We’re ba-ack! It’s time to reveal the answers to the list of beta-reader reactions to Oathbringer that we posted a few weeks ago. Hopefully you’ve all had time to make some guesses as you read through the book—and hopefully some of the reactions included enough information to let you make informed guesses!

So check it out, and see how many you got right!

WARNING: DO NOT READ THIS BEFORE YOU’VE FINISHED THE BOOK!! It will be chock full of massive, soul-destroying spoilers.

As you know, I recently spent some time combing through the beta spreadsheets for a selection of amusing, teasing, insightful, or otherwise interesting reactions, with permission from the beta community in general. Some of these were originally a single comment, some were combined from multiple comments, and in many cases I simply listed a selection of the reactions to a single event. I’m pretty sure you don’t care what I have to say ABOUT the list though… you want to know the answers, already! So, here they are, with Chapter, Part, and page number identified. The reactions are reprinted here in the same order as the original list; words in green are pieces I had cut or modified so they wouldn’t give it away, but are now included for the full quote.

1. You smug SOB. REASONABLY well? He almost beat you, Dalinar, you prideful a**! *throws hands in the air* (Sorry, I swear a lot in my head when I’m critiquing so these are my actual reader reactions.)
   HA! I HAD NO IDEA MY SWEAR WORD WOULD GET CHANGED TO CHULL THAT IS HILARIOUS.

Chapter 3, Part 1, Page 47

This one was heavily edited, or it would have been a dead giveaway. When Darci retyped it into our “quotable quotes” collection, it then auto-corrected “a**” to “chull” … which may imply that someone has been too immersed in Cosmere-specific terminology. Anyway, it was her response to:

He gestured toward the dying man, and Dym rammed a sword into the armored man’s armpit, finishing the job. The fellow had fought reasonably well; no need to extend his suffering.

2. “You little whore!”
   I feel like Brandon could be taking direct comments from prior beta reads as dialogue here. :D

Interlude 2, HB Page 333

This one is obvious the moment you read it, of course, because I actually quoted the book. The second half of the reaction should make much more sense now, though; Aubree pointed out that Ellista’s reactions, as she talks to the book characters, are very reflective of the comments you’d find in a beta spreadsheet!

3. At the end of [Climax 3-2], I stood up, calmly placed my laptop aside, then proceeded to pace around my living room waving my arms and swearing a blue streak. Husband, baby and dogs all stared at me like I’d gone crazy.

Chapter 84, Part 3, Page 819

This was Lyndsey’s reaction to that horrible chapter, fighting in the palace, with Elhokar trying to save his son. Moash killed him right there in front of his 3-year-old son, while he was trying to speak the First Ideal, and then had the gall to give Kaladin the Bridge Four salute. I’m not 100% sure, but I think just about every one of the beta was turning the air blue at that point.

4. [LIFT] IS THE HERO WE ALL DESERVE ALSO I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT [DALINAR HAS A NICE BUTT] IS CONFIRMED IN CANON. THE ALMIGHTY IS REAL AND HE HAS BLESSED THIS CHAPTER.

Chapter 42, Part 2, Page 440

“Your butt is too nice. Old guys shouldn’t have tight butts. It means you spend waaay too much time swinging a sword or punching people. You should have an old flabby butt. Then I’d trust you.”

Y’all had some good guesses on this, but … nope. Alyx provided an excellent quote for some much-needed humor!

5. This gave me goosebumps. I feel absolutely terrified at hearing this. Why don’t they speak of it? Because it was of great importance to her, but didn’t seem to be to them? I am really interested to learn more about this in the future.

Chapter 47, Part 2, Page 478

This was a combination of Darci’s and Kristy’s responses to the hint at Jasnah’s past trauma:

Something stirred deep within her. Glimmers of memory from a dark room, screaming her voice ragged. A childhood illness nobody else seemed to remember, for all it had done to her.

It had taught her that people she loved could still hurt her.

6. I am so scared. I am so scared. I am so scared.

Chapter 57, Part 2, Page 550

Matt spoke for many of us in his reaction to this moment:

Odium turned to him so sharply that Dalinar jumped. “Is that,” Odium said quietly, “an offer to release me from my bonds, coming from the man holding the remnants of Honor’s name and power?”

7. Every time I see his name mentioned now my heart starts beating a little faster.

Chapter 58, Part 3, Page 581

Navani held his arm, though Taravangian and Adrotagia had trailed behind on the ramp up.

The actual text was tightened up between the beta and the gamma, though the basics of the scene remain. In the beta, Jasnah was trailing behind, arm in arm with Taravangian, and… either way, he makes us all nervous, not just Kelly!

8. YAY! I thought it would work like that, but I wasn’t sure. It’s always cool seeing powers manifest in different ways between different worlds.

Chapter 65, Part 3, Page 646

“Would you help me understand?” he whispered to the Stormfather.

What makes you think I can?

“Don’t be coy,” Dalinar whispered. “I’ve spoken new languages in the visions. You can make me speak Azish.”

The Stormfather rumbled in discontent. That wasn’t me, he finally said. It was you.

“How do I use it?”

Try touching one of them. With Spiritual Adhesion, you can make a Connection.

The quote was from Brandon C., but there was a fair amount of squeeing over the reference to a concept first introduced in The Bands of Mourning.

9. He’s going to die, isn’t he?

Chapter 74, Part 3, Page 734

Elhokar was a good man. In his heart, at least. Shouldn’t that matter most?

This was my immediate reaction to the scene where Shallan was drawing Elhokar while they waited in Kholinar. She drew him kneeling, ragged, but unbeaten. Noble. Regal. And he reacted just like Bluth had. I… I knew then that he was going to die. I still hoped he wouldn’t—that he could save his son and live. Alas.

10. Can I just note how refreshing it is to have one character who can do this, and not worry about panic attacks in tense situations?
    Dude, I’m practically having a panic attack just READING this chapter.

Chapter 83, Part 3, Page 799

Adolin joined the troops, calming his nerves by force.

They’re winding up the Kholinar stint; Kaladin fought Fused with the Wall Guard, Shallan attempted to infiltrate the Palace, and all of them struggled with their various crises of identity and whatnot. In the midst of all this drama, Mark’s reaction to Adolin’s self-discipline resonated with a lot of the beta readers. So did Paige’s response to Mark!

11. WHAT??? WHAT WHAT WHAT?????? Nononononononono. (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻
    Holy crap! I might be freaking out slightly. *tries to calm breathing* *fails*
    Holy f***ing s***snacks WHAT IS HAPPENING HOLY CRAP I CAN’T I CAN’T I CAN’ I had to put this down and pace around my kitchen, that is the level of freak out going on right now oh my god no I’m crying I’m so scared.

Chapter 115, Part 5, Page 1085

Jasnah put her hand to the side, then–taking a deep breath–summoned Ivory as a Shardblade.

This is the end of the scene where Jasnah finds Renarin in the temple of Pailiah-Elin. Those of us who love Renarin (which turns out to be most of us) were SO worried for him right there! This collection is a mash-up from Darci, Matt, Bao, Kristy, Paige, Nikki and Marnie. For some reason, I messed up and didn’t include the one that got the most up-votes: Ravi’s reaction was:

O___________________________________________O

12. Oh no… that’s not going to be good for Teft at all. That’s going to be very bad for Teft, actually.

Interlude 14, Part 4, Page 1070

A Bridge Four officer’s coat, worn as a disguise. Teft’s coat, which he’d sold weeks ago in the market. To get a few spheres.

Alyx’s comment is representative of all the responses to this moment, as Teft realizes that the coat he’d solde was used as a disguise to get into the Bridge Four quarters, where the intruder severely injured Rock and Bisig, killed Eth, and stole the Honorblade they’d been using for training. And it wasn’t good for him…

13. As much of a jerk as you’ve been, this really cut at me. I don’t think Nightwatcher gets many of this nature.
    Now I’m crying. Despite yourself, you know what you need…

Chapter 114, Part 5, Page

Dalinar blinked tears, listening to the sounds of the children dying in the distance, and whispered a single word.

“Forgiveness.”

I chose just two out of a whole list of similar reactions and up-votes (these happened to belong to Ravi and me) regarding Dalinar’s request of the Nightwatcher. The way it was not what he’d intended to ask, combined with his obvious need… well, it generated a lot of tears, right?

14. It’s a little alarming when Nightblood is the voice of reason.

Chapter 106, Part 4, Page 986

That scene when Szeth is with Nale in the abandoned courthouse, Nale is giving every evidence of having rats in his attic, and Nightblood is figuratively eyeing Nale and his Honorblade very suspiciously… that was Becca’s response to Nightblood’s advice:

Fight him. I think he might be evil.

It’s even better when paired with the next lines:

“He is one of the Heralds— one of the least-evil things in the world.”

Huh. Doesn’t bode well for your world, then.

15. Oh, Renarin! Oh, you make me weep! You just don’t see anything wrong about him, do you, no matter how he treats you? You are far, far too goodfor him ::sniffles::

Chapter 94, Part 4, Page 890

Renarin stepped in and hugged him. Dalinar flinched, bracing as if for a punch. The boy clung to him, not letting go.

“They talk about you,” Renarin said, “but they’re wrong. You just need to rest, after all the fighting you did. I know. And I miss her too.”

Dalinar licked his lips. “What did she tell you?” he said, voice ragged. “What did your mother say about me?”

“The only honest officer in the army,” Renarin said, “the honorable soldier. Noble, like the Heralds themselves. Our father. The greatest man in Alethkar.”

My reaction was originally for the first paragraph, but this whole conversation had the betas absolutely flailing—anger at Dalinar for repeatedly calling Renarin “the other one;” his assumptions that Evi had poisoned his sons against him, and then learning that she had only ever told them good things about him; his realization that he really was a mess and deserved to be hated, but instead he was loved—all of this had the tears flowing again.

16. This makes me super, super happy that I recently did a reread of Warbreaker. Also: SQUEEEEEEEE VIVENNA!!!! What’s she doing here?

Chapter 89, Part 4, Page 862

In fact, her … her hair was fading. It was the strangest thing; Adolin watched it dim from Alethi jet-black to a faint grey as she sat down. Must be another effect of this strange place.

I left out a large chunk of Marnie’s response, since the rest of it was asking questions for which we will have no answer in Oathbringer, but this seemed to be the moment when the last hold-outs were finally convinced that Azure was really Vivenna. And yes, I’ll admit I included this partly because of the number of people arguing elsewhere that there was no need to read Warbreaker before Oathbringer. So sue me.

17. I like that he’s feeling like this. It seems appropriate. There’s good reason for both emotions. Maybe neither should prevail.

Chapter 83, Part 3, Page 797

It had felt so satisfying to shove it through Sadeas’s eye. He still didn’t know whether to feel ashamed or proud.

Steve summed up pretty much everyone’s reaction, though most variations leaned toward, “if you have to choose one, choose proud. It needed to be done.”

18. The manner of [Evi’s death] was one of the things that I always wanted to know but could never come up with a satisfying theory. This is something I had never considered but it is perfectly horrible. It is what it needs to be for the story, but storms is it hard to read.

Chapter 76, Part 3, Page 749

“She came to us,” Tanalan said. “To plead. How could you have missed her? Do you track your own family so poorly? The hole you burned … we don’t hide there anymore. Everyone knows about it. Now it’s a prison.”

The realization of how Evi died was a punch in the gut to all of us; Ian said it well. So hard to read.

19. WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE’S DEAD IN A DITCH?

Interlude 3, Part 1, Page

Venli felt cold. Demid solemnly lifted Eshonai’s faceplate, revealing dead eyes set in an ashen face.

Eshonai … no …

To be honest, this wasn’t technically part of the beta read. It was just a couple of weeks before the release, when the betas were chatting and Eric was looking forward to the reactions we’d soon be seeing. And we did see this reaction. Much.

20. My feelings about [Szeth] have been all over the place throughout the series thus far, but this was almost a ‘WHOOP!’ moment for me. I’m… I don’t know about happy, but certainly pleased for him.
    Big WHOOP!! moment for me too! I’m loving the journey from “OMG THIS DUDE IS BAD NEWS ” to “oh wait I kind of love him??? and want him to be happy???”
    Same here. I have such mixed feelings about him. I love him and he scares me.

Chapter 92, Part 4, Page

The skies were his once again.

The series of comments were from Paige, Nikki, and Darci. After all the things he did in the first two books, it seems odd to be so happy for him, but… there we were. Happy that he was going to be a Skybreaker and be able to fly again. Huh.

21. Well that’s one way to get a ride. I’m looking forward to learning more about this Princess business.

Chapter 102, Part 4, Page 960

“Sylphrena, the Ancient Daughter?” one shouted.

“That’s me!” she shouted back. “You’d better catch me before I scamper away! Wow! I’m feeling capricious today. I might just vanish again, off to where nobody can find me!”

It worked.

Credit to Deana for this one, and she was not alone in her wish! There was a whole lot of Syl-love going around up in there.

Besides, it worked.

22. This is just… really beautiful. *cries*
    This!!! All day this quote. It is basically a deeper more poetic version of the life before death oath. This hit me really hard. I loved it. Another way to express my life views.

Chapter 105, Part 4, Page 981

“‘The question,’ she replied, ‘is not whether you will love, hurt, dream, and die. It is what you will love, why you will hurt, when you will dream, and how you will die. This is your choice. You cannot pick the destination, only the path.’”

Nikki and Aaron just said it all. The scene, if you don’t recognize it, is when Dalinar is flipping out after Gavilar’s funeral, seeking oblivion in drink (if he can outmaneuver his keys and get into his rooms), and he hears Jasnah’s voice, reading from “The Way of Kings.”

23. Oh god, this is terrifying. Everything is happy. Everyone’s getting along. Oh no, don’t do this. I know a Hope Spot when I see one! I can feel the plot twist coming! I can feel Taravangian’s machinations about to ruin everything and everyone’s just SO HAPPY right now! AUGH!

Chapter 111, Part 4, Page

As Dalinar stepped into the temple’s main chamber, he found that he was looking forward to this meeting.

This scene, near the end of Part 4, is one of those places where, as a reader, we all know things are just going too well, and something horrible is about to happen. Alyx’s reaction captured the feeling well.

24. WHAT.
    OOOH Is that Cultivation?
    YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!
    He really HAS met her before!
    ERRRR MAHHH GAWWWWD yessssssssss!!!!
    ^^ Not only is this reaction extremely funny, but it’s also ironically accurate. lol!
    *GASP!!!* Is this Cultivation herself?! Are we going to MEET another shard?!!!

Chapter 114, Part 5, Page 1078

We were all more than a little startled when Cultivation stepped in and took over from the Nightwatcher—and also, more than a little delighted! I re-inserted the comments I left out of the series, which would obviously have given it away completely (and been spoilerific besides); the up-votes were flying on the reactions written by Darci, Ted, Bao, Paige, Marnie, and Brandon C. My personal favorite is the “ironically accurate” nature of “ERRRR MAHHH GAWWWWD.”

25. This is like something out of a Looney Tunes cartoon and I love it.
    We’re Wile E. Coyote right now.

Chapter 117, Part 5, Page 1112

She screamed as Stormlight flowed through her, raging in her veins, reaching toward something in her pocket.

A wall appeared in front of her.

Shallan gasped. A sickening smack from the other side of the wall indicated that the Fused had collided with it.

The mental image evoked by the comments from Lyndsey & Ravi… I don’t really need to be explaining this, do I? ::gigglesnort::

26. I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO BELIEVE/THINK ANYMORE THERE IS ONLY READING TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

Chapter 117, Part 5, Page 1130

Renarin didn’t want to die. But strangely, he found himself welcoming Jasnah’s strike.

Better to die than to live to see what was happening to his father. For he saw the future. He saw his father in black armor, a plague upon the land. He saw the Blackthorn return, a terrible scourge with nine shadows.

Odium’s champion.

“He’s going to fall,” Renarin whispered. “He’s already fallen. He belongs to the enemy now. Dalinar Kholin … is no more.”

Last we saw, Dalinar was being strongly pressed to give all the blame for his past actions to Odium, which would somehow make him become Odium’s champion. So much depends on Dalinar’s decision, and Renarin sees him as that champion. I picked Nikki’s comment out of many of a similar nature, as we all feared both what was happening to Renarin, and what was happening to Dalinar.

27. What?!!! Wait… NOOOOOO!!!!
    Excuse me while I pick my jaw off the floor.
    WHAAAAAAAAAT
    ACTUALLY FREAKING OUT OMG OMG NO NO NO NO BAD BAD BAD

Chapter 115, Part 5, Page 1085

A spren rose from his back, bright red, shimmering like the heat of a mirage. A crystalline structure, like a snowflake, though it dripped light upward toward the ceiling. In her pouch, she carried a sketch of the proper spren of the Truthwatchers.

And this was something different.

I feel a little silly here; I included two pieces that are literally back to back in the book… (See #11 above.) But the reactions were intense! Deana, Brian, Darci, and Nikki were most expressive—and the first one had about sixteen up-votes. The moment was quite a shock, no matter what you had previously believed about Glys.

28. I’ve been waiting for this conversation for so long and spent the entire section internally screaming and I’m sooooo glad they finally talked about things and AAHHHHHHHH

Chapter 108, Part 4, Page 1012

Many of you guessed this one, and I’m delighted that you did. It was high time, wasn’t it? Sarah referenced the entire conversation from the moment Adolin came over until Kaladin distracted them, but the highlight was right here:

“It’s confusing, being all these people. I feel like I’m presenting different faces all the time. Lying to everyone, because I’m different inside. I … That doesn’t make sense, does it?” She squeezed her eyes shut again. “I’ll pull it back together. I’ll be … someone.”

“I…” He pulled her tight again as the ship rocked. “Shallan, I killed Sadeas.”

29. Pattern is a Vulcan.

Chapter 95, Part 4, Page 891

“Humans, you must stop your emotions. They are very inconvenient here.”

Again, many people correctly identified this one, although some were sidetracked by “No mating!” Pattern is funny enough on his own, but Mark’s comment had me cracking up.

30. WHAT?? Why did they lock her up, the poor thing??
    That’s what I thought, soon followed by “Oh.. that’s surprisingly considerate, then.”
    This is more depressing than it really should be to me.

Chapter 101, Part 4, Page 947

Ico used keys to unlock the door, revealing the spren of Adolin’s sword sitting on a bench inside. She looked at him with those haunting scratched-out eyes, her string face void of emotion.

“I wish you hadn’t locked her in here,” Adolin said, stooping down to peer through the squat doorway.

“Can’t have them on deck,” Ico said. “They don’t watch where they’re walking and fall off. I’m not going to spend days trying to fish out a lost deadeye.”

My initial reaction here was to the first paragraph, but as Steve and Deana note, the locking-up is sort of considerate, and the reason for it is really sad. The condition of an unsummoned Blade in Shadesmar is … well, depressing.

31. Oh, nice. That’s profound… more people should consider the question seriously.
    There’s ALWAYS a cost, Dalinar. You already know that.
    Dalinar, this is so simplistic of you. It sorta fits with the Vorin religion, but… it’s just not true.

Chapter 103, Part 4, Page 967

“… Tell me, my friend. You talk about your burdens and the difficulty of the decision. What is the cost of a principle?”

“The cost? There shouldn’t be a cost to being principled.”

The conversation between Nohadon and Dalinar got a few reactions from Brandon C. and me. While it’s definitely worth considering the cost of one’s principles, it’s naïve to think there shouldn’t be a cost.

32. OMG Dalinar be MORE of an asshat why don’t you?

Chapter 88, Part 4, Page 851

As Dalinar goes into full alcoholic mode after the Rift debacle, trying to escape his nightmares and the weeping he hears when he sees fire… Lyndsey did not appreciate this thought:

Storms take Evi for doing this to him!

33. Lump. In. Throat. I loved this moment.

Chapter 6, Part 1, Page 74

Many of you got this, so just let me give you the entirety of Brian’s reaction:

I loved this moment. It was a lump-in-throat moment for me. There were several things that made it poignant for me. First, I wasn’t sure that Lirin would recognize Kaladin. He has long hair, scars and brands on his face. He’s a mess. Nobody else recognized him. But his father did (I’m tearing up just writing this). I love that his father immediately recognized him. And then when he called for Hesina, yelled for Hesina… I don’t know why, but that hit me, too. The pure joy of discovering one’s lost son. (I’m tearing up again). Beautiful. My favorite part of the chapter. Comeuppance for Roshone doesn’t come close to this. Beautiful.

34. Shudder…my stomach is in knots right now. Traps people walk into deliberately are much more suspenseful.

Chapter 78, Part 3, Page 765

“You may climb the steps to enlightenment,” the cultist in white told her. “Your guide will meet you at the top.”

Shallan, attempting to infiltrate the Cult of Moments, was nerve-wracking. Deana wasn’t the only one shuddering!

35. This gave me the chills. I could envision it so clearly, and what a horrible, horrible concept.

Chapter 100, Part 4, Page 938

When Dalinar was in Vedenar, speaking with the old soldiers, and asked them what the civil war had been like, Lyndsey’s reaction spoke for several as we read this:

“Nobody would stop, Brightlord. Even when it should have been done. They just kept right on fighting. Killing because they felt like killing.”

36. Powerful and well written. I’m always amazed at what you can do with the restrictions of the Ketek form.

Chapter 105, Part 4, Page 978

“You, always about dreams. My soul weeps. Farewell, weeping soul. My dreams … about, always, You.”

Navani’s ketek for Gavilar’s funeral hit Dalinar hard, and it also evoked some strong reactions among the beta readers—in this case, Mark.

37. *sigh*. I’d throw my iPad across the room if it would help.

The end of Part 4, Page 1054

This was Gary’s reaction to reaching the end of this part, knowing he’d be waiting another week to find out what would happen to Dalinar after the coalition fell apart, and what would come of the multiple revelations that caused its collapse.

38. I AM CRYING AND SMILING AND IT HURTS BUT IT’S AMAZING
    I knew he could do it!
    YES! YESYESYES! Whooping and laughing and crying and OMG, this character is wonderful!!
    THANK GOD/THE ALMIGHTY/THE STORMFATHER/WHATEVER omg
    RESOLUTION!!

Chapter 118, Part 5, Page 1133

What a moment. This was a small selection of the reactions, quoting Darci, Bao, Paige, Nikki, and Brandon C. re:

You cannot have my pain.

39. HAHAHAHA Worldhopper jokes!

Chapter 114, Part 5, Page 1074

“You’re a little less foreign, sir.”

Raise your hand if you called it with Ross! For those who didn’t know, Felt is a worldhopper, presumably from Scadrial, where he was one of the main spies for House Venture in Mistborn Era 1.

40. I really liked this completely incorrect assumption that [Eshonai] makes. Nice dramatic irony and shows how innocent/naive Eshonai used to be.

Prologue, Page 20

I found myself very much in agreement with Marnie regarding this:

When Eshonai had first met the humans, she’d seen the little listeners they had with them. A hapless tribe who were trapped in dullform. Eshonai had assumed the humans were taking care of the poor souls without songs.

41. NO!! NO NO NO! THAT CANNOT BE THE END OF THE CHAPTER!!!! NO NO NO NO NO! *stomps, kicks, flails, jumps, tantrums* Darci is laughing at me and says, “”Wow! I wish I had recorded that!”” She wipes a laughter tear.

Chapter 79, Part 3, Page 779

“I’m here,” Kaladin said, resting the Sylblade on his shoulder, “on orders from King Elhokar and the Blackthorn. It’s my job to save Kholinar. And it’s time you started talking to me.”

She smiled at him. “Come with me.”

And it switches to a Shallan POV. That was Brandon C. again. Heh.

42. “OH SH*T. Eeeek. Yeah Dalinar he’s super great… Oh no.”
    “Ruh roh.”
    “NO! IT’S A TRAP!”
    “OH CRAP NO”
    “Oh My God.. No…..”

Chapter 12, Part 1, Page 143

The reactions from Eric, Jory, Chris, Nikki, and Kalyani were excerpted from longer statements, in some cases, but it pretty much sums up the general reaction to:

If Dalinar failed everywhere else, at least he would have King Taravangian at his side.

43. I almost broke my iPad because it stopped scrolling. Nuff said?

End of Part 3, Page 828

Some of you have already heard this story. Part 3 ends with Elhokar dead, Dalinar nearly incapacitated by memories, and Adolin’s team shunted to Shadesmar. Tense, much? Then, because of circumstances, the beta readers waited nearly three weeks to get Part 4. This was Brandon C.’s reaction to the end of part three, and then… Well, the wait was excruciating.

44. Oh crap! Anti-Radiants & stormlight. Stormlight? Stormdark. Stormshadow? Everlight? Ahem. Well, that cannot possibly be good at all.

Chapter 31, Part 1, Page 319

A blackish-violet glow—like dark Stormlight—rose from the red-eyed parshman.

I can see where this reaction, compiled from those of Deana, Brian, Richard, and Eric, could be considered a spoiler, so I apologize for that. But stringing it together like this was way too much fun.

45. She’s CREEPY! I wasn’t expecting her to be creepy…
    ^^ I expected creepy, just more humanoid creepy, not mist-like, incorporeal creepy.
    She’s kind of what I expected from a growy spren
    Me too. I always thought of Uma Thurman in her Poison Ivy costume for her.
    Yeah, she’s straight up Japanese Horror Ghost. Although she kind of reminds me of Wyndle (Lift’s spren)
    She’s… alien.
    Like the girl from the ring

Chapter 114, Part 5, Page 1077

In addition to the quotes from Lyndsey and Kelly, I added those from Ravi, Rahul, Richard, Steve, and Aaron, just for a little entertainment. And now you know, if you hadn’t already guessed, we were talking about the Nightwatcher:

She was a dark green mist, vaguely shaped like a crawling person. Too-long arms reached out, pulling her along as she floated above the ground. Her essence, like a tail, extended far behind her, weaving among tree trunks and disappearing into the forest.

46. Instantly tears welled up in my eyes. I spent the next few minutes battling tears of joy.
    This was SO POWERFUL. He never ceases to amaze me, and this is just one instance of that. LOVE.
    I loved this part. SO good.
    Yeah so [Adolin] is starting to be tied with [Jasnah] as my favorite character.
    AWWWWWWWWWW! Seriously, so many have been waiting for this since the first time we saw [him duel].

Chapter 120, Part 5, Page 1163

Something tickled his mind, very faint, like a sigh. A single word: Mayalaran. A … name?

You all knew it was this moment, right? It had to be. I selected just a few of the ecstatic reactions in the spreadsheet; these were from Deana, Darci, Bao, Marnie, and Brandon C. It was such a satisfying step in Adolin’s progression, and, as noted, something we’ve been hoping to see for a lot of years.

Well, there you have it, my friends. The revelation of the heavily-edited selection of a few of the thousands of reactions from the beta readers. My thanks to all of them (see the full list in the acknowledgements to Oathbringer!) for allowing me to use their words, and for being an absolutely wonderful group of human beings. It took me far longer than it should have to compile the original list, as well as to put together this “solutions” post; going back into the spreadsheet was just so much fun, and then of course I had to read extended sections. What a book.

As a side note, most of the chapter titles were suggested by the beta readers. For the first time ever (or at least in my experience), we were given the opportunity to suggest quotations from the chapter that would make good titles. We had a lot of fun with this, up-voting suggestions we especially liked, and laughing our heads off at some of the suggestions. You’ll be fascinated to know that Chapter 42 was almost titled “A Thing About Butts.”

And on that note… See you in the comments!

Sometimes money is power, but sometimes power is money—especially in Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere. When we look at the various currency systems within Sanderson’s worlds, we find that he often inextricably fuses each economy to its local magic system. It makes sense, of course, from a magical perspective: if Apple makes money off of iPhones and other devices, why shouldn’t Garrick Ollivander profit from his abilities as the greatest wandmaker in the wizarding world? If a pawnshop or a bank in Southern Illinois uses the American legal system to gouge poor families with high-interest loans, why shouldn’t Devi do the same to Kvothe to gain access to arcane knowledge?

But Sanderson takes it a step further: starting with the assumption that money is power, he retroactively anticipates the corollary: that power is money. Anyone remotely familiar with American politics expects this. We seldom expect it, however, with magic.

On Roshar, they trade in a representative currency named “spheres” that hold stormlight. Each sphere is basically a glass marble encompassing a gemstone (often flat on the side so when you pull out money to pay at the checkout counter, it keeps you from losing your marbles). The gemstones themselves are valued by type (in appreciating order: diamond, garnet, ruby, sapphire, emerald) and by karat (in depreciating order: broams, marks, and the little bitty chips). That makes an emerald broam worth the most and a diamond chip worth the least.

They’re worth the same with or without the light, but the light determines authenticity, therefore if you don’t want to leave your dragon hoard out in the middle of a thunderstorm in order for the light of heaven to go back into them, them you’re going to have to pay a fee to exchange your “dun” spheres for “infused” spheres. Therefore there’s an implied value to the ones with power.

Power that surgebinders draw on in order to do great and terrible magics.

And therefore some of the wealthiest people in the story (the Kholins) are also the most powerful.

Then on Scadrial, the number one thing Mistings and Mistborn need is precious metals to ingest and burn in their bodies and, if they can shoot or pull a metal, coins to shoot. Some of the most powerful people on that planet literally burn money while others kill people with money. Money is literally power: the power of life or death. Money is ammo.

On Nalthis, everyone’s born with one breath which can be willingly transferred or given away. The breath is basically the soul of the person that endows them with a sort of sixth sense to see things other than color on the wave spectrum including the harmonics of color. Some people have thousands of breaths which is, essentially, thousands of souls. People hoard them, blackmail for them, and offer up human sacrifices so that the most powerful can have the souls of the poor.

The funny thing is that bad things tend to happen to magic hoarders. The Lord Ruler. Several foes of Waxillium. Vahr (although his aims were more sympathetic). It didn’t end well for them because it never ends well for hoarders and that includes the most notorious hoarders of all—the most magical creatures imaginable—dragons. We all, like the boy who almost deserved being called Eustace Scrub, have slept on the hoard of our power and our money with greedy, dragonish thoughts in our hearts until we become dragons ourselves.

But Tolkien taught us as snow comes after fire, so dragons have their endings.

Sure, power is money in Sanderson and every character has this inclination to hoard both magic and money like the European dragons of old. But what’s interesting is that Sanderson never stops at the power is money idea. In every story you have people giving up color, giving up metal, extinguishing their powers, gifting stormlight to heal. Over and over and over again, the most powerful people in the stories are the ones who give away their magic. They empty themselves of power in order that others might live and thrive, which as a consequence makes them not only often blind or sick or exposed or dead, but it actually makes them poor. Economically poor in worlds that thrive off of this consistent power-is-money dynamic.

It’s the Highprince who, knowing that the value of a human life is beyond measure, trades his priceless Shardblade for the freedom of bridgemen who fought for them (and calls it a bargain), recognizing the value, honor, and loyalty of men who had been treated as slaves

It’s the smiling man who dedicates all of his energy, wealth, and even his life to show that tyrants must be challenged and Steel Inquisitors can be killed, giving up everything, but sparking a revolution for the poor and oppressed.

It’s the Returned god who gives up thousands and thousands of Biochromatic breaths to heal another, higher god’s impotence, healing him and preventing a war. Becoming weak, and giving up his life to save thousands of others’ lives.

It’s the girl-turned-god who literally empties her entire being, taking on (and giving up) the awesome power of Preservation in order to destroy Ruin and sacrificing her life in the process to save the world and its people.

Again and again. I would love to see your examples in the comments—where else does this trope show up in Sanderson’s writing?

But here’s my larger point for us, today, here and now: I’ve been working on a documentary about wealth distribution IRL—it’s still in the early stages, but my colleague and I have interviewed several Alaska Natives and Native Americans who keep teaching us more and more about the native idea of potlatch: of two chiefs challenging one another to a duel to the gift. That is to say, the chief who gives away the most and encourages the most generosity in his tribe wins the duel. Not the guy who brags about his billions. Not the guy who buys his fourth yacht. The guy who gives the highest percentage of his wealth. And mind you, this is before people leveraged their power in foundations and tax-deductible gifts—they literally just gave it all away to the poor. It’s curious. And it seems very much in keeping with this idea that we encounter again and again in Sanderson’s work—that when we empty ourselves to the point of vulnerability, so that we can truly sympathize and stand in solidarity with the poor and the least of these, then we are strong.

It’s a particularly fitting message to consider this time of year, with the holidays and a brand new year almost upon us –perhaps this year we should all consider giving just enough that it hurts a little, enough that it stretches you beyond your comfort and status quo, because the status quo of many of our global neighbors is going to bed hungry and sick. There’s nothing more magical than giving away a stampede of money in one giant nerd herd (not to be confused with a nerf herd). Because in our world, as in Sanderson’s cosmere, ‘tis more magical to give than receive.

Lancelot Schaubert has written hundreds of stories, articles, and poems for markets like The New Haven Review, McSweeney’s, The Poet’s Market, Writer’s Digest, and The World Series Edition of Poker Pro. The Missouri Tourism Board also commissioned him to reinvent the photonovel through The Joplin Undercurrent with Mark Neuenschwander. You can go to his website to get a free ebook on how mythology gave his life bliss and meaning, to read his offensively verbose Kingkiller reread, to sit at the feet of nonconformists who changed their sector of society, or to have him read you a bedtime story. If you’d like to ask him about the time the world’s largest hippo shat all over his grandma, email lancelot@lanceschaubert.org

Yesterday, on his 42nd birthday (an auspicious age in science fiction), Brandon Sanderson released his annual State of the Sanderson update. Looking back on 2017 (Edgedancer! Oathbringer! Skyward!) and ahead all the way to 2020, Sanderson provides a comprehensive update on his various projects. Fans will have a lot to look forward to, from various books being outlined, written, and/or published in 2018 to the opportunity to explore the Shattered Plains in virtual reality. Read on for key tidbits!

The Stormlight Archive

Buy it Now

As Sanderson mentioned in State of the Sanderson 2016, each Stormlight book is a massive undertaking; Oathbringer took about 18 months of dedicated writing time (including edits and other interruptions). While taking a breather from the series, he is still in planning mode: He will spend 2018 outlining books four and five, which will wrap the first arc of the ten-book series. “Then on January 1st, 2019,” he writes, “I go back to Stormlight refreshed and excited to be back in Roshar, and I write on book four until it’s done.” At this point, the projected publication is sometime in 2020.

There might be room for a novella, tentatively titled Wandersail, to come out between books, as Edgedancer did.

Potential Movie/TV Adaptations

As we reported in late 2016, DMG Entertainment holds the licensing and film rights to the Cosmere novels. Per Sanderson’s update, DMG has scripts for both Mistborn and The Way of Kings, but the very interesting way that they’re looking to get Hollywood into the Cosmere is virtual reality: They’re currently developing “a Stormlight VR experience,” which will place participants in a demo of the Shattered Plains. “As I determined early on,” Sanderson writes, “this is an interesting but weird world, and having visuals (like the art in the books themselves) helps a lot with bringing people around to understanding.” Visuals, plus interactions with some of the characters and creatures who inhabit that magical land.

DMG will release the VR experience on Steam; expect updates on Sanderson’s website, including guest posts from the developers, in the months leading up to release.

Meanwhile, Fox has renewed its option on The Reckoners, though there have been no recent updates and it’s unclear how, if at all, the Disney acquisition would affect an adaptation.

Skyward

The current main project, about a girl and her starfighter, replacing Apocalypse Guard for a November 2018 publication. Find out more here!

Mistborn

After he has completed Skyward (either the first book or the whole trilogy), Sanderson will turn to the fourth Wax and Wayne adventure, to be written in 2018 and published in 2019. After wrapping up the second era of Mistborn, Sanderson will turn his attention to another project before returning for the third era: “1980s spy thriller Mistborn.”

Legion

The Stephen Leeds/Legion series is complete! With the third Stephen Leeds story, Lies of the Beholder, complete, the intention is to combine all three installments in one hardcover collection, to be released in September 2018. However, if you’re interested in a standalone release, and already own the leatherbound editions of the first two stories, Subterranean Press should have a matching edition of Lies of the Beholder to adorn your bookshelf. A non-leatherbound standalone edition probably won’t exist for another year or so after release.

While this is the last Legion story, Sanderson mentions that they’re in talks for another television deal…

The Rithmatist

Despite this being Sanderson’s “most-requested sequel,” completing a sequel to his 2013 YA novel would “require an alignment of several factors.” There’s the fact that he wrote The Rithmatist such a long time ago (before he came onboard for The Wheel of Time), with his life and his writing having moved in different directions since then; as well as the necessary attention that must be paid to certain topics:

The other issue is that writing about that era in America—even in an alternate universe—involves touching on some very sensitive topics. Ones that, despite my best efforts, I feel that I didn’t handle as sensitively as I could have. I do want to come back to the world and do a good job of it, but doing an Aztec viewpoint character—as I’d like to do as one of the viewpoints in book two—in an alternate Earth…well, it’s a challenge that takes a lot of investment in research time.

2018 and Beyond

Sanderson includes the caveat that this projected schedule is “very speculative,” but here’s the general plan for the next three years:

September 2018: Stephen Leeds/Legion Collection
November 2018: Skyward
Fall 2019: Wax and Wayne 4
Sometime 2019: Skyward 2
Sometime 2020: Stormlight 4
Sometime 2020: Skyward 3

Read the complete State of the Sanderson 2017 for more in-depth updates on every WIP you’re dying to hear about, plus cosplay on the Oathbringer book tour, and the results of last year’s birthday experiment, a collection of reader-submitted Magic: The Gathering cards!

Lyn: Well, here we are, folks. Ready to dig into the prologue? I know I am. I’ve got my blue wine at hand, an axe-hound curled on my lap, and the Weeping’s providing a nice backdrop of pattering rain on the windows.

Alice: The Weeping indeed. I get soaked every time I leave the house. Anyway, today we’ll take a new look at That Fateful Night six years ago, when a treaty was signed and a king assassinated. This time, we see it from the perspective of a very frightened young Listener explorer-turned-interpreter, and dig into the reasons it became necessary.

L: So, to start out, I’d like to say that this is only my second time reading through Oathbringer, and the first time was the beta read over a year ago, so I couldn’t really let myself settle into the story. I’ve forgotten a lot about what happened, especially little details, so forgive me if I seem a bit absent-minded at times when it comes to details I should probably have remembered. I’m sure things will start coming back to me as we go, but these first few rereads may be a bit lengthy as we refresh ourselves (and you) on things we may have forgotten. For those who weren’t with us in Edgedancer, it should be noted that I tend to be more of a casual reader when it comes to Cosmere connections and Words of Brandon. I focus more on character and worldbuilding, so I’m sure I’ll be a bit daft on some things… But that’s what we’ve got Alice for! Right, Alice?

A: You betcha! (Heh. I’m just all that and a bag of chips. You know it.) My memory is no longer infallible—I think I put too much Cosmere lore in it!—but I love the foreshadowing in these books and the way little things tie to other little things to become Much Bigger Things. I’ll do my best to make those connections as we go, and rely on the rest of y’all to catch the ones we will inevitably miss.

L: We’d also like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that we’ll potentially be discussing spoilers for the ENTIRE NOVEL in each reread. If we need to talk about things from other Cosmere novels, we’ll note that here, and potentially white them out if they’re really big things, like major reveals or the fates of main characters. But if you haven’t read ALL of Oathbringer, best to wait to join us until you’re done.

Chapter Recap

WHO: Eshonai

WHERE: Kholinar palace

WHEN: Six years ago

WHAT: Eshonai arrives for the signing of the peace treaty between the humans and the listeners. She goes wandering and finds King Gavilar in council with some other Alethi, whom he sends away in order to speak with Eshonai privately. He reveals to her that he intends to bring back the old gods, in order to create an enemy against which the nations of the world are forced to unite. Eshonai brings this information to the Five, and they collectively decide to assassinate Gavilar rather than allow his plan to come to fruition.

Threshold of the Storm

To Weep

A: The four Herald spots are all occupied by the image of Nalan.

L: (Aka Nale, aka Darkness, Herald of Justice, the patron of the Skybreakers.)

A: It’s worth noting here that these are not portraits, but rather are “Vorin ideal” versions of them.

L: I have to admit I had never paid much attention to these arches before! For the sake of those like me who never really looked at it too closely or are joining this reread without following the others, is this something that has been constant throughout all three books so far?

A: Yes, indeed. There’s actually a lot of significance hidden in this artwork. The Heralds depicted—one, two or four of them—reflect something about the theme of the chapter, particularly as linked to the “Historical Associations” you find in the Ars Arcanum.

L: Okay, so what can we gather about this chapter from the fact that Nalan was chosen?

A: Well, there’s likely something to do with justice—or perceived justice—in this chapter. Sometimes, it indicates that the Herald in question is actually there. More often, if there’s a Knight Radiant active in the chapter, their patron Herald will be shown.

L: Heh… well, Szeth DOES show up… and given where he winds up going over the course of this book…

A: That’s certainly one possibility, since we now know that he’s joined the Skybreakers. Another reason for the Herald is sometimes the characteristics displayed by various people in the chapter. It’s actually a little confusing, because the Divine Attributes associated with Nalan in the Ars Arcanum are “Learned/Giving,” while the Skybreakers big thing is Justice. And there are other reasons. Sometimes it’s the opposite of the ideals. Which, of course, is why it’s so fun to look at it!

L: Well, Gavilar’s actions in this chapter certainly aren’t representative of justice, that’s for sure. An argument could be made for Eshonai’s, but even then, it’s shaky…

A: We’re always guessing a little, but I just had to go back and look it up. In The Way of Kings, the four spots were all occupied by Jezrien. In Words of Radiance, it was Palah, patron of the Elsecallers. The second makes a lot of sense, because it was from Jasnah’s POV, and we even met her spren there for the first time. The first… less so, except that (as we know now) Jezrien himself actually made an appearance in that first Prologue. So… it could be anything. In this case, my best guess is that it’s the sort of “justice” of Gavilar dying because he was trying to do something absolutely horrible—to bring back the Desolations.

L: But was it horrible? Was it REALLY? We’ll get more into this later, under the “Motivations” heading. Moving on for now, have you guys ever discussed the eyes? The oddly shaped pupils are so interesting, like a goat’s eyes. I wonder if they might be representative of Rosharan natives’ eyes.

A: Heh. I’m not much of an artist, so I don’t notice details like that! So… no, I’m pretty sure we never talked about that. They’re… a bit odd, aren’t they?

A: A couple of other things worth mentioning at this point, though, are the title itself and the round icon framed by the arch. The icon is one that was used in WoR for the chapters where we had Eshonai’s perspective. We called it “The Listener,” and of course, here it is now for her view of the assassination. The title “To Weep” comes from the last few paragraphs of the chapter, as Eshonai weeps for the music, her people, the world, and the king.

Stories & Songs

For starters, let’s begin a running list of all of the listener rhythms! In this chapter, we got the following:

Curiosity, Awe, Peace, Pleading, Skepticism, Appreciation, Anxiety, Consolation, Praise, Reprimand, Mourning

L: In addition to those, we also heard about the Rhythm of the Terrors, which I find really interesting because it’s a proper name rather than an emotion. It seems as though the Parshendi have linked this particular rhythm and all of the emotions it conveys to the stories about their old gods, which is just fascinating: this one song encapsulates more than one emotion. It sort of reminds me of that Star Trek: TNG episode “Darmok,” in which the aliens’ language derives directly from stories and myths. One word means so much more, just like this one Rhythm seems to convey all of the varying emotions Eshonai has about the old gods.

A: It reminds me of the Rangers from Babylon 5: “Never forget that terror is also a form of communication.” Also, YES to a running list of the Rhythms!

“Klade claimed that a voice–speaking to the rhythms–had led him to the man.”

L: Whoa, wait a second! So were more of the ancestors/Voidspren than just Ulim communicating with them before Eshonai adopted stormform and brought about the Everstorm? Or was Ulim talking with more of them than just Venli? Oh… or maybe it was Odium himself. That would actually make a lot more sense…

A: Well, something was communicating… It might have been one of the Unmade, or Odium himself. Or, I don’t know, maybe not all the ancestors were completely trapped on Braize any more? I’ve heard a number of theories, but I haven’t heard confirmation. Unfortunately, because I’d really like to know!

L: For those like me who didn’t quite remember, Braize is where Odium’s hanging out currently and the Listener ancestors/Voidspren were trapped. It’s also known as Damnation, where the Heralds were sent to be tortured between Desolations.

A: And… now that you made me go do all that research… (Yes, Lyndsey, it’s all your fault. You went and said something about something and then I got sucked into the Coppermind and had to follow all the rabbit trails! Oy…)

L: ‘Ake? ‘Olan? (Sorry, I’ll stop making irrelevant references now.)

A: My new best guess is that this was actually Ulim, the spren Venli will interact with in her first few Interludes. I’d apparently forgotten that the Voidspren and the ancestors’ souls were trapped on Braize, and at least one of the Voidspren escaped somehow. It makes the most sense, when you put all the little pieces together.

L: The Voidspren and the ancestors’ souls weren’t the same thing?

A: No, I don’t think they are, though I had to do some searching to remind myself how it works. In one of Venli’s Interludes (I-7) there’s an explanation of the various ranks among Odium’s people. Along the way, both Venli and Ulim make references to “mindless Voidspren” (which give them the basic forms of power) and “higher Voidspren” (the ones like Ulim and Yixli, as well as some of those whose bond give a higher-ranking form like Venli’s); both are distinct from the ancestors’ souls which, when they take a body and become Fused, actually kill the person who used to own it.

Relationships & Romances

A: We won’t actually see very much of it in this book ::sniffle:: but it appears that Eshonai and Venli were relatively close at this point. The chapter opens with Eshonai thinking of prior conversations with her sister, and those same thoughts are echoed a couple more times throughout. Venli appears to have been a confidante for Eshonai’s hopes and dreams of exploration. There’s also the little note—possibly a foreshadowing—that Venli was with Klade when they purchased Szeth, and as of the time the music began, Eshonai hadn’t seen her sister since before that transaction. It’s possible that this is the point where Venli fell under the influence of Odium.

L: Or maybe this is when Ulim recognized Venli’s potential and switched over from communicating with Klade to her…

A: Ummm…. Yeah. That’s very possible. Perhaps he’d latched onto Klade and then turned to Venli after Klade died? (Klade was one of the three leaders who stayed behind to distract the humans while the rest of their people escaped; those three were then hanged for their crime.) Either way, if it was Ulim that Klade heard, it would make perfect sense that from this point on, Venli was working toward the Everstorm.

Bruised & Broken

A: I know this isn’t exactly what we planned for this section, but Eshonai is sort of broken during the course of this chapter. She starts out all full of wonder, awe, curiosity, and excitement. Then she is told Gavilar’s plan, shares it with the Five, and votes with them to assassinate him in the hopes of preventing the return of her ancestors. The chapter ends with her weeping for her people and the world, and though she doesn’t say it, I think she’s also weeping for the loss of her innocent dreams.

L: I’d say that it’s definitely the beginning of her breaking. When we see her in Words of Radiance, she’s still somewhat confident, determined to protect her people. Her innocent childhood dreams of exploration are buried under a mountain of responsibility, but she’s still strong. I think it was adopting stormform that truly broke her. Perhaps this was the blow that cracked her Shardplate, but realizing that she was capable of killing her own people under stormform was the final blow.

A: This just occurred to me… we’ve heard & talked for years of how “being broken” (whatever it means in each context, not going there right now) opens the soul to Investiture, and on Roshar specifically to a Nahel bond. Is this the point where Eshonai started to break in such a way as to be able to bond that comet-like spren that we only saw after she took stormform? My current theory is that she had, perhaps unknowingly, begun to bond one of the spren which would have made her a Knight Radiant, but the stormform-spren was too powerful and displaced that bond. The realization that she could kill her own people while in stormform might have been the thing that, had she survived the fall and the storms, would have driven out the stormspren and allowed a full Nahel bonding.

Diagrams & Dastardly Designs

L: At one point in his conversation with Eshonai, Gavilar says “I’m being watched.” By who? I think at this point it would be helpful to have a tiny refresher as to the different secret organizations that we’re aware of on Roshar. I’m always getting them mixed up with one another, and I can’t be the only one… So here goes.

• Ghostbloods—Seeking information about the Desolations and the Parshendi. Attempted to assassinate Jasnah Kholin, and currently Shallan Davar is infiltrating their organization. There are definite if murky Cosmere connections.
• Sons of Honor—Goal of returning the dominance of the Vorin Church, by bringing about another Desolation and hence bringing back the Heralds. Amaram was a member of this group, as was Gavilar.
• The Diagram Cabal—Believers in Taravangian’s great plan, which he wrote on his most brilliant day, the implementation of which supposedly will save humanity.

L: It stands to reason that it could have been the Ghostbloods watching him. We don’t know for sure if Taravangian had already written the Diagram at this point—in a Word of Brandon, he indicates that the Diagram hasn’t been written yet, but since he said he should check with Peter, we don’t have a canonical answer. So… if it’s not Taravangian or the Ghostbloods, who is watching him? Nalan was present at the treaty-signing, we know that. So was Jezrien. There’s evidence to suggest that Shalash was there, too (the statue of her had been removed). But I can’t imagine that Gavilar would be upset about the Heralds themselves keeping an eye on him…

Unless he didn’t know that’s who they were.

A: I’m pretty sure Gavilar suspected the Ghostbloods; he assumed that Thaidakar had sent the assassin, and we know that Thaidakar was either the leader of, or very high up in, the Ghostbloods. (Of course, I’m only assuming that Gavilar knew that as well, but Brandon did say that Gavilar knew about more groups than he was actually part of.) By the time of the main plot action, the Sons of Honor and the Ghostbloods were rivals for certain kinds of power and information; it’s quite probable that they were earlier as well. It’s interesting to note that when Szeth said he didn’t know who Thaidakar was, Gavilar’s second suspect was Restares (Sons of Honor), and then Sadeas. He really didn’t trust much of anyone, did he?

L: Well, given how trustworthy Sadeas turned out to be, I can’t say I blame him. I’m also curious as to just how deeply he’s thought through this revelation to Eshonai. How many of the events of the first two books would be different, had Gavilar not told Eshonai all of this? Did he intend to be assassinated, hence precipitating the War on the Shattered Plains that would eventually drive the Parshendi to do exactly what he wanted them to? I never really got the impression that Gavilar was much of a mastermind, but maybe the other Sons of Honor are pulling the strings behind the scenes somehow…?

A: It’s kind of hard to see Gavilar plotting like that; he seems too straightforward a thinker. (Oh, the rabbit trails I take when we start asking questions like this.) It seems that perhaps his goal was to start the war at any cost, even his own life. From the TWoK prologue, taking out all the extra bits:

“I expected you to come. You can tell Thaidakar that he’s too late.”

Then, when Szeth reveals that his masters were the Parshendi, Gavilar pulls out the other void-lighted sphere:

“The Parshendi? That makes no sense… You must take this. They must not get it.”

I strongly suspect, though without much proof, that Gavilar wanted to put both of the void-spheres in the hands of the Parshendi, hoping that they would release the trapped spren and trigger the reawakening of the voidforms. Once he’d given Eshonai the sphere, any plot of the Ghostbloods to stop him would be too late.

Flora & Fauna

“Look deeply into it. Can you see what’s moving inside? It’s a spren. Captive like in a gemheart, she thought, attuning Awe. They’ve built devices that mimic how we apply the forms?”

L: Hold up here, Eshonai. Are you telling me that all of your forms are trapping spren inside of your gemhearts, not just stormform? If so, that’s simultaneously cool and horrifying.

A: Maybe it’s because I don’t want to think of it that way, but I sort of assumed that with gemhearts, the spren volunteer for the job… if those less-than-sapient spren have enough volition to volunteer. Somewhere later, if I remember right, we’re told that you have to lure them with something they want. So apparently the spren get something out of it when they bond with these various creatures.

L: A symbiotic relationship, then. Like pilot fish! That’s way more palatable.

A: Exactly. And we know that a LOT of Rosharan critters have spren bonds to make them, well, possible. Skyeels couldn’t fly without their spren, and the big chasmfiends and greatshells would collapse under their own weight—even on low-grav Roshar—without the spren effect.

Places & Peoples

L: I find it fascinating that the Alethi enslave their own people. Not that this is new information (Kaladin was a slave in WoK obviously), but from a worldbuilding perspective it’s worth noting. This certainly isn’t unheard of in the real world, but it seemed to be far more common for cultures to enslave other cultures or tribes, usually ones they believed to be below them. The fact that the Alethi considered the Parshmen slaves to be more valuable than their own people is rather interesting. Slavery is going to be a MAJOR theme going forward, so we may as well begin scrutinizing it now.

A: Contributing to that “lost innocence” I mentioned above, Eshonai’s thoughts about the parshmen slaves were saddening. At first she thought they were just a lost little tribe of dullforms who the humans had rescued and taken care of, which was an instant plus for the humans. Then she found out there were thousands upon thousands of them, bred for slavery, and the humans prized them for being such good slaves. Along with her, though, I’m a little puzzled about that bit where the Alethi seem to expect the listeners to be pleased that their kin are such high-quality slaves. How would you react to that? At the same time, she doesn’t seem to hold much animosity toward the humans for enslaving them. Is that because she’s so awed by the humans and all their Stuff that she has a hard time thinking badly of them?

L: I hate to say it, but I can kind of understand. If slavery is so integral and normalized within your society that you enslave your own people, then saying “see look, YOUR people are actually more valued and prized than our own” and expecting them to take it as a compliment does make sense. In a disturbing, misguided sort of way.

Tight Butts and Coconuts

L: No joking in this chapter, my friends. Everyone here is dead serious.

DEAD serious.

DEAD.

A: ::FACEPALM::

L: Wow, I heard the echoes from that one all the way over here in New England!

Measured Motivations

During Gavilar’s discussion with Eshonai, he reveals his motivation.

“I need a threat. Only danger will unite them.”

L: Wow, Gavilar. How very Ozymandias of you (major spoilers for the comic book Watchmen behind that link, folks, in case you haven’t read it). This is the classic “needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few” conundrum (or for those of you well-read in psychology and ethics, The Trolley Problem). But unlike Spock, Gavilar’s putting a lot of innocent lives in danger, rather than just sacrificing himself. Yes, bringing back the Desolations will likely bring back the Heralds and the Radiants, and unite the world against a shared threat, hence ending war between the nations of Roshar. But at the potential cost of millions of innocent lives! If he’d just left well enough alone, those people wouldn’t have been put in danger at all, right? So clearly his motivations are flawed.

EXCEPT! Taln finally broke. So this Desolation was coming anyway. And without the Radiants and a united humanity, what hope would Roshar have had? Could he have been right, to have done what he did? The blood of the innocent being used to forge a shield for the entire world… His motivations mirror Taravangian’s Diagram, and I find it absolutely fascinating from an ethical perspective.

A: It’s quite a dilemma. If he hadn’t been getting those visions, I’d be down on him like a ton of bricks for thinking this was a good idea. And I still am, kind of, because he was trying to precipitate the war and actively bring back the worst enemy humanity had ever had, based on some ambiguous messages from a dying god. He didn’t have much understanding of what he was messing with.
On the other hand… if he’d managed to free the Unmade (assuming that’s what he thought the listeners’ gods were) and stir up enough of an enemy presence to get all the nations to unite so that they were already a unified force prior to Taln’s collapse, maybe it would have worked. Maybe humanity would have united to fight the Unmade and whatever forces they could bring. Maybe the Unmade could have freed the parshmen from nullform and brought them together to fight the humans, but (assuming the ancestors wouldn’t be freed until Taln released them) there wouldn’t have been any Fused to do Surgebinding. And maybe that would have precipitated a genocide—destroying enough of the Parsh before the ancestors returned that there simply would not have been enough habitable bodies for the Fused to be effective.
In a brutal sort of way, it makes sense; once the ancestors return, both sides are going to be trying to destroy the other race completely. But I still don’t think Gavilar had enough information to justify his plan.

And… of course, there’s no textual evidence that Gavilar was thinking of the Unmade as the listeners’ gods, but I can’t quite see how he’d have known about their ancestors and all that, either. Okay, now my head is spinning.

L: Maybe we’re overthinking this. Maybe he thought that the Parshendi’s old gods were just… the voidbringers. How much could he have known about voidbringers in general at this point? Jasnah hadn’t begun her research in earnest yet, I don’t think. Maybe he just thought of ambiguous “voidbringers” rather than in terms of Unmade or ancestors… Sort of the Alethi boogeyman, ya know?

A: Overthinking? Moi?? … Probably. What-ifs are tricksey things. He did have something Voidish trapped in those spheres, though.

A Scrupulous Study of Spren

“And with a very special gemstone, you can even hold a god.”

“Our parshmen were once like you. Then we somehow robbed them of their ability to undergo the transformation. We did it by capturing a spren. An ancient, crucial spren.”

“…[the sphere] had … an aura of blackness, a phantom light that was not light. Faintly violet. It seemed to suck in the light around it.”

L: Storm it, which one was this? Is it one of the Unmade, or Something Else?

A: I don’t think we actually know enough yet, much to my chagrin. I’d like to think that he had one of the Unmade in it, so we could guess which one by eliminating the ones we see. But he’s so casual about giving it to her, and he has a second one, too.

L: The one Szeth grabbed from Gavilar as Gavilar lay dying, right? How many of these stupid things are there?!

A: Yeah, that one. Which, last we knew, was “well-hidden” somewhere in Jah Keved. I just don’t think they can be Unmade, for Gavilar to be so nonchalant with them, but they almost have to be some kind of Voidspren, to give off that light. So maybe something related to that spren Kaladin will meet later? Or others like Ulim? Or maybe that “ancient, crucial spren” he mentions? I’m so confused…

L: Okay so… moving on. Whatever kind of gem this is, I wonder if they can be infused by normal Stormlight, or if the very nature of the beings they entrap is an effusion? As in, is the light it’s giving off currently from the being it contains? If the gem weren’t holding… whatever’s in there… could a Highstorm make this baby glow? Or maybe the Everstorm?

Appealing/Arresting/Appraising/Absorbing Artwork

L: Eshonai makes a point of admiring the map of Roshar that Gavilar has on his table, noting how tiny her worldview was before seeing it. She’d assumed that the Shattered Plains were vast, when in reality they’re dwarfed by the entirety of the continent. This artwork by Isaac Stewart is absolutely gorgeous—I can see why Eshonai would be so taken with it, as an aspiring cartographer herself!

Quality Quotations

“She wept to leave the music behind. Wept for her people, who might be destroyed for tonight’s action. Wept for the world, which might never know what the listeners had done for it. Wept for the king, whom she had consigned to death.”

A: Well, I won’t say “that’s all from us this week” because we all know that certain rereaders get involved in the follow-on discussion. But that’s the end of the official part, anyway. Next week, we’ll be doing Chapter 1, “Broken and Divided,” where we’ll join Dalinar in Urithiru as he tries to figure out how to proceed with this whole unification gig. We’ll take a quick look back at the discussion during the preview chapters, as well, to see how far off base we were in the speculations. Heh. At last… we can really respond to some of those comments with something other than an evil cackle.

Alice has been delighted to see the number of people asking to join the Storm Cellar facebook group since the Introduction post last week! It’s been so much fun that we had to add a couple of moderators to keep track of everything—and that’s a good thing. She hopes you’re all enjoying the Kaladin album from The Black Piper, because sometime soon she’ll show up here with a whole post about that project.

Lyndsey’s just started training in German longsword in preparation for the upcoming Renn Faire season, and let me tell you, folks, it’s just as awesome as it sounds. If you’re an aspiring author, a cosplayer, or just like geeky content, follow her on Facebook or check out her website and prepare for a lot of D&D jokes and memes, as well as the occasional bit of news about her ongoing projects.

Welcome back to Week 2 of the Oathbringer reread! Last week, we took our third look at the fateful night of the treaty-turned-assassination, from the perspective of the young Listener scout who started it all. This week, we return to Urithiru, where Dalinar is facing a host of problems ranging from personal to global importance—not least of which is how to get anyone to believe him.

Reminder: we’ll potentially be discussing spoilers for the ENTIRE NOVEL in each reread. There’s really not much Cosmere connectivity this week, other than a few explanatory remarks in Cosmere Connections. But if you haven’t read ALL of Oathbringer, best to wait to join us until you’re done, because there are references all over the book this week.

Chapter Recap

WHO: Dalinar
WHERE: Kholinar vision, Urithiru
WHEN: 1174.1.1.4

When we left our heroes at the end of Words of Radiance, they’d safely arrived in Urithiru following the Everstorm and the battle on the Shattered Plains. Dalinar had bonded the Stormfather and is a true Knight Radiant now, and Kaladin, Renarin, and Shallan were all outed as Knights Radiant as well. Shallan was still being somewhat secretive about the extent of her abilities. Szeth had been taken as an apprentice by Nalan and the Skybreakers after a miraculous revival, and Adolin had killed Torol Sadeas after having shoved poor Eshonai into a chasm.

Now, six days later, Dalinar retreats into one of his vision-dreams, seeking answers. Kholinar is reportedly being torn asunder by riots and the Queen has gone silent. The Everstorm approaches, cycling back around the continent, but the nations of the world don’t heed Dalinar’s warnings. Dalinar sees Odium’s Champion, and comes to the realization that he must unite the world faster than Odium can destroy it—to do so, he needs to find more Knights Radiant. Before he can begin to address any of the million problems presented, however, a scout arrives to alert them that Sadeas has been murdered.

Threshold of the Storm

Herald: All four positions show Chanarach, patron of Dustbringers, associated with the essence Spark, the role of Guard, and the divine attributes of Brave and Obedient. We certainly don’t see Chach herself in this chapter, so why is she here?

Alice: I have a couple of safe guesses and one hare-brained notion. Dalinar is in the position of Guard to humanity, at this point; he’s placed himself between the humans and Odium to defend them somehow. It takes courage, and is his best attempt at obedience to the command to “Unite them.” Those are the safe ones. The wild hare (it can hardly even be dignified with the term “theory”) is that the scars Dalinar sees on the walls of Kholinar, presumably caused by thunderclasts, could be a manifestation of the Voidbinding version of Dustbringers.

Lyn: Or just… big claws.

A: Dalinar mentions seeing creatures in his visions who could do this, and specifically describes the thunderclast. But whether they’re related to Dustbringers is unknown and a pretty dodgy guess.

Icon: The character icon is Dalinar’s “House Kholin” shield—the Tower and the Crown. It will show itself on all chapters where his POV is primary.

Title: The chapter title, Broken and Divided, comes from this statement by Navani:

“Dalinar, we’re half frozen up here, broken and divided. Our command structure is in disarray, and it—”

I’d like to point out here that the chapter titles almost always mean more than their specific context.

L: There are a few things this can be in reference to, which I like. First of all, the big obvious one. The nations of the world are Divided. But we can dig a little deeper here and note that the proto-Radiants we know of are also Divided, with the exceptions of Dalinar, Shallan and Renarin, who are all in Urithiru. Kaladin’s off to save his parents. Szeth is training to be a Skybreaker. Lift is probably eating. Jasnah’s traveling on her way back to Urithiru after her jaunt in Shadesmar. At this point in the story, their goals are divided, each aiming for a different goalpost. By the end, they’re United in Purpose, so it’s fitting that this is where we begin.

A: In an even more localized sense, the Alethi army is broken by the Battle of Narak, and divided between those who went with Dalinar and those who refused. The divisions between the princedoms are going to have a lot of petty impacts as we go.

I’m certain some will feel threatened by this record. Some few may feel liberated. Most will simply feel that it should not exist. —from Oathbringer, preface

A quick scan through the comments from the serialization (Chapters 1-3) indicates that several people guessed right off that it was Dalinar writing (or Navani writing for him), and one person suggested that Sunmaker had written it. The funny thing is, the people who guessed it was Dalinar mostly changed their minds later, IIRC.

Stories & Songs

“In my visions, I witnessed a stone monster that ripped itself free from the underlying rock.”

Art by Michael Whelan

L: Th-th-th-thunderclast! The interesting thing I find about these is that they’re animated from spren “possessing” inanimate objects… sounds awful Awakening-y to me. Though they do only ever seem to possess the same substance—stone. I wonder if they CAN possess other things?

A: Well, that’s a terrifying thought. So far, we’ve only seen them animate unworked stone—ripping themselves out of the ground. It would be moderately awful if the spren could possess a chunk of a city wall, for example—ripping a hole in the wall as its genesis, and then tearing down everything around it without even having to move. My best guess, though, would be that worked stone sees itself as Wall, and would be much harder to redirect than the ground.

L: Kind of like Soulcasting, then. Unworked stone has no other sense of purpose.

A: I’d almost forgotten, but when we see them in the Avalanche, the thunderclasts are referred to by proper names—presumably the names of the specific spren who do this:

Among the waiting spirits were two larger masses of energy—souls so warped, so mangled, they didn’t seem singer at all. One crawled into the stone ground, somehow inhabiting it like a spren taking residence in a gemheart. The stone became its form.

So… it’s still possible that unworked stone is needed. Come to think of it… that doesn’t sound like Soulcasting. If there’s any parallel to Surgebinding at all, it might well be something belonging to Stonewards. Unless it’s Division after all, in the sense of dividing one chunk of rock from the rest of the ground… Okay, my head is spinning. Time to change the subject.

Let’s talk Champions!

“A golden light, brilliant yet terrible. Standing before it, a dark figure in black Shardplate. The figure had nine shadows, each spreading out in a different direction, and its eyes glowed a brilliant red.” “Those eyes frightened him more. He saw something terribly familiar in them.” “This was the enemy’s champion. And he was coming.”

There were lots of guesses from the preview chapters as to the identity of Odium’s champion, with Adolin being one of the top contenders. This one in particular from dendrophobe made me laugh/cry:

“From the red eyes alone, I’m guessing Eshonai as Odium’s champion.”

L: Oh, Eshonai. We barely knew thee…

A: It was a good guess. It was just wrong. ::sniffle:: Not that I wanted Eshonai to be Odium’s champion, natch. I’m just sad about Eshonai. Still.

L: But the winner of that thread is Mad Mic, who guessed it right in comment 72.

“Dalinar is odium’s champion…”

L: Granted, Dalinar turned it down, making Mad Mic only HALF right, so… half a cookie. And we’ll throw the other half at Amaram’s head.

A: Can we let that second half get good and stale first, though? Hard as a rock? Thanks.

L: Maybe we can Soulcast it. “But wouldn’t you rather be a rock? Think of how much more damage you’d do…”

A: I like it.

L: There’s also this interesting bit from The Way of Kings , from the same vision:

“You might be able to get him to choose a champion. He is bound by some rules. All of us are. A champion could work well for you, but it is not certain. And… without the Dawnshards…”

L: A few things to unpack here. For starters, Dawnshards are NOT the same as the Honorblades or regular Shardblades. Some have speculated that they’re weapons that were supremely powerful… even able to destroy worlds. It’s hard to say much about them, as there’s little in the canon and even the WoB’s are sparse—he’s RAFO’d every single one. This makes me wonder… where the heck are they now? Do we have any clues? Is Hoid hunting them, the sneaky bastard?

A: We have virtually no clues about what or where the Dawnshards are. (I wonder if Hoid does know anything?) The Stormfather calls them weapons ( Oathbringer Chapter 113), but given that it’s second-hand and Honor was raving at the time, I dunno. Their use apparently made Ashyn unlivable, so that the humans fled from there to the flying cities and to Roshar.

L: Is that in the text somewhere, or a WoB?

A: It’s … okay, it’s actually a couple of things combined. There’s that bit in Chapter 113 where the Stormfather quotes Honor as saying the Dawnshards were used to destroy the Tranquiline Halls, and there’s one WoB that says humanity’s move to the skies and the other planet were caused by the same cataclysm .

L: Fascinating, Captain.

A: A lot of people think that the Dawnshards are swords, but I’m inclined to think that they’re a gemstone or similar object that can hold incredible amounts of Investiture and/or magnify Surgebinding to a cataclysmic level. For all I know, that “perfect gemstone” we see later is actually a Dawnshard; at least, in the TWoK Chapter 36 epigraph, the Dawnshard is said to be able to “bind any creature voidish or mortal.” It’s a bit of a stretch to think that one of the Dawnshards has been sitting in the Thaylen bank for the last however-long, and no one knew it, but why not?

L: It’s as plausible as the Ravenclaw diadem being in the Room of Requirement the whole time…

A: True dat.

L: What about these rules Odium’s bound to? Does this have something to do with the Shard he’s got?

A: Hmm. I’ve always assumed that all the Shard Vessels were bound by rules inherent to the very nature of Adonalsium—something they couldn’t break if they wanted to. We know there were agreements among the Vessels, some of which were later broken, but this doesn’t seem to be breakable.

“What was that light I saw?” “Odium. The enemy.”

L: I find it interesting that a golden light is representative of “evil.” It’s a nice reversal of the trope that good guys are represented by white and bad guys with black.

Dalinar is probably about this hard to take down, considering his Radiant Mutant Healing Factor

A: It’s very like the Biblical story of Lucifer, who before his fall was a high angel and was called the Morning Star, the light-bringer. Without going into detail, there are lots of references to Lucifer/Satan presenting as an angel of light.

“Nine shadows? The Unmade. His minions, ancient spren.” Dalinar knew them from legend only. Terrible spren who twisted the minds of men.

L: Here’s our first mention of the Unmade! They were mentioned only once in The Way of Kings and six times over the course of Words of Radiance , mostly by Listeners—though Shallan invokes them once (““An animal that speaks! You’ll bring the eyes of the Unmade upon us.”) It’s in Oathbringer , however, that we finally find out what these creatures are—sort of.

A: Heh. Sort of, indeed. I’m really looking forward to discussing the Part Four epigraphs, which are all about the Unmade. For what it’s worth, Brandon did say that the Unmade en masse are sort of the Odium equivalent to the Stormfather/Honor and the Nightwatcher/Cultivation. Unfortunately, that was sort of… pried out in conversation, not recorded, so I can’t link the quotation.

L: He’s also said that most of them aren’t sapient , which is a pretty interesting distinction.

A: Oooooo! I missed that one. I know it’s implied in the epigraphs I just mentioned, but nice to have it confirmed.

L: It’s worth noting, however, that Words of Brandon are NOT canon. Even he makes mistakes, and reserves the right to change things sometimes if he needs to, to serve the story.

In the preview chapters, Isilel asked a great question:

“Weren’t the Unmade around before Heralds broke their oaths? I am fairly certain that it was implied somewhere that they were.”

L: I did a search of the Arcanum and found this one RAFO’d WoB on the subject, but canonically we have no evidence of this one way or the other.

A: We just have so little information about them! It hurts!! (I do have a theory that the Unmade were once human, but were un-made and re-made as Splinters of Odium. I expect it’s wrong, though. Most of my theories are.) However… the Midnight Essence vision Dalinar saw in TWoK Chapter 19 would seem to imply that the Unmade were active at that point, and that it was before the Desolations ended—probably in that stage where they weren’t so far apart people forgot about them, but not yet so close together that humanity couldn’t recover in between. Also, after the Radiant orders were created. So yes, I think Isilel is right: it’s strongly implied that the Unmade were active well before the Oathpact was broken.

Relationships & Romances

L: Let’s talk about Navani and Dalinar’s relationship. It’s so beautiful and wholesome. For Dalinar to have been in love with her for so long and then to finally have his dreams realized, and that she loves him back so completely and is perfect for him—it’s like a fairy tale ending.

And this worries me, because I know story structure. Navani is so awesome and she makes Dalinar so happy that I worry for her long-term survivability.

A: I concur; I worry about her. Then again, I worry about Dalinar, too.

I thought this was the most fascinating description of the woman he loves…

Navani Kholin was not some timid, perfect ideal—she was a sour storm of a woman, set in her ways, stubborn as a boulder rolling down a mountain and increasingly impatient with things she considered foolish.
He loved her the most for that.

Hah! Not sure I’d be flattered to be called “a sour storm of a woman”… Still, there it is.

L: I love it. He sees her how she really is and not as some idealized version of herself. If that’s not true love, I don’t know what is.

A: Interestingly, right after that he talks about her being “open and genuine in a society that prided itself on secrets.” I have to wonder if he sees “the real Navani” or not, because she strikes me as an accomplished manipulator.

L: You know… thinking back on it, I don’t think of her as a manipulator. She’s always seemed pretty genuine and open to me—the fact that she went out and painted that big huge glyph when she thought Dalinar was dead was incredible. I wouldn’t think that someone who was insular would be okay with displaying their grief so publicly. I can’t think of any examples of her acting in a manipulative way, but then… we all know how great my memory is for anything that doesn’t have to do with Kaladin or Adolin.

A: I’m not saying “manipulator” in a negative way; I just see Navani as someone who knows what she wants and will skillfully work the system (or people) as necessary to get it. Then again, compared to most of Alethi society, I guess that is relatively straightforward.

Squires & Sidekicks

L: 95% sure that the scout mentioned at the end here is Lyn, since she’s been hanging out with Bridge 4 and it would make sense for her to be the one to get sent up to report in to Dalinar here. She’ll be back later, so for now it’s just worthwhile to note that she shows up.

A: I’m too lazy to go chase it through for proof, but I’m with you. Pretty sure it’s Lyn. Hi, Lyn!! ::waves::

L: ::waves:: Oh wait, you meant Fiction!me, not… Real!me… Not gonna lie, guys, this gets pretty surreal sometimes.

A: Heh. I just pretend it’s all the same. Which isn’t really fair, because I know there are all kinds of differences between Lyndsey-the-author and Lyn-the-scout… but you’re the same person to me. ::blows kisses::

Places & Peoples

L: The windblades are super cool. Natural formations, or man-made? What do you think, Alice?

A: Well… I don’t think they were made by humans; I rather think they were Shard-made. It’s even possible that they were created by Adonalsium when he made the continent; he was so purposeful in its design that I can see him designing special, protected places for the people to live. Which, of course, makes me wonder if there was a time when these cities—or the locations, anyway—were occupied by the Singers prior to the arrival of the humans.

L: It’s worthwhile to mention the Oathgates here, too. We saw one back in Words of Radiance , but we’re definitely getting a lot more information about them here. There are ten total, only one is currently unlocked (the one from the Shattered Plains), and they need to be unlocked from both sides before they can be used. I’ve always loved insta-travel in fantasy novels, and this system is no exception.

Art by Isaac Stewart

Tight Butts and Coconuts

Somehow we’ll make them listen—even if they’ve got their fingers planted firmly in their ears. Makes one wonder how they manage it, with their heads rammed up their own back-ends.

L: Navani Kholin is a treasure.

A: Absolutely.

Cosmere Connections

A: There’s not a lot to say here, except to remind ourselves that numbers are Meaningful in the Cosmere. Sixteen is important throughout the Cosmere because of the sixteen Shards of Adonalsium. We’ve seen throughout the first two books how everything on Roshar runs in tens, because ten is significant to Honor. Now we’re going to start seeing things in nines, because nine is Odium’s special number. Nine Unmade, nine Shadows, and… well, lets just be on the lookout for nines, eh?

A Scrupulous Study of Spren

“Dalinar had discovered that he could now have these visions replayed for him at will [due to having bonded the Stormfather himself]”

L: When Dalinar asks if he can go down to the city, the Stormfather replies, “You’re not supposed to go there.” But Dalinar insists, and the Stormfather complies (with a moody sigh). I love that Dalinar has already started to order him around. Poor, put-upon Storm-Daddy. He just wants to roll around Roshar and slide into people’s dreams. Why you gotta be so bossy, Dalinar?

A: The one that cracked me up was when Dalinar makes that request and the Stormfather rumbles, Dalinar’s all, “At least today he’s not using the voice that rattles my bones.” He’s so irreverent sometimes. Poor Stormfather.

Quality Quotations

You can find refuge from these storms, Son of Honor. Not so with our enemies.

Well, that was a short but interesting chapter! We got mentions of Odium’s Champion and the Unmade, set up Dalinar’s motivation moving forward (as if we didn’t know that Unity was going to be his big goal…) and got a great hook for the next chapter. Will Dalinar figure out that his eldest son is a murderer? Does anyone even really miss that snake Sadeas, anyway? How about Bridgeboy Broody-eyes and his quest to save his family, and Shallan, and… well, we’re getting a little ahead of ourselves. Join us next week when we delve into Chapter Two, and as always feel free to join in on the conversation in the comments!

Alice is being reminded that despite the Weeping and the plague (or flu, or whatever is going around), life just keeps being busy. Whew! She hopes you’re all enjoying the Kaladin album from The Black Piper , because sometime soon she’ll show up here with a whole post about that project. Message her if you have any questions about the album you’d like to ask the creators.

Lyndsey ’s so ready for winter to be over. She’d much rather live in Roshar and have to deal with Highstorms and Weepings than the cold! If you’re an aspiring author, a cosplayer, or just like geeky content, follow her work on Facebook or her website .

Welcome back, fellow Stormlight fans! Today’s chapter features a handsome prince (::swoon::), the corpse of a traitor (::cheer::), and a certain grizzled Highprince prepared to do whatever it takes to bring unity to the world (::Bridge 4 salute::).

Reminder: we’ll potentially be discussing spoilers for the ENTIRE NOVEL (and the two previous) in each reread. There’s no Cosmere connectivity this week. But if you haven’t read ALL of Oathbringer, best to wait to join us until you’re done, because there are references all over the book this week.

Chapter Recap

WHO: Adolin Kholin, Dalinar Kholin
WHERE: Urithiru
WHEN: 1174.1.1.4 (Same day as last chapter)

We begin this chapter with refugees from the Shattered Plains having arrived at Urithiru. Despite Navani’s attempts to organize them, chaos reigns. Adolin is attempting to supervise the chaos while still sporting his broken wrist from the battle.

Dalinar arrives to find Bridge 4 at the brink of battle with Sadeas’s men over the Highprince’s corpse. He calms the situation and leads his own men outside to allow Sadeas’s men to cool down and care for the body of their Highprince. Everyone else is unconcerned about the death of the traitor, but Dalinar reminds them that this murder could prove a stumbling block in his goal for unity. He assigns Aladar and Sebarial as Highprinces of Information and Commerce, orders Adolin to set a training regimen for the men, and Shallan and Renarin to learn as much about their powers as they can.

Threshold of the Storm

Herald: Ishar. Patron of the Bondsmiths, known as the Herald of Luck, or Binder of Gods. He is associated with the Divine Attributes of Pious and Guiding.

Alice: I assume this is because Dalinar is acting Bondsmithy. We certainly don’t see Ishar in person, nor is he mentioned. Dalinar is guiding and unifying; I think that’s enough.

Icon: The Shardbearer

A: Since we didn’t know if this icon would be reserved solely for Adolin, or if it would later encompass others, Carl and I dubbed it “The Shardbearer.” So far, I think we’ve only seen it on chapters that begin with Adolin’s POV, like this one, or where he’s the primary POV.

Title: One Problem Solved

“Well!” said Palona, hands on hips as she regarded Sadeas’s corpse. “I guess that’s one problem solved!”

A: Needless to say, pretty much everyone but Dalinar, including most readers, agree with Palona here. There are more than enough problems to deal with right now; Sadeas skulking around trying to undermine Dalinar at every turn would not be helpful.

Epigraph:

I needed to write it anyway.—from Oathbringer, preface

A: Okay, then. Write on.

Stories & Songs

“[The Desolations] were destruction made manifest, Brightlord. Each one was so profoundly devastating that humankind was left broken. Populations ruined, society crippled, scholars dead. Humankind was forced to spend generations rebuilding after each one. Songs tell of how the losses compounded upon one another, causing us to slide farther each time, until the Heralds left a people with swords and fabrials and returned to find them wielding sticks and stone axes.”

A: So… I guess my brain is broken today, or something, but someone please remind me… Do normal everyday Alethi (or other Rosharans) believe the Desolations happened? I can’t honestly remember how much of it they believed, and how much was relegated to mythology. Lyn, can you help me?

Lyn: I found quite a few references in The Way of Kings, but all of them are from the higher/learned class and not the common people. Dalinar, Shallan, Renarin, and Navani all talk about them at points in TWoK, but Jasnah has the most breadth of knowledge on the subject.

“The Voidbringers were an embodiment of evil. We fought them off ninety and nine times, led by the Heralds and their chosen knights, the ten orders we call the Knights Radiant. Finally, Aharietiam came, the Last Desolation. The Voidbringers were cast back into the Tranquiline Halls. The Heralds followed to force them out of heaven as well, and Roshar’s Heraldic Epochs ended.”

Since I didn’t find a single reference from anyone who wasn’t high nobility or a scholar, I’d theorize that the common people don’t actually think they happened.

“[The Voidbringers] came to annihilate. Their goal was to wipe humankind from Roshar. They were specters, formless—some say they are spirits of the dead, others spren from Damnation.”

L: What we know now about the true identity of the Voidbringers makes this interesting to consider.

A: The history she’s quoting is probably from the time when the Voidbringers literally were the spirits of the dead Parsh, with their goal to wipe humankind from Roshar. But it’s still ironic, given the earlier history.

L: I rather like how the perceived identity of the Voidbringers shifts over time. At first, the Singers called the humans Voidbringers. But over the years this reverses. It’s almost as if the term is simply a “boogey man” type word that the prevailing culture adopts.

A: It seems to be used that way now, mostly relegated to mythology and children’s stories by both species—but it’s rooted in fact. The Singers correctly called the humans “Voidbringers” when they arrived with the powers of Odium (assuming that’s how it worked). But then the humans were accepted by Honor and Cultivation, and the Singers turned to Odium for power – so now they’re the ones who use Odium’s power and Voidbinding.

L: That makes sense. Voidbringer = anyone who works with Odium then, in this case.

A: That’s my understanding, anyway. It reminds me of what Eshonai thought in the Prologue—that in all the stories, the humans were dark, formless monsters. Is that a blending of the human-Voidbringers and the ancestor-Voidbringers? Or did humans once do all that creepy stuff that the Fused do now?

Relationships & Romances

“Other Radiants will be coming to us, and you two will need to lead them. The knights were once our greatest weapon against the Voidbringers. They will need to be so again.” “Father, I…“ Renarin stumbled over the words. “It’s just … Me? I can’t. I don’t know how to … let alone…” “Son,” Dalinar said, stepping over. He took Renarin by the shoulder. “I trust you. The Almighty and the spren have granted you powers to defend and protect this people. Use them. Master them, then report back to me what you can do. I think we’re all curious to find out.”

A: I recall a lot of debate about what Renarin meant here. I’m personally convinced that he was reacting to Dalinar’s suggestion that he should lead the Radiants who would be coming. It could have something to do with his visions or some uncertainty about Glys, but in context, I still believe he was flipping out about having to lead people.

L: Could be a combination of the two. He barely knows what he’s doing when it comes to Radiantness, so teaching others? I can see how that would be scary. What I find more interesting about this exchange is that it’s the beginning of a bigger interpersonal arc—Dalinar and Renarin’s often strained father/son relationship.

A: It’s hard to know what to say about the relationship between father and son here. Do we talk about it in light of what we already know at this point in the story, or about all the things we’re going to learn in the rest of the book?

At this point Dalinar treats him well—lovingly, gently, but still expecting him to do what he can to contribute—a reasonably healthy relationship, all in all. As we’ll see much later, though, their relationship has not been good until the last seven years; up until Renarin was about twelve, Dalinar couldn’t even be bothered to remember his name. A lot has changed.

L: I wonder how much of this could be guilt, trying to atone for past sins. We know that he doesn’t remember Evi at this point in the story, but does he remember how he’d treated his sons? If so, there may be something to be said about how, now that Renarin is a Radiant, he’s “worth” Dalinar’s time and attention. I don’t remember him really spending much thought on Renarin in WoK or WoR, but now that he’s useful in war? This makes horrible sense in light of Alethi cultural norms.

A: Ewww. That’s a creepy thought, but I don’t quite believe it—or I don’t want to. As near as I can tell, Renarin mostly wants to please his father and brother—not out of fear, but because he loves them. They in turn love him, but… It seems that Adolin is close to his brother and accepts him as he is, without having to ever think about it. Dalinar seems… a little at a loss, sometimes, how to deal with his very different sons. Even in this chapter, he thinks of them as “His sons, steady Adolin and impenetrable Renarin.” Dalinar has come to love Renarin, but still doesn’t relate to him very well. Perhaps Renarin’s new status gives Dalinar a little more “handle” on how to interact with him, because there’s finally something specific that Renarin is uniquely able to do. So I would say (maybe because I want to believe it!) that it’s less a matter of “now that he’s useful” and more a matter of “now he has a recognizable role.”

Squires & Sidekicks

Bridge 4’s first appearance in this book! Huzzah! Sadly we don’t get to spend a lot of time with them, but that’s what Part 2 is for.

“Navani said [squires] were a type of apprentice Radiant that had once been common: men and women whose abilities were tied to their master, a full Radiant.”

L: Lots of discussion on this in the preview chapter comments. RobertD picked up on the fact that the Windrunner squires only have access to their abilities within a specific radius from their patron Radiant. Kefka said, “From what I understand, each order has a certain special ability unconnected to the surges. … Squires are only ever mentioned in connection with the Windrunners, so that might be theirs.” I went on the hunt for a WoB to verify or contradict this, and came up with a couple.

WoB: “…each Order, there are things that come with [it], things that do not add up from the simple “you get this power plus this power.” For Windrunners, watch the number and the power of the squires. Some Orders don’t have [squires].” [But some have more.]

L: In a different WoB, he said that [Kaladin’s] unique ability is “Strength of Squires”. Interesting that he specifies strength of squires. Strength as in, strength of their powers? Or strength of numbers?

A: Or both? Even by the end of the book, we have very little for comparison; just a few glimpses of the Skybreaker training. But it seems like Kaladin not only has a host of squires, but they are strong, and quick to learn.

L: So many questions about squires remain! How many other orders can have them? What are their powers? The only clue I found in the Arcanum is as follows:

“For most orders, squires were knights radiant potentially in training.”

To me, this implies that most squires eventually became full-fledged Knights Radiant, as opposed to remaining squires with that specific skill-set (whatever that may be) in perpetuity.

A: Well, we don’t need to jump ahead to the Skybreaker scenes yet, but that’s certainly reflective of what they do. You start as a basic recruit, and then someone takes you on as a squire, and then (hopefully) you get bonded by a spren.

L: It seems to be a minor distinction—in the Skybreakers, you begin your training and gain some small amount of abilities, and then you’re taken on as a squire; whereas in Kaladin’s Windrunners, he takes them on as squires and then they start gaining powers. Whether this is how it was done in the past or just an artifact of Kaladin’s tendency to pick up strays and tuck them under his wings is up for debate.

A: What I really want to know, suddenly, is whether a Windrunner usually makes an active choice of squires, or if it’s more “anyone in his gang.” But again, we can talk about that more in Part 2 when it gets active.

Either way, Dalinar’s lack of officers explained the room’s other occupants: Highprince Sebarial and his mistress, Palona.

“I know you’re desperate, Dalinar,” Sebarial said. “My presence here is sufficient proof of that. But surely we haven’t sunk so far as to be better off with Sadeas among us.”

A: Sanderson takes some pains to point out that Dalinar is functioning without anything like his normal support structure. The paragraphs just before that first quote detail the list of his best officers who have been lost recently, either at the Tower or at Narak. He’s only got one highlord left—Khal, who is recuperating from wounds suffered at Narak. He’s forced to rely on Aladar, Sebarial, and Adolin, and whatever he can get from two very young (ages 17 and 19) and very fledgling Radiants. And Navani, of course…

L: Two? Excuse you, I think you’re forgetting a certain broody Bridgeboy.

A: I’m not forgetting him, but he’s miles away, and no knowing when he’ll be back. He’s not much help just now. If he were here, he’d up the age range to a whopping 20—though at least he has command and combat experience.

Places & Peoples

Women gathered water at the well in the center.

L: The fact that Urithiru has wells intrigues me. Looking at the drawing of the city’s architecture below, it seems like any water would have to be pulled up from really far down. Do they have functional water ladders that pull the water up, or is the water just collected rain water? The mentioned aqueducts are probably just moving the water around once it’s already in the city.

A: I’m so easy to please. I just assumed there are artesian wells here. But now that you mention it, it can’t be rainwater; Urithiru is mostly above the rains. If that was the direct source, it would be kinda scarce, wouldn’t it?

L: I was a little iffy on the definition of artesian wells so I looked it up. Apparently the water table would need to be higher than the well on either side for that to work, which is impossible given how high up Urithiru is. I don’t claim to be knowledgeable in… watery matters (hydrodynamics? hydraulics?), maybe someone in the comments will have a better idea as to how this is being accomplished.

A: Hmmm. I hope there’s a natural explanation as opposed to mechanical, because literally everything else about Urithiru that was designed to support human habitation is dependent on powering up the city. Lighting, plumbing, waste disposal, crops, heat… all sorts of things are hinted at having existed somewhere along the line. Like this bit:

At first, these wide flat sections of stone had baffled them. But the furrows in the stone, and planter boxes on the inner edges, had revealed their purpose. Somehow, these were fields. Like the large spaces for gardens atop each tier of the tower, this area had been farmed, despite the cold.

We get hints from the later epigraphs that it was the Stormlight-powered city that made it possible, though we don’t know how. But it doesn’t seem reasonable that the wells are magic-powered when nothing else is.

Oh… except don’t we learn somewhere along the line that the air pressure up here isn’t as low as it ought to be for the elevation? So maybe there are still a few basic functions being maintained? So many new questions.

L: When speaking to the discontented people, Adolin thinks about how carting water was beneath their nahn, and how Dalinar would now need to be paying people for work that has traditionally been done for free by the parshmen. This is going to create a huge financial burden on the Alethi as society readjusts—not to mention the fact that some privileged people are going to need to begin doing menial labor. The societal implications of all of this are huge.

A: If I were a better historian, I’d go look at how various cultures have dealt with the sudden cessation of slavery.

L: Yeah, honestly… Anything I could find out would just be gleaned from wikipedia, which isn’t the greatest of sources. I think we’ll leave the detailed analysis on this one to the professionals.

A: Exactly. In most RL cases, though, the former slaves were still there and now needed an income, so there was often an incentive to create an employer/employee relationship to replace the owner/slave system. In this case, the slaves are gone—either because they took off, or because the humans left them behind or kicked them out as “too dangerous to have around.” So there’s no one but other humans to do the work. And the ones who aren’t already slaves need paying.

“The walls were twisted with lines—natural strata of alternating earthy colors, like those made by crem drying in layers.”

L: Ah, our first mention in OB of the weird strata. In the comments last week, kirgen brought up an excellent point regarding the windblades having similar lines.

A: It’s in Chapter one: “Even the windblades—once magnificent, sleek rock formations exposing countless strata and variations—had been shattered.” (Also, much later, Kaladin thinks “The large curves of stone glittered with red, white, and orange strata,)

L: Good catch, Kirgen! They later go on to predict that “like Urithiru, they were built to be powered in some way; built to provide an essential function. But now that they have fallen into the hands the Fused will that power be subverted?” Man. This is a really good theory. I wouldn’t be surprised if the strata are some sort of latent defense mechanism, powered by collected stormlight. That big column of fused gemstones in Urithiru being the battery that powers the whole shebang.

A: I’m with the popular theory that the strata in Urithiru carry energy (when the gemstone column is powered up) to provide lighting, heat, perhaps even communications. I hadn’t thought about the windblades also being an energy conduit, but it’s a fascinating thought.

L: And since we’re talking about Urithiru… we finally get a full description of the architecture!

Created from a sequence of ten ring-like tiers—each containing eighteen levels—the tower city was adorned with aqueducts, windows, and balconies like this one.

The bottom floor also had wide sections jutting out at the perimeter: large stone surfaces, each a plateau in its own right. They had stone railings at their edges, where the rock fell away into the depths of the chasms between mountain peaks.

We’ll talk more about the notations on this drawing when it actually comes up in the text.

L: It reminds me a bit of Minas Tirith.

A: I have a hard time wrapping my head around it all; the drawing helps, but… wow.

L: Back in the preview chapters, Havoc picked out an interesting little bit of history. “Shin Invasions!!?” they asked. “Weren’t they supposed to be a peaceful people?”

This is a great question. I couldn’t find anything indicating that the Shin were ever on the offensive, which makes me wonder if we misread that little bit and what was actually meant was that other countries were invading them.

A: There’s nothing in the WoBs—I can’t believe no one has asked him about this yet! If the Shin did try invading the rest of the world, maybe it was because they thought it was their job as holders of the Honorblades. It was probably before the Heirocracy, if these are listed in chronological order, so it could be really, really old. The thought about “stone is holy” is fascinating to reflect on; why would they try to invade all that stone-land? Personally, I think it’s likely that their thing about warriors being the lowest level of society—and their being such a peaceful people—is a result of the failed invasions, much like the current position of the Vorin ardenia is a result of the church trying to seize power. “We’re not going to let that happen again!’

L: I’m sticking to my “it was the other way around” theory for now…

L: Since we’re talking about the Shin, I’d like to bring up a comment from last week’s post revisiting our discussion on the thunderclasts. JoshB said: “I remember Szeth making a huge deal about Shin being forbidden to tread on non-Soulcast stone. This was probably an early reference to the connection the Shin have with the spren, and the constant ability of some spren to possess such stone like a body.”

A: Interesting theory. My problem with it is that I don’t recall anything about the Shin having any sort of special connection with the spren. The Parshendi certainly do, and (likely as a result of crossbreeding) the Horneaters do as well. Spren are rarely even seen in Shinovar, so… I’m not sure I can agree.

Tight Butts and Coconuts

Looking down on Sadeas’s corpse, Palona says:

“Well! I guess that’s one problem solved.”

L: Bless you Palona. ::Potato-GLaDOS voice:: “Yeah! Yeah! She says what we’re all thinking!”

“You’d better be ready for Damnation’s own thunder,”

A: I don’t recall hearing this one before, but it’s quite the curse! Doesn’t take much to figure out how serious that’s supposed to be. “

“Blood of my fathers”

L: I really liked this in-world curse, but I didn’t remember it, so out of curiosity I went back and looked it up. Interestingly, it was used 14 times in WoK, but never in WoR. Maybe it’s just because we didn’t get as many Dalinar POV sections in WoR.

Weighty Words

L: At the end of the chapter, Dalinar instructs Shallan and Renarin to experiment with their powers more. To Renarin, he says, “I think we’re all curious to find out [what you can do].”

UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE CENTURY, DALINAR. Even at the end of OB, there are still so many questions about Renarin! What’s going on with his corrupted spren? What can he and can’t he do? We know he can heal people, that’s for certain. But can he see the future?

In the preview chapters, manavortex commented that “[At a] signing I asked whether Glys was equally “of Cultivation” that Syl is of Honor. I tried to get anything out of him about Glys’ possible Voidyness. He RAFO’d me, though, so – I’m still concerned for Renarin. More so, now.”

L: You and me both, manavortex. It’s worthwhile to note that Brandon’s RAFO’d a lot of stuff about the Truthwatchers and their spren, saying that he’s “not willing to canonize that yet.” To me, that sounds like “I haven’t 100% figured it out myself yet” rather than a simple RAFO.

A: About seeing the future, though—we know he can do that. Near the end of the book, he even thinks about how everything he’d ever seen happened as he’d seen it, except the one where Jasnah killed him. (That’s why he smiled at the Fused just before Bridge Four came through the Oathgate. I love that scene.)

Murky Motivations

L: I’d like to spend some time talking about Adolin’s motivation in killing Sadeas, because it seems to be a bit of a contentious subject.

A: Really? You’re going to spend time talking about Adolin? I’m shocked. Shocked, I say.

L: LOOK, HE’S AWESOME, ALL RIGHT? Personally, my take on the subject is that killing Sadeas was completely justified. Sadeas had betrayed the Kholin army and left them for dead on the Shattered Plains, for his own gain. He’d done nothing but work against Dalinar, and Adolin had every reason to believe that their lives were in danger from this man. He’d left them for dead once, and Sadeas straight up says that he’s not going to stop. It was preemptive self-defense, and defense of his father and—hence—the world. Was there a healthy dollop of vengeful wrath thrown in there, too? Absolutely. But to be honest, I don’t blame him, laws or no laws. To quote Syl, “Laws don’t matter; what’s right matters.”

Now, if Adolin were in the real world, and governed by our ethics and moral codes, would I condemn him for his actions? Hard to say. “Preemptive self-defense” is NOT a valid excuse for murder, unless we’re talking sci-fi Minority Report type stuff in which future guilt is assured, but I can’t deny that stories like Dexter in which vigilantes take the law into their own hands have a certain appeal. We don’t know much about Alethi law when it comes to criminal proceedings, other than this in-text reference I found from WoR:

Killing Sadeas now—no matter how much he deserved it—would undermine the very laws and codes Adolin’s father was working so hard to uphold.

So Adolin knew it was wrong. But he felt strongly enough about it to do it anyway. It’s a great ethical and philosophical question—when should personal morals override written laws?

A: I’ll admit, I have a hard time with this one. I’m against murder of the innocent, and I’m for the presumption of innocence. And I’m also for the belief that a legitimate government has the only legitimate mandate to exercise the death penalty. And I’ve been known to say that if Sadeas came back to life like some others we know, I was going to climb into the book and kill him myself. The thing is, the Alethi government is not set up to require or enforce moral behavior from its highprinces. Frankly, Alethi government is totally based on “might makes right” at the top levels, even though they have a somewhat better code of laws and justice below that. (Far from perfect, but let’s not go there right now.) The point is that there’s no legal way to stop Sadeas from doing exactly what he told Adolin he was going to do. He was going to use his position and influence to stab the Kholin family in the back until they were all dead. How do you stop that?

L: Whether or not this is an action worthy of a proto-Radiant or not is an entirely different conversation. There are a lot of theories about whether or not Adolin will eventually walk a Radiant path, and whether or not this action would be a boon or a hindrance to that.

Adolin stood for a moment, staring Sadeas in the eyes, and then something finally snapped.

This line from Words of Radiance in particular is the one I think most people are thinking of when they theorize that he’s heading down a Radiant path. But I don’t think this is evidence of him “Breaking”—not in the way we usually mean when we talk about proto-Radiants, anyway.

A: There’s a WoB that says that the term “snapped” was not used magically.

L: Sometimes a chicken really IS just a chicken, guys, even in a Brandon Sanderson book. (This can be read either as a Goodkind jab or a play on every bird in Roshar being a chicken, take your pick.) But… just for the sake of argument, let’s say Adolin is Broken and a proto-Radiant. Which orders would see this murder as not a problem (perhaps even a plus)?

A: We have a WoB that while some Orders would think he was wrong, others would be fine with it. He specifically said that the Willshapers would be okay with it, but that was in response to a leading question, so I don’t think it means much. I’m not sure the Skybreakers would approve, because they’re all about The Law, not necessarily about justice.

L: He was protecting others. There’s also the fact that his dead Shardblade (Maya) was an Edgedancer’s blade. Adolin certainly seems to embody the ideals we know of so far for them—remembering those who are forgotten, and listening to those who have been ignored.

A: Not every action a person takes necessarily fits the Ideals of their future Order. This was a totally human response to the situation. However, I do (now) believe that if Adolin ever becomes a Radiant, he’ll be an Edgedancer. Okay, that’s mostly because of Maya—I want him to bring her fully back to sapience, and if that means he needs to speak the Edgedancer Ideals, that works for me. His general behavior and graceful athleticism seem to fit well with the historical accounts of Edgedancers. Perhaps a smidge more than the one Edgedancer we’ve met, even?

Quality Quotations

• “We have to assume that this city—our armies—will soon be the only bastion of order left in the world.”
• “Looking for him? You lost your highprince?”

A: Well, for a relatively short chapter, we sure had a lot to talk about! This is partly because we’re busy referencing things from all three books, which may subside as we get deeper into the world again.

L: I just realized that I didn’t use a single meme of gif this week. I must be off my game. I’ll make up for it next week guys, promise.

A: For now, we’re planning to stick with one chapter next week. It’s Dalinar’s first flashback, which has been talked over a lot, but is HUGE in seeing what young Dalinar was like. Just in case we decide there’s not enough material, though, y’all could read chapters 3 and 4. Just in case.

Alice is glad to see everyone here commenting and answering one another’s questions, because wow—she has NOT been on the thread much. Life. If anyone is planning to attend the Emerald City Comic Con, make sure you look up the Dragonsteel booth. Alice and her daughter will be hanging out there on Saturday (March 2, not this week!) with Kara Stewart. Find them!

Lyndsey has been writing at length lately on her website about the lengthy process of trying to get a novel published, and about how her lessons in European longsword are helping to improve her fight scenes. She’s also got two conventions coming up, so she’ll be posting a lot of WIP cosplay photos on social media. If you’re an aspiring author, a cosplayer, or just like geeky content, follow her work on Facebook or her website.

Have you ever wanted to immerse yourself in Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive series? Here’s your change, coming next month!

The Way of Kings, Escape the Shattered Plains is a VR experience that will be released on Viveport and Steam for the HTC Vive on March 2. Step into Kaladin’s shoes and explore!

Take a peek at the trailer for Escape the Shattered Plains to see what’s in store:

Need more Stormlight Archives? Check out our Oathbringer Reread!

[Via THR]

Well, hello again! Good to see you all back with us today, as we travel back in time to the early days of the Kholin campaign to unify Alethkar. Today we’re reading Dalinar’s first flashback, when he was a terrifying teen. We’ll meet an old friend for the first time, as well as one who was a friend and became an enemy. Oh, and we’ll see where Dalinar got the nickname Blackthorn.

Reminder: we’ll potentially be discussing spoilers for the ENTIRE NOVEL in the reread and the comments. If you haven’t read ALL of Oathbringer, best to wait to join us until you’re done.

Chapter Recap

WHO: Young Dalinar
WHERE: somewhere in Alethkar, and probably not in Kholin lands
WHEN: Indeterminate day in 1139 (34 years ago)

We start off Dalinar’s first flashback on a battlefield. Dalinar and his elites charge into battle, Dalinar seeking a challenge—and the elusive Thrill. He finds said challenge in an armored brightlord with whom he engages in a bloody battle. Dalinar loses his shield and suffers a broken nose, but wins the day. As he issues orders to his men, he is struck from behind by an arrow. He manages to capture the would-be assassin and, thanks to the man’s impossibly good accuracy and strength, offers him a place in his elites.

Threshold of the Storm

Herald: Talenel in all four spots: patron Herald of the Stonewards, associated with the Divine Attributes of Dependable and Resourceful, and the role of Soldier. He is sometimes called the Herald of War, or Stonesinew.

Alice: Well, Dalinar plays Soldier for all he’s worth here. He also shows a certain amount of resourcefulness, though I wouldn’t so much say dependable. He seems to be a bit erratic, in fact.

Lyn: Yeah, Herald of War is certainly fitting for this one.

Icon: Inverse Kholin Shield, which we’ll see in the book on each flashback chapter.

A: For anyone new to the rereads who didn’t already pick up on this, the flashback chapters use the focus character’s normal icon, but in the negative. For Dalinar and Shallan, this turns out to be black on white; Kaladin’s was less obvious, since it was only the banner that changed to black on white instead of its normal grey on black.

Title: Momentum

A good fight was about momentum.

A: The word momentum is used four times in this chapter: twice in conscious thought, and twice with regard to an object’s movement. Dalinar is thinking specifically in terms of the battle, but it’s also characteristic of the campaign he and Gavilar are waging on the other princedoms. For this first while, it’s all about momentum.

Stories & Songs

Dalinar danced, shaking off his bloodied blade, feeling alert, excited, but not yet alive. Where was it? Come on.…

An emotion stirred inside Dalinar. It was a fire that filled the pit within.

Something thrummed inside Dalinar, the pulse of the battle, the rhythm of killing and dying. The Thrill.

Dalinar kept moving, fighting off the dull sense of … nothingness that often followed a battle. This was the worst time. He could still remember being alive, but now had to face a return to mundanity.

He was done living for the day. It would be weeks, maybe months, before he got another opportunity.

A: This is clearly not Dalinar’s first experience with Nergaoul, since he’s actively Thrill-seeking in this scene. It seemed apparent from the Midnight Essence vision (WoR Ch. 19) that at one time, the Radiants knew that the Thrill needed to be controlled; still, I’m not sure if that’s evidence that they knew it was related to an Unmade. Even if they did, though, by Dalinar’s lifetime, the Unmade are bogeymen to frighten children, and in Alethkar, the Thrill is something to be eagerly sought. No wonder the princedoms were always fighting and no one wanted to stop. Odium had to be happy about that—an entire nation who adored his minion.

L: The whole concept of Nergaoul and the Thrill is just fascinating to me. I wonder if the Unmade are partially analogous to the seven deadly sins—wrath for Nergaoul, gluttony for Ashertmarn… we don’t really see enough of any of the others to be able to see if there’s more of a pattern, but it’s interesting to consider.

A: Oh, nice! I would bet that concept influenced the Unmade, at the very least. It makes so much sense.

A: As a complete rabbit trail, the affinity of the Alethi for Nergaoul makes me wonder—it seems so logical—if each of the Unmade would find a specially sympathetic home in one of the old Silver Kingdom areas. Doesn’t that seem like a cool theory? Since there are only nine Unmade, the Shin would be the ones without an Unmade “patron,” of course. Then, as a parallel, the same should apply to the Heralds, but we don’t have any evidence for that. And … well… there is actually no evidence for the first part, either, so… So once again, I think I’m on the track of something clever, and then I fall down a rabbit hole, and Sanderson’s gone off the other direction. That man just never does what I expect him to, I tell you.

Bruised & Broken

A: Dalinar is around 19 here, and they’ve been going at this unification gig for… I don’t know, a couple of years now? Dalinar has already developed a Reputation; he’s a fearsome fighter in his own right, but when he gets the Thrill all up in his blood, he’s terrifying. He’s not exactly a sociopath, but he can’t be exactly right in the head, either, the way he loves to kill. Or can he? Is this simply what you get in a society that places soldiers at the pinnacle of religious and social standing?

L: I think it’s to be expected in this society. If violence is revered, then men who cause it will be lifted up and praised. It’s hard to have empathy and understanding for such a society, but if this is all they know, all they’ve been brought up on… They don’t know any better, because they’ve never seen anything else as worthy. They sort of remind me of the Klingons, a bit. It’s all about battle for Klingons. Honor, too, which Dalinar is… lacking… at this point, but the similarities are striking nonetheless.

Squires & Sidekicks

Torol Sadeas—resplendent in golden yellow Shardplate that had already been washed clean—pushed through a cluster of officers. The red-faced young man looked far older than he had a year ago. When they’d started all this, he’d still been a gangly youth. No longer.

A: Interesting to have this episode, where Dalinar and Torol were comrades-in-arms, right after the scene where Dalinar was the only person who was sorry Torol was dead.

Also, does this imply that a) Sadeas was with them from the very beginning and b) they’d only started a year ago? That could answer my earlier question.

L: I always got the impression that Sadeas had been one of the founding members. Which makes his eventual betrayal all the worse. ::whispers:: He was a snake and he totally deserved that knife through the eye.

A: ::whispers back:: I know, right?

“Brightlord!” Thakka said, kneeling, shielding Dalinar with his body. “Kelek! Brightlord, are you—”

A: Thakka shows up here for the first time, and will only appear in one other chapter, but he seems to have been one of Dalinar’s best men. That’s some pretty amazing loyalty, right there.

He seized the archer and hauled the fellow to his feet, noting the blue tattoo on his cheek.

A: Hello there, Teleb. From this day on, every time we meet him, Teleb will be seen as completely loyal to Dalinar. In fact, his wife Kalami is later seen as one of Dalinar’s most trusted scribes, though we don’t know whether that’s because Teleb married one of the Kholin scribes or if she was already one of the family members Thakka would be rounding up immediately following this action.

L: I’ll have a comment about that “rounding up of family members” bit later on.

A: Teleb is identified several times by the blue tattoo on his cheek, which signifies that he’s an Oldblood, descendant of a dynasty that ruled Alethkar before the lighteyes became the designated honchos. (On a guess, that might have been in the time of the Recreance, since it seems probable that lighteyes-in-general came to power because the ones who bonded the post-Recreance Shardblades became the lighteyes.) Anyway, Teleb is descended from kings, but it doesn’t seem to matter any more.

L: He’s also a complete and total BOSS. Shooting a longbow accurately three hundred yards is damn impressive. I’ve seen archers hit targets at a hundred yards at renaissance faires, but THREE hundred? Man’s a beast! I looked up the record for English longbows and three hundred yards isn’t out of the realm of possibility, but to do so accurately? I would have tried to recruit him, too! (I suppose it should be noted that Roshar yards and Earth yards aren’t strictly the same, but… seeing as how I’m not sure how the differences in gravity and such would play out either, I’ll leave that analysis to the mathematicians among you in the comments.)

Places & Peoples

Drive forward and convince your enemies that they’re as good as dead already. That way, they’ll fight you less as you send them to their pyres.

L: Interesting to see a mention of Alethi burial tradition here. It’s very fitting for such a warrior-like culture. Like the Vikings.

A: In such a rocky land, burial in the ground would be virtually impossible on a wide scale, so it makes sense that they’d use cremation instead. But I’ll admit, my first thought was that it would be just like them to find the fastest way to “send them to the Tranquiline Halls.” Poof—up in smoke.

Tight Butts and Coconuts

The archer gasped and stared at Dalinar. He expected he was quite a sight, covered in soot from the fires, his face a mask of blood from the nose and the cut scalp, stuck with not one but two arrows.

“Dalinar, are those arrows? Stormfather, man, you look like a thornbush!”

A: I included the first quotation to give the visual, and the second to give Sadeas’s comment. Keeping in mind that the arrows were black, this is most likely the origin of the Blackthorn. I suppose in one sense, I can see why Sadeas preferred this Dalinar to the thoughtful one who saw visions and followed the Codes. Given Sadeas’s tastes in general, the slaughter-plunder-and-pillage version would be easier to deal with.

L: And, as we stated earlier, would be more in-line with traditional Alethi societal norms.

“Oh, Dalinar. What would we do without you?”

“Lose.”

L: I really appreciate Dalinar’s black humor here. He probably didn’t mean it as such—it comes across as very matter-of-fact. But I chuckled.

A: Hmm. Does Dalinar have a sense of humor?

Martial Motivations

“Why…” the man said from within his helm. “Why us?”

“Don’t know,” Dalinar said, tossing the poleaxe back to Dym.

“You … you don’t know?” the dying man said.

“My brother chooses,” Dalinar said. “I just go where he points me.”

A: So you could call this an amazing, unquestioning loyalty to his adored brother, and it would be mostly true. Given the rest of the chapter, though, it seems obvious that loyalty to his brother is strongly reinforced by his desire for the Thrill. If not for that, would he be so unquestioning about the brutality of the campaign?

L: I don’t think he’s particularly loyal at all. It’s more that Gavilar is giving him an outlet for his bloodlust, so of course he’ll do what he says. He’s the axehound following along after his master because his master throws him meat from time to time. Later on we do see a little loyalty in that Dalinar doesn’t kill him, but even so, it doesn’t read to me as loyalty or brotherly love so much as not wanting the responsibility of rule if he did kill him. Young!Dalinar is a totally different man from the one we know and love.

A: Quite true. He seems to enjoy the fighting and the killing in equal measure, even while he’s still waiting for the “high” that the Thrill will bring, and as you say, Gavilar’s campaign gives him an outlet for that. IIRC, Dalinar really did love his brother, but it’s not loyalty that keeps him from questioning the methods, anyway.

He’d have to talk to the man, reinforce that in striking at Dalinar earlier, he’d shot an arrow at an enemy. That was to be respected. If he tried something against Dalinar or Sadeas now, it would be different. Thakka would already be searching out the fellow’s family.

L: Wow. I have to appreciate how completely and totally ruthless Dalinar is. In war, there can be no half-measures. I’ve studied enough history and strategy to appreciate this. But to so nonchalantly “win” the fealty of those under your command by threatening their loved ones is going a bit far. I guess no one ever told him that you win more with the honey than the stick!

A Scrupulous Study of Spren

Flamespren danced among them. And, like a spren himself, Dalinar charged through the smoke, trusting in his padded armor and thick boots to protect him.

A: I would expect to see the flamespren in a burning field, but please enlighten me as to how Dalinar is “like a spren” here! Unless he’s just romanticizing himself or something, I just don’t see it.

L: Yeah, I don’t see it either. None of the spren we have seen so far have been particularly warlike. Unless… maybe he means that he’s being nimble and agile? Most spren are sort of ephemeral, other-worldly. Moving in ways that defy natural laws.

A: That’s about the only explanation that makes sense!

Anticipationspren—like red streamers growing from the ground and whipping in the wind—clustered around them.

A: These are drawn by the men of the town who are trying to gather up and repel Dalinar’s attack. Seems to me like they might as well be “dreadspren” or “adrenalinespren.” Yikes!

L: I wonder if they were being affected by the Thrill too? Otherwise I don’t see how they could be anticipating (which, to me, has a positive connotation) what is charging towards them! Nergaoul does have a sort of… area-of-effect nature, right? Does it/he need to be somewhere nearby to affect people, or is his presence omnipresent to the whole continent?

A: There’s evidence that it has an area of effect; it’s pretty big, but not half-a-continent worth. We’re shown the effects lessening on the Shattered Plains, and subsequently strengthening in Jah Keved. So there’s a high probability that soldiers on both sides of these battles were affected, but I don’t know how pervasive it is in any given army. I have the impression that not everyone is affected.

A single awespren burst around Dalinar, like a ring of blue smoke. “Stormfather! Thakka, before today, I’d have bet you half the princedom that such a shot wasn’t possible.”

A: I guess he was impressed, eh? (Okay, yes, I was too. I’ll admit it.)

Quality Quotations

They weren’t an honor guard. Dalinar didn’t need guards. These were simply the men he considered competent enough not to embarrass him.

A: Cocky, aren’t we?

L: Well… not without reason. He is that good.

Though some of his men were overwhelmed by the smoke or heat, most stayed with him.

L: Dalinar’s complete and total disregard for the men in his command is a stark contrast to Kaladin’s personality. They’re almost polar opposites here, which is really interesting given that Dalinar in this scene is the same age that Kaladin was when we first saw him protecting the boy he’d just pulled into his squad. It’s a credit to Sanderson’s writing ability that even with this callous treatment of others, we don’t completely hate him. Yet.

A: Yet. Also, good catch on the same ages; I hadn’t thought about that.

L: Well, this week’s chapter didn’t have quite as much meat for us to sink our teeth into as the last few, but next week’s should be fun. We’ll be covering Chapter Four – Oaths. Feel free to join us in the comments here or, if you prefer nested comment format, over on the Stormlight Archive subreddit.

Alice is currently enjoying a midwinter break that actually feels like midwinter, even without snow. It’s cold out there! Staying indoors by the fire to work on various writing projects seems like a fine idea.

Lyndsey will probably be hanging out primarily over in the Reddit discussion thread from now on—her username is Kaladin_Stormblessed there (weird, it’s almost like she’s a huge fan of Kaladin, or something). If you’re an aspiring author, a cosplayer, or just like geeky content, follow her work on Facebook or her website.

This week in the Oathbringer reread, we look at foolish oaths, broken oaths, and the necessity of oaths to the fabric of society.

Reminder: we’ll potentially be discussing spoilers for the ENTIRE NOVEL in each reread. The Cosmere implications are minimal this week, though we do address one question. But if you haven’t read ALL of Oathbringer, best to wait to join us until you’re done.

Lyn: Greetings and welcome back to the Oathbringer reread! In this chapter, Dalinar finally marries his life-long love Navani in a ceremony presided over by the Stormfather himself. It’s… ::sniff:: it’s just so beautiful. I always cry at weddings…

Alice: Our first Rosharan wedding—but first, the return of the Everstorm, housekeeping, and a deeply personal revelation.

Chapter Recap

WHO: Dalinar Kholin
WHERE: Urithiru
WHEN: 1174.1.2.1 (Two days after Chapters 2/3)

Dalinar and Navani watch the Everstorm as it sweeps by below, and Dalinar puts forward his plan to have the Stormfather himself preside over their marriage. They leave for the ceremony, accompanied by friends, family, and witnesses. The Stormfather marries them, and Dalinar and Kadash have a sobering discussion regarding what the ardents see as Dalinar’s blasphemy.

Threshold of the Storm

Herald: Ishar in all four spots.

A: Now I’m cracking up. Ishar is the patron of the Bondsmiths, founder of the Knights Radiant, associated with the Divine Attributes of Pious and Guiding, the role of Priest, and is sometimes known as the Herald of Luck. I think I can see at least four distinct reasons for Ishar in this chapter! Bondsmith, of course, for Dalinar. Priest, both for Kadesh and for the Stormfather who stands in place of a Priest. Pious, both for the multiple representations of Vorinism in the chapter as well as the opposite position of Dalinar, who outright states that “the Almighty was never God.” Guiding, for all the work Dalinar has been doing to guide the inhabitants of Urithiru to some kind of order, even though it should have been Elhokar’s job. And of course, the Herald of Luck, because Dalinar and Navani each consider themselves to be most fortunate to wed the other. Got a couple more slots in that chapter arch?

Icon: Kholin shield, since this is totally Dalinar’s POV.

Title: Oaths

The word is used 15 times in this one chapter. Oof. I looked back at the various chapter titles that were suggested for this chapter. There were ten different suggestions, and nine of them had to do with, you guessed it, oaths. Some were about a specific oath, and some were about oaths in general, but one way or another, they were about oaths. There you have it. The specific line that was quoted in the suggestion of “Oaths” as the title isn’t even in the book any more, but it was in the context of the necessity of oaths to the fabric of society.

Stories & Songs

This thing is not natural, the Stormfather said. It is unknown.

“It didn’t come before, during the earlier Desolations?”

No. It is new.

L: Assuming they’re talking about the Everstorm in general and not just the creepy feeling, this is very interesting, that the Everstorm didn’t come before. What makes it so different this time? Is it because the Heralds weren’t trapped in Damnation?

A: That’s a really good question, and it doesn’t get answered in this book. I’ve assumed that it’s part of Odium’s big bid to escape his binding, which would be at least partially tied to the absence of most of the Heralds and their failure to fully abide by the Oathpact.

Also, the description of watching the storm from above is totally eerie.

The images of twisting windspren along its sides bore the distinctly rounded look of something that had been carved first from weevilwax, then Soulcast into hardwood.

L: This is probably nothing, but… Do you think this was the mirror of a Windrunner? Providing all of this furniture is stuff they found in Urithiru and not stuff they brought with them from the warcamps… It’s cool to consider that they might be surrounded by the possessions of the long-dead Radiants, but… we don’t see much else in terms of furniture or anything. I’d have thought that it all would have rotted away. So it must have come from the warcamps… right?

A: I’m pretty sure it came from the warcamps. I think it’s been empty too long for furnishings to last, though there were apparently still some wooden doors in place. I can’t find proof right off, but there’s been a lot of talk about stuff being brought in from the camps.

Also, I think it’s hilarious that some of his people were determined to make sure he got his fair share of the stuff retrieved from the warcamps, even though he didn’t ask for it. “Here, Boss. Here’s some stuff. No idea if this is what you want or need, but you should have it. Because Stuff.” Turning the outer room (inner? Depends on whether you’re talking about the outside of the building, or the tower entrance to his quarters) into a common room is a good idea, though.

Relationships & Romances

“It’s all right. I can share you with her memory.”

L: This is sweet and self-sacrificing of her, but I’m really lost as to how NO ONE realized what a dick Dalinar was to Evi. Did they just… never go out in public? Did he put up a good act?

A: Well, Evi certainly put up a good act! But I’m content to deal with that later. For now, I want to talk about something else.

Oh, how little they all understood. He turned toward Navani, set his jaw against the pain, and said it.

“I don’t remember her, Navani.”

As far as we know, this is the first time he’s told anyone what’s actually happened to him. You can see in Navani’s initial reaction that she doesn’t quite get it, but she does when he goes on and explains—that pictures are a blur, her name inaudible, and in any memories he has of events where she was there, he can’t remember details. He finally admits that he can’t even remember if he loved her; he assumes he must have, if the pain of losing her drove him to ask this of the Nightwatcher. (We know now, of course, that he’s wrong in thinking he knows what his boon and his curse were, but we’ll get to that later.)

It was such a relief to finally have him tell someone about this, and I’m happy that Navani is the one he told. She can’t help him remember, but this isn’t the kind of thing that should be kept from her.

L: I agree. It’s really endearing, and I love the fact that he’s trusting her with such a deeply personal secret that he can’t share with anyone else. It bodes well for their relationship.

A: It’s also worth pointing out that this is where we get the first hint of the acquisition of Adolin’s Shardplate. We knew from TWoK that it was “inherited from his mother’s side of the family,” and now we learn that Dalinar was at least perceived as marrying her to get it. Oh, the things we’ll learn about this “inheritance” later on!

L: Okay, so let’s move on to the real meat of this chapter—Dalinar and Navani’s relationship.

A: As much as I love these two, I don’t really know what to say about it. To start off with, a quote:

“Your stubborn refusal to get seduced is making me question my feminine wiles.”

While I’m pretty sure she’s never seriously done any such thing, it reminded me so much of Shallan’s line in WoR Chapter 47 (titled “Feminine Wiles” of course), when she decides not to use Illusion to enhance her appearance for a date with Adolin:

She’d have to rely, instead, upon her feminine wiles.

She wished she knew if she had any.

So there’s that chuckle—and that contrast. I doubt Navani has ever wondered.

L: She seems totally confident, showing her freehand like she does. I love this about her.

A: It’s a complex relationship, though, because Dalinar fell in love with Navani somewhere around 35 years ago. Then his brother showed interest, and Dalinar stopped pursuing her, only to spend the next 30 years being bitter and resentful, and feeling guilty for both. For Navani’s part, she seems to have been reasonably content with her choice for a while, but she’s dropped the odd hint that their marriage was not happy in later years.

Now Navani—rightly, IMO—demands to know whether Dalinar is going to keep stringing it along, or if he’s going to find a way to make this happen. His only real hesitation is that he wants to do it “right”—and for a Bondsmith, I think the emphasis on spoken vows make a world of sense—but Vorin tradition and a stubborn senior ardent won’t cooperate. After discussing possibilities like Elhokar, or a priest of some non-Vorin religion (great idea when you’re already being accused of heresy!), Dalinar decides to circumvent them all, and the Stormfather agrees. Navani claims she’d be happy with “a confused dishwasher” to officiate, so she’s good with the super-spren-priest, and who cares what the rest of them think!

Amusingly enough, she actually has all the traditional bridal-wear ready at hand. And somehow, no one has the guts to argue with the Stormfather when he says, “SO BE IT.”

Bruised & Broken

L: I’d like to spend a bit of time here talking about Kadash. Man… knowing what he witnessed at the Rift really breaks my heart. Working so closely with Dalinar probably means that he knew Evi, and to see what Dalinar inadvertently did to her—no wonder the poor guy joined the ardents. Dalinar remembering him retching his guts out on the battlefield is horrifying—for a man so battle-hardened to do that, he must have cared for her. Unlike our proto-Radiants, however, Kadash’s breaking led him into the ardentia. He seems to be genuinely trying to make the world better, and to atone for whatever sins he feels he helped to perpetuate. To follow Dalinar, and then have Dalinar destroy his loyalty at the Rift so completely that he turns to faith for answers… and then Dalinar begins destroying that, too? No wonder he’s so bitter and angry.

A: I don’t want to jump ahead too much, but I’m pretty sure what really did Kadash in was his own involvement. It was his squad that went with Dalinar into the city, and his squad that brought the oil barrels, lit them, and rolled them down into the hiding place turned prison. Dalinar ordered it, but Kadash was right there helping—he knew exactly how and why Evi died. I believe it was the knowledge of his own part that had him retching, and sent him into the ardentia. I can’t really blame him, and it explains some things about his attitude toward Dalinar in this chapter.

L: I still wonder if he knew her personally, or if it was just the knowledge that he’d helped to kill an innocent woman.

Flora & Fauna

[The Everstorm] did not recharge spheres, even if you left them out during the whole Everstorm.

L: Hmmm. I wonder if there are spheres that can hold Voidlight….

A: Do we ever see Voidlight-charged spheres? I don’t recall any.

L: Not so far as I know, but we all know how my memory is, so… The closest I can think of is the “dark” spheres we’ve discussed a few times now, but we seem to be pretty settled on those containing Unmade.

Places & Peoples

“Let the ardents hie to Damnation, with ribbons around their ankles.”

L: Okay, first of all I have to say how much I appreciate the use of the word hie. It is so rare to see and it’s used perfectly here. The real reason I quoted it, though, is the “ribbons around the ankles” bit. Is this something we have seen? A cultural oddity of the Alethi?

A: This is one of my favorite lines! What an image. There’s nothing to indicate whether the ribbons are something one actually sees, or just a figure of speech. I tend to assume the latter, for no good reason.

The balcony ground its inexorable way towards the top of the tower. Only a handful of the dozens of lifts worked; back when Urithiru flourished, they all would have been going at once.

L: Do we ever find out how these these are currently powered? They’re fabrials so I’d assume Stormlight, but why are just these out of all the mechanisms in Urithiru powered via Stormlight? Why not all the other stuff we are suspecting is part of this city?

A: We get a little more detail in Chapter 17 on how they make the lifts work—you put a charged gemstone, not a sphere, in a little slot, and it stops when you take the stone out. There’s a lever you move to make it go up or down. But that still doesn’t explain why this mechanism can be operated with a small charged gemstone, while none of the others can. I seem to be guessing a lot today, but my theory is that most of the other systems are simply too large in scale. I don’t know what else to suggest.

L: They must need more Stormlight than can be provided by a single small gemstone. Maybe the builders of Urithiru wanted to ensure that the lifts would always be able to be used, no matter what. Like emergency lights!

Tight Butts and Coconuts

“Is that a proposal?”

“…Yes?”

“Dalinar Kholin,” she said. “Surely you can do better.”

A: I agree with Navani—for a man who claims that words are so important, that was a mighty casual suggestion!

L: I laughed out loud. But then…

“Better than you, Navani? No, I don’t think that I could.”

L: D’AWWWWW. He turned it around on her and made it all romantic.

A: He cheated.

Weighty Words

“Mere words.”

“Words are the most important things in my life right now.”

L: It’s pretty sobering to think about the fact that Dalinar is placing his responsibility to the world right now over everything else—even his family.

“What about foolish oaths? Made in haste, or in ignorance?”

There are no foolish oaths. All are the mark of men and true spren over beasts and subspren. The mark of intelligence, free will, and choice.

L: This is a nice sentiment and all, but I’m not sure I agree with it. Oaths can be made under duress as well. I suppose a case could be made that even in that case it’s free will, but… I still don’t think I completely agree with Stormdaddy here. Dalinar notes that he doesn’t either, which I like.

A: I think it’s a matter of perspective. From a human viewpoint, we who can so easily change our minds, regret rash promises, or find that we are incapable of keeping what we vowed, there are many sorts of “foolish” oaths which should never be made in the first place. In the eyes of the Stormfather, it seems that even an oath made under duress isn’t a foolish oath; the ability to make an oath proves intelligence and the ability to choose one course over another. As he says, non-sapient creatures are not capable of making oaths. There will be further discussion of this general subject farther into the book, though, as the Stormfather comes to understand humanity better.

“Dalinar Kholin is mine, and I am his.”

YOU HAVE BROKEN OATHS BEFORE.

L: This makes me wonder what oaths she’s broken. I suppose they’re probably little things, but still… it makes me wonder.

A: I was sure I remembered debate about this, but I sure can’t find it! The only suggestion in the preview chapters was from stegasauruss, who said, “I’m also curious what other oaths she’s broken. I feel like that might be significant. Or maybe just like she promised Elhokar to help him with math homework that one time and then forgot, you never know with these books.” Heh. But I do wonder if we’ll eventually find out about something significant—an oath to Gavilar, or to one of her children, that she didn’t keep in its intent, at least. I could easily see that; it seems fairly clear that her first marriage left something to be desired in later years.

Meaningful Motivations

L: So… Dalinar. Boy, do we need to talk about Dalinar, and his slow but steady usurpation of the throne. I get where he’s coming from here—Elhokar isn’t doing a bang-up job of… well… anything, really. But does that make it right for Dalinar to pull authority slowly but steadily out from under his feet? Is” the honorable thing” just another victim sacrificed on the altar of “saving the world,” or might there be another way that Dalinar just isn’t seeing because he’s so accustomed to taking what he wants or needs by force?

A: I’ve always had trouble putting this in black-and-white. Dalinar doesn’t want to be king, he just wants to do what needs to be done. A whole lot of lives are at stake here, and they really don’t have time to twiddle their thumbs while Elhokar recovers from severe blood loss so he can make decisions again. I think if he’d been a good king, it wouldn’t matter so much, but everyone knows that, despite good intentions, he really wasn’t a good king. For years, Dalinar had to be power-behind-the-throne just to keep things from going completely pear-shaped. On the other hand, if Dalinar hadn’t been the ruthless Blackthorn all those years, it wouldn’t look so much like he was usurping the throne.

Argh. The pragmatic side of me is totally with Dalinar: you have to take action when it’s needed, because the world is on the line. Do your best to make decisions that Elhokar will be glad to support, but get on with it. The empathetic side of me is conflicted, because Elhokar is the Alethi king, and Dalinar has sworn to serve him. The uncertain young(ish) king can’t help but resent it when his oh-so-competent uncle steps in and takes over for him, no matter how badly he was injured at the time.

Cosmere Connections

“….I have felt… something else. A warmth and a light. It is not that God has died, it is that the Almighty was never God.”

L: Okay so… if the Almighty wasn’t God, what is this warmth and light Dalinar senses? Is there a True God presiding over the entirety of the Cosmere, and this is what Dalinar’s feeling?

A: Got it in one. At least, I think so. I have a couple of mutually exclusive theories on this. One is that, despite the Shattering, there remains a hidden but unbroken essence of Adonalsium, which will regather the Shards when the time is right. The other is that Adonalsium was never God any more than Honor was—that he was only a representative. In either case, I’m almost sure that the warmth and light Dalinar experienced in WoR Chapter 89 was the True God over the Cosmere.

A Scrupulous Study of Spren

Passionspren fluttered around them like crystal flakes of snow.

L: This is such a cool mental image. So beautiful. I don’t recall having seen passionspren before, which… makes sense, given that Sanderson is historically pretty stand-off-ish about writing passionate scenes between lovers.

A: They showed up once before—the first time Dalinar kissed Navani, in TWoK Chapter 61.

L: What? I didn’t remember something from an earlier book? I am shocked. Shocked I say! ::laughs::

…High above, starspren swirled and made distant patterns.

L: This is another one I don’t recall having seen before. I wonder if there are actual stars, and then starspren in addition to them? Where do they reside, exactly? In space, or the upper atmosphere?

A: We’ve seen them all of three times before, and at one point Kaladin notes that they are rare. They seem to reside in the air—high enough that no one thinks of them being in reach, but still low enough to be visible. In one of the chasm chapters, Shallan notes that clouds hide the stars, but she can see starspren between her and the clouds. (As a side note, I developed a new theory recently. I was looking for descriptions of the various bonding spren, and discovered that highspren—those that bond Skybreakers—appear like rips in the air, through which you can see stars. So my new theory is that starspren are the “cousins” to highspren, as windspren are to honorspren.)

L: Sorry, all I can see in my head is the crack in time from Doctor Who…

All through the gathered guests, smoky blue awespren rings burst out above heads.

A: We haven’t seen these much, either! In WoR, a single awespren bursts above Dalinar when Shallan shows him her Lightweaving, and she thinks that she’d seen such a spren only a handful of times in her life. We also saw one last week, when Dalinar was being amazed at Teleb’s archery. This week, there is a veritable cloud of the things, as the guests react to the Stormfather’s overwhelming presence.

… She was ringed by gloryspren, the golden lights rotating above her head.

A: I love that Navani, instead of an awespren, draws gloryspren. There has been an ongoing debate about the name of these things, since we see them in some very odd situations. Sometimes they seem to reflect how a person feels about their own accomplishment, and sometimes they seem more about how others see that person. In this case, it seems pretty clear that Navani is overjoyed at having finally married the man she loves. It’s also interesting to see the swirl of gloryspren here, considering how they behave at the end of the book. Do you suppose the Stormfather’s presence brought them, or are they purely a response to Navani’s emotions?

He ran over, trailing joyspren in the shape of blue leaves that hurried to keep up with him.

A: Adolin is such a gem. I love the way he is totally, unabashedly happy for them. Even the spren can’t keep up!

L: Adolin Kholin is a gift and I will duel with Shardblades against anyone who disagrees.

Quality Quotations

And vast seas of glowing red eyes, coming awake like spheres suddenly renewed with Stormlight.

Highstorms were the ultimate expression of nature’s power: wild, untamed, sent to remind man of his insignificance. However, highstorms never seemed hateful. This storm was different. It felt vengeful.

She’s gone, leaving debris that mars my memory.

I appreciate the man you’ve become; you should avoid reminding me of the man you once were.

A: I’m not entirely sure we did justice to this chapter; there were so many different, scattered things to collect. (Or maybe that was just my brain?) Anyway, whatever we left out, bring it up in the comments! Next week, we’ll catch up with our foremost Windrunner—

L: FINALLY.

A: —on his mission to protect his parents from renegade parshmen. If all goes well, we’ll cover Chapter 5, “Hearthstone,” and Chapter 6, “Four Lifetimes.” They’re both relatively short chapters—together, about as many pages as this week’s single chapter. Go forth, comment, and reread!

Alice is tired of winter again, after not one but two more snowfalls this week. Can it be spring now? Meanwhile, she’s looking forward to her first time at Emerald City Comic Con, where she’ll be assisting the lovely Kara Stewart at the Dragonsteel booth. Be sure to stop by if you’re at the con!

Lyndsey is hip deep in work for Anime Boston currently. Between coordinating the Cosplay Masquerade and trying to get four cosplays of her own (and for friends and family) completed, her free time has basically eroded to zilch. But she’s still trying to remember to post the occasional update on Facebook or her website.

Alice: Welcome back to the Oathbringer Reread, as we finally rejoin our favorite (only?) Windrunner and his lovely spren. In keeping with the writer’s adage that “long journeys are usually boring to read”—

Lyn: Except in Lord of the Rings.

A: —we haven’t seen Kaladin since he left Urithiru, on his way to Hearthstone with a pocketful of Stormlight, to protect his family from the Everstorm. This week, we’ll walk the last few miles with him, and discuss what he finds there in the first half-hour or so. (Also, how does that adage fit with “journey before destination”? Generalizations sometimes fail.)

If you’re interested in going back to review the discussion when this was previewed, you can check it out here.

Reminder: we’ll potentially be discussing spoilers for the ENTIRE NOVEL in each reread. This week’s Cosmere references are small, and aren’t spoilers unless you’ve never looked at the maps before. But if you haven’t read ALL of Oathbringer, best to wait to join us until you’re done.

Chapter Recap

WHO: Kaladin Stormblessed
WHERE: Hearthstone
WHEN: 1174.1.2.2 (The day after Chapter 4, when Dalinar saw the Everstorm pass Urithiru)

Kaladin is on his way home to Hearthstone, hoping to spare his family from the oncoming Everstorm. However, he runs out of Stormlight after only half a day and doesn’t make it in time. He arrives to find his home in wreckage, but the people appear to be mostly safe within the walls of Roshone’s manor. Kaladin makes his way inside to have a tearful reunion with his mother and father, then lands a very satisfying punch on Roshone.

Threshold of the storm

Titles: “Hearthstone” is… obviously obvious. “Four Lifetimes” is from Kaladin’s thoughts as Lirin argues with the guard captain, and Hesina talks to him like the young son she last knew.

What a surreal sensation, being back here, being treated like he was still the boy who had left for war five years ago. Three men bearing their son’s name had lived and died in that time. The soldier who had been forged in Amaram’s army. The slave, so bitter and angry. His parents had never met Captain Kaladin, bodyguard to the most powerful man in Roshar.
And then … there was the next man, the man he was becoming. A man who owned the skies and spoke ancient oaths. Five years had passed. And four lifetimes.

A: For all we’d looked forward to Kaladin’s homecoming, there are aspects to it that I’d never really considered. Like how very much he’s gone through in the years of absence, and how little his parents know him now, and how much his relation to everything there will have changed.

Heralds: Chapter 5 only shows us Talenel: the Soldier, Herald of War, associated with the attributes Dependable and Resourceful. This seems fairly reasonable; Kaladin is mostly thinking and acting like a soldier who is sneaking into an area that may be controlled by hostile forces, and has been very dependable in carrying out his mission to reach Hearthstone as soon as possible.

Chapter 6, on the other hand… Well, look at the title context, and it makes sense. Vedel, the Healer, as Kaladin was when he left Hearthstone; Talenel, the Soldier, as he became in Amaram’s army, and remained in essence during his time as a slave; Chanarach, the Guard, as he became when Dalinar bought his freedom and took him as a bodyguard; and Jezrien, the King—except with Jezrien, it’s the Windrunner that he is becoming; not the role, but the Radiant order.

Icon: For both chapters, naturally, we have Kaladin’s Spears and Banner icon.

A: Did anyone ever get a solid answer on what the glyphs on that banner are? I know there was discussion in some of the groups, but I can’t find anything about it in the Arcanum.

L: The conversation was in the FB group awhile ago, I don’t think we ever settled on a final answer.

Epigraphs:

I can point to the moment when I decided for certain this record had to be written. I hung between realms, seeing into Shadesmar—the realm of the spren—and beyond.

I thought that I was surely dead. Certainly, some who saw farther than I did thought I had fallen.

A: That would be Renarin who “saw farther”? I wonder if he told his father about the things he sees once the Avalanche died out. There’s enough time in that last chapter or so that I assume some useful conversations have taken place, but that we didn’t really need to see them. If this was one, that may be the reference.

Relationships & Romances

Lirin / Hesina / Tien

He’d have to talk to his parents about Tien. It was why he hadn’t tried to contact them after being freed from slavery. Could he face them? Storms, he hoped they lived. But could he face them?

L: ::sobs::

A: I agree; this just hurts to read. Not only did he see his beloved brother die, he’s spent the last five years feeling guilty for failing in his promise to keep Tien safe. He had to come back to save his parents, but if they’re safe… he has to bring his failure out into the open. What he doesn’t understand yet, of course, is that they didn’t ask that promise of him, and they didn’t expect him to keep it, and they will be delighted to have one son back. They’ve done their grieving by now.

Balding, diminutive, thin, bespectacled… and amazing.

L: Kaladin’s relationship with his father is great. It’s so multi-layered. He loves his father and respects him so much, despite the fact that their relationship has been tarnished by the fact that he knows now that his father isn’t a perfect man (those “stolen” spheres).

A: Also, how often does “the young hero” in fiction even have a living father, much less one who is worthy of respect?

L: Kaladin’s interacting with his father here as a man for the first time. When he left, he was still a boy. He’s been through and grown so much in his time away, but he still loves his father just as much as he did when he left. And underneath it all is that sea of guilt, for his failure to save Tien. This is reflected again later, when Kal thinks:

Three men bearing their son’s name had lived and died in that time. The soldier who had been forged in Amaram’s army. The slave, so bitter and angry. His parents had never met Captain Kaladin, bodyguard to the most powerful man in Roshar.

And then… there was the next man, the man he was becoming. A man who owned the skies and spoke ancient oaths. Five years had passed. And four lifetimes.

L: This is just so satisfying, to see how far he’s come in so short a time. He deserves this moment of recognition he’s about to get, this wonder from the people he loves. He’s paid for it with blood and tears and pain.

“Oh, Kal. My boy. My little boy.”

L: Usually when I say things in these rereads like ::sobs:: it’s just internet-speech for “I had feels here,” as I’m sure most of you understand. But this time I am actually tearing up for real. This scene is so pure and wonderful and beautiful and I love everything about it. I am so happy that they’re alive. I’m so happy that Kaladin found them, that he has this one moment of things going right for him.

A: It’s beautiful. It really is. It’s also a little … weird, reading these kinds of scenes, and realizing that I can’t help seeing them through the parents’ eyes now. When we read, we spend most of our time in the minds of Our Heroes, and we naturally see from their perspective. Now I find myself chuckling a little bit at Kaladin. He’d been so focused on his own failure, it never occurred to him that his parents will be overjoyed to have one son return to them, even if it’s just for a short time. Now I’m behind Hesina’s eyes instead of Kaladin’s, and what a joyful moment this is!

Moash

Brightlord Roshone, a man whose greedy ways had ruined far more than one life.

Moash … Kaladin thought as he trudged up the hill toward the manor, shivering in the chill and the darkness. He’d have to face his friend’s betrayal—and near assassination of Elhokar—at some point. For now, he had more pressing wounds that needed tending.

A: Okay, so I’ll admit that I loathe Moash and wish Kaladin would too.

L: F*** MOASH.

A: I find it highly irritating that as soon as he thinks about Roshone, Kaladin immediately thinks about Moash. Worse, when he meets Roshone and punches his lights out, it’s “for my friend Moash”—the dear “friend” who was perfectly willing to kill Kaladin in order to kill the stupid king who was nothing more than a tool for Roshone’s ambition. Kaladin’s loyalty to Moash grates on my nerves, even though I think I’m supposed to admire it.

L: Yeah. This annoys me too, that Kal is still hung up on Moash. But we should remember that though we’ve had a whole book between the events at the end of Words of Radiance, it’s only been a few days for Kal, so the memory is still fresh. He hasn’t had a lot of time to really process what happened between them—and let’s face it, the worst is yet to come. I’ll be really surprised if we go into book 4 with him still feeling this way.

Bruised & Broken

His failure pressed down on him with an almost physical sensation, like the weight of a bridge he was forced to carry all on his own.

A: An interesting simile; not a particularly funny one, but a very Kaladin one. I wonder if his depression will lift somewhat, once he accepts that it’s not his fault Tien died.

Perhaps it was time, for once, to stop letting the rain dictate his mood. He couldn’t banish the seed of darkness inside him, but Stormfather, he didn’t need to let it rule him either.

A: I was SO HAPPY to see this. I thought maybe it would be a big turning point for Kaladin. But life is never that easy, is it? (Or Sanderson books, either.)

L: Never that easy. But recognizing the problem is a step forward, albeit a small one. Kaladin’s seasonal depression has always been a thing I loved about his character, how it’s just so true to life. You have no reason to feel depressed. You know you have no reason to feel depressed. And yet…

A: And yet. Exactly. I do find it moderately disturbing to experience this myself and still get frustrated with Kal for it. I suppose I tend to want my fictional heroes to be better at life than I am, but at the same time, the writing is far better for being so real. Some people are just never satisfied!

Dead.

A part of him scrunched up inside, huddling into a corner, tired of being whipped so often.

L: Poor Kal. Thankfully this time he’s proven wrong, but the poor guy still just can’t catch a break.

These people had never treated him or his family with any measure of kindness.

L: This realization kills me. He’s spent all of this time rushing to get back home, only to find that home isn’t what he expected it to be. Age and wisdom have opened his eyes to the truth—the only thing he ever really loved about home is his family. I think some people who have returned home after being away for a long time have had feelings similar to this—I know I have. Home isn’t a place, not entirely—it’s the people that reside there. The people who care about us. Without them, the memories can be dead and lifeless, or at least not feel quite as full as they did before.

A: To a certain extent, I’ll agree with that. When I return to where I grew up, I’m looking forward to seeing my family more than anything. On the other hand, the woods where I played as a child, the familiar shape of the mountains behind, the hills where I searched out the earliest glacier lilies—those will always be home to me, even with no one there.

But then, I wasn’t surrounded by the kind of antagonism Kaladin’s family experienced, so there’s that.

“I’m sorry, Mother, Father,” he whispered. “I joined the army to protect him, but I could barely protect myself. … I let Tien die. I’m sorry. It’s my fault…”

L: Can I just… pick him up and hug him? Precious little cinnamon roll is too pure for this or any world.

A: I want to hug him and shake him at the same time. It is not his fault! He was a 15-year-old kid who had very little absolutely no say in where he or his brother were sent. While I admire Young!Kaladin’s determination to protect Tien, it was never a promise he could keep. It was beyond his capacity—which is, of course, why his father was so against his going.

Diagrams & Dastardly Designs

Look at the wounded people in this room, Kaladin. You’re missing something.

The wounded … they displayed fractures. Concussions. Very few lacerations. This was not the aftermath of a battle, but of a natural disaster. So what had happened to the Voidbringers? Who had fought them off?

A: We’ll begin to answer this mystery next week, but at this point it’s worth noting Kaladin’s expectations. He came here hoping to warn his parents (and their neighbors, why not) of the wrong-way storm that was coming. But he was equally expecting that the parshmen would take stormform when it hit, and that they would immediately start attacking the humans. It’s a reasonable assumption, though apparently not one that everyone held (see last week’s discussion). Right now, he’s just a bit bewildered that there was no battle.

Flora & Fauna

Rockbuds here grew almost as big as barrels, with vines as thick as his wrist spilling out and lapping water from the pools on the stone. Fields of vibrant green grass pulled back into burrows before him, easily three feet tall when standing at height….

The grass back near the Shattered Plains had barely reached as high as his ankle, and had mostly grown in yellowish patches on the leeward side of hills. He was surprised to find that he distrusted this taller, fuller grass.

A: This inevitably reminds my of Rysn and her contempt for the stupid, slow grass of Shinovar. Heh. But it makes a good reminder that the Plains are naturally inhospitable, especially compared to these northern reaches of Alethkar. At least part of it would be the climate, as Hearthstone would be nearly or altogether tropical, for whatever the Rosharan version of tropical looks like, rather than the temperate-to-arctic latitude of the Shattered Plains.

Kaladin noticed a bit of debris peeking out of the grass, and he trudged toward it. The foliage obligingly pulled back before him, revealing a broken wooden churn, the kind used for turning sow’s milk into butter.

A: That sounds so weird and repulsive, but it probably isn’t. And hey—sow’s milk butter would be better than no butter at all, right?

Which reminds me of a funny; apparently at the Emerald City Comic Con last weekend, someone got Brandon to write in their book, “Lift and Hoid disagree on bacon.” No clue whether this means that Lift dislikes bacon, or whether they disagree on how it should be cooked, or only on who should be eating it… but when someone posted the picture on facebook, it made someone wonder if they have pigs on Roshar. I love it when someone else does that, too…

L: Someone on the FB group mentioned that they thought Lift was vegetarian, which makes me wonder… have we ever seen Lift eat meat? I’d have to go back and look…

A: She ate a sausage in her first Interlude, trying to replenish her Stormlight to get away from Darkness. I don’t think she’s ever had the luxury of being picky about what she eats.

Places & Peoples

A: We’re including the map again this week, because it gives a good frame of reference for Kaladin’s last three days. Put a bookmark there, if you like following maps, because Kaladin spends all of Part One wandering around on that map.

Four days ago, he’d traveled by Oathgate to the Shattered Plains, then flown to the northwest at speed. Filled to bursting with Stormlight—and carrying a wealth more in gemstones—he’d been determined to reach his home, Hearthstone, before the Everstorm returned.

After just half a day, he’d run out of Stormlight somewhere in Aladar’s princedom. He’d been walking ever since. Perhaps he could have flown all the way to Hearthstone if he’d been more practiced with his powers. As it was, he’d traveled over a thousand miles in half a day, but this last bit—ninety or so miles—had taken an excruciating three days.

He hadn’t beaten the Everstorm. It had arrived earlier in the day, around noon.

L: Okay, so… a thousand miles in a half a day. If my math is right, that’s about 83 miles an hour (providing Kaladin’s considering 12 hours a half a day). Average human walking speed is about 3mph, so if he’s walking 10 hours out of every day, the math works out right. (Now… Roshar has a different length of day than Earth, so none of this is an exact analogy, but I’m simply not a good enough mathematician to figure out anything past this.) I like having a general idea for how fast he can fly, and it’s interesting to realize just how swiftly he runs through Stormlight, considering how slowly Shallan burns through it later on in Oathbringer.

A: That’s kind of funny. It never occurred to me to figure out how fast he was flying, even without making all the adjustments for distance and time measurements. The half-day is probably 10 hours instead of 12, but then the mile would need adjusting too, and I don’t know what the ratio is. In any case, this should be a reasonable approximation. ::applauds:: (For my own sanity, I’m going to assume that gravitational acceleration is not in play when falling sideways. Just sayin’.)

L: I was an English Major in college. You’ve gone so far over my head there that you’re in the stratosphere.

A: Now here’s the really funny part: my first thought was, “That’s not very fast! If you’re going to let the guy fly, why not give him some real speed?” And then I started thinking about moving 80 mph with no windshield and no vehicle of any kind to provide cover from the wind of passage, much less any airborne debris (I guess that’s one good thing about not having any wild birds!), and I think 80 is plenty fast enough. I wonder whether Brandon and Peter sat down and worked that out to decide where and when to have Kaladin run out of Stormlight.

Oh, yeah, and Kal notes that the Everstorm arrived around noon in central Alethkar. We know from Chapter 4 that it had hit Urithiru the previous evening, so we can refer to the global map to get an idea of how fast it moves.

Tight Butts and Coconuts

“Wow,” Syl said, zipping up to Kaladin’s shoulder. “That is quite the glare you gave.”

L: Kal and his black looks and grumpiness will never, ever get old to me. It also cracks me up that he just keeps ignoring this poor guard and wandering around, doing his own thing.

A: Lol! After awhile, you almost have to feel sorry for the guard. He’s trying, but the prisoner just keeps ignoring him!

Roshone wore a lighteyes’ coat that was several seasons out of fashion—Adolin would have shaken his head at that.

L: I giggled. I love that Kal knows him well enough by now to know this.

A: I know, right? And that he thinks of Adolin right now! It makes me happy.

“Storms, what did you do, boy? Hit a lighteyes?”

“Yes,” Kaladin said.

Then punched him.

L: YES KALADIN. This was just perfection.

A: I can argue all day on why this was stupid and unnecessary, but I still cheer when I read it.

L: Oh yes, absolutely unnecessary—but so, so satisfying. And so human.

Meaningful/Moronic/Mundane Motivations

A: Kaladin punches Roshone “for Moash”—why not “for Tien”? Why not for his own brother, who died for Roshone’s petty vengeance? Why not for himself, who suffered a loss as great as Moash’s? Why not for Lirin and Hesina, who suffered that same loss plus ongoing mistreatment for the last five years?

L: Maybe it’s just because Moash’s revelation of his own betrayal is fresher in Kaladin’s mind. He’s just had a bit of… atonement? regarding Tien, so the pain of it might not be as fresh relatively speaking as for Moash.

A: Also, why does Kaladin spend so much time sitting there listening to his parents arguing with the captain instead of just telling them the story? (I mean, I have an answer for that, but it’s an obvious question.)

L: It seemed to me like he was lost in thought, just… taking everything in after so long.

A: It appears that this bothered me on the beta as well—I think it’s mostly that I’m not used to Kaladin being so inactive except when he’s been completely beaten down. Here, he’s not beaten down at all; he’s reached Hearthstone, found his parents alive and had an emotional reunion, and now he just sits there drinking soup and listening to his father try to make arrangements for something that Kaladin knows is completely unnecessary. I can understand me doing that, but it feels a little OOC for him.

L: I can see that, but he’s also totally exhausted. No stormlight, walking for three days… Even Kaladin’s got limits!

A: But he’s The Hero! He can’t have limits! … Oh, wait. Okay, then.

Cosmere Connections

Artemis asked last week, “Regarding the map of Alethkar posted in the article, it is interesting that Hearthstone is marked in handwriting with the note “annotated for your convenience.” I assume this is Nazh’s writing. Why is this important enough to note? I find it odd that worldhoppers would care where Kaladin grew up, or where his family lives. I suppose they are researching the KRs’ backgrounds, but why?”

A: I’m sure it’s Nazh’s writing, and Hearthstone is the only handwritten notation on the map. Why Khriss would want to know is anyone’s guess, though. Unless other members of Kaladin’s family are developing bonds, “Kaladin’s birthplace” is about the only reason I can think of for her to find it of interest.

A Scrupulous Study of Spren

He splashed through puddles where rainspren grew, blue candles with eyes on the very tip.

L: These things creep me out. Are they just eyeballs floating where the flame should be, or is the eye lidded in blue flame? Either way… creepy.

A: I’ve always thought that, too. It’s one of the weirder images.

Shockspren, like pale yellow triangles breaking and reforming, appeared behind her.

A: This appears to be the first time we’ve seen shockspren.

“Wow,” Syl said. “Gloomspren.”

Kaladin looked up and noted an unusual spren whipping about. Long, grey, like a tattered streamer of cloth in the wind. It wound around him, fluttering. He’d seen its like only once or twice before. “Why are they so rare?” Kaladin asked. “People feel gloomy all the time.” “Who knows?” Syl said. “Some spren are common. Some are uncommon.” She tapped his shoulder. “I’m pretty sure one of my aunts liked to hunt these things.”

L: I find the hunting part to be the most interesting part of this. So… do the highspren need to eat? Do they hunt the lower spren for food, or just for sport? Do they let them go after they catch them? If they kill them, will there be less gloominess in the physical realm?

A: I have no answers for any of those. For the last one, I’ll say that it would depend on which is the cause and which is the effect, and we’ve never solidly answered that questions as far as I know. If spren cause natural phenomena, hunting them in the Cognitive should reduce their effects in the Physical. If they’re simply drawn to the emotion when it happens from other causes, then there wouldn’t be any effect, except not having the things flapping around your head every time the depression hits. I could see that as a benefit to hunting them…

“They’re like I remember them.”

“Syl, you never knew me when I lived here.”

“That’s true.”

“So how can you remember them?”

“Everyone is connected, Kaladin. Everything is connected. I didn’t know you then, but the winds did, and I am of the winds. The winds are of Honor. We are kindred blood.”

L: This is really neat. I find it interesting how closely tied the honorspren are to windspren. Makes me wonder if other highspren have close ties to lower spren… What would Pattern and the Cryptics be most closely tied to?

A: The only one we know solidly is the honorspren/windspren connection, but others have been postulated. Cryptics (Pattern) to creationspren, cultivationspren (Wyndle) to lifespren, and maybe highspren to starspren as I suggested recently. Possibly Siblings (Bondsmith spren) to gloryspren? They’re all speculation to one degree or another, though I think those first two are strong candidates, while the others are shakier. I’ve wondered if ashspren (which we’re told later are the Dustbringer spren) might be cousins to flamespren.

L: Oh yeah, I had forgotten about the lifespren showing up around Lift in Edgedancer.

“Besides, there was… another voice. Pure, with a song like tapped crystal, distant yet demanding…”

L: Hmm. The mysterious God we were talking about last week, you think? Or maybe just the Mother Honorspren we see later in Rock’s chapter?

A: An Unsolved Mystery! There’s been speculation, of course. I hadn’t considered that it could be the voice of the God Beyond, though someone suggested that Cultivation might have been responsible. I didn’t think that the other honorspren were watching humans that early in the process, but I’m not sure they weren’t. One of the more popular theories I saw was that Tien may have been in the process of bonding a spren; if so, it could fit with Mraize’s later statement (Chapter 40) that the Skybreakers records show that “the only member of Amaram’s army to have bonded a spren was long since eliminated.” I’m not sure if I believe that or not, but it’s an interesting theory. Except… probably not, because if he’d bonded a spren, those wounds wouldn’t have killed him. I wonder who it was, though.

Quality Quotations

• He couldn’t banish the seed of darkness inside him, but Stormfather, he didn’t need to let it rule him either.
• The mere memory of that red storm outside his hollow made panic rise inside him. The Everstorm was so wrong, so unnatural—like a baby born with no face. Some things just should not be.
• Syl zipped up in front of him, a ribbon of light. “Your eyes are brown again,” she noted. It took a few hours without summoning his Shardblade. Once he did that, his eyes would bleed to a glassy light blue, almost glowing.
• The parshmen had been housed in a small structure built in the manor’s shadow, with a single open chamber and benches for sleeping. Kaladin reached it by touch and felt at a large hole ripped in the side.
• Then his eyes opened wide.
  “Hello, Father,” Kaladin said.

A: That’s what we’ve got this week. Next week we’ll tackle Chapter 7. It’s a long one, as Kaladin gets down to the business of Next Steps.

Oh, and while we’re here… I asked Brandon about some point of discussion at ECCC last weekend, and here’s the answer: “Here you go, blanket statement: Alice is always right. Tell them I said so.” Or words to that effect, anyway. WOOOOOT! I’m right! Whatever it is, I’m right! …

… at least until the next book comes out and proves me wrong….

Alice had a lot of fun working with Kara and Mem at the Dragonsteel booth last weekend at the Emerald City Comic Con. As expected, she completely forgot almost all the questions she’d been thinking of asking Brandon, like whether gloryspren are “cousins” to the Siblings. Sigh. But it was great fun.

Lyndsey is getting progressively more stressed out as Anime Boston approaches—running one of the largest events at a con of about 20k people is practically a full-time job. If you’re an aspiring author, a cosplayer, or just like geeky content, follow her work on Facebook or her website.

Hello, and welcome back to the Oathbringer Reread! In this week’s chapter, we continue on with Kaladin’s heart-wrenching homecoming before he heads off in search of Wascally Woidbringers.

Reminder: we’ll potentially be discussing spoilers for the ENTIRE NOVEL in each reread. There are no Cosmere connections in this chapter, so read on with no fear of spoilers from non-Stormlight novels. But if you haven’t read ALL of Oathbringer, best to wait to join us until you’re done.

Chapter Recap

WHO: Kaladin Stormblessed
WHERE: Hearthstone, Alethkar
WHEN: 1174.1.2.2

After Kaladin’s (totally deserved) decking of Roshone, he summons Syl to prove his rank and takes a report from the guards about the transformed parshmen, who left the town in peace. He gives Roshone a brief pep talk about leading his people, then Laral arrives. She sets him up with the things he’s requested—a spanreed to report in to Dalinar, some maps—then leaves him to wander through the house. He finds his father and has a sobering discussion with him about war, then reports in to Dalinar via spanreed. His mother introduces him to his baby brother Oroden, and Kaladin inspires the people with an announcement that the Knights Radiant have been refounded.

Threshold of the storm

Titles: A Watcher at the Rim

“You’re a surgeon, Father, but I’m something else. A watcher at the rim.” Words spoken to Dalinar Kholin in a vision. Kaladin stood up. “I will protect those who need it. Today, that means hunting down some Voidbringers.”

Which refers to this, from the Midnight Essence vision:

“Every pasture needs three things,” the woman said, voice changing, as if she were quoting from memory. “Flocks to grow, herdsmen to tend, and watchers at the rim. We of Alethela are those watchers—the warriors who protect and fight. We maintain the terrible arts of killing, then pass them on to others when the Desolation comes. (The Way of Kings, Chapter 19)

Alice: There’s a whole essay in there… but I won’t inflict it on you now! I’ll just note that I personally had never connected these two concepts, but they fit perfectly. Between Desolations, the Knights Radiant mostly withdrew to either Urithiru or Alethela, and kept the Alethi people in training, while others returned to their more peaceful pursuits.

Lyn: Which explains the Alethi societal predisposition towards war.

A: Now, as the Knights Radiant are being re-formed, they are desperately scrambling to catch up to the abandoned task of watching for danger and defending people from it. Interestingly enough, with the blatant exception of the Sadeas army, it will turn out to be the Alethi armies that are needed to protect humanity, supporting the smaller and less well-trained armies of the other nations.

Heralds: Jezrien in all four places. Protecting/Leading; King; Windrunners

A: Well, gotta say that Kaladin is all Windrunner here: The Knights Radiant Have Returned, Y’All, and We Will Lead You!

Icon: Kaladin’s spears-and-banner icon, which Alice still hopes to have explained someday.

Epigraphs:

I did not die.

I experienced something far worse.

A: I assume he’s referring to this:

Dalinar ripped his fingernails off, but the pain of the body couldn’t distract him. It was nothing beside the agony of his soul. Of knowing what he truly was.

Honestly, I can see how in that moment, dying would have been far easier than facing the full truth of all that he had been and done. But we’ll talk about that in… oh, a couple of years.

Stories & Songs

“They looked like Voidbringers, I tell you, with big bony bits jutting from their skin.”

“Weather in turmoil and terrors transformed from common servants? That storm with the red lightning, blowing the wrong direction? The Desolation is here, Roshone. The Voidbringers have returned.”

L: Kal’s sure got a dramatic side. I have to admit I love that about him.

A: Right, that’s all. Admit it, Lyn, you love everything about him. Just admit it.

L: Gladly. Kaladin is a treasure.

A: But, okay, yes, I love his dramatic flair as well. It makes for some fist-pumping moments, for sure.

On another note, though, how did Aric know that they looked like Voidbringers? I can’t believe they heard anything about Narak here yet, so that leaves two probabilities. One, they’ve heard descriptions of the Parshendi warriors by now, and he made an amazingly quick connection based on Kaladin’s news. Two, and the one I think is more likely, they looked terrifying to someone who’s never seen Parshendi in anything other than slave form, and he connected them to the bogeyman from the old stories.

Relationships & Romances

“That was only payment for a little unsettled debt between Roshone and me.”

L: You mean Roshone and MOASH (who totally doesn’t deserve you standing up for him, Kaladin).

A: I must not have noticed this on the beta, and no one else commented on it, but there’s a slight difference between “that was for Moash” and “an unsettled debt between Roshone and me.” Now I wonder whether that was a slip, or whether Kaladin is being inconsistent and/or conflating the two issues. I’ll go with “Kaladin was conflating” for the sake of my sanity.

“And what,” Roshone said, “makes you think you can order anyone around, boy?”

Kaladin turned back and swept his arm before him, summoning Syl. A bright, dew-covered Shardblade formed from mist into his hand. He spun the blade and rammed her down into the floor in one smooth motion. He held the grip, feeling his eyes bleed to blue.

Everything grew still. Townspeople froze, gaping. Roshone’s eyes bulged. Curiously, Kaladin’s father just lowered his head and closed his eyes.

“Any other questions?” Kaladin asked.

L: Okay, so aside from the sheer awesomeness that is Kal being a total badass here (and haven’t we all wanted to see this from the moment Roshone sent Tien off to the front lines?), I’d like to talk about poor Lirin’s reaction.

A: Yes, please! I mean, Roshone calling him “boy” and then being confronted with a Shardblade was cool, but Lirin’s reaction was … unexpected.

L: It’s clear that before now, he was aware that Kaladin had become a soldier through and through. But this moment… this is when I think he realizes that he’s never getting his son back. Not the one he expected, anyway.

A: I have to interject here that the short scene where Kaladin stands in as Lirin’s assistant was bittersweet; it was a moment where Lirin could pretend, however briefly, that his son could be the great surgeon he’d wanted. ::sniffle::

L: It must be a sad moment for him—the moment a father comes to accept that the sweet boy he knew is gone, replaced by this strange soldier. And, from Lirin’s point of view… a murderer. He verifies this later:

“What you’ve become, Lirin continued, “is a killer. You solve problems with the fist and the sword.”

L: I get what Lirin’s saying. I really do. In a perfect world, no one would need to kill. But I have to admit I find him a little naive, too. Roshar isn’t a perfect world, and killing is sometimes necessary in order to save others. I’m with Kaladin on this one. Look for another way, but be prepared to do what needs to be done to protect the innocent.

“And you honestly think that we shouldn’t fight the Voidbringers, father?”

Lirin hesitated. “No,” he whispered. “I know that war is inevitable. I just didn’t want you to have to be a part of it. I’ve seen what it does to men. War flays their souls, and those are wounds I can’t heal.”

L: Lirin breaks my heart here. He realizes that his ideals can’t be held by everyone… he just wanted better for his son. And who can blame him?

A: Not me. Not me.

“I dreamed of coming back,” Kaladin said, stopping in the hallway outside the library. “I imagined returning here a war hero and challenging Roshone. I wanted to save you, Laral.”

L: This makes me cringe. Oh, Kal. It’s a totally understandable sentiment to have, but saying it out loud is just… so childish. Sometimes, with all Kal has been through, it’s hard to remember that he’s only, what? 18? 19?

A: (He turned 20 while running bridges for Sadeas.)

L: Laral, on the other hand, seems to have matured quite a lot in their time apart.

A: Stunningly so, IMO. This was not at all how I expected her to grow up! I do love it, and her reaction to Kaladin’s wish to “save her” was priceless. I mean, I understand that he thought her situation was terrible for her—stuck marrying a disgusting man two or three times her age, and all that, but it was presumptuous of him to think that she would welcome his “rescue.”

That said, I have mixed feelings about her. I felt sorry for Laral back in TWoK when we last saw her, and over all I’m glad for her that she became a strong person and a leader in her hometown. I love that she opened the mansion to shelter her people. I respect that she puts Kaladin in his place with his attitude toward her relationship with her husband; that decision was never any of his business unless she chose to come to him for aid. But while she did say she “was sorry to hear the news of your brother,” she doesn’t in the least acknowledge that Roshone’s action was almost certainly the cause of Tien’s death. I guess… I can appreciate that she doesn’t approve of Kaladin’s behavior this day, and I agree that it was inappropriate. But “your father criticized him!” doesn’t justify sending Tien to a near-certain death, either. ::sigh:: I just have to tell myself that she never got the chance to see Lirin’s initial overtures and Roshone’s sneering responses, and from the day he arrived she only heard his side of the story.

But I’d still like to know exactly why Syl likes her.

L: Probably just because she doesn’t back down. Syl’s awfully independent.

“Kaladin, meet your brother.”

Kaladin reached out. His mother let him take the little boy, hold him in hands which seemed too rough to be touching such soft skin. Kaladin trembled, then pulled the child tight against him. Memories of this place had not broken him, and seeing his parents had not overwhelmed him, but this…

He could not stop the tears.

L: ::screams and cries simultaneously:: I CAN’T EVEN WITH THIS PLOT TWIST. Alice, you’re gonna have to talk about this because I can’t even formulate words.

A: Yeah, about that… ::takes a deep breath:: Okay.
This was an absolute stunner. Not because it’s so far-fetched, really – I mean, why shouldn’t they have another child? – but because it simply never occurred to me. Never. I occasionally thought about their grief, but I didn’t even consider that real people, in that situation, would grieve and go on living. If Laral’s maturity was a mild shock, this was a thunderbolt.

L: Not to mention the fact that this is an extreme outlier in the genre. Usually the main character in fantasy novels is an orphan. It’s exceptionally rare that we see a character with parents who are alive—much less ones who have had another child.

“Oroden. Child of peace.”

A: The name is simultaneously perfect, and ironic. To the best of their knowledge, Lirin and Hesina had lost two sons to war; is it any wonder that they deliberately named this one something opposite? (I have to wonder what the timing was for the arrival of the message that Kaladin had died, and the birth & naming of Oroden.) It’s such a perfect parallel, that Kaladin the (now confirmed) soldier is committed to protecting Oroden, child of peace. I can only conclude that Oroden will play a role in the second arc; the only question is whether he’ll fulfill his name, or twist it inside out somehow.

For now, though, I’m just happy that Kaladin has a new brother to love and protect.

L: ::sniffle::

Bruised & Broken

For a short time, it had been nice to just be Kal again. Fortunately, he wasn’t that youth any longer. He was a new person—and for the first time in a long, long while, he was happy with that person.

A: Well, it didn’t last the book, but it was sure nice to see this evidence that he is capable of being happy to be himself. Despite some fan hopes that he was done brooding, we know from real life that depression isn’t that readily overcome. We also know that healing can come, and it often starts with the occasional moment like this—a moment of unexpected contentment. I have hope that there will be more.

L: I don’t think Kaladin is ever going to be completely “healed”—clinical depression isn’t fixed so easily, and I doubt that Roshar has the right kinds of medicine to help remedy the chemical imbalance in his brain. But he definitely has the potential to be better than he is usually, especially with the help of the people around him and a new sense of purpose.

Places & Peoples

“I don’t like the idea of swinging you about, smashing you into things. … it doesn’t feel right. You’re a woman, not a weapon.”

“Wait… so this is about me being a girl?”

“No,” Kaladin said immediately, then hesitated. “Maybe.”

L: We’ll be seeing more of this ingrained societal sexism in Kaladin later on, but it’s worth noting that when his attention is drawn to it, he doesn’t double down on it. I love that he’s willing to let his opinion on things like this be swayed. He recognizes that it’s a little silly.

The reason I wanted to talk about this here in “people and Places,” however, is that the power divide between the sexes here in Alethkar is really interesting to me. Women, like Roshone’s wife Laral, have authority and power, just a different type from the men. They hold the reins of communication and knowledge through virtue of being able to read and write. Some might say that this actually makes them more powerful than the men, whose primary focus is waging war.

A: I have a hard time calling this “sexism,” at least given the preponderantly negative implication of the term. There is most definitely a distinction in roles between the sexes, and for some it would naturally be grating. (E.g., if you’re a girl and you want to do swordfighting, you can either become an ardent, or go to a different country, pretty much.) That said, women are hardly powerless, as you note. Each sex has its domain, and power within that domain is virtually absolute.

“I’ve got [a spanreed] to the queen regent in Kholinar, but that one hasn’t been responsive lately.”

L: Mostly just noting this for reference in future events. I wonder just how long she’s been under the Unmade’s thrall.

A: Was it just the queen’s spanreeds that were unresponsive, or all of them in the city? I think the latter was implied at the end of WoR, wasn’t it? If so, was there some reason the spanreeds weren’t being used before the Fused showed up? Or… were the Fused already active in Kholinar before the Everstorm was launched?

Tight Butts and Coconuts

“We should just pretend that punch never happened.”

L: I love that they’re at least competent enough to realize that Kaladin is way out of their league.

“Firstly, I don’t smash into things. I am an elegant and graceful weapon, stupid.”

A: Yeah, Kaladin. Don’t be stupid.

Weighty Words

Hadn’t he sworn to protect even those he didn’t like? Wasn’t the whole point of what he had learned to keep him from doing things like this?

L: I mean, sure, Kal, that’s all noble and all, but… dude deserved it. Surely there must be provisions for knocking people down a peg in those lofty ideals.

He glanced at Syl, and she nodded to him.

Do better.

A: As gratifying as the punch was, I actually like this part better; while Roshone is truly a despicable being, hitting him was pointless and counterproductive. But that wasn’t why I quoted this… I was just thinking how much this foreshadows Dalinar’s next Ideal: “If I must fall, I will rise each time a better man.”

“You,” Kaladin said, “are a cheat, a rat, and a murderer. But as much as I hate it, we don’t have time to oust Alethkar’s ruling class and set up something better. We are under attack by an enemy we do not understand and which we could not have anticipated. So you’re going to have to stand up and lead these people.”

L: If part of the job of a Knight Radiant is to inspire people, Kaladin’s already well on his way to mastering it. Let’s face it, he’s had a lot of practice with Bridge Four and the various groups of slaves he tried to escape with, not to mention his regiments when he was in Amaram’s army.

A: I have to snigger a bit at Kaladin’s probable reaction to the idea of being an inspiration to Roshone. I’ll also admit that I laughed out loud at “You are a cheat, a rat, and a murderer.” Inspiring.

“Highprince Dalinar Kholin,” Kaladin said, Stormlight puffing before his lips, “has refounded the Knights Radiant. And this time, we will not fail you.”

L: CHILLS. This scene… oh man. This is everything I could have wanted from this homecoming scene, and then some. It was beautiful, and such a gratifying fulfillment of expectations.

Meaningful Motivations

“He couldn’t report back to Dalinar until he had the Stormlight to fly home.”

L: Despite saying that he’ll report to Elhokar just last paragraph, he first thinks of reporting to Dalinar. Is this a simple “Dalinar is my commanding officer” mistake, or is this another sign of Dalinar slowly usurping the throne?

A: I think it’s more a matter of context. Dalinar is his commanding officer, the one who gave him permission (and spheres) to go, and the one who commissioned him to find out what was happening in Kholinar if he could. Whatever he learns about the effects of the Everstorm, he’s primed to report to Dalinar about it if he can. The “I’ll tell Elhokar” was only in context of someone specifically asking him to “tell the king” about their food and housing shortage.

A Scrupulous Study of Spren

“Some of the old spren have four genders instead of two.”

L: I love this, especially with all of the awakening awareness in our current day and age about gender and sexuality.

“What? Why?”

She poked him in the nose. “Because humans didn’t imagine those ones, silly.”

A: Personally, I like it for the implication that “the old spren” don’t reflect humans. It should be fairly obvious that “four genders” reflects the Listener genders of male, female, malen, and femalen. What’s easy to miss on the first read, I think, is that the old spren reflect Listener genders, while the new(er) ones reflect human genders. It’s either foreshadowing or confirmation, depending on when you guessed that humans were the newcomers, but it should smack you in the face on a reread. (For anyone who doesn’t remember those terms: Listeners were identified as male and female only in mateform; in all the other forms we saw, they were called malen and femalen, and their physical distinctions were much reduced.)

Quality Quotations

• “Will you tell the king?” Aric asked. “… We’ll be starving afore too long, with all these refugees and no food. When the highstorms start coming again, we won’t have half as many homes as we need.” “I’ll tell Elhokar.” But Stormfather, the rest of the kingdom would be just as bad.

• “We’re not powerless,” Kaladin said. “We can and will fight back—but first we need to survive.”

• “I can’t stay. This crisis is bigger than one town, one people, even if it’s my town and my people. I have to rely on you. Almighty preserve us, you’re all we have.”

• That storm was unexpected,” Kaladin said. “How in the world did you know to leave your spheres out?” “Kal,” she said, “it’s not so hard to hang some spheres out once a storm starts blowing!”

A: Bahahahaha! You can tell that Kaladin isn’t used to having responsibility for money, or he’d know that…

• Hearthstone wouldn’t see this much excitement for another hundred years. At least not if Kaladin had any say about it.

Thus endeth the grand homecoming. He didn’t stay long, did he? Now he’s off a-hunting; we’ll rejoin him in a couple of weeks. Next week, we’ll return to Shallan in Urithiru for Chapters 8 and 9, and some weird artwork.

Alice is back to normal after her Comic Con weekend, which is to say, going too many directions at once. Isn’t everyone? She’s still working on that article about the Kaladin album, so keep an eye out for it sometime in the next couple of weeks.

Lyndsey is currently in convention-staffing hell getting ready for Anime Boston at the end of the month, but somehow she’s still managing to keep up with these rereads. If you’re an aspiring author, a cosplayer, or just like geeky content, follow her work on Facebook or her website. (Especially if you like Yuri!!! On Ice, because she and her Victor will be posting a lot of FB updates about that from the con.)

Welcome back to the Oathbringer reread, as we return to Urithiru for disturbing drawings, cooperative cartography, international intrigue, and mystifying murder in Chapters 8 and 9.

Reminder: we’ll potentially be discussing spoilers for the ENTIRE NOVEL in each reread. This week, there are no Cosmere spoilers in the article, though we make no promises about the discussion in the comments. But if you haven’t read ALL of Oathbringer, best to wait to join us until you’re done.

Chapter Recap

WHO: Shallan Davar
WHERE: Urithiru
WHEN: 1174.1.2.2 (The same day as the preceding Kaladin chapters)

We start off Shallan’s first chapter in the book with drawing. She’s having trouble depicting the city—for some reason, her drawings are coming out surrealistic. She’s also actively trying not to think about the revelation of the truth she spoke in the last book regarding her parents’ deaths. A scout arrives and brings her to a meeting with Dalinar, Navani, Adolin, and Renarin. After establishing that Shallan knows next to nothing about world politics, Dalinar goes on to list off the locations of the ten Oathgates and decides that their next step should be trying to secure alliances with the cities which contain them. However, their meeting is interrupted by the news that there’s been another murder.

Our heroes hurry to the site of the murder, where Bridge Four is waiting. Adolin is shaken by the fact that this man has been murdered in exactly the same way as he’d killed Sadeas, and then is shaken further then Dalinar orders him to investigate the murders.

Threshold of the storm

Titles

Chapter 8: “A Powerful Lie” is taken from Pattern’s commentary:

“It’s all right,” Shallan said in a hushed voice as the wind died down. “Just … just let me draw.”
“Mmm…” Pattern said. “A powerful lie…”

A: The subject lie is, presumably, Shallan’s claim that it was all right, or would be if she could just draw. Because clearly things are not all right, and even drawing will not be enough distraction to make it so. The theme of “powerful lies” carries through the rest of the chapter in Shallan’s pretenses and illusions, what with “power is an illusion of perception,” her disguise as an Elsecaller, and the map she creates with Dalinar.

Chapter 9: “The Threads of a Screw” comes from Shallan’s thought about the strata patterns in the walls as they run toward the scene of the crime:

The strata here spiraled, twisting around the floor, ceiling, and walls like the threads of a screw.

That’s the obvious part, but there’s so much twisting around in this chapter that it’s very appropriate thematically as well—especially that bit with the copycat murder that everyone (except Adolin) assumes is a serial murder.

Heralds

Chapter 8 shows Shalash (Artist, Creative/Honest, Lightweaver) in all four spots, which I assume is due to Shallan’s drawing and Lightweaving throughout the chapter. Chapter 9, though, has Battar in all four, which is very unusual for a Shallan chapter. Battar is associated with Counsellor, Wise/Careful, and Elsecallers, so she would be expected if Jasnah were around. Since she’s not, I suppose it could be “Shallan pretends to be an Elsecaller,” but I think it’s more associated with Dalinar’s wish that Jasnah could be there to give counsel, and the inversion of the role as Adolin attempts to hide what he knows.

L: Well, an argument could also be made that Dalinar is the main character of these chapters for the most part, despite them being from Shallan’s POV. All of the action is coming from him, with Shallan as a simple observer. With this in mind, Dalinar is being very wise and careful in chapter 9 by setting Adolin as his investigator. Honestly I could see it even better if it had been the previous chapter that had Battar, but Dalinar’s still in wise-councilor mode here too.

Icon

With Shallan as the sole POV in these two chapters, naturally Pattern is the icon for both.

Epigraphs

That moment notwithstanding, I can honestly say this book has been brewing in me since my youth.
The sum of my experiences has pointed at this moment.
This decision.
—From Oathbringer, preface

A: Even having finished all the flashbacks, I’m a little baffled by this first sentence. Is he referring to “his youth” as the early days of the campaign to unify Alethkar, back when he was the blood-thirsty kid who would do almost anything to activate the Thrill? That’s the only way I can make sense out of it; he’s thinking back to his first experiences with Nergaoul, and the entire process that led to his ability to embrace it and tempt it into that gemstone.

Stories & Songs

She glanced at a soldier who wore the gold and red of Hatham’s army. He immediately looked down and rubbed at the glyphward prayer tied around his upper right arm. Dalinar was determined to recover the reputation of the Radiants, but storms, you couldn’t change an entire nation’s perspective in a matter of a few months. The ancient Knights Radiant had betrayed humankind; while many Alethi seemed willing to give the orders a fresh start, others weren’t so charitable.

A: Sanderson is going to keep reminding us that the whole world knows the old Knights Radiant had betrayed humanity, and willingness to trust the new ones is far from universal. It might get irritating, but as readers I think we need to bear it in mind; as “outsiders” to this world, and “insiders” to the minds of the new Radiants, we know they’re the good guys, or at least they mean well. The mistrust of the rest of the world needs to be part of our assessment all the time, if we’re to understand future events and reactions.

Relationships & Romances

Curiously, it was Renarin who stood up, setting aside his blanket and cup, then walked over to put his hand on his father’s shoulder. The youth looked even more spindly than normal when standing beside Dalinar, and though his hair wasn’t as blond as Adolin’s, it was still patched with yellow. He seemed such a strange contrast to Dalinar, cut from almost entirely different cloth.
“It’s just so big, son,” Dalinar said, looking at the map. “How can I unite all of Roshar when I’ve never even visited many of these kingdoms? Young Shallan spoke wisdom, though she might not have recognized it. We don’t know these people. Now I’m expected to be responsible for them? I wish I could see it all.…”

A: This really is unexpected, though more to Shallan than to the reader (at least, the reader who has been discussing Kholin family behavior to the point of exhaustion). Later, we’ll see that it’s happened before—Renarin is sometimes the one who sees a need within his father and finds a way to reach out and give support. All the same, it’s almost painful to see Dalinar looking overwhelmed by the task at hand.

L: I really love that Renarin is the one to realize that these words may have hit a little too close to home. The boys may not know the extent of their father’s damage (hell, Dalinar himself doesn’t yet), but they clearly remember at least a little of what he was like before the Shattered Plains.

Ahead of her, Adolin stopped and looked back. He danced for a moment, as if impatient, then hurried to her instead of running ahead.

L: Awww. Adolin’s just too adorable. He’s thinking of her well-being over his own curiosity. I love his chivalry.

A: I’m also glad he waited for her, so that we could get her reaction to his reactions!

Bruised & Broken

“I understand why you hate me, Shallan. I did not mean to help you kill your mother, but it is what I did.”

…

It meant she had to summon her Blade each time. The Blade she’d used to kill her mother. A truth she’d spoken as an Ideal of her order of Radiants.

A truth that she could no longer, therefore, stuff into the back of her mind and forget.

…

“The sword isn’t you. The sword is me, my father, the life we led, and the way it got twisted all about.”

L: Hoo boy, here we go. Shallan’s arc in this book is pretty bad, in the respect that she’s just… so very broken. So so broken. This is only the beginning. The realization of what she’d done cracked her wide open, and a slew of personalities just comes spilling out.

A: This was the beginning of a surprise to a lot of readers. At the end of Words of Radiance, it appeared that Shallan had faced her past actions and resolved her issues; now, when we finally get back in her head, it turns out that her head is a very messy place. As we proceed, we’ll see that her issues are so far from “resolved” that the two words shouldn’t be on the same page. For some readers, this was frustrating, as they’d hoped to be done with watching Shallan hide from her memories. For others, it was a mark of brilliant characterization, because the simple fact is, her issues are not simple; to resolve the whole thing in one Moment Of Realization would be cheap and unrealistic.

[Renarin] wore his Bridge Four uniform, but had a blanket around his shoulders and was holding a cup of steaming tea, though the room wasn’t particularly cold.

L: Interesting that Sanderson called this out. There must be some deeper meaning to it. Any thoughts, Alice?

A: I don’t have anything solid, but I agree—there’s supposed to be some significance there. The absolutely only thing I can think of is that when we see his spren at the end of the book, it looks like a snowflake; could Glys have the effect of making him cold? Maybe he’s feeling the presence of the Unmade, too; Shallan draws weird surreal pictures as her reaction, and Renarin gets cold? I don’t think he’s trying to hide Glys, because he doesn’t hesitate to set the blanket aside later. Now I want to watch for other instances of Renarin being cold when others aren’t!

(For your entertainment… I went back and looked at the beta, and it turns out I asked this exact question. The only suggestion, from Sarah, was that perhaps it was more about comfort in an overwhelming situation, which I could totally see.)

Diagrams & Dastardly Designs

L: Okay so, I’m going to put this stuff about the strata in Urithiru in this section even though this isn’t exactly what this section was meant for. Patterns and Designs are pretty close, right?

Couldn’t they distinguish the pattern here of wide reddish strata alternating with smaller yellow ones?

L: It makes total sense that Shallan, with her training as an artist, would be more keyed in to the varied designs and alterations of color than a normal person. I wonder if the colors have any special significance, though? If we’re going to go with the widely accepted theory that this city is supposed to be powered by Stormlight, these could be conduits of some sort. Are the different colors significant to different types of energy?

A: The descriptions of “strata” in the walls of Urithiru are really bizarre. During the beta read, I noted that actual rock strata don’t behave in the ways they were sometimes described. Since the term “strata” remains in the text, now I’m watching to see if the descriptions change. If they continue to do weird and unnatural patterns, I will assume that they were shaped by the construction process rather than being naturally formed. Yes, I’m going somewhere with this…

In the meantime, though, I’m pretty sure that some of the strata carry Stormlight, anyway. It’s too obvious a way to channel it around, right?

L: Right, and there’s also something to be said for the fact that if gems can hold Stormlight, why couldn’t certain types of stone?

Squires & Sidekicks

“How does it work? Being a Radiant? You have a Shardblade?”

So that was where this was going. “I assure you,” Shallan said, “it is quite possible to remain properly feminine while fulfilling my duties as a knight.”

“Oh,” the scout said. Oddly, she seemed disappointed by that response.

L: I love the fact that Shallan completely misses the point of what Lyn was getting at here. As we see later, Lyn doesn’t much seem to care about femininity. She wants to fight with Bridge 4, not be constrained to traditional Alethi societal norms. I won’t be speaking too much about how this character is based on me in this reread, and how her characteristics may or may not line up with my own personality (if you ever run into me at a con or at a signing you can feel free to ask me in person), but I will say that I really love this about her character. As nice as it is to see female characters like Shallan and Jasnah who don’t hold to the typical archetypes of “warrior-woman,” “mother,” or “seductress,” it’s also nice to see women actively struggling against the inherent sexism of their culture.

A: One thing I’ve noticed in WoR and OB is the roles women play when they aren’t wealthy, or the wives of officers, etc. In WoR, we saw that a number of the Kholin grooms were women; since that occupation isn’t specifically mentioned in Arts and Majesty, it’s open equally to men and women. The ardentia, of course, is likewise equally open. We’ll see in Oathbringer that, while there are certainly far more men than women scouts, Lyn is hardly the only woman in the group. We’ll also see a number of shopkeepers, etc., if I remember correctly, as well as various scribes keeping things orderly. So it seems that there are avenues other than marriage or the ardentia open to women (both light- and darkeyes), but it probably depends a lot on the opportunities they find. Sort of like real life, come to think of it…

On that subject, I have to throw in one more quotation, mostly because it makes me laugh at the same time that it reminds me that every culture has different expectations:

Nobody tried to shelter Navani from the sight—as if it were completely proper for the king’s mother to be poking at a corpse. Who knew? Maybe in Alethkar, ladies were expected to do this sort of thing. It was still odd to Shallan how temerarious the Alethi were about towing their women into battle to act as scribes, runners, and scouts.

L: Peet! Lopen! Rlain! Oh, how I’d missed these guys. We don’t see much of them yet, but there’s one part I did want to point out.

[Rlain] drew attention from the other soldiers, several of whom positioned themselves subtly to protect Dalinar from the Parshendi. They considered him a danger, regardless of which uniform he wore.

L: As sad as this makes me (I love Rlain), I can’t say that I blame them at this point in time. No one knows how the transformation into “Voidbringers” works. All they know is that when the Everstorm swept over them, the parshmen changed. Who’s to say, to these soldiers, that Rlain might not suddenly turn evil?

A: As far as I know, the only thing keeping Rlain from going Voidbringer is his own determination not to change, though he might receive some additional protection from Kaladin’s squire effect. I agree on all points, Lyndsey; as much as it makes me sad to see him so thoroughly mistrusted, there is a valid reason for people to worry.

Places & Peoples

A: This chapter provides a great overview of the cultures we’re going to meet soon. Prior to this, we saw them only by reference or in Interludes; the action centered on the Shattered Plains, with bits in Kharbranth, Jah Keved, and Alethkar. Oathbringer has Our Heros conversing and meeting with people from these other nations, and sometimes traveling to them as well.

“They’re Azish,” Adolin said. “How can they not be predictable? Doesn’t their government mandate how to peel your fruit?”

L: A reminder here (for those with poor memories like me) that Azir is where we first met Lift. Their society is tightly structured around rules and laws, and requires a ton of paperwork for just about everything. Renarin might insist that Adolin is stereotyping, but I wouldn’t be in the least bit surprised if Adolin’s tongue-in-cheek comment doesn’t have a shred of truth in it.

A: Hey, stereotypes exist for a reason!

“There’s that warlord in Tukar. What’s his name?”

“Tezim,” Navani said. “Claims he’s an aspect of the Almighty.”

L: For some reason I’m getting shades of the False Dragons from Wheel of Time here.

A: Hah! He does sound a lot like those… but, from a certain perspective, he’s not entirely wrong.

“Azimir, capital of Azir,” Dalinar said, stepping from Urithiru to the center of Azir to the west, “is home to an Oathgate. We need to open it and gain the trust of the Azish. They will be important to our cause.”

He stepped farther to the west. “There’s an Oathgate hidden in Shinovar. Another in the capital of Babatharnam, and a fourth in far-off Rall Elorim, City of Shadows.”

L: (Which is such a cool name for a city, just sayin’.)

A: (I know, right? So intriguing! Unfortunately, I suspect that we’ll have to wait for Lift’s flashbacks to learn much more about it. ::pouts::)

“Another in Rira,” Navani said, joining him. “Jasnah thought it was in Kurth. A sixth was lost in Aimia, the island that was destroyed.”

A: Keep this in mind for later Interlude discussions!

Dalinar grunted, then turned toward the map’s eastern section. “Vedenar makes seven,” he said, stepping into Shallan’s homeland. “Thaylen City is eight. Then the Shattered Plains, which we hold.”

“And the last one is in Kholinar,” Adolin said softly. “Our home.”

A: I haz a sad. Adolin doesn’t know much yet; there are indications that something is not right in Kholinar, but all they have to go on is that the spanreeds in the city aren’t working, plus what little intel they received from Kaladin. They don’t talk about it much, focused as they are on the immediate issues of creating a functional society in Urithiru, warning other nations of the Desolation, and forming a coalition to save humanity. So this one soft remark stands out—it’s one of the few times someone verbally acknowledges the very real concern for their home.

While we’re on the subject… in the next couple of paragraphs, Dalinar outlines the plan to focus on Azir for its organization, Thaylenah for its shipping, and Jah Keved for its manpower.

“And Kholinar?” Adolin asked.

Dalinar doesn’t get a chance to respond before the scout comes in, but the question is left hanging. What about Kholinar? Strategically, it’s not terribly important; the Alethi are known primarily for military prowess, but most of those resources—the good ones, anyway—are already gathered at the Shattered Plains or Urithiru. From that standpoint, Kholinar is no more vital to the coalition than Shinovar or Babatharnam. But it’s home. ::sniff::

Well, anyway, there’s the run-down of all the important places on Roshar.

Tight Butts and Coconuts

Maybe when Brightlord Brooding-Eyes returned, he could fly her to another peak along the mountain chain.

L: I will never not laugh at “Brightlord Brooding-Eyes.”

A: ::gigglesnort::

“Brightness Shallan,” he said. “How would you deal with the Makabaki kingdoms? … Azir is the most important, but just faced a succession crisis. Emul and Tukar are, of course, at war, as Navani noted. We could certainly use Tashikk’s information networks, but they’re so isolationist. That leaves Yezier and Liafor….”

“Yes, yes…” Shallan said, thoughtful. “I have heard of several of those places.”

L: You know, a lot of Shallan’s quips fall flat for me—she reads as if she thinks she’s just soooo much smarter than everyone else and has a tendency to make others feel a little stupid, I think. In real life, I don’t much like that type of humor, so often times I don’t find myself amused by her comments. But this line worked perfectly for me, possibly because she’s admitting to a fault of her own rather than touting her own wit.

“And to be frank, Brightlord, I think [Pattern]’s scared of you.”

“Well, he’s obviously not a fool,” Adolin noted.

Dalinar shot his son a glance.

“Don’t be like that, Father,” Adolin said. “If anyone would be able to go about intimidating forces of nature, it would be you.”

L: Adolin’s flippant little quip here made me chuckle.

A: Every time I read that line from Adolin, I snicker again. It’s perfect. The funniest part is, Dalinar just recently bonded the cognitive aspect of the dominant force of nature on the planet, right? So, yeah, “intimidating the forces of nature” is sort of what Dalinar does these days.

“Any number of people could have wanted him dead, right?”

L: Right, Adolin. Any number of people! It could have been ANYONE! But certainly not you.

Weighty Words

“I couldn’t have created this, Brightlord. I don’t have the knowledge.”

“Well, I didn’t do it,” Renarin said. “The Stormlight clearly came from you, Brightness.”

“Yes, well, your father was tugging on me at the time.”

“Tugging?” Adolin asked.

“The Stormfather,” Dalinar said. “This is his influence—this is what he sees each time a storm blows across Roshar. It wasn’t me or you, but us. Somehow.”

L: One of our first depictions of Dalinar’s interesting powers, here.

A: So is this Tension (soft axial interconnection), Adhesion (pressure and vacuum), or a resonance peculiar to Bondsmiths? The Stormfather later mentions what he calls “Spiritual Adhesion” with which Dalinar can make a Connection and learn other languages. My best guess is that this is another form, except that in this case it gave the Connection to Shallan. Maybe?

L: Hell if I know. I’m still confused more often than not by the mechanics of Windrunning, nevermind this, whatever it is. I love Sanderson’s depth of detail in his magic system, I appreciate the heck out of it, but I can’t analyze it. I was an English Major. Physics and science are not my fortes.

A: I just get a total kick out of the way he makes this all “physics and science” on the surface, and then suddenly he turns and applies the concepts of the physical forces to cognitive and spiritual abstractions instead of physical objects, and now everything is inside out and upside down. And it still makes sense. Sort of.

“I’ve seen the enemy’s champion—a creature in black armor, with red eyes. A parshman perhaps. It had nine shadows.”

Nearby, Renarin had turned towards his father, eyes wide, jaw dropping.

L: RENARIN. What do you know?! I’d kill for his POV of this scene.

A: I have to assume he’s seen this nine-shadowed champion in vision by now, though probably not yet with identity attached. Why else would he react this way?

L: And since we’re talking about Renarin…

As they moved, Shallan felt something prickle at the back of her neck. She shivered, and couldn’t help glancing back over her shoulder, hating how this unfathomable building made her feel.

Renarin was standing right behind her. She jumped, letting out a pathetic squeak. Then she blushed furiously; she’d forgotten he was even with them. A few shamespren faded into view around her, floating white and red flower petals.

“Sorry,” Renarin said. “Didn’t mean to sneak up on you.”

L: So… is Shallan just feeling the Unmade who’s taken up residence here, and Renarin’s presence is a coincidence, or…

A: … or is she feeling the presence of a corrupted spren, much like she feels the presence of the Unmade?

“You did well investigating the incident with the king’s saddle, even if that turned out to be something of a wind chase.”

L: I like this little in-world term.

A: Mmmm, good lies.

Mendacious Motivations

She looked to Adolin to get his read on the situation, and found him staring, aghast, mouth open and eyes wide. “Adolin?” Shallan asked. “Did you know him?”

He didn’t seem to hear her. “This is impossible,” he muttered. “Impossible.”

A: Poor Adolin. What a horrible shock this would have been!

“I’ll need to leave [the murder investigation] to you, son.”

“Me?” Adolin said. “You want me … to investigate who killed Sadeas.”

L: Well. That’s awkward.

A: Also hilarious.

Adolin swallowed. “I understand.”

Shallan narrowed her eyes. What had gotten into him? She glanced toward Renarin, who still stood up above, on the walkway around the empty pool. He watched Adolin with unblinking sapphire eyes. He was always a little strange, but he seemed to know something she didn’t.

A: It’s hard to know whether Renarin has seen a vision involving this, or whether he just knows his brother so well that he’s figured something out. Either way, it seems like only Shallan and Renarin notice how strange Adolin is acting, and Shallan dismisses it by thinking that Adolin isn’t remotely deceitful enough for her to be suspicious of him. Still, Adolin’s final comment just destroys me:

“I have no idea who did this, Shallan. But I am going to find out.”

Not worried that someone saw you kill Sadeas, by any chance?

A Scrupulous Study of Spren

We’ve already discussed most of the Pattern issues elsewhere, so we don’t need to talk about him here. There aren’t many others in these chapters.

…coldspren growing up like spikes around her.

…a windspren passing and troubling the pages.

A few shamespren faded into view around her, floating white and red flower petals. She’d rarely attracted those, which was a wonder. She’d have thought they would take up permanent residence nearby.

A: Aside from the snicker this always elicits, are shamespren like gloomspren—a common emotion, but uncommon spren? Never enough of them to go around?

Arresting Artwork

She couldn’t get an angle from which to view the entire tower, so she kept fixating on the little things. The balconies, the shapes of the fields, the cavernous openings—maws to engulf, consume, overwhelm.

L: I absolutely love what Ben McSweeney did with these surrealistic, creepy images of Shallan’s. Not only does it reflect her growing unease of what’s lurking in Urithiru, but it’s an interesting window into her mind, as well. She’s fracturing, breaking apart—and her artwork reflects this. In my experience, when I have suffered from depression, I find it very difficult to write or work on any sort of crafts. The inspiration doesn’t come, and when I do manage to get something accomplished, there’s just something off about it. So I relate to this artwork of hers a lot.

A: I seem to remember reading complaints somewhere about the artwork in Oathbringer having “gone downhill.” I think it was someone flipping through the book before they’d read it, maybe, and they were really disappointed. And the beta readers were all going, “No, no, it’s all good, it all belongs, same artist, just RAFO…” As I recall, there was also a story about how hard Ben had to work to get these Part 1 illustrations bad enough to suit Brandon.

Quality Quotations

• Though the place was stuffed with rugs and plush furniture, the finery fit this bleak chamber like a lady’s havah fit a pig.
• Storms. He always seemed so … large. Bigger than any room he was in, brow perpetually furrowed by the deepest of thoughts. Dalinar Kholin could make choosing what to have for breakfast look like the most important decision in all of Roshar.

And that’s all for today, even though I’m pretty sure we left out some interesting stuff! We can pick up the rest in the comments, eh? Be sure to come back next week, when Paige will join Alice to talk about Chapter 10. We’ll check in on Kaladin’s progress, and enjoy our second Adolin POV.

Alice has nothing much to say about herself this week. Lame, isn’t she? But hey, did you see the announcement of the new Legion book? It’s really good, if somewhat weird and unexpected.

Lyndsey probably won’t be able to make it next week. Between learning stage combat choreography, auditioning for her local Renn Faire, practicing modern dance choreography for an event, running the Anime Boston Masquerade at the end of the month, and finishing up her cosplays, she’s going to be just a smidge busy. If you’re an aspiring author, a cosplayer, or just like geeky content, follow her work on Facebook or her website.

Howdy there, Cosmerenauts! Welcome back to the Oathbringer Reread, where we again join Kaladin on his travels. This time, he’s searching for Voidbringers, while Sylphrena makes awkward suggestions for his happiness, and Adolin visits his father’s Ryshadium.

Reminder: we’ll potentially be discussing spoilers for the ENTIRE NOVEL in each reread. This week, we didn’t find any notable Cosmere connections, so you’re safe from those spoilers in the article; we make no promises about the comments! But seriously, if you haven’t read ALL of Oathbringer, best to wait to join us until you’re done.

Alice: Hey, y’all, Lyndsey is crazy busy dealing with her duties for Anime Boston this week, so I begged Paige to join me. I’ve gotten rather fond of this conversational format, so … welcome, Paige!

Paige: Greetings, rereaders … Paige from New Mexico, reporting for duty! I’ll keep my intro short and sweet (HAHAHAHA!!) so that we can get down to OB bidness.

Though I’m a newb contributor here at the tor dot com, you may know me from such articles as the SA refresher, Parshendi/Voidbringer article, OB spoiler recap, and/or SA4 speculation. I’m happy to fill in for Lyndsey for a sec, but no worries, I’ll pay tribute to our beloved squire.

I’m also a newb alpha/beta/gamma reader for Brandon, and first stepped into that hallowed role for Edgedancer. Aside from the Arcanum Unbounded gamma and the Oathbringer beta/gamma, my only other belt notch is the recent, non-SA/non-Cosmere, Legion: Lies of the Beholder alpha. I hope to continue beta reading, as it’s an honor and a privilege to help Team Dragonsteel to make these books as awesome as possible.

Aside from stalking authors (well, an author), beta-reading the things, and working one of two jobs, I help out as a moderator on The Stormlight Archive Facebook group, participate on the JordanCon Art Show Programming team, herd my 2 needy cats, and listen to the Yankees as much as possible for half the year. It’s Opening Day, guys! I’m almost always writing for a flash fiction competition or summat, have a few pieces recently published in anthologies, and hoard a few trunk novels, which I hope to dust off, polish, and shop. Soon.

I see that my time is running out so, in closing … I’m mom to fabulous 23-year-old daughter and also have *counting* 6 stepkids (ish) who, between them, have 5 kids (+1 on the way). So yeah, I’m totes a grandma. But like, a badass grandma.

Also, it’s 3:00 a.m. right now which means that I rarely sleep. Hopefully, that explains the crazy. #sorrynotsorry

A: Now you know why Lyndsey and I call on her. Who doesn’t need a badass grandma as backup?

With that, here we go:

Chapter Recap

WHO: Kaladin, Adolin
WHERE: Rural Alethkar (Sadeas princedom), Urithiru
WHEN: 1174.1.2.4 (two days after Chapters 5-7), 1174.1.23 (The day after Chapters 8-9)

For the last two days, Kaladin has spiraled his way out from Hearthstone, searching for signs of the Voidbringers and warning anyone he finds that the wrong-way storm will be returning. He’s found no signs of attack, just wrack and ruin from the storm. This day, he enters a town called Hornhollow, where the people have already heard of his mission and are prepared with charged spheres to trade to him. They also have news: about fifty of the Voidbringers raided their grain storage, then headed straight toward Kholinar.

Adolin visits Gallant in his pasture, where they grieve together over the loss of Sureblood. Renarin seeks out Adolin, and asks him to find someone else to bear the Shardblade he’d won in that first duel. He finally admits and demonstrates that he has a live Blade of his own, and inadvertently heals Adolin’s injured wrist.

Threshold of the storm

Title

A: “Distractions” comes from the entertaining conversation between Syl and Kaladin, when she’s trying to hook him up with the local ardent (we’ll discuss that conversation below, and Lyndsey is going to be SO MAD that she missed this one!) since Shallan isn’t nearby.

This is a distraction. Like that Lightweaver could be for you…”

Thematically, there are a lot of distractions going on: Kaladin and Syl have silly conversations to distract him from his worry over the Voidbringers, Kaladin tries to distract Syl from her “helpful suggestions,” the Voidbringers appear to be creating some distractions of their own, and Adolin distracts himself from murder investigations.

Heralds

All four spots are occupied by Paliah, the Herald associated with the attributes Learned & Giving, the role of Scholar, and the order of Truthwatchers.

A: So now the big question is whether she’s here primarily because of Renarin’s Radiant behaviors—his Blade and his healing—or whether we are to see some of her function also in what Kaladin is doing.

Oh, here’s a thought: Syl has been doing Research! Scholarspren FTW! Heh.

P: Seriously, get out of my brain. Or maybe I need to get out of yours, because yes, scholarspren was a thing I thought.

Icon

This chapter bears Kaladin’s Spears & Banner icon, and of course Kaladin occupies most of the chapter.

Epigraph

Perhaps my heresy stretches back to those days in my childhood, where these ideas began.
—From Oathbringer, preface

A: So once again, I have to ask: what days in his childhood? Is this referring to the glimpse from Chapter 89 in Words of Radiance, where he saw his childhood home as it was before the conquest, with his collection of wooden swords carved like Shardblades? That’s the first time we saw that “warm light” that he described as deep, enveloping, piercing, and familiar. Last week I posited that he was referring to the days of conquest and his early experiences with the Thrill, but while that might fit last week’s “since my youth”, it hardly suits this week’s “days in my childhood.” It seems that despite getting a book full of Dalinar’s flashbacks, there are still things we don’t know.

P: I agree that “childhood” and “youth” have vastly different connotations. Young!Dalinar was absolutely not a child, even in his earliest flashback. To many of us here in the real world, one is considered a “child” until they’re legally an adult, though “childhood” generally refers to the period between birth and puberty. Of course, it’s entirely possible that Brandon is using the word veerrry loosely because, growing up in Alethkar, Dalinar would already have been training on the sword during his “childhood”.

So (bear with me while I speculate) perhaps Dalinar questioned the validity of the Almighty even as a child of, for giggles, let’s say ten or twelve? The possibility takes my thoughts to Jasnah, and what she experienced as a child to result in enough cracks (according to what we know thus far, of course) to warrant a Nahel bond. She is—famously—a heretic, so perhaps her “lunacy” during her own childhood had something to do with her voicing similar opinions.

Hey … it’s possible. *ahem*

A: Good points. I focused in on “childhood” and ignored that he was talking about his “heresy.” Just please, someone reassure me that we’ll eventually find out what he was talking about for sure?

Stories & Songs

He lifted the Sylblade high overhead, prompting a cheer from the crowd. He would have bet that most of the people in this square used to curse the name of the Radiants, but none of that was manifest now in the people’s enthusiasm. It was hard to believe that centuries of mistrust and vilification would be forgotten so quickly. But with the sky breaking and the land in turmoil, people would look to a symbol.

A: Funny, isn’t it, how terror can change people’s minds? I won’t make the RL comparisons, good or bad, but it’s true: when people are frightened, they sometimes seek hope in places they’d formerly thought despicable.

P: This also brings to mind how a mob—and a scared one, as you say, Alice—will align itself with whoever is standing in front of it, showing their strength. If Amaram had ridden into town with the corpses of children hanging from his saddle and proclaiming he’d defeat the Voidbringers if they swore fealty to him, they’d have done so happily, I think. Mobs. *scoff*

“The red lights,” Kaladin said. “Describe them again.”

… “Um, all five witnesses mentioned the lights, Brightlord. There were several small glowing red lights in the darkness.”

“Their eyes.”

“Maybe?” the ardent said. “If those were eyes, it was only a few. I went and asked, and none of the witnesses specifically saw eyes glowing—and Khem got a look right in one of the parshmen’s faces as they struck him.”

A: The red lights must be spren… Paige, any thoughts?

P: Gotta be spren, yes? While Yixli is yellow, Ulim is red. So … maybe the lights are other Voidspren that led groups of the former Parshmen together? That seems a more likely scenario than a few Fused with glowing eyes hanging out with the refugees, especially as Khen doesn’t know what a Fused is when the group arrives at Revolar later on in Chapter 31.

A: It never occurred to me before; by the time Kaladin joins them, there’s only Yixli guiding the big group. But it makes sense that Voidspren would go out looking for scattered groups of reawakened (and confused) parshmen, bring them together, and then leave a single guide while they go look for others. How else could they get/keep most of them headed in the right direction?

Relationships & Romances

A: There’s plenty that could be said about the relationship between Kaladin and Syl. as well as her attempts to push him into other relationships, but… we’re going to talk about most of it below. Right here, I just want to laugh at this bit:

“I just want you to be happy, Kaladin,” she said, zipping off his shoulder and running a few rings around him as a ribbon of light. “People in relationships are happier.”

“That,” Kaladin said, “is demonstrably false. Some might be. I know a lot who aren’t.”

“Come on,” Syl said. “What about that Lightweaver? You seemed to like her.”

The words struck uncomfortably close to the truth.

A: Kaladin shuts down this line of thought pretty hard, since Shallan is engaged to Adolin, but (in retrospect) this is clearly setting up the triangle/square/weird thing to come later.

P: You literally beat me to this, Alice. I was about to drop in that very section of text and comment in a very similar vein. So once again, as I did many times during the beta, I will +1 Alice’s comment. Also, “triangle/square/weird” is the perfect descriptor for what that was. Is. Will be. Whatever.

I included Kaladin’s thought about how the words struck uncomfortably close to the truth. I would like to point out, however, that while Kaladin does indeed “like” Shallan, I always thought of it more as admiration for her continuing to fight, despite her past and her pain. Because “she smiled, anyway.” I think he was inspired by that, possibly even awed by her resilience and determination. I think she is something of a beacon for him, which can help him find his way out of his own darkness.

“It is my solemn and important duty to bring happiness, light, and joy into your world when you’re being a dour idiot. Which is most of the time. So there.”

P: Warning, going to channel my inner Verin and blather a bit. So … fans have many and varied opinions on the characters in The Stormlight Archive. I have seen a good many people reference the way Shallan “teases” or “talks down to” Kaladin since their first encounter with the boots in Words of Radiance. These comments have ranged from irritation to downright hostility for Shallan, who people tend to forget, is still a teenager (and a traumatized one, at that).

But I digress … because what I want to talk about is the fact that our favorite little honorspren tends to tease and talk down to Kaladin quite often, as well. Yet most people see that as sweet and endearing. Granted, she’s bonded to Kaladin and she’s a spren, so the rules are different … but I want to take the great liberty of looking at the two sides of this from Kaladin’s possible perspective. He’s very fond of Syl and knows that she is still learning about, well, everything. He takes her jibes in stride, and often gives them back, in kind. He chastises her in this chapter about already having a mother, and it seems to me as if their banter is something familiar for Kaladin, something that he holds onto when he’s troubled. I know, I know … cue the dog GIF again. Bear with me.

Shallan, on the other hand, who uses her sharp wit and sharper tongue as a defense, and maybe (definitely) as something to hide behind, is demonized for her banter with Kaladin. I don’t feel as if she’s baiting him or insulting him, rather I feel as if she’s using the teasing to connect with him. They’re both kindred spirits in that they’ve experienced great pain and loss, and I truly feel that this is one way Shallan tries to befriend Kaladin. I believe that he gets it, too, which is why he’s drawn to her. Not out of romantic feelings, but because they are the same, and when you’re in the dark, it helps to have someone sit beside you and hold your hand.

Done. Let the scoffing commence. I will not be offend. Much.

Renarin blushed, then nodded. People had trouble following him sometimes, but that was merely because he tended to be so thoughtful. He’d be thinking about something deep, something brilliant, and then would only mention a part. It made him seem erratic, but once you got to know him, you realized he wasn’t trying to be esoteric. His lips just sometimes failed to keep up with his brain.

A: I love this moment. The bond between these brothers is so sweet to me. While Adolin might not be the only person who understands Renarin (*cough*Jasnah*cough*), he’s one of the few people who cares enough to sort out the mental leaps and enjoy the depth of Renarin’s musing.

P: Oh my Honor, yes. Adolin’s easy acceptance of Renarin just as he is, at any given point, speaks to my heart. It’s tough, to know you’re different and that others look at you strangely, maybe speak of you in hushed whispers … of your strangeness. Even Shallan, who has some serious issues herself, thinks not nice things about Renarin. So for Adolin to just accept his brother, to love him as he is, and to constantly lift him up … wow. That really hits home for me. Thank you, Brandon Sanderson, for Adolin Kholin.

A: Hear, hear.

Bruised & Broken

A: I want to start this unit with something we’ve discussed before, but which bears repeating. Brandon has taken great care to create realistically “broken characters” whose struggles resonate with some of his fans. He’s even taken it one step farther, and made the effect of their struggle the means by which magic can infuse the character. I just wanted to reiterate that using the in-world term “broken” does not mean that readers who experience these issues are somehow … lesser. Each of us, whatever our makeup, are valuable and unique.

(Bummer that the magic aspect doesn’t work IRL, though, eh? That’d be so cool.)

P: Totes a bummer because I, like Kaladin, would own the sky. *heart eyes* But seriously, I think this is an important point to cover both with Kaladin’s surprise at his good mood and Renarin feeling isolated again. We’ve seen Knights and squires heal themselves with Stormlight, right? The Lopen regrew a storming arm, for Honor’s sake, so the ability to heal oneself is A BIG DEAL ™.

And yet … Kaladin’s brands will not heal. His depression does not end. Renarin’s sight is healed, yet his “fits” (epilepsy, as diagnosed by Kaladin) are not. Shallan can heal some pretty intense physical wounds, as we’ll see in Part 3, yet she cannot heal her identity disorder. Teft could probably heal his firemoss hangover, yet he cannot heal his addiction. Why are some afflictions healed and some not? We do have WoBs on this subject, but to boil down Brandon’s thoughts, if it’s a physical affliction, it can be healed, but if it’s psychological (even if it regards Kaladin’s scars and how he views them), it cannot.

If Stormlight could heal one or all of these conditions which afflict our Radiants, that would imply that there’s something wrong with them that needs to be fixed. Brandon asks for fans, “when you discuss this, to be very careful about treating mental illness as a flaw as opposed to an aspect of a human personality,” and we take that request and that duty quite seriously. So again, we want to stress that “broken” in the context of this series, does not equate to “flawed” for readers who can relate. Let’s follow Lift’s philosophy and just call it being awesome.

It was difficult not to feel uplifted, even in the gloomy weather. He’d spent the entire sprint to Alethkar worrying—and then assuming—that he’d be too late to save Hearthstone. To find his parents alive … well, it was an unexpected blessing. The type his life had been severely lacking.

P: Depression and anxiety saddle a person with dark thoughts much of the time, and I am most definitely speaking from experience. Kaladin’s depression is depicted so accurately that I want to reach into this book and just hug him. He feels that he’s a failure—to his brother, his parents, his soldiers—because the depression lies to him. Constantly. Incessantly.

The very fact that he feels uplifted in this chapter is notable for a few reasons, I think: first, it’s the Weeping, and he is obviously afflicted with Roshar’s version of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD); second, because he just experienced an emotional reunion with his parents, primarily in regard to his failure to protect Tien, who grounded him; and finally, because there was that moment when his father was saddened at Kaladin’s fate as a Radiant, and as has been noted in previous chapter recaps, Kaladin thinks very highly of his father so the lack of approval has the potential to plunge him into a depression. Yet it does not, and that’s heartening. If you have any further thoughts on this particular topic, please let us know in the comments!

“Adolin, I was starting to fit in. With Bridge Four, with being a Shardbearer. Now, I’m in the darkness again. Father expects me to be a Radiant, so I can help him unite the world. But how am I supposed to learn?”

Adolin scratched his chin with his good hand. “Huh. I assumed that it just kind of came to you. It hasn’t?”

“Some has. But it … frightens me, Adolin.” He held up his hand, and it started to glow, wisps of Stormlight trailing off it, like smoke from a fire. “What if I hurt someone, or ruin things?”

A: I almost included the earlier conversation here, too, because at least some part of Renarin’s “brokenness” (i.e., the thing that creates space for a spren bond) may be related to the way his brain is wired. I left it in Relationships, though, because I love the closeness between the brothers. This one, though, I really want in Bruised and Broken, because I feel so much pain and fear from Renarin here. It’s more than mere uncertainty, which we’ve noticed before; there’s actual fear of what’s going on. With our 20/20 hindsight, we can now guess that part of the problem is that neither Renarin nor Glys are sure they’re either genuine or safe.

P: Additionally, his comment about fitting in with Bridge Four and being a Shardbearer is touching. Because he was loosening up a bit, and now he has this new label thrust on him, this new responsibility that feels too large. He was always in Adolin’s shadow, and in Dalinar’s, and to be completely frank, I think he was comfortable there. And now he is a Radiant (sort of, which is also causing stress); it’s no wonder that Renarin is so obviously worried about ruining things.

Flora & Fauna

Beneath him, the valley was clogged with vivim trees, which wound their spindly branches together to create an almost impenetrable wall of forestation.

A: I have nothing in particular to say about the trees, but it’s rather fun to be back in a land where plants grow profusely!
P: You know, I never really considered this before, but the Shattered Plains were pretty stark, so Alethkar does feel quite lush, in comparison. Not as much as a certain valley we’ll visit later, but certainly more so than the plateaus.

This was prime farmland; there was a reason why the Akanny region was prized by Sadeas. It might be a cultural backwater, but these rolling fields probably fed half the kingdom with their lavis and tallew crops. Other villages focused on raising large passels of hogs for leather and meat. Gumfrems, a kind of chull-like beast, were less common pasture animals harvested for their gemhearts, which—though small—allowed Soulcasting of meat.

A: Most of this is just interesting world-building; the Akanny region sounds equivalent to the US Midwest—the breadbasket. Don’t forget the pigs, of course—because I keep seeing people who, like me, suddenly notice a pig and wonder if that’s a continuity error. (They’re a vital part of the economy, apparently.) And… there’s the thing fans have been wondering about: yes, they do raise animals for their gemhearts. In this case, I assume gumfrems have heliodor gemhearts, since they’re used to Soulcast meat. (I wonder if gumfrem meat is edible? That would make them doubly productive!)
P: I envision humans bringing their weird livestock with them to Roshar, since pigs and chickens (all of the varieties!) and horses don’t exactly fit in with the local wildlife.

So alien. Creatures all covered in hair—which made him shiver to touch—with big glassy eyes. And those hadn’t even been real horses. For all their pedigree breeding, the horses they’d rode on campaign had just been ordinary Shin Thoroughbreds. Expensive, yes. But by definition, therefore, not priceless. Not like the creature before him now.

A: RYSHADIUM!!! Also horses.

P: I know it adds to their rarity, but I do wish that we’d seen more Ryshadium in the series to date. Well, there’s a lot of series yet to come, so perhaps I’ll get my wish!

Adolin often had felt he could read his own Ryshadium’s emotions. There had been a … bond between him and Sureblood. More delicate and indefinable than the bond between man and sword, but still there.
Of course, Adolin was the one who talked to his sword sometimes, so he had a habit of this sort of thing.

P: Okay… I was extremely sad when Sureblood died. But holy highstorm, when Adolin got choked up in this scene, I became quite verklempt. Which, as some of you surely know, is unusual for me. *ahem* But yeah, ow. And who’s to say that they didn’t share an actual bond, if Ryshadium are able to bond spren?

A: I absolutely love this whole scene between Adolin and Gallant. All The Feels, oh my. I felt pretty strongly that after the battle of Narak we needed to see him grieving for Sureblood, and I love that he goes to see Gallant partly on the pretext that Gallant is missing Sureblood too. ::sniffle:: I also adore the way Gallant seems to understand much of what Adolin says, and I think I have to quote something non-Oathbringer here. In her notes on the Rosharan system in Arcanum Unbounded, Khriss makes this comment:

…There is even a race of equines that—through the spren bond—have adapted to life on the planet and obtained a high enough level of self-awareness to nearly be named a sapient species.

A: Just how nearly?? Given that they choose their riders, are they fully sapient but don’t have the physiology to speak? I want to know!!

P: I was sorely disappointed that we didn’t see Gallant and Sureblood choose their riders. Imagine the gloryspren that Dalinar and Adolin would have attracted!

A: That is probably the one thing we didn’t get in Oathbringer that really bums me out. I want to see that scene so much! Well, like I always say… it clearly wasn’t necessary to the story being told. (But I wish it had been.)

P: Ya know what I’m thinking? I’m thinking that, perhaps, we’ll get a bonus flashback from Adolin or Dalinar regarding their Ryshadium during another’s flashback book. Much as we got sneaksy Kaladin flashbacks during Dalinar’s flashback book. Oops… veering off topic!

Places & Peoples

It held about two dozen structures, including two large storm sanctuaries where travelers could stay—but there were also many outer buildings. This was the highprince’s land, and an industrious darkeyes of high enough nahn could get a commission to work an unused hill out by itself, then keep a portion of the crop.

A: I don’t have anything profound to say about the sharecropping arrangement, just that it’s there. It’s also … interesting that it requires the appliccant to be both “industrious” and “high enough nahn” to obtain said commission. Also, did you notice how Sanderson snuck the “storm sanctuaries” in here, so that when he needs them later, we don’t snort at the oh-so-convenient appearance of something new?

P: When these popped up in this chapter, I had an, “Ahh, of course,” reaction. Because the concept of traveling anywhere that would leave people out in a highstorm—special wagons or no—has always squicked me out a bit. Those storms toss around boulders, people … boulders. Are your wagons boulder-proof? I didn’t think so. So my point—yes, I have one—is that with the far-reaching travel our plucky band of Radiants, etc. are doing in this book, it makes sense to see such a development.

Tight Butts and Coconuts

Several men held up small children to get a better look.

“Great,” Kaladin said softly. “I’ve become a menagerie act.”

In his mind, he heard Syl giggle.

A: LOL. Yes, Kaladin, you’re reduced to being the sideshow… Sorta like a whitespine in a cage, you might say?

P: And nearly as dangerous. Hmmm, do whitespine brood? But admittedly, if a flying, magical-sword-wielding hero showed up in my town, I’d be all a-goggle, as well.

“I know you’ve been busy lately fighting guys in white clothing and stuff, but I’ve been doing research. People lock their doors, but there’s plenty of room to get in underneath. I figured, since you don’t seem inclined to do any learning yourself, I should study. So if you have questions…”

P: And I’m admitting to some curiosity about when/where Syl has been spying, and on whom. You’re all thinking it, too. Pervs.

A: I … um … Oh, dear. Just where has Syl been sneaking around? I guess that thing with the Alethi bringing their wives along to war had to be useful for more than just the practical bookkeeping aspects….

His life just kept getting stranger. He tried—unsuccessfully—to banish the image of lying in bed with a woman, Syl sitting on the headboard and shouting out encouragement and advice.…

A: Oh, the priceless image! Followed promptly by:

“Lord Radiant?” the citylord asked from inside the front room of the small home. “Are you well?”

“Painful memory,” Kaladin said.

A: BAHAHAHAHAHA. Oh, Kaladin. For all your depression, you and Syl can make for some awesome comic relief!

P: Kaladin’s mortification at the thought of Syl sitting on the headboard and cheering him on is sheer wonderfulness.

Weighty Words

“You mink!” Adolin said. “You’ve managed to create a Radiant Blade? Why didn’t you tell us?”

“It just happened. Glys wasn’t certain he could do it … but we need more people to work the Oathgate … so…”

He took a deep breath, then stretched his hand to the side and summoned a long glowing Shardblade. Thin, with almost no crossguard, it had waving folds to the metal, like it had been forged.

A: There’s a question that, as far as I’m concerned, still hasn’t been answered: Did Renarin actually speak another Ideal offscreen, or is his relationship with Glys so weird that they just talk about what they need, and Glys finds a way to make it happen? Discuss!

Oh, also, “You mink!” is rather a fun twist on the Earth equivalent of, “You weasel!” or “You rat!” Great fit into the world as designed. Also also, Renarin has finally admitted that the Shardblade Adolin won for him is a source of pain, and can we please find someone else to carry it now thankyouverymuch.

P: Oh my Cultivation, yes! I’m quite curious to see the Ideals that Renarin has spoken, if any. I will admit that I would be somewhat reassured, what with the whole corrupted spren sitch, if I knew that he had at least spoken the First Ideal.

A: YES. It drives me spare that we don’t even know that much.

Renarin looked to him, then smiled. A pulse of Radiance washed through Adolin, and for an instant he saw himself perfected. A version of himself that was somehow complete and whole, the man he could be.

A: I feel like I should have awespren floating around me. The visual really gets me: Adolin seeing himself “perfected” for a moment. Is it how Renarin sees him? Or how he thinks he should be? Or is it bigger than that? Cultivation, or Adonalsium, or the God Beyond? Is it a version of him that Odium might fear? Am I reading too much into this??

Okay, probably I’m making way more out of this than was intended, but it seems so Significant. Paige, do you have anything to add to the muddle I’ve made of this?

P: Ummm, remember that you did ask. *cracks knuckles* Okay, so Renarin somehow sees things that will happen, with the exception of Jasnah’s lack of follow-through during the Battle of Thaylen City (thank the Stormfather for that!). Is that a Truthwatcher thing related to Illusion? Is it a thing of Sja-Anat, who we (some of us, at least) are speculating was the one to corrupt Glys, whatever his origin? Further, much as Renarin is able to use Progression to affect change on another, as when he heals Adolin, could it really be possible for him to lend his ability “to see” to another, if only for a moment? Could Renarin have actually shown Adolin a future version of himself? Or perhaps it’s simpler than that, cleaner and more down to Roshar. Perhaps … much as Shallan will draw Elhokar in Part 3 (It’s what you could be), maybe Renarin used Illusion and tried to show Adolin what he could be.

A: Mmmm. I like that.

P: It’s pretty much what you said, I think. I just ramble a bit more.

Only after Gallant trotted off did Adolin realize he’d used his right hand. He held it up, amazed, moving his fingers. His wrist had been completely healed.

A: During the serialization, Gepeto wondered a couple of times why Brandon made such a point of mentioning Adolin’s broken wrist. I couldn’t say anything back then, but… Aside from shutting the beta readers up about the continuity requirement to see the injury, it was the perfect setup for Renarin to show a Truthwatcher Surge in action. Such a twisty author, that Sanderson guy… making everyone wonder for the longest time whether Renarin was really a Truthwatcher, and then giving us this apparent confirmation, and then at the end of the book turning it all inside out. Oy.

P: Well, yeah … we were anticipating some kind of Radiant Renarin stuff, and this was the perfect opportunity for us to see the younger Kholin brother doing something cool. Participating in this beta read really drove home one simple fact for me: Never doubt the Sanderson.

A: Oh, and I do need to mention: whether he’s a “real Knight Radiant” or not, Renarin is most certainly a Surgebinder at this point.

P: You bet Dalinar’s tight butt, he is.

Murky Motivations

Fifty parshmen in warform—which was what the descriptions sounded most like to him—could easily have overrun this town and its handful of militia guards. They could have slaughtered everyone and taken whatever they wished; instead, they’d made a surgical raid.

A: Of course we’ll learn more about their motivation when Kaladin catches up with them, but it’s worth noting that he is (naturally) still thinking in terms of the battle of Narak, and assuming that all the transformed parshmen are now aggressive warriors.

P: Which he would do, of course, as he assumed that the Everstorm would transform all parshmen into “Voidbringers”. His shock at seeing them doing a relatively mundane activity such as playing cards was so well-written, as was his snap decision to allow them to capture him. However, in light of the end of Part 3, I rather wish that Kaladin hadn’t had the opportunity to form an attachment. *sad face forever*

A Scrupulous Study of Spren

“So maybe you could do that,” Kaladin said. “Find little, uh, bits of the wind? Or of Honor? Shape them?”

“Hmmm,” Syl said. “I would be an excellent mother. I’d teach the little spren to fly, to coast the winds, to harass you.…”

Kaladin smiled. “You’d get distracted by an interesting beetle and fly off, leaving them in a drawer somewhere.”“Nonsense! Why would I leave my babies in a drawer? Far too boring. A highprince’s shoe though…”

P: We do learn a bit more about spren procreation whilst in Shadesmar, and I find it incredibly interesting to think about the topic.

A: I guess we probably don’t need to dig in too deeply just yet. But the image of Syl teaching baby spren to harass Kaladin is perfection. Also… umm… foreshadowy, maybe? Is this a sly reference to (the standing theory about) Windrunner Shardplate being formed of windspren?

P: OMGOMG … let’s not get me off on a tangent about Shardplate. *heart eyes*

A: Baby Windspren Shardplate!!!! (Oh, sorry…)

P: #notsorry

He rested the Sylblade on his shoulder and stretched out his other hand, preparing his speech.

A: This is the first time we see the use of the term “Sylblade” for … well, Syl in the form of a Shardblade. I understand the value of coining a noun form to designate the various forms a bonded spren can take—we’ll eventually see things like “Patternblade” and “Sylspear”—but I’m still not 100% sure I like it.

P: I definitely like it. Because while it’s a blade, or a spear, it’s still Syl. So having Kaladin refer to his Blade or his Spear would feel strange, because … yeah, Syl. Imma take this opportunity to say how much I look forward to Adolin referring to his Mayablade.

A: ::heartthrob::

P: I concur.

Around the perimeter of the square, people hissed and whispered, anticipationspren flapping in an unseen wind.

A: ::snicker:: (It took me a minute to remember why I found this funny, and then I remembered Natam saying (discussing the time someone tried to kill Elhokar by cutting his balcony railing), “I was with the guys who ran out there and found him flapping in the wind, like the Stormfather’s own ears.”) So anyway, anticipationspren flap like streamers in a breeze, and eventually we’ll find out why.

P: Someone = Moash & Friends. *angry face*

A: True. ::scowl:: That part … not so funny.

Ryshadium were often called the “third Shard.” Blade, Plate, and Mount.

That didn’t do them justice. You couldn’t earn a Ryshadium simply by defeating someone in combat. They chose their riders.

But, Adolin thought as Gallant nuzzled his hand, I suppose that was how it used to be with Blades too. They were spren who chose their bearers.

A: I love this flash of insight. Dead Blades don’t get much choice, but when they were living, they did. And do. Kinda like Ryshadium

P: From the first time we saw Adolin talking to his Blade in WoR, I had the warm fuzzies. It was as if he knew that it was more than just a sword … knew that there was something about it that deserved his respect and gratitude. And that always spoke to me. That feeling is also present when he talks to Gallant, here.

Quality Quotations

• “It is my solemn and important duty to bring happiness, light, and joy into your world when you’re being a dour idiot. Which is most of the time. So there.”

A: I just have to say that “Happiness, Light, and Joy” was one of my suggestions for the chapter title. It was too much snarky fun to pass up.

P: Don’t get me started on chapter titles, or I’ll research who chose this one! (Okay, it was Matt.)

• The Knights Radiant had been founded by the Heralds, but they were also traitors. So … he was either a divine being of myth or a cretin one step above a Voidbringer.
• Syl zipped up to his shoulder. “Wow. She must be desperate living out here. I mean, look at you. Hair that hasn’t been combed since you flew across the continent, uniform stained with crem, and that beard.”
  “Thank you for the boost of confidence.”
  “I guess when there’s nobody about but farmers, your standards really drop.”
• “You don’t trust anyone who carries a Shardblade, Syl. We’ve been over this. It’s not a mark of bad character to have bonded one of the weapons.”
  “Yes, well, let’s have someone swing around the corpse of your sisters by the feet, and we’ll see whether you consider it a ‘mark of bad character’ or not.”
• “And stop spying on people when they’re being intimate. It’s creepy.”
• “You’re as bad as Aunt Navani,” Adolin noted. “That’s why you came running, isn’t it? You smelled treats.”
  The horse turned his head, looking at Adolin with one watery blue eye, rectangular pupil at the center. He almost seemed … offended.

Well, folks, that’s probably more than enough out of us, but it’s sure been fun—especially for a chapter with (seemingly) so little action! Next week we’ll hit Chapter 11, Dalinar’s second flashback chapter: The Rift. Join us in the comments for all the stuff we didn’t talk about yet!

If you’re by any chance at Anime Boston this weekend, see if you can find Lyndsey. She’ll be the blur in the Yuri costume.

Alice is, as usual, up to her eyeballs in a zillion small projects. She’s still chipping away at that promised article about the Kaladin album—fortunately the music is much more awesome than her organizational skills.

Paige spends her ~41 minutes of leisure time a day trying to write her own stories whilst two 15-pound, elderly cats clamor for her attention and scritches. As she doesn’t have four hands, the cats usually win that battle. She’s equally fanatical about reading fantasy and watching Yankees baseball. She lives in Truth or Consequences, NM, which is a real, weird place.

Greetings, oh fans of the Cosmere, and welcome back to the Oathbringer Reread! This week, we jump back in time again, thirty-three years, as Dalinar shows what a warrior armed with Shardplate can do to… well, pretty much anyone without Shardplate. It does have a few disadvantages, though.

Reminder: we’ll potentially be discussing spoilers for the ENTIRE NOVEL in each reread. This week’s post doesn’t have any Cosmere spoilers, though we make no such promise for the comments. But if you haven’t read ALL of Oathbringer, best to wait to join us until you’re done.

Also, Lyndsey had a killer weekend at Anime Boston, so Paige is graciously giving her another week off.

Chapter Recap

WHO: Young Dalinar
WHERE: Rathalas
WHEN: 1140 (33 years ago)

Dalinar, Gavilar, and Sadeas, all in Shardplate, lead the attack on Rathalas. Nearly impervious to the defenders’ weapons, they take the wall and let their troops into the city. Dalinar steps into a trap, and falls down the side of the Rift; though he’s mostly protected by his Shardplate, he destroys one gauntlet and breaks his fingers in the fall. Recovering, he finds the local highlord, Tanalan, who bears the Shardblade Oathbringer. Dalinar defeats him by throwing them both down the Rift again, and follows the soldiers who retrieve their dying lord into a hiding place. There he finds Tanalan’s weeping wife and their six-year-old son, who struggles to lift Oathbringer to defend himself and his mother.

Dalinar and Gavilar rest after the battle, considering the probable necessity of politics as Dalinar holds his newly-won Shardblade.

Threshold of the storm

Title

“The Rift” is pretty obvious, as titles go. This is the first time we see the city of Rathalas, at the northern tip of the Sea of Spears, in the weather-protected Rift… which doesn’t protect it very well from Blackthorns.

Heralds

We’ve got Nale in all four spots this week: Herald of Justice, the Judge, Just & Confident, patron of the Skybreakers.

Alice: Okay, so Dalinar is extremely confident, but I’m not sure I see a lot of justice here. Maybe the opposite, I don’t know. Paige, any ideas?

Paige: I’m fixating on the fact that Dalinar actually spared Tanalan’s young son. He was an innocent, a small child trying to protect his fallen father from a monster. Perhaps Dalinar’s mercy in leaving the boy alive shows a smidge of sound judgement in the midst of his Thrill-tainted thoughts in this flashback.

Icon

The icon is Young!Dalinar’s inverse Kholin shield, of course, since it’s Dalinar’s second flashback.

Stories & Songs

A: At some point between the first and second flashbacks, Dalinar has acquired Shardplate:

He’d won it himself, in combat. Yes, that combat had involved kicking a man off a cliff, but he’d defeated a Shardbearer regardless.
He couldn’t help but bask in how grand it felt.

A: Turns out there are some drawbacks for Dalinar. For one, there’s no need for actual skill, when the other guy might as well be wearing tinfoil and waving a cardboard sword against the enhanced strength and imperviousness of a man in Shardplate. For another, in a city like Rathalas, with all its bridges and wooden walkways, the weight of the Plate makes it easy to rig traps that will send the bearer plunging down into the Rift. Still, I’m amused at Dalinar’s declaration that he’s going to sleep in it, if he has to, to get used to wearing it. Isn’t that pretty much what Moash did back in WoR?

P: Sounds like it’s a helpful tactic to get used to the Plate, though I can’t imagine it would be very comfortable.

A: Anyway, in this chapter he acquires the Blade to go with his Plate:

“Oathbringer?”
“Your sword,” Gavilar said. “Storms, didn’t you listen to anything last night? That’s Sunmaker’s old sword.”
Sadees, the Sunmaker. He had been the last man to unite Alethkar, centuries ago.

A: So far as I’ve been able to determine, Sadees was the guy who brought down the Hierocracy, and then decided that since he was on a roll, he might as well take over the rest of the planet. Something like that, anyway. He killed an awful lot of people for really lame reasons, but in Alethkar he’s a cultural hero. (Weird, bloodthirsty people that they are.) His biggest legacy, aside from trade routes that far outlasted his kingdom, is that his sons squabbled over the kingdom until they finally broke it up into ten princedoms; the families that rule the princedoms all consider themselves direct descendants of Sunmaker. There was a fair amount of speculation in the pre-release discussions that maybe he was the author of the in-world Oathbringer, since the Blade was his back in the day.

P: The Alethi are, indeed, a weird people, Alice. They tend to solve problems with brute force and devalue human life to an alarming degree, at times. I have wondered if the Sunmaker named Oathbringer (let me know if I’ve missed it!) and if so, the name feels a bit ominous, considering his ruthlessness as a warlord.

A: As near as I can tell, the best thing that Blade has ever been used for was buying all of Sadeas’s bridge slaves.

P: I agree. I would like to see the freedom that Blade granted to those bridgemen become its lasting legacy.

Relationships & Romances

“If Gavilar commands me,” Dalinar said, “I’ll marry.”
“Don’t bring me into this,” Gavilar said. He summoned and dismissed his Shardblade repeatedly as they talked.
“Well,” Dalinar said, “until you say something, I’m staying single.” The only woman he’d ever wanted belonged to Gavilar. They’d married—storms, they had a child now. A little girl.
His brother must never know how Dalinar felt.

A: All the family, right there in one piece. Dalinar, Gavilar, Navani, and Jasnah. I… don’t really have anything else to say about it.

And then there’s this:

With those keen, pale green eyes, he’d always seemed to know so much. Growing up, Dalinar had simply assumed that his brother would always be right in whatever he said or did. Aging hadn’t much changed his opinion of the man.

A: I’m not sure whether I admire this or hate it. I’d probably think it was cool, except that Gavilar made some spectacularly horrible decisions later in life. I guess at this stage, Dalinar’s probably all of 20 or so, right? So maybe assuming his brother will always be right is is still understandable?

P: The admiration for his older brother is definitely to be expected, especially at Dalinar’s age, as you say, Alice. I found it sad, because Dalinar, already so misled by Odium and the Thrill at this point, has so much misplaced admiration for his brother.

Bruised & Broken

He reached gingerly with his right hand, the less mangled one, and raised a mug of wine to his lips. It was the only drug he cared about for the pain—and maybe it would help with the shame too. Both feelings seemed stark, now that the Thrill had receded and left him deflated.

P: Rereading this after learning of Odium’s preparation of Dalinar really makes the horror of the Thrill hit home. It turns Dalinar into someone else, much as his excessive drinking will do after his next visit to Rathalas. It changes his behavior, as we see during the attack on the wall, when he felt dissatisfaction at the ease with which he had killed so many people. He then actively seeks out the Thrill to banish that feeling, and again takes pleasure in the slaughter. It’s disconcerting to see, and he does seem to crave the Thrill like a drug because of the high it gives him. Though that knowledge of Odium’s plan makes me loathe Young!Dalinar slightly less than I did during the beta. Only slightly, though, because as he says during the Battle of Thaylen City, he made those choices … it wasn’t Odium’s influence alone that resulted in so much death at the hands of the Blackthorn.

A: It still feels a little odd to think of Young!Dalinar growing up into Old!Dalinar (is that the right name?)—he was such an admirable character, almost flawless, in the first two books, and now we see him as a young barbarian. As you say, Paige, the knowledge of Odium’s influence mitigates it a little, but … he really was the monster Tanalan accuses him of being.

P: He was truly horrible, yes. But Brandon made me love and admire this character so much in the first two books of the series, that even knowing of the atrocities he committed didn’t mar my opinion of him in the present day.

Diagrams & Dastardly Designs

A: You know, this totally doesn’t fit here, but I can’t find a better home for it, so… here it is. Because mysteries, or something. See also, Will Come Back To Bite You.

[The wine] was the only drug he cared about for the pain—and maybe it would help with the shame too.

A: The big question, first time through, was just why Dalinar was feeling so ashamed. I had fun going back and scanning through the raging debate on the serialization over whether or not Dalinar had killed Tanalan’s son, which was the primary candidate for the shame. There were a lot of good arguments on both sides, but most of them came down to whether the reader though Dalinar would more likely be ashamed of having killed him, or having let him live. We now know, of course, that he was ashamed of being too “soft” to kill the crying little boy.

P: I agree, Alice. I think this quote is telling:

Dalinar closed his eyes, distracted by the shame he felt. What if Gavilar found out?

P: In retrospect, it seems pretty obvious that he’s ashamed of something that he feels would disappoint Gavilar. He regards his brother so highly that sparing that child’s life shames him. It’s actually quite sad.

A: Which reminds me… there were a few voices claiming that the shame was for his feelings about Navani. Turns out, no. The other major speculative debate over this chapter was whether there was enough brutality here to cause Kadesh to vomit and leave soldiering for the ardentia. And again, we now know for sure that this was not that event.

P: Yes, we knew when we didn’t see that tidbit in Dalinar’s recollection that we would be revisiting the Rift at some point. And we were not particularly looking forward to it.

Squires & Sidekicks

“Calm, Dalinar,” Sadeas said from beside him in the mist. Sadeas wore his own golden Plate. “Patience.”

P: It was interesting to see Sadeas as an ally to the Kholin brothers after seeing his outright animosity toward Dalinar in the first two books of the Archives. Of course, knowing how oily and manipulative he will be in the future colors the motivations of this loyal sidekick of a Highlord. He is just not to be trusted, even this early in the game.

A: I have to say, though, it was pretty funny watching him get so frustrated with these punchy Kholin boys.

P: Indeed, it was. *wink*

A single black arrow fell from above, swooping like a skyeel. It dropped one of the soldiers. Another arrow followed, hitting the second soldier even as he gawked at his fallen ally. … He turned, spotting a man standing near the sheared-off section of stone above. He lifted a black bow toward Dalinar.
“Teleb, you storming miracle,” Dalinar said.

A: Hi, Teleb. That’s all.

P: I did like Teleb, he was pretty much a badass.

A: One of the best.

And for good measure, we’ll throw this bit about Sadeas in here:

“Congratulations,” Gavilar said, nodding toward the Blade. “Sadeas is irate it wasn’t his.”
“He’ll find one of his own eventually,” Dalinar said. “He’s too ambitious for me to believe otherwise.”

A: Ironic foreshadowing, much? He’ll eventually get this exact Blade. Not that he’ll keep it very long, mind you.

P: I do love that little tidbit, considering the fact that he didn’t so much find a Blade as trade a thousand slaves for one. Which makes me wonder, once again, how Sadeas never acquired his own Blade in the intervening thirty-three years.

A: Seems kind of odd, on first thought, but there is some valid rationale for it. For one thing, Dalinar is the guy who goes charging ahead, so he’s a lot more likely to get to the Shardbearers before the more cautious Sadeas. (I think that’s how he obtains the Shards he gives Gavilar that eventually go to Elhokar, right?) And then once they get the kingdom gig mostly sorted out, Sadeas stays in Kholinar playing politics, while Dalinar goes out and fights the battles. So after while, Sadeas lost his chance until they started the Vengeance Pact and went after the Parshendi.

P: Point. Lots of points, rather. But not even a duel? Of course, if he’d already owned a Blade, he wouldn’t have traded all of his bridgemen for Oathbringer. *shrug*

A: Narrative necessity FTW.

Places & Peoples

“The Rift” was a fitting name. To his right, the chasm narrowed, but here at the middle he’d have been hard-pressed to throw a stone across to the other side, even with Shardplate. And within it, there was life. Gardens bobbing with lifespren. Buildings built practically on top of one another down the V-shaped cliff sides. The place teemed with a network of stilts, bridges, and wooden walkways.

To survive in Alethkar, you had to find shelter from the storms. A wide cleft like this one was perfect for a city. But how did you protect it? Any attacking enemy would have the high ground. Many cities walked a risky line between security from storms and security from men.

A: I was going to explain how the Rift both helps and hurts the people of Rathalas, but Dalinar just did it.

P: Truth. That 12-foot wall may have provided some measure of protection from regular troops, but not from Shardbearers.

Tight Butts and Coconuts

“Brightlord Tanalan is a Shardbearer, right?” Dalinar asked.
Sadeas sighed, lowering his faceplate. “We only went over this four times, Dalinar.”
“I was drunk. Tanalan. Shardbearer?”
“Blade only, Brother,” Gavilar said.
“He’s mine,” Dalinar whispered.
Gavilar laughed. “Only if you find him first! I’ve half a mind to give that Blade to Sadeas. At least he listens in our meetings.”

P: I just adored this entire conversation and the exasperation that Sadeas shows by sighing.

A: He was kind of a ruthless bastard even back then, but he seemed a lot less slimy. It helps to see how he and Dalinar were once allies.

“All right,” Sadeas said. “Let’s do this carefully. Remember the plan. Gavilar, you—”
Gavilar gave Dalinar a grin, slammed his faceplate down, then took off running to leave Sadeas midsentence. Dalinar whooped and joined him, Plated boots grinding against stone. Sadeas cursed loudly, then followed.

P: Okay, fine. I didn’t hate this bit of Sadeas. Not really. It’s actually funny that he’s the voice of reason and Gavilar and Dalinar are like kids playing at war.

A: You took the words right out of my mind! “Voice of reason.” Sadeas? Heh.

That had been a flat-out greenvine mistake.

P: “Greenvine” is a great in-world substitute for “rookie”.

Weighty Words

Dalinar might not pay attention to the grand plans Gavilar and Sadeas made, but he was a soldier. He knew battlefields like a woman knew her mother’s recipes: he might not be able to give you measurements, but he could taste when something was off.

P: I liked this bit, it shows that despite the fact that Odium led Dalinar around by the nose, Dalinar did have a mind for tactics and the like.

A: That was a great moment; even though Dalinar himself fell into the trap, he figured it out before the other two were caught. And then, naturally, he used the trap to his own advantage, because a guy in Shardplate is really stinking hard to kill. I don’t have any strong feeling that his battle sense (or whatever you call it) is necessarily related to his eventual bond, but … you never know, do you?

P: At least not until we’re told otherwise!

Military Motivations

We’re going to put all the conquest-y stuff in here, because the motivations are discussed in this chapter more than usual. To start off with:

After two years of fighting, only four of the ten princedoms had accepted Gavilar’s rule—and two of those, Kholin and Sadeas, had been easy. The result was a united Alethkar: against House Kholin.

A: So they’ve only been at this conquest thing for a couple of years now. That would mean the first flashback is set only a year or so into the effort. I think that fits the situation there—long enough to have developed reputations, but not so long that Dalinar being 19 is completely unbelievable.

P: Knowing how young they were, it makes sense that so many princedoms resisted their rule.

A: it really does. Who wants to accept some punk kid as the king? Why take these boys seriously? It’s interesting that at this stage, Gavilar wants to manipulate the opposing houses into mutual backstabbing, while Sadeas wants to have such a fierce reputation that they’ll give in rather than fight.

P: Exactly. Alethi highlords likely had quite a few “get off my lawn” moments with those Kholin boys and their unfortunate-looking friend.

“We’re going to have to grow up,” Gavilar said softly.
“And become soft? Like these highlords we kill? That’s why we started, isn’t it? Because they were all lazy, fat, corrupt?”
“I don’t know anymore. I’m a father now, Dalinar. That makes me wonder about what we do once we have it all. How do we make a kingdom of this place?”

“By the time we’re done, I’ll have it so that nobody even thinks of Sunmaker anymore. Just House Kholin and Alethkar.”

A: So on the one hand, they started out to “fix” the corruption of the highlords, and now Gavilar is starting to realize that it’s going to take more than killing them to make a kingdom. And then mere moments later, he’s all about the glory of house Kholin and Alethkar. In the meantime, they’re busy being … well, horrible.

P: Completely detestable, yes. I can’t help but go back to the concept of them playing at war … just haphazardly (and happily, ugh) slaughtering their way across Alethkar, as Tanalan says below.

“The way I see it,” Dalinar said, “the people of Alethkar deserve a king who is the strongest and most capable of leading them in battle. If only there were a way to prove that.”

“You speak of the people. As if this were about them. As if it were for their good that you loot, you pillage, you murder. You’re an uncivilized brute.”
“You can’t civilize war,” Dalinar said. “There’s no painting it up and making it pretty.”
“You don’t have to pull sorrow behind you like a sledge on the stones, scraping and crushing those you pass. You’re a monster.”

A: There are definitely two sides to the story!

P: Tanalan’s not wrong with that comment about pulling sorrow like a sledge on the stones. That makes one look at the “unification” of Alethkar with different eyes. They are indeed descended of the Sunmaker, and I don’t mean that as a compliment.

A Scrupulous Study of Spren

A: I don’t believe we see any new spren this week. According to my list-as-you-go notes, we’ve got anticipationspren whipping in the air behind Dalinar as he waits for the charge; lifespren bobbing around in the hanging gardens; angerspren boiling like pools of blood around Dalinar at the loss of Thakka & his men, and again around Tanalan when Dalinar challenges him; painspren crawling around the young heir as he tries to defend his daddy; and exhaustionspren spinning over Gaviliar’s head after the battle is done.

P: Dalinar’s lucky no shamespren showed themselves after the battle. Gavilar would certainly have noticed. Now that I’m thinking about spren, I’m wondering if Dalinar’s shame prevented a gloryspren from popping in when he was praised about the acquisition of his Blade. /rambling thoughts

Quality Quotations

• “The Kholin boys are chained axehounds, and we smell blood. We can’t go into battle breathing calming breaths, centered and serene, as the ardents teach.”
• This was how it should be. Dalinar, Gavilar, Sadeas. Together. Other responsibilities didn’t matter. Life was about the fight. A good battle in the day—then at night, a warm hearth, tired muscles, and a good vintage of wine.
• He was a destroyer, a conqueror, a glorious maelstrom of death. A god.

P: That one isn’t a favorite so much as it is utterly creepy.

A: Especially since it’s a total result of the Thrill.

• He struck with a crash of Plate on stone. It didn’t hurt, but his pride took a serious blow.
• Well, Tanalan was a fine enough fellow. Dalinar had beat him once at pawns, and Tanalan had paid the bet with a hundred glowing bits of ruby, each dropped into a corked bottle of wine. Dalinar had always found that amusing.
• Well, Dalinar had used both Blade and Plate, and if given the choice of one, he’d pick Plate every time.
• Honorable duels like this—on a battlefield at least—always lasted only until your lighteyes was losing.
• “Daddy said … we fight monsters. And with faith, we will win.…”
• “We can’t just keep acting like a bunch of thugs,” Gavilar said. “We can’t rob every city we pass, feast every night. We need discipline; we need to hold the land we have. We need bureaucracy, order, laws, politics.”

Well, we’ve said our piece. Share your thoughts in the comments below, and join us next week for Chapter 12. It’s another long one, wherein Dalinar attempts to play politics on a global scale, with mixed results and a gut-twisting finale.

Alice is thoroughly enjoying her beta read of Skyward, the new YA science fiction project from Sanderson due out in November. She’s also having fun creeping the “teen beta” spreadsheet, where her daughter is participating in a new target-audience beta read. There are some seriously insightful kids out there!

Paige juggles two jobs, two cats, numerous writing projects, and her sanity. She’s stupid excited to be traveling to JordanCon in Atlanta this month for her extended family reunion. She lives in Truth or Consequences, NM, which is a real, weird place. Also, #goYankees!

Alice: Welcome back, friends!

Lyn: Hello, everyone! I’m back from my staffing duties at Anime Boston and finally feeling less like I was run over by a chasmfiend. I’m so happy to be back in the Ryshadium saddle with Alice for another fun reread—though I’m upset that I missed Syl teasing Kaladin about ::ahem:: relationship matters.

A: This week, we get to watch Dalinar attempt to play politics, with careful guidance from his wife and various scribes. Why don’t people just say what they mean?

L: Because politics.

Reminder: we’ll potentially be discussing spoilers for the ENTIRE NOVEL in each reread. If we need to talk about things from other Cosmere novels, we’ll note that here, and potentially white them out if they’re really big things. But if you haven’t read ALL of Oathbringer, best to wait to join us until you’re done.

Chapter Recap

WHO: Dalinar
WHERE: Urithiru
WHEN: 1174.1.3.1 (Three days after Chapter 9)

Our chapter begins with Dalinar taking a moment to reflect on the view from Urithiru and the roles of the past Knights Radiant before delving into a series of political discussions with various world leaders. He speaks via spanreed with the Prime of Azir first, learning that the Azish have opened negotiations with the parshmen. Dalinar extends an offer for the Prime to come and visit Urithiru, and when that fails, he offers to come visit himself through the oathgate, which also fails. Frustrated, Dalinar then communicates with Queen Fen of Thaylenah. The Queen is more brash than reserved, but she seems to harbor the same reservations as the Azish. She does tell him that the parshmen took off with all of their ships, but refuses all of Dalinar’s offers.

As the meeting is wrapping up, Dalinar receives a surprise guest—Elhokar, who has come to formally swear allegiance to his uncle as high king. But the surprises aren’t through yet—Dalinar receives one last “call,” from an unexpected source—King Taravangian is willing to come to Urithiru. (dun dun duuuuuun…)

Threshold of the Storm

Title: Negotiations

There are so many instances of this word, and various forms of it, that I’m not even going to try to quote a significant one. The whole chapter is about Dalinar trying to negotiate with monarchs—oh, and the Azish maybe-maybe-not negotiating with their local version of Voidbringers.

Heralds

Jezrien holds all four slots this week: King, Windrunners, Protecting & Leading. It seems fairly clear that this reflects Dalinar’s leadership; it might also indicate the other rulers he contacts.

Icon

The Kholin shield, as always, indicates a Dalinar chapter.

Epigraph

I ask not that you forgive me. Nor that you even understand.
—From Oathbringer, preface

Well, that’s a weird one, out of context! I don’t see that it has any particular relevance to the chapter; it’s just the next bit in the document.

Stories & Songs

You idealize them, said a distant voice in his head, like rumbling thunder. They were men like you. No better. No worse.

“I find that encouraging,” Dalinar whispered back. “If they were like us, then it means we can be like them.”

A: I love this little elbow-in-the-ribs to the reader here. We think of Knights Radiant as the current crop: Kaladin, Dalinar, Shallan, Jasnah, Renarin, Lift, etc., and we’re pretty excited about their powers. From Dalinar’s perspective, though, the Radiants are legends, almost more than they are historical figures. They could do all these awesome things, while he and his tiny band are fumbling their way through the baby steps by comparison. I can see why he feels encouraged by the knowledge that he, Kaladin, Shallan, etc. have the potential to reach the same level of skills and powers. For all the spren bonds that confirm their identity, they’ve got to still be dealing with a certain amount of Impostor Syndrome, I’d think.

L: Absolutely. It’s got to be hard to look up to these almost god-like figures and know that you’re expected to follow in their footsteps, or even surpass them! No pressure at all, guys.

“They had stood above the pettiness of world politics.”

L: Interesting that Dalinar should have this thought in this chapter, when he’s having to do so much political maneuvering himself. I suspect he’s partially wishing that he could have that luxury, to be able to stand above it all and just focus on the big problem without having to deal with the intricacies of uniting disparate groups and cultures. But if the Knights Radiant were really above all of that, what use would Bondsmiths have been? I suspect that we will learn, as more about the old orders is revealed, that they had to get their hands dirty in political matters a lot more than Dalinar thinks they did.

A: I suspect you’re right, although probably a relatively small percentage had to play politics. Dalinar has one disadvantage that the old Knights Radiant didn’t: he has to convince the world leaders that there’s a threat, that they need to stand together against it, and that the new Knights Radiant really are the good guys. Back when they were facing the Desolations on a regular basis, no one questioned those things.

L: True. But people being people, I’m sure that not everything was peace and lollipops and rainbows on the world political stage.

Relationships & Romances

“Why do they refuse you, Uncle? Do they think perhaps you will try to usurp their thrones?”

L: Ouch. I can see why Dalinar takes this the way he does. But honestly, I can’t really blame Elhokar for saying it straight out. Dalinar did usurp the throne in every way that mattered. He was paying lip service to Elhokar, but doing all of the ruling himself. Now… the sad fact is that it needed to be done, and Elhokar wasn’t stepping up to the task. However, the honorable thing would have been to step forward and be direct about taking over instead of playing coy about it like Dalinar did. I can see both sides of this, honestly, and that’s why the strained relationship between them here works so well for me.

A: Oh, totally. Dalinar knows all of that, too, which is why this hurts so much. He swore never to try to take the throne, either from Gavilar or Elhokar. In a quieter time, all he’d have to do is keep Elhokar from doing too many stupid things, and it would be okay. With the Desolation that’s been building for 4500 years now upon them, Elhokar’s weakness is a luxury the world simply can’t afford—and he knows it.

“Perhaps the liar here is me—lying to tell myself I could do this, that I could be a fraction of the man my father was. No, don’t interrupt me, Dalinar. Let me have my say. Voidbringers? Ancient cities full of wonder? The Desolations?… Perhaps … perhaps I’m a fine king. Not extraordinary, but not an abject failure. But in the face of these events, the world needs better than fine.”

It’s an impossible situation for both of them, and in a way I think Elhokar came up with a very elegant solution. Unfortunately, the rest of the world doesn’t see the Blackthorn quite the way the Alethi do, so that’s going to create its own set of problems later.

L: It’s like some country saying, “Hey, we made Vlad the Impaler our Emperor! Want to meet with him?” Sure, he may be seen as a hero to his own people, but to the world at large? Not so much.

Bruised & Broken

Some things are better left forgotten, the voice said to him. You of all men should understand this, considering the hole in your mind and the person who once filled it.

A: In retrospect, of course, we know that the hole in his mind won’t last forever, and was only intended to be temporary—until he was in a place where he could deal with his past. In a way, there’s a nice little parallel there; the Stormfather believes that the knowledge which caused the Recreance should never be revealed, but it’s something that humanity is going to have to deal with eventually.

For that matter, it’s not entirely unlike Shallan’s memory blocks; she’s going to have to deal with all those “forgotten things” too. But we don’t necessarily need to get into all that this week.

L: I find it interesting that the Stormfather brings this up. It makes me wonder, with his bond, how much he might know currently about Evi. Can he see the memories Dalinar is forced not to see? How deep does the bond go, really? (This question goes for all orders, not just Dalinar’s.) Can they sense emotions in one another? This hasn’t ever really been addressed, to my knowledge. Syl has a good read on Kaladin, but it seems like she’s usually picking up on body language and his facial expressions rather than some deeper emotional connection.

A: It’s hard to say; as far as I can tell, it hasn’t been defined. Pattern seems to pick up on Shallan’s uncertainties, but again it could just be a matter of reading external signals. Most of the time, it seems like the Radiants have to whisper aloud to their spren, rather than just thinking at them. It also seems that most of the spren are able to control who hears them, as well as who sees them. I don’t know if that contributes to the solution or not, though.

Diagrams & Dastardly Designs

If Dalinar failed everywhere else, at least he would have King Taravangian at his side.

A: Talk about striking fear into the hearts of the readers… did anyone not shudder when they read this?

L: Yeah, this is terrifying, especially considering that Mister T there tried to have Dalinar killed! We’ll delve deeper into this down in the motivations section, but it’s scary to know that Taravangian is now going to be working side by side with our favorite father figure. What plans does he harbor for Dalinar now that his assassination attempts have failed?

Squires & Sidekicks

A: I’m going to declare this as sidekick-worthy, because we’re going to end up seeing quite a bit of this team:

Dalinar started down the steps toward his team: Aladar and his daughter, May. Navani, wearing a bright green havah, sitting in the front row with feet stretched out before her, shoes off and ankles crossed. Elderly Kalami to write, and Teshav Khal—one of Alethkar’s finest political minds—to advise. Her two senior wards sat beside her, ready to provide research or translation if needed.
A small group, prepared to change the world.

For now, I just want to note who these people are. Aladar, once allied with Sadeas, nonetheless went with Dalinar to the battle of Narak, and is now named Highprince of Information. May, his daughter, was the subject of much speculation on the serialization, but it seems, she’s simply Aladar’s daughter and primary scribe. Quite possibly, her mother is either dead, ill, or back in Alethkar running the highprincedom; in any case, May accompanies her father in much the same way many other women accompany their husbands to meetings and strategy sessions.

Navani… well, Navani needs no further introduction.

Kalami has served as scholar, scribe, and advisor to Dalinar for many years now. Kalami lost her husband Teleb (::sniff::) in the battle of Narak, and has thrown herself into her work as historian and scribe in the time since. As we’ll see down the road, she’s one of the few who think they know the truth about Evi’s death, even though she’s wrong in her assumption.

Teshav is the wife of General Khal, who is currently recovering from wounds received during the battle of Narak. She’s been another scribe and advisor to Dalinar; she not only worked closely with her husband and Dalinar during strategy sessions, she’s done a fair amount of investigating on her own hook. And of course, right here, Dalinar describes her as “one of Alethkar’s finest political minds.” (I wonder how she and Jasnah get along?)

L: Just taking a moment here to say that I really love how Dalinar can appreciate and respect women for their contributions and talents, even in the pseudo-patriarchal Alethi society.

Places & Peoples

A: I want to start this out with a little reminder:

The Azish government was a kind of beautiful mess, though Gavilar had often admired it. Layers of clerics filled all levels—where both men and women wrote. Scions were kind of like ardents, though they weren’t slaves, which Dalinar found odd.

A: This is an excellent reminder of a human trait our RL technology has reduced somewhat: the absolute foreignness of cultures you’ve never experienced. We’re bad enough at this, because overseas travel is still expensive and time-consuming, and most of us don’t get to do a lot of it. Even so, with our communication technologies, we can see other cultures, and most of us in this fandom even have friends around the world whom we’ve never met in person.

L: I’ll take a moment to interject here and say that even with the window of modern technology, foreign countries are still… extremely foreign. It’s all the little things that don’t come across online that contributes to this. My husband and I traveled to Japan some years ago, and while I knew about some of the cultural differences (bowing, politeness, taboo against tattoos, etc) I was totally thrown off guard by so many tiny little things that I never would have considered. It’s great to see this in a fictional world—I feel like this is something that a lot of fantasy and scifi authors neglect in favor of having homogenous cultures, because it’s easier or they just haven’t thought about all of these intricacies. It’s little nuances like this that really set Sanderson apart.

A: Modern Roshar—at least until they get the Oathgates working—has far less than we do by way of travel, and despite the spanreeds, there’s not much communication among any but the scribes and scholars. So here we have Dalinar thinking how weird it is that in Azir, both men and women write, many of them without being clerics. On top of that, even the clerics aren’t slaves. How bizarre! (Of course, this is the guy who married a woman from the other side of the continent, and in nearly twenty years of marriage never did manage to understand her customs.)

L: And then there’s us, the readers with our modern sensibilities, thinking how bizarre it is for the Alethi to be so blase about owning slaves!

A: Anyway, so now we’re going to see Dalinar try to negotiate with people whose cultures are utterly foreign to him no matter how much he’s tried to study them.

“Making things up doesn’t sound very Azish.”

“They’re fine with it,” Navani said, “as long as you can find witnesses willing to fill out affidavits.”

“It’s an affidavit,” Navani said, amused. “That the Oathgate is not functional, signed by Imperial architects and stormwardens.”

“Notably,” Kalami added, “it only certifies that the device ‘does not function as a portal.’ But of course it would not, not unless a Radiant were to visit and work it. This affidavit basically says that when turned off, the device doesn’t work.”

“In my experiences with the Azish,” Teshav said, “they are extremely proficient at saying very little in as many words as possible.”

L: Not to derail this conversation into the realm of real-life, but this sure sounds like politics to me.

A: Absolutely politics. I think it’s their national sport. Also, “when turned off, the device doesn’t work” makes me snort every time.

“The storm broke our aqueducts and sewer systems, and ripped apart our docks–flattened the entire outer market! We have to fix all our cisterns, reinforce our buildings to withstand storms, and rebuild society.”

L: I think the best thing about fantasy novels is how authors can use completely fictional worlds and hold them up as mirrors for us to see problems reflected from our own real world. When I look at this situation, I can’t help but see all the flooding issues the United States (and I am sure other countries) have been facing for the last few years. From the New Jersey shoreline to New Orleans to Cape Cod to even Texas, we’ve seen destruction rained down on communities from similar storms, and watched via news outlets as the people affected try to come to terms with their losses. A hurricane isn’t a highstorm or an Everstorm, obviously, but the people affected by both the fictional and real counterparts are dealing with the same issues and fallout. People are people, whether they’re on Roshar or Earth, and the best fantasy authors use these situations to highlight realities and engender empathy in their readers.

The Thaylens had a pagan pseudo-religion, and that had always been a curious aspect in dealing with them. They would praise the Heralds one moment, then speak of the Passions the next.

L: I want to know more about this religion so much.

A: YES. Especially once we get Odium talking about “passion” and stuff. I can’t help thinking that the Thaylen beliefs mix in bits of what they retained from Odium along with what they learned from Honor and the Heralds. We get hints that the western countries believe in Cultivation, while the Alethi consider her either myth or heresy. I suspect that as we learn more, we’ll find that each religion has its own weird little combination of the Shards—one, two, or all three.

One other item of interest, which of course I didn’t entirely catch the first time through, and it’s now obvious:

“The Voidbringers are willing to negotiate with you?”

“ ‘Yes,’ ” came the reply. “ ‘We are exchanging contracts. They have very detailed demands, with outrageous stipulations…”

‘Storming monsters stole our best ships—almost everything in the harbor from single-masted sloops on up—and escaped the city.’

In both cases, the transformed parshmen did the things they’d been brought up with—they reflect the culture in which they spent their lives. Dalinar is surprised by this, of course, since he expected Stormforms everywhere, since that’s what happened out on the Shattered Plains. It hasn’t registered with Our Heroes yet that just “waking up” doesn’t turn the parshmen all into vicious warriors out to kill all the humans. For the most part, they only know what they’ve always known. But we’ll get into that more in the next few Kaladin chapters, whenever those come up.

L: Oh, that’s a great point. I hadn’t considered that either. Of course the Azish parshmen were trying to negotiate and drafting contracts!

Tight Butts and Coconuts

The spanreed quickly scribbled a reply. Queen Fen was writing directly in Alethi. “‘Kholin,’” Kalami read, “‘you old brute. Quit spreading chull scat. What do you really want?’”
“I always did like her,” Navani noted.

A: Maybe it’s because I’m about the same age as these two, but I love Fen and Navani so much sometimes.

L: I’m younger but I still love them. They remind me of the Aunts in Practical Magic. No nonsense, no bullshit.

The “older woman who doesn’t have time for your BS” trope is an oldy, but a goody. The Queen of Thorns (Olenna Tyrell) in Game of Thrones. Cadsuane in Wheel of Time. Guinan in Star Trek: TNG.

A: Polgara in The Belgariad. Professor McGonagall in Harry Potter.

L: AKA Best Hogwarts Teacher. Maggie Smith’s character in Downtown Abbey counts, too—she just plays this role so well.

A: Also, Sorilea and Verin in Wheel of Time. Judi Dench as M in James Bond. Granny Weatherwax in the Discworld. Aunt Sybil in The Greater Trumps (though she’s a slightly different type).

You know, they really are everywhere, and they all seem to be kindred spirits. One of the things I love about this scene is Navani’s insight into Fen’s character:

“She’s insulting us,” Navani said. “For Fen, that actually implies a good day.”

“She’s always been perfectly civil the few times I’ve met her,” Dalinar said with a frown.

“She was being queenly then,” Navani said. “You’ve got her talking to you directly. Trust me, it’s a good sign.”

Clearly these two have had plenty of interaction before, and Navani understands Fen in a way Dalinar probably never could.

L: Of course. They’re chickens of a feather! Since we’re talking about Navani, I just wanted to take a moment to note that I love how she’s taken her shoes off for this big important political “meeting.” Comfort is key, and she’s just so confident and self-assured! She doesn’t give a single solitary f*** what anyone thinks and I adore her for that, but Fen’s taking that to the next level. Case in point:

“The world is changing, is it? What led you to this incredible conclusion?”

L: The sarcasm. It buuuuurns. (But that good burn that makes me laugh out loud.)

A: Fen makes my heart laugh.

Weighty Words

“Something is wrong in Kholinar. More than these riots or my wife’s supposed behavior, more than the spanreeds going still. The enemy is doing something in the city. I’ll take an army to stop it, and save the kingdom.”

 * * *

“I’ll save Alethkar. I need one of your Radiants. The hero, preferably.”

“The hero?”

“The bridgeman,” Elhokar said. “The soldier. He needs to go with me, so if I screw up and fail, someone will be there to save the city anyway.”

 * * *

“I’ll bring the bridgeman with me, and I’ll observe him. Figure out why he’s so special. See if he’ll teach me to be like him. And if I fail…” He shrugged. “Well, Alethkar is in safe hands regardless, right?”

A: I think it’s at this point that Elhokar really begins his journey to becoming a Knight Radiant. He has been humbled by recent events, and instead of either trying to escape responsibility or demanding respect, he just wants to do what’s right for his people. He finally wants to save his people because it’s the right thing, not just to make himself look good.

(That middle part almost makes me cry, though. I’m not sure which is stronger: anger at the way Elhokar will be made to fail, or grief that Kaladin won’t be able to save the city—or anything else—for him. The burden of saving what they can will fall on Adolin, Shallan, Drehy, and Skar. But we aren’t there yet.)

L: Oh, Elhokar. This little bit is the beginning of his redemption arc, an arc which is cut so tragically short by storming Moash. I absolutely love that he’s actively trying to better himself, to grow and change. He realizes his faults and admits to them, which moves him from a reactive character to an active one. Sure, he was a whiny brat in books 1 and 2, but by the time he falls, I was really cheering for him. Then… tears. And anger. Mostly anger if I’m being honest.

A: The advent of a new Radiant must also be noted:

One of my people has come forward, and—remarkably—claims to be Radiant. Her spren directed her to speak with me; we plan to use her Shardblade to test the device.

A: Okay, so call me suspicious, but anything that Taravangian claims to be surprised by… well, yeah. I’m suspicious.

L: Mmhmm.

A: I know that on one hand, we’re expecting Radiants to start showing up now that Nale isn’t going around killing them all, but having one turn up so conveniently on Taravangian’s doorstep seems… nuh-uh. Suspicious.

Meaningful Motivations

I will come to you in all haste. It is well that someone is attempting to organize a resistance to the evils that befall us. The nations of Roshar must put aside their squabbles, and the reemergence of the holy city of Urithiru is proof to me that the Almighty guides your hand. I look forward to counseling with you and adding my forces to yours in a joint operation to protect these lands.’

A: Well, personally, I think he just wants to see what he’s up against. For all the nice words about supporting Dalinar and “the holy city of Urithiru,” the pragmatic old schemer just wants to weasel in (mink in?) and find out what forces and assets Dalinar has. Lyn, do you have any further suggestions?

L: Possibly. It could also be some part of the Diagram that’s guiding his actions. Perhaps there was something in it that stated that if the assassinations failed, an alliance had to be made. There are so many things we don’t know about Taravangian and his machinations, that it’s hard to make educated guesses as to what’s going on in his head.

A Scrupulous Study of Spren

Glowing gloryspren orbs burst around Elhokar. He grinned at them. “I only seem to see those when I’m around you, Uncle.”

A: So what do you think? Are the gloryspren there because of Dalinar’s bond? Or is it that Dalinar is the one person whose approval Elhokar most desires? I think it’s the latter, but… I’m not 100% sure!

L: It’s stated that gloryspren are pretty rare, but they sure seem to show up around Dalinar a lot. I suspect that it’s got something to do with what he inspires in people. His very presence inspires people to be greater, to think of themselves as better than they originally had. Hence… gloryspren. It’s worth noting that Shallan does a little of this, too… When she does her drawings of people “as they could be,” she’s inspiring them to be greater, too. So does Kaladin, through more direct methods.

This is my land now, Dalinar thought. This tower covered in coldspren.

A: We’ve only encountered coldspren a couple of times before; Navani’s notebook mentions using them in a fabrial, and Shallan noticed them when she was outside drawing. Seems appropriate to the venue, for sure.

L: I’d hate it there. But then… it’s mid April and we’re still getting snow showers here in New England, so I might be a bit biased against winter at the moment…

Quality Quotations

• “Your Majesty. You ignored me once. Destruction caused by the Everstorm was the result. Please, this time listen.”
• “Bah!” Dalinar said, pushing himself back from the table. “Fools, idiots! Storming lighteyes and Damnation’s own politics!”
• “I’ve had ample chances to reflect lately. The Almighty has preserved me, despite my stupidity.”
• The kingdom he’d fought for—the kingdom he’d forged in pain, exhaustion, and blood—now rejected him.

Join us in the comments to share your thoughts on this week’s chapter; there’s a lot we just couldn’t address, so now it’s your turn. And of course, come back next week for Chapter 13, which is chock full of laughter—for the reader, at least, and also for Adolin. Shallan is more about blushes.

Alice has thoroughly enjoyed her beta read of Skyward, the new YA science fiction project from Sanderson due out in November. She’s also having fun creeping the “teen beta” spreadsheet, where her daughter is participating in a new target-audience beta read. There are some seriously insightful kids out there!

Lyndsey is still recuperating from Anime Boston, but she doesn’t have much time to spare on rest with books to edit, a renaissance faire to rehearse for, and a toddler to chase. If you’re an aspiring author, a cosplayer, or just like geeky content, follow her work on Facebook or her website.

Cosmerenauts ahoy! Lo, on the horizon looms another reread post with Lyndsey and Alice! Or something like that. Anyway, welcome back to Oathbringer, as Shallan gets embarrassed (again) and Pattern expands his vocabulary. Also, Adolin refuses to be embarrassed, which is also entertaining.

Lyn: ::crashes through door:: Did someone say Adolin?

Alice: Welcome back, Lyn! Thought you might enjoy this chapter…

L: What, me? Enjoy an Adolin chapter? NEVER. (Because I’m totally not obsessive enough to be cosplaying him most of this weekend at JordanCon or anything…)

Reminder: we’ll potentially be discussing spoilers for the ENTIRE NOVEL in each reread, and this week we make a tiny reference to the Mistborn trilogy which may spoil a plot point in the original trilogy. If you haven’t read ALL of Oathbringer and Mistborn: The Final Empire, best to wait to join us until you’re done.

Chapter Recap

WHO: Shallan
WHERE: Urithiru
WHEN: 1174.1.3.3 (Two days after Chapter 12)

We open the chapter with Shallan getting in some Lightweaving practice with her Veil persona. Adolin arrives with some dinner for the both of them, and they engage in some light-hearted banter, including a rather amusing conversation about… ::ahem:: mating. Adolin reveals that he feels as if Shallan is above him in station, and Shallan admits that she’s afraid of messing up their burgeoning relationship. The two share a kiss, and then we’re off to the next chapter…

Threshold of the storm

Title

The title, as becomes hilariously obvious, is based on Pattern’s assigned role during this scene where Shallan and Adolin are (otherwise improperly) alone in her room.

“Pattern, you’re to be our chaperone tonight.”
“What,” Pattern said with a hum, “is a chaperone?”

We’ll get into that answer a bit later.

Heralds

A: For some reason that isn’t immediately obvious, Ishar holds all four Herald spots this week. He represents the role of Priest, the divine attributes Pious and Guiding, and is the patron of the Bondsmiths. I’m honestly not sure why he’s here.

L: Well.. Ishar’s the Herald of Bondsmiths, right? Adolin and Shallan are bonding in this chapter for sure. They both reveal things to one another that they’ve been worried about regarding their relationship, and grow a little closer because of it. As for the divine attributes of pious and guiding… I suppose it could be Pattern’s influence? He’s “guiding” them to be “pious”…

A: Hah! I like it.

Icon

A: Shallan’s “Pattern” icon would tell us that it’s her POV chapter, if anyone on this reread had actually forgotten what a chapter titled “Chaperone” was all about.

Epigraph

I ask only that you read or listen to these words.
—From Oathbringer, preface

Relationships & Romances

A: ADOLIN & SHALLAN FTW!

L: I do adore this relationship. It’s just… such a healthy one, even though Shallan herself is so broken, emotionally. I think she needed someone with the emotional stability of Adolin to help ground her.

A: Exactly. He’s so good for her: so willing to love her without condition, and to be a rock for her to lean on. And honestly, I think Adolin is one of those guys who is at his best when someone needs him, so she’s good for him too.

Adolin didn’t even have the decency to blush at finding her practically naked.

L: I suppose this raises the question, how experienced is Adolin in matters of love, really? I’d assume that pre-marital sex is frowned on in Alethi society based on Shallan and Pattern’s reactions in this chapter, so we can probably assume that he hasn’t been sleeping around, but… that’s not discounting the possibility of naughty shenanigans with any number of ladies he’s courted. Is he used to seeing ladies with their safe-hands uncovered? Eh? Eh?

A: Well, for what it’s worth, Shallan is Veden rather than Alethi, and I think they have stricter views on such things. Still, I had just assumed that since Adolin never seemed to avoid offending every girl within a week or two of beginning their courtship, he’d never gotten to that point.

L: ::snicker:: I have to admit, I kind of miss him getting slapped by random girls he’s unknowingly wronged.

A: The slapping most definitely had its entertaining aspects! Now that he’s actually betrothed, I suppose they have to stop, though. Anyway, the safehand certainly didn’t phase him here, so maybe he’s just not one to boast of his conquests.

L: He certainly doesn’t seem to be the type to kiss and tell.

“I’d have thought that imitating a woman to catch a glimpse of a young lady in her undergarments was beneath you, Adolin Kholin.”
“Oh, for Damnation’s sake, Shallan. Can I come in now?”

L: I love how he doesn’t put up with her BS. And not only that, he gives it as good as he takes it:

“Back of your left thigh, eh? What’s a girl got to do to sneak a glimpse of that?”
“Knock like a man, apparently.”

A: This entire exchange cracks me up every time. I don’t know how often I’ve read it, and… Every. Single. Time. ::gigglesnort::

Ash’s eyes… he actually thought she was pretty. This wonderful, princely man actually liked being with her. She’d traveled to the ancient city of the Knights Radiant, but compared to Adolin’s affection, all the sights of Urithiru were dun spheres.

L: D’aaawwwwww. Gotta love that honeymoon stage of the relationship.

A: I hope the wonder never fades. I mean, sure, she’ll get used to the fact that he adores her, but given her personality and history, I’m guessing there will always be a tinge of astonishment whenever she thinks about it.

“It wasn’t a lecture, it was a creative application of my tongue to keep you distracted.” Looking at his lips, she could think of some other creative applications for her tongue…

A: It’s a good thing Pattern is being such a useful chaperone, eh?

L: Gotta say, I appreciate the fact that these two have real chemistry. It’s one of the things that always bothered me a bit about the Mistborn trilogy—Elend and Vin’s relationship seemed so flat and lifeless. Now, I’m not implying that Sanderson needs to be putting in sex scenes every ten pages, but it’s really nice to see a character admitting some physical attraction for another in one of these books. Especially since it’s the woman having these thoughts.

“I don’t know. You’re a Radiant, Shallan. Some kind of half-divine being from mythology. And all along I was thinking we were giving you a favorable match.”

L: I guess this would be sort of like learning that your fiancee was a… a mermaid, or something. Or maybe one of Zeus’s long-lost half-human children. Or a Time Lord. I can see why Adolin is suddenly feeling a little overwhelmed. These magical powers she’s manifested are probably as unbelievable to the Alethi as the things I listed above would be to our modern society.

A: It would be a little frightening as well, I’d think, since the Alethi culture has presented the Knights Radiant as betrayers of humanity, and basically anathema. It’s all well and good to say that the times, they are a-changin’—but you don’t just drop everything you believed so easily. Intimidating, at the very least.

L: And yet, Adolin never shows any hint of being afraid of any of his Radiant friends and family. He puts the person first and judges them based on WHO they are, not WHAT they are. We’ve seen this in other aspects too—how he treated the prostitute in book one, and how chummy he is with those who are beneath him in station.

A: I think if you looked in the Alethi dictionary for “unflappable” you might find a picture of Adolin. If things like this bother him, he doesn’t show it much. The only thing we’ve ever seen to make him visibly lose his cool is a direct threat to his family. But I still think it would be a little intimidating.

L: I’d love to quote the entire rest of this chapter because honestly it’s all just so sweet and endearing.

A: I love the bit where he’s brought her his favorite books about the Makabaki and politics, because he noticed that she seemed a bit lost on that subject. Along with that, there’s a nice reminder that yes, despite not being able to read for himself, he actually does have a pretty decent education in the kinds of things highprinces need to know—beyond hitting people with swords.

L: The two of them are so perfect together. Both have their insecurities, their failings, and the other is willing to help them overcome them without malice. Yes, there are secrets they’re keeping from one another. But as we’ll see, when those secrets come out, they respect the reasons the secrets were kept and continue to support one another. It’s so rare to see stable, respectful relationships in fantasy novels.

Bruised & Broken

It was stuck in her mind, and every time she thought about it, the gaping wound flared up with pain again. Shallan had killed her mother. Her father had covered it up, pretended he’d murdered his wife, and the event had destroyed his life—driving him to anger and destruction.
Until eventually Shallan had killed him too.

L: Dayum, Shallan. Girl’s got baggage. No wonder her personality is splintering into shards. This is some pretty heavy stuff for anyone to deal with.

A: I’ve said this about a million times, but I have to say it again. While I can understand that people don’t find it exactly pleasant to read about her fracturing, I’m still glad it happens. If she had simply accepted those truths at the end of WoR and cheerfully moved on, she’d be treading mighty close to Mary Sue-ness. With her past, a good resolution has to be more difficult than simply acknowledging what she did.

She would not hate him. She could hate the sword she’d used to kill her mother, but not him.

L: ::sniff::

A: ::passes tissues::

Stories & Songs

A: Urithiru is still so much of a mystery, even after a whole book of living in it. Who? What? How? Brandon put to rest the theory that it was a spaceship, fortunately. (I never could get behind the idea that it was the ship humans used to travel from Ashyn to Roshar. It just didn’t make sense to me.) ANYWAY:

Her room was ornamented by bright circular patterns of strata on the walls. The stone was smooth to the touch, and a knife couldn’t scratch it.

L: This little snippet interests me. A knife couldn’t scratch it, eh? What type of rock could this be, then? Also, this somewhat implies to me that all the stone—despite the striations—is of the same type, despite the differences in color…

A: What interests me is the choice of words. Strata don’t naturally form circular patterns, coils, swirls, spirals, twists, and various other adjectives used in this book. I mentioned this (several times) in the beta, yet here they still are—so I can only conclude that it’s deliberate. This, combined with a scene we’ll get to in Chapter 38, at first led me to suspect that Urithiru was formed by Stonewards. Then I changed that to “someone manipulating the Surge of Tension, so maybe Bondsmiths.” If it was prior to the formation of the Knights Radiant, it could have been someone(s) who could Surgebind Tension. It could have been Ishar and/or Taln who formed it. But right now… I’ll lay a bet on the involvement of an early Bondsmith who was bonded to the Sibling. I’d guess it was a cooperative effort.

I’d also bet the big glass wall is pure silicon dioxide with Invested Cohesion to keep it perfectly clear, unrippled, and unbroken. That might also explain why knives can’t scratch the stone—it’s too Invested with Cohesion. Which would imply the involvement of Stonewards, come to think of it. And now I’m straying deeply into the Speculative Realm, so I’ll drop it!

Tight Butts and Coconuts

L: This whole chapter is just full of gems, but here are some of our favorites:

“In my defense,” Adolin said from outside, “you did invite me in.”

“Isn’t that the sort of thing you do? Strangle rocks, stand on your head, throw boulders around.”
“Yes, I have quite my share of murdered rocks stuffed under my bed.”

“I just realized,” he said, “that this is your bedroom.”
“And my drawing room, and my sitting room, and my dining room, and my ‘Adolin says obvious things room’.”

“Your ego doesn’t count as a separate individual, Shallan.”

L: Oh, Adolin. How little you know.

A: I’m not quite sure whether to laugh or sigh.

Weighty Words

I’m going to put this in here, because it has to do with Shallan’s Lightweaving powers.

She’d started to wonder, how far could she go in changing how things sounded?

L: This is interesting to me. Assuming that Lightweaving is… well, LIGHTweaving, how is she managing to make changes to SOUND? Sound, if I am not mistaken, has to do with air, not light. Right?

A: According to the Ars Arcanum, Illumination is “the Surge of Light, Sound, and Various Waveforms”—whatever all that might include, apparently it’s a lot bigger than its name. So she can manipulate sound as well as light.

L: Can we just pretend that I totally remembered that and was only asking in order to leave you the opening to explain it? ::ahem::

A: Absolutely. It was very gracious of you, too, because it gives me the chance to sound all learned and stuff. Also, this just occurred to me: Did the Lightweavers (or some earlier version of them) manipulate cymatics to create protection for the cities Kabsal tells Shallan about in TWoK, Chapter 33?

Shallan cocked her head. The pattern in the sand looked exactly like Kholinar. He dropped more sand on the plate and then drew the bow across it at another point and the sand rearranged itself. “Vedenar,” he said. She compared again. It was an exact match. “Thaylen City,” he said, repeating the process at another spot. He carefully chose another point on the plate’s edge and bowed it one final time. “Akinah. Shallan, proof of the Almighty’s existence is in the very cities we live in. Look at the perfect symmetry!”

L:

The trick to happiness wasn’t in freezing every momentary pleasure and clinging to each one, but in ensuring one’s life would produce many future moments to anticipate.

L: This is beautiful, and I think it’s something that we in our day to day lives should remember, especially in these days when everyone has a smart phone and the temptation to take photos and videos of every passing moment is so omnipresent. Often I have to remind myself to put down the camera and just live in the moment, but Sanderson takes it one step further, reminding us to actively work to create more of these moments to enjoy. It’s really a powerful sentiment.

A Scrupulous Study of Spren

A: A.k.a. Pattern is hilarious.

L: Case in point:

“Inappropriate?” Pattern said. “Such as… dividing by zero?”

I’m not a math person, and even I find this funny. I do find Shallan and Adolin’s reactions to this interesting, though. They both seem confused. I’m wondering how much the peoples of Roshar know about higher level math—or really, any math at all. We know that the women are the ones who are generally the bookkeepers, and some of the ardentia are doing scientific measurements and so forth of spren, but would the Alethi have any concept of algebra of anything higher? Obviously the Cryptics do, but how? Is this knowledge that has been passed down among them? How does it tie into what we know about them already?

A: I would assume that the engineers know maths up through algebra and trigonometry, and probably understand at least the basic functionality of calculus. We just haven’t seen it, because we haven’t been in the right heads for that information. Adolin wouldn’t, of course, and I don’t think Shallan’s studies tended much in that direction. She was more into the natural sciences, art, literature, history, etc. I’d bet Renarin would have understood it, though.

L: And now I really want to see Pattern and Renarin having a fun chat about math.

“Oh!” Pattern said suddenly, bursting up from the bowl to hover in the air. “You were talking about mating! I’m to make sure you don’t accidentally mate, as mating is forbidden by human society until you have first performed appropriate rituals! Yes, yes. Mmmm. Dictates of custom require following certain patterns before you copulate. I’ve been studying this!”

L: Hooboy. Okay so, there’s a lot to laugh at in this (accidentally mate?!), and believe me, I am, but there’s also some interesting parallels to that scene between Syl and Kaladin regarding spren and mating. Alice, I forget, did you and Paige get into spren reproduction at all when you guys discussed that chapter?

A: A little, but not any… ah, practical aspects? Mostly the mental image of Syl making “babies” out of a bunch of windspren, and teaching them to harass Kaladin. Also, Baby Windspren Shardplate.

L: Hmm, okay. So we know that spren are much longer-lived than humans—practically immortal, right? Even if they’re “killed” (as the old Knights’ Radiant spren were) they’re still not really dead, just wandering around Shadesmar all creepy-like?

A: Pretty much, yeah. Syl was relatively young at the time of the Recreance, but most of the other honorspren were much older.

L: I… seem to remember something being mentioned in the Shadesmar travel section about spren children, but it’s been so long.

A: Yeah, it’s there. Paige and I decided to leave the reproduction discussion until we get to that part of the book.

L: Okay, so… how the heck do they reproduce? Is it asexual? Or do… do new ideas or concepts just sort of… coalesce in Shadesmar into spren? I’d assume that if something physical is created, the “marbles” would join together and merge (so say someone made a knife with a wooden handle, the marble for the metal and that for the handle would merge into one) as matter is neither created nor destroyed, but how does this work for ideas and emotions?

A: I think I’ll stand by that decision! It’ll come up again in… oh, a year or so. At that point, I’d love to get into not only how “baby honorspren” are made, but the possibility of new kinds of spren if a truly new concept emerges.

Quality Quotations

You couldn’t balance a book on Veil’s head as she walked, but she’d happily balance one on your face after she knocked you unconscious.

 * * *

“… Sometimes secrets are important.”

Adolin nodded slowly. “Yeah. Yeah, they are.”

 * * *

Perhaps a chaperone who believes basically everything I tell him isn’t going to be the most effective.

 * * *

“Very well, you two,” Pattern said. “No mating. NO MATING.”

 * * *

“Is there anyone who actually is? I mean, is there really someone out there who looks at relationships and thinks, ‘You know what, I’ve got this’? Personally, I rather think we’re all collectively idiots about it.”

 * * *

“Please. You’ve courted, like, half the warcamps.”

Okay, so we could just copy and paste the entire chapter in here, but we’ll stop. Really. But you can share the ones we missed in the comments!

Next week we’ll tackle two chapters. Chapter 14 is a super-short Kaladin chapter, about 3 pages long, and then 15 is a mid-size Shallan chapter returning to this scene. So we’ll take both of them in one week, and then slow down with a much longer Chapter 16 the week after.

Alice is trying hard not to envy everyone going to JordanCon, but she nonetheless hopes they/you all have a fantastic time, and looks forward to hearing the stories and seeing the pictures. Shenanigans, commence!

Lyndsey is excited to be leaving for her first JordanCon tomorrow, where she’ll be helping to judge the Costume Contest! Look for her in various Sanderson cosplays all weekend, in the karaoke room, or at her panel “Making Con-Safe Weapons” on Sunday. If you’re an aspiring author, a cosplayer, or just like geeky content, follow her updates on Facebook or her website.

Alice: Hallo out there! Welcome back to the Oathbringer reread for two—count ‘em, two—chapters this week.

Lyn: Huzzah! Double the chapters, double the fun!

A: First, we briefly join Kaladin in his bewildered watching of the “Voidbringers” he finally caught up with. Then we’ll switch back to Shallan and Adolin—and Mr. No-Mating Pattern—as she begins learning swordplay.

Reminder: we’ll potentially be discussing spoilers for the ENTIRE NOVEL in each reread. There are no references to the greater Cosmere in this week’s post, though we make no promises about the comments. But if you haven’t read ALL of Oathbringer, best to wait to join us until you’re done.

Chapter Recap

WHO: Kaladin; Shallan
WHERE: Rural Alethkar; Urithiru
WHEN: 1174.1.3.1 (two days after Chapter 10); 1174.1.3.3 (immediately following Chapter 13)

Chapter 14 begins with Kaladin spying on a group of Parshmen who are, despite Kal’s expectations, playing cards. He swiftly realizes that these people aren’t the monsters he had come to expect. When he’s spotted by a spren and the Parshmen are alerted to his presence, he chooses to be taken captive.

In chapter 15, Adolin and Shallan are discussing the strange copy-cat murder. Adolin insists that it must be a different killer (which, of course, he’d know since he was the original killer), and Shallan is annoyed by his insistence with seemingly no evidence. He swiftly transitions the conversation into one about Shallan’s Shardblade, which makes her uneasy. As Adolin leaves to get blade guards to teach Shallan some swordsmanship, she decides that she must create a new identity to deal with the horrible memories and emotions threatening to overwhelm her—Brightness Radiant. Radiant proceeds to learn stances from Adolin for some time, with him being none the wiser to her growing instability.

Threshold of the storm

Titles

A: “Squires Can’t Capture” comes from the conversation between two of the parsh who are attempting to play cards and discovering that they don’t know the rules very well. The comment that went with this suggestion in the beta was this:

[The phrase] seems to hold more meaning than the game of cards. Squires are untrained, as are these ‘Voidbringers’.

Emily agreed.

“Brightness Radiant” is obviously the new persona Shallan creates here to deal with her discomfort over handling the Patternblade. We’ll deal with that below.

Heralds

A: Chapter 14 gives us Taln, Herald of War; Soldier, Dependable & Resourceful, patron of the Stonewards. Whether this reflects Kaladin as the soldier, the parshmen he expected to be soldiers but aren’t, or… something else, I really couldn’t say. Lyn, any ideas?

L: I’d say that it fits Kaladin well in this instance. He’s scouting ahead, checking on the enemy. Just because that enemy isn’t at all what he expected doesn’t change his duty—he needs to gather as much information on them as possible in order to pass along to his commanding officer.

A: Chapter 14 shows Chana, or Chanarach if you prefer. She is associated with the role of Guard, the attributes Brave & Obedient, and the order of Dustbringers. At one point, I had a theory that Adolin would become a Dustbringer because Chana was so often the Herald on his chapters. I concluded eventually that my theory was likely wrong, and Chana was shown more because Adolin was both brave and obedient in most of those chapters, and sometimes also held the role of Guard for his father. Here, I suspect it’s primarily the Guard aspect, as he’s teaching Shallan to use the Blade she holds.

Icons

A: The icons are no surprise: Kaladin’s banner-and-spears, and Shallan’s Pattern.

Epigraphs

In this record, I hold nothing back. I will try not to shy away from difficult topics, or paint myself in a dishonestly heroic light.

I will express only direct, even brutal, truth. You must know what I have done, and what those actions cost me.

—From Oathbringer, preface

A: The first line could, I suppose, be addressing Kaladin’s willingness to face his wrong expectations, and to surrender to the parshmen in order to learn more about the truth. The second one, in context of Shallan hiding in the new Brightness Radiant persona to escape the painful truth of her past, is almost hilariously opposite. (But only almost, because her issues are too painful to be that funny.)

Stories & Songs

Monstrous terrors from the mythological past, enemies of all that was right and good. Destroyers who had laid waste to civilization countless times.

They were playing cards.

L: I really dig this type of “reversed expectation” humor—probably part of the reason why I love The Gentleman Bastards series so much. But aside from the humor, this is the beginning of Kaladin’s realization that All Is Not As It Seems. This must be such a shock to him—not only is he trying to reconcile this new information against thousands of years of ingrained cultural myth, but he’s also personally been fighting the Parshendi for most of the last year. They’ve tried to kill him. And, even worse from Kaladin’s point of view, they’ve killed and injured his friends and those he’s sworn to protect. I love his arc in this book, because this realization that the enemy isn’t a monster is so real. We’re all the heroes of our own stories, and even those we fight against are still people with their own desires, loves, families, and reasons.

A: This is such Sanderson thing to do, and also one of those things that makes you say, “Well, of course!” after you see it. What else would they be, but … people?

The parshman looked so forlorn, staring down at his card, shoulders slumped.

“This is wrong,” Kaladin whispered to Syl. “We’ve been so wrong.…” Where were the destroyers? What had happened to the beasts with the red eyes that had tried to crush Dalinar’s army? The terrible, haunting figures that Bridge Four had described to him?

We thought we understood what was going to happen, Kaladin thought. I was so sure.…

L: I’m certain that this won’t be the first time Kaladin makes a mistake like this. But the fact that he can actually change his opinion based on new information is one of the things that makes him so likable to me. He isn’t mired in his own beliefs and opinions, unwilling or unable to change them even when presented with evidence to the contrary. He’s willing to listen to other ideas, other points of view. He’s willing to allow himself to be swayed and moved—which becomes something of a problem for him later on, as he’s literally paralyzed with indecision about what the right course of action is. Despite the basis for his name, Kaladin isn’t some stalwart Paladin who’s following his (perhaps misguided) beliefs to the bitter end.

The parshmen seized cudgels made from branches or the handles of brooms. They bunched together and held the sticks like frightened villagers, no stance, no control.

Kaladin hesitated. I could take them all in a fight even without Stormlight. He’d seen men hold weapons like that many times before. Most recently, he’d seen it inside the chasms, when training the bridgemen.

These were no warriors.

A: If I recall correctly, this chapter is the first time we actually see the awakened parshmen on screen, rather than just in the second-hand retellings of frightened villagers. Watching them here, as they try to puzzle through a card game, as they speak like native Alethi, as they seem so confused… This is when the Azish parshmen trying to negotiate, and the Thaylen parshmen sailing off in the ships, all snaps into focus. They’re all doing the normal things that would be done in the cultures where they grew up. What other shaping experience would they have had?
Except for one thing…

“Alarm!” a sudden, shrill voice called. “Alarm! You fools!”

Something zipped through the air, a glowing yellow ribbon, a streak of light in the dim afternoon shade.

“He’s there,” the shrill voice said. “You’re being watched! Beneath those shrubs!”

A: … And now we know why they’re all grouped together and apparently on the march somewhere. There’s a spren directing the group.

L: A spren with a strange way of speaking. Who just says “Alarm!” like that? Maybe language has evolved while they’ve been trapped over in Damnation.

Relationships & Romances

When Adolin returned to the room a moment later, he found a poised, calm woman who wasn’t quite Shallan Davar. Brightness Radiant is her name, she thought. She will go only by title.

L: Yeah, because this is a great foundation upon which to build a relationship, Shallan. ::sigh::

As she was swinging, he grabbed his own Blade and fell in beside her, modeling the stance and the strikes.

L: I really love this. Sharing these physical movements almost feels a little like a dance to me. And Shallan seems to agree:

Sharing these moments with him and drinking of his excitement felt special. Intimate. Even more so than their closeness had been earlier in the evening.

L: This makes a lot of sense to me. Being together physically is one thing, but sharing an understanding of what the other person loves is a deeper form of connection. Anyone can kiss someone else (NO MATING). But taking part in your partner’s joys, the things that make their hearts sing—that’s love.

A: This is a bit of a revelation for Shallan, IMO, and one we should all recognize. If you love someone, it’s well worth the effort to find interest in the things they enjoy. I don’t think Shallan has ever had reason or opportunity to discover this before; she was always too busy being what other people needed, or trying to stay alive and in some measure of control. Now she has the chance.

Bruised & Broken

She could see only before herself, and she wanted to run, go somewhere. Be away.

No. No, just be someone else.

L: Shallan, Shallan, Shallan. My poor, broken dear. I have to admit, I wasn’t the biggest fan of her in the first two books. Her sense of humor grated on my nerves, and I really disliked how she treated Kaladin (up until the chasm scene). But her troubles in this book actually endeared her to me, despite the fact that I was constantly shouting at the book because she just. Kept. Making. Awful. Decisions.

A: She did make a lot of terrible decisions in Oathbringer—with a few good ones sprinkled in between—and I know it drove some readers straight up the wall. As I’ve said before, though, I think it was well done. This scene is a perfect example: I so badly wanted her to accept Pattern as her Blade and get on with the awesome. At the same time, it would be totally unrealistic; she’s just recently acknowledged that the first time she used that Blade, she used it to kill her mother. On top of that, the knowledge of that Blade’s existence was the primary thing that kept her father from treating her as badly as he treated her brothers… so that he would hurt others in her place, giving her all the guilt and no means of expiation. So yes, of course she hates the Blade, even though she has used it since then to save her own life, and also to save the lives of the entire human army at Narak.

I can hide, Shallan thought, drawing at a frenzied pace. Shallan can flee and leave someone in her place.

L: I think we can all identify with having memories we wish we could just hide away. And who hasn’t put on a different persona in order to fit in better with a social group? Granted, I doubt most people’s persona shifts are as… ::ahem:: drastic as Shallan’s. But it’s human nature to try to make yourself look better to those you love or admire. And if heightening one aspect of yourself while downplaying others will achieve that end? I think most people will do this unconsciously. Shallan’s taking it to a whole new level, though. The fact that she’s thinking of herself as an entirely new person gives me the shudders, and this moment in particular made me Very Concerned for her:

“Hey,” Adolin said. “That’s not bad.”

“Shallan did spend quite a lot of time drawing you all.”

L: Okay, first of all, how the heck did Adolin not notice that little slip of the tongue? Talking about yourself in third person is never a good sign.

A: I just tell myself that Adolin was focused on how he was going to teach her, and wasn’t really listening. On the more analytical side, though, I like the way this chapter is written. She shifts back and forth between two personalities, and sometimes it’s more of a spectrum shift, e.g. when she needs to stay mostly focused, but still needs to be able to draw. The different speech patterns are a combination of blatant signaling and hilarious inappropriateness. (“Brightlord Kholin” indeed!) Whether or not you like what’s happening to her, it’s brilliantly drawn.

L: Secondly, this was the first moment where I got a legitimate chill regarding the direction her character was heading in.

…whenever the pain of holding the sword started to spike–whenever she really thought about what she was doing–she was able to become Radiant and avoid it.

L: ::sigh:: Yep. Because avoiding your problems has worked out so splendidly in the past.

A: This makes me think about how hard it must have been for her to keep working the Oathgate by herself for, what, two or three weeks? She had to keep blocking this pain every time, poor girl. I guess this setting, with just the two of them and no “job to do” to distract her, was more than she could face. My only question is, did this scene actually break her further, or is it merely demonstrating how broken she already was? I’m with the first option, myself. I think she’s getting worse.

Places & Peoples

“I know it’s not feminine, but who cares? You’ve got a sword; you should know how to use it, and custom can go to Damnation. There, I said it.” He took a deep breath. “I mean, the bridgeboy can have one, and he’s darkeyed. Well, he was. Anyway, it’s not so different from that.”

Thank you, Shallan thought, for ranking all women as something equivalent to peasants.

A: Gah. I’m not sure how to react to all this. On the one hand, I think it’s absolutely hilarious and perhaps a little awesome that Adolin has to really work himself up to saying something so horribly contrary to Vorin Custom. On the other hand, there’s more than a smidge of irritation that the rules of eye color and gender are so strong, though I suspect for me that’s partly influenced by knowing how arbitrary the distinctions are. (Interestingly enough, both can be traced directly to the aftereffects of the Recreance.)

I’m actually more bothered—and I’m not sure this is fair—that Shallan is irritated at him for ranking women with peasants. The reasons for the two customs are vastly different, and her sense of affront makes me want to slap her.

L: I’m kinda torn on this one. On the one hand, I’ve definitely had similar annoyed thoughts when people of privilege have looked down on those they deem as “below them” in similar fashion. On the other, the very fact that she’s thinking of darkeyed people as “peasants” is frustrating. Adolin is usually pretty good about treating everyone the same regardless of social standing, but Shallan’s got a ways to go in that respect.

A: I think that’s what bit me in this scene. Adolin lives with the societal restrictions almost without thinking about them; they’re just the facts of life, and he follows them as expected. But that never keeps him from viewing and treating everyone with whatever dignity and respect they’ve earned; he simply gets along with everyone at their own level. He jokes around with the stable boys as easily as he dines with the highest lighteyes—and he doesn’t think about it. Except for her time on the Wind’s Pleasure, Shallan never has achieved that level of courtesy.

He approached and reached toward her with a thumb and two fingers. She thought he was going to adjust her grip, but instead he pressed his fingers against her collarbone and shoved lightly.

Radiant stumbled backward, almost tripping.

“A stance,” Adolin said, “is about more than just looking great on the battlefield. It’s about footing, center of balance, and control of the fight.”

L: I couldn’t think of a more appropriate section for this, so I guess my discussion about stances and Alethi martial arts is going to go here. Anyone who has ever studied any martial art will recognize this little speech Adolin gives—practicing stances is the first thing that you learn. It’s the base of everything, the foundation. Looking at the sketches in Words of Radiance, I’d hazard a guess that Brandon/Ben loosely based the Alethi Shardblade stances on European longsword stances. Windstance could be Vom Tag, and Flamestance could be a modified Ochs. Vinestance is probably Pflug. I haven’t been learning this martial art for very long so it’s probable that there are others with a broader knowledge base who could make more accurate guesses, but without detailed, labeled sketches it’s all guesswork. Note to self: ask Ben McSweeney if there’s labeled concept art detailing the different stances…

::ahem:: Moving on to the more “mystical” side of things.

“The Blade is part of you,” Adolin said. “The Blade is more than your tool; it is your life. Respect it. It will not fail you—if you are bested, it is because you failed the sword.”

L: This reminds me a great deal of Japanese swordsmanship. I like that Brandon is drawing from several different types of real-world swordsmanship for the Alethi, and not just sticking to one culture.

Tight Butts and Coconuts

What in Damnation’s depths?

A: I just like that line.

He lounged with his back against the wall, coat unbuttoned while tossing a small leather ball filled with dried grain into the air and catching it again.

A: Who knew they played hacky sack on Roshar? Huh.

L: Could be juggling balls too.

By now he’d removed his jacket, standing in only shirt and trousers. She did like how that tight shirt fit him.

A: On the beta, the “r” was missing from “shirt.” Need I say more?

L: My all-time favorite of Sanderson slips. I don’t think any other typo will ever beat it.

“Was it the makeup that tipped you off, or the dress? Oh, it was the breasts, wasn’t it? Always giving us away.”

L: I love that Adolin doesn’t even skip a beat at this.

Moving Motivations

“I still think there might be two murderers,” Adolin said. “You know … like someone saw Sadeas dead, and figured they could get away with killing someone else, blaming it on the first fellow.”

Oh, Adolin, Shallan thought. He’d arrived at a theory he liked, and now wouldn’t let it go. It was a common mistake warned of in her scientific books.

A: Oh, Shallan. He’s wrong about the motivation of the second killer—though who could ever have expected to guess that?!—but he knows there most definitely are two murderers. It makes me think of the times Shallan has thought of him as so easy to read, unable to deceive anyone, etc. Yeah, maybe not so much.

His blue eyes were alight, and Shallan loved seeing that glow from him. Almost like Stormlight. She knew that passion—she’d felt what it was to be alive with interest, to be consumed by something so fully that you lost yourself in the wonder of it. For her it was art, but watching him, she thought that the two of them weren’t so different.

A: We get these little tidbits about Adolin every so often, and it’s such a delight to see him become so alive and unconsciously passionate about something he loves. I don’t think I can explain this, but somehow this makes me see him becoming an Edgedancer even more readily.

A Scrupulous Study of Spren

“It’s because you hate me,” Pattern said softly. “I can die, Shallan. I can go. They will send you another to bond.”

L: WHY IS PATTERN THE SWEETEST THING EVER? Precious spren-baby. If he ever dies I will legitimately cry. A lot.

A: That line. Oh, my aching heart. He just offered to die so she could not hurt so much any more. (It wouldn’t actually work, I think, but he doesn’t know that.)

“Have you considered,” she said, “that your Shardblade was once a living spren, wielded by one of the Knights Radiant? Doesn’t that change how you look at it?”

Adolin glanced towards his Blade, which he’d left summoned, strapped with the sheath and set across her blankets. “I’ve always kind of known. Not that it was alive. That’s silly. Swords aren’t alive. I mean… I’ve always known there was something special about them. It’s part of being a duelist, I think. We all know it.”

L: I wonder if he’s playing this a little close to the chest in order to look cooler, because his actions before his duel in Words of Radiance definitely make me think that he’s believed his sword is alive for a long time:

The Shardblade didn’t respond, but Adolin imagined that it listened to him. You couldn’t use a weapon like this, a weapon that seemed like an extension of the soul itself, and not feel at times that it was alive.

L: And, as we know now, she is alive. Sort of. But we’ll get to that much later.

Arresting Artwork

A: I’m not sure, but perhaps we should have called it “Appalling Artwork” for this one.

L: I can get behind that.

A: You can sort of see how she’s drawn the strata, the passageways, and the ductwork, but it’s very surreal and creepy. Effects of a certain lurker in the depths, as we’ll discuss later, but wow! I’m assuming this is another example of Ben having to work hard to create the twistedness that Shallan feels when she tries to draw Urithiru.

L: Those circular things (vents?) in the ceiling remind me of eyes and it’s creepin’ me out. I would not want to walk down that hallway, and I’ve investigated some pretty creepy haunted places.

Quality Quotations

Then he held his hands to the sides, speaking more loudly. “I surrender.”

 * * *

“You’re saying someone happened to kill a highprince,” Adolin said, “by accident? Like … a back-alley murder outside a pub?”

 * * *

“I can’t—” she said. “I can’t be this person, Pattern. I can’t just wield the sword. Some brilliant knight on a tower, pretending she should be followed.”

A: That’s sort of foreshadow-y, there, you know? Reminds me of Shalash way out yonder in Chapters 117 and 121. Is this a Lightweaver thing?

 * * *

“Should I teach you dueling? Or should I teach you how to fight in an army?”

“I shall settle,” Radiant said, “for knowing how to avoid cutting off any of my own appendages, Brightlord Kholin.”

 * * *

That night she slept, for once, in peace.

As usual, there’s far more to be discussed, so we’ll take it to the comments. Join us next week for Chapter 16, in which Dalinar behaves in fairly bizarre fashion.

Alice is likely to be MIA when this post hits the streets; she’ll be playing chaperone to a bunch of eight-graders on a three-day history tour. Wish her luck!

Lyndsey had a fabulous time at her first JordanCon! If you’d like to see her Bridge 4 inspired karaoke performance or the lengths to which her “F*** Moash” badge ribbons stretched, check out her Facebook page. She’ll also be posting a ton of gorgeous cosplay photos from the weekend soon!

The Wheel of Conventions turns, and Cosplays come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Convention that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called 2018 by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose outside of Atlanta, Georgia. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Conventions. But it was a beginning.

The wind spoke, to those with ears trained to listen. It spoke of Aes Sedai prowling the halls in search of False Dragons, and ta’veren tossing the dice. It spoke of wizards far from their homes in Chicago. It spoke of bridgemen and havahs and those who used metals to power their magic. It spoke of blademasters, daring those who might challenge them. It spoke of monsters and men, and it spoke of talent, and love, and joy.

Here is but a sampling of that wind, captured for your enjoyment. May the Cosplayers ride again upon the winds of time.

We will begin our journey with cosplays representing Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time, as befits JordanCon. Photography/editing is by the author, unless otherwise noted. All images used with permission by the models.

Aiel, Cat and Sera

Asmodean, Ava Cash

Bloc Oct Gleeman, Tony Cioffi

Gleeman, Emily Guyton-Lange

Liandrin (Red Ajah), April Davis

Accepted Dress, Victoria Pierce

Green Ajah Aes Sedai, April Moore

al’Lan Mandragoran, Michael

Matrim Cauthon, Scott Moore

Moiraine, Mildred

Red Ajah, Jagen Sedai

Sul’dam, Maureen

Wilders on the way to the White Tower, Alix Penny and Christine Wessling

Draghkar, Sophie Coleman of Ta’veren Tees. Photography by Cooper Blackwood.

Egwene Al’Vere, Jessie Lykens. Photography by Cooper Blackwood.

Graendal, MegaWatt Cosplay. Photography by Cooper Blackwood.

Trolloc, Paul Bielaczyc of Aradani Studios. Photography by Cooper Blackwood.

Moiraine Transition, Leslie Annis (Lannis). Photography by Cooper Blackwood. Lannis was the Best in Show winner of the JordanCon costume contest this year with her beautiful work.

Our journey to the White Tower complete, we now move on to a different Age, indeed… a different universe. The worlds of Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere are varied, and their peoples even more so. I saw a wide variety of cosplays from Mistborn and The Stormlight Archive represented at JordanCon—here are but a few that I and my fellow photographer managed to capture.

Heralds of Roshar (Vedel, Ishar, and Shalash from The Stormlight Archive), Serpent and Badger Cosplay and Seth Jones

Ishar (The Stormlight Archive), Tony Cioffi

Adolin Kholin (The Stormlight Archive), Lyndsey Luther
Photography by Cooper Blackwood

Kaladin Stormblessed (The Way of Kings Bridgeman outfit), Brenda

Khol-ita version Kaladin Stormblessed and Adolin Kholin (The Stormlight Archive), Serpent and Badger Cosplay

Koloss (Mistborn), Mac

Mistborn, Lyndsey Luther. Photography by Donavynn

Mistborn, Tony Cioffi

Shallan Davar and Veil (The Stormlight Archive), Tara and Deana Whitney

Shallan Davar (The Stormlight Archive), Donavynn

Steampunk Navani Kholin (The Stormlight Archive), April Davis

Steris Harms (Mistborn Era 2), Yashuntafun Cosplay

Szeth son-son-Vallano (The Stormlight Archive), Norman (aka Hyperman500)

Vin (Mistborn), Diana Lekhtman

Vin (Mistborn), Donavynn

Lyn of Bridge Four (The Stormlight Archive), Lyndsey Luther. Photography by Cooper Blackwood.

Waxillium Ladrian and Steris Harms (Mistborn Era 2), Yashuntafun Cosplay and Seth Jones

While JordanCon’s programming is primarily for Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson’s works, the convention also welcomes a wider variety of fantasy fiction fandom. Cosplays from other book series, tv shows, video games, original designs, as well as historical outfits are welcomed and celebrated as well.

Cersei Lannister (A Song of Ice and Fire), Yashuntafun Cosplay

Harry Dresden (The Dresden Files), Zach Blair (aka Innocent Bystander)

Molly Carpenter (The Dresden Files), Linnea Lindstrom

Rita Skeeter (Harry Potter series), Ellie Raine

Well, that’s all for this year! There were so many more wonderful cosplayers that we missed getting photos of—if you’re one of them, please feel free to share in the comments!

Lyn: Welcome back to the Oathbringer reread, Cosmere Scholars and Sanderson Fans! We’ve got a hefty chapter for you this week, full of lore, an Honorblade, a world-hopper, old friendships, and…

Wrestling matches? That’s right, in this corner, weighing in at 250 pounds (I guess, maybe, because who’s gonna dare to ask him for his weight): The Storm from Alethkar! The Scourge of the Rift (too soon?)! The Highprince with the tight butt! Dalinar Kholin, the BLAAAAAAACKTHOOOOOOOORN! And in the other corner….

Well. You’ll just have to read on to find out!

Reminder: we’ll potentially be discussing spoilers for the ENTIRE NOVEL in each reread. If you haven’t read ALL of Oathbringer, best to wait to join us until you’re done.

There are also some small mentions of a world-hopper from Warbreaker in the Cosmere Connections section, so steer clear of that part if you haven’t read that book yet.

Chapter Recap

WHO: Dalinar
WHERE: Urithiru
WHEN: 1174.1.3.4 (the day after Chapter 15, three days after the spanreed conversations with other monarchs.)

The chapter begins with Dalinar having a little chat with the Stormfather about the Honorblades and the oaths the Knights Radiant had sworn. He hides the Honorblade Kaladin reclaimed from Szeth in an old sewer drain and heads off the practice grounds, where he discovers that his ardents aren’t terribly pleased by with his wedding to Navani. He engages in a friendly wrestling match with the son of a friend, then tells Navani that he’d like to hold his meeting with the Iarali Queen in the practice yard. While conducting his meeting, Dalinar spars with old comrade and now-ardent Kadash, who is upset about what he sees as Dalinar’s sacrilege. After the meeting/sparring match, Navani asks Dalinar about something and he hears a name long forgotten…

Threshold of the storm

Title: Wrapped Three Times

The belt was too tight, wrapped three times—you had to pull it hard to get enough slack to tie the knot.

Alice: This is from Dalinar’s story about his swordmaster insisting that the belt on his takama had to be wrapped three times around the waist, but when he finally found his master’s master’s master, it turned out he was a rather small fellow. (Why do I get an image of Yoda stuck in my head at this point?) The standard takama belt was too long, and if he only wrapped it twice like most people, he tripped over it. We’ve probably all heard the story in some form, right? (The version I grew up with was “Why do you always cut one end off the ham?” “So it would fit in the pot.”) But it makes a great point: tradition can be based on some pretty sketchy things, and it’s worth searching out the truth.

Heralds

All four are Ishar, Herald of luck and patron of the Order of Bondsmiths. Attributes: Pious and Guiding. Role: Priest. Also the dude who organized the spren bonding into the Knights Radiant orders.

A: There are several possibilities here: Dalinar is a Bondsmith, obviously. He also interacts with the ardents (who heartily disapprove of him) and in particular Kadash, who is torn between friendship and theology. In addition, sometimes the heralds are there to show up something that is the opposite of their traditional role, so we also have Dalinar questioning whether Honor was really God.

Icon

Kholin glyph pair, as befitting a Dalinar chapter.

Epigraph

For in this comes the lesson. –From Oathbringer, Preface

A: Well, that’s loaded.

Stories & Songs

The Knights, the Stormfather said in his head, broke their oaths. They abandoned everything they’d sworn, and in so doing killed their spren. Other blades are the corpses of those spren, which is why they scream at your touch. This weapon, instead, was made directly from Honor’s soul, then given to the Heralds. It is also the mark of an oath, but of a different type–and does not have the mind to scream on its own.

L: This raises the question, if the regular shardblade spren are DEAD, how do they scream? I suppose this is answered for us later on when Adolin begins to reawaken Maya, but I find it interesting that Dalinar didn’t ask about that.

A: Syl explained it to Kaladin (sort of) in WoR, and Dalinar had his own Blade screaming at him, so presumably they talked about what happens. The spren has to be revived in order to manifest in the Physical realm, so then it’s… sort of alive. Enough to scream if you have the connection to hear it, anyway.

Your enemy is not a man like you, the Stormfather replied, voice rumbling, thoughtful. Even… frightened. He does not age. He feels. He is angry. But this does not change, and his rage does not cool. Epochs can pass, and he will remain the same.

L: That’s a terrifying thought. I can’t imagine being angry, without any change, for such a long period of time. I suppose it’s not productive to try to hold human ideals to a force like Odium, but even so…

With [the Honorblade], you would be a Windrunner unoathed. And more. More that men do not understand, and cannot. Like a Herald, nearly.

L: Well that’s an interesting little snippet. What other powers do these things convey upon their users?! We never saw Szeth use anything more than a normal Windrunner could, did we?

A: No, I don’t believe we did. Is it possible that the Stone Shamans don’t know about all the powers the Honorblades bestow, and so don’t train to use the extended abilities? Or is it that they do know, and keep that part secret? Either way, there’s clearly more going on with the Honorblades than we’ve been shown. Yet.

The Stormfather had also confirmed that it could work on Oathgates, which might prove handy.

L: No kidding. Being able to let just anyone activate an Oathgate if all your Knights are busy elsewhere would be a great thing. It would have to be someone you trusted implicitly, though, because otherwise leaving it in the hands of an untrained regular person would be just asking for the thing to be stolen.

The Thrill. Soldiers spoke of it in the quiet of the night, over campfires. That battle rage unique to the Alethi. Some called it the power of their ancestors, others the true mindset of the soldier. … He couldn’t remember feeling the Thrill in months–and the longer he’d been apart from it, the more he’d begun to recognize that there was something profoundly wrong about the Thrill.

L: Unique to the Alethi, eh? Is this just because the Unmade who creates it happened to take up residence in Alethkar, or is there something specifically about the Alethi that invites it, do you think?

A: We know it’s not really limited to Alethi, since we learn later that the Vedans felt it during their civil war. I suspect it might be a combination of things; the first is obviously the proximity of Nergaoul, but it wouldn’t surprise me if there were some kind of genetic susceptibility, too.

L: So we’ve got a chicken and the egg scenario here; which came first, the Alethi predisposition towards violence, or Nergaoul? Did he come to them because they were already heading in that direction and he could just heighten their society’s already warlike nature, or is their culture irrevocably changed by an outside force?

Relationships & Romances

Navani raised an eyebrow at him, but ordered her assistants to get out their writing materials. A worried ardent came over, perhaps to try to dissuade her—but after a few firm orders from Navani, he went running to get her a bench and table.

A: I love the way Navani chooses her battles, and in public she chooses not to have battles with her husband. In this case, she clearly disagreed with Dalinar about staying where they were to carry on the conversation with the Iriali queen, but she chose to go along with it. And once she decided to go along with it, no mere ardent—or anyone else—is going to get her to change a thing about it. I think one of her greatest strengths is deciding what hills are worth the battle—and who she’ll fight. She chose not to argue with Dalinar here, for a number of possible reasons. But one thing she categorically refuses to do is argue with the ardents—she just gives firm orders and expects to be obeyed. And she is.

It was hard to remember the ardent as one of his elites. They hadn’t been close then; they’d only become so during Kadash’s years as an ardent.

***

“I remember, Kadash,” Dalinar said, “when you weren’t nearly so judgmental.”

***

Kadash had the haunted eyes of a soldier. When he dueled, he kept watch to the sides, in case someone tried to flank him.

***

“Surprised someone is willing to side with evil, Dalinar? That someone would pick darkness, superstition, and heresy instead of the Almighty’s light?”

L: Hoo boy. Someone’s a little bitter.

A: A little bitter, yes, but with a certain amount of rationale:

“…What happened to the ardent I knew? A man who had lived a real life, not just watched the world from high towers and monasteries?”
“He’s frightened,” Kadash said softly. “That he’s somehow failed in his most solemn duty to a man he deeply admires.”

A: Kadash has had two commitments which, until now, have always been in harmony: serving Dalinar, and serving the Almighty. Or at least… serving what the Vorin church said about the Almighty. Now Dalinar’s statements have destroyed that harmony and forced him to choose between the two, and that’s a painful spot for a straightforward man like Kadash. Add to that the feeling that Dalinar’s apostasy must be his fault, his failure, and of course he’s unhappy. And a little bitter.

For a moment, Dalinar saw in Kadash the man he’d always been. The gentle, understanding model of everything good about the Vorin church.

L: Interesting that he thinks of Kadash as “always” having been this way. I find it a little hard to believe that he’d have been this way back when he was in the army. But then, Dalinar DOES say that he didn’t know him well back then…

Diagrams & Dastardly Designs

“The power of the ones who control the new storm, however, is undeniable. They offer gracious terms.”

L: Gracious terms?! Yikes. I really have to wonder what Odium’s henchmen are promising, out there in Iri. Do they want those two Oathgates so badly that they’re willing to offer up pretty much anything to get them, or are they just planning to break whatever oaths they make once they get what they want?

A: So much mystery. We’ve figured out that local parshmen have more or less local values, which is all well and good, but… When we know almost nothing of a culture, we know nothing about what either the humans or the parshmen are trying to acheive. Very mystery.

L: Not to mention the fact they they know very little of their own culture!

Squires & Sidekicks

Clean-shaven, he was a little pale for an Alethi and had dark brown hair. Dalinar vaguely thought the man had shown up among his guards several times during the last week or so. He liked to roll a sphere across his knuckles in what Dalinar found to be a distracting way.

L: I don’t know why, but this guy (Rial) sets off warning bells in my head. We don’t usually get a ton of description for little side characters like this unless they eventually become a bigger thing, and the fact that Dalinar seems to feel like there’s something off about him makes my hair stand on end. I was totally expecting Rial to wind up being a plant or a spy by the end of the book, but he wasn’t… which means I’m still suspicious. He’s also really flippant with Dalinar, which is not a trait I think Kaladin would approve of from his bridgemen.

A: He’s one of those oddballs from Bridge Thirteen. You know how they are. ;) Seriously, though, I think he triggered that reaction in most of us. As near as I can tell, Brandon was just messing with us; we’ve come to expect Something Nasty from every new person who gets a description, so now he’s going to give us some completely innocuous characters and let us wonder about them.

L: ::eyes Rial suspiciously::

A: We learned a while back that Bridge Thirteen had replaced Bridge Four as Dalinar’s primary guard detail, since Bridge Four was apparently all going to do the squire gig for Kaladin. Ironic that by the end of the book, Bridge Thirteen ends up all becoming squires to Teft. Wonder who Dalinar is going to get stuck with next? And will they all become squires to Lopen?

Places & Peoples

Dalinar owned ardents who were experts in all manner of specialties, and per tradition any man or woman could come to them and be apprenticed in a new skill or trade.

L: This is really interesting. ANY man or woman? There’s no restrictions on social standing or sex? This must just be a Dalinar thing, because the rest of Alethi society sure hasn’t seemed this open-minded towards darkeyes or women. I really have to wonder what would happen if a darkeyed woman came to one of the swordmasters and demanded to become an apprentice…

A: We’ve run across this concept before—that anyone can come to the ardents for training. The biggest functional restriction is the simple ability to travel, and that’s not an insignificant difficulty. Assuming you can come up with the money to travel to where there are ardents capable of teaching what you want to know, though, there are still societal restrictions, such as the prohibition against darkeyes using swords. We did see ardents, however reluctantly, training Kaladin & his men to use swords, but they’re still restricted to actually carrying spears.

Basically, it’s a guarantee that you can learn a skill or trade other than what was available to you at home; there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to use that skill, but you can learn it. I doubt most people would waste their opportunity by demanding to be taught a skill they’d never be able to use, though. The whole point is to be able to make a living, after all.

Among Iri’s three monarchs, currently two kings and a queen, the latter had authority over foreign policy, so she was the one they needed to talk to.

L: THREE monarchs? This is fascinating. Seeing as how one specifically has authority of foreign policy, I wonder what the other two have authority over? And can this even be technically called a monarchy, if the rule of governance is split amongst three people?

A: Well, technically, no—since the roots of the word imply one person ruling.

“It is with wondrous awe at the grandeur of the One that I approach you. The time for the world to undergo a glorious new experience has arrived.”

L: Ugh. It’s so flowery. And yet somehow also… unsettling.

A: I so much want to know more about this culture, and I have zero expectation of learning it any time soon.

“All experience is welcome,” came the reply. “We are the One experiencing itself–and this new storm is glorious even if it brings pain.”

L: Seems very Zen to me. I can sort of get behind this idea—I’ve certainly had experiences which caused me a great deal of pain, and those experiences helped me to better understand both myself and others who might be in similar situations. However…

“Perhaps the way to prevent another Desolation is to let the Voidbringers take what they wish. From our histories, sparse though they are, it seems that this was the one option men never explored. An experience from the One we rejected.”

L: This is taking it a bit far. I mean… they don’t know that they’d be turning over their own people to slavery or worse, but… it’s a pretty good bet.

A: Er… Ummm… Nope. Not without some very clear limits on that “take what they wish” part!

Tight Butts and Coconuts

“Yes, what every wife loves,” Navani said. “Seeing that in his spare time, her husband likes to roll around on the floor with half-naked, sweaty men.”

L: Welllllll I meeaaaaaan……… You know what, I’ll just leave it at that and say that Navani Kholin is still a treasure.

“I would prefer to give this task to another, as I don’t particularly feel–”

“Tough,” Dalinar said. “I need some practice, Kadash.”

Weighty Words

“And Shardplate?” Dalinar asked.

Related, but different, the Stormfather rumbled. You haven’t spoken the oaths required to know more.

L: So Shardplate musn’t have its own highspren, then, since Knights can still wear it without hearing screaming. Later on in the book when Kaladin seems to be about to gain his, we see the windspren forming around him—going theory is that they would eventually become his Plate. The lower spren that are associated with whichever the higher spren is for each order, presumably, would be the ones forming the Plate. If this is true, did those lower spren not die when the Knights forsook their oaths? Are they still trapped in Plate-form?

A: My best guess is that “trapped” isn’t quite the right word. When a piece of Plate gets destroyed, it regrows, and my current theory is that it regrows directly via the Cognitive realm, as the lesser spren regather and shape themselves back into Plate. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it’s not necessarily the same spren, either—just the same variety, drawn to the “seed” of the existing plate and willingly forming into the needed shapes. I’m not sure you can call it “willing” if the spren have no inherent will of their own, but the point is that I don’t believe they’re coerced. It’s just what they do, like water condensing on cold glass.

“What of the thing we fight? Odium, the origin of the Voidbringers and their spren. Can he break oaths?”

No, the Stormfather said. He is far greater than I, but the power of ancient Adonalsium permeates him. And controls him. Odium is a force like pressure, gravitation, or the movement of time. Those things cannot break their own rules. Nor can he.

L: There’s a lot of Big Stuff going on in this little exchange. Big Stuff that I’m mostly going to leave to Alice because let’s face it, I’m not the Cosmere theory-crafter of the two of us.

A: I love this little passage! There’s so much Cosmere truth buried in it. We’ll learn more about this concept later, and we’ll talk about different aspects then, but this subject has come up several times recently. Odium, like Stormfather, like the spren, and like natural laws, simply cannot break certain rules. The way things are is, well, the way things are.

I think this holds the key to why Kaladin almost killed Syl in WoR; as a spren, she cannot bend or break the Ideals that form the Windrunner bond. It’s not that she’s too stubborn to stretch the rules a little, or even that she’s unreasonably demanding that he do what she wants. It’s simply, totally, inherently impossible for her to maintain a bond when her human doesn’t live by the Ideals that bind them together. She’s not “punishing” Kaladin by withdrawing her powers; even though he doesn’t understand how it works, his inability to remain committed to his Ideals damages the bond—blocks the pipes, in a manner of speaking. I have to assume that the old Knights Radiant had some understanding of this, and it would have been part of the training to learn about how the bond functions.

In a much later conversation, the Stormfather will make a distinction we need to keep in mind: humans don’t have oath-keeping built into their very being the way pieces of Adonalsium do, and so the two will never quite be able to understand each other.

“…even if the claim weren’t disputed, the queen doesn’t have any actual relation to Evi or her brother.”

L: Reaction gif time.

A: I thought this was so masterfully done. Assuming you didn’t know her name your first time through, you read it, and then there’s a “Wait, what?” moment, just before Dalinar’s … and then you catch it, just before the next bit, and the adrenaline, it does rush:

Memories blossomed in Dalinar’s head. He staggered, then slumped against the writing table, feeling as if he’d been struck by a hammer to the head.

Evi. He could hear his wife’s name.

And he suddenly remembered her face.

L: The only appropriate reaction gif for this.

Cosmere Connections

WARNING: Spoilers in this section for Warbreaker. You may wish to skip this section if you haven’t read it.

One man still lounged on his cushion. He wore a scruffy beard and clothing that seemed an afterthought–not dirty, but ragged, belted with rope.

“Not offended by my presence, Zahel?” Dalinar asked.

“I’m offended by everyone’s presence. You’re no more revolting than the rest, Mister Highprince.”

L: Well hello there, Vasher! How are you today? An interesting note, here; the word “mister” hasn’t been used at all in either Way of Kings or Words of Radiance. So here’s yet another clue that this guy’s from Somewhere Else. But we still don’t know why he’s here. Hunting down NIghtblood, perhaps? He sure seems to have been here for a long time, long enough to have earned entry into the ardentia and gained Dalinar’s trust. Alice, you’re just coming off the Warbreaker Reread, whereas it’s been years since I read it. What do you think?

A: Well… I think he and Nightblood came here together, and somehow in the transition or in the early years, Nightblood was stolen. I have the impression that Vasher came to Roshar so as to avoid the constant requirement of buying people’s Breath all the time; like he spent too much time around Vivenna and started to feel more guilt about holding other people’s Breath, or something. But who knows, maybe Nightblood misbehaved once too often, so Vasher decided to take him and move to Roshar where Nightblood could collect more Investiture without taking so much from people. I can’t help wondering when and why they got separated, but I don’t think we’re going to get that answer for a while yet.

“Every moment in our lives seems trivial,” Zahel said. “Most are forgotten while some, equally humble, become the points upon which history pivots. Like white on black.”

L: First of all, this is a really cool quote. Secondly, there’s our definitive hint that Zahel’s from Warbreaker, in case some readers didn’t pick up on it in Words of Radiance—the use of color metaphors are a dead giveaway.

“Lighteyed self-indulgence or serious sacrilege, either way it doesn’t affect me.”

L: Well, yeah. Because you’re not even from this world. Of course sacrilege to their god(s) isn’t going to matter to you. (Not that Vasher ever really seemed the pious type even on his own world…)

Quality Quotations

In a way, the death of their god gave him hope—for it Honor had fallen, surely Odium could as well.

 * * *

“I was merely one in a long line of idiots given the ability to kill people too easily.”

Well, that’s all for this week! Next week we’ll be going over chapter 17 by itself, since chapter 18’s a pretty long one. Join us in the comment section for more discussion about Warbreaker, theories, and wrestling!

Alice is, finally, mostly recovered from her adventures with eighth-graders. It was fun, but they have way more energy than she does!

Lyndsey is excited to be playing the role of “Ellen”-a-Dale at this year’s Robin Hood’s Faire in Lancaster, MA! If you live in New England, stop by some weekend and help her and the other Merry Men make a fool out of the Sheriff of Nottingham. If you’re an aspiring author, a cosplayer, or just like geeky content, follow her work on Facebook or her website.

Alice: Welcome back to the Oathbringer reread, friends and frenemies! (Do we have any of those, Lyn?)

Lyn: Only the people who defend Moash.

A: Oh, yeah. Those. Well, y’all join us this week anyway to see the results of Kaladin’s choices back in Chapter 14, as he learns a few disturbing things about the parshmen he’s been following. Dive in to the discussion!

Reminder: we’ll potentially be discussing spoilers for the ENTIRE NOVEL in each reread. This week, there are teeny tiny references to The Bands of Mourning and Mistborn: Secret History in the Weighty Words section, so if you haven’t read those, you might want to skip Alice’s comments there. But if you haven’t read ALL of Oathbringer, best to wait to join us until you’re done.

Chapter Recap

WHO: Kaladin
WHERE: Rural Alethkar
WHEN: 1174.1.3.2 (the day after Chapter 14, when he surrendered to the parshmen)

Kaladin is a prisoner of the freed parshmen, who are making their way across the country in the dead of night. Syl reveals that the parshmen and their Voidspren guide can see her, so she’s masquerading as a windspren to avoid being recognized. After a startling realization about the nature of his captors, Kaladin cuts his own bonds and offers to help his captors. They accept.

Threshold of the storm

Title: Trapped In Shadows

“I have spent my entire life living in a fog,” the parshman yelled at him. “Every day knowing I should say something, do something to stop this! Every night clutching my daughter, wondering why the world seems to move around us in the light—while we are trapped in shadows. They sold her mother. Sold her. Because she had birthed a healthy child, which made her good breeding stock.

“Do you understand that, human? Do you understand watching your family be torn apart, and knowing you should object—knowing deep in your soul that something is profoundly wrong? Can you know that feeling of being unable to say a single storming word to stop it?”

The parshman pulled him even closer. “They may have taken your freedom, but they took our minds.”

A: I know that’s a long quote, but I can’t help feeling that we need the whole thing in here. We’ll talk about it more below.

Heralds

Jezrien x 4: Herald of Kings, patron of Windrunners, divine attributes of Protecting & Leading, role of King.

A: This seems fairly clear: Kaladin, although he avoids doing anything Windrunner-y, is moving into a role of protecting and leading these lost souls. The spren guiding them doesn’t have much sense of how to actually take care of their physical needs or to keep them from being detected, so Kaladin just… does.

Icon

Kaladin’s Banner & Spears icon show that he’s the primary—and in this case, sole—POV.

Epigraph

It is not a lesson I claim to be able to teach. Experience herself is the great teacher, and you must seek her directly.
—From Oathbringer, preface

A: The double meanings, they are fraught! Obviously, in context of the in-world Oathbringer, Dalinar is talking about his own experiences, and his hope that by seeing what he has done, others may learn the same things through less painful experiences. In context of this chapter, though, Kaladin is trying to use his past experience to relate to the parshmen, and to teach them the things that will make their new experience less miserable. He’s also trying to learn what he can about their new forms and purposes, in order to give Dalinar the best possible information about them—and of course, that will now be done through his own experience as their fellow traveller.

Relationships & Romances

A: We see a couple of interesting tidbits in this chapter. The less obvious one is Kaladin’s brief reminiscence about his various escape attempts, one of which involved a person named Nalma. All we get here is her name; we’ll learn more (and talk more) about her in Chapter 97, many months from now.

The other relationship that begins to develop here is that between Kaladin’s primary as-yet-unnamed guard and his young daughter. Between scenes, Kaladin got a look inside that one good tent, and discovered that it held children—parsh children, which we’ve never seen mentioned before, but of course they brought their children. We see this little girl’s love for her father, and his for her, but we also get to see here her uncertainty and fear for him, and for all of her people:

“Will they really chase us?” the girl asked. “Why can’t they just let us go? Could you go back and tell them? We don’t want trouble. We just want to go away.”

A: This whole conversation is a big step in Kaladin’s loss of antagonism toward, and the development of friendship with, these particular parshmen, so there’s that relationship too. The conversation has a heartbreaking conclusion:

“Your ancestors—the people like you from long ago. There was a war, and…”
Storms. How did you explain slavery to a seven-year-old?

A: Indeed.

Bruised & Broken

A: Just one tiny quick note here, as Kaladin thinks that the end of the Weeping should be near, bringing highstorms and stormlight, but also:

Soon, blessedly, this would all dry up and he could finally see the sun again.

After the long, rainy months we’ve experienced here in the Pacific northwest, I can relate to this. These past few days of sunshine have been so welcome!

Squires & Sidekicks

L: I find it interesting to note that in the card game the parshmen were playing, Kaladin points out that “The squire can capture if supported by an allied card.” It would make sense if the rules of the card game are based in history—most games in our real world like chess or our own playing card suits at least slightly match up to real-world analogous actions or powers. A pawn in chess can only move and capture in small, clearly delineated actions whereas a queen or a knight has more power on the board. So, if the squire in the card game can capture if supported by allies, what does this imply about a squire’s historical power in Roshar back before the Recreance?

A: Well, it makes sense with what we’ve seen. A Knight Radiant’s squires can’t do much when their Knight is too far away, as witness Bridge Four while Kaladin is off chasing parshmen. But when he gets back, they will develop nearly the same range of powers that he has. It’s pretty clear, IMO, that this game does have strong foundations in the Knights Radiant; if a brightlord designates a squire, people will generally treat them with whatever respect is generated by the brightlord himself. But the Radiants have an immutable limitation: squires can’t capture do anything magic without the specific physical proximity of the Knight.

L: And then we get this other interesting little tidbit:

“[The King] can capture any other card except another king, and can’t be captured himself unless touched by three enemy cards of knight or better. Um … and he is immune to the Soulcaster.”

L: Immune to the Soulcaster, eh? Just a fun rule that someone thought of over the course of the years, or might there be some hint of truth in here?

A: I wish I knew… It seems so significant! Hey, I’m going to go look something up. BRB.

… Okay, I’m back. You know that Surgebinding chart on the front endpaper of The Way of Kings? There are lines connecting some orders to others besides the ones next to them. The Windrunners (Jezrien, King) are connected to the Edgedancers and the Lightweavers, but the line from the Lightweavers (who can soulcast) to the Windrunners is broken by the larkin. I have no idea if that means a tootin’ thing, but there it is.

Flora & Fauna

The rockbud needs a barrier between itself and the water outside for some reason, though it always seems eager to drink after a storm.

L: Interesting. I wonder why?

A: Maybe it can tell when enough water is enough, so it closes up and keeps the grain inside from getting waterlogged and rotting? Alternatively, maybe he’s got it backward: it’s eager to drink after a storm, but the barrier is there to keep the moisture from leaching out when things get dry.

Places & Peoples

Parshmen did breed, though people often spoke of them being bred, like animals. And, well, that wasn’t far from the truth, was it? Everyone knew it.

What would Shen–Rlain–think if Kaladin had said those words out loud?

L: Ah, the inbred racism. I love that Kaladin thinks of Rlain here, though. Often times, the best way to break yourself out of the privilege bubble is to make friends with someone who isn’t as privileged as you are. Seeing what they go through, or even hearing about it from someone you care about, is a more effective form of empathy than simply looking at things from the outside. Some people just have a hard time connecting to and understanding alternative points of view if they’ve never interacted with or befriended someone who holds that point of view—or place of privilege. So the fact that Kaladin is drawing from his friendship with Rlain to understand his new captors rings very true to me.

“You’re not monsters,” Kaladin whispered. “You’re not soldiers. You’re not even the seeds of the void. You’re just … runaway slaves.”

A: So… that could have been phrased better, dude, but this is a moment of revelation. Kaladin figures out why it all seemed so familiar, and all of a sudden the whole thing clicks for him. He understands them (in the way that’s important for him); they are no longer a terror nor a puzzle, but people in a known and sympathetic situation. Unfortunately, the parshman who overhears him misunderstands his “just runaway slaves” as sneering at them, rather than identifying with them.

L: However…

“When they make a human into a slave,” Kaladin said, “they brand him. I’ve been here. Right where you are.”

“And you think that makes you understand?”

L: I won’t quote the entirety of the parshman’s speech that follows this again, because it’s quite long, but the gist of it is “no, you do not understand, because you haven’t been living this hell for your entire life, your PARENTS didn’t live it, THEIR parents didn’t live it” and so on. And it’s true. Recognizing your privilege–as Kaladin has done–is important. But it’s equally as important to realize that no matter how well you can empathize, you can never truly understand, not unless you’ve been marginalized in a similar fashion yourself.

“They may have taken your freedom, but they took our minds.”

L: This is so, so powerful.

A: Right through the heart.

“I may not understand what you’ve been through, but I do know what it feels like to run.”

L: Well done, Kal.

Weighty Words

“The Everstorm,” Syl said. “Power has filled the holes in their souls, bridging the gaps. They didn’t just wake, Kaladin. They’ve been healed, Connection refounded, Identity restored. There’s more to this than we ever realized. Somehow when you conquered them, you stole their ability to change forms. You literally ripped off a piece of their souls and locked it away.”

L: Yikes. There’s some really heavy parallels we could make here to slavery in the real world, but we’ve already discussed this concept at length above, and in this case—unlike the real world—we’re talking literal as opposed to conceptual. Not only did the humans steal the Listeners’ culture and sense of self, they literally locked away an integral part of their souls.

A: Oathbringer shows us a lot more of things like Connection and Identity than the previous two books. These are concepts introduced in the Cosmere mostly through The Bands of Mourning and Mistborn: Secret History, so speaking as a Cosmere geek, it’s rather exciting to see them overtly applied to The Stormlight Archive. Speaking as a human being, though, it’s appalling to see more specifically what’s been done to an entire race. The truly bizarre part comes in realizing that these sympathetic people (yay!) were healed (yay!) by a storm sourced in Odium (ack!! Help! NO!!). It’s a little disorienting.

Doom & Destiny

“What about the king?” his captor said, speaking in a soft voice, but turning his head to direct the question at Kaladin.

Elhokar? What … Oh, right. The cards.

…

“When I watched men play, they used this card rarely. If it is so powerful, why delay?”

“If your king gets captured, you lose,” Kaladin said. “So you only play him if you’re desperate or if you are certain you can defend him. Half the times I’ve played, I left him in my barrack all game.”

A: I can’t help thinking this is a bit of foreshadowing for the Kholinar venture.

L: THE FORESHADOWING. IT HURTS.

A: Why didn’t Elhokar just stay in the barrack Urithiru??? ::sniffle:: But I’d probably never have cared about him as much if he had, so … there’s that, I guess.

A Scrupulous Study of Spren

Syl zipped past, and when Kaladin tried to catch her attention, she just laughed and flew higher on a burst of wind.

A: My first instinctive reaction was an “Oh, NO!!” followed immediately by “She’s pretending to be a windspren, right, in case anyone sees her?”

She was acting so carefree. Too carefree? Like she’d been back before they forged their bond?

A: Obviously it was Kaladin’s fear, too, that something had affected their bond. But it was just Syl being clever:

“It’s not that,” she said, speaking in a furious whisper. “I think parshmen might be able to see me. Some, at least. And that other spren is still here too. A higher spren, like me.”

A: Aside from “no one is like you, Syl!” and the further evidence (as if we needed it) that parshmen see more of the Cognitive realm than humans do, that statement is a bit worrisome. I mean, we sort of knew that it had to be, but now it’s confirmed that there are higher spren, sapient spren, that are not “on our side” for whatever that means.

“The spren is guiding them,” Kaladin said under his breath. “Syl, this spren must be…” “From him,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around herself and growing small—actively shrinking to about two-thirds her normal size. “Voidspren.”

A: ::shiver::

Quality Quotations

“If it means they can’t take us again?” she said. “Yes, I’d kill him. I won’t go back, Ton.”

* * *

You were never free while you ran; you felt as if the open sky and the endless fields were a torment. You could feel the pursuit following, and each morning you awoke expecting to find yourself surrounded.

Until one day you were right.

* * *

“You think I’d trust you?” the parshman finally said. “You will want us to be caught.”

I’m not sure I do,” Kaladin said, truthful.

Okay, that was a boatload. Next week we’ll be addressing chapter 18; it’s a long one in which Shallan does many foolish things and another beta reader is tuckerized. For now, let’s take the discussion to the comments!

Alice is enjoying the finally-turned-to-spring weather of Seattle in May—for however long it lasts. In the “for what it’s worth” department, the Storm Cellar facebook group has been growing, and is only 48 members away from reaching 1000. The admin team is looking at some possible celebration ideas, so keep an eye out! Oh, and join the group, if you haven’t already!

Lyndsey is so happy that spring has finally sprung here in New England. If you’re an aspiring author, a cosplayer, or just like geeky content, follow her work on Facebook or her website.