The Secrets of Taravangian | Stormlight Archive Character Exploration

Let's explore the secrets Taravangian is holding onto. He is hands down one of Brandon Sanderson most interesting characters to date!
Spoilers for Way of Kings, Words of Radiance and Oathbringer throughout!
#countdowntorhythmofwar #stormlightarchive #brandonsanderson
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Jessi Ochse / jessiochse

[@brettmurray2473]

The Diagram is possibly the most interesting aspect of the books to me.... I love the mystery

[@LostinDiscovery]

Absolutely agree with you.

[@snakebagel9729]

I’ve always felt that it is a red herring and at some point Jasnah, navani ,shallan or some combination will read the diagram and then purposely change something to invalidate it, Sanderson strikes me as someone who wouldn’t allow a plan in book to outline the end of the book he’s weighting just seems to easy. I think their is more mystery with the ghost bloods.

[@brettmurray2473]

@@snakebagel9729 great point! There is definitely tonnes of mystery with the Ghost Bloods too!! When I say mystery though I'm more talking about why cultivation would have given him this capacity and if there are any more to it. As we saw from Dalinar there was a reason to her taking his memories and then giving them back to him at a specific moment. I wonder if she is who determines when Taravangian is brilliant/empathetic, or gave him the throughts to create the diagram

[@snakebagel9729]

@@brettmurray2473 ok it’s been a bit since I read it but I thought dalinar remembered as opposed to cultivation gave it back. And I just assumed that cultivation’s gifts were just like fairy tale fairies that would just twist your request for their own amusement like if lift didn’t want to get older she would continue to age and grow but stop maturing and probably not be able to have kids kind of thing

[@Jinb-ut7bx]

Well now Taravangian is even more interesting after Rhythm of War

[@likhitesplit5992]

Sorry! Spoiler post!

[@dhruveshpatel1109]

@@likhitesplit5992 I would appreciate if you don't put spoilers like this in comments. Not everyone has read RoW.

[@likhitesplit5992]

@@dhruveshpatel1109 Sorry! I mistakenly thought this was a RoW-spoiler video. 😅 It’s been fixed, thank you for the heads up!

[@quint3ssent1a]

After just finishing it, it seems that old goof (©) Taravangian actually isn't that dumb even when he's in his "crying compassionate" state. He manipulated Odium like a puppet, convincing him to show Odium's plan again (all that with just a piece of paper, scribbled with nonsense.) He, in a flash, deduced the flaw in that plan. He even understood that he was feed a false info, and that Szeth was actually close to him, not somewhere else. Then he figured out that Odium fears [THE SWORD] (Stand master: Szeth-son-Honor) and decided to bet everything he had (almost nothing, lol, at this point he was broke as hell) on a new plan to defeat Odium (something he never even considered before.) Compare this to his "smart" self, where he spent his days weaving one convoluted scheme after another, and they all failed miserably.

[@ginorvdw]

@@dhruveshpatel1109 C'mon man, you're browsing videos about an ongoing fantasy series. Maybe you should "not appreciate" yourself for watching a lot of material which holds possible spoilers. My guy, the video is literally called "taravangian's secrets" does this not seem like something you should stay away from if you haven't finished the series? From someone nearly finished with Oathbringer, this is a risk you yourself decide to take.

[@collinbrown9233]

The timing for this video is insane, seeing what happens in Rhythm of War

[@tanyam928]

Taravangian is so fascinating. Once you know more from later books, rereads mean so much more because of the little things he puts in like Taravangian testing Jasnah. I am very interested to see what Taravangian does now that he is on Odium's side and the role that Renarin will play as he is a "blind spot" for Odium

[@LostinDiscovery]

100%, I really cannot wait for his Rhythm of War chapters.

[@ebroz3886]

Best storm light archive channel. Period

[@LostinDiscovery]

Dude, thank you so much!

[@thomascain7587]

I'd say Taravangian is an anti-hero. A villain that just so happens to want the same thing as our heroes. I like the theory that though he believes his days of ultimate intelligence are his boon from Cultivation/Nightwatcher, they are in fact his curse. For his compassion will be the thing that ultimately plays his part in the defeat of Odium. Edit: Also the idea that being on "Team Odium" to bring it down from the inside is part of his master plan (or diagram) would be amazing.

[@olivenkranz]

@@akshaj7011 its not. Read Rhythm of War and you'll see why.

[@yuvalgabay1023]

Its actually kinda did. Because of hes state he did the thing

[@loganbarnes8621]

Gosh. I’m new here, so not sure what the main purpose of this channel is, but man, you are so valuable with helping me connect the details across these tomes of books! Thank you so much, and I shall eagerly await all your Stormlight content

[@LostinDiscovery]

Thanks so much man! I’m new at this too so I don’t even know the main purpose of my channel lol! I’m definitely going to continue with the Stormlight videos so thanks again for sticking around :)

[@dominickbennett2354]

I really appreciate these breakdowns because I travel a lot for work and primarily listen to these books. So, having a deeper look is very helpful

[@LostinDiscovery]

Oh sweet, I'm glad I can help! The audiobook narration is fantastic from what I've heard.

[@Keyraknightley]

I think that taravangian it's complex as it is simple. Hes to show what inteligence without empathy might lead to, also it's kinda runs the same line of "in the name of greatest goods are done the worse things" so, maybe he is not evil at all or villaine hes just seen as villain.

[@zedgathegreat9122]

I think it kind of ties into the themes of "Everyone is broken" or has one kind of mental illness or another. You can't really call him narcistic, but it's very close. He is when he is smart, but the complete opposite when he is not. Yet, it's almost as he's a better player when he's at his weakest and most compassionate. He is a hard character to pin down. He is a very interesting character, but one you can't really pin down. I just want him to clean every chance he gets...

[@sweepsinator]

I love your videos and how you genuinely enjoy talking about Stormlight. Thank you for breaking it all down and for doing all these videos.

[@LostinDiscovery]

My pleasure! I really love getting deeper into this series of books, it's so much fun. Thanks for taking the time to comment :)

[@Hadrian1616]

Leshwi gave the honorblade to Moash and renamed him Vyre, He Who Quiets. Great video. Thanks 👍😃

[@mizukage796]

I need you to do a video of every herald, particularly jezrien. Please. And every unmade while you're at it!

[@IskandarTheConquerer]

HOLY CRAP! Think about it. That decrypted line would make a TON more sense if you put this in the context of Rhythm of War. The diagram most likely anticipated more things than we assumed.

[@martinearl5693]

I just found your Channel and really enjoying your content.

[@fireymissile]

Definitely one of your best character exploration videos so far. There's so much stuff that I didn't really notice or think about, damn. Great channel man, keep up the good work and can't wait for the next one!

[@LostinDiscovery]

Awesome man, thank you so much for the kind words!

[@shethewriter]

Srsly without youtube I couldnt keep up with this story

[@Jimmy_Maxwell]

Haha truth

[@krhoma1129]

The woodwork in your home is beautiful! Thank you for your posts.

[@kreendurron]

Man love love love these deep dives.. can't wait for more! Keep up the great work brother!

[@LostinDiscovery]

Thanks man! Working on more as we speak :)

[@shadrachhepner6533]

Love these videos! These books have so much complexity to them, and hearing these makes me realize how much I just completely didn't connect. Keep 'em coming!

[@LostinDiscovery]

So glad you enjoy them! There's so much to examine in this series so there'll be more to come for sure :)

[@flippingpages4288]

Awesome a video on Taravangian! I needed this before RoW lol. Great video as always!

[@LostinDiscovery]

Thanks man!

[@williamperuel6124]

You have some high quality content! I am loving it!

[@LostinDiscovery]

Thanks so much! I'm glad you're enjoying it!

[@SnakeAndTurtleQigong]

He’s one of my favorites!! 👍🏼🤯

[@aden.e]

i just discovered your channel and i’m obsessed! it’s so fucking awesome to see someone as passionate about this kind of stuff and i can see how much you love doing these videos 🤗 also you look like ben barnes

[@Mum347]

Love your videos

[@Jaeno311]

Whoa, great video! I learned a lot

[@rebeccarodd4800]

LOL@ The Always Sunny shout out. Another great watch!

[@mrjakeness2]

Seeing the future is for voidbringers

[@LadyJaneBooks]

This sounds so interesting! I had never heard of this book, but it sounds so good! Great video!

[@fireymissile]

You would not believe how amazing The Stormlight Archive is

[@LostinDiscovery]

Thank you! I hope you give the series a go one day :)

[@vishanthfishy]

The epilogue of Rythm of war was genuinely haunting. Spoilers Hoid the most mysterious and potentially powerful cosmic being in the cosmere who always has everything under control is vulnerable to T-Odium. Shit is gonna get fucked up on Book 5

[@trill_nathan]

Great video, thanks for making these.

[@LostinDiscovery]

No problem, thanks so much for checking it out :)

[@rafalczauz6229]

Just found your videos, they are great. Just finished a marathon of all the audiobooks and loved it

[@LostinDiscovery]

Thank you! That marathon must've been quite the experience!

[@rafalczauz6229]

@@LostinDiscovery I’ve listened to books 1-3 a bunch of times already, RoW was my second go at it. Love it more each time

[@FantasyTalk]

Been subscribed to your channel for a minute and YT hasn't been putting your videos in my subscription feed?? Great video, and great breakdown of one of my favorite characters in SA. I love when Taravangian becomes compassionate he's no nice and I just want to ask him to tell me stories. But the other Taravangian is so scary and I'm terrified of what he's gonna do in RoW.

[@LostinDiscovery]

Ah damn, good to know YT has my back lol! Dude I'm with you, I just want sweet grandpa Taravangian.

[@tonykuriger573]

Great deep dive.

[@SHISUIAFTERDARK]

Solid video mate! Subbed can’t wait for new content

[@LostinDiscovery]

Thanks so much man!

[@danblanding4612]

I liked it. Well done mate.

[@LostinDiscovery]

Thanks man!

[@Sleyguy]

Great video. Your channel is outstanding.

[@LostinDiscovery]

Thank you so much!

[@erickmakvitzcosta8190]

Oh boy, i don't usually comment on videos, but i just want to say that I just discover your channel and you're on the right path Ps: just so u can understand how far you're going, I'm brazillian.

[@LostinDiscovery]

Brazil, awesome! Greetings from Australia and thank you so much for the compliments.

[@erickmakvitzcosta8190]

@@LostinDiscovery I said this cuz we usually get kinda loss in numbers cuz social media, but u are getting like 1k views (with is a fucking lot) and u are achieving some places so far away. Keep it up and good luck

[@LostinDiscovery]

Yeah man I love hearing about where people are watching from, it’s so cool!

[@WenderllyAraujoS]

can't wait to start and finish stormlight so I catch up with your videos :(

[@mblooze9057]

Love your videos! Been watching a lot of different ones and yours are definitely easiest to follow. So well simplified and at a great pace....FINALLY! Some of these fast talkers out there are stressin me out with their info dumps. Renarins story through OB got so crazy, anyone have a good summary/recap before ROW? Keep the videos comin, please! Maybe one covering the ghost bloods and sons of honor....origin, members, objectives etc. ?! I tend to forget about them. Thanks!

[@LostinDiscovery]

Haha thank you so much! Not too sure about Renarin but in terms of all the secret groups etc. Sanderson does a great job of reminding the reader of who they all are in the initial chapters of the book :) I’m glad you enjoyed the videos, many more to come!

[@ravishah7805]

Great video dude.👍

[@LostinDiscovery]

Glad you enjoyed! Thanks :)

[@loraz5343]

Hahaha my goodness do I want to hear your thoughts post ROW! Oh my gosh!

[@kylemb1983]

I always felt taravangian was abusing adderal. Supper focused gets a crazy amount of brilliant work done but organized in a stream of thought that when reviewed now requires study. He is than burnt out and reclusive and his mind slows and he feels bad about who he has become

[@maxwelljohnson5221]

Wow this is great!

[@LostinDiscovery]

Thanks!

[@reneemujica142]

I’m number 1 Taravangian enjoyer

[@carlsmith4568]

I have a theory about him.. I think that there will come a day when Tar will wake up "dumber" than he's ever been. Cultivation made so that he can be brilliant and compassionate, but never at the same time. On his most brilliant day, Tar created the Diagram, but abandoned all compassion in creating it. I believe that on his "dumbest" day, he will do something that goes completely against the Diagram, something that he couldn't predict on his smartest day, and do something that will save the life of one of the main characters out of compassion. Edit: Coming back after reading Rhythm of War, I'm a little frightened about how accurate this theory was... This is pretty much my only RoW theory that was even close to true, other than Kal swearing the 4th Ideal, which everyone pretty much knew would happen.

[@LostinDiscovery]

Dude, I LOVE this theory and think you're absolutely correct.

[@harryellis37]

I love the idea behind this, but we have seen in WoR I think (can't remember the chapter) that there have been days where he is so stupid that he will just sit and stare at the wall, drooling. If it's possible he gets dumber than that as part of his boon, I can't see him even moving the take action against anything in this case.

[@snakebagel9729]

@@harryellis37 maybe when he wrote the diagram it wasn’t his smartest day just a smart and coherent day ..... what I’m thinking is sort of like savants like rain man where they are so smart that they can’t function some of those drooling days could be smart days where he has literally transcended his body

[@TheDustyMuffinsss]

Wow this is scary accurate...i think youll be pleased to see what happens.

[@piet0]

This has aged well

[@dookieshoe2905]

Its really cool just how unassuming he is in TWoK and where we are now after RoW. I really didn't even acknowledge him as a character that would be very important until it was spelled out to me by the end of the book. XD I was not expecting what happens to him in Rhythm either, that was a huge reveal for me at least. I am slow though so I need things spelled out cause I was expecting something way different with Taravangian.

[@telekinesys7025]

This is gonna be good.

[@jaredbrady5566]

This needs an update

[@StormBlessedxo]

Vin was easily dismissed and played into that, and look what Sanderson did with her. Renarin I feel will do the same in his own way.

[@xXx_Regulus_xXx]

great video! minor nitpick, but the singular form of Knights Radiant is Knight Radiant.

[@MrBalty12]

4 hundred subs when this came out? here's another one for ya

[@LostinDiscovery]

Thank you! ❤️

[@deepdave123]

Dangerous!

[@jimmyallen8210]

Great video again! Would you consider doing a video on Szeth? He is my favorite character, but so much changes for him and he is so mysterious it is easy to lose track of his details. My biggest fear for the Stormlight Archive is that Szeth’s origin story will be underwhelming, but I’m sure Brandon Sanderson can pull it off. Also, do you think there be a “Szeth book” in the Stormlight Archive?

[@LostinDiscovery]

I’d love to do a video on him! I think I’ll do it after reading RoW because we’ll most likely get a bunch more information about him. I think Sanderson won’t disappoint with Szeth’s backstory, so far every flashback sequence has been fantastic so I have faith!

[@vishanthfishy]

Book 5 is for sure Szeths book. And if Sanderson nailed Dalinars backstory he's gonna smash it with Szeths. This entire story started with the Assassin in white. There's a reason Sanderson left his backstory till last

[@floorjason]

Is it true that Gavilar had the visions first? I kind of just assumed he stubled upon The Way of Kings while trying to bring back the heralds/radiants.

[@LostinDiscovery]

Yes he was receiving the same visions just before his death, it seems he was on his journey to become a Bondsmith as well.

[@danf6975]

We have a new class of character and I dub the the greater good character

[@jotjakubjot]

Tone down with the angelic music you beautiful face.

[@anikatappin6059]

Hi Jon snow 👋

[@brahmaputramoskva1215]

Great video,probably one of best on stromlight You can pass on music tho,or maybe chill hop kinda music with a much less volume

[@LostinDiscovery]

Thanks man! Yeah I've definitely changed this since, I realise the music was a bit too loud in this one :)

[@omidphoenix4883]

Thanks!would you make a video about Ghost Blood?

[@LostinDiscovery]

Absolutely :)

[@omidphoenix4883]

@@LostinDiscovery thanks man! Your videos are great, watch them all

[@e22ddie46]

I think I'm most curious about how Szeth was able to realize the void bringers would return.

[@jacobnugent8159]

That would be an interesting book

[@e22ddie46]

@@jacobnugent8159 I've heard a few good ideas that he bonded or was bonding a spren.

[@erichart8560]

When you realize dumb Taravangian is SMART Taravangian

[@hybridhd7436]

Taravangian at the end of Rhythm of War literally fooled us all. What a fucking plot twist. Spoiler - Taravangian kills Rayse using Nightblood, then ascends as Odium.

[@LostinDiscovery]

Sadly I haven’t finished the book yet so I can’t read this comment, thanks for spoiler tagging though!

[@arshgrewal9487]

How did u decode it I tried many things but got nowhere ??? What is the secret??

[@LostinDiscovery]

The Coppermind website mentioned that fans had decoded it, I'm not sure of the method they used though!

[@keanugarcia5418]

www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6398-wor-chapter-84-code/ Here’s a thread where they worked together to decode it

[@LostinDiscovery]

That's amazing! Thanks for linking that :)

[@EuphoricLabyrinth]

Difficult to focus, due to the loud background music. Other than that great video. Thx.

[@LostinDiscovery]

Really appreciate your feedback, I’m definitely still figuring out what works :)

[@lilymcallister9751]

Yea..you definitely don't need that music competing with your excellent info. I pushed through and subbed but it was difficult for me.

[@LostinDiscovery]

Really appreciate that, definitely noted for future videos.

[@owencurtis7864]

I liked the music but I do agree that it's distracting. Maybe dial it down 60%?

[@GardenGnome118118]

So is Vyre not a knights radiant?

[@e22ddie46]

Nope. In oathbringer he gets his hands on Jezeriah's honor blade. So he has a windrunners powers.

[@nathanbuckley2136]

Loved the video, but man that background music was putting me to sleep.

[@LostinDiscovery]

Thanks man! I'll try to find something less sleep inducing for next time!

[@crb107]

I love the background music. What is it

[@EvilDMMk3]

Whelp this became outdated quickly 😆

[@codyhitchcock9139]

Background music is so loud.

[@MrMcraph19]

Well...

[@calredwine7001]

spoilers for RoW TOTALLY COULD BE WRONG but what if when taravangian was a genius he figured out cultivations plan and was working towards becoming odium????? i have no evidence other than that it would explain why he would want to disband the radiants

[@matthewmichaelcrown3643]

Teh Diagram is a ridiculous matrix. Pretty embarrassing akshually. It is always BALANCE that has the keys to not being evil or destructive.

[@crateyup6016]

Taravangia is definitely a interesting character there's no doubt about it, however, he comes across to me much more like a di***ead. He is literally doing something that Gavilar started although he is dead now, Dalinar is carrying the torch now but Taravangia doesn't seem to like it because he wants to be the saviour he is basically behaving like a jealous petty lord who wants all the attention towards him, he could have joined forces with Dalinar and help the the instead chooses to go against Dalinar? Undermining everything that the right man has, squabbling over power that he wishes to have but can't have have it i could go on and on about it but I think that's my point given to Taravangia. Petty jealousy and greed.

[@Jstaman]

Ill be honest i absolutely despise taravangian. His character is supposed to have at once been omnipotent level intelligence, yet at the same time was so impossibly stupid that he wasnt able to predict events that happened, BUT he still thinks (even after realizing he didnt forsee this outcome) that his predictions are perfect and flawless Brandon wastes a lot of time telling us how perfect his predictions and how brilliant and clever he was. But we see time and again that no hes just an egomaniac thats relatively idiotic.

[@bryanonaharis8888]

I guess I'm the only one who doesn't like taravagian... this grand PA is so crafty and all... hope wit/hoid gets the best of him in the 5th book

[@Blxz]

Shame about that background music.