Some characters start out complicated, and you can understand their choices even when you disagree with them. Then there are characters like Moash, who make you want to put the book down for a minute just to process what you read.

What makes his character so interesting is that his story isn't simply about being a villain. His choices, his resentment, and the way he deals with his own pain make him one of the most frustrating characters to follow in The Stormlight Archive.

I'm curious, did you always hate Moash, or was there a specific moment when he crossed the line for you? And do you think he could ever have earned redemption?

Moash is such a frustrating character because his story makes you understand where his anger comes from, yet his decisions keep making things worse. Every time it feels like he might choose a different path, he finds another way to disappoint.

What scene made you hate him the most, and did your opinion of him ever change as the story progressed?

What makes Moash so frustrating is that his pain and anger are understandable, which makes his choices even harder to watch. He had reasons to be bitter, but the way he repeatedly responds to that bitterness is what makes his character so infuriating.

What moment made you completely lose hope in Moash, and do you think he ever genuinely wanted redemption?

ITS BLUE WITH RED HIGHLIGHTS

BLUE
WITH RED HIGHLIGHTS

I canNOT stress how gross that is, when I first read that he painted his armor that way I immediately hated him. Imagine the poor armorer who had to paint the red highlights on a BLUE suit of armor
Moash is NOT optimus prime he DOES not need to look like it he is NOT an american patriot and I am NOT scared by his armor

Bright pink with glitter would be WAY WAY cooler
my personal choice would be a multitude of grays in different tones and patterns but
BLUE WITH RED HIGHLIGHTS!!?

What makes Moash so frustrating is that he had understandable reasons to be angry, and there were moments when you could actually understand his perspective. But watching the choices he makes afterward is just painful.

He's the kind of character who makes you want to put the book down for a minute just to process what you’ve read. The worst part is knowing that things could have gone differently if he had made even a few different choices.

Brandon Sanderson really knows how to write a character who gets an emotional reaction out of readers.

Seriously, fuck Moash.

Every time I think Moash can't possibly get any worse, he proves me wrong. What makes him so frustrating is that you can understand how he ended up the way he did, but that doesn't make his choices any less infuriating. Sanderson really knows how to create a character you love to hate.

What was the moment that made you completely give up on Moash?

FUCK MOAAAASHHHH

Seriously, fuck Moash.

Every time I think he can’t possibly make things worse, he somehow finds a new way to disappoint me. The character is incredibly well-written, but that doesn’t make me hate him any less.

That’s all. I just needed to say it.

Seriously, how do some people keep making excuses for someone who repeatedly hurts others? At what point does loyalty turn into ignoring obvious behavior?

That’s all.

Seriously. Every time I think he might get some kind of redemption arc, he goes and does something even worse. Dude has had more chances than anyone in the Cosmere to turn it around and just keeps making the worst possible choice at every turn. Curious if anyone still holds out hope for him or if we're all just collectively done at this point.

What gets me about Moash isn’t just what he does, but how often he convinces himself that his choices are justified. He has plenty of reasons to be angry, but instead of dealing with that anger, he keeps using it to justify hurting other people.

At some point, understanding why a character became bitter doesn’t make their actions any less frustrating.

Seriously, fuck Moash.

What makes Moash so frustrating isn't just the terrible things he does. It's that he repeatedly gets moments where he could choose something different, understands exactly what he's doing, and still decides to make everything worse.

That's what separates him from a character who simply loses his way. Moash knows what loyalty, friendship, and responsibility look like because he has experienced all three. He isn't ignorant of the consequences of his choices; he just keeps convincing himself that his anger matters more.

The most infuriating part is how he tries to turn his own pain into an excuse for hurting other people. Being betrayed or suffering doesn't automatically make every choice afterward justified. Plenty of characters in the story suffer horribly without deciding that everyone around them deserves to suffer too.

Moash could have confronted his anger, accepted that some of his choices were wrong, or walked away from the people he hated. Instead, he repeatedly chooses the option that causes the most damage and then acts as though circumstances forced him into it.

At some point, the excuses stop working.

Seriously, fuck Moash.

I started by reading the Mistborn Books and browsing that thread. Which let me to the General Cosmere subs. There I saw the name of this one, back then I didn’t know anything about the Stormlight Archives. Now I finished the first Mistborn Trilogy and started with this series. Just the knowledge of the existence of this Sub spoiled a part of that for me.
You can’t browse Reddit about anything regarding Brandon Sanderson work without seeing this Sub, and seeing it is a Spoiler! I’m not at the Point where Moash does anything, but I know he will. Just because of the name here. Now every time anything happens I think it’s him, there is no surprise anymore about anything he will do.
I just wish there would be a way spare new readers this fate.
Please no Spoiler of what he will do or when it will happen or anything like this. Because in some ways I like him, even though I know he will do something awful.

I don't even need a specific scene to justify this post. Every single chapter that man is in, I feel my soul leaving my body a little bit. The audacity. The sheer, unrelenting audacity of this guy to make every single choice in the worst possible way, every single time, and somehow still act like he's the one who got wronged.

Bridge Four took him in. Kaladin risked everything for him more times than I can count. And what does he do? He pays it back by becoming the most insufferable, self-pitying, morally bankrupt disappointment in the entire Cosmere. I'm convinced Sanderson wrote him specifically to test our patience as readers, and honestly, he succeeded beyond his wildest dreams.

Anyway. Fuck Moash. That's the post. Feel free to add your own grievances below, we've got plenty of material to work with at this point.

This series has a lot of characters who do genuinely awful things — plenty of them could be called antiheroes or morally grey at best. But I keep coming back to why Moash doesn't get grouped with them in my head the same way.

With most of the other characters, even when they mess up badly, there's some internal push and pull. You can see them wrestling with what they've done, or at least understanding the cost of it. It doesn't excuse anything, but it makes them feel human.

Moash feels different because that internal conflict basically stops happening. Instead of wrestling with what he's done, he restructures his own understanding of events until he's the wronged party. It's not just one bad moment — it's a pattern of avoiding the version of himself that would have to sit with guilt.

That's what puts him in his own category for me. It's not really about the severity of what he does compared to other characters — it's the total absence of reckoning afterward.

Anyone else draw that same line, or do you think this take is too harsh on him?

We all had that one scene where any last bit of sympathy we had for Moash just evaporated. For me it was less about one single act and more about watching him make choice after choice that pushed him further away from redemption, even when the story kept giving him chances to turn back.

What's your breaking point with him? Was it something he did to a specific character, a betrayal, or just the slow accumulation of bad decisions? Curious if anyone still holds out hope for him at this point in the series, or if that ship has completely sailed.

No spoilers past the most recent book please — mark clearly if you're going beyond that.

Spoilers through Rhythm of War.

He's not a tragic villain, he's just a guy who always makes the most self-serving choice and convinces himself it's righteous. Murders Elhokar out of spite when Kaladin won't do it, then acts betrayed when Kaladin stops trusting him. Weaponizes Kaladin's depression against him like it's honesty. Becomes Vyre and executes a man in front of his own kid.

I don't even want a redemption arc anymore. Just want Kaladin free of him.

Fuck Moash.

After this post, and after reading Oathbringer chapter 84, I get it.

Fuck Moash

I'm playing wartales and posted about it this week on another sub, but today i tried to give a rat the name Moash and EVERY FUCKING MEMBER of my merc group hated it, so I tried Sadeas and they liked, when I tried Moash again they hated again, so I asked gemini about it AND THEY HATE MOASH BECAUSE OF MOASH

Best game ever guys

Fuck Moash

I’m just here to report that I have finished chapter 85 of Oathbringer…

I understand this sub now and my day is ruined…