Pattern

This is the part of Shallan she decides to show the public. There are also suppressed hidden parts which emerge in her illusions. And there is a part of her that hates being described as diverting or clever, adjectives closely related to the artist and scholar Shallan. In fact, Shallan uses sketching and studying as diversions, too. Even as a child she went out into the garden to draw things to get her mind from possibly bad things happening in her family, so finally she became an artist (and also a Lightweaver as a child). This can also be seen as a coping mechanism, which I think is a normal and good way to deal with stuff you cannot change. Shallan realizes most times what she is doing and conciously decides to continue it. The dangerous moments are when she doesn't realize and is not able to tell truth from lies. She bluffed the Unmade whom she was totally open to while lying to herself. It was the only way to bluff (she had to believe the lie herself as truth so Re-Shephir would read it as thus) and she had to bluff since she didn't know how to imprison Re-Shephir again. One part of the lying was to hide her secrets from her past, but the most important hidden secret is that Shallan had no idea how to deal with Re-Shephir. You call her lying a crutch, I call it a tool. There is certainly the danger of losing herself in the personas but also the possiblity to control them in acknowledging that a part of Shallan is the core of every single one of her personas. Those personas are not herself, since Shallan not only uses Illumination but also Transformation. I think when Shallan becomes Veil or Radiant she takes weak personality traits of herself and augments them, transforming herself in the process. And I see Shallan realizing this slowly in the last chapters.

I also read that scene as if Shallan drew her face over Veil's face instinctively. And this is not so far from the truth, since the Shallan we see is just another persona she assumes. But I really read progress for Shallan in these chapters. She realizes that she is none of her personas but all her personas are her. She also switches instinctively between her personas as she needs them and she is again able to create illusions from lost drawings as she did while telling the story about the Girl who looked up. Also, bluffing one of the Unmade seems quite an achievement to me as the acknowledging that she is someone who lies and will continue to do so forever. This might be the core of her personality. Shallan lies to herself and the world around her to achieve what she thinks she has to. We can like this or not, we can see this as unhealthy behaviour or just as a quirk, but it is what Shallan is. This realization I see as the major progress for Shallan in these awsome chapters.

Thanks for writing that. Now I don't have to. Re-Shephir is the Unmade who spawns midnight essences. I guess you want to see the other Unmade. As do I. And I am curious whether the old Lightweaver trapped Re-Shephir in a sphere glowing with black light.

Late start today for me. Re-Shephir...let me have a look at my guess from last week ;-) Edit: Finally a correct guess

You are right, and that one hits uncomfortably close to home. I also always feel it easier to fight someone else's battles while fighting my own is so much more difficult. Perhaps you just found out and made clear to me what makes me sympatize with Adolin so much.

Thanks for clarifying. Seems I also fell back to old concepts I somewhen read about.

Dalinar is Highking of Urithiru now. He cannot do anything against desicions Elhokar makes concerning Alethkar, but he can decide to banish him from Urithiru. The problem I see, that @maxal has pointed out, is that Dalinar wants to use everyone he can get. The question is if and when the declaration of Dalinar as Highking is published. Does not destroying the gemstone break the bond?

Welcome to my world. But I try not to light up at every spark. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. You are totally right in analyzing that the emotions break through when one feels powerless. I don't see Adolin as becoming static until now, though he is certainly more in the background than I would like. I am not sure whether I agree with you on Adolin having the wrong image of the ideal person. Obviously Amaram is not that ideal anymore, Adolin has seen through his crem. Acknowleging who he is and realizing what his strengths and weaknesses are would indeed help him. I don't want to see Adolin become stoic. That is totally unrealistic and it would also be boring. What I want to see is Adolin owning his feelings and using them at the right time in the right way. For me the characterization would be quite static if Adolin didn't try to work on his impulsiveness. He won't be able to make a 180 degree turn. He certainly is in a moral trap as you described very astutely. We also see the stress he is under, beginning at his snappiness toward workers in the first chapters, going on to him talking to Gallant and grieving Sureblood until calling Amaram "bastard" at his elevation to Highprince (which I reacted to with great agreement and satisfaction when reading it). This does not mean he has to break under the stress to make a development. He can also recuperate and learn from his experiences. On Dalinar wanting to use every resource he can get: I think this is desperate reasoning, and it is tactially unsound. You would usually prefer an army with generals you can rely on. Backstabbing Highprinces are more hindrance than advantage as you would neither want deserters in your army. If that backstabbing Highprince happens to be the Nemesis of your former Captain of the Guard, now one of five known Knight Radiants (Kaladin, Shallan, Renarin, Malata and Dalinar - Jasnah still has not reappeared and Lift has been preoccupied with pancakes until recently), Dalinar's reasoning becomes outright ridiculous. So here I totally agree with Adolin's assessment of the situation. Adolin does not analyze, I guess it's more a gut feeling for him that Dalinar's decision was crem. In the end, I trust Brandon not to let Adolin become boring and unimportant. Probably I will be Ok with either possible development, though I have my preferences as you have yours - and I hope you won't be disappointed either. Thank you for your detailed arguments and elaborations. They are very insightful and do give me another perspective on things.

Yes, war is insensitive. And I think it is best not to know the soldier who killed your relatives in a war personally. Sometimes not knowing the details and the anonymity of war is better for relatives than holding grudges besides the grief. Does any relative of a darkeyed spearman know who the enemy was who killed their relative? Probably not. Applying the same standards for everyone and putting aside that we have two protagonists in a novel, it does not matter who killed Helaran. He could have had a very unlucky day and been killed by a random arrow. Shallan's brother still would be dead, the grief would be the same and not knowing who fired the arrow would not matter at all.

Is it really important? Helaran was killed in combat. Kaladin was the one who happened to kill a Shardbear(er) nearly unarmed who otherwise would have killed the one Kaladin chose to protect and himself. Shallan lost her brother long before that day, when he left the family for good. The fact that it was Kaladin who killed her brother in combat instead of Amaram is a mere detail which only matters because of their possibly budding feelings for each other. On a professional level (colleagues as KR) this should be no hindrance at all. Helaran went to war willingly. And guess what? People die in wars, you can't hold a grudge against former enemies not to let themselves be killed. Oh, and I don't find excuses for Kaladin, because I think there is nothing to be excused in the first place, Does knowing the truth help Shallan in any way? No. It turns out to be just another fact she shoves down into her subconcious and perhaps choses to suppress totally. She has practice doing these things. Her not knowing would have been best as long as she does not seek revenge against the wrong person (or as long as the wrong person is Amaram). Well this last possibilty went down the toilet this week. The only scenario I see where it is necessary for Shallan to know the truth is where she starts an intimate relationship with Kaladin.

What would sacrificing himself bring? A punishment for a justified killing. Probably no character growth at all, dead people don't grow anymore. (I know, we like different kinds of stories - I am looking forward to a character who is not broken. There are resilient people in real life, too, who survive traumatic experiences more or less unscathed. Not everybody has to be "damaged goods". So as long as Adolin does not break, I say "Yeah!".) If Adolin confesses a murder at all, then after killing Highprince Sadeas - again. I also see it rather positively when a character aspires to be someone he is not, yet. Ideals are important to improve yourself. Adolin is not so dense to think that he is a calm soldier. The image of that can help him to become at least a bit calmer. It is not always useful to be a firebrand, like he used to be most of the time. I really can not see what good could have come of that. "Hey, now that we are honest to each other, by the way, it was me who killed your brother. Think on that, then you can feel really warm and comfortable in the upcoming flashflood"...Ok, that would be the worst possible way to bring up the topic, I just can't see a way where telling this secret in a Highstorm, where both of them are afraid anyway, would be good. It actually shows the sensitiveness in Kaladin that Adolin is lacking in our current scene. I wonder what Kaladin would have been called by some of us, if he had told Shallan about killing her brother while she was pouring her heart out. "Insensitive" probably would have been a very mild word, then. So let me elaborate my thoughts on the H-bomb now. I have read a lot about how Shallan could feel betrayed by Kaladin and how insensitive Adolin has been to her. Don't understand me wrong, I usually like Shallan. Here she is quite unreasonable though. In this conversation, Adolin definitely is a bit blunt and naive, also feeling awkward. But he intuitively assesses the situation correctly - given the facts Shallan and Kaladin have given him so far. Shallan gives no outward emotional reaction and falls into her protection mechanism not thinking about Helaran and Kaladin. Adolin assumes from what Shallan told him so far that Shallan and Helaran have not been very close, so there is no reason he could expect emotional distress from Shallan without her showing any. So Adolin being curious of the reasons for Helaran attacking Amaram in the first place is ok. He cannot read Shallan's mind and if she did go on with the topic, this thought process could have even helped her to overcome her grief or at least the potential anger against Kaladin for killing her brother. What Adolin might see, though, is the grand betrayal standing in the room, which we have not focussed on until now - we were too focussed on the fly while the elephant stood right in front of us. "Poor bridgeboy." Should Kaladin return at this moment, he is the one who has been betrayed by Dalinar. Dalinar promised him justice. A postponement of Amaram's trial to a time after the Desolation is absolutely ridiculous and even worse than Sadeas' delay of the duel Adolin and Kaladin earned. There Elhokar has been chasticed for not focussing on the right priorites and enforcing the duel soon instead of throwing a tantrum. Now Dalinar practically broke his word (as long as he does not take away the shardblade and imprison Amaram right away as Highking of Urithiru, no matter the Alethi rank), and should also get a chasticement. With the decision to make Amaram Highprince, Dalinar endangers everything. Kaladin has been betrayed by Lighteyes often enough, even with his Third Oath, I see him overreacting and flying (falling) right away as soon as he gets information of Amaram having become Highprince with the approval of Dalinar. He will be in a doubting state of mind anyway because of his unexpected experiences with the Listeners. Having Dalinar break his word might just push Kaladin away for good. I don't see Kaladin and Amaram staying in Urithiru together. Kaladin accepting him would be totally unbelievable. So I expect either Kaladin demanding a decision "him or me" from Dalinar or the Urithiru Garbage Service taking care of the problem (that is Adolin killing Highprince Sadeas - again). So, Adolin saying "poor bridgeboy" hits the nail on the head. He might be blunt and insensitive towards Shallan, but he sees the bad spot Kaladin is in again. He tries to steer Shallan's thoughts and feelings to a place where she could be able not to hold a grudge against Kaladin. Kaladin getting trouble from Shallan, too, would be too much. I am really looking forward to Adolin's further actions in this regard. A confession of having killed Torol is not what I expect of him. Getting rid of Amaram though,...

Dalinar states that the upcoming battle is the first real batte after two years of political maneuvering, which in the months before the battle consisted of pillaging the coutryside of their rivals. Since Evi is present before the major battle, she probably would have been with the army during the pillaging, so there should indeed have been enough time to get closer. Up to this point, Evi has not become a great love for Dalinar. I think that has two main reasons: First her brother trying to wiggle in new terms to the agreement, which gives the engangement a bad politcal taste. Trust is not built, when every now and then new demands come up. The second reason is Dalinar's bloodlust, which is definitely not shared by Evi. While one would assume that this would keep Evi away from Dalinar, it is the other way around. Dalinar has problems being himself and feels uncomfortable in front of Evi. This could change though, as soon as Dalinar leashes the Blackthorn, which I think will happen after his Oath to himself never to become King. Until now, Evi is much too sweet and nice for the Blackthorn. This has to change because of Navani's recollections of Shshshsh in WoK and WoR: Evi is still described as sweet and quite the opposite of cunning. We know that Dalinar suppressed his feelings toward Navani the whole time but playing the loving, matching couple for years is something I don't think Dalinar could have pulled off. Also, his outward behaviour must have changed significantly to be called "matched in temperament" with Evi. I don't see any match in the flashback chapters. In those, I get the feeling that they don't match at all. On the other hand, Dalinar could have bundled his true feelings and his true temperament into a tight knot, playing the outside for years. Then that knot burst, with consequences to speculate about. Evi's resulting death would not be too farfetched in this case. The great question is whether Dalinar changes truly from the Blackthorn to present day Dalinar while Evi is still around or whether it is all an act, perhaps until Gavilar's assassination. And when does the act become reality? Well, I also had some thoughts on Adolin dropping the H-bomb on Shallan. This post has become longer than intended and my time is up for now. So to keep it short, I didn't read Adolin's reaction as negative as many others did. I guess it depends on the tone the reader imagines the speaker using. More on this topic later.

Dalinar also wishes the marriage would be finally done. With Vorin background we can assume that Dalinar and Evi have not been intimate, yet. So an important part of "love" is still missing. He could still grow to love her. Two years of courting might seem long, but with all the campaigning those two might have had precious little face to face time. I also think that Evi loved Dalinar much more than the other way around. I also think it is too early to tell for sure. I think this is the lowest point he gets. In the end he realized he wanted to kill his brother and feels the proper amount of shame for it. Subsequently he swears to never become king. We know what his oath led to. Also, we saw the final battle in the Alethkar unification. Further skirmishes to consolidate power would be on a lesser scale, so the Thrill would not be as prominent. It does not slowly leave for Dalinar until the nausea starts at WoK, but the circumstances should be better for Dalinar to keep it under control. Of course there still is the event that drove Kadash to the Ardentia. It could have been this last figurative gory battle or something worse still. I tend to think this was it. From this flashback chapter on we probably will see the Backthorn leashing himself.

Spritual destruction -

Eh, who? Renarin

Lets talk bit about Shallan's illusions. She seems to be able to create Lightweavings from images she has drawn as a young child while telling the story. People in the watching crowd have to be people she has drawn recently, since she has lost her sketchbooks to the ocean. This, I think, is only a limitation originating in Shallan's perception. The details of the walls and the landscape she creates also have been lost in time and space, still she is subconciously using those drawings. She should also be able to use her lost sketches as she probably will be to make Lightweavings without sketching anything first.

Dalinar killing hundreds of men, some of them his own, in mere minutes could very well be what drove him to the Ardentia. Edit: Ninjaed

Lightweavers were known to keep up morale with the KR. This might be just one of their tools.

I want to see those! Dancing to the Rhythms... @Nymeros: no, you didn't edit that away! no...

I also had Midnight Essence in mind. Because it's squishy and it lingers in the dark parts of Urithiru. Or it's Re-Shephir, the Unmade responsible for spawning Midnight Essence. It also seems to have the ability to make Shallan draw weird stuff neither she herself nor Pattern can remember being drawn. This seems to be a bit much for simple Midnight Essence.

Pattern is in Bladeform there, so he communicates talking to Shallan's mind. Like Syl does with Kaladin and Nightblood with whoever wants to slay some Evil today.

I totally agree. It's nearly sad that the rest of the book probably won't get such detailed discussion, because it really is fun. Perhaps we can do a reread after binge reading Oathbringer for the rest of the book. Three chapters a week seems the perfect amount for discussing. Though a lot of questions that arise in a serialized release will be already answered by later chapters.

Dragonsteel Prime Bridge Four 5 is out here

Spoiler Sixth of the Dusk: Hmm, I considered it a typo and edited it away... Any thoughts? Typo or not? Edit: The webpage from today also has edited away the double epigraph. No more "Dalinar remembered —From Oathbringer, preface". I share your pains Bring back the murder story and focus it on Adolin, he's the one hiding something, not Shallan doing more investigation. I want the secret to come out Lets make a rant chorus. Well, Ialai was a bit disappointing, though she could be playing Adolin subtly. Bringing Amaram and Helaran into the stew in one chapter definitely makes me think Kaladin should stay a bit longer with the Voidspren and the Parshmen. Did I mention I find Mraize's chicken very interesting? Totally worth the disruption of the Ialai-Adolin conversation. That chicken does behave strangely. Av-Av-Av... Kaladin's story arc I found absolutely boring this week, until the Voidspren made her appearance. And let's be honest, Kaladin was often refered to as "hateful" in WoR, so an affinity of Odiumspren to Kaladin does not surprise. It might become interesting how close he stays to his Oaths when baited by the Voidspren. Will we get a furious and jealous Syl next week? - Some more ranting about the serial release - in one month we will be reading the whole book (or have read it already) The Parshmen being quite peaceful as a ruse? I don't think so, the Voidspren couldn't have known that Kaladin would follow exactly their group. Except it is really good at seeing the future. And the caravans went missing, implying they were attacked by Voidbringers. Perhaps you are on to something... Taravangian playing Dalinar? I don't think so. We know that his intelligence varies randomly from day to day. He just has a day of low intelligence and high compassion. That is why he is always looking at Adrotagia for confirmation and explanations. In the long game, Taravangian is certainly playing or trying to use Dalinar. But not on this particular day, here he is just smart enough not to admit to all his crimes. He is close to doing it though... I don't see the murder investigation being taken away from Adolin. Shallan is to chase out the dark thing from Urithiru. Adolin coming up with a cover-up of him killing Sadeas still stays, although the copycat murders are done by something different (it does not have to be the same as the darkness, the twistedness of Urithiru). I expect there to be more chapters with those two together. As we steadily walk towards the climax of part one, it might be time for some mating now...

Less than 24 hours and we will know more. Or we don't get any Shallan at all tomorrow...