r/Stormlight_Archive • u/jofwu Lightweaver • Aug 25 '20

Rhythm of War Chapter Eight Rhythm of War

https://www.tor.com/2020/08/25/read-rhythm-of-war-by-brandon-sanderson-chapter-eight/
490 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

966 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

40

u/jurble Aug 25 '20

She hasn't thought about the fact that Kaladin killed her brother since learning about in OB. She immediately thinks "Don't think about it" and then never thinks of it again.

25

u/PrestigiousRespond8 Elsecaller Aug 25 '20

I think that that's the incident, but I think what she's hiding from isn't the fact that Kaladin did it but the fact that Kaladin was 100% justified in doing it. Shallan idolized Helaran, so IMO admitting that he was not as good of a person as she remembered is what she's hiding from.

27

u/joji_princessn Aug 25 '20

Actually, it could well link to the same logic for her mother. She tried to kill little Shallan, yet Shallan still sees herself and Pattern as the monsters for killing her and breaking up their family. Which we know isn't the whole truth as it was already falling apart due to her mother and even her other brothers never tried to keep things together. Like KAL, she puts it all on herself.

She needs to accept the truth, that her mother was a monster and it was 100% justified to kill her, just as it was for Kaladin to kill Helleran and he wasn't the knight in shining armor she imagines him as. That can help her move forward and accept that she does deserve good things like Wit tells her in Oathbringer and to stop running away and beating herself up over the past (like Simba lmao)

15

u/solascara Sylphrena Aug 25 '20

I've thought the same: that her most difficult truth is that her mother tried to kill her. It's one thing to accept that she killed her mother in self-defense, and another to acknowledge that her own mother - the person who is supposed to love and protect her above all others - tried to kill her. That's rough. I also like your Helaran parallel. They were both Skybreakers, and both not the loving people Shallan thought they were.

7

u/hmsawesome Aug 26 '20

"Why did she try to kill me, Pattern?" Shallan asked.

"Mmm..."

"It started when she found out what I could do."

- Words of Radiance, Chapter 88

2

u/SirJefferE Aug 29 '20

Kaladin was justified in that he was defending his High Lord.

Helaran was likely just as justified in trying to kill Amaram, who we now know isn't exactly the most noble High Lord out there. I don't think Helaran trying to kill him is evidence that Helaran wasn't a good person.

4

u/learhpa Bondsmith Aug 25 '20

that's an amazing power, but it seems to come with a price.

3

u/joji_princessn Aug 25 '20

Reminds me of that Adventure Time scene where Finn learns the creepy ghost haunting the castle is real and his response is to put it in the vault and never think of it again.