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  1. So, I think I can make an educated guess on what the oaths of the Elscallsers might be based on the characterization of Jasnah. When we look at the other Radiants in the story, their oaths always seem to incorporate a virtue the character expresses, the devine attributes of the Herald of their order and sometimes a flaw they have to overcome. Kaladin is a guy who instinctively wants to help protect people, and he’s also a natural leader. But he takes too much responsibility and stretches himself to thin to be effective. So his last oath is him confronting that he cannot save everyone. Shallan is a very creative person, who tries to inspire other people by believing in better versions of themselves. But she has constructed many lies around herself for protection and isn’t honest with others. So her oaths have her admitting truths to herself and others. Lift treats everyone she meets with the same level of respect ( or disrespect) and doesn’t seem to discriminate against people. She even doesn’t thik that badly about the people she fights. But she is pretty selfish in the beginning and very used to only looking out for herself. Her orders oaths teach her to remember other people and to listen to them instead of just moving on without a care. You get the Idea. Lets get to Jasnah. The attributes of her herald are wise and careful. And I think her order also values truth and knowledge. We know that over the course of the books Jasnah has progressed significantly in her oaths. I tried to think about what her naturally good attributes are and what flaws she has actively worked on as she seeks her oaths Jasnah is a very intelligent person and excels at the things she starts. She is able to reflect on her own actions and question established viewpoints. But, her general competence has boosted her confidence to a point where she can be dismissive, cruel and stubborn. I always come back to the scene in the hospital where she apologizes to Shallan saying that apologies are something more people should practice. And I think she did just that. Admitting shes wrong doesn’t come naturally to her but she made an effort to learn and I believe this is connected to her oaths. Something else we see her do is to question the established teachings about her culture and society. She is an open heretic. She questions and actively defies the male and female arts although she would be able to embody the feminine ideals perfectly. And in the fourth book she has openly demanded to end slavery despite being among the most privileged people in Vorin society. Something that other radiants like Dalinar or Navani seem to not understand at first. This kind of thinking, in my opinion ,is required of an Elsecaller. she is also actively researching the end of the world against all odds, instead of ignoring the signs. So lets get to my guesses for the oaths. I :”Live before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination" II :”I will seek uncomfortable truth over blissful ignorance” III: “I accept that I can be mistaken. And I will admit when I am wrong" IV: “ I will strive to be objective in my views; But will accept that my own viewpoint is narrow and limited” I’m not saying this will be the exact words. Or even that it’s correct when paraphrased. But I’m quite confident that this will be the theme for the Elsecallers. what do you think?
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  2. Mr Sanderson, You saved my life with Chapter 91, Worth Saving, in Rhythm Of War. I truly hope this story reaches you. My name is Nick, I am 32 years old, and I share more than a few similarities with Teft. I was a Corporal in the Marine Corps, and received an honorable discharge. A few years after getting out, I somehow managed to get hooked on Heroin, which I assume is equivalent to the fire moss. I never really did drugs in my life, somehow I ended up going straight to Heroin, that is a different story, for a different time. What I’m getting into now is how God saved my life through you. I googled my birthday horoscope one day a few years ago, birthday being July 7th, 1989. I looked at my lucky numbers from each horoscope, out of the three numbers on each, the number 9 was on both. I adopted 9 to be my lucky number. A few years ago, I had a conversation with my aunt, who is a nurse practitioner. We were talking about my addiction, and I said the phrase “I think that I am Worth Saving”. She said “Repeat those last two words” Worth Saving. Well I’ve been battling this off and on for 6 years now. January 5th of this year I checked myself into the hospital. I was way past my rock bottom. At that time I hardly prayed. Two or three nights later, I did for the first time in years. I essentially asked God to take my life, so the suffering can end, my family can heal and move on. I asked God why would he save me from certain death twice, when friends I know who have toddlers and more to lose, never got a second chance. I was hopeless and truly about to give up. I woke up the next morning after that prayer, within the first two hours after waking, I picked up Rythym Of War where I left off and continued reading. Two chapters into reading, I get to Page 999, Chapter 91, Worth Saving. I don’t believe in coincidences, add up the coincidence of 999, with my conversation with my aunt about worth saving, and add in it’s about Teft, who my real life story parallels, two hours after waking up, when I said that prayer a few hours ago, and that was the day I knew without a doubt God exists, and that my life changed. I chose today to write you because tomorrow I celebrate 7 months clean and sober, just the amount of time Teft had in that chapter. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart Mr. Sanderson. Lastly, I know my autograph means nothing. I was hoping that I would catch you at a signing one day, and be able to share this story with you. I wanted to tear out that page and put my autograph on it, and give it to you. While it may be meaningless to you, I wanted you to have it, so that way if there ever comes a time, when you’re getting burnt out, life may becoming stagnant, where you’re asking yourself does any of this matter? Where you could look at that and remember my story, and assure yourself that it matters more than you could ever know. You are doing exactly what you were born to do. Thanks again sir! Respectfully Sent, Nick
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  3. When 11 out of 20 books that you used for senior pictures are Sanderson titles.
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  4. Hello. I'm a fan from México, I discovered Brandon Sanderson thanks to Unspoiled Podcast were they're currently covering the first mistborn trilogy. I loved it and Era 2, so I got sucked into the Cosmere, one year later I'm in my third re read (or re listen, I love the audiobooks) of mistborn, and looking forward for my third re read of Stormlight.
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  5. I had thought about this too, but it seems there’s no wind in the cognitive realm. From OB 97 Also, from OB 116: Note in this second one that Kal is feeling the wind anyway. I think this is because of the gloryspren heading toward Dalinar as he’s about to open the perpendicularity.
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  6. That’s correct. He’s referring to the spren from all orders other than the Skybreakers and the Bondsmiths. I don’t know that the Bondsmith spren have a collective name other than Bondsmith spren.
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  7. Hey all, Sorry if this is a bit rambly, I've been up for almost 24 hours and the lack of sleep is catching up to me. I hope it's able to demonstrate what I've got bouncing around up in my head. If there are any questions, feel free to ask. I had a brief discussion with Evgeni on the youtube episode Lights concerning spectroscopy. The general conclusion was that there is no physical phenomenon which would be able to lengthen bands of light after the light has been sent through a prism as we see Navani do with various Lights. I've put a bit more thought into it and wanted to propose what could be the Cosmere explanation for what is happening here. The fact that certain bands of light are physically lengthening out and other bands seem to be contracting has the interesting implication that at least the three dimensions of space are being distorted here. This has the implication that typed investiture naturally distorts physical reality in natural ways we perhaps haven't seen yet. I wish I could examine this using reference frames and taking exact measurements, but unfortunately that isn't quite possible and I'm not quite up to the task right now. However, it appears the spatial dilation and contractions only occur when invested light is passed through a prism, and while the magnitude of the distortion appears to not be insignificantly large (at least enough to be noticed), the total distortion would likely not appear too terribly abnormal on it's own to an outside observer. The only way I can really justify this within the Cosmere, and I think some of this is fairly canon already, would be to suggest thinking about investiture as a field which exists everywhere and is in everything, but isn't necessarily effecting anything at any given point, not unlike the electromagnetic field or the gravitational field. Then investing something would be putting energy into the investiture field in such a way that it is able to effect things physically. At this point, the investiture would appear to be typed. You might think of this as being like a proton with a positive charge or an electron with a negative charge but instead there are sixteen kinds of "charges" and they all interact with each other differently. Regardless of how the investiture is stored within gems or what gems the investiture is stored in, it does appear that there is a baseline investiture to energy conversion rate where the energy is given off as light (and frankly, if the above is true, then given that the light appears to distort space, it's giving off some small amount of investiture too). Though at this point I imagine that regardless of the gem it's in, the investiture to energy conversion rate is so insignificant as to be negligible in the very long term. Either that, or investiture contained in more perfect containers would glow much less brightly than in significantly cracked containers, but I would bet there is a baseline conversion rate regardless, I'll have to think more about long range order vs short range order and see if there are any non-obvious implications to the interactions gems have with investiture, but that'll have to come in a future post. Additionally, it appears that typed investiture is naturally more present within or around certain natural phenomena. Given equal quantities of Stormlight and Voidlight, I would guess the total amount of investiture present would be equal. And given that Voidlight massively distorts the purple band vs Stormlight only moderately effecting the blue band, it likely also means that Stormlight has an overall more balanced effect on many physical phenomena vs Voidlight which appears to be quite concentrated in how it's used. Though that is mostly an unprovable idea, it might just be that we see an exaggerated effect for Voidlight only within the light itself, whereas it could be that within more mundane parts of reality, it may have a more balanced effect than Stormlight. I am curious how the light from the Well of Ascension would have broken into colors and also whether or not the presence of Ruin within the Well (or his conscience or... however he was contained) would have affect the light as it is being passed through a prism. And also, if you shine light at the god metals, and then pass the reflecting light through a prism, does it break down differently and could you reflect light off of say, Raisium and then Tanavastium, and have the resulting light break into the bands formed by Warlight? tl,dr: Given that the bands of light grow and shrink based on which form of investiture is passed through a prism, no gem can perfectly contain the investiture placed within it forever. Also light is weird and so are metals.
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  8. I like it! Her spren seems to value objective truth and thinks in absolutes.
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  9. Hwhelp, I'm gonna vanish for a few days. See y'all then!
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  10. I understood it as Shallan bonding Testament, then using Testament to kill her mother, and then breaking her oaths because of it. First, she bonded the spren, and tried to protect her family. Then,she killed her mother in self-defense, the first time she summoned her blade: And then finally breaking her oaths. By the way, while Shallan's truths are now complete (I think), we still don't have the full picture of Shallan's childhood. We still have the old quote from Wit, that "the things you fight are not entirely natural", and here the comment that "“The Cryptic encouraged her to become strong enough to help her family, to stand against the terrible darkness spreading through it.” There was still some unspecified antagonist (possibly an unmade?) that young Shallan lost to and older wiser Shallan might beat in round 2/book 5.
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  11. Kind of let slip in the newsletter today that they will be doing a two day Dragonsteel mini con November 22-23. No other details in the newsletter. He also confirmed he'll be at FanX, which I've also never been to so guess now I should decide if I should get to at least one of these events this fall.
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  12. The idea for this post started as me just noticing and trying to catalog the various times when spren are described as appearing to ripple or flutter in an unseen/unfelt wind. I'd initially chalked this up to spren weirdness, but as I dug more into it, I started to cobble together a theory about something deeper going on here. Specifically, the TLDR is that I think when we see those unseen/unfelt winds, we are actually seeing waves or tides of power from the spiritual realm. And I think that Kaladin has shown how a human with honor in their heart can become attuned to that power and access it. More on the theory below, but first here's a rundown of the times when we see the rippling phenomenon, sorted by category. HONORSPREN Syl - Physical Realm The windspren stood in the air just beside his head, white dress rippling in a wind Kaladin couldn’t feel. (WoK 2) She walked with her hands clasped behind her back, her tiny, knee-length skirt fluttering in an intangible wind. (WoK 49) She slid down onto his shoulder, moving like a stiff breeze had blown her. She crossed her legs, sitting ladylike, skirt rippling as he walked. (WoR 41) She looked after Beard, her girlish dress rippling in wind that Kaladin couldn’t feel. (OB 73) Syl - Cognitive Realm Adolin jumped to his feet, scrambling back. He almost collided with a young woman with blue-white skin, pale as snow, wearing a filmy dress that rippled in the wind. (OB 87) Kaladin’s spren was different. She always seemed to be moving, slipping this way or that, girlish dress rippling as she walked, her hair swaying. (OB 93) She closed her eyes as she walked, chin up, as if basking in a wind he could not feel. (OB 95) Out through the room’s window, Kaladin could see Syl standing on the coast, watching out over the sea of beads. Her hair doesn’t ripple here, he thought. In the Physical Realm it often waved as if being brushed by an unseen breeze. Here, it acted like the hair of a human. (OB 97) Phendorana (Physical Realm) - Phendorana manifested as an older human woman, with mature features and non-nonsense Thaylen-style clothes, a skirt and a blouse. Her hair blew free as if in a phantom wind. (RoW 91) Yunfah (Physical Realm) - Yunfah stood on his cloud, his long beard whipping in the wind – though he had no real substance. (RoW 10) STORMFATHER - Cognitive Realm He searched the sky and discovered a ripple in the air, like heat rising from distant stone. A shimmer the size of a building. (OB 1) Dalinar backed up, letting Fen rejoin the people and experience the end of the vision. As he folded his arms to watch, he noted a shimmering in the air beside him. (OB 34) Dalinar turned to the side, to where he glimpsed the air shimmering. The Stormfather. (OB 38) OTHER SPREN - Physical Realm Anticipationspren Anticipationspren – like red streamers growing from the ground and whipping in the wind – clustered around them. (OB 3) Around the perimeter of the square, people hissed and whispered, anticipationspren flapping in an unseen wind. (OB 10) Translucent red streamers rose from the stone, whipping as if in the wind, one end connected to the ground. Anticipationspren. Lunamor gave them the sign of respect, hand to his shoulder, then his forehead. These were lesser gods, but still holy. He could see their true shapes beyond the streamers, a faint shadow of a larger creature at the bottom. (OB 37) The captain drew anticipationspren as he waited – ribbons that waved in the wind – and Kaza could see the beasts beyond, the creatures that accompanied the spren. (OB Interlude 4) Gloomspren - Kaladin looked up and noted an unusual spren whipping about. Long, grey, like a tattered streamer of cloth in the wind. It wound around him, fluttering. He’d seen it’s like only once or twice before. (OB 5) Creationspren - Around her, creationspren slowly vanished, most having taken the shapes of things about the camp. Swords that sheathed and unsheathed repeatedly, tiny tents that untied and blew in unseen wind. (WoR 78) OTHER SPREN - Cognitive Realm Oathgate Spren - Hovering in the air were two enormous spren – they looked like stretched-out versions of people, and stood some thirty feet tall, like sentinels. Once was pitch-black in coloring, the other red. He thought them statues at first, but their clothing rippled in the air, and they shifted, one turning eyes down to look at him. (OB 87) Notum's Steed - Notum’s grand white steed was almost a horse, though it was more graceful and supple, with long legs and a neck that bent in a way no physical spine could manage. It had large eyes but seemingly no mouth, and its hair waved in a phantom wind, like long glowing ribbons. (RoW 34) ODIUM'S FORCES Ulim - Physical Realm Ulim settled on a patch of broken branches, arms folded, his long hair rippling in an unseen wind. (OB INterlude 3) Indeed, it materialized into the shape of a small human – not a singer, but a human, with odd eyes and hair that waved in an unseen wind. (RoW 42) Aesudn/Yelig-nar (Physical Realm) - Aesudan stopped in the doorway to the king’s chambers. “I have outgrown you, Elhokar. I have taken the gemstone into me, and have harnessed Yelig-nar’s power.” Something started to twist around her, a black smoke, blown as if from an unseen wind. (OB 84) Sja-anat (Cognitive Realm) - She flowed up the steps in one realm, but barely moved in the other. Space was not entirely equal between the realms – it wasn’t that she had a foot in each realm; more, she was like two entities that shared a mind. In Shadesmar, she floated above the ocean of beads, her essence rippling. In the Physical Realm, she passed among singers who worked in the palace. (RoW Interlude 2) Odium (original flavor) - all realms at once presumably? Dalinar jumped, scrambling backward. The man was old, with a wide, furrowed face and bone-white hair that swept back from his head as if blown by wind. (OB 56) Odium held his hands to the sides, yellow-gold power streaming behind his figure like a wind made visible. (OB 115) OTHER Nale (Phyiscal Realm) - Darkness seemed to flow like smoke down the stairs, footsteps growing softer, uniform rippling in an unseen wind. (ED 19) Girl Who Looked Up (Lightweaving in Physical Realm, all from OB 25) A vibrant red scarf grew around the girl’s neck, twin tails extending far behind her and flapping in a phantom wind. “The girl traveled far,” Shallan said, looking back toward the stage. “No predators hunted her, and no storms assaulted her. The only wind was the pleasant one that played with her scarf, and the only creatures she saw were the cremlings that clicked at her as she walked.” Next to Shallan, the girl stood triumphantly on the wall’s top, her scarves and white hair streaming out behind her in a sudden wind. Unseen Tides/Currents Carefully, Kaladin entered the rows. The cloths billowed outward in the wind, but then fluttered down, reminiscent of the plants he’d often passed in the chasms. Living things that moved and flowed with the unseen tides of the blowing wind. (RoW 15) “There are currents to this world, Ishnah,” Shallan said. “They move unseen. They can tow you under suddenly, abruptly, when you thought you were swimming along perfectly safe.” (RoW 26) Honor's Perpendicularity (all three Realms, but in this scene viewed by Kaladin in the Cognitive during the climax of OB) - Sample of Particular Note - Shadesmar exploded with light. Fused screamed as a wind blasted them away, though Kaladin felt nothing. Beads clattered and roared. (OB 119) *** ON TO THEORIZING So that's pretty much all of them that I could find. You can see that in each of these examples, the thing doing the rippling/fluttering is something with a deep connection to the spiritual realm: spren, a Herald, the vessel of a Shard, a perpendiculity. But it's the very last instance - when Dalinar opens the perpendicularity - that really sparked the idea in my mind that what characters are seeing when they see this unseen/phantom wind is ripples of power from the spiritual realm. We know that in that scene, Dalinar has opened a direct conduit to the Spiritual Realm. And when he does so a powerful wind blasts away several Fused who are about to attack Kaladin in Shadesmar. But Kaladin doesn't feel the winds.Why? Well, I think it's because in that moment, struggling as he is with what happened in Kholinar and his inability to swear the fourth Ideal, Kaladin is not properly attuned to Honor's power. To explain what I mean, this is where I first have to back up and bring in one of my favorite quotes around which to theorize. This is from WoR chapter 82, part of the first conversation between Dalinar and the Stormfather. Dalinar asks who he's speaking to, and the SF responds: But what happens when the honor of men is all but dead? At the start of present-day events in the SA, Alethi culture in particular has more or less inverted the words of the first ideal. Lives are not valued but carelessly thrown away. Strength is treated as something that makes the powerful worthy to rule, rather than worthy to serve. And the destination is all that matters - the ends always seem to justify the means with all the scheming of the highprinces. As a result, they can't feel "the winds that men must feel." Enter Kaladin Stormblessed. This is where I have to bring in another quote. This is something Tanavast says in one of Dalinar's visions. After the tragedy of Tien's death, our boy Kal begins seeking out and protecting other youngsters like Tien. He starts acting with honor. And even before he's started to really bond with Syl and/or take in and use Stormlight, the winds begin to aid him. From WoK 1 Same battle, but from Kal's POV in WoK 47 Here's a description of the kata in the chasms in WoK 27: Here's the other members of Bridge Four watching and remarking on Kal fighting at the Battle of the Tower: There are plenty of other examples later where, above and beyond what Kaladin can do intentionally with Surgebinding, it seems that the winds themselves come to his aid and seem to grant him an almost atium-like ability to know what is going to happen. For example, during Adolin's duel in WoR: What's going on here? Well, if we're talking about someting infinite, beyond the touch of men, that starts to sound a whole lot like a refernce to the spiritual realm. Conversely, look at what happens to Kaladin's interaction with the winds when he's broken his oaths. Here he is as at the sparring grounds in WoR 81: PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER So what's happening here? Well, I think that in these moments when Kal is moving with inhuman speed and reflexes, anticipating what's going to happen, and being aided by the wind, he's actually accesing the Spiritual Realm in small bursts. Consider a few more quotes and then I'm gonna try to tie it all together. First, here's one of the earliest mentions of the winds on Roshar, in WoK 4: Next, from WoR 5, Syl continues to behave like a windspren even after remembering what she is: Next, here's Syl talking to Kaladin in OB 6 about how the winds are of honor: Speaking of Honor, we all know, of course that "Honor is not dead so long as he lives in the hearts of men!" Thanks Captain Notum. And here's Hoid talking to Jasnah in the WoR Epilogue about where to look for salvation: Here's Teft with an intriguing line just after seeing Kal suck in Stormlight in WoK 38: Lastly, consider that when he's not being likened to a storm or the winds, Kaladin is also compared to a banner flapping in the wind, a symbol for others to follow: He clung there, like a pennant flapping in the wind... (WoK 35) He was a symbol. A living banner to destroy. (WoK 65) "Or maybe they simply need something to keep them going, surgeon. A symbol they can trust when they can't trust their own hearts." (RoW 74) We know that although Tanavast is dead, Honor's power remains. It's still there, just not really accessible most of the time. I take all the lines about unseen wind as evidence of spiritual winds emanating from the spiritual realm - "the winds that men must feel." And Kal starts to look like someone who, by acting honorably, attunes his heart to Honor's power (much like how a listener might attune a particular rhythm). In so doing, he more or less functions as a focus for pulling some of Honor's power through from the Spiritual Realm in the form of winds, much as the metals on Scadrial or the symbols on Sel become a conduit for power. And by doing so, Kal becomes a banner, flapping in those winds, a symbol to others that Honor's power remains and can still be accessed. Someone to show them the way and increase the number of hearts in which Honor still lives. One thing I like about this theory is that it can explain the "Child of Tanavast" thing without requiring Kal to be some special chosen one. Anyone could have been the one to start acting honorably and, in so doing, call on Honor's power. It just so happens that, because of his upbringing and experiences, he ends up being the one to do so first. Thanks for reading. As always, would love to hear what others think.
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  13. Guys – I know this is a weird post, but I somehow felt it in my heart and wanted to share my observations with you. This is going to be very niche, but it is for people who understand both the Cosmere and rugby. I’m a HUGE rugby fan, and with the British & Irish Lions tour going on in South Africa, rugby has been on my brain a lot. Because the tone of the series from both coaching staffs has been quite toxic though, I have wanted to channel that rugby-brain towards something fun and away from negative youtube comments about Maro Itoje’s dirty tactics and Faf de Klerk’s high tackles. Because at any given time I’m also thinking about the Cosmere, I came up with what I consider to be the premier starting 15 for an all-Cosmere rugby team. Because I’m assuming that the Cosmere fan and the rugby fan only rarely intersect, I’ll do my part to explain each starting position to you and why I chose each character for their role on the team! I’ve also tried to include a character from each series so as not to overload the team with one particular planet. I’ve also tried to steer away from any god-like beings – no Shards are going to be part of the team. Weird concept, I know, but here’s what I got! Front Row The front row consists of two props and a hooker. Usually, these guys are the popular conception of rugby players: big, hairy, ugly, and powerful. They’re often never the tallest players, but are almost always the heaviest players. The front row’s main job is to scrummage well as well as use their bulk to be lineout lifters and clean out rucks. It was tough to find characters who are short but powerfully built in the Cosmere, so I’ve gone with a taller front row than you might usually find on a rugby pitch. 1: Loosehead Prop – Galladon (Sel) I’ve always seen Galladon as an anchor – and I can see him doing this on the loosehead side of the scrum. He’s described as firm of frame with wide hands and keen eyes – so I see him as kind of a Beast Mtawarira kind of prop: a good combination of brains and brawn. 2: Hooker – Hammond (Scadrial) A hooker has an additional job of being the thrower in the lineout, so they need to have pinpoint accuracy as well as strength. Lately as well, a hooker acts as the fourth back-rower in the team, being more mobile and able to poach balls. That’s why I’ve gone with Hammond. Being a pewterarm he (or she, in the film version!) will have no trouble with the physicality of the game, but Ham’s also got a good head on his shoulders and could identify an opponent who becomes isolated. 3: Tighthead Prop – Baon (Taldain) On the other side of the scrum, tightheads usually do a ton of work without having their praises sung. They’re also usually the biggest boys on the park. I’ve gone with Baon from White Sand. He’s a big guy with wide shoulders, but he’s going to be underestimated due to his physical appearance and has a skillset that will shine through when it needs to (his being able to use sand is an example). Second Row Second rowers, or ‘locks’, are always, always the tallest players on the rugby field. Their job is to use this height and their long legs to call and win lineouts as well as provide power in the scrum for their front rowers. 4: Front Lock – Human (Scadrial) The number 4 lock is usually the meathead of the two. His job isn’t to call the lineout, so he doesn’t need to be as cerebral or as sneaky as number 5, but rather play off instinct and let his physicality rip up the other team. For this reason, I’ve gone with Human the Koloss from Mistborn as the front lock. As big, powerful, and violent as they come, but retains that little memory of humanity not to get red-carded. 5: Back Lock - Numuhukumakiaki’aialunamor (Roshar) As much as the number 4 is a brute, number 5 has got to have at least a little understanding of the game and how to run complex lineout moves. I’m thinking that Rock would very much enjoy rugby as it doesn’t have any overt killing involved and he can actually put his skills to good use in the second row. I also think that his being able to see spren will give him a leg up on any opposing locks. Back Row The back rowers are most often the team’s best players and pack down on the flanks and the back of the scrum. They’re forwards who are more mobile than their front and second row compatriots, and their main job is to tackle, tackle, tackle. The trend with most teams is to have a designated ‘poacher’ as a member of the back row, whose job it is to linger around the tackle area and see if they can strip the ball. 6: Blindside Flanker – Vasher (Nalthis) A blindside’s job is to be an absolute bastard and cause as much chaos as humanly possible. They’re usually big, powerful, yet still mobile enough to disrupt balls at the ruck and maybe get a turnover or two. I like Vasher for blindside flank – he’s a big guy, but he can also be totally brutal in battle if he wants to be. He also has that classic grouchy countenance that a lot of blindside flanks have that fuel their destructive tendencies. And just imagine what he could do in unsheathing Nightblood out on that field… 7: Openside Flanker – Hrathen (Sel) This one is a bit of a left-field choice, but I’ve decided to go for Hrathen from Elantris as my openside flanker. A lot of people will tell you that openside flank is the most important position in rugby, so you have to choose carefully. We know that Hrathen can mix it up with the best of them and has good skills in disarming, fighting, and disabling his opponents – a great David Pocock-esque skillset for an openside. We also know he trudges around in full plate armour all day, meaning the dude is ripped. I was tempted to go with Dalinar for openside, and I definitely think the Blackthorn would have been one twenty years ago, but I feel like he’s retired now. Hrathen, however, is just on the cusp and probably at his peak right now. 8: Number Eight – Eshonai – (Roshar) Your number eight should be the all-around forward: destructive ball carrying skills, cerebral enough to make decisions from the back of the scrum, and be decent under the high ball. For this position, I’ve gone with Eshonai. As the warleader and Shardbearer of the Singers in books 1 and 2 of Stormlight, she definitely has the battle skills to be a number eight, as well as the keenness of mind to know when and how to make her moves. Half-Backs Now we come to the backs – in general, backs are quicker and smaller than the forwards, and their job is to score points. If the above are employed to boss around the opposing team and retain the ball, the backs are employed to exploit the space the forwards provide and score tries. The two half-back positions, scrum-half and fly-half are probably the most important attacking positions in rugby, so having a pair that know each other well is important… 9: Scrum-Half – Vin (Scadrial) Your scrum-half is more often than not the smallest player on the field. You ever see those crazy pictures of two guys playing rugby where one is like half the size of the other? Yeah, that’s usually the scrum-half. These guys are quick, dangerous, and instinctive – playing with both reckless abandon and tactical astuteness. Their job is to get the ball from the base of the ruck and distribute it. I’ve gone for a character with an all-around skillset here: Vin. Halfbacks need to be able to kick, chase, tackle, pass, and read the game – so having a Mistborn with a plethora of skills is handy (especially if she has atium). What’s great about Vin is that since she’s a tiny little thing, she’ll be constantly underestimated by her opponents until she levels them with a pewter-enhanced tackle. 10: Fly-Half – Kelsier (Scadrial) The fly-half is the quarter-back of rugby – they make most of the tactical decisions on where the ball goes next once they get it from the scrum-half and are usually the smartest player on the field. This one was definitely a no-brainer – Vin and Kelsier make a deadly duo, and Kelsier’s experience with his Mistborn powers make him more level-headed than instinctive Vin. He’s also got great experience rallying people together, although he may have a hot head and can pop off sometimes, but hey, as long as he directs it well, that’s going to be useful. Centres Centres are usually the bigger guys when it comes to backs. As second receivers, they will probably take more contact than other backs and their job is to use their power to drive through the defenders, giving space for the wider backs to make the beautiful things happen. Centres also have to be defensively solid, as most of your opponents attacks will come from the mid-field. I always like a tried and tested combination at centre, and fiddling around with two guys who don’t know each others’ playing style always leads to miscommunication and defensive lapses. That’s why I’ve gone for two Rosharans in the midfield: 12: Inside Centre – Adolin (Roshar) Even without Radiant powers, I don’t think there’s anyone I’d bet against with Adolin at inside centre. He combines the power and raw brutality of a Shardbearer with the soft-footed finesse of a master duelist combining the power of a forward with the talent of a back in one package. I’ve also gone with Adolin as team captain. Sure, there are others who may be more skilled, older, wiser, and more experienced, but Adolin is just such a likeable, empathetic guy: he’d make a fantastic captain to rally around and would bring out the best in all of his teammates. I doubt even Kelsier could have a bad thing to say about Adolin’s noble-born status once they get to know each other. 13: Outside Centre – Kaladin (Roshar) Adolin’s midfield partner has gotta be Kal. Has the attacking skills to be a back, but I think where he truly shines is in his defensive instincts. If you tell Kaladin to imagine his team’s try-line is a poor, defenseless soldier drafted into Amaram’s army, he’s going to be the best goddamn defender on your team, making him a perfect hinge on defence, able to snuff out the first hint of attack with his battlefield awareness. When he has the ball, he’s got the attacking skills and the knowledge of his mid-field partner to make in-roads every time. Outside Backs Outside backs are usually the fastest and the most attack-minded players on the team. They will often stay out of the main defensive line, covering for longer kicks for the chance to counter-attack. They’ve got to be good under the high ball and have decent kicking skills. While wings are notorious for being the weakest on their team in terms of defence, the fullback is often the last line of defence against an attack in open space, so they’ve got to have a good skillset. Some teams, like the All Blacks, in the last few years, have used their fullback in a more creative role as a second playmaker in tandem with the fly-half. 11: Left Wing – Szeth (Roshar) I’m going to go with Szeth as a left wing. I think because he can fly, he’ll be pretty good under the high ball. I also think that with lashings, he can do a bang-up job in getting some speed down the left touch-line. Szeth is also much more attack-minded than defensively skilled, and if he doesn’t go crazy from the voices in his head, can be the team’s top points scorer. 14: Right Wing – Lift (Roshar) While Lift may be too young to play full-tilt rugby, she is a Radiant and can heal from injuries really quickly. Lift could really be the next Shane Williams or Cheslin Kolbe – a small pocket rocket who is nigh-impossible to get a hold of due to her abrasion surge. 15: Fullback – Waxillium Ladrian (Scadrial) I like the dual playmaker set-up, so I’ve gone with Wax in the fullback position. While my initial instinct was to have Hoid as one of those wildly unpredictable fullbacks, I think Wax is a solid choice. As a coinshot, he’ll be safe under the high ball, and as a lawman he’ll understand the importance of his defensive responsibilities. And I figure we can have Wayne on the bench as our back-up scrum-half – if anything happens to Kel or Vin, sub on Wayne and bring Wax up from fullback to play half-back. Head Coach: Dalinar Kholin (Roshar) Bondsmith. Old warhorse. Knows every trick in the book to win the battle. Next. Attack Coach: Jasnah Kholin (Roshar) I think that if there is anyone in the Cosmere who is going to be creative enough to be a game-winning attack coach but who may not want to stoop to get dirty with the rest of the players, it’s Jasnah. Jasnah is always forward-thinking and willing to use any means to win. Defence Coach: Raoden (Sel) Dude understands the importance of defending one’s city. He may not be cut out to play the game itself, but he can read an attack and find a way to defend against it like the best of them. So there you have it! Rugby fans of the Cosmere, do we agree? Disagree? Have other choices? Let me know!
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  14. I tried searching the forums for a discussion on this, but didn't find anything. Maybe it's obvious (I am due for another read through, after all). It's from chapter 30 or RoW (emphasis mine): I'm assuming he's referring to eight types of Radiant spren, and that one of the remaining two is highspren. If so, which type is the other one? The Bondsmith spren (I don't know what they're called, collectively), probably? Thanks.
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  15. I've commissioned an artist to paint me a female Lord Ruler, and here's the outcome! Considering that the artist hadn't read Mistborn, I think she did a great job presenting the spear scene according to my description
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  16. Gahhhh. Haven't posted here in a while... So I just got back from a fairly short backpacking trip this afternoon. It was just an overnight thing, we only went about nine miles, nothing very special. Finally I got home, and it was great. I caught up on a couple texts I'd missed, and stuff like that. I was about to head into the shower when a friend of mine texted me and said that the AP scores were out. So in an instant, I went from pretty dang exhausted but also pretty content to really on edge and kind of excited. I'd known that I had passed the test. I didn't doubt it. I just knew that sometimes when I take tests and feel like I did well I end up... not doing well. Or I could have done really well, which I felt like I had. I looked it up, and I had gotten a five. It took me about five minutes to stop shaking. So then I called my mom to tell her my score. She's a teacher and so was at my school and told my math teacher from last year, and both were super happy and enthusiastic about it. And then right after that my mom told me that I wouldn't be able to take this class that I wanted to next year. I had taken this class last year, but it was AWESOME. And it changes every year, and I would love to redo a lot of those activities, plus I have two really good friends who are also taking it this year, where last year I literally knew no one in there. But I wouldn't be able to get credit for it, because I'd already taken it. That wasn't a concern, though, because I do well in school and almost have enough credits to graduate as it is. So my councilor said she could make it work, most likely. So I was worried about that all summer, but I thought that it would happen in the end. But then a few days ago she emailed me and said that I had to pick a different elective because I couldn't get credit if I retook this class. But then I told her that a couple months ago she had said that she could make it work. So she said that she would see what she could do. And guess what. I can't take it because 34 other people are already in the class. I can't take it even though it was my first choice of elective. And so I went from exhaustion to elation to being thoroughly depressed, all in about ten minutes. (There are other reasons I'm really upset about not being able to take that class, but the fact that I should be taking it is the biggest one at the moment.) So I took a nap. On my floor. And when I woke up I realized my sister hadn't fed my bird while I was gone and that he was starving. And then I also realized that I hadn't been paid yet, even though my payday was yesterday. So at this point, I don't even care at all that I got a five on the AP test. I'm too tired, too sad, too overwhelmed, too anxious, and too mad to even consider trying to be happy about it. And it's also about 80 degrees outside and I have a very low tolerance for heat so I just feel all-around miserable. So there's that. *sigh*
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  17. It has been too looong since I last did the sleeps. It's starting to show. Woke up at 11PM last night and haven't slept since. Starting to feel like Baymax over here
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  18. The wind on Fischer's back was cold when it pushed him back towards the eating house where he had left Nico. He pressed on, trying to control his tears through consistent breathing, in and out. Each breath trembled within his chest and it only slowed the flow of tears, but it was a good way to center himself. He looked up at the barracks, hesitating for a moment at the front door. It was taller than he remembered, and it seemed to look over him. He swallowed any sense of intimidation from it, and rushed through the door. It felt as if every eye in the room turned to looked at him, but he didn't care. He didn't care when he rushed through the room with heavy footfalls, staring at the floor to ignore the undoubtably judging eyes that followed him even after he reached his bed. The pillow provided little comfort when he tried to bury his face in it, with it barely soaking up his tears. His very diaphragm trembled shuttered with every tearful breath, no matter how many times he tried to breathe deeply and get control of himself. But every time he thought he managed to slow the tears, the image of Nico's face in tears broke him down again. He hardly noticed the abrupt shuffling of feet until his cot shook as if someone sat on the end of it. "Hey pal," a familiar voice called out, "you doing alright?" Fischer peeked up just enough to see sergeant Nowak looking back at him. "I'm fine," he hissed before turning his head back into the pillow. "I've seen fine, corporal, and you're not it." "What do you care?" Fischer demanded with his voice muffled by the pillow. Nowak shifted on the cot, "I just figured that it would be better if you talked about it. Use it as a way to organize your feelings." "Go. Away." "You need someone to talk to. This isn't the first time I've seen something like this, kid." "I'm not a kid!" Fischer lifted his head and turned to shout at the sergeant, "and you're not my father! So leave. Me. ALONE!" Without bothering to see Nowak's reaction, Fischer planted his head back into his pillowed, and continued to cry uncaring of who saw. He didn't care what they thought, he didn't care what anyone said. He didn't care . . .
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  19. Spook had a bunch of kids, so he's probably responsible for a lot of Allomancers in Era 2 - not knowing who they are doesn't gel with Clue 3, though. The kandra considered the Lord Ruler Father, so I guess they count. Tanavast.
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  20. Yea, like @Elegy said, the second oath is way too close to a Truthwatcher Oath for comfort. The order description from the quiz does say that the Elsecallers' Oaths are more specifically tailored to the individual, but that doesn't mean they can be anything, they will still have a theme. Only the Lightweavers Oaths were described as not requiring specific words. It's also important to note that while the Skybreakers' Third and Fourth Ideal are determined by the individual, the Second is more general and in the instance we've seen it, included the phrase on the order descriptions from the quiz. But seriously, if you were theorizing on the Truthwatcher Oaths, the ones presented would fit quite well. They're all about seeking truth and making sure people know about it. But the question of what is objective truth is difficult and they wanted to be very careful about how knowledge was disseminated and make sure people in power weren't abusing their people. These all fit quite well with that.
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  21. I really believe that having this effect on space itself would require a lot more Investiture. Also, we have this wob: Honest question: why don't you think that just like some individuals like Axis and Jasnah are able to pull the "inverse shadow" aspect from the Cognitive into the Physical so other beings can see it, Light is doing something similar to the lengthened bands? It's true that Stuart Eliason didn't say "in any significant way", but I like the sound of Brandon's "yes!" hehe. Edit: could you share Evgeni's take on your theory?
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  22. Though also worth noting that they are heavily tied to the individual, like Lightweavers and Skybreakers.
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  23. One thing I'd like to add here is the subtext for the Order's Title Card as shown in the official Radiant Quiz. For all the other orders (except Lightweavers), the subtext is the first part of their second ideal. "I will protect" "I will remember". for Elsecallers, that first part is "I will reach my potential".
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  24. Lirin! Correct. Alas, you missed the greatest.
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  25. I'm starting to run out of Kaladin foils there Raboniel?
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  27. There is a reason for the Capital G.
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  28. I'm just saying he had a lot of help getting it
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  29. When you see AOL (America Online) and think simultaneously, Alloy of Law and Age of Legends. When you wear a Mistborn shirt to work hoping to signal your secret identity to a fellow Sanderfan and bond over the books.
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  30. I respect that. I think what Brandon did was very clever and well done. I could see Rayse dying in book 5 and Taravangian ascending to set up the back half as the original plan and Taravangian may well be the Vessel for Odium in the back half. I am not overly fond of Taravangian as the main antagonist for the next 6 books. Taravangian has no mystery to him and he doesn't know anything aside from what the Power was used for previously and whatever Cultivation told him. He's been propped up by Cultivation, his ascension was more her idea than it was his. He's a great villain for book 5, but "Odium's smarter now (yet less experienced)" for 5 books after that doesn't seem like enough of a threat. I am expecting Brandon to really shake up Roshar in preparation for the back 5. Like alter the magic system and the balance of power. For example, Odium being picked up by Cultivation would incorporate Odium into the magic system in a way that Odium is not now. This would make Voidbinding an actual thing that matters, giving Brandon a new magic system to show off in the back 5. I think Cultivation + Odium held by a dragon who has been a Shard all along is more interesting and more dangerous. I don't think Cultivation would mitigate Odium in the same way Honor might. It would be a different, weird Shard making the back 5 wide open.
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  31. The idea's not too bad but I can think of two potential issues. First, we know that at the point in time when Khriss shows up in Secret History she doesn't know much about Yolen and has only heard stories about it. We also know that the Ars Arcana reflect Khriss' knowledge at specific points in time and (as the Elantris one shows with her comments about testing) she likes to be thorough in her study before coming to conclusions. While we don't know exactly when the essays are written are we can assume they're not radically displaced from the events of the books they're included with since they sometimes make reference to extremely recent events. In the Elantris AA she knows enough about Vax to be able to compare its Initiation mechanics to multiple other systems. Elantris however takes place before the time of Secret History when she admits her lack of knowledge on Yolen, which means it's AA should predate the events of the latter story, While it's not impossible since we don't have an exact timeline for all the relevant details, it seems unlikely that she could know enough about Vax's system of Initiation if it's part of Yolen and thus a world she lacks firsthand knowledge of. Second, Ati was a human before his Ascension and Scadrial is explicitly modeled after the non-fain parts of Yolen. If he's misrecognizing what he's seeing at as being the world of his birth (or its Cognitive representation at any rate), it should be those same non-fain bits he's used to, which would be the very parts Jerick calls Yolen in the Dragonsteel Prime excerpts. Neither of these is an absolute bar to the idea since we can't rely on the excerpts to reflect the current state of canon and the timeline of Khriss' knowledge and writing is fuzzy, but I'm hesitant right now to buy the idea.
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  32. Well, obviously none of us KNOW, and we'll find out eventually... but I disagree. I feel that a big part of the reason we got to see Taravangian as a mortal human for 4 novels was so that when he did Ascend, we have a Shard we know not just as a God-level Power, but also as a person. We hear accounts, mostly from Hoid, about Rayse's character as a person, but we only ever SEE him as Odium. With TOdium, we have a Vessel we know quite well. We know where he came from, a lot about his backstory, his motivations, his flaws, what makes him tick. We also know Cultivation has had her fingers in his pie, so to speak, which I think will turn out to be VERY important in future novels... and I absolutely do mean the back 5. I think he has been set up very deliberately - and very cleverly - to be a complex, nuanced, and long-running antagonist for our heroes, both present and future.
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  33. Ooof. That'll do it, yeah. Good luck and good to hear from you! In other news... DISTANT GARDENS IS OUT TODAY AHHHHHHH Ahem. So uh... have a good morning/afternoon/evening everyone?
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  34. I love this! It's such an elegant interpretation, one that illuminates a lot of the more miraculous things Kaladin does. I'd like to add something that I've seen that I feel supports this theory, specifically that there is a strong element of choice/agreement in surges that are more closely aligned with Honor. The best I can phrase this is that Honor is often called a god of laws, and that those laws are subject to agreement by the governed. So I think there is precedent for this idea that Honor's laws (and Honor's powers?) can be guided by widespread agreement. It totally makes sense to me that the more people there are who agree that Kaladin is this hero, this symbol, the more empowered he is by the slivers of Honor that "still live in the hearts of men" and the better a conduit he is. And when he accesses the Spiritual Realm, he's tapping into his ideal self, isn't he? It certainly seems to square the idea that Kaladin is at his most powerful when he's protecting someone, and also being "extra-aligned" to Honor's Intent to a somewhat unhealthy degree. I, too, really like the idea of Kaladin being a subversion of the chosen one trope by being the first to choose to behave this way. (Novelty really is the thing people value the most!) I find it also adds some extra dimension to RoW 80, where Kaladin perceives the wind as hating him ... what is that in this context, Kaladin feeling the winds of Odium's storm as opposed to Honor's?
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  35. That’s a pretty cool idea, but I think that it’s gavinor, because taravodium is much smarter than rayse, he isn’t picking just on brute strength like u said but if he did gavinor then dalinar would be unable to kill him, aswell as this, there is a death rattle in way of kings that says something like “I hold the knife to the child’s throat, the world wants me to cut the child but I just can’t do it”
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  36. Storming Moash
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  37. Why you shouldn't try to Soulcast missiles.
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  38. So as fun as this question is, I believe your initial premise of asking it is incorrect. Despite having more color receptors than humans, shrimp do not actually see more colors. Humans have 3 receptors that can blend and work together to create the full variety of the visual spectrum. Shrimp can only use each of the 16 or so receptors they have individually. So in reality they see less color than we do. Here's a scientific journal making the same point probably better than I did: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature.2014.14578
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  39. Thaidakar is overconfident, 17th shard has them outclassed, the IRE has had centuries of a head start, etc. There is no feasable wya they are the most powerful in only three-hundred years.
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  40. This sounds interesting, but I really don't see this happening. That's just a repeat of how harmony was made. Someone picks up a shard to kill another shard to allow someone to pick up both shards.
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  41. Oooh I would love if it were something like this. And it does fit with my suspicions that the fifth oath will deal with leadership in some way.
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  42. There is no scent so pleasant to my nostrils as that faint, subtle reek which comes from an ancient book. - Arthur Conan Doyle
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  43. "Well, I can’t eat muffins in an agitated manner. The butter would probably get on my cuffs. One should always eat muffins quite calmly. It is the only way to eat them." -Oscar Wilde
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  44. “The best antidote I know for worry is work. The best cure for weariness is the challenge of helping someone who is even more tired. One of the great ironies of life is this: He or she who serves almost always benefits more than he or she who is served.” -Gordan B. Hinckley
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  45. FFXIV has some really good dialogue: "Look ye where the sun doth rise, see crimson embers, darkening skies. Look ye where the sun doth fall, see azure lost amidst the squall." "That way... sorrow... history must be changed. Ahead looms light, expunging all form and life. Twin dooms only you can forestall...only you. Throw wide the gates that we may pass. Ahead looms a calamity." "Frozen in time, mine armor of flame. Unto eternity's end, my righteous reign!" "He that holdeth fast unto his convictions shall never count betrayal amongst his crimes, though all the world may call him villain. My path is unchanged; my creed sacrosanct. This I believe with all my heart." "Only man has the wisdom -- and the clarity -- to embrace violence for its own sake." "Your music is bad and you should feel bad!" "But enough exposition! Now we fight like men! And ladies! And ladies who dress like men!" "You are the beacon of hope towards which all men are drawn." "Spare us the hyperbole. 'Tis not for praise that we fight." "Woe betide the man who stands opposed to the weapon of light, for death will be his reward." "Good and evil, the war eternal...the fires of anger roar and howl..."
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  46. "Much that is good, much that is essential ... can be achieved in less than ideal circumstances." -D. Todd Christofferson
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