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Lift: KotC RP2 Climax (ARGUMENT CREDIT TO @Firerust!)

From the Sanderson Memes page, made by me and moved here for convenience as they ARE Alleyverse:

Hey, I'm a new member. Willshaper Wallar. Name is from Madman Wallar from Bloodborne. I made an account because I've been dying to ask this question. So, we were told that there's going to be a book dedicated to each order of the Knights Radiant, right? Kaladin/Windrunners, Shallan/Lightweavers, Dalinar/Bondsmiths, Szeth/Skybreakers, etc. Well, we know that Ash, Patron of Lightweavers, will have a book focused on her viewpoints and whatnot. That just seems a little weird, since that means there will be two books focused on Lightweavers. What are your thoughts?

When you start telling the story of the Girl who looked up to your little brothers and sisters as a bedtime story.

When you come on to Shard after your weekly 25 hours off, see 29 notifications and wonder if something traumatic happened in the Alleyverse.

I am an envisager. Watch me use this contraption to manifest Radiant Abilities.

I haven't listened to these all yet, but Dusts, you're good. How music people do what they do will continually shock me. You wearing a tie for some reason shocked me just as much. I know, I have strange priorities. But what I've heard so far is seriously good, Firerust.

So. Over the past three years, with a little break in the middle, this website (read: this RP) has been a haven for me, a place where I know I can come to for a collection of amazing people and amazing writers, with little to none of the crem that fills up the internet. In a few days, I'm going to be applying for college. Okay I gotta stop it right there, that's like way to formal for this joint. Long story short, I'm applying for college soon. DigiPen, top tier college for anything gaming. Going in for a Bachelor of Arts in Game Design (fancy pants for making storming good games). If any of y'all can look over what I've got for my essay that would be sparking awesome. https://docs.google.com/document/d/19SgU7CE9EDAUrtbBOvLEOcl_S_NXPne7eTdMCKqON3I/edit?usp=sharing T'anks!

Illustration of one off Kelsier's (off-screen) planning sessions in Secret History. Alas, the scene never existed was deleted in the final version of the book.

You know you are a Sanderfan when you hear some loud music thumping in the other room and immediately wonder what parshendi rhythm it is.

MB E1 E2 Edgedancer

Sorry but we do know this for sure- Brandon has said that anything relating to Earth is non-cosmere, which led to this very famous meme... Ruin has been around for a long time in the form of Decay who was part of The Aether of Night

You at least noticed the same things I noticed, so there's that. I expect Trell and Nalt are both Bavadin. And the Trell from the Alloy of Law era is potentially another version of Trell, but still Bavadin. (But I sometimes don a crown of tinfoil and decide everyone's Bavadin... so maybe take my Bavadin identifications with a grain of salt?) IT'S BAVADIN ALL THE WAY DOWN.

I think you meant this...

The common theory right now is that Ash will become a Dustbringer (or Releaser). Also, welcome to the Shard!

Yeah, he's pretty impressive. And him wearing a tie, that's pretty normal where @Firerust is concerned

Kinda broke that goal with that first part

Well played everyone! @MetaTerminal, it seems we should have gone with your hunch instead of mine for who the witness was after all. I like the ideas being presented here for adding to the game, in particular the 'false trail' and the vote for which card to pick ones. Edit: @Kidpen, yeah, I seem to be evil a lot these last couple of games, but before that I had a 7+ game streak of being village. i guess I'll just have to go sacrifice some animal crackers to the gods of luck and chance to stop them from messing with stuff like this.

My name is John Smith, and I'm now just a ghost, Cursed forever to walk with investicon's host Until I unravel the next vicious crime I'll constantly RP in ear-grating rhyme

Not sure if there can be a best, but if I were to choose, it would be after the Hugo Awards, where Moshe actually spent about 40 minutes circulating the ballroom trying to help me find Brandon so I can give the latter something before I left for home. We never did find Brandon because apparently he immediately headed over to the parties right after the ceremony and was nowhere to be found. But Moshe introduced me to people like Brandon's agent Joshua Blines, saw Scott Edelman approach Moshe to chat and was basically struck dumb because of course previously his name was something I would only see on the front of a book cover (then Moshe tells me of his friendship with Scott), see Lois's representative approach Moshe and ask him who she should ask about the logistics of getting Lois's Hugo back to her, see how delighted Nora Jemisin look when Moshe congratulated her on her Hugo (I was able to chime in immediately after him to offer my own congratulations and she remembered me from earlier in the day). Nora's speech was also awesome. I think I did the human version of a pop tart in a malfunctioning toaster and gave her like three standing ovations throughout the course of her speech. I also chatted with someone Moshe introduced me to, who told me that she copy edited the paperback version of Warbreaker as a favor. Other highlights: 1. Had tea with Sharon Shinn Saturday morning of the con for 90 minutes. Complained to her that I couldn't bring her any books to sign because Brandon's books took up all the real estate in my bag. She expressed interest in reading something of his. 2. Listen to George R. R. Martin and posse talk about Wild Cards 3. Warfare panel. Asked question about whether the placebo effect has been documented to cure wounds of varying severity. Brandon chimed in to say that he has done research on the placebo effect because he was interested and he found an interesting tidbit: a placebo works even when the person is aware about the placebo effect. 4. Listen to reading by Brandon of an excerpt of Skyward. Also interesting reading of a short story by Marie Brennan. I was however quite befuddled by Martha Well's reading because it was a short excerpt from a complicated long-running series. 5. Saw Brandon do a speed mode signing. Found out that I am not the only one who loves Gattaca because when I mentioned Gattaca, 4 people chimed in saying that they love the movie too. Decided there and then I need a bigger circle of friends. 6. Listen to Brandon moderate panel full of famous authors. Robin Hobb was MIA for some reason. 7. Second Brandon signing. Interacted with him for between 10 minutes to 12 minutes because I had to keep going back to the line to get various stuff signed. I decided to get one book set aside for Sharon Shinn, got him to personalize it to her, mentioned that I couldn't bring her any of her books to sign because of his books. Unbeknownst to me, he wrote a cheeky personalization for her which I only saw after I got home. Shared it with Sharon Shinn and we both found it quite funny: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/356-worldcon-76/ 8. 2-hour workshop with Nora Jemisin on Sunday. Made a mention about Tolkien elves and asked question about Handmaid's Tale, which she answered. During break in workshop, reminded her of this when someone else couldn't stop gushing about The Fifth Season. Nora said she couldn't remember because it was years ago. After workshop, went and got The Inheritance Trilogy signed by Nora. Showed her the tweets she said she forgot and also showed her this: Basically wanted her to know that not everyone on Reddit/Twitter is against her. Apparently she got hazed for saying something about epic fantasy that people decided to take the wrong way. She looked tired, having had a parent die on her in the past year and all, I offered her my condolences and told her that the platitude that time heals all wounds isn't true so I won't say that to her, but that I hoped she it would get better with time, even though it is unlikely. Expressed my hope that she will win Hugo for best novel for a third year in a row. 9. Got A Game of Thrones and game card gruffly signed by George R. R. Martin. Asked him if he would sign the card right after signing the book or if I should rejoin the line; he thought about it for a full second, then sighed and then changed to a marker to quickly sign the card. Saved me time in line so I didn't care. 10. Got The Last Unicorn signed by "Sir" Peter Beagle. Told him I was going to be at his panel later on. He said he didn't know when or what it was. I told him it was about killing characters. He turned to someone next to him and expressed bafflement about inclusion to said panel because he isn't known for killing his characters. Honestly, someone like Martin would have been a better panelist for a topic like that. 11. Went to Paths to Publishing panel. Wesley Chu was hilarious. Left 20 minutes early to get to Judaism and Roots of Science Fiction panel. Managed to find seat at front and then also managed to ask a question about where popular Jewish fiction fits into the whole canvas of Jewish literature. 12. Met Moshe, got him to sign my books, he regaled me and another lady with stories and we had a discussion about all sorts of things, from idolatry, to a concept of Alien as God, a small mention of Mistborn and Stormlight (Shattering being inspired by the Kabbalah) etc. I asked if he was meeting Brandon later, but he said no, and I was like I wanted to give Brandon some stuff before I leave, and he told me I could try after Hugo. I told him this was my first con, don't know if there will be security separating nominees from fans, and he tells me to name drop him to get past security if any security was indeed present. I think I blanked out for a second there and told him I wouldn't have the temerity to do that in a million years because who on earth would believe me? 13. Managed to get to end of Urban Fantasy panel and gave Sharon Shinn the personalized Brandon book 14. Listened to fascinating killing characters panel starring Sir Beagle. Everyone hung onto his every word. After the panel, I went up to him and asked him if he figured out why he was on the panel after all. He said it made more sense because the panel was more about death than anything else. Followed him out of room until he said he had to use bathroom. 15. With nothing to do until Hugo, randomly walked around. Spotted Sir Beagle heading to the hotel and basically stalked him while trying to be as uncreepy and unobvious as possible. When he got to the hotel lobby I entered through a different way so I could pretend to have accidentally run into him. He told me a story about him basically acting as the personal chauffeur for the German translator of The Last Unicorn. Basically floated on a cloud of sheer happiness from hotel lobby to the Hugo line. Then this happens on the first day of class after Worldcon:

Okay cool Hope you get into that school!

Yup, that can definitely happen. It's the intention to die for her that restores Maya, and then she wakes up, takes her Physical form perched on his shoulder and starts speaking, waving vines and all, and gives him the shock of his life. "Now get up and stop that nonsense about not being worthy, for you're worthy enough to me. You want to be sure, say these Words..." Now my imagination is running away with me... oh the fun of imagining scenarios for a book that hasn't yet been written... we can write and rewrite them a thousand times before anything actually happens!

Ioc reappeared in space, tapping Cadmium for breath, and floated towards the ruined spaceship that orbited whatever planet they were on. ======= Ioc reached the spaceship, breathing softly, and started pushing itself around the exterior, looking for an opening. ‘What are we doing?’ asked Prefrontal Cortex. ‘Looking through a damaged spaceship,’ said Amygdala flatly. ‘Now playing Dunkirk’s ‘The Oil,’ said Hippocampus. The song ran through Ioc’s head, automatically looping once it finished. Ioc found a hatchway and touched it, then used the Surge of Adhesion to connect it’s hand and the door. Then, it tapped Pewter, inflating with muscle. Ioc used the Surge of Adhesion once more, to press it’s other large hand and both feet against the doorframe (hatchwayframe?). Then, Ioc pulled, and ripped off the opening. It had already been damaged sufficiently, so it wasn’t that hard, but it did use up the rest of Ioc’s Pewter. ‘You know,’ said Association Cortex, ‘We really gotta save more of that up,’ ‘I don’t like going around at half strength,’ said Subconscious. ‘Now, hush,’ The inside was already an airless, gravity-less vacuum, so Ioc just pushed itself inside, floating along in the middle of the ‘foyer’. The entire ship was mainly one room, except for one locked door that Ioc could see. Floating in the middle of the room was a man, about 5’8”, wearing breathing devices and a large helmet. Somehow, despite the lack of air, speaking in the walls of the spacecraft successfully transmitted, what Ioc inferred to be, the floating man’s mutterings through the area. “Gone… All gone…” Ioc frowned. “Excuse me?” it said before it realized that sound wouldn’t carry through the void. It did, however, and the man paused in his mutterings. “Who’s there?” he asked through the speakers. “John Johnson,” said Ioc immediately. The man jerked in the void. “John? You survived?” ‘Dangit,’ said Amygdala. “No,” Ioc said. “I’m a different John Johnson,” “Really?” the man asked. “You sound just like him…” “What is this spacecraft called” Ioc asked, for the sake of conversation. “The ‘Noble Flight’, from the planet Berzengia,” the man replied, his voice sounding stronger than the mutterings before. “Berzengia? I’ve never heard of it,” Ioc said, frowning deeper. “Do you know where we are?” “No, where are we?” the man asked. “Oh, I was asking you. I don’t actually know what planet we’re on. I think we’re either in the Alleyverse, the Cosmere, or some version of the planet Earth,” The man groaned. “Of course this ship brings me somewhere I haven’t heard of before. The Alleyverse? And that’s a planet? Why is it called a ‘verse’, then?” “You know,” Ioc said, the frown being replaced by a smile, “I don’t know. I suspect the Alleyverse is more than a planet, but I don’t actually know,” “Huh,” the man said. “Anyway, what did you mean when you said ‘of course the ship brought you here,’” Ioc asked, imitating the man’s gruff voice when quoting him. The other man fell silent. “You know, you don’t have to make fun of my voice like that. All the kids used to as well. I’m twenty five years old,” Ioc laughed. “Really? I thought you were, like, sixty!” The man sighed. “Anyway, this ship is powered by a different kind of motor than most,” “Well, I dunno about most ships. I only saw one fabrial ship, and that one blew up after ten seconds,” “Fabrial…?” “Devices powered by some god person’s breath that gemstones happen to absorb. Anyway, continue,” “Okay,” the man said, “This ship is powered by something called an Infinite Improbability Drive, and essentially, it makes the ship do and go weird places,” Ioc whistled. “You really failed at that grammar. Also, AWESOME!!!” “I don’t know why I’m explaining this to you,” the man said with a sigh. “I’m not usually very talkative. It’s probably the IID affecting me. It’s still on, the ship's just not moving right now. Weird stuff happens around them,” Everything turned into a light shade of beige. “Huh,” the man said. “I’ve never seen beige before,” “I must be affecting it,” Ioc said. “So, how would I go about getting one of these IIDs?” “Well,” the man said through the speakers, “I’d give you mine, I hate the things, but I need it to go home. Maybe you could come with? I don’t know why I’m offering this, i’m usually a very shy person,” Ioc thought. “I have a better idea,” it said, then pushed forward to the man. “What?” the man said. “What idea?” “This.” Ioc said, the put a hand on either side of the large helmet, infusing each side with stormlight, and Lashed both sides inward with the Surge of Gravitation. Then, there was a sick onomatopoeia sound and a floating mess that looked a little like an imploded head, because that’s what it was. The floating man was silent, maily because he no longer had a functioning brain. “Now,” Ioc said aloud, because it was still in ConversationMode(™) “How do I drive this?” It turned to the locked door, then pulled out a Firebringer’s Lens, and turned the door into a goop. Beyond the door was a large motor-shaped thing that looked perfectly normal…. except it was made of the same material as a cloud. Then, it turned into a mass of bubbles, still in the same general shape. Then, a swarm of stagnant butterflies. ‘Ah ha,’ said Subconscious, because Ioc was no longer in ConversationMode(™). ‘Jackpot,’ The entire spaceship proceeded to turn inside out. ‘Wow,’ said Thalamus, ‘That’s a great view,’ It was a great view, because with the ship inside out Ioc had a clear view of the planet they orbited. Suddenly, there was a foreseeable spontaneous tug on the ship, sending it unpredictably on it’s strange path towards the planet, yanked inward by a gravitational pull that should have been unrelevant this far out. Each star brightened then dimmed, each one resolving into a smiley face. The inside-out ship did a loop-de-doop while following it’s counter-orbital inward round towards the planet. ‘Wow,’ said Steve, ‘Wesa gonna die, huh?’ All of the partyoners whent craz-craz with ishkadiddlyotenbotenbobaditendatewatentateninnish laughter. An incendiary grenade from Ioc’s purse went off, blowing a hole in spacetime itself due to a coincidentally-placed frayed segment of reality, creating a cross between a black hole and a wormhole, a phenomena that pulls things into itself only to find that that thing was pulled into another galaxy, universe, or dimension. Somehow, however, this danger had no effect on the ship, though it did start pulling some of the smiley faces closer it. Then it was gone, replaced by a politician who looked as though they had been smashed by a potato. This politician tried to cry out, but couldn’t, since this was space and nobody can do that. The planet Ioc was hurtling towards suddenly looked a lot less curvey, then it started to curve the opposite way, towards them instead of away from them. It a second, the slow-moving process jumped, like a snipped out part of a film, and suddenly the inside-out ship was surrounded by the surface of the planet. Ioc thought it could see the Waystop down below. Then, from the surface, the mouth of a huge Ghanderflaffle emerges and the ship flew staigh into it’s maw. The last words Ioc heard were ‘Cookie…… Join the DA…..’ then a different voice saying ‘Cookie….. Join TUBA…….’ and Ioc wondered why they both sounded so dfferent than each other if they both just sold cookies. And everything faded to black. Except for the image of a giant singing Millipede named Cooper, though why it was knamed this or how Ioc knew its kname knobody knew. It was colored beige, with little swirlies imprinted on it’s fish-like scales. Ioc then knew that it had to get out of there, so Ioc flashed beige. The only thing that happened, however, was that suddenly it’s view was inverted. Ioc’s gravity was the same, but however Ioc positioned it’s head, the oncoming light twisted 180 degrees. The ship flew through the upside-down millipede's belly botton, which Ioc found very educational, as it didn’t know milipede’s had belly buttons, and Ioc screamed because an impulse told it tooooo. Then Ioc saw itself from a bird’s eyes view, though inverted. Then, Ioc saw a bird from a worm’s eyes view, through inverted, then Ioc saw an invertation through the eyes of a worm being eaten by a bird, then everything backwards. Then Ioc woke up. It groaned, hitting it’s head on a random steel pole, making a sharp ‘clang’ noise. Ioc then realised something was blocking it’s throat. Ioc coughed it up, then jumped backwards as the ship, which had been lying in miniform in Ioc’s mouth, expanded in size until it was resting on the grassy floor, all polished and pristine. The effect of being close to something as it quickly enlarges in size is that it hits you in the face, though it didn’t hit Ioc because Ioc was to busy trying to quell the voices in it’s head. They had yet to recover, so they were laughing and rolling around on a tilting floor not unlike the grassy one that Ioc was on. Ioc then realized that it should ask why it was on a grassy floor, and why a steel pole whaas positioned above its head when it woke up, then Ioc realized that it should shut up and examine the ship. It seemed to be in good condition, as in, it was all shiny, so Ioc climbed inside. Io had expected the man it had killed to be alive now, because that would be incredibly improbable, but the man still floated in the air with a squished head. Ioc realized that it’s thinking that that should happen meant the possibility that it could happpen was tooo low. Ioc realized that it’s thinking that that should happen meant the possibility that it could happpen was tooo low. Ioc realized that it’s thinking that that should happen meant the possibility that it could happpen was tooo low. Ioc also realized that, although gravity had re-established itself with everything else on the ship, including Ioc and the ship itself, as well as everything in sight (the steel pole outside the ship was supported by the ground as it bent downwards), the dead man still floated in the middle of the ship. That would make it hard to clean out. Upon further inspection, Ioc realized that not only was the dead man floating in the middle of the ship, he was stuck there, imprinted in the exact coordinates of space inside the ship, to remain there forever. That would make it even harder to clean up. Well, Ioc had work to do, so it set to work, though it was sometimes annoying to be blocked from moving by a tiny splat of blood hanging in the air. Ioc eventually located the locked door, opened it (the door was locked, but it hung open slightly) and walked in, seeing the motor in it’s ‘off’ state and metallic. Ioc sighed in relief. Ioc walked towards the cockpit, locked the controls over, grabbed a steering wheel, and yanked upwards. Nothing happened. ‘Well,’ Subconscious said, ‘We’ll have to figure this out more before we get out of here,’ ‘It’s alright, man!’ said Rudolf Ivanovich in a fake french accent, ‘Have a drink and drink drink drink your worries away!' ‘You’re not drunk,’ said Subconscious, frowning. ‘Nope, but I’ma bout to be!’ Rudolf cried. ‘Hear hear!!!’ Ioc decided it needed some sleep. But it was kind of hard to sleep while Dunkirk's 'The Oil' was running in it's head.

What became of the listeners that fled? Where could they have gone? It can’t have bee long before both storms hit their party; if they were still somewhere on the shattered plains they’d likely have been slaughtered. I think they will prove to be the key that helps Dinar negotiate with the pardhnen. Yasna suggested two stratagems for the war; kill the heralds to lock the fused back on damnation, or kill all parshmen to remove their hosts. Otherwise, Odium can replace any surgebindsers he loses every storm. The alternative is to turn the parshmmen against Odium and remove his willing hosts.

That makes me quite proud indeed. Here are a few moar songs: "First Encounter", for when Vin and Elend meet for the first time, and subsequently just the theme for the two of them and their relationship in general. Take note of its similarity to "First Waltz". And next up, of course, "Sazed". I hope this theme fits him. And last but most certainly not least, "Zane". Vin And Elend First Meet.m4a Sazed.m4a Meet Zane.m4a

I swear to never reveal information about TUBA that is secret. I swear to never spike any baked item And I swear allegiance to this Guild, TUBA

We should establish a formal, tautological definition of tautology because we should have a definition of tautology which is tautological and formal. Someone make that into a Ketek.

Best numbers

This thread is longer now

@Tal In the Skybreaker result it says "They have great powers of discernation." Should probably fix that to "They have great powers of discernment." at some point. Edit: I got Skybreaker as well

Sheep Biter

Okay so I saw a few of the Explain a Film Plot badly things earlier and thought they were funny, so I decided to do them for the cosmere books. I think some of them are funny, so I decided to share them. Hopefully it'll at least get a few laughs. If anyone has any more or any different ones, please post them. Spoilers for the cosmere, obviously. I'll label each one just in case though. The Final Empire: Well of Ascension: Hero of Ages: Alloy of Law: Shadows of Self: Bands of Morning: Warbreaker: Elantris: I couldn't think of any for Stormlight, hopefully someone else can [EDIT by Moderator: This topic originally was solely cosmere but has moved beyond that, so I moved this to Entertainment Discussion.]

I think this illustrates just how bad Kal needs a playmate. For those of you with a more unconventional bent, hows about Kaladin x Adolin?

Reckoners is not Cosmere The rithmatist is not Cosmere legion is not Cosmere Skyward will not be Cosmere

Hah I first have to work on not complaining; after that I will try for the more optimistic outlook. Baby steps...

I'd like to think that "Tears of Edgtea" would take you to at least the 3rd Heightening...

Will you hate me if I read that spoiler box, Ink? Also, I am SO SORRY for Cade. And if he dies Ieiea will hate it. When you see 'Valley of Kings' and think 'Way of Kings'. When you hear 'aliens' and think 'Aimians'. When you hear about Egyptian statues having faces chipped off, and your first thought is of Ash.

Gr@|\|+3d. ¥0~r vv!$|-| !$ c0rr~|o+3d, @|\|d $0 |$ ¥0~r 8@|\|3. 7|-|3 |\|!G|-|+vv@+c|-|3r vv@^3$ |-|3r |-|@|\|d, @|\|d +|-|3 vv0r1d d!$@|o|o3@r$ !|\|+0 @ |\/|3$$ 0|= |\/|3@|\|!|\|G13$$ d!G!+$, 13++3r$, @|\|d $¥|\/|801$. (Granted, Your wish is corrupted, and so is your bane. The Nighwatcher waves her hand, and the world disappears into a mess of meaningless digits, letters, and symbols.) This cracks me up. Definitely laughterspren-worthy. - - - - - I wish for the ability to safely fly any kite as if it were a hang glider.

When you get a notification of "so-and-so is now following you" You wonder why anyone thinks your that interesting... And the you look at your profile and realize it's like... 30 someones... Wait what?

Did the first one then got on a roll, regrettably. And spoilered for spoilers (mostly SA).

So if you had an empty hot chocolate mug that you have used to have hot chocolate at least 20 times a day, and stamped said mug to be full of hot chocolate at the moment, (believable since the mug remembers being filled with hot chocolate a lot, and it is likely that you would fill it then anyway.) Would the mug be full of hot chocolate? And if you drank the hot chocolate before the stamp fades, does the mug refill itself? And when the stamp is rejected, would that mean the mug is clean again? So what you would have, is a mug that can produce unlimited hot chocolate, and then become as clean as it was before the hot chocolate. Then mass produce the stamps and sell them, pulling all hot chocolate businesses out of business and becoming the sole monopoly of infinite hot chocolate.

These are incredible! My friend, your musical skills continue to be jaw dropping, and an inspiration

ODIUM: *slaps Honor* "This bad boy can-- *Honor splinters* ODIUM: "Heh. Nice."

Well Im still hoping for Kaladin-Shallan-Adolin threesome scene told trough Syl, Pattern and a reawakend Maya.

In a book where Adolin spent half his time being either absent from the narrative or poorly used as a comical relief, the Maya sub arc came in as a breath of fresh air. I have re-read the Maya sequence at least three times, back to back, without stopping for the other viewpoints and it read really nicely. I have a lot of critics for this book, but the Maya arc is not one of those. What does Maya mean? What does it mean for Adolin to be able to hear her whisper, brush his mind even is faintly? I am not an expert on realmatic magic. Many, many people on this forum are vastly more knowledgeable than I am on the subject, but it seems to me the only, only way humans can interact with sprens is through the Nahel Bond. The Nahel Bond starts before the first oath and it rather weak, in the beginning, the sprens are not being very articulate, surgebinding is limited and the human is often left with impressions more than actual words. We had many, many examples of proto-knights early in their bonds and each time they spoke of shapes in the mirror, light on a surface or a wind spren always trailing them. Maya, of course, is not the same, but something happened in between her and Adolin which is allowing her to connect with him, to touch him on her own free-will. When Adolin is lying motionless in his pile of rumble, too injured to move, Maya is brushing his mind: she isn't articulating words, it is likely she can't, but Adolin did feel she was urging him to... get up. So even without being in her physical form, Maya is able to sense the danger to Adolin, she is able to know he's hurt and she is trying to get him to move before he gets crushed. She knows. As such, I honestly do not know what else but a Nahel Bond could accomplished what Maya and Adolin did together. Only a Nahel Bond could allow a spren to make her thoughts heard to a human: the sword bond does not allow this capacity. Only other proto-knights are able to hear dead-Blade screaming and it never is coherent. Adolin is the very first yielder of a dead-Blade able to hear something coherent from his spren, more so, this spren has taken direct actions to preserve Adolin. There is no doubt Maya has gotten very protective of Adolin. Obviously, it seems the trip to Shadesmar is what quick start the process. I cannot answer why, but it seems having Maya see Adolin with her own scratched eyes, seeing him behave for weeks, having him state she was his friend and perhaps caring for Kaladin, all of this, it may be what got Maya enough conscience to think maybe she can reached again. She did save Adolin when the Fused attacked him. Many things might have triggered her reaction but it seems to me seeing Adolin bleed and about to die is what triggered Maya to act. She does not want Adolin to die. The bond is weak, weaker than what we have seen into previous early knights: Adolin cannot surgebinde, he cannot use stormlight, he cannot heal himself, but it is a bond and as such, the only way I see it progress is towards a stronger bond. I thus do not believe in any of the following theories: 1) Adolin will revive Maya, but she will vanish to bond someone else. Someone explain to me how this is even possible considering what we know of the Nahel Bond. Dead-sprens can only be revived by the Nahel Bond, what Adolin has with Maya is a weak Nahel Bond, he is goes further, then he will fully bond Maya. There is no scenario, in my head this is, where Maya becomes alive again and free to seek someone else to bond. The one scenario I can see is Adolin not progressing and his bond with Maya remaining... weak but that too seems improbable. 2) Adolin will revive Maya, but their relationship will not be the Nahel Bond, he will not be her knight. Someone explain to me how this works too. The only way sprens are able to influence the physical realm is through the Nahel Bond: the second Maya is able to influence it implies a Nahel Bond. 3) Adolin is not broken, but Maya is and, as such, he will fill in her cracks... OK. This one is far-fetched because this isn't how the Nahel Bod works at all. The sprens need to invest into human mental cracks to get the ability to influence and interact within the physical realm. The only way sprens can move with a conscience into the physical realm is with the Nahel Bond. Adolin is not a spren, he cannot invade Maya's brokenness to give her conscience: humans do not have this capacity. Maya can only reach the physical realm by filling in Adolin's mental cracks, cracks she probably couldn't see nor invade, nor influence until she actually met him, for real. One thing which stood up during the Shadesmar trip is Maya studying Adolin, being close, looking at him, investigating him. 4) Adolin will bond another spren and well who cares what happens to Maya... Adolin is already bonded! By all the knowledge we have of the Nahel Bond and of realmatic magic, Adolin IS bonded to Maya, but the bond is weaker than the ones other knights are because Maya was dead. It is obvious to me she is no longer dead, broken, weak, but not dead. She talked to him. She gave him her name, she remembered her own name. I will also invite a great lot of caution into anyone wanting to place-hold Adolin or any other characters into orders we have yet to be acquainted with. Need I remember everyone of what most readers all thought the Dustbringers were about before we met Malata and got to learn they were about breaking things open to see what is inside? As thus, we have NO IDEA what the Stonewards are looking for and just because Adolin stands up to a thunderclast does not mean he would be a good Stonewards, especially since he's already bonded to Maya. He saved the boy. He saved the Shardbearer (I forgot his weird name). He never forgot the people around him and killing other Alethi wasn't right, not to him. Of course, Adolin having a Nahel Bond with Maya raises all sorts of questions... The first is many readers do not read him as "broken". Arguably, I have to agree he does not read as "broken", but so does Lopen. Some people just aren't going to allow their hardships to affect their outside behavior which isn't to say they don't have them. Adolin has been through a lot, other people have summarized it quite nicely. He does mention, in his viewpoints, on how shaken the Tower left him, how insignificant he felt as he was dying in Shadesmar: those moments of powerlessness did affect him, but he forces his nerves to calm down. He doesn't fractured like Shallan or depresses like Kaladin or bow down like Dalinar, he stands up bloody and tries to fight what he can. However just because Renarin healed the worst of his injuries does not mean Adolin is not bearing the scars from these events. This being said, going further in book 4, I do think this is one of the aspects of story telling Brandon should not gloss over. Many readers are firmly set against Adolin becoming a Radiant, even if it will probably take time before he can access surgebinding (probably not until the third oath), and as such Brandon should use the page time it needs to convince those readers this is the best path for the character.

Pff, limited imagination, i can already see Maya swinging her Adolinblade at fused and voidspren in Shadesmar.