Elena

I actually thought that this went without saying - don't know why, but I'm pretty sure we haven't seen any realy skybreaker yet.

Maaaaaybe... but, we have Adolin&his beloved blade on one side; and the Flying Bros on the other... can you see why I'm so torn?

Don't think so - but IMO it was implied he meant the actual Order, rather than the secret society, since the question was about KR orders. And it's beautiful. And the only thing keeping me from going total fangirl over the 'Kal gives Adolin the Honorblade and then they can go be awesome flying bros together' EDIT: since I'm a very sad person, my own 'awesome flying bros' line made me think of Super Mario (& Luigi) the exact moment I reread the post.

I really like the Adolin-gets-the-Honorblade theory (was my first thought upon finishing WoR) but I really, really dislike all the 'OMG Adolin killed Sadeas so now he's heading down a dark path' posts popping up, since because IMO by killing Sadeas, Adolin did the whole world a favor. He might go crazy with guilt now, maybe, or have a falling out with his family, or whatever... but it doesn't change that I wholeheartedly agree with what he did, and now like him even more. If Kal does give the Honorblade to Adolin, it will be the best decision he did in a while EDIT: 69 posts! My inner thirteen-year-old is giggling now. I might not post for a while now Okay, who am I kidding, I don't have the will to stop posting.

Yeah, I'm still not quite over it and maybe I'm oversharing I didn't want to point fingers but I completely uderstand - I'm a big city girl from Europe and went to Georgia which is not quite Kentucky, but close enough. I'm also an agnostic, occasionally date girls, and look mexican enough that people did act racist around me -- really not pretty. That said, we're going off-topic Thanks though

Using stormlight seems to improve one's reflex and reaction time, so I guess Kal could do it - maybe depending on the type of dart, though. Like, crossbows' bolts generally go slower over longer distances, so he might be able to catch them - but an arrow from a bow at close range? Not sure.

It makes sense, but I'm really hoping it was cryptics watching them, for no other reason that I love Elhokar and hope he will become a KR. That, and the fact that he seems more prone to whining rather than rage -- he's not Odium material IMO.

I'm pretty obsessed with Laral so I hope this is not the case

Isn't this a spoiler? (Just nitpicking, I know)

I think that Kaladin being related to Adolin might be too much of a stretch - I don't think Hesina's family connection go quite that high (I was thinking someone of Laral's social level) but it's a nice catch about Kaladin's name - I'd forgotten about that. Thanks for pointing it out - it might be further evidence of his family having lighteyed relations. I'd just thought it was yet another consequence of Kaladin's family being social climbers - meant in a completely nice way, of course.

Now this tells me everything, and nothing.

But if he'd been banished for 'raising the alarm', it doesn't say a thing about the Blade. And Szeth evident repulsion when he kills makes it unlikely that he took the Blade - why would he?

It might be as you say but, believe me, social and peer pressure should never be underestimated. The very same thing happened to me, as much as it hurts admit it. I went to study abroad when I was sixteen, for a year, living with a complete strange family - whom I absolutely did not like. They were the exact type of people I despise, shallow and negletting and often intentionally mean, whose only purpose in hosting an exchange student had been to get a baby-sitter. That was against my exchange rules, and I complained, but my local supervisor wouldn't listen - she was friend with the lady, and she and all the members of the local section of the organization kept telling me that it was my fault, that I should be more open-minded and accepting of a different culture and different life style, and that in the end I was to blame because I spent too much time talking to my family and friends at home instead of trying to make friends with the people I was living with. After I while, I actually started believing them - not because I rationally thought they were right; but because when you are sixteen, and living on your own, among people who all share the same mindset, it's really hard not to just go with the crowd, especially when you're alone. So I stopped talking to my friends at home and spent time with some of the frankly more repugnant people I've ever met, because I was encouraged to do so - so trust me when I say I found the way Brandon wrote Laral completely realistic (and this is also why I really emphatize with her). After what, three years?, spent hearing every day what a criminal Kaladin's father was, it's no wonder she felt like she had to be rude to him. That said, I also agree with you that she consciously destroyed their relationship. Again from experience, I can guarantee that when you feel like you don't have much control on your life intentionally ruining it is something strangely appealing - as a way to affirm some measure of control. Like saying 'okay, my life sucks already so I'm going to ruin one more thing, at least this way I'll be doing it myself and I'll have one less thing that can be taken away from me'. It's sad and twisted, but it happens. Also, re: Hesina and her parentage. I felt like we were going off-topic, so I opened a new thread about it.

So, this came up in another thread, only it was fairly off-topic there, so it'd probably be better to open a brand new thread. [From the 'Love triangles parallel' thread, in answer to a post about Laral] This is actually my favorite Hesina theory. It is clear that she is more than she looks at first. Also, from WoK: It's made pretty clear that Hesina's parents didn't particularly care for Lirin. This is odd, to say the least - Lirin is a skilled surgeon, and a full citzien, and most people would consider him the ideal husband for a daughter. IMO the only reason why Hesina's parents would possibly have disliked her marriage to Kaladin's father is got to be that they considered themselves to have better social status. But Lirin is second nahn; and you don't go much higher than that. (We have a good idea of how lighteyes' dahn work from Shallan's POV in WoR - a brightlord's heir is the same dahn as his father, while his other children are presumably one dahn lower. I'm guessing the same goes for darkeyes' nahn - even if Hesina's family had been of the first, she would have been a second nahn citzien in her own right, making a marriage to Lirin's perfectly acceptable). Plus, there's the fact that Kaladin's parents wanted him to marry Laral to consider. From WoK: But they don't live in a large city and Laral is neither particularly poor (Roshone does marry her for her inheritance, in the end) neither that low ranked. In Words of Radiance, Kaladin refers to the citylord's family as 'middle-dahn'. Also, for what is worth (again from WoK): So, what I'm saying is that Laral's social status was theoretically much, much higher than Lirin's family, making such an union a preposterous idea, even of the paper. Even Lirin and Wistiow's apparent friendship wouldn't be enough for him to even consider marrying Laral to Kaladin - unless his family had some other social connection we weren't made aware of. Snote wondered if perhaps one of Hesina's parents was lighteyed. I don't think this is quite the case, because such a thing was bound to come up, especially by Roshone - but I think it's definitely possible one of her grandparents was. It makes sense. Rich merchant marries poor brightlady, or maybe the other way around; some of their children are lighteyed, some aren't. A brightlord/lady daughter and/or sister would have been out of question for a country surgeon, but a grandaughter, on the other hand.. I can perfectly see Hesina's parents as the kind of snobbish people who see themselves as 'better' than the rest of their social circle because of their lighteyed relations(heck, plenty of RL people are like this. I think I might have just described my boyfriend's parents...). Those people would look down on Hesina marrying Lirin, but would have no means to stop her from doing so (unlike a real noble family would). Also, for what is worth, from the same thread: So, what do y'all think? Of course, it might just be that Hesina's parents didn't like Lirin for some perfectly innocent reason, like he making a mess of their first family dinner, but what would be the fun in that?

It's prettily heavily implied that Szeth was made truthless, for heresy (claiming that the Radiants/Voidbringers) had/were returned, and condemned to a life of slavery - the deaths he caused while obeying his masters' orders being the real punishment. Since Szeth seems to hate the idea of causing deaths, I really doubt he 'picked up a blade' by choice. Most likely, he committed such a big crime by Shin standards that he was saddled with the deadliest weapon in their arsenal - as to lessen the possibility to be killed in battle. The longer he lives, the more people he kills, the harshest the punishment. (With no thoughts whatsoever for all the poor folks Szeth will kill during his 'punishment'.. man, these Shins are cold sons of guns).

Well, Vivienna isn't immortal (or wasn't by the end of Warbreaker) and so she could be dead. That said, I really hope she's still around, and I quite enjoyed Jenet. There's next to zero proof for this theory, but then again, Jenet is pretty much the pnly WoR character who could be Vivienna - interesting theory.

Cant quote properly - i'm on my mobile. That said: But historians *are* liars. Most people sympathize with one side or the other and want it to look good - I took Latin lit in school and stil remember how amusing it was that pretty much every author had his own version. Then went to study abroad and, comparing, I was almost indignant at how some books glossed over things to make their country look better. I had a good laugh at that Shallan line because it's so true, and so hilarious. ETA: spelling

Brandon's take on religion is always an amazing read. It's definitely likely something similar will happen, and I really look forwatd to this particular storyline

I just had a flashback to the hunt Brandon did in 2010 when Towers of Midnight came out - I was so glad to be studying in the US because it meant getting the book on the very day it came out for once, and then it turned out that the last code had been in my country, only a few hours from my house. My karma sucks.And yep, this has obviously nothing to do with the Shardhunt, but the thread made me remember and now I'm feeling frustrated at the memory all over again.

Only we have maybe half a sentece from Mr T. that Helaran might have been a surgebinder, which is kinda at odds with the Skybreakers' commander in chief going around finding possibile loopholes to kill every surgebinder around.

Sure it is. But since the possibility of him being killer by another young red-haired man from his homeland is far less likely than his being killed by Kaladin, I'll stick with the simple answer.

@akintu I wouldn't say that theres uncertainty. Occams razor - often the simplest explanation is the right one - the Shardbearer died in Sadeas's princedon and yet was Veden, it"s much kore likely that it was Helaran rather than some convoluted explanation thats really mostly speculation. Jusy my two cents. ETA spelling. Ugh I hate typing from a phone.

Awww,this is such cute boyspeak for 'I can't wait til my buddy adolin becomes a Radiant so we can go have adventures and be awesome together'.

This is kinda old news, though. Wasn't it changed back? I'm pretty sure Tor.com had 'Highprince of War' as most-likely title for book five a month or so ago.

This reads to me as a classical example of kids doing what they are expected to. Roshone hated Kaladin's father - her treating him badly would only be encouraged. I agree that it wasn't the nicest thing, but kids do always try their best to fulfill their group's expectations, as sad as it is. Yeah, that was blatant. I also really loved Kaladin's reaction at her obvious interest, something like 'Laral had been acting stange lately' and that priceless scene where she wants him to help her climb because 'it's polite' even though she can perfectly manage it on her own. My cousin and his first girlfriend are about that age, and hilarious to watch, so I really loved that bit. EDIT: I expanded on this theory here. Hopefully, the post there is more organized. This is actually my favorite Hesina theory. It is clear that she is more than she looks at first, and IMO the only reason why her parents would possibly have disliked her marriage to Kaladin's father - a skilled surgeon, and full citzien - is got to be that they considered themselves to have better social status. Lirin's second nahn - you don't go much higher than that. Plus, there's the fact that she wanted Kaladin to marry Laral to consider. But they don't live in a large city and Laral is neither particularly poor (Roshone does marry her for her inheritance, in the end) neither that low ranked. In WoR, Kaladin refers to the citylord's family as 'middle-dahn' Also, for what is worth: So, what I'm saying is that Laral's social status was theoretically much, much higher than Lirin's family - unless they had some other connection we weren't made aware of. That said, I do not believe that Hesina's parents (or one of them) were/are lighteyed - such a thing was bound to come up, especially by Roshone - but I think it's definitely possible one of her grandparents was. It makes sense. Rich merchant marries poor brightlady, or maybe the other way around; some of their children are lighteyed, some aren't. One of the darkeyed kids marries yet another rich darkeye, a choice much more socially acceptable than a country surgeon; and their daughter is Hesina, whose marriage is frowned upon by her rich and/or lighteyed relations, but there isn't much they could do about it. In a society with a cast system as rigid as Alethkar's, someone like Lirin wouldn't have married a brightlord's daughter/sister, no matter how poor or minor her family. But a grandaughter, on the other hand.. I'm pretty sure this could be the case.