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dionysus

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  1. It is fairly easy to learn calculus once someone is teaching you the way. But it took 1 or really 2 extraordinary individuals to build on the math that came before and frame the rules of Calculus. If those individuals don't make those discoveries, society could have waited generations before someone else made the leap. Now you learn calculus in High School and College. As you get higher in math the less people that can fully master the concepts. I see it the same for Radiants. The person who is first has to be exceptional, but if the guide for how to do it already exists a lot more people can do it. And at the higher levels, everyone will have to be exceptional. Just like you have to be pretty mathematically inclined to be able to fully understand linear algebra, partial differential equations, and beyond.
  2. There is a vast moral difference between trying to save what you can from destruction versus helping the destruction along so as to be able to negotiate with it to save your family and city. The Diagram was helping Odium's ultimate goals though with the twist of making it beneficial for Odium to negotiate with them instead of just destroy them. The Diagram was actively working against the possible future where Odium loses, because Mr. T saw that outcome as so unlikely as to not be worth pursuing.
  3. I think the shard names are the dominant intent but it doesnt mean that is the sum total of everything they are. To use your example, perhaps all the shards have a bit of curiosity in them, but not enough for it to be a dominant intent in them. Or maybe Ambition and Invention have a bunch of curiosity in them, but Preservation and Honor have none. What I am saying is I don't think you need to shove all these abstract concepts that are left over from the other Shards into whimsy. Instead it is more like a bunch of concepts that are connected to each other come together to form a Shardic intent. I see it as Adonalsium could have been shattered in an infinite number of ways, with an infinite number of outcomes in shardic intent. We could have had a Curiosity shard, but then that would preclude Invention because Invention needs curiosity as a component. My primary proof of this is Odium, Devotion, and Mercy. Odium is basically emotion and passion but with the scales tipped towards hatred and little if no weighting towards love or mercy. Just like it is kind of innacurate to call Odium Odium, it would also be inaccurate to call him Emotion because he clearly favors certain emotions. He has got lust, and jealousy, hatred, laughter, etc. etc. Why doesn't he seem to have more positive emotions? Because those emotions are in Devotion and Mercy and not part of his shard.
  4. Rayse acknowledges that shards have to abide by the intent of their agreements, and can't use legal chicanery to circumvent them. So I doubt options like picking unkillable champions will happen, or more likely you think they are unkillable but the nature of being a "champion" will not be so simple. I suspect the twist instead will be that Dalinar winning will not be the victory everyone thinks it is, or that Dalinar losing will truly leave them with no options. I think a nice reveal happened in the blurbs at the beginning of the chapters, chapter 34. "Since we are all essentially infinite, he needs no more power." I believe that merging shards does not grant one more power, but it unshackles the vessel from some of the restrictions imposed on him by his shard's intent. Except in a certain someone's case, where the opposite natures of the intents shackle him even more. I think this might relate to the duel of champions and its aftermath in that I think we have enough evidence to conclude that shards have infinite power but also massive restrictions on how they can use it (some seem to date all the way back to the original shattering). I have seen evidence of 3 limitations imposed on shards: 1. they cannot do things directly against the shardic intent, 2. there appears to be binding agreements that bind all shards, despite changes in vessel, that date to the original shattering (ie t they can only directly impact people who place themselves by their own choices into their power or opposed to their power.), and 3. they are bound by agreements they make after the shattering. What if the aftermath of the duel is that some of these restrictions fall away, for both Honor's side and Odium's side. In essence it is the conclusion of pacts made in the past. Now obviously, Dalinar and Odium will have to abide by what they agreed would happen for the winner and loser. But remember Dalinar is not working with full knowledge of what the old pact even had in it. I suspect Dalinar's lack of knowledge of the terms of the original pact will have huge implications.
  5. I definitely agree with the consensus on what is holding him back, but I want to work in leadership as well. When I try to put all my thoughts on what the 4th ideal should be on paper I end up with a paragraph, which is not good writing. The best, most succinct statement I can come up with is something like this, "I will honor those who fall, by protecting those that need it and leading those that do not (need protection.)" But it doesn't capture what my full thoughts are.
  6. Let me give you a mechanical engineers perspective on this. Wings work because they provide an upward force that counteracts gravity's downward force. Windrunner powers work by literally changing the direction of gravity. There is no downward force to counteract under a horizontal gravitation lashing, so wings are actually a detriment. As you would now need to change the direction of lashing to oppose the force of the wings in order to maintain horizontal flight. So in the context of windrunner powers it makes perfect sense to dismiss wings as bad ideas. In other contexts wings could actually help. I am not 100% clear on how the huge ship works, but it is not altering the direction of gravity but instead mimicing the movements of paired fabrials right? And the force needed to move it is mathematically linked to the force needed to move the paired fabrial at the other end. So at speed wings could help reduce the force needed to keep the ship in the air.
  7. On the subject of brilliance, it is very hard for an author to write a character better at something than he is. Brandon has talked before about how writing Shallan's and Wit's quips as one of the most difficult things about writing Stormlight. I also do not find Shallan as brilliant as her in-world reactions imply, but I also just recommend a healthy dosage of suspension of disbelief when reading any smart character. Funny enough, I find Wit to be much better but I think it is just a screen time thing. Wit is unknown and we don't see inside his head. For me, Shallan is just too flawed a character for me to enjoy reading. I like Brandon's rubric of 2 positive traits and one negative trait to create a sympathetic character but with dramatic tension. Shallan is like 1 positive trait and 5 negative traits.
  8. If this was a Robert Jordan or David Eddings book, the presence of that combative and sarcastic banter would guarantee future romance. But with Sanderson I think we need to see some common ground and mutual vulnerability as well before it ends up at romance. Mistborn Era 2 Spoilers:
  9. Dalinar has elements of 3 investitures in him. Not just Honor. He is probably the greatest acolyte of the Thrill, Cultivation directly put investiture in him because the NIghtwatcher wasn't strong enough, and now he is bonded directly to the largest remnant of Honor. I don't think we are heading down the path of him just being Honor again. Right now I see him more following the path of Hoid, unifying investiture of many shards such as to remain a complete person without one aspect dominating. As he is not a worldhopper, he will be limited to the three on Roshar. And I agree we won't see a Mistborn solution because it has been done before. I think all Dalinar will amount to is some type of franken half-shard. As powerful as a sliver, but not on the level of a full shard. Edit. Changed splinter to sliver.
  10. How about, "I will lead others to protect what is right, even if it means they will die." It encompasses a leadership ideal, which we haven't seen yet in the oaths. It also fits narratively with Kal needing to let go of his "failures" and move past the deaths of others he feels responsible for. The weakness of it is it doesn't address the crisis he has in Kholinar. It wouldn't help him decide how to choose a side (or a third path.)
  11. If only he was related to a splinter of a shard that seems to be all about Connections...if only.
  12. Thanks. Here is the one I was thinking of. And those were all way back, in the history. So, we know that the Shards' personalities overrides the Vessel's personality over time? Brandon Sanderson Strongly influence, and depending on the individual, override.
  13. I'll move that other discussion over here. This is Dalinar's description of Odium, and you and I believe that Odium cannot lie about this vision. "Burning. Overwhelming. Power. It as the scream of a thousand warriors on the battlefield. It was the moment of most sensual touch and ecstasy. It was the sorrow of loss, the joy of victory. And it was hatred. Deep, pulsing hatred with a pressure to turn all things molten. It was the heat of a thousand suns, it was the lives of all men wrapped up in one, defined by everything they felt." Not any positive emotions balancing out the emphasis given to hatred other than joy of victory and lust. Odium is clearly more than just hatred, and Passion is a better name for him. But I see no evidence that all emotions or even some forms of passion are part of his intent. Also, I am not sure what part of Honor could temper the negative in Passion, especially post OB understanding of Honor. I think the goodness we see in Honor is more from Tanavast than the shard's intent.
  14. I actually remarked the same thing on page 2 of this thread about Odiums intent. When Dalinar gets to see Odium, he notes it is about emotion. This is what Dalinar sees. "Burning. Overwhelming. Power. It as the scream of a thousand warriors on the battlefield. It was the moment of most sensual touch and ecstasy. It was the sorrow of loss, the joy of victory. And it was hatred. Deep, pulsing hatred with a pressure to turn all things molten. It was the heat of a thousand suns, it was the lives of all men wrapped up in one, defined by everything they felt." Notice the emphasis on Power and Hatred. Hatred is the only emotion to get multiple lines dedicated to it. I posit that Odium is more than just hatred, but hatred is dominant. Also, other than joy and ecstasy, there is no mention of positive emotions like love, compassion, etc. I can't argue against the idea that Odium might be just all emotions equally but Rayse focuses on hatred, though I think after such a long time Rayse's original personality would exist less and less according to WoB? I actually find the combination of Honor and Odium to be scary. In this book the Stormfather mentions, I think a couple of times, that Honor was more about bonds than what is right and wrong especially near the end. I personally think that Honor's focus on morality came more from Tanavast than from the shard, just like you posit that the dominance of hatred comes from Rayse, not the shard. We also see this in the contradictory oaths different KR orders swear. It would be pretty frightening for humans to break an oath in a world governed by Odium+Honor shard.
  15. I honestly don't think so. The final shard would still be unbalanced and hateful. In this book we learn Honor is more about bonds than moral code, and Cultivation is pruning and growth through experience. You would need a shard more directly opposed to Odium, something like Peace, Love, Calmness, or even Logic. So combining all three would not temper Odium like (Mistborn Spoilers): In fact, I think that would make Odium's threat to the Cosmere worse as the shard would be so powerful.
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