#stormlight theorycrafting

[cosmereplay]

I have half-formed thoughts about WaT I wanna write down before I forget. So I think the three MCs of the first half of Stormlight, Kaladin, Shallan, and Dalinar, each highlight one of the three oaths of the Knights Radiant--Life before death (Kaladin), Strength before weakness (Shallan), Journey before destination (Dalinar). Their journeys through the first five books highlight both the strengths of those oaths and their limits/drawbacks.

Kaladin chooses to live over and over again during tough times, and that's inspiring! But he's so dedicated to that oath that he will choose to live forever if given the opportunity. Given how the Heralds and Fused (and even people like Hoid) are doing, it seems like life over death Every Time might be a bad idea actually. (There's also the idea that Life before death doesn't specify a quality of life, which is another thorny issue I won't get into here)

Shallan chooses strength to cover up her weaknesses, and the idea that you can fake it till you make it is really inspiring! But she uses strengths that shouldn't have been used--using her power and privilege to brute force her way through situations and step on others, leveraging the power of denial to ignore her problems, and focusing on her talents (like lightweaving) to the detriment of learning new skills (like soulcasting).

Dalinar chooses journey over destination every time! He overcomes his doubts that he can recover by taking it one day at a time, and that's really inspiring! But when applied to other situations, like making unilateral decisions on behalf of Alethkar in escalating situations, or using threats of physical force to "inspire" Thaylenah to join the Coalition, each individual choice leads to an outcome that could have been predicted. Dalinar slowly usurps the throne from Elhokar, and the Coalition easily becomes shaken when built on a foundation of fear. Even when he breaks his oaths to show a lesson to Honor's power, he's thinking "I'm going to force the other Shards into dealing with this" and he doesn't consider the long term impact of his choice.

Throughout the front half, and especially in Wind and Truth, we start to really see the cracks, the weaknesses of the Immortal Words as well as the weaknesses of the Shards that founded those words. I'm absolutely fascinated to see where this is going to go in the back half, which Brandon has been affectionately calling the Voidlight Archive...

Dare I say we will learn about the strengths of Odium's power (we've already learned some of the weaknesses)? Or Retribution's? Will Honor remember creating the Knights Radiant and try to recreate them with Passion/Hatred as a co-founder instead of Growth? Will Ba-Ado-Mishram, perhaps? Ahhh so excited to see how this is going to play out...

[cosmermaid]

So I think it might be a little while before I get back into Cosmere posting. I can't bring myself to focus on Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, and my fixation on Kelsier and the Ghostbloods has been soured, which killed my enthusiasm for greater cosmere theorycrafting. I can barely remember what happened in the Lost Metal. I'm still looking forward to Stormlight 5 though, so maybe that will end up bringing the Cosmere back into focus near when that comes out.

I've been holding back on just how full my head has been of Pokemon lately, because I don't want to bother anyone with it. I'm not sure why I'm putting in that kind of effort though, since this blog was always meant to be my outlet.

Anyways, I apologize to anyone who is following me for cosmere content. I'm changing the channel for a little while.

[cosmereplay]

...can Radiants even swear oaths even more? Would Taravangian be willing to give power to his enemies? Cultivation is gone so she can't accept the Words. And Syl (and the Heralds) can't cause she's stuck in therapy time. And the Sibling is asleep. Guess it depends if Taravangian has to in order to not cause conflict with the Shard of Honor

Ahhhhh great question!

If we leave Tetribution (haha) aside, I think the only one left who could theoretically accept oaths is the Nightwatcher!!?? And now that there's an endless night stretching across most of Roshar I imagine she's going to get more powerful. Plus, she's notably obsessed with trying to understand people. Should be fun 👀

The idea of Retribution accepting oaths is also fascinating! If Taravangian refuses to accept oaths, that would likely really offend Honor's power, so I doubt he'd do that. Plus he wants more warriors for his off-world conquests, so I imagine he might try to win them over, or failing that, try to manipulate them into serving him.

OH I forgot that there was a little child-shaped Honor out there in the Spiritual realm. Is he part of Retribution now or is he still hanging out in the Spiritual Realm? My guess is that he's part of Retribution and still at least somewhat self aware, remembering Dalinar's lesson, watching Taravangian and learning. Might he be able to accept oaths without Taravangian?

[cosmereplay]

Crack theory I developed after WaT: Horneater novella will end with Rock leading his people into Cultivation's perpendicularity and intending to leave Roshar, this is why no one sees them in WaT. They get caught in the time bubble just before they leave the system. These are the ones MeLaan encounters in her epilogue in Lost Metal (stated to be 19 months after the main events of the book) that she states she needs to help. This is why Brandon is writing Horneater between Ghostbloods 2 and 3 according to the State of the Sanderson, cause Horneaters are going to have something to do with the plot of the books.

Thanks for the ask!

I don't know if this is a crack theory so much as it is genuine theorycrafting. It makes sense AND it's compelling! I like it.

[cosmereplay]

ok so hear me out. valor is known to be female, and it’s a possible theory that she is hiding somewhere on roshar.

in several of dalinars visions, nohadon seems very well-informed and has a lot more depth than any other character in a vision. now from here i would say nohadon is valor, except that ofc valor is female.

all this is to say. transfem nohadon

Anon I love this. Your brain is the size of the entire cosmere. I am fascinated by the idea that the Spiritual Realm's Nohadon is transitioning under Valor's influence. Or slowly becoming her??? How is this so crunchy and so juicy at the same time?? Someone write this fic immediately!

[cosmereplay]

So tell me if someone else has come up with this theory before, but I think Shallan's mom might actually have been a Horneater princess. /hj (as in half joking not handjob!!)

First, Shallan is able to see way further into the Cognitive Realm than she should. How did she fall ass-first into Shadesmar when she doesn't have the Surge of Transportation? Answer: she has Horneater abilities to see further into the Cognitive Realm.

Second, Veil can drink Horneater White, no problem.

Third, a Horneater princess, being close to Cultivation's perpendicularity and having greater access to its travellers, would give more credence to a random noble Veden family being so well connected to worldhopping organizations. In addition, it allows for Shallan's background to be noble without it being out of this world special (aka Chana Davar theory), which personally I think would take some of the shine off Shallan's achievements.

Fourth, wouldn't Brandon laugh? Isn't this just his sense of humour, to put a huge-ass clue right in the fucking book and then sit back and giggle? He's always saying he's not trying to trick us (and yet... Lol)

Anyway, feel free to sound off in the replies and comments, funny or earnest, I'd love to hear your reactions and thoughts!