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  1. From the album: Bored Doodles

    This is a sketch of Wyndle as a shardfork, and a pancake. I’m not sure if they have syrup, but a kind of dipping sauce is mentioned.
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  2. I strongly hope that is not the case. One of the reasons I like Jasnah so much is that she appears to be firmly atheist and uninterested in men/marriage without an apparent trauma. It's just so common to have the trope that the way to make a strong woman is to traumatize her, so I'm very much invested in Brandon not writing it like that.
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  3. Dalinar is not an island unto himself. As a highprince, the decisions he made can affect thousands, maybe even millions of people. He is not in a position to only accept advice when asked for, especially on decisions like allying with Sadeas. As one of the few persons who are in a position to give Dalinar unsolicited advice, it is his responsibility to tell Dalinar these things. So because Dalinar is the Blackthorn, he's too high and mighty to take advice, no matter how sensible it is? And Adolin's objection is sensible. As I mentioned earlier, Dalinar is not a child who has the luxury of closing his ears to anything he doesn't like. He has a duty to listen to advice, especially from someone he supposedly felt comfortable enough with to abdicate to. Allowing his father to make what he views as a mistake without any comment isn't showing respect. Just the opposite, in fact. If you saw your parent getting scammed by a known scammer, it's not respect to just let him do whatever he wants, especially when there are thousands of people who live and die based on your parent's decision. The very passages you quoted show the opposite. He brings up a very sensible concern about putting themselves in a position to allow Sadeas to undermine them completely, which actually did happen, mind you. Pointing out a potential tactical error is being responsible. In Alethi society, perception is power. By allowing his reputation to decline, Dalinar was putting not only himself and his family in danger, but all his soldiers and their families as well. That's something Dalinar was ignoring, and it's salient of Adolin to bring it up. He said that Dalinar is losing his wits due to age and grief, not that he was stupid. No matter how intelligent a person is, this can still happen to them. It's responsible of Adolin to point this out. It's exactly because Adolin is Dalinar's son that he has a responsibility to speak facts to him when others can't or won't. That isn't arrogance. Pretty sure Renarin just didn't really have anything to say. This is a pretty faulty comparison. Dalinar isn't indulging in a harmless hobby that only has repercussions for him. The decisions Dalinar makes can get people killed, which is exactly why he needs to be willing to at least listen to advice, even if it's unsolicited.
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  4. Y'know, I'm kinda jealous about your ability to see the future and know what's going to happen to Dalinar
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  5. I honestly don't see where you get the impression of being "not welcome" here. Yeah, it sucks if your favourite character has less screen-time than another, I experienced that before. In SA I'm lucky because Kaladin is my favourite character EVER and yeah, I will never get enough of him, even if I had ten books on him alone. But Dalinar being a background character is a bit of an exaggeration. He is among the main five. Word count is not everything.
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  6. The latest Shardcast talked about the Dawncities, and how they had to have been built by the Dawnsingers. Cymatic patterns suggest there was music involved, so one of the hosts raised the theory that a bunch of them would stand around in a big circle and chant the Song Of Cities or something. I heard that and thought, there's only one way to pull something like that off: We built this city! We built this city on rock and stone!
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  7. So... you seem to imply that people in authority or who are older are always right and should never be challenged. If that's the way you think then we're never going to agree on this. Dalinar said he's thought about everything Adolin said many times, but it never changed his opinion. I'm using the results to justify my point here...but only AFTER Adolin spoke to him did he truly consider them and decide to abdicate. Sometimes you do need to hear things from somebody else. Just because he got angry when they talked doesn't mean he wasn't responsible... he was trying to do the right thing and his father kept trying to shirk him down. He refused to see something that was clear as day to Adolin which can be very frustrating. I've never said Adolin was perfect. As far as the painting example... no lives were on the line, but Adolin believes they are on the line in the story. So it wasn't simple advice, it was a warning, to use your words. I'm going to exit this conversation since we've been dancing around the same points for a while now. Half of our discussion has not been arguing the book, but the definition of responsibility. I agree with you on a lot of points, but I get the impression you see everything Adolin does in a negative light, which is the exact opposite of the people you see who turn him into saint.
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  8. From the album: Bored Doodles

    I’ve always liked the santhid and thought it looked cool. Decided to try drawing it.
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  9. Thank you! I appreciate the support. I threw up six times. I felt awful and totally sympathise with you. I was on a clear fluid diet for a bit and that was literally was a popsicle, vegetable broth and apple juice. I am never having vegetable broth ever again. All I wanted was scrambled eggs and I was starving too. The good news is that today after 13 days in hospital, I was discharged! I am finally back in real life and not just the hospital walls. I'm freeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Still taking it easy even though its very very exciting!
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  10. From the album: Stormlight Doodles

    A beautiful drawing of pancakes done by me.
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  11. When someone asks you for a book recommendation and your friend pipes up "She'll give you one that's bigger than your head. Run away. Now."
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  12. Sure you can. The first Oath doesnt always mean what you think it does. Teft provides an explanation, not the explanation. There were multiple orders that would be ok with Adolin killing Sadeas, and given the lack of other option I think it was fine. Was it right (as in moral)? No. Was it right (as in the correct course of action)? For me, yes.
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  13. From what I remember (although I've only read the main books), ASOIAF's worldbuilding is mostly just genealogies and wars, and is only focused on one part of the world: Westeros. Westeros is basically just Medieval Earth with a few bits of magic added in. Whereas Roshar's worldbuilding is much more fantastical, so it has to dedicate most of it's space to explaining things like highstorms, crustacean flora/fauna, various human and non-human races, tons of different countries/ethnicities/cultures, many different magic systems, etc.
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  14. The only part of SA that I don't love is the Shallan sections of WoK. Not only are they really slow, I don't think they contribute much to the overall story. Besides the character introductions, that entire plot was just an exposition heavy way of saying parshman=voidbringers. Disappointing is too strong a word, but if you made me pick a part of the SA that I tend to skim or skip in rereads, it's that. Truthfully, if there was one thing I could change about the SA it would have nothing to do with the series itself. I just wish Brandon had never revealed who the ten flashback characters would be. I think we're missing out on a lot of fun speculation since we know who the ten 'main' characters are. (Just think of the Adolin vs Lift Edgedancer book debates. Adolin vs. Ash vs. random seemingly minor character here for Dustbringer book etc.)
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  16. I'm editing in the words for the first page of my superhero comic! (That one I asked for help coming up with powers for.) I did a sort of prototype for my school newspaper, but this is gonna be the real deal! I think when I've got a good chunk of pages ready, I'll start uploading them to a webcomic site one at a time! Or something.
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  17. Dee dadean didnt dare delegate his duties. Last time his predecessor delegated duties, it undermined and destroyed his group's determinations, and the world changed. Dee decided to declare diligently his desire to do good. "There are dangerous individuals doing dirty deeds among us!" Dee declared. "I desire to determine who they are, and dismiss them from Elendel, and the surrounding demographic area, and the world if needed. In order to accommodate and aid those who will decide to do the good thing, I have decided to distribute knowledge of that which is in my custody. I have derived from my dad, and his dad before him, dos medallions(pardon my Spanish - thats two medallions), one contrived from nicrosil, the other from aluminum." Dee finished delivering his dispatch, and, deftly, returned to his delegated davenport --- Just checking in. I'm going to try to come back later and do a medallion analysis, as I believe it is more likely that some medallions would have been kept among the eliminator for the purposes of using D1 before anything happens to them
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  18. According to Brandon, Dalinar is his favorite SA character.
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  19. Ah, the sad little creatures mind must have broken. Metronome thought to himself. The stress of realizing the mistake he'd made must have rattled him to his core. Metronome nodded sagely. He could forgive the man this time, meeting Metronome in person was an experience to shake the very soul of a lesser being, some acted out in strange ways. This one had even tried to remind Metronome that it was late, he must have been completely out of his mind when he said that. "It is all well, child. I shall leave you here for today to ponder my words, when you have come to your senses once more then perhaps I shall find you." Not that I'd be likely to remember such an insignificant being. But if he believes that I've forgiven him then he may snap out of whatever madness has taken him a little faster. Metronome leaned in a little, grinning as he did so. "Oh, and just so you know. It's five fourty-six." But leaving him with a touch of fear is best to keep this memorable. And with this final, chilling revelation, Metronome turned about, heading away from the training grounds, and no doubt leaving the man he'd spoken to quivering in fear at the awesome power he held.
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  20. It would be cool, and the picture idea might work, but they both come with their own problems. Beyond the thing for recording that Voidus said, think about characters like Melody, who have an invisible ranged attack, or windrunners and the like, or to simplify, attacks that cannot be duplicated. The art thing comes with the flaws of, some of us are horrible artists, and wouldn't be able to do that. Also, some of the good artists spend hours upon hours on their work, and then the duels last for weeks because both are spending hours one drawing their attack. I'm not saying that people can't do this, but I don't think it's practical. Beyond those flaws, it seems like a cool idea. Maybe if both participants are really good at CGI, they could do it, or if they don't care about it taking forever.
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  21. Absolutely agree. While I can understand why people think this (because media has kind of trained us too) it's normally handled very... Crudely. This kind of trauma is just not something that works the way entertainment wants it too. Like any trauma it alters your neural pathways and changes your thinking... But the specific areas this can effect are not the same. To say it kindly, "this does not perform as advertised." I'd very much like to see this trope die.
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  22. As a real life asexual person, yeah the 'person who is uninterested in sex because they've been abused' trope is...overdone. Obviously there are in fact people like that in real life, but when that's the only kind of asexuality/voluntary celibacy that gets represented in fiction it's kind of grating. Some people are uninterested in sex because that's just how they are. There doesn't have to be a Tragic Backstory reason.
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  23. Thank you! I’m really excited. I love the way of sorting powers I’ve come up with! In accordance to Sanderson’s laws, every power has a cost and limitations! In general, using the superpowers (which everyone except stuffy scientists who insist on being technical just call superpowers because who are we kidding here, they’re superpowers) makes people hungry, with extra downsides to specific categories or individuals. There’s mutations, which are just inhuman looking people. Usually based after animals or mythical creatures (like FRICKIN DRAGONS). They need to eat more than most, but consinstently and in less extreme amounts than some more active categories. Mentalists, like mind controllers, need to touch people with their hands to activate their abilities. Swarm types (basically like Taylor from Worm with a wider variety of things they can control based on the individual) get nauseous. There’s a whole bunch of these types, with some subsets. Right now, I have about 137 abilities, with the second generation only have copies of their parents and absolutely no people with multiple abilities. Does anyone who can science know how genes decide which trait to exhibit if two different dominant genes are passed on? Ones that don’t share or mix at all?
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  24. I do agree with OP that Roshar's history isn't as deeply explored. (well, okay, I haven't read ASoIaF yet, but I have a sense for it and I think the same could be said in comparison with other series) I DO think he has much more planned than has been revealed... But I also think Brandon is simply less interested in mundane historical detail than some other fantasy authors. He'll insert a fact or an anecdote here or there, but Brandon doesn't tend to pepper his stories full of one-off mentions that may or may not matter down the road. I feel like this is true of his worldbuilding in general. Concerning the distant past (>1500 years), this is mainly because of Desolations, the Recreance, revisionist history, etc. Much has been lost and forgotten. From a narrative perspective--he can't reveal too much because the mystery of it matters to the plot. Concerning the more recent past, I think some of it is because it matters to the plot. Some of it is surely that he just doesn't care to go into it though, if I had to guess. One thing I've noticed with WoBs is that Brandon is hesitant to canonize details when he thinks the story may come back around and deal with that topic later. I imagine this is true of the writing as well. Story and characters are king to Brandon. We already saw a few minor retcons with Dalinar's past in Oathbringer. I think Brandon likes to leave himself room to breathe when it comes to details (like history), because he doesn't want to come up with a great idea that has to be scrapped when it turns out he previously threw a few lines in that prevent it from working. So he has more of the history worked out than he has shown, but he's not showering us with the details in case they need to change. (And he isn't super interested in getting into the weeds in the books anyways.) Just my opinion/interpretation.
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  25. Dalinar's arc in Oathbringer. Simple the best thing Brandon Sanderson ever wrote (at least for me).
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  26. Actually, I believe, there are several WoBs saying Dalinar is his favourite character. Is there a WoB? Agree with everything I have! What disappointed me the most in the series: Eshonai's death. Sureblood's death. Kaladin's lack of love for horses! I love horses, they are my favourite animals, I enjoy horseriding, and his treatment of horses kinda breaks my heart! Though, to his credit, he does agree that they are smart. And "Monsters" chapter in WoR is one of my favourites. Agree with resurrections and Amaram in OB. Amaram was kinda wasted. The large cliffhanger in the end of OB. The possibility of .... mmm... how to say not to aggro anyone at me... well, my favourite pair not to end up together until the back half of the series Too long to wait, you know
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  27. The three biggest flaws with SA are (in my opinion): -The handling of Amaram in OB. I have talked about this before, but he had potential to be great, and was thrown to side, had all his development off-screen, and was then killed off in a boss battle. The arc itself isn’t that bad, but the execution is. -The fake-deaths. Although he is fixing that one. But the effect of those are showing. It took like three WoBs to convince people about that Eshonais death was for real. -Kaladin saves the day. This bugged me in WoR, where Kaladin was constantly saving everyone. Brandon fixed that in OB though, by having him be saved. As for the ongoing Dalinar debate, I think we could see him appearing in SA5-10 as well. Brandon hasn’t said that he wont be in those. And book 5 will have tons of Dalinar.
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  28. (For reference, I'm no Kaladin fanboy, he is fine, but just that) While statistics is great and all (its about 50% of my job), I think that your strict analysis has a flaw @LerasiumMistborn. It sounds like you assume that screen time necessarily implies import or growth. In OB, Kaladin is on screen the most, but undergoes much less growth than in books one and two. He acts in some spots as almost filler, for the dramatic timing of Dalinar. X amount of time has to pass before Dalinar gets his next memory? Let's watch Kaladin do some action stuff and resolve some old plotlines. Shallan definitely does the same in OB, with much of her viewpoint being a rehash of the same issues. You also have to have realized, there is always a main character. These aren't strict GRRM or Tolkien, Sanderson always has a main focal point. But like Vin and Sazed, the former getting more screen time doesn't make the latter less important. If I had advice to give, it'd be to pull back and be a little more cerebral. Look at the Kaladin sections and woder why they are there. Might make them more fun? As for my gripe, it relates to the dropped Listeners. I wish they had seen a more graceful descent into storage, but there is already a thread somewhere about that.
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  30. To avoid arguing in a thread not designed for it, I'll just open this up here. Simply put, you cannot expect justice from an unjust system. The death of Sadeas was the only way to remove a man who was ready to throw an entire nation into war for his own greed and lust for power. There was no filing a police report. There was no criminal court or charges. The choices were Assassination/murder, or war between Sadeas and it's allies and the rest of the Kingdom. When a man who is at a level of power that he cannot be tried has committed acts that cause the deaths of thousands states plainly that he will do so again and again in order to get what he wants, and you have the means to remove the man and prevent that... Do it. In our society, this will not (or at least should not) occur. No matter the level of wealth or political power someone achieves, they are still supposed to be held accountable to the law. This is not the case with a Highprince. If the choice is the death of one man or a war that will needlessly kill thousands, from a man who is stating plainly that those deaths are coming if he lives as well... No questions.
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  31. Hey, so this is going to be an open world RP that’s going to be in the universe of the game Elite Dangerous. You don’t need to know the game to join. It’s going to be completely open, so I won’t make a main antagonist, though there will be little quests and conspiracies you can uncover. Everything that happens is completely up to the players. If you’re interested just say so and I’ll add you to the PM!
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  32. One of my favorite scenes is when Dalinar, fresh from the treachery at the Tower, beats the holy hell outta Elkohar and then gives him the riot act. Elkohar: So you aren't gonna kill me? Dalinar: Gods no! I love you like a son. You're going to make me Highprince of War and oh, by the way, I'm courting your mom.
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  33. A very big part of the reason that I hate the trope is that trauma, especially sexual assault, is used as a replacement for complex character writing for women. I've been turned off of so many stories because the only explanation of a woman's character or backstory is "Oh, she was assaulted. That's why she is the way she is." It comes off as a thoughtless throwaway instead of exploring a female character's story. I personally don't find it complex or interesting at all; I'm pretty sick of seeing it when the stories are not equipped to handle the specific kind of trauma recovery that is sexual abuse, and that's most of them. This is not a knock against Brandon - in fact it was a total relief to get the idea that nothing happened to Jasnah for her to be this way. I know plenty of women who are like her and there is no traumatic reason as to why they aren't interested in men or relationships. It is not inherently more complex or realistic to require a traumatic event to have a woman be this way. Sexual trauma is just not the same thing as other trauma and I'm leery when I see anyone attempt it, even a writer like Brandon whom I trust.
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  34. A post on the concurrent thread "Why I think Sadeas death was right." (which btw might be the right thread to discuss this) reminded me of this WoB: I think this points out that political power dictates who is right or wrong in Alethi society. Being a warlike nation, as they are, they follow a general 'winners write history' cultural mentality. To support @agrabes argument, Wit wouldn't have as much political power as Sadeas did, so how Wit's assassination would be taken by Alethi society is beside the point here. So I think that Alethi society, in general, might not oppose Dalinar's support for Adolin, despite murdering/assassinating Sadeas, but if a schism was to happen between Ialai and the Kholins, the houses supporting Sadeas would probably side against Adolin.
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  35. I think you're both right and wrong about this. I agree - things like assassination happen and they are only "wrong" if you're caught. Fair enough - but if Adolin gets caught then he gets caught - he's now "wrong" in the eyes of Alethi society. Getting caught includes there being wide, but unproven in court, knowledge that he did it. For Amaram's comment toward Wit - I think it's implied that he is suggesting someone should duel Wit or find some other way to scheme him into being killed in battle, etc. For example, a major light eyes gets a minor lighteyes to publicly become enraged with Wit, challenge him to a duel and then kill him. Not that someone should assassinate him - the end result is the same (Wit winds up dead) but one has a veneer of honor while the other is naked aggression and pettiness. Most of the Alethi seem to put a lot of value on this kind of show - kill someone but make sure it isn't a literal assassination even if conceptually what they are doing is the same. You can see this in the way Sadeas tries to eliminate Dalinar - he schemes for Dalinar to die in battle rather than trying to kill him in his sleep. Tying this all back to Adolin's predicament - because he didn't use the normal Alethi smoke and mirrors, I believe that what he did would be viewed as distasteful by those in power in Alethkar pre-desolation, but probably not to the level that he would or could be thrown in jail or face real legal ramifications. However, there's a real chance he and the Kholins would face rebellion from the house of Sadeas and its allies. I think that chance still exists as of the end of OB with Ialai Sadeas' actions. Sadeas' army is gone now, but they still have allies. The non-Alethi allies are what he would need to be more concerned about in terms of moral judgment. They don't take the same attitude towards war and competition as the Alethi and would probably view the murder of a political rival in a much more negative light. With Dalinar trying to appease them and convince them that he isn't just putting up a front so that he can conquer them all, the news of his own son murdering a political rival would be very bad for Dalinar's plans for a major alliance. Overall, I believe it's going to be viewed negatively by pretty much everyone except the people who were betrayed or abused by Sadeas. As for whether what he did is right or wrong - I personally believe it was morally wrong both in terms of my own moral code and the in world morality. You can justify it and say that greater good may have come from one evil deed and that is probably true, but it doesn't wipe away the fact that what he did was wrong. There were other options available, but they would have been much more difficult to achieve. For example - blackmailing Sadeas into compliance as a puppet leader, simply imprisoning him without legal justification and dealing with the repercussions, work with the mid or lower level leaders of house Sadeas and have them either reform from the inside or launch a coup against the top level leadership. There are a lot of things they could have done instead of simply murdering Sadeas when the opportunity arose. I liked the scene as it happened in the books, but let's not pretend that if Adolin really wanted to take the high ground he didn't have other options available. The reason the scene was good was because it was morally grey.
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  36. When playing risk legacy, one of your friends calls a minor city Reshi, and they haven’t read stormlight, so you laugh your face off
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  37. I believe it's save to say Brandon has the history of Roshar planned out in detail, but reveals it in the books as the story demands. If we had known about the origin of humans on Roshar from the start things wouldn't have been nearly as intriguing, don't you think? There are seven books to come and a lot left to discover.
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  38. Q: Why do Windrunners like Stormlight so much? A: It makes them high!
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  39. I want to see Lyn (the scout who wanted to be a squire) become a full windrunner and see more women breaking the gender mold. I want to see Renarin doing bookish scholarly things and more men breaking the gender mold. I want more Singers and Listeners and Unmade. I want to see Lift steal Jasnah's dinner.
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  40. I don't know what I'm more thankful for, the noise canceling headphones or hugs. Thank you! *hugs*
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  41. The entire Adolin's duel scene, told in memes:
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