need to understand molecular theory, they just have to will it to happen and use stormlight. It's the same as Lift being able to turn a surface "slick" without understanding the concepts of friction or a Windrunner using the gravity lashings without knowing the value of G.

It's a good theory, but I doubt it's true. When the Heralds abandoned the Oath Pact, Jezrien said that the people still had the KR to protect them. There weren't any Desolations between then and the Recreance (or after the Recreance, obviously). I can't see the Heralds all of a sudden changing their minds and deciding that the KR could cause a Desolation. I agree with Chessboxin', anything Darkness says is unreliable. He's most likely insane and possibly has been influenced by Odium.

I assume he'll be a Bondsmith, given the back cover. Then again, it could always be a red herring, but I doubt it.

Worst scenario would be if Jasnah is there at all. Then from anyone's viewpoint, Kal takes on Szeth, (if the pov isn't Kal) there's a This post has been reported for attempting to skirt the rules moment when Kaladin reveals his Radiantness, then Jasnah soulcasts Szeth into a pile of dust. Best scenario, IMO, would be ending in Sadeas' POV, where he realizes that he did end up with the worst side of the trade, then he looks down and says, "Where'd my dinner go?"

I'm trying to decide if I'm loving Tor right now for releasing these chapters or if they are evil incarnate for releasing the cliffhanger of Kaladin seeing Amaram. Yep, I'm going with evil. On the other hand, it allows me 5 weeks of random, wild speculation on what happens. Current favorite theory - Since it would really tick Syl off if he killed Amaram, Kaladin sneaks into where he's sleeping and lashes him to the ceiling. It's petty revenge, but Syl would probably find it hilarious.

Sorry, I'm claiming Sadeas as Kaladin's new sparring partner. (evil grin)

It's too bad the KR's armor was glowing red, not blue. It would be cool if the leadership attribute of the Windrunners allowed regular men that followed them access to stormlight or even some surgebinding. Bridge 4 would have some of the abilities of a KR through Kaladin. I can just imagine Rock with surgebinding, he'd be a worse prankster than Syl.

This made me picture Dalinar learning about Kaladin's path to a KR by having Syl see one of the fabrials, turning visible and going off on Navani. Lmao

I wouldn't call what I said a theory. I was just saying that if Moogle's idea of a full Knight Radiant always holding Stormlight is true, then it would follow that the Stormlight would constantly heal the environmental damage that causes aging, in much the same way that it heals the minor cuts that Kaladin has received. Do all of the KR orders breathe in Stormlight? So far we haven't seen it from Jasnah or Shallan, which leads me to wonder if they can heal like Kaladin can.

I don't agree that Kaladin would have to have a Shardblade to fight Szeth. I think that part of what Syl doesn't like about Dalinar's Shardblade is that they were made to fight Voidbringers and Thunderclasts, not be turned against other humans. It's just a feeling I have, as we don't know how she reacts to Shardblades other than Dalinar's so I wouldn't even call it a theory. When Szeth fought the Shardbearers in Jah Keved, he let his Shardblade turn to mist, so it is definitely not necessary to fight other Shardbearers with a Blade. A regular spear would take down Szeth, Kaladin will just need Lopen there throwing him new spears every time Szeth cuts through one.

I don't think any of the highprinces will be happy at all about the changes that Dalinar is going to make. Despite Gavilar uniting the country in name, he never truly brought Alethkar together. Most of the highprinces still view the king as a figurehead. Elhokar Is a weak king and has allowed the highprinces to do whatever they want while paying him lip service. The only reason the country hasn't broken apart is because Sadeas and Dalinar back the king and Elhokar doesn't impose on the autonomy of the highprinces much. It will be interesting to see what the fallout will be...I think Sadeas will still end up being Dalinar's closest ally in protecting Elhokar, and we've already seen what kind of an ally Sadeas is.

I agree with your reasoning and conclusion that the KR were the cause of the betrayal. I'm suspicious of Jasnah's conclusions about the spren, though. Her atheistic viewpoint only allows her to view the spren through relations to humans when we know the spren are related to Honor, Cultivation and possibly Odium. While many of the things she told Shallan are likely true, her perspective of the truth differs from the real truth of Roshar/the Cosmere.

I think we put too much into the idea that seeing the future is bad. That stems from the Vorin religion, whose theology is majorly flawed. I don't think that voidbinding has anything to do with Cultivation because of the nomenclature. It's quite possible that Odium is good at seeing the future, also.

Hadn't thought about that. If you are correct about the constant use of stormlight, then it would indeed follow that immortality (aside from mortal wounds, etc.) would be achieved. The stormlight would immediately heal any of the environmental damage to the body that causes aging. I actually developed a magic system that would do the same thing for a book I was once writing, where the magic users would be immortal because of the same reason, innate magic immediately healing free radical damage, but never thought of those implications with stormlight.

Interesting theory. If the radiants do become immortal, it would explain a few things. Too little info to even make an educated guess at this point, though. I wonder how many more of the Ideals Kaladin will work through in WoR. I have a feeling they'll come to him when he's protecting people which could end up being gimmicky. I have faith that Brandon won't let that happen, though. I want to find out what some of the Ideals are from other orders, too.

In the real world, I agree that war is bad and should be avoided if possible. In an epic fantasy book, however, the war between the Alethi and the Parshmen is necessary. It's the driving force of the whole story at this point. Without it there is a good chance Kaladin would be in Kharbranth studying to be a surgeon. It could even be possible that the war is going to be a cause of the Desolation, although that's just the feeling I'm getting at this point. Without the Vengeance Pact, the first few books would be a boring trial of the Alethi asking the Parshendi why they did it and the Parshendi not responding. The main characters are becoming the heroes they need to be to fight the Desolation because of the Parshendi war, whether you view it as justified or not.

I'm looking forward to more of Kaladin and Bridge 4. Also, surprisingly, I can't wait to see more of Shallan. I didn't much care for her in WoK, but the first chapter of WoR has me intrigued. I also had a feeling that she would end up with Adolin, so I'm looking forward to see what happens there. What I'm most hoping to see, though, is the fight between Kaladin and Szeth. After Sadeas' comments about Dalinar making the worst decision ever in trading the Shardblade for the bridgemen, I'd love to see him realize that he actually got the worst side of the deal. I'm vengeful like that.

I started reading Brandon's works when I learned he'd be continuing WoT. I've read all of the cosmere books and found this site recently while doing a re-read in preparation for book 2. I love all the theories, whether I agree or not, and gained a lot of info from Brandon interviews I didn't know about.