killersquirrel59

My pet theory was that it represents an alliance of Autonomy and Odium, Autonomy being red as reflected in the red flakes on Trellium (Bavadinium), the red eyes of the corrupted kandra, and the red glow of her Shard form when Sazed showed Wax the vision, and Odium being gold as reflected in his appearance as a gold-skinned singer, the golden appearance of Raysium, and his light being described as golden when he appeared in Shard form. But given what happened to Odium in Stormlight 4 that would have to assume that the colour-coding was somehow intrinsic to the shard rather than a preference of the holder and that seems very odd to me.

Yes exactly. That is my point. The dissolved carbon atoms are being trapped in specific patterns, but by the very nature of those patterns, the distribution, while close enough to be considered even in even a small steel object, will not be chemically perfectly even in every minuscule flake.

I think there's a miscommunication. Assuming even late medieval blast furnace technology, the iron could be fully liquefied and thus have all of its impurities adequately removed, and I could even buy that they had access to something like the Bessemer process given their more advanced metallurgic technology. But the carbon is another matter. Carbon will not liquefy in anything remotely close to ordinary steel forges. Carbon has a melting point of 3550 degrees Centigrade, and even then it doesn't really melt, it sublimes (turning directly from solid to gas). As such, its distribution within the iron, no matter how well purified the iron has been through the Bessemer process or whatever means are being used, will not be perfectly even as would be the case when alloying two metals reduced to liquid state.

That is a good answer to be getting on with. I was preoccupied with the physical nature of the metal and didn't fully consider the cognitive aspect of whether or not the steel flake still saw itself as part fo the steel bar it was shaved from. It's not a fully satisfactory answer and feels a bit like a cop out, but it is enough that I can live with it if no other revelations present themselves.

So, completely unrelated to Cosmere work, I was doing some research into the nature of metallurgy, specifically carbon structures in steel, and came up with a problem that I haven't seen answered before. It has been well established that allomantic alloys must have precise percentages in order to be effective. For true metallic alloys such as bronze, pewter, and brass, this is not a problem, as the alloy process involves combining the elements involved by heating the components to liquid form. But steel is a problem. Carbon does not liquefy, and often neither does the iron (depending on furnace technology) during the steel forging process. As such, carbon is not evenly distributed through the steel. In larger products, this is mostly irrelevant, as the distribution of the carbon crystal structures in the iron is even enough function. However, this idea falls apart when considering something as small as the metal flakes consumed by allomancers. Because steel is not fully liquefied like other alloys, these flakes cannot possibly have even distribution of carbon in them, and thus will not match the perfect ratio necessary for allomantic efficacy, or even safety as it is strongly implied and in some places stated outright that a bad alloy can kill an allomancer when they burn it. Has this issue been addressed before and I just missed it? What are your thoughts on it? It seems a pretty large hole in one of the key rules of allomancy to have gone completely unnoticed, and I was quite surprised to not find anything on the topic.

There is a major problem with the idea on the surface that the breeding program was meant to breed Feruchemy out of the Terris population. I fully accept that this is what was presented to the Obligators running the program (those who knew about Feruchemy in the first place at least), but there is a very important reason why the Lord Ruler needed to maintain at least a small number of Feruchemists. Inquisitors Each new Inquisitor the Lord Ruler wished to make required not only the sacrifice of 8 mistings and 1 mistborn or (less likely) Seer, but also 1 Feruchemist for the use of Feruchemical gold. Inquisitors are not immortal, and thus must periodically be replaced, and those pewter spikes needed to come from somewhere. As such, it follows that buried somewhere in the breeding program, there must have been some desire to create a small number of Feruchemists specifically to be sacrificed to make Inquisitors. A particularly morbid part of me actually wonders if infiltrations like Tindwyl's of the breeding program were known about all along and secretly allowed to happen, her offspring tracked and watched for any manifestation of Feruchemy so they could be taken for sacrifice.

It's been a while since I've been on, but I had a thought while rereading Hero of Ages that is worth some consideration. Allomantic Savants are created by constantly flaring an allomantic metal long enough that it causes physical changes to the body. This prompted a 2 part question. 1) Can someone who gained their allomantic ability via a hemalurgic spike become an Allomantic Savant? 2) If so, what would happen if the spike was subsequently removed? I have my own ideas, but I'm curious what the Shard's hivemind thinks before I taint the pool with my original thoughts. So please, discuss.

Shallan is a weird case because of her self-denial. In addition to this, given the nature of the Lightweavers, it is often difficult to determine what counts as a Truth for the purpose of advancement. She already had her blade (3rd Ideal) when she was a young child, and we've seen her offer at least one more after that when she admitted she killed her father. She already had her blade at this point as she had thought about using it and recoiled from that thought. Clearly there are other conditions that need to be met for the Lightweavers, possibly accepting the truths more intrinsically than just giving them voice. It's also possible with her repressed memories that she is "rediscovering" her ideals already sworn instead of finding new ones and advancing. We simply don't have enough data on what is necessary for a Lightweaver's advancement to determine anything from Shallan's situation.

Well, look at the gemstone library archive about the fourth ideal. This was a sapphire which is traditionally associated with Windrunners and the quote is "My spren claims that this recording will be good for me, so here I go. Everyone says I will swear the Fourth Ideal soon, and in so doing, earn my armor. I simply don’t think that I can. Am I not supposed to want to help people?" I think the key is "not supposed to want to help people". Given this hint and the moral progression of Kaladin with his massive guilt complex, I can only conclude that the Fourth Ideal for the Windrunners is something along the lines of "I will accept that I cannot save everyone".

This change really bothered me, not because of how it affected the character, but really because of what it would mean for Kershtian culture. This was a very male-dominated culture, which served very well as a backdrop to Khriss, letting her be more pronounced as a stranger in that culture. Changing Kershtian culture to be more inclusive in this case only serves to weaken Khriss and her story.

(You have got to be kidding me. This thing is still going? I started this over 2 years ago). Granted, however, any amount of movement involves some degree of physical change on a tiny scale, so you are completely immobile, including your ability to breathe or your heart to beat, or electrical signals to fire in the brain, so you die rather quickly. I wish for the ability to stop time at will for as long as I want, whenever I want.

Very interesting. That seems an odd choice for a gender swap. Not sure how that will work without some pretty big changes to Kershtian culture. He made a big deal of women being deferential in their culture, definitely being lesser citizens.

Has anyone considered that the corpseboat might have just been Hoid being deliberately weird? He does things like that, often for no readily apparent reason. Why would he attempt to storm with Kelsier as an informant in book 1? Why does he seem to have so much fun as Wit? He is clearly just the kind of guy who enjoys messing with people's minds and expectations. He even says it Way of Kings directly to Kaladin, smiling when he says he enjoys playing with the minds of Bridgemen. I took Spanky as just that, Hoid being weird for no particular reason. He might have needed some kind of boat or vessel, but I doubt it needed to be a corpse.

At least in my own opinion, I think that the way LGBTQ characters are often highlighted does far more damage than good. Far too often creators (authors/directors/producers/etc.) feel they need to force the issue by making gay characters take the spotlight because they are gay and making that be their only real defining characteristic. This is an easy trap to fall into, and I genuinely think is usually done with the best intentions, but it often comes off false, preachy, and sometimes offensive. I personally think that the best way to see an increase in the presence of LGBTQ characters is exactly the kind of thing we saw with Ranette. Show that there are gay characters, then make it completely not matter further in the story. The more we see scenes like that, the more it will be seen as commonplace and ordinary for someone to be gay.

Unfortunately we don't know enough about AonDor to be able to give a better answer. It is one of the magic systems in the Cosmere that unfortunately we know the least about. We know a great deal about its structure from Raoden's experiments, but there are supposed to be thousands of Aons, and that's not even beginning to cover all the modifier lines. I hate giving answers like that, but in this case it is kind of all we can do. It doesn't seem to be too out of line with the power scale we've heard of and it doesn't break any of the rules we know so...why not?

Awesome. I wasn't sure if Secret Histories was making it into the Compendium or not. Glad to hear it.

Within the Cosmere rules, being a force does not necessarily preclude Adonalsium ALSO being a being. Don't forget that in the world of Realmatics, even stick (all praise the holy stick) clearly has an identity. These are not mutually exclusive.

With AonDor at full power, drawing on the giant Aon Rao that is Elantris itself? It doesn't seem that farfetched, particularly with many of them working together.

Does anyone know if there are any plans for an audiobook edition of Secret History? He has released audio versions of several of his other novellas (Shadows for Silence, Legion, Mitosis, and Perfect State off the top of my head). Anyone have any news on this?

The problems with them being those who were dissolved is based on one important misconception. Do we actually know the pool dissolves them physically? We know they disappear after entering it. But we now have a concrete scene from Secret Histories showing the pools being used for transition physically between the Physical and the Cognitive by Hoid. In the bonus scene in the Elantris 10th Anniversary, we watch Hoid jump into that very pool and vanish. What if that pool never dissolved anyone, but actually just transported them directly to the Cognitive Realm physically? It's entirely possible the pre-Reod Elantrians never even realized this themselves and still used it for "funerals". This outpost could be made of those who thought they were committing suicide and ended up in teh Cognitive.

Oh one more. This one's a bit frivolous, but how about a cook? Some subtle time dilations around the right elements in the kitchen to make sure everything is done just at the right time. Leave the finished food with a pulser by the table until those who are to be eating are ready, thus ensuring it never gets cold or goes off.

Cadmium would be great in any kind of ticking clock situation, not just from a first responder scenario. Think about a surgeon attempting a new procedure that he is unsure of. Keep a Pulser on standby to make a small bubble just around the patient and stand just outside the bubble, taking all the time you need to study the situation before acting. Similar thing with bomb disposal or any other kind of high intensity activity where time is normally the main enemy. You could always take the time to consult your reference materials, talk with other experts, get the perfect tools all ready, and make whatever preparations you need before you ever need to take action.

Honestly Sliders only have all the advantage you let them have. They are only faster than everyone if they are the only thing in their bubble. Best thing to do to a Slider is jump in the bubble with him as fast as you can, thus ending his advantage.

As a culture we have decided that if something is a disease, whether mental or physical, that somehow means it should carry a stigma of something wrong with the person. We have a tendency to define a person by a condition they have. I flagrantly disagree with this cultural phenomenon. It was wrong when we ostracized those suffering a horrific disease as lepers, it was wrong when we discriminated against gay people as deviants, and I think it is just as wrong (though admittedly more benevolently intended) to cling to a condition such as Autism as a cultural identifier. When we allow ourselves to be defined by a flaw, that flaw will be all anyone else will see. I am not an Autistic, I am a person who suffers from a condition of Autism. And it has profoundly affected my life, sometimes in positive ways, but mostly not. If I refused to accept it as flaw and a disease, I would never have developed the skills and coping mechanisms I needed to overcome the obstacles it presents in my life. I apologize for snapping at you a bit. I have known far too many others on the spectrum who are the type you have mentioned. In my experience their refusal to accept it as the disease it is simply gives an excuse for them not to work to overcome it, which I find very frustrating to watch. There is nothing wrong with accepting a condition as part of your life, but that doesn't free you from the responsibility of working to function as best you can despite your weaknesses. I know I'm speaking in generalities and I cannot speak for those you know, but in my experience, the refusal to call it what it is has been nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to justify giving up.

Holy crap! This thing is really still going?!?! damnation, I never expected this to take off this much when I started it 18 months ago. Granted. However your method in some way involves the use of Hemalurgic copper which strips the subject of the memory of why you just stabbed them with a big spike. Get ready for some really awkward explaining. I wish for Hoid to make a cameo in my life.