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First off, I realise that there is an existing Hemalurgy thread in the Mistborn section, but I wanted to discuss certain topics without needing to worry about spoilers. Additionally, I wanted the discussion to have a more theoretical direction, rather than a philosophical one. I have a few topics to cover, so they'll be broken up into different sections. ETHICS Hemalurgy is often considered an "evil" magic, and not without reason. So far, we have seen it as a very destructive force that not only kills innocents, but damages their very soul. However, we have had many interesting revelations since the original trilogy both in the books and through WoB. Many of these revelations paint a more... palatable picture of Hemalurgy. First and foremost, we have confirmation that Hemalurgy does not have to kill the person donating a spike. Relevant WoB: The reasons vary between WoB, but the meaning is clear: one does not have to die from getting spiked. It would still rip out a piece of your soul and change you as a person, but you do not have to die. Okay, so you don't have to die, but you're still losing a piece of your soul. That sounds like a big deal, right? Well, maybe not: So in the Before-Afterlife it certainly matters, but in the After-Afterlife? Not so much. That's a good thing, but it ultimately doesn't matter, because we have even better news! Soul wounds can be healed from: So not only is it confirmed you can heal back your soul, essentially creating a new patch of soul out of Investiture, it would also give you back the power you just had spiked away. Theoretically, you could be spiked multiple times for the same power. There's some implications that you wouldn't want to do this repeatedly, but the possibility is there. Alright, that's all well and good, but that only helps people who can heal back from a spiking. So that only means... everyone on Scadrial now. Those fancy medllions that the southerners have kindly introduced mean that everyone can heal back from being spiked by tapping an unkeyed goldmind. What's important to take away from this is that Hemalurgy may not be nearly as bad as we have been lead to believe. You don't have to die, you don't have to lose your power, you don't have to permanently damage your soul and it won't have scary, unknown implications for the After-Afterlife. I have no doubt that certain portions of society would be against it regardless of the science, but that doesn't mean that it wouldn't be used. MECHANICS In this section, I'm not going to be covering the topics of bind points or the uses of different metals as there's just not much to go on. Ultimately, I don't think the exact details are what's truly interesting about Hemalurgy anyway, but rather the interactions it has with the other magics on Scadrial. So, what do we know about Hemalurgy from the books? Well, you stab spikes into people and it gives them powers. So far as we know, each spike only steals one thing at a time, spiking an ability you already have makes you stronger and you can't have more than three spikes without opening yourself up to the influence of others: That's some pretty harsh restrictions. Suit appears to have his spikes piercing his heart, or at the very least they pierce his chest, and it was assumed that removing them would kill him. Pretty dangerous weakness to have these days, what with Coinshots and getting access to Duralumin medallions, or whatever other power boosting effects that may let people rip your spikes out. There's one person we know of who did fantastic things with Hemalurgy though, and seemed to have none of the associated weakness: the Lord Ruler. He was an impossibly powerful Mistborn, able to push on the metals inside Vin's stomach while she was burning them. Even Elend, with all his Lerasium granted strength, did not perform feats anywhere close to this. So, how did the Lord Ruler achieve this? The obvious answer is that he also ate Lerasium. WoB says that's not the case though: So how did the Lord Ruler become so powerful? According to WoB, it was Hemalurgy: So the Lord Ruler needed all three systems, but Hemalurgy was the most dramatic. Other than his incredible Allomatic strength, I cannot think of anything else he did that was not explained by compounding or God metals. There's a problem with this, though. So far as we know, the Lord Ruler only had two Hemalurgical spikes located in his upper arms, which doubled as his Atium Metlaminds. Even if these had granted Allomancy, they could not explain the entirety of his awesome power: The fact that he had no other spikes was actually a plot point. Remember that Marsh also thought that the Lord Ruler had been spiked like an Inquisitor, and his plan to kill him was based around this: So how can someone use all three systems of magic to benefit from Hemalurgy but not be full of spikes? Well, I think I have the answer, theorized from a few WoB and based around burning spikes with Allomancy: So we have some discrepancies between these WoB. In one, it says you would splice the sDNA together. In another, it says it won't graft the stolen soul on, but it would have some interesting effects. Finally, in one it says it won't have any effect when you burn it unless it also came from you. I believe these seemingly contradicting elements can finally be reconciled after learning about Identity in BoM, while also explaining why the Lord Ruler was so powerful. If you've read some of my other posts, you can probably already see where this is going. My proposition is simple: similar to Identity and Metalminds, the results of burning a Hemalurgical spike are dependent on whether or not you have Identity access to it. If you share an Identity with the Investiture in the spike, or possibly if the spike was donated from an individual who had no Identity at the time, then a process similar to compounding occurs. As the Investiture is drawn from Preservation and filtered through the metal, the Hemalurgical Investiture alters the shape that the magic takes, thereby spicing the sDNA in the spike and the sDNA of the Allomancer together. For a full explanation on my theory for the mechanics of Allomancy and compounding, see my huge ranty post. So, what effect would this have? Well, I believe we saw the results of this in the Lord Ruler. In the case of spikes which grant Metalborn abilities, splicing the sDNA results in granting, or increasing, the abilities of a Metalborn. It does not "graft" or "tack on" a piece of sDNA as has been described of spikes, but rather a full merger or "splicing" between the sDNA, impossible to separate afterwards. If this were the case, it would explain how the Lord Ruler managed to achieve his "dramatic effects" with basically no spikes, and would indeed require all three systems of metal magic. He needed an understanding of Hemalurgy to spike his own powers out (probably controlled a Kandra or Inquisitor for this), Feruchemy to survive said spiking and heal back his ability, and Allomancy to burn the spike and add it back onto his sDNA, thereby increasing his Allomatic strength without being a "common Inquisitor" with "endowed fabrications." He could then repeat this process until he reached some unknown theoretical limit. Keep in mind, the Lord Ruler was the most knowledgeable user of the metalic arts to have ever existed (so far), so if anyone could figure this out, it would be him. Okay, so maybe this is possible and he figured it out. Why did he use spikes for his Inquisitors then? Control, obviously. He brutally controlled the use and knowledge of Feruchemy just to prevent compounding, and this is easily more powerful. He designed all of his Hemalurgical constructs with both clear weaknesses and methods of control, and anyone granted power through this method would have neither. This is the extent of my evidence on the subject, so it is by no means proven, but I think there's a possibility for it to be true. I didn't find anything directly contradicting it, but Brandon has been getting pretty tight lipped about this sort of thing as time goes on. If you have anything on the subject, I'd be interested in seeing it. HEMALURGY USE GOING FORWARD Theoretically, this could be absurdly powerful going forward. If all that is required is an unkeyed spike, rather than a spike you share an Identity with, then you could potentially turn anyone into a Mistborn via the use of medallions. Give a Metalborn a Feruchemical Gold/ Feruchemical Aluminum medallion, dump their Identity while you spike out their power and have them heal it back with the goldmind. Give the recipient an Allomancy medallion corresponding with the metal of the spike, have them burn the spike and then boom, you've got a brand new Metalborn. Rinse and repeat. As I mentioned before, there's anecdotes that you may not want to do this repeatedly, as Soul injuries apparently scar even when healed and who knows what that does, but the ability is strong enough even without spiking people multiple times. That being said, I don't think Hemalurgy would gain wide spread use even if this were possible, simply because it's too damnation powerful. Imagine a world of Lord Rulers. Wax gave up the Bands of Mourning because the power was too great for mortals, and this is potentially even more powerful than that. I can easily see governments suppressing and regulating the use of Hemalurgy for the same reason they regulate guns. Or, perhaps more appropriately, for the same reasons as nukes. Still, the potential is there for this to be even more disruptive than medallions. FINAL THOUGHTS I consider this to be very theoretical and am by no means claiming to be convinced of its veracity. I'd love to hear what others have to say on the subject, and what they think of my interpretation.

I seek nothing if not approval of my fellow Sharders! Day 3:

Wow, exercise really does make a lot of difference

Hello, this is my first theory, so try not to tear it apart too fast . I've looked around and am fairly certain there's not a topic on this, although if there is, kindly point me to it. I do not have a ton of evidence for it, but essentially, I believe that the Evil from Threnody is really just fainlife and I'll explain why. (By the way, there are a few AU spoilers ahead, specifically for the Threnody essay, so beware) I first made the connection when I noticed they were both described as creeping. From LoP: And from the Threnodite System essay in AU: The descriptions here are pretty similar in both wording and feel. They are both portrayed as catastrophic, death-bringing forces laying waste to entire continets. For those who haven't read the Liar of Partinel, as far as I understand, fainlife came as a result of the death of Yolen's gods. It says that the fainlife came from the gods' corpse, implying that it came directly from them, and not that the gods were simply holding it back and when they died, it was left to ravage the land. We know Ambition, a shard, which can be considered a god, died in the Threnodite system. So, assuming LoP is mostly still canon, I think that the Evil is fainlife born from the death of Ambition. Now I know Ambition didn't actually die in the Threnodite System, but was only mortally wounded. However, Khriss says that So it seems fair to say at least a part of Ambition died there and that it definitely had some harmful consequences for Threnody. I know thats not a perfect argument, but it makes sense to me that fainlife could be something that causes the inhabitants of the Fallen World to flee. The fainlife we see in LoP drove the people to the brink of extinction. It pushed mankind into very small pockets of civilization where space was extremely limited and growing food was difficult. And I mean, consuming continents, feasting on the souls of men, that seems pretty reminiscent of fain. I can see how the destructive power of fainlife could cause a contintent wide evacuation in Threnody considering what we've seen of it in LoP. It just seems to fit. There are also a couple holes I'd like to address. First of all the biggest issue I see is of the timing of it. The battle between Ambition and Odium occurred relatively soon after the Shattering, however the arrival of The Evil appears to be much more recent, like within a 100 years of Shadows for Silence, which occurs later in the sequence of cosmere books. The only explanation I can think of is that the effect on Threnody of the battle was somehow delayed. Maybe it took time for the pieces of Ambition to reach the planet, or they somehow lay dormant for a long time, I don't know, I'm just speculating on this part. If anyone does know anything about that, please share. The second thing is why Nazh, being from Threnody, did not explain the Evil to Khriss. The most likely explanation is that Nazh was born long before the Evil started wrecking havoc on the Fallen World. This seems to make sense due to his worldhopping history. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Shadows for Silence takes place after Era 1 of Mistborn. And since we see him in SH, its likely he was around before the events of SfS and the Evil. He also talks about the rituals of becoming a shade, which do not line up at all with what we see of shades in SfS. They seem much more dangerous than the way he describes them, suggesting he comes from a different time period when the shades were not quite so evil. Khriss says he could only talk about the Evil vaguely, and I think thats because he didn't actually know what it was since he was not on Threnody at the time. Anyway, there's my theory, I hoped you liked it. Remember, all of this could be completely invalid if in the canon, fainlife is not the same. Feel free to share your thoughts, comments, ideas, criticisms, and any relevant WoBs. Have fun speculating!

Apology up front, but I've spent too long without venting a set of questions on here, so there are quite a few this time around. AonDor Questions: Does drawing an Aon larger make the effect larger and/or more powerful? Are any currently known Aons an exception to this? Can Aon effects be stacked? ie: would overlaying 4x Aon Ashe mean 4x brightness? Do the modifier lines have to be drawn on the same scale as the base Aon? Clarification: Draw a 1ft by 1ft Aon Daa with modifiers, if I make the base Aon 2ft by 2ft, do I also have to double the size of the modifiers? If so, what effect would keeping them the same size have on the Aon when I use it? Can you build an On/Off switch into the modifiers of an Aon? ex: A flashlight using Aon Ashe for light Ancient Elantrians used Aon Ehe to make lanterns that never went out. Given how newly drawn Aons are weaker away from Elantris, would these lanterns(that are already activated) start to dim as they got further from the city of Elantris? If not a RAFO, would this hold true for all Aons that are already activated? Does Aon Aha ["Breath, Air" per Ars Arcanum] produce air in AonDor? I got an Elantrian Scuba Diver image in my head this one time... If so, could it be used to have a never emptying oxygen tank or would it continue filling/raising pressure to the point that the tank bursts? If he somehow doesn't RAFO this, can you prevent pressure bursting with the right modifiers? Allomancy Questions: The point where someone has enough power that they start leaking mist has been given the fan-name of "Mistpoint." Do you have an actual term for this or can we use this term as actual Canon? We've speculated that Mistpoint marks the strongest point that an Allomancer can be(barring Ascension). Are we correct in this assumption? Would Mist-fueled entities [ie: Elend and Marsh during the final battle] be considered as at Mistpoint? How close would the Lord Ruler get to Mistpoint by Duralumin burning his Allomantic Metals? You've said that Elend could only match TLR soothing by using Duralumin. For reference, was the Lord Ruler only burning or was he flaring brass during his intense soothing scenes? Suppose you could reliably steal 80% Allomantic Strength with a Spike. That 80% would differ slightly from person to person correct? Pretty sure we know this already, but just in case. In another WoB, you have said that burning Pewter gives 2x strength and flaring gives 3x. Mathematically, that means flaring gives you double what burning gives. Does this hold true for all metals? Clarification: In essence, Burn = Strength+1, Flare = Strength+2. Thus Flare is 2x the effect of Burn. If no, which metals does this math work with? / Which metals does this math not work with? Gen. Purpose Roshar Questions: Is Thaylenah a mercantile culture? Captain Tozbek runs a shipping business, Rysn and Vstim trade all over Roshar, Tvlakv is a slave trader, Barmest sells books in Kharbranth, Vstim is legally Rysn's father until he considers her ready to be a merchant on her own, several people of several cultures speak Thaylen well, etc.. Rysn and Vstim traded in both Shinovar and the Reshi Isles. Thaylen, Reshi, Aimian and Shin are all in different language families, yet Axies the Collector(Aimian) spoke Thaylen well, the Shin they traded with(Thresh) and the Purelaker guide(Gu) spoke it very well, and the Reshi trader(Talik) spoke Thaylen well enough for Rysn to question his country of origin. Taravangian knows a Shin proverb in its native tongue. Is the language barrier thinner than we would expect it to be? Can you compare the level of difference between some languages with an Earth equivalent? ie: Going from Alethi to Horneater is like English to Russian, or something like that to give us a idea of how different these languages really are Does Azir have a standing army, and would their "by the book"/paperwork oriented lifestyle translate into a well regimented force and chain-of-command? (assuming they filled out the necessary forms to go to war) When Iri and Rira split, was it a peaceful split or was there a civil war of sorts? Additionally, how long ago did this split happen? What do the Reshi actually do to interpret the Tai-Na on whether they should go to war with a nearby island? Cosmere Questions: Would a Shardblade kill the limb of a Kandra, or do they have some form of resistance/immunity to this? If they have a resistance, why/how does it resist a Shardblade cut? Would a Shardblade physically cut the "bones" of a Kandra with a true body made of stone/metal or would the limb still have to be killed first? We seem to be fixated with FTL and space travel, but are there any worlds that would be more interested in exploring the deep seas of their world? If so, have we seen this world? and/or Do we know enough about the culture/magic system to figure out how they would explore the deep seas?

I grilled burgers, porksteaks & sausage and an now fixing to go enjoy my labor.

LG31: Day 1 - Dancing Mist Our tale begins. The mist has set in and a solemn figure strolls through the dancing mist. Shoulders hunched, she makes her way to an imposing building, almost obscured by the veil. The Canton of Finance, the bank of the Final Empire. The mist’s fingers caress her body, swirling around her, almost...comforting. But no amount of comfort will help her, for she is to con an obligator. At the foot of the building, at the bottom of the stairs, she gives a deep breath and shudders. First step. Second step. She makes her way up through the dancing mist. A door, an imposing door, an imposing steel door stands in her way. A shiver, and a push. She’s inside. Men look up as she enters, an assortment of nobles and obligators. One raises an eyebrow, staring at her suspiciously. She smiles faintly at him and makes her way through the lobby, a spacious room with benches and tables along the side. She struts through the middle, hoping she looked confident until she comes to a large table at the end. The obligator at the table looks up and asks in a husky voice, “Appointment?” She nods and replies, “Fadrex city, I came to request an investment for a shipment to Fadrex City”. The man nods and looks down at his ledger. “Name?” “Ariel Gadth, related to the Hastings,” came the reply. “Everything seems to be in order, please make your way to the office at the end of the next hallway, ignore the bloodstains if you will”. Bloodstains? She wonders, “My thanks”. She pushes through to the next hallway, speed-walking to the office now. She enters the room without knocking, with a flourish of her hair. “I believe I am expected?” she announces arrogantly. The obligator in the room smiles, “Indeed…”. He studies her carefully and nods to the table next to him. “You will find all you need there, allow me to finish off this paperwork.” Two agonising minutes, and yes! She is homefree! She nods curtly at the obligator, snatches up the bundle and promptly leaves. She exits the establishment, wary of eyes watching her. The mists are there to greet her and she breathes a sigh of relief. The mist didn’t seem as animate as before… something was off. A slight rustle to her left. She turns, another to her right. She quickens her pace, eyes darting. Shadows in the sides of her vision, a glint of metal here, a shine there. Heart beating, hands sweating. She breaks into a frantic run….and runs into a body with a dull thump, she falls back onto the gravel, dropping everything. “You didn’t think we would be this easy to fool did you?” A scream. And the mists keep dancing. LG31 has begun! You have 48 hours to choose someone to lynch. Rules Clarifications: PMs are not open! Only Kandra may make PMs, and only two per cycle. Allomantic Tin only finds out the action, not the person targeted as well. Ties will result in a coin flip.

There have been some good responses on Reddit recently, especially as part of the AMA and Oathbringer updates. I don't have time to compile those yet (and some have already been posted here) but one on a separate thread about character deaths jumped out at me. Here is the whole quote, with the important piece in bold. Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/Stormlight_Archive/comments/5yejj3/comment/derrlv5 I'm pretty sure this is the first official pronoun for Adonalsium besides "it." I take this as unintentional confirmation that Adonalsium was a being/Vessel and (probably) male, something Brandon has been quite evasive about.

Language! I believe that's what they call Hoid because he keeps traveling everywhere

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. And then the murders began.

The bloodsealer was actually drawn by a Sharder, @Botanica. Her other TeS artwork is here: She also has some other cool artwork in the gallery on other subjects.

I dreamed that Portugal had a child dictator sometime in the recent past. This kid demanded that no one give him an answer other than "yes," made a movie about himself, and installed glass doors and walls in every government building. For some reason, those doors were still there when I visited with some class or other. I was not the only one who kept running into them.

Yeah, I'm active, no need to hit me with the contribution crusade. I don't have any suspicions yet (I mean, we haven't been plating for half a day, anyone who claims to have suspicions now is probably an elim). I do have some general thoughts and opinions on what might be a smart thing to do. First of all, I recommend that Kandra try and make sure they use their two PM's each cycle. PM's are wonderful things that allow you to gain more info, and talk over ideas without immediately having to throw them into the thread for all to see. Kandra are also going to be useful for getting new metal vials where they'll do the most good, but remember that confirmed Kandra is not confirmed Noble. Second, the metalurgists. There are unfortunately no metals that have only utility for the village. That having been said, I'd still attempt to get the most out of the role, if not from the start, then at least once you've found someone you're pretty sure is village who can act as stockpile ( @Elbereth, @Darkness Ascendant, @Conquestor, I assume you can't give metal vials to yourself as a metalurgist?). The reason for this is that it's going to be important for the village misting to remain stocked with metals at all times, as you'll never know when a game-winning vote comes down to whether someone still has some brass, zinc or copper left. Before the last part, I'd quickly like to give the Arinian Disclaimer: "I am not certain about any of the numbers to follow. If it seems like I'm stating something as fact, it is merely because I forgot a 'maybe' or a 'probably'." So, the number of elims. If the 20% convention is used, there's 3, or maybe 4 elims. However, since they've got a faction conversion ability, I suspect there are going to be less of them to start with. There will almost certainly not be 4 of them (unless there's a massive amount of pewter among the village), and I suspect there are only going to be 2 of them. This does depend on the number of half-skaa around. So, those are my thoughts on the rules and what might be a smart thing to do. If you see something idiotic that I've missed, or a fatal elim-exploitable flaw, don't hesitate to point that out and throw a lynch vote on me(and for that matter, remember that my name is 'Jondesu' for purposes of lynching).

Search your feelings, you know it to be true.

I guess you could say they 'Raysed' a murderer. ... Snark is the only thing I have to contribute to this conversation, carry on.

Sadeas is still alive.

Chapter Nine is now over, and with it the game. Due to me attempting to write an especially epic conclusion to Part One of The Most Important Words (the saga of Roshar games I will be running) - as well as a conflict in my work schedule - it will take longer than usual for me to post the next Chapter. I'm not sure how big the delay will be exactly, but I hope I'll need no longer than an extra day to take care of what's left. Thanks for playing, everyone. I look forward to seeing the survivors return in Part Two, along with a new, equally wonderful batch of characters.

Disclaimer: this is not intended to be sacrilegious (I'm a Christian myself). "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And then the murders began." Not too far off from the original story anyway.

The guidelines listed here are still current as of January 2021. What is Reading Excuses? Reading Excuses is an online critique group and a spin-off of the popular podcast Writing Excuses (note: we are a fan group and not affiliated with the Writing Excuses podcast). In other words, we read each others' fiction to provide constructive criticism that will help improve your work. Reading Excuses is open to anyone. To join, send a PM to both Silk and Robinski with the email address that you'd like to receive submissions at, and one of us will add that email address to the group's email list. Discussion threads happen here on the forum; submissions are sent out by email each week. I will always respond to your request to join the group. I try to be reasonably prompt about doing so, and usually respond to requests in a couple of days. I do miss things sometimes, though, so if you haven't heard from me within a week, feel free to re-send the request. This group is meant for writers of all levels who intend their work for publication. Writers of any genre are welcome to join, but we're primarily science fiction and fantasy writers, so if you're writing outside of SFF you may find that we're not the audience you're looking for. The posts below tell you how the group operates. Please read the "How Do I Submit" and "Code of Conduct and Critiquing Guidelines" sections before submitting or critiquing. How Do I Submit? Formatting Submissions Length Guidelines Content Tags Naming Conventions How to Submit When to Submit FAQs Code of Conduct and Critiquing Guidelines Code of Conduct Critiquing Guidelines Receiving Critiques How Often Do I Need to Critique? Sharing Work From RE Other Resources RE Administravia Extra Credit Your opinion ... The Writing World

I have a humble request of any alpha or beta readers on here. As people with a slight influence on Brandon's work, can you all work together to get him to stop having Lift say "awesomeness"? I love his writing and his books, but that word is dreadful. It doesn't so much pull me out of the story as much as jerks me out of the story, flings me across the room and bangs my head against a wall.

On my reread of Secret History I noticed something - when Nazh gives Kelsier his knife, he says that "Ire were doing this much longer than us". Us meaning him and Khriss. While we don't know when Khriss started her cosmere scholar career, it was definitely after White Sand. We know White Sand is before Elantris and we know Elantris is less than two thousand years before Mistborn First Era. Well, now we don't know how long is "much longer" or when Khriss started doing her thing. We don't know how long before Elantris is White Sand. We know that Ire are really, really, really, really, really old. But all in all together I think we can safely assume Ire (as a group) were doing their thing long before Reod occured.

This WoB suggests Rayse had multiple motives for killing Shards. (Source.) Argent: So, did Rayse choose those Shards [to splinter] because - Brandon Sanderson: He went after Ambition first, but didn’t find Ambition until after going after Devotion and Dominion. But Ambition was number one on his hit list. Argent: Was it because of the Shard or because of the Vessel, or the person? Brandon Sanderson: In this case it was the Shard primarily. He was afraid that this was a Shard that would rival him. But he then got trapped in the Rosharan system. “In this case”? Did Odium have other motives than Shard “rivalry” in other cases? I speculate that Rayse detoured from Ambition to kill his parents Aona and Skai. I characterize Devotion and Dominion’s Mandates (Intents) as “Love” and “Control.” That strikes me as a typical “parenting” combo – one parent keeps the kids under control while the other nurtures and loves them unconditionally. I believe Brandon intended this parenting combination. Devotion and Dominion had a pre-Shattering relationship and came to Sel together. Devotion’s love wanted to grant mortals the gift of magic. Dominion agreed, but only under tight controls. Hence, Sel’s “programmatic” form-based magic. It’s understandable why Odium sought Ambition first. It’s understandable why he later sought Honor, his magical antithesis. (Honor binds; Odium severs.) But why Devotion? Dominion maybe, but both of them? And so early in his killing spree? What kind of threat could they pose to chase them down first? Compared to his other killings, Odium murdered Skai and Aona in a particularly vicious way. It was personal. Odium wasn’t content to just kill them. He stomped on their souls and stuffed them into the Cognitive Realm. It’s the Shardic equivalent of cutting up your victim and hiding the pieces in the basement. Hoid in the First Letter describes Rayse as “among the most loathsome, crafty and dangerous individuals I had ever met.” That makes you wonder what the criteria were for participating in the Shattering.

As I understand the spirit web, it is like spiritual circuitry, powers and other aspects get coded into the "circuitry". When you use Hemalurgy, you rip out the chunk of someone's spirit web the controls the attribute you are stealing and then you staple it into the recipient's spirit web. When the "circuit" is spiked into the appropriate place for that aspect, the "wiring" works as intended and the power is transferred. When it is put somewhere else it makes weird connections and does weird thing. i.e. Koloss don't just have the strength of 5 men, they have blue skin that doesn't grow despite the fact their body never stops. Spook's book also said that you can make just about anything by changing the spirit. Now Shardblades cut the spirit. While Hemalurgy works additively to change the spirit, I wonder if one could use a Shardblade to make modifications of a subtractive nature in more complicated ways than just paralysis. Something like cut away at the shoulder(Hemalurgic bond point for pewter Allomancy) of a natural Thug and destroy the part of their spirit that lets them burn pewter. Or forcibly break someone's bond to a Shardblade while leaving them alive. It may even be possible to create Hemalurgy style monsters like Bleeder's creepy things by cutting away bits of the spirit.

Interesting. I had not considered this interpretation. I worked under the assumption that he simply made himself an Allomancer and then built off of that, but it is possible that he just made himself super strong from the get go. Similarly, I am aware of that compounding the effects of Allomancy is possible, and it could be that he simply knew this trick and that's the reason. This begs the question though, if he's using one of these to boost his Allomancy, what is he using Hemalurgy for that could be considered "the most dramatic"? We know he was using it in a big way for something that we saw. If there had never been anything said on the subject of burning spikes, then I too would have assumed it to be something else, but we know that burning a spike has some sort of effect. I'd argue that "hacks" or "tricks" like compounding are actually really simple, comparatively. Spiking someone requires you to know exactly where to place it and is likely even more complicated to make constructs, whereas this just requires you to try burning a spike sometime and messing with Identity. Realmatics is said to be central to the old Terris religion, so it's possible that Rashek actually knew something about Identity to begin with and the knowledge was surpressed afterwards. Naturally occurring Aluminum is rare, but not unheard of, after all. This is indeed something that bothers me. What was he spiking himself with? Why did he want to? It could be that he just wanted even more insurance that his Atium Metalminds couldn't be Pushed or Pulled, seeing as he almost instantly died of old age after losing them and that's kind of a big deal, but who knows. I mean, this is the Lord Ruler we're talking about. Even if he used a puppeted construct to do this, he definitely killed them afterwards just to be sure. Probably doesn't really matter what he used in the end. On whether or not it's still Hemalurgy, I think it is. I can pull off "dramatic effect" on my car by boosting it with Nitro (shoo, car enthusiasts, you don't need to bother telling me this is wrong lol) and just because the effect is just going really fast and it still runs on gasoline doesn't mean that it wasn't pulled off with Nitro. This is the worst metaphor I have ever told and this is what I get for responding in a car. I'm heading off to a family dinner now, so I probably won't be able to respond for the rest of the night. Glad to see the responses so far.

Each jobs has its perks I am currently in book 2 and they say Adare is 3 years older than Kaden while they said she was 2 years older than him in book 1. They never mention Valyn's age except they say, in book 1, he arrived at the Kettral island at 8 and he was there 8 years. Given how both brothers spoke about each other, I took him for the older sibling, but I never was really sure. Then it seems he was a bit younger... The prologue of book 2, just reading the scene and not getting the ages, I would think he was the youngest given how he behaves and speaks (he's the one who clings to his mother the most, there is a childish naivety to him when he is convinced the people will be saved, etc). At one point, I even wondered if they were twins... Anyway, I got they are very close in age, about a year apart. I also thought Adare was much older, but no, she is just 3 years older which means Valyn as to fit in between. So if Kaden is 17 (as they say in book 1), Adare is 20, then Valyn is about 18-19. Probably 18, but I'll keep reading. This is confusing! Good. Glad to know I have something good to look forward to. I have decided 2017 would be a great reading years, its crowning moment certainly being Oathbringer in late November. Finally. I can't believe how many books you have read last year! So far this year, I have read: 1) Powder Mage trilogy (3 books) started in December 2) Elantris 3) Emperors Blades (1st book, currently reading book 2)

Wouldn't that be an Honourable thing to do? To try and contain him to prevent him murdering other people? Even if that meant you died and he was locked in your house?

@maxal What do you wanna bet he's a hotel desk clerk on the graveyard shift like Brandon was? XD In other news, I finished A Conjuring of Light and very much enjoyed it. I'm now about 80 pages into Duskfall by Christopher Husberg and already super excited about the rest.

Does a victim of rape needs to pair herself with a man having lived through rape himself if she is to hope for understanding? Does a victim of household abuse needs to pair herself with a man having lived through a similar traumatic childhood is she wishes for sympathetic comprehension? Understanding does come out of shared experienced: it comes from the capacity to put oneself into someone else's shoes. Some people can naturally emphasize with other people's hardships without having lived through similar horrors while other people can't transpose themselves into anyone shoes even if they share similar tragedies within their past. Adolin may not know about being psychologically abused, but he knows about growing up with an authoritative father insisting on micro-managing down to his leisure time. He also knows about needing to protect family members from harm. He may not be broken, but he is a highly empathetic individual who just...listens when talked to. Often, victims of abuse aren't looking for someone to correlate their past hardships, they are looking for someone to listen to them without judging. They are looking for an ear and Adolin is probably the best non-pressuring ear within the cast. I also strongly agree with @jofwu. I too feel story arcs revolving around Shallan/Adolin are more various and more interesting. They have serious potential while I do feel Shallan/Kaladin are more conventional. This being said, one cannot argue against personal tastes: many readers just love the Shallan/Kaladin dynamic.

I had a horrible realization. Once Shallan becomes more comfortable with having two identities, she might date Kaladin as Veil, ending in a You've Got Mail kind of romance, with her eventually running out of Stormlight, Kaladin learning it's Shallan, and them either breaking up, or getting together and pushing Adolin out of the picture until his perspective book. I don't want this to happen at all. Too much stuff happening for the love square to take up valuable pages.

@Deliiiiiightful I have no words. The awesomeness of this Purim costume has left me in silent awe.

I wonder if we can take this theory and then apply it to voidbinding and voidspren? Are voidbringers those that voidbind? Are the listeners voidbringers or is that a broad term that, over the ages, was applied to a larger scope of creatures. Would this term only be applicable to the humans that attract these certain spren, as this theory says about surgebinders?

You go in the corner and think about what you have done! On topic, I like it. I don't think this explanation is inevitable as you suggest it might be - Rayse could've gone after Aona and Skai because he was afraid they might form an alliance against him (because of pre-Shattering friendship, or because of compatibility of mandates, or something else entirely), or because of another personal grudge. As to why he didn't just Splinter them like he did Ambition and Honor after them, I actually think I recall a WoB about how he didn't yet know how to Splinter properly. Rayse always knew he didn't want to just kill the other Vessels because that left the Shard available for pickup. But I don't think he knew how to Splitner their minds this early in his "career", so he did the next best thing - he made them extremely dangerous to even approach, let alone separate. By the time he got to Ambition, he must've figured it out. But I like the idea. Very nicely thematic.

Braise is actually the Death Star.

Yalb will ride a greatshell into battle against the Voidbringers. Kaladin will Lash a chasmfiend into the sky.

Szeth will succumb to Nightblood and die. Adolin will be found as the murderer of Sadeas and be executed, then Shallan will marry Sebarial. Lopen will become Cultivation's champion. Lift will use her Shardfork to slay a Marabethian greatshell. Wit will tell everything to Jasnah.

At the end of Oathbringer a new red star shows up. They decide to call it Calamity.

Well, there will be a direct sequel to this game. I figured Uther would participate in that

I never said I regretted it. Just the opposite in fact. You are doing just what we wanted you to do. Sadly yes. I highly doubt I will be able to pull off another miracle escape this time. Do me a favor though. Vote Doc into jail next cycle. He's been voting on me for so long that it's clearly a concentrated bussing attempt. Why Doc why? Hmm, tell you what, keep me out of jail for this cycle and I'll totally vote to pardon you next cycle. You can trust me. Yep. Completely trustworthy.

It was more a joke than anything else, don't worry

Aaaand I'm back. There's been quite a bit of discussion while I was gone, so attempting to respond to every point seems futile. I'll just try to pick it up from here. Incoming wall of text. I think you're reading into this line a bit too much. We know that simply being of Terris blood does not grant you feruchemical abilities by itself because Wax could not tap the unkeyed goldmind in BoM. From the WoB that The One Who Connects provided, we also know that it won't even help you tap your own metalminds if you lose your feruchemy. Keep in mind, Brandon never says that Miles' Identity is changing when he gets spiked, just that the recipient may be keyed enough to access his minds. A perfectly valid interpretation of this is that while Miles' is lessened by the experience, he's not "less Miles'" so to speak. I agree with Spoolofwhool's interpretation of Identity in relation to getting spiked. They use the analogy of a barcode, but I believe there's an even more compelling example: DNA. Every part of your DNA contains your genetic blueprint. I don't think it's a coincidence that Brandon uses the term Spiritual DNA interchangeably with Spirit Web and Soul. This would jive with what we understand about healing. Lopen can heal his arm back because he never accepted the fact that he was disabled, whereas Kaladin and Kelsier think of their scars as part of who they are. Or, to use a more compelling example, if Kaladin immediately had his Identity (and thus self image, or Soul Ideal) changed when he was cut by the Shardblade, how could he heal himself? Honestly, I think Connection's WoB supports my case fairly well and fits exactly within the theorized mechanics compounding. This makes it clear that you cannot tap your metalminds if your feruchemy is spiked away. No theoretical Identity connection will help you here. Okay, maybe getting spiked changes your Identity and that's why you can't. I disagree with this entirely, seeing as Lopen went years without an arm and it didn't change how he saw himself, but I'll play along for my next point. If getting spiked changes your Identity, why can Miles burn his metalminds after getting spiked? Even more compelling, why can the Coinshot still burn his metalmind after losing a spike? He is completely losing the portion of his sDNA (and thus associated Identity) related to being a ferring, yet we have confirmation that this does not change his Identity enough to prevent him from burning his steelmind. I feel completely confident in assuming that spiking does not automatically change your Identity enough to prevent access to your own metalminds. All this talk of Identity connections, spiking changing Identity and allomancy using Identity to "remember" feruchemy to compound is very theoretical, meaning there's nothing directly supporting it's existence, but rather a potential explanation for information we're lacking. While this is possible, I think the more reasonable answer is the one we understand based on the mechanics we have been told, and the situations which have been confirmed to work. For this reason, I am going to exhaustively explain my theory on the mechanics of compounding in an effort to show how well these disparate pieces fit together to explain it. To start off, rather than speculate, what do we know? The mechanics of compounding as described by Brandon is a function of the mechanics of allomancy. As the allomancer burns the metal, Investiture is pulled from Preservation and filtered through the metal. Feruchemical Investiture present in the metal alters the shape that additional Investiture takes. Relevant WoB: Ferrings who have their feruchemy spiked away cannot access their metalminds. Relevant WoB You can burn a metalmind with allomancy for feruchemical powers even if you are not currently a feruchemist. Relevant WoB: Distinct Identities interfere with metalmind access, whether through compounding or tapping. This is shown through the scene with Vin attempting to burn Sazed's metalminds, and basically everything we know about feruchemy. Two feruchemists can both store attributes in the same metalmind, but they do not interact. Relevant WoB: Unkeyed metalminds can be tapped by anyone with the the power to do so. Spiking someone's feruchemy away, or removing a spike granting feruchemy and Identity, does not change someone's Identity enough to prevent them from compounding their metalminds. Relevant WoB: These are the facts as we understand them. Each of these statements is either confirmed in books or in WoB, and I have yet to see anyone refute them. The reason I feel my theory is so compelling is because it requires nothing outside the scope of these facts to work. Let's quickly run through the steps of performing allomancy according to Brandon: Allomancer ingests steel Allomancer draws Investiture from Preservation Allomancer Investiture is filtered through the metal, which shapes the effect of the magic. Allomancer steelpushes. Everyone else gets jealous. Now let's look at compounding according to WoB: Twinborn ingests their own steelmind Twinborn draws Investiture from Preservation Twinborn Investiture is filtered through the metamind, which is also shaped by the feruchemical Investiture when shaping the magic. Twinborn gets super speed. Everyone else gets even more jealous. Note, this is exactly the same steps as allomancy. At no point is it stated that the twinborn taps the metalmind during this process. Rather, the Investiture just needs to interact with each other to alter how the magic is shaped. I'm not theorizing here, simply stating the facts as we understand them. So let's look at compounding unkeyed metalminds according to my theory: Allomancer ingests an unkeyed steelmind Allomancer draws Investiture from Preservation Allomancer Investiture is filtered through the metamind. Because there is no Identity interference preventing them from mixing, the feruchemical Investiture present in the metalmind also shapes the effect of the magic. Allomancer gets super speed. Everyone goes out to buy medallions because they can't take the jealousy anymore. It's exactly the same. I use the term Identity interference to describe the phenomenon present throughout feruchemy because it seems applicable. We think of metalminds as something belonging to the feruchemist, but we know from statement 5 that multiple feruchemists can store into the same metal without issue because the Investiture just doesn't mix. Metalminds only "belong" to a feruchemist in as much as their unique Identity prevents their Investiture from interacting with other unique Identities, and it's clear that this concept is not unique to compounding. At this point, the theory should be obvious and simple based on what we know: mistings can burn unkeyed metalminds because there is no interference between unique Identities preventing the Investitures from interacting and shaping the magic. Really, it's not that mind blowing or out there when you get right down to it. It doesn't require anything theoretical or unknown to work, and it is not directly contradicted by anything we know. Rather, it is simply a logical extension of the mechanics and rules as we understand them, backed up by confirmed evidence, and the underlying mechanics of it satisfies every case of compounding we have discussed so far. Contrast that with the theory that a connection to your metalminds via Identity is the reason former twinborn can compound, while also being the reason former ferrings can't access their metalminds because getting spiked changes their Identity. The second part contradicts the fact that Miles' can still burn his own goldmind and thus shares an Identity with it, and the first part is predicated on a new ability of Identity which we have no direct evidence of. It feels flimsy because it has potential holes and it is inventing solutions to the problem, rather than applying the mechanics on hand. Without a completely unambiguous confirmation of either theory (or a completely new one) it is impossible to prove a theory correct, but that does not mean they're equally likely.

The first time I ever heard of Brandon Sanderson was through my father, who had downloaded a random fantasy novel on his kindle, and told me, "Alena, you have to read this book!" He introduced to me the general idea and theme of it, and I agreed to try it out. My first ever Sanderson novel was Mistborn: The Final Empire, and I immediately fell in love. I was told that "it might be a little slow to start" but I had quickly fallen head over heels for the unique world system, the totally original and fantastic idea of Allomancy, and how he managed to make the characters and world seem real with intriguing politics and in-depth character development. Ever since, I could never put down a Sanderson novel. It awed me how he could turn the whole entire plot of a story by one minuscule detail. His mind and genius are absolutely fantastic, and ever since I learned of the Cosmere idea, I was totally shell-shocked. I am a huge Tolkien fan, and for me, Sanderson is the living representation of him, and I have thoroughly enjoyed his work ever since I picked up Mistborn.

She. I'm a girl... I actually think Kell's long life is due to his soul knowing he died at 38. Dead people don't age. So his soul 'knows' he can't possibly be aging and therefore he doesn't age. Sort of the reverse of TLR...

Great! Happy to have you on board. ...Nerd took the bait...waiting further instructions...

Any chance of #SundaySanderson returning? Its been a long time since your last one. I was quite enjoying those...

The coolest combo that wouldn't have to be unique to Lift would be a pewter compounder that was made into a dakhor monk. Indestructible! Green skin level strength! Toss in Chay-Shan training for funzies. Give them plate and blade assuming plate doesn't interfere. That would be one tanky son of a gun! Normal weapons already suck against the dakhor. Pewter buffs that resistance. The 3 of them all grant strength. That is picking up buildings potential.

Where would the Hermalurgic Olympic Games take place? The Kolosseum

Why did Elend cross the road? He wanted to Venture to the other side

What do Lyras and Shallan have in common??? ...preserves...

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