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not to rag on the way people talk about suvi on this website for the millionth time, but the framing of eursolon and ame coming to help her as some miraculous gesture of love, when she hadn't done anything to wrong them, was so interesting. Mainly because every time suvi has chosen to chase after and help them, it has been framed as the obvious, only acceptable answer for her. Yes, I'm glad they came to her aid. Also, the first three arcs of this show have been eursolon and ame running off repeatedly and suvi running after and swallowing her hurt to aid them.

*shrug*

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"Life breaks us, Teft. Then we fill the cracks with something stronger.”

Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer

"The most important step a man can take. It's not the first one, is it?

It's the next one. Always the next step, Dalinar."

Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer

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“He kept on the proper face all the way to his rooms, and was proud of himself for it. Then he stepped inside and found an empty nothingness. His were the quarters of a highlord, supposedly luxurious and spacious. He had little furniture though, and that left it feeling hollow. Dark, the sole light coming from the balcony. Every honor he’d been given seemed to highlight how vacant his life really was. Titles couldn’t fill a room with life.

Still, he turned and closed the door with a firm push. Only then did he break. He didn’t make it to the chair. He sank down with his back to the wall beside the door. He tried to unbutton his coat, but ended up bending forward with his knuckles pressing his forehead, digging into his skin as he hyperventilated, gasping in deep breaths of air while he trembled and shook.

Exhaustionspren like jets of dust gleefully congregated around him. And agonyspren, like upside-down faces carved from stone, twisted and faded in and out. He couldn’t cry. Nothing came out. He wanted to cry, because at least that would be a release. Instead he huddled, knuckles pressing against the scars in his forehead, wishing he could shrivel away. Like the eyes of a person struck by a Shardblade.

In moments like this—alone and huddled on the floor of a dark room, tormented by agonyspren—Moash’s words found him. The truth of them became undeniable. Out in the garish sunlight, it was easy to pretend that everything was all right. In here, Kaladin could see clearly.

You’re just going to keep hurting.…

His entire life had been a futile effort to stop a storm by yelling at it. The storm didn’t care.

They’re all going to die. There’s nothing you can do about it.

You could never build anything that lasted, so why try? Everything decayed and fell apart. Nothing was permanent. Not even love.

Only one way out …

A knock came at his door. Kaladin ignored the sound until it became insistent. Storms. They were going to barge in, weren’t they? Suddenly panicked that anyone should find him like this, Kaladin stood up and straightened his coat. He took a deep breath, and the agonyspren faded.

Adolin pushed his way in, a treasonous Syl on his shoulder. That was where she had gone? To fetch Adolin storming Kholin?

The young man wore a uniform of Kholin blue, but not a regulation one. He’d taken to having embellishments added, regardless of what his father thought. While it was sturdy—a little stiff, starched to maintain neat lines—its sleeves were embroidered to match his boots. The cut left the coat longer than most—a bit like Kaladin’s own captain’s coat, but more trendy.

Somehow Adolin wore the uniform, when the uniform had always worn Kaladin. To Kaladin, the uniform was a tool. To Adolin it was a part of an ensemble. How did he get his hair—blond, peppered black—so perfectly messy? It was both casual and deliberate at the same time.

He was smiling, of course. Storming man.

“You are here!” Adolin said. “Rock said he thought you were heading for your room.”

“Because I wanted to be alone,” Kaladin said.

“You spend too many evenings alone, bridgeboy,” Adolin said, glancing at the nearby exhaustionspren, then grabbing Kaladin by the arm—something few other people would have dared.

“I like being by myself,” Kaladin said.

“Great. Sounds awful. Today, you’re coming with me. No more excuses. I let you blow me away last week and the week before.”

“Maybe,” Kaladin snapped, “I just don’t want to be around you, Adolin.”

The highprince hesitated, then leaned forward, narrowing his eyes and putting his face up close to Kaladin’s. Syl still sat on Adolin’s shoulder, her arms folded—without even the decency to look ashamed when Kaladin glared at her.

“Tell me honestly,” Adolin said. “With an oath, Kaladin. Tell me that you should be left alone tonight. Swear it to me.”

Adolin held his gaze. Kaladin tried to form the words, and felt of the ten fools when he couldn’t get them out.

He definitely shouldn’t be alone right now.

“Storm you,” Kaladin said.

“Ha,” Adolin said, tugging him by the arm. “Come on, Brightlord Master Highmarshal Stormface. Change your coat to one that doesn’t smell like smoke, then come with me. You don’t have to smile. You don’t have to talk. But if you’re going to be miserable, you might as well do it with friends.”

Kaladin extracted his arm from Adolin’s grip, but didn’t resist further. He grabbed new clothes—tossing aside the ones he’d been fighting in.

He did, however, shoot Syl another glare as she flew over to him. “Adolin?” Kaladin said as he changed. “Your first thought was to get Adolin?”

“I needed someone you couldn’t intimidate,” she replied. “That list at best includes three people. And the queen was likely to transform you into a crystal goblet or something.”

Kaladin sighed and walked out to join Adolin, lest the highprince think he was dallying. Syl eyed Kaladin as she walked in the air alongside him, keeping up with him despite her dainty steps.

“Thank you,” Kaladin said softly, turning his eyes forward.”

- Rhythm of War

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Your gender is now the first randomized wikipedia article you get. No rerolls.

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I will never stop crying over Suviren Kedberiket just always always trying so hard to do the RIGHT THING.

There's the right thing according to her adopted mother, but now what's the right thing according to her friends? The right thing as stated clearly in the bylaws of her station, and the right thing in the memory of her dead parents. She has to do the right thing by those she loves and those below her in command.

She's trying so hard all the time, if someone just tells her what the right thing is, she'll do it. The way there is a pipeline from orders to obedience, perfection, correctness, praise, love.

The Right Thing to do is both normal to want and possible to achieve if you follow the rubric, right? That's what the rubric is for.

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My new book Everything Is Tuberculosis comes out March 18th.

I'm signing 100,000 copies of the first printing. You can preorder a signed copy here or wherever books are sold.

This has been the most fulfilling (and heartbreaking) writing experience of my life so far. I really hope you enjoy the little book that resulted from it.

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i’ve had this lil worlds beyond number witchsona tumbling around in my head for a couple of months now and with the Wand of Covenant and possibly more witches being introduced i was finally inspired to sit down and sketch something out!

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I’m so glad that Suvi finally said everything that’s been stewing in her mind about how Ame handles problems. I love Ame, but I really don’t think that presentation was enough to say for certain that the Citadel is trying to summon and control spirits. We don’t have timelines for anything, first of all. Tefmet said the lenses were recovered from a shipwreck or something, which I suppose we could take to mean they washed ashore after the derrick was destroyed. But what if they actually meant a shipwreck? Those lenses could have been on their way to Guild Mage Morrow BEFORE the party met him. Plus what were the missives that Tefmet kept referring too?? Everyone just kind of accepted them as fact but no one actually read them. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t trust the Citadel, but I also don’t think the situation is as simple as the witches seem to believe or as Tefmet portrayed. There’s going to be factions within factions within factions all going after their own goals. Some good, some bad, most probably somewhere in between. The question is which faction is in control of the citadel at any one moment and what is their goal.

I got off track a bit there. I think the real issue here is that Ame’s not had the same training Suvi has in critically analyzing an argument. That’s WHY Ame needs Suvi to act as her advisor. Ame’s also impulsive, very clearly shown in this episode when she follows her gut reaction of lying to the council. Ame needs to confront those facts about herself in order to make the best choices and Suvi is finally exposing them to the light of day.

At the same time, Suvi is eventually going to have to face that the Citadel isn’t the shining beacon of knowledge and justice that she thinks it is. The process has started already though. After all, what’s with all the scrying?? That identify spell was a LOT to process and I don’t know which way Suvi is gonna go after that. I do have one wish, though. I desperately want Suvi’s faith in Steel to be right. I’m hoping that Steel is trying to do the whole dismantle it from the inside thing. Usually an act of futility, but someone who is incredibly clever and willing to listen to the counsel of Grandma Wren just might be able to pull it off.

Anyway, all of this was just to say that I love this podcast. I love this story. I can’t wait to see what sort of shit they have to work through after the conclave and how Suvi’s going to react when she gets her memories back.

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There is so much to say about this ep, holy hell. There's already several posts talking about things in more depth than I, but I want to point out how concerned Ame was for the people of Ruve, who are being manipulated into being soldiers for a spirit they don't even know. How these powerful and so called wise witches are also joining him knowing this. How of COURSE Indri, being the witch most aligned with solitude and the self would vote against being the pawns of this spirit. How of COURSE Hakea would vote to go to war with an institution that glassed an entire forest. Eursulon's rage being so raw at the danger presented to his people, and Suvi's matching it due to the threat against hers, and Ame fighting it with all she has to try and do her duty to find the middle ground, to find reconciliation. This shit is so good y'all. ALSO, Suvi's Identify spell! Like, damn. It's becoming increasingly clear that there is so much being withheld from her beyond the Geas/Modify Memory. What is up with these scrying spells and who is casting them? Obvious answer is Steel but I'm not sold on that. Exactly how intertwined is the leadership of the Citadel with the leadership of the Empire? And what about Ruve? Or Gauthmai? What exactly is spurring these wars? Are they fighting over territory and resources, or is it deeper than that? Is there other spirits than the Man in Black manipulating things? Is he responsible for ALL these conflicts? Maybe!

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truly like. I do not trust the Citadel re: spirits for a SECOND but one must acknowledge that the argument being posed here is "a person who is the sworn enemy of the Citadel who wasn't present for an event the PCs literally experienced has basically said well my interpretation is true because the Citadel definitely would know about this because they know about things (source: trust me bro); also the person we intend to ally with killed one of our own for opposing him and cursed her heir! To be fair one of our own actively tried to murder two of us earlier today, and one of her conspirators just wants violence all the time, and the person who put this to a vote is fucking the person we intend to ally with, but those are just details."

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Shifting power dynamics between humans and spirits

Bruh, why is no one talking about Ame’s insight of Mirara? “It’s about humanity being brought to heel” how that’s Mirara and by implication The King of Nights real goal here. It’s why Ame mentions going to war with humanity. As far as I’m aware, Wizardry is the only form of magic that isn’t tied to spirits in some way. The sorcerers get power because of their lineage, and warlocks get it through deals, while Witches get their power through their connection to their domain and druids through nature itself. It’s a type of magic that the spirits have no control over because it bypasses them completely to influence the universe directly.

The spirits have been top dog for the longest time, and they are getting nervous because their position of unassailable power is no longer unassailable. Humanity is now starting to catch up and doesn’t have to bow, plead and beg for power from the spirits anymore because they’ve found how to gather power for themselves.

We’ve seen the spirits be just as callous with Human life. Orima didn’t give a shit if the majority of people in Port Talon had nothing to do with Naram’s imprisonment, if they were in her way she was going to kill them. The King of Night is implied to be using necromancy to bolster his army.

Also, everything Suvi said is 100% correct. Tefmet either doesn’t have 100% reliable information (the derelict has been destroyed for months) or more likely she is using the threat of it as a political tool against the citadel. Everything that was shown paints a bad picture about the citadel, but that was the whole point. If you are arguing to destroy your archenemy, you cherry pick your argument and don’t take time out of your presentation to go “these are a few of the things the citadel has done that you might agree with”. Ame and Eursolon always seem so ready to accept the worst about people who have done nothing but try and help them, while the people who tried to kill her are to be trusted as allies, and have no sketchy motives.

I’ve loved the last few episodes but I don’t think the conflict is going to be as clear cut as spirits are good, and wizards are bad.

TLDR; The citadel isn’t pure evil, the spirits are just as big assholes as everyone else and are more worried about being overtaken as the dominant power in the world.

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I feel like a lot of the conversations surrounding the Citadel and the Coven of Elder' vote echoes conversations I've had in my personal life about revolution, specifically as a Black Woman and a leftist.

Especially when Suvi makes the very poignant point that litterally no one has presented any evidence that the Citadel has had anything to do with Naram's imprisonment- that isn't to say that they didn't. It's just that a wizard from the 'we hate the citadel' faction rolled up to Ice Peeking Tom and her girl gang of very bad Not Good motherfuckers and said that the citadel was doing something bad.

And everyone believed them, not because they were compelling or presented evidence, but because they all already wanted to destroy the citadel. Except (maybe) Ame.

So to Suvi, who doesn't want her friends and family to be brutally murdered in a sneak attack it looks like everyone is just deciding that a bunch of innocent people can and should be murdered because... wizards bad? Maybe?

And that feels like a lot of conversations I have- because yes, revolutionary actions are nessecary, but what's more important that revolution is the community that we must try to preserve through whatever crusade we're fighting.

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my theory for the end of WWW #34: Something to Remember You By is sadly that The Stranger is coming to Brockvale to raise Sir Curran and his knights as undead :(

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Ok what if Ame finds the witch apprentice that turned down the position of the witch of the watching fire and convinces them to train Nif.

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Upon reflection, wide blue is already used for a station, and Sky feels pretty close to Suvi's name.

So I'm going to try another title:

Witch of the Warm Horizon

I've decided on my witch name:

The Witch of the Wide Blue Sky

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murderbot's ability to process multiple things simultaneously would make it very good at running ttrpgs. although I think if it did decide to run a campaign every encounter would be a thinly veiled security briefing where it tried to convince its humans of things like "going into the dark cave is a bad idea" and "do not approach hostile fauna" and "every area should be treated as a trap until it's cleared and then it's still maybe a trap"

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I’m still behind on the wizard the witch and the wild one, but I just finished ep 32 and

I so badly want in this conversation with the witches for someone to bring up that maybe if they still had a witch of the wide sea maybe there wouldn’t have been a great ocean spirit trapped and exploited by a bunch of wizards with no one knowing until our trio walked into town. Maybe removing stations and dwindling the covens numbers is actually a terrible idea.

Just a wild thought