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Shallan Davar - Blog Posts
Shallan’s gang is so interesting. She girlbosses so hard she factory reset like 20 guy’s morality.
Ah.. so I’ve finally gotten to my single favorite theme of the Stormlight Archives: How the world is mostly just a matter of perception. A king, a princess, a light eyes, a leader… is only that because others perceive them to be so. They aren’t inherently different than others, just possessing the arbitrary lineage, presence, and background for others to deign them as such.
It’s the entire power system of Roshar. You change things self-perception to soul-cast, you change the way your soul perceives gravity to lash, and so on and so forth for each and every power. It’s ALL perception.
Kaladin is just a bridge man. A slave. And all the men he comes in contact with laude him because of his presence. How many times have people said he MUST have been a light-eyes or what have you. It’s how they perceive him, because of how he carries himself, that causes this. Shallan is in the same situation, though I don’t feel the need to explain hers, as she quite literally created a personality based on this concept. It’s fascinating, real, and freeing. You are not bound by where you’re from who what you’ve done. At any moment - if you’ve the will to try - you can become anyone.
And this is why, because I believe in myself, I know I could get Jasnah to step on me
Been re-reading the Way of Kings recently and… it’s a truly fascinating series of “almost”s. Shallan almost gets away with her theft. Kaladin almost saves the people be chooses to protect. On a re-read these grow even more obvious. It’s almost like reading the Odyssey with just how damn close they get to their goals over and over again.
Also I think I’m gonna start live-blogging my Stormlight re-read
