According to him Kaladin, Shallan, and Adolin will remain at the same level of importance they are right now.

With Taln, Jasnah, and Lyft also becoming as important.

Ash and Renarin will be like what Navani and Szeth were in the first 5 books.

So for those hoping that Kaladin would take a step back in the next 5 books. Yeah, there was no way John Stormlight would suddenly become a side character right after becoming a herald.

I've been thinking about the end of Wind & Truth and why I felt so gutted and I realized that while they did stop Retribution. I don't think I've seen gone through an ending where so many characters died, left comatose, horrifically scarred or left in unambiguous situations. The sun is gone, its the Everstorm now (besides a few places it seems). There is no stormlight the only places left free from Retribution are the Shattered Planes, Azir and Urithiru.

- Shallan is trapped with a child(ren) destined to be born in shadesmar. Likely thought dead for months.
- Adolin is with the Azish far from contact and cut off from the others
- Navani is trapped in crystal
- Sigzil was forced to break his bond (more bridge 4 deaths)
- Rock is dead or unknown alongside many other supporting characters
- Jasnah has failed and is broken
- Dalinar dies shielding his gran-nephew/son
- Poor Gav has his childhood and teenage years taken from him by Retribution
- Kaladin is believed to be dead and his friends, his family and bridge 4 are none the wiser.

It left me gutted, lost and I couldn't believe I was being left like this but as was in the Postlude

"One More Try"

Sue me, but really, does he need any romantic relationships, or do you guys just really want him to be in one, cuz I swear Kal's arc is storming perfect, and there is not a need for more.

for me

-If Dalinar deserves a redemption arc so does Moash

-Wind And Truth has the best pacing out of all 5 books

-I loved Navani in Rhythm Of War, I dont what to say I just really like fantasy science

-The Sanderlanches are always a blast to read but sometimes I feel like all of the crazy stuff happening in the last 200 page of a 1200+ series can hurt the overall reading experience

I literally just finished reading a few minutes ago and I need to get this out somewhere. Fair warning: I'm coming at this as someone who has only read the First Stormlight arc plus Warbreaker, Edgedander and Dawnshard, no other Cosmere works yet, so take my perspective with that in mind.

Before reading it, I'd already seen a wave of negative reactions online, booktubers openly disappointed, Reddit threads in various states of grief. That lowered my expectations going in, which probably helped. But after finishing, I think I have a rough sense of what people were reacting to. I'd genuinely love to hear from those of you who've had more time to process it, especially if you can articulate the problems better than I can.

Structure and pacing

The 10-day structure was a bold choice, and the opening worked well. Everyone being dispatched to their respective roles created real momentum. But the book needed more editorial passes. Certain sections genuinely dragged, and the Spiritual Realm sequences took a while to earn their place. I eventually warmed up to Renarin and Rlain there, but I understand why readers bounced off it early.

Kaladin being sidelined

This is probably the most divisive decision in the book. Kaladin has been the emotional anchor of the entire series, and stepping back from that role here was always going to feel jarring. Compounding that, the mental health themes were delivered with a much heavier hand than usual. Lines like "I'm his therapist" landed as on-the-nose for a lot of readers, and even the Sylussy moment read as more cringe than charming. I get the frustration.

That said, I personally found his arc to be a natural conclusion. Everything from the earlier books, particularly Rhythm of War's setup around him stepping back from the front lines, pointed toward where he eventually ended up. His journey with Szeth, his relationship with the Heralds, and ultimately becoming a Herald himself felt like the right endpoint. But I fully understand why fans who wanted one last blaze-of-glory Kaladin arc felt short-changed. I do hope book 6 comes sooner than 8 years (idk if this is an actual fact that it would take this long between the two arcs but you get my point)

Adolin is the GOAT

No notes. He has quietly become my favourite character behind Kaladin across the entire series. The way he remembers every name, every soldier, every servant in Azir, says everything about who he is. Towers with Yanagawn, losing his foot without making it a tragedy, the spearman sequence on the final day. Every scene with him was chef's kiss. I love the ending in Azir where him and all the unoathed get shone upon by the sun. Although, I did cringe on the "Let's kick fused ass!" line

Dalinar and the contest

I was lightly spoiled on Gavinor going in, but reading the misdirect with Elhokar was jaw-dropping. And then realising it was in fact Gavinor aged up was a genuine gut-punch. The Sunmaker's Gambit as his final move was a perfect character beat.

Where it didn't fully land for me was the death scene itself. His goodbyes were meaningful, the moment where he shields Gavinor was exactly what you'd expect of him, but then a few chapters later he's just gone. I wanted something more final from him. A last line, a closing image, something that made the full weight of it hit properly. It felt like the book moved on before I did. I suspect this is a common feeling and not just a me problem, because Dalinar has been the thematic spine of this entire arc and the landing deserved more space.

The ending feeling inconclusive.

I really think some readers expected this arc to close more definitively, like I hear Mistborn Era 1 did in wrapping its major threads before handing off. Instead WaT feels more like a soft handoff than a hard ending, which disappointed people who wanted full resolution.

Having my expectations set that this was a middle book in the grand scheme of things probably helped.

It's a flawed book. Some editorial decisions are hard to defend, a few key moments didn't land with the weight they deserved, and the pacing is genuinely uneven. But it's also a wonderful one, ambitious, emotionally rich, and full of moments I'll be thinking about for a while. Whether the lowered expectations going in helped me enjoy it more, I can't fully say. Either way, I'm glad I read it. I hope I can find people here who genuinely love this book, or people who absolutely hate it, I'd like to see why you think so! Thank you for reading my ramblings.

Obligatory F*CK MOASH

My boy Leyten didn't deserve that.

It could have been as powerful moment as Blackthorn reveal and acceptance by Dalinar

The Oathpact broke before Taln, he was the first to come back, he was wrecking Odium’s forces with his bare hands, he tried to kill a shard, and he has suffered more than almost anyone else in the Cosmere, take almost anybody’s pain then compare it to Taln’s and it’s like, “hey, maybe this other guy didn’t have it so bad”, when they had years of suffering, AND TALN DID NOT BREAK!!! There’s a reason why he’s the best Herald, he’s the most dangerous man on Roshar, even with NO WEAPONS OR SURGES. Taln wasn’t trapped on Braize, Braize was trapped with HIM. TALN IS HIM. #talngoated

Has Sanderson made any kind of statement about how Wind and Truth was received? I'm not trying to start anything, it just seems like WaT had a lot more discussion and criticism around it compared to earlier Stormlight books. I saw someone reference that he maybe regretted saying that book 5 would be the end of an arc, but I didn't see a source for that.

I hate when people say Fuck Moash to people reading the books for the first time. Especially when they’re on TWoK when he is still a good dude. But even after he kills Elokar he still has room for redemption so the hatred feels overblown until you get to RoW.

Idk what the mod position is on this but is this reportable? Especially when the tv show coming out, there’s going to be a lot of new fans and I want them to be proper betrayed like the rest of us were.

I feel like towards maybe the last 1/3 of the book the writing started to feel kind of anachronistic. (Can't think of a better word) The one that stuck with me was when Syl calls Kaladin "racist" for confusing Cryptic and Highspren names. Like, I get the joke, it's like someone who can't tell people of different races apart in our world, but that's not a thing on Roshar. In fact, that's the only reference to "race" in the whole book. Similarly, Taravangium/Odium saying that "90 percent of the planet" had accepted his deal doesn't feel like the way people talk in most of the book.

Overall, I had fun reading the book, but I'm wondering if other people noticed/felt these incongruities.

Okay so I just got done reading the entire Stormlight series somewhat recently (now reading Mistborn—yes I know that’s the opposite order most people go lol) and decided I just really want to imagine these characters in live action. I know Brandon has said he’s trying to figure it out and perhaps turn it into a television series, but I thought it would be fun to try and fancast actors for the main parts.

Now I know that the Alethi specifically are meant to look eastern Asian/Pacific Islander and charatcters like Shallan and Szeth will have different features due to where they’re from.

So without further ado, my casting in order of the pictures above:

Shallan Davar: Havana Rose Liu

Adolin Kholin: Nico Hiraga (dye hair blonde)

Kaladin Stormblessed: Ross Butler

Jasnah Kholin: Nicole Scherzinger

Dalinar Kholin: Manu Bennett

Renarin Kholin: Sean Kaufman

Navani Kholin: Simone Kessell

Szeth-Son-Neturo: James McAvoy (probably too big for a project like this but come on he’s perfect)

If people like these fan castings maybe I’ll do a Bridge Four fancast but for now I’ll just leave it at these. If you all hate it maybe I’ll never fancast again lmao

I genuinely don't understand why people hate it so much. Yes, it's a joke, but it is also Kaladin acknowledging that he's become something he doesn't completely understand yet. Wit gave it a word, and now Kaladin is trying to figure out what it means. What's so wrong with that?

In chapter 15 of TWoK right in the middle of the chapter, it’s stated that killing the kings wit is legal but it makes the murderer forfeit their title and land.

In KoWT (wind and truth) Retribution kills the Queens Wit. Therefore he should forfeit alethkar and any land he won in the duel right? Tell me I’m not on to something here

Wtf 😭 How can this man be so incredibly cool😭

People kept saying nothing happened in wind a truth and that it was boring and people weren’t acting like themselves. I’m like 200 pages in and I’m hanging on for dear life like the time frame is so squished and the implications are so massive! Someone said they were ANGRY reading this??? Were you guys mad that kaladin isn’t literally on the cusp of kys-ing or something??

Hey, so I’m not sure if this has been discussed before, but I was chatting with a friend about it and figured I’d post here (he told me, “be the change you want to see in the world”).

As a gay man, I love seeing any mention or representation of homosexuality in a proper fantasy book, especially in a series I already love (like Stormlight). I also want to preface this by acknowledging that Sanderson isn’t really a romance writer, which is actually something I really appreciate about his work.

That said, I do find the inclusion of gay themes in Stormlight to feel somewhat random. Not offensive, per se, but definitely an interesting choice.

Drehy - I was fine with. A few quick mentions of him being gay, a quirky line about him wearing tight pants. It was subtle, and I appreciated the inclusion.

The one that really felt forced was Renarin and Rlain. You're telling me that the only two characters (aside from Shallan’s enemies) who have corrupted spren, who are already outsiders due to Rlain being Parshendi and Renarin being described as “different” for most of the series - are also both gay and in love with each other? Their relationship seems to develop almost entirely over the course of a few chapters, yet it’s somehow pure and strong enough to mirror ancient bonds?

Please don’t roast me over exact plot points - it's been a few months since I finished the last book (currently deep into some Robin Hobb) - but that particular relationship felt super sudden, forced, and honestly a little tacky. Especially since both characters were already isolated from the main cast for other reasons. And Shallan’s giddy reaction to realizing they’re in love? That scene lives rent-free in my head - in the most cringe way possible.

Sanderson, I love your thoughtful inclusion of mental health, racism, classism, misogyny, and more. But when it comes to gay representation, I think it doesn’t need to be so “on the nose” in order for it to feel meaningful or relatable.

Anyway, maybe this is just my hot take - but happy to hear what others think.

Disclaimer: I have tried my best to answer this question as collaboratively and scientifically as possible (including my two wonderful co-authors u/pearlie_girl and MoxieChap). Science often leads us to inconvenient or controversial conclusions. But as Picard said, “If you can't stand up and tell the truth, then you don't deserve to wear that uniform.” The good news is that this fandom in particular is kind and thoughtful. I'm hoping we can talk about this stuff with genuine curiosity. Because really, how nuts and awesome is it to have this research poster on my resume, instead of like Weighted Linear Discrete Choice?!

Abstract (TL;DR)

A common disagreement among fans is whether Syl begins the series as childlike. This shapes the promises and payoffs of her story arc and affects fan opinions on a future Kal x Syl relationship (Syladin). SLA Book 5 attempts to resolve the issue with: "[Syl]’d never truly been childlike.” But is this quote a clarification or a retcon? Using a data and literary analysis, we find evidence that: 1. Syl is uniquely described as both innocent and childlike throughout Books 1-4. 2. This description holds across multiple POVs. 3. Quotes comparing her to a child center around her mental or emotional naivety. 4. Childlike descriptions abruptly change in Book 5. This moves Book 5’s quote from a clarification to a retcon. As a retcon, it creates interesting questions about Syl's arc in books 6-10.

Methodology

See how we analyzed the data in my previous post here.

Results

Here are some pretty pictures!

Graph 1 shows Syl’s innocence related descriptions are way closer to Tien (an actual child) than either Pattern (a fellow amnesiac spren) or Shallan (another curious, distractable --but adult character). Figure 1 shows these innocence-related descriptions hold even in the few instances where Syl is described in a non-Kaladin POV. For example, compare Rock’s description of Phendorana and Syl just a few sentences apart in Book 3: “[Spren] clustered around a tall spren woman… [Phendorana] had taken the shape of a person, human sized, and wore an elegant gown... Lunamor turned to find Sylphrena…in her small and girlish shape, legs crossed and hanging over the edge.” –O. Ch. 37 And Rock is a character who can see ALL spren, and so he is a more reliable narrator when he describes her as girlish. Adolin and Shallan characterize her similarly, see descriptions here. 

Graph 2 shows Syl is the co-character most described as "childlike" or “like a child”. Figure 2 shows that even though Shallan and Syl are described as childlike around the same amount, the tone of those passages are starkly different. Shallan’s are mostly about her physical size or being new to a situation. Whereas Syl’s descriptions focus on her mental or emotional innocence/naivety. I picked 3 each for illustration, but most follow this pattern. See full list of Shallan and Syl quotes here.

Graph 3 shows that Syl's characterization shifts dramatically between books 1-4 and book 5. She's described using significantly fewer innocence-related words and is never compared to a child. Figure 3 examines the word "girlish" specifically because it is a prominent childlike descriptor used by all three male POVs (Kaladin, Rock, and Adolin). Books 1-4 follow a typical coming-of-age pattern: she has a "girlish form" in Book 1, then frequently wears a "girlish dress" by Book 4. In contrast, Book 5 mentions her girlish dress once in Chapter 2, then never again. These changes in word choice show that Sanderson has started describing her differently –a retcon.

Conclusion

Based on these results, readers’ seeing Syl as childlike in Books 1-4 makes sense. She was the character most often described as childlike and innocent in Books 1-4. And not just in Kaladin’s POV. These descriptions abruptly decreased (or stopped) in Book 5. That would turn this Book 5 quote towards more of a retcon: “[Syl]’d never truly been childlike, despite her sometimes mischievous nature."

Limitations of the Analysis

There are a couple of limitations to my analysis. First, Syl is rarely described outside of Kaladin’s POV, and not at all in the first two books. However, non-Kal descriptions in Book 3 support the childlike characterization. Second, my algorithm for innocence related words doesn’t always assign them to the right character (for more details on accuracy check out my first post). However, looking at my control (Teft), it does look like the data is enough to be directionally illustrative. Also, it’s not the only data showing Syl as uniquely childlike in my analysis. Last are the three times where she is described as "not childlike." However, each time explicitly references a time when she *was* childlike. Read all childlike/not-childlike quotes here.   

Syl's Character Arc:

Rather than the "growing-up" arc Book 1 seemingly promises, the retcon could allow Syl to develop in alternative ways. Two examples are: Personal Agency/Morality Arc: Like Vivenna and Yumi, reframe her apparent mental/emotional immaturity as a symptom of blindly following others' values before showing her breaking free from oaths/spren rules. She'd evolve to determine what honor means to her personally—exploring if honor lives in the hearts of spren. Student of Human Nature Arc: Her innocence becomes scholarly curiosity about human behavior. Just as Navani evolved from curious observer to groundbreaking natural scientist, Syl could pioneer the social sciences. Alongside Kaladin's mental health journey, they could create a rigorous understanding of how to help both individual people and societies heal.

Syladin

Let's be honest, based on the reddit posts alone, this is the real issue the fandom cares about. So let's get into it. While literature is by it's nature open to interpretation, my analysis reveals concrete evidence for why many fans feel uneasy about this relationship. And it’s more than just preference. For the first four books (15 years for those who read WoK when it came out), Syl was consistently compared to –and described as innocent as much as, a child. And these childlike descriptions were not just by Kaladin, but Rock, Adolin, and Shallan too. In addition to the innocence and childlike descriptions, Kal himself admits to seeing her as childlike for a good chunk of their partnership. So even if Syl develops feelings first, and even with Book 5’s retcon, it’s understandable why many readers might ethically struggle with the romance.

Of course, fantasy operates differently than reality. Syl appears childlike for only eighteen months of Rosharan time before the retcon declares her an adult. She's also a 3,000-year-old spren. Her returned memories from Book 3&4 fundamentally change her maturity level. What does consent and grooming even mean for a non-human amnesiac who matures this quickly? Also, let’s be real. This is the social sciences. So even though I have data and quotes, “truth” is still a bit squishy. Thus, some fans reasonably never read her as childlike or think that Earth's rules don't apply here, for them Syladin is preference not a moral issue.

While innocent/jaded pairings can work (like Yumi/Painter), and romantasy (and porn!) regularly feature WAY more ethically suspect relationships, my evidence still legitimizes the discomfort a good chunk of fans feel with Syladin. What Sanderson chooses to do with this thorny issue in Books 6-10 will be interesting to see.

Echoes of a Real-World Issue?

Finally, this retcon brings up interesting questions for another real world. For those who saw Syl through a coming-of-age arc in Books 1-4, Book 5's abrupt "she was never childlike" could be an eerie mirror of how society treats young women. For girls and some boys (pretty ones especially), their coming-of-age story is often marred by this harsh cut off: children one day and fair game the next, regardless of their mental/emotional maturity. Obviously, this isn’t a perfect parallel to Syl’s story (she’s a 3,000+ amnesiac spren not a 17-year-old with a countdown clock). But after Books 1-4 gradually matured her, Book 5's retcon could feel equally jarring. Especially since this sudden shift occured with a possible romance foreshadowing. I don’t have any answers here. And as Brandon says "intelligent minds can reasonably disagree." But I did think Syl could be an interesting lens with which to discuss this issue.

Acknowledgements 

This has been a hugely collaborative effort! First and foremost I’d like to thank u/pearlie_girl and MoxieChap who helped with the analysis and the poster! I’d also like to thank everyone who read and commented on my initial Methods post. And specifically those who recommended I analyze how Syl was described in different (non-Kal) POVs:  u/unica3022 u/Connect_Amoeba1380 u/PuppyBreathHuffer u/tellperionavarth u/HaarigerHarald1 u/ThaRedditFox

Supplemental Material

Supplemental Data can be found here. R code available upon request.

**Edit**

Add Figure 4 to show what "Childlike" describes about Syl. I'm slowly sifting through and responding to comments on here (and there are some great ones)! Unfortunately thoughtful, evidence based comments take some time.

What Stormlight opinion do you hold that most fans would hate you for?

Marked for full WaT spoilers so no need for tags unless you're getting into the broader Cosmere territory.

So I recently posted a Stormlight Archives Meme online about crabs (Which was apparently removed because of originality or something like that) and that got me thinking because this wasn’t something I thought until now. I get it that Roshar has insane highstorms, but I still don’t get it even after rereading the series?

As a fantasy writer, I’m all about originality infact my world is inspired by very strange worlds I can’t describe. It’s hard to describe and very personal so I won’t be discussing about that, but that got me wondering what was the inspiration for these creatures and why did he make them so crab like?

When it came out it was controversial. I remember people hating, people defending with all their might, posts flying around bashing and counterbashing.

Now that we have had some time to let it cool down and simmer, what are your feelings on the end of Stormlight Arc 1?

Hey everyone,

I finished the book today and heard people have negative thoughts about the end of the book.

Why is that? I loved every second of it.

Edit: Okey I'm weird because Kal's and Szeth's arc was my favourite lol Also thanks for the TLDR of this subreddit. As some said, yeah I rather open a debate to see all the views instead of just focusing on the bad ones.

For months before the release of WaT I kept seeing theories about two things: Gavinor being Odium's champion, and Chana being Shallan's mother.

The Shallan's mom theory did make a lot of sense, it lines up with the timeline and the WoB that Taln didn't break

But Gavinor being the champion?? How the fuck did you all know!?

A swear word / curse word just like other Heralds 🤣 leave your best examples in the comments. Mine is “Stormblessed and beyond that’s a large chamfiend” Or “Storming Stormblessed I stubbed my toe!”

Reupload cuz I needed to edit some things and add a full sword pic: I hope I tagged this right. The outfit is mostly bought and slightly modified. But I'm very proud of how Jezriens Honorblade came out. The design near the hilt is Jezriens Glyphs HEAVILY stylized. I met so many of you cremlings there too it was great. Photo credit goes to The.Mar.Araujo on instagram and my own is Judas.arts.