#I had a sudden flashback about this and it hit me like a truck LMAO

[piko-rose]

Okay, wait a minute, why the hell did people think that Maddie's name was Annie?? Where did that even come from?

We just knew(?) that she was named "Annie" for the longest time, and then those character posters came out, and it was revealed that her name was ACTUALLY Maddie.

I LEGIT THOUGHT her name was Annie for the longest time until I saw that poster. I was so confused lmao

I am very curious actually, where did "Annie" come from?

[preservationandruin]

Oathbringer Liveblog, Part Three: Chapters 63-67

Onward!!! Sorry for more delays, but we’re trucking into finals season here, and I’m constantly busy. 

Shallan’s visit to the palace cuts deep, I speculate on Kaladin and cheesy old high school romcom tropes, Jasnah writes the most Extra essay of all time, a lunch is stolen, Dalinar has a PTSD flashback, and I found Hoid

Still with Shallan, here, in Kholinar. Well, Veil, technically, who’s enjoying being in a city, even one as fucked up as Kholinar. The worst areas of Kholinar are near the city walls, where everything is cramped and overcrowded, but the entire city is going to shit. Near the palace, though, shit’s emptier. Even the soldiers, around that area, seem off. 

People in spren costumes are guarding the way to the Oathgate. That’s not good. And there’s fire coming from the platform, and...uh...screams. 

If there are ritual human sacrifices happening I’m going to be so pissed off. Anyway, turns out Veil has more of a thing for Kaladin than Shallan does, although BOTH have SOMEHOW mistaken Kaladin for a brooding bad boy. 

Kaladin’s not a brooding bad boy oh my god. He’s like...a grumpy nerd mom friend. It can be mistaken for brooding edginess from the outside, but. It is not. The way Shallan/Veil describes him you could see him as the typical leather-jacket-wearing bad boy smoking a cigarette in an old high school romcom movie but. Listen. The leather jacket is a hand-me-down and it hides a kitten he took in because he found it in a box in the rain and he’s not smoking, but he sure is delivering a lecture about lung health to whoever is. He glares bc he has 0 sleep and insists on taking on the problems of everyone around him. 

Anyway, the palace. Shallan gets in with the message from Elhokar, although the guards don’t break stride or even say anything. Shallan’s perception of the place is weird as well--the stairs seem to go on forever and then suddenly she’s at the top. 

“I was supposed to deliver it in person,” Veil though she itched to be out of this place. To flee madly, if she were being honest. She had to stay. Whatever she learned here would be of-- One of the soldiers ran her through.

YO WHAT THE FUCK

So uh, that happened. Shallan is trying to think of how to get out of there, and hits on what Jasnah did--faking death, and taking in just enough Stormlight to keep her from bleeding out. She wants to see what they’ll do to a dead body, I think. 

The guard carrying her passed a floor-to ceiling mirror rimmed in a fancy bronze frame, In it, she glimpsed the guard with Lyn thrown over his shoulder. And beyond that, deep within the mirror, something turned--the normal image fading--and looked toward Shallan with a sudden and surprised motion. It looked like a shadow of a person, only with white spots for eyes. 

I reiterate: YO WHAT THE FUCK

She’s dumped in an area where there is just. a line of corpses, some of them rotting, dressed in nice clothing. They’re in what was once the wine cellar. She engages in some hardcore repression to avoid thinking about the fact that she was just impaled and dumped in a room full of rotting corpses, and heads out of there. 

She gets out, and sends Pattern to go get Kaladin. Kaladin, although worried, manages to play it down and make a shitty pun, which helps with Shallan’s repression. 

You know, I would say repressing this isn’t healthy, and it’s not, but at the moment it’s sort of a crisis situation. There isn’t time for a freakout now; repressing it for now and coming back to it later could be the best option. Of course, being Shallan, she’s not going to want to come back to it. 

Over to Dalinar. He’s getting the Honorblade he found, musing to Stormfather that some people thought he was Jezrien or Kalak. Stormfather also notes that Ishar is at least as mad as the others, “more, perhaps.” That’s worrying. 

Only one, [Stormfather] said with a rumble. I...have seen Ishar. He curses me at night, even as he names himself a god. He seeks death. His own. Perhaps that of every man.  It clicked. “Stormfather!”  Yes? “Oh. Uh, that was a curse...Nevermind.” 

This is so funny. Somehow I didn’t think of it happening before it did, despite Stormy’s name being a common swear on Roshar. Anyway, turns out that the god-priest of Tukar who says he’s a god and is waging war and is generally a Thing that’s Been Happening, is Ishar. 

Great. 

Yours is the power Ishar once held. Before he was Herald of Luck, they called him Binder of Gods. He was the founder of the Oathpact. No Radiant is capable of more than you. Yours is the power of Connection, of joining men and worlds, minds and souls. Your Surges are the greatest of all, thought they will be impotent if you seek to wield them for mere battle. 

So that’s kickass. 

“Are there others like me out there?” he finally asked.  Not right now, and there can ever be only three. One for each of us. “Three?” Dalinar said. “Three spren who make Bondsmiths. You...and Cultivation are two?”  The Stormfather actually laughed. You would have a difficult time making her your spren. I should like to see you try it.  “Then who?”  My siblings need not concern you.

BUT STORMY I WANT TO KNOW

Anyway, Dalinar gives the Honorblade to Bridge Four to facilitate their training as Windrunners. Rock ends up taking it, apparently only trusting himself with something that powerful, which is fair. 

Meanwhile, Navani has learned how to give Dalinar’s fabrial wristwatch to have alarms. I love the evolving tale of the fabrial wristwatch and Dalinar attempting to get used to it. 

Anyway, Fen and Dalinar are waiting for Gawx’s Oathgate to open. Dalinar’s going through the gate alone, trying a suggestion from Fen. Navani packs him a lunch and...oh no. I know where that’s going and it’s not to Dalinar. 

Meanwhile, some random soldiers, trying to figure out how to get stormlight, are discussing whether or not you can swallow spheres. God dammit, guys, don’t be idiots. Also, shocking nobody, Sadeas’ men have become even worse under Amaram’s control.

Dalinar notes that it seems completely normal to see Jasnah with a sword, which, fair. Anyway, he’s in Azir on his own. We’ll see how this goes. Again, Dalinar has a moment of almost being able to understand another language. Stormfather comments that if he touched one of them, he could use “Spritual Adhesion” to make the connection. It works--he can speak Azish now. 

And what he brought to Azir wasn’t a sword. It was an essay, written by Queen Fen. And another treatise from Navani, offering state secrets. And the final essay, which was called “Verdict” and written by Jasnah. it’s just one page. 

And if you ever thought Jasnah didn’t inherit the Kholin Extra Gene: 

Though this was the shortest of the essays, he heard them whispering and marvelling over it.  “Look, it incorporates all seven of Aqqu’s Logical Forms!”  “That’s an allusion to the Grand Orientation. And...storms...she quotes Prime Kasimarlix in three successive stages, each escalating the same quotes to a different level of Superior Understanding?”  One woman held her hand to her mouth. “It’s written entirely in a single rhythmic meter!”  “Great Yaezir,” Noura said. “You’re right.” “The allusions...”  “Such wordplay...” “The momentum and rhetoric...” 

JESUS CHRIST, JASNAH. ALL OF IT IN A SINGLE RHYTHMIC METER. WHAT THE FUCK. 

We get another moment of Dalinar getting bothered by the Rift, Rathalas, again--something else happened there. Also, it turns out that while Alethi parshmen had acted Alethi, immediately gathering for war, the Azish parshmen had lodged a complaint with the government. 

Dalinar: contests of kingdoms are supposed to be masculine i should be able to handle this Stormfather: LMAO

AAAAND HIS LUNCH IS GONE. Lift, that was some fast work. 

Lift cocked her head. “Huh. You smell like her.”  “Her?”  “The crazy spren who lives in the forest.”  “You’ve met the Nightwatcher?”  “Yeah...you?”  He nodded. 

She does offer him one of the bowls of dried fruit, which is a surprising gesture from Lift. In any case, they sit there in silence until the viziers come back; Dalinar notes that Noura, the main vizier, does seem fond of Lift, although Lift doesn’t see it that way. 

And Gawx and the council have agreed to meet with Dalinar!  And it was Navani’s essay that convinced them, giving Dalinar a moment to brag a little about his amazing wife. Noura mentions that she thought he would be an animal, a monster--

And it triggers something. A flashback, the worst yet--all of the memories coming back. 

He remembered what had happened to Evi. It had started in a cold fortress, in highlands once claimed by Jah Keved. It had ended at the Rift. 

Oh shit y’all, we’re getting what happened. 

We’re back eleven years ago. Adolin is looking out a window with Dalinar, and Dalinar is showing him a tactical defense against Shardbearers--I gotta say, tween Adolin is adorable. He’s 12. 

Though the last few fights had been disappointing, having his son with him had been an absolute delight. Adolin hadn’t gone into battle, of course, but he’d joined them at tactics meetings. Dalinar had first assumed the generals would be annoyed at the presence of a child, but it was hard to find little Adolin annoying. He was so earnest, so interested. 

This is the cutest shit I’ve ever seen. I wonder what Renarin is doing--he’s probably back with Evi, given that he’d be around, what seven to nine at this point? Still pretty small. 

Dalinar in the present: I’m so glad that I’m exploring ways to ally with people without shows of force. I’m tired of my entire life being fighting and blood and people getting hurt

Dalinar in the past: 

It was gratifying to see how much one could accomplish in both politics and trade by liberally murdering the other fellow’s soldiers. 

Yikes. 

Anyway, Evi comes in and starts fussing over Adolin, who was supposed to be wearing a jacket but wasn’t. He has to go to his geography lessons, but he doesn’t want to leave Dalinar, which again, is adorable. Also he still hugs his mom, even though that’s “un-Alethi.” 

Honestly, being a proper Alethi sounds utterly joyless. Dudes can’t eat sweet food and you can’t hug your parents? That sounds like bullshit. 

Apparently, Renarin stays mostly in Kholinar, and Evi still thinks Dalinar doesn’t see him enough--which, given that Dal literally didn’t answer her letters or talk to her until she came to the battlefield, I’ll believe. Ren probably never sees his dad. 

I know I’ve said this before, but Dalinar did not deserve his wonderful wife and perfect children. He’s connecting with Adolin, but only because Adolin isn’t like him, and he’s not even making an effort with Renarin, and that’s fucking awful parenting. 

Gavilar has sent a letter, saying that they need to talk,  but first, he needs to send Dalinar to the Rift; Dalinar will meet up with Sadeas’ forces, and also someone--nobody knows who--is supporting Tanalan, the person rising against Gavilar’s forces. 

Great. Dalinar, Sadeas, and the Rift. Clearly nothing here will go wrong. 

Dalinar says, casually,  that he doesn’t think they’ll settle back in Kholinar at any point--and then is startled when he looks up to see Evi crying. 

The sight stunned him, and he dropped his pencil. She tried to hold it back, turning toward the fire and wrapping her arms around herself, but the sniffles sounded as distinct and disturbing as breaking bones. 

I love how the similes that Dalinar uses, like the rockbuds like skulls and here, the sniffles like bones breaking, give so much insight into how violent his personality is. It’s wonderful writing.  Anyway, Dalinar didn’t understand how painful living seven years on the road, seven years of constant transition and upheaval and war, were to Evi. Evi even thought of going to the Nightwatcher to ask for intelligence, so she didn’t feel so outclassed by the other women in the area--and when Dalinar says that’s blasphemy, she points out that the only time people seem to care about Vorinism is to point out that it’s better than her beliefs or to swear on the names of the Heralds. 

She’s got a lot of points. And then Dalinar suggests that they go, vacation somewhere, maybe bring Adolin...and Evi has to point out that Dalinar has two sons. 

...you know, I’ve been the kid who gets left out when planning family trips. And it fucking sucks to be the one who always gets forgotten because the other kid is more important. My tolerance of Dalinar’s bullshit (when he’s at this age--current Dalinar is much more appreciative of Renarin, and thank god) is dropping by the second. 

DALINAR! DOES! NOT! DESERVE! HIS! WONDERFUL! WIFE! AND! AMAZING! CHILDREN!

Anyway,  he’s planning to go to the rift, and I’m planning to physically manifest in the book to fistfight him--or, more practically, to infiltrate Kholinar and befriend little Renarin, because it really sounds like he needs more care and affection than he’s getting. 

Anyway, after that, we get to go back to Shallan, who’s still repressing the fact that she was brutally murdered, because she’s Shallan and represses everything. 

I want to make it clear--I love Shallan. I just keep pointing this out because I see it, and it’s dangerous to repress all your emotions. 

A day after being murdered in a brutal fashion, Shallan found that she was feeling much better. The sense of oppression had left her, and even the her horror seemed distant. 

This! is! repression!

Anyway, Elhokar is drawing out a representation of the city, a full map with the palace and Oathgate platform. Shallan even notes that it’s pretty good. He’s still refusing to accept that Aesudan might be part of the problem, but...listen. We all know Elhokar is the world’s worst judge of people. He might just...remain in denial on this point. Certainly everyone else is just like “...sure, Elhokar, we’ll go with that” and exchanging glances behind his back. 

We get that his son’s name is Gavinor, though. That’s adorable. He’s gotta be around six, though, right? Elhokar was at war for around six years, and nobody mentioned trips back to Kholinar. 

Brandon please do not hurt the six-year-old. I realize this is a very low bar but given these books, if we learn that the fires on the Oathgate are ritual sacrifices and whoops, Gavinor was burned to death, i would not be surprised, but I would feel sick to my stomach for the next decade. 

Elhokar has a plan--infiltrate, try to figure out what’s going on with the Oathgate. Adolin and he can try to reconnect with prominent lighteyes who are still doing things and are alive in the city; Kaladin can see who this Azure person is on the wall. 

Adolin points out that they still have to address the fact that Aesudan was accused of being hugely wasteful; Elhokar mentions that Jasnah said that he shouldn’t marry her, but that Elhokar did because he felt like he needed someone strong--oh, I see what happened. It looks like Aesudan was another in the line of people who saw Elhokar, knew that he was weak, and her approach was to gain power by offering herself as a tool to make him look stronger. 

Or she’s a good person, Elhokar’s right, and we’re all barking up the wrong tree. I don’t think this is true, but I want to keep an open mind. 

Shallan is going to investigate the Cult of Moments, and Kaladin also points out--they need to figure out where on earth the food is coming from in the city. 

Veil is on the move in the city! She’s going to try to get a feel for the attitude of Kholinar, how the people think, why this Cult of Moments has such sway. We also get that the bodies that Veil found in the palace were only a few of the over thirty who were supposed to have met with Aesudan, and that these were some of the less powerful ones. 

God, Kholinar is choking to death on its own mysteries. 

Shallan finds a grain station, but it’s not being run well and apparently,  they purposely withhold grain from the poor and the young--some of those who will need it most. Yikes. The servants of lighteyes get food, and the poor darkeyes don’t. Veil is pissed--she seems to be gaining Kaladin’s indignation at lighteyes via osmosis. 

That’s a really weird thing. Shallan is herself a lighteyes--and one who is habitually fairly blind to her own privilege as one. But Veil is a darkeyes, albeit one with access to all of Shallan’s resources. As Veil becomes more definite, I wonder if Shallan will start to empathize more and understand her own position, or will she keep the experiences of her various selves separate? 

HOLY FUCKING SHIT, WIT IS IN THE CITY, SPOUTING SOME BULLSHIT ABOUT THE MOONS, OF COURSE. He’s dressed weirdly--he’s gotten his hands on one of Sadeas’s livery coats? and a scarf? 

Anyway, he’s busking, as he tends to. he’s telling a story about Tsa, a queen of Natanatan, and Mishim, the middle moon and the cleverest, who tries to escape her duty. Wit’s doing that thing where he’s using powders and smoke to make magical scenes in something that is and is not like Lightweaving; something startled him for a moment, but he moved back into the story. Mishim gets Queen Tsa to think that one of her towers--her works of art--were blemished from the top. Tsa then offered to trade places with Mishim, so she could see from the top. 

And Wit recognizes Shallan, despite her wearing Veil’s face. Of course he does. I’m not even surprised. 

Anyway, apparently Tsa got along better with the other two moons than Mishim did, and apparently Tsa had a child with Mishim--a child with blue skin, and that’s why the people of Natanatan have bluish skin. Interesting--I wonder if some part of this is relevant or true? We know that it’s possible that the Natanatan people are half-Aimian and that’s how the skin happened. 

Anyway, Wit doesn’t answer why he told that story now, but instead says that he misses his flute, and then says that Shallan looks like she could use the opportunity to...buy him food. 

Well, our favorite freeloading magic hobo has returned.