#kaladin stormblessed

[themetalhiro]

Surely there was another way to go about this

[mushimallo]

The contrast here was appalling

[jerzrien-herald-of-ls]

Kaladin Stormblessed

Love love love characters that present themselves as emotionally open social butterflies but the more you see of them the more obvious it is that they’re the most closed off fuckers in the story. Sure, they want to help you with your personal problems and messy emotions, but if you turn that shit back on them, they’ll shut down or deflect every time. Why are you sticking your nose in their business anyway? It’s not like it matters. They’re not a person, they’re just a role being played. They’re the guy who fixes things and saves people. Please ignore the man behind the mask, he’s fine. Everything’s fine.

[lamaery]

::: MINOR SPOILERS for Wind and Truth:::: Happy (belated) New Year to all of you here on Tumblr! May Connection and Fortune favor us all! ✨ While reading Wind and Truth I really enjoyed their parts. Somehow with that came a feeling that I wanted to express in an illustration for my New Years post ... something like levity, perhaps hope? It feels like we all need it. So here is the Shinovar roadtrip party not being miserable. 😅

ID: Illustration of Szeth, Kaladin and Syl ascending in front a backdrop of blue sky and giant clouds. Szeth is at the top and closest to the viewer, with Nightblood and a big clothwrapped bundle attached with straps to his back. Further down floating on the currents are Kaladin in his uniform with a big rucksack on his back. The wind is wipping his hair upwards and he smiles. His right hand holds something that looks like a long stick, could be a flute? His left hand is holding onto Syl's who happily flys next to him life-sized and wearing a blue military style jacket and a skirt in a light purple colour. To the right closer in the foreground a highspren hovers ��� a black rip in the air filled with stars and nebulas. Szeth looks upwards, sunlight making his face and his wide white collar glow. His expression is filled with a levity unusual for him, something almost akin to hope and wonder, the softest hint of a smile pulling in the corners of his mouth.

[thetransscholar]

Kelsier: "I am the survivor of Hathsin! I returned when none thought I would! I will become more than a sliver of adonalsium and become corporeal again! And I will bend this Cosmere to my will!"

Kaladin: "Seems like a lot of work. Have you tried having supportive friends?"

Kelsier:"...what?"

Kaladin: "I mean, I just refused to die each time that something tried to kill me. And then I found inner peace and I'm helping others to find theirs."

Kelsier: "..."

Kaladin: "And I keep coming back from the dead, man. And I mean, this time I literally died. There's a body and everything. And you can bet that Bridge 4 is 100% certain I'm still coming back. They're definitely going to start a religion or something anticipating my return. Those guys have way too much faith in me."

Kelsier: "..."

Kaladin: "Anyway, I've found that working through my own issues and helping other work through theirs is much more fulfilling work than trying to amass power. So I'm gonna be hanging with some quasi-dieties doing group therapy for a while. If you're not busy with anything...?"

Kelsier: "..."

Kaladin: *waits hopefully*

Kelsier: "Get bent"

Syl: "I like him!"

[itsyaraz]

Hubby got line-arted

Kaladin wip!

[inquisitivemobius]

This is the most beautiful scene in the Stormlight Archives in my opinion; Kaladin is so happy and free, and he and Syl are in perfect harmony! <3

Kaladin and Syl dancing! The amount of Joy I felt while drawing these two is actually indescribable. I love them both so much! ❤️

The old "Thought of you" animation was a huge inspiration.

[thekinglemingle]

I reckon Shallan is going to name her kid after Kaladin and it's gonna be super awkward when it turns out he's alive

[the-cosmerian-archivist]

Kaladin: You must teach me to fight a Shardblade

Zahel: AT FOUR IN THE MORNING?! ON THE NIGHT OF AN ATTEMPT ON THE KING'S LIFE!?

[spacetimeaccordionfolder]

Masha's parents lending the cart and horses to Szeth, Kaladin, and Nale: "bye boys! Have fun storming the Bondsmith monastery!"

[ellienelliebellie]

I highly doubt I'm the first person to say this but this is what i IMMEDIATELY thought of in the postlude of wind and truth

Would you take ibuprofen with him?

[thegracklecackle]

Real quick kaladin doodles and a lil shallan

[ken-do-attidude]

Stormlight sketches

[infinite-reads]

Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson

It was 5/5 for me. That was such a feat to finish. I finished the book thinking, “Now what?” This story has consumed me for years. Brandon absolutely tore me apart, stitched me back together, and then ripped me open all over again. But he also made me smile, laugh, and made my heart feel so full. When I was in the last 50 pages, I was thinking there must be more, but finishing that last page, I felt this sense of, “Yes, this is the end and it’s good.” I want more for sure, but it feels complete. It is complete for now. I thought it was the perfect end for the first arc.

I’m holding on to the promise made in p. 114.

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/15967364 (;

[jerzrien-herald-of-ls]

Do you think stew has the same connotations on Roshar as tea has on earth?

Like do people ask for 'the stew' and get gossip? Do you think this is Bridge 4's fault? Do you think that Rosharans see the stew circle as gossip?

I do

[thatboreddrake]

"I accept that there will be those who I cannot save."

When I first read those words on a wiki page for the Stormlight Archives, I assumed they would pertain to learning that it's okay to kill your enemies. That Kaladin would be taught a lesson on how some people will choose to place themselves outside of your ability to protect them, and that that is not your fault. People like Moash, who continue to make themselves a threat to the other people he had sworn to protect.

And I was fine with that understanding, at least at first. It's a natural counterpoint to Lirin's perspective that "you cannot save lives by taking lives." I was interested to see how Sanderson explored it, as this is a concept that I have struggled to accept for myself. I even thought it could be an interesting foil to the Third Ideal: "I will protect those I hate, so long as it is right." But then I read Oathbringer. I saw the Battle of Kholinar, where Kaladin is broken by the realization that the people on either side are just that: people. Here there are two different groups who he feels honor-bound to protect, and they're killing each other.

It is no wonder that these events broke him, driving him to where he is by the start of Rhythm of War. When Kaladin failed to swear the Fourth Ideal in Shadesmar, during the Battle of Thaylen Field, I was excited to see how he would grapple with that reality. Sanderson did not disappoint, tho he delivered in a way that I did not expect.

Kaladin, under orders, steps back from the front lines. He puts down the spear. He returns to his training as a surgeon. He invents the concept of group therapy to help others who were suffering from battle shock, like him. He learns that there is more than one way to protect people. And he seems to be making progress, if slowly, to recovering from his failures in Oathbringer.

This all comes crashing down when Raboniel and her forces invade Urithiru. Kaladin is left feeling powerless. He has to hide to survive. He repeatedly fails to protect the Sibling against the assaults of the Fused. All he can manage is to keep Teft from being taken captive, nursing him through his coma. Now, more than ever, he feels that he is a failure at doing the one thing he has sworn to do: protect those who cannot protect themselves.

Then Wit comes along, with the story of the Dog who Wished to Become a Dragon. He shows Kaladin that, even if your goal is fundamentally unachievable, good results can still come from your efforts. That it is the Journey that matters, even if you never reach your Destination.

Kaladin is bolstered. He marches out to face the Fused one final time: a last stand. Do or die. And he is winning. In spite of it all, he finds that he can still protect others. But its a lie. He knows its a lie. In his own thoughts, he is pretending to be Kaladin Stormblessed, one last time.

When Vyre arrives and slaughters Teft, what little scaffolding Kaladin had left is kicked out from under him. Teft, the one person he felt he could genuinely help during the occupation, lying on the ground with his eyes burned out.

This is why I believe the way in which Kaladin achieves the Fourth Ideal is so much more impactful than I ever imagined it would be. Because it's not some simple lesson about how "you need to learn that its okay to kill/not save people if they aren't on your side." It's not a question of morality or honor at all, really.

It's an exercise in futility.

What has broken Kaladin is the fact that, no matter how hard he tries to protect people, they always end up dying. He feels that his efforts were wasted. Yet he forgets the countless moments allowed to those he saved, even if he only delayed their death. He forgets Dabbid, who would have bled out on the Shattered Plains were it not for Kaladin's intervention. He forgets the battle-shock patients who saw the sun again because of his efforts.

In the end, it's not about whether we die or not, because that is the inevitable end to every life. But Life comes before Death. Death may be the ultimate Destination, but every step towards it makes up the wonderful Journey of Life.

And so Kaladin is reminded: there will be those who you cannot save. There will be those who you cannot keep alive, no matter what you do. So instead of mourning their deaths as a failure, he learns to celebrate the times they had together. It's all about cherishing the moments that we have, and not allowing the end to sour those happy memories.

As Dr. Seuss once wrote, "Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened."

Life before Death, friends. Journey before Destination.