I need to know what Szeth did during all the time he was in prison. We know that Navani interrogated him a few times, and that he never tried to escape. We also know that he was allowed to leave to get the anti-Voidlight sphere Gavilar gave him right before he died. That’s literally all we know though. Szeth was locked up for almost a year, which is 500 Rosharan days. What did he do???
I don’t think Szeth hated it the same way Kaladin would have. He probably thought it was the least of what he deserved. There’s also a place in OB where he wishes his life could keep being boring, and he definitely got that. He also probably saw it as doing his duty, since it was what Dalinar wanted him to do.
But what did he do with all that time? Did he just stare into the lights he asked for and think about “cleansing Shinovar”? Did he do stretches/anything to stay physically strong/ready to fight? I can’t see him asking for anything to help him pass the time. Did he have conversations with Nightblood? Did his spren ever talk to him? We know that Nale promised to come train him in Division, so did that ever happen?
I don’t know how many answers we’ll get in book 5, but I hope there are at least passing references, because there were none in RoW. Szeth never thought of it in his one POV chapter in that book.
I know this is a relatively small thing, but I think about it a lot. I just want to know what this man does when he’s not carrying out orders, fighting, doing Skybreaker training, or actively in crisis. I want to know as much as I can about him
After promising to be present on both a romantic date with Adolin as well as an important meeting with her fellow Radiants, Shallan must use her Lightweaving to appear in two places at once. While practicing Surgebinding with Szeth, Kaladin misuses Cohesion and the two have to learn to get through the day literally stuck together. Dalinar is banned from the tower's book club after his suggestion every week is always the way of kings.
I’ve seen some people say that Szeth pre-exile was in a respected position for training with the Honorblades, and eventually bonding Jezrien’s Blade. They seem to think that learning how to wield the Honorblades and learn the Surges is, well, an honor. I think this is inaccurate for at least two reasons.
First, they’re called Honorblades because they were made directly by Honor, using his own essence/Investiture. There’s no inherent honor in using one, any more than there is in carrying a regular Shardblade.
Second, something I think people forget/overlook is that warriors and anyone who uses a weapon are at the bottom of Shin social structure. The only people who are lower than fighters are Truthless.
I imagine that those who train with the Honorblades also have low social rank. The Shin might view it as a necessary evil (there’s a passing line in Oathbringer that seems to imply that they watched for the return of the Voidbringers) but it is still bad. Killing is the worst sin in the Shin religion, and anyone who learns how to use the Honorblades is also trained to kill. There would be no honor in that.
Even before Szeth was named Truthless and exiled from Shinovar, he was of one of the lowest social ranks to his people. He might have used the Honorblades, but he found no honor in it.
Can't believe Szeth kills a king who dies giving him a magic sphere and mumbling some very cryptic stuff to tell his brother and he just... writes it down with his blood and leaves. Puts the magic sphere in a cave somewhere and forgets about it. Can't remember the very important very mysterious names the king mentioned before dying. Was sitting on top of the Magic city everyone is looking for before anyone found it and it's just never brought up again. Gets a strange bloodthirsty magic sword that could destroy anything and sucks on his soul everytime he draws it and just starts calling it "sword-nimi" and having conversations with it. He's really Just Some guy
*scrambles across the door, frantically kicks open the door, out of breath* hi I’m emerged from the end of the semester avalanche to show off this Stormlight piece inspired by the climax of Oathbringer! I had a lot of fun with the textures of the background so feel free to ogle them properly by zooming in :)