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Okay, so this is my 1000th post and I thought I will do something nice, so I started a new project which is a Kippy comic from KaD! Hope you will enjoy it! (Also now I have only prologue, I will try to post around 3 pages per week) This is what I did so far :

I must admit, I completely understand where you're coming from here. I am a gay autistic person and it's VERY difficult to live my life without any actual personality because I'm just too crammed full of minority representation to leave space for anything else. God really stormed up when he made me. My life is an empty void. All there is is autisticness and gayness. It's very tragic. I hope Brandon manages to make room in Renarin for a little more than this so that he won't be consigned to the hollow husk of political correctness that my identity has been forced to become. My value as a human is nonexistent, as I clearly exist only to be a gay autistic person to pass off some kind of agenda on normal society. Seriously though. What the storm!? Like. It's too much for him to be gay because he's already autistic????? Is there a rulebook somewhere that says this? Each character may only belong to one minority group? Any more and they break the sacred writer's code of conduct and they'll be banned from publishing? If Brandon feels it makes sense for him and hsi character to have an interest in Rlain/men, and this is what's developed naturally for him, then that's what he will, and should, pursue. Shockingly this happens in real life. Autistic people exist. Gay people exist. Autistic gay people exist! There's quite a few of us, actually. Also. ALL of Bridge Four are outcasts. That's. That's the entire POINT of Bridge Four?? They're all people who didn't fit in anywhere else/with the lowest of the low in the other bridge crews so they became Bridge Four? This is not a Rlain/Renarin thing only? Finally, "poor representation" sucks and should be called out. This is not poor representation. This is actually representation of what real life looks like. Brandon seems fairly committed to doing that with all of his characters. So I'd say get used to them being 'crammed full of minority representation' in future. I doubt it'll end here.

Renarin and Rlain was one of the things I was most excited about after finishing RoW, so I am vibrating over the news. I have to say, it feels very validating for subtext to be acknowledged as intentional and legitimate. Often I find writers will include queer subtext without meaning to, or the worse ones include it just to string queer fans along with no intention of giving a pay off in the end - so it's just super exciting to know Brandon is foreshadowing this intentionally. For me the argument of a character being crammed full of two many 'isms' doesn't really carry much water (I didn't love Brandon's use of it in his annotation about Jasnah either). Everyone is crammed full of isms. Even the stereotypical "straight white cisgender male" is full of isms, they just happen to be ones that are associated with the hegemonic norms. Identities are intersectional, so I have no issue with Brandon exploring intersectional identities in his books. I think representation-wise this only becomes an issue if there is only ONE minority character meant to represent as many minority groups as possible. Here we have lots of characters with diverse race, gender, and sexuality identities, so I don't see intersectionality used in this way to be an issue. EDIT: It's interesting that the reverse argument never comes up - you never see characters with multiple hegemonic norms brought up as lacking individual character. I've never seen anyone say there's no room in Kelsier or Elend for individual characterization because of their straight white cisgender neurotypical male-ness, so I'm confused why it would be an issue for queer characters. Now I'm just excited for Renarin telling Adolin about his crush, because that's going to be just the most wholesome thing ever. I don't think it'll earn screen time, but I'm also head canoning brunch between Renarin and Rlain and Drehy and Dru because imagining them taking some time to fondly kvetch about the heterosexual nonsense of the rest of Bridge Four would just be super fun and relateable.

I hope you come to realize how stupid this sounds. Autistic gay people exist and they have no lesser personalities for it. Autistic gay people exist and they deserve to see themselves represented on books. A character being a part of different minority groups doesn't lessen their value, and if you somehow think that Renarin's only character trait so far is being autistic then you haven't read the book well enough. If you think that Rlain's only character trait is being a Listener, then you DEFINETLY did not properly read RoW. They are already fully-realized characters, and them being gay is not going to change that. Queer people ARE a lot of the times outcasts (I speak this as a queer person) and a lot of us identify with these specific characters because they are outcasts. Renarin and Rlain are the outcasts of the outcasts and if that's not perfect symbolism for many real-life queer identities then I don't know what it is. I think that if you were actually worried about their character development then you'd have realized that it has already been done, and that both Renarin and Rlain are fully fleshed-out characters, but I don't think that was your actual worry to begin with.

Here are my FIRST 3D prints ever!!!! I have another coin printing out right now since one messed up. @Ookla the Grammatical @Ookla the Monk I have a dragon coming soon!

I didn't want to put this in the art gallery since its spoilery, but here ya go

*leans over table* so I'm playing Pokemon, right, starting a new game in Alola, and on a whim I decide to play as a boy because why not. I'm only like halfway through the game and the 'he's and 'young man/boy's are annoying the heck out of me, like no, I'm a she, thanks, and sometimes I'm just straight-up surprised that I'm a guy in the game because I've just been imposing my own thoughts onto this kid. I imagine this happening for my entire life. Be nice to trans people and use the pronouns they hecking ask you to. Thanks for coming to my TED talk

A hand slammed on the table. "And THAT is why Tszen must be part of the traitor's cohort," said Fura. He glared at the surrounding Shin. They were sitting at a large round table, each person nervously cramped next to the other. They'd given up on the mob-like hall. They were better than that. And enough of them had died or vanished that the group now fit around the table. Sure, only about half of them had been true Shin, but their deaths stung nonetheless. And so far they'd only cut off the head of the infiltrators. There would be more. "I agree with the accusations against Tszen," Izzy said, flipping that chanceslip nonchalantly. Eternum and Hadrian-son-Penrod quickly confirmed they shared the suspicion. Tszen had been highly interactive with The Larkin - the traitor - and that made him a possible infiltrator. The glances went around the table. Some voiced their agreement. Others nervously rocked in their seats, refusing to cast their vote. But no one objected strongly enough to turn suspicion to another. Finally the circle came to Tszen themself. They simply shook their head and sighed. "So what's one to do? You're obviously going to kill me no matter what I say." Fura nodded, but didn't stand. Rarashe-son-Lurdroler, however, did. "Can we make it unanimous?" he said simply, glaring at the group. None dissented. "Good," he replied to their silence. He stepped up to the stoic Tszen. "For what it's worth," he whispered to the doomed one, arm outstretched, "I am related to the Lord Ruler. But probably not how you were thinking." A Shardblade dropped into Rarashe's waiting hand. From there, it found Tszen's chest, and their eyes burned. "Pretty cool, aye?" he continued quieter. "I'll probably have to put it back soon, but...". He paused, fishing a spanreed from where Tszen dropped it. "Right again," he said louder. Two down. * * * Flyingbooks42 was lynched! They were a member of Szeth's Cohort! Jezrien's Honorblade has been claimed or redistributed! * * * Final Vote Count: Flyingbooks42 (8): Furamirionind, Alvron, Eternum, Ookla the Araris Valerian / Araris Valerian, Condensation, Vapor, Lotus, Ookla the Mistiosa / Mist PMs are *sighs audibly* still open until the next Day turn! All PMs must be between two players only, and must also include @Ookla Fell From The Sky and @Elandera (but NOT Elbereth - she's requested to keep out of Player PMs). Other than that, go wild. The Night Turn will end at 5:00 PM PST on December 19th, in about 24 hours. Get your actions in! Honorblade List: Player List:

That's fair. It's a shame, I was really looking forward to a singer Windrunner. Me, I just think it's great how Riordan is using his status and reputation to put increasingly overt social liberalism into his books. First it was "btw America is racist" in the Egyptian books, then "yeah uh these kids have PTSD" and "hey you remember America's centuries-long history of awful bigotry?" in the Roman books, and then "LGBT kids are way overrepresented among homeless people", etc. Even though I'm a dirty anarchist, I do enjoy a good case of weaponized privilege.

@Aspiring Writer, I think and hope neither you nor Danex meant to say what you ended up sounding like you're saying Finding an LGBT character in every series is nice for LGBT people, so that came off a bit insensitive. As for being gay, that is totally a big part of our lives that we have to deal with, a big part of our identity, and how people see us. So I don't have a problem if that's a large part of Renarin's character because that is also a large part of my own character. The same is also goes for mental illnesses and disabilities. Renarin is dealing with twice the chull dung, that's all. And so is Rlain.

I'll admit I didn't find Renarin as obvious, but in RoW, Rlain mentions how "mateform never went well" and that one stood out to me. So I didn't really find this as a surprise, even if I didn't connect the dots myself. I'm not sure why they being gay is such a big deal to people? Is it "cramming it in" that we have so many major hetero characters? BS literally crammed in the fact that Kaladin had a failed relationship into like 2 sentences and a couple throw backs, and he has depression. Not sure why someone can be depressed and hetero but someone can't be autistic and gay...

Not the Elantrians themselves--I think the Seons are the better comparison. The Seons bonded to a "broken" Elantrian (how do we not have a term for them??) all exhibit the following: Their minds aren't entirely there. Same for deadeyes. They're sapient beings that seem to have lost their intelligence. The Aon symbols at their center appear broken up. Similarly, the deadeyes show visible signs of not looking right. They loosely follow around the human they are bonded to. Just as deadeyes follow the human they are bonded to in Shadesmar. Might be some other things not coming to mind? My general suspicion is that it's a Connection issue. Elantrians were "broken" because the chasm disrupted their Connection to the Dor. And those effects seem to extend to the Seon they are deeply Connected to with a bond. So how does that relate to the spren? BAM was Connected to the singers and we saw that her capture damaged their Connection. The mechanics behind that are a bit of a mystery though... In any case, perhaps this Unmade was Connected to all spren on Roshar as well, (maybe dating back to before she was even Unmade) so her imprisonment broken their Connection too? But then why did it only affect them after Radiants broke oaths? Could guess that their bond with a stable human served as a lifeline for them, but it's still kind of weird. And what about the spren who weren't bonded? Is it possible that they were ALL (every last one of them??) bonded at the time of the Recreance? I feel like there's a lot of mysteries to be unraveled here, but I'm trying to work through my reread before getting in the weeds of this theorizing. XD

...uhh, hate to break it to ya, but there are autistic gay peeps out there. And yeah, they can also be outcasts. I do think it is fair to think that the situation could go south, but I have confidence in our Brando Sando. He generally gets things right, unless it is Rosharan metaphors in TWoK.

That deserves screentime. I need some "Living therapy blanket Adolin Kholin is unhesitatingly supportive of his brother and does exactly enough to help Renarin prepare for his first date so as to not be overwhelming while still making it a night to remember" in my life. Then again I need an Adolin Kholin in my life to give me a bigass hug and tell me that all this storming gender nonsense will end up OK every night. So I may be biased.

Arguing that Rlain being gay would make him more of an outcast is kind of weird since homosexuality isn't even marginalized within Alethi society. I really don't think that argument stands up within the context of the story, lmao... you can argue readers would treat him as more of an outcast, I guess, but that's not something that the characters would do.

I mean, it kind of makes perfect sense to me. The outcasts spend time together because they both feel unaccepted, and feelings develop. That's pretty logical to me

Sooooo I’m not going to go through and quote everyone who quoted me, but I’ll just say that y’all need to read people’s posts better. I’m not complaining about the representation itself in any way, I’m complaining that as of right now, in RoW, Rlain is being written as if those were his only character traits. I’m not talking about people in general, I’m talking about Rlain.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this reveal. I’m perfectly fine with both Rlain and Renarin being revealed as gay, but I don’t think I like where this is headed... I mentioned this before in the thread about Rlain possibly being gay, and the reveal that Renarin is gay too kinda supports that. It just really feels like Brandon is cramming as much minority representation into these two characters as he can. Renarin is autistic, Rlain is a different species and a different culture from most other members of said species. They were both the sorta “outcasty” members of Bridge Four. Now they’re both gay, and on top of it all, they’re a couple. (Or going to be I guess.) I should point out that I have nothing against representation, even poorly done representation. I’m not saying that I think this is too political, or that I think it wasn’t done correctly or anything like that. I just feel like there isn’t any room for these character’s actual personalities. They’re being completely defined by the things that make them different. In my opinion it’s lessening the value of the characters. I do think it’s probably too early to be too critical of this, Brandon said it probably isn’t going to be on-screen til the back five. And I am a very easily pleased person, so far, in all of the released Cosmere, I think Brandon has made 1 mistake. And it’s a super minor one, I think that he makes allomancers seem too common in MB Era 2, despite it being said that they’re supposed to be more rare. That is my one single complaint. I love every single other thing in the Cosmere, I think Shallan is a great character, I think Moash is a wonderfully written villain, I can’t think of a single negative thing about SA at all. So I bet that once we actually get around to seeing Renarin x Rlain, I will be fully on board.

I was going through some of my old writing and found the beginning of a fanfic I wrote from all the way back in 2018. A few people wanted to read it, and since I don't currently plan on finishing it, I thought I could post what I already have. I made some quick edits, but it's mostly untouched. I'm not completely happy with this, though, especially towards the end. I might to come back to it at some point, but I'm not in the right mindset for it right now, and I have some other projects I'd like to finish first. This is also the first fic I've posted anywhere, and storms, it's nerve-wracking. It's a crossover fic with various main characters from the cosmere books all attending Shallan and Adolin's wedding, and it's as ridiculous as it sounds. I wrote this purely for fun, with no regard for realism or continuity. I will warn you, this is very unfinished and quite rough, and doesn't feature all of the characters I'd like it to. The scenes end rather abruptly as well, and there's no proper ending. Despite all of this, I hope you enjoy it! It's so hard to press the submit button... *crawls into a corner and hides* Tagging the people who replied to the status update

Brandon said in the livestream that the deadeye spren is a relashonship that has been seen in other parts of the cosmere. My mind immediately jumped to elantrians. The elantrians had their investiture and their link to the Dor blocked because the command was incomplete. Because it was incomplete, they had sickly blotches, had no heartbeat, and could not heal. They themselves said that they were dead. That is what is happening to the deadeyes. Their command allowing them to exist or transition to their unbonded state or whatever happens after they break their bond is being interrupted mid-transition. This would explain the dead and clawed out eyes. This would explain why they seem to not access investiture or do anything with bonds. Ba-Ado-mishram Somehow allowed that transition to happen, so trapping her interrupted the command, just like with Elantris.

What about "Adolin gives Renarin dating advice and then Shallan points put Adolin doesn't have a great track record, and then Pattern says something hilarious" - honestly there's so much great potential.

It snowed! So, of course, since I am a thirteen-year-old boy, I thought that I should slide of my roof. So I did. I had to sneak my snow gear up to my room, and then I climbed out my window with my GoPro in hand, and started climbing. The raw video is seven minutes long, and most of it is just me trying to climb up our slippery roof. So I muted it and I will just show the part where I slide off. Here ya go, my adventures in quarantine. Or, well, my adventures today.

In OB, it showed how they tried, but often would forget him, or do that minority "*you're one of the good ones*" thing, which, even if they didn't mean it, kind of put him on the outside of them.

Thought this was an interesting bit when I first read it, and now it appears in a bit of a different light. A quote from Rhythm of War, chapter 79: "In the face of it all--the frightened humans, the mistrusting Regals, the occasionally awed ordinary singers--he wished he could simply be Rlain. He hated that to every one of them, he was some kind of representation of an entire people. He wanted to be seen as a person, not a symbol. The closest he'd come had been among the men of Bridge Four. Even though they'd named him "Shen," of all things. That was like naming one of their children "Human." But for all their faults, they had succeeded in giving him a home. Because they'd been willing to try to see him for himself."

After watching the RoW spoiler live stream, Brandon has indicated that Kaladins long term relationship with his partner Suffering will be coming to an end. I am very disappointed In this new development because to me, he and Suffering make a perfect couple. What infuriates me more is that Brandon has indicated that he will be starting up a relationship with happiness. If you are like me and feel strongly about this new development then comment down below what you think about this shift in direction.

Hi! I heard we are having an Adolin trash meeting, so I had to come. but really I’m just here to say that that announcement was great and it made me very happy and it means a lot to me personally.

I am similarly Adolin trash haha. But honestly, Rlainarin is stealing a lot of my Kadolin love. Adolin is forever bae though. I'm very curious what Rlainarin's presence will be in the back 5 since things are supposed to come to light next book, and Renarin has a major role to play in the late game. Also two corrupted truthwatchers means twice the weird future visions. Should be fun.

I freely admit that I am absolute trash for Adolin Kholin the over-dramatic supportive flamboyantly and obviously bi dandy, Dalinar Kholin the old-fashioned but Trying Very Hard dad, and Navani Kholin the good mom. I am sure that I haven't come anywhere near to whatever we actually end up getting, which I am 100% certain will result in minds exploding.

I certainly wasn't intending to call you that. I can't speak for others, but I think some of the middle paragraphs of your original post provoked some heated emotional reactions more due to implication. Keep in mind this is a thread about Renarin and Rlain's relationship, so some of the statements made in that context might have made people a little defensive. I'm still not clear on what the relationship has to do with the concern that the characters won't be fleshed out enough since I see it as fleshing them out more. Regardless, hopefully we can disagree respectfully on this. I definitely hear uou that you didn't intend the post the way others seemed to take it. GroundPeterel- I love all those scenarios

I'm here for that, too! Or Adolin decides that he's going to pay for the best restaurant available during the apocalypse, and he will personally monitor the service to make sure it's the best (because Adolin Kholin's brother deserves the absolute very best, storm it), and Renarin and Rlain spend the whole time politely ignoring the incredibly obvious dork making sure that literally everything is absolutely perfect from the next room. Or Shallan distracts Adolin with a fake mission with her and Kaladin, but one of the bad guys kidnaps them or something so they end up having a dramatic adventure and sleeping in a cave together and they stumble back through the Oathgate the next morning battered and bruised with Adolin wearing a rust-eating grin and Kaladin refusing to speak of what happened and Dalinar and Navani are like "WTF were the kids doing?" and Dalinar is like "well at least Renarin can do this courting thing right, now to be Very Tolerant of his extremely unusual choice of date" and Navani is like "you do that, Dalinar, I need to talk to your other kid" and Shallan makes Adolin stay tight-lipped for Kaladin's sake. Or Bridge 4 decide to do the cooking and so Numuhukuakiaki'aialunamor gives them something specifically designed and served so that they have to share it in a super romantic way and Sigzil takes notes on Alethi and listener courting traditions from an unobtrusive spot in the corner and Kaladin comes looking for his men and ends up apologizing for interrupting the date but Renarin says that honestly it's not that big a deal and really, Highmarshal, you should try dating yourself, it's good to have somebody in addition to a spren to share your troubles with, and Syl materializes to agree emphatically and Kaladin flushes red as a beet. Or...look, I'm here for literally any lightly comedic soft gay softness. It's been a storming terrible couple of years and I just want these poor screwed-up characters to be happy.

I think thats a fair opinion to have. I didn't mean to put words in anyone's mouth - just putting my two cents in on the topic of conversation. That being said, personally I still have to disagree. I don't think Rlain's arc dealing with themes of being an outcast is a detriment to his characterization, in the same way I don't think the focus on depression in Kaladin's arc is a detriment to his (obviously Kaladin gets more screentime than Rlain but I hope the example still functions). Secondly, if the main critique is how Rlain's arc is too focused on being an outcast (which, fair, isn't what everyone will want to read about), I don't see how him being gay or ace or mlm would change or effect that or his characterization? If anything I feel like a close relationship would give more opportunities to diversify Rlain's arc, and more opportunities to show different facets of his character.

So, last night I finished reading this book called The Historian. It was awesome, until you got to the ending. The ending did not work. Which sucked, because the rest of the book was pretty good. (Except for a few things, but I'll ignore them.) So, as you do, I immediately started another book last night. Well, after staring at my bookshelves for a solid ten minutes, trying to decide between reading something new, or finishing my MB era 1 reread or my Percy Jackson reread. Eventually, I picked up King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo, which I have been meaning to get around to for ages. So, as you do, I took the dust jacket off so I wouldn't damage it while reading the book. I think I might have lasting eye damage. (Not really.) LOOK AT THIS BOOK. (This is just a random picture off of Google, by the way. Book with the dust jacket on on the left, no dust jacket on the right.) I mean... What the heck? Clearly her books do well, if her publisher is willing to do that. I am personally not a fan. It's too flashy and the cover of a book shouldn't look like that. Plus, some of that gold stuff will rub off as I read. However, it suits the book. It's very nice to transition to something like this, with writing that is just easier to read. I do, however, need to go back and reread Six of Crows. This will be a nice break for me, and then I'll get back to MB, and then probably Percy Jackson, and then finally The Wheel of Time, and then maybe Dune or something else like that. Maybe. We'll see. (I keep a list of the books I'm reading in my signature.)

Yeah, I’m not talking about the ‘being gay’ specifically. That’s why I didn’t mention Renarin. Just the ‘being different and an outcast’ thing in general. It’s Rlain’s whole arc in RoW. Literally his entire character.

It is only in a spoiler so that it isn't really big, and also for formatting.

In order: The Lopen, Kaladin, and Teft:

Ok, let's see here @Ookla the Uscritic, @Ookla the Reserved, @AmazingGoob (Anyone else, if you really want to join, you can only join if you send me a fully fleshed out character sheet and will commit to being semi-active on the thread) The Rules: Unlike in person D&D, this will be operating more player driven. If you want to do something, you should roll for the skill in the same post so we can go faster, I.E. If I want you to roll something different, or with advantage or disadvantage, I'll tell you. This is just to go faster and not clog up the thread. Normal RP rules will apply, keep OOC things in quote boxes. If I rule you're taking too long (I'll try to wait at least a day), your character does nothing, as in, you skip your turn in combat, you fail whatever check, or you just stand there looking vacantly into the distance during a conversation. Ok, let's go. Your characters have entered the town of Greenhaven, a small frontier village at the edge of the kingdom of Meletis. The townspeople are friendly enough, but any traveler is a curiosity in this town. Most people point you towards the tavern for the best place to find a place to rest. The town also hosts a mill, a town hall, a few small shops, and a number of small farms outside the town proper.

ARS ARCANUM SPECULATION: book 1 had 2 surges in the Ars Arcanum (Lashing = Gravitation & Adhesion. makes sense, Windrunner book), book 2 had a 3rd surge (Lightweaving = Illumination. makes sense, Lightweaver book), book 3 had a 4th surge (Soulcasting = Transformation. didn't fit the book's radiant order focus, but it did finish up the Lightweaver's Surges), book 4 had a 5th surge (Stoneshaping = Cohesion. makes sense, Willshaper book). I speculate that: BOOK 5 ARS ARCANUM will add Division as the 6th Surge (Skybreaker book, and Gravitation is already covered); BOOK 6 ARS ARCANUM will add Abrasion as the 7th Surge (Edgedancer book); BOOK 7 ARS ARCANUM will add Progression as the 8th Surge (Truthwatcher book, will finish both Truthwatcher and Edgedancer Surges); BOOK 8 Ars Arcanum will add Transportation as the 8th Surge (Finish out both Willshaper and Elsecaller Surges, since both Dustbringer Surges would be covered aready); BOOK 9 Ars Arcanum will add Tension as the 10th Surge (Stoneward book and finishes Bondsmith Surges); BOOK 10 Ars Arcanum would have all 10 Surges and perhaps notes on the Resonances of each Order. Any thoughts?

I think the misunderstanding comes from the fact that you felt so moved to say this on an announcement of them being gay? They are minor characters, but they still have had good characterization for four books up until now. This is not the only thing either Brandon or the fans are *only* focused on, but I think it's possible people are noting the fact that this specific announcement is what prompted your, frankly, baseless fear. Both characters already have more to them than this in terms of personality, values, and history.

I guess? I don’t really have a problem with Rlain in RoW, his outcastyness makes sense there, although it is blatantly the single aspect of his character that is focused on in that entire book. The reveal that he is also gay, and also going to be in a relationship with the other outcasty character, makes me think that this is all Brandon is going to focus on for him.

I'm abusing my 51-follower power by advertising for my friend: CHECK OUT EMI'S ART THREAD!!

You gotta be careful with that right there. Dabbid has a mental disorder. Some might say that that is not something to be ‘fixed’. Now, if you are talking about stormlight healing, that is based off of spiritual identity. I think it’s safe to say that Dabbid wants what he sees as his stupidity gone.

Merry Christmas y'all, I'm listening to the two greatest of the Christmas classics.

*Ahem* So. I decided to make a quick campaign for my brother and my friend where they had to escape prison. I expected it to be a full-on Shawshank-style kinda thing; bribing guards, smuggling weapons, etc. Hehehehehehehehehe no. See, the players I was playing with--and I should've known this--are not experienced D&Ders. One of them only plays the game so they can kill people, and the other one only plays the game so they can destroy things. Together, they create the physical embodiment of chaos. So I don't know what I was expecting when they decided to immediately look for the closest weapon. I was smart enough not to drop random daggers here and there, but you must understand that these two people will stop at nothing to commit the action of SLAY. After they couldn't budge the stone slab beds, found that the buckets were attached to the floor, they went to the washroom to see if they could use the scudding toilets against the guards. When that didn't work, they simply punched the guards in the face, and with their 18+ Strength scores, they freaking murdered the poor schmucks! I started sending more and more guards at them, making it clear that there was nothing they could do against the tidal wave of swords and spears. They ripped the doors off the stalls, barricading themselves in. After the guards broke through, they picked up one of the corpses and used that as a weapon. They continued their resourcefullness, pulling every single stall door off their hinges and using them as improvised clubs. Somehow, they were winning; using doors. One of them actually managed to yank a toilet off the ground with a Crit, and they smashed a hole through the wall with a similar roll. I had no idea what to do from there, so I simply instakilled them both with machine guns and called it a day. But they had escaped the prison. In ten minutes. That's one of my stories. I have plenty. Hope you enjoyed it.

Keep on Writin' (These)!

I can understand why people hate Lirin, just like I understand why people hate Shallan, even if I don’t agree with them. Characters that we read about, are often pretty unlikable if we met them in real life. However, I think the important thing is that good characters can still be pretty unlikable people while still being well written characters. I have immense appreciation for the Kaladin and Lirin relationship, even if it seems that not many people do. You are right that Lirin is pretty inconsiderate on a personal level. He is completely convinced that what he is doing is right. But even though he isn’t “nice” per se, he is trying to do the best he can. Just like Kaladin. Father and son are not bad people. They have different approaches when it comes to helping others, and both approaches are worth exploring. They are both pretty ornery true, but they are also both moral and empathetic. I really like that both of them arn’t presented as objectively correct in their opinions. I know Sanderson likes to write about relationships in which both characters aren't exactly wrong, but they aren't exactly right eiter. Characters that are heavily flawed may not be as overtly likable as an overly perfect hero protagonist, but character flaws give characters depth. Characters like Sand dan Glokta(First Law), Lord Vetinari (Discworld), Walter White(Breaking Bad), and Hans Landa(Inglorious Bastards), are all really nasty people (Although I still LOVE Sand dan Glokta and Lord Vetinari) but they are strong characters because of thier flaws. You don’t have to like a character to appreciate their character arc. I can understand you despising Lirin, but I still think he is a well written character.