#wait is he going to try to steal syl's bond with him too?

[wyvernscales]

Syl’vhenan just ends up the unofficial dad of Vigil’s Keep.

Kirta is a bit of a leash child. They are young and don’t really know how to be the public face for an arling in a country they’ve never been to before. They’re out of their depth and need guidance. But what Kirta finds important isn’t what Syl does.

Kirta: “Do you know if taupe is in this season?”

Syl: “Do I look like the expert on human fashion?”

Kirta: “Given all that human jewelry? Yes.”

Syl: *dad grumbles*

Velanna and Syl bond over Dalish lore. Sometimes Syl comes off as a “back in my day” boomer, but they generally mean well. At first, Syl is absolutely bewildered by the way her Clan does things, but its literally just because things changed over six ages. Velanna values this knowledge immensely, and many of the stories she records are from Syl.

Syl: “Why don't your aravels fly?”

Velanna: “Why would they fly? Did yours fly?"

Syl: "Everyone's did"

Justice is new to the whole “possession” thing. The jury’s out on what exactly Syl is, but they’re a corpse who’s been in the waking world for centuries. Syl definitely ends up doling out the most advice on existing to him. Which isn’t to say they’re best friends. Justice isn’t particularly fond of the “bones decorated in stolen jewelry” thing.

Justice: “Stealing is wrong”

Syl: “So is going back on your word. So is mass slaughter. So was the Exalted March of the Dales.”

Justice: “I’m afraid I do not know of the events you describe”

Syl: “Then perhaps you should hold your condemnation”

Sigrun is the perky dead girl to Syl’s gloomy dead guy. They’ve also been a Warden since forever and know a lot about the darkspawn. Sigrun also seems like the type to carry snacks, so you know Syl is reaching their hand back to grab some.

Sig: “All this time, and I’ve still never gotten used to the stench of the Spawn. Do you think if we catapulted some soap into their camp they’d use it?”

Syl: “No, they wouldn’t”

Sig: “Wait, did you actually try that?”

Syl: “In the Black Age. It didn’t work. Bring a satchet of aromatic herbs with you next time”

Oghren has absolutely been on the wrong side of Syl'vhenan's petrify spell before. Several times in fact. They also watch the Glavonaks build up the walls of Vigil's Keep while complaining about the 80 Gold price tag together.

Both: *standing with their hands on their hips watching the construction crew work*

Nathaniel’s image of his father was recently demolished and he threw his life at the feet of the Warden-Commander. He is in desperate need or purpose, advice, and guidance. Syl can often be found helping the groundskeeper, and Nathaniel pitches in too sometimes.

*Nathaniel clumsily swinging a scythe at some tall grass in the Keep*

Syl: “That is the worst attempt at weeding I have seen in six ages”

Anders is fascinated with Syl because they’re an absolute mystery. Syl ends up giving him magic advice a lot. Syl was so against Anders keeping Sir Pounce-a-Lot, but ended up taking the cat when he left for Kirkwall.

Anders: “What type of spirit are you? Justice is, well, Justice, but you go by a name. You must be a spirit of something.”

Syl: “Must I?”

Anders: “Aren’t you a spirit who possessed a corpse?”

Syl: “I am simply Syl’vhenan Andras”

[pocketramblr]

Dalinar: hey can you be therapist for someone for me?

Kaladin: oh finally a good request, sure, who?

Dalinar: the herald ishi, who just tried to kill me :)

Kaladin: the wHAT

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Stormlight Archive Character Thoughts - Kaladin

I’ve got piles of thoughts about the Stormlight Archive, and I want to start getting them written down in the lead-up to Rhythm of War.

For people who haven’t read The Stormlight Archive yet - spoilers! (For the first three books only.) If you’re interested in reading the books in future - or, for that matter, if you’re not interested at all and would rather not have them clogging up your dash - you may want to apply some kind of filter to skip these posts.

Kaladin is easily one of my favourite characters, and a lot of that comes from how deeply he cares about people, even people he doesn’t know, and his astounding level of determination. More than any other character in the books, he has to fight for every inch he gets, he has people placing roadblocks in his path literally every time he takes a step forward, and he powers through it all.

Let’s recap. First, at only fifteen years old, he joins the army to protect his younger brother, only 13-years-old, who has been forcibly conscripted due to the town’s brightlord having a grudge against Kaladin’s family. It’s like a sadder version of The Hunger Games, where he can’t even volunteer in place of his brother, just go with him and hope. Soon after their conscription, his brother is forced onto the front lines and killed in front of him.

Kaladin keeps going. He excels in the army and is made a squadleader before he is out of his teens. He spends all his pay bribing officers to send young people who are unprepared for war to his squad, and he protects them; he bribes the support staff to prioritize his men when taking injured soldiers from the battlefield, so they will live. He becomes a legend to his men, who call him Stormblessed. His men are slaughtered by a Shardbearer, a terror that no ordinary soldier could hope to overcome. Kaladin kills the Shardbearer. His commander, the one lighteyes Kaladin still trusted, steals the Shards, slaughters his men to cover it up, brands Kaladin as a slave, and sells him.

Kaladin keeps going. He tries, time and time and time again, to escape, alone or with others. Sometimes he succeeds, briefly. But he is always recaptured, his companions killed. He breaks. He thinks he’s given up. Despite having given up, he tries to save another ill slave, offering medical advice on how he can be save. The slave-traders kill the man anyway. Kaladin is sent to the Shattered Plains as a bridgemen, an existence that is nothing but a painful journey to inevitable death.

He keeps going. He decides, against all odds, to save the men of his bridge crew, who are too beaten down to even want to be saved. He tries to order them to train; they ignore or laugh at him. He tries to inspire them to train; they look at him like he’s crazy. The man in charge of the bridge crew hates him and wants him dead, but is also afraid and in debt; Kaladin puts some of the minimal pay he recieves into bribing him to leave him alone. He tries to buy antiseptic to prevent injured brudgemen from dying of sepsis. He can’t. It costs more money than he will ever have. When the crew go on brudge runs, he stands in the most dangerous place, where he is most likely to die. He runs onto the battlefield, unarmed, to rescue wounded bridgemen from his crew. He heals them as best he can with his limited resources. When the commanders refuse to bring the injured men back to camp because their lives have no value to them, he finds a way to bring them back. The commanders refuse to feed the injured men. He gives up his own rations to feed them, but he’s going to run out of food, money, and medical supplies.

He keeps going. Acting on information from the apothecary, he gets his men assigned to heavy manual labour (which doesn’t make them happy with him) outside of camp and gathers antiseptic from a grass that grows there, to tend his men’s wounds and to sell to the apothecary for profit. He works nights to extract the antiseptic, with the help of a couple other members of his bridge crew. He keeps trying to train his bridge crew so they’re stronger, more practiced, and less likely to die on bridge runs, but many are still too beaten done to have anything to do with it. When he goes to sell the antiseptic to the apothecary, the apothcary tries to cheat him and buy it for a pittance.

Kaladin sees through it the apothecary’s deception, pushes him, and gets a decent price. He uses the money to buy food for his men, Rock makes them stew, and the group finally start to bond. The next day, when he starts training, most of them are willing to participate. Throughout this time, bridgemen kerp getting wounded, keep dying on runs. If this continues, there won’t be enough people left yo carry the bridge. This is intentional on the part of the commanders: they want him to fail, want to deny him any more crew members to replace the ones he’s lost. And then, when he demands more men and can pick one - he picks a one-armed man. Because the man would die immediately in any other bridge crew, and Kaladin is still the person who, when he was a squadleader, had unprepared soldiers sent to his squad so he could keep them alive.

He keeps going. He trains his squad to carry the bridge at their side, so they can use it to block arrows and not be defenseless on bridge runs. He tries this on the next run, because it’s the only way they won’t all die. It works. It also causes the army’s attack to fail, because enemy arches fire at the soldiers and the other bridge crews instead of his crew. And he’s finally told why his men are sent running into battle unshielded and unarmoured. Killing them distracts the enemy from soldiers who have value. He’s been labouring and striving with all his strength to save men whose only military purpose is to die. The commanders string him up in a highstorm to die.

Miraculously, he lives. And he keeps going. Secretly, he begins training his men to fight, in the slim hope that they can excape from the camp, fight off pursuers, and find freedom. On top of this, he starts rescuing and healing wounded men from other bridge crews. Because their lives have value, and no one else values them. And finally, they have a chance to escape - if they walk away and let a losing army be slaughtered by its enemies.

They turn back. A group of people who, months ago, were hopeless, apathetic, and waiting to die, sacrifice their chance at freedom to save men they do not know, soldiers of armies who have never shown any value for bridgeman lives. Men who barely know how to use a spear fight in a battle, a battle against unbelievable odds. (In organizing the retreat, Kaladin manages to take command of men who are stratospherically higher-rank than him, through sheer force of will and level-headedness.) And they win. And thanks to this, they win their freedom. Kaladin’s begun to realize he has powers he doesn’t fully understand.

He’s given immense new responsibilities. Where one he was in charge of maybe thirty or forty bridgemen he’s now in charge of hundreds of brudgemen and soldiers. He learns to identify other leaders. To inspire. To delegate. He considers telling Dalinar about his new powers, and then, just as he’s almost decided, the man who murdered his crew and branded him as a slave comes to the camp, and Dalinar wecomes him as a dear friend. Kaladin tells Dalinar the truth. Dalinar tells Kaladin he has no proof, and all the evidence and testimony is against him; and to all appearances, Dalinar does nothing. Dalinar appoints the man as the new head of the Knights Radiant, the group that Kaladin’s powers genuinely make him one of.

Kaladin keeps going. Despite all of this, he throws himself into a fight against four Shardbearers to protect Dalinar’s son, a man Kaladin doesn’t even like. Against all the odds, he wins. Sering a chance for justice, he demands the right to duel Amaram, his betrayer. Instead, he’s thrown in prison and narrowly escapes the king having him executed (note: Kaladin had previously risked his life to rescue the king from posdibly the most dangerous man in the world). For the second time, he has defeated a Shardbearer, an act that is supposed to instantly make you one of the highest-status people in the kingdom. For the second time, he’s been betrayed and punished for it instead. And then he finds out that the king is also responsible for ‘exiling’, to Kaladin’s hometown, the brightlord respinsible for his brother’s death.

And this is the point where he breaks and decides he’s okay with the king being assassinated. And then, because of that decision, he loses his new abilities and he loses Syl. And he still keeps going, and fights (and kills) a monster out of nightmares to save someone he doesn’t particularly like, and nearly dies doing it. And then, over a space of weeks, he pulls himself together, realizes he was wrong, and stands in defence of the king while still severely injured, about to pass about from blood loss, in a fight he has no chance of winning.

And, oh yes, he does all this while having clinical depression (in addition to some serious situational depression due to the absolute hell that his life is for a lot of the time).

Yes, I’ve skated over a lot of things here, and the involvement of a lot of other characters, but when you put all this together it is amazing. And that, not his powers, is what makes Kaladin a wonderful and intensely admirable character to me. His bond with Syl, and his abilities, are a result of the person he’s continually chosen to be, against constant, unimaginable obstacles. They’re not something that was just handed to him. Do I love his epic moments? Yes. But they work because they’re grounded on the foundation of everything else he’s chosen to be and do.

(I’m hoping to do a separate post focusing specifically on his arc in Words of Radiance, and on Moash’s arc, because there are a lot of nuances there that I want to dig into.)

And in Oathbringer, I love his scenes with the Singers in the first part. He meets people who he expects to be monsters, who both legend and personal experience has told him are monsters, and he empathizes with them and helps them. Because they need it, and because he cares. And I believe that on the long run, that will be a major and important strength, not a weakness. Throughout the books he’s struggled with the question of how you draw a line between the people you’re supposed to protect and the people you’re supposed to kill when there’s no obvious moral difference between the one and this other. I think that’s going to be resolved, and that his capacity for empathy, inspiration and leadership is going to be involved in helping the humans and the Singers to find peace.

[quipadeedoodaa]

Wanderer of the Ghost Zone

What if instead of aliens, the WOY cast were ghosts?

insert new to the ghost biz and halfa, Danny Phantom. looks like he could use some help. Who better for the job than the resident Helper of the ghost zone?

Wander gets contacted by Clockwork to help a somewhat jaded Danny out after the events of the ultimate enemy. Team Phantom be really suspicious of the "helping" ghost, but since CLOCKWORK brought him over, they GUESS they can trust him a LITTLE. Sam gets along with fighty ghost, Sylvia. Syl’s obsession is the same as Danny's, Protecting those she cares about. namely Wander. while Wander's obsession is helping [obviously]

Wander's actions really do help Danny not only learn how to be more sympathetic to his enemies and thus end more attacks before a destructive battle can occur, but Wander's GREAT at listening and helping him EMOTIONALLY since he's still really traumatized from Dan and seeing everyone he cares about die. So a nice friendship is forged. Syl helps by sparring with Danny and helping him fight off ghosts who DON'T just want to talk it out.

Meanwhile, Wander's failed to mention that he's actually got a pursuer himself. that is until LORD HATER! himself along with Commander Peepers and their army of watchdogs pour out of the ghost zone and attack Amity Park demanding they hand over the helping ghost. the citizens think that means Phantom, but Wander and Sylvia know better. When Danny goes to beat up Hater, Wander panics and jumps in the way. "WAIT STOP! I can't have some of my friends hurting my OTHER friends!" "Wait, WHAT?!" The watchdogs are basically level 1 ghosts in power, and are knocked back with a single punch so aside from their numbers they weren't really an issue, Hater was the real threat shooting lightning and all.

After Wander steps in the fight instantly stops and Hater is cut off by Peepers running up. "There! Look see! I TOLD you he was FINE!" Peepers is really frustrated, because they all got dragged out here on Hater's whim. Hater totally is at least FRIENDS with wander, maybe more~, but he still denies it, despite basically the entire ghost zone knowing the truth. So he'd actually thought something had happened to Wander, "what if those ghost hunters got him, Peepers?!"

Team Phantom is just sorta. "oookaaay???" and Wander, realizing Hater did all this because he was WORRIED about him gets so touched he cling hugs like he does making hater all embarrassed. Peepers orders the watchdogs to fix the damages since it was clear that wander WASN'T kidnapped or being dissected. and Team phantom along with the main four retreat to a safe space to chat. as obviously a LOT of filling in needs to be happening.

Wander hadn't mentioned to Hater that they were going to be gone, as he hadn't thought Hater would get so upset about it. "OF COURSE I'm UPSET! You're MY greatest enemy! What if someone ELSE tried to kill you before I could?!" which just makes Wander squee and start hugging him again. Sylvia and Peepers roll their eyes and ACTUALLY explain what was going on while Hater and Wander run around like children in the background.

Tucker and Peepers get along. Sylvia and Sam join them and they all snickering about Danny being stuck with the lovebirds who are now BOTH trying to help him out, but are just giving him a headache instead.

Jazz is thrilled and busy writing research notes about Wander and Hater's interaction, which is one she'd never seen with ghosts before.

Everyone's having so much fun screwing around over the next week or so, they don't notice watchdogs going missing

it isn't until Wander, who knows them all by name points out that he can't find some of them, that everyone else gets curious too. but only Wander is REALLY worried about it, though he does keep bringing it up to Danny until Danny decides FINE we'll look into it. the two of them slip away from the group, surprisingly hard despite how Danny's parents should have been a good deterrent for all the ghosts. [somehow Jack had gotten distracted by a couple of watchdogs and made friends with them??? Maddie taking advantage of the situation to do non invasive testing on them because they let her.]

They find a "crime scene" of sorts and following the clues and trail back to the zone, a part Danny had never been to and Wander tended not to visit since nothing lived there. They find a weird but still small army there and hide when someone in a large suit of armor shows up. [Dominator]

the dom bots would bring forward the latest captured watchdog and Dominator would sink her claws into them and corrupt their ectoplasm turning them into a Dom bot themselves. obviously it's time to GTFO and Danny tries to get away but Wander makes himself known offering a fruit basket to the new ghost. he'd never met them before and he knew EVERYONE! instead of accepting the offer Dominator attacks Wander and Danny only managed to get the helping ghost away in the nick of time and flies them back to Fenton works.

mystery of the missing watchdogs solved, but NEW mystery of who this ghost is, has appeared.

So dominator's obsession is unknown, but her powers include ghostly fire [which she's got to so fine a control she can make it into lava] and her corruption ability where she can alter the ectoplasm in any other ghost to make them into her minion. and I do mean ANY other ghost

events happen with everyone trying to put all the pieces together. she's exposed as being a woman and ends up catching Vlad and making him a minion.

Wander and Hater bond more. Peepers idea is to use Danny's ice powers to fight her but things go south. because of having vlad under her control she gets access to all his tech including prototype stuff and she manages to steal Danny's ice powers

"Now she's got lava AND ice powers?! That's it! we're doomed!"

Not sure where this’ll go next, but hey! Fun concept, right?

[nightblink]

Blink Reads Oathbringer - Chapters 46-49

Chapter Forty-Six – When the Dream Dies

I did expect that whoever is important enough to have conversations like this with Hoid would indeed be interested in removing the threat of Odium from the Cosmere. Your indifference surprises me, and the stupidity of it is frankly astonishing.

More bridgeman chapters! This time with Skar, yay. I hope you get the hang of breathing stormlight soon; I don't want to see you left behind.

Now there's a high-altitude training regimen. [whistles] And an impressive time indeed when you're not breathing stomlight. That's not a comfort though, and rather mean – though unintentionally so – of Sigzil to rub it in like that.

Interesting that they know the exact amount of force they're using in a Lashing instinctually. I wonder if it works that way for some of the other Radiant Orders' abilities as well?

HORNEATER DANCE OF VICTORY. All of Bridge Four should be doing this dance. They've earned it. What a glorious sight it would be!

Skar: *I'm just going to lie here. the floor loves me more than you assholes do*

At least Teft has some love left for you, or at least chouta. Ahhhh, Teft, I'm really worried about you and those bags under your eyes don't exactly make me any less so.

Bridge Four has come so far, from never even telling the other men their names to a full support group for each other. They all needed it, not just Kaladin; those bridge runs left them all broken, bitter people, cracking a little more with each run, each day they were treated like they only had lives for the sake of expending them under Parshendi arrows.

Wait, what's keeping Kaladin? Teft, is this you displacing anger at yourself onto Kaladin. A handful of spheres says it is. But no, Skar is agreeing… Kal, what's going on here, where your own bridgemates think you're keeping aloof?

I'm still wondering how they hope this whole recruitment thing is going to work out – if they want to try to make true Radiants of some of these men, of if they simply hope for more squires that osmose their ability from Kala-Syl? To be a Radiant, one must be broken, down to one's soul, and that may hold true for the bridgemen, but recruits…? [hums]

What does Rlain think of the humans essentially occupying what used to be the last bastion of his people? He may be Bridge Four, but talk about divisive feelings. Sanderson, we'd better get a Rlain POV in one of these Bridge Four chapters, or I will have another bone to pick with you.

Highprince Reference: red and light blue are Ruthar's colours

Ooof, yeah, that'd do it, Skar. Ingenuity, yes, but also willingness to steal. That's generally frowned upon (unless it's other people's stuff, which is often the point of war, as young!Dalinar so helpfully pointed out a while ago).

Mmm, Syl can sense the soul-cracked ones.

Getting snarky there, Skar. Can't blame him for this one though, as he does have a point at the very least since they let lighteyed Renarin in, waaaay before Kaladin's eyes started showing even a flicker of blue.

Speaking of good points, Sigzil makes one about squires perhaps not necessarily being a step towards being a full Radiant. Good to know that someone is at least considering the routes and levels of Investiture-use here.

[winces] Oh, Skar

(bless u Rock for lightening the mood)

Lyn again! Good good good I want to see more of them (I think I'm going to use 'them' for Lyn for the time being, because while their initial conversation with Shallan was pretty blatant, I don't know if that's something Sanderson intended or if it was another 'oops I accidentally did a thing didn't I'. Still. The agony of being closeted trans in the world of strict Alethi gender roles would easily be enough to break a person, and that could make them a possible future Radiant...)

Ooooo, Skar saw even before the highstorm incident! Damn, he must have thought he was hallucinating, seeing light and all the arrows curving towards it.

Heh, all the thinking in the world isn't going to help you two with this. But focusing on the Ideals that makes the Windrunners what they are…. Yeah. That might do it. Skar, you really do have a knack for teaching.

YES YES YES

YOU'RE GLOWING TOO

FINALLY

Chapter Forty-Seven – So Much is Lost

Wait, admire… admire Rayse's initiative? Odium's? Dude. Seriously. What the everloving fuck.

!!!! Taln's own writings! Or at least what he said while they all thought he was crazy – and he was definitely more than a little loopy, not able to see how far human civilization advanced even when he looked around him.

Finally getting to a Jasnah chapter! WHY DID YOU HOLD OFF ON THIS FOR SO LONG SANDERSON

Ivory's at his full size while in the Physical Realm? Whaaaat. Is this something he can do because of the Oaths that Jasnah has sworn, or is it because the Elsecallers are so entwined with the Cognitive Realm via their abilities?

I'd say “paranoid much, Jasnah?” but considering all of the assassination attempts that have already been made, 'it's not paranoia if they're actually out to get you'.

[winces] Her life's work, all that time and effort and pain, now all so much common knowledge. That's…. painful. It's a good thing that they know it, but at the same time, it leaves a hollowness for Jasnah in its wake.

Shallan is definitely a topic that needs to be discussed.

Ahhh, Ivory – bonded to Jasnah and yet you still don't understand how humans can fortify themselves without that solidity running all the way through.

Oh shit, oh shit, hints of Jasnah's breaking? And it was back when she was a child? Oh no, ohhhh, that's. That's a lot earlier than I thought she'd broken. Considering how distant Gavilar seems in the flashbacks, I'll bet broams he at least peripherally had something to do with it.

“Considering what the ancient fathers are.” IVORY. IVORY YOU CAN'T JUST SAY THAT AND LEAVE US HERE HANGING. IV O R Y- oh. You just mean the spren lost in the Recreance. Well that was anticlimactic.

The idea of spren wars, though, now that is an interesting tidbit of dropped information.

I like Ivory. What a little rebel. You're very much like your bonded in that way, aren't you?

[winces again] Jasnah, you're going to have to confront Shallan about things sooner or later – and probably sooner. When that happens, best to have all the information you can on hand… but also keep an open mind.

All ten orders but the Skybreakers. Speaking of which, when are Nale and Szeth going to show up again?

Fuck, Jasnah knows the secret – the secret that the Stormfather said would break Dalinar and the others. Ivory believes they'd break, he knows the precedent for that…

Jasnah does not.

Chapter Forty-Eight – Rhythm of Work

The hell do you mean, 'we stand in the sea'. Is this in reference to whatever is out in the Ocean of Origins that the lighthouse-keeper mentioned in the Interludes? Maybe, maybe not, but it stinks of coincidence.

Admittedly, while I like the insight that Moash's chapters bring, I just don't care about him as much as I do our other protagonists. He's a good character, but I'm not really emotionally attached to him.

'Better than bridge duty' is not a metric by which anything should be judged, Moash, and you know this.

So. Hauling things, but where are you taking them…?

[winces] He can try all he likes to convince himself that his decisions and actions weren't his fault, but Kaladin gave you chance upon chance upon chance to drop Graves and his crew and stay with Bridge Four. At this point, you're just deluding yourself.

Shiiiiiit, they're going to Kholinar. Of course they are. As if I didn't worry about that city enough already.

Well, he's not wrong about the 'false gods' and 'ruling class whose eyes reminded them of the Knights Radiant', at least. We still need confirmation on whether lighteyes are actual descendants of the Radiants or not, though.

….you're more religious than I'd realized, Moash.

YES YOU CAN BE BLAMED, AND WE BLAME YOU. TAKE RESPONSIBILITY.

!!! Are… are those Kaladin's group of Parshmen? Is his involvement with them the reason they're being treated poorly?

YEP

Oh man, oh man, are you going to go help them, Moash? YES-

-but blanket-condemning humans as you do. Not just in your head this time, but as an argument point. Hoo boy.

Chapter Forty-Nine – Born Unto Light

FLASHBACK CHAPTER YEEEAAAAAAHHHH plz give us more Evi this time Branderson

….Dalinar why are you doing moss-drugs. Are you constantly discontent since you're not getting battles and the Thrill. Also that is a disturbing comparison.

This is perhaps the most opposite of your current self that we've seen you when you weren't Thrill-murdering.

...listening to your wife is good but I don't think she meant 'you should totally do drugs'

However, you getting into a fighting ring is very likely among the things she expected you to get into when she suggested 'live in the moment', considering what you're like at this time, whether you're fighting in them or just betting on them. It's the violence inherent in them.

Yessss, you're caring about Evi, FINALLY, even if you might not love her yet. We still haven't seen evidence of that from your end of the relationship.

Gavilar might not be able to politic his way past a rebellion, but the last flashback indicated that he's certainly going to try, come Damnation or stormwaters. Dalinar, though… he's too apathetic to even care at this point. It's extremely disconcerting.

Oohhhhh, you're trying to use the drunkenness to stave off the Thrill, really…? Well, apparently you're going to fight anyway. But will the Thrill come, and do you even want it to…?

dark bar atmosphere, laced with smoke that curls, grey, melding with and making its own shadows as the raucous noise silences completely, predator's eyes glinting bright blue across the ring

“Hurting you? Storms, that's not what I'm afraid of.”

You have a reputation, Dalinar. It's not a good one.

Yeaaah, he's essentially not feeling anything nowadays. One fight he can barely remember is the last time that brought him emotion – that's not natural; something has to be damping it.

Toh! You're still hanging around! Damn, we haven't seen anything of you save for that single chapter with the highstorm. Has Dalinar simply been too emotionally-dead to notice you the entire time? But he notes 'familiar face', so you must have spent a fair amount of time together…

OH OH IT'S TIME IT'S TIME IT'S TI-  ….it's early and they're not surprised. Why. Why. I demand answers.

You ran all the way there at a sprint, didn't you.

She pretty much did fight a battle, Dal. Just not the kind you're used to.

Still with the left-handed-ness – and it may not be the same sign of intimacy to her as it is to you, Dal, but still.

Dropping to his knees at her bedside! Holding hands! Overcome with emotion! Ohhh, you have come to love her by this point, haven't you?

“many men are apprehensive at first when-” NOPE. SWOOPS HIM INTO HIS HANDS INTO THE AIR AND DANCES AMIDST THE GOLDEN GLORYSPREN

ahhhhh, with thick blond-and-black streaking even as a newborn! AND DALINAR'S PROUD OF IT, PROUD THAT HIS SON SHOWS HIS MIXED HERITAGE EVEN THOUGH THAT'S A THING SCOFFED AT IN ALETHKAR AND SOME PEOPLE EVEN DYE THEIR HAIR TRUE BLACK TO HIDE THAT THEY'RE MIXED. Good on you, Dal, good on you

'May you have your father's strength… and at least some of your mother's compassion, little one.' excuse me while I go sob in the corner

this is the first true spark of Dadlinar – of the Dalinar we see in the future

'BORN UNTO LIGHT' AS A NAME MEANING I'VE BEEN CALLING HIM 'SUN SON' ALL THIS TIME AND THAT'S SO DAMN CLOSE ARE YOU KIDDING ME it's such a good name what a good name my boy my boy

please run through the city whooping for joy and proclaiming you're a dad, Dalinar, I need that image in my head

For once, Dalinar rolls a decent Insight check. What are you gonna do or say to fuck this up, Gavilar.

!!!! 'Lunacy'? Was… was Jasnah already broken by this point? With sixteen more years to go before she bonded with Ivory?

Ooooo, so crowns are mostly a Western-Rosharan thing – Gavilar compromises with a circlet, but probably not an entirely plain one, a simple band of metal. Ten-pointed, perhaps, subtle and tasteful.

Failing? The rebellion is that bad? Aaaaand you're going to send Dalinar in to crush it and that's when shit's going to go down. Ooof.

….this is that Sons of Honor organization cropping up, isn't it, or at least their overarching goals. Were you just part of them, or did you found them, Gavilar?

Oh no, oh no, Dalinar had a flash of hope, of emotion, of a different future than just battle, and now that's going to clash with his old bloodthirst and this is going to end terribly; none of this bodes well

“I… might have something that will help.” ……….I do not trust you, Gavilar. Dalinar's still the unstable barbarian here, but even he sounds more trustworthy than you right now.

This does not sound good this does not sound good this does not sound good-

“I can't help feeling words would be enough, if only I knew the right ones to say.” Okay so you're probably being tested as a proto-Bondsmith, but dude. Dude. This is not the way to go about it.