I'm talking about when Szeth's spren went to talk to Kaladin and told him that all highspren had numbers as their names, to which Kaladin asked "Like cryptics?", and then both Syl and 12124 gasped in unison and Syl reprimended Kaladin for being racist.

Before I ever even started Stormlight, my friend who got me into the Cosmere had me take the Knights Radiant quiz because he thought I would be a Lightweaver… and he was correct. That ended up being more of a callout than I expected when I finally started the series 😅 When Shallan first described Pattern I knew I wanted to try drawing my own cryptic, but since I hadn’t drawn in years it took me a while to get around to it. I’d be lying if I’d say I wasn’t a bit obsessed with it now, zooming way in to look at all the tiny designs that ended up there on accident. Now if only I could come up with a name for him as well.

Attempting to depict Pattern when he was still a little stupid on the boat.

Gonna preface this with: NO WINDS OF TRUTH SPOILERS PLEASE! A WoR & Oathbringer spoiler or two present in the next two paragraphs:

When I read Words of Radiance for the first time, I was *fascinated* by Shallan and Kaladin's dynamic (aside from the boots thing 😅) and enthusiastically shipped them for a little while. I no longer think their specific traumas and journeys complement each other's as well as I thought... (as a pair at least...) But!

The point is, while I no longer ship those two specifically, I still want what I loved about the idea at first. One of the things I found most exciting and compelling about a hypothetical close relationship was the worldview challenges they'd provide each other through the contrast of Windrunner + honorspren and Lightweaver + cryptic. One spren who hates lies and sees the world through honor and paths and protecting people (and a knight a little prone to black-and-white thinking at times too), and another spren who loves lies and their interplay with truth, with a knight who weaves between various darker and lighter greys of "truth" with alacrity.

The steadfastness/courage/strength integrity of the Windrunner, meeting the nuance and insight and creativity of the Lightweaver! Delightful!!

The Lightweaver would force the Windrunner to reckon with shades of grey in morality, others, and themself and think in a more nuanced way, while the Windrunner would encourage the Lightweaver to face up to the world more, to do the harder bolder thing and take a stand when they need to.

The Windrunner could ground the Lightweaver, providing a safe place to return to where they know what's real and steady and true, while the Lightweaver could bring more spontaneity and wonder and variety to the Windrunner!

Ohhh and the cryptic and honorspren having to get through centuries of built-up tension between their groups to gain more understanding and respect for each other's ways of functioning?? Mwah chef's kiss!

I'm no writer just a reader, are any of y'all picking up what I'm putting down? Has anybody done something like this that you know of? I honestly haven't looked much yet bc I didn't even know what to search (making tags for this post gave me ideas to try though! 😂) It took me waayy too long just to write this post, writing is like trudging though sludge for me so don't tell me to be the change I wanna see, I'll just daydream concepts here and there if that's my options 😝 my imagination can quite suffice if needed.

Ahh I just wanna see Characters in Situations that make them Question their Worldview and find themselves Changed through Relationship!!

Question the nature of morality! Work through centuries-long conflicts and prejudices! Meet each other's emotional needs through complementary character traits and styles! Go!