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I just got back from the Phoenix Comic on, where Brandon is a guest at, and I must say it was an honor to meet him. He read parts of Wax/Wayne 2, Legion 2, and the Taravangian interlude in WoR. There weren't a lot of cosmeric goodies, but I did get a couple interesting tidbits in relation to Mistborn: Ruin would have had to manifest to reabsorb the atium, the Well of Ascension did not come at a price to Preservation's power, and perhaps the most interesting one. Burned metals are turned into a different form, and will eventually return to the planet. The Pits of Hath sin are meant to foreshadow this. There were a couple of cosplayers, with one particular group dressed as Sazed, Vin, Elend, and Tindwyl. I have audio of the spotlight (which includes the readings), but I don't know if I am allowed to post it. I probably will post a picture of the four costumers later.

Here is a link to the hemalurgy being around during Classical Scadrial times (http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=727#30) and the HoA Annotation for chapter 62 confirmed Alendi was an allomancer, he was snapped by the mists.

There are tons of metals you can burn that have effects on you. They aren't allomantic metals though because 'you die' isn't a very well-appreciated effect.

I saw this on reddit and I thought I'd share. http://www.reddit.com/r/Mistborn/comments/1exfc6/melting_down_metalminds/ ntdfbladez Props to him.

New bit of info from Phoenix ComiCon: Audio, around 49:00:

the above quote can be found at the end of chapter 16 (page 248 in my paperback).

What would your perfect crew in Scadrial be? Let's say in the Alloy of Law era. It could be a lawkeeping crew, a thievery crew, assassination crew or any other type of crew you want. Rules You have 10 points to spend, as follow: *A Misting costs 1 point. *A Ferring costs 1 point. *A Twinborn costs 3 points. *A Twinborn Compounder costs 5 points. *Full Feruchemists, Mistborns, Hemalurgists, Kandra and Koloss are banned. Assume no Atium is available. My crew: The Ghosts (an assassination crew) [5P] I would be an assassin that is a Sentry Seeker- a Bronze Compounder Twinborn. I call this combo a Sentinel. I always liked the idea of being a Seeker in Scadrial as there are a lot of moves you can train to perfection. Knowing if there are Allomancers around would be vital for successful recon missions and later, to the assassination itself. Also, knowing how much metal reserves my opponents have and when they flare their metals would give me an edge in combat. In addition, knowing which of my emotions are being manipulated by Soothers/Rioters would ensure I never fall prey to their Allomancy. Finally, never needing to sleep, always being alert and having superhuman awareness would just be epic. And useful too, of course. [1P] My assassin partner would be a Copper Misting- a Smoker. Having a Coppercloud by my side would ensure my Seeking (and by that my presence) isn't detected by enemy Seekers. [3P] My lookout/sniper would be a Tineye Steelrunner- a Tin/Steel Twinborn. I call this combo a Scout. This one could gather vital information as fast as needed. He could also be on sniper duty, and quickly switch vantage points when the situation arises. [1P] My crew's handler would be a Zinc Ferring- a Sparker. This one, with his ability to quickly sort through data and make split second decisions would be in charge of the operation, and would also be the one that acquires the assassination contracts.

Fear the Mistborn burning Atrium! For he wields the awesome power of enabling public assembly in a well lit indoor space!

The three metallic arts all came into existence at the same time. (whether or not people knew about them or could use them is another matter). Metal piercings were a big part of the culture of Classical Scadrial, it is not known whether Hemalurgy was well known but it is possible. Allomancy did exist during this period as well but it was very rare and there were only mistings. Alendi was a Seeker after all. I think it is also important that the shards don't "make" the magic systems. They come about from the interaction of the shards and the shardworlds but it is not like they consciously design the system.

Please tell me for the sake of hilarity that that was meant to be meta.

Force choke. Atium burner dies. The end.

To the original topic, allow me to give a completely different take: Annotation: Elantris Title Page Regrettably, I couldn't find "Ado" in the back of the book.

I've never heard anything about a Bridge Four book, but here's the list as it now stands. 1. Kaladin 2. Shallan 3. Szeth 4. Eshonai 5. Dalinar The second sequence of five is a little less clear. I think that with the number of character's Brandon's mentioned wanting to have a flashback book for, Kaladin getting a second one is out. I think the same goes for a potential Adolin book. There's just not enough room. The second set will contain Jasnah, Taln, Navani (who presumably got pushed here out of her previous slot in book 4) Taravangian, and another unnamed Herald.

Don't worry, I definitely don't want to do anything illegal or rude, this was just sort of an idle question that I had been kicking around. So rest assured that no copies shall be made. Thanks for answering my question. By the way, I hope my question didn't seem out of line, I realize how sensitive this topic can probably be, so I apologize if it came across poorly.

I meant more along the line of this, with open edit privileges (feel free to use this doc, btw). It's something Terez pushed for awhile back.

Don't scan it even for yourself.

Here's audio of the spotlight from Abalidoth on Tumblr and here's a list of times for it 1:03 reading Words of Radiance Taravangian interlude 4:39 talking about WoR 8:14 tshirts 9:00 question about Silence Divines magic 11:00 question about Rithmatist 16:00 birthday tshirt 16:30 what he reads from 17:13 reading Rithmatist prologue 20:12 what's going to happen with Elantris (sequels)? 22:00 What happened (IRL) between Mistborn and TWoK 24:12 thanks for WoT 24:20 how long is the Stormlghit Archive 25:00 tshirts for Mistborn cosplayers 28:00 Legion 2 reading 32:25 more Legion? Yes 33:50 question about writing and timing and pacing 35:40 do you take a break when teaching? No 36:25 questions about writing multiple books 38:30 when did you start writing? 39:00 talking about Way of Kings prime 39:40 talking about White Sand 41:25 inspiration for Mistborn? 45:20 reading from Shadows of Self (Steris organising wedding, Wax reads from Ironeyes book) 49:00 a cosmere question about Odium. Where did he settle? 49:45 a description of the cosmere 54:00 Hoids origin story? 54:40 <some authors> books are cool? parallels between that and Mistborn trio of trilogies 56:20 did you write Stormlight the same as RJ wrote WoT? 58:00 what book should be read first? (Don't start on Stormlight) 60:10 what are your views on fanfiction? 61:00 announcements

Not necessarily. No need for the shards to merge at all. They could just have done the right things to the planet's inhabitants to grant a joint system, but not the things to give individual systems. And since it's possible for systems to be set up pre-shattering and then linger without being directly powered by a shard, and Sazed ascending and unifying the shards didn't collapse the powers into hemuchemistborns... I don't really see them being essentially all the same magic really as evidence for or against shards having merged at any particular point.

it depends. If we're talking expanded universe jedi, then there is all sorts of stupid stuff they can do, including a billion flavorblasted forms of precognition. On the other hand if we're talking movie jedi, then their precognition seems super limited, given how many got chumped by clones with normal guns.

Well, Spheres can be used for soulcasting, as long as they are close enough to surgebinder - that is what Shallan used to soulcast that goblet, a garnet broam. It was also later used by Jasnah to Soulcast Shallan's blood into blood. So a single broam is pretty effective. The thing is, the larger the object soulcast, and the smaller the gem, the more probability that the gem would shatter. (Also, probably, more stormlight is needed). The large gems, like Gemheart, can be used almost indefinitely for pretty wide range of Soulcasting, so they probably would not be split until they shatter naturally, and the splinters would be pretty large as well. So that is probably the reason (plus fiat, whatever that is ). More of the larger and sphere-sized gems are tied up in soulcasting, less are used for active currency, and so they are more valuable. Or something.

Long time no see, everyone. As some of you might be able to see from the number of upvotes over there and the extensively espoused signature, I'm not exactly a "new" user. But it's been a while and stuff has changed, so I figured a re-introduction might be in order. I was threatened to be spiked persuaded to rejoin by some of the Admins, who have tracked me down through the morass of the internet and have dragged me back kicking and screaming convinced me to get involved here again. What's changed? Here I will make a nice list for you: I'm in college now, a super small, Christian college that I love. I'm a Global Studies major with an English Literature minor. Talk to me about Linguistics and expect to get your ear talked off. My OTP is Shallarin and nothing will convince me they are not perfect for each other. I am 100% evil and subsist entirely upon the emotional trauma of those around me. Expect me to bring up all the parts of the Cosmere you cried over and laugh when you're upset. My moirail is Eshonai (not the character) and my kismesis is Shroom. Chaos is stalking me (oh wait that's nothing new) I have an unhealthy obsession with Loki and Tom Hiddleston I hate auto-smilies in chat programs. I'm a coinshot. So, where have I been? Still into Brandon's books if that's what you're wondering. Actually, possibly more involved. I've been over on tumblr mostly, running my content-only blog featherwriter and my personal blog alwaysanothersecret. As KChan has probably kept you all informed, there's a super close-knit Cosmere fandom over there, and we've been keeping busy! It's a fairly different fandom though. Lots of crossovers, shipping, and feels. Rather fewer theories and seriousness. If you're interested in seeing some of what the Cosmere Fandom is like over there, let me direct you towards my tag for all things Cosmere-related: #CFSBF which is an abbreviation of the tag that I used to use and has older posts in it: #Cosmere fandom is still the best fandom. What have I been doing recently? Well I've made some new contributions to the fandom. Most recently was a pronunciation meme that people have been filling. I've also done some theorizing and edits on a Homestuck/Mistborn crossover that has been titled #Sburbmere (warning, not that great and also not finished). For the Cosmere Fandom Secret Santa gift exchange I wrote Way of Kings short fic called "A Training Session" so if that's your sort of thing, check that out. I'm also about halfway through the first draft of a novel I've been writing currently titled Called Forth. I freaking love answering questions about it and when people want to read it. (Ask me, I'll send you a link to the draft.) That has been kind of consuming my life for the past few months. Picking it up again after NaNo this year was an EXCELLENT idea. Any questions, comments, concerns, spiking attempts? I'm curious as to what everyone's been up to while I was away. What's changed here? What's new? What threads should I check out?

While getting my books signed by Brandon today at Phoenix Comicon, he asked me if I had any questions for him. I, of course, had a notepad of carefully worded questions for him to answer but they were buried deep in my bag. Rather than fumble around like a fool, I blurted the two questions that I could remember off the top of my head. Me: Did Seons exist before Odium visited Sel? Sanderson: (Mind you, he actually stopped signing my book mid-autograph when I asked him this) Wow! That's an awesome question! No! No they did not! Me: So, as a follow up question, are Splinters, then, fragments of killed Shards (I was trying to ask an underlying question here on whether or not Odium had visited Nalthis)? Sanderson: Yes and no. Most of them, but not all of them. Not necessarily. I SWEAR I had more questions to ask based around some theories I have. I had a list. Hidden. Deep in my bag. I looked at it and came across two in particular that I have been DYING to ask him. Based on other information, I believe we may have seen or been near Endowment's Shardpool on Nalthis and was going to ask him about that. My other question revolved around whether Vin got spooked by Hoid was due to the fact that Hoid was one of the guards earlier in the chapter complaining about the cold and--since her senses are heightened from tin--if she picked up on that guard's voice and recognized it when Hoid was humming. On a subconscious level. Who knows though? Anyway, I think the first question really helps out some!

I would like to announce that I'M BACK! In terms of actual announcements, I suppose I could announce that I just bought Fils-Des-Brumes with my copy of The Rithmatist and am inordinately excited to read it.

I don't think I ever saw the glory in Rand being tortured in Lord of Chaos, or Egwene being chained as a damane, or Mat being hung for knowledge. Rand had to contest with claustrophobia after those events, and a severe mistrust of all Aes Sedai that threatened to break alliances important to the survival of the world. Egwene's crippling hatred of the Seanchan almost destroyed their already shaky truce in A Memory of Light, and caused her to lash out several times in the past that left her and the people in her company with the repercussions. Mat didn't want the memories of dead men in his head, however useful they are, he didn't want to be a hero - he hates that stuff. All their experiences and others have shown to have had negative consequences for the development of the character. I don't think we read the same books because I felt the horror that they had to endure and then live with even when they were free from it. How about Semirhage collaring Rand and making him hurt Min? It made Rand guilty and only strengthened his conviction that he had to protect everyone, which as you saw in the climax of AMoL almost destroyed him to let the Dark One win. So no, I never saw them as "glorious." Obstacles yes, but they were natural in the sense that our characters didn't necessarily have to overcome them in a cliched fashion and tie them all in a pretty bow at the end. But rather how they dealt with them and was it even possible to overcome them, or did they just have to live with the scars beyond the final words of the last book. Granted, you didn't like the books. That's fair. But I just can't see how you interpreted Robert Jordan's work as glorifying abhorrent behaviour. A reaction to a book is very much personal. If I decided to go out and scream "I'M THE DRAGON REBORN, BOW TO ME!!" in public then I've been affected on a personal level. Just as you would tell people who inquire about a review that it's not worth the effort. Likewise, if I started knife duels because it's okay in Ebou Dar people would call me insane (and rightly so). If I go out and start deriding a woman because characters in WoT do it, it must be acceptable behaviour, right? I've interpreted that from the books personally. But we know it's bad, we can understand it's bad, and if you can't see why it's unacceptable behaviour then it's not the fault of the book. The book is not explicitly telling you to go outside and be a racist bigot just because the Tairens and Illianers are. And yes, I know all about Mark Twain. But even he would agree that Mat is just awesome.

Great Concept for a Thread ok quick response strike team Tom, the Iron Misting + Steel Ferring twinborn = 3 points Will,the Steel Misting + Iron Ferring Twinborn = 3 points Harry, the chromium Misting + Steel Ferring Twinborn = 3 points Jack Cadmium misting =1 point Ok now my hypothesis is that this crew can "fly" on these principles 1)That both Tom and Will are both have attachable steel souls on there boots 2) Will launches himself into the air with a Steel misting push from Toms boots (while storing on iron) 3)Then Taps iron for more weight once he is moving at high speed increasing his momentum 4)Tom Pulls on Wills boots getting him air-born too now he keeps Pulling with iron at a constant rate 5)Will keeps changing his effective weight while "pulsing" away from Toms boots. Now this method should only be needed for High altitude flying for low level stuff you would just simulate the Vin method working as a team. All 4 of em should be able to get into the air by "piggybacking" one other member. Jacks there to "trap" or divide opposing foes for the team Harry is there to destroy other misting metal reserves asap then fight at high speed Tom is able to move at high speeds helping him position well for his iron pulls and avoid his own projectiles Will ...well we all know this guys strengths form alloy of law PS: not sure if I broke physics there but I think that should be possible let me know if i'm wrong, one thing is for sure ..Will and Tom are gonna get a lot of bruises from learning this little trick If i'm wrong about the physics on this then ill just take a chromium compounder, dude can just sit on his butt and compound all day waiting for whatever he is looking for to fall into his lap god knows if I was in the cosmere this is what I would wanna be.

That topic is interesting. I dare to share a thought that came up to me and I apologize if it's been said somewhere already. What, if that "A" and that "s" are not the important parts but "Donal" is, and that "ium" is only sort of an addition? I found that description for this name: So that ur-Shard was the ruler of the world(s) and was shattered by something or somebody. (Sounds similar to Cronos, I know.)

Well, he could just be making atium and hand-delivering it to Marsh to keep him ticking. And since preservation and ruin can fuel both magic systems, boring answer is that he just uses it to give people some extra allomantic power or whatever. Or I guess he could just be like blowing up a moon from time to time.

I'm intrigued by this idea of a divine murder mystery, and there were some great details - the way the body was both hidden and revealed, the pot of urine (odd but made sense, funny to me but something the believers could take seriously - was this from a real life cult or did you come up with it yourself?). Most of my thoughts on this were around the characters, so I'll split them up that way. First up Mahau. I liked how the section started, using the descriptive scene of the setting to demonstrate something of his personality. But after that I lost interest in him. He seemed more like a modern human than a god of vengeance. Things like his commentary on worshippers as currency just didn't feel like the mindset of a vengeful, awe-inspiring divinity. Making comment on this within the story was good, but I'm not sure why it comes from him. I really liked Arlon. Or rather, I loved to hate him. The guy's clearly a tool, but he's a hugely entertaining tool, kind of like I imagine many Norse gods to be. To me, he had the strongest personality, and showed the arrogance, insensitivity and indifference I expect from a mythological deity. Really enjoyed him. I wanted to like Neda, and think I might have done if I'd read this from the start, but in this section she mostly just seemed grumpy. The intolerance within that fitted a priestess of vengeance, but I think I needed to like her first, so that I'd feel sympathetic. Like I say, probably works if you've read earlier chapters. But I also didn't buy in to how casually she was treating and thinking about the gods. She's dedicated her life to worship - shouldn't she feel a sense of awe and grandeur at working with two deities, including one she worships? And where's her confidence in the god she's dedicated her life to? For a lifetime believer, she didn't always have high expectations of him. Having her attitude turn casual through the story would be an interesting arc, but didn't feel right to me for an early chapter. I had a similar view on the pope's behaviour, especially the things he said. He's the high priest of a temple, and now these outside gods are intruding right to the heart of the inner sanctum - where's the arrogance? Where's the outrage? Where's the assumption that his god must be doing things right? After all, he believes enough to dedicate his life to this guy, surely he won't quickly accept that he's anything other than awesome? It seemed at times that you were heading that way, but more of it could have made some really entertaining conflict, and if he doesn't view things that way I would want to know why. Overall, I I didn't believe in this as a scene between powerful gods and their high priests, not because it was badly written but because of what I saw of their personalities. I like the plot and am interested in how the characters deal with each other. Especially Arlon - the more I think about it, the more he's my favourite. Hope that helps. PS When they found the sock in the bed my mind immediately leapt to inappropriate jokes about teenage boys and crusty socks. Then I went 'no, not that sort of story'. But then after that I went 'wait, isn't that something Arlon might joke about?'

It seemed to me that Joel didn't believe he could do the rithmantic line and still does not believe he could make one. it could just be a matter of belief, but then if someone, Forgotten-Nalizar, could only really focus on rithmatists, he should still be able to tell, unless the first use of rithmantics fundamentally changes a person and this is what allows a forgotten to see the change. This based off the intent someone must have to actually use a rithmantic line.

Joel see's "something" inside of Nalizar's eyes, presumably another Forgotten. I think we all believe that the Forgotten have taken over or possessed their host humans of Nalizar and Harding. Therefore it could be said that they were vessels for the Forgotten. My theory is that the Shadowblaze "chain" to a human vessel and that is what makes a rithmatist. The Shadowblazes probably bind symbiotically where as the Forgotten are more parasitic. This also explains why a new Rithmatist cannot be made until an old one dies, the old one's Shadowblaze is then freed.

Seems to be a solid chapter. I didn't notice anything glaringly wrong. The personalities for Mahau, Neda, and Arlon seem strong and I'm starting to expect how they react to things. I still don't quite understand shrouds (as I'm reading). That's not bad, if you're planning on explaining more, but the following was confusing: Pg 9: "Neda glanced at the two gods. They were still alive, even if it looked like a soundproof Shroud was laid upon this room – if such a thing existed." -I don't know enough about shrouds to agree or disagree with Neda that it doesn't exist, so it threw me out of the story. A couple editing notes, for when you get there. Be on the lookout for excess words: pg 4: "Mahau didn't comment on the usage of a past tense to reference someone which was supposedly just missing" -you could probably stop at "past tense" and let the reader figure it out Also, watch for Some of your er/est ending words (redder, biggest, etc). You sometimes have the wrong form. There are a lot of question sentences that don't have question marks. I'm interested to see how the last god was killed--and if he was... Looking forward to next week!

I really like the idea that "fourth" relates to the view of time as a fourth dimension. Maybe the Shadowblaze naturally exists in a timeless, three-dimensional state, and it becomes two-dimensional when it tries to exist within time. (It's still three-dimensional, but one of its dimensions gets translated into time.) Or maybe it's not timeless, but has an alien system of time, and this has to be "removed" in order to bind its other three dimensions into our world.

I didn't knew there were so many people who have problems with sex or sexual violence. I have no problems with it, if it fit the story. not if it is fanservice. What I like about wot is that it is a strong story. It is well made. It's difficult to say what''s so strong about it, but I'm reading now the sword of truth series and, men, I feel the difference. magic is some kind of omnipotent force that does whatever is convenient to the plot. the books are constantly solved by the protagonist pulling new skills out of his chull whenever he needs it in a totally deus ex machina way. there are plenty of moments that feel just clichè. I'd have stopped reading by now, But I become fond of the characters (I'll give that to terry goodkind: he's good at making characters I grow fond of) and want to see what happens to them. The wheel of time avoids all of those common pitfalls of fantasy. it never feel stereotyped, and all the action makes sense andd is not just the magic solving everything because it's magic. On the other hand, I never felt fond for the characters. In fact, I'd have liked to bash them on the teeth with a baseball bat several times. But hey, if the characters in the wot talked to each other and took rational decisions, the whole thing would have been wrapped up in three books.

Some awesomeness/craziness from Brandon on reddit (pure gold, really): So Amaram is "my friending" Dalinar. Was Kaladin off-duty that day, or is the next line "Amaram said, just before he took a spear in the knee"?

No, you make him watch the first five seasons, and then say he can't watch the rest until he finishes all of the cosmere books and the sequels to the rithmatist.

Actually, wait a second. *10 seasons... 214 episodes... 45 minutes each... 9630, 160.5, 6.69...* Wait. A WEEK! NOOOOO! Peter, whatever you do, don't introduce Brandon to SG-1!!!! All the writing he won't do; all the writing... ( )

It's not deliberate. Brandon hasn't watched SG-1, though I keep telling him it's great.

I think tin/zinc makes a better Sherlock. He doesn't need compounding. Great senses and lightning fast deductions. Such a character would be superb in close quarters combat as well. Fighting like Robert Downey Jr. version. The point savings buys your smoker and landlady: Mrs. Hudson.

c'mon the biggest was the realisation of Sazed being the hero of ages.

Hmm. I'm not sure I can peg this to one. For me, there's multiple. I'll sort them by book Mistborn--TLR being Rashek. I guessed this right before Vin realizes it, so it wasn't quite as shocking as it would've been, but it still got me. The other big one was the atium and the Kandra. That totally blind-sided me. Warbreaker-- I'll agree with you about Vasher being Warbreaker. Didn't predict Bluefinger either, but the Vasher reveal surpassed that one in "What the--" -ness. Way of Kings-- Dalinar speaking the Dawnchant. If I was forced to pick one "What the--" moment, this would be it. I thought this one was equal shades shocking, unpredictable, and absolute genius to its core. Scribbler/Rithmatist spoilers below

On the Azish man, there are two possibilities. Sigzil, the bridgesman is one. Sigzil is a worldsinger, which offers intriguing possibilities of his knowledge. He has dark skin too. It seems likely he is the Azish man if the man is mentioned in the book, though the patch isn't mentioned. He tried to kill a darkeyed man but failed (despite thinking he had succeeded), and his master is Hoid. . From chapter 68. Seems unlikely as a possibility. For the second man, there's too many possibilities for me to easily guess. He is paranoid, Alethi, and thin. That could describe half the men in the kingdom most likely. He is the only obvious guess.

The Voidbringers also hold Stormlight perfectly according to Szeth so they shouldn't be glowing probably.

The only time I ever posted an Amazon review, it was for a book of alleged history which contained a number of serious inaccuracies. The review was somehow taken down within the day. Thus did my motivation to review things on Amazon die. I suppose I really should try again in order to tell more people about the awesomeness that is Brandon Sanderson, though. Major complaint: gone. Aiken Frost: Sure, there are some neat scenarios available in The Final Empire, and it'd make for some cool one-shots. There's nothing I can think of there which I would want to play or run for longer, though. And Alloy, as you say, feels like it was designed to be an adventure game setting. Although, for some reason, the more I try to think of adventures and NPCs for it, the more I wind up trying to mirror Trigun characters using different Twinborn combos. It's very odd. -- Deus Ex Biotica P.S. Wait... did Spook really make a bunch of refugees struggling to handle the destruction of all they had known start using uncomfortable (to them) street slang at formal functions for the sake of a joke? Never underestimate the humor of someone from Kelsier's crew!

I just finished the book about five minutes ago. I have a theory about how Harmony can communicate with Wax. I think it has to do with his prayer earring. It was given to him by one of those Faceless Immortal people (who I assume is a Kandra). I'm thinking its some kind of Hemalurgic thing, the way Vin's earring allowed her to communicate with Ruin in the trilogy. Also, notice that every time Wax communicates with Harmony he his wearing his earring. Now reactions: This book was awesome! I really want to know what the book Marsh gave to Marasi has in it. And with the sister and the other girls still missing and the Uncle still on the loose it makes me with Brandon would write another novella as a sequel to this, but it looks like we'll have to wait until the next Trilogy to find out what happened. That makes me kind of sad, except that I'm also super excited about the next Stormlight books, and the planned Elantris sequel. I just wish Brandon could write all those books all at once. Oh well.

"This is a very bizarre conversation." "Yes."

Oh man, the train fight was awesome. It was that classic Old West scenario, but with a Mistborn twist, which I really enjoyed. And that whole end sequence was fantastic. I knew cadmium was going to play into it somehow as soon as Wax made that cryptic comment about it being useful, but it seeing it come into play the way it did was really gratifying. My favorite part of that ending sequence, though? "You're welcome."

I've been waiting for the right moment to drop this tidbit. My cousin ran into Brandon in a bookstore once (crazy!) and asked him which of these two was more powerful. His response was that Nightblood is "several orders of magnitude more magical than a shardblade." It doesn't really answer your question, but it is definitely interesting, yes?

I think that Galladon might be looking for Hoid because of whatever happens in book 2. I, unfortunately, don't think that it's Raoden with him, but Kiin's son, Kaise, grown up. Why not Raoden? Because he's a king and an Elantrian, and he wouldn't leave his people (or Sarene) unless he absolutely had to. And while searching for a meddling planet hopper may be intriging, I don't think Raoden would find that he has to. Why Kaise? Elantris will revolve around Kiin's twin children, two, because Kaise's not as good at picking up languages as his sister Daorn is (Thinker speaks the language poorly), and because he seems like the kind of person to be Thinker. Why Galladon? Who else is a grumpy Dula?

This is just a hunch, but I feel that it falls well in line with Windrunner's Theory, but what if it's all about Service as opposed to Self-Sacrifice? I have a couple of reasons to back this up. First of all, it's definitely a LDS thing. The religion is all about Serivce, and I wouldn't find it so farfetched as to appear in at least one of his books. Second, running with this same theme, I think it shows a sort of parallel with the lives the Returned of Hallandren live. They spend their whole lives being served by others and, in the end, would have to serve one of their very subjects in order to grant their one request. It's a full circle. They Serve in order to become a Returned, they live life being Served AS a Returned, then they leave one last time in order to Serve someone they find worthy. Yes, I think this works with Self-Sacrifice as well, but it misses the middle point. I also think that this might reflect how Infant Returned are possible. To quote Vortaan This is true. Definitely. But, again taking into consideration LDS religion, where a Spirit (a nod to the Spiritual Realm) and the Mind (a nod to the Cognitive Realm) are sperate from the Body (And, of course, the Physical Realm) and that one's Spiritual and Mental state are at its Prime before and after entering a Body, it would make sense that the Spiritual and Cognitive aspects of a person would be the ideal age BEFORE enetering a Body in the Physical Realm (of course, then needing to grow as the body grows...and for those familiar with LDS religion Shadesmar could possibly likened unto the Veil? A stretch, I know). That being said, it makes a little more sense that an Infant Returned might have had the knowledge and understanding to make the choice to come back as a Returned. They had the knowledge in the Spiritual Realm, and were able to make the decision. As for actually Serving as an Infant, this one might be a stretch. But would it be so odd that one could choose to Serve before even entering the Physical Realm based on knowledge known before hand? And, again, this could also possibly work for Self-Sacrificing, as well. I kinda actually think the two are almost the same. The last thing I thought that would possibly work, however thin the idea may be, is that--running with the Self-Sacrificing Theory) maybe Splinters DO, in fact, come from DEAD Shards, and not KILLED Shards. To my knowledge, it has never been outrightly said if Endowment was alive, but rather Endowment was not killed. Maybe Breaths were a Self-Sacrificial way for Endowment to help the people of Nalthis, and they are able to hear her voice, similar--but not the same--as Dalinar does with Honor, when they emulate Endowment's actions and Self-Sacrifice. Just an afterthought, really. I know this is all just a bunch of babble, but it was late and I was just jotting some additional Theories while reading this thread. Lemme know what you think!