#rlain has done SO much in line with the bondsmiths

[gnckholin]

rlain would have been a great bondsmith but sanderson's not ready for that conversation

#stormlight archive #cosmere #rlain has done SO much in line with the bondsmiths #dedicated years to unifying humans and singers #owns up to his own role in the system #brief moment where he thinks oh god venli and I are gonna have to fuck well so be it #like bridger of minds?? how is that not bringing people together #also i think the nightwatcher would like him

[peachdoxie]

I didn’t get around to posting last week’s liveblog of Rhythm of War, so I’m going to post both chapters 14 and 15 here. Let’s get to it!

Some of the Fused on Braize slumbered...

SLUMBERED?

Timbre pulsed a warning inside her, and Venli forcibly resisted those instincts. It was not easy. Perhaps as a Surgebinder, she should have been naturally selfless. Naturally noble. Like Eshonai. 

Ah, identity/Identity stuff. Fun.

fannahn-im, the Altered Ones

Cool, another type of Fused.

In that light, these tombs were a flagrant, wasteful act—the ultimate price for this show was paid not by the Nine, but by the poor singers they had killed to give them bodies.

Something something Marxism and the labor of the proletariat

She was both the very crust of the unimportant and the very dregs of the important.

I like this line.

Avendla was their name for Alethkar; Venli’s powers instantly knew the meaning of the word. Land of the Second Advance. Her abilities stopped there, however, and she couldn’t answer the more interesting question. Why was it called that?

Yeah, why DO they call Alethkar “Land of the Second Advance”? Hmm...

“You think I could be defeated by a common human?” the Pursuer demanded. “This Windrunner must be of the Fourth Ideal—something I was led to believe had not yet happened. Perhaps our reconnaissance teams have lost their edge, during the long time spent between Returns.”

HAHA GET FUCKED YOU GOT REKT BY KALADIN “ONLY SWORN THE THIRD IDEAL” STORMBLESSED

Each new wave of attacks had involved what was called a Return, when the Fused would descend to Roshar.

Yeah uh anyone else suspicious of the word “Return” bc that’s really similar to the Returned in Warbreaker.

None of them realize she’s trying to protect that Windrunner, Venli thought. Maybe she doesn’t realize it herself.

Leshwi has officially joined the Kaladin Protection Squad.

“There are few among them of the Fourth Ideal—perhaps only one individual—and they do not have full access to the tower, now that the Sibling is dead.”

Okay, first: who’s the one who might have sworn the Fourth Ideal? Is she referring to Kaladin or someone else??? No one we’ve seen has sworn the Fourth Ideal...

ALSO. S I B L I N G L O R E.

“You have nearly perfected the suppression fabrials,” Raboniel said. “Do not forget, it is technology I discovered from the tower itself thousands of years ago. I have a plan to use it in a more dramatic way. As the Sibling is essentially a deadeye, I should be able to turn the tower’s defenses against its owners.”

The Sibling is “essentially a deadeye.” But not an actual deadeye. But just a moment ago she said that the Sibling is dead. WHAT THE FUCK. GIVE ME LORE.

“We will need to lure the Elsecaller and the Bondsmith away. Their oaths may be advanced enough to push through the suppression, much as the Unmade have done at the tower in the past.”

First. What the fuck. Second, what the fuck???

“During the last Return, she developed a disease intended to kill all humans on the planet. Near the end, it was discovered that the disease would likely kill many singers as well. She released it anyway…only to find, to all of our fortunes, that it did not work as expected. Fewer than one in ten humans were killed, and one in a hundred singers.”

That’s a yikes but also how have we not heard of this illness yet?

“If you forget why you are fighting, then victory itself becomes the goal.”

Something something Journey before destination

“In addition, this endeavor will give me the opportunity to test some… theories I have developed while slumbering these last millennia.”

SLUMBERING

“Last time, her recklessness nearly cost us everything.”

GIVE. ME. THE. LORE.

***

Kaladin announced that Sigzil—with whom he’d conferred earlier in the day—would take over daily administration of the Windrunners, overseeing things like supplies and recruitment.

I am not surprised that Sigzil is now in charge.

“I know you are, sir. But I have no interest in taking ‘what I can get.’ And I don’t think you should force a spren into a bond. It will make for a bad precedent, sir.” He hummed a different rhythm. “You all name me a squire, but I can’t draw Stormlight like the rest. There’s a wedge between me and the Stormfather, I think. Strange. I expected prejudice from humans, but not from him… Anyway, I will wait for a spren who will bond me for who I am—and the honor I represent.”

Literally not at all surprised that Rlain is turning Yunfah down. I expected as much. That still means Yunfah is without a bond. Also, I wonder if Rlain will bond with a spren that’s not an honorspren. Rlain for Nightwatcher Bondsmith 2k20

Or maybe, another part of him thought, you could do what you promised him—and listen for once.

Yeah, Kaladin, you should listen to Rlain. Take a lesson from Lift in that.

“But you couldn’t give up the sword,” Kaladin said.

“Oh, I gave it up. I let go. Best mistake I ever made.”

Lmao I’m betting Zahel is referring to one veeeery specific sword.

100% not surprised that Zahel is doing stuff with cloth. That’s like Awakening 101.

Honestly this scene with Kaladin fighting Zahel in the clotheslines is wonderful. It’s cinematic, actually.

“I’m not confident anyone knows the answers. I figure I’ll let the people who care argue about it, and I’ll keep my head down and focus on my life right now.”

Agnostic Kaladin. I didn’t know I could love this man more but I do.

“I don’t have to believe,” the voice drifted back. “I know gods exist. I simply hate them.”

Lmao since on Nalthis he was considered a god.

“You want to know what I am? Well, I’m a lot of things. Tired, mostly.”

God what a mood

“That’s because Wit is an asshole.”

BEST FUCKING MOMENT OF RHYTHM OF WAR SO FAR

“Happened to your friend too. Up in the prison? The one with… that sword.”

Well, that answers two questions. One, what happened to Szeth after Oathbringer? Two, does Zahel know Szeth has Nightblood? Also, it seems that Szeth still has possession of Nightblood. Wonder how he managed to do that.

“She’s what I now call a Type One Invested entity. I decided that had to be the proper way to refer to them. Power that came alive on its own.”

“Type Two Invested entity. Dead man walking.”

Interesting. It seems based on Vasher’s BioChromatic entity scale, but not the same.

Kaladin frowned, trying to figure out why Zahel was telling him this.

Good question. Why IS Zahel telling him this?

“The longer one of us exists, the more like a spren we become. Consumed by a singular purpose, our minds bound and chained by our Intent. We’re spren masquerading as men. That’s why she takes our memories. She knows we aren’t the actual people who died, but something else given a corpse to inhabit…”

Sure, Zahel. Just drop us some fucking lore right here. We kinda already knew it but to have it laid out here is something else. But it’s still interesting, especially with the part about capital-I Intent, and Endowment taking memories.

***

Anyway, that’s chapters 14 and 15! Some interesting stuff going on, including what will probably be one of my favorite scenes in Rhythm of War.

#stormlight archive #stormlight spoilers #rhythm of war #anecdotes by peachdoxie #peachdoxie liveblogs stormlight