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I have been sad for so long that happiness still feels like being on an alien planet. A dream. This can't be natural, can it? But it is. It is so real. And yeah the storm will come again. But my mind - the place I have been assigned to live out my life in - is no longer such a cold, dark place. Because I have learned that you gain nothing by not being kind to yourself and that a future built on a past of self-loathing is not nearly as bright as one built on self-love. Life doesn't pull punches. Life is cruel and cold and strewn with glass shards. But there will always be people with Ridiculously Warm hands to pull you up. And one day, the sun will rise, and your shards will shimmer in the dawn. And maybe being a freak isn't so bad after all. And maybe the only one you aren't enough for every second of every day is yourself. And maybe Love really is the most powerful force on earth. And maybe humanity is really beautiful. And maybe the only people who need to remember you are the ones you care about because who needs a legacy anyway? If you're going through it... I'm sorry it's hard right now. The world is better for having you in it and even though nothing will ever excuse what's happening or what's happened... I am proud of you for every breath you take. Do more of what you love, spend more time being around your friends, and stay in the moment. Have a lovely week, everybody.

When you type "Brandon Sanderson" into DALL.E mini:

So I had an idea for an "action madness" game. LGXX: Whoops, All Mistborn (title not final) The thought of GMing this game simultaneously horrifies and intrigues me.

The Minecraft soundtrack is truly indescribable. But... I will do my best. Fantastic. Amazing. Fantabulous. Not Crapflapanasti, rather, the opposite. Spectacular. the soundtrack and the community are why mc is so good. C418 is a master at the craft of song making. Alpha and Key slap hard. They remind me of why I wanted mc in the first place. To create. To have freedom. To escape real life for a simplistic world. To explore. To build. To mine. To craft. This has been another episode of "Thaidakar wants more C418 Minecraft Music"

AAAAHHH AHH AHH AHHHHHHH I got to see Concerto for violin in G minor, op. 26 and it’s SO GOOD!!! If you’ve never heard it before, listen to it right now. we also saw Dvorak’s symphony No. 5, which was also amazing, but that’s less important. Ok that’s all, goodnight humans in a similar time zone to me.

Sometime ago I proposed a theory that Bands of Mourning are not medallions granting all powers, but instead only nicrosil minds storing Mists Full theory can be read here, the main evidence is that 1) Users of Bands trail Mists (which only Vin exhibited when drawing the in) and that 2) effect of tapping it sounds very much like what Vin described whan drawing in Mists After TLM I think there is a bit more evidence for the theory Wax speculates that it is impossible to create allomancy granting medallions (and indeed that creation of medallions is more limited than assumed). This would make BoM more of an outlier, if they are a medallion. Containing just Mists would circumvent this. Kelsier is not Fullborn as was speculated, so there is no obvious way he could have created BoM. Additionally, he is trying to regain his powers so if he did create BoM he has little reason to just leave them. Even if he could not gain powers himself, he has reason to keep them on hand for emergencies, like with purified Dor. BoM provides enhanced allomancy. This was speculated to be result of nicrosil compounding, however in TLM we see allomancers fueled by raw Investiture and they reach similar power levels. So strength of BoM could have been simply result of holding raw Investiture in form of Mists. Edit: This one dates to BoM book, however Wax mentions that Investiture stores in Bands are getting low (i.e. F-Nicrosil). Since Medallions use F-Nicrosil like Coppermind (discrete, returns when stored, not cosumed), this implies that whatever is in BoM F-Nicrosil mind is more 'continuous' then a discrete power. If what is stored is bunch of raw Investiture like Mists, that line makes more sense IMHO. Additionally I would propose that BoM were created by Harmony directly, some time before he became too restricted to act. He then used Kandra (Ten-Soon) to impersonate Kelsier, and spread legend of them in the South.

Hi all! It's been a long time since I posted here! My thoughts on WoA were more or less set up seven months ago. Reading The Well of Ascension took time. Not because it was boring, but because I was preoccupied with a lot of things. But I am more than glad I took my time, because this book delivered. It wasn't perfect, and personally I would change more things here than I would for The Final Empire. But when Well of Ascension delivered, it delivered to greater heights than its predecessor. Particularly when it comes to character writing. Strengths Vin and Elend: Sanderson did a fantastic job using this book to progress Vin and Elend not only as a couple, but as individuals. Elend ascended right up to being one of my favorite Mistborn characters. I loved seeing his struggles between being a good man, trying not to be ruthless just for the sake of staying on his throne. It's refreshing seeing a royal character not resorting to cruelty and violence to keep their power. As for Vin, she became an even better character through her relationship with TenSoon. Her journey to learn empathy and trust was easily one of my favorite things about WoA. Her relationships with TenSoon and Elend made her a deeper and more interesting character in my eyes. Politics: I love political drama in fiction, and it was juicy in this book. Even Straff's side of things was interesting to see. Cett's side was my favorite. His hateable personality made me smile at the same time, and I was a fan of Allrianne and her relationships. I wish I saw more of Jastes, how he built his army, and how he ended up with a decrepit body. Sazed and Tindwyl: These two were both amazing characters and a fascinating look into the impact of the Lord Ruler's oppression. I could sympathize with both Sazed's belief that a good heart and all religions, and Tindwyl's more cynical worldview. I miss Tindwyl already. And Sazed's role in the Sanderlanche were easily his best moments at this point, serving as fantastic examples of his love for others and the depth of Feruchemy. TenSoon: I could gush about TenSoon all day, but just know that the plot twist revolving around him elevated him to a new level than before. Breeze: Loved seeing Breeze showing compassion and care towards his friends, and it broke my heart seeing his breakdown. I hope he's okay in book 3. I appreciated that Sanderson took the care to develop his side characters further. The action: Even better than the action in The Final Empire. And it makes me glad to see Feruchemical combat on the pages. I was curious about that since Sazed rescued Vin in book 1. The siege: Phenomenal, top-class setpiece of action and emotion that words alone can't do justice. Whether it was Elend cutting down Jastes, or Sazed and Vin fighting koloss armies. Sanderson did a fantastic job with the climax. The mystery and ending: The Final Empire's ending had me excited and worried. But this book's ending scaredme. After reading "I am FREE" I was scared to continue reading because my brain was in shock. I'm terrified of the Well of Ascension's prisoner and I don't even know its name. The thing that terrifies me the most is Kwaan's emphasis on its subtle intelligence. Who knows what else it could have been manipulating???? Let's just say I will never trust paper again. AND MARSH!! Sazed vs Marsh is my favorite fight yet, even more than Sazed vs the koloss. Weaknesses Zane: Zane is okay. He's one of the main cons I heard about Well of Ascension and I see why. I don't hate him, and I don't think his arc was some kind of love triangle. But I think Sanderson should've focused more on the aspect of Zane's best chapter: the voice of God in his head, which I'm assuming is the Well of Ascension's prisoner. Imo it could've given the audience something to latch onto with the character, and helped the book tie-in better with the building mystery. Also, I thought Zane's dialogue sounded like it was from an amateur YA novel and I was not a fan of that. And his death didn't leave an impact... it just happened and I moved on to the beauty of TenSoon. Needed more focus on the mystery: I would have loved if Sanderson put more focus on the killing mists and capabilities of the mist spirit, and the confusion behind the manipulations of the Well's prisoner. I think this could have made chapter 21-38 a tighter narrative, helping the book's reputation. At the time, most of my questions stemmed from TFE and Ruin's role in the story. And I'm happy to say that the Hero of Ages beautifully answered all of them. What I would change about this book: I will discuss in a separate post, unless someone asks me to do so here.

Oh the wee birdies sing and the wild flowers spring and in sunlight the waters are sleepin'. But the broken heart knows nae a second spring and our kin will not know how we're meetin'.

Valeria was simply too overjoyed to be offended at her long lost daughter visibly putting up walls. After all, had she not been so extatic, it would have been entirely logical for someone on their own from such a young age to be entirely open to a stranger. She smiled warmly and nodded to herself. "I hope to one day help you feel at ease with your own emotions my dear. But please, won't you sit? It's a long story." Valeria sat and took the tea towel that hung fom her apron string and cleared her hasty spill. Refreshing their cups she handed one to Laurelai to take if she sat on the sofa seat beside hers. @Voidus

Extremely deep fried picture of my cat

Come on guys. Ene isn't that scary. I can make one!

“Don’t mind if I do…” *grabs cookie, shoves in face and reaches for next cookie, swallows, shoves cookie #2 in face, reaches for next one, swallows, shoves in face, reaches and grabs cookie, swallows, shoves cookie in face, then gets stuck in a time loop, and an agency begins studying my behavior, and resupplies me with cookies when I run out, swallows, shoves in face etc. etc. etc.*

The World of Ash and Mists is gone. The game between Ruin and Preservation is over. And all that is left is balance. On November 1st, I finished The Hero of Ages. I can safely sat that it deserves every bit of praise. This was a phenomenal book and a phenomenal ending to the Mistborn trilogy; a 10/10 masterpiece. Sanderson managed to tie everything about the previous stories into one that solidifed Scadrial and the Metallic Arts as some of my favorite worlds/magic systems yet. Hemalurgy was something that went far deeper than initially expected, and I am excited to read about it in Era 2. I love how he subverted the Chosen One trope AGAIN in a way that has me facepalming my suspicions of who wrote the epigraphs. I love how Hemalurgy and atium tied into the grander plot. There is an absolutely insane amount of things I could compliment about the enhanced worldbuilding: Vin's earring, the Terris Prophecy twist, the epigraphs etc... Sanderson did a brilliant job building up Spook into an extraordinary character, concluding the tales of our favorite Mistborn, crafting the tragic tale of Marsh, and subverting our expectations of our favorite Terrismen. I was CRYING once Sazed took the powers!!!! My heart broke reading his note to Spook!!!! THE BLUE SKIES AND YELLOW SUN!! THE FIELD OF FLOWERS!!! I am STILL crying when I even THINK about the ending!! The ending was heartbreaking, but there was also a profound feeling of hope. Hope for a better world than the suffering caused by Scadrial’s gods. AND THE LORD RULER!!!!!! The Lord Ruler's character development set him up as my 5th favorite Mistborn character. Bravo Brandon! I applaud Sanderson the most for crafting the war between Ruin and Preservation. There have many times in fiction in which I've been spurned by the "good god vs evil god" trope. Even the best examples have been subject to binary morality, or the evil gods being defeated by pure incompetence. Fortunately, I never felt disappointed when reading about the gods of Scadrial. The war between Ruin and Preservation came across as something nuanced; progressed by the unparalleled intelligence, power, and patience of each god. I felt an overwhelming sense of horror from Ruin's divine abilities, and saw that Xanatos himself would be envious of Ruin's abilities of a Chessmaster. Ruin setting up the rebellion and malatium, or tricking Vin and Elend with koloss armies, were strokes of GENIUS! But most of all, Ruin and Preservation never sounded like binary forces of good and evil. They felt like intelligent deities that could either progress the Universe or usher the Apocalypse depending on the circumstances. I don't see Ruin as a mindless force of destruction, or Preservation as a purely selfless force of stasis. In fact I view the Final Empire as the prime example of why Preservation needs Ruin. In my eyes Preservation, without eons suffering from the divine equivalent of a lobotomy, is a force of intelligent stasis. A force that, like his champion Rashek, would murder and destroy for the purpose of maintaining the status quo on a grand scale. I find that scarier than a force like Ruin, who imo could be the equivalent of the Grim Reaper in another circumstance. The only issues I have with HoA are Spook and Beldre's relationship feeling underdeveloped, and Ruin having moments of being a generic doomsday villain. But those ultimately don't bog my opinions on the book or Ruin down. It was lovely reading about Kelsier's earlier personality in The Eleventh Metal. And it was great reading between the lines to see the implications of Ruin's chess game. And ofc I have several theories and questions. Who or what is "Adonalsium?" What are the three aspects of divine power? And what happened to the koloss, kandra and Marsh? Or Cett and Yomen. I'm so excited to RAFO.

I felt the Unsnapped issue was a problem. It doesn't matter if players will get burned by that assumption in a bigger game - the point is that the assumption pays off in the game that was played and allows an immediate softclear of four players at a shot. Players will get stubborn about the weirdest things. A distro that relies on players realising an assumption is a faulty one is flimsy. I appreciate that my Elim doc rant was understandably censored, but: But I didn't get a choice about whether to actually be dropkicked over the edge into another full mental health breakdown, and given the number of jokes about converting me, it seems no one at all internalised any lesson from QF59, so while I will be careful with my words, I am no longer offering others the courtesy of avoiding this either. I will first accept I had aggravating RL factors, including a lot of deadlines and my uncle passing away. (I can't say it was unexpected, but he took a sudden turn for the worse last week, and I think by the first half of the second cycle or the second half of the first cycle, I knew it was coming.) But the fact is, I think this was an eminently predictable outcome. I called it out as being predictable the moment I received my GM PM. I'm extremely angry that I called it out as a predictable outcome and received the response that my attitude was the problem, or that I was just outright wrong that this would be the result. I don't feel very happy about being vindicated. I feel tired and angry because nothing I said in QF59 appears to have stuck with anyone in the community, despite TJ telling me the QF59 doc was a 'traumatising read.' I sign up to play SE games because they are supposed to be fun. I don't sign up for SE games because I think getting panic attacks when Aman DMs me days after I've subbed out is fun. I don't sign up for SE games because I am down for crying for hours and blanking out on everything and self-voting because I'd rather die in the game and end my suffering than continue in pain. I'm not asking for an apology. I'm going back to my starting point: if this is an eminently predictable outcome of the distro, the fact I would end up breaking and it was only a matter of when, then I think we need to question those who contributed to the situation and decide where to go from here. Do we decide that the fault lies with the player? This is an attractive view for several reasons. For one, it demands the players take personal responsibility for everything that happens. We get to say, "That's rough, buddy," and put the onus on the player. For another, we don't need to put more burdens on the GM. GMing is an onerous task and things often don't go as planned. It is 'rough' to expect a GM to be able to predict the track the game may take. I certainly didn't expect a clash between Bip and Tani in my game, or Fifth and I would not have okayed an E!Tani distro. In this world, the solution is simple. I stop playing SE. I don't say this as a threat. I say this as the most obvious solution because either I accept at some point that I can't play point even when put on a team where I'm the only thread controller in an entire goddamned Village of thread controllers and hyperactive solvers and simply pray we don't get screwed ten ways to hell by them and that the Village self-cannibalises. I suppose hope is a strategy. Or I can't accept it, and I break repeatedly, until as this game has, all joy of playing SE is destroyed for me, and I leave. There is a slightly less catastrophic path, but no less tragic, where I simply don't play games where I won't be Village, or simply ask to be hard-locked Village in every single game. This path is in my view more detrimental to SE, because having a player who is basically confirmed Village in every game basically does that, with the overall result still being my leaving. I think this is a fairly plausible set of options given Archer already raised concerns about my struggles in QF59 from a meta balance perspective. Do we decide that the GM has some responsibility? This is a counterintuitive view if you think GMs have different styles. I think the better question is: does the GM have a duty of care? Or rather: what is the duty of the GM? In the first instance, to run a game that everyone considers fun. I don't doubt it's an especial blow to a GM if a player absolutely hates your game from the get-go. Should a GM know everything? No. Because one entailment of this view is that the GM has to be aware of anything that might set a player off, and that's fairly unreasonable. But here's my question: does a GM completely run blind? Or is it responsible to? Suppose a GM runs a player with a history of vanishing from the game C2 in a powerful balancing role that requires activity. If the player does in fact vanish and the game is broken, does the blame reside solely with the player? Should this not have been an 'eminently foreseeable issue'? A GM is the Game Master. A GM is not the servant to RNG, however attractive the thought is. Do you, as a GM, run two players with exceptionally bad histories together on a small, tight Elim team? What happens if they once again conflict and IM intervention is required? Is that another foreseeable incident that could have been averted? Or is that once again something for which the GM bears no responsibility for allowing, despite the fact it was eminently predictable? I think eminently predictable incidents pose an especial challenge because they demonstrate a failure of judgement, whether in terms of raw risk assessment, or having a generous threshold of harm, or simply not actually caring. And I bring this up because if your answer to any of the above is 'sad, but it's on the players', then I'd like to see your reaction when a perfectly avoidable break happens on your watch as a GM. If your response is that this should have been averted, then my question is: could this have been? Because I never objected to being Evil. I get it's necessary. I objected to being set up for a breakdown. What else could I have done? Could I have simply immediately pinch-hit out? I could agree with this. Certainly, I should have for my mental health, but I was concerned about abandoning Bip. In addition, half my concerns with that move was precisely what was played out in the spec doc - that I argued against those who urged me to pinch-hit out because players will simply infer from that that I'm Evil and in a distribution that expects me to wrangle a hyperactive Village. Either way you look at it, that's deeply screwed on two levels: it breaks things hard from the get-go, and it also means I can't pinch-hit out if I need it without meta conclusions being drawn. You could argue that what I need to do is to learn to stop caring. I would agree with this, but I'd point out that's the sort of thing that takes time and that is less likely to happen when I'm put into a situation specifically engineered (unintentionally, but nevertheless) to dropkick me over the edge of my breaking point. I took far less time to break this game than I did in QF59. I also point out that every single deeply negative game I've experienced when Evil is going to taint my view of the next Evil game, which makes a game like this all the worse psychologically. Some people develop a deep and intense fear of dogs after a single negative encounter. Psychology do be that way. I am not going to successfully work against every single bit of baggage if every other Elim game ends up slicing deeper into the psychological scars, convincing me that being Elim is a deeply unpleasant experience. I am deeply angry and disappointed with how the situation was handled, and especially with the fact that my concerns were blithely brushed aside as a me problem. I agree that it is a me problem. I suppose the panic attacks and eventual breakdown were a me problem too. I am making this post for two reasons: 1. I think the fact this game happened and was handled this way shows that people don't give a damn about what happened to me to QF59. I am laying it out here explicitly to make it clear that if it does continue to happen, I will be aware it is not the result of not knowing or misjudgement but a deliberate choice to disregard my welfare. 2. I want to open a conversation about GMing. As I said, I don't want an apology and I'm certain the GM and IM will say on their parts one shouldn't be offered, which I'm fine with. I want us to think about whether GMs have a duty of care, and the extent to which, as a GM, you are willing to consider a distro bad for welfare reasons, or even for reasons of dynamics (see: bad player histories), or just plain pragmatics (see: key balancer role being given to a habitual inactive.)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Location: ??? Year: [Inapplicable] Members: All * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Fadran walked down the hallway, whistling to himself as he stared out the window at the (currently covered and somewhat unclean) pool. He’d finally finished taking down all the christmas decorations, leaving the entire building… refreshingly normal. There were still some wintry bits and bobs here and there, but those could stay until spring decided to show up. Cleaned the rooms, polished the doorknobs, removed the ceiling spikes… check. Scrubbed the counters, wiped the tables, filled the breakfast bar… check. Fixed the chandelier, filled up the netherworld entrance, exorcized the cursed cockroach infestation… check. “Looks good to me.” Fadran said out loud. You lined that door to the vampire-infested billiards room with silver? Icona asked. “Sure did.” And finally fixed the squeaking at the grand entrance? “Yup.” Then that should be it. Fadran cracked his knuckles. “Then let’s get this going.” He drew his Channelblade: now a long, aquamarine-colored katana, sheathed at his side beneath a cloak of deep green. With a snap of his fingers the two grand front doors swung open, revealing the sprawling snowcapped courtyard and cobblestone walkway sitting and waiting patiently for their guests to arrive from the intersection at Maybe Street and Somewhat Avenue. A grand red ribbon was pulled across the pillars before the doorway, the middle tied with a brilliant bow. “Ready?” I suppose. Fadran slashed his blade across the ribbon, cleaving it cleanly in two. With that the Mishmash Inn - the headquarters for the Fellowship of the Thing - had officially begun its grand reopening. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * OG members: @Nathrangking @Enter a username @xinoehp512 New members (interested parties): @The Bookwyrm @Ookla the Inverted @Telrao @Mr. Misting @Thaidakar the Ghostblood @PyroPhile @Shining Silhouette @Tani @NerdyAarakocra * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * CURRENT MISSIONS

So, Gold healing does not make sense to me. Basically, one thing we know about Feruchemy is that tapping a lot of attribute at once leads to losses, which means regular Ferrings could easily waste all their resources in very inefficient manner. However, Wayne can heal gunshot wounds in minutes, despite only having few weeks worth of health in his metalminds. However, gunshots typically take few weeks to heal with modern medical care, and more on their own. So if there is loss in Feruchemy, how come Wayne can seemingly tap nearly all his health at once without worry and heal all that damage ~360 000x as fast as naturally? Based on the loss he should run out after like a milisecond, and not heal nearly anything. The only explanation I can think off is that the usual loss in tapping large amounts does not happen for F-Gold, because the origin of the loss is that Feruchemy 'fights' against spiritweb to maintain the changes. However, since F-Gold heals by restoring physical body according to spiritual ideal, this 'fight' does not happen there. This would allow Wayne to heal gunshot wound in minutes with only few weeks of stored health, because the loss would not be there so he could tap nearly all of it at once. Thoughts?

Hello! I am a WoT -> Sanderson Convert, who, having realized (awkwardly) that I actually enjoyed the last books in that series best, was delighted to find out that this new guy they brought in actually had an entire freaking galaxy of stuff out there. I've been reading Sanderson, giving Sanderson to my kids, giving Sanderson to my friends, occasionally chasing down strangers to explain how they should get Sanderson themselves.... for about... maybe 3 years or so, now, then. I have about a 2 hour commute and occasionally take pretty long trips, so, I've mostly read via audiobook. Outside of the Novellas (and a re-read of Elantris), Tress was my first "okay, I'm going to get this and read it cover to cover" hardbound... and.... I think I'm going to have to invest in a re-read of at least SA via dead tree. There's just too much that I miss, elsewise. Thankful to the Shardcasters for setting up and running this thing. I'll probably not be a constant presence, but, looking forward to learning more.

I'm gonna change my Profile Photo for a little while than I'll go back to pumpkin dude. There's a lot of freaking snow outside.

In summary: you should not post two times consecutively and some of the things in your posts where spoilers for Oathbringer (and, I’m assuming wheel of time). you can put spoilers in things called “spoiler boxes” . To do this click on the icon that looks like an eye. Oh, great answer btw! Lift for the win!

My apologies - wasn't tracking the multi-quote-frowning bit :-/ Food is expensive with inflation - love Lift, but, don't know if I can afford her. Within that monetary theme, I tend to view Lopen v Wayne like asking if I'd rather have a quarter, or $0.25. It's the same picture. Lightsong would be chill, but, unlikely to be really interested in engagement. Lift would be the most fun. Lift it is, and, I'll just buy a lot of potatoes.

Courtesy of @TheGreatSnail: "I'm up for that" and "I'm down for that" mean the same thing.

Welcome! It's great to meet you

Hi!! Always glad to see another WoT fan! Do you have a favorite scene or character from WoT?

Elantrian might be the most powerful (if you can get around the region limitation) but I don't like the idea that a random earthquake could turn me into a zombie. And that region limitation is harsh. 5th Heightening Awakener is tricky, because if you don't get the Breath back every time you lose the immortality. But apparently even much smaller amounts of Breath extend life: a mere 50 (1st Heightening) adds a decade to life expectancy, and Vivenna with - what, 800 maybe? Definitely over 600 but not 4th Heightening yet - is I think said to be almost immune to aging and disease. And Breath can be given to others, and a very long extra-healthy life shared with my family is probably preferable to immortality alone. So that option seems very attractive... OTOH, if people figured out what it was they might kidnap me and try to force me to give up the Breath. I don't know how obvious a BioChroma aura would be for non-Nalthians without Breath of their own, but at 5th it's likely pretty distinct. (Hoid doesn't show one, but he might only be 2nd and might also know a trick to suppress the aura?) Feruchemist is also tempting, because it has so many everyday-life benefits. Surgebinder... also tricky. Since the poll says third ideal, presumably that's Radiant, and I don't want to risk killing a spren. (If I could be an Honorblade Surgebinder, though, the Edgedancer or Truthwatcher one - for the ability to heal people - would be super tempting. Progression Growth might also have environmental uses, like regrowing a forest really fast.) I think my choice would have to come down to how obvious the aura would be. If I could get around that, Awakener, if not, Feruchemist.

Soo.... *cough* I finished the irl commission! The human was very happy with the art - so that's awesome! Anyhow, here it is! (apologies for the low image quality) This was done in coloured pencil (mainly Prismacolor pencils - I do recommend them!) with the undersketch in HB pencil. This took me *thinks* around 7 hours total work over the week... haha... Anyway, have a wonderful day, Humans! - Telrao

The scene: pillows are leaning against every corner. My brothers are all hopping around pretending to be mer-puppies. The puppy dog pals theme song is playing on loop. I am wearing a skirt made of quilting fabric that I threw together with some strips of fabric and a pair of scissors. How did this happen?

So I've been working on a little ditty. I have a couple of base melodies that I plan to mess around with and make a song. I've decided the song will be like a ballad to my future daughter, think like the song "Dear Winter" by AJR. (@DoomslugLuna gave me the idea last Thursday night ) Working title is "Dear Daughter." Will update once I work on it more. Gonna try and work on it tomorrow.

Byron stood up, leaning back into a wall and slowly shuffling away from the door. He could help set up defenses later. For now, Cobalt and Vivi and Willow needed speed, and that was the opposite of what he did. Maybe after they made a barricade he could put his bubble up on the edge, deflect some energy from those things trying to tear it down. If they did. ... he wasn't burning cadmium. He'd turned it off in midair and never turned it back on. He started burning a little, again making a small weak bubble that just encapsulated him. Must be easier to leave it off when he was running on adrenaline instead of metal. "If they're like the other things I've seen... they're not too bright," he said, panting slightly while trying to talk in his normal slightly-too-fast tone. "These seem to care more about actual sight than anything. Or acknowledgement. So just don't acknowledge them and try and... try and be as uninteresting as you can. Or... yeah, making them not see us would be good." He stood back up, looking around at the room they were in. A bedroom, though it looked like someone'd done a thorough search through everything already. And then somehow expanded in one direction. The second was probably just whatever was expanding the house. The first... maybe not. "Cobalt, does this room look familiar to you?" Byron said, walking over to the wardrobe over to the side. It looked normal enough, all things considered. But it was a hiding place. For them, or for other things, that depended on who got to the room first. "And what should we do with this thing?"

Ok I changed my profile photo back kinda. I couldn't get my old one to work though so I have this one now!

With how Axioms are described we often assume that Axioms are another word for Atom, just like how Cosmere is another universe. Indeed this appears to be basically true, the names of the surges basically prove they are, at least, an equivalent. But do we know the cosmere, unlike our universe, is comprised of more than matter and energy. The atoms of our universe is comprised of electrons, protons, and neutron and held together by the four fundamental forces. What if in the cosmere the fundamental forces were a bit weaker than those in our own, one of the tenets of multiverse theory is unlikely it was for the fundamental to arrange themselves in a way that could support matter even exitsting. If that was the case then something a bit more would be needed, perhaps they would need the four fundamental for forces AND investiture to exist. If this were the case it would explain a few things, for example "why does it take more energy to leave the cognitive realm then to enter it?" entering the cognitive realm is simply realsing the investiture in matter so it enters a state or realm of existence that requires less energy to exist, or "If no one can see axioms how can enough people cognize them for microkinesis to exist?" Axioms have investiture in their very NATURE, so of course they can be manipulated.

Digital drawing done in Clip Studio Paint

back to the sibings, i miss my older siblings a lot and I don't know how I'll survive my mission and college without them. I don't miss my younger brother when I'm away from him. I don't really like him, he throws fits whenever something doesn't go exactly how he wants, he acts like he's spoiled, he's a little spoiled, etc. I just hope he gets better as he grows up. I did, so he probably will.

Pokemon has gotten really weird since I kinda stopped paying attention after USUM. I've completed that pokedex at least. You guys pay a whole lot more attention to the meta than I do.

Your go!

Stolen from cremposting so real credit goes to u/Lightylatern SA1 if adapted by Hollywood: Long ago, ten powerful swords known as the Shardblades were used to defeat the dark god, Odium. Afterwards, the Shardblades were hidden away to protect them from the forces of evil. Thousands of years later, the good king Gavilar Kholin located seven of the Shardblades. However, the evil Assassin in White, Szeth, killed Gavilar and stole three of the Shardblades. Szeth was the king of a people known as the Parshendi, and with the power of the Shardblades, was able to declare war on Gavilar's people, the Alethi, along with the rest of the world. Szeth took one of the stolen Shardblades for himself and gave the other two to twin warriors Eshonai and Venli. A young man named Kaladin lived a simple life as a farmer until Szeth attacked his village, killing his family and the love of his life, Phrena. Kaladin decided to join the war against the Parshendi, but ended up as a slave owned by Dalinar Kholin, brother to the deceased king. As the movie begins, Dalinar is leading a charge in a great battle against the Parshendi. Dalinar uses one of the four Shardblades, while the other three are used by Elhokar, Gavilar's son and the current king, Adolin, Dalinar's son, and Amaram, Dalinar's best friend. Kaladin is in the battle, struggling to survive as a slave, but a strange spirit appears to him and gives him directions that help him just barely survive as he moves across the battlefield. Amaram is struck down and killed. Thanks to the spirit's instructions, Kaladin is right next to Amaram when he dies, and at the spirit's urging, he picks up the Shardblade. He turns out to be a natural with its power, and is able to use it to dominate and win the battle. Afterwards, in recognition of Kaladin's skill, Dalinar frees him from slavery and makes him the official owner of the Shardblade. Dalinar takes Kaladin back to his camp, where Kaladin settles in with Dalinar's retinue. At the Parshendi castle, Szeth confers with his god, Odium, who appears as a big spooky face made of smoke. Szeth is worried because of reports of Kaladin's power and prowess with the Shardblade, and Odium advises him to make his own show of power. At Dalinar's base, Adolin introduces Kaladin to his shy, bookish brother Renarin, and to his girlfriend, Shallan. As a new Shardbearer, Kaladin is goaded into showing off his swordfighting skill in a few duels. He wins handily, and starts getting more and more caught up in his own ego, until Shallan steps up with a sword and defeats him. She tells him, "I bet you never expected a girl to kick your ass." Afterwards, Kaladin's spirit companion tells him that her name is Syl and that she was sent to help him. Dalinar and Elhokar receive a report that Venli and Eshonai burned down the Rift, an important Alethi town. They worry that the Parshendi are getting bolder and bolder. Even with Kaladin's help, they may lose the war. Elhokar's wise old adviser, Taravangian, arrives. He says that there are still three Shardblades unaccounted for, and suggests that they try to find them. Elhokar calls his wife, Jasnah, and asks her to do some research to find the other Shardblades. Later, while training with Adolin and Shallan, Kaladin is overcome with emotion and stops for a moment to think about his hometown, Hearthstone. Adolin tells Kaladin that Elhokar was chasing after Szeth, but didn't get there in time to stop him from destroying Hearthstone. Adolin explains that Szeth also killed his mother, Evi, and Shallan's sister, Shinri. Kaladin bonds with the other two over having lost someone precious to them because of Szeth. Meanwhile, Renarin visits Jasnah, who he has an obvious crush on, as she's researching. He's clumsy and accidentally knocks over one of her books, which she picks up and realizes is Gavilar's favourite book, The Way of Kings. She tells Renarin that this might be the breakthrough she needs. The next day, Jasnah calls everyone together to tell them that she's figured out where the other three Shardblades are. She reveals that The Way of Kings is secretly a guide to finding the location of the Shardblades, and the locations of the last three were disguised as riddles in it. Kaladin, Adolin, and Elhokar are sent to go recover the last three Shardblades. The first Shardblade is hidden in an ancient temple in the vast lake known as the Purelake. The temple was built by the Radiants, an ancient order dedicated to protecting the Shardblades from the forces of evil. Kaladin, Adolin, and Elhokar navigate the traps of the temple. During their journey, Syl is able to physically interact with one of traps and disarm it. Finally, they arrive at the central chamber where the Shardblade is kept. The spirits of ancient Radiants appear and challenge Kaladin to a duel, which he wins. Afterwards, they salute to him and fade away. Kaladin takes the Shardblade, and is told that he can decide who to give it to, since he won it. Kaladin decides to give it to Shallan, since she beat him in a duel. At the Parshendi castle, Szeth watches a vision of Dalinar and Shallan facing off against Venli and Eshonai on the battlefield with their Shardblades. Odium appears to him and tells him that the Alethi are gathering the Shardblades, and he must do something about it. Szeth decides to send one of his most powerful warriors, the Pursuer, after them. Jasnah sends Kaladin, Adolin, and Elhokar to their next destination, the Horneater Peaks, where a Shardblade has been passed down through the line of Horneater Kings. They climb the mountain and reach the palace, where Elhokar asks to speak to the Horneater King. However, they are told that the actual Horneater King doesn't live in the palace, but is instead a lumberjack that they passed on the way up. Elhokar finds the king, Rock, who chops down trees with his Shardblade. Elhokar asks Rock why he does this when he's king, and Rock tells him that being king is about being of most use to your people. He tells Elhokar to decide what being king means to him. As they speak, Adolin notices the Pursuer coming towards them. Rock gives Elhokar his Shardblade and tells the three Shardbearers to flee while he holds the Pursuer off. They escape, while Rock fights the Pursuer and is killed. Back at home, Elhokar gives Rock's Shardblade to Jasnah. Meanwhile, Kaladin tells Syl that he needs to be stronger if he wants to defeat the Pursuer, and trains even harder. Renarin talks with Adolin and Dalinar and says that if he wasn't so useless, he could have been there to help fight the Pursuer, and maybe Rock wouldn't be dead. Adolin and Dalinar assure hm that he isn't useless, and promise to give him the final Shardblade after they retrieve it. Kaladin, Adolin, and Elhokar head out to get the final Shardblade from the Shattered Plains, a land of vast plateaus. They find the plateau with the Shardblade on it, but the Pursuer suddenly appears before them. He easily defeats the three Shardbearers and takes Kaladin's Shardblade from him. Kaladin tries to pick up the Shattered Plains' Shardblade, but the Pursuer kicks him and causes him to drop the Shardblade into the chasms, where it is lost forever. Satisfied with his work, the Pursuer returns to Szeth. Odium tells Szeth that it is time for his revival, and Szeth prepares the ceremony to bring him back. Scouts report to Dalinar that dark clouds are growing over the Parshendi lands, so Dalinar launches the final battle to stop the Parshendi. Shallan, Adolin, Elhokar, and Jasnah accompany him with their Shardblades. Renarin and Taravangian join the retinue. Meanwhile, Kaladin is miserable because he feels like he's nothing without his Shardblade. A mysterious man with his face hidden shows up and encourages Kaladin, telling him that the true power is inside him. Kaladin is invigorated and rushes off to join the battle with an ordinary sword. During the battle, Dalinar is mortally wounded by the Pursuer. With his dying breaths, he tells Adolin to give his Shardblade to Renarin. Kaladin arrives just in time to face off with the Pursuer. Even though Kaladin only has a normal sword and the Pursuer has a Shardblade, Kaladin is able to match him. The Pursuer demands to know how, and Kaladin explains that he made a promise to the ancient Radiants to protect the Shardblades from evil. Because of his determination, Kaladin is able to summon the Shattered Plains' Shardblade to his hand, and he uses it to kill the Pursuer. Kaladin takes back his Shardblade and continues fighting, now dual-wielding Shardblades. Kaladin, Adolin, and Elhokar battle Szeth, while Jasnah, Shallan, and Renarin battle Eshonai and Venli. Szeth is mortally wounded, but laughs and says it's too late, because the ritual to revive Odium is completed. Suddenly, Taravangian walks in. He reveals that he is Odium, trapped in mortal form by the Shardblades. He pulls a rock out of his pocket called the Odiumstone, and explains that with it he has been controlling Szeth and through him the Parshendi. Now that the ritual is completed and the ten Shardblades reassembled, he can be restored. Taravangian fuses with the dying Szeth and the big smoke Odium face, becoming a revived Odium. He says that he will create an Everstorm and destroy the world. Realizing that they were deceived, Venli and Eshonai switch sides to join the Alethi. However, Kaladin begins to lose hope, as they're short one Shardbearer, and are no match against Odium. Suddenly, Syl tells Kaladin that she will always be there for him. Kaladin has a flashback of Phrena, and remembers that her name was Sylphrena. He realizes that Phrena came back for him, even after her death, to make sure he was okay. Syl grows to full human size and Kaladin gives her Szeth's Shardblade. Standing together, Kaladin, Syl, Adolin, Elhokar, Jasnah, Shallan, Renarin, Venli, and Eshonai fire beams from their Shardblades that blast Odium, destroying him for good. As he fades away, Odium cries out, "El, avenge me!" In the aftermath of the battle, peace is declared between the Alethi and the Parshendi, and Eshonai and Venli promise to be better rulers and reform the Parshendi. Adolin and Renarin mourn Dalinar, and Elhokar holds a grand funeral for him. Shallan tells Adolin that Dalinar is with Evi now. Meanwhile, now that Odium is defeated, Syl has to go. Kaladin holds her as she fades away, and she tells him that she will always love him, but that she wants him to be happy and find someone who makes him as happy as he made her. Kaladin cries after she vanishes. Jasnah calls everyone together a few days later. She has learned that The Way of Kings was just the first of a series of ten books called The Stormlight Archive, which all reveal the locations of the world's greatest treasures. They decide to set out to find the other books. In the last scene of the movie, Jasnah and Elhokar wave goodbye to Kaladin, Adolin, Shallan, and Renarin as they board a ship called the Wind's Pleasure to search for the next book, Words of Radiance. Just before they set off, Eshonai comes running and jumps onto the ship. She left Venli to be Queen of the Parshendi, because she wants to see the world. Kaladin and Eshonai smile at each other as they set sail, hinting that they will get together. In a post-credits scene, the mysterious man who cheered up Kaladin is paying his respects at Dalinar and Gavilar's graves. He wishes Dalinar could see all the amazing adventures that are going to unfold. He turns around and is revealed to be Amaram. Amaram walks by his own grave, which reads "Hoid Amaram", and muses that he is very glad that he made sure to drop his Shardblade where Kaladin could get it. He leaves the graveyard followed by Taln, his burly sidekick who mysteriously carries an eleventh Shardblade. As Amaram walks off, he pulls out a flute and begins playing a jaunty tune.

They have a regular heart. Their gemheart is located in a sternum, fused with it, it doesn't replace a heart.

That is true, but as the Stormfather said, Honor no longer lives to enforce his laws.

Which circumstances are we working with? Wide open fields, army battles, urban environments, trying to find and kill a specific target? Different Radiants excel in different circumstances, and have abilities tuned to those. For example, you mention Bondsmiths, but how good are they in combat? They generally don't get access to really combat-focused powers, nor do they have shards. They're powerful, but they're generally likely to be more useful in support roles, not in direct combat. At the same time, for urban combat, Lightweavers would fight through completely different means than a Dustbringer, Stoneward or Elsecaller. All of the later three would murder a lightweaver in an open confrontation, but a skilled Lightweaver would never get in an open confrontation, but would just disguise themselves as a civilian and stab them in the back. Meanwhile, the Skybreakers and Windrunners would do poorly in this environment, since their primary focus is flight. Meanwhile, put all of these in an open field, and things change completely. The issue is that each order of the Knights has a specific task in a war. And even the ones who focus on direct combat focus on different aspects of combat. It would be like asking if a WWII torpedo boat would be weaker or stronger than a T34 tank. It doesn't matter, because they do completely different things. Most orders would have trouble catching a Windrunner, but what would the Windrunner do against the Stoneward, Elsecaller, Lightweaver, and Willshaper who build their own fortified bunkers? The most they could do would be flying in and fighting them on the ground, in the area the other is strong. If you want a direct answer to the question though, I'd say the Skybreaker and Windrunner have a battle between themselves, the survivor waits until everyone on the ground is dead, kills whoever survived with a surprise divebomb attack, lands to celebrate their victory, and then gets ganked by the Lightweaver who everyone thought had died at the start. The Elsecaller never participated, since they were smart enough to nope out of there into Shadesmer.

I hate you for voicing that possibility... I was so blissfully happy and ignorant of it's existence.

I don't think Shu-Dereth is directly seeded by Autonomy. It juxtaposes Shu-Korath in a way that lines up too well with Dominion and Devotion. Jaddeth was originally a separate deity (probably the thing seeded by Autonomy) and his cult has since coopted the Derethi religion. Elantris even talks about the religious revisionism that goes on in Fjordell. I wonder if the rumors of the "bone spore" were also seeded by Autonomy (most likely via a Sandmaster) because a 13th spore type would most likely also result in its own religion which could give Autonomy a foothold on Lumar.

See, I don’t think that this Gavilar is inconsistent with what we’ve seen at all. We saw that his preconceived notions of the ‘voidbringers’ (aka the parshendi) led to his death at Szeth’s hands. We saw that he was a cremhole in Navani’s prologue, only caring about his image and legacy. No, we didn’t know for certain the depth of his self-centeredness, but that’s because most of our view of him came from Dalinar, who is very much an unreliable narrator when it comes to his brother. Really, the only revelation related to Gavilar’s character in the prologue that would in my mind qualify as a plot twist is the extent of his incompetence. And that had plenty of foreshadowing. The sons of Honor, started by Gavilar, were the least competent of all the secret organizations on Roshar. He provoked the Parahendi into attacking him, not even considering the possibility that they would do so. While I’m sure Brandon will revise the prologue quite a bit, I don’t see this as anywhere near a character assassination.

"The world ended, and Shallan was to blame. - Words of Radiance, Chapter 10. Mentioned by @honorblades ---- If Chana is the dead herald, I think we should talk about what the Bright Light Shallan and her father see was. What did Lin put into the safe? Why did he act so quickly to lock the item up? When I first put the Chana theory forward, my main point was that the Bright Light in the safe did not make any sense and that I did not believe that Shallan just hallucinated the whole event. That was the key element that snapped the theory into my mind. When we learned about Shallan's first spren and her trip to the garden, I was then 100% sure something magical was indeed put into the Davar safe (and not just a regular shardblade). Affter the herald-death, Child-Shallan saw a glowing soul be placed into the safe. Then Child-Shallan runs to the garden and knows that Testament would be in the garden (and not locked in a safe). Child Shallan cannot both believe her spren is locked away and that her spren is not locked away. It is only Adult Shallan that thinks that the blade was in the safe. But at the same time Adult Shallan believes she can summon a blade in TWoK, so Adult Shallan does not truly believe her blade is locked away in the safe. We then have Pattern, who may not fully understand what happened with Chanarach, convinces her that she must be misremembering the glowing-soul part. Shallan overtime begins to doubt if her memories of the glowing soul were real, and who can blame her? But childhood Shallan is not wrong about the glowing soul. Childhood Shallan has no reason to confuse a shardblade with the glowing soul of her mother. Why would a child see a weapon and think "yup, that is a glowing soul". If Shallan killed a herald, we really should consider that the glowing light truly was something invested and not the Testament-blade. Something was put into that safe that could not be a regular old shardblade. It was something that glowed somewhat like a dawnshard or the aural-light Dalinar seen when listening to Jasnah recite the Way of Kings at Gavilar's funeral. What was that "soul" Shallan remembers being placed into the safe? If Shallan in fact killed a herald, then the light is almost certainly something real. Shallan, and likely Lin, were able to see the thing through the safe. Shallan is blinded when even walking by the door. That is weird. That is heavy levels of connection weird. Many had dismissed this as "she is just crazy", but I don't think Shallan was that crazy as a child. That is one MASSIVE psychosomatic response. If Chana was just a woman, that might be more believable. But if Chana is a herald, then bright glowy light hidden in a safe becomes something we need to treat as textually important. I have had some time to mull over what was in the safe, and I have four ideas: 1) A Soul Is it possible Lin knew Chana was a herald and somehow locked her Soul into an aluminum safe? Do we ever hear when the safe was opened? I wonder if Chana was locked in there for a time and then was released at some point (maybe when the Davars fled the estate or some earlier time I am forgetting?). It is also possible the soul slowly leaked out just like with Jezrian. I do prefer the idea that the safe had been prepared for a purpose though. Lin seemed to act with quick reflexes to lock the item away in the safe. If the safe did somehow slow the return, then this may explain why Chana lasted 5 years before the desolation. 2) Ba Ado Mishram Another idea is that Ba Ado Mishram was hidden inside Chana. This would mean that Chana had an unmade gemstone inside of her, and that the dark influence inside the Davar estate was that influence leaking out into the household. No one would ever think to look inside a herald for the gem, so that is the best place to hide it. Lin would have known this, and he held on as long as possible as the influence poisoned him. I think Wit provides some evidence for this. Wit knows there is a Dark Force influencing Shallan. Maybe Wit is one of the people who knew where Ba Ado Mishrim was hidden and was therefor able to provide support to Shallan to fight back that influence, or maybe he could see the tendrils of influence around Shallan. 3) An Honourblade It could be Chana's herald blade as well, if it was actually a blade. Maybe the Herald blade appeared and Lin stuffed it away in the safe so no one would find it. There may have been a coverup here. The Stormfather/faker says "they cannot know" after a herald dies, so we know an effort is made to hide what has happened. We know Ishar was with the Shin for a while before Tukar, so maybe the fact a blade vanished was hushed-up by him or someone amongst the Shin. We have contextual evidence that at least someone didn't want anyone to know Chana had died, so a coverup is certain to have happened at least by one entity. 4) A Gemheart Another idea that occurred to me was maybe Heralds have gemhearts that get left behind? We don't know how heralds are brought back, but storing a soul in a gem might make sense. That is how fused do it, so gems might be used here as well. Bonus) 1 +2 + 4 They locked Ba Ado Mishram in Chana's gemheart. We see that Venli can lock a voidspren away in her own gemheart, so the groundwork for this occurring may have already been forshadowed in the text. -- Those are the four ideas I have had for what is in the safe. It could be something else, but I am now 120% convinced the glowing light placed in the safe is something important. If it turns out I am right about Chana being Chana Davar, then my supposition about the Glowing Soul actually being real is something I feel we cant dismiss merely as "Shallan be trippin". After RoW, I think we should be very interested in unexplained lights.

Its very posssible, even plausible, than Odiums magic is End-Negative. Hatred is basicly destrucrive, not constructive. Need to note that indeed, known Unmade require sacrifice. - Yelig-Nar consumes his host - Moelach gives glimpses of future while person is dying - Nergaoul gives passion to fight until death - Ashertmarn gives passion to feast until death - Re-Sephir simply murders people to study them Only Sia-Anat doesnt kill anyone, but this is now, she changes spren, maybe earlier she simply hurt them more directly, so this is also some sacrifice. Also Fused share similarities to hemalurgy. Spiked poeple uses exactlythe same powers as born Allomancers and Feruchemists. But They are not using Allomancy/Feruchemy but Hemalurgy. And first they need kill someone with spike to gain powers. Similary Fused - they use normal surges, but to gain them (and physical body), they need sacrifice Singer. So Fused ar Voidbinders not because they use some other Voidsurges, but because they are using Voidbinding to be back.

Would like to be friends with most Bridge Four, as of WoR Feel is most believable in terms of motivation I am not sure what this means. I am quite thoroughly sold on most of the characters and their choices, bad as those choices may sometimes be. Enjoy reading about most Kaladin, I wouldn't mind if the whole series was just Kaladin. Runner ups: Szeth, Wit/Hoid, Vasher Find most confusing/intriguing Confusing and intriguing are two very different words. I guess my answer is Jasnah. Her attitude and behavior in RoW hint at trying to compensate for past weakness, but I need some more from her to be sold. Find makes you laugh the most Wit/Hoid: He is comedic brilliance. Would like to punch in the face Punch the way that Kelsier punches Leras (in SH): Jasnah, to knock her off her high horse. Moash, to help get his head unstuck to the interior of his rear end. Venli, for being such an insufferable, selfish coward for most of RoW. Punch the way that Kelsier punches Ati: Taravangian, I have Delores Umbridge levels of hate for him. I would have also said Mr and Mrs Sadeus, but they are out of the running on account of deadness. Personally relate to most I have never in all of literature or real-life related to anyone more than I have Kaladin Stormblessed. I don't have depression, but I: Did have my life and whole world view shattered by betrayal. Absolutely and 1000% do set impossibly high goals/standards for myself and then tear myself to pieces for not meeting them. Am a person who is not allowed to give up: even if everyone else falls, I cannot ever quit. Do care about everything, all the time, putting all my heart and mind and strength into every "mission". Do have really overwhelming mood swings and have in the past been taken to dark places where I felt like my very existence was a burden to humanity (though I got past that particular point in my life a couple years ago). And so on... Feel is emotionally most realistic One of the things I find most compelling about Brandon's work is that everyone is pretty emotionally realisitc. It would be too hard for me to choose one. However, I can say that the one I have the hardest time understanding is Shallan in RoW and Adolin's superhuman patience with her. Not that I didn't cry with her when her story peaked in Lasting Integrity, but for most of the book, her behavior and psyche was pretty far from my wheelhouse. Nevertheless, I did appreciate that her story was probably very important for some people and respected the inclusion. Shamelessly crush on the hardest I feel like I am supposed to say Kaladin because I do love him and we are both heterosexuals of the opposite gender. However, I decided when I changed my name to Stormblessed it was not because I want to be Mrs. Main Character. Just because this main character is a boy doesn't mean I, a female reader, need to imagine a romantic relationship with him to imagine a one-ness between us. However, if I am not crushing on Kaladin, then I am not crushing on any Stormlight characters. (All that said, if Kaladin were a real human, yes please; box him up and ship him over stat.) Is most like someone you know IRL I can't seem to un-imagine Dalinar in the body of my church overseer, who is a retired detective and former Navy MA (military police). He's great in front of a crowd but super awkward/unsure of how to be a regular non-military person in casual situations. Runnerup: I have had many Renarin-like friends in my life. This is the sweetest thing. You must know many wonderful people.

Finally, we make another talk about our Kaladin's arcane tendencies! Here's what my theory is folks....or maybe we should actually call it a cumulation of theories which I also have mentioned in some other threads wording about Kaladin's unique and mysterious abilities to defy normal ventures! So welcome to a looong special Kaladin rant. Just as I always vociferate, there are a lot of things about Kaladin which makes little sense other than speculations and cleverly, Brandon has given us just shutter glimpses before shrouding it over by other material in order to divert our attention from something rather very interesting going on. We always assumed Kaladin will be 'a step ahead' than other Windrunners because he was the first to not only swear Ideals but also gain Surgebinding abilities in his order since Recreance. But in RoW, I believe there was a point when Teft instead became really, really very close to swearing 4th Ideal and then $#@% Moash came and cowdallop! But things began to go really weird for Kaladin in Oathbringer where....he freaking deflected the Highstorm! Why is nobody talking about it! Oathbringer spoilers: The spren are circulating in constant motion, creating an opposing current to deflect the winds and later binding together to contain the winds. This is NOT solely Adhesion. The pressure difference creation I can agree on that, using adhesion to make a suction and deflect the storm but...that's not the only thing happening right? We do not see Kaladin verily using Stormlight here. Yes, he feels the storm raging inside but that storm could be a metaphor, not stormlight...or maybe, we can just take both the best worlds in literal and metaphorical sense. Anyway, so Kaladin deflected the highstorm in Oathbringer. Syl is very surprised because she hasn't 'seen' something such. It is to be noted that she's the most ancient honorspren and despite her memories being mostly clouded, mostly lost...using such powers occasionally draws her closer to remember but in this case...she is genuinely surprised having seen something that gave her father a big angry smack on face. The following are some observations and their possible meaning deduced from Rhythm of War. When the suppression mechanism of Ur became active, everyone dropped dead. Kaladin did feel the push but he swatted it away simply like an annoying fly where as half a hundred radiants smothered unconscious! As far as I know, Kaladin was not the only one in tower having spoken 3rd Ideal. Clearly there were radiants of different orders having spoken that far to have squires of their own and if I recall, Lightweavers and Truthwatchers quickly rise in their levels (some people think Shallan's already in her 5th). Which means many of the 3rd Ideal ones are also 'close' to their 4th Ideal just like Teft and that Stoneward radiant, but the Stoneward radiant was out in cold and Teft was stirring, not quite awake. Same with other Windrunners. They stirred mildly but as if they needed...a link back to become conscious again. Venli also notices that Windrunners are 'most twitchy' among the brood they have kept bounded. So comes our Kaladin. First of all, feels nothing more about suppression after initial push. Gravitation doesn't work but Adhesion does...Full Lashing and Reverse Lashing works, the former a pure form of Adhesion and the latter...well, here is the seed of doubt-- Reverse Lashing is combination of Adhesion and Gravitation, and Gravitation doesn't work right? But the Lashing does work which makes me skeptical about everything. Second, Teft later used a Full Lashing on Stormform Regal but I don't think he could've used a Reverse Lashing. Also, as the corruption of tower grows stronger, the influence over healing becomes heavier and we saw Kaladin taking significantly long to heal through stormlight. But, his powers though seem 'Not as well as it did before' still manifest perfectly. FL and RL both work, and it seems Kal is even getting better in utilizing them. Syl says that there were a lot of things about their powers which wasn't explored before due to continuous wars. What Reboniel Notes: She knows humans have no gemheart. Either she meant it as a mockery or symbolism or...something else? She is also aware about RL which means this has been used in past wars but she thought it would be suppressed this time...and Kaladin's didn't. That's why she became fascinated with him. Teft remains awake because Lift healed him and is always needed to keep him awake or else he'd slip back into coma. It means Teft remaining awake is not stabilized despite being 'close enough into his oaths as well' as we note later. But long before, Teft has declared that he was worth saving which means he knows he is not worth of hate anymore-- countering his 3rd Ideal which 4th Ideals do. That means he has accepted it already-- way before Kaladin, meaning Teft becomes 'more closer into his oaths' at this point, more than Kaladin yet Lift needs to keep Teft conscious. Now that is....uh-uh, right? Kaladin claims that he knew the words since Oathbringer but couldn't bring himself to speak as he can't accept those Ideals to 'his self'. As the story progresses, his depressions become more active, more heavy, more dangerous that Kaladin went on downhill for his Ideals. The distance he covered up towards his 4th Ideal just went on a retrogressive path because not only he believes he can't protect anyone-- which counters his 2nd and 3rd Ideal, but also doesn't accept that he could ever make it to his 4th. Which means at this point Kaladin has succumbed 'so low in his oaths' that even his early Ideals fail to be his acceptance. Which meant they should have severed his connection to Syl and his powers and should've thrown him out of lucidity but...Kaladin remained steady. This was more than his indomitable sheer will power. This was more than dreaming about the light and warmth again. There have been many exclamations about Kaladin being the 'sole Radiant awake' but we are not given any answers. Kaladin says he felt something but that is nothing hindrance to his duty. Syl and Kal's bond becomes stronger than anything in this book, strong enough to remain connected despite being long distance apart. Connected to overcome Sibling's severing suppression. It could be possible that Syl, being so ancient and a direct splinter of Honor created by Stormfather before recreance granted her significantly more power than other honorspren. Possible she is far more Invested in Honor's essence than rest of her kind are because when she was created, Honor was alive. Also, Syl had left Lasting Integrity years before bonding with Kaladin. She remembers a lot of things about his childhood-- the tune which Aesudan was singing clicks right in her mind...which means Kaladin and Syl have been unconsciously interacting waaaay before everything. This was the reason Kaladin never felt Thrill even before bonding because Syl was 'present' to protect him. Also, Brandon has dodged many questions regarding past interactions between Kal and Syl before they 'met' in slaver caravan. Now why I was saying Adhesion is never the factor here: Again, just like in Oathbringer, Kaladin used Windspren to deflect the whole freaking highstorm again. It was no trick or twist, no bend or fold of Surges because he is clearly COMMANDING them to find him. He ordered them to go and they went, following his order again. This wasn't Adhesion here. Its' the windspren clearly. Everyone speculated true that Windspren will form armor and they did but even after forming and Connecting with Kaladin, thousands more of windspren still held back the storm. More than any number seen with Shardplate already formed. This shows Kaladin actually has a control over these windspren as if they are following his orders to hold back the storm. This is clear implication of a proto-Command/Surge combination we have not been explained properly. Some possibilities: Way before speaking his Ideals, Kaladin has begun driving Stormlight into his system. Could it be possible that somehow he's unwontedly drawing Lifelight/Towerlight/Voidlight as well this time? When Kaladin snapped and went full berserker against Pursuer, his Investiture was corrupted by Odium's influence but we know corrupted investiture exhibits abnormal behaviour in surges like Renarin's futuresight. Kaladin's powers remained same, Honor's true surge. Notably, he also had a great deal of control over them-- super power control despite having almost cutting all ties from his Ideals after Teft died. Many think that Kaladin jumped from tower as a nod to what he couldn't do in Honor's Chasms but...here Kal not only jumped because he was giving up but he also jumped to protect his father--a last attempt that pushed Odium back. Also, we never heard Odium's voice in his mind...did we? Like this creature invaded Honor's vision, Stormfather's powers but somehow still never pored into Kaladin. That is diamond will. Odium wanted him as his Champion because he saw something in his futurescape about Kaladin...otherwise why would he torture him so much, so frequently? For Odium, Vyre is almost next to nothing when it comes to usage...he's just there for him to impart his Intent. Kaladin IS Dalinar's champion. Yes, it will be thematically beautiful for Kaladin to have dragon DNA and shapeshifter stuff but...I don't think that plausible by any direction. Things to ponder: Kaladin gained his Surgebinding abilities waaaay before he spoke his First Ideal. Syl also seems to remember his family and says everything is connected. She mentions hearing a pure tone, demanding during that time and we have not assumed anything about it yet (I think its Cultivation). His senses almost becomes extremely sensitive enough like spiders to detect Pursuer without seeing or hearing him while being chased. He also seemed to have almost supernatural instincts during fights. Kaladin fought two Shardbearers with his eyes closed, feeling a dance of wind around. The way Cryptics near Elhokar tried to avoid when Kal came near. 'Shadows go away' While Cryptics and honorspren don't get along too well, they don't hate each other. Cryptics clearly don't want to get detected by then they should've vanished when Elhokar was near Shallan or Renarin since both of them had bonded waaay before too. But they vanished only when Kaladin came. Even in Dalinar's presence, Elhokar was able to see shadows. Tower put a damp of Gravitation but then how RL still worked? Hoid always appears with a story and narrates them during Kal's bad time. He freaking went into Odium's vision to lift Kal out. Whatever Hoid does is not without an intent and since Hoid knows a lot of stuff about future, we can assume our Kaladin has a lot to play as well. Also, he was given a very important relic whose purpose we have yet to see. (Kal's gonna be a Worldhopper?) There must be something in future which Kaladin does that made Odium rattled enough to sway him towards him rather than killing him on first case. Why Odium wanted Kaladin as his chamption? Dalinar wouldn't fight...or if they fought...Kaladin actually won? Moash kept repeating that 'Kaladin Stormblessed can't be killed, he's the force of storms and storm can't be defeated.' X ten times in whole book. Why would he repeat this? What did Odium showed to Vyre? I NEED an explanation for deflecting highstorm with windspren. And lastly......THE WHOLE FREAKING BEING Child/Son of Tanavast spoken for obvious reasons we don't freaking know! BRANDON! Every damn book! So, mirthlessly, I give my conclusion that Kaladin remained awake not because of Adhesion or close to his 4th Ideal, but a mixture of thousand other unexplainable things that makes my brain go haywire. It could be a jumble of Lights, Tavanavast, Windspren control power....or maybe he might do something really important next book which will either have us broken into weeping mess. Whatever it is...I just want my Kaladin Stormblessed to be...happy for once in his life.

Well, I'm going to guess that the fifth oath is something Kaladin is going to swear in the next book. The fourth oath was pretty straightforwardly what he'd been struggling against for most of the last two books, so it's not a surprise, but how tough it's been for him means that we probably have missed the foreshadowing of the fifth oath. I think we HAD to have some foreshadowing of the fifth oath, because giving Kaladin a totally new thing to struggle against would feel weird if we haven't had inkings of it before. It might be something to do with his new work helping people with their mental health. That got just a few chapters in this book - enough to show that it was important, but not enough to say that that storyline is complete. Hmm. think the fifth oath is going to be something about how you have to protect the whole person - mind, body, and spirit. Most of the protecting that Kaladin has done personally has been about preventing people from being stabbed - understandable, because they're in a war. But more abstract things like protecting a person's independence, protecting their spirit, are still there. Maybe it'll build on the fourth oath. The fourth oath was only about acceptance, knowing that a Windrunner can't protect everyone. But the fifth might be when he recognizes that some things are more important to protect against than bodily harm. I still think there's more realizations to be had there. Yeah, Kaladin is now accepting that sometimes, he'll fail and not protect someone. But there's a step further - times when Kaladin could step in and protect someone from physical damage, but shouldn't, because protecting that person's autonomy or integrity or honor or something else is also important.

Perfect. May I just add that the story would be written in the first person present tense, the worst type of narration ever created.