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With no where else to go, Khamsi had returned to the inn, despite the owner's untimely demise. There had been nowhere else to sleep, and considering that the villagers seemed untrustworthy of even each other at this point, it didn't seem the best course of action to beg a room with one of them. Besides, the bed she'd slept in before had been so comfy. How could she give that up? It seemed somehow wrong, though, and as she looked out on the empty common room, she frowned. The Spruce Thicket had not had a large staff to begin with, and it seems with the innkeeper's death, what help had been here had run off. Running off seemed like a good idea; too bad she had signed that contract with the mayor the day she arrived, after a few too many pints to be able to read properly. Why he had included a clause about defending the village, she had no idea - what could he honestly expect from a gleewoman? Dazzle the Trollocs with juggling? Admittedly, her skills were very impressive, but she could eat fire, not breath it. While there was no way the contract could truly be enforced, especially with the mayor dead, if it got out that she had fled without providing the services she had promised, her reputation would be ruined. She wouldn't be able to perform in an empty field, let alone noble courts. Shaking her head, she sighed. She was a woman of her word, and would fulfill her contract. Light burn it. She ran a finger along the duty surface of one table, considering. Her eyes scanned the room again, feeling the emptiness. A place like this should not be empty.... Several moments passed, and then Khamsi nodded sharply. Heading into the back storage room, she rummaged around until she found a large board. Wiping it clean, she gave it a quick inspection, then brought it back up and into the kitchens. She stared at it for another moment, then fetched a piece of worn charcoal from a pocket within her sleeve. Several minutes later, a new sign hung on the door. Brushing her hands on her cloak, Khamsi stared at the sprawling calligraphy with pride, admiring the intricate and flowing design work done along the sides. She could have done more with additional time and materials, but not bad for a quarter hour and a single piece of charcoal. The Spruce Thicket - she wondered if she was allowed to change the name - was once again open for business. Someone, after all, had to get the townsfolk drunk. Khamsi has decided to take over the inn, because why not. This should have gone up much earlier, but an unfortunate power outage early this morning and a busy day prevented this. Just pretend this scene took place before the common was commandeered by Erik. I would have made a graphic for the sign, but too much actual paying design work to do at the moment, so just pretend it's super-impressive, k? Khamsi will vote later, if she votes; I just wanted to get this bit of RP up.

Ok, so I had this theory the other day while I was contemplating a new character or stoy I could write for a potential Fan-Fic or story of my own. Anyways... Nalan is THE Skybreaker right? That means that he must uphold the law, every law, everywhere. What the Stormfather says is considered as law to a Surgebinder right? So if ol' Stormy(not Stormageddon, the other one) says to his Spren "DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES AT ALL return to Roshar or you'll be grounded," that would be a law in Nalan's eyes. SO, he goes around killing Surgebinders because that's the easiest way to kill a spren, THAT is the real reason why he doing what he is doing. He's just trying to carry out the Stormfather's commands to the spren. another theory was that he was killing Cutivation's spren because she sent them against Honor's will. The only Surgebinders we see him kill or try to kill is a Truthseer and an Edgedancer both of which are theorizd elsewhere to be Cultivation spren right? We know from Wendel that his "Mother" sent him across which would make one assume she sent her other spren out into Roshar for the same reason, thereby, in the words of Mufasa, Deliberatley Diobeying Honor. I think this is my first actual theory so please, tear it apart and make me see the truth... KURK, get over here!

I have been reading fantasy (and sci-fi) all my life, and I just finished listening to both audiobooks of the Stormlight Archive. I recently started doing that with my long commute. When a sword was given to Szeth and it seemed to be Nightblood, I was flabbergasted. What is Nightblood doing in this series? I had to come online to see if I was wrong and found this site. I had no idea that Sanderson's books were interrelated. One thing I learned about from listening to an audiobook is I don't pronounce the names in my head anymore when I am reading. I see the letters and view them as a symbol (I think). When I first started reading the forums I was reading the names of the characters and not knowing who they were talking about; I had to sound them out and then it clicked. Weird. I have been reading his books since Elantris and love that his books keep getting better and better. He seems to be growing as a writer with every book. Words of Radiance is his best work to date in my opinion. The only bad thing is that I have to wait for the next one. Edit: I put in a spoiler alert because someone who didn't read it yet might not want to know about Nightblood

I have developed a new theory, one accounting for the purple chart in Way of Kings that is so similar to the Radiant chart. I call it: The Knights Absorbent The Voidbinding equivalent of the Knights Radiant Premise The Way of Kings comes with two similar chart illustrations included within. One is a chart detailing the ten Surges, and the glyphs for the ten orders of Knights Radiant, who are Surgebinders. It is highly likely the purple chart corresponds to the Voidbinders. On the chart (seen below), we have ten corresponding icons to the Surges, and ten corresponding Glyphs for the Orders. Thus, there must be equivalents to the Surges and the Knights Radiant - enter the Knights Absorbent. Logic The term given to the users of Surges are called Surgebinders. Why are they called Surges? When a Surgebinder activates their abilities, they begin by concentrating Stormlight and gathering power. This high concentration of power leaks from them, and they can release it through Surgebinding. The Surge in Surgebinding is this concentration of power release - the power is Surging. We know that the opposing force is called Voidbinding. It stands to reason then, that the opposite of the ten Surges would be the ten Voids. Indeed, we can see that the glyphs for the Voids are oppositely symmetrical as compared to the Surges. If Surges are an increased concentration, it makes sense that Voids are the opposite - a lack, an area of decreased concentration. We can logically see then that Voidbinding creates a low density area where Surgebinding created a high density area. The Knights Radiant earned their name by their Radiance. Nothing is more sensible. They Radiate light and power, because of how a concentration works - it wants to diffuse into areas of lower concentration (e.g. everything else in this case) Voidbinding then, would have the opposite effect. Nearby concentrations of power would seem to be drawn into the Voidbinder, it would seem that instead of Radiating, they Absorb. The ten Glyphs of the Knights Radiant demand an equal and opposing order of Knights from the Voidbinders ten glyphs. If the Knights Radiant are termed such because they radiate, then we must call this opposing order the Knights Absorbent. But without the Heralds to model themselves after, any spren with which they bonded would have no shape on which to base their Shardblade, no form on which to base their Shardplate. No, they could not have made Shardplate or Blade at all - they must look to the weaponry which defines their order. The Knights Absorbent and then spren then, must be equipped with a deadly weapon, well known to many, which comes from an item with an absorbency like no other: The cardboard tube sword taken from a roll of paper towels. This weapon has a long history, of being used both in mighty wars and conflicts, and by some of the most renowned duelists in history. It is truly a weapon with an unimpeachable past, with a Bounty of techniques passed down from father to son through the ages. But what of Shardplate? The Knights Absorbent must have armor as well, but not hard armor to stop a blow - no, they must have armor that absorbs all impacts, armor that can take any punishment given to them, armor which has been associated with cardboard tube swords for eons. Yes, it must be pillow armor. There is no other option, and the evidence is clear. Below, we display an artist's rendition of the fearsome Knights Absorbent, which we will likely not see for several books. Beware of spoilers! And beware of nightmares, for their depiction is truly the stuff of terror. Radiants be warned, your doom is at hand! Sources: All Evidence comes directly from the purest of Logic and the Gospel of Brandon, may the Everstorm Reign forever.

Hi I'm Slimy 12345678910 I am a friend of Queen Elsa Steelheart and she convinced me to joined 17th Shard. I have read Elantris, Way Of Kings, Words Of Radiance, Warbreaker, Steelheart, The Rithmatist, Mistborn, Alloy of Law and the 1st book in Wheel of Time. So, Hi

From late December to early January, my parents took me on a vacation. I generally hate vacation, because everything good about it (shopping, going on the internet, reading books) is something I can do at home, and it's packaged with worse showers, bad food, uncomfortable beds, and stupid air travel. Also, my parents always want me to go look at excruciatingly boring things which are supposedly "life-changing attractions". We were staying in Hilton Head, South Carolina. One day, which was almost certainly in January, I saw a man walk into a clothing store I was in. He looked exactly like Brandon Sanderson, but I knew I was being silly because Brandon Sanderson lives in Utah. I considered going over to him and asking him if he was Brandon, but I'm pretty shy IRL, I knew Brandon lived in Utah, and I didn't want to be embarrassed if it wasn't him. He left a few minutes later, and I left the store to look at his plates. But I couldn't see where he had gone, and I only saw cars from South Carolina. I decided that it wasn't Brandon, but felt amused that some random guy from South Carolina looked exactly like him. Today, while sitting in math class, I realized that Brandon Sanderson would have gone to South Carolina in January because of the release of A Memory of Light. Since he looked exactly like Brandon, and was around the place where Brandon was at the time, I'm almost certain it was him. I was right next to my favourite author, and I didn't even say a word to him. I know some of you have met him, I'm just a high school student from Ottawa, Canada, so the odds that I would be going to one of his tours are slim. The realization of what I missed out on has pretty much ruined my day. Now I'm desperately wishing that I could have said something to him. Ugh. I need some reassurance or something from my fellow Brandon fans. *Kicks self.*

Heeey everybody! My name's Hailey! I've been a huge Brandon Sanderson fan ever since I devoured read Mistborn in high school. I've never truly joined a forum in my life, so forgive me if I royally fudge something up (the likelihood is...pretty high). My friend--he goes by Erai on here--convinced me to sign up, so maybe he can get brownie points for that. Haha. I've read all of Sanderson's Cosmere books besides Elantris & Alloy of Law. Elantris somehow got dropped like a year ago and I'm right in the middle of AoL now!! (Wayne?? Wayne. Just. Wayne is perfect.) Not much to say about me besides I'm a gigantic fan of fiction, particularly fantasy and YA, I'm a senior in college, and I think seahorses are way too cute to be real life things. I guess I'm hoping to meet lots of fellow Cosmere friends because not having many people to gush over these books is kind of wreaking havoc on my happiness. So please don't hesitate to chat me up because I already think you guys are super amazing!! My question to you: if you could go on a super stellar date with a Brandon Sanderson character, who would it be and where would you go?

Here's how Taravangian comes across to me. Here's a man, a deeply compassionate and caring man, who is so concerned with the well-being of others that he is personally funding the hospitals with no expense to those treated. He is friends with Gavilar, who is having visions from Honor. From these visions, the two of them know a Desolation is coming, and perhaps even make plans to work towards stopping it together, but we have no way of knowing that. But then, Gavilar is assassinated. T. is left cut off from the source of all of his information for how to stop the deaths of the people he deeply cares about, and turns in grief or desperation to the Nightwatcher, who grants the boon and curse of fluctuating intelligence/inversely proportional to his empathy (although one potential theory that I like is that the boon was the single day of super-powered intelligence and the curse was the inverse relationship between his intelligence/empathy after. There is nothing in the text that requires his super-intelligence on the day of the Diagram to be associated with zero-empathy.) As a direct result of this, he has the Day of the Diagram (which should become the official title ). A moment of clarity so perfect and precise that he can see by the logical extensions of his own (dare I say it?) supernaturally-powered reason exactly how to influence the predictable course of human history in such a way as to produce the highest possible chance (from his perspective) of saving humanity. And then, he is left alone, cut off again from the source of brilliance and foresight and ability to plan for the future. He knows that Honor is dead, either from the visions or from insight gained from his flash of intelligence. For whatever reason, he believes the Knights Radiant are unreliable (perhaps the secret that destroyed them before has something to do with this). He remembers being smart enough to see all of this, and has committed himself to that course of action. From the information he had on the Day of the Diagram,TM he has laid out the best possible course. Like Shaggai said, he is not capable of coming up with another plan comparable to it. He and Dalinar together are not capable. He and Dalinar and Jasnah and Kaladin and Shallan and Syl and Pattern and Ivory altogether likely lack the combined intelligence to come up with a superior plan. They certainly lack the information. So he's locked himself into a course that he can't get out of. Like Shaggai says, he is morally committed to it now. There isn't any backing down for him now, unless a way that is demonstrably superior in every way. It's a simple, logical position. In fact, it's the basic operating principle of science. The scientific method is inherently conservative. You hang on to the descriptions of reality you have, even as the discrepancies mount, because there isn't anything better. And when a new model that is demonstrably (and consistently so over time) better at describing reality is established, you jump ship (after thoroughly testing the model). Taravangian is acting the same way. Of course, it may not be the right position. In fact, given the state of things in the books so far, it almost certainly isn't the right position. And the Diagram certainly suffers from a crippling lack of the ability to perfectly self-correct. (It should here be noted that the Diagram has some limited self-correcting ability built into it, and Mr. T. has attempted to access more by the use of the Death Rattles, but it almost certainly won't be enough to counteract the full force of accumulated error over time.) And this is the point that I make it clear that Mr. T's way of saving humanity is an awful way. An absolutely bloody, morally bankrupt and awful way to save humanity. But he believes that it is the only way. And if it were, in fact, the only way, then the only moral choice would be to follow it. Because saving the world is a morally higher cause than the life of any individual or any group of individuals. But, from the viewpoints of other characters we have seen, it isn't the only way. And because we know that, we know that Taravangian's plan is an immoral and a wrong one, because there is a better option. But he can't see that. As far as he can see, his only option is to follow the Diagram exactly, because he is no longer intelligent enough to put together workable alternatives. And until he is confronted with evidence that there is, in fact, such a workable alternative (and one that doesn't require wading through rivers of blood to get there), he is morally incapable of changing his path. My prediction is that one of the important sub-plots of the first 5 books will be Mr. T slowly coming face-to-face with the fact that there was a more ethically acceptable option for saving humanity than the Diagram. His actions have been justified so far only by the strongest necessity. The existence of another viable and workable option removes that necessity, and so as he realizes that Dalinar's option is, in fact, workable, he will have to come to terms (or fail to do so) with the fact that his actions were not necessary, and therefore were not justified. I believe that this realization will break him. I don't know if he will heal over time, whether he will find himself dead at the hands of some justice-dealing hero, or dead by his own hand in remorse. But I think he will break when he realizes that things didn't have to be the way the Diagram outlined. Needless to say, I find Taravangian an exquisitely tragic character.

Are you kidding? If I saw him online, I'd be enraged that he was wasting time dealing with us dweebs (no offense) instead of writing Stones Unhallowed.

(BTW Death, you are too nice for people to NOT upvote you.

"Laughing fool, as one of the Twinthrone's Frostknights I can not allow ye to duel my queen," BT drew his black broadsword in one hand and summoned his frostblade in the other, a layer of frost formed around him and solidified in to a set of plate armor, "If you want a duel, I've got one for you. LEFTY!! My soulcast beer drinking table if you would be so kind." BT looked at the queen, "Any flavor you could possibly imagine Queen Elsa, I will gladly retrieve for you as soon as I'm done with the Frostbitten joke." BreathTaker stared at the Fool, his normally black/brown eyes glowing an icy blue with frost around the sockets, "Now, you horse faced son of a mare, pick your weapon. Sword, Brew, or slap fight? I am prepared for anything you choose," (Btw, I'm just playing the part. Just as I've been playing the super nice drunk, I rarely get the opportunity to drink in real life and I can't remember the last time I got drunk ((pun absolutely intended)))

Killing the surgebinder won't kill the spren, as long as the person didn't break their oaths.

Hmm not TOTALLY preposterous: "This time, she wore a uniform: camouflage trousers and dark tunic." (Insignia) Apparently I'm a ninja! Edit: I just thought I'd take a quick look in my next nearest book: 'Still, three thousand boxings... That would be enough to tempt even the most logical thief " #mistbornarewaycoolerthanninjas Edit 2: Thats it. I'm definitely Mistborn because I just hit top 16 rank!!!

Welcome! Draw something! Draw a rockbud!

Appears outside the party hall carrying some trays with a large barrel levitating behind her. "I brought piggies in a blanket. Oh! and some ginger ale."

More like Invision Power Board got more popular and they are coding to it Don't worry, they are just machines. I kill them before they rise up against us. I love the smell of dead spambots in the morning. It's basically my routine now.

Necroed Shallan thinks that Amaram killed her brother Helaran, but she's going to find out the truth. At the end of Words of Radiance Amaram confesses to killing the men to take the Shardblade, and Dalinar promises to have a trial for it. When that trial happens, Shallan will find out about Kaladin killing Helaran. Or will she find out before? And how will she react when that happens? Will her friendship with Kaladin be shattered by that? I personally think Shallan will find out from the Ghostbloods, but as to how she'll react, I'm completely unsure.

I think that Zahel might be Vasher-so that's another worldhopper apart from hoid So its possible for peoplefrom Nathas to jump to Roshar but chronologically how many years after warbreaker are the stormlight archives set? also if vasher needs breath to survive, can stormlight be a substitute? Same to draw nightblood. .

This sort of came up in the dead doc (and the darkeyes doc) in the current ongoing Sanderson Elimination Quick Fix game a bit, as King and I discovered that we shared similar objectives that seemed far more important than killing off the other factions. Such as tea. In any case, I was curious: Any other tea-drinkers, enthusiastic or otherwise on this forum? What kinds of tea do you like to drink? How do you take your tea? And most of all and most pertinent: how many mugsworth of tea is sufficient?

Please don't...

(It's true. Who would've thought that Death is….a really nice guy?)

Laughing Fool distractedly glances at BreathTaker. "My quarrel is not with you, friend. I would prefer to avoid conflict between us, if possible." The Fool draws a long, thin blade. Light plays along its edge like sunrise reflecting off an arctic lake. He takes a stance, movements flowing like quicksilver. He calmly draws the blade across his arm, letting the blood pool before he paints a foreign design across the length of the blade. "Half of combat is psychological," the Fool declares with a giggle. "The other half is talent." Without warning, Laughing Fool lunges abruptly at BreathTaker, striking violently and aggressively. Just as abruptly, he feints and rolls backwards, positioning himself so that Elsa Steelheart stands between himself and BreathTaker. He raises his sword menacingly. The bloodrunes on his blade begin to glow faintly. "Queen of the Newcago Court; defend yourself," the Fool declares in a emotionless, detached voice. All levity and humor has vanished from his demeanour.

We'll miss you too. Have fun!

An awesome party deserves an awesome table. Would you like the dragon's head seat, my Queen?

First of all, that is a great post. I thought Nalan was doing it in an attempt to stop the upcoming desolation, because he thought without surgebinders it wouldn't happen. Due to his code he could only go after people who had committed crimes. One of the arguements made by the Parshendi for trying Stormform was seeing Kaladin surgebinding so he may have been right. Those are my thoughts anyway. It may be similar to Amaram seeking to bring back the Voidbringers in an effort to bring back the Radiants and return the world to more of a Hierocracy state. The spren came back because they saw something terrible coming, but maybe them coming back caused it?

But Nalan said he kills surgebinding criminals because they cause Desalation, he never mentioned anything about spren prohibition.

I would like the ability to find things w- ease. (Items, knowledge, people) I would like the ability to repair relationships instantly.

I love this. Nobody tear this apart please. Especially since the Stormfather is linked to Tanavast, who is the one who made the Heralds what they are. Do we have any idea what Ivory would be? He reacts to Jasnah in the prologue, which was most likely him sensing her surgebinding. Edit: I got so excited I forgot to upvote! Fixed that now.

I don't suppose we can change the acronym for the Emperor's soul to ES because whenever I see TES I think of the Elder Scrolls.

When I asked the question, I had recently taken a special relativity class (which is actually, genuinely, very simple at its core). I have not taken a course on general relativity, where gravity and its warping on space-time gets mixed into it. I am not an expert in these gravitational effects at all, but Kurk summoned me, so I guess here I am. If you want an actual expert who has almost assuredly done general relativity, ask happyman. He knows his stuff, as he demonstrated in the original redshift thread you mentioned. I took some upper division physics classes. He has a doctorate in physics (I forget specifically, but eh, he's done quantum field theory, and surely GR as well). If you are not familiar with the idea of a "redshift" or "blueshift" of light, it's pretty simple. Locally (don't worry about the "local" word here; it is not relevant to this specific issue with time bubbles), light always travels at the same speed. If a light source was moving away from you really fast, at, say, .7 times the speed of light, because light will always travel at the same speed (rather than the light moving faster in this case), the frequency of the light changes, and so the color of the light changes. One direction is a redshift, the other a blueshift. Physicists use these terms even if we are not talking about visible light. (Why are you having me explain this so late at night? Wikipedia has great articles on this subject. Their physics articles are very, very good. So, you know, just read up.) So that's the special relativity case, without gravity. The gravitational version is just that, hey, really massive objects dilate time just as in the special relativistic case. If you're wondering what sort of gravitational implications this would involve... Stop I do not find this line of thought very fruitful. Handwavium needs to be applied so outside observers don't notice the shift in wavelength, so for basically all practical purposes, any "gravitational" effects are conveniently and magically very local and you should stop asking questions about redshifts with time bubbles In fact, happyman said in the original thread that the only people who would really know exactly about these gravitational effects in specific, quantifiable detail to actually be useful would be, you know, people who do general relativity for a reason. And general relativity, my friends, is very mathematically challenging. A very special group of physicists know it that well. I don't know if this was very helpful, but eh, it was that thread that I was like "welp time bubbles are basically worthless to talk about with the handwavium."

Alright. As of yet, I really haven't been taking this game that seriously, (as a few of you can attest ) but now I figure I may as well get started. Whether or not Wes pulled a Wounded Gazelle is rather moot at this point, and if you haven't figured out his game yet, well, I won't spoil the realization for you. What does interest me is the fact that the Darkfriends didn't figure it out and either double-tap Wes, or spend their kill elsewhere. This is the only reason I don't fully trust him. This also means that if Wes can be trusted, the Darkfriends are likely somewhat inexperienced or their Forsaken is inactive. (Or a Channeller got really lucky.) The Darkfriends are still going to want to kill people as quickly as possible. Really, holding back with their Forsaken kill, especially this early in the game, is just plain silly. (No offence Darkfriends.) There is strategic benefit to Fain waiting to convert, largely because we'll be thrown off by it. Seeing how we have two evil Factions, I would assume their numbers will be rather limited. I'd guess 3-4 Darkfriends, including the Forsaken, and then Fain will be unable to convert more than two-three players. Remember people, Fain can convert players. Your estimates of 1/5 Darkfriends are likely to be incorrect, simply because they aren't the only people working against us. While there will be a couple more than usual, as one Faction lacks a kill, and they will be working against each other as well, five DFs and four plus Corrupted is just too much. Because of this, Fain is going to be very careful with who he/she converts, as there won't be many. Those votes for Lam are certainly suspicious, but there aren't quite enough for it to be a bandwagon. Yet. I'll be looking pretty close at those though. Especially at Jain's. That reasoning goes against your entire rational from Game Five. While there's no reason for your voting habits to remain static, oftentimes changes like that are influenced by a change of sides. Over the next little while I plan to go over everything that's been said and done in this game so far, and see what else turns up. Judging by the sun, Leas had slept far too long. Aching and bleary-eyed, he staggered out of bed. After spending long hours counselling with his seconds and the newly appointed mayor, and then doing his own share on the patrols, he probably should have slept even longer. Not that I have any choice in the matter. Repressing a sigh, he set about his breakfast, taking it as a good sign that no one had barged in with news of a new death. I'm getting too old for this... Eating as quickly as he could, Leas thought about what he'd have to do. Reports needed to be gathered and analysed, meetings needed to be held, suspicions needed to be voiced, Ralv's... proclivities... needed to be dealt with... Always too much to do in too little time. Belting on his sword, Leas headed out to the Spruce Thicket. Seeing Erik already sorting through a mountain of papers, he nodded his thanks and went to grab a drink. Thank the Light. One less thing to do today. If any of this doesn't make sense, blame it on the fact that it's 1 AM my time.

Oh, great. I never get good lines with these. Try 1: Wild Cards, edited by George R. R. Martin. "They slammed together, draped over the canister, their hands entangled on each other's suits and the fuse to the bomb." So….my life sounds really naughty, taken out of context?

When I was finishing Words of Radiance I was sitting alone in my dorm, screaming "NIGHTBLOOD! NIGHTBLOOOOOD!"

Date with a Cosmere character... interesting question. That is tough seeing how pretty much all of the Cosmere girls are either deceptive or Dangerous... I would have to choose Marasi. Cause she is very plentiful in the 'cloud region above the land where the seeds are planted.' She is kinda like Shallan, wanting to be where the action is, but is a little bit more feminine. And we would probably go to that place where Szeth chills... you know, on top of the mountain.

From what Brandon has told us, Jasnah's actions seem far less... controlled on the ship. She was woken up in the middle of the night, likely by a dagger in her chest (if she had been awake when the assassins got to her, she probably would've Soulcast them into something far less inclined to stab things). So she wakes up in terrible pain, panics, her fight-or-flight instinct kicks in (with the flight option dominating), and all she wants is to get away - which agrees with the WoB telling us that her "last" thoughts were of escaping. She probably didn't remember Shallan until after she found herself in Shadesmar, and by then coming back would've already been difficult (because of another WoB telling us that Elsecalling isn't exactly precise even for someone who knows what they are doing - and Jasnah is not such a person).

Fixed the downvote.

I think the truly shocking thing is how the Brawny man is the most crafty, despicable man Hoid has ever met. Maybe Hoid's old house was really messy and Rayse, the Brawny man, came up with increasingly crafty ways to clean it. Hah, we've all been played for fools. Hoid's origin story won't be a novel, but a sitcom.

Terrifying I tell you, the knights don't stand a chance :

Hahahaha oh wow. It's things like this that make me worry about our general level of obsessiveness. But I certainly can't fault your logic or impeccable diagrams. Can you imagine a pillow fight in Voidbinding Pillow Armour? it's like sleepoverform Parshendi or something

10/10, would read again. I think I have to eventually make this a Featured Theory... And also add the Brawny guy to Rayse's wiki page.

Yes, it is. Also not mentioned was the Shallan costume that Mi'ch wore to the release party. If you look at the sketch that Isaac did in the sketchbook, it's actually of Mi'ch and I in our costumes.

Or do what I do and make cheap jokes on every thread you come across. You'll be in the top ten list before most people even know who you are.

I guess that's where we would disagree. I can see your perspective, but I feel that hyper-genius-T would be even further down the path of not understanding people. He's so singular in his brilliance that he can only see the forest but not the tree (so to speak). He can certainly project events with uncanny accuracy, but he's lost all connection to the individual person. They're just tools to be read and used.

What would happen if Vasher Awakened a musical instrument with the Command 'play music'?

I've been thinking a lot about the Unmade and their nature, given at how consistently they've been hinted at. They're assumed to have quite the connection with Odium / Rayse, and that makes me think they'll be a major factor in the lead up and eventual conflict between the Knights Radiant and the Voidbringers ... in some fashion or another. With that having been said, I wanted to document a few of the facts we have about the Unmade, as well as some theories or logical assumptions about each of the presumed Unmade. Oh, I'm also of the opinion that each of the Unmade either corresponds to one of the orders of Knights Radiant, or one of the Heralds, as symmetry is WAY TOO IMPORTANT on Roshar. As such, for many of the Unmade, I've got an educated guess as to where they might fall on the old double-eye diagram. I'd say this is pure theory at this point, so feel free to disregard as you see fit. General Unmade Knowledge We have some record / reference from Taravingian (an awesome source of Unmade factoids) that one of the Unmade is an "ancient, evil spren", I believe. A current theory that I subscribe to is that the Unmade are, for lack of a better term, powerful Odiumspren. I'm not sure if these spren need to bond to a person (listener or human) to be a "fully powered" Unmade, but it stands to reason that they may. I also believe that we have some recent Word of Brandon that there aren't necessarily ten Unmade. That would throw a monkeywrench into my Unmade-tie-to-KR-orders theory, but hey, that's okay. Yelig-nar (aka Blightwind) Yelig-nar is the only absolutely, positively, confirmed Unmade at this time. I mean if you can't trust Nohadon, who can you trust? Abilities: Yelig-nar apparently has the ability to kill, somewhat directly. It is the Unmade that is most personified, having broken into Nohadon's chancery (sounds like personification) and killed his wordsmen. Yelig-nar is also reportedly able to speak, though he "consumed" people and their wails accompanied him. Yikes. Association: As we'll discuss in some of the later sections of Unmade, Yelig-nar appears to be the most personified of the Unmade we currently know of, as well as one of them with the most direction and personal agency. So, given that and his nickname of "Blightwind", I'd say he's a good candidate to correspond to the Windrunners or Jezerien. Yelig-nar may not necessarily be the leader of the Unmade (if they have one), but it appears to be one of the more combat-focused Unmade at this time. Given what little we know about the Radiants still, this certainly could allow it to match up with the Radiants we know the most about. Moelach Thanks to Taravingian and his Diagram, we can say with almost complete certainty that Moelach is also an Unmade. Epigraphs 81 and 82 in Words of Radiance are two back-to-back paragraphs. While 81 talks about the nature of the Unmade, 82 talks specifically about one of them: Moelach. It's fair to say he's an Unmade. Abilities: Given what Taravingian has said, it appears that Moelach is responsible for the Death Rattles, which appear to be both precognitive and past-cognitive (wordsmith!) visions that take place at the moment before death. Interestingly, this doesn't necessarily appear to be a *bad* thing for the Radiants, etc. Where the abilities of many of the other Unmade (or projected Unmade) seem to be "evil" or "harmful" ... this one, not so much. It leads me to think that there's something else going on here that we're not aware of yet, or an additional ability. Also, Moelach is referred to as one of the Unmade with the most powerful precognitive abilities, which are shared by nearly all Unmade / Voidbringers. Interesting. Association: Welp, the precognition / visions aspect of this pretty clearly draws a line between Moelach and the Truthwatchers or Pailiah. We don't know much about the Truthwatchers (or anyone, really), but this seems to be a pretty seamless fit. Both focus very, very strongly on visions of the future. Nergaoul Again, due to Taravingian's meddling exposition, we learn of a potential Unmade. Nergaoul is referred to in the context of the Alethi Thrill, and that finding where the Thrill is strongest might help pinpoint Nergaoul. With that in mind, the way the Thrill can be seen as similar to the Death Rattles, and even the similarities in name composition between Nergaoul and Moelach (compounded vowels), we're not crazy to consider this another of the Unmade. Abilities: Nergaoul appears be responsible for, or at least have some connection to, the Thrill. The Thrill appears to be a feeling of battle-lust, or a drive to kill. WHAT A JERK. That pretty heavily smacks of Odium, and those whom we most closely align to Honor (Dalinar, Kaladin, etc.) seem to reject the Thrill, while Eshonai seems to embrace it with her stormform. Association: The first thing that came to me is how the Thrill seems to be the innate opposite of the dispassionate judgement of "Darkness". I'm inclined to place Nergaoul as linked to the Skybreakers or Nalan. Where the killing / judgement handed out by the Skybreakers appears to be logical, lawful, and in the best cases, just ... the Thrill's killing is wanton, indiscriminate, and furious. No thanks. Re-Shephir (aka the Midnight Mother) Watch, as we move from the realm of informed speculation to the realm of slightly-less-informed speculation. Re-Shephir is mentioned briefly in Epigraph 58 of WoK as the Midnight Mother ... but the Death Rattles have shared information (we think) about the Unmade in the past. Between that and the naming similarities between Yelig-nar, I think we have another Unmade here. Abilities: Re-Shephir's abilities are an open question still. The epigraph mentions giving birth to abominations, using her "essence", so it seems fairly logical to assume that Re-Shephir is responsible for creating the Midnight Essence. These strange, monstrous creatures are some that Dalinar fought during his visions of the past, and appear to be core enemies of the earlier Knights Radiant. Association: My first inclination is that the Midnight Mother's ability to create, albeit in a relatively non-creative fashion (the Midnight Essence appear to be roughly all the same), and create something totally black (as in, without light), makes me think of the Lightweavers or Shallash. Though, to be fair, a void-spun Progression surge might make sense here too. Again, knowing precious little about the Unmade, the Radiants, basically everything, this is only an informed guess. Dai-gonarthis (aka the Black Fisher) Again, we're using hints to assume that Dai-gonarthis is an Unmade, nothing more. It's name sounds like that of Yelig-nar and Re-Shephir. It is referred to in the Death Rattles, much like Re-Shephir. And that's all we've really got. Abilities: Oh, we know so very little. Something about holding sorrow and consuming it. Someone asking to "let me hurt, let me weep". Dai-gonarthis may do something to the emotions of a person, suppressing them, feeding off of them, something. It's all wild speculation, really. Association: Seriously, I've got nothing here. We simply don't know enough. I'm not convinced it holds any association with a few of the orders we seem to know the most about ... I'd be surprised if it's associated with the Windrunners, Lightweavers, Truthwatchers, or Edgedancers. But who really knows. If I had to hazard a rough guess, it may be associated with the Willshapers or Kalak. And that's mostly because the Willshapers order name seems to indicate something to do with an emotion / thought. Also, I don't know a thing about them either. So that matches up nice. Sja-anat Sja-anat is referenced in another of Dalinar's visions, mentioned by a soldier and a Radiant prior to the Thunderclast battle at the Purelake. Like Dai-gonarthis and Re-Shephir, this name has the unique dashes, and appears to be involved with Odium. Hence, it's a reasonable guess that we've got another of the Unmade here. Abilities: We don't know much about Sja-anat, Here's what we know: "Once Sja-anat touches a spren, it acts strange." The spren spotted by Dalinar had red eyes, and was referred to as "Sja-anat's spy". Ostensibly, this means that Sja-anat has the ability to change a spren by "touch", perhaps corrupting it. On a side note, the Thunderclast that appeared didn't have any direct reference to Sja-anat, it was more of a guardian, so I'm not taking it to mean anything directly associated to Sja-anat ... yet. Association: When we talk about changing things by touch, we're talking about Soulcasting, right? So perhaps Sja-anat associates to the Elsecallers or Battar. This actually makes a lot of sense ... the Elsecallers were the foremost intermediaries between man and spren, so changing spren through touch sounds very, very close to something a voidish relation to an Elsecaller might do. So that leaves us with, at this time, five six presumed Unmade. There are hints at others that may be possible, but not mentioned yet by name. For example, is Venli influenced by one of the Unmade? Are Thunderclasts associated with the Unmade? How about Gavilar's sphere? Is the "black piper" an Unmade as well? But as for right now, I think this is about all that we know about the specific Unmade. (Edited to add Sja-anat.) (Later edited to add general info.)

"I am a stick!" "Yes, of course you are! Of course you are, stick. But the other sticks... they don't like you very much, do they?" "...I am a stick!" "The other sticks... they told me you weren't much of a stick at all. Barely more than a twig, they said." "I am a STICK!" "The other sticks laugh at you, you know." "I... am a stick..." "I keep telling them! I say, 'That stick is all the stick I could ever want! The greatest stick there is! They've never given you the respect you deserve, have they?" "I AM a stick!!" "Hey..... how about we teach them a little lesson?" "...stick?" "We could show them.... show all those sticks. We just need a little spark, and we can burn all those sticks to the ground. Whattaya say? Be the fire that burns the sticks that have wronged you, my friend!" "I... am FIRE."

Totally.

This is an excellent suggestion, and I will bring it up with the others. We're doing a new website soon, so that might be a good thing to include. Surprisingly, I get this exact question every few months or so. (Mostly in interviews.) I can never come up with something. It's plausible. It's kind of a 'Thor-like' way to fly, isn't it? (For those unaware, he throws his hammer and it carries him with it, and STOP THINKING.) I played with this idea, but the trick is not getting hit by the counterweight as you pull it to yourself. If you could stop that, you might be able to manage it, but it felt pretty hard to pull off to me. Certain colors and numbers are important in reference to certain shards. Uh... You should ask Kelsier. He probably tried it when he hung out with Moiraine. It is my pleasure. Thank you. I appreciate being appreciated.

I've said before that it's unlikely that the Stormlight books will ever delve strongly into the connections between worlds. There will be some cool things happening for the cosmere-literate, but this series isn't focused on those concepts. I want it to maintain its plot cohesion for those who aren't aware of all of the behind-the-scenes stories. Epilogue to Book Two should excite you, though.

No. For some, it will take quite a bit of work, but it's possible to get them each to work. Sel's magics are regional, and so they are going to be tough. Scadrial's magics are the easiest. From the Shard in most cases. But it's also often built into the world innately, and so the Shard (if someone is holding it) doesn't always have control over who can or cannot use the magic. Hemalurgy crosses magic systems. You could steal things from people on other worlds, if you knew the right places for the spikes.