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I am certain it's Shallan. Too young looking to be Navani and Jasnah got the last cover.

It's been revealed! Gosh dang it, now I just want to see the Whelan cover even more. Also, does anybody know who the woman is with the sword? She looks like she has grey hair, so maybe it's Navani. No idea why she'd be carrying a sword though.

I truly get the desire for more Stormlight stuff and the need to find something solid in this ever-changing storm of a time, and while I don't know your personal situation, I'm not sure having Sanderson release anything early other than the chapters snippets he's already released is a good thing at this moment. The book still has a way to go before it's finished, and this isn't a situation where the author has been quiet, evasive, or misleading about their book's progress. We have a release date (November 17), we know what the novella released will be but it needs to be written first, and the actual book comes first before that. Sanderson gives us updates on Reddit (his latest one from last month) and even said that he's "neck-deep in revisions" as recent as last night/this morning. "A delayed game is eventually good, a bad game is bad for ever." Shigeru Miyamoto. This can also be true for books, or any project that has time limits. You say we need to know how to care like Kaladin does, but the answer is in the stories he's already told, not just the new book. We find a way to move forward, move to our next steps because we saw Dalinar do that. We can't wait for our next steps to be in-line with Dalinar's unfortunately, but maybe the path he's walked so far is enough for now. (Also, if you're looking for something on Netflix, I recommend The Dragon Prince if you haven't watched it already).

They'd probably equally confuse each other, but bluff their way through it, leaving both of them with the feeling that the other had gotten the better of them.

https://repl.it/@ChickenLiberty/KRQuiz This is just my own attempt at making a quiz like this. Since it's just a python program, I can easily edit it if new books change our understanding of the Orders. If you don't think you're result is accurate, tell me, and I'll alter the quiz if it appears certain Orders are consistently inaccurate. The "certainty" thing is somewhat arbitrary; I just fit the results to some curve that represents the other data to an extent. My descriptions of the orders aren't very good, but oh well.

We've all taken jabs at trying to figure out what the Sibling may be about. The Community's Take General consensus is that there's three Shards on Roshar, and three Bondsmiths, so if the Stormfather, the Nightwatcher, and the Sibling are the three Bondsmith spren (which they are), then the Stormfather corresponds to Honor (which he does), the Nightwatcher to Cultivation (which "she" does), and the Sibling either corresponds to Odium, or is a mix in between Honor and Cultivation. For obvious reasons, it wouldn't make sense for the Sibling to be associated with Odium and still be a part of Surgebinding, so we tend to lean towards the "mix between Honor and Cultivation" more. Another general thing we tend to believe about the Sibling is that they are tied to Urithiru in some way, and may power even power the city. And the last well believed fact about the Sibling is that they are intricately tied to Stone. I know Calderis has a theory on why the Nightwatcher might be stone instead, but that's his to discuss. I'm gonna try and offer a different take on some of these points, and provide additional context to others. Whose magic is Surgebinding? The question asks it all. There's some fuzziness with what happened on Ashyn, but from what we know, the specific powerset of Radiant Surgebinding was first seen in the Honorblades. This implies that the exact specifics, at least, were first defined by Honor. If you look at the Heralds, we have 5 Male Heralds and 5 Female Heralds - a near perfect divide, with all the Male Heralds bunched up around what seems to be the Honor-half of the chart, whereas the Female Heralds bunched up around the Cultivation-half. Then we have spren copying Honorblades. This fact alone makes things very fuzzy. On one side, the spren are... essentially on a spectrum of Honor and Cultivation, with some spren having more Honor and others having more Cultivation. Yet others, like the Stormfather and Nightwatcher, are almost guaranteed to be nearly a 100% one or the other. But the pattern breaks a little if you try and match the spren to the Heralds. By association, a.) Windrunners, Skybreakers, Willshapers, Stonewards and Bondsmiths should be closer to Honor, whereas b.) Dustbringers, Edgedancers, Truthwatchers, Lightweavers and Elsecallers should lean towards Cultivation. And this works, until you look at the Bondsmiths. The Nightwatcher, who should practically be all Cultivation, is a Bondsmith spren, meaning that in Surgebinding, Cultivation is technically more present than Honor. This is despite Brandon telling us on atleast one occasion that the original Knights Radiants were focused more on Honor and his spren (which, depending on how you read it, could and couldn't conflict with Cultivation's presence in the magic). There's a third way of dividing the system too. You could theoretically say that Surgebinding is of both Shards because a.) All Radiants speak Oaths, which come from Honor, and b.) All Radiants have to grow over a total of five Oaths, which evokes the presence of Cultivation I'm going to put forth the idea that there is a third element here, but let's hold these two in mind, for now. When in doubt, stare at the Surgebinding Chart. When most people think of what the Surgebinding Chart tells us, they tend to think that all it tells us is that there are 10 orders, 10 Surges, and that each order gets 2 Surges, and that each Surge is shared between two orders, in a cyclic pattern. Usually, we tend to think that all the extra connections don't matter, and that they're there just for fluff. But, @Master_Moridinfound something interesting. The extra connections start making somewhat more sense once you pull in the Soulcasting Essences. Here's the full graph, and because not all of you are maniacs who have it by heart, I've gone forth and labeled it too: (it is definitely interesting that the whole thing looks like a gemstone) Smoke, for example, is connected to Fire, Wind, and Oil. Stone connects to metal, crystal (both come from the ground), water (crem), and flesh/meat/sinew (don't ask). They don't all immediately fall in place, because we think there's more weight to these connections in a metaphorical or philosophical sense, and there are also some thematic Order connections that we're wondering about. The Actual Theory However, an interesting thing happens when we zoom in on the Bondsmiths. Usually, when we think of the Bondsmiths, we think that they have two surges (Adhesion and Tension), and are adjacent to Windrunners (by Adhesion), and Stonewards (by Tension). Which is fine, except in the full chart, Bondsmiths don't have two, but three adjacent Orders: The Stormfather tells Dalinar that his is the power of Connection, so I can see why "Sinew" or "Flesh/Meat" could be associated with his order. But the interesting thing is the three (yep, three) essences they connect to - Wind, Stone, and Pulp/Wood/Plant Matter. I could sit here and establish a line of reasoning from the Essences to the three Bondsmith spren, but it's pretty simple from here on out. The Eila Stele mentions three Gods, of Wind, Spren and Stone. The Wind can pretty easily be attributed to the Stormfather, both because wind, and because his relation to Honorspren and the Windrunners. The Nightwatcher, by the virtue of color green, her home-base of the Valley and connection to Cultivation as "her heir", and indirectly through an excerpt from Rhythm of War, can associate with the Truthwatchers, the essence of Pulp/Wood/Plant Matter, and the "God of spren" from the Eila Stele. This leaves the Sibling, and Stone. So yes, I'm establishing a harder line of reasoning for why the Sibling should associate with Stone. But far more importantly, this establishes the Sibling and the Nightwatcher as being to the Stonewards and Truthwatchers what the Stormfather is to the Windrunners. And for more importantly, this can tell us a little bit more about the Sibling. Earlier, I established two components in Radiant Surgebinding: Oaths from Honor, and Growth from Cultivation. Which works, until you consider that Radiance actually has three elements - the third is that all Radiants are also completely dependent on Stormlight, which is responsible for the literal radiance in Radiance. And even before the death of Honor, the Stormfather is disproportionally more important than any other spren to Surgebinding, as he is the source of all Stormlight. So my theory: All three Bondsmith-spren are intricately tied to Radiance itself. a.) The Stormfather provides Stormlight, representing Honor's Power in Surgebinding b.) The Nightwatcher should be tied to Growth, representing Cultivation's association with Growth in Surgebinding c.) The Sibling should be the spren closely tied to Oaths themselves, representing Honor's association with Oaths in Surgebinding And this works on multiple levels. See, Stone being associated with the very concept of Oaths makes perfect sense - Stone is hard, and it weathers Storms but it doesn't break. An Oath, on a world where Honor resides, is this... abstract thing that must never be broken, and must weather all adversity. Perhaps this is also where the Oathstone of Truthless comes from culturally, and may have ties to Shin veneration of Stone. Another potential way this works is if you look at Stonewards and their attributes - Dependable and Resourceful. It also works if you look at Taln, who was the only one of the Heralds by Aharietam to have never bent his Oath and let the Singers pass. One thing that this implies is that out of the three Bondsmith, both the Stormfather and the Sibling are of Honor, and the Nightwatcher is of Cultivation. Another thing this implies is the reason why the Sibling may have gone to sleep, at least from a narrative perspective. We have two things we know about this: Oaths are about perception and belief - a Knight Radiant and their spren must believe in them and they mean what the KR and spren believe they should. From the Gem archive, we have at least one excerpt which says that the Knights Radiant may have been questioning their own worthiness (perhaps soon after Honor "raved" at them), and that this might be tied to something happening to the Sibling. The Stormfather mentions that "you" (which I read as the humans) "have hurt them enough" What I'm trying to get at, here, is that if the Sibling is... somehow intricately tied to the Oaths and the keeping of Oaths (Stone), then it makes complete sense that the mass breaking of Oaths at the Recreance was not pleasant for them. This means that as Radiants start speaking Oaths, the Sibling may start re-awakening. And if the Sibling is similarly tied to Urithiru, then the Sibling's re-awakening may be intricately tied to the re-awakening of Urithiru. This may be what the blob for RoW may be alluding to. In conclusion, here's the structure I'm implying: I want to dig into what I think this implies for the magic of Roshar in general here (including Voidbinding), but this is already too long, so for now this is it.

As far as I know, none of them knows why they chose to return. Some speculate Shashara returned to create Nightblood, and Vasher returned to do something on Roshar (since he's a character in the Way of Kings prime), but there is a Shardcast on the Five scholars where they go into more details, if you're interested. Also, Vasher did kill all the others, except Yesteel, who's said to be "specially sneaky", what ever that means.

The thing is, creating and ruling a theocracy are perfectly valid interpretations of 'guiding' and 'pious', as far as I can tell. We also don't know how much of Dalinar's oaths were personalised for him. At least three other orders have oaths that are personalised for each Radiant around a theme. Gavilar certainly united people, even if it was by bloodshed. If the third ideal's 'if I fall I will rise again a better man' was a little add-on in the same way that Teft's requires him to protect those he hates, especially himself, then perhaps simply taking responsibility for reprehensible actions would be enough for Gavilar to advance. Much like how Thanos kills half the universe to protect the other half, and he takes responsibility for the death toll without shying away from the fact that it needed to be done (or so he thought). I'm just really concerned about Gavilar being a potential Bondsmith when he is trying to start such a devastating war, when as far as I recall Dalinar's maturing from his previously monstrous characterisation is what helped him onto the path.

Hi everyone! We have done a massive rules overhaul today. That's for the best since the rules have... not exactly had an extensive rewrite since 2011. 17th Shard has changed a lot since then, and our community is a lot bigger now. So let me go through the highlights of what we did. We've expanded our rule that basically said "be respectful" into a much longer Code of Conduct. It explains our expectations for all members in much more detail. Things in that topic are things we will moderate. It also has a very expansive anti-harassment policy, how to report things, as well as a description on how moderation works, and common actions we will take on moderation. Realistically all of these things are things we have had before, but hopefully a much more detailed description of such things will help us as we get into another influx of new members for Rhythm of War. I want to make special mention that in the Code of Conduct, there is now a completely anonymous way to report things, should you need. We realized with our strong anti-harassment policy we did not have a mechanism for this, so we've created one. Next, we have put a lot of the administrative policies into a Policies topic. These are policies you should follow, describing our rules about double posts, signatures, spoiler policy, but for the most part you wouldn't be moderated if you broke those rules on occasion. (Repeated offenses might lead to moderation, however.) Please give a huge thanks to LadyLameness for her hard work on these documents. These were a team effort and a lot of drafting on these happened, but she's the one who put in a TON of time in making these documents amazing. But wait, there's more! There is also a Best Practices for Posting in Debates thread that Comatose has written for your advice. These topics, with our original forum introduction and how/to (finally updated!), is pinned in the 17S Discussion forum. Discord rules have also been updated, too! Though those topics are closed please feel to comment here on any of these things. Much of this should be expected stuff that we've already done, but expanded in a clearer way. We're here to answer questions though!

I looks like Shallan to me. Plus she hasn't gotten a book cover yet.

This is fair criticism, and reading back, I didn't really put my motivation down thoroughly. It's been a tiny pet peeve of mine, ever since I've read OB, how important the Stormfather is to Surgebinding, or to all of Rosharan magic. Because all extensions of "natural" magic on Roshar (like Fabrials and Surgebinding) run and are completely dependent on Stormlight, which the Stormfather is intricately tied to. It makes sense then, that Dalinar, being bonded to the Stormfather, can overcharge people with Stormlight. Without him, none of that magic has any fuel to work. Because that's the Stormfather and the Highstorms' role on Roshar - to provide Stormlight. But it makes him uniquely and disproportionately more important in Surgebinding. In comparison, even before the death of Honor, the other two Bondsmith spren just don't have as clean roles associated with them. That's something that's been on the back of my mind for a while. Then, on one of the conversations on Discord, we had this discussion on the Stone that Szeth was given as a Truthless. And it makes sense for a piece of stone to metaphorically be associated with a promise, right? Stone is something naturally hard, and it endures. Another separate piece was about a discussion on the nature of Stonewards. What would they be like, as people? And there, we have this, from the in-world Words of Radiance: Given Taln, and their attribute of Dependable, it seemed (and I'm still cutting some context here because it's been sometime since this conversation) that the members of this order stick to what they say, like holding to an Oath, but above and beyond what other Radiants also generally do. Like Taln holding to the Oathpact beyond reason. And then there's this conversation in the community that I've seen about Oaths being of Honor and the progression of Oaths being of Cultivation. So when I saw the three connections of Bondsmiths, and I knew the Stormfather was associated with Stormlight and Winds, and I also had this background idea of Taln and the Stonewards being Oath-y, and this association of Stonewards and Oaths, I just put everything together to make one coherent idea. Stone can be metaphorically associated with Oaths, and the Sibling should also be associated with Stone, which establishes a connection between Oaths and the Sibling and then taking this: To mean that as Radiants lost faith in themselves as being worthy of the power they wielded, as they lost faith in their actions being the right course of action, and hence as they lost faith in their own Oaths (something which lead to the Recreance), the Sibling started going to sleep, and Urithiru started loosing it's Radiance. And at the recreance, as the Oaths are broken, that process is complete. The Sibling has been hurt enough, and completely goes to sleep. Urithiru goes completely dark. In the end, I just like that narrative thread. There is a big glaring whole in this theory - the Sibling should predate Surgebinding, so how did they get associated with Oaths so strongly? I don't know that. Mmhmm, I don't disagree with that per se. The Order associations I made was with Herald-gender though, and the Willshaper patron - Kalak - is male, while the Dustbringer patron - Chanarach - is female. Hence Willshapers being more Honor and Dustbringers being more Cultivation on that list.

When you and a friend (who hasn't read any Cosmere stuff in ages) start having a conversation about which Cosmere characters we would go drinking with. She invited another one of her friends who's a Sanderfan, and we started discussing how to get all these characters to one planet and us to the Cosmere. And we're bringing a goat named Tanavast. (All three of us are both underage and LDS, and the Cosmere isn't real, so unfortunately, none of this will come to be. Except maybe the goat, which I'd gladly accept).

I expect him to DESTROY EVIL!!!!! It is after all what he was made to do

*Wins with a crossover* 18,433

Personally, I think it's Shallan. Her face looks too young to be Jasnah or Navani. Lift doesn't wear havahs. Speaking of the havah, it's more loose and flowy than I remember them being depicted. What's in the foreground? What's she pointing at? Is that a column? A tree?

It appears to be Shallan in her "Radiant" persona.

I'm pretty sure that what Brandon meant is that burning that much Lerasium would increase your connection to Preservation so much that you would ascend. Just like normal ascension, except you only need a humongous pile of Lerasium to do it.

How did Harry Potter get down the hill? Running.

I is for Ialai O is Odium P is for Pattern

Moash tried to kill Elhokar for personal revenge. He was not out for Sadeas, whose every action was horrific, or Szeth, who was whacking kings all over Roshar. He wanted the one guy who had indirectly wronged him by being incompetent. Graves was there to make the world better, but I dont buy that Moash was.

This thread has been on the staff's radar, and there seems to be some continuing issues, so I wanted to step in for a moment. To be clear, while I do have personal feelings and opinions on this subject, I am currently using my staff/mod voice, so listen up :). First, I would like to thank people here for trying to remain civil and exercising humility, even when things were heated, stressful, or hurtful. There are some issues in what has been posted, but there is a lot to be proud of as well. Now for the moderation part. I would like to direct a shift in this conversation going forward. The OP of this topic was expressing a desire for more queer characters in Brandon's books (and in SF/Fantasy generally), specifically a "gay male protagonist". While there has been some good discussion about why this is important, there has also been a lot of 'counterarguments' stating why Brandon is doing his best and why Brandon should not be obligated to include more queer characters. While these are valid opinions, and it makes sense why they came up, they are not, strictly speaking, on topic. This thread was not titled or framed as a discussion of whether Brandon should include more queer representation, it was started as an expression of desire for that occur (at least that's how I interpreted it, I could be wrong). With that context in mind, please keep the following two points in mind moving forward: (1) Read the thread before posting. A lot of people have been making the same points over and over, or even repeating their own posts. I get that it is easy not to feel heard, but please let the conversation evolve, instead of continually bringing it back to the same point. (2) Keep the purpose of the thread in mind. I've noticed a lot of threads along these lines continually get drawn to the question of 'should' Brandon include more rep, or 'should' he be obligated to include more rep, when that is not always what is the subject of a thread. The same three WoBs come up again and again. People should be able to discuss their wants and desires without needing to debate their reason for having those desires. There are tons of debate threads on the shard, so try to remember to read the room, and if you don't see an applicable debate thread, consider making one yourself, and allow people who want space just to vent and express wishes to do that. So, going forward, please continue discussion of what you'd like to see from a queer protagonist, or why you would like to see a queer protagonist here. If you would like to debate, please move on.

I'm hoping that since Szeth now has a Shardblade from his oaths, that he passes Nightblood to Dalinar. The Stormfather refuses to be a blade, so Dalinar will need something to fight with. Since taking his oaths Dalinar has left all of the physical combat to other Radiants, and taken the role of leader, both Spiritual and martial as his primary duty. At some point he will need to fight a physical combatant IMO and when this happens he will need a weapon. I also think that Dalinar might be the only person that could "safely" use Nightblood given that one of his powers lets him summon a perpendicularity. Nightblood is part of Edgli's long game, so I can't help but wonder if she foresaw Dalinar using it to destroy Rayse.

See Also: Code of Conduct | Policies | Forum Welcome & Information Discussion and debate on different aspects of Brandon's books are a key aspect of the 17th Shard Community. Hearing different viewpoints, and debating divergent interpretations of text of WoBs or character interpretations can be a lot of fun, and it is important to make spaces for all viewpoints to be heard. That being said, most of us probably know the feeling when Nergaoul seems to seep into our minds and make us see red. Sometimes we post without carefully considering how our words might impact the person whose opinion or interpretation we are critiquing, or the discussion as a whole. While the passion of a good debate can be part of the fun, it is important to treat all members with respect so that the discussion can continue to be enjoyable for everyone. Here are some strategies that can be kept in mind when venturing into contentious topics. We hope they will assist in keeping discourse respectful and preventing conflict from escalating. The following are suggested strategies or best practices, not rigid rules. They are meant to assist posters in crafting their own posts in an effective and respectful manner, and not for policing others. There will be a range between a failure to meet these suggestions and content which requires moderation. Please do not use the following to belittle or shame other posters who are not using these methods: everyone is going to have their own style of discourse, and may have alternate ways of keeping things respectful. Not all will be well suited or recommended for every situation, but hopefully the consideration and selective implementation of the following suggestions will help to improve discourse on the Shard. (1) Assume the Best of People - One of the disadvantages of text based discourse is the lack of tone and the inability of participants to read each other's emotional responses in the moment. It is easy to take someone's words in a way that was not intended, or to continue posting without realizing the impact your own words are having on others. One strategy to avoid escalation in this context is, if a single post seems overly aggressive or hurtful, try to give the poster the benefit of the doubt. If possible, read the post in the best possible light, and respond to that. If you continue to perceive an issue with future posts, you may wish to use some other strategies to politely point out the issue to the other person, or get the staff involved. If it is an isolated incidence of unintentionally offensive phrasing, simply continuing with the discussion the poster intended can be a great way of continuing a debate without stoking a fire. Instances of repeated or blatant disrespect should always be reported, but most posters are here to talk about books they are excited about, not to insult or demean people. You may also wish to take a look at the user’s other posts on the forum. Whether they are a new user who is less experienced, a frequent fighter, or a user who normally seems to be polite and considerate, can inform how you respond. (2) Acknowledge Expressed Opinions Before Stating Your Own - If you feel like someone is repeating the same point over and over and preventing the discussion from progressing, it may be that, rightly or wrongly, that person is not feeling heard. While it can get repetitive if overused, a simple "So what you're saying is [X]. My perspective on that is [Y] and [Z]" can go a long way in pushing a conversation forward. Another strategy is to ask questions: "That's interesting. How does [A] fit into that? I think . . ." It is also possible you are missing what the person is trying to say, and taking a close look may help you notice the mistake. (3) Summarize, then Move On - Conversely, you may be feeling like you are continually repeating yourself, but the other posters are ignoring or missing your points. Instead of typing out the same points in different words, try to rereading your previous posts, summarizing your points in a succinct manner, and then asking questions of the group to encourage discussion. Remember that people are not obligated to respond to your points, and it may be that other people are just not interested in responding. If this happens even after you summarize your points and ask directive questions, that is probably a sign it is time to move on. Before responding next, reread your previous points, and try to avoid retreading old ground in your next post. (4) Threads are Not a Contest - When posting in contentious topics, try to think about why you are posting. Before typing out an entire post about why you are correct and others are wrong, try to see if your point has been made before by others. If it has, and some posters have not been convinced, it might be useful to ask yourself what you are hoping to add to the conversation. At the end of the day, we all have differing opinions. Threads where room is provided for all opinions should be viewed as successful. If some people, or even most people, have viewpoints that differ form your own, that is okay and should not be viewed as a failure to make yourself heard to convince the other side of your correctness. If you have a new point to add to the discussion or debate, then add it, but if your point has been made try to avoid repeating yourself or others solely for the purpose of convincing people. It is not necessary for every thread to end in an agreement. (5) State Your Own Opinions, not Others - No matter how nonsensical they seem, people are entitled to their own opinion. If you vehemently disagree with something, want to share your perspective, but are worried about coming across as confrontational or rude, a good strategy is to use language which signals you are expressing your own opinion, and avoid language that is aggressive or attacking. For example: "I do not agree that is [C], because of [D], and I feel that [E] contradicts that interpretation" instead of "That is not correct. is obviously not [C]. How can you not acknowledge [D] and [E]?" Both statements express a differing opinion. The former attempts to provide critique and rebuttal from the perspective of the replying poster. The latter calls the original poster's perspective into question, and may be likely to put the original poster on the defensive. A general rule is, where possible, rephrase to use "I" instead of "you". (6) People Expressing their Opinions are not Demanding or Asking for Agreement - If you read something that makes you immediately feel defensive, try asking yourself where the defensiveness is coming from. Is the post you are reacting to actually saying you are wrong, or putting forward an opinion as the only valid way of thinking? Sometimes that may be the case, and your defensiveness may be valid, but in most cases an expressed opinion is just that - an opinion. A person can think [X] is fun to talk about, and if you don't agree, there is no need to defend yourself. The fact that they enjoy different things than you does not make the things you enjoy less valid, and it's okay for you to stick to topics on the Shard that you enjoy. We see a lot of people wading into topics they don't seem to enjoy or have a personal stake in solely for the sake of offering a dissenting voice that isn't always needed or wanted. If you feel the need to express your disagreement, as yourself why - are you trying to share a different perspective for the sake of a discussion you personally find interesting, or are you implicitly trying convince someone they are wrong to enjoy what they like? A lot of repetitive disagreements can be avoided if people read carefully and realize that not every differing viewpoint is an invitation for debate. If you aren't actually interested in having an open discussion about a topic, or you see a topic you find distasteful, it's fine to just move on to something you do enjoy - the Shard is a big place, and there should be room for everyone! (7) Stick to the Facts - Using objective evidence is a good way to keep debates moving forward, and to try to lessen the effect of heightened emotions. One of the things that makes theorizing in the Cosmere Fandom fun is that there are objective answers out there for some of our questions. Educating each other on the information that is out there is part of good discourse. When refuting theories with WoBs or passages from the books, try to be considerate in doing so. We have all been in the situation of having a favourite theory be shot down by an explicit passage from the books or WoB. The fact that someone was not aware of a particular fact before posting does not make them a bad Sharder. When posting WoBs or passages from the books, try reading your post over and thinking about how you would feel if you were debunking one of your own theories. When someone else is posting a WoB or book passage that debunks your point of view, try giving them the benefit of the doubt. They are likely trying to be helpful by providing information, and do not intend a personal attack. (8) Take a Break - If you are seeing red, it may be time to close out of the topic for a bit. Take a break from the topic until you feel a little more calm, and then return to reread the posts again to see if you interpret them differently. Another option can be to type up a response without posting it, leave it for a couple minutes, and then come back and edit it for tone. As a reminder, this list is not exhaustive, and all eight points will not be appropriate in every situation. Hopefully they provide some assistance, and, with your help and cooperation, make the Shard a more cordial place.

Since alot of us are stuck at home without haircuts, we may eventually be able to style our eyebrows like the Thaylens.

We have some exciting news to announce. So far in order to obtain some unpublished works of Brandon's, you'd have to email him through his site, and his assistants would distribute them. Well now you won't need to wait for that, because we will be in charge of distributing Aether of Night! All you have to do is post in this topic (you'll need a 17th Shard account, but that's it), and our staff will PM you the document. You do not need to post an email address here; we will send it to you through this website. Once we do this, we'll remove your post here. We'll be using this topic as a to-do list for requests. Ideally since we have lots of staff members, we will get this out to you soon, within a week or two. We hope you're excited about this, so many of you will be able to get this text in a much more obvious way now! You will receive a .docx file, and if you need to convert it into a .pdf or .epub, there are many converters to do that for you. (We are not distributing the old prose version of White Sand; that is distributed in Brandon's newsletters.) Thank you Dragonsteel for letting 17S do this! Edit as of 2024: This is still going! We've gone through over 300 pages of replies distributing. It's just that we remove posts here once we send them out.

Hello! This is a Cosmere inspired work--a draft. And I'm looking for any feedback, tips or suggestions. This piece tells the story of the ship "the winds pleasure", from "Words of Radiance". When you hear it, what do you see? Thank you for listening and enjoy! ~ Spock https://drive.google.com/open?id=1dZsaJgwtYWzDKvrm4O4hvl9HCMmQDWrr or The Wind's Pleasure (draft 1).wav

@Wiresegal and I patched together Kal's rendition of Frozen's Let it go, as sung by Kaladin from stormlight (Syl too) [she helped with the sylllables] also thanks to @shallan314 for the inspiration (image credit goes to botanica) [Verse 1] [Kaladin] The storm burns bright in my pocket tonight Not a windspren to be seen A kingdom of oaths now broken And it looks like he’s the king The highstorm howls but I've got no storm inside Couldn't keep my Oaths, Tien knows I've tried [Pre-Chorus 1] [Syl] Go lead your men, don't let them see Be the Stormblessed you always had to be Conceal, don't feel, don't let it show Well, now they know! [Chorus 1] [Kaladin] Let it go, let it go I've been here before Let it go, let it go We save them as Bridge Four! I don't care what they all will say Let this storm rage on The winds never bothered me anyway. [Verse 2] [Syl] It's funny how the sky's view Can make everything seem small [Kaladin] And the fears that once destroyed me I push beyond them all! [Pre-Chorus 2] [Sigzil] It's time to see what this can do To test the limits and break through Do right, not wrong, Ideals to keep you're free! [Chorus 2] [Kaladin] Let it go, let it go I am one with the wind and sky Let it go, let it go You'll never see them die Here I stand, in winds I claim Let the storm rage on! [Bridge] [Kaladin] My power banished as I fell below the ground My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around And one thought drives me, even in the darkest night. To protect those I hate, so long as it is right! [Chorus 3] [Kaladin] Let it go, let it go I will stand like a Knight of old Let it go, let it go What's broken shines like gold! [Syl and Kaladin] Here we stand, with our Bond still strong! Let both storms rage on! The skies never bothered us anyway.

I have made a bracket for voting on a favorite Cosmere character, and want to see if this works. Head in and vote on the first round, it finishes in a couple days (if enough people vote, that is). I’d love to see thoughts and discussion in the thread too! Let’s do this! Edit: Forgotthe link to the bracket. Here it is: https://challonge.com/iib43bqp

General Notes: I really liked the first 3 "how do you interpret this" questions. Good job! The jewelry one needs more option. I would have gone "the more expensive the harder I try to return it." I very much agree with the results. 91.2% Elsecaller. Here's how it played out. 1. How should this be interpreted? "Life before death." Live your life to its fullest 2. How should this be interpreted? "Strength before weakness." Your strengths matter more than your weaknesses 3. How should this be interpreted? "Journey before destination." We must continually search for what is right 4. How much do you want to change the world? I want it to be completely changed for the better 5. Which one of these is better to focus on Trying to grow and learn 6. You hear someone spreading hurtful information about a friend of yours. You... Try to find out how true the information is 7. You see a piece of jewelry on the ground, and nobody else is around. You... Sell it 8. Which would be worse to lose? Credibility 9. Which is more important? Consistensy 10. Which quote fits you the best? To lack feeling is to be dead, but to act on every feeling is to be a child. Suggestions: More of the situation questions, maybe more of the quote ones too. I'll edit with specific suggestions. Edit: The pokemon mystery dungeon "what kind of pokemon are you?" are a goldmine if your ok with sillier questions. Edit 2: Dang this post is getting long. I pulled out the questions that will translate to SA best. I don't know how the quiz is set up, but I think points to different natures can pretty easily be changed to orders. Question 1 1. Edgedancer, Windrunner 2. Truthwatcher, Elsecaller 3. Willshaper Question 2 1. Edgedancer, Willshaper 2. Elsecaller, Stoneward 3. Bondsmith, Truthwatcher Question 3 I am so passionately the second answer I don't feel qualified to divide this into orders. Also "the spanreed is flashing!" Question 4 1. Truthwatcher, Lightweaver 2. Windrunner, Stoneward 3. Dustbringer Question 5 1. Windrunner, Stonewards, Elsecaller, Bondsmiths 2. Lightweaver, Willshapers, Edgedancers 3. ??? Question 6 1. Lightweaver 2.Bondsmith, Stoneward, Windrunner, Skybreaker3. Elsecaller, Edgedancer Question 7 1. Elsecaller, Dustbringer, Skybreaker 2. Bondsmith, Stoneward, Windrunner 3. Lightweaver, Truthwatcher, Willshaper Question 8 1. Bondsmith, Elsecaller, Skybreaker2. Lightweaver 3. Windrunner 4. Willshaper Question 9 1. Bondsmith 2. Dustbringer 3. Edgedancer Question 10 1. Windrunner, Bondsmith 2. Dustbinger, Lightweaver Question 11 1. Bondsmith, Windrunner, Stoneward, Edgedancer 2. Lightweaver, Elsecaller, Dustbringer Question 12 1. Bondsmith, Skybreaker 2. Willshaper Question 13 Again passionately a yes, someone else divide it. Question 14 1. Windrunner, Elsecaller 2. Edgedancer, Truthwatcher Question 15 1. Bondsmith, Stoneward, Elsecaller 2.Edgedancer, Lightweaver Question 17 Same old, same old, someone else do it Question 18 1. Edgedancer, Lightweaver 2. Stoneward, Willshsaper 3. Elsecaller Question 19 1. Windrunner, Skybreaker, Edgedancer, Dustbringer 2. ??? 3. Elsecaller, Lightweaver Question 20 1. Willshaper, Dustbringer 2. Elsecaller, Stoneward, Skybreaker 3.Bondsmith, Windrunner Edgedancer Question 21 1. Elsecaller, Bondsmith, Skybreaker 2. Windrunner, Lightweaver 3. Dustbringer Question 22 1. Edgedancer, Lightweaver, Willshaper 2. Elsecaller, Bondsmith 3. ??? Question 23 In hindsight not a great Radiant question Question 24 1. Windrunner, Edgedancer, Skybreaker, Bondsmith 2. ??? 3. Elsecaller 4. ???

Anybody with an affinity for the number 16 must be a Sanderfan.

Aw man, that really bites. Hope the rest of the year goes better!

I reckon that’s a fine idea! Yeehaw!

Thank you for sharing. I've seen that one before, I'll go look for more and share them here to hopefully make someone's day Transgender representation is especially important as they're the quite often among the most vulnerable members of LGBT community. And it's come to the forefront again with groups like TERFs, etc. Some people believe that there are only two genders and everyone who doesn't fall into the binary is just "looking for attention" or that it's a "First World problem" and that in Third World or developing countries or in older times you won't find any trans people. That isn't true at all: there are transgender communities and institutions in all of those places and have been for a very long time. Google two-spirit or hijra and you'll find that out There are so many authors who ignore these issues, it's important to take the time to appreciate those who don't

I’m super excited, but I just wish it could happen now! Can you imagine the hype on discussion boards right now while everyone is in quarantine? ps I wonder if it’s gonna feel like the end of mistborn era 1 when we all come out of isolation...

I would recommend following the weekly releases. They were the high point of the week for me with OB (and I was iffy about reading pre-chapters at first). And the discussion threads on here were so much fun too.

Also, Gravitation and Adhesion = Windrunner

I think it would be kind of disappointing if this theory was true. I think it would take away from a character's sense of progress in a way if instead of them gaining the ability to summon their own plate after swearing the fourth ideal, they were just given a set of plate by a random Willshaper, even if the plate is made of spren attracted by the radiant themselves. Also I'm really not sure that the Willshapers would be happy spending so much time making armour for everyone rather than discovering new things. The non-willshaper radiants most likely outnumbered the willshapers by quite a bit and even if not many of those reached the fourth ideal it would probably still have been quite a few people who needed plate right? Well maybe that secinnd point isn't that great, but I stand by the first one.

Welcome one and all to another edition of The Adventures of Slaveboi and Jeffrey Dean Morgan! Over the last month during our lockdown here in South Africa, I have read up to chapter 37 and here are some reactions: - First thing to note is that Tay has 100% gotten aboard the Shallan hate train. When we read the chapter where Kaladin and Bridge Four does the side carry and messes up Sadeas' battle plan, Tay was very excited to keep going. As soon as I read "Sometimes, when Shallan walked into the Palaneum," Tay shouted "No! Ungh! Why does it always have to be Shallan! She ruins EVERYTHING!" Thereafter followed an intense debate about whether we could skip that Shallan chapter to see what happens to Kaladin right away. We did so. - When Bridge Four is training and following orders from Kaladin, Tay likes to sing "I'll Make a Man Out of You" from Mulan. We then had a nice laugh imagining Teft, Rock, and Moash in concubine drag breaking into Kholinar Palace. - "Why can Rock see Syl? Is he some kind of mountain yogi esoteric boi? Like baby Yoda?" (a few minutes later) "Chris stop. I got distracted. We have to watch a video of Baby Yoda before we keep reading." - When Tay realized that Kal was going to be strung up in the storm: "Oh he's gonna go Super Saiyan! They're gonna be like 'hey die in the storm' and he's gonna be like 'b**** I am the storm'." - Reacting to the quote about Nohadon walking from Abamabar to Urithiru, Tay starts singing "500 Miles" by the Proclaimers. That was, interestingly, the song that she walked down the aisle to and what we walked out together to when we got married since we were in a long-distance relationship for years. Coulda used some Oathgates during that time, lemme tell ya. - At one point I had to explain the basics of Fabrials (felt a little like Navani talking to Dalinar). Went into how you had to lure a spren in with something that it likes and then trap it in a gemstone so that it could do the thing you want, like be a heating Fabrial. Tay got very upset at this, as she sees spren like little animals that are being confined in Fabrials, so she has decided to start an organization like S.P.E.W. from Harry Potter. She also insisted it was to have the same acronym and spent a few minutes coming up with "Spren... have a PURPOSE! Every - Where! Ha! SPEW: Spren have a Purpose Every Where!" Which I think is noble, but also sounds like it could definitely be a pro-Fabiral lobby as well. - In a quote in the epigraphs of part 3, Jasnah's notes talk about the Dawnshards. Tay felt like this was a comparable phrase to having an erection first thing in the morning. - Once we got back to a Shallan chapter: "Why must fantasy writers make redheads hot? Why do we insist on thinking that Ginny Weasley is somehow hot? She isn't hot. Fantasy writers: Stop trying to make Ginny Weasley happen." - Tay also pointed out how Shallan would often raise a hand to her 'breast' instead of her 'chest', thus subtly sexualizing her in a way that a character like Kaladin or Dalinar wouldn't be. I'm gonna keep an eye out for it, but I doubt there is any mention of Kaladin's breast. It was fun to imagine a sexualized Kaladin, however, going outside the Bridge Four barrack and stretching out his tight, muscley butt for all the lumberworkers to check out. - Probably the chapter that Tay has enjoyed most is "The Lesson" where Jasnah faces down the murderers in the alleys of Kharbranth. There was a lot of "Yeah!"s and "That's my GIRL"s and a notable "Princess Jasnah - THE FEMINIST ICON WE NEED!" happening throughout the latter half of the chapter when Jasnah was explaining her modus operandi to a shell-shocked Shallan. That's all for now! Wash your hands, ya filthy cremlings!

Oops, sorry @Karger, I didn't see that question. The "Keepers" member title refers to the group of editors who are basically the Coppermind staff. We mostly work together to iron out structural decisions and to stay on top of article quality. As Experience mentioned, the name is taken from the Keepers of Mistborn Era 1.

I chose dustbringers as my fav order, sort of have a thing for anti-heroes and they seem kind a like that. Would want to be a Willshaper though, they come off as enchanters to me. So like a fantasy Iron Man.

I actually never was able to really get into Tolkien. To me, Sanderson is top because I was just never involved in Tolkien’s books like I am in Sanderson’s. Anyways, YKYASFW you get to the beginning of the Battle of Thaylen Field, look at the time, debate for a minute, sigh, then read until midnight to finish. When you get worried while writing this post because we (probably?) aren’t half way through quarantine and you need something to read. (I’ll probably start my Harry Potter reread early. I normally start it in May...)

OP, I feel your anxiety & I truly hope you can find something more real-world to anchor your spirit to in these rough & stormy seas. You can learn to care like Kaladin, & learn to pick up the pieces like Shallan, & find strong & trustworthy leaders to follow here and now - real people, not just fiction. As Sander-fans, our idealism can deepen our sorrow at life's difficulties, but it's also our idealism that can help see us through. You're stronger than you think - I know it!

New chapter!

Books recommended to me in past threads (some of which I have already read): @ILuvHats @Ixthos @Quantus @GoWibble @Karger @Wander89 @FantasyFanitic

And, new chapter!

The Knight Radiants volunteer at an animal shelter: The Windrunner plays with all the dogs, even the ones that growl or pee on him, so long as they have had their shots. The Skybreaker hovers over the shoulders of potential adopters, making sure they fill out everything on their forms correctly. The Dustbringer reaches through the bars to pet a pretty calico and gets badly scratched. She pulls back her hand, swears for a bit, then gets a glint in her eye and says, "Playing hard to get, are you?" She spends the next several hours trying to befriend the cranky kitty, and leaves the shelter bloodied but triumphant. The Edgedancer remembers an elderly black tom that has been forgotten, and starts a Facebook campaign to find him his forever home. The Truthwatcher uses his visions to match which pets would do best with which people. The Lightweaver picks up the laser pointer, looks at it, grins, puts it down, and says, "I can do better." An hour later, as they're trying to guide a confused kitten out of the airducts, she shrugs apologetically and says, "Okay, maybe I overdid it a little." The Elsecaller sighs and soulcasts a hole big enough to reach in and grab the kitten. The Stoneward is rammed in the crotch at about forty miles an hour by an overly-friendly Great Dane, but he still stands where others would have fallen. The Bondsmith reunites a lost labradoodle with its grateful owners. The Willshaper is seen leaving the premises with suspicious kitten-sized bulges in her pockets.

The thing that stands out for me is his box, "fidgeting" with objects is an extremely common behaviour for autistic people. He also doesn't like to be touched, which is common with autistic people. As for 'not seeing autistic' autism is complex and manifests differently in different people and most autistics learn to read social cues to varying extents and mask their autistic traits. It's just that some things don't come naturally.

Very interesting finds! Between this and whatever he was planning in Liar of Partinel's original draft, he's definitely got lots of raw material for the rewritten Aether plus whatever new stuff he wants to do. I wouldn't be too surprised if he brought a couple more Aethers into the rewrite to open up opportunities to do cool things with the magic system, maybe one per 'side'? As long as he keeps Ferrous in the final product in some form; I want to see that one developed more. Vaeria is explicitly referred to as a world in Agaris' thoughts in AoN (and he should know) so if Brandon was mulling the world name being Lor(e) and set on the same planet as Aether of Night for this project, it would have to be a retcon. Not a difficult thing to manage as AoN is unpublished so only his beta readers (and now everyone with access to the manuscript) would know that it had ever been something else, had Climb the Sky ever been written and published. With that, I don't think we should use his mulled change to rule out that Vax could be Vaeria renamed. Thirteen years is a long time and he could have mooted that change and gone for a new spin on the original name during that time. Of course Vax could still be a completely different setting and the similarity with Vaeria a total coincidence but I don't think these posts really tell us anything one way or the other.