TheArcanist

This one from Well of Ascension qualifies for me as probably one of the few lines that has made me genuinely terrified in a Cosmere novel. Brandon can write some scary stuff, but when it gets really unsettling, it makes you shiver every time you read it. "I am FREE!" This one from The Way of Kings for the same reasons above "ODIUM REIGNS" And this one from Hero of Ages, for giving me the tiny hope that everything would be alright throughout everything. Never, ever, ignore epigraphs. Especially epigraphs with significant and specific characterization. "I am, regrettably, the Hero of Ages."

They'd only be for noblemen though- religion is forbidden to the skaa

I feel like Skybreakers as a TV show would get closed down pretty quickly, since Naln is almost exclusively using paper-thin justifications to execute, well, everyone. That being said, it would still probably be cool. Could you imagine a fashion competition show on Nalthis? The judges would almost certainly need to be of the Third Heightening just to fully appreciate or critique a lot of the stuff being put through. Which then begs the question- would the people at home actually be able to understand why a solid red dress is particularly skillful, nuanced, or refined?

Yeah, I'm absolutely petrified of Cosmere clickbait now.

When no book's length can deter you. Words of Radiance continues to shock and amaze the people who see it upon my shelf. When you take upon yourself the absolutely insane challenge of making a totally plausible fantasy world.

Wow, okay, I want to have Serendipity's writing skills. I can write a lot of things- Norse runes, Ogham, the Theban Alphabet, Malachim, Enochian, Daedric, Dovahzul, Falmeric, several variations of an elvish language I made up, and an orcish language I created; but none of them have been as pretty as that Alethi. Well done; I tip my proverbial hat to you.

I most certainly do enjoy Renarin as a character. He doesn't enter the picture much, but when he does it's memorable. While he isn't much of a combatant, he doesn't have to be in order to be useful, but I can see why he's pushing himself to become one from a cultural/societal/theological point of view. Speaking as a neuroatypical individual [sPD and ADHD] with extreme social anxiety who may or may not have focal epileptic seizures (the parents are trying to get me diagnosed but they're a rare occurrence and don't really interfere with my life much at all) I can identify quite a bit with Renarin, get inside his head. It's nice to see in fiction not just a character you can admire or wish to emulate- because there's plenty of those -but a character that you can directly relate to, because for a lot of people it's an extremely uncommon thing. As an introvert, usually a lot of advice my parents or friends try to give me about reducing social anxiety is to change myself- except for the slight problem that I actually like being a quiet geeky guy who enjoys reading and has a bit of an offbeat personality. It can be pretty disconcerting to be told by people you care about, and who care about you, that there's something wrong with the way you are. Probably the biggest thing of that, with me, is when people tell me that my emotions are either being dramatized for attention purposes, or that I'm simply being melodramatic, or when I come out of my shell a bit that I'm acting 'not like myself'. I'm usually very subdued when it comes to my emotions, but every so often they just kind of burst in one extreme or the other, and I was always taught that those kinds of outburst, when I got older, could not just be detrimental to my social life but actually dangerous. Now, it's one thing to make sure you're well adjusted, it's another thing to be told you're effectively a ticking time bomb by your parents. So, when you use literature as an escape and someone shows up that you can actually understand. Not like, admire, aspire to be, or enjoy as a character, but really immerse yourself in their experience and feel the story it becomes a very special kind of connection to a character. Renarin is one such character, at least for me, and I can't wait for him to get a bit more focus in the story.

When you use Sanderson to support the view that high fantasy is a valid genre of literature to a curmudgeon of an English prof.. and win. When learning to write Alethi and Thaylen is on your to-do list right behind learning Dothraki and High Valyrian.

A lightwoven illusion would almost certainly read as a source of Investiture to someone burning bronze. At best, it would confuse Vin temporarily in the same way the mist spirit did, or redirect her attention to it briefly- like Ruin's false Mistborn in Hero of Ages did -or at worst she would simply ignore it, because she knows there's nothing there except some kind of strange magic. If Shallan could combat-Soulcast, I think that trumps virtually everything- except for one small problem; she'd have to convince Vin to change. And good luck with that. With Jasnah and the thugs in the alley, she pretty much just commanded them to change by sheer force of will and they did. I doubt Shallan could do something similar. A Shardblade would give her an advantage- no one in their right mind would get close to a six foot sword, and the moment Vin figured out she couldn't Push on it she'd probably keep her distance. After that, Shallan is pretty much a sitting duck unless she can get Pattern to distract Vin, but then she can't use her Shardblade, and that would probably not distract her for very long. Stormlight healing would keep her alive for a while, but I seriously doubt she could get away from Vin fast enough for it to matter. In other words, Shallan is screwed unless we're assuming she has a serious power upgrade.

Maybe it's just a psychological thing- Pattern could be summoned into his blade form effectively instantaneously; the whole "10 heartbeats" thing was for bonded Shardblades. That being said, the Honorblade is bound to him, so that rule probably applies. Better question- does Vin have her Hemalurgic eating or not? Because if she doesn't, she could pull on the mists for power just as easily as Szeth pulls on Stormlight. Put them both in a storm that combines a Highstorm and the Mist, and you'd have a ludicrously protracted- and epic -fight.

Another option would be to use, say, a complex sleeve like an Awakened prosthetic using the command "Upon call, become my fingers and grip that which I must". A Lifeless arm would probably cost much less Breath to Awaken- but you can replace an Awakened sleeve; you can't really replace a Lifeless arm.

And Reislek is also Kelsier spelled backwards. Mistborn. Mistborn everywhere. Or at least, you know, a lot of Coinshots.

Really? Huh. So you think that the Tuatha are the Wyldfae, or as a different Pantheon they exist as a group all to themselves?

Didn't Jasnah point out that the Voidbringer illustration looks like a Chasmfiend except that it's missing a pair of forelegs and one pair of claws. That would reduce the number of legs to ten. Of course, it can't be all the Greatshells, as some of them seem outright benevolent.

What about Eva Green for Shan Elariel?

By the God Beyond and all that is holy, this is insane! The amount of work that went into this is mind-boggling!

Can we just bask in the awesomeness that is Sir Waldo Butters, Jewish Knight of the Cross, wielder of the Lightsaber of Faith, and magically empowered Batman? Seriously- very few things will now be standing in his way now. In other news, Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden is back, baby! He spent a few books moping around and being angsty- admittedly not without cause -but hey, he's back to being the bullheaded, heart-in-the-right-place heroic wizard we know and love. Evil things that crawled out of the shadows in Chicago, you picked a very bad moment to get cocky. He's back to his old self, he's free (He fulfilled all three of Mab's requests, so unless some official Winter Knight business comes up, he's free to do what he wants), he's got a new sidekick- who happens to be his daughter -and more backup. I can't wait for the next book, because the Apocalypse Triology approaches. And Butcher has promised us Zombie Sue, Tara West, and Ferrovex the Dragon will come again. The situation with Molly is... strange. She's not Molly, not really, but she isn't Maeve either. She's simply the Winter Lady. I'm guessing that, like Harry, she's drawing on the mantle for strength and stability, but isn't letting it get to her- I'm just going to guess that most of the 'weird' coming off her has to do with the fact that she's more or less one of the Sidhe now. The Hecate reveal got me thinking- since the Formor are ancient enemies of the Fae cast into the ocean, and their enemies in mythology were the Tuatha De Danann, that would make the Faerie Courts the Tuatha De Danann- ergo, the Queens would be the triple goddesses of Celtic Mythology. The Summer Queens are Brighid, and the Winter Queens are the Morrigan. They're probably also the Moirae [Greek Fates] and the Norns [Norse Fates]. That's a whole lot of mojo there.

Bennedict Cumberbatch would make a great Lord Ruler. Maybe with Christopher Lee [iE. Saruman] as the aged version? Has anyone made the suggestion for Michael Fassbender as either Kelsier or Marsh? I think he'd be amazing.

Except none of the metals of any of the Spikes is capable of stealing an Allomantic temporal power, which is what Electrum is. It's the internal temporal pushing metal. I suppose one of the Gold Spikes could be used to grant Feruchemical electrum, but none of them are capable of grant Allomantic electrum, which would be pointless anyways, since Marsh could burn atium, and the Inquisitors seemed fairly oblivious to the existence of electrum. If they'd been aware of it, they wouldn't have been surprised that Elend was capable of countering atium.

I hadn't thought of using Gold to steal Feruchemical atium under Preservation's altered Metalic Arts set. That is entirely possible. Yes, he says at the height of his power, but the WoB also says that Marsh scrounged up the Spike from an Inquisitor than Vin killed immediately before her ascension. Of course, this could be one of those included in the list, but my gut instinct is that it is not included in the twenty-two. I'm almost certain the other is Feruchemical pewter. During Hero of Ages I remember a part where he's described as growing, literally, in a similar manner to how Sazed did during the Siege of Luthadel by tapping his pewtermind. So, if that's true, here's the new tally. Total: 22 [23 (?)] Steel: 8 [Allomantic iron (x2), Allomantic steel (x2), Allomantic pewter (x2), Allomantic tin (x2)] Bronze: 8 [Allomantic copper (x2), Allomantic bronze (x2), Allomantic zinc (x2), Allomantic brass (x2)] Pewter: 2 [Feruchemical steel, Feruchemical pewter] Gold: 2 [Feruchemical gold (x2) or Feruchemical gold + Feruchemical atium] Aluminum: 1 [Allomantic duralumin] Atium: 1[Allomantic atium] (+1 Atium Spike for Feruchemical atium?)

A Bronze Spike could not- Atium isn't a Allomantic Mental Power, but an Allomantic Temporal one. Gold specifically steals Feruchemical Temporal/Hybrid powers, so I doubt a Gold Spike could steal Allomantic gold, so maybe he just has two goldminds instead of compounding Gold. We know from a WoB that Marsh acquired Feruchemical atium from a dead Inquisitor after Vin ascended to temporarily become Preservation, because it was posted earlier on this thread. So technically by the period of Alloy of Law Marsh has, most likely, 23 Spikes. Ruin probably stabbed him with Spike 23 [Feruchemical atium] immediately after Vin ascended. If I recall correctly, he was the last, or one of the last, Inquisitors alive at that time. Source: http://theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=708#8

Another thing about Nalthis- you reach immortality upon hitting the Fifth Heightening, and effectively godhood upon reaching the Tenth Heightening. Yes, I know the Returned are all effectively instantly at the Fifth Heightening, and they're worshipped as gods, but none of them have the power of Susebron. So another numbers thing- increments of five and examples of symmetry.

I pictured it a different colour, but from the description, this is a dead ringer for Oathbringer.

I believe on the "Windrunner VS. Inquisitor" thread I outlined what just retaining Stormlight would do. Also- Inkthinker has spoken. Word of Brandon regarding Marsh incoming. This is just what the Spikes are, not what they contain, but I think it'll be process of elimination from there. Here we go. Okay, so, here's our new list of Spikes. Marsh: Hero of Ages era Total: 22 Steel: 8 [Takes Physical Allomantic Powers] Bronze: 8 [Takes Mental Allomantic Powers] Pewter: 2 [Takes Physical Feruchemical Powers] Gold: 2 [Takes Feruchemical Hybrid/Temporal Powers] Aluminum: 1 [Takes Allomantic Ehancement Powers] Atium: 1[Wild Card] Confirmed Placements Eye Spikes: Each of these is Steel Spike, most likely possessing Allomantic iron and Allomantic steel. [2 Steel] Linchpin Spike: This is a Steel Spike, but which power it possesses I'm unsure of. It's most likely Allomantic pewter. [1 Steel] Heart: Now, this one isn't a Steel Spike so much as one that grants Steel- as we know from the Coppermind that a Pewter Spike goes here granting Feruchemical steel. [1 Pewter] Sternum: As Inkthinker said that symmetry in Hemalurgy is preferred, another steel spike goes here, granting Allomantic steel [1 Steel] Rib Spikes: All of these are either Steel or Bronze, so in total there are twelve Spikes granting various powers going in between Marsh's ribs. Process of elimination should help figure out what each one does. [4 Steel, 8 Bronze] Unknown Placement: An Pewter Spike granting some sort of physical Feruchemical ability, most likely Feruchemical pewter. [1 Pewter] Unknown Placement: An Aluminum Spike granting Allomantic duralumin [1 Aluminum] Unknown Placement: An Atium Spike granting Allomantic atium [1 Atium] Unknown Placement: Two Gold Spikes, most likely granting granting Feruchemical gold. Unknown if one of these is, in fact, a Spike of a different metal granting Allomantic gold. [2 Gold] ***** Now we have Three Hemalurgic Laws, one of which was just revealed to us. The First Law of Hemalurgy: The Law of Hemalurgic decay. Any stolen power is weaker than the original, and the Investiture diminishes the longer the Spike remains outside of a body. The Second Law of Hemalurgy: The First Law can be avoided or reduced by a Spike of sufficient size. The Third Law of Hemalurgy: In Hemalurgy, symmetry is preferred. So, I think the only thing left to determine, as it's pretty clear what most of these Spikes do, is what the twelve Spikes in the ribs [4 Steel, 8 Bronze] do, keeping in mind this new law of Hemalurgic Symmetry. EDIT: Rust and Ruin he just gave us a partial Hemalurgic bind points chart! Does anyone know how to translate the Steel Alphabet?

Stormfather above, it's Oathbringer!