#Shinovar

[duckngk]

thinking about how alethi doorframes and stuff are made for taller people since theyre just a taller race generally.. but shinovar is a different story i need kaladin to be hitting his head on EVERYTHING in stormlight 5

[chill-reading-books]

Oooooo. A good point. It's one of the major flaws in the Shin system, the alienation of everyone who fights, even while depending on them and expecting them to do so.

I love how all the nations have both strengths and struggles, and in a very natural way that follows so logically from their value structures and societal systems. They feel real and organic and three-dimensional and not manufactured. The worldbuilding is great

[halflingchill]

When Dalinar first stepped into the vision of the humans arriving on Roshar, one of the Singers he was with asked: Why is Shinovar the way it is? (Aka the dirt)

The response from another Singer was "I don't know, you'll have to ask the little gods"

This implies to me that that area of Roshar was created with dirt soil by Adonalsium, which begs the question of WHY

Why was this part of Roshar made differently than the rest? Did Adonalsium see a future need for such a space? That someday Roshar would have to host humans from a different world? If so, does that mean he saw his own shattering? If he saw his own shattering, then that means he allowed himself to get shattered. Did Adonalsium allow himself to be shattered because he saw a need for it? Did he allow the shattering in order to understand why people wanted to shatter him in the first place? Shatter into parts to experience more of the cosmere like how the Iri believe they are all parts of the one?

My brain is running WILD at the implications and it now haunts my waking dreams

[lamaery]

25 - dancing

For this prompt I already had the right idea lying around as a little thumbnail sketch from the bits of Szeth’s flashback scenes Brandon read at Dragonsteel Con last year. Just had to refine it a bit. :) ------------ image description: a digital painting of a two children in a pastoral scenery. A sound boy is depicted mid-jump, floating in the air as he dances around a large rock in the vibrant green meadow. He wears simple rough spun brown trousers and a light brown tunic and a red kerchief around his neck. The long grass around the rock is tread into a circle by his footsteps. The boys sister sits next to the circle playing a double flute, looking something like a greek autos flute. She wears a dress of similar cloth to her brothers clothes, her light brown hair in two braids. Further back to the left some sheep are peacefully mingling between bushes and shrubbery. In the distance a white topped mountain range resides underneath a bright blue, almost turquoise tinted sky, decorated with fluffy white clouds. The whole scene feels open, peaceful, but also a bit too bright, almost washed out, like a happy but distant memory full of nostalgia for better days.

[tyresw]

Love that Rysn gets a plant from Vstim and acts like a child that got clothes for their birthday.

"Great, I got a dumb plant that refuses to even protect itself. I didn't even wanna go to Shinovar and now I have to lug around soil?? Terrible trip, I I think I'll go hang off a cliff now"

[blindradiant]

I’ve seen some people say that Szeth pre-exile was in a respected position for training with the Honorblades, and eventually bonding Jezrien’s Blade. They seem to think that learning how to wield the Honorblades and learn the Surges is, well, an honor. I think this is inaccurate for at least two reasons.

First, they’re called Honorblades because they were made directly by Honor, using his own essence/Investiture. There’s no inherent honor in using one, any more than there is in carrying a regular Shardblade.

Second, something I think people forget/overlook is that warriors and anyone who uses a weapon are at the bottom of Shin social structure. The only people who are lower than fighters are Truthless.

I imagine that those who train with the Honorblades also have low social rank. The Shin might view it as a necessary evil (there’s a passing line in Oathbringer that seems to imply that they watched for the return of the Voidbringers) but it is still bad. Killing is the worst sin in the Shin religion, and anyone who learns how to use the Honorblades is also trained to kill. There would be no honor in that.

Even before Szeth was named Truthless and exiled from Shinovar, he was of one of the lowest social ranks to his people. He might have used the Honorblades, but he found no honor in it.

[azure-sorceress]

So I'm rereading The Way of Kings and it's making me think about the Shin's culture and how it may be far more advanced than what everyone else on Roshar assumes it is.

Shallan and the bookseller are both really surprised that the Shin have scholars among them. It's so curious how little people from the other countries know about the Shin. I know they are really reclusive, but none the less, the other cultures on Roshar assume they wouldn't have scholars and researchers and people who seek knowledged?

The only Shin that we really know is Szeth and not only can he read and write, but he can speak at least Alethi and Azish, beyond his mother tongue. Maybe he learned all of that after being made Truthless, but still. I wonder of he had a good education growing up. I wonder if that is a normal practice in Shinovar, for all people to at least learn how to read and write, like in Azir.

I can't wait for Wind and Truth to be out so we can find out more about Shinovar and their people.

[wyndlerunner]

Woke: Humans are the invaders/conquerors of Roshar

Bespoke: Humans were welcomed to Roshar as refugees, but then displaced the indigenous populations

Broke: technically…the white people are the only non-Colonist/imperialist humans on Roshar

[therealsoulking]

Nah, that's just how they teach you to fight down in Shinovar.

This doesn't just apply to Honorblade users, swordsmen are taught to sheath their sword the instant before somebody they cut feels it, and martial artists are instructed to use improvised weapons as they break into smaller and smaller pieces

szeth is all like "I hate killing people. I hate myself for killing people. Why must I kill people all the time" and then every time he fights it's the most elaborate fight scene ever. There is ONE GUARD and he lashes him upwards, binds him to the ceiling, puts his own spear under him, and then waits for the lashing to run out so the guard falls down and is impaled. and every fight scene is like that. if you think murder is morally wrong why did you do that to him

[spacetimeaccordionfolder]

Sometimes a friend group is a 37 year old former assassin who caused a whole bunch of political upheaval by killing a lot of guys, hears the voices of those he killed, and has realized he wants a life of peace, a 800+ year old talking sword who really wants to destroy evil but is beginning to realize he has questions about what that means, a 22 year old former highmarshal who accidentally invented therapy, is learning one song on a flute to try and relax, and trying to find a healthy work- life balance, a 1000+ year old spren who's basically god's daughter and a princess who is also learning how to have a healthy work-life balance with her friend, and a 7000+ year old herald who believes in following the law to the letter, really hates that one song, and does not believe in a healthy work- life balance.

[chill-reading-books]

WHAT

That's the origin of the Shinovar religion?!

AND HOID JUST FORGOT TO MENTION THAT TO THE SHIN?! (I mean that's so real of him but)

WHAT?!!

How was Hoid involved

I'm just- resigned at this point. He's there for practically everything it's ridiculous. (That promise to "be there" sure is doing its thing.)

I do want to know though what role he played in the event!! It seems important!

[mobblespsycho100]

the funniest part abt wind and truth is that Kaladin starts genuinely forming a platonic bond with Szeth and even developing a brotherly/paternal protective instinct because like. youre telling me that this guy literally went from killing him to kind of thinking hes a messy freak of a human being to "despite his heinous crimes hes just a lil guy your honor. a poor little meow meow" in the span of 10 days / even less ?? maybe the real ideal isnt "i will protect even those i hate" cause im starting to believe Kaladin cant even hate anyone. perhaps the real oaths were the friends we made along the way

[capricandoitall]

STORMLIGHT/WaT SPOILERS

I'm very curious if The Wind and Stone will be busy during the next 10 years. Because The Wind is the third witness to what happened in Shinovar - and she knows what happened to Kal.

Like, are the Wind and Stone Spren-Spren? Because they both predate Honor and Cultivation and are more like little bits of Adolnasium. They couldn't be eaten up/claimed by Retribution as some regathering of Honor's splinters like was going to happen to the rest of the spren.

But also, how the eff did THIS oathpact work in re the spren/Retribution? Is it just that Honor won't let Retribution break such a powerful oath?

The other Wind and Truth thing that won't stop rotating in my mind is that

No one knows Kaladin is fine, actually.

There's only 1 source for what happened in Shinovar - Szeth. Who doesn't know about the reforging of the Oathpact to protect the spren. He thinks Kaladin is dead. I mean, he BURIED the guy!

I can guess at some point communication gets restored, because the in-universe Knights of Wind and Truth book was written 6 years later AND references its part of a multi-author work and that Jasnah provided information about Kaladin.

When word gets out about what happened, literally everyone who ever cared about him or looked up to him is going to be distraught. On top of everything that's happened - you've lost one of the biggest inspirations for those that resisted Odium. One of the first Radiants. The mythical Stormblessed. Dead.

Meanwhile he's actually just leading a beach therapy retreat and might turn up again one day.....

[mushimallo]

bliss

[parsips]

Dalinar for an hour in chapter 4

[lamaery]

something small for the evening. More good boys of Shinovar. Mostly just wish fulfillment and heavily biased predictions for SA5. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Image description: rough coloured digital sketch of Kaladin lying in the grass blissfully snoozing. He wears no jacket and the sleeves of his shirt is rolled up to his elbow, because it is just sexy, what can I say. Otherwise he lies there veeeery relaxed. Mouth and expression slack with sleep and his head propped against a giant, white shaggy sheepdog, who looks like it is sleeping if its wagging tail wouldn't tell a different story. That dog seems pretty content with its current role as a pillow. There is another smaller dog sleeping next to Kal's long legs in the grass. A tiny butterfly flutters above the serene little scene.