Pattern

@maxal:Good points. I have to add another thought I'd like to hear your opinion of: The Rift and Rathalas Spoiler The Thrill is happening "34 year ago", Dalinar meets Shshshsh later, I think "28 years ago", so those events Kadash is referring to are probably not related to Shshshsh's death. Another thing we assume is, that the event Kadash refers to is related to Shshshsh's death because Dalinar cannot remember it. This is likely but not necessary. Dalinar has forgotten everything about his wife, this does not mean that he hasn't forgotten anything else. I am smelling the odour of fish, a red herring...

Spanreeds are a kind of pairing (conjoining) fabrial, made from one gemstone (ruby) (with a captured spren in it) and then cut in half. If you move one, the other moves in the same direction. I guess cutting the gemstone also splits the spren in half? The important thing to remember though is that spanreeds are paired. You can only write to the one other spanreed paired to yours. So probably Heathstone has one spanreed, connected to the hub in Tashikk (the city Tyn uses) or another city with similar information houses. From there the message can be relayed to the destination. On the need of stormlight to use them: I am not sure, the required energy is given by the movement of the first spanreed (double as heavy as it would be without the pairing), so it might be that the trapped spren is enough to make it work.

We know for WoR (or the ending of WoK?) that parshmen are even used to raise human children, they are practically everywhere. I guess it's impossible for them to leave the great cities without someone noticing, and even if they would, the powers that be would have to wonder where all the parshmen have gone. The next logical point would be to rethink Dalinar's warnings and acknowledge the truth. Parshmen are mostly inert, they stand still and do nothing until someone tells them so. Their sudden vanishing would be highly suspicious, even without them wreaking havoc in the process.

I am quite sure there is a WoB that the highstorms were on Roshar before the coming of Honor and Cultivation but that they were filled with Stormlight later. Adonalsium's Investiture (that what he/she/it left in the system) can be found as splinters, Adonalsium-spren. Also somewhere the energy for the Highstorms themselves have to come from. This mechanism could also be originated from Adonalsium's Investiture. Or just "natural" weather patterns, as the time of the weeping is related to the orbital position of Roshar. The symbiosis between spren and the fauna of Roshar does not necessarily need Stormlight, as it also upholds during the weeping when all Stormlight reserves have run out. The Nahel bond also still exists in absence of Stormlight. Parshendi going out into the storms to change their forms is possibly not related to the Stormlight in there but to the presence of many spren in the Highstorms. Before the arrival of the Shards on Roshar, those would have been Adonalsium spren only, now there are also mixed spren of Honor and Cultivation (for example the masses of windspren riding the Highstorm in WoR). As far as I know, the spren doing symbiosis are mainly lesser spren who don't really realize what happens when they are caught in a gemheart. It's part of their natural life cycle. Of course with Odium riding the Everstorm and the voidspren on Roshar once more, it won't be lesser spren only anymore. Back to the main topic. I guess most of Adonalsiums Investiture went into the Shards, that is all of the Investiture that hasn't been left behind on one or the other planet. With the individual Intent of each shard this Investiture got another type of flavour for each Shard, so it cannot be called Adonalsium's Investiture anymore. Remnants of Adonalsium's Investiture can be found as Adonalsium spren on Roshar (possibly the ancient spren facilitating the Parshendi transformation) or as ambient magic on lesser shardworlds like First of the Sun and Threnody. Since not all shardpools/perpendicularities are associated with a Shard, those which are not should still be caused by a greater gathering of Investiture. This then can only be Adonalsium's Investiture. Additionally, should Adonalsium have left behind a bigger chunk of free Investiture, it should have gained sentience by now and might not be recognizable as "of Adonalsium" anymore. Like Roshar, all planets predating the shattering of Adonalsium could have some remnants of that Investiture, during rereads one could look for stuff that does not fit properly into the respective Shard's magic system. No examples come to my mind right now.

Assuming Dalinar killed Shshshsh, then his boon could be that everybody forgets that it was he who killed her. This would include Adolin and Renarin holding no grudge against him for it. Resilient or not, this they would not easily forgive. The curse is then that Dalinar himself forgets her intirely. I am still not on to the theory that Dalinar killed Shshshsh himself, though it is not unlikely when you've read The Thrill. Edit: The events happening in the Rift (The Thrill) are before Adolin and Renarin were born, so obviously before Shshshsh died. There might have been another incident in the Rift later which led to Shshshsh's death. BTW, did you notice Shshshsh is an ideal symmetric Vorin name, regarding "Sh" is one sound?

Certainly it makes sense to pull the parshmen together out of small villages where they were in the minority. I am looking forward to what happens in big cities where parshmen were quite abundant (think of Kharbranth and Kholinar). Pulling the parshmen out there steathily would have been a missed chance of wreaking havoc. Another thing is that we still don't know how many parshmen were transformed at all. Those in close shelters might still be unaffected by the Everstorm. Next questions: What is the size of the Everstorm? Does is cover all of Roshar in one passing or just a restricted area? The summoning of the Everstorm was disturbed after all and it could be possible that it is smaller and weaker than originally intended, so it takes multiple passes to transform most parshmen.

I can not understand how someone can call Adolin a coward for not confessing on Sadeas' murder. He would be outright stupid if he confessed at this point. Adolin might not be the brightest candle in the chandelier but he is all but stupid. The tough thing he has to do is to work through his own guilt, and we see him doing that slowly (micromanaging, being a bit snappy, etc.). A confession would make dealing with the guilt easier, would be an easy way out for him. So taking the hard way in this matter could also be counted as braveness. Adolin does not seem to fear the consequences for his person, more the consequences for Dalinar and Alethkar in general. And by the way, was it murder or manslaughter or even self defense? Sadeas' practically threatened to kill the Kholins at a later time - or try it. And as we all know, he already tried his best. In the case of this, our favourite useless king Elhokar should have taken the matter in his hands long ago and removed Sadeas as highprince (exeuted him, the Tower was basically high treason against Alethkar, weakening the armies a great deal). Being proactive und dealing justice would be a good way for Elhokar to get what he wants, by the way. As he is, people will see him as whimsical and useless and to their best to get their own will.

That was the point in my original statement. Technically Dalinar did not usurp power from Elhokar in Urithiru. It is percieved and felt differently up to this point. Dalinar has to embrace his role as Bondsmith yet, I guess that's part of what Oathbringer is about. Oh yes! Still out out rep-points, so take a cookie and a (+1) later Are we sure this writ still exists? I could imagine Dalinar destroying that as the visions turned out not to be madness (when Navani was able to identify his mumbles as the dawnchant). At least that is what I would do in his position, and I don't think Adolin would have been unwilling to get rid of the responsibiity.

Something about Moash: In TWoK he developed from annoying to a little less annoying, just to become quite despicable in WoR. I don't think he is irredeemable though. For Kaladin, he was the only real friend during his time as a bridgeman, because he was annoying and didn't follow him like sheep (more or less). So I guess Kaladin not giving up on Moash yet is not a bad thing. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Kaladin should be careful of Moash, should they meet again.

Two things making the chapter extremely satisfying for me. First the reunion with his family and Kaladin getting some hug-time. Second the PERFECT Roshone-punch. As a side note, Kaladin percieving Roshones outdated fashion sence with a reference to Adolin also made me smile. And the feeling of coming home after a long time, realizing all the stuff that has changed in between and falling back to childhood/youth behaviour none the less. Needless to say, I would prefer having the complete book in front of me so I could avoid the cliffhanger.

I heartily disagree. The Alethi are just refugees. If they could establish a rule in Urithiru, perhaps they could establish it as a de-facto province for a short time. As it is, mainly Dalinar's people explore the city and Dalinar organizes an interim administration. Without the Radiants, nobody has access to the city nor can leave it. It would be an Alethi prison at best, a starving ground at worst (no chance that the supplies last a season until the first harvest could be brought in). To call Urithiru an Alethi de-facto province like the Shattered Plains is just wrong. The Alethi are guests at best, thanks to Shallan who brought them there. Of course at the moment there is no Radiant population worth the name, but it should be clear that Urithiru historically was and also will be associated with the Knights Radiant. There are Oathgates to ten major or formerly major cities all over Roshar. As soon as they are opened, the Alethi won't be the majority of the population anymore. So Dalinar - as the only Bondsmith until now - taking charge in Urithiru makes much more sense than Elhokar. Elhokar would have to be removed as soon as the other nations came in. Situated above Highstorms and the Everstorm, Urithiru will be humanity's bastion against Odium, not just some Alethi city.

Urithiru existed as the mythological home of the Knights Radiants. Though it might not have been a political entitity a week ago, now it is. The Knights Radiant are back and without a living shardblade nobody can even enter or leave Urithiru (well, there might or might not be the way Nohadon walked to Urithiru). Nor does anyone know the exact location in Roshar. It definitely is not situated in Alethkar and Elhokar's authority there is nil. People will have to understand this, also Dalinar hopefully will sooner or later leave Alethkar behind.

Yummie, cookies... They could demand a duel ;-)

Also (+1) And on Dalinar usurping power: Technically he has done no such thing. He feels he did it, but: Urithiru is not and has never been a part of Alethkar. The King of Alethkar is an embassador in Urithiru at best. Leading the armies to fight the Parshendi (to prevent the Everstorm) also falls into the responsibilities of a general. The discovery of Urithiru and the escape there was a byproduct and Dalinar, being the only Bondsmith now, is the one in charge in Urithiru, Elhokar really has no right to any role of leadership there. And the Radiant City being annected to Alethkar is a thing unthinkable with Knights Radiants reappearing. Another though, on Kaladin: I have the hunch he finally will resolve his childhood/youth dilemma with protecting and killing. Having become a Windrunner, he hopefully is able to make clear to Lirin, that this is exactly what Windrunners do. They protect, and kill in the process if necessary.

Well, Dalinar tells Elhokar he has a plan Elhokar would probably like. He tries to keep him in the loop. And for real: Elhokar's whining and spinelessness needs to end. Letting him rule as he wanted would mean Odium had already won. I also read a lot of darkness in his - admittedly mature lines - at the wedding. Let's see where he is rolling... With all her Breaths, Vivenna still could look young. I guess there is no obvious reason for her to stay in Hearthstone for years though. Agreed. No more upvotes left, so...(+1)

@Oversleep's "Brandon told me the end of the Cosmere, but I am not allowed to share it" - and all instigated by Brandon - comes to my mind immediately. Brandon would never troll us... Without much reason I suspect Mara is Vivenna. But would Renarin be able to view into Shadesmar? The surge to travel there is only available to Lightweavers and Elsecallers, but I guess taking a peek in there is possible for every Radiant. I think Kaladin also has had one of these glimpses, but I have to look it up to be sure. Spoiler Unfettered II, The Thrill: I only read that Evie was abducted. And Dalinar went berserk after that. What else happened seems murky for me. Either she was killed by the abductors, or killed while Dalinar tried to free her, or he accidentally killed her himself while trying to free her, or he freed her still living, doing atrocities in the process nonetheless. Spoiler :The Thrill: So while it is not unlikely that Evie suffered a violent death, I don't think it is something of a given. @maxal: As for Hesina hiding: She isn't really hiding, she is being interrupted. Sneaky Brandon... Yeah well, I smiled at this, but there was so MUCH else to mention ;-) If we are talking about a finished book, these parts could be from a time when Jasnah hasn't embraced her heretic nature, yet. So she still is defensive about it then, which she wouldn't be in present time anymore. But not because they valued him less than Kaladin. They tried him as second surgeon apprentice, but Tien could not see blood. Since it didn't get better, he had to do something else. And Tien liked carving and working as a carpenter, he was even good at it. I don't see Kaladin's parents valueing Tien less. He has been dead for some years though, Hesina and Lirin had time to mourn him, and now Kaladin walks in after being thought dead for more than a year. I guess their reaction is natural and in no way biased. If the book is not from present day, it must have been from before the Recreance, since we read of Shadesmar, etc. I think the sunmaker was after the Recreance, right?

Well, Kaladin just punches him in the face. He didn't draw Syl and punched him in the face with Syl. So this is perfectly in accordance with his oaths. No real damage done, but a big satisfaction. I don't know how I would have reacted if Kaladin had pulled in his tail there.

Ok, it is as I feared...Some hours late and already 4 pages of comments. Without reading any comments I'll put my own first impressions here and then go to a slow reread - work interfered. 1.) Epigraphs The new epigraphs read as if the could have been written by Jasnah, though that would not fit to the assumption "Oathbringer" is an old in-world book. 2.) Wedding Concerning Dalinar and Navani's wedding there are some remarkable points. First, ardents being unwilling, Dalinar circumvents the Vorin church and uses the Stormfather as "priest". Brilliant, but also dangerous in two ways: The Oath by the Stormfather I imagine to be very binding, no going back there, I guess. On the other hand, I guess the devotaries will cause trouble because of the slight in the future. The second point was Adolin's true happiness (joyspren around him) for his father and his aunt. Not really surprising, but very endearing. Edit: I totally missed the dishwasher. And I am fairly sure that this phrase was just to show how desperately Navani wanted to marry Dalinar, really no matter who performed the ceremony. As someone mentioned before, Zahel would have been an easier choice, he probably wouldn't have minded the opinion of the ardentia at all. Of course, using the Stormfather is just epic. As for Navani showing gloryspren: She has been seducing Dalinar in the open for at least one and a half books now (I really don't know how much time that refers to inworld, I imagine about half a year), and she secretly coveted Dalinar at least since Gavilar's death 6 or 7 years ago, if not longer (Coveting Dalinar while still married to Gavilar would be counted as Oathbreaking by the Stormfather, I guess). I don't see anything sinister in her showing gloryspren after this long struggle against Dalinar's thickheadedness (some would call it orthodoxy), when she finally succeeds. 3.) Kaladin in Heartstone After summoning a gloomspren (as mentioned a rare and severly hunted type of spren), Kaladin decides at last not to let the rain determine his mood. The meeting with his parents is perfect in my opinion. Though Lirin states that Kaladin should not have joined Amaram's army in the first place (a small reprimand), Kaladin is recieved by loving parents. Also a nice note: Kaladin returns home and nearly falls back into childhood. His parents treat him like he didn't change at all though he sees how everyone around him got older and a lot of things have changed. Oh how I recognize this feeling. Being with your parents and grandparents, you are always the child again - and have to work hard not to fall into old behaviour...It is not a bad thing, though. I am eagerly looking forward to the situation with Roshone. I guess, finally Kaladin will kick chull and won't let himself be pulled down again. Another chapter would have been nice here, I can't wait for the next weeks! Edit: After having read the comments up to my posting from yesterday (bugger, over night there popped up 6 more pages), I can only say that Kaladin's punch was the most satisfying scene I've read in a long while. I don't see the need for him to pull Syl in the probably following brawl with Roshone's guards. They were described as wannabes, Kaladin can bring them down unarmed. For the lack of stormlight: What happened to Lirin's bowl of spheres? He is tending to the wounded, so it might be near, if unmentioned until now. And at least some of those broams would still hold stormlight - even in the second half of the weeping (the Everstorm was summoned on Lightday, I think). 4.) New(?) Spren Types Passionspren - romance during the Everstorm Joyspren - Adolin is really happy for his father Gloomspren - Kaladin attracts them first and wonders why they don't appear more often (that made me somehow laugh out loud!). Here we get an example that there are rare spren, who have to be near in the CR to be attracted to a quite common emotion. Perhaps a species in danger of extinction, they are hunted by Honorspren after all. Starspren - not sure whether they are new or not. Shockspren - I think we haven't seen them before 5.) Dalinar doubts the Godliness of Honor Another point of conflict with the devotaries, I would say. And he refers to his "vision" with the warm light as from something beyond. Do we really have something from what we call The God Beyond here, or does Dalinar assume too much? Some more facts and questions: - The Stormfather has been bonded before: "YES. THE FIRST IN MILLENNIA TO BIND ME" =>this also confirms the Recreance having happened at least two thousand years ago. - There are baskets to lower spheres into Highstorms in Urithiru. Stormlight reserves shouldn't be a big problem after all (as soon as the Weeping ends) - Dalinar confesses to Navani that he has no memories of Shshshsh (Evie) at all. - The behaviour of the non-willing Ardent at the wedding makes me looking forward to more Dalinar flashbacks. What happened in the Rift? - Spheres in the Everstorm are neither charged with Stormlight nor with Voidlight - What does Syl's "Besides, there was... another voice. Pure with a song like tapped crystal, distant yet demanding..." mean? Any ideas? Edit: The suggestions I like most are Tien or Cultivation. I tend to prefer Cultivation (crystal, distant and demanding). Time she showed up, don't you think? - Honorspren used to hunt other spren (or still do in the CR?)

NOW

I guess in a few hours we will see whether the style will change with the POV. But perhaps the quick pace in the first three chapters is a result of trimming the book under 500k words.

Send him Nightblood - oh wait, that is somehing Hoid would do, since it probably had the destruction of Roshar as consequence. I suppose that won't happen in the first nine books, at least.

@Darkness, @maxal:In the vision in WoK, the figure in gold, who identifies himself later as the Almighty says: We have a lot of could and might in there, so the champion of Odium appearing in the vision where Honor shows his greatest fear (not the future) is no real contradiction to the other vision where Honor suggests the champion. The phrasing "get him to choose" also leaves room for interpretation. A concious act of Odium seems to be likely, I don't think the conciousness of the choosing is strictly necessary, though. If Odium is bound by rules and Dalinar - or someone else - would present only one candidate to choose from (e.g. someone totally lost to the Thrill), this person would become Odiums champion. That is quite constructed and a concious action by Odium seems much smoother to me Dawnshards ... I guess we will get more about them quite soon. About the gold: Honor appears in one vision as a figure in gold, in another the golden light backlighting Odium's champion is said to be Odium himself. Looks like that shards on Roshar have a faible for gold.

A very interesting and plausible mechanism for Odium to "choose" his champion. From the things we see in "The Thrill" that does not seem improbable. I don't think the champion in the vision has any physical resemblance to Dalinar though, but that Dalinar recognizes the emotion in the eyes. Under the assumption that the vision is of Honor (without external, newer influences), Honor would have not been able to foresee possible candidates and their physical features with his restricted ability to see the future.

The unification of Roshar does not mean that Dalinar wants to become emperor of Roshar or somehing like it. The Silver Kingdoms also collaborated and were coordinated with the help of the Knights Radiant. They all had access to Urithiru via Oathgate. Rebuilding these institutions and infrastructure, and bringing the different kingdoms together to intervene quickly at hotspots in the desolation would also count as unification, I guess. I am really looking forward to Taravangian's reaction to Dalinars greater unification attempt, since Taravangian has the same goal, but quite different means and Taravangian also wants to lead all of Roshar himself. Szeth as his assassin is gone now, though, so Mr. T has to improvise again. The Thrill is, as far as we know, caused by the Unmade Nergaoul, while the Rhythms are not Roshar specific but beat through from the Spiritual Realm. So the Thrill is one of Odium's means to influence humankind. What better strategy than to make your enemies take care of themselves...

There is just no time for hesitation anymore. The Everstorm will hit land again very soon, so the transformation of parshmen in the western regions will start. Not knowing the scale of the Everstorm yet, it might take one or several passings over Roshar to start finish the transformations of the parshmen. The urgency of the situation leaves Dalinar really no time to restrict himself and wait for whimsical Elhokar to recuperate. Perhaps Renarin knows that he can't because of something we and nobody else know. And something is off with him being a Proto-Radiant? He somehow became suspicious for me during that scene and I am thrilled to read more. I really don't see Adolin keeping his cleaning action (I won't call it murder, though it technically was) secret for much longer. I've got the impression that he is nearly bursting with guilt, already showing in his deteriorating mood and quick temper. The Thrill made him a junkie in the first place. With all consequences. In WoK and WoR, the Thrill was not described as crass as in the flashback: "It was a fire that filled the pit within"..."Dalinar smiled. Then the smile became a toothy grin". That looks a lot like strong drug addiction. We know from WoR that Dalinar has a lot of scars that should have diminished his agility significantly. Did the Thrill help him ignoring the wounds and help with the healing, like Stormlight would have done? Well, stormlight heals wounds without scars (as long as you don't think the scars a vital part of your identity), so there is a difference. There is a theory that Dalinar used small amounts of Stormlight before. Now I think he could have used voidlight, somehow drawn from Nergaoul while being under the Thrill.