TomR

Where in here is Amaram being selfish? If Amaram's primary concern was that the best fighter get the Blade and Plate, he'd insist Kaladin take it. Kaladin, after all, defeated a Shardbearer despite being underequipped for the fight, when Amaram himself could not (you ellided over it, but he even adds a fear that Kaladin would change his mind as part of his reasoning for framing Kaladin as a traitor). Alternatively, he could've held a dueling contest among his soldiers. The fact that the reasoning he gives fails on its face shows that he's lying to himself. Amaram wants the Shards; he feels that he deserves them, so he uses a weak justification to get them. Sure. I'd say Amaram has the opposite prejudice, though, as do most other lighteyes (even Shallan has been shown to be uncomfortable around strange darkeyes), which I think is going to have an effect on the original topic. Amaram orders the deaths of the darkeyes to keep them from talking, but he trusts the lighteyes doing the killing to keep their mouths shut (naively, apparently; the slaver who initially delivers Kaladin to the warcamps states he knows the real reason Kaladin has his slave brand, but he must pretend otherwise, implying someone talked). Amaram's a product of his culture; I think it's safe to say he would've acted differently if it were a lighteyes who defeated the Shardbearer, or if Kaladin's men had been lighteyed. In fact, we hear about one of Sadeas's lighteyed archers winning Shards on the battlefield, despite Sadeas's known ruthlessness and desire for a Blade. I don't think it's a stretch to extrapolate that the darkeyed-ness of the soldiers Amaram murdered and the one he enslaved affected his decision. Darkeyes are treated differently; it's more than just class, it goes deeper. Therefore, if Kaladin doesn't overreact when he first sees Amaram (and he knows Amaram's meant to come to the Plains, so I think he might be able to deal with it), I expect him to stay quiet for at least most of this book. He should know what weight the word of a darkeyed soldier will carry, and he and Dalinar don't know each other well enough yet to outweigh Dalinar's apparent longstanding friendship with Amaram. That's a false choice. Accidental death is in essence unpredictable, and trying to compare it to intentional murder is specious. Amaram was the highest-ranking lighteyes left in his princedom, no one would have investigated him. There may have been rumors, but so what? This is not a democracy, nor a republic. We're dealing with a high-dahn member of a landed aristocracy here, and one in legal possession of a Shardblade-- "what people say" would have zero effect on his rank (remember, Sadeas would have gotten away with betraying Dalinar despite everyone knowing what really happened; Alethi value that sliver of doubt). Weighing a few possible rumors against murder and enslavement and deciding that whole killing people thing was the better option is not the product of a reasonable mind. If Amaram came up with that after logically weighing his options, I'd say he isn't actually fit to lead. All in all, I think Amaram is likely to be a complicated character. We know so little about him that I wouldn't gamble on his status either way (Dalinar's judgment is suspect; he trusted Sadeas after all, and most of Dalinar's changes have occurred while he's been out on the Shattered Plains, while Amaram hasn't been there, so I won't count the friendship as a mark for or against Amaram). I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up playing a major role in the fight against Odium. This particular choice, though? I don't expect to see anything that actually justifies it. If we do discover that Amaram had access to a prophecy stating that if he didn't get the Shardplate and Blade, all sixteen Shards of Adonalsium would come to Roshar and destroy the planet, or whatever scenario, sure, I'd say he made the right call. However, based on the text we have so far, I expect we'll find that this is a lapse, a time when Amaram's more banal nature surfaced to provide a justification for wrong action, and that he had the option to take a more ethical action (given pretty much any ethic I can think of -- virtue, deontological, teleological) if he'd just thought things through. Also, speculating here, it wouldn't surprise me to find out his advisor/pet Stormwarden is working for the Ghostbloods Amaram's fighting against.

Which raises the question of where Szeth gets his Surges. He perfectly matches the Windrunner abilities as far as I understand them, but we never have seen a spren. Seems like another point in favor of the Jezrien's Blade theory I've seen around here.

Good point. Should've known I was overlooking something

If it extends beyond the center of mass. If the bridge is built symmetrically, that would be the midpoint, but the carpenters could increase the length the bridgemen can extend the bridge if they added weight in the rear. Wouldn't be much fun for whoever was running in the back, though. That also might be a side-benefit of lower handholds used to push-- the downward force would effectively keep the bridge level longer. Probably not much longer, especially as men are going to be falling out the farther forward you push, but a combination of that and a weighted back might grant a few more feet.

Interesting, thanks.

I didn't think any spren were used in fabrials? Well, fabrials will have spren the same way hammers will, but fabrials AFAIK don't require direct use of the spren, unless there's a WOB out there somewhere or something I missed in the book (there may be; I'm still looking through old threads here). Shardplate/blades are probably linked to spren, but they're special, with the probable link to the Spiritual Realm and the fact they seem to have been created in the first place as part of the bond.

Interesting thread. Going back a bit, I think the final surge having something to do with communication or maybe some sort of clairvoyance (not precognition, obviously, since that's of Odium, but if Voidbinding is a twisted version of Surgebinding, maybe seeing the present?) makes sense. Thinking back over the first time Dalinar met the Knights Radiant, the Windrunnner mention that they're all stationed in Alethela or Urithiru. But they end up in Natanatan when there's a threat. How did they know the Midnight Essence were attacking? If the last surge lets them know somehow, that would explain it. It could also be that somewhere in the village was a fabrial like the spanreed. However, from Dalinar's visions I suspect the old fabrials were 1) limited to the Knights Radiant and 2) only imitated the powers they had via the Surges, like Soulcasters and the Regrowth fabrial used by the Stoneward. If (1) is correct, the villagers wouldn't have had a way to send the S.O.S., and if (2) is correct, any communication fabrial would relate to the last Surge anyway. The last possibility I can think of is that someone had been tracking the Midnight Essence somehow, but if that's the case I'd think they should have tried to warn the village. All of which is a long way of saying I'm another vote for communication. Not sure what form it would take, though.

Thanks for the welcome guys! That Urithuru thread was great, thanks for pointing it out! I may be overthinking the Makabaki story, I know it's paralleling Deucalion and Pyrrha and that may be all it's doing. But the potential Honor/Cultivation parallels just kind of jumped out at me this time through.

Shallan's rank isn't that low-- her father was planning on making a bid for Highprince, and the Ghostbloods believed he had a strong enough chance that they backed him. That should mean Shallan's fairly high dahn. Her house is on the brink of ruin, but only because her father died, and that's being kept quiet, so her actual rank shouldn't have changed yet. Now, Jasnah does know the change in circumstances, but she also knows that Shallan is bringing another Surgebinder into the family, which offsets it. From the outside point of view, it is not necessarily a bad match for Adolin. Regarding Jasnah, going by the synopsis, "...A broken soul has cracks into which something else can be fit. Surgebindings, the powers of creation themselves. They can brace a broken soul; but they can also widen its fissures..." That seems to imply that, while demonstrating divine attributes may attract spren, you have to go through some trauma before you can form a bond. Similar to how Allomancers have to Snap or the Returned have to die. So I think it's likely that Shallan caught a glimpse of whatever happened that allowed Jasnah to Surgebind. However, the men she confronted were known as thieves and murderers, not rapists, so I don't think it's necessarily sexual trauma. I also kind of hope it's not, since I'm all for a character who just prioritizes their work and/or independence for the sake of said work and/or independence, but we'll see.

First time post here, hope it's okay that I jump in. My own theory is that Urithiru is near the Valley, in the mountains of what used to be Makabakam, but I admit my reasons beg the question a bit. First, I'm assuming that the story of Parasaphri and Naphris is really referring to Cultivation and Honor, that it's an allegory for her creating the spren capable of the nahel bond/Surgebinding through Splinters of her and Honor's power, and that the ten gems associated with the Heralds are therefore the so-called Seedstones. Second, that the Valley and the Nightwatcher are linked to Cultivation and that she's still close to wherever Honor died, thus "the place nearest to Honor." Beyond that, the Valley is roughly in the center of the continent, which would be useful if the Oathgates/transportation have a limited range (which I realize we have no reason to believe at this point), while also being westward of old Alethela. Plus, the Valley is another place that we've heard is difficult to access-- it sounds like not everyone can find it and you can only go once. Finally, if instead of a floating city, Urithiru is just built high enough on a mountain, you couldn't walk there. A lot of assumptions, I know, and less real evidence than the Shattered Plain theory, but the preview chapters just inspired a re-read and I couldn't help speculating