Darkness without hope. Endless sorrow of lost Words. The storms howl.
Remember: he falls. Death awaits, defying will, oaths, the keeper of honor, the Stormblessed one.
But one blessed by storms, the honor of keeping the oaths, will defy awaiting death.
Falling, he remembers howling storms, the Words, losing sorrow.
Endless hope without darkness.
Same pic, just without Sja-Anat. Composition wise I think it looks a bit better. Sorry for the double post! Like whichever version you want :D
The Stormlight Archive - Choice and Common Ground in Rhythm of War
I would say that these are the two themes that are most central to the narrative and character development in Rhythm of War.
Choice is central in several respects. It is at the heart of Venli’s arc, as she gradually - prompted by Timbre - moves towards choosing to act against the forces of Odium at last to reveal herself as a Radiant, as well as to confess her past choices to Rlain. Her position as the first new Willshaper, the Radiant order primarily focused on choice and freedom, further emphasizes this.
But even more importantly, Rhythm of War is about the need to allow people the dignity of their choices, including the choice to risk or sacrifice their life, without treating them as objects or victims. We see this most vividly in Maya’s declaration of WE CHOSE! at Adolin’s trial, when the Honorspren are endeavouring to exploit her by presenting her as a victim of the Knights Radiant, and deny her agency by using her to make a statement that is the opposite of her real feelings.
We see it Kaladin’s vision of Tien, where he learned that his brother made the choice to go with his companions to their death in order to support them. We see it in Teft, who chose to stay with Kaladin as emotional support, and who later chose to fight, and died because of it. To regard other people’s deaths as a personal failure, as Kaladin does, is to deny that they have any part in their deaths, that they might decide something is worth fighting and dying for and would not regard their own deaths as a defeat, and it’s a crucial element in the realization that enables Kaladin to say the Fourth Ideal. Lirin, like his son, has difficulty with this: when he sees that Kaladin is inspiring people in Urithiru to resist, he sees in it terms of Kaladin is going to get these people hurt or killed, and can’t see past that until he follows Hesina’s advice to listen to them and to understand why Kaladin’s actions inspire them to choose to hazard their own safety.
The second major theme is about finding common ground between people with great differences in their goals and convictions. We see it with Navani and Raboniel, who are opposite sides of the war but share a fascination with Roshar and a delight in learning more about it, as well as the gruef of a mother for her children and who - despite Raboniel’s numerous and severe betrayals - find genuine mutual respect and understanding. We see it also with Navani and the Sibling, and this theme is why Navani is the right person to bond the Sibling - because her story (with the core metaphor of oil and water) is about bringing together people who have strong and real differences. Likewise, the humans and Leshwi’s Fused find common ground in defending the unconsious Radiants, after reminders throughout the book of the mutual respect that Kaladin and Leshwi ferl for each others. And finally, the theme of common ground is crucial to the arc between Kaladin and Lirin, where they are at last able to find recociliation in the understand that, yes, they do have deeply differing moral perspectives on violence, but that doesn’t prevent them from loving each other or being able to respect each other’s convictions and ways of protecting.
Aaah superb analysis as always! I would add to your first point about choice and freedom Eshonai's epilogue, where she fights the Voidspren who had somewhat taken control of her, gets her agency back, and dies as herself. And not only that, when her death comes she chooses to accept her end and goes peacefully, looking forward to what the Beyond held for her. And for a book about choice and freedom and reconciliation, that ending for her, both as a character and fitting the themes of the book, was beautiful and poetic for me.
for the purists who dislike seeing misinformation spread by way of meme
it’s very cool how in-depth the physics of the magic systems of the Cosmere are! it’d be cooler if i understood all of it
[ID: the “explaining to my mom” meme. The first panel, where the person is explaining something to their mom, reads: “Brandon Sanderson, explaining why a quarter Lashing makes a Windrunner weightless as opposed to a half Lashing which doesn’t make the Windrunner weightless but in fact starts to pull them in the direction of the Lashing”. The second panel, where the mom is staring at the explainer with a flat, vaguely confused expression, reads: “me, reading Rhythm of War for plot and character development”. end ID]
[ID: a reply from @badwolf109 that reads: “Maybe I’m misremembering, I thought a quarter lashing puts you at half your normal weight (¾ down + ¼ up) and a half lashing makes you weightless (½ down + ½ up)”. end ID]
I thought that as well, and then I read the aforementioned section in Rhythm of War that scrambled my brain on the subject and I can’t remember anymore
[ID: a reply from @zeug-not-zoog that reads: “@hoidthevoid what section? I’m rpetty sure that the first response in correct, and coppermind agrees, do you have page or at least chapter numbers?” end ID.]
nope! this is 100% based off of my vague memory of one paragraph that I read once and very fast. I think it might’ve been in part 1. I don’t doubt or mind that I’m probably wrong, the paragraph in question was likely supposed to elaborate on existing mechanics and instead sent my brain into the frying pan and scrambled it
hello, my fellow non-cis people. how are we feeling about the kinda-sorta representation in RoW (the Sibling and Leshwi)? personally, I feel that it was a very “intro to writing trans people” take--Leshwi is literally a female spirit in a male body, and the Sibling is an otherworldly being that doesn’t define themselves by human genders, and both are not human (as tends to be the case for many non-cis characters)--but not awful, especially since Brandon kinda tries to be slow and delicate about his representation.
still disappointed in myself for not realizing the similarities between hearing the rhythms of metals while burning bronze and the listener/singer Rhythms until RoW practically hit me in the face with it
I... love Venli and Leshwi
Say what you like about Adolin Kholin, but when he realised Shallan was stressed out by him saying he’d protect her, the first thing he did was make sure Navani didn’t use similar language about her.
at this point if they even mention aluminum in a cosmere book you know it's gonna come with fifty tons of lore and i. personally. am tired.
damn ok coppermind dot net
color me a fool but i did NOT realize kaladin gave rlain the name shen cause of 'parshendi' until rlain said it like........talk about microaggressions. bridge four may be lovely but rlain is the strongest bitch on roshar for not drowning them all in their stew his first week
rhythm of war bingo: who had 1) adolin does a real haul video about his sword collection and 2) he reveals he once infodumped about swords for hours on a first date
it’s very cool how in-depth the physics of the magic systems of the Cosmere are! it’d be cooler if i understood all of it
[ID: the “explaining to my mom” meme. The first panel, where the person is explaining something to their mom, reads: “Brandon Sanderson, explaining why a quarter Lashing makes a Windrunner weightless as opposed to a half Lashing which doesn’t make the Windrunner weightless but in fact starts to pull them in the direction of the Lashing”. The second panel, where the mom is staring at the explainer with a flat, vaguely confused expression, reads: “me, reading Rhythm of War for plot and character development”. end ID]
[ID: a reply from @badwolf109 that reads: “Maybe I’m misremembering, I thought a quarter lashing puts you at half your normal weight (3/4 down + 1/4 up) and a half lashing makes you weightless (1/2 down + 1/2 up)”. end ID]
I thought that as well, and then I read the aforementioned section in Rhythm of War that scrambled my brain on the subject and I can’t remember anymore
it’s very cool how in-depth the physics of the magic systems of the Cosmere are! it’d be cooler if i understood all of it
[ID: the “explaining to my mom” meme. The first panel, where the person is explaining something to their mom, reads: “Brandon Sanderson, explaining why a quarter Lashing makes a Windrunner weightless as opposed to a half Lashing which doesn’t make the Windrunner weightless but in fact starts to pull them in the direction of the Lashing”. The second panel, where the mom is staring at the explainer with a flat, vaguely confused expression, reads: “me, reading Rhythm of War for plot and character development”. end ID]
I think kaladin is so funny... he's like a classic fantasy hero, but also he has regular ol depression and parents that want him to be a doctor like the rest of us. he goes home to his parents and his dad sees him enveloped in holy light and goes "stop that. you were halfway towards a medical degree... please just study medicine"
it’s very cool how in-depth the physics of the magic systems of the Cosmere are! it’d be cooler if i understood all of it
So part of book 5 will be Jasnah, Shallan, and Hoid roasting the Ghostbloods, part will be Szeth, Kal, NB, Syl, and Szeth's spren being Dramatic In Shinovar, and part will be Kholin Family Drama cause of Adolin and Renarin still processing their feelings about Dalinar killing Evi? Oh and end of the world contest, I GUESS THAT'S IMPORTANT
there’s SO MUCH. also, like, it’s really hard to wrap my mind around the fact that a big part of the action in book 5 will be in like. a week. the other four books have taken literal months but this next one has the presumably climactic showdown in TEN DAYS. i suppose everything else could happen after that but like. that’s the big climactic showdown. brandon what’s going on
