Leaderboard

hmm I wasn’t active for some time… I can’t really return yet though, because of school and life generally being kinda tough. So hello and goodbye I guess?

Sorry about that, I think I’m back, at least more.

Stormlight Archive

I've been thinking, what if Skybreaker and Dustbringer Division both allow for propulsion? That way, Skybreakers would be like the fighter jets of the Knights Radiant. With Adhesion and Gravitation, Windrunners have flexibility and agility. So it could be that the Skybreakers fulfill another niche, especially once they get plate. This niche of less agile, less flexible, but more destructive and faster-over-distance combatants. Where they would potentially be able to use Division and the more oxygen-rich Rosharan air to generate propulsion and achieve supersonic flight. That way, a group of Skybreakers flying in formation passing a village wouldn't be unlike a flight of low-altitude fighter jets, giving you this idea of where their moniker of Skybreakers might come from. This also helps with the Dustbringers. Where Edgedancers can slick themselves but have to gracefully skate, a Dustbringer could slick themselves with Abrasion, and then be able to use Division-based propulsion to travel quickly over land, giving them this niche of fast, mobile, land corps that can cover ground and deliver destruction where needed. A kind of land cavalry that, 1) brings Division-based destruction, breaking things, and 2) leaves behind a trail of dust and fire, as they use Division on the ground for propulsion, leaving a wake of dust behind them. The Dustbringers.

Air being diatomic in general splittig its molecules apart roughly doubles air resistance. And you are flying through a cloud of oxygen and nitrogen radicals which happen to be quite poisonous. And you would leave a brown cloud of pollution behind yourself.

Dalinar murdered entire families, including children. He burned an entire city. Considering we know from Kaladin, that soldiers could be as young as 12-14 (Tien), we can also assume that Dalinar killed literally countless amounts of children. I think hating Moash no matter what, and liking Dalinar would be hypocritical, to be quite honest. Again, to the point I have read, Moash hasn’t done anything even approaching the evils Dalinar has committed.

It's been a good run, but I think I'm going to be unplugging, throwing in the proverbial towel, bidding adieu, and logging off from the Shard for the last time. The shard was really the only bit of Social Media that I have engaged in, and it was a fun run, but I think that I am just too old and crotchety for this Social Media thing. It was fun giving/getting boons/banes on the Nightwatcher thread, it was fun speculating after the release of Oathbringer, it was fun over at the Cosmere the Musical thread, it was fun doing the Cosmere Character Roasts, and it was great for the most part being part of the nicest and smartest online forum on the interwebs. But all good things must end, right? You all are great, really you are, but I am incredibly uninterested in the Cosmere© now, after Rhythm of War came out, and I fear that I'm not as big of Sanderfan as I used to be, due to the shift in emphasis from creation to marketing that has seemed to have taken place. I wish all you lovely people nothing but the best, and will now have time to read more and draw more, so don't cry for me, as they say. Adieu, Adieu, parting is such sweet sorrow.

Step 1. Ask if the number of words in a Stormlight book can be counted Step 2. Tell the community you're looking for the word "money" Step 3. ??? Step 4. Profit

I mean don't get me wrong here. I don't think Dalinar is done with his atoning, not by a long shot. I expect him to die doing what he's doing anyway, and even then I don't know if I'll consider him completely on the level. But I do regard him slightly higher than Moash still, solely for the fact that he made the choice (eventually) to turn around and actively attempt to make up for what he'd done instead of plunging deeper into Odium's service. If he hadn't, he'd be much worse than Moash in my view.

Similar to my last one, but still good.

I honestly dont know how to reply to this given where you are in the series. At the end of OB, I was exactly where the OP is. I didn't like Moash's actions, but I did feel that they were justified in a very real sense. I felt sympathy for his actions and feelings. I felt that his logic was fairly rational, if misguided. In any sense, he was no worse than Dalinar or Szeth. Then RoW. I don't even want to say why my opinion changed, because I want @Jash to go into it clean, but please ping me when you have read it, because I would love to go in depth with you as to my reasons.

I'm not sure... Szeth's highspren directly tells him he will need to "become the law" to reach the fifth ideal, so that's definitely the ideal. Now whether this directly means the Judge Dread sort of crazy it implies or of there is some more nuance there is up for debate. I think in general that 'becoming the law' could work with the tiny bit we've seen of the original Skybreaker philosophy. From Dalinar's visions (RoW Chpt 47) of sane!Nale. I think becoming the law is supposed to be like becoming a judge (and not Judge Dread lol more like King Solomon). The Skybreaker has shown that they can follow and understand a code, and are have proven themselves capable of interpreting that code. Sort of like the idea of living documents in the real world, the Skybreaker is a living example of the law that has structure but also has the flexibility to dole out true justice. The law cannot be moral but a Skybreaker can be.

DatS 12:

I was just thinking about how much theorising about the Fifth Ideal is based on what we know about the Skybreakers, so I went looking for the passage where we learn about it. Oathbringer, chapter 90 Context: Szeth and a bunch of other Skybreaker hopefuls are asking questions of some of Nale’s Skybreakers who are in charge of training new recruits. Notably, this description of the Fifth Ideal comes from people who have not sworn it. According to them, it is centuries since the last time someone swore the Fifth Ideal - which, unless I’m missing something, means that Nale is the only living person who has sworn the Fifth Ideal (for Skybreakers). He’s the only one who has done it in generations. Presumably he’s their only source for this information. And he’s insane. Couple that with how weird it sounds as a Radiant Ideal (the person who says ‘I am the law’ is usually not the good guy) and it looks like there’s something fishy going on. I think that what Szeth learns about the Fifth Ideal in OB is not actually true. Or if it is, it’s misleading.

How about: I will do anything to save my world, even to LIVE for it. To me that fits better thematically with Kaladin's arc, with his depression and everything. To choose to live every single day. Though it also makes me think of Kaladin potentially taking Jezrien's place in Oathpact 2.0, as that would mean him choosing to willingly live through heck without giving up...which is not necessarily a theory that I love.

Per very brand new information (last livestream on youtube), capturing mists into gemstones is theoretically possible (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A67G4ObX7CM&t=6600s). Since clearly no has yet noticed it, it is most likely not as easy as on Roshar (i.e. leave them lying around and they will fill) but maybe if you pressurized the mist and put the gemstone nearby maybe?

Identity and perception shenanigans might prevent that from ever happening with this design of fabrial. As spanreeds take into account "frame of reference" because of how the spren perceives its surroundings, water attractor might only work with liquid in the air and pools, lakes, rivers, and so on that are in its reach. Now, because blood is one of the essences, you might be able to create a blood-sucking fabrial bomb, but you would have to use a lot more Stormlight to push through the resistance of a human body. Like an Allomancer has to be more powerful to push on metals inside a body.

I think the 5th Radiant ideals have to do with WHY. It’s an ultimate understanding of what the order is all about. For example, Nale talks about “becoming” the Law, but I think what this really means is understanding Law to the point where you can interpret it with perfect honesty and judgement. A second or third order Skybreaker is like a police officer, who makes an oath to enforce/uphold/defend the laws of the land. A 5th order Skybreaker is a Supreme Court Justice (apologies for the USA reference for those outside the USA). Recall the scene in Oathbringer where Kaladin is confronted by two opposing parties and he wants to protect both sides. Obviously this situation was beyond what 3rd ideal Kaladin could handle. I suspect even 4th ideal Kaladin, at the end of RoW, would still have trouble in that scene. That scene would have required a 5th ideal Windrunner, who would understand protection to the level of why. Right now Kaladin doesn’t know why. It’s why he’s no good at large-scale battle/war (remember the side-carry scene in WoK?) or politics. I think all of the orders (I could possibly argue even the Lightweavers follow this pattern) follow this pattern: 1. Basic understanding of what Radiants are all about. 2. Basic commitment to what the order is about. 3. Commitment to push through even when there is resistance. 4. Understanding of the limitations of the order. 5. Understanding the Why of the order. All of the orders we have seen so far fit this pattern (I could make a case for it, at least). Personally, I would like to see what a 5th Bondsmith ideal would look like. They would have to understand Connection and the Spiritual Realm on a very deep level. WHY are people/beings connected to each other the way that they are? Editing to add: remember Nale is not exactly his best self right now, so what he told Szeth is probably a tainted version of what the Skybreakers are really about. Kaladin probably still can’t answer Vasher’s question, but when he can in full confidence, I think he will say the Fifth Ideal. And I think Kaladin IS the character Brandon intends to exemplify the Radiant journey. The other main characters have weird exceptions/situations that make them not the best examples (which also makes the story that much more interesting).

Serious hats off for this! Goethe is great and I too love Faust, but part 2 is just too covoluted. Like a much longer version of the Walpurgisnacht in the first part and this one was largely just Goethe criticizing other autors of his time. And being written about 20 years after the first part it never really fit well for me. My list is not that classy, just the authors I really enjoy for one reason or another: 1. Sanderson - Probably more surprising to me than anyone else here. I really wouldn't have thought that an author I just recently discovered (last december) could move up that fast. 2. Neil Gaiman - American Gods will always be one of my favorite books and most of his other works are superb. The Sandman is still one of the defining works for a whole genre and an absolute must read for any comic enthusiast. 3. Terry Prattchett - I simply loves his Witches Series and I have yet to read a bad book by him. Extremely enjoyable and much deeper than anyone might expect. 4. Alan Moore - I really should not have to write much more here. If you know Moores work, there is no explanation needed, if not, it might not be for you. The only reason he isn't higher on my list is that his stories are a bit too wierd. The first chapter of Voice of the Fire might be a good index for that. 5. Simon Beckett - My favorite crime author. Nothing special, just simple murder mysteries with an emphasis on forensics. 6. Garth Nix - His books are kinda hit or miss, but when they are hit, they REALLY are hit. The Old Kingdom Series is my favorite, followed by The Seventh Tower. I could never really get behind the Keys to the Kingdom, but I'd really love a follow-up to Frogkisser. That one was really amazing. 7. Warren Ellis - Mostly for his work in comics and graphic novels, but I also really liked Crooked Little Vein. Gun Machine not so much though. 8. David Edings - Would be much higher on my list except I just really love The Belgariad and The Malloreon. Other books from him just never clicked for me. But those 10 books are really burned into my mind. I know the characters and places better than the world arround me. Feel free to interpret that any way you like. Noteworthy, but not great authors, no ranking: Terry Goodkind - The Sword of Truth is actually quite excellent, but I have trouble recommending it to anyone because of the rape fantasies. John Connolly - Another crime author. Very enjoyable, but it drifts into the supernatural very fast after the initiall great Every Dead Thing. Still nice though. J.K. Rowlings - I guess almost everybody likes Harry Potter, but I actually really like her works as Robert Galbraith. Of course, crime again, but excellent setting and characters! Timothy Zahn - If you're ever to read any Star Wars Novel, pick one of his. I probably forgot some, but that's it for now.

Great topic @BenduLuke! Fantasy: Tolkien, Brandon, C.S. Lewis (he wrote more than just Narnia), D.M. Cornish (he was inspired by Mervyn Peake), Brian McClellan (he was a student of Brandon's) [Wish I could put Stephen Lawhead on this list, but he (IMO) does not finish his series well: the final book always disappoints me.] Sci-Fi: Mark Van Name, Jack McDevitt, Andy Weir, John Scalzi I've also enjoyed some of Toby Buckell's writing in both genres: his eco-themed near-future novels are good, and his 2 novellas about a world infested by "the Bramble" were thought-provoking: If it was absolutely proven that using magic caused something extremely harmful in nature, would people give up using magic to save their own lives and the world itself? A few years back I branched out beyond the genre and found a couple mystery writers that I like almost as much as Brandon: Spencer Quinn and Christopher Fowler. Both have new releases this year - and with Skyward 3 also coming up, 2021 looks to be a great year of reading for me!

I suspect that Skybreaker Division will allow hypersonic flight, once someone figures it out. Windrunners have Adhesion, which affects pressure and vacuum. They shape the air, so they're able to do things like push back the storm, or create an air current that keeps the squad together. Skybreakers don't have that. If they fling themselves hard enough into the air, it will push them and slow them. The solution is Division. They could separate the molecules of air in front of themselves and fly without resistance. It's not like they need to breathe while they've got light anyway. And then we'd know what Sky Breaking refers to.

Elantris

Well, could also be that it could be this place Kaladin saw when riding the storm: That would probably be very shadowy. Of course, an Unmade could be possible too, and it would likely be close to where Mishram was captured, so she could very well be there. It seems a reasonable location to me. Just pointing out it's not necessarily the only reason it could be named that.

I'm currently trying to make a Rithmatics simulator, and have an interesting predicament regarding lines of vigor and lines of forbiddance. What happens when a line of vigor hits a line of forbiddance with an axis parallel to its own? Does it just repeatedly skip across the line of forbiddance (GIF attached), or does something else happen? It's a weird edge case that won't occur in most Rithmatic duels, but it's something to think about. Could this potentially be a powerful method of destroying enemy lines of forbiddance? Or would the normally negligible energy loss from bouncing off lines of forbiddance make this not an effective strategy?

I was listening to the new podcast and he made me think about reproduction, marriage patterns and allomancy. Allomancy is inherited. An houses military strength is fairly closely linked to the number of Allomancers it can field. That opens up the way to a strategy that Straff Venture used. Why was he an exception? Because using Skaa women like that got you an Steel Inquisitor who wouldn't come for tea. You could use impoverished noble women, but that was a limited supply and they could in theory say no. But if breeding your own Misting army would have been easy and legal, I can see no way any noble house could have afford not to do so. So I'd say without the prohibition and the way it was enforced I cannot see how the Final Empire could have existed.

It's exciting to post my own topic for the first time! Something I’ve wondered about for a while now is how Helaran appeared on the battlefield from behind Amaram’s lines. It’s been theorized for a while now that Helaran was a Surgebinder. Primarily, this is because of a quick line from Taravangian discussing Shallan as a Surgebinder. Taravangian clearly believes that Helaran has some Surgebinding capability. But he’s absolutely startled by the account of an Alethi bridgeman spontaneously developing Surgebinding on his own. What did he think Jasnah, Shallan, and Helaran were up to, then? Shallan is at the Shattered Plains, but though he suspects her of Surgebinding, she doesn’t apparently warrant activating their agents. He breezes right past her miraculous survival. He doesn't fret about her coming into contact with Szeth at all. But that makes sense if Taravangian knows that the Honorblades are no longer in the Shin's possession, and haven't been for years. He may be assuming Shallan's Surgebinding ability, whatever it is, is granted by a Blade that she was trained to use. In RoW, Szeth learns that his father, who had keeping of the Bondsmith Honorblade is dead, and that Ishar took back his Honorblade at some point after Szeth’s banishment. Taravangian reveals that he knew Szeth’s father Neturo was dead prior to this revelation. My guess is that Ishar recovered his Honorblade about seven years before it’s spotted in RoW. This would coincide with him coming into power in Tukar. Nale seems to have been in contact with Ishar seven years ago, the same year that Gavilar and Shallan Davar’s mother were both killed. Did Nale's concerns, perhaps prompted by his conversations with Gavilar and Venli, influence Ishar's decision to take back his Honorblade? That’s a little bit out of the scope of what I’m thinking but pretty interesting. What I'm suggesting is that Ishar may have also taken custody of the other Honorblades as well. Helaran returns home with his new Shardblade about six and a half years ago, from the current position in the timeline. The descriptions given to this Shardblade closely resemble the Lightweaver Honorblade, which is something I never noticed until I looked at the art for the Honorblades. That gemstone in the pommel is the only thing that doesn’t seem to fit that description. How hard is it to move and set gemstones on a Shardblade? It can be done to regular Shardblades, though I don’t know if that necessarily proves anything. Sunraiser, for example, bears a pretty strong resemblance to the Bondsmith Honorblade, in my opinion. Possibly Helaran’s blade is a dead spren in a form that strongly resembles the Lightweaver Honorblade. But with the Lightweaver Honorblade, Helaran’s miraculous appearance makes more sense. He’d have used a Lightweaving to hide the fact that he was a Shardbearer mounted on a horse in the middle of an enemy army. It also might explain something that has meshed poorly for me with Helaran's being a Skybreaker acolyte, which was specifically his weird glowing effect. Shallan or the things she holds sometimes seem to glow, particularly when it’s implied that she’s using the Spiritual form of her Transformation surge. Tien’s implied bond to a Cryptic also uses the symbolism of things glowing or becoming brighter. To me this is more evidence that Helaran had some Surgebinding ability in that direction. Shallan mentions that there is no history attached to Amaram/Helaran’s Shardblade, in a world where every Shardblade known is recorded and named. It’s not out of the question that Nale would have access to an unknown Shardblade, but if he’s in contact with Ishar and seriously concerned by an oncoming Desolation, he might have access to another Honorblade and the motivation to arm someone who "impressed him" with it. Taravangian therefore might be working under the assumption that the same source (Nale) that gave Helaran his Honorblade might be supplying Shallan. This means that Amaram would have had possession of the Lightweaver Honorblade. If he perceived it as an ordinary Shardblade, perhaps he simply never noticed he was holding an Honorblade. I think this would be pretty deeply ironic for the villain who lies to himself about why he does what he does and truly believes his own lies to have the Lightweaver Honorblade. Someone who would have known, Restares/Kalak, seemed mostly to be in contact with Amaram via spanreed from afar. I doubt he’d share that information with Amaram, who I think he must have been manipulating--but it’s impossible to say. Other people who would recognize the Lightweaver Honorblade would be Szeth, Dalinar, Taln, and Ash. Szeth, Taln, and Ash don’t ever seem to witness Amaram wielding the Blade in combat that I can find, although all three are present at the Battle of Thaylen Field. Ash spends her time looking after Taln, and never mentions seeing her own Honorblade or Amaram. Szeth, likewise, spends a lot of his time occupied by other concerns, and never mentions seeing the Lightweaver Honorblade or Amaram that I can find in the text. It’s either not the one, or they miraculously miss it every time. Dalinar also saw both Helaran/Amaram’s Shardblade, when he confronted Amaram near the end of WoR, and the Honorblades in his visions of Aharietiam. Dalinar also pitched the idea of Shallan doing studies of the Honorblades seen in the vision. Dalinar has published written accounts of the visions, as I recall, but no mention is made of drawings. Quickly reading through the rest of the part, it's not clear to me if Shallan ever gets around to doing that. However, when Dalinar sees Ishar’s Honorblade, he doesn’t have the same recognition he does for Jezrien’s Blade, which is the most familiar to him; this could be a continuity error, or maybe indicative of something else. And during the battle, when Dalinar does the tally of people with him, Amaram wields Oathbringer alone. As far as I can tell, Amaram doesn’t use Helaran’s Blade until he fights Kaladin. Finally, there is the matter of Honorblades' behavior. When Taln drops his Honorblade, it doesn't vanish. This is meant to be a big clue as to its nature. Amaram drops Helaran's Blade twice in his fight with Kaladin, and it vanishes. Szeth also drops Jezrien's Blade in the fight with Gavilar, and the “bond” so to speak doesn’t appear to be broken. Szeth is able to resummon the Honorblade after being parted from it. No mention is made of where it ended up or if it vanished as he dropped it. My only explanation for this is that perception could be at work here. Szeth believes that the Honorblade should take ten heartbeats to summon, and it does. Perhaps Amaram likewise believes that a Shardblade should vanish when it is dropped, and so as it leaves his hand, it vanishes. Ishar demonstrates that the Honorblade, like a living Shardblade, can wink out of existence for a second and return in a flash. To summarize: I think it’s possible that Helaran was given the Lightweaver Honorblade by Nale, who gained access to it when Ishar reclaimed his own Honorblade. It’s not clear to me why he would do that, although Mraize says that Helaran was recruited with “displays of power” and that Helaran impressed Nale. Could Nale have shown Helaran how it would be possible to Surgebind without bonding a Cryptic? Then Helaran uses it to position himself behind Amaram’s lines. Maybe as an enemy combatant on the field of war, the kill is “legal?” This is still a mystery to me. Helaran is then killed by Kaladin. Eventually the Honorblade ends up with Amaram, who is completely ignorant of what it really is, and somehow it conveniently hopscotches anyone who could identify it. The Blades are awarded to then Rock, who "insists that they cannot be used" according to his daughter. They "gather dust in their box" until he returns to the Horneater Peaks. I find this idea extremely interesting, but a bit tenuous! I've done my best to cover all the things I can think of on my own, for and against. I specifically like Helaran's Shardblade being the Lightweaver Honorblade for the thematic connection to Amaram's lies, and because it's a simple, elegant explanation for the things about Helaran that don't quite make sense otherwise. But it seems to rely on those who could see it for what it is to simply not be around, for certain lapses of curiosity, and for Nale to be totally okay with losing an Honorblade. The gemstone is also located in the wrong place according to the art, which I am not 100% is really usable as evidence, and when it gets dropped, it vanishes ... Despite all this, I still thought it would be a fun theory to share.

It's not often people invite me to make a probably gigantic post spitting out all my thoughts, you know? Still I will seek to have mercy on you all and be concise, or at least as concise as I am capable of being whilst running on approximately 2 hours of sleep and a cup of mocha. I could probably make a couple extra boxings splitting it into many posts, but I'd rather have all of this in one place and posted immediately. I've already waited longer in the cycle than I wanted to post this. I warn you, there is a reason I sat on some of this. Some of it could help the eliminators. But I'm hoping it will help the village more. I need help making sense of all of this tbh. Part 1: Role Analysis Thankfully, I may omit all analysis on now dead players. Ashbringer - ??? Biplet - Confirmed Thug, which I kinda did not expect given how they reacted to the whole being threatened thing. Definitely not a Thief, probably not a Hazekiller or Investigator, but quite potentially a ferring of some kind. Szeth_Pancakes - Nicroburst + Subsumer Twinborn. I was able to confirm the former role D1. Lotus also had an anti-roleblock power, and I somewhat doubt the eliminators would need a second one of those, which is a slight point in Szeth's favor. On the flip side, while I don't take it personally that they stopped Nicrobursting me after our deal fell through, I am kind of curious what the heck they have been doing with their ability for the last few cycles since I've never heard any villagers report getting helped by Szeth. Matrim's Dice - Confirmed Thief. Will by now have also implanted a charged spike with a random unknown ability. It is mechanically possible that Matrim is concealing a second role they started out with, although my gut says Matrim was telling the truth about this particular thing. DrakeMarshall - Archivist. Sadly, just an Archivist, and not one that has found out anything terribly interesting, although I can share tidbits to confirm like how I know Archer stored bronze last night for some reason, or how I knew/suspected a lot of y'alls roles before you claimed. In your position, I would probably suspect me of having an allomantic ability hidden, but I do not. Archer - Sentry + ???. And I am fairly sure they do have a second role, specifically an allomantic one. That is something I gathered from their D1 role analysis and our PM. What that second role is, I do not know exactly. Dannex - Sparker + Duralumin Gnat. Neither of these roles are easily mechanically confirmable, so they could theoretically be totally lying, but I don't think they are lying. The strategy Dannex is claiming to have taken is pretty extreme and is one of the only logical explanations for their deliberate lurking behavior. Also the degree of detail Dannex is coming up with about the clarifications and misunderstandings they had about their role feel like they would be hard to make up. Conjectured Existence: Soother. Multiple people including myself have already pointed out that one probably exists. Leecher. Araris claimed to be roleblocked. Araris had no reason to lie about this. And what's more my Archivist power from N3 told me that Araris targeted nobody (a result the GMs confirmed was consistent with a player who had been roleblocked), which means Araris wasn't secretly just taking another action and only pretending to be roleblocked. Also note that blocking Araris was pretty much exclusively in the eliminators' interest and the Leecher is all but guaranteed to be an eliminator. So there are two unaccounted for allomantic roles. I know that it is only mechanically possible for these players to have allomantic roles I do not yet know about: Ashbringer, Matrim's Dice, Archer, Dannex. Of these, I think Matrim's and Dannex's claims both actually have a ring of truth. Therefore I think it is likely that the two allomantic roles Soother and Leecher are possessed by the two players Ashbringer and Archer. Also note that one of these players no longer has their previous role, due to how the Kandra conversion mechanic works. Part 2: Reads Ashbringer - They have always been on my sus list, and the way they are acting pretty calm and not apparently focused on catching eliminators today feels like strong evidence that they are Evil. Biplet - I feel like they are village. Partially because Biplet teaming with the other people I find suspicious is a little too on the nose. Partially because I think Biplet talking about elim!Thugs D1 is also a little too on the nose. Partially because of gut and other hand wavey reasons I can't remember. Szeth_Pancakes - I thought they were village at the beginning of the game, but my read has become more and more conflicted. Some of this pertains to the role analysis bit I said above, the rest of it pertains to general behavior in thread. Matrim's Dice - I already listed a bunch of reasons this cycle why I think Matrim is Evil. I feel that most of that reasoning is still sound. DrakeMarshall - I know I am a villager and apparently you all do too, although obviously I could now be the Kandra. I have been saying the whole time that Araris and I are evil teammates after all (incidentally I am using my Archivist ability today and if I'm lucky it will let me prove I'm not the Kandra, at least unless the game ends before then) Archer - I know I sussed them for a bit but I have an increasingly village read. I feel like I've been in a similar enough headspace of "oh crap the village is in danger" as Archer this last cycle, and some of their schemes like trying to lure out the elim roleblock would be very unnecessary for an eliminator. They could probably still be evil, but heck, if they are they deserve the win lol. Dannex - I am automatically paranoid about anyone who claims to be an alignment scanner at exlo (probably bc that was exactly what I did the last time I was an elim ), but tbh, how they are acting is not how I would expect elim!Dannex resurfacing to act. As much as I don't like the whole "pretend to be inactive thing" it feels like a genuine village strategy, and I have a hard time envisioning elim!Dannex coming up with this lie. So... Tentatively a village read, but one that is kinda weak since it is only backed up by one cycle of activity. Part 3: Voting History Day 1: Experience (4): |TJ|, Archer, Ashbringer, Matrim's Dice, Ventyl Matrim's Dice (2): Araris Valerian, manukos, Szeth_Pancakes Araris Valerian (1): DrakeMarshall DrakeMarshall (1): Flyingbooks Mist (1): Devotary of Spontaneity Ventyl (1): Biplet A delightfully active vote, if scatterbrained. Ashbringer breaks tie in Matrim's favor, with stated reasons being the avoidance of ties. Vote removed from Matrim was basically just manukos storing, and probably not significant. Day 2: |TJ| (6): Araris Valerian, Archer, Biplet, Devotary of Spontaneity, Flyingbooks, Szeth_Pancakes Biplet (3): |TJ|, DrakeMarshall, Matrim's Dice, Mist Araris Valerian (1): Ashbringer Ashbringer does not get involved with the TJ vs Biplet vote. One of the votes on Biplet is probably Soothed. Day 3: Biplet (3): Araris Valerian, Archer, Devotary of Spontaneity, Matrim's Dice Matrim's Dice (3): DrakeMarshall, Flyingbooks, Illwei Araris Valerian (1): Szeth_Pancakes The Unknown Order (1): Biplet Archer unlikely to be E/E with Matrim. Day 4: 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 Potential defense of Matrim by Ash and/or Bip, as Archer(?) already pointed out. Part 4: Conclusion So who is the Soother and who is the Leecher? Well, I already said I'm pretty sure the two allomantic roles are possessed by the two players Archer and Ashbringer. Archer said they aren't the Soother. I think Archer is lying, and is in fact a Soother. I am village reading Archer for the reasons I gave before, and I have also noticed that Archer seems much more confident than I do about there being a next turn in the game, which feels like something that would come out of knowing for sure that there is a village!Soother. They have also expressed concerns about revealing too much information that would paint targets on people's backs, so denying that they are a Soother is completely consistent with how Archer has been playing so far. If my hunch is correct, than Ashbringer is very probably the eliminator!Leecher. Or Archer could be telling the truth. In which case, Archer must be the eliminator!Leecher. This is certainly reasonable grounds for some to suspect Archer. In this case, Archer might also know for sure that a village!Soother exists (if the elim team does not include the Soother) and therefore this could also explain why Archer appears to be planning for a turn after this one. Obviously, if Archer is in fact the Leecher, then Ashbringer isn't. That is why I voted on Ashbringer. I am reasonably confident that they are the eliminator!Leecher, or at least that they were the eliminator!Leecher (bc they could have been converted last night). In this case, Ashbringer would be a fairly safe vote, in the sense that it would definitely remove an Evil and it would under no circumstances allow the eliminators to reach parity before the D6 execution is decided. Also, Matrim voted for Ashbringer, and as much as I really suspect Matrim, this vote intrigued me. I strongly suspected a Matrim and Ashbringer eliminator team, so why the beans did Matrim vote for Ashbringer? Well, there are a few possible explanations to that. One possible explanation is that spreading village votes between multiple eliminators and then hammering right at the end is a totally viable tactic for exlo. This assumes that the eliminators can actually all be online at rollover, though, which while possible does not seem the most likely. Another possible explanation is that there is (perhaps justified) conflict between the eliminators. I would be totally unsurprised if Araris managed to bag an eliminator as his successor. A Kandra!eliminator is totally disastrous for the elim team, since the Kandra can hijack the eliminator kill in addition to using their own intrinsic kill ability, and furthermore an elim-turned-Kandra should probably wish to weaken the eliminator team right now, so such internal strife could actually make complete sense. In this case, killing either Matrim or Ashbringer would be a decent choice, it should not matter much which one we chose. Edit: Since I didn’t get to it anywhere else, I will also note here that both Matrim and Ashbringer would have been potentially rather clever conversion choices by Araris in their own ways. Matrim bc then Araris could have targeted both thieves in a (possibly flawed) attempt to ensure that at least one eliminator was hit, keeping the game from ending in the Kandra’s defeat which was a pretty big danger. Ash bc not claiming kinda makes it a bit less of an issue that your old role was stripped from you, and bc converting someone you think could be an elim has significant potential gains. Edit2: Also because Matrim keeps saying “if you kill me the village loses” and that feels like it might be another technically true but misleading statement similar to the “I only started with one role” thing, not “I’m village” but “you need me to win” bc Matrim is the Kandra. But enough about Kandra conspiracies back to our regularly scheduled programming of catching elims /edit Obviously, another possibility is that Matrim and Ashbringer aren't E/E teammates. And if it's between Matrim and Ashbringer, if one of my reads on them had to be wrong, I guess I'd rather trust in my role analysis of Ashbringer being the Leecher, if only by a narrow margin. Because I am fairly confident in that role analysis. And even if it were wrong, that would probably make Archer evil, and I already noted that I don't think Archer and Matrim are E/E, so in that case Matrim is probably good, and Ashbringer would therefore still be the better choice for the exe. So uh... Yeah. That is basically my thought process. There are a few different possibilities I can see, but in every case it feels like Ashbringer could be an execution that is more likely to succeed than Matrim. I am still deeply paranoid about the fact that I can't think of a third member of the elim team that clicks, and I am also deeply paranoid that whether or not Ashbringer is Evil my decision to split the vote will still have doomed the village. I will hear out a case for a different vote. @Archer @Biplet @Dannex this is my thoughts, which in some way shape or form you said you sorta wanted me to explain. Sorry if it was long. I am interested on what your thoughts on my thoughts are

DatS 12:

I think that one thing that we will see that the 5th Oath is not the end, just the highest power level It will be on the same path as the rest not finishing his Arc Because the journeys never over This is where Nale went wrong I believe, he convinced Honor to accept an Oath that ended his journey making his life empty and meaningless

I’m not so sure about this - I think Moash does feel remorse over killing Teft, but he’s deep in denial and the ability to outsource his negative emotions means that he has no incentive to be better or to change. I think the fact that Moash does have that pain, even if he’s refusing to feel it or own it right now, is the reason that a redemption arc is possible for him.

Doomslug Just some peace and quiet, broken by the occasional snore and a flutey imitation of it. Heaven!

I wouldn't say he's pessimistic, or that his view of humanity is overly dark, it's rather, like Marx (especially in his historical essays), he sees clearly the larger movements at play, and in clear, BS free prose, he attempts to earnestly grapple with the complexities of reality. He was a poet at heart, a journalist to make good, and an author compelled like Cassandra to have his warnings of perceived future calamity fall mainly on deaf ears. In all seriousness, he is the closest thing to a hero that I have, and everyone who reads his work is a little wiser and a little better person for it. Frankenstein is pretty good, Dracula is very good, but if you want a really gripping yarn, Bram Stoker's The Jewel of the Seven Stars is tops! The link is to the project gutenberg page, so you can read it for free. It's one of the best Egyptian themed horror stories ever (well at least that I've read, and I guess that's a pretty small list).

The Shard of Revolution!

From what I’ve seen, the Moash hate in the fandom comes from a small but vocal minority - but yeah, I also get frustrated at the lack of nuance in the discussions at times. Shardcast did a good episode on Moash (which has RoW spoilers, definitely save it for after you finish reading) that gets into redemption and things like that. I was very sympathetic to Moash through WoR and OB. He makes some very wrong decisions for sure, but he’s far from being irredeemable. It’s difficult to talk about my opinion of his actions during RoW without spoiling major plot points, so I won’t. I’ll just say that events in RoW do have a big impact on the Moash discussion. Personally, I would still be on board for a Moash redemption arc (though I wouldn’t take issue if it didn’t happen). Flawed characters navigating an unfair world, trying to do their best, sometimes succeeding and sometimes falling short, are some of the things I really like about the Stormlight Archive.

trial by witness:

And Gavinor will belive him? Even 6 Years old boy is Smart enough to not trust someone who corrupted his mother and gives order to kill his father. He also knows his father was a HERO who was killed fighting against THIS EXACT ENEMY. Also, his now closest family is Adolin. He would not fight against his father. I don't see this without really twisted, complex and unbelivable manipulation. Gavinor even Cannot sign a contract, because he don't know how to write.

TrEll I'm totally convinced

I'm going to go in a different direction here. I think Kaladin will become the new vessel for Honor. The obvious choice for vessel if you think the Honor shard will return is Dalinar, but I think there are enough subtle hints in the books so far to point to Kaladin being the one (child of Tanavast and whatnot.) It would be and interesting twist. As to whether or not he pleads the fifth (ba-dum-chiii,) I think he will, kind of like a Goku going super-saiyan moment. Here's how I see it going down: Dalinar loses the contest, becoming Odium's champion, and Kaladin has to fight him. Kaladin gets whooped by fused Dalinar until he says the fifth ideal, powers up, and manages to defeat him, mortally wounding him with anti-light. We get a very sad scene with Dalinar dieing, thanking Kaladin for releasing him from Odium's control, and Kaladin gets control of Dalanar's splinter of Honor. Kaladin is already bound to the second most powerful splinter of Honor (Syl,) and with the combined splinters there is enough power for Honor to be restored with Kaladin as the vessel.

I hear eating a lot of crows can be murder (anyone get the joke)

This is a cool theory, and evidence wise I could see it being right, but it doesn't feel like it lines up narratively. Lift is from Rall Elorim. Book six is Lift's flashback book, so we will likely be seeing lots of Rall Elorim in the flashbacks. As well, there's a good chance her storyline in the modern portion of the book will see her returning to Rall Elorim and facing her past. If that's true, it doesn't make sense for book five to have a very significant plot about Rall Elorim and its secrets when book six will also have a plot about Rall Elorim and its secrets.

Is it stupid that I just want to base them all off the Skybreaker one? "I am the Wind" "I am the Stone" And etc. Probably not, but if only it was that simple.

you get a chicken. It does nothing. just stand in a corner and waste food. NOTHING else. I wish for a pet rock. My last one died.

Granted, they're made of red ants that have ingeniously bonded together. I wish for a creative and interesting bane that I could live with.

Jassir and Riva from the Masquerade RP! Definitely some of my very best art.

I think you meant to spoil the second part instead of quoting it

Yes yes I know Edit: @Ghanderflaffle I made it! It's done! You don't need to extend it because of me! Also @Shard of Reading and @The Awakened Salad c'mon! Join me! (Though Reading hasn't been on since Christmas...)