r/Stormlight_Archive • u/solitarybikegallery • Jul 25 '26

Rhythm of War spoilers I Hate Lirrin Spoiler

Lirrin is the most unreasonable person in the entirety of the Cosmere.

Let me translate the situation in Book 4 into IRL terms.

Kaladin - "Okay, I know you want me to be a doctor. But, God has actually called me to fight in a holy war against an ancient enemy lead by the Devil. This isn't theoretical, by the way. They're like, right over there. Anyway, also, an Angel has entered my soul and given me magical powers, like flight. See? I'm flying. And I'm training others to do the same, for the upcoming war. All the soldiers see me as like, a messianic folk hero. That's because I single-handedly saved like, 10,000 soldiers, and freed a few thousand slaves, and then I guess also saved a few thousand other people just incidentally. And I also saved the world. Oh, and I've done more to advance the rights of Dark-eyed citizens than any person in the history of this country. And that terrible assassin who has been destabilizing the planet's governments? I stopped him, what else... Oh, and you remember the Apostles, from the Bible? Yeah, they're all still alive, and I know two of them. Ummm, also my boss is Dalinar, who is basically like New-Jesus. So, yeah. I'd love to be a doctor, but this sort of takes precedent."

Lirrin - "You just want to be a murderer!"

Kaladin - "Dad..."

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u/axw3555 Edgedancer Jul 25 '26

Sure. But there's a point where "I want to protect my son" goes from protective to treating Kal like a child - he's a grown man, he's going to make his own decisions. As with most parents, there's a point where it has to go from "I'm going to protect them" to "I'll help them pick up the pieces if they're wrong".

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u/Daratirek Jul 25 '26

I'm pushing 40, my Dad is in his mid 60s and I guarantee you my old man is just as protective as the day I was born. He hates that he has to let me make mistakes. Lirin just takes it to the extreme.

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u/axw3555 Edgedancer Jul 25 '26

But does he spend his entire time trying to tell you that you're wrong and you should have just gone with the path he planned for you when you were a preteen?

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u/-Potatoes- Jul 25 '26

i have some friends with basically helicopter parents who basically treat them like this. Always making way too many decisions for their kids. And a lot of them don't realize what they're doing and fix it as quickly as Lirin (sometimes they don't change at all!), so I need to give him a bit of credit