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Did...did y'all read the same books I did? I feel like this has become a regular question for me. First, I thought the fact that he was no longer fit for duty was kind of the entire point of RoW? Like, it's a massive plot point. The whole point, actually. He can't do it. He freezes up too much. He can't separate his Oaths from his Duty, and he can't help but see everyone as someone he needs to protect. The moment in OB when Moash kills Elokhar, Kal was literally watching his men kill his men. They were all his people. He'd decided to protect all of them, as his Oath required. So who was he supposed to fight? He broke at that point. His mind literally broke. That's what Mental Illness is. He couldn't cope. He couldn't deal. He broke. He was not fit for leadership from that point on, and should have been relieved from duty on the spot. But he wasn't, not because he's a Coward, but because he's an amazing, inspiring, extraordinarily talented leader. He took men who were less than nothing and made them into one of the most elite fighting forces on the planet. He constantly puts himself into harms way to save others. And g**d***it, he was in the grips of the most severe Depression of his life in the Tower, and yet he still found the courage to stand up and became Kaladin Stormblessed one more time. I don't know if you understand the courage it takes to do that when you have to deal with the things Kal has to deal with. I don't have PTSD, but I do deal with Depression on a daily basis, and makes you believe you are worthless, that everything you do means nothing, and there is no point to moving forward. Sometimes simply standing up and washing some dishes takes so much mental fortitude that I nearly give up. Kal deals with that AND the PTSD, which has scared his soul to the point where he can't make decisions anymore. If there's any ambiguity on who he's supposed to protect, he can't function. And that's literally the point of the fourth book. It isn't to show he's a coward, and quite frankly I am extremely insulted, personally, that you would make that insinuation that someone dealing with mental heal issues is a coward. It's to show HIS COURAGE. It was to show what he's dealing with, that his pain and his scars are real, that they are affecting his life and his men, but that IT"S OK. THERE IS NO SHAME in being asked to step down becaues of your scars. War wounds all people. It is a horrible, horrible thing. And yeah, others went through things that could be considered "Worse" than Kal did. But that doesn't matter. They didn't have Kal's heart, nor his experiences, nor his mental health. They didn't make the same oaths he did, meet the same people, come to care for them, and then watch them murder each other, all while having the heart of someone who CARES. By the end of book four, Kal is the most brave character I've read. Not because he stands up to the Fused or can beat the Pursuer without powers. Not because he swears the fourth ideal and becomes a god among men. But becasue he stood up, at the end, to become Kaladin Stormblessed one more time, while in the grips of Depression and believing deep in his soul that he just didn't have anything left to give. Because all he wanted was for it to be over. And he could have it be over any time he wanted to. And when he lept to his death...that's not cowardice. It's despiration. It's being so overwhelmed that you just need an end. You just need to be done with it. Nothing matters. Nothing is real. It all just needs to end and he just couldn't deal anymore. He had just lost his best friend, murdered by his other best friend, who he could have stopped if he hadn't been so broken. So his friend's death was his fault. He completely understood and internalized this. He may as well have been the one to kill him. Then he watched his father thrown over the side of the tower. The man who taught him, the man who was always there as a child. The one man who stood up to Rashon, who helped people regardless of who they were. The one person in the Tower who didn't deserve to be killed, and he was because of Kaladin. If Kal had listened from the begiinning, Lirin would have been safe. And so he lept after him, knowing he couldn't save him, and welcoming the end at the bottom. That's not cowardice. It just isn't. It's brokenness. It's being unable to see or think clearly because the Darkness inside blacks out everything else. It's the REASON Dalinar took him off duty. Because he understood what was happening. That this Darkness would consume Kal if he didn't have a chance to heal. If he ever did heal. He needed that time, and he needed that closure that the conversation with Tien gave him. He needed to forgive himself, which is something those going through Depression need above all. They need to have compoassion for themselves. To understand they are not worthless just because they are broken. That's what the fourth oath was all about. Forgiving himself that he couldn't protect people. "I accept there are people I cannot protect". It's the same thing as "I forgive myself for not being able to protect them." Do you know what that tells people who read this book who suffer from the same things Kal does? It tells them there is a silver lining. That they can become better. That pushing forward is worth it. And those people can use that to help push against the Darkness when it tells its lies. If you are unable to understand the Darkness and what it is like to live with day in and day out, then I guess you can look at Kal and think him a coward. People have often told those with Depression "It's all in your head" and "Just get over it". As if their feelings aren't real. If you've never been there, then I envy you. But the courage shown by Kaladin Stormblessed may very well have saved my life when I was at my lowest.

So there's this girl, who I swear I've never met in my life. She's super nice and friendly, but absolutely convinced that we went to camp together this summer (I definitely did not; I was too busy dying in a cornfield somewhere). She treats me like a close friend, which is great, but I don't know her at all. I keep trying to explain this to her, but she doesn't believe me. Does this mean I get a friend for free? It feels kind of dishonest, but I literally cannot convince her of the truth.

Well, not exactly. Vin tries fighting Steel Inquisitors and nearly dies. She spends weeks recovering, even with Pewter. Kel, too. He barely gets away after fighting them. Later, Kel kills one, and Vin and Elend wind up going toe to toe with many, but that's later. Vin was barely trained, and the Inquisitor took her apart. Vin goes up against Shan Elarial, who has been a mistborn longer than she has, and is therefore more trained, and wins. Everyone is surprised, but Shan is able to counter everything Vin can throw at her, and she has to adapt by turning off her Atium, tricking Shan into thinking Vin had none left. So she used her wits to beat her. They may have had the same powers, but Shan was the more accomplished Mistborn. Kal, before he was aware of his bond with Syl, fought a guy in Shardplate with a Shardblade and killed him straight up. I'd say the guy was a lot more powerful than Kal at that moment, even if Kal was just starting to draw in Stormlight. Terevangian fought Odium, though in a different way. A little old man, with no intellect whatsoever, saw the flaw in Odium's plans and manipulated the situation to get Nightblood and Odium in the same place, even if it didn't quite go off like he wanted, and he managed to basically kill a god. Kal, Dalinar and Adolin all fought Szeth, and were taken apart. The only reason they even survived was because Szeth saw Kal use stormlight and freaked out. If he'd kept his cool, he could have taken them all apart. All he'd have needed to do was leave Kal on the ground and fly back up to get Dalinar. Kal won the next time they fought, but only because he'd ranked up to 3rd Ideal with his own Blade. Vasher fought Denth, who was the better swordsman, and won by sacrificing Breaths, something no one ever even thinks about doing. He figured out an adaptation to beat those who are better fighters than him. Otherwise, he'd have lost. Vivvena used Awakening to awaken Tong Fa's coat to get him off her. Tong Fa is a lot stronger and more powerful than she is, she just surprised him. She also used the Command she heard to tell the Lifeless guy to attack Denth. Everyone there was more powerful than she was, but she still managed to fight them off. Hrathen against Dilaf (forgive my spelling, I'm an audiobook listener). Dilaf was a full Dakor Monk, Hrathan only had one arm. Hrathan won because of surprise. Miles Hundredlives was arguably more powerful than Wax. Nothing Wax did affected him hardly at all. They had to trick him with Marasi's power and overwhelming numbers to take him down. Lift vs Nale. He's a Harald, and she survived him twice. He vastly outmatched her in every possible way. Heck, Dalinar vs Nale in RoW. It was quick, and Szeth was there to help, but still. So no, this isn't the first time in the cosmere that the characters went up against someone who was more powerful or stronger than them and it required them to adapt on the fly. It was a good fight, though. I think it was so good because they were equally matched, not that Dumad was more powerful. Dumad had different powers, but those powers together matched Wax. It wasn't Kal vs Szeth or Kel vs an Inquisitor. In those cases, it was basically two people with the same powers fighting to see who was better. In this case, they had DIFFERENT abilities, but those abilities were complimentary. Wax could increase his weight to steelpush, Dumad could use Duralumin, etc.

I think that you might be overstating this aspect of Kaladin's character... I mean, he doesn't want to kill Moash, not just because Moash was once his friend, but because he sees himself in Moash. Moash has lost loved ones because of lighteyes, just like Kaladin. Moash has been unjustly enslaved, just like Kaladin. And I think that Kaladin sees Moash as someone Kaladin might be if he hadn't had Syl. And a friend is someone who's hard to kill, in cold blood or otherwise. There's a part in WoR where Kaladin says, "If I kill a man, I'm going to do it in the sunlight, and I'm going to do it because there's no other way", and killing Moash would have been against that. Moash said, "I surrender," and Kaladin was A, shocked to see his former friend randomly in his hometown just at the moment he was there too, B, exhausted mentally and physically from his nonstop fighting, and C, reluctant to kill Moash because of his similarity to Kaladin. Moash knew just what buttons to push in Kaladin's tired, cracked psyche to make him not kill him. Kaladin is an amazing leader. He is inspiring and indibnibly good at uniting people, and he's an incredible fighter. And that's why he stayed in command so long: Dalinar knew that Kaladin was, usually, a good enough fighter that he made up for his moments of struggle. Along with that, Dalinar knew that fighting was... all he had left, pretty much. So Dalinar delayed in "firing" him. He wouldn't normally respond like that. He used to be a better bodyguard in the ways you've mentioned. But years of fighting and loss have taken its toll. He can't really kill, emotionally. I don't think Kaladin's going to be in charge anytime in the foreseeable future, if ever again. He told Dalinar as much at the end of RoW. Also, I don't think Kaladin was aware that Moash was the one to kill Teft, which is why he didn't hunt him down. I'm not going to respond to this thread again, because I'm a huge Kaladin fan, and my emotional instinct is to go, "B-B-BUT KALADIN'S AMAZING! HOW DARE YOU INSULT MY BABY!" Which is not great. So I'm going to avoid that possibility. Also, you might want to avoid using the word coward... I mean, PTSD is a real thing, and it could be offensive... I know that Kaladin is a well loved character, and so you might not want to be so... hostile, for lack of a better word, on such a controversial topic, I think. G'day!

I don't think it was a conscious decision not to kill Moash. It was more of freezing up. Kaladin has severe "battle shock", or PTSD. And at the end of RoW, keep in mind that Kaladin didn't realize that Moash was there, so he couldn't kill him. And after Roshone's death, Kaladin doesn't want to stab his former best friend in the face when Moash won't fight back. Kaladin usually only kills people in combat, not in cold blood. That's just my input, feel free to continue your opinion!

To be clear, in which situation was Kaladin a “coward?” Surely not the first time he fought Moash, drove him off and saved Elhokar in WoR. The second time in Oathbringer he froze up from PTSD and a moral crisis coming to a head. I’m going to go ahead and state plainly: Mental Health problems do not equal cowardice, and it is inaccurate, counterproductive, and just plain wrong to state otherwise. I’m sorry to be blunt, but suffice to say it’s an important stand to take. Should Kaladin have been relieved of duty afterwards? Hell yes. Which is what they do in RoW, actively stating it probably should have been done sooner. as for the 3rd time, in Hearthstone in RoW, see the second. He still hadn’t healed. At least that time they took him off active duty.

Skiddo is my new favorite pokemon That is all

SA2, interlude 9, Lift: I am very confused why you were all saying this was a great interlude. It was VERY long, about a new character I don't yet care about while I'm dying to hear about the main characters, and nothing was particularly exciting about it. Sorry, I'm very hard to please. That being said... next interlude is about Szeth!!!!!!!!!!! Interlude 10: Szeth is in Urithiru??? And what does it all mean he's been killing for nothing? When do I finally get answers about him??

I was skimming through TLM last night, and I reread the first fight Wax and Dumad have during Marasi's sting opperation in Bilming, and as I was going through I found myself continually impressed by how good the fight was, it seemed, almost perfect, and I want to share my thoughts. The most obvious reason for the fight being so good was how dynamic it is, the location and relative advantages are continuously changing, from an initial exchange of bullets, to shoving trucks over, to machine guns, to a firefight inside and outside of an appartment building, to a final showdown in the sky. It never stops moving. But, there are other examples of this in the Cosmere, such as Vin's fight with the Inquisitors, or Wax versus Miles at the end of AoL, what made this fight in particular special? And that's when it struck me: this is the first time Cosmere characters have actually gone up against someone more powerful than themselves, and perhaps more importantly, someone who can punish them for using their powers, which forced them to adapt on the fly. In previous fights, there might have been an illusion of a power imbalance, such as Vin versus TLR, but when it came down to it, the protagonist always had the upper hand, i.e. the mists. Here however, Dumad has not only more powers than Wax, but he has more combat focused ones as well, Wax can't overpower him, and even using feruchemy can be a detriment as Dumad can sense him. So Wax had to use guile, tricks, and think on his feet, which in conjuntion with the already dynamic fight lead to, in my mind the most epic fight scene in the entire Cosmere.

I just devoured a 500 page book - The Lost Metal tee hee hee - in two days. That may not sound impressive to some of you, but guys? I haven’t read that much in ages. This is a huge triumph. Look out boys, I’m gonna be rereading Era One again!!!

Welcome to Frustration's Firepower Index, where I analise the combat capabilities of Cosmere worlds and magic systems. This thread is focused on Windrunners. Preparation: Be a fifth oath Windrunner, as well as a warform singer, along with a full set of second oath squires of Warform singers, we don't know what the maximum is, but the number exceeds twenty, so I'm going to use that as a baseline. Equip each squire and yourself with multiple pouches of large gemstones, allowing for continual renewal of stormlight. Additionally give each squire an aluminum lance(Or a longbow/crossbow with aluminum tipped arrows), heavy aluminum darts, a bag of rocks, and at least one fabrial, such as a painrail, half-shard, or a blood attracter. Additionally each squire as well as the radiant themselves should be equipped with several anti-light grenades in a padded pouch. Offenses: Shardblades can instantly cut through just about any material and change shape to any weapon, and the strength of shardplate on top of warforms already impressive strength makes punches, or blunt force shardweapons equally deadly. With aluminum darts they can drop them from above and let them shower down on opponents. Aluminum tipped arrows and darts can lodge in the body and prevent invested healing. Painrails can cause nearly incapacitating pain to anyone caught in them, and certain attracter fabrials are powerful enough to pull the blood out of anyone nearby(WoR chapter 82, page 993). With rocks you can apply dozens of lashings to a single rock, and send it shooting out with incredible speed, due to the ability to create delayed lashings(OB chapter 34, page 353). And anti-stormlight+stormlight grenades. Additionally they can lash people upward, allowing gravity to kill them. Defenses: Shardplate will protect the radiant, and can move to protect their squires as well, and stormlight will heal both them and their squires, with half-shards protecting any squire that has them. Additionally reverse lashings can pull entire volleys of projectiles out of the air, and are even able to affect the trajectories of bullets. Mobility: Windrunners can fly, continuing to accelerate until they reach terminal velocity, while also manipulating wind to push themselves faster, and keep their groups in formation. OB(322). Stealth: Shardplate can be commanded to stop glowing, but squires, and other sources of stormlight are highly visible, and they can send spren to invisibly scout ahead. Awareness:Windspren and Honorspren can invisibly search large areas increadibly quickly, with Honorspren seemingly able to sense objects that they want(WoK Chapter 23, 343). Additional abilities: Full lashings can lock people in place, as can shardplate if the radiant is willing to risk it.

I have no heckn idea how, but I found someone that actually does not like Brandon Sanderson's writing. I was wearing my Cosmere necklace today as I went to my church, and one of my friends commented on how nice it looked and asked where it came from; I told her that it was a part of a universe that Sanderson made and that she should read some of his books. She then told me that she tried, but didn't like them. As anyone would be, I was intrigued since I had yet to meet someone (until today lolll) who had read Sanderson and didn't like or at least respect him, and I asked her what books she read and why. She told me that she read Skyward and that she liked that––I told her that it was a good series, but not Cosmere, to which she seemed kinda disappointed lolll––then she told me that she read The Way of Kings and said that it was hard to get through and dense, which.. is completely fair and I can't blame her, since it also took me a couple tries to actually get through the book, so I gave her a pass on that one. I asked her if she had read Mistborn, to which she said that she tried but didn't like it and didn't like all the "made-up swearing," she called it (I honestly don't know what else to call it, so I can't blame her; I mean,, better than actual swears imo). I dunno bout y'all, but that series (especially the first era) showed me that foreshadowing and fantasy series can actually be really heckn good and that they're not always cliché.. and also the ending of that era and the twist actually made me put the book down and literally say aloud: "I should have seen that coming." I told her that she should give it another try, and she said no and that there were better things to read. I kinda scoffed (jokingly) and said that she was missing out on good writing, and she said no and that there was better writing. I literally looked at her like: I didn't say that to her, but said in a joking way that she must not like good writing, to which she retorted and said that she did; to which I shot back that she would like Mr. Sanderson's writing if she did lollll. It was meant to be a tease/joke which I do to my friends quite often, and she got it. I do love this friend and her opinion about Sanderson doesn't change that; I just thought it would be interesting to share this story here and the thoughts that ran through my head at the time lolll. But yeah. Anyways. That was a good bedtime story. Ima go do some edits on a new rp I've been working on and go to bed <3

Welp. It's 10:30 on a Sunday night and I'm up baking a cake. A two layer cake that has two flavors. The vanilla batter had lumps but the recipe said it would so I wasn't gonna stress about it. But now it's taking forever to bake. The chocolate batter was literally like a soup. This frosting is taking DAYS to mix. Okay, FINALLY, the frosting finished. Took long enough xD. And chasms, it's----------- wow, that was so worth it Here's the recipe because my gosh https://chelsweets.com/not-too-sweet-buttercream-frosting/ The vanilla cake finally came out of the oven! Yay! We didn't go to church today because my mom and I are both not feeling great, so instead we watched The Chosen and I did another painting of Mira Dethridge, my OC and Harlow's villain mastermind. We also watched The Pink Panther 2. It was great. Overall, today was good! No anxiety or panic attacks or any of that, and I figured out some more of Mando's Theme for piano (I learned some of it off YouTube and now I'm finishing it on my own by ear because I'm too lazy to actually find the video again xD) It was a good day! Anyway, here's the portrait of M alicious I nsatiable R uthless A utocratic antagonist

I am paranoid. I really want people to make sense. I want to understand. I want to know what to say and do. I don't. I'm scared. I don't even know anymore. And the language fails me.

apologizes and reattaches Robin's kneecaps- @Shallan Stormblessed

Problem: Sazed is losing control of his Shard because he's out of balance from trying to be more Preservation-y than Ruin-y. Fact: Ruin's signature trick was altering the written word. Solution: Make words appear. Lots of words. Lots and lots of words. Every time someone throws out a scrap of paper, Harmony can write "Saze wuz here" up and down both sides. Every time someone scribbles something rude on a restroom stall, Harmony can change it to a Pathian proverb. Alleyway graffiti can migrate from wall to wall, correcting its spelling and grammar in the process. Sazed can continue the Words of Founding-- The Further Thoughts of God on Everything, Volume LXIII-- in any discarded book. He can write the Great Scadrialian Novel. He can write the Terrible Scadrialian Novel, if that appeases his inner Ruin more. He can write fanfic for A Hero for All Ages. He can (again, if he needs to use up some extra Ruin) write disturbing, badly-spelled TenSoon-centric smutfic for A Hero for All Ages. I cannot see any flaws in this logic and I expect Harmony to start on his writing career immediately. You're welcome, Sazed.

I guess I’m weird… When reading through the books I’m less concerned about the main character stories (still into them of course) and more fascinated by seeing more of the magic system. Give me all the Radiants! I want to see each type in action and see what they can do! So for me Lift’s chapter was perfect. It let me see a new type of Radiant (a slippery one!), it expanded on the mysterious killer, and it gave details of a new culture (to be honest I was getting a little tired of the Alethi chest-beaters). I do understand wanting to get to the finale of this book though…it’s quite amazing the first time. Enjoy!

For me the best part of this interlude was Lift. She is a great and funny character. I like her. And it has little hidden secrets spread here and there. The person trying to kill Lift is the same person that killed Ym, the shoemaker in the second interlude of WoR. That person is... let's just say interesting. And it's not the first or second time he appeared in books. What I love about interludes is that they not only give us a little break from main characters and main events, but also introduce us to other new side characters, in other parts of this world. We have Szeth, Rysn, Lift and many others from all around the world. We can look at what is happening at different parts of Roshar while the main heroes struggle with their challenges. This makes the whole world alive and more immersive. And that gives us, the readers, important information that we couldn't from the main characters pov. The problem with Szeth in SA is that there is so little of him there! I also want to know more, but so many questions are still left unanswered. However, I'm not trying to discourage you, because Szeth storyline in WoR is satisfying. There will be answers provided to you.

Does this happen to anyone else?

In the time honored tradition of TWG's Stupid Titles thread (yes, TWG is back!) and the fact that our rep system is now overhauled, there are all sorts of dumb and exciting promotions that you can have! So, what is your current rank? Plus, I'm sure more than a few of you want to figure out which rank is what. Good luck with that My favorite--and totally coincidental, I swear--person's rank is Peter, at the rank of Rambleman. Okay, it wasn't entirely coincidental, but once I happened to assign Rambleman to that place and I noticed Peter there... well, I couldn't resist. I'm so sorry. Kind of.

Writing my thoughts here in case anyone finds it interesting. Please don't tell me any spoilers. Okay, so in the prelude, Kalak survives the battle for the first time, and starts plotting not to return to the horrible place, when he finds out all the others decided to break their pact or something. It was super interesting, although I was trying to understand if the pact they broke meant they all decided not to return to that bad place, same thing he was considering, or if this was something else entirely. I wonder if we find this out in this book. Anyway, my theory is that the one they left behind will become the main villain, because, I mean, all his partners abandoned him to be tortured over and over, right? I'd become the main villain if it were me. Next up is the prologue, where we see Kalak and his friends are now known as gods, and had their names slightly altered (loved this touch!). I mean, they repeatedly came back from the dead, so it makes a lot of sense that people would regard them as gods. Meanwhile Szeth goes and kills a king, and I really want to find out what the king's dying message to his brother means! I also want to find out why it was important that Szeth be noticed while killing the king, this was one of the most interesting parts about the prologue. I think it would have been cool if we heard what happened to his white clothes in the end - did they get smeared with blood (from when he crashed onto the balcony), get full of dust and dirt? I also want to know why he hates his life. My theory is that the king's shardblade will become very important, maybe cause some political mayhem/war. Okay, onto chapter 1.

There are a number of issues with Lumar's cosmology. With the size of the moon that they are in the Lumar sky, they should reasonably be smashing into the planet, not in stable orbits. And even if we ignore that, with that many moons in that close of an orbit, they should all be smashing into each other. But this doesn't happen, because apparently the moons don't move. The seas stay in the same place! Don't move, huh? So we have twelve moons around the planet, none of which are orbiting it? And far too close to be in stable orbits anyway? It's okay though, I can dismiss a lot. Perhaps theirs some distortion effect that makes the moons appear bigger without actually being really bigger. But then we learn that the moons send produce spores that fall to the earth. So... the moons must really be that close then, huh? And it must not have it's own gravity, because otherwise the spores would stick to it. It is here that I propose my grand theory. The moons are blimps. Oh now, I hear what your saying 'what, what?' However, if the moons are blimps, then they can be much closer to the actual earth, without causing gravity issues or crashing into it. It would make sense that the spores would follow Lumar gravity, because a blimp wouldn't have much gravity of its own. It can just be floating up there, not moving, sending spores down to the earth. The moons are secretly just giant blimps in the sky. I rest my case.

Hiiii!! I’m Daniel. I was first introduced to Brandon’s stuff when I finished WoT. I never considered reading any of his own stuff at the time…I was an airsick lowlander. I had read the teaser blurbs about Mistborn era 1, and even SLA, but based on those I didn’t think it was “fantasy enough” for me. When the panini started back in 2020 I needed something to do and found myself doing a lot of sewing/quilting and reread WoT via audio book. Brandon’s stuff of course then came up in the suggestions and since I loved Michael & Kates narration so much I gave Mistborn a try and was blown away! I think I blew through that first trilogy in a week max, and the ending so amazing I knew I had to consume everything cosmere. Everything about his writing makes my extremely neurospicy brain happy. I can find my self in his characters…I can spend hours thinking through crackpot theories about how it all connects…and omg the rereads are somehow even better than the first reads. of course I eventually found Shardcast and made my way over here anyway…hiiiiii!

Is this building towards a "that's no moon" moment?

This is actually somewhat reasonable. If the moons are basically hollow, and have a lot less mass than their size would suggest, it helps quell the gravity/ Roche limit problem a little.

SeKaan, SeKaan's safehouse, the Bindpoint SeKaan gave little reaction to the physical outburst of the Inquisitor, despite the fact that it involved punching a hole clean through their safehouse wall. But this place was already barely livable, there were plenty of gaps and leaks, plenty of places to eavesdrop on neighbours. Though usually SeKaan was doing the eavesdropping. "It seems your experience with Harmony has been even less palatable than my own." They said, though not elaborating any further. "Well you can be assured at the least that I have no direct motive to either bring you back or change your habits. You may leave whenever you wish, but if you wish to stay there is more space here than I need just for myself. It's not all that comfortable but it is a roof, while waiting to build up something more reliable." Their attention flickered for a moment to the other Kandra, regarding them with curiosity and no small amount of pity. To not even be able to fulfill a Kandra's most basic functions of mimicry, how could one live such a life? They wondered if perhaps the other Kandra had the same Blessing as them, to at least be able to see and feel the world around them as others could not, to pull secrets from scraps that others thought meant nothing. Would that be better or worse? SeKaan wondered. "And you as well." They said aloud. "Both of you are welcome to what you wish from this place. I will need to leave shortly to... attend to business in the city. But I can try to provide a little further assistance if needed. We are after all, all family of a sort. Bound by blood, if not in the same manner that most are." Voidus, the Cauldron "You’re perfect, Nox. I trust you.” Were there any sweeter sounds that had been uttered in all of his years of life? Voidus doubted it. The unexpectedly reassuring words seemed to cut right to his core, soothing age old doubts that he'd barely even recognized. Many people trusted Voidus, or at least he assumed they did. They trusted him to run the Alleys, to keep the world stable, to know the answers, to have power. He was trusted to protect, destroy, teach and study. But when had anyone ever said the words? Let alone with such sincerity, such appreciation. When Vivica spoke he was transported again to that moment of shared awareness, the instant when she had laid every corner of her mind bare to him. A refreshing openness that could never provoke any doubts. She did trust him, and she did think he was perfect. Truly and without any influence or manipulation or any hope to receive power or favour. She would think exactly the same if he declined her request or fulfilled it. "Thank you." He said simply, voice steady and unwavering. He hoped she could hear some echo of the same sincerity from the simple words. When he thanked her it was no mere pleasantry, it was a genuine thanks. From the core of his being he was grateful to her, for her words and her very self. The rest of the world faded from awareness, the street may as well have been empty for all the care he gave to those around them now. He looked only at her, focusing on the side of her face, the long healed scars and the missing ear. Too long healed now for her to easily believe that it was anything but her normal state of being. There were numerous ways to resolve that problem however. Forgery would be easiest, but as had been proven all to recently she was strangely resistant to that, it would not last long enough for her Identity to restabilize. Feruchemy would be the next easiest, storing and retrieving carefully prepared identities. But that would take too long to prepare. What he needed was something precise, something that did not rely so heavily on Identity when determining how to heal. Voidus raised a hand, one long index finger extended out and moving suddenly forward to stab at the air. Dimly he was aware from the reflection in Vivica's eyes that his hair had become more silver than blonde, and faintly luminous. But that information was blocked out along with the gasps of others passing them by as he began to draw. Aon Ien formed the center, though in a matter of moments it was so heavily modified as to be unrecognizable. Specifics were needed here, not just what to heal but how, the entire form of it had to be dictated through Aonic formula with none at all left to interpretation. It was one of the longer sequences that one might need to write, but compared to the enormous sequence that enclosed the worldspike it was trivial. Perhaps a minute later he lowered his hand, now glowing so brightly it was difficult to look directly at, and willed the formula to completion. It sank happily into Vivica's skin, illuminating her momentarily with a matching glow as time seemed to reverse itself. Skin pushed out scar tissue, cartilage reformed below that into a shape the mirror of her other ear. In seconds it pushed itself out from her head, form complete and skin flawless once again. "Is it alright?" He asked, a slight hint of concern in his voice. "Any issues?" Laurelai, Lita's apartment, the Alleys Laurelai gave one last parting glance to Valeria as Lita towed her from club. The woman had blonde hair, it didn't hang as straight as Laurelai's but was it familiar in some way? The lingering adrenaline and fear from her sudden recollection hindered her thoughts, wanting to speed along when she needed instead to simply take a moment to think. But before she could do so they were out in the open air once again. She was about to turn to speak to Lita when the redhead continued immediately into an Alley. Laurelai rolled her eyes slightly at her friends protectiveness but followed along meekly enough until at last the two were greeted by a familiar blue door. Lita helped her to lean against the wall as she unlocked and opened the door, something Laurelai was just about to chide her on when one of her knees buckled for a moment beneath her weight, the wall the only thing that kept her from tumbling to the ground in an unsightly manner. ”Sit,” Lita said, pointing to the little table in the front room. “I’ll put on some tea.” Laurelai's nod held a hint of resignation to it as she reluctantly moved towards the offered seat, thankfully not needing to brace herself again during the motion, and took a seated position with a straight back and as much lingering dignity as she could manage while still being very clearly fussed over. "I am fine now." She said a little stiffly. "Just a momentary lapse, it barely ever happens anymore." For the briefest of moments the scent returned to her, smoke and floral soap intertwined and then followed immediately by ash and burned flesh. She pushed the memory back into a distant corner of her mind, suppressing a traitorous shiver before it worried Lita anymore than she already had. Foolish Laurelai. Tried to make the evening better and you only made it worse. But then that's just the usual isn't it? She shoved that voice into the same distant corner of the memory, focusing her attention purely on the here and now as Lita began setting a kettle to boil. Her eye was drawn quickly to the dress that the redhead wore, and which Laurelai immediately welcomed as a perfect distraction. Her fingers twitched in reflexive desire to touch the teal fabric, a near impulsive desire for her whenever seeing velvet. @ZincAboutIt

Please avoid double posting. In case you are not familiar with the tools used by this version of a Forum, this may help: If you have not done so, may I suggest reading Altered Perceptions? It was a for-charity release in support of Mental Illness and allowed contributing authors to submit both essays on how Mental Illness affects their lives (and lives of family, friends, etc.) along with content either original to the Anthology or showing drafts/versions of work where known characters made difference choices from the published material. Sanderson's Website: So, while Way of Kings Prime has had a release after this anthology was released - it's still worth the time to read because the essays are the best parts of Altered Perceptions. Excerpts from the Forward, Introduction and ToC: Excerpt from Sanderson's Essay on Kaladin in Altered Perceptions:

The Silver Knight felt the nightmare coming before it arrived. It started as it always did- a burst of sudden dizziness. His vision narrowed, the world seeming to spin around him. He tried to stand up, but the ground was rocking beneath his feet like a ship in a storm. Someone grabbed his arm, steadying him - thank you, Black - but his vision was already starting to darken. The world around him dimmed as though covered in thick black fog. As his consciousness drifted away, he could hear the shouts of the Black Knight. "Remember!" he roared. "Prepare yourself!" With that, the light fled. The Silver Knight opened his eyes to a blue sky. He pushed himself to his feet, careful not to strain any of injuries- then abruptly realized that there weren't any injuries. Stunned, he raised a hand to his shoulder and felt only soft fabric. Glancing down, he realized that instead of armor, he was wearing a silver T-shirt and black shorts. His hands, too, were different- the callouses and scars gone. He turned them over a few times, marveling, then looked up and around at his surroundings. A few feet in front of him, a creek poured over a small cliff in a burbling waterfall. The river wound away and out of sight behind one of the many trees that surrounded him on all sides. He stood on a path of smooth white stone that wound parallel to the stream in both directions. Slowly, haltingly, still not entirely believing what his eyes were telling him, the Silver Knight took a few steps forward and knelt down by the side of the stream. He reached out, letting his fingers trail through the pouring stream of the waterfall. "You're awake!" a voice suddenly spoke out behind him. The Silver Knight jumped, spinning around to face a young woman with red hair who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. She raised her hand to her mouth. "Oh! I'm sorry, did I startle you?" The Silver Knight exhaled, relaxing. "Only a little bit. Was I... asleep?" "Of course!" the young woman replied. "You've been dozing here for almost a whole day!" She suddenly looked at the knight with concern. "You do feel well rested, don't you?" "Uh..." the Silver Knight blinked, suddenly realizing that he felt extraordinarily awake. "Yeah," he answered, surprise evident in his voice. "Yeah, I do!" The young woman smiled. "Great! The others thought we should move you somewhere else, but I didn't want to risk waking you up when you were sleeping so peacefully... I'm glad it worked out!" All of a sudden, she grabbed his hand and started dragging him down the path. "But anyway! Something happened while you were asleep! You need to see this." The Silver Knight stumbled forwards as he was dragged along behind his new- or maybe old? - red-haired friend. "Something new?" he gasped once his breath caught up to him. "What is it?" "The ______!" she shouted back over her shoulder. "Or at least, that's what we call it!" The Silver Knight stumbled all of a sudden, tripping over a branch and nearly yanking his companion to the ground. She paused, helping him get back to his feet, looking at him with puzzled eyes. "Are you alright?" "Yeah," Silver replied, his eyes fixed on branch he'd tripped over. At the end of it was a brown leaf, shriveled and dead. He looked up, but the trees looked as green as ever. He pulled his eyes away. Something about what she'd said... was it just his imagination? "Yeah. I just tripped." The young woman's hand flew to her mouth again. "Oh! I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have dragged you. Here, we can walk the rest of the way. It's not far." She started off in a quick, bouncing stride, and Silver hastily followed her. "The ______ is going to blow. Your. Mind. I just know it!" Goosebumps rose up on Silver's arms. He pulled them close to himself, shivering. Had he imagined that chilling breeze when she said... that strange word? He rubbed his arms and tried to put it out of his mind as they reached an archway blocked by a closed door. The red-haired woman stopped. "Here it is," she whispered, excitedly. "Are you ready?" Silver nodded, trying to keep the knot of tension slowly building in his stomach from manifesting in his expression. "Yeah! I'm excited. You've been hyping this up pretty hard." His companion gave him a sly smile. "When you see it you'll understand." She reached out and grabbed hold of the door handle, pulling it open dramatically. "I present... the ______!"

Clang. Clang. Clang. It was dusk. The two men had been fighting for hours, ringing their weapons against each other under the slowly setting sun. Or at least, it had felt like hours; time was strange here, in this land of dreams and shadows. As far as they knew, it had always been dusk. To anyone watching, it was clear that the taller of the two was winning. Clad in all black, and wielding a spear to match, he swung as though he had only just begun to fight. Each movement was precise, controlled, and powerful, and he pressed the offense relentlessly. His opponent, by contrast, showed every second of their battle upon his face. The clattering of his tarnished silver armor mingled with his heavy breaths as he struggled to block each of the Black Knight's terrifying swings with his own weapon- a broken sword, the blade snapped off a few inches above the hilt. Despite all this, he somehow seemed to be managing to hold off his opponent's unyielding attack. But then his foot caught on a patch of uneven ground, throwing off his stance. It was only for a fraction of a second, but that was enough. The Black Knight's spear crashed into the Silver Knight's shoulder, knocking him off his feet and sending him sprawling to the ground in a clatter of metal on stone. "Yield," the Silver Knight forced out immediately, but his opponent - the clear victor - had already halted. "That was well fought," declared the Black Knight. The Silver Knight looked up balefully. "Don't lie to me." A snort. "You of all people should know I would never give you a false compliment. Besides, you didn't let me finish. I was going to say, that was well fought for someone who insists on fighting with a broken sword." The Silver Knight glanced at his sword. The jagged edge of the break was dull, worn down by time. His eyes closed. "You know why I use this weapon. Why I have to." "It won't last you forever," warned the Black Knight in a low voice. "You know that." "Yes," replied the Silver Knight tonelessly. "I know." He flexed his legs, preparing to sit up - then let out a grunt of pain and grabbed his shoulder. Leaking out from under his collar were a few drops of blood. The Black Knight immediately knelt down to take a closer look at the injury. "What? I didn't hit you that hard... did I?" "No," the Silver Knight panted, his eyes closed. "Old- old wounds." The Black Knight sucked in a sharp breath. "Oh." They sat for several minutes in silence, remembering.

Riah is an Honorspen and friend of Lewshi as per RoW It’s most likely that Riah died during the Recreance as we know that no active Honorspren survived. So she likely has a shardblade that corresponds to her deadeye form. Have we seen this blade? If so, which one do you think it is? Could Lewshi find it and pull an Adolin?

"You. Cannot. Have. My. GOAT!" "You. Will. Not. Have. Goat."

"I mean, I assume it was an accident. Maybe she worships George Washington." -Me "I think I have a problem. I stayed up too late last night outlining the plot for a fantasized, dramaticized hero's journey version of 'The Ugly Duckling'." - @The Bookwyrm

I agree with your breakdown Elder. The difference between OB Moash and RoW Moash (Vyre) is Odium’s influence / stripping of emotion. So I have no problem with Moash’s activities or motivations pre-RoW and his actions in RoW aren’t entirely his own.

So I hate to burst your bubble, cause having Awakened Wings does sound super awesome, but there's something else Awakening can do that would do this better. It can make things spin. That's it. That's the cornerstone of all of our technology. Or at least, a large portion of our technology. Make something spin on command, and at different speeds. The basic Motor. Put it on an axle of a wagon and you have a car. Put it on a few blades and you have a fan. Put it on a generator and you make electricity. But get this. Awakener's don't need fuel after using the Breath. It's self sustaining. You might have to come up with a way to do it not using metal, but if you could make an Awakened Motor, simply making something spin, fast enough, you could make a car without the need for fuel. Just something that allows for resisstance. Breaks, basically. The gas petal releases the break, allowing it to spin. The brake petal increases resistance, making it slow and stop. That's it. A car that runs perpetually without fuel. An electric Generator that doesn't need fuel. It just continually generates electricity. Infinite energy, via the power of Awakening. If the object itself ever wears out, you just take the Breaths back and get a new object. Which is honestly just a length of cloth. Then just make helicopter blades. Add in some controls that let you determine how fast it goes (pull this lever makes faster, pull this lever makes slower) and the rest is all about aiming, which doesn't even need to be awakened. You can make an Awakened Helicopter. An Awakened Jet Engine. An Awakened Motorboat. None of it needing refueling after using the initial Breaths, which you can probably take back. So if I have my own car, and I know the commands, I can awaken it or not whenever I please. No need to leave your Breaths in a vehicle when it could be stolen. Again, I'm not sure exactly how you'd make the motor. It would probably have to do with cloth or wire or rope or whatever designed in such a way to spin something. But, I mean, we can make a hamster wheel with something inside designed to spin it, I'm sure you could make something like that and not need the 9th Heightening's ability to Awaken Steel.

Don’t apologize You didn’t say anything offensive. There are a bunch of Kaladin fanboys/fangirls who get upset by any negative comment about Kaladin or positive comment about Moash. Thank you for your well thought out opinion. I agree with parts of it. The one overall theme I’d like to point out though is that Kaladin isn’t wrong by not “understanding” this war. Because this war is “wrong” and being fought by two sides who don’t need to be fighting. One side is being manipulated by their angry ancestors and a hateful God. Kaladin is Right that they shouldn’t be fighting the Parsh. He has shown his opponents respect and Honor and even some of the Fused have come around to his way of thinking. Overall I think the novels are moving in a direction where humans and parshendi realize they aren’t enemies and team up against Odium and the more rabid Fused.

Good point and great solution. I was thinking about wings as a thin but highly curved surface, somewhere in between the shape of the upper and lower wing's surface, with a thickened part on the leading edge, to mimic the desirable aerodynamic effect. However material simply folding on itself to fully recreate proper wing cross-section is even better. Yes, that's what I had in mind, I was just lacking proper words for it. The Awakener needs to copy the mechanism of birds fly, for it he must observe how they fly. With time and observations he can learn how to mimic that flying motion, as well as gliding and hovering. Another great point. There are several ways I think it can be recreated. First one is by movement of the body, leaning your upper body left, or right, which will result in a slight turn. Second is movement of legs - leaning them left and right - to mimic the rudder on the plane. These are just body movements that don't need to be included in the Command and visualization. However it's tiring, so it can be viewed just as a stepping stone towards fully functional wings. So the third idea is the coat, that is tied up to your legs, will do the leaning of your legs left and right for you. This can be initiated by leaning your wrist left and right, just like the yaw axis. The very last component could be remaking a fully functional tail section of a plane or bird. The material would have to be sewn into the legs section of the coat, and Breaths would do all the shapes and movements. Yes, however all the elevator and flaps are doing is changing the airflow around wings, which creates necessary force to lift the wing or lower it down, to maneuver along the 3 axis you describe. However, the Awakened wings would just do it, they would just turn and twist as needed to position the wings in the right configuration for any maneuver, as they are powered by Breaths. So flaps and elevators are not needed, as Breaths provide necessary force instead.

Xisis had to chose the sea bottom as a residence for a reason. Perhaps, his guess is the same as yours.

There are so many good movies but I would have to say The Return of the King, not only because it is a good movie but I have some great memories watching it with my dad and some close friends. Well, my favourite animal specifically is my dog, in general however I like snakes. Summer, we get Chistmas, beach, big school holidays, I usually get to see my fam in the ACT and plenty of other fun stuff. Well, unpopular opinion, but Hrathen. I really connect with his storyline and I feel, after a bit of prodding, we could have some really meaningful discussions about religion. Also Syl, she gets along with everyone! Well I don’t really remember any toys I had that I could call my favourite but I had this little jug and tiny cups that my brother and I used to play with a lot. I don’t know about large but I have a pin collection that I’m rather proud of. Well I feel I could do a presentation on nearly any topic without preparation(I’m very good at saying lots without saying anything at all) it just wouldn’t be good. Once my friends played a game with me where we need to give a speech on a boring topic without saying ’um’ or ‘uhh’ I failed, but I rambled along about forks for quite a while Actually out of the two brothers, if we’re going off looks alone I thin Renarin is more my type. Yeah Adolin is definitely hot, but if I met him I don’t think I’d be interested in him, especially because of his reputation with dating. Ofc! Sadly, I haven’t been able to watch the finale episodes yet I can’t find them anywhere. I have Disney+ but they aren’t there. Do you know how I could find them? Also Lumity for life. :(((((( no. I was stupid and didn’t pack it when I knew we were going on a 2 1/2 month trip! I have tried buying a second copy on 4 different occasions and my parents have stopped me MeLaan. Genderfluid, really hot, funny, immortal. Second Steris, then Rannette (I think you know why), then Wayne, then Marisai oh yeah and Wax. Yeah! I love Oreos. Especially not-Hemalurgically-spiked ones. I sure hope your not tricking me! Smiley faces! no, of course not. I just told you! It’s smiley faces! nope. I won’t can’t watch a movie without reading the book. I have a really cool looking version of Dune though, I just haven’t been able to bring myself to read it (this sucks because I really want to watch the new Dune movie with Timothee Chalemet and Zendaya) as I’ve had bad experiences with sci-fi in the past (reading Out of the Silent Planet when I was ten was not fun. I found it so borrrring) should I give it a better go?

Yeah if the Set can hide huge things, hiding these things is probably not as hard as all that. Which makes sense. Even the Basin is thinly populated, the Roughs more so, and the North lacks aviation ... and this isn't a society where everyone has IDs, people who aren't nobles probably aren't tracked. This is probably pre driver's license.

Oh god I was just complaining about the length and trying to decipher what each letter meant. I just now saw that it’s totes. Be right back, just jumping into a chasmfeind’s gullet real quick.

1/3/23 A Treasured Curse

So, this is my first theory in years, and I maybe did two before this; also, English is not my mother tongue. Furthermore, I just finished The Lost Metal, and haven't given the proper time to research and revise WoBs before I write this (anyone does?). Therefore, I apologize beforehand for whichever mistake I make. Now, let's get to it: In Kelsier's epilogue, he thinks about how Hemalurgy "had proven ineffective on what he'd become. It held his soul and body together, but no more", and he had hope, "hope he'd be able to touch the metals he could see in the world all around him". We're going to ignore the question that arises, if he can or can't physically touch metals, and instead understand his words as "Kelsier cannot use Allomancy in his current state". Does this mean that Kelsier has lost his prime Allomantic abilities? Did it happen when the Lord Ruler killed him? I think that's not the case, though there could be some WoB that say otherwise. I think that, when Kelsier died, the ability to access Allomancy was severed, but not extinguished. Much more like the link between his physical body and his congnitive shadow state were severed. We know that his eye's spike is made of steel, therefore it lacks something to link body to mind and soul. That brings us to the following theory:I think Kelsier had another spike before getting his eye's, this one made of aluminum. And here's why: Aluminum, according to the chart in TLM Ars Arcanum, has the Feruchemical power to store Identity. Also, as a Hemalurgic spike, it has the power to remove all powers. Hence, the core of my theory is that he used some kind of Aluminum medallion to store his Identity there (though I don't know if a cognitive shadow can access medallions, or if there's a WoB explaining it), then got someone to move it to the Physical Realm and stab his body with it, we don't know where. BUT, as he was Mistborn, the aluminum spike removed all his former powers and, potentially, his ability to use his steel one to touch metals around him. That would also could explain why Lerasium wouldn't work on him, as Sazed says, since the aluminum spike would automatically wipe out the new powers Lerasium brought. So, that's my theory for you guys. I hope I made it alright. Comments, opinions and insightful responses from someone who knows WAY more than I do would be appreciated. Thanks everybody for reading this far!!!

And thus, after fending off the aggressive incursion into Scadrial from Autonomy, did Harmony fall victim to the far more subtle incursion from another Shard he never even knew was coming. Well played, Whimsy. Well played! EDIT: You know, perhaps Sazed has already done/is doing this. We have mention in Shadows of Self that the Words of Founding are so long, abridged versions are common - and yet Wax can identify pages torn out by Bleeder and overwritten with Lies, Lies, Lies, as being from the eightieth book, "verses 27 through 50", on "Harmony's quest for Truth". Imagine if this "quest for Truth" takes the form of a a dialectic conversation between Harmony's two halves, Preservation and Ruin, in verse form, no less... NOBODY would read that. Well, maybe Elend, but he's dead.

Hello! I figured I'd post my art here daily, since I can. Feel free to offer critique, praise, whatever you like. Here's the first thing I'll post, a rough painting of my Alleyverse character, Tena.

Maybe I what I wrote wasn't clear. I know Kaladin intends to fight. I haven't forgotten. I know Kaladin magically doesn't need any practice, it's just not super realistic, but whatever. I didn't think it's started yet. That being said... Chapter 64: What does the book mean the Parshendi could "somehow" tell Kaladin was the center of it all? Kaladin ran out in front insulting their dead. They haven't forgotten! Anyway, they are about to assault the Tower. Not sure I'm getting any sleep tonight. Are... you... ready?...! Chapter 65 Sadeas did what now?!

@Amira SA is a deep and awesome rabbit hole. You're in for the ride of your life. Another secret there always is.

Alternatively if you have the patience, Brandon has said that Dragonsteel Prime is going to be released as a Sanderson Curiosity when he does the Words of Radiance kickstarter (WoB contains Dawnshard-related material if you haven't read that yet).