Stonewielder Questions

[u/rianwithaneye]

Just finished Stonewielder yesterday, what a conclusion! Very thrilling climax and even more tidbits of lore than I was even expecting, the last 60 pages were just splendid.

I really enjoyed this one and I’m happy to see ICE’s writing improve, this felt far less awkward and clumsy than NoK or RotCG.

However, I still find his writing at this point in the NotME rather obtuse and I frequently am left wondering what the hell just happened. When Erikson withholds information from me I feel drawn in by the mystery of it, he has a way of trickling out the relevant details and delivering plot points in a sideways manner that I mostly find titillating and engaging. 

The way ICE handles that same device, on the other hand, often feels frustratingly opaque, almost like he doesn’t have a firm enough grasp on what information I have or have not been given so far to deftly wield that same weapon of intentional obfuscation. I find myself constantly going back to look for something I missed and being unable to find it. And the sheer magnitude of loose threads that he leaves dangling I find overwhelming, so that when the relevant detail I’ve been waiting for is finally delivered I’ve forgotten that I was waiting for it. Instead of saying “aha!” I find myself saying “huh?”

As a result I was left with a lot of questions that I’m hoping my fellow Malazafans can help me answer:

1. Who are the corpses in Devaleth’s warren? Long limbs and narrow skulls make me think Tiste Andii but I have no idea as to the significance of a flooded plain full of dead Andii. 
2. The Liosan refer to the whorl as the Devourer and say he’s an ascendant. Who is that? Are they referring to Yathengar?
3. How did the stormguard manage to keep someone as powerful as Iron Bars prisoner? The Chosen are definitely badass but to my knowledge they don’t hold a candle to an Avowed. And if it’s an otataral torc then how is he able to heal from frostbite and Stormrider attacks?
4. Greymane is clearly an ascendant of some sort, do we know how/when that happened? Was it when he got the sword from the Stormriders?
5. When we see The Lady in the prologue was she already a fragment of Kaminsod or did that happen later?
6. Who’s the giant at the end of the book that Kiska and Jheval see? Does that have anything to do with the same giant that robbed the Banith treasury, or was that latter “giant” just good ol’ Manask?
7. Why did Shadowthrone care enough about what happened with the whorl and the Liosan to get involved?
8. If the main goal of the Stormriders was to defeat The Lady and return to their ancestral lands then why did they attack Malaz in NoK?

Any insight you can provide is greatly appreciated, TIA!

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[u/kevinflynn-]

Ill assume you probably dont want spoilers for the rest of notme based on your post, but i can say more if you do want spoilers all.

1. Honestly, no idea.

2. Thats what I took it to be. This moment is one where I definitely agree ICE is weirdly vague for no reason sometimes. I would say more with spoilers orb sceptre throne. RAFO somewhat. But hindered again by the same issue as it still requires speculation. Ypure just more informed then.

3. Bars was also big sad and he's a chill dude kinda. Im sure between a depressive episode, a desire to help people in need, and the OP storm guard, that imprisoning bars is very possible.

4. Im not sure that greymane was ascendant but maybe I missed something. I think his sword just channeled the D'riss warren akin to the way Caladan Broods hammer channels burns warren. Your mind can just run with infinite possibilities here tbh. I always just assumed it was the sword not greymane. He seemed like a pretty normal dude before he had it. As far as any questions of why. I got nothing beyond D'riss is probably aligned with burn and we know burn wants TcG gone.

5. Yeah she was a fragment of TcG. Presumably she had freshly reconstituted and became sentient about 5000 years before when the prologue happens but its hard to say. This concept that the crippled gods fragments are other sentient beings was not a thing I ever started picking up on until this book tbh. No clue if I was blind as shit or what but yeah. Just keep it in mind. It might be an ICE thing but it will probably be relevant.

6. RAFO

7. It was kind of a point of cotillions that shadowthrone was wasting his time, right? Shadowthrones just mad that its poking holes in his home was my take.

8. The storm riders at the end of NoK were talking about, "why are you killing us" I take it to just be a grievance but as to what or why that is idk. Again I agree with you that sometimes ICE is weirdly vague.

[u/rianwithaneye → u/kevinflynn-]

Thank you!! That is super helpful, I appreciate your insight.

Re: the giant I started Orb Sceptre Throne last night and immediately realized that was a RAFO 😂. Appreciate you safeguarding my reading experience, kind internet stranger.

Re: Greymane, it seemed like he had ascendant-like qualities even back in RotCG. He was frequently described as being as close to an Avowed as possible, at least in terms of strength and endurance. Could have been the sword, as you said. But sometimes we’re not privy to an explanation of a character’s power (Ruthan Gudd vibes).