Brandon Sanderson's The Stormlight Archive

Eh, I don't see too much of a parallel. Sure, both the Returned and the Heralds come back after death.

However, the Heralds do this continually and spend several thousand years being tortured in Hell for doing so. I'm not seeing much of a connection.

Re: Shallan surviving the 100+ foot fall "without a scratch", I took that to be a combination of exaggeration for effect and her saying she could use her powers to prevent injury, rather than saying she could survive a 100 foot fall and simply not be injured. Then again, she (and Kaladin) actually do fall into a chasm at one point... and I confess that I can't remember how they explain their survival, given that IIRC Kaladin is powerless at the time and Shallan's powers don't have obvious applications to surviving a fall.

The moral of the story? I clearly need to reread the book.

Shallan survived by virtue of Stormlight regeneration, as did Kaladin. He had a bare sliver of his powers left at that point, a he burned through the remainder by using it to survive the fall.

Exactly. The confusing part was that neither of them knew about the others' powers, so they both thought they saved both of them, which didn't make sense.

I really really want to see Kaladins homecoming vist! Of course it would somehow go sour

His dad is Rayse.

Betting that one lighteyed girl he was friends with before she got all snooty will be reconsidering some life choices.

I just hope he doesn't get captured. Twice in a row is just a start of a bad habit.

Honestly, I'm pretty sure Kaladin can't get captured anymore.

I'm hoping Shallan (or perhaps Navani) thinks ahead enough to give him some spanreeds and instructions for setting up the desks so he can communicate back without flying halfway across the continent.

I thought that the reason Kaladin survived the fall was that Syl had left him because of his conflict of oaths but she couldn't let him die, so she came back even though it meant 'dying' herself.

Oh, I like that.

That's what I got out of it too. Kaladin did sort of hear Syl scream on his way down, and that's the point that Syl disappeared.

I listened to the audiobook, so I might not be remembering the quotes correctly, but I noticed an interesting detail in Words of Radiance. In one scene Elhokar practically quotes The Diagram. Taravangian writes that the Knights Radiant can be identified by looking for the pattern of people who survive when they should have died. Later, Elhokar comments that Kaladin has survived so many near-death experiences that there must be a pattern to it. It could be a coincidence, but "pattern" is an odd choice of words especially since we know of a cryptic by that name. It seems unlikely that he's working with Taravangian, although it would be an epic plot twist if they were in a conspiracy, but maybe they've both been influenced by the same person or entity.

edited 15th Apr '14 4:22:41 PM by apathetice

The latter seems more likely.

Do we have any idea what kind of Radiant Elhokar is shaping up to be? He's apparently seen the Cryptics (or at least something similar), but I don't know if that necessarily means he's the same type of Radiant as Shallan, or just that he shares one of his two power sets with her.

Well, the general assumption was that he was seeing cryptics due to the similarity of his experiences and Shallan's, but I don't recall whether we ever got any specifics to disprove any other kind of spren. Besides, Shallan had a cyptic of her own when she started seeing them.

True, but I suppose the real question is do Radiants have to bond one type of spren per Order, or per surgebinding power? eg, Kaladin binds Syl, an honorspren, to use the three lashings. Does Syl also give him access to his Radiant Order's other Surgebinding power, he just hasn't used it yet (AFAIK), or does he need to bond a second spren to access it? In other words, if Shallan and Elokhar are both binding cryptics, does that mean they're in the same Order and have the same two Surgebinding powers, or does it just mean that they both have access to Soulcasting (along with Jasnah)?

Each order bonds one specific spren, and that spren gives them access to both of their order's surges.

Is that Word of God, or something that's been demonstrated in the series? (Not doubting you, just wondering.)

That would also seem to imply that Elkohar is from the same Order as Shallan, which seems a bit odd to me. I'd have expected to get one of each before they started doubling up.

Word of God, as far as I can tell. The wiki says so, and I recall a few snippets to that effect in the various WOB compilations, though I couldn't say exactly where. And like I said, I at least don't recall anything about Elhokar's visions being cryptics (incidentally, I like liespren better) specifically, as opposed to any other type of Radiant spren.

Oh, and another thing. According to the Ars Arcanum (I think), the Lashings come from both Pressure and Gravitation (or whatever the proper name is, I forget). I don't know if it's one each and one mixed, or two and one, but Kaladin's powers do come from both Surges. Or if you need more proof, just look at Shallan and Lift, both of whom can use two distinct surges (Transformation and Illumination, and Growth and Friction, respectively) while having just one spren each.

edited 16th Apr '14 3:39:19 PM by Ninety

@Ninety: In a paranoid rant at one point he says that he sees strange figures in the mirror behind him, and his description is pretty much that of a cryptic.

I think that's probably right, but I don't recall the exact description. I don't suppose you have a quote? Anyway, if it's true, then it opens up some interesting possibilities. It likely but not necessarily means the cryptics are scoping him out for a Radiant, and probably another Lightweaver at that, but it definitely implies that he's hiding some major baggage. Considering his actions in WOR and his batshit crazy wife, I'm interested in what we'll see of Elhokar in following books.

He says the following: “I see their faces in mirrors. Symbols, twisted, inhuman”

Are the symbolheads actually the same as Cryptics? Pattern always appears as, well, a pattern, rather than a human with a symbol for a head.