Nethseäar

Indeed! Thank you for your responses! Not dissociating, therefore not DID; closer to PTSD and avoidant anxiety, plus magic. That confirms what I was thinking, and I feel good defending it. Potential very slight spoilers for Mistborn: The Final Empire Still very curious whether anyone read Shallan and thought she had DID, and what that might entail for treatment of people with DID. (Even if Sanderson makes it clear this isn't DID, the perception that it is might still exist).

A friend of mine is a therapist, and was frustrated that Shallan's multiple-personalities-thing misrepresented the experience and problems that real-world people with Dissociative Identity Disorder have. I never thought of Shallan as actually having DID, but, rather, as having a weird fantasy disorder that was maybe vaguely reminiscent of DID. However, since he pointed it out, I can imagine people thinking that Shallan's experiences were representative of people's experience with DID (minus the illusions), and I suppose that does a disservice to people with DID in that it spreads misinformation about the disorder. Sanderson is generally on-point about accurately representing neuroatypical people (Renarin being on the autism spectrum, and Kaladin having depression disorder, for instance), and I was surprised to hear allegations of misrepresentation. So: Did you think that Shallan had Dissociative Identity Disorder when you were reading? and, are there any professionals who care to weigh in on similarities and differences to DID in Shallan's portrayal? EDIT: Added poll.

I met a devout atheist who loved Mistborn, but decided they would never read another Sanderson book after the end of Era 1, because of (Mistborn: Hero of Ages spoilers) I recommended that they give The Way of Kings a try, because I thought they'd appreciate Jasnah, but I haven't met them again since (We worked in different departments of a seasonal job which ended not too long afterward), so I don't know whether they did. Otherwise, the most commonly cited reason for disliking Sanderson's writing that people give me in person is that his writing isn't poetic. Those people point to sentence-level issues that they have. In most cases (I discover after hours of discussion), it's just that they prefer stained-glass prose, but I do occasionally agree that Sanderson's sentence-level writing is less refined. More so in his older works, though -- his prose has been improving every book. Lastly, I encounter some people in person who stop reading Sanderson's books because they are too violent or sexually explicit for them (the former usually with Mistborn, usually The Well of Ascension; the latter usually with Warbreaker). Online, it's all over the place, as has been mentioned. Most frustrating are people who make false assumptions and stop reading because of them. For example: (potential Way of Kings spoilers)

I only recently realized that the Splintercast is a thing that exists, and have immensely enjoyed burning through every episode as quickly as possible. It's like re-reading my favorite books with a friend, in much less time and without the difficulty of finding someone willing to read a book with me. Plus, your tangents about language (as an amateur conlang-er, I particularly enjoyed those), Renarin, RP-ing, Renarin, Steris, etc., and Renarin are fantastic. You point out aspects of Sanderson's worldbuilding and storytelling which I missed or didn't appreciate nearly as much as I ought to, and HuzzaH for that! Having found the no-more-Splintercast announcement alarming, it's a huge relief to read that there may yet be further Splintercasts, even if not an Oathbringer 'cast. Congratulations on becoming a beta reader! and many, many thanks for doing all this work so we can experience the Cosmere with you!

There's a funny sort of mismatch going on with the names for Taldain's hemispheres. First there is the weirdness of having a concept of day on a tidally locked planet. There is no time-based difference in the presence of the sun. There is no such thing as sunset or sunrise (except by travel), no change in sunlight except when the moon passes overhead. How can there be day when there is no night? Yet they call the brighter side 'Dayside'. Sanderson is typically very conscious of these things (with minor exceptions, such as the moon reference in Mistborn, when Scadrial has no moon), so I am surprised to see 'day' appear so prominently. But let's say we give that a miss -- maybe it wasn't always tidally locked, maybe there's something in the prose version that explains it, maybe 'day' is their word for light -- If they've got a concept of day, it follows that they should have a concept of night. So why isn't the other hemisphere called 'Nightside'? I can see why Dayside isn't 'Lightside' -- because Star Wars -- but then a Dayside/Nightside dichotomy seems in order, pending justification for the concepts existing. I suppose it comes down to what sounds better (Dayside/Darkside alliteration) and 'these are being translated into English, and Dayside works just fine for us.'

Glad to see this thread necro'd -- I considered posting on it way back, but for whatever reason didn't. Me, too! Expanding on this, for non-LDS persons: In the LDS church, we believe that our ultimate goal -- the reason for this mortal existence -- is to become like God. ("Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect." - 3 Nephi 12:48, similar to Matthew 5:48) Leaving out far too much (seriously, this all makes much more sense in context), we believe that: We needed bodies, experience, and the opportunity to choose in order to become like God. But once we had bodies, even one wrong action would prevent us from becoming like God, due to Justice. God knew we would all make at least one wrong action. So, we needed Christ, who was specially prepared to never do anything wrong, to perform an infinite Atonement (suffer for all injustice) to let us become like God. But in order to access the power of the Atonement, we have to agree to Christ's terms, which are designed to give us the necessary experience to become like God, and eventually to justly control power equal to God's power. Here's what ties into Surgebinding: Summary of how it relates: Syl is like the Holy Ghost, Oaths are like covenants, Stormlight is like the power of the Atonement, and Surgebinding is like the Priesthood.

Does Ruin's Hemalurgic Communication have a range? (We don't have evidence either way, I believe). Or maybe they have to keep 'radio silence' to avoid attracting the attention of other Shards?

Very good point, and one that I tend to gloss over. The powers will be less unique/exclusive with advancing tech -- and with medallions the powers themselves should become pretty commonplace. But I am confident this will only push Sanderson to show us even more unorthodox and awesome uses for the established powers, and I can't wait to see what kinds of tech-assisted combos can be pulled off. Plus I'm very interested in seeing the kind of society widespread use of the Metallic Arts will form. The worldbuilding itself will hold plenty of interest for me. Good to have discussed the subject with you! Times are, indeed, a-changin'. In all kinds of exciting ways, even if some of those diminish aspects of the magics.

1. Indeed, Sanderson has mentioned the fact in his Alloy of Law annotations, chapter 8. (Last paragraph of the first section). I hadn't noticed the tie instead of a cravat, though. Good eye. While those details are off, and there's the weirdness of Wax having steampunk-ish goggles, I'm satisfied the AoL cover is otherwise excellent. As we know from the original Alcatraz covers, that isn't always the case. Sanderson has mostly had excellent cover art, which is immensely pleasing.

Another round of upvotes for Lovecraft! As has been said, I do think we'll see some abominations in the Cognitive Realm. Maybe even some eldritch abominations, if we're (un)lucky. Seems consistent with what we've seen of the Cognitive Realm -- though, for the sake of discussion, the observed geometry (some average of all perceptions/expectations, I suppose) becomes the actual geometry. It may change according to perception/expectation, but it does exist as a mutually 'tangible' and observable certainty in between shifts. Indeed, that's what I was thinking with the first of the possibilities. Flat surface, which would require some distortion, and all the worlds are basically islands in a sea of walkable space. And I guess you just can't world-wrap from Alethkar to Shinovar in the Cognitive Realm. You have to go the long way. (So it would be advantageous to shift to the physical realm for faster travel). Or, we know that Intent plays a big role in the Cosmere -- what if you naturally world-wrap (i.e. are on a sphere), unless you Intend to leave the planet, in which case the Cognitive Realm shifts you to the 'Space Plane,' which then deposits you on another sphere. To people already on the sphere, you fade in or appear there in the middle of an ocean (walkable land). That fits in with Alfa's theory that the geometry shifts to meet your expectations, and with the non-Euclidean geometry proposal -- geometry that depends on your Intent. So there's a subset of #4. I'll also note that #2 in the original post could just as easily be the outside of a sphere. And, for that matter, the inside or outside of any regular or odd 3-d shape, although no one (that is, Kelsier, Shallan, or Jasnah) has noted extreme departures from the geometry of the Physical Realm, other than the inversion of water and land.

Knowing that you can walk from planet to planet in the Cognitive Realm has me wondering: What is the Cognitive Realm shaped like? In order to walk from world to world, the way I understand it, it has to be one of the following: 1) Flat; one continuous plane 2) On the inside of a vast, vast sphere 3) Very complex, possibly like alveoli in a lung, with certain parts of the worlds of the Physical Realm not represented or distorted to fit. 4) Non-Euclidean, involving impossible geometries Interesting to think about. It'll be fun to have a map of the Cognitive Realm that connects all the worlds -- seems rife for interesting territorial conflict, since it's all connected. You've got Shades from Threnody, dangerous Spren, ambitious Ire, and who knows what else, all in strange environments of mist and glass beads and obsidian. I can't wait to see more.

Per necromancy in the Cosmere, I'd have thought Lifeless, from Warbreaker, were the obvious go-to. They're dead bodies reanimated with magic to do your bidding. Returned, also from Warbreaker, are the next most obvious, though that's closer to resurrection with amnesia -- there isn't overt control going on, though there is plenty of manipulation. So, Endowment is the Shard of necromancy, it would seem. Bloodsealing is the next closest, and Shades also fit with necromancy. You might also see IMNSHO, "In my not so humble opinion." And any number of other variations, which, I suppose, might be useful if you're using a mobile device, once you know what they mean. An interesting theory I've seen is that Hoid grabbed the Cognitive manifestation of some guy who had recently died and used some form of magic to keep him from moving on just yet -- similar to the so-called Investijuice the Ire used to sustain themselves in the Cognitive Realm. If I recall correctly, we see him give a golden liquid to Spanky, which he also puts on the oar. Presumably this keeps them in the Cognitive realm. I suppose that's a form of manipulation of the dead -- keeping their Cognitive aspect around to be used as a boat. And Kelsier gives us plenty of manipulation BY the dead.

My first time through, I felt like it was a bit slower. Second time, I loved every aspect of the book, and really appreciated the exploration of consequence and maintaining/developing relationships. Great book, and it remains my brother's favorite Sanderson book, probably for the ending. (He hasn't read Stormlight, though)

Hemalurgic spikes open fissures in the soul, which leaves it vulnerable to influence by emotional Allomancy. Allomantic Copper closes the user's mind to emotional Allomancy. Aluminum-lined hats also protect against emotional Allomancy. Can Allomantic Copper and/or aluminum-lined hats protect an Inquisitor from control through emotional Allomancy? Or maybe each spike needs to be lined with aluminum foil? We've never seen this tried or brought up in the books, so who knows. Seems reasonable, though. If either does protect from emotional Allomancy, can it also protect from control by Ruin? Possible questions for Brandon. Meanwhile, what do you think? As an aside, I wonder if the angle of attack has any effect on emotional Allomancy -- if someone has an aluminum-lined hat, can you still affect their emotions if they're directly above you (say, on a different floor. Or even suspended in the air, if having the floor between you changes anything)?

Thanks for the term! I like it, and will henceforth put it to use. Indeed, those aspects of Hemalurgy are vast and full of possible awesomeness and/or weirdness. Because of Hemalurgy, you can 'uplift' any animal to intelligence. You can have Mistborn Llamas! So, basically, Hemalurgy is the door to Cosmere furries. Infinite abominations can be made, crossing Chasmfiends and Kandra, having wolves that grant Sixth of the Dusk abilities, not to mention every standard Fantasy creature from flying monkeys to centaurs to sphynxes -- on top of everything else, Hemalurgy enables a lot of fun roleplaying/fanfic scenarios, and I imagine we'll get much more interesting, creative uses in coming Cosmere stories. EDIT: And I've not got any more upvotes today. Tomorrow. Need to get better at managing that limited resource. =-P