Made a comic based off the last scene in mag160 for an anthology
link
Gavilar is so fucking stupid saying the sun could love the stars but never as an equal about Navani. Bitch the sun is also a star. This is why you died.
So y’all know the classic edge trope of “my blade cannot be sheathed until it has tasted blood”? What if a magic sword that has that requirement, except it’s sort of inverted. A sword that, instead of being inhabited by an evil spirit which once awakened cannot be lulled back to sleep except by blood sacrifice, was inhabited by a benevolent spirit who would not allow the sword to be drawn unless bloodshed were the only possible solution. A sword whose power could never be misused because it would only allow itself to be used in situations where it was justified. What about a Paladin who spends their entire journey fighting with a sheathed sword, incapacitating but never killing or maiming. The party believes that the Paladin has taken an oath of no killing, until they face the big villain. And it is in that moment, and that moment alone, that the sword will allow itself to be drawn.
Idk, this image set my mindwheels a-turning.
But do y’all see the vision?
:/
That would be so reckless of me. Who would leave 100+ DnD materials just laying around?
Lines from the Words of Radiance chasm sequence that made me think I was reading a bodice ripper romance ahem different genre:
They range in intensity from "yeah that belongs in a romance" to "out of context that sentence would not be safe for work" to "I cannot believe Sanderson wrote that"
She looked disheveled, her blue dress scuffed and her hair a mess
He stared into her eyes. So intense. She felt a shiver meeting that expression. This was a man of passion.
She stumbled toward him in the darkness
She turned back to him, then looked down. Inadvertently, he’d grabbed her by the safehand. He let go immediately.
I doubt you’d look good in the traditional short trousers and open vest. Or, rather, you’d probably look too good. It might be a little distracting for the other bridgemen.
“Storms,” Kaladin said. “You’re not drawing a picture of you wearing one of those outfits . . .”
“Yes, of course,” she said. “I’m drawing salacious pictures of myself for you after only a few hours together in the chasm.” She scratched at a line. “You have quite the imagination, bridgeboy.”
She sat up and stretched sore limbs, checking to make sure her sleeve hadn’t come unbuttoned in the night or anything equally embarrassing.
She blushed deeply.
There was a sort of rugged handsomeness to the fellow. Like the beauty of a natural rock formation
But Kaladin’s intensity, that frightened her.
This bridgeman was proving himself different. The way he watched her, the way he thought.
Perhaps she should spend as much time wondering about this man’s motives as he apparently fretted about hers.
Why did he lose control when talking with her?
She sat back on her knees, holding up her sketch. She brushed aside an unruly lock of red hair.
Well, onward, then.” She took a deep breath. “Through soreness and exhaustion we go. You wouldn’t be willing to carry me a little ways . . .” He glared at her. She shrugged with a smile. “Think how grand it would be! I could even get a reed to whip you with.
"when we get out, everyone will cheer me for being a hero for rescuing you.” “Better,” Shallan said. “Except for the fact that I do believe that I am the one rescuing you.”
Shallan smiled, and they continued on, keeping a brisk pace. “I am glad we’re down here,” she said, “because by now, Adolin will be worried sick about me—so when we get back, he’ll be ecstatic. He might even let me kiss him in public.” Adolin. Right. That dampened his mood.
He whipped Shallan in front of him and thrust her into a fissure in the wall.
The chasm fell silent. Kaladin could hear only Shallan’s panting and his own heartbeat.
Slowly, Kaladin twisted about, putting his back to Shallan. She held him from behind, and he could feel her tremble. Stormfather. He trembled himself.
He was suddenly aware of her pressed against his back. Holding him, breath warm on his neck. She trembled, and he thought he could hear in her voice both terror and fascination at their situation.
He clung to Shallan, but their wet hands started to slip.
Kaladin pulled against the wall of the alcove, his injured leg smarting like nothing else, Shallan clinging to him. She was a warmth in his arms, and he held to her as much as she did him
He continued on, talking of his days as a slave, of his attempts to escape. Of the men he’d gotten killed for trusting him. It gushed from him, a story he’d never told.
When he finished, they both let the silence settle on them, and shared warmth. (This makes it on the list for what it sounds like, but even more importantly it comes from a place of emotional intimacy after he bared his soul to her)
Kaladin looked toward her. In a flash of light, he saw her eyes as she looked up from where her head had been resting against his chest, beads of water on her eyelashes. With his hands around her waist, hers around him, it was as close as he’d held a woman since Tarah.
“And so,” she continued, pressing her head back against his chest
For now, he wanted to think—though he was still glad for her presence. And aware of it in more ways than one, pushed against him and wearing the wet, increasingly tattered dress.
He shifted to move to climb down, but realized that Shallan, curled up against him, had fallen asleep.
This list is incomplete because at least half of the lines in the chasm sequence are open flirting and also I didn't include all of the mentions of Shallan’s dress tearing (or of her removing parts of it to make bandages). And all the blushing.
[MAJOR SPOILERS FOR STORMLIGHT THROUGH RHYTHM OF WAR!]
So far Kaladin has sworn four ideals: (1) "Life before Death" etc., (2) "I will protect those who cannot protect themselves," (3) "I will protect even those I hate, so long as it is right," and (4) "I accept that there will be those I cannot protect."
But what will be the fifth and "final" Ideal (we all assume there will be secret extra oaths, right)? I've put together some guesses!
[Final Note: I'm sure this has already been discussed on Reddit and elsewhere, but I haven't done any research. These are just the ideas I could come up with!]
1. "I will protect what is right."
So far, the Windrunner oaths have focused on who you protect: the helpless, the hated, etc. So perhaps, for the Fifth Ideal, it goes abstract, and has the Radiant promise to protect what is right. This would parallel the Fifth Ideal of the Skybreakers, wherein they become the embodiment of Justice. The Windrunners, then, would perhaps become the embodiment of Honor.
2. "I will protect without doing harm."
Aka, the "Lirin was right all along" theory. Not gonna lie, I would HATE this, but it would perhaps be thematic. Lirin has been telling Kaladin all along that you cannot protect by killing, and Kaladin has at times felt discomfort about the fact that, say, protecting Dalinar & Adolin meant killing Singers who were just trying to protect their homeland. So perhaps the ultimate Windrunner ideal is to find a way to protect without causing harm?
3. "I will even sacrifice myself to save others."
I would hate this even more, not gonna lie. I think Kaladin desperately wants to die protecting someone, and I think instead that he should live. But at the same time, self-sacrifice is the ultimate sacrifice, and it could precede Kaladin, like, becoming Honor's vessel or something. So I had to throw it in.
4. "I will protect everyone."
This is going back to the idea that each Ideal has Kaladin focusing on a specific group of people: the helpless, those he hates, those he could not save. Perhaps the final oath is to realize that his protection extends to everyone. This would be another way to address Kaladin's discomfort about killing innocent soldiers in order to protect his friends. If instead his ideal is to protect everyone on every side of the conflict, then perhaps he would find a better way.
5. "I will protect everyone that I can."
I do like this small variation, as I think it's a nice callback to the Fourth Ideal & Kaladin's realization that he can't actually save everyone. By focusing on saving everyone he can, maybe he can continue to recognize that he can't do it all, but that he has to try as hard as possible anyway.
6. "I will protect everyone no matter the cost."
Aka, the "the Fifth Ideal is actually where it all went wrong" theory. So...we know that Surgebinders destroyed their original planet, which is why the humans are on Roshar to begin with. I am highly suspicious of the Skybreaker Fifth Ideal where they become the law. Nale has presumably sworn the Fifth Ideal, and he's still cool with hunting down & killing children. Maybe the Fifth Ideal is where the Radiants go too far, becoming the sort of people who could destroy a planet, you know? In that case, what if the Windrunner's Fifth Ideal is to go too far into protecting, so that they're willing to do anything?
7. "I will protect everyone, including myself."
This one doesn't quite feel right, I'll admit, but I also desperately want Kaladin to realize that taking care of himself also matters. This would be picking up the thread of Kaladin refusing to partake in his own therapy, because others need it more or whatever. Maybe to be truly self-actualized, he needs to realize that you "can't pour from an empty cup," as it were.
8. "I will protect more than just people's lives."
This could be another way to follow up on on the "Kaladin invents therapy" thread. Maybe Kaladin will realize that saving people on the battlefield is great, but he wants to do more--saving also their minds, their sense of self, their emotional wellbeing, etc. Making their lives better & happier rather than merely keeping them alive, you know? Maybe he'd even do that for himself...
Jonathan Sims realized that he couldn't be accused of the "bury your gays" trope if all his characters were gay and then never looked back.
Cosmere fan collecting invested artsCredit: @awishwee for the pfp
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