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Hi, I've been lurking these forums for a while, and thought I might post what I think the bridges look like. Obviously I'm basing it off of the descriptions in the book, namely these ones: This is the front and top view of the bridge: The bridge is roughly 10.3 meters (34 feet) long and 3.4 meters (11 feet) wide, which is slightly larger than specified in the book. The bridge is roughly 4.6 m3, which if the density of the wood is 600kg/m3 (but it's probably less) then the bridge has a mass of 2760kg, that's about 70kg per bridgeman, if there's 40 of them. If I remember correctly Brandon did state that Roshar has only 7/10 of the gravity of Earth, which would make 70kg on Roshar have the weight of 48kg on Earth. Here's a version with some crude dummy bridgemen: I'm not too sure that I got the design right. There are quite a few things that confuse me, such as it being stated that the bridge curves down at the ends. If there's anything I've missed (which I undoubtedly have) don't hesitate to tell me.

The newly released chapter three of WoR showed Jasnah and Shallan being able to see each other's Spren. This seems to suggest that Surgebinders would be able to see other Surgebinder's bonded Spren. But then, in chapter five, Kaladin is quite openly talking to Syl (other then her being invisible n' all). Now, why didn't Elhokar see this? Did he just not notice? Elhokar is an oblivious idiot at times, but he isn't blind so I doubt it. After considering the scenario, I've come up with the following possibilities: Surgebinders can see other Nahel Spren, but only from adjacent orders. Windrunners can see Skybreaker and Order Ten Spren, but not Edgedancer or Stoneward. Lightweavers can see Elsecaller and Order Four, but not Windrunner, etc. . Surgebinders can see bonded Nahel Spren, and potential Surgebinder has not yet been granted "Nahelvision". Elhokar has not yet officially bonded a Cryptic, and thus does not yet have the ability to see Syl, and by the same logic, Kaladin cannot yet see his Cryptic(s). Shallan only really bonded her Cryptic just before seeing Ivory for the first time, so that counts in this hypothesis' favour. . Elhokar really is an oblivious idiot. I am personally in favour of the second suggestion, if only because it opens up the exiting possibility of Shallan and Jasnah knowing what Kaladin is the second they see him for the first time, and Dalinar as well when he officially bonds his Spren, as I believe with the rest of you lot that he is about to do. EDIT: Grammar.

Hey guys! Here are some Stormlight Archive sketches I've been doing to get out of my artist block recently! So much fun. My tumblr is here if you want to see more of my other art: http://kirrys.tumblr.com Edit: New from WoR 4/1: ------ older:

MWAHAHAA... I just did this tonight, I wish I'd thought to look here sooner (I hope I'm not hijacking by inserting my own idea, but it seemed sensible to keep any ideas for bridge specs in one thread). -EDIT- In light of some feedback from both fans and Peter/Isaac, I made a couple revisions. The posts are removed, the height increased by half, and the horizontal posts extended to make room for two men. I think that pushes this a bit closer to "correct".

I think Hoid's story about the people who killed because their "ruler commanded them to" also applies to Szeth. Szeth is truly the one responsible for the deaths because his owner does not actually control him, and one day he will have to face that no one else actually made him kill those people.

I believe that Ranarin's sickness was life threatening at some point. Dalinar went to ask the boon of not losing his son, and was granted it, but in return lost all memory of his wife. Saving a loved one, yet losing the memory of another. I also think however that he thinks the curse was his son's weakness and the boon was forgetting his wife. I'm not sure how the two could be together, but that is the impression I've always gotten for him.

clearly it must be lighter than that, or the bridgeman would not be able to carry it. the double advantage of reduced gravity is not only that your bridge will wheight less, but since the troops crossing it will also be lighter you can make a thinner bridge, saving further wheight. And I really loike your drawings. I think they are fairly accurate.

So a few months ago lunarubato over on tumblr posted a theory, and although I disagreed with it, it did spark a theory of my own and I'm finally sharing it with y'all. Thesis: The Dawnsingers are the spren that grant surgebinding abilities through the Nahel Bond. Article One: What are the Dawnsingers? We don't really know, due to lack of information. The following, from Chapter 45, is one of the only bits we have: Now I must admit, I was always rather skeptical about them being spren, because I thought Rosharans might just refer to beings they don't really understand as "spren" even if that's not really what they are. But now I am arguing that they are spren, specifically spren who are Splinters of Honor and/or Cultivation. Personally, I think it would make a lot of sense for the two of them to create beings to act as "intermediaries" so-to-speak, beings that can interact with humans on their own level. Where the Heralds take care of things during the Desolations, these spren would take care of things between Desolations. Article Two: Granting Surgebinding Part of my narrative for this theory is that as the Desolations the Dawnsingers saw how the Heralds were not enough, that humanity was losing. And so they started to Nahel bond "worthy" individuals, granting them surgebinding abilities. Part of this comes from this bit. Which unfortunately is somewhat apocryphal. Basically it mentions that the radiants were a surprise to Honor, and that the spren formed them in the same way he formed the Heralds. (On a side note, so perhaps the heralds are Nahel bonded to the shards themselves in some way?) This could all be just rampant theorycrafting, but I think it holds water. What do you all think? Edit (1): Here is the quote in question about the Radiants being a surprise, from Chapter 4 of Words of Radiance: So I'm not really sure how I want to interpret this quote. I could definitely see it supporting my above theory though. Or perhaps the theory I mention in post 4 about how the spren used The Way of Kings as a model to form the Radiant Orders, and that that is why Honor was surprised. Really, either one would work with the main part of this Theory.

Oh, lets see... Converted one when we were in the bookstore, and the paperback of Warbreaker had just come out. He was telling me that I needed to read some book that I can't remember the title of. I spotted Warbreaker on the shelf, grabbed it, and thrust it at him. "You buy this and read it," I said, "and I'll buy that and read it." He agreed, and a few days later I got a text asking for more. He's never asked me about the book he'd wanted me to read.

Thanks. For some reason, on my first readthrough, I thought the bridges were typical frame bridges, triangulation and all. Okay, will do so, thanks.

The Lord Ruler took a particular interest in this acolyte and spiked her personally.

WHO GAVE FEATHERWRITER POWER!?!?!?!?

Whoa that looks super cool! I really like it! It's funny, my first few readthroughs I pictured the bridge as completely flat, but then when I caught that "sloped in the front and the back" I immediately read it as way more curved. I think I like your version best of all! I can definitely see how that could be turned on its side and used like a shield in side-carry. Also, you did math, so as an English person, that is intolerably impressive to me! Good to have you around! Quick note, since I'm a mod now and I've got to earn my keep: Try to avoid double posting! You can quote multiple people in one post with the "multiquote" button, and there's an edit button if you need to change or add anything! It helps keep the forums uncluttered. I've gone ahead and changed yours for you, it's just something to keep in mind in the future!

Shaor's the one. "Bring me fooood!" Only remains - one stained wig. You're up bartbug

When downforeveryoneorjustme.com/17thshard.com is in your browser history.

They are called Crypples. Odium take my soul.

Or a kittenspren. Or a kuppyspren. Or a pittenspren. Or an adorablespren. Sillyspren? You know what you call an impaired Cryptic? Simple. What do Cryptics call an impaired cryptic? Honorspren. What do honorspren call an impaired Cryptic? A Cryptic. Yes, I'm making racist spren jokes. That's a thing now.

Believe it or not, this quote is on page 2, and I just read through all 12 pages to make sure no one else had already pointed this out... I don't think the act of drawing the pattern will have an ill effect on her spren. In fact, I think it would have had an ill effect had she NOT drawn it! Shallan has told us that when she takes a memory, it stays perfectly in her mind until she draws it, at which point it is released. I think her taking a memory did indeed "freeze" the spren, in the same way the ardent's measurements did, since it appears her memories are perfect representations (this is how she could know that her drawing wasn't quite right). By drawing the pattern, albeit imperfectly, she released the memory, and thus released her spren from its frozen state, hence the "sigh of relief" at the moment the drawing was finished.

I laughed out loud when I saw Cryptics called "liespren". Brandon/Peter must have been holding back laughter for years at us calling them "Truthspren".

If Jasnah doesn't like men because she's gay, I doubt that it will be explicitly stated. Not unless her sexual orientation was crucial to the plot. So, as much as I would like to see Jasnah and Shallan play "mercy" with their safehands, I don't anticipate her ever explicitly stating that she is gay. I don't even think she's gay. I think she just fears losing her independence. When she's married, she will be expected to study and research things to further her husbands career. She might even be expected to renounce her atheism because it would reflect poorly on her husbands reputation. I don't think it's more than that. I do want to see safehand on safehand thumb wrestling, though. Maybe in a bowl of jello, even.

Here are all of the readings from Words of Radiance that have been released so far. This list is going to be updated when more come out. Also, the spelling of any new names are merely approximations, not intended to be completely accurate. Jasnah Prologue Kaladin - Chapter 2 Dalinar's Vision Shallan Flashback 1 - Red Carpet, Once White Eshonai Interlude Rysn's Interlude Ym Interlude Lift Interlude Taravangian Interlude Enjoy!

HEY ALL, I'm new to posting, been a long time lurker tho, and I was wondering about the oath pact in relation to the new chapters released for WoR. Jasnah says that the more intelligent spren dislike dealing with humanity after humanity broke its promise, but the spren now fear for their lives and so are more willing to deal with humans because of their desperation. I recognize this is probably a reference to the oathpact and the heralds, however I wonder if spren existed at the time of Adonalsium's shattering. We are sure the cognitive realm existed during the time of Adonalsium's shattering, given that Hoid has been using the cognitive realm to planet hop. Does that mean spren have existed since that time or are they more connected to odium, cultivation, and honors' conflict on roshar, or even to the latter's splintering? I'm pressed for time unfortunately, but please respond with any questions on clarity and I shall do my best to summarize my thoughts. Also this may have already been touched upon sorry if repeat.

Just had an hour long car ride with a coworker coming back from a job and somehow we got into him talking about the fantasy novel he's trying to write. I suggested he listen to writing excuses if he was serious about writing. That led into me talking about how much Sanderson does to help aspiring writers which in turn led to me talking about Sanderson's various books. When I dropped him off at his car, he saw there was a B&N across the street and said he was gonna go look at picking up a few of Sanderson's books before it closed in thirty minutes. Fingers crossed for a new convert.

When someone you know really well suddenly does something completely out of character and you catch yourself inspecting them to see if they have any metal piercing their skin

Honor isn't about what's right or wrong. If I swear allegiance to an evil overlord, then later forswear my oath and join the side of good, I am still acting dishonorably. Honor is about keeping promises, about deciding the rules by which to live your life and then living by them. Szeth is absolutely the most honorable character; honorable even to a most egregious fault.

@Meg Yes! That was it! Up-vote for you. I think this explains the issue of who can see what Spren. I theorize that when a Surge-binder bonds with their Spren, the Spren is 'pulled' slightly into the Physical Realm (PR), and the Surge-binder is 'pulled' slightly into the Cognitive realm (CR). - The affect of the bonded Spren getting pulled into the PR would allow them to act and think more easily in the PR. But the cross-over is a likely cause of the 'dumb-period' we've witnessed in Spren. - In the Case of the Surge-binder. Getting pulled into the CR would allow them to see certain Spren who exist mostly outside the PR, as they are more closely 'aligned' with them. I theorize that it is also what enables Surge-binding abilities, particularly in the cause of Soul-casting, which is reliant on access to the CR. Essentially the Nahel bond is a symbiotic one, acting as a conduit for both Spren and Surge-binder to effect realms they do not normally exist in. - I suspect individuals like rock naturally exist partially in the CR for some as yet unexplained reason. This would allow them to see Spren not normally visible. I call this Lipwig's Theory of Cross-over. Now. As for Elhokar, it would get quite tedious if he continues to act like this for the remainder of the series. However, I think his paranoia is going to stop when he finally finds out what's happening to him. And with Dalinar, and Kaladin around him to provide guidance and role-models, we'll see him grow into a much better man and king over the series. I would quite like to see Kaladin take him under his wing. @Aether I think by the time Jasnah and Shallan get to the Shattered plains, Kaladin will have already revealed his powers to Dalinar. We'll then get a scene where we have both Dalinar and Kaladin going "What! You two are Surgebinders!?" while Jasnah and Shallan simultaneously go "Wait. You two are as well!?" Sorry for the long post.

At ease, loyal followers, for I have come... to show off a bit. Hehehe. *pushes hair back so that the spikes catch the light* I figure I don't need to make a fuss about being promoted in other boards, but my bodyguards ought to know that I have become somewhat of a more important person. I gotta say, that gold username is lovely to see everywhere. C;

Ask and get answers from Brandon in sign language while he answers less technical questions aloud. All he'll need to learn are four letters; I think you can guess them

I don't think it was stated that there were semi-circular hollowed out spaces, though. I will make more enclosed spaces for their heads though. maybe just by putting support beams through the main lateral beams, sectioning off each of the bridgemen's spaces. Hand-holds are the other thing I forgot. I'm also not sure how I'd make the handholds look though. Wooden rods attached to the main lateral beams maybe? Exactly my thoughts, It is possible that it was just a typo, unlikely as that is, maybe it was meant to be said that they curved upwards. I by mistake clicked the downvote button instead of the upvote button. Could somebody please upvote that comment to negate the downvote?

Just something to add on the general Q&A discussion: While I agree that it gets old listening to the same questions or advice over and over, it wasn't too long ago that I was the one asking those irksome dumb questions. I went to a local WoK release party when Brandon happened to be passing through my city. I had a genuinely interesting question to ask, but when I got the chance I worried that maybe I should ask something of more generic interest so the rest of the crowd could get something out of it...so I piped up with "Who's your favorite character?" Inane, I know. I'm pretty sure there were a few groans from the other people there. But after that someone sitting near me directed me to the old TWG site, where I was introduced to the cosmere, etc. I guess what I'm saying is don't be too hard on the drabs who haven't caught the vision yet. I would say that if a given Q&A is a wide audience, go right ahead and stack it full of cosmere questions, but try to make them ones that could trigger someone to go look up what you were asking about--i.e. more character motivations, big ideas, and important background, less nitpicky details. Just my 2 cents.

While "Connor the Shardholder" played his hand at converting me quite nicely until we had nothing else to do, he has to admit that Brandon does most of the work. After returning to Australia I gave final empire to four of my friends who have now all read Mistborn, WoK, TES and one of them has read Elantris. not only have I done that, but after hooking those guys I got my school librarian to get more Sanderson books so everyone else can feel the magic. We have had hour long discussions about the Cosmere and how everything relates to everything.

"Hold things I tell you to hold please."".....OK."

Okay, that's that. Thank you for what you caught, Sats. We had company so I couldn't really watch/participate. I do anticipate the recording/transcript, though. One Q&A I noted was that Brandon said that Rosharan mythology is very influenced by Korean culture/mythology, due to his familiarity with Korea.

There's no evidence of him having the same type of spren. In fact, we've only seen one member of each Order so far as I know. Elhokar could have a worryspren. They would be good buds

Just food for thought, the Spanish translation of WOK uses smoky quartz every time it says Smokestone.

As his representative on Earth, I'd like to thank you for your kind donation and offer special deals on Impenetrable Bloodlust™, "A draught to drown your troubles. . in their own blood!"

It seems to me that this debate has come down to two different world views on ethics. Specifically the greatest good for the greatest number (Utilitarianism or Pragmatism) vs. moral imperative (right intent and actions regardless of outcome). Philosophically this has been a bone of contention IRL for hundreds if not thousands of years. The fact that Mr. Sanderson has brought this conflict into a genre that tends to only deal with absolutes (pure good vs. pure evil) only deepens my respect for him. Mr. T can be broadly aligned with the RL philosophy of Utilitarianism such as described by Jeremy Bentham or John Stuart Mill: you do whatever you can to minimize harm to the greatest number of people, and if some have to be sacrificed to provide for that, then so be it. Dalinar and the KR can be aligned with philosophies such as the Categorical Imperative as proposed by Immanuel Kant: the morality of an action is determined soley by the intent behind the action, not its end result (journey before destination in the words of the books.) Both are sides of the same coin. They both are guides for ethical action in the face of absent or uncertain absolute morality. The question of which is right comes down to perspective, as does the question of which is more effective in the face of disaster. In this case, we just don't have enough information. It may well be that be that the only way to win the upcoming Desolation is to do what Mr T. is doing: gaining knowledge at the expense of certain individuals, then using this knowledge to fight. The problem is, I can't see what his endgame is. He is removing the world's leadership to place him in a position where he can take over, but I don't see any way that that can happen in the timeframe he is working with. I haven't seen any evidence of his emissaries moving into place to provide the people of these nations a reason to choose him as leader, and he doesn't seem to have an army capable of forcing his will onto so many nations in a few months or even a few years. Its like he thought out the first half of a football game, but has no plans for after half time. It may well be that there is a lot going on that we haven't seen, but we just don't have any evidence for it. Dalinar, on the other hand, has a definite end goal: Restore the KR by forcing the Alethi to unify. His problem is the opposite of Mr T's: he has no definite plan on how to accomplish this beyond some vague ideas about enforcing the codes. He has myriad problems to overcome including cultural, religious, military, etc, and he is purely a military man. While I personally like his character more, it seems to me that he's out of his depth. I doubt we will see a definitive answer to who is more right (or less wrong) anytime soon, but the brilliance of the writing lies in the fact that either may be. Alternatively, neither may be. I'm looking forward to see.

I think that would require a hemalurgic spike stealing the allomantic ability you want to store, personally. That would set the feruchemical properties of the spike to work according to the hemalurgical charge, which would hold allomantic ability.

Excellent. Many thanks, Weiry. So there are three instances of two gems being the same mineral, but having different impurities. Sapphire (corundum with titanium and iron), ruby (corundum with chromium), emerald (beryl with chromium and maybe vanadium), heliodor (beryl with iron and uranium), amethyst (quartz with iron), and smokestone (quartz with free silicon). Edit: @11thorderknight- not likely to refer to obsidian since it is amorphous (i.e., non-crystalline).

Come on guys, Jasnah calls them lie spren and you are still arguing for truthspren? Lol Lie spren makes so much sense. Note that they seem to be attracted to elhokar as well, who was at least lying about the assassination attempt, but I suspect more (recall that he had an intense looking meeting with darkness at one point...plus he is just generally shady)

* it was not Szeth - he would not scratch stone, since stone is sacred * it was either male or non-human - the glyphs were not practiced * it was done by someone with access, someone that would be around without drawing suspicions so it was maybe Renarin or Dalinar. oh, I know! IT WAS GAZ!

I'm amused by the fact that Elhokar takes to Kaladin right away. This could lead to all kinds of interesting developments. Btw, I really liked when Kaladin stationed 2 men on the balcony and told the doubting Dalinar (paraphrasing): "That's the way I'd come in." Caused me to have a big fat grin plastered on my face for a bit.

I pretty much agree with Postmaster Lipwig. I've always pictured Kaladin and Amaram having a formal dual. Specifically I see it happening as the arena being surrounded by a dozen or so forge hammers (heavy but not war hammer heavy), by staying on the move and throwing them at Amaram's feet he is able to damage his boots enough that he cannot stand with the weight of the Plate. Kaladin can now get in close enough to smash more important pieces leaving Amaram exposed and force him to confess to what he did for everyone to hear. Kaladin wins the Shards but immediately passes the Plate to the Unkalaki via Rock and the Blade to Moash, proving that he would not take them for himself. Amaram is stripped of his rank/authority and ends up as a humiliated tenner. Kaladin has a worthy revenge without the need to kill him. (I just figured the wisest course is to attack the feet, they are very important to the plate but far less obvious than areas protecting the vitals.)

Interestingly enough, the Cover Flap also mentions 5 people. Compare the back to the cover flap and it seems pretty straight-forward. (spoilers for length) The Windrunner, lost in a shattered land, balanced upon the boundary between vengeance and honor. The Lightweaver, slowly being consumed by her past, searching for the lie that she must become. The Bondsmith, born in blood and death, striving to rebuild what was destroyed. The Explorer, straddling the fates of two peoples, forced to choose between slow death and a terrible betrayal of all she believes. And the Assassin has arrived. To me, this pretty much seals the Eshonai = Explorer and Dalinar = Bondsmith questions.

Elantris PAGE 1 (and wow is my copy of Elantris beat up. I haven't pulled it off the shelf in a while, bt it's not looking too good at the moment)

Sometimes you just want to feel Pretty?

I always pronunciated Szeth like this "Zetti" =) I know that my pronunciation is wrong but this is the name a famous soccer keeper and that kind stuck in my mind =P Numuhukumakiaki'aialunamor, my ex, how are very articulate, always teased me saying Rock full name without miss a beat just because she could, and I never was able too say without tie my tongue soo i very pretty sure that i know the correct pronunciation of this one. I pronunciate Jah Keved = "Ia" Keved and like Jasnah = "Iasna". Kind like in latin you could say and "Jus" or "Ius" Putting in simple terms if i need say aloud the names of the character nobody would be able to understand what I'm saying.=)

I think he has free will. I don't have references, but I recall a couple instances where he juggled with the idea of just giving up. I think one was with Mr T in the hospital where he was bleeding people. Edit: Here is the excerpt.

Ok, I just wanted to make sure. One word, stablehand is a groom for horses. A stable hand, would be a hand that is stable or unmoving.

When I read this two things stick out to me as obvious. 1. It's not true that you have to do something brave in order to Return, but bravery is a possible route. To me this means that doing something brave may give you the opportunity to return, but it is not the only avenue for this outcome, nor does it guarantee your return. 2. You have to do something in order to return. Returning is not an opportunity given to every individual, and thus has certain requirements. So what requirements could brave actions fall under that also allow for other possibilities? The key, to me, is endowment itself. Endowment is giving something to others, but doesn't necessarily have to involve bravery. Lightsong endowed his niece with life by sacrificing his own. Calmseer endowed others with health and aid. This sticks out to me as we are given the picture of her whole life and personality, not just the deed she accomplished immediately before she died. Blushweaver endowed the city with honesty and safety through her merchant practices and testimony against the criminals. She was known as an honest merchant which leads me to believe she also used her life to endow many times and not only in the instance right before her death. With this picture I see the requirements for return as endowment throughout life and not only endowment via death, though that may also be a contributing factor. This allow that brave actions may result in an chance to return, but actions outside the realm of bravery and sacrifice may also. In the case of infants, perhaps their death endows their mothers with life, or somehow contributes to society as a whole. They seem to be the theory braking contraint in all things having to do with the returned. *edited for proper quote box