The Way of Kings: Re-read

[Aduiavas Ida]

10 books really?

So very un-Sanderson like

 

[Eluial Aldaran]

Haha, yeah. He said he plans on writing the first 5, taking a break to do another one of the mistborn trilogies, and then write the last 5. The way he said it made it sound like there was a natural break point between the first 5 and last 5.

 

[Aduiavas Ida]

:eek
Well, then at least we will have stuff to look forward too

 

[Arecias Dezell]

And stop posting sooooo much...I think I might finally be able to start reading in a week or so and there's already four pages of discussion to read too!

Megana! I would almost feel bad for you, if you didn't move to Hawaii!

Rock's real name reminds of a Hawaiian fish I've watched snorkeling there, the humuhumunukunukuapua'a . I had to memorize that after I learned its name.

 

[Deiria Sha'Veer]

Ysterday I found something that might give us a better clue about how the Voidbringers, Parshendi, parshmen, chasmfiends et co are related to each other:

Chapter 36 the quote before the actual chapter (bolding mine):

It could mean there are voidish creatures that are not mortal, and that there are different voidish "races". Do we actually know if the Parshendi die of old age? (Obviously they die in the battle). What do you all make of this? I'm also starting to think that spren are somehow connected to the highstorms too. Could they also be voidish creatures - they are not mortal in any case. And there are no spren and no highstorms in Shinovar, for example.

I was always curious why Parshmen are allowed to take care of their dead people in secrecy. Alehti thinks they just leave them on the rock in the forrest, but what do they really do with them?? Revive them??

I also have a wild idea that they have a gemheart and that is why parshmen are very protective over their dead people. That is the secret Alethi must not ever hear about.

But do parshendi have a gemheart? And why didn't Kaladin notice it when cutting parshendi bodies. Maybe heart is deeper hidden. Anatomy is different from humans. Or maybe they just install gemheart to dead parshmen which revives them as parshendi and wearing gems makes them just more live and stronger?

PS. I finished the book several days ago, just could not stop when I started... *doh*

 

[Taika Vinh]

That's really an interesting thought about the gemheart, Deiria!

Last night I read about how Gavilar had perceived the Parshmen when he first discovered them. There was something about the song (they sing when they fight too), and how they everybody were singing the same song exactly the same time even if they weren't hearing one another. There's definitely more to the singing.

Some interesting quotes from the beginning of chapters. I think they are Jasnah's notes about old fragments of texts about Voidbringers.

Ch38:

Born from the darkness, they bear its taint still, marked upon their bodies [marbled skin?] much as the fire marks their souls.

Ch40

Death upon the lips. [?] Sound upon the air. [singing?] Char upon the skin. [the marbled skin]

 

[Taika Vinh]

About Soulcasting, Chapter 48:

Did a goblet, of all things, have a soul? - - She'd taken the light from the sphere and given it to the goblet - the spren of the goblet - as a bribe to transform. Was that how Soulcasting worked? [Shallan]

Looks like we've been on the right track about real "souls" in soulcasting. The way it seemed was that the soul didn't transform, but remained the same, only moving from a place - the goblet - to another - the blood.

 

[Arecias Dezell]

Nice finds Taika Sedai! I'm really enjoying the re-read

I've been thinking about the Cosmere and the Parshendi, and it seems like there are some similarities to the Koloss in Mistborn. They both have an odd skin type, they both are very private about their dead. Is the singing a type of Soothing? The Koloss could be controlled by Soothing, maybe the Parshendi can be controlled somehow? It's just a thought I wanted to put out there, though the limb may have broke off on me :P

 

[Aduiavas Ida]

I think it is rather the other way around, the Parshendi are singing, while the parshmen do not (I think?)

 

[Eluial Aldaran]

Nice finds Taika Sedai! I'm really enjoying the re-read

I've been thinking about the Cosmere and the Parshendi, and it seems like there are some similarities to the Koloss in Mistborn. They both have an odd skin type, they both are very private about their dead. Is the singing a type of Soothing? The Koloss could be controlled by Soothing, maybe the Parshendi can be controlled somehow? It's just a thought I wanted to put out there, though the limb may have broke off on me :P

Not sure why you'd have your limb broken off for an idea...

But it's an interesting thought. I don't know that it would actually be Soothing, but there definitely ARE similarities between the systems of magic between the worlds in the cosmere.

the Parshendi are singing, while the parshmen do not (I think?)

That's correct. While the Parshmen are capable of speech, they almost never talk (that we know of).

So I took a bit of a break and read Alloy of Law to let some people catch up in here, but I'm going back to Way of Kings full force now. *wiggles in excitement at getting new ideas*

 

[Taika Vinh]

I think the Parshendi singing is their way of thinking and/or communicating - in the battles they change the song according to what kind of tactics they are using. I think they could have a group-consciousness of some sort. They are always described to sing the same song at the same time (the word I'm searching is sort of like unison, but musically that would be wrong I think - they do sing in parts, iirc, but still together. Like a choir, even if they are so far apart that they wouldn't be able to hear each other).

My theory about the parshmen - Parshendi difference is that parshmen are somehow unfinished Parshendi. They would need something or somebody to do something to them in what ever is the place where the Parshendi live in the Shattered plains to become "full" Parshendi. Or something. In Kaladin's vision about riding the storm (Chapter 46) he notices that there really is a pattern to the Shattered Plains:

"as if something very large had hit them at the center, sending rippling breaks outward"

- and I think he also saw the place where the Parshendi live:

"There was a large plateau at the center, but with the darkness and the distance, he could not see much. There were lights, though. Someone lived there."

Or the Parshmen could be a receiver of sorts, or some kind of spying device in the middle of Alethi (and other human) communities. Specially if they have a group-consciousness, as I think they do.

 

[Deiria Sha'Veer]

I thinks its very plausable theory about Parshmen/Parshendi. I have had similat thoughts... There are several hints in the book the disaster to come with Parshmen. Don't have the book here to root them out, but at least I got that feeling very early, even when reading it first time

 

[Arecias Dezell]

Those things mentioned about the Parshedi seem right. I wonder if they are acting from their own free will or are being advanced or controlled by someone else.

 

[Taika Vinh]

I finished last night. And yes, Jasnah says straight out that she fears some sort of disaster to come with the parshmen. I didn't read the soulcasting explanations at the end of the book (was up too late) but will read them later.

Anyway, the Sadeas betrayal still makes me mad and sad! I think I hate the typical Alethi way of thinking.
Eager to find out more about the Wit, the Odium, the Ghostbloods. And looking forward to seeing them all in the Shattered Plains, since Jasnah & Shallan, and Szeth are going to travel there.

I had forgotten the final vision of Dalinar. Kind of awkward, forgetting such a big revelation.

 

[Deiria Sha'Veer]

Yes, Jasnah says that aloud in the end and at that point is not the news to the reader

There are 2 samples from book 2 read by BS. One Shallan flashback and other parshendi shardbearer pov. I can post links to the audio-clips.

I have listened Shallan but not the other. I haven't had a quiet moment to do that.

 

[Arecias Dezell]

I really need to read that Parshendi POV. And don't feel bad Taiki Sedai, I'm realizing I forgot so much while I'm reading the book and the comments posted here:P I still got quite a ways to go before I finish, I haven't been able to read as much I normally do the last week or so

 

[Eluial Aldaran]

I've gotten really lazy about taking notes. A couple things that struck me, though:

Who is Teft, really? We know him as one of Kaladin's bridgemen. I can't remember learning anything more about him, but he recognizes Kaladin's Windrunning for what it is (he gives Kaladin infused spheres to heal himself after he was lashed out in the high storm. Teft mentions Invisagers. What are those?

More about Shallan's Memories and her drawing ability. After the scene where Jasnah kills those thugs, Shallan tries to draw the scene to compose her mind and to rid herself of the memory. But she says while the event was happening she was too shocked and scared to take a Memory, so her drawings aren't as crisp and detailed as they usually are. And furthermore, making these drawings doesn't erase the memory of that scene, unlike her other Memories she draws.

Shallan draws something she doesn't mean to while she's not paying attention (not the weird headless spren -- a whole scene).

Shallan froze, realizing for the first time what she'd been drawing. Not another scene from the alleyway, but a lavish room with a thick, ornamented rug and swords on the walls. A long dining table, set with a half-eaten meal.

And a dead man in fine clothing, lying face-first on the floor, blood pooling around him. She jumped back, tossing aside the charcoal, then crumpled up the paper. Shaking, she moved over and sat down on the bed among the pictures. Dropping the crumpled drawing, she raised her fingers to her forehead, feeling the cold sweat there.

Something was wrong with her, with her drawings.

So, my first thought was this was the scene of her father's death (BTW I cannot remember if that's ever confirmed). But her reaction doesn't totally make sense with that. Thinking there's something wrong with her drawings doesn't seem to make sense with drawing a scene she witnessed and was scared by when she's already in a scared state of mind. To me, it makes more sense that she drew a scene she had never actually witnessed, that she was either seeing something that happened somewhere else, or foretelling something that was going to happen.

 

[Raeviendha al'Toma]

I'm so sorry y'all.. I am not even close to where you all are in the book. I wanted to participate, but time to read has been scarce lately. Let me know the next book you plan on reading together and I will try to keep up.

 

[Taika Vinh]

Aw, Raevi.

So, my first thought was this was the scene of her father's death (BTW I cannot remember if that's ever confirmed). But her reaction doesn't totally make sense with that. Thinking there's something wrong with her drawings doesn't seem to make sense with drawing a scene she witnessed and was scared by when she's already in a scared state of mind. To me, it makes more sense that she drew a scene she had never actually witnessed, that she was either seeing something that happened somewhere else, or foretelling something that was going to happen.

Why do you think her reaction doesn't make sense if it's her father's death? I don't remember either if it was confirmed somewhere, but I always thought this was it. I interpreted the why of this drawing to be that it's (her killing her father) something her unconscious mind works on, and thus when she didn't pay attention some of that re-surfaced in the drawing. I might be totally wrong too.

But in any case I'm really looking forward to learning more about that particular death, and Shallan's Memory drawing ability too.

And Teft's past is really intriguing!

About the figure-head spren. Did you all notice that Elhokar can see them too? It was mentioned somewhere just in passing (somebody - Adolin, maybe - was complaining about Elhokar being more and more paranoid, and seeing the things). It probably means that he has the same inborn soulcasting ability as Jasnah and Shallan.

In the end of the book where Jasnah talks about the weird soulcasting spren she mentions (or we learn somewhere) that all the "radiant talents" (Soulcasting and what Kaladin & Szeth do) are done in human-spren pairs. Syl is a honorspren, and she and Kaladin work as a team, and have a companionable relationship. I wonder what kind of spren Szeth has... Do we have any clues? And I also wonder what kind of relationship is possible with the figurehead-spren, does Shallan eventually pick one of them and have a "companion" like Kaladin, or do they remain many, and slightly scary? What about Jasnah? When Shallan tries to prove herself to Jasnah (in the end of the book, after the Soulcaster theft is discovered) she talks with the spren again, and they say they (or it?) need a powerful truth - the bigger and more hidden the stronger the bond. That's were Shallan tells them/it she has murdered her father. Does this mean she now has a permanent bond with those spren (or one of them), what do you think?

 

[Deiria Sha'Veer]

I think her reaction was natural. She is trying to hard forget and hide the happening and is terrified to find out she has drawn it. Maybe the truthspren is affecting her subconsious and rooting out things when she doesn't pay attention?

Yes, Elhokar is definitely seeing the truthspren as well and will start soulcasting in no time As far as I have understood Shallan and Elhocar is on the way to become Knight Radiant (soulcasting). You need to communicate with a spren to be one. Kaladin has Syl (he is becoming KR Windrunner). A spren itself decides when it is visible and to whom. I believe the more Shallan tells truths to the spren it gets more bonded to it and it starts/decides to be visible to her. I have no idea how Jasnah does soulcasting since she doesn't see spren (?).

I believe Memory is unique talent, that has nothing to do with Knight Radiant abilities. It is interesting to see what Shallan can do with it in the future

About Szeth, he says early in the book that he as access to lashing talent differently than KR, so he don't have a spren (at least I think he doesn't have it)