Aleksiel

Unfortunately, if Odium can really read what's written, then he already knows about Tanavast's advice to Dalinar to convince Odium he can lose so that a champion is arranged. I think Honor would have certainly known if his enemy could read written words and would have told the resiver of the visions to not write it down. Well, at least I think it's reasonable to assume he would... Thus, I don't think Vargo is trying to prevent Odium from reading his plan. I like the idea of Vargo hiding (parts) his plan from himself and his subordinates. May be ever since the accident with proposing anyone below average intelligence to commit suicide, he has learned that the direct approach won't lead to the desired results.

Here: It doesn't really say the Heralds created them though. Can Oathgates have something to do with oathstones like the one Szeth carries? The names certanly have similarity and with Brandon everything ties up eventually. In the myth of the origin of Makabaki there's mention of seedstones touched by the Heralds themselves.

There are masterservents that wear all black, Dalinar mistook Wit for one at a feast. There are plenty of servants basically everywhere. They serve food at the said feasts; Brightladies have their handmaids (or something), which are hired and not bought. Kaladin doesn't use the word slave when describing the boys who 'pamper' the lighteyes on the training ground. When he was still little and in Hearthstone, Roshone's son tried to made him bring him food and he said 'I'm not a servant!' again no mention of slaves. To say there are only slaves and parshmen that serve lighteyes, is an exaggeration.

I don't think this makes it less significant. The Heralds are arranged in particular order to be by their respective KR and their mirrored arranged likely serves more than a stylistic purpose on the Silver Kingdoms map.

From a metatext perspective, I'd say because otherwise Jasnah would have taken Shallan as a ward much easily and it would have made it seem cheaper, like it wasn't really a big deal that Jasnah took her.

I read more like Kal having more than any previous Windrunner, but he's in unusual position after all. Is it save to say there isn't limit on how many squires he can have as long as they follow him and are loyal (and whatever else is needed for the squire bond)? If so, then he might get even more squires. With only him in his Order, a 1000 squires might even be too few, I'd say. Our beloved characters are in much need of more power - both Radiants and squires, because they seem in huge disadvantage being only four (six with Jasnah and Lift, but only two of them can actually fight) against the hordes of the Voidbringers... If Dalinar can have squire bond with his soldiers, that wil be extremely helpful, but I doubt it. To my understanding, Bondsmiths are supposed to unite everyone and it seems discriminating to be more bonded to some than to others. Hope that sentence made sense, because my wording was far from the best.

Well, the folklore/religion shows them as two separate places. I wasn't trying to disprove your post as I didn't read it before posting, I just provided a relevant quote on topic. What makes you think Braize used to be the Tranquiline Halls?

I put my spheres on Braize being Damnation and not the Tranquiline Halls from WoR There haven't always been people on Roshar. This isn't the same, but pretty much confirms it: source

They are Kaladin's squires and it has been going on for a while. source Considering how the Order of the Bondsmiths was said to have had 3 members at one point and it wasn't uncommon number, they might not be among the Radiants with squires. It depends on how reliable is in-world WoR.

source

I assumed only Jasnah was able to see the shadow. Like how only Elhokar sees the spren in the mirrors or Shallan draws the Cryptics.

The Ars Arcanum author defies lightweaving as: So, it appears to be part of Ilumination. Whether or not the AAA is correct, is another question. For now, I assume both Lightweavers and Truthwatcher are able to lightweave.

I think it'a reference to the proverb 'A leopard can't change its spots', meaning one's character can't change, especially the flaws.

It's a good point I also thought of. However, Lift doesn't mention to see spren any differently after she visited the Nightwatcher. Not that she sees another spren in her interlude, yet I'd expect Brandon would have foreshadowed something so important. The lack of Paliah's icon in Ym's interlude might be due to the main topic of the chapter - caring for the forgotten and abandoned, but I think the double Vedel icon is another argument for Ym being an Edgedancer. The chapter can be interpreted very well with Paliah's attributes, because Ym was learning (new experiences) and giving (shoes), so why no Paliah's icon then? But it also has no Nin icon unlike Lift's interlude. So, I'm sure where I'm going with this. On the 'use the light' remark, I read it as the spren telling him to inhale stormlight. I suppose this just adds up to the things that can go either way. Has Brandon said anything about Ym?

I think it's the wording you disagree with, not the main point. So, let's agree to disagree on the specifics, because the outcome is the same in this case. It won't be the same in others, but we're talking Kal now. Since I'm off-topic, I'll take full advantage I want to point out one key similarity between Kaladin and Renarin. Neither of them was able to solve problems when they didn't understand their powers. It fits very well one of Brandon's rule of magic that the ability of a character to solve problems with magic should be proportional to the reader's understanding of the said magic. Kaladin always survived, yet until Bridge Four he couldn't save anyone. Renarin saw the future, but that didn't help to prevent the everstorm. It adds up to all other reasons Ren (re)acted as he did and I think it's perfectly understandable and consistent from both metatext and in-world perspectives. Long story short, I expect more awesomeness from Renarin and I really want to know if his foresight can be used as a Rosharian equivalent of burning atium when he masters it. Oh, and I'm dying to know his second Oath! Truthwatchers are so far my favorite Order - esoteric, foresight (my favorite superpower), green (my favorite color), progression and illumination (my favorite surge combination for now). Where do I sign? Also, I'm curious if Ym's interlude foreshadowed the (future) presence of another Truthwatcher. If he was one, of course, which is speculative, but very likely.

Or may be lesser spren don't have a spiritual aspect, so a Blade can't kill them. If other spren like voidspren have a spiritual aspect a Blade can cut, are there some infinite number of them then? I can't imagine even a Shard being able to keep creating them forever and certainly not Odium, the Scrooge of the Shards.

I don't think regular Blade would kill a spren, otherwise every time someone swung a Blade, they'd kill some spren. Syl didn't fear she'd hurt her follow windspren cousins in the Kal-Szeth battle.

You are right, however I was was thinking more in the lines of why not kill the voidspren instead of the poor soul it occupies.

Wouldn't a Shardblade not kill a voidspren, because they aren't/don't have souls, but are cognitive creatures? it would make more sense to kill the spren that caused the parshman to turn into voidbringers, otherwise it's like treating the symptom and not the cause. Or are spren in the spiritual realm as well? I mean if voidspren are the only reason behind the creation of a voidbringer, Blades cutting souls suddenly doesn't seem the most effective way to deal with the issue.

I wonder if only people can become squires. Ryshadiums form some sort of bond with their riders, Lift felt the pain of that larkin and Rysn likely form a bond with one. I wonder if some Orders (like Edgedancers) can have animal squires.

Technically or not, lack of evidence isn't evidence of lack. Kaladin hasn't been in a position to show us his sexuality and romantic preferences. He's been through traumatic experiences and depression, which repressed his sexual/romantic interests until the very end of WoR. We haven't seen enough of him when he's relaxed and interested in having a romantic relationship to make any final conclusions. Let's compare Kaladin to Dalinar. I say it's pretty clear from the text Dalinar's straight. It was said Navani has been his only love interest other than his wife Shshsh. Here we have evidence of lack (as opposed to lack of evidence in Kaladin's case), so I count Dalinar's sexuality as canon straight at this point. Drehy is canon gay character because Brandon said so (another case of evidence of lack of interest in more than one gender), not because of in-universe proof. As far as I am concerned, all other characters have unknown preferences and we lack inarguable evidence of their sexuality.

As far as I am aware of such definitions, the statement is correct. It doesn't exclude any other possibilities for Kaladin's orientation. We can also add that it's save to say Kaladin isn't asexual. Now we're clear on what isn't Kal's sexuality. All we know for sure is that Kal had a bit of crush on Laral and may be a romantic relationship with a girl named Tarah. The easiest conclusion is that Kaladin is straight, however it's far from the only option.The possibility of Kal being bi doesn't have much text support, however lack of evidence isn't evidence of lack. It's understandable for Kal to not have naughty thoughts on a bridge run. In WoR he shows romantic interest in the only person he felt connected to - Shallan. He doesn't have such a bond, such shared understanding even with his fellow bridgemen. So Kaladin really hasn't let himself relax enough to fancy anyone, but Shallan at the very end. Not enough to declare his sexual orientation. I personally fan-ship Kadolin and Jasadin, but both are equally unlikely as far as theory shipping goes.

It's not confirmed. The spren Elhokar sees act differently than the Cryptics around Shallan. Also, note that Elhokar is aware of the spren's presence unlike Shallan who sees Cryptics only in Memory sketches, Taravangian and Jasnah don't see the Crypstics at all. Elhokar's moving shadows are mentioned in WoR prologue and are caused by different type of spren, not Cryptics.

Some of the names of the Silver kingdoms look/sound like they can be connected to a herald, but not all of them and some names of the Heralds seem missing. I agree there's likely something, however I don't think the names are enough to determine to which herald does a kingdom go. I'd put Alethela with Talenelat as he is a herald of war and Alethela was focused on fighting. Also, I want to point out on the drawing of the Silver kingdoms, the Heralds are presented on defferent locations than on the KR chart - Paliah is on top as opposed to Ishi on the KR chart.

Ah, I forgot he mentioned the Ghostbloods after Helaran's death, my bad. If the Ghostbloods want to weaken Restaras, kidnapping Amaram to interrogate him works even better than killing him on the spot if they don't have enough intelligence on Restaras/the Sons of Honor. They seemed too interested in Amaram's plans and actions to simply want to murder him, so I agree with you.