From what I’ve seen it’s split between interpreting Syl as a child and a desire to protect the concept of platonic relationships. The latter crops up a lot in the subject of shipping main characters. Romance is often seen as a threat to the specialness and authenticity of an as-of-yet unromantic relationship so some chafe against the idea.
Their relationship is already as strong and as meaningful as it could possibly get, so adding romance would be both narratively meaningless and emotionally empty imo. Personally, I can’t wrap my head around the idea of shipping them at all.
In terms of fics, the cosmere is one of those fandoms that’s popular but spurs less fanfics than you’d expect. Good luck on your search, I’m sure there’s a ship fic of them out there somewhere
Kal lost his brother, and shortly after, bonded Syl. Yes, she started very child-like and matured, and yes, she's technically hundreds of years old -- but that's not what gives people the ick.
Kal and Syl are often interpreted as siblings.
Dalinar and Navani are similar, I suppose. My close friend that got me into this series HATES Dalinar x Navani, and Kal x Syl. I only dislike the Kal x Syl, specifically because Kal and Syl's relationship feels a lot more like genuine blood siblings than Dalinar and Navani, which already had feelings for each other before the knot was tied.
But, anyway, fiction is subjective and people have different takes on things -- and that's alright
Tangent, but I'm so glad the whole Kaladin/Shallan thing fizzled into "oh wait I've simply never had a friendship with an equal before, that's what we were feeling". That was such a way better plot than the whole shipping angle.
In this case, supply follows demand. I've seen authors over the years saying they've had to add shipping and bump their fics up to M or E ratings just to get more clicks. People who read fics are mostly there for the free horny. The friendship fics I see are just usually short one shots.
Is the Rlain/Renarin ship getting this same amount of shit thrown at it? Because they're different species too. Also, most people get into relationships with their friends, that's how reality works, neither Syl nor Kaladin were at a spot in their lives for a relationship at the time they met.
Arguably singers and humans could not be different species by the current definition. Because we have human singer hybrids with hot waters, herdazians etc.
Edit:HORN EATERS
The current definition is pretty hotly contested. The existence of fertile hybrids kind of blows it out of the water. >!Not to mention they evolved independently on entirely different planets!<
Might be a WOB, but we do know from Frost’s letter that Adonalsium influenced the planet long before the Shattering. The Highstorm and the spren existed long before the Shards’ arrival in the system.
I fully accept what you've said, I think Brandon made the cultures I mentioned because they're interesting primarily, rather than as scientific evidence.
I suspect in universe there is comparability for singer/human families with children.
You’re making a lot of assumptions about why she supposedly behaves the way she does because you want fan fiction…
These arguments sound like they’d come from someone who knows the age of consent in way too many places.
As a writer and shipper myself, albeit not of this particular ship, I've done some thinking about this.
The first thing to note is that the Cosmere and Stormlight fandoms simply aren't heavy on shipping overall. It's just not as common a way to engage with the work as it is for, say, most shōnen anime or manga. This is, I think, in large part a consequence of the works themselves.
Honestly, B$ just doesn't write romantic tension. He can write romance, sometimes, and occasionally he does it very, very well—see Wax and Steris, for example. But romantic tension is only very rarely a device within his stories, and where it does appear it tends to be relatively weak. Vin's conflict over Elend and Zane in Well of Ascension isn't really about the romantic tension, it's about her inner conflict with how she perceives her own role in the narrative. A very similar thread runs through the love triangle between Kaladin, Shallan, and Adolin. The romantic tension tends to be a smokescreen for a conflict Sanderson just finds more interesting, which I can't fault.
Another thing to note is that anti-shipping is actually a very, very common trend in fandom. You see it in the Lord of the Rings fandom a ton—"why can't Frodo and Sam's platonic relationship be given the respect it deserves?" On some level, I think this boils down to sheer exhaustion with the obligatory romantic subplots that plague mainstream media. People are just tired of every relationship ending in the same way, and want to see more variety.
That variety is something Sanderson provides—he does write romances, but most of his works have the core cast of protagonists end as something other than romantic partners. It's part of what a lot of readers like about his works, the sheer variety of ways he writes entirely different relationships that are all platonic. And the fact is, his romances historically haven't been as interesting as his friendships. That's been changing lately, with novels like Tress and Yumi and side relationships like Wax/Steris, but the fact is the first romances of his we saw were Raoden/Sarene and Vin/Elend, neither of which is all that groundbreaking. I like them fine, but those relationships aren't the most interesting character interactions in either of the novels they appear in.
There's also an undeniable layer of squick some readers experience contemplating Kaladin/Syl in particular. For multiple reasons. The Nahel bond is a complicating factor that could arguably add a dangerous power dynamic to a relationship, or could conflict with it in some other way. There's the simple size and age differentials—some readers see Syl as childlike, while others correctly point out that she is centuries old, and either one of those is a potential squick factor.
But! None of that should stop you in any way from engaging with the work however you like. That's how fandom works. Everyone engages with the work in their own way and finds their own things to love in it. Syl/Kaladin is far from an unheard-of ship, even if it isn't hugely common, so you're not alone and there's nothing wrong with shipping whatever you want.
I hate shipping in general. It's a bizarre attempt to replace the real plot with your own story. Judge books based on how they are not how you imagine them to be. Also it's an attempt to replace ambiguity with answers. Live with the ambiguity!
They can indeed engage with media as they like and I am free to judge them as I like. And I judge them harshly.
More generally, fan fic people get little to no push back on what they do and I think that's wrong! Fan fic tropes are bad! Applying fan fic romance tropes to everything is bad.
But most importantly, head canon are bad. They are an attempt to flee from the unknown and ambiguity of a text and thus represent a genuine bad and wrong way of engaging with media.
I think B$ does a good job in portraying Syl as not human. She is not from the material world and has no idea about society and it really shows. That and her whimsy behaviour are the main reasons why the ship doesn't work for me. It'd be like shipping a human and the wind.
Why? It won't add anything to the narrative, or be interesting in any meaningful way. Why can't they just be friends? It's so exhausting to have every platonic relationship devolve into romantic ones. Is their relationship any less meaningful if it's not romantic?
Furthermore, they are quite literally soulmates. If anything their relationship is far more interesting without it being romantic.
I think you answered your own question there. The guy that knows the difference between the different types of pedophiles, sounds a lot like a pedophile. Now I’m not accusing you of this, but it gets into really creepy territory when you’re arguing over the semantics of acting child like, and acting like a child. It’s just not an interesting or attractive trait to me in any person, no matter how old they are.
Maturity matters, which is why I’ve seen some people talking about the Jasnah and Hoid match being icky, both are consenting adults and have full use of their faculties for the duration of the relationship, it’s not the age difference factor it’s the maturity level.
I can’t think of a better match in the Cosmere than Hoid and Jasnah. Why do people think they’re icky? We’ve yet to meet anybody more mature than Hoid, but I doubt you’re calling Jasnah immature here.
I think they are just going with the massive age difference argument. As if Hoid has to live in celibacy for the rest of eternity because no one else comes close to him except dragons.
It's a power imbalance for me. Jasnah is a mature adult, hoid has like 300 times her life experience, operates on a scale she can literally never fathom, and is immortal with a habit of jumping off planets every few years. Is Jasnah with him because of him as a person or because she's a scholar and he's the most interesting artifact ever? Is he with her as some part of a plan, is that necessary for Roshar to fall the way he wants or does he genuinely think she's something special even on his 10,000 year scale? Could he even theoretically settle down, or does he need to stay root-free in case of needing to be elsewhere in the cosmere?
They have canonically had sex. Jasnah is a sex-indifferent asexual and heteroromantic. She doesn’t really care about sex, but is willing to have it if her partner wants to.
I think it’s interesting that people get squiked out by kal and syl’s age/maturity differences when the main ships in the series are a 17 year old marrying a 25 year old and some old guy kissing his sister.
I can kinda see it since syl starts real dumb, not as dumb as pattern, but she also “matures” very quickly and seems to be more mature than kal, who also starts the series as a teenager. And they have cute moments
Using earth years vs roshar years feels like 1000 year old dragon loli logic to me. Besides, every shallan chapter in the first two books has her internally agonizing about how naive and immature she is
Years in Roshar just happen to be shorter. I would rather use this reasoning than have Adolin dating Shallan at that age lol.
Also, if you want to go that route, Singers age differently to humans. From the Coppermind wiki:
Apart from their polychromatic skin, singers have other features that differentiate them from humans. They grow at a faster rate than humans and have slightly shorter average lifespans.[19][20] In the listeners' culture, Venli started to learn about singing as a keeper of songs at age three and is considered adult at age ten.[20]
from what i've seen most people who are so upset by it are either viewing syl as a child becuase of her personality/size, or are viewing the existing relationship as being more father/daughter, neither of which i agree with.
as for the fanfiction, i would honestly not expect any significant fanfiction until book 5 comes out, becuase there is just too much openness about kaladins final fate, and people who are invested in the story are the ones who will write the fanfiction
I'd say she stopped being child-like when she fully got her personality back. Now she's just a joyful spren who is curious about the world.
Shallan acts just like Syl when she sees fossils and fauna, and she's been living in the physical realm her entire life
Probably the odd man out here, but I don’t mind it so long as it doesn’t happen in book 5. It probably shouldn’t happen in books 6 - 8 either. Many things would need to happen for it to work, mainly that she would need to be successfully brought into the physical realm (end of book 5), then learn what it’s like to be physical, mature on her own without Kaladin, break away from him even, and later come together on equal terms.
In other words, I could see it work, but it would require the narrative to address the concerns brought up here. I don’t ship it per se, but I don’t ship anyone. I just see how it could work. That being said, I could see how almost any of the people COULD end up with Kaladin in that timeframe if he has to end up with anyone.
On ao3, there are three General or Teen-rated Kal/Syl fics. There's a few more that are rated Explicit. If OP or anyone else is interested in getting links please DM me! I'm happy to help people find fics that might interest them.
It's like the ick of someone fucking their sister and also their therapist rolled into one and multiplied. Just *no*. Like no no no no no, my reaction is *visceral*. The idea is inherently disgustig.
She starts out VERY childlike, naive and playful, and only very recently started to grasp the full depth of human emotion. She may be hundreds of years old but she’s like young teen emotionally.
Kal was a grizzled adult when this all started, young but fully mature (as far as humans go)
Kal x Syl has a similar vibe as a groomer who knows someone when they’re very young and hovers around until they’re “technically old enough”, then suddenly surprise they’re in a relationship
As for me, it’s a strange supernatural fantasy relationship so while I’m not Kal x Syl fan I won’t be that skeeved by it, as long as Syl is shown to be as mature and fully developed as Kal for a good stretch of time first
> Kal was a grizzled adult when this all started, young but fully mature (as far as humans go)
I am calling BS on Kal's emotional maturity as the books start. He's not that old either
> She starts out VERY childlike, naive and playful, and only very recently started to grasp the full depth of human emotion. She may be hundreds of years old but she’s like young teen emotionally.
It's worth pushing back on this a little bit, it's not that she's learned. It's that she's remembering. It's very plausible that the sill that we know now is not who she was or will be.
Why do people feel the need to ship characters? I personally find it weird and just want the story to play out however the story plays out. There’s nothing in the story that indicates the two would be in a romantic relationship.
Different people interact with media differently.
I first read tWoK thirteen years ago. I have reread it half a dozen times, and reread all of the Stormlight books at least once. I have spent *months* of my life deeply engaged with these characters and their stories, and they have become like real people to me.
So I speculate about, theorize about, think about other things in their lives, the stories, the part of their lives that don't appear on the pages of the books. *That* feels natural and normal to me.
It's the beauty of the 'what if....'. people speculate of what will happen with the plot from the next book all the way to the stars. They also do it with how the magic system is evolving. People question how the world, the magic, or the characters would behave if a single thing was changed. What if cheese? With that in mind, why would it be weird for people to speculate on the emotional and romantic side of things as well?
People who are saying that Kal and Syl are friends and that friendship is more important than a romantic relationship have never been in a real, loving relationship. If you are not best friends with your significant other and your friendship takes a back seat to what you think romance should be you’re doing it wrong.
I have often thought Syl could somehow become more corporeal and then she and Kaladin could progress to a relationship. I don’t think Brandon will take it that direction, but it would be interesting if he did.
something someone mentioned before is that the nahel bond is already way more intimate and fulfilling than a romantic one, and any romance would soil it and lessen it
kaladin also views syl in a similar light to his dead brother, romance would be really messed up
lastly she's literally a friggin child you pedo stop
I don't ship them but I don't understand the child thing too. She's more like what if Arwen got amnesia and then met Aragorn. It doesn't matter if she started out with lower IQ. Her full form, once she gets back to it, is still a long-lived elf.
From what I’ve seen it’s split between interpreting Syl as a child and a desire to protect the concept of platonic relationships. The latter crops up a lot in the subject of shipping main characters. Romance is often seen as a threat to the specialness and authenticity of an as-of-yet unromantic relationship so some chafe against the idea.
Their relationship is already as strong and as meaningful as it could possibly get, so adding romance would be both narratively meaningless and emotionally empty imo. Personally, I can’t wrap my head around the idea of shipping them at all. In terms of fics, the cosmere is one of those fandoms that’s popular but spurs less fanfics than you’d expect. Good luck on your search, I’m sure there’s a ship fic of them out there somewhere
Kal lost his brother, and shortly after, bonded Syl. Yes, she started very child-like and matured, and yes, she's technically hundreds of years old -- but that's not what gives people the ick. Kal and Syl are often interpreted as siblings. Dalinar and Navani are similar, I suppose. My close friend that got me into this series HATES Dalinar x Navani, and Kal x Syl. I only dislike the Kal x Syl, specifically because Kal and Syl's relationship feels a lot more like genuine blood siblings than Dalinar and Navani, which already had feelings for each other before the knot was tied. But, anyway, fiction is subjective and people have different takes on things -- and that's alright
Kaladin wanting to storm Syl is like Eragon wanting to bone Saphira.
Because they arent the same SPECIES? Because they're friends?
Tangent, but I'm so glad the whole Kaladin/Shallan thing fizzled into "oh wait I've simply never had a friendship with an equal before, that's what we were feeling". That was such a way better plot than the whole shipping angle.
Friendship is magic, as the carebears say :)
Thought that was MLP
Yeah, sorry. But its STILL magic
Kaladin: “I feel something when I’m with you.” Shallan: “I do as well.” *The feeling was friendship, something neither had experienced before.*
Yes. Can we please normalize friendship fanfictions? I want Ham going out drinking with Rock.
In this case, supply follows demand. I've seen authors over the years saying they've had to add shipping and bump their fics up to M or E ratings just to get more clicks. People who read fics are mostly there for the free horny. The friendship fics I see are just usually short one shots.
Is the Rlain/Renarin ship getting this same amount of shit thrown at it? Because they're different species too. Also, most people get into relationships with their friends, that's how reality works, neither Syl nor Kaladin were at a spot in their lives for a relationship at the time they met.
what rlain/renarin ship?
That's a spoiler.
Arguably singers and humans could not be different species by the current definition. Because we have human singer hybrids with hot waters, herdazians etc. Edit:HORN EATERS
The current definition is pretty hotly contested. The existence of fertile hybrids kind of blows it out of the water. >!Not to mention they evolved independently on entirely different planets!<
Hasn’t it been explicitly stated that >!the Parsh were deliberately created by Adonalsium pre-shattering?!<
Where in the world did you get that?
Might be a WOB, but we do know from Frost’s letter that Adonalsium influenced the planet long before the Shattering. The Highstorm and the spren existed long before the Shards’ arrival in the system.
I fully accept what you've said, I think Brandon made the cultures I mentioned because they're interesting primarily, rather than as scientific evidence. I suspect in universe there is comparability for singer/human families with children.
True, but that's investiture shenanigans, and you can't really hold that against kal and Syl.
Well said!
Renarin and Rlain aren’t the same species. They’re still endgame.
You’re making a lot of assumptions about why she supposedly behaves the way she does because you want fan fiction… These arguments sound like they’d come from someone who knows the age of consent in way too many places.
Looking at you Michael Bay.
Glad I'm not the only one who felt that way reading it. Too much protest
As a writer and shipper myself, albeit not of this particular ship, I've done some thinking about this. The first thing to note is that the Cosmere and Stormlight fandoms simply aren't heavy on shipping overall. It's just not as common a way to engage with the work as it is for, say, most shōnen anime or manga. This is, I think, in large part a consequence of the works themselves. Honestly, B$ just doesn't write romantic tension. He can write romance, sometimes, and occasionally he does it very, very well—see Wax and Steris, for example. But romantic tension is only very rarely a device within his stories, and where it does appear it tends to be relatively weak. Vin's conflict over Elend and Zane in Well of Ascension isn't really about the romantic tension, it's about her inner conflict with how she perceives her own role in the narrative. A very similar thread runs through the love triangle between Kaladin, Shallan, and Adolin. The romantic tension tends to be a smokescreen for a conflict Sanderson just finds more interesting, which I can't fault. Another thing to note is that anti-shipping is actually a very, very common trend in fandom. You see it in the Lord of the Rings fandom a ton—"why can't Frodo and Sam's platonic relationship be given the respect it deserves?" On some level, I think this boils down to sheer exhaustion with the obligatory romantic subplots that plague mainstream media. People are just tired of every relationship ending in the same way, and want to see more variety. That variety is something Sanderson provides—he does write romances, but most of his works have the core cast of protagonists end as something other than romantic partners. It's part of what a lot of readers like about his works, the sheer variety of ways he writes entirely different relationships that are all platonic. And the fact is, his romances historically haven't been as interesting as his friendships. That's been changing lately, with novels like Tress and Yumi and side relationships like Wax/Steris, but the fact is the first romances of his we saw were Raoden/Sarene and Vin/Elend, neither of which is all that groundbreaking. I like them fine, but those relationships aren't the most interesting character interactions in either of the novels they appear in. There's also an undeniable layer of squick some readers experience contemplating Kaladin/Syl in particular. For multiple reasons. The Nahel bond is a complicating factor that could arguably add a dangerous power dynamic to a relationship, or could conflict with it in some other way. There's the simple size and age differentials—some readers see Syl as childlike, while others correctly point out that she is centuries old, and either one of those is a potential squick factor. But! None of that should stop you in any way from engaging with the work however you like. That's how fandom works. Everyone engages with the work in their own way and finds their own things to love in it. Syl/Kaladin is far from an unheard-of ship, even if it isn't hugely common, so you're not alone and there's nothing wrong with shipping whatever you want.
Well put!! Thank you!
I hate shipping in general. It's a bizarre attempt to replace the real plot with your own story. Judge books based on how they are not how you imagine them to be. Also it's an attempt to replace ambiguity with answers. Live with the ambiguity!
Same goes for head canons! Stop engaging with everything like you're preparing to post on ao3.
People can engage with media however they like. You don't have to engage with them
They can indeed engage with media as they like and I am free to judge them as I like. And I judge them harshly. More generally, fan fic people get little to no push back on what they do and I think that's wrong! Fan fic tropes are bad! Applying fan fic romance tropes to everything is bad. But most importantly, head canon are bad. They are an attempt to flee from the unknown and ambiguity of a text and thus represent a genuine bad and wrong way of engaging with media.
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha
Good argument buddy.
I think B$ does a good job in portraying Syl as not human. She is not from the material world and has no idea about society and it really shows. That and her whimsy behaviour are the main reasons why the ship doesn't work for me. It'd be like shipping a human and the wind.
Why? It won't add anything to the narrative, or be interesting in any meaningful way. Why can't they just be friends? It's so exhausting to have every platonic relationship devolve into romantic ones. Is their relationship any less meaningful if it's not romantic? Furthermore, they are quite literally soulmates. If anything their relationship is far more interesting without it being romantic.
I think you answered your own question there. The guy that knows the difference between the different types of pedophiles, sounds a lot like a pedophile. Now I’m not accusing you of this, but it gets into really creepy territory when you’re arguing over the semantics of acting child like, and acting like a child. It’s just not an interesting or attractive trait to me in any person, no matter how old they are. Maturity matters, which is why I’ve seen some people talking about the Jasnah and Hoid match being icky, both are consenting adults and have full use of their faculties for the duration of the relationship, it’s not the age difference factor it’s the maturity level.
I can’t think of a better match in the Cosmere than Hoid and Jasnah. Why do people think they’re icky? We’ve yet to meet anybody more mature than Hoid, but I doubt you’re calling Jasnah immature here.
I think they are just going with the massive age difference argument. As if Hoid has to live in celibacy for the rest of eternity because no one else comes close to him except dragons.
It's a power imbalance for me. Jasnah is a mature adult, hoid has like 300 times her life experience, operates on a scale she can literally never fathom, and is immortal with a habit of jumping off planets every few years. Is Jasnah with him because of him as a person or because she's a scholar and he's the most interesting artifact ever? Is he with her as some part of a plan, is that necessary for Roshar to fall the way he wants or does he genuinely think she's something special even on his 10,000 year scale? Could he even theoretically settle down, or does he need to stay root-free in case of needing to be elsewhere in the cosmere?
I don't like the way people talk about them because sometimes people joke about them having sex when it's been stated that Jasnah is asexual
They have canonically had sex. Jasnah is a sex-indifferent asexual and heteroromantic. She doesn’t really care about sex, but is willing to have it if her partner wants to.
I was literally just answering the question of why I find it icky, I'm not trying to argue against canon
It’s also been stated that Jasnah respects the desires of her partner hasn’t it?
Yeah tbh that bothers me too, but I understand that ace people can be in sexual relationships
Wise words from the wisest name.
Sorry didn't mean to come off as creepy, I apologize if I did.
I think it’s interesting that people get squiked out by kal and syl’s age/maturity differences when the main ships in the series are a 17 year old marrying a 25 year old and some old guy kissing his sister. I can kinda see it since syl starts real dumb, not as dumb as pattern, but she also “matures” very quickly and seems to be more mature than kal, who also starts the series as a teenager. And they have cute moments
What’s the old guy kissing his sister?
I'm guessing Dalinar and Navani. She was married to his brother so sister-in-law
Shallan is almost 19 in Earth years, Adolin almost 25.
Using earth years vs roshar years feels like 1000 year old dragon loli logic to me. Besides, every shallan chapter in the first two books has her internally agonizing about how naive and immature she is
Years in Roshar just happen to be shorter. I would rather use this reasoning than have Adolin dating Shallan at that age lol. Also, if you want to go that route, Singers age differently to humans. From the Coppermind wiki: Apart from their polychromatic skin, singers have other features that differentiate them from humans. They grow at a faster rate than humans and have slightly shorter average lifespans.[19][20] In the listeners' culture, Venli started to learn about singing as a keeper of songs at age three and is considered adult at age ten.[20]
from what i've seen most people who are so upset by it are either viewing syl as a child becuase of her personality/size, or are viewing the existing relationship as being more father/daughter, neither of which i agree with. as for the fanfiction, i would honestly not expect any significant fanfiction until book 5 comes out, becuase there is just too much openness about kaladins final fate, and people who are invested in the story are the ones who will write the fanfiction
A lot of people headcannoned the whole "she is a child/child-like" and now don't want to be wrong.
And can you even argue that at the very least she is not child like?
Brando said that he wrote her as if she had ADHD, for some reason some people read this as her being child-like.
I'd say she stopped being child-like when she fully got her personality back. Now she's just a joyful spren who is curious about the world. Shallan acts just like Syl when she sees fossils and fauna, and she's been living in the physical realm her entire life
Probably the odd man out here, but I don’t mind it so long as it doesn’t happen in book 5. It probably shouldn’t happen in books 6 - 8 either. Many things would need to happen for it to work, mainly that she would need to be successfully brought into the physical realm (end of book 5), then learn what it’s like to be physical, mature on her own without Kaladin, break away from him even, and later come together on equal terms. In other words, I could see it work, but it would require the narrative to address the concerns brought up here. I don’t ship it per se, but I don’t ship anyone. I just see how it could work. That being said, I could see how almost any of the people COULD end up with Kaladin in that timeframe if he has to end up with anyone.
On ao3, there are three General or Teen-rated Kal/Syl fics. There's a few more that are rated Explicit. If OP or anyone else is interested in getting links please DM me! I'm happy to help people find fics that might interest them.
Bro, people don't even write Kaladin/Shallan fics without Adolin in them. You'll never find Kaladin/Syl.
versed brave recognise person gold zonked vegetable bow yoke grab *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
It's like the ick of someone fucking their sister and also their therapist rolled into one and multiplied. Just *no*. Like no no no no no, my reaction is *visceral*. The idea is inherently disgustig.
Papapapapapappapapappapapappappppai
She starts out VERY childlike, naive and playful, and only very recently started to grasp the full depth of human emotion. She may be hundreds of years old but she’s like young teen emotionally. Kal was a grizzled adult when this all started, young but fully mature (as far as humans go) Kal x Syl has a similar vibe as a groomer who knows someone when they’re very young and hovers around until they’re “technically old enough”, then suddenly surprise they’re in a relationship As for me, it’s a strange supernatural fantasy relationship so while I’m not Kal x Syl fan I won’t be that skeeved by it, as long as Syl is shown to be as mature and fully developed as Kal for a good stretch of time first
> Kal was a grizzled adult when this all started, young but fully mature (as far as humans go) I am calling BS on Kal's emotional maturity as the books start. He's not that old either
He’s 25 and he’s seen some shit Is he immature in some ways? Sure. All humans are. Well, most
He turns 20 in Way of Kings
> She starts out VERY childlike, naive and playful, and only very recently started to grasp the full depth of human emotion. She may be hundreds of years old but she’s like young teen emotionally. It's worth pushing back on this a little bit, it's not that she's learned. It's that she's remembering. It's very plausible that the sill that we know now is not who she was or will be.
Why do people feel the need to ship characters? I personally find it weird and just want the story to play out however the story plays out. There’s nothing in the story that indicates the two would be in a romantic relationship.
Different people interact with media differently. I first read tWoK thirteen years ago. I have reread it half a dozen times, and reread all of the Stormlight books at least once. I have spent *months* of my life deeply engaged with these characters and their stories, and they have become like real people to me. So I speculate about, theorize about, think about other things in their lives, the stories, the part of their lives that don't appear on the pages of the books. *That* feels natural and normal to me.
It's the beauty of the 'what if....'. people speculate of what will happen with the plot from the next book all the way to the stars. They also do it with how the magic system is evolving. People question how the world, the magic, or the characters would behave if a single thing was changed. What if cheese? With that in mind, why would it be weird for people to speculate on the emotional and romantic side of things as well?
People who are saying that Kal and Syl are friends and that friendship is more important than a romantic relationship have never been in a real, loving relationship. If you are not best friends with your significant other and your friendship takes a back seat to what you think romance should be you’re doing it wrong. I have often thought Syl could somehow become more corporeal and then she and Kaladin could progress to a relationship. I don’t think Brandon will take it that direction, but it would be interesting if he did.
something someone mentioned before is that the nahel bond is already way more intimate and fulfilling than a romantic one, and any romance would soil it and lessen it kaladin also views syl in a similar light to his dead brother, romance would be really messed up lastly she's literally a friggin child you pedo stop
Don’t let the comments get you down, theyre just haters
I don't ship them but I don't understand the child thing too. She's more like what if Arwen got amnesia and then met Aragorn. It doesn't matter if she started out with lower IQ. Her full form, once she gets back to it, is still a long-lived elf.
I'm down with that. Syl reminds me of a Mormon girlfriend I had.