#pardon the word vomit yall it's 3AM

[zs-starwars]

I really liked WaT. It was a fun read and a good arc end. It was really nice to read the new book without any previous spoilers getting to me. I don't have a big post about all my thoughts or anything but this one thing is bugging me. (spoilers ahead)

I don't like the Gav thing all that much. The age up thing not the champion thing. I think it would have worked better for me if he had aged up a little only. The Elhokar jumpscare was neat but I wish he had stayed younger. It makes sense though in a way- a child is easier to take care of and sympathize with (in the Watsonian way). Now he's a grown man, only a few years younger than his father when he died. What will the people in Urithiru do with him now? He's not a little boy to protect.

I may be a little rambly since I've binged the entire tenth day but thinking of Gavinor in the Watsonian vs. Doylist way is - intriguing not the exactly the word I want but that's the gist- since I feel he echoes Elhokar so much in the doylist perspective. We'll get to know him more later but for now he really exists as a plot device. Mirroring his father who we never really got to know. One of the only Kholins who never got a POV (outside of Evi, though she's gone before the story starts). Elhokar is half of the original story Brandon thought of- the other being Dalinar. At the heart of it all he has to be a bad king and he has to die. His death has wide narrative purpose- so many things happen because he died. But you kind of have to dig in implications and side notes for a personality. And I wonder if that will be similar for Gavinor down the line narrative speaking. Like how much of him being one line in the end of WaT is Renanrin and Jasnah being busy (Watsonian) and/or unsure what to do with him (fair enough) and how much is Brandon not being sure yet where he'll go? Like Renanrin makes sure to hug her -but not really check on Gav-and then she thinks of her whole family but Gav when going to bed. She even thinks of Elhokar in that moment for the first time in her POV I think. I don't think I'm making sense but it feels nice to write out.