#kaladin stormblessed

[jennydolfen]

"Some people take lives. Other people save lives. He wasn’t done yet." (Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings)

New fandom alert 😱

My daughter made me start to readlisten to the Stormlight Archive, and in order for me to cope, the bestest of daughters drew up a full reader of characters, maps, relationships, headings, and EVERYthing I needed.

She's already pointed out all the mistakes so you don't have to. 😅 Also, I'm only about eight hours in, so no spoilers please. (Though she's already taken care of that, too. 😊)

[honuofhawaii]

Adolin will be so proud! Like seriously Adolin will be thrilled to see Kaladin, and wearing a cape?! He might cry

one thing about kaladin is that he loves a dramatic entrance. absolutely fucking loves it. his Herald ass is about to touch down on Roshar sooooo dramatically with Syl in circa 10 years after being presumed dead. levels of drama never before seen. The Duel put to shame. he's gonna be wearing his cape

[sparkyava]

messy doodle of kal & syl

[mrmeeps3654]

“I am unchained”

“Yet you think so often of kaladin”

“I am…mostly unchained”

Okay wrap it up gay boy

[jennydolfen]

"Why? Why do you care?"

"Because I do," she said, cocking her head. "I watched you, you know. Back in that army. You'd always find the young, untrained men and protect them, even though it put you into danger. I can remember. Just barely, but I do." Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings

Holy moly, thank you for the incredible welcome to this fandom! This has literally never happened to me, anytime, anywhere, and I'm completely floored.

Even though I'm barely a third into the first book, this is what makes this book (and this character) so special. Even though the world is a rotten place, you can always try to lift up yourself, and lift up the people around you. ... and no matter how bad your situation is, Kaladin's was worse.

And boy, can Sanderson write dialogue.

I've now downloaded the Kindle version of the book too, so I can bloody read up the scenes I want to draw, and don't miss half of the details. That Syl should have just one leaf, that the leaves were described differently, that there should be rain and storm. And I can look up quotes. I miss so much when I don't see words. O_o Hope the next ones will get easier.

[karlathewitch]

Dalinar is like "Where do you keep finding these people" as if he didn't adopt all of them.

their best friendship is so important to me actually

edit: forgot the safe hand, as usual. forgive me, ill probably do it again next time

[activefancaster757]

𝙆𝘼𝙇𝘼𝘿𝙄𝙉 𝙎𝙏𝙊𝙍𝙈𝘽𝙇𝙀𝙎𝙎𝙀𝘿: 𝘑𝘖𝘌𝘓 𝘖𝘜𝘓𝘌𝘛𝘛𝘌

𝘿𝘼𝙇𝙄𝙉𝘼𝙍 𝙆𝙃𝙊𝙇𝙄𝙉: 𝘋𝘈𝘝𝘌 𝘉𝘈𝘜𝘛𝘐𝘚𝘛𝘈

𝙎𝙃𝘼𝙇𝙇𝘼𝙉 𝘿𝘼𝙑𝘼𝙍: 𝘚𝘈𝘠𝘓𝘖𝘙 𝘉𝘌𝘓𝘓 𝘊𝘜𝘙𝘋𝘈

𝘼𝘿𝙊𝙇𝙄𝙉 𝙆𝙃𝙊𝙇𝙄𝙉: 𝘒𝘈𝘐 𝘔𝘖𝘠𝘈

𝙎𝙕𝙀𝙏𝙃-𝙎𝙊𝙉-𝙎𝙊𝙉-𝙑𝘼𝙇𝙇𝘼𝙉𝙊: 𝘈𝘕𝘛𝘏𝘖𝘕𝘠 𝘊𝘈𝘙𝘙𝘐𝘎𝘈𝘕

𝙎𝙔𝙇: 𝘌𝘓𝘝𝘈 𝘎𝘜𝘌𝘙𝘙𝘈

𝙅𝘼𝙎𝙉𝘼𝙃 𝙆𝙃𝙊𝙇𝙄𝙉: 𝘍𝘙𝘌𝘐𝘋𝘈 𝘗𝘐𝘕𝘛𝘖

𝙈𝙀𝙍𝙄𝘿𝘼𝙎 𝘼𝙈𝘼𝙍𝘼𝙈: 𝘓𝘌𝘌 𝘉𝘠𝘜𝘕𝘎-𝘏𝘜𝘕

𝙈𝙊𝘼𝙎𝙃: 𝘋𝘈𝘒𝘖𝘛𝘈 𝘉𝘌𝘈𝘝𝘌𝘙𝘚

[escargay28]

I hope the crystal stakes make Moash immortal because it doesn’t get any funnier than you and your toxic situationship becoming immortal at the same time

Him and Kaladin are just gonna keep the toxic yaoi vibes going for millennia. They’re gonna be gay beefing while wearing spacesuits

[free-the-safehands]

What if he falls in love with Shallans mom?

Incredibly funny that every single time Kaladin Stormblessed is presumed dead and/or defeated he just comes back more immortal and more un-defeated…

Anyways, which Herald do we think is going to fall in love with him? My vote is on Nale

[chetney-pockopea]

Herald of Second Chances // “Kaladin…your eyes”

.

Screaming and crying and throwing up about this still.

[boneskullravenriver]

It boggles my mind that apparently Brandon Sanderson is a Mormon??

And yet he wrote a character like jasnah, an atheist that isn't a caricature of an atheist but instead has solid/valid reasoning for being iffy about religion

And then this with Kaladin outright saying religion and the common culture contradict each other?? And questioning the purpose of the church??

I—?? Hello?????

[honuofhawaii]

Okay I’ve heard some people talking about Kaladin herald of second chances leading Moash down the path of redemption.

I don’t like it. While Stormlight Archives heavily emphasizes redemption there’s also a focus on mental health, and I don’t think it’s Kaladin’s job to be one of his abusers’ therapist and walk him down a redemption path. Kal deserves better than that and I think after WaT he’s realized that. He might try, but if that happens, I want him to fail, and realize that he doesn’t deserve to go through the pain of trying to save someone who betrayed him.

It’s not about whether Moash is any worse or better, more justified or less justified than any other character. I’m fine with him getting a redemption arc. But he tormented Kaladin, deliberately trying to drive him to suicide, and almost succeeded. That is not a person who is good for Kaladin’s mental health. If Moash gets a redemption arc it is one he will need to seek out, and even when he’s at the end of it, I don’t think Kal needs to forgive him. Or he could forgive him but have no desire for any kind of contact with him, but I don’t want to see them be friends.

[honuofhawaii]

Omg thank you! I had to block someone today bc they’re doing such bad faith analyses that I couldn’t keep seeing them without wanting to start a fight!

You know guys, Dalinar ASKED Kaladin about becoming king of Urithiru. He didn’t demand, he didn’t spring it on him, he didn’t force, and his only request was that Kaladin take time to THINK about the proposition before rejecting it. He even made sure Kaladin knew that this was not a situation where he was the only one possible, if Kaladin says no there are other options.

This isn’t Dalinar dumping responsibility on Kaladin and walking away, this is him trusting Kaladin to know his own limits, know his own mind, and know his own capacity. This is Dalinar bringing up a need and ASKING if Kaladin can accommodate it.

There needs to be a line of succession. It’s that, or we can let riots and tyrants fight it out. I personally don’t think that Kaladin should accept. I don’t think he would make a good king, and that does not seem to be what his arc is building towards. But the fact that Dalinar ASKED does not make Dalinar evil, it makes him a human who trusts Kaladin to be an adult and be honest about what he is and is not willing to do. Kaladin is a viable option for king of Urithiru. He does have experience in leadership, and he is well known and liked by the people. Rather than deciding for Kaladin that Kaladin is too broken and couldn’t handle it and not even asking, Dalinar brought the choice to Kaladin and made sure that Kaladin knew that it was his CHOICE.

How is that bad for Kaladins mental health? “Hey, I respect you as a leader and a person, but I also respect that you have limitations that I do not fully understand. This is the problem I’m facing, and naming you as my heir is a potential solution. Is this a viable option, or do I need to pursue other potential solutions?” How is that disrespectful?! How is it harming Kaladins mental health to be treated like an adult who knows his own capacity and can be trusted to make his own decisions?!

OMG, why do some people even read these books if they are just going to read every character who interacts with Kaladin in the most negative light possible? Like, what is there to enjoy about hate? And why is my feed so full of hate for the Kholins? They are not perfect, but I feel defensive of them simply for the blatantly bad faith reading of their characters!

[perseephony]

i’m drunk at the club on a friday night searching “kaladin stormblessed” on every social media app that i have. i can’t survive until 2033 without him

[turttastic]

Anyone else kinda feel like Kaladin came across a little bit as a mouthpiece for a whole lot of therapy-speak in Wind and Truth? Like I'm proud of him for healing, I'm glad he's healing, I enjoyed seeing him be an emotionally intellegent chatacter in the book, but I've seen a few others mention that certain core aspects of him felt absent.

It kinda felt like... I dunno, Sanderson was really excited to convey to the audience that he as the author understands how complex and nuanced the healing process can be, and to give them something to connect to on their own personal journies, which I think he did very well. But somewhere along the way KALADIN as a character got a little bit lost in all the therapy talk. Like he spent no real time thinking of Bridge Four, or his family and friends. Wouldn't even need to be worrying about them constantly or anything, just thinking about them in general. I feel like he really didn't need to stop thinking about them in order to show that he's learning to live for himself. Overall I still love the direction for Kaladin though, it's way better than where he was.

[liltumgrum]

There are two major things that are ripping me up about Kaladin leaving to become a herald.

And I don’t mean how it was predicable.

The first is the general lack of knowledge of what happened to him. Szeth doesn’t even know. His parents will never know how they lost their son again. Orodin will never know why his big brother he just met disappeared. What’s left of bridge 4 will think their Captain finally was beaten. No one knows he’s not actually dead. His body died and was all that was left behind as a clue. It looks like he *failed* almost. Kaladin has had a way of inspiring people to believe in the impossible since he was in his mid to late teens. And now when everything in their world has fallen, this almost divine figure has a well. He was such a symbol to hope to so many people only for him to seemingly die without anyone even awake to witness.

This is less sad to his character and more so for the population of human free from Retribution

Second, and worst of all in my opinion, is the people he left beind.

In this I’m not actually talking about Bridge 4 or his family who he did get closure with in some way. Specifically I’m thinking of Szeth, Adolin, and Shallan. He was what? Szeth’s first actual friend? For like 8 days? And Szeth buried his corpse. Adolin and Shallan refused to say goodbye. They haven’t out grown him in the same way others had. They saw him as he was, vulnerable, when others didn’t.

I’m not saying that it’s impossible for them to have that drink together, but unless Kal figures out how to do freaky shit in the cognitive realm or someone yanks the heralds back to roshar before their ready, it seems really unlikely. Ishar said that time passes significantly faster on roshar than where they are. Kaladin said the heralds have time to heal. He just…. Doesn’t seem to be planning on coming back in time for Adolin or Shallan to still be alive. He won’t get to be the friend to Adolin that Adolin was to him. He won’t get to joke and commiserate with Shallan with no weird feelings between them. He doesn’t get to be proud of them for what they’ve done while they were separated. And they know nothing but that this time. This one final time. He didn’t come back.

That hurts me.

That isn’t to say however that I think it was out of character or easy for Kaladin to leave. One crucial thing about his character that has always been true is this: Kaladin cannot, and will not walk away from someone in front of him that needs help. That moment and that need takes president over all else. He just has decided he’s going to deal with the consequences of his choice. No matter how steep. Being there for the people that had literally no one else: szeth, the heralds, Syl and every single spren was worth the loss. He chose it and he’s going to see it through.

On a side note I can totally see why people thought the therapy talk was a little hit over the head and clunky. I would have like to see him fumble his words more. Which maybe says something about me bc he fumbled a lot. But honestly I’m just impressed at him for pushing himself to talk so much. I mean can you image the grunting guy in WoR talking half as much as he does in WaT?

I think the message was prioritized more for setting him up as a herald than it was meant to feel super natural. Which is unfortunate but I don’t personally care that much. -_(o_o)_-