She didn’t attack like the prim, excitable girl who had been trained by cautious Vorin society. She attacked like the frenzied child who had murdered her mother. The cornered woman who had stabbed Tyn through the chest. She drew upon the part of her that hated the way everyone assumed she was so nice, so sweet. The part of her that hated being described as divertingorclever.
shallan vs the midnight mother (oathbringer ch 30)
maybe if some one had provided danlan w more Theory then the conspirator crew would have had more productive goals than “get mr. war criminal on the throne asap”
I just realized that Moash and Kaladin’s roles killing Elhokar was just a variation of that crappy superhero trope where the “hero” slaughters all the henchmen (who for all we know just got pulled into the situation due to unfortunate life circumstances) to get to the villain, who purposely and willfully caused extreme harm to many people, only for the hero to spare them out of “mercy”
For some reason, massive collateral damage is excusable if the people who died weren’t narratively important. But killing someone who is directly responsible for the suffering of others is crossing a line
Up until this point, Kaladin definitely has a lot more blood on his hands than Moash, from his time as a Radiant and as a soldier, but his refusal to kill this one Narratively significant character is what makes him good and Moash bad
Kaladin reached out. His mother let him take the little boy, hold him in hands that seemed too rough to be touching such soft skin. Kaladin trembled, then pulled the child tight against him. Memories of this place had not broken him, and seeing his parents had not overwhelmed him, but this … He could not stop the tears. He felt like a fool. It wasn’t as if this changed anything—Bridge Four were his brothers now, as close to him as any blood relative. And yet he wept. “What’s his name?” “Oroden.” “Child of peace,” Kaladin whispered. “A good name. A very good name.”
“Renarin?” Dalinar said, trying to work out the name. He hadn’t picked that. “Rekher … no, Re …” “Re,” Evi said. “From my language. Nar, after his father. In, to be born unto.” Stormfather, that was a butchering of the language. Dalinar fumbled, trying to work through it. Nar meant “like unto.” “What does ‘Re’ mean in your language?” Dalinar asked, scratching his face. “It has no meaning,” Evi said. “It is simply the name. It means our son’s name, or him.” Dalinar groaned softly. So the child’s name was “Like one who was born unto himself.” Delightful.
“His name, Brightlord?” asked Ishal, an aged ardent from the Devotary of Purity. “I would burn the proper glyphwards, if it pleases you.” “Name …” Dalinar said. “Adoda.” Light. He glanced toward Evi, who nodded in agreement. “Without a suffix, my lord? Adodan? Adodal?” “Lin,” Dalinar whispered. Born unto. “Adolin.” A good name, traditional, full of meaning.
“If you take it, you die. Moash will be no more.” “Moash’s world is no more,” he said, taking the Blade by the hilt. “He might as well join it in the tomb.” “Vyre,” she said. “Join us in the sky. You have a work.” She and the others Lashed themselves upward. Join us in the sky. The Honorblades, Graves had told him, gave their powers to any who held them. Hesitant, Moash took the sphere that Khen offered. “What was that she said? Vyre?” She had said it in a way that rhymed with “fire.” “It’s one of their names,” Khen said. “I’ve been told it means He Who Quiets.”
Data point 1: The Oathpact, an agreement between Honour, Cultivation, and Odium that controlled how they fought has been almost completely destroyed.
This is an example of the “Sealed Evil in a Can” trope, which is an interesting story structure because it takes a battle that has happened before and says “yes, we don’t have all the weapons we used to win before, but this time some other things are different and we have some new weapons/people so we may be able to win permanently this time.” (see Korra season two or the first Mistborn trilogy).
Data point 2: The only real weapon that the Stormlight crew have now that they didn’t have four thousand years ago is more advanced technology. Taln even says (in reaction to it the four thousand year gap between desolations), “What a gift you gave them! Time to recover, for once, between Desolations. Time to progress. They never had this chance before.”
Data point 3: In both the way of kingsandoathbringer it is specifically and deliberately stated that whilst the ancients had many more surgebinders and a few powerful devices thanks to spren, by and large modern Rosharian fabrial technology is much, muchbetter
Data point 4: In Mistborn era two we see southern Scadrians with Feruchemy based technology and with those weird world hoppers we saw in secret histories it’s seems clear that the future of magic in the cosmere is going to be very much based around devices that manipulate investiture. (This is arguably symbolic of the industrial revolution and a shift from feudalism to capitalism) The Rosharian equivalent to this is fabrials.
Conclusion: the future of Roshar, both in the war against Odium and future contact with other shardworlds, rests upon Navani Kholin’s shoulders.
I’m basically imagining Arc 2!Gavinor as Batman with superpowers. He’s got some serious childhood trauma. Aseudan being under the influence of the Unmade and god knows what exactly she did to Gavinor during that period. Then Elhokar being killed while holding Gavinor. The kid is a prime candidate to become a Radiant. Probably a Windrunner (like this post suggest).
Then Arc 2!Oroden will be Superman without superpowers. Yeah, there’s been the Everstorm but if Lirin and Hesina go to the Urithiru then he’ll probably be relatively safe. He’ll have two loving parents to raise him, plus Kaladin and Bridge 4. It’d be interesting to be the brother of Kaladin freaking Stormblessed with no prospect of becoming a Radiant yourself.
Gavinor will be way more serious, no nonsense, and soldier-like. Wanting to reclaim his throne and bring honor to his father’s memory. While Oroden will be more happy, jovial, and hopeful because of how Hesina raised him. They’ll probably be friends because of their admiration for Kaladin. They’ll probably fight a lot but they’re still rockbuds.
Anyway, Nightblood is obviously a preteen edgelord who wants to get out there and make a change, but who has no idea how the world actually works, and Szeth is his babysitter whose only qualification is that technically he’s an adult and therefore should know how to handle responsibilities, but even that’s shaky as hell.
I hope you can find the time at some point, I really love your art!! :) Your drawings of Jasnah are probably my favorite ever. Thank you for sharing your talent with us!
Aww, thank you so much for your kind words! Yeah I haven’t really had time to do anything that isn’t work lately but here, have this super relevant Jasnah warmup from earlier this week.
