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I just finished a reread of The Way of Kings. Something in the last vision Dalinar receives stood out to me. He is obsessed through the whole book about uniting the High Princes, because of a vision he had. He has that same vision again at the end of the book but it is extended. In the extended version we learn that Honor is the one who sent them and that Odium has killed him. He is again told to "Unite Them". But who must he Unite? Note: I removed Dalinar's thoughts and dialogue for clarity. It is right after Honor points out the star systems being destroyed by Odium, while still looking at those star systems, that he tells Dalinar "Someone must unite them". Honor is not just saying Unite the High Princes, or the Knights Radiant, or even all of Roshar. Honor is thinking on a much, MUCH bigger scale. Unite the Cosmere!

We know almost nothing about the Dawnshards, so obviously this theory isn't built on any concrete evidence. But here's my thought process... In Dalinar's vision, Honor himself used the word "Dawnshard," so it's clearly an official, accurate term. He also used the word "shards" for the shardblades of the Radiants. So there would seem to be a connection. Suppose Dawnshards are "shards" in the same sense as the blades. Spren. Powerful, ancient spren, sent by the Almighty to aid mankind. Which is exactly how Vorins describe the Dawnsingers. But that belief could be a product of its time. In the Age of Solitude (when SLA takes place), most people don't understand that shards are spren. So I'd theorize that the Dawnshards and the Dawnsingers are the same thing. (Or, potentially, that the Dawnsingers were humans, bonded with the Dawnshard-spren.) Now here's the weird part. So Honor says we are "without the Dawshards." But if we don't have the Dawnshards, what happened to them? They can't have been destroyed; they're splinters, pure investiture, which cannot be created or destroyed. They might have been killed, like the common blade-spren, but that wouldn't make them gone. They'd still be around, at least partially usable, and potentially even revivable. I guess they could be 'splintered' beyond repair, the same way Shards (of Adonalsium) are splintered. But as far as I know, that doesn't happen to spren. It could, in theory, but let's assume it hasn't. What if Honor lost the Dawnshards because Odium took them? Took them, tortured them, infected them with his own malignant investiture, and twisted them into monstrous agents of hatred and destruction. Ergo... the Unmade. This might explain the name "Unmade." Honor made them as beautiful, benevolent Dawnshards, and Odium un-made them, ruining Honor's work. It also makes sense when you consider the names of the known unmade. Nergaoul and Moelach are clearly named for the Mesopotamian gods Nergal and Moloch. These 'gods' are identified as demons in Judeo-Christian mythology, and demons, generally, are fallen angels. And what are the Dawnsingers, if not angels? Thoughts?

I just attended a book signing with Brandon in Provo and he did a reading of the Prologue to Stormlight Book 3, Oathbringer. Oathbringer.m4a

Hello! Much like @Stevorso, I'm finally making an account here so I can post over on the Boskone event thread. But first I wanted to thank the community here for all the work they do on the Coppermind, the Interview Database, or just hanging out here discussing theories. I started lurking over on Tor's Stormlight reread a few years ago, which led me to finding these great resources for looking up all things Brandon. Who knows, maybe now that I made an account here I'll actually find the time to participate every once in a while. Oh, and most importantly, I have looked around here enough to know that I should refuse all offers of cookies. No matter how tempting they may be...

Ow. Mi9 opened his eyes, looking at the too-blue sky, unmarred by cloud. Well. There was that rising column of smoke. He propped himself up to his elbows, then gasped as sudden pain bloomed in his side. His elbows gave way, and he fell back, groaning. Owww Storm Sheep. Storming Aries. At least he was out of that closet, eh? Man, that had been a nightmare, trapped with Sheep. He was going to have to get an open-air wardrobe next time. A wry smile crossed his face. That had been a pretty big gamble on Agent Niobe. One which had paid off. More or less. Pity to lose him. That Agent had had potential. So much potential. He cracked open an eye, raising himself up carefully this time, noting the nice little hole right under his ribs. Interesting. The bullet didn’t seem to have hit anything vital, and had not embedded inside his body either, going cleanly out from the his back. That was interesting. Sheep was an expert markswoman, he knew. It wouldn’t be like her to miss her shot. So she still wanted him alive then. Sighing, he pulled out a standard-issue medical kit from his back pocket, then set about staunching the bleeding and fashioning a bandage. Finally, he stood, wincing a little, but managing to not fall over. Yaaay… Looking at the ruins of the Agency building, he was silent for a long while, before finally pulling out his phone and making a transmission. <Emergency Transmission> OPERATION BLACK SHEEP: UPDATE Endgame, fellow agents. The stakes have never been higher than they are now. The time for laughter is over. It is time to end this once and for all. We destroy the double agents. We put Sheep behind bars. And we’ll forge a new path for our agency. Gotta start a new mission, you see. You know our building is gone. Well, it’s thanks to Agent Niobe. Bright young man, lots of potential. He...blew us all away. Literally. So we’ve got to get new builders. Sigh. To Sheep, if you’re receiving this, which you probably are, I hope that even now, you lie awake knowing Mi9 has his eyes on you. Mi9 has his eyes on you, Sheep. Understand this. There is nowhere you can go. We will find you, and you will be helpless. Just you wait. Mi9 will have his satisfaction, this he vows. Just you wait. -Mi9 <End transmission> He clicked off his transmitter and strode off into the the gathering night.

Hello everyone! I'm a long-time lurker who decided to finally register for an account because I had some info to share about the Provo Library event last night. Figured I might as well do this whole thing properly and introduce myself as well. I'm an avid reader and have read everything I can get of Brandon's (most of them multiple times). The name comes from when Words of Radiance was released and I literally stayed up all night reading it, finishing at 4 AM even though I had to start my work day less than two hours later. When I got my copy of Words of Radiance signed I introduced myself to Brandon as "a member of Bridge 4 (AM)" for that reason and he made it semi-official by personalizing it as shown in my avatar pic. Anyway, I'm always happy to discuss books and I greatly enjoy giving or receiving recommendations on what to read next.

Apple juice is amazing. So are animal crackers. Who decreed that they be labeled 'juvenile' foods? I'd eat them at a business meeting.

Long-time lurker, first post, but others who were there can confirm what I say. Most questions were about his writing process and other general topics. The only Cosmere-specific ones I remember were as follows: Does burning cadmium actually slow down time or just slow down the perception of time? (there was a bit more to the question but I was on the opposite end of the room) The answer was it does actually slow time. Is there or will there be a shard for Entropy? That was/is Ruin There were a couple others with obvious answers (Is Odium the same person as Ruin?) but nothing else stood out. There was indeed a reading of the prologue to Oathbringer. POV character is And for my own question while I got a book signed I asked "What would happen if you tried to cut aluminum with a shardblade and as a follow-up how significant is it that Nightblood has a metal sheath?" To which he answered, "It is significant, and a shardblade would not cut aluminum."

Day 8: A Daughter's Gift Nicki…a voice called out. The sound drifted through the wind, through the dark night, and into the houses of Tyrian Falls. It made its way through the night and into the shop of a deceased metallurgist. Nicki… The voice continued. ...Nicki… Nicki heard the sound and looked up from Rin’s desk. Was somebody calling her name? She listened intently for a few moments, but heard nothing. Nicki… I’m here… Nicki jerked upright. That was father’s voice! Where had it come from? She jumped to her feet and looked around wildly. Was he free at last? Outside… Nicki’s father said. Nicki rushed out the door and into the night. The mist parted around her, as if clearing a path. She ran into it, chasing her father’s voice. She didn’t know how long she ran for. When she reached an intersection, her father would direct her to go left or right. She couldn’t see where she was going in the mist, but she trusted her father to lead her well. He was talking to her! Somehow, he was talking to her! Go right, the voice said. You’re almost there... Nicki turned. The mist ahead was much clearer, so she could recognize where she was. She was somewhere near the graveyard, where she had dug up Pikker’s body. Her father had to be there! Something clobbered Nicki in the head. She whirled around and saw someone in a mask wielding a club. She flared pewter and punched her assailant in the face. They staggered back a few steps. Nicki took advantage of her attacker’s distraction to kick them between the legs. They howled in pain and dropped to the ground. Something scored her ribs. Nicki turned around. Another attacker stood in front of her, holding a knife. She elbowed them in the face, but they held up their arm to block it. Then they swung the knife at Nicki’s head, impossibly fast. The knife sliced through some of her hair. Something blunt hit Nicki’s side. Then something else slammed into her head. She shook off the attacks and swept the legs out from under the second attacker. They fell. Nicki dropped onto them to pin them to the ground. She hammer punched the attacker’s head, over and over. The blows kept on bashing into Nicki. She ignored them and continued punching the person under her. Their attempts to block her grew weaker and weaker, until they finally stopped. Nicki grabbed their knife to slit their throat. Something heavy hit Nicki in the head again. Nicki whipped around. Her first attacker was up now. She tried to stand up, but was smashed in the head again. The world blurred. Another hit smacked into her arm. Nicki flared Pewter and tried to tackle the attacker, but she couldn’t get the leverage for it. She was hit over, and over, and over, until she could barely see. She slumped to the ground, blinded by pain. The last thing Nicki felt was something sharp pushed between her ribs. A few days later, a package was delivered to on the front doorstep of a modest house in Luthadel. A man opened the door and picked up the package. He was a short, balding man, obviously a servant. His only interesting feature was a gaudy hoop that pierced his left earlobe. It was polished bronze, a rare piece of jewelry for a Noble in Luthadel. The servant picked up the package and took it inside. He took it to a bedroom, where an Inquisitor sat on a couch. It looked frail, rebuilding its Feruchemical stores. “Master,” the servant said. “I have a delivery from our friends in Tyrian Falls.” The servant handed over a metal spike to the Inquisitor. It rolled the spike between its fingers and tilted its head towards it, as if inspecting it. “It’s a gift from your daughter,” the servant said. He smiled. “When should we put it in?” Ryth’s training just wouldn’t let him not patrol at night; not in these turmoil-ridden times. It was actually a fairly clear night. The mists were lighter than usual, which still meant that they concealed anything past 15 feet on either side. As he walked, his hand casually resting on the pommel of his sword, he passed by the charred remains of Whistler’s shop. It was the origin of all of this. The stranger dying in the street had warned them, but this was where it had all become real. And now there were multiple other buildings being torched to the ground. Someone is a bit of a fire bug, he thought with a humorless smirk. A scraping sound from the direction of the burnt building pulled him suddenly out of his revery and he drew his sword. He took a defensive position and stood as silently as he could. “Hello?” He called and then, after waiting for a short time without a response, “If someone is there, reveal yourself!” When he got no response, he slowly let his guard down. After all, it was likely just some ash shifting one of the burnt timbers. *Thwip! Thwip! Thwip!* Ryth couldn’t make out what it was that flew towards him, but he could see the trails the small objects carved through the mist. The first hit him in his sword arm shoulder. It ripped through and traveled on, knocking Ryth off balance at the same time. The second tore through his other shoulder. This set him up so he faced the last one head on. And it tore straight through his chest and through his heart. Night 8 has ended and Day 8 has begun! You have 48 hours. Arraenae was attacked! They were a Village Thug! Silverblade was attacked! They were a Regular Villager! Good Luck! Player List

I went to my first signing ever on the Arcanum Unbounded tour, and when I went through the personalization line, Brandon and I had a nice conversation about the physical properties of ettmetal, otherwise known as harmonium, and how they were impacted by Realmatics. (Influenced in part, I assume, because when he was going through his opening talk, I fist-pumped when he said he was originally a chemistry major. He saw, and asked if I was a chemist, to which I replied I was a chemical engineer. So, I think he took the chance to share some details with someone who’d be able to fully comprehend them.) I’m still waiting to get the recording of the signing line, but I’ll paraphrase what I got out of it. Brandon said that it makes sense for ettmetal to be so volatile, because it has the power of both Shards in it, and the conflict associated with them. He also clarified that it’s not a nuclear reaction; it’s chemically reactive, it’s the properties of the electrons in Harmonium that make it so reactive. It’s like ‘super-cesium,’ reacting very quickly with water. I wasn't quite ready prepared to deal with the implications (I was there as a cosmere fan, not a scientist), but I've spent some time thinking it over, and I think I understand a little more exactly how the physics and the realmatics are interacting. I've come to several major conclusions, which are reliant on a college-level understanding of chemistry. If you’re not at that level, skip ahead to the next section, where I’ll try to build it up in layman’s terms. For those who feel knowledgeable, though: Overview of the Theory · I propose that the subatomic particles of harmonium (protons, electrons, and neutrons) are comprised of pure Investiture, but still functioning as normal subatomic particles. This Investiture would be still of each individual Shard, even though the atom as a whole would be of Harmony. · The reactivity of harmonium follows the trend of alkali metals, but would be enhanced due to an additional electron shielding factor that would come from the repulsion of Ruin particles and Preservation particles, lowering the ionization energy and increasing reaction rates. · The alkali-metal behavior of Harmonium would come from the imbalance between the two Shards, the extra piece of Ruin. It would follow the orbital structure of cesium (atomic number 55), with one electron in each filled orbital from each Shard. The single valence electron would be an extra Ruin electron. · I’d like to say that each harmonium atom (cesium-133, the only stable isotope) is a combination of a lerasium atom and an atium atom, which would make atium = nickel (28) and lerasium = cobalt (27). However, I can’t get the neutron math to add up. It’s possible that the nucleus looks different, that the stability of harmonium is different because of the competing Investiture in the nucleus. This gets into physics, not chemistry, so I’m not equipped to dig deeper into this idea. So, if you understand that, great. Head on down the page to my conclusions, to see what I’ve thought of as implications of this. If you didn’t (which I assume is the majority), let’s do a quick* chemistry lesson. (For those who have actually studied chemistry, be aware this explanation will be pop science. Like one of my professors used to say, all explanations of chemistry are lies, and we just learn slightly smaller lies the farther and farther we go.) Chemistry of Alkali Metals What are atoms? Elements (like copper, oxygen, or chlorine) are made of fundamental particles called "atoms." These atoms interact with one another, bonding together to form more complicated substances (from water to gasoline to medicinal compounds). Different atoms will behave in different ways, based on the number of subatomic particles they’re comprised of. All atoms have dense nucleus, made of protons and neutrons, surrounded by a cloud of electrons. The number of protons defines the element: any atom with one proton is hydrogen, any one with six protons is oxygen, any one with 55 protons is cesium. Chemical reactions are largely driven by the transfer of electrons from one atom or group of atoms to another. How do electrons behave? Electrons are attracted to the nucleus through the electromagnetic force, pulling together the negative charge of an electron and the positive charge of the protons. But electrons aren't like planets in a solar system, just floating wherever they feel like. When they surround a nucleus, they order themselves into levels, filling from the lowest level (closest to the nucleus) and going up. For chemical reactions, only electrons in the outermost level will be involved; anything in a lower level that has been completely filled will not react. In chemical reactions, atoms will trade or share electrons until every atom involved has a filled outermost shell (either by getting more electrons or getting rid of some of theirs), since a filled shell is the most thermodynamically stable. That's how the periodic table of elements is arranged; elements in a column all have the same number of electrons in their outermost level (called 'valence electrons'), so they will all behave in a similar fashion. If they have an almost-full shell, they will be very reactive, like chlorine and oxygen. If their shell is filled, they will be nonreactive, like helium. The reactive properties of ettmetal match the first column of the periodic table, the 'alkali metals.' They all have a single valence electron, and they want to get rid of it like none other, so they'll take any opportunity to do so. They are metals, but they will react very violently with water. Other alkali metals you may have heard of are sodium, lithium, potassium, which are not found in nature in their pure forms because of how reactive they are. How can we free up that electron? Pure alkali metals would like to pass off their single valence electron to another molecule or atom, which would be more thermodynamically stable with it. However, to get rid of this electron in the first place, there is some energy required to ‘knock it loose.’ It's sort of like trying to launch a rocket from earth; you need a bunch of energy to overcome gravity, but once you're out in space, you can go wherever you want. Unlike that rocket, though, there are many different forces acting on an electron. Each proton is pulling on that valence electron, trying to keep it there. But, believe it or not, as you take alkali metals with more protons, the total force on a valence electron electron goes down, and they get easier to remove. Why is this? Two reasons: first, the electron is farther away from the nucleus. But, more relevant to this discussion, the lower shells filled with electrons are also pushing the valence electron out. This concept is called "electron shielding.” Negative charges repulse other negative charges, so when there are a ton of electrons between the valence electron and the nucleus, they will cancel out some of the pull of the protons. Since the electrons in heavier alkali metals aren’t held as strongly, reactions happen faster, and release their energy much quicker. Harmonium reacts even quicker than cesium, the highest alkali metal that's not a pretend element (another of my old professor's fun sayings about transuranic elements). That means its electron is even easier to remove, and it reacts even faster. Realmatics of God Metals How does this play with Realmatics? Finally, we get back to what Brandon said about the opposite forces within the same atom. An atom with protons and electrons comprised of Ruin would behave like a normal atom; no unusual interactions. Same for an atom completely of Preservation. But mix and match, and Preservation electrons would push on the Ruin electrons, giving extra electron shielding. And the Preservation protons would also push on the Ruin electrons (partially countering their normal electromagnetic attraction), reducing the force holding them in. By making it easier to remove harmonium’s valence electron, the rate at which it reacts with other atoms will increase. Which is what we’ve seen. Why does Harmonium have 1 valence electron in the first place? Lastly, I think that harmonium needs to be an alkali metal and have that 1 extra valence electron because of the balance between Ruin and Preservation. In a filled electron shell, each electron has a pair. I think each electron pair contains one Preservation electron and 1 Ruin electron. But, here's the problem: there's extra Ruin. Some of Preservation is in mankind, so if he doesn't physically manifest this extra Ruin somewhere, he won't be in balance. So, he throws in an extra Ruin proton and Ruin electron; this very reactive valence electron. As long as he manifests enough harmonium, the extra Ruin is there in the environment. Brandon has referred to ettmetal as super-cesium. That could be interpreted as a magically stabilized francium (which isn't stable, and doesn't exist outside of a few moments in a laboratory), but I think he means it's a super-reactive cesiuim. Cesium has 55 protons and 55 electrons; harmonium would have 27 of Preservation and 28 of Ruin. The Invested protons, neutrons, and electrons change the atomic behavior of Harmonium, which is why it isn’t exactly cesium. In Conclusion So, I learned in my discussion with Brandon that 1) the pieces of Ruin and Preservation are distinct in harmonium and 2) the battle between them causes ettmetal to be highly reactive. I think I’ve identified the specific mechanism by which this happens. It does, however, carry some interesting implications that I’m still working out. Let me share some of them with you; feel free to comment. · If there’s a repulsion between electrons, there must also be one for protons and neutrons. This would make Harmonium’s nucleus more unstable. Although Brandon said it is not a nuclear reaction that we’ve seen, it may just require the proper catalyst, so I would not be surprised to see an ettmetal nuclear bomb at some point. · If harmonium is cesium made out of Investiture, then maybe it is a fusion (the scientific term, combining the nuclei) of a lerasium atom and an atium atom. That would mean that lerasium would have 27 Preservation protons, and behave like cobalt. Atium would have 28 Ruin protons, and behave like nickel. However, although the electrons add up, the neutrons will not. (The number of neutrons doesn’t affect how an atom behaves chemically, but it can make it radioactive, which will change it into a different element.) There’s only one stable isotope of cesium, and one of cobalt, and doing the math doesn’t yield one of nickel’s stable isotopes. It’s possible the stability of harmonium is different, because of the extra forces between Ruin’s and Preservation’s protons and neutrons, somehow requiring fewer neutrons for stability. But, this isn’t anything I’ve studied as a chemist; it’s in the realm of physicists. · Because there are individual elements of Ruin and Preservation, this doesn’t bode well for Harmony as a whole. Sure, on a macroscopic scale, there’s balance. But it could mean that, in each of his individual interactions with people, he might go back and forth between two extremes. It also makes me wonder how easily Harmony could Splinter back into two Shards (although we do know that at this point, if Sazed died, he would drop a single powerful Shard.) · Ettmetal reacts, which means its transferring part of itself to water. Once the electrons are gone, they ain’t coming back. Atium burns and regenerates; how would a harmonium oxide make its way back to continue the cycle? It seems like Investiture is lost to the environment when ettmetal reacts with water. · People have extra Preservation, but if ettmetal is Harmony’s way of sequestering his extra Ruin, then as it continues to react with water, the extra Ruin could end up transferring to the environment. Man vs Nature is a very big concept in sci-fi, so maybe it could come up in Mistborn Era 4, that the planet itself is of Ruin while its inhabitants are of Preservation. Just spitballing here. · How do other god metals work? If they’re elements made out of Investiture particles, then can Shardblades rust? Or maybe are they silver made out of Honor’s Investiture, which is why they won’t react? (Unfortunately, Element 10 is neon, which is not a metal.) But that wouldn’t give them the structural integrity they need (even if they don’t physically do the cutting, a pure silver sword would be deformed in a duel). Does each Shard make a different metal for its god metal, or could it make any metal it wanted? · Are all physical forms of Investiture (the mists, the liquid Shardpools, Stormlight) similarly constructed? Maybe the mists were composed of two Preservation hydrogens and one Preservation oxygen? Are Perpendicularities just Invested mercury? The reactivity of ettmetal shows that, at the very least, the solid form of one Shard’s power manifests below the atomic level; does every solid form of Investiture do so, as well? Uh… In Conclusion, Again Okay, I’m done for real this time. I know people have proposed similar things (like atium is Ruin’s electrum) based on allomantic behavior, and I didn’t like them at the time (the ideas and logic behind them, not the people), but the way Brandon spoke of Harmonium makes me think that approach was on the right track. However, it’s on a more fundamental level: the very protons and electrons are either of Ruin or Preservation, and when you combine the two, you get a very reactive metal. I’ve tried to completely explain the chemistry of the situation, but it does dive pretty deep at times. If you’d like to know more about that, please just let me know. I didn’t bring out any graphs to show exactly why electron shielding increases reaction rate, but I can if anyone’s interested. I will also try to get the actual transcript to post it. I’m confident in the broad strokes of my conversation with Brandon, that Harmonium is extra reactive because of the opposing Shards it’s made up of, but I do think that having his exact words would have preempted some objections that I’m sure are coming. I’m just not patient enough. 07/19/17 - Made slight changes to the text to (hopefully) clarify what is canon and what is supposition on my part. To emphasize, it is not confirmed that harmonium is unbalanced towards Ruin. What is canon is it behaves like an alkali metal. If my supposition is true, that each electron is either of Ruin or Preservation, then the idea of unbalanced harmonium naturally follows.

Signing up as Shinon. When Shinon heard that there was to be a testing for new Radiants, he could hardly contain his excitement. The Knights Radiant were returning, and he had a chance to join them! He'd just been a youth when he'd joined Highprince Roion's army. He'd been looking for excitement and intrigue, well, it seemed his time had finally come. If he could become a Radiant, he'd be right in the middle of everything. Oh, he'd enjoyed learning the bow and going on the occasional skirmish against the Parshendi on the Shattered Plains, but it just hadn't been enough for him. He'd been so excited for the testing, he'd had trouble sleeping the night before. When he woke, he knew he'd overslept. He quickly dressed and rushed out of his room, almost knocking a few other soldiers down in his haste. I better not have missed it. Storm Aran, he knew how much I was looking forward to this. He made it just in time to see Dalinar introducing a man named Lomot as an Initiate. It was difficult to tell in the sunlight, but it appeared that the man was glowing slightly. A golden cloak floated down from...somwhere and Highprince Kholin tied it to the Initiate. "Impressive, isn't it? Though the cape floating down from the sky seemed like a little much to me." Shinon turned and saw Aran standing next to him. "So, are you gonna get in line or stand there gawking like an idiot?" Aran said, smiling ever so slightly. Aran had been his best friend since the moment he'd been assigned to Roion's archers. They'd always treated the war with the Parshendi as a game, even keeping score to see who could kill the most Parshendi. Aran was leading by 3 right now, but only because he'd stolen some of Shinon's arrows during the battle at the Tower. "I was not gawking." Shinon grumbled. "And yes, I am going to get in line, no thanks to you." He shot Aran a glare, but he seemed distracted by something and didn't notice. "What about you? Aren't you going to give it a shot?" "Already tried. Guess I'm not good enough for 'em." Aran said, turning away just a bit. "Oh...I see." Shinon said awkwardly. "Sorry." "Nah, it's okay. I do just fine as I am. All that glowing would probably keep me up at night anyways." Aran said, chuckling. Shinon had been friends with him long enough to know that he was disappointed that he hadn't been chosen. "Enough about that, you better hurry up. You overslept and now you're letting all the glory get taken." "You're right! We can't have that." Shinon said with a smile. "Wish me luck. I'll try and keep my glowing to a minimum when I make it," he said with a wink. Then he turned and joined the others waiting their turn to see if they were worthy to join the ranks of the Knights Radiant. Shinon's palms were sweating as he watched others fail, while a smaller percentage succeeded in breathing in the stormlight. He'd never been anyone important. The third son of an unimportant lighteyes. He couldn't let this opportunity to actually do something worthwhile slip away. Finally, his turn came. He nervously climbed the steps and faced Dalinar Kholin, the Blackthorn. "Speak the words," the Highprince commanded. Shinon's vision fuzzed for a moment and his mouth went dry. He swallowed, and calmed himself. "Life before Death. Strength before Weakness. Journey before Destination," Shinon said, his voice sounding distant in his ears. "Breathe deep, and we'll know if your heart is true," the Highprince said as he held out an infused sphere. Breathe. Right, that's what I've been forgetting to do, Shinon thought. He took a deep breath, and suddenly the world snapped back into focus. He felt as if he were in a Highstorm. No, as if the Highstorm were inside of him. He looked to the Highprince with wonder. "What is your name?" Dalinar asked. "Shinon, Brightlord." Shinon said. The Highprince nodded and announced him to the crowd. He'd done it. He was a Knight Radiant! Or, he was going to be. He'd heard that this was only the first step to becoming a true Knight Radiant. Whatever hardships were to come though, he felt he could overcome anything with this newfound power. He joined the other Initiates, and settled down to wait for his new training to begin.

Whenever I feel the need to go "whaaaaa?" I visit the Dennys Tumblr. That place is weird.

Kintas had been on Roshar for about 3 weeks (by this planet's reckoning, and he was fascinated. And bored. The native flora and fauna were amazingly unique among the worlds in the Cosmere, almost all of them hard-shelled and built to weather the storms that swept across the planet with ferocity. Kintas had obtained a calendar with predictions of some of the upcoming highstorms so he travel as safely as possible, and had ended up joining up with a caravan for a good part of his journey to the Shattered Plains, but even so, some of those storms had been terrifying. By the Colors, there were few more dangerous worlds he knew of! At the same time, though, it all looked so much the same. Rocks. A few bits of green or brown or red here and there, but the crem that came with the storms left most things one uniform color. Hence, boring. He'd done all the studying of the local ecology he wished, and now he wanted to observe the Surgebinders instead. They were the true reason he was here, after all. He didn't anticipate one of the spren bonding with him. He simply wanted to learn all he could about how it all worked. He'd learned the first oath of the Radiants before coming to Roshar, and it fascinated him since it was so like how he'd lived his life. Life before Death. He'd literally done that, and then gained another life, but he also understood placing life before death, not killing or sacrificing needlessly. Strength before Weakness. He knew he wasn't among the strongest out there, but what he had he always tried to use to protect those weaker. That would include using his Divine Breath to save someone if needed, though he'd hold onto it until the right moment. Journey before Destination. Kintas didn't even know his true destination, but that made the journey even more important to him. As one of the Radiants transported his group to Urithiru through the gigantic Oathgate (it seemed there were only a few who could operate it, though he didn't know the name of the red-haired girl who had activated the gate this time), he gaped in unrestrained awe. He'd never expected such majesty here. Sure, he hadn't been to any of the big cities on Roshar yet, but even so, this tower had to be unique. He barely even noticed following the procession into the room with the raised dias. Dalinar's voice brought him to his senses. He stepped to the side intending to merely observe rather than take the test himself, and watched as candidate after candidate approach. Most seemed to not even understand the words they spoke. Those that did were able to draw in light from the sphere Dalinar held. Kintas knew from reports that he could likely draw in that light as well, using it to keep him alive as well as Breath could, but it felt like it would be a deception if he was not actually a Radiant. The words reverberated through him each time he heard them, though, particularly when someone else meant them, and suddenly without realizing it, he found himself face to face with Dalinar. "Speak the words." "Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destination." Kintas had no hesitation, no difficulty forming the words, and suddenly he knew. He wasn't here to simply observe. He was here to BE. He breathed, and the light streamed into him, briefly illuminating his skin. The feeling was euphoric, and he barely registered the cape being placed on his shoulders. He was going to get first-hand experience with this amazing system of magic.

Well, here goes nothing. Sometimes, it hurt to be this right. It had been years ago, now, that he had proposed his idea. They had scoffed at him, calling him insane, superstitious, and at worst, a fraud. A miracle, they had called it. Surely the work of the Almighty. The less confident had said it was a work of fate. Some good fortune in a bad world. He snorted. He knew what had happened. And what had happened after... But now, now it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter that he whole debacle had ruined his reputation, and sent him into the worst time of his life. Because now... Now he was right. He was whole again, and he could do anything. Balthazar closed his eyes, trying to fix the memory, yes, this beautiful memory, in his mind. Ahhh... Balthazar walked up to the Highprince. It was rumored that he had Bonded the Stormfather itself. A Highprince, a Radiant, and the feared Blackthorn. What couldn’t this man do? Balthazar hesitated. What if he had been wrong? Could it be that, after all these years, he had lost what had always given him strength? He shuddered. He couldn’t bear living, knowing that he had been wrong. But, said a little voice in his head, could you live knowing you had never found out? Balthazar steeled himself. No, he couldn’t. Gathering his strength, Balthazar slowly climbed up the steps. Each step was a challenge, a fight against the fear that had gripped him. He shook his head. He couldn’t turn back now. He stood straight, and looked at the Blackthorn. He grimaced as he saw pity in those eyes. There had been a time when men like him would have seen strength in Balthazar, and kept their pity for others. But that time had passed, and in a way, it was why he was here. ‘Speak the words.’ Balthazar heard the Highprince say. ‘Life before death,’ Balthazar said. My life, before other’s deaths. Yes, that was easy. ‘Strength before Weakness.’ He continued. He smiled inside, despite his worries. Balthazar had always valued strength, in himself, and others. There was no place for cowards where he had walked. But, oh yes, this was the hard one. He breathed in. ‘Journey before Destination.’ Yes, he could put his impatience aside. The destination was not always the key. This was something he had learned since the fateful day. ‘Breathe in, and you shall be proven.’ The Highprince declared. Balthazar looked at him sharply. Where did he get the idea that Balthazar had something to prove? He shook himself. Of course, everyone here had something to prove. Balthazar stood, shakily, and breathed in. And then, everything was right. Balthazar opened his eyes. After that, everything had sped up. He had felt filled, for the first time in a long time. And now, he was walking away, to join the others. There would be more, the Blackthorn had told him. He would join them, and they would do great things. They would be Knights Radiant. And they would be strong. I do hope that was OK.

Sort of the opposite of Clark's Law. "Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology."

Once she threw on a new set of clothes and made some other preparations, Shiny Sparkle teleported away to start her journey to search for love and passion in not recently charted territory and returning some fancy sunglasses, assuming she didn’t get distracted by true love on the way. Shiny found herself in the sky over Portland, that was now filled with wonderful sparkles… also a giant flying building. That’s new and actually somewhat unexpected, even if not quite as much as the flying pigs dropping squirrel bombs. Still she landed back on the ground to take a moment and consider this flying building. Was that a good place to start her journey? Well was Backtrack likely to be there? Probably not, thinking of heights like that were likely enough to turn him into a sobbing mess. Then his tsundere sweetheart would give him some spice before eventually grabbing the lucky Slontz’s hand to totally not reassure him but just make sure his shaking didn’t make him fall of the edge or something like that. Couples that openly flirted without letting others join in were the worst. Next and more important point on the list, were cuties likely to hang out in a giant flying building? Well… it did have certain flair to it, so someone with good taste might be up there and if good taste translates into… Her cutie sense was tingling. There was someone edging closer towards the sparkles. No on closer inspection it wasn’t just someone, it was a beautiful goddess of color, still holding distance as if judging if she was worthy. The sight made Shiny sparkle with the light of love. This seemed to get the approval of her new goddess and she merrily skipped towards Shiny, “Oh great Noodly One, you’re so shiny. And there are sparkles everywhere. That’s so amazingly amazing! How do you do that?” Shiny Sparkle pulled off her glasses and covered the last distance between them. Touching as much color on her dress as possible, Shiny laid an arm around the goddess and made her shine as well. Sparks, this close she could see that there was even glitter in her hair. There was nothing in this world that could have stopped Shiny from running her hand through this beautiful hair and making the glitter sparkle as well. It was like a halo of color engulfing the cutie and the entire world was drowned out by the inner beauty and love Shiny gave a means to come forth. “I am Shiny Sparkle,” she said after locking eyes with her. “I can bring forth the shininess of everything I touch. I am also the eternal ally to all that is cute and colorful, just like you. Now then, who do I have the pleasure of meeting?”

Idk if this should be under stormlight because I associate this specifically with spren, but the cognitive realm is everywhere so I posted it here. Anyway the theory itself: I've been thinking for a while about if we had spren in modern society, and what kind of new spren might pop up as a result. Then I listened to Steven Hawkings a brief history of time again, and considered the whole debate over black holes. This debate and deep thought on their existence would obviously have some sort of effect on the cognitive realm. So would, while they were not actually proven to be real, there be black hole spren as a result of all the thought and discussion of them? In that case, what if they weren't real? Then wouldn't said spren be representing the IDEA of something that isn't even real? This brought me into a whole new idea of questioning. In this hypothetical modern earth with spren, there are lots of people who love various forms of fictional entertainment- video games, movies, comics, perhaps even maybe social media could be counted. Could all of these create spren given how much people spend on them and think about them? So here I postulate some more about these movie and video game spren. These spren maybe would be attracted by a really good movie. But what is a good movie but conjecture and actors? And what is a comic but super heroes (those are the comics I read any way) that are completely not real! So if you attracted maybe a Batmanspren because you are obsessed with Batman. But Batman isn't real. Neither is any super hero. Although, on roshar there are superpowered individuals. So I guess what I'm really asking, is people thinking something is real enough to create a spren out of it? That or people constantly thinking about and objectifying it. But now while I'm thinking about it, I want to think more about this hypothetical present day world with spren. There are lots of instances where the public has been convinced that there was a massive conspiracy- such as the whole McCarthy affair. Would that, in this hypothetical world, create communistspren? Even where few or no communists existed? Beyond the whole fake idea spren thing, this world could also have new spren based on new public symbols. What about the crazy obsession over the dress a year or two back? Would that dress with its stupid stripes have created a spren over how much discussion there was? I imagine there would also be such things as patriotspren, peacespren, extremistspren, racespren- just based on modern isssues. Second to last idea I promise. If all these spren, especially the spren based on an idea that is actually false, create a truth? We know that the cognitive realm can affect the physical realm, so, I ask, could, if every person believed that Santa was real, could a spren powerful enough to MAKE a Santa become real? I know I'm going out on a limb here but tell me what you think. Finally, in this hypothetical world, Brandon sanderson would exist. Therefore we would be obsessing about how books. Therefore, by creating this thread, in this hypothetical world would I be attracting a SANDERSONSPREN. That's a Brandon sanderson paradox if I've ever thought of one. I apologize for the discontinuity of this post most of these idea suddenly poured out as I was writing it, so I have no idea how this would all work.

Hi all, I'm a pretty infrequent poster here, though occasionally I stop by and read what people share. I was thinking about the oaths of the windrunners, and something came to me, and I wanted to speculate about it here because I felt it had some merit. I think the last oath of the windrunners could be something like, "I will die for those I protect, if I must." My train of thought was of course this is the ultimate sacrifice and way to protect someone. And then it hit me. Honor was dead. What better way to exemplify what Honor did by following his example, and dying? I've always thought that poor Honor was killed by Odium. What if, instead, he sacrificed himself in order to protect Roshar from destruction? It not only makes Honor seem way cooler, but it just really fit. For me at least. And now that I'm speculating, what if the highstorms somehow protect the world (like cleaning it from voidspren or making such spren unable to carry out the will of their master)? Highstorms are almost always described as leaving the world clean, and I feel like they are also tied to Honor.

The Horneater origin story, as told by Rock and paraphrased by me, goes something like this: "Always persecuted by the [rest of the] humans, the Horneaters' ancestors asked various spren for help. These spren offered to grant them their homes as their own, but warned that the [rest of the] humans also persecuted their kind (Kaladin scoffs at the idea of Horneaters being chopped down by woodsmen). The 'spren' of the mountain refuses to help them until they have proven they can cultivate a home for themselves on their barren slopes. When they do so, [she] it grants them the home (which they had already made for themselves) that allowed them to live in relative peace alongside the [rest of the] humans." I believe this is the story of a group of listeners that succeed in breaking from the cycle of desolations by convincing Cultivation to give them a human-like and -compatible form, thereby allowing interbreeding. I'll break this down into notions: 1) The persecution by [other] humans definitely aligns with the desolations. 2) All their pleas to the Spren are answered in terms of transformation: The suggestion that, by living in the forest, they would be targeted by woodsmen, or by living in the sea they would be targeted by fisherman, indicates that in those cases they would become wood or fish. Sounds like Listener forms to me. 3) When they went to the mountains they were not offered such an obvious transformation, and were basically asked to Cultivate the peaks into somewhere habitable in exchange for being sheltered from the persecution mentioned in part 1). On the face of it this seems like the weakest offer, seeming to be 'if you make a home for yourself, thereby making this place easily habitable by humans (and therefore accessible to the ones persecuting you), I'll let you live there'. However, we know there is a Shardpool in the middle of the Horneater peaks, and the suggestion has been that it is Cultivation's, what with all the surprisingly habitable ecosystem. Perhaps, in fleeing to the peaks and Cultivating it into a home, a group of Listeners convinced Cultivation to grant them a human-like (and -compatible) form. It was this that made them safe from the humans, with whom they could now breed to dilute their hereditary vulnerability to Odium whilst maintaining their culture (hence the singing, and treating spren as gods). What do you guys think?

Night 9: Uncomfortable Routine The constant threat of impending destruction was starting to wear on the villagers. You could see it in the slumped shoulders and the lack of jovial conversation. That had been replaced with suspicious looks and grumbled threats. The entire town was in disarray. Buildings and streets weren’t being swept clean of ash and it was starting to pile up in corners. The smell of rotting garbage that wasn’t disposed of properly wafted through the air on the breeze. And with the arrival of two more bodies, new graves needed to be dug as well… right next to the already considerable number of fresh ones. There was one home that was spotless though, and that was Enias’ place. The house, and the grounds around it, were so pristine in comparison to everywhere else, it seemed like it was trapped in some kind of time bubble, where it remained untouched by the outside world. This was far from the case though. The truth of the matter was that it took Enias the better part of each day to keep it so clean; even though he had it down to a routine. Every morning, even before the sun was up, he would start with the roof and sweep and wash away any ash that had accumulated the night before. Then, he would move down the house, floor by floor. Every room, even if he hadn’t been in it at all that day was also wiped down thoroughly. Any and all collected filth would be tossed outside, where, once done with the inside of the house, Enias would go to work on the walls. Again, starting at the top. And finally, the grounds and all of the grime he’d aquired would be swept away. While this might seem like a fairly boring routine, Enias found it relaxing. He just couldn’t think straight until he had finished it and he had plenty of time to think while he was doing it as well. Thus it was that he had come to his conclusion: We’re all doomed, he thought as he brushed out the final alleyway around his house. So he wasn’t surprised in the slightest when he heard his voice being shouted by one of the villagers. "Enias? Enias, you rat, you set up Felix to be murdered yesterday when people started muttering about you! And then I'll bet it was you or one of your buddies who attacked Ryth last night like a coward! You better be rusting ready to see the inside of a grave. Where are you, Enias?" It was Remart. He was stomping around the square on that absurd metal pegleg of his, letting it toll like a bell with each step. For Enias, this had just been a matter of time, so he sighed and finished his sweeping. At least he had been able to complete his cleaning one last time. Then he walked out of the alleyway, broom still in hand, and noticed that it wasn’t just Remart. There were quite a few villagers waiting for him in the square. “Oh, my dear sir, I would never do such a thing intentionaly. But, you see, I saw him eating some filthy dust. This is what those spiked-misting-things are suposed to do? They are unclean, yes? “I only wished to voice my concern, but….but I see that it is not enough to convince you, is it? “Very well then, if this is the only way to stop the disscourse among us ... I will do it. I will lay down my life and may the Survivor preserve me. “Please, just promise me one thing? That you will make it quick, painless, and most of all clean? I have finished cleaning my old house one last time. I have no remorses. Do as you see fit.” There were a few who were taken aback by Enias’ complacency, but there were plenty more that were far too consumed by the paranoia and fear that had latched itself to the village. Even so, they were still honorable villagers in the end. After they had knocked Enias out with a quick, sharp blow to the head, they snapped his neck by hanging him. No blood was shed and it was as painless as they could do. But their convictions were dashed when they didn’t find any metal piercings on Enias. Day 8 is over and Night 9 begins! You have 24 hours. Manukos was a Regular Villager! PMs are Now OPEN! You can send PMs freely. Just please include me in them. Votes: Manukos (6)- Seonid, Jondesu, Manukos, I am Stick, Wyrmhero, Conquestor Magestar (3)- Elenion, Hemalurgic Headshot, Wilson Assassin in Burgundy (2)- Magestar, Araris Araris (1)- Assassin in Burgundy No Vote (10)- Elbereth, Wonko, Orlok, Sart, Gamma Fiend, Bugsy, Stink, Droughtbringer, Herowannabe, Joe in the Bush Player List

“Hi, my name is Ralaani and I’m an artist. I’ve come to Urithiru to practice sketching the local architecture and, um, uh…” Ralaanar trailed off. His axehound, Addy, stared at him, as if prodding him to go on. Her shell was a comforting shade of speckled brown over dark orange. Ralaanar focused on her shell and took a few calming breaths. Then he continued. “Uh, I also wanted to travel to a new place, see new things, see new places, see new things, um, yeah, to see the Radiants.” I wanted to get away, Ralaanar silently added. The thought made him forget the rest of what he was going to say. His planning slipped out of his mind, and he stalled, panicked. He fingered the smooth fabric of his dress as he tried to remember. Finally, he gave up. “Ummmm, I hoped you liked my speech thanksforlisteningbye!” Ralaanar’s cheeks flushed and he buried his face in his hands. Holy crem, that had been awful. If he couldn’t even practice introducing himself in front of his axehound, how was he supposed to introduce himself to the people out there? What if he forgot what he was going to say in front of people like Navani Kholin, or Shallan Davar? He’d die of embarrassment. Someone clapped painfully slowly. Ralaanar looked up and saw Rissa, his spren. Her body was an iridescent green with streaks of sky blue and yellow green. Her head was the most humanlike, while her legs were made completely of vines. Even though her body was made entirely of leaves, Ralaanar could clearly see her doing her best imitation of a sarcastic clap. “That,” Rissa announced, “Was absolutely, awe-inspiringly dreadful. Storms, I don’t even know why you even bother. Maybe this is a new piece of information for you, but normal people don’t practice for every bit of human interaction ever, ya know? Just wing it, Ralaanar!” Ralaanar whipped his head back and forth to make sure nobody was nearby. He glanced down at his dress and smoothed out its wrinkles. Then he checked to make sure that his left hand was covered, which it was. He almost breathed a sigh of relief, but noticed some people standing nearby. Either they were potential radiants or had already sworn the first oath. Either way, he didn’t people as powerful as they were knowing his secret. “Shhh!” he hissed at Rissa. “They might catch me if they overheard my real name. If they find out that I’m not a girl --” Rissa rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. Nobody’s around to hear. Stop being so jumpy all the time. They don’t know as much as you think they do.” She huffed in annoyance and floated into the distance. Ralaanar watched Rissa leave, sad to see her go. She was the only person who really talked to him, spren or not. Sure, she might be a little mean at times, but she was much better than the people back in Kelathar. Once Rissa faded out of sight, Ralaanar turned to watch the crowd of Radiants. There were quite a few people, some marked with the distinctive glow of Stormlight. It was a beautiful glow, and the sight of so much of it took Ralaanar’s breath away. From the distance, the Stormlight looked calm, but Ralaanar knew that up close the Stormlight raged like a Highstorm. Behind the Radiants was a line of people that stretched into the distance. Dalinar Kholin, the most powerful man in Alethkar, stood in front of the line. Most of the people approaching him were rejected. Ralaanar sympathized with them. He knew what it was like to be rejected. “HEY PEOPLE!” a voice yelled. Rissa. “MY HUMAN HERE’S GOT SOMETHING IMPORTANT TO SAY, AND SHE’S GONNA INTRODUCE HIMSELF. BE KIND TO HER.” Multiple heads turned Ralaanar’s way. He froze. This was bad. This was very bad. Addy prodded him forwards with a claw, and he stumbled forwards. Under the weight of all those stares, Ralaanar had no choice. He had to speak now. Hopefully they wouldn’t notice anything wrong with him. “Uh, hi, my name is Ralaani,” he said. “I’m an artist, and, um, um, I’ve come to Urithiru to draw, uh, the local architecture…” Sign me up as Ralaanar Ralaani, an artist pretending to be a girl so he won't be judged for drawing instead of going to war.

Some of the same people who worked on the Marvel movies huh. Wonder what that would be like... (Spoilers for both Mistborn Trilogies and Secret History) It had to be done.

I'm new to the forums too, but if there's anything I can do to help at Boskone I plan on being there starting Friday evening. It will be my first time going to anything like this so I'm not sure what to expect, but I figured I should at least try to do my part since I've spent so much time pouring over the Interview Database and Coppermind.

I'm sorry. I know that feel, and it sucks. It's partially a lovely thing, because it means humans can find the best and most beautiful things anywhere and learn to love any situation. It's also kind of terrible when one must leave behind one place, no matter how wonderful the place one is going to is, because there will always be things there that can't translate to anywhere else. Moving is one of the most bittersweet things I've experienced. There's a lot of twisty, uncomfortable emotions that come out that could be avoided if one just stayed in one's hometown their entire life. On the other hand, it's a great blessing, because one learns to appreciate so many different things and experiences. There's really nothing helpful I can say on this topic, so here's a respectful meme, as those are my new favorite thing.

I'm back from a visit to Florida. While I was there, it almost felt like I'd never left. Nothing had changed, except me. I noticed things that I'd never thought I would miss, like all the stupid little trinkets I've had on my dresser forever, or that one flagpole that's probably 40 feet tall. When I walked into my house and saw that everything looked a little shorter than I remembered, I almost cried. But I also realized that when I do go back to Florida for good, I'm going to miss things from Virginia, like the library, my seminary class, my young women's leaders, and dryer weather. I felt just a little bit homesick when I finally came back to the place I've called home for 13 years. . . . Why is it like this?

WARNING: I'm about to make an extremely lame (and slightly graphic) play on words. I think they'll have to castrate the story. By which I mean... they must remove the balls. Most of them, anyway. The whole subplot about "Valette Renoux" infiltrating noble society will have to be trimmed down considerably. This is going to be an action movie, with an epic allomancy training montage. ("Time is racing t'ward us / to avenge... the skaa! / Let's go kill that bastard / up in Kre... dik Shaw!) It would be absurd for our heroine to learn all this awesome magic from her amazingly charismatic mentor... only to spend half the movie hobnobbing with socialites. Vin's primary role in the grand plan is "Badass Mistborn #2." She's Kelsier's backup, his secret weapon against Inquisitors, and (secretly!) his successor as the leader of the revolution. Playing dress-up for espionage should not be a major focus. There can be one ball. The iconic one, where Vin meets Elend. It happens in the first half of Act Two, right after the training montage. Vin's learned lots about allomancy, and she's finally got some self esteem. She's not a weak little urchin anymore -- she's a powerful mistborn! Ready for a mission to help the resistance! And Kelsier's got just the thing: an essential mission, and one that will require two mistborn at the top of their game. The mission: to steal atium from Keep Venture. It's a heist. A spiritual trial-run for the climactic heist on Kredik Shaw. It'll require a partial core crew: Vin, Kelsier, Sazed, Breeze, and maybe Dox. The plan is to strike during a ball, when there are holes in the security. Vin and Breeze will attend as guests, impersonating nobles. For Vin, that's a total curve-ball... but she's up for the challenge. Once the ball is well underway, Kelsier will attack the keep from outside, drawing Straff's hazekillers to the outer battlements -- and away from the atium in the inner sanctum. Then Sazed and Breeze create a distraction in the main hall, while Vin sneaks off and goes for the atium. Probably has to fight a couple of coinshots. Her first real test. But, of course, before the signal is given, she'll be encouraged to mingle, listen for valuable intel... and have a meet cute with a certain son of the host... Afterwards, when Kelsier hears that she hit it off with Elend, he'll think that's great! She can play him. Pump him for information. He encourages her, under the Valette guise, to arrange little dates and meetings. A conversation here, a dinner there. She could meet his friends, and learn about their subversive ideas, realize that nobles aren't all bad... But more balls will not be necessary. After the ball-heist, she'll spend most of her time with Kelsier. She'll help him inspire the troops, and back him up on some smaller prep missions. This can almost slip into another montage: conversations with Elend, intercut with Kelsier-capers. She falls progressively more in love with Elend, while growing progressively more appalled by Kelsier's callous, brutal bigotry. An ironic juxtaposition, mainly of images, that builds tension within the Vin-Kelsier relationship, which is, of course, the emotional core of the movie. If it's handled right, adapting TFE should go pretty smoothly. It's a classic hero's journey origin story, like The Matrix. I'm much more concerned about WoA, which actually has a lot of the same problems as The Matrix Reloaded. There's a really interesting, super-important plot twist at the very end... but everything leading up to it is basically filler. (The Zane relationship and the Kandra mystery plot are fine, but all the political bickering and army-posturing become irrelevant as soon as Vin finds the Well.)

The music had a beauty to it. It was a terrible beauty. An overpowering beauty. 39214 sat there, in their room, in the darkness, with only a dim light from the moon shining in through the thin window in the wall, playing along to it. The light danced along the instruments and their fingers danced with it. Tears formed in their eyes. It was terrible. It was sad. The moonlight danced, and their mind danced along with it, sending them back to times past, times they’d rather forget. A blow to their head knocked them down, sending the chair flying. The music kept playing. 39214 lay sprawled on the floor. The carpet was wet. Tears dripped down. The music continued to play. They were sitting in an office, blood dripping from their face down onto the carpet, the folder in front of them and N briefing them on their death. They were in a concert hall, the conductor beating them down, over and over and over again. The music continued to play. They were in a lecture hall, the lecturer’s droning voice sounding like something hitting them on the head, describing a process that 39214 could not care to remember. The music continued to play. They were sitting in their childhood home. Their father came in holding a gun. The end clicked off. A puff of Dust. Moonlight through a small window into a dimly lit apartment. The music stopped. ------------------------------------------------------- [transmission begin] And now a message from our sponsors, the *coughs* wonderful agents over at MI9. [Message 1 begins] Greetings, agents. Just wanted to let you know that Marshall law is still in effect. Also, I'm voting on Bard. He is the second contacts claim which in of itself is dangerous. It also doesn't help that the two contacts I trust most both independently reached the conclusion that Bard is suspicious in addition to my own suspicions. Stay sharp, agents. [Message 1 Ends] And.... no more! *sigh*. [transmission end] ------------------------------------------------------- The Young Bard has been lynched! They were a Spy "Contacts" Vote tally: The Young Bard (3): Magestar, Amanuensis, Arinian Drake Marshall (1): Daniyah Cycle 8 has now started! You have 24 hours! Player List:

I'm home sick and I just had to sign for a Fed-Ex package in a pink polka-dotted bathrobe I've had since I was seven. Today's off to a great start.

Yet, on the other hand, not so different from our world. A lot of people believed they could fly, and eventually two of them invented the airplane. Or, if enough people believe that a minority is made of petty criminals, nobody will give good jobs to members of that minority, and many of them will actually become petty criminals. In fact, I find the way our beliefs shape reality to be much crazier than any belief-based magic system. at least if it was magic it would make sense.

I have a few comments, design-wise, which I hope don't look like complaining. It's too dour. The background grey stripe could be any colour other than dark grey. I'd say try green, dark blue, maybe orange, like suggested above, and see which one looks best. The grey text could be turned black, which would make it look sharper. The "do you like Brandon's books? Come share your enthusiasm" part could be a little higher - as it is, it seems a bit crowded with the stripe, and leaves a lot of empty space above. I'd also move it just a tad more to the right, but I'm not sure about this. Likewise, the list of features could be moved a bit down as well, and aligned with the "Also hosts Coppermind.net", so that it looks as if "Writings Groups" and it are written on the same line. Speaking of "Also hosts...", it's a tad too close to the black line, though in this case, I'd move the black line up so that the distance to the symbols and to the text would be equal. The symbols could be moved or resized a bit so that they'd fit with the black line beneath them; as it is, the Cosmere symbol stick out a bit. Why use regular font for the "Shard.com" and "The Official" etc.? The logo on top of the forum page is perfectly serviceable, holds the same information and looks so much nicer, not to mention more colourful.

In chapter 61 in Elantris Raoden takes a long wait for it.... *stick* and completes the Aon Rao on the ground!

DJ Stormfather hittin' the beats for Dalinar. Get ready for highstorm disco!

Aw man. Now I can't stop imagining Venli and her scientist buddies out catching spren by throwing spheres at them and trying to get each type.

In this world, Nintendo would be seriously irritated by how easy it would be to spot large groupings of virtual Pokemon. You wouldn't even need to buy the game!

The launch codes had arrived. Niobe hadn’t expected Mi9 to comply, but they had done as asked. Their loss. Nine assault rifles, all loaded, at least two stuffed in each coat pocket. The long-range bomber was set up facing the office as planned. Niobe picked up the pictures of N and Mi9’s high school girlfriends. Cute. They chuckled to themself and walked out the door, leaving it unlocked behind them. They doubted they’d be returning. The first port of call was getting those two out of the damnation closet they’d locked themselves in. Fortunately, Niobe had some ideas about that. They walked into the front entrance of MI9. “Agent Niobe, how good to see you.” The receptionist said, grinning. A nice looking lad. Niobe had probably interacted with them at some point in the past. “Here to see N.” “N? I believe she’s busy dealing with her sister right now.” “Even better. Where is she?” “In her office.” “Thank you, I know the way from here.” Niobe got into the elevator. “Get your sister for me. And her friend.” “Sorry, what, Agent Niobe?” N replied. Seems like she was going to resist. Niobe pulled a pistol out of their jacket. “Get your sister from that storming closet and bring her here.” “I don’t have the key.” “You what?” “I don’t have the key.” “For storm’s sake!” Niobe cried out. They pulled the trigger. “I guess I’ll be getting them myself.” Gunshots. The lock came off and the door opened almost immediately, with both the Sheep and Mi9 tumbling out and sprawling on the ground in a tangle. Sheep looked up and immediately looked down again when she saw the gun pointed right in her face. “A-agent Niobe. Thank you for getting us out of there. You don’t happen to have any water on you, do you?” “Water?!” Mi9 perked up. “I’m afraid not.” Niobe replied. They took the pictures out from their pocket and threw them onto the ground where Sheep and Mi9 were sitting looking dazed, recuperating from their unusually long stay in the closet. Mi9 noticed them first. “You weren’t kidding, eh?” “Not at all.” “So you really are challenging us?” “Yes. I am here to kill you both.” “Mind giving us a breather before you do that?” Sheep asked. Niobe sighed. “So be it.” They turned and walked over to the window, looking out over the Thames and at the buildings beyond. It was so beautiful and yet so… awful. A click sound behind them. They turned to find both Sheep and Mi9 with guns pointed at them. “I have many explosive devices throughout the building as well as bombers ready to blow this place to kingdom come. You do not want to shoot me.” “We’ll be the ones to decide that,” the two said in unison. Niobe died. The window smashed behind them. They fell forward. Neither pistol had been fired. Sheep ran over to the window. A figure stood down on the other side of the river, too small to make out the details, but big enough to see that they were holding a rifle. They waved. A notification noise. YOU’RE WELCOME FOR THAT ONE - ARIN & DESMOND In capitals. On the screen. The building blew up. Sheep and Mi9 were thrown backwards, falling to the ground as it collapsed around them. The wall fell in beside them and sparks flew across the room as the computer bank folded over itself, snapping the electronics within and breaking the circuits. It took less than a second for Sheep to be back on her feet, pistol in hand. She pointed it down at Mi9. “This wasn’t me, Sheep.” “I know. It would be stupid of me not to take advantage of this, however. You found me out.” “I what?” “You found me out. I am Aries Mi9.” “You are?!” Sheep sighed. “I thought you knew….” “Well I claimed you were, but how could I be sure?!” Sheep sighed even harder. “Never mind.” She fired a shot to Mi9’s side. “I don’t want to kill you, Mi9. You are a friend, even if on an opposing side. But if you try to stop me, you will die.” She turned to go away. “Sheep… answer me one last thing. Who is Gemini?” Sheep turned back and chuckled. “Gemini? Only time can truly tell that.” And with that she was gone. -------------------------------------------------------------- This is the endgame. With me or against me, time is running out. Your sides are meaningless. Find the Double Agents or die trying, agents. --------------------------------------------------------------- Seonid was lynched! They were a Spy "Hacker" Vote tally: Seonid (3): Amanuensis, Arinian, Magestar Drake Marshall (1): Daniyah Cycle 7 has started! You have 21 hours! Player List:

For movies, I think there'd be spren for different tones and genres. Actionspren. Suspense-spren (evolved from anticipationspren). Epicspren (evolved from gloryspren). Witspren, for Joss Whedon dialogue. Artsyspren, for Oscarbait. Marketingspren, for product placement. Plus modern-world spren for both real life and fiction. Cutespren. Awkwardspren. Hipsterspren. Nerdspren. Memespren. Tweetspren. Probably Pokemonspren.

Hithon wasn’t a fool. He knew that the steps up that platform would be steps sorely regretted in his future. It wasn’t a question of if, only a question of how. Shaking his head, he forced the darkness back, and tried to consider once more. He was an invisible man. Unless a man sought him in particular, he could stand still in a room and never be noticed. In a crowded marketplace? His pursuers would do best to wring their hands and give up. There was no power at work here, no Old Magic or...Radiant magic. He was simply a man who knew how to be unremarkable. It was a skill that had kept him alive. An invisible man had no business wanting to be a Knight Radiant. A soldier, a hero. To consider it was madness. The darkness laughed at him. He was no hero. The darkness mocked him, thrashing around him. Reveling in the perpetual dark. Hithon gritted his teeth. He would not fall today. He did his best to shut it out, day by day. That oppressive, leering darkness. Even though he had had to fight them every waking moment of his life, it never got easier. Even after two years. It was a torture that he supposed no man could ever truly get used to. It was madness. And yet. He found himself pressed between the crowd, feeling his way to the platform. It was not difficult to find his way. Highprince Kholin was on a raised dais, and while he did not shout, his voice carried. Orienting himself in the right direction, he found the end of the line of hopefuls. He felt the presence of many spren nearby. Awespren, anticipationspren, some gloryspren. He couldn’t see them, but their presence was clear. With every step he took, the darkness would thrash more, it’s frantic battering causing him to stumble more than once. And. the closer he got to the dais, the weaker the attacks became. This was why he strode up the dais now, why he allowed the eyes of the crowd to rest on him. Atop the platform, he felt the imposing presence of the Highprince, and stood at his best approximation in front of him. He looked straight ahead, and he knew the moment the Highprince noticed his eyes. His eyes that were a milky white, devoid of that spark of life. To his credit, the Highprince did not comment on it, and Hithon respected the man for that. Kholin touched his shoulder, merely asking: “Speak the words.” Hithon did not hesitate. “My Life before Death.” This was simple. Practiced. Any doubt he held he banished to say the next line. “My Strength before Weakness.” And finally. “My Journey before destination.” The rumbling of the Highprince’s voice. “Breath deep, and know your heart be true.” Hithon breathed. And he smiled. The cloak that the Highprince wrapped around him was nothing. The cheers of the watching crowd were worthless. The fact that he was now a Knight meant nothing to him. There was only one reason he had chosen to walk the fool’s journey. One reason why he had come to the Highprince and his men. When he had been working alone, the monsters would stalk him. When the Highprince had come, the darkness had drawn back. As the storm came to life inside him now, the shadows screamed and dissolved into the light.

Although it does line up with their origin story, as told by Rock and paraphrased by me: "always persecuted by the [rest of the] humans, asked the spren for help and granted a home (and form, perhaps?) that allowed them to live in relative peace alongside the [rest of the] humans." The first bit definitely aligns with the desolations. Actually, I just noticed how all their pleas to the Spren are answered in terms of transformation: The suggestion that, by living in the forest, they would be targeted by woodsmen (which Kaladin scoffs at), or by living in the sea they would be targeted by fisherman, indicates that in those cases they would become wood or fish. Perhaps when they went to the peaks and cultivated it into a home they were granted a human-like (and -compatible) form by the owner of a particular Shardpool located there... Edit: Sorry for the thread hijack, I'll take my musings to a new thread for comment.

Stick was/is the Blessing for WalDo

Great questions. I'm under the belief that Harmony's investiture being used by people doesn't mean he's losing power of his own. I think it just makes him more... invested in Scadrial. More connected to it. Society would definitely have to evolve to accommodate it. This is true, but it's also not quite a modern society. I think in Era 3 we'll see MORE rules, laws, regulations, etc. The days of coinshots damaging streetlights to get around will be mostly over. At least in the nicer parts of town. Hooligans in the hood will still do it. You make LOTS of good points, many of which I was considering as I started this topic. Yes, calling it "ethical and humane" is very controversial. I went ahead with the wording for the sake of making my point though. The whole idea here is that society will have to change to accept the use of Hemalurgy. My goal here was mostly to paint a picture of what that society might look like. The change (if it comes) definitely won't come easy. Euthanasia was strongly in my mind as I started this, and you can count me as someone who's very uncomfortable with the idea. But I think society IS pushing in a direction where it's more acceptable. The same thing is happening in many scientific areas. Things like stem cell research, cloning, any kind of human enhancement... Our society is ultimately going to become more comfortable with these things to some extent. Euthanasia in particular has gained more support in Western society. Throw in the incredible benefits of Hemalurgy, and I wouldn't be surprised to see this being a real controversy in the Era 3 timeframe. By the time of Era 4 I think it will be considered acceptable. I definitely don't mean to wrap it up nicely and pretend this is obvious and clean and easy. It's a fascinating ethical problem. But I DO think this is where Scadrian society would eventually head. The benefits are tremendous, and it does boil down to euthanasia. (with a big bonus) I don't imagine this... procedure would be incredibly common. But with the potential of unsealed metalminds it doesn't have to. Surely you're going to have somebody with powers now and then who's moments from death. Why just pull the plug on life support when you can (with their permission) put them to sleep and take their powers (for the good of mankind) first? This is a really fun concept. It's highly possible that ettmetal (and other unknowns) will generate some incredible ways to get around the need of Hemalurgy. If that's the case, Hemalurgy would definitely not go the direction I've described. But until we see some other proof of concept, the uses of ettmetal are pretty mysterious. This is true, but then criminals can do that anyways if knowledge gets out (which it probably will before long). If it becomes more common it will require laws. My pleasure!

Definitely the Shardblade. Fewer laughs, but you'd get a majestic weapon that would turn you into the ultimate safecracker. Would you rather be betrayed by Sadeas on the Tower (with no Kaladin there to save the day), or be killed by Nale in the name of "justice"?

The Willshaper theory pops around once every few months. Its main arguments rely on the one chapter epigraph, Uncut Gems, and several reader's interpretation wanting Adolin to love novelty due to his attraction to "foreign" Shallan. Typically, I would dispute this last argument by stating Adolin doesn't actually love novelty or changes. In fact, each time change finds his way towards him, he reacts by being nervous when not downright anxious. A few examples of thus behavior would be how he dealt with his father's visions first in WoK and later in WoR: each time he isn't keen on seeing the world as he knows it shift towards the unknown. He also absolutely does not fit within the "adventurous exploring" personality description usually attached to the Willshapers. Not once did he exhibit a desire to travel, to see foreign cultures, to leave his boring day to day life. I would argue he is quite the opposite, preferring to stay right here, home, close to those he loves. The concept of home, family and ties are very strong in him which I read is incompatible with the unreliable and carefree descriptions also associated with this order. I would argue Adolin loves to pretend he is carefree, he loves to pretend all he wants is to leisure around, to not be reliable, to just do as he wish, but each push comes to shove, turns out he isn't. He can't ignore the plight of others, he can't walk pass abuse, he can't ignore work which needs to be done. Which leaves us to Shallan, the "stranger" Adolin is naturally attracted too. He loves her peculiar hair and her different appearance which many interprets as being attracted to novelty. I happen to have a different interpretation. Adolin is half-Riran, he is blond headed which comes across often enough within the story. He insinuates having receive comments on how impure his blood line was and he complains on how idiotic it was for others to value light eyes, but dark hair. He also previously loved the fact Danlan wasn't dark haired, hence when he sees a gorgeous red head, yeah, he is attracted. It however isn't novelty, not for him. He has light hair, his mother has light hair: to him it isn't novelty, it was normality. This being said, even if it was an attraction to novelty, the argument above still remains the same. As far as I can tell, Adolin just doesn't have the right personality to be a Willshaper. As for the epigraph argument, well, I would state we can't know in advance which element of the book bore foreshadowing and which one does not. It might be this epigraph is foreshadowing, but it might also not be. It is impossible to tell, but I personally do not believe Adolin is in-line for one of the unfilled orders.

I don't know what the other portion of parentage is, but the Natan people have Aimian ancestry. Source So now there's reasonable doubt, as it were

She couldn't stay there. It was white, all white, so white white white. White wasn't a good color, because it wasn't a color at all. It was the absence of color, the absence of beauty. It was the color of nothing. The color of snow. Funtimes teleported out of Blueberry's bathroom, giving minimal thought to where she went. When she opened her eyes, she was outside. Blueberry's house was behind her; the crumbling remains of the neighborhood Blueberry had claimed were in front of her. Overgrown yards, untrimmed trees with piles of rotting leaves underneath. Broken windows and doors gaping open. Reminded her of—no, no, she couldn't think about that now. They were gaping open like power sockets. That's what they looked like. Power sockets always looked like they had their mouths and eyes wide open, like they'd stepped on a joy buzzer. She giggled. She felt better already. Funtimes moved along the cracked asphalt, pausing to bat a few weeds like a cat batting yarn. This was fun. This was nice. Much nicer than what she'd been thinking about. Like what she'd been thinking about last night when— —no, no no no no. No thinking about that. No thinking. No think. She cast about desperately for a distraction and—Noodly One be blessed—saw one over the horizon. Something colorful. Something sparkly. Something shiny.

My favorite person is likely Wayne. I enjoy how observant he is and how he pays attention to detail. Next is probably Syl.

Assuming Lashing another object takes as much stormlight as Lashing yourself, it would use just as much as if Szeth had used the stormlight himself, in total. So no difference there, compared to the theory that Szeth could Lash himself. It would require some trust, yes, but if those Skybreakers really wanted Szeth dead, they could have killed him pretty much whenever, by Lashing him into the sky against his will. That would, however, clearly be illegal, so the Skybreakers wouldn't do it. But it's also likely, as Yata says, that they just don't know Szeth doesn't have a spren (except for Nightblood).

Thanks Eki, I din't realize this possibility...sure it's a dangerous one, but possible. On the "they expect Szeth to follow them", maybe they simply don't know Szeth is "special" and they simply assume He may fly with them.

I suspect that it wouldn't. Otherwise a Rithmatist could just will his opponents lines to be weaker and win a fight quicker. Someone would have figured that out. Some of the creatures on Nebrask are intelligent. They would find a way across it, like using logs to float across. They would need to use acid at a fairly quick rate to prevent it from being diluted by the rain. It's probably easier and less expensive to use a Line of Warding. They only turned back when the Forgotten controlling them was defeated. For all we know, every wild chalkling could have once been a person, and the Rithmatists were just never able to defeat a Forgotten before and find out. I believe that the original wild chalklings were the natives that the Forgotten did something to. It raises the question, if wild chalklings are created when a Rithmatist is attacked by a wild chalkling, then where did the first one come from? Even if the ones that attacked the settlers were the native people, They would have had to get turned somehow. As for the rest of your questions, RAFO.

I thought it was pretty obvious that Elhokar is seeing cryptics("I see their faces in mirrors. Symbols, twisted, inhuman"), so wouldn't he be a more likely candidate for the second Lightweaver? Elhokar also has several powerful Truths he needs to come to terms completely with before he can start growing in a positive way: I'm a bad king I'm a coward I'm not the man my father was