Welcome back to the Words of Radiance Reread on Tor.com! Last week, Carl pointed out the Wile E. Coyote moment and a lot of disrespecting going on up on the training grounds. This week, we go back in time to a twelve-year-old Shallan and her deeply dysfunctional family life. Get out the tissues.
This reread will contain spoilers for The Way of Kings, Words of Radiance, and any other Cosmere book that becomes relevant to the discussion. The index for this reread can be found here, and more Stormlight Archive goodies are indexed here. Click on through to join the discussion.
Chapter 19: Safe Things
Point of View: Li’l Shallan
Setting: The Davar Estate, Jah Keved, Six Years Ago
Symbology: InversePattern, Shalash, Nalan
IN WHICH Shallan is silent and perhaps invisible; her mind goes blank at the tiniest of hints; Helaran returns with a gift; Shallan draws corpses; Helaran insists that she draw safe things; Lord Davar shouts; Helaran summons a Shardblade; Lord Davar manages not to reveal the truth; Shallan speaks to stop Helaran from hurting their father, but also manages not to reveal the truth; Helaran leaves; Lord Davar smashes the furniture but returns to sanity and sorrow at the sight of his daughter.
Quote of the Week:
Shallan caught mention of her name again. The maids apparently thought that because she didn’t speak, she didn’t hear either. At times, she wondered if she was invisible. Perhaps she wasn’t real. That would be nice. . . .
Oh, my aching heart. My daughter is eleven and a half. I can’t even.
Commentary: Knowing all that we know now, and guessing about some things we still don’t know, this chapter (like most of Shallan’s flashbacks) hurts my heart. This scene takes place about a week after Shallan’s twelfth birthday, five months after the events of her first flashback. (Note: This means that she was eleven and a half at the time of that event.)
Start with this:
Her mother and she . . .
Her mother . . .
Shallan’s mind went still. Like a candle suddenly snuffed, she stopped thinking.
Or this one:
When he was around, she could almost pretend . . . Almost pretend . . .
Her mind went blank.
Anything about her mother or the events of that night crosses her mind, and she just stops thinking. In a way, it may be one of the better ways for a child to deal with something like this: block it so thoroughly that dwelling on it or worrying about it is simply impossible. It beats nightmares, anyway? Obviously, talking about it with her father and brothers, dealing with the truth, would have been better… but the cultural situation makes that awkward at best, and the personalities make it nearly impossible. If they’d had any real understanding of the spren bonding, the positive aspects of it, the necessity it would soon become; if the whole concept weren’t tainted by the Recreance, the lack of information and the deliberate misinformation about it; if her mother simply hadn’t been involved with a group that demanded her daughter’s death; all the ifs just make this every bit as painful as it’s intended to be.
By the way, there’s an odd little coincidence here. Last time we hung out with Shallan (in Chapter 17), she was restarting her collection, slowly replacing the drawings she’d lost at sea: “Pattern had been right. She could not stop.” Something in her requires the outlet of drawing, even though she had thought she didn’t want to draw ever again. In the current chapter, she has apparently not been drawing (or speaking) since her mother’s death, but now, with Helaran’s gift, she begins drawing again. And speaking. I’m not sure how significant the juxtaposition is, but I couldn’t help noticing. Also, did the drawing help make her able to speak again? Or was it the shock of seeing her brother on the verge of killing her father?
It’s interesting to note that Helaran is painted as Shallan’s Ideal Person. Was he really that wonderful, or is there something wrong with this picture? I’ve read too much fiction; any time someone is presented so ideally, I automatically get niggling doubts. On the other hand, as the little sister of a wonderful brother (three, actually, but at age 12 one of them was definitely My Favorite!), I can easily and reasonably understand Shallan’s attitude toward Helaran.
(Let me tell you about my brother. Tall (6’5”), dark, handsome, naturally athletic, competitive and a good sport, lovely bass voice, smart, kind, generous, friendly, respectful… Everybody loves him. Yeah, he’s still my Ideal Person, I guess. And yes, I know he’s not perfect, but that’s okay too. Also happily married for many years now, before you ask.)
So, see, I understand Shallan’s hero-worship, but aside from the fact that our first glimpse of Helaran was slaughtering darkeyed soldiers to reach Amaram, his anger and hatred toward their father makes me doubt him. A lot. I know, I know. Everyone, including Helaran, was set up to think Lord Davar was the killer, and he deliberately allowed it to protect Shallan. If even her mother was willing to kill her for what she was, how could anyone else be trusted with that knowledge? So the brothers weren’t allowed in on the secret. But… honestly, I’m more than a little suspicious that if Helaran had learned what she was, he might just have turned on her, too. Given that Amaram and company were trying to restore the supremacy of the Vorin church, and Amaram was happy to assume the title of Knight Radiant Leader to do it, whoever sent Helaran to kill Amaram might well be opposed to the Radiants—and expect him to kill his sister, since his mother failed to do so. Which may (or may not) be an argument that whatever their mother’s affiliation, it probably wasn’t the same group of people Helaran joined. Either that, or they were of the “right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing” persuasion. Secrets upon secrets.
I guess Helaran’s sterling character, whether spotless or tarnished, doesn’t really matter in the long run, since he’s dead, but Shallan had him on such a high pedestal that I can’t help wondering if it’s going to come back around to bite. The events of Chapter 88 may affect my expectations in this regard.
Speaking of family, there’s definitely evidence here that even before That Night, not everything was sugarplums and stardust in the Davar home. Shallan’s thoughts about her brothers, and Helaran’s words about Balat, give no indication that their shortcomings are solely a recent thing. The fact that they so easily believe that Lord Davar was the killer doesn’t speak well either—or that they believe that their mother had a lover, for that matter. At the same time, there is evidence that things weren’t terrible; Shallan and her mother had obviously had some fun planning her future wardrobe, and the love between Shallan and her father is equally manifest. (I still can’t find the place where I was sure it was mentioned that their mother was teaching Shallan to draw. Maybe that impression was based on Balat’s comment that “You’re better than Mother ever was.”)
Well, whatever the past, they’re a mess now.
Lastly, regarding the confrontation between Helaran and his father: As noted, Helaran completely believes the fiction regarding his mother’s death. I think Lord Davar would have told him, here, if Helaran had been even the slightest interest in hearing it. Fortunately (I think) he was at least interested in hearing Shallan, even though she could only manage to ask him not to kill the man who bears all the blame and all the shame for the actions of both mother and daughter. (Once again, I find it heartbreaking that, for all his numerous faults, the greatest burden he bears is none of his own doing.) And did you catch his reaction to Helaran’s Blade? “He glanced suddenly upward.” Presumably, in the direction of his study, where he’d placed Shallan’s Blade in the safe… but this Blade is “different.” I’ll let y’all discuss the implications of that one.
Ars Mechanica: There’s a broad hint here—well, it’s broad in retrospect—that Helaran’s blade is, in fact, a dead Blade: It has a gemstone set at the pommel. Okay, once we learn that it was indeed Helaran who was killed by Kaladin and his Shards misappropriated by Amaram, it becomes even more obvious, since the death of the bearer doesn’t turn a living Blade into a dead one. The more significant implication, refuting some speculations I’ve seen, is that Helaran was not, in fact, a genuine Skybreaker. He did not have a spren bond. It does not run in the family.
Heraldic Symbolism: This is the first chapter in Words of Radiance which is graced by two Heralds. Is that Significant? Shalash is present as Shallan’s namesake, her Order’s patron, and for the drawings she begins again. I’d suggest that Nalan is present partly as the number 2—the sobriquet “Nan” for Helaran is clearly the identifier of the heir*—and also for the “Skybreakers” that Helaran is said to have sought out. Perhaps Nalan-the-Ideal also represents the Justice that no one can face up to, or even knows about—that the event which tore this family apart was not, in fact, the rage-induced murder of a wife and her lover, but the justifiable self-defense of a daughter attacked by her mother.
*Just in case you hadn’t caught this yet… in Veden society, the birth order of the males appears to be significant, and a title identifying each one’s place in the hereditary line is so much part of the name that it is sometimes used even among family. At this point, Shallan’s brothers are Nan Helaran, Tet Balat, Asha Wikim, and Van Jushu. Incidentally, Wikim and Jushu are twins.
And that’s it for this week. Due to American Thanksgiving, there will be no post next week. The week after, Carl will take us back to Shallan, Illusions, and attempted banditry in the Frostlands. Meanwhile, we’ll see you in the comments!
Alice Arneson is a long-time Tor.com commenter and Sanderson beta-reader. She has been a fantasy lover since the age of eight, when her third-grade teacher loaned her his copy of The Hobbit. (Thanks, Mr. Hamilton!) She’s also a full-time wife & mom with degrees in engineering, literature, and chemistry. She also needs to think of something more interesting to say about herself.
The Heralds in this chapter setting make sense to me. Creative/Honest for Shallan, both for her order and her truths/lies issues (and her order of Radiants). Nan for Just/Confident, especially regarding her brother and his assertiveness against their father, as well as his bonding a Shardblade and establishing himself as a force independent of their father’s supposed cruelty and lust for power.
Yet more mind-blanking by young Shallan, making it impossible to ever really know what her deal is. We just can’t find out what her younger life was like, or what her parents’ home life was like, until we finally learn more about her earlier bonding with Pattern and what her life was like. Unfortunately, her flashback book didn’t really tell us anything about her pre-bonding life.
With the limited information we have, it’s hard to know what her home life was like before her mother’s death, but I always assumed that her parents were both loving and supportive until she bonded Pattern, and that was solely what caused problems. It’s hard to know, and I agree that her mother’s attempt to kill her doesn’t indicate a great home life before, but we don’t know her mother’s background. I still maintain that her mother apparently was of a more rigorous “religious” bent than her father, maybe coming from some zealous religious sect that was strongly anti-radiant or anti-“voidbringer”.
Based on Shallan’s later dealings with the Ghostbloods, her family apparenty has more dealings with the political undercurrents of Jah Keved and Roshar in general, which may partly explain how her brother could get a Shardblade so soon after leaving his family’s home, and explain why the Ghostbloods are so willing to welcome her rather than try to kill her later. Hopefully we’ll learn more about this, and about Shallan’s ACTUAL initial bonding to Pattern, at some point (soon? I hope? like next book?).
I never bought the theory that Helaran was a proto-Skybreaker either. I was also suspicious of how ideally Shallan saw her eledst brother. Like you said, too mauch experience reading genre fiction. Great job as always parsing the information in this rather dense chapter Alice. I never caught the suggestion that Shallan’s mother nurtured her drawings. I thought it started with Helaran’s gift. Not the first time time BWS surprised me in one of his novels.
The commentary on the quote of the week seems to be cut off midsentence.
It occurs to me that now Shallan has “broken her block” (so to speak), maybe she’ll think/talk about her early days with Pattern, or even her childhood in general, in her normal POVs from here on. We can hope, anyway… (Unless it’s really not at all relevant to the story Brandon wants to tell, in which case he might not bother to include it. I suppose that’s a possibility.)
In some major ways, the way Shallan blocks out memories of her mother’s death (and who did the actual killing) is similar to how Dalinar’s mind blocks out the name and image of his dead wife. At a minimum, the results are substantially simialr. The Nightwatcher did something as a result of what Dalinar requested. Now whenever somebody mentions his wife, Dalinar only hears Shshsh.
From what we know Nightwatcher is a super spren (possibly akin to the Stormwatcher — and probably serves a similar purpose for Cultivation that Stormwatcher serves for Honor). Given that, I wonder if Shallan’s memory repression is spren/surbinder oriented. On the other hand, it is possible that the memory repression is another example of “Old Magic” (whatever that actually is).
Tangent — I wonder if the term “Nightwatcher” has to do with watching for the darkness (“night”?) that comes with the next Desolation.
For me, one of the biggest mysteries after WoR was how Helaran obtained the Shardblade and Shardplate. I do not think that Helaran was a member of the organization Skybreakers (referred to at the end of the novel). I think that he was a member of the Diagram (The way Graves talks to Moash when the both leave the camps, the Diagram seems to be both the book created from Taravangian’s writings and the name of the organization itself).
Thanks for reading my musings,
AndrewB
(aka the musespren)
Jasuni @3 – Yes and no. It is an incomplete sentence, but that’s the way I wrote it. It’s a phrasing I picked up somewhere… not sure where, why, or from whom, but the idiom fit the way I was feeling when I wrote it. I looked over at her, curled up in her chair by the fireplace doing her homework, and it was too much to express.
My daughter is eleven and a half. I can’t even…
I can’t even imagine her in such a situation.
I can’t even think about it.
I can’t even comprehend what her mother did.
I can’t even think of anything to say, it hurts so much.
I can’t even…
The words just don’t come even close to the wrenching of my soul when I look at my daughter, and think of what Shallan went through at her age. Hence, “I can’t even.”
I typically think Helaran is not a Skybreaker for the simple reason that his sword was up for grabs when he died. Swords can be taken when knights breaks their oaths, not when they die.
However, all of this does bring into question the Taravangian interlude. He thinks that Helaran might have trained his sister as a surgebinder. What is up with that?
Lord Davar surely drew the short straw of family relations. Regardless of what kind of guy he was before everything went south, I can’t help feeling bad for him. And I’m not convinced Helaran would have believed the old man if he had revealed the truth about the murders.
Alice
This flashback was 5.5 years ago (Setting). You rounded, right? :-)
I also vaguely recall reading that Shallan’s mother was teaching her to draw. I’ll bet it was in the main story somewhere, not in a flashback scene.
MDNY @1
You nailed it, IMHO.
Now it seems I need to re-read chapter 88 and the Taravangian interlude.
Walker @7 – The availability of Helaran’s Shards after his death are the real proof, of course. But as you say, what was Taravangian referring to, then? Obviously he doesn’t know everything, but did he have some reason to believe that Helaran was a Surgebinder even though he wasn’t?
Or… here’s a weird thought, which has no foundation in anything whatsoever… What if Helaran was carrying an Honorblade which would have given him Surgebinding powers, but either he didn’t know it, or those powers weren’t something which would have been displayed in combat? He references another missing Honorblade when he talks to Szeth; could it be that a) there really is another one in use; b) he knows that Helaran’s associates have it; c) he believes or knows that Helaran had it? The burning question then becomes whether the abilities have to be trained, or whether they sort of force themselves upon the bearer. IF it was an Honorblade, and IF Amaram figures it out… Oh, it almost doesn’t bear thinking about! And there’s still the issue of the jewel in the pommel. Maybe Taravangian’s thought that Helaran could have taught Shallan how to Surgebind was based on a mistaken assumption that he was carrying the missing Honorblade when he really wasn’t? Now I’m all muddled again. Help!!!
Ways @8 – Didn’t need to round; Rosharan years are 10 months. Gotcha. I actually started out with an “almost” or “just over” thing going, and then I remembered that “five months ago” is half a Rosharan year. (I got the detail on her birth date from Brandon’s timeline, where it has an entry dated a week before this one.)
Like you, I’m not entirely convinced that Helaran would have believed the truth even if he’d been willing to listen to his father; I’m not even quite sure he’d have believed Shallan if she’d said it herself. He might have convinced himself that she was lying to protect their father, unless she summoned her Blade to prove it. But that would have required something she was nowhere near capable of at that point.
That bit about Shallan’s mother teaching her to draw… I was positive it was mentioned in passing somewhere in TWoK,but I’ve searched and searched and can’t find it. :(
Okay, so I’m feeling a little slow. I’ve been reading the re-read since the beginning, and am just now asking about it. In the section “Heraldic Symbolism“, where are you finding the Heralds? Names of characters? Mentions of the Heralds? The icons in the border at the start of each chapter? Because when I was reading I didn’t see mentions of Heralds in every chapter.
I was never quite sure what to make of Helaran. Like other commenters have mentioned, he doesn’t seem to be spren-bonded and his Shardblade seems like the normal “dead” variety we’ve seen so far in the story.
Helaran’s hidden complexity will come out in ways that illuminate the secret societies at work in Roshar and the relationships among them. Sanderson has been very deliberate in showing him through PoVs that couldn’t know what he was involved in.
It seems like presence of a Veden Shardbearer in Alethi territory was never taken as an act of war. Kaladin’s flashback chapters in WoK gave us some insight into Alethi military posture and paranoia about outside threats (or the propaganda that made it seem like there were threats). Instead, everyone’s poised to explain Helaran’s presence with a rival secret society. Is he the first sign of a shadow war being waged before the story even opens?
Shallan’s relationship with Helaran reminds me of a young child growing up in a bad neighborhood, idolizing a sibling or neighbor who had a good chance of “getting out” and making something of himself. Helaran is very much that guy. Shallan seems to see him as the only person in the family with enough agency or power to escape their father’s orbit. It’s very easy for someone like him to become an anchor for escapist fantasies for a young child in Shallan’s position. You could even extend the comparison to Helaran looking for a “gang” to join in lieu of his family.
@9 Wetlandernw
Interesting thoughts about the missing Shardblade, but I think we have pretty good evidence to rule out Helaran’s. I’d think if anyone has the other missing Honorblade and we’ve seen that person, Nalan is a decent candidate.
An interesting thing that I have noticed, but am not sure how it fits in, is that not only is the birth order of the males in Jah Keved important, but it is also extremely important in Horneater society, and some families (the Davar clan especially), have their red hair because of their inter-marrying with the Horneater clans in the past. Is it just a nice little easter egg coming from their somewhat shared histories, or it there something hidden in that factoid?
I do wonder about the “lack of humanity” part. What happend to Shallan’s dad? I can understand the rage, if his sons believe and accuse him to be a killer but why did he lose his humanity over this? And the way Helaran hints (that Shallan must be strong for her brothers) indicates that the younger brothers have already suffered – from their father’s rage most likely – and although this is only 5 month past.
Btw I believe Shallan started to talk again because the treat on her father and not because of her drawing again. She did sketch the scene her mind block in thought, seems odd if this released her from her mutism.
@10 Hihosilver
yes the Heraldic symbolism refers to the Herald-icons in the chapter header.
hihosilver28 @10 – The Heralds we keep talking about are the faces depicted in the arch at the beginning of each chapter. There are four faces; sometimes, all four are the same, and sometimes there are two different ones, mirrored across the arch. (One chapter near the end of the book has four different faces.) If you look at the front endpapers for TWoK, you will see those same faces set around the edges of the frame. (You can also find them on Brandon’s website, as well as in the Coppermind wiki.) Those faces are idealized versions of the ten Heralds, and in every case they have something to do with the goings-on in the chapter. Some of them are very obvious, while others are very, very subtle. Peter & Brandon work them out very carefully; we readers like to pretend we can find hints in them to hidden things in the chapters, but we’re probably wrong at least as often as we’re right. :)
Jumping back into comments for the first time in a while. A confluence of having something to say and the time to say it in at the same time, which hasn’t been the case the last few weeks. I have kept up on the discussions, though, for what it’s worth.
@@@@@ Helaran – It’s very interesting to me that he encouraged Shallan’s coping mechanism, without even necessarily knowing she was doing it. I appreciate the sentiment behind trying to help and protect his sister, but in my experience, hiding a problem is never the best way to deal with it. If nobody knows what you’re going through, nobody can help you talk through it, help you with your issues, pray for you (if you’re of the spiritual persuasion), etc. Confronting the issues might be painful in the short term, but it’s cathartic in the long term.
Wetlander @@@@@ 9 – Shallan’s not the most reliable narrator, as we’ve been discussing, but according to her in WoK, she actually learned her drawing ability from the works of Dandos the Oilsworn (or something like that, I don’t have my book in front of me). There was a conversation with Kabsal where he
essentially said “You learned this from a book? I need to read more”. I could be reading into it, but that implies to me that Shallan’s mother didn’t really have anything to do with the drawing. Given how thorough she’s been about repressing anything to do with her mother, anything’s possible still, just my two cents’ worth.
Fascinating theory about the Honorblade. That would take care of the missing one, and provide interesting possibilities now that Amaram has the Blade Helaran. I don’t know if there’s any concrete evidence one way or the other, but this is my new pet theory.
Wetlander
The memory you have of Shallan’s mother teaching her drawing comes from the chapter where she first meets Hoid and he has her describe the world the way she wished it to be. There’s no evidence that this coorisponded to reality though.
As to Taravangian, he may have sent out Heleran to kill proto-radients, and wondered whether he used the knowledge of those to help teach his sister instead of killing her. It makes sense that if Heleran was going to be going after spren-bonded people he would have to know something about the bond in order to find and fight them.
Like all of her flashback chapters, there is so much here. I love it when Alice gets her hands on a young Shallan a Chapter!
My thoughts on the chapter:
1. “She leaned back in her chair, legs tucked up underneath her, hands in her lap.”
She sits like Vin did before she got more confidence. Maybe she is trying to be invisible.
2. Her drawing came automatically to her “as if she weren’t doing the drawing.” That sounds an awful lot like when she draws from a Memory. Although, she “couldn’t blink” according to the account in “Red Carpet Once White,” so maybe not. But maybe getting it out of her system helped her not to remember as well, like her usual experience after drawing from a Memory. If she did unwittingly take a Memory of the death scene I can see why she hadn’t drawn for so long.
3. Like all the other people in this series that are involved in a secret society Helaran thinks of himself as going about the “more important things in this world.” He’s also very full of himself setting himself up as an authority over his father. “Try not to ruin too much while I’m gone. I will come back periodically to check.”
4. Brightlord Davar could have Helaran imprisoned on what grounds? Slandering a lighteyes like what happens to Kaladin later? Or is he powerful enough to be above the law?
Reactions to the post:
On Shallan looking up to Helaran- She really does look up to her brother.
“”Draw plants,” Helaran said, “and animals. Safe things, Shallan. Don’t dwell on what happened.””
she goes on to do exactly what he says. She forgets what happened and she enjoys drawing plants and animals so much that she chooses natural history as her calling. If she won an award for her drawing, her acceptance speech would undoubtedly include “I credit my brother
Helaran…”
she doesnt, however, follow his second suggestion to draw fanciful things or brighter days. She seems to stick with literal truths in her drawings until after Pattern comes back into her life. Maybe she was trying to avoid drawing Pattern’s attention with “lies.” (No pun intended)
On Helaran and their mother’s associations- Mraize says at the end that Helaran was seeking out the Skybreakers, so wouldn’t that be who his friends were? One can be of the Skybreakers without being one of the Skybreakers maybe? Like a minor lackey? That, indeed, could have made his relationship with Shallan awkward. If their mother was part of another group then the Davars were involved with three secret societies…
On Shallan’s mother teaching her to draw- I looked pretty hard and I couldn’t find anything to back this up either. Maybe it was a deleted section from Beta? I was thinking that if her mother had taught her it would have been suppressed too and she wouldn’t be able to engage in an activity that carried such associations. I suppose that she could have retained the drawing but suppressed the teacher. We are told twice that she learned drawing from the one book her father “by luck” owned on drawing by Dandos the Oilsworn. But I also suppose she just needed to get a new “teacher” after losing her mother.
Ha! Jeremyguebert and I are sharing thoughts today. I’m rather impressed that you remembered the painter’s name perfectly from memory.
IamJoseph is right. Mother teaching her to draw is in that part. I am inclined to think that that was “how it should be” as opposed to “how it used to be” though. She also mentions her mother teaching her philosophy and we know that was one of the holes she had in her education when she applied to Jasnah.
Along with what Alice said in post 4, I think that we don’t know Shallan’s earlier (first bonding with Pattern) life because those flashbacks will be visited with current Shallan as part of her current progression.
Andrew @@@@@ 5 I think you meant Stormfather.
Could the missing Blade be Taln’s?
It seems something weird happened with Blades and Amaram and Dalinar, etc. Did an Honorblade go somewhere?
On Shallan and drawing: I think her drawings are an outlet for her repressed memory. It seems to work that way. You’ll notice that lator in WOR, she draws things in exacting detail even if they’re not Memories memories to help her process wht she remembers. This seems like just a quirk but actually, if her block is so severe it fuzzes everything she remembers, she might actually NEED to draw to get the full memory out fo her. Remember, one of the first things she draws is essentially her dead mother, a which is related to something she is repressing VERY hard, to the point she induces a ‘soft’ reset on herself every time it passes by in her head. Her repression comes out in her drawings.
Given the erratic fade of abilities Kaladin experienced when he was slowly ‘killing’ Syl, and how Shallan didn’t so much kill Pattern as set everything back to the drawing board, it’s possible she literally WAS invisible when those maids were talking. It wouldn’t be the first time a proto-radiant has used thier powers for unconscious wish fullfillment, like Kaladin wishing he didn’t get hit by arrows and die…
On Shallan’s brothers: what I read on them doesn’t make me think they were seriously messed up. Given thier relative ages, they were all going through thier rebelious teen phase, and the deth of their mom and Lord Davar’s subsequent slide to insanity kept them from adjusting back to normal, turning then into the border-line self-destructive, gambler, shardbearer and crab torturer we later see them as.
On Taravangian’s “missing” Honorblade. To be quite honest I’ve never understood why people belive him, it’s a discussion I’ve had numerous times over on 17Shard. To me at least, it seemed obvious that Taravangian was lying through his teeth to maintain control over Szeth.
The text makes it clear that Taravangian is absolutetly terrified at this point. He doesn’t mention the “missing” Honorblade until a little later in the conversation, the first thing he says is “What makes you say this?” which is explicitly stated to be Taravangain stalling for time while he thinks about what to do. If what he said was true it should have been the first thing out of his mouth, another Honorblade floating out in the world is not something that should slip your mind.
Taravangian recognizes that he is incredibly close to loosing control of Szeth, so he makes up a lie to keep that control and is very emphatic about making Szeth believe it. Personally I think it’s a bit too convienent of an explanation by Taravangian to be true.
@19, to my understanding even if another the Stone Shaman’s Honorblades /were/ to be missing it wouldn’t be Taln’s since that disappeared with him when he died during the Last Desolation. Another Herald, we don’t know which, went back for their blade. Which leaves 8, (which is confirmed when Szeth asks Taravangain “One of the other seven?” as a confirmation).
But what we /think/ is Taln’s Honorblade does go missing, it’s not the one that ends up in Dalinar’s possession.
WeiryWriter @21 – I don’t know that Taravangian is telling the truth about the “missing” Honorblade… but I don’t know that he’s lying either. I can readily believe, though, that he had no particular intention to tell Szeth about it. The reasons you give for thinking he made it up would also explain why he mentioned it even though he hadn’t intended to – he’s terrified; he’s desperate to distract Szeth, keep him off balance, keep him under control; he’s stalling for time. In other words, I don’t think Taravangian’s state of mind is sufficient evidence for either argument, and we’ll have to wait and find out if it’s true – quite probably in the next book.
FWIW, I’m not holding this theory (Helaran’s Blade = missing Honorblade) very tightly, because there’s absolutely no evidence either way, except that the pommel gemstone tilts the balance slightly toward the “less likely” side of the scale. I just think it would be a very, very interesting development, and it might make that whole episode significant beyond Kaladin’s situation and the fact that he killed Shallan’s beloved brother. That in itself is more than enough justification for its inclusion, but Brandon is known for weaving webs inside his webs, right?
By the way… refresh my memory, since I don’t have time to look it up: how do we know that one of the Heralds returned for his Blade? I should know, but can’t recall at the moment.
ditto 21 “Our lives depend upon it. Szeth is a beast who gnaws at his leg to escape his bonds. If he gets free…”
Taravangian believed that if Szeth decided that Kaladin was a Knight Radiant, Szeth would run wild (and possibly kill everyone in the area, starting with Taravangian). The only other possible alternative is that Kaladin was wielding an Honorblade, like Szeth (one with regrowth, as that would explain Kaladin healing a blade-severed arm).
@22 it was in in someone’s signed book.
Also something that just occured to me, neither Helaran’s nor Amaram’s eyes are described as changing color when they summon the Blade, like how Szeth’s change to sapphire-blue when he summons Jezrien’s blade.
@24 – Ah. Thanks. I knew I’d seen it, but couldn’t remember where!
Weiry @@@@@ 24 – Thanks for the link. I wasn’t aware of that info. The missing Honorblade I was thinking of was this one. By my count, of the existing 10, there were
– The one Szeth was using (which was formerly Jezrien’s, correct?)
– The one kept by Taln
– The “other seven” that Szeth asks about when confronting Mr. T.
That adds up to only 9 of the 10, and I’ve been curious where the last one was. If it was, in fact, reclaimed by its original owner, then it certainly wouldn’t be being used by Helaran (and subsequently Amaram). Still curious as to how he was expected to have been teaching anyone surgebinding if he wasn’t a Surgebinder himself, though.
Bellaberry @@@@@ 18 – I may or may not have read Way of Kings quite a few times (>5, most likely). I also just clued in that the artist’s name is almost certainly a shout-out to real-life artist Dan Dos Santos, who has worked with Brandon before. He did the cover for Warbreaker, at least, not sure if there was anything else.
If Helaran belonged to the same group as Teft’s parents he might know something about Surgebinding.
travyl @13
I think we have word of Brandon that Lord Davar was being influenced by Odium. I can easily see that causing a loss of humanity.
I think we have evidence that it was Nalan who retrieved his Honorblade. Lift describes him as glowing in the Interlude which means he is using Stormlight. Unless Heralds can use Stormlight on their own, I believe Nalan got back his blade.
I don’t think that Helaran belonged to the same group as Teft’s parents.
If I remember correctly. It’s stated that Helaran sought out the Skybreakers. He went looking for them. If the Skybreakers are following Nalan, they wouldn’t want any surgebinders; where as the group Teft’s parents followed wanted to become surgebinders. The two groups have different ideaologies.
I would believe that both groups might have known about each other. Or at the very least the Skybreakers would have known about group Teft’s parents belonged to. (What was their name again?)
Oh off the wall theory, what if it was actually someon from the Skybreakers using the law to make sure that whole group that Teft’s parents belonged to died?
In regards to where Shallan learned to draw; I remember her havinga conversation with Kabsal back in WoK that went something like this:
Kabsal: This is really good, who taught you to draw?
Shallan: Really Famous Vorin Artist Person.
Kabsal: Uh… That person’s been dead, since forever.
Shallan: Yeah, my dad had a book in his library.
Kabsal: You learned to draw like this from a book?! How are you even real?!
End scene.
Yeah it’s possible that Shallan just didn’t want to tell who really taught her but I don’t remember anything about her learning from her mom.
Most likely, her mother got her started, but she learned most of what she knows from the book.
Regarding the missing shardblade, I just took it for granted that it was Nalan, of the Skybreakers.
But are the current skybreakers surgebinders at all? or just guys working for Nalan?
Last of all, I think it would be endlessly amusing for Dalinar’s wife to end up being named Shshsh. Just saying.
One thing I’ve noticed re-reading the book is that it seems like multiple groups are somehow affiliated with Gavilar. (Before he was killed, obviously.) I don’t have the book in front of me to give exact quotes, but I recall more than one character making references to statements and predictions Gavilar made. Were these groups united at the time of his death and have since fragmented? Or was he playing for more than one team?
@33 We know that both Taravangian and Amaram were aware of Gavilar’s visions, and have been partly operating under assumptions they drew from Gavilar’s revealing his visions to them. It seems that Dalinar was never made aware of them, nor (likely) Jasnah. From what Amaram says, I assumed that Gavilar was a member of the Sons of Honor as well. T seems to have drawn his own conclusions from something Gavilar told him, and I assume went to the Nightwatcher and started his scheme to unite Roshar and kill people to collect death visions as a result. I see no indication that Amaram and T were working together, or were even aware of each other’s groups (though it seems that T is aware of most things going on in Roshar, thanks to notes from his days of brilliance).
@30 I think you mean the Envisagers
First time posting :-)
About what/ who influenced Shallan’s drawing.
I believe one of her brothers makes a reference to Shallan’s drawings being better than her mother’s but doesn’t say that her mother taught her.
Thanatos0072 @36
Welcome to the Storm Cellar. Thanks for weighing-in about what/who influenced Shallan’s drawing. Keep it up.
While the Stormlight books to date may not have an explicit reference to Shallan being taught drawing by her mother, it is a logical inference. Her mother could draw and drawing is a feminine art in Vorin culture. Why wouldn’t Shallan observe her mother’s drawing efforts and try to imitate her? Her mother taught her other ‘feminine arts’ such as reading and logical argumentation, why not drawing? Nor was her mother the passive type, as evidenced both by Shallan’s characterization of her as brave and by that tragic confrontation. That final coldness did not characterize Shallan’s earlier life before she had manifested the ability to make her drawings and stories come to life. Her mother’s affiliation is only hinted at thus far (presumably, it is to elements in the Vorin church who would have chacterized Shallan’s abilities as sorcery). Her father’s affiliation is, howeve, made explicit by Shallan. He is a Ghostblood who is apparently involved in the Ghostblood quest for Urithiru (he has mysterious maps in his study).
@38 STBLST- I’m not so sure that Brightlord Davar is a Ghostblood. He was working with them, clearly, but it isn’t clear that he was ever in their inner circle or was officially a member. The Davsr steward, Luesh, appears to have been a ghostblood who was sent to assist/monitor Shallan’s father, but we don’t know exactly how involved Lin was with them, or even that he was a full member. I’m not saying that he isn’t a ghostblood, just that he’s not necessarily one of their full members.
In chapter 27 Shallan states: “By luck, her father had owned a drawing book—one of the works of Dandos the Oilsworn—and she used that for instruction, letting it rest open beside her.”
So it seems, Shallan is mostly self-/ book-taught, even if her mother might have had a hand (the not-sleeved one) in her early drawing lessons. (Also, let’s not forget her mother died when Shallan was 11 years old.)
Re Helaran:
restricting myself mainly to tor.com, I never heard of that Honorblade theory, so thank you, though I’m not buying it.
But I’m currently re-reading ahead of you all, and seeing how Shallan reveres him (Ch 36: “her brother Helaran, the best person she’d ever known”) I have a feeling that Helaran could still be alive.
The people who gave him “his” Shardblade could have easily taken it away again (to give it to some other unknown and now utterly dead person, who then lost the blade to Kaladin / Amaram).
Therefore I think there is a slight possibility that after Shallan has learned and dealt with the fact that Kaladin killed her beloved brother, Helaran will turn up again – with a questionable agenda and not “on her side”.
@40 I’m really sceptical of the “Helaran is still alive” theory. The man Kaladin kills is discribed as a red-haired Veden, which fits Helaran. Granted red hair is not uncommon among Vedens but occam’s razor would suggest that things are as they seem. WoR already has plenty of characters who die but not really that I’d be kind of annoyed of Brandon pulled it again.
travyl @40 – As far as I know, the “Helaran had an Honorblade” theory is merely a product of my over-active imagination trying to make sense out of why Taravangian thought Helaran could teach Shallan anything about Surgebinding. No reason you or anyone else should ever have heard of it before Thursday morning, unless they were looking over my shoulder on Wednesday night. That said, there’s also no reason someone else shouldn’t have come up with that possibility, so maybe it’s been theorized elsewhere and I just don’t know about it.
Your scenario, while equally possible, is IMO just about as improbable as mine. ;) If he were still alive but not captive, I’d think he’d have come home to check on things sometime in the last year, wouldn’t he? I suppose if he had offended someone sufficiently, he might have had his Blade taken away and been imprisoned… but I think it makes more sense to accept that he was the one killed by Kaladin. If he was replaced, it was by another Veden, though, so the odds against it are increased.
Yeah, I’m not really expecting anyone to buy into the Honorblade theory wholeheartedly, but it sure would be interesting. Come to think of it, now that Amaram is traveling in company with the man we’re calling Taln, if he really is a Herald, he’d recognize another Herald’s Blade, so we might find out sooner than later.
@several – I’m really hoping that at some point we get a Prologue from Gavilar’s POV – and that it tells us a) who he’s told about his visions; b) what his motivation was; c) what exactly he told the Parshendi; d) lots more stuff that I can’t think of at the moment. We have a fair idea of the answer to c), but I’d like to get it more clearly.
Count me as one of those who discount the Helaran Honorblade hypothesis. Such an acquisition would mark Helaran as an important player in the Stormlight saga. At least, it would require a chapter in a future book to account for such acquisition. We have been informed that there are 7 of the 10 Honorblades being kept in Shinovar. Jezrien’s blade had been acquired by Szeth and retaken by Kaladin in their death struggle. One is or was in the rightful possession of Taln. The 3rd is presumably in the hands of Nalan. Why would Helaran have that blade instead of the Herald? Helaran, I surmise, was a disciple of Nalan in his quest for justice. He was given an ‘ordinary’ Shardblade and Shardplate for his mission to seek out and kill Amaram. The latter was considered a threat by Nalan as well as the Ghostbloods since he sought the return of the Desolation. If Amaram now has Helaran’s Honorblade, why hasn’t he acquired Surgebinding capabilities? After all, he has had about a year to become familiar with it. Moreover, he is portrayed as a scholar who has a very ‘unmasculine’ writng ability as well as map creation in his quest for the lost city of Urithiru. A scholar is undoubtedly familiar with the stories of Surgebinding by the Radiants, and is likely to explore the properties of his blade.
@STBLST: I’m not sure Taln still has his Blade, though he definitely had it at the end of WoK.
And, YAY, it’s new book time. Not Stormlight but, Brandon’s given us the Legion sequel skin deep and the audible version you can even get for free…
The real question is, if Taln (or other Heralds) don’t have their blades, can they easily get them back?
The Heralds were used to dying, and, presumably having their blades with them in that hellish place they went when they died. They were already used to dying and coming back, and keeping their blades somehow. Can they just summon them somehow?
I think there might be a difference in that respect between Taln and the other Heralds, who all deliberately left their blades behind. What use to that, if they could just “easily” summon them back.
On the other hand, I’m not sure if you can take Taln’s blade away from him when he never gave consent. – Though you might take it until he summons it back (like Dalinar did with the Blade that came with Taln).
Speaking of Taln… I’m still wondering why Brandon is so diligently refusing to call that guy Taln. Is it one of the other Heralds who’s gone so far around the bend that he’s calling himself Taln? That would be sort of cool. I can’t imagine who else could possibly know so much about what it was like there. We’ll have to toss theories around when we get to that Interlude.
My guess and hope is that Taln was cracked until there was nothing left if him. On a similar note, Wit was worried that he would caught by Odium, and destroyed so completely he could could not heal himself. Pardon me, I couldn’t find the exact line.
Now we have to wonder, if Stormlight is capable of healing what ever happened to the man who calls himself Taln.
While Stormlight quickly and completely heals physical injuries, it is not effective against mental wounds. For example, Kaladin has used Stormlight for some time, yet still suffers bouts of depression or undeserved self-flagellation. Taln has no obvious physical impairment – only mental. He can’t comprehend the world into which he has entered. Yet, in lucid moments he exhibits both impressive physical prowess and an awareness of those possessing Surgebinding powers. Stormlight will not, apparently, eliminate his mental problems. Perhaps time will.
Fellow Sanderson-philes, you should be aware that Brandon just came out with Legion: Skindeep, the second book in his Legion novellas. It was excellent. While short, it was significantly longer than the first, and if anything better. This was his idea for a TV show, and I have to admit, this could make for an amazing show.
Taln may have been brought into the narrative primarily to signal that the Desolation is beginning. However, the conditions by the end of WOR are such that he can play an important role once healed of his mental malady. He is in Urithiru and may benefit from the transformative magic produced by Shallan once she draws his image. Navani may be able to produce a Fabrial that restores mental health similar to Nalan’s Fabrial that restores life. Jasnah, once she arrives at Urithiru, can provide the background following the last Desolation. If healed, he can join or lead the fighting Radiants, e.g., Kaladin and his men (squires) against seemingly impossible odds.
STBLST @51
I can see that happening. And a Taln vs. Nalan showdown of some sort then seems required. (Is this why it’s called speculative fiction? Heh.)
Just a tangential comment. I note that the number of responses to the chapter rereads in the last 2 months has dropped (typically above 60 earlier, and always below 60 recently). I don’t know if this is due to less interest in these chapters (#13 – 19, also I4) or that the group is struggling to find new speculations to advance. In any case, BWS could help stimulate interest and discussion by releasing more draft material from the next Stormlight installment.
I’ve been thinking about that too. I suspect some of it has to do with the fact that Part 2 is mostly staging, so there’s not a lot of new information, and partly that we’ve already talked about so much of it in advance. I don’t know if the season plays into it or not; if it were December, I’d expect that, but October and November seem like a nice time to sit indoors and kibitz with all the rereaders.
For now, I’m mostly attributing it to the fact that these chapters just don’t give a lot of new action or mystery; I’m hoping that the discussion will pick up when the pace picks up at the end of Part 2…
Unfortunately, I don’t think Brandon has a lot of new stuff from Book 3 to give us; he’s been working on other projects this fall. The Legion sequel came out last week, Firefight is set to come out in early January, and Shadows of Self (Alloy of Law sequel) is completed and moving into the editing stage for release next fall. According to his status bar, he’s only about a quarter of the way through the Stormlight 3 pre-writing, so I don’t think we can expect much from that front for a while.
(I have mixed feelings about all this… I really enjoyed both Firefight and Legion: Skin Deep, and I expect Shadows of Self is going to be just as much fun as Alloy was. Nevertheless, I want more Stormlight, and I want it soon. I love all the books, but Stormlight is deep in my soul in a way few others are, and I long for it to come. At the same time, I know that working on all these projects all jumbled up like this is Brandon’s way of keeping each of them fresh and lively, and all his work is better for it. ::sighs deeply:: Since I don’t have any say in the matter, I guess this is all moot anyway.)
For me, we’re just at a rather stagnant stage in the books right now. I’m still commenting regularly, but I don’t have as much to discuss as I did in part I, or in the last book. where we were madly speculating on everything. I get the feeling that a lot of our overarching discussion has run its course for now, though I suspect that things will pick up later (for example, Zahel, Nightblood, and Shallan meeting the Ghostbloods should lead to tons of epculative posts, I suspect).
Wet @54, do you even still realize what you’re doing to us? If it were Carl, yes, I’m used to that, but from you? How can you so casually tell us that you’ve enjoyed Firefight (when it’s not yet come out) and lament in the next sentence that you still have to wait some for stormlight. :)
Re comments: I realize you’d want more, but even if the quantity has dropped, the quality is still up, so all is well. – The “barren spell” might not be passed yet though, considering some chapters ahaead.
(* “barren spell” comes straight from an online translator. I’m not at all sure, if I can use in it the way I did, but I’m sure you’ll forgive me, if I made you laugh with an unintelligible comment).
56. travyl
I would have said ‘dry spell’ but we got you. It is all good.
54. Wetlandernw
It wouldn’t be long…. but has there been any consideration for a Legion Re-read? Steelheart series is fun, but it does not compare to Legion, in my mind anyway.
travyl @56 – Uhhh… oooops…. That was kinda cold, wasn’t it? I’m sorry! Not sorry I read it, you understand – just sorry it came out like that… :)
Barren spell makes perfectly good sense, and I think you’re right: there are still some chapters in these next weeks that just aren’t going to generate a lot of discussion. Given the timing, with the holiday season upon us, maybe it’s just as well?
Zen @57 – I don’t think anyone has talked about it. Let me look it over and see what a reread might look like; maybe I’ll propose it to the PTB and see what they say. Generally, we’re not likely to run two Sanderson rereads in parallel, but Legion is very different, and as you say, it wouldn’t be very long. If we do it, I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be until after the new year begins.
Wet – looks like all of the re-read posts are in a down period. Must be the shorter days in the Northern Hemisphere…
On a completely off-the-wall note, the rest of my coworkers are discussing fantasy football, which is ridiculous considering no dragons, knights, swords or deep and subtle magics are involved.
I wish there was a productive way to build fantasy teams, the same way they do football teams.
Hey,
So I have a very big question/favor to ask of anyone on these boards.
BTW Hello again everyone! I’ve been busy and haven’t been able to check out the re-reads for a while! I’ll be checking them out again to catch up, but I had this very large question that I needed answered and I was hoping someone might have the answer, or would be in the Orem area to possibly ask Brandon during the signing on the 6th?
Here it is!
“Do we currently have enough information about realmatics (the physical/cognative/spiritual realms and how investment interacts with them) to create our own magic system? If we don’t, are there any elements that are simply too ‘mechanical’ to ever see in books that you could tell us about?”
61. Staizer
Interesting Question
Do you mean if we had shard X, what would/could the magic system be?
Or do you mean, in the Real World?
I suspect, in either case, there is a degree of arbitrariness to it – what in physics we would call Symmetry Breaking. The idea is that the laws of the universe used to be more symmetrical, but they broken down in a particular way, but they could have formed differently, the way that a pencil balanced on end will fall to one side, but could have just as easily fallen a different way.
Wetlandernw, as long as you’re contemplating asking about a Legion reread, why not a Warbreaker reread – as had been some suggested a while back? The prime mover in that book, after all, is Zahel from this series (He goes by various names including Vasher, Kalad, and Warbreaker), and the ‘awakened’ sword, Nightblood. The latter, at least, will have an important role in the next Stormlight book. Moreover, a Warbreaker reread would benefit from the extensive chapter notes by Sanderson. Another suggestion is to double up on some chapters – as was done in the Way of Kings reread.
STBLST @63 – Oh, I’m definitely planning to do the Warbreaker reread. At this point, however, I’m expecting to do it after WoR is finished; it should help us bridge the agonizing gap while we wait for the next book. :)
@62 ZenBossanova
I mean if we had Shard X do we have enough information to arbitrarily create a new magical system covering all required points involved.
While I agree with you, what I was more meaning was, are there arbitrary rules that just will never be covered in book because they are so boring, tedious or what not, but are still funamental to understanding realmatics as a whole that he could tell us about.
I understand that if Cultivation and Honor had gone to Scadriel instead of Roshar the magic would most likely have been completely different than what it is currently on Roshar. Also, if different people had gotten hold of Cultivation and/or Honor then the magic would be different as well.
Before we answer that, I think it would be helpful to be able to say what all the Shards are.
We know about Ruin, Preservation, Endowment, Devotion, Dominion, Honor, Odium, Cultivation. There is what ever shard Bavadin holds and whatever shard(?) Hoid’s dragon friend holds. We have heard about one that sounds like Self-Preservation and one that sounds like Self-Contradiction. There are 16 shards, so the leaves quite a few we don’t know about.
I suspect that the Shards are all the qualities/virtues needed to build/create a thriving world and civilization.
What other shards could there be?
Intelligence/Wisdom, (or is that in Endowment? )
Love/Procreation? (or is that in Cultivation? )
Sight and Senses? (is that just in Endowment?)
Goal and Plan making?
Dreaming?
Beauty?
Truth?
Self-Sacrifice (or is that in Honor?)
Relationships (or is that in Devotion?)
Trust?
( I think) We need to have an idea what all the Shards are, and just what is included in each Shard, before we could get to definitive as to what the corresponding magic systems are.
But the thing is, I am not trying to get a definition of what corresponding magic systems are. I am asking whether we have enough information to derive how the ALL magic works, and if we don’t, is there anything fundamental that is too boring or mundane that will never get written that Brandon would be willing to share that can clarify some of the aspects.
Staizer @67 – (Welcome back!!) – Thanks for clarifying; that makes much more sense out of your original question. I was staying out of the discussion, mostly because I hadn’t a clue what you were getting at. I knew I wasn’t going to ask the question, because I didn’t understand it well enough to a) know if Brandon was answering the question you meant to ask or b) clarify if he wasn’t sure what I was asking. If I’m correct, you’re wondering if we have enough information already revealed so that we could, theoretically, figure out how Magic works in the Cosmere – not just a single world’s individual magic system, but Magic as a whole: Magic, as a function of the three Realms.
A corollary question would be whether Magic in the Cosmere is completely determined by the three Realms, with Adonalsium/the Shards merely manipulating various aspects of the Realms in various ways to produce the various systems.
Am I understanding where you’re going with this?
Essentially yes.
Basically, if we were to try and create a grand Cosmere pen and paper RPG do we have enough information to provide the rules for all of the systems that we have been shown AND to cover any new ones that might come up later?
If we don’t is there anything that is mundane or boring that won’t be covered in books but is essential to the operation of said magic that he would be willing to reveal.
Okay, I think I understand now – or at least as much as I’ll ever be able to. :)
I still won’t necessarily volunteer to ask the question, because the very earliest I’ll see him will be sometime in January, and that’s only if he includes Seattle in his Firefight tour. But if he does, and you haven’t got an answer already, I’ll do it. You might have to remind me, though.
@43 How do we know that the “remaining” 7 Honorblades are being stored in Shinovar? Is this a “Word of Brandon” that I missed? I haven’t read all of them, so that is highly possible.
Has there been a lengthy discussion on the 17thshard forums as to how the Shins came to have all of these blades? I am quite curious and want more info about those mysterious Shins with their wide eyes.
Re the 7 Blades
Its in Taravigian’s interlude. When he tells Szeth another Honorblade has been stolen Szeth’s reply indicates the Shin have 7 Blades exclding his.
@@@@@ Wetlander : “Agonizing Gap” ???
If I did my math correctly, at the rate this reread is going, there will be ~80 more weeks, which is about a year and a half. That puts us in the middle of 2016. If you are planning to finish the WOR reread before doing any others, I hope the “agonizing gap” is your miscalculation and not a result of SA3 not coming out until 2017.
Well Brandon has done only 1/3 of the pre-writing, meaning he is nowhere near finished, and I heard it said, that for the next stormlight book they’ll want at least a year from the point where Brandon says he’s finished (for publishing issues, Betareaders, printing and all).
So yes, IMO we won’t have SA3 by middle of 2016 (though Wetlander might).
The current suggestion is to re-read Warbreaker, because Zahel/Vasher.
I am also agitating for a re-read of Legion and Legion:Skin Deep.
Xaladin @73 – Yes, at the current rate we’ll finish somewhere in the middle of 2016. As travyl pointed out @74, though, Brandon is still in the pre-writing stage – which, as I understand it, involves some preliminary chapters/scenes and a lot of outlining & staging. When he gets down to hard writing, I’d expect it to be another 6-10 months before it’s “finished,” which means he’s ready to do the hack-out-10%-on-principle draft, and then he’ll send it to his editor, and then he’ll revise it, and then he’ll send it to the beta-readers, and then he’ll revise it, and then he’ll send it to the editor, and then he’ll revise it, and then it will go to copy-edit and gamma-read, and then it will go to the publisher… And yes, absolutely: from “finished writing” to “release” will be about a year. Honestly, I’m telling myself this will be a late-2016 release, though I know he’s hoping for September/October rather than December. I also know that sometimes the writing just doesn’t flow, and so despite best intentions, it really could be early 2017. EVERYONE hopes that doesn’t happen… but it could. I try to be as pessimistic as possible on this kind of timeline. :/