#but societal issues take time to fix and I'd like to hope it's going in a better direction

[ame-to-ame]

public transit... *collapses to the floor*

[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.

[thyandrawrites]

maybe horis point is some VERY optimistic view in bnha world that the next generation is more understanding and less violent. like idk maybe shouto and shouji could have ended up violent in their ways but because their classmates werent evil shitheads and they made friends they managed to not be swallowed up by the worlds ugliness. (im saying this with a "this is a battle shonen/fictional story" mentality and logic. irl the only way to change anything is through protests/violence/wars)

Mmh, well, I don't disagree about the limitations of a battle shounen manga. I'm well aware of them. However, I think the problem in bnha is that the writing often doesn't follow up on its own set ups.

Let me try to clarify this. It's true that Horikoshi doesn't seem interested in writing any actual change on a societal scale. I probably went into this expecting it to be a story about something else, and that's on me. I can't fault Hori for not writing what I hoped to read.

However, while the overarching point might not be fixing social issues, Horikoshi did set up the hero kids as people who want to break from the mold. Bnha is largely a story about mentors and mentees, but take Deku for example: his mentor, Gran Torino, was certain Shigaraki was long past the point of saving, and admonished Toshinori against sympathizing with him. Yet, despite the fact that Deku normally thinks his mentors hung the moon, he still goes against their judgment with his resolve to save Shigaraki.

So the set up is that Deku will eventually see past their hero/villain labels and acknowledge Shigaraki's humanity.

Problem is, the story is nearly wrapping up, but we're still lacking a proper follow up. It just stays a resolve, but there's no action that supports this.

The hero trio is supposed to be headed towards rescuing their villain foils, but any common ground they have with them always takes the backseat. Every time there's an opportunity for them to act and do better than their mentors, the kids revert to being angry and perpetrating the mindset of the previous generation. This is shown most clearly with Shouto, who unconsciously repeats his parents' calls for Touya to "just stop" (and in the process, keeps scapegoating him as a bad victim who keeps inconveniencing others instead of just moving on).

If anything, I'd say that the problem is exactly this: positing one side, the good guys, as the "good victims", and the villains as the "bad" ones. It drives attention away from the fact that they've both suffered unjustly, and postpones indefinitely any attempt for a dialogue.

Now, bnha probably will never go as far as dismantling the perpetrators that caused that suffering on both sides of the current conflict. Think of how his solution to the corruption of the Hpsc was killing Madam President and replacing her. But I think it would be nice if the story could finally move away from that good vs bad, black vs white thinking and show us the heroes' growth instead of dangling in front of our eyes like a carrot on a string. The point is for kids to be more understanding? Then show them acting like it. If you cannot make them empathize with the villains yet because that's too fast, at least show them actually listening to what the villains are saying. Ffs, Touya is Shouto's brother but Shouto didn't listen to a single word Touya said.

Does this make sense? I Don't know. I think I'm gonna drop the subject for now tho, since talking about this in circles doesn't help getting rid of my frustration