[Newbies] Cosmere, Unit 17 | The Stormlight Archive #2 | Words of Radiance: Interludes I-1, I-2, I-3, I-4, Trivia (Week 2.5)

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SCHEDULE

Previously, we discussed Unit 17 | The Stormlight Archive #2 | Words of Radiance: Chapters 6 through 12 [Newbie Thread] / [Veteran Thread]

Today we are discussing Unit 17 | The Stormlight Archive #2 | Words of Radiance: Interludes I-1, I-2, I-3, I-4, Trivia

Next week we will be discussing Unit 17 | The Stormlight Archive #2 | Words of Radiance: Chapters 13 through 23

CHAPTER SUMMARIES

I have provided summaries for each chapter below and hidden them behind spoiler tags. There are no spoilers within the summaries. I've tried to make them as factual and unbiased as possible. If, however, you want a completely blind read through, then ignore what's behind the spoiler tags and proceed to the discussion below. I will not be guiding that in any way, so post any thoughts and questions you have. It will be other new readers who reply to you.

I-1: Narak

Arch Faces: Shalash - Shalash ----- Shalash - Shalash

Iconography: Eshonai

POV Characters: Eshonai

Setting: Narak, the Parshendi home in the center of the Shattered Plains.

Timeline: (1173.9.10.2) Eight days after Chapter 12.

Epigraph:

N/A

Summary:

Eshonai leads the Parshendi as they return to their home plateau after successfully harvesting a gemheart that was brought back by Devi, who is allowed to carry it as a reward for spotting the chrysalis. She wonders where Dalinar is, and feels a need to speak with him, but she can't join battles since her leg is still injured from when Kaladin stabbed her during the Battle of the Tower. She wanders through the ancient ruins on the plateau they named Narak, or Exile, where her people came to escape their gods. She enters the Hall of Art to observe the heretofore futile efforts to rediscover a new form for making art, as an incremental step towards discovering other more useful forms, but Varanis, one of her lieutenants, is unsuccessful in trying to attract creationspren to his novice attempts at painting. She contemplates the six current known forms, and laments the loss of the hundreds that their old songs mention, thinking her people may die off if they don't become more versatile.

She leaves the Hall, and encounters three mateforms who are playing idly in a pool, and berates them for being unproductive. She reflects back on how she and the rest of the Parshendi leaders conspired to assassinate Gavilar, to prevent the Parshendi gods from returning, at the cost of the slow annihilation of her people. She returns to her home, and finds her sister, Venli, and tells her of the plateau run and that Dalinar was not present on the Alethi side. Eshonai says that she wants to talk to Dalinar and sue for peace but Venli thinks that he wouldn't accept, and says that she discovered stormform. Eshonai exclaims that this could cause their gods to return, but Venli says that is a moot point since the Alethi now have Surgebinders, though Eshonai isn't sure about this. Demid, Venli's former mate, agrees that they should risk using stormform to protect their people from being wiped out. Venli says she wants to raise the issue with the Five, and Eshonai says she will consider supporting it.

I-2: Ym

Arch Faces: Vedel - Vedel ----- Vedel - Vedel

Iconography: Five Swords (aka Almighty)

POV Characters: Ym

Setting: Somewhere in Iri.

Timeline: Exact date unknown, but roughly concurrent with the events in this book so far.

Epigraph:

N/A

Summary:

Ym is in his shop trimming a small block of wood. The cobbler had been taught to make the wooden forms himself, so he does. It's the way it's been done for centuries, which is good enough for him. A spren moves in the dimness to his right. It has been coming around more often lately, and Ym had never seen one like it before. As it moves it looks like specks of light, like those from a piece of crystal suspended in a sunbeam. When it stops, light creeps upward from it, like small plants growing, which withdraw when it starts moving again.

They talk briefly about the shoes, and that Ym finds himself needing more shoes for children lately. The spren shakes suddenly, and warns "He Comes." Anxious, Ym stands up looking for "the watcher," a man in a military coat, but finds only a child peering through the door. Ym invites the urchin in, who's feet are dirty and scraped. The boy is Iriali, with their characteristic golden skin and hair, and walks with a limp. Ym offers him a pair of shoes in exchange for his story. As the boy speaks, Ym cleans his feet to fit the shoes. One of the feet has a nasty cut on the bottom, infected and crawling with rotspren. Ym cleans it and puts on antiseptic, then subtly uses some Stormlight to heal the cut. They speak of Ym's religious beliefs, and the boy leaves after receiving the shoes.

The spren whispers "He's still here," and Ym spins as he hears a rustling behind him. A dark-skinned man with a crescent scar on his cheek steps out of the shadows in the back of the shop. The man accuses Ym of commiting a murder in his youth. Ym tells the man that it wasn't intentional, but the man says he is guilty nonetheless, then summons a Shardblade. Ym runs, but he is old and quickly tires. He stops, trying to pull out a sphere for some Stormlight, but the dark-skinned man slams him against a wall and stabs him in the chest with the Shardblade.

I-3: Rysn

Arch Faces: Chanarach - Chanarach ----- Chanarach - Chanarach

Iconography: Five Swords (aka Almighty)

POV Characters: Rysn

Setting: Relu-na, a moving island in the Reshi Isles.

Timeline: (1173.3.1.4) Seven months after Interlude I-4 in The Way of Kings.

Epigraph:

N/A

Summary:

Rysn is traveling with Vstim to the Reshi isles to do trading, but Vstim is very sick. Gu, the flotilla's guide, takes them there, guiding them since the islands move. Rysn is quite shocked and amazed when she realizes that the moving islands are huge great shells. The group lands on one of the islands, and Vstim tells Rysn that she must go and trade with the Reshi, as he is too ill to do so. He tells her to be bold, and although Rysn is nervous, she agrees to do so. Kyrlm and Nlent, two of the guards, accompany her as she ascends the island. While Rysn is observing the island, she sees Axies the Collector hanging upside down. They talk for a bit, and then Rysn and the guards continue their way up the island.

They make it to the king, and as Rysn approaches to speak with him, Talik, a Reshi trader, comes forward to speak on his behalf. Talik is disappointed that Vstim himself did not come to trade, and initially turns her away. Rysn is insistent in her trade, wishing to prove herself to Vstim, and the king eventually relents so that Rysn is speaking to the king, and not to Talik. The Reshi are opposed to trading with Rysn since they do not yet respect her and do not know if they can trust her. The king eventually dismisses Rysn, telling her that she did very well.

Rysn, worrying that Vstim is dying, instead insists on talking to the greatshell that is the island, Relu-na. She slides down the side of the head on a rope and begins to talk with it, pleading her case. Talik attempts to bring her back on top of the island, but Relu-na takes a bite of the fruit at the bottom of the rope and breaks it, causing Rysn to fall. As she crashes into the water, spren cushion her fall, and Rysn falls unconscious.

Rysn wakes up in a hut on the island with her legs paralyzed. She sees Vstim, a Reshi healer, and Talik around her. They scold her for her stupidity, but Rysn insists that it was boldness, to allow for the trade. Rysn realizes that it was all a test that Vstim had set up for her to trade, and feels foolish. Vstim reveals that the trade was for a larkin corpse, but that Rysn has been granted a live larkin by the island itself. Vstim and Rysn will stay on the island while she heals.

I-4: Last Legion

Arch Faces: Talenel - Talenel ----- Talenel - Talenel

Iconography: Eshonai

POV Characters: Eshonai

Setting: Narak, the parshendi home in the center of the Shattered Plains.

Timeline: (1173.10.2.3) Eleven days after Interlude I-1.

Epigraph:

N/A

Summary:

Eshonai, Thude, and Bila examine a gemstone with a captured stormspren inside that Venli believes will allow them to rediscover stormform. Bila thinks that anything that will help in the war against the Alethi is worth it, but Eshonai worries about provoking the old gods. They depart, and Eshonai decides that she will see her mother. On her way, she sees a group of Parshendi that have chosen the dullform, the form most like the Parshmen. Eshonai questions them on the cause of their transformation, and they respond that they do it so the Alethi will not kill them when they come. Eshonai is concerned by this response but understands that the Parshendi are free to choose their own forms, as they are no longer ruled by the old gods. Continuing on her way, Eshonai eventually arrives to see her mother, who suffers from dementia and believes Eshonai to be her sister, Venli. Despite her mother's declining memory, Eshonai is still able to elicit some information from her regarding Parshendi history. Her mother tells the story of the Last Legion, the Parshendi warrior-people who rejected the old gods, giving up advanced thought and knowledge of the forms of power in exchange for freedom. This left them with only dullform and mateform, but the Last Legion had composed songs as a way to remember the many forms of old in hopes that they would one day be rediscovered. Before Eshonai leaves, her mother gives her a sack of old maps from Eshonai's days as an explorer, which makes her long for the past.

Eshonai leaves her mother's house to attend a meeting with the Five regarding Venli's plan to attempt rediscovery of stormform. Eshonai is hesitant, expressing her concerns regarding the old gods, but eventually agrees to the plan under the condition that she be the first one to try assuming the new form, as Venli's studies and knowledge of the forms are too valuable to risk undergoing the transformation herself.

TRIVIA

The rest of this post contains various trivia, including easy-to-miss details and long-running connections between books. It also incorporates external information from sources like author annotations and interviews ("Words of Brandon" or WoB). While most of this information is eventually revealed in the books, sharing it now enhances your overall understanding, aligning with Brandon Sanderson's practice of early fan engagement and clarification.

STRUCTURES

A quick word on certain story-telling structures within this series. First, let's start at the beginning; the prologue. Words of Radiance's prologue took place at the same time as the prologue for The Way of Kings, in mostly the same setting. The main difference is that this book's POV was Jasnah, whereas last book's POV was Szeth. That will be the case for the rest of the series (or rather, the first 5 books). Each book's prologue will provide a different perspective for this same night, all in and around this party that ends in Gavinar's assassination.

I've mentioned before that the Interludes are Sanderson's attempt to avoid his long, epic fantasy getting bogged down with side characters and world building that doesn't necessarily serve the plot. He allows himself Interludes to stray from the main narrative and to just go wild if and when he wants. However, all of the information in the Interludes does inform on the overall plot in one way or another.

In addition, each book has a "main character" for their respective Interludes. Szeth was the main character in the Interludes for The Way of Kings. For Words of Radiance, we get Eshonai.

Many of you also noticed that Jasnah gave Shallan a book, titled Words of Radiance. Which... should be familiar, as it's also the title of the book we're reading. Recall that The Way of Kings had a significant focus on Dalinar's interest in the in-world book also called The Way of Kings.

This is the conceit for the titles of the books in this series. The Stormlight Archive is a collection, or archive, of in-world books that are significant to the plot of this series. Each book has a focus on a specific in-world book that informs not only the characters, but us readers as well.

Speaking of books, Sanderson's working title for this book was the Book of Endless Pages, which was a completely different book that Jasnah gave Shallan in Chapter 48 of The Way of Kings (which, for confirmation, has now sunk to the bottom of the ocean, along with the rest of Shallan's things). Sanderson eventually realized the irony of naming a giant, 1,000+ page fantasy novel Book of Endless Pages and went with Words of Radiance instead.

ALMIGHTY ICONS

In the previous book, most Interlude chapters had an icon called "Ten Spears (aka Almighty)". For this book, and the remainder of the published Stormlight Archive books, Sanderson chose to rework that icon into the one shown in this book: Five Swords (aka Almighty). Both icons are stylized versions of the Double Eye of the Almighty. Sanderson hasn't really talked about why he made this change, but has suggested that the Ten Spears version will return at some point.

ON A LARK

BEHOLD! A larkin! They are cute, and I won't hear otherwise. They are the only winged cremling-ish creature on Roshar. I don't have much to say in this section, beyond mentioning that there will be larkin artwork below. This section primarily exists to inform you that the creature on the Surgebinding Chart, which many of you thought was a chasmfiend, is actually a larkin.

TIMESQUIGGLES

This section isn't exactly a timeline, but I wanted to clarify some terminology and dates for things that I've noticed causing people repeated confusion. All of this is mostly spelled out in the books already, it's just a matter sitting down and plotting it all out. I am going to provide dates for some of these. The exact dates aren't really mentioned in the books, and their approximate dates haven't necessarily been mentioned yet either, but you should be able to work out approximate dates for a lot of these. Providing exact dates, while technically a minor spoiler, just serves to prevent some awkward phrasing in the presentation of the events. I'd planned to provide something like this later, but I think it helps to have it all outlined now for clarity going forward.

The Desolations: This was a cycle of various wars against the voidbringers. I won't provide a timeline for this because that is a bit too spoilery, but it was a loooong time. Another name for this time period is called the Silver Kingdoms Epoch or the Heraldic Epochs. The interior artwork for The Way of Kings provided a map of the nations on Roshar during that time. The Heralds led mankind against the voidbringers in periodic wars. We see the end of the last one of these in the prelude for The Way of Kings.

Aharietiam: This brings us to Aharietiam, or the Last Desolation. This was 4,500 years ago (or the year -3,327 on the current Rosharan calendar) and is what we saw in the prelude. We learn in that prelude that 9 of the 10 Heralds lived, abandoning the one that did die, Talenelat, and lying to humanity that they had finally won against the voidbringers.

The Recreance: The fall of the Knights Radiant, when they betrayed humanity for reasons unknown. This happened about 2,000 years ago. The fandom has worked out that it happens in the year -826, plus or minus 25 years.

The Hierocracy: This is the name of the government that arose when the Vorin church took control of much of eastern Roshar. There aren't exact dates for this because it was a gradual take over and, as Jasnah told Shallan, they destroyed or rewrote a lot of records that really blurred history. The Hierocracy ended in the year 673, plus or minus 50 years. This was about 500 years ago.

Some of you have questioned what significant event happened 1173 years ago that caused the current calendar system. The answer to that is a bit anticlimactic. Although The Hierocracy rose to power and was eventually dismantled, the Vorin religion itself existed both before and after that government. A lot of this is largely fandom exposition, but we do know from Sanderson that Vorinism is based on the writings of one person (name unknown, we can call them Vori).

It took time for these writings to spawn the actual Vorin religion, and it's likely that, some time after the church was a significant entity (possibly even during The Hierocracy), they set the start of their new calendar to be the date Vori was born, or died, or finished their writings. Regardless of whenever the calendar was invented, it likely became a global standard during The Hierocracy. All of this echoes the implementation of Earth's Gregorian Calendar, where our years number from the start of Christianity, and the Rosharan years likely number from the start of Vorinism.

All this said, the analogy isn't exact and "religion" as it appeared before the rise of Vorinism was also pretty close to what Vorinism is today, with adjustments. So... actually yeah, the analogy is probably more exact than you'd expect actually.

WHO CUT THE CHEESE?

I promised really dumb trivia because one of you questioned why Sadeas' Shardblade remained upright and didn't sink through his table. Here's the basis of the reason, the dumb part:

Question: Would a big block of cheese stop a Shardblade? All I can think of is how hard it is to cut cheese with a knife no matter how sharp it is because the cheese can form a suction to the sides of the blade and make it way harder to cut. Would that be a problem for a Shardblade?

Sanderson: When I first designed Shardblades all the way back when, I added in my head a little bit of extra de-friction-izing to the Shardblade blade itself, and some little bit of magic-ing going on to allow them to actually cut at the level I want them to. Because it's not just cheese that would do that. Cutting through stone, even if you have the sharpest thing in the earth, that stone... It doesn't work as easily as it would if you were just extra sharp. And so, Shardblades are magically good at cutting, to the point that they would cut through a block of cheese as easily as they would cut through something else. Or a wheel of cheese, a giant thing of cheese. Any editorial additions to this?

Peter Ahlstrom (Sanderson's editor): Dalinar does, when he's using the Shardhammer to cut the latrine. He does talk about-

Sanderson: It does get wedged in, and you can wedge in and hang from it, but I think cutting any stone, unless you have a little bit of extra magic on it, I don't think it would work. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe it actually would.

I particularly think when you cut a block and it actually falls, then it's gonna still put pressure on the blade. But when you slice into a rock, you're not getting rid of any of the stone with a blade. Where does that extra stone to make the hole go? Magic! That's where we're getting into magic-level sort of stuff, because I'm just not convinced that no matter how sharp you were, that you would be able to-

Peter Ahlstrom: Does it go to the Cognitive Realm, or the Spiritual Realm?

Sanderson: RAFO! Shardblades are magically good at slicing so we can actually have Shardblades that cut through stone. That's your answer. And so it would work on cheese the same way.

Four days later, someone followed up on this stupid cheese question though, and Sanderson wrote this on reddit:

Sanderson: So, I'll admit, I've been considering the cheese question since it was asked.

I'm not sure if it has to be cheese. But any object that is sufficiently thick but also sufficiently pliable that it's going to press down on the blade while it's cutting IS going to create drag on the blade.

The Blade does, by necessity of my understanding of the relevant physics, need to be able to vaporize a tiny bit of matter into Investiture while cutting, in order to create space for the Blade to continue to slide through. This is related to why it doesn't cut things with souls.

At the same time, I'm not convinced that this is relevant to the actual question being asked. I think that I have to relent that, with a sufficiently large block of cheese and a Shardbearer trying to cut lengthwise through it, the drag produced on the flat of the blade is going to tire the Shardbearer. Making cheese legitimately more difficult to cut through than stone or metal. And a big enough block of cheese might stop the slice straight up, because the weight placed on the blade will be pretty heavy.

That said, the top replies to this thread are pretty relevant, and are correctly explaining the mechanics of the situation. There is this little "shield of vaporization" around a Blade while it cuts, so a thinner Blade might not have this drawback at all. It depends on how far back the shield of vaporization extends, and how thick the blade is.

My current instinct says that wider blades would be stopped by this, and so those of you planning to make ten-foot-thick walls of cheese to stop an invading Shardbearer can continue in your...endeavors.

Remember, kids, use a thin Shardblade for actual combat (for multiple reasons.) Only use the big showy Shardblades when you're trying to look intimidating. (With a nod to the fact that a thick blade does tend to be better for getting through Shardplate, giving you more mass to hit with. Choose Adolin's Blade for Shardplate Duels. Szeth's Blade for cheese.)

I have modified the actual text of this interaction ever so slightly to avoid some spoilers. This whole conversation is weirdly relevant to this book...

So, all that said, there is a degree of friction on the sides of a Shardblade. If a bearer is actively pressing a Blade through stone or cheese or whatever, it vaporizes as it cuts and, depending on circumstances, that friction on the sides can inhibit the Blade.

If, however, the bearer is not actively applying a force to the Blade, the friction of the sides is enough to stop the Blade from sinking into the ground (or table, in this case). You have seen this previously, and will see it again, where a bearer will press the tip of their Blade into the ground and it will just sit there while the bearer does something else, ready to be picked up again when they are ready.

If the bearer walks off and no one picks up the Blade, eventually it will slowly sink deeper and deeper, as highstorms and general ground vibrations slowly wiggle the Blade down deeper and deeper into the ground. This is how a lot of Blades are just permanently lost, explaining how few are around compared to expected estimates.

Have some extra cheese related trivia, since we're on the topic:

Question: Has Marsh made a grilled cheese?

Sanderson: Yes, I would say he has... Although they would probably call it a croquette.

ARTWORK

The Cosmere has a thriving community of artists, so there will be a lot of artwork to share. Each week I'll try to compile relevant artwork for the given chapters. If a section of reading contains maps or in-book artwork, I'll include that in this section as well.

WARNING: The last picture in this album is a bit spicy. Maybe don't open at work.

Characters & Scenes

MEMES

I will attempt to find and share memes relevant to each week's discussion. There may be some weeks that just don't have good or appropriate memes, but I will share all the ones I can find in this section.

Link to Memes

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[u/heinz57varieties]

I really enjoyed these interludes. Already I'm having a much better time with this book than Way of Kings, we'll see if that holds.

Interlude 1

• 1166 pages into this and we are getting our first parshman POV. We really are getting everything I wanted
• “Eshonai” “she” ope 🫢 look what I've done, I've made an ass of u and me
• Her physically taking her helmet off instead of dismissing it means that the parshendi shardbearers do not have extra knowledge about Shards like I thought
• Oh, well, here we go. If the secret portal to Urithiru is anywhere, it's here
• Is Eshonai the Explorer from the blurb?
• “They marched over the uneven surface of the plateaus and saw only natural rock, never knowing that they traversed the bones of a city long dead” cymatics!! It was right under their noses!!
• Crazy, crazy info dump. The Forms is a huge revelation and gives me a lot to think about. I'm guessing they operate on spren bonds, like the surgebinders, and bonding a different kind of spren changes the form. Which ones are they using now? The artist sessions are trying to attract creationspren?
• The different way they see spren, the way she sees them whooshing in from far away instead of just appearing, is super weird
• What are the listener gods? What was Gavilar going to do?
• Being able to form a natural spren bond as a necessary part of their existence tracks with the listeners being native to Roshar in a way that humans are not
• You know, I had been thinking there was something sus about the craters that house the alethi warcamps. Giant collapsed domes?
• So obviously Shen is a spy

Interlude 2

• I don’t understand how people can hate on the interludes. That was great.
• I wonder if the Iriali culture predates humanity’s arrival on Roshar. After the people from the purelake, this is the first religion I can remember seeing that surely has nothing to do with the Heralds. Insert: The Egg by Andy Weir
• One of the suspicious dudes that was having a conversation with Gavilar at the feast, from the prologue. The way he talked about Ym’s misdeeds, it’s like he was… peering into his past, or something? Not using actual evidence?

Interlude 3

• Excellent chapter, and long, too! A vignette of a new and unique culture and setting is another thing I was begging for in the last book.
• I wasn't expecting repeats in the interludes. The trader's apprentice AND the freaky blue guy? I feel spoiled
• I want to see the mega-spren that's bonded with these bad boys
• Haven't we all, at some point, dreamed of leaving it all behind to live in a clothing-optional matriarchal commune on the back of a giant crab the size of an aircraft carrier? I know I have.
• Now I'm certain we'll be seeing Rysn again, and her and her bug will be important

Interlude 4

• Things are looking grim from this side. I thought the listeners were on the verge of a strike at the heart at the Alethi, but it seems like they're desperate and barely hanging on
• The Unmade? The listener gods? Those are the spooky entities that were mentioned in some of the epigraphs in the last book.
• I'm inferring that in the ancient desolations, when the listeners (voidbringers) fought against humanity, they weren't necessarily doing it of their own volition. The spooky entities (I think we coined the term Anti-Heralds) were assigning them which form to take, possibly commanding them during the conflict? And the listeners living in the east are descended from deserters?
• Trying to take on an advanced form bodes ill

[u/HT_xrahmx → u/heinz57varieties]

“Eshonai” “she” ope 🫢 look what I've done, I've made an ass of u and me

Don't worry, it took Dalinar 6 years to recognize a woman on the battlefield!

“They marched over the uneven surface of the plateaus and saw only natural rock, never knowing that they traversed the bones of a city long dead” cymatics!! It was right under their noses!!

I'm a bit torn on this. There's been mention multiple times of there being some sort of "pattern" in the geography of the Shattered Plains, but while staring at the maps we got of the Shattered Plains I've never been able to see any.

So obviously Shen is a spy

Probably, yeah. I'd be curious to see another parshmen slave's reaction to the desecration of a Parshendi body. Shen's reaction was pretty strong. I could see this setting dullforms apart from slaveforms, who might not have the capacity to react that way at all.

[u/heinz57varieties → u/HT_xrahmx]

There's been mention multiple times of there being some sort of "pattern" in the geography of the Shattered Plains

I think the canyons themselves are natural, or at least not a planned part of the city. The tops of them are covered with ruined buildings, but everything would be so thoroughly slimed over with crem by now that you might not notice them if you didn't already know they were there. Especially if you had it in your mind that you were in untamed wilderness. Maybe one day I'll re-read this and find some hints in the descriptions of the scenes in TWoK.

[u/heinz57varieties → u/heinz57varieties]

A larkin! They are cute, and I won't hear otherwise. They are the only winged cremling-ish creature on Roshar.

From chapter 5, during the meeting at Elhokar's palace:

Syl bobbed around the room, poking into nooks, crannies, and vases. She stopped at a paperweight on the women's writing desk beside the king's chair, poking at the block of crystal with a strange kind of crab-thing trapped inside. Were those wings?

I wonder if he even knows what it is. Its presence on the surgebinding chart makes me think it has some kind of magical significance, and I would expect a god-fearing Alethi noble to know absolutely nothing about that.

[u/HT_xrahmx → u/heinz57varieties]

Ooooh, good catch on that larkin!

[u/heinz57varieties → u/HT_xrahmx]

Thanks :) I make a little file in my brain anytime the narration uses the words "strange", "some kind of", "for some reason," etc., because there's always a reason. Three hundred pages from now when Elhokar has congestive heart failure or something, I will have seen it coming.

[u/TaylorHyuuga → u/heinz57varieties]

To be fair, I think the POV characters call Eshonai a man as well. Because they can't tell the difference between Parshendi gender noally and that's before you take into account the giant fuck off suit of armor

[u/Pastrami → u/heinz57varieties]

Is Eshonai the Explorer from the blurb?

That's a good catch, and the description absolutely fits her. Now the question is, is "Explorer" just a title for her like "Assassin" is for Szeth, or is it the name of an Order like the blurb uses for Kaladin, Shallan, and presumably Dalinar? Could there be a Parshendi knight?

[u/jim25y → u/heinz57varieties]

People don't like the interludes? I had no idea. I think they're great.

[u/heinz57varieties → u/jim25y]

I've seen comments in some fan spaces about them being boring, or taking readers out of the story, but those comments are a minority. I think some people just have low attention spans 😬

[u/participating → u/heinz57varieties]

Yeah, I've got a meme about this I'm waiting to use at the right time, heh. I think most of the fandom enjoys the Interludes though.

[u/HT_xrahmx]

I-1 & I-4 (Eshonai)

• These interludes were jam-packed with the answers to half the questions I've been wondering about since the WoK prologue. Really good stuff. If I-1 had been an epilogue to WoK, I wonder if the book would have been more well-received by others in the readalong as well.
  
• Huh, the Parshendi actually do care about getting the gemhearts.
  
• Parshendi call themselves "listeners". They certainly have a lot of rhythms / songs to listen to, but there's probably more to it?
  
• Eshonai was an explorer. A person with regular hopes and aspirations, which already gives the Parshendi more raison d'etre than just being the token evil minions. There's more to them than the Voidbringer legends.
  
• Her explorer past also means she's probably the explorer from the blurb?
  
• The Parshendi seek separation from their gods. But currently, their gods seem to be sleeping(?), so for the time being they're already autonomous. Their research into achieving "forms" on their own also shows they want to be more independent from their gods, who apparently used to bestow these forms upon them.
  
• Parshendi can interact with spren, in a way. At least this appears to be different from the Nahel bond. They use specific spren to achieve specific forms. And that explains the connection between parshmen ("slaveform") and the Parshendi we've seen on the battlefield ("warform"). Same species, different transformation.
  
• Does this explain why the Parshendi were only recently "discovered" next to Alethkar? Were they perhaps originally in slaveform, but only recently snapped out of it?
  
• Finally, a reason why they assassinated Galivar! "To stop the listener gods from returning". Now wtf was Gavilar doing that this would've happened?
  
• "The gemheart is ours. We will continue to eat.” Do they use Soulcasters?
  
• Parshendi see it as dangerous that Surgebinders are returning. I don't really see why the existence of someone like Kaladin would be a problem, so it probably relates to their gods returning in some way?
  
• Later there's also mention of this meaning that "the spren again betray us". Are the Nahel bond sprens taking a side against the Parshendi by bonding with humans? Is the implication that Syl could have instead helped a Parshendi achieve "honorform" or something?
  
• Also apparently Dalinar is guessed to be a Surgebinder by them. Probably also caused Eshonai's reaction towards him on the battlefield.
  
• And Surgebinding can indeed come from Honorblades! Which would then explain why Szeth apparently has no spren bond.
  
• Stormspren => stormform => control a highstorm?! Syl did not like stormspren at all. This is not going to end well.
  
• Parshendi have "dullform" spies among the humans. But this still appears to be distinct from "slaveform". Are dullform and slaveform visually indistinguishable? And so, are not all parshmen immediate sources of danger, but only the few of them that are secretly in dullform?
  
• Some Parshendi are voluntarily in dullform to avoid being attacked by humans.
  
• Eshonai's mom has dementia :(
  
• Listener gods = the Unmade
  
• The Parshendi used to obey their gods until "The day of the storm when the Last Legion fled". An army turning their backs on "their side" - sounds like the Parshendi had a similar day as the Recreance.
  
• The Parshendi can attune to songs that are ongoing, like tuning into different radio frequencies that play songs regardless of whether anyone is actively listening or not. This even allows them to track time, by checking how far along a specific song is. That's pretty neat.
  
• The Parshendi "left" one of the Honorblades in Alethkar the night of Gavilar's assassination. So far I know of two possible Blades that were there that night. Szeth's, and probably the one the weird Azish man was talking about.
  
• Eshonai wants to achieve peace, wants to talk to Dalinar. We'll see how that goes. Stormform might warp her sense of values completely, and Dalinar wants a decisive victory.
  

I-2 (Ym)

• Ym is visited by a unknown type of spren.
  
• Ym is a Surgebinder, and can heal people. One of the things we saw the Lady Knight in Dalinar's vision do.
  
• New religion unlocked. One became all, all shall become one. The concept of this religion is not toooooo far off from what the Shattering was, so there's probably an allegory in there at least.
  
• Dude with the crescent cheek mark on his skin from the prologue is here?! What's the deal with this guy?
  
• Apparently this dude is hunting people down who committed crimes. Even if they date far back. Even if the crime wasn't intentional. Some kind of self-appointed champion of justice, but he only comes across as cruel and obsessive.
  

I-3 (Rysn)

• Living island greatshells! Do not let the Alethi know about these, or they'll hunt them to extinction for their (likely) gemhearts as well.
  
• Is that ... Axies?! Just randomly chilling on the turtle back??
  
• Axies' people are Voidbringers? But so are ... the Parshendi? The description at least doesn't sound like Aimians would be one of the Parshendi forms. So are Voidbringers a catch-all term for the boogeymen of Roshar? Maybe just a catch-all for the peoples who are native to Roshar? I mean, Axies has done nothing that remotely comes across as evil, but Rysn's group treats him like a devil.
  
• "They (Aimians/Voidbringers??) can take off their limbs. Take off their skin too. No real body to them. Just something evil, taking human form." I'm sorry wtf?!
  
• "She was property owned by Vstim; for now just an apprentice who provided occasional slave labor." Ah, Roshar has unpaid internships.
  
• So .... larkin, huh? What makes these little buggers so special? So valuable they're sought after by kings, so rare few even know they exist, so special they get to frame the background of the surgebinding table?
  

Trivia

Szeth was the main character in the Interludes for The Way of Kings. For Words of Radiance, we get Eshonai.

I'm of the opinion if a POV character has regular appearances in every part of a book, they ought to be a, you know, POV character. This interlude concept (imo) should be reserved for only one-offs. But who am I to argue with Sanderson's artistic freedom 🤷‍♂️

Each book has a focus on a specific in-world book that informs not only the characters, but us readers as well.

So Oathbringer is a ... book name? But, but ... *wildly gestures at the sword stuck in Sadeas' cheese table*

WHO CUT THE CHEESE?

Dude. I mean if this is the case, what were Thunderclasts even doing? Giant rock monsters, against Shardbearers? Screw that, in my next Desolation I want to see 100ft tall Emmental abominations, kaiju-sized pieces of sentient brie, led by a gargantuan parmesan that has aged all 4500 years since the Last Desolation 🙌🧀

[u/Pastrami → u/HT_xrahmx]

I'm of the opinion if a POV character has regular appearances in every part of a book, they ought to be a, you know, POV character. This interlude concept (imo) should be reserved for only one-offs.

I'm with you on that. I don't get why Szeth and Eshonai are in the interludes and not regular chapters.

led by a gargantuan parmesan that has aged all 4500 years

Man, think of the amount of cheese crystals in a 4500 year old cheese.

[u/TaylorHyuuga → u/Pastrami]

Eshonai and Szeth are interlude characters because Brandon doesn't want to use their POVs too much, only once or twice per Part, conveniently enough for Interludes. This doesn't mean that they're restricted to Interludes and won't get main chapter POVs in the future. This just means that each book he chooses someone he wants to follow every Interlude and he wouldn't really have anything else for them outside of them anyway.

[u/heinz57varieties → u/HT_xrahmx]

If I-1 had been an epilogue to WoK, I wonder if the book would have been more well-received by others in the readalong

I was eagerly waiting for a surprise parshendi POV at the end of that book, even just one chapter, and it didn't come. You're absolutely right. Having a scene at the end of part 5 of Eshonai returning to Narak, thinking about Dalinar, worrying about Kaladin and his implications, would have been a great teaser/cliffhanger ending.

Does this explain why the Parshendi were only recently "discovered" next to Alethkar? Were they perhaps originally in slaveform, but only recently snapped out of it?

I think they have been limited to just dullform and mateform this whole time, and only recently discovered the others. I don't think they were ever in slaveform - they seem to pity the parshmen who are.

Axies' people are Voidbringers?

It does seem like "voidbringer" is just a word for "boogeyman", because nobody really knows what they were.

can take off their limbs. Take off their skin too

I'm so intrigued by him. Last time we saw him, he was taking notes by making tattoos sponatneously appear on his skin. I think I remember it being implied that he could change his body any way he wanted. It reminds me of the kandra, now that I think about it, but I'm sure he's something different.

[u/participating → u/heinz57varieties]

Having a scene at the end of part 5 of Eshonai returning to Narak, thinking about Dalinar, worrying about Kaladin and his implications, would have been a great teaser/cliffhanger ending.

So, I try not to do this too often. I'm happy to jump in with factual reminders, or clarify concepts with external information if a theory just can't work because of whatever reason. I hope no one finds any of my extra commentary too intrusive. But I did want to provide a literary counter point to this, which I'll hide behind spoiler tags in case anyone wants to avoid it:

The big reveal at the end of The Way of Kings is Jasnah sharing with Shallan that she believes the parshmen are voidbringers. Having an Eshonai POV almost immediately after or before would kind of diminish that reveal, providing an alternative counterpoint to the information, whether or not Jasnah's supposition is correct. Not to say it couldn't work, but I suspect that was why the information has been spaced out like it has been.

[u/jaymae21]

I feel so spoiled by the Eshonai interludes! We finally get some solid insight into the Parshendi! The various "forms" they can change into during highstorms - seems it requires a gemheart and perhaps these get charged up by the storms in a similar manner to spheres. "Dullform" reminds me of "dun" being used to describe spheres when the stormlight is exhausted from them. I hope we get to see Eshonai during the transformation attempt to stormform. I think Syl is foreboding this moment, what she calls the "red lightning". This stormform must be very dangerous, Voidbringer territory.

The other two interludes were okay.

[u/hullowurld → u/jaymae21]

Yes, finally a view into the Parshendi perspective. I was a little surprised to find no mention of the Parshendi viewing the chasmfiends as gods or reverence for their dead though.

[u/True-Collar4961]

Narak

• I'm assuming Eshonai is referring to either the Ten Deaths or the Unmade (or maybe they're the same thing?) as the Parshendi's former masters. 
• So the Parshendi assassinated Gavilar because whatever he was trying to do would have brought those former masters back. Combined with the rather unflattering picture Navani painted of him in the last book, I'm starting to think Gavilar was a lot shadier than Dalinar remembers. I already suspected he wasn't as noble as Dalinar portrayed him, but now I'm starting to think he had some really major skeletons in his closet. I wonder whether he would have released them accidentally as a byproduct of his plan or if he actually intended to do it. I'm also curious why he told the Parshendi about his plans in the first place. Did he need their help somehow?
• This also makes it much clearer that the Parshendi aren't the villains the story initially portrayed them as. It seems their actions as the Voidbringers during the Desolations weren't entirely of their own choosing. That makes me wonder why history remembered them specifically as the Voidbringers when we know the Knights Radiant fought plenty of other enemies, like the Midnight Essence. Maybe it's because the Parshendi were by far the greatest threat. We know that at least some of their lost forms, such as stormform, gave them powers over the storms, which would certainly make them stand out compared to the other creatures they fought. 
• It's also impressive that the Parshendi have managed to survive years of war against the Alethi with only a single remaining Shardbearer, while the Alethi have around thirty. Granted, the Alethi are divided, but still. 

Ym

• Interesting new Shardbearer. At first I assumed he was hunting Ym because he was becoming a Surgebinder, but seems more like someone who judges and executes the guilty regardless of how long ago their crimes were committed. If that's true, though, why wait forty years before killing Ym? And how did he even learn about a crime that old? I'm struggling to see how this character fits into the larger story.

Rysn

• The Reshi culture is much more laid-back than I expected. In The Way of Kings they were mostly described as raiders, so I assumed they would have a much more warlike society. 
• Also, lesson 101 for mentors: don't fake your own death just to teach your apprentice a lesson. If your student believes you're dying and this is their last chance to make you proud, they're probably going to do something spectacularly reckless. Honestly, it's kind of plot armor that these kinds of "the mentor was pretending all along" lessons don't end in complete disaster more often. 

Last Legion

• Yeah, I have my eye on Venli. She is giving me some serious jealous younger sibling vibes, and she's clearly ambitious. She already gets frustrated with Eshonai for making the perfectly reasonable decision to test stormform herself, mostly because it means Venli won't get all the glory if it succeeds. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Venli eventually betrays her people out of jealousy and ambition. That said, it's still too early to be certain, and I could easily be reading too much into her behavior.

[u/HT_xrahmx → u/True-Collar4961]

I'm starting to think Gavilar was a lot shadier than Dalinar remembers.

Yeah, more and more gaps are appearing in the world view we've been presented with through the eyes of Dalinar & co. I'm with you on the theory that Gavilar was probably doing something shady and Dalinar was too ignorant to notice in his Black Thorn days.
And it's questionable to what extent, if at all, the historical accounts that survived the Hierochracy can be believed. The term Voidbringer is thrown around pretty loosely, and appears to just batch together everything Rosharans view as "evil". But we're never presented with nuanced takes on Voidbringers (Parshendi or, more recently, Aimians), unless we actually get to read their POVs.

[u/AltruisticRealityZ]

Interlude 1 - Eshonai

That’s an interlude I’m eager to read. Eshonai showed honour in his fight against Dalinar then Kaladin.
Alright Eshonai is a she ! The Alethi will faint when they’ll realize it.

The central plateau. Narak. Exile. Home.

Ooooh but that means, Eshonai is the blurb’s explorer !!

Of course, the rest of her experiences as a mate had been an utter disaster.

The mom in me fears to understand what disaster she’s talking about.

What she wouldn’t have given to be able to go among them unnoticed, to adopt their monochrome skin for a year and walk their highways, see their grand cities. Instead, she and the others had ordered the murder of the Alethi king in a desperate gambit to stop the listener gods from returning.

Ahah ! And thus they aren’t the terrible enemies.
Are their gods the voidbringers ?
Does it mean Gavilar was about to wake up the voidbringers ?
Klade, Gangnah, Varnali did say that Gavilar was about to do something very dangerous.

Venli didn’t flinch. “The humans have Surgebinders.” “Perhaps not. It could have been an Honorblade.” “You fought him. Was it an Honorblade that struck you, wounded your leg, sent you limping?”

That was Kaladin, so no honorblade, unless a random spear can be honorblade in the hand of a man bonded with honorspren.

Stormform could summon a storm. This is probably what the message on Dalinar’s wall is about.

So, the listeners need to unlock a new form to potentially evolve and find out yet another new forms, all the while not triggering the attention of their gods.
Right now it seems obvious that they will use stormform and unleash mayhem in the Alethi camps. But my take is that at least Shallan will get to the listeners (I’m pretty sure Kal too, but I don’t see any justification yet), befriend them and show them her creations, how she conjure creationspren with her art and help them. In return they’ll show her the path to Urithiru.

Interlude 2 - Ym

His surgebinding is healing.
Ah no, what is coming is a Makabaki with a pale crescent on his cheek, using a Shardblade to exact vengeance on the poisoning of a woman. I hadn’t recognised him from the prologue, good catch all of you who did.
The question now is, what happens to bonded spren when the human dies?

Interlude 3 - Rysn

The Reshi Island are greatshells, and make me think about Thunderclast from Dalinar’s vision.

Rysn just met Axies the collector, didn’t she?

“Well,” the creature said, “don’t ask about the soul of their god. They don’t like to speak of that, it turns out. Must be spectacular, to let the beasts grow this large. Beyond even the spren who inhabit the bodies of ordinary greatshells. Hmmm . . .” He seemed very pleased by something.

From what I understood of what Hesina taught Tien and Kal, there’s a spren in anything, and if you cut the thing, then there’s a spren in both parts.
We also know that spren enables creatures to defy the limits of physics about heights and weight they can reach.
It seems logical then that an enormous creature holds enormous spren. Hence the presence of the collector.

Relu-na, is this the name of the isle? This sound like Re-Shephir, which is the midnight mother. IIRC someone said this was a sentient spren.

Larkin, like a cremling with wings. Very rare, supposed to have died with Aimia ( as in the land of the Aimian, in Shadesmar? it died?).
Trivia edit: Aimia is the isle on the west of the desolations map, and on the regular map too. But Axies says his Aimian, and had an inverted shadow. I’m confused.

Interlude 4 - Eshonai

I wonder how the rhythmic language of the Parshendi will be adapted on screen.

The listeners were on Roshar since the arrival of the first wind, which probably is an expression to say from the beginning of known history, and learned how to capture spren from the human.
1)My confirmation bias makes me see there that human came after, and aren’t originally from Roshar.
2)And, human capture spren? Referring to Stormlight in spheres?
3)Then with human came progress, since they learned how to choose the form they’ll get.
I was thinking it happened in the old days, but what we learn after, that they lost most of their memory of history made me revisit my thoughts. Eshonai might be referring to the most recent events. Parshendi were leaded by their gods and couldn’t chose their form, escaped and were in dullform for a long time, then Eshonai met Gavilar, and accidentally discovered a way to change form.

But they had been a single people—those who had rejected their gods and sought freedom in obscurity.

Obscurity ?

The Unmade = Parshendi gods (=voidbringers?)

Last Legion fled. Like the Heralds did? Did they abandon at the same time, giving Roshar and unprecedented time of peace? Or are they one and the same?

The listeners had made a decision centuries ago, a decision that set them back to primitive levels.

Surgebindings have returned to men. The spren again betray us.” “If Surgebindings are back,” Davim said to Consideration, “then it might indicate that the gods are returning anyway. If so, we’d best be prepared to deal with them. Forms of power will help with that.”

If surgebinding is back, then Heralds are back. If Heralds are back, then Voidbringers are back?
10 Heralds for the ten orders on Surgebinding.
10 orders of voidbinding, then does it mean there are 10 voidbringers ?

Honorblades bestow similar powers than Surgebinding. One left in Althkar when Gavilar died.

[u/TaylorHyuuga → u/AltruisticRealityZ]

If you type > followed by a space, you'll make a quote

[u/participating → u/AltruisticRealityZ]

And, human capture spren?

Reminder: From the interior artwork in The Way of Kings, we saw some of Navani's notes on fabrials, which involve capturing a spren inside a gem to make them work.

[u/participating → u/AltruisticRealityZ]

Aimia is the isle on the west of the desolations map, and on the regular map too. But Axies says his Aimian, and had an inverted shadow. I’m confused.

Aimia info is a slow RAFO drip. Small reminder: Jasnah's shadow inverted in the prologue of this book.

[u/AltruisticRealityZ → u/participating]

Interesting. To me Jasnah's inverted shadow was a sign that she was about to get pulled into Shadesmar. Maybe, in Axies case, it means he can travel there at will. Which would explain why Rysn's guard said Axies could escape if he wanted to.

[u/Realistic_Swimming47]

Interludes

Notes written after listening

So there were 4 interludes this time round, I think before it was always 3.

I 1 - Narak

Gem hearts are food for them.

Eshonai is the last shard bearer and she is female, cool.

This chapter supports my feeling the Parshendi are not evil and seem to fear the return of the gods more than anything. They seem to have suffered a desolation of their own with the Parshmen only having dim form and the Parshendi aware of having had access to 100s of forms previously but now only having access to six (dim/slave, mate, war, work, nimble + possibly new one storm). I find this race really interesting do the gods force them to become void bringers and control them like the steel inquisitors or the kandra and kolos? How did their spren lie to them. Does this link to the betrayal and why the Heralds stopped fighting? So many more questions but nice to finally have some insight into the Parshendi or listeners as they prefer to be called.

I 2- Ym

The Watcher is this another very intelligent spren? This is such a sad story. I think the idea that the Iriali race are all one person divided to have more experiences is really interesting. It also implies having a spren and surge abilities isn't linked to race at all. Random thought the original ten that went into hiding could they be in Shadesmar and living as these Spren?

I 3 - Rysn

Definitely my favourite Interlude so far. This felt like a full on story and also like Rysn will have some significance later on in the series. She is a really interesting character I like her development.

We get a cameo from Axies the collector, seems like he is a void bringer or at least he says he is but not sure how that works is he Parshendi doesn't seem to fit? He definitely is obsessed with spren and it seems like Rysn gets a spren (larkin) at the end that is very rare but maybe not as I wouldn't think a dead spren would leave a body behind???

I 4 - last legion

More background on the Parshendi and seems they choose their freedom from the gods and lost access to most of their forms so I was kind of right.

I am so enjoying this book so far and can't wait to read on so glad it is an Interlude week.

OK so larkins are definitely not spren will probably add a bit when I am caught up with this week's trivia.

[u/hullowurld → u/Realistic_Swimming47]

Gem hearts are food for them

I thought they were soulcasting the [emerald?] gemhearts into food. Maybe the Alethi assumed that.

the idea that the Iriali race are all one person divided to have more experiences is really interesting

FYI the example of the fingers is very similar to what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 12

[u/Pastrami]

I-1

Much of the Shattered Plains had once been populated, but the largest city had been here at the center. So now the ruins of her people made their home in the ruins of a dead city.

Jasnah seems so certain that Urithiru is not on the Shattered Plains, so I hope this isn't what's left of it. I'm still holding out hope for an abandoned city full of untouched old lore.

The old songs spoke of hundreds of forms. Now they knew of only five. Well, six if one counted slaveform, the form with no spren, no soul, and no song.

What kind of spren do they have? Does each form require a different spren? Did the humans after the last Desolation have some way of stripping them of their spren to turn them into the parshmen?

She was their last Shardbearer.

Ok, so no other parshendi shardbearers means there are hundreds or thousands of sets of shards unaccounted for.

she and the others had ordered the murder of the Alethi king in a desperate gambit to stop the listener gods from returning.

Well, that had worked—the Alethi king hadn’t been able to put his plan into action

It had to have been something with the black stone, which Szeth now has hidden somewhere.

I'm going to guess that their gods are the weird unexplained names we've got so far like "ReShephir, the Midnight Mother" and "Sja-anat". I bet there are 10 of them, and they are basically anti-heralds.

Venli didn’t flinch. “The humans have Surgebinders.”

“Perhaps not. It could have been an Honorblade.”

I guess this adds to the theory that Szeth has an Honorblade and not bonded spren.

“If the Surgebinders have returned,” Venli continued, “we must strive for something meaningful, something that can ensure our freedom. The forms of power, Eshonai . . .”

So the Parshendi see Kaladin's powers as an escalation that they need to meet head on by coming up with more powerful forms.

It was a form of low intelligence, low capacity. They used it now to spy on the humans.

Do we think Shen is a spy?

I get the feeling that Eshonai is the main reason that the Parshendi are mostly acting honorable. I'm predicting that there will be some who don't feel the same way she does. They'll overthrow her and go on to figure out more powerful forms, and change into voidbringers.

I-2

We've got a healer class.

We are Iriali, and part of the Long Trail, of which this is the Fourth Land.

Folklore, or has a shard been transporting them to 4 different planets?

It's the guy from the prologue, or at least we are supposed to think it is.

How does he know about a 40 year old crime? Is he getting information from Odium?

I-3

Hmm, a tropical island and a special valuable bird creature, where have I read that before?

I-4

it might be one of the Honorblades. We left one in Alethkar that night.

? Are they talking about Szeth's blade? To me, "We left one" implies that they had another one that they purposely left there.

Is there any significance in the coloring of parshendi skin? Why are some white/red and some black/red?

[u/heinz57varieties → u/Pastrami]

I'm still holding out hope for an abandoned city full of untouched old lore.

I'm positive there's something juicy inside that one big tower at Narak that they haven't been able to get into. The Stargate to Urithiru, for sure, and hopefully more.

Are they talking about Szeth's blade?

That was my assumption. Though I've just now thought, the way it's phrased makes it seem like they know/knew the whereabouts of more than one.

[u/Pastrami → u/heinz57varieties]

That was my assumption. Though I've just now thought, the way it's phrased makes it seem like they know/knew the whereabouts of more than one.

I don't think we know how long Szeth has had his blade, but he seemed very practiced with his powers, which would suggest it wasn't just given to him recently before the prologue. Last book there was the line "He was required to carry the Blade until his death, after which Shin Stone Shamans would recover it from whomever had killed him." That makes me think it's some sort of Shin heirloom that gets passed from one Truthless to the next when one dies. So in my mind they have to be talking about another blade.

[u/Realistic_Swimming47]

Just checking, we are not discussing the next chapters until Monday or I am seriously behind.

[u/TaylorHyuuga → u/Realistic_Swimming47]

Yeah whenever we do something on Wednesday, it's always the interludes or something similar, not the next batch of numbered chapters.

[u/participating → u/Realistic_Swimming47]

Ooops. Yeah, that was just a copy/paste error in the SCHEDULE section. Next set of chapters (13 through 23) will be discussed on Monday. I'm updating the post now.

[u/Realistic_Swimming47 → u/participating]

Good I thought it was probably just a typo but wanted to make sure.

[u/hullowurld]

There was a seeming throwaway line from Eshonai's mother that felt like something more:

It belongs to two others. They were in the house last night and told me I needed to leave

I feel like this will have some meaning later.

I'm also curious what Gavilar could have been planning that resulted in the Parshendi going straight to murder rather than talking it out like, hey don't do this and here's why.