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  1. Hi there. it's been a while. Picking up where we left off (which in other words means random pointless updates from Hen), I'm "quitting" sugar. Cooooooold turkey. It's hard. but anyway, I looked at a bar of soap tody and thought "Mmmmm That looks yummy" And this has been updates from Hen.
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  2. Okay, okay, I guess I may as well stick with the trend of lining out what I did at the meet ups... However. I was out west for more than two weeks, so I'm not going to outline one week, but rather the highlight days of my vacation. June 30th - I wake up at 3 AM to drive to the Cedar Rapids airport and fly out to Utah. We arrive there at 10 AM local time and my aunt has prepared for us a lovely lasagna. July 1st - Despite the lovely bed at my uncle's house, I can't sleep. I wake up perhaps 4 times in the night and finally get out of bed around 6 AM. Passing the time includes doing yoga, making breakfast, watching minecraft videos against my will with my much younger cousin, and doing more yoga. Finally after stomach-ache inducing waiting, @xinoehp512 arrives at 10 AM. We hug, we exchange gifts (I will wear that bracelet forever) we make brownies, we draw together, we watch a show, and then for dinner, I get to meet all his wonderful, Sanderson-loving siblings. It was a lovely meeting, but not quite the meeting I'd expected... July 5th - We pick up Xino at 10:30 AM to go meet the Water Sisters. My little sister screams in the car and though she causes me much embarrassment, Xino doesn't seem too bothered. We take the master worldbuilder to a little place called Gardener Village; a collection of cute, local shops. There we wait for the trio of sisters. @Vapor buys three small jars of jam at a store where I buy perfume, and @Condensation and Xino buy fudge. I also buy a phoenix ring which has come to be one of my iconic pieces of jewelry. After having lunch at my grandmother's house and playing some games over ice cream and taffy, @Mist drives us to my uncle's to watch my favorite movie which the water sisters have not seen; Inception. The day ends after playing some cutthroat games of Dalmoti (oof) and discussing how one might die from salt intake. July 8th - After driving the entire day on the 7th, I arrive at @The Ward's Guard's humble abode on my 16th birthday around 9:30 AM. It's practically love at first sight and over the course of that most perfect day, we only fall deeper for each other. There are many much cuddles, cake baking requiring supreme spatula skillz, flower gardens, chocolate and kisses, a Ghibli movie, and shared lasagna at an Italian restaurant. Leaving him behind felt like leaving part of my soul, but he held me when I cried and I swear I can still feel him holding me in spirit. We've only seen each other for a day, but I think we'll be forever. July 11th - On this Lazy Sunday, I was dropped off at the Water Sister's around 8:00 AM and we went to church at 9:00. Sacrament meeting triggered a lot of anxiety for me, but the moment I saw @Channelknight Fadran, I lit up and was joyous for the rest of the day. Drawing the Masquerade crew together was a riot, I loved the cuddle train, and the cookies were super fun to make. Though Fadran had to go in the middle of Annie, we had the most wonderful day together and I'm so glad I got to stay past the original estimate of 3:00. July 14th and 15th - By now, you've probably read what happened these two days; the meet ups on BYU campus. I was only able to attend dinner on the 14th because of @DancingQueen who so graciously picked me up from the water sisters. We had a blast waiting in line and I will always think back and laugh at @Doomstick offering himself as a selfie stick. I think @Tesh worded it well when she said it didn't feel like we were meeting for the first time. I felt like I knew everyone there so well already (except for @Tani - it was fabulous to meet you) and sitting all together was just a meet up of old friends separated too long by distance. @FriarFritz looked gorgeous, @AonEne was wonderful, and I could only wish that more people were there with us. (looking at you @Jaywalk and @BringerofShadows and @Butt Ad Venture) Thank you all so much for the gifts and suffering through me yelling about the album and just for being my friend these last two and a half years. I left this vacation a changed woman. The last year was ashy for me - as I expect it was for all of you - but these last few weeks have given me the hope I need to rise from them. My depression and anxiety will still be there, but the light at the end of the tunnel is brighter than ever. I love all of you guys so, so, so much and it was truly a pleasure to see all of you in person.
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  3. I do enjoy bouncing Hi @Tesh and @The Awakened Salad!
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  4. TL;DR at the bottom Most of you have probably read Faeiaoeadroeoeaoen's status update (and others which may have been posted by the time I write this), but I had some misadventures that he was not a part of. (Don't ask me why I'm writing this the way I am, it is probably due to the books I have read recently) 13th July, 2021: I make sure all tiny hats, wooden rings, glass mushrooms, and candied orange peels are packed, along with all else I need (and much that I don't) before I leave my house with my mother (the cat is not amused). We drive for three hours before having to stop for the night, and when I sleep, I am still unsure about what would be happening and whom I would meet the next day. 14th July, 2021: More driving, though urgency has increased, as word has come that I would be meeting with @Tesh, @Channelknight Fadran, @Zephrun's Imperium, @DancingQueen, @AonEne, @FriarFritz, and @Tani (somewhat unexpectedly, I might add (see Faeiadroeoan's update for context)) at the time I expected to reach my hotel. Though I drive for a few hours, the majority of the driving is done by my wonderful mother, both for speed, and so we can continue listening to The Night Circus, the audiobook we had started the day before (both of these reasons boil down to the fact that my mother, shocker of all shockers, has more driving experience than me). I arrive late, though earlier than some (whom I shall not name here), and we have a great time, though Tessie, Tani and Faeiadroeoan have to leave early. The rest of us stay and talk until a time that would have been called night in any other season. 15th July, 2021: A second meeting is scheduled at lunch, this time including @Mist, @Vapor, and Shortie (@Condensation), though our resident member of an unknown royal family sadly can not make it. Once again, the meeting lasts until after those with fuller schedules must leave, though not as long as last time. I play a game with my mother to pass the rest of the day. Unknown to me, this is the last time I will see the Knight of Many Vowels and the Star for some time, and proper goodbyes are not given. 16th July, 2021: Nothing is scheduled until the evening, so my mother and I escape to a slightly cooler place. Once the meeting time comes around, I join Fritz and Ene and we visit the most peculiar store. It sells only soda, and most of that is root beer. I buy three root beer-adjacent sodas (one of which is the only bottle of its kind in the entire store, making it slightly dubious, though I am assured that it is safe). Shortie and her sisters join us once we return to the meeting place, and all plans for movie night are thrown out the window, as we decide to talk instead. I am ripped away from the gathering too soon, though when I get to my hotel room, I am quite tired. I do not give proper goodbyes. 17th July, 2021: I wake up early to say goodbye to Tesh, Channie, and Tani, though I miss Channie because I underestimated the walk time. Once more, nothing is scheduled until the evening, so my mother and I escape the heat by going up once again. Once it is time, we head to Drammie's production of Newsies, which is fabulous. A proper goodbye is given, and my time with those whom I have shared my existence with for the past 1-3 years draws to a close. We do not listen to our book in the car on the way to our hotel, as we want to keep the memory of the show alive as long as possible. 18th July, 2021: More driving, we finish our book and start another. I arrive home tired and stiff from the car, yet giddy from meeting those whom I know so well for the first time. TL;DR: Connie is short. I saw the people mentioned above (my excitement can be measured by the amount of text) I got dubious spruce beer I saw Queen's production of Newsies (which was awesome) Y'all should read The Night Circus
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  5. Okay so I'm gonna do this too. Ages ago (I'm not exactly sure when) Fadran messaged me and told me about this writing camp his mom had told him about, and said it'd be awesome if we both could go. And I ended up actually being able to go, which was really surprising, actually. So Fadran and I were going to meet up. We were also planning on meeting up with the Water Clan due to their proximity to the location of the camp. We waited for about three months (I think) and after a lot of stuff happened in my life (including an AP test and two family reunions) I headed to Utah. And I met Fadran on the twelfth. Everything from here has pretty much been explained. We met Tani the next day, and then the day after that we met up with Queen, Star, Stick, Fritz, and Ene. The day after that we saw Star, Stick, Fritz, Ene, Vapor, Mist, and Connie. People gave me rocks. (I love the rocks). We hung out. And then I really needed to run away. I didn't really get to say goodbye. On Saturday morning, while my ride home was struggling to find where I was, I got to say goodbye to Fadran, Tani, Stick, and the entire Water Clan. And that's about it. It easily was one of the best weeks of my life. I especially miss Fadran, as I had gotten used to seeing him every day and hanging out with him all day. On the drive home, Queen suggested that I listen to Jekyll and Hyde, and in true Tesh fashion, I've listened to it about six times in the last three days and it's really cool and y'all should check it out if you're into gothic horror musicals. (Murder, Murder is my current favorite song in it, followed by Confrontation. And i highly recommend watching Confrontation on YouTube because the acting is so cool.) I love each and every one of you that I saw more than I can even say, and I can't wait until we can meet again. Hopefully we can hang out for longer than an hour and a half next time. *hugs* Scud it I accidentally just touched my glasses. :l
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  6. Good weekend, all said and done. First things first, Brandon read the prologue to The Lost Metal: Not a huge Wayne fan, so I didn't find the chapter all that exciting. But as I was working on transcribing it, I remembered the recent Lost Metal Outline reveal. I couldn't help but notice that Wayne's Ma's story had three parts, and some of the descriptions of Jak felt a little more like Wax. So I'm wondering if that's some foreshadowing for the structure of the rest of the book. But let's get back to the beginning. On Friday, Isaac had the first signing, and I got him to personalize all of my Arcanum Unbounded star chart prints. I asked him to put a snarky Nazh comment on each one, complaining about every planet. He said they are non-canon, of course. Here's what he wrote and said for each: And then, during Brandon's signing right afterwards, I got him to add a new planet to my constellations print: He drew in the dot, and then wrote "Here there be Aethers!" He said he did not have a name he could canonized there, though. Isaac took a picture of the chart afterwards, so I believe this will be the canon location on future star charts. So I now have a very nice set of personalized cosmere space-stuff to go up on my office wall. I got in more questions in the signing line, and the line was actually pretty empty for a while (thanks to an art panel that Isaac was doing at the same time), so I got to slip in a few extras. They'll all be transcribed eventually, but here's the gist for now And those were all the questions I got in. I got a good haul on the opening day, so I let off the gas for Saturday. Brandon and Isaac each had another signing, and then in the evening Brandon scheduled a last-minute reading and Q&A. Everything there got recorded. (My recorder unfortunately ran out of batteries during the Q&A portion, but a lot of other people got it. It was great seeing everyone again who I saw again, and meeting everyone I wasn't seeing again. Until next time!
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  7. Oh, we're doing status updates! 1. we pick up Noam, who is v pretty and cool 2. we meet the water cycle, who are great, BEAT ME AT MONOPOLY?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!???!?? and have cats 3. there was a root beer store somewhere in there 4. we go to lunch, get there late, are abandoned by the campers and are forced to sit among the decayspren in the graveyard of water bottles with the fabulous one, the tall one, the pretty top-hat-wearing one, and everyone drinks my water, I am told my autobiography will be named "I'm High On Laughter and a Single Gusher", and we decide to live in a caravan 5. more food with more people: Tesh is one of my platonic soulmates, Fadran is like literally an angel, Tani is super awesome, and I would sacrifice my soul to the water sisters. Also, DRAGONSTEEL, which I will be very careful with under pain of DEATH 6. everyone's chocolate melts, but worth 7. movie night that is not a movie night! our dog hates everyone. More root beer, I try to dissuade Stick and Fritz from building the Sharder Lair out of insulation foam, Stick Does Not Drink The Dubious Soda To My Disappointment, and we end the night with climbing all over concrete from the construction happening right outside the door with the water sisters 8. sleepy Ene keeps waking up late and it's a Problem, yell at me 9. the movie night that IS a movie night, featuring a chameleon, incest, a rattlesnake with a gun for a tail, a guy who is not a hallucination, and an unexpected amount of exploding water 9.5. chocolate-covered frozen raspberries = yum 10. the future. What will it bring? More meetups, hopefully, because I love you allllllllllllllllll Side Note: Fritz got sick (but is feeling a little better now), plz send floof and love
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  8. I guess I should probably rant about the best week of my life. Friday, July 9th. I'm incredibly hyped as we yeet everything into the trunk of a tiny car and hit the road. We drive for nine hours to get to Provo, Utah. Saturday, July 10th. BEST. DAY. EVER. I get to meet my Queen, @DancingQueen, and we hang out all hecking day. Or, well... a modest portion of it. I saw her Newsies production which was an absolute bop. We also may or may not have decided that we had true love that day. Sunday, July 11th. I go to chuch with the water clan (@Vapor and @Condensation, @Mist wasn't there) and @Zephrun's Imperium. I'll also have you know that I had the best Young Women's meeting of my life then. After that I hung out at the Clan's house for the whole day with them and Star. We got up to all kinds of shenanigans BUT MOSTLY CUDDLES. Monday, July 12th. It's the first day of the writing camp, and I MET MY @Tesh!! We became besties right off the bat and hung out. There was also this other kid who was pretty cool I thought. Tuesday, July 13th. It's day two and we find out that this other kid was secretly @Tani THE WHOLE TIME. So she joined our Sharder duo to make it a trio and bam, an eternal friendship was born! Wednesday, July 14th - Friday, July 23rd. I guess it'd probably be annoying if I listed everything amazing that happened (there was an awful lot) but here're some highlights: I met a bunch of Sharders on Wednesday and Thursday, including my Queen (again), the Clan (with Mist this time), Star (also again), @Doomstick (much tall), @AonEne (much intimidate), and @FriarFritz (much mullet). But that's THE LAST TIME I'LL SEE THEM FOR A LONG TIME which makes me sad There's this cool new author around that some of you may have heard of: Christian McKay Heidicker. He visited our camp and talked about writing and he was the funniest freaking guy ever. He was also super friendly and some of my friends and I kinda hung out with him later. Read his stuff! My gaggle of guys were the bestest crew I could've asked for that week. We were just a bunch of nerds at a writing camp and it was awesome. Our group name was "Mostly Men" (my suggestion), and it became a running joke throughout the week. I BUSTED 100K WORDS ON ICONAR COLLECTIVE!!! Saturday, July 24th. This was the last I saw of my group, the Sharders, and the best week of my life. That wasn't to say that the ride home wasn't eventful (our tire pressure warning light malfunctioned and a cop pulled us over for speeding), but it was certainly a bittersweet last few hours. I miss the place already. So... yeah. That's what happened. Don't die! ~ Fadran
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  9. We all think that Gavilar chose Aesudan to confide in for some manipulative or secretive reason, but could the truth be somewhat simpler? What if Gavilar was having an affair? What if all that he confided in Aesudan was their pillow-talk? Now mind you, I HATE this theory. I utterly LOATHE it. A different book series that I like did this, and it was an awful twist in my opinion. But it makes a weirdly appropriate amount of sense here, more-so than it could ever do in the other series. Aesudan may want to be the Queen, but so long as she's married to Elhokar that will happen in time. For now, she has the attention and "affection" (barf) of the real king. She also knows about Gavinor's dealings due to some pillow-talk by Gavilar (who needed someone to brag to), and uses his connections to become involved with some of the conspiracies after his death. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go try not to vomit and take, like, thirty showers... Other notes: I had a connected theory that Gavinor was Gavilar's son and not Elhokar's, but the timeline doesn't really add up. THANK ADONALSIUM IT DOESN'T ADD UP.
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  10. I will now announce my week in Utah it was just like every other week I went to work and was sad and bored and lonely the end
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  11. QF54: Day Four - Heart of Darkness Back in the days of the Manywar, before the Idrian royal family fled T’Telir for their highland exile, before Kalad the Usurper wrested control of the throne, the Pahn Unity stood against old Hanald. Over the course of the war, Pahn Kahl rangers ambushed squads of captured Idrian soldiers; they were stripped of equipment and released into the wilderness to fend for themselves. We call them the Taken. Most of them died. The deep jungle of Hallendren is unforgiving to the unprepared, and especially not to those who aren’t trained trackers. Before the Chedesh ships arrived, the Pahn Kahl were a loose confederation of fishing villages and jungle encampments. They worshipped their own gods, but we know little enough about those. Some say they revered the storms of the Inner Sea; others that they venerated the swollen headwaters of the Serpent. They gave their worst offenders to the jungle, then, the same way they dealt with the Taken during the Manywar. Jungle justice, the Pahn Kahl call it. Sometimes, some crimes are too horrendous to be punished by the frailties and foibles of mere men. Sometimes, a holy man or a devout person simply walks out of the encampment and into the jungle instead. The Pahn Kahl say that that person has been called by the jungle, as though the jungle were a living, breathing being. But is it not? We have been in this jungle for days now. We have cut our way through ferns, hacked past tangles of vines and thorns, fended off predators in the night. I cannot shake the feeling that as we journey ever further inwards, following the trail signs left by the Hallendren, we are also travelling steadily into the dark heart of this wilderness. Is it so strange to think that, in their uneasy truce with the jungle, the Pahn Kahl may have taken to venerating it? The days were a misery of trudging through mud, and hacking their way slowly through the undergrowth. The Hallendren trail beckoned temptingly, but Kalsin made the decision to go off-trail but keep the trail in sight. The last thing they wanted was to be ambushed by arriving Hallendren troops or by anyone who worked the dye fields. Wryn at least agreed with his judgement. “Surprise is our only advantage,” the captain said, as they consulted the map yet again. “If the Hallendren know we’re coming, all of this will be for nothing.” “Don’t they?” Kalsin asked. Wryn let out a long breath in a sigh. “We have to hope, don’t we?” Gatemaker had been right, but a search of the expedition’s packs found an interesting variety of contraband—Kalsin was no stranger to the sorts of things soldiers could squirrel out into the field— but no sign of Lifeless blasphemies. The squirrel that Gatemaker had shot must’ve been a desperation move. It gave him a little hope that their coming had been kept secret for now. “If we attack and there are Hallendren spies still among us, they will move against us. You must know this. The dye fields are too important to Hallendren to allow us to put them to the torch like this.” “Yeah,” said Wryn. “Got a plan for that then?” Wryn sighed. “I’m working on it, alright?” “Work faster.” “That’s my line, not yours.” The current plan called for striking the dye fields, hard and fast, under the cover of darkness. They had enough men to split the force, or so Kalsin hoped. If there were no more Hallendren spies among them. If they did not lose more of the squad. If the dye fields were not heavily guarded. Kalsin couldn’t imagine that they would not be. But perhaps the Hallendren trusted secrecy more than guards or Lifeless. There was, in the end, only one way to find out. It was one of many reasons why Kalsin was on this expedition. There were others, of course. Who was he to put himself before so many others? But in the end, he had taken up the sword because it would have been selfishness to remain at the monastery when Idris faced the threat of Hallendren aggression, and he had joined the expedition because they needed trackers and because, in the end, Wryn was leading it. If it was to end in a storm of fire, Kalsin thought, it was a place they should all reach together. Enough of their company had felt the same way: most of them had volunteered for this expedition. Wryn had selected some of the best, and sent the rest on their way. Geren was dead now. So was Variel. Falfen had been killed by one of the Hallendren spies. Kalsin wondered how many of them would return to Idris and prayed to Austre to watch over them. Keep them safe, he thought, because surely it was pride, too, to beg for his own life. Take me if that be your will, but let the rest of them return to Idris in safety and peace. There was no answer and he brushed aside an overhanging frond, hacked through yet another cluster of vines, and strode deeper into the dark heart of the Hallendren jungle. Kalsin did not have words for it when he first saw it. The trees parted, at last, and he stumbled past the slashed vegetation and into a wide clearing. He understood then why they called it the Smoking Mirror. The lake was clear, and still, but a faint, insubstantial vapour rose from its surface, as though it was smoke. “The Smoking Mirror,” Wryn breathed. On the other side of the lake, he could see the outline of simple dormitories, and what must be the Hallendren dye fields beyond. Shapes in the distance toiled in the fields, but Kalsin could not yet make out any sign of guards. “I’m going to scout the area,” he said. They needed to know more than they currently did about the dye fields if they intended to strike at nightfall. “Take Derrick with you,” Wryn replied. He didn’t tell Kalsin to be careful, the same way Kalsin didn’t tell Wryn how to do his job. Kalsin nodded. “All right,” he said. “But he’d best be quiet.” Derrick was quiet enough. Kalsin wondered about him. They didn’t seem to know enough about Derrick, but the soldier moved with a competence that suggested he was not completely at a loss when it came to operating within this sort of terrain. They worked their way around the slice of the lake, keeping close to the treeline where possible. Kalsin wondered at the crystalline purity of the waters. What fed this lake? And why was it smoking? He didn’t know. He wondered if Austre had to do with it, for surely the Lord of Colours had a hand in such things. When they reached the rough wooden outlines of the dormitories, Kalsin tapped Derrick on the shoulder. “Split up,” he instructed. “I’ll scout the dye fields. You keep an eye out for any sign of Hallendren military presence. Guards, Lifeless. Stay out of sight, and don’t engage. Meet back at the lake in an hour.” He glanced briefly at the position of the sun in the sky, confirming his assessment. And then he faded into the shadows, as best as he could, slinking towards the dye fields to assess the best way to approach the target. They called him Steel, because he was solid and dependable as the soldier’s steel. Right now though, Steel felt only a deep and abiding worry. The Hallendren spies were among them. That much was clear. He shot a wary look at Fadrian. Supposed to be an old veteran, that scarred man, but Steel’d only heard whispers that Fadrian’d survived because he had no fear of leaving his own squadmates to die if it came down to it. And then there was Taidon. Steel wasn’t sure he believed a single word of it. How did a farmer conveniently survive the deaths of a supposed Hallendren spy and two decent soldiers? He knew Geren, knew Falfen. Neither of them were easy prey. He couldn’t see how a simple farmer killed a Hallendren who’d gotten the better of them. The captain seemed to buy Taidon’s story, which only made matters worse. Steel didn’t like the idea of going behind the captain’s back, but Wryn had only disagreed firmly when Steel took the captain aside and suggested that something wasn’t right about Taidon. “He’s been through the wringer, that’s all,” Wryn opined. “Right now, I need everyone on task, and this means preparing for tonight’s raid on the dye fields.” His gaze drifted in the direction of the lake, where the lieutenant had gone. Everyone knew that Kalsin had served longest under Wryn. Steel supposed it gave you a kind of sixth sense for what the other man was doing. He’d been that way with a few, though they were back in Bevalis. Or maybe they were guarding the passes, now. Everything depended on the success of this mission, and the fact Taidon was getting away with that unlikely story of his was galling. They called him Steel, because he was solid and dependable as the soldier’s steel, and Steel resolved to do what had to be done. Even if it was the unthinkable. He drew his sword and moved in on Taidon, moving quietly from behind. Except that someone, Steel couldn’t have said who, not in that moment, shouted a warning, and Taidon turned, and— And then there was the sharp song of a bow and he felt the impact of the arrow, as though he’d been struck. He staggered back, a little. He forced his fingers to tighten about his sword hilt. No. He had to see to the mission. He had to make sure the Hallendren spy was dead. “Get back!” and then Steel realised it was the lieutenant, shouting, grim-faced. When had he returned? “I can explain,” Steel wanted to say, but the bow sang again and the breath left him, then, all at once. He collapsed to the grassy earth. He had failed, Steel thought. He had failed. “Derrick is dead,” Kalsin reported. “The dye fields are lightly guarded, but he went down before I could get to him. I shot the two guards who found him, and hid them in some brush. It won’t be long before they come looking for them, probably around nightfall. We have to strike tonight, or it’ll all be for nothing.” Wryn grunted. “Not ideal, but we’ll have to make do.” “What about Steel?” Wryn frowned. “I don’t think he was in the pay of Hallendren,” he said, at last. “There was no sign of irregularity in his pack, and you know Steel.” Kalsin did. It was why he’d asked. “I think he just got it into his head that Taidon was working for Hallendren, and the more he thought about it, the more he got himself worked up about it, until he felt he had to act, and then there was no stopping him.” Except Kalsin had. Permanently. Gatemaker’s bow felt disapproving, as though he’d put it to ill use. But Steel was trying to kill Taidon, and Kalsin had shot to kill. He hadn’t drawn a bow in a while but his muscles remembered, all the same. “It was a good shot,” Wryn said. Kalsin made a face. “I was an archer before I was a swordsman. You know this. It shouldn’t be surprising.” “I suppose so. Even so. You saw the shot you needed to, and you took it. Nothing else.” Kalsin sighed. “I know,” he said. “It doesn’t mean I don’t regret it.” Regret has no place in war, he could remember one of the drillmasters in the Idrian army saying. Perhaps, thought Kalsin, but they would have to live with what they’d done, on this mission. If they survived. If they walked away. They would have to live with it, and Kalsin did not know if that weight could be borne. “I don’t know if it is a dream, or a memory of a dream. The trees draw closer and closer. And at the centre, at the beating heart of the jungle...I see only darkness.” “I’ll add that to the record, your Grace.” Steeldancer was executed! He was an Idrian Soldier! Ash fell from the sky was killed! He was an Idrian Soldier! The cycle has begun! It will end at 2300hrs SGT (GMT+8) on the 20th July!
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  12. Sometimes, you need nice, soothing piano. Sometimes, you need Weird Al Yankovic. Die, brain weasels. Die.
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  13. I went inner-tubing for the first time on Saturday and I fell in the lake only once. It was fun.
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  14. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have lasted this long if that was the case .
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  15. Here’s a couple I asked Isaac that I don’t think were on any recordings.
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  16. I thought I'd list a few technological oddities and how they are visible in the books. Then maybe we can discuss a common denominator 1. Guns. Scadrian gun technology is a curious thing. And it seems to be in extreme flux, leading to extremely anachronistic solutions.. In Alloy of Law Wax takes a captured gun and its ammo apart. The propellant is definitely black powder. Yet they use cartridges. That was a transition technology on Earth. Tech level around 1870. Yet Shadows of Self mentions a submachine gun. 2. No refrigeration Shadow of Self clearly states that they get their ice from the mountains. On Earth refrigeration was invented around 1850 and became economical around 1875 3. Cars like around 1920 They look reliable and mass produced. That is post-WW1 technology. They definitely have gasoline engines. Waxillium wonders about using them in Bands of Mourning 4. No immunology Bleeder tells us that the scientists of Scadrial don't know about the function of leukocytes. That is really odd. This is 1860ies knowledge. 5. Spectroscopy & Zeeman effect Again Shadows of Self. That is fairly advanced physics. If you wish to understand it fully, you will need quentum mechanics. 6. Tarcsel's speaker's It looks like he has invented an amplifier based on vacuum tubes. That is 1905 technology and was combined with loudspeakers in 1925. On the whole it looks to be ahead of our world where electricity or materials help, but they are hopeless in organic chemistry or biology.
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  17. Spoilers RoW - Spoilers Dawnshard - Spoilers All Cosmere - SPOILERS HERE - SPOILERS THERE - SPOILERS BLOODY EVERYWHERE ...now that we've scared off the neophytes: I haven't read a lot of Stormlight theories. I'm going to start that right now. But I've spent a lot of time reading the books, and reading the blessed Coppermind. So based on too much information and too little community critique... here are my craycray ideas about the Cosmere: Roshar is Yolen. The original planet, home of Adonalsium, is hidden in the Physical by crem (much like Akinah)... and known so commonly as Roshar that it is shrouded in the cognitive. Adonalsium was Shattered at the Shattered Plains, and the warcamps were the loci of the vessels who Ascended to become the first Shards. The burst of power from the Shattering created so many features of Roshar, such as the Windblades, as a result of cymatics. Rosharan Highstorms are driven by the spren of this storm - basically its memory - imprinted on the cognition of the very world. Every highstorm is the memory of the shatterstorm. Cusicesh is the spren of everyone on Yolen recognizing the Shattering - the spren of "a million voices crying out in terror," Alderaan-style. The reason the three realms on Roshar bleed over into each other so much is because of the realmatic trauma of the shattering - a kind of permanent perpendicularization. The ancestors of the Alethi are from Ashyn. The ancestors of the Ashynites were from Yolen. As such, they share a common ancestry with the Shin, who never left Yolen. (Alethkar-son-son-Shinovar). This explains their continued use of stone, which is but a memory of what once was used to keep the Fain at bay. The crem-based life of Roshar is either Fainish, or the result of Fainish adaptation to Roshar - that is to say, to the introduction of the crem cycle. This possibly aided by Cultivation, and/or Dawnshardic influence - or maybe Cult simply created the context which would cause 'evolution' in the direction she desired, God do I love Cult, she storming owns. In this same manner, the races of Roshar are mostly the result of interspecies combination caused at a Deific level. We've seen part-human, part Dysian Aimian; part-human, part Siah Aimian; part human, part Parsh... what is hiding in plain sight is that the Parsh themselves are part human, part dragon. Hence their limited but impressive ability to shapeshift, and their Revisionist Smaug hoarding of gems. Sja-anat's "Enlightenment" is literally adding a light. Five broams says Horneater White is how Brandon thinks Hornitos is pronounced. Axies the Collector is of Whimsy. So is his race. His Collectoriness is his Whim... and he can change his appearance on a whim as well. I'm guessing that the Dysian Aimians are of one of the remaining two shards - probably a complement of Invention, such as Observation - or maybe Fascination. The planet-names of the Threnodite System are all about songs for the dead. They are unrelated to Ambition. They're a little related to Mercy. Maybe. But I wonder if the original Shard of that system was something like Mourning, or Grief, or maybe even Celebration. I wonder if that shard is still in the Threnodite System - maybe Celebration plus the presence of a dead Shard equals Mourning. Harmony will fail to turn Waxillium Ladrian into his prime agent. This is mainly because Harmony's mutually-exclusive powers prevent him from making something into something-else. (His Shard-name could very well be "Laissez-faire.") As a result, he will need to recruit an Agent from offworld. Someone who is already brilliant and capable. Someone who can serve with honor. Someone who, opposite of Sazed, can put on a different intent and skillset to meet the particular challenge at hand - a little like the halfway point between a kandra and a human. Someone who is already involved with a Scadrian organization. Someone who is already involved with an organization dedicated, by happy accident, into discovering how someone with a spren-bond could leave Roshar. Harmony thinks he needs a "sword," but what he really needs is a "little knife." Shallan’s mother was the Herald Chanarach. When Shallan manifested surgebinding, her mother tried to kill her. Shallan killed her in self-defence - but in doing so, she started the False Desolation. I also wonder whether Shallan killed her mother, not with Pattern, and not with Testament, but with something else - either a permadeath weapon, like the knife that killed Jezerien, or a gem-on-a-stick weapon, that killed her mother's physical form but trapped her mother's spiritual aspect in the gem, which was then hidden in the box - either to remain trapped forever, or shattered and sent back to Damnation, starting the cycle of desolation BUT allowing for her immediate rebirth. (Poor Lin!) Jasnah is trying to get pregnant by Hoid. The Dawnshards are the building blocks of life. In the context of the world - of what an evolutionary biologist might call *evolutionary pressures* - they are Adaptation, Perseverence, Mating, and Multiplying. Devoid of their context, they are, at their most fundamental levels, CHANGE, SURVIVE, UNITE, and DIVIDE, respectively. At a more programmer level (Cosmere's Game Of Life?) they are +CHANGE, -CHANGE, COMBINATION, and REPRODUCTION. (Or on an OS level, "Edit" "Save" "Merge" and "Duplicate"). As of the current moment - the end of RoW, and the end of Era 2 Book 3 - the Dawnshards are held by Rysn (CHANGE), Kelsier (SURVIVE), The Stormfather (UNITE) in trust for a worthy host, and I'm guessing Jaddeth for Divide. The effects of this can be seen in Chiri-chiri's evolution; Kelsier's sheer inability to stop being alive; and Dalinar's desire to Unite Them... which so far expresses itself mostly in political terms, but is probably not orthogonal to the fact that, as has often been commented upon, suddenly and irrepressably, Dalinar f---s. Vstim was training Rysn to be a Dawnshard. He made her fit to hold it well, and also developed her Connection to its evolutionary concept sufficient for her to claim it. He arranged for her to have a larkin, and a ship. This smacks of Cultivation’s work with Taravangian, but is rather less direct. Perhaps Vstim is an agent of Cult. Perhaps he visited the Nightwatcher and as a result has become her pawn unknowingly. Or perhaps the indirectness of his actions is based upon an oath of noninterference… because Vstim is Frost. The reason that Investiture on Scadrial always re-gathers is due (howsoever indirectly) to the presence of the Dawnshard SURVIVE. The reason behind so many of the racial hybrids on Roshar is the presence of the two Dawnshards, UNITY and CHANGE. The reason that Kelsier and Hoid immediately wanted to punch each other - and Hoid was able to! - is because of their closeness to Dawnshards. We know that Kelsier is Mr. SURVIVE. Hoid might have also held SURVIVE, and perhaps the Dawnshards are like storming magnets, whereby identical polarities repulse. Or Hoid might have held CHANGE, and as such they are naturally opposed. Personally I prefer the former logic, because... um... well... RYSN/KELSIER. IS THE SHIP THAT I DID NOT KNOW I NEEDED BUT NOW I DO I DO I DOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Larkin/lanceryn are guardians of Dawnshards because they prevent the Dawnshard-holder from gaining Investiture. They are like the tamper in the core of a nuclear bomb. (Someone get Kelsier a gang... that is entirely made up of EDIT: Leechers.) The forging of Nightblood took "ten thousand breaths" but I bet it also involved ten thousand hemalurgic spikings. This is related to the growing theme in the Archive of "is it okay to do evil to make a technology that will do more good?" - which is very Ishar and just SO DAMN TARAVANGIAN. (As an aside: I wonder if Nightblood was cast or forged. Unwrought steel naturally has a crystaline structure, quite akin to a gem.) (As another aside, I bet the Conventicle of Seran was founded by one or more of the Five Scholars - at least Shashara - and its name is related to the name she used when she was on Scadrial.) Speaking of awakening, command, intent, and visualization: I am told that humans dream in black and white. I wonder if that's why Awakening requires color, to make our dreams reality? Aaand speaking of ethics: Odium's champion is going to be someone Dalinar cannot kill. Adolin? Kaladin? Gavinor? The ghost of Evi? Dalinar will "lose" this rigged contest... but also, *he will be glad to lose*! The end of Stormlight 5 will have the humans of Roshar abandon the planet to Odium. More specifically, they will cede the planet to Toadium, in reparation for bringing the Void and enslaving the Parshmen lo so many years ago. (Stormlight is anticolonialist literature?!?). The Shin will remain, as they predate arrival of humans from Ashyn. Maybe *some* humans will, too. But some will go. They will leave Roshar behind. And this sets us up for the Stormlight Archive Back 5 to suddenly and fully go COSMIC STORMING COSMERE. Dalinar and Navani will go to Sel (Dalinar to Unite that which was splintered; Navani to study seons and aons and basically become Ada Lovelace but for MAGIC), Shallan will go to Scadrial to become Harmony's Mara Jade, and Jasnah will lead the Alethi to Ashyn to try to de-storm the planet of Honor. AND I MENTIONED KELSIER/RYSN RIGHT?!?!?! But not "Toadium." Actually "Passavangian." Because: The Oathpact was a deal between Honor and Odium to fight FOR THE SAKE OF FIGHTING. Odium would send his forces after Honor, and thus be his Hateful self. Honor, in turn, was the anti-Yoda, and thought that wars DO make one great - and longed to provide his people with an endless war in which they could fight and die in glory. This is the truth which the Knights Radiant learned, leading to the Recreance. I would even guess that Koravellium betrayed Tan to Rayse in desperate hope to end their mutual madness (shard-savantism + toxic masculinity = you're gonna have a bad time). El wishes to continue this fight, probably by going after the forces of Valor in big bad Infinity War II Interplanetary Boogaloo. The real test will be whether Odium can truly be transformed into Passion as once he was, causing El to rip off his armor and return to his carapace... a very heavy-metal version of swords-into-plowshares. ADDITION: I still wonder if Ba-ado-Mishram is actually the Sibling - broken of light, trapped in a gem - already bonded by Navani. ADDITION: I bet Kaladin will will sacrifice himself to save Moash, even though Moash has not been redeemed. This might be his fifth Ideal. Or, it might be him being unable to swear the fifth Ideal! In either event, it will be so damn Honorable that we'll get Kalavast. ADDITION: I believe that the most important person in the entire storming cosmere is our sweet, our beloved, all-around best twink in fiction, Adolin Kholin. And why? Because he is Connecting so strongly to Mya. He's not just going to reverse the Deadeye-ness. He's not going to just become an Edgedancer. No. No. He's going to form a bond with a spren WITHOUT SWEARING THE IMMORTAL WORDS. He's going to form a Nahel outside of the strictures that Honor placed on Surgebinding on Roshar. He's going to be a Radiant without being a Knight. And this will be both the key to Connecting with Investiture on other worlds... and also will make Surgebinding on Roshar as dangerous as it was on Ashyn. Yeeeeesh. ADDITION: My guess is that Urithiru is one leg of a Rosharan Bifrost. When you turn it on, it makes a bridge to another similar device on Ashyn. This is how the Ashynites got to Roshar in the first place. However, I also have an alternate guess that is probably mutually exclusive - that the gateway to Ashyn is still open, that it's at the Origin, and that it's the source of all the crem on Roshar. ("Ashyn fell from the sky.") ADDITION: Adonalsium was not actually shattered. It was split, like light by prisms. No, not actually like, but literally. A Dawnshard is a pure Command, wrought into a crystalline lattice so that it can capture investiture, and held by (as) a person in order to supply Vessel-like Intent. (I half wonder whether Hoid's name when he was a youthful otherkin on Yolish Tumblr was Feldspathoid The Dragon, hence "hoid.") I think that the Sixteen thought they would split the light of God off into the world(s). But. But! They used gems that contained TOO MUCH DAMN ALUMINUM. (Such as topaz!). This trapped the Investiture, forcing the Ascension of those who held these gems. ADDITION: I really wonder if Shallan's mother was planning on having more children. Like, 5 or 6 more. Think about that for a hot minute. ADDITION: I wonder if the way you "wound" a Shard is to convince them to betray their Intent. The Sixteen made a promise not to reform Adonalsium. From the get-go, this limited Ambition's ambition to such an extent that they were in internal conflict, and thus injured. Exploiting this injury was easy for our boy Rayse The Roof. By the same token, the infinite loop of the Desolations grew so dishonorable that Honor began to lose himself within it. Kind of like if Cultivation was asked to *not* prune, such as by choosing to *not* nuke every human on Roshar except Kharbranth. I wonder if Koravellium is setting herself to be Splintered, or even killed, by making such a choice - as part of a plan to kill Odium - or even, as part of a plan to let some others (Dalinar and Navani?) Ascend to Unity. Also the binding of Ba-ado-Mishram is the source of the taint on saidin. Okay I'm done now. -silver the ridgerunner (yes, actual name) (yes, actual job title) thanks for being the best fandom. just, the best. <3
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  18. Do note, Brandon not doing side projects will not actually get Stormlight done any quicker. He has said on many occasions that he uses those other books to recharge and rejuvenate himself so he's ready to write a killer cosmere book. This has always been how he has worked. If he didn't write Skyward or noncosmere, honestly, I don't think you'd get a cosmere book any faster. Brandon says that the giant books are exhausting. By doing this, he makes sure people get something in between the breaks in Stormlight releases. Brandon is very conscious of time and has recently spoken in great detail that he wants to make sure he finishes the cosmere, so he has to get Stormlights done every three years. But ultimately I'd probably prefer Brandon to be excited to get to the big cosmere books and not burn out and hate writing them. That's what the noncosmere ones allow him to do. He's fairly consistently put out Stormlights every three years. It is a fact with this author that he will work on side projects in between the big ones, and still get the big books out more frequently than some other fantasy authors That said, Lost Metal has taken a while, for sure.
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  19. Based on the description we get of the things, it would supercharge the power of a guy who's already bonded to a demigod Splinter of Honor that is also a fusion with the Cognitive Shadow of a former Vessel, with incredibly powerful abilities that include serious Realmantic manipulation. Combine those with one of the four Commands that were apparently involved in the creation of the Cosmere and... yeow. I mean, one reason the Sleepless were willing to entertain Rysn's bargain in the first place is that she can't really do anything with the 'Change' Dawnshard because she lacks access to any Invested Art. Giving Dalinar that sort of power, whatever it does, would be pretty much the exact thing that they were trying to prevent from happening in the first place.
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  20. Gnorman Gneablies walked into the town where nothing happened. Well, he thought, obviously not nothing. His Gnomometer readings were off the charts, and the International Gnome Federation For All Things Pertaining To Gnomoid Beings. He would have to find the source of all these Gnomons. Gnomons, of course, were a sort of particle that all gnomes can sense, and which the IGFFATPTGB was in charge of monitoring throughout the world. As Gnorman walked, he used some of the Gnomons that were so abundant here to conjure up a new outfit. Brown overalls, and a dirty blue shirt, along with a hat he had seen referred to as 'cowboy'. He did not, of course, know how in the world cows and boys had crossbred, but the hat customary to their culture was quite nice.
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  21. Shattered Plains 2: Electrum Boogaloo
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  22. Tbf if they work out Soulcasting antimatter they're probably gonna destroy the entire planet the very first time they do it, when they expect the explosions to be as mild as anti-Light and they are not
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  23. More like Connecting to their future but it’s mostly the same Probably is easier said than done…
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  24. "sald, you must soften the leather in blood first" - the above poster
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  25. "Hello I am Ene's large torso baby." - Tesh
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  26. Alright, here's transcriptions for some of the more Cosmere-relevant WoBs from The Sanderson Collector's video of the Q&A, since the audio's not on Arcanum yet:
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  27. Personally I think the Stormfather will make a choice to spare somebody, becomes a deadeye and thus the Night Of Sorrow happens. I don't have the quotes at hand but more than once it's been asked what will happen if the storm ceases to blow and we will probably find out in book 5. This would also provide an even more urgent reason for team Radiant to find BAM and free her.
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  28. Not to be overbearing. Huge fan of your work. But if you could please re-focus on the Cosmere and Stormlight Archive, this Skyward stuff is for the birds.
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  29. "It was as if … as if they were trying to hit where Ishar was, while he was able to move in anticipation of where they would be." (ch. 111) My point is, that's Spiritual Realm something, and not his skill.
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  30. We have Preservation/Harmony and Odium who both granted Futuresight in form of electrum and Regals. (I am leaving out Atium because Atium is weird). So why do these Shards still have Futuresight although Renarin blocks Odium's? What is going on there? Do we misunderstand this? Is Odium blinded by Renarin because Renarin is connected to Honor/Cultivation? Or does Harmony have a blind spot in his Futuresight for every electrum Misting? And Odium simply just cares about Renarin due to his position and ignores all those Regals causing gaps?
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  31. I think there's a tendency for Cosmere fans to come up with complex explanations through magic rather than just accept the simpler mundane answer. It's like how everyone was saying that Dienno must be a surgebinder because how else could he possibly be able to escape shackles? In this case, the purpose of the scene is to show how the millenia of combat have made the heralds superhumanly skilled at fighting. He fights as though he can see the moves they're about to make because he's just that good, but he's not even the best of the heralds in sword fighting.
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  32. From what I can tell, the presence of someone with futuresight impairs their ability to see the future correctly, not the ability in general. The impact of that person depends on who they interact with, how far they can see, and what they decide to do with the information. With Renarin, he seems to be able to see decently far. He reacted pretty early in OB when Dalinar commented on Odium having a champion with 9 shadows. So Renarin is going to have more of an effect than someone with Atium who can only see a few seconds into the future. Electrum is said to work similarly to Atium per: So, I don't think it's going to have a huge impact on Preservation/Harmony unless the person using it is a fulcrum for important events and even then it's limited. As for the Regals/Odium, I think because it comes from him, he can factor it into his futuresight(and that also might be the case for other Shards). Because Odium's Investiture is fueling the visions, he can see them and factor in what that person will do given what they see. But with Renarin, he's using Stormlight, so Odium doesn't even know it's happening. Maybe that's not it, but there's no way the the Regals and Moelach are impacting Odium's futuresight. Otherwise, like you, I can't see a logical reason Odium would allow people on his own side to have abilities that prevent him from using one his most valuable tools.
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  33. Or strange matter if we really want some destruction.
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  34. Not impossible according to Quantum Mechanics or String Theory though! And even in General Relativity, it doesn't violate the entire theory!
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  35. And there are more of us. It's been my motto for a long time as a aspiring writer, "No matter how smart you are, your readers are smarter."
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  36. Thank you for responses I have some more reading to do.
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  37. Eh...no. But we are fortunate to have secured the talents of Lynn Norris. https://www.voicedbylynn.com
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  38. *pokes you over here so we don't start spamming the thread*
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  39. I'm of the opinion that there are a few extra things effecting the Heralds. First, they did break their Oaths, which probably runs counter to their Intents. Two, they are probably also deeply effected by the fact that Ba-Ado-Misham [BAM] is out of commission. The Sibling says that BAM being captured damaged all the souls which belong to Roshar. That includes the singers, fused, and spren. It probably effects the Heralds too, and did something to mess them up (even more than before). I think the fact that Ishar is most injured is a good sign that this is actually related to damaged bonds and connections more than anything else. So, their current 'insanity' might be, instead, a combination of broken oaths, the injury done to their Bonds/Identity due to the BAM episode, and their antiquity/nature. But, personally, I think their age and nature are the smallest contributing factors to their current state of being. Thaidakar, though, wasn't injured by BAM. And well, he didn't break any oaths, either. And while he is a CS, he's a pretty new one, so it's unlikely to have effected him much. I think his problem is more likely being stuck, and maybe being unhappy with how he's Connected to Scadrial and its influence on him. But, I don't think he's actually any more 'insane' than before, just a sociopath, ha.
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  40. First, could you kindly put the b in being in the title please, it's bothering me Secondly, Jasnah is trying to take advantage of the fact everyone, lower and higher classes, are going to be open to change due to all the major events, so she may be aware of the possible resistance which is why she is doing it now rather than later, especially with something like slaves, which the removal of will affect both classes in negative ways. So she may be able to succeed, however, it wouldn't be too surprising to see her getting some backlash. She is Jasnah, after all, a human personification of a lightning rod of hate by possibly a quarter of the population of Roshar. They will make reasons to be pissed.
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  41. It's nice seeing this theory got some contradiction. Even though, I like backing this theory up. I can see some of it direction make story rather unsatisfying especially for something that have been foreshadowing for so long like Contest of Champions. Also, If Stormfather loses his power or die, it means there's possibility we cant see dalinar Fourth and Fifth Ideal. But, I still curious what "The Night of Sorrow" will be like. and little theory about it is not helping
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  42. Guys, I went shopping today, and I got two - two - natural fiber blouses! For under ten dollars! No idea what the skirt is made out of, though. The label's in Chinese.
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  43. Hi! Welcome to my big, fat Gavilar post. Given that we're finally going to get his POV in the SA5 Prologue, and the proliferating theories that Gavilar survived as a CS or will be Odium's champion, I went on a deep dive through the SA books trying to get as full a picture as I could of Gavilar Kholin. The result is the beast below, which is broken into four parts. Part One part goes through some notable points on Gavilar's journey from the beginning of his campaign to conquer Alethkar to the couple of years before his death. Part Two includes some theorizing about when Gavilar received the visions, when he started to change and plan, and who or what might have been influencing him. The theories aren't groundbreaking, but I think they are at least pretty-well supported. Part Three is a sort of oral history running through what various characters have said about who Gavilar was, how he changed, and what he was up to. Part Four wraps things up and poses some continuing questions. Looking forward to hearing others' thoughts. PART ONE: THE JOURNEY So I wanted to just begin with a few notable backstory tidbits, showing the start of Gavilar's journey through to his eventful final years, so that we can establish a sort of baseline to see how he changed later. 1141 - OB 11: In one of our earliest scenes with Gavilar - the first battle at the Rift - we see him already asking some fairly big questions and expressing a desire for a stable, lasting kingdom 1143 - OB 19: During the feast where we first meet Evi, Gavilar continues asking why they are at war and wonders at the reasons why past empires failed; also mentions for the first time the Codes of War and the idea that Alethkar once meant something 1150 - OB 36: Still banging that drum of a unified Alethkar, but questioning the use of force as a means to achieve it: "We can’t have a show of force being our only method of maintaining unity, or Elhokar will spend his entire life putting out fires after I’m gone. We need people to start thinking of Alethkar as a unified kingdom, not separate regions always looking for an advantage against one another.” Later 1150 - OB 49: Gavilar can't let Dalinar have even 10 minutes of happiness over the birth of Adolin before telling him he's sending him to Herdaz and Jah Keved for more fighting; here are a few other notable bits from this chapter, including Gavilar's first mention of the importance of "words": First mention of others calling Gavilar weak: "Tanalan is raising an army and settling into his fortifications. Worse, I think the other highprinces are encouraging him. They want to see how I handle this.” He sneered. “There’s talk I’ve grown soft over the years.” More talk about the greatness of old Alethkar, but now also mentioning the Knights Radiant: “Do you ever wonder about the time when this kingdom was truly great, Dalinar?” Gavilar asked. “When people looked to the Alethi. Then kings sought their advice. When we were … Radiant.” In response to Dalinar's fears about being a bloodthirsty animal, Gavilar says "You are what the Almighty made you" (yikes, this sounds like Odium talking to Moash) Gavilar also suggests that he "might have something that will help" but does not elaborate; Dalinar is skeptical: “Bah. I’ve tried living a quiet life. I can’t live through endless politics, like you can. I need more than just words!” Speaking of "words": “Words are important,’ Gavilar said. “Much more than you give them credit for being.” “Perhaps,” Dalinar said. “But if they were all-powerful, you wouldn’t need my sword, would you?” “Perhaps. I can’t help feeling words would be enough, if only I knew the right ones to say.” 1151-1163: Giant gaping hole in what was going on with Gavilar because our flashback character, Dalinar, is out on campaign this whole time, with only infrequent visits back to Kholinar, none of which we see 1163 - OB 66: Gavilar contacts Dalinar via spanreed, and in between congratulating him on becoming a tactical genius and informing him that he's gotta go back to the Rift, he drops this little tantalizing line: "I have important revelations of my own I would like to share." This brings us up to the events that really set the plot in motion - the hunting expedition during which they encounter the listeners, Gavilar's secretive experimentation and plans, changes in Gavilar in his final months/years, and eventually his assassination. So here's where the theorizing starts and I go into a little greater depth. PART TWO: SOME TAKEAWAYS/THEORIES ABOUT WHEN GAVILAR STARTED MESSING WITH THINGS AND WHO/WHAT WAS INFLUENCING HIM 1. The changes in Gavilar's personality/behavior started before he encountered the listeners Maybe others already knew this, but I was uncertain before doing this deep dive as to when the changes in Gavilar's behavior began. I found two passages that suggest he was starting to act strangely before the hunting expedition where they encountered the listeners. WoK 28: Also, and somewhat more intriguing, OB 66: Looking at these two passages, along with the earlier line from Gavilar about having "important revelations" of his own to share, it seems likely to me that Gavilar probably started receiving the visions from the Stormfather well before he left on the hunting trip. There's also the line from the RoW prologue where Gavilar notes that bringing "them" (likely spheres) back and forth from Braize "was impossible only a few short years ago." This suggests that Gavilar may have already been working on movement between Braize and Roshar as early as 1165. Just how far back Gavilar started seeing the visions and experimenting with Light, I'm not sure. I mean, dude was obsessed with "uniting" all the way back when he and Dalinar got started on conquering Alethkar. He talked about the Alethi Codes of War as early as 1143 and was musing about the importance of "words" as early as 1150. All we know from WoB is that Gavilar was on the Bondsmith path longer than Dalinar (although Gavilar never bonded the SF). 2. Still, Gavilar was intrigued by the listeners and we now have a clearer picture of what it was that so intrigued him Overall, I was a little underwhelmed by the flashbacks in RoW. But several of them stood out as being pretty juicy. One of those is Ch. 48 where we get Eshonai's viewpoint capturing precisely when Gavilar became truly interested in the listeners. Back in WoK, Shallan and Jasnah had noted discrepancies in records of when and why Gavilar had become interested. Here's Jasnah's undertext from Gavilar's account, from WoK 36: That more or less tracks with Eshonai's view. She noted that Gavilar was erratic and that Initially he just wanted to know where he could hunt a greatshell. But the scholars were interested But then, when Eshonai leads the humans from their encampment in the forest out onto the Shattered Plains, a series of things happen that change Gavilar's tune. The first actually occurs a little before the above quote. Axindweth asks Eshonai some questions about how she sees spren and is intrigued to learn that Eshonai appears to see the reality of spren, or closer to it. She then asks about windspren that act like humans, change shapes, and play tricks and Eshonai says she's seen spren like that. Axindweth next asks about spren who speak and call people by name, but Eshonai thinks that's silly. Axindweth was clearly asking about Radiant spren. We don't see it on screen, but this conversation took place before Axindweth fell out of favor with Gavilar so it's a safe bet that she shared what she learned about how the listeners see spren with Gavilar. Then, we get a quick succession of things: Axindweth and Gavilar catch a glimpse of Eshonai's hunting knife "with beautiful metal that had lines in it, and a carved hilt of majestic detail" Eshonai explains that the knife had been handed down for generations; Axindweth suggests to Gavilar that it may date all the way back to the False Desolation; Before they can interrogate Eshonai any further about the knife, a freaking chasmfiend shows up; Eshonai's just like: nbd, it doesn't seem angry The chasmfiend moves along without causing any problems, but all the humans are still freaked out; everyone except Gavilar who seems "unperturbed" Gavilar goes right back to studying and asking about the knife; Eshonai explains that her great-grandparents found them in the ruins; At the mention of ruins Gavilar looked up sharply and asked if she was referring to the ten cities on the edge of the SP that another guide had mentioned Eshonai mentally curses Klade for mentioning the ten cities; she decides not to reveal that the knife came from the ruins at the center of the plains; she says she mention ruins of cities that he ancestors built; Gavilar asks how she knows about events from so long ago; asks whether they have records Eshonai explains that they have songs So, it seems that the things that piqued Gavilar's interest were: ancient weapons, ruins on the Shattered Plains, and songs about the Knight Radiant and other ancient lore. 3. Gavilar was probably already pretty far along with his grand plans by the time he encountered the listeners; also a certain Worldhopper is super suspicious There are a few interesting things to point out here. One is that it doesn't really seem like Gavilar's scholars and scribes had to explain much to him to get him interested in the listeners, as was suggested by the accounts that Jasnah had read and referenced in her undertext. He clearly had some pre-existing knowledge that caused his sudden interest. Another thing I wanted to highlight is Axindweth's mention of the False Desolation. I've been wondering for a while now how Gavilar came to know about the imprisonment of BAM. We saw in the WoR Prologue that he clearly knew about it by the night of his assassination, because he talked about how humans had captured "an ancient, crucial spren." But this information wasn't contained in the visons from the Stormfather, and Gavilar wouldn't have had access to the Urithiru gem archive. So he must have learned about it from somewhere/someone else. Kalak is one possible source of this information. Perhaps he shared information about BAM with Gavilar as part of the experimentation that Gavilar was doing with moving Lights between worlds. We know Kalak hoped this might lead to a way for him to get off Roshar, so he may have been willing to share information with Gavilar. I kinda doubt Nale would have been jazzed about that though. Axindweth is the only other source I can think of, and given this scene, it seems likely that she is in fact the source. She mentions the False Desoalation, an event which even Jasnah refers to as a pseudohistorical legend early on in OB. Gavilar doesn't bat an eye when Axindweth mentions it though; doesn't stop and ask what the False Desolation was. He knows what it was, which means he probably knows how it ended. This all makes it seem increasingly likely that Axindweth was the one guiding Gavilar's experimentation and grand plans. Eshonai thought she might be oncemates with Gavilar because of how often she spoke with him. And Axindweth wasn't outed and shunned by Gavilar until shortly before his assassination. By that point she'd already set things in motion by getting Ulim to Venli. Speaking of getting Ulim to Venli, that seems like another point in favor of Gavilar having already begun experimenting with the movement of Light (and maybe other things) between Braize and Roshar before he set out on the hunting expedition. I'm more or less convinced that the whole reason that Ulim was able to make the jump and end up in the gem on Roshar was because Gavilar's experiments created a connection that allowed him through. Just how Axindweth, a Feruchemist Terriswoman, came to be an agent of Odium is anyone's guess. But it does seem consistent with Odium's long game of co-opting warped human notions of honor, for her to have gotten close to Gavilar and subtly nudged him toward experimentation and plans that seemed consistent with the exhortations from the visons to "unite them" and refound the Knights Radiant, but were actually furthering Odium's agenda. The only hiccup with this line of thinking about Axindweth is something Ulim says to Venli in RoW 86: But, I mean, Gavilar clearly had been working with Axindweth at some point and she seems to be an agent of Odium. It could be that Ulim simply didn't know the full scope of Axindweth's part in Odium's plan. Or maybe he's just flat out lying to Venli here. Wouldn't surprise me. PART THREE: DESCRIPTONS OF GAVILAR AND HOW HE CHANGED TOWARD THE END Consider this a kind of oral history about Gavilar featuring quotes about him that didn't fit in anywhere above. I've grouped these by speaker, and sometimes topic. Mraize (as told to Shallan) King Gavilar’s efforts to rekindle the Desolations are likely the true reason he was assassinated. Though there were many in the palace that night who had reason to see him dead. (OB 40) Re: the Sons of Honor The old king of Alethkar – the Blackthorn’s brother, Gavilar Kholin – was a driving force in their expansion. (OB 40) Gavilar had led them along, used their resources – and their hearts – to further his own goals. (RoW 4) On what Gavilar wanted: “Immortality, in part. He thought he could become like the Heralds. In his quest, he discovered a secret. He had Voidlight before the Everstorm – he carried it from Braize, the place you call Damnation. He was testing the movement of Light between worlds. (RoW 13) Dalinar On deferring to Gavilar: “I didn’t think about it much,” Dalinar said. “When I did … yes, I was frustrated. But it was Gavilar. You know how he was. The force of will, that air of natural entitlement. It always seemed to surprise him when someone denied him or when the world itself didn’t do as he wished. He didn’t force me to defer – it was simply how life was.” (WoK 64) On trying to understand what Gavilar saw in The Way of Kings: Alethkar was a light, once, he thought. That’s what Gavilar’s book claims, that’s what the visions are showing me. Nohadon was king of Alethkar, so long ago. In the time before the Heralds left. Dalinar felt as if he could almost see it. The secret. The thing that had made Gavilar so excited in the months before his death. If Dalinar could just stretch a little farther, he’d make it out. See the pattern in the lives of men. And finally know. (WoK 24) On changes at the end and final words “ ‘Brother, follow the Codes tonight. There is something strange upon the winds.’ That’s what he said to me, the last thing he told me just before we began the treaty-signing celebration.” (WoK 15) “He’s the one who first showed [the Codes] to me. He found them as a relic of old Alethkar, back when we’d first been united. He began following them shortly before he died.” Dalinar grew hesitant. “Those were odd days, son. Jasnah and I weren’t sure what to think of the changes in Gavilar." (WoK 15) “It’s a quote,” Dalinar said. “From an ancient book called The Way of Kings. Gavilar favored readings from the volume near the end of his life – he spoke to me of it often." (WoK 15) He found himself remembering a day when he stood with his brother beside the Impossible Falls of Kholinar. Things are different, now, Dalinar, Gavilar had said. I see now, in ways I never did before. I wish I could show you what I mean. It had been three days before his death. (WoK 26) Warning Eshonai: “His interest could benefit you, but it could have an equal cost. Do not be so quick to share your stormshelter with men you just barely met. Don’t offend, but also don’t be too quick to bend. Any new recruit needs to learn both lessons. In this case, I’d suggest politeness – but care. Do not let him back you into a corner. He will respect you if you stand up for yourselves. And whatever you do, don’t give him any reason to decides he wants what you have.” (RoW 57) Noting Gavilar's frequent absences in later years: Things had been going better lately. Dalinar had started controlling his vices; he’d confined his drinking to monthly trips away from Kholinar, visiting outer cities. He said the trips were to let Elhokar practice ruling without Dalinar looking over his shoulder, as Gavilar had been spending more and more time abroad. (OB 105) Jasnah Gavilar, who would speak with such quiet intensity that you wanted to lean in and listen, to catch every word and implication. He was a handsome man, unlike his brother, with a beard that outlined his strong jaw rather than covering it. He had a personal magnetism and intensity that Jasnah felt no biographer had yet managed to convey. (WoR Prologue) On the Parshendi: “The longer he remained in the Unclaimed Hills, the more fascinated by the Parshendi he became.” (WoK 45) "just before leaving to return to Alethkar, my father suddenly began talking fervently of the need for an agreement.” (WoK 36) Changes toward the end "When he returned, I was encouraged by his interest; we spent many evenings talking about his discoveries. It was one of the few times when I felt I really connected with my father.” (WoK 45) “You are coming to see how my father’s personality changed during those months, and that means you are digging deeply. Believe it or not, few others have caught the discrepancy you just did – though many do note his later changes, once he returned to Kholinar.” (WoK 45) Navani Beyond that, there was an air of … distortion around Gavilar. Nothing supernatural or nonsensical. It was just that … well, you accepted that Gavilar could do whatever he wanted, in defiance of any tradition or logic. For him, it would work out. It always did. (RoW Prologue) She might be the things he said, but he was no more than a backwater thug with too much luck and a knack for fooling good men into following him. (RoW Prologue) All Gavilar cared about was his legacy. He wanted to be known as a great king, a great leader. That drive had always pushed him, but it was growing into something else lately. He kept asking: Would he be remembered as Alethkar’s greatest king? Could he compete with his ancestors, men such as the Sunmaker? (RoW Prologue) Their arguments grew worse and worse. She knew he was not this man, the one he showed her lately. He wasn’t like this when he spoke to Dalinar, or to Sadeas, or even – usually – to Jasnah. (RoW Prologue) What she didn’t feel was grief. His death was meaningful, but it didn’t mean anything to her. Other than perhaps a way for her children to never have to learn what he’d become. (RoW Prologue) During Gavilar’s last days, he had gone strange. Few knew how dark he’d grown, but they had seen the eccentricity. Jasnah had written about that, of course. (OB 104) Gavilar was not the man everyone thought him to be. I was fond of him, but he –” (WoK 61) “Gavilar is dead,” Navani said, resting her head back against his chest. “ I was never unfaithful while he lived, though the Stormfather knows I had ample reason. (WoK 61) Jasnah loved secrets. Navani was more wary of them. Secrets had turned Gavilar into … whatever it was he’d been at the end. (RoW 9) Sometimes she missed him. At least the man he had once been, when they’d all schemed together as youths, planning to conquer the world. That was the face he’d continued to show most everyone else after he’d started to change. (RoW 65) Sadeas “That book ruined Gavilar." (WoK 26) To Dalinar after betraying him: "Gavilar died because of his weakness. I wanted to attack the Parshendi from the start, conquer them. He insisted on a treaty, which led to his death. Now you’re starting to act just like him. Those same ideas, the same ways of speaking. Through you they begin to infect Elhokar. He dresses like you. He talks of the Codes to me, and of how perhaps we should enforce them through all the warcamps. He’s beginning to think of retreating.” (WoK 69) Elhokar (all from his conversation with Dalinar in WoK 18) “You sound like him, you know,” Elhokar said, turning back to look eastward again. “Near the end. When he began to act … erratically.” “this is much like how he was. Talking about an end to war, fascinated by the Lost Radiants, insisting everyone follow the Codes…” “He grew weak at the end,” Elhokar said. “Everyone knows it “My father started refusing duels, near the end." Ialai (to Shallan on what Gavilar was after) “Ah, nebulous ‘power.’ No, it is more specific than that. Most of the Sons of Honor simply wanted their gods back, but Gavilar saw more. He saw entire worlds…” Aesudan (all from her conversation w/Elhokar & Kaladin in OB 84) “Oh Elhokar,” the queen was saying. “You were ever so oblivious. Your father had grand plans, but you … all you ever wanted to do was sit in his shadow. It was for the best that you went off to play war.” “I continued your father’s work! I found the secret, Elhokar. Spren, ancient spren. You can bond with them!” “Have you seen my Radiants?” Aesudan asked. She grinned. “The Queen’s Guard? I’ve done what your father could not. Oh, he found one of the ancient spren, but he could never discover how to bond it. But I, I have solved the riddle.” Nale (RoW 77) “So, Gavilar’s plan is working. The fool. He will destroy us all.” Nale sneered, a sudden and unexpected burst of emotion. “That foolish idiot of a man. He lures us with promises, then breaks them by seeking that which I told him was forbidden! Yes. I heard it tonight. The proof I need. I know. I know….” Finally, Gavilar, in his own words (limited to lines where he at least hints at what he's up to) To Navani in the RoW Prologue “I deal in secrets you could not handle, Navani. If you knew the scope of what I’ve begun…” “Greatness will define me, Navani. No mediocre effort by someone like Dalinar or my son could undermine that – and I personally doubt Elhokar could rise to even mediocre.” "Write whatever you want about me. Say it, shout it, proclaim it. I will outlive your accusations, and my legacy will persist. I have discovered the entrance to the realm of gods and legends, and once I join them, my kingdom will never end. I will never end.” To Eshonai in the WoR Prologue “Our enslaved parshmen were once like you. Then we somehow robbed them of their ability to undergo the transformation. We did it by capturing a spren. An ancient, crucial spren.” He looked at her, green eyes alight. “I’ve seen how that can be reversed. A new storm that will bring the Heralds out of hiding. A new war.” “The old Words must be spoken again.” "My people need to be united, and I need an empire that won’t simply turn to infighting once I am gone.” “I seek for an end to something that we never finished. My people were Radiant once, and your people – the parshmen – were vibrant. Who is served by this drab world where my people fight each other in endless squabbles, without light to guide them, and your people are as good as corpses?” To Taravangian (according to Taravangian) Just as the Diagram instructed, Taravangian was king of Jah Keved. He had taken the first major step toward unifying the world, as Gavilar had insisted would need to happen if they were to survive.That was, at least, what the visions had proclaimed. Visions Gavilar had confided in him six years ago, the night of the Alethi king’s death. Gavilar had seen visions of the Almighty, who was also now dead, and of a coming storm. To Szeth in the WoK Prologue “I … expected you … to come” “You can tell … Thaidakar … that he’s too late…” “Then who …? Restares? Sadeas? I never thought …” “The Parshendi? That makes no sense.” Gavilar coughed, hand quivering, reaching toward his chest and fumbling at a pocket. He pulled out a small crystalline sphere tied to a chain. “You must take this. They must not get it.” He seemed dazed. “Tell … tell my brother … he must find the most important words a man can say…” PART FOUR: WRAPPING THINGS UP; REMAINING QUESTIONS Phew. That ... got away from me. Thanks for sticking around if you're still reading. In the course of doing this deep dive, I think I've convinced myself that Gavilar began receiving the visions from the Stormfather, and probably started experimenting with moving Light, before he went on the expedition where he encountered the Listeners (which was in early-ish 1166). Pulling off the transfer of Voidlight doesn't really seem like the kind of thing that would be easy, so it probably took a while for him to figure it out, which also weighs in favor of it starting earlier rather than later. My best guess is that Gavilar started receiving the visons some time not too long before the spanreed message to Dalinar in OB 66. I'm guessing the visions were the source of the "important revelations" he mentioned. It seems weird that he would receive them that early and be on the Bondsmith path longer than Dalinar, but never form a bond. But maybe something was standing in the way. Maybe something like ... Axindweth? Speaking of Axindweth, I'm also fairly certain that she was a major driving force in Gavilar's planning. Some big questions that remain for me: What the heck did Aesudan mean when she said that Gavilar "found one of the ancient spren?" I know that before RoW came out, lots of people thought that either the sphere he gave Eshonai or the one he gave Szeth housed an Unmade. That clearly wasn't the case. Did he really find an Unmade? If so, which one and where the heck is it now? (best guess is Yelig-nar I suppose) Also, what's up with the blue marbles that replaced Gavilar's eyes before he was Soulcast? I've gone back through all the Prologues, and neither of his eyes were damaged. Why did the Soulcaster refer to his eyes as the only part of him that was true? That scene, coupled with Gavilar's line to Dalinar three days before his death (Things are different, now, Dalinar, Gavilar had said. I see now, in ways I never did before. I wish I could show you what I mean) really has me thinking about the "two blind men" stuff and wondering if Gavilar will end up being one of them. And the biggie: Did he really die? If he did, was he Invested enough that he was able to stick around as a cognitive shadow? If so, which Shard's Investiture was it? And where is he now? Gah! Can't believe we have to wait until 2023 to get some answers.
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  44. YAY I AM SO EXCITED. Also we got the orange Amazon banner for #1!
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  45. Kaladin already began this path back in Heartstone, though, when the wind swirled around him during the fight (IIRC, it’s been a while). I just finished RoW, btw, still recovering from the Sanderlanche. But Kaladin’s something beyond just his reputation and always has been. He was before Tien died, but then it began in earnest, really picking up steam as he starting really trying to protect. I think he just somehow storming embodies the Ideal of the Windrunners so much it can’t help but make him awesome.
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  46. Introduction Roshar is one of the most complex and interesting fantasy worlds ever built. This has of course led to quite a lot of theorizing especially on the magic system and history. Despite the fact that we do not yet have enough information(we are still waiting on another six books) I have decided to embrace my inner Taravangian and solve everything using conjecture. What could go wrong? I have often wondered what would happen if you stuck multiple Taravangians in the same room so feel free to join me. Clearly only I have the intelligence to solve these problems! ONLY I KARGER CAN SAVE US FROM IGNORANCE! Basics Be enlightened o ignorant reader. I shall cast aside the weight of ignorance that blinds your eyes to this strange world's history. Critical to the understanding of rosharan magic is the surges and the spren. Those methods used by the radiants to command nature itself. What are they and how do how do they work? Why do we speak of binding them? Who did the binding? How are the different forms of binding different? Are other types of binding possible? Where do the spren factor in? Where do they come from? What can they actually do? Why do they grant these surges specifically? All of these are among the most common questions we ask in our struggle to understand this strange world. To recap we know the following: Radiants are surgebinders. Each radiant can effectively bind two surges. Rosharans refer to the surges as if they are fundamental forces. To be clear one can explain all natural phenomena using just the surges even in our world if they really wanted to we just don't because we don't find doing so a good use of our time. Spren are heavily connected to the surges because that is the way human express the idea of something happening physically. The spren, surges, and their relationships are not static. They have clearly changed over time and we even know the method. Groundwork To actually start this theory off lets go back to the beginning of Words of Radiance and see what a cognitive entity thinks of natural law. Jesting aside it seems that to a cognitive entity natraul law is like a social convention. Something usually done for the sake of convenience rather then a strict rule that must be followed. If Syl does not particularly want things with mass to be attracted then they don't have to be. If Pattern wishes for an object to appear differently then it behaves then that can happen too. Fortunately for Rosharan mortals spren are limited in both their imaginations and in how much they can effect the physical realm. If this were to change it could certainly become cause for alarm. Theory The central tenet to this diagram that absolutely must be understood is that the rules for magic on Roshar has undergone massive changes over millennia. Initially these rules were maintained by adonalsium but they progressed along with the beings in the physical realm. How people saw the spren and what people did the seeing are what changed the the magic system into what it is today. Unlike say allomancy where a given power is the same even if you find a new application for it Roshar's magic itself changes depending on rules that are both arbitrary and alterable. Given recent developments we can even speculate about a new magic system emerging. The First of Roshar's Arcana We don't know what his original restrictions were(although this WoB indicates they were somewhat limiting) but we do know that when he created the singers Adonalsium had a particular role in mind for the world and he including the singers when making it. Regardless of the system's overall purpose the role in mind for the singers seems fairly straightforward. They always call themselves listeners or singers throughout the entirety of their history, have a special relationship with the spren both biological and cultural, and a rich history of storytelling(the last legion got the idea for the old songs from somewhere). According to Pattern spren might not even exist without people thinking about them(WoR). From this it seems reasonable to conclude that the singers were put on Roshar to create and maintain the spren. We know from our singer PoVs that bonding a spren requires one to be in the right mindset to attract and bond one. As an interesting side note this roughly parallels animistic beliefs across human civilizations. I am hardly an expert but from what I have read, finding a common understanding the various spirits(or spren if you are rosharan) is an important part of the religions that basically all humans practiced at some point and many still do. Perhaps even more interesting is that the earliest political entities where generally founded by individuals who managed to obtain special relationships with one or more very powerful spirits similar to what the singers did when building their cities or other great works. A more contemporary example might be found in Rock's tale of the horneater founding. The exact manner that the spren came up with for creating the peaks is unclear and unimportant. On the human side only the manner of approaching and convincing the spren to help mattered. If this is true it might explain why Raboneill considers surges more of a human import when talking with Venli. The singers probably didn't care much about how the spren did things or the surges in general. It was enough that they did do things when asked the right way. The singer's probably saw their magic more as a business, religious, or political effort then a scientific one and the spren themselves would have responded to this. Assuming they lived up to their name and sang the spren histories rather create written records then the spren would have been more distant and more flexible in their behavior at least until the humans arrived. In summary Roshar's original magic could be described in two simple sentences. Form a connection with spren and let them do their thing. Here is a list of the spren and some ways for approaching them and guiding their work. How the Humans Changed Everything(From Arrival to Desolation) The exact nature of Ishar's experiments with the surges are too limited for us to even really speculate on them but we are all aware of how awful their result was. Odium tempted a clever theorist into creating, discovering, or rediscovering the surges. Ishar must have found some way to bind the surges and in so doing he probably made the surges themselves into something similar to their modern form. Refugees from Ashyn may have only been seeking a safe haven their stay on roshar had lasting impacts. Perhaps the most important thing about this society though was that it had a terrifying weapon with it. Given the contents of Heraldic wisdom it is positive that the Ashynites had a fairly high literacy rate. The effects of having a large number of people record facts about the spren have now been rediscovered in a less dramatic fashion by Geranid and Ashir Back then humans would unknowingly, perhaps later knowingly, cause havoc in singer society just by keeping records. Spren attitudes must have shifted remarkably in a fairly short amount of time as their vague notions turned into concrete memories and humans became the dominant force for recording their doings and recognizing their deeds. Where before flamespren might have been either destructive or constructive now they might exhibit only one or the other as soon as some scribe wrote down a quick essay on their behavior. Honorspren and Stonespren might have been different cultures or groups of spren that humans mistook as different races. The once benevolent stormfather who provided life and health would suddenly have become more capricious and angry when viewed and recorded by humans who did not understand his role in the world. Spren histories, politics, and individual thought must have skyrocketed. It is easy to understand why spren might have been attracted to definite self knowledge and why singers saw this as a kind of betrayal. Humans could provide the spren with more then the singers could and many of the less steadfast spren would have quickly changed to be more pro human. Singers live in a catch 22. They cannot reach their full potential without bonding a spren but doing so restricts their interests and abilities to the spren already bonded. This is just not enough for a nahal bond. An old question for us theory types is what form Venli would get if she used Timbre in her gemheart. It is possible that no one knows. It could be the singers have never been able to adopt a mindset for it. If they are not smart enough in dullform and the emotions needed are too varied for an ordinary form to act as an intermediate then they might not be able to use a spren like that at all. I am not saying that sapiant spren and singers never bonded but I don't think it ever reached the level of connection for a form change to take place. Being angry or wanting to help carry a burden is one thing but Honor or Law is way harder to intuit. The Fused Regardless of their cause the desolations only got as bad as they did because the singers went to Odium. The singers that would become the fused became cognitive shadows by using Odium's power. Brandon has explained becoming a CS fairly clearly on several occasions so I won't here. The important point is that as fused their abilities would function differently based on what was known about them. Cognitive shadows cannot help but be influenced by the thoughts of those around them and Odium would have cared more for military utility then having ten(or nine) spesific powers. The stormfather made an odd remark at the beginning of OB claiming that the fused were dangerous "before they learned to command the surges." His statement may be general but it also might point to the fused only having their powers "nailed down" by experimentation and experience. Before they had more general powers not tied particularly well to any spesific surge. The Shanay-im are clearly designed to fly, the Nex-im clearly built to kill suddenly while unarmed, and the carapace of the Magnified Ones cannot be a coincidence but until it was decided by everyone that the fused follow the nine different surges one surge per order it would not have been true. Shanay-im might initially have had powers that worked a bit more like Peter Pan but one day found out about lashings. This also explains how some fused abilities are so spesific to the point where their are several possible surges as candidates. Odium would have wanted groups of soldiers that could fulfill spesific roles(scouts, tanks, supports, and so on). The people at the time would categorize the fused based on what they knew and would have named their abilities after spesific surges. The fused would then find their powers working more in line with what the surges predict. A random point The Oathpact Putting aside their surgebinding the biggest problem with the fused is no one can permanently kill them. This give the humans at the time a problem. How do you kill an idea? Since antilight had not been invented yet the oathpact was seen as the best solution. Trapping the fused indefinitely in a place where they can do no harm. The fused may be seen as spren of the people they once were. The idea of people who really hate humans. To trap them on Braize the Heralds needed another idea, the oathpact, that could keep them there. If you know that something wants to kill you you need to know hat something is stopping them from doing so in order to feel that they are not a threat. Ishar's solution was to turn the ten best people he knew into spren. It is a bit difficult to get your head around but the oathpact works by making the fused and the Heralds unable to think they can leave their prison. The fused are the idea of those who hate humans and the Heralds are the idea of those who prevent them from acting on their hate. Should any Herald stop thinking of themselves that way the oathpact will falter and the fused begin to cross back. The heralds were able to shift the oathpact onto Taln by essentially thinking "it is his problem/burden not mine." As long as Taln believed for example that "he had to hold out until the others joined him" then the fused would have to get him to yield even if "until" never happened. Radiants and Surgebinding The oathpact of course had an unforeseen weakness. It only functioned as long as the Heralds could keep believing in it. If that belief stops for just a moment then the oathpact is undermined and the fused can escape causing a desolation. The Heralds could access the surges using their connection to Honor. (Anyone deeply connected enough to a magic system's shard will usually gain access to that magic system.) Honor's magic system was/became(the causality in this is as annoying as spirit realm logic since it kind of works circularly) the surges so the Heralds were connected to surgebinding. Since the Heralds shared their connection to Honor it became/was that the surges were shared between them. We know from WoR that Spren imitated Honor by connecting themselves to humans. The first spren bonds were made without oaths and had very vaguely defined limitations. The following analogy is highly flawed but it might make sense to consider these early spren bonds similar to early romantic relationships. No one involved entirely knows what they are doing, what does and does not work seems temperamental, and results both good and bad are so circumstantial as to defy anyone's ability to follow them. Over time various surgebinders must have figured out some rules, through trial and error at least, but to continue the analogy not everyone learns the right lessons. Some of the spren bonds clearly developed in ways that were ethically problematic or had dangerous implications as we know from Nohadon's vision. Enter a bondsmith (or possibly bondsmiths). Oath and Orders People found surgebinding concerning. Because of this a Bondsmith needed to set spesific limits on the power. Thus they created the oaths and orders that all radiants now abide by. It now makes sense to abandon our earlier analogy about relationships and change it to one about legal development. The oaths are like a legal code or constitution. Their intended purpose is to regulate or limit power but at the same time they allow people to express it more precisely. In a constitutional democracy a president or prime minister has a great deal of limitations on their authority. At the same time they also have spesific powers that allow them to take unpopular actions without consultation or repercussions the same way a monarch might. For example firing a minister has actually spelled an effective end for more then a few kings. It lost them important supporters among the aristocracy or civil service but a US president may oust a cabinet head without consequence or meaningful objection. Where once spren powers were finicky and context dependent one could now have organized understanding of what powers they had, how to gain more, and what those powers would be. At the same time receiving greater power meant agreeing to binding restrictions. The most powerful radiants would also be the ones who had the hardest time acting based solely on personal motives. It seems likely this process was amended more then once to greater or lessor degrees. The in world WoR indicates that Ishar set up the original oaths and knights. His goals, influenced by past mistakes, would have been aimed at restraining the damage radiants could do. The original rules he set up with Honor probably included limiting adhesion and clearly delineating the orders and power sets. Adhesion allows one to connect to thing and even mess with the nature of bonds themselves. Ishar probably wanted to stop anyone from remaking the magic system and rending any other changes moot. Clearly delineating orders and powers reduces the amount of uncertainty and gives the Heralds people who cultivated different skills in upcoming desolations. I personally think a later bondsmith(perhaps Nohadon himself) made later changes on a smaller scale(like a constitutional amendment): Making spren bonds consensual. This change was likely required to keep spren on the human side of the war. Spren are not perfect and might end up bonding someone they regret. However the stormfather must accept oaths.to make them valid. If a human were to swear an oath technically in keeping with their radiant ideals that went against the will of the spren then the stormfather might be able to refuse the oath and identify the surgebinder speaking it. This would explain why the stormfather still holds the king in such high esteem and why the sibling accepted radiant bonds but is so horrified by fabrails. The Old Magic Cultivation is confirmed to have her own magic system witch we have seen and is related to the old magic. The rules and nature of this magic system are unknown. The name itself though is a clue. Roshar had a large number of magical phenomena and not all of them fit in well with the ten surges. The old magic is not magic that predates surgebinding but rather the magic stuff that the surgebinding model was unable to work with and so with Cultivations influence grew into its own thing. This is pure speculation but I wonder what happens to spren dead. It might be a rare occurrence among the most powerful and intelligent spren but if a flamespren were to vanish there is literally no way to know since they are all identical. I think the old magic revolves around consuming spren rather then bonding them. Doing so may alter your SDNA as the spren is consumed(this is similar to hemalurgy in the same way that eating is to organ transplanting). I think this is how Lift digests food into free investiture. She matches the food's cognitive aspect to her own and then uses her own innate investiture to change the food's spiritual aspect to hers. By the law of investiture conservation the food cannot simply vanish so instead it turns into pure investiture that she can use through her bond. Her boon was a quantity of investiture she can use to jump start this reaction. A Future Magic System Since the past diagram was apparently not enough I decided to create a new rosharan magic system. Navani recently ran up against ethical problems with fabrails. Basically the sibling is not OK with spren being forcibly trapped in the physical realm indefinitely. However given the amount of trouble humans have getting the spren to behave as they want(not to mention trapping them in the first place) wouldn't it be nice if both sides were to just work out an agreement? I imagine in the future a set of rules could be worked out by a bondsmith(say Navani) governing the proper methods for summoning a spren and putting it to work. Perhaps making a spanreed in the future involves humming the right tune(rhythm of the flames) above a candle while holding a ruby filled with stormlight with an agreement written out in metallic inc for any flamespren that is interested. A simplified spren language could even be develped for this exact purpose. Conclusion Writing this out was kind of exhausting and I actually deliberatly avoiding going down several tangent threads. I am more then happy to explain, discuss, amend, correct, or debate any portion of the theory with those who are both interested and actually took the time to read all that. It has been to long since I had a full shard discussion.
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  47. Oh yeah, no worries Topic has been moved to Cosmere, though note that does not include Rhythm of War spoilers, as it's still in the spoiler period.
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  48. The Windunner ideals seem to be progessing from more external to internal, i.e. from protecting others, to more internal epiphanies related to that first oath. My guess is that the Fifth will be something along the lines of a mirror of the First. Perhaps "I acknowledge that others can protect me, and I am worth protecting."
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  49. Am I the only one who thought Eric was Hoid at first. Eric and his unwillingness to touch a sword plus his carefree character main me instantly think of Hoid which of course isn't possible but the way he described Eric made me think of Hoid.
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