History NightmareFuel / Oathbringer

* The Parshendi's gods: their eldest leaders, reincarnating through the Everstorm. If you are a human, they are powerful and ancient enemies already enough difficult to kill, and will just come back should you manage to kill them anyway. If you are a singer? The way they come back is by pulling a GrandTheftMe on one of their bodies. It can't be undone and whoever's body they take is effectively killed. And they have no issue dying again and again, giving little value to any individual singer life, so you can only hope you are useful enough not to have them pick your body.

* The fate of the Rift. [[spoiler: When a trap set by Tanalan fails, Dalinar retaliates by ordering the entire city of Rathalas be razed and its people slaughtered. Dalinar has his men stop Tanalan from rescuing his own family and forces him to watch them die. Tanalan then reveals that Dalinar's wife, Evi, snuck into the city the night before to negotiate and was in the hiding place that Dalinar's men just burned down.]]
* The Parshendi's gods: [[spoiler: their eldest leaders, reincarnating through the Everstorm. If you are a human, they are powerful and ancient enemies already enough difficult to kill, and will just come back should you manage to kill them anyway. If you are a singer? The way they come back is by pulling a GrandTheftMe on one of their bodies. It can't be undone and whoever's body they take is effectively killed. And they have no issue dying again and again, giving little value to any individual singer life, so you can only hope you are useful enough not to have them pick your body.]]

* Shortly after arriving in Kholinar, Shallan volunteers to go to the palace in disguise and attempt to pass a message to the Queen. The guards let her in, take the message and then stab her through the chest. Stormlight keeps her just alive enough to watch as a guard carries her "body" through the halls and dumps her in a wine cellar alongside the rotting bodies of what appear to be the nobles who had previously tried to approach the Queen.
* Shallan being shot in the head, and her use of stormlight making the wound close around the arrow so that she's alive but severely brain-damaged before she has someone else pull it out so she can heal herself properly. Since it's from Shallan's POV and she's decidedly undisturbed (probably largely due to the brain damage) it's played for laughs in a BlackComedy way á la AnnoyingArrows, but the way she starts slurring words and her thought process gets creepy enough to make this pretty horrifying.

* The fate of the Rift. [[spoiler: When a trap set by Tanalan fails Dalinar retaliates by ordering the entire city of Rathalas be razed and its people slaughtered. Dalinar has his men stop Tanalan from rescuing his own family and forces him to watch them die. Tanalan then reveals that Dalinar's wife, Evi, snuck into the city the night before to negotiate and was in the hiding place that Dalinar's men just burned down.]]
* The parshendi's gods: [[spoiler: their eldest leaders, reincarnating through the Everstorm. If you are a human, those are powerful and ancient enemies difficult to kill as they are, and that will just come back should you manage to kill them anyway. If you are a parshendi? The way they come back is by pulling a GrandTheftMe on one of their bodies, it can't be undone and whoever's body they take is effectively killed. And they have no issue dying and it again, giving little value to any individual parshendi's life, so you can just hope you are useful enough not to have them pick your body.]]

* The fate of the Rift. [[spoiler: When a trap set by Tanalan fails Dalinar retaliaties by ordering the entire city of Rathalas be razed and its people slaughtered. Dalinar has his men stop Tanalan from rescuing his own family and forces him to watch them die. Tanalan then reveals that Dalinar's wife, Evi, snuck into the city the night before to negotiate and was in the hiding place that Dalinar's men just burned down.]]

* Shallan being shot in the head, and her use of stormlight making the wound close around the arrow so that she's alive but severely brain-damaged before she has someone else pull it out so she can heal herself properly. Since it's from Shallan's POV and she's decided undisturbed (probably largely due to the brain damage) it's played for laughs in a BlackComedy way á la AnnoyingArrows way, but the way she starts slurring words and her thought process get creepy enough to make this pretty horrifying.

* The fate of the Rift. [[spoiler: When a trap set by Tanalan fails Dalinar retaliaties by ordering the entire city of Rathalas be razed and its people slaughtered. Dalinar has his men stop Tanalan from rescuing his own family and forces him to watch them die. Tanalan then reveals that Dalinar's wife, Evi, snuck into the city the night before to plead for mercy and was in the hiding place that Dalinar's men just burned down.]]

* The Rift.

* Shallan being shot in the head, and her use of stormlight making the wound close around the arrow so that she's functionally brain-damaged before she manages to pull it out and heal herself properly. While it's played for laughs á la AnnoyingArrows, the way she starts slurring words and her thought process gets... odd is creepy enough to turn it into BlackComedy.

* The parshendi's gods: [[spoiler: their eldest leaders, reincarnating through the Everstorm. If you are a human, those are powerful and ancient enemies difficult to kill as they are, and that will just come back should you manage to kill them anyway. If you are a parshendi? The way they come back is by pulling a GrandTheftMe on your body, and it can't be undone. And they have no issue in doing it, giving little value to the parshendi's life, so you can just hope you are useful enough not to have them pick your body.]]

* Dalinar meeting Odium in one of his visions, and getting a glimpse of his true form.
* Dalinar [[ObligatoryWarCrimeScene burning the Rift in its entirety, women and children included]], after ordering his archers to ShootTheMessenger, resulting in the town’s annihilation of tens of thousands of people, including Evi. It’s no wonder he was [[DrowningTheirSorrows drinking]] by the series’ beginning. The event even left Kadash, one of Dalinar's elites since he was a young man [[VomitingCop puking his guts out in horror]] and [[HeelFaithTurn becoming an ardent]].
** Before that, at one point the Blackthorn gets loose with his Shardplate and Shardblade. The sheer number of corpses he leaves behind are disturbing, but we also get to see him in action, and him reaching the point of taking lives so easily that he don't even notices doing so. There's no wonder he's so respected and feared all across Roshar.
** The completely mundane horror of seeing [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Dalinar]] as a violent BloodKnight, and later as TheAlcoholic and a neglectful and borderline AbusiveParent. And thanks to LaserGuidedAmnesia, Dalinar [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone is only finding these things out now]], alongside the reader.

* Shallan's progressive mental breakdown throughout most of the story. First, she starts splintering off personalities to allow her to do various things her natural self cannot. Then she starts losing control of them, and her alternate personalities (most often Veil) start seizing control from the "real" Shallan. For a time she even forgets which personality was her original self. The "real" Shallan might also be just a constructed persona.
** At one point, she [[DissonantSerenity casually]] tells Adolin she can make a personality to be a better wife for him, if he wants.
* Odium, as the first full power shard we've seen acting with malicious intent. Ruin was still missing most of his power and was actively opposed by Preservation. Harmony is stronger, but he intervenes as little as possible and uses most of his energy to keep something else out of Scadrial (which is its own bit of nightmare fuel). Odium, instead, while bound to Roshar, has most of his power at his disposal and many, many less limitations in using it. As if it wasn't enough, he is close enough to omniscience that to him the Diagram is a limited child-play. And that force is bent not just in conquering the world, wiping out humanity, but to get free and do the same on other words.

* Odium, as the first full power shard we've seen acting with malicious intent. Ruin was still missing most of his power and was actively opposed by Preservation. Harmony is stronger, but he intervenes as little as possible and uses most of his energy to keep something else out of Scadrial (which is it's own bit of nightmare fuel). Odium, instead, while bound to Roshar, has most of his power at his disposal and many, many less limitations in using it. As if it wasn't enough, he is close enough to omniscience that to him the Diagram is a limited child-play. And that force is bent not just in conquering the world, wiping out humanity, but to get free and do the same on other words.

* Shallan's progressive mental breakdown throughout most of the story. First, she starts splintering off personalities to allow her to do various things her natural self cannot. Then she starts losing control of them, and her alternate personalities (most often Veil) start seizing control from the "real" Shallan. For a time she even forgets which personality was her original self.

* Odium, full stop. Ruin was a shadow, still missing most of his power, and while Harmony is technically stronger, he intervenes as little as possible and uses most of his energy to keep something else out of Scadrial. Odium, instead, while bound to Roshar, has his power at his disposal and many, many less limitations in using it. As if it wasn't enough, he is close enough to omniscience that to him the Diagram is a limited child-play. And that force is bent not just in conquering the world, wiping out humanity, but to get free and do the same on other words.

* Odium, full stop. Ruin was a shadow, still missing most of his power, and while Harmony is technically stronger, he intervenes as little as possible and uses most of his energy to keep something else out of Scadrial. Odium, instead, while bound to Roshar, has his power at his disposal and many, many less limitations in using it. As if it wasn't enough, he is close enough to omniscience that to him the Diagram is a limited child-play. And that force is bent not just in conquering the world, wiping out humanity, but to get free and do the same on other words.

** Before that, at one point the Blackthorn gets loose with his Shardplate and Shardblade. The share number of corpses he leaves behind are disturbing, but we also get to see him in action, and him reaching the point of taking lives so easily that he don't even notices doing so. There's no wonder he's so respected and feared all across Roshar.

* Adolin getting to meet the dead spren who he's been using as a Shardblade for the past two and a half books.

* Odium, full stop. Ruin was a shadow, still missing most of his power, and while Armony is technically stronger, he intervenes as little as possible and uses most of his energy to keep something else out of Scadrial. Odium, instead, while bound to Roshar, has his few power at his disposal and many, many less limitations in using it. As if it wasn't enough, he is close enough to omniscience that to him the Diagram is a limited child-play. And that force is bent not just in conquering the world, wiping out humanity, but to get free and do the same on other words.

* Shallan's progressive mental breakdown throughout most of the story. First, she starts splintering off personalities to allow her to do various things her natural self cannot. Then she starts losing control of them, and her alternate personalities (most often Veil) start seizing control from the "real" Shallan. For a time she even forgets which personality was her original self.

* Adolin getting to meet the dead spren who he's been using as a Shardblade for the past two and a half books.

* Dalinar [[ObligatoryWarCrimeScene burning the Rift in its entirety, women and children included]], after ordering his archers to ShootTheMessenger, resulting in the town’s annihilation of tens of thousands of people, including Evi. It’s no wonder he was [[DrowningTheirSorrows drinking]] by the series’ beginning. The event even left Kasbal [[VomitingCop puking his guts out in horror]] and [[HeelFaithTurn becoming an ardent]].

* Shallan being shot in the head, and her use of stormlight making the wound close around the arrow so that she's functionally brain-damaged before she manages to pull it out and heal herself properly. While it's played for laughs á la AnnoyingArrows, the way she starts slurring words and her thought process gets... odd is creepy enough to turn it into BlackComedy.

* Shallan being shot in the head, and her use of stormlight making the wound close around the arrow so that she's functionally brain-damaged before she manages to pull it out and heal herself properly. While it's played for laughs a la AnnoyingArrows, the way she starts slurring words and her thought process gets... odd is creepy enough to turn it into BlackComedy.

* Shallan’s inability to draw the tower in Urithiru. Being unable to draw something is a disturbing enough thought for an artist, but being unable to draw it when it’s right in front of you is even worse. Compounded by the results whenever she attempts it - the tower being impossibly twisted towards a spiraling blackness, whether she wants to draw it or not.