beagel

That's what i think about LOTR...

The notion that a modern army doesn't use melee weapons... THE most useful tool in the trenches of WWI was the entrenching tool, you can dig, if there is fighting in the trenches you have a almost perfect weapon, you don't need supply (for this weapon, for yourself and the other weapons you still need it). Even today infantry is trained in melee. Against enemies that have superhuman hardiness, modern weapons are not really useful as they make small wounds, compared to a blade. Also the technology of the Age of Legends seems to be based on the One Power, so no explosives, no firearms, no materials science. And while the ressources (channelers) are enough for normal life, when they are needed constantly... Lastly, as said before, civilisation regressed over the war, making martial weaponry even more important. The thing with cuendillar is curious though. It is ideal for armor, and every armor would benefit from it (yes, even plate and mail. Plate isn't made in one piece, mail neither. They're both assembled at the end. Granted with mail the effort rises exponentially (every ring by itself turned into Cuendillar and then assembled. That's why mail was so expensive, and today is more expensive than plate)). I guess that the process needs more strength in the power than power-wrought smithing.

I meant the whole going to Shadesmar. Or better said looking into shadesmar and having your spirit walk around there... About pressure: that would explain why he needs more stormlight than seems reasonable, if he uses adhesion by instinct (and quite extensively, lowering the pressure to reduce resistance, taking a bubble around with normal pressure so he doesn't suffocate or even bleed out). But that brings me to another point: why is the surge dealing with pressure and vacuum (so with pressure and pressure :-D) called adhesion? Adhesion is what happens with suckers, or if you press something wet against a surface, and it holds there (no pressure between the objects, normal pressure around, the water seals it). The thing is, thats a quite specialised application of pressure manipulation, and the whole surge is called that?

And the material has absolutely nothing to do with my point... I'm talking about fast, instinctive mastery of geometry and mechanics. But letting the other one fall into his sword is a bad example, depends too much on the other person. Never falling or stumbling, never getting hit with something because you know what force in which direction is needed, just like that... Isn't that in itself more powerful than steel pushing itself? Another thing: i remember something about Wax misjudging a push. That means that it isn't instinctual and that means that, unless you have a heavy object exactly behind you, anchoring against the environment should be really hard, which shows the importance of bodyweight. You aren't stronger but you can push with more abandon... And of course the forces change, force is acceleration times mass and when the mass jumps from one coin to the whole planet (plus a coin)... This is just what we are writing here, mechanics!

Well, i would guess that 320 km/h would seem plenty fast for someone who hasn't even galloped (i think). Besides: it's not that you don't feel it, as you said the forces offset each other. While a couple G may be ok, the human body can't take too much. And even if Stormlight helps there, the pain would be quite high (imagine what happens to your eyes!), lying on air is way less comfortable than lying on the floor. But the thing about not needing to neutralize gravity, i didn't realize that, nice catch. Too bad we don't know if it needs a different amount of stormlight to lash oneself into a direction one is already lashed... I found the WoB about needing more Stormlight too, but i think we need more. I'll have to think about this. I just would like to know more about the Bond, how surges work (lashing could be commanding a spren, but Soulcasting? I think not.)how the honorblades work. And i think we can speculate wuite a bit with what we have, we just have to find the clues :-D

Well Sanderson needing Asspulls or Deus Ex Machina or whatever you wanna call them says a lot. And even then you need to jump up, down and to the sides to manipulate the sword in any meaningful way. And the second part doesn't really solve anything because that is the opening of Pandoras box: why, oh why don't they use it in all battles then, no in all other situations. Just knowing how to move so the other one falls into his own sword seems very powerful, as does the ability to stay dry when it rains, because you can move out of the way of the drops. Insane spatial reasoning is just too much for a secondary power. And the gist of the matter stands: Higher weight means the ability to anchor yourself without needing to use the environment as much, which can be bloody tricky to use... And it's a way easier explanation for the question than discussions about the gritty physics behind the magic...

Can i do that after the fact? I tried all the options i could find. Also sorry, i only saw that the 2 Forums will be merged after i posted, i just didn't want to limit this to WoR.

You don't need to start with formulas and stuff. Thinking there is always enough stuff around to anchor yourself is madness. It's not the forces, it's the geometry. Trying to anchor yourself against stuff around you that isn't distributed right is very complicated. If you got a better "inherent" anchor by weight it would be far easier. That also explains why Kelsier was impressed with Vin, because she has less weight to anchor her by herself and still pummeled him, meaning she could balance her anchoring against her surrounding better. But don't worry, the geometry thing is something Brandon forgets too, there are some places where it gets a bit wonky in the books (prime example is Demoux's duel, influencing a duel in a meaningful way by excerting force along one special vector is a bit silly. Kelsier can't even change the elevation (he had to jump up and down for that, remember it goes out of the center of mass. And pushes/pulls against the swords center of mass, so you can't change the orientation by pushing/pulling itself). And that's not the end, the manner in which Demoux is holding the sword and his body has to be taken into account, everything in fractions of a second. Madness!).

Well, WoB said that there are subtle differences between Kaladins Abilities and Szeths. I'd like to find out just what these differences are. At first i thought Kaladin didn't need to worry about normal Gravity, one lashing and normal Gravity is just nullified. But i think Sanderson just didn't put emphasis on negating normal Gravity anymore. Then i thought Kaladin used more Stormlight, as seen in him getting low on light after traversing the plains (terminal velocity is around 320km/h and is reached in seconds) which means the seconds, one or two minutes at most he needed took tons of "relashing." Also at the End of the book he needs quite much Light as per his own words, meaning 320km/h aren't enough (he needs several lashings) or he needs to "relash" really often. The thing is we never even get vague comparisons between Szeths and Kaladins consumption, let alone precise comparisons. And maybe Sanderson just didn't take in account that terminal velocity with only 1g is already 320km/h. And that's basically it. Two things, both probably not a real difference. What do you think? What are the differences between their powers, and what is their impact? Remember if you spoil something from WoR, use the spoiler tag. I think as vague as i described it, it is ok though, if not, tell me. This Topic is about the whole Stormlight Archive, at least the first two books, so i put it here...

Well... Kelsier has to be played by an actor who can do manic, enchanting, intense, heroic and mad. At first i thought about the big guns, young DeNiro or young Spacey. But then, well he isn't really a smaller gun, but he is not yet one of the "old guys": Daniel Day-Lewis. He is certainly intense, he is an amazing actor, and he is best remembered for the charm and madness at the same time he brings to his roles. Christopher Ecclestone would be good too. For Vin i can see Maisie Williams, she is still young enough, and though we haven't really seen big things (just ok things) of her, she's at least a good actress. James Spader ist THE Breeze, if Kelsier weren't so physical he could do even him. As Lord Ruler... The same one i always see playing Myrdraal, Michael Wincott. And because every movie is better for having him: Alan Rickman as Ruin. Imagine his mocking and teasing and torturing of Vin, Zane and Marsh in Rickmans voice :-)

My post was only for information, i thought the people here have basic misconceptions about real life fighting. What happens in the Cosmere is Brandons thing, reality hasn't much say there :-). Like i said, in the source of inspiration for most of the shown positions, they are used together. Limiting a style (e.g. no wide swings) and needing to reset when using other characteristics (using wide swings), is crazy. Of course there are differences, for example in dagger fighting: in german style the blade extents from the "thumb side" of the hand, in italian from the other side. The styles have differences, but not that much, because moves dictated by weapon and body don't change that much. Another example: japanese sword fighting and german swordfighting differ because japanes swords are made for slashing with one edge while in europe there are double edged blades with guards. double edge and guard change much, but even then moves and positions are often the same. Or english and german fighting: the technique chains in england were made more to give the defender a strong position, while in german fencing the chains lead to a strong attacking position. Totally different styles but positions and moves are mostly the same. Differences in fighting styles come from the different weapons, and different goals or at least stopovers. Wide sweeping blows are not a good idea with erverything shorter than a spear (and polearms have the problem that you should hit with the head, making sweeping blows ok, but not good). With a "Bidenhänder" or a claymore on the other hand, you can almost only fight with wide sweeping blows. Limiting a style and/or using moves and positions that aren't made for the weapon are just unrealistic... But thats how it goes in reality, like i said i suspect that that's something coming from Sanderson describing fights very indepth, but not in a realistic way. Which is ok, as he makes the scenes exciting and cool, regardless.

Hi, i only read the first few posts here, but i think i have to add the following: The stances in the books are whole sets of moves and techniques. That's simple common sense, standing in one way and doing one move isn't what is shown in the books, every stance has several moves at least. That's the case with real fighting schools too. The positions you identify as stances are mostly positions from Lichtenauers "Fechten mit dem langen Schwert" used by transitioning through the positions. You assume a position, do a move and end up in anothe position to do another move. See this Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kj4Ng6DBfrg One example from the video @ around 1:05: Starting with #10 (Alber, a defensive position, but more upright than the picture) the defender deflects the attack and starts his follow-up attack from #9 (Ox oder Ochs, an offensive stab, but also more upright than the picture): My point is: these are positions and moves that are used together, basically one position to do a move (defensive or offensice) to land in a new position to start another move. But in the books it's made clear that the stances are whole fighting schools. So while there may be more than one stance on Shallans sheet, one position doesn't make a stance from the books and the shown positions can be from any number of stances. But i think Sandersons not-being-up-to-snuff as pertains fighting shows here. Like in Mistborn, the duell Kelsier "helps" seems to be written with olympic fencing in mind (that's a sport, not a martial art). Here Sanderson seems to draw inspiration from real life fighting styles, but interpret the positions as whole fighting styles by themselves. In that case: Yes all the stances may well be on Shallans sheet :-) And please understand: i love the books, it's just that sometimes i think: "That's not real." But even then: the action scenes in the books are wonderful and exciting. Wouldn't read Fantasy if i didn't want unrealism :-)