Oathbringer spoilers below cut;

Maya is a cultivationspren, so why not Edgedancer Adolin?

I feel like he doesn’t quite fits this order?

Lift swore oaths to remember the forgotten and to listen to the ignored. This makes sense for her, because as a small working class girl she knows what it’s like to be forgotten and ignored, and doesn’t want others to go through the same thing.

Adolin however, comes from a place of extreme privilege, he has always had people to listen to him whether they be peers or subordinates. Furthermore I can’t see this changing any time soon. He’s married to Shallan and the thunderclast fight proves most people aren’t really going to start seeing him as useless.

Yes he treats darkeyes with respect and listens to/remembers Maya, but we never really see him prioritise these things over more immediate problems. On top of this there’s a bit in shadesmar where Syl is trying to tell the others something and is ignored by the rest of the group, including Adolin.

Finally there’s the argument that since Adolin is articulate and refined he actually fits the order very well, but Lift proves that “articulation” and “refinement” are by no means the defining factors of what it means to be an Edgedancer, and I find it far more likely that these characteristics are side effects of the Edgedancer attention to detail, rather than the prerequisites.

Why a Stoneward?

Stonewards are described as having resolve, strength, and dependability, as well as stubbornness. I believe this very accurately describes Adolin.

He’s undoubtedly strong and dependable, as we see him supporting Kal and Shallan in shadesmar, and eventually helping ground Shallan at the end of the Oathbringer. He also takes Gavilar’s death much better than a lot of other people would have (I feel like there are other ways he fits theses characteristics, but they’re hard to articulate).

He’s also stubborn and has resolve. He’s one of the few people who actually refuses Dalinar, and does so multiple times. Teenage Adolin holds firm against a younger drunk Dalinar, Adolin calls out Dalinar in the way of kings for not being politically aggressive enough, and he flat out refuses to become king. It could also be that Adolin’s lack of regret for the murder of Sadeas is an example of Stoneward stubbornness.

There’s also the Ash/Shallan parallel potential. I think it’s pretty much confirmed that Salash and Talenel where a romantic couple, and Shallan and Adolin have just gotten married. Seeing as how much Sanderson loves his romantic patterns I can see Adolin becoming a Stoneward just to make the parallel work.

Isn’t Adolin already bonded to Maya, a cultivationspren? How would a Stoneward Adolin even work going forward?

Yes, it’s true that Adolin is bonded to Maya, and it seems she’s at least partially resurrected, we see him summon her after seven heartbeats instead of 10, and there are a couple of descriptions of Adolin slipping and sliding on dust in the final battle, which could be accidental uses of Abbrasion.

However, I legitimately believe that Maya might be transformed into the whatever spren that Stonewards bond to.

I’m 95% sure that soulcasting works by changing one kind of lower spren into another kind, so it seems possible that the same could be done with a sentient spren, and arguably Ash even has a bit of a motive to do this (Adolin/Shallan could remind her of herself/Taln).