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Oathbringer
Brandon Sanderson
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OB: Part Three: Defying Truth, Loving Truth (Chapters 58-87)
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Shallan – She had the mental breakdown that seemed to obviously be coming. How will she recover from this? Why is that unmade talking to her from the mirror? But I always enjoy scenes where Hoid shows up. Dalinar – Finally makes a breakthrough with the Azish and Thaylen. Uses his magic to mend stone (with his spren hinting he can bond more than that). But his flashbacks were astonishingly tragic. The next set of flashbacks is going to be pretty grim, I expect.
Kaladin/Elhokar/Adolin – These three made a great team during their mission in Kholinar. Sure Adolin is a bit conceited but it’s hard not to like him. It’s too bad about Elhokar, he was showing a lot of promise in this part. Kaladin even thought he might swear some ideals just before he got stabbed.
Moash/Azure – I guess Moash got his revenge. What will he do now? Azure is obviously special with her secrets and having that ‘odd’ shardblade (as if she’s not from Roshar). But at the end Adolin sees a spren (the third one with scratched out eyes). Kind of seems like a normal Radiant too.
The spren in the mirror is Sja-anat, one of the Unmade. She is mentioned in one of Dalinar's Highstorm visions in Words of Radiance. It's the one where they're at the Purelake, and a thunderclast shows up. One of Dalinar's companions in the vision tells him to be on the lookout for spren that are behaving strangely, as this is a sign that they have been touched by Sja-anat.It sounds like she wants to defect. She says, "Ask my son. Please," when she is trying to convince Shallan that she is not an enemy. It sounds like she expects Shallan to know who that is. My immediate thought was that Renarin's spren must be who that refers to.
Granted, the illustration on pg 752 (US hardcover) features text claiming that she considers all of the spren that she corrupts to be "her beloved children," but it really seems like she specifically expects Shallan to understand who this "son" is. Renarin's weirdness and allegedly voidish ability to see the future has long been a subject of speculation, and this seems a likely explanation.
At first I thought that Azure might be a Herald, but she seems to actually be Vivenna from Warbreaker. Her sword kills like Nightblood, and she fights with her cloak draped around her arm, which would be really strange, if she weren't using Awakening. For those who don't know what I'm talking about, read Warbreaker. Even though it is a standalone novel, it was written as a prequel of sorts to The Stormlight Archive.
Elhokar was definitely speaking the oaths. Moash intentionally leaves his spear in the king's head until he stops glowing, to be sure that he couldn't heal: "He held the weapon in place, carefully waiting until the fledgling glow around the kind faded and flickered out" (pg 819). I was kind of hoping this would be a fake-out death, and he would heal and come back later, but that passage seems specifically designed to assure us that this is not the case, here.
Mod
I'm a bit surprised Sanderson killed off Elhokar. He's a secondary character, but still pretty important. Moash finally got to kill him too.
I wonder what will become of everyone left behind. It appears only the 4 of them were transported. I'm especially interested in the fate of the two from Bridge 4. Presumably without Kaladin there they are powerless again.
One of the most interesting epigraphs in this section talked about getting shard plate after swearing the 4th oath.
All these flashbacks of Dalinar make him much harder to like. Did losing his memories make him a better man? Or was that just age/wisdom? What will the return of his memories mean for him moving forward?
Mod
I having a terrible memory don't recall Vivenna at all. We should probably put any Warbringer details in spoiler tags though, because I don't want to assume anyone who wanders into these threads have read it.
Mod
I'd love to do that before each book, but I read way too slowly for that.
Do you remember her ability to (view spoiler)Edit: Sorry, that is the first I mentioned (view spoiler). As context suggests, she is another of the (view spoiler)
Also, to anyone who missed it, all of these spoilers are for Warbreaker. If you've already read it (or plan to never read it, for some reason), click away.
Rob wrote: "One of the most interesting epigraphs in this section talked about getting shard plate after swearing the 4th oath"Yep. That's exciting to think that might happen soon. Jasnah asks Shallan if she has her plate (in part 2). I wonder if Jasnah has her plate? I wish we got more from her.
Daniel wrote: "Moash intentionally leaves his spear in the king's head until he stops glowing, to be sure that he couldn't heal: "He held the weapon in place, carefully waiting until the fledgling glow around the kind faded and flickered out""
I figured Elhokar was definitely dead, but thats a great quote that I didn't pick up on.
Mod
Please keep all discussion and speculation to the events up to and including Chapters 58-87.
No spoiler tags required. Though it would be highly appreciated if you Uncheck Add to my Update Feed to avoid accidentally spoiling things for your good read friends.
Please do not discuss events from later sections/books. Referring back to events from a previous section/book is fine.