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  1. Okay, I'm going to start with the Steelheart release signing transcription. The Google doc can be found here. I'm not going to be transcribing everything, just the relevant questions (i.e. I'm not transcribing the pleasantries and such or people who don't have questions). Edit: Okay I've done as much as I can tonight but I need some sleep. I will finish the Steelheart Release party transcription in the morning (I'm pretty close anyways) and then I'll start on the other one.
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  2. I believe that the priests of the Heirocracy really were having visions. In fact, I think they were having the same visions Dalinar is having and they were following Honor's command to "unite them" when they were trying to rule all of Roshar. Then the sunmaker, under odium's influence, came and messed everything up, fabricating false evidence that the prophecies were lies.
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  3. So this is the Soulcaster that my mom made for me for Christmas. I worked with her on it, using descriptions from the book, and it's fitted to my hand. I've been wearing it almost nonstop since it was finished!
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  4. I know I'm months late posting this, but I have recordings of the signing portion (which means ALL of the questions anyone asks Brandon) of the last two big signings I went to - the Steelheart release in Orem and the Jordan Landing signing. I plan on leaving my phone at the table tomorrow too, at the SLC signing, so I'll have another lengthy recording to add on here soon. Here are the links to both of those recordings. Jordan Landing Steelheart Orem The files are HUGE (both are over 2 hours long), so you'll have to download them. I would've transcribed them, but between work and everything else I have going on right now, I really don't have the time. At all. Nor the patience. But I know plenty of you folks on here are quite adept at transcribing things like this, so I will leave it in your capable hands. Also, neither is the full signing. My phone kind of started dying (I should probably invest in a good recording device so I don't have to resort to my phone). Mi'ch has the other half of at least the Orem one. And I think the Jordan Landing one as well.
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  5. not that I have thousands of dead squirrels sitting around just in case...
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  6. One time, when a Mistborn was going to a Dragonwasp Legion meeting, he saw a grey Shardbearer in a dark alley, brutally slitting open a gigantic watermelon with a rusty Sliver of Honor. So, of course, the Mistborn burned the watermelon, lighting the Shardbearer's cape on fire, blue flames concealing it from his view. The Shardbearer turns into a duck, ripping open the cosmere, and seeing a locked door emitting dark shine and Stormlight. The Shardbearer ran to get his Blade, tripping over duck beaks that littered the ground, breaking his neck. The Mistborn howled at a monkey's attacks on his Mistcloak. Thrashing and struggling, he broke free, hitting the door with a llama and a koloss head, breaking it into splintery bits. The door floated down the river and ended in a black shardpool. Meanwhile, the Shardbearer thrashed on the floor and died. A shadowy figure hopped out of the Cognitive Realm and into the river. The Shadowy figure glowed with dark light and quietly said, "Where is Hoid?" The Mistborn answered, "Where isn't he?" At the same time, the Cognitive Realm was torn asunder by a massive Voidbringer. It killed many sprens that tried to intervene. His metals spent, and his Stormlight stolen by a small green larkin, the shadowy figure, named "DARKNESS" the Evil Librarian, began building an altar out of cheese! This brilliant choice made many Epics weep with tears From the smell of their weakness. Ookla the Mok rebuilt the door with the most evil thing possible in the Cosmere. The opposing force was a rhino cross-bred with Hoid an 16 different aspects of Odium as well as 14 of Ruin. Unfortunately, a Shade flew in right in the middle of the giant altar, crushing the brilliant and wet kandra cheese container which exploded, spraying lemonade all over his tattered remains - hitting the large hippopotamus that was really just begging to become a Knight Radiant that bonds with Deathspren - and kills a poor, innocent chull. He [the Shade] launched it into the sky, where it grew three heads without even considering that the Heralds were notoriously unimpressed with him. Jezrien yelled, "How dare you throw a chull, you skunk eater!" At that moment, Kaladin threw his chull-sized suit, and despite the fact that Amaram already had his head shaved, Kal recognized him. He signaled to Lopen to eviscerate Amaram. Unfortunately, that was the Horneater's plan, before he became a Knight Radiant. A Knight Radiant.
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  7. Limelight only has one weakness. 5th graders. Just being exposed to a fifth grader renders him powerless. A fifth grader with a water pistol is absolutely lethal to Limelight. This is why he gave up teaching.
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  8. I understand why he would be worshiped so reverently now
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  9. Actually, since all Shardblades are distinctive and somewhat unique, I think an Honorblade would be pretty well camouflaged.
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  10. Guys, I LOVE the forums. Extremely helpful, and I even have fun when my theories are wrong!! Anyway, I digress. So, Bloody Tan was either burning Poor Man's Atium, or was just clever. Ok. But it seems like my idea about the Set has a little founding, which was the basis for the Bloody Tan idea. Atium will probably be coming back... Here's my idea relating to that. So, we know Ati was a good guy before he was a Shard. (The Letter) But the shard affected his personality... I think there's a term for that I can't remember, but whatever. So, what if Sazed is trying to avoid drastic changes to his personality, and have a little more Preservation than Ruin in him, by allowing the Pits to reform?
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  11. It's unclear. I'm certain Nohadon was not a Herald, personally. He seems to have offered up the ideals that orders of Knights arranged themselves around, although they served various Heralds. This is how I see the timeline. Oathpact created Many Desolations Nohadon's Desolation Dalinar's Vision (Immediately afterward) Nohadon writes The Way of Kings Radiants Founded More Desolations Aharietiam (Final Desolation) Heralds Quit, Oathpact broken Recreance Hierocracy Modern Day
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  12. Thanks for posting in-between; I was worrying I'd end up double posting. I liked the Renarin piece, but I'm probably going to end up hijacking this thread with my bias as I go on, so I thought you should get the warning. Speaking of warnings, here's my response on Bells. One of the things I dislike about fan fiction is the use of established characters. I realise it's an insane bias, since the reason I like a book is because of the characters, rather than in spite of them. But whenever I read something, I can't help but think the character is a little off- which they are. If two people read a book, they can get different interpretations of the same man. If I followed Brandon's notes correctly, he had a similar issue finishing the Wheel of Time, where his Mat was different from Jordan's. The fact Bell's is set in an alternate universe helped alleviate some of that disconnect. It's Kaladin is different from the Kaladin of Bridge 4, but there's the basic nature of him as an honourable man who protects people is still there, buried. The Shallan cameo was a neat touch, and since she is one of my favourite characters I appreciated her appearance. Again, I liked the ending, echoing the idea that, whatever universe he exists in, Kal plays a role in opposing the desolations. I'm sorry to not be providing criticism beyond saying I like it, but that's because I do like it. Where Renarin's POV struck me as very GRRM, this one seemed closer to Brandon's style of POV shots. EDIT: Training session proves both my points, actually. As far as character interpretations go, I almost Kaladin to be more unapproving of Adolin from the outset. In ASOIAF, characters can seem completely different from one point of view to another(I'm avoiding spoilers, but I'm thinking CoK and ASoS specifically). In Brandon's books, I tend to see that, while characters view one another differently, there is more consistency in their overall presentation. So, despite's Kal's dislike of him in WoK (and here), Adolin generally comes across as noble. And am I the only one surprised that, for once, it's Renarin with the pretty young girl with him? DOUBLE EDIT: I've just started A Strange Mix of Both. I'll probably wait until there's another intervening post, then edit my response chapter-by-chapter onto it.
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  13. I don't know if I agree that Amaram is a decent guy who had a moment of weakness, but I do understand the situation was more complex than people are giving it credit for. Amaram offered Kaladin the Shards as was proper and Kaladin refused them. I believe that Amaram was at a loss and sought the council of Restares. Restares advised Amaram on the course of action he should follow. Amaram was still conflicted about following that course and offered Kaladin another chance to claim the Shards. When Kaladin refused once more, and then tried to have them given to one of his men, it helped Amaram internally justify using the methods suggested by Restares. This doesn't exonerate Amaram, but in context, I wouldn't say he was evil, just another human who, at the suggestion of another, put his own selfish desires above what he knew was right. On the other hand, if Kaladin continued to serve under Amaram as a Shardbearer and became a Radiant, I'm fairly certain that due to Kaladins honor code, Sadeas would have had him killed eventually. I don't believe that Amarams actions since taking the Shards have any bearing at all in regards to the first ideal. His actions in claiming the Shards were counter to the first ideal irregardless of actions that may have occurred as a result of taking the Shards. Why he did what he did may have some impact, but it is fairly clear that he chose to take a path that was not honorable in accordance with The Way of Kings or the first ideal of the Knights Radiant. Your personal opinion on the value of those ideals is not relevant when comparing actions against a written established honor code as the first ideal, and The Way of Kings establishes. I can be annoyed at someone and still respect their capabilities. Regardless of how Adolin feels about Kaladin on a personal level, Adolin isn't a fool. He also knows for a fact that this very same darkeyed captain saved his life and the lives of his men from certain death.
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  14. This is certainly happening at the BYU Bookstore Monday evening to well after midnight. An announcement should be made in January.
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  15. I saw this on facebook for Brandon's birthday and thought it worth sharing here:
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  16. The 9/10 dead is pre-Radiants. A better piece of evidence to consider (regarding their track record) is that 9/10 of the Heralds survived with the Radiants present. I get the impression from the prologue that usually most, if not all, of the Heralds died in a desolation prior to the creation of the Knights Radiant.
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  17. Bloody Tan being a Seer had been my thought, but then I read this (go to question 10). I actually re-read it and I think the whole thing might be less mystical than we think (although a bunch of people think he was burning electrum, which gave him just enough of his own future-sight to pull it off). Wax and Lessie had a blink-code going, and this was a move they'd pulled off frequently in the past. I think it's possible that Tan simply knew how to count down with them, and that's how he pulled it off. I grant you, it's not a perfect theory, but I'm keeping my eye out to see if I can't figure out more.
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  18. Soulstamps loose power the farther they get from MaiPon.
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  19. Brilliant! Just plain brilliance! I'd use some of them to get back at my ex, though.
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  20. Alaxel, I have edited out that political opinion you put in your post. It is irrelevant to the topic at hand, and has a high chance of causing off topic flaming with people who disagree with you. I would ask everyone to save potentially inflammatory political or religious opinions for dedicated topics on the subject, if they are ever to exist. (Those serious topics would be heavily moderated.) This goes for everyone: not everyone sees the world in the same way as you do, and that's okay. Hyperbole, or inflammatory opinions get nasty quick, and we want 17th Shard to be a pleasant place to discuss things. Those sorts of opinions will be moderated heavily, from any side of the political spectrum. I will be very strict in this.
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  21. If i'm being honest...I don't have nearly the integrity to trust myself with that much power. That said, an army of marching gingerbread men sounds pretty fun right now.
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  22. So after reading the Lift excerpt I took a closer look at the KR and the surges like I assume most people did. Now we all know how Brandon likes his magic ordered. And taking a closer look at the surges i tried to make a little more sense out of them and here were my thoughts (sorry if this has been shared before). Like allomantic metals, i think each surge has a companion that it is opposite to in intent. Growth-Division Pretty straightforward, one controls creation the other is most likely more destructive Illumination-Transformation One deals with changing something entirely versus changing appearances Friction-Pressure One makes someone (possibly objects they invest into as well?) very slick whereas the other can make things stick together Travel-Gravity This one might be more of a reach, hard to tell as how travel works is pretty unknown, but I think the correlation is a safe bet. Really all depends on how Travel is performed. So this leaves us Surface Tension or whatever he decides to call it. My understanding of what this would do is strengthening a material, making it more rigid (possibly used in the creation of blades and shards?). The opposite of this would be a surge which I am going to call Vibration (credit to Count for the better name). I think this would work one of two ways. 1) Vibrating a materials or one's own atoms so that someone could pass through an object. 2) Making a material more brittle, which could be used to destroy armor, or quickly create tunnels or escape routes (even though transformation could do this as well in a different way) . Now correct me if I'm wrong but dissipation would be used by Stonewarders and possibly Explorers if that is an Order. Explorers this would make sense, as they would have Travel and Vibration, allowing them to go practically anywhere with relative ease. Stonewarders fits pretty well also. Tension to strengthen one's own items and themselves, and either destroy an enemy's armor or the ability to ignore it (pass through them) with Vibration. Pretty good combo for a guardian. Thoughts? Am I crazy? spoiler - probably Argument against - Coupled surges above don't make any discernible pattern in the Knights Radiant symbol from what i can see. Some are even shared by an order while other's are far apart. Maybe one is from cultivation while the other is Honor? Growth and what Wyndle says about his mother make me think that he is of Cultivation at least. Syl is pretty clearly of Honor.
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  23. Why in the world would you vacation here?!
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  24. This seems very thoughtful and creative to me. Upvote! Some have long pegged Dalinar as order 8 based on the Resolute/Builder attributes. They seem to be both strengths, where he is resolving conflicts about being Resolute in tWoK. There is also WoB that the Radiant orders are human. These together with some character-building from the Eshonai reading and the synopsis point to Dalinar as a Bondsmith (order 8) and Eshonai as the Explorer (not a radiant order). These are unproven details and not central to your theory. While your idea seems interesting, I struggle with your premise that the radiant abilities come in opposing pairs. The oppositions you propose seem somewhat forced to me. You call Travel-Gravity a reach, then somehow decide the correlation is a safe bet. I don't follow. Is this fitting data to the theory? You connect Growth and Division, but it seems that Division (splitting things apart, presumably (done by Skybreakers)) could just as easily be opposed to Pressure (used to stick things together). There is some support for the idea that the some of the abilities (such as Pressure) can be reversed by the Radiants who use them. I like the ability, and it seems like a possibility, but there are two steps in the justification that I don't follow. I don't see any support for the opposing pairs of abilities theory. The specific oppositions also seem unclear or somewhat forced to me. This leaves the ability as a perfectly fine possibility, but without any textual support. Regrowth, for example, was used in the Starfall vision before the Lift interlude was released. If you could cite an example of someone using the ability in the text, it would strengthen your case. Another way to support it would be to show how it exists in other magic systems. Brandon has gone on record as saying that certain abilities will be achieved in different ways across magic systems as we have seen with flying and illusions. This ability does not seem to be shared with any Cosmere magic systems. You could maybe make that argument using Steelheart (which is non-Cosmere), if you are familiar with that. If you do, please hide Steelheart references with spoiler tags.
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  25. Enter the self-proclaimed Thrill-Meister. This is one of my favorite pet topics and I have asked Brandon several questions about it. Kaladin is indeed immune to the Thrill and during the sparring with Jost in the flashback, "something odd is happening there". Dalinar has many times over the years experienced the Thrill, but at the Battle of the Tower, something different is beginning to happen. The Thrill does clearly seem to be sourced from Odium by it's nature and effect. Source Source Quote Quote
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  26. Odium is the Shard of Hatred. He is the definition of Odium, not destruction. Sylphrena hates Dalinars Shardblade. Shallans Cryptic doesn't seem all that disturbed by hers. We've seen three different types of Shardblades in TWoKs. Stone is important, this has been discussed in depth and pretty much everyone agrees. Why it is important is still in question. As far as caring about life... Kaladin cares about protecting those who can not protect themselves. In some respects this can be construed as the same thing, but I think it is important to point out that Kaladin has not taken a Hippocratic Oath, and has not only killed both human and non-human combatant, but he excels at doing so. Alethkar was appointed to be the defenders of Roshar during the period of the Silver Kingdoms. They have a long and glorious history going back thousands upon thousands of years in which their primary focus was the arts martial. This is why they are the most warlike nation on Roshar. They are not the only nation on Roshar that is covered in rock. Nantanatan is also largely barren of soil, as are many other nations. I have my doubts that the Shin are quite as peaceful as they appear. It does appear that they send agents out into the world that cause chaos and dissension amongst the other nations from time to time.
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  27. This entire post is a HUGE speculation, so be warned. Edit 6/11: This chart was created to mimic the Kabbalah, and uses color, form, relationships and symbols to create meaning. The ideas below are all my interpretations of these relationships and symbols. The main structure of the diagram is a large eye with two pupils and 10 lines radiating out from the center. The smaller symbols form a ring around the iris. The beasts wings form the sclera of the eye. If you take away all the trimmings it becomes the symbol of Knight's Radiant. "Dalinar recognized the symbol, the particular pattern of the stylized double eye, eight spheres connected with two at the center. It had been the symbol of the Lost Radiants, back when they’d been called the Knights Radiant." (Ch 19). But what does that symbol mean? I believe these images are a graphical representation that Honor and Cultivation merged into one Shard with two Intellects. In effect, they are both peering out of the same eye, but with slightly different points of view. The Harmonic Table: KR symbol Double Eye Double Skull I think its quite important that the two Winged Greatshells are symmetric, and that there is a single larger head with mandibles created in the negative space between the two physical forms. The left beast represents Cultivation, the right beast represents Honor, and the central head depicts the spiritual union of the two Shards. There is also a Glyph located at the place where the two Dragonwasp heads connect. The heads and symbol viewed together resemble a crown with the central gem placed over the forehead. This Gem contains the glyph of Ishi. Now putting it all together: Ishi is associated in the Ars Arcanum with guidance and piety, and resides in the third eye focus of the spiritual union of Honor and Cultivation. The Skybreakers then are an Order of Radiants devoted to guiding us based on visions of the future. Ishi is the 10th Glyph, so 10 becomes a symbol of revelation. Each glyph and map shape is important, and you can make similar interpretations for each order of the Knights Radiant. We can even use this image to figure out the general location of the two Shardic pools, and predict their release into the physical realm through the Greatshells. This is also a way to organize Surges, and by association, Invested Spren. Think of the diagram as a coordinate axis grid. The x-axis is Investiture, the y-axis is Realm. The quadrants tell you the element type. Before we go any farther I suggest you look at how the color changes from top to bottom. Up is Physical, down is Cognitive. Left is Cultivation, right is Honor. Each Spren relates to a primary element or combination of primary elements. Going clockwise from the top right we get air, fire, water, earth and spirit in the middle. The large glyphs are Spren, and correlate to an Order of Kights Radiant and an Honorblade. The small glyphs are Surges and represent a power of creation. Starting from 1:00 and going clockwise the Surges are: External Physical-Gravity, Pressure External Mental-Darkness, Light External Temporal-Transportation (Timespace Contraction) Internal Enhancement-Transformation (Spiritual Connection) Internal Mental-Memory, Awareness Internal Physical-Perception, Strength This fits with Windspren ( Pressure and Gravity), Cryptics (Memory and Transformation) and JasnahSpren (Transportation and Transformation). If this is grouped correctly, StoneWards would be Strength/ Perception. Edit: Skybreakers would be Strength and Gravity, Lightweavers might be Light and Transportation (which could explain how Hoid gets around through time and space) Where are the other 6 Surges? They were never Invested by Honor/Cultivation but the spren exist and some have already been incorporated into fabrials. We see a radiant use Heliodor (gold) to mend wounds and we've seen a painspren fabrial work. What is an Honorspren? What is a Cultivationspren? That depends on how sensitive or specific you want to be. I'll just arbitrarily say you must have more than 50%, which would give you 4 Honorspren, 4 Cultivationspren and two hybrids. A purist would say there are no Honorspren as they all contain a bit of Cultivation. Surges and Symmetry: To understand Voidbinding you will need to grasp the theory behind Surgebinding. Each Surge represents a power of creation and is accessed through an associated Wave, or perhaps through the Concept of how that wave should function, or through a portion of the Ideal Form of the original Wavepattern that sparked the creation of all things. It seems the medium is variable, and you can reproduce a Surgepattern with light, sound, color or even quantum probability waves. Notice that everything in the chart has perfect symmetry. This is a reflection of how waveforms have spin, creating alternating positive and negative cycles and generating perfectly balanced patterns. Symmetry became a cultural obsession in an attempt to get closer to the Harmonic Divine. Voidbinding The Table of Dissonance: Enter Odious Interference. His Intent is either to enslave or destroy everything else in the Cosmere. If He were to join the spiritual union He should add varying amounts of His investiture to each of the available spren, effectively creating a z-axis to the Harmonic Table. But He is a Jealous Younger Brother and didn't want to sully His Essence by combining with others. Instead, He found a way to enslave or destroy the Surges in the Harmonic Table. First, he created a way to trap the Investiture of the paired Shards into StormGems (Fabrials) and harnessed their powers. Next he used those powers to create perfect dissonance in the waveforms of the 10 Surges. Notice that the Table of Dissonance pairs up exactly with the Table of Harmonics. Surges are warped by reversing their charge and spin. This would in effect create an anti-surge. The very powers of creation are turned against themselves. Matter, Spirit and Mind are replaced by Fire and Shadow. EDIT: you can try this out for yourself by drawing a sine wave. Try and swing the part below the x-axis to create net zero at all points along the graph. EDIT: This is a supernova created when a star began to produce antimatter at its core. The organized matter turns into random energy and forms fire and empty space. This theory is far from complete, but it is as thorough as I can make it with the Splinters I'm working with. I'll be trying to finish the Harmonic Table based on Shardic Lens Theory, but could be hard to link everything up with only 10 of the 16 powers. My guess is we will see more Fabrials fill in the gaps for us. Since this theory depends on Honor and Cultivation uniting into one spiritual entity, it serves to reason that they are both partially splintered and partially whole. How that would affect the Cognitive aspect of the two shards is unclear, but best interpreted after reading chapter 57 and 75. Edit: I've done numerous organizational changes to clarify things, and I changed the Labels on the image a bit. For example, Heat changed to Light Edit 4/28: Based on discussions on page 3, renamed inertia to Strength, switched Gravity and Pressure locations. Updated image to reflect changes. Removed "Spin" from OP to avoid unnecessary confusion.
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  28. I've been thinking the death cries are all Taln. Mainly because, as previously pointed out, at least one sounds directly like Taln and others could be. When he shows up he seems surprised people aren't prepared for the desolation. Then he says he failed and collapses. My speculation is that Taln has been trying to get messages to man from damnation, realizing with the breaking of the oath pact Odium plans to let man forget and thereby become completely unprepared. Sometimes the death cries come through clearer than others. Some messages being direct quotes from Taln others being interpretations of visions he is sending as part of the message. I may be completely off, this is my first post and I haven't read every thread.
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  29. Well, I think they can only animate things made out of the ten essences. We've got rock monsters and smoke monsters, and they're called the midnight essence.
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  30. I'm starting to think this is Taln speaking. When Kalak spoke of "that place of pain and fire" and "The flesh burning. The fires. The pain over and over and over..." initially I took this to mean that the Heralds finally broke because they could no longer endure repeated torture at the hands of Odium. That reeks too much of Odium being sadism incarnate. Sadism alone doesn't seem to mesh well with the nuances of the meaning of odium. Rather than Kalak dreading becoming once again the recipient of endless pain, I think instead he dreaded once more becoming a person who must mete out endless pain. What is the most loathsome thing one can do to someone sworn to protect others? Twist the oath so that, in order to uphold it, one must commit terrible atrocities against a small number in order to protect the greater number.
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  31. There is more evidence. For example, here: And probably more, but I can't search right now. We also know (IIRC) that Honorblades are fancy shardblades. Dawnshard, on the other hand, seems to be something else. Maybe it is something that can be used to force Odium to choose a champion? Binding him, as it were.
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