Welcome back to the Words of Radiance Reread on Tor.com! Last week, a gentle and kindly experience ended; this week, a very different experience begins poorly, proceeds badly, and ends… mysteriously.
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.
Interlude Three: Rysn
Point of View: Rysn
Setting: the Reshi Sea
Symbology: Double Eye of the Almighty, Chach
IN WHICH precipitation is reminiscent of Seattle; grass is sullen; the master is dying; a Moment of Discovery rocks Rysn’s boat; a lifestyle has its ups and downs; the apprentice is sent to convince potential customers of her worth as a trading partner; a blue person cheerfully hangs upside down; assumptions nearly ruin conversations; Rysn has no head for heights; gender is irrelevant; trade is refused; a higher authority is consulted; great pain ensues, with great rescue and great reward; the master is apparently not dying after all (whoops!).
Quote of the Week:
“Your conversation will not be a negotiation. The terms were set years ago.”
She turned to him, frowning. “What?”
“This is not about what you can get,” Vstim said, “but about whether or not they think you are worthy of it. Convince them.” He hesitated. “Passions guide you, child. Do well.”
In retrospect, this is really frustrating. On the one hand, she needed to believe it was all real, and all important, in order to be a fair test of her skills. On the other hand… it might have been nice if she hadn’t been so desperate to get the trade that she did something incredibly brave—and incredibly, totally stupid.
Commentary: As we enter the fall season, I had to laugh at the description of the rain in the Reshi Sea: “Precipitation… was just a misting haze, more than a fog but less than a drizzle.” Sounds pretty much like Seattle, except today when it poured buckets. And then there’s the moving island, which sounds more like living in California: “. . .when the beast stepped, everything shook.” Heh.
I find it impossible to do justice to this chapter, so y’all will have to cover a lot of things in the comments that I just can’t get to. I really liked Vstim’s instruction, though: “Do not let your assumptions about a culture block your ability to perceive the individual, or you will fail.” Because, of course, that’s exactly what Rysn proceeds to do. (It’s not bad advice for the rest of us, too.)
Not that it’s entirely her fault. “We are led by a king. Gender is irrelevant.” It has to be a bit difficult to accept this rewriting of language, and to take the perpetrator seriously. Unfortunately for Rysn, this is one of the things she needs to accept without arguing. I feel sorry for her in this case. Once she saw that the robed person was a woman, it really was rather logical to assume that she couldn’t be the “king.” She probably shouldn’t have questioned it, but then… if she just accepted everything she was told, she opens herself to mockery, and that doesn’t work either for “boldness.”
It’s rather cringeworthy to read some of her argument, nonetheless. She manages to insult Talik by making the same obvious “bargaining points” as thousands of other trader, such as the islanders’ apparent isolation and resource limitations; worse, she makes the natural (but incorrect and deeply insulting) assumption that these things drive the simplicity of their lifestyle, and that by association they are also a bit simple… not to say stupid. Nice move, Rysn. Dig yourself out of that one. Or better yet, add to it by making unnecessary, condescending comments about the king/queen thing again, like you are some kind of authority.
The cringes are all balanced, however, by her reaction (and Talik’s!) to learning about Vstim’s method of proving his worth back in the day: “Though he obviously hadn’t always been the wizened old ledgerworm that he was now, she’d imagined he’d been a wizened young ledgerworm in the past.” All is forgiven, Rysn. Ah, the arrogance of youth. ::gigglesnort::
For those of you who did not read the text from the series of “watch Brandon write!” videos he released, it was an early draft of this chapter. There were a few changes, though, including one I definitely thought was for the better. In the videos, he had Rysn simply jumping off the beast’s head to prove her boldness; I thought it was much stronger to have her fall during her attempt to convince the “higher authority” that she was worthy of their business. It was still stupid, but at least there was some sense to it. Poor girl, though; I hope her legs heal.
Sprenspotting: “Shamespren fell around her, shaped like white and red flower petals that drifted on a wind.” Let me tell you, those have to be beastly inconvenient spren to have around! It’s bad enough to be embarrassed—but there’s nothing more embarrassing than to have your embarrassment pointed out to everyone around you! Especially when, like Rysn, you want to appear polished, cosmopolitan, and professional. (Or at least not quite so young and naïve!)
“Life can be simple here. It attracts such people like war attracts painspren.” There’s a great simile for you: comparing the wannabe-carefree outsiders drawn to the “simple” Reshi lifestyle to painspren on a battlefield. Unwanted but unavoidable? Ouch.
Axies seems to equate the greatshell’s spren with its soul; later, Vstim seems to do the same when he first says that the spren cushioned her fall, and then that she was “saved by the island’s soul itself.” I wonder what that means; seems like it should be significant.
All Creatures Shelled and Feathered: So, WOW! Two amazing new creatures in this Interlude! I think I was nearly as shocked as Rysn when she saw the island move and realized it was a fantastically huge animal. We knew the chasmfiends had some kind of spren/investiture thing going on in order to grow to their enormous size; but these islands? These are purely awesome. Greatshells, indeed!
And the larkin… oh, my, the lovely little larkin. It makes my mind tie itself in knots trying to figure out if it looks more like a crab or a hummingbird… The “cremling with wings” description sounds mildly ugly, but something about the name and behavior just makes me want it to be beautiful. And the silver eyes. We’ll see a couple more of these before the book is over, and I’m betting that this particular one has a significant role to play in the future. The fact that it was given to Rysn by the island itself just gives me all kinds of good shivers, even while I half expect that it will have both positive and negative repercussions for Rysn somewhere along the line. For now, I mostly wonder if it is somehow capable of using Stormlight for its own purposes… like healing people it cares about…
I like the idea, but it’s sheer speculation at this point. Until we get to observe one giving instead of taking, we won’t know what the larkin are capable of doing with Stormlight. I wonder if they have specific spren, and if those spren are connected to one of the Orders…
Haven’t We Met Somewhere Before?: It’s our old friend Axies the Aimian! No, he doesn’t really belong here—this is supposed to be for world-hoppers—but there aren’t any here, and it’s fun to see two of the Interlude characters from TWoK run into each other here. I had to laugh at them both when he seemed so pleased by what he’d learned about the island’s spren: Clearly it gave Rysn and her guards the creeps even to talk to him, especially when he seemed so nonchalant about the thing that earned him this punishment. On the other hand, it is so exactly in character for him in his search to catalog all the spren to be pleased about a new insight, even at the price of hanging by his ankles for an unknown length of time.
Speaking of Axies, I do hope we’ll learn more about his species eventually. For now, we know that they have bluish skin, blue eyes, and blue fingernails, they can modify their skin and their bodies at will, and they have been nearly wiped out as a people. The “Voidbringer shadow” seems to indicate that the Aimian people have a natural connection either to spren or to Shadesmar itself, or possibly both—but in a different way than the Listener people. At least, it seems to be a characteristic of the entire people, and it wasn’t mentioned about the Listeners at all.
Heraldic Symbolism: This week’s Herald is Chach, also known as Chanarach or Chana. Her divine attributes are Brave/Obedient, and her body focus is the Soul. I’d guess she’s here first to represent Bravery—Rysn may have been foolish, but it was brave of her to climb down that rope; she did it for the sake of securing the trade for her babsk, so there’s a certain obedience going on as well. The chapter has several references to the “soul” of the island, so maybe that’s a Thing too.
The Double Eye is, as noted last week, used for the majority of the Interludes. What I didn’t see was much discussion or a reason for the five swords, other than “well, maybe the artist couldn’t figure out how to make it ten.” Which… may be true, I suppose. Pretty sure either Isaac or Ben could do it if they’d wanted, but maybe it wasn’t that important.
Shipping Wars: Not much point in shipping Rysn yet, since she’s out in the middle of nowhere the Reshi Sea for the foreseeable future, but I do wonder. That larkin makes her stand out.
Just Sayin’:
Talik’s head appeared above. “What in Kelek’s name are you doing, idiot woman?” he screamed. She found it amusing that he’d learned their curses while studying with them.
I had to mention this for two reasons. One, anyone collecting Rosharan curses might need it. Two, I liked the way this points up some differences between the various cultures on Roshar; for the Reshi, “what in Kelek’s name” is meaningless, but for the Vorin kingdoms it’s cussing. Nice worldbuilding tidbit.
Okay, that’s all I’ve got. I hope I didn’t leave out anything too important. If I did, you’ll have to point it out to me in the comments! (For that matter, I hope the above is more or less coherent; please be kind if you have to tell me I made no sense at all…!)
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. Nice combination, eh?
First, as one who broke a leg in 3 spots last year – OUCH!!!! My body went into a cold shock from my breaks, which were clean. I simply cannot imagine the pain, healing time, and frustration factor of having both legs shattered like that. Good thing for stormlight healing, otherwise, girl would almost be better off as an amputee. With stormlight, it’s going to take a while, and she might still have a strange limp.
I forgot Axies’ about blue skin from WoK. His words reminded me of Wit. Want to say more, but being called away.
Thanks Alice!
Thanks, Alice!
The Aimian was Axies??? The last we heard of him…he was being dragged off to the dungeons in Iri for indecent exposure, IIRC. Sounds reasonable, though. The Reshi Isles aren’t too far from Iri and this Aimian is concerned with spren.
This is the second interlude featuring Rysn. I can’t decide what’s more important in this chapter: continuing the deployment of Rysn or the Larkin. I suspect both will probably figure prominently in the future. Note that Larkin are native to Aimia.
I also picked up on the difference from the writing process videos that Brandon put out, and I enjoy this version a lot better. Frankly speaking, boldness isn’t the same thing as stupidity, and I appreciate Rysn being rewarded for attempting something epic (despite failing spectacularly) much more than for taking what was essentially a sawn dive from what should have been a fatal height.
Regarding the spren/soul of the island – Brandon’s said that the spren of greatshells allows them to grow bigger than they could otherwise. I think that it makes sense that the Reshi would call the spren the island’s soul, given its importance in the greatshell’s development.
I probably mentioned this in Rysn’s WoK interlude as well, but I am amused by Rysn as a “traveling merchant”-type character. It’s a rather convenient excuse for Brandon to be able to showcase a variety of different locations and cultures without having to introduce an excessive amount of viewpoints.
Just an aside…
Shadows Beneath gave me much insight into the writing process used by Brandon and his colleagues. I would imagine this Rysn interlude was no exception to a critiquing session, in Brandon’s writing group, where what’s good, what’s bad, and suspension-of-disbelief moments are discussed. It makes for a much stronger story once certain changes are made.
Love this interlude. Rysn’s first interlude in WOK was just kinda amusing, with some possible insights into the Shin and some cool worldbuillding. This one establishes her as important, with her stormlight-sucking creature given to her by a freakin GOD (well, a greatshell).
Girl’s got guts, but damn she was not the brightest sphere in the pouch in this chapter.
Re: The larkin: “It makes my mind tie itself in knots trying to figure out if it looks more like a crab or a hummingbird…”
I’ve been picturing something like a mantis shrimp with wings:(https://www.google.com/search?q=mantis+shrimp).
Ways @@@@@ 2 – Well, to be honest, I was just assuming that the Aimian is Axies. It does seem reasonable, though, and since you asked I found corroboration. I feel better now. :D
We know that most of the Aimians were killed when their land was “scoured” (though IIRC we don’t know exactly whether that was a natural disaster or a human war on “the alien” or just what), so Aimians are extrememly rare. Seems like the chances of running into one ought to be pretty low.
Additionally, we know that Axies has made it his goal to catalog all the spren on Roshar, and here he is, in trouble for asking questions about the spren of the island.
Finally, prompted by the question and a hint from a Sharder, I went back and looked at the writing videos; in the “Worldbuilding” section, Brandon actually refers to him as Axies. Which doesn’t mean he couldn’t have changed his mind since then, but at least originally, this was intended to be Axies.
Wetlandernw @7
Thought I missed something (highly probable). Re-read the part about Rysn’s encounter with the Aimian–nope, no name mentioned. ::Surprise:: I’m definitely willing to run with the theory, based on the evidence we have. Thanks for checking into WoB on the subject!
ETA – I’ll bet Axies will figure prominently at a later date also.
jeremy @3 – The difference rather clobbered me over the head in the beta, and as you say, boldness isn’t the same thing as stupidity! There was a lot more viable purpose to her actions, this way, and the fall was just bad luck when the rope broke.
Ways @@.-@ – Isn’t that a superb book? I keep loaning or giving it away to aspiring young writers, just to show them how much difference there can be between the first draft and the result after some collaboration. Even best-selling authors don’t always like the first version, and they always know that it needs work.
MDNY @5 – “Girl’s got guts, but damn she was not the brightest sphere in the pouch in this chapter.” Oy. That’s the truth. I kept wanting to reach in and smack her for her continuing failure to realize that “different” doesn’t equate to “ignorant”… or worse. But the appeal to higher authority was both gutsy and smart – or at least a flash of insight triggered by desperation. I just feel bad that she was so badly injured in what was, after all, not nearly as desperate a situation as she’d been led to believe. But hey, she’s got a larkin… meaning she’s clearly destined to be An Important Character. (May you live in interesting times!)
harveysbc @6 – Okaaaay. I like hummingbirds better. ;) But all in all, that’s probably a pretty good parallel!
Okay, I’ll stop chatting with everyone… but I’ll also apologize here for any errors, inconsistencies, and incoherencies in the blog. I haven’t had the courage to read it yet this morning; when I uploaded it at 2:15 a.m. I was more than a little bleary. From what I could tell, it made sense… at least mostly… but I don’t have much confidence that I’ll think the same in the cold (wet, drizzly) light of day. :/
So y’all will have to help me make up for the good stuff I missed and the interesting and intricate connections I didn’t make. Really, it was just a weird week; I promise not to make a habit of this.
Aren’t any world hoppers in this interlude? Maybe you should read it again.
Or am I just trolling? MWAH HA HA HAR!!!
Oh, you just made me look at something, and learn a new thing. Now I know who the third guy in the Purelake Interlude is…
Thbbbt.
ETA: Nope, I’m pretty sure there aren’t any worldhoppers, unless Axies is. Which, you know, he could be… but we haven’t seen him anywhere else that I know of.
Well. There’s a thing.
I was looking back at the Purelake interlude (because of the worldhoppers ‘n stuff) and came across this, from Ishikk’s thoughts:
It seems an interesting parallel to Gu’s statement in this Interlude:
I’m not entirely sure what it means, but they seem too similar to be accidental.
Also: what is the relationship of the island to the larkin? Larkin come from Aimia, which is one reason they are so rare, but Vstim says this one was given to Rysn by the island.
A shrimp with wings might taste better than a hummingbird…
Nalan’s creature wasn’t a larkin, was it?
Rysn + Kaladin eventually?
@10 you really made me laugh with your comment. That’s also the first time I’ve seen someone end a mwa ha ha with a har.
I wonder if Rysn will be an interlude character in all of the books. I’m guessing so and think that will be most effective in showing the different cultures she encounters because we already know her character, culture, and biases so Brandon doesn’t have to explain all that each time he brings her into the picture and has her interact with another culture. It’ll also be nice to see her learn and grow.
Thanks Alice,
I appreciate that Brandon will occasionally expose the reader to some behind the scenes stuff, like the writing of the Rysn interlude. This interlude (along with the earlier drafts of the Lift interlude and Chapter 2 with Kaladin) definitely helped to sate the appetite a little bit during the long break (by Brandon standards, if not by GRRM or Rothfuss standards) between books.
A living, moving island that dwarfs even the chasmfiends. What a cool addition to Roshar. Also a nice touch that the islands (and/or their inhabitants) go to war with one another. That detail had me cracking a grin or two the first time I read that.
I am rather intrigued by the larkin. As Alice said, we see one of those mentioned in passing a few times throughout this book and I believe that a popular fandom theory is that the little dragon type creatures that encompass the Knights Radiant Order double-eye in the front pages of The Way of Kings may be larkins. Like Alice, here’s hoping that the larkin cannot just absorb Stormlight, but also imbue it upon others, maybe in the form of healing.
Axies’ inclusion (I think it’s safe to assume that the Aimian is indeed him) in this interlude was also a nice surprise. Here’s hoping he shows up at least once per book! Maybe next time, Axies can be the Interlude focus character and Rysn can make a cameo.
Wet@11 – I don’t think there are any other obvious worldhoppers in this interlude.
Xaladin@13 – It does appear that the creature Nalan uses on Lift is also a larkin. As for your ‘shipping possibility, I have to say that I haven’t heard that one before.
Count me among those who wonder of Rysn will come in contact with the SA main characters or if she will remain an Interlude character who is used as a means of giving the reader glimpses of parts of Roshar not necessary for the main plot. I hope it is the latter. I do not want to see a sitution where every character interacts with one another. I would prefer if Brandon has some characters who sole purpose in the story is to give life to other parts of Brandon’s world.
Thanks for reading my musings,
AndrewB
(aka the musespren)
Oathgates used to be used by merchants and people simply traveling. I really wonder if one of the first merchants to travel by oathgate will be Rysn.
Funny story – I glutted and gorged on any and all preview chapters of this book before it came out until I was heartily sick of them thus when it came time to read the actual book I must have skimmed over the chapters I already knew, it is only today reading this reread that I realise I’ve not read the finished version of this chapter, whoops.
Despite my sudden ‘Doh’ moment I’ve not yet corrected this error as I’ve let myself be distracted for the last few hours by watching 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown on youtube.
@14 It’s a handy little comment isn’t it, and with only slight alterations it can be used to annoy people on any chapter (and that last HAR is quite essential).
Speculation on the chapter symbol: Maybe there are only 5 swords on the double-eye because not every Radiant would consider themself a warrior?
Reference from Jasnah in chapter 3: “for every Radiant dedicated to battle, there were another three who spent their time on diplomacy, scholarship, or other ways to aid society”.
I’d like to see a running gag with Axies being incarcerated in every book in the SA and perhaps beyond. Perhaps in the last book he will finally find captivityspren.
On the Aimian being Axies discussion: He *is* Axies, Brandon mentions it in the video where he wrote that bit (sorry I don’t know which one it is)
jeremy @19 – That would be an interesting twist… We know that a bonded spren can become a sword, but it can also become anything else needed by its Radiant – a rope, a hammer, a shield, a spear, whatever. So it’s possible that while every Order could use Blades, only half of them did so as a matter of habit.
Airsicklowlander @20 – Heh. I like that idea! :D
WeiryWriter @21 – It’s the first video. He spends a goodly chunk of time making notes on worldbuilding and scenebuilding. I hadn’t seen it originally because I didn’t have the time to sit and watch every keystroke, so I skipped through the videos and merely read the text of the Interlude. But… I missed a lot of the notes that way. I saw it this morning when I went searching for more information – hence the final paragraph @7.
I loved this interlude, and using a merchant to expand the worldbuilding is such a great idea IMHO. I really hope we see a lot more of Rsyn in the next books. All of the interlude characters/spren just leave me wanting more.
In case anyone is wondering what this video is of Brandon writing the Rysn, it can be found at Brandon’s Youtube page.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHlPczUmjrQ&list=PLSH_xM-KC3ZviGuhA9pT7ETB481Fw-VEL
@6: Oooh… Pretty! I like it, but with smaller eyes.
@13: yes, all those little humming bird bones would get in the way of a good bite.
Okay, I really expected more comments from this chapter. Maybe it was because this was the first sample many of us got to read while trolling for more information. I did not read it as often as Chocolate Rob did, but still.
What weird medical properties are found in the plants that grown on the back of a great-great Shell? And the only image I get in my head is the largest dinosaur turtle I can’t even imagine.
“It makes my mind tie itself in knots trying to figure out if it looks more like a crab or a hummingbird”
I’ve always pictured it as a seahorse with wings.
@22 Ah I totally didn’t see that paragraph when I was reading through the comments.
WeiryWriter @27 – Well, it’s still your fault (at least the plural you) that I even found it… ;) I was looking for more info on Axies, and trying to find out if there was any WoB on whether this definitely was, or was not, Axies himself. I realized that I had assumed it was and couldn’t remember if there was proof. And of course, any such search eventually leads to the good folks at the 17th Shard.
Related… In the process of that search, I discovered that someone from 17th Shard (of course) asked this:
This was in September 2012, but it’s pretty clear now that the creatures in the background of the Radiants diagram are depictions of larkin. So there’s a hint of what they look like, though it’s clearly not meant to be an exact picture of them. Also, a little more information on size – and a strong implication that they were once so firmly associated with the Knights Radiant that they form the background to the diagram. Or, perhaps, they’re associated with any use of Stormlight?
Wet@28 – Thanks for the quote re: the larkin. I referenced in my post@15 that I knew those creatures being larkin were a popular fan theory, but I couldn’t quite recall if we had WoB or not about that.
Glad you found it; I know it’s helpful for me to have some visual representation of certain creatures/things in stories to compare to what my imagination originally came up with.
As for the lesson Vstim was trying to have Talik impart upon Rysn: I still have some problems with the execution of it.
Clearly Vstim wanted to provide Rysn with another lesson about assumptions and increase Rysn’s respect for other cultures and beliefs. An argument could be made that Rysn was also to learn about how to better earn respect from other cultures as well.
But what was the endgame here? After she fails, send Rysn all the way back down the greatshell to the boats where Rysn finds Vstim just fine and then Talik and Vstim let Rysn in on the ruse? Take it even further, with Vstim and Rysn leaving the island (cementing Rysn’s feeling of failure) and then returning later to secure the larkin corpse that Vstim wanted?
It seems to me that a lot of that strategy should have gone out the window the second Rysn exhibited she was so rejecting of failure that she (boldly and adroitly displaying some grasp of cultural awareness, although in quite a stupid and dangerous fashion) climbed down the rope to gain the respect of the highest authority of the isle.
Instead Talik insults her (okay, to be fair she was acting like an idiot, climbing down that rope), then demands her return in the name of the king (a decent ploy) but does not give her any hope of the negotiation continuing or of their being any continuation and successful completion of her mission. No mention of the ploy that Talik and her babsk are engaged in, no stepping out of character by him at all. So really, no incentive for Rysn to change her tactics or affect her frantic mindset (and clearly she has panicked and is frantic).
So Rysn falls. Don’t get me wrong, I think what Rysn did was incredibly stupid and I definitely think she should be held accountable for her actions (bad and good; she definitely earned those shattered legs, but she also earned the respect of the isle and earned a larkin in the process).
But I also think that Talik and Vstim’s plan was pretty dumb too, with a questionable endgame. And once the plan went south it’s quite clear that Talik didn’t know to just shut the whole thing down and be truthful with his babsk’s panicked protege.
If this were the real world :-) I would argue it’s quite clear that Talik shouldn’t really be used again to teach anything without better guidance/supervision; he was quite bad at it. Hopefully the next time Brandon has Vstim continue to educate Rysn on cultural awareness and sensitivity he provides Vstim with a better assistant. :-)
Poor Rysn. Hope the larkin can help heal her. Or maybe that she attracts a spren that respects bravery and/or boldness…
I had thought with my first read that Rysn being given a spren may make her a KR, or she could become one. I still think this is a possiblity, if she doesn’t become a KR , then what is the meaning of her recieving a spren? Spren seem to chose you or be chosen for you as Wendle was chosen to be Lifts spren. So has Rysn been chosen for her. What the Larkin can do for Rysn may become important in the future, if removing investure from others is one of things Rsyn will be able to do, what else could be possible.?
I have a lot of trouble picturing the greatshell. I want to picture a turtle but it’s head must be fused to the shell because the king is sitting on the nose. I need a Shallan drawing!
29. KiManiak While their plan definitely went wrong, it wasn’t a bad plan to begin with. They just wanted to give her a chance act with the training wheels off. That really is the fastest way to learn, or at least learn what you don’t know.
Windspren @30 – A larkin is not a spren. It’s a creature.
Windspren@30 – As Wetlander@33 said, larkin aren’t spren (or if they are, they would be different than any other spren we’ve encountered so far).
However, you do bring up an interesting possibility regarding larkin draining/absorbing investiture as a whole, and not just Stormlight. I wonder if they are capable of draining all types of investiture. That could make Rysn fairly well protected from multiple investiture-fueled threats, not just Knights Radiant.
ZenBossanova@32 – I think it was a good idea and rooted in a solid teaching approach. It is good to eliminate the training wheels or crutch (or whatever metaphor you prefer) for your students, to ultimately instill them with confidence and a sense of accomplishment or achievement.
Again, I think the execution was poor (Talik kept with the “touch guy” tactic even after Rysn had literally climbed off a cliff) and I question the end game for this approach. How long did the plan require Rysn to feel like a failure? How long would they stick to the script?
Sound method, poor execution. And for the love of God, when someone puts their life in peril the planned deception really needs to come to an end.
Hi Folks – been reading along – first time poster.
I’ve always found our Interlude heroine’s name to be somewhat dark and I’ve just come to some conclusions about it – see what you think.
Rsyn – how to pronounce?
“wry-sin” – tongue in cheek sinner?
“Ricin” – deadly poison!!
Edit added:
Different pronounciation:
“Arson” – probably self explanatory
Is there something we’re not being told? :-)
I guess I had thought that the spren that cushioned her fall., mentioned by vstim, was the Larken. Do we actually know that it isn’t the spren that cushioned her fall?
If a Larkin choses to be with a person, then did a Larkin chose to be with Darkness, in the interludes with Lift? Doesn’t seem like he is the type of person to deserve a Larkin chosing him. Could he have captured a Larkin, and force it to his will?
As I read it, the spren that cushioned Rysn’s fall was the spren of the greatshell/island itself. After having done so, it somehow gifted the larkin to her. However, I still don’t have any explanation for the authority of the island to gift the larkin.
The larkin carried by Darkness’s minion was not free to choose, IMO.
(emphasis mine) It was also kept in a black sack in someone’s pocket. All this looks to me like it’s captured, injured, and starved so that when it is allowed to encounter anyone holding Stormlight, it instinctively draws it from them. It would probably do that with the Stormlight in the lamps, too, but it’s kept in that black sack in the pocket of a minion, which presumably blocks it.
I know this doesn’t belong here, but it has been mentioned in other comments from earlier chapters and couldn’t wait months for the Lift interlude review. :)
I was thinking about the words the Radiants have to say in order to advance. It’s been said that they have to “say” the words but I reread the Lift interlude and I question whether she actually said the words?
I will remember those who have been forgotten
the text from the book was in italics. Isn’t it common for authors to write in italics when a character thinks a thought, or am I way off base on this?
Prof @38 – I took that to mean that it was an Ideal she had already spoken. Mostly I got that from the context:
It reads to me like something already settled, like she’s remembering having spoken it. In doing a little research, though, I also found this, which reinforces that impression:
In this passage, Kaladin thinks his previous Ideal, realizes how it affects the current situation, and speaks the new Ideal. To me, that fits right in with Lift’s scene – that the Ideal is something she had already spoken, something that defines who she is and who she has to be, even at the risk of her own life. And honestly, we don’t know how many of the Ideals she’s spoken. Presumably not all of them, since she’s still learning new things about her Surges, but we just don’t know.
Lift seems to have spoken at least one ideal to “capture” her spren.
@39 that makes sense, I can see that when someones mind reflects what they feel that it could be a form of definition of self. But, we have this from WOR Ch84 “The One Who Saves” p1032 (ebooks, Nook version)
The Words, Kaladin. That was Syl’s voice. You have to say the words!
Notice the capital letter on the word Word. My hypothesis is that not all orders require exact wording or for the Radiant to even say the words. Like you mentioned above if they feel the words and think in accordance with the ideal that the Spren wants or needs, then for those orders that is acceptable. For others it requires them to say the Words, kind of like an oath. Maybe it has something to do with Honor and Cultivation. It seems that honor is more strict or ridged in what he will accept, whereas cultivation seems more relaxed or open to expression. Examples of Honors requirement is that he accepts the words from both Kaladin and Dalinar. Still we have so little knowledge of cultivation as of yet so maybe she also accepts them but in a different way.
It is interesting to speculate how the 3rd stormlight book will continue the Rsyn story. We left her in WOR immobile but being watched by a Larkin. The Everstorm is due to pass over the ‘island’ at the start of the next book’s story. That storm is expected to change the inoffensive but persecuted Aimian (the guy hung by his feet for a minor offense) into a powerful and vengeful Voidbringer. Mayhem will result. Rsyn’s possibly only chance for survival would be to have her crushed legs healed by the Larkin and to be given powers that can offer protection against a Voidbringer. The Larkin weakening or immobilizing a threatening Voidbringer may also occur. I may be wrong, but I don’t see Sanderson eliminating her simply as he did Ym. Ym’s murder by Nalan is a dramatic way of illustrating the latter’s power and evil goal. He finds a victim (Ym), would-be victim (Lift), and a disciple (Szeth) in Iri (the western peninsula), Azir (near the center of the Roshar continent), and the Frostlands (the eastern end), respectively. He not only gets around, but knows when and where a pivotal battle between Szeth and Kaladin takes place so that he can revive and reclaim the defeated one to his service. Such ability makes him, in my eyes, a prime agent for Odium, if not his ultimately selected champion.
STBLST @42 – I’m having trouble seeing how Axies fits into this. He’s not Parshendi, to be spren-bonded into one of the gods-possessed forms. The only reason he gets the “Voidbringer” tag is that his shadow points the wrong way… but we have no evidence that this effect is actually related to Odium. It seems more related to Shadesmar, and perhaps to particular spren (like Ivory’s type). So I don’t see Axies going stormform on us – though I agree that it should be interesting to see what effect the Everstorm does have on him.
@43 Wetlandernw, the Aimians may not be as unthreatening as they appear. While their persecution in the hands of various human societies on Roshar may just be due to ignorant prejudice, it seems more likely a reflection of an earned ancient fear and hatred. I see some commonality in the ancient humanoids of Roshar. While the Parshendi can adopt various physical forms, the Aimians have unusual control over their bodies. Casting a ‘wrong-way’ shadow is, as you state, associated with a connection to the Cognitive realm. But that is also the realm of spren. Some spren in that realm are dangerous, as indicated in the released Jasnah chapter of the unpublished SA book. My conjecture is that the Aimians such as Axies will be transformed into a particularly powerful form of Voidbringer and wreak vengeance on the humans who have long disdained, feared, and oppressed them. If so, it would be another example of a Sanderson expectation reversal. Taravangian is one example, and Szeth vis-a vis other Shin is another. I also expect to see the return of the Thunderclasts, whether from Aimians or the ‘awakening’ of the bones of dead Parshendi – akin to the creation of the ‘awakened’ bones encased in rock-like form in the Warbreaker.
@44 STBLST, you make a good point. There isn’t anything in WoR or WoK to tell us that the Parshendi are the only Voidbringers. It makes me wonder if any of the greatshells, or “lesser” creatures will end up possesed by Odium.
Possible, and it would be an interesting twist, but I don’t see it happening. The Aimians were one of the Silver Kingdoms, so presumably they had Heralds helping them fight the Desolations. But if so, were any of them Knights Radiant? Or were they just boots on the ground? In any case, they had a legitimate presence in Aimia when KR and Heralds were around, so I don’t see them falling into the villian role easily.
@42-46
I don’t want to see the much-maligned Aimians end up as evil incarnate. I believe they will have an important role in the Last Desolation. Emo-me wants to side with ZenBossanova on the topic.
Re: Thuderclasts–I fully expect to see their return also. However, the one in Dalinar’s vision appeared to be animated from the bedrock under Purelake by a hostile spren. The limited evidence we have about the process is by no means conclusive, just sayin’. There certainly may have been the bones of a Listener or a plethora of other stuff buried under the lake.
Hmm. I have a few questions prompted by Axies, or rather “voidbringer shadows” in general just to see if anyone else knows the answers.
I tend to assume that Jasnah’s shadow being cast in the wrong direction, in the prologue, was because of her proximity to the cognitive realm, is that right? Shallan’s drawing of Shadesmar in the first chapter includes a “sun” (well a sun/moon-like object in the sky, if you want to get picky), so is this “sun” the lightsource that casts the “voidbringer shadow” the wrong way? Whether it is or is not, is the shadow evidence that Aimians are closer to the cognitive realm in this way all the time, or is it simply an artifact of the “Curse of Kind” for them?
Also do the actual voidbringers/stormform Parshendi actually cast a shadow the wrong way? Eshonai’s red-eyes are commented on as a bad thing by more than one person but no-one says “and your shadow goes the wrong way too”. So either the Parshendi always cast a shadow the wrong way, regardless of form (I’m sure that someone would have noticed Rlain’s doing this and said something, so I doubt that) or “voidbringer shadows” aren’t connected with voidbringers after all, or the Parshendi are ridiculously unobservant about that sort of thing (I assume they aren’t). I get that “voidbringer” is used as an adjective used for anything strange and “wrong” on Roshar and that Jasnah “says”, in her internal monlogue, that this shadow phenomenon is related to curses without mention of voidbringers, but still… OK, I’ve waffled on for long enough on that head.
Actually moving away from shadows and back to Axies himself, poor Axies, all those times locked up and not a single captivity spren, yet I think Kaladin gets to see them the first time he ever gets imprisoned – big assumption on my part that the spren he sees are captivity spren, I know, but I still think they are. If you aren’t sure what I’m on about, this is from Chapter 62 – “He stood, waving away some strange spren like taut wires crossing before him, then forced himself to do a set of push-ups.” If I’m right, I suspect it has to do with mindset – Axies is too laid back about imprisonment to attract them.
Re: The Double Eye of the Almighty.
I figured it only had five swords because it’s The Double Eye of the *Almighty*, aka Honor, who is associated with half of the orders of the Knights Radiant, while the other five are associated with Cultivation. (So is there some other not-yet-revealed symbol for Cultivation and “her” KR orders?) But maybe I’m remembering incorrectly and that’s just a widely-accepted theory and not something of which we’re sure at this point. Thoughts?
I have to agree that reverse pointing shadows are called voidbringing simply because they are weird and spooky. Keep in mind, 4500 years ago in our history, Noah was boarding the Ark, give or take a few hundred years.
49. Woozle_Mom
I have definitely puzzled about the 5 swords with the Double eye. I have nothing though.
Wow. Anyone else on BWS’ mailing list? I just got a new Kaladin except from SA book 3. More gloomy Kaladin, actually, lamenting possibly being too late to Hearthstone, with Syl providing some much-needed levity (she dresses herself in a vorin dress, complete with covered safehand, which was quite a LOL moment for me).
MDNY – There was a release about this on Tor awhile ago. Is your excerpt different from Brandon’s reading at FantasyCon? If so, let us know how! Thanks!
Transcript is here on 17th Shard (thanks to Weiry Writer).
Edit: Nevermind. Just saw Tor.com’s new post on the elongated version.
I, too, feel that this chapter’s icon with the central sword and 2 each on the left and right are significant – albeit mysterious. It reminds me of the Kaladin icon with a long spear and 4 shorter ones (a KR and 4 squires?).
It may simply be ornamentation. The central figure is the list of connections between the different orders of KR, with the swords replacing the lines, and the swords making 10 points (tip and hilt).
51. MDNY
There IS a new excerpt up!
I was just starting to go through serious withdrawls!
It looks like we have a full chapter!
Yeah… lets keep any discussion of the new chapter on THAT thread, and not on this one. NO SPOILERS FOR SA-3!!
@Airsicklowlander
I didn’t know I needed this in my life until you said you this. I hope this happens.
Geordielass @48
Good questions. I got nothin’. I do like the idea that Aimian shadows pointing the wrong direction could indicate they are “closer” to the Cognitive Realm than humans or other humanoid species.
@35 It’s not Rsyn, it’s Rysn. I always pronounced it as “risen”, but for a more official answer, does anyone remember how the narrator pronounced it in the WoK audiobook? “Risen” is also a rather more positive implication, albeit quite the opposite of what she ends up doing in this interlude.
I also love the idea of having Axies imprisoned in a different amusing way each book. Brandon likes patterns and structure, like the plan (as I understand it) to write each of the first five prologues showing the night of Gavilar’s death from a different perspective (including Gavilar’s, I hope!). So it’s not out of the question. Maybe a beta reader can suggest it if it doesn’t make an appearance initially in book 3? :)
An interesting point about Resyn’s use of “king.” There are actually three levels of language going on here, and I think Brandon is aware of all of them.
Level One: Our use of the word. In English, king means a male monarch. Queen can mean either a female monarch or the wife of the king.
Level Three: The Reshi apparently have one word for their ruler, whether male or female, and (we first think) translate it accordingly, using the word that always means ruler and not ruler’s-spouse.
But that’s because we’re forgetting Level Two, Alethi (or a closely related language). If this were being translated directly to English, there are better words than king. Monarch, for example, is gender neutral and means the same thing–in our language.
But, Rysn’s culture has an extreme division of male/female roles. From what we’ve seen, it’s unlikely they have an equivalent word that isn’t masculine. Kings are men, because women can’t fulfill the job of leader of a military culture in their society.
So, while Rysn is missing out on understanding Reshi culture, we fall into the same trap and miss out on a point about Alethi culture. It’s clever.
Just a guess, but based on the statement of “I deny you because it pleases me” then if Rysn had just stubbornly refused to leave (in the beginning at least) would that have worked? He’s basically saying “I am denying you because I can.” So what she would be saying is “I am refusing to leave because I can