Words of Radiance Part 2 - Brandon Sanderson - Fantasy Book - Progression Fantasy Book

Hey, Adventures, we are still on Roshar, discussing Words of Radiance. In this episode of the Side Quest Podcast, Slava and Jonathan continue to explore the world of The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson.

Our website: www.thesidequestpodcast.com

Discover Side Quest: https://linktr.ee/asidequest
Powered by Descript
Our IG Channel⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | Leave us a comment & connect with us on Instagram

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Our TikTok Channel⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | Music by HoliznaCC0v


(00:00) Intro
(02:59) Exploring Character Perspectives in Stormlight Archives
(05:50) World Building and Unique Narrative Styles
(09:04) Interludes and Character Development
(11:54) Eshonai's Journey and the Parshendi Culture
(15:01) Rysn's Perspective and Cultural Exchange
(17:57) The Last Legion and the Stormform Dilemma
(20:49) Moral Implications of Shardblades
(24:07) Conclusion and Future of the Cosmere
(34:09) The Burden of Power and Responsibility
(35:19) Shallan's Journey and Character Growth
(39:09) Contrasting Characters: Shallan and Kaladin
(40:50) Adolin's Duels and Family Dynamics
(45:14) Shallan's Strategic Maneuvering
(54:27) Exploring Alliances in Roshar
(01:07:20) The Mystery of Vasher and Nightblood
(01:09:46) Character Alignments and Choices
(01:12:31) Shallan's Journey and Artistic Expression
(01:16:39) The Nature of Spren and Night Radiants
(01:20:07) Kaladin's Struggles and Growth
(01:24:13) Shallan's Past and Family Dynamics
(01:28:51) Confrontation and Alliances
(01:35:24) Shallan's Leadership and Decisions

Creators and Guests

Host

Jonathan

Host

Slava

What is The Side Quest Book Club Podcast?

Join Slava and Jonathan as they discuss the books they are reading. Explore world-building, characters, and story development—and share some laughs along the way. Side Quest Book Club — a literary adventure podcast.

Jonathan (00:12.814)
Good afternoon and good night, wherever you're tuning in. We are Slava and Jonathan, bringing you the SideQuest podcast, where we talk about character development, stories, and all things that are world building. And we occasionally take SideQuests, because, frankly, that's how conversations work. Just as a reminder, this whole show is spoiler heavy. So sit back, tune in, and join us on this episode of SideQuest.

Jonathan (00:46.36)
Good morning, Slava. Welcome back to Roshar.

Good morning, Jonathan. Good to be here.

Are you ready to get, throw your hands up into some high storms and dance?

I've been waiting for it all week.

You probably have. Your life's not that interesting, as we covered before the episode.

Slava (01:03.63)
That's because I don't do as much things as you do.

It's all about the amount of things you do, You just have to do a lot of things and then that makes you interesting. Even if they're mundane, like myself. All the mundane things. Actually, this week I found out that two of my coworkers, and neither of them knew this about each other, are super big into aquariums. Like, one of them has a 130 gallon aquarium and the other one had a two ton aquarium. He doesn't anymore, but he used to.

the older guy, yeah, this two-ton aquarium, was telling us when he decided to get out of it, it took him six to eight months, he said, to sell all of his 500 fish and coral and all that stuff. And I was like, that's a part-time job.

Okay. So what do you have in his two ton aquarium? a lot. mermaid?

Leash. Yes. Lots of stuff. And it's only two ton because of the weight of water. it's, you know, volumetric weight, not whatever else you'd, you'd call it. But, it was hexagon with 36 inch wide panels all the way around. So, you know, whatever that is. And I think it was probably like four or five feet tall. It was crazy. He had a of coral, clownfish, other types of fish. I don't know all the fish. had all the fish in there.

Slava (02:02.303)
I guess.

Jonathan (02:25.87)
except for piranhas, barracudas, because those will eat the other fish.

Sharks, whales, it a whale.

He had a whale. The thing was just for one whale. That's it.

And all the whale could do is just like move, rotate, rotate like an inch at a time.

Roll over, that's what it would do. You should have got a chull. There's some chulls just floating around in there. I actually don't know if chulls can float or if they drowned, because they're like the mules of Roshar.

Slava (02:47.214)
Hell yeah.

Slava (02:54.254)
Shells out for Roshar.

Yes. Yes. Charles out for Harambe. What did I say at the end of last episode? Bumpin' Charles. boy.

too soon.

Slava (03:03.394)
bumping chills. Yeah, well, let's remind people what we're reading. It's words and radiance. The narrative style here is your typical multi POV.

It's third person limited. The limitation comes from, or we see the limitation most when we notice that characters don't have all the information and we don't as readers either. So like there's so many questions and mysteries that we have, even though we see a lot. I think that's one of the things that makes it unique is we see a lot of what's going on, but we don't see everything that's going on. Like we don't know what the parshendi are doing in the midst of.

this stuff that's going on with Shalana, she's traveling across the plains. We have some idea of it. We don't know what the assassin in white is up to necessarily in the midst of us hearing from Dalinar having another vision. So like we don't have true omnipotence.

Enlighten me in the audience what would be the distinctives applied to this book between limited and omnipotent third person. What would make this book a third person omnipotent?

That's a good question. And I actually had to pause for a second to look that up because I had my thoughts on it and I get confirmation as I've looked it up. Basically, it's what I said a minute ago. It's what we know as the readers, where we're limited to each character that we read from and what that character knows, their thoughts, emotions, perspective. Third person omniscient would be where the narrator of the book ends up giving us more information than the character has, which we don't get.

Jonathan (04:40.312)
From Kaladin's perspective, we experience his thoughts and doubts and understandings of events, but then we might jump over to Shalan and we get only her thoughts and interpretations of events. We as the reader get to put a little bit of that together, but we don't get the external and what they didn't know was coming was this, you know, that doesn't happen. Which is what makes us have a third person limited perspective and narration style rather than third person omnipotent. Yeah, great question though.

it.

And if you guys have any questions while we're reading this book, feel free to drop them in the comments and let us know.

What was the next thing you wanted to talk about?

It's row seven, seven, eight, and nine. Framework elements, what makes it unique.

Slava (05:22.498)
Well, your second question was what makes this unique? I think that question is more broad. It's not limited to this book because this book is not more unique than any of the other books in this series. But the immense world building, the magic systems, the depth of which we get each individual character's backstory, even though it's in parts and strewn throughout the books, not just in one book.

And the insights were given to how they grow, what they're going through, went through and are going to go through in the limited knowledge that we get in each specific book. I think that's what makes it unique. I don't think it's Brandon Sanderson who created this type of writing and is the only one who does it. Right. But the way he does it, it's what makes it stands out. It is robust. There's a lot of attention put by the writer.

into each of the elements I just mentioned. So for me, that's what makes Stormlight Archives unique.

build on that, I'd say that the, haven't read a book in a while that feels like it has good foreshadowing and long-term payoff. Barring some of the stuff we've read and, well, it wasn't really modern, but like Stephen King, Stephen King does a good job at that, I think, but I haven't read a lot of other modern books where it's like, this was planted in chapter two of book one, and now it's book three, chapter four, and we're getting a payoff on this finally, right? Like I haven't seen that in a lot of other books that I've read.

Yeah, and even Stephen King, happens in a few books. It happens a little bit in Jerusalem's lot. It happens in it in different and sundry ways. His other books, I'm not sure if it's that pronounced, but yes, you are correct. In modern literature, Sanderson stands out as King, pun intended or not intended, of foreshadowing.

Jonathan (07:20.49)
It feels like a lost art, honestly, because I feel like when we were growing up, there was more books that were like, this is foreshadowing. And it wasn't necessarily a long-term payoff, but it was a payoff later in the book itself. Anyway, I think that he just does that really well.

Yeah, what King does really well in the universe he's created is he'll drop in illusions or connections or even characters from other books into the book you're reading currently. So if you are a King reader and you read more than just a few scattered novels or short stories, you will find characters reappearing. You will find themes reappearing or allusions to worlds reappearing like his dark

Tower series, for example, you'll find allusions to them throughout his books and even some of his short stories. Err, for example, there's a connection to the Dark Tower series, the men who come to reprimand Wesley for what he did in Err. They're from the Dark Tower series. And then we have short stories that refer back to Cujo, which is a book about a dog. have Christine, which is a demon possessed or a supernatural car.

that shows up in it. so King is a master of that. And that's what makes his universe fun because it's much more disjointed than Sanderson's worlds. But there's enough connections where you're like, all of King's stories happened on the same planet. Well, obviously it's earth, but they happened in the same universe that he's created is what I'm saying. So King gets an A plus for that, but you are absolutely right.

Sanderson's foreshadowing is one of the best that I've read and I'm not a voracious reader, not as voracious as I used to be as a kid, but I read enough to say this with confidence. Yeah.

Jonathan (09:17.208)
Well, let's dive back into the world of Roshar and discuss these other three interludes and the chapter sections we have for today.

do it. So we discussed Interlude 2 last week with Yim. Let's jump back to the first interlude and it's the point of view of Eshenai, the Pershendi leader. And as they return to their home plateau after successfully harvesting a gem heart that was brought back by Devi, another Pershendi, and she's allowed to carry it as a reward for spotting the Crystallis, she wonders where

Dalinar is that she means Eshenai and feels the need to speak with him, but she can join battle since her leg is still injured where Kaladin stabbed her during the Battle of the Tower. So she's meandering around the ancient ruins on the plateau by the name of Nark, also meaning exile where her people came to escape her gods.

And this is something that I'm very interested in because it ties into the assassination of the king. It ties into a lot of things. The return of these gods is something that Prashendi are avoiding at all costs to the point that they're breaking the treaty. As she enters the Hall of Art in an effort to rediscover a new form of making art, this is an incremental step towards discovering more useful forms, right? So they have different forms.

The mute forum, the dancing forum, the lovemaking forum. I'm paraphrasing the actual forum, but.

Jonathan (10:56.718)
I'm paraphrasing, but it's fine. But that's what it is, think anyone following along would understand that there's work form and dull form and whatever. Yeah. So keep going, keep going. Right.

But Varanus, one of her tenants at the same time is unsuccessful in trying to attract the creation spread. this is one of his attempts at painting, right? Al and I now contemplates the six current forms and laments the loss of the hundreds of other old songs that are part of her people's heritage. Thinking about how many of her people die off

before having the chance to become more versatile. Again, kind of paraphrasing what she's thinking. She leaves the hall and encounters three mate forms. Those are the lovemaking forms. The way I understand it is would they go into this form to mate and create more percentage?

Yeah. Basically the way that the Parshtendi work is they are a focused people. And I'm going to just like, out conjectures from everything that I know. Conjectures isn't the right word, but stuff that I know. Where to your point, the mate form is when they're looking to multiply, they're looking for a life mate. And that's the focus of that form. Dull form or like worker form is when they're slaves over with the Alephi and things like that.

And they gave up their forms because their previous gods betrayed them, in their opinion. And Eshenai is voicing that they should go back and retrieve their forms of power as they're referenced and bring back the old gods to which the present generation is vehemently against, deeply against because of the big issues that happened from when they had power forms and then when they

Jonathan (12:52.696)
were betrayed by their gods. So it's all part of the world building these interludes, getting one-off perspectives of things that are going on. And it all ties together, not necessarily in this book, but like, as you keep going and unraveling the mystery of the Cosmere, Eshni has to, is supposed to get permission from the Five, the council, to unlock this form of power. But she decides to push forward to find Stormform, regardless of her sister's concern, Venli.

Yeah, so her sister after all these events happen she returns home and finds her sister Venli tells her the plateau run and That Dalinar was not present on the lethyside Eshonai says that she wants to talk to Dalinar and pursue peace But Venli thinks that he wouldn't accept and says that she discovered storm form Eshonai exclaims that this would cause their gods to return and now we're back to their

apprehension, like vehement apprehension about this. But Venly says that this is a moot point since the Alethi now have surge binders, though Esh-Nai isn't sure about this. They go back and forth. Then we have Demid who comes in and Venly's former mate. That's who Demid is. And he agrees that they should risk using storm form to protect their people from being wiped out. Because again, they don't trust Dalnar.

Venly says she wants to raise the issue with the five and Eshenai says she will consider supporting it. And this is where the interlude ends. We get a little glimpse into what will happen in the future because spoiler alert, they do discover Stormform. Venly is not just making it up or mistaken and they embrace it. They take on Stormform in this book.

Yeah. Have you ever had a time where you knew something or speculated something that ended up being true and then the people around you or your community just didn't believe you? Kind of like here with Venley.

Slava (15:01.026)
I'm pretty sure I'm trying to think of something that stands out as noteworthy and nothing's coming to mind, but yeah, there's been times where I said, Hey, this smells funny. I don't think this should be the road we go down. I don't think we should be taking this course. We should be taking another course. And it turns out that I was right. That's that's happened numerous times. It just, as I'm going through my memory banks, I can't think of anything that I

can, you know, extrapolate on here in the podcast. Like, this happened, then this happened, this person. yeah, this happens with many people. This is a common occurrence in human experience, I think. What about you? Can you share an experience?

Yeah, I think so too.

Well, sometimes, and if you're a long time listener, you'll just laugh. Sometimes I ask questions I don't have answers to. Although that should be how all of us ask questions, but on the flip side, sometimes I ask questions that I do have answers to, specifically about Stormlight. In this case though, relating Stormlight to my life, it's kind like you said, I have the fog of like, I know this has happened a dozen times to me. It's happened, I think primarily in my life in the last 20 years, it's probably been...

Mostly at work where I'm like, Hey, we shouldn't do this because of whatever. And then, you know, the powers of B are like, no, we're going to do this anyway. And then it happens. And then you get blamed for it. And you're like, yeah, literally said this was going to happen. This is nonsense.

Slava (16:24.8)
Okay. Well, I have an example also at work, but it's a positive example. Like yours is a negative example, right? But mine's a positive where people were like, Or people were like, nah, I don't think this is going to work. I'm like, no, this is a gamble, but this is a, a fair gamble. Meaning we're not going to lose that much if it doesn't work, but if it does, it's going to be pretty freaking cool. It's a good, me a good payoff, good ROI and it.

It's negative day.

Jonathan (16:49.048)
pay off,

Slava (16:53.294)
Is a video product that I was working on and I wanted young people under 25 reflecting on what the older generation has accomplished and what happened for the older generation, those events, how it spurred on the younger generation to do what they've done. And people were like, okay, that's, yeah, that's, guess so. Okay, fine. You know, you're in charge. So, you know, you're, you'll eat it if it falls apart and not only did it.

work. It worked really well. Where now they want to recreate what they what I did there. They want to recreate in a different campaign.

Mm, jealous. me how to get people to listen to me like that and I'll give you a nice bottle of whiskey. Plot twist.

Talk with confidence, absolute surety. No, this is going to work. And that's it. That's, that's a very simplistic answer. More to it. There's definitely more to it, but.

feel like I already do that, but all

Jonathan (17:51.374)
speaker worked

People don't accent. Just put on your accent, you must do this or else it will be bad for you.

Perfect. You should start doing VOs for the Stormlight archives.

in a rush in the fake the bad russian accent i just did yes

Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Russians would love you. Anywho, next interlude we got, and this one is a fun story to follow. There's actually a novella about this character, Risen, and she's the apprentice of a merchant on one of her travels to the Reshy Isles, and she's struggling to understand the Reshy people, their culture, and these massive great shells that they have. She offers the king of the Reshy Isles a priceless gem heart as a gift, but only in

Slava (18:08.365)
Yes.

Jonathan (18:35.232)
exchange for genuine respect and not a business trade. But Risen begins to appreciate at the end of this chapter, Risen begins to appreciate different worldviews that are not all value of wealth over relationships. So what do you think about or do you have anything else on this chapter, this interlude?

No, I also liked it. I thought it was a fun break. Although it's really not, but it's different than anything else I read. Right. It changes it up in the end. Well, let me back up for a second. So risen is kind of setting up a, this time to go and talk to this King, turns out to be a queen. And he's kind of setting her up to teach her a lesson. It's not like a bad setup.

changes it up.

Slava (19:23.596)
But she goes balls to the wall, trying to prove herself and yeah, gets paralyzed. Risen's now worrying that Vistim is dying. That's where I think some of his worldview shifts, right? And at the end Risen wakes up in the hut on the island where she's at, her legs are paralyzed. She sees Vistim, a reshi healer and Talek around her. They scold her for her stupidity. But then Risen says.

No, it is my boldness. that, she insists that they allow her to finish the trade. So here's where Risen realizes that it's all a test and that Vistam, I think I missed it up, messed it up in the previous sentences, but Risen is the, the apprentice and Vistam is the mentor. And she realizes that it's all a test that he had set up for her to trade and feels foolish.

And Vistim reveals that the trade was for a Larkin corpse. You can tell us what that is in a second here, but that Risen has been granted a live Larkin by the island itself. So the island is also alive. And then we end really quickly and abruptly Vistim and Risen will stay in the island while Risen's legs heal. So she's not permanently paralyzed is what we get. But what is a, what's a Larkin corpse?

It's like a, dragon is too big of a term, because it's not a dragon. Its name is Chiri Chiri, or its name will be Chiri Chiri. It's like a small flying creature with a carapace on it. Again, not a dragon. It's an extinct species. And this is one of those like world building things where it's like, there's extinct species on this planet. okay. Not only do we have different cultures with different ecosystems, but we have extinct creatures as well. But yes, the island has granted

Risen a Larkin and Chiri Chiri is its name. We get to see a whole cove of Larkin basically, if I'm remembering the novella correctly, following Risen around in her novella called, it's not Edge Dancer, what's the other one? Dawnshard, Dawn, is it Dawnshard? Dawn Breaker, Dawn something? Anyway, in her novella, she goes to investigate a place.

Jonathan (21:49.182)
And happens upon more of Chiri Chiri's cousins, I guess I'll call them, because I don't think they're exactly the same from what we understand. Chiri Chiri is only one of three living Larkin left alive. So I think they're cousins, but yeah. Risen gets to have more of a storyline in future books, as well as Chiri Chiri and actually a very notable role at some point in the distant, not so distant future, depending on how far you've read ahead.

So this brings us to our last interlude called the Last Legion. We're back with Eshenai and she's with Thud and Billa and they examine a gemstone with a captured stormsprend inside it and this is what Venli believes will allow them to rediscover storm, rediscover storm form. Billa thinks that anything that will help in the war against the Lethe is worth it, but Eshenai still worries about provoking the Old Gods.

As they depart, Eshenai decides to go visit her mother. On her way, she sees a group of Prashendi that have chosen Delform, the form of most of the Parshmen. And here Eshenai begins to question them on the cause of their transformation and they respond, do it so the Alethi will not kill them when they come. The sentiment in the Prashendi camp is the Alethi will come no matter what we do and it's better to be a slave than to be dead.

Eshnai is concerned by this response, but understands the Prashendi are free to choose their own forms. And so after she visits with her mom, she leaves her mother's house to attend the meeting with the five, the council, you say, regarding Venel's plan to rediscover Stormform. Eshnai is hesitant. She expresses concerns regarding the old gods, but eventually the council convinces her and she agrees to the plan.

under the condition that she be the first one to try assuming storm form. And we're left with Venley studying the knowledge of the forms, kind of coming to an understanding that the forms are too valuable to risk undergoing the transformation by herself. Right? Yeah.

Jonathan (24:07.458)
Sort of. They are too valuable, which is why she wants to bring them back. However, this question of like their lost gods, like what do you think that that's referring to? What do think that means?

That's the mystery, right? That's the thing that is living rent free in my head because they killed the king. They shot any chances at peace six years ago when they realized, my gosh, the Lethe are going to bring back the old gods and Stormfather's involved in it because Dalinar has seen these visions. His brother saw some visions or found out some knowledge and

Exactly.

Slava (24:46.04)
thought that bringing these gods back would be the path to peace and prosperity and the percentage was like, gosh, no, we know, no, no, no, that's not going to happen. We can never let that happen. So that leads them to kill him. And here it seems that they're doing it anyway, in order to avoid destruction at Alithi hands.

So I will say that he wanted to bring back the old gods, but for himself, not for them. And so that is one distinction that we'll learn later, just as an FYI. Yeah, Oathbringer or Rhythm of War, one of those two. Because- It's a prologue. It's one of the prologues. Right.

an oath-bringer?

Slava (25:25.155)
Okay.

Slava (25:28.782)
because what I gathered from Oldbringer's prologue, which I read quickly after I finished this book, but then put it down because I was told under pain of death and

No, no, no, no, no, no, no,

Jonathan (25:47.054)
Strongly encouraged, Mistborn.

Yeah, but that prologue, Oathbringer that is, when he tells her why he's doing it, and maybe we'll find out later that it is just for himself, maybe I'll find that out. But in that prologue, what I remember from it, it is for the greater good of the world. That's what he believes.

Well, he also believes that. So I guess I should clarify, he also believes that.

But those are the four interludes. Now we are in part two. Lots of questions. Very little answers.

Lots of questions. Lots of questions. Yeah, that's true. But that's the thing about an epic. honestly, like I just finished book five in December. have, man, that book ends where there's even more questions. But the beauty of it is that we have five more books. Even though it ends on a cliffhanger, there's murmurings amongst the Cosmerean community of how much the ending or about the ending.

Jonathan (26:46.806)
We have five more books to learn about what's going on. And because Mistborn and these other books are in the timeline of Cosmere, Brandon is currently writing Ghost Bloods, era three Mistborn, which is going to be set in the 1980s America, roughly. Not specifically America, but like 1980s. The Cosmere itself is moving towards a space age. Man, there's just a lot of questions and not a lot of answers. And we're all just praying that Sanderson can survive long enough to write the whole series.

And he's honestly, he's not terribly much older than us, but you know, anything could happen.

Well, do you love books, audience? Do you love this podcast? Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review so you never miss an episode. So before we go back and catch up with our girl, Shallan, let's do a little side quest. You're offered a sharp blade, Jonathan. What do you trade for it?

my gosh. Well, as we learned at the end of Way of Kings, shardblades are priceless basically, which is why everyone kills for them. We know that Kaladin refused to shardblade for moral reasons. Man, I would like one. I'd probably use it to cut vegetables or something, something silly and obscure like that so people didn't know. But what would I trade for it? Man, I don't own a lot of great things. I would trade my deepest dark.

a secret for it. Cool. What is that?

Jonathan (28:13.676)
Are you giving me a shard blade?

have two so I can give you a sharp blade.

I need to see it first.

Want me to whip up my share blade?

No, no, no, no, no, no, that's not that kind of podcast. This isn't only fans or only Cosmereans. Only, and we've hit that point. All right.

Slava (28:29.995)
Only shards.

Slava (28:34.338)
Shard Hub.

Get bent.

That's actually the name of my sharp really.

I'm sure it is. What would you trade for a Shardblades lava? Your dogs? Your wife?

One of the dogs, maybe I have keep my wife. The, all the stupid silly joke that came in my head as you were talking, I was like, I have this 50 inch gaming screen, which I don't game on. just use it for work and podcasts cause I can see five different things on it at once.

Jonathan (29:01.144)
Super jealous. If anyone in the audience wants to send me one like Slava's, I will receive it graciously.

I'd probably trade that. I know that's kind of silly, but if I'm going to give you a quasi serious answer, something that is worth a sharp blade.

Yeah, it's got to be priceless, whatever your thing you're trading is.

Well, I wouldn't trade my wife.

Raise your salvation, do it.

Slava (29:22.766)
Now I wouldn't do that either. What would I do for a third charred blade, man? It's a hard question. Yeah, I don't know, man. It's difficult to say. I'm trying to be, I'd get, like I said, I'm trying to be quasi serious here to answer it, but I don't own a lot. Maybe my library. I have a thousand books in my library. A lot of them like older first source, you know, books on archeology. have a crap ton of theology books. have a few Stephen King books, first editions. Well, I have one.

Absolute dingus here.

Slava (29:52.536)
Stephen King book that's a first edition. Maybe that if it's valuable in this world where there's Stephen King books and charb.

It's fair enough. just had a thought though. You know how there's people who go after cougars to try to get their money? Like young folks who go after cougars. If we were on Rochar, you could theoretically do the same thing. Just like marry one of these folks and then poison them or wait.

Yeah.

Slava (30:15.114)
them to die. You don't need to poison them you psychopath.

I mean, how quickly do you want your shard? Your shard blade.

Well, wouldn't your cougar wife let you borrow her shower blade? You need to go to murder all the time.

That's probably true. I'm just channeling Zeff's son, Sunvolano, for all his machinations, to use one of your words again.

There you go.

Slava (30:34.264)
He's touched on something that I want to explore just for a few seconds here or a minute on this side quest. Kaladin refuses one of these things for moral reasons. And you kind of see that sprinkled throughout other interactions with sharp blades. Like some people see them as a necessary evil. You see some people embrace them for their power and the fact that they're priceless. That's a tempting part of having a sharp blade, owning something that is so powerful and priceless.

And then you see others also like squeamish around them, using them nonetheless, which is kind of the same thing maybe as the second part in your expert opinion, meaning you're more of an expert than I am. What is so immoral about them for people like Kaladin?

Well, I don't remember which chapter this happens in, but Shardblade's killed all of his friends, so...

Okay but that's silly. That's like saying I was robbed once therefore guns are bad. Like a sharp blade or a gun is a tool and they can both be used. Well then Keldon is dumb.

Paladin doesn't think like that though. That's not out of the realm of possibilities. I'm just- Yeah, yeah, no, that's not out of, yeah, he's not out of realm of possibility because he like, okay, all his friends died from Shardblade when they didn't have to. The person who did that was a Bright Eyes, a Bright Lord. So getting a Shardblade turns you into a Bright Lord and that's why he's doing it for moral reasons. He doesn't want to become a Light Eyes.

Slava (31:46.378)
issue.

Slava (32:06.53)
Yeah, I understand his perspective. I'm not like confused. I just think he's wrong because although not analogous, but I was robbed mugged once. I supposed to now hate weapons and Mexican people just because it happened to be a Mexican guy who mugged me? No, I know audience and Jonathan, this is not analogous. I understand him not liking light eyes for what he has suffered at the hands of certain light eyes, but I

You just think he's an idiot.

Slava (32:36.514)
Don't think that

But he's a proud person. No. no. I don't think anybody could argue that. Well, they probably could, but I don't think that there's a lot of ground to stand on. Yeah, I don't think it's rational by any means, but it doesn't mean that that's not. And that's kind of like the beauty of the characters here, right? Like, we all have been irrational at some point, and we've all known a friend who's irrational, and we've all been the friend who's irrational. Sure. This just happens to be his shard point, if you will, his sticking point. So I'm not saying it's right.

I don't think it's rational.

Jonathan (33:08.76)
Cause I, I'm with you. It's like, yeah, there are things that have happened to me that at the end of the day, like you could, you could form an opinion that this tool is wrong, but it's like, it's a tool. So use it accordingly. Right? Like money, money's a tool. I regularly meet young folks who are like, mom, money's evil. Blah, blah, blah. It's like, yeah, but if you had a million dollars, you wouldn't say that.

Yeah, and you use it to bury your family, put the investments, buy the shit you like, like a 55 inch gaming screen. I got on sale.

If only I was as rich as Slava. If only I got it on sale like Slava and had the money to get it on sale.

Anyway, I don't want to make this like a sticking point because Calvin's fine. I like it as a character.

The side quest has changed to a moral quest for Shardblades, specifically around Kaladin's moronic decisions about not taking one.

Slava (33:57.486)
Even if he is burdened by his fate, what he has to do with the knowledge he has, a sharp blade would help him having the power, political power, or being a light eyes would help him. So all of that, and he's turning into the same type of light eyes that despises dark eyes. He is now a dark eyes that despises light eyes. And I get the power dynamic. really do audience. I don't need to be educated on that. I understand.

Yes, yes. The yes.

Slava (34:26.817)
what he must be feeling as a minority or even as just an oppressed person in this world. I'm not taking that away from him, but a rational person who is facing the journey that Kalan is facing, and I get it, also parentheses, I get it that he's early on in his journey. Greater good would be done by him taking a sharp blade and using his new found connections and power to do good for other dark eyes, even to correct.

correct the evils and the mistakes that the Light Eyes have done to be a voice of reason in their circles now.

Yes? Yes, I'm with you.

I agree you. Waxing philosophical is over for me.

can't wait till we read Mistborn because Mistborn era 2 in particular because one of the main characters names is Wax. Wax and Wayne. Yeah, so Western. It's a lot of fun.

Slava (35:17.07)
Relaxing away.

Let's go back to our girl, Shallan chapter 13. She is traveling to the shattered planes on one of T'Vlok's wagons. And for those who don't know, T'Vlok is the same slave trader that brought Kaladin to the shattered planes. And she's sitting next to Bluth, one of the stoic mercenaries hired by the slave trader who drives the wagon. And she's processing a lot of stuff here, right?

Trying to.

Slava (35:47.864)
So she's distracting herself by her surroundings. The flora of the Southern Frostlands are very new to her, very unfamiliar. What she's thinking, this is what I think is interesting for me. She's reflecting on the void bringers and pattern here confirms their reality. She wonders who was behind the attack on her and Jasna and she feels uncertain about her ability to succeed at what she must do.

He should. She's a backwater princess. could like, she's not actually princess, but backwater, backwater babe with a father who, you know, didn't let her do anything because she was delicate or whatever. So understand into question that I get it.

but there is a fervor in her, there is a dedication. She's doing it, she's telling Pattern they must complete Jasna's mission, finding Yurithuru and warning the Alethi of the Voidbringers return. She knows that there's something she must do for herself, for Jasna, for Sentiments sake, for Honor's sake. The right thing to do is to go through this, but she is...

still battling through some insecurities and worry and everything that a normal person would. And here is why I think I am more attached to her than Kaladin. Because Kaladin has similar issues that he's battling. Similar in the sense that there is a reluctance and it's not a reluctance out of fear or necessarily an unwillingness to do it. They both know that they have to do something.

But the way I read these characters is for me, Shallon is going through these things, but we quickly see her going, okay, I know this is what I need to do. We get some insight into why she's afraid, why she's uncertain and she does it anyway. And then she goes, okay. Hey, I did it. Okay. And next step and next step and next step. Her reflex here seems to be working better than Kalidin's. Kalidin's

Slava (38:00.248)
kind of shrinks into himself when these things happen. A lot of times he takes a few steps back and doesn't really make up for the steps forward until much further in the book where Shalon, she's faced with something. She will have uncertainty. She will have fear, but she goes, I got to do this. Boom. She does it and then moves on. And we see this on the road to the Shattered Plains. We see this play out with Tin. And then even when she gets to the Shattered Plains, when she meets the Ghost Bloods, when she meets other folks,

When she is in the court with Lethe and she speaks up and says, Hey, I know something about what's going on. Me and Jasna. Jasna and I did this, this and this. And this is what Jasna told me. So despite feeling constrained by her surroundings, despite feeling uncertain because of her past, she kind of barrels through some of these things, despite those things. That's why I find her so much more attractive as a calendar.

as a

As a calendar, think, is her calendar month. Lady February.

Yep. Lady February, goodness gracious.

Jonathan (39:09.826)
Yeah, well, that's the difference between characters, right? Like, Kaladin 100 % takes steps back and is more brooding, which is what gives us that contrast with Syl, being fun and whatever. then Shalan, like, having seen all the terrible things she's done, you know, develops a multiple personality issue because she just keeps barreling through. You heard it here first, Slava thinks multiple personality is fun. So if you've got a multiple personality, leave them all in the comments.

That's all fun.

Slava (39:38.046)
Maybe I'm codependent. just like girls with multiple personalities and daddy issues.

so you can have your pick every day of the week. Should I reach out to your wife? Is she doing okay?

She's doing just fine. She has one personality and we've been married. Which one? Happily for 17 years. So maybe I haven't given her some trauma.

Yeah, let's watch.

The second one's developing still.

Jonathan (39:57.646)
I thought your dogs did that.

those freaking dogs man they're like little spren so my girl dog would be sill and my boy dog would be pattern they very much have those type of personalities

Yes.

Jonathan (40:07.287)
Nice.

Jonathan (40:11.02)
Your boy dog is speaking to you in numbers.

Yes, it's very literal. And my girl dog is just bubbly and jumping around and going ness all the time. Yeah. Often turns episodes.

Yes, often during the episodes.

That's true. But yeah, Shalon has to do a lot of difficult things right now. First, she's just trying to survive. And this is the difference. And I brought this up during the last book we read, Apocalypse Z, where I was like, I don't know what the character wants. And you're like, they want to survive. And I was like, yeah, but there needs to be more than that. This is a clear example of we know that Shalon wants to survive. She could be taken prisoner. Terrible things could be done to her. But she is playing a role right now to survive. But we know...

Her whole goal is not survival. Her whole goal is get to the Shatter Plains and more than that, we see a bigger role that she's got where she wants to complete Jasna's work. And that's the difference. That was the point I was making in the last book is like, yes, I understand the characters want to survive. That's a given, but they need to want something more than that. They need to have a bigger vision. It doesn't even need to play out where they win. Just that like that is the driving force.

Jonathan (41:17.218)
which then we as the audience can connect with like, yeah, of course she needs to finish this work. Like who would assassinate someone with such prowess and intelligence unless there was something bigger going on. my gosh, like we need to know what's going on. That's clear. It's super clear because like Jasna is dead and Chalan needs to survive long enough to try to complete this work. But even more so she's trying to save her family. So she's got competing priorities that she needs to make sure happen. Was the point I was trying to bring like

The character, I guess putting it more simply, the character in the last book was flat because he didn't have a bigger goal.

I agree with you completely. My only pushback on that is this is an epic, multi-series epic, multi-volume epic. Apocalypse Z and books like it are usually standalones. Well, Apocalypse Z is a trilogy actually, but taken by itself and taken similar books, which are just standalone books by itself, there's either the author's ability or inability to do this or the time constraints or the space constraints at good, or indifferent.

Sometimes all the character wants to do is survive. That could be the choice of the author or just incidental to the other things that I just mentioned because of the other things I just mentioned. I agree with you that that leaves the reader wanting more or maybe unimpressed or disappointed. But the overview of the book by itself for me is like, yeah, they just want to survive. This guy is just a guy in Spain, not wanting to get eaten by zombies.

What did we?

Slava (42:49.774)
It might be semantics or it might be even me being pedantic, but the simple fact for me is those books are just not, I'll grant you that not the same caliber as these, but also I don't think they're even trying to be these books. Here's a story about a guy surviving a thing. At the end of the day, I agree with you. It's not the best thing, but only compared to here. If you read them in isolation, that'd be, ah, all right, it's an okay book, but we could have known more about the characters.

desires outside of him running away from zombies. Sure. I agree. Thank you. Yeah, I tried.

profound.

So do you think that you could pull off something like Shalon here? Like you're in a different land, you don't necessarily speak the same dialects, people know that you come from probably money and you have to survive to meet your betrothed on the Shattered Plains.

As I look back at my life, the situations I was in where against all odds I just had to do something to survive, I think I can do it. And that's why these characters like Ciri, Shalon are so attractive to me because I see myself in them. With Ciri specifically, I said this a hundred times when we've covered Sanderson, the way she deals with situations is the way I deal with situations, humor and sarcasm.

Slava (44:09.632)
almost apathy at times, is, which kind of plays into her using humor, sarcasm, would chill on despite internal struggles, despite certain consequences of what has happened to me that shaped me for good or bad at times plowing through a situation, barreling through things, just taking a one step at a time or making a giant leap into something kind of describes my life. So yeah, I think I could do it. Hey.

Be sure to drop us a rating and help us spread the word if you're enjoying today's SideQuest.

Well, in the next chapter, we are met with Adalyn Kolin as he prepares for his first duel under Dalinar's plan for Adalyn to duel with a bunch of light eyes to get their shard blades. He leaves the preparation room and walks to the stage room where Renarin and Navani are waiting to equip his shard plate. Navani burns a prayer or a glyph for safety and glory. Adalyn inquires about Jasna.

And Navani replies that her daughter has lately gone missing due to a change of plan. So they don't know that Yasna is dead, but not really dead around this time.

This is one of those limited, those third person limited moments.

Slava (45:27.158)
Yeah, Rynarion verifies that Adolin finished his lucky pre-duel rituals and Havani scoffs at their superstitions. I thought that was kind of funny. But Adolin tells Rynarion that he has suspicions about Kaladin and then he enters the arena to duel Salanor. The large crowd is there. This is his first formal duel of the Shard of Plains because Dalinar didn't let him duel for a while. I it's been like a year since he's actually done it.

It's not their very first one, but it's a first one in a long time. Adolin uses a wind stance, but thinks of his father's words and then switches to iron stance, the name of the chapter, and aggressively battles and defeats his opponent into submission, winning despite protests from the judges. Saliner obviously protests that Adolin cheated and Adolin threatens to choke him until he surrenders his sharp blade.

which Shaliner does because nobody likes to get choked. then Adolin is proclaimed the official winner. And so this begins the first in many such victories for Adolin as he collects sharp blades.

Yeah, I like this part of the, this like subplot where Adolin has been released to do something that he's very good at and gives him the opportunity to have a little fun. But this is kind of also a first starting point of the difference between his father and him. As the books develop, we'll see that Adolin and his father have differences of opinion. We'll call it differences of opinion.

Here's a silly question that popped into my head and it was spurred on by just a little comment you made. Differences between father and son. Does Downer make it to book five?

Jonathan (47:15.683)
yeah. Okay. That's a weird question to ask.

Now it just seems that it could be a setup for us losing Dalinor than Adolin having to do great things in his father's stead, follow his footsteps.

No, no, no. Yeah. He, he definitely makes it a book five. It's more nuanced than that with what Anderson does. lot of that starts off like you'll see the groundwork for it happen in oathbringer by the end of oathbringer for the differences. So that's all I'll say about that. But I really liked the subplot. Like I said, a minute ago of this dual thing. Do you think that Adeline, well, when you were first reading it, let me say that because you did finish reading it before we started recording this. When you read this, did you think that Adeline was going to have like.

all these winning duels and then something else is going to happen or what were your thoughts on that?

That's a really good question. When I read this particular chapter for the first time, I kind of had a positive outlook on it thinking, you know what? think Sanderson is going to give Adeline a bunch of wins. He might lose one. Maybe there'll be a cliffhanger here and there where we don't know exactly what's going on. And we'll have to find out in the next book. I actually thought this is where Sanderson is going to give the

Slava (48:30.254)
Colin family some wins where Adolin will defeat his opponents.

And were you happy with the outcomes that we'll discuss in future chapters? Good. Good, good, good. This plot line leads to a crescendo at some point that I absolutely gets me every time I read it. So can't wait to get there again. Yeah, yeah. mean, it's definitely a good way. There's just like, and I think I mentioned this at Way of Kings, the end of Way of Kings where they're on the shattered planes and they have to make this decision.

Yeah. Yeah.

Slava (48:52.984)
gets you in a good way or

Jonathan (49:05.314)
Are they gonna do the honorable thing or are not gonna do the honorable thing? And they do the honorable thing, they save Adolin and Dalinar. Then Dalinar gives up his shard blade for all the Bridgman. It's moments like that, both those two moments, like I just lose it, man. I just start crying. It's so beautiful. It's this moment of honor and recognition and loyalty and like prejudices for the moment get put aside because there's a greater issue at hand, something more important that needs to happen. There's a couple moments like that in this book as well.

One of them is through this plot line as we keep going. So if they haven't gotten there yet, I want to give them the opportunity to experience it. But I will be sure to mention it when it comes up.

And we quickly switched back to Shalan in chapter 15, a hand with the tower. This chapter is fairly short. It just gives us a quick, well, a further view, but a quick view into Shalan's travels with Deluxe. Deluxe wearing different shoes than the one they first met, but he lies that he only has one pair. Obviously he's a slave trader and a bit of a sleazeball. Shalan is now.

asking Pattern to do some work on her behalf, to spy on a conversation between T'Lok and Tag. Pattern records and replays the chat for Shalon in secret, revealing that T'Lok intends to protect Shalon, but also profit from her rescue to escape a debt. And here we see Shalon, despite having insecurities and fears, plowing through, the term I used a few times now.

using what she sees in front of her, processing it and moving forward with the greater goal in mind. She uses this information to to lock up off balance and to gain the upper hand in their dealings. So I thought that was great. Each time Shalon does this on her travels to the Shatter Plains with the deserters with 10, I'm just like, you go girl. This is great. I love the character growth here in her.

Slava (51:12.366)
And her courage, like the character growth in her courage. And as she gets up to leave, Talaka like flinches away from her. So there's not only is she keeping him in her balance, he's noticing that there's something more to this girl than what he initially thought. It's not just a girl from some podunk part of the world. He notices some storm light coming off of her, but he might not know it's storm light, whatever it is. And she hopes that Talaka.

will chalk this up to a trick of the eye or something. So not only is he confused because she keeps him off balance, which she knows about what he thinks he's doing in secret, he also noticed this thing about her, which probably gives him some pause as to who is this girl from the backwoods of the back country. She keeps her cool and hopes that he'll think whatever he saw is just a trick of the eye.

Yeah, and then once she gets back to her wagon, she ends up having her infected feet have lessened because she's been walking around with no shoes. Dvokov, to your point, like definitely a sleazeball. I like how he gets voiced in the audio book. Brannis? It's fun. I like the little sleazy accent. It reminds me of some of the, I don't know, kids TV shows where you have the guy coming up.

Let me interest you in some nice wares. Come on, come near me. Take a look.

It's a French sleazeball.

Jonathan (52:38.872)
French, Moroccan, take your pick. I just see somebody, some sort of merchant in a bazaar trying to cajole you into their booth so that you buy whatever trinket they're trying to sell. An old lamp that when you rub it, supposedly it's magic, but hasn't worked for them.

Yeah, and we end this chapter on a bit of a cliffhanger. Bluth returns to the camp, all in a panic, putting out campfires and tells them that he spotted a caravan of army deserters. And army deserters in this world have been known to turn to banditry. So they quickly pack up their wagons and travel east to escape notice. And then Bluth gives Shalon some information. That information is that

they might not be able to bribe their way past abandons because that's not what the bandits are all about. They don't care. They are desperate and they'll probably kill and rob them instead.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, I forgot about a main point that I wanted to bring up though, because you mentioned to Valkov, seeing Shalon's Stormlight coming off of her. It's been thousands of years and no one's had these powers. So it's definitely a question that people have that they don't know what's going on. They don't necessarily trust their eyes just yet because it's not been normalized. know, definitely in book three, it'll be normalized and four and five, but the people...

of the world Roshar haven't yet come to terms with like the night's radiant returning. It's a new conundrum, if you will, a new experience per se.

Slava (54:16.904)
Well, do you love books, audience? Do you love this podcast? Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review so you never miss an episode.

All right, before we keep going, let's do another side quest. Who would you follow in the world of Roshar? Let's say you had the opportunity to go between camps because you were just traveling to the Shattered Plains and you have enough knowledge and it doesn't even need to be the Shattered Plains necessarily. It's just somewhere on Roshar. Who would you join? Would you join Dalinar, Sadius, Taravangian, Bridge 4, Ghost Bloods, or try to get in with the crew that Taravangian has in

Look at the diagram.

Good question. Very interesting question. Definitely not Sadius. Sadius. Why not? really. Why not? I don't like him. Don't like him in the first book. Dahlnur seems like the obvious answer. So really don't want to just off the bat say him, although probably be better to be in his camp. Taravangian. You you mentioned that he's a calculated survivor. That's a good choice, right? If you knew just the basics about

You don't trust him?

Slava (55:27.744)
each character and you'd like, Dallinor is about honor and he's going to save the world. then Sadius, he's a sleazeball that just happens to have a lot of power. And then all you knew about Taravangian is that. Those three items of information, I guess I would say Taravangian, but that's me putting myself in a hypothetical limited.

Right, right.

Jonathan (55:49.774)
Well, don't forget about Bridge 4 or the Ghost Bloods. Tera Vangene has the diagram.

Yeah, ghost bloods are interesting.

Yeah, I'm not joining Bridge 4. I don't want to be a slave on that. I'm not that sentimental.

You don't want to go back to the origins of our people?

Been there, done that. See, Bridge Four, why would I join Bridge Four? Like, out of some sentimental reason for, well, I want to be with Caledon. He is a guy who has your bag, but you have to be a slave. hell, I'll be by myself without anybody having my back, but I'll be a light eyes. Yeah, I'd rather be rich and powerful because I can still be myself when I'm rich and powerful. It's not like that money is going to corrupt me. If we're going to play this hypothetical, right? Slava's given the choice. Being Slava the way he is right now.

Slava (56:34.442)
him being a lord or him being a slave.

said that you'd be a lord you just get to join their camp

Well, either way. Okay. Fair point. Fair point. But either way, do I want to be in the camp of slaves or do I want to be in a camp of light eyes? Even if I'm a little stature, the camp of light eyes, they might be dicks to me, but at least I get to eat and not get shot with a pershenda arrow.

It's interesting to that you didn't discuss the ghost bloods at all. Like that's not even on your radar. all right, all right.

No, no, no, we'll get to it. We'll get to it. Because I got distracted a little bit. What I was going to say just a few seconds ago is the Ghost Bloods, they're intriguing. To be part of a covert underground assassin group, whatever they're doing, whatever their political machinations are, right? They're kind of rogue rebels, if maybe it'll be one way of describing them. They are all political rebels in some sense where they're

Slava (57:28.492)
They see what they think is the best way for Roshar and that includes some assassinations that includes some machinations and espionage. That's very cool and intriguing. So if I believed what they believed, hell yeah. Let me join the ghost bloods and help them any way I can.

What do the ghost bluts believe, Slava?

They believe that the King must be assassinated because he's a twerp and a weakling. And then for the glory of Roshar, for the betterment of Roshar, they need somebody else in power. If I was to give you a cursory, over you.

Okay. Sure, sure. Yeah, yeah. That's kind of what I was looking for. Interesting. Well, I'll tell you this. At least one person in the Ghost Bloods is from a different world.

Yeah, I kind of picked up on that, but I couldn't tell you who right now, because of course, while we're recording, I'll forget the character's name. So good on me. I'm a great podcast cohost. My research.

Jonathan (58:24.482)
Good on you, yes.

Yeah, the best. you might also, tell you this too. You might regret not picking Taravangian.

I didn't say I wasn't picking Teravangian.

I thought you picked already. nevermind then. Make your pick.

no, I was just given all the reasons why each one would be good or bad or why I would choose- Right.

Jonathan (58:47.854)
Right. So pick one. pick one. Rough choice. All right. Guess we'll find out. We should do some horse races. We should do some like pick your horse and then you have to deal with the consequences.

terebanjian obviously

Slava (59:01.144)
Yeah. Well, let me be serious. Cause we're, I'm, being kind of a smart ass. So knowing what we know, knowing what we know and putting the constraints that I put on, on my choice, I am part of this world and I know just a little bit about each camp and I get to choose. I'm given a choice by some high power or just regular old circumstances where I get to go.

The Stormfather will direct you accordingly based on your wishes.

Amen and amen. So I'm going to the Shatter Plains in the same caravan that Chalons going. And if she tells me a little bit about these people and she goes, you can come with me or you can go here. You can go there. Well, let's put that spin on this hypothetical. I think I would choose. Terevangian or the ghost bloods. I would have to know more. I'd probably choose Terevangian and then go, who are these ghost bloods? Let me go talk to the guy in the back of the bar in the basement who throws red darts at people.

Mm-hmm.

Well, you now. I know you're proud of what you're telling her, right?

Jonathan (59:59.874)
Yeah, no questions. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You don't, yeah, there's no questions. I would pick Dalinar. Every day. Every day. Well, that's not true. Not every day. Maybe not past Dalinar, the Blackthorn himself. Probably wouldn't pick him. And saddiest, you just wait to get stabbed in the back. there's no, the Ghost Bloods, maybe, but I honestly don't think that they have played their hand very well in the first five books. I think that they will play them better.

In the next five.

six years to learn your, learn a lesson from your mistake.

Yeah, yeah, but I could have been convinced to join the Ghost Bloods too, probably. But I don't think I have enough skills that they'd be interested in me, honestly.

You could help with their marketing recruiting.

Jonathan (01:00:46.286)
Well, the thing is, by joining Dalinar, I would get their attention and they might come to me with an offer.

Yeah. So let's have a chalan. Kind of.

Very issue. It's more tin than anything but

Yes, it is 10 for may she rest in peace. Which didn't last long. Did you think that was gonna last long?

I thought it was going to last a lot longer than it did.

Jonathan (01:01:11.234)
felt like it the first time I read it. It's like, I think this is gonna be like a new, all right, this is what's going on. And then like, boom, she's dead. Like, okay, all right then, fair enough.

Be sure to drop us a rating and help us spread the word if you're enjoying today's side quest. All right, back to chapter 16. Let's keep going here. We got our boy Kaladin. Give us the rundown. then also, while you're giving us the rundown, give us the kind of vibes you were getting while you were following Kaladin around, if you still have those notes around.

Sword Master!

Slava (01:01:48.67)
vibes and calendar.

Man, are you late for something? This is the second calendar reference. Yes, the calendar, the Rosharan calendar. Actually, you want to get super nerdy?

173 sure eight for this

Yes, yep. But if you want to get super nerdy, some people have gone through and actually tested what should be the gravitational pull on each planet and how it compares with Earth. But that's all on the copper mine and the 17th chart if you want to get super nerdy. Rochar has a deeper gravitational pull than Earth does. So when you're on it, it's harder to move if you're not from there, supposedly.

Okay.

Jonathan (01:02:35.766)
Anyway, sorry, in chapter 16.

Chapter 16. So Kaladin leads a bodyguard patrol along with Moash and Drehi through the Light Eyes training ground as they scout the area while waiting for Adalyn and R'narin. Kaladin converses with an ardent who explains the Lethe tradition of allowing Light Eyes to train with royal sharp blades so they are ready for battle. Moash asks about Kaladin feelings towards Amoram.

and he says the two of them will get their revenge in the light eyes who have wronged them in the past. And I don't know if this is part of that foreshadowing that you were talking about, but I didn't pick it up. And when Moash turns out to be with the ghost bloods trying to kill the king, was quasi, I was 40 % of me was surprised. I wasn't like, oh my gosh, this I never saw coming.

So he wasn't with the Ghost Bloods, but he was with another organization. Which one? It's called, not the Men of Honor, Brothers of Honor or something like that.

yeah.

Jonathan (01:03:40.494)
Okay, Anyway, but a group that was trying to assassinate the king, yes, you're right. Yeah, yeah. There's a whole group on Reddit, I don't know if you found it, called F*** Moash.

No but now I'm going to go find it because f**k MOASH indeed.

Yeah. Anyway, keep going.

Yeah, so still here is asking Kaladin what's troubling him. And I really like in the sub. yeah. my goodness. And I liked how in subsequent chapters, still starts poking Kaladin a little bit more about what he needs to do about his, you know, fate, if you will, about his duties. She starts.

kind poking him and prodding him a little bit more, but that's because she is also advancing in her person. Like she is becoming less of a, just a kind of flighty little sprint into some somebody who is more cognition, more will, more intellect, more emotion. Sandway pattern is going to be going throughout the book too. So Scylla is asking Kaladin to tell her what's troubling him. Kaladin says that Dallinor is tainted by his association with Amram.

Slava (01:04:52.826)
and Syll warns him not to lie and here he admits yeah yeah Dalinar is honorable and is probably deceived by Amram so he is able to think rationally and Syll advises Kaladin to tell Dalinar how Amram really got his shard blade but Kaladin doesn't think that that's going to bring about any good. Syll also tells Kaladin that she does not like either Adolin or Rhaenaren it's implied heavily implied

because they carry sharp blades. So here is an interesting contrast to Kaladin's dislike of sharp blades. has moral objections, but Syl seems to, I guess you can call it a moral judgment too, but Syl seems to think that there is something inherently absolutely to its core evil about sharp blades. Though Syl says the blades did not used to be abomination.

she understands that something was good about them or that they were used for good but now they are evil. She seems to have more reason to be afraid of them or to despise them or whatever she is actually feeling and sees someone who appears to be suspicious and goes to investigate. Then Kalin is speaking with Sahil, an ex-soldier ordnant who is observing Adolin and Renarin train, tells Kalin

Kaladin that he isn't going to harm any of brothers. Zaheel says that two colons need to be chosen by a master. As he speaks, he is summoned by Adaline to join the other gathered Ardents. Then Kaladin asks if Zaheel seems odd to Syl, and she replies that all hemans seem odd to her except for Rock. And that's kind of a wink-wink tongue-in-cheek because Rock worshipers is the god.

Yes, that's true. And we don't know a ton about the Horn Eaters yet. We are supposedly getting a novella around Rock at some point in the next six years. Sanderson is writing Ghost Bloods 1, 2, and 3 for Mistborn Era 3, but that is supposedly on the roadmap. In terms of Xyle, does he strike you as familiar?

Slava (01:07:10.988)
He does. He does strike me familiar.

How long did it take you to put that together?

I think like two interactions.

What gave it away?

his use of word adages and isms and just some of his inner thoughts, which are like minuscule. we decided I would.

Jonathan (01:07:28.268)
Yeah, very minor.

And I was like, hello, Vashier.

Yes, Fasher has found his way onto Roshar from Threnody. We don't know how, we don't know why. Should be fun to see what happens.

That reveal was very satisfying to me because I like fashion. Fashion is fun.

Mm-hmm, he is fun. But that brings a question.

Slava (01:07:53.858)
Where's Nightblood? Son Zanvolano has him. Does he? He had him in that book with the annoying little girl with the Tourette's.

Annoying little girl with Tourette's.

or maybe not Tourette's. The one who eats and eats to eat. He has Nightblood and Antsancer. All right. So Nightblood is then with Viviena.

edge, edge dancer?

He doesn't have night blood right now.

Jonathan (01:08:22.423)
Maybe. All right. Who's to say? But it is a question to ask because Vasher was carrying Nightblood the last time we saw him on Warbreaker. So who knows? I don't. Actually, I do. But.

But you won't tell.

No, no, that's true.

like a true ghost bloody or sworn to secrecy.

Well, I don't know if I'm a ghost blood. Again, I don't think that they would take me for my, or yeah, they wouldn't want me because I don't really have the skills that they need. That's actually not entirely true. do lockpick, but yeah.

Slava (01:08:53.774)
Well, let me ask you a question. Going back to our previous side quest, who do you think I fit better with? Out of the people that you mentioned, Dalinar, Sadius. I'm going to say his name right one of these days. Sadius, Dalinar, Taravangian, Ghost Bloods, and meant, Bridge 4. I think those are the ones that you gave me for a choice. In which camp do you think I fit better in?

Well, I want to be cheeky and tell you that you should be with Sadius, but I don't think, well, I don't think it's entirely true, right? So, Taravangian, here's the thing. I honestly could see you with Taravangian. Like, you're not conniving enough and secretive enough to be with the Ghost Bloods. Taravangian is secretive, but he's secretive with his own people. Or like, he's secretive in terms of public eye, but not in private.

You can, that's fine.

Jonathan (01:09:46.603)
So I could really see you being a part of his entourage. Yeah, that he has that like come to him when he has his mornings and then like test him and like, and the thing is the diagram that we hear all about honestly sounds kind of legit, right? Like it's so robust. It's so well thought out with so many contingencies. It's kind of hard to deny it. And Dalinar is a bit of a kook.

Okay.

Jonathan (01:10:15.446)
because he's having these visions and no one's seen the Radiance yet. We as the reader know something is going on, but the Rosharan people are just like, I think he's going insane. And Adolin's like, man, I might have to take over the throne. And then Renarin's just kinda sitting in the background like, I don't feel understood. Being all weird and stuff supposedly has a blood issue.

Best they did back then.

Yes. So yeah, I think that you'd fit with Taravangian. I also don't think that you'd fit well with the Bridge Cruise.

No, I don't do well in those kinds of situations. And I'm not talking about the whole slavery thing, because anybody can be a slave in any situation. Just, you know, happens to be the wrong place at the wrong time and you're royalty and then you're carted off to Babylon.

Or you put dung in sade's soup. Rock did that.

Slava (01:11:05.71)
Excuse me? How did I miss that? Or is that like in Rhythm of War and you're just spoiling it for me?

no, he covers that. He covers that when they're, when they're talking about, know, why'd you get thrown in the bridge? Or why'd you get thrown in the bridge cruise? You don't remember that.

I don't remember that and I don't think we covered it when we covered that book.

all right, fair enough. Maybe he, maybe he covers it in this book then. I thought it was the last book. Either way, it's covered soon. The reason, the reason that Rock got put into the, the Bridge Cramp is because he put dung in Sadie's, I think it was actually. Yeah.

Was it Cheldung?

Slava (01:11:50.528)
Nice. All right. Well, good on Rock. I like Rock better. I like Rock more. I like Rock more now.

There's a lot to rock that we just like we get in short sentences and short quips. So it's pretty fun.

The whole thing with Syl, I think is hilarious. Where Syl knows how Rock feels about her and kind of, you know, I think hams it up just to piss off Kaladin. Yeah. The only way that Syl knows how. And that's why I think she's the perfect spren for Kaladin. What I said last episode where he needs somebody like Syl a little bit silly, no pun intended to kind of screw with him a little bit. He needs that.

Cause I'm walking around brooding and mumbling crap all the time is, you know, not helpful to anybody. But he does care about people. So, and he cares about his people, which is an uncommon trait in any world. Fair enough. For a young guy in charge of so many people, know, Dahlner, obviously you can tell he cares about people. He saves the bridge group, but he's a seasoned war hero. He's a seasoned warmonger, both right. And, he knows people.

Yeah.

Jonathan (01:12:47.598)
Mm-hmm. Yep.

Slava (01:13:00.532)
and he cares about people even the way he saves Kaladin from Amram's wrath when Kaladin loses his fucking cool and calls Amram out and we'll get to that later but calls Amram out for a duel come on Kal but anyway for as young as he is and the problems that he faces internally and externally Kaladin's a decent dude to his folks

Yeah.

Jonathan (01:13:24.14)
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, he is, very much so.

Yeah. But anyway, we are back with Shalon in chapter 17 called A Pattern. You want to take this one on?

Sure. Shalan is sitting next to Bluth, who's guiding her wagon and she's distracting herself from her worries and her talking to plants that she found. And she's drawing some sketches of a leaf and the santa that she saw during the travels. And then Bluth sees in one of her old notebooks that she's trying to recreate lost sketches. So as the caravan stops, Shalan sees smoke on the horizon, which we perceive to be this group that is following them, these bandits.

Right? Tvlokov says the deserters are going to give up the chase eventually as long as they keep moving. So to distract Shalon's self further, she chats with two Parshmen, but they don't really respond. She then sketches some more plants as she does to distract herself when she notices a smoke of column in their current path. Now they're kind of trapped between two bandit groups. Probably. And then they're not, they're not sure what to do.

Do they go toward the group that's following them or do they go to the group that's ahead of them? Which one is the friend or which one could they convince to be a friend to help defeat the third group? And for anyone who's read the art of war the enemy of my enemy is my friend and so you simply have to convince one of them that the third group is the enemy and But that means going over to them. That means taking a risk hoping that they don't just attack you first again still sketching

Jonathan (01:15:04.79)
She sees a woman's face. She goes into her cabin, her little wagon to use knobweed to try to heal her feet. And she talks to Pattern a little bit to see if she's been healing. And he seems to not understand all the ins and outs of Stormlight at the moment. Even though we've seen from Kaladin that some Stormlight will heal people. The question is, does Stormlight heal each of the Radiance or is it just certain orders? We don't know yet.

tries to share with Shalon a little bit about the light weaving and how the night's radiant work, but he's still rusty. He doesn't really remember. And when they move from the cognitive realm to the physical realm, they kind of lose all their memories for those who have forgotten. Pattern reveals that the reason he came is because he's a scholar and he wants to know about humans and why humans keep killing their spren, which is an interesting concept that I want to hear your thoughts on, like how are the spren dying?

The Night's Radiance did the same thing. Shalon denies that she's a Night Radiant, which is true. She hasn't really spoken enough oaths to do that, and she might not, unless she can find a way to overcome her internal battles. She leaves the wagon and notices the smoke ahead is actually from burning wagons, not an encampment, which is a bit of a cliffhanger to hang on. Be sure to drop us a rating and help us spread the word if you're enjoying today's sidequest.

You can start by telling me about Spren, or you can tell me about your thoughts on the chapter.

Let's do that in reverse. What stood out to me in the chapter is Shallan's photographic memory, which is apparently tied to her light weaving. So I want you resident scholar to maybe help me and the audience who are the same boat as I am understand her memory because this is part of the renaissance that the nitradients have, right?

Jonathan (01:17:02.808)
The Recreance.

No, well, her light weaving, the light weaving that helps her have the photographic memory.

What about it? Maybe I missed something.

Is that something that is true of the Knights Radiant? That this is one of their surges or renaissance?

we don't see anybody else who has photographic memory.

Slava (01:17:23.104)
Right, but she is an ice radiant. She does have a photographic memory.

I think that's just a shell on thing, honestly.

Really? Okay. All right. Fair enough. But to answer your other questions, how Sprenner killed, what we see, when we see Syl die, it is caused by the breaking of the oath of who she's bonded to being Kaladin in this case. And a quick search on Coppermind reveals that it's because they become Deadeye, whatever that is. What I would say that is, is they lose their essence that gives them

cognitive abilities and the ability of the person they're bonded to to see them and they are destroyed. Their cognitive form is destroyed. They're still alive as spiritual entities because she's talking to Stormfather later and say, no, it's okay that he killed me. I think Kaladin is still the right person for this path, for this job, for this duty. And she is bonded back to him later, but it seems that they are killed quote unquote.

What's that seems it is because we see that with Calvin. It is his breaking his oath that kills Sil.

Jonathan (01:18:38.796)
Yes, could kill her. Almost does.

Okay. That's why I said, quote unquote, killed. That's why he can't see her or hear her for a good portion of the book after he falls from that bridge.

The thing is you can kill your friend. Kaladin just happened to at the last moment not do that. Yeah, there's, there's, I guess that's a detail you didn't, you didn't pick up on is just that like Kaladin was on the verge of killing Syl. Basically, depending on what he chose would have determined like if she died or not. And we see as his journey continues in this book that he made two oaths and he can't fulfill both of them.

okay.

Jonathan (01:19:21.014)
And if he fulfills the wrong one, he will kill her because he's broken his oath to her and what he has said, which is part of the night's radiant. You have to stick to your oaths and then you get access to your, your spren and you keep them alive. So.

So we move on to Chapter 18, named Bruises, titled Bruises. Kaladin and Lopen guard Adolin and Renarin as they take instructions from Xyle. Lopen leaves to carry some orders by Kaladin. Kaladin patrols the grounds and stops to observe Xyle and Renarin. Xyle tells Renarin to jump off the roof to their arena to practice being comfortable with his shardplate. Apparently these things are

heavy as hell and being able to manure yourself in them, especially in battle, take some training. Kaladin criticizes Renaran's clumsiness, but Xyle dismisses this and praises Renaran's attitude. Xyle offers to train Kaladin and Kaladin declines. This is another one of those stupid things by Kaladin where like you have taken an oath. You know your path, you know your duty. You've done other things without reserve.

knowing what you're supposed to do, but this thing, because it puts him in the camp of the light eyes, refuses. And here we have Xyle testing Kaladin's abilities with a blunted shard blade to make sure he's ready to protect Adolin and R'Naren. Xyle defeats Kaladin in a mock duel, though Kaladin did enough simulated damage to slow down the weapon's master. He believes he would be able to give enough protection

to Renarren or to Adolin. here we have Adolin making insulting comments which enrage Kaladin and he attacks Adolin. Adolin smashes Kaladin with a plate enhanced punch. He's injured and we have Xyle berating the prince. Good old Adolin for his carelessness. Kaladin heals himself with Stormlight and tries to attack Adolin again but runs out of strength and collapses.

Slava (01:21:36.276)
Xyle compliments Kaladin, his tenacity and quick thinking, but says it won't be enough against Sharbearers. yeah. And again, this is where Kaladin doesn't think and he needs people like Syl and Xyle to say, good on you for doing this, your little chill and your whole hang up about Sharblades and Lighteyes, which they don't say directly, but it's all part the same package. All this stuff won't help you to fulfill what you have to fulfill.

Kellen asks still why he's lost his strength so suddenly and still tells him Kellen wasn't protecting anyone else. He wasn't protecting the people he's called to protect or swore to protect when it happened.

Right. Yep. This is, and this gets into what we talked about a minute ago where like, if you break your oaths, the spren don't back you up.

You seem to lose your powers as a night radiant. You're afforded certain powers and if you don't fulfill your oaths, they don't work properly or at all in this case.

so he's not a night radiant. Nobody's a night radiant yet. They're Squires.

Slava (01:22:46.19)
Right, they're not that yet, but they are night radiance in some sense.

But the reason there's a distinction here and it's not just semantics, it's the access that you get is different at different levels, basically. Like before you become a radiant, it costs way more stormlight to do a thing. After you become a knight's radiant, which I think is like the third, no, I guess it'd be the second oath. It costs less stormlight to do the thing. And then as you continue to go down the path, it costs less and you can do more and you can hold the stormlight for longer, et cetera, et cetera. And there's more, I guess I'll call it leniency.

So that's why there's a distinction here between him being a squire. But as readers, we don't know that yet. We only find out that he's a squire or was a squire after we get further into the book, when we see that like his platoon or brigade or whatever you call it, his group of Bridgman, like specifically Bridge Four, become squires because now he's a night radiant. Does that make sense? It's an important distinction. We just don't know that yet.

That makes sense.

We quickly go back to Shalon, but this is a flashback, chapter 19, titled Safe Things. Five and a half years ago, Shalon is wearing a new dress that is gifted to her by her dad. The dress is that of a woman as she is old enough now to cover her safe hand, which I researched at length. What I found is Sanderson said, yep, it's a thing that happens. Don't worry about it. Safe hands.

Slava (01:24:13.694)
That's what I call my area. So she starts to think like

Jonathan (01:24:21.277)
It's coming of age moment from gal to womanhood, if you will.

So this causes her to think of her mother and then she stops immediately like a candle suddenly snuffed out as it said. Two maids bustle past getting ready for guests. Shalana overhears only a soft whisper and they say she saw the poor thing was in that room when it happened and hasn't spoken a word in five months. The master killed his own wife and her lover. Everybody seems to believe the lie that her dad killed the mom.

we find out later we know as the reader that it's actually Shalon that killed her mom. Shalon thinks that because she does not speak apparently to the maids she also can't hear either, which is a typical Shalon quip.

Well, the other thing is like, we do this in real life. You meet people who are like, they can't understand me or, they don't say anything. So they must be dumb. Like there's just, we make these assumptions about people. And so this is just like a funny one where we're like, no, she can definitely still hear you.

A door suddenly slams and her brother, Helren, comes bearing gifts. And the gift is charcoal pencils and expensive paper. He missed her drawings and asks her to practice more. Well, he tells her that he misses her drawings and asks her to practice more. He tells her she needs to be strong, that she needs to look after the older brothers for him because he's leaving. He slams the door open again.

Slava (01:25:48.236)
This time admitting her father, Lindovar, and her father and brother begin arguing. He admits him in, meaning he lets the father in, and they begin arguing. And Haloran calls their father a murderer and summons a shard blade. Lind puts up his hands and says, you don't know what you think you know, your mother. He stops there because Haloran cuts him off. Shalon manages to say no to Haloran, stopping him from killing his father.

Halloran leaves saying that he has important work to do but warns their father that he'll be checking in on the house. So a pretty tense exchange between father and son there.

Yeah, so tell me, this scene becomes more vital. Okay, I don't want to overplay it. It's not imperative to the whole story, but like moments like this about Shalon's past are relevant to how the story progresses and unfolds. We see that clearly in this book later. What were your thoughts when Hilaran came in and did this?

At this point in the story, without knowing future portions, I just thought it was typical of a broken household. Yep. The mother is dead. Everybody thinks that Lindovar did it. Halloran has this thing to do. He kind of like the leader of the siblings, if you will. He is the only one that stands up to his dad. And so I just thought this was part and parcel of a dysfunctional household that the son and father would have such a rift between them.

Yeah. Yeah.

Slava (01:27:16.236)
Elyse is, you know, me and chapter 19.

And then, know, we get the later in this book we get the revelation that Kaladin killed Helleran.

Yeah. Yeah, that was a, that was a big one.

Right. I'm sure you want to share this, but Helleran was working for... Yeah. So like then looking back on this, now what's your response? Where like, he has something important to do, like, okay. I actually think it wasn't the Ghost Bloods. I think it was that Sons of Honor or whatever again. Brothers of Honor. I think that that's right. Cause I don't think it was the Ghost Bloods. But part of what Shalon takes with her is this, what do they call it? Soulcaster. When she goes to visit...

Go splurge.

Slava (01:27:46.157)
Was it?

Let's look it up so make sure we're right.

Jonathan (01:27:58.51)
Yasna for the first time and tries to get in her good graces that's broken, the soul caster's broken. That soul caster came from a mysterious person who happened to help the Dvar family create their wealth. And that person was a ghost. So it's interesting that Shalana is also dealing with the ghost bloods, but the ghost bloods also killed Yasna. What is a gal to do?

Okay, that makes more sense.

Slava (01:28:21.72)
So much intrigue in this little story we call Stormlight Archives is in there. But we quickly push forward into the present day, Chapter 20, The Coldness of Clarity. Shalon's caravan arrives at the source of the smoke and they find burned out wagons and corpses strewn about with a few survivors. As Shalon and Tlacov debate whether to approach the burning wagons or flee, a woman from those wagons confronts them and notes,

The deserters are chasing Shalon. Shalon offers the woman her protection, but she laughs and says Shalon can join her caravan to die as they now face two possible enemy groups.

Well, quick pause for a second. actually had to relook it up. My focus was split. Helleran actually got his shard blade from the skybreakers, which is led by Nail, who was the guy that we talked about in the last episode from Interlude about Yim. So Nail runs the skybreakers. Helleran got his shard blade from the skybreakers. Yeah, I didn't think it was the ghost bloods. I also can't remember like the actual frickin name of that.

Slava (01:29:22.774)
It's more intrigue.

Jonathan (01:29:30.732)
Maybe it was the Sons of Honor. Yes, yes. just, yeah, the Sons of Honor. So I was close. The Sons of Honor, not the Ghost Bloods. The Sons of Honor have been trying to get the Heralds to return to help bring about like the next Desolation-ish kind of thing. Anyway, different than the Ghost Bloods. The Ghost Bloods are trying to do something else. Sorry, back to chapter 19. 20.

Chapter 20. Using Stormlight to weave a disguise to make her appear as a noble, Shalon speaks to the deserters, asking them for help against the other bandit group, offering amnesty and a fresh start. Vatha, the leader of the deserters, scoffs at her, but many of the other deserters are enticed and charged towards the battle to fight the bandits. Shalon finally convinces Vatha to help out, and since she used up all her Stormlight,

has to stay out of the fighting. Pattern compliments Shalon in her ability to use words to transform people without using soul casting and Shalon draws a paper glyph for hope and awaits the outcome of the battle. Well, do you love books, audience? Do you love this podcast? Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review so you never miss an episode.

I think is kind of funny is when Pattern compliments Shalon about her ability to use words to transform people without using soul casting. But if you go back a few chapters right after her shipwreck and she's talking to the stick, she's like, I want you to be fire. And the stick goes, I am a stick. And so her inability to use words to transform with soul casting is also, I don't know, I just find that funny. I am a stick.

Yeah, it's fun, fun event.

Jonathan (01:31:11.906)
fun little thing. Sean, decent with people, not decent with sticks. Might not work really well for her betrothed. She's your girl.

Okay. Girl. She's my girl. But quickly we move forward.

Wait, wait, wait, wait. It just reminded me of something. I just have to mention to the audience. So Slava takes care of our social media. We use Mid Journey. And I was looking at his Mid Journey pictures of Shalon. And she's this just like buxom vixen babe. Just this like drop dead gorgeous. I'm like looking at the Mid Journey. I'm like, Slava, do you need to talk? Are you okay, bro? You having trouble over there? Because all these photos are like super sexy Shalon after she was shipwrecked.

like half clothed, do you want me to show them to the audience?

You can do whatever you want, but here's the thing. It's more than just sexy pictures of Shallan. There are thirst traps. I had to put in prompts that literally covered her up. Fully clothed, conservative dress, no cleavage. Finally, they gave me a picture of Shallan on some rocks that resemble something that might look like her. It took like seven prompts to get there because mid-journey was just giving me thirst traps. This is clearly not what I asked for.

Jonathan (01:32:09.272)
Make her more homeless.

Jonathan (01:32:26.594)
I don't know, I read the prompts that kind of looked like what he asked for,

Well, why don't you tell them what your wife thought when she opened up mid journey, because we all share one account. She sees these pictures of a Buxom woman with her cleavage hanging out and, and one of them, has leather gloves for some reason, like workers gloves. She has leather gloves.

I'm just surprised that Slava didn't blame like, well, it's the amalgamation of the algorithm of all the other young boys who are putting their prompts in to lead to this moment.

I think it's obvious. Cause if you look at a lot of the mid journey portfolios, pictures that come out, illustrations that come out, and then you could view other people who have posted publicly. And all of them that include women, all of them, a lot of them that include women are all tear straps. If you read the prompts for some of these, none of them are, you know, pornographic or sexy or anything. One example is a woman in a coffee shop drinking coffee for some reason she's half naked. I'm like, how, what?

That's not, that's not what happens in real life. Anyway.

Jonathan (01:33:31.438)
Young woman with bright red hair in a full blue dress that covers her whole body and a leather glove on only one hand of her hands sitting under the edge of a large dark chasm. She has a leather satchel, an illustration in the style of high and dark fantasy. That was his final prompt, folks. Let's go back to his first prompt. I wish that we could just show you. These were. So his first prompt was again, like he said, less descriptive.

a young woman with bright red hair in a blue dress in a leather glove on one hand sitting and yep, the first four photos, she's just got, she's got her chels hanging out. You know, her hair is kind of a tizzy and I was pulling up the mid journey and my wife is like, what are you doing? Like this is not my fault. Then, then I had to like cover up Slava's angsty teenage boy prompts here to save my own butt. And they only got more sexy.

as he started to change it as a young woman in a bright red dress, in a conservative blue dress, still got her chals hanging out, wearing a lot of the glove on one hand, sits under the edge of a dark asm, blah, blah. Slava just doesn't know how to mid-journey well. This one, she's just fully coming out of the corset. Her mid-journey being like, hey, we don't allow nudity on here. It's like, but we'll get pretty close. We can go on to the next chapter. I just wanted to share that with the audience. Jessica Rabbit, that's what I was trying to say earlier. Looks like Jessica Rabbit. If you know, know.

Yeah, some of them are.

Slava (01:34:52.814)
The next chapter.

Slava (01:34:56.588)
Yes, yes, exactly. Well, the next chapter is Ashes, chapter 21, and it is the final chapter for this episode of SideQuest. We're still with Shalon, and Shalon is offering a prayer for Bluth, who died fighting the bandits, though the bandits end up being defeated. Shalon speaks to the caravan owner, Makkab, and his guard. Ten, Shalon explains that she got the deserters to work.

her and ask the caravan to accompany them to the Shattered Plains. Makup agrees. Vatha forcefully confronts Shalan and asks why she doesn't look majestic anymore, and Shalan dissembles about his conscience tricking him. Shalan tries to reassure Vatha that she will protect him from prosecution for desertion, but he does not believe her, and Pattern tricks Vatha into letting Shalan go. Flockov

confronts Shalan with a conspiracy theory about Bluth being a bandit, but Shalan's disproves it and demands that the non-parshman slaves in compensation for saving his life. So she wants them as payment. Yep, Shalan frees the slaves, but offers to hire them as servants. Shalan watches as one of the women from the caravan offers a paper prayer with a glyph of thanks written on it to the one-eyed deserter.

who accepts it and burns it as the rest of the caravan observe. And who is this one I desert?

The slimy Gaz who was in charge of Bridge 4 stealing Kaladin's spheres. we are coming up, like Shalana's getting closer to the Shattered Plains because they left recently. She's almost there. Can she fulfill her promises? Because she doesn't have any money.

Slava (01:36:31.096)
There

Slava (01:36:46.488)
But as I expected, she does fulfill her promises. We'll talk about it in the coming chapters, but she's able to do right by these people.

Yes, she is. What do you think about this chapter? Did anything stand out here?

Her confrontation with Vatha, her being able to stand her ground, yes, Pattern had to help her, but her being able to stand her ground, I think that's just part and parcel of Shalon's personality. Having the father that she had and the life that she's lived, I think Vatha wasn't that big of a challenge for her. Despite her being scared and obviously distressed by the situation, she was able to handle it pretty well and she succeeded. Yeah.

But again, this is the character that is my character. like her, so I'm following her.

You like her a lot, regularly spinning up mid-journey prompts based on what she looks like. Yeah, we know, we all, understand. I don't think your wife has seen our mid-journey. That's not the response that I got.

Slava (01:37:39.054)
I showed it to her she laughed really hard okay. Well, that's maybe because I didn't try to hide them from my wife and something like hey you want to something funny?

I didn't know they were going to be there. I needed to get back on mid journey to do work. And then I pulled it up and she's looking over she's like, what are you doing? working? It's not really, doesn't really look like work. I'm marketing things. Yeah, I'm sure. But what I was going to say is after this time with pattern, basically, you know, chirping at Vatha as almost like a Yak back. Do you remember Yak backs? Like the nineties is like a little quarter.

Yeah, yeah, actually I do.

That's what I think of when I think of Pattern doing this little trick where he like speaks on someone else's behalf in their same voice. I wish that this happened more often, not just with Pattern, but with other people's spren, because I think it's a really great distraction technique. Like, hey, go do this. And then they do that. It doesn't actually happen as much in the story as I think it could have. But granted, like good storytellers don't reuse the same thing until it's become the legend or what's the phrase you use? Belabored.

Slava (01:38:49.986)
Before we end, let's do a quick side quest. If you could bring back one of the Knights Radiance today, which order would be most useful to you? The Radiance each had a unique ability, edge dancer, skybreakers, etc. More pointedly, which surge would be most valuable? Regrowth, gravitation, oaths of law and justice?

I think an easy answer is regrowth and healing as a valuable one in society, because that would be an absolute game changer. But if I could bring one back, well, I really like Windrunners. That's fun. But I'm kind of debating between Stonewards and Windrunners. Stonewards, haven't encountered yet. I think this is a question we should come back to in the future as well.

Out of the ones we met, which one do you like?

Okay, of the ones we've met, then I'm going to go with Windrunners so far. Although because of Nail, we have met a Skybreaker, although we don't know what his powers are. So we've met Skybreakers and Lightweavers and Windrunners and Lyft, who you've spoken about, but I don't recall us meeting yet in book two here, Edge Dancers. And this is just all that we know about currently. Well, there's also Yasta, who we don't know what she is yet because she died.

but she had a had a spren which we'll find out about later so I'm gonna go with windrunners flying through the sky sounds like a good old time same

Slava (01:40:22.818)
Out of the ones we've met, because I know some of the other ones because I researched them a little bit. So out of the ones we've met so far, I would have to say Windrunners. Although the dust bringers also sound fun.

Yes, they do sound fun. We haven't met a whole lot of them. That's going to be the back half of the Stormlight Archives. And actually, I was misspeaking. It wasn't Stonewards, it was Bondsmiths that I would maybe bring back. Anyway, that is the show for today, folks. We will return next time where we discuss more chapters from Roshar, looking at chapters 22 through 34. 13 more chapters.

We're calling it part three of Words of Radiance. As always, be sure to drop us a line in the comments with where you're at in the Stormlight world or what you found interesting in today's episode or the Cosmere in general. If you've got little hints and tips and fun, quirky things that we haven't known about, like we would love to hear them.

Thank you for joining us today on this SideQuest. Be sure to share this episode and others with your fellow book lovers. Join the conversation on Instagram and YouTube, and we'll see you next time.