#maya stormlight

[duckngk]

maya today! i need more of her characterrr shes so great

[chill-reading-books]

I really like the continued narrative obfuscation of what Sigzil's and Venli"s plan to save the Shattered Plains will be!! Plans that are hidden like that are SO much more likely narratively to be successful. Even if they appear to be failing at first, it usually turns out to be a ploy 😍

HOWEVER. Now Jasnah is returning tired to Thaylenah and I'm SCARED. Odium/Taravangian is already so competent and worrying 😭 and he's so confident, he surely has a masterful plan!

How on EARTH is Jasnah supposed to defeat him? We don't even know what brilliant stroke(s) he's going to apply to turn the city!! AGGGHHH 😭

So the way things look now, in a kind of meta way, is that the Shattered Plains will be saved by the secret last-minute plan, Thaylen City will fall to Odium by stinking PERSUASION, obviously the other pieces of the Azish empire already defected, but Azimir itself will survive with Maya's last-minute help (thoughhhh Adolin might not get that leg back 😬).

We still don't know what this FREAKING challenge will be, and Dalinar's running out of time to get back to the Physical Realm. Fortunately at least Navani and Gav got out.

SPEAKING OF WHICH

I feel so bad for little Gav 😭. And I don't know what Odium's doing exactly but I'm afraid he's manipulating him as well as torturing him. Poor boy's been through way too much already!! Plus... I recall some fan theories that the challenge would involve Dalinar being pitted against Gav in some way, or Gav being in danger or needing to be hurt in order to win or something 😭😭😭 and that is looking... ah... Rather possible with this setup of him seeing all this and thinking Odium is his dad 😭😭😭. Not looking good rn 😬😬

And then Kaladin's supposed to... save the spren or something?? And Ba-Ado-Mishram is still there, and Shallan and Renarin and Rlain are still on their journey. At least I'm confident Kaladin will succeed in helping Szeth, and maybe he can even get Nale (despite the fact that they're about to duel to the death 💀).

I'm early into Day 9 rn and SO scared.

And there's a whole second arc coming 😭 so there's still a SOLID CHANCE OF A DECIDEDLY UNHAPPY ENDING IN AT LEAST SOME RESPECTS AHHH

[thekinglemingle]

Have I ever discussed my only semi-crack theory that Adolin and Maya are going to form a reverse Nahel bond.

I think Sanderson knows that making Adolin a Radiant would be a mistake. The whole point of his character is that in a family of amazing people, he is just Ken. Similarly RoW stresses the importance of Maya's decision to forsake the original Knight's Radiant. This hurt her deeply, but she still thinks it was the right decision.

It would betray both Adolin and Maya's character arcs to have Adolin become a Radiant with Maya as his spren. But on the other hand, there clearly is a bond between them forming, this was how Maya was able to speak in RoW, and both their character arcs need to go somewhere.

Throughout Stormlight, we are repeatedly shown that this new version of the Knight's Radiant is not falling into the same structures and rules of the old one. Lift uses Cultivation's investiture rather than stormlight. The Skybreakers are no longer allied with the other orders. The Lightspren are bonding Listeners rather than humans. And Renarin demonstrates that Nahel bonds are possible that put you outside the 10 traditional orders.

What do we actually know about the Nahel bond?

The Nahel Bond allows a cognitive being to maintain their mind while manifesting in the physical realm

The Nahel Bond requires cracks in a spirit web, which it fills with the ability to utilise investiture

Has it ever been stated in canon that the bond has to be between a physical being and spren? I think not. In fact while researching this post, I found this WOB, stating that a Spren could bond with another Spren.

There is a tendency to assume that the relationship works in terms of "Spren get anchored in the physical realm and in return humans get surgebinding" but it's not actually reciprocal like that. Neither side is giving these abilities to the other, they are a natural side effect of the bond. Syl can't control when and how Kaladin gets his powers, it's based on how closely their goals are aligned and she can't use them without him. And the hypothetical spren-spren bond demonstrates that giving a human/listener powers is not a requirement of a bond.

My theory is that the bond forming between Adolin and Maya will go in the opposite direction to the ones seen elsewhere in the Cosmere, filling the cracks in a Spren's spirit web rather than a human's. I don't have a clue about what this will mean for the two of them.

Will Maya get new abilities as a result of this? I suspect so

Will they be weird and warped versions of the normal Edgedancer powers in the same way that Renarin has distorted Truthwatcher powers? I expect so

How will this affect Adolin? Not a clue. Though the idea that Maya could summon him as a blade in the cognitive realm is too hilarious not to consider. And there's something oddly fitting in the idea that he loved swords so much he became one.

[diabolicalworldwriter]

Rhythm of war reactions

So. I’m not even halfway through rhythm of war yet, but for once I’m having a big brain that’s probably not as functional as I’ve tricked myself into thinking and I’ve got some crack theories and thoughts to contribute.

crack theory #1. I wonder if sja-anat could help Maya come back to awareness. She’s helped other spren become more sentient, maybe that would help somehow?

crack theory #2. *realizes this really is crack and refuses to put it on the internet where it can be traced to me cuz it is smol brain*

alright so apparently i’ve only got one crack theory i could remember that I’ll ever put anywhere :/

so reactions. 

chapter 25 (devotary of mercy) hit pretty hard. while I don’t have ptsd or battle shock or anything, kaladin’s descriptions of things like suicidal thoughts hit home very hard as they’ve been a thing of my life for a while, particularly these last few years. I’m so glad that Kaladin is working with people he can relate to who need someone to help them in a way only a person who really understands can; this is something I feel is good for him so long as they’re healthy.

chapter 35 (the strength of a soldier): this is one I just finished so idk anything beyond that. Adolin’s fight against the tukari in shadesmar: i just.... asdhawejio oh my gosh i’ma die that was beautiful.... aaaaaaa. and maya??? OH MY GOSH MAYAAAAA!!! AAA that was just... I cannot express. I loved her before and now... *cries in why do i love these characters so much*

Pattern’s hilarious and I love seeing the three working together how they have been. I will probably have to draw a messy sketch of adolin with crossed eyes, a unibrow, a bad jacket and cut off shorts. though I will admit I’m afraid to unleash Veil’s terrors on this world.

those are my main thoughts for now. I’d probly have more but I couldn’t record them in the moment because I was reading to my mom and sister... so. yeah. I’m going to lose my voice this week. My brother says I’m going to cry... we’ll see how numb I am I guess won’t we. idk if i’ll survive tomorrow cuz strict family rules about what we can do on sunday... -_- I wish you all the best and goodbye for now.

[duckngk]

im sorry for neglecting you stormlight fandom. here are some doodle requests from my cosmere insta account, rest assured im still crazy ab stormlight i just havent been able to finish wind and truth yet. i love you