#lirin

[cosmerelists]

Would Cosmere Characters Drive the Speed Limit?

You know, if cars and speed limits existed for them. (Potentially necessary context: I am a USAmerican)

For a different but hilarious take on Stormlight Characters driving, please check out this @saffronique post, which I spent forever looking for because I vaguely remembered someone else doing a driving post and wanted to make sure I hadn't copied them! Anyway it's funny; go read it: https://www.tumblr.com/saffronique/719947907049127936/was-just-struck-by-the-overwhelming-urge-to-rate?source=share

But now for a much more limited question: just, do they go the speed limit?

1. Nale: Yes but also no

As Mr. Beholden-to-All-Laws-of-the-Realm, Nale would of course drive exactly the speed limit! Except that he would also go immediately to the local jurisdiction, get deputized or whatever, and then obtain permission to speed all the time so as to Apprehend Criminals. So he'd actually be almost exclusively speeding but, like, legally.

2. Vivenna: Only at first

Vivenna does drive the speed limit when she first gets her license, because she wants to Follow the Law and be a Good Example for Siri. But, like, everyone is always so mad, and eventually she starts going just like 5 miles over the speed limit, which isn't even breaking the law, really. It's going with traffic! And then maybe 10 miles over, just occasionally 15 but only on a highway when it's safe! 

3. Siri: No

Like, going a bit faster is not a big deal, especially if all the other cars are doing the same thing. It's actually safer to go with the flow of traffic! 

4. Elend: Depends on who's in the car

Elend drives moderately above the speed limit like most people except if his dad is in the car and then he drives under the speed limit just to piss him off.

5. Vin: No

Vroom, vroom to be honest. Vin doesn't do things slow.

6. Dalinar: Yes

As a young man, Dalinar's speed demon ways led to the deaths of many people. So now he does drive the speed limit and insists that his sons do as well, whether they're in company cars or not.

7. Kelsier: No

Kelsier? Follow a law? I don't think so. He taught Vin to drive, you know.

8. Adolin: Not anymore

When his dad was really into Car Laws, Adolin did drive the speed limit per his dad's instructions. But he's since loosened up a bit. He figures he needs to find his own way to drive!

9. Shallan: No

Shallan drives the speed she needs to drive. Veil definitely drives the fastest, and Radiant is most likely to follow the speed limit. But on average...not so much.

10. Navani: No

Adolin can still remember being in the car with his aunt for the first time and being SHOCKED that she speeds. (In my head this is related to Adolin being shocked when he sees Navani wearing a glove rather than a full sleeve. This may not make sense to anyone else but it feels right to me).

11. Moash: No

Moash always wants to get to his destination as fast as possible. Also I just can't imagine him trying to follow the speed limit. 

12. Wax: Depends on the geographic location

Wax drives the speed limit in the Roughs but not in Polite Society (except in dense urban areas where he wishes to avoid, like, killing children).

13. Wayne: Does not have his driver's license

I feel this in my soul. 

14. Lirin: Yes

I think Lirin would argue that "getting to your destination thirty seconds faster is no reason to speed and put everyone else on the road in danger! Drive safe - arrive safe! That's what matters!" And then he would go exactly one mile under the speed limit at all times while everyone behind him honks. 

15. Kaladin: No

Kaladin spends three months driving very slowly after his dad shows him videos of horrific car crashes but eventually he just can't do it. He NEEDS to get there faster! People are DEPENDING on him! And he likes to feel the WIND in his HAIR as he cruises down the open highway! 

(Kaladin and his dad cannot drive together.)

[botanicaxu]

RoW Interlude 10

This line is really phenomenal IMO

[jordirapture]

"Reborn"

🚨SPOILERS OF STORMLIGHT 4🚨

Painting this has meant to me something similar to what this moment meant to Kal. I've been in an art block for several weeks now, but this painting has awaken my joy of painting back a little, so I hope you love and appreciate it!

I remember reading this moment with tears in my eyes, almost unable to see the words on the pages. What an incredibly touching moment it was to see Kal swearing his 4th Ideal and saving his father!

I hope you enjoy my art as much as I did painting it!

[smeegamae]

loved one that came back but came back wrong, but it’s literally lirin and kaladin someone call me an ambulance

kaladin coming back to hearthstone and lirin knowing the man that comes back has his face and his voice and his mannerisms, but the man that came back wasn’t really lirins son. kaladin grew up while in the army. he learned how to shave and how to gamble and probably had his first sip of alcohol. he had his first girlfriend and he saved lives and he watched friends die, all before he was 19 years old. he grew those callouses that lirin thought he so desperately needed.

so no, the man that came back wasn’t really lirins son, it was someone with his face. because how do you rebuild that relationship when you’ve grieved his and tiens deaths, and you’re now grieving his life and the choices your son made for You. he went to the army to watch over his brother for You, because he promised to keep him safe, even though you begged him not to go. losing both sons is infinitely worse than losing one, and even though kaladin came back, lirin is still grieving the little boys he lost to war and the son that kaladin could have been if he never left.

and like. lirin is a surgeon, not a therapist. he can’t fix kaladins depression or suicidal thoughts (things that got infinitely worse after years in the army) and it sucks to have to watch your kid be someone whose morals you disagree with, while knowing it could have been so much different if he’d never left. and that now that he’s back, you can’t do anything to change him back to who he was. all lirin can do is be disappointed in kaladin because he’s already grieved him twice.

[lamaery]

This are from the beginning of last year, but are still more beach AU ideas in my mind... ID below the cut:

Image description: The first image shows an evening scene wire a dark sky in the background. Lirin and Dalianar sit to the left at a bar. A warm glow surrounding their figures as they talk. A bit to their right stand Adolin and Kaladin side-eyeing them and uncomfortably sipping at bottles (of beer? probably?). A bit further back is Shallan gesturing towards them and to the ongoing fireworks in the background. Next to her Renarin and Rlain are walking in the direction of the crowds watching the fireworks. Rlains hand is placed on Renarin's back and he is laughing. To the very right of the picture is a smaller figure floating in the air, while a man with think black curly hair is casually holding its leg. A string of colourful string light is decorating the canpoy of the bar and a palm tree in the background. The three consecutive images are crops of the first one, showing Lirin and Dalinar talking, Kaladin and Adolin listening and Renarin and Rlain walking next to each other.

[highly-invested]

I don't understand Lirin hate tbh. I feel like if you put yourself in his shoes for a second it all clears up immediately, even if you still don't agree with him.

He's always been a pacifist, with a pretty straightforward train of thought behind it. (Violence will always net more harm than good.) Despite this he spends all of his energy in the book 1 flashbacks fighting. Stealing the spheres, speaking up to Roshone, going to the dinner party, it'is all a means of resistance for him. Where does it land him? Both sons (plus rillir) dead, and him and Roshone both left shadows of themselves. He's left to sit with this for years before Kaladin comes back to correct the idea, and in the time, his worldview shifts from violence will always net more harm than good to conflict will always net more harm than good. I don't agree, but I totally get it!

Finally, Kaladin's back, and he has his son back to cherish and keep safe but wuh oh! Kaladin is actually conflict generator supreme for a myriad of reasons inside and outside his own control. And Lirin recognizes his words of pacifism carry no weight or obligation to anyone else, a big part of Vorinism is freedom (supposedly.)¹ but Kaladin is his son, who he shaped and had expectations for, and who ultimately listened to his teachings up to following Tien to the army for his protection.

I absolutely get why he pushed Kaladin so hard to follow his pacifism in RoW. He was so scared of losing him again, and the constant fighting wasn't helping Kal! He was freezing up on the battlefield! He was barely able to hold the scalpel after the fight with the Regal and the Stormform! From Lirin's perspective Kaladin is tearing himself apart throwing himself into the fight so of course he yells at him for diving headfirst straight back into the war blender and attacking the singers in the surgery room.

Most importantly, the story addresses this-Lirin is changed by the end of RoW, but everyone likes to kick him for how his trauma manifested still :(

1. I wanna do a little write up on this bc it's not stated explicitly but something I got from heavy subtext

[spectrum-color]

Credit to Edgebanter

[kandra-chameleon]

This is just every single Kaladin and Lirin interaction, no I will not be taking notes at this time

[worldwithinworld]

I like the little part in TWOK when Kal tells Tien to save the lurg for later to throw in Lirin’s bath. It shows that, even though Lirin is pretty serious and has high expectations, his kids feel comfortable pranking him. They have fun together as a family.

[swagspren]

“Why would you want to learn to hit other boys with sticks?” Lirin is so chronically based it’s unreal

[biteinsane]

Oh I dont think I showed off when I got so obsessed in august with Saiyuki again since I was a teen.

I also gained a new favorite character from the show cause this is only about half of what I drew.

[cosmerelists]

Cosmere Characters Do Their Taxes

It was just Tax Day in the US! Let's say that Cosmere characters had to pay taxes. How would that go for them?

Sigzil: Knows the tax code inside and out. Saves his receipts. Is basically the IRS's dream guy.

Hoid: Does not pay taxes. This is canon.

Kelsier: Does not pay taxes. This feels canon.

Marasi: Always pays her taxes.

Vivenna: Always pays her taxes.

Denth: Sure talks a lot about how complicated mercenary taxes are but if you listen carefully, he never actually says he did them...

Nale: Rigorously follows the tax code of whatever country he is in.

Wyndle: Claims Lift as a dependent. Reports all illegally acquired income at fair market value, as the tax code requires.

Lightsong: Does not pay taxes because he's, like, a god. But it's always bothered him, somewhere in the back of his mind, for some reason...

Adolin: Cheerfully hires someone else to do his taxes, at least so long as he's single.

Shallan: Does her own taxes, Sebarial's taxes, and Adolin's taxes post-marriage.

Steris & Wax: Do their taxes together. Romantically.

Wayne: Gives so much money to charity that he never owes any taxes. Orders his accountants to find a way for him to pay taxes anyway.

Straff: Does not pay taxes in the way rich people don't pay taxes--through, like, legal loopholes and off-shore accounts and shit

Elend: Rewrites the tax code to pay more taxes.

Lirin: Committed tax fraud. But only once.

Taravangian: Is not allowed to file his taxes when he is too stupid--because he cries about how confusing it is--or when he's too smart--because he's too good at finding all of the super obvious tax loopholes and anyway he's obviously way better than the government at knowing how to spend his own money!

Painter: Got in trouble once for not filing taxes because he knew he didn't make enough to owe any taxes. Seemed kinda stupid to him.

Moash: Makes an ethical argument against taxes, since the tax laws are written to benefit the rich and screw over the poor and he has no control over what the government uses his taxes for.

Kaladin: Is torn between paying his taxes like Dalinar ordered or not paying his taxes since he promised Moash he wouldn't until he finally files his taxes at, like, midnight on tax day

It's a whole thing.

[stormlight-archive]

Lirin: *exposes his children to gore and dead bodies as soon as they learn to walk*

Lirin: why is my son so fucking weird

[onlycosmere]

[moash]

hello esteemed tumblr user moash. do you have thoughts on lirin and his disapproval of kaladin (until the end of row)? or lirin's character in general? you always have good character thoughts and im thinking abt lirin's line "i obey the person who holds the sword to my throat, same as i always have" bc it slaps

hiiiii i think lirin’s pacifism is potentially really interesting but kind of butchered in row. he’s made to seem almost ridiculous for his completely reasonable views. like the scene where kaladin kills the singer in the clinic i feel like most people felt lirin was being unreasonable, but i think if they imagined instead of a singer it was a human, it would feel way different. it’s actually pretty amazing that lirin readily accepts singer’s humanity much quicker than any other character! imagine you spent your early career operating on victims of the blackthorn’s conquest sorry “unification” of alethkar and then the son you raised to be a healer ended up killing, for the blackthorn, in your sanctuary. i’d be pretty distraught too. this isn’t to say i think lirin is right and kaladin is wrong, but i think lirin’s views weren’t well represented in row and he was made to look more in the wrong than he was.

i think this is maybe not a common occurrence, but it’s definitely a trap that sanderson has fallen into before that character will sort of lose their characterization in favor of fulfilling a role opposite the leads that they don’t necessarily fit. lirin in wok would not say “i obey the person who holds the sword at my throat.” that man stole from the brightlord and lied about it for years, enduring hellish conditions for him and his family to give kaladin a better future. just because he was a pacifist didn’t mean he was passive or submissive. not like a rebel either, but i feel like his character shifted significantly in row to suit the role of a passive submissive character opposite kaladin’s rebellion and action. i think this happened with sadeas in words of radiance too. in way of kings he had legitimate reasons for his betrayal of dalinar, he truly believed he was doing the right thing for alethkar, and i think even dalinar acknowledges this is the alethi way. but in wor he shifts entirely into being a villain for villainy’s sake. none of his moves are for the good of alethkar anymore, and he admits to adolin that he will continue to work against dalinar and the united alethkar if he is left alive. like that’s not really the same guy, he’s just filed down to fill a role. i think both of these characters could have filled those roles and kept consistent characterization with a little more creativity and effort, i find it just kind of lazy the way it ended up being written.

i feel like i got off course, the tldr is i like lirin a lot, especially in wok, but i feel like his character is flattened in row in a way that makes his ideals look ridiculous. which is a shame because you’re right that that line could go hard in a better context imo!! but i felt sort of letdown by his row appearances

[saiyuki-ing]

Sanzo's very popular despite not wanting to be, especially with the younger members of the cast. Maybe Sanzo is like a mama duck, and the younger you are, the harder it is to resist the urge to follow him