Greetings, oh wondrous rereaders of the Oathbringer! Welcome back to the discussion, as the winsome threesome tackle yet another Moash chapter full of sledge-pulling, fatalism, and a moment of sheer rebellion. Oh, but that’s after a fascinating chapter of Jasnah discussing Radiants and Desolations with her spren, Ivory.

Reminder: we’ll potentially be discussing spoilers for the ENTIRE NOVEL in each reread. There are very minor spoilers for Sixth of the Dusk in the Epigraph speculation, and that’s it for Cosmere spoilers. But if you haven’t read ALL of Oathbringer, best to wait to join us until you’re done.

Chapter Recap

WHO: Jasnah; Moash
WHERE: Jasnah’s quarters in Urithiru; the road from Revolar to Kholinar
WHEN: 1174.1.8.2 (one day after Skar’s chapter), 1174.1.7.1 through 1.10.1 (starting nine days after the last Moash chapter, and ending the same day that Kaladin’s team arrives outside Kholinar)

Chapter 47: Jasnah reviews the transcription of the Herald-madman’s ramblings, discussing its contents with her spren Ivory. The two spend most of the (highly informative) chapter worrying over how much they don’t know, how to find the Heralds, how to deal with Shallan, and how to prepare for the coming conflict.

Chapter 48: Moash pulls a sledge along a familiar route, as he travels with the Voidbringers from Revolar to Kholinar. It’s not such a bad life, compared to carrying bridges, and the Voidbringers seem to be pretty decent as slave-owners go, with one exception: the group of parshmen who had brought a “false god” with them are treated brutally.

The Singing Storm

Title: So Much Is Lost; Rhythm of Work

So much is lost between Returns.

AA: The title comes from Talenel’s ramblings, as read by Jasnah. It applies as much to Jasnah as Taln, though, because this time much was gained since the previous Desolation. (Well, okay, a lot of knowledge was lost, but more in terms of history than technology; in the latter, much has been gained.) But Jasnah…

In one moment, all of her expertise had been wiped away. “We’ve lost so much time,” she said.

“Yes. We must catch what we have lost, Jasnah. We must.”

She not only lost her notes—she’s retrieving those now—but she lost her lead in research, and much of what she’d learned may turn out to be irrelevant. Mostly, she’s lost time.

Moash fell into the sturdy rhythm of the work. It wasn’t long until he was sweating.

The reason for this choice is fairly clear, as Moash moves toward greater sympathy with the Parsh and away from humans. He can’t hear the rhythms, of course, but the title is clearly reflective of them.

Heralds

Talenelat (Dependable, Resourceful—Stonewards), Battah (Wise, Careful—Elsecallers); Kalak (Resolute, Builder—Willshapers)

AA: Okay, not much debate needed for Jasnah’s Heralds! Our favorite Elsecaller is reading the transcription of Talenel’s ramblings. Need we say more? As for Moash’s chapter, my first reaction is, “Well, it had to be someone, I guess.” I don’t read him as particularly resolute, nor as terribly constructive. I suppose it could be due to his admiration for the efficiency and effectiveness of the Voidbringers’ organization and logistics. Aubree, you must have a better idea.

AP: He does also have a moment here where he stands up for others, in interceding for the parshmen that Kaladin helped.

Icon

Shadesmar; Not Bridge Four

AA: This is the first time in Oathbringer that we’ve seen the Shadesmar icon. Originally, this one was on all the Shallan chapters—up until she drew Pattern into the Physical realm. Since then, we’ve seen it on Jasnah’s rare chapters, so we don’t really know whether this will be specific to Jasnah from here on, or whether it will be used for developing Radiants in general. I guess we’ll have to RAFO.

L: I wouldn’t say that Jasnah is developing, though. She’s farther along than most of the others we’ve seen POVs from, so if that were the case, all of the budding Radiant characters should have this icon. I think it’s more likely to do with the fact that she’s an Elsecaller and more closely linked to Shadesmar than the others.

AA: No, Jasnah never was a “developing Radiant” on screen except in the WoR Prologue. But we have to identify it somehow, and it was used for Shallan up until it was revealed that she was a Lightweaver. At that point she got her distinct Pattern icon, and now Jasnah has the Shadesmar one. Quite true, though, that the Shadesmar icon suits an Elsecaller better than anyone else!

AA: “Not Bridge Four,” of course, denotes another chapter in the Moash spiral.

Epigraph

Indeed, we admire his initiative. Perhaps if you had approached the correct one of us with your plea, it would have found favorable audience.

But we stand in the sea, pleased with our domains. Leave us alone.

L: In the sea?

AA: I think this might be the reason I associate the correspondent with First of the Sun—because that story all takes place on an archipelago called the Pantheon. I dunno, though.

Stories & Songs

Ishar keeps talking about a way to keep information from being lost following Desolations. And you have discovered something unexpected. We will use that. Surgebinders to act as guardians… Knights…

L: Something unexpected? And who’s the “you” in this letter?

AA: I assume he’s referring to the Radiants, and “you” is just whoever in this time frame happens to be listening, but it’s highly cryptic. His entire ramble mixes up time frames and events so that it’s almost impossible to really understand—except that he’s talking about the way things have been in the past, through a mind that’s almost destroyed by 4500 years of torment.

AP: So I know this one was an extra long time period before Desolations. Do we know how long the gap “usually” was? It’s pretty amazing that Taln held out for that long.

AA: The first gaps were, according to the Stormfather, a matter of hundreds of years. By the end, they were more often less than ten years, and the last one was less than a year. Hundreds of years is pretty impressive for them all, even though at least part of that would have been while they were effectively hiding. Once found, the torture began. It seems that the ancestor-souls got better at finding them (or they got worse at hiding), and it’s only reasonable that someone would break sooner each time. Except Taln. Still, 4500 years? I mean, maybe with just one person it was possible to hide longer, but … wow.

“We must search Shadesmar… In this world, men can hide easily—but their souls shine out to us on the other side.”

“Unless someone knows how to hide them.”

AA: So… does this apply to everyone, or only to Cognitive Shadows? Are Cognitive Shadows easier to distinguish from ordinary living people when viewed from within Shadesmar? I’m a little disappointed that this notion was not pursued… unless it was, and we just haven’t seen it yet.

AP: I got the sense that this is how the Fused found Jezrien at the end of the book. But I may be totally off on that. I also think that the ability to hide the reflection of souls in Shadesmar is going to come in handy later on in the series.

AA: Oh, duh. I never thought of that, and it makes way more sense. They had control of the area around Kholinar in both Physical and Cognitive realms, so of course they would have found him that way. Okay, now I’m sad again.

What had they done with that victory? They’d set up false gods in the form of men whose eyes reminded them of the Knights Radiant.

AA: Well, a history scholar he ain’t… but conflating things from his perspective, and leaving out about 3000 years, I suppose he’s not entirely wrong. A bit hyperbolic, I think, because no one sees the lighteyes as gods, but it’s a fascinating little juxtaposition when the the parshwoman later refers to an actual Knight Radiant as a false god.

AP: Hyperbolic in the sense that the lighteyes aren’t gods. But not overmuch given the deep social divide and effective caste system.

The life of men over the centuries had been nothing more than a long string of murders, wars, and thefts.

L: Interesting that he seems to assume that the Voidbringers would be any better. My father once told me something that really stuck with me—he told me that every thirty or so years, someone would start a war. I think about that fact a lot, and this revelation Moash has about humanity seems to indicate that things aren’t much different on Roshar than on Earth in that regard.

AP: So we, as readers, know that they aren’t better, but with everything that Moash has been through, I’m not at all surprised that he’s ready to jump from Team Human. I don’t think that in Alethkar there is even a 30 year period of peace. The Thrill in Alethkar was really messing with stuff. All he knows is that Team Voidbringer treated him better as a slave than he was treated by the humans. He’s got proper equipment, a reasonable pace to keep up, food, and rest breaks.

L: Yeah, especially given his time as a bridgeman.

The Voidbringers seemed so much better than the human armies he’d been a part of… except for one thing.

There was a group of parshman slaves.

L: Oh hey there, parshmen that Kaladin helped! Sucks to see them being treated like this, though. Poor Kal would be heartbroken if he knew.

AA: Especially since he would see it as his fault. Which it sort of is, though he certainly wasn’t responsible for the way they’re being treated. It’s another one of those cases where he had all the good intentions when he helped them, but someone else has to bear the consequences of his decision to leave. The manner in which he left certainly didn’t help.

AP: I’m really glad they showed up again. I also think it’s interesting that Kaladin couldn’t ultimately help them, but Moash does. Quite a reversal in roles here, and gives possible hints to people that think Moash may end up as a Dark Windrunner.

AA: Unfortunately, mostly it seems that Moash was able to get them a position in the invading army, so they all died in the clash with Kaladin’s Wall Guard squad. But that’s a sad story for another day.

Relationships & Romances

AA: I’ll just put in a quick note here that Moash had an uncle who was a caravaneer, who was apparently his first mentor in that society. I forgot to mention last week that Moash says his grandparents had encouraged him to join the caravans, “to give him something productive to do.” That’s loaded with a variety of interpretations…

Buy it Now

Bruised & Broken

Jasnah had rejected the nice rooms with balconies on the rim of Urithiru; those had such an obvious entrance for assassins or spies.

L: I’d like to take a moment here to talk about Jasnah’s paranoia—whether founded or not, it’s an interesting aspect to her personality. There are a lot of theories about her past, and what kind of violent trauma she may have suffered. Is it just the illness she mentions, or was there more? Many people think she suffered a rape or other physical assault, and moments like this really cause me to side with that possibility. Granted, we’ve already seen one failed on-screen assassination attempt, so this could feasibly be a result of that and not some murky historical event we’ve yet to see. But… I keep thinking back to that moment in the alleyway in WoK, when she baited and annihilated those thieves. This… is not the action of a woman whose mind is entirely unbroken. Something happened to her. As to what exactly it was? We probably won’t find out until her flashback book.

AA: I agree with everything you say. I also have to add that Jasnah had a close relationship with assassins, and likely learned from them a lot about their methods. She thinks in terms of politics and intrigue, so it’s pretty natural to protect herself against others like herself!

“You are like a spren. You think by facts. You change not on simple whims. … Compared to other humans, you are practically a stone!”

She sighed, standing up and brushing past him, returning to her writing desk.

“Jasnah?” Ivory asked. “Am I… in error?”

“I am not so much a stone as you think, Ivory. Sometimes I wish I were.”

L: Poor Jasnah. Viewed by everyone as being this unfeeling rock driven only by intellect. I can’t wait to learn more about her.

AA: I find it … odd? that even her spren sees her that way. I guess we’ve already decided that your spren can’t read your mind, but I keep expecting them to have more insight than humans.

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.

L: An illness no one seems to remember? That’s really, really interesting. Sounds like some odd magic is afoot here, something like Dalinar’s pruning.

AA: It’s driving me crazy, frankly. Do they not remember it because it didn’t seem all that significant to the adults? Just a typical childhood illness, though she reacted badly to the treatment? Something that, right or wrong, she somehow blamed on the adults? Or was it something far deeper that no one else will talk about?

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

L: The plot (and mystery) thickens further.

AA: Which people, Jasnah?? If it was her parents, that really bothers me. But we know so little of her childhood, and who she would have loved and trusted at that time.

What happened at the Shattered Plains wasn’t my fault, he thought as he hauled the sledge. I was pushed into it. I can’t be blamed.

L: Oh FFS.

AA: ^^ This. Also this:

Moash had failed Kaladin and the others—but that was merely how men were in this debased age. He couldn’t be blamed. He was a product of his culture.

AA: That’s a load of chull dung.

There was a lot of great discussion last week about Moash—his personality issues, his feeling of not belonging, his inability to demonstrate loyalty, and where that all might have come from. I could relate to some of the points made—at least enough to sort of comprehend why he might have developed as he did. The picture of a guy who never fits in and can’t quite figure out what to do about it … helps. More, I can relate to the idea of not letting anyone see that I want to belong if I feel I can’t; I’d rather have people think I’m arrogant than that I’m embarrassed. (Well, not so much any more, but when I was his age, yeah.) So that gives me a handle on Moash as a believable person, in a way that all the arguments about social injustice fail to do.

That said, I still cannot accept the fatalism that says, “I’m just a product of my culture and I couldn’t have done anything else.” If that were true, no one else could ever be loyal or trustworthy either, dude. Of course, that’s deliberate on the part of the author. We see other characters who could easily claim the same rationale, and they don’t. I don’t think it’s any coincidence, for example, that Kaladin and Moash were both very high nahn, they both see injustice in society, and then they react very differently to it.

AP: This is where I see Moash at his most broken, and where he does try to abdicate responsibility/blame for his actions, which he wasn’t doing in the last chapter. His reaction to his revelation that most humans are awful is to try to lose himself in difficult work. It’s a believable reaction, I’ve known plenty of people who just want to tire themselves out instead of thinking about things that are difficult. But it’s a bad reaction, and a complete reversal to “it’s my fault that I failed Bridge Four” that we had in the last chapter. This also is where he has the visible cracks that begin to let Odium’s influence in, which we see in his next few chapters.

The whipping began. The cries, the harsh crack of leather on skin.

That’s enough.

L: I remember reading this for the first time and being really happy to see this moment. Not the whipping, of course—the fact that Moash FINALLY stepped forward to do the right thing.

AP: I agree, and it’s the beginning of a new arc for him, toward Team Voidbringer.

“Stop it!” he snapped, then shoved the other overseer aside. “Don’t you see what you’re doing? You’re becoming like us.”

The two overseers stared at him, dumbfounded.

“You can’t abuse each other,” Moash said. “You can’t.”

AA: Because if you show me that you’re just as bad as the humans are, you might destroy all my rationalizations. I say this, of course, because like Lyndsey, I thought maybe this would be a turning point, but it really isn’t much of one. Correction: It isn’t the kind of turning point I hoped it would be! As we see him later, that whole “do the right thing” isn’t his thing; he continues with his “someone else made me do it” gig, except now it’s Team Voidbringer giving the orders.

AP: What is interesting though is that they listened to him, and did stop whipping the parshmen. Because he showed his passion. The different motivators here are in stark contrast Team Human with it’s Honor/Obligation/Vengeance and Team Voidbringer with Passion/Do What Feels Right. Both of these are broken systems, but Moash is actually equipped to navigate the latter.

Diagrams & Dastardly Designs

“We must tell the others what we learned from Wit, Ivory. Eventually, this secret must be known.”

“Jasnah, no. It would be the end. Another Recreance.”

AA: It was so frustrating to read this and get no more discussion! Jasnah knows what caused the Recreance, and she won’t tell us?! I wonder, though, whether she knows the whole thing, just like I wonder whether the revelation of the Eila Stele is the whole story. For that matter, I wonder if the Knights Radiant who abandoned their oaths knew the whole story!

AP: There’s always another secret! I think the truth is much more complicated than either side would like to believe.

AA: I’m counting on that!

Places & Peoples

There, miles and miles away, a scribe was carefully rewriting each page of her notes, which she had originally sent to them to keep safe.

AA: Now there’s a serious dedication to backing up your files! I wonder whether she knows these scribes personally, to trust them with her most guarded information, or if it’s just that this particular facility is known for its careful security. It seems like a huge risk for someone like Jasnah to take; on the other hand, she would consider the possibility of losing her notebooks and take steps to prevent complete loss. I find myself really hoping that there’s still good information in there that will be needed; it would be a shame for all that work to be wasted.

She was a young parshwoman with dark red skin, marbled only slightly with white. She wore a havah. Though it didn’t seem like marching clothing, she wore it well. She had even done up the sleeve to cover her safehand.

AA: A good little Vorin Voidbringer? Heh. I doubt she really cares about covering her safehand; that’s just the way this dress is worn, and that’s what she’s grown up with. But the irony was too good not to remark on it.

AP: I thought it was a nice remark on how the former parshmen slaves took on the outward trappings of power that their oppressors wore. The havah is what lighteyed human women wore, and the parshwoman has taken that marker of status and used it to signal that she is important to the army as an Overseer. We know that she’s not, the Fused are the ones in charge, but wearing the havah makes her feel like she is in charge.

“They harbored a false god. Brought him into the very center among us.”

“The Almighty?”

She laughed. “A real false god, a living one. Like our living gods.”

AA: I find it fascinating that they refer to the Knights Radiant as “real false gods.” Apparently in their lexicon, someone who can use the surges is by definition a god, whatever their source of power. “True” and “False” are defined by the source—Odium, or Honor/Cultivation. This is making my brain hurt a little, given what we know—and don’t know—of their history.

Buy it Now

Weighty Words

“All ten orders are again,” Ivory said from behind her.

…

“Ten orders,” Jasnah said. “All ended in death.”

“All but one,” Ivory agreed. “They lived in death instead.”

L: Which order is Ivory referring to here? The Skybreakers?

AA: Presumably. I wonder if he sees them as having abandoned the spirit of their Ideals, though they follow the letter. It could also be that he sees their hiding from the rest of humanity as a form of death, since the Knights Radiant were formed to protect humanity and keep knowledge alive between desolations.

Meaningful/Moronic/Mundane Motivations

Moash found himself enjoying these weeks hiking and pulling his sledge. It exhausted his body, quieted his thoughts, and let him fall into a calm rhythm. This was certainly far better than his days as a lighteyes, when he’d worried incessantly about the plot against the king.

It felt good to just be told what to do.

AA: At least he’s consistent. If you want no responsibility for your actions, just following orders is a whole lot easier than actual freedom. Frustrating as I find this attitude, I can understand it. The sudden jump from second (or third, maybe) nahn to fourth dahn would be unsettling; when you’ve been walking around with a chip on your shoulder for years, and all of a sudden you’re one of the hated nobles, what do you do? Sometimes it’s just easier to be a little cog in a big machine, than to try to steer the machine.

AP: Yeah, I mentioned this above, but this is where I see Moash at his lowest, abdicating his responsibility. It doesn’t last, because he does pick a team and start advancing within Team Voidbringer. But here, he can try to lose himself in the work.

A Scrupulous Study of Spren

She leaned back in her seat and Ivory—full-sized, like a human—stepped over to the table. Hands clasped behind his back, he wore his usual stiff formal suit. The spren’s coloring was jet black, both clothing and features, though something prismatic swirled on his skin. It was as if pure black marble had been coated in oil that glistened with hidden color.

L: This is such a cool description. Also, interesting that he’s full-sized. We’ve seen Syl do this once before as well, but the spren usually seem to prefer being smaller. I wonder if it takes more energy to manifest a larger size like this in this plane?

He could change his size at will, but not his shape, except when fully in this realm, manifesting as a Shardblade.

L: Neat that he can’t change his form like Syl can.

AA: One of these days, I’m going to research this phenomenon…

“The ancient ones,” Ivory said again, nodding. He didn’t often speak of the spren who had been lost during the Recreance. Ivory and his fellows had been mere children—well, the spren equivalent—at the time. They spent years, centuries, with no older spren to nurture and guide them.

L: From what we see in Shadesmar later on, those spren are still around—at least, some of them are. Did some die off completely, or are they all wandering around lost like Maya was?

AA: This is yet another of those ongoing mysteries. Presumably, any that still exist as bonded Shardblades in the Physical realm are still wandering around Shadesmar when unsummoned… but where are they all?

“One does not war with Cryptics, as one does with honorspren. Cryptics have but one city, and do not wish to rule more. Only to listen.”

L: Spren culture/society fascinates me. I find it amusing how all the others seem to hate honorspren so much, when the one that we’ve seen and gotten to know is so sweet and charming.

AA: I expect we’ll be talking about that a lot more in a few months! The honorspren we meet in Shadesmar aren’t quite as sweet as Syl!

AP: It’s important to note that the honorspren are the ones who are causing wars. As much of a good quality as we think of honor, or being an honorable person, the flip side is that there are a lot of people (and apparently a lot of spren) that will turn violent quickly due to perceived slights against their honor. The whole Alethi culture is based on honor/vengeance, and the war on the Shattered Plains is a war of honor.

L: Reminds me of the Klingons!

The difference between a higher spren like him and a common emotion spren was in their ability to decide how to act.

L: So autonomy/sapience?

AA: I’d say so, yes. There are other differences, I’m sure, but in the current context, this is the important part. I do wonder how they came about in the first place, though.

Quality Quotations

Kalak will teach you to cast bronze, if you have forgotten this…. Vedel can train your surgeons, and Jezrien will teach you leadership…. I will train your soldiers.

 * * *

“We are naught before him, Jasnah. He would destroy my kind and yours.”

 * * *

He had taken the name Ivory as a symbol of defiance. He was not what his kin said he was, and would not suffer what fate proclaimed.

 * * *

Compared to bridge duty, this was a paradise.

 * * *

Though strict and unforgiving, the Voidbringers understood that to work hard, slaves needed good rations and plenty of time at night to rest.

 * * *

Everything was converging on the capital.

Okay, we’re done for now. Whew! Next week we’ll give Aubree a week off (if she wants it) while we flash back with Dalinar in Chapter 49. It’s a very special event in his life. Meanwhile, join us in the comments for more excellent discussion!

Alice is enjoying Indian summer in western Washington. The Weeping will arrive soon enough, but for now, it’s lovely out thataway.

Lyndsey is still waiting on news on the Yuri!!! On Ice movie. If you’re an aspiring author, a cosplayer, or just like geeky content, follow her work on Facebook or her website.

Aubree goes all the way up to eleven.

Hey, y’all! It’s Thursday up in here, and you know what that means: Oathbringer Reread Time! This week we’re twenty-three years in the past, as Dalinar deals with addictions, relationships, fatherhood, and monstrousness.

Reminder: we’ll potentially be discussing spoilers for the ENTIRE NOVEL in each reread. This week contains no Cosmere spoilers, but if you haven’t read ALL of Oathbringer, best to wait to join us until you’re done.

Chapter Recap

WHO: Dalinar
WHERE: Kholinar
WHEN: 1150 (Twenty-three years ago)

The chapter begins with Dalinar in a bar, enjoying some firemoss. When a wrestling match breaks out, he and his former elites place bets—but one of the combatants can’t make it. Dalinar offers to fight the reigning champion, but the man refuses, afraid for his own well-being. Dalinar’s brother-in-law arrives with happy news to break up the tension—Evi is in labor!

Dalinar arrives back home to find his first-born son healthy and his wife exhausted but well. He names the child Adolin, “born unto light.” As he’s leaving, Gavilar pulls him aside and tells him that he needs him to go back out on campaign to quell some uprisings. Not at the Rift—not yet, anyway.

The Singing Storm

Title: Born Unto Light

“Adoda.” Light. He glanced toward Evi, who nodded in agreement.

“Without a suffix, my lord? Adodan? Adodal?”

“Lin,” Dalinar whispered. Born unto. “Adolin.”

A: And now we know what the name means. I wonder if knowing the meaning of your name makes you more likely to reflect that meaning in your personality. Despite his occasional dark moments, the name really seems to fit.

L: Just popping in here to say how much I LOVE the meaning behind his name. In a world in which Light holds such significance, this name may be particularly portentous.

Heralds

Jezrien (King, Protecting/Leading, Windrunners)

A: I… really don’t have anything to suggest here. If Adolin had been made king at the end of the book, I’d call Jezrien “foreshadowing,” but that doesn’t work. And he’s not a Windrunner, nor likely to be. So… Dalinar as protector? I guess?

L: Jezrien is mentioned in here, and there’s quite a lot about what it means to be a king in regards to Gavilar’s conversation with Dalinar towards the end.

A: That works.

Icon

Kholin Glyphpair Inverse, meaning that this is one of Dalinar’s flashbacks.

Stories & Songs

“Excellent,” Dalinar said. “What? You worried about injuring your highprince? I promise you clemency for anything done to me.”
“Hurting you?” the man said. “Storms, that’s not what I’m afraid of.”

L: I love how Dalinar’s reputation precedes him.

He’d agreed to wear a crown after much debate—Sunmaker hadn’t worn one, and the histories said Jezerezeh’Elin refused them as well.

L: Interesting little tidbit about Jezrien here!

“Do you ever wonder about the time when this kingdom was truly great, Dalinar?” Gavilar asked. “When people looked to the Alethi. When kings sought their advice. When we were … Radiant.”

“Traitors,” Dalinar said.

“Does the act of a single generation negate many generations of domination? We revere the Sunmaker when his reign lasted but the blink of an eye—yet we ignore the centuries the Radiants led. How many Desolations did they defend mankind?”

A: So… wow. I find it disturbing that Gavilar only thinks about the time of the Radiants and the related Alethi status in terms of world domination, though I suppose given modern Vorin belief it makes sense. But the first paragraph? He’s not wrong. There was a time, according to Dalinar’s visions, when the Alethi were a great kingdom. They were the ones the world looked to, the ones whose advice was sought. Their task between Desolations was to maintain the arts and skills needed to be prepared for the next attack, so naturally people looked to them for information and training. Alethela was great because they protected, not because they dominated.

What I find really sad is that the attitude represented by Gavilar here is the one that causes the most problem with Dalinar’s attempts to return to the original responsibility of the Alethi. Dalinar, like the old Radiants, wants nothing more than to unite the world, using whatever resources they have, to defend humanity against the Voidbringers. Those resources necessarily include the primary Alethi strength: warfare. Unfortunately, until they actually have to fight, the rest of the world leaders cannot help but see the way the Alethi have behaved in recent millennia: just like Gavilar.

Relationships & Romances

Gavilar hated the stuff. But then, Gavilar liked his life now.

A: We’ve seen hints of this before, though it gets stronger from here on out. The more they settle into this royalty business, Gavilar likes it better and Dalinar hates it worse.

Dalinar closed his eyes. He felt as if he could drift off, maybe get some sleep without worrying about Evi, or dreaming of war.…

A: I’m pretty sure I totally missed this the first time through—that he’s worrying about Evi because she’s so close to giving birth. We knew she was pregnant from the previous flashback, so the connection is obvious in retrospect, but I’m really not used to him actually being concerned on her behalf!

L: Yeah, this is nice to see. He does care about her, in his own obtuse kind of way.

A: A fitting description.

Dalinar stood up as others, ahead of him, raised their hands and cheered.

The contest. The fight.

That led me to almost kill Gavilar.

Dalinar sat back down.

A: The more I reread this book, the less I like Gavilar, you know? But I do like Dalinar’s loyalty to him. Here, I like the way he can even (sort of) manage to reject the Thrill he loves so much, when he remembers that he almost killed his brother under its influence. I find it one of the younger version’s most redeeming characteristics. I guess I must have a thing about loyalty.

L: I’m with you on this one. A fun writing trick to make an unlikable character resonate with an audience is to give them one thing that makes them better than others around them, or just something “good”. This can be a sense of humor, a penchant for saving animals… or, in this case, loyalty to one’s brother. This said, that modicum of goodwill can only carry an audience so far. Eventually the character must grow and change—and, thankfully, Dalinar does (with a little supernatural help).

Looking into that face, swelling with joy, Dalinar finally understood. This was why Gavilar thought so much about the future, about Alethkar, about crafting a kingdom that would last. Dalinar’s life so far had stained him crimson and thrashed his soul. His heart was so crusted over with crem, it might as well have been a stone.

But this boy… he could rule the princedom, support his cousin the king, and live a life of honor.

L: In most stories, this would be the turning point for the character. This is where they’d turn things around and start to change. I love that this isn’t the case for Dalinar. It’s true that having a child often changes people, but not always. One moment of joy, of clarity—then the reality returns and drowns him.

A: I just need to interject here that Dalinar begins idealizing Adolin the moment he’s born, as the perfect, honorable man Dalinar feels he himself can never be. While there are a few moments in his teens when Dalinar is irritated with his son, that idealization doesn’t really end until maybe the moment when Adolin tells his father about killing Sadeas. I say “maybe” because we don’t really know what Dalinar’s long-term response is going to be. Will he still see Adolin the perfect Alethi highprince in the next book, having rationalized his faults into virtues? But for now, as you say, the high will soon be followed by a low.

L: We see him come to this very revelation a page later:

You’ll be anxious again in a few days, Dalinar told himself. A man can’t change in a moment.

L: Interestingly, however… he does change in a moment. The moment that Cultivation prunes him. But it’s worthwhile to note that the only reason he was able to change so swiftly was due to outside influences. If he’d been left to his own devices, would he have been able to change himself? Maybe. But not overnight.

He needed to celebrate—buy drinks for every man in the army, declare a holiday, or just run through the city whooping for joy. He was a father!

“An excellent day,” Gavilar said. “A most excellent day.”

“How do you contain it?” Dalinar said. “This excitement?”

A: This is a bittersweet moment. He’s so excited about the birth of his son, and then… well:

“It is time to show the kingdom that we are not soft, Brother.”

Oh no. Hours ago, he would have leaped in excitement. But after seeing that child …

…

“Gavilar,” he whispered, “I’m worried.” … “I’m like an animal, Gavilar. Did you hear about the bar fight? Storms. I can’t be trusted around people.” …

“Sure, I can crush this little rebellion, bathe Oathbringer in some blood. Great. Wonderful. Then what? I come back here and lock myself in a cage again?”

…

“… Go do what I command, then return and we can discuss further.”

Dalinar stopped near his brother, then took a single purposeful step into his shadow. Remember this. Remember you serve him. He would never return to that place that had almost led him to attack this man.

A: Again, I find myself angry at Gavilar. It echoes the previous flashback, when Dalinar was angry at Gavilar for ignoring Navani’s excitement about her research while he made notes on his maps. Here, I’m angry at Gavilar for ignoring Dalinar’s concern about his mental state, because the thing Dalinar is worried about has been very convenient for the conquest.

L: He’s doing what a king must and putting aside his own feelings and concerns for the good of the kingdom, but that doesn’t make it any more savory.

A: I don’t suppose I’ll ever find a realistically-written king that I like very well. They have to use people, and use them up when necessary, placing the good of the kingdom first. I can defend it logically, but when I get into their minds too much, I really dislike them.

Bruised & Broken

Dalinar pressed his fingers together, then rubbed them, scraping the dry, red-brown moss against itself.

A: Dalinar the druggie… except he isn’t, really. He’s an addict, all right, but the moss is just a lame replacement for what he really wants, and moss is never enough.

L: When one addiction isn’t available, people often turn to another.

Here, he didn’t have to listen to reports of rebellion and imagine himself out on those fields, solving problems the direct way. Sword in hand, Thrill in his heart …

He rubbed the moss more vigorously. Don’t think about war. Just live in the moment, as Evi always said.

A: Oddly enough, this last line is one of those that makes me most angry at the younger Dalinar. He’s twisting Evi’s philosophy to justify what he knows is bad behavior, and in a backhanded way he’s blaming her for something she’d hate.

“You told me everyone was fine.”

“They lived,” Havar said.

“One … of the brawlers you fought will never walk,” Bashin admitted. “Another had to have his arm removed. A third babbles like a child. His brain doesn’t work anymore.”

“That’s far from fine,” Dalinar snapped.

“Pardon, Dalinar,” Havar said. “But when facing the Blackthorn, that’s as good as one can expect.”

A: Welp. That hurts. I have to admit, I didn’t see this coming in the earlier line about Dalinar’s reputation. He gets in a brawl, and even without his Shards, he maims multiple people.

L: Yeeeaaaah this one hurt. Getting blackout drunk and destroying people’s lives is never okay. (That’s all I’m going to say about that.)

“It’s your daughter,” Dalinar guessed. “Her lunacy.”

“Jasnah is fine, and recovering. It’s not that.”

A: Given what we know of the Alethi approach to madness, it seems like a pretty good assumption that Jasnah’s “lunacy” referred to here is related to her memory from last week, of a dark room and her own screams. She would be eleven years old at this point, poor child.

L: Yeah, I am desperately curious to find out what happened here.

Diagrams & Dastardly Designs

Tanalan is raising an army and settling into his fortifications. Worse, I think the other highprinces are encouraging him. They want to see how I handle this.” He sneered. “There’s talk I’ve grown soft over the years.”

“They’re wrong.” Dalinar had seen it, these months living with Gavilar. His brother had not grown soft. He was still as eager for conquest as ever; he simply approached it differently. The clash of words, the maneuvering of princedoms into positions where they were forced to obey.

L: I both love and hate this. I love the fact that Dalinar correctly views Gavilar’s diplomacy as strength, but at the same time I hate the fixation on conquest and violence that’s so pervasive in Alethi society.

A: Yes. A taste for power can make people do some pretty heinous things, all in the name of (what they see as) the greater good.

Squires & Sidekicks

Bashin though … well, Bashin was an odd one. Darkeyed of the first nahn, the portly man had traveled half the world, and encouraged Dalinar to go with him to see the other half. He still wore that stupid, wide-brimmed floppy hat.

A: I can’t help thinking that Bashin is an homage to Chel Vanin from the Wheel of Time series. The characters are so similar in this description! It’s worth noting that he stays with Dalinar for a lot of years; he’s the huntmaster for that disastrous chasmfiend hunt back in TWoK Chapter 12, and later we see him as the scout coordinator in the trek to Narak.

L: I wonder if he’s going to wind up playing a bigger part eventually. I really like this world-traveler bit!

Tight Butts and Coconuts

He’d ripped the buttons free in removing it so quickly.

L: I’m sorry, I have to. (Also I’d just like to point out that this came up when I did the search for that gif and it’s… it’s… you’re welcome.)

Soon, he and his friends were alone in the room, surveying empty tables, abandoned cups, and spilled drinks.

L: Tell us more about those empty tables, Dalinar. (I really wish I had meaningful discourse to make but it appears my main contributions this week are silly gifs and videos and you know what? I’m okay with that.)

Weighty Words

He looked down at the boy, who—red faced—wiggled and thrashed with his tiny fists. He had shockingly thick hair, black and blond mixed. Good coloring. Distinctive.

May you have your father’s strength, Dalinar thought, rubbing the child’s face with his finger, and at least some of your mother’s compassion, little one.

A: I love this moment. It’s almost prophetic, because in many ways, that’s how Adolin turned out. There’s some debate about the quality of his strength, though I think he’s strong in all the ways he should be. He certainly got some of his mother’s compassion; you see it in the way he interacts with people from all walks of life.

L: I’m not sure how anyone could argue that he’s not a strong person. He’s a born leader, he’s compassionate to those below him AND above, and he’s a talented fighter in a world that values that above almost everything else.

“I need more than just words!”

L: How ironic, considering where he’s headed.

“Words are important,” Gavilar said. “Much more than you give them credit for being.”

“Perhaps,” Dalinar said. “But if they were all-powerful, you wouldn’t need my sword, would you?”

“Perhaps. I can’t help feeling words would be enough, if only I knew the right ones to say.”

L: Dun dun duuuuuuuun!

A: Seriously! I can’t help wondering whether Gavilar could truly have become a Radiant and spoken the Ideals… but I suppose the question comes because I’ve found myself disliking and distrusting him a lot this week.

A Scrupulous Study of Spren

He held the boy aloft in both hands, letting out a whooping laugh, gloryspren bursting around him as golden spheres.

L: There’s those gloryspren again! It’s been awhile for Dalinar.

A: It’s really entertaining to see these gloryspren all the time now, after seeing how important they became at the end of the book.

Also, as a mother, my first thought was, “I sure hope he was supporting that baby’s head properly!” If he wasn’t, it doesn’t seem to have done Adolin any harm, I guess…

Quality Quotations

“Lighteyes need folks to obey them, right? I’m making certain that you got lots to serve you, at least by weight.”

A: Such a generous fellow, that Bashin.

Gavilar had settled upon a black iron circlet. The more Gavilar’s hair greyed, the easier the crown was to see.

L: I’ve got to wonder if there’s some symbolism at play here, either on Gavilar’s part or Sanderson’s.

What are your thoughts on the chapter? Tell us about it in the comments! Then rejoin us next week, along with Aubree, for Chapters 50 and 51, all full of Dalinar and Moash and Shallan, oh my.

Alice is, quite suddenly, sopping wet. Indian summer is over, and it’s probably going to rain in the Pacific Northwest for the next eight months. You can almost see her brain rusting… except when it’s just frozen, like the windshield this morning.

Lyndsey is now in the midst of haunt season, which means her voice is totally fried from screaming at people all night. If you’re an aspiring author, a cosplayer, or just like geeky content, follow her work on Facebook or her website.

Hello again, faithful rereaders and Cosmere fanatics! This week we’ll be delving into some more philosophical conversations between Dalinar and Kadash, following along as Kaladin flies Dalinar back into the Shattered Plains for some recon, watching as Shallan convinces Elhokar to let her tag along to Kholinar, and… oh, yeah. I suppose we’ll cover a little bit of Moash in here, too. If we muuuuuuust.

Aubree: You know you missed me!!!

Reminder: we’ll potentially be discussing spoilers for the ENTIRE NOVEL in each reread. As usual for Part Two, there are very minor Cosmere discussions regarding the epigraphs. But if you haven’t read ALL of Oathbringer, best to wait to join us until you’re done.

Chapter Recap

WHO: Dalinar; Moash, Shallan
WHERE: Shattered Plains warcamps; Kholinar environs, Urithiru
WHEN: 1174.1.8.5 (8 days after our last Dalinar chapter, 3 days after the last Urithiru events); 1174.2.1.2 (4 weeks after the previous Moash chapter), around 1.9.1 (Shallan’s portion of Chapter 51 comes after the events of Chapter 50, but we’re not sure how long)

Kaladin flies Dalinar, Navani and some others back to Narak for some reconnaissance and so Dalinar can look for the madman Herald. He has no luck finding the man, but he does find that someone with a Shardblade cut open the wall to get to him, and left behind a small poisoned dart. A discussion with Kadash reveals that the ardent is wary of where Dalinar’s visions are coming from, but he does seem to be ever so slowly coming around.

Meanwhile, in self-loathing-ville, Moash and his team of parshman slaves have reached the outer edge of Kholinar. (Dun dun duuuuuuuuun…)

Shallan approaches Elhokar and convinces him to allow her to accompany the team heading to Kholinar. She plans to use her illusions to disguise the team in order to make it easier to infiltrate… but she’s also using the trip as a handy escape from her own troubled mind.

The Singing Storm

Titles

“Shash Thirty-Seven” is the room number where Taln had been … “treated” by the ardents when they thought he was a madman.

“Shash building,” he finally said, pointing absently out the window. “That one right there. Room thirty-seven. Insah ran the facility; her records will list details of the madman’s treatment….”

Alice: This goes all the way back to Chapter 38, where Dalinar suddenly realized that the “madman” who showed up with a Shardblade really was a Herald, and it just might be a good idea to talk to him.

Lyn: I feel like this was a missed opportunity to name the chapter “Shash Building,” as in… danger building. Danger is most certainly building for our heroes here, and the tension in this chapter is so thick you can almost taste it.

AA: “Full Circle” is another of the few non-quote titles. It ties back to Chapter 45, when Moash practically predicted his fate while talking to Guff. He used to be a caravaneer, then he carried bridges, and now he’s pulling a sledge. He used to work the route from Kholinar to Revolar and back, and now he’s approaching Kholinar on that same road. He used to hang out at a tavern he now passes in the suburb where they stop. The bridge crews were housed next to a lumberyard just like the one he’s sent to now. And in a few weeks, he’ll be carrying a ladder to assault the walls, instead of a bridge to cross chasms, but in both cases serving as cannon fodder.

AP: Ladder Four!

Heralds

Taln (Dependable/Resourceful, Stonewards) is the sole Herald on chapter 50, and with good reason; most of Dalinar’s effort in returning to the warcamp is centered on trying to find him, or any record of what happened to him.

Shalash (Creative/Honest, Lightweavers) is the Herald for chapter 51, which makes sense with Shallan’s activities, presenting her Lightweaving as a useful tool for the Kholinar infiltration. I’m not sure how it fits Moash, other than possibly his honesty about the situation he’s in.

Icon: Kholin Glyphpair; Not Bridge Four

We’ve got a Dalinar chapter followed by a Moash chapter, except that the latter also has a couple of Shallan scenes.

Epigraph

We also instruct that you should not return to Obrodai. We have claimed that world, and a new avatar of our being is beginning to manifest there.

She is young yet, and—as a precaution—she has been instilled with an intense and overpowering dislike of you.

This is all we will say at this time. If you wish more, seek these waters in person and overcome the tests we have created.

Only in this will you earn our respect.

AA: So… Obrodai. We have only speculation about where this might be; it could be a world we haven’t seen at all yet, or it could perhaps be part of either the Threnodite or Drominad system. My money is on “a world we haven’t seen at all yet”—but one we’ll likely see in another novella, if we see it before Dragonsteel comes out. Unlike the Coppermind article, I don’t believe “these waters” have anything to do with Obrodai. Instead, I think that phrase indicates that the persona responding to Hoid is on First of the Sun, and is challenging him to survive Patji if he wants any further communication with Autonomy. But that’s just my guess.

Stories & Songs

… the warcamps: ten craterlike circles arrayed along the northwestern edge of the Shattered Plains. From up here, it was obvious they had once been domes. The way their walls curved, like cupping fingers from underneath.

AA: I realize it’s probably not critical to the story or anything, but who built these massive domes out here? And why? They’d almost have to be from the days when Surgebinders were well-trained and powerful: well after Aharietiam, but before the Recreance. Again, just guessing. I wonder if it will ever matter.

AP: Soulcast? But for what originally?

AA: Possibly Soulcast, or possibly constructed by Stonewards, but the burning question remains: For what? I have no idea. They’re enormous, and I can’t come up with a single usage suggestion.

“No, that sail will never stand.”

“It’s not meant to be completely accurate,” Navani said. “Just a concept. My question is, can it work?”

…

In her sketchpad, he caught sight of some kind of shiplike contraption, but with the sail on the bottom.

L: I am so here for Navani’s eventual airship fleet. I can totally see her standing on deck, hands on hips, grinning as she flies them into war to provide backup for Dalinar. Aaaaaand now I want to write an “airship commodore queen Navani” fanfic.

Buy it Now

AA: I’d totally read that! I love her designs, and I love even more that she’s so far outside the traditional thinking in her ideas. The fact that Rushu never even blinks about the ideas and just checks the maths also makes me inordinately happy. (By the way, this is another reference to the artwork at the beginning of Chapter 43.)

AP: I’m really interested in how the surges are converted into fabrials that make them accessible to a larger population. And what role the comparative technological advantage for the humans will play. The Voidbringers are used to humans with a stone age level of technology at the start of a desolation.

AA: Hmm. I wonder how much the advances in fabrial technology will balance out the lack of experienced Radiants. Obviously the numbers of the Fused overwhelm the number of Radiants, but as you say, Aubree, fabrials don’t need Radiants. Will that shift the balance of power?

What happened to a Herald’s body when they died?

L: A better question would be “What happened to their soul when they died?”

AA: That’s certainly a question Dalinar should be asking, but I personally want the answer to exactly what he asked, because I want to understand how they always appear to have the same body. What did happen to a Herald’s body when they died?

He knelt down, shooed away a cremling, and picked up a small object.

L: A CREMLING YOU SAY? I can’t help it, I’m always suspicious when one of these is called out.

AA: I know, right? ::whispers:: Where are the rest of them?

“This was supposed to be an apocalypse, but you don’t farm an apocalypse.”

L: I’m still convinced that there’s something else coming. Something worse than Odium and the Fused, and that’s what the real apocalypse is going to be.

AP: I’m with you on this one. That there is something way worse coming. The Fused are only the beginning.

AA: … Yikes?

The letters out of Kholinar—the last ones they’d gotten—were frightened, worried things. They spoke of riots, of darkness, of spren taking form and hurting people.

L: Definitely creepy, especially that last one.

Bruised & Broken

No, wait, he thought. There was one, of course. A trip to the Valley …

He barely remembered that voyage, though he could not blame that solely upon the Nightwatcher.

AA: Yeah… we’ll get to this much later in the book, but Dalinar was pretty much passed-out drunk for that whole trip.

AP: Dalinar was basically passed out drunk for large stretches of his life.

“And the things you did in conquering Alethkar?” Kadash said. “No divine mandate, Dalinar. Everyone accepts what you did because your victories were proof of the Almighty’s favor. Without him… then what are you?”

L: Kadash with the tough questions, here.

AA: This is definitely the answer to the oft-asked question of why Dalinar always gets a pass (in-world) for the horrible things he did. “Your victories were proof of the Almighty’s favor.” Nice self-fulfilling “mandate” there—you can be as horrible as you want in order to win, because as long as you win, everyone says you’re approved by the Almighty. It’s interesting to note that proving this mandate to be false is much harder on the ardents than it is on Dalinar… so far, anyway.

AP: And I wonder if people will stop giving him a pass once they realize that Vorinism is empty lies. Twenty years isn’t all that much time in world for people to just forgive & forget. And it’s only been what, 5-6 since Gavilar died and he started actively trying to be better? This definitely lays the groundwork for why no other world leaders trust him.

L: Is it really so different from “the winner writes the history books” though? Let’s face it, some truly awful atrocities have been glossed over in the past just because the people committing them happened to win the war.

AP: It is different, in as much as we readers are very susceptible to the narrative framing. Dalinar has done really objectively terrible things, but we sympathize with him because he is the protagonist. The flashbacks and scenes like this show that there very good reasons for others to not want to work with him in-world.

The ardents knew what was best for the sick—they had access to all the world’s latest research in all fields—but was it really necessary to lock madmen away like this?

L: Putting this quote here because I’m saddened at how it echoes the ways the mentally disabled were abused and tortured in our own world. I’ve toured some pretty awful asylums and learned the history of these places, and it’s worse than some of the worst fictional horror stories you could imagine.

AA: It ties into the extended discussion we’ve had of Jasnah’s childhood memory and her “lunacy” as well. The way Shallan described these chambers back in WoR sounds so much like Jasnah’s memory of a dark room; the inescapable conclusion is that the ardents were treating her for what they interpreted as madness. And yes, the descriptions make me so sad for those who were treated thus. It may have been effective, and sometimes even helpful, for a portion of their patients; but there must have been others who were driven catatonic by what is all too close to sensory deprivation.

AP: It also shows how little they actually know. I’d like to know how other cultures on Roshar treat mental illness.

The parshmen of Moash’s new sledge crew didn’t like him. That didn’t bother him. Lately, he didn’t much like himself.

L: GOOD. I hope you’re feeling like crem, you stinker.

AA: Hear, hear.

AP: So this:

“He didn’t expect or need their admiration. He knew what it felt like to be beaten down, despised. When you’d been treated as they had, you didn’t trust someone like Moash. You asked yourself what he was trying to get from you.”

…is actually pretty darn self-aware and empathetic. And I’ll throw out there again, Moash’s degree of self-hatred and self-sabotage are not signs of a healthy mind at work. He’s broken, like so many of our main characters. I expect he would have had Radiant potential if he stayed on Team Human.

“When the assault happens, you’ll be at the front, running a ladder toward Kholinar’s infamous walls.”

Moash laughed even louder.

L: Ka is a wheel, do ya ken? (Long days and pleasant nights to those who get the reference.)

AP: Full circle indeed!

A part of her knew what she was doing. It was getting harder to hide things in the back of her mind and ignore them, now that she’d spoken Ideals. Instead she was fleeing.

AA: Oh, girl. For all she faced her truths at the end of WoR, she really hasn’t accepted them. She blames Jasnah, being a Radiant, the pressure of being needed… she blames everything outside her for feeling overwhelmed, and wanting to get away. She justifies it by “helping the mission” with her ability to create disguises—and there’s no doubt that ability will help. But the real problem she has is on the inside, where she’s desperately trying to go back to burying the things that are too painful to remember. Poor child.

AP: This also relates back to:

“She’d still been telling most people that she was of the Elsecallers, like Jasnah so they wouldn’t know of her ability to become other people.”

She’s lying to others as well, for her benefit. It makes me wonder if this isn’t part of why the other spren think Cryptics are dangerous and to be avoided. Creating illusions and disguises are more “lies” but she is also using spoken lies to cover up what she has been doing in creating multiple personas.

Diagrams & Dastardly Designs

That variety doesn’t fly, he thought. They can raise the dark light around themselves, but it doesn’t give them Lashings. Something else. He glanced back at the one nearest him, the one hovering. But that type almost never walks. It’s the same kind that captured me.

AA: This was one of our early introductions to the multiple forms of the Fused, and the probability that there are different “orders” like the different orders of the Knights Radiant. There doesn’t seem to be a direct correlation between the abilities of the Fused and the Radiants, but there’s clearly plenty of overlap to be observed.

Also, I feel a need to point out Moash’s surprise regarding the Voidbringers’ behavior. He keeps expecting them to wipe everything out, destroying all the useful things on principle. He didn’t expect them to want to come live here, and be interested in preserving things like crops and housing. Who knew the monsters and the bogeymen needed homes and food too?

AP: This tells us a lot about what Vorins are taught about Desolations, that it’s just a total destruction. When really, there’s more to it than that. We know now that the humans are invaders, colonizers, on Roshar. And that the Fused wanted to take it back. They chose Odium as an ally, which obviously didn’t work out great for them, but this shows that despite their many resurrections/reincarnations/whatever we want to call the body possession thing they do that they still have a responsibility for their people.

They’re trying to burden the city with refugees, Moash thought. Ones that aren’t fit to work or fight anymore.

L: Gotta say, this is a great strategy. Super smart. If you’re planning on laying siege to a city, overwhelming it with mouths to feed is an excellent plan.

AP: Absolutely, and we see just a few chapters ahead that it’s super effective.

If you eliminate her, we will help cover up the disappearance, at your request.

L: Yikes. I’m still not sure what to think of Shallan working with these people, even if she’s only really doing it to know what her enemy is up to (and to get information about her brother).

AA: As a plot device, I think it’s marvelous. From an immersive perspective, though, I just hate it. She’s just not nearly clever enough to be involved with these people. She’s smart and witty and resourceful, but she’s a toddler in a rugby game compared to the Ghostbloods.

AP: She’s definitely in over her head.

Squires & Sidekicks

He was the only one who seemed truly in control of his flying. Even his men flew more like dropped rocks than skyeels. They lacked his finesse, his control.

AA: That description made me snicker. I assume they’ll get better at it, but it does make me wonder whether an actual Knight Radiant simply has better control of the Surges than his squires ever can.

L: I took it as Kaladin just being more practiced.

AA: That’s probably all it is, but these things make me ask questions!

“I long ago accepted that you weren’t mad. These days, it’s more a question of who might be influencing you.”

L: I meeeaaaaaan it’s a legitimate concern. I can’t really blame Kadash for being careful here, when this knowledge would undermine his entire religion.

AA: It’s totally legit, no matter how frustrating it might be. We know so much more about his religion than Kadash does, so it’s hardly fair to criticize him for the things he doesn’t know!

I do appreciate the work Kadash has been doing in the weeks since he and Dalinar had that confrontation back in Chapter 16. He’s contacted the people who were using the Dawnchant “key” Navani created from Dalinar’s visions, and they’ve sent him translations. He gave Dalinar the benefit of waiting until he heard back from them with validation of the translation, and he waited for that before he responded to the questions he was receiving about Dalinar from the various leaders of the Vorin church.

AP: It’s extremely legit, given what we know of the Thrill and where it comes from. Dalinar has been under the influence of bad actors a lot. His history makes him not the most trustworthy dude to take moral guidance from.

Flora & Fauna

…particularly in the face of Shallan’s assessment that they had likely hunted chasmfiends near to extinction.

L: Aww. Poor chasmfiends.

AA: Another hanging question mark… will this have a detrimental effect on some other part of the world’s balance?

Places & Peoples

They had prayed and burned glyphwards on his behalf; that was why highlords owned ardents.

L: Fascinating religion. What I find most interesting about this particular aspect is that people aren’t necessarily expected to be devout themselves, as long as they have the right people doing it for them. Seems a little like just paying lipservice as opposed to being truly devout, but I’m looking at it from an Earth perspective, not an Alethi one.

AA: It bugs me too. I can set it aside from a practical perspective, because we know how little of their belief system is supported by reality. But from the perspective of a rather religious person, it’s grating to see such a casual assumption that as long as someone else does the job properly on your behalf, you’re fine.

L: It’s like if a priest were to say, “No, don’t worry, you don’t need to actually be a good person, just do whatever you like and I’ll be good for you.” Granted, it’s not quite the same, because of this:

Even during his darkest days of war, they’d assured him that in pursuing his calling—by leading his armies—he served the Almighty.

L: Whatever your particular devotary is, adhering to it is sort of like prayer. It really is a unique system.

AA: Must. Suspend. Disbelief.

As invented religions go, it’s realistic even when it makes me grind my teeth. Given the circumstances, it’s exactly the kind of thing people would come up with. See, for example:

Everyone liked the system they had. The lighteyes got to live without guilt or burden, always confident that they were active manifestations of God’s will. The darkeyes got free access to training in a multitude of skills. The ardents got to pursue scholarship. The best of them lived lives of service. The worst lived lives of indolence—but what else were important lighteyed families going to do with unmotivated children?

AA: I… don’t quite know what I think. It’s very pragmatic, and actually does several things any “good religion” does (education, charity, service), but the first item and the last are the ones that get on my nerves. Granted, they get on my nerves in real-world situations, too, so there’s that!

AP: Except that it’s all fake. The lighteyes are absolved of all the terrible stuff they do, while being fed a fiction that the darkeyes are given “free” training and everyone is happy with the system. We know that’s not true. This is similar to narratives that were told about how slaves in the American South were “happy” being taken care of on the plantation, that it was in their best interest after all. Utter nonsense.

AA: I suspect it’s not all fake, since some darkeyes do take advantage of the training, and the ardents (both lighteyed and darkeyed) do get to study what they want. Still, “everyone liked the system” is way overstating the case, and I agree that the lighteyes don’t actually know how hard it is for many of the darkeyes to access the “free training.” Basically, the higher lighteyes and most of the ardents like the system, and those are the ones Dalinar notices because they’re the ones who can affect his life with their disapproval.

AP: If all the training were free, then Kaladin & family would not have been in the situation they were with Roshone. No need to steal spheres if you get free training in any skill, like becoming a surgeon. And yes, the system is totally a good one for the elite ruling class.

AA: There’s free and then there’s free. One of the problems with “free training” is that the person who wants to be trained still has to get to where the training is, and needs food and shelter during the training. If that stuff isn’t free, then the free training is pretty expensive. It means that a darkeyes who lives in the same city as the ardents who can train him has a good deal, but the darkeyes who lives out in the middle of nowhere, with no relatives who can help, is out of luck.

Buy it Now

AA: In other news, Queen Fen has agreed—in the tersest possible way—to visit Urithiru, after Dalinar reluctantly agreed to let her enter the Aharietiam vision without him. (No word on how the Stormfather felt about this!) The chapter closes with Kaladin agreeing to take someone along as a test when he flies the next highstorm to Thaylen City to open the Oathgate there. Presumably, they’ll take the Oathgate to Narak first.

“He’s asked me to fly with him above the storm to Thaylen City,” Shallan said, “to open the Oathgate there. He’s overly worried about dropping people—but if he does that to me, I’ll have Stormlight of my own, and should survive the fall.”

AA: I’m only including this here because we’re on the subject, but this is the next step in the planning. I also found Elhokar’s reaction interesting; he’s gotten really used to being surrounded by Radiant powers in recent weeks.

Tight Butts and Coconuts

Her hair was a wind-tousled mess, much of it having escaped her careful braid. Elhokar hadn’t fared much better—his hair sprayed out from his face like waxed Thaylen eyebrows. The two ardents, of course, were bald and didn’t have such worries.

AA: Heh.

Without thinking he put his hand to the side and tried summoning his Shardblade. Nothing happened.

What are you doing? the Stormfather demanded.

“Sorry,” Dalinar said, shaking his hand out. “Habit.”

AA: This makes me laugh. Poor Dalinar! I wonder if the Stormfather feels some kind of “pull” when Dalinar tries to summon a Blade.

AP: It’s definitely an interesting reaction! I wonder what sort of effects it will have later?

Pattern hummed from her skirts, and she hummed along with him.

L: I can’t help but find this unbearably adorable.

Weighty Words

“And my other Surge?” Dalinar said. “That Radiant in the vision made stone warp and ripple.”

You are not ready. Besides, that Surge is different for you than it is for a Stoneward.

AA: Obviously, I’m looking forward to learning what Tension looks like when Dalinar uses it. Most of what we see in Oathbringer is Adhesion, if I recall correctly.

Kaladin would never have been able to stay aloft as long as these did. He’d run out of Stormlight.

L: So are they just more practiced at using their powers, or is Voidlight more economical in regards to power usage than Stormlight is? Does it have to do with the Parshendi’s gemhearts, perhaps? They’re more effective “batteries” than humans are, because they’re actually native to this planet whereas the humans are aliens?

AA: There’s a quote from Szeth in the Prologue to The Way of Kings that’s relevant here:

Stormlight could be held for only a short time, a few minutes at most. It leaked away, the human body to porous a container. He had heard that the Voidbringers could hold it in perfectly.

AA: We know now that part of the problem is that Szeth was accessing Stormlight through an Honorblade, without benefit of actually being one of Honor’s Heralds. A Knight Radiant can hold it much longer, and presumably a true Herald could as well. Even for a Radiant, though, it leaks away. It seems logical that the Singer’s gemhearts would enable them to hold their light—whether Stormlight or Voidlight—in a way that humans simply can’t. (And I’m assuming that when Szeth refers to the Voidbringers, he means the Singer ancestors who fought in the Desolations, rather than the much-farther-back humans who brought the Void first.)

AP: We do see that “perfect” gemstone at the end of the book. I wonder if gemhearts are more “perfect” at storing Stormlight. Voidlight. Whatever. Or if Voidlight just behaves differently. We don’t really have enough information to say.

L: …shit. What if that perfect stone is a gemheart? Trapping an Unmade in a HEART is pretty dark if you think about it.

The interesting thing about it was not the illusion itself, but how she was powering it. … This one, however, she’d attached to a sphere inside the pouch. She was going on four hours now with the Lightweaving needing no extra Stormlight from her. … This had begun as an experiment on how she could help Dalinar create his illusory maps of the world, then leave them for him, without her having to remain in the meeting. Now, however, she was seeing all kinds of possible applications.

AA: Whatever weird mental games she’s playing with herself, it’s good to see the scholar reemerging occasionally. I’ve always liked watching Shallan experiment with Lightweaving to see what else she can do.

AP: I love power up and mechanic sequences. How Stuff Works always fascinates me, and I like that Brandon does these little peeks to give us the “rules” and set expectations for what character powers can and can’t do.

Mundane Motivations

“This is a long march from Narak and the Oathgate. I fear that by dividing our forces among Narak, here, and Urithiru, we’re increasing our vulnerability to an attack.” … Unfortunately, they would probably need this place for farming operations, not to mention the lumber. Plateau runs for gemhearts couldn’t sustain the tower city’s population forever,

AA: I call foreshadowing here. Or maybe that’s not the right word. Anyway, right now they need the resources from this area; Alethkar’s resources are being taken over by the Singers, and they haven’t figured out how to “turn on” Urithiru so they can grow food up there. I’m beginning to suspect that they won’t actually accomplish that until the second arc, and part of the struggle for the remaining two books of the first arc will be how to feed their people. It’s not an insignificant issue. Anyway, that question appears to be part of the reason Dalinar is out here, along with his need to find Taln.

AP: I think that’s very perceptive.

AA: This week, Moash doesn’t seem to have any motivation at all. He doesn’t care about his companions; he’s not particularly worried about the Fused; he isn’t bothered about his own slavery, much less the rest of the humans the Fused have taken; the thought of Kholinar under siege is a matter of indifference. The only thing that really gets a reaction from him is the realization that after all he’s gone through, he’s right back to being a slave who builds and carries large wooden objects in front of an army that doesn’t care if he dies in the first rush.

AP: There’s a lot of apathy here, and again, this is a sign of deeper issues that Moash has. His laughter and inappropriate affect at being told he is going to run ladders are big red flags. Moash makes a lot of bad decisions, but his apathy/anhedonia and executive dysfunction aren’t choices. This Moash sequence is here to give us more insight into how the Fused army works, and it’s a very effective info dump.

AA: (You learn something new every day if you aren’t careful. Turns out “anhedonia” means exactly what it looks like.)

Quality Quotations

In my painful experience, the truth may be simple, but it’s rarely easy.

And we’re done. Housekeeping note: Given one thing and another, we’re going to drop back to a one-chapter-per-week pace for a while, unless we have a really short chapter. It’s necessary for the sanity of your questionably-sane rereaders. So next week, join us for another Dalinar flashback in Chapter 52. See you in the comments!

Alice would like to point out that the Weeping has begun in the Pacific Northwest, and she is reminded that she shares a certain seasonal reaction with Kaladin. On the other hand, the Skyward tour is coming, with the need for a new cosplay, so that will be fun.

Lyndsey is out late every weekend bringing the scares, which is an excellent distraction from the fact that November is swiftly approaching and she doesn’t have an outline for NaNoWriMo yet. If you’re an aspiring author, a cosplayer, or just like geeky content, follow her work on Facebook or her website.

Aubree is back! She was not on a secret mission to infiltrate a city deep in enemy held territory with only a fake moustache as a disguise. There was also a goatee.

Good day (or night depending on your time zone), faithful rereaders! Welcome back to Roshar for a… well, I was going to say “a very special episode of the Oathbringer Reread,” but let’s be honest, there’s nothing too terribly special going on in this chapter, unless you count parental abandonment “special.” We’ll be doing a bit of theorizing about the Thrill as well as lots of discussion about the Kholin family dynamics, so roll up your sleeves and prepare those comments as we dive in.

Reminder: we’ll potentially be discussing spoilers for the ENTIRE NOVEL in each reread. There are no broader Cosmere spoilers in this particular article, but if you haven’t read ALL of Oathbringer, best to wait to join us until you’re done.

Chapter Recap

WHO: Dalinar (flashback)
WHERE: Somewhere along the southern part of the Alethi-Veden border
WHEN: 1155, eighteen and a half years ago

Dalinar is returning to camp, exhausted after a long battle, when he hears an unexpected voice. Evi has come to visit after not having heard from him in a long time, and she’s brought both of his sons along—Adolin, who is old enough to talk, and little Renarin, whom Dalinar hasn’t even met.

The Singing Storm

Title: After His Father

“Re,” Evi said. “From my language. Nar, after his father. In, to be born unto.”

AA: The title quotation comes from Evi’s explanation of Renarin’s name; poor girl, she tried to make a good Alethi name. In context, though, Adolin is the one who takes after his father. His toy sword, his salute, his desire to win his own Shardblade, all show a child who wants to be like Dad.

Heralds

The sole Herald for this chapter is Talenel: Herald of War, Soldier, patron of Stonewards, with the divine attributes of Dependable and Resourceful.

AA: We need look no further than the first two titles to understand why he’s here; this chapter is about Dalinar as the soldier, and little Adolin who wants to be one. We could throw in “Resourceful” too, given Dalinar’s thoughts about the resources and planning that go into a successful military campaign.

Icon

Kholin Shield, Inverse—reflecting a flashback chapter

Stories & Songs

In fact, through his exhaustion, he was surprised to find that he could sense [the Thrill] still. Deep down, like the warmth of a rock that had known a recent fire.

AA: Such a cozy description of such a hostile entity. ::sighs::
Let’s look at the odd behavior of the Thrill here. Previously, we’ve seen Dalinar actively try to bring on the Thrill, and it dissipates soon after the fighting is over. This time, the fighting is long done, he’s exhausted, his Shardplate is removed, he’s resting… and it’s still there. Not raging, but still there, still connected to him.

That was Evi.

He leapt to his feet. The Thrill surged again within him, drawn out of its own slumber.

AA: Still connected, though he’s now dozing after receiving reports. Did it surge because of Dalinar’s adrenaline rush, or is it reacting directly to Evi? I assume the former, but I’m not 100% convinced. In any case, I think the Thrill is partially responsible for the way he roars at her.

AP: I’m not sure that the Thrill is entirely to blame here. Evi cringes away from Dalinar when she enters the tent, which indicates to me that this is perhaps something she is used to dealing with.

AA: Not entirely, sure, but the way it was described as “surging” makes me think that his reaction is Thrill-enhanced. (I don’t know about you, but I’d cringe away if my husband started roaring at me—not “because I’m used to it” but because it never happens and it would freak me out.) Not that it matters; it’s Dalinar’s lack of self-control either way.

He stood up, feeling … what? … The Thrill, still squirming deep down. How had it not dissipated since the battle?

AA: Still here—after a long conversation, a backrub, and a walk across the camp. Dalinar himself is surprised by it—and I don’t ever recall anyone thinking of the Thrill as “squirming.” That’s bizarre—and I wonder if it’s a reminder to the reader, and perhaps a hint to Dalinar, that it’s an actual entity rather than just a sensation.

Dalinar smiled, then stood up and dismissed Oathbringer. The last embers of the Thrill finally faded.

AA: That took a long time. Why? What is the significance? Why is it different? What has changed? It’s possible that this is coincidentally where Odium decided to set the hook, to form a deeper bond between Dalinar and Nergaoul; within the plot, I can’t think of any other reason. As a literary device, this is obviously setting us up for the way the Thrill stays with Dalinar throughout the Rathalas ambush and battle, since it would be awkwardly convenient to have that be the first time it stays with him for an extended time.

L: I wonder if it’s because he’s physically closer to the Unmade’s “body.” Proximity must play some part in the Thrill, right?

AP: I had the same thoughts about proximity.

AA: It could be. We had evidence from multiple perspectives that it was getting harder to trigger out on the Shattered Plains, and then in WoR we learned that it had flared in Jah Keved during their civil war. Taravangian was convinced that it was a matter of proximity of the Unmade, and thought that it had moved from the Shattered Plains to Vedenar. That wouldn’t be relevant eighteen years ago, though. So… maybe?

Relationships & Romances

This was his warcamp—here he was the Blackthorn. This was the place where his domestic life should have no purchase on him! By coming here, she invaded that.

L: This makes me so angry. It’s like the concept of the “man-cave”—a place where a man can “escape” from domestic life of wife and children. But in so doing, it’s implied that the woman continues to bear the burden she has all along anyway. She gets to clean the house and raise the children and cook the food, and that’s precisely what’s happening with Evi, here. Dalinar gets to go out and be “free” while she stays home to do the work that they should be doing together.

Okay, so… I admit I’m looking at this from a very modern feminist perspective. This isn’t how society would expect things to work in Alethkar, so it’s not really fair to judge Dalinar based on expectations that are entirely outside the norm of his society.

It still grinds my gears, though.

AP: Actually, I think that’s totally valid. He is choosing not to follow Alethi tradition, which would be to bring Evi with him. Even by Alethi standards he’s being a selfish jerk here. Evi’s rightful place is to be in the warcamp acting as a scribe and administrator. He’s not upholding his end of the deal.

AA: Alethi standards wouldn’t call this “selfish,” though. More like “stupid”—because by not having his wife there, he has to rely on other women for things that his wife would normally do. I’m not saying it’s not selfish; just that the Alethi wouldn’t call it that. Here’s his reason in his own words, though:

It would be good to have a wife with him, to scribe as was proper. He just wished that he didn’t feel so guilty at seeing her. He was not the man she wanted him to be.

AA: It’s guilt. He avoids her because of his own insecurity, not because he actually dislikes her. In a way, it’s selfish—in that he doesn’t feel so guilty about not living up to higher ideals, if she’s not there to remind him.

L: Okay, that’s a good point, though I don’t think it’s all guilt.

AP: Why not both? His affront at Evi invading his space is selfish, and he does, in his better moments, feel guilt that he’s not being the person he should be.

AA: Along with insecurity, guilt, and/or selfishness, I doubt it occurred to him that she’d want to be there instead of comfortably at home. She’s not Alethi by birth, and she’s built along much more delicate lines than Alethi women—both physically and emotionally. Toh certainly doesn’t want to be out there on the battlefield (which is a good thing), and Dalinar could readily assume that Evi doesn’t want to either. That’s a big part of Dalinar’s problem with Evi: he rarely thinks about what anyone else might want, except Gavilar. Or Navani, of course.

L: Empathy is most certainly not Dalinar’s strong point. Come to think of it, even present-day-Dalinar isn’t really terribly empathic. He cares about other people, yes, but… does he ever really put himself into their place in order to try to understand them? I can’t think of an instance in which he did. (This isn’t necessarily a critique so much as an observation of his character.)

AA: The single example that comes to mind is a few flashbacks ago when he was angry at Gavilar for ignoring Navani’s excitement about her researches.

“Navani said I should come,” Evi said, “She said it was shameful that you have waited so long between visits.”

AP: Good job, Navani! I think this highlights that even without bringing modern ideas of feminism Dalinar isn’t behaving appropriately here. He didn’t even respond to name his son.

AA: Their early interactions were awful, but from what she’s said in the main timeframe, it’s possible that by now Navani has come to like Evi, or at least wish her well. That said, I still look with suspicion at anything Navani (or worse, Ialai) recommends to Evi. I’m never confident that they’re telling her the whole truth. Did she really think Evi should go, or did she just think it would be a good joke?

AP: Hmm, I’m the opposite. Narratively I trust Navani much more than Dalinar.

L: I’m with Alice on this one, I absolutely don’t trust past!Navani.

“Renarin?” Dalinar said, trying to work out the name. “Rekher… no, Re…”

“Re,” Evi said. “From my language. Nar, after his father. In, to be born unto.”

AP: I like the different takes on Renarin’s name between Dalinar & Evi’s culture. To Evi, she has named him “Re, born unto (Dali)Nar”. From Dalinar’s perspective it’s “Like one who was born unto himself,” which does suit the young man he grows up to be, not really fitting into Alethi society. I hope to see Renarin forge more of his own path.

AA: As noted above, Evi stepped outside her own culture to come up with an Alethi name for Renarin. Rirans seem to have simple names, if Evi and Toh are any indication. (Ym, the Iriali shoemaker, has an even simpler name.) I wonder if she explained her reasoning to Navani and got her approval, or if she just did her best on her own.

“And little Renarin has never even met his father.”

L: It absolutely kills me that Dalinar has never met him. It explains so much about poor Renarin and how he views himself.

AA: Well, he’s only about a year old, so this wouldn’t affect their later relationship—or it wouldn’t, if Dalinar had chosen to handle it differently from here on out.

L: True. IF he’d chosen to. ::eyeroll::

“You didn’t answer,” Evi pointed out, “when I asked after a name via spanreed.”

How had Navani and Ialai allowed this travesty of a name?

L: Way to completely sidestep the question of blame at hand here, Dalinar. Why didn’t you find time to answer your wife’s messages?

AA: This (and the previous) was where I got mad, especially when combined with Dalinar’s earlier thought that he had “several letters from Evi that Teleb’s wife had read to him, with several more waiting to be read.” Not only has he lost track of the time since he was home, he hasn’t bothered to listen to multiple letters from his wife. Evi specifically says Adolin hasn’t seen his father in “over a year,” and Renarin is old enough to be walking. Has Dalinar been back to Kholinar since Renarin was conceived? Obviously he was aware that he had a second child, but that seems to be the extent of it.

“I wish to be a more Alethi wife. I want you to want me to be with you.”

AP: Oh Evi, this is heartbreaking.

L: I know, it’s so sad! It sucks because she deserves so much better. She deserves the man Dalinar becomes, but he could never become that without her loss. Which… huh. I hadn’t really thought of it in these terms before now, but… Evi’s pretty much the definition of a fridged woman, isn’t she? (Warning, that was a TV Tropes link, enter at your own risk.) In case you’re unfamiliar with the term and don’t want to fall down the TV Tropes rabbit hole, a “fridged” woman is a character whose only role in the story is to die (or be horrifically maimed) in order to inspire the protagonist. It’s considered problematic because of just how prevalent it is, and how overwhelmingly it’s women who are the ones to die for no purpose other than to spur someone else on to greatness.

AP: Oh absolutely, Evi’s whole part in the narrative is really sad. And even after everything, Dalinar didn’t really love her, and part of his guilt later is that he got a lot of credit for mourning his wife so deeply, when really he just couldn’t remember. It’s nothing like what he has with Navani, who has her own role in the narrative apart from her relationship with Dalinar. Sanderson has had a fair amount of criticism for how he wrote women earlier in his career, and thankfully most of the women in Stormlight Archive have their own agency, but I do feel like he failed Evi.

L: At least he has other women in the story with agency, who aren’t cardboard cutouts of tropes. I think fridging is marginally more acceptable when there’s a more gender-balanced main cast, but that’s my personal opinion on the matter.

AA: I don’t think Sanderson failed Evi at all. While her primary role (which we only see in flashbacks, mind you) was to set up Dalinar’s trip to the Nightwatcher etc., she was a woman who made her own decisions. We don’t yet know why she and Toh decided to run away with her Shardplate, but they left their home and traveled across the continent looking for sanctuary. Beyond that, IMO she did far more than just “die to inspire Dalinar.” She gave him a different perspective on the world, she framed the character of their sons, and in significant ways she shaped his character, even before her death. Ultimately, she made her own choice to do something she knew Dalinar would hate, when she went to Talanor to try to convince him to surrender. While she couldn’t know whether Talanor would offer parley nor whether Dalinar would accept it, it was her own independent choice to take the risk and go. She died for her decision. Yes, Dalinar did have a significant character shift as a result, but I see Evi as much more than a “fridged woman” trope. Personally.

AP: The point is that none of that is shown. We only have Evi as she exists from Dalinar’s, and Adolin’s, perspectives. She literally only exists in the narrative in the memories of the men whose lives she affected. It may be that in later books we are shown her heroic/villainous actions in leaving Rira with her brother, but for now, she got fridged.

AA: Gavilar only exists in the memories of others, too. Does that make him a fridged man?

Despite his harsh words, she unbuckled the top of his gambeson to get her hands under it, and began rubbing his shoulders.

It felt wonderful. He let his anger melt away.

L: This is definitely reading between the lines because Sanderson just… doesn’t write about this stuff, but they do seem to have mutual chemistry and sexual attraction, based on this and other little (tiny) hints scattered throughout. It appears to be all they have, really, except for Dalinar’s occasional desire to be “better” for her sake.

AP: That’s a lot of reading between the lines. It could also be Evi attempting once again to be a “good” wife.

L: I can’t help it, I was an English major, my entire college career was spent picking nuances out of tiny little hints! I can’t seem to untrain myself.

AP: Which is funny, because I do the same thing, but what I get from Evi are abused spouse vibes. She tries really hard to make Dalinar happy, without understanding what that really means to the Alethi.

L: That’s a completely fair reading of the situation as well. It could go either way, honestly, though basing it solely on textual clues I’d lean more towards your analysis. I’m tin-foil-hatting it.

AA: Well, I’ll disagree with you both, then. I think there are a number of indications that, while theirs is far from a perfect marriage relationship, they do care for each other in a meaningful way. Dalinar is really, really bad at understanding his foreign wife, and Evi is wildly out of her element among these aggressive Alethi, but they do care about one another.
There’s always been a physical attraction on Dalinar’s part; that was one of the first things he remembered when things started coming back. We should also not forget “So long as he could be a hero to this woman.” Her opinion of him, then and now, matters to Dalinar; he just doesn’t know how to balance his addiction to the Thrill, his duty to his brother, his innate enjoyment of battle, and his desire to please his wife. Sadly, the last one has the least leverage, since the first three team up so well against it.

As for Evi, of course she struggles to understand how to be a “good wife” to this Alethi berserker. You don’t simply abandon everything you ever learned because you move to another country; however much you consciously try to comprehend and emulate the culture you enter, there will always be assumptions and expectations that you don’t even think about until there’s a conflict. At this point, they’d only met about seven years ago, and have been married for six. (Correction: I’m not sure where my maths went, but they had met about twelve years ago, and have been married for about seven.) I don’t know about you two, but when I’d been married for six seven years, I had a lot left to learn about my husband, myself, and marriage in general. (For that matter, at 31 years I still have a lot left to learn.)
Which of those three views Sanderson had in mind, we don’t know and he probably won’t tell us. He seems to like letting us interpret these things as we choose. But I’m standing by my interpretation.

AP: Caring for each other and actually having chemistry are not the same. And you can care for your spouse and still fall into abusive patterns of behavior. It’s nothing like the relationship he is shown to have with Navani later where I do think there is a deeper fondness and mutual respect as well as physical attraction. Dalinar and Evi are a poor match.

[Adolin] got down safely, walked over.

And saluted.

L: My heart.

“He asked the best way to talk to you,” she whispered. “I told him you were a general, the leader of all the soldiers. He came up with that on his own.”

L: Sweet little Adolin, wanting to connect to his father so very badly, even this young!

AP: It’s telling that even at a very young age Adolin is able to connect to his father in a way that Evi can’t.

AA: I’m destined for the role of contrarian this week; it’s becoming comical. I think this moment is incredibly cute and all, but I still retain my first reaction to this scene. Dalinar seems nonplussed, and Evi is delighted by Adolin’s precociousness, but I can’t help thinking this is not a healthy greeting from a five-year-old who hasn’t seen his father for over a year.

L: In our society, no. But in Alethi society, where war is so predominant and soldiers are viewed as heroes?

Dalinar waited for the excitement he’d felt before, upon meeting Adolin for the first time… but storms, he was just so tired.

L: Poor Renarin. Always second, always overlooked, always on the outside. I’m so glad that he has Adolin for a brother, because at least he cares about Renarin instead of ignoring or bullying him like most older brothers in stories like this would do.

AP: Agreed, I very much like reading about their relationship.

AA: Yay! I get to agree!

“I’ll win you one in war, son.”

“No,” Adolin said, chin up. “I want to win my own. Like you did.”

L: He so wants to emulate his father—like most children do.

Bruised & Broken

Out here, he had a reward. At the end of all the planning, the strategy, and the debates with generals, came the Thrill.

AP: Dalinar is as much of a junkie as Teft, but he doesn’t realize it.

L: Not yet, anyway.

Places & Peoples

He’d crushed the Herdazians—sending them back to start a civil war, securing the Alethi lands to the north and claiming the island of Akak.

AP: Poor Herdazians. :( But also, this fits with Lopen’s family leaving Herdaz and settling in Alethkar when he was a baby. I hadn’t made the connection that it was Dalinar’s fault.

L: Well, Lopen certainly doesn’t seem to hold it against him.

The land here was lush compared to Kholinar. The thick grass was broken by sturdy stands of trees, and tangled vines draped the western cliff faces.

AA: There’s nothing hugely significant about this, other than that as you go west, vegetation flourishes. After spending most of the first two books on the Shattered Plains, and much of Oathbringer in Urithiru, it’s good to remember that not all of the planet is stark and inhospitable.

Meaningful/Moronic/Mundane Motivations

… he no longer had Gavilar to do the hard parts of this job. Dalinar had camps to supply, men to feed, and logistics to work out.

AA: Dalinar has matured. He used to be impatient with Gavilar, Sadeas, and their planning, and delighted in going rogue on them. Now he’s doing the planning. I like the change in him—but even more, I like the fact that Sanderson deals with it. Logistics as a discipline just isn’t sexy; many authors ignore it unless they need to justify an otherwise stupid delay in the timeline. That bugs me, so I’m glad to see it addressed. Also, Dalinar only has one Soulcaster, which he must reserve for emergencies instead of treating it as an infinite bag of food-holding, and it makes sense. In the “future,” the army took many of the kingdom’s Soulcasters to the Shattered Plains; this far back, though, Gavilar wouldn’t have had many, and couldn’t afford to risk them in border skirmishes.

“Could you not…let them surrender to you?”

AP: Oh Evi, you really don’t understand war. I wanted to include this because of how well it foreshadows what happens later in the Rift.

L: It’s actually really endearing to me how naive she is. Would that life could be that simple, you poor innocent child.

“I remember you. We talk about you every night when we burn prayers. So you will be safe. Fighting bad men.”

AA: I’m going to copy in my beta reaction to this: “Awww. Aside from being cute from Adolin, I love that Evi is teaching her sons to love and remember their father, and to think of him as a hero and a great general, even when on a personal level he’s being a pig to her. I really, really like Evi, and I’m going to ugly-cry all over the where, when she dies. You have been Warned.”

I did, of course. This also foreshadows a later flashback (Ch. 94), when Dalinar rails to himself over “how many lies about him [she had] stuffed into their heads,” only to find out that she’d done just the opposite of what he expected. She’d taught them, indeed, that he was “The only honest officer in the army, the honorable soldier. Noble, like the Heralds themselves. Our father. The greatest man in Alethkar.” Well, okay, maybe she had stuffed lies about him into their heads—but not the ones he thought.

Quality Quotations

The breastplate was cracked along the left side, and the armorers buzzed, discussing the repair. As if they had to do something other than merely give the Plate Stormlight and let it regrow itself.

AA: As if.

He’d somehow assembled “armor” from strings and bits of broken rockbud shell.

AA: Awww. We get to see his early interest in both fashion and fighting. Go, tiny Adolin!

… The boy spoke clearly—and dramatically—as he described his fallen enemies. They were, apparently, evil flying chulls.

AA: I love this child. Also, when do we get to see the legendary evil flying chulls?

L: Closest I can get, though FAR from evil.

AP: Voidbringers covered in carapace?

L: Oh shit, Aubree going for the serious foreshadowing while I go for silly memes. Well done.

Okay, we’ll stop arguing now, and let y’all take over in the comments. Just be sure to argue with the opinions and not attack the people, mmmm-kay? Thanks!

In case you missed it, earlier this week we posted the 1000th-member-celebration questions Brandon answered for the Storm Cellar. It’s at comment #105 in the Chapter 50 & 51 reread. Some interesting stuff there…

Looking ahead to next week, we’ll be reading Chapter 53, joining Jasnah and a flock of scholars, stormwardens, Radiants, and a few oddballs in the basement library again. Confrontations and discoveries, ahoy!

Alice has one small bit of advice for you from a friend’s recent winetasting: “Never yuk on someone else’s yum.” Take it to heart, for it is deep and profound, and tastes good with ketchup. (Oh, oops, that’s about meddling in the affairs of evil flying chulls, isn’t it? Something like that. Sorry.)

Lyndsey finally has a working outline for her NaNoWriMo novel, and not a moment too storming soon. If you’re an aspiring author, a cosplayer, or just like geeky content, follow her work on Facebook or her website.

Aubree is. Or is not. Best not open the box to check.

Today on the Oathbringer Reread we’ve got a Scholarly Sit-down with Jasnah Kholin and a few of her friends (via span-reed, of course). Suspicions start blooming over a certain Kholin boy’s spren, Amaram takes a well-deserved verbal beat-down, and Renarin makes a grand discovery that could change everything.

Aubree and I have a lot to cover today, and Alice won’t be joining us due to family obligations, so strap in and prepare your spanreeds to make those comments on the bottom!

Reminder: we’ll potentially be discussing spoilers for the ENTIRE NOVEL in each reread. There’s also a tiny bit of Cosmere talk in the epigraph part of The Singing Storm, so tread carefully if you haven’t finished the original Mistborn trilogy. As always, if you haven’t read ALL of Oathbringer, best to wait to join us until you’re done.

Chapter Recap

WHO: Jasnah
WHERE: Urithiru
WHEN: 1174.1.9.1, one day after Dalinar flew to the warcamps.

Jasnah is spending some time with her fellow scholars in Urithiru. She makes a “conference call” via spanreed to some old friends, and discusses the fact that Nalan has been sighted in Azir. They also talk about Lift, whether or not Dalinar is crazy (he’s not), and Jasnah begins to have some suspicions about Renarin’s spren. Unfortunately for Jasnah, her least favorite person (Amaram) shows up, wanting to talk to her about bridging the growing gap between their families. Jasnah’s having none of it, and insults him so thoroughly that he leaves in a huff. Shallan brings up that she plans to leave with Elhokar to infiltrate Alethkar, which Jasnah’s none to pleased about, then Renarin makes the discovery of a lifetime—a hidden cache of gems, holding vibrational codes containing knowledge thought long lost.

The Singing Storm

Title: Such a Twisted Cut

L: I’m inclined to think that this is talking about the cuts Jasnah inflicts on Amaram’s ego, and nothing you can say will convince me otherwise.

Heralds

Palah’s in all four places on this chapter, and it’s pretty clear why, I think. She’s the Scholar, and if there’s one thing Jasnah is in full-gear on in this chapter, it’s scholastics. And mad burns, but we’ll get to that.

Icon

Shadesmar

Epigraph

Friend,

Your letter is most intriguing, even revelatory.

L: Oh no, Alice isn’t here so I guess I’ve got to take a stab at this section this week. ::sweats:: Well, this is clearly the beginning of a new correspondance. In the next parts the writer says they’re a deity and holding two opposing powers, so… Sazed/Harmony, writing to Hoid, presumably. The question is, what in the world was Hoid writing to Harmony that would surprise him so much? Something about Odium’s return, perhaps? We’ll dig into more of this letter in later chapters, of course, but I’m so curious to know what Hoid’s up to. (As always with him.)

AP: I was really excited by this, because the Cosmere timeline is a bit wibbly-wobbly to me.

L: (You said it so I have to post the gif, I’m contractually obligated.)

AP: It’s really cool to see Sazed pop up again. I’m eager to get more and more connections as the series unfolds.

Stories & Songs

He gathered them together at a grand feast, promising the delights of distant Aimia.

L: I’m desperately curious to know what these delights were.

AP: I’m going to need our fellow beta, Deana Whitney, to take a stab at this in one of her Cosmere food articles!

L: Wow, for some reason my head didn’t even go to food, I was thinking music or entertainment or something. But you’re right, looking at it again it probably does refer to food.

The text sounded almost delighted when she’d explained how he’d died by choking on the food at that very feast, alone with nobody to help him.

L: I really like this story/proverb. On the one hand, this guy survived so many assassination attempts that it’s almost understandable that he did what he did—but on the other, the irony is pretty delicious: the very fact that he had no one he could trust led him to his demise.

AP: I thought it was a great story too. But on a second look, it makes me wonder why exactly so many members of his own family hated him enough to try to kill him. Based on his overreaction, it seems like they may have had good reason.

L: Yeah, there’s definitely some underlying subtext, here. If he was a perfect benevolent ruler, everyone wouldn’t be trying to do away with him, now would they?

Often the greatest threat to a ruling family was its own members. Why were so many of the old royal lines such knots of murder, greed, and infighting? And what make the few exceptions different?

AP: Related to the above, this makes me really nervous for possible foreshadowing what with Jasnah being the new Queen at the end of the book. Are the families prone to paranoia or other forms of mental illness? We know that potential Knights Radiant are particularly paranoid when cryptics start hovering around. If the royal lines were full of unstable people, then no wonder they fell to internal threats. And with the Kholin dynasty already overrepresented in the newest iteration of the Knights Radiant, is it possible that we see some of this pop up again in future books?

L: Well, at least if people within the family do start gunning for her, she’s well equipped to take care of herself. Not only is she a Knight Radiant, she’s had years and years of experience in hiring assassins to “take care” issues like this.

AP: Oh, definitely. She’s got more experience with her powers than anyone else at this point. I fear for whoever tries to take on Jasnah Kholin.

L: Me, when that happens. Unless it’s Kaladin, in which case, this.

In any case, something’s wrong with the man I think is Nalan, Jasnah. I don’t think the Heralds will be a resource to us.

I will provide you with sketches of the Heralds, Jasnah said. I have drawings of their true faces, provided by an unexpected source.

L: Hoid, perhaps? We know Jasnah ran into him. I’m interested in this from another angle though. Do you think that the Heralds retained the same physical form in each return? I always sort of imagined it like reincarnation, sort of like in Wheel of Time. But this indicates that they look the same each time they’re brought back. It also implies to me that they return each time as adults, rather than being reborn and having to take the time to grow to adulthood. This makes sense, as they’d need to be adults to lead the people in each Desolation—but does it also mean that their bodies themselves are immortal, as opposed to just their souls?

AP: I wonder if it has to do with their cognitive identity—how they see themselves. So perhaps they experienced small changes over time related to their own self image, maybe they are taller than they were when they were human, for example. But by & large, your self image is pretty set.

L: Interesting. So their self-image could somehow alter their physical appearance? Like… “wouldn’t you rather be fire?” only in this case, “wouldn’t I rather be blond?” Man. I wish changing hair color in the real world were so easy…

AP: Not exactly a “would you rather” but like how Kaladin still has his slave brand that doesn’t heal, because it’s part of his self identity. Versus The Lopen who regrew his arm because only having one arm isn’t something he has internalized. His “self” has two arms, so the stormlight “healed” him to match his self identity.

L: That makes sense. So rather… “I should be blond, hence… I am.” I think therefore I am? ::laughs::

AP: Decartes would so be there for Roshar!

L: I do still wonder about their physical bodies though. Are they immortal and their bodies were carted off into the other realm with them to be tortured each Desolation?

AP: I don’t think so. My guess is that they get new meat suits for each reincarnation. They just match their cognitive identity.

A ruby, long as Jasnah’s thumb, cut into a strange shape with holes drilled in it.

…

The library had decayed, but the ancient Radiants had obviously anticipated that.

They’d found another way to pass on their knowledge.

L: Fun fact, the little snippets of information that show up in the epigraphs from here on out weren’t in the beta draft, so I have no idea what’s in them. I look forward to finding out and speculating…

AP: I was so confused when the book came out and people were talking about what was in these. I ended up skimming through all the epigraphs in a single sitting. It’s a really clever way to get world lore to the reader. Though in the beta we were all guessing about what these stones would do, and were totally off base. I thought they would be part of what powered Urithiru and made it “be a city.”

Jasnah was most interested in the Thaylen parshmen who had stolen the ships that survived the storm. Their exodus—combined with Kaladin Stormblessed’s interactions with the parshmen in Alethkar—was painting a new picture of what and who the Voidbringers were.

AP: I find all these tidbits fascinating. The awakened parshmen are definitely going to have a huge role to play apart from the Fused. I’m all in on them reclaiming their culture and identity.

L: Yeah, as much as I hate the Fused, I am all for the poor parshmen. Poor people have been downtrodden and enslaved for so long that they don’t even have their own cultural identity anymore. It’s heartbreaking.

AP: My completely unfounded suspicion is that it will take the Listeners/Singers/whatever new identity the awakened parshmen take on AND the humans working together to take down Odium.

L: I still think that Odium’s a red herring and the Real Big Bad is going to show up after he goes down after book 5, but I’m with you on the “Listeners/Humans team up” thing for sure.

Relationships & Romances

“We were close once.”

“My father wished us to be close. Do not mistake his fancies for fact.”

…

“Why, Jasnah? Why have you always denied me?”

“Other than the fact that you are a detestable buffoon who achieves only the lowest level of mediocrity, as it is the best your limited mind can imagine? I can’t possibly think of a reason.”

L: Dude, Amaram. Take the hint. The lady’s not into you.

AP: No means no. It makes me wonder what he was like when they were younger. I got seriously creepy vibes when he grabbed her arm.

L: Saaaaame.

“Brightness!” Shallan said as Jasnah sat. “That was incredible!”

“I let myself be pushed into abundant emotion.”

“You were so clever!”

L: I love how Shallan looks up to Jasnah so much, even despite the frustration she feels over being treated like a child sometimes. (Also, it might be worthwhile to mention that while Shallan tries—too hard, often times—to be clever, Jasnah does it effortlessly.)

AP: I like how this shows the difference in maturity between them so clearly. Shallan is just over the moon about the epic burns, and Jasnah is self-critical about the tactics she chose to take and knows that there will be consequences.

Bruised & Broken

You can’t spend forever floating between worlds, Cousin, she thought. Eventually you’ll need to decide where you want to belong. Life was so much harder, but potentially so much more fulfilling, when you found the courage to choose.

L: There’s a lot of interesting thoughts to unpack in this passage. For starters, I don’t think Jasnah is right here. She’s thinking in such binary of terms—black or white, fact or fiction. It’s a very scientific approach, but I don’t think it necessarily applies to people and emotions. It’s entirely feasible to live in the grey area, to be both a scholar and a soldier. Perhaps in this case, the courage Renarin needs is to take a stand and straddle that line, to choose what’s right for him and not to align with what society and culture expect of him.

AP: I think that the orders of the Knights Radiant can live on the edges much more easily than the son of a highprince. I expect the old rules to be less and less applicable, and I definitely welcome the change. However, this does show that Jasnah, for all her very public heresy, does have to work within the system to a strong degree to achieve her goals. She is still very much an Alethi lighteyes.

L: I wonder how much that’s going to change now that she’s queen, though!

AP: Depends on how effective she wants to be, I would guess! We saw with Elhokar how the king can be just a figurehead if they don’t have the support of the highprinces. I think Jasnah is much more politically savvy than her brother though.

—the boy could be a powerful addition to our ranks. He shows interest in numerology, and asked me if we can truly predict events with it.

Jasnah made a note to speak to Renarin; she would not have him wasting his time with a bunch of fools who thought they could foretell the future based on the curls of smoke from a snuffed candle.

L: Jasnah, really? Come on, now. You’ve been judged for your belief (or lack thereof) your entire life, maybe don’t judge others based on those same metrics.

Buy it Now

In all seriousness, I get where she’s coming from. Athiests often have a dissatisfied take on any sort of religion, having been judged based on their beliefs for their entire lives. It makes sense that any sort of scientifically unprovable belief system would chafe against her. But she’s continually trying to make others what she believes they could be, rather than allowing them to figure that out for themselves. It’s the only thing that really bugs me about her.

AP: I think that’s a valid criticism! I wonder how much of the predicting the future is based on the abilities of one or more orders of KR, and how much has been corrupted like seemingly everything else in Vorinism?

Squires & Sidekicks

Are you at Urithiru? Jochi wrote. When can I visit?

As soon as you’re willing to let everyone know you aren’t female, Jasnah wrote back. Jochi—known to the world as a dynamic woman of distinctive philosophy—was a pen name for a potbellied man in his sixties who ran a pastry shop in Thaylen City.

L: I absolutely adore this guy already.

AP: He’s definitely the side character I’m most looking forward to “meeting”.

Heralds alive and trying to kill people, Jochi wrote. And here I thought my news about a sighting of Axies the Collector was interesting.

L: Just noting this casual little drop of information on Axies.

Places & Peoples

—tests confirm something is different here. Temperatures are distinctly lower on other nearby peaks of the same elevation—

L: Well that’s interesting. Something to do with the dormant technology of Urithiru, perhaps?

AP: I really want to know how Urithiru works! This is the bit of lore I was most interested in finding out, and we don’t get an answer by the end of the book. Which makes me think there is a Big Reveal coming in book 4.

Navani talked of ways to improve the experience—of spanreeds that could be adjusted to connect to different people.

AP: Yaassss Navani! I am totally in on Navani’s magi-tech.

L: You just had to say that word, now all I can think of is Final Fantasy.

“And yet, my first insult was not to attack him, but the moral reputation of his female relative. Clever? Or simply the use of an obvious bludgeon?”

L: I’m putting this one here because of the subtext of social commentary. So often femininity is used as an insult (“You throw like a girl”), and I really love seeing Jasnah admitting that her first instinct was to adhere to this rather than insulting him based on his own lack of virtues or honor. Alethi society may have a long way to go, but I’m glad for people like Jasnah who, like many in our own world today, are taking a good hard look at the ingrained injustices and prejudices of the world and taking active steps to reject them.

AP: As I alluded to earlier, I think this is huge. It takes a lot of self reflection to acknowledge an error, and work to do better.

Tight Butts and Coconuts

“Jasnah,” he said when he drew close. “I was told I could find you here.”

“Remind me to find whoever told you,” Jasnah said, “and have them hanged.”

L: Storms bless you, Jasnah Kholin.

“Everyone can see that he has started to share your religious beliefs.”

“Which would be incredible, since I don’t have religious beliefs.”

L: Jasnah 2, Amaram 0.

“Yes, from what I understand, she spent the seven months she was with child entertaining each and every military man she could find, in the hopes that something of them would stick to you.”

L: Yup.

Jasnah smiled, holding her freehand toward him, letting Stormlight curl and rise from it. “Oh, please do, Meridas. Give me an excuse. I dare you.”

L: This Jasnah Kholin appreciation comment is brought to you by the letter B, for “badass.”

AP: Yes! I wanted to see her summon her shardblade! And, AND, after Amaram threatens her with the blade he STOLE FROM KALADIN!

L: Shit I had forgotten that and it makes me want to kill him even more.

A Scrupulous Study of Spren

Concentrationspren rippled in the air like waves overheard—a rarity in Alethkar, but common here—and logicspren darted through them, like tiny stormclouds.

L: I wonder if the concentrationspren being more prevalent here is simply due to the fact that it’s easier to concentrate in such a secluded place, or if there’s more going on in regards to location.

AP: I read it as a commentary on having so many scholars in one place, which was rare in Alethkar.

Ethid, she wrote, weren’t you going to try to construct drawings of the spren tied to each order of Radiant?

I’ve gotten quite far, actually, she wrote back. I saw the Edgedancer spren personally, after demanding a glimpse.

What of the Truthwatchers? Jasnah wrote.

Oh! I found a reference to those, Jochi wrote. The spren reportedly looked like light on a surface after it reflects through something crystalline.

L: Here we go, starting to really question Renarin’s spren. I’m curious about what exactly piqued Jasnah’s interest here, though. What he said (“—it’s coming from in here. Somewhere in this room—”) doesn’t seem to raise any red flags for me…

AP: I had the same question. We don’t know a lot about the Truthwatchers, so my guess was that it’s something in the lore surrounding them and Renarin’s behavior with Glys did not fit the expected pattern. Is he demonstrating an ability that he shouldn’t have based on his declared order? We know that Shallan is pretending to be an Elsecaller for her own benefit, which Jasnah knows is a lie. Perhaps she is more suspicious of her own family and internal threats than she’s willing to acknowledge.

Analyzing Artwork

Click to enlarge

AP: I love the calligraphy discussion here! Seeing the glyphs written out for the first ideal of the Knights Radiant is a cool easter egg. And then the reference to the phoneme set on the next page….which we don’t get!!

L: I agree, but… who the heck is writing this?

I prefer bloodstains to inkstains any day, so next time send me somewhere I’m more likely to die from wounds than from handcramps.

Assuming that it’s a worldhopper, but… are there any other clues?

AP: Someone posing as an ardent, I surmise. Or an actual ardent undercover in another devotary? The “Purity’s Eye” swear sticks out at me. It sounds like the writer is worried about coded messages being sent via glyphs, and that they do not typically spend a lot of time writing.

L: The way they talk about the Alethi, it’s got to be either a worldhopper or someone from a different culture on Roshar.

AP: Oh, totally a worldhopper. But we’ve seen Hoid be deep undercover before. Pretending to be an ardent wouldn’t be anything too difficult.

L: I also like how the glyphs so closely mirror the evolution of the written languages for Chinese and Japanese. The way they change and simplify over time, the way we have that section on the bottom right that’s just letters transcribed to simple glyphs is very much like Japanese hiragana and katakana! This is probably intentional—I know that Sanderson spent some time in Asia, he probably picked up on some cool stuff like this while he was over there.

AP: That’s a good catch! I study western calligraphy, and it makes me think of the way that scripts changed over time, first becoming highly stylized and decorative, then moving back toward functional before becoming very standardized with printing.

Quality Quotations

Turns out the end of the world had to actually arrive before people would take it seriously.

L: ::cough climate change cough::

AP: Such a good quote.

If Alethkar was going to survive the Desolation, they’d need committed leadership. A stable throne.

L: That’s some quality foreshadowing, there.

AP: Time will tell! I love my girl Jasnah, but I don’t know how stable the throne will be during a Desolation!

Ethid did not think highly of men who earned their reputations through conquest, despite having made the study of such men a cornerstone of her research.

L: Or perhaps because of it.

Jasnah Kholin? Lost at sea? Likelier we’d find the Stormfather dead.

AP: Weellll…that seems ominously like foreshadowing….

AP: Next week we join back up with the guy everyone loves to hate, Moash! Get hype!

L: Mm hmm.

AP: We also learn a lot more about the Fused. And someone we thought was gone re-emerges…

Aubree is eventually going to have to write an actual bio. But as she is currently on assignment hunting inspirationspren it will have to wait for another time. She heard that Axies found one in Aimia and she is now giving stray cremlings the side-eye.

Lyndsey is heading to Salem, MA for Halloween this year. If you’re there, keep an eye out for Yuuri Katsuki and Victor Nikiforov and if you see them, come say hi! If you’re an aspiring author, a cosplayer, or just like geeky content, follow her work on Facebook or her website.

New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson’s monumental Stormlight Archive series invites you to an epic fantasy unlike any other—and this week, you can enter the world of The Stormlight Archive through a special deal. From October 30 through November 5, the first three books (The Way of Kings, Words of Radiance, and Oathbringer) are on sale for $2.99 each at your preferred ebook retailer!

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

The opening novel of Sanderson’s bold and masterfully epic Stormlight Archive series introduces a world in which ten armies fight against a single powerful foe over artifacts from a mystical ancient order… and the three individuals poised to uncover its lost history.

Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson

The Stormlight Archive returns to the land of Roshar as its heroes take on challenging new roles and struggle to master new skills that intertwine their lives with the survival of their entire world.

Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson

In the third novel of The Stormlight Archive series, humanity faces a new threat even more destructive than the War of Reckoning, forcing the nations of Roshar to either set aside their blood-soaked past or face the end of civilization entirely.

Hey hey, Sanderson fans! It’s Thursday morning, and we all know what happens on Thursday morning. It’s Cosmere reread time! This week we rejoin Moash in—and above—the parshmen warcamp outside Kholinar, where preparations are being made to assault the city. Much to his surprise, he meets someone none of us expected to see again.

Lyn is busy with life and haunting and things, so Aubree and Alice will be covering this chapter. As a reminder, we’ll be discussing spoilers for the ENTIRE NOVEL several places in the reread this week. There are also minor spoilers for the Mistborn series in the epigraph, and as always there may be spoilers for … well, anything… in the comments. Watch your footin’, is all I’m saying. But if you haven’t read ALL of Oathbringer, best to wait to join us until you’re done.

Chapter Recap

WHO: Moash
WHERE: outside Kholinar
WHEN: 1174.2.2.5 (eight days after his previous chapter)

Moash carries lumber with Kaladin’s old team of parshmen, but gets frustrated and demands to speak to someone in charge. One of the Fused takes him up in the air, where he is met by another Fused: the one he killed back in the Frostlands, in a new body. She is impressed with his passion, and after a long conversation, she sends him back to the ground. He makes his way back to his parshmen team and prepares to teach them some basic spear skills.

The Singing Storm

Title: An Ancient Singer’s Name

“Then what does anger you? What is your passionate fury, Moash, the man with an ancient singer’s name?”

AA: Interesting, that names have transferred from one race to another. It wouldn’t have surprised me in one of the nationalities that crossbred with the Singers, but as far as we know, Moash has no Horneater, Veden, or Herdazian blood, does he? I keep wondering if this is going to have further significance. I don’t recall that we learned any more about it by the end of the book.

AP: No, we don’t learn any more about it in Oathbringer. But I totally agree that we will see this come up again. It may be a tipping point in why the Fused were willing to trust him. I really hope we see the background on where the name came from. I hope there’s a story there, like it being a family name.

Heralds

Jezrien x 4 here for Moash. Herald of Kings, patron of Windrunners, with the divine attributes of Protecting and Leading.

AA: I don’t know whether to think Jezrien is here to represent Moash’s efforts to protect and lead the parsh slaves, or if it’s one of those “associated madness” things, reflecting Moash’s conversation with Leshwi and his apparent abandonment of humans.

AP: Moash does start down the “Dark Windrunner” path here. I would associate it with his attempts to protect the Parshmen.

Icon

Not Bridge Four—in other words, it’s Moash again.

AP: Yay! :D

Epigraph

I would have thought, before attaining my current station, that a deity could not be surprised.

Obviously, this is not true. I can be surprised. I can perhaps even be naive, I think.

AA: This is one epigraph that made it seem obvious that the writer of this letter is Sazed/Harmony. I say “seem obvious” because he’s the only active Vessel whose Ascension we actually saw. There’s no reason this couldn’t be one of the original 16, since they all attained a new station in the event, but in this instance the “obvious” answer turns out to be the correct one. I have to wonder what was in Hoid’s letter to make him so surprised. (We might learn more about this in the upcoming epigraphs, but I’ll wait to discuss it then, if it comes up.)

Stories & Songs

The Fused regarded him and grinned.

“Someone in charge,” Moash repeated.

The Voidbringer laughed, then fell backward into the water of the cistern, where he floated, staring at the sky.

Great, Moash thought. One of the crazy ones. There were many of those.

AA: Now we’re starting to see that things are not all strength and vengeance among the ancestors, though we were told that would be the case. Some of the ancient souls have gone completely round the twist after all these millennia. I won’t presume to guess whether it’s the 4500 years trapped on Braize, or if they were already going gnarly due to the cycle of returning, stealing appropriating a body, fighting, and dying. Seems like it could be awkward, to have a bunch of your “gods”—a significant portion of your “experienced fighters”—being thoroughly bonkers. Some might make great berserkers, but from the behavior of this one, some of them could be a real liability!

AP: Oh, totally. As we see with the Fused who makes a saw out of carapace, it’s not only the warriors who get brought back. I wonder what the criteria is for who gets new bodies and who doesn’t. Will some of these insane Fused be denied new bodies when they die? Or is the resurrection process automatic? It also definitely has to shake the faith the Parshmen have in their “gods”.

“Look, you’re one of the leaders?”

“I’m one of the Fused who is sane,” she said, as if it were the same thing.

AA: Which, of course, it is. The Fused run the show. The ones who are complete whack jobs, like the one above, are pretty well useless. The ones who retain … well, sanity might be a lofty term for it, but at least coherence, those are the ones who give the orders and make the decisions.

AP: To a point at least. I’m curious as to what the hierarchy is among the Fused. The sane ones, anyway. Who are the actual decision makers? How much autonomy do they have?

AA: I think we eventually get a little more info from Venli’s POV, but there’s still so much to learn about them! But now we know that they new bodies when needed, anyway:

“Wait,” Moash said, cold. “When I killed you?”

She regarded him, unblinking, with those ruby eyes.

“You’re the same one?” Moash asked. That pattern of marbled skin … he realized. It’s the same as the one I fought. But the features were different.

AA: There’s the answer to some recent discussion, in case you’d forgotten. The pattern of marbling is connected to the soul, but the physical features belong to the body. There have been other hints that there is more to the color patterns than we yet know; given that Book Four is expected to center on the Eshonai/Venli story, maybe we’ll find out in a couple of years. (Uh… yeah. Shoot. That doesn’t sound nearly soon enough.) Anyway, somewhere along the line we’ll find out if the marbling is Cognitive or Spiritual, and what it means in the big picture.

AP: There’s multiple parts to this too. We have 1—the colors themselves: red/white, red/black, white/black, red/white/black, and 2—the patterns that the marbling takes, which seem more identifying, like fingerprints. But also, the physical features of the Parshendi change based on their rhythms and the associated forms. I don’t know if that’s applicable to the Fused as well, or if they effectively are locked into one form.

AA: Oooooooh. I hadn’t thought about whether the Fused use the different forms. We see one of them making carapace shaped to his will, but … hmmmm. Is their form dependent on the form of the one who give them a body? Given the need for spren to bond with the gemheart in order to change forms, I’d be tempted to bet that each Fused has a single preferred form, but that’s just a guess.

“This is a new body offered to me in sacrifice,” Leshwi said. “To bond and make my own, as I have none.”

AA: Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t this the first place we are specifically told that the Fused take over the bodies of parshmen? And the first solid information that they are able to just keep doing it? By the time it’s all said and done, we know that the ancient ones used to have to go back to Braize when their adopted body was killed (sort of like the Heralds), to wait for a new Desolation. This time around, with the Oathpact so desperately weakened, all they have to do is wait for the next Everstorm to snag a new body and keep going.

And of course the parshmen are delighted to give their bodies to the Fused… Or not. I can almost see a person being willing to give their body to a Leshwi, who will at least be effective; but that dude in the earlier quote? He gets a body to wear, but I can’t help thinking it’s a waste of resources, at the very least.

(Ugh. The whole thing creeps me out, because I know they aren’t really telling the parsh what’s going to happen when they volunteer/are shanghaied for Fusing. Thinking of them as “resources” makes my skin crawl.)

AP: They are obviously not telling the parshmen what will happen when they sacrifice themselves. They constant cycle of resurrections definitely gives them an advantage over Team Human. This also probably plays into why the parshmen slaves are treated so well. If you expect to need a body later, you don’t abuse it. Damaged goods. But it wouldn’t explain why they treat the humans better than the Alethi army does.

“Sacrifice,” she said. “Do you think an empire is built without sacrifice?”

AA: Sure, easy for you to say!

Buy it Now

AP: Of course. People at the top of an oppressive society rarely give any thought for those at the bottom. It’s an abstract because it doesn’t affect them directly.

Relationships & Romances

“Don’t you care what our own gods are doing to us?”

Sah slammed his bundle to the ground. “Yes, I care,” Sah snapped. “You think I haven’t been asking the same questions? Storms! They took my daughter, Khen! They ripped her away from me and sent me off to die.”

AA: Sanderson has taken us a long way on our view of the parsh people since the beginning of this series. First they were unknown, but something on that battlefield had orange blood. Then they were The Other; the ones who broke the treaty for unknowable reasons and killed Gavilar; the ones out there that shot arrows at our bridge crew and almost killed Dalinar & Adolin. Then they became the Listeners, through Eshonai’s POVs and the epigraphs which showed glimpses of their culture and history. Their “old gods” were sort of a nameless terror, though we suspected them to be the Unmade.

Now, we’re getting to know two new sets of people: the freed parshmen, who are still trying to figure out who they are and how to function, and the truth of those old gods. I don’t know about you, but the former make me sympathetic and the latter angry. I feel terrible for Sah and his little daughter Vai, and to a slightly lesser extent Khen and the rest; now that they’re awake, they’re really just normal everyday people, carapace notwithstanding. Those “old gods” though… no wonder the Listeners sacrificed everything they were to escape them. Their thirst for revenge seems to outweigh any consideration for the fate of the living. Leshwi talks about “sacrifice,” but it looks to me like some of them sacrificed their sanity, and the rest of them are perfectly happy to sacrifice all the parsh people they need in order to wipe out or enslave the humans. I honestly don’t think they care if there aren’t enough parsh left to propagate the species when they’re done; they just want to make sure the humans are destroyed.

AP: This is very similar to how I feel as well. I think their portrayal really brings home the horrors of warfare. It’s so much easier to hate an enemy you know nothing about. And as readers, it’s easy to cheer for the protagonists taking on an army of monsters. I can’t make myself cheer for the destruction of the Parshendi/Listeners/parshmen. And that’s another thing. I think based on some of our other discussions, that the name “parshmen,” while helping us distinguish who they are in the narrative feels wrong to call these people. As you mention, they have been freed from dullform slaveform, which literally clouded their minds. I suggest we start referring to them as the Awakened, since they aren’t really Listeners or Singers. One thing I absolutely love about this story is how complex it is. It’s so much more than human vs. monsters. There are monsters here, but they are the Fused, not the Listeners or the Awakened. And the Fused, outside of the influence of Odium, would be fighting a just war against invaders. There is just so much going on under the surface here.

AA: So much going on. I’m struggling with using “Awakened”—probably a result of doing the Warbreaker reread, where “awakened” has a much different context. I’d like to have a term for the whole race (perhaps excluding the Fused) for when I want to refer to those-people-with-marbled-skin-who-aren’t-either-human-or-Aimian. I think later the Fused refer to them all as “singers”—even though they only barely hear the Rhythms—but that leaves out the Listeners. And I really, really hope to find a few remnants of the Listeners yet. (FWIW, I’m going to try to ask about this at the Skyward signing in a couple of weeks.)

Bruised & Broken

AA: Maybe the bit about the loony-bin Fused should have gone here, but I think they’re beyond “bruised and broken,” and we were mostly using this for discussions of the kind of damage that leaves one open to the Nahel bond. I do have some questions to pose here, though. Are all of the parsh ancestors Voidbinders, even the ones who aren’t coherent enough to use it? Or is it just some of them? And does Voidbinding require the same openness of soul as Surgebinding?

AP: So Leshwi mentions that if Khen & Co. survive the assault on Kholinar that they would be honored. I expect that is intended to mean that they would have been considered to be acceptable vessels for the Fused.

AA: (Some honor, that.)

AP: Which again brings up what the mind/body connection is there. Is the host soul evicted? Or just suppressed? Is that soul capable of taking over a new body eventually? Stopover at Braize first? Voidbinding seems to require at a minimum the consent of the host, even if it is not informed consent.

AA: I have the very strong impression that the soul which used to own the body is thoroughly evicted to Beyond, so they don’t have any opportunity to make a fuss about it.

Squires & Sidekicks

“We harbored a spy,” Sah muttered.

A spy that, Moash had quickly learned, had been none other than Kaladin Stormblessed.

AA: We don’t know how he learned this, but it shouldn’t have been too hard if they talked to him at all. Dude wearing jacket much like his, slave brands, helpful, flies away? Not too many people fit that description. What I really want to know, though, is why Moash thinks “Kaladin Stormblessed” rather than just “Kaladin.” Moash was never one to give more honor or titles than necessary, iirc. Is this because of the last time he saw Kaladin, going from near-dead to fully healed Knight Radiant in a matter of seconds? Or is it more a matter of his own betrayal, of the one man who had been a true friend, preying on his mind?

AP: It’s not a stretch to figure out who the helpful flying human is. And the way that this group of Awakened talks about him, he does sound like Kaladin bloody Stormblessed!

Flora & Fauna

They barely quivered as he passed, though lifespren bobbed at his presence. The plants were accustomed to people on the streets.

AP: The idea of shy plants just delights me.

Moash’s Motivations

Let go, Moash, something deep within him whispered. Give up your pain. It’s all right. You did what was natural.

You can’t be blamed. Stop carrying that burden.

Let go.

AA: On a first read, it’s hard to tell whether this is merely a strong case of self-justification, or possibly something more. After reading the end of the book, it’s blatantly obvious that this is Odium whispering to Moash. Eurgh.

Buy it Now

There’s a little more of the whispering later in the chapter, though again, it’s not clear yet what’s happening. This will be something to observe as we go on, to see Moash’s reactions each time the whisper starts. He certainly doesn’t seem to be fighting the idea, and why would he? It fits right in with his mentality of blaming someone else for everything he does wrong. This forces the question: is his victim mentality inherent, and merely being enhanced by Odium? Or is it something Odium introduced to him a long time ago that he’s now accepted? I take the former position, myself; I think Moash has always been willing to blame others for his own actions, and that provides fertile ground for Odium’s whispering.

AP: It’s definitely Odium’s influence, and it’s one of the reasons that I think Moash doesn’t deserve all the hate he gets. Moash is also subject to the Thrill as an Alethi, so this is an clear increase in Odium’s influence, but not the first or only time he is affected. I think that Moash is the back up plan to Dalinar as champion, even way back here. Moash does not blame everyone else for his actions, we went through several chapters of him recognizing his own faults that led him to his current situation. His motivations are still very colored by his Alethi upbringing—vengeance paramount—and that makes it easy for him to accept justification when it’s offered. Whereas Dalinar had already rejected (forgotten) his violent path, and had several years to reform before being reminded of, and having to come to terms with, his history. It’s easy to see why Moash would flip on Team Human and Dalinar wouldn’t. Like Leshwi, Dalinar has been at the top of the social hierarchy, so he is doing okay, and has a lot of resources and a support system. Moash doesn’t have either. He had Bridge Four, but as we saw in earlier chapters, he doesn’t know how to form deep connections with others.

His heart thundered, and he regarded that drop, realizing something. He did not want to die.

AA: Well, whatever else I think may be missing in Moash’s motivations, there’s still some sense of self-preservation, I guess…. Also, if you suffer from acrophobia, don’t think about this section too hard!

AP: This is new though! Moash was passively suicidal for a good stretch before this. It wasn’t until he joined up with the Awakened group that he found some degree of purpose, and a reason to keep living.

She looked at him, smiling in what seemed to him a distinctly sinister way. “Do you know why we fight? Let me tell you.…”

AA: So now we find the touchpoint for Moash and the ancient souls he’s going to serve. Vengeance at any price.

It’s obvious from his later thoughts that Leshwi told Moash at least some of the true history of the Desolations. Presumably, she gave a (naturally) biased account, presenting the side of the Singers as the wronged ones in the ancient conflict. (I still suspect there may be more to the story, that it may not be as obviously one-sided as it currently appears.) I kind of wish we knew more about what he’s thinking here, but for the sake of story-telling, it needs to be hidden at this point.

AP: It does need to be hidden, but I do think that the humans are not necessarily the Good Guys. I think it’s complicated, especially since the humans were the original Voidbringers. There has to be more to the story of how & why the switch occurred—the humans following Honor and the Singers following Odium instead of the other way around. I wonder if we will get that full back story in book 4, of if we may have to wait until book 5.

“Spears,” Moash said. “I can teach you to be soldiers. We’ll probably die anyway. Storm it, we’ll probably never make it to the top of the walls. But it’s something.”

AA: So at this point, Moash still expects to die as cannon fodder in the first assault, despite his conversation with Leshwi. Did she merely give him permission to train them, or does he have a further assignment already?

AP: I see this as his own initiative. She gave him permission to leave and go join the refugees in Kholinar. He decided on his own that he couldn’t leave Khen and the others. This is why I call Moash’s arc the Dark Windrunner. He is following a very similar path to Kaladin, except not for Team Human.

A Scrupulous Study of Spren

“Like a bunch of slaves should be able to spot a spy?” Khen said. “Really? Shouldn’t the spren have been the one to spot him?”

AA: She’s not wrong, you know. How did the spren not get any of the blame? (Then again, how do you punish a spren?)

AP: I don’t know that you can. And do we know for sure what the spren that hang around the Voidbringers are? Are they Fused souls that have not yet gotten a new body? Or are they some sort of highspren that are of Odium instead of Honor or Cultivation? Voidspren?

AA: I … think it says somewhere, but I can’t find it right now. I think they are spren linked to Odium, but they aren’t ancestor souls. Ulim made that pretty clear in the first Venli interlude.

The wind up here tugged at the ribbons she wore, pushing them backward in careless ripples. There were no windspren in sight, oddly.

AA: Presumably, the spren who are native to this planet are repelled by Voidbinding, or something. Alternatively, it could be that windspren, being cousins of (or the origin of?) the honorspren, have from ancient times devoted themselves to Honor and so avoid beings tainted by Odium. Now we have something else to watch for: do any of the lesser spren ever show up around the Fused? Having thought of it, I’m now partial to the idea that the cousins of the higher spren are repelled by the ancestors, though it would make a certain amount of sense for all Roshar spren to feel that effect. I suppose it depends on how thoroughly Honor and Cultivation became integrated with the planet and all its spren before Odium showed up.

AP: I had also thought of the connection to honorspren. There are angerspren that show up around Moash earlier in the chapter. Though it can be argued that anger, being a passion, is from Odium! We also see lifespren when he goes past the cultivated rockbuds. I would associate those with Cultivation. So maybe just spren tangentially connected to Honor?

Quality Quotations

The Fused made a fist, and dark violet energy surrounded his arm. Carapace grew there into the shape of a saw.

AA: Well, that’s a cool trick if you can pull it off.

Kholinar had Soulcasters to make food, while the Voidbringer operations in the country would take months to get going.

AA: Sort of… but we’ll get to that much later.

Next week in Chapter 55 we get a peek into the head of one of the other outsiders on Bridge Four—Rlain! This is one of my (Aubree’s) favorite chapters in the book, and I can’t wait to get into it!

Alice is still up to her eyeballs in costuming and volleyball—not at the same time, though. She’s looking forward to the Skyward tour, and hoping madly that she can get the requisite costuming done in time!

Aubree is pretty sure that all the haunts were sent back where they came from last night. But if you see a stray cognitive shadow, please distract it with a discount bag of chocolate and give her a call. Spirits can get restless, but they are much less restless after a snickers. Unless they have a peanut allergy. Then more restless. Much more. Good luck!

Greetings fellow listeners and fused and welcome to another edition of the Oathbringer reread, featuring your hosts Alice, Aubree, and Lyn! In this week’s chapter we’ll be delving deep into Bridge Four’s loneliest member, Rlain. What’s it like to be the only remaining member of your entire race? Come along with us as we try to understand…

Reminder: we’ll potentially be discussing spoilers for the ENTIRE NOVEL in each reread. There is a brief discussion of Mistborn’s Shards, and Shards in general, in the Epigraph comments this week, so beware of that. As always, if you haven’t read ALL of Oathbringer, best to wait to join us until you’re done.

Chapter Recap

WHO: Rlain
WHERE: Narak
WHEN: 1174.1.9.1 (same day as Renarin’s opening the gemstone archive; one week after the previous Bridge Four chapter)

While Kaladin leads his squires in some training exercises, Rlain ponders a great many things, from racism against the listeners (of which he is the last remaining, or so he believes) to his place in Bridge Four.

The Singing Storm

Title: Alone Together

The title comes from Rock’s admonition to the members of Bridge Four who are feeling uncertain about their culture and their role:

“Life is changing. We will all feel alone because of this, yes? Ha! Perhaps we can feel alone together.”

AA: The immediate context is pretty obvious, and we’ll discuss it more below. In context of the entire chapter, though, it’s extremely poignant from Rlain’s point of view. He’s far more alone than anyone else here, and he has to work pretty hard to feel any of the togetherness.

AP: This chapter is such a great character portrait. It’s such an important look at how marginalized people within a community feel. There were several people of color among the beta readers who thought that Brandon captured this feeling extremely well. Of being the only person in the room who didn’t belong to the dominant culture in the same way, and how it feels to be among friends who still didn’t totally get it.

L: Even when they try to. Sometimes especially when they try to.

Heralds

Kalak is the sole Herald on this chapter. He is the patron Herald of the Willshapers, holds the role of Maker, and is associated with the divine attributes of Resolute/Builder.

AA: On a guess, this is about Bridge Four en masse—not only being resolute in holding together, but also in building their own new culture from a bunch of outcasts and wannabees.

Icon

Bridge Four—pretty self-explanatory by now, eh?

Epigraph

I am the least equipped, of all, to aid you in this endeavor. I am finding that the powers I hold are in such conflict that the most simple of actions can be difficult.

AA: Mistborn spoiler: Sazed is finding that Ruin and Preservation are difficult to harmonize. I find this both interesting and sad, in a way. Ati and Leras were once friends who decided to cooperate in building a system they could share. We don’t know how long it lasted harmoniously, but eventually their Intents overwhelmed their personalities and their good will toward one another. It’s fair to believe that the same is true for any Shard, so… watch for it, I guess? It’s something to consider with regard to anyone who picks up the power of a Shard, at the very least.

AP: And yet at one point, all of the shards were together as one being. So I think that there must be some way to get all these disparate shards to work together.

Stories & Songs

Time to add to our running tally of Listener Rhythms, as we have a new one this week—Longing, which belongs with the “positive” rhythms as opposed to the “negative” Voidbringer ones. So far for this book, we’ve got: Curiosity, Awe, Peace, Pleading, Skepticism, Appreciation, Anxiety, Consolation, Praise, Reprimand, Mourning, Lost, Longing.

For the Voidbringers: Rhythm of the Terrors, Craving, Command, Fury, Satisfaction, Derision, Spite.

He could attune one of several dozen to match his mood, or—conversely—to help alter his mood.

L: That second half is very interesting to me. It makes perfect sense, even with my limited (from a listener point of view) understanding of music. Certain types of music will change my mood for certain. If I’m feeling down, an upbeat song can lift my mood and make me happier, while a song in a minor key can leave me unsettled. While the concept of the Listeners and their attunation of Rhythms is pretty alien and foreign, there are some parts of it that strike a chord (haha get it) even with us dull humans of Earth.

His people had always assumed the humans were deaf to the rhythms, but he wasn’t convinced. Perhaps it was his imagination, but it seemed that sometimes they responded to certain rhythms. They’d look up at a moment of frenzied beats, eyes getting a far-off look. They’d grow agitated and shout in time, for a moment, to the Rhythm of Irritation, or whoop right on beat with the Rhythm of Joy.

It comforted him to think that they might someday learn to hear the rhythms. Perhaps then he wouldn’t feel so alone.

AA: So… we know that several nominally human Rosharan ethnicities have some Parsh ancestry. It seems possible that, through intermarriage, many humans might have some trace as well, doesn’t it? Could it be one of those genetic traits that comes out more strongly in some individuals than others? Or is it just that the ones Rlain has noticed happen to be the ones who are from those few cross-bred ethnicities, and he just doesn’t know that they have Parsh blood?

L: That’s the most probable explanation. Another is that the humans are slowly evolving to this planet, and are beginning to attune themselves subconsciously to the rhythms.

AP: I like the “human evolution” angle. I think that would be really interesting if true. Where do the rhythms come from? Is it from Roshar itself?

Bruised & Broken

He swung a spear to his shoulder, the spear they let him carry. He loved the men of Bridge Four, but he was an oddity, even to them: the parshman they allowed to be armed. The potential Voidbringer they had decided to trust, and wasn’t he just so lucky.

L: I can somewhat understand the cynicism in Rlain’s last sentence here. This is something that I’ve experienced in a small way through some of the things in which I am a minority, but those are things that I can hide if I so choose (religion, sexual orientation). Rlain does not have this choice. I can sympathise with him, but I can’t fully comprehend how difficult it must be to be forever apart, forever outside. To only be included if you’re allowed to be. To be the enemy, the exception to the rule, the outsider not only to Bridge Four but to his own people, now, as well. More than anyone else in Bridge Four, he’s alone.

AP: Oh absolutely. And not only that, but:

His people were gone, now. Yes, parshmen had awakened, but they were not listeners.

AP: He’s completely alone, the last of his entire culture.

They were his friends. It was merely…

How could Rlain be so fond of these men, yet at the same time want to slap them?

L: Been there, Rlain. Been there.

AP: I’ve heard this from a lot of people in marginalized communities. Sometimes people that want to be allies are trying, and genuinely care about their friends and family members that are part of minority communities, but they just can’t fully understand the lived experience.

“I have thing to say,” Rock added. “During last few weeks, how many of you have come to me, saying you feel you don’t fit in with Bridge Four now?”

AA: I won’t quote the whole thing, but this discussion starts with Renarin learning to read, and whether that’s acceptable for an Alethi in Bridge Four. The examples we’re given of those who feel out of place include Sigzil and Skar, whose thoughts we saw in their chapters. Hobber feels like he can’t keep up with the way things are changing. Leyten has nightmares about fighting the Midnight Mother. Huio, for all his Herdazian bravado, is embarrassed by his inability to speak Alethi. Torfin is acrophobic, which has to be tough on a Windrunner squire. Teft refuses to admit the depth of his addiction. Rock refuses to fight. Each one of them feels different, weird, alone even in the company of Bridge Four. (I’d suggest that Lyn, the rest of the scouts, those brought in from other bridge crews, and the sole lighteyed officer—the group training with Peet on another plateau—would all join in the feeling of not quite fitting in. We heard Lyn talk about it once, and I’d bet that drawing in Stormlight, though it certainly helped, would not make them feel like they were 100% of the team.)

L: In the case of Lyn and the other female scouts, there’s also the fact that they’re breaking new ground as women who are allowed to fight, in addition to the fact that they weren’t a part of the group back when it started as a real bridge crew.

AA: Rock’s recognition of this, his understanding of the need to belong, and his willingness to bring it out in the open, is one of the best things about Bridge Four. We’ve talked about this in the Moash discussions, how he turned away from the one group that had accepted him unconditionally. It’s worth noting that many of them feel just as much an outsider as Moash ever did, and Rlain more so—but they’re holding together anyway.

AP: I think it’s an excellent contrast to Moash. Both felt like outsiders, but they handled it extremely differently. Interspersing the Moash novelette in between all the Bridge Four and Dalinar flashback chapters makes such a great contrast in motivations.

Squires & Sidekicks

Soon after he left through the Oathgate, everyone would slowly start to lose their powers. They’d be gone in an hour or two. Kaladin had to be relatively near—Sigzil had placed their maximum distance from him at around fifty miles, though their abilities started to fade somewhere around thirty miles.

AA: And there you have Sigzil’s need to measure All The Things coming to our aid. Of course he’s measured both the time and the distance at which Kaladin’s squire effect fades. Thank you, Sig.

AP: I really like Sig’s obsession with numbers. It’s a great way to give magic mechanics to the reader without being too obtrusive.

Flora & Fauna

He landed with his squad, including Lopen, who juggled an uncut gemstone the size of a man’s head. They must have found a chrysalis from a beast of the chasms.

AP: Do we have any idea what the chasm fiend population looks like now? I know that there was some speculation that they had been nearly hunted to extinction. Are they finding some now because they are travelling further? Or are they able to find the last of an increasingly endangered species?

AA: We really don’t know yet, but not too far back, Dalinar was worrying about the possibility of extinction. In this case, it sounds like there’s a chance they found one already dead—would it perhaps have been killed by the unpredictable (to the animals) Everstorm?—and I think the idea that they found it just because they were able to travel further has merit. However… I’m pretty sure this is going to come up as a Thing before long; Sanderson isn’t likely to set it up this much and then not go somewhere with it.

L: Also, the listeners aren’t around to harvest them anymore, so there’s bound to be some carcasses lying around that no one has touched, even if their population is greatly diminished.

Places & Peoples

“Kalak help them if they have to fight those shellheads,” Eth added, taking a drink from Rock. “Um, no offense, Rlain.”

AP: Argh! This makes me so upset! Because this is also a real thing. People have a token friend in a minority group, and they feel empowered to use a slur, or tell an off color joke, but “oh, it’s not meant toward you, no offense.” So now Rlain would be the problem if he spoke up about it. Because he’s making a big deal over “nothing” and “he didn’t mean it that way”. So frustrating. And brilliant of Sanderson to capture. The perspective here is just great, it continues with the next bit:

He had protrusions on his arms and legs too, and people always wanted to feel those. They couldn’t believe they actually grew from his skin, and somehow thought it was appropriate to try to peek underneath.

AP: Bodily autonomy and personal space is a thing that people of color struggle with. Ask any African American woman you know if someone has tried to touch her hair without asking. Be prepared to get an earful.

L: Same goes for differently abled folks. I have some friends in the disabled community, and the number of times they talk about people just randomly grabbing their mobility aids is horrifying.

AP: To a much lesser extent, this happened to me when I was pregnant. Complete strangers would try to touch my stomach because they somehow felt entitled to be able to touch my body because it was different. It’s one of the most skeevy things I’ve experienced, and I can’t imagine having to deal with it as a routine part of my life.

Apparently, monks came from Jah Keved to preach the Almighty to the Horneaters, and Rock let his children follow any god they wanted. So it was that the pale-skinned young Horneater wore a glyphward tied to his arm and burned prayers to the Vorin Almighty instead of making offerings to the Horneater spren.

AA: This is a fascinating twist on a culture. The Horneaters do have their own religion, though it seems mostly to involve spren, and perhaps Shards, with little “priestly” (such as the Heralds) intervention. It makes sense, actually, since they’re genetically disposed to be closer to the Cognitive Realm. But they don’t seem to have the slightest problem with someone who wants to take a different approach. Roshar seems to have quite a mix of attitudes about religion!

AP: This makes sense to me. The Horneater religion is based on spren worship/reverence and the spren can be from either Honor or Cultivation, and Vorinism is at least nominally devoted to Honor. It seems reasonable that they would be okay if someone leaned more toward one or the other.

L: It does say that Rock allowed them to follow “any god they wanted,” though, not just the Vorin one. I really love that.

Other than Rlain, Sigzil’s dark brown skin was the most different from the rest of the crew—though the bridgemen didn’t seem to care much about skin color. To them, only eyes mattered. Rlain had always found that strange, as among listeners, your skin patterns had at times been a matter of some import.

AA: I really want to know what this is about—and I have some hope that in the next book, we’ll learn more from Venli and/or Eshonai. We know by now that the Fused can alter the pattern of their host bodies’ skin, though physical features don’t change. Is that part of why it matters? Or is it similar to human skin tones—those from certain areas have different color combinations. Am I right, that the Listeners tended to black-and-red, while the Alethi parshmen were more often white and red? Or something like that? And then there’s the tricolor ones, which might maybe only be Fused? Anyway, we’ve been given hints about color combos, and now we know that sometimes it’s important to them. How and why??

AP: I think it’s both. That there are the color combinations themselves, various combos of red/black/white, as well as the rare form where some have all three. But there are also unique patterns that seem more like fingerprints to me, that are unique to the individual. And physical features of the Fused can literally change all the time, as they take different forms. It seems like the patterns are a good way to tell apart individuals who are shapeshifters. If my partner always has a pattern on his forearm that looks like a cat, then I can identify him even when he changes forms.

“But storms … the Plains sure do seem smaller when you’re up there.”

“Yeah,” Lopen said. “And bigger.”

“Smaller and bigger?” Skar asked.

“Smaller,” Leyten said, “because we can cross them so fast. I remember plateaus that felt like they took years to cross. We zip past those in an eyeblink.”

“But then you get up high,” Lopen added, “and you realize how wide this place is—sure, how much of it we never even explored—and it just seems … big.”

AA: I didn’t really have anything important to say about this, but I liked it. The Shattered Plains isn’t huge on the map, but I love the way their perspectives are being challenged by the ability to see so much more of the landscape at once.

It was sad that humans were so burdened by always being in mateform. They were always distracted by the emotions and passions of mating, and had not yet reached a place where they could put that aside.

He felt embarrassed for them—they were simply too concerned about what a person should and shouldn’t be doing. It was because they didn’t have forms to change into. If Renarin wanted to be a scholar, let him be a scholar.

AA: This is such a fun little take on human emotions. We’ve seen it before, but it strikes me every time. He’s got a point…

L: He really, really does. So many things in life would be so much easier if we could just turn that part of our physiology off.

AA: I also find it interesting that no one gets mad at Rlain for failing to understand or accept human sexuality—so very different from the Singer/Listener/Parsh version!—though we readily get irritated at the humans for failing to understand him. Just sayin’…

AP: I think that’s a great point! The difference, as I see it, is that Rlain isn’t treating them differently because he doesn’t understand sexuality. First off, he’s not in a position of power where he could, because of his isolation. But no, he definitely doesn’t understand that it’s not something most humans would want to put aside.

Tight Butts and Coconuts

“Drehy likes guys. That’s like… he wants to be even less around women than the rest of us. It’s the opposite of feminine. He is, you could say, extra manly.”

L: For awhile I was torn on this (it’s a smidge insulting and simultaneously hilarious), but the more I think about it, the more I like it. I like that the Alethi aren’t imposing gendered standards on gay men as we often see happen in our real world—though, I don’t know. Maybe it’s just Lopen who doesn’t, as initially Kaladin does revert to that. (This is a bit of a side note, but once again I’m happy to see Kaladin immediately shift his perspective once he realizes his error, instead of doubling down or getting defensive.)

AP: I do think this highlights how adaptable Kaladin is. Drehy’s bit just before this also shows that because someone is a member of one marginalized group, that it doesn’t follow that they will be able to empathize with a member of another marginalized group. People are messy little bundles of misconceptions and prejudices all around!

Weighty Words

Well, except Lopen, who had snuck away from the group and for some reason was lifting up rocks on the other side of the plateau and looking underneath them. Even among humans, he was a strange one.

AA: Bahaha! Talk about foreshadowing! Lopen is out there playing hide-and-seek with Rua already; we just don’t know what he’s doing until near the end of the book. Too funny.

Buy it Now

L: Figures that his spren would be super playful, reminds me of how Syl was when we first met her!

Mysterious Motivations

AA: While there are several units where we could talk about Rlain, I wanted to collect it all here, in one place. This chapter is the last we’ll see of Rlain in this book, and it seems worthwhile to consider what he might be doing. We don’t know where he goes after these events, but he seems to vanish. Where did he go? Why? Are there any clues for us here?

L: It’s worthwhile to note that this wasn’t authorial oversight. Sanderson has stated that it was intentional, so Rlain’s off doing something of import. We just don’t know what.

His people were gone, now. Yes, parshmen had awakened, but they were not listeners. No more than Alethi and Vedens were the same nationality, simply because most had similar skin tones.

Rlain’s people were gone. They had fallen to Alethi swords or had been consumed by the Everstorm, transformed into incarnations of the old listener gods.

He was, as far as he knew, the last.

AA: So to start with, he’s alone the way no one else is.

L: Poor Rlain. The world has moved on without him.

AA: He feels no kinship to the awakened parshmen, who had served their ancestors right up until their Connection was broken and they fell into slaveform. Now that they are restored, they’re right back there serving the same ancient spirits. He feels no kinship to those Listeners who accepted the Voidforms brought by the Everstorm; they are no longer his people. Those who accepted the Fused bonds are even less so; they are the old gods now. So far as he knows, the only Listeners who don’t fall into one of those categories are dead. Our one consolation on his behalf is that a few—a thousand or so—rejected the stormform transformation like he did; whether they survived the Everstorm is still in question. He probably doesn’t even know they existed.

AP: I really, really, reallyreallyreally want to know what happened to those thousand!

AA: Really really really. I hope that, with the focus on Venli and her people in the next book, we may find out.

Rlain, though … well, who knew what would happen if he could use Stormlight? Might it be the first step in turning him into a monster?

Never mind that he’d told them you had to open yourself to a form to adopt it. Never mind that he had the power to choose for himself. Though they never spoke it, he saw the truth in their reactions. As with Dabbid, they thought it best that Rlain remain without Stormlight.

The parshman and the insane man. People you couldn’t trust as Windrunners.

AP: Again, this is so well captured. There is a huge amount of internalized bigotry that Sanderson explores so well here, and it has such great resonances with how people in minority communities interact with a dominant culture.

AA: I think Rlain is missing something, though. There’s not a single man in Bridge Four—except maybe Kaladin—who could actually prevent him from becoming a Windrunner. As far as I can see, he hasn’t tried, because he assumes they won’t let him. So the question I have is what would happen if he sucked in Stormlight? Would it be possible for him to become a squire, if he believed he could? Is the belief or acceptance of the others necessary? Lyn struggled in an earlier chapter with feeling like she didn’t really belong to Bridge Four; it was only when she could articulate her reason for wanting to be a squire in a way that fit, that she was able to draw in the Stormlight. Is it the same sort of limitation that holds Rlain back—he not only believes the others don’t want him to, he also doesn’t know why he should be able to, and so he can’t?

L: That would hold true with a lot of the Radiant abilities we’ve seen so far. So much of it seems to be tied to belief or ideas. Look at Kaladin’s scars/tattoo, for example. He doesn’t believe himself to be worthy of freedom, so he can’t seem to lose those scars and his body rejects the tattoo.

Teft led the other four in a streaking wave of light overhead. Rlain looked up, and found himself attuning Longing before he stomped it out. He attuned Peace instead. Peace, yes. He could be peaceful.

AA: This sort of makes me want to hug him and shake him at the same time. While I’m a big fan of learning to be content where you are, I’m beginning to be frustrated with Rlain. He’s a little too ready to seethe inwardly at everyone else’s failure to understand, without trying to do the things he says he wants to do.

L: I don’t blame him. He’s dealing with millenia of prejudice against his kind, here. He’s not going to be able to overcome all that in just a few months, or even a few years. It’s going to be a long process. And when everyone’s still treating him differently… well. That’s just going to make it harder.

AA: As a side note, he attunes Peace here. Peace was the one Rhythm Eshonai avoided after taking stormform, because through it she could hear herself screaming. I don’t know whether that’s significant, but there it is.

Don’t blame them, he thought. They don’t know. They don’t understand.

“Eth, Yake,” Rlain said carefully, “my people did everything we could to separate ourselves from those creatures. We went into hiding long ago, and swore we would never accept forms of power again.

“I don’t know what changed. My people must have been tricked somehow. In any case, these Fused are as much my enemies as they are yours—more, even. And no, I can’t say what they will do. I spent my entire life trying to avoid thinking of them.”

AA: That was a bit of an eye-opener for me: to realize that for Rlain, the Fused are not just “the other side in this particular war.” They are the monsters his people sacrificed everything to escape; he hates and fears them not merely for their ability to kill him, but for their ability to take over his soul. The humans only fear losing their lives; the Listeners fear an annihilation of self, of everything that makes a person … a person. For a people so attuned to the Cognitive realm, and possibly more aware of the Spiritual as well, this would be terrifying beyond anything the humans could comprehend.

AP: Yes. This is so important. The listeners are a distinct subgroup. Just as the humans have separate cultures and we don’t assume all the humans are in accord (we can’t, with all the emphasis on wars between nations), the same is true for the native people of Roshar. To the Alethi, they are literally the “other,” with all the complications it carries. This is hard for us as readers too, because as we struggled with last week, we don’t even have a name for the collective group of native Rosharans, or even just for the awakened slaves.

The others jabbered excitedly, but didn’t think to include him. Parshmen were invisible to them—they’d been brought up that way. And yet, he loved them because they did try. When Skar bumped him—and was reminded that he was there—he blinked, then said, “Maybe we should ask Rlain.”

AP: This is so complex and important. Bridge Four are Rlain’s friends. They want to be allies and are socially progressive. But they don’t know how.

L: They have no touchstones, nothing to guide them. They’re literally in uncharted territory, here.

AP: It’s simultaneously comforting to Rlain that he does have friends who care about him, while frustrating that they are still lacking in so many ways.

AA: This is a personal irritation for me. He believes that none of his friends here are able to understand him because of the species and cultural differences, and he’s right. That being the case, it’s hardly fair—for him or for us—to be angry at them for not understanding.

L: Fair, perhaps not. But realistic? Yes.

AA: I think Rlain has it more right than most of the readers seem to; he accepts their inability and appreciates their efforts—yes, and loves them for trying—even when their effort can’t bridge the unbridgeable gap.

AP: He’s not angry here, he’s irritated, which is much milder. It is an irritation to be constantly having to adjust because people don’t understand you, but he does care for them deeply. As a much milder example—you can be annoyed that your partner doesn’t put their dirty socks in the hamper, but you still love them. The love means tolerating dirty socks.

He belonged here as much as he did anywhere else. Bridge Four was his family, now that those from Narak were gone. Eshonai, Varanis, Thude …

AA: ::sniffle:: Eshonai is dead, and Varanis took stormform. I hope Rlain can be reunited with Thude, at least.

Kaladin squatted down beside Rlain. “Hey. You heard what Rock said. I know how you feel. We can help you shoulder this.”

“Do you really?” Rlain said. “Do you actually know how I feel, Kaladin Stormblessed? Or is that simply a thing that men say?”

“I guess it’s a thing men say,” Kaladin admitted, then pulled over an upside-down bucket for himself. “Can you tell me how it feels?”

Did he really want to know? Rlain considered, then attuned Resolve. “I can try.”

AP: This is how you be an ally. Good job, Kaladin!

L: I’m having trouble finding a gif to express “heart-warming awww” and “good job” at the same time.

AP: It’s not just on Rlain to explain, Kaladin has to really listen to understand. He has to put in the emotional labor here as well to make a connection across not only cultures, but species.

AA: My fond, fond hope is that Rlain really explains the whole thing to Kaladin, and from here goes on a search for Listeners that escaped the Everstorm. And, of course, that he finds them.

That’s really the only thing I can think of to explain where he disappears to after this chapter: a quest to determine if any of his people survived. It occurred to me that perhaps Kaladin saw something of the others which he could tell Rlain, but it would be very unlike Sanderson to hide something that critical. “Let’s just not tell the readers that the protagonist knows something” is too cheap, so I don’t think that’s the answer. At the same time, I think it has to be a decision that Kaladin makes, and something the two of them come up with as a valid option, that sends Rlain off on a mission. Could he go back to where the humans and Parshmen first met, or something? Oh, the mystery!!

A Scrupulous Study of Spren

You had to read their emotion in their expressions and the way they moved, not in their voices. Maybe that was why emotion spren came so often to humans, more often than to listeners. Without the rhythms, men needed help understanding one another.

AA: I wonder… There doesn’t seem to be a difference in intensity of emotion between the two species, so that’s not a reason for the spren to respond differently. It would be fun to know whether he’s right, or whether the correlation is valid but the causation is something else.

AP: I wonder if it’s because the listeners consciously attune a particular rhythm that keeps other spren not of that ‘type’ away? When the listeners attune the rhythms they are in sync with Roshar, so all is as it should be, and no spren attention necessary. But maybe they are coming to the humans because they are effectively a disturbance in the force, so to speak. If the humans are only incidentally touching on the rhythms, then the spren may be checking out these occasional ripples?

Quality Quotations

Rlain sipped his drink and wished Renarin were here; the quiet, lighteyed man usually made a point of speaking with Rlain.

AP: Renarin is making a great start at being a good ally, and a good friend.

Next week we’ll be tackling chapter fifty-six, a Dalinar chapter. (At)tune in then and in the meantime, join us in the comments!

Alice is delighted to finally have Skyward in her hands, with all its pretty artworks. She is also delighted to report that her daughter’s volleyball team has made it to the state tournament, so if she’s absent from the comments for a while this week, it’s because her attention is Elsewhere.

Lyndsey is finally beginning to have some free time again. If you’re an aspiring author, a cosplayer, or just like geeky content, follow her work on Facebook or her website.

Aubree is a social justice shardbearer.

Good morning, true believers (::sniff::). In today’s reread, Alice, Aubree and I will be taking another journey into Dalinar’s visions, this time back to the Recreance—when the Knights Radiant dropped their Shards and abandoned Roshar. There are so many questions in this one to tackle. Why did they do it, really? It can’t possibly be as simple as the big reveal at the end of the book lets on, can it? And what’s going on between Hoid and Harmony? And… well, read on, dear followers, as we discuss those and more. (And freak out a little over the surprise guest at the end of the chapter, of course.)

Reminder: we’ll potentially be discussing spoilers for the ENTIRE NOVEL in each reread. There’s some more minor Mistborn spoilers in the epigraph discussion, under The Singing Storm section. As usual, we need to warn that if you haven’t read ALL of Oathbringer, best to wait to join us until you’re done.

Chapter Recap

WHO: Dalinar
WHERE: Vision of the Recreance, Feverstone Keep (wherever that is)
WHEN: 1174.1.9.3 (two days after Rlain’s chapter)

Dalinar brings Jasnah and Navani into the vision of the Recreance, then lets them go collect information while he and Yanagawn (aka Gawx) talk about what’s happening on the field below. The Knights Radiant of old abandon their Shards and walk away, leaving them for the future rulers of Roshar to fight over. As Gawx fades away, Dalinar expects to awaken from the vision as well… but he’s confronted by an unexpected guest.

The Singing Storm

Title: Always With You

L: The title of this one comes from Odium’s quote near the end: “I’ve always been here. Always with you, Dalinar. Oh, I’ve watched you for a long, long time.” Yeah. That’s not creepy at all.

Heralds

Jezrien, Windrunners, Protecting/Leading. Talenelat, Stonewards, Dependable/Resourceful.

L: It seems pretty clear that Jezrien’s here because Dalinar, as usual, is projecting those ideals—trying to find ways to lead all the people of Roshar through this time of trouble. He’s also being dependable, so… there’s Talenelat.

Icon

Kholin glyphpair (Dalinar)

Epigraph

I am also made uncertain by your subterfuge. Why have you not made yourself known to me before this? How is it you can hide? Who are you truly, and how do you know so much about Adonalsium?

L: Wait a second, wait a second. Hoid, being mysterious about something? I don’t believe it.

Buy it Now

AA: Inconceivable!

It is interesting, though, that Sazed apparently didn’t know about Hoid until he got this letter. How many of the Shards do know when he shows up on their planets?

AP: Isn’t that that $64,000 question though? Who exactly is Hoid, and how does he know so much?

AA: Well, he was there when Adonalsium was Shattered, and refused to pick up a Shard, but … that’s about all we really know about his involvement. He has a certain advantage over Sazed in this—at least he was there, knows the other Vessels, and knows something about what and how and why. Poor Sazed has to be feeling awfully ignorant sometimes.

Stories & Songs

“A multiethnic coalition here, like during the Desolations—but if I’m right, this is over two thousand years after Aharietiam.”

“They’re fighting someone,” Dalinar said. “The Radiants retreat from a battle, then abandon their weapons on the field outside.”

“Which places the Recreance a little more recently than Masha-daughter-Shaliv had it in her history,” Jasnah said, musing. “From my reading of your vision accounts, this is the last chronologically—though it’s difficult to place the one with you overlooking ruined Kholinar.”

L: Reminder for those of you out there with awful memories like me that Aharietiam was when the Heralds vanished, and the Recreance is when the Knights Radiant buggered off.

AP: I’m glad you clarified. It took me longer than it should have to figure out that they weren’t the same event. I had conflated the two the first time I read the series.

AA: Just for the sake of timeline-y things, Aharietiam was 4500 years ago—that thing in the Prelude, which Dalinar saw in a vision. Jasnah is trying to zero in on a date for the Recreance, which got muddled by the Heirocracy with their … creative revision of history. (My personal theory is that the current date system stems from the time when things settled back down after the Recreance, meaning that it happened about 1200 years ago.)

“It could be the False Desolation,” Jasnah said. … “A legend, … considered pseudohistorical. Dovcanti wrote an epic about it somewhere around fifteen hundred years ago. The claim is that some Voidbringers survived Aharietiam, and there were many clashes with them afterward. It’s considered unreliable, but that’s because many later ardents insist that no Voidbringers could have survived. I’m inclined to assume this is a clash with parshmen before they were somehow deprived of their ability to change forms.”

L: This is particularly interesting when we consider that this is the moment when the ancient knights learned about the true nature of the world and their place in it. How did they learn? What happened? Was it something that was revealed during the course of this battle somehow?

AP: Additionally, we know that some of the Parsh* people survived and retained the ability to change forms. My hunch is that they are fighting the group that would (or perhaps already has at this point) become the Listeners. To humans who don’t understand the distinction between the Parsh* and the Fused, they could seem like Voidbringers.

AA: There’s a pretty strong indication that the ones they were fighting were the Singers, and the Listeners had already broken away. Most of the following is based on the epigraphs in Part Three, but it seems most probable that the False Desolation was caused by one of the Unmade, Ba-Ado-Mishram, who figured out a way to give the Singers the same ability to take the Voidforms (or something very like them) without the presence of the Fused. The Bondsmith Melishi figured out how to trap her in a perfect gem, thus breaking her Connection to the Singers and depriving them of the ability to change forms. Caught in a form with no spren, the Singers were reduced to what the humans know as parshmen, and what the Listeners called slaveform. Somehow, in the midst of all that, the Knights Radiant discovered the “wicked thing of eminence,” presumably related to the knowledge that the humans had allowed Odium access to Roshar and all that.

It seems likely to me that the Recreance resulted from the combination of 1) knowing humans to be the interlopers, 2) knowing that they had damaged their original planet beyond livability through some form of Surgebinding, 3) realizing that they had just destroyed the ability of the original inhabitants of Roshar to change forms, 4) knowing that those people had no further ability to wage war against them, and 5) having Honor in his dying throes going slightly wacko in his communications. Learning a warped view of their origins on Roshar, coupled with the belief that they’d just done in the parsh for good, might make the whole lot of them feel guilty enough to decide that the Radiants were an all-around bad idea. (I still have trouble figuring out how they could justify the damage they did to their spren, though.)

AP: You’re right, this could definitely be the Singers instead.

Those who claimed a Shard this day would become rulers. It bothered Dalinar that the best men, the ones calling for moderation or raising concerns, would be rare among their numbers. They weren’t aggressive enough to seize the advantage.

L: And just think, most of them were passed down to their probably equally-as-aggressive families, creating a culture of violence which has perpetuated to this very day!

AA: Along with the light eyes caused by holding a Shardblade.

The man was old, with a wide, furrowed face and bone-white hair that swept back from his head as if blown by wind. Thick mustaches with a hint of black in them blended into a short white beard. He seemed to be Shin, judging by his skin and eyes, and he wore a golden crown in his powdery hair.

… “You’re… not the Almighty, are you?”

“Honor? No, he truly is dead, as you’ve been told.” The old man’s smile deepened, genuine and kindly. “I’m the other one, Dalinar. They call me Odium.”

L: ::gasp::

AP: ^^ Actual footage of my reaction. How did you get a camera into my house???

AA: I’m not buying that, Aubree. You’re much prettier. (But the reaction… yeah. Yikes.)

Bruised & Broken

“[The viziers] are scared of you. Very scared. More scared than they are of the assassin. He burned the emperor’s eyes, but emperors can be replaced. You represent something far more terrible. They think you could destroy our entire culture.”

L: Given what we know about Blackthorn!Dalinar, I don’t blame them.

AP: I really liked this. Dalinar has major inroads to do, and it makes total sense that others would not trust the Blackthorn.

AA: I was fascinated by the contrast they saw between the Assassin and the Blackthorn. We got pretty used to everyone being absolutely terrified of The Assassin In White, but all he did was go around killing rulers.

Buy it Now

L: Unlike Dalinar, who just killed everyone.

AA: The Azish have a very pragmatic view of their emperors, don’t they?

“Lift doesn’t trust you. … It’s because,” Yanagawn continued, “you act so righteous. She says anyone who acts like you do is trying to hide something.”

L: Very astute of Lift to pick up on it. I think she’s right—but also wrong. There’s no hiding the awful things he’s done in his past. Everyone knows. It’s a matter of history. I don’t think Dalinar’s trying to hide it, I think he’s trying to atone for it, which is a matter of distinction that Lift probably can’t really understand yet.

AP: Yes and no, they know some but not all. But what they do know about is bad enough.

AA: Well, at this point, Dalinar doesn’t know the worst of what he did; he just knows the story they agreed to tell about Rathalas. That said, he knows what the Blackthorn did in general, especially before that. I agree that he’s not trying to hide it, but I’m not sure “atone” is right either. According to everything he’s ever known, the Blackthorn was the epitome of Vorin ideals. He’s just come to believe that there’s a better way, and now he has to live down the reputation he earned.

Squires & Sidekicks

“They’re training me to act important, Kholin, but I’m not. Not yet. Maybe not ever.”

L: Poor Gawx. It’s got to be a tough job, being a child emperor. Especially in as turbulent of times as these.

AP: I’d really like to see him live long enough to do it. I hope we get to see Gawx after the time jump as a true ruler.

AA: Hear! Hear! The kid we saw in Words of Radiance was unequivocally unfit for the job, to the point of it being a joke. The young man we see now… he has potential. I have to give the scions and viziers a lot of credit here; they could easily just doll him up and make him keep his mouth shut—make him nothing but a puppet—but instead they’re training him to take on the role they gave him. Sure, right now a lot of it is to “act important” but we saw in Edgedancer that they were giving him a thorough education. In Oathbringer, the education is showing in his ability to evaluate what’s going on around him—including his own status. So, yes. I think he’s got the chance to become a true leader.

Places & Peoples

“That armor is Soulcast,” Jasnah said, releasing his hand. “Look at the fingermarks on the metal. That’s burnished iron, not true steel, Soulcast from clay into that shape. I wonder… did access to Soulcasters retard their drive to learn smelting?”

L: I love hearing about Soulcasting and how it works. I think that Jasnah is absolutely correct and that access to this magic meant that other, more mundane methods of creation were lost—but I also wonder if there was a booming business that rose up around armor-sculptors!

AP: Possibly! But at the same time, leaving finger marks in the clay means that the sculptor wasn’t very skilled, or the job was rushed. Which makes sense if they are just trying to get functional armor produced quickly.

Weighty Words

They left their armor as well. Shards of incalculable value, renounced.

L: Is it confirmed that this armor is the same as the Shardplate we see people using in modern times? It must be, right? It’s just been augmented with gems/Stormlight in order to power it now that the spren that it was created from are (sort of) dead.

AP: This makes me wonder about the mechanics of it. The blades get summoned and dismissed, and are sorta-dead spren. The armor is always present. Is it something else? Does it work best if paired with the original spren? Do you need both together to “heal” a dead spren? So many questions!

AA: So many questions indeed. It’s pretty solid that this is the same Shardplate, passed down through generations, but it clearly doesn’t work the same way as the Shardblades. It can’t (apparently) be bonded and dismissed like a Blade, and when pieces are broken they regrow. Unfortunately, all we have is speculation at this point.

(Also, I had a great question I was going to ask Brandon at the Skyward signing this weekend, and I just didn’t have time. I was going to ask if the Soulcaster and Regrowth fabrials (and any other ancient fabrials that emulate Surgebinding) are formed in a manner similar to the Shardplate, which I presume is from the non-sapient “cousin” spren corresponding to the Nahel-bonded spren. I’m bummed that I didn’t have more time.)

A Scrupulous Study of Spren

The knights drove their weapons into the ground, then abandoned them.

…

As before in this vision, Dalinar felt as if he could hear the screaming deaths of the spren, the terrible sorrow of this field. It almost overwhelmed him.

L: I wanted to put this bit in this section specifically because of how heart-wrenching this is considering what we know about the Shards and their relationships to their wielders. If these were just priceless swords, I could understand. But these Shards are spren. They’re living beings, probably good friends with the knights bonded to them—knights who knew that abandoning their friends would mean leaving them to die. How awful, to be faced with knowledge so devastating that you’d be willing to kill your best friend.

This is why I truly believe that there’s more going on here than just what we learn at the end of the novel. There must be. Learning that they’ve stolen this world from its rightful inhabitants couldn’t possibly drive someone to destroy their best friend. Could it?

AP: That’s a devastating revelation, but I agree that it’s probably not everything. Especially considering we are only in book 3/10. I keep coming back to the Honorspren being warlike. That’s…not a glowing endorsement. There is probably a good reason that the other spren don’t like them, and I think their nature ties into why the Recreance happened.

“I don’t know what caused the Recreance, but I can guess. They lost their vision, Your Excellency. They became embroiled in politics and let divisions creep among them. They forgot their purpose: protecting Roshar for its people.”

L: Mmmhmmm.

Next week we’ll be delving into chapter 57 before we take a little break from the main action for the second set of interludes. Be sure to join us in the comments for more discussion!

Alice is exhausted. But no one has to listen to her talk about volleyball for another nine months, and the Skyward signing was fun. Also, Skyward is an excellent book.

Lyndsey is devastated over the loss of Stan Lee, but she’ll always remember that with great power comes great responsibility. If you’re an aspiring author, a cosplayer, or just like geeky content, follow her work on Facebook or her website.

Aubree is sending a shout out to all True Believers this week. Excelsior!

Oh Storms! IT’S ODIUM! Everyone run!

Well. Don’t actually, because goodness gracious do we have a lot to cover this week, given how short this chapter is. Over the course of Dalinar and Odium’s conversation we start getting some major information (finally) about who/what exactly Odium is, and what his broader machinations are. We also get a few little morsels of intel about the Shards to pick over, which is always fun! (Watch out for spoilers in the Cosmere Connections section, though.)

Reminder: we’ll potentially be discussing spoilers for the ENTIRE NOVEL in each reread. There’s a considerable amount of discussion about all of the other Cosmere related works in the Cosmere Connections section this week, so tread very carefully. Most of it is broader Shard theory and discussion, but we do spoil a major plot point from the end of the original Mistborn trilogy, and there’s a minor spoiler for Mistborn Era 2 in the Singing Storm section, in relation to the epigraph. As always, if you haven’t read ALL of Oathbringer, best to wait to join us until you’re done.

Chapter Recap

WHO: Dalinar
WHERE: Vision of Feverstone Keep
WHEN: 1174.1.9.3 (Immediately following Chapter 56)

Odium and Dalinar chat about Shards, Intent, and his nature. (Wow. That’s the easiest recap I’ve ever had to write.)

The Singing Storm

Title: Passion

“Passion, Dalinar Kholin. I am emotion incarnate.”

L: A fitting title for this chapter, given that the entire thing is about Odium and—as he states—Passion is what he is.

AA: I’m not, however, 100% convinced that this is 100% true… Frost, who knows a whole lot more about Adonalsium and the Shards than we do, said this about Odium:

He bears the weight of God’s own divine hatred, separated from the virtues that gave it context.

He may represent more than merely hatred, but hatred is his primary Intent, and whatever he does with other emotions is likely to be tainted by hatred and untouched by virtue, however he convinces himself otherwise.

AP: I agree that hatred is primary (the black flame), but the other strong emotions are a part of it too. When Dalinar gets a glimpse of the “real” Odium the other passions are there too. I see Odium as representing an excess of emotion, the negative side of emotion when you are all feeling and no thought. Anger vs. wrath. Dislike vs. hatred. Love vs. lust. Sorrow vs. grief. There’s a place for strong emotion, for passion, but unchecked it’s extremely dangerous.

Heralds

Vedel (Edgedancers, Loving & Healing, Diamond, Healer); Chana (Dustbringers, Brave & Obedient, Ruby, Guard)

L: Man, I am just… stymied by this one. If we’re going to dig for deeper meaning for Vedel (other than “Lift shows up”) I’d say that this is how Odium sees himself. He thinks he’s doing the best thing for the world and the people in it. But… that’s a bit of a reach. As for Chana? I have no clue.

AA: I think Vedel is there solely because Lift shows up—and because of the effect she has on Odium. This is an Edgedancer with unique powers, and we need to pay attention to her. As for Chana… Yeah, I’m baffled on that too. Maybe because what Odium plans is so diametrically opposed to her role as Guard? Or because Dalinar is going to have to stand as a guard between Odium and everything else? I … really don’t know.

Icon

Kholin Shield for a Dalinar POV

Epigraph

If you would speak to me further, I request open honesty. Return to my lands, approach my servants, and I will see what I can do for your quest.

AA: Well, that’s a bit of a facer for Hoid. Open honesty? Really? Hoid is supposed to go openly to Scadrial and tell Sazed’s people who he is and what he wants? That’ll be the day.

L: Maybe when Rosharan hogs fly. (Actually wait, with the prevalence of highstorms this is actually probably something that happens quite often, I should come up with a different phrase…)

AA: Seriously, though, I’m now going to have to reread Mistborn Era 2 with this in mind, if I’ve got the timeline straight. The current info places Era 2 shortly after the first arc of Stormlight Archive but before the second arc, though that may be subject to change. Still… I want to know!

AP: That’s intriguing! I’ve never tried to put a timeline to Hoid’s Easter egg appearances before.

Stories & Songs

“So do it. Leave us alone. Go away.”

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?”

AP: This gave me prickles on the back of my neck. Odium is showing a glimpse of his true nature here. It’s just so menacing. There’s also a lot to unpack in the indication that Dalinar could release Odium.

L: Do we know much about the bonds he’s referring to, here? I’m assuming he’s bound to Roshar itself in some way, otherwise the “offer” to release him by telling him to go away wouldn’t make sense in this context…

AA: Well, he’s bound to the Rosharan system in some way. We don’t really know what that is yet, but it involves Honor and Cultivation, and it’s not connected to the Oathpact—or only peripherally, as maybe a sort of template.

AP: Agree with Rosharan system. Braize (Damnation) and Ashyn (Tranquiline Halls) are part of it somehow too.

“I will go if you release me, but only if you do it by Intent.”

L: Interesting to note the capital I on intent, here. This indicates to me that there’s more going on with it, some sort of power or investment in the words themselves.

AA: I’m not sure if this is canon, but in the fandom we’ve been using capital-I Intent to mean the Intent of the Shard. If that’s what he means here, it would imply that Dalinar would be releasing Odium specifically as the closest thing to a Vessel of Honor that exists (I think). Also, it sounds like Odium is being all honorable here, making it look like he’s only going to accept Dalinar’s release if he really means it; I suspect that it’s more like, he can only go if/when Dalinar is able to actually speak as the Vessel. That’s speculation, of course, but I don’t think Odium would voluntarily remain bound just because Dalinar didn’t know what he was talking about!

L: I mean… he could have led Dalinar into the correct words and Intent, if he so chose? I do think he has a little bit of honor. Personally speaking I really don’t think he’s a bad guy, not in the sense that—say—Sadeas was a bad guy. (Unless there’s a bunch of stuff from later in the book that I’m totally blanking out on.)

AA: He may not be The Big Bad, but he seems a pretty nasty sort so far. He’s out there destroying all the other Shards he can, and refusing to pick up any of their power because it might change who he is and he likes himself as is.

L: To be fair, (as he says), Dalinar was a pretty nasty sort himself. I’m still clinging to that theory that Odium’s gonna prove to NOT be the final Big Bad.

AA: I agree with you there. I think Odium, powerful as he may be, is having delusions of greatness. He thinks he can do more than he really can… and he’s going to find out the hard way. (Unfortunately, I’m afraid my favorite Bondsmith will also find out that there’s something much worse than Odium—and he, too, will find out the hard way. I don’t think there is any other way.)

AP: I agree with Lyndsey in that I don’t think Odium is the Big Bad. It’s also useful to remember that the shards individually function much differently than they presumably would together. Passion (even Hatred) checked by Honor, or Honor tinged with Empathy are more balanced. Separately, neither is a net good.

“Separate the emotion from men, and you have creatures like Nale and his Skybreakers. That is what Honor would have given you.”

L: So in D&D terms, lawful vs. chaotic? In a lawful alignment, you hold to the law above all else. Chaotic is more driven by desire and the whims of human fancy.

AA: I’m not really versed in the D&D definitions, but I’ll tell you one thing: Odium is not telling the whole truth here. Honor also gave them the Windrunners and the Bondsmiths that they already know, and we’re going to observe throughout this book a hint of how much the human Connection of a Bondsmith can do. Honor, particularly linked with Cultivation, gave them far more than the emotionless rule-followers Odium is painting here.

AP: I think lawful vs. chaotic is a good starting point. It isn’t all or nothing, but it’s which is primary. The classic example is what does a lawful or chaotic character do with Jean Valjean in Les Miserables? A lawful character sends him to prison for stealing a loaf of bread, and then breaking parole—Javert. A chaotic character has empathy and lies to cover his theft—the priest. Is a lie strictly against Honor? Yep. Is it a net good in this situation? Also yep.

“You said I was wrong about what caused the Radiants to abandon their oaths. What was it really?”

Odium smiled. “Passion, son. Glorious, wondrous passion. Emotion.”

AA: As answers go, that’s fairly unhelpful. What emotion, and in response to what event? Also, it’s worth noting that Odium is very pleased about the Recreance, which should make Dalinar suspicious of everything he says about it.

AP: To be fair, I think we as readers are also going to feel differently about the Recreance once we get the full story. As for which emotion, I’d toss out a few guesses—horror, grief, revulsion, shame?

Buy it Now

AA: From what we know so far, those emotions would be fitting, if overdone. One of my ongoing discomforts at this point is that I continue to find the Recreance an overreaction to what we’re told in the Eila Stele, so I’m assuming that we will learn more. Perhaps we’ll get the Singer version of it in the next book and add to our understanding.

“It—” He cut off, then frowned, spinning. He searched the rocks.

“What?” Dalinar asked.

“Nothing. Just an old man’s mind playing tricks on him.”

L: We know that this was Lift. But being able to conceal herself from Odium himself? That’s quite a trick. I have to wonder if it’s just Cultivation’s influence on her, or if there’s more going on…

AA: You have to wonder. We know there’s more going on with Lift than just your normal Edgedancer powers, and this seems to be another example. It probably is Cultivation’s doing, but I think it’s more of a direct intervention, not just some nebulous influence. She’s capable of playing a very, very long game.

AP: Agreed that it’s probably linked to Cultivation. But I also question how there Odium is in the vision. He’s tuning in from another planet. My guess is that he feels Cultivation’s influence on Lift.

Bruised & Broken

“You’re a monster.”

“Oh, Dalinar. This from you of all people? Tell me you’ve never found yourself in conflict with someone you respect. Tell me you’ve never killed a man because you had to, even if—in a better world—he shouldn’t deserve it?”

L: Ouch. Nothing like being called out as being just like the Biggest Baddest Bad (that we know of) on the planet.

AA: Ouch indeed, but there’s another side to this. Dalinar is calling Odium the same thing that other people call him, obviously, and the first impression we all (including Dalinar) get is, “You’re just as bad as I am.” I think what Odium is doing, though, is trying to set Dalinar up to “realize” that neither of them is really a monster; they just did what they had to do. “It’s all right, it’s not really your fault, you were forced into it by circumstances….” Basically, Odium is grooming Dalinar for the moment of surrendering the pain and becoming Odium’s Champion. Too bad for him, Cultivation’s work allowed Dalinar to grow into the kind of man who won’t accept that excuse—especially for himself—and all that careful grooming will be blown away.

AP: I also really like this portrayal of Odium. He doesn’t have to lie to Dalinar, because Dalinar is pretty far along the path of “greater good”. Calling him out for not only his past behavior as the Blackthorn, but also more recently stealing control from Elhokar is so effective. I can’t tell if Odium actually believes what he says about himself, or if it’s all manipulation. I’m leaning toward a mix of both.

Tight Butts and Coconuts

“…nobody gets old without ruining a whole buncha lives.”

L: I mean. She’s not… entirely wrong.

AA: Uh… am I in trouble? I’m old; what lives have I ruined? I’d like to find out sooner than later.

L: Philosophically speaking, I don’t think it’s possible to live without hurting other people, mostly inadvertently. No one’s perfect.

Weighty Words

The Stormfather had grown distant, almost vanished—but Dalinar could sense a faint emotion from him. A whine, like he was straining against something heavy?

No. No, that was a whimper.

AA: I don’t know about you, but I’m really not used to the mighty—and sometimes haughty—Stormfather whimpering in the corner. I love the dissonance this creates, as Dalinar has to face Odium with virtually no support from the guy who’s generally considered the most powerful being on the planet. Odium sits there looking like a kindly old grandpa, and Mr. Awesome hides under the bed. It makes a wonderful reminder of the larger state of affairs—that Odium was powerful enough to kill Tanavast and Splinter his power, that the Stormfather is the largest single amalgamation of that splintered power, and that he’s sufficiently self-aware to be terribly afraid.

“You are the first to bond the Stormfather in his current state. Did you know that? You are deeply connected to the remnants of a god.”

AA: Remnants hiding in the closet…! But seriously, this is a sweet bit of foreshadowing. Dalinar is the first person to become the Stormfather-Bondsmith since Honor was splintered, and no one seems to anticipate that there may be unforeseen effects. Even the Stormfather himself doesn’t seem to register it until the end of the book—that he is different than he was when he bonded with people before. He’s more powerful, more self-aware, more autonomous, than when he was previously bonded.

L: Another question: does this mean that Dalinar is going to be more or less powerful than previous Bondsmiths? If we’re going by the assumption that there were only ever three, and Bonded the Stormfather, the Nightwatcher, and the nebulous Third Sibling… (The Nightwatcher is closely tied to Cultivation (a Shard). The Stormfather, to Honor (another). And that third? The only other Shard we know of is Odium…) Are we then to assume that the Stormfather was close to Honor, so the Bondsmiths of old were more powerful (because they had a living Shard to draw power from)? Or is Dalinar going to be more powerful because the splintered remnants of Honor are now directly tied to the Stormfather instead of being separated?

AA: My best guess is that Dalinar is going to be more powerful because the Stormfather is now more powerful, as he holds more of Honor’s essence than he did when Tanavast was alive. As for the three siblings/three Shards connection, I don’t think it holds through. Opinion only, but since we know that Honor and Cultivation sort of “adopted” Stormfather and Nightwatcher rather than creating them, I don’t think it makes sense to assume that the Sibling was adopted by Odium. It’s possible that he tried, though, which might be one of the reasons that the Sibling is so reticent at this point. Come to think of it, it’s also possible that with Honor splintered, Odium was able to forcibly Connect to the Sibling, but the Sibling retained enough control to completely withdraw in order to protect their people. (Oh, I have so many ideas about the Sibling, and just not enough information!!!)

“I offer you a challenge of champions. With terms to be discussed. Will you accept it?”

Odium stopped, then turned slowly. “Do you speak for all the world, Dalinar Kholin? Will you offer this for all of Roshar?”

L: I think this is the closest we see to Odium asking such a leading question. If Dalinar answered yes, I feel like that would fulfill the requirement of Intent.

AP: Close to it anyway. The line that gets me is this:

“I need not take on such a risk, for I know, Dalinar Kholin, that you will make the right decision. You will free me.”

AP: I kind of think this may be how it turns out. Not necessarily Dalinar alone, but Our Heroes deciding that freeing Odium is ultimately for the greater good.

Cosmere Connections

“What do you know of us three?” Odium asked.

“Honestly, I didn’t even know there were three of you.”

“More, in fact,” Odium said absently. “But only three of relevance to you. Me. Honor. Cultivation.”

AA: Here, Dalinar, let me introduce you to the Cosmere and the Shards! Oh, never mind. No time for all that. Let’s just focus, here…

L: Shall we perhaps do a quick TL;DR of Shard Theory for those followers amongst us who may be just as in the dark as poor Dalinar, here?

AA: Odium is (most likely, anyway) referring to the sixteen Shards of Adonalsium; the sixteen pieces of the most god-like being we know of in the Cosmere. When he was broken apart, sixteen people picked up the pieces, as it were… and we’ll learn more of what that means, and what it looked like, about 20 years down the road when Sanderson rewrites the Dragonsteel series and publishes it. For now, the three that Odium names here are the ones residing in the Rosharan system (Stormlight Archive). We know of a handful of others: Ruin and Preservation, originally held by Ati and Leras, are now combined as Harmony in the hands of Sazed on Scadrial (Mistborn). There used to be Ambition, held by Uli Da until she was destroyed by Odium not long after the Shattering.

L: Which planet was that? One we’ve seen so far?

AA: We don’t know if Ambition actually resided on a planet or not. We know that there was a battle in the Threnodite system, which had some bizarre effects on that world (Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell), but that her final destruction took place elsewhere—but we don’t know where. Autonomy is held by Bavadin, the mysterious figure who takes on the personas of entire pantheons of gods on multiple worlds, but who started out on Taldain (White Sand). Dominion and Devotion, held by Skai and Aona, were on Sel (Elantris) until Odium killed the Vessels, whose Investiture now makes the Cognitive Realm in that system a bit… hazardous. Endowment, held by Edgli on Nalthis, seems to be intact so far (Warbreaker).

And that leaves six more that we pretty much know diddly about.

L: There’s always another secret.

AA: One doesn’t live on a planet—whatever that means—and another mostly just wants to hide and survive. (Given Odium’s general behavior, this seems like a wise plan. Good luck with that, whoever you are.)

L: May the odds be ever in your favor.

“A man cannot serve two gods at once, Dalinar,” Odium said. “And so, I cannot leave [Cultivation] behind. In fact, I cannot leave behind the Splinters of Honor, as I once thought I could.”

L: Wait a second. A man cannot serve? What man is he talking about here? Obviously people can “serve” two Shards at once (see: Harmony). Is he more referring to… to people swearing oaths to specific Shards? I’m confused.

AA: Frankly, I have no idea what he’s talking about. I can make some guesses, though. I’m good at that. (Doesn’t mean they’re right…) I think he means to make himself the only god worshipped in the Cosmere, starting with whatever is left of Roshar’s people when he gets done with destroying Cultivation and the remaining Splinters of Honor. He means to destroy not only the Vessels, but as much of their Investiture and Intent as he can, and then he’ll move on to try to destroy the rest of the Shards just as thoroughly.

Also? I think he’s deluded; even if he managed to destroy everything of Cultivation and Honor he can get his bony mitts on, their Intent is throughout the Cosmere, and it will never work. Also, Dalinar isn’t going to sit there and watch him do it.

L: So you think he wants to destroy all the other Shards and basically become the One True God of the entire Cosmere?

AA: I think it’s a strong possibility. Just before this comment, Dalinar asked Odium why he couldn’t just leave without killing anyone. In the fine tradition of answering a question with a question, Odium asked Dalinar why he took control of Alethkar from Elhokar, and then answered his own question by claiming, “You took control for the greater good.” I think, in context, it’s highly likely that Odium/Rayse thinks he’d do a better job than Adonalsium did, and better than anyone else can, and so he thinks (or has convinced himself) that it would be better for everyone if all the other Shards were destroyed and only he were left to be, as you say, the One True God of the Cosmere.

L: (A smarter vessel would probably realize that the only way to really do that would be to be the one who holds all the Shards at once, thereby healing what was broken. Gee… that sounds a bit familiar…)

AA: When you put it that way… it could explain Hoid’s behavior. One could surmise that the two of them are taking competing paths to become the OTG—one by destroying all the competition, and one by reuniting what was shattered. (And now I’m irresistibly reminded of kintsugi, the Japanese art of mending broken pottery with gold to give it a whole new beauty. I wonder if this concept is in Sanderson’s head at all…)

AP: I think Alice is spot on with the two different paths here. There was some reason that the original group who caused the Shattering thought it was necessary—we don’t know why that is. And we also know that the holder of a Shard is strongly influenced by its Intent. So Odium/Rayse could have originally started out thinking that he could create a better world, and fallen into Zealotry in becoming convinced that his way was the only right one, and the others had to be destroyed for it to work. He is also self aware enough to know that taking up another shard would change him further, and he doesn’t want that—it could be a distraction to achieving his goals (whatever they may be). I’m also completely in favor of recombining the shards to form the Almightier, who in contrast to Alice’s lovely pottery theory, is basically Cosmere Voltron in my head.

L: There’s something else to consider here… if Honor truly is dead/destroyed, can a reforming ever actually happen? If a piece is missing… maybe Alice’s kintsugi theory is more relevant than we thought. They’re going to need to find something to replace Honor, if they’re ever going to hope to reform Voltron the Dark Crystal Adonalsium….

AA: There are a couple of things that give me hope for a reforging: Sanderson has recently been talking about how all of the Intents are integral to the Cosmere, and also Hoid has been going around collecting powerful bits of Investiture. (Come to think of it, so have the Ghostbloods, but they strike me as singularly inadequate to the task!)

“Once you release me, my transformation of this realm will be substantial.”

L: Well, that’s a terrifying thought. Think of all the changes that Sazed made to Scadrial when he assumed the Shards of Ruin and Preservation! And Sazed was a good man, making positive changes. What would Odium do to Roshar?

Buy it Now

AA: It really is a terrifying thought, if he had free rein to do as he wants. I’m trying to figure out if by “realm” he means Roshar and/or its system, or if he means the Physical Realm in general. The former would be bad enough; the latter would be… far, far worse.

AP: Remember that the magic systems derive from Investiture. So I think the spren in particular would be a target.

AA: ::sniffle::

“They call me Odium,” the old man said. “A good enough name. It does have a certain bite to it. But the word is too limiting to describe me, and you should know that it is not all that I represent.”

“Which is?”

He looked to Dalinar. “Passion, Dalinar Kholin. I am emotion incarnate. I am the soul of spren and of men. I am lust, joy, hatred, anger, and exultation. I am glory and I am vice. I am the very thing that makes men men.”

L: Hooboy. Lots to unpack here. I’d like to start with the end. If he’s the Shard of emotion, what does this mean for humans on other planets? Are their emotions bound up, through distance, to Odium as well? If destroyed, would humanity in its entirety cease to have emotion at all?

AA: There’s a recent WoB about how the power of every Shard is spread throughout the Cosmere. I can’t find the whole conversation that I think I remember reading, but the implication is that while there’s a concentration of that Shard’s Intent in its physical location, its essence is also in everything that exists. So I think the answer is no; if Odium were destroyed, there would still be emotion in the universe. And that’s even if he really were telling the truth about being all emotions instead of just hatred.

L: This really makes me wonder if Odium had a better vessel, things might not be different. Perhaps all that’s required here is for someone (with better morals) to take him down and take up the mantle themselves.

AA: It would make a difference, but I don’t know how much. As near as I can tell, the Intent of a Shard is a lot more powerful than an individual’s personality. I mean, if it’s basically one sixteenth of God, that’s still way more potent than a single human, right?

AP: I think it would make a difference in which part manifests though. Rayse, by all accounts, was not the most selfless and kind dude. If his original vice was hatred, then it makes sense that hatred is magnified in his expression of the Shard. If someone whose nature was different had taken up that Shard, perhaps it would manifest in a different way.

AA: Back to the quote, though, I don’t believe him. I think he’s lying to himself about what he really is. I’ll believe him straight up on lust, hatred, anger, and vice; as for joy, exultation, and glory, I strongly suspect he represents only the more selfish or self-aggrandizing versions of those things. In one of the quotes below, he mentions “the joy of victory”—which I’m betting is more like “the joy of having brutally defeated the other guy.” There’s an old saying, something about vices merely being corrupted virtues, that I think applies to Odium: he’s the corrupted version of every good emotion. The egotistical, selfish, it’s-all-about-me-feeling-good versions of emotions.

And… that’s probably more than enough philosophizing from me today! I think I spent too much time in the Arcanum and my brain is boiling over.

AP: I think all emotions have the potential to be damaging in excess, even positive ones. It’s emotion untempered, uncontrolled.

Quality Quotations

“Emotion. It is what defines men—though ironically you are poor vessels for it. It fills you up and breaks you, unless you find someone to share the burden.”

 * * *

It was the scream of a thousand warriors on the battlefield.

It was the moment of most sensual touch and ecstasy.

It was the sorrow of loss, the joy of victory.

And it was hatred. Deep, pulsing hatred with a pressure to turn all things molten. It was the heat of a thousand suns, it was the bliss of every kiss, it was the lives of all men wrapped up in one, defined by everything they felt.

 * * *

“Even as old people go, that one was extra creepy,” she said softly. “What was that thing, tight-butt? Didn’t smell like a real person.”

“They call it Odium,” Dalinar said, exhausted. “And it is what we fight.”

“Huh. Compared to that, you’re nothing.”

“Thank you?”

She nodded, as if it were a compliment.

L: Interesting to note that she smells his unnaturalness on him…

Next week, we’ll be starting in on the second set of Interludes. We’ll be taking each one on individually in its own week, so join us next time for a little dip into the life of a Soulcaster. In the meantime, join us in the comments below—but please be aware that people will certainly be posting Cosmere speculation, so spoilers will abound. Proceed with caution!

Alice is getting soggier by the day, out here in the rainforest.

Lyndsey is excited to finally have a private figure skating coach to help make her Yuri!!! On Ice cosplay dreams a reality. If you’re an aspiring author, a cosplayer, or just like geeky content, follow her work on Facebook or her website.

Aubree is considering taking Awesomeness lessons from Lift. Perhaps she will start with making pancakes…

Greetings, fellow Soulcasters! We’ve got a lot of information about Soulcasting and the mysterious Aimians to go over this week, as we delve into the (brief) journey of Kaza as she tries to find a way to save herself from transforming into smoke.

Reminder: we’ll potentially be discussing spoilers for the ENTIRE NOVEL in each reread. This week includes only minor references to off-Roshar implications. It is, however, chock full of weird stuff that doesn’t affect the main storyline very much, as many of the Interludes are. But if you haven’t read ALL of Oathbringer, best to wait to join us until you’re done.

Chapter Recap

WHO: Kaza
WHERE: Akinah, Aimia

WHEN: 1174.1.3.4 (This was an eventful day in the main timeline—back in Part 1: Dalinar heard Evi’s name, Shallan/Veil went drinking, and Kaladin taught the parshmen to preserve their food supplies.)

Kaza, a Soulcaster, journeys with a ship full of sailors to Aimia. The sailors seek riches in this distant unknown land, but Kaza seeks only one thing—salvation. The Soulcaster she uses to transform things into smoke is slowly but surely transforming her into the same. As they approach, the other sailors slowly succumb to the poison one of their members has given them. Before Kaza also succumbs, the traitor reveals herself to be a Dysian Aimian, set to guard the secrets of this island. Kaza transforms herself into smoke just before the poison takes her, thereby gaining her own freedom.

The Singing Storm

Title:  Kaza  As usual with the interludes, the chapter title is the name of the POV character.

Heralds: Nalan, Skybreakers. Nalan is the Herald associated with the Essences smoke and fog, so it makes a lot of sense that he’s connected with this chapter.

Icon: Double Eye (indicating an interlude chapter)

Epigraph: None!

Stories & Songs

Everyone knew you didn’t linger around Aimia, though everyone had different explanations why. Some rumors told of a vengeful storm here, one that sought out and destroyed approaching ships. The strange wind they’d encountered—which didn’t match the timing of highstorm or Everstorm—seemed to support that.

L: So now the question is… who or what made this storm? Was it the Aimians themselves, or something far more powerful? What secrets does this island hold?!

AA: I can’t help thinking that some of those secrets are related to “the scouring of Aimia”—though how they’re related is sheer speculation. We know almost nothing of Aimia, Aimians, or the scouring, much less what on Roshar could create and maintain a standing storm!

AP: This interlude in particular brings me back to how I felt reading The Way Of Kings for the first time. The interludes are fascinating, but as a first look, it’s completely confusing at the same time! Prior to writing this week, I had to lean on the totally awesome Coppermind wiki, because I know I missed connections the first (and second and third!) time I read this chapter. I agree that the secrets are related to the scouring—which, for those of you (like me) who need a memory boost, was a major event at some point in the “recent” past that destroyed Aimia and scattered the Aimians across Roshar. Quick history lesson: Aimia was one of the ten kingdoms with an Oathgate. Akinah, where this interlude takes place, was the capital. So it’s very likely that the Oathgate was here, and could be part of the secret that the Aimians are trying to protect.

L: That sure doesn’t bode well for our heroes if they eventually try to open that gate!

She had come here because of another rumor, one spoken of only among her kind. Perhaps here, at last, she could find a cure for her condition.

The Aimians had known about Soulcasters. This was where you’d come to get the devices, in the old days. You’d come to the ancient island of Akinah.

If there was a secret of how to avoid death by the device she loved, she would find it here.

L: Really cool little nugget of knowledge that this is where the Soulcasters came from. Did the Aimians make them, or were they just stockpiling them like the Shin had done with the Honorblades?

AA: Hmmm. I’d just assumed that this was where they were made, but now that you mention it, the idea of the Aimians stockpiling them makes a lot more sense. It’s almost certain that the Soulcaster fabrials are remnants from the time of the Knights Radiant, since the modern artifabrians are able to repair them, but not make new ones. But why?

AP: Aimia seems like the “most Rosharan” kingdom to me. More than anywhere else, the Aimians are very much not human, and have really interesting abilities that seem tied to Roshar itself. The Dysian Aimians being made up of hordelings, for example. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were the source of creating soulcasters, at least prior to the scouring, since it’s a way to harvest a natural resource of Roshar (stormlight).

L: I had never considered that they were natives to Roshar and now I feel kind of dumb for never making that connection!

Flora & Fauna

“Generations of greatshells have died here, leaving their hearts.”

L: This is interesting to me, since I had sort of assumed that the greatshells were local to the Shattered Plains.

AA: Yeah… I had to go do some research. There’s a strong probability that the greatshells referenced here were the lanceryn, which humans assume (incorrectly, I understand) were wiped out in the scouring. Apparently, prior to the discovery of the chasmfiend greatshells on the Shattered Plains in recent years, it was accepted that all the critters who could produce the really big gemhearts were extinct. Now I’m starting to get really suspicious: the lanceryn, the chasmfiends, the Reshi islands, the storm-striders… I can’t help wondering if they’re all connected, perhaps as progressive stages of the greatshell lifecycle.

Well, anyway, with zero evidence to support this, my current loose theory is this: Before the humans came along and started harvesting them, the chasmfiends grew up (after another pupation or two) into lanceryn, who eventually made their way around to Aimia. Most died there, and some few continued their trek clockwise around the continent to eventually reach the Reshi Sea and become new islands, if they survive long enough. Still can’t quite figure out where the larkin fit in, though. They seem too smart to just be the very beginning stage of this lifecycle.

Buy it Now

AP: I think that’s a really interesting theory. But most Rosharan animals have shells of some kind. I don’t know if I buy that they are all connected.

AA: The only reason I threw in the larkin is that someone asked Sanderson if the lanceryn and larkin were the same thing, and he said, “There’s a little bit more than just [being] one and the same, but in some ways they are.”

[The cremling] had an odd shape, with large wings and a head that made it look like an axehound. Its carapace shimmered with dozens of colors.

L: Part of the cook? Another Aimian? I’d assume that there are probably a few around, keeping an eye on things.

AA: I assume it’s part of the cook, though I’ll grant you that we don’t know if there may be others here. Mostly, it’s our first “Oh, look, an odd cremling! Maybe it’s another Dysian!” moment.

AP: I know this one! That’s a larkin! The little dragon bugs that eat stormlight/investiture. Aimia is where they come from. They were thought to be extinct, and Rysn got one in Words of Radiance.

L: Oh, good catch, Aubree!

AA: GAK! Of course it is. That makes this another little piece of the puzzle that—I think—connects the larkin, lanceryn, and Reshi isles. (I’m including the islands because it was one of them that gifted the larkin to Rysn.) Whether the stormstriders and the chasmfiends are connected or merely similar life forms, I don’t know, but it seems solid that these three, at least, are linked.

Places & Peoples

This was her destiny. She was not a thing to be carted from place to place, not any longer.

Even as she righted herself, she felt in her pouch, seeking the comforting touch of her Soulcaster. Hers, no matter what the rulers of Liafor claimed. Had they spent their youths caressing it, learning its secrets? Had they spent their middle years in service, stepping—with each use—closer and closer to oblivion?

AA: It sounds like technically, this Soulcaster—both the fabrial and the wielder—are considered to be the property of the Liaforan royal house. Or at least they were, until Kaza decided otherwise. She repeats the “it was hers, no matter what they said” thought several times in the chapter, implying that she’s still partly trying to convince herself and justify her actions. And she partly believes it, because she’s the one paying the price for its use; I’m not going to disagree with her.

So he knew that she was the prince’s cousin. … “They locked me up each day, gave me comforts they assumed would keep me happy. They realized that at any moment, I could literally make walls and bonds turn to smoke.”

AA: Girl’s got a point—it’s really hard to lock up someone who can turn walls to smoke! (Even worse than someone with a Shardblade, maybe?) Perhaps she did exactly what they were afraid of—turned things to smoke as needed to get away, since there’s no way that the prince just let her—and the fabrial—go freely.

I’m trying to figure out which bothers her more: her treatment as “property” as though she’s merely the current wetware extension of the fabrial, or the fact that its use is turning her into smoke. The solution to both, at least in her eyes, is to take her destiny into her own hands. She ran away, selling the use of her fabrial to this ship captain, to try to find some way to avoid being consumed by the fabrial. One would guess that she saw what happened to her predecessor, was maybe even partially trained by that person, and wasn’t altogether happy about it. And yet…

Smoke, she whispered to the stone. Freedom in the air. Remember? She tempted it, picking at its memories of dancing free. Yes … freedom. She nearly gave in herself. How wonderful would it be to no longer fear? To soar into infinity on the air? To be free of mortal pains?

AA: At the same time she’s trying to find a “cure” she’s drawn to the freedom of just letting go. Ultimately, of course, she’ll do just that, but I find a certain fulfillment in the way it happens. She kept repeating that this was her destiny, her choice, and in the end it is. Rather than let the Sleepless put her permanently to sleep, and rather than let the fabrial keep leaching her apart bit by bit, Kaza deliberately uses the fabrial one last time, and chooses to go with the smoke of her Soulcasting.

Bummer for Liafor, though. That’s a valuable bit of tech they just lost.

It had dozens of names. The Rock of Secrets. The Void’s Playground. So melodramatic. She preferred the old name for the place: Akinah.

Supposedly, there had once been a great city here. But who would put a city on an island you couldn’t approach?

L: Well, presumably the island used to be more accessible, since all the spikes were Soulcast. Whatever happened here, the Aimians clearly don’t want anyone around now. But that may not have always been the case.

AA: Clearly there was a time when Akinah was a well-known city which welcomed travellers. Back in The Way of Kings, when Kabsal was explaining cymatics to Shallan, Akinah was one of the cities in his pictures. There’s enough information about the underlying rock formations and the addition of streets and buildings to show that it wasn’t always this semi-mythical place.

AP: Yeah, I totally expect that we will be going back to Akinah. The name of The Void’s Playground makes me really nervous though!! A reference to the scouring? Or maybe one of the Unmade is lurking around or otherwise involved here?

The cook began to hum. Pieces of her broke off. She crumbled to a pile of chittering little cremlings that moved out of her clothing, leaving it in a heap.

L: Dysian Aimian, right, Alice? Like we saw in Edgedancer? As opposed to the other type?

AA: Yep. Totally. Another one of the Sleepless, like Arclo. I sure would like to know just how many of these are wandering around.

AP: So this is what made me start giving the side eye to literally every cremling mentioned in the series!

Weighty Words

Kaza was, slowly, becoming smoke.

There was a hole in her cheek through which you could see her jaw and teeth. Lines of smoke rimmed the hole; the flesh seemed to be burning away. Air passed through it when she spoke, altering her voice, and she had to tip her head all the way back to drink anything.

The process was slow. She had a few years left until the Soulcasting killed her.

L: As a horror fan I really appreciate the creepiness of this.

AA: As a non-horror fan, I totally concur that it’s creepy, anyway! What I found fascinating was the sudden clear view of something that had only been hinted from another perspective. We’ve seen hints along the way that long use of a Soulcaster would affect the body of the user: for example, back in the scene in Words of Radiance where the Soulcaster ardents were making new windbreaks for the warcamp. At that time, Adolin remarked on the way one woman’s eyes “sparkled like gemstones themselves” and her skin had “hardened to something like stone” and she seemed almost like “a living statue.” It sounds weird and off-putting, but not too terrifying.

Then, all of a sudden, we see the effect of long use of a Soulcaster that transforms things to smoke. We observed that the ardents with the Alethi army slowly took on physical aspects resembling stone; now we see that Kaza is literally turning to smoke. It’s a bit of a shock to realize just how far this transformation goes! It makes me wonder if the ardents eventually turn to real statues, or if they are retired from service before it gets quite that far.

We know that the army also has Soulcasters which turn whatever-it-is to grain and meat. Now I wonder what they start to look like. ::shudder:: On second thought, I don’t want to know!

AP: Also a horror fan, also concur on absolute coolness/creepiness. Since the soulcasters are kept to the royal family, this is also something she would have expected, which adds another creepy layer to me. It’s probably also a way to assert institutional control and keep challengers to the throne to a minimum.

“It is blissful. I slowly connect to the device, and through it to Roshar.” … “I could show you. Feel my touch, and you can know. One moment, and then you will mingle with the air itself.”

L: Yeah, because that’s not creepy at all.

AA: It’s an extremely effective deterrent, though. I’m pretty sure he’d never have bothered her again, even if things had turned out differently on the island!

“I have begun to see the dark sky and the second sun, the creatures that lurk, hidden, around the cities of men.”

L: So she’s transitioning into Shadesmar, then. That makes sense from what we know of Jasnah and Shallan’s ventures into Soulcasting.

AA: I loved this! The more she uses the fabrial, the more she’s shifting from the Physical to the Cognitive realm.

AP: Which makes me really wonder what happens to her after her physical body turns to smoke. Does she exist in Shadesmar somewhere?

She closed her eyes, and felt the familiar sensation of being drawn into the other world. Of another will reinforcing her own, something commanding and powerful, attracted to her request for aid.

L: There’s so much fascinating information about Soulcasters in this chapter! Is this other will a sapient spren like the ones bonded to the Knights Radiant? I don’t see that being likely, given that those spren haven’t been very forthcoming with their aid to humanity until recently, and the Soulcasters have been doing this for a long, long time.

AA: I have another theory—which, again, I didn’t have time to ask about at the Skyward signing. I wonder if maybe the Soulcaster fabrials are formed in the same way as we suspect Shardplate is formed—from the marginally sentient cousin-spren to the “truespren” (as Syl calls them). I think that would be kind of cool. The other primary possibility, and one which creeps me out far more than Kaza turning to smoke, is that the fabrials are more like a Shardblade than a Shardplate… that they are truespren, locked in the form of a fabrial instead of a blade. That would be very not cool. The biggest argument against this is the Radiant we saw in Dalinar’s Midnight Essence vision, using a Healer fabrial to perform Regrowth despite not having the Progression surge herself. That would require that sapient spren were knowingly handed around, and often handed off to Radiants of different Orders who had some reason to think they’d need a Surge they couldn’t normally use. That seems problematic, at best.

AP: I’m on team trapped spren. I think that she’s calling the spren of the fabrial, who is getting stronger the more the fabrial is used.

L: This makes me wonder if the users of these objects in times of old were also being slowly transformed, or if they were protected against that because the spren were still “awake.”

She could not make it air again; her Soulcaster had only one mode, not the full three.

L: One of the other two is food, that’s for certain, right? Is the last stone? Or… is she talking about something else entirely here? It seems as if there would be more than just three…

AA: It seems like different Soulcasters are tuned to different things, but I can’t find any reason for a limit of three, other than that each fabrial holds three gemstones. We know the Alethi use fabrials to make stone and to make food, and the Azish have one that turns things to bronze. Whether those limitations are firm, or based on tradition, I really don’t know. I’m pretty sure that with the right combination of fabrial and gemstones, people using the Soulcaster fabrials could form any of the ten Essences; I just don’t know what the limitations of the fabrials are.

And two suns in the sky, one that drew her soul toward it.

L: Whoa. Wait a second. Is this new information? I feel like it is. What are the two suns, then? Are they maybe some sort of giant spren? Are they… the Shards?

AA: I have no proof of anything, but I assumed this was the same as the earlier reference to seeing the second sun, and “drawing her soul toward it” is connected somehow with shadows going the wrong direction, toward the Shadesmar sun instead of away from it. I… think there are implications to be drawn there, after I think about it with both hands for a while.

AP: I thought the same as Alice, that the second sun is in Shadesmar.

L: Oh, I definitely thought it was the one in Shadesmar, I just wonder if this sun is more than it seems…

AA: Ah. Well, I’m pretty sure it’s not a Shard, but I definitely think there’s something twisty about that Shadesmar sun. Are the soul and the shadow connected? There’s… there’s a whole essay in this, about shadows going toward Stormlight and acting funny in Shadesmar, and how/whether that is related to this idea of the soul. But don’t worry, I won’t dig into it here today!

Macabre Motivations

L: Shall we talk about the Aimians?

AP: Yes please, because I don’t totally get them and I always think I’m missing something!

AA: Heh. I’m pretty sure there’s a LOT we’re missing about the Aimians!

“I cannot speak,” the cook said, “even to sate a dying demand. There are those who could pull secrets from your soul, and the cost would be the ends of worlds.”

L: Worlds? Plural?! Well now. That’s a very interesting choice of words. This island must have something to do with the Shards, and the Cosmere as a whole!

Buy it Now

AP: Definitely something with cosmere implications! It also really makes me wonder who or what has that sort of ability. Have we seen them active already without knowing it??

AA: I’m reasonably sure that a Shard (Odium, for example?) could do this, and I suspect there are other Shards who might find it worthwhile to snatch a soul between the Physical and the Beyond, depending on what secrets we’re talking about. Which brings us back to… what secrets does this island hold?

L: So, the Aimians appear to be guardians of something very powerful.

AP: And very dangerous! It occurs to me that they could also be there primarily to keep people out, and what is on the island in.

AA: I was just thinking that. We don’t know much about the scouring of Aimia, but what if the Aimians did it themselves to keep some knowledge or artifacts from the rest of the world? Even more likely, there’s rumor that Dai-Gonarthis (a.k.a. The Black Fisher, and presumed but not proven to be one of the Unmade) was responsible for the scouring. Maybe the Aimians found a way to trap it there, and they’re keeping everyone from releasing it back into the rest of the world.

About the Aimians in general, after all this I have to wonder if they deliberately sacrificed many of their people as well as their homeland to protect the world—or worlds—from something dire. Odium? Or something worse?

A Scrupulous Study of Spren

The captain drew anticipationspren as he waited—ribbons that waved in the wind—and Kaza could see the beasts beyond, the creatures that accompanied the spren.

L: Always cool to see glimpses of the spren behind what we usually see of them on the cognitive realm.

AA: This was an interesting choice of words. Kaza thinks about “the beasts beyond” as creatures who accompany the spren she’s used to seeing. From Shallan and Eshonai we learned (and will learn more in Part 4) that what humans see in the Physical realm is only a small part of how a spren actually appears in the Cognitive realm. It’s a great reminder that characters are often wrong in how they see the world, and also that most of what Kaza knows is tradition passed down for many generations along with the fabrial.

AP: I think this is also one of the most ominous flags foreshadowing the epic trip through Shadesmar that will come later.

Quality Quotations

With a defiant shout, she pressed her hand to the rocky ground beneath her and demanded it change. When it became smoke, she went with it.

Her choice.

Her destiny.

AA: I just have to point out that at the end of this chapter, Liafor is down one Soulcaster, which I suspect isn’t going to make anyone in the court very happy. I wonder if the physical object is lying on the sand of Akinah, or if it somehow went with her into the Cognitive Realm.

AP: Or possibly at the bottom of a pretty large pit!

L: The Aimian was trying to pull it off of her towards the very end there, so I assumed that it would have reclaimed it after Kaza fully transforms.

Next week we’ll be continuing our foray into the Wonderful World of Roshar with the next interlude, about Taravangian. (Hoo boy.) In the meantime, join us in the comments!

Alice is coming down with a cold. Just thought y’all would like to know that. So you can be thankful that you aren’t – or commiserate, if you are.

Lyndsey is definitely not a collection of bugs in a human suit. If you’re an aspiring author, a cosplayer, or just like geeky content, follow her work on Facebook or her website.

Aubree is trying to catch a larkin of her very own. But is slightly concerned about the impending food bill.

Calling all conspiracy theorists! You’re wanted on the Oathbringer Reread this week! We have secret societies, deception among the leadership, calls for murder, charges of idiocy… Yes, if you couldn’t tell, we have a Taravangian interlude this week. Join in to figure out what he’s up to—or at least what he thinks he’s up to.

Reminder: we’ll potentially be discussing spoilers for the ENTIRE NOVEL in each reread. No major Cosmere spoilers this time around, folks. But if you haven’t read ALL of Oathbringer, best to wait to join us until you’re done.

Chapter Recap

WHO: Taravangian
WHERE: Urithiru
WHEN: Sometime after 1174.1.4.3

Taravangian is having a genius day. He fools his testers into thinking that he’s not having a “so intelligent he’s dangerous” day and proceeds to begin tearing up the Diagram, looking for hints and codes that cannot be deciphered when the pages are bound. When Adrotagia calls him out for his deception, he shoves her out of the room and continues, finally coming to the conclusion that Dalinar is not to be killed, now—they’re past that point. Now he must be dethroned as leader of the Coalition, to make room for Taravangian to take his place and hence be in a better place to negotiate directly with Odium.

The Singing Storm

Title: Taravangian

Heralds: Palah; Truthwatchers, Learned/Giving. Ishi, Bondsmiths, Pious/Guiding.

L: So, my guess is that these Heralds are here because this is how Taravangian sees himself. He’s learned (clearly, he’s having a genius day) and he sees himself as guiding the world (or part of it, at least) towards salvation.

AA: There’s a lot of truth to that, Lyndsey, and also that despite his self-perception, he’s doing almost exactly the opposite of the roles he’s claiming. I would also submit that Palah could be a subtle hint that the casual line that the Diagram “hadn’t seen the effect the second son, Renarin, would have” is far more important than it appears at the moment. Ishar also could be a nod toward the repeated references to the Bondsmith that Taravangian is planning to elbow aside. Interestingly, the things he doesn’t understand about Renarin and Dalinar are what make his plans fail.

Icon: Double Eye, indicating an interlude chapter.

Bruised & Broken

The way he thought, breathed, even moved, implicitly conveyed that today was a day of intelligence—perhaps not as brilliant as that single transcendent one when he’d created the Diagram, but he finally felt like himself after so many days trapped in the mausoleum of his own flesh, his mind like a master painter allowed only to whitewash walls.

L: So much about Taravangian makes me sad, but this more than most. It’s almost like he’s suffering from dementia.

AP: I think dementia is a very good comparison. Alzheimer’s patients in particular can “sundown” and be more lucid during the day than in the evening. It can be extremely distressing to them in more lucid moments to know that they are experiencing a cognitive decline and not being able to do anything about it.

AA: The problem with this view of Taravangian is that when he has greater “lucidity” he becomes an absolute monster. In this state, he sort of pities—and totally despises—the person he is when he’s normal; the person he becomes when he actually does experience a cognitive decline, he considers revolting.

L: That’s a fair point, Alice.

“He’s almost to the danger line,” Dukar said.

L: Danger line. Interesting. The supposition here appears to be that the more intelligent someone is, the more dangerous they are. I’m not sure if I buy this. There have been some incredibly intelligent people in our history who didn’t turn into tyrants.

AP: I took this to be a commentary on Taravangian himself, not all super intelligent people. He, in particular, is a danger to others when he has a day that is past the “line”.

Buy it Now

AA: I’m with Aubree on this. The days when Taravangian’s intellect is high, his compassion and empathy are proportionally low. This is not a generality; it’s a specific peculiarity of his unique Boon and Curse arrangement. It’s not merely that he’s “not very empathetic,” either; he gets unreasonably “pragmatic” about other people to the point that he seriously thinks people who annoy him should be summarily killed.

L: Oh, that’s a cool theory. So for him in particular, it’s more like a see-saw. When his intellect goes up, his empathy goes down, and vice versa.

He carried the Diagram into the room, and then shut himself into blissful self-company, in which he arranged a diamond in each corner—a light to accompany that of his own spark, which shone in truth where others could not venture…

L: Wait. What? Is he just speaking in flowery terms of his own intellect here, or is there more going on with this “light”?

AA: IMO, this is reflecting his delusions of godhood. He firmly believes that when he’s having a “brilliant” day, he’s smarter than any being in the Cosmere—Shard Vessels and immortals notwithstanding. He believes—or he’s convinced himself—that he himself is truly the messiah that Roshar needs to save… well, whatever he himself decides is worth saving. On a meta level, I can’t help thinking that the “light” he considers his own intellect is somehow linked to the light that Odium likes to present himself with, but I don’t have anything solid there.

“Get me a copy of the surgeon’s words upon my birth,” he said to those outside. “Oh, and kill those children.”

L: DUDE.

“Are you…”

“No,” he said. “I haven’t become him again. I am me, for the first time in weeks.”

“This isn’t you. This is the monster you sometimes become.”

“I am not smart enough to be in the dangerous zone.”

L: Pretty terrifying that he played them, though I’m glad Adrotagia saw through it.

AP: Yep, and I think this is why they do need a “danger line” for him.

AA: Adrotagia is far wiser than Taravangian… but I worry about what she’ll support just because it’s coming from him. I find it deeply creepy that smart-but-not-compassionate Taravangian is also deceptive. I mean, the whole “kill those children” is awful, but it just shows him openly writing off anyone he considers lesser than himself (which is everyone, of course). The decision to hide his intelligence so they wouldn’t place limits on him… that worries me. No one but Adrotagia can see through it with any degree of accuracy, and I wouldn’t put it past him to deliberately incapacitate her next time so that she can’t stop him.

AP: I think that is a distinct possibility, and now I’m worried for her!

L: Ugh. I hadn’t considered that until now, but now that you mention it… yeah. I can absolutely see him doing that.

He had the cord wrapped around his neck, the surgeon had said. The queen will know the best course, but I regret to inform her that while he lives, your son may have diminished capacity. Perhaps this is one to keep on outer estates, in favor of other heirs.

The “diminished capacity” hadn’t appeared, but the reputation had chased Taravangian from childhood, so pervasive in people’s minds that not a one had seen through his recent act of stupidity, which they’d attributed to a stroke or simple senility.

He’d overcome that reputation in magnificent ways. Now he’d save the world.

L: So this is why he chose to go to the Nightwatcher in the first place. To prove to the people who said he was dim that he wasn’t, that his knowledge would save the world. Not entirely philanthropic, is it? He’s saving the world out of spite.

AA: Hmm. I think he went to the Nightwatcher in desperation, because he believed Gavilar’s visions were for real. The spite and self-centeredness comes out when he’s “smart” because then he loses all respect for “anybody who’s not me.” Granted, that’s got to be present to some degree in his mind anyway in order to come out on days like this, though.

AP: It seems to be a pretty clear spectrum though, from high empathy to high intelligence. I think on his high empathy days he really does want to try to do good, while on his high intellect days it’s more about power & survival.

L: This is a good observation, that his perception of the event is currently colored by his lack of empathy. Thinking back on it now, I’m willing to bet that less-intelligent Taravangian would have a completely different recollection of his reasons for going.

Also, side note, but this turned out to be a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy, didn’t it? Everyone said he had diminished capacity, so he… went and made himself have diminished capacity most of the time.

AA: Frankly, I like him better in that mode.

Squires & Sidekicks

…[Malata and Adrotagia] were growing in companionship as Adrotagia attempted to secure an emotional bond with this lesser Diagram member who had suddenly been thrust into its upper echelons, an event predicted by the Diagram…

L: Interesting that she was involved with the organization even before awakening as a Radiant.

AA: Yeah, I’ve wondered about that. Not only someone already involved, but then she gets chosen for the one Order the Diagram said would suit them. I guess… the Diagram was right that the Dustbringer spren would find their kind of person attractive? It makes sense if I squint a little.

AP: It very much makes me wonder where the information for the Diagram came from. Is it just extreme logical interpolation based on the research Taravangian has already done? Or is it actually supernatural? Because if it’s limited to what someone with Taravangian’s history and resources could figure out on a day with perfect problem solving skills, then it’s still going to miss things because Taravangian isn’t omniscient.

AA: I’ve wondered about that too. If it’s based solely on what Taravangian already knows, and he’s filling in the blanks with logic, plus doing a little further extrapolation, there should be a lot of holes in the big picture. After the first two books, I had assumed it was just “extremely logical and intelligent prediction” based on his existing knowledge, but given the scenes from the end of Oathbringer, I’m now leaning toward supernatural. I just don’t see how Taravangian, no matter how much research he’d done, would have all the information to construct the Diagram as we see it later.

“…Now leave me alone. You’re stinking up the place with an air of contented idiocy.”

He shut the door, and—deep down—felt a glimmer of shame. Had he called Adrotagia, of all people, an idiot?

Well. Nothing to do about it now. She would understand.

AA: I’m adding this in at the last second, so unfortunately Lyndsey and Aubree don’t have a chance to add comments, but this made me so angry. Adrotagia is, on the whole, both smarter and wiser than Taravangian, but he takes her understanding for granted. I’m sure this is largely an artifact of “genius mode,” and if he remembers it in “compassionate mode” he’ll apologize. I’m glad to see, at least, that there’s something deep down that can feel shame.

Places & Peoples

…only four blank stone walls, no window, though it had a strange rectangular outcropping along the back wall, like a high step, which Maben was dusting.

L: Chalk this up as another Urithiru oddity.

AP: I keep waiting to get an explanation of what all of these oddities are actually for!

AA: I know, right? I’m always wondering whether Sanderson has something specific in mind for every one of these things, or if he occasionally throws in a feature just to remind us that we know next to nothing about the place. “Don’t get too comfortable here, kids…”

“Calculating the total surface area for farming at Urithiru,” he said, “and comparing it to the projected number of rooms that could be occupied, I have determined that even if food grew here naturally—as it would at the temperatures of your average fecund plain—it could not provide enough to sustain the entire tower.”

[…]

“You think they advanced the growth by use of Stormlight-infused gemstones, providing light to darkened places?”

L: I’m wondering why they’re not considering Soulcast food as a possibility.

AP: Soulcast food is the obvious answer to me too. But I think there’s probably also a magic greenhouse when they turn the city on.

AA: Soulcasting seems pretty obvious, considering that the original inhabitants didn’t even have to rely on fabrials, but instead had two complete Orders who could just do it. (Side note: I wonder if an Elsecaller or Lightweaver can make better food than the people who use the fabrials.) But I agree with Aubree again; when they get this place fired up and running, there will be plenty of food-growing capacity available.

Weighty Words

L: This doesn’t strictly belong here, but since it doesn’t belong anywhere else either, I’d just like to take a moment to note that while we’re in genius-Taravangian’s point of view, Sanderson employs more advanced and complicated sentence structure than he usually does. The sentences are longer and more varied, thereby implicating subconsciously to the reader that the mind we are in is more advanced.

AA: Hah! Nice catch. I’d noticed the seriously long and involved sentences, which are nonetheless grammatically correct and coherent. I just hadn’t put it together with being in genius-Taravangian’s head.

Meaningful/Moronic/Mundane Motivations

Was there a way he could prevent any but the most intelligent from learning to read? That would accomplish so much good; it seemed insane that nobody had implemented such a ban, for while Vorinism forbade men to read, that merely prevented an arbitrary half of the population from handling information, when it was the stupid who should be barred.

L: Oof. Danger line, indeed. He’s veering awfully close into tyranny territory here.

AA: He’s the most dangerous sort of tyrant, too—the one who firmly believes that he’s doing it for the greater good rather than mere selfishness. This puts a little different spin on C. S. Lewis’s comment on tyranny: “Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.” He’s talking about “moral busybodies” when you put that in context, but the last line of the quote is still frighteningly apropos: “The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” Genius-Taravangian isn’t into tormenting people, but he’ll happily kill them if he thinks it’s useful, and he’ll do it with the approval of his own conscience (such as it is). Then Kind-Taravangian will come along and be properly remorseful, but he’ll be completely unable, and mostly unwilling, to do anything to rein in Genius-T.

The initial explanation of the Dalinar paradigm, from the catechism of the headboard, back side, third quadrant. It had been written in meter, as a poem, and presaged that Dalinar would attempt to unite the world.

So if he looked to the second contingency…

The Diagram hadn’t seen the effect the second son, Renarin, would have—he was a completely wild element.

L: Okay, so why is Renarin a wild element, here? Does it have to do with the influence of his corrupted spren?

AP: I wonder if whatever type of spren Glys is can’t be seen by the diagram? Maybe because both can “see” the future to an extent so they cancel each other out?

L: That’s an interesting theory. Sort of like when two Mistborn burned Atium at the same time…

AA: It’s almost like the Cultivation-based Truthwatcher spren, corrupted by the Odium-formed Unmade who isn’t sure she likes belonging to Odium, makes for an unpredictability that the Diagram can’t cope with. Maybe seeing—or interpreting—the future is based on understanding history, but Glys is something with no precedent to guide their interpretation.

“We must not assassinate Dalinar Kholin. The time has passed for that. Instead, we must support his coalition. Then we force him to step down, so that I can take his place at the head of the monarchs.”

L: Yeah. That’s gonna happen, Taravangian.

AA: It came frighteningly close.

“We can break [Dalinar], and I can take his place—as the coalition will see me as non-threatening—whereupon we’ll be in a position of power to negotiate with Odium—who will, by laws of spren and gods, be bound by the agreement made.”

[…]

“We cannot beat the enemy; so instead, we save whatever we can.”

L: Okay so, ignoring the fact that the coalition isn’t likely to hand over the reins of leadership to someone who they view as senile, let’s talk about this “save what we can” thing, because man… this is definitely a point of contention amongst the fans. Some of us think that Taravangian’s noble for making such a difficult choice—the burden of which will fall squarely on his shoulders, should he have his way. Others feel as if he’s jumping to this conclusion far too easily, that there’s another way, he’s just not looking hard enough for it because the “easy” solution has presented itself.

Buy it Now

AP: It’s not that easy. He thinks he’s doing the right thing, and that his sacrifice (mental incapacity) justifies the cost to others as well (shared suffering). But that’s extremely dangerous thinking. Zealots are the most dangerous because they have an absolute conviction that they are doing good while actually doing great harm. Taravangian is so caught up in his own intelligence that he doesn’t think that it’s possible that he may have made an error (or several errors). The first rule of Dunning Kruger Club is that you don’t know you are in Dunning Kruger Club…

AA: He also sees his Diagram-writing self as God, without ever thinking about the source of that knowledge. He has some massive blind spots.

Give me the capacity to save us.

L: So… this might not mean what he thinks it does. Capacity in this context could mean any number of things—it might not mean mental capacity. It could be something else entirely, and knowing what we do of the Nightwatcher’s other deals, I’d bet on that Ryshadium. The Nightwatcher reminds me of D&D campaigns I used to play when I was a kid, where the DM would give us an item that granted wishes, or have us encounter a genie—and then would delight in trying to mess with our wishes to give us something other than what we intended. Now, whether or not the Nightwatcher’s intentions are good is up for debate. If Cultivation is directly involved, like she was for Dalinar and (presumably) Lift, the wishes granted seem to be done with the best intents of the world at large, even if they weren’t quite what the asker wanted. But the Nightwatcher alone? I don’t know. It seems… capricious, to me. Like Loki. I have little to base this on, however, unless Aubree or Alice have any concrete examples I’m forgetting…

AA: No examples I can think of, but I really believe that Taravangian is too quick to accept his Intelligence as The Solution… I think the twist to this is going to hurt him badly.

AP: I don’t necessarily think it’s twisted wishes per se, but that both his enhanced mental and emotional capacity will be important. He just doesn’t see the use of the empathy yet. I also suspect that the “good” and “bad” days are not random, but that he is being given the capacity that he needs for that day’s challenges.

Well, then. Join us in the comments with your thoughts on Taravangian and his Diagrammatic shenanigans! Next week, we’ll be back with Interlude 6: the next installment in Venli’s novella, where some really twisty antics take place and we learn much more about the Fused et al.

Alice is looking forward to her daughter’s school Christmas concert tonight. It promises to be awesome—and not solely because of her daughter’s participation… Heh. Also, she assume’s y’all have heard the news about Sanderson’s mysterious Secret Project by now. If not, check out the blog on his website.

Lyndsey is most certainly not having a genius day, but she gets by. If you’re an aspiring author, a cosplayer, or just like geeky content, follow her work on Facebook or her website.

Aubree is inventing a new language to better express her thoughts about the next interlude.

“This post gets longer and longer each year,” Brandon Sanderson mused at the conclusion of this year’s State of the Sanderson update. Yet the irony is that the prolific epic fantasy author expects for just one project to take up the majority of 2019: the fourth book in The Stormlight Archive. But in the interest of maintaining accountability with readers, Sanderson was sure to provide status reports on nearly a dozen other projects, including Spensa’s further adventures in the Skyward sequels, what’s going on with Dark One, and his forthcoming metal/necromancy collaboration with Peter Orullian. Read on for key tidbits!

The Stormlight Archive

Buy it Now

“The truth is, I’m getting really anxious about getting back to Stormlight,” Sanderson writes. “That’s a very good sign, as once I finish a Stormlight book, I’m usually feeling quite burned out on the setting, and need a number of months to recover.” As Oathbringer was published in November 2017, the timing is perfect for Sanderson to devote the new year to writing the fourth installment of The Stormlight Archive. And in many ways, he will also be determining the shape of the fifth book as well, as it concludes a major arc within the projected ten-book series. Sanderson explains further:

The Stormlight series has a very odd structure. Each novel is outlined as a trilogy plus a short story collection (the interludes) and is the length of four regular books. This lets me play with narrative in some interesting ways—but it also makes each volume a beast to write. The other superstructure to the series is the spotlight on the ten orders of Radiants, with each book highlighting one of them while also having a flashback sequences for a character tied to one of those orders. If that weren’t complicated enough, the series is organized in two major five-book arcs.

Come January 1 (just as he predicted last year), Sanderson will begin the process of writing Stormlight Four. That begins with a reread of the first three books, and a brand-new progress bar on the official site. He’ll also be posting updates to the Stormlight subreddit. While he is “optimistic” about the book being published in fall 2020, that release date could get pushed to 2021 depending how the first draft turns out.

Dark One

Announced earlier this year as a massive multimedia undertaking, this twist on the Chosen One narrative is continuing apace. A graphic novel is currently in the works—with some art that may be shared sooner rather than later—while Sanderson reports that he has been doing pitches in Hollywood for a potential television series. Here’s a little more about the story to whet your appetite until the next update:

The story, if you aren’t familiar with it, is about a young man in our world who discovers that a fantasy world has declared him to be the Dark One, and starts sending hit squads into our world to assassinate him. Pitched as “Harry Potter from Voldemort’s viewpoint,” the story follows this young man as he is forced to confront the possibility that he might do what the prophecies say.

Death Without Pizza

The project formerly known as Death by Pizza has shown up on a number of previous States of the Sanderson, when it was the tongue-in-cheek story of a pizza delivery man who unwittingly becomes a necromancer. Picking the project back up after several years, Sanderson decided to change the protagonist’s occupation to something a bit different: frontman for a heavy metal band. To aid him in the kind of research and personal experience that would go into worldbuilding around this new kind of character, Sanderson enlisted friend and fellow novelist Peter Orullian—and so a collaboration was born.

Orullian has completed the first draft of what Sanderson describes as “a Dresden Files-esque urban fantasy series set in London, starring a necromancer.” In fact, there’s even more to it than that, as he describes the plot:

It’s the story of an American metal singer living in London whose day goes from bad to worse as he gets kicked out of his band, then makes his way to his favorite pub to lick his wounds—only to end up getting shot in the head during an apparent robbery. And after that, things start to go really badly for him.

Sanderson has spent this month writing a second draft of this untitled project—no, it won’t be called Death Without Pizza—and will be handing it back to Orullian for a third draft. While they won’t start looking for a publisher until they have revised the manuscript, Sanderson anticipates this novel being released in the next two years.

Skyward Sequels

Fans of Skyward can look forward to Starsight in late 2019, as Sanderson wrote the first two books in the four-book series close together. However, The Stormlight Archive taking priority in 2019 means a longer wait between Starsight and the third book in the series; then the fourth book will follow closer to the third, as Sanderson will likely write those two in tandem as well.

Potential Movie/TV Adaptations

While many a Sanderson property has been optioned, the author is careful to emphasize that optioning a book is only the first of at least six steps in the typical Hollywood process. Most of the potential adaptations he mentions are early in that process, though there is some movement that can make for intriguing updates. For instance, Mistborn is being pitched around as a film series, while The Way of Kings is courting interest as a television series. Also in the TV realm, Dark One has an “impressive” showrunner attached, though no official announcement has yet been made.

Sanderson has had some conversations with The Wheel of Time showrunner Rafe Judkins, though he has been very respectful about giving the adaptation space. “I’m impressed with everything I see,” Sanderson says, “and hope to at the very least be able to pop over to the set when filming happens and grab some photos for you all.”

Interestingly, his novella Snapshot seems to be furthest along in the adaptation process; MGM is working on a film about a detective investigating a recreation of the day and time a crime was committed, only to discover that the details don’t add up. Sanderson shares that the screenplay “is an improvement on my story in virtually every way” and hopes that he has more news to share soon.

Wax and Wayne

Having regretted his inability to return to the fourth Wax and Wayne installment in 2018, Sanderson is keeping this project on his radar as a potential break from Stormlight Four. Regardless of when it is published, this book will conclude Wax and Wayne’s story and wrap up Mistborn Era Two. Sanderson has “big plans” for Era Three, which he will write several years down the road, between Stormlight Five and Stormlight Six.

2019 and Beyond

As always, Sanderson ends the annual update with a projected release schedule for the next couple of years:

Starsight (Skyward Two): November 2019
White Sand Three: Sometime 2019–2020
Stormlight Four: Fall 2020
Skyward Three: 2021
Wax and Wayne Four: Sometime 2020 or 2021

Read the complete State of the Sanderson 2018 for information on board games, music, and other licensed work; and updates on Alcatraz Six and the next White Sand graphic novel!

Singers and Listeners and Rereaders unite! Or… something like that. Welcome back to the Oathbringer reread, as we finish the year with the final interlude before Part Three begins. We’ve got a lot of secrets to learn along with Venli, though she’s probably more upset by them than we are.

Reminder: We’ll potentially be discussing spoilers for the ENTIRE NOVEL in each reread, and this week we have a bunch of them. There’s likely to be some Cosmere spoilage as well; possibly in the reread, and almost certainly in the comments. In any case, if you haven’t read ALL of Oathbringer, best to wait to join us until you’re done.

Chapter Recap

WHO: Venli
WHERE: Unknown; possibly near the Shattered Plains
WHEN: 1174.1.7.4 (about the time Moash was pulling the sledge and Shallan was working with her soldiers to train them as spies)

Venli and several of the remaining Listeners await the coming Everstorm, promised by Ulim that it will bring them more power. But when it passes, Venli realizes that they had been misled. Her friends are gone, their souls destroyed and their bodies claimed by the ancient Listener gods. She alone remains, destined for some greater purpose by Odium. In the aftermath of her grief, a strange spren appears, which Venli hides, certain that the creatures residing within the bodies of her friends will destroy it.

The Singing Storm

Title: This One Is Mine

YES, the voice said. CHOOSE ANOTHER. THIS ONE IS MINE.

Heralds: Battar (The Counselor; Wise/Careful; Elsecallers) and Kalak (The Maker; Resolute/Builder; Willshapers)

AA: Well, what an interesting combination of Heralds for Venli’s chapter. On a guess, both are foreshadowing what is to come, more than representing what we see here. In this chapter, they call Ulim “The Envoy”—but that is essentially the role Venli will take on when they meet up with the gatherings of freed parshmen. I may be in error to connect this role with Battar as “Counselor,” but it makes sense to me. Venli won’t really get to give counsel to the Fused—and they’re either too cracked or too arrogant to listen anyway—but as Odium’s personal representative, she is the one who gives counsel to her people. (Such as it is, anyway.)

Kalak, I’m almost positive, is here to represent the order of Willshapers—the order that will be formed by bonding with a spren of Timbre’s kind. Here, we only see her as a frightened little ball of light, but we’ll certainly see more of her!

Icon: The Singer, meaning that this chapter is part of Venli’s novella.

Stories & Songs

Time to add to our running tally of Rhythms!

Listener Rhythms: Curiosity, Awe, Peace, Pleading, Skepticism, Appreciation, Anxiety, Consolation, Praise, Reprimand, Mourning, Lost, Longing.

Voidbringers Rhythms: Rhythm of the Terrors, Craving, Command, Fury, Satisfaction, Derision, Spite

To the Voidbringer list, this week we add Abashment, Destruction, and Agony.

Buy it Now

AP: This chapter seems to continue the theme of heightened or extreme emotions being the Void rhythms. Reprimand becomes Abashment. Longing becomes Craving. I don’t know if Destruction has an exact analog, perhaps Consolation, Mourning, or Loss? This fits if Odium is directly influencing and twisting the Listener rhythms.

AA: I agree. More on this below!

Let me say up front here, this week’s discussion doesn’t fit readily into the standard recurring units we normally use. We’re going to just ignore most of those, since they don’t apply, and put the bulk of the discussion right here. We’re dealing with a few Listener concepts, but mostly we’re learning about the Fused.

This was war, and Venli among its vanguard. She had discovered the first Voidspren. She had discovered stormform. She had redeemed her people. She was blessed.

AA: Gotta say, that didn’t work out quite like she’d planned. Turns out her ancestors don’t see her as any kind of hero, vanguard, or leader. She’s just another tool for them.

Nine of them had been selected from among the two thousand listener survivors, Venli included. Demid stood beside her with a wide grin on his face. He loved to learn new things, and the storm was another adventure. They’d been promised something great.

AA: Here’s the introduction to The Fate of the Listeners. (Also, the details on some things that have come up in the comments recently, so there’s that too.) There were about 2,000 listeners left after the Battle of Narak. We don’t know exactly where they are, though I assume this is the group Sanderson was referring to that made it out of the Shattered Plains “to some floodplains on the other side.” These nine seem to be the first group drawn from the listeners for their “special purpose,” since Venli thinks of herself as the first. It’s clearly not the first bunch to be host bodies for the Fused, since Kaladin saw some at Revolar a couple of weeks earlier than this. Those must have taken bodies from the freed parshmen.

L: These are described as “grand of the Fused,” so some sort of leaders.

AP: It’s interesting to note that these seem to be a particular set of Fused. They are the leaders, as Lyndsey said, but it also indicates that not all the Parsh people eventually get reincarnated. I believe that it’s the specific set that made a deal with Odium thousands of years ago that keep coming back. We have no indication that Demid’s soul is retrievable. Ulim certainly doesn’t think so.

AA: I hadn’t quite connected that these few were the head honchos, so to speak, but it makes sense. It’s notable that they chose to take bodies from those who had not been deprived of the ability to change forms; I wonder if that makes it easier or harder for them to take over. But I believe Aubree is correct; it’s only the ones who made the deal with Odium who returned with every Desolation—and now, with every Everstorm. Those who are born in later eons are either bodies for those who return, or cannon fodder.

“Great power,” Ulim said. “You’ve been chosen. You’re special. But you must embrace this. Welcome it. You have to want it, or the powers will not be able to take a place in your gemhearts.”

AA: Deceitful little wretch. “You’re special!”—so special that we’re going to get rid of you and just commandeer your body. But since obviously you wouldn’t go for that, we’re just going to psych you into the correct mental state to kick you out.

L: They were expected to make martyrs of themselves, but without being given the choice to sacrifice themselves. That’s not sacrifice—it’s straight up murder.

AP: Agreed that it’s definitely murder. I expect that future Venli will be instrumental in leading her people away from the Fused/Odium relationship, since she has first hand knowledge of the process now.

L: The ones that are still alive, anyway. :(

A pressure enveloped her, pushing at her mind, her soul. Let Me In.

With difficulty, she opened herself up to this force. This was just like adopting a new form, right?

AA: Umm… not so much, no.

WHAT IS THIS?

It was a warm voice. An ancient, paternal voice, kindly and enveloping.

“Please,” Venli said, gasping in breaths of smoky air. “Please.”

YES, the voice said. CHOOSE ANOTHER. THIS ONE IS MINE.

AA: I don’t remember what I thought the first time I read this, but after all the interactions with Odium throughout the book, this is obviously him. Which… yikes. Possibly better than being forcibly evicted from your body, but becoming a direct tool of Odium doesn’t sound good.

AP: So, uh, I took it a totally different way! I thought it was the voice of whatever spren did enter and give her a new form. But Odium makes more sense, and is way more menacing. Nice Odium totally throws off my danger senses.

AA: Nice Odium is, if anything, worse than the nasty version. He makes my skin crawl. (Incidentally, I went back and looked at the beta discussion. Apparently, we had a bit of a debate; the fact that there were nine listeners in the group made a few people assume that these were to be bodies for the Unmade. By the end of the chapter, it became more obvious… but we still don’t know much about Venli’s spren/form.)

The force that had been pushing against her retreated, and the pain stopped. Something else—something smaller, less domineering—took its place. She accepted this spren gladly, then whimpered in relief, attuned to Agony.

AA: Now the burning question is, what is this spren? It’s something that gives her a form of power, because it still attunes the Void rhythms rather than the ones the listeners heard. Something, she observes, similar to nimbleform; later it will be called envoyform. We’ll learn a little more about it in future Interludes, but I still want to know more about the spren itself.

L: Same. Is this the only envoy-spren? Or are there more, waiting in the wings?

AP: I also wonder what makes her different and a good candidate for Odium’s direct influence? He is probably aware that she was working to return the Fused, but her reaction to the process is to be understandably horrified.

L: Maybe it has something to do with her personality? Or the fact that he can sense that she’s drawing her own spren… Perhaps not consciously on his part, but maybe he can sense that nascent bond forming and plans to use it against our heroes in some way…

AA: I wondered about that too. There doesn’t seem to be an obvious reason for him to claim this particular one, and I don’t remember that we ever learn that reason. But there must be one.

He spoke again in that strange language, and his next words seemed to blur in her mind, somehow shifting until she understood them.

AA: Again we have illumination from later in the book. This sounds suspiciously like Dalinar’s use of Spiritual Adhesion to be able to speak and understand other languages. In wider Cosmere terms, it seems to be Connection, as it’s explained in The Bands of Mourning.

L: So the Voidspren bonds are mirroring the Radiant ones, then? If envoyform is analogous to Bondsmiths in terms of power, maybe it makes sense that there would be far fewer of them.

AA: They can’t be perfectly analogous, but I agree—the envoyform seems very similar in function to the Bondsmiths.

They stood so tall, so haughty, and their mannerisms—all wrong.

AA: And this is where it becomes clear…

Each new form changed a listener, down to their ways of thinking, even their temperament. Despite that, you were always you. Even stormform hadn’t changed her into someone else. Perhaps… she had become less empathetic, more aggressive. But she’d still been herself.

AA: She hadn’t been a very nice person, apparently, because Eshonai noticed it too—even stormform didn’t change Venli all that much from what she’d been like in nimbleform. I find it odd to look back at this Venli from the vantage of having finished the book; I have a lot of hope for end-of-the-book Venli. This Venli makes me want to say she deserves what she gets. Except… even if the rest of the group were every bit as bad as her, I can’t think anyone deserves this fate:

“He has passed into the blindness beyond,” Demid said. “Unlike the witless Voidspren you bonded—which resides in your gemheart—my soul cannot share its dwelling. Nothing, not Regrowth or act of Odium, can restore him now.”

AA: Despite any level of sympathy I may have for the original situation that caused these ancestors to take such drastic measures, this puts them solidly in the Villain category for me. They isolate a small group of people, tell them how wonderful they are, get them in an open, receptive mindset, and then just boot out their souls and take their bodies. That’s Evil.

L: Undeniably so. I have to wonder if they were always like this? This next part:

Two still had trouble moving. They lurched, stumbled, fell to their knees. A different two wore smiles, twisted and wrong.

The listener gods were not completely sane.

AA: Ya think?

L: Were they once sane and good “people”? Is it just the insanity that’s removed their empathy and driven them to evil, or have they always been willing to sacrifice whatever they must to advance their goals?

AP: I think that they originally made a pact with Odium, for whatever reasons—desperation, power, whatever—and that continued influence has made them less empathetic over time. This is the result of the long term giving of their “passion” over to Odium. I think the insanity is separate, and a function of time. The living and dying cycle is not one that they were originally equipped for, and it takes a severe mental toll.

AA: I would guess that their madness is similar to that of the Heralds—too many cycles of dying, returning to Braize, returning to fight, and dying again. The major difference in the past is that these were the torturers and the Heralds were the torturees, but I can readily believe that spending centuries torturing someone would also drive you into madness.

But… Demid…

She put him out of her mind, like Eshonai before him. This was the path she had placed herself on from the moment she’d first listened to Ulim years ago, deciding that she would risk the return of her people’s gods.

AA: Okay, yeah, no sympathy now. She decided, years ago, that she would turn away from thousands of years worth of her people’s commitment to remaining free of these “old gods,” which turn out to be their insane ancestors. She decided, on behalf of a whole lot of people who wouldn’t have concurred with her decision, that they should go back to the old bondage that they’d escaped at such cost. They had chosen to be free, even if it meant living in dullform for centuries, and spending more centuries slowly learning to reclaim a few of the forms that were natural to their people. She wanted power, instead, and she was willing to pay for it with the lives of her people—including her sister and her mate.

L: Yeah, no sympathy from me. If she’d allowed her people to make their own choices? Maybe. But as it stands, she removed their choice and led them down the path to death and enslavement.

AP: Argh… I just can’t give up on characters that easily! I’m a sucker for a motivationally gray character. And Venli certainly fits the bill.

L: True, I don’t think she’s beyond redemption—not yet, anyway.

AA: Well, by the end of the book I’m rooting for her all the way. I think she’s got potential for actual repentance for her choices on behalf of her people, and it sure looks like that’s the path Sanderson is building for her. But at this point, I have no sympathy. She set this all up, thinking she knew better than everyone else, and now her friends are the ones being destroyed by it.

AA: Incidentally, I have developed a strong suspicion that the forms the listeners were developing—mateform, nimbleform, workform, warform—were among dozens of forms that the parsh people had available to them when the planet was theirs. (Well, only shared with the Aimians, anyway.) I’d bet those forms were theirs even before the arrival of Honor and Cultivation, though I suppose it’s possible that they developed a few additional forms after that event. The same goes for the Rhythms: It’s a pretty solid bet that the Rhythms the listeners attuned in the pre-stormform parts of Words of Radiance were those natural to the planet, as were the forms they wore. The “new Rhythms” as well as the “forms of power” all seem to belong to Odium.

AP: I agree wholeheartedly with this assessment. I think Odium took the natural abilities of the original Rosharans and twisted them.

AA: And since I’m pontificating here, I’d also say that the names of the Rhythms point out the false premise of Odium’s claim a few weeks ago, that all emotions belong to him. If you look at the list of “old” Rhythms, there’s all sorts of emotion. Curiosity, awe, anxiety, mourning, peace, appreciation, and so on. The “new” Rhythms could almost be described as the corrupted versions of those same emotions: Conceit vs. Confidence; Ridicule vs. Amusement; Craving vs. Anticipation. I don’t know/claim that those pairs are supposed to be directly analogous, but you can see what I’m driving at. The new Rhythms all have a negative edge to them, and I think it’s a reflection of the way Odium affects everything he touches.

AP: I think you’re on the right track. I’ve been using “extreme”, rather than “negative”. But extreme emotions typically have a negative connotation, so I think we may be saying essentially the same thing.

AA: I’ve been searching for a common thread that makes me see them as negative, and the closest I’ve come so far is “egocentric.” They’re what happens when your emotions are solely about yourself, regardless of the impact on anyone else.

And Odium himself, god of gods, had a purpose for her.

AA: I’m just popping this in here to comment on “god of gods.” It suddenly makes sense in a very different way than I’d thought about before. For the parsh, their “gods” have for millennia been those ancestors who returned to lead them in battle during each Desolation. Odium is, quite literally, the god of their gods.

Flora & Fauna

You have to want it, or the powers will not be able to take a place in your gemhearts.

AA: This is the first solid confirmation in the books that the parsh have gemhearts, and that’s how they change forms. We readers have speculated that since they were native to Roshar, they ought to, but any questions on the subject only got a RAFO. The first in-world hint we had was Venli’s thought, in her first Interlude, that the old songs spoke of humans hacking apart corpses searching for gemhearts, but that didn’t mention whether there was anything to be found. Now we know.

For those who don’t follow the extra-textual stuff, and might be wondering why the parshmen weren’t essentially “farmed” for gemhearts, there’s a reason. Sanderson has stated that their gemhearts look much different than other creatures we’ve seen, so it was easy for the knowledge that they have gemhearts to be lost. They basically look like bone, rather than the emeralds, heliodor, and amethyst we’ve seen before.

Cosmere Connections

Question for discussion in the comments: Is Odium—the Shard, the Intent, the concept—the ultimate in selfishness?

A Scrupulous Study of Spren

As she waited, she noted something hovering near the ground a short distance away. A little spren that looked like a ball of light. Yes… she’d seen one of those near Eshonai. What was it?

AA: Venli had seen, not merely “one of those” near Eshonai, but this very one. This is the spren that had begun to form a bond with Eshonai, but the nascent bond was destroyed when she took on stormform instead. Keep an eye on this little spren; she’ll be very important later on, and not nearly so shy!

L: It sounds weird, but I find this little spren to be adorable. More on that later…

Buy it Now

AP: I share your feelings of adorable-ness!

She instantly knew something—an instinctive truth, as sure as the storms and the sun. If the creatures standing nearby saw this spren, they would destroy it.

She slapped her hand down over the spren as the creature wearing Demid’s body turned toward her. She cupped the little spren against the stone, and attuned Abashment.

AA: Okay, there’s the second good thing she’s done in this chapter. (The first was trying to get Demid back so he’d have a choice about what was done to him. It didn’t go anywhere, but at least she tried.) I have no idea what motivated her to save the little spren, but it may well be the first time I had any real liking for her.

“You speak like a human, spren,” Demid said. “Your service here was grand, but you use their ways, their language. I find that displeasing.”

AP: This stuck out to me. Does Ulim sound human because Odium was originally the god of the humans? Or has he adapted over the past several thousand years without a desolation? Basically, was he always like this, or is this a change? The negative reaction makes me think the latter.

AA: I think this is a change, though I have to say he sounds like he’s been hanging out with Lift more than with the listeners or the Alethi! Maybe he got loose a few centuries ago and has been lurking in the streets of the western cities to pick up his attitude and language patterns.

Quality Quotations

“Ready yourself to be carried,” he said. “We must travel to Alethela.”

Dun dun DUN!

Housekeeping note: There will be no reread next week due to the Christmas break. Rejoin us in the new year to start in on Part Three! The current plan is to tackle both 58 and 59, so buckle up and be ready for a long read.

Meanwhile, I wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Alice is happy to be enjoying her Christmas break, and is using it to make large quantities of peanut brittle. She hopes you all enjoyed the new State of the Sanderson post yesterday.

Lyndsey is trying to resist being taken by sickform at the moment. If you’re an aspiring author, a cosplayer, or just like geeky content, follow her work on Facebook or her website.

Aubree  hopes that your Koloss is well fed and starting to fill out its skin! Happy Koloss Head Munching Day!

Welcome back to the Oathbringer reread! We hope that you had an amazing holiday break. Alice and I are ready to start off the new year right as we delve into Part Three—Aubree will be back next week. In these chapters, Dalinar’s finally starting to make some inroads on unity, in more ways than he expected…

Reminder: We’ll potentially be discussing spoilers for the ENTIRE NOVEL in each reread. There are brief and very limited mentions of Cosmere happenings, but if you haven’t read ALL of Oathbringer, best wait to join us until you’re done.

Chapter Recap

WHO: Dalinar
WHEN: 1174.1.9.4 (The day after Chapter 57’s Recreance & Odium vision)
WHERE: Urithiru to Thaylen City, via Oathgate

Kaladin and Shallan arrive back from Thaylen City after having opened the Oathgate on that side. Dalinar drops a heavy burden on Kaladin’s life—that of (more) responsibility. When the war is over, he’ll have lands and people to manage in his capacity as a Shardbearer and a brightlord. Dalinar and his retinue activate the gate and step through, finding the destruction that the Everstorm has wrought.

Queen Fen gives Dalinar a tour of the devastated city. They wind up at a temple housing the injured, and Taravangian offers some of his surgeons to lend assistance. Fen agrees. At the last temple, Dalinar confronts Fen’s son and agrees to a duel with him. He allows the young man to stab him in the chest, the wound immediately healing thanks to his stormlight. Disturbed by the message this action sends, he goes to the destroyed temple, which his powers urge him to repair. He does, much to the shock of everyone nearby, then sends for Renarin to come help to heal the injured of the city. Queen Fen finally agrees to join the coalition, and offers some advice on getting the Azish to join as well…

Truth, Love, and Defiance

Title: Burdens

Personally, I’ll count us lucky—you included—if at the end of all this we still have a kingdom to burden us.”

A: There’s a whole conversation on the subject of burdens, and the fact that power brings with it burdens that, wanted or not, are now the responsibility of the one in power. (More on this below.)

Heralds

Talenel, Herald of War, Soldier, patron of Stonewards, associated with the attributes of Dependable and Resourceful, the gemstone Topaz, and the essence Talus.

A: As Lyn will note below, Dalinar is very much in Soldier mode.

Icon

Dalinar’s glyphpair shield, representing his POV.

Epigraph

As a Stoneward, I spent my entire life looking to sacrifice myself. I secretly worry that is the cowardly way. The easy way out.

—From drawer 29-5, topaz

A: Okay, so here’s the thing with the Part Three epigraphs. Remember that wall of drawers Renarin found in the library/cellar, each drawer with its own gemstone? The ones that Shallan and Pattern realized held coded messages? Well, here they are—a few of them, anyway. We’re going to start reading hints from the time before the Recreance, and from before the abandonment of Urithiru. Look for some serious theorizing to happen in the Epigraph discussions!

Buy it Now

That said, now I’m going to be watching for connections between the epigraph and the Heralds, since we start right of with a Stoneward on a chapter with Taln as the Herald. I never really looked at that before. This time, it’s an interesting personal reflection from someone worried about his life choices. His reflection reminds me of Kalak’s comment on Taln’s approach to battles, from back in the Prelude:

Taln had a tendency to choose seemingly hopeless fights and win them. He also had a tendency to die in the process.

I wonder if this is a common attribute among the Stonewards. I can see where the willingness to risk the sacrifice is a valuable thing in the Soldier, but I’m not so sure about the “looking to sacrifice myself.” It’s a twist on Taln’s proclivity—he chose “hopeless” battles and won them, but this guy sounds like he’s looking for a fight he can’t win. It’s also the opposite of Dalinar’s comments on the burdens of power; it’s like he worries that he’s looking for a way to sacrifice himself so he doesn’t have to bear those burdens. Sometimes living with responsibility is a lot harder than dying.

L: Maybe there’s more to this than we can see right now. Maybe the sacrifice is something intrinsically linked to their powers, like protecting people is Kaladin’s.

A: Uh… duh? That never occurred to me, but I’ll bet you’re right. We don’t know anything solid about the Stoneward Ideals yet, though there’s some speculation that one of their Ideals will be “I will stand when others fall.” It’s someone’s Ideal, in some form, but we don’t know who.

Title: Bondsmith

No, the man he’d been twenty years ago could never have done this.

Bondsmith.

A: Chapter 59 takes its title from Dalinar’s actions of restoring the broken pieces of the temple into the united structure it so longed to be, and his realization that this is one of the things he can do.

Heralds

Kalak, Maker, patron of Willshapers, associated with the attributes of Resolute and Builder, the gemstone Amethyst, and the essence Foil.

A: Even though the title and the focus of the chapter is on Dalinar’s Bondsmith surgebinding, we’ve got Kalak as the Herald. My guess is that it reflects multiple aspects of Dalinar’s situation: not only rebuilding the temple, but his resolute determination to build the coalition among humans to stand against Odium and the Voidbringers.

Icon

Dalinar’s glyphpair shield, representing his POV.

Epigraph

If this is to be permanent, then I wish to leave record of my husband and children. Wzmal, as good a man as any woman could dream of loving. Kmakra and Molinar, the true gemstones of my life.

—From drawer 12-15, ruby

A: And *poof* goes my notion about correlations between the epigraphs and the Heralds for each chapter, right away. I’d have expected this to be from a Willshaper, in an amethyst, but it’s not. The ruby indicates that this is a Dustbringer’s memory. For what it’s worth, it sounds like she’s Thaylen—or at least her husband is, since he and one of their children have very Thaylen names. It’s possible that she’s Alethi, since the other child’s name sounds much more Alethi. I’m happy to see confirmation that the old Radiants married and had kids, though it was probably assumed by most of us anyway. I wonder if the Vorin “lighteyes” are all descended from actual Radiants, and those who become lighteyes from bonding a Shardblade don’t actually pass the genes. Sheer speculation…

Thematic Thoughts

A: As we start the new year, we’re adding a couple of new recurring units. As with any other unit, neither of them will necessarily show up every week, but now we’ve got them when we want them. This one is something I’ve wished for a few times; how often we’ll actually use it, I don’t know. This is the one we’ll use when there’s a lot that ties together in the chapter and we want to keep the whole discussion in one place rather than letting it spread out through the other units. It’s also the one we’ll use when we have a chapter that just… doesn’t fit anywhere. (Like Venli’s previous interlude, for example…) We’re not using it today, but now you’ll know what it’s for when it does show up.

Stories & Songs

Who’s to say what [Odium] can and cannot touch in the real world?

L: I mean… a fair point. Ruin sure did cause a lot of havoc over on Scadrial this way (not that these words can be trusted, not having been written in metal…)

A: There’s so much we don’t know about Odium’s access in the Rosharan system. Is he mostly tied to Braize, and can only directly affect Roshar when the Voidbringers are freed? Or… which one of the gazillion other possibilities we could name? We’ll be finding out right along with Dalinar—and Venli—as the series progresses.

It was a pity to see several statues with the faces broken off.

L: Ah, Shalash has been here, I see.

None of the other temples had fared this poorly. It was as if Odium had a grudge against this one in particular.

L: Probably true.

A: What, you think Odium might have an extra mad on for the only Herald who didn’t abandon the Oathpact? Nah, couldn’t be.

Relationships & Romances

L: Dalinar and Navani’s relationship in this chapter is really sweet. She clearly understands him so well, and loves him dearly despite all his warts.

A: There was a recent discussion on one of the Facebook groups about whether people found Navani’s love for Dalinar believable. I came to the conclusion that, all arguments to the contrary, it’s quite plausible given their culture, and it fits her personality. In any case, I love the way she understands him. She’s an engineer at heart, and it shows in the way she evaluates and responds even to his expressions.

Bruised & Broken

Couldn’t Fen have taken him on a tour to see those Shards instead?

L: Dalinar’s having a bit of a throwback to his jerk-wad soldier days here, I see. It seems to me that lately he’s been better than this. I wonder if it’s just because Odium’s gotten him rattled that he’s reverting to his old behaviors.

A: Hmm. He is impatient with the temple tour, partly because he didn’t understand it until Navani explained the tradition, but he’s always been a soldier, and he still is. While he’s trying to be diplomatic in order to build the coalition, the purpose of the coalition is war—a war for all of humanity. So I honestly can’t blame him for thinking like a soldier, although as a soldier I’m surprised he even thinks that Fen would want to show him their defenses right off the bat.

L: Speaking of old behaviors…

It was shocking, then, to feel his own sudden, stark displeasure. For some reason, those frightened faces hit him harder than the sword had.

L: Poor thing. He’s forced to embrace his dark past for the good of the future, but it’s barbed and cuts him every time.

What had he just accomplished? He said he didn’t want to conquer this people, but what story did his actions tell? I’m stronger than you, they said. I don’t need to fight you. I could crush you without exerting myself.

Was that what it should feel like to have the Knights Radiant come to your city?

L: Man, Dalinar’s really in a rough place here. He’s got this awful reputation that he’s trying to use to his advantage, but every time he does, he’s just playing into these fears that he’s turning back into the man he was. If he plays nice and diplomatically, people don’t trust him because they don’t think he’s being genuine. If he is genuine, he’s turning back into the warlord he hates.

A: Add to that, there’s an internal conflict between the person he is genuinely becoming, and the person he used to be—the guy who legitimately earned that awful reputation. The duel displayed the skills they expected of the Blackthorn, and those skills are still his. The problem comes when his last step was intended to show that he didn’t want to hurt them, and instead is interpreted as contempt. They can’t read his mind and heart, and just see him being so Alethi it stinks.

L: But then…

No, the man he’d been twenty years ago could never have done this.

Bondsmith.

L: There’s another way. There’s always another way.

AA: And it’s beautiful.

Diagrams & Dastardly Designs

Taravangian and Adrotagia finally arrived, followed by Taravangian’s strange Surgebinder, the short-haired woman, Malata.

A: Malata gives me the heebie-jeebies. I could be wrong about this, but I don’t remember ever trusting her at all.

L: Same. There’s just something about her that makes my hair stand on end.

A: We’ve gotten some negative hints about Dustbringers (*ahem – Releasers*) from the in-world books about the Knights Radiant, and Malata seems to fulfill them all. The fact that she’s on Team Diagram… that just makes it worse. Do. Not. Trust. For that matter, do not like either.

L: And the fact that she was on Team Diagram before she was a Radiant makes it even worse.

A: She’s just a nasty piece of work.

Malata joined her, watching over Navani’s shoulder as she fiddled with the keyhole, which was in the center of a ten-pointed star on a metal plate.

A: I suppose any new Radiant would legitimately want to know everything they can about working the Oathgates, but this has a feel of intrusion. (I can’t help thinking I’m being played like a fiddle… I’m reacting just like I’m supposed to!)

Places & Peoples

“As you fly, wave to the lands along the south fork of the Deathbend River. The parshmen may have conquered them by now, but they actually belong to you.”

“…Sir?”

“You’re a Shardbearer, Kaladin. That makes you at least fourth dahn, which should be a landed title. Elhokar found you a nice portion along the river that reverted to the crown last year at the death of its brightlord, who had no heir.”

[…]

“Sir. You know I don’t want this burden.”

“If you’d wanted a life without burdens, you shouldn’t have said the oaths.”

L: Kaladin’s gonna make a great brightlord, though. So much better than that rat bastard Roshone.

A: He has a lot of advantages over Roshone—like not starting out as a rat bastard at a basic personal level! The simple fact that he sees it as a burden, a responsibility rather than a privilege to which he’s entitled, guarantees that he will do his best for those people. Lucky folks—if they ever get a chance to try it out, anyway.

“My family is in northern Alethkar. Now that I’ve practiced flying with the storms, I’ll want to go and fetch them,…”

L: Yaaaaaaaaaaaaay! The idea of Kaladin being able to keep his family well provided for and safe gives me the warm fuzzies.

By spanreed reports, the Voidbringers were slowly moving northward, northward, and had captured much of Alethkar. Relis Ruthar had tried to gather the remaining Alethi forces in the country, but had been pushed back toward Herdaz, suffering at the hands of the Fused.

A: Oh, hey, it’s our old buddy Relis! Just had to point out that he apparently isn’t a complete loser; after being sent home in disgrace after losing the four-on-one “duel” with Adolin, he at least tried to behave like a soldier and stand against the Voidbringers. Given that he’d held both Blade and Plate, and is now fighting with neither (they were given to General Khal after the duel), I’ll give him credit for trying anyway.

Beyond that, many more of these structures had been of wood, particularly in the Loft Wards. A luxury available to a place like Thaylen City, which up until now had been subject only to the most mild of the stormwinds.

A: So in worldbuilding notes, apparently Thaylenah has—or had—a fair amount of forestry in the protected areas. I wonder if they’re far enough south that they don’t get quite as much of the force of the highstorms?

By Thaylen tradition, he would be merely another officer, not the heir. The monarchy of the kingdom was not a hereditary position.

L: I’m curious as to how they choose their next monarchs.

“The council of merchants and naval officers pick the new monarch, after all.”

L: Thank you for immediately answering that question, Sanderson.

A: Heh. Ask and you shall receive! I wonder how often the new monarch is the son or daughter of the previous one, though. It seems like they’d have an advantage in training and experience, if they want it.

“The Azish aren’t as desperate as I am—and frankly, they aren’t Vorin. People here, myself included, respond to a good push from a determined monarch. Strength and passion, the Vorin way. But those tactics will just make the Azish dig in and rebuff you harder.”

A: I’m not sure which I find more interesting: “strength and passion, the Vorin way” or the Azish stubbornness. I love the bits we’re learning about the Azish as we lead up to Dalinar’s meeting with them… and we’ll get there soon. But I wonder: Is “strength and passion” the Thaylen take on Vorinism? Or does the current version of Vorinism lean more toward Odium’s Intent than Honor’s?

Tight Butts and Coconuts

“Stop scowling.”

“I’m not scowling.”

“You’re bored.”

“I’m not … scowling.”

A: ::snicker::

“I suppose it’s possible you’re right. Perhaps the people seeing you be polite and calm is actually bad for our message.”

“More scowls, then?”

She sighed. “More scowls.”

He grinned.

“Or a grin,” she added. “From you, one of those can be more disturbing.”

A: ::gigglesnort::

“I’m not your enemy, son.”

“I’m not your son, tyrant.”

L: I have to.

Dalinar coughed, spat blood to the side, then took the young man’s hand by the wrist, shoving the sword farther through his chest.

L: I’m sorry, all I can see is that scene in The Fellowship of the Ring where Aragorn stabs the orc and it just grabs the sword and does this.

Weighty Words

For a moment, Dalinar felt he could almost understand what they were saying. As if a part of him were stretching to bond to the man.

L: Like the powers that Venli’s eventually going to display. Fascinating correlation, captain.

Meaningful/Moronic/Mundane Motivations

…the aged monarch was weeping openly as he regarded the people in the temple.

L: High empathy day for Mister-T, apparently.

“I need your help, Fen,” Dalinar whispered.

“I find it hard to believe you need anything, considering what you’ve done today.”

“Shardbearers can’t hold ground.”

She looked at him, frowning.

“Sorry. That’s a military maxim. It … never mind. Fen, I have Radiants, yes—but they, no matter how powerful, won’t win this war. More importantly, I can’t see what I’m missing. That’s why I need you.

“I think like an Alethi, as do most of my advisors. We consider the war, the conflict, but miss important facts. When I first learned of Renarin’s powers, I thought only of restoring people on the battlefield to continue the fight. I need you; I need the Azish. I need a coalition of leaders who see what I don’t, because we’re facing an enemy that doesn’t think like any we’ve faced before.” He bowed his head to her. “Please. Join me, Fen.”

“I’ve already opened that gate, and I’m talking to the councils about giving aid to your war effort. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

“Not close, Fen. I want you to join me.”

“The difference is?”

“The distinction between referring to it as ‘your’ war, and ‘our’ war.”

A: I know, that’s far too long a quote. But I couldn’t figure out what to cut, because it’s all so much part of what our Bondsmith is both learning and becoming. Does Fen have any idea how foreign this concept must be to an Alethi, and that there’s much, much more to winning this kind of war than merely having a big army?
Come to think of it, this concept is foreign to pretty much everyone. The Alethi have always been the ones to be feared, because they have the biggest, best-trained army, and they love conquest. The other nations don’t trust Dalinar because he is (at least by reputation) the most Alethi of them all. Each nation is rightfully proud of their particular expertise, but they aren’t used to thinking that their strengths are needed by the big warmonger over there.

Cosmere Connections

Rial saluted him. Again.

“You don’t need to salute me each time I look at you, Sergeant,” Dalinar said dryly.

“Just trying ta be extra careful, sir.” The leathery, dark-skinned man saluted one more time. “Wouldn’t want ta be reported for being disrespectful.”

A: There’s no real basis for thinking this guy is a world-hopper. Even his accent is explained as being from Koron, near the Sunmaker Mountains, and he’s a sergeant from Bridge Thirteen. I guess I’ve just started getting suspicious when a named character with no backstory shows up.

L: Yeah, this guy’s been given too much screen-time to be a nobody. There’s something going on with him, or… there will be. I’m not sold on him being a world-hopper, but he bears watching as the series progresses.

A Scrupulous Study of Spren

[Malata] summoned her Shardblade and inserted it into the slot. The metal of the plate shifted and flowed, matching the shape of the Blade. They’d run tests, and though the walls of the buildings were thin, you couldn’t see the other end of the Shardblade jutting through. The Blade was melding into the mechanism.

A: In my typical fashion, I went down a rabbit trail when I read this, and now I want to know: When Adolin tried to use his Blade in the Oathgate at Narak, it went in but couldn’t activate the mechanism. I’m good with that much, but… did it just go all the way through the wall and stick out the other side? If so, I guess there must have been enough crem build-up on the outside that he didn’t poke anyone with the pointy end, or we’d have heard about it.

Appealing/Arresting/Appraising/Absorbing Artwork

A: Lyn, as the fashion/costuming expert, this is all yours.

L: Oh I am so here for this. So this is Thaylen fashion (if you can’t tell by those oh-so-fashionable eyebrows), which is rather fitting (get it? Fashion? Fitting? I’ll see myself out) since these chapters have to do with Thaylen City. I’m loving these gathered skirts under tunics and/or overskirts, with the bold contrasts and patterns. It’s very lovely. I wish we could see a full-color version of this illustration!

Buy it Now

A: They really are beautiful. It makes me wish I were a better seamstress, so I could make one of these. I swear if I could do that much, I’d find a way to make those eyebrows happen!

L: It would be doable with lace and wig wefts… but time-consuming. /cosplay mode off

Sheer Speculation

A: Loonie theory time! As you may have observed, I like to wax speculative from time to time. I’ll attempt to collect those speculations in this section, at least for a while. We’ll see how it goes. This may or may not prove useful.

Also, I don’t think I have any loonie theories this week. Just… introducing the title, as it were.

Quality Quotations

• Though the Stormfather had returned to his previous self-confident ways, Dalinar could not shake the memory of the mighty spren whimpering in fright.
• Transferring only the control buildings, instead of the entire platform, should save us Stormlight.

A: I just had to mention this, because it’s the next step in their Oathgate learning-curve: There’s more than one way to use the Oathgates. It doesn’t say how they figured this out, but it’s a nice thing to have discovered. Also, it’s a good thing the default is the whole platform and the next step is transferring just the control room. A whole lot more people would have died at Narak if it were the other way around. And… we wouldn’t have much of a story! Guess the author did it this way on purpose, eh?

• Once Elhokar and Adolin returned from the mission to rescue Kholinar, they’d need to get on with Elhokar’s highking arrangement.

A: Ping ping ping. Keep this on your radar…

• “I should have seen it earlier—I should have sent for [Renarin] the moment I saw those wounded. I’m a fool.”

L: He’s not wrong.

A: Agreed.

Next week, we’ll join Kaladin in chapters 60 and 61, as his team begins their mission to Kholinar.

Alice would like to wish you all the best in the new year. She also invites you to watch along on brandonsanderson.com, as a new progress bar for Stormlight Archive Book Four should be coming soon!

Lyndsey is just beginning to delve into the real work of convention organizing, as Anime Boston is looming on the distant horizon. If you’re an aspiring author, a cosplayer, or just like geeky content, follow her work on Facebook or her website.

After a long time away, we’re finally back with a Kaladin POV chapter! (It’s been so long. We missed you, you poor emo Windrunner, you.) He, Shallan, Adolin, and Elhokar are on their way to Kholinar to begin Mission: Open Oathgate (and Mission: Find Out What The Heck Is Going On In This City Anyway) and we’re along with them for the ride! So grab your glass face shields, pin up your skirts (if you’re wearing them) and prepare yourself for a ride on the highstorm for this week’s reread.

Originally, we’d planned on doing two chapters this week, but there was more we wanted to talk about than could comfortably fit, so we pared it down to one. If you read two chapters to prepare for this week, we apologize! Now you’re ahead of the game for next week, though…

Reminder: We’ll potentially be discussing spoilers for the ENTIRE NOVEL in each reread. No Cosmere spoilers this week, folks. But if you haven’t read ALL of Oathbringer, best to wait to join us until you’re done.

Chapter Recap

WHO: Kaladin
WHEN: 1174.1.10.1 (the second day after Shallan and Kaladin returned to Urithiru from Thaylen City)
WHERE: In the air on the way to Kholinar

Kaladin, Shallan, Adolin, Elhokar, Skar, Drehy, and three of Shallan’s followers are riding the storm towards Kholinar. When they arrive, Kaladin immediately notices that the city is still under Alethi rule, but there’s something dark and wrong with the palace—or more accurately, the oathgate platform beside it.

Truth, Love, and Defiance

Title: Winds and Oaths

AA: The title actually comes from a line that was removed after the beta; it was something Kaladin thought Syl would say if he asked her why his powers worked in a certain way. Pretty relevant to the chapter anyway, wouldn’t you say?

L: I guess? No one does too much talking about oaths in this particular chapter.

AA: True, that. Lots of wind, though!

Heralds

Jezrien

AA: Presumably for the Windrunner who pretty much does all the doing in this chapter!

Icon

Banner and Spears, indicating Kaladin’s POV

Epigraph

I worry about my fellow Truthwatchers.
—From drawer 8-21, second emerald

L: Well, this is ominous, especially given what we know (or don’t know) about Renarin and his corrupted spren. Was this corruption something that was happening even back before the Recreance?

AA: Welp. If only we knew, eh? If these records are, as I think, approaching the time of the Recreance within a decade or so, it’s certainly possible. I wonder if Sja-anat has to have some level of cooperation from the spren she changes.

Oh, I’d also like to point out that this is one of a handful of epigraphs that confirm some identity questions. We already have the gemstone/Herald connection as a general Vorin tradition in the Ars Arcanum chart, but several of the epigraphs specifically mention an Order—and every one of them uses the gemstone associated with that order. So, hey. Vorin tradition maintained some things accurately.

Buy it Now

AP: I read this differently. If it were approaching the time of the Recreance, on which I agree with Alice, then the Truthwatchers may have seen it coming. It sounds like there were factions among the Truthwatchers, and how they handled this foreknowledge likely fed into the Vorin superstitions about predicting the future. Something happened to make that very taboo.

Stories & Songs

A cloud hung over the palace, a darkness that—at first glance—seemed like nothing more than a trick of the light. Yet the feeling of wrongness persisted, and seemed strongest around a portion at the east of the palace complex. This flat, raised plaza was filled with small buildings. The palace monastery.

The Oathgate platform.

L: So it begins. I forget, Alice, which of the Unmade is chilling in the Oathgate again? It’s not the Heart of the Revel, that one’s in the city proper, right?

AA: It’s a little difficult to distinguish them at this point, I think. Ashertmarn, the Heart of the Revel, is certainly affecting the entire city, but it appeared to be centered on the Oathgate platform. We’re not really given much about Sja-anat’s specific location, but she’s been affecting the spren all over the city, and then she makes contact with Shallan up at the palace a couple of times. For now, though, I’ll go with that darkness being Ashertmarn’s presence more than Sja-anat.

L: Interesting though that this Unmade doesn’t appear to be All Bad, yet it’s still giving off the Dark Vibes. Can the Unmade change their natures, or are they forever doomed to be unnatural and dark?

AA: It’s my opinion, which fits but isn’t proven by the text, that Ashertmarn is too much a part of Odium to change—if it had enough “mind” left to change at all. Its nature is sheer gluttony—consumption for the sake of the consumption itself, not because the thing being consumed is needed or even wanted. Sja-anat, on the other hand…

L: Yeah, she’s the one I was thinking of. I just have trouble remembering their names; they’re all quite a mouthful!

AA: We’ll cover her more as we reach the end of Part Three, but it appears that she may have been, well, less completely Unmade than the others? At least, it seems that she may remember what she was before she was Unmade, and is trying to figure out how to get back to being that.

AP: I am really intrigued by Sja-anat, and the implications for the Radiants, namely Renarin. But I agree that Ashertmarn is definitely all bad. And isn’t our Unmade count in Kholinar actually 3? The one in the palace itself corrupting the Queen is yet another separate entity, Yelig-nar. That one is associated with darkness as well.

L: Oh jeez, I’d completely forgotten about Yelig-nar.

AA: True. He doesn’t seem to have as much effect until someone swallows a gemstone to give him a body, so I wasn’t thinking of him as a possible source for the darkness. Could be, though.

L: Maybe it’s just a side effect of all of them being in such close proximity rather than one creating the darkness more than the others. Which makes me wonder… what’s pulling them all here? Is it just that this is the seat of most power in the world right now, or did one show up here and the others gravitate towards it? Are they under orders from Odium, or making their own decisions?

AP: I figured they were there under orders, as a way to assist the Voidbringer takeover of the city.

Relationships & Romances

How does she smile like that? Kaladin wondered. During their trip through the chasms together, he’d learned her secrets. The wounds she hid. And yet … she could simply ignore them somehow. Kaladin had never been able to do that. Even when he wasn’t feeling particularly grim, he felt weighed down by his duties or the people he needed to care for.

Her heedless joy made him want to show her how to really fly. She didn’t have Lashings, but could still use her body to sculpt the wind and dance in the air…

He snapped himself back to the moment, banishing silly daydreams.

L: I have to admit, I really love this. I still think that Kaladin could do better—not that Shallan’s a bad person, just that I don’t feel like their personalities mesh very well in the long run. If they had wound up together, I think he would have been depending on her for a lot of his emotional well-being, which isn’t a good basis for a relationship. Two broken people together don’t always make a whole. BUT. This is really sweet, and I love that he wants to give her joy. I love that he looks at her and sees hope, and I’m hoping that this resolves into a beautiful and supportive friendship once all these leftover romantic feelings are overcome.

AA: This scene stirs up such mixed emotions for me. It really is beautiful, and if they weren’t each so messed up individually, you can certainly see how a romance could develop. But I agree—Shallan is just not the right person for Kaladin. Not only would he depend on her for his emotional well-being, but that’s exactly the kind of dependency that led to the creation of her multiple personalities in the first place. At twelve years old, she couldn’t let herself be the terrified, traumatized girl she really was; she had to be an innocent little sister who teased and entertained her brothers into some semblance of normalcy. Facing her truths caused some other issues, but at least it helped her start to break out of that persona. Getting in a romantic relationship with someone who depended on her in much the same way? Not good. Very not good.

L: Compare this to her relationship with Adolin. She seems to be able to be more honest with him, because he’s not relying on her for anything. Yeah, she does still have a tendency to fall into Radiant with him sometimes, but for the most part they complement one another much, much better.

AP: Count me as a third who is glad they did not end up together. I think that they make much better friends than romantic partners. Separate from that, I do love that absolute joy that Shallan shows here, the description is great. Even if skirts and wind aren’t a great combo. Those must be some industrial strength pins!

“Think?” Syl said. … “I know. Don’t think I don’t spot you stealing looks.” She smirked.

L: Syl… not helping. (She’s just trying to help in her own way, I know, but… more on this in the next section.)

AA: I have a vague recollection of wanting to smack her upside the head. “Not this again!!”

AP: Super agree, Syl is a terrible matchmaker.

AA: Just for fun, I looked back at the beta comments. There were a lot of “I hate love triangles!” comments from… some of us.

“My wife and child are inside,” Elhokar said. “They might be in danger.”

You didn’t seem to worry much about them during six years away at war, Kaladin thought.

L: Soooooo Kaladin’s got a bit of a point, but he’s also being a smidge unfair. Elhokar wasn’t worrying about them because he assumed that they were safe, in the seat of his power, protected by an entire country and whatever he’d left of his army. But now that they’ve lost contact and there are Dark Clouds hanging over the palace and rumors about civil unrest and invaders on the doorstep? Yeah. NOW he’s worried.

AP: It’s definitely unfair, but it reflects Kal’s ideas about soldiers in general.

L: Sort of? Kaladin didn’t spend too much time worrying about his own family while he was away at war, until he heard that they might be in danger. He was focused on keeping the people around him who were in direct danger alive. It’s a little hypocritical of him, but then… that’s realistic for his character, too. At least he usually realizes it when it’s pointed out to him and amends his world-view…

Bruised & Broken

Her hair streamed behind her, a stark auburn red. She flew with arms outstretched and eyes closed, grinning. Kaladin had to keep adjusting her speed to keep her in line with the others, as she couldn’t resist reaching out to feel the wind between her freehand fingers, and waving to windspren as they passed.

L: It makes me really happy to see Shallan so relaxed, especially given all the turmoil we know is going on in her head right now.

AP: I definitely love this description. She is able just be herself for a few hours instead of putting on a persona.

“Come on…” Syl said, zipping around to his other side. “You need to be with people to be happy, Kaladin. I know you do.”

“I have my bridge crew.”

L: I really like this, because honestly? No one should have to depend on romantic love to make them happy.

AP: Amen, sister, preach!

L: No one should have to depend on others for their own happiness at all. They need to learn how to make themselves happy first and foremost. Syl doesn’t seem to get this—and I wonder why. She obviously wants the best for Kaladin, and that’s really sweet. But she’s not human. She hasn’t had human life experiences or the wisdom that comes with them. I think that pushing him into a romantic relationship, at least right now, could actually do more harm than good. That being said, the second part of this is what really made me stop and think. “I have my bridge crew.” These are people who depend on him; his responsibility. Kaladin seems to be happiest when he’s making the people around him happy, and if you’re going to depend on others for your own happiness, I think that’s the healthiest way to do so. Bring joy to others, and let it instill joy in your own heart.

AP: I think this definitely shows that the spren are not infallible. Syl doesn’t understand the full range of human emotions and how love for friends can be just as meaningful as romantic love. Kal absolutely has a support system. He doesn’t need a partner just for the sake of being partnered.

AA: That’s another thing I love about this magic system and the way it breaks expectations. We sort of expect the spren to be perfect and all-knowing, because they’re all spirit-y, but they really are fallible creatures too. They’re limited by their perceptions just as much as any human.

“All this,” Adolin said, amused, “to justify your sense of humor, Shallan?”

“My sense of humor? No, I’m merely trying to justify the creation of Captain Kaladin.”

AA: It occurs to me that Shallan’s sometimes sophomoric humor has an interesting source. As we saw her in her flashbacks, this kind of humor was perfect for her to bring her teenage brothers together and to some semblance of sanity. In the context of their family life, it really worked to take their minds off the worst things and remind them that not everything in the world was quite so grim.

Now, when she’s with adults in a very different situation, sometimes it’s a bit… flat, and sophomoric in this context.

L: Humor is so difficult, because it’s all subjective, really. What one person finds hilarious, the next can find utterly stupid. Shallan’s jokes don’t often hit for me, but when they do, they hit hard. Understanding the psychological reasoning behind them gives them new weight—so even if I don’t think they’re funny, I can at least understand why she’s making them.

AP: Why things are funny is such a fascinating field of research. So much is based on shared experience and cultural touchstones. I’m a bit of a comedy nerd, and I love to listen to how comedians talk to each other. The topics they riff on are so transgressive as they try to see what works and what doesn’t. This is flat for me because she is punching down, making a joke at the expense of a soldier of a lower social class.

L: Oh wow. It had bothered me and I couldn’t put my finger on why, but you’ve absolutely hit the nail on the head here.

AP: Conversely, her takedowns and snide comments at ladies in her own class hit better, but give her a bad reputation. She’s not good at finding a balance. She wants to be clever and witty, but keeps falling short. I want to see if it improves as she starts to have more of a shared history with these people, like her attempt at a callback about boots.

L: It works better for me when she mixes her insults with quips about herself. I remember reading once that when you’re writing a roast speech, you should be making fun of yourself at least as much as the person you’re roasting. It indicates humility and that this is in good-natured fun. Sometimes, Shallan’s insults come across as just plain hurtful because she doesn’t do this.

AA: Hmm. While the external fact is that she’s “punching down” socially, I don’t think she’s likely to see it that way. From the first time they met, with Kaladin on horseback and Shallan shoved into pretending she’s a Horneater princess wearing slippers in the Frostlands, she’s felt at a disadvantage. She may be a Radiant, but so is he—and he’s so outwardly confident, while she’s so inwardly uncertain. It’s an interesting contrast in perceptions.

It’s so easy to forget that we know so much more about her internal state than the others do. Kaladin knows a little of it, and thinks he understands, but he doesn’t. Adolin hardly knows any of it yet. While I fully agree that her humor is more enjoyable to read when she mixes in the jabs at herself, I suspect that her self-perception (worthless, incapable, source of trouble) interferes with her ability to realize how she comes across (arrogant, spoiled, rude). So, yeah, her humor fails a lot, but when you look at where she’s coming from, you understand why it’s off.

(I’ve heard a lot of people say that Sanderson is just not very good at this sort of humor, but I think he hit it pretty accurately. Shallan’s humor is flat because of who she is internally, not because it’s badly written, if that makes sense.)

Squires & Sidekicks

AA: As noted above, the team consists of Elhokar, Adolin, Kaladin and Shallan, plus two of Kaladin’s squires (Skar and Drehy) and three of Shallan’s… maybe squires? Maybe just sidekicks? (We’ll talk about that in later chapters.)

L: I love Skar and Drehy.

AA: I think it’s super fun that these are the same two that were Adolin’s protectors during the battle of Narak, and now they’re here to protect him again. While Skar, at least, isn’t the most advanced of the squires (by far!), these two were always among the best of the fighters in Bridge Four. Makes sense to bring them.

L: Same. Kaladin probably noticed that they got along well with Adolin (although really, who doesn’t, aside from assholes like Sadeas) and chose them for this purpose.

AA: Then there’s the callback to a certain conversation Shallan had with Elhokar back in Chapter 51. Kaladin is, apparently, slightly confused and irritated about why Shallan is bringing two unsavory ex-soldiers and a handmaid, and seems slightly miffed that Elhokar had insisted without giving any reason.

L: It’s a fair reason to be miffed. He’s leading this mission and is responsible for the lives under his care, and now he has what he views as three people who can’t defend themselves. This is a military mission with quite a lot of danger involved, and so far as he knows, these three have no skills to lend to the mission. They’re liabilities. I’d be annoyed, too.

AA: I would too, and in a sense Shallan cheated to do it. She was looking for a way to get out of Urithiru—away from Jasnah, and away from the Ghostbloods, both of whom were getting a bit insistent in their demands on her—and the idea of going with the group to Kholinar would certainly do that. She went and offered her Lightweaving skills and her best spies to Elhokar at the end of Chapter 51, and he was convinced that it made sense.

L: And, proving once again that she is not a soldier and not always the best example of a champion of common sense, she neglects to tell the mission’s commanding officer about the special skills of the people she’s insisted come along.

AA: Heh. Well, she did talk to the king…

L: Let’s be honest here, we all know who’s really in charge of this mission. Shallan went over Kaladin’s head and it was a dick move.

AA: I’m not entirely sure it was intentionally so, though. She was thinking in different terms—as you say, she’s not a soldier!

L: Yeah, I do agree with you there. I think this is one of Shallan’s biggest issues—she’s so caught up in herself sometimes that she fails to empathize with the people around her. (Interesting, given that her split personalities have been forcing her to put herself into the heads of “other” people…)

AA: The question of “who is in charge” will come up next week even more, and it’s funny to think about. You’ve got the king, who is ostensibly the highest-ranking person there. (Plus he’s a Shardbearer.) You’ve got the highprince-in-training, who has been leading the Kholin armies for several years. (Plus he’s a Shardbearer.) You’ve got the Knight Radiant Windrunner, the only one who can fly them around and the one most experienced in leading small-sortie squads. (Plus he has a living Shardblade.) And then you’ve got the Lightweaver who doesn’t quite get command structures, or the concept of how a team really works…

L: But also has a living Shardblade. ::laughs:: Shardblades all around!

AA: I think she fails to comprehend both her own importance, and the responsibility for her safety that the others are shouldering by her very presence.

L: If there’s one thing that Kaladin is always thinking about, it’s personal and professional responsibility.

AA: Which brings us full circle… Kaladin is really annoyed at having people foisted on him by regal fiat! (And no, I don’t blame him at all for being annoyed!)

Places & Peoples

Kholinar’s defining feature, of course, was the windblades: curious rock formations that rose from the stone like the fins of some giant creature mostly hidden below the surface. The large curves of stone glittered with red, white, and orange strata, their hues deepened by the rain. He hadn’t realized that the city walls were partially constructed on the tops of the outer windblades.

L: These are really cool and there’s something more to them than meets the eye. The strata appears similar to that in Urithiru, so presumably Stormlight can power them somehow—but to do what? Do they spin around the city maybe in a defensive maneuver? Can they maybe… spread out and join together, forming a shell to protect it?

Buy it Now

AP: I had never considered that they might be able to move! That could be disastrous since parts of the city are built on them.

L: Yeah, that was my immediate thought…

AA: That would be fun—for a certain definition of the term. I suspect they’re quite solid and immovable, but I’m pretty sure they were constructed using some of the same techniques as Urithiru. If they are defensive, I’d almost expect them to be able to put up shields of “solidified air” between them. I’m imagining a combination of Windrunner and Stoneward powers, I think. Honestly, I expect them to turn out to just be rocks shaped by Surgebinding using cymatics to guide the process, but it’s fun to speculate on what else they could be. Especially with that strata comment.

Weighty Words

Partial Lashings worked by making part of the person’s weight forget the ground, though the rest continued to be pulled downward.

L: Just taking note of this because I always find the explanations of the Lashings to be interesting. Also I like that Sanderson doesn’t use the word gravity, as it seems that this law of nature hasn’t been discovered here on Roshar yet.

AP: I love the “how the magic works” tidbits.

Appealing/Arresting/Appraising/Absorbing Artwork

L: I always love seeing these city maps; they’re so different from the world ones. For the next few chapters I’ll be switching to using this map (rather than the world map) to document our heroes’ journey through the city, as much as I’m able to, anyway.

Also… is it just me, or is the city of Kholinar shaped like a glyph, a bit?

AA: I hadn’t thought about it, but now that you say it… Given the symmetrical nature of glyphs and the equally symmetrical nature of cymatics, it makes sense, though. I really hope we get to learn about the origin of the windblades, along with the other cities that have cymatic shapes to them.

Well, I think you can see why we decided to go with a single chapter this week after all. We will tackle Chapter 61 next week, and it promises to be just as full of juicy stuff to discuss!

AA: I’d like to throw in one more housekeeping moment here. Or perhaps a grandmotherly lecture. Or something. It has come to my attention that there are a number of people who are reluctant to comment because of perceived hostility from people who disagree with them (or who purportedly know “more” than them). While I won’t go as far as “If you can’t say something nice don’t say anything at all,” I would strongly remind you all that our opinions are our opinions, and we’re all discussing a work of fiction.

L: Alice might not be willing to, but I’ll go that far. If you can’t say something politely and respectfully, don’t say anything at all. There are plenty of ways to express a differing opinion on matters while still being respectful of the OP. We’re all fans, we all love this story and these characters. There’s no reason to flame anyone else.

AA: It is 100% sure that, given human nature, we will each have a different perspective. I’m asking you all, as nicely but firmly as I can, to do two things: One, express your opinion as graciously as you can without going into bizarre contortions to do so. Two, accept the comments of others as graciously as you would like them to accept yours, realizing that sometimes we don’t say things as clearly as we’d like.

All in all, be as kind as you can and give other people the benefit of the doubt. Okay? Okay.

L: Be the Knights Radiant I know you all can be. Make Kaladin proud of you.

Alice is getting soggier by the day. The Weeping is firmly upon the Pacific Northwest, and she looks forward to seeing the sun again in a few months.

Lyndsey is heading down to NYC this weekend to hit up the Garment District. What cosplay is she working on now?! Follow her work on Facebook to find out.

Aubree is back from the holidays and entirely too full of cheese.

Bookshelves are rife with stories about the end of the world: There are Biblical, astronomical, environmental apocalypses. Nuclear holocausts. Plagues and famine. Undead masses stirred to violent cannibalism. Aliens! Fascists! Robots!

But what about magic?

My debut novel, Mage Against the Machine, takes place a century after human civilization was mostly destroyed by a group of psychopath wizard industrialists, and as a lover of End Time adventure, I enjoy riding along with all the various sub-genre horsemen of the apocalypse. I’ve found stories about worlds destroyed by magic to be less common than other types of Armageddon, however, so here’s a list of some of the greats…

The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan

Buy it Now

I began reading WoT at exactly the right age, in exactly the right circumstances. I was a 12-year-old boy living in a forest. On my desk (a painted door set atop stacked crates full of books and old magazines) was an IBM PC with a VGA graphics card and a towering stack of Wheel of Time hardcovers, all well-worn to various degrees.

Whenever a Wheel of Time novel was released throughout my childhood and into my adulthood, I would reread the entire series, usually starting with Book 2 but occasionally skimming The Eye of the World for the billionth or so time as the details of Jordan’s world gradually became fuzzy.

Even now, after all these years, I still get a thrill at reading the opening line: “The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten…”

The Dragonlance Chronicles by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Buy it Now

The Dragonlance Chronicles are licensed fiction for an old D&D setting – and these books are dope. They take place after the gods abandoned the world, smashing it up with a cataclysm on their way out.

Book 3, Dragons of Spring Dawning, was the first novel to make me cry. I can still remember it, encountering this one particular death as kid and really feeling it in a way I never had with a character dying before.

I’ve yet to actually play the original D&D campaign, but I have a few of the old adventure modules. Reading the novels when I was young, then being able to study these manuals to learn how to retell the stories on my own—it was like opening the hood of a car and taking a peek at the engine!

The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin

Buy it Now

As the series title might suggest, the world of The Fifth Season, The Obelisk Gate, and The Stone Sky is one of constant and cyclical destruction, struck by ecological cataclysms every few hundred years. Each and every one of these novels won the Hugo Award for Best Novel.

Every. Single. ONE.

This has never happened before. It probably won’t happen again for a very long time.

Do yourself a favor and go buy the entire trilogy.

The Stormlight Archive series by Brandon Sanderson

Buy it Now

When it was announced that Brandon Sanderson would be taking on the responsibility of completing The Wheel of Time following the death of Robert Jordan, I was skeptical…but in the end, he pretty much nailed it. I was impressed, and dove into Sanderson’s other work, curious to see what kind of stories he might tell when not under the terrifying constraints of completing another author’s globally popular magnum opus.

The Way of Kings, the first novel in The Stormlight Archive, introduces us to a world that’s like a perpetually storm-blasted tidal reef. The apocalypse is cyclical here in the setting Sanderson has created. The opening scene shows the final moments of this world’s previous Armageddon, in which a Faustian bargain made by ancient heroes to come back and fight for the world every time the end is neigh is broken. The price—spending the centuries between apocalypses undergoing endless torture in a place that sounds very much like hell—is no longer something the heroes can endure.

And so the next End Time begins, but the reader is shown right at the start that there won’t be any ancient, magical God-Kings to set things right this time around…

The Wraeththu series by Storm Constantine

Buy it Now

Every generation thinks it can glimpse the end of the world. But just like the Death card in the Tarot deck means “change,” not simply “destruction,” great upheavals in civilization usually aren’t the end of it all—just a bloody transition.

The Wraeththu, a new species who evolve and arise as humanity begins to fade, are neither biologically male nor female but hermaphroditic; their sexual intercourse is described in a way that sounds like abstract flower poetry, and relates to their magical abilities. This series is fascinating, beautiful, and wholly unique. It’s a powerful examination of love, sexuality, and death, and it’s filled with complicated, flawed characters caught up in the various conflicts of humanity’s final days, as the Wraeththu slowly claim what’s left of the shattered world for their own.

Shaun Barger is a Los Angeles-based novelist who detests cold weather, idiot plotting, and fascism. He splits his days between writing, resisting the siren’s call of Hollywood’s eternally mild summer climes, and appeasing a tyrannical three-pound Chihuahua with peanut butter and apple slices. Mage Against the Machine is his first novel.You can find him on Twitter and Instagram @ShaunBarger

Greetings, fair rereaders, and welcome back to Kholinar! It’s sneaky-time for our intrepid crew, as they take on some unexpected disguises and attempt to make their way into the city without being recognized by the locals or attacked by the Voidbringers. Wish them luck, because it’s weird in this man’s town.

Reminder: We’ll potentially be discussing spoilers for the entire novel in each reread. There are very minor spoilers for Warbreaker under Cosmere Connections. Very minor. But if you haven’t read ALL of Oathbringer, best to wait to join us until you’re done.

Chapter Recap

WHO: Kaladin
WHERE: Kholinar environs, city. (Lyn: This route on the map is my best guess. I’m assuming they came in the southern gate since they’d have been approaching the city from the south to begin with, and they pass the market… Then, in a later chapter, it takes Veil several hours to get from the tailor’s to the palace, so the tailor’s can’t be too close.)
WHEN: 1174.1.10.2 (the day after Chapter 60)

Kaladin and company are outside of the city, preparing to begin their infiltration. Shallan crafts disguises for some of them from Lightweaving, and they make their way to the front gate, where they are denied entry by orders of someone Elhokar doesn’t recognize named “Highmarshal Azure.” A brief sortie by the Voidbringers allows them their chance to enter the city along with the rest of the refugees trapped outside, and they make their way deeper into the city, heading to a safe haven that they can use as a base of operations—namely, Adolin’s tailor.

Truth, Love, and Defiance

Title: Nightmare Made Manifest

“Haunting. A nightmare made manifest.”

AA: This was Adolin’s description of the experience with the Midnight Mother beneath the tower. Kaladin jokes about it also describing the illusion Shallan placed on him, which Adolin turns into another joke, which is pretty fun all taken together… but at the same time, it’s pretty clear that it applies to what they expect to find in Kholinar as well, based on that shadow around the palace.

Heralds

Shalash

AA: This chapter, though it’s from Kaladin’s perspective, is all about the Lightweaver making illusions, either to hide them from view or to disguise the recognizable members of the team. Hence, Shalash.

I wonder, though… Elhokar is also the focus of a lot of Kaladin’s thoughts and interaction in this chapter, and though we didn’t know it yet (for sure), he’s already beginning to bond a spren. A Cryptic. So perhaps Shalash is here for Elhokar, too. ::sniffle::

Icon

Banner and Spears, indicating Kaladin’s POV

Epigraph

We can record any secret we wish, and leave it here? How do we know that they’ll be discovered? Well, I don’t care. Record that then.

—From drawer 2-3, smokestone

L: Whoever this unknown Radiant was, I like their style.

Buy it Now

AA: This is from a Skybreaker who sounds either rebellious or just salty. Given that the Skybreakers are the only Order that didn’t participate in the Recreance, is he saying he doesn’t care about the things they’re learning that might be leading that direction? Or that he doesn’t care about leaving Urithiru? Or that he doesn’t care whether it’s discovered? We don’t get any more recordings from this particular drawer, though there will be other Skybreaker records.

Thematic Thoughts

“Basic military theory,” Adolin said. “Shardbearers do a great job killing people—but what are they going to do against the population of an entire city? Murder everyone who disobeys? They’d get overwhelmed, Shards or not. Those flying Voidbringers will need to bring in the entire army to take the city.”

L: It’s nice to see this echoed again (and explained in more detail), after Dalinar brought it up last chapter. The theme that single men wielding great power aren’t enough by themselves is one that’s brought up time and again in this book. This is why it’s so important that Dalinar fulfill his objective to unify the disparate cultures and societies against Odium. The Alethi cannot defend the world alone, no matter how powerful they are. They’re the Shardblades, but they need the rest of the world to back them up.

AA: Good point, Lyn! It will sure be interesting to see how this plays out in the next two books. I expect it will help that the Thrill is currently… bottled up, so to speak.

Stories & Songs

There wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

But somehow, the palace was still in shadow.

“What could it be?” Adolin said, lowering his spyglass.

“One of them,” Shallan whispered. “The Unmade.”

Kaladin looked back at her. She’d sketched the palace, but it was twisted, with odd angles and distorted walls.

AA: Two things jumped out at me here. One, the shadow is visible to anyone, apparently. For some reason I’d half expected it to only be visible to the Radiants, but Adolin can certainly see it. Two, Shallan’s sketch of the palace sounds terrifyingly reminiscent of the drawings she’d done of Urithiru while Re-Shephir was in residence.

AP: It’s also worth noting that once again Shallan sees the effects of the Unmade in a way the others can’t. Is this an effect of being a Lightweaver?

AA: True. Others see the shadow, but only Shallan sees the distortion effect. I don’t recall Elhokar making any comments on it, though now I’ll have to watch for it. I’d thought it might be possible that the Lightweaver could see the effects of the Midnight Mother partly because of the connection to Illusion-crafting, but that’s clearly not the case. If Elhokar comments later, we’ll know it’s a Lightweaver thing; otherwise, it’s still a debate between Lightweavers in general and Shallan in particular. There’s a WoB that Shallan’s family was influenced by an Unmade; I wonder if that created a sensitivity or something.

Those strata, he thought, remind me of the tunnels in Urithiru. Could there be some connection?

L: There had better be, with all these little hints scattered about.

AA: I know, right? It was discussed in the comments last week, but all we know is that “they aren’t powered by Urithiru.” Which… did anyone really expect that, at this point? I don’t know. But at the very least, I’m confident that some of the same methods were used for building both, and I certainly hope there’s more than that.

AP: I don’t think they are powered by Urithiru, but in the same way as Urithiru. Same mechanism, but not directly connected to the city.

AA: That’s what I’m hoping! I really want to find out that there’s more to the windblades than just the means by which they were formed.

Relationships & Romances

He’d used that fictional man, relied upon him, to equip his team and to get soldiers transferred to his squad. Without it, he’d never have met Tarah.

AA: There’s Tarah again… I do hope he finds her someday and she’s still unattached. Not too likely, but you never know. It could happen.

L: I need to find out more about her before I determine whether she’s worthy of our favorite Bridgeman…

AP: Count me in on those who are interested in the mysterious Tarah!

Bruised & Broken

“I wasn’t speaking of you, Captain,” the king said quietly. “I was referring to my own limitations. When I fail this city, I want to make sure you are there to protect it.”

AA: Elhokar just grabbed my heart, right there. “When I fail this city…” He’s determined to protect the city, even though he doesn’t honestly believe he’s capable of it. Up until this point, I didn’t think much of him. Even the “flying off to save the city” seemed almost childish, and kind of made me want to tell him to stay home and let the soldiers take care of it. But now… is he changing, or am I?

L: This is really serious and moving but I have to make this joke first.

::ahem:: Now that that’s out of the way. Later in this article I’ll call out the first moment when I started turning around on Elhokar. This is the second. He’s trying to be a better person, but he recognizes his own failings and is setting up contingency plans to protect the people he loves in case he screws up. This is such a likable thing, and a clear step towards redemption for the apathetic, pathetic f***-up he’s been up until this point.

AP: This is a sign that he’s trying to do better, but sometimes it’s too little too late. I like the self awareness here, but he’s spent his entire life being weak and ineffectual.

“A king must do whatever he can for the good of his people, and my judgment has proven… deficient. Anything I have ‘accomplished’ in life has been handed to me by my father or my uncle. You are here, Captain, to succeed when I fail. Remember that. Open the Oathgate, see that my wife and child are ushered through it to safety, and return with an army to reinforce this city.”

AA: From a purely pragmatic angle, it might have been better for him to stay in Urithiru and let Kaladin and Adolin take care of this mission. But he’s right, you know? All he has is a position inherited from his father and protected by his uncle. Reasonable or not, as a man he needs to do this job himself. At the same time, he believes it’s too important to be risked on his limited ability, so he’s making sure that it gets done with or without him. I think it was this moment, right here, that set me up to be absolutely devastated by the outcome of the expedition. ::sniff::

L: Anyone who’s willing to sacrifice themselves to protect those they love gets points in my book, and to be honest the fact that he’s so self-deprecating adds to it. Who hasn’t felt that they’re not good enough… especially when all the people around you are insanely talented?

AP: Again, I’m glad to see that he’s finally getting some honest self-assessment. This also is a good hint toward him bonding a cryptic, the Lightweavers level up with Truths. And admitting to being a bad king with poor judgement is a pretty big truth.

AA: There’s a WoB saying that would have been his first Truth (second Ideal)—“…to admit the thing that he knows, which is that he’s a bad king.”

Those rumors had become a challenge, creating for everyone the notion of a man who was like Kaladin, but at the same time greater than he could ever be. He’d used that fictional man, relied upon him, to equip his team and to get soldiers transferred to his squad… It was useful to have a reputation, so long as it didn’t crush you.

L: This is some pretty deep stuff here. I think anyone who’s ever been in a position of leadership has experienced this to one extent or another.

Squires & Sidekicks

Storms, the command structure in this expedition was going to be a nightmare.

L: This must be so frustrating for a seasoned soldier like Kaladin.

AP: This also feeds back into how weak of a king Elhokar is. He should be the leader of the expedition, and should have a command structure in place.

AA: We talked about this last week, so I’ll quote that with a little editing: The king, the highest-ranking person here. (Plus he’s a Shardbearer.) The highprince-in-training, leader of the Kholin armies. (Plus he’s a Shardbearer.) The Windrunner, the only one who can fly them around, and experienced in small-sortie squads. (Plus he has a living Shardblade.) The Lightweaver, who doesn’t grok command structures or team missions. (And also has a living Shardblade.) Add to that a couple of Windrunner squires, who will naturally want to follow Kaladin but are also habitually Adolin’s bodyguards, but also are (as Bridge Four) bodyguards to the royal house and the king. Then add in a couple of deserters-become-servants-and-armsmen who are loyal only to Shallan, and mostly just because she pays them. Last but not least, a trained but low-level spy who works for Shallan mostly because she wants into the Ghostbloods.

What a crew. Yeah, someone really needed to lay out a command structure and make everyone agree to follow it before they ever got on the Oathgate platform in Urithiru.

Shallan’s soldiers pulled tight around her, hands carefully on their pockets. They seemed familiar with the underbelly of city life. Fortunately, she’d accepted Kaladin’s pointed suggestion and hadn’t brought Gaz.

AA: Heh. “Kaladin’s pointed suggestion”—like, with a knife?

Places & Peoples

It was a man in all white, with strips of cloth that streamed and fluttered as he moved. Head down, he stood on a street corner, leaping back and forth from one position to another.

[…]

Soon, a strange procession came marching down the center of the street. These men and women were also dressed like performers–their clothes augmented with brightly colored strips of red, blue, or green fabric. They walked past, calling out nonsense phrases.

[…]

“Spren,” Shallan whispered. “They’re imitating spren.”

AP: This whole part was so ominous! We learn more about it later, but the crowd’s initial reaction to this group was eerie.

AA: And it just gets more ominous. This whole thing is seriously creepy.

Tight Butts and Coconuts

“Your Majesty, you’re going to be a woman.”

“Fine,” Elhokar said.

Kaladin started. He’d have expected an objection. Judging by the way that Shallan seemed to stifle a quip, she’d been expecting one too.

“You see,” she said instead, “I don’t think you can keep from carrying yourself like a king, so I figure that if you look like a highborn lighteyed woman, it’s less likely that you’ll be memorable to the guards who—”

“I said it was fine, Lightweaver,” Elhokar said. “We mustn’t waste time. My city and nation are in peril.”

AA: This was totally unintentional humor, at least on the characters’ parts, but I wanted to tie it to last week’s conversation about Shallan’s humor and the ways it so often fails to be funny. It seems to me that she’s got her little spiel all thought out, and she can’t resist saying it. All of it. Even though no one needs or wants to hear it. In this case it wasn’t supposed to be a joke, but nonetheless, she had to explain. Last week, it was supposed to be funny, but she got too elaborate, and then the punchline was just kind of rude instead of funny.

Buy it Now

It seems like she feels a need to explain, and it comes across as needing to show how clever she is, whether that’s what she intended or not. Sometimes I think she is showing off her cleverness, and sometimes… well, I guess sometimes I think she just explains out of habit. (Face it, her brothers weren’t entirely the brightest spheres in the basket. She probably got used to explaining everything from humor to scheming!) Anyway, that visual of “See how smart I am!” is one of the reasons I’ve heard from readers who dislike her.

L: On another note, I just wanted to point out that I love that Elhokar doesn’t even question this. This was the moment when I started changing my mind about him, from a sort of disgruntled annoyance to genuine liking. If this were… almost any other book, we’d expect him to sputter and go “B-b-but I can’t dress like a WOMAN!” And it would all be played off as a big joke, har har har, isn’t it hilarious to expect a MAN to wear WOMEN’s clothes! (Sorry, I have a lot of non-binary friends and this absolutely drives me mad.) The fact that Elhokar doesn’t subscribe to the (frankly) toxic masculinity inherent in this tropey situation makes me like him a great deal.

AA: I thoroughly enjoyed the way Sanderson set us up to fully expect Elhokar to splutter about it—and then yanked the rug out from under us—and Shallan. I mean, even Kaladin expected a protest, and Elhokar was just, “I brought you along to be the expert on disguises, so do your job.” I agree that this was a big step for his character development: We see him expressly relying on his team members for their particular expertise, which we really haven’t seen before. Along with the situational humor, Shallan’s penchant for over-explaining gives Kaladin the opportunity to let us know just how well the illusion works with Elhokar’s normal bearing. So there’s that, because it was pretty funny too.

AP: Totally agree that she needs to show how smart she is. But she’s with other smart people now, and they don’t need the long explanation. Elhokar has enough insight to delegate. It’s one of the things he is truly good at.

“Haunting. A nightmare made manifest.”

“Kind of like my face?” Kaladin asked.

Adolin glanced at him, then grinned. “Fortunately, Shallan covered it up for you with that illusion.”

Kaladin found himself smiling. The way Adolin said things like that made it clear he was joking—and not only at your expense. Adolin made you want to laugh with him.

AA: This, on the other hand, is genuinely—and intentionally—funny. Anyone else want to chime in on how Adolin makes you want to laugh with him, while Shallan just makes you roll your eyes? Both of them are poking fun at someone “below their station” but it’s got a very different effect.

L: I honestly think it’s got the most to do with tone. Adolin smiles at the person in question as he pokes fun, to make it clear that he’s joking, and—this may just be me—when I “hear” lines like this in my head, the tone is warmer, kinder, with maybe a little sardonic edge to it. Shallan always comes across as quick and snappish, sarcastic. It’s entirely possible to say the same exact thing but have it come across in two completely different ways, based on nothing more than body language and tone. It seems like Adolin is bringing himself down to the same level rather than punching down, if that makes sense.

AP: It’s absolutely the tone. Sanderson gives a good description here. Adolin is smiling, he knows his audience, and Kaladin responds because he has enough of a rapport with Adolin that it feels like two friends riffing with each other. The way a joke is delivered matters as much as the actual words.

AA: As someone who uses a lot of sarcasm, that’s kind of a bummer. Part of the point of certain kinds of humor is to not make it obvious that you’re joking. Then again, the best part of humor is knowing when and how to use it, and Shallan’s training as a comedienne isn’t exactly stellar. Also, Shallan made her joke to Adolin about Kaladin (in Kaladin’s hearing), while Adolin made his, with the exact same meaning, to/with Kaladin, and no one else. (Frankly, the girl’s social skills are pretty horrible when you think about it. She’s got the training in etiquette, but not in people.)

“I’ve got just the place. Run by people I trust, and close enough to the palace to do some scouting, but far enough not to get caught in… whatever is going on there. Hopefully.”

L: I just have to take a moment to point out that he’s talking about his tailor and this tickles my funny-bone so hard.

AP: As a fellow cosplayer, let me assure you, your tailor knows all. There are no secrets from the person who is paid to make you look good! Fittings get very…um…intimate at times!

“Almighty above,” Kaladin said, poking at the scars and bulges on his face, some with open sores. Fake teeth jutted from his mouth, and one eye was higher in his head than the other. His hair grew out in patches, and his nose was tiny. “What did you do to me, woman?”

L: Made him into Quasimodo, clearly. Or maybe Sloth from the Goonies…

AA: For someone who’s supposed to be disguising the team so they don’t stand out, this seems like a fail.

“I’ve recently learned,” Shallan said, “that a good disguise can be memorable, so long as it makes you memorable for the wrong reason. You, Captain, have a way of sticking in people’s heads, and I worried you would do so no matter what face you wore. So I enveloped it with something even more memorable.”

AA: Hmmm. Well, maybe…

“We’d need to stay with someone I’d trust with my life, or more.” He looked at Kaladin, then gestured towards the woman. “So I brought us to my tailor.”

L: Storms bless you, Adolin. Never change.

AA: Indeed. This is very fitting. :P

Weighty Words

They’d decided to spend the night outside the city, hidden by one of Shallan’s illusions. Impressively, her Lightweaving had lasted all night on very little Stormlight.

AA: This is another of those little “oh, yeah!” moments, as it clearly refers to the experiment Shallan was doing back in Chapter 51. Back then, she’d placed an Illusion on a small pouch, tied the Illusion to a sphere, and then let it run on that sphere’s Stormlight, which proved to be much more efficient than holding the Illusion herself. She even left it in her room running on its own… because she’s trying to find a way to get out of Dalinar’s meetings where her presence is required to maintain the map illusions. Apparently she’s been working on that technique, and was able to create a much larger Illusion here. By tying it to a charged sphere and letting it run on its own, she didn’t even have to stay awake to maintain it. Slick!

L: Very much so. Sanderson is also reinforcing something that’s going to become much more prevalent later—Shallan’s powers use up barely any Stormlight at all. Now, whether this is an inherent Lightweaver thing, or because she’s just been subconsciously utilizing it for so long that she’s gotten very efficient at it, is yet to be seen…

AP: I’m glad you mentioned the prior experiment, because for the life of me I couldn’t figure out how she kept it going while asleep!

Shallan stepped over and breathed out, and Stormlight wreathed him. He felt he should be able to take it in, use it—but it resisted him. It was a strange sensation, as if he’d found a glowing coal that gave off no heat.

L: This is really interesting. It means that Kaladin (or any other Radiant) wouldn’t be able to recycle the Light left behind in a Lightweaver’s illusions—or any other Radiant power (though the others would be less likely to “stick around,” as it were).

AP: Agreed, and I want more information here. Is it only illusions? Or does other stormlight end up “claimed” by whatever use it is put to. How much can one Radiant interfere with another’s powers?

Steady, he told himself. The point is to get in without being seen. You would ruin that by flying to the defense of the city?

But he was supposed to protect.

L: And so the questioning begins. Kaladin’s journey towards his next ideal in this book is so difficult. He has so many conflicting responsibilities that it’s hard to make out what the right choice in any given situation is.

AP: Absolutely. Knowing when not to fight is just as important. As Kenny Rogers said, you’ve got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em, know when to walk away, and know when to run.

AA: Ironic, isn’t it, though? The only reason they got into the city was that a group of Voidbringers attacked the wall, pulling the guards away to defense and leaving the gates open for the crowd of refugees to pour in. Uh… thanks??

Cosmere Connections

“Who is your superior?” Elhokar cut in.

“I serve Highmarshal Azure, of the Wall Guard.”

L: Go on, Alice, I know you want this one.

AA: Heh. I love it… but the reveal comes so much later. At this point, all we know is a name—but it’s a name that doesn’t “belong” on Roshar. This should be getting everyone’s attention as a start. In retrospect, of course—or for anyone who saw the WoB telling people to look for Vivenna in Oathbringer—“Azure” has all the subtlety of a two-by-four to the head. Without either of those factors, though, this Highmarshal whose name and colors no one recognizes creates a lot of suspicion. In the beta (my only reference for first-read reactions), speculation about Azure in this chapter was either an Unmade or an opportunist usurping authority. Either way, it was a worrying development.

A Scrupulous Study of Spren

“Syl,” he growled, “could I summon you not as a sword, but as a flat, shiny piece of metal?”

“A mirror?” she asked, flying along beside him. “Hmmm…”

“Not sure if it’s possible?”

“Not sure if it’s dignified.”

“Dignified? Since when have you cared about dignity?”

“I’m not to be toyed with. I’m a majestic weapon to be used only in majestic ways.”

L: Compare to Wyndle, who became… a fork.

A burst of exhaustionspren appeared over her, like jets of dust rising in the air. Only these were bright red instead of the normal brown, and seemed distorted.

“Oh, this is wrong, wrong, wrong,” Syl said from Kaladin’s shoulder. “Oh… oh, that spren is from him, Kaladin.”

L: Is it just a regular exhaustionspren that’s been distorted, or is it a different variety altogether just masquerading as an exhaustionspren?

AP: I think this is the first indication that we get of our bonus Unmade in the city, Sja-anat. She corrupts spren.

AA: I’m with Aubree on this one. This is a Clue.

Appealing Artwork

Shallan wrapped Adolin in Light. He resolved into a sturdy, handsome man in his sixties, with dark brown skin, white hair, and a lean figure. […]  He looked like the kind of old rogue you’d find in a pub, with handy tales about the brilliant things he’d done in his youth. The kind of man that made women think they preferred older men, when in reality they just preferred him.

AA: I just had to. Shallan’s artwork…

Quality Quotations

Elhokar didn’t show what he thought of Kaladin’s face; the king kept his eyes forward. He never did think much about other people, so that was normal.

“They call it the Windrunner, you know,” the king said softly.

AA: This comes just before the conversation in Bruised & Broken, and it made me want to smack Kaladin. He just assumes he knows what’s going on in people’s heads so much. And he’s wrong here; no matter what his face shows, Elhokar was obviously thinking about Kaladin.

“Be extraordinary, Captain. Nothing else will suffice.”

***

“He liked to think he knew a great deal about warfare, but the truth was, he didn’t have the training of a man like Adolin. He’d participated in wars, but he’d never run any.”

Whew. This is getting intense! Next week, we’re just doing one chapter again, because despite very little action, there’s a cartload of information. So Chapter 62, where Our Heroes will be trying to figure out what in Damnation is going on with this city.

Alice is really enjoying this whole expedition. Such excitements!

Lyndsey is rooting for Kaladin and Adolin (you can take that however you wish). If you’re an aspiring author, a cosplayer, or just like geeky content, follow her work on Facebook or her website.

Aubree knows better than to count her money when she’s sittin’ at the table. There’ll be time enough for countin’ when the dealin’s done.

Greetings and hallucinations salutations, O Fair and Friendly Rereaders! (No greetings if you’re unfair or unfriendly? Hmmm… maybe I’d better rethink that greeting.) Welcome back to the Oathbringer Reread, where we’re about to watch Shallan get creative in her efforts to document what they’re seeing in Kholinar. Also, lots of information about what’s going on in the city. Information! Lots of information! Not, unfortunately, all the information, though; some, we’re still guessing.

Reminder: we’ll potentially be discussing spoilers for the entire novel in each reread. This week, the post only includes a nod to the upcoming Worldhopper Revelation without really talking about it. But if you haven’t read ALL of Oathbringer, best to wait to join us until you’re done.

Chapter Recap

WHO: Shallan
WHERE: Kholinar, in the home of Adolin’s tailors (L: No map this week, as they don’t travel anywhere…) (AA: Yeah, we don’t really need the map to show us Shallan wandering back and forth between two rooms while everyone else sits in chairs.)
WHEN: 1174.1.10.2 (same day as Chapter 61)

Chapter Sixty-Two begins with a lengthy discussion of the state of the city and what’s been happening in Kholinar. Before the Everstorm, the city was full of riots. Queen Aesudan issued a proclamation to execute all of the parshmen in the city. She also ordered the execution of an ardent who was questioning her. After the Everstorm hit, the palace was coated in gloom and things began getting progressively worse. Brightlords who went to the palace to speak to the queen never returned. Neither did the soldiers who were stationed there. A group known as the Cult of Moments are dressing up as spren and parading through the city, insisting that a new time is coming, one in which the spren will rule the world. If people attempt to use fabrials, Voidspren sweep out of the sky, bringing with them Fused who confiscate the fabrials and sometimes kill the users. On top of all this, some of the spren of the city are appearing as strange corruptions rather than their usual forms.

Having learned all of this, Elhokar decides to send Shallan in a disguise to the palace with a sealed letter for Aesudan, with Kaladin along to keep an eye on her. She reveals her alter-ego of Veil to her followers, then heads out into the city.

Truth, Love, and Defiance

Title: Research

AA: This is another of those few titles that isn’t a direct quote from the chapter. Shallan thinks about the research Jasnah and Navani are doing on the Unmade, but that’s not really in focus here. The team is questioning the tailor to figure out what’s going on in the city because they need information; it’s kept from being an infodump partly by Shallan’s… creative… research methods regarding the corrupted spren in the city.

Heralds

Vedel and Shalash.

AA: Shalash is pretty obvious, as the Lightweaver Herald. However, with her associated divine attributes of Creative and Honest, the corrupted spren could be considered an opposite. Also, blood, which Shallan… well, we’ll get to that.

Vedel is the Healer, patron of Edgedancers, with the attributes Loving and Healing. Shallan injuring and then healing herself could be part of the reason.

Icon

The Pattern icon tells us that this will be Shallan’s point of view.

Epigraph

I wish to submit my formal protest at the idea of abandoning the tower. This is an extreme step, taken brashly.

—From drawer 2-22, smokestone

AA: Apparently this Skybreaker, unlike the previous, does care. About something, anyway! As one who can fly, Urithiru is a perfect base. I wonder if they were starting to have trouble with the Oathgates? That might have made other Orders want to leave the tower, if their normal means of travel was unreliable, but wouldn’t really bother the Windrunners, Skybreakers, and (likely) Elsecallers. Sheer speculation, obviously, but it’s another thing to watch for.

L: Yeah, this is an interesting one. Since it’s a Skybreaker (the only Order to remain intact after the Recreance), I would imagine that this takes place just after the Recreance has occurred. Like Alice, this is sheer speculation on my part, but I wonder if the rest of the Orders have abandoned Urithiru at this point and it’s just the Skybreakers left there. Or… perhaps something more sinister is going on? (Who knows how long the Midnight Mother was in residence, for instance…)

Stories & Songs

“When that new storm came, the one with the red lightning, it left a gloom over the palace.”

L: Interesting that the Unmade appears to have traveled with the Everstorm…

Buy it Now

AA: Except that as we’ll discuss very shortly, that doesn’t make sense with what we already know. Hmm.

“In the middle of the rioting, a proclamation came from the queen. Oh, Your Majesty. She wanted to execute the city’s parshmen! Well, we all thought she must be—I’m sorry—but we thought she must be mad. Poor things. What have they ever done? That’s what we thought. We didn’t know.

“Well, the queen posted criers all over the city, proclaiming the parshmen to be Voidbringers… She didn’t even seem to notice that half of the city was rioting!”

L: This is really odd. We know that Dalinar & co. sent her a warning about this, but if she’s being controlled by an Unmade by this time (presumably a different one from the one who showed up along with the Everstorm), then why was it undermining Odium’s efforts like this?

AA: The timeline has been driving me crazy! We know that the Interlude with Lhan and Pai happened during the Weeping, and it’s pretty clear that Ashertmarn was already in residence—the Heart of the Revel. My best guess is that Aesudan’s actions (and those of her court and ardentia) weren’t really controlled by it, but instead were heavily influenced by it. When she got the message from Dalinar, she issued the proclamation; I’d suggest that in keeping with the “all things in excess” nature of Ashertmarn, she ordered them to be executed, not just exiled as Dalinar and Elhokar had said. It’s the same sort of overreaction as executing Pai, maybe.

Anyway, a few days afterward, the Everstorm came across, transforming the parshmen outside the city with Voidspren and bringing with it… what? Fused? Sja-anat? Yelig-Nar? (I’m not sure Yelig-nar has an area effect; he seems more like a personal take-over-your-body guy.) It seems like maybe the Everstorm “fueled” Ashertmarn to greater influence, and we see plenty of evidence of Sja-anat’s presence in the corrupted spren. If the Fused actually came with the storm, it would have been very shortly afterward that they snagged themselves some Parsh bodies and shut down the spanreeds and other fabrials.

AP: I’m with you on the timeline issues, Alice. We don’t know exactly when Aesudan bonded with Yelig-Nar. She may not have been under its influence when she issued the order to execute the Parshmen. It would fit with the excess of Ashertmarn. On that note, Pai’s extreme decision to publicly denounce the Queen fits that pattern as well. As a reminder, Pai was the ardent who first appeared in Words of Radiance in Interlude 1-12. She was part of the Devotary of Denial, and was ordered to join Aesudan’s retinue. She had a discussion with another ardent about the excesses of the nobles in Kholinar, and in particular, she was shown a pile of rotting food that should have been given to the poor. After, she is given time to think about her place and potential to do good, but would also be tacitly endorsing the Queen’s behavior. She instead decides to do a truly epic call out, and is executed as a result. It’s possible that both Pai and Aesudan were under the influences of the Unmade when they made their decisions. I also like the idea that the Everstorm heightened the power of the Unmade already in residence, rather than bringing them to the city in the first place. I think Alice is on the right track there.

AA: Yay! Good to know my wispy theory has merit. ;) We’re guessing, but it makes so much sense that an almost mindless Unmade like Ashertmarn would be strengthened significantly by the arrival of the Everstorm, all chock full of Odium’s investiture, just waiting to be sucked in and deployed.

If the tailor was correct about the dark spren arriving during the Everstorm, then Aesudan had executed the ardent on her own—as that had happened before. Likewise, the order to exile the parshmen would also have come before the Everstorm.

L: Shallan’s not even entertaining the possibility that there may be more than one Unmade in the city.

AA: It’s shortsighted, but understandable. To be fair, one Unmade is quite enough to be getting on with, let alone even thinking about two!

AP: Let alone the three we know are there!

Relationships & Romances

“Take a deep breath, Yokska,” Adolin said gently. Even his voice was adorable.

AA: ::gigglesnort::

She ended up sprawled on the floor, skirts up about her waist—and she wasn’t even wearing the leggings today. Her safehand bulged out from between the sleeve buttons, poking into the open right in front of not just the king, but Kaladin and Adolin.

AA: This may or may not have any significance at all, but why does she specifically think about Kaladin? The king is The King, and Adolin is her betrothed, but why should she care about Kaladin that much? Is this another hint at the Veil/Shallan/Kaladin/Adolin triangle-with-four-sides (or is it a square-with-three-sides?) problem?

Bruised & Broken

“Do not fear reprisal. I must know what the city’s people think.”

L: Here’s a mark of a good leader. I really believe that he’s actively trying to live up to the good examples he’s seen around him (::cough Kaladin cough::) and turn over a new leaf in regards to his leadership.

“Mmmm,” Pattern said. “Destruction. This… this is not normal for you, Shallan. Too far.” … “He buzzed, worried, but he needn’t have been, as Shallan had what she wanted.

L: I really appreciate Pattern being so concerned for her well-being after seeing what appeared on the outside to be an act of self-harm. Storms know that he has good reason to be worried about her mental state…

AP: Definitely true. But also she took a tailor’s fabric scissors to stab herself! AND she didn’t even clean them off afterward! ::shudder::

L: If someone used my fabric scissors to stab someone, they’d be getting stabbed themselves next!

AA: Maybe Brandon just forgot to tell us she cleaned them? Because poor Yokska, if the next thing she finds when these surprise visitors finish interrogating her is blood all over her fabric shears. “Adolin, I trust you and you’re a delight to dress, but some of these people you brought are seriously bizarre.”

Also, I looked back at the beta comments, and Pattern wasn’t the only one worrying that Shallan was going to start down the self-harm path. There were some very worried readers.

That, she thought, might be the craziest thing you’ve ever done. Which is saying a lot.

L: I’m a little disturbed by the fact that she thinks that showing a little leg/finger is worse than, oh… stabbing herself in the leg, or slitting her own wrist in book 1, or, you know… THE MULTIPLE DIFFERENT PERSONALITIES SHE IS CONCOCTING FOR HERSELF.

AA: I’m just sitting here laughing. “Which is saying a lot” indeed! She’s got some funky priorities, our Shallan. But in terms of crazy-shenanigan-ness, she’s got a point!

Oh, ugh. I’m adding this too late for Lyndsey and Aubree to respond to it, but it occurs to me that Shallan only considers “crazy things I’ve done” as “things someone else saw me do.” Anything she does in private, no matter how stupid or dangerous, can just be ignored and “forgotten” like she’s forgotten so much else.

“But that slave brand…” She reached up to create an illusion to make it vanish from his forehead.

He caught the hand. “No need. I’ll keep my hair down over it.”

L: Oh, Kaladin. You and your insistence on seeing that brand as an integral part of you.

“I had it reversed. I thought Brightness Shallan was the persona. But the spy—that’s the false identity.”

“Wrong,” Shallan said. “They’re both equally false.”

L: Shallan. No. Ugh.

AA: Sigh. Poor girl has no idea who the real Shallan might be anymore.

AP: This is really concerning. She is putting on a facade of a “proper” lighteyes woman in front of her people. But to go so far as to say the entire identity of Shallan is false is concerning. I hope she has time to figure out who she is. Not just who other people want or expect her to be.

“We don’t need Dalinar’s permission to act,” Elhokar said. … “What is my uncle going to do, Captain? Dalinar won’t know any more than we will. We either do something about Kholinar ourselves now, or give the city, the Oathgate, and my family up to the enemy.”

Shallan agreed, and even Kaladin nodded slowly.

AA: Again, Elhokar is stepping up as a leader. Kaladin’s instinct was to just go back and check with Dalinar, but Elhokar is right—there’s nothing Dalinar could do about it that this team can’t. I love watching the way Elhokar is growing in this chapter: He’s still watching Kaladin for a role model, but he’s also becoming a little more able to recognize when his own training is giving him the right answer. He’s trying so hard to guard against being impetuous and stupid, but along with that he’s realizing that there are times that he himself knows more about the situation they face than Kaladin can. (I just kind of wish he’d look to Adolin a little more. I understand why he doesn’t, but Adolin understands the city and the lighteyes in ways that Kaladin simply can’t.)

“Waiting and trusting those whom you have empowered is the soul of kingship, Windrunner,” Elhokar said.

AA: Well said, Elhokar. More and more with every chapter, I find myself liking Elhokar. SANDERSSSOOOOOONNNN!!

Squires & Sidekicks

“How much did you eavesdrop on?” Shallan asked them.

“Not much,” Vathah said, thumbing over his shoulder. “We were too busy watching Ishnah ransack the tailor’s bedroom to see if she was hiding anything.”

“Tell me you didn’t make a mess.”

“No mess,” Ishnah promised. “And nothing to report either. The woman might actually be as boring as she seems. The boys did learn some good search procedures though.”

AA: … I was just going to quote this as “Shallan’s team is doing its thing.” Then it occurred to me: I’ll bet there will come a time in the next book or so when these ‘good search procedures” will turn out to be foreshadowing. Am I wrong?

Also, it cracked me up that they took her revelation about being Veil so nonchalantly.

Places & Peoples

I’ve had Passion for something to happen, true, but to finally… I mean…

AP: A reminder here that the Thaylen religious beliefs are tied up with Passion too! I think there’s definitely a historical connection to Odium here that we don’t know enough about yet.

Similar finished coats were displayed around the showroom. They were made in bright colors—even brighter than the Alethi wore at the Shattered Plains—with gold or silver thread, shiny buttons, and elaborate embroidery on the large pockets. The coats didn’t close at the front except for a few below the collar, while the sides flared out, then split into tails at the back.

L: Dropping this in here partly because of the social aspect of the Alethi preferring bright colors and flamboyant designs, but mostly as a note for my fellow cosplayers. ;) By the description, these seem to be similar to 18th century frock coats, but with tails. I have to admit I adore the Alethi style—it’s very militaristic while still being fashionable, with the additions of the embroidery and buttons to add flair.

She was surprised at the running water; she hadn’t thought Kholinar had such things.

L: I’m surprised at her surprise on this; I always kind of thought that Kholinar was viewed by the other countries as being pretty advanced when it came to technology. Also, obviously this isn’t run by fabrial technology, which is actually pretty surprising to me. Usually Sanderson’s very good about utilizing the inherent magic in a world to explain variant ways that society has invented technology, so I’m a bit curious about the fact that mundane methods of achieving running water were apparently easier/more achievable than doing the same via some form of magic.

AA: I don’t know… Before the return of the Radiants, all they had for magic-powering stuff was fabrials. I could be wrong, but it seems like they’re only now beginning to really develop their understanding of the Surges and how they can be used to manipulate matter in useful ways. I think it’s a case of them being limited by the inherited “ancient” fabrials—the ones the Radiants left behind, like Soulcasters; it took a while to figure out not only how to make them, but to come up with ideas for what kinds of things they could do. Didn’t Navani say that it was only recently that they learned how to trap spren? (I should look this up…)

AP: Various types of plumbing have been around since ancient times. I don’t think this level of technology should be a surprise for Shallan. What may be a surprise is that a commoner has access to it, and it would speak to her skills that she would have such a luxury in her home.

L: I’m not sure how much a “commoner” this woman is, if she’s making outfits for the Highprince himself… Upper-middle class perhaps?

AP: Even so, the White House didn’t get plumbing until the 1830s. It was very expensive.

AA: For what it’s worth, Kharbranth (at least the palace) had running water. It was kept warm in the bath by heating fabrials, but it arrived via what appears to be normal mechanically-powered plumbing, and it came in warm. But let’s not forget that Shallan didn’t grow up with running water, and the brief time she spent in Kharbranth is her only experience with it. It may be one of those things that will always surprise her just a little.

“But the real power in the city is the Cult of Moments.”

“Those people we saw in the street?” Adolin asked. “Dressed like spren.”

[…]

“Some have started claiming they see a new world coming, a truly strange new world. One ruled by spren.”

L: If the Radiants rise again, they’re not entirely wrong.

AA: Not… entirely.

AP: So this makes me wonder if there is perhaps a Truthwatcher leading this? Who is perhaps having visions they do not yet understand? Just doing what their spren tells them to do?

Tight Butts and Coconuts

The only thing for Shallan to do, then, was punch herself in the face.

L: Something that some of her haters wouldn’t question her on, I imagine. (I’d like to point out that I am not one of those. I do find this amusing, however.)

AA: I loved the way it took about two pages to tell us why she thought punching herself in the face would be a good idea. Also, that it didn’t work.

Mundane Motivations

Jasnah would tell her to put down her sketchpad and go sit with the others—but Shallan often paid better attention with a sketchpad in her hands. People who didn’t draw never seemed to understand that.

AA: I loved that Brandon included this. I don’t draw, but I’m one of those people who pay better attention if I have something to do with my hands. It doesn’t matter if I’m taking notes (which I never look at again), doing needlework, playing solitaire, doodling… doing something, anything, with my hands helps me listen better. I feel bad about it sometimes, because it looks like I’m not paying any attention at all, but… well, if it matters that I pay attention, let me do something with my hands!

Cosmere Connections

“Highmarshal Azure?” Adolin asked. “No. But I’ve been away for years. There are bound to be many officers in the city who were promoted while the rest of us were at war.”

L: Or officers who showed up out of the blue from entirely different planets. ;)

AA: Who might that be…?

L: Who indeed.

A Scrupulous Study of Spren

Painspren appeared around her, as if crawling out of the ground—like little disembodied hands. They looked skinless, made of sinew. Normally they were bright orange, but these were a sickly green. And they were also wrong… instead of human hands, these seemed to be from some kind of monster—too distorted, with claws jutting from the sinew.

L: The implications of this Unmade are really fascinating to me. Is it actually corrupting the entire spren, even in Shadesmar? Or is it just corrupting the way that people in the Physical Realm perceive it? What’s the purpose of this? Does the spren remain corrupted once the Unmade has left the vicinity, or does it go back to normal afterwards?

AP: Good questions! I hope we get a lot more information about this. How are they changed? Are they permanently becoming Odium-spren?

AA: And does she have to touch each one individually to affect them, or can she do en masse effects?

AP: I definitely think these are en masse effects, or else some of the shamespren would be petals and some glass. The spren of a corrupted type all seem to be corrupt. Another possibility is that Sja-Anat has been around longer than we thought and the hunger spren were corrupted a long time ago. I don’t think that’s the case, because someone, presumably, would have noticed. But I did want to toss it out there as a possibility.

She’s managed to glimpse some hungerspren around a refugee on their way. Oddly, those didn’t look any different. Why?

L: SO MANY QUESTIONS. Why do certain ones get corrupted and others don’t? Is it maybe something to do with negative vs. positive emotions? Do the negative ones not get corrupted because they’re already “negative?”

AP: I’m not sure that’s it. I don’t know that embarrassment/shame or pain are inherently positive emotions.

L: Yeah, this is a toughie. I thought maybe it might be like the Singers’ Rhythms? How the Voidbringer versions are “darker” versions of the original ones?

AA: And later we’ll see that not all of a given kind are affected. (I think that’s next week.) So. Many. Questions. On the bright side, I’m pretty sure we’re going to learn a lot more about Sja-anat in the next book or so!

She felt a deep blush come on, and shamespren dropped around her in a wave. Normally, they took the shape of falling red and white flower petals.

These were like pieces of broken glass.

L: Simply taking note of this as an example of another physical representation of the corruption.

“If you use a fabrial,” Yokska said, “of any sort—from spanreed, to warmer, to painrial—you’ll draw them. Screaming yellow spren that ride the wind like streaks of terrible light. They shout and swirl about you. That then usually brings the creatures from the sky, the ones with the loose clothing and long spears. They seize the fabrial, and sometimes kill the one trying to use it.”

L: Lots of interesting information to unpack here. So the Voidspren can sense it when people are using fabrials… Is this a trait all spren share, but we just haven’t seen yet? It must be a pretty far-reaching sense for them to be able to feel it anywhere in the city.

AP: We’ve talked about the theory that all fabrials have a trapped spren inside. That could be it, maybe? That they are able to sense the spren inside the fabrial?

L: That’d be pretty dark. Maybe they think they’re liberating all these poor trapped spren.

Buy it Now

AA: The “trapped spren” is more than a theory, though as far as we know the trapped ones are all the lesser, non-sapient spren. I’m reasonably sure the ability of the screamer-spren to find the fabrials has to do with the trapped spren, but I don’t know how they could sense it from a distance. Unless… could they be watching in the Cognitive realm, prowling the area corresponding to the city, watching for whatever they look like when the fabrials are activated? We haven’t seen that yet.

L: Also… What the heck is a painrial? Have we seen these before?

AA: Yes, we have. Navani demonstrated one on Adolin back in… TWoK, I think it was? It reduces the pain of an injury temporarily. She was experimenting with making them smaller, and was thinking in terms of making it easier for surgeons to do their job without having to drug people into oblivion first.

Sheer Speculation

“It was the execution of the ardent, Brightlord,” Yokska said. “The queen had her hanged, and…. Oh! It was so gruesome.” … “She wrote such awful things, Your Majesty. About the state of the monarchy, and the queen’s faith and…”

L: I wonder if this was entirely due to this particular ardent speaking out, or if the Unmade have a particular beef with the ardentia. It would make sense if the ardents were the first ones to figure out how to bind the Unmade into perfect gems, and if anyone was going to be the ones to figure that out, I’d put my spheres on the ardentia, with all of the research they do into similar subjects.

AP: I think, as we discussed above, that this is likely the first indications of Ashertmarn being present in the city. Both Pai making a very public display to call out Aesudan, and the queen’s response.

AA: I think we have indications soon that it was the Radiants that figured out the bit about trapping the Unmade, but I’m not positive. It does seem like the ardentia were particularly targeted, though.

Yes, she thought, taking another Memory of Elhokar. Yes, you are king. And you can live up to your father’s legacy.

L: I’m curious as to whether this is something she is just observing, or if she’s imbuing her drawing with what she wishes for him, like she did with her followers in Words of Radiance. Is she subconsciously influencing him to be a stronger leader, helping to give him more confidence and empathy? I can’t help but notice that after she does this, he starts making markedly more confident and wise comments and decisions.

AP: I took it as the latter, that she is trying to make him be better than he is, to live up to his potential.

AA: We’ll have to examine this question more in Chapter 74, when she actually does the drawing of him. ::sniffle:: (I just reread that scene, and it makes me so sad…)

Quality Quotations

“I’mfinethatwasanexperiment,” she said, ducking into the showroom and throwing herself into a seat placed there for customers. Storms, that was humiliating.

***

She climbed out the window and dropped one story to the ground, relying on her Stormlight to keep her legs from breaking.

AA: That’s a nice trick if you can do it.

Well, that about wraps it up! What are your thoughts on the corrupted spren? The timeline? The Unmade? Tell us all about it in the comments below, and join us next week as we tackle Chapter 63 where Shallan has… terminal adventures, shall we say?

Alice is happy to point out to anyone who cares that the “Stormlight 4 & 5 Outlining” progress bar has moved to 40%. (Outlining, not writing!! Gotta make sure the rest of this arc is planned out properly.) She’s equally happy to note that the Starsight third draft is in work, and a beta read is tentatively slated for February.

Lyndsey has finally started work on her Yuri Katsuki short program cosplay from Yuri!!! On Ice. She looks forward to the 1500+ sequins she’s planning to hand sew onto this monster. If you’re interested in following along on the work, check out her Facebook page.

Aubree is not letting Shallan borrow any of her sewing supplies. Not even the pinking shears.

Hello, there, friends of the Cosmere! Welcome back to the Oathbringer reread for this week’s installment, in which Shallan has some mighty sharp adventures. Also, many-layered disguises. Come on in, the shadows are fine everywhere, and really creepy. As are a lot of the people, come to think of it.

Reminder: We’ll potentially be discussing spoilers for the entire novel in each reread. There are no spoilers in the post this week, 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: Shallan/Veil
WHERE: Kholinar city streets and palace (Lyn: As before, the below map is my best guess as to a route, especially once they get into the palace. It seems logical that that long hallway is the one they carried Veil down, but I have no real idea if it’s right or not.)
WHEN: 1174.1.10.2 (same day as the previous two chapters)

Veil wanders through the city of Kholinar on her way to the palace, observing the poor and the strange cult that has taken up residence in the streets. She assumes Lyn’s face and meets with Kaladin outside the palace gates, then goes in alone after assuring Kal that she’ll send Pattern back out if she gets into trouble. After delivering her message to the queen to one of the soldiers inside, the men promptly run her through and carry her down to dump her body with the others that have come before her. On their way down, she sees an unsettling image in a mirror.

Truth, Love, and Defiance

Title:  Within the Mirror

And beyond that, deep within the mirror, something turned—the normal image fading—and looked toward Shallan with a sudden and surprised motion.

Alice: Well, that’s not disturbing or anything. Could it be that giving the chapter title to the image in the mirror is a hint that we’re not done with this apparition after one glance? (And did anyone think we were?)

Heralds

Palah

A: Palah is the patron Herald of the Truthwatchers, associated with the divine attributes of Learned and Giving and the role of Scholar. I’m not entirely sure why she was chosen for this chapter. Shallan seems to think she’s doing research and all that, but the only scholarly-ish things she does are nearly accidental or accomplished in such a foolhardy way as to look more like sheer luck. Maybe that’s the point? Help?

Buy it Now

L: Your guess is as good as mine.

Icon

The Pattern icon tells us this is Shallan’s POV—though it turns out to be a lot of Veil’s POV, really.

Epigraph

I returned to the tower to find squabbling children, instead of proud knights. That’s why I hate this place. I’m going to go chart the hidden undersea caverns of Aimia; find my maps in Akinah.

—From drawer 16-16, amethyst

A: The amethyst tells us this was recorded by a Willshaper. Maps and charts and exploration, FTW!

L: Undersea caverns?! Color me interested.

A: No kidding!! Cool new info hints about Aimia? Tell me more! (Please?) Also, what’s this about maps in Akinah? Presumably, Akinah was still a functioning city at the time, so he or she really was planning to go there.

But about the person who wrote it… Their plans fit with the Words of Radiance epigraph description of Willshapers, where they were called “enterprising, erratic, capricious, frustrating, unreliable, [having] a general love of adventure, novelty, or oddity.” (I just took out all the commentary and listed the adjectives…) Come to think of it, this really fits with the speculation regarding Eshonai’s spren Timbre being a Willshaper spren. If that doesn’t describe Eshonai as well as this adventurous Willshaper, I don’t know what does! Could we possibly learn more about those maps and charts in the next book? (Okay, that’s a stretch, but I really do want to know more about Aimia in general and Akinah in particular.)

Thematic Thoughts

Today’s thematic thoughts are a sequence of events that don’t fit anywhere else as a group, and I wanted to keep them together.

She walked into a grand entryway, marked by marble and a brilliant sphere chandelier. No Unmade. No darkness waiting to consume her. She breathed out, thought she could feel something. That phantom eeriness was indeed stronger here. The wrongness.

A: The feeling of approaching something supernatural would definitely be unnerving. I wonder if her focus on the Unmade’s presence is what caused her to be less wary of the human dangers.

… She itched to be out of this place. To flee madly, if she were being honest. She had to stay. Whatever she learned here would be of—
One of the soldiers ran her through.

It happened so quickly, she was left gaping at the sword blade protruding through her chest—wet with her blood.

A: That was… unexpected. It was just so casual. I’m reasonably sure that more than one reader jumped and/or gasped on the first read—I know I did. Is it standard protocol to execute all messengers, or just the ones who ask to actually see the Queen?

She reached for Stormlight, by instinct.

No… no, do as… as Jasnah did…

Pretend. Feign. She stared up at the men in horror, in betrayal, painspren rising around her. …

She let her eyes close, then took in a short, sharp breath of Stormlight. Just a tiny amount, which she kept within, holding her breath. Enough to keep her alive, heal the wounds inside…

A: Worth noting: Though we don’t see it on screen, Jasnah clearly explained to the others how she survived the assassination attempt on the Wind’s Pleasure. We can assume she also told them at least some of what she learned there, and will find out about that when it becomes relevant. Also worth noting: She apparently didn’t tell them much about what Shadesmar was actually like, with its travel, politics, and society! I’m guessing she didn’t expect any of the others to be spending time there so soon.

Pattern. Please don’t go. Don’t do anything. Don’t hum, don’t buzz. Quiet. Stay quiet.

A: That’s probably a good idea: Do not draw attention in any way.

Don’t shift. Stay perfectly still. Don’t even breathe. Stormlight allowed her to survive without air.

A: I just have to giggle—in the middle of the tension—at the way this has been set up for two and a half books, and now we finally see someone in a truly critical situation, using this minor detail. Whether the author had this in mind from a long time ago, or whether it just came in handy here and he used it, or something in between, I don’t know, but I love it when I see things like this come together. Breathing would definitely give away the game, but he doesn’t have to suddenly introduce this extra detail to explain not-breathing; it’s been in place, but it never mattered like this before. This kind of thing just makes me happy.

Stories & Songs

…men in dark uniforms whose colors and heraldry she couldn’t discern. In fact, when one glanced at her, she couldn’t make out his eyes. It was probably just a trick of the light, but… storms. The soldiers had a wrongness about them; they moved oddly, rushing in bursts, like prowling predators. They didn’t stop to talk to each other as they passed.

L: I’ve played way too many horror games because all I see when I read this is Silent Hill.

A: I’m clueless on that specific subject, but this started to get creepy real fast.

[The Oathgate] connected to the main palace by a covered walkway that rested atop a small wall.

They built that walkway right over the ramp, she thought with displeasure.

A: I’m trying to figure out why she’s so displeased about this. Because they connected the Oathgate to the palace instead of leaving the ramp to the city where people could get to it? Because they messed with “her” artifact? I’m trying to figure out why it matters, and I can’t come up with anything that makes sense.

L: If she were Shallan right now I’d say that maybe she was upset with them ruining the aesthetics, but since she’s Veil? No clue.

The guard carrying her passed a floor-to-ceiling mirror rimmed in a fancy bronze frame. In it, she glimpsed the guard with Lyn thrown over his shoulder. And beyond that, deep within the mirror, something turned—the normal image fading—and looked toward Shallan with a sudden and surprised motion. It looked like a shadow of a person, only with white spots for eyes.

L: Welp. Thanks for that, Brandon.

Relationships & Romances

I like him, Veil thought. An… odd thought, in how much stronger that feeling was to Veil than it had been to Shallan. I like that brooding sense he has about him, those dangerous eyes.

Why did Shallan focus so much on Adolin? He was nice, but also bland.

L: HOW DARE YOU, VEIL.

A: Heh. Nice link. Still, it’s easy to see in retrospect that Brandon was setting us up for the weirdest sort of “love triangle,” with one of Shallan’s personas interested in Adolin and another in Kaladin. (And both requited, at least to some extent. So which is it? A love triangle with four sides, or a square with three?)

You couldn’t tease him without feeling bad, but Kaladin, he glared at you in the most satisfying of ways.

L: Okay so. I know a lot of people don’t like the “love triangle,” but I really feel like this is an interesting take on the trope. If anyone’s going to have feelings for two distinctly different people, it’s someone with two distinctly different personalities. It makes total sense.

A: It does, and that’s why I think the whole thing worked for me. I’m an anti-love-triangle person in general, but Veil and Shallan are so different it makes sense they’d have different taste in men. (I still hate Shallan’s ever-widening gulf between bits of herself… in the sense that it’s awesome writing and I love that, but it’s painful to watch.)

Bruised & Broken

Veil enjoyed being in a proper city again, even if it was half feral. … Everyone talked about towns and villages out in the middle of nowhere as if they were uncivilized, but she’d found people in those places pleasant, even-tempered, and comfortable with their quieter way of life. … There was a tension to cities. You could breathe it, feel it in every step. Veil loved it.

A: This bothered me. Veil doesn’t know anything Shallan doesn’t, so she doesn’t have any more basis for comparison than Shallan—which is not very much. I think it’s meant to help us see how much Shallan is just making up knowledge for Veil; later on, this is going to come back around. Painfully.

These poor people. Even in this more affluent area, she could barely walk a quarter block without having to weave around huddles of people.

L: This brought up an interesting thought for me regarding Shallan and Veil. Thinking back over Shallan’s reactions to things, Veil appears to be more empathetic to the suffering of others, especially the downtrodden. As a relatively high-born lady, Shallan really doesn’t seem to see the pain of the poor very often, even when she really should. She, of all people, should understand. But maybe she just doesn’t want to see her own pain reflected back at her in the social mirror. Maybe she closes her eyes to it as an act of self-preservation, but Veil—not constrained by Shallan’s past—is free to really open her eyes and see it.

This is backed up by her reaction to seeing the bodies later in the chapter.

She focused on his voice, something familiar. Not the memory of a sword protruding from her own chest, not the callous way she’d been dumped here and left to rot, not the line of corpses with exposed bones, haunted faces, chewed-out eyes…

Don’t think. Don’t see it.

L: She’s not going to be able to keep going through life this way, burying her head in the sand whenever she’s faced with something like this. Not if she’s going to be a Knight Radiant. Lies may be important to her order, but she has to face the truth if she’s going to heal.

A: At the same time, I rather loved that moment. The horror of what she was looking at could have made anyone freak out, but her long experience with deliberate, intentional amnesia helps her to stay calm by blocking out the nightmarish scene, enabling her to figure out how to get out of there. I thought it was a great bit of writing—the moment when your self-destructive coping mechanism becomes the only thing that keeps you alive and (semi-) sane.

She left the park as Veil playing a part. She tried to keep this distinction sharp in her mind. She was still Veil. Merely in disguise.

L: Yet another in the ongoing list of Problematic Shallan Behaviors.

Squires & Sidekicks

Away from potential prying eyes, she used Stormlight to overlay Veil’s features and clothing with those of Lyn.

L: Back when we did the beta, I noted that I was curious as to whether or not Shallan has some sort of supernatural ability to understand the inner thoughts of real people she mimics, or if she’s just extrapolating based on her observations and what she thinks they’re like.

(Also I feel I should mention that now, as when I first read it, this totally weirds me out.)

A: Heh. Nothing like a major character playing an imaginary character playing a character based on you… Is your head spinning? Seems like it ought to be!

If I remember right, this is the first time Shallan disguises herself as another real person for any length of time. (She changed her face, at least, to Adolin, a random cleaning woman she’d drawn, and a soldier back when she was convincing Elhokar to bring her along.) I don’t recall that we ever got any hint one way or another whether she has any supernatural Connection with someone she mimics. I… would guess not, but I can see a viable argument for either theory.

Places & Peoples

Soulcast out of bronze, the statue depicted a figure in Shardplate rising as if from waves.

L: I wonder if this is a statue of a Herald, one of one of the Knights Radiant from back before the Recreance, or a more modern statue of someone in “dead” Shardplate…

A: Such a curious image, and not one I can recall being associated with any of the historical figures so far. It reminds me of Aphrodite rising from the sea, except that the subject is… a bit different… (!!) It also reminds me of Cusicesh rising from the waters of Kasitor Bay. Odd, indeed.

They were too theatrical—and there were too many of them—for all to be truly deranged. This was a fad. A way of dealing with unexpected events and giving some shape to lives that had been turned upside down.

A: Ah, the good ol’ Cult of Moments folk. We had some discussion of this in last week’s comments, wondering whether these people were specifically being controlled by the Unmade and/or Voidspren, or whether they were just people being weird. Or something in between.

The only other paths up onto the platform were sets of steps cut into the rock, and those were guarded by people in spren costumes.

A: Drawing from the beta comments again, here’s a question: Is it possible that there were real, sapient spren—either natural Rosharan spren, corrupted spren, or Voidspren—hiding among the cultists? It was a little too reminiscent of the masquerade/parade in The Great Hunt, where some of the “trollocs” in the parade turned out to be real trollocs.

As mentioned in the comments last week, since it never came up again, I assume the answer is no—they’re just people. Frightened people doing weird things, but still just people. However… what are they doing here? Are they actively involved in the stuff going on with the Heart of the Revel? (We do find out a lot more about them before the end of Part Three, but I’ll wait to talk about that until we get there.)

Tight Butts and Coconuts

“Hey,” she said softly. “It’s me. Do you like the boots on this outfit?” She raised her foot.

“Do we have to keep bringing that up?”

“I was giving you a passcode, bridgeboy,” she said. “To prove I’m who I say I am.”

“Lyn’s face made that clear,” he said…

A: I think Shallan is trying to force a little humor into the situation, in that ever-so-slightly-hysterical fashion we sometimes have when we’re extremely nervous. Kaladin was Not Amused. He’s right that her disguise is plenty of identification, of course; I have to grant him that.

Readers seem divided on this one: Is the “boots” reference funny and Kaladin is just being grumpy, or is it really not funny and she should drop the subject? Personally, I think she sees it as what could be a shared joke (and I agree), and he’s being overly touchy about it. (To be fair, he’s never had reason to find out how off-balance she was by Tyn introducing her as a Horneater princess; he saw the scene as “lighteyes toying with the darkeyes,” but she saw it as mortifying.) I suspect my thinking it should be a joke they share may be colored by her wedding gift from Kaladin and Bridge Four, though.

She smiled at him. “You could say, um, it made that point quite clear.”

L: See, this one works for me because she smiles before she says it.

A: I think this one would work whether she smiled or not, because it’s just a straightforward pun, not a joke at someone else’s expense. The smile probably helps Kaladin understand a little of what she’s doing, though, so there’s that. What really grabbed me, though, was the part that followed:

Smile. I need you to smile.

I need what happened to be all right. Something that can simply roll off me.

Please.

“Well…” Kaladin said. “I’m glad we … took a stab at this anyway.” He smiled.

It was all right. Just another day, another infiltration.

I can just feel her desperation here. She’s (understandably!) freaked out by what just happened, on so many levels. She just blocked out what she was seeing so she could function. Now she still needs to get back to the tailor’s house and keep functioning, and in order to do that, she needs something that at least purports to be humor.

Buy it Now

The beautiful part is the way it reflects the scene in the chasm. That time, he was amazed that she could smile with all she’d been through. This time, she desperately needs him to smile—and however awkward he feels about making puns with her at this point, he does it. And he smiles. And I could just reach in and hug him for it.

A Scrupulous Study of Spren

This covered her as she breathed out Stormlight, transforming her features and hair to match those of Veil, instead of Shallan.

No spren came, screaming to warn of what she’d done. So Lightweaving was different from using fabrials.

A: Such mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, it might be good to do this at a distance from their safe place. On the other hand, what was she going to do out there by herself if the screaming spren did come? Might have been handy to have an extra soldier or two around if one of the Fused came looking!

On a more scholarly note, this is the first test on the screamer-spren. This technically only proves that Lightweaving doesn’t draw them, rather than Surgebinding in general, but at least they don’t see every access to the Surges. I’m betting it’s got more to do with the trapped spren than the Surges, but I can’t prove it.

Anticipationspren rose around Veil, and she jumped. While two of the spren looked normal—like flat streamers—the others were wrong. They waved long, thin tendrils that looked like lashes to whip a servant.

A: Well, that answers one question. Not all spren of a single kind are affected by Sja-anat, and it’s not a lasting area effect. I really think (but this is speculation) she touches each spren in order to corrupt it, probably in the Cognitive realm. I would also bet that certain types seem more affected because more of their type have been drawn to activities, emotions, or events taking place in her immediate vicinity. Types who have not had reason to be attracted to people near her are less frequently—or not at all—affected. Maybe?

At the door she finally heard Pattern, who had been talking, though his voice had seemed distant.

L: Well that’s odd. Was it just because she was so near death? Or was there something weird going on with their bond? Proximity to the Unmade, perhaps? Something to do with the specific illusion she was using, and/or her state of mind?

A: I took it to be panic and a resulting inability to consciously hear him even though he was right there. I’m not 100% sure on that, though. It reads… oddly.

Quality Quotations

• “Storms!” he said, kneeling beside her. Pattern slipped off his coat, humming happily.

A: Awwww. The image of Pattern riding around on Kaladin’s coat just makes me smile.

• He helped her to her feet, then looked to check on her wound, and she slapped his hand. The cut was not in an appropriate location.

Welp. That was full of shenanigans, I must say. Join us in the comments to discusssss. Next week we’ll be returning to Urithiru and Dalinar in Chapter 64, with lots of fun Stormfather conversation and the beginning of a quick trip to Azir.

Alice is having fun watching those Sanderson progress bars, and is now eagerly awaiting the Starsight beta read.

Lyndsey’s life is about to be taken over by Kingdom Hearts 3. If you’re an aspiring author, a cosplayer, or just like geeky content, follow her work on Facebook or her website.