marles

It's becoming hard to believe that Brandon isn't some sort of advanced sci-fi/fantasy writing AI. Even without these secret books it's difficult to imagine how he keeps up with all that he does without even taking into account the quality of it all. And on top of all that you're telling me he found the time to right 4 EXTRA full-length novels and an additional story? Sheer madness. What did we do to deserve this man?

I haven't checked around the forum enough to see if it's been mentioned elsewhere, but when I read about his metal insertions my first thought was that it was aluminum. If he implants aluminum in various places around his body it would act as a sort of shardplate for whenever he is dueling radiants/heralds. Main problem there is that I would assume implanting aluminum would probably effect his use of various powers. It may also prevent singers/fused from hearing the rhythms, and therefore keep others from doing the same. If so, he could be doing it partly because he is forbidden the rhythms or because that consequence of the insertions is no longer a factor (because the rhythms are otherwise blocked already).

When I was younger I read and followed Harry Potter as it released but never read much other fantasy. I got pulled back into fantasy hard ~2009 when somebody introduced me to Game of Thrones. I read through A Song of Ice and Fire 1-4 two or three times back to back and couldn't wait for the next. Since then I haven't been able to get enough of these massive and complex fantasy stories. One of my friends recommended Wheel of Time a couple years ago and that led me to the Cosmere, which I again cannot wait for more.

This is true, for some reason I always think of spikes as being decently large to the point where it would be cumbersome to carry around so many. But I know they don't have to be massive things, always have to remind myself of that fact.

I recently started the Broken Earth trilogy by N. K. Jemisin. I haven't finished (currently about 1/3 through the second book) but it seems like it is a good series. The first two books won the Novel Hugo Award in 2016 and 2017 respectively and the third book is up for the Novel Hugo 2018. The beginning of the first book is a bit strange (at first, probably makes a lot more sense after knowing more about the world) but once you get through that it opens to 3 storylines with female protagonists and picks up. There's no real sword-fighting (so far at least) but there is a sort of magic that is tied closely with the central story.

From N64 I remember enjoying Quest 64 (an RPG) and Jet Force Gemini (a shooter). The only RPGs I can even think of are Quest 64, Paper Mario, and Ogre Battle 64. Something in a bit of a different direction but I would also recommend Blast Corps (action/puzzle?) and Space Station Silicon Valley (platformer/puzzle?). I can't think of any recent games to compare them to though. If you're really looking into RPGs, SNES has a decent amount of good ones: Final Fantasy games, Chrono Trigger, Mario RPG, Earthbound, Breath of Fire, Secret of Mana, the list goes on.

I wouldn't be surprised if we see some hot-swapping of spikes. As @Weltall we see it with Paalm already, but again she isn't human. But for members of the set that are using F-Gold spikes or unsealed metal minds I would assume they could safely swap one of their other spikes. They probably won't be carrying around a bloody bag with 20+ spikes in it but I could see them having one or two additional spikes available for different circumstances.

I think TLR would still be able to push on Vin even if she burnt aluminum. I thought he was able to push on all trace metals in her body, not just the allomantic metals she had recently ingested? I'm not sure if there are too many examples where burning aluminum to remove your own allomantic metals would be useful. But in era 2 (spoilers): For some reason I think I remember seeing something (speculation?) about burning aluminum removing investiture within yourself. If that is the case it may interact with investiture from other worlds differently. You may be able to burn aluminum to remove a lashing somebody placed on you or something similar. In any case though, aluminum burns up all at once so it would be inconvenient to use (constantly having to ingest more whenever you burn it). And now for a bit of completely baseless speculation on my part. If burning aluminum actually does remove investiture within yourself, could/would it remove power from a hemalurgic spike that pierces you? Also, does the amount of aluminum you have and burn have a cap to how much investiture it removes? I would think that there is a limit but we don't have many examples given to base anything on.

Thanks, didn't know that Brandon had said that the chest was a mistake. Yeah, I don't think coinshots are limited to pushing only from their center of mass. It makes sense a lot of time when they're pushing themselves off objects for movement purposes but not too much else. Any time somebody shot a coin forward they would have to first hold the coin pretty low and center to their body instead of shoving it out of their hand. There is also a time or two when Wax mentions pushing bullets as he shoots them so that they penetrate better. Again, if he couldn't determine where his push is originating he would either be holding his gun incredibly awkwardly or his push would throw his shot completely off. I think those instances are enough to determine that coinshots (at least maybe some of the more skilled/experienced ones) can determine the origin of the push.

We've seen this happen at least once, right? In Alloy of Law (?) Wax pushes a spiral notebook against the underside of a table at which he is currently seated. If he was pushing from the center of his chest or wherever it's normally described, the notebook wouldn't go up into the bottom of the table from the seated position, he would basically have to be laying under the table (which the vanishers may notice as being odd behavior). Also, he's showing off his push control because he is able to lift the book to the table without lifting the table off of the floor, so he may have enough control to levitate an object (without a table or something holding it back) as well.

Yes but I assumed this was because Sazed was storing most of his weight and air resistance played a larger role in his fall than it normally would. Thanks for the in book example, I don't think I've taken notice of this in the two times I've gone through TFE. I do agree with you and don't think that TLR chose to push on the doorframe and stained glass window, it just doesn't add up. If TLR was meaning to push directly on Vin, with his strength, experience, and skill, I believe he would be able to push directly on Vin without also affecting the doorframe and stained glass window. To me that would be evidence of him just pushing out in a specific direction. Now, I don't know why he would do that instead of pushing directly on Vin and nothing else. Maybe only pushing in a direction is easier than focusing on specific metals. What's to say a coinshot can't put out a "steel vibe" in a general direction though? Most of the main cast that we deal with in Mistborn era 1 and 2 don't know the full extent of each power and are largely misinformed about various aspects, so just because one person might say "you can push on these blue lines" doesn't mean that's all they can do. We find out several times throughout the stories that there is more to most of the allomantic abilities than is commonly thought.

I'm not familiar enough with WoB's and didn't see any in my quick search but I don't know if there is anything that says that pushes and pulls absolutely have to be directed specifically. I would think that having a push just generally around a coinshot is something that could be done with more experience/skill just like we know that more skilled users can affect objects in multiple places/see more than one line per object, tell color of an object based on the line connecting them and the object, vary the strength of their pushes, etc. TBH, I don't know physics well enough to say if this quote supports my point or yours, but if it's still a mystery to Khriss then I say the jury's still out either way. I agree that iron feruchemy might be related a bit to the same base magic as gravitational surges and probably some others but it's not quite the same. I wish I could find quotes from the books easily but I've mostly gone through them in audiobook form. In Khriss' comments that you quoted, she asked if he is storing the planet's ability to recognize him as something to attract (essentially if he is manipulating gravitational pull on him). But I'm pretty sure at some point he mentions falling at the same rate regardless of whether or not he is tapping his metal mind. But his change in speed midflight is because his lateral momentum is conserved. Momentum is mass multiplied by velocity, so if his momentum is conserved midflight, if he stores some of his mass he will speed up to compensate and likewise will slow down if he increases his mass by tapping the metal mind. I think there are a few occasions throughout Era 2 where Wax mentions decreasing his weight midflight to increase his speed. I think the reason it still seems to be a mystery to Khriss is because until asking Wax they have incomplete information on the subject. They may not have had as much interaction with skimmers in general to test different theories but she also mentions that Wax is only 1 of 3 known crashers, so the interaction of his abilities is a pretty unique.

It can't really be a readiness to push on anything that comes close to him though because a bullet would be traveling to quickly for him to reactively push away. I think there is even a part that Wax says or thinks something along those lines (maybe about having to put up the "bubble" because he can't push bullets away by reflex). I think iron feruchemy is about changing the user's mass, not how gravity is affecting them at any given moment. If it were gravity, Wax would be able to jump higher while storing or drop to the ground faster while tapping but he specifically mentions that tapping his metal mind does not make him fall any faster (I believe he mentions it to Khriss as well during their conversation in BoM).

Yeah I completely misunderstood your post. I was thinking you meant that you could see them purposefully contaminating the water with zinc but not with brass and I couldn't really think of a reason why they would do one and not the other. Thanks for the clarification!

Why not brass? TLR already had tons of soothing stations around the city, I don't know that some Skaa having an unconscious access to soothing would have disrupted anything. Also, I don't remember who was doing all of the soothing in the stations but finding soothers within the population could have helped supply them with people to do all of the soothing across the city. I find it hard to believe that the Inquisitors and Obligators could fully man all the soothing stations around the city without any supplemental help. Given the low number of mistings/mistborn within the Skaa population I wouldn't think that any of the physical or mental metals being in the water would cause too many problems for TLR and his Inquisitors, especially if it was purposefully done and the Inquisitors would be expecting it. And since the metals are in trace amounts and the Skaa weren't exactly the most informed when it came to allomancy they could hardly use it to mount any type of offensive against the empire.

I thought that the Pathian earrings from hemalurgic spikes had essentially no power left in them because of the amount of time they are not piercing a body or stored in blood? Also, isn't Wax's earring not being worn most of the time? For some reason I'm thinking that he only put the earring in when he wanted to pray and otherwise kept it in a box or something.

I don't know if it is actually the case but I always kind of thought that trace metals being available in the drinking water and pewter ware was on purpose. I was assuming that TLR and Inquisitors used that to find mistings or mistborn more easily among the Skaa. They could then use those mistings to create hemalurgic spikes or to track down nobility that was breaking the rules if they really needed to.

It is an interesting thought. Just another one of those things that probably can't be definitively proved or disproved at the moment. If Ahan was a worldhopper like you speculate, why do you think Paloma would be a Kandra? Just because it's unlikely Ahan would be worldhopping solo or is there something else that leads you in this direction? I don't think I paid any more attention to Sebarial or Paloma's speaking patterns to notice, but is there anything they say that sticks out as odd?

I would think might be unlikely despite their similar interest in trading and appearance. Isn't Ahan one of the older group members in Elantris? If he moved to Roshar I think it would be hard for him to become a high prince with no familial ties and already being older without questions arising. The other consideration would be the time gap since I believe the storyline in Elantris happens waaaaaaaay before Stormlight Archive (but other characters have somehow lasted that long so I suppose it's possible). Also, didn't Ahan change somewhat dramatically after he betrayed the group, in attitude and appearance?

I'm not saying Wax's bubble is just a weak push in all directions but a weak push in all directions that also excludes any of his own metals. I believe a normal coinshot could, with enough practice and skill, create their own weak push in all directions that could potentially deflect bullets. What I'm not sure about is whether they could additionally exclude their own carried metals from that bubble.

You're right, there is a train fight with a coinshot. I don't remember though if there is any mention of the coinshot having any metal on them and if it gets pushed away or not. I couldn't remember many of the details of the fights, that's why I started to wonder if Wax's bubble is similar but with the extra exclusion ability. --------------------------- If I remember correctly it takes a good deal of skill for coinshots/lurchers to vary the strength of their pushes/pulls. The way that the bubbles act that we see don't seem to be full strength pushes because things just seem to move a bit/give resistance instead of just flying away instantly. The outward push must be weak enough so that it may not noticeably physically move the coinshot. Especially since the main goal of the bubble is to deflect bullets just enough to not be shot and even a partial push should move a bullet at least a bit given the weight differences and we know that even the bubble is not full-proof protection.

Yeah I'm only really vaguely remembering the description of Iyatil's mask being red/orange, but for some reason I was thinking that the Parshendi carapace was mentioned as having some orange coloring or something (maybe when Bridge 4 is picking through bodies and first discover the carapace is actually part of their bodies). But I haven't gone through the Cosmere nearly as much as most here so my memory of specific details is a bit fuzzy. I do agree that the timeline does not necessarily match up. Especially considering that even if there were Parshendi that made it to Scadrial as some point, if it happened during TFE they would have had to somehow get in more or less unnoticed (unlikely with TLR sitting on top of Preservation's pool and Ruin's perpendicularity being constantly populated with workers) and then make it across the continent and then ocean.

I would definitely think skill plays an absolutely massive part in it. Just consider Inquisitors. They have no eye sight due to their spikes, so they would not be able to tell that a blue line is pointed at a bullet, think to themselves that bullets are made of three components, and then see three separate blue lines to that same bullet. But, if every object only had one line to it, their steel-sight would be absolute crap, which we know it is not. Instead they are incredibly skilled with these abilities, having to use them all the time for vision. They may be skilled enough to essentially see each metallic atom. At one point I believe Marsh even mentions that he is able to tell the color of objects through the metal lines and that it wouldn't be necessarily hard for others to do the same. As mentioned above, Kelsier spins some metal rods by pushing/pulling on different parts of the same object. I don't think there is any mention of the rods he uses appearing to be multiple parts pieced together so I doubt Kelsier could do that just because he perceiving the rod to be two separate things. It's mentioned that Kelsier was highly skilled with steel and iron, even by Vin who is clearly skilled and a quick learner of allomancy as a whole.

I had the same thought as well. I don't remember seeing direct evidence of another coinshot using a bubble in Era 2 (although I could be wrong there) but I do remember one instance (in BoM) where Wax internally comments something along the lines of "that's why you should never drop your bubble." I was also thinking that Wax would be assuming that any coinshot can manage a bubble like his because it only seems to be a result of steel pushing to him. But since it could potentially be a mix of his two abilities and his use of them is so experienced and natural, he does not realize that a normal coinshot could not create a bubble in the same manner that he does. Wax's bubble is also a bit interesting because his personal metals from guns, flasks, etc are not effected. I would assume other coinshots may be able to create a sort of bubble but maybe not exclude their own metals. So if there are moments where other coinshots seem to have a bubble it would be worth noting whether or not it is mentioned that they have no metals on them, an aluminum gun and ammo, etc at the time when it seems like they have a bubble.