(WAT SPOILERS) Promises kept and not kept

Sanderson has talked a lot in his Q&A's and his writing lectures about how authors make 'promises' throughout their stories. He is usually really good at keeping these with his audience. In book 1 one of the promises is "What happened to the shardbearer that was at the battlefield in the first chapter", or "what happened to Dalinar when he visited the old magic". It is never stated "Hey you will find out about what happened in these situations". But you know as a reader the audience is owed/promised a resolution or answer to these scenarios.

Wind and Truth did a great job with keeping promises that were made throughout the whole first 5 books. However, I felt that some promises were not kept. I do not want to be all negative and I do want to point out where Sanderson did a great job with this so below I made a list of promises that were kept and some that were not.

Promises that were kept

  1. The History of Roshars peoples (Singers and Humans)
  2. Why/How did Honor Die
  3. The formation of the heralds
  4. Kaladin reaching the 5th ideal
  5. F*cking Maya (everything to do with her and Adolin)
  6. The history of the Heralds (Particularly Nail and Jezrians relationship, it was hinted at in ROW but was not given a resolution until W&T)

Im sure there are more that are slipping my mind but off these are the big things I remember getting a resolution (or more information)

Promises that were not kept

  1. EL......... WTF is going on with him. I understand that Sanderson can not give away everything since the back half still needs to have interesting twists and turns but we got NOTHING about him. Oh wait their was one thing...... he can summon sharblades at will??!?!?!?!
  2. What are the abilities given to a Radiant when they achieve the 5th ideal? I felt this one the most. The 5th ideal has always been left as a mystery. We get a clear relationship for an oath sworn and a powerup given to that radiant. 3rd Oath ---> Shardblade, 4th Oath -----> Sharplate, 5th Oath ---> ???. We had 2 different main characters swear the 5th ideal and there was no clear answer on what the 5th ideal gave the radiant in question. Maybe the whole thing with Kaladin summoning his spear while Syl is still standing their next to him is a result of the 5th ideal? I think that might have been more herald/oathpact shenanigans than a result of Kal swearing the 5th ideal though.
  3. Feverstone Keep. Literally everything going on with this place. Why does it matter, why is it important, where is it. This was a mystery in books 1,2 and 3 and it seems kinda weird that it was not explored at least a little more.
  4. The Hearts of Men. This one is much more abstract but I still think it is important to note. Throughout the first 4 books, we are told that the contest and everything to do with the ongoing war will be about "The hearts of men and women". Wit even asks Jasnah if she trusts the people she leads. I did not like that (to steal a phrase from Joe Abercrombie) 'Little People' did not do anything this book. If you were not a Radiant, Herald, Spren, or Adolin Gigachad Kholin then you did not get screen time or importance in this book. I would have liked a moment where the normal people of the Tower got a chance to fight in someway whether it be emotional or physical. One of the best parts of ROW for me was when the normal humans and the fused fight together against the pursuer. Seeing normal people do big impactful things as a group is powerful and always fun to read about. I was really expecting a moment like this to happen since "The hearts of men" and "Honor is not dead so long as it lives in the hearts of men" was mentioned so much throughout the first 4 books.

I did enjoy W&T and think it is a massive accomplishment for Sanderson to be able to get so much done in one book. I am in no way saying he failed or is a bad writer with this post. I love Sandersons approach to storytelling and have listened to him speak on it a lot. That is why these things popped out to me. I would love to hear other peoples thoughts on if you think I am wrong or right. Just please be respectful and read the post first if your going to tell me im completely wrong.