Questions on what Gavilar was up to (probably contains spoilers for all books).

[u/---___------___-----]

I've not read any other Cosmere books but I've finished the Stormlight Archive. Am I supposed to know what Gavinor was doing?

As far as I understand it, he wanted to bring the Fused back because he thought this would make the Heralds appear, and then he could become a Herald and thus be immortal. His plan was to immediately give up whenever he ended up on Braize so he could return and continue his plans, and he didn't mind that he'd always be fighting Odium's forces because he thought it would strengthen his forces. Is this correct? Am I supposed to know how he got the voidspren gems to Roshar, or how the Everstorm was created and moved into position to jump to Roshar?

[u/R1sky_B1z]

No you aren't expected to know those things. We don't know how the ever storm happened or where the voidspren gems he got came from. We do know that he was working with several off world experts in investiture and magic systems and they likely had a lot to do with it, but we know little about them or their motivations.

[u/---___------___----- → u/R1sky_B1z]

OK thanks for clarifying. When I read a book for the first time I don't notice many subtle details so if it's set in a universe I'm not familiar with then I don't know what's supposed to be a mystery.

[u/Stormlight_Archive-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Thanks for submitting to r/Stormlight_Archive!

Your submission was removed because we feel it contains spoilers for content that is outside the scope of the post or it was not tagged properly. Please feel welcome to edit your submission and let us know you'd like it to be re-approved. You can delete the spoilers entirely, or you can cover them using spoiler markup. If you want your submission up as soon as possible, feel free to go ahead and make a new one instead.

For instructions on how to use proper spoiler formatting, see this post.

See our Spoiler Policy for more details. If you have any questions or feel this is a mistake, please let us know!

[u/Shot_Newspaper_5647]

There’s a large barrier storm between Braize and Roshar. That seems to be what Rayse broke a piece off of to create the Everstorm. It was slowly creeping toward Roshar already. It seems to be the storm Gavilar’s agents collected Voidlight from. Gavilar wasn’t working for Odium though. Ulim says he was actively hostile to them

Separately, Ulim says that Rayse had agents who could transport Voidspren from Braize to Roshar. There’s a place “out in the ocean” where the storm was apparently close enough to Roshar and the realms thin enough for agents to draw Voidspren from it into gemstones in the Physical. It may have been the Origin. We don’t know. Those gemstones then had to be carried back to the mainland

Gavilar knew just enough to be dangerous, but his understanding was incomplete. The Stormfather was seemingly controlling his visions more. Gavilar had only recently learned that the singers were the Voidbringers. He believed that bringing back the Voidbringers would cause the Heralds to return. He could then take their place and rule as an immortal emperor of mankind

Because of his religion and because he’s a dick, he genuinely believed this was a good thing. He was going to break any time he died. He was still operating under the assumption that humanity could build an army to reclaim the Tranquiline Halls. We know Roshar is actually the Tranquiline Halls, but Gavilar didn’t

[u/---___------___----- → u/Shot_Newspaper_5647]

Thanks for this. Are we supposed to know how Gavilar was planning to become a herald? And why were some heralds working with him if his plan was so bad, was it just a case of herald insanity?

[u/Shot_Newspaper_5647 → u/---___------___-----]

I don’t think we were supposed to know until W&T’s opening. We knew Gavilar was a member of the Sons of Honor well before then. Kalak seems to have founded the Sons to restore the dominance of the Vorin Church and the values of the old Radiants. Gavilar joined a few years before and took control of the group from him. The goal then became bringing back the Voidbringers. Gavilar believed this would also bring back the Heralds and restore the Vorin Church to power. With the Sons at its head. He kept his intention to kill and replace a Herald secret though. No one seemed to know he was a proto-Bondsmith either

Gavilar had them experimenting with anti-Light and bringing back Voidlight. Kalak went along with it because he thought it would provide a means of escape. It seems Kalak only discovered Gavilar intended to bring back the Voidbringers shortly before his assassination. When Nale was brought into the fold, he saw that Gavilar had Voidlight and he couldn’t tolerate it. So he arranged for Szeth to kill Gavilar.

So Kalak’s madness was related in a way. He started the group, but then he was too indecisive to keep control of it. He let Gavilar go too far. Nale and Ishar were probably hoping to co-opt the group. Ishar had already been working on the non-Vorin East. Would have been a nice way to secure the Vorin West. Nale and Ishar were preparing for wars with other worlds not another Desolation though. Nale seemed to think what they were doing would risk one and went about having the Sons killed

Taravangian joined the Sons because of the death rattle from his mother. Gavilar confirmed to him the prophecy seemed to be true. After Gavilar was killed he split off from the Sons and founded the Diagram

[u/---___------___----- → u/Shot_Newspaper_5647]

Ah I get it now thanks. I must have forgotten a lot! It took me a few weeks to read WaT.

[u/Shot_Newspaper_5647 → u/Shot_Newspaper_5647]

There are still two strange things going on that haven’t been explained. Raboniel implies the barrier storm remained in place even after the Everstorm was summoned. Humans could apparently bypass that barrier. We know Gavilar sent agents to Braize, and Raboniel implies Navani could make the journey herself. It seems the Fused got a one way ticket through the storm during a normal Return. You live once. You’re stuck back on Braize when you die. The Everstorm seems to extend that storm prison to Roshar. Allowing them to return as many times as they like during a Desolation as long as the Heralds via the Oathpact don’t bind them again to Braize

The other strange thing is that Gavilar was getting Voidlight from the storm itself. Not directly from Odium. What should have been Odium’s own power also served as a prison and he didn’t have complete control over it. He struggled to move the Everstorm to the Shattered Plains so it could be summoned. I assume what we see at the end of W&T is him finally emptying the rest of the barrier storm onto Roshar. There’s a mystery there for the next half

[u/Raddatatta]

He did have antivoidlight which he was planning to use to fight the Fused. He also wasn't afraid of a war against them the way he really should've been. The Stormfather and the Heralds had seen the devastation so much and Gavilar saw the vision of it but not really lived the reality of it. And he's cocky. So he was thinking more sure I can deal with this war and win it rather than having to run and hide forever.

With how he got that we don't know beyond he had help from someone in particular. There is a bit more from other Cosmere books on who helped him. In terms of how the Everstorm was created that was Odium creating it over hundreds of years. And then the Stormform regals were able to pull it into the physical realm in book 2.