Brandon Sanderson's The Stormlight Archive

Transportation.

So if 7 of the 8 remaining viewpoint characters are Szeth, Eshonai, Dalinar, Lift, Jasnah, Renarin, and Taln, who's going to be the last one, Adolin or Navani? I think it'll be either Navani or someone new, since Adolin doesn't seem to have much of a troubled past, and Navani has been conspicuously getting credits in the Part Title Pages despite not doing much with them (though I suppose it was the same with Sadeas)

edited 5th May '14 1:06:08 PM by Moth13

Yeah, Adolin doesn't really have much of interest in his past. Now, his future...

There's been talk of it being another herald (probably Chanarach, as the Dustbringers are most likely the missing order), but I think that's unconfirmed.

There's a thread on 17th Shard where someone's compiling post-WoR Word of Brandon, but I've been too intimidated to read through it.

edited 5th May '14 8:28:55 PM by Zizoz

Ah, but what if there's a Time Skip long enough to provide Adolin with flashback material?

It's also possible that he witnessed or took part in events that he didn't see the significance of at the time, and only now is it becoming horribly clear.

Relating to his mother, for instance?

Maybe, but last Sanderson said, Dalinar's flashback book will be 4. That could change (it was originally going to be 2, remember), but it seems like he wants it to be earlier than Adolin and Renarin. I expect most questions about his wife will be answered then, especially the one about what exactly he asked the Nightwatcher, and what the curse was. Hiding her name and everything about her would be very difficult when it's done from Dalinar's perspective.

On the other hand, Shallan's first flashback started with her killing her mother, but we didn't figure that out until the second-last chapter of the book, so maybe it will be hidden somehow. Or...when exactly did she die? Maybe Dalinar's flashbacks will be about unifying the kingdom after his wife died, or something? I dunno, it just makes more sense for Dalinar's book to be about his wife, because that's the biggest question in his past. And once that's done, there would be little point of having both sons retread old ground

Well, we still don't know exactly what Gavilar was planning on doing and why it would have prompted the return of the Parshendi's gods, whatever they are.

We know he was working with Amaram, who is trying to bring back the Voidbringers in order to bring back the Heralds and the Knights Radiant. As discussed before, that's actually a somewhat logical plan, if missing some important context about the strength of the Desolations and the status of the Heralds. But then there's the fact that he also confided in Taravangian, who doesn't appear to be working with Amaram any more, and definitely doesn't want the Radiants back.

I still want to know what caused the Recreance. During my first read, I assumed they had figured out that the Heralds abandoned them and decided to follow suit, but I'm not sure that makes sense. On second read I thought it was them realizing that the Almighty is dead, but the timeline for that is unclear, and Taravangian's Diagram discusses "discovering the secret that broke the Knights Radiant" in an attempt to destroy the new ones, when he knows the Almighty is dead. Plus, Syl doesn't see anything wrong with admitting to Kaladin that Honor is dead, when you'd think she'd be more hesitant if that's what killed her last time.

Must've been something pretty heavy to make them all forbear their oaths, knowing that that would kill their spren. The scene in TWOK with the Radiants discarding their swords and walking away gets much better (in terms of impact) after reading WOR.

Yeah, I was just thinking about that. It's actually spooky.

For those who don't know, the hidden Diagram code referenced in the Chapter 84 epigraph was decoded to read "Hold the secret that broke the Knights Radiant. You may need it to destroy the new orders when they return." So yes, whatever caused the Recreance is really important, still has relevance, and Taravangian probably knows it by now.

Here's my theory: The spren are up to something sinister. The Herald of Justice has been hunting down Surgebinders because he thinks their powers are a threat to the world's safety. Maybe he's right; maybe spren forming bonds with humans has disatrous consequences. The Knights Radiant found out about this and gave up their oaths for the sake of the world.

Hm...maybe. We know that Nin and Shallan's mother thought Surgebinders would bring back the Voidbringers, when in reality the spren decided to return the oaths because they knew the Voidbringers were coming back and humanity would need them. I assumed this was just them mixing up cause and effect because they're crazy. But maybe you're right, and they feed into each other. After all, the Parshendi used stormform to summon the Everstorm because they saw Kaladin's powers and were terrified of being wiped out.

edited 6th May '14 11:20:48 PM by Discar

That's an interesting way of looking at it. In a way, the return of the Radiants did usher in the Voidbringers — though Amaram's group (the Sons of Honor), believing the opposite, also has a point. However, I'm betting that there's more to the Voidbringers than just Parshendi and parshmen transformed by voidspren. We haven't yet seen thunderclasts or midnight essences or other of their creatures, not to mention whatever the Parshendi gods are (which I doubt are just voidspren).

I'm guessing that the Dustbringers are described as the most dangerous of the orders because they use the Surge of Destruction mentioned in the Ars Arcana.

Also, is the order of the Surges listed in the Ars Arcana important? The various orders seem to have Surges that are adjacent in the list - Lift has Regrowth and Friction, Shallan has Transformation and Illumination, and Jasnah has Transformation and Transportation.

edited 7th May '14 6:57:43 AM by JimmyTMalice

There's no surge of Destruction —Dustbringers use Division and Abrasion, bith of which admittedly sound fairly dangerous. And yes, putting a list of the Orders and Surges side by side would show which get which Surges. Interestingly, Renarin has access to Progression as well as Illumination, as a Truthwatcher. It looks like each Order has at least three powers, two shared with their neighboring Orders and one unique to them (judging by the Three Lashings and how the Truthwatchers' foresight seems unrelated to either of their surges).

I thought the third lashing was a variant on the first lashing, so windrunners only have two surges.

Everybody has two Surges, I was wondering about specific applications. But yeah, looking at the Ars Arcanum for TWOK, looks like the Reverse and Basic Lashing both come from Gravitation, while the Full Lashing comes from Adhesion. I'm wondering if the Orders had any powers not shared with another one, then — the Truthwatchers seem to be the only indicator, and that's a small reference pool. Still, not all synergyze as well as the Windrunner's — some, like Lift, are a huge example of Combo Platter Powers.

Not really. Lift displays two Edgedancer powers: Regrowth (both healing and making plants grow) and making herself slick. Using Wyndle as a ladder and metabolizing food into Stormlight is unrelated, and based on her deal with the Nightwatcher, whatever it was. Note also that the Edgedancer Surges are Abrasion and Progression.

I'm of the opinion that each Order gets three powers: One from each Surge, and one from the combination (plus a passive ability from the bond, like Kaladin's windsense or Shallan's mnemonic abilities). Under this theory, the Windrunner "Three Lashings" aren't really three distinct abilities, just variants of one or two. Coppermind seems to agree with me to some extent, and places the Full Lashing under Adhesion, but the Basic and Reverse under Gravitation. So maybe Kaladin has another ability he's unaware of.

That's what I was getting at. And I was referring to Lift's Surgebinding abilities as Combo Platter Powers, not her unique traits.

Oh. Well, in that case, I think all of them are, with a few exceptions. Elsecallers can teleport and soulcast—what do those have to do with each other? Lightweavers use illusions and soulcasting; I guess you could say they both involve transforming the world, but that's a stretch. Windrunners are the only exception so far; the difference between gravity and making things stick together is so small it's hard to tell if there is a difference—we're still arguing over which is which.

Again though, I'm pretty sure the basic and reverse Lashings are purely Gravitation. It's the Surge they share with the Skybreakers, and it's pretty obvious those guys can fly, both from their name and the fact that all of Szeth's skills would go to waste if they couldn't.

Maybe Kaladin's highstorm-riding vision...things are the Windrunner's unique ability?

Also one of the Words of Radiance epigraphs mentioned that the Elsecallers have a special affinity with traveling to and from Shadesmar, so maybe that's their special ability.

Although that could just be because they have the Surges of Transportaton and Transformation, both of which seem to involve travel to Shadesmar, so they just naturally gain a talent for it. That would fit with the same epigraph mentioning that Lightweavers and Willshapers also have a lesser affinity with Shadesmar, since each of them has just one of those Surges.

edited 7th May '14 1:32:04 PM by beorc

Yes, the Ars Arcanum says (not outright, but strongly implied) that Reverse Lashings are a thing of Gravitation, which in retrospect should have been obvious. What I'm wondering is if in fact the Orders had unique powers. I'm wanting to see what the Dustbringers can do — those seem like they would have some synergy with their Surges. Plus, look at Compounding — Brandon likes his munchkin combos.