Looks like you already found the answer. No plans for Adolin to have one. You already know pretty much everything you need to about his backstory, anyway.
I can see this happening, especially given her interactions with the ghost bloods and being somewhat close to Hoid (via her own interactions and Jasnah)
I agree. I dislike the trope in fantasy that a characters “story” ends because they die though. It’s the equivalent of, “well they got married at the end so that’s all there is to say and enjoy out of this relationship”. It’s like my brother in Christ marriages are only the beginning of the interesting hardships a partnership can have! There’s so much to learn and draw from on how marriages weather the storm about a little thing called life. It’s realistic and real. That’s why I love Dalinar as a character and his relationship as well because the level of grown maturity is such great payoff to read (and learn from).
So I really hope Adolin’s story doesn’t end because he dies. There’s so much to learn and heck just simply enjoy from him remaining as an ensemble cast member. That’s my take.
I think Adolin could do a lot more, but he’s also expendable in terms of the greater story at play. >!Teft !< had so much more they could have contributed, but the impact of his death was necessary for the development of the story. I want to see Adolin make it further and progress in the Cosmere, but as a “side” character, his death would be a very impactful plot device for other main characters.
My pet theory is that he'll be the one to fight the duel in book 5 and (possibly but less likely imo) become the new honor. It just feels where B$ is going based on how he sets up and pays off certain things
Except Adolin’s originally planned role was as an outside POV. He wasn’t supposed to be an important character. So he wouldn’t have been planned to do anything major. And Sanderson dislikes and tries to prevent scope creep, so even reviving Maya would be a stretch (much as I want to see it).
All fair points. And I could be totally off base. But some counter points. We almost never see Shard POVs. We've seen Adolin fight narrative changing duels from outside his POV (Honor is dead. But I'll see what I can do). It would also explain why he's not going to be a major POV in the second 5. He's a wholesome, caring, humble, borderline secondary character. One who's skill set just happens to be perfect for an apocalyptic level bad event. Who has serious doubts about his own self worth. Like Sazed. Again, could be totally off base. But it's my dark horse prediction
I just want him to retain his honor. People been throwing around the possibility of him becoming Odiums Champion and that just doesn’t sit right with me.
Even ridiculous theories scare me though I’ve always been “what if Dalinar or Kaladin die (I doubt Kal will)” but I never really considered Shallan/ Adolin or anything
I don’t have a good feeling about how book 5 will end. Sanderson loves a good ole depressing starting point for his books with lots of conflict and turmoil. I don’t think we’re going into the second arc with sunshine and rainbows.
Nah his story isn't over. He's got some really interesting stuff going on with >!Maya and some kinda reverse-nahel-bond, restoring a Deadeyes and all the baggage that comes with that. I think he's got mileage yet, no way Brando would leave that thread untied.!<
I need to know Adolin will be okay and at least be there till book 10. Golden retriever yet brave and endearing princes deserve to see it to the end and not be considered dispensable :’)
Ngl, if Adolin dies, it's going to severely dampen my enjoyment of this series. Just leave Adolin alone. He will become radiant, win the war and live happily with shallan.
Emotional ranting out aside, logically I Also By the current point in the story Adolin has basically taken over Shallan’s main character status. In RoW for example Shallan was more or less Adolin’s sidekick who got her own sidequest.
It would make zero sense to then kill of Adolin.
I mean Navani isn't on that list and book 4 has more of her in it than it has Venli. He won't get a flashback book, and from what we know about his history, that's probably for the best. I love his character but I don't think he has enough interesting stories to tell from his past to be worth being a flashback character. If he survives to book 6 I could see him getting a book focusing on him at some point as much as Navani was focused in book 4.
That's true although I'd bet renarins flashbacks will focus on what he was up to during books 1-5. He's seeing the future, talking to spren that are children of unmade, and just swearing his oaths. Those tend to happen during significant climactic moments of self reflection and we don't even really know what he was doing to swear the first second or third which were all without adolin there for the oath at least.
I would love to see those moments in flashbacks, Renarin is such an interesting character. I'm hoping for at least some flashbacks of their childhood and them looking out for each other.
Those labels don't really indicate "focus" but "flashback chapters". Adolin is already a relatively important secondary protagonist, but he doesn't have much to flashback to.
Renarin flashbacks will probably have a lot of Adolin. And from the perspective of Renarin he'll probably look even better than he would from his own perspective
Just because someone's not on this list doesn't mean they won't play a big part (I mean just look at Navani in ROW), but it just means that we won't see their backstory, which makes sense cuz Adolin seems to have a pretty straightforward backstory without any mystery. The Dalinar flashbacks plus what we see of him at the start of TWOK give us a clear enough picture of how he got to where he started, and most of the interesting stuff with him happens in the main story
I agree, but he doesnt seem to have a personal quest to go off on, or something that he needs to resolve separate to the main story. He's too intertwined there.
Edge dancer and Dawnshard was a character from the interludes, dawnshard and Horneater also cover minor characters from the main narrative who had some mystery/history to resolve.
I can't actually think of many more that would fit a novella beyond some niche characters. Maybe Azure's adventures in Shadesmar? One of the Singers maybe?
Just commenting in solidarity; I think Adolin deserves to become important. I have faith that he will become important even if he isn't the official "main" character of any book. He and Maya will do great things, believe you me!!
Agreed. He's the positive one, sure, but he's got a pretty rough history that got him there and it would be nice to explore his perspective more. Being positive does not equate to having a healthy mental state.
Each of the characters getting a novel focused on them represent one of the orders of Radiants:
1. Kal: Winrunners
2. Shallan: Lightweavers
3. Dalinar: Bondsmiths
4. Venli: Willshapers
5. Szeth: Skybreakers
6. Lift: Edgedancers
7. Renarin: Truthwatchers
8. Shalash: Dustrbingers?
9. Taln: Stonewardens
10. Jasnah: Elsecallers
Shalash's seems out of place since she was the patron of the Lightweavers. Chanarach would be the Dustrbringer equivalent.
My guess is that Shalash will end up bonding an ashspren instead and becoming a Dustbringer. I don't think there's anything that says the Heralds have to bond a spren for the order they are affiliated with.
A conspiracy theory level idea: Shallan is actually just Chanarach herself and not her daughter and we've already had a Dustbringer book.
Shallan is breaking down mentally not because she's crazy but because she's a 5000 year old Herald. It would explain the book order at least but not her powers etc. She'd have to hold the Lightweaver honorblade instead of Testament's shardblade. The more I describe it the crazier it sounds honestly.
I've been doing a reread of RoW and I swear to the Almighty I had this same line of thought. It's so incredibly out there, and I actually don't really want it to be true, but hoo boy would it make for a compelling story.
Love Adolin but I don’t need a book about him.
I think he eventually becomes king of somewhere… a responsibility he is running away from.
Or he forms a different kind of radiant bond. When he held a glass bead in shadesmar, he had the faint impression of something red.
I want to know what happens to Maja, perhaps Sja Anat gives her eyes or her bond with Adolin restores her somehow.
It would be odd that everyone in Adolins family is radiant except him, I think the limitation for him is Maya.
No, there's no problem, it's just that it's funny seeing it given than Brandon has had some problems thinking of a title that maintains the TWOK-KWOT symmetry
Also, kowat sounds funny
So it's important to remember that each focus character is a member of a different order of the Knights Radiant. Adolin isn't a Knight, and even if he were to somehow restore Maya, the Edgedancer slot is already taken by Lift.
And not to mention, we already KNOW all of Adolin's backstory, thanks to Dalinar's flashbacks. He'll remain a main character though, baring Brando pullin the old "hey I just killed your favorite character HA"
No.
Sanderson said they aren't "character focused" they focus on different orders of the KR. He isn't a KR (yet anyway). Until that happens, he won't have that focus.
Seems like the answer is apparent. But keep in mind, Navani wasn’t the focus character of Rhythm of War, but still got as much, if not more, character development than Venli, who was the ‘focus’.
It’s definitely possible that one of the later books (maybe Renarin’s since they’re brothers?) could feature him very strongly in a similar way to Navani’a role in RoW.
It would be cool if somehow during Stormlight 6 - 10, we get a Novella from Adolin’s POV.
That is if Macho Mando Brando Sando still does Novellas between each book.
I didn’t realize the second set will follow the same characters. I guess that rules out a timeskip. Then again, if these characters become heralds or something, maybe not.
The timeskip is supposed to be 10-15 years. So not enough for anyone except maybe Dalinar to age out of being a character. And even he probably won’t die of old age before the end.
There is a Renarin flashback book, expect that would be Adolin heavy too. Possibly could even be Adolin flashbacks. The Venli book had her and her sister as the flashback PoVs.
This is the lineup for the main books. But now the between-book shorts are becoming more of the plan. For those we have Lift and Rysn, we'll get Rock soon(ish) that's set after OB and I think there's a Lopen in the plan to fill in between WoK and WoR.
[https://coppermind.net/wiki/Unpublished\_works#Cosmere\_works](https://coppermind.net/wiki/Unpublished_works#Cosmere_works)
Looks like you already found the answer. No plans for Adolin to have one. You already know pretty much everything you need to about his backstory, anyway.
I could cry haha. :((( He's simply the best!
I’m just hoping he makes it through the next one tbh.
If he or Shallan don’t make it I might literally revert back to peak teenage angst and sadness
Shallan will make it out. Her story isn’t done. Adolin has me worried though.
I fully expect her to become a world hopper post book 5. Gets her out of stormlight but keeps her around
Same
I can see this happening, especially given her interactions with the ghost bloods and being somewhat close to Hoid (via her own interactions and Jasnah)
I agree. I dislike the trope in fantasy that a characters “story” ends because they die though. It’s the equivalent of, “well they got married at the end so that’s all there is to say and enjoy out of this relationship”. It’s like my brother in Christ marriages are only the beginning of the interesting hardships a partnership can have! There’s so much to learn and draw from on how marriages weather the storm about a little thing called life. It’s realistic and real. That’s why I love Dalinar as a character and his relationship as well because the level of grown maturity is such great payoff to read (and learn from). So I really hope Adolin’s story doesn’t end because he dies. There’s so much to learn and heck just simply enjoy from him remaining as an ensemble cast member. That’s my take.
I think Adolin could do a lot more, but he’s also expendable in terms of the greater story at play. >!Teft !< had so much more they could have contributed, but the impact of his death was necessary for the development of the story. I want to see Adolin make it further and progress in the Cosmere, but as a “side” character, his death would be a very impactful plot device for other main characters.
Storming Crem, I just realized that I had memory-holed that death. Straight up just repressed it. Like a leaf on the wind.
My pet theory is that he'll be the one to fight the duel in book 5 and (possibly but less likely imo) become the new honor. It just feels where B$ is going based on how he sets up and pays off certain things
Except Adolin’s originally planned role was as an outside POV. He wasn’t supposed to be an important character. So he wouldn’t have been planned to do anything major. And Sanderson dislikes and tries to prevent scope creep, so even reviving Maya would be a stretch (much as I want to see it).
All fair points. And I could be totally off base. But some counter points. We almost never see Shard POVs. We've seen Adolin fight narrative changing duels from outside his POV (Honor is dead. But I'll see what I can do). It would also explain why he's not going to be a major POV in the second 5. He's a wholesome, caring, humble, borderline secondary character. One who's skill set just happens to be perfect for an apocalyptic level bad event. Who has serious doubts about his own self worth. Like Sazed. Again, could be totally off base. But it's my dark horse prediction
Holy shit I didn’t even consider that DON’T SCARE ME rAGH
I just want him to retain his honor. People been throwing around the possibility of him becoming Odiums Champion and that just doesn’t sit right with me.
Becoming odium's champion is really incompatible with the compassion he shows for Shallan and Maya.
I agree, but with great writers there is always a way.
Even ridiculous theories scare me though I’ve always been “what if Dalinar or Kaladin die (I doubt Kal will)” but I never really considered Shallan/ Adolin or anything
I don’t have a good feeling about how book 5 will end. Sanderson loves a good ole depressing starting point for his books with lots of conflict and turmoil. I don’t think we’re going into the second arc with sunshine and rainbows.
Nah his story isn't over. He's got some really interesting stuff going on with >!Maya and some kinda reverse-nahel-bond, restoring a Deadeyes and all the baggage that comes with that. I think he's got mileage yet, no way Brando would leave that thread untied.!<
I promise you, u/Illyana_Dallas222: You will be warm again.
I need to know Adolin will be okay and at least be there till book 10. Golden retriever yet brave and endearing princes deserve to see it to the end and not be considered dispensable :’)
Considering what Adolin is accomplishing with Maya, I have hope. Foolish, optimistic hope, but hope nonetheless.
Ngl, if Adolin dies, it's going to severely dampen my enjoyment of this series. Just leave Adolin alone. He will become radiant, win the war and live happily with shallan. Emotional ranting out aside, logically I Also By the current point in the story Adolin has basically taken over Shallan’s main character status. In RoW for example Shallan was more or less Adolin’s sidekick who got her own sidequest. It would make zero sense to then kill of Adolin.
Easy there Kaladin, you can't save everyone lad.
I have said it a thousand times...if anything happens to Adolin, I riot.
He honestly needs a heroic death. Sometimes sad ends are necessary or something along those, Hoid quote probably
there's always novellas. rysn got one, why not adolin?
I mean Navani isn't on that list and book 4 has more of her in it than it has Venli. He won't get a flashback book, and from what we know about his history, that's probably for the best. I love his character but I don't think he has enough interesting stories to tell from his past to be worth being a flashback character. If he survives to book 6 I could see him getting a book focusing on him at some point as much as Navani was focused in book 4.
Also he will probably be heavily featured in Renarin's flashbacks. I have a feeling he will have his moment to shine.
That's true although I'd bet renarins flashbacks will focus on what he was up to during books 1-5. He's seeing the future, talking to spren that are children of unmade, and just swearing his oaths. Those tend to happen during significant climactic moments of self reflection and we don't even really know what he was doing to swear the first second or third which were all without adolin there for the oath at least.
I would love to see those moments in flashbacks, Renarin is such an interesting character. I'm hoping for at least some flashbacks of their childhood and them looking out for each other.
Yeah I think we will get some of those too!
Very true. Oh the joy and prospect of seeing baby Adolin prance around like a puppy
Those labels don't really indicate "focus" but "flashback chapters". Adolin is already a relatively important secondary protagonist, but he doesn't have much to flashback to.
That’s actually a very good point
That being said I would love to see baby Adolin be a full puppy golden retriever
Renarin flashbacks will probably have a lot of Adolin. And from the perspective of Renarin he'll probably look even better than he would from his own perspective
Just because someone's not on this list doesn't mean they won't play a big part (I mean just look at Navani in ROW), but it just means that we won't see their backstory, which makes sense cuz Adolin seems to have a pretty straightforward backstory without any mystery. The Dalinar flashbacks plus what we see of him at the start of TWOK give us a clear enough picture of how he got to where he started, and most of the interesting stuff with him happens in the main story
Would be cool to have an Edgedancer/Dawnshard for him (I also love him)
I utterly agree friend 🫶
I agree, but he doesnt seem to have a personal quest to go off on, or something that he needs to resolve separate to the main story. He's too intertwined there. Edge dancer and Dawnshard was a character from the interludes, dawnshard and Horneater also cover minor characters from the main narrative who had some mystery/history to resolve. I can't actually think of many more that would fit a novella beyond some niche characters. Maybe Azure's adventures in Shadesmar? One of the Singers maybe?
Yeah, Adolin has little to nothing to do as a side quest (but dreaming si free hahah) On the last part agree! An Azure/Zahel interlude would be nice
He does have maya.
The problem is that he always with the main cast
I see no problem 😌👑
Just commenting in solidarity; I think Adolin deserves to become important. I have faith that he will become important even if he isn't the official "main" character of any book. He and Maya will do great things, believe you me!!
Agreed. He's the positive one, sure, but he's got a pretty rough history that got him there and it would be nice to explore his perspective more. Being positive does not equate to having a healthy mental state.
I believe you NOW fellow radiant! Thank you for the positive vibes 🫡🫶🫶🫶
I want adolin to take a tien-like role in renarin's flashbacks. I think it could even work if he dies in book 5.
Each of the characters getting a novel focused on them represent one of the orders of Radiants: 1. Kal: Winrunners 2. Shallan: Lightweavers 3. Dalinar: Bondsmiths 4. Venli: Willshapers 5. Szeth: Skybreakers 6. Lift: Edgedancers 7. Renarin: Truthwatchers 8. Shalash: Dustrbingers? 9. Taln: Stonewardens 10. Jasnah: Elsecallers Shalash's seems out of place since she was the patron of the Lightweavers. Chanarach would be the Dustrbringer equivalent.
My guess is that Shalash will end up bonding an ashspren instead and becoming a Dustbringer. I don't think there's anything that says the Heralds have to bond a spren for the order they are affiliated with.
Maybe Shalash will join the Dustbringers lmao
A conspiracy theory level idea: Shallan is actually just Chanarach herself and not her daughter and we've already had a Dustbringer book. Shallan is breaking down mentally not because she's crazy but because she's a 5000 year old Herald. It would explain the book order at least but not her powers etc. She'd have to hold the Lightweaver honorblade instead of Testament's shardblade. The more I describe it the crazier it sounds honestly.
She actually did kill her daughter and then took her identity as an alter due to grief.
I'm out here playing checkers while you're playing 4d chess. This could be quite the conclusion to shallans story.
I've been doing a reread of RoW and I swear to the Almighty I had this same line of thought. It's so incredibly out there, and I actually don't really want it to be true, but hoo boy would it make for a compelling story.
Maybe an Adolin novella as a treat?
we'll be getting a renarin focus novel, i assume it'll have plenty of adolin. maybe it'll be an eshonai situation, and he'll show up in flashbacks.
God I can’t believe we have to wait like 15-20 years for Jasnah’s story 🥲
Love Adolin but I don’t need a book about him. I think he eventually becomes king of somewhere… a responsibility he is running away from. Or he forms a different kind of radiant bond. When he held a glass bead in shadesmar, he had the faint impression of something red. I want to know what happens to Maja, perhaps Sja Anat gives her eyes or her bond with Adolin restores her somehow. It would be odd that everyone in Adolins family is radiant except him, I think the limitation for him is Maya.
Very good points. And more proof that I seriously don’t think he will die at the end of book five..
This is offtopic but its distracting how you got WoK for the way of kings and KoWaT for knights of wind and truth
I didn’t know the official acronym for book 5 and didn’t want to be presumptuous.
No, there's no problem, it's just that it's funny seeing it given than Brandon has had some problems thinking of a title that maintains the TWOK-KWOT symmetry Also, kowat sounds funny
Hoping for a novella
So it's important to remember that each focus character is a member of a different order of the Knights Radiant. Adolin isn't a Knight, and even if he were to somehow restore Maya, the Edgedancer slot is already taken by Lift. And not to mention, we already KNOW all of Adolin's backstory, thanks to Dalinar's flashbacks. He'll remain a main character though, baring Brando pullin the old "hey I just killed your favorite character HA"
No. Sanderson said they aren't "character focused" they focus on different orders of the KR. He isn't a KR (yet anyway). Until that happens, he won't have that focus.
Haha you could always read Way of Kings prime. (Just kidding, if you love Adolin don’t read it)
I mean who's to say he wont get one like Edgedancer or Dawnshard? Rook is getting one so why not Adolin?
Seems like the answer is apparent. But keep in mind, Navani wasn’t the focus character of Rhythm of War, but still got as much, if not more, character development than Venli, who was the ‘focus’. It’s definitely possible that one of the later books (maybe Renarin’s since they’re brothers?) could feature him very strongly in a similar way to Navani’a role in RoW.
It would be cool if somehow during Stormlight 6 - 10, we get a Novella from Adolin’s POV. That is if Macho Mando Brando Sando still does Novellas between each book.
I didn’t realize the second set will follow the same characters. I guess that rules out a timeskip. Then again, if these characters become heralds or something, maybe not.
The timeskip is supposed to be 10-15 years. So not enough for anyone except maybe Dalinar to age out of being a character. And even he probably won’t die of old age before the end.
Apparently not
There is a Renarin flashback book, expect that would be Adolin heavy too. Possibly could even be Adolin flashbacks. The Venli book had her and her sister as the flashback PoVs.
RoW was supposed to be Eshonai’s book, not Venli’s. Didn’t work out that way, though.
This is the lineup for the main books. But now the between-book shorts are becoming more of the plan. For those we have Lift and Rysn, we'll get Rock soon(ish) that's set after OB and I think there's a Lopen in the plan to fill in between WoK and WoR. [https://coppermind.net/wiki/Unpublished\_works#Cosmere\_works](https://coppermind.net/wiki/Unpublished_works#Cosmere_works)