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Wow. I can’t believe it’s already been a year. Instead of mentioning everyone who has been a friend to me, I’m just going to mention a few select people: @Enter a username, you’re my brother and introduced me to the shard, so thank you. @Channelknight Fadran, One of the main reasons I wanted to join the Shard was because I wanted to join FotT, which you created. I can’t wait to see where it goes from here! @Ookla the Theoretical, I don’t know why, but I feel like we’d be best friends if we’d met in real life. @Robin Hatter, you’re a really cool person- keep it up! I’d @ more people, but I’m getting tired, so: To everyone else: You’re all amazing and nice people and you all deserve the best. Thank you all for making it a great year by just existing and being you To celebrate a year here, I’ve decided to share some art I’ve done~Hope you like it!

Y’all ain’t ready for this one. I was vibing in an old church building I used to go to a few years back before it was torn down, just walking the hallways and really just minding my own business as I strolled around. All of a sudden, there was a concert going on a few rooms down? Like, I was walking into the main chapel and saw the k-pop group: BTS note: I do listen to their music, so that’s why they’re here. They were doing their thang while on the stand while there was literally nobody else in the chapel. I decided: “What the heck? I’ll go up to them and say hi,” even though they don’t know of my existence. Anyways, as I was going up to see them, a shudder and rumbling noise came from my right. I turn in that direction and see a dark swirling portal. Everything seemed to be sucking in to that portal, and I wonder what the heck is going on with it. And then, out came Thanos from the MCU. I distinctly remember me saying in my dream: “Wait, you’re not supposed to be here.” Then I woke up.

I have made it to my 100th reputation point. My first small landmark.

Yes! Your turn

me: is frantically saving every last penny so that i might have some ghost of a chance at affording college also me:

Two things: 1: Yesterday I got 4 cavity fillings with no numbing shot. (It didn’t hurt, thankfully) 2: My dad tested positive for COVID today so I have to stay home from school tomorrow and I hate missing school and I’ll likely have to miss more because I might have it because we live in the same house but I’m hoping that if I retain the mental state of denial I can get the Placebo effect to kick in to keep the symptoms at bay for as long as possible and I think I might be getting a little stressed out… But other than that, life’s good!

Yello I like dreams. I like hearing them, reading them, having them, writing them down so I'll remember them better, I like tweaking them sometimes or trying to build onto them. I also know that I'm not the only one who likes dreams. If you want to share a dream, here's a place. If you want to read someone else's, here's a place.

Ignore my cringy jokes. I've been lurking around a while but then I finally decided to make an account, promptly forgot my account existed then I didn't! I'm glad to finally "like" stuff!

It’s been a bit since I’ve posted art lol. Mostly because of school and some mental stuff.

Does a little dance that relieves tension in the thread. we’re all friends here <3

823463498451908!!!

I once had a dream that I was looking for my water bottle (I had lost it in real life a few days ago), and my mother appeared as Santa and said I could check in her desk, which had deep shelves built into the inside of it. I was reaching inside them, trying to feel for my water bottle. When I woke up, my hand was trapped in the blinds. I also get killed a lot in my dreams. Ways that I’ve been killed that I can remember: Eaten by an alligator Eaten by a lion Shoved off a helicopter by my best friend and splatted to the ground shot by three different friends trampled by an elephant run over by a Star Wars speeder Knifed by my brother zombified by my family Killed by Aang Poisoned by a friend Killed by a giant scorpion’s stinger

I have this one dream where I'm in my bed in the morning and I go to brush my teeth in the bathroom but my mom's already in there and so I spit at her and then I wake up (in the dream) and I have no memory of the past 2 minutes and I go to brush my teeth in the bathroom but my mom's already in there and so I spit at her and then I wake up again (in the dream) and it's just an endless dream

They may well have renounced Odium, but honor and cultivation may not have realized that Odium could create the unmade, and then "poof" the Thrill. I wouldn't be surprised if the war was facilitated by the Thrill--which is why it happened so fast.

Thoughts. If an entrepreneur is a person who starts a new business, is an entrepren or maybe an entreprene a new business?

Vyre..?

My dad tested positive for Covid. The rest of us technically haven't been tested yet, but let's face it, we probably have it. *Throws licorice at everyone* Merry mid-January, everybody!

Morgan Freeman as Odium. We already know he can pull off playing a divinity, and both his bearing and his voice would lend themselves well to the whole 'authoritative but kindly grandfather' front Odium puts up, and I think he could still pull off playing Odium as he shows more and more of his true colors.

Yeah he was. Until he had an option that was 100x better. Go from an uncertain fate, with the options of either starting up a mercenary group, becoming bandits, or splitting up to try and hide amongst normal society, to one of the safest jobs for soldiers, with guaranteed pay, a commander who has shown his willingness to sacrifice greatly to keep you alive, free equipment, and the chance to train your men in ideal conditions. Who in their right mind would give that up to walk away into the wilderness so that Sadeas could send soldiers out to hunt them down and kill them. It's not like Kaladin completely abandoned the idea either. I believe that during a conversation with Moash, Kaladin brought up leaving as an option, but said that it would be better if they left with all the bridgemen, as a trained army a thousand strong. 1. So a book series doesn't matter, and you have to do all the development in one book in order for it to matter? We had a rehashing of Kaladin's problems in the beginning. We saw what Sigzil almost dying did to him. 2. Getting better? When was Kaladin getting better in OB? Was it when he first froze on the battlefield? When he obsessively pushed the group on a mission to save Dalinar? Or was it when he completely failed to swear the fourth ideal? At no point in that book did Kaladin do anything more to address his issues than say "I'm fine" and continue to try to soldier on, ignoring it as best he could. His development in OB was basically: 1. Love triangles are stupid, Shallan and Adolin are a good couple, I don't love Shallan. (Thank you Brandon) 2. Ignoring depression and battle shock is stupid and only works until it doesn't. When it doesn't, and you're on the battlefield, you'll get people killed because of your inability to save them. 3. Amaram is dead now. Yay. This changes nothing about the long-lasting trauma he inflicted on me, but at least we don't have to worry about him causing anyone else long-lasting trauma. 4. I can't swear the fourth ideal, because I don't see purpose in life if I can't protect everyone. Why would Adolin need to swear oaths? We don't know what a bond with a deadeye looks like, but RoW really looked to me like Adolin and Maya had deepened their bond to each other, without Adolin swearing an oath. Besides that, this was just an example. My point is that killing Kaladin solely for the sake of showing that characters are not invincible is bad writing. Again, we had this argument before, and I disagree. That's the whole point of our bet.

I don't agree with this. I can't think of any choice that Kaladin has made that felt out of character to me. Staying at the shattered plains, where he could have a nice, cushy job that would keep his men relatively safe, pay them well, and allow him to train them under ideal circumstances was infinitely better, considering his character, than it would be to leave the shattered plains so that he could... what? take his men and become mercenaries? get "mistaken" for bandits by Sadeas' soldiers and killed? abandon his men, his responsibility and leave them to protect themselves, so that he can go off on his own? return to Hearthstone? What life was there for him, in his eyes, other than the life of a soldier? Again, I disagree. in tWoK, we saw bad stuff happen to Kaladin, but we are also told about his depression. We are told that Kaladin thinks it would be best to kill himself in Honor's chasm. Kaladin tells Syl that he thinks his cause is hopeless. in RoW, we start out by seeing what Kaladin has been going through. We see the pain it causes him when Sigzil nearly dies. Then Moash appears, and he tells us Kaladin's deepest fear. He tells Kaladin that everyone will die, that one day he won't get so lucky and Sigzil will die. All of them will. And we see how much Kaladin is affected by that. Then we see Kaladin have a group supporting him in his family, in Teft, in Adolin, In Shallan, in Syl, only to have all of that taken away. Adolin and Shallan leave. Teft falls unconscious. Lirin basically tells Kaladin that he hates him. Syl starts struggling with the same thing that Kaladin is. We are told the effects of this on Kaladin. Then Teft wakes up. they make a plan. Kaladin thinks that maybe he can get lucky again, that no one he loves will die, that he'll be able to protect all of them. Then Teft dies. Kaladin's reaction is not melodrama. It's him deciding that Moash was right. he can't protect Teft, he can't protect anyone. They'll all die. I thought you were arguing that Kaladin's arc was fulfilled? That him retiring and doing surgery would be boring? So give him stormlight. Have Shallan release Ba-Ado-Mishram, reviving Maya, who suddenly has a bond with Adolin. He uses his incredible skills along with his new powers to have an awesome moment, then die. Or maybe give him powers but make him lose anyways, getting killed by El, Ishar, or Moash, realizing that in the end, even with his new powers, he wasn't good enough. That Dalinar was right, and he should have become a windrunner, because maybe then he'd be worth something. I would bet you a hundred plates of hemalurgic cookies that the Contest of Champions will not be a "Dalinar curbstomp". If it was going to be that, then Rayse would have lived until the end of KoW, because the entire point of killing him off was because he was not enough of a threatening villian anymore due to all the times he was beaten. Dalinar might "win" the contest, but make no mistake, TOdium is going to win the next book. There would be no point in replacing Rayse if Taravangian was just going to lose immediately anyways.

Having Kaladin's death relegated to a Ned Stark/Hoban Washburne shock factor moment would be terrible, and really shoddy writing. And no-one was saying Kaladin cannot die, only that it would be a massive shame for him to work through all that depression, finally find a reason to continue living for himself, rather than others, only to sacrifice himself to protect others, thus never realising that he could actually be happy too. While utterly in character for Kaladin, it would paint a massive "What's the point?" on his entire character arc, which would in itself, be a kick in the teeth for those of us with depression. Those of us who do struggle with the question, "What's the point?"

The whole "self sacrifice for the greater good" theme is one that keeps cropping up in Brandon's books/series. It happens in Warbreaker with Lightsong, Mistborn with Vin, Elend, even Sazed and Kelsier. In Elantris you've got the guards who become hoed, and of course, Hrathen. I could absolutely see Kaladin being one of these sacrifices. It would totally fit with the character. But, that said, I don't want to see it happen. I want the Windrunner 5th Ideal to be "I accept that my life is as important as those I protect," and for Kaladin to realise that self sacrifice isn't necessarily the best way to protect or lead. I also agree with the comments that this would be a reversal of Kaladin's story arc. It would feel like such a let down for him to spend 4 books fighting for a reason to live beyond just protecting others, for him to give up his life, just to protect others, in book 5.

I don't really know actors, but I agree with this.

I do like this actually

So, there is something very weird and not yet revealed about the timeline for the human migration from Ashyn to Roshar, the Heralds, and the Oathpact. From what we are told in Oathbringer, humans came to Roshar and were granted Shinovar to live in, eventually they wanted more land and fought against the singers/Dawnsingers, starting the wars that became the Desolations. But most if not all of the Heralds were born on Ashyn, before the migration to Roshar, with the only possible exception being Shalash. And the Heralds became Heralds when they were the age they now physically appear to be. (See the WOBs at the bottom of this post...) This puts a fairly tight constraint on the time scale for these events; probably no more than 30-35 years or so, if Shalash was born around the time of the migration. Yet it seems this must have taken a very long time. Shinovar is a pretty large land, and much more favorable to human life than most of Roshar - there wouldn't seem to be an immediate need to move beyond Shinovar. And the humans from Ashyn presumably arrived as refugees, not immediately ready for a war of conquest. And furthermore, it seems the Oathpact couldn't have been a response to the initial war with the singers. The Stormfather says (Oathbringer chapter 38; I'm not copying his ALL CAPS): So the Oathpact didn't happen until after: - humans fought a war with the singers - the dead singers became the Fused to fight against humanity further, and were repeatedly reborn - this process continued long enough for it to become clear that humanity couldn't win the war unless something drastic changed That pushes the timeline out even further, as these wars probably lasted years (maybe many years) by themselves. This seems to be a major timeline issue. But do we really know that the Heralds became Heralds at the same time as the Oathpact was formed? The Stormfather says (same chapter) that the purpose of the Oathpact was to seal the Fused spirits in Braize: But then, why do they get Surgebinding powers and Honorblades? How does that help? (This question isn't original to me- wish I could remember who brought it up - but I've seen it used as evidence that repeating Desolations, and thus a need to fight, was Honor's plan. But the Stormfather made it very clear that it was supposed to "end the war forever", ie no more fighting needed...) We do know that the Honorblades were given to the Heralds as part of an oath (Oathbringer Chapter 16, the Stormfather speaking:) But perhaps there is more than one oath involved. One maybe 30 years after the migration to Roshar, when the Heralds stop aging, get Surgebinding and Honorblades. And a second one, the actual Oathpact, after decades of war with the singers, becoming an endless losing battle as the Fused arise and reincarnate endlessly, which doesn't involve Surgebinding but does trap the Fused spirits on Braize. WOB #1: Post-TLM Update: I think the Honorblades were originally granted by Honor to provide a limited, controlled form of Surgebinding to replace the destructive Ashynite form. Mistborn TLM Spoilers: I think their granting also made the Heralds into Avatars of Honor, and stopped (or greatly slowed) their aging -- before they ever became Cognitive Shadows. If their original granting created Avatars, that could explain the Stormfather's cryptic comment that Jezrien's Honorblade is much more powerful than Dalinar realizes: "you would be a Windrunner unoathed. And more. More that men do not understand, and cannot. Like a Herald, nearly." From what we know so far, a Honorblade's powers are strictly worse than a 3rd Ideal Radiant's - same Surges and Shardblade, but much worse healing. And by 4th Ideal, with Plate, the Radiant is ridiculously far ahead. But if there were an unknown way to use a Honorblade to become an avatar - maybe one requiring Shard/Sliver/Avatar expanded mind ("men do not understand, and cannot") - it would make sense. More timeline anomalies Raboniel says (ch 76 RoW) that she wasn't around when humans arrived, but her grandmother told her about what it was like, in a way that implies her grandmother was around to see it. Essu, Raboniel's daughter, became a Fused, so given that apparently (according to Raboniel) all the Fused were "elevated" at once, and presumably Odium wouldn't have chosen a baby or young child, Essu was probably already adult or at least close at the time the Fused were created. So there were probably about 3 singer generations between human arrival and the elevation of the Fused. Singer generations are shorter than human ones, so that could be argued to be compatible, but it's a stretch. Singers are considered adult at 10, so if that's equivalent to human 18... human generation times in a pre-industrial society are probably something like 25 years, so maybe 13-15 for singers? 3 generations would still be something like 40-45 years ... and according to the Stormfather, the Oathpact was created because humans couldn't win a war where their enemies kept reincarnating, which means there was more war between the creation of the Fused and the beginning of the Oathpact. There is no way the younger Heralds are physically 50, or even 40. It's not completely definitive, because it's possible that Raboniel's mother was alive - maybe even adult and just somewhere else - at the time of human arrival, and that Essu was made a Fused before full adulthood. If Raboniel was born only a few years after the arrival (say 3 years), and Raboniel had Essu at say 12, and Essu was made a Fused at maybe 8, and only two years passed between the Fused being created and the Oathpact... then Shalash could be like 25 at the time of the Oathpact. But that seems like a stretch.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Free from covid and free from my fricken bedroommmmmmmmmmmmm

I guess you just need to be an adult to get it...

FINISHED CYTONIC AND O MY GOSH I SCRUDING LOVED IT! SOMEBODY TALK TO ME ABOUT IT!

"Praise the Ja!" Su's voice rang across the town. A half-hearted and yet heartfelt reply from one of the more recognizable drunks followed, along with a more emphatic statement from the rest of the town who was already on edge. Scimon Tlag was listening, though. He'd been their all day, most of the night, maintaining his little melon cart. Well, maintaining the cart had proved easy. The beautiful, colorful, carefully arranged display of melons lay untouched on the planks, and the jugs of tea were just as heavy being stored for the night as they had been in the morning. The village would rather feast on cheap beer and blood. They'd found one of the saboteurs. The Spiked, that's what they'd been called. They were dead now. That was good, Tlag supposed. The chaos of the first two days had been a boom for popularity, if a bit badly capitalized on, but it couldn't last that way. This wasn't a stable town. Lord Ruler, this wasn't even a stable planet. The mists, ash and koloss were seeing to that. Maybe the Empire would be saved, but this town would be overrun by those blue-skinned behemoths. Either the occupants would escape to deal with the dying lands, or the saboteurs would rip them apart from the inside. But Tlag didn't feel like sticking around for either of those eventualities. Being filled with coins, cut down by farming tools, or squashed by a koloss blade were... bad for business. Trying to escape was a similarly poor idea. What did that leave? The usual plan was to play both sides, then get out before they all figured it out. Well, they'd already made sides, and waiting to the last minute led to a koloss's gullet. So Scimon Tlag had, for the fourth time in his life, absolutely no idea what to do. Su had an idea, though. Maybe Tlag could find one. "Praise the Ja," he said. He didn't shout it to the mists for the world to hear, but he didn't make it a whisper for Su, either. This wasn't just about making a sale anymore. He wanted to say it, and he wanted to be heard. The moment passed. Not entirely; the seed of possibility was still there. But there was also the issue of his food cart - it was covered, but left alone too long and the ash would get on the open slices. He carefully placed the halves on top of each other, then bound them with a few strips of fabric to keep them together. They all fit in his cart a bit too nicely for his tastes. He paused, then looked at Su. He wasn't even wearing shoes. He was standing on a box, just now finishing a speech the world seemed to hate. And he was smiling. Scimon Tlag usually had a rule about using his own merchandise, but maybe he could let it slide. He took out one of his nicer-looking coralmelons, walked over to Su, and set down one half on the box. "Thanks," he said. "Praise the Ja." He unwrapped the second half of the melon and started walking away through the ash.

AHHHHHHH I'M ALMOST LEGALLY AN ADULT HOW DO I DO ADULTY THINGS.

IMAGINE BEING ABLE TO VOTE CRRIIINNNGGEE

Nah, that's an awful idea. If we do that, then they might deny us entry once we pass 18. I'm only a few months away from that! Why would we... Wait a second. This is a GREAT idea!

How did we go from guessing eachother's ages to odium chickens Ahh, no matter. GUYS LETS INVADE THE ADULT CLUB

We are missing a lot of details until warbreaker sequel comes out, but there are hints of her plans. I believe that Vasher is her champion. He created nightblood, killed most of the other scholars (I personally assume he will finish the task in the sequel), then he moved to another world with the blade to keep himself alive easily and not affect endowments world anymore. What leads me to believe he is indeed endowments champion is he betrays Vivenna off screen, and it is why she hunts him and nightblood. An already immortal man could simply be her pawn to off Rayse, but I think how all the other scholars give endowments people tools to fight well above their weight class then the scholars all die is kind of telling.

Good thing my dogs aren't named 'them'.

There is some validity to making it out of multiple metals, or at least multiple identifiable sections, in order to aid in the coinshot perceiving the different parts that can be pushed on. We can't ignore how important perception is to this, and so whatever would aid in allowing the misting or mistborn to see that coin as many parts would make it easier for those with less skill.

A perfect cup of tea. Preferably Earl Grey, but other types are also acceptable. A beautiful sunrise on a cold winter day. If I have the time to enjoy both, it's going to be a great day!

No, I don't think he has the determination to take the necessary steps. If he did, he wouldn't have so many problems come RoW. When you're feeling that low, caring for yourself is far, far harder than caring for others. Caring for others actually helps you feel marginally better, where trying to look after yourself, you just end up staring at what you perceive to be your own failings. You've never said anything about my depression, apart from every comment in the thread arguing we're wrong in our interpretation because it doesn't match your own experiences. You accuse me of dismissing your experiences, yet you don't seem to understand that you've been doing exactly the same to us this entire thread. If that's your only takeaway from OB about Kaladin's mental health, you really need to reread it. He's basically catatonic in Shadesmar, partially due to seeing one group of friends butchering another group of friends, only to be put down by a third group of friends, then seeing your "best friend" killing the person you're supposed to be protecting. And while that certainly would have hurt Kaladin, it was his own feelings of uselessness that utterly crippled him. This is why he was so focused on reaching Dalinar. Because there was someone he might actually be able to help, and that would help banish the shadows from his mind... For a short time at least. It was a desperate clinging on to something vaguely resembling purpose, to try to keep his head above water, metaphorically speaking. I wouldn't assume he's going to improve because saying you're going to do better is just the first step. There is still a hell of a long way to go before he'd even consider himself to be even a little bit healed. 1. Therapy not existing in the world in a formal capacity does not change the fact that it would be incredibly helpful for him, and if anything, makes his actions in RoW even more important because he's not only changing how he views himself, but how everyone views mental health problems. Huge step forward. 2. Kaladin spent a year between OB and RoW on the front lines. How many people do you expect died during those conflicts? Now imagine that each of those deaths is utterly pointless because your enemy can simply respawn. How crappy would that make you feel, assuming you were already in a highly depressed state? 3. You read the first part of the sentence, but not the second part. Yes, he has plenty of people to talk to, but he also needs to learn how to open up. Until he can do that, talking about his problems is impossible. His mind would just shut down at the attempt. Trust me, this is a big part of my mental health problems, so I know how it goes. Also, it's really not very easy. Even if you can open yourself up like that, actually doing it with someone you are close to and who knows you well is really difficult. 4. Characters can have more than one arc. You may just see the mental health stuff as a tangent to Kaladin flying around kicking ass, but for me at least, I view it the other way around. Kaladin learning about his mental health issues and learning how to deal with them is far more important to character development than kicking yet another fused's behind. To me, at least.

Eating dessert before dinner or whenever actually.

Honestly I think OB is my favorite after my recent stormlight reread.

It certainly looked like that's why the choices were made the way they were to my eyes. And as for Kaladin's depression not looking real in your eyes, that's just your eyes. I recognised a lot of what Kaladin was feeling and going through as stuff I've felt. And while the ending would "add stakes," as you put it, it would also take a massive dump on all of Kaladin's personal development. If you absolutely have to have someone killed off, make it Dalinar. Also, perhaps you'd care to offer more of an opinion than "You're wrong!" For example, why do you think the choices were made the way they were? Why do you think the depiction of depression in RoW is worse than WoK. This is, after all, how a discussion works.

Because the entire point of his arc and story is that his life matters? That he may fail and make mistakes, but he isn't as worthless as his mind tells him? That he deserves to live. You can't kill a character like that lol

Well put, ty, that did a good job of tying things together for me. Syl being a member of Oathpact 2.0 would be a wonderfully horrible end for her arc. Same. The inherent emotion behind nahel bond always struck me as similar to that of the Warder - Aes Sedai bond, something extremely intimate and personal without being romantic (though ofc feelings could develop beyond the bond), knowing the other as you know yourself, sharing your everything and existence.

The fact Sadeas was a little rat bastard and they have more important issues to deal with probably

Happy Birthday!

And most likely not by accident.

"On Second Thought, Forget the Theories and Blackjack"

Had a thought, It will be funny in the future when everyone will have all this future tech wit guns and spaceships and Nightblood is just chilling as a sword.

Atium's limitations in Allomancy is probably not a good yardstick to determine Ruin's futuresight. He's at least good enough to plan decades in advance.