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The last two times me and my brothers walk home from school, animals have attacked us. With adorableness. The first time, an adorable grey fluffy kitty waked up to us and started rubbing our legs and purring. We've never seen this kitty before, but it was storming adorable. The second time, a small puppy came up and followed us all the way home! He had a collar but no tag and licked Enter's face a few times. That worried me (The no tag, not the licking) a bit more than the kitty, but hopefully the puppy found his owner. Also, a few jokes for you that I can't stop laughing at: Why is a hamster like a cigarette? They're both harmless until you put 'em in your mouth and light 'em on fire! Why do teenage girls walk in groups of three, five, or seven? Because they just can't even! Also, I made a meme! Warning- very minor Stormlight spoilers

[Insert writeup here Probably something to do with the honorspren...yes yes... hmmm... them arguing over if they should bond? yeah, yeah. that'd work. something like that...someone speaks up, and is locked away. that's how it should end, with someone being locked away. does being locked away even make any canonical sense? I'm not really sure, but it's not like it has to be anyways, probably something like that...maybe some yelling...or. no yelling? maybe I should ask someone else... But some sorta...Honorspren council arguing, then someone gets too loud and gets locked away. all the other Spren realize that they need to stay quiet. oh, this would be pretty good as an opener with a fake "[Name] was a Rebel Honor Spren" ...yeah yeah, I'll save it for next time] Welcome to: Long Game 81: Lasting Integrity I will hopefully be the GM for this game. The IM will be [insert IM here]. Signups will end at 3PM PST on...Thursday, October 21st. Pending changing work schedule. And player count. The game will begin shortly after that, and rollover will be at 3 maybe. The setting is very minimal, don't expect a lot in terms of writeups. PLEASE note the activity filter and the removal mechanic. Rules, though they can also be found in Doc Form Player List Spectators Pinch Hitters Quicklinks someone let me know if i'm missing something

OKAY!!! The last post was edited with real images this time. In other news I have caught up with the dates so there will be a lot of entries this post: Day 6: Spirit Day 7: Fan Day 8: Watch Day 9: Pressure Day 10: Pick Day 11: Sour Day 12: Stuck Day 13: Roof Day 14: Tick

The Fog is dark and cold and empty... Oh. Hello. I didn't see you there. Apologies for my soliloquizing. Not many conversational partners here on the Edge. Certainly. But few drifting souls have any words to spare for one such as I. Lonely? I suppose you could call it that. But I do not mind it so much as you might think. An interesting question. I could ask the same of you. Why are you here? Are you one outcast by the Center? Are you an explorer, curious about what lies within the Fog? Are you a lost soul, seeking to find relief beyond the Reach? None of these, you say. Fascinating. It would seem you have not yet decided. Well, perhaps I can offer assistance. My purpose? That is my purpose. I stand here to tell of the Edge, and the Fog beyond, to any willing to listen. You are willing? Then sit down, and let me tell you a tale...

Yes, the little cutie! Your turn!

Awww Oroden?

Day 13: Roof

(This post is with regards to The Stormlight Archives, but given the potential scope of the topic allowing for spoilers of other Cosmere works I've posted it here. I hope that is kosher with the moderation team.) In The Way of Kings, a letter from Wit to Frost is given in the epigraphs, drawing attention to the immense danger that Odium poses to the Cosmere at large. In it, Wit reveals that Odium led to the Splintering of two fellow Shards; Dominion and Devotion. It is clear that Wit fears the unravelling of the Oathpact, and the epigraphs in Oathbringer show that he has also written to various Shards in the hopes of gaining their support. Further, we learn in Rhythm of War that Odium's plan for Roshar is to train a civilisation to be perfectly adapted for warfare before marching them on the cosmere at large. Given that the epigraphs of four books in the series so far has been designated towards Wit consulting outside forces to assist in Roshar, and given that we are 4 books into a 10 book series where the main villain has declared their intention on attacking other worlds, I think it is a safe assumption to make that at some stage we will see an interaction in The Stormlight Archives between the main cast and other Shards, either A.) as Odium invades other worlds, or B.) as other Shards decide to take up Wit's call to action. This thread is to discuss the potential candidates and their likelihood to feature in The Stormlight Archives. Splintered Shards Of the sixteen Shards, there are four known to have been Splintered and rendered, for all intents and purposes, deceased: Honour, Devotion, Dominion and Ambition. Whilst splinters of these Shards are present in Stormlight, (the spren of Honour and the seons of Devotion,) these do not constitute full Shards and can be safely dismissed. There is a slight potential that Honour's Splintering was not as straight-forward as the destruction of these other Shards, as it is clear that the Shard put contingency plans in place before he deceased. So there is a very unlikely, but not zero percent, chance that Honour may reappear in the series at a later date. Rhythm of War Shards I am grouping these four together for simplicity; the four Shards that we were introduced to within Rhythm of War whose identities were previously unknown. Invention, Whimsy, Mercy and Valour. Harmony notes that he was unable to locate Invention following their initial contact, though whether this is due to Invention choosing to remain hidden or a practical reality of a Shard that is not bound to a singular planet travelling across the cosmere is unclear. It is my current interpretation that, as Shards are likely capable of communicating through the Spiritual Realm, Invention is choosing not to be contacted and can be discarded as an option. Harmony notes that Whimsy is unlikely to be of assistance, so can also be discounted. Valour is the most likely of these four, as Harmony says of her: "I do think that Valour is reasonable, and suggest you approach her again. It has been too long, in her estimation, since your last conversation." This is, outside of Harmony responding to Wit's letter in a helpful manner, the closest to an endorsement that Wit has received. I also note that Honour and Valour seem thematically very similar concepts, though clearly their Intents must be quite distinct for Brandon to choose to separate the two ideas. That being the case, the best manner in which to showcase the difference between the two would be to have Valour appear in a series that has so-far heavily focused on Honour. It is also an Intent that, judging by name alone, sounds most likely to want to intervene when it comes to Odium's machinations. Mercy is not to be discounted too quickly. Harmony notes, "Mercy worries me," and that, "Ambition, Mercy and Odium clashed - and Ambition was destroyed." There are many things that could be read into this, though the likeliest interpretation is that the actions of Mercy in some fashion aided the goals of Odium. This is not a Shard that Wit would want to approach, and I do not believe it as likely that Mercy will feature in The Stormlight Archives. However, there is the slight potential that Mercy could become aware of events transpiring on Roshar, and be inspired to take action of their own free will. Of the four RoW shards, I believe Mercy is the second most likely to be involved in SA, after Valour. Harmony Knocking off two Shards with one Vessel is Harmony, the combined powers of Ruin and Preservation. Harmony is the most receptive of all of the beings Wit has written to. Harmony recognises the risk of Odium and agrees with Wit that the other Shards should intervene before the problem escapes the Rosharan system. Harmony notes that he is searching for, "the ideal person to act on my behalf. [...] A sword, you might say," though whether such a champion is intended to represent Harmony's will outside of Scadrial or simply within it is unclear. The sense I get is that Harmony may send some limited assistance to Roshar, but will ultimately be more connected to Scadrial and will not 'step foot' on Roshar, especially as Harmony is concerned that other Shards are encroaching on his own world. There is definitely a great potential that Harmony represents the potential for all sixteen Shards to be reunited once again, and that this will be very threatening to Odium who may choose to target Harmony above all others should he escape the Rosharan system. There is also the fact that the leader of the Ghostbloods, Thaidakar, has a personal history with Harmony and is looking to transfer Investiture across the cosmere to various Shardworlds, and is shaping up to be a long-term threat within the Stormlight Archive. Given all of these factors put together, I put it at a high probability that Harmony becomes involved in some fashion with the events of Stormlight Archive. Autonomy Autonomy is not one to risk themselves - but they are one to involve themselves in the matters of others. Autonomy - or an Avatar of Autonomy at least - was dismissive of Wit's letter and even praised the initiative of Odium. That said, Autonomy notes that, "Perhaps if you had approached the correct one of us with your plea, it would have found favourable audience." This leads open the possibility that there is an Avatar of Autonomy that would be willing to listen to Wit's overtures. Further, Autonomy says, "If you wish more, seek these waters in person and overcome the tests we have created. Only in this will you earn our respect." So once more leaving the doors open for a change of view. Further, (or perhaps however,) Brandon was asked at Jordancon 2018 whether the Ghostbloods were affiliated with Autonomy and responded: ""Affiliated with" is very wiggle-room-ish. And so I'll go ahead and give you a RAFO on that one, even though I can totally wiggle on this one. I'm just gonna say "RAFO"; I'm gonna do the ultimate wiggle. There have been dealings." Given the coy nature of Brandon, I would not put it past him that the implication here is that an Avatar of Autonomy is in some fashion working alongside the Ghostbloods or have similar aims. Though that would suggest that Autonomy will be involved with SA due to a relationship with the Ghostbloods, given the Ghostbloods are acting as a third-party in this conflict on Roshar it may be that Autonomy will similar keep a distance from the conflict. I think there is a moderate chance that an Avatar of Autonomy appears in The Stormlight Archive, but that Autonomy herself will not make an active contribution to the plot. Endowment Endowment is the first Shard that Wit gains a response from and it is not a positive one. Endowment shows little concern for the Splintering of any of the Shards, noting that the Shards were meant to stay apart from one another. However, there is a slight glimmer of hope as Endowment's letter ends: "If Rayse becomes an issue, he will be dealt with. And so will you." This leaves open the possibility that Endowment may be encouraged to become involved in the conflicts, should Odium escape the confines of the Oathpact. Harmony writes in his letter that, "Endowment at least responded to my overtures," which again is suggestive that Endowment has the potential to be reasoned with. There is also a large crossover between Nalthis, the Shardworld that Endowment inhabits, and Roshar, in terms of characters. Nightblood, Vasher and Vivenna are all currently on Roshar, three of the main characters of Warbreaker. Brandon has noted that Nightblood's creation was based off of Shardblades, and that Warbreaker's intended sequel might not go ahead. There is every potential that this sequel is being folded in with The Stormlight Archive, as Vivenna is established as looking for Vasher whilst Nightblood has been used to slay Rayse and is in the hands of Szeth. With the amount of crossover between the characters, I find it compelling that Endowment may become involved in Stormlight Archives later on, purely from a meta standpoint. The Missing Two Naturally we do not know what these are, but I think it is safe to say that neither will make an appearance in the Stormlight Archives. The putting forward of the RoW Shards, to me, suggested that Brandon had decided names for these Shards and knew that they were unlikely to get their own dedicated novels as he prioritises what books he will be writing over the next few decades and so was happy to drop them in. That two of these names have been held back makes me feel that Brandon still intends for these to be important to some future novel, and for that to be the case it seems likely to me that they will not have a strong overlap with the Stormlight Archives. Cultivation Naturally, Cultivation is on Roshar. Cultivation will appear. Has appeared already. I simply finish on Cultivation to note this - we have been told Odium is dangerous to the cosmere at large, but we have not yet been shown it. We have not had revealed to us the full destructive potential of a Shard of hatred. And Cultivation is currently mentoring Taravangian in understanding the scope of his powers - and to her own detriment, I believe. I think, from a narrative standpoint, it makes sense that Odium will succeed in Splintering Cultivation, which will lead to the rolling in of wider cosmere-aware individuals. I suspect this will happen within the next two books, and with Odium being the sole Shard left on Roshar will leave the door open for new Shards to take the focus in these stories. Conclusion My first conclusion: I need a copy editor. Apologies for the long ramble. My second conclusion: I feel that it is essentially guaranteed that we will get more Harmony in some form in SA, but that in terms of "on screen" appearances of intimate Shard interactions and not simply sending the occasional mistborn helper, that the Shard of Valour is the most likely to become central to the Stormlight Archives. I also suspect that Endowment may also end up being deeply involved, though for rather complex reasons. Outside of that, my sense is that the other Shards will not be participants in the greater war for the Rosharan system - and the expanded war on the greater cosmere that Odium will no doubt unleash in the back five of these books. Thank you for your patience in reading this and I would be grateful to hear your thoughts.

Okay y'all, I'm going on vacation, so I'll maybe not be as active as normal (as if that's somehow possible).

Tonk Fah.

Well. While driving to seminary today I ran into a deer. Deer's dead. Car's totaled. Ig I'm lucky no one got hurt.

Welcome! You should probably know that the greatest compliment in this subforum is getting murdered . I will sign up as Trespassers Will. Short for Trespassers William, of course.

This is a really thoughtful list of ideas. Love it. I'm skeptical that we'll get any flashbacks from after Gavilar's assassination. Hiding Gavilar's sphere seems like a really pointless flashback at this point, and everything else is basically covered by the books so far. That's not to say Brandon couldn't fill things in with details... but we know the shape of it and there's just not much that feels like it would be very interesting. The only exception that I can think of would be something between The end of WoR and his first chapters in Oathbringer. (either before or after Edgedancer) But... even that doesn't seem necessary and it's hard to imagine how it would fit into a flashback narrative. I DO think that we'll get at least one flashback after Szeth has been made Truthless. He says int he WoR interlude that he visited Urithiru immediately after being exiled. I wouldn't be surprised to see that scene. Maybe one or two others... but I can easily see that Urithiru visit being the conclusion to his flashback narrative. So I think the first four you listed are very solid... then one or two after being Truthless maybe. But there's certainly going to be more flashbacks than that... So I'm guessing those first four you listed will be spread out more. (in ways that are hard to predict, given how little we understand the Shin) The Shin culture/environment is SO different from the rest of Roshar, so I could easily see at least 2 or 3 flashbacks that slowly develop Szeth's youth while doing a love of Shinovar worldbuilding. This will probably come early in the book because Kaladin and Szeth are headed there first thing and the context of the flashbacks will help... Then again, maybe them being there will allow Brandon to offload some of the worldbuilding onto the main narrative rather than the flashbacks... Hard to say. I'll guess: Helping out with the family sheep farm as a youngster A second flashback of Szeth as a young kid that develops his character and Shin culture (some interactions with people outside his family) Szeth's family being given to the Honorblades Szeth training with the Honorblades, focusing mostly on developing Szeth and his family. Szeth training with the Honorblades... and the beginning of a spren bond (the voice leading him to think the think the Desolation is coming) The spren convincing Szeth that the Desolation is coming (we can't go straight from introducing the spren in one chapter to Szeth claiming the Desolations will return in the next... That's a major claim--one that his religion is clearly resistant to--so I think we need a bit of time to see Szeth convinced that the voice is truthful.) Szeth trying to warn people about the Desolation -- he speaks to the Shamans Szeth named Truthless (I doubt this will happen in the very chapter that he makes the claim. They'll probably go deliberate about it, Szeth will be looking forward to what they have to say, and then it's a gut punch for him when they name him Truthless) Szeth at Urithiru, contemplating everything that has happened and deciding to accept his fate and the Shamans' lies.

Correct! I'm astounded nobody guessed Kaladin. Trap unsprung.

Noril?

Okay! I finally have drawings to show off. Days one through five. Day 1: Crystal Day 2: Suit Day 3: Vessel Day 4: Knot Day 5: Raven Sorry for the low-quality photos! I'm drawing this on the backs of notecards because all my doodles are always tiny, and I opted to use flash instead of getting weird phone shadows above these guys, so... yeah. There're my excuses.

Final Empire I know it’s been a while, but I’m back

We have some exciting news to announce. So far in order to obtain some unpublished works of Brandon's, you'd have to email him through his site, and his assistants would distribute them. Well now you won't need to wait for that, because we will be in charge of distributing Aether of Night! All you have to do is post in this topic (you'll need a 17th Shard account, but that's it), and our staff will PM you the document. You do not need to post an email address here; we will send it to you through this website. Once we do this, we'll remove your post here. We'll be using this topic as a to-do list for requests. Ideally since we have lots of staff members, we will get this out to you soon, within a week or two. We hope you're excited about this, so many of you will be able to get this text in a much more obvious way now! You will receive a .docx file, and if you need to convert it into a .pdf or .epub, there are many converters to do that for you. (We are not distributing the old prose version of White Sand; that is distributed in Brandon's newsletters.) Thank you Dragonsteel for letting 17S do this! Edit as of 2024: This is still going! We've gone through over 300 pages of replies distributing. It's just that we remove posts here once we send them out.

I realize the currently accepted theory is that the Sovereign is Kelsier returned to the physical realm in a new body, and that Brandon has said some things that all but confirm this. (Like something about Kelsier nailing his soul to the new body with the spike through the eye.) I think people assume that Kelsier experimented with hemalurgy with Spook and was able to eventually come back with full feruchemical and allomantic powers (which he would have needed to make the Bands of Mourning, right?). Or that he came back with his own bones, spiked into a Kandra body (so he could still look like himself). However a number of things just don't add up for me: How could Kelsier and Spook come up with these earth shattering technological breakthroughs so quickly? (It was only a few short years after the Catacendra.) Hemilurgy is so notoriously difficult that the Lord Ruler himself only made rudimentary breakthroughs during his 1000 years of rule, and that was mostly due to promptings from Ruin. (And it's unlikely Kelsier picked up this knowledge during his short tenure as Preservation.) And then creating the Bands of Mourning? Technology that the Southerners couldn't even come close to duplicating in 300 years? How did Kelsier know that the Southerners needed help, or that they even existed in the first place? Even Harmony seems to have overlooked them to some extent. And again, how did he develop a technological solution to their specific problem so quickly? Why would Kelsier create and then abandon the BoM, an object that could, in the wrong hands, enable a new Lord Ruler? Why would Kelsier create that particular coin coppermind? And how did Hoid end up in possession of it? Those two aren't exactly on the best of terms. My own theory is that Hoid was the Sovereign. Here are my reasons for thinking this. Hoid's MO is to show up in the right place in the hour of greatest need with helpful information. That's exactly what the Sovereign did. Hoid would already have the kind of knowledge that allows him to quickly devise a solution to the Southerners' problem. Hoid doesn't particularly like being worshiped. So instead of going as himself, he would likely disguise himself as someone else. He already knew what Kelsier looked like, having met him on multiple occasions, and Kelsier had already established himself as an object of worship, so it seems an obvious choice. Hoid would already have full allomantic abilities (from the bead of Lerasium he took) and he could have gained feruchemical abilities from spikes stored in the Lord Ruler's palace. That would only take 16 spikes (as opposed to the 32 that Kelsier would need in a new body). And Hoid would be able to use the spikes one at a time without killing himself, to avoid detection by Harmony. Hoid would have a legitimate reason to create the BoM and then leave it unattended. He doesn't want to stay on Scadrial forever, and you apparently can't leave when you're heavily invested. He probably needed a way to leave his power there, but with the option of taking it up again when he returned. The book notes that seeing the long and narrow stone bunker-like buildings inhabited by the Southerners sparked a fleeting memory from "long ago" in the mind of the Sovereign. This doesn't seem to be a reference to Kelsier. "Long ago" for Kelsier would be Luthadel, and I can't think of anything in Luthadel with that architecture. It seems more likely that the bunkers reminded Hoid of something he'd seen off-world. (Like a Rosharan stormshelter) Finally, if Hoid wasn't the Sovereign, what was he doing on Scadrial? He obviously had some purpose there, and I doubt just gave up and went home after failing to talk to Vin.

Hrmm... "We are no longer the Knights Who Say Ni! We are now the Knights Who Say... Ecky Ecky Ecky Ecky Ptang--zoom-boing!" That or... "We found a witch! Burn her!" That or... "And that, my liege, is how we know the Earth to be banana-shaped."

Not the dangerous Kaladin Stormblessed Bingo! It IS the sociopathic Tonk Fah! Last clue was going to be "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey"

Is there a character that you didn't like/care about at first, but has grown on you as the series went on or on re-reads? Who and why?

I don't think this will be that simple. I expect becoming Truthless to be a longer thing, drawn out and really screwed up, after which we will say "this was just wrong". Not magical compulsion obviously, but breaking Szeth down; far more than just a sentencing, but some sort of psychological torture.

I would like to join, but I have never done an SE before. What do I need to do?

You mean epigraph? Epitaph is stuff that's written on graves I thought this one was describing the War of Reckoning on the Shattered Plains in general, with "heart" referring to gemhearts

I will join, but I think that math is incorrect? Nine should be six and eleven should be seven because it's rounded up. Can somebody smarter confirm or deny this?

Epic, awe, wonder, or “You’ll just have to read it”

I guess the word I'd chose for it is "wonder."

In as Phrylsena

Fadran rolled his eyes. "Kids."

Want a spoiler?

While we're not sure the exact extent of this, I remember one kandra mentioning that kandra needed to be at least a certain mass to stay sentient, with a bunny being almost too small for them to handle regularly. While a large bird probably isn't out of the picture, I don't think they could do cremlings. I think the only spy-bugs we need to worry about come from the Sleepless. That being said, I wonder if a kandra can maintain control of a body part they intentionally lose. I know getting blown up or dismembered causes kandra flesh to act normal, but could a kandra essentially send out a scout for a short time?

Two-sentence horror story competition at my local library. I'd like to challenge y'all. Here's mine: A dark, frigid night spent alone. But was it truly alone?

If Odium’s champion wins the contest and Dalinar serves him, I’m legitimately frightened, though I’m not sure what will happen to Dalinar and the Stormfather’s bond if Dalinar becomes a Fused.

They may be able to ignore or repair muscle fatigue as we know it by constantly rebuilding their muscle fibers, but they are going to run into an issue once their body starts running out of nutrients to turn into forms of energy. So they probably don't get tired, but they can completely use up their energy supply and basically starve themselves. Granted, there's then the blessing of potency which would extend how well they can use that energy. I can't remember exactly, but I believe when TenSoon replicates a horse Sazed specifically notes he's able to run much faster and longer than an actual horse would be able to. Small tangent, but as this conversation continues, it is occurring to me how much kandra really do limit themselves by being attached to nearly human forms. I know that's something TenSoon himself pointed out, but I don't actually think we've seen any kandra but him take on a non-human form. Which is a shame, because they could do so many interesting things if they got more creative with their true bodies.

Lord ruleeeeeeer! One other thing that I thought of regarding Kandra abilities, do we know if they tire? If they have such minute control over their bodies, I would imagine it would be easy for a Kandra to repair their bodies, hence granting them a form of enhanced stamina/endurance, no?

I'm on team Navani for most improved -- the way she was presented in TWoK and WoR really didn't endear her to me, but she was easily one of the best characters in RoW. I'm also a little surprised we haven't seen any nominations for Gaz, though I suppose he hasn't gotten a ton of screen time. I'll give him an honorable mention just for the fact that he was despicable in TWoK, and he's become a mildly decent person.

Sphere: Wow I'm done early for once

I see it as Kaladin and Shallan in WoR after their time in the chasms. They very much came from a pit, holding a large gemheart, and lots of gloryspren came to mark the occasion.

Reminds me of the stuff Syl and Kalak mention about having Connection to the Spiritual, Physical, and Cognitive Realms... Still not sure how that works when Connection is a Spiritual attribute but I guess it does That's a fair distinction, you're right. Fits more with the "unite" theme as well. Ah, good catch. There are people nearby that may have gems (Lopen's only got drained very shortly before), but I don't know that it'd be enough to account for such a large blast. Huh, honestly yeah that makes sense. The suppressor does... stuff, for sure, but I have no idea what the mechanism is. Off the top of my head you have to account for: Knocking Radiants unconscious/Fused when normal Making Stormlight work more slowly for healing/Voidlight when normal NOT blocking (near) 4th Ideal Radiants due to strength of bond (but iirc Kal does feel a pressure)/Unmade when normal (but only sometimes, other times the Sibling was strong enough to suppress them) Knocking Windrunners less unconscious than other orders NOT blocking Honorblades despite the bond there being extremely shallow NOT blocking Kaladin's Adhesion or Lift's Progression NOT having a noticeable effect on Lift besides Abrasion being gone iirc? Allows a Reverse Lashing to be pushed through because of the Adhesion involved, but it takes active effort Can be healed away for 10 hours but then comes back Makes it harder to summon the spren as a Blade, and Teft is only able to summon a barely-substantial one with extreme effort from both him and Phendorana I've not seen any theory yet that really accounts for it all. Eh, the Tower's fabrials are made of the Sibling manifesting themselves. Dalinar and Shallan have to both do things (even if they don't fully understand those things) to get it to work. Not really the same thing imo. That does get some, yeah, but several of those (such as the heating fabrial and attractors) are explicitly noted to be part of the Sibling, and I'd find it really weird if the Tower at first came without doors or elevators lol. Yeah I really need to as well, there's soooo much. I'd just been assuming the Sibling created them like the SF makes honorspren, but I suppose that's not certain. More I meant if the Sibling can create new spren of that power level and with whichever Surge they want that feels like it has Implications for either the flexibility of Bondsmith spren or the way spren are made, but I'm not really sure what those implications are, lmao. True enough lol Listen if Syl considers the Vessel of Honor a mere Bondsmith I give up xD The Stormfather does in Oathbringer say this bit, though: And Ash talks about it as well: So it does sound like Ishar actually made the Oathpact, which is... wild. Huh, weird. Reminds me of some weird phrasing from the deleted Jasnah scene someone on the Discord pointed out recently: Jasnah please why no why LASH and GRAVITATION aaaaaa

Trapped: RoW spoilers (Sketch) (Snowmen)

They have Feruchemy, so that's not an if. They do share common ancestry. This is all mostly moot as Kingsdaughter cleared things up, however I typed it all up before that. Architectural influences last thousands of years. Yes, a lot of things change over the years, but a lot of stuff sticks around too. Sometimes it's blatantly trying to emulate a culture's architecture from the past like a lot of the capitol buildings in Washington DC, other times subtle influences survive the millennia. It's as possible for Terris influences on something like this to survive that length of time as it for every shred of it to be forgotten because of calamity. You can doubt all you want, but it's possible and we have no facts pointing in either direction. Also worth noting is that southern Scadrial is probably the only place you could find hints of ancient Terris architecture(aside from Rashek's hut obviously) as Rashek basically destroyed nearly every bit of culture of the Terris people in northern Scadrial. So Rashek who was, for lack of a better term, a Terris supremacist, altered the DNA of humanity to help them survive the deathworld he created and left a bunch of humans at the south pole with unmodified DNA in case he screwed up, didn't include a single member of his people? And those same people somehow have access to the magic system that only people descended from Terris have? Also, I'd like to address "which they are not, unless you have a source stating otherwise." I just kind of find it ironic you said that absent a source corroborating your position or even any reasoning. I get that you don't think southern Scadrians don't have any Terris blood or any Terris influences, but you stated that as if it were a fact and then required I provided sources to the contrary. Which, I also get why you didn't provide any sources as there aren't any. There are no WoBs on this specifically that I can find. So given the facts we know(i.e. Southern Scadrians have Feruchemy and Feruchemy is hereditary) they have Terris ancestry. It's likely not a whole lot of Terris ancestry, but it's enough to make an entire medallion economy.

I am restless. Unsatisfied. What I am doing to attain happiness is not working, and I am out of ideas. Generous people have offered help, but it has not been enough. The questions I have been asking are not working, and I am similarly clueless on how to proceed. What I need most of all is hope. Confidence. My very soul recoils from the thought of failing again; better to withdraw, to cut off caring, than to risk a piece of soul and watch it die. To choose happiness is not enough. At any moment, the darkness may strike. The only way to be certain of safety is to box myself off from the world; and by doing so, I push myself away from anyone who could help me. To choose risk is not an option. Do not underestimate my power to sabotage myself, to make my own self-fulfilling prophecies of failure. Better to fold than wager something you don't think you can lose. I don't have a soul mirror. I don't know what it is I'm doing wrong. I don't know if I have any hope of fixing it. I don't know how to know what to do. I don't know how to know how to know what to do. Even as I write this, I feel the doubt set in. What could this possibly do that everything else I have done has not? What more can I expect than kind, supportive words that my doubts can easily destroy? What more can I expect than apologetic concessions from those who are just as clueless as I? The answer, of course, is nothing. I cannot expect to gain anything by making this post. The only reason to do it at all is to satisfy the part of me that needs to do something, to stave off the despair of the lost for one more moment. And because I cannot expect a response that would satisfy that part of me, I must remove the possibility of disappointment. To that end, I ask of you only one thing: DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS MESSAGE.

That is it? You just find it boring? No complaints about plot holes, terrible characters or illogical solutions? Your topic is pure click-bait. Seriously, I do think that any book (or any story for that matter, regadless of the medium it is told in) can be regarded good, bad or anything in between, depending on the person reading it. And there might be interesting discussions to be had talking about all the different points and Interpretations. I really liked Alloy of Law. It took me a while to get used to the different era but I really liked the characters and the way the story developed. The following books got even better (imo) and Bands of Mourning is my favorite Sanderson book so far. I'm close to doing a little happy-dance whenever I think of The Lost Metal being written kinda right now.

I thought I'd update this considering this has been answered as per WOB:

I think Shen/Rlain has improved so much from book 1. He's pretty epic in RoW

Completed code. Got lots of help reading everyone's ideas.