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Here's a theory... What if the God Beyond created the Cosmere, filled it with Investiture (and mass and energy), and then peaced out. We know that Investiture clumps together and that it develops sentience over time, right? So if enough time passes, it makes sense that it some kind of powerful, sentient thing might naturally develop. Then some person comes along and takes that power, and now you've got Adonalsium. Lots of time passes, so eventually we have the myth that Adonalsium himself created the Cosmere, while the God Beyond is mostly forgotten. Then Adonalsium gets shattered and the rest is history.

Correct! And here's the joke: "Hey, have you seen Vasher?" "Who 'Zahel' are you talking about?"

Or, what is #ownvoices, really? #ownvoices is a hashtag, relatively recently created, that got adopted as a marketing shorthand and catchall for several related ethical issues. These issues have been around in fiction for much longer than the tags and the current discussion. As defined by Corinne Duyvis (which is also a concise well-written FAQ), who coined the tag, as a shorthand for when"the protagonist and the author share a marginalized identity." The use has grown to encompass when (or if) an author outside of a marginalized group should publish stories that include marginalized characters, as well as the most ethical ways of doing so, and best practices for avoiding common pitfalls in writing marginalized groups outside of one's own experiences. It's also been used to draw attention to how much of mainstream publishing is stacked against marginalized writers, between the lack of diversity in the industry, unconscious biases, and prevalence of stereotypes (both of marginalized writers, their characters, and "what will sell"), and the resulting push to specifically feature marginalized writers (the #weneeddiversebooks hashtag also covers this, but has its own set of ethical issues). It's also used to highlight authors and works that fall into the original #ownvoices definition. That's a lot! This is not a clear-cut, black/white issue -- or even one issue at all. Marginalized groups are not monoliths, and individuals differ on their interpretations of what is ethical or "right" in a given instance. From my personal research, it seems that most of the #ownvoices discussion agrees: That supporting, signal boosting, and seeking out marginalized authors is a good thing; That no one should be outright barred from *writing* anything they want; That authors outside a marginalized group should think carefully about the issues surrounding both the publishing industry as a whole and the marginalized group in particular before seeking to *publish* work featuring protagonists inside that marginalized group; That research is absolutely vital. Here are a few articles and blogs that I have found useful in understanding the issues. "Should Authors Write Characters of Another Race?" Two authors on either "side" of the debate (though, they agree on many things so I'm hesitant to use "side") discuss the ethics of writing outside one's own race. Interview with Corinne Duyvis In which she discusses what #ownvoices is and why it matters Writing the Other -- Classes, seminars, books, research, videos and resources. Extensive and very good! Uncanny Magazine: "Writing the margins from the centre" one author discusses how to write marginalized characters with tact 12 Fundamentals Of Writing "The Other" by Daniel Jose Older Don't let the hosting site dissuade you, this is a great article. Book Riot: Why Not All Diverse Stories are Created Equal The Root: White Writer Black Characters Should Ethnicity Limit What a Fiction Writer Can Write

This month, I thought I'd come in under my word count goal. You see, I wound up writing about 1,700 words that I soon cut, as they didn't match the rest of the story. So, to try and make up for that, I wrote a little extra each day, pushing myself to write a little more than usual. The result? Even subtracting the 1,700 words I cut, I'm still nearly 3,500 words over my goal for this month.

Well, we long suspected it but it's nice to have confirmation.

I don't remember how it translates to glasses prescriptions, but in my contact lenses I'm -6.5 in the left eye and -7.0 in the right. Which definitely falls into the "quite near-sighted" category. I'm not the absolute worst, but I have coke-bottle glasses. There's a solid possibility that my corneas aren't thick enough for the best Lasik procedure, but there's another type that I would probably qualify for if I didn't make the cut on the good one. It would just have a longer recovery time afterwards. I also cannot guarantee that on surgery day I will not pretend to be a superspy that's been captured by the enemy being tortured into talking.

It's always better to ask a stupid question than to do a stupid thing at least in work

Um. I'm pretty sure that if no one votes, it's a tie on everyone; Everyone has 0 votes on them. Thus everyone dies. I could be wrong. But otherwise...

@StrikerEZ - I'm a man of history and of science; those are the fields I'm trained in and am passionate about. To me, facts are crucial. To me I've talked with others, and it is clear that they are complex, independent sentient persons. They are independent as I am independent. Thus, I can trust that they perceive things as I perceive things. They tell me of what they have perceived, then I test their perception with my own, and find that it is good. The idea that reality is an illusion is far from a new idea. It is, in fact, very, very old. Ancient. Which should give you a hint. Things have history beyond you. It also can be a dangerously unhealthy idea. What if the world is an illusion? Then nothing matters. If everyone else is a figment of my imagination, why should I care about them? Why should I be anything other than unutterably selfish if I am, in fact, the center of the entire universe. If I am all that exists, then I am all that matters. Ethically and morally, this is an abhorrent position. I, as an independent agent who has a will of his own, urge you not to take this fallacious position. Because it IS false. Or you are a figment of my imagination. Because I assure you, I exist. (Either that, or I am a particularly stubborn figment! Isn't this a fun philosophical rabbit hole!) TL;DR - If reality is an illusion, then live a completely selfish hedonistic life. Or change your illusion. Not sure? Then forget about it. There's no point in treating reality as an illusion unless you're going to test its bounds. You are already acting as if reality is not an illusion. As it is literally impossible to tell if reality is fake or not, decide that it is real and act accordingly. If you're interested in the facts, history and reality of my Christian faith, PM me I love talking about history, and history is the strongest evidence of my Christian faith. A lot of people talk about faith as if it's something that they must blindly enter into - they have to believe in something despite the facts. This doesn't make sense. It' is, to my mind and way of thinking, a ridiculous position. I have faith because of the facts. I have faith in my chair because I've examined its design and materials. I believe in it because I've sat in it before. I have faith based on experience, on history, and on facts. I trust my family because I know them. I've dealt with them all my life. I know how they act, how they react. I know that they are trustworthy - I have faith in them. I have faith in them because I know them. Now, I also have faith that extrapolates - I've seen my brother doing a certain thing. Having seen this, I believe I can trust him in a greater, more challenging thing. I know my friend, I know him to be a man of character, morals and high ethics. Knowing this, I believe that I can trust him with a secret, even though I have never done so before. It is this faith, this practical, solid faith, that I have in God. I know Him. I have read what he left for us, and understand some of how He thinks. I have seen how He has acted in my life and that of my family, and I begin to understand Him. I have examined His teachings and the founding of His faith in History, and can find no explanation for it save the miraculous.

Thing 1: The publishing industry is overwhelmingly white. Like, make a polar bear in a blizzard look grey white. Publisher's Weekly 2016 Salary and Demographics survey for the publishing industry : 88% white (2015: 89%; 2014: 89%) Lee and Lowe Books 2015 Diversity Baseline Study : 86% white Thing 2: Humans are predisposed to favor things that are like themselves. Unconscious or implicit bias doesn't make you racist, but it does affect your subconscious decision-making processes Study: 3-month-olds prefer own-race faces Study: Humans tend to sit next to people who resemble themselves NYT overview of studies on unconscious bias Psychology Today: Humans are predisposed to be attracted to people who look like themselves Scientific American: Humans tend to choose friends that are like themselves Corollary to Thing 2: Having an "ethnic-sounding" name hurts your prospects when all people have to go on is your name and your cover letter Study from USA Study from Canada Study from Sweden Study from Germany Meta-analysis of studies from 1990 to 2015 Thing 3: Of the books published that feature minority characters or are about minority issues, a tiny fraction are actually written by someone from the subject minority CCBC survey of diversity in children's books : in 2015, out of 3400 books received, 278 were about black or african american issues, and only 92 were by African American Authors Fireside Fiction's Diversity in SFF report : in 2015, out of 2038 stories published, 38 were by African American authors These numbers largely hold true for most of the English-speaking, Western world, and unconscious bias applies to literally all humans. As a part of the dominant group, it is important to respect and support marginalized voices because being part of the dominant majority means that it is difficult or impossible to understand the biases at play for anyone outside of it. What seems like "too much" or "unnecessary" to those inside is barely a drop in an ocean to overwhelming numbers like these, no matter the genre.

...So, I may have accidently caused 'I am a stick' to become a meme in a class I'm not actually in...

So I was looking through some stuff, and I found some pieces of infinite wisdom I made, after I discovered I was good at coming up with them. Read them, for they are inspirational and will provide a guide to life. Life is akin to a radish. It is hard, and can be difficult to swallow. It’s also red, and has leaves. Of course, even though a bird is meant for flying it may still walk. As they say, even the wisest of men cannot always tell which way the clam opens. Or, in other words, a cherry blossom always falls down, except when it doesn't. One may only be one, but two is always two. Even just half of a pie is bigger than half of no pie. Life is like a book. It is round, and tastes of banana. To have a life is like being given a length of time in which you may be born, live, and then die.

I just had a strangish dream. There was some sort of honor band event, and I auditioned for flute, and somehow got it. So now I'm in the middle of a gymnasium, holding half a flute, with no idea what to do with it. I don't play flute, but for some reason, I thought I could. Now, all of the flute cases and whatnot are all at a station. The station right beside me is the bassoon station. I stare at it enviously. Then, right before the concert, I switch to a bassoon I snatched from the bassoon station, and walk up on stage with it. The other bassoonist looks at me funny, like, you're not supposed to be here. I smile, because I'm the best bassoonist ever, and why would I not play bassoon? But then the alternate bassoonist comes out of nowhere, and tells me to get out of his seat. So then I have to leave, so I disguise the bassoon as a prop ( because this is also a musical?), and I hide under a curtain. When someone asks, I tell them that I made it myself, so I have to have it. The director doesn't care, so he tells me to leave it onstage, but don't go waving it around. So I hide until the show is over. Afterwards, I emerge, and my baby brother wants to join the band. "I want to play the oboe!" He says over and over again. But the band director says he has too many double reeds, so he tells my brother to play trumpet. "I want to play oboe, not dragon!" This makes him very upset, so he runs into the bathroom behind the stage. It is the most disgusting bathroom I've ever seen. So my brother runs off, while crying his mantra, and jumps in a toilet. I have to fish him out and carry him the car outside, all the while he cries "I want to play oboe!"

I misread a certain topic title as "Musical Adaptation of Way of Kings", so guys. We're doing this. What would the Cosmere books be like as a musical? Anyone got any ideas for songs? Inb4 'Defying Gravity' as Windrunner!Kaladin's big solo number

Hello friends. I've been thinking a lot about Shards over the last month or so, especially in advent of the upcoming Q&A on Reddit. It's been a while since I've seen one of these, so I figure there's no harm in putting this out there again (especially in light of new reveals in AU). I want to think about Shards, and possibly narrow down the six remaining Shards, and I would love some input from you guys (I've been driving my family crazy with questions on their thoughts in the last couple days). Firstly, here's what we know. We know ten of the sixteen Shards of Adonalsuim. Listed in order of reveal/publicity, they are Devotion, Dominion, Preservation, Ruin, Endowment, Honor, Cultivation, Odium, Autonomy, and Ambition. We know that Odium Splintered at least four Shards. We now know all four: Ambition, Devotion, Dominion, and Honor. Odium had a 'hit-list', and Ambition was #1. There is a Shard that just wants to hide and survive, but that Shard's intent is not 'Survival'. There is a Shard that is not on a planet. (This could refer to Ambition, depending on where it was finished off.) There are two Shards that aren't on a planet, Ambition, and one other. Here's some stuff we're I'm pretty sure about/think we know. (Please let me know if any of these suppositions were confirmed) Shards are based somewhat on "divine attributes" of a god figure. Shards have an opposite pairing, but most are not clear opposites.* * There's been a lot of discussion involving this, and it's looking more and more unlikely that there are pairings of Shards. However, since it's somewhat simple to use that supposition as a format for now, if nothing else. Here's some supposition/speculation I make on the information above. If the sixteen Shards of Adonalsium were all combined, the result would be a god figure. Because of this, we can assume that there are likely no duplicates (for example, there wouldn't be a Shard of Immutability, as Preservation already fills that role). Now onto the Big List. I'm going to attempt to fill in this list of Shards and their pairings, and I will update this list with our guesses. Confirmed Shards will be in Red, guesses will be green. Confirmed pairing will be bold, highly likely will be italicized, and unsure I will leave plain. Here goes. Preservation Ruin Dominion Autonomy Odium Devotion* Endowment Ambition** Honor Absolution?*** Cultivation Tribulation Enlightenment Enigma Purity**** Synthesis? * On the Odium/Devotion pairing. I put this one up because Odium is defined by hatred and jealousy, whereas Devotion is stuff like love and service. I find it to be a likely pair, but a good argument can be made for and Honor/Odium mashup as well. ** On the Endowment/Ambition pair, I find this one a bit of a stretch, I'll admit. It comes from the thought process of Endowment being giving to others, and Ambition looking to receive. It's a tenuous connection, but I'll leave it here for the time being until we find a better candidate. *** One of the possible Shards my family came up with is Mercy (or forgiveness) EDIT: Absolution involves both of these, also, you can be absolved of burdens and Oaths. It's also a God attribute so I like it better. I'm still not too sure I like it as a whole. I like the idea that it's a possible opposite to Honor, because the way we've seen Honor act sounds like a Judgement type, dealing heavily with Oaths. Forgiveness and Mercy sometimes happens in Honorable people in SA, but I haven't seen it represented in a Shard (though there is a case to be made that Endowment or Cultivation could involve it). **** Purity seems like a likely Shard to me. We haven't seen a Shard that represents the righteousness or holiness of god, and I think there's an argument to be made that Purity could fill those shoes. There is also a planet named Purity in the Threnodite System that breaks the pattern of funeral songs like the other planets. Now, let's discuss. Please bring forward an idea of the remaining six shards. Even feel free to argue my pairings if you like. Please keep in mind these things on looking for Shard possibilities. Divine attributes separated from the virtues that give them context (as Hoid would say). Attributes that aren't shared in another Shard. Shards that wouldn't logically be higher on Odium's hit-list that Ambition. Otherwise he would have targeted them first. Edit 1: Added Tribulation, added confirmed information about Ambition and the other Shard without a home. Edit 2: Absolution instead of Mercy, added Synthesis as an opposite of Purity.

Dragon has made a brand spanking new thread for this conversation. I suggest we all pack up and move over there. With that said, @neongrey, @industrialistDragon, and I are all speaking the same language here. We do so in different ways, certainly, but all with the same main message. #ownvoices in fiction matters. Respect for marginalized people, pronouns, and how apologies work, matters. The language you use and how you type it, matters. All three of us are (I'm pretty sure), white, so we're not paragons of virtuous Social Justice Warriors ourselves, but all three of us are from marginalized communities of one form or another. We live every day having to fight to be heard, having to fight for dignity, having to fight to just be ourselves. It's hard. It is vitally important to understand that when someone on here uses the wrong pronoun, or makes harmful assumptions, or uses words that hurt, that isn't the first time we've had that happen this month, or this week, or even today. We only have so much bandwidth. We only have so much empathy and ability to educate the privileged when there is a huge internet out there one can access with a browser and a keyword. We have to keep calling people out, because otherwise privilege continues unchecked, but we do not need to do so with patience or politeness. That we do so is a testament to how much we value this forum and the friendships we have made, but also means our tempers are that much closer to breaking for the next person we encounter, five minutes down the line. I know it is hard to break out of the worldview you were handed at birth. I'm white. I get it. I know being told that your words are ableist or racist can often be heard as you are ableist or racist, but that's not it. You can have the best of intentions and still get it wrong. If someone calls you out, of course at first your feathers are ruffled. That's human nature. But just take a step back, breathe, reconsider. Google. Ask for clarification if needed after you've googled. It's okay to misstep! When you do, just apologize and learn from it. This forum has grown in simply amazing ways since I first joined, and I hope it will continue to do so. But as we get more and more people, so too will the diversity grow. We have to be able to grow along with that, so we can make this a vibrant community where all feel welcomed and heard. That will take a lot of patience and probably some hard conversations, but its something I think RE can do if it wants to.

Good question. I'm similarly confused; I see no reason it would help them, since it had no effect on the lynch. Perhaps it wasn't he Elims, or they were trying to move it closer to a tie? I belive we've seen a role that can move votes, and if that role had moved one to me, Drought and I both would have died. It also could be that they sent in the order early and forgot to check. There are too many possibilities to really draw conclusions from it, IMO. So, gut read? Hmm. I'd feel more in support of it if someone could offer backup to the idea. This seems horrifyingly possible Stick I belive I've solved this problem now I don't love the reasoning here. A tie would kill both of us, and it would have the negative side effect of letting a single elim riot tonight dictate the entire lynch tomorrow, as we couldn't very well ignore whichever lynchee they saved. In all likelihood, Elims have vote manipulation. Do we really want to let them have this much power?

So I’ll have a go at this, I’m inclined to agree that rather than being pairings, there are groupings of four. I’m basing this loosely on the categories of the 16 metals, and all this is pure speculation, and despite me not thinking its pairings I’ve gone ahead and done opposites. It’s really just to clarify my thoughts. Hopefully it will prompt others to do a more useful analysis and I expect my ‘new’ shards to be picked apart. As should my categorization. But it may be a different way of looking at this and I’d love to hear views. Cognitive Honor – the obligation to do what you say you will do, to be consistent Variability – to be inconsistent, to change from moment to moment Enlightenment – to seek knowledge and understanding Belief – to have unchanging views Spiritual/emotional Devotion – to give up yourself for others Odium – to hate Purity – to be of one kind Amalgamation – to be of many kinds Physical Endowment – to give something to others Appropriation? – to take something from others Autonomy – to have control of yourself Dominion – to have control of others Temporal Cultivation – to work on something other than yourself Ambition – to work on yourself Preservation – to never change, inertia Ruin – to break things down, entropy edit: i hope the formatting is ok. It looks like chaos on my phone. And of course these are not all my ideas, especially enlightenment. But i feel categorizing may help figure out what could be missing.

By the end of Shadows of Self I would have agreed with you. However, the explanation in Bands of Mourning made me consider that I was only looking at it from a real-time, linear perspective. Whereas Saze's perspective is a bit more comprehensive. I'd guess that Saze is seeing not only other individual futures, but also the future as a whole and is acting accordingly. Much as a toddler may not understand why filling up on ice cream is a bad idea, a lot of the actions we're seeing here won't make sense until we have the same perspective. That's my take anyway.

Ok so we know that hoid has collected various investitures from across the cosmere: allomancy, unkeyed feruchemical metalminds ( I got that WoB ) breath, he tried to be an elantrian, and he is a yolish lightweaver. He, as of the moment, has no investitures from roshar. Or does he? What if, early on in his career, he sought out the old magic and asked to be PRESERVED or something similar to that? And so Cultivation made him able to recover from ridiculous spiritual wounds? But she also gave him a curse- he is unable to harm others? And now he HATES that curse. And therefore hoid and cultivation dont get along very well. Realmatically, it would be him drawing closer to the spiritual realm, like lift is closer to the cognitive realm

I just saw an interesting WoB on the recent AMA (which he's still answering, amazingly) that confirms Nightblood is not affected by the type of metal being burned by an allomancer powering it. (And my apologies if this is stealing the Thunder of a Sharder, I didn't recognize the username). We may already know or at least suspect this but I found it interesting that the metal makes no difference, that even an atium misting would be no more efficient at powering Nightblood than someone who can burn extremely common, cheap metals. I'm not sure how it relates to other forms of investiture as I don't think we know how they compare to each other. But certainly says any misting of a widely available metal could be pretty scary with Nightblood and a lot of that metal.

I actually disagree with this premise: If I recall my WoBs correctly, we only know that some Shards can be considered pairs. If true, I think it invalidates a lot of your theory. I do like Mercy and Purity as Shards though - or maybe a single Shard.

Stone trickles into gathering winds to gather into trickling stone

Student skills by professor Steris Medicine taught by professor Lirin Advanced economics taught by professor Sebrial Care of Aviar taught by Professor Sixth of the Dusk Deterring Shades taught by Professor Silence Montane

I've been formulating a theory that the Heralds are originally from either Ashyn or Braize, and probably Braize (which I think was the Tranquiline Halls and is now Damnation, rather than those being different places).

So, if we dipped Nightblood in Lister's Oil, would that help with his bad breath problems?

I mean I kinda *started* the conversation with little Christian theological knowledge

I agree on the problems you see, but would almost argue for the opposite treatment: WoK + WoR in 3 movies! I think it is important to see the conflict riddling Alethka for the wider world building, so I would keep the fighting outside of the shattered plains, but move it to after the assassination and the Greatshell hunt, which run straight into each other. That way we get the disjunction between the anguish after Gavilars death and the complacency on the Shattered plains 6 years later, and also get the demonstration of Shards at their best before seeing Kaladin beat the Shardbearer (which, yes, would happen all in one sequence). Most of the time in the slave wagons can then be skipped, rather having a shot of Kaladin in the wagons reaching the shattered plains should be enough. From there we kind of agree, in terms of Sadeas, Dalinar and Adolin, and the general story progression. I think that Shallan's story should also happen more or less as is, but in a SECOND movie, released just after the second and going right up to the shattered plains thus providing a full arc from sheltered youth to independent young woman, providing some closure on Jasnah via Tyn and cutting into what needs to be covered in WoR. You could even use the original title planned for WoR, it being more appropriate here: The Book of Endless Pages. I would say realease it a little after WoK, because then you can have Kaladin's appearance, making sense after his being made a bodyguard on screen at the end of WoK. WoR can then proceed as per the book, largely, as the third film after a normal gap between sequels. I would say this probably wouldn't happen, as it means more movies... But we all saw what happened with the Hobbit...

You know your a Sanderfan when you see this http://culturenlifestyle.tumblr.com/post/157528338087 And instantly think that they'll make hair dyes that respond to emotion next, then *everyone* will have the royal locks Humph

I dreamed I was Toothless once. Somehow I managed to fight off Smaug as he was attempting to burn down my house.

Yesterday was my book birthday! Wheeee!

The pleasant melody wafted over the ballroom filled with dancing nobles. Some sat a tables, sipping wine and chatting about things that they thought were important. Diego didn't care. He simply strummed the strings of his guitar, their low sound coming out mellow and sweet. To either side, Pablo and Juan sang a calm duet, their voices in harmony. Diego didn't sing; his voice was like a pane of glass dragged over gravel. However, as Juan often said, his guitar could woo any woman. Diego smiled to himself. Not that he intended to marry, the band was his life, and that was all he needed. Pablo smiled over to Juan as they sang in their language. The nobles couldn't understand Spanish, but what they don't know, they don't know. "Friend, how will we deal with peppers? The price is getting too high," he sang. Juan kept the tune. "Nah, I know a man. Sells great peppers, straight from his garden." "A garden? Is he noble?" "No, but his peppers are still excellent. I will introduce him to you sometime." Pablo nodded, and lapsed into the chorus, brightly strumming his guitar with Juan. The nobles thought them intriguing, this is why they got paid to perform. Their ethnicity didn't match skaa or noble, so good life! Salsa and wine. Pablo eyed a waiter. He didn't notice, but Pablo memorized his outfit. That one, he thought, will give me some wine, but after this song. Juan still hadn't told him about the avocados.

Alright folks, I just finished going through the Sunday Signing Line audio to see if I could figure out some of the paraphrased stuff. I got most of it down verbatim, so I think we're basically all done with these transcriptions! Thanks everyone for all the hard work, and thanks especially to @ccstat, @Ironeyes, and @DAdam for making recordings and uploading them! I've updated the OP to reflect the finished statuses of the Sunday signing and the Rithmatist Q&A.

Shallan felt like she was suffocating. Not from fear, but malice. More than anything she hated feeling helpless. Despised depending on other people for safety. Her eyes darted left and right, seeing nothing but the backs of the Initiates pressed against her and the feral visages of the Voidbringers fighting desperately to get through them to her. Being lead like this, blind to the ground below her feet and the path lying ahead, she felt like she was locked in one of those cages that slave traders fastened to the back of their wagons, enclosed on all sides and swaying along to the chaotic motions of the earth, or in this case, war. And to think, that wasn’t even the worst of it. When she tried to look up the only thing she saw was that unnatural storm of red and black raging in the sky above. Instinctively she knew two things; one, that the sun had not yet set, and two, that the monolithic rock was looming somewhere in the distance, and yet the overcast was so dark she could see no hint of either. Why was she here? It was a question she asked herself out of anger even though she knew the answer. Kaladin was more helpless than her, both critically wounded and trapped inside a stone prison on the verge of collapsing. Dalinar was bonded to the Stormfather, the closest thing to a god she had ever seen, too proud or stubborn to become a Blade. Renarin, despite being able to breathe Stormlight, had not yet been cured of his blood sickness, and still had painful headaches whenever the Voidbringers began to chant their vile song. And Adolin… he was busy leading his soldiers against the enemy’s main force, who were responsible for the torrent of heavy rain and the bolts of scarlet lightning crashing down upon them and all around. That left her the only Shardbearer free and capable of saving the day. In more ways than one, today reminded her the Battle of Stormseat, when she had saved everyone by solving the mystery of the Oathgate just before the Everstorm hit. Even though she knew the Almighty was dead, she couldn’t help but thank Him for that last piece of history not repeating itself, at least. Perhaps she thanked the Shadow too soon. Two claps of thunder rang out at once. One from the sky, the other from the Stormfather. KHOLIN. I HAVE BAD NEWS. Dalinar watched the battle unfold from the edge of an adjacent plateau, gritting his teeth as he concentrated his powers on the fight. The concept of Surges was still confusing to him, but a few lessons with Shallan and Navani had at least helped him grasp the basics. The powers of Tension and Adhesion were his to master, and if he didn’t try to use it now, when the lives of so many valuable men and women were on the line, then what kind of Bondsmith could he truly be? “Not now!” Dalinar yelled, startling his honor guard, although over the last few weeks they had become accustomed to him yelling at the sky like a madman. As soon as they realized he wasn’t addressing any of them, they returned to their vigil. Dalinar couldn’t see everything, but from this vantage, he hoped he saw what mattered. As if on cue, Initiate Balthazar recklessly charged into the hoard of Voidbringers without any backup, forcing the Bondsmith to focus his efforts there. The Initiate did well enough to plow through his first three enemies, but the Voidbringers, betraying their usual tendency to fight only in pairs, began to surround him, moving closer to him in unison so that when one could strike, they all would. That way if he managed to kill any of them, one should still be able to pierce his defenses. Breathing in Stormlight, Dalinar manifested that invisible cloud of his around Balthazar and the Voidbringers, forcing them to move slower. He wasn’t entirely sure if he was making the air more difficult to traverse or if he was making the combatants feel heavier than they truly were, but either way, it worked. Only problem was that if he affected both the Initiate and his enemies the same, he was just delaying the inevitable, so he ground his teeth and strained the cloud a way he never had before. So far he knew he could change the clouds size, which in turn altered its strength. The larger it was, the less density it had, meaning its effect was less potent. He also knew he could shape the edges so that the cloud could fit in a square room or surround a single person. The question was, could he use this information to create a ring? Exhaling a puff of glowing smoke, he took a fresh breath of Stormlight and began to push. Starting in the center, he tried to expel the cloud outward, not in one direction, but all, which was a rough process considering he had never managed to shape more than one side at a time. It took all of the power left in him to suceed, but eventually the cloud obeyed the sheer force of his will. Only problem was it wasn’t enough. The effects his cloud had on Balthazar were immediately relieved, allowing him to spin around and assess the situation. Dalinar couldn’t make out the expression on his face from this far, but the Initiate’s body language was clearly hesitant. When Dalinar created the ring, the cloud had used the force in its middle to broaden its edges, which may have freed Balthazar but did no good otherwise. If the Initiate was going to defeat the Voidbringers alone, the monsters would need more pressure. That meant the cloud needed to be stronger. Denser. Sucking in more Stormlight, he urged the cloud to shrink, afraid that it would just reform the center, but relieved when it didn’t. Instead, he smiled as he watched the Voidbringer’s backs slouched and Balthazar finally made his move. Balthazar felt heavy, but it wasn’t his first time. He recognized the sensation from that morning, when he had been gathered in formation before the break of dawn, the guilt of all the things he’d done the night before weighing down on his conscious, on his soul. This time, though, he felt guilty for breaking formation. Like usual, he got excited and jumped into a fight, heedless of the consequences. Now he was surrounded by six Voidbringers, swords at the ready, their free hands sparking with electricity. They were closing in on him and no one seemed to notice. There was nothing left he could do. Balthazar was officially doomed… The crushing weight of guilt was lifted off his shoulders, and suddenly he was doomed no longer. He turned in a circle, eyeing the Voidbringers for weaknesses. That one was leaning too far to the left. Trying to lessen the strain on its right leg? This one’s grip on its blade was off, its other arm bleeding from a gash that covered its entire bicep. Debilitating wound to its sword arm? These two were gravitating closer to each other than the others, one with a large beard and the other was shorter than the others, more slender. Lovers, perhaps? The last two, they looked fresh and unharmed, their weapons unbloodied. They must have just got here or not crossed paths with any Alethi yet, which made them the biggest threats. Except, that look in their eyes… were they hungry for battle? Eager to prove themselves? Yes. Balthazar knew that feeling all too well. They would be reckless, like he had been. He could use this to his advantage, too, though it still meant the fight wouldn’t be easy. Preparing himself, the Initiate clenched his sword hilts tighter and rolled his shoulders until he felt a satisfying pop. A few more steps, and… The Voidbringers slumped. It was a negligible difference, but Balthazar was paying attention. Glancing at the one with the leg injury, he noticed it was leaning even further and that its hop-like step had become more lethargic. Now! Encouraged by the realization that the legendary Blackthorn was helping him, Balthazar leapt between the limping Voidbringer and the one who held its blade in its offhand. He had telegraphed the jump when he faced the two of them, but their swings were slow enough that he could block and maneuver their bodies with ease. Sweeping his weapons outward, he threw both of the Voidbringers off balance and executed a sidekick on the one with the limp. Aiming not at but through the monster’s kneecap, the heel of his boot finished the job of whatever had wounded it before, breaking its leg and forcing it drop onto its good knee. Meanwhile, he slid his left sword down the length of the offhanded Voidbringer’s blade, slicing the length of its wrist and digging the edge into the upper portion of its arm to match the wound on its other side. It held onto its weapon despite the pain, which Balthazar did not expect, so he was forced to improvise by spinning around its shoulder and kicking it in back towards one of its allies. Balthazar had only intended to stun them, but was happy to see one of the Voidbringers get impaled by the other’s sword in the fall. Before the other three could respond, Balthazar jumped on top of his last two opponents and finished the survivor off with a quick stab in the neck. Although he could have easily run off to join his allies or call them for help, Balthazar decided he’d rather finish what he started than flee just as the tides had been turned. Smiling, he took a step forward. A second later, a bolt of lightning crashed at his feet. When the light faded, Balthazar was gone. The Initiate could barely move or breathe, and all he saw was darkness. Something sharp stabbed Leif in the back and heaved, forcing him to the ground and onto his face, a rockbud crunching against his jaw. The young man was crying. Not because of the pain, but because he was weak. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t muster the strength. When he breathed and discovered the Stormlight no longer came to him, he only cried harder. For a while, he had tasted power. Now in his greatest moment of need the power refused him. That fact alone hurt him more than any physical wound, and for this pain, he had no one to blame but himself. Everything was fine until he was forced to jump off that cliff. Leif had never been fond of heights, but it wasn’t until that moment he realized just how horrifying falling was. Despite the air literally flowing through him, his lungs refused to take any in. Powerless, he crashed into the earth full force and for a brief moment, died. If not for the Stormlight forcing its way inside him, he would not be here, now. Tied up and gagged in the mouth. Forsaken. He had the opportunity to help on more than one occasion. Instead he did nothing, thinking the other Initiates would be better off without him interfering. As time went on, his inclination to wait and watch became more. Laziness, perhaps, or pure cowardice. It had been a miracle he had survived that day at all. If there was one thing more frightening than falling to your death and hungry Greatshells, it was the Voidbringers. Running away from them was one thing. It was insane, but manageable. But fighting them? From the moment he saw them gathering on that plateau, Leif knew. The only way he’d survive was if he ran. He would have gotten away with it too, if not for Highprince Aladar’s rearguard. The man had directed some of his soldiers to remain behind and hide, to watch for any Voidbringer reinforcements and intercept them. There were no reinforcements, but they did manage to intercept one deserter. When the spear left his back, Leif sighed with relief. Not because the pain was gone, but because he felt no blood. It was either blunt, or the soldier hadn’t pressed it too deep. Either way, Leif was thankful. When they closed the wooden hatch over the pit they had thrown him in, surrounding him with darkness, his thankfulness dissipated. Futily he struggled against the ropes binding him, moaned into the gag lodged into his mouth as he tried to push it out with his tongue. Neither did him any good, leaving him with only other choice. Leif prayed for freedom, and amazingly, was greeted by a bright, warm flash of light. When it faded, he found himself standing in the rain, his hands and feet unbound. Beside him lay the corpses of three Voidbringers, and ahead of him approached three more. Leif fell to his knees, praying to go back to his cell. At least there he would be safe. Jonly and Arionium stared at each other from opposite sides of the bars. When the Kholins left with the Initiates to search for Kaladin Dullbrain, Arionium had got overconfident, or perhaps, careless. He thought that without Dalinar’s men patrolling Urithiru, he could wear his own face as he walked the city and not be bothered. Had worked for a while. He even managed to get a few drinks at Pub Seb, to ease his concerns. Would have been nice to know that Dalinar had told Sebarial about him, and that the gluttonous Highprince had soldiers of his own dedicated to enforcing the law. Jonly, on the other hand, was found to be innocent. Or, at least, innocent of any crimes on this planet, as far as any of the Alethi were able to find out. For a while they did try to fault him for Veriq’s escape, but thanks to Teresh’s statement of witness, they were convinced Jonly had nothing to do with the switch. Not that they'd be able to discover any evidence in the contrary without a reflectionspren. Jonly and Arionium brushed shoulders as they switched places, one of them envious and the other simply curious. Arionium doubted he could escape this time, and Jonly had other Initiates to worry about. While one plopped onto his bed, feigning the acceptance of defeat, the other ran for the Oathgate, hoping he could make it back before it was too late. “Hey deserter! I found you a friend!” shouted Aladar’s soldier. Prodded with a spear, Veriq stumbled towards the wooden hatch. As far as wooden hatches on rocky plateaus went, it was camouflaged rather well, which gave the most useless man in Roshar a semblance of hope for his new cell. The fact that his cellmate had apparently deserted the battle too meant that he understood what Veriq was going through. There were a lot of things he wanted to talk about, though they were the sort of things you don’t say to a soldier unless you’re craving a fight, which was his problem to begin with. The soldier stepped around Veriq to open the hatch, but before he did he made sure to look down on the Initiate, not just physically, but morally too, if the disgust on his face was any indicator of his thoughts. As soon as Veriq realized the soldier wasn’t going to look away, he lowered his eyes. A moment later the soldier shifted his feet, then bent to lift the hatch. He grunted as he rose it to his shoulders, then exhaled as he threw it. Without looking into the pit, the soldier grabbed Veriq by the collar and belt and threw him in. Considering the ease of it, Veriq realized the hatch must have weighed more than him. Landing awkwardly on his face, the Initiate struggled to flip onto his back and get one last glimpse of the sky before he turned to look at his cellmate. Taking one last breath of fresh air, he tilted his head. To his side lay Balthazar. Bound and gagged, a pool of blood formed around the Initiate, leaking from the clean slit traced along his neck like a smile. Veriq did not hesitate to scream for help. "He's dead!" the Initiate shouted. No help came, but he did get an answer. Two, in fact. The first was the hatch closing above him with a loud thump, locking him in with the fresh corpse. Already Veriq could feel the blood seeping into his clothing. The second was a declaration of cries, spoken without emotion through the wood. If not for his cries for help, perhaps Veriq would have heard it better. By the time he realized someone was talking at all and quieted down, all he heard was the closing statement. "Let Justice be done." Renarin could see the Everstorm coming over a mile away. In his dreams it was always there, looming in the distance, but now he was awake and he could see the bloody thing. It was horrifying. More frightening even then the battle taking place on the plateau below. And it hurt… oh Almighty how it did. No matter how kindly Glys whispered in his ear or how much Stormlight he breathed, the headache refused to go away. Fighting the pain, Renarin stumbled towards Dalinar and tripped, a member of his family’s honor guard catching him before his knees could reach the ground. “Father!” he yelled, his voice quivering with agony, but in spite of it he still had to warn him. “The Everstorm is coming!” Through eyes blurry with tears, Renarin saw the silhouette of his father looking towards the western horizon. “I know, son,” Dalinar said, a pang of regret in his voice. “But it’s not alone! Something wicked comes with it, urging it forward!” “I know…” Dalinar repeated, then sighed. “Sir, what do we do?” asked the guard holding Renarin, his tone nervous and his body trembling after hearing the sudden revelation. “Stay and fight. We are too far from the Oathgate to retreat like last time. Attempting to flee would only doom the Captain, and without him, none of us will survive this. The Stormfather has ensured me as much. So we must keep this to ourselves, if only so that our men can finish their battle with nothing to fear. Once we’ve won, we can face whatever happens next. For better, or for worse.” Renarin didn’t like the sound of that.

A couple of extra WoBs:

Apparently, Oathbringer might be the second longest fantasy novel ever written. But why settle for second place, Brandon? We all know you can do better. Go for the gold! #longestever!!!

I've updated the OP with a few new additions, just in case y'all haven't seen that yet. I'm thinking of doing my own version of @Extesian's handy chart as well, as I really like that train of thought and think it might be more likely that there's groupings rather than pairs (especially after those conflicting WoBs). I'm rather doubtful on the grouping names, but if I get around to doing that I'll ponder that a bit. Here's the new list: Preservation Ruin Dominion Autonomy Odium Devotion Endowment Ambition Honor Absolution? Cultivation Tribulation Enlightenment Enigma Purity Synthesis? What do you guys think? I'm still not too sure about most of the green ones. Absolution looks like a good one, I just have a hard time imagining what such a Shard would do normally. We also have to consider which Shard is the one that isn't on a planet. Personally, I'd pick Purity, if I'd have to bet on it, however, there is a planet named Purity which led to picking it as a Shard in the first place. I just added Synthesis as an opposite. It's a good synonym of Amalgamation, and I find it a bit more likely.

I think aeromancer did. To paraphrase: I don't think I would like this in my thread, so I'm going to stop doing it in Kasia's' thread. If you want to continue the conversation, come join me @ place. Aeromancer didn't say Kasia didn't like it. Aeromancer said Kasia may not like it. To me, it appears that Aeromancer is trying to treat Kasia, the way that he would like his chapter thread treated.

Yep. And if you look a little closer you might find Vasher as well. (And when you find him, I'll tell you my favourite joke!) He's hiding under an alias. Look for someone who notices things he shouldn't be able to, and uses strange metaphors. Welcome to the Shard! Have an upvote and watch out for cookies.

It was! heh, thank you I wanted to try but it is indeed harder than it looks at first. I looked around for a ketek jam but I don't think any have gone down here yet. Edit: It doesn't help that English infinitives have two words in them - breaks the symmetry even though it is technically following the rules.

You don't have to have ALL of your characters interacting to build a story and have good characters. There's no reason Shallan has to be at the Shattered Plains for us to get to know her and for her to matter in the context of the story. I'd argue that can be done much better in Kharbranth. It's important to develop Jasnah, so having those two interacting is good enough. Plus I think it's important that we're introduced to Taravangian, since he's obviously going to play a big role down the road (I'd introduce the Diagram at the end of TWoK perhaps, along with the Silent Gatherers). But I DO think you could have Shallan and Jasnah begin their journey sooner. This would work really well. Instead of studying in Kharbranth for all of TWoK, you put them on a ship maybe halway through. Cut out Jasnah's ethics/murder lesson and Kabsal. Shallan steals the soulcaster shortly after they're on the boat and makes plans to get off in a couple days at the next port. She has her soulcasting "accident" and gets discovered (skip the poison). Can't get rid of her until the next port, but then Shallan confronts Jasnah and they work it out before that point. You can probably work it out so Jasnah's murder happens during the climax. Perfect for a brief Jasnah "prologue" when WoR starts, and then the first scene is Shallan waking up on the beach. We already have romance in TWoK: Dalinar and Navani. I may be biased... I HATE love triangles. And I refuse to accept that we have a love triangle in Stormlight. Kaladin and Shallan shared an intense experience, there's no solid evidence that a romantic relationship between them will continue to develop. And I don't want to see YA-style love triangles in Stormlight. Shawshank Redemption? The Great Escape? There's plenty of great movies where the protagonists are in captivity the entire time. And in this case, it's only one protagonist out of three or so. I disagree that this is necessary. I also think you're making Kaladin's story way more complicated than it needs to be in an attempt to cut flashbacks. We don't need extensive flashbacks. Just show Kaladin wheeling up in a slave cart from the beginning, explain his background contextually, and maybe throw in a very brief flashback scene as he shares the Shardbearer story late in the movie. That's all it needs. We don't need to see pre-slave Kaladin being awesome. Just show us Kaladin being awesome as he tries to save/protect Bridge Four. I don't like this either because it's the complete opposite of what he is in the books. I would just downplay his role. He primarily exists in the book because we mostly see Dalinar from his own POV, and Brandon needed someone to highlight how crazy he seems to everyone else. In a movie we're not in Dalinar's head, so there's no need for those. No need to change Adolin. Just push him more to the background for now. Use him to speak reason to Dalinar on a few cases. Use him to add some light humor.

No I am made of Laughium cos Ha Ha ha

That gave me an idea. If Netflix or Amazon would pick this up and give it the proper budget and treatment, they could handle it like Marvel's Defenders. That is, have a series about Kaladin, a series about Shallan, a series about Dalinar, and maybe one other, and then bring them all together when it's time. They shouldn't be spread out too much, or could even all drop at the same time, but would be handled separately up until the storylines merge at the Shattered Plains, but they would all be part of the same overall narrative. That has worked really well with Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist, and I'm eagerly awaiting The Defenders (though I confess I actually haven't watched Luke Cage at all and haven't finished Jessica Jones or season 2 of Daredevil).

I looked, but didn't find any topics about this. So in case you didn't see the blog post, Brandon recently did an interview with Bulgarian fantasy outlet Shadowdance. You can read the interview in English or Bulgarian here. Here are a few highlights. When asked about writing screenplays for Cosmere or WoT movies: If only he had said baseball instead of soccer. The Michael Jordan jokes would practically tell themselves! The Mistborn: The Final Empire cover from the Spanish translation is truly horrible: But Brandon doesn't hold it against the artist. He didn't have much to work with, because the artwork was commissioned before the Spanish translation was done. (Which immediately raises three more questions: Why did they commission it so early, why not commission it from someone who could read English, and why do they need a new piece of cover art in the first place?) On literary quality: Also, a bunch of fun official and fan artwork, including this:

I have plenty of cookies to offer you if you want them. They will be shown in spoiler. I'm normally the first to greet, with cookies at least, any newcomers, but I've been busy lately. Oh, and good to hear someone doing something with the Rithmatist. I really liked it. anyways, here.

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)

The OP stated that Kaladin would have said all of his oaths. The windrunner in Dalinar's vision had shardplate that could change at a thought. So it is reasonable to believe if Kaladin said all his oaths, he would have radiant shardplate That is an excellent point with the larkin, though as that that is an external creature not included in a windrunner's powers, while chromium would be with a mistborn, I am not sure in this scenario if it could be counted.

Ehm... Threnody seems not to be the best place for me. Neither does Braize.

Well, it is quite likely that the Shadowblaze things are just counterparts of Forgotten, that also possess people and are sentient. Maybe they thought that Joel would be of more use as non-rithmatist for any number of reasons, including the fact that Nalizar seems to have trouble concentrating on non-rithmatist. I find coin unlikely for a variety of reasons, including the fact that the creature lives in a place surrounded by gears, and should have acclimated. As for the Muns - one possibility that occurred to me is that they have their own family chamber. As long as it attracts even one Shadowblaze, they can present only their own children until it chooses one. Or maybe they'd have the means of forcing one, then.