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felagund-fiollaigean · 1 year

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I know zero (0) people who have read both of these series so I know I’m writing for an audience of one (1). but that’s what this blog is so.

The potential for a Greatcoats/Stormlight crossover is sooooooo juicy. Hear me out. I’m gonna start with the obvious under the cut (spoilers for both series obvs):

The gods native to Tristia are Death, Love, War, Coin, and Craft. These can (with a little imagination) be interpreted as Shards, allowing Tristia to fit into the Cosmere. If we wanna get jiggy with it, we can say that Craft is a colloquial name for Invention, an actual shard who (as far as I know) hasn’t appeared in any books yet.

Not only do the original gods of Tristia fill this role, but the new ones (that we know of) do as well. We meet the god Valor in Saint’s Blood, and Valor is also a shard of the cosmere. Like Invention, they haven’t actually made an appearance yet to my knowledge, so having them fill this role in the world of the Greatcoats works well.

Even though they are not analogous to each other, the Saints of Tristia and Heralds of Roshar fill similar roles in the religious spheres (pun unintended) of both worlds. This will be good for comic relief when the Stormlight characters learn that Kest and Falcio were once Saints and wonder how they’re not insane, and the tristians have to explain “no it’s more of a job title we’re not immortal i’ve never even been to hell, well, except for that one time and that was only for a little while- stop looking at me like that, brasti.”

Oaths play a very important role in both worlds. It’s how radiants bond to their spren and access their surgebinding abilities, and personalized oaths are sworn by each Greatcoat when they pledge themselves to their monarch. If we want to play it this way, swearing their oaths to Aline in Saint’s Blood could be what attracted Spren to the Greatcoats in the first place.

Speaking of binding spren and giving our greatcoats surgebinding, let’s talk about that for a second, shall we? there’s a few obvious choices here.

- Falcio is a Skybreaker. He practically wrote the laws of Tristia with Paelis and was the first to swear to and enforce them. He was the most dedicated out of any other Trattari to the cause of uniting Tristia the law, bringing justice, and to Paelis himself. Thesea re all very Skybreaker qualities. With the added bonus Character Drama: radiants who access the surge of division have to show impeccable self-control before they can wield it (they don’t get it until they swear their... third oath? something like that, it’s locked behind a certain amount of character growth) and Falcio famously has some, ahem, anger management issues. He would have to work on the whole trauma-induced dissociative episodes of incandescent rage and homicidal behavior. just a little bit. it will be good for him! a long time coming tbh. that’s good character work babey. His spren is named Crux

- Brasti is an Edgedancer. He’s so obnoxious and ridiculous and horny but his strongest moments in the series are when he’s remembering those who have been forgotten. Comforting the child during her father’s execution, training people to fight and defend themselves while the rest of the squad was off destroying their enemies, talking to the wounded people in the infirmary about the loved ones they fought for, I could go on. He’s by far the most sensitive and empathetic of the squad and definitely would be suited to being an Edgedancer. His spren is named Persical and they usually appear as a flowering vine twining around his wrist or through his hair

- Kest is an Elsecaller. Being an elsecaller is all about mastery of the self, rational decision-making, etc etc and that’s Kest’s whole thing. He’d be so good at it. Inkspren everywhere are swooning and fighting over who gets to keep him. His spren is named Gloss. Also I’d like to see a world where Kest Murrowson and Jasnah Kholin are a united front in literally anything. An unstoppable force, immovable object, and asexual icons.

- Valiana is a Windrunner. The very first oath she swore as a Greatcoat was to protect Aline. The windrunners oath to protect goes beyond just one person but she’s got the spirit! She threw herself at men twice her size with next to no training to protect a girl she’d known for, like, a week. She’s a whole other kind of real one and a natural Windrunner, don’t try to argue with this one. Her spren is named Saphaedra.

There are other Greatcoats who I’m sure would be worthy of a Nahel bond but these are the only four I feel strongly about. Now that we’ve set up some basics (loosely stuck Tristia into the Cosmere with scotch tape, given our trattari some surgebinding and a call to adventure to another world to discover the source of these strange powers and voices, etc) we can gush about specifics.

I’m not sure who would break about vorin gender roles first: Valiana and Kest would definitely have the strongest opinions, but unlike Falico and Brasti, they have self-restraint and some modicum of diplomatic ability. I will say Brasti might break first simply because he can’t stand spicy food. We know this. He and Valiana would trade plates at the first meal they have together and intentionally ignore every vorin staring at them aghast.

Speaking of Brasti, he’s the only member of this squad that has light eyes. This is. Interesting to say the least. Because he’s routinely the member of the squad taken the least seriously (take a shot every time someone says, “shut up, brasti” ding dong you have alcohol poisoning) this would cause a great deal of cultural dissonance for an alethi to see the only lighteyed guy in the squad routinely disrespected. NOT TO MENTION brasti is the only one of them who doesn’t use a sword. he uses a bow. which (as i understand it) is a common weapon. for infantry. or whatever (yes shardbows exist this isn’t that). This automatically introduces a cool weird dynamic if these people arrive in alethi society in which he is an oddity for the above reasons. not even to mention all the other ways brasti is an oddity (affectionate).

All of them would be pretty stunned to hear that slavery is actually cool and legal here and would have some choice words to share about the king’s first law. yes, i’m singing it right now.

Gosh, Adolin. if he had any doubts about being bisexual they would vanish the moment he sees Kest fight. you know how cartoon characters will have heart eyes that explode out on springs? yeah that’s him. Ass over teakettle in love, just about begs Kest to spar with him.

#stormlight archive #the greatcoats series #the greatcoats #falcio val mond #valiana val mond #brasti goodbow #kest morrowson

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emjenenla · 6 years

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I’m safe inside the light, so go on do your worst Part Three [A Stormlight Archive Fanfic]

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four

Elhokar was a failure at everything he’d ever done. He’d failed as a son, as a warrior and as a king. He saw no reason to fail as a Knight Radiant too. Or the one where Elhokar swears to the first Ideal at the end of WoK.

Warnings: Domestic Violence, Self-Esteem Issues

**Comes back after over two months with this pathetic offering** Sorry, about the wait. I actually have a lot of part four written so hopefully there won't be as much of a wait.

NOTE: While I don’t like Dalinar, I don’t believe that his actions towards Elhokar are consciously malicious. Until halfway through Oathbringer, Dalinar is incapable of realizing that what he did to Elhokar in WoK was wrong and therefore it never crosses his mind that Elhokar might be traumatized by what happened. Dalinar never intends to actually kill Elhokar if it becomes convenient, but he also doesn’t realize Elhokar believes that he would. I’m saying this because I realized that since I’ve never written a meta about Dalinar you have no way of telling the difference between how I interpret Dalinar’s intentions and how Elhokar does.

When Dalinar announced the latest part of his mad plan, Elhokar didn’t even bother wasting time wondering if he was serious. If he’d been less of a coward he might have simply put his head down on the table and groaned, but as it was he just sat stiffly and let everyone else react around him.

“Brightlord, I know we have discussed this before,” Teshav said, “but I think that the objections raised during that discussion still stand. You’re talking about reforming the storming Knights Radiant, people aren’t going to be okay with that.”

“They’re going to have to get used to it,” Dalinar said. Was he trying to sound to self-assured or was that just how his voice was? “The world is changing and people need to change with it.”

“When people normally say that,” Shadow grumbled from Elhokar’s shoulder. “They are talking about legitimate progress not shaping the world to the whims of a old man with delusions of grandeur.”

“I’m not sure I understand how you chose Amaram for this position,” Navani said. “What makes him the right person?”

“He’s an honorable man,” Dalinar said. “He will lead the new Knights Radiant well.”

“Why don’t you just lead them yourself?” Elhokar muttered under his breath. He was a bit surprised by himself for saying it; it appeared Shadow was rubbing off on him. She buzzed appreciatively.

Dalinar looked at him eyebrows raised. Elhokar’s stomach clenched. “Do you have something to add, son?”

“No,” Elhokar muttered ducking his head. “Sorry for interrupting.”

Dalinar looked at him for another moment then nodded curtly and returned to his conversation with Teshav.

~~~~

“Do you have the wording down?” Dalinar asked as they rode to the dueling arena to watch Adolin’s duel Elit.

“I’ve got it,” Elhokar confirmed. “I’ve been practicing the script you gave me. I have it memorized.”

Dalinar nodded in a slightly satisfied manner. “Good.”

The duel and then boon scheme was actually a really good plan, the best one his uncle had ever attempted as far as Elhokar was concerned, which was probably because the girl Shallan Davar has been the one to come up with it. Elhokar was cautiously optimistic about this working and his high profile role in it meant that he would be directly responsible for correcting the error in judgment that had caused him to appoint Sadeas Highprince of Information in the first place. Shadow still got a little huffy when he referred to it like that but the way Elhokar saw it he really should have known better than to trust either of the two men who had helped his father kill his way into power.

“You’re sure?” Dalinar asked again after barely a minute had passed. He was actually really worried about this plan and Elhokar couldn’t tell if it was because he factored so prominently in it, or if Dalinar just really wanted to get Sadeas. He wasn’t sure which he wanted to be.

“I’ve got it,” he assured his uncle again. “It will be fine.”

~~~~

The thing about Elhokar’s life that was somewhere between sad and ironic was that even when he did his utmost to be helpful and not to mess anything up, he always did anyway.

After everything at the duel fell apart, Elhokar practically fled back to the palace. Kaladin Stormblessed was in prison and Sadeas had wormed his way out the trap. It was all Elhokar’s fault.

Elhokar slammed the door to his chambers in the face of his guards. Both were members of the old lighteyed guard. None of the bridgemen had even moved to follow when he’d left. Elhokar figured that they’d officially gone from simply being willing to stand by and let him die on Dalinar’s orders to actively wanting him dead which was always a bad thing for your bodyguards. Things had never been worse.

Elhokar poured himself a goblet of violet wine. It was a pointless thing to do, but there was nothing he could do now. He knew what was coming, and he’d decided that he didn’t want to be completely sober for it.

“I messed up,” he said to Shadow. His hands were shaking so badly he could barely raise the goblet to his mouth without spilling it. “I really, really messed up this time.”

She did not insult him by denying it. “I’ll be right here with you,” she said. “No matter what happens.”

“Thank you,” Elhokar whispered.

There were voices outside in the hallway. Elhokar drained the rest of the goblet and set it next to the pitcher before carefully stepping to the center of the room, trying to brace himself as best he could. The door opened and Dalinar Kholin, the Blackthorn, stalked him. His face was a mask of annoyance and his body was held stiffly. He did not look happy that his plans had been spoiled yet again.

Elhokar had entertained some small hopes of being able to meet Dalinar’s wrath in a manly, stoic way fitting of a king, but the instant he saw his uncle the small measure of courage he’d managed to summon collapsed.

“I’m sorry; I panicked,” he said, his words tripping over each other as they raced to get out of his body. “I had practiced just giving Adolin the boon, and I didn’t know what to do when-”

“Do you understand how far behind Sadeas this has put us, son?” Dalinar interrupted. His voice was cool, much cooler than it had been the day he had thrown Elhokar around the room, but that did not make Elhokar feel any safer. He backed away by instinct, cursed himself for the cowardice, but didn’t stop.

“You knew what you were supposed to do,” Dalinar said. He sounded so calm. It was worse that it would have been if he was yelling. How was Elhokar supposed to know when he was going to attack like this? “There were ways to deal with Captain Kaladin without letting Sadeas get away. I was trusting you to find them.”

Elhokar’s back hit the wall. There was no where else to retreat to. When was Dalianar going to attack? When was he going to say that he had decided Elhokar wasn’t worth the effort necessary to keep him alive? Elhokar was shaking so hard he felt like he was going to collapse. He could hear buzzing, but he wasn’t sure if it was Shadow or his own ears.

“I’m sorry,” he whimpered.

Dalinar ran a hand through his hair. “I know you are, son,” he said. “We were just so close…”

“Brightlord,” a voice said.

Dalinar turned towards the guard standing in the doorway. “Yes?”

The guard--Koen--saluted. “Brightlady Navani Kholin is outside. Do you want to see her?”

“Yes,” Dalinar said. “Let her in.”

Koen nodded and saluted again before heading out of the room. Dalinar didn’t look away from the door and Elhokar tried to pull himself back to together. He cursed himself for being so weak. A real Alethi man would be able act unaffected, but it had already been established that Elhokar was a failure at everything even performing gender. He shouldn’t be surprised by how weak and unmasculine he was being.

Koen held the door open and Navani came in. She looked just as frustrated as Dalinar had. “I can’t see any loopholes in Sadeas’s response,” she said to Dalinar. “I’ll look more thoroughly, but I don’t think we’re going to be able to get him and Adolin into a dueling ring any sooner than next year like he specified.”

Elhokar wanted to melt into the floor from shame.

“Thank you for trying,” Dalinar said. He sounded tired not angry, which didn’t make any sense.

Navani looked past Dalinar. “Are you alright, Elhokar?”

Too late, Elhokar realized he was still leaning against the wall like he was about to slide down to the floor (which to be fair, he was). He attempted to straighten up. “I’m okay,” he said in a disgusting, trembling voice. “Everything’s fine.” He winced. What a lie.

“Elhokar,” Navani said. “It’s alright. You’re not to blame for panicking; the bridgeman was out of line and should have realized that what he did would mess up the plan. There were better ways you could have dealt with the situation, but we’ll find another way to corner Sadeas.”

Elhokar couldn’t handle it. He couldn’t see Dalinar’s face so he had no idea how he was reacting to what Navani was saying. Elhokar needed to get out of here. As far as he knew Navani didn’t know what Dalinar had done to convince Elhokar to name him Highprince of War. Dalinar had probably never told her and Elhokar didn’t want to know what Dalinar would do if the secret somehow got out. He needed to get away from here before he did something to blow it.

“I’m sorry,” he got out. His voice was still trembling. “But I have...something...that I need to be doing. I should go.”

He left the room without waiting for a response.

~~~~

Surprisingly, Dalinar never moved to restart a conversation about Elhokar’s failure at the duel. Elhokar had no idea why that was, but waiting for it was almost worse than it happening. He was barely sleeping. He was drinking more than ever. He was drowning in his own failure. Shadow tried to help, but Elhokar was mostly tuning her out these days. None of her encouragement was helpful, especially not now that there was ample proof that everything she said about him was a lie.

When Dalinar and the others made their plans to march into the Shattered Plains to take the Parshendi in their own home, Elhokar stayed out of the way. He’d made it blatantly clear that he ruined any plan he touched so it was for that was for the best. He couldn’t even look any of the bridgeman guards in the face and half expected one to put a spear through his back in revenge. He half believed that was what he deserved.

~~~~

In some ways, everyone leaving for the Shattered Plains and traditional Alethi glory was a relief, if only because it meant he could drink himself into a stupor without worrying about his mother or Dalinar walking in on him. Elhokar paced his chambers, goblet held in one hand. He was steady on his feet, but fully aware that was only because of the Stormlight. Shadow buzzed tensely on his shoulder. “Maybe you should stop,” he said. “Or at least eat something; I’m worried about you.”

“You shouldn't be,” Elhokar said. “I’ve destroyed everything.”

“Elhokar-”

“Don’t give me any more of that,” Elhokar spat. “This is exactly why I never wanted to become king. I never told you that before, did I? I wasn’t really sad when my father died; I just really didn’t want to be king. Granted, Dalinar was the only one who really was sad; Jasnah took our father’s death as a person failure, and I don’t know how Mother felt, but still: my father died and I was more worried about taking the position I’d been raised for from birth than sad for him!”

“Oh,” Shadow said in a strange tone of voice. “You realize that was a Truth, don’t you? Elhokar-”

And then Elhokar was falling through nothing. He reached out, fingers stretching for a table or a chair or anything to grab on to, but there was nothing. He braced himself to slam into the Soulcast stone floor, but he didn’t. He splashed into an ocean of beads.

He sunk down into the beads, the descent slower than water but still steady. They closed over his head and he struggled, trying to swim back to the surface, but he just kept sinking further and further down. He thrashed in panic, but that only made him sink faster. Vaguely he could hear Shadow screaming for him, but he couldn’t respond. There were beads in his ears and mouth and throat. He was going to drown in them. He was going to die here, wherever here was. He wanted to return to his chambers were it was safe. He wanted to go back to badly.

He back hit solid stone and the beads vanished. He was lying on his back on his chamber floor. Shadow was twisting in terrified circles next to his head, buzzing loudly.

“What was that?” he asked. His voice sounded wrong even though the beads were all gone. There was not even a taste left. “Please tell me it was a dream.”

“That was Shadesmar,” Shadow said tremulously. She was almost as freaked out as he was. “In time you’ll learn to-”

Elhokar didn’t wait to hear the rest of what she was going to say. He scrambled to his feet which were now unsteady for reasons that had nothing to do with all the alcohol he’d consumed. He crossed to the door and hauled it open. “Moash?”

“Yes?” Moash asked. “Your Majesty?” For something reason his honorifics always sounded tacked on, like he had to remind himself to say them.

“Get my carriage,” Elhokar ordered. “I need to speak to your captain.”

~~~~

Kaladin Stormblessed was supposed to be confined to his quarters recovering from his chasmfiend wounds, too weak to come to the palace to supervise his men. Elhokar knew this because he’d asked for the man once or twice figuring that was probably what he was supposed to do in Dalinar’s absence and had been told that the bridgeman couldn’t come. Elhokar wasn’t sure why he was surprised to find that Kaladin was actually well enough to go on walks around the warcamp in the middle of the Weeping but was still backing out of his duties; after all, Elhokar wouldn’t want to be anywhere near the man that had gotten him thrown into prison either.

Knowing that, Elhokar wasn’t sure why he was standing in the bridgeman’s quarters waiting for him. He should go back to the palace, but he had no idea how to deal with what had just happened to him. Kaladin Stormblessed seemed like the only person who might be able to help. There had always been something not quite normal about him, even before Adolin had sworn up and down that the bridgeman had somehow healed from a Shardblade wound during the Assassin’s attack.

“Your Majesty?” a voice asked just as Elhokar was starting to wonder if the bridgeman was ever going to return.

“Ah,” Elhokar said, turning around. “Bridgeman. This is really all that Dalinar assigns one of his officers? That man. He expects everyone to live with his own austerity. It is as if he’s completely forgotten how to enjoy himself.”

Kaladin and Moash exchanged an obviously judging look and Elhokar hoped he wasn’t turning red. He didn’t really care what kind of quarters Dalinar had given Kaladin, he had just wanted to say something to cover up the awkwardness and to keep from getting carried away thinking about how much this man must hate him. Obviously, he’d just made things worse. Again.

He tried again, “I was told you were too weak to make the trip to see me. I see that might not be the case.” Also bad. He winced internally. Can’t you say anything right?

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty,” Kaladin replied. “I’m not well, but I walk the camp each day to rebuild my strength. I feared that my weakness and appearance might be offensive to the Throne.”

“You’ve learned to speak politically, I see,” Elhokar loathed political-speak. It made it much too easy to read between the lines and think the speaker hated you, though, to be fair, most people did hate the people they used political-speak on. “The truth is that my command is meaningless, even to a darkeyes. I no longer have authority in the eyes of men.”

Storms, that was way to honest. He should never have come here. He was panicky, exhausted and just a little too drunk to make good decisions about what to say. He should have waited until he could hold his tongue.

“Out, you other two,” he ordered Moash and Taka. “I’d speak to this man alone.” At least this way he’d only humiliate himself in front of Kaladin.

When Moash and Taka were gone, Elhokar tried to figure out what to say. He hadn’t even know what he’d have said if Kaladin had come to the palace, and he wasn’t entirely sure what had driven him to come here today.

“How did you know how to be a hero?” he blurted out.

The question surprised the bridgeman and it surprised Elhokar for a second too, but only for a second. He was supposed to be a Knight Radiant. How was he supposed to do that if he didn’t know how to be a hero?

Kaladin said something inane about luck and then Elhokar was talking again. He was rambling about how he was always failing at being king and disappointing everyone. He’d never been this honest to anyone other than Jasnah and Shadow, and he could tell that he was making Kaladin uncomfortable. Finally Elhokar managed to rein in the torrent of words and cursed himself for coming here. He was in the exact wrong frame of mind for this.

“I want to be a king like my father was,” he finished. “I want to lead men, and I want them to respect me.”

“I don’t…” Kaladin said. “I don’t know if that’s possible, Your Majesty.”

Elhokar held himself very still. “Do you think me a bad king, bridgeman?” he asked slowly once he’d regained the ability to speak.

“Yes,” Kaladin said.

He had the honestly, the decency, to look Elhokar in the eye as he said it and some very small part of Elhokar was grateful for that even as hearing someone say exactly what he’d feared people believed about him for most of his life tore him apart inside. He tried to balance the full soul-crushing weight of Kaladin’s words where it wouldn’t destroy anything major until he was safely alone.

“Well,” he said because he needed to say something to make it seem like that word hadn’t hurt. Gavilar would have just let the comment roll off and then magically it would have turned into ammunition he could use. Dalinar would have simply killed anyone who insulted him. Elhokar could do neither. All he could do was hang on and hope Kaladin couldn’t see how that little word was going to destroy him. “I did ask. I merely have to win you over as well. I will figure this out. I will be a king to be remembered.” That sounded confident, right? Or did it just sound pathetic? He couldn’t decide.

“Or you could do what is best for Alethkar and step down,” Kaladin said, still brutally honest.

That almost broke Elhokar’s precious wall of calm. “Do not overstep yourself, bridgeman,” he snapped. “I should never have come here.”

“I agree,” Kaladin said, coolly but without a hint of malice.

Elhokar fled. He did not mention the strange place full of beads.

~~~~

After returning from the bridgemen’s barracks, Elhokar headed directly for his chambers. He tried without success to ignore the presence of the other guards, but it was hard. They were whispering and shooting each other looks behind his back. Every once and a while he heard what they were saying, whispers of the same things Kaladin had said. They all thought he was a terrible king who should step down. They all thought Dalinar would be better off in charge.

Perhaps they were right. Who was to say that if Gavilar and Navani hadn’t had another son that child wouldn’t have become king? Perhaps if Gavilar had been able to see the true depths of his son’s weakness and cowardice he would have made Dalinar heir. Elhokar had always assumed that his life would be better if Gavilar had survived but perhaps then his life would have ended in a convenient accident to get rid of an unworthy heir to the throne.

The guards would not stop whispering. It was driving Elhokar mad. He knew he was unfit. He knew that he was failing. Why did they have to rub his face in it?

By the time they reached his chambers he was shaking so badly he could barely stand. He pulled the door open by himself and leaned against it. What did it matter if he looked weak when everyone already knew he was?

“Stay out here,” he told Moash and Taka. His voice was shaking and he hated it. He hated himself.

“But--Your Majesty--” Moash said. “How are we supposed to protect you if we can’t see you?” His tone of voice sounded almost mocking but surely Elhokar was just imagining that.

“I don’t care,” Elhokar growled. “Stay out of my sight.” Then he forced himself into his chambers and slammed the door behind him.

He stumbled across the room and poured a goblet of violet wine. He spilled a not inconsiderable amount all over the table, but he didn’t care. He practically dumped the contents of the goblet down his throat and poured another and then another.

Shadow buzzed sharply. At some point she’s transferred from his shoulder to the table. Though she had no face he got the distinct feeling that she was judging him with a raised eyebrow. “What?” He asked.

“I wish you wouldn’t drink so much,” Shadow said. “Do you feel better about yourself when you do?”

“Does it matter?” Elhokar snapped.

“You don’t need to do this,” Shadow said. “You could do great things if you just tried.”

“Haven’t you been listening?” Elhokar asked. “The only great thing I could do is get out Dalinar’s way.” He downed another swallow of wine.

“Never,” Shadow snarled. “You must never let that man gain any more power than he currently has.”

“But I’m failing,” Elhokar said choking back a sob. “You heard them. They all know it.”

“Then you need to keep trying,” Shadow said. “And if you fail again you need to try again. You are a Knight Radiant; you cannot lie down and let people take everything from you.”

“Where are you pulling these delusions out of?” Elhokar finished off the goblet. “I’m not a Knight Radiant. Amaram is the leader of the Knights Radiant--or he was, at least--and no one would ever let me join magic powers or no magic powers.”

“I chose you not Amaram,” Shadow snarled. “Do you insult me by suggesting that I didn’t know what I was doing?”

“You don’t remember much about before you came here!” Elhokar shot back. He was shouting, but he found he didn’t particularly care if the guards heard. “How do you know that you knew what you were doing?”

“I knew what I was doing,” Shadow said sharply. “I remember enough to know that I knew.”

Elhokar snorted and turned away from her. He went to refill his goblet, then just tossed it aside and drank directly from the bottle. The violet wine burned like fire going down, but he didn’t care, he even enjoyed it.

“Elhokar,” Shadow said, very quietly, almost like she was afraid to set him off again. “Regardless of everything, you really shouldn’t be drinking tonight. Something bad is going to happen. It’s not safe.”

“I don’t care,” Elhokar said and took another swig from the bottle.

#the stormlight archive #stormlight archive #words of radiance #elhokar kholin #dalinar kholin #original spren character #kaladin stormblessed #moash #elhokar kholin has social anxiety #elhokar needs a hug #things are not going well #canon divergent au #I promise this will actually manage to diverge in part four #emjenenla #Emjen writes #tw: domestic violence #tw: self loathing

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kainekron · 2 years

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list of things to ask Brandon Sanderson if I ever get a chance

1. can a Nicroboost affect other types of magic and can durluimn do the same?

2. can multiple Kandra control a very large body like an elephant

3. hoid once said he was born as "words on a page" does this mean he is the product of an arranged marriage? as in was he stipulated on a contract at some point and stole himself? [reference to this comment on reddit]

4. does playing the flute have any thematic or magical significance in the cosmere: because all of the people who are predominant characters and play the flute all fall into morally grey to dark so it just feels like it's important

5. do you intentionally start blinding moash more and more throughout the series?

6. can a dead blade link up with an occupied ruby like one with a flame spren or stormlight in it and would that effect anything?

7. does opening up a perpendicularity on an uninhabited planet make it gain a subastral?

8. could they have stuck jezrien's soul back into a body through hemalurgy

9. what Original shard holders are you planning on using as the main Cast for dragon steel?

10. can Edgedancers and Dustbringers use Abrasion to increase friction, also will we get more dustbringers in book 5?

11. can Living blades form into mechanical contraptions like levers or locks?

12. what cosmere character would have the easiest time reaching the 5th ideal, and in which order?

13. do the sleepless have any Shard blades or plates of their own?

14. does Elendle have Metal-born specific sports?

15. has Hoid ever bumped into someone pretending to be Hoid?

16. Does Zellion like instant noodles?

17. can a Skaze bond a person the same as a Seon?

18. who would you say is the freest person in the cosmere?

19. could Raoden have united the Alethi high princes in the same time frame dalinar had?

20. on the voidbinding chart bondsmiths and truthwatchers are not attached to any surges. why?

21. how much help would Steris have been in solving the diagram?

22. can you give us other types of aether spores I assume their was a type that glowed that was part of the flare

23. what is Khriss's opinion on the existence of bone spores

24. who was hoid telling the story too

25. Is a rubik's cube and other puzzles more feminine or masculine to Vorin culture

26. do you do any specific research/worldbuilding on your flora

27. what elements are the crimson spores

28. if Re-Shephir had bonded shallan like she wanted would Shallan have become a midnight Aether born

29. is Maben one of the members of the diagram the kandra?

30. Does Kelsier still have a spiritual aspect?

31. is Zahel being affected by the use of stormlight instead of breath?

32. Glys Tumi and the other enlightened spren were dead eyes right?

33. what do the people of era 2 use as fuel from the fossil that Vasher showed Kal I got the notion that it most worlds of the cosmere haven't had the time to develop that kind of stuff so is it artificial like inedible talo oil? or did harmony use magic to give them petroleum? [answer]

#cosmere #brandon sanderson #mistborn #cosmere spoilers #the stormlight archive #stormlight archive #questions for a spoiler stream #dustbringers #edgedancers #knights radiant #Kandra #bondsmith #i'll add more later #probably #ssp1 #ssp1 spoilers #tress of the emerald sea

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kingjasnah · 4 years

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yes the shallan chasm scene is horrendous yes she should not have been able to say "ugh kaladin are you really mad that the way you were born determines ur social class 🙄 how original" yes she does it again in oathbringer when adolin is working through his own prejudice like "oh just cause people say women can't fight doesn't mean it's true cause people say darkeyes can't lead and look at kaladin" by getting annoyed that he equates women (specifically her) to peasants BUT. but. she DOES kinda pay for it at least later that book. legit if shallan had been used to seeing darkeyes as people instead of things to be saved her kholinar plot wouldn't have happened. she got duped because she was playacting a story and she had no idea that the citizens she was giving food too were anything more than characters she could robin hood at. i know when she finds out they were acting on the pain of death she has that big loss of confidence and chalks it up to her general naviete but it was specifically her unwillingness to engage with people of a lower class in the past that fucked her over and because i do love her i want to believe she learned from that experience but the lack of textual confirmation that it was a class thing and the fact that we haven't seen her interact with anyone but spren and radiants since means im unable to put another tick mark in the 'win for character development' column.

#sorry lmao this is long and one block of text but u know #shallan davar

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imonlyhereforcrem · 3 years

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I’VE DONE IT. I’VE STORMING DONE IT.

Here is a FULL analysis of swear words spoken in Rhythm of War, the fourth book in Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archives series.

First, a bit about my methodology.

Create a Python script to find lines containing swear words and move those lines into a new file

Go brain dead copy-pasting lines of the book into separate documents for each character. For characters that don’t have a POV chapter, they went into a document named “Other” if they’re human, “Spren” if they’re spren, and “Parsh” if they’re Parsh. Chapter breaks are preserved in these documents.

Create a Bash script to iterate the Python script across all the files

This script also counts the words in the original character files and puts that number at the end of the new files for that character

Question why I didn’t try particularly hard to automate Step 2

Read the new files created by the Python script to filter out uses of words that aren’t actually swears. I’ve read the word “storm” in various forms so...many...times...

Put the final counts of swear words by character per chapter in a Google Sheet document and create graphs

Also, calculate the proportion of swear words to all words spoken and thought

Incrementally post about this on Tumblr to get little boosts of seratonin and validation that other people find this interesting.

Gaze at the beauty of my graphs

Let’s get into the analysis:

Unsurprisingly, Kaladin voices more swears than any other character (21% of all swears are his). It makes sense since he’s the most main character of the main cast. However, his rate of swearing is pretty average (0.09%). His mother Hesina actually swears twice as often (0.2%), although she is going through some stuff and is fighting with Lirin a fair amount in this book.

Teft swears the most frequently at a rate of 0.6%. Lift is close behind with a rate of 0.57%. These two characters are tied for most swears spoken in a single chapter (16).

Surprisingly, Navani swears more than Dalinar (11.7% vs 7.4%). However, this is likely due to her having more of the spotlight in this book. Navani swears at a lower rate than Dalinar (0.07% vs 0.1%), but she has overall more words (~61927 vs ~27622).

What’s very interesting is the swearing by our Parsh sisters, Venli and Eshonai. It’s very little, but they still swear using “storms”. Part of this can be explained by the same logic as how we might see the word “dozen” even though Rosharans don’t count by groups of twelve; we the readers understand it as a swear word, so it’s used in that context even if it doesn’t make sense for that word to be there. Part of this, though, might also be explained within the text as Eshonai and Venli swear with “storms” only after contact with humans. The only other Parsh that swear are Rlain and Singers that were once in slaveform serving in Alethkar who have been raised around the Alethi language. No Fused swear with words, although they certainly use the Rhythms to evoke the same vibe.

And, well, that’s what I’ve got! Will I do the rest of the books? Maybe. Probably. My hours at work just got cut so I’ll more time to work on this. Silver linings(?).

#stormlight archive #stormlight #stormlight shitpost #crempost #cosmere shitpost #cosmere #brandon sanderson #unnecessary statistics #book statistics #please look at this #I worked hard on it #look at my GRAPHS #they have COLORS #COLOR CODED by CHARACTER

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benkinsky · 4 years

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I love obsessing over stuff and I love fictional characters. And so it happened that I just recently remembered a little thing we once did in literature class. And I thought that right now is an excellent time to return to that. Here’s to a a few and many more of all the cool characters I got to know since I last wrote one of these.

I am Adolin Kholin, upbeat and happy, every bit as skilled as his father while having a heart as big as the old man had to grow old to find in himself.

I am Bill Cipher, triangle and top hat, whose hand you shouldn’t shake.

I am Calcifer, the burning heart that moves a castle, who realizes that being a fire is pointless if you have noone to warm.

I am Dana Cardinal, who befriended the masked army in the desert otherworld and came back to become Mayor.

I am Elend Venture, who had to become what he always hoped would come to him. Elend Venture, who tries to wear white in a world that rains ash on him.

I am Finn the Human, who put the Adventure in Adventure Time. And I am Fern, made of grass and flowers.

I am the Glow Cloud. ALL HAIL!

I am Hope, the one thing you cannot kill (and the Deliveryman.)

I am Illaoi, whose god cares about motion and not about motive.

I am Jacobi, an amazing friend to the other ruthless killers he worked with.

I am Karsa Orlong, who kills gods that bark to loud.

I am Lestibournes, whose only power is to see more as the world falls to ruin around him.

I am Commander Renée Minkowksi, who harpoons a megalomaniac in space.

I am Neville Longbottom, Gryffindor’s heir as much as the Chosen one.

I am Nicola Orsinov, the dancing mannequin, trying to make the world a stranger place.

I am Sweet P, lich made child, who walks Ooo a thousand years in the future.

I am Quick Ben, the man with seven souls who twice escaped a shadow god.

I am Renarin Kholin, who bonded a corrupted spren.

I am Stephanie Edgley, the Mirror Image who made herself a real soul. Precious Stephanie, who wanted to do the right thing as the world coyed around its destroyer.

I am Tulip, who befriended two conductors of an infinite train.

I am Uli Da, who I’m convinced will have a successor.

I am Vin, flying above the mist, the girl who killed god.

I am Warbreaker, breathtaking, talking to a sword.

I am You, whose story you heard on the radio.

I am Zackariah Webb, jumping around through time in a case he doesn’t even know he’s hired a detective for yet.

Basically, it was an alphabet of characters. Could be ones you identify with if you want that, but I don’t know if I’ll do that. Let’s see if this sentence is still there for you to read once I post this thing. Not sure if this is supposed to rhyme, I think there was an original, if anyone knows it, lmk. I think it’s in german

Oh, and Mutuals absolutely do reblog this with your own versions please I wanna see how many I know and I want to hear which ones you know too!

#Cosmere #Stormlight Archive #Mistborn #Gravity Falls #Infinity Train #Dirk Gently #Skulduggery pleasant #malazan book of the fallen #Adventure Time #wolf 359 #Welcome to Nightvale #The Magnus Archives #howl's moving castle #League of legends

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goattypegirl · 4 years

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It's late and my brain is fried, but I'm thinking about Dalinar and his arc in Rhythm of War. I should say, I read through RoW when it came out over the course of a few days, and my memory's shitty, so I'm probably forgetting stuff lmao.

Basically, I think Dalinar's chapters in Rhythm of War were kind of... passive, if that makes sense. A lot of it is him acting as an observer of other's actions. Jasnah and Wit fight asshole highprince. Renarin shows off his powers. Ishar shows off *his* powers. Rayse is fucked up (what was up with that, actually?) and negotiates a contract... which was written up by Wit.

Of course, it makes sense. Dalinar was the focus character last book, and there's a whole ton going on in RoW, not everyone can have equal screen time. But... I feel like we don't see enough of the impact Oathbringer had. The climax of Oathbringer is Dalinar swearing to be a better person, to unite people, to take responsibility for what he had done. So, what does that look like? How is he facing the consequences of killing his wife, for his alcoholism, for his years of bloodshed and conquest and imperialism? Those are big, fucking complicated questions with no easy answer, and, yeah, admitting what you did is the first step, but what's the next one? There's a whole ass apocalypse going on, but... what happens after that? Dalinar knows they can't go back to the status quo, both logistically and *morally* speaking, right? We get beats of Adolin saying he can't forgive his father for what he did, and of the Mink pointing out Dalinar and Alethkar's war crimes, but that can't be all we get, right?

Now, let's talk next book. i can't remember the exact quote, but I seem to recall Dalinar thinking about how, huh, maybe one dude *shouldnt* be in charge of everything, and maybe people having representation in government is a good thing? But then he tells Odium oh yeah I'm obviously going to nominate myself as humanity's champion, duh. It's dissonant enough that it feels intentional, that it's going to backfire in the next book. And speaking of which, I checked the Coppermind to find Dalinar's oaths, and apparently book 5 was originally drafted as Dalinar's, so there are going to be some big scenes with him. So, fingers crossed?

(Now it's a shitty, complicated situation that doesn't have any obvious good solutions, but I do hope Stormlight ends on a happy (and satisfying) note for lighteyes and darkeyes, humans and singers, radiant and fused, and spren and mortals. Though to be honest... that's probably unrealistic.)

(Again, also my memory is shit and I basically binge read RoW in a few days so if there's something I'm missing please let me know!)

#stormlight archive #rhythm of war spoilers #discourse #just in case?#dalinar kholin

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moiraineswife · 4 years

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To Care - A Stormlight Fic

*clears throat* SPOILERS. RHYTHM OF WAR SPOILERS. HERE. THERE. EVERYWHERE IN THIS POST. BANISH IT FROM YOUR SIGHT.

Okay.

Fic time:

Title: To Care

Summary: Set towards the end of Rhythm of War. Wit’s POV. This is a fic of three parts, really. The first part involves Wit's internal monologue on how fabulous Jasnah is. The second part involves Wit and Ivory's dialogue of how fabulous Jasnah is. The third part involves Wit impressing on Jasnah how fabulous she is. AKA: Jasnah falls asleep for five minutes, Wit gets incredibly soft, Ivory becomes slightly protective, and we all agree Jasnah is the best thing since sliced bread.

Teaser: It surprised him how truly and deeply fond he felt of her, looking down at her now.

It had been quite a few centuries now since he’d allowed himself to enter into such a dalliance. Although this was dallying into a far stronger alliance between the two of them than that.

That may be cause for concern, but looking at her now, it was hard to feel concern for anything.

She was truly wondrous. All people were their own flavour of unique experience, but they were not always a good one. Jasnah Kholin had excelled in this area, as in so many others, and was nothing short of exquisite.

Link: ao3

Commission Link: Have me write other cosmere characters

Jasnah looked younger when she slept. Such was a cliche, and though he knew it was inevitable, as after so much of human history no idea could truly be original any more, he did try to avoid the more frequently used ones.

This was just an idle thought, however, not required to do any real work in thrilling or entertaining. Just for him. In this small, quiet moment, in a war camp in Emul, it was precisely what he needed to hear. How convenient that his thoughts were always there to think the things he needed to.

Gently, he brushed the hair away from her face, admiring the softened lines of it. She was truly a beautiful woman. The Shard that had crafted her ancestors way back when ought to feel proud of themselves. She was a true masterwork.

It surprised him how truly and deeply fond he felt of her, looking down at her now.

Head pillowed on an enormously thick book she had been studying, which felt appropriate. Her fingers flexed slightly, their tips brushing over the lines of text, as if she could still feel them, even in dreams. The spiky lines like heartbeat readouts elsewhere in the Cosmere. The life of its author still extended in these dry pages and thin lines.

It had been quite a few centuries now since he’d allowed himself to enter into such a dalliance. Although this was dallying into a far stronger alliance between the two of them than that. That may be cause for concern, but looking at her now, it was hard to feel concern for anything.

He had a deep love for humanity. It would not have been possible to continue doing as he did had he not. The weight of it all would have torn him down millenia ago had he not always had the good hearts of people like Jasnah Kholin to help buoy him up and support him.

And she did have a good heart. Far too few people saw that in her. They saw only the carefully sculpted mask she had crafted for herself over time. They heard her words, and read her analysis and essays, but they did not see what drove them, what drove her.

Jasnah Kholin was a good woman, and she deserved far better than him.

It was selfish, this thing he had embarked upon with her. It was always selfish, whenever he took partners. There was always somewhere else he needed to be, something else that would have to be more important to him.

Jasnah seemed to understand that, so far. She had asked, naturally, and he had deflected her. That had irritated her, but in a way that only made her eager for more. Secrets were to Jasnah Kholin as flesh and blood were to others. They made her, gave her substance, something to sink the teeth into.

Lately, she had merely requesting that he inform her in advance if he was about to disappear on one of his little trips, so she might set aside time to write out her own insults for the meetings she had the next day.

Truly delightful.

She was captivating, fiercely intelligent, with a wit near as sharp as his own, barely in need of him at all at court. Or in general, really.

She had taken eagerly to the information he had provided on other planets, Realmatic Theory, and other staples of the Cosmere that most took some time to adjust to.

Within a few days, she’d been theorising with him, helping him compose letters to the other Shards, and asking deep, insightful questions that had frankly amazed him. Which was difficult to do at his point.

Spectacular.

She’d talked of accompanying him, if he would permit it. Increasingly he was thinking that he would. He had rarely done so in the past. It complicated the already complicated process of worldhopping. But for her...For her he might just make the exception.

Not now, of course, she’d said firmly, with Roshar in such peril. But afterwards. If this world was saved, and she managed to survive that process. Once Alethkar had a more democratic system of rule in place that meant she was no longer needed, she wanted to go with him.

He had opened up a whole new galaxy of other worlds, cultures, magics, and peoples to her. Instead of being overwhelmed, she had just seen it as another area for her to study and explore and learn about.

The thrill in her eyes when he talked of different worlds, the sheer joy he could see just behind the veil of composure shielding her violet eyes...A man could become addicted to that

His fingers rested gently on her head, watching her in her peace. She deserved these moments of respite. Would that the Cosmere be willing to grant her them more often.

No nightmares for now it seemed. She tried to hide them from him when they happened, not yet trusting him to seek comfort and reassurance from. Ivory did that for her.

He had not let on that her efforts to keep him in the dark had been anything other than successful. It would only serve to upset her further, and he had no wish to do that. She had enough pressure on her as it was.

This woman had been burned, burned nearly away to nothing, by those she had loved and trusted in the past. It would take her time to fully trust him. If she ever could. He would be neither surprised, nor offended, if she was no longer capable of fully trusting him. Or, indeed, anyone.

Save Ivory, of course.

As if summoned by this thought, Ivory changed his form, growing to a visible size, standing on the back of Jasah’s chair, watching him with impenetrable eyes, arms folded.

“I mean her no harm, my friend,” Wit said lightly.

That was true. He did not mean her harm. He never meant anyone harm. But there were times when it was necessary. Terrible, but necessary.

The Cosmere could be a cruel, harsh place, and no-one knew that better than him.

No-one knew better, either, that being prevented from physically hurting someone, had not limited his capacity for causing pain. Even to those he loved. Especially to them.

Wounds to the body would, if given the proper time and motivation, heal themselves. Wounds to the heart, and the soul, though? Well, no force in the Cosmere he knew of had yet found a way to repair that damage.

Jasnah herself was proof of that. She hid her scars well, but he knew they lingered.

“I know that this is,” Ivory said simply, in that odd clipped way of the inkspren, “But she has asked that I watch over her when she sleeps. And I do this for her. Always.”

“You do it very well,” Wit said, with a small bow.

He doubted any understood the depth of the bond Jasnah shared with Ivory. He didn’t think even she realised precisely what it meant to her. And wouldn’t unless it were taken away. He hoped, which he was not often in the business of doing these days, she never found out.

“She fears not what is,” Ivory said brusquely, with an air that implied he felt he had to explain Jasnah, which was oddly endearing, "But what might.”

Wit nodded, fingers carding gently through Jasnah’s soft black hair again, “She is wise,” he said, quietly, “And cautious.”

“She is afraid,” Ivory returned bluntly.

As far as whimsical conversation partners went, even Design was better than an inkspren.

He considered that. A hasty assessment, perhaps. Her own personal design seemed to revolve around vexing him in every way imaginable. At least Ivory made an effort. And wasn’t a monster.

“Does she fear me?” Wit asked, curious.

Ivory studied him for a long moment, expression inscrutable. Even for a spren.

“No,” he said, finally, “Though only recently is this not,” he added, and Wit nodded.

“She’s decided to trust me, then?” he asked quietly, thinking how much harder this answer might make it to pull the pin on the grenade Roshar may yet have to be to protect the rest of the Cosmere.

“No,” Ivory said, “Not this. She has decided to allow you close enough so that she may determine if you are fully worthy of trust.”

Wit nodded again, considering that, “She is a very wise woman,” he said, and Ivory nodded firmly in agreement.

Neither added that her wisdom had come at a terrible price.

Wit cocked his head, struck by a thought, and said, “And you, Ivory? Do you trust me? You are bonded to her, your opinion on this matters almost as much to me as her own.”

Again Ivory studied him with that inscrutable obsidian face of his. In an uncharacteristic move, he allowed his shape to grow to his full size, standing eye to eye with Wit. It was a strangely disconcerting, even threatening gesture. He so rarely even revealed himself to any but Jasnah.

“Your intentions for her, they are,” Ivory said, staring directly into his eyes.

Inkspren often emphasised the last word of a phrase, the certain intonation of which gave all kinds of meaning. Unfortunately humans were not good at recognising these things. Usually.

“They are,” Wit agreed.

“You seek your own bond with her,” Ivory said, crossing his arms, “A human bond. This is not like the Radiant bond. It is less. But still close. Close enough to burn, to hurt, to rip.”

Wit nodded, and the spren stared at him again.

“She is, to me,” he said quietly, and his voice became strangely much more human, much more emotional than Wit had ever heard from one of his kind before.

“Importance. She has much importance to me,” he went on, apparently realising he needed to clarify that last sentiment.

He frowned in his odd way, all sharp lines and harsh gestures.

“It was not supposed to be so,” he said.

His eyes drifted back down to Jasnah, expression softening. As much as it could, on an inkspren.

“The warnings were, from my kind, and many others. Humans were dangerous. Not to be trusted. She would destroy me, it was known. I tried to keep a distance. To not care. To be as spren. No passion. No feeling. These are things of men. If she were to kill me, I would make it hurt less, by not caring.”

“How did that work out for you, Ivory?” Wit asked, the corners of his lips quirking up in a half-smile.

“It did not,” Ivory replied flatly, “She is special,” he said, voice quiet again as he rested his fingers gently on her head, a gesture that was almost affectionate. “Special to me. Special to Roshar. Special.” He looked up at Wit and said, with intensity, “She should be special to you, also.”

“She is,” Wit said, with unreserved sincerity.

Ivory nodded sharply, “This is right,” he said. “She is lonely, I know this,” he continued, words more careful now, “Perhaps I should not tell you. But this is something you know already.”

The words were not a question. Inkspren did not do questions, on the whole. They made statements and if they were incorrect, they expected you to simply adjust your reality to make them correct, rather than point out their potential flaw.

“She wants for someone who can understand her. A companion. A bond. A human bond,” he said. “I am important to her. This is. But I am spren. I cannot do for her as you can. This is well. This is good.”

He met Wit’s eyes again, and there was an almost imperceptible shift in his posture, in his bearing. It became protective, almost offensive, with how he positioned himself between Jasnah and Wit.

“I also cannot hurt her as you can,” he said softly, “And you can. She is like spren, but she is not. I understand now,” he looked up at Wit again, and there was warning in his voice this time as he repeated once more, “She is important. She is.”

Well. Wit had been threatened, warned, chased, yelled at, punched, stabbed, and even shot at by those who sought to impress upon him what they thought of his potential to harm their loved ones which he had taken into his bed and, less frequently, his heart.

This was the first time he’d been warned off by a splinter of the divine powers of creation. It was a rather persuasive argument, all things considered. Definitely top five, in his estimation, and in this case his estimation was the only estimation, so top five it was.

“It happens,” Wit said quietly, stepping over to the easy chair he’d been lounging on and picking up the soft blanket strewn across it, “That I agree with you wholeheartedly, Ivory.”

The spren had shrunk back to his diminutive form again, so when he turned, he was apparently addressing empty air. That was fine. He’d given many a performance to the empty air before, and it had always been a most satisfactory audience. Very low rates of heckling.

“She is very important,” he said, gently draping the blanket around her.

He sighed, watching Jasnah as she shifted slightly in her sleep, face creasing for a moment, before she settled again.

“And I was not supposed to care, either,” he murmured, more to himself than Ivory. “Emotions are not very good at doing as they’re supposed to, however, and they never have been. You’d have thought, after all this time, I’d be able to make them do as I please, but no. They have a will entirely their own. Particularly when it concerns Jasnah Kholin.”

He shook his head, and, though he could no longer see it, imagined Ivory’s stiff nod of affirmation at that.

“I never intended it. Who could have imagined, even I? When I met her stumbling out of her perpendicularity somewhere so far from civilisation or thought the cartographers hadn’t even bothered to name it, I never thought that something like this was in our future." He glanced up at Ivory and smiled slightly, “Especially when she pointed you as a shardblade at my throat.”

Feeling. True feeling. It had been some time since he'd allowed himself to become emotionally tangled with another. And never on a system as on the brink as Roshar. But. Well. Jasnah was Jasnah. They should really make that an official Alethi idiom.

"Much like your good self I found that I did. And I do. What a damnable woman,” he added, fondly, tucking the edges of the blanket around her.

Jasnah stirred as he did so, then flinched and sat up too suddenly, the blanket falling away. He took a step back, to avoid crowding her, and raised his hands,

“Fear not!” he cried, in dramatic tones, “‘Tis only I! Your trusty companion Wit!”

She sighed, rubbing her temples, which was a common response to him.

These people had no sense of theatre on this planet. He’d have to found the appropriate guild. If Roshar survived long enough, that was, it’d be his top priority. The brave new world would need theatre if it were to survive with any level of decency.

“How long was I asleep?” she asked, looking around blearily for the clock Navani had sent her.

Wonderful woman, truly, not least because she had produced Jasnah. And fabulous though her latest fabrials were, giving Jasnah a clock so she could more accurately stress about precisely how many minutes per day she wasted doing things like ‘eating’ and ‘breathing’ had perhaps not been the wisest thing she’d ever done.

Wit had now purposefully lost or broken three of the damn things, but she just wouldn’t take the hint and kept sending them more.

“Not long enough,” he returned, stepping deftly to the side and shoving the clock fabrial off the desk and onto the floor, covering the thump it made with a cough.

Ivory frowned slightly at him, at a visible size again on Jasnah’s desk. Wit shrugged and widened his eyes innocently. Ivory said nothing.

Always knew I liked that spren, he thought, with a smirk.

Jasnah glowered at him. She did have an excellent glower. He’d have to try and encourage her to sit for a portrait of it at some point. Scholars in the future could learn so much by studying it.

“Wit,” she said, as though he was stupid.

Maybe he was. Provoking Jasnah Kholin was probably one of the top five ways to get yourself killed on Roshar. She ranked just behind chasmfiends. Her lack of mandibles really did a number on her statistics in that one.

It truly took a very special kind of person to know his vast wealth and knowledge of the Cosmere and still be able to speak to him with that kind of tone. It was excellent.

He grinned at her.

She just sighed, very heavily this time, and the weight of exhaustion seemed to crumple her as she said, tiredly, “What time is it?”

“Irrelevant,” he said simply, gathering up the blanket she had dropped, so rudely, to the floor in her haste to ensure he wasn’t a dangerous assassin come to murder her while she napped.

“Time is very relevant, Wit,” she said, frowning.

“Relative?” he said, lightly, “Why yes, I believe it is. In theory, at least. Relevant? Far less than you might think.”

“I think that it’s very relevant, Wit,” she said, not even pausing to appreciate his rather fantastic word play.

This situation was more dire than he’d first feared.

“I have meetings. If I don’t turn up on time I don’t think the other monarchs will accept ‘the time wasn’t relevant to me’ as an appropriate reason.”

“Peace, Jasnah,” he said gently, “It’s still late, you were barely asleep an hour.”

She relaxed visibly, then straightened in her seat and reached at once for her pen and notes.

Without looking at him again she said, “Good. Can you fetch me the scout reports of enemy troop movements? I need to consult them to properly formulate a strategy to present later today.”

“Jasnah,” he murmured, gently, laying a hand on her shoulder, “You need to sleep.”

“I believe I just did,” she replied flatly.

“For less than an hour.”

“Which was more than I should have allowed myself. I’m growing sloppy, indeed,” she said smoothly.

Damnable woman. It should not be permissible by law anywhere in the Cosmere to argue so well with him moments after waking up.

“Jasnah,” he said again, more firmly this time, stepping deliberately between her and the desk so she was forced to give him her full attention instead of continuing to make notes.

She glowered at him in a way that told him quite clearly she was strongly considering soulcasting him to smoke just to get him out of her way.

Well. Let her try. He could be just as damnable and frustrating as she could. More so, since he’d made a habit of it for quite a bit longer than she had.

“Who am I, Jasnah?” he asked, lightly.

“You’re Wit,” she replied, with a cold glare that told him she was not in the mood for his games.

“Quite correct!” he replied, in a perky tone he knew would vex her delightfully, “I am your Wit. I exist to provide wit to the throne of Alethkar. And that means that when you are being decidedly witless, it is my sworn duty to step in and help you.”

“I don’t need help, Wit,” she said, firmly.

Somewhere, wherever she happened to be frolicking at the moment, Design hummed in pleasure at that blatant lie.

“You haven’t slept in four days,” he told her, sternly, “The bags under your eyes are becoming quite pronounced, and that’s really hurting my attraction to you, don’t you know.”

“I have Stormlight, Wit,” she said, irritably, “I don’t need to sleep.”

“As a point of fact, my dear,” he replied calmly, steadily resisting her attempts to move him out of her way, “That’s blatantly untrue. And I know that you know this, as I heard you tell Sigzil yourself the other day when he was taking too many shifts on guard.

"Stormlight enhances your body. It allows you to push it beyond the normal limits and sustain that for a time. Eventually, however, no matter how much Stormlight you pour into yourself, you will snap from the pressure, and it will make a rather large mess that you won’t be able to fix by pouring more Investiture into it.”

She sighed, looking older than her years, and yet younger all at once. Lost. Almost helpless. And so, so exhausted.

He crouched down in front of her, putting himself at eye-level, and reached out to gently cup her cheek in his hand.

“You need to rest,” he told her quietly, stroking her cheek with his thumb, “You deserve to rest. You have done enough for now.”

She seemed to melt a little into his touch even as she deflated, all of her arrogant posturing lost to the storms that he knew raged inside her.

“I can’t, Wit,” she murmured, voice cracking slightly from fatigue and fear.

He smiled sadly and arched up to kiss her forehead, “You can,” he said, gently, “You shall. I will take care of anything you ask of me tonight in your stead. Whatever you wish to do with this time, I shall do it for you, while you sleep.”

He raised a finger, as a faint twinkle dared to flicker in her eyes, and he forestalled her protest.

“And if you refuse to sleep, I shall in turn refuse to do anything productive whatsoever. I will simply stand in this corner and recite Scadrian hymns until you are driven past the point of patience and forced to murder me. Which will be a real pest to deal with and mean a lot of extra paperwork. So by not sleeping you will, in fact, accomplish less than you would otherwise.”

She sighed heavily again and said, “You aren’t going to let this drop, are you?”

“Not even for a moment,” he replied, brightly.

She closed her eyes, then glanced down at her shoulder. A moment later, Ivory’s voice spoke, projected loudly enough for Wit to hear as well.

“I am in agreement with your Wit,” he said simply.

He always called him ‘your Wit’ which was oddly endearing.

“Humans need to sleep. This is, Jasnah. You know that this is.”

She groaned, rubbing her eyes, “I can’t argue with both of you, I-”

“Wondrous!” Wit exclaimed, interrupting her.

He sprang up then gently nudged her to rise and began undoing the buttons on her havah. She frowned at him, batting away his attentive fingers.

“I’m tired, Wit,” she said, irritably, “Not incompetent. I don’t need you to undress me.”

“Humour me, dearest one,” he said lightly, “Permit me this one duty so that I may retain illusions of my contributions to this partnership we have embarked upon together.”

“Your contributions amount to far more than your ability to undo buttons, Wit,” she said flatly, “If that was the only thing you’d been able to offer me I would never have put up with you for so long.”

That was strangely sweet. In a very Jasnah sort of way. Which was, of course, the best kind.

He smiled, and continued what he was doing, saying quietly, “I’m trying to teach you a very important lifeskill that you seem, as a byproduct of your own chronic over competence at everything you’ve ever attempted, to have completely missed out on.”

“Which is what?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

“How to relax for one storming minute, you impossible woman,” he said fondly, earning himself another truly magnificent glare.

In return, he kissed the tip of her nose. That only caused her to roll her eyes at him, but she did so with a slight smile, so he considered this a victory on his end.

She stood still, obviously grudgingly, with no expectation that this would work, but she allowed him to minister to her.

He did so, gently easing her from her havah, taking the time to massage her cramped, knotted muscles as he did so, relieving the tension from them, peppering light, affectionate kisses over her as he did so.

She had a great many areas of skill and knowledge, but it was clear she had no idea how to allow other people to take care of her.

She was a swift learner in this, as in most things, however, and within five minutes, she was pliant, and comfortable beneath his touch, her eyes closed, her expression more at peace once again.

He knew better than to suggest she bathe before sleeping. She had a strictly scheduled bath time in the mornings, and deviated from it only after battle or other, similar exertions. Or if he warned her of it in advance and gained her permission to be spontaneously romantic later that evening.

So he merely fetched her night gown from the closet and eased her into it, followed at once by her robe, which she wore each night. He knew it had hidden gems sewn into the hems to provide Stormlight for her in an emergency. Prudent, but a sad insight into what life had forced her to do in order to survive it.

He guided her to the bed and sat her down, then began to undo her braids, gently and expertly removing the pins and twists. As well he should be able to, given that he had put them up for her that morning.

Her shoulders slumped again, but this time in relaxation, rather than exhaustion, and he counted that as a small win. They needed those in these trying times.

“Thank you, Wit,” she murmured, sleepily, as he moved on to brushing out her long black hair. With fifty precise strokes, as it had been a long, tiring day for her.

He pressed a soft, tender kiss to the back of her neck and said nothing. Now as not the time for grandstanding and loud affirmations of his own brilliance. Those would wait until the morning, when she was rested enough to appreciate them.

Finally, he set aside his brush, peeled back the covers, and guided her to lie down. Then he settled in behind her, putting his arms around her and drawing her close.

She looked at him over her shoulder, frowning slightly, “I thought you said you intended to do the work I wanted to get done tonight, so that I could rest while still being prepared?”

“I did say that,” he agreed, “And I shall fulfil my promise to you. Once you’re firmly asleep. Until then, I still fear a relapse of your earlier stubborn behaviour, and must therefore snuggle you into submission.”

She rolled her eyes, but settled back down and didn’t protest further.

She liked cuddling with him. He’d determined that much. Though she wouldn’t allow them both to fall asleep this way. Once they started getting ready to drift off, on the rare occasion she did drift off, she would nudge him away. Apparently he moved in his sleep and this was irksome.

Her little quirks were all rather endearing to him. They made her her, for without them she would not be Jasnah, and he would not be nearly as fond of her.

“Make sure that you do fetch those scout reports,” she said, her voice already becoming thick with tiredness. “And draft a response for Queen Fen regarding the state of the war in Emul as it stands now. And-” she broke off, stifling a yawn, “And be sure to take some notes on the current strategy we’ve been using, I feel there is a way to improve it. And-”

She continued to mumble until sleep finally claimed her and dragged her away from her constant work and worries. He held her for a time afterwards, enjoying her warmth, the peaceful sound of her rhythmic breathing, the softening of her features as she fully relaxed.

Then he gently extracted himself from the embrace and set about doing what she had requested of him.

As he did so, he noticed Ivory settle into place on the headboard above where Jasnah slept, keeping watch over her. She had not asked him to do that. She did not have to. She knew that he would, and that was evidently enough for her.

He doubted she would have slept at all the past six years without the spren to watch over her.

Wit nodded to Ivory, and the spren nodded back, an understanding passing between them. Together, whatever else was happening, they would teach this woman how to let herself be cared for again.

***

#Jasnah Kholin #Hoid #Ivory #Stormlight Archive #Rhythm of War #Rhythm of War Spoilers #RoW Spoilers #stormlight fic #jasnah x wit #jasnah x wit fic #my fic #jasnah x ivory #listen every time i write ivory and jasnah in a fic together i cry SO HARD #HE'S A GOOD SPREN #AND HE /LOVES/ HER DAMMIT #we've had like 2 scenes of ivory in 4 books #and in one of them he's a sword #but i have absolutely extrapolated a whole entire personality and relationship from that #and both of them boil down to: jasnah kholin is wonderful and i'd die for her #which is coincidentally how i feel #honestly this fic could be retitled: taryn projects their intense love of jasnah onto wit and ivory and makes them talk abt it #it was very cathartic #i enjoyed it greatly #these two DESERVE the domestic fluff okay #i'd be lying if i said i wasn't going to post more at some point #and i won't lie to u #bc it will happen #i've already written it #long post

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peachdoxie · 4 years

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Aliens? Please explain

If you’re reading this, beware of MAJOR SPOILERS for the entirety of the Stormlight Archive so far, and brace yourselves for a massive infodump. Also I tried to put this under a read more but for whatever reason tumblr put it inside the ask itself.

Yes, there are many aliens or descendants of aliens in the Stormlight Archive. First, though, a bit of an astronomy lesson...

Stormlight takes place in a dwarf galaxy, with a series of planets orbiting different stars. This is known as the “cosmere,” Some of these planets are known as Shardworlds, meaning they have been Invested with magic energy (called Investiture), which manifests differently from Shardworld to Shardworld.

The cosmere is comprised of three Realms: the Physical Realm, the Cognitive Realm, and the Spiritual Realm. The Physical Realm is much like ours, though it has magic in it. The Cognitive Realm is the Realm of thoughts and minds, where ideas - how something thinks of itself - exist in pseudo-corporal forms (the exact metaphysics is unknown). The Spiritual Realm is the Realm of souls and how they Connect to each other. Note: everything has a soul, even non-living things. All three Realms exist universally in the Invested parts of the cosmere.

The Cognitive Realm is the most important of the three Realms in this discussion. While the Cognitive Realm roughly maps to the Physical Realm, distances aren’t quite the same, meaning that some things that are physically far apart are closer together in the Cognitive Realm. Some things have more cognitive presence than others (think humans vs a rock) and this corresponds to the size of their manifestation in the Cognitive Realm. Since there is very little cognitive presence in outer space, due to it being a vacuum, planets end up very close to each other in the Cognitive Realm.

It is possible for a person to transition between the three Realms at certain spots, called Perpendicularities, provided that that person is aware of how the cosmere works and/or is Invested enough to transition between Realms on their own. From here, they can “physically” navigate through the Cognitive Realm, using the shortened distances between planets as a way to “worldhop.” People who worldhop are called worldhoppers. Worldhoppers are the cosmere equivalent of extraterrestrial life.

Every book in the four main cosmere worlds - Stormlight, Mistborn, Elantris, and Warbreaker - have featured at least one worldhopper, though you have to be rather cosmere-aware to spot him sometimes (I’ll give you a hint: he often takes the form of a beggar or storyteller, and thinks himself very witty...). In Stormlight, which takes place on the planet Roshar - also the name of its only continent - there have been at least 1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...plus another 10.............a lot. Big things are happening on Roshar, cosmere-wise, and a lot of people are making their way there, mostly for unknown reasons.

But this is in present-day Roshar, and not actually that big of a spoiler. This information is all part of the behind-the-scenes story of the cosmere that we get glimpses of through the various books and short stories. So what’s up with the big plot twist that most of the characters from Stormlight are descended from worldhoppers, aka aliens?

Well, for that we need to turn to some theology: specifically, Vorin theology, the main church in eastern Roshar that many of our beloved Alethis follow (or outright reject, in one case). Vorinism’s basic cosmology is as follows:

Humans once lived in the Tranquiline Halls, a world of peace.

The Voidbringers came from Damnation and drove them out to Roshar.

The ten Heralds fight the Voidbringers during each of the Desolations, a time of cataclysmic destruction that wipes out nearly all of humanity. They are accompanied by the Knights Radiant: normal people given the ability to Surgebind, or the ability to manipulate Roshar’s Investiture.

In Ahariatiam, the Last Desolation, the Heralds finally forced the Voidbringers back into the Transquiline Halls, where to this day the Heralds continue the fight against them.

Humans, when they die, return to the Tranquiline Halls. If they excelled in their Callings - what they are best at and devote themselves to developing - they will join the Heralds in their fight against the Voidbringers. Normal people just sleep, waiting the day when the battle is over.

The exact nature of the Tranquiline Halls is never explained, nor how the humans were expelled by the Voidbringers, but since it’s where human souls return after they die, it’s not a physical place so much as a metaphysical place. It’s like Heaven on earth. It’s not a physical place you go to so much as a non-physical place where your soul goes. This is how the Tranquiline Halls and Damnation (basically Hell) are treated in the Stormlight Archive by the practitioners of Vorinism.

Quite frankly, the average Rosharan doesn’t seem that concerned about the nature of the Tranquiline Halls. That’s a matter for the ardentia, the monks of Vorinism. Instead, Vorins are more concerned about Voidbringers. Though supposedly they’ve been trapped in the Tranquiline Halls with the Heralds, there are many folktales and superstitions about the Voidbringers still existing on Roshar. Knowledge about what, precisely, Voidbringers were is hard to come by. It’s been 4500 years since the Last Desolation, 2000 years since the Knights Radiant abandoned their oaths and betrayed mankind (an event known as the Recreance), and 500 years since a group of ardents known as the Hierocracy attempted to take over all of Roshar, purging as much information as they could of the Knights Radiant and the Recreance. This included much of the information about the nature of the Voidbringers. What _is _known is that they were extremely powerful and very dangerous, bent on destroying humankind after chasing them out of the Tranquiline Halls.

In the first book of Stormlight, Jasnah Kholin, the foremost scholar in all of Roshar (and avowed renouncer of Vorinism), discovered the origins of the Voidbringers: the parshmen. See, humans are not the only sentient humanoid species on Roshar. There are the parshmen, people with hardened carapace instead of skin, who are slaves to most of the kingdoms of Roshar because of their obedience, endurance, and low intellectual ability. Jasnah theorized that, at some point since Ahariatiam, humans figured out how to enslave Voidbringers into parshmen. This is quite the startling realization, because Jasnah, among others, believes that the Voidbringers are coming back. The Last Desolation may not have been so final after all....

In book two, the Voidbringers return. Enough parshmen who weren’t enslaved and retained enough intellectual ability to function (known as the Parshendi) summoned the Everstorm, a cataclysmic hurricane from their god Odium that returns to parshmen their ability to think, thus freeing them from enslavement. And it turns some parshmen into Voidbringers, and each pass of the storm returns more and more of them. The disgraced Knights Radiant have also begun to return, supported by their god, Honor, in order to fight the Voidbringers and protect mankind.

All of this changes in book three, Oathbringer, in chapter 111, “Eila Stele,” towards the end of Part Four, over a million words into the series. The Eila Stele is the oldest known written document on Roshar, carved into a stone and believed to be from before the Desolations began, rumored to be written by the Heralds themselves. However, until Oathbringer, it was written in a dead language called the Dawnchant, for which translations have been lost. Through a specific use of Investiture, though, Jasnah and her scholars are able to translate the Dawnchant and provide a translation of the Eila Stele, which reads:

They came from another world, using powers that we have been forbidden to touch. Dangerous powers, of spren and Surges. They destroyed their lands and have come to us begging.

We took them in, as commanded by the gods. What else could we do? They were a people forlorn, without a home. Our pity destroyed us. For their betrayal extended even to our gods: to spren, stone, and wind.

Beware the otherworlders. The traitors. Those with tongues of sweetness, but with minds that lust for blood. Do not take them in. Do not give them succor. Well were they named Voidbringers, for they brought the void. The empty pit that sucks in emotion. A new god. Their god.

These Voidbringers know no songs. They cannot hear Roshar, and where they go, they bring silence. They look soft, with no shell, but they are hard. They have but one heart, and it cannot ever live.

The original Voidbringers were not parshmen. They were humans who invaded Roshar after destroying their home planet, likely escaping through the Cognitive Realm and emerging into the Physical Realm on Roshar, the nearest planet.

The first and last paragraphs are where we find the proof of this. “They came from another world” is fairly clear, as is “They destroyed their lands.” The last paragraph is where we learn that the Voidbringers were humans, not parshmen, who actually call themselves the “singers”. The references to the Voidbringers bringing silence is due to the fact that singers are attuned to the Rhythms of Roshar, a cosmere-wide series of vibrations throughout the Spiritual Realm, though singers are the only ones able to feel/hear them. Humans cannot, and are therefore “silent.” They also are “soft, with no shell,” referring to the fact that they have skin instead of carapace.

The tl;dr of everything else is that after humans fled to Roshar, they were given land by the singers, who took pity on them. However, humans then tried to conquer other parts of Roshar that belonged to the singers. The singers’ gods (spren, aka parts of Honor) betrayed them for the humans, and so the singers turned to Odium - who had followed/chased/been brought by humans to Roshar from their original home - for help in order to fight back against the humans. In response, the Heralds worked with Honor to trap Odium’s soldiers in Damnation, ushering in the cycle of Desolations. The term “Voidbringer” is associated with Odium, and so basically anyone who’s allied with Odium, and thus became associated with the singers, as they were the soldiers of Odium. Eventually, the humans won. Or so they thought. Now, Odium and his soldiers returned, and humans once more are fighting to defend themselves from the Voidbringers.

This is where our beloved characters find themselves: fighting another war against Odium and the Voidbringers and facing another Desolation. Except this time, the rightfulness of the war is brought into question. Are the humans right to be fighting against the people who were just trying to defend themselves from humans in the first place? Previously, the humans had Honor on their side to ensure them of the morality of their battle, but Honor was killed by Odium shortly after the Recreance, when the Knights Radiant gave up their oaths upon learning the truth about the Voidbringers. Humans have no God to guide them anymore.

We haven’t yet seen the fallout from the translation of the Elia Stele. Pretty much immediately after the translation was published, an Everstorm approached, with only hours to prepare for a massive battle in which Odium made his first major overture of war. The book ended shortly thereafter. We will have to see what happens in book four, which comes out in November.

So yes. The biggest plot twist of the Stormlight Archive thus far is that it is actually a story about dealing with the effects of an alien invasion in which the aliens won but then forgot they were aliens. In book four, there our heroes will have to grapple with the dubious morality of their way and the themes of the book will include discussions about postcolonial theory and decolonization. In this essay I will

#Anonymous #stormlight archive #cosmere #anecdotes by peachdoxie #i left out a whole bunch (mostly about the cosmere behind-the-scenes sotry)#but here's the infodump about aliens in stormlight archive

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preservationandruin · 4 years

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Rhythm of War Liveblog, Part One Part 2 (Chapters 3-8)

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[to the tune of Things I Bought At Sheetz] Now It’s time for Notes I Took At Work. This is going to be a weird experiment, because I read these chapters while at my job and took extensive notes on my reactions, which I’m now going to try to condense into something coherent.

Navani revels in a successful invention, Shallan encounters a very bad cult, I quote--of all things--Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, A Certain Fucker reappears, Leshwi becomes a character I like, Shallan finds a journal, I digress on Renarin’s abilities, and everyone is rightfully worried about Kaladin. Content warning; discussion of suicide and suicidal tendencies

Alright, we open Chapter Three with Navani’s AIRSHIP, which is a kickass sentence. She’s leaning over the side of the ship, to the distress of one of her fellow scholars who attempts to appeal to Dalinar to get her to stop.

“It’s Navani’s ship, Velat,” Dalinar said from behind, his voice as steady as steel, as immutable as mathematics. She loved his voice. “I think she’d have me thrown off if I tried to prevent her from enjoying this moment.”

This is great both because Dalinar and Navani are great, but also as a contrast to Gavilar saying that Navani doesn’t accomplish anything herself, she just pretends to be an inventor and stays behind other, smarter people. Dalinar says no, this is Navani’s ship, this is her victory. The ship’s base design is one of the chasm bridges; it’s operated on the same principles as spanreeds, a kind of sympathetic link where you link two fabrials and whatever happens to one, happens to the other. Just augmented with aluminum and a LOT of pulleys and hard work.

My notes also say “Eat Shit Gavilar” which i think is just, a general note.

Anyway she also wishes that Elhokar was there because he loved being up high and also watching her draw...so now I’m feeling emotions, and if that wasn’t enough, I get hit in the feelings again because the name of the ship is the Fourth Bridge, after Bridge Four because of the time they saved Dalinar and Adolin at the tower, and it not only has the Bridge Four glyph inlaid but the original bridge inlaid.

We see Dalinar and Lirin interact (my notes call this a “Dad convention”) --Lirin, of course because he’s Kaladin’s father, doesn’t really defer to Dalinar at all but does see the potential of this platform as a movable hospital; he’s discomfited by the reminder that Edgedancers are usually used for that now. Lirin really is a practical man who doesn’t believe in heroes or hero stories, which is unfortunate because they’re coming to life all around him. Also Dalinar calls him Lirin Stormblessed which is pretty funny because Lirin is Not Having It.

Also, we get this great line from Navani about Lirin and Kaladin:

However, as she stepped up beside Dalinar, she caught Lirin’s eyes--and the familial connection became more obvious. That same quiet intensity, that same faintly judgmental gaze that seemed to know too much about you. In that moment she saw two men with the same soul, for all their physical differences.

This is really interesting in light of how Kaladin and Lirin are at the moment arguing; they both are at their core very driven, caring people who want the best for their community, but they are at odds for the best way to achieve that in part because they’ve had such different experiences; Kaladin’s life hasn’t let him be the surgeon Lirin is.

For more changes in the year since we last met these characters, Dalinar has learned how to recharge stormlight and open perpendicularities at will, which essentially makes him a portable battery for the Radiants. That’s super useful. Navani likes observing the process, hoping that somewhere in it is a key to how Urithiru functions; she knows that it used to be powered by the Sibling, the third god-spren of Roshar, but after the Recreance the Sibling either died or fell so asleep the spren treat it as having died.

That’s interesting; the Sibling has been something I’ve been wondering about a lot, and confirmation that it was tied to Urithiru seems to preclude it being a godspren of Odium like I’d thought for a bit (and in any case, Odium has the Unmade and doesn’t seem the time to fragment himself into a godspren). Another spren of Honor or Cultivation? Or perhaps a spren of both? More importantly, if it really is dead, is there still a way to revive Urithiru? Last book talked about possibly recruiting Sja-anat; if we do, could she serve as an alternate power source for the tower?

We also get the Mink, the Herdazian general, slipping up on Dalinar and Navani without them noticing and also calling Dalinar the fuck out for the many atrocities that his armies and nation had unleashed on the Herdazians, which Dalinar can’t really refute. I like this guy, honestly; I’m not sure what’s up with him, if he’s just really good at sneaking around or if he has something Up With Him, but I like him.

Back with the Three (Shallan/Radiant/Veil), they wake up to find themselves in the chasms with an EXTREMELY melodramatic cult. They’re looking for proof Ialai is now running the Hypocrites Association--sorry, the Sons of Honor; Radiant refuses to move against Ialai without proof, even though Shallan and Veil both kinda wish Adolin had killed her at the same time as Sadeas and saved everyone some trouble. Anyway, the Hypocrites association wear deep, fancy hoods that leads to a great Shallan thought:

Shallan had a fleeting thought, wondering at the seamstress they’d hired to do all this work. What had they told her? “Yes, we want twenty identical, mysterious robes, sewn with ancient arcane symbols. They’re for...parties.”

They claim both to have guided the return of the Radiants and to be overthrowing Dalinar, which is hilarious because Dalinar is a Radiant so the only real extrapolation here is that, in the fantasy where they’re right about any of this, they brought the radiants back and lost control of the situation immediately and now are recruiting random strangers to try to help rein it back in. Which is still not a good look.

Oh and also they claim to be “something greater” than the Radiants, and I really doubt they’re the Heralds, so everything they say is horseshit, as is proven a second later when they test if Shallan is wearing an illusion with a device she herself sold them at an exorbitant price. And then claiming that Radiants can’t tell untrue oaths, right in front of Shallan, who is bonded to a liespren.

They’re just a very bad cult.

Also they say Ialai is the true queen, which raises many questions to me about the line of succession that gives them THAT math, especially with Gavinor alive and there. Like, somehow Sadeas’s widow gets priority over the last king’s living child? I know they’re just a stupid cult but guys, that’s not how lines of succession work in monarchies.

Anyway, Shallan hears them say that they have a mole in Dalinar’s inner circle--bad--and goes off-script, taking control to say she’s not who they think she is, and we cut back to Kaladin for the next chapter, which is called Broken Spears which prompted my note of “I don’t trust like that.” And then instantly I started laughing because of this quote:

[The windrunners] hung in the air like no skyeel ever could: motionless, equidistant.

This is not a particularly funny line unless you, like me, have never been able to forget a line from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy:

“The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't.”

So there’s that.

Kaladin has apparently fought with Leshwi before at this point (she is, iirc, the Fused who was one of the main points of contact for Moash during his arc in Oathbringer); last time, Rock’s daughter Cord managed to shoot her down. The Windrunners, like the Edgedancers, have grown in number; there are about 50 knights, now, and five times that in squires; the problem is that there aren’t enough willing honorspren to bond. Kaladin mentions that “almost all” of Bridge Four had bonded honorspren and that he knew one honorspren who was willing but unbonded, all of which leads me to believe that Rock hasn’t sworn the Oaths yet.

Meanwhile, these Fused--the Heavenly Ones--prefer one on one battles, as Kaladin noted in earlier chapters, so the Windrunners do the same; as long as they do this, the Heavenly Ones will keep to the ideals of honorable combat and will not gang up on the Windrunners. Again, it shows that they are both the orders that deal with Honorspren, even if the Heavenly Ones deal with...void-honorspren, I guess.

Also, it’s another nod to the idea of if there can be such a thing as honorable combat in a war. Both the Heavenly Ones and the Windrunners are trying for it, clearly, but is that sustainable?

Leshwi is in fact there, with a very cool aluminum-edged sword that can absorb stormlight into a gem at the hilt. She, along with the rest of the Fused and apparently the Heralds (Shalash and Taln are both in Urithiru), are stunned by the Fourth Bridge; fuck yeah, Navani and her team. She’s so cool, guys, I love Navani. Also, everyone is worried about Kaladin.

Shallan, meanwhile, is ad-libbing having even more information, which leads to a hilarious moment of her being accused of treason by a member of the cult who are trying to overthrow the current queen, so...there’s a reason I’m calling them the Hypocrites Association, alright? Anyway, Adolin decides it’s time to attack, and Radiant and Shallan manage to bluff their way into being taken along to the hideout as the Hypocrites Association retreats.

With Kaladin again, we get that the Fused see him as a particular challenge they enjoy fighting, although Leshwi always has first dibs; he fights another Fused and manages to disarm him, but decides not to kill him because killing him is pointless. Also, the teleporting fucker comes back, and yes, that is what I’m calling him until further notice.

Something happened in Aimia that led to Cord getting a set of shardplate. Is this the Dawnshard novel? Is that what happened in Aimia? I’m going to read it next regardless but now I’m curious about what happened on the Radiant expedition to Aimia.

So it turns out that the Hypocrites Association has a secret passage into and out of the chasms with a hidden door, which was probably a bolthole for escape that Sadeas put in early during the war at the Shattered Plains. His keep is also noted by Veil to be fortresslike; she notes that he was a cunning man, not just the blowhard that Shallan had taken him for. Ialai is now the sole remaining leader of the dissident Alethi army; while Radiant wants evidence against her that can have her be taken in, Veil is here just to assassinate her and have done with it.

And honestly there is a nice symmetry in Adolin killing Sadeas and Shallan/the Three killing Ialai.

Anyway, we go back to Kaladin as Leshwi fights Sigzil now; she manages to spear him through the chest, and I swear to god if any of the original Bridgemen actually die, I’m going to kick Brandon Sanderson’s ass. Those are my BOYS. In any case, Leshwi doesn’t kill Sigzil, because Kaladin spared one of the Fused earlier--honor in combat, again. There’s definitely a whole essay I could discuss about this opening few chapters and the idea of if continuing a fight is the right thing to do and if that fight can be continued in a way that is moral, but I don’t have the time for that, I’m trying to do NaNoWriMo and read this book.

I’ll shelve it along with the Oathbringer and the idea of personal responsibility essay.

We go back to Navani and get another real sense of how well she knows her team; she knows the personal tics and oddities of all the ardents and scholars who are helping her on the Fourth Bridge, which is nice to see. We also get that Renarin is here, distracting crying children by having Glys form a ball of light, and Navani has this observation:

Renarin claimed the spren [Glys] was trustworthy, but something was odd about his powers. They had managed to recruit several standard Truthwatchers--and they could create illusions like Shallan. Renarin couldn’t do that. He could only summon lights, and they did strange, unnatural things sometimes...

Really excited to see how Renarin’s powers develop similarly to or different from standard Truthwatchers; I agree that Glys is probably trustworthy because Renarin is the best judge of that at the moment and also because “the corrupted spren turns out to be evil” isn’t a very interesting plot development compared to “there can be good corrupted spren”

And then I got yanked forcibly off-topic because guess who fucking showed up. Moash decided to show his backstabbing, treacherous little face again, wearing--of all things--a uniform cut exactly like Bridge Four’s but in black rather than blue, which is just a stupendous dick move. Navani is the one who sees him, too, and we get a sharp reminder that he murdered her son.

Kaladin doesn’t hear the alarm that Navani raises, though, because he’s busy fighting Leshwi, something he seems to genuinely enjoy as a test of his skills. He pushes his home-field advantage here, managing to distract Leshwi to the point that they both seriously injure the other; Kaladin is grinning throughout, which is actually somewhat disturbing. To me it reads like Kaladin’s stopped caring about his own life in favor of trying to help others at any cost, but I’m not sure if that’ll play through as an accurate read.

In any case, someone set Roshone’s house on fire, and the teleporting fucker is there and actively attacking civilians. Leshwi is pissed off to see this and gestures for Kaladin to go and deal with that rather than continuing their fight; at this point, I really started loving Leshwi as a character. I’m a sucker for a good principled antagonist lady, they’re just a good trope.

Anyway, we get to Chapter Seven. Navani’s epigraph notes that zinc makes the spren in fabrials more active, while brass quiets them. So...you could say...that brass soothes them...while zinc...makes them riot....

Anyway, back to Ialai, Shallan notes that she seems extremely worn and tired, and she claims to support Gavinor to the throne--with herself as regent, of course. She and Shallan proceed to have an entire conversation in wine metaphors, talking about who they are working with or for, and Ialai assumes that the Ghostbloods sent the Three to kill her, claiming they want the Sons of Honor out of the way and will send her after Restares next. Veil instantly switches her vote to not killing Ialai bc she doesn’t like to be manipulated, and Adolin kicks down the door.

Ialai tells Shallan to search her rooms for “the rarest vintage” before the Ghostbloods can, and then--before she can even leave the building--she dies of poisoning, implying there’s a mole somewhere in Adolin and Shallan’s people. That’s not great, and the Ghostbloods aren’t fucking around in the slightest with her.

Meanwhile, with Kaladin, the teleporting fucker took Godeke--the one named Edgedancer here other than Lift--hostage to lure Kaladin inside, where he uses a strange, void-fabrial to drain Surgebinder powers in the room. And then makes a critical error in thinking that that will be enough:

The Fused laughed and spoke in Alethi. “Radiants! You rely too much on your powers. Without them, what are you? A peasant child with no real training in the art of warfare or--” Kaladin slammed himself against the soldier to the right.

Oh you poor idiots, Kaladin was a prodigy with the spear LONG before he was a Windrunner, went most of his army career without bonding Syl, and--crucially--one of you is carrying a physical spear. Checkmate, assholes. Kaladin quickly beats most of the ones there, including killing the teleporting fucker before he can teleport again, and lets the last one go--of course--before helping Lift get Godeke out and telling her to get the void fabrial to Navani.

Meanwhile, he’s going to go make sure Roshone is alright, where I have the very prescient note of “I bet actual money Moash is killing him as we speak.”

Ialai’s probable method of death was blackbane poison in her bloodstream; one of Shallans’ people examines the body for it, while Shallan goes to search ialai’s rooms.

Another epigraph note, this time about bronze and heliodor being used to make warning fabrials. Scadrial really was just a primer on the uses of various metals with investiture, huh?

Meanwhile, Kaladin finds the prisoners below the manor killed with a shardblade, and spins around to find Moash slitting Roshone’s throat before making what I called, in a late-night worktime daze, “just a series of rat bastard moves. Hate that guy. Just honestly hate that guy.”

Specifically, he surrenders so that Kal cannot keep attacking him--because Kal’s a good person--just after taunting him for wanting to rescue someone.

Back with Shallan, Veil is pushing her again to continue remembering their past, but she still resists; she finds a rare Shin wine in Ialai’s store, before using that to find a pattern on the floor of old, shadowyears-era glyphs with maps of the ten Epoch Kingdoms, under one of which is a notebook of Ialai’s; she tucks it in her safepouch, and we go back to Kaladin.

I really think the arc for Kaladin in this book is going to be accepting that he can’t save everyone, particularly from themselves, because he pauses and remembers how Moash had been a friend, but even more than that, he had been Bridge Four--someone that Kaladin had sworn to protect, and he’d failed:

Kaladin had failed Moash. As soundly as he’d failed Dunny, Mart, and Jaks. And of them all, losing Moash hurt the most. Because in those callous eyes, Kaladin saw himself.

Kaladin can’t keep blaming himself for Moash’s choices, because Moash chose to do this, and was given ways out, and didn’t take them. It’s not Kaladin’s fault, and believing that it is is going to get Kaladin killed.

And then, Moash winds up and delivers a grade-A Odium-powered Breaking Speech:

"They're going to die, you know," Moash said softly. "Everyone you love, everyone you think you can protect. They're all going to die anyway. There's nothing you can do about it." [...] "Do you remember the chasm, Kal?" Moash whispered. "In the rain that night? Standing there, looking down into the darkness, knowing it was your sole release? You knew it hen. You try to pretend you've forgotten. But you know. As sure as the storms will come. As sure as every lighteyes will lie. There is only one answer. One path. One result. [...] I've found the better way," Moash said. "I feel no guilt. I've given it away, and in so doing became the person I always could have become--if I hadn't been restrained. I can take away the pain, Kal. Isn't that what you want? An end to your suffering?”

Odium’s deal all over again--he will take away your pain and your responsibility for your actions, but the price for that is your integrity and your honor. It’s so insidious, especially because Moash is exploiting the fact that Kaladin was suicidal to play into the idea of life being hopeless--he’s implying that Kaladin’s suicidal impulses were right and then offering another way out. It’s so, so so so awful, and Kaladin can’t even bring himself to fight it, because it’s coming from an unarmed man and it’s targeted so directly at him.

“The answer is to stop existing, Kal. You’ve always known it, haven’t you?” Kaladin blinked away tears, and the deepest part of him--the little boy who hated the rain and the darkness--withdrew into his soul and curled up. Because...he did want to stop hurting.

He wanted it so badly.

Ugh, Moash’s whole thing here is just seeding that suicidality back into Kaladin--because frankly, most of the time? When someone is suicidal, in my (admittedly limited and personal) experience? What they genuinely want isn’t to die--they just want not to hurt anymore, and they see that as the only way.

Light exploded into the room. Clean and white, like the light of the brightest diamond. The light of the sun. A brilliant, concentrated purity. Moash growled, spinning around, shading his eyes against the source of the light--which came from the doorway. The figure behind it wasn’t visible as anything more than a shadow. Moash shied away from the light--but a version of him, transparent and filmy, broke off and stepped toward the light instead. Like an afterimage. In it, Kaladin saw the same Moash--but somehow standing taller, wearing a brilliant blue uniform. This one raised a hand, confident, and although Kaladin couldn’t see them, he knew people gathered behind this Moash. Protected. Safe. The image of Moash burst alight as a Shardspear formed in his hands.

FUCK YEAH, RENARIN.

I’m gonna end this section by just discussing what happened here, because there’s a lot to unpack there. We’ve seen Shallan use her illusions to create versions of people who they could be, but this isn’t doing that--if you look at the cause and effect, it’s not that Renarin created this illusory Moash, but more that the light Renarin created called forth that Moash from this one.

More than anything, it reminds me of the effects of Gold Allomancy--creating a past version of the self, splitting the self into who you are and who you were, or who you are and who you could have been. This is not a version of Moash that could exist. He’s burned too many bridges and killed too many people in front of their infant children for that to happen.

But it could have been Moash. It’s not calling forth the truth, really, it’s showing an alternate path. It’s strange and I can’t wait to see it explored more, and it shakes Moash to his core--because of course it does. Moash’s entire speech was saying “there are only two ways out, dying and giving in to Odium,” and Renarin’s light showed that that was a stark fucking lie. There’s the third choice of deciding to stand up and protect people anyway, and it was a choice Moash could have taken, and that kills him. It eats him up inside; it’s the pain that Odium can’t fully take away.

As Kaladin said to Amaram: if what Odium says is true, if what you claim is true, than why do you still hurt?

#fuck yeah bridge four #rowliveblog #row spoilers #navani kholin protection squad #kaladin has a saving people thing #fuck moash #renarin kholin kicks ass #leshwi is unfortunately VERY cool

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velkynkarma · 4 years

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(stormlight anon) I'm so delighted to see you've finished! yeah, a lot of what happened was a surprise, and I delighted in Raboniel, and moving forward... I'm all kinds of curious about the Radiant power, since the Radiants and Spren both chose, and Nale's determination to side with the planet and all that time hunting Radiants, and the history of the Radiant power in Ashyn's apocalypse.

Raboniel was so great. I’m glad to have seen her as a character. Though I’m curious about what her ability was? All of the Fused seemed to be linked to 1 Surge and have an ability to use it, like the Heavenly Ones being able to ‘fly.’ Raboniel is also a Fused but I don’t think we ever saw her power?

Yeah I’m DEFINITELY wondering what the deal is with the old Radiants and their spren. I liked the twist in book 3 that the Radiants originally said ‘fuck this shit’ when they learned their people were the invaders. But it seems like this secret has more layers to peel back. If that was the case, why would their spren willingly make that sacrifice? What else happened?

I can’t help but wonder if some of the stuff they were talking about at the end is part of it. Raboniel talks about wanting to end the war, in any capacity. Some other characters note that if both sides stopped fighting, the war would end. I can’t help but wonder if this was the Radiants’ attempts to do their part to end it.

But I guess we’ll find out, eventually.

#Velkynkarma answers #stormlight anon #stormlight archive #rhythm of war spoilers #Anonymous

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butwhybother · 4 years

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Rhythm of War spoilers! Reactions to / thoughts about Rhythm of War Part 2.

Chapter 20 The Unseen Court

I always like Nazh's maps and annotations! He complains about his work a lot but he also sounds like a thrill-seeker.

Nohadon's stairways? Does this mean Nohadon traveled in Shadesmar? I always assumed his travel described in Way of Kings was solidly in the physical realm. Silly me and my assumptions shaping my interpretations of everything.

If this map of Shadesmar is to scale, Adolin&Shallon could have gone just as easily to Azimir Oathgate as they did to the coast.

Well hello there Sazed.

A Veden vakama appears, as if takama wasnt confusing enough already.

Pattern is the original! There are many Patterns but this one is the first.

Veil trying to lie to Radiant, Radiant changing her mind. What is going on in Shallan's mind?

Chapter 21 The Seething Knot

Adolin adapted his glyph to Maya's shape. I like it!

Pattern has a relationship with Wit? Sweet!

Kaladin ponytail! I've had my eyes peeled for that one. I know a lot of fan arts show him with one but now it's canon.

Ahahahaha Kaladin didn't know what was happening until Adolin said it. It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of Shard, surgebinding powers, and land must be in want of a wife. Kaladin the most eligible bachelor. Adolin's passed on the baton.

"War is the last option of the state that has failed, but it is better than having no options." Adolin isn't reading it, he's reciting it from memory. You watch. If you see Kaladin quoting this later, it's because he memorized it too. From hearing it one time. You smart, smart boys.

Gallant has rainbow in his blue eyes. Are the Ryshadiym invested with Iridescent Tones too? This stuff is just popping up everywhere.

Shouldn't Jasnah, as Elsecaller, be the prime negotiator/ambadassador between humans and spren? Well...I guess it's good that she knows how to delegate...

This whole conversation between Dalinar and Adolin. So much hurt. I want Adolin to be his own person. Dalinar, could you try being a little less controlling and self-focused for once? Can't you let him make his own steps and choose and live his own journey? If you keep this up I'm gonna have to boot you off of being my most favorite character.

Everyone stop telling Adolin he needs to become Radiant. They probably mean well, but it implies he's somehow lacking. Not-Radiant people are people too.

Chapter 22 No Use Talking

The transfer between physical realm and Shadesmar has become possible because Stormfather overrode Sibling. Which of the other oathgate spren listened?

Crystal masks on mist spren... There was a color illustration, one of the endpapers in Oathbringer, of a woman holding a mask and several more at her feet. Related in any way?

Maya being compared to a painting... I'm probably just reading too much into it.

Peakspren! Finally, a name for the rock-with-glowing-cracks spren.

Why does Gallant have a shadow like someone who had a soul stapled back to their body?

So, knowing there was a good chance that Plates won't make the transfer, did Adolin maybe pack a regular non-Shard armor by any chance? No? Sigh. At least it's even, since nobody else in Shadesmar have Blade and Plate either. Well, almost nobody.

Deadeye spren can be "trained?" No, sir, this is Maya and she is very Special.

Chapter 23 Binding Wounds

Jasnah is soulcasting medicine (or its ingredients)! Practical AND awesome.

Teft has been clean for six months! Everyone clap for Teft please.

Teft, you wonderful emotional support sergeant. This is true friendship that transcends everything. Your faults, failures don't matter. Your age difference doesn't matter and you see each other as equals. You just care about each other and are there for one another.

Chapter 25 Full of Awe

"Radiant felt an immediate stab of guilt." Has Radiant seized control before, and Shallan not notice or remember? Or maybe Radiant has manipulated who gets to be in control when.

Is Ba-Ado-Mishram Odium's mini-me? I'll guess Ba-Ado-Mishram controls connection or identity...

"hilarious." It's extra bad because Adolin is illiterate.

Adolin and Shallan are so good for each other!

Chapter 25 Devotary of Mercy

I am surprised to hear Kaladin got over being lighteyes ages ago. That used to be really a thing for him.

Why does this ardent have glasses and never use them? Highly suspicious. Of what, I don't know.

" 'I've felt it,' Kaladin said. 'Feel it most days.' "

Syl studying Noril like he's a grand painting. Should I keep paying attention to the painting similies?

Chapter 26 A Little Espionage

The idea of Pattern as a brave and famous explorer scholar amuses me.

Dark hair, tan skin, sleeveless top, long gloves. For a moment there I imagined Beryl as Korra.

Jasnah might not know everything? Jasnah could be wrong?

Why is Shallan's Formless a he? What is she hiding? Shallan couldn't be a kandra, because she's a lightweaver... UNLESS! Someone killed Shallan with a hemalurgic spike and then embedded the spike in a kandra, who also ate Shallan's body?!?!

Is Vathah a kandra? That would explain his beard. Everyone's a suspect.

I'll bet that if you peeked at the Azish soulcaster that's famous for making bronze, you'd see a Reacher spren (who have bronze skin).

I wish Shallan could be well and be just herself, but I'm also starting to think that may never happen perfectly. She could get better, but still need to manage and deal with her personalities for the rest of her life. Like Kaladin and depression.

Chapter 27 Banners

I am shocked, SHOCKED that little Gavinor is following Dalinar to war. He's too young!

Kaladin and Jasnah can commiserate over Wit's lack of answers to their questions.

Dalinar and Navani hug. I remember ab Dalinar-Evi hug in similar circumstances. I guess the man hasn't changed in that regard. Navani and Jasnah hug. The most awkward hug ever. I love it.

Poor Roion. Two books after his death, and all we hear is that his son's not doing a great job at being a highprince.

I have wondered before why Palona won't marry Sebarial. Is it a personal reason (like she is against marriage), or a cultural reason (like Sebarial's somehow not qualified) or a legal reason (like she was married and her country didn't allow remarriage) or something else (like she's a kandra)?

And here is Navani, left to run a kingdom for her husband AGAIN. I get that somebody needs to do it, and she is very good, and she really may be the best person for the job. But this is not what she wants to do. She wants to spend time with her family and study fabrials. What wonders Navani could make happen if she were to commit wholeheartedly to what she loves. The world is missing out.

And inside the model is another model. It's models all the way down.

Chapter 28 Heresies

Their standard ink color is violet!

Is Kalami okay? I want her to be okay. She's been through a lot.

Chapter 29 A Cage Without Bars

Ashspren look so coooool.

Chapter title reminds of "Whitespine Uncaged" in Words of Radiance. It tells me I should expect a duel.

Who did Sazed send? Kelsier? Marsh? A kandra? A Feruchemist?

Adolin likes new stuff. Reminds me of when I used to think Adolin will become a Willshaper.

There was a "more perfect" gemstone, or at least one that held its light longer than others. Adolin brought a ruby mark to Shallan in Oathbringer (chapter 21) back when Highstorms were irregular and all other spheres were dun.

Mraize is using a Seon isn't he! It's a Seon inside that cube!

An Inkspren and his deadeye Cryptic friend. So that's definitely two different kinds of spren. Why was Pattern mistaken for an Inkspren befote? (In the port town in Shadesmar, a ship got burned down for having evidence of harboring "two or three humans, one honorspren, and one inkspren." Oathbringer chapter 102)

Chapter 30 Betrayal

How had Shallan come across a Seon before? If Formless emerges, will Shallan remember? Young Shallan sometimes blanked out in flashback chapters; will Shallan eventually regain memories of what she was doing/thinking during those times?

Recreance caused eight genocides. Highspren and Bondsmiths' spren survived.

Chapter 31 Daughter of Traitors

"Adhesion is not a surge, but a lie that was presented to us as one." That explains which of the 10 surges the Voidbringers are missing. Why is Adhesion not a surge?

Raboniel is saying Radiant surges are externally focused, while Voidbringer surges are internally focused. Like allomantic metals?

"Each answer seemed to give rise to a dozen new questions" That's Cosmere for you, Venli.

Chapter 32 Of Three Minds

A Stoneward can make clothing into weapons. That sounds cool. It's not all about rocks, I see.

Beryl can change only her own appearance. That sounds so like a kandra.

Chapter 33 Understanding

I'm glad Kaladin is helping people. More than that, I'm glad Kaladin is able to talk about himself and his problems.

Shallan is hiding right next to Formless. That's not good.

Chapter 34 A Flame Never Extinguished

Boots again.

Spren ride spren horse. The spren horse has no mouth, which makes sense because it doesn't eat. I wonder if the Ryshadium or regular horses imagined them up. If that's the case, there were no horse spren on Roshar prior to human arrival.

"the only smoke is on his eyes" what a scary description. That's what eyes do when you get killed by a Blade. They smoke.

Adolin brought Shallan out of her shell. So beautiful.

Starsprem posed for Shallan! Double funny because posing is not necessary for Shallan and it's a common mistake people keep making.

Adolin you wonderful sword nerd.

That was an incredibly tender and vulnerable moment between Shallan and Adolin. You might say she or he is not ready for a relationship, or not fit for commitment and stability, but these two are good for each other.

Shallan and Adolin kiss number 1.

Chapter 35 The Strength of a Soldier

AAAAAAAA Adolin don't die please don't die don't die don't die AAAAAAA no no no no NO NO NO ADOLIN!!!

Chapter 36 The Price of Honor

Somebody should gather the corpses and... Burn them or something... Except nobody can spare the fuel for cremation. Can't bury the bodies in obsidian, either. Er, compost them maybe? Would that even work? Sweeo the bodies into the bead ocean?

Pattern as a spy. Truly SHOCKING. The utter loss of trust! I guess that either Pattern was talking to Mraize to get information about Shallan's past, or Pattern was using the Seon to contact Hoid.

If I thought Notum was stiff and stuffy before, he's downright friendly compared to the spren at Lasting Integrity.

Chapter 37 Silence From the Dead

We're shifting point of views all over the place as if we've entered the Sanderson Avalanche already.

Flying gauntlet sounds like something straight out of a super hero story.

Why is Dabbid? How?

Ralkalest. I think that's what aluminum is called in Emperor's Soul.

Kaladin sitting on the floor, stacking blocks for Oroden to knock over. And smiling. So sweet.

Kaladin made Lirin admit that Kaladin is one of "them." This is very meaningful to me.

"for Ado's sake" sounds like the Fused use Adonalsium's name like a swear word.

Chapter 38 Rhythm of the Terrors

I still have no clue what was up with that dark mystery sphere.

The way people look at Rlain. Ouch.

Kaladin, don't ever think 'I shouldn't ask for help because I'm not as badly off as this person, or have more help than that person, or have it better than some other situation.' It's a trap. A bad, bad trap.

Chapter 39 Invasion

So the Sibling had only been playing dead all this time.

It sure is plotfully convenient that Kaladin has a non-Radiant non-squire trustworthy friend...*GASP* Rlain is going to bind a spren that's not a honorspren, isn't he! That's why he hasn't become a Windrunner squire and also why he's not on the kickstarter poster. I don't know which spren he'll bond, but it'll be AWESOME.

Chapter 40 In For All

Are there Windrunners other than Teft in the tower? I'm curious to know, to compare how Windrunner are doing against other Radiants, because Windrunner have access to the"fake" surge of Adhesion. I'll guess Kaladin hasn't passed out because he's really close to swearing his next ideal.

Chapter 41 The Most Dangerous

Personal rhythms. How special. Odium made Raboniel her own mixtape.

I don't want to imagine what kind of mad science experiments Raboniel intend to do on Radiants.

Ugh is this Moash is using Jezrien's honorblade to work the Oathgates.

Chapter 42 Armor and Teeth

Sound affects stormlight. If a specific tone can make a gem drain its light, I bet there's another tone that can make it keep its light.

Here is a fabrial that even Sibling is okay with using. That might mean there are ways to make a fabrial without trapping spren in a gem.

I was so hoping Teofil and his soldiers would make it. Their fight down the steps was astounding.

I think the Sibling can "watch" the tower where Radiants are. Maybe. 6th floor would be Kaladin, place with the Lady of Pains would be Venli, and the 4th floor with a cage is...uh...dunno.

Aha! Raboniel still thinks Sibling is sleeping. Nope, Sibling is only pretending.

Now Navani can retire and do science. Sadness.

Chapter 43 Men and Monsters

"My head can't be trusted sometimes." I know. And emotions and passions can't always be trusted either.

Some of what Lirin says makes sense, but I cannot agree with him 100%. People can and should try their best where they are, I get that. But I won't say people shouldn't fight against the crime against humanity that is slavery. I don't know if Kaladin is making the right choice. I don't know what to think.

In previous books, Kaladin has been trying to protect more and more people- Bridge Four, all the bridgemen, Dalinar, Kholins, Elhokar, Singers, all of Kholinar... And now he reduces his focus drastically to just Teft.

The invasion of Urithiru had actually happened. Wow. I thought that was going to be the big thing that happens over the course of the whole book, but it already happened and it's only part 2. What was left to write after this, Mr. Sanderson?

Hey, how come there's been no flashback chapters so far?

#stormlight archive #rhythm of war #rhythm of war spoilers #row spoilers #cosmere #row reaction #text

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