I swear dude there's a 50% that shallan's entire family is just her delusion and they aren't actually real. Hell, I propose that "Shallan" is her mother, the Herald Chana herself or something crazy like that. Everything else is a construct.
I think a lot of people have been misinterpreting the Ch. 9 epigraph. I don’t think it’s saying that Spren have become less common, but rather familiarity with sapient Spren has become less common. As in the Nahel bond is happening less frequently. This seems supported in the chapters so far as the trend that’s emerging, i.e most Honorspren deciding to not go bond humans even after learning the truth, and the gateway Spren choosing to be "free”
As a college student Brandon was fired from his job working at the library and he has been venting his frustrations with librarians in his writing ever since.
Syl giving Kaladin the Way of Kings, maybe it is so he can find in that book “the most important words a man can say” and become a Herald (from the last prelude).
I've also been thinking Kaladin's journey may lead to forgiving Moash. If only to secure his place as Stormlight Jesus. Could also be a wild scene if Kal's 5th ideal is "I forgive you."
That would be Taln, though. Bearer of Our Agonies. The one who sacrificed himself to save mankind from Evil through his own suffering. Kaladin is something else, until now. We shall see what the Wind leads him to.
Here is another take on the Ishar thing: What if Ishar is not helping the other heralds but actually the cause of the madness? What if he has been playing his own game all along? Ishar is like a wild card but I've felt suspicious of him for a while now. His madness might be an act to lure Dalinar in a trap. I'm thinking Ishar might have been behind the Recreance and even the Hierocracy. Him experimenting with bringing Spren into the Physical Realm and his Control over Connection set him up for the perfect Villain. This would also explain the "Contest in the West"': Kaladin / Seth vs Isha
I also think Renarin and Rlain as the authors of Knights of Wind and Truth. They are both connected to 'Wind' (with Bridge 4 being closely tied to the Windrunners) and 'Truth' because they are Truthwatchers. Perhaps they form an organization with that name, not because of its meaning but as a reference. The title could simply reflect their connection to both groups, while the organization's actual purpose might be entirely different, perhaps as a legacy of the fallen Knight Radiants if something happens with the spren and Stormlight.
Except that Renarin, Rlain, and Sigzil were all at the farewell party where Kaladin explicitly told them he was going to Shinovar. And the epigraph writer states they "did not know of their quest"
I’m doing my reread of WoK and something I came across was that where Szeth is from in Shinovar is called the Valley of Truth. If both Kal and Szeth are meant to be the Wind’s champions, it’s safe to assume the Knights of Wind and Truth is just a reference to the location and champions. With the writer, I would not be surprised if it is written during era 2 Or, as Jimmy suggested, the Knights of Wind and Truth could be in reference to the people of Shinovar. Knights of Truth could be the Shin soldiers from the valley of Truth
At about 8:00 youre talking about there being a sort of calm in Sanderson's writing efforts. He is about to start Mistborn Era 3 in January so he is probably taking a bit of a breather before crushing three large books in a year or something.
Something about Chapter 10 that I haven't seen anyone mention. This might be a crackpot theory, but I feel like the dynamic between Syl and Kaladin is changing. In one of the earlier chapters, Syl mentioned how she could not be how she was today without Kaladin there to help her, and that their bond is symbiotic. At first, Syl got her personality from being bonded to Kaladin, it might be more two-directional than we think. In the first (or maybe second, I forgot which) Kal chapter, Syl is experimenting with becoming full-size. I think this, as well as a few other of the obvious "Syladin" hints we've gotten won't lead to a romance, but rather a changing of their bond. With these things it seems to be hinting, at least to me, that Syl is gaining agency even beyond what she was supposed to have and that by the end of the book she might do something to save the day. Anyways, this leads us to Chapter 10. That whole scene with the librarian struck me as odd for a number of reasons. First, Syl being able to interact with the Physical Realm is very interesting, because other than Wyndle -- who is Lift's spren and therefore messed up in ways we probably don't even know yet -- the only other time I believe that we've seen spren truly interact with anything in the Physical Realm is when we saw Ishar doing fucked up spren experiments. This makes me feel as though though there's something weird going on with their bond already, but on a more literary level, it seems to suggest that Syl is, like I said before, gaining agency in how she interacts with the world. Next, Kal's outburst at the librarian seems _really_ out of character. It's just not something he would do over something so trivial, nor something we've ever seen him do. Who would do it? Syl. She's more childish, she's frustrated about not being able to do more, and she would be right to feel some resentment towards the librarian in her mind. If anyone would have an outburst, it would be her. I think that she may in some way (probably unintentionally) be manipulating Kal's emotions and acting through him. I'm not sure what this means for the future, but I'd be willing to bet that Syl has a really cool moment on Day 10. TL;DR Syl and Kaladin's bond is getting weird, there's probably something more going on, Syl might be influencing Kaladin. PS This has nothing to do with the theory, but Renarin is on the spectrum, I think Sanderson confirmed that a few years ago, I just remember you all talking about him in an episode and I think it's worth mentioning when doing a character analysis of him.
42:17 So idk this before but apparently a Knell is the ringing of a bell, especially for a death, funeral or the ending of something. Sounds pretty ominous. But it also means there's some rhythm or tone associated with it which is linked to the death of whichever Shard fell there. What if a Bondsmith Navani can invert it (kinda like anti-investiture) and reforge the shard with the right Intent?
I think Venli might be a good candidate as the author of Wind and Truth. All the other characters know of their quest even if just a little bit. Venli is the only main character that doesn't know at all at that somewhat fits the descriptions. Though does she consider herself a historian? Note: I wrote this comment before Jimmy also mentioned it 😀
Brandon once mentioned a possibility of a book or series on Ashen. They have a sickness magic and live in sky cities because the planet is completely fucked
Spoilers for Mistborn era 1: The way Kaladin said goodbye to people reminded me A LOT of Vin saying goodbye to Eland and then ascending and dying without ever seeing him again… idk
I agree Kal's goodbyes look like genuine final goodbyes, like they aren't going to see each other again in a similar way. But what about the part abut him becoming Dalinar's heir, maybe with The Way of Kings helping him become a leader? I'm kinda confused, I feel like he's being set up to both get a shard and become king of Urithiru
Let’s pretend that Syl and Kaladin are a thing. If so, I think Shallan will end up making her a human body where she can staple her self to it. Kinda like what’s Ishar is trying to do. The implications are kind of crazy; Kelsier, Harald’s. Shallan making her illusions physical is freaking crazy.
I thought the grand Knell was where Devotion and Dominion were killed/stuffed into the cognitive realm. Or in otherwords it point to the Dor? But when I tried to look it up I can't figure out why I think this haha. Would make sense to me though that with how powerful the Dor is that you could make a devise that points to it.
I'm so confident that these goodbyes are a promise we will get a bicycle but Brandon is going to give us a car. I think it's likely Kaladin will become Honor. If not honor, it's likely he'll become someone else. There's also so many mentions of his passion early in the books that I almost wonder if he'll become Odium. It would be a way to end up with a not-evil odium. Then if Sazed becomes Discord, we could still see the conflict between Roshar and Scadrial build out of necessity. But I think this is less likely as it'd be hard to see Kaladin as any sort of antagonist in a scadrial focused book and two Odium changes in two books seems like a lot.
I wouldn't be surprised if Autonomy is starting to pull some strings here or at least trying to. The whole spiel by the Azimir oathgate spren about being neither Honor nor Odium but being "free" feels like Autonomy's Modus Operandi. Because the Spren never confirmed it was Sja-Anat who did this, Shallan simply assumed it. And there were gaurds poswd to watch for something like this, ut they didn't seem to notice anything. If Sja-Anat popped up they would, but if it was Autonomy in the spiritual realm manipulating investiture they wouldn't be able to tell. Also. Just like the Oathgate are made of spren that have been bound to this task, the soulcasters also consist spren that have been bound. What if the spren of the soulcasters also rebel? A lot of food, raw materials etc are made using soulcasters. There would be choas everywhere if they stopped working or didn't work as intended just like the oathgate.
I think that the statement: the Wind could not see the future, but it knew it. I think that is a cue from Brandon that we can trust the Wind. I base this off of the fact Wit claims not to trust those that CLAIM to see the future, and this is oddly specific to not seeing. But as it is, the wind is everywhere so it probably hears all of those that do see the future and speak, or write of it.
Not only that, but the Shin have a phrase used in the first Ryan epigraph where they say, “Winds of Fortune have blessed us/you” suggesting the Wind has some kind of connection to Fortune which may help explain Shallan’s abilities and some of Kal’s 🤷🏻♂️
Sorry to burst your Kandra bubble... We know the origin of Kandra. Spoilers for the Mistborn trilogy. They were originally The Lord Ruler's good friends. The lord ruler transformed all the terris people he knew were feruchemists into mistwraiths and made the hemalurgic spikes that give mistwraiths sapience for his friends. They became the first generation of kandra. From there, he created more spikes every couple hundred years or so and gave them to kandra to create another generation from mistwraiths (who reproduce normally). There's nothing to say there isn't an underlying mechanic that creationspren and kandra both utilize, but kandra aren't strictly sapient creation spren.
Kaladin never “pined” for Shallan - weird terrible writing on Sanderson’s part. Way to retcon. If anyone was “pining” it was Veil for Kaladin….. I don’t know why readers keep saying Spren changed by Sja-nat are “corrupted”. We should be using the term “enlightened”. At this point both Rlain and Renarin have enlightened Spren (Tumi and Glys) and neither of them are evil or “corrupted”. Just because something isn’t of Honor doesn’t mean it’s bad or corrupted.
On Syladin: I think Syl is trying to push Kaladin's buttons so he remembers that he is man and to explore those feelings. Some people are flirty because it flusters a friend rather than flirty because they are romantically interested. Syl's interactions seemed more teasing to fluster than teasing to woo.
Syl giving Kaladin the Way of Kings, maybe it is so he can find in that book “the most important words a man can say” and become a Herald (from the last prelude).
