#Yes I know that spren have very little physical form

[wannabecinderella]

The dancing scene from WaT but it’s a combat scenario so your opponent swings their spear and you and halfway through it turns into a person who clocks you in the face. Is this anything

[scienter]

We finally got a flashback chapter for Szeth! 😁 Let's dive into Wind and Truth Chapters 23 & 24.

CHAPTER 23

I don’t have much to say about Shallan and the Ghostbloods, except I fully expect everything to blow up in Shallan’s face. Something is going to go very wrong because Shallan always gets herself in over her head or trusts the wrong people. 🫣

She did her best to calm him, then took a meeting with Highprince Aladar on the status of the lighteyes. There was a lot of general panic about Jasnah’s work to free the Alethi slaves, a decision that Dalinar had copied for Urithiru after some persuasion. It would be a slow process, designed to take effect over time, with social systems in place to facilitate. Jasnah, as usual, had done her research.

I’m currently re-reading ROW, and last night I read the scene where Jasnah proposed outlawing slavery and Dalinar pushed back because it would cause mass chaos. I’m glad to see Brandon follow through on that little plot thread in Wind and Truth.

“Which is?” Aladar asked. “Brightness, with the elevation of Stormblessed to a full house, and now to third dahn, what about the other Radiants? More than three-quarters of them were darkeyed and are now light. It’s chaos!”

Kaladin is a 3rd Dahn now? Huh. He was a 4th Dahn in Oathbringer. Is it because of Kaladin's Highmarshal rank? (Was Kaladin a 4th Dahn in ROW?)

The stately bald man shook his head and sighed. “As you wish—but my concerns won’t go away, Brightness. This problem is a bubbling cauldron. It’s going to overflow. Only the invasions are stopping it.” “I know,” she said. “But let’s worry about the crisis we are facing now first, Aladar.” Yes, the upper ranks of the lighteyes were a bubbling cauldron. Unfortunately for them, the darkeyes had been boiling for far longer—and they suddenly had access to advocates in the form of people who could bend the laws of reality. She suspected that if it came to a head, the lighteyes would discover how little “tradition” was worth in the face of centuries of pent-up rage.

I hope this is a major theme or conflict in the second half of the series. Alethkar has a fucked up caste system and I'd like to see it fixed by the end of the series.

Also, this issue is one of the reasons I want Kaladin to survive and become the King of Urithiru.  There’s so much political conflict and societal upheaval that could be explored in the second half of the series if does. I think it'd be a compelling extension of his story going forward. Besides, I love a good rags-to-riches story ngl. Kurt Vonnegut gets it.

Is it right, what he contemplates? she asked the Sibling. Ascending to Honor? Someone will need to eventually, the Sibling said. The power can’t be left to its own devices. It will come awake. Why hasn’t it already? It’s been thousands of years. “Whatever the reason, be glad. These powers aren’t like the tiny pieces that become spren. The power of a Shard needs a partner, a Vessel. Without it… What? Navani asked. Great danger. We do not think as humans do. To separate the power from those who are attached to the Physical Realm… that should frighten you. It is not so terrible a thing for part of me to despise you. But for the power of a god to? Dangerous. For all of us.”

Okay, so SOMEONE needs to Ascend to Honor because it’s dangerous for the shard to be untethered to a vessel. It makes the Stormfather’s opposition to Dalinar ascending all the more intriguing. Would the Stormfather support someone else taking up the Shard of Honor? Because according to the Sibling, they can’t leave that power lying around without a vessel …

So if Dalinar does take up the Shard of Honor will his Ascension be temporary or will it be permanent? I wonder because they're fucked if Dalinar Ascends and then loses the contest of champions . . .

BTW- I finished re-reading Oathrbinger last week, and Odium pointed something important out about Dalinar in Chapter 57:

"You have been placed in a difficult position my son." Odium said. "You are the first to bond the Stormfather in his current state. Did you know that? You are deeply connected to the remnants of a god." Odium turned to him so sharply that Dalinar jumped. "Is that," Odium said quietly, "an offer to release me from my bonds, coming from the man holding the remnants of Honor's name and power?"

You'd think Dalinar's deep connection to Honor and already holding the remnants of his name and power would make him a good candidate for Ascending to Honor. But the Stormfather insists that he's not. Interesting, no?

Pardon, Sibling, Navani said. But neither is living in towers that are climate controlled. If we conformed only to what was natural, my people would be living naked in the wilderness and defecating on the ground.

Hehe. I love smart-ass Navani.

And with a husband who had decided to become a god.

Can you imagine being in Navani's place? 🫨 Good Lord . . .

CHAPTER 24

Szeth-son-Neturo found magic upon the wind, and so he danced with it.

Never in a million years would I have guessed that Szeth loved to dance.

The music was his dance partner, wind made animate through sound. The flute was the voice of air itself.

👀 Thinking back to Wit’s conversation with Kaladin about learning to play the flute and listening to the Wind . . .

To find another rock. Szeth recoiled, part shocked, part terrified. It was small, only a handspan wide. It peeked up from the earth, perhaps revealed by last night’s rain. Szeth put his fingers to his lips, backing away. Had he stepped on it while dancing? It was in the packed earth of the dancing ring.

Hm. Why would Szeth/the Shin be so terrified of stone? What power does it hold? I know the Stone is one of the ancient gods of Roshar along with The Wind and The Night. But the Shin aren't afraid of The Wind. What's so dangerous about stone? 🤔

Also, I love the contrast between Szeth's childhood and Kaladin's. Both they and their siblings were connected to the wind and stone.

[peachdoxie]

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

[preservationandruin]

Oathbringer Liveblog: Part Two. Chapters 33-37

Sorry for the delay, gang! Life has been busy and I haven’t had time to keep up my reading and liveblogging at the same pace. But! I should be able to get at least some out now. 

Shallan gets a lecture, Dalinar has a conversation, Kaladin chats with his men about their lives and also starts training them; we have a Dalinar flashback, and a Rock POV. 

Just at the beginning, we have actually-accurate drawings of Urithiru, ,and the letter that will be this chapter’s epigraphs is addressed to Cephandrius, who--I believe--is Hoid. Whoever’s writing it calls him “Dearest Cephandrius,” which is either someone being sarcastic or someone who likes Hoid much more than most other characters who know him. 

Anyway, Shallan is reacting to the fact that Jasnah is alive. She also refers to what she did as “grope an eldritch spren,” which is pretty hilarious. 

Jasnah claimed to always look at things from a logical perspective, but she had a flair for the dramatic to rival any storyteller. 

That’s because she’s a Kholin and, as we all know, drama runs in their bloodline like blue and purple eyes and Alethi dark hair. And again, every time Shallan looks at Jasnah is a Relatable Bisexual Mood: 

Storms. She was perfect. A curvaceous figure, tan Alethi skin, light violet eyes, and not a hint of aberrant color to her jet-black hair. Making Jasnah Kholin as beautiful as she was brilliant was one of the most unfair things the Almighty had ever done. 

SAME, Shallan. And of course, Jasnah sees this return as a teaching moment. Jasnah also tells Shallan that fabrials are, essentially, made by imprisoning spren. Also, when Shallan starts sarcastically talking back to her Jasnah smiles. I think she missed her over-inquisitive sarcastic ward. And Jasnah has run into Kaladin, once--kinda sad we missed that encounter. Shallan also is heartened, kind of, by the fact that Jasnah too has no idea what she’s doing. 

The letter mentions that the writer, among other things, notices Hoid’s “many intrusions into my land.” That’s interesting--implies whoever wrote this is some sort of ruler over an area. A Shard, or just a king of some sort? Hard to say. 

Anyway, over to Dalinar. He’s having his meeting with Queen Fah in the storm. He’s showing her the Knights Radiant saving people--the vision with the family that Dalinar got in the first book. Also,  a rare moment of philosophy from the Stormfather as Dalinar asks about the place of endless white stone where they talk: 

I IMAGINED IT, the Stormfather said more softly,  as if he were admitting something embarrassing. ALL THINGS HAVE A SOUL. A VASE, A WALL, A CHAIR. AND WHEN A VASE IS BROKEN, IT MIGHT DIE IN THE PHYSICAL REALM, BUT FOR A TIME ITS SOUL REMEMBERS WHAT IT WAS. SO ALL THINGS DIE TWICE. ITS FINAL DEATH IS WHEN MEN FORGET IT WAS A VASE, AND THINK ONLY OF THE PIECES. I IMAGINE THE VASE FLOATING AWAY THEN, ITS FORM DISSOLVING INTO NOTHINGNESS. 

This has some interesting larger implications, too. Much as the cognitive form of the vase sticks around when its broken...the Stormfather is almost the same thing in regards to Honor, you know? A Cognitive Shadow. Is one of the things keeping the Stormfather “alive” the fact that people think of him as the Almighty? 

Anyway, Dalinar has taken the place of one of the radiants, the female one in amber shardplate. He isn’t in Shardplate, though, and is wondering about the differences between Radiant Shardplate and Normal Shardplate. So am I, to be honest. Anyway, he’s trying to fish for information about it, but Stormy dissuades him. 

“How,” Dalinar whispered to the Stormfather. “How do we get the armor?”  Speak the Words. “Which words?”  You will know or you will not.  Great. 

Anyway, he meets up with Queen Feh, and they start talking. She points out that it sounds like bullshit that the Almighty would pick Dalinar--”a tyrant and a murderer”--to lead the knights Radiant,  and it hits Dalinar pretty personally because, well, it’s right. 

“Maybe all the good men are dead, so all you have is me!” 

Anyway, Feh is pleased that Dalinar is honestly shouting at her, rather than being tactful and diplomatic. Also, she points out that the vision--which the Stormfather has paused--is really creepy. And Dalinar realizes--the way he was acting, the way he was eerily calm over the spanreed--it made him seem like he was in league with the Voidbringers. 

Dalinar also points out that he learned one important thing--he learned that if he talks to Feh by being himself, she listens more easily. 

Bridge Four, now! Have I mentioned I love Bridge Four. Sigzil was having that nightmare where you’re about to take important tests but you forgot how to read. Lopen is using the fact that Kaladin is back--and, thus, that they’re squires again--to walk upside down on the ceiling. Lopen also uses the nickname “hooch” to refer to Sigzil but refuses to explain what it means. 

Sigzil also reveals that he didn’t pass the important tests, got himself into trouble, and Hoid ended up rescuing him. That’s an interesting note. And then somehow he ended up a slave on Sadeas’ least lucky bridge crew. 

Sigzil found Kaladin doing morning push-ups on the stone floor. His blue jacket was draped over a chair.  “Sir,” Sigzil said.  “Hey, Sig,” Kaladin said, grunting as he continued doing push-ups. “Are the men up and mustered”“  “Up, yes,” Sigzil said. “When I left them, they seemed bordering on a food fight, and only half were in uniform. 

Have I mentioned I love Bridge Four. 

“And then there’s the matter of Drehy...”  “What matter?”  “Well, he’s been courting a man, you see...”  Kaladin threw on his coat, chuckling. “I did know about that one. You only now noticed?”  Sigzil nodded.  “It’s Dru he’s been seeing, still? From the district quartermaster’s offices?” 

Listen, this segment means a lot to me. it’s just...it’s very important to me that one of the guys in Bridge four is seeing another guy, and everyone’s cool with that, and Kaladin is invested enough in his mens’ happiness to know who the guy is and where he works. It might be stupid to be tearing up about this, but if that’s stupid, well, I’m stupid. 

I’m just so tired of worlds where people like me just don’t exist that any one where they do is deeply moving. 

Also Sigzil drops a cryptic reference to “you know what Teft’s gotten into” which knowing Teft could be, well, literally anything. Anyway, as they keep going Lyn joins them, mentioning that the “unusual request” Kaladin wanted has been filled, and Kal says he’s been noticing that she’s been trying to work with Bridge Four. He asks her to join--she’s hype--and then she realizes that he means as a scribe and just wilts.

LET! LYN! FIGHT!

Sigzil finds himself wanting to punch Kaladin, just a little. And literally repeats Kaladin’s same speech about trying to understand what people actually want out of life back to him and Kal is suitably abashed. And he has gotten his hands on a massive amount of gems, so they can practice being Radiants. 

Blackthorn Flashback! 24 years ago. Evi sometimes has Vasheresque idiomatic translation problems: “the life will be as white as a sun at night!” 

Anyway, Evi is pregnant with Adolin! She and Dalinar are watching the flamespren--she sees it as playing, Dalinar as sparring, and Evi points out that she knows how much Dalinar lived for fighting, and she doesn’t like it. And Dalinar at the very least knows he doesn’t deserve her--good, at least he’s got that straight. Evi is amazing and Dalinar, at this point? A train wreck. He’s still in love with Navani, and notes that he and Navani and Gavilar stayed up talking together--Navani was so interested in what she was doing, but Gavilar ignored her. 

None of these marriages are going great, it seems. And Evi mentions that if you want to change who you are you have to go “petition the One in the Valley.” the Nightwatcher. She seems to refer to her as an aspect of the masculine Almighty, but it suggests that the “Almighty” worshipped in Iri and Rira might be Cultivation. Anyway, Gavilar has shown up. 

Apparently, Rathelas, where Dalinar won Oathbringer, is demanding the Blade back, because he “never won it in a fair contest” and the heir returned. 

...Dalinar couldn’t bring himself to kill the child, could he. He took the Blade but left the boy alive. The Thrill vanished when confronted with a crying child. 

Interesting. I remember how, in Mistborn, being confronted with someone--usually someone young--pleading for their life or, more often, the life of someone else broke Ruin’s influence. Anyway, Evi is so proud that Dalinar spared the baby boy--he gave him to his mother and told her to hide him. 

This. This makes me so happy. Dalinar didn’t kill a child. I mean, he was still a butcher and murderer. But there was a line, there. And Dalinar is happy that, just in this moment, Evi sees him as a hero. 

Over to Bridge Four, again! And an alarming note in the letter: 

You mustn’t worry yourself about Rayse. It is a pity about Aona and Skai, but they were foolish--violating our pact from the very beginning. 

a) Aona and Skai literally died and you’re saying it’s just a “pity” that Rayse murdered them? Wow, asshole b) our pact. Implying that this person is a Shard or something on a similar level of power. 

Anyway, we’re over to Numuhukumakiaki’aialunamor, better known as Rock. Turns out his Horneater nickname is Lunamor. He is making stew back out on the Shattered Plains, and is surprised to realize that he kind of missed them. Renarin is working the Oathgate nearby. They’re training along with some others, including five female scouts. 

Let! Them! Fight!

Anyway, Teft has been gone for a while--he didn’t come back last night. That’s not great. Huio, one of the cousins, is helping Teft cook--he makes a chance to the drinks, Rock is SCANDALIZED, but...it turns out delicious. Bridge Four is pioneering fusion cuisine here. Lopen has accidentally stuck himself to the ground entirely. 

“Just part of the plan, gon!” Lopen called back. “If I am to become a delicate cloud upon the sky, I must first convince the ground that I am not abandoning her. Like a worried lover, sure, she must be comforted and reassured that I will return following my dramatic and regal ascent into the sky.”  “You’re not a king, Lopen,” Drehy said. “We’ve been over this.” 

We’ve been over this. How many times do I have to say I love Bridge Four before the words come anywhere close to conveying my affection for them? It is a mystery.

Kaladin: Rock, do you think you use the term “airsick lowlander” too much Rock: [looks over to where Lopen is STILL stuck with stormlight to the ground, sweet-talking it] Rock: No. 

Rock also invites them all to come visit the Horneater peaks. Anyway, Elhokar has shown up. Kaladin has agreed to reclaim Alethkar and the capital with Elhokar, provided he has a few more weeks to train. Also, Rock finds the old bridge itself--the Bridge of Bridge four. Rock also points out that while he was a soldier once, he always--always--loved being a cook. 

He closed his eyes, kneading and humming his mother’s song to a beat he could almost, barely, just faintly hear. 

Your friendly reminder that Horneaters have Listener blood; seems like some of them, at least, haven’t lost the Rhythms. And when Renarin approaches, Rock yells over to ask him to help with the bread. Interestingly, though, Rock can’t see Glys. Perhaps...he’s just really shy? 

“That one, he will never hold spear again. He will not fly, but he  is Bridge Four. I am forbidden to fight, but I am Bridge Four. And you, you might have fancy title and different powers.” He leaned forward. “But I know Bridge Four. And you, Renarin Kholin, are Bridge Four.” 

And that gets Renarin talking--talking about how everyone always wanted him to be an ardent, because look, he was smart, and look, he was so bright--but he knew that what they were really saying was “wow, you’re not as strong as Adolin” and “wow, it would be great for the line of succession if the sickly one couldn’t inherit.” 

“When you say these things, you are almost not bitter!” Lunamor said. “Ha! Much practice must have been required.”  “A lifetime.” 

HUG RENARIN KHOLIN 2K17

Renarin says he feels like the oddest of them--Rock points to Rlain, Renarin startles and says he’s not sure if Rlain counts (just like Renarin isn’t sure he himself “counts” as Bridge Four) and Rock says, yeah. That’s what everyone tells him. So Renarin goes and sits with Rlain. 

Rock notes that one of his ancestors apparently met an Unmade, but doesn’t elaborate. That’s alarming. And we also get to see all the little ways Rock makes Bridge Four keep working--calming people down, listening, getting them to teach him things when they’re not confident. 

And then Rock sees a group of “strong gods” like Sylphrena gathered around a tall spren woman with long hair, watching the training squires. It’s the most he’s seen, anywhere. Anyway, Syl comes over to talk to him--she mentions that the woman, the large one, is Phendorana, some sort of leader who called her out for searching out Kaladin. 

Apparently, the other honorspren are seeing whether or not anyone in Bridge Four are worthy of being full Radiants. Rock walks back, and sees Hobber--the one whose legs were paralyzed by Szeth--trying desperately to draw out Stormlight from a sphere. 

And he can feel his toes again! Everyone tows all of their gemstones over. 

And then they find a raided caravan--but one of the Voidbringers who did it was brought down. By an unkalaki arrow. 

Lunamor looked to the right, where someone had piled up furniture in a heat, almost like a fortification. A head poked over the top, a stout woman with a round face and a deep red braid. She stood up tall and raised a bow toward Lunamor. Other faces peeked out from behind the furniture. Two youths, a boy and a girl both around sixteen. Younger faces from there. Six in total.  Lunamor dashed toward them and found himself blubbering, tears streaming down his cheeks as he crawled up the outside of their improvised fortification.  His family, at long last, had arrived at the Shattered Plains. 

ROCK’S! FAMILY!

IM SO HAPPY FOR HIM HE DESERVES THIS SO MUCH!!! His wife is Song (Tuaka’li’na’calmi’nor); the twins are Gift and Cord; the next son is also Rock (a different,  smaller kind); the third son is Star, the second daughter Kuma’tiki--a kind of shell not present in the lowlands--and the last daughter is also Song-- “Beautiful Song.” She’s only four--she doesn’t remember him. 

And Renarin,  with healing, managed to save several people’s lives. We also get that something is very wrong with the Peaks. Also, Rock notes that he’s been lying to some of the other men. For example--he’s not really a chef, according to their order of inheritance, it sounds like. It seems like all of his older brothers are dead, which would make him a leader. 

And Bridge Four does one last, final run with their bridge. They won’t need it, anymore--they’ll be flying. 

[nightblink]

Blink Reads Oathbringer - Interludes 7-11

Lots of shorter chapters here, and lots of Venli!

Interlude Seven - Envoy

Stumping for Odium. What a job. Ooof.

A showpiece indeed. That has to rankle Venli like nothing else, essentially being relegated to the sidelines of a war she's fought for years, even if it isn't the same war anymore. Aaahaha, and like any good propaganda machine, there's lies interwoven with the truth – 'no blame'? Your leaders outright admitted to the Alethi that they'd done it, in hopes of alleviating the infamous Alethi fury!

Venli's getting serious culture clash by walking amongst the Alethi-Parshmen – because they are still Alethi, in their speech and mannerisms and way of thinking; it's all they've ever been exposed to, so how could they be otherwise?

Culture note for the Parshmen: “three levels in the hierarchy of Odium's people” - the 'common singers', then the 'Regals' who have forms of power but aren't possessed by returned souls, and then the Fused on top of it all. Unknown about where the Voidspren fit in it all.

More culture clash – and I can't fault Venli for her reaction to the Singer woman who brought her the water; the Parshmen/Singers lost everything of their people under their generations of slavery and without true form, and that must both infuriate Venli and hurt her to the core. And then to see them act so Alethi? Dressing like them and using their speech patterns and rank titles? I can't even imagine.

Oh wow, so Listener gemhearts are almost like moonstones, or perhaps pearls?

Haaaaaah – the Radiants' power comes from spren (sentient spren!) bonded to their very souls, not their bodies, and come from Honor and Cultivation both; I'm not surprised that their Surges are stronger than those available to Odium's Fused.

AHHH HER LITTLE SPREN FRIEND IS BACK

Oh but wouldn't that be a lovely symbolism, if her little spren was a 'fallen star', here to help guide her with its 'light'(/influence) like the points in the sky one can navigate by.

Curiosity! Resolve! Love of discovering things! Ohhhh, but I continue to wonder whether that spren might be the clinging remnants of Eshonai's soul, made spren like the Old Ones but somehow not of Odium…

Interlude Eight – Mem

The cosplayer/sewer/historical re-creationist in me is quite appreciative at this lady and the care she's giving to her fabrics with care for the type of dye used.

OOOP AND SHE'S WORKING ON PANTS FOR MRAIZE. Is she part of the Ghostbloods as well, or just...an unaffiliated washerwoman?

Shiiiiit, how bad are things going in Jah Keved, I wonder. Taravangian 'took over', technically, but we haven't really heard anything about the state of the country…

Mmmm, I'll bet Mem's not a Ghostblood, she's just here to observe something happening from the sidelines-

...which happens to be Pom slicing at a painting. You're that Herald defacing her own images, aren't you?

“The masterpiece of the Oilsworn was all it took, was it? Excellent!” OH MY GOD. Not only did Mraize intentionally set this up, but the painting you ruined is the one of you on the inside cover of this very book. And he knows Taln's location! WHERE IS HE MRAIZE THAT'D BE GREAT TO KNOW CONSIDERING THE APOCALYPSE AT HAND

...was the stain on his pants something from another world, maybe not even something entirely physical? (The only connection I can think of is Aether of Night and I haven't gotten my hands on that…) No matter, she definitely deserves that bonus.

Interlude Nine – True Labor Begins

Every time Eshonai is mentioned, I still feel a pang of loss.

Oh noooo, they're taking Venli to Kholinar... I- it's still too soon. Too soon.

At least it doesn't appear as if the city is in ruins; she only notes 'shattered' guard towers along with columns of smoke.

H a h, 'practice'. Now you get to rally the masses of those who assaulted the city. Will it be an easier task or a harder one, I wonder?

Interlude Ten – Sheler

I definitely misread that title as 'Shelter' at first.

!!! DO WE FINALLY GET TO SEE HERDAZ DO WE DO WE

Wait I'm with the Alethi on this one, what the heck is up with those manacles?

Oooooo, you're an abuser – for this one I'm with the Herdazians. An executioner's sword in the hands of those you abused is your just reward.

...the general just Houdini'd out of the manacles? I'm still confused? WHAT WAS THE PURPOSE. To taunt the captive? To show him that he had the possibility of escape if he knew how?

'Robbing and murdering civilians'? Dude, you deserve all the agonies that they're describing. Fuck off with this idea of 'ransom'.

Oiled, still chained, and with what's very possibly a greatshell heading up for you to wrestle. Well, 'eaten alive' is at least a decent option for the death of crem like you.

Interlude Eleven – Her Reward

Timbre! Venli's little spren friend gets a name! Aaaaaahhhh, and what a Singer name it is, too.

Not allowed into Kholinar? What? WHY. It's not like they're keeping the other Listeners out! They're even bringing them out of the city to speak to her! Is it a power move on the Fused's part, to help 'keep her in line', or perhaps to reinforce the image of her as a 'Parshendi-Listener' as different from the Alethi-Parshmen-Listeners? Both? I'll bet it's something like that.

Ohhhh, so Timbre is a kind of spren that the Fused and Voidspren are actively looking out for? TIMBRE ARE YOU A TYPE OF RADIANT-SPREN. ARE YOU A WILLSHAPER-SPREN-

Timbre helps you, Venli. It helps you think, helps you remember.

!!! The spren in a Listener's gemheart can react to Rhythms heard from the outside? Or do they react to the reaction of the Listener's body upon hearing said different Rhythms?

Venli, no, Odium is using you and your people, he'd leave Roshar a smoking, shattered husk if he could, you cannot trust him to give you or your people a future-!

But still! She's hearing the old Rhythms again, even tuning to them herself! GOOD SIGNS

Ooop, Timbre is now referred to as 'her'. That's new.

Venli's broken too; she wanted power, yes, but also to help her people, to push back. She took the Voidspren's help because of that; yes, that was a decision you made, your fault, but this? All the destruction and war and death? That's beyond 'your fault' by this point, Venli, far beyond. You, yourself, can still choose to do differently.

Note: Everstorm comes approximately every nine days. Of course it's nine – Odium's number – Sanderson likes his number symbolism too much to have it be otherwise.

!!! A vision! Odium is bringing visions with the Everstorm like the Stormfather did with Honor's! But- more a communication, since Odium isn't dead like Honor is, and not a pleasant conversation in the slightest.

Is the star she 'burned' in a specific one, I wonder? Is that going to be relevant?

Timbrrrrreeeeeee.

She's being pulled in two directions by the spren inside her and at her side – or more like pulled in one, and coaxed and supported in the other.

Yes. You helped return the old 'gods'. But what's done is done.

What will you do now?

[mistralrunner]

Running Reads Oathbringer: Interludes and Part II.I

And now I get into a bit more of a proper liveblog as things are happening all the time everywhere.

Spoilers for pages 327-370 ahead

Hmm, legends about people arriving from the Origin interesting

A little bit of an ivory tower mindset as the world is facing disaster but I can relate to wanting a quiet place to read wonder what sort of worldbuilding we'll get from her book-WHAAAT

Okay then

Nice to have a character who reads guilty pleasure books and is an accomplished scholar as they're not mutually exclusive

I love this. Both the linguistic history and the fact that these are characters who are both passionate about learning and non academic things

...I am concerned about this particular patron wanting a Dawnchant translation

Oh hey they're looking for Eshonai aren't they

No

Nonononono

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I can't believe I'm feeling for Venli

But it's her fault Eshonai was lost

And she was even considering taking Eshonai down

But she cares now and that means there is hope

That's why they leave their corpses? Humans why must you be awful.

Admittedly if you relegate them to mindless horror monsters trying to destroy your people in your mind it just becomes "common sense" like getting a gemheart from a chasmfiend, which is disturbing   

I hate Ulim

Bleh evil spren corrupting the cool spren friends aesthetic

ESHONAI COULD HAVE RESISTED EVENTUALLY?

Nooooooo why didn't she get the chance whyyy

And this is how Odium takes control. He has the knowledge of war the others don't and so it becomes a bit of a join him or die sort of thing.

Also the idea of Odium's forces retaining knowledge and human society losing knowledge and regressing technologically with each Desolation. ‘Tis concerning.

Heh Odium's forces are offended by the Last Legion

It does make me fear for those Listeners who did escape into the chasms when Eshonai rounded them up cause even if they avoided drowning Odium probably hunts them

Ancestors are the ones in charge what

What is that spren. Comet small ball of white fire streak behind and little rings of light so maaaybe not of Odium

Hmm, Listener ancestors in charge...

Eshonai lives. She'd better.

Part II time

JASNAH POV YESSSSS

wait no Kaladin pov

This is the first time I think there's ever been no Kaladin pov in a part

Nooo

But Bridge Four I'm so proud of them getting to official pov standing

New Beginnings Sing seems a promising title

YAY LETTER TO HOID

From whom though this time

Urithiru is really impressive

I am still concerned about Oathgates to Rall Elorim, the City of Shadows, and Aimia, which underwent some mysterious scourge

Wait they skipped over the reunion scene? Whyyyyyy

Good for you Shallan recording experiences with Re-Shepir and analyzing them

How did Jasnah survive indeed

Hehe Jasnah's dramatic flair I love her for that

Jasnah really is good at putting on a strong face cause something did happen but can't let people know that.

Wow this is a bizarre interaction as if nothing changed when everything did

But hey some more clear indication on how fabrials work

Shallan Jasnah is apologizing she actually is getting better at the art of apology

Okay so how Jasnah survived was as I expected

Ooh she had to find a perpendicularity to return? But she didn't seem to arrive at one. Unless she can hop anywhere on the Physical Realm from a perpendicularity?

Jasnah is apologizing such character development Shallan please recognize that

But yeah it's really upending things for Shallan

We couldn't have had a joyful reunion why

Ah Jasnah, falling behind and feeling out of touch

But why did Jasnah and Kaladin interacting happen off page I wanted my favorites to interact

Cultivation's writing the letter that's my bet right now. Probably a Shard Vessel at the very least.

Pfft I love how you have to interact in the theater of the vision for it to work

Aww Stormfather has a place of imagination

"All things die twice" being a real thing here

Well that is one way to show up in the story with a sword

I'm laughing at the image of Dalinar flailing and yelling while being thrown sideways

I can't wait for Queen Fen's reaction to this it's going to be great

Ah so Windrunners can lash fellow Radiants to join them that's useful if dangerous

You technically are falling Dalinar. Just sideways

Huh how much more information can you get from the visions from switching pov

Plate interferes with lashing somehow but not enough for the guy in armor? Cause I recall Szeth said Plate interfered with Lashing, unless it’s just that you can’t Lash someone else in Plate but can Lash yourself?

Oh man the idea of Jasnah and Navani entering the visions and analyzing them please can we have a mother daughter scholar team with the Stormfather being grumpy

Dalinar: Ah this memory, where I saved a woman and child from monsters using nothing but a poker Queen Fen: Hold my spanreed.

I agree with the Windrunner Dalinar, this is a really poor showing xp

Slo-mo dream this is so wonderful

Ah interesting tradeoff between how they handled the situation

Queen Fen does have a point, in some ways the Stormfather has done a terrible job by choosing murderers and tyrants to reform the Knights Radiant. At least Dalinar isn't as terrible a choice as Gavilar.

Queen Fen makes excellent points. Honestly her presence greatly improves the quality of the Dalinar chapters.

I really like this outside perspective on what the world thinks of Dalinar

They really are in an ivory tower right now

Not the rationale I expected but yeah a calm rational sounding Blackthorn is suspicious

Aaaah Bridge Four chapter insignia I'm so proud of-oh hey does this mean Hoid's back earlier than I thought judging by the chapter header. Wonder if he did roadtrip all the way back with Jasnah.

Still having exam stress dreams Sigzil? You and me both.

I do wonder how he got from there to apprenticing under Hoid

Oh please let this be a reunion between him and Hoid that would be great

Heh in Azir queuing properly is a mark of national pride

I have feelings about Kaladin's Windrunner abilities allowing Bridge Four to heal their slave brands but not his own

Ah Kaladin with jacket off doing morning push-ups of course

Make Lyn the scribe and a Windrunner squireeee

Ah organization of troops subplot nice

Yay Bridge Four rebuilding their lives

I'm intrigued by Azish social reassignment forms

It is cool how Bridge Four is kind of the first real international group here. The rest of Urithiru is pretty homogenous Alethi

Like a bridge

I'm not sure why you would ever be asking what would Hoid do, but then again Sigzil was his apprentice

Wait Sigzil I thought you only did histories not stories

No don't talk of dissolving Bridge Four don't bad

What is Teft doing I am concerned

Yes Kaladin wise words about not projecting codes values

Please recruit people

Recruit Lyn actually please I want female Windrunners

Oh hey, Lyn!

Hmm what is this “unusual request”

I do love how the moment female messengers/scouts showed up in WoR I was like "me" and now we have a scout trying to hang out with Bridge Four so accurate

Shenrjfnfkrkttkt

LYN IS RECRUITED YESSSSSSSSS

YESSSSSNDMDKDWGKWFKGEM

Yeah I'm with you Sigzil with kind of wanting to mildly punch Kaladin after that mild letdown

You go Lyn, be a combatant Windrunner and not just a scribe. Scribes are cool but we need more lady combat scouts.

I am so happy right now fantasy wish fulfillment.

I love Sigzil's snark with echoing Kaladin's words back at him

I love this chapter so much

Lynnnnn

Oh no Bridge Four doesn't know what happened with Moash

I do appreciate Sigzil asking all these questions

Aww thank you Kaladin for supporting Sigzil

I want Bridge Four to fly together. Please let that scene happen.

Yes Bridge Four chugging Stormlight time

Where was Hoid. Unless mentions of him also merit the chapter header? I’m still somewhat new to this pattern/phenomenon.  

Lyn. Seriously one of the questions I considered asking Sanderson at a signing was if there would be female Windrunners cause I love Bridge Four but they are kind of a boys club, and now we're here and I'm staring at the Windrunner mug that was one of the first really good pieces of pottery I made and just...

I'm so thankful for this.

[nightblink]

Blink Reads Oathbringer - Chapters 33-38

Part Two – New Beginnings Sing

That title alone has me really hyped for this Part, you guys.

Also, Bridge Four as a POV? The entirety of Bridge Four? Sanderson you have given us a gift.

Chapter Thirty-Three – A Lecture

“Dearest Cephandrius” OH OH WE'RE GETTING LETTERS BACK FROM THE DRAGON NOW

That is a great sketch of Urithiru too. We need a person or chull or something down at the bottom for scale, though.

Jasnaaaaaaaaaahhhh

“All she'd done was grope an eldritch spren.” Yeah, and opened yourself in order to beat it back – no matter that the others did the physical fighting, that fact that you didn't pass out on the spot after that is, frankly, amazing.

Shallan, you already know that stormlight can make a Radiant extremely resistant to dying, and you're still this surprised that Jasnah sauntered back into your life?

Like the branch clan, Jasnah is Kholin Extra™

That crystal pillar sounds like a work of art, and symbolic of all ten orders of the Radiants that once lived there. Please please please let us see it infused at some point!

Shallan, your crush is showing again.

A lecture, hah! You are still technically her ward, and its entirely like Jasnah to just slide right back into that pre-established relationship as if nothing had happened.

[hums] The difference from what I can tell is that fabrials aren't powered by sentient spren, but ones that are the nature-forces, with no mind of their own.

Ooo, you're used to being the one giving the orders rather than ordered around now, and the change grates on you. Someone comes back who's always had authority over you and you realize how much you liked the power.

So. About those Ghostbloods, Jasnah…

You've been trying to impersonate an Elsecaller while not even knowing about Transportation, Shallan? That's a glaring oversight.

Ooo, speaking of which, apparently Transport – or at least Transport when the body passes into the Cognitive Realm entirely – isn't so simple as a Teleport spell.

Jasnah has a lot of catching up to do. (And not only with the current state of events, but also the fact that pretty much all of her family save her mother are mentally fraying apart.)

Chapter Thirty-Four – Resistance

YES YES YES TIME FOR DALINAR TO KICK DOWN SOME MENTAL DOORS

Mmm, good choice of vision. It'll let her see monsters and Radiants both, and throw an emotional weight behind the vision that some of the others don't have.

That's. Huh. I wasn't expecting that sort of philosophy from the Stormfather either. That's an entirely new side to him than we've ever seen before.

Heights – or sudden flying – aren't your thing, I see. Then again, after being tossed into the sky to fall and die by Szeth… understandable.

Tell us more about Plate, I need more information on Plate-

Oooo, yes, Navani and Jasnah are used to analysis, picking things apart piece by piece and extracting all the relevant detail. They'd both be the best picks for this – although Shallan with her eye for art would be a good counterpoint in observation.

“You will know or you will not.” That's so very helpful, Stormfather.

Yeah, it's not going the same as before – her involvement will change it differently than yours did.

The Midnight Essence isn't a true creature, but a monster, and you now know that the Midnight Mother is behind these things and the mirror-murders both.

Fling-and-stick! Like an al dente ramen noodle

There's the Queen! Where Dalinar fought his way through this vision, she organized a resistance – and in so little time! Wow, if I didn't already like her before, this would seal the deal.

Yes, best not to mention your little God-is-dead heresy. People haven't been taking kindly to that so far, no reason to assume that Queen Fen will either.

Okay, good, we're getting to the meat of the matter. Fen has very good reason not to trust you, Dalinar, and while these visions are convincing, you need to convince her now. Time is not on your side.

“Am I? Oh, let me storming reconsider, then.” Finally, the honesty straight to his face. And that's the breaking point.

This is another point I'd like so see animated. Passion indeed – Dalinar here is all snapping fire.

Oh my god Dalinar, you are the center of all the hot gossip on the networks. Never mind that it's all blown out of proportion, you did say and do some pretty radical things. Hearing about it from an outside perspective, it really does sound like you went off the deep end – with an enthusiastic leap, at that.

At least Fen might listen now. It's a much better chance than you had before.

Chapter Thirty-Five – First Into the Sky

Bridge Fooooouuuurrrrrr

Sigzil! We're getting Sigzil POV!

The mental image of B4 scrambling up for breakfast from Rock is absurdly heartwarming and just the sort of thing we need to lift the tone around all the other coming-of-the-apocalypse chapters.

Shhhh, you'd look good with an afro, Sigzil.

I keep snickering every time they refer to breathing stormlight as 'eating' the sphere. But oh, that'sa nice detail – the B4 tattos remain, but underneath them the slave brands are healed. Bridge Four is a part of him, but he doesn't consider the slave brands as part of himself, or he's somehow overcome them.

LOPEN PLZ

Lopen is forever a gift to this world.

Awww, poor Sig, annoyed at his height amongst all these 'what-is-under-six-feet' Alethi.

“the other thing”? What other thing. Sigzil. What's up with Teft.

Everyone's dream: to walk in on Kaladin doing morning push-ups, probably with his sleeves rolled up to the elbow

You just need more staff to help handle things, Sigzil, you're just getting pushed to the limits of what you can do with what you have.

Bridge Four getting families yesssss. These people deserve all the happiness they can find.

[snorts] Of course Sigzil's reaction to learning Drehy is gay is “b-but the paperwork!” And Sig, it's not that there aren't forms for that in Alethkar, it's that the Alethi just don't do things the same way as the Azish.

Sigzil trying to emulate Hoid and tell a story! That's actually a really great way to get through to Kaladin. That “Hush” though, hah. The drawback is that you're… not quite as good at this as Hoid is. Then again. Hoid.

What has Teft gotten into.

Oooo, shit, Kaladin, that was harsh.

That's a good point about recruitment, and if some of them actually start becoming full Windrunners like Kaladin as well. I can't imagine they'd want to split off, but remaining integrated with the rest of the bridge crew would be its own set of challenges.

Oh. Oh, Kal, that's not…. That's the same mistake Shallan made, I think.

LET HER(?) FIGHT

Thank you for that echo, Sigzil.

Sigzil does seem the type to want a “proper” hierarchy in place, with clearly set positions. It makes sense to him and gives him a sense of security. Kaladin being referred to as a lighteyes by one of his own bridgemen, though, ooof.

Everstorm Count: 3

Thank the Almighty we have you around to ask these questions, Sigzil. They don't know yet that Dalinar plans to split from Alethkar, but all of those questions still need to be considered, and on a larger scale than just Alethkar.

First into the air, oh, Sigzil

….the royal emerald reserve. The royal emerald reserve. Hooooooly shitto da. Kaladin, you're lucky that Elhokar's got a massive crush on you. Dalinar probably just had to say “for Bridge Four's practice” and Elhokar was already chucking the bags at him.

Chapter Thirty-Six – Hero

YESSSS, FLASHBACK CHAPTER

Wait, twenty-four years? Wasn't the last one something like twenty-eight or twenty-nine? Are… are we not getting Dalinar's early years with Evi? The courtship, even a tiny scene of the marriage? Nothing. Goddamn it, Sanderson, this is a crime. I'm disappointed in you.

Evi liked needlework! Ahh, that's good to know~

Once again she proves herself a snuggler, I love it. And instead of shying away from it like last time, Dalinar's fine with it-

She's pregnant with Adolin she's pregnant with Adolin-! And she calls Dalinar 'beloved'! Asdajfdhjgdhadhjd Sanderson why did you deprive us of their relationship developmeeeeent

So he's still continually itching for a fight, he's just not as bloodthirstily lusting for it anymore. Or he's repressing it. That's… hmmm. I don't think as much of the fight's gone out of him as we're seeing.

'He'd never had a high opinion of dueling.' Oh shit, so how did that colour your early opinion of your elder son's Calling…?

...okay so one, now we know where Adolin gets his perceptiveness from; two, that's a disturbing train of thought. Only alive when he's tasting death on the air. That also explains why he's so relatively subdued at the moment. The fact that she says “like a blackness from the old stories” actually makes me wonder if he is under the influence of something more at this point – perhaps even one of the Unmade.

!!! okay so Rirans have blond hair but still possibly canonically the metallic golden skin tint. I'm still clutching to the subtle!metallics but we'll see how far this takes us

He still doesn't feel any actual love for her at this point. Uuugh, Dalinar, you don't deserve Evi.

Ooo, I can see why Navani dismissed Evi so easily back in TWoK. That sort of attitude on curiosity and discovery is something she'd automatically recoil from.

And Gavilar paid no attention to Navani while she spoke of her passions. That's not a positive indication of the kind of husband he was.

They share enough tenets that the friction between the two religions can pop up almost out of nowhere – they think the other is following their train of thought, and then nope.

Now Gavilar comes in with news of the Rift – they did go there a second time. But why-

You didn't kill the kid. You didn't kill the kid.

Gavilar's not happy, but it's at least giving him a chance to solve things via politics. Which is not going to happen in the end, not if something so terrible happened at the rift that it caused one of Dalinar's own elites to turn to the ardentia.

But in this moment, Dalinar's heart flared for Evi.

Chapter Thirty-Seven – The Last Time We March

….that dragon does not seem at all concerned enough about Odium, and he's just brushing Devotion and Dominion's loss aside as if it were an inevitability, and not even a regrettable one. But how did they “violate [the] pact”, and what did that agreement entail?

MORE BRIDGE FOOOUUUURR

I'll admit that I spent a good few minutes staring at the page and sounding out Rock's name until I got it right.

They're back on the Shattered Plains for a night? I wonder why...

I like the softer feel of contemplation we're getting here. There's less momentum to the writing, but it needed this slow-down. Like the stew, it's a comfort.

Oh ho, this is where they've come to practice! YESSSS. The wind across the plains, whipping through the chasms, the open sky and the high drop of the sheer sides – this is where they practiced before, it's just a new kind now.

Five women! Yesssssss, thank you Kaladin for shoving aside Alethi cultural boundaries on fighting being restricted to men.

Lopen, you are a gem

Rock – Lunamor – should absolutely take credit for that. A good breakfast can set the tone for the entire morning.

“Peet, don't think I haven't seen you glowing.” PFFFFFFT

….Teft is still absent. That's not encouraging.

“their true shapes beyond the streamers” Wait, what? A larger body to the spren? Can Rock see a shadow or echo of the spren as they are in the Cognitive Realm?

[cackles] Introducing Rock to new flavor combinations will save your skin. Messing with his dishes otherwise? You've earned that death sentence.

Lopen oh my god you are the brightest ray of sunshine on the Plains, you crazy, amazing, reckless idiot

Ohhhh, Hobber

Kaladin is a bundle of emotion held together by love and promises and Syl and covered in a stone shell. A thin one.

R o c k you are also a gift unto this world. First you make Kaladin happy then you give us 'airsick lowlander, second class'.

Lopen. I. I don't even. How.

Kaladin, you're going to lose people. I know you refuse to accept it, to save them all, to grieve with acute pain at every loss, but… Rock's right. You being you, though, you'll never accept that. And that's as it should be.

Please take your giant dysfunctional, crazy-ass family to visit the Peaks, Rock. By the point when you actually get the time to do so, they and you will all probably be able to fly up there anyway.

Elhokar! And here I thought you'd have a golden circlet rather than a silver one in order to match your glyphpair.

A few weeks as a timeline before they send in their Strike Team to Kholinar. Mmmm. On one hand, I don't like them leaving the city and its Oathgate under riot and/or occupation for that long, but on the other, they have a much better chance of retaking it if they have a Radiant or few more, or at least a few more squires practiced in their power.

!!! Their old bridge! The actual bridge of Bridge Four! Tough wood indeed.

Of course they brought the cauldrons along. There's more to Bridge Four than just the fighting. There's more to their heart than just courage in battle. Bridge Four was forged around Rock's cooking fire, and that remains part of the core of them.

“a beat he could almost, barely, just faintly hear.” That's as good as confirmed that the Listener blood can run strong enough in some lines that they can sense the Rhythms. Rock, we still need clarification on what those “particular heritage and blessings” are.

Renarin! Speaking of more members of Bridge Four~ Your place isn't with your cousin right now, 'Rin; it's with your Bridge.

Oh my god. Please. We've already had Elhokar psuedo-adoped by a Herdazian matriarch, so can we please get a scene of Rock absconding with Dalinar to have him help make bread.

Why is Glys still hiding? And where? I assume he's in the fidget-box, but that's just an assumption.

Thank the Heralds for Rock knowing how to treat and talk with Renarin. He needs friends who aren't his brother. And Rock… Rock's honest and knows how to state things in a way that Renarin can absorb well.

Ohhh, 'Rin you're thinking that you're not… No. Fix that perception, Rock. He's Bridge Four, he'll always be Bridge Four.

Almost not bitter. But being bitter is an inescapable part of Renarin Kholin. Burning bitterness, biting his tongue, pride, and a wish to be himself but not knowing what that means.

[hums] You want to fight because your father wants it, true, but it's what you yourself want as well, isn't it. And the other things… you eschew them because you don't want to be an ardent, and others assumed, forced those assumptions on you and expected you to follow them, then were confused when you didn't – but did it pain you to abandon things you were naturally good at and maybe even liked?

(You are a light in your own right, Renarin, who you are and who you want to be. Some people already see it. Rock. Adolin. Other people can come to see it too.)

Can we get some Renarin+Rlain interaction now, BrandoSando. Please. What do I have to pay you for it.

Does anyone else think Rock would make a great fellow Truthwatcher? He already sees things that others do not, and has a tendency to see straight to the heart of a matter. Not that those are prerequisites or anything, but. Just saying.

Lunamor please do share that story about your great-great-great grandfather later though please, because some of us want very much to hear it.

Ahhhhh! Are there actual honorspren watching the squires? Perhaps debating making a bond? Yessssssss, come on, do the thing-! (Or at least consider!)

How much interaction do the Unkalaki have with spren, I wonder, with Rock's way of showing reverence so different from almost all the other cultures we've encountered on Roshar?

Not so much animated, but I'd like to see a picture of this scene, Rock heading out with his offerings and bowing deep before the gathered Honorspren, the greatest of them acknowleging him with an outstretched hand and receiving his offering. Lovely.

Oh, oh, is Hobber going to-

HE DID IT

aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh Bridge Four

...smoke on the Plains? Trouble?

This bridge run though – resplendent with stormlight, singing their marching beat – what once was a source of terror and despair is a vision of glory now.

Shit, it was an attack by fliers. Without the Alethi armies that once assaulted them, they'll take every chance to pick off what stragglers they can.

Alert, alert – someone on Roshar called a bird something other than a chicken

Yes! Yes! FINALLY WE MEET ROCK'S FAMILY

A wife and six lovely children – six! - but the youngest is too young to even truly remember him, oh my heart breaks for him… And even he thinks of the cracks in his soul that have changed him further from the man they knew than a simple year's passage could.

Oh no, something is wrong on the Peaks, but… isn't that where it's theorized that the Shardpool is located?

The last run of the bridge. It's sad… but a good kind of melancholy.

Chapter Thirty-Eight – Broken People

Time for the next vision-conversation! And this is a vision segment that we haven't seen before, excellent, though so fair it's just a straight-up battle.

“Dalinar smiled to hear a fragment of God cursing.” We all are, Dalinar. It's immensely satisfying to see you surprise this millenia-old Sliver.

Oh, shit, humans fighting for the Voidbringers as well? That's kind of important information, Dal!

Wait. There was no Everstorm in Desolations past? Wh a t

Okay, okay, so amber shardplate belongs to Stonewards (not Bondsmiths, that must be a more golden-ish colour) and that stone-ripple Surge was Tension. Huh. Huh. We need more information on how Tension works, because that was not at all what I was expecting.

“Welcome to my madness, ladies.” DALINAR PL E A S E

'Devices' that provide healing – way back when they somehow managed to create healing fabrials, and that's what the lady Stoneward of his 'midnight essence vision' used the first time he experienced it. That's definitely a piece of equipment that Navani needs to start working on as soon as possible.

Your uncle has a point, Jasnah. He out-stubborned the Stormfather.

Speaking of stubbornness, of course Navani managed to gently bully her way into getting a look at the fabrial

Interesting. I'd expected a conversation about religion considering how they started, but this… this is something that Dalinar would indeed have far more trouble dealing with. He knows his own faith, but all these external lies and accusations keep building up and no one is taking his own word. Of all people, Jasnah understands this the most.

Renarin just got much the same speech from Lunamor, in an entirely different manner.

They've been viewing the old fabrials wrong. Huh. But in what way?

Aharietiam.

Will they see the Heralds here? Or the circle of Honorblades struck into the stone? Could Dalinar have missed the true point of the vision in his first time through, so long ago?

Honor was yet unShattered when the Heralds broke their vow

But. The Stormfather was still a Bondsmith!spren back during the previous Desolations. He's noted as “one of three spren who can bond with humans to create a Bondsmith” in The Pocket Companion to The Stormlight Archive. So. He wasn't a true Splinter back during those days. He's become more powerful since that time.

Oh shit I was right. The circle of Honorblades. They now have enough information to recognise what it means. The Heralds lied.

Navani's world suddenly turned upside down. It's one thing to hear Dalinar claim that 'God is dead', but to see these blades and hear the Heralds lied confirmed by the Stormfather himself? It's earth-shattering.

That's what the Voidspren with Venli meant when it said that their ancestors led them – yet were not alive. They're stuck in a cycle of never-ending torturous rebirth. Fuck.

Each time, the Heralds could withstand less torture. The time between Desolations started to decrease exponentially. Hundreds of years, to tens, and finally less than a year between Desolations? No wonder society could never rebuild itself! No wonder they decided to break the Oathpact!

Looks like even the Stormfather can change, if even a little. As the Nahel bond alters the ones like honorspren and cryptics, even one as great as the Stormfather can feel its effect.

Taln never broke before. All those Desolations, and it was never him. It took him by himself, bearing the entire horror of Damnation for four and a half thousand years to break him.

Damn.

Damn.

And now because the Oathpact is so weak, Odium was able to create the Everstorm. And the spren of the dead do not return to Damnation.

“Were you to know it, you would abandon your oaths as the ancient Radiants did.” W h a t

What secret was even more terrible than this one. What secret was so damning that the Radiants would kill their spren and leave their own souls split open and unraveling.