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I shared this on The Stormlight subreddit and thought I'd share it here as well. Reddit post. In the WoK, Hoid tells the story of a group of people who committed horrible things under the orders of a king only to discover that that king had been dead for years, and that they were responsible for their horrible actions. The dead king is discovered in the passage below: “Derethil and his men came out of the tower a short time later, carrying a desiccated corpse in fine robes and jewelry. ‘This is your emperor?’ Derethil demanded. ‘We found him in the top room, alone.’ It appeared that the man had been dead for years, but nobody had dared enter his tower. They were too frightened of him." In the final chapter Dalinar finally realizes that the Almighty hadn't been talking in response to him, that he hadn't been following orders but had been misinterpreting the visions. He then learns that the Almighty is dead. The title of this final chapter? In the Top Room.

Wax: (BoM spoiler) Nazh gets angry at Kelsier: Vs. And the funny thing is, we still don't figure out his plot twists until they happen.

Cycle 7: Leads to Unity in Death “Sticks and stones may break their bones, but with Grass, I can break their skulls as well!” The self styled Ruin cackled to himself as he beheld the items he had gathered through the past week. Pile of stones, bushels of grass, and, whatever the word for a group of sticks was, were carefully laid out on his workshop floor. He had already made a Primitive sling from some of them, but he was certain that he could make a suit of Primitive Power armor as well, to be worn by that Koloss that kept following him. The Koloss in question crouched next to Ruin, following along as he tied sticks to each other with strands of Grass. The Koloss had appeared behind him several nights back, and while at first he had been terrified, he gradually began to realize that the koloss was just watching him, no doubt realizing that he was ruin, master of all Koloss, Kandra and Inquisitors, all of which were definitely present in Luthadel, he was certain. He just needed to find them. “Sticks?” Questioned the Koloss. “Weapon or food?” “Weapon” Ruin assured the simpleton. According to his calculations, he just needed three more of each of Rocks, sticks, and grass, and the Armor would be complete. With that, and the Koloss, he could conquer Luthadel! The Koloss abruptly stood, moving quickly, and with determination, both of which were different than it’s previous behavior. Ruin scrambled to his feet, knocking some of the sticks askew, and followed as the Koloss exited the house, it’s head breaking through the short doorframe. “Koloss?” It didn’t react to his words, continuing to walk down the street, as if on a mission. Ruin continued to follow, but began to attract a crowd as he did so. His eyes flickered from side to side, as he hurried after the longer legs of the Koloss. People we’re whispering, perhaps assuming that he was controlling the beast. And he was! He was pretty certain of that. Why else would it just follow him about? No one was having it follow him, right? Right? Heh, of course not. . . “Is that, uh, ‘Ruin’? Where did he get the koloss?” Ruin’s teeth gritted as he heard the air quotes around his name. He was Ruin, himself darn it! “Maybe he’s one of those spiked who are manipulating the King?” Another suggested. “We should totally kill Seixa, i mean, Ruin.” A third agreed. The Koloss began to pick up it’s pace. Before Ruin could do likewise, it bent its knees, and leapt, easily clearing a nearby roof. It landed on the roof, shaking the entire house, then leapt again, vanishing deeper into the city. Ruin, suddenly devoid of protection, froze. The citizens who had been muttering looked around at each other warily, as if hoping someone else would make the first move. Ruin did it for them. He turned and tried to dash for an alleyway, but was stopped by Vladek kneeing him in the gut. Rovan and Ayden grabbed him before he could recover, and slammed him against the wall. “We caught ourselves a spiked boys!” The hungry crowd cheered, and began to throw objects at the trapped Ruin. He howled, as rocks and stone bruised and battered him. Ayden and Rovan held him up for as long as they could, but eventually dropped him, cursing at the baddly aimed stones that occasionally hit them. Once the crowd had settled down, Luckless Gibbs approached, and set about cutting the clothes off the corpse, looking for the spikes that had to be on his body. After five tense minutes, he sighed, and shook his head. Drought was Lynched! He was a Citizen with Items: Primitive Sling, Rocks (20), Grass (20) and Sticks (20) and a Korathi Pendant! Drought was killed! A player was attacked! Votes: Bugsy (4): _stick_, Bartimaeus, Drought Drought (6): Alvron, Ecthellion III, Lopen, Bugsy, Mage Cycle 8 begins in: Player List:

Follow-up: I got my judging sheet today. For UIL, the scale is 1-5, with 1 being the best and 5 the worst. I got a 1. Since I played it memorized, I was able to advance to the state level. I'm going to UT Austin on May 27 for the state solo contest.

Thing I Have Learned This Weekend: Taking my Kindle with me has made a marked change in exercise motivation. Instead of dragging myself onto the elliptical three times a week, I am now eagerly bouncing downstairs for a 30-minute run daily. Behold, the power of books! Yay, Zathoth!

No spoilers, huge image Airsick Lowlander

Here's my take on a scientific explanation (copy pasting from a Reddit comment, with some edits) of Tension and Cohesion: I believe the general assumption is that Tension is control over Young's Modulus (and similar stiffness properties) while Cohesion is control over strength. So Tension would allow you to make rubber as stiff as glass (and vice versa) while Cohesion would allow you to make steel fail like aluminum (and vice versa). For anyone struggling to grasp the difference (because the technical terms mean nothing to you)... Tension could make a piece of rubber stiff like glass, but that wouldn't affect the strength. A rubber bouncy ball given the rigidity of glass would NOT shatter as easily as a glass marble, but it would definitely break more easily than a steel bearing. And on the other hand, Cohesion could make a piece of cloth as strong as a sheet of steel. This means it would be very hard to tear the cloth, but it wouldn't be as stiff as a steel plate (it would still flap in the wind, for example). HOWEVER I'm skeptical Brandon will define the terms this scientifically. These are the best explanations I can think of, based on what he's said. But I also get a sense that he's got particular ideas in his mind of how these powers can be used without having the science nailed down yet. And if that's the case, there probably won't be a nice, simple, scientific way to explain them in the end. If I had to guess... Tension will allow you to control rigidity AND strength to a degree. I'm imagining he'll have someone take a rope and turn it into a staff to fight with, for example. Or use a coat to shield against projectiles. This would require making the materials more stiff, but it probably also needs to come with a bit of increased strength. And I get the sense that Cohesion lets you basically treat anything like clay. You can take any material and reform it with little to no resistance.

Well of Ascension:

... ...well... ...Hello this is the first forum that I've signed up to and I actually found it doing a book report. I just have one question, what are the cookies you are talking about?(I hope they're chocolate chip!)

"But all men have the same ultimate destination. Whether we find our end in a hallowed sepulcher or a pauper’s ditch, all save the Heralds themselves must dine with the Nightwatcher." (The Way of Kings, chapter 58) This passage from WoK sort of stuck with me. I've been rereading the Archive recently (I'm on WoR currently), and have been picking up on things I never thought of previously. For example, in the Mistborn series, when a character dies and is in "limbo" in the Cognitive realm, one of the Shards (Preservation, then Harmony) greets the deceased and guides them to what I assume to be the Spiritual Realm. This happened with Kelsier, The Lord Ruler, Ati, Vin, Elend, and Waxillium, to name a few. To all save Waxillium, Preservation/Harmony led the shade to the Beyond, but to Wax he offered a choice: to live or to pass. I propose that the Nightwatcher is a manifestation of Cultivation that resides Physically in "the Valley" wherever that may be, and that those who "dine with the Nightwatcher" have died and gone to the Cognitive Realm. The Nightwatcher greets the newly dead, dines with them (literally or metaphorically, take your pick) and offers them a choice. Perhaps one way of getting a boon and a curse is getting a second chance at life after transitioning to the Cognitive Realm, maybe even with the boon and curse as anchors, holding you to the Physical Realm. Or I could be off my head, reading way too deeply into this whole thing. Either way, thanks for entertaining this little pet theory.

Lectures at 7:30 am are an abomination.

Spoiler tagged for girly TMI. You have been warned! I am so so so so happeeeeeee!

Indeed. The only WoB I've found on it is this. I'm not sure by any means the theory is right but I haven't seen a better one and @Jondesu's explanation combined with that WoB is why I thought it's worth considering. As Brandon said Hoid simply was not as Cosmere-aware at the time and probably did not know the unusual nature of the Dor then. But as always I'm keen to be shown why it's wrong. And do we know Hoid had to get there through the Cognitive? Maybe he can Elsecall (or comparable mechanism from a different system)?

There are 10 types of people, those that know binary, and those that don't.

So. I was thinking about the surge of abrasion. And a similar idea. So. What is tension? Typically, in physics, tension refers to the force applied through a string or similar object. It is pulled taught, and there is a force there. I've also seen theories where tension relates to increasing surface tension in a fluid, or making air molecules stick together to make a force-field. But... It also occurred to me that, if we take a slightly broader approach, it might be said that tension can also include elasticity. See where I'm going with this? The surge of abrasion can change the frictional constants of objects (on a slight tangent, I'd like to point out that this can not only let you slide across the floor as if it were ice, but it can also let you scale very steep walls by increasing friction). But... What about a power that manipulated the restitution (bounciness) of objects? It's right in the same them of manipulating basic, physical forces... And the effects could be pretty awesome, without being too overpowered or underpowered. You could spring off of normal ground, and (especially with stormlight enhanced strength and speed), jump extremely high. You could slam into a wall and just rebound off it (would still hurt though since your body absorbs all the force... on the other hand stormlight seems to protect people from falling off heights so maybe it wouldn't hurt after all). You'd literally be bouncing off the walls. Think almost a bit like what the epic newton was capable of in reckoners, although probably not so dramatic as to let them reflect bullets back at the firer. Just an interesting possibility for the surge, that I don't think anyone's thought of yet. TL;DR: We know Abrasion lets you alter the friction of something. I am suggesting that Tension lets you alter the bounciness of something.

I don't think Nightblood can ascend a shard. It has too many other connections which would interfere. Also, if as you say it's killing the other shards by consuming them, how would it be able to ascend, since by all accounts Nightblood renders the investiture it consumes inaccessible. Also, I'm not seeing how Szeth holding Nightblood is going to result in Odium getting it since Szeth has no ties to Odium unless you're just saying generally that because Nightblood is on Roshar, Odium will eventually obtain it? In any case, it makes absolutely no sense for Odium to intentionally take possession of an object which would move him away from his established goals. We know for a fact that Odium has deliberately avoided weakening himself on multiple fronts in order to remain the strongest while purely of hatred. Taking Nightblood would be illogical as it would result in him essentially permanently destroying pieces of his power, as far as we know. Furthermore, there's no reason for Odium to need Nightblood; he has the power to destroy shards already, he most likely has the power to destroy worlds already since we know shards can create worlds and Ruin was clearly on the path to destroying Scadrial using his own, lesser, power, and once all the shards are destroyed he won't have anything that can challenge his power so he won't need something like Nightblood to destroy them, if he desires.

I just got a signed copy of the leather bound Elantris (yay!) and I asked whether the earthquake was related to AU spoiler His response: nothing specifically to do with the grounds sentience. RAFO! A bit disappointing, but at least it tells us something!

Warning: worst pun ever Nightblood corrupts the breath of his victims, and then oozes it out as dark misty stuff. You could probly say that he has bad breath!

Seriously. Shallan/Adolin is a good match. So is Shallan/Kaladin. I just want to get Pattern's running commentary on every stage of the relationship.

Crack theory: void spren are dark Honor Spren

If TLR and the God King are Shard's Champions is quite meaningless to me honestly. This don't tell us nothing of the Cosmere's mechanics. Elend was Vin's Champ and Marsh's was the Ruin's one....How this help to provile some deep meaning, where all the Champion need to have is simply an useness to a Shard ? About the Tenth Elevation, It stated that Vasher's wife was at least at the Ninth Elevation when she crafted Nightblood this fit all your Champion's criteria and notice also the Tenth could be not the hard limit for the Biochromatic's Tiers. Preservation (as I said in the first posts of this topic) choosed the 16 as sign to mankind, because all the other one were to dependant from cultures. While the mortal could not change somtething like the Magic Metals' number. He explicity said there are other candidates but He discharged for the too variability (melting point and something like that). If he was so compulsive to try to put "his number" everywhere....It would be his first choice. Notice also that Preservation could think to the "16" as a important number for the whole Shattering reason. This is a lame argument, If you count Roshar's magics as "30", you need to count "Scadrial's Magics as "48" (if you consider all the single power as magic systems)

And the God of the Old Testament. And the creator of the universe...And the judge, and so on and so forth. Really, the only thing he isn't is God the Father. An interesting semantic fact is that Mormonism would be polytheistic because it practices worship of God the Father AND God the Son. (I do not include God the Holy Ghost since he is not worshipped, even if he is considered a third "God")

And.....I have no words. I think I'm going to go find myself a corner and have a good cry.

How do you annoy Nightblood? Kick his Shin.

The sword being an Edgedancer blade is confirmed.

I found true love. She didn't.

It's my birthday, so I figured I would grace you with my presence. Speaking of anime Boogiepop Phantom is really weird.

I'd thought about increasing friction before, but never about elasticity. Now I have an image of Radiants bouncing around the land like Gummi Bears.

Along with cerium and mischmetal (see the third post), gallium and galinstan complete the Electromagnetic (Allomantic term) or Perceptual (Feruchemical term) Quadrant of metals. Gallium Allomantic (Internal, Pulling): Burning gallium allows an Allomancer to sense magnetic fields. This is a navigational advantage, but as carrying a compass replaces the basic use of gallium, it is often considered one of the weakest non-Gnat abilities. Gallium Mistings are therefore called Compassheads. However, a truly skilled user - such as a Gallium Savant - can detect many subtle things, even developing something similar to an Inquisitor's strange sight by sensing the inherent magnetic properties (paramagnetic, diamagnetic) of ordinary objects not usually considered magnetic. Feruchemical: Gallium stores scent - not the ability to smell (which falls under tin) but the odor of the Feruchemist's own breath, sweat, skin oils etc. Storing allows one to hide from dogs, while tapping extreme levels can nauseate those nearby. However, Galliumminds are impractical to use, since gallium melts just below body temperature. This is a little valued power, and Gallium Ferrings are sometimes derisively called Stinkers. Galinstan Allomantic (Internal, Pushing): Burning galinstan allows the Allomancer to create electrical charge in the body, shocking people on contact - usually in their fingertips. Galinstan Mistings are called Shockers. Feruchemical: Since galinstan is liquid even at room temperature, making metalminds extremely impractical, this metal's feruchemical property is largely academic. However, experimentation has determined that it stores presence. While storing, one appears undistinguished. While tapping, one is hard to ignore - even if people are looking in the opposite direction, they feel the Feruchemist's presence. This is considered by Cosmere scholars to be similar to the BioChromatic presence of those holding many Nalthian Breaths.

Why can't the Windrunners and the Skybreakers stand each other? Because if you put them together you get the Windbreakers!

Didn't Shallan's brother spend time pulling legs off of cremlings? I imagine there might be a Sleepless out there who's very annoyed with him.

Every Cremling is guilty until proven innocent.

Cosmere healing does not leave scars - Feruchemical gold / Stormlight just heal the thing. Dalinar could have only inhaled Stormlight with his bond with Stormfather - so, the timetable is beginning of visions or perhaps later than that when he first had problems with the Thrill (as Radiants do not feel it). I'd be suspiscious of Shardplate; it does grant similar enhancements as holding Stormlight. Perhaps it also enhances healing capacity (not so drastic as truly holding Stormlight since Shardbearers do get wounded and there are no records of miraculous healing). Another theory (which I subscribe to) is that simply Dalinar did heal his injuries (as in - the old injuries) with Stormlight but the scars were not healed as they're part of his Cognitive self (see Kaladin's brands - he did heal the tatoo but not the scars).

Important note: This list would be far less complete if not for the efforts of everyone who helped me compile it. Specifically thankyou to: Awesomeness Summoned, Delightful, Argent, PorridgeBrick, Kurkistan, Quiver, Green Hoodie Mistborn, Senor Feesh, Observer, ccstat, Swimmingly, Alvron, Metacognition, The Only Joe, GreyPilgrim, Aether, jasonpenguin, Mailliw73, Moodle, Tempus, Baine, Kobold King, LeftInch, Sir Jerric, Tensoon, Ashiok, Theorymaker, Seonid, Shaggai, TheYoungBard, Curiosity, Snoopy, Voidus, Frosted Flakes, Kasimir, Shallan. (Let me know if I missed you.) Hokay, for those who want to know the ranks, I looked through everyone who had at least 10 posts. Here are my findings. 10000+ God Beyond 9000 9999 Adonalsium 8500 8999 Hero of Ages 8192 8499 The Broken One 7800 8191 Shard 7500 7799 Splintered Shard 7200 7499 Splinter 6800 7199 Dragon 6400 6799 Stormfather 6000 6399 Herald 5700 5999 Sliver 5350 5699 Nightwatcher 5000 5349 Worldhopper 4750 4999 God of Color 4500 4749 Lord Ruler 4250 4499 Unmade 4096 4249 Dawnshard 3761 4095 Prime 3500 3760 Lerasium Mistborn 3250 3499 Bondsmith 3000 3249 Voidbringer 2750 2999 Knight Radiant 2500 2749 Most Ancient 2250 2499 Steel Inquisitor 2048 2249 Mistborn 1900 2047 Tarachin Superstar 1800 1899 Dawnsinger 1700 1799 Rambleman 1600 1699 Savant 1550 1599 Gerontarch 1500 1549 Midnight Essence 1450 1499 Listener 1400 1449 Enefel 1370 1399 Kalad's Phantom 1338 1369 Compounder 1337 So l337 Hoid Can't Compete 1300 1336 Surgebinder 1260 1299 Radiant Squire 1220 1259 Kandra 1180 1219 Twinborn 1145 1179 Returned 1111 1144 Scadrian Waffle Cook 1080 1110 Stone Shaman 1050 1079 Cryptic 1024 1049 Honorspren 1000 1023 Sentient Awakened Object 980 999 Truthless 950 979 Highprince 920 949 Worldbringer 890 919 Full Feruchemist 860 889 Full Shardbearer 830 859 Shardbearer 800 829 Seer 777 799 Spinner 760 776 Wyrn the King 730 759 Elantrian 700 729 Originator 667 699 Svrakiss 666 Torturer of Heralds 650 665 Shade 625 649 Soulcaster 600 624 Forger 575 599 Dakhor Monk 550 574 Lord Prelan 512 549 King's Wit 496 511 Son of Honor 475 495 Vanisher 450 474 King's Tester 425 449 Ghostblood 400 424 Envisager 375 399 Artifabrian 350 374 Ferring 325 349 Stormwarden 300 324 Bloodsealer 278 299 Silent Gatherer 256 277 Misting 225 255 Arbiter 200 224 Gyorn 180 199 High Prelan 160 179 Oldblood 145 159 Cobalt Guard 128 144 Hazekiller 110 127 Forescout 100 109 Houselord 90 99 Babsk 80 89 Prelan 75 79 Arteth 70 74 Idrian Monk 64 69 Obligator 56 63 Lighteyes 50 55 Grand 45 49 Noble 40 44 Crew Leader 32 39 Ardent 25 31 Pahn Kahl 20 24 Awakened Object 16 19 Noble-Blooded 10 15 Bridgeman 7 9 Spearman 5 6 Darkeyes 2 4 Skaa 0 1 Spren --- -1 -2 Negaspren -3 -5 Lifeless -6 -10 Hoed -15 -19 ? Beheaded Inquisitor -20 -24 ? Rotting Chull Carcass -24 -25 Lamespren -26 -100 Zucchini -101 and below Chasmfiend Corpse Note: negative reputation titles are no longer obtainable due to downvotes having been removed. I'll update this as we learn more We now know them all! I like the new levels. Good work Chaos Please don't ask me how long that took. Current lowest Unknown rep: nonexistent. We're so close to getting them all =D Edit: Wooohooo first popular post Later edit: For the record, at the time I added that comment 10 rep was a little more exciting Another edit: The lower rep ranks have changed at some point, I don't know where all of the new boundaries are yet.

they're twenty-seven, and definitively not a girl and the text hammers and hammers and hammers the latter in and states the former outright. The age thing I think has been discussed fairly thoroughly as something that's seeming off to people right now but the thrust of your assumption is such that it requires ignoring a significant portion of the text and doing the very thing that the main character makes clear is highly distressing. also tying this sort of thing to deception is a major contributor to real-world transphobic violence jsyk

Yay. Quick bring the sacrifical tomatos!

The slow spiraling is because A) Preservation sacrificed his mind to defeat Ruin and B( because he is dieing. There is no indication that this is caused by the power itself; to the contrary, the shard's power should do the opposite.

What do you call a lighteyes's dawnshard? A Dahnshard

(This is just a joke. You guys know I think you're awesome.) Well, since none of the others have followed my lead and posted a sticky thread introducing themselves, I'll do it for you! Because you, the loyal forum dwellers of 17th Shard, deserve to know who your overlords are. Chaos, also known as Eric, is the Lord Ruler of the Forums. He's a math geek who will randomly teach you calculus whether you want to learn it or not, with an unnatural obsessions with unicorns and Pokemon. He runs the forums, with the fellow moderators as nothing more than his cadre of Inquisitors, existing only to enforce his will (when he's looking). It's true. He pounded steel spikes through our eyes and everything. firstRainbowRose is obviously a fantasy character, as her name, Mi'ch, has the required superfluous apostrophe. She runs the PR for this site, but her most important duty is keeping the rest of us in line. Seeing as how I'm typing this post, you can guess how well she's doing her job. She and Rubix are engaged married <3 Rubix, also known as Josh, is The Boss. No, wait, that's Springsteen. Josh is The Czar. Or maybe The Tsar. Whatever he is, Josh is in charge of the entire site and everyone in it. When you agreed to the terms and conditions, you signed your soul over to him. He doesn't speak much, but this is because one word from his lips will wreak destruction upon everything around him. He is also engaged married to a fantasy character, firstRainbowRose. KChan is the newest member of the staff, and has yet to go through the degrading hazing ritual. She's a cosplayer - so don't get to close - with legions of fanboys at her beck and call. She also co-runs the Mistborn RPG, in which she has more characters than Eric has personality. She can use fist, guns, and rhetoric to flay the skin from your bones. Serious. Her friends are terrified of her. Kar isn't really a member of the staff. He's an Inquisitor on a treadmill, powering the forums with his powerful pewter-enhanced powerwalking. He also wields the mighty BanAxe, with which he will sever your head from your body. Or maybe just you from the forums. Either works. Shivertongue is Will, also know as me, the person typing this post. He is always right and never lies, so you can trust him with anything. He has amazing hair and a deep, manly voice that will make you swoon. He does the graphics for the site, as well as handles all merchandising. When there is stuff to actually merchandise, he will use his compelling voice and charm to make you buy everything. Even the 17th Shard underwear. And that's all of us! Your handy-dandy guide to the staff of 17thShard.com. Consult it often, for it is the unvarnished truth. I should know - I polish it daily.

Are there 16 fools on scadrial?:)