#it's one of the main reasons I picked up Stormlight– unfinished series with many many years down the road to theorize

[daughter-heir-moved]

what's your syl theory?

SO glad you asked. Rhythm of War spoilers ahead for those who haven't finished the series yet!

First, let me start with this, which I know is a controversial topic: I don't think that Syl or Kaladin will die in book 5. I think that Kaladin's arc is about living and now that he has turned a corner it would be cruel for either him or Syl to die. I just don't think it would be a compelling wrap-up to his character arc in this half for him to experience even more pain. That would be the lazy way out that I don’t think Branderson would go for (please be right please be right please be ri-) 

BUT, with that being said, we know that the back five books are going to focus on characters who were in the background during the front half, and our main characters are going to fade into the background a bit. Kaladin, in my opinion, is just too much of a Main Character™️ to sink into the background UNLESS something happens to his powers. So I think that's how he gets sidelined. When does Kaladin lose his powers? When something happens to Syl. 

The tl;dr of this is that I think Ishar is going to manifest Syl in the physical realm and she will get stuck there.

Kaladin and Syl are headed straight towards Ishar right now. As we know, Ishar has been doing some fucked up experiments with spren and has been trying to get them to survive in the physical world with no success (Why? Who knows! Certainly not me.) But he does make an interesting note that Sigzil finds, which I have a hard time believing is just a throwaway observation:

"Our first honorspren lived nearly fifteen minutes. A new record, and orders of magnitude longer than all previous attempts. Honorspren seem to have the most humanlike essences. When transferred, the organs and muscles form most naturally. We must capture more of them."

What would make an Honorspren even more likely to survive in the physical realm? If they were bonded to a Knight Radiant of the Fourth Ideal. Syl has already gotten stronger in the physical realm– throughout RoW we've seen her progress by being able to change colors, and Kaladin is even able to feel her in the physical realm, first when he is falling and grabs her hand, and then after: 

“Syl landed beside him fully sized in a Bridge Four uniform. He could faintly feel her when she rested her head on his shoulder.” 

Syl’s arc in RoW was all about understanding Kaladin and humanity in general better. We’ve seen her become more and more human, and even go to Dalinar asking him to help her feel what Kaladin feels which results in her remembering Relador and her grief at his death. I think all of this combined– Kaladin needing to be sidelined somehow, their journey towards Ishar, his experiments with spren, and Syl’s own arc about understanding humanity– leads to the conclusion that Ishar will force her into the physical realm. Ishar seems dedicated to his experimenting with spren for whatever reason, so I think he would jump at the chance of trying to manifest a Radiant Honorspren if he saw one. Because Syl has a Nahel bond with Kaladin, she will be the first to survive. 

Would Dalinar or Navani be able to undo what Ishar did??? Maybe. But I don’t see Kal, Szeth, and Syl making it back to the Tower before the contest of champions is over and I think that will be a loss for Dalinar, and Navani at this point doesn’t know much about her Bondsmith powers. So I think that leaves Kaladin and Syl in the back half of the series without Radiant powers, on a quest to try to undo what Ishar did. 

Feel free to add to this (or refute it!) Also this isn’t a theory that I’ve seen floating around myself– but I’m sure someone smarter than me who has read the series multiple times has already thought of this. I also hope that this doesn’t happen and the only reason we don’t see Syl and Kal in the back half too much is because they are enjoying retirement <3

#ask #rckll-bllys #stormlight 5 #stormlight 5 theory #rhythm of war spoilers #sylphrena #kaladin stormblessed #knights of woeful title #kowt theory #stormlight archive #cosmere #also if anyone ever wants to theorize together let me know.... I literally love making theories so much #it's one of the main reasons I picked up Stormlight– unfinished series with many many years down the road to theorize #my ask if always open for theories!!!!!!!!