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You've just given me a brilliant idea: a wet safehand contest!

Yeah but with the need for stormlight as a fuel it somewhat limits the overpoweredness. is it still outrageously powerfull? sure. But so was TLR with his compounding. Double gold is hard to beat. Compounded health, speed, strength and the mental speed to use them all? My money would be on TLR. dang, now that we know about compounding i'm bummed we didn't ever really get to see TLR in action. just that short bit with Kelsier. He didn't really do anything against Vin.

Hi guys! I'm from New Zealand the land of the long white cloud or as us Kiwis call it -- Aotearoa. I've enjoyed reading fantasy and science fantasy books for a long time but there came a point when I burned myself out on the genre. I've read epics ranging from classics like J. R. R. Tolkien and Isaac Asimov, to the funny Terry Pratchett and the punny Piers Anthony. I'm also a huge fan of the older generation of novelists in the genre such as David Drake, Eric Flint, L. E. Modesitt, C. J. Cherryh, David Eddings and the exceptional Weis & Hickman. And what list of great authors in the genre wouldn't be complete without Patrick Rothfuss, Robert Jordan, Feist, Brooks, Rowling, Gaiman or Salvatore? When I picked up a Sanderson book, I thought I'd get more of the same except a little different. Boy, was I suprised. And I continue to be. Not just with his stories which are fresh and structured in such consistent ways but also with his breakneck release schedule! I've been reading a lot of speculation to tide me over until WoR finally releases. At times, while going through the forum, I felt like upvoting the members of this forum who continually speculate, theorize and hash out the details in Brandon's Universe for keeping me entertained and educated until the next book comes out. Since I have to be a member to best show that appreciation and gratitude, here I am.

No, But he is the ONLY Cap in the army that have darkeyes now =) If when he was Squadleader he apparently already was a catch, now that is is Cap the women in the camp will trown safehand slevees at him (I now very scandalous). I fell that a certain Kholin that are well know for his womanizer ways will get competion in the form of very fit, tanned, long haired young Captain, very silly I now =) Serious, married, sons ? I thinked more in the line of courting or something, and I think that he failed her not in be turned i slave( what would be so simple now that he is free agian) but in other way ( the plot must get thicker)

More Kiwis? Awesome! My favorite SA castmember would have to be Kaladin just because I relate so much to his wanting to do good but failing so many times. Having been through bad times myself, though not as bad as he has, I understand how easy it is to just stop caring and settle for a lesser version of myself. When he decides to help Dalinar instead of escaping and be vindicated ffor his decision still gives me goosebumps. I've read Steelheart and loved it as well! I'm definitely making time for the rest of his work.

I think you were on the right track until you got all serious. Alespren will change the world. Axies will introduce the Alespren to the Parsh and they will all take on the hobo form which makes them immune to Odiums influence. If I'm wrong, and it was those zany artifabrian scientists that were important, then it should be noted that a guass rifle is based on magnetics, but could just as easily be actuated through gravity manipulation. set a projectile in a long tube and accelerate it to about 20 gravities and you have a very deadly weapon. At those velocities each projectile would create an explosive impact that could rip through the ranks of thunderclasts with ease.

Teft is actually Bela reincarnated into a man.

I just found this "review" of WoR on Tor.com left in the comments of the WoK reread by a beta reader: Source: http://www.tor.com/blogs/2013/12/the-way-of-kings-reread-chapter-48#comments (scroll down to comment 19.

I haven't seen this theory in the forums, so I thought I would bring it up here. Way of Kings, Page 874 "'...I let Tien die, I failed my spearmen, the slaves I tried to rescue, Tarah...' He hadn't thought of her in some time. His failure with her had been different from the others, but a failure was nonetheless." Page 880 "What would have happened to him, if Tarah hadn't coaxed him out of his single-minded dedication? Would he have burned himself out, as she'd claimed?" So who is Tarah? Facts: - A woman from Kaladin's past who came into his life after he took up the spear. Likely after Tien died, because he wasn't dedicated until after that event. - Someone Kaladin failed, but in a different way than the others. Likely she isn't dead, because all the others died. - She helped Kaladin enjoy more in life than the spear. Kaladin's history with Laral shows he is attracted to women. Kaladin describes Tarah as coaxing him, which sounds like something someone would do with flirting. So if she didn't die, how would he have failed her? Could he have been engaged or even married to her and failed to fulfill his obligation because he was sold into slavery? Maybe Kaladin's heart is already taken.

So, I'm in an RP group with some members of the tumblr cosmere fandom over skype, and sometimes in our off-topic chat gets very interesting. I snatched this gem to share on tumblr and figured I ought to share over here too. Lunarubato: Windrunners are the best at dodgeball FeatherWriter: "GET OFF THE CEILING THAT'S CHEATING" FeatherWriter: That's how the Szeth/Kaladin showdown will go. Windrunner dodgeball. Abalidoth: If you can dodge a Shardblade you can dodge a ball! FeatherWriter: *ugly laughter in Starbucks* Emmalyn: oh god XD Lunarubato: Gets down to one Windrunner, uses reverse lashing to block all the oncoming balls, gets entire team back in play FeatherWriter: Bridge 4 is def Kal's team FeatherWriter: And Renarin FeatherWriter: Renarin doesn't want to play, but Kaladin and Adolin say it will "toughen him up" Lunarubato: Bridge 4 gets in trouble for their "improvisational dodging" which mostly involves hiding behind the bleachers FeatherWriter: They want to know why they can't have shields. Lunarubato: "Turn the bleachers sideways," they cry as they rip pieces of metal from the wall As you can see, we are a very mature group of adults. So mature.

... When you gather a crew of specialists and raise an army in order to overtake and overthrow your government. Boy, don't you just hate it when that happens!

Kia Ora Auri from a Perth Based Kiwi. The people here are a good lot, even if they mostly drop their u's

You can use the multi-category search: http://coppermind.net/wiki/Special:MultiCategorySearch Just type "Characters" in the first box, then either include cosmere books or exclude non-cosmere books. Should give you what you want.

I think I'll just go ahead and give it to you Mailli. Maybe Sesemalex Dar wasn't as memorable as it was for me, or maybe my clue just stunk.

When you start experimenting with doodles of your home country, trying to access the Dor.

Hey, you just gave me a thought. I don't remember the book saying anywhere that Tarah's a young lady around Kaladin's age. I mean, coaxed can have a different meaning here. She could very well just be some old lady who became the maternal figure in his life after his parents stop talking to him. Tarah: Feeling down? I baked you some cookies. Now don't eat it all at once. You'll get fat! Yeah, who knows? It could happen!

I agree that it isn't likely that Kaladin is going to have any kind of romantic relationship with Laral in the future. That being said I don't have such a harsh view of her. I got the distinct impression that Laral didn't have a lot of control in her life and there was a lot going on off stage with her that we didn't see. In any case I have a very hard time believing that Laral actually wanted to marry Roshone. Edit : It suddenly occurred to me that one reason she may have been so frantic when Rillr was killed was that she might have suspected that Roshone would still want a marriage. The man is a living happiness sink.

I think I'm more intersted in Kaladin having emotional moments with his spear Some of the best scenes in WOK have to do with Kaladin dancing with or resisting the lure of "the spear" *wink* *wink*. Brandon makes Kaladin dancing with his spear sound better than sex, drugs, and alcohol lol.

When you're bored in church and you find yourself wondering which shard Jesus had..

It's an interesting idea, but I personally think that it might just be coincidence. Going by the chronology page on the wiki the events in Warbreaker take place before any of the ones in The Way of Kings, and unless Kaladin can somehow travel back in time and become returned even though he wasn't born on Nalthis, it just wouldn't be possible.

To be honest, I'm kind of fine with any romance with Kaladin, really... Provided that his main love interest doesn't suddenly become completely obsessed over some other stupid villain that the author introduced in the final book, side against him despite everything they've been through, and render the past TWELVE books worth of emotional investment completely wort... *Cough* Sorry about that. Fresh off another series. Still fuming over the way it ended. So yeah, Kaladin has a lot of potential. BS can really do whatever he likes with his romance... He could even throw Laral back in the mix and give him a little spice to shake up his life. If he could do it well, I'm all for it.

I know it isn't quite the same, but over on steelministry.com we have a game running called futile efforts where we are trying to assassinate the lord Ruler. Herowannabe who is running it does awesome narration, including some from the lord Ruler's point of view, so if you want to see a bit more of him you can check it out. I've compiled the narration, cutting out all of the out of character comments in this thread if you feel like a fun read. (You don't need an account to view this campaign).

Actually, maybe that's the reason he gets caught again? Maybe he keeps trying to go back to Tarah? Speculation is fun!

I think the closest we have to what you are describing is the Character Category page(s) but it isn't restricted to just cosmere people.

Odium is not so bad. The real awful Shard would be Devotion. It would have Splinters that'd be total sycophants and stuff. Ugh.

True, perhaps. But how did she "coax" him away from being obsessed with the spear? The reason I think she could be a love interest is Sanderson using the word "coaxed" instead of "persuade" They mean close to the same thing, but coaxing suggests persuasion through friendly means. Maybe it is nothing, but it could be something. .

This thread has made me very sad. Alaxel what you say about biology may be correct for the most part though there are many cases where some ones biological gender can be harder to define. Gender as in woman and man or otherwise should not have to rely on whether someone has a particular organ between their legs it makes very little sense. But I guess that is my thoughts and you are entitled to your own but I just feel sad and felt I should say something. And it isn't really your fault I've just been on edge since Australia repealed their homosexual marriage law and I've been reading about mars hill church... I just feel helpless sometimes. This is probably the stupidest 17th shard post ever though to be fair I have never really given much to this fandom really. I swear I'll do good fan art someday lol. And note to feather your post about how tumblr works is beyond useful

Welcome that's a fine list of authors you mentioned. I am also from New Zealand hooray and I think at least one or two others are on this site. Yeah I am constantly blown away by the theories that get posted, so it is definitely good we have you here to give them extra credit that they deserve for keeping us entertained and their commitment to Brandon's books. Well anyways welcome to the best fan site on the webs and I hope you enjoy your time here

It may not have been flirting or it may have been. Still, how did he fail her? I doubt it would have had the same weight as the people who died because of his failure unless it was something really big. Failing a commitment to her could be as important. I doubt merely failing to pay a debt or something like that would have weighted as much as his other failures. He might not have thought of her for sometime because he believed, and still believes, his chance with her is gone because of his slave brand. Page 98 says: "They'd taken his freedom, his family, his friends, and--most dear of all--his dreams." What were Kaladin's dreams? Could they have been dreams of a family life with Tarah? Maybe not, but really after Tien's death we know very little of Kaladin's life--until he defeats the shardbearer and is sold into slavery of course. I just think it is funny how fans keep shipping Kaladin with two lighteyed women (even I have considered the pairing of him with Jasnah, though she is too old for him) when he has a deep aversion to lighteyes. He could end up with one of the heroines, but isn't that what always happens in these kind of stories, the heroes pair up. What if Sanderson threw us a curve ball and made Kaladin unavailable because he was already married? Maybe Tarah and Kaladin weren't together maybe they were. However, Tarah will play an important part later, somehow otherwise she would not have been mentioned at all.

Hey, I'm all in for a Bridge Four-way with Kaladin, Jasnah, Shallan and Tarah.

Long rambly talk about what tumblr is and how it works in spoiler tags. And when I say long, I mean it. Seriously VERY LONG.

That timer would be even more tortuous! Like watching a pot boil for 3 months.

I'm with you! To glory and spoilers.

Fast!!! Someone track his ip to the "17th shard assault force" bust the place where he hided this treusure =) I take point, someone with me ?

Jealous, I think, doesn't quite fit. Jealous is a man looking at his neighbor's new car with a frown on his face, a child looking at her sibling's new toy. The feeling I have right now is more along the lines of Gollum, his hands outstretched, gibbering and begging Frodo for the Ring. WANT SO BADLY Also there were totally spoilers I think based on the scene that made the person sad and I AM SO EXCITED

5. Brandon indicated that there is a spren trapped inside Gavilar's stone, in the sense they are trapped inside gemstones used with fabrials. We don't know what kind of spren though. There's been theories of spren corrupted by Odium or actual Splinters of Odium but it's all guesswork right now. I have this theory that is more of a wild guess than anything else. In short, the Parshendi are Voidbringers but not by their free will. In one of their forms, that I dub the Void Form, Odium is able to control them or at least manipulate them, kind of like Ruin with people touched by Hemalurgy. And the spren inside Gavilar's stone is the one that transforms the Parshendi into their Void Form.

Bad-chull Kurk is Bad-chull

Also, wouldn't "Stormborn" be an ever so slightly more awesomer name?

Wow this is all too amazing. And slightly disturbing at the same time.

I will also Kabsal style if I lose.

nonsense balderdash Figgldygrak is an anagram for seon gangs dry elf king shardblade. because that makes sense

Ha - that would be a funny scene. A conventional assassin walks in and stabs someone in a completely Awakener-proof fortress

You mean the same richard rahl that forced a whole continent to submit to him through intimidation, declared himself emperor and commander in chief of the army, and then when the nations finally accepted his rule he retired into the mountains to tend his sick wife and refused to give any order? Or the one who abanddoned a people to slaughter because they voted against him at an election? ignoring the circumstance that the king, which is also their religious autority, told them to vote against him, and that 90% of that population (the haken part) is brainwashed since early age to accept anything they are told to? the sword of truth has too much protagonist-centered morality, and while richard is a good man, he did plenty of bad things with little justification, and the story just forgave him because he's the protagonist. back on rand, love would appear a clichè to us, because it's been overused. but rand don't have all our knowledge of stories. he's not genre-savy as we are. he would not recognize love as a clichè. anyway, he was in love at the time, and when you are in love all that stuff about loving makes much more sense. Also, while fighting for love is clichè, and I personally think love is overrated, but it's still a nice thing. among all the things one can have to live for, it's one of the best. certainly better than if he had said "for consumerism!" or "for online videogaming!"

The biggest thing that attracts me to the Stormlight Archives is the whole Categorical Imperative feel to it. For those of you who don't know or who aren't interested enough to investigate for yourselves, the Categorical Imperative is a system of moral philosophy proposed by Immanuel Kant. Kant proposes that there are certain actions, duties, or moral responsibilities that are absolute. They are both a means and an end. Most moral systems are Hypothetical Imperatives which are very situational. Something like, "Don't ever kill anyone. Except in self defense. Or in the defense of another. Or to defend your property." A Hypothetical Imperative is very situational. As you can see in my example, there are a lot of exceptions to the Imperative. You could even add more to it than what I listed. Like a Utilitarian twist to it. Something like, "Never kill an innocent person unprovoked. Unless the killing of that individual will save multiple other individuals." Human beings are NOT rational creatures. We are rationalizing creatures. Much like the Alethi, with enough thought we can do despicable things and convince ourselves that we're good and noble. Not so the Categorical Imperative! It is black and white. Do and do not. A Categorical Imperative might be something like, "I will defend those that cannot defend themselves." There's no wigggle room there. It's an Imperative that is both an End and a Means. And it's such an unnatural way of thinking that I'm sure most people are entirely unfamiliar with the concept. So, to watch characters struggle with this and not just automatically do it like an automaton, is really captivating, compelling, and it feels authentic. Even Kaladin struggles with his Ideal. He was very hesitant to help Dalinar Kholin at first. Not because he didn't want to, but because Categorical Imperatives, which will be referred to as Ideals from here on, are such an unnatural way of thinking that you cannot help but try to rationalize them. In this case, Kaladin thought it would be a lost cause that would accomplish nothing. He was still seeing his Ideal as a End whose Means influenced it and not as both a Means and an End simultaneously. Sorry if that was too lengthy and/or boring. But it's a really fantastic concept that I have difficulty talking about without getting in depth. The second biggest thing I love about the Stormlight Archives is its portrayal of the many faces of leadership. I spent four years as an Infantry Marine and am very, very well acquainted with both exceptional and incompetent leaders. I don't know if readers without a similar background would find it as enjoyable, but when I saw Dalinar Kholin dig a latrine...I swore that if some dark magic sent me to Roshar, I would follow Dalinar Kholin to the ends of the Cosmere. That small act meant more to me than his reputation as a legendary warrior. It told me, "This man cares about his men. They are more than just resources to be used economically and numbers in a ledger to him." That type of leadership is precious and rare. In my experience, more leaders are concerned with, "What extra or dangerous duties can I volunteer my men to perform in order to make myself look better to my superiors?" Or, at best, indifference. Not a small amount are petty and bullies and they use their authority to show their dominance because that is their only sense of self worth. Brandon Sanderson has done a remarkable job portraying leadership. For those of you who are inexperienced with it - take my word for it. He does it so well that its sublime. The third reason slightly contradicts the OP's instructions but...do you see my Avatar's mustache? A mustache that size plays by its own rules. That being said, the third season I love SA is this website. It's an excellent community and I now have a pathological need to check this site for new theories evey few hours. If I wake up in the middle of the night to take a leak, I'll check 17th Shard. Edit: Spelling.

I don't know who Richard Rahl is, but I think that was an obviously bad decision. Yeah there was little he could do at the moment but you can't just abandon a country like that. The point is that Rand was already close to the breaking point, he was making bad decisions. And for the fact that love being what rescue Rand from the abyss is not very original: yeah it isn't, that doesn't make it less true.

Vague spoilers for ADWD: This question is central to ADWD. The entirety of Mereen bored me, but I recently read an essay on the arc that let me see it in a new light. The interesting thing is that she tried to bring peace to Mereen, but the compromises she had to do left a bitter taste in her mouth. She felt like she failed, when she succeeded. Mereen was at peace for a while, and all signs pointed to it continuing. And yet, at the end of the novel, she decides to give it up. She embraces fire and blood. She's done with peace, and she is going to be a conquering warlord, damnation the innocents who are hurt along the way. So... is she good? I don't think any character in ASOIAF is wholly good or wholly evil, as it were (though a case could be made for the Boltons, and Ned, who was so stupid that he may as well have been trying to maliciously screw over everything). Dany, I think, is quickly falling from her pedestal as the breaker of chains down to the more 'evil' side of the scale. We will see, though. Say what you will about Martin, the man can do some excellent character development. I'm still not sure why I don't hate Jaime. Seriously, I feel I understand perfectly why he threw a kid out of a window. It's very weird.

He was taking advisement from Breeze, black was just getting too monotonous.

As long as they don't give them wands and make them scream 'Stupify' or 'Leviosa' I wont have to murder anyone.

For me, it's a tough choice between The Black Company Series or the Garrett, P.I. books, both by Glen Cook. The Black Company really appeals to me, personally, because I spent four years in the Marine Corps Infantry. I immediately identified with all of the characters and felt like I've known them for years. That, combined with the accurate and compelling portrayal of the trials and tribulations of a military unit, told from the perspective of the Company Physician, makes this book unforgettable. The deeper questions about the nature of duty and honor that get explored are also exceptionally well done. The Garrett, P.I. books are also fantastic. Witty, humorous, clever, you want to read these books. The stories star Garrett, a handsome Ex Marine turned freelance private investigator. He lives in the city of TunFaire, home of humans, elves, dwarves, trolls, giants, fairies, and every possible combination of those races, and works as little as he possibly can to get by. I'm doing a poor job explaining these books, but suffice it to say it's Noire style mystery in a Fantasy setting with plenty of humor. Prior to Stormlight Archive, I would have said that I enjoyed KingKiller Chronicles more than the Cosmere novels...but, damnation it...nothing happens in KKC! It's beautifully written and interesting, but Sanderson has spoiled me. I expect some mind blowing craziness to happen by the end if the novel. Besides, Kaladin woukd stomp the rust out of Kvothe any day.

Ham for Mistborn, 2014. I would say Dox, but he was a bit dead by then. More likely, they would've studied it all book 3, and it would finally be consumed in a time of need 8 pages before the end.