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  1. I came up with this yesterday in Discord, and many people really seemed to like it, so I've been encouraged to post it here to share. I don't really post (or even come up with) theories, so I'm a bit nervous. I hope you guys like this one. My theory is simple: Dalinar essentially healed himself. He used Navani's fabrial, unwittingly, to do so. Basically, the fabrial she created was both a TIME fabrial and a PAIN fabrial. Due to his unique abilities as a Bondsmith, he created a resonance between those to heal the missing memories of his past. Fabrials are powered by stormlight-infused gemstones, much like surges are powered by stormlight. We've seen Dalinar unwittingly create resonance before in the situation room when he tugged Shallan and created the map. I believe that was a set-up to show what he's capable of, and that is what happened with the fabrial. He does not need to have invested himself to do this; we have seen Shallan use her mnemonic abilities without being invested, and Kaladin has squires without having to constantly be invested, so it stands to reason he can create resonances without himself having to be invested as well. Simply wearing the fabrial on his person was enough for that resonance to occur. That's it. Pretty simple theory.
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  2. Hi, I just wrote this article (in Spanish), it really took me a while and I am quite proud of the result ^^ I made this translation for you to read, so please be kind as I was working with Google translate a bit...There are things I cannot attach, as they are Twitch videos or soundcloud, but mainly, this is it ^^ ***** UNITE THEM: The Transmedia Universe of Brandon Sanderson If there is any trait that defines us human beings, is without any doubt creativity. Creativity itself is the most powerful tool we have to deal with everyday difficulties. The human being, as a social animal, enjoys from the company of others. Perhaps today, in the age of the internet, in the digital age, where mobile phones invade moments that should be reserved for celebrations with friends or family, we think otherwise. We have the perception that we are increasingly isolating ourselves from the people surrounding us. And yet, we could not be more wrong. As long as we have access to the vast digital universe, we are able to connect with people we have never seen or meet in person. As communication evolves, so does the way in which we tell stories. Stories are but a means of communication. Those stories that began a long time ago orally shared by the fire, became shared stories with the development of paper and printing Stories have been transformed yet again, this time into ethereal zeros and ones running through the vastness of the cloud. And at this point, our world, the stories, and the digital world converge, making room for a new world. One in which we gradually enter as pioneers, and we call the result of that convergence transmedia What’s a transmedia universe? We want to roughly explain this term in order to establish the basis on which this special article about Brandon’s literary universe, so we apologize if we some technicalities aside, or oversimplify the concept. We can observe some of the most common examples in books or comicbooks. Many times our favorite book gains such a social recognition that luckily jumps from the paper to the small or large screen. And when the substance of history maintains its essence without big changes, we call the result "adaptation." However, it could well be the case that the film or TV series will explain a substantially different story based on the original novels. Take the case of a well-known science fiction novel, such as Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, whose saga is named after this first book. In this series of books exists one called Ender’s Shadow Among many other interesting things, it explains the events that take place in the Ender’s Game, from the perspective of another character called Bean. This book expands (this is one of the key terms of a transmedia universe) the original work. Let’s imagine for a second, that Ender's Shadow was not a book, but a movie. Then we would have an expanded version of the events of the original book narrated in a different format (or medium) completely different from the native medium (book) and yet it has an impact on the universe in which that story takes place. After watching that hypothetical movie, we would know more about what is happening and how Ender's world works. Continuing with the HYPOTHETICAL CASE "What if" Ender's Shadow "was born as a movie?" This would be an example of how both stories would complement and feed back themselves, rather than as in the previous example, where there is only a one way adaptation. So roughly said, a transmedia story is the one born in a format, for example books, that leads to other stories narrated through other different media (comics, movies, series, video games, apps, board games, games role, etc.). These new stories will add (expand) details and extend the original world while maintaining the continuity and coherence of the original story. But we can even add another detail that gives a very interesting twist to this whole issue, thanks to the internet, communication and digitization. As human beings are creative by nature, it sometimes happens that this original work inspires other people who, in turn, generate content around them. This is especially relevant thanks to digital platforms and social networks. An example of the wealth of an expanded transmedia universe can be found in the game World of Warcraft. World of Warcraft is the heir to a 1994 strategy game popularly known as "Orcs Against Humans," which had several expansions over the years. In 2005, thanks to the narrative richness behind the game, it was transformed into the most successful MMO ever, despite its ups and downs. To this day, not only have there been six expansions, but it also has books, comicbooks, merchandising of all kinds, soundtracks, action figures, and even movies. It has even been rumored that they plan to make an theme park. All of this is the result of that very first game created over twenty years ago. A depiction of the transmedia universe around the Warcraft franchise, using the popular chart from Carlos Scholari. Warcraft universe's origins go back to June 1994. Inspired by these works, new projects are born. Some carried out with the approval of the author and his team, who approve new details and give the rights to the expansion while ensuring the continuity of history and the coherence of their world. Some of these projects turn into something social by involving other people, often the fans themselves, as they help to raise money and through crowdfunding. Other projects, however, are born because simply the story touches the soul of the reader in such a way that it starts to generate its own content (fansites, blogs, forums, wikis, podcasts, short films, music, fanfic, cosplay, crafts ...). In this case the author is not usually involved, and the question of coherence might be questioned. Even still, in their own way, these projects continue to expand the world from the point of view of the reader. Brandon Sanderson's work: the day Cosmere transcended the paper A lot has happened ever since Brandon’s first novel was published in 2005, Elantris, which arrived to Spanish market in 2006 thanks to Nova Publishers. That first text, perhaps primitive in comparison to what we are accustomed to read in the more recent novels like those that compose the Stormlight Archive series, was full of promises. So much that was true, that over the years, Brandon Sanderson has seen himself consolidated as one a reference within the fantasy literature current panorama, and we dare say: the future as well. With more than twenty-five novels published in these twelve years (including the last three volumes of the beloved saga The Wheel of Time, and the two novels based on the video game Infinity Blade), he is also in turn, one of the most prolific writers. As of today, we could roughly include these works in four large groups: Stories comprising the Cosmere universe: Elantris, The Emperor's Soul, Mistborn, Warbreaker, The Stormlight Archive, White Sand (graphic novel) Stories taking place in other of his fictional universes: Alcatraz Vs. The Evil LibrariansThe Rithmatist, The Reckoners, Legion, Legion Skin Deep (pending translation to Spanish) Short stories: Here we can find a certain variety of stories including some within the Cosmere and others unconnected to it Books belonging to other series or franchises: The Wheel of Time, Infinity Blade As a warm little sun, Brandon Sanderson has spent more than a decade accompanying a whole new generation of readers (and probably future writers), enriching their dreams, inspiring all kinds of ideas around them. And naturally, as is normal in S XXI, the inked words populating his novels have escaped the gravity that kept them attached to the paper pages and have jumped to overrun our world, the real world, like those little spren inhabiting Roshar. The day mists took the city Crafty Games Without a doubt, the first outbreak that emerged from the seed of Brandon's literary universe was the role-playing game Crafty Games published in 2012 inspired in the Mistborn series, by Alex Flagg, Patrick Kapera, Isaac Stewart and Ben McSweeney. RPGs are a perfect example of transmediation, since one of their great virtues is the amount of information provided to enrich the game experience, information that is extensively collected within the manual. Because RPGs are not just a "game": they are a journey into a fictional universe where, thanks to the imagination, players are immersed in adventure and take an active part in the story told by the master during the game. In a role-play game (as in real life), every idea, every decision and every action comes with a usually irrevocable reaction, which is irremediably reflected in the course of this living story that its players are experiencing, and it modifies the direction of the narrative forever. In order to get the participants to enjoy this experience to the fullest, role-playing games provide all kinds of expanded information including aspects such as culture, society, politics, religion, history, artifacts, equipment, glossaries, maps ... All this information gathered for the occasion, expands the original world in which the game is based along with preciated illustrations, as is the case ofMistborn The Adventure Game. Also from Crafty Games, this year came Mistborn House War, a board game also inspired in the world of Scadrial, where all the action of the novels of Mistborn takes place. In this case, Crafty Games brings a new peculiarity to this small transmedia universe in expansion, and this is that while in the novels we are witnessing the story from the rebels who want so much to see the Lord Legislator overthrown point of view, as well as the fall of noble houses living at the expense of repressed society; in the board game we incarnate precisely one of those noble houses and our mission is to gain Lord Ruler’s favor and to defeat the rebellion. A whole new point of view through which to venture into Scadrial under a new perspective. Shire Post Mint A few days ago, Shire Post Mint, a family-run company specialized in creating replicas of coins inspired by fantastic literature series, has launched a campaign to fund its new project framed also in the Mistborn world, that managed to finance the minimum amount needed within 2 hours and 15 minutes after the launching, and now exceed $ 50,000 dollars thanks to backers from all over the world who show their constant support on the platform Kickstarter, and still has 27 days left to go. Mistborn coins represent a step beyond mere merchandising, because it is perfect project clearly thanks to a very important detail that no fan of the series has overlooked. Because within the story, the magic taking place in this world, is based on metals, and coins are a very important active element, not only at an economic level but also as the central axis of this magic. In the novels, some characters possessing allomantic powers (powers extracted from the metal) can move spatially "pushing" against metals. They can also use small metal fragments as projectiles. And in both cases, one of the most easily transportable sources for this purpose are the coins, which is why they are so valuable. When Shire Post Mint decided to start this new project, they weren’t simply creating coin replicas. For the fandom, what they have done has been to directly transport a piece of that fictional world that is Scadrial, into their hands. An object full of emotional value that by far surpasses the one of mere merchandising, because for the readers is an artifact that could well have been in the hands of the very Kelsier or Vin themselves, the main characters of the series. These coins will rest next to the novels displayed on the shelves of those people who love the Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series. These coins will be used by those cosplay lovers who will carry them in their pockets when they go to conventions. These coins will accompany while gaming with boardgames or roleplaying games. Fans may even use them on their wedding day. These coins have transcended the world of words and have transcended also the real world, as a sample of the incredible transmedia potential of the Cosmere universe. Worldsingers As we have seen, the novels within the Cosmere universe that have generated more products around them have been the Mistborn ones, Brandon’s second literary work. However, another of his epic fantasy series has caught the attention of a project indeed very original. We are talking about saga sweeping worldwide The Stormlight Archive, whose highly anticipated third book, Oathbringer, will be released in the US soon in November, and we hope it will soon be translated and published in Spanish by Nova. This saga, planned as decalogy, will have two defined arcs comprised in five volumes each. The Stormlight Archive takes place in the world of Roshar. A world which formerly suffered attacks known as Desolations, where humanity was virtually destroyed by monsters now considered mythological and whose only salvation depended on the Heralds, beings with enormous power and magic weapons. During the last recorded Desolation, Heralds broke their vows and abandoned their mission to protect humanity, but it is something that happened so long ago that for the present inhabitants, they nothing else but legends. Today, Roshar is a continent permanently ravaged by the High Storms, and divided into different kingdoms inhabited by different races, and where on the eve of a peace agreement between humans and a race known as the parshendi, the human king is assassinated, provoking a climate of war and revenges in the decades to come. The Black Piper Three years ago, The Black Piper team decided to make a risky bet. Not only for the proposal that their project raised, but for the choice of the work in which they were going to inspire themselves. The Black Piper is a group of professional music composers and producers, who have worked on soundtracks of movies such as La La Land, or Fantastic Animals and where to find them, who gathered together and decided to create a soundtrack composed specifically for a novel, in order to transmit the emotions and feelings that come off through the pages, in that magical and sensitive way that only music knows how to achieve. The album Kaladin, based on the first novel of The Stormlight Archive has also been funded by Kickstarter and is now in the backer kit phase, is a pioneering case of literary soundtrack whose only other example we could find in Spain would be the case of Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s novels, author of The shadow of the wind. Unlike the project of Carlos Ruiz Zafón, who financed the adaptation first-person, the album Kaladin involved the fandom since the beginning, thanks to the power of a crowdfunding platform. The Kaladin album not only expands the Cosmere in a very original way thanks to music, but also comes along with the artwork of different illustrators who give life to pictures inspired by the novel The Way of Kings. Probably we are facing the first album on a large series of orchestral albums that will gradually adapt the Cosmere to new level. What can we expect in the future In this article we have provided several examples of how Brandon Sanderson's literary universe is gradually taking shape as a transmedia universe. Its incredible production has grown unimaginable in these twelve years of life, rising all sorts of transmediations. Some are already taking place, especially those related to the Cosmere, but other works await their moment patiently as is the case of the young adult literature series The Reckoners whose boardgame could soon be financed via Kickstarter. The ease of communication that exists today between author, readers and third parties, thanks to the internet, enables creating of synergies that otherwise would have been if not impossible, difficult. Readers are transformed into creators, contributing their energy to non-profit projects, simply out of love for the author's work. Around Brandon’s work arise websites of reference, such as 17th Shard or wikis full of information like Copper Mind. His books inspire fans to recreate with their own hands objects from his favorite sagas, on the form of cosplay or shardblades. Val Alston y Brandon Sanderson, con la espada esquirlada creada por Val There are even those who feel encouraged and make short films, as was the case of David Fonti, bellow his work. In the future, we will see many more creations coming from prosumers (consumers who now produce content), and of other producers. The Stormlight Archive could even have a film adaptation, as this year Brandon sold the rights to DMG, as explained by the Spanish publisher Nova in an article. What could be more transmedia than playing a role-play game based on your favorite Cosmere novel, with coins created to that end, listening to a soundtrack composed for that purpose, while cosplaying with your friends? Only time, and Brandon can tell. And it occurs to us, that due to the wealthness of his universe (for then perhaps universes, in the plural), and all that will be created around it, the day will come when his work will be object of study in classes of literature. Perhaps even within a hundred years he will still be studied as is Tolkien’s case. We may not be there to see it, but those worlds will endure forever, through their stories, through collective memory, through a myriad of platforms beyond even those we cannot now imagine.
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  3. If a phrase is used in the book, that's because an equivalent phrase is used on Roshar. Roshar isn't Earth. Not everything lines up exactly with our history. Also, the pacing of Oathbringer is often faster than the previous books. Brandon felt it appropriate.
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  4. I've noticed that there is some interest in Dalinar's returning memory (perhaps that's something of an understatement ). I think that how it happened is explained in the very next chapter, when Syl says: And that, on a much smaller scale, is exactly what happened to Dalinar. The Nightwatcher ripped off a tiny piece of his soul, broke his Connection to Evi and her memory. The precise mechanism of the healing may remain a mystery (for example, did it happen because he was holding Stormlight when Navani said the name this time, and the Investiture flowed into the wound as it was thus revealed?), but I think we have a general answer to the "how" of it in the restoration of the parshmen. As to the fear that Odium is somehow involved, I think it significant that Syl only says, "Power has filled the holes"--power, not Odium's power. In other words, Investiture. And Investiture is Investiture. If Odium's Investiture can Heal something, then so can Stormlight, even if it needs to take another path to do it.
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  5. Not to split the discussion Shallan's mental state, but I think I see why Pattern is getting scared and it has to do with Forging and I want to stay within the forum rules The new more detailed version of Veil takes a lot more stormlight to produce but very little to maintain. Pattern seems pretty happy with it because it's interesting. Shallan's other transformations are less interesting because they are more like makeup or giving herself a pep talk. This reminds me of Shai's normal essence marks. Each of these change her history so that she spent more time as a slightly different person, a warrior, a scholar, and a beggar, which allows her to adapt as needed. This is a much deeper transformation than Shallan's illusions, but with each of these Shai still knows her true past and can break the stamp before the 24 hour mark. This issue I'm seeing with Veil is that Shallan seems to be going towards Shai's final essence mark. With this mark Shai would forget that she is a Forger and live out a normal life. The mark would also convince her to renew the stamp every day so she'd never let the spell fade. I think Shallan could take this path with Veil. Once she has fully fleshed out Veil's entire history she could fully become her. While Shallan's Lightweaving will eventually run out of juice, she also has the ability to Soulcast. With this power she should be able to make the change permanent. At this point Shallan would no longer exist, only Veil would remain. Either that or she could come up with a convincing enough lie to explain to her new self why the spheres around her kept growing dark. As long as she kept away from people who could make her remember, she'd never have to.
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  6. @maxal I had the exact opposite reaction as you to this week's chapters. I felt like finally stuff has started happening, maybe not in terms of action, but with a lot of plot details being kicked off. With Dalinar, we get the Honorblade and basically the confirmation that we'll see someone wield it soon. We start to see the depth of the conflict that Dalinar is setting off with the church. The fact that the Voidbringers are going to cause problems with unifying Roshar, not by wreaking havoc as an invading army but by normalizing political relations with various governments--that is very much coming into focus. And, of course, Dalinar's memories are coming back. With Kaladin, I don't see this as a retread of his WoK arc at all. Rather, it is a return to a role that he is suited for, after spending a whole book being too depressed to fill it. Granted, if tutoring the parshmen is his whole arc in this book, it will be disappointing, but I see this as a welcome sign that Kaladin is accepting himself and growing into his role as Radiant nicely. Also, we've got mentions of how Realmatic stuff works from Syl, and the most important thing to happen, from my perspective, is that we really are made to understand that this is not going to be a simple good-and-evil morality tale. The parshmen are not orcs or trollocks or even just brutish barbarians. Since WoR, we've known that the Listener plotline was going to be more complex than a monstrous enemy that we can feel okay about seeing our heroes slaughter. But at the time, we were lead to believe that this would be because we knew that there were good people trapped inside stormform monsters. This is even better for a complex story with difficult moral choices. The parshmen are slaves escaping oppression. Then there's Shallan. As I've said before, I think that this chapter really sets up the character's central conflict for this volume--her attempt to avoid painful memories by creating separate identities for herself. As much as Kaladin's failure to protect damaged his bond with Syl, I think that Shallan's failure to tell herself the truth at such a grand scale will damage her bond with Pattern. Maybe it won't be as dramatic as what happened with Kaladin, but I'd say that her Oathrbinger arc will echo Kaladin's WoR arc. And then the murder mystery threw us for a loop that no one predicted. There is something going on here that none of us guessed. And the thing is, it should become apparent very quickly that while they do have a serial killer of some kind on their hands, every time that killer murders someone, there's a second murderer to worry about. I think this makes things more dangerous for Adolin. Soon, everyone will know that the killing of the Kholin ally was not linked, in terms of motive, to Sadeas being killed. That means that the Sadeas camp will have more reason to regard his death as a politically motivated assassination.
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  7. Storms, I just noticed something. This was reminding me of something, and now I know what. Remember the end of WoK? Hoid was lecturing the confused city guards on what the most valuable thing a man could have was. And what was his conclusion? Timeliness.
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  8. If they make a movie/show of Stormlight, they have to shoot a scene of Ned being thrown off the cliff... of course, Ned will be played by Sean Bean in that scene.
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  9. So this "Rial" guy seems out of place. 1. "he was a little pale for an Alethi and had dark brown hair." (More of a description than we'd normally see, and specifically [but minor-ly] NOT like the Alethi) 2. Recognized a watch and knew what it was. Ways to identify him: Has a habit of rolling a sphere across his knuckles (maybe does this with coins in another world?) (Wax does this once, but the other descriptors don't seem to fit.) Has a unique way of talking "ta" instead of "to". Very perfect salute, yet lazy attitude. Unfortunately I only have Stormlight in electronic form, and hence cannot search the other books for keywords. Any ideas?
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  10. one night, and one day, and one night, AND IT SHALL BE AS ONE DAY
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  11. But Adolin is currently involved in a very important investigation. Also, he's no longer the Kholin heir. He's the Kholin highprince. My guess is a different Kholin who is currently twiddling his thumbs but has expressed interest in heading to Kholinar: Elhokar.
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  12. Okay, I'm going to say one thing, and then I'm going to back out of this again. The only reason I'm doing this is because I've finally realized exactly what it is about this "theory" that bugs me so much. I get that you don't want a shipping conversation, SLNC. I do. You want to focus on Shallan and discuss Radiant and if Radiant is good or bad for her. But that's not what you're doing with the OP or really any of your responses until very recently. You brought the boys in from the start, partially by saying this: (which makes it lean toward the shipping side and which boy is better for her, by the way) and then also by saying that Shallan's creation of Radiant - which she did because she's severely emotionally and mentally traumatized and has been for years, but has been hiding that trauma under a mask - is all because of a boy, because she couldn't bear the thought of him leaving her. This minimizes her trauma and makes her one-dimensional. Shallan didn't do this for or because of Adolin. She did it because of herself. Plain and simple. It doesn't matter if Adolin happened to be the one who was there the way the story was written. It doesn't matter if she happened to think that about Adolin around the time when this happened. It was not Adolin who was the cause or catalyst for it. It was Shallan's severe emotional and mental trauma. The trauma she has not learned to deal with and doesn't want to face. Please do not minimize the impact of this for her and about her by saying she did it because of a boy. She is an independent character and there's absolutely no reason why Adolin should define her more than her own history and personality.
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  13. So, after daylight saving made this a midnight release for me, and sleep/work got in the way, my long awaited first thoughts reply! I mean, awaited by me, 271 posts indicate that other peeps have been doin' a'thinkin'. Hmmm and I feel like there had been 271 posts last week when I did this... Well those chapters gave a glorious wealth of info compared to the last three! Some wonderful mentions of realmatics, spren, Shards and bonds. Such delicious lies. Clearly I've read none of the other posts so apologises if you've seen it all before! There have been discussions on the length of Shardblades and Honorblades. Thank you for neatly answering both (even though that was the evidence to date). Oh Stormy, say more things like this please. Honorblades are not sentient. Dead Shardblades scream - it is not the live spren nor the Radiant's soul. Honorblades are directly of Honor (Which we knew by WoB) but the soul...I take the word loosely but it certainly confirms the the blades themselves are splinters, which makes me wonder about the status of the Heralds who 'broke' the Oathpact and what changes if they're no longer bonded to a splinter. And they are the mark of the Oathpact. And Shardplate is related but different! AND more confirmation that the spren, even the uberspren, are limited in what they can tell the Radiants after each oath, by their own oath. Oh. And Shards ARE bound by rules, by oaths. So much awesome (if largely expected) morsels of tasty truths. The beauty continues. The Stormpapa as the unreliable narrator - his steadfast refusal to question himself could become an issue. Odium's hatred being timeless and the fact that he is in no rush. But mostly, oh mostly, my previous Cultivation! Odium wants to avoid drawing my Culty out! Odium was damaged by a Shard or Shards before and those wounds cannot heal! GIVE ME CULTIVATION Rain down your lore droplets upon me SDaddy! What more do they give?!? How like a Herald? What do Heralds have other than a bond to a splinter? Answer me! What a glorious metaphor. Simile? Cheers Yes, Extesian from a few days ago, Navani will get back to making fabrials, bless her. I'm becoming increasingly curious about the extraordinary range of powers fabrials are using. Ah my dear Vasher, my scruffy, insolent, morally vacuous plaything. I've missed you and your color-themed idioms. Oh how how i wish you'd done the dueling. WELL. So the thrill is many centuries old at the least and was always just the Alethi. What was different compared to the other Unmade, which seem to gave only become active recently? Why was it confined to Alethkar until recently? Did it only become active during the time pig Sunmaker and if so what interest did Odium have in the fall of the Heirocracy? Non-contact Stormlight-drawing? He's beginning to believe... Omh I have my new sickeningly sweet name for my partner Wouldn't it make far mo...YES you storming idiot, yes it would. You were planning on doing it YOURSELF? Delegate, guy. Hey! I love you Iriali and I adore your religion, but don't you get all fatalistic with it, you anarchist-hippie. You give One a bad name. What you gon' do when things get hairy, just leave and go to another...oh, yeah, that's exactly way you'll do. I do hope this isn't just a bargaining position... BOOM! I mean it had to happen for there to be flashbacks involving Evi, but daaaaam son. Why NOW? Has his bond healed him to match his own spiritual ideal of himself without that block? Is it a Bondsmith thing? Why now? Who's your Daddinar? And... better be careful there who you pledge your allegiance to big guy... I...hope the Listeners win :'( Syl! Here I think you're all about sex and death and you go all realmatic on me! So let me clarify... Little Yellow IS a voidspren. Some Listener forms, or maybe just voidforms, can see spren that doing want to be seen. The mechanics of creating parshmen was to rip a whole in their soul that removed their Identity and Connection! But locked it away, as in the same piece of all their souls... The Everstorm's mechanics were to fill test hole with investiture (presumably Odium's but, could it be...Cultivations?)! Bless you, my favorite imaginary friend, for brightening up these Shallan chapters. Still so much Shallan. Sigh... Anyway Radiant seems to be harder for her than Veil, presumably a part of Shallan is like Veil but shallan is just not really Radiant. Pattern... did Pattern just...is Pattern in love with Adolin? Finally a ship i can embark! Adolern! Oh and I feel like this settled the little issue of using dead Shardblades. They're distasteful coz they're corpses but the spren is actually dead and bringing it into the physical realm doesn't cause it pain the scream is just an echo of the thing that caused it pain and killed it. Blade me up yo. Awww. Maybe you'll be happy after all little guy. Also of interest in this part was the 3rd person limited switching from 'Shallan' to 'Veil' as soon as she got agitated. Hmmm. Natural? Fabrials with Stormlight access? A perpendicularity? Vivenna? WHO KNOWS I feel like we knew that the more intoxicating colors are spirits but, well, if you don't know, now you know, Sharder. It seems the illusions don't hide what's behind the eyes. Windows to the soul indeed. Pattern with the buuuurrrrn. Oh and I find that last line very intriguing. Many of us felt sure that this was all proof that she can basically change other people's souls (Gaz etc) and could do it to herself at whim, switching back and forth having sort of rewritten herself like a soul stamp might do. This sounds like Pattern is saying that her illusion is only that, that she's letting herself change her personality through belief/ psychology rather than there being anything magical. Very intriguing. Could she Brandon? Could she? Or are you trolling us. Rust and Ruin woman! Oh you just got coooooool. Well it may well mean adolin wasn't specifically targeted as part of the copycat killing. Wow, I...that was longer than i thought. So so many good quotes. I shall say no more.
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  14. I love that Pattern and Shallan are talking to each other and trying to resolve the rift between them. So often we have these issues prolonged because characters wont talk to each other, and they aren't falling into that cliched trap. Very happy. And she DOESN'T WANT HIM TO DIE! But once again, we have a Shallan POV were it is directly referenced what she hates. She hates herself, and does not deny hating Pattern when he mentions it. If we look at characters who talk about their hatreds, and how often it comes up, Shallan is near the top. Granted, the Truth she admitted is still super fresh, but still. She admits to hating. I am more worried and convinced that she, as the most advanced Radiant we have on screen, with the most fragile sense of self, is extremely open to Odium's influence. Which would result in her being a candidate for Odium's champion. And can we talk about the Ghostblood's for a minute? Setting aside the naming convention of your average ten year old, how f^@ked up are these people? That your above standard thugs are petrified of them, and it is completely acceptable that one of them would STAB A HAND TO A TABLE THROUGH THEIR OWN HAND! And that is getting off easy! What the rust. And Shallan has not made the connection that these super messed up psychos, who admit to trying to have her and her mentor killed have her entire living family essentially hostage under the guise of bringing them to her? How can she not see that this will not end well. She asks Pattern if she killed her family and replaced them with illusions. No, Shallan, you didn't. But you may well have killed them by pulling the Ghostblood thread to see where it leads.
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  15. If Dalinar remembers his past wife just to start forgetting Navani, I am going to fall over and die. Pleeeeease Dalinar, noooooooooooo
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  16. Hello, This is a theory on Dalinar's lapses of memory concerning Evi, and the implications that it might have in the future. My theory bases itself on the premise that Dalinar's visit to the Nightwatcher made him lose all memories concerning his wife, Evi, and made him unable to hear her name again. I would suppose (and this is a supposition, in no way based on facts) that the Nightwatcher operated by severing his connexion to his wife, separating all memory, feelings and stimulus about Evi, and placed it in a Box inside Dalinar's mind that he is unable to access. Now, Dalinar has married Navani, his oaths of marriage witnessed and approved by the Stormfather. Navani has replaced Evi as his wife, and I think that what is happening is that the Box in Dalinar's mind is being filled by Navani, while Evi leaks out of the Box. I think that slowly, Dalinar will mix feelings and memory between Navani and Evi, slowly confounding the two, and Navani will bleed away into the Box until Dalinar forgets everything about her, and is unable to have any stimulus of Navani. In the end, he will remain married to someone he cannot remember and has trouble to have even basic interactions with. I think it would be truly tragic for both characters, as as the Stormfather noted, his Oaths are binding forever, and breaking them has huge consequences. When he stated that, some sharders theorized that Navani would be the one to break them, due to maybe hidden motives or agenda. But I will find it more fitting story wise if Dalinar ends up being the one screwing up his marriage performed by the Stormfather just because of a visit to the Nightwatcher a long time ago. It is strongly implied that the switch is happening now because of the change of wives, and not because Dalinar is being healed by Stormlight. Dalinar inhaled Stormlight to heal himself before in WoR, and it didn't have this effect. Furthermore, the problem with Stormlight healing is that it is based on Perception. I doubt Dalinar could have restored his memories via Stormlight healing precisely because the Cognitive image he has of himself (on which Stormlight bases itself to heal) does not include the memories of his wife. Juste like Kalladin kept his slavery brands, because he percieve himself as soemone with the brands. Dalinar percieves himself with someone with a memory lapse when it comes to his wife, which make it very hard (imposssible ?) to just regain memories with Stormlight. He wasn't in contact with the Everstorm, and therefore didn't benefit from the same effects than the Parshmen did (a healing of the soul to make it whole). Plus, it would make for an awesome, (even if it is tragic) story.
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  17. Unbidden, this pops into my mind: Make like a Herdazian and be gon!
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  18. Only thing better than that would be for a certain person to "trade" for it. Maybe a nice leaf or bottle cork.
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  19. I feel like it is going to come up missing before he has a chance to give it to anyone. Too much talk about how well it was hidden and for Stormfather cant watch over it.
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  20. C1: The Fellowship of the Lynch Thaurdir, servant of Mordor, leaned against the stone wall of an alley in the second circle of Minas Tirith as he watched the evening’s usual flood of people pour past. None of them paid much, if any, attention to Thaurdir. Had you asked them what a servant of Mordor looked like, they would have described some scarred orc or hulking troll, not a man with average height, build, and facial features who could blend into any crowd. Thaurdir, of course, was more than willing to use this to his advantage as he scanned the passers-by for the man he was supposed to meet. Thaurdir checked his timepiece. Lord Khlenn was over twenty minutes late. “Does that weakling think he can assert his authority by making me wait on his whims?” Thaurdir continued to brood for the next few minutes, until finally he noticed the upstart noble walking toward him at a leisurely pace, as if he had all the time in Gondor. Thaurdir straightened up, adjusting his posture and gait to match those of a lesser nobleman. Years of acting experience made the shift into his new role effortlessly. “Lord Khlenn,” Thaurdir said, “have you considered my proposition?” “I have to say that it amuses me considerably.” Thaurdir grimaced internally. He was not used to amusing baser beings, but he did not allow his persona to slip. “Why does it amuse you, my lord?” “I just wonder what anyone like you would want with the passcode to the seventh circle. It’s not something widely known by anyone but the guard and the servants of the Steward himself, but that’s not because it’s dangerous. Just ask for an audience with the Steward. It’ll cost you much less.” Lord Khlenn didn’t guard his words. Even for someone only in his twenties, he was rash. That would cost him. “Our deal was no questions asked, my lord.” It was taking everything Thaurdir had to keep himself from murdering Lord Khlenn here and now, plans or no plans. “Fine, fine. Do you have my payment?” Thaurdir beckoned to Lord Khlenn to follow, and strode into the building which he had been leaning on for so long. It was a stone-walled warehouse, dimly lit by a few oil lamps hanging from the ceiling. He walked confidently to a single crate in the back, and stopped with his hand on its top. “That’s it?” Lord Khlenn said. Thaurdir turned to face him, ignoring the question entirely. “Password?” Lord Khlenn snorted before finally saying it. He then said, “But I don’t know why I’m telling it to scum like you.” Something snapped in Thaurdir. His mission was to secure the password for Mordor, not to take lip from a nobleman with the ego the size of a cave-troll. He had planned to pay Lord Khlenn, but that was no longer the plan. Now that Thaurdir had the password, Lord Khlenn was expendable. Lord Khlenn must have noticed some change in Thaurdir’s demeanor, because he took a step backward as Thaurdir stepped toward him, but he was too slow to dodge Thaurdir’s hand. It caught him by the neck and lifted him into the air, slamming him against the grimy stone wall of the warehouse. Thaurdir grinned sadistically as he slammed Lord Khlenn into the wall, feeling the strength of Mordor course through his veins and empower his muscles. He was close enough to Lord Khlenn that he could smell expensive alcohol and cheap perfume. “Who is the scum here?” Thaurdir bellowed. Lord Khlenn struggled to speak, but nothing came out. The entire weight of his body was hanging from where Thaurdir had pinned his neck against the wall. Thaurdir could feel his pulse. Thump, thump, thump, thump. THIS “You are nothing but a disgraced nobleman!” Thump, thump, thump, thump. IS “You turn to every vice of this city. Without your money, you would be nothing!” Thump… thump… thump… JUST “I will cleanse this city of its corruption. Middle-Earth will be united once more! And yet you call me scum!” Thump…………… thump……………. THE “But that is why, in a matter of days, I will be victorious…” Thump………………………………… BEGINNING “And you will be dead.” Silence. Thaurdir released his grip and the nobleman’s corpse fell to the ground. Lord Khlenn was killed! He was a Nobleman loyal to Gondor! QF26 has begun. You have 24 hours to vote and to send in actions. PMs should be out in 0-30 minutes. Player List 1. Lemonelon - Unspecified 2. King Cole - Unspecified 3. Randuir - Randuir 4. Jondesu - Findecano Nenharma 5. Steeldancer - Twigeye 6. Sony - Sony 7. Alvron - Zunn the Mad 8. Asterion - Hobo Baggins 9. Doc - Unspecified 10. Steph - Unspecified 11. Drake Marshall - The Marshall of Minas Tirith 12. Manukos - Oakmus N 13. Darkness Ascendant - Mori Ion 14. Sami - Jedal Snyders 15. Orlok Tsubodai - Annatar 16. Mestiv - Unspecified 17. Roadwalker - Silver Feather 18. Straw - Straw 19. Brightness Radiant - Unspecified 20. Megasif - Megamir
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  21. There's also the issue of perception right? Lift perceives her food => Stormlight as awesome. Dalinar perceives the loss of his memories as a hole. When the Stormlight healing is filtered through the Cognitive Realm, it's going to heal one and not the other.
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  22. In one of the most recent Oathbringer chapters the Stormfather told Dalinar that getting Odium to choose a champion, and then defeating that champion will buy humanity some time. So a lot of people in the chapter 16-18 thread have speculated that Odium's champion will be defeated in book 5. This buys humanity a reprieve which will be the time skip. Then in books 6-10 I assume will be about humanity defeating Odium himself. As for the main characters becoming heralds, I find that highly unlikely without Honor himself there make them heralds, and as we know he is dead.
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  23. Lift had something altered in her Spiritual DNA whereas Dalinar has something cut out of his Spiritual DNA (e.g. Connection to Evi). In my mind, I think of it like this: If Cosmere souls were cars, Lift's soul-car was converted to use biodiesel, and Dalinar's soul-car had a door ripped off. In Lift's case, the alteration didn't really create any damage to heal. In Dalinar's case, there's definitely damage to heal.
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  24. Good morning everyone. I made it to page 7 of 9 yesterday evening before falling asleep in front of my laptop. Well, now I've finished reading all 11 pages and I think nearly everything that came to my mind reading the last three chapters has already been addressed. Some additions now: Chapter 16: Odium has been wounded before with scars that don't heal. He also has been refered to as The Broken One. What is his current state as a Shard? Damaged badly near to be spintered? We will see... The Honorblades seem to be the thing holding up the Oathpact which is thought by the Heralds to be broken, but in fact is not. Does someone see a problem in Szeth travelling to Shinovar to take revenge on the Stone Shamans accomanied by Nightblood? Can Nightblood "eat" Honorblades? Dalinar refuses to use the Thrill during his practice session and recognizes it as something Evil. Shortly after he remembers Evi. And no, I don't think Evi is evil. Rial. He fiddles with a sphere in a way that is annoying to others. I think we should know him, I just cannot place him, yet. Chapter 17: I expected Kaladin trying to bandage the parshgirl's feet. Well, he takes a slower approach in befriending the free Parshmen and I have a gut feeling that this will end in his fourth oath. "I will protect even potential enemies, as long as they are innocent" In the end, he could be able to convince the free Parshmen to abandon the voidspren to avoid becoming slaves to Odium. This would be the last thing they would want to become now, having finally been healed. That Kaladin can relate to the Parshmen is not surprising for me, he already found more honor in the Parshendi way of fighting than in the human armies. Either he will lead this group away from Odium or he is taken in by their revenge on lighteyes so that he (nearly) changes sides. Chapter 18: Brightness Radiant. Shallan. Veil. Pattern is concerned that something is wrong with Shallan's lies. Her reaction is going deeper. Where is Hoid when you need him? (Flashback chapter from WoR comes to my mind where he encourages and lightens up Shallan). I am not certain who I find more disturbing, though. Veil or Brightness Radiant? Veil has her purpose, even if it tends to go a bit dark. Brightness Radiant is just another way to suppress her truths from affecting her, she uses Brightness Radiant even with Adolin (who Pattern may not marry, totally unfair!). Between those two the real Shallan might be eroded away over time, over a short period given the current pace she sets. To all those of you who fear Shallan is not far from the breaking point: I think she is years beyond that. She broke when her mother tried to kill her. All the rest of her story is coping with that truth, living on with it, including Investiture entering the cracks to keep her together. Now with Veil and Brightness Radiant those cracks seem to widen, though. Will losing herself kill Pattern?
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  25. The name Rial is an anagram for "liar." Brandon's done this before with Sebarial, an anagram for "base liar." To me, that's a big tip-off. He might even be Sebarial because I think Rial is a Dysian Aimian. At first I thought he was Zahel/Vasher's newest incarnation, but Zahel appears later in the scene, when Rial is also present. But when Rial says, "I’m a new man. Reborn in the bridge crews,” I see a Dysian rearranging itself into a "new man." It also seems to me a Dysian is uniquely qualified to be the organizational genius Sebarial is. And his "lazy expression" sounds like Sebarial. Of course, that raises questions about Palona. Is she something besides a two-armed Herdazian? Does that explain the couple's calm during the Narak battle? Sebarial might have reasons to tail Dalinar as a guard and learn things he might not learn as the Highprince of Commerce. Just some speculation to add to the mix.
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  26. The way he rolls the sphere over his knuckles immediately made me think of someone rolling coins over their knuckles. Pretty sure this is a worldhopper from ScadRIAL.
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  27. Well, as longs as she's honest about. "Pattern, I am a serial killer." "This truth is accepted" "I am using the trophies I collect to make my own special ink for portraits of my new persona's based off my victims. I choose my victims for the traits they have I desire. Using them to craft my illusion makes it stronger." "This truth is... deeply unsettling. Terrifying and gross. And.., storm it, accepted, but only because I have no choice. Seriously, get some help, or go divide by zero with that nice swordsman who wields my cousin's corpse. You're starting to scare me." I don't feel that there is a moral code to Lightweavers, as long as they honor the truths they have admitted to their spren.
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  28. With the talk in Kaladin's chapter about the Everstorm filling in Parshendi gaps that had been ripped out, could the Everstorm have somehow filled the gaps in Dalinar's mind as well? If there is anything that could overpower or erase the Old Magic (Cultivation,) it would be something of Odium.
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  29. Just so you know, I understood this reference, and it was glorious XD
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  30. I'm not 100% why, but my initial gut reaction was "Rial is Mraize". Thoughts? EDIT: well after the next chapters, im wrong lol.
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  31. When Kaladin finds Amaram...
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  32. He refer to the oathbringer's back cover "the captain broken by loss, the spy broken by cruelry, the stonewalker broken by oath, the traitor broken by ambition and the king broken by war" In the back cover of WotK there is four character: the surgeon, the lair, the highprince and the assassin. Obviously they are kaladin, shallan, dalinar and szeth. But in the WoR's back cover five people are named. The windrunner, the lightweaver, the bondsmith, the assassin and the explorer. The first four are the same of the WotK back cover, but for the explorer... The explorer is forced to choose between the slow death and a terrible betrayal of she believes. Eshonai is the explorer, taking stormform and saving her people and accept the old gods? Or refusing and let her people die in the war against the alethi? The traitor is thus eshonai and her ambition is the know the unknown, to map the whole world. Finding the human and starting the chain of event leading to the everstorm. She seeks liberation from the grasp of the old gods.
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  33. Yes, that is in fact Nazh. Look for the writing on the illustration depicting bridgemen tattoos. Also a WoB confirms it:
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  34. A little thing I noticed: Has it really been "weeks" already? I don't remember the Highstorms re-starting yet for example. If I remember things correctly, they got to Urithiru in the middle of the Weeping (which is 4 weeks or 20 days) and Sadeas was killed after about 5 days. So from there it should be one week to the end of the Weeping. That being said, with everything that has been build already it does feel like there has been quite a bit of time passing. The exact passage of time does feel rather vague though. On different note: Notice that Shallan tossed in a joke despite being quite deep into Veil. Earlier on just one drink of alcohol was enough to knock her out of Veil - there's still some way to go before Shallan can reliably and deeply become these personas.
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  35. Pretty much. She said as much during WoR as well when she created the illusion of herself curled up and ... empty inside, in effect showing who she really is. However, she doesn't want to admit to herself that's who and what she is, so she lies to herself by way of saying "I'm this person", even though it's nothing more than a mask. She buries the broken and emotionally destroyed version of herself with lies about who she is, via adopting personae. Even "Shallan" is a lie, the quotes signifying that we're still seeing a facade, one that she's corroborated somewhat (again in WoR) "in the name of survival." The problem that Pattern is tuning into ("can't you tell?") is that she's taking it too far, building a web of lies around the truth at her core and trying to pass it off to herself as the real deal, enough so that she's even starting to question whether she's deluded herself in other matters. In other words, interpreting actual truths (memories of things she's done) as if they were fraudulent as well. "Did I tell myself this is what happened when it didn't?"
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  36. Hmm so what we are all trying to figure out here is if the preview chapters are our boon or curse...
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  37. I see this backfiring more in political and perception ways with Light eyes and Dark eyes, then the Parshmen betraying Kaladin. For the general public its probably easier to accept Parshmen as viodbringers then as 'people'. Having a slave class become an enemy is easier then accepting how badly they had been treated.
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  38. Like others, I hate this theory not because it doesn't make sense -- it's thematically appropriate and is interesting -- but because it's so horrifying. On a gut level I don't just want it to happen. Props for laying it out though. As one possible opposing piece of evidence, the chapter ends with "he suddenly remembered her face." This seems somewhat instantaneous -- the moment before he could not remember and now he could. That doesn't seem to fit a gradual leakage of of memories. Also, I believe the Stormlight really could be healing him. First, Dalinar is apparently holding enough Stormlight for it to visible to everyone in the the room, which might be the first time this has happened. Especially the first time he has done so when his wife's name was mentioned. Maybe that's relevant for some reason? Second, in the two previous books, it does not seem he accepted the loss of his wife memories. Or rather, he's resigned to it but still perceives it as a loss. He accepted he no longer has them but still sees himself as though he should have those memories. Kind of like Lopen's arm -- he refers to himself as a one-armed Herdazian, refers to his missing arm as one he doesn't have, but fundamentally he still believes that he should have that arm. So I hope the Stormlight healing him is true. It does make sense and it's a lot more heartwarming.
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  39. Pretty sure the first second on screen Truth from her that we see is "I am a murderer." So killing dudes would confirm that her oath is true, while deeply unsettling Pattern as to what she would do with the corpse. Use it as a chair, or food, or a sword, or something. Thanks to @Dreamstorm for the correction. "I am a murderer" is the second truth she spoke to Pattern, to reveal herself to Jasnah. I had completely missed that she spoke two truths in Way of Kings. I think I overlooked the first one because it was so seemingly minor.
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  40. I really hope this theory isn't true, but I do have to admit that it's well-construed and probably makes the most sense out of the options I've heard so far. Stormlight healing, painrial, Everstorm restoration, all of them have their issues, but there's nothing outstanding that needs to be overcome for the curse transfer, since we don't know exactly what Dalinar asked for. My concern is more from a narrative point of view. Stormlight books are big and getting bigger, and these sorts of plots are exactly the sort of thing that can drag down long book series. Like Perrin and the Shaido in Wheel of Time - it was a very natural outgrowth of the world, it provided some tremendous character growth for one of the main characters, but when the whole plotline was resolved, it didn't further the overarching narrative at all, it was merely an obstacle that a character had to overcome. Dalinar is trying to unite the world; having to deal with supernatural interference with his marriage would be tragic and interesting, but it's still page count, and this book ran so long it has pushed back some of Brandon's other projects, like Rithmatist 2 and Alcatraz 6. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not going to judge a story that might happen before I've even read any of it. Brandon may very be able to make it an integral part of Dalinar's path, like maybe one of the Bondsmith oaths involves giving up your personal life to be married to your Radiancy. But my eyebrow indeed has been raised. But as to the mechanics, I don't think the time delay is a problem. We don't know the timetable of how Dalinar lost his memories of Evi in the first place, do we? It very well might have been a gradual thing, and now the process has begun again and he will gradually begin to lose memories of Navani. It was a moment between hearing her name and seeing her face, so an ongoing thing makes sense.
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  41. Absolutely have to disagree with this one. I felt a deflating feeling reading this theory because it's terrible from a narrative perspective. A good twist changes things in the story, raising the tension by making things more urgent or complicated for our protagonists. I'll give examples from the well known Star Wars and Harry Potter. Harry Potter: Harry is a Horcrux, which means that Voldemort can't die as long as he's alive. If Harry wants to defeat Voldemort and save the Wizarding World, he has to die. Star Wars: Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's father. How is Luke supposed to fight and kill his own father? Those are good, because they add new challenges for the characters to overcome. However, this is the complete opposite of that. Tanavast told Dalinar that the Radiants needed to be restored, and the Dawnshards needed to be found. Thus, the readers are expecting to see the characters restoring the Radiants and finding the Dawnshards. If the Dawnshards are the Spren Shardblades, then it means that the characters don't have to worry about finding the Dawnshards, since they were already doing that by becoming Radiants. It's a total cheat, because it promises the reader a challenge (finding the Dawnshards) and then snatches it away from them. We were just being told what we already knew, that restoring the Radiants was important. Would anyone have been impressed by Darth Vader being Luke's dad if Obi Wan had told him that his dad was a Jedi who betrayed the Order and turned to the Dark Side? Absolutely not. We would have already known that Luke's father was an evil Sith Lord that Luke would one day fight. It hardly changes anything for it to be the one he's already fighting. That's why this would just be lame. As a reader, I have every reason to want to see the protagonists' quest to find the Dawnshards, and no reason to want to find out that they magically had them all along.
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  42. I think she's gonna start dating THE LOPEN. ...hey I followed the rules.
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  43. Am I the only one who thinks Vorinism didn't exist prerecreance? I mean, there wouldn't have a been a distinction between lighteyes and dark. The gender segregation is due to Arts and Majesty, which all arose post Recreance... The role of the Ardent and Devotaries all seem to be predicated on the ideas if things formed after the Recreance, building off of what the Knights abandoned. I don't think there were ardent until after all of the former Knights were dead.
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  44. What? The black sphere only appeared black because it was filled with black light. It's a normal gemstone. 11 has shown no significance whatsoever. The origin of the Makabaki somehow means that all the races on Roshar were created, despite all of the cultural and linguistic evidence that they came from somewhere else? And thank you for ignoring the WoB about how not all shards have significant colors/numbers. Repeating something ad nauseum does not make it true.
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