Two blind men

[Ba-Ado-Fisherman]

So I was listening to latest Shardcast episode, and someone, I believe Grace, made a very interesting observation about Moash.

 

Brandon has said that the ending to The Stormlight Archive is hidden within the first two books.  In both tWok and WoR, Hoid tells an interesting story.  One of my favorite scenes in WoR is when Hoid tells a story to Shallan.  He says, "Two blind men waited at the end of an era, contemplating beauty. They sat atop the world's highest cliff, overlooking the land and seeing nothing."

Now this is certainly a stretch, but when Grace mentioned it, it really piqued my interest.  There is also another story from Hoid, in the epilogue, but it's a little different. He says, "A blind man awaited the era of endings, contemplating the beauty of nature."

 

The biggest difference in these two variations are "end of an era", and "era of endings".  So, what if the first story is foreshadowing the literal end of Stormlight "era" 1, and the second story is foreshadowing the ending of the entire series?  And if so, the fact that Moash is now blind becomes very considerable. Kaladin is basically the main character of the series so far (he has the highest word count by a large margin), and Moash is a crucial part of Kaladin's story. I find it to be plausible that Moash could be involved in the climax or very ending of book 5.  

 

In the epilogue, Hoid refers to himself as being "spiritually blind" as well.  Each book so far has had an epilogue with Hoid as the pov character.  The epilogue of book 5 could consist of Hoid and Moash sitting on a mountain, looking over the land and seeing nothing.  

 

Of course, this all hinges on the idea that Hoid's two stories are the previously mentioned "ending of the series" that Brandon has said exists in the first two books.  It's quite a stretch, but a fun theory nonetheless.  

-Credit to Grace on Shardcast for sparking this idea.

Edited May 24, 2021 by Ba-Ado-Fisherman
redundancy

[LuckyJim]

I once entertained the idea of Moash being the partner to the final Hoid monologue of era 1, contemplating what to do now that he has nothing, and setting up his character arc for the next sequence. I then dismissed this idea because I assumed that Sanderson had no big plans for Moash, but reading this makes me think maybe it's not such a long shot. I mean, it's unlikely sure, but not impossible.

I'd definitely love to see the fandom reaction if Moash was the character to close out book 5.

[Ba-Ado-Fisherman]

9 hours ago, LuckyJim said:

I once entertained the idea of Moash being the partner to the final Hoid monologue of era 1, contemplating what to do now that he has nothing, and setting up his character arc for the next sequence. I then dismissed this idea because I assumed that Sanderson had no big plans for Moash, but reading this makes me think maybe it's not such a long shot. I mean, it's unlikely sure, but not impossible.

I'd definitely love to see the fandom reaction if Moash was the character to close out book 5.

I feel like everything Moash has done since WoR is setting him up to be a more important character in the future.  I hope Brandon doesn't kill him off to sate the "f moash" crowd.

[Waffles]

This is a great observation. Moash's arc is very similar to Dalinars (starts out as a soldier, gains extreme power by embracing odium, does regrettable things etc) but Dalinars is a much darker, more conceited story. Moash I think now hates himself for basically acting like a lighteyes and killing his darkeyed friend (it may also be why his eyes sizzled- Moash became the thing he hates causing odium's investiture to burn his eyes out - now he can no longer see eye color and his hatred can no longer be acted on). 

If this is the ending at the end of book 5  perhaps wit will send him to see cultivation and ask him for help in righting his wrongs hopefully putting him on a better path than Dalinar or Wit will send him into the cosmere and we'll see him in lost metals or something.

[AquaRegia he/him]

18 hours ago, Waffles said:

Wit will send him into the cosmere and we'll see him in lost metals or something.

Rusts.  Now I'm imagining Moash with Steelsight, Hemalurgy, Feruchemy and Allomancy.

Thanks a lot.  :-/

[Morningtide she/her]

7 hours ago, AquaRegia said:

Rusts.  Now I'm imagining Moash with Steelsight, Hemalurgy, Feruchemy and Allomancy.

Thanks a lot.  :-/

That would be terrifying.

[LuckyJim]

On a related note, Brandon recently "RAFO'd" a question regarding whether or not the epilogue would be from Hoid's pov.

Quote

Questioner

Epilogue of Stormlight Five still be written in Wit's viewpoint?

Brandon Sanderson

I'm going to RAFO you on that one. You'll have to wait and see. I will be writing it very soon.

YouTube Livestream 29 (March 3, 2021)

Probably doesn't mean anything, but, maybe...

[Bejarden he/him]

3 minutes ago, LuckyJim said:

On a related note, Brandon recently "RAFO'd" a question regarding whether or not the epilogue would be from Hoid's pov.

Probably doesn't mean anything, but, maybe...

Yah I don’t think he would ever just say “yes” to a question like this 

He seems to not want to spoil things

but this isn’t pointing in either direction 

[LuckyJim]

1 minute ago, Bejardin1250 said:

Yah I don’t think he would ever just say “yes” to a question like this 

He seems to not want to spoil things

but this isn’t pointing in either direction 

Like I said, it probably doesn't mean anything.

But like, what if it did?

[MGershone]

On 5/24/2021 at 10:55 AM, Ba-Ado-Fisherman said:

I feel like everything Moash has done since WoR is setting him up to be a more important character in the future.  I hope Brandon doesn't kill him off to sate the "f moash" crowd.

Honestly, I'm wondering how he is going to appease those people (including me). I feel like  alot of people  are just done with him

[Frustration he/him]

Moash could have been a good villain, then Brandon decided to try and make him sympathetic

He could have been a lost sheep, but Brandon made too much of the fandon holds him as irredeemable.

He could have been a champion for Odium, but then Brandon blided him.

He's now the worst thing to have in a story, no matter what Brandon does he's a problem

[Bejarden he/him]

8 hours ago, Frustration said:

Moash could have been a good villain, then Brandon decided to try and make him sympathetic

He could have been a lost sheep, but Brandon made too much of the fandon holds him as irredeemable.

He could have been a champion for Odium, but then Brandon blided him.

He's now the worst thing to have in a story, no matter what Brandon does he's a problem

All these things Brandon did on purpose 

So I think he has something big planned

[jamesbondsmith He/him]

You could definitely make the argument Dalinar is 'genre blind', what with trusting basically everyone he shouldn't. If it does turn out that Todd wins and Dalinar becomes a Fused, then he and Moash could be the blind men. Especially if Dalinar is defeated by a betrayal he should have seen coming.

[Infinity Sliver]

16 hours ago, Frustration said:

Moash could have been a good villain, then Brandon decided to try and make him sympathetic

He could have been a lost sheep, but Brandon made too much of the fandon holds him as irredeemable.

He could have been a champion for Odium, but then Brandon blided him.

He's now the worst thing to have in a story, no matter what Brandon does he's a problem

Moash is a person and those are his personality traits. He was always blindly seeking revenge,and given the chance to,he gave away his pain for "peace". I,tbh,dont hate Moash. He is basically a path that Kaladin up till then end of ROW could have been. He isnt necessarily a villian and i doubt Brandon is doing anything to sate his fandom's opinion of Moash but to play out the story he's written for him.

[TheCruelSadist he/him]

When I heard that, I had the thought that Moash is the man who feels like he's drowning in pain, wondering how he can live with Odium no longer taking it from him

[Chinkoln he/him]

Pretty random idea, but what if Marsh world hops and appears in book 5? He and Moash could be the two blind men. It is more logical for it to be Moash and Hoid, but we need to keep all options open.

[MGershone]

Have we seen a second blind person anywhere in Stormlight yet?

[Chinkoln he/him]

There was a Veden king long ago who had an eye stabbed out by a relative, and there was an old Shin weaver who was blind. In one of his letters, Hoid says that Frost turned a blind eye to the deaths of Aona and Skye.

[Use the Falchion]

4 hours ago, Chinkoln said:

Pretty random idea, but what if Marsh world hops and appears in book 5? He and Moash could be the two blind men. It is more logical for it to be Moash and Hoid, but we need to keep all options open.

Two men who worked to kill kings and had men they viewed as brothers become icons with spear-based symbolism? I could totally see it. Moash at the end of the day what the difference is between them, and Marsh talking about darkness and light (or something like that), and how both do different things in art and nature, would be awesome. 

[IAmTheStick]

On 5/26/2021 at 7:59 PM, LuckyJim said:

Like I said, it probably doesn't mean anything.

But like, what if it did?

95% of my thoughts while reading cosmere books

[mathiau he/him]

On 28/05/2021 at 4:44 AM, Frustration said:

Moash could have been a good villain, then Brandon decided to try and make him sympathetic

He could have been a lost sheep, but Brandon made too much of the fandon holds him as irredeemable.

He could have been a champion for Odium, but then Brandon blided him.

He's now the worst thing to have in a story, no matter what Brandon does he's a problem

People will only see him as unredeemable until Brandon change their mind. I mean he's never done anything worse than what Rashek.

On 30/05/2021 at 10:54 PM, MGershone said:

Have we seen a second blind person anywhere in Stormlight yet?

Ruin was deaf and Preservation mute, maybe Odium is blind?

[Infinity Sliver]

12 minutes ago, mathiau said:

Ruin was deaf and Preservation mute, maybe Odium is blind?

wait what? was this a thing?

[Chinkoln he/him]

Not technically. Because of the unique way Preservation and Ruin intertwined, metal piercing gave access to the mind in a unique way. When pierced my a spike, preservation can hear thought, but can’t insert them. Ruin can insert them but can’t hear them.

[MGershone]

 

On 6/2/2021 at 9:43 AM, Chinkoln said:

Not technically. Because of the unique way Preservation and Ruin intertwined, metal piercing gave access to the mind in a unique way. When pierced my a spike, preservation can hear thought, but can’t insert them. Ruin can insert them but can’t hear them.

Is it possible that there is something that Odium can't do, but honor can? maybe honor can send vision, but only odium can listen to them,or something

[Chinkoln he/him]

33 minutes ago, MGershone said:

 

Is it possible that there is something that Odium can't do, but honor can? maybe honor can send vision, but only odium can listen to them,or something

Doubtful. The reason Ruin and Preservation were so connected was because they were both so heavily invested in Scadrial, because they literally created the entire planet and everything on it. They shared a type of relationship that so far, we don’t know of any other Shard having.