1.
Syl's true nature as an honorspren has been revealed! She once again asks the
interesting question: are spren attracted to their element or do they create
that element? What do you think? Do you think there are more honorspren or is
Syl unique?
Right
now, I think they are attracted to and amplify their element. For instance, I
don’t think having Syl as a companion is the only reasonable Kaladin is
honorable. I think his personal
sense of honor attracted her, and her presence is driving him towards greater
nobility. I think there are more
honorspren, and I bet that the Radiants used to commonly have them.
It’s
a little telling that Syl is the only one we’ve ever seen. The world isn’t a very honorable place,
is it? Maybe Dalinar will soon be
able to attract his own honorspren!
2.
The Parshendi had a whole host of reactions to Kaladin's power, mostly
including fear and awe, though they also seemed to recognize him or his power.
Why do you think that is? How do you think the Parshendi hiring Szeth plays
into it?
We’ve
figured out that the Parshendi have some sort of hive mind, such that they
communicate and coordinate over distance.
I think it’s very possible that their memory therefore stretches back a
lot further than human memory.
They probably remember the cycles of Desolation, and the Radiants that
they once fought. I can imagine
they would remember those deadly Radiants quite vividly, and be a bit shocked
to have to face them once again.
I’m
not sure I’m convinced that the Parshendi ever did direct Szeth. They supposedly claimed responsibility
for the assassination, but I can’t remember if we ever got incontrovertible
evidence. It could easily have
been someone else (like Taravangian or the ghostbloods), who didn’t want
Alethkar to make an alliance with Voidbringers. If the Parshendi really did direct Szeth, then maybe the
Great Parshendi Mind has a drive to destroy humanity, and that seemed the
easiest way to fracture a kingdom.
They may not have expected Elhokar to be able to hold things together.
3.
Dalinar makes some pretty intense decisions towards the end of this book,
including trading his Shardblade to free the bridgemen and completely changing
how he wants to deal with the highprinces. Do you think these were good
decisions?
I
am totally behind Dalinar on both of these decisions. I’m starting to wonder about the Shardblades… are they
originally weapons of the Voidbringers, repurposed for human use? If so, are they somehow inherently
corrupt, and lead to corruption?
Maybe the Thrill is part of that? We’ve heard also of Dawnshards, which
I thought were the same thing, but now I’m not so sure.
Regardless,
I support Kaladin’s decision not to take up the Shards just as much as I
support Dalinar’s decision to trade them for the lives of the bridgemen. Even if I weren’t starting to get
suspicious of the Shards, I am glad we have some heroes who value human life
over deadly toys.
As
for the highprinces, they have the moral development of particularly mean,
small children with extremely destructive weapons as toys. It’s about time someone took them into
hand. I hope Dalinar can force
some basic decency into them, if not honor.
4.
A lot of mysteries surrounding Jasnah are finally revealed! Do you think that
she is right and that most Soulcasters do work? Why do you think Shallan and
Jasnah both happen to have this soulcasting power? What is Shadesmar really?
I
think she’s probably right. If all
soulcasting was a personal skill, why would an artifabrian community even
exist? It’s been mentioned that
the Radiants had different kinds of natural abilities. I think this might be one of them,
which means both Shallan and Jasnah are going to be Radiants! I think Navani may know about Jasnah’s
ability, which could explain her comment about being afraid of her daughter.
I
am so thrilled that Shallan has decided to prioritize Jasnah over her
family. I get the feeling she’s
going to have to tell Jasnah about the Shardblade relatively soon, too.
About
Shadesmar, someone suggested it could be a visualization of interacting with
matter on a molecular or atomic level.
I think that’s a pretty neat idea.
5.
Szeth is once again on a mission, but this time we really don't want him to
succeed! What do you think is going to happen with him and Dalinar in the next
book? Do you think Szeth and Kaladin will recognize each other's power?
That
will be one dramatic showdown.
Given that Kaladin is now the head of Dalinar’s personal guard, there’s
bound to be one. I think they will
definitely recognize that they use the same power. I think that either Kaladin will finally kill Szeth, or it
will be the final thing that breaks Szeth’s binding to tradition. Maybe Kaladin could convert Szeth to
his side.
6.
We finally have a better idea where the Parshmen and Parshendi came from! What
do you think the real history is there? How did people possibly enslave the
Voidbringers and why are the Parshendi now changing?
I
think we had all suspected that the Parshmen were not as peaceful as they
seem. Maybe there are different
‘hive minds’ of the Parsh-people, and humans managed to reprogram only one of
them into enslavement. Then the
Parshendi are maybe driven by a different group consciousness.
7.
The last chapter with the Almighty was pretty crazy. What do you think about
this vision? What do you think this means for Dalinar's future and the world's
(universe's??) future? What is Odium really?
I
did not predict this at all! I suppose it answers the question of why the
Almighty said to trust Sadeas. He actually wasn’t ever responding to
conversation. From that last bit,
I’m wondering if by “unite them”, he meant all the realms of the cosmere, not
the highprinces of Alethkar. As
for Odium, I supposed maybe he is some kind of evil god? He is at least more powerful than the
being who created the world where our characters live.
Also,
I think we may have finally gotten some information about what the highstorms
are. It sounds like it may have
simply been the message system, set on repeat, that the Almighty left as he was
murdered, for those who could hear.
That poem from the very end, I think, is referring to the highstorms as
a medium to transferring messages, and to the death of the Almighty.
Other things:
--Kaladin’s perspective on the Parshendi may be the most
observation anyone has bothered to make during this war. We know they fight in pairs and they
coordinate by their music. I
thought it was interesting that Kaladin noticed they also fought with honor—not
attacking incapacitated enemies. I
wonder if the Parshendi, as a people, aren’t really that into their role as
Voidbringers.
--Now we know what those morbid pre-death word collections
are all about, and I did not see that coming. Taravangian is not only an intelligent person, he’s horrible
as well! He claims he’s studying
the death words and killing world leaders for the good of the world. I can’t see how wiping out all the
leaders could unify the world. I think
it would just destabalize the world, unless he has something very dramatic
planned next. Also, I would be
more on his side if he were simply recording people's final words, rather than draining poor people of blood just to listen to
them die. I don’t think he can really justify that. Journey before destination, after all.
--In the end, I am more impressed by Shallan’s intellect than Jasnah’s. Jasnah didn’t even notice anything was going on with Shallan, and accidentally soulcast away the poison remedy instead of the poison. It seems like she would have at least guessed the bread would be poisoned, since it was well known that she didn’t take jam. Shallan, on the other hand, successfully worked out plenty of Jasnah’s secrets! I think Shallan may be much more of an asset in her research than Jasnah could have expected.
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