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  1. This weekend at WorldCon, someone asked Brandon about the historicity of The Girl Who Looked Up: I noticed three key differences in the versions: Shallan's message is that we're monsters; Hoid's mesage is that failures make us greater Hoid's version says there was no light before, only starlight Shallan says Stormlight; Hoid says God's Light Shallan says the wall was destroyed; Hoid says the storms "boiled over" the wall Recognizing the difference in morals is essential in approaching the basis of the legend. The story isn't about either; it can, however, be made to be about one or the other. But if we're going to examine the story as a retelling of events, even a mythological retelling, it doesn't have to be a word of warning or an admonition of strength. Looking at the similarities (the presence of storms, the existence of a wall, going from Lightless to Light), we can guess that there is some historical basis for the story, regardless of how it's used. And with the revelations at the end of OB for Humans as Voidbringers, I think it's pretty clear that the story is connected in some way to that context. So, let's contrast Hoid's story with Shallan's to try to figure out some details; I'm going to assume the differences highlight what Hoid says, and that he'll have the more faithful account. The Differences The "land of shadows" is explicitly called out by the text as something Shallan didn't know about, but that made the whole story make more sense. Like how people didn't know there was a wall; it was because they actually couldn't see it. Hoid mentions people seeing by starlight, which I think will throw the Domed Shinovar theory into the garbage before I can even articulate it. This darkness must be metaphorical; the Wall isn't physically the mountains that protect Ashyn, it just happens to be a parallel. In the context of the story, I don't think they had the sun on the other side of the wall, either; their lives were illuminated by God's Light normally, and the experience of the people inside the wall changed to match that. There's no event in the story that grants people sunlight; their hypothetical options would be Storms and Light, or Safety and Darkness. That's why I say the story is metaphorical, though much of the metaphor was drawn from the very real events of humanity venturing out of their appointed lands. "Stormlight" vs "God's Light" is another key difference. There are a lot of gods in the Cosmere, but who would Hoid call God? His point of view in the Elantris 10th Anniversary scene implies that Hoid believes in the God Beyond. And the end of WoR, he has a conversation with Jasnah where he says Tanavast wasn't God, and that she'll "find God in the same place you're going to find salvation from this mess. Inside the hearts of men." If he shares the views of Frost, who calls Odium "God's own divine hatred," then there would be a connection to Adonalsium there. This ties in with the metaphorical nature I highlighted in the last paragraph; the story is a metaphor for something going on in the hearts of men, about something bigger than a migration to a new planet. The last difference makes me wonder what the Wall represents. Shallan's story changes the nature of the world, through the destruction of the Wall allowing the existing storms to break through. Hoid's changes the nature of the Storms, where they now boil over the Wall, but the Wall isn't destroyed. I think this ascribes some sort of intelligence to whatever is represented by the Storms; it now enters where it did not, not because the obstacles are deeper, but because someone took its Light there, and now it continues to return there to replenish that Light. This isn't an act of Man; it's an act of God. The Religious Allegory As a pretty religious individual, I'm seeing heavy parallels to Christianity throughout this story, highlighted by the differences listed above. The girl stealing Light, but bringing Storms, is very reminiscent of Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit in Eden. They received knowledge of Good and Evil, but they also received the curse of mortality. Since then, the message of Christianity is not returning to the Innocence of Eden, but moving forward to a new kind of Glorification; not going back, but pressing onward. That's the same thing we see in this story; life was fundamentally altered, this is what made things the way they are now, and there's no going back. God's Light is also a concept that appears in real-world religions. Some books of the Bible, 1 John in particular, use Light as a metaphor for God's Truth, or specifically the Scriptures. It's not pleasant to be under the scrutiny of God's Light, but it does reveal areas of sin in our lives. That's extremely similar to what the Light did in the story here; it made life harder for humanity, but they're not going back to when they were blissfully in darkness. The Storms boiling over, instead of the Wall falling down, also reminds me of a key aspect of Jesus' teachings. Man doesn't attain to reconciliation with God; God, through the person and works of Jesus Christ, reached down to accomplish that reconciliation. That's why I said above that the Storms reaching over the Wall isn't because the Girl's actions brought the Wall down; it's because God now sends his Storms across the wall. So, why do I sound like Billy Graham, rattling off all this Christianity? It's to hammer home that this is not about the physical exodus of humans from their appointed place on Roshar; Hoid's story makes me think it's something bigger than that. I don't think it's how they stole spren and Surges on Roshar, either. The humans had Investiture, they had Surges, on Ashyn before it was broken. It's not just that they lived in a place without Stormlight, without that particular brand of Light; they were in a place with no Light at all. I think the story is about the way humans first came into Investiture. (Using the term to mean "magic" here; yes, Investiture comprises everything, but this is referring to the magical, the supernatural, the very reason this is a fantasy series.) There was a time when Humans were apart from God, and didn't have Investiture; but something changed, and someone took Investiture, and their actions spread to the rest of humanity. Something great, something terrible, and something that could never be undone. The version of this story that grew on Roshar took influence from their history with the Singers; parallels of humanity stealing something is not hard to find within our own world, and it is the same in the cosmere. The White Hair There is one very important clue that is in Shallan's version, but not in Hoid's. Shallan, without realizing why, made the girl's hair white at one point in the story. But she always called her a girl; never said she became an old woman. White hair, on someone who's not old, has always been a mark of Hoid. I think this is a story about Hoid, about what he did to change the very way humanity interacted with Investiture. Hoid, as an architect of the Shattering. The version of this story on Roshar may have become about a girl, but I think the original inspiration for that girl was none other than our mysterious worldhopper. Hoid asked a very peculiar question of Shallan during his telling of it: Hoid is certainly not a child who stayed out of the woods, and he's at the crux of all the Cosmere stories. Imagine that he is asking Shallan what she thinks about him, about what he did to help prepare for the Shattering. He ultimately did not take a Shard, but he could have been one of them, and they all know who he is. He calls himself bold, for seeking to take the power of Adonalsium. And he calls himself stupid, for unleashing the Shards upon the cosmere. In Conclusion Yes, the historical context of the story makes it clear that this version was developed after the humans arrived on Roshar, and it draws much of its setting from the way humans took the planet, the spren, and the Storms from the Singers. But there's also a deeper meaning, from a time before the humans had a God, before they had any Light, before they had Investiture, before they had Shards. They took the Light, they killed their God and took His power upon themselves, and the universe has never been the same since. But none are willing to go back to how it was before, to give up their Light.
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  2. It is my pleasure to present the first rap of the second tournament. Beware the OB spoilers
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  3. Introduction With the recent Idaho signing I know that a lot of us have had our heads spinning over that 'Pre-shattering Weapon' WoB, especially in how it relates to Hoid. After listening to the related Shardcast episode I left with a few takeaways from the conversation the crew had that I wanted to share with you all. Before I get in to this, I want to warn you all that at its core, this theory is crackpot. I think I've made a lot of interesting connections but at this point we just don't have enough information on the related topics to make reasonable conclusions. With that in mind, strap in cause this is a long one! The Case For Aluminum As was discussed in the Shardcast, my hypothesis is that Aluminum is the remnant of the weapon used to destroy Adonalsium. It simply makes sense when you deduce things. To defend yourself from a seemingly all powerful being who's essence was the basis of all things and who you were deeply Connected to, it seems reasonable that the first step would be to stop that being from detecting you, manipulating you, or influencing you in any way which just so happens to be the primary passive effect of Aluminum. Having made this conclusion, lets take a step back. If the weapon used to kill Adonalsium is now expended and not in its original from, Aluminum itself cannot be the weapon and its properties may not be the same as its theoretical original form, so we're kind of missing a crucial puzzle piece. This is about as far as any of my theories pre-Idaho got, but the extra clue of how it relates to Hoid's power got me interested enough to dig deeper. The Realmatic Effects of Aluminum After hitting this dead end, the next step towards understanding what this illusive weapon is came in finding what other things in the Cosmere seem to share properties with Aluminum. After thinking about it for awhile, I began thinking about Allomantic Aluminum. Despite it's inert properties, it is somehow able to provide a magical, investiture related effect. Digging a little bit deeper, I remembered this WoB: Thinking this kind of sounded familiar I remembered this scene in Oathbringer: I was just as stumped as Venli was until making the connection that Timbre also happened to be a Spren existentially linked to metal, it being the essence linked to Venli's assumed order. Both Timbre and Aluminum seem to be able to, as Brandon described the latter's effects "[clense] the spirit of unwanted effects of other Investitures". Seeing as how the only thing aluminum and Timbre share in common is this whole idea of metallic properties, I began thinking about what other phenomenon in the Cosmere relate to metals, and naturally I shifted my focus on Scadrial. The Link To Godmetal With all these new ideas and connections in my head I began thinking about how metals may be used in the defeat of a Shard-level being and immediately things started making sense. In the Mistborn series, there has been a clear theme in what is being used to combat Shards/Spiritual beings on that planet: Godmetals. While regular metals, tied to the magic, investiture, and essence of the planet, can be used to blind Shards; this seemingly Scadrial specific effect is nothing compared to a power that transcends the Metallic Arts and the resident Shardworld, Godmetals. As seen when Sazed encounters Trellium, they can directly act as a weapon against a Shard-level being, a property necessary for any weapon that has a chance at defeating Adonalsium, but there is an even more interesting example that I believe ties this whole thing together. Something I never really thought of was how peculiar it was that Ruin had no ability to sense or interact with Atium directly, something seemingly made out of his own power. It was completely dark to him, the plot of the whole third book even revolves around how he needs it to defeat Preservation. Haven't we also seen this effect of an un-sensable metal elsewhere... Conclusion Looking at all these connections, it seems so natural and obvious. The exact kind of long term, hail mary twist Brandon likes to pull on us. I believe that pre-shattering, Aluminum was Adonalsium's godmetal. A piece of his essence that he couldn't find, touch, or manipulate from the spiritual realm but had power within the physical one, a power that could be stolen and manipulated against a being that encompassed all of reality as was the case for Ati. For gods sake, the title of the series where all this is taking place even alludes to a metal with magical properties. The fact that Adonalsium is now dead and shattered could explain why this hypothetical godmetal has become inert and lost its magical properties. Afterthoughts So this is as good an educated guess as I can make on this topic. I probably left a few loose ends lying around in the theory but I'm writing this one a bit more fast and loose than i typically do due to its nature as a pretty speculative crackpot so feel free to press me on those. I'm interested in what you all have to say, if you have any ideas drop a comment. Have a good day y'all!
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  4. Are you suffering from: - Small lacerations on the fingertips (sometimes known as papercuts) - Neck pain (as if whiplash from frequent plot twists) - Back pain (from carrying around books that are entirely too big) - Red eyes (but definitely not from crying) If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, you may have a disease called Sandersitis. There is no cure known at this time, but frequent infusions of extracanonical information can alleviate the pain. Side effects may include sore ears, headaches, loss of sleep, loss of friends, or worsening of any of the earlier listed symptoms. Ask your doctor if Arcanum is right for you.
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  5. Marne called the Synod to order. The experience was unreal for him. Today, their scheduled monthly meeting was to be held, yet in the chaos of the hunt for Spiked, none of the agenda seemed relevant. Budgets, news of the surrounding world, minutes of their last meeting together—none of that mattered anymore. The Synod’s finances were immaterial if they were unable to survive the onslaught of the Spiked. The only news that mattered of the surrounding world was how close the Lord Ruler was to knowing that Tathingdwen was the last outpost of Feruchemy. And the last meeting’s concerns were a trifle compared to the crisis each Synod member now faced. The Synod, at least, had recognised that the current situation merited strong leadership, and had striven to act accordingly. Marne, however, realised something else. He had lost control of the Terris, and the Synod could no longer check the rising tide of suspicion. The Synod’s credibility had shattered, if not when the news of the Spiked reached their ears and they had failed to act, then instead when Valwyn had been killed and revealed to have a Pewter spike embedded within him, a typical Synod aristocrat—and a Spiked servant of the Lord Ruler. However, whatever control the Synod had ever held over the Terrismen was slipping, and essentially gone. The Terris had not heeded Marne when he had called for a nonviolent response to the Spiked. The Terris had not heeded the Synod when they executed one of its members, despite the protests of those who knew him. And the Terris had not even heeded Olaf, who commanded their respect for wilfully rejecting the Lord Ruler, when he too had stood up for the condemned. So it was that Marne stood at the head of a toppling aristocracy, Olaf at his side, with the man pensive as ever. Robbed of its effective power, the Synod, its numbers greatly diminished by the attacks of Spiked and innocent alike, sat in a half-circle around him, waiting patiently. Marne rose to speak. “My friends, I believe the first order of business that we have to attend to is not the typical item on our monthly agenda, yet with the recent turmoil, it has become the only concern of this body for quite a while. With the Spiked having infiltrated our very congregation, the Synod has held emergency meetings, stirred up the Terris populace, and attempted to judge the accused, in an effort to contain and resolve this situation. I admire everyone who sits on this council for their dedication to this task for the past week.” Taking a deep breath, Marne continued. “However, given that the Spiked pose such a serious threat, and since the Synod is so integral in resolving any and all threats the Terris face, I believe it is wise to assess how well we are controlling this...situation. And I must say, I believe we have lost all control.” A subdued mutter ran throughout the room. Marne pressed onward. “I do not mean that we have lost all our power. However, we do not exercise the degree of control over the Terris that we normally hold. Neither my efforts nor those of Olaf have stopped the bloodshed, despite our high positions, and at this point, they are unlikely to. Therefore, I see only two things that can be done. “The first is to allow these killings to continue. I dislike this greatly. All you know my distaste of violence to decide arguments. However, the Terris will kill regardless of my stance on the current trials. All that remains for us is to pick battles that are more winnable, and to serve as seasoned voices in the proceedings. Our influence in that manner may be of greater help. “The second is also against my liking, but was suggested by Olaf. Would you like to explain it to the Synod, Olaf?” Marne asked. The thin man nodded, rising from his seat and facing the congregation. “I’ve leveraged some connections as the leader of House Ffnord, and it turns out one of the spies assigned to this city in my network knows an assassin, a deadly Coinshot. His services are expensive, and I do not think our wallets could withstand more than one use of his...talents, but should we as the Synod decide that someone merits removal, we have a means with which to do so.” He sat back down, impassive as ever, and the whispers of the Synod drifted up to Marne, conveying a mixture of distaste and excitement. Marne fought down an urge to weep. Here was a group of men he had known his whole life. Now some were dead, some were Spiked, and the others, including him, were resorting to coins in the dark and mob rule to preserve their institution. Hardly what he had envisioned when he took the oath as the leader of the Synod, five years previously. Hurriedly dismissing the meeting, Marne turned away from the Synod as the tears trickled down his face, and the trials outside the meeting-house of the Synod commenced. --- HanTor had never told his fellow Spiked that he was not, in fact, a Ferring. Nor was he a human. The Lord Ruler had wanted someone who could be trusted to obey his commands unflinchingly, and as his personal Kandra was away on a separate mission, HanTor had been assigned to the job. As a Fifth Generation Kandra, HanTor had spent most of his life in the Homeland, but his skills at crafting a body were not diminished by his inexperience with the outside world. He was more practiced with his True Body of quartzite perhaps, but he adapted quickly, if not happily, to the more fragile bones of humans. As the protégé of his Second Generation tutors, he had learned a lot about the Terris people and their traditions, enough to fool even his companions so long as he kept quiet. The most pressing problem had been gaining Feruchemical powers, for no Kandra possessed those abilities and he would rather avoid faking it, even with the Blessing of Potency granting him some of the strength and stamina of a Pewter ferring could gain. HanTor had therefore been smuggled into Tathingdwen a night early, searching for an isolated Ferring whose life he could steal. HanTor could not disobey the First Contract, even on a personal mission for the Father, so he had been forced to rely on an infiltrator who had been in place long before the Spiked had arrived. He never saw his contact’s face, even as he stood and watched while they tortured an isolated Sparker’s deepest secrets out of him. HanTor hoped never again to see a human pierced with so much metal that they resembled nothing so much as a pincushion. A simple pair of spikes was all well and good, and an exception could be made for the brass spike that had now been inserted into his shoulder, but metal was meant to go on the inside of a body, not protrude from the flesh. HanTor shuddered as his contact limped away with a sack of spikes and discarded bones thrown over one shoulder. He hoped the rest of his team would be more sensible and less … violent. HanTor found that he regretted Valwyn’s death. There were the obvious reasons of course; his death meant their infiltration of the Synod had been exposed, there was one fewer member standing between HanTor being forced to choose between his mission and the First Contract’s prohibition of killing humans, they would have to move out of the caverns that reminded him of the Homeland, and HanTor would be forced to speak up more despite not being confident in his ability to properly imitate a man he’d only known for an hour. Yet beyond all these practical reasons, what HanTor found he missed most about the deceased Spiked was the loss of a man who had treated him as an equal. He knew that this was only because he was disguised as a human, but he found himself resenting the Terris people who had killed Valwyn. Cleansing Tathingdwen of Ferrings was no longer merely a mission to him. Alongside his remaining companions, he would avenge the death of the first human to ever respect him as an individual. The next day, HanTor formally began his campaign of vengeance. The Sparker whose bones he wore had been a recluse, which limited HanTor’s ability to publicly act. Nevertheless, he worked to fill the void left by Valwyn’s death, quietly suggesting to the townspeople which Ferring should die next, contributing more to the secret conferences his fellow spiked held. For most of the day, his new plan of action was successful. The Synod, splintered by the loss of two of its members, one of them a traitor, did nothing to prevent the chaos spreading through the village. Accusations were being tossed every which way, and it appeared no-one could come to an agreement. Then, everything went wrong when Citona suddenly declared herself to be a member of the Synod and announced her intention to kill HanTor. Where before anarchy had reigned, the villagers were suddenly all too eager to obey the dictates of an authority that had been found to be corrupt just the previous night. As the angry villagers converged on HanTor, he tapped his Zincminds, draining every drop of power he had amassed during his stint as a Ferring. Instantly, his mental processing sped up, beyond even what he imagined a Blessing of Presence would do for him. In the few seconds remaining before he could be consumed by the mob, he crafted a last, desperate speech. “My friends!” he cried out. “I am not your enemy. I-.” His words were cut off as an irate Ferring smashed a chair into his head. The impact caused no harm, but it served as a signal to the rest of the group. Quartzite would have been able to resist the trampling of feet and the crushing blows of furniture and garden implements, but human bones were not nearly as sturdy. The initial attacker leaned over HanTor’s broken body. “You realize of course that you don’t have any friends. You never have, and now, you never will.” When Marne came out later to view the carnage, he found HanTor still alive, but immobile from having his entire skeleton fractured. HanTor tried to cry out to the Synod leader, but his shattered jaw rendered the sound as an unintelligible moan. Marne seemed to understand, though. He rummaged through HanTor’s pulped organs, finally managing to pull out the three spikes that granted him life, sapience, and power. Marne began the walk back to the Synod with the artefacts, leaving HanTor’s corpse lying in the field. Kidpen was lynched! He was a Spiked Zinc Ferring (Sparker)!! Vote Count: Kidpen (4) randuir (2) Cadmium Compounder (1) Worldhopper from Yolen (1) phattemer (1) Sart (1) Night 3 has begun! It will end in 24 hours, on Monday the 20th of August, at 9 PM EDT. Please note something—I’ve been occupied, and have had little time to post rules questions in-thread, but if you successfully double-fill your metalmind, please send in a fill order at the beginning of the Day or Night turn immediately following your double-fill, to confirm that you wish to fill your metalmind. Player List: 1. Rathmaskal as Laksam, an ash sweeper from the Eastern streets 2. Xinoehp512 as Ereheman Tresni, a man with his priorities backwards 3. Steeldancer as Steel, the fastest sculpture of a squid wrought entirely in steel in all of Tathingdwen 4. Randuir as Zihel, a worldhopper looking for his twin brother 5. I think I am here as Itiah VI, a missionary on a mission Village Steel Ferring 6. Bort as Tee Mai, a tailor specialising in offensive clothing 7. Cadmium Compounder as Ethin Hallil, a cadmium Feruchemist and SCUBA diver 8. _Stick_ as Stick, President of the Tathingdwen Tautological Society of Tautology 9. Jondesu as Remart, a man back from vacation armed with vaguely ominous statements 10. Kidpen as HanTor, a lonely Kandra that’s definitely not Spiked, nope Spiked Zinc Ferring 11. Elandera as Era, an old woman who claims to have been alive before the reign of the Lord Ruler Village Pewter Ferring 12. Snipexe as Snip, a fabric cutter in the local quilt shop Village Iron Ferring 13. Worldhopper from Yolen as Tarin, a Sparker with a wonderful, awful idea 14. Alvron as Izzy Dedyet, who is not dead, feels happy, and thinks she'll go for a walk Village Full Feruchemist 15. Phatterner as Citona Vinid, a seemingly faithful follower of the Lord Ruler 16. Ark1002 as Kardik, a Full Feruchemist 17. Araris Valerian as Valwyn, an honest rug merchant Spiked Pewter Ferring; Rug Merchant 18. Coop772 as Irion, a Full Feruchemist with hidden potential Village Copper Ferring 19. Sart, a stuttering Nameless
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  6. Hi, I'm Wyndlerunner. I used to lie awake nights, contemplating the mysteries of the Cosmere, I got no sleep, so I was too tired to read during the day. Then, I discovered Arcanum. It helped me alleviate my insatiable curiosity, and helped me get my life back together. I would recommend Arcanum to anyone suffering from Sandersitis. (If you are currently using Arcanum and have not improved, ask your book vendor about our extra strength treatment: Arcanum Unbounded)
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  8. Hello everyone, and welcome to the SECOND COSMERE CHARACTER ROAST BATTLE TOURNAMENT! When I first started the tournament, I didn't think that I was going to get enough people to start anything, and I was so happy when I got the first 16 to sign up! Quick shoutout to everyone from Tournament One, thank you all so much for helping me to make this happen! And of course, a competition is only as good as how long it lasts. Everyone in Tournament Two, I am so glad that you all signed up– you guys have chosen amazing characters, and I am so excited to see what's going to happen! Our amazing group for this round includes (spoilered for length)... Thanks again, everyone! Now... to kick off Tournament Two, here is our first group of competitors! @Herowannabe, with STICK! @AC12, with PATTERN! @Rhapsody, with SYL! @EdgedanceroftheDawn, with SHALLAN! LET THE SECOND COSMERE CHARACTER ROAST BATTLE TOURNAMENT COMMENCE!
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  9. *Takes out spikes* *Realizes where he is* *Hastily hides spikes away again* "Nothing to see here, just Sudiov going about his normal business, waiting for an answer"
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  10. RUIN: *slaps Marsh* "This bad boy can fit so many spikes in him" MARSH: "I'm not going to tell you again, Ati. Stop slapping me." RUIN: "Not a chance." *slaps Marsh again* MARSH: "I hate you." RUIN: "Your lips say 'I hate you,' but your eyes say--" MARSH: "I'm going to Splinter you in your sleep?" RUIN: "Well, I was going to say 'nothing because you don't have them anymore,' but that works, too."
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  11. I firmly believe that I exist, therefore I am a stick!
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  12. My question has to do with how the use of stormlight is supposed to restore the physical aspect of the Radient back to the way their spiritual aspect views itself. I have this weird thing where I don't really remember what people look like until I see them again (it's not face blindness), and it applies to me as well. When I'm not looking in the mirror, I have a lot of trouble remembering what I look like when I'm not staring at myself in the mirror. As a result, my mental image of myself is like a larger version of the way I looked when I was a child. So, if I or someone like me formed a nahel bond and gained the ability to draw in stormlight to heal, do you think they would be restored to their mental image of themselves rather than how they look physically? Does such a strong mental imprint count as being part of the spiritual aspect of a person? What if the Radient had never looked into a mirror or suitably reflective surface; would their spiritual aspect of themselves be closer to the way they see themselves or the way they're actually put together?
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  13. “Arachnerd,” the young woman replied. An Epic, Riley thought. “I’m… just trying to find some coffee, honestly.” Riley realized that she did seem like she was in need of a caffeine boost. She paused for a moment, thinking. “How, exactly, did you do that stuff to those police officers, Riley?” What?! Riley couldn’t keep the shock from showing on his face. How… how did she know that? She was an Epic, but if she had been spying on him, all the way in Sherwood Park, it raised some frightening questions. Who else was watching him? He never was truly safe, even when the feds hadn’t found him. The implications… he didn’t want to think about it. Arachnerd was still talking. “I mean, do you conserve thermal radiation, or just shoot ice and fire from your hands? If you conserve, can you pull it from anything, or just living tissues? Does it go through you, or just move from target to target?” Riley stared at her for a moment. Really living up to the “nerd” in Arachnerd, there. Should he tell her? However, if he didn’t, how long would it take her to figure it out? “I conserve,” he began. “That’s simple enough. But…” He trailed off, plotting. “If you want specifics, you’ll need to tell me a bit about your powers, which I assume are spider related.” Sparks, he was smooth. He could pat himself on the back for that later.
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  14. The Lord Ruler: To show YOU the power of flex tape, I slapped Kelsier's face in half! *car salesman slaps human body* This bad boy can fit so many spikes in it.
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  15. So... you guys remember this? Well, I have a new entry... ~~~ Them: So I started reading Mistborn... Me: *squeals* *screams* *screeches* *hugs them* Them: *gasping for air* Can’t... breathe... Me: It’s amazing, isn’t it? Them: (grudgingly) It’s pretty good... but you are NOT allowed to say “I told you so.” (I said it anyway.) ~~~ BONUS CONTENT where I troll them (Mistborn Era 1 Spoilers): ~~~ After MONTHS of desperately trying, I finally did it guys... Moral of the story? You know you’re a Sanderfan when the first thing you do is post all of this on the Shard.
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  16. On Roshar, the people believe seeing the future is evil. The few instances we've seen of foresight are associated with Odium. At a recent signing, Brandon said this: I find the bolded part where he trails off to be amazingly fascinating. Given the rest of the conversation, I propose that seeing the future is dangerous because of the following possibilities: 1. It draws the attention of the Shard (or its agents as explained below) that is powering the foresight. 2. It is heavily influenced by the intent or motives of the Shard that's powering it. 3. It's an ability granted by the Shard on purpose in order to manipulate events toward a future that the Shard (or its agents) desires. 4. It aligns you to the intent or motives of the Shard. This can be short-term (see atium below) or long-term. Repeated uses may cause a more lasting efect. 5. There's also the always-present conundrum of trying to change the future after you've seen it. Without context, you have no idea if changing your actions will cause that future or if not changing your actions will cause that future. The true answer could be any of the above, none of the above, or some combination of the options I've given. In order to evaluate possibilities, I've discussed the instances we've seen of people seeing the future, either as a summary, or as specific text, or links. Atium: We know how atium fuels Allomancy. It lets you see a few moments into the future. It also increases your mental and physical capabilities in order to take advantage of that knowledge. Sazed speculates in one of the HoA epigraphs that This appears to correlate to possibility 4--That seeing the future via atium temporarily aligned a person toward Ruin, the essence of entropy toward destruction. It might also explain why, after using atium as a metal mind and burning it for so long, TLR had such Ruinous impulses--mass slaughters, willingness to let the nobility destroy each other, etc, etc. After a thousand years of compounding atium, it's likely that he was very Connected to Ruin. It might also tie into possibility 3, assuming the possibility of Ruin wanting Rashek to become such a despot that he's overthrown just as the Well is about to fill, opening the way for Vin to take and release the power. Endowment: Endowment appears to be able to see some of the future, and sometimes her Splinters, the Returned, can pick up on this as well. We see this in Warbreaker, when Lightsong has his dreams and visions of T'Telir burning. She appears to send her Returned back in order to do a specific task (or set of tasks) based on what she sees, giving rise to possibility 3. Endowment apparently wanted the Hallandren and Idrians to persist, and sent back some of her Returned to help prevent the coming destruction. She probably has multiple contingency plans for if one of them dies before his or her task is accomplished. Wyrn: In the Elantris Annotations Brandon says: And Given that the Seons are Splinters of Devotion, (Love) and the Skaze are Splinters of Dominion, it seems like the Skaze are manipulating Wyrn in order to achieve their goals (Goals hinted at in the new epilogue in the 10th Anniversary Edition of Elantris) , tying back to possibility 3. Devotion and Dominion are both splintered, but the Skaze may retain enough of Dominion's intent to want to have complete dominion over the world (or maybe re-assemble Dominion?). And we come to the Stormlight Archive! We have more examples of foresight in SA than we have in any other book. There are three primary examples of it: Moelach: On the bridge between life and death, Moelach grants visions of the future, that the person utters in a cryptic and strange way, a phenomenon coined as Death Rattle. We don't really understand much about how this works, but the Death Rattles have been startlingly accurate, if incredibly obscure, so far. However. Moelach is a Splinter of Odium (along with the other Unmade). The Death Rattles we've seen so far all seem to be related either to the conflict between Odium and most of Roshar, or related to the people that are in that struggle. I have no absolute proof of this, but it's not a wild assumption (imo) to think that Odium, via Moelach, is using the Death Rattles to affect people's behavior. I realize this is putting conclusion before evidence, but I feel that it's a credible conclusion. Moelach is one of the mindless Unmade, as far as we know, so he's unlikely to have motives of his own. As a Splinter of Odium, Odium must have created him for a reason. We know Odium has a pretty good grasp of possible futures. Creating an Unmade to give people glimpses of the future (in a rather morbid way) to get them serving his purposes isn't beyond the realm of possibility. Renarin: We know very little about how Renarin's abilities work, and what types of things he can see, or how they will affect events. We know that his spren, Glys, is a Truthwatcher spren corrupted by Sja-Anat, another Splinter of Odium, and that Glys is likely what grants Renarin the ability to see the future. Renarin has seen Jasnah killing him. This would end him as a Radiant and as a Kholin. I confess, I am unsure what purpose his death would serve in Odium's cause. However, Renarin also saw Dalinar turning into Odium's champion. This would obviously be quite a desirable outcome for Odium. Given that Renarin has done a few things in order to try and warn about or prevent the things he sees, did he, consciously, or subconsciously, take actions that helped to bring that set of events into reality? We don't know yet what effects this might have, so I'm unsure which of the above categories this could fit into. The Diagram: Taravangian believes that he wrong the Diagram out of pure human capability and insight, rather than foresight. However, according to this WoB: As we know, in the Spiritual Realm, all times and places are essentially one. Seeing into the future in all other instances has been seeing into the Spiritual Realm. If Taravangian was closer to the Spiritual Realm than the Cognitive Realm, then he's likely incorporating at least some parts of what he sees in the Spiritual Realm into the Diagram. What we've seen him do so far has seemed to align him toward Odium's desires and motives. However, he was granted this ability by Cultivation, who is at odds with Odium. There was a lively discussion in this thread about the Diagram being a plant (pun intended) put in place by Cultivation. That T's actions, although they seem at odds with Dalinar+co, actually are meant to help them; and that T himself is unaware of this. As you can tell, I subscribe to this theory myself. This would fit in with possibilities 2, 3 and 4 above. Cultivation seems very crafty and careful, playing the long game with Dalinar, with Lift, and probably with T. And finally, we have Hoid. He has an ability to know where he needs to be at any given time. We don't really know most of his motives, so there's no way to determine what "where he needs to be" means, exactly. We're also very unsure as to how he knows to be in those places. We do know he uses something similar to Chromium Feruchemy in order to tap Fortune, but possibly isn't Feruchemy itself. We don't know what Shard he draws on, what intent that Shard might have, or if it's even a Shard at all. If someone can manage to tap directly into the Spiritual Realm without intervention from a Shard, it seems like Hoid would be the one. I'm also sure he's self-aware enough to know when/if he's being manipulated by whatever power he's using. So in short, I have no conclusions to draw about Hoid's abilities, other than a reiteration of his own speech to Shallan: There's always the risk, in seeing the future, of bringing about the exact consequence you want to prevent. That might be the simple answer to this entire question. Won't my face be red if it is! So, there is my long winded theory about the dangers of seeing the future. Please feel free to add to it or rip it to pieces, and thanks for reading!
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  17. It's officially off to the printer. Start saving up; you've got 3 or 4 months to scrounge up $100 for it (plus shipping). Who else is planning on buying it? I know I will be. I'm hoping they put The Traveler in as a bonus scene, like the extra Elantris scene for the tenth anniversary. And the Hemalurgy table will be neat to have - we've been waiting on that for a while, and if it's anything like the previous Metallic Art tables, we should learn a lot.
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  19. Hello! I've been trying to write something like a book for a while now, I've had all the ideas in my head but I can never quite get them on the page. This marks my first attempt at actually trying to construct a prologue for what will hopefully be a book (I've only ever done short-stories before), so that's exciting! I guess. I'd appreciate feedback, prologues/chapters and the like are new to me. When I was writing this, though, I kept getting the nagging feeling like I was writing a ripoff Reckoners book, since it's meant to be a superhero story. But I guess everyone's first book is a ripoff of someone, right? So, yeah, the prologue (sorry for rambling). This isn't actually from the POV of the main character, and its meant to be set 20 years before the events of the story. In it, stuff happens. So, yeah, here we go! I've included the prologue itself in a spoiler tag below, and beneath that I've got a Google Doc link in case any of you want to give feedback that way. Otherwise, any sort of comment in this thread would be greatly valued by me. Thanks! Prologue: Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PA0GG3PG99bRQ8o5Zgcrhb8RTyXJEPU3KOOmawMcUz0/edit?usp=sharing
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  20. From the album: What Happened In Oregon

    I’ve been listening to The Best of Times (explicit) by Sage Francis and it made me think of past!Kokichi. so take a broken ‘kichi

    © SH is BS, this Kokichi is mine

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  21. So, I’m a sucker for misattributed quotes so here’s a few Edmonton ones.
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  22. Well, I just happened to stumble on a panel to submit ideas for Dublin, so I told them our ideas and they wrote them down. Still not guaranteed we'll get in, but hopefully it will help.
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  23. Relevant thread to the current discussion. More on the specifics of what Shai accomplished, and not Fanghur's question.
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  24. *playing happy clips of jubilant axehound pups and windrunners soaring in the sunlight* Other side affects may include, but are not limited to: obsessive WoB hunting, moderate to severe procrastination, eye strain, excessive theorizing, acute balderdash syndrome, reckonersisntcosmerepleasestopaskingorillfeedyoutothekandraism, stress and/or anxiety, Capitalization syndrome, whatisingavilarssphereitisntobviousbrandonplease disorder, and in severe cases, death. Consult your doctor if you are using 17th shard or Coppermind while using Arcanum. This may result in extreme loss of motivation and increased procrastination, which can be fatal. 17th Shard cannot be held responsible for any abuse of Arcanum, or its affliated sites.
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  25. I don't think we have 100% of the picture, but there is speculation that the Aimians are keeping people away from an Unmade trapped there. Hessi's Mythica speculates that Dai-Gonarthis* may have been involved with (or the cause of) the scouring of Aimia. Given that Akinah has given a nickname of "The Void's Playground" (per Kala's interlude), there may be some truth to that. As to "those who could pull secrets from your soul," my wager is on Sja-anat being capable of this. She is called the Taker of Secrets, after all, but we curiously have not been explicitly told why she is called that. * Hessi also seems hesitant about the existence of Dai-Gonarthis, but in that one question ("Is it truly Dai-Gonarthis?") I got the impression that she doesn't want to believe whatever her sources had to say about Dai-Gonarthis. I also feel that Hessi is a little scared of Dai-Gonarthis's rumored abilities as well. Given the hint from the Way of Kings Death Rattle ("...Let me no longer hurt! Let me no longer weep!..."), and the possibility that Dai-Gonarthis is one of the sapient Unmade, I'd be a little scared too.
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  26. You know you're a Sanderfan when Arcanum is right for you.
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  27. Arclo comes. I’m pretty sure he counts as more than 16.
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  28. I know, right? Funny story, I actually put everything into a team randomizer, but everything actually turned out pretty storming awesome this tournament.
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  29. Bro i read the Silmarrilion. And in order for a Balrog to be even close to the size of a Chasmfiend, it would have to grow at least 10 times larger. Whips and Swords of fire are effective weapons, but the can’t make up for the raw size difference. And just because a Balrog killed an Elven Craftsman doesn’t mean it can compare to the juggernaut that is a Chasmfiend. And not to mention that there are many Chasmfiend. damnation you massively overvalue Wizards. We have literally never seen any impressive feat of magic from any of them. The fact that Gandalf carries a sword is testament to his skill as a Wizard. No wizard worth their salt needs a sword. And Gandalf did die with that Balrog, he was resurrected. And let’s not forget this was a Wizard aided by one of the rings. Even with one of the rings of power, he still fell against a simple Balrog Sure Malkor is crazy strong, but Odium has proven himself to be able to efficiently murder gods. He killed Devotion and Dominion at the same time. If any thing could destroy Melkor, It’s Odium and Ruin. And I’ll concede the point that Elantrians don’t match up to wizards, but there are many of them, and few Wizards. The wizards would be easily overrun.
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  30. You know your a Sanderfan when you do this to your children -
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  31. Hello =) first of all: thumbs up for writing the prologue and for having the courage to post it here. Yes it reminded me of the Reckoners, but well, every superhero story somehow reminds me of the Reckoners. But I also got the feeling, that you're approach isn't the same, and that you can move your story in a direction that won't feel like Reckoners 2.0. But after reading the prologue I simply don't know enough of the setting to really judge that. But if you want to bounce a few ideas back and forth just contact me. I added my feedback to the text itself in red, see the spoiler box below. I hope you can understand it, and that it isn't too much and that it helps you. When I give something to my beta I ask her/ him to simply comment everything, and that's what I did here. Because even if I don't agree, I always value their opinion. If you have any questions please ask.
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  32. "THIS.IS.ROSHAR!!!!!" - Dalinar
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  33. Totally get the spoiler trolling thing. When @Box Turtle was reading WoR for the first time this summer, she was expressing her desire to shank Sadeas to me. I said "yeah, you kinda just want to stab him through the eye, right?" and had no idea that I had spoiled Sadeas' death for her.
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  34. @Rand al’Thorres And a piece of general advice: Don't try to understand each word. Just continue reading. As long as you get the sense behind a sentence it's fine, because you understand the book. And don't give up. It gets easier with every single page you read. When I started reading in english I kept something to write next to book and if an unknown word appeared often then I wrote it down to look it up later. I was a good way for me, because I could continue to read and and learn new words.
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  35. Alcatraz. Definitely Alcatraz. If I could understand Alcatraz when I was six (though I was pretty smart for a six year old), even someone who isn't very good at english should be able to.
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  36. First of all, I’m 90% sure you will love Alcatraz because it is amazing. But to help with your question I’m thinking Rithmatist might be the best out of the ones you mentioned. But I would also second @Quantus‘s opinion about Reckoners.
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  37. Reckoners. From a pure language standpoint, one of the defining traits of the Young Adult sub-genre is the use of simpler language (on the general logic that younger readers will still be developing their vocabulary). So by that logic Id start with his YA stuff, which unfortunately does not include any Cosmere as far as I know. However, the Reckoners trilogy is one of the more enjoyable things Ive read recently (Superheroes destroy society!). Unless you just generally superpowers or post-apocalyptic settings, it's not going to be too simplistic despite being Young Adult.
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  38. I think you highlight here how much he HAS progressed. I'll explain why when I'm at my computer later. But the most important thing for Kal to do is to get better at celebrating despite his Depression (which he did), try to work out a solution for the Windrunner ideals vs his surgeon ideals (which he attempts more than ever and makes headway), and realise that it is ok for him to fail, sometimes it can't be helped and it's not his fault and others (like Dalinar) can share the responsibility to save. And that is the Ideal he is currently teetering on. i think he progressed a lot, people just seem to expect book characters to have a clear, forward and never relapsing journey. Which is absolutely not how life works,and his refusal to depict that is where Brandon shines, above many lauded "literary classic"'writers
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  39. This forum was empty, this made me sad. Rutabega. Name says it all. If you could have a Smedry talent, what would it be and why? Be sure it's funny! I'll post mine when I think of it!
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  41. ooh, I'm thinking of posting a list on the OP of the characters and their theme. If you'd like to be removed from the list (or change theme songs), just tell me with an @ or a PM!
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  42. @shatteredsmooth if you do want to go, we have some resources to help you plan. for @kais, @Robinski, and @Silk, I've been talking with the other WX alumni here at WorldCon and there's some others who do in-person critiques. One of them was interested in a panel as well. I told him to submit to the form online, and maybe we can set up sister panels with critiquing online vs. in person.
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  43. Brandon's said he doesn't want to touch on a true "afterlife" in the sense of heaven or hell, because he wants to leave that up to the readers. And also, because if he confirmed an afterlife or a true God, that would invalidate some of his characters' beliefs, like Jasnah being an atheist. So while I'm sure that LDS scripture has an influence on his writing, he's not going to dabble much in those waters in his writing.
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  44. Steris. Found her really boring in AoL (who didn't) and I loved her by the start of BoM. Marsh. I never really liked him, even while reading the books, but after Ive thought about him as a character he's become one of my favorites. I reread the prologue to HoA and dang, it's soooo good. Renarin and Jasnah. Until OB, they were just kinda there. I won't go into specifics, but I am much more intrigued by the both of them now.
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  45. Another theory on the Dawnshards: I think they must use Odiums power, since they were used by humans when he was their god. Maybe Odium is invested in the Dawnshards, so he is trapped in Roshar as long as the Dawnshards are kept from him?
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  46. Boredom time. Elantris Mistborn Era 1 Mistborn Era 2 SA
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  47. At the bookstore: Step 1: Find fantasy book. Step 2: Close book in disgust Step 3: Exit bookstore. Step 4: Lower expectations from "Brandon Sanderson" to average. Step 5: Enter Bookstore.
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  48. Well sure it came out in October. If you're using the calendar that was invented by a conspiracy between the Vatican and the Illuminati!
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