#stormlight archives au

[mecommentating]

Imagine if Kal had gone and become a surgeon in kharbranth like his dad wanted. What if he’d ended up becoming part of the Diagram group? What if the enemy had Kal as their weapon instead of Dalinar? Frick that Dalinar would be dead in that plateau run bro. No Urithiru. Odium would have taken over and the cosmere would be destroyed

Or. Teft would have been our main boi and we'd have a grumpy old man addicted to weed leading the resistance

OR

Oh my goodness he goes to kharbranth and becomes an edgedancer instead because healing ye know and Shallan's story goes as normal until she has her episode and they think she tried to off herself and they put her in the hospital and cue hot young edgedancer surgeon Kaladin. He falls for her but she does not fall for him (I will die with Shallan x Adolin). She leaves, he follows her. He ends up on the shattered plains and saves Dalinars life when Adolin beaten and bloody drags Dalinar's half dead body back from the disaster plateau run where Sadeas betrays them and now you have Kaladin favored advisor and surgeon of the royal Kholin household

[taravangians-storming-balls]

forget kowt they should be petting a dog collab with @comiclysmic (shallan), @smeegamae (adolin + dog), me (kaladin), @stormlight-archive (moash), and @stivya (szeth) based on this

[gh0stfellow]

guy who is daydreaming about hitting elhokar with his truck

[hay-bails]

stormlight modern au where dalinar is a famous politician or something and the trio look like this maybe

[sorchasolas]

If i had a nickel for everytime an author writes a love triangle between two men and a woman and once the love triangle is resolved the two men are still friends but it just comes off as the two men are madly in love and one of them happens to also really love his wife while being really gay id have two nickels, which isnt alot but its weird i happened twice, right?

[felis-rach]

Well it started with me listening to Colgera's theme while thinking about stormlight and then this happened

[qernna]

i got the idea for generic american highschool stormlight au like a year ago when i finished reading the books, and i finally had time to doodle some of it out!! i have ideas for some of the other characters as well, if you guys like this!!

also, the syl idea is definitely not mine, i remember reading it somewhere on tumblr, but can’t find the post!! if anyone knows who came up with that headcanon, let me know, and i’ll add it :)

[sweatersexual]

If you give lirin shit for staying in hearthstone you're wrong. It is made VERY clear in the text that while his family was under financial strain under Roshone, they were NOT starving. They weren't eating GREAT food but they were eating. They didn't go without any major necessities. And they could afford medical supplies on top of it. Also it's wild that people assume they could afford to move if they couldn't afford to eat. And Lirin says they could afford to move

Not going to downplay that financial stress is bad for a kid's home life but at the same time, you can tell that Lirin and Hesina were shielding Kaladin and Tien from most of it, which is what good parents do when they've fallen on hard times

And yeah, it would be a dick move to deprive an entire town of their ONLY medical professionals just because of a grudge. Do the lirin haters know what community building is and that you're not going to always get along with the people you're in community with. At the end of the day they were practicing mutual aid and I hope the lirin haters remember that the next time they call him a liberal centrist or whatever

[thatboreddrake]

So, do y'all remember a while back I made a post about a Stormlight AU where Kaladin becomes an Edgedancer instead of a Windrunner? So that idea was bouncing around in my head, and @catcas22 and I wanted to put down some bullet points of how this would actually change the story:

Kaladin goes off to study as a surgeon in Kharbranth before Amaram comes recruiting

Roshone drafts Tien, but Lirin elects not to send word to Kaladin, as he fears that Kaladin would quit his training and return if he knew

Kaladin gains a reputation as one of the more promising surgeons in Kharbranth

Eventually, one of his patients gets transferred to Taravingian's secret Diagram project (so they can drain their blood for a Death Rattle)

Kaladin, naturally, wants to stay with them and make sure they recover

He's told to "forget about them and move on to the next patient"

He can't accept that, so he starts digging into where the patients are being transferred to (with the help of an unusually talkative spren)

He is interrupted from his investigations by a request to help heal an important foreign dignitary from a strange form of poison

His path intersects with Jasnah and Shallan while he helps Shallan recover from Kabsal's attempted assassination

Over the course of her recovery, Kaladin confides in Jasnah his worries about Taravingian, and enlists the two of them in helping him get to the bottom of it

The three of them use Jasnah's Soulcasting to break into the underground facility

Kaladin freezes when he realizes what Taravingian has been doing and desperately starts trying to heal the people who are having their blood drawn

Kaladin swears his Second Ideal in attempting to escape Kharbranth with the captives

Kaladin, Jasnah, and Shallan depart for the Shattered Plains with as many of the captives as their ship can carry

Meanwhile, in northern Alethkar:

Tien breaks in battle and tries to run away using Lightweaving (Sanderson has confirmed that Tien was some level of Lightweaver)

Tien is captured, then sold into slavery on the Shattered Plains because Amaram decides he's too much trouble

Without Kaladin there to save him, Amaram is killed by nascent Skybreaker Helaran

Helaran gets word that the Surgebinder in Amaram's army is still at large, and heads for the Shattered Plains

Now, on the Shattered Plains:

Tien ends up in the Bridge Crews on Bridge Four (because you gotta have Bridge Four)

While returning from the greatshell hunt, Bridge Four is sent to help the Kholins return to camp

Adolin strikes up a conversation with Tien, as he reminds him of Renarin in a way

Moash arrives on the bridge crews and decides he's going to organize the crews so that they can have a chance at escaping slavery

Adolin notices that an oddly intelligent windspren with a mischievous streak has begun following him around

His conversation with Tien and the rest of Bridge Four has him realize just how bad the situation is under Sadeas for the bridgemen

While considering what to do, he discovers that Tien died on one of the bridge runs

At the urging of his windspren friend, Adolin defies Dalinar's wishes and takes up dueling again, seeking to gain a chance to challenge Sadeas for the freedom of the Bridge Crews

Dalinar is furious and strips Adolin of Plate and Blade, effectively benching him for the rest of the book

When Dalinar leaves for the Tower with Sadeas, he leaves Adolin behind

Adolin refuses to stand by and takes his personal guards to follow after Dalinar, recruiting an off-duty Bridge Four to help him get there

Moash agrees, as he figures that eluding one lighteyes would be far easier than escaping the whole army

Adolin encounters Sadeas's forces on their way back and orders a double-time march to try and save the Kholinar forces if he can

He arrives at the Tower in time to see the Kholinar forces routed and swears the Second Ideal of the Windrunners in a desperate bid to save his army and his father

Moash rethinks his plan after seeing a lighteyes leap, essentially unarmed, across a canyon to try and save his men

Bridge Four establishes an escape route, but the Kholinar forces are decimated by the Parshendi

Adolin fails to find his father, who has been captured and brought back to Narak by Eshonai

Suddenly finding himself to be highprince of Kholinar, Adolin surrenders his Shardblade, which has begun to scream whenever he touches it, in exchange for the bridge crews's freedom

And that's everything that changes for the Way of Kings! I'll go more into Words of Radiance/Oathbringer later, but that's what I have for now!

[nevertheless-moving]

Stormlight AU 26: Adolin doesn’t kill Sadeas. Mostly just an excuse to dunk on him for trading one (1) shardblade for mythical warriors who can make their own shardblades.

"What was it you said? When Dalinar traded that sword of his for your slaves? I wasn't there, of course, but quite a few clerks took note. Something like…" Sadeas ground his teeth together, ignoring Sebarial. A bridgeman let out an indecorous whoop of excitement, swooping down low, chased by windspren and a number of delighted peasant children. "This will be remembered as…" Another man flew past, slamming into a wall, his arm visibly mangled out of shape. Several more flew to support him, and a blue white light flooded the soldier. An injury that might have been debilitating for life for any other soldier, healed in moments. "…the most ridiculous decision…" Two more soldiers, sapphire eyes at odds with their Azish and Herdassian coloring, sparred nearby. Sadeas watched hungrily as their blades adjusted in length throughout the drill. How often had shardbarers secretly muttered that impressive as the weapons were, it would be nice if sometimes they were a bit more practically sized. "…ever made by an Alethi Highprince." Sadeas rounded on Sabriel, and was pleased when the round old man stepped back in cautious alarm, even if his grin didn't fade. Sadeas's fingers twitched, longing to strangle that smug expression off his face. To his side, he could feel the loathsome stares of the 'windrunners.' His hands clenched. Ten heartbeats, that's all he needed…but they wouldn't need even that long. He snarled, then stalked away.

seriously i feel like it might be worth it just to see him suffer through knowing he actually, objectively, got the worse end of the deal. One (1) dead shardblade for a lost radiant. Several radiants actually. Hmm oh look that's over 100 of your ex slaves that are now nearly unkillable soldiers who fly and are producing a new blade a week. Loyal to dalinar. Also dalinar may or may not have a new sword but if he does than its actual GOD.

Sadeas trying to do his game of thrones political scheming and the highprinces are just like. Uhhh i understand where you are coming from but we have shifted genres my dude. Literally standing in a magical lost city right now. Above the clouds. People are flying. You want me to backstab the literal prophet. The guy whose wedding was officiated by the STORMFATHER. You were there, right? You saw the actual stormfather come out of the literal sky?

Sorry man, nothing personal but you're asking to gamble against the guy who has been conclusively proven to have if not actual god than god like powers on his side…and we're in the middle of a desolation…and alethkar is in open revolt so…you know…this is kind of it, here. Like we'll be petty about tarrifs, sure, but…sorry, it just doesn't feel like a good idea to be seen around you right now.

Has a singular genuine moment during one of Dalinar's oathbringer panic attacks where he feels bad and actually tries to help. Unfortunately rosharan mental health awareness is shit so he does this by slapping dalinar a lot. Dalinar is remarkably unhelped. Sadeas gets thrown out a window, and dalinar doesn't even have the courtesy to remember doing it. See if he tries to do something nice again.

Sadeas constantly enraged because he's so out of favor that his only real political power comes from meetings with dalinar, because dalinar needs advice, and Sadeas is the only one whose not so blinded by awespren to tell dalinar when hes being an idiot.

"Old Friend, I know my own son died pointlessly years ago, so far be it from me to give parenting advice, but if I suddenly remembered that I accidentally killed my wife — which was somewhat hilarious by the way, so glad we can talk about that now — NO THROAT GRABBING NOT A RADIANT REMEMBER — anyway if I had living sons and was going to (ugh) publish a book that involved them intimately, I might consider hearing their opinion on what they find acceptable to include. Oh, no definitely leave in the part about how little you felt at Renarin's birth. The children will love that. Don't worry my dear man, I'm sure Adolin will make a fine king of Urithiru after he guts you like a Skyeel"

Anyway Sadeas getting the classic season one villain to reluctant defeated season three feral ally treatment.

Inevitably Schemes with Odium at some point and when Dalinar is mad about betrayal, Sadeas hits him with the ol' 'WHY ARE YOU SURPRISED BY THIS. I TOLD YOU REPEATEDLY NOT TO TRUST ME, DALINAR. THIS IS WHO I AM, THIS IS WHO I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN, AND THIS IS WHO I WILL ALWAYS BE. "

"MEN LIKE US NEVER TRULY CHANGE"

(there's maybe some tears when he says this. But probably not. That glistening in his eyes was likely just the Thrill)

Other Stormlight AUS

[egglantine23]

Here is Hesina from @nevertheless-moving Hesina Willshaper au!! I hope you like it!! The skirt is that big because of the big bag of snacks she keeps in her pockets.

Alternate eye color:

[kaladinsspear]

Self indulgent fluffy modern Shakadolin AU. Because I love them.

* Kaladin is ex army. One of those people who was special forces and therefore “officially” sat on his butt and did nothing for all 6 years of his service. He didn’t of course, but his entire file is redacted so he gets nothing. No disability (how could he have ptsd? He was “never deployed”) no VA support, no GI bill, nothing.

* He is now working for Amazon as a delivery driver while he goes to school. He started premed, but ended up switching to psychology. He’s especially interested in the body/mind connection. Not necessarily medication (though, he does support its use when needed) but more things like diet, sleep, exercise, and how your physical health affects your mental/emotional health.

* He volunteers at the local animal shelter where he takes dogs on hikes each week. This is how he met Syl.

* Syl is a Veterinarian. She volunteers at the local animal shelter as well, and the two quickly became close friends. They currently share an apartment.

* They tried dating for about a week (heteronormativity ya know?) but decided that it wasn’t for them. They love each other deeply and would consider each other life partners, but they don’t love each other romantically.

* Shallan works at one of those “paint with me” art studios. She has a degree in….drawing? (Sorry! I don’t know what the specializations are in art school!) and takes commissions for technical illustrations on the side.

* She loves the Wheel of Time series and has a thriving fan art instagram and tumblr.

* She met Jasna when she was in school. Jasna was her history professor and quickly became her mentor. Somewhere between a mother and older sister with a little bit of a crush thrown in. Not that Shallan would ever actually want to be in a romantic relationship with Jasna, but she so pretty, and smart, and opinionated, and bold, and…… ya know?

* Jasna is the one who introduced her to Adolin, and he and Shallan hit it off right away.

* They dated for about 3 years before getting married. They are sickeningly adorable.

* Adolin served in the military as well because it was family tradition, but didn’t make the career out of it that was expected of him.

* Adolin was a Marine, and his service is on record. He gets a nice GI bill which he is using to study physical therapy.

* Turns out, Adolin and Kaladin go to the same school.

* At first they are kind of indifferent to each other, but soon bond over shared military experience and an interest in whole body health.

* Adolin introduces Kaladin to Shallan and the two hit it off super well.

* Fortunately, they are all adults who know how to talk to each other and Shallan and Adolin have discussed polyamory before, all be it in hypothetical terms.

* Adolin is actually the one to bring it up to Kaladin, just to make sure Kaladin doesn’t feel pressured or sneaky. All 3 of them have a conversation about what a relationship might look like, and they decide to try it out.

* Turns out, it works great for them. Kaladin and Adolin have a delightful bromance thing going on. They probably wouldn’t have gotten together without Shallan, but they love each other deeply and enjoy their relationship.

* Shallan and Syl are super close as well, and they enjoy drawing together and discussing the Wheel of Time.

* Syl and Adolin get super into cosplay and make fantastic creations together.

[taravangians-storming-balls]

AU where everything is the same except kaladin has a skateboard and sunglasses at all times

bonus panel:

[epicmilly]

guysss i just thought of a really cute shakadolin comic idea would anyone wanna see it?

[magenta-somethings]

the toxic doomed old woman yuri of navaniel... brandon sanderson truly is an ally

[lamaery]

it is too warm...