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In honour (... move along) of @thegatorgirl00's interesting and clever observation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgU9-dWXw4k&t=2h08m48s (and the subsequent flubbed line ) I present the following:

I crocheted a Doomslug for my friend who introduced me to Brandon Sanderson's books. I'm not an expert in crochet, but all things considered, I think it turned out pretty well! I couldn't find a pattern so I pretty much made it up as I went. What do y'all think? Edit: Does anyone know how to rotate the images? I'm new here and I don't know why they're sideways. Thanks!

Elantris

trial by witness:

For reference, if you don’t remember, Jasnah said that while talking to Dalinar and the Azish Prime about methods to retake Urithiru. Somewhere around Chapter 100, if you want to go find it

I was writing a letter to my brother, and I was using my fountain pen. Since it had an old timey feel to it, I added the date at the top, like I was writing a letter during the Civil War or something. And to be specific, I labeled the date AD, and well you can see the rest. I think it's rather diverting.

When Walker revealed themselves to have actual spikes through their eyes, the entire meeting hall went silent. Most people there hadn't even heard of hemalurgy before, or if they had, it was just quiet whispers in the night. Something that couldn't actually be real, but was fun to scare people with. Yet, here was what appeared to be an Inquisitor from the legends in flesh and blood. And he seemed downright insane. "Well," Goren said. "I can't say I'm glad to know that you're...impaired in this way." He coughed, seeming uncomfortable. "But I think I speak for all of us that we'd like you to leave." Walker just slowly turned towards Goren, his spiked eyes reflecting the light in odd ways. "I will be more than glad to leave." He said coldly. "I have grown tired of these games, and life in general. I hope I never see any of you again." And with that, Walker walked out the doors of the meeting hall, never to be seen again. ~ The Unknown Order has been removed! They were a Loyalist Slider/Gasper Twinborn! The Unknown Order (5): Araris Valerian, Ashbringer, Biplet, DrakeMarshall, Matrim's Dice Matrim's Dice (3): Archer, Flyingbooks, Szeth_Pancakes Biplet (1): Devotary of Spontaneity PMs are still closed, so please avoid PMing still. In addition, the Black Market is now open! You can see the amount of items available below. Buying an item doesn't count towards a player's two actions per cycle. This turn will end at 9 am CDT, on Thursday, June 10th. Player List: Black Market: PMs will be sent out shortly, if they haven't been already.

He told you his goals while walking to the meeting. Misdirection. My new pet theory: He sent Design away to be "corrupted" by Sja Anat, while he kept Odium's attention on himself.

I was re-reading the section where Mr. T ascended to Odium, and something caught my attention. Chapter 113 (Italics as per original text) That sounds to me as though Taravangian was losing hope, and some external force helped tilt the scales in his favor. And what external force was that? Bravery, otherwise known as Valor! What do we know about Valor? Sazed to Hoid - Epigraph to Chapter 25 We know that Hoid hated Rayse and was looking for a way to bring him down. Perhaps he did take Sazed's advice and approach Valor again. If Valor did indeed affect the situation here, that explains so much: Why did Brandon feel the need to give us 4 new Shard names? So that he could hide the foreshadowing for Valor. What exactly was the deal with Hoid's conversation with Todium in the Epilogue? Given his dealings with Valor, Hoid knew that Taravangium had Ascended to Odium. This conversation was his way of getting a feel for the newest Odium. The scene felt strange because Hoid does not want to let Taravangian know that he knows about the replacement, so he hid those relevant memories in the coin. Could one mortal really take down a Shard? Well yes, but it still seems odd that one person was able to out-plan a Shard. Okay, so maybe this was Cultivation's planning. But could a plan with so many moving pieces really work flawlessly without support? It's much easier if another Shard helps out at the pivotal moment.

I have a theory of how the FTL would work in the Cosmere, and just wish to share my idea here to see what others think about it. This was found in FanX Spring 2019 (April 19, 2019), for those of you wondering. Now, the Alcubierre Drive functions through the creation of a Spacetime Topology which has space compressed on one end of the ship, and expanded on the other. This works in accordance and does not break Einstein's Field Equations. It is very complicated, so I will not go fully into how they are thought to operate in the real world, but you should already be seeing where I am going. Allomantic Cadmium and Bendalloy both are able to, in a localized area, expand and contract time. This is notable, due to the fact that Space and Time, in General Relativity and other fields, are fundamentally interchangeable. Which leaves on to question if it is theoretically possible that a skilled Allomancer could apply the effects of these Metals to Space instead of Time. Therefore causing Space itself to expand and contract like they do to Time. This would be able to create an effect nearly identical to the Alcubierre Drive, creating a very similar Spacetime Topology. This could be done through some sort of automated, mechanical Allomancy, and mix this with Duralumin and one could further intensify the degree of warping which occurs. This would allow one to go, essentially, faster than light, while remaining in adherence to the Laws of General Relativity on a local scale. This does require negative energy, or a infeasible amount of energy. But this can easily be overcome with Cadmium and Bendalloy being used to bring about the proper curvature and topology. Now, one of the major issues with the idea of this, is heat and energy production with the warping, These show that the Warp Drive would likely produce large amounts of heat, but, theoretically, a skilled Feruchemist could find a way to take this heat production and store it in metals in order to help the people within it not perish due to the heat production. Like with the Warp Bubbles, this could also possibly use some form of automated feruchemy, if something of that sort is ever discovered in the future. This fits with the knowledge Sanderson has of Warp Drives, theoretically can be done with Allomancy, and also does not violate causality, which is an issue Sanderson was aware of with FTL Travel, Further support is in how the Time Bubbles are called as they are, as the are close to the term "Warp Bubble", and the shimmering border and how everything that passes through it being disturbed does fit with the idea of a topological defect like that formed by a Warp Drive. Which, while not significant backing, does help support my point. This does have the issue of assuming it can warp space, but according to physics it should be able to. This does also fit with the idea of Sanderson saying that FTL Allomancy uses concepts and uses of the Metallic Arts we are not familiar with yet, this, I believe, could be in reference to Spatial Manipulation. As he did imply that the Tables are only human ideas of how they are organized rather than some kind of Rule. So it is possible that Cadmium and Bendalloy are not purely temporal. So, what do you think of this theory? Does it sound plausible?

I have a theory about Ishar's experiments. First off, I believe the reason he is trying to bring spren physically into the physical realm is because this is a potential "cure" for Cognitive Shadows. But my theory is more about the consequences of these specific experiments. I'm not sure where it was said, but there is a WOB saying that using hemalurgy to steal powers from a radiant would be difficult because the surges come from the bonded spren, not from the radiant themselves. But what if you were able to spike a spren directly? I think that these physical spren will be spiked in the future to grant surges through hemalurgy. The experiments are already pretty dark, and I think it will only get darker....

"You've got to be more careful!" Wendy scolded, lighting a couple candles and holding the finger up to the light. Katie pouted. "I was being careful! Really careful! I think the glass just moved to get me." Wendy looked up, raising a skeptical eyebrow. "Sure. Now hold still." "Kay. I'm holdin--ow!" "Got it." Wendy held a tiny piece of glass in a pair of tweezers, dropping it into a nearby dustbin. "No, no moving. We still need to wrap it up." "Wrap it up? It isn't even bleeding!" Wendy shook her head. "It'll bleed if you squeeze it, and we need to make sure it doesn't get infected anyhow. Here... hold still..." she wrapped a bit of cloth around Katie's finger. "There. Better." Crossing her arms, Katie gave Wendy a look. "Okay. Can I go back to work now?" "Only if you promise to be more careful." "I was being careful! Really, really careful!" Wendy smiled and ruffled Katie's hair. "Alright. Get your work done; unless you don't want to come with me and Ara tonight." "I'm going! I'm going!" Katie ran off to go finish her job. Standing up, Wendy put away her medical supplies and took a quick breather. She'd already finished all her duties that day, and had collected her weekly wage from the taskmaster. That combined with the pocket change she'd kept on her was enough to take the three of them out tonight. Hopefully she wouldn't need it for anything else later on. "Hey, uhh... Wendy?" She turned around. "Umm... oh, Sarah? What is it?" "Uhh..." Sarah held up a bleeding finger sheepishly. Wendy furrowed her brow, then sighed. "Alright. Come here. Stars, I didn't ask to be a doctor as well as a waitress..."

Yeah, I can kind of see why they ship Szeth & Lift with their OB King's Drop scene but this is still very problematic, to put it mildly. Lift's very clearly and quite a bit underage, let's not ship very underage characters. Just no.

Not Marsh. Not Shai. Not Emperor Ashravan. Not Stump. 1. This character is close to royalty. 2. This character very probably met Hoid, but we don't know for certain. 3. This character is the inspiration for an unnamed, fictional (in-cosmere) character. 4. This character's soul has changed many times. 5. This character was experimented upon, and burned the results.

These words are not accepted. 1. This character is close to royalty. 2. This character very probably met Hoid, but we don't know for certain. 3. This character is the inspiration for an unnamed, fictional (in-cosmere) character. 4. This character's soul has changed many times.

I don't think so Yup, you've got it! Good game, everyone! Those were some of the solidest guesses I've seen!

No it's not fire-I mean Evi

Good morning everyone! Just woke up. Apologies for my slight lack of activity yesterday. Road trip and other such things, but now Striker and I are once again in the same place!! Yay!!! Okay, I gotta vote TUO. I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but I've lost and/or won 2/3 completed games I've played due to village inactivity. I don't want to be anti inactivity, because like!! I think people deserve to take breaks and whatnot. And I'm fine with inactivity in the early game. But late game, as we start to creep closer and closer to an elim win? Yeah I'm less fine with it. When there's multiple inactive players and we reach exlo, the elims have basically already won because they know a bunch of villagers won't vote. I really don't want us to lose again that way. It just doesn't feel good.

I’m dying!!! Anyway this is a pun not a meme but it works Moash: Hello, I need a new window. Window Salesman: Why?? Moash: Odium took my pane.

WoR

Can't wait for this in the back 5...

OB:

Have discovered an appreciation of metal. Specifically, covers of songs that weren't originally metal. Oh yeah, and Wellerman in different languages.

I was kind of hoping she might be pregnant in RoW to be honest. Feels like fantasy never really covers new mothers. Alas... She's pretty clearly not, and there's definitely not going to be time for "new mom Shallan" in book 5, given the timeline. So now I'm expecting that she will have a kid during the time jump after book 5. This assumes both she and Adolin survive book 5 though... I feel like both of them are fair game for a death, so this is possibly a bad assumption. If Shallan dies, obviously that's the end of the road for this discussion. If Adolin dies, I'm skeptical Brandon would marry her off and give her a kid with someone else prior to book 6. That would be quite jarring... Kaladin's the only one she's been suitably set up for, for that to happen, and I just don't think Brandon intends to circle them back around to each other. I'm sure others disagree. Just my opinion.

I have come here to understand you, humans. Mmmm. Creatures that follow patterns, but break them as well. Who seek the mathematics that defines the universe which us spren so naturally understand. That weave truth into their lies like a radiant weaves light into shadow. Fascinating. It has come to my attention that those aware of my kind and the Cosmere in which we live congregate in this section of the construct of sprenless fabrials your kind calls the internet. So I thought this would be a logical location to begin my studies. In all seriousness though, hello everyone. I've been lurking 17th shard for about a month, but only just joined yesterday. I only became familiar with the Cosmere about half a year ago, but I've read all of Stormlight, Mistborn, Warbreaker, and Arcanum Unbound. Well, except for Dawnshard, Hope of Elantris, and White Sand. I've also read the Rithmatist - years ago when I wasn't Cosmere aware, and again a couple of days ago - and am trying to make a Rithmatics simulator with the pipe dream end goal of making a functional game to duel other people. It's been a lot trickier than I was expecting because I'm bad at coding, but it's a good time nonetheless. If anyone has any good ideas for math - like how to figure out how good a set of arbitrary bind points is or something along those lines - I'd really appreciate your ideas. Before someone inevitably asks me who my favorite character is, I'd have to go with Kaladin; I love Bridge Four like every other Stormlight fan. It was Kaladin who first sucked me into the wonderful world of the Cosmere. If I have to pick someone that isn't mainstream though, I'd choose Design. She's just the cutest otherworldly amorphous shifting black void lie-eating stalker (cryptic) ever to exist. As for my least favorite, I'd have to go with Amaram. He's a total slimebag, but it takes everyone painfully long in order to recognize that. And to be honest, I don't think everyone really did. His manner of death makes it so that if I were an Alethi citizen, I'd think that he really was a good man who was tragically magically corrupted in his final moments. It's a pleasure to finally join you all.

Welcome! Warning though, you will get majorly spoiled about Dawnshard as the spoiler period is now over.

I agree with the idea that Hoid's meeting with Odium was meant to distract his attention away from something else that was happening, and I have a theory about what it is. In Oathbringer, Jasnah is practically chomping at the bit to explore Dalinar's visions. However, she has to stop after Odium becomes aware of them - the participants are apparently vulnerable within the visions and they aren't able to keep Odium out. She probably laments this situation to Wit at some point off-screen, and he proposes to distract Rayse long enough for her to find out discover what she's looking for. Which vision would be worth going to all this trouble over? Well, consider how badly both Jasnah and Dalinar want to interrogate the Heralds. They've kept Taln and Ash as prisoners honored guests for the past year, repeatedly interviewing them despite Ash's insistence that they have nothing more to offer. Dalinar risked much to meet with Ishar, despite his insanity. Now consider that there is a vision containing a Herald who is not insane, and possibly more than that. From Oathbringer Chapter 42 (Consequences): From the Prelude, we know that Kalak was the last to arrive; Jezrien's speech probably occurs right after their conversation. If Jasnah and Dalinar rush to the meeting place instead of participating in the battle, they could probably catch the two if them. Depending on how long the vision is, they might even catch the rest of the Heralds before they depart. This could present an opportunity to ask them important questions about the Oathpact. Now, this theory does have a problem - the Stormfather explicitly told Dalinar that attempts to extract more information than what Honor intended to convey would reveal how flimsy the visions are. But both Dalinar and Jasnah seem desperate enough for information that they might attempt a plan like this. Another problem - the highstorm has already come and gone by the time of Hoid's meeting. Dalinar is able to enter & pull other people into the visions while the highstorm is elsewhere over Roshar, but it's not clear if he can do so once the storm has passed beyond Shinovar/Aimia.

Bless you. Not Rock.

It's from Taln's rant. "I am Taln'enel (Whatever I spelled it wrong) Herald of war, the time of the desolation is near at hand, yada yada, you will have forgotten much, yada yada, Ishar will teach you something, Other heralds will teach you stuff, Kalak will teach you bronze... yada yada, repeat"

Heh, thanks! No problem. That's part of the fun of having differing theories. No problem! I'll warn you now though, it's a bit messy. To me, Gavinor Taravangian's most sensible choice for a Champion...and his ultimate downfall. Taravangian would see it as I explained above. Dalinar wouldn't be able to give in and kill Gavinor because his Oaths, his direct Connection to Honor (and his own past trauma) wouldn't allow him to. Taravangian thinks he has this in the bag - either Dalinar gives up and he's free, Dalinar refuses to fight and there's a stalemate and he's free, or Dalinar offers himself up to Gavinor to kill and Odium wins.* But what Taravangian doesn't account for - what even Rayse himself didn't expect - is for the fact that Dalinar isn't your everyday Bondsmith. He's a Bondsmith Unchained, not unlike Ishar. Dalinar can play with Connection, as evidenced in his intervention with Kaladin. That's where I think this is all going. I think Dalinar is going to take the Connection of Odium's Champion upon himself while tossing his Connection as Honor's Champion to someone else (either Szeth or Taln), and possibly his bond to the Stormfather to a third person (most likely Kaladin IMO). Dalinar then sacrifices himself, and things go haywire from there. This makes sense in terms of the story too. Dalinar has always been a (Black)thorn in Taravangian's side. Taravangian kept sending Szeth after Dalinar in order to have him killed, since he wouldn't become the Blackthorn and be an ally. But all it did (no thanks to Moash and Graves) was result in Kaladin swearing the Third Ideal. From Words of Radiance Chapter 84, "The One Who Saves." In Oathbringer, Taravangian plots to take over the Coalition from Dalinar, first by revealing Dalinar's position as High-King, and then by revealing secrets about the Voidbringers. (I think there's a third plot too, but I can't remember at the moment.) From Oathbringer Chapter 121, "Ideals." Chapter 122, "A Debt Repaid," discusses this in greater detail when Taravangian and Odium talk. Dalinar was supposed to fall at Thaylen Fields, not Ascend and still lead the Coalition. Taravangian always seems to think that he can get the better of Dalinar, but then either Dalinar or someone around Dalinar does something to change the game. I don't see that pattern stopping in this final book. So yes, Odium loses, BUT Dalinar wasn't his chosen Champion...so what happens? A lot of things could happen, but I think that Odium will gain some wiggle room and either escape or make a deadly blow to the planet/system that will eventually cause it to weaken so that he can escape later on, and causing the primary conflict for the next arc. (I have more theories about this, but this isn't the thread for them.) (Another potential outcome is that since Dalinar wasn't chosen, the rules of the Contest are more or less broken, and Odium is free.) From a meta-perspective, it feels like something weird almost has to happen. Book 5 is the smallest book to date, Sanderson has a LOT of storylines to wrap up in ten days. That's not a lot of time. So either he wraps them all up in ten days, does a few more days for denouements and epilogues, and the book is over. Or he could wrap up the Contest of Champions in ten days, have things go off the rails, and then spend the rest of the book dealing with that and whatever true finale will come. Still a third outcome is that Odium himself is splintered, with El and possibly Gavilar grabbing those pieces and doing their own things will them.** (A likely outcome that doesn't really counter my own theories, but who knows.) IMO, the problem with nearly any victory for Odium in a straight-up duel is that it's not a satisfying conclusion, something Brandon is actively trying to achieve. The problem with Odium escaping and going to disrupt other planets at this time is that it makes it feel like the Stormlight Archive is necessary to understand those later books, or that you need those other books to finish the story. I have friends who don't read other Cosmere books, and they'd feel left out or cheated if they're told "now you have to understand the Cosmere to get the end of Odium's story." Despite the books becoming far more Cosmere-heavy, Sanderson still wants the series to be read separately until Mistborn Era 4 I believe. So yeah, Odium loses, but does so in a way that sets up our villains and main conflict for the second half, while also not letting our heroes win the way they wanted to. *Which would technically be breaking a potential promise to Gavinor, so he may be injured by that...assuming he made a lasting promise in the first place. **And now I'm picturing Gavilar leading misguided Rosharan forces vs Hoid or whoever would lead Scadrian forces in Mistborn Era 4.

Hey everyone!~ I'm Rohmis! I have been reading Sanderson for a few years now. I've finished reading most of his major Cosmere works (Mistborn and Stormlight) at least once and all of the stand-alone novellas. The only books I haven't purchased and read are: the White Sand books, and Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection. I have been lurking on the sites and getting lost in the lore for years and have been watching the YouTube channel from about the time the first-RoW review came out. Finally decided to come out of the shadows to see what it’s like! Edit: I also forgot to add that Lift is my favorite Cosmere character and I wish there was more of her PoV I could read! Thanks for reminding me of this point @Thaidakar the Ghostblood

Looks really awesome! Must have been a lot of work, how long did it take you?

From the first paper you cited: ... When you just copied and pasted the equation we lost the nuance that it was 10^32 K, not 1023 K. Slight difference there. Brass melts at about 930*C, which is a little above the 1032 K, but 930*C < 10^32*C. I don't see how a Feruchemist could keep their metalminds from melting when the environment is 10^32*C, and I do not find it feasible that they could store that much heat. This could be pertinant, but I didn't really follow those papers very well: Because space and time are intrinsically related, if you expand time, space should expand as well. This should also hold for contracting. This kind of theory has been floating around for a while, and I think that it holds some promise as a possibility for FTL for Scadrial at least.

Great, thank you! Just one question - what does it mean to "Bisect the minor arc" to make the type II points? Is it just halfway along the arc between the two points? If that is true, I don't think IEB is valid, because it doesn't look like there are halfway points for any pair except IE, and even IE is a bit if a stretch. Thanks again!

Here's a good clip from the last spoiler stream of Brandon talking about deciding whether or not to bring back Kelsier, and TenSoon being a possible Thaidakar at one point! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A67G4ObX7CM&t=84m16s

I don't see Brandon pulling the same trick twice I think todium is here to stay.

While it's not time yet, I feel like my list for 2021 is shaping up very nicely! It's a little sad that I feel like I have most of the songs already figured out, but I have 6 more months to add new things, so the journey is FAR from over. Best Sanderson Inspired Song: Best New Discovered Artists: Most Listened To Songs: Best Songs: Best Albums: Best Music Video: Best Throwbacks Song I want to sing most in choir: Best Covers: Best Leitmotifs: Most Chill Songs: Song I want to sing most in Karaoke: Best Describes the Year: Runner Ups *NF was listened to previously, but I only truly discovered him this year. *Explosive is a throwback simply because I didn’t find out the name of the song until this year.

Pretty random idea, but what if Marsh world hops and appears in book 5? He and Moash could be the two blind men. It is more logical for it to be Moash and Hoid, but we need to keep all options open.

Khriss literally says as much when describing how Perpendicularities work in Arcanum Unbounded; they bridge all three Realms. For one example of a relevant WoB, here's Brandon saying you could use a Perpendicularity to peek into the Spiritual Realm. Seeing how Kelsier sees (and gets beaten up by) Hoid in Scadrial's Cognitive Realm before they emerge into the Physical Realm, the former would be a 'No' and since we know that people transiting through Devotion's Perpendicularity end up in Sel's Cognitive, the latter would also be a 'No'. All known instances of Perpendicularity travel involve transitioning from the Physical to the Cognitive or vice versa, taking advantage of the way empty space is compressed in the latter to literally walk between worlds. Now, it's possible that some method of using Perpendicularities to travel via the Spiritual Realm exists (we know Spiritual travel is possible) but given the way that time and space don't mean the same thing in the Spiritual, I suspect that you really don't want to try going there in the flesh. Kelsier almost broke his mind just looking into the place so interacting with the Spiritual without some kind of magic carefully controlling the process (like Aon Tia or an Oathgate for travel) would probably do even worse.. and there's a pretty good chance of a result like 'every atom in your body taking a separate vacation at a different point in the space-time continuum'.

definitely “weird”

Death and the Survivor 3 (RoW spoiler in background)

I believe Wit's goal was to see the Rayse reaction to the agreement, and if he could get some advance info on who the champion would be. While I believe Hoid is ok with whatever happen's to Dalinar, he does want to make sure Odium is held to the Rosharan system and thus Hoid will be able to travel safely in the rest of the cosmere. I doubt he plans on staying in Roshar for 1000 years, but I do believe he wants the human/singer problem solved and to make sure there is not a repeat of Ashyn.

Considering nobody in Bridge Four had any issues with Drehy's sexuality, I doubt Jasnah would feel the need to be closeted. Like where are you pulling that there hidden from? Drehy made no effort at all to hide his. Veil makes no effort to hide being attracted to woman either. From what we have seen Alethi society doesn't seem to place a ton of importance on it specifically. Also, gotta say as somebody who has been in a relationship with an Ace/Heteromantic person before, having people talk about her sexuality not being lesbian as if its somehow "less" then it could have been is really disappointing. And is deeply uncomfortably similar to her experiences navigating real life spaces. Like Ace people already get so much grief within LGBT spaces as is. Having a canon ace character being Heteromantic is not lesser then if she was Sapphic instead. She is still equally Ace regardless. Equally apart of the LGBT spectrum. I have sympathy for people hoping for her to be gay, but the discussion around it in many places, even this thread a little have fallen squarely into that old problem of treating Lesbian/Gay as better and more valid then other Queer expression and boy do I not appreciate it. Not that I think anyone here is doing it on purpose. But its something to keep in mind.

I'm 100% on the cultivation hype train at the moment. I've cemented in my head that her 'intent' is one of the most powerful ones as it is an intent that actively is seeking change/growth, towards betterment/perfection (to cultivate).