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  1. I'm hurt and confused. And I'm not sure how to feel, and I love it for that. Shadows of Self is completely different than its preceding book. It is different from even the Mistborn trilogy. There are themes of the stagnation of political systems, religious tension, the ethics and morals of what line God should, could, might have on interfering with the lives of his creations. After finishing off the book, I genuinely had no idea what to think about Harmony, Trell's puppeteering, Bleeder's campaign, or the state of Elendel. Something that annoyed me about Era 2's books off the bat was the noble system. There's no state sponsored murder or rape, and the nobles are more like businessmen. But it still felt like nothing changed over the last 340 years. I kept thinking... wow, this is what Kelsier died for?! This is what Vin and Elend fought to protect?! I started off hating everyone - Harmony, the Senate, constables, Wax, even Spook - for not erasing the noble system. But while reading the book I kept thinking about Sazed's limitations due to wielding the Shard of Harmony, his stance on free will, his subtle maneuvering of Wax and Marasi... and kept thinking about real life. I came to the realization that being in the role of God comes with a lot of nuance on guiding mortals. I connected the stagnation of Elendel back to the history of the US... how even though centuries has passed, many abhorrent systems are masked by seemingly more human systems. Governments are still being controlled by nobles and aristocrats, just in a different flavor. Policing has so many issues it could take 1000 years to solve. Even after finishing the book, I still think the noble system should've been completely erased. But now I'm thinking if that would've fundamentally changed things. The US doesn't have monarchs, nobles, slave plantations, or aristocrats. But corporations, billionaires, politicians, and the upper class get away with a lot, they find ways to obtain power and avoid accountability. Would Harmony be right if he gave the divine mandate of "I DECREE NO NOBLES FOR ALL OF TIME!" At that point is free will a choice? I started off blaming Harmony for not making a democratic world with no nobles. Ended off having… weird feelings about him. Like... MeLann brings up a great point about the kandra impersonating witnesses to testify against people. If Harmony allowed that, that could be a dangerous precedent. But then there's Bleeder. Bleeder is easily my favorite antagonist in the series. She's incredibly competent, her body horror is gruesome horrific, and her climax is depressingly tragic. May she rest in the Beyond. Poor Wax. This is the thing that has me feeling weird about Harmony. This hurts cuz of Sazed. storm Sazed. storm Sazed. I knew Harmony would’ve become a Chessmaster, but not like this. Sazed isn’t supposed to manipulate people. Sazed isn’t supposed to cause trauma to people But Sazed is, unfortunately, the Hero of Ages. Harmony seems to be foreseeing a great disaster caused by Trell. I’m pretty sure he’s trying to thread towards a future possibility that will save Scadrial from this disaster. He must think about the future of the entire world. It hurts that he moved Wax this way, but would there really have been any difference if he left Wax completely alone? The Set - puppets of a Shard of Adonalsium - would've subtly caused turmoil on Elendel. What if he told Wax he was hunting Lessie? TenSoon said it himself. Harmony saw the future, saw that Wax wouldn't go through with it. Bleeder - another puppet of a Shard - would've succeeded in her goals. Sure he could've maneuvered someone else, but it opens a new can of worms! I love the hints of Trell being a far scarier antagonist than it appears. I love the advancements and possibilities of Hemalurgy Trell is responsible for. Shadows of Self does a far better job than The Hero of Ages presenting gray morality in the motives and plans of gods. It also does a far better job at presenting a smart and clever antagonistic deity. I think with the conflict between Ruin and Preservation, Sanderson wrote many things that made Ruin appear too much like "the bad guy." He can say Preservation has a dark side, but we never saw it. The one reprehensible thing Preservation could've been completely responsible for - the Deepness **killing** people - ended up being the result of his frayed mind. He could've been solely responsible for the Deepness covering the Sun and killing plants, but that ended up being caused by Ruin. Ruin spoke with too much malice and joy of killing all life and destroying everything. Apart from his attributes being fundamental aspects of life and the Universe, there was no possible way I could've seen his stance as having any sort of value. Sanderson also wrote too many things that made Ruin's planning so far behind Preservation's. Preservation felt like a Xanatosian genius even on his deathbed. Ruin was a petulant child. Ruin wasn't kind, or patient, or particularly clever, or have long-spanning schemes when Sanderson presented him in the spotlight. Don't even get me started on his futuresight lmao. And tbh I don’t get why Sanderson wrote a being of death and destruction as the opposite of stasis and stability. Is he trying to say in life and creation, everything either stays the same or everything dies? I know that wasn’t his intent, but it came across that way. It’s haphazard in retrospect, and I don’t understand why that was the direction after the beauty of Kelsier’s rebellion. I still love the concept of Ruin and Preservation’s conflict, but I think it could’ve been much more developed. More nuanced. Ruin could’ve been far more of a Chessmaster or represented a different concept. With Harmony and Trell... I'm not as certain who's the good or bad guy. And so far, Trell's schemes are genuinely complex, layered, and terrifying. Even the Set are scary. Marasi grew a lot, as expected. Wayne didn't grow but he was still so much fun. Love the new dynamic of Wayne and MeLaan, who's also pretty great. ARADEL IS A MAN!!! There wasn't much of Steris this book. But she vastly improved in such a short time! Feels like she hides a lot but is actually a warm person. Look at the ending Well done, Sanderson. I give Shadows of Self ️️️️️/5.
  2. I noticed in Shadows of Self, talking about the mythology/history of the Founders, a reference to Lady Truth. Unless I missed it, I didn’t find that “Lady Truth” in the Coppermind. Do we have a confirmation as to whom that referra?
  3. I’m re-reading Shadows of Self, and I’m wondering: What could be accomplished with Hemalurgic Bullets. One such bullet put Pa’alm back under Harmony’s control, but perhaps you could accomplish other things. For instance, multiple bullets could make a normal person into someone susceptible to control via emotional allomancy. Or, with Hemalurgic Aluminum bullets, you could become a complete bane to an invested opponent. Rusts, use those for firing squads against people like Myles Hundredlives. I’m starting to see why Harmony wanted to keep a lid on this stuff. I’m thinking for Hemalurgic control, you use shot gun rounds in Alluminum casing. Preserves the Hemalurgic Charge, and allows for multiple piercings, facilitating better control. That would probably work well for Hemalurgic aluminum too, as it means you need not be as accurate. Of course a Hemalurgic Aluminum Sniper Rifle could be a powerful weapon for someone who wants to drop an invested high value target. I’d say this prohibitively expensive. Not to mention all the people you’d have to kill in order to get a decent ammunition supply.
  4. Ok so this will have spoilers all the way up to (you guessed it) Shadows of Self and secret history So I'm reading mistborn for the second time and HoA this exchange happens between sazed and the first gen kandra: “Preservation’s power remains, for power cannot be destroyed. His mind however, was all but destroyed-for this was the sacrifice he made to imprison Ruin.” “The sliver remains,” another reminded. “The shadow of self.” I found a post from like 6 years ago discussing it but nobody touched on one point I thought about (sorry if this is the wrong place for this I'm new here ><) So it seems to me in the context of HoA the "Shadow of self" refers to what was left of Leris after he created ruins prison. Slowly fading eventually leaving the power up for grabs. Reading Shadows of Self the first time I figured the title more leaned towards being about Wax as in this book we learn the bulk of his past (or at least the key moments like his childhood with his uncle, meeting Lessi etc) and where his identiy is in question. But what I wonder this time around is that maybe it's a hint about Trell too. Trell atm is not confirmed to be a shard however it must be shard like at least. This book is where we get confirmation that Trell is actually real. It has it's own form of hemalurgy, a more refined version maybe given what Lessi/Paalm was able to do with it which implies investiture in some capacity in my eyes. Trell must be something big being an object of worship pre-dating the lord ruler and being able to control/influence others. Even Miles was a follower and seem to have been influenced in some way by it? Anyways where I'm going with this is what if something similar is happening to Trell where only a sliver remains of them and they are trying to act with whatever time they have left. At the very least they have a plot in motion and if my previous thought is true they have a power that cannot be destroyed. Whether Trell is a shard or not that could have interesting implications in the cosmere especially if Trell isn't a shard. What do you guys think though? I'm mostly just eagerly awaiting The Lost Metal to come out so my brain is spinning trying to figure out whats gonna happen.
  5. I Drew a Chimera from Shadows of self
  6. So, Long time reader, but I'm really just here to ask In Shadows of self Wax encounters Hemalurgic creatures that "have thickened skulls". Wax shoots these creatures point blank and fails to penetrate. Wat. For a series the deals so heavily with guns we get remarkably little info on them, so I don't know what calibre wax shoots (and their by the "Universal" pistol calibre). But this is a moot point as Wax then shoots a shotgun slug into these things and has to push on it to get it to go through. So, How thick is the skull? Does Sanderson have any understanding of the physics he is abusing here?
  7. Sorry if this is something that has already been discussed a lot, I did a search but didn't turn up anything. In Shadows of Self, chapter 16. Wax is stalking Paalm down the street while they are having an earring-aided mental conversation. At one point, Paalm says "You know he's just another pawn." And Wax says "I don't know that." Paalm responds "I wasn't talking to you that time, Waxillium." It's been bothering me since I first read it. If she's not talking to Wax, who is she talking to? It has to be someone with a hemalurgic spike, correct? Could it be Kelsier? It just makes me think of all of the little hints and weirdness that didn't make sense (like Vin suddenly deciding not to go talk to Hoid-the-informant), that were explained in Secret History as Kelsier moving behind the scenes. If it is Kelsier-- what is the context of that line? "You know he's just another pawn." Could we assume that she's referring to Wax himself? Discussing Wax with Kelsier? In which case, Kelsier would be on the scene and interested in Wax (or, at least, interested in Sazed's interest in Wax). Thoughts?
  8. Alright, is it just me or has Wayne been spiked at some point throughout the Wax and Wayne series. In shadows of self Wayne makes a throw away joke of hearing voices in his head when he was younger and I don't know why but that really stuck out to me. If he has been spiked, I think it might be Kelsier because it seems like something he can do and Wayne makes another throw away joke later on in shadows of self when he's thinking about the differences between a crapper and a bathroom and he makes a joke about asking kell what the bathroom is called. Either I'm on to something or I'm reading waaaaaaaay to far into this
  9. I know that this is most likely referring to a southern Scadrian around a perpendicularity but I haven't seen anybody talk about it.
  10. Paalm's story seems to me to be a deconstruction of the trope of the Fridged Woman. In AoL, Lessie is presented as your Standardized Fridged Love Interest, in the same way that Steris is the Sitcom Unsuitable Fiancee and Marisi is obviously going to be the Real Love Interest. Lessie gets through all of one prologue before she dies tragically and her purpose in the story is pretty much to drive Wax in the direction of the plot and give him something to angst over. Then comes Shadows of Self, and we find out she was meta-fridged. Writers are often accused of giving female love interests little characterization beyond "she loves the Hero"; "Lessie" (as opposed to Paalm) literally only exists for Wax. When Lessie refuses to get Wax back to Elendel-- in a sense, when she refuses to further the plot-- God himself kills her off to motivate the hero. Except that while Lessie is dead, Paalm is still there to take back her agency. She still has a voice. And she is pissed. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying she's not really a villain or something-- when your business card says "serial killer", it's time to think hard on your life decisions. I'm not even saying Harmony was wrong in the scheme of things. But as awful as Paalm's actions end up being, her rage is very understandable. I don't know if Brandon did this on purpose, or it just came out that way. But every time I read Era Two, I can't help but see Lessie as standing in for fiction's silenced, disposable women.
  11. Ok , hey , I'm a new guy . Joined today actually. Hum, please move this to the proper section if I post this into a wrong forum or something. And I confess that it's probably wrong since there are WoBs directly contradicting my theories about the hemalurgic metals. (Can someone send me those if u have them ? ) Still I thought it made an interesting theory .So here's my theory : So I was looking through the wiki and found that the 4 blessings were listed as hemalurgic iron , tin , zinc and copper. But I disagree. the mistwraiths were created from full feruchemists , so I think they needed a part of a feruchemist's spiritweb to work on a Kandra. So I think the reason there were so few Kandra in each generation was because u needed hemalurgic spikes made by killing feruchemists. Therefore the four blessings would be : A). The blessing of strength was H-Pewter, which steals feruchemical physical powers. B). The blessing of awareness was H-Brass, which steals feruchemical cognitive powers . C). The blessing of presence was H-gold , which steals feruchemical hybrid powers D). The blessing of stability was H-aluminium , which steals all powers. Points in favor of my theory : 1). Hemalurgic copper , iron , zinc and tin steal human charecteristics. Normal humans. Not metalborn. Tlr didn't really care much about skaa and used them to make spikes indiscriminately for creating koloss. Why then limit the number of Kandra per generation to a hundred ? More Kandra meant more loyal subjects and spies and better atium Management and conservation. 2). Feruchemists on the other hand were rare , rarer than allomancers. Hence it would make sense why so few spikes were available to the kandra. 3).If the Kandra were rebellious , wouldn't they just steal spikes from like the treasury or from the koloss or by killing or mercykilling humans ,( I mean hey there were lots of impoverished or crippled skaa who would have been almost dead due to starvation , the mistsnapping , war , gang violence or tlr's general tyranny , who could euthanized as an act of Mercy during era 1 . And even during era 2 ) and make more Kandra ? I mean , that seems like a serious lapse in security by tlr. 4). Why are Kandra with the blessing of stability so rare ? I mean , zinc spikes should be as common as iron. Wouldn't it make more sense if this blessing was due to aluminum , a rare metal which might have been experimentally used a few times and then abandoned , due to lack of the resource. 5). I think , that aluminum is perhaps the most stable and inert of all the metals. Something that is immune to all ( ?? ) forms of investiture. Wouldn't it make sense that this would grant the blessing of stability which supposedly makes a Kandra less susceptible to external control. 6). Marasi notes that Ru Luur's spike was probably pewter. 7). In many ways it seems Kandra are superior to humans . They are usually peaceful , great at defense , functionally immortal , can change morphology to suit thier professions ( Spoiler for WoR ) Indeed , if it weren't for the mind control. ( spoiler for oathbringer ) It seems callous of Rashek to ignore this possiblity. With allomancy becoming weaker with every generation , knowledge of mind control and duralumin being suppressed and tlr himself running out of both sanity and his atium compounding efficiency , it might have been possible for Kandra to rise in rebellion. Even assassinate tlr and the Inquisitors themselves. Especially , if Paalm revealed how easy it was to infiltrate the ranks of the Inquisitors. Marsh did the same thing too remember. Several of the younger generations clamored for change and the kandra themselves hated being sequestered in some dank caves. Points against my theory : 1). Perhaps tlr was afraid of Kandra overrunning humans . Or didn't wanna overcrowd them in the pits and hence limited the number of new ones per generation . 2). Even if the Kandra were rebellious , it should have been easy for tlr , the Inquisitors , mistborn or soother mobs to get them under control. But then again , perhaps they might have removed one spike in order to remain immune to mind control , but it would have been harrowing for the kandra. 3). There seems to be WoBs stating that it was the normal power stealing H-spikes , ie, zinc ,tin,etc ,that were the blessings. This is , if true ,actually the most damning piece of evidence against my theory. 4). Then there's the possibility that the kandra were never a security risk. I mean even 3 centuries after the catacendre , most Kandra are peaceful and Van Dell just simply hates violence. It seems only the third generation and a few like MeLaan are the exceptions. They might actually hate themselves for being hemalurgic creations, but still if all one needs is a iron spike , then couldn't they mercykill some humans and create young ones or scrounge some from s dead or dying koloss ? Potential possiblities if my theory is true : 1). Sazed is afraid of the kandra. Hence he has had the mistwraiths eradicated , resusticated into humans or atleast removed from thier sentient brethren. Whether the kandra like this or not is impossible to foresee. 2). On one hand , the kandra seem to be peaceful creatures who willingly choose suicide even tho they are immortal. 3). On the other hand , the kandra have had centuries of practice acting and hiding thier true feelings. Then there was the dream / religious prophecy Ten Soon told Vin about Kandra ruling Scadrial once all the humans were dead. Paalm's anger at Sazed might have been atleast partially due to Sazed's oppression of the kandra. In some ways , Sazed's treatment of the kandra is worse than tlr's. 4). Perhaps some Kandra are truly loyal to Sazed , but as we saw in HoA , not all Kandra have the same view. So perhaps it's possible that some factions among the kandra including the world Hoppers?? are planning to oust him and gain control of Scadrial. Perhaps that's how Paalm first came in contact with Trell . Perhaps the ' faceless immortals ' Trell has , according to Edwarn ladrian are actually Kandra world Hoppers who defected to Trell or odium or whoever else , in order to gain greater autonomy for the kandra . 5). Finally we see Paalm using metalborn abilities and a statement saying that she had infiltrated Inquisitors. I really doubt you can infiltrate the ministry of Inquisition without displaying metalborn abilities. So is Sazed lying ? Tlr had reason to contain such knowledge from the kandra but does Sazed have similar reasons ? Also perhaps the spike which grants metalborn abilities might be aluminium . I mean if H-aluminum steals all powers then could it be possible that as a blessing it could grant all powers or well one power each. Perhaps this is also the reason the kandra themselves are oblivious of this knowledge since aluminum is super rare and aluminum spikes even more so. Yep , no proof for this. Just tinfoil. And Wax's observation of Paalm's spike seems to refute this reasoning. But then again Wax was like totally depressed at the time and wasn't able to run tests on it and the kandra removed it soon enough. Maybe Paalm just mixed in something else in the spike to change it's colouring , in order to fool ppl.
  12. Opening Disclaimer: I'm sorry I'm not going to have the exact references directly in front of me, but my Dad has my copy at this time and is a slow reader. The part of Shadows of Self that really caught my attention, was the fact that MeLaan gave Wax his earring personally, on what I assume were Harmony's orders. It is confirmed as being a Hemalurgic spike, but the ability that is charged with the spike is unknown. My theory/hope is that the earring is the same earring as the one Vin wore during the original trilogy (giving it an allomantic bronze charge). I saw a post on here about the earring before, where the poster theorized that the earring has a pewter charge, as Wax is seen to be strengthened by the mists. Well, during HoA, didn't Vin become the Mists when she took the Shard of Preservation and drew all the mists into herself? Could she be giving him a slight physical boost as she did to Elend at the end of HoA? One of the things that made me think this (I'm really sorry about the reference part here) is the short aside from Wax in SoS where he talks about a form moving with him in the mists sometimes. Furthermore, in several sections of the book he muses about Vin and what she would have been like, but what if she is really the form in the mists that he can sense when he is about? Here is where I think about how Vin was able to sense the Mist spirit using her bronze, and maybe the Bronze allomantic charge of his earring allows Wax to be able to sense Vin in the mists. Partially related to the above theory, but how is an allomantically charged hemalurgic spike used? Did inquisitors have to actually ingest the metals they needed before using the abilities, or did the spikes themselves provide a certain measure of the abilities? If they needed to actually ingest them, I could imagine duralumin steelpushes being very dangerous for inquisitors, as how could they see after doing something like that? (First post, Sorry if not put up in the right way)
  13. EDIT #1: Event is over, you can find my write-up and recordings in this post. EDIT #2: Here's a [link] to the transcript. In case you've missed the news, Brandon will be in the Oak Brook Barnes & Noble on October 12. For quick reference, here's the snippet from his website: The important bit is that the event will have two parts (as is usual for Brandon's signings), each one with different admission rules. The first part (which will likely consist of a story, a Q&A, and a reading) is free and open to anyone and everyone, while the second part (the signing & personalization) requires a purchase of Shadows of Self on the spot. Which, I believe, is more than a little annoying, but their store, their rules (also, guess who is never preordering from B&N ever again). Come back to the Old Orchard Barnes & Noble, Brandon, they are nicer there! They are 10 minutes away from my house, not hour and a half... Anyway, I'll be there. I'll probably show up a little earlier (around 6, if I can), bother the personnel, and try to ambush Brandon if he makes the mistake of showing up early. For the event itself, I try to ask a non-spoilery Cosmere question during the general Q&A (you have me to thank for extracting the knowledge that unicorns do not exist in the Cosmere, thankyouverymuch), 2-3 juicy questions when it's my turn for signing & personalization, and a dozen or two after the event, if Brandon has time for 10 minutes of lightning Q&A. All of the events I've been to, he's been able to stay for a bit after and suffer my pestering, but there are no guarantees. So in this context, I'll be thinking about interesting questions in the next few days (feel free to post yours - obviously I can't promise I'll ask them for you, but if I like something I'll try to put it on my list). I'll also try to post a final list before the event, as well as an audio recording after. Kurk EDIT: Text of transcript as of 12/2016 for word-searching:
  14. I believe the first place the Bands of Mourning are mentioned is towards the back part of Shadows of Self. Wax is about to meet up with Tensoon in the caverns. He is walking through a museum and mentions them. What I was interested in though is he also mentions Harmony's Bands. "Most were part of the museum, and contained plaques with quotes from the Originators, written in metal. Others contained depictions of the rebuilding of the world, or other relics such as a replica of both Harmony's Bands and the Bands of Mourning." Are Harmony's Bands something special along the same lines as the Bands of Mourning? It's in the same line as the first mention as the Bands of mourning, so I thought they might have some importance. They could also just be Sazed's braces from Era 1 though. I didn't think Sazed's braces were that special compared to any other feruchemy braces. Anyone heard of anything about these or is it just assumed they aren't significant?
  15. TOR has released the dates and locations of Brandon's tour for Shadows of Self. I am saddened by the lack of love for east coast fans. I know I can't complain like all of the non-US fans, but after Philly was canceled this past winter during the Firefight tour, I was hoping he'd come back that way to make up for it! Anyways, here's the list of dates and locations for the tour. I hope many west coast Sharders can make it! Tuesday, October 6 BYU Bookstore – Midnight release! Provo, UT Tuesday, October 6 Tattered Cover Bookstore @ 6 PM Denver, CO Wednesday, October 7 Murder by the Book @ 6:30 PM Houston, TX Thursday, October 8 Mysterious Galaxy @ 6 PM San Diego, CA Friday, October 9 Borderlands @ 12 PM to 3 PM San Francisco, CA Friday, October 9 Kepler’s Books @ 7:30 PM Menlo Park, CA Saturday, October 10 Powell’s at Cedar Hills Crossing @ 7 PM Beaverton, OR Monday, October 12 Barnes & Noble @ 7 PM Oak Brook, IL Tuesday, October 13 Schuler Books @ 7 PM Lansing, MI Wednesday, October 14 Brookline Booksmith @ 6 PM Brookline, MA Friday, October 16 Manchester-Deansgate Waterstones @ 6 PM Manchester, England Saturday, October 17 London Piccadilly Waterstones @ 2 PM London, England Monday, October 19 Shaftesbury Ave. Forbidden Planet @ 7 PM London, England Tuesday, October 20 Sheffield Waterstones @ 1 PM (Note, I assume it's at the Orchard Square location...) Sheffield, England Tuesday, October 20 Newcastle Waterstones (Technically at the Newcastle Mining Institute) @ 6:30 PM Newcastle, England Wednesday, October 21 Edinburgh-West End Waterstones @ 6 PM Edinburgh, Scotland Thursday, October 22 Leeds Waterstones @ 1 PM Leeds, England Thursday, October 22 Nottingham Waterstones @ 7 PM Nottingham, England October 23rd thru October 25 East Midlands Conference Centre and Orcahrd Hotel Nottingham, England
  16. I think I have figured something out, although this is in no way confirmed. I was re-reading HoA and I was pondering hemalurgic spikes in Kandra. Now we know that Kandra Blessings are two spikes which together grant sentience and a power of some kind. In SoS Bleeder uses unknown methods to not only grant herself Feruchemy speed while only using one spike. However, I always thought it was odd that she also manifested a power we have only seen Ruin and Harmony use up to this point. She takes moments to speak to Wax in his mind. At the time I just kinda went with it, it was an exciting time in the story. However, I realized that this should have sent up several red flags. I mean, not only does she use the metallic arts which we thought was impossible, but then she invades Wax's mind like that. That's not even a power we have observed a mortal being using before! Here is where I will delve into the interviews with Brandon. There was a question about ReLuur, and if one of his spikes is Atium. TLDR: RAFO http://www.theoryland.com/intvsresults.php?kwt='reluur' Now, this is obviously about a different Kandra but we know they know more than they are telling Wax and Wayne at the moment. It seems likely that Atium in some form is still accessible to some Kandra. This is what really holds my theory out. You see, I was contemplating the fact that Brandon has written sayuing that you could make alloys with both Larasium and Atium and produce 16 alloys. We know that the Laraseium alloys make Mistings, and it's been hinted that Atium alloys would have various temporal effects. So here is the long and short of it all: Bleeder's single spike might steal the possible abilites of the Atium-Brass Alloy Now the spike itself might not actually be made of that material since it's hemaleric in nature. But I believe it steals the powers of burning Atium-Zinc or Atium-Brass allomancers. This is a stretch but let me walk you through what we know: 1. Bleeder can somehow talk in the minds of thoses spiked with Hemalergy. 2. Bleeder cannot be using more than one spike while she does this. 3. Bleeder has knowledge of Hemalergy that is far beyond the current understanding of Harmony's people (as far as we know). 4. Bleeder's spike was made of an unknown metallic alloy. Now the power of speaking in minds is a bit of a stretch, but it certainly seems like a possibility of a twisted external mental allomantic ability. It also feels more like a pushing rather than a pulling ability. I mean, that is the most realistic explanation for this strange and invasive ability. *Edit: Thanks to some awesome readers, I have seen references that clarify that Bleeder's spike is made from a metal that Harmony doesn't know. However, this doesn't change the foundation of the theory. Thanks to those who took the time to source the quotes!* As my final point of support in this theory, I will need to delve into Secret History here: So there it is, I have no idea how viable this is, or where exactly the atium came from. It either has reappeared or it was salvaged from an older stash. But I am happy I finally got this out there. It's such a cool concept to think about. I wonder how this could be applied in combat, and if there is a limited range that this communication is restricted to. *Edit: Changed my wording for clarification.
  17. When precisely did Bleeder take the Governor's life? Simple, shouldn't take too many responses. Thanks Cosmerans.
  18. -- Contains some Secret History information-- On p660 of Hero of Ages, the first generation is discussing the clash between Ruin and Preservation, and notes that Preservation's Mind was basically destroyed: Just from a bit of consideration this brings up a few things: 1) It seems that "the shadow" is refering to the "sliver" that is left of Preservation's mind (referred to in the previous sentence). Shadow + Mind = Cognitive Shadow. I'm noting this link somewhat pedantically, because I think one could say that the second speaker wasn't referring to the Mind anymore, but I think that the juxtaposition makes my reading sensible. 2) If that's true, is the implication here that when a Vessel is sufficiently weakened, to the point that they must give up their Shard and become a Sliver, they would default to a cognitive shadow (I guess assuming they remain in the cognitive realm)? 3) Based on the nearby plot of HoA, I assume that the "image" being discussed is what eventually falls to earth as Leras's body. That would be the same "body" (cognitive shadow in the cognitive realm until it is destroyed at last) that Kelsier interacts with in Secret History, he himself being a cognitive shadow. If this is the case, does it imply that a cognitive shadow still retains connection to a physical body somehow? 4) If shades are cognitive shadows (implied in Secret History?), and shades are warded away by silver, and Vessel is a cognitive shadow (either always or just when it loses it's Shard), it could make sense that silver would be Allomantically inert, as it would have negative interactions with Preservation? How far afield have I gotten here? 5) How bad of a job have I done putting this in the right forum?
  19. I'll be attending the Lansing signing, hopefully recording the signing, though the employees of the store have not been very friendly so far. I'm super excited. Anyways, here's the questions I've currently got lined up. They're questions I asked on his AMA that didn't get answered, as well as some about SoS. I'll be asking them in no particular order. Let me know if I shouldn't ask any of these questions... Obviously I don't think I'll get to ask all of these, but the store did say I could go through the line more than once, so yeah. If it wasn't clear, this is the thread I'll post the after-signing report stuff into.
  20. I don't see a thread on this yet. Ebook version Chapter 6, paragraph 3, second line: "To begin with he paid their wages..." There should be a comma after "with."
  21. Well, this is my first post to the gallery, so I'm apprehensive excited to see what people think. Here we have the cast of Shadows of Self, based off descriptions in the book. I'm planning on adding color at some point, but I thought I'd check in and get feedback.
  22. EDIT: One day I'm going to clean this up and take out the parts that have been debunked. Rust is not a Splinter, as there are none of Ruin or Preservation, and I've since become more convinced that Rust is held by Kelsier's cognitive shadow. The location of the missing piece of Ruin has been a subject of a lot of speculation, so this may have been brought up before. This is also my first post here, so I apologize for any mistakes I might make and for the disjointed stream of consciousness that is this post. Basically, I believe that the missing piece of Ruin is either a splinter similar to a powerful spren, or the power was turned into a kind of a minor shard which has been taken up by someone. I believe that this is Rust, and that they are either the force working against Harmony, or aiding another Shard who is also hostile to Harmony, either Autonomy or Odium. There is a WoB somewhere that I haven't been able to find, but which basically says that the phrase "Rust and Ruin" has more significance than it might seem. This is, I think, a hint at another entity called Rust. This could be another, previously unmet Shard, but I doubt that for a couple of reasons which have been brought up in different places on this forum: - Rust is a very similar Intent to Ruin, arguably too similar to be another Shard of Adonalsium - We know that Ruin and Preservation are the only Shards on Scadrial from a WoB - We know that the metal in Paalm's spike was of a Shard we already have met from another WoB I believe that, to balance the forces of Ruin and Preservation within himself, Harmony cleaved the excess Ruin off from the whole, which eventually became Rust. If this is correct, there are a couple possibilities for what the exact nature of Rust is: -It could be a piece of Ruin's power which was large enough to develop a consciousness of its own. We know, from WoB, that a Shard left without a holder for long enough will develop a consciousness of its own. This could extend to large enough pieces of that power as well. -It could be a powerful spren-like entity created intentionally by Harmony. -It could be a person or entity which took up the extra piece of Ruin, either by being given it by Harmony or by obtaining it against Harmony's will. If we now assume that Rust exists and is in some way derived from the excess power of Ruin, there are further questions to explore. Is Rust behind Miles and Paalm's plans? Finding Rust behind Miles is not something I can do right now before a reread. He is connected to the “men of gold and red,” the red men could be tied to Rust, who the gold is I couldn’t say. Maybe Miles himself, as a gold compounder, or maybe there is another Shard involved as well and the gold refers to them. Is Paalm's spike from Rust? The most obvious bit of evidence for this is the rusty spots on Paalm’s spike. That is by no means conclusive however. We are led to believe that Harmony should recognize anything from Scadrial, but we are only told this by Harmony himself, I believe, in his early godhood when he wrote the words of Founding (unless there is a WoB I missed). Even if the metal is not of Rust, Paalm’s extensive knowledge of Hemalurgy must have come from Rust. You might say that she could have gotten the knowledge from her close relationship with the Lord Ruler, but her knowledge of Hemalurgy extends beyond his own. It is said that the Lord Ruler had his inquisitors working on discovering a new Hemalurgic creation for nearly the entirety of his reign, and yet they never succeeded. Paalm created a new Hemalurgic species, and used Hemalurgy in other ways that no one else knew was possible, such as endowing powers on Kandra and speaking into minds. Where could she have gotten all of this knowledge of the ridiculously complex magic system, Hemalurgy, except from a piece of its source. We know that Ruin had an instinctive knowledge of all of the hundreds of bind points on a body and how to use them, so Rust could as well. I’m going to cut this off here, I think, because I don’t want this post to be too long, as I may be suggesting nothing new here I would like to end with a mention of my personal beliefs on this issue. I believe that Rust is something akin to a minor shard of Ruin’s power, and that it has been taken up by a cognitive shadow of either Kelsier or Ati. I know this sounds very tinfoil, and it may be, but I see some evidence for it. The book is entitled Shadows of Self, which is the exact term used to describe the mist spirit, Leras’s cognitive shadow, in HoA. Ati would have the motive to bring down Harmony, and would also already have the Hemalurgic knowledge to aid Paalm if the power of Rust did not endow it. I’m less confident in Kelsier being Rust. He is mentioned as still being around, and I can’t remember if Harmony refers to him in a positive or negative way in era 2. Harmony may have endowed the power on Kelsier, possibly believing him to be beyond the ability to influence the world with the power. He could have been corrupted by its Intent, and now seeks to Rust everything (I probably should have mentioned this earlier, but I also believe that Rust is a name attributed by a metal-driven culture, and a more accurate Intent might be Corruption). The main thing that makes me want to believe Rust is Kelsier is that Rust is likely to be, in some way, tied to the Set. A set is “a group or collection of things that belong together, resemble one another, or are usually found together” or “a group of people with common interests or occupations or of similar social status.” This sounds an awful lot like a crew, no? EDIT: I should clarify something. When I suggest that the power was turned into a minor Shard, I do not mean that this was done intentionally by Harmony. It could have been, but he could also have cleaved off the power and hidden it away somewhere, and someone found it and took up the power. I believe that it would function similar to how a Shard would, whether or not it is what Harmony intended. EDIT 2: I would also like to add that if Rust exists and is working with another Shard, then that Shard could be Autonomy, and Autonomy could have helped Rust to become completely autonomous from, and invisible to, Harmony
  23. Shallan

    Hoid!

    I found Hoid!! Not sure if this has been posted before, but he appears on page 129 (of the kindle edition at least) as- wait for it- A COACHMAN!!!
  24. EDIT: THIS IS A JOKE THEORY, JUST MADE FOR MY HUMOR! RECKONERS IS NOT COSMERE IN ANY WAY! What if Kelsier is Calamity? Facts 1. Sazed has an extra bit of Ruin. 2. Brandon has been very sly about where this extra bit of Ruin is, and what is doing. 3. The 17th Shard has largely assumed that this extra bit of Ruin has gone to Kelsier. 4. Brandon has also been evasive about Kelsier's whereabouts, repeatedly referring to him being in a dimension unlike what we've seen before. 5. In Shadows of Self, Sazed (also known as Harmony) makes a comment about Kelsier: AssumptionsA. The Reckoners' version of Earth is in the same Universe as the Cosmere planet systems. Further, I would be interested to know if they are in the same dimension, but that would mostly irrelevant to the endpoint of my theory. B. #5 implies that Kelsier is gone from Sazed, or at least removed enough that they are not in direct contact. The Theory Sazed gives Kelsier the extra bit of Ruin. We know that Shardic levels of power give some level of knowledge about the universe beyond simply the physical. So Kelsier somehow does interdimensional travel to Earth. Alternatively, he could have used normal travel, albeit at speeds much greater than light (and this really depends on whether or not the two series are in the same dimension of the universe or not, but as I said earlier, this does not matter hugely to my theory). Keep in mind that even though Kelsier only has a small portion of Ruin's power, Ruin will still be corrupting (<-- interesting word choice, hmm?) him. So Kelsier will have to find some middle ground between being a hero and wanting to Ruin. When Kelsier reaches Earth, he visibly sets up shop as a red star thing (Note that red is a commonly accepted for evil, or ruin, among other things). Of course, as we already know, his influence is directly felt on earth. Since Kelsier/Calamity has come from an utterly different culture, he doesn't fully understand the governmental systems of the different nations, and resolves to fix them as quickly as possible. What better way to do this than mutating certain people on Earth, and giving them powers that corrupt them, and enable them to take over. This is precisely within Ruin's Intent. Of course, Kelsier is ultimately being tricked by Ruin. Kelsier believes that by empowering the people to take down the government, he is improving their chances of ultimately surviving, because that's what he did, in his previous life. Unfortunately, Ruin's insidious influence is blinding him to the fact that really, the Epics are only encouraging the breakdown of society, and the more they use their powers, the more corrupt and Ruinous they become. That's pretty much the theory. I think it fits with what we know now about the Reckoners/Cosmere. I could speculate about what will happen in Calamity, but I'm sure Brandon will surprise us all anyway. Possible Objections Why didn't Kelsier/Calamity give everyone powers, and not just a few people? Not sure. Isn't a bit far-fetched/too-early to speculate on this, since we don't know what the next books in the respective series will hold in terms of plot details? I don't think it's ever too early to make a theory. Questions I plan to make a list of questions to flesh out my theory a little more, and if I could get some help asking these (Brandon rarely comes to my area), that would bebutterly fantasmic. I'll try to be as specific as possible to avoid the possibility of RAFOs. 1. Is Kelsier Calamity? (Quite direct, and would probably get RAFOd, but 'ey, it's worth a try.) 2. Does Calamity have some Shardic Influence (Note that this has previously been answered as "No" when asked if Calamity is a Shard. Under my theory, Calamity is some of the power of a Shard, not a full Shard. Pretty sneaky, Sanderson!) 3. Is the Reckoner!Earth in the same narrative universe/dimension as he Cosmere? 4. Have we seen Calamity in another series? Again, any and all help in asking these questions would be much appreciated. I think that for right now, we have a high chance of being RAFOd, because honestly, I don't think this connection has been noticed by a lot of people. So consistency and determination will be key. Thanks all for reading.
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