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It's that time of year.... I can still hardly believe it's been an entire storming year since I joined the shard There are so many people I need to thank and I can't believe I have had the honor of knowing over the past year, it amazes me, however my parents are making me go to bed now, so I won't be able to tell y'all just how amazing you are until tomorrow, but in short, just know that my experience here has been amazing with every single person I've met. You are all fabulous and lovely, truly, thank you.

Today I got a lego dragon for less than twenty dollars. Faith in humanity: restored.

Why am I making this update? Number one, to say how much I appreciate Ted Nasmith and Alan Lee's art for The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion. Their work is incredible. Second, there's a Russian rock opera based on events from the Silmarillion, and I need to share that. Finrod Zong It's an hour forty minutes long, and in Russian (duh), but it's great. You should check it out.

DatS 17 Mistborn spoilers:

When you get in heated arguments over the pronunciation of "Adolin"

"All I know is that when I first woke up, my very first thoughts were 'Vertical Gastropodical Inclination (or VGI): the action of a snail crawling up a wall'" - @Chasmessian

After a bunch of kerploofery, @Illweiis going to be my co-GM for the game!

DatS 17:

Interestingly, he does not recreate the visions. Glys is the one who does it and uses Light to do so, and it takes effort and tires him out pretty quickly. As for your actual question, I don't know, and am very curious on that too. Maybe Glys can make illusions (which only he and Renarin can see, for whatever reason) and "capturing" and "recreating" the vision is just that, memorizing and then recreating from the memory? But either way, this seems to be different from the visions themselves, which Renarin speaks about as if they can't be controlled.

"Wine before bread. Stroganoff before wheat germ. Journey before gustation. These are the Oral Words and I invite you to say them with me each week, here on Nohadon's Kitchen." Nohadon's Kitchen is made possible by donations from the Alethala Tourism Council, the Thalath Merchant Guild, and viewers like you.

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.

This is a slight follow up to DatS2.

Would Nale make a good champion for Odium? Now that taravangian is Odium I feel like a more subtle choice would work better... Someone like Elhokar that Dalinar would have difficulty fighting on a non-combat level. But if we were choosing from the available fighting pool Nale would certainly make a fearsome opponent.

Nightblood?

Heh, thought you meant the Heavenly Ones at first and was so confused. Nah, she tries it and it doesn't work. RoW 67:

It is not the troubled Szeth It is not the *gags again* Jakamav

Wow I've sort of rambled my heart out so I am apologizing in advance if I don't make sense or give bad advice. as i go: pg 1 “R pulled A into a turn” whoa whoa whoa im diving headfirst into the deep end here. Are they dancing or are they walking out to the dance area? What's going on? -also where are they at?? -who is Mart? I mean… i can assume things but i feel like im on the outside here. Is he a previous crush Ali had? I see the joke you’re going for but i don't actually get it. -I guess R goes into Mart a bit in the next paragraph… but i still dont know who he is. edit: right, he's the Li heir. my brain just skipped over that. -also this feels like a 180 for R’s personality. Does he like Ali more than Isr? -okay so on my second read of page one, i dont mind all the talk about M. i did my first read while i was at work and i was just not fully engaged, hence my confusion. also there's all these dukes and heirs and its hard to latch onto everything. pg 2 -”tell Adr not to go flirting” see here is some gossip that i could get on board with. However, Idk who Adr is so it falls a little flat. Maybe if we saw Al and Adr interact this could work better. Idk who Li is either tho so again, my engagement isnt as high as it could be. Is Li a person or a place? Or both? “Wont want to risk even a drop of K blood” smh pg 3 “You were right, L must have wanted” im a bit confused here. I feel like i missed some interaction with Al and R. edit: okay, i remember this from three chapters ago, but only barely “It wasnt unusual for Za” agh im sorry im still having trouble with all the names. I think its because we’ve had a lot of POVs and im still learning who everyone is, especially all the minor players. “Having ignored D’s warning” but D just glanced at them? How is Al supposed to know what that means?? “Ill be staying for now” im confused >.< he says this like they were already conversing. I mustve missed something. I think its cause i dont get their relationship. I guess Z mustve thought R would go with him? pg 4 “What had he failed to do” i like this. I think you should have more of this sort of thing. It gives me a good sense of their relationship pg 5 “The best way to explain things to someone who” i like this too pg 6 “Next time” no! There is no next time! There is only now! i sense bad things coming. “He had obviously noted R’s glance” i think theres a lot of this that bogs the story down. Im always going to be more interested in the dialogue pg 7 “He took another drink...toward their right...banquet tables” yeah stuff like this can be condensed or cut. The gap between dialogue is too long i think. A lot of times i forget what was even said previously. Edit: upon my second read, it wasnt as bad. pg 8 “Who had said that he and Is werent close” oooh drama pg 9 -super intrigued in all this talk about Is because I know Al and R and Is. pg 10-16 -this talk with the king has interesting parts, but again, it feels bogged down with all the breaths, glances, etc. I like that we learn R didnt know how serious Is’s condition was and that we learn about what kind of leader R wants to be. I expect it won't go as he plans but I like it nonetheless. This whole section can definitely be cut down to make the conversation way more meaningful. Just remember that you don't have to describe every single thing they do, or every time they look away. I can pretty much imagine a lot of that on my own. Overall Good news is, I can definitely tell this POV apart from the others. R has a voice and Im into it. He’s probably the most intriguing character so far, seeing as he seemed like a jerk before but its obviously much deeper than that. I like that Is and others underestimate R when he is actually quite smart. I also like the idea of R trying to show Al the ropes of the court. I think even though I haven’t seen much of R, this chapter already puts him at the top of my list character wise. i love a misunderstood character lol. I’ve been having a rough time getting my thoughts across and thinking critically about things so… bear with me please. I'm gonna try to talk through the story and see where you lost me. This will get a bit rambly but we’re all ramblers here, right? Okay, so. A lot of my frustration with part 1 comes from the fact that I cant really see where this is going. Isr gets poisoned... and then what? I really do think the poisoning is a good hook. It's just the things that come after that make the stakes feel low. (i would like to note tho that the stakes are not low for Al, i recognize that) Anyway, onward. We watch this helpless duke try to save Isr even if he could possibly get blamed for the poisoning. Also good. He’s got a lot to lose. Or does he? What if you explained what he has to lose by helping Isr (if I help her, i could get blamed, then they wont support these roads that ive been building and i could have a whole army at my doorstep. Eff it. I’ll help her anyway) unless you already did say something like that and i just can't remember... i remember the "arrest me later" bit but not much else. Then there's a secret trial for Al with only the king and two others. Good. It was a nice intro to the magic. I want to feel al’s emotions more. I think after this is where you lost me because i cant remember what happens next… Al meets with his old teacher who is suspicious and then goes to a council meeting where I cant remember a thing. Also Isr is awake and she is in bed for like 20 years. ← wasnt meant to sound malicious lol So, the political situation. I feel like there's a lot of info or maybe it's just that it didn't stick with me because it's so early on in the story, but it definitely didn't hook me like it should have. There's a lot of characters that I had trouble keeping track of. Overall It’s just a lot of information to absorb in only a few chapters and it's hard to feel invested. It feels like there's a lot going but at the same time, it doesnt. So idk how to explain that. Okay, i thought about it. I think i get the same feeling about this as I did when i tried to watch fate/zero. the idea was exciting. the first bit was exciting. then, it was just these guys walking and talking, exposition galore. i feel like after Al's meeting with the king, a lot of talking happens but not a lot of action. I.e. the council meeting, Isr in bed, all of Al's scenes, even the dance was just talking. Nothing really happened. I might be wrong in this (i probably am) because I cant remember everything that's happened, but that's how i feel as of now. I know that this story is largely political right now, but it doesn't feel intriguing like it should. I think at least with Al you could get away with all the loads of info by having him be equally confused. R notes that Al doesn't understand how the court works and i think you could realllly lean into that in Al's POVs. He's been in seclusion for a while, right? (i cant remember if you stuck with that) He probably is having trouble remembering everyone's positions and names. That would be relatable. But also he is in a position of leadership so he should know everyone else, right? Idk. If you did stick with Al not being around for a while then suddenly showing up, then I feel like that plot point got abandoned because it isn't really mentioned much. I guess maybe i got the wrong impression with where the story was going back in the first chapter. Wait. I dont even remember why the duke is here in the first place. Was it just for that tournament? Oof. My memory has not been the best these days. So, I went back and skimmed the first chapter and it was good! You've got a solid start there! I forgot how promising the first chapter was. All in all, I'm going to say the politics ruined it for me. They were too confusing at the start. Too much for my small brain to handle right now. A lot of this is also WRS. So there's that. On the brightside, Im still interested in seeing where this goes, despite all the harsh things I've said. I hope i didn't confuse you too much and helped even in the most miniscule way. It's seven am and i've been up since 2pm yesterday

It’s mentioned that in vorin illustrations he wears a crown but I think Brandon said that he doesent wear a crown

Hi, I'm new. Have had a idea and this seemed a good place to share. First off let me apologize for odd formatting since I am on my phone and don't have my notes. I have an odd feeling that the Dawnshards are along the order of: Change, Be, Think, Feel. "Be" is a term I use since I don't know a good word for the physical aspects. Examples could be Honor (if viewed as combine/unite), Endowment (Divide), Preservation (could be interpreted as exist). "Think" would be aspects of the cognitive. Looking at Google I've seen the mind broken into Self, Creativity/Problem Solving, Memory, and Senses. I can see Invention, Autonomy, and maybe Whimsy fitting some of those positions. "Feel" covers the emotional spectrum. We have many Shards the fill in as emotional aspects. Odium, Mercy, and Devotion all come to mind. "Change" is change I guess. Cultivation could be one, Dominion could be another. Ruin makes an obvious appearance here as well. My reasons for thinking they are broken into these groups is that we know one Dawn shard is different, I think that's Change. It isn't what we call part of a person. Many people would say a person is a "Mind, Body, and Soul". Those would be the other 3 Dawnshards. One each for each realm and one that is different. Many western religions say that man was made in the image of god or something similar, so it's not a huge leap to say Big Ado broke into the aspects of what would make up a person. Or at least what would be the fundamental building blocks for a singular sapient entity. Depends on your definition of "person" in the Cosmere. I am very far down the rabbit hole on this.

I know there are lots of threads about who will be Odium's champion and apologies if this has been covered, i did a quick search and someone briefly mentioned Taln, as Odium could take away his pain. I was struck towards the end of the RoW when they are fighting Ishar how impressed Dalinar is with his fighting skill "he is a duelist" Dalinar thought. "storms, and a good one" and the Storm Father told him "Among the Heralds, Ishar was average in skill" "He is average among them?" Dalinar asked. "Then ..... who was the best?" "Taln," is the Storm Fathers response and he later states "there is no dispute" So my theory is either ToDium learns this info and is will to remove his pain if he fights for him- pretty standard- or Kalidan helps him recover and Dalinar believing he has an unbeatable champion names him and leaves himself open to being Odium's champion. Then the belief he would be Odiums champion comes to be. Either way it would be great to have the best duelist of all time in the fight Thoughts???- please be kind.

It's totally just going to be "I will protect myself"

There actually was a lot of debate on the cut among us staff when we decided which shape a perfect gem should have. Some of us are on the side that they're likely to be perfectly spherical (or at least approximating a sphere with many facets), while others - including me - think they have more "realistic" interesting cuts like we have here on earth. The internal crystal structure and purity probably plays a more significant role in determining the quality of the gem than the cut, but we do of course know that "better" cuts affect it as well - we just don't know what qualifies a good cut. I personally think it's got something to do with the cut "fitting" to the underlying crystal lattice. There's probably a compelling argument to be made for it also being somewhat affected by perception, too. That is, a technically perfect (in an IRL sense) brilliant cut might be suitable for a perfect gem since people perceive it as beautiful and perfect. Regarding your point about the gems shining themselves, an important distinction to make is between light and Light here (very unfortunate terminology xD). I don't think the cut is all that much about "trapping" rays of light inside the gem, they do glow after all. It's about containing the gaseous stuff inside them and the considerations for that are likely to be completely different than for the light they emit (or refract and reflect in the case of external light). So in that sense the cuts might indeed be completely different than on earth, but it doesn't have anything to do with the fact that the gems shine by themselves.

If this happens, I believe they'll need to replace most of the Heralds, not only Jezrien. Let's be real, alive or not, they're not up to this job anymore. It ties to the WoB that the back 5 is supposed to be focused on the Heralds instead of Radiants. I can't imagine we'll swap the whole cast, especially with Renarin, Jasnah, and Lift as flashback characters. Also, I think it'd be only a temporary measure to survive the years between the series halves. So nobody will consider this an ideal solution, but it'll be the only patch they'll have at hand after some massive defeat in book 5. And then in the back five, they'll come up with something more permanent.

LG79/AN10 Day 4: And Edith Refused to Die The highstorm raged, battering on the small structure the escapees had found in the side of a hill. Water leaked from the ceiling, and a child cried softly in the corner. Thunder boomed, and as the darkness closed in on Edith, she started in his sleep. Right before she got stabbed through the chest with a sword. She bellowed in pain, and looked groggily around herself for her attacker. She thought she saw a figure move away into shadows. Storms, she didn't even have any spheres for light at the moment, as they were all outside being reinfused. People aroused to her shout of pain, and Thane came over with some bandages to come and help. Just like before, if it hadn't been for the armor of warform, Edith would have died. Even as it was, she could still die of blood loss if she didn't tend to the stab wound. --- Abaram was displeased. The little pieces of crem were resisting her efforts to end their sad little lives. After all, the only reason most of them were still alive was due to her whims, after all. She eyed Moirin. Did that woman even sleep? She seemed to always be careful to either be awake or have someone near her awake, never leaving an open chance to kill her. But someday she would slip up, and that was when she would strike. --- Thane walked outside as the storm began to fade. He needed to clean off some cloth to put on Edith's wound. After he finished doing so, he went to walk back into the hut, only to find unusual patterns painted on the door. Thane frowned, unable to make heads or tails of what it meant. Probably a crazy Artform making what they saw as art. --- Plum Rhino was attacked, but survived! If @Amethyst Scorpionand @Melon Dingodo not post this turn, they will be killed off. Village Stash Player List The day will end in 47 hours at 12 EDT, 7/30/21.

I went to Youth Conference on Friday and Saturday, and one of the this we did was a hike up to a view over the valley. On the way up I just chatted with some of my friends, about random things (including Stormlight) and didn’t think too much of it. When we got to the top, some other people who I didn’t (and still don’t) really know walked up to us and said, “We were right in front of you on the way up, and could hear you talking- you guys are totally the main characters in your story.” And then they walked away. So… achievement unlocked, I guess.

Yeah, I had a similar thought pretty early on in the book, and as it went on it became way more clear how much Lifeforce didn't follow the established rule. But at the same time, his power is really weird. I kept waiting for an explanation of the ravens getting regular injections of other people's blood in order to have lives they could send their injuries to, but they never seemed to need that, instead, he seemed to be able to act as a relay for them. This makes me wonder if he's maybe a different kind of gifter than the others. In many ways Prof and Conflux seem more like batteries, giving away the "energy" of their powers which others could then use for a while. My main reason for this analogy is that David makes comments in Firefight about needing to "recharge" his gifted shield power by having Prof give it to him again, whereas if he just got a weaker ability to create force fields then he should be able to regenerate his own as long as he had the power. The fact that Lifeforce didn't give a number of extra lives, but rather the ability to draw on his own supply, suggests that rather than acting like a power supply that could give others some charge he instead was able to create a connection to them that they could draw on for a constant supply of power. For this reason alone, we might be able to conclude that there are different kinds of gifters, and thus they might not all share the same limits. But as I said, Lifeforce's powers are weird. Deathrise only complicates the matter, as its unclear how much of Lifeforce's powers were his own abilities, and how much was from Deathrise. Part of this mystery is the events around Lifeforce's first attempted suicide after being rejected by Lovestruck. When we first heard the story, I was wondering who was around to touch him and activate his power, since at that point he didn't have the strategy of injecting blood into himself. I have to wonder if Deathrise possessed him then, and somehow provided a burst of healing, saving him from the suicide, like how Page was saved from her raven wounds. But as I said, I'm not sure if the injury transfer was Lifeforce's own power, or if he was never an epic at all, and it was always Deathrise inside of him providing the power. One thing that will help make this clear is whether or not Page manifests the injury transfering, or if she develops her own abilities. The only reason I hold back from thinking that Lifeforce might have not been an epic at all is that he had an epic weakness. Otherwise I'd wonder if he was something different that came about through Deathrise. But that might be a discussion for another thread. My point just being here that Lifeforce was very much not a normal epic, and his ability to gift his powers to other epics is only one piece of that.

Something that has been brought up in a few different places is the amount that the village depends on alignment scans rather than doing analysis to solve the game. So I thought of an idea for a pseudo alignment scan to kick things off in a game where the GM is worried the village might struggle. Basically, around Cycle 3-4 roughly, if no elims have yet been caught, the elim team has to choose one of their members to be revealed as an elim and removed from the game. However, unlike a regular death, that player does not get access to the dead doc, and is still able to participate in the elim doc. I think this might work well as a core mechanic in a QF or MR with 15+ players.

The Honorblades are weapons The Heralds got Surges from their Blades They were provided new bodies for each return Those bodies were very good bodies with superhuman abilities so useful in combat The Heralds get supplied with the current language upon their return (Taln speaks contemporary Alethi) They get a convinient head start to form and train armies in each Desolation The Dawnshards were available to them, at least for some time What does it tell you about the planer if what is called a backup plan for an eventuality is better thought out, better prepared and works better than the primary plan?

By far the worst sin against physical realism in firearms I've seen in Mistborn comes from the Wax flashback scene, when he fires a bullet out of a naked cartridge to kill the bad guy. Bullets do not work that way. Without a barrel to channel the powder explosion, the bullet won't accelerate up to any serious velocity. To put it simply, you can't get a gunshot without a gun.

This is actually an interesting thing, because science and technological development don't need to happen in the same order as they did here on Earth. To me it makes the world feel more real with its history. This could be due to the fact that the Basin is so bountiful and providing of their needs. The have less of a need or interest to learn more as things are for the most part provided for them, but in comparison, material science needs are something they have to provide for themselves and thus more reason to put in the effort and resources to develop it

DatS 15

DatS 14:

DatS cover art (Pencil version)

DatS 13 The comic will be taking a break next week because I have a wedding.

Who’s Kell talking to?

Death and the Survivor 9

Death and the Survivor 8

Shallan and Adolin will make their DatS debut this week, so... Here are their character sketches.

"Well I didn't have a reason to message you until your pelicans confused me" - Drammie

Personally I loved Kalidan's mental health struggles in this book. As someone who struggles with depression, his experiences hit me hard. I think that for some people it might be overkill to have him so depressed, but it really makes me feel, and I appreciate that. The scene where he breaks down in his room gave me chills, because I've had the exact same thing happen to me. I love when Adolin and Syl come in to try to help, and eventually get him to go out. That's one of my favorite chapters, I love the friendship between those two. Admittedly, because of how I relate to it sometimes reading those parts can be hard, but I also love the depth of which he feels. The scene where Hesina convinces Lirin to ask why Noril has painted the glyph on his head resonates with me so much too. Noril explains that Kal gives him hope, he feels that because Kal can get up every day and fight, so can he. That's really the main reason I love these. Because I see him push forward, with the help of friends, and come out stronger at the end. It is so so powerful for me, because I see his pain, but I feel hope that I can feel happy again too, and push through like Kal does. The part with Tien made me cry, because it impacts Kal so much. Tien gives him hope and love, and Kal finally allows himself to feel that love. And the next part with Kaladin saving Syl was also so beautiful, that chapter is probably my favorite in the book. Anyway, that was super long, but those are my feelings.

The plan is make Brandon a steel compounder + sliders, and give the enitre fanbase a-cadmium.

Guys, it’s a Koloss Head-Munching Day Miracle. While Tay was kind of keen to wait on the Graphic Audio version of Rhythm of War, she realized that it’s going to be, like, a year before all six parts are released and we can listen to it all in one go. As a result, I am currently reading to her (and imitating the excellent voice acting from the previous Graphic Audio versions), while Tay does some sound effects when prompted (she was very good at imitating the red chicken from the Lift interlude). All this to say: we’ve started Part III of Rhythm of War, and since this is not in the designated RoW section, all of Tay’s reactions and theories will be covered by the Shroud of Spoilers. Again, just to be absolutely clear, please do not read the below if you have not yet read Parts I and II of Rhythm of War. Happy reading! And there you have it, folks! Will Tay’s predictions about Taravangian come true? Will she get progressively more annoyed at Venli? How will she react to the flashbacks? FIND OUT NEXT TIME! Crem before cremlings. *Bridge Four Salute*

Fadran: No one here is capable of going to hell Stick: Challenge accepted

Hello everyone! I can see you’re all eagerly awaiting our next post. I have to admit, it has been a long time coming and we’re only on, like, chapter 9 right now. Basically what happened was that, as you all know, Tay is a high school English teacher, and trying to navigate the weird new world of online and in-person schooling right now is proving to be incredibly exhausting. As a result, it took us six tries to get through chapter one since she fell asleep so fast at the end of the day. Please respect your teachers, folks. They work harder than Kelsier trying to escape the Pits. Six tries you guys. I stayed awake through each attempt, so by our last try I could quote most of Shallan’s dialogue. The point is – we made it through to the other side, and now Tay is on a three-week break from teaching so we can probably get some proper listening in. Here are some of the reactions from the first chapters or Word of Radiance: -- TAY: Moash is getting his bridge four tattoo on his arm? Don’t you want a bridge four tattoo on your arm? ME: Yes. TAY: Ha! So you’d be like Moash! And you hate him for some reason so haha! -- *Encountering early Pattern bumping into table legs and being generally dumb* TAY: Man, it would be so fitting for Shallan to have a stupid spren. What is he? An idiotspren? Shallan’s the worst. -- *After Jasnah’s explanation that spren are the formation of human’s collective observation, Tay spent a good 10 minutes trying to convince me that there must be a Taylor Swift spren because she is thought about so often by humanity, particularly due to her new album* *I actually couldn’t disagree – could T-Swizzle have a cognitive shadow due to our collective thoughts regarding her? A sort of pop/country tulpa? Do I think about these things too much? Maybe* *Also - Swiftspren in Kholinar in book 3... it's all coming together.* -- *Navani scolds Dalinar for his talking about God being dead and says he’ll “end up like Jasnah”* TAY: Ungh. Navani is just like my mother. ME: Why? TAY: She’s acting like if someone is like her daughter it’s the worst thing ever! “Tay, sometimes you can be a bit… intense.” -- *Tay visibly cringes each time Dalinar and Navani kiss or act lovely together* -- *Dalinar’s vision of the Thunderclast* TAY: I like those spren things. They will be skeletonbois. -- *Honor mentions challenging Odium to a battle of Champions* TAY: The champion for the good guys is going to be Kaladin, right? ME: Read and find out! TAY: I hate you. *10-minute conversation ensues with her trying to guess who Odium’s champion would be* -- TAY: I know it’s not going to happen… ME: You sound apprehensive. TAY: But I kind of want Dalinar and Kaladin to get together. ME: No! He’s Kaladin’s father figure, Tay! TAY: But he keeps talking about getting lost in Dalinar's ‘unfathomable eyes’! So dreamy! -- TAY: Yes, Shallan. Soulcast the ship into water. What could possibly go wrong with that idea? Idiot. -- There it is everyone! First reactions from book 2. We may not be going through the books as quickly as the Overlady, but hey, we’re making progress. Things are about to heat up in book 2, so I’m sure we’ll have some fun reactions for you soon! Journey before destination!

Good day one and all! As promised, here is Tay's take on your questions. We will continue to make our way through Words of Radiance and try to contribute regularly in this long, hard 110 day waiting period between now and when Rhythm of War is finally released. In the meantime, enjoy Comedy Stormlight Archive Wife (as she has been graciously dubbed by the members of this forum) once again. Tay: Okay, so Szeth is going to like, go and try to kill Dalinar, but Dalinar's "godly goodness" is going to win him over! And he's going to fight by Dalinar's side. Me: That's an... interesting take. This has been censored because of the many swears - just know that these were not Cosmere-appropriate when she said them. Tay: Ungh. Sadeas can (verb) my (appendage). He's just going to be stupid and like plotting dumb (excrement) like how to take down Dalinar or take down the King (because I'm pretty sure he still wants to do that). I think he's just going to be plotting and manipulative and stuff behind the scenes. I bet he's going to be really pissy that Dalinar outsmarted him and go away on the battlefield - and he's going to try to take it out on Dalinar in any way he can because he's slimy and underhanded and has a little (appendage). Rock Lobsters Tay: Rock lobsters are a common feature of the... Cosmere? Yes, the Cosmere. I think everybody needs to understand that I have very in-depth knowledge of the - um - flora and fauna of... this... society. Me: Would you like to elaborate some more on the flora and fauna of Roshar? Other than rock lobsters of course, since you know so much about them. Tay: Oh yes I know all about them. Also there are chorls. Me: Yes, chulls. Crab-cows. Tay: Yes. There are plants that shrink in Highstorms. Yes, that's most of them. I guess you could say I'm a botanical expert. Spren Tay: I don't understand spren! This is something I'm still not getting. Spen are giant freakshows that try to terrorise you and kill you like what happen to Jasnah in the prologue and then take you into the Spooky-Spook? But they can also be super cute like Syl and make sassy comments on your shoulder and everyone finds her endearing! OR you can trap them in lamps! I'm not understanding the spren situation and it upsets me. As a result, what kind of spren do I want to see introduced? I don't know! Maybe something that makes sense of what spren are! Kadolin Tay: While I'm really hoping for love at first sight - I don't think that's going to happen. *discussion ensues where I remind her that Kaladin and Adolin have met before in Book 1 on two occasions - Sadeas' warcamp and on the Tower where Kaladin does the Bavarian Fire Drill* Tay: Oh yes! I remember - he sees him on the battlefield and Adolin's all like "who tf this slontze?" Yes. While I want them to fall madly in love with each other at first sight, I don't think that's going to happen. I feel like Adolin's going to be kind of pissy about some low-born guy just swanning in and getting a seat at the table. I think he rates himself a good guy, but he's a judgemental (appendage) really. I also think Adolin's going to be suspicious of Kaladin and his intentions. Why would you just happen to save us - why would you, Slaveboi, risk your own life to save us? Adolin doesn't understand that Kaladin's all magical and stuff and has an honor issue. Me: Everyone on Roshar has an honor issue. Tay: But yeah, he's going to be super suspicious of Kaladin. And then maybe if they can get past that, they can be homies. But that's Adolin's thing to get over, not Kaladin.

Hello fellow mind-readers, just wanted to let you know that Tay and I have started book 2 as of last night. Shadesmar is henceforth to be known as The Spooky-Spook.

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