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Don't know If this is relevant but my sister asked me why the internet was not working and I immediately said: Something must be blocking the Dor.

My Idea of the Sunmaker. (Please join please please)

Day One: Mawwiage Grandpa Steel waved his hands into the air, entering the drama of the moment. "And so, they put Wesley on the cart-" Alvron coughed. Grandpa Steel looked at him. "I find it boring that Wesley has to sit on the cart for all that time. What would happen if he went in and charged the wedding immediately?" The aged man pulled down his reading glasses down a bit. "You really have it in for these characters, don't you." Despite that, he continued to alter the story. "I, the Dread Pirate Roberts, have come for your souls", the Giant intoned. Facing an unearthly burning apparition, backed up by a score of nasty looking pirates, the entire guard fled. Wesley got up off the cart, the miracle pill having taken full effect. "We have to find Buttercup!" The group glared at him. "No we don't. YOU need to find Buttercup. We are going to take the castle." "And I am looking for the Six Fingered Count. He is Mine to kill," growled Inigo. "Well then," Wesley said brightly. "We split up. Pirates, you split up into groups of 5. Fezzik, you go with Inigo. I can handle myself." --- The noise of the guard screaming could be heard within the wedding. While the bishop droned on, Prince Humperdinck waited impatiently. "...Mawwiage. Mawwiage is wat bwings us togeder today. Mawwiage, that bwessed awwangement, that dweam wifin a dream… " Doors slammed, and men screamed. Buttercup looked up in hope."And wuv, twue wuv, will fowwow you foweva… " Prince Humperdinck looked more and more nervous. Splintering wood could be heard. "So tweasure your wuv— " "Skip to the end," insisted the Prince. The bishop raised a massive eyebrow, then proceeded along with his request. "Do you have da wing?" "Alas, he does not!" shouted Wesley as he entered the room. At the sight of the Dread Pirate Roberts, the crowd fled- and so did the Prince. Buttercup ran to Wesley, and they embraced. "I knew you would come for me." "We aren't done yet. We need to take this palace, or this country is going to go to war with Gilder. I brought my pirates and my new friends, so hopefully we can keep Humperdinck's scheme from working. Inigo told me that you were to be killed to set off the war; so I will keep you safe," explained Wesley. Buttercup brought out a small dagger she had had in her dress. "I've learned a thing or two. I'm not quite as helpless as before. Let's go get him." And the two ran, hands clasped, in the direction that Humperdinck had gone. --- Elsewhere in the castle, a group of pirates growled, looking for more palace guards to fight. Unfortunately for them, the Humperdinck and his Count, along with his best guards surprised them from behind. The pirates went down with hardly a sound. "Are you sure this will work, by putting on their pirate... apparel?" asked one of the guards. "I am sure. It will give us the opportunity to get the drop on those pirates. But make sure the Princess stays alive- for now." They all put on pirate apparel, and went looking for people. "My liege, these pirates. May I use them for further research in the machine?" asked the Count. "Of course. I am not sure how that Wesley survived, but this time I intend to kill him myself. Besides him and Buttercup, you may have the rest." The Count smiled, and flexed his six-fingered hand. "Excellent." Day One has begun! It will end at 7PM EST on 6/3/18 Player List Today's fashion is using the language of the Priest! Hard consonants are gone in the jokes that will get all the points. Let the fun begin!

When you see a grey sheet at the thrift store and think "mistcloak" or your brother attacks you with a life sized foam shardblade.

I have met a couple from an arranged marriage. They look at western style marriage and the incredibly high divorce rate and say, "clearly that idea isn't working so well." I'm pretty sure our western sensibilities have become skewed. An objective observer would probably agree that arranged marriages are generally more successful, although I guess that depends on your definition of success. Arranged marriages often work because of the expectation of making it work. And free-will marriages often don't work because of the focus on individual freedom. Personally I like a blend of the two: freedom to choose my spouse, but the expectation to just make it work no matter what (almost). "Choose your love, love your choice" and all that. I think current western society has too much focus on passion and personal fulfillment. As to Brandon's take on romance, I think he has a different approach than most writers. I find it more realistic. That's probably because I think it's realistic to not fully understand other people's romantic choices. We all want to understand the psychology behind these things, especially when it's the viewpoint character, but it's also realistic not to understand our own personal psychology. Anyway, his romances work for me.

Marne spluttered. He had never heard more ridiculous rhetoric against the Sithe in his life. Well, perhaps he had, considering there were millennia for him to hear such rhetoric. But he would respond anyway. “May I ask who started those long-ago fires of Myr Tariniel? It was this same Alaxel, Encanis, whatever he wishes to call himself—he is the one that condemned the seven great cities of the world to flame and ashes. He is the one who fought to corrupt and enslave and destroy all of mankind, and take them away from the light of Aleph. It was he who formed the Chandrian to fight us seven, and bring down ruin and desolation on the earth. And yet you bow and scrape before him! He, who has murdered countless, and wiped Locke from existence, separating him from his beloved parents and caring troupe, the latest cruel act in a line of countless previous ones. The only “home” he has sent the helpless Locke to is one of fire and pain, which he shall be rescued from when the world is ended and judgement is passed on him who has condemned so many to death. “You accuse me and my Sithe brethren of working with the Cthaeh? Do you not recall the blood and conflict unleashed by the Fastingsway War, the last time a mortal ventured near the tree of the Cthaeh? Or perhaps you forget the aftermath of your hero Lanre’s visit to the tree—he unleashed a war and a terrible conflict that brought to ruin the perfect peace I and my brethren had labored centuries to craft, and morphed and twisted him into the worst demon known to men. And these were singular men who spoke with the Cthaeh. Imagine if an entire troupe ventured towards the tree. The blood and chaos that would undoubtedly ensue, and the tragic ending each would come to. Truly tragic, unlike the simple stories you tell, but a tragedy told in the millions dead, among them each person here. The Cthaeh is intent, pure evil, malicious—it seeks to draw you all in, and we have kept ourselves away, and likewise keep others away as well. The exceedingly small chance of destroying that monstrosity is nothing compared to the terror that would be unleashed should we approach it. And the Sithe have learned not to. We have shot our own that venture too near the tree, and despite the claims this controller of Scrael makes, we will do the same to any who approach it, Fae or human. And so our camp is currently a very safe distance away from that nexus of evil, for the present, because we do not kill needlessly. “You seek to invoke the names of those killed? Than do so accurately. Neris died nobly of his own volition, offering his back to a knife that would have taken the life of a tinker- the same tinker who exposed your lies for what they really were. Squick and Ray were killed, but in no way were their deaths ‘forced’ by the Sithe, or their killers linked to us in any meaningful way. Your lot has more blood on their hands than the Sithe—the Sithe may kill those who approach the Cthaeh, yet you eliminate those who even speak of the Chandrian. And do not make false statements about the death of Aorais—the Monks and Namers who bound Encanis saw him stab Aorais without a second thought, yet you seek to pin the blame for his death upon my brethren, and then have the audacity to name me a liar. Do not pretend that we seek the death of this group, or that you are somehow innocent in all of this. Were it not for our Monks, your Fae brethren and Scrael and skindancers would have killed even more than they already have. You, not I, seek the death of this troupe, and although you do not know it I have been watching over some at night, insuring that they are not killed by you or your associate. Once both of you are dead, the Cthaeh cannot accomplish the goals he wishes to set, and we will have finally achieved the ultimate victory- removing Haliax from this earth, a serial murderer and corrupt devil, and all those who would assist him in throwing the world back into anarchy, no matter their honeyed talk. Once this is accomplished, we may all venture out of this enchanted wood, and this lost troupe will have the glory of being known as the final vanquishers of the true evil permeating these lands!”

I already provided a couple that quite sink this theory. 'Trell' is a Shard or at least the Splinter of a Shard, this much is absolutely certain. The only Shards that Kelsier has Connection to are being held by Sazed and as a Cognitive Shadow it is very difficult (though not impossible) for Kelsier to go anywhere else. And Trell represents a Shard that we know, all of which are currently either being held by someone or are splintered and not in a position to be picked up by our favorite Survivor. And Harmony is the only Shard on Scadrial at the time of Era 2. So yeah, Kelsier =/= Trell I, the Weltall, have spoken. You may applaud as you feel is appropriate.

Marne walked around the edges of the campfire, separate from the rest of the troupe, brooding in silence. Moving past people quickly, he muttered words of encouragement and support to those who he knew he could trust. To others, exchanges of suspicious glances were standard fare. He often wondered why the glances were returned. Then he would remember the flames, how he had nearly perished in them long ago, standing with six others on a mountainside in a falling city, Tehlu beside him, facing down seven enemies. The flames thrown, and how his burns and scars had nearly killed him. Holding the pass so men could escape Encanis, the first time. Marne was frankly astonished by the devotion some showed to Tehlu. He was of equal station to Marne, after all, and had only struck the finishing blow against Encanis. But no. Marne was disguised here for a purpose. And if the disfiguring scars and burns that patched his face would conceal him, he would accept suspicion as the price to be paid. Marne watched as a juggler, Gaskana, skillfully suspended eight flaming balls in the air, not seeming to notice the heat each time one briefly touched her gloved hand. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion. Gaskana had claimed to have used a sacred stone to help bind Encanis, but Marne had no recollection of such an object being loaned. He brushed by the tinker. “Did you hand a lodestone to that juggling woman over there, Reyalp?” “No sir, I didn’t. Do you want me to?” he replied. “No, that’s fine, thank you.” Marne’s eyes lowered even further. Gaskana had been chased away by Scrael earlier...but she had come back unharmed by the creatures, which he knew from experience to be supernaturally quick. Add to that her lies about the stone, and an absurd claim about being a child of a long-dead Jester...Marne slowly rose, allowing his glammourie to falter just slightly. A spot of flame, obscured by a vague shadow, hovered at his shoulder blade as he spoke to Gaskana. “You! I have seen your actions these past days. A Fae hunter noticed you getting involved in Resterford’s binding, which you claim was a stone you used, despite our trustworthy tinker denying these facts. Yet I seem to remember a fair number of Scrael in the woods before we started a fire to chase them off. Add to that your ridiculous claim about being Nelden’s daughter...well, that’s just plain unbelievable. I accuse you of treachery and of directing hostile Fae towards us!” Gaskana’s lips pulled into a snarl. Still juggling the flaming balls, she spoke the name of fire, flaring them white-hot. Suddenly, one of the balls whizzed out of her circle, speeding towards Laon. Marne—Kirel—removed his glammourie, extending his wings of fire and shadow, halting the flaming ball. He winced as the ball burnt the wing slightly. That will take a few decades to heal, he thought bitterly. Feeling himself glow with the thrill of battle for the first time in centuries, he spoke the name of water. The nearby creek burst upwards in an explosion of water, extinguishing the flaming balls, which dropped to the ground one by one. Marne turned towards Gaskana, who was dripping wet and disheveled, and uttered one word: “Why?” (Yes I’m roleclaiming. Yay, everyone already knows it so it’s fine.)

hi i'm new but have been a big fan for a long time.

I thought about it. I disagree.

Lift be like...

Hey everyone! You may have noticed this forum is now in the Brandon Sanderson category. We feel showing off Brandon Sanderson related works like fiction, images, music, poetry and really anything like that is very important, so we are placing this forum outside of Creator's Corner and in this category where your stuff will get much more visibility. If you are a creator, please feel free to post some of work here if you haven't already, even if it's older! I'm sure people would love to see it. Also, if you have made art, do also remember there is our Gallery module as well. Let us know if you have any suggestions to make 17th Shard more welcoming to creators. Honestly, though long ago it made sense to have Fan fiction as a subset of Creator's Corner, it really hid things so people didn't notice the cool stuff here. We think this will work a lot better.

Right, so the other day I was considering the use of spheres and gemstones as money on Roshar. Yeah they are super useful for holding stormlight and giving off light so it makes sense that they would be used for money. But (and this is where the theory starts) where do those gemstones actually come from? We know from a recent WOB that Roshar specifically does not have plate tectonics. I'm not a geologist or nothing, but it seems like this would make it rare or even impossible for gemstones to be created naturally by underground pressure. In addition to this, we have never heard of a single person having the profession of a miner who would get those gems in the first place. Considering all of this, where do we know we can find gems on Roshar? Inside the bodies of certain creatures that inhabit the planet. In the early days of Roshar, before the coming of humans, the Parshman were probably the largest population of organisms that had gemhearts. What if one of the reasons the humans who came to Roshar started to try and conquer the world was because they figured out that they could get very valuable gems by cutting them out of the bodies of the indigenous people? This may have inspired a full scale slaughter and war of greed against the natives of the planet. What if the monetary spheres used by Rosharans are the cut up gemhearts of generations of Parshman?

Hi all, I wanted to introduce myself as that seems to be the decorum. I'm a nerd, gamer, reader, and writer, so precisely the 17th Shard's demographic. I apologize in advance if I come across... let's say clunky. As the Title suggests, I am a true beginner at basically anything resembling this. I've never used the internet to connect with people (one of its proclaimed most popular applications). I find most corners of the internet disagreeable. However, I have been a big fan of the Cosmere for a few years now and I thought if I were to dip my toe into somewhere, it would be here: with people who hopefully share my interests. I hope to share and discuss with fellow fans on here. I'm particularly interested in talking about writing. I often find myself having to explain to people what I'm going for when I write epic fantasy (even more specifically when I tell them about Hard Magic systems), so I'm hoping it'll be a breath of fresh air to have discussions with a shared foundation such as Brandon's work. Anyway, I ramble. Greetings to all, Lunarhade

A soft flute melody wove through the air, slow and calm and melancholy. It was a song of pain, suffering and of endless conflict. It was.. part of a song about the Chandrian. Few heard the music, thanks to the debate going on, but suddenly Enerin stopped. He stood, flute in hand, but did not speak. What was there to say? The tumult went on, whispers and shouts and the old-as-time debate between the Sithe and the Chandrian taking place in the middle of their troupe. It almost felt staged, like a performance. What else could explain such madness? Then again, he had witnessed much madness in the years it took him to compose his song. It was not meant for a flute, that was obvious, but it was meant for no human minds either. And it was not meant to be sung, for the Chandrian would come calling. He knew, for that was exactly what they'd done. Most interesingly, he felt no guilt. Multiple troupe members had died, but they had died for music and family. What better way was there, for the Edema Ruh? Locke.. he almost remembered that name. Almost. He felt no guilt, but he did feel sadness. And so, swept up by his own thoughts, part of him wondered where his feet were taking him as he stepped into the woods. ————————————— Well then. That was an interesting bunch of messages to wake up to. I'm going to vote Devotary.

Incan enjoyed the use of w in place of bad letters

Araris was slightly taken aback as he saw what passed for a healer around here sticking body parts onto a corpse, that was apparently still alive. I am definitely not on Carna any more. "My name is Awawis Vawewerian and..." Araris frowned. "My name is Awawis Vaw ... Bother." He retreated behind a building and made some minor adjustments to his appearance. Araris came back around the corner and could hardly be recognized as the same person, with matted hair covering most of his face and an ugly brand partly hidden underneath. He had a broad, witless smile on his face, and spoke slowly, slurring his words a bit. "My name is Fade. Me hewp?"

Starkindler! It is a most pleasant surprise to share a game with you once more! It would be a great pleasure to once more weave some stories! I've had my eye on you for quiiite a while, Mr Doctor Before you came, I was the Doctor around here, but as I was absent for a good while, I can hardly blame you for rising up to take the position of practitioner - I dare say it will be a pleasure to work with you this game, no matter how...strange your character! A. D. Senfalo watched in bemusement as the Dead Private Hobbert began to fall apart. Catching up to him, he started fishing in his pockets for some duct tape - for as is common knowledge, beyond all binding enchantments or magical ropes is duct tape. In his own decent opinion, duct tape was magical and should be worshiped. Anyways, he supposed that even though he was a pirate, with all the connotations that came with that term, he was at heart a decent fellow, and should do some decent things. Biting off a length of tape, he started on his task. "Puw yourself together man! This is no time to have a bweakdown! S'long as you dont mind being only swightly mummified, evewything should be alwight!" He blinked. "Saaay, Wobert, why are we all talking stwange?"

Gaskana laughed as she listened to the accusations thrown against her. When she spoke, her voice was raspy from centuries of smoke inhalation. "You call me evil? You, Kirel, who should have died in the fires of Myr Tariniel so long ago? Once you were benevolent, a devoted servant of Aleph, but those long ago flames burned away your morality along with your body. Your pursual of what you believed to be the greater good has blinded you to the evil that surrounds us all. You have allied yourself with the same being that cursed us; the same being that even now spreads its vile influence throughout the land. It is not too late for us, nor is it too late for you to turn away from your current path." Next, Gaskana turned to address the crowd of surviving troupe members. "Without my kin and I, all of you would have been long dead. You all know, of course, that the Sithe indiscriminately slaughter anyone or anything that gets close to the Cthaeh's stump. Why then, are you still alive?" She paused, shaking some of the water off her soaked attire. "Some of you have maintained your hold on life because while the Fae care not one whit about the well-being of mortals, their own existences are oh-so-precious to them. You may have noticed that while five troupers have fallen, no Sithe have been willing to put themselves at risk of oblivion. They hide themselves behind shields of glammourie and flesh, preserving themselves at your expense. Seeing the hostile faces of the crowd, Gaskana quickly continued. "People of the Edema Ruh, our quarrel is not with you. We have done you no harm. Squick and Ray Fox were killed by the aura of hatred and fear generated by this place. Neris died to a blow meant for another, his sacrifice forced upon him by the Sithe. Aorais tried to stop the violence, and was personally executed by the very beings who claim to protect you. With his dying breath, Alaxel was able to summon the power to send Locke home, to ensure that there would be at least one survivor of this tragedy. I tell you again, we are not your enemies. Kill me if you must, but know that the Sithe will massacre you within the hour should we fall. You have only one chance of survival. With your help, we can cleanse this land of corruption. Together, we can destroy the Cthaeh and defeat its Sithe minions. No longer will these Fae protect the Cthaeh from those who would combat it, while allowing those with the greatest potential for destruction to become tainted by the Cthaeh's words. Should we prevail, we will help you return home as heroes." Gaskana ignited two torches and held them out, offering one to Kirel and one to the nearest troupe member. "The choice is yours. Do you condemn me to die and leave this realm suffused in evil? Or will you help us fight back against the Cthaeh, the greatest threat we have ever known?"

I'm sure this has been postulated before in various forms but I can't find exactly where to post this crazy theory. Apologies if this is the wrong place. I'll be brief. Theory: Shardplate is grown or extruded just like parshendi armor. It, like carapace armor, is a second skin. Postulated: Existing shardplate retains its basic decorations and structure while conforming to its bearer even if not we'll documented in drawings/paintings. Fact: Shardblades not from current Knights radiant are only MOSTLY dead. Corollary 1: Shardplate is still connected to Knights radiant of the past who are only MOSTLY dead. Corollary 2: those undead Knights radiant did not slam their Shardblades into the ground abandoning them, seeing as their shardplate still works. Corollary 3: The spren/Shardblades of the undead radiants are out there somewhere in the cognitive thus accounting for the missing Shardblades. OK just wanted to log this theory somewhere.

That's what I believed to, but a WoB that @hoiditthroughthegrapevine asked on my behalf in a signed book has called that into question

As @Wandering Investor said, we know Shardplate is not "grown." There's also the addition that Shardplate runs off gemstones, and when they are out of stormlight it is basically just a heavy armor statue. Blades were accidently bonded through the addition of gemstones centuries ago. All things considered, it makes quite a bit of sense that after adding a gemstone to a Shardblade and getting a benefit, someone looked at the decorative statues of Radiant armor still laying around and went... "wait a second..."

If they have the advancements of the Southern Scadrians, including medallion tech, Id say they win. They'd be able to field more Metallic Arts with less attrition, and they have all the transportable advancements and technology Roshar could win but would first need to make more significant strides in re-discovering Fabriel technology, specifically would need to be able to expand their soulcasting capabilities; that is how they tactically supplement their relative lack of industry or large-scale logistics. A push towards gender-equal Literacy might also be useful.

"Welcome, my dear companions, to Starvald Demelain."

Bodies littered the ground, broken and bleeding. Some of them in Commonwealth uniforms, others in Caeldish ones. The coppery tang of blood filled the air. Mirac cradled Yusef, begging him to survive so that they could play one more game...just one more game of Tak, and Yusef could pull all the clever gambits he wanted and crush Mirac just this once... Alev looked away. She woke up drenched in cold sweat, just in time to hear the wind carrying a soft gasp that sounded like Yusef's last breath. Alev was intimately familiar with that sound, now. But Yusef was long dead -- gone, zapped, kicked the bucket. Alev might have problems, but she hadn't imagined that sound, had she? She bolted out of the tent. And stumbled upon Neris's dead body.

Today was the last day of May. But that doesn't mean thus thread should die, or that we should stop raising awareness for this cause. I will be changing my profile picture, but will keep it green. I want to encourage people to keep sharing their stories. Even though I personally have been doing... not well, lately, I do want to keep this strong. I am going to be buying a shirt that says, May is mental health awareness month. But to me, it is also Jan, Feb, March, April, June, July, Aug, Sep, Nov, and Dec. I wish everyone the best of luck.

Granted. You now have the writing abilities of Zath, Mistspren, and Brandon Sanderson COMBINED. However, you must say one of these three specific inside jokes in every bane you give on this thread: Flashback Girl, Roman Torchwick's Ghost, and/or Pasta. It can be minor, or even have nothing to do with the bane. But it must be there. I wish for Cinder to...no, that's a spoiler...I wish Pyrrha...nope, hmm...I WANT MY CHRISTMASTREE, CRWBY! ... uhm... I wish to have a loving home for my elderly rabbird, Ink. Not to be confused with Inklingspren. Check my profile for a pic.

[Note: References to events from Warbreaker, Oathbringer, Alloy of Law, Bands of Mourning] In Vasher, we have a person from Nalthis who (a) is being hunted down, and (b) is a worldhopper on Roshar. On Roshar, there is Stormlight (an internal effect) and the Surge of Regrowth (an external one). We've seen Kaladin and Shallan use Stormlight to heal serious, even fatal injuries so quickly they use it tactically: Kaladin uses multiple Lashings to kick Shardplate so hard that it cracks, breaking his bones, but heals in time to land on his feet, and Shallan literally walks away (for shock effect) with an arrow through her head that stays there for so long she healed around it (and had to re-injure herself to remove it). In this, it is very similar to Gold Feruchemy, where Bloodmakers with access to a large enough goldmind can make tactical use of fatal self-harm, as with Miles exploding dynamite in his own hand, or Wayne implementing "Rotten Tomato", with the destroyed body parts regenerating. We've seen that Stormlight can regenerate missing body parts, even after many years, as seen with Lopen's arm. In his monologuing to Vin, we hear from The Lord Ruler that he'd used his massive goldminds (derived from Compounding) to survive beheadings - which means he literally grew a new head. Multiple times. (I like to think that he kept at least one of them in a pickle jar for the shock value, it fits right in with his show-off nature.) And we've seen that Lifeless are Awakened corpses, needing only one Breath for their Command, but that Vasher could also Awaken little straw men, too. So there's probably no requirement for a Lifeless to all be the body of one person - it could be an assemblage of body parts that are just as much "in the shape of a human" as a single corpse would be. I mean, why waste body parts if you have the body of a solider missing a leg, just get a leg from another corpse and fit it together? It might take an extra Breath or five, but it seems like it should work? So, if Regrowth can do pretty much the same thing to another person as Stormlight could do for a Radiant, and if Regrowth also matches F-Gold in most respects in terms of what it can do, all Vasher (Zahel) has to do now is: Find a corpse whose torso could pass for his own Brace himself and cut off his extremities in turn, with Renarin or Lift on hand to instantly regenerate them as they come off Stitch his limbs and head onto the torso Worldhop back to Nalthis (possibly having to pickle the Frankenvasher for the trip) Get enough Breath to Awaken the Frankenvasher as a Lifeless Result: "Look, Vasher's as dead as the Lifeless Clod/Arsteel, because here's a Lifeless Blockhead/Vasher!" In theory you could do this just with Vasher's head, but that might be too obvious. Unless the Lifeless Awakening would work better with fewer combined parts, he'd have more work to find a body with the right height and coloration beyond a torso that could pass.

When you see a broken lamp post and think: reckless coinshots!

Here are some of my own thoughts on what made Oathbringer feel weird to me. Part 1 was great, it was a continuation of WoR and felt like part of the same story as the first two novels. The ending was great as well, a classic Sanderson ending. The middle parts in my view were not as good. They almost felt like a different story entirely from WoK, WoR, and Part 1 of OB. I think the main reason I felt that way was that I didn't like Shallan's arc and how it impacted the main thrust of the story. If you compare and contrast Shallan's OB arc with Kalladin's OB arc I think you'll see my point: Kalladin - Has done a lot and slain a few of his personal demons by the end of WoR and by early OB he seems to be in a pretty good place. Then, he gets hit in the face with new, more difficult problems and fails to rise to the occasion. He picks himself back up after his failure and keeps going, learning a few things along the way. This to me was satisfying, I enjoyed Kalladin's OB arc. Shallan - Has also done a lot in the first two books and is seemingly on a continual upward path at the end of WoR. Early in OB, you start to see a few cracks form around the edges and through the middle of OB she is sliding slowly downward. You feel like she is just about to really have a failure, but doesn't really fail and also doesn't really recover. To me, this was not satisfying because it seemed like the plot was setting up the expectation that Shallan was going to do something spectacularly wrong like Kalladin's part in the assassination attempt on Elhokar or even paralleling Mistborn's arc for Vin in Book 2 where she is temporarily led astray by the forces of evil until she realizes the error of her ways. Instead, Shallan lost control of herself mentally in the middle of the book and was able to stop the bleeding by the end of the book. It's implied in the book that she's OK by the end, maybe not fully 100% better but out of the woods. I personally would have found it more satisfying if she had not been OK by the end of the book - still out of control with a real implication that she was likely to get worse before she got better. To me, I would have preferred it if it felt like her downward trend was still continuing as the camera cut away at the end of the book or if she had fully recovered or was on a path to recovery that felt satisfying. That would set up great expectations for her character in Book 4, setting the stage for her to rise up and overcome or fail completely. The second thing I didn't like about the middle parts was that it felt like Szeth became shoehorned into the main cast without earning his place. I know this has been discussed at length, but I really think Szeth's story would have been more enjoyable to me if he had remained a neutral 3rd party for a while with both Nale and Dalinar trying to win him over. That said, I still enjoyed OB overall and will read it again. I'm not going to dictate to Sanderson how he writes his story, I'm sure this will all pay off in the end.

All Cosmere healing always heals the larger portion of the body. Decapitation results in a new head.

Last night I reread the scene where Taravangian speaks with Odium... So basically they are looking at the Diagram as it originally appeared, written all over the original room it was created in. Odium then overlays his vast knowledge on top of it. And we see that in one corner it's all gone black, presumably because of Renarin. I thought it was interesting that Taravangian mentions that this black section begins "behind where the bed had stood". So I flipped open to the Diagram epigraphs in WoR and found two that seem to be in that same area of the room, near the bed. I think it's interesting that both of these are directly related to Taravangian's plans to become king of the world. They are also, so far as we know, the biggest failing of the Diagram so far. Their interpretations and predictions concerning Dalinar (and the politics for Taravangian to take over) have been repeatedly wrong. Is it just a coincidence that these pieces of the Diagram are written near the bed, which is where Renarin's impact on Odium's foresight is rooted? A bit of a tangent here, but... Why is the blackness rooted in Renarin? We can speculate all over, but the obvious (general) answer is that it's related to the corruption of Glys. That's the most unique thing about him. And the most tangible thing we know of that's a result of this is his ability to see the future. I think Renarin's ability to see the future is causing him to have an atium-like affect on the grand scale of events on Roshar. When somebody uses atium, they can see the future of the world around them. It's different for Renarin of course... He clearly sees a bit further ahead than one does with normal atium usage. And his sight is centered around key moments rather than a simple foresight into how the objects/people around him move. But it's effectively the same thing. When TWO people burn atium, they see a (seemingly) infinite number of possibilities sprouting from the other person. This is because you're getting a positive feedback loop that makes each person's actions nearly impossible to predict. So I think this is what's happening with Renarin's blackness on "Odium's Diagram". Renarin's just one guy of course. Compared to Odium's future sight, he presents a relatively small margin of error. But it's enough to have an impact in one corner. Imagine you're a general burning atium while watching a battle unfold, as one of the soldiers on the battlefield also burns atium. That person's actions would be a mess that makes no sense of course, but he doesn't influence the ENTIRE battlefield. You can see most of it clearly. Just not that corner over there. All of that to say... Odium seems to have augmented Taravangian's Diagram in this scene, and it's very curious to me that the blackness of Renarin is in the same corner as these snippets relating to Taravangian's plans concerning Dalinar and the coalition. Snippets which have repeatedly proven hard to work with, at best. Theory: Renarin Kholin's ability to see the future has caused events concerning Dalinar and the coalition to diverge from what Taravangian originally predicted.

So it's a sword, but it's alive. But it's sword, so can't experience life as a human, which is the whole problem with the "destroy evil" command. Could Nightblood be given the knowledge/experiences necessary to have him better grasp the natures of good and evil? Using metalminds and/or hermalurgy? (Can you spike a sentient sword?) Boon/curse from the Nightwatcher? Bonding with a human to create better understanding, something akin to the Nahel bond? Could Nightblood be affected by emotional allomancy to experience greater emotions and make connections between actions and feelings?

Hi, I'm Eleventh of the Moon. Just wondering, when is Lopen going to start making sound effects?

Nice profile pic

Does this mean that I'm now on negative votes, and so I'm immune to one person's vote?

RP time: Incan C. Vable walked through the palace, along with his group of four other pirates. Turning a corner, he walked along, until he stopped at a jewel encrusted door. Signalling for his team to stop, he slowly opened the door, to reveal one of Prince Humperdinck's many guards! Yelling "Scatter!" to his team, they all went in different directions in an effort to avoid this man. Some art that was definitely by me depicting this and not at all found on google:

Yeah, I got the same idea after reading SoS, hence why I asked the question (and also this one)

Archer, that's the hope, My favourite book has to be either Mistborn because it was my first, or Oathbringer because Stormlight keeps getting better with age. Faceless Mist-Wraith, good question. I have read pretty much everything in the Cosmere except I haven't finished White Sand. Brandon's work taught me the kind of writing I want to strive for which means for research purposes I've read as much as I could. I've also read some of his non-Cosmere work, like Reckoners series Also, to all of you, thank you for a warm welcome.

A little back-up: OB, interlude 3, p.339 "The old songs spoke of days when humans had hacked apart listeners corpses, searching for gemhearts." This was the reason for the taboo to touch bodies for the listeners.

I believe the "It is yours" WoB could actually mean literally anything. It doesn't have to mean him handing Harmony's shards besides that kind of move completely undermines the entire point of the Mistborn Trilogy which was to have the two shards end up with the person who is destined for it's proper use which was Sazed. And the meaning of Hero of Ages after all wasn't just Sazed being a one time savior but a "hero for all ages" a caretaker if you will. It would be an ill advised retcon move if Sazed actually hands the Shard to somebody. Also interesting WoB about Odium believing he is passion but every characterizes him as Odium. That kinda weirdly supports the Sazed being Discord but insisting himself as Harmony though it could be also wrong since Sazed doesn't seem the type to lie about those kind of things or he could be on self-denial(that i could see on anybody). Maybe he's not really Discord or Harmony but still Preservation and Ruin in Intent(not the shard itself of course it's already intermingled just the intent) just he just believed he's Harmony since he saw that what Ruin represents was natural things before his ascension and well ofcourse he's inline with preservation so he saw the need for both and since both are opposite he's trying to balance it hence he perceives it as Harmony since both are natural to his eyes. Or i could be overthinking all this damnation. I like this theory. That multshard intents actually depend on the vessel's interpretation of what the two are together. This also makes me feel like Endowment will probably fit with any shard . Except maybe Autonomy ?

This discussion just came up in discord the other night, and here's my thoughts after that discussion. I do not believe that gender is a spiritual trait. In the Cosmere, all healing flows outward from the Spiritual, is filtered through the Cognitive, and is made manifest in the Physical. If gender is a Spiritual trait, than that means that for someone to be transgender, there would have to be some misalignment between the physical and the Spiritual that needed to be healed. In contrast, I think that without being a Spiritual trait, gender is always a Cognitive and physical trait, filtered through perception. This would allow for healing to change to the way in which people perceive themselves, non-binary genders included, instead of the Spiritual trying to assert a "correct" gender. The Spiritual realm is the realm of ideals. I find it fitting by that note to think that things like gender, race, and other differences between us are all matters of perception. As an ideal, we're all human.

I'm sorry, I can get overly complicated when I write sometimes. I did not mistake this science fantasy for a hard science fiction story. I did not call for more citations or more emphasis on evidence-based predictions. My point was about frame of reference. I used technology, historical facts, and media references to illustrate that point. They were examples to provide a sense of scope, not indictments of the text. In this submission, there are promises made by using some standard tropes that are then reneged on by modern points of view almost immediately after they occur in the text and this see-sawing feels both un-thought-out and detrimental to the narrative. The solution is not to add citations or pile on useless details, but to better consider the narrative's frame of reference. It is entirely possible to do this without losing voice, breezy or otherwise.

Graphic novels are comics, the emphasis is on "graphic" not "novel". They are called that to distinguish them from comic books. Comic books are basically serialized "chapters" published separately over time. Graphic novels are longer and generally stand more alone.

My get is it's nightblood(since he's more active), Wandersail(the novella) or he accidentally wrote Lost Metal