NameIess

When you think about it, would there be a difference between fate existing without us knowing it and fate not existing? Also, what does “fate” really mean? Is it some outside force that makes us do things? Or is it just the inevitable things that we will do, because of our unique personality and the situations into which we’re placed. Personally, I think that fate does exist, or rather that someone who could know us perfectly and know everything about the universe could know exactly what actions we will take. However, we don’t know what our “fate” is, and since we don’t, there’s no reason to fall into apathy. Because from our perspective, it is almost as if fate doesn’t exist. I like your thinking here, but I think there’s a few things you’re missing. First off, I don’t think the Bible ever says that God was a being only since the beginning of time. Genesis 1:1 in KJV says: ”In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” As far as I know, there’s no implication that God began there, or that he had a beginning anywhere. I think your other faulty assumption is that nothing can exist outside of time. Our current understanding of the beginning of the universe is that time did not exist before it. However, you say, and rightly so, that something cannot come from nothing, and that nothing cannot exist. So since we know that the universe (something) exists now, there can never have been nothing, because then our universe would not exist. So the question we have to answer then is: what existed before time? Is it an unbroken chain of creation, something’s making something else’s stretching all the way back into eternity? Or is there a beginning to the chain, something that has existed eternally? For me, I think the most logical answer to the question of God’s creation is that He was not created. That He exists eternally and outside of time and created time, the universe, and everything.

"Well, Nameless' Author did not make his characters in that way. If he perished, so would his characters, unless they were granted a connection to another Author or stabilized through a satisfactory ending before that death occurred." Nameless' lawyer shook his head, then snapped his fingers, prompting his assistants to procure several more large stacks of papers. "No, I did not base my argument off of Nowhere's paper. That one has no true understanding of Enullers. His papers on the subject of the Wall are all filled with faulty assumptions and shoddy calculations. No, I based my argument off of thousands of pages worth of scientific consensus from a multitude of notable authors. Nameless himself has written on the subject of the Enuller's containment, as well as Eobard, Jakal, Plethiztim, Morum, Xalna, and many others. Nameless himself concluded that even if every Narrator in TLT were to gather all of their strength and attempt to break out simultaneously, they would be unlikely to be successful. Such an event would be far more stressful on the Enuller's protections than merely containing an unruled mass of pure chaotic-light energy. On Platypus, the current apparent consensus (although I must say that it is difficult to find a consensus when many scientists still refuse to believe that what happened to Platypus is possible without Authorial intervention) is that he is not a Luxsprite, any more than he is a withergeist when in his chaotic-darkness form. He is something entirely new. Your argument about the prevalence of chaotic-light energy outside of TLT is technically correct, but the measurements used by the writers you mentioned are crude, and take into account the entirety of the universes outside of TLT. I have here several scholarly reports from those who have left TLT and returned, and they are conclusive. The vast majority of the Narratorial energy outside of TLT is safely contained inside of the substance of those worlds, and only a being of Narratorial power could get it out. What little free Narrative energy there is could perhaps make one into a full Narrator, but most of that is already contained inside of powerful or godlike beings that are not likely to give it up. Anyone can have large amounts of 'pull' towards Narrative energy, as you term it, and when separated from his power, Nameless would have been only slightly more dangerous than most. He would have had to kill multiple gods, without Narrative powers, in order to reclaim his full might. And if he had attempted such a feat, the Enullers would doubtless have had ample time to stop him before he completed it." Nameless' lawyer paused for breath, accepting a cup of coffee from an aide. "The paper was written by Frashier, not Frasier. Frashier is a relative newcomer to the field, but already quite promising." He put down his cup, then continued. "When did my Author admit this book was based on you? Its subject matter is that of a fanfiction centered around Subversion and Platypus. I don't see Platypus in here complaining, nor Subversion. Which is why I find it odd that there is a lengthy, detailed description of you awkwardly and obviously added into the book in a way that barely makes sense. As I said I cannot verify the accuracy of this book, but it seems to me that this description was added in by a third party. As for why you'd hold a grudge, well, who could say?" Nameless' lawyer paused, a sly grin tugging at the edge of his mouth. "You don't happen to have any prior history with Nameless' Author, do you?"

Conversely, I really want that to happen. Dalinar leading TOdium's forces? Yes please. That's a way more interesting way for the books to go than any other outcome I can think of.

Hm. Not sure how to fix that, I don't often post images. Can you see this one? "Let me ask you a question. If your Author died, would you continue to exist? Of course not. You would be naught but a memory. Obviously, Nameless' Author did not die, but the principle is similar. Characters like Butt Venture are connected to all Authors as a fundamental part of TLT's being, and so can withstand the death or loss of connection to any Author. For even if all the current Authors perished or were cut off from TLT, Butt Venture would still exist as long as TLT itself continued to exist, merely dormant, waiting to be reawakened. Shaown's thesis completely ignores this fundamental difference, a difference that Shaown, as a character with faint similarities to Butt himself, perhaps does not understand." Nameless' lawyer gestured to a large stack of papers on his desk. "Platypus's transformation, incredible as it may be, does not change the events of history. Additionally, these scientific papers, which I did submit as evidence in this case, show a significant consensus among the scientific community of TLT that the Enullers are more than capable of containing all chaotic-light energy within TLT, even if that energy was fully unbound. Additionally, these papers show conclusively that there is practically no free chaotic-light energy outside of TLT. Yes, the substance of worlds is made from it, but it would take power comparable to that of a full Narrator to access that power. Outside of TLT, the worst Nameless could do, even if was malicious in intent, would be to gather enough energy to slightly manipulate events in unobtrusive ways. He would not be very powerful even by the standards of many outer threads, much less when measured on the scale of Narrators. Also, for that explanation about Thaidakar and Nameless coexisting, I would read Frashier's paper On the Interactions Between Authors: The Theory of Quasi-Canonicity." Nameless lawyer smiled, thinking again of how wonderful his retirement would be. "Now, as for your question of forgery, yes, I am accusing you of that. As you know, the only way I was able to obtain this copy of Nameless' book was through the copies of all submitted evidence that my legal team received, and as such, I have been unable to verify the authenticity of this book. However, I do know that it makes no sense for Nameless to refer to you, a person who is indeed fictional, as a person that his book is supposedly based upon. I would like to posit that you have pursued this lawsuit out of greed and a grudge against Nameless, not because of any damages to your person or image. As I said earlier, this book merely makes mention of you, with a description so brief it could for all we know be entirely coincidental! Nameless never met nor heard of you in his lifetime, and so I think it entirely plausible that his was, as the disclaimer intends, a simple coincidence." And no, I am not nearly done. Nameless' lawyer added in his head. Not when you're falling right into my trap.

Nameless' lawyer cackled inwardly, going over in his mind all the evil lawyer things he could do with the large fortune he would get from this case. "I suppose you're technically correct about the written testimony, but your other arguments hold less water than a Sherdian Ghanderflaffle on the dayside of Taldain. Your argument that the soul is what travels to the World of Dreams shows your complete lack of expertise in this matter. On a basic level, The World of Dreams contains memories of what once existed, not souls. Indeed, having a soul would make it quite difficult to get to the World of Dreams, at least in any meaningful way. As for the nature of his death, yes, some characters can survive without Authors, but those characters are built to live in such a way, born with an ability to feed off of a connection to the soul of TLT itself. Nameless had no such ability, nor did he have any power to sustain himself with, and as such he swiftly perished. The lawyer snapped his fingers at one of his many underpaid assistants, who quickly procured a TLT historybook, which he promptly handed to Hacob. "Here, you should probably read this. It would clear up a lot of these nonsensical arguments you're making. For example, Narrators did not bring the excess Chaotic Light into TLT, they exist because there is excess Chaotic Light in TLT. When the Luxsprites of ancient days fell, their powers of Order corrupted, the power flowed freely into the world, infusing many, and thus the Narrators were born. That is why the Enullers created TLT, withergeists aside. They did so to contain the Chaotic Light, and the Narrators that were born from it. Not the other way around. Because of their swift action and constant vigilance, there is not nearly enough free Chaotic Light outside of TLT for anyone to become a full Narrator. The vast vast majority of it forms the substance of worlds, and is made inaccessible by the Ordered light that holds those worlds together. Speaking as someone who's seen the world outside TLT, you don't realize just how powerful you are. Narrators have power beyond any being I've ever heard of outside of TLT, including gods that can threaten entire threads. The theoretical 'shifting' you say Platypus may have been able to do would only be made possible by the frankly ridiculous levels of Chaotic light that exist in this place." Nameless' lawyer pulled out a copy of the book Nameless had written, making a show of putting on spectacles and closely examining the first page. "Ridiculous. An obvious forgery. I can say that Nameless would never write this, save as a joke. He knows full well that you, Subversion, Platypus, and all the other characters in this book are completely fictional. In fact, there is not a single real person ever mentioned in this book, unless you count the passing mention of Authors in chapter thirty-two page three-hundred and twelve, where Subversion thinks, and I quote "Surely no Author could create someone completely incapable of love." His mouth twitched slightly as he said this, composure cracking as he once again reminding himself to buy a copper medallion so that he could place all of his memories of Nameless' horrendous book into it and then launch the resultant metalmind into the nearest star. Either that, or hire somebody to bash his head with a hammer until he forgot the last three years of his life. "Er, anyways, this clearly proves that the statement 'Thaidakar based his work on real people' is completely false and meant for satire, even if it is authentic. Real people are barely mentioned in the story, and certainly not in any way that could infringe on copyright laws."

Nameless' lawyer smiled inwardly, happy that he'd be able to bill so many hours. "Nameless cannot come back to life when truly killed, and Enullers cannot prevent someone from going to the afterlife after they die. Even if they could, the person would end up in limbo, not an afterlife. And even if they could put people into an afterlife that was still within TLT, Nameless did not end up there. I have the written testimony of his Author as to this fact. Your next point, that Nameless' soul was not destroyed, is categorically untrue. The soul of Nameless was entirely destroyed. The copy that Platypus fought was created from nothing but the memories of Nameless. That version of Nameless is just a poor copy, and doesn't have a single scrap of Nameless' soul within it. On the matter of Nameless' connection to his Author, your arguments are easy to defeat. Nameless' lost the connection to his Author that allowed him to persist in existence, not all connection. A Narrator could have held on for a time perhaps, but as he was not a Narrator, he was utterly helpless to prevent his death. On the subject of leaving TLT, you have proven your ignorance of the matter by way of using the worst comparison I have ever heard in the entirety of my legal career. Nameless gave up his Narration powers completely, which would have allowed him to leave if he so wished. Without access to the incredible quantities of excess Chaotic Light energy that exists here in TLT, it would not have been possible for him to spontaneously become a Narrator. The odds of him becoming a Narrator again outside of TLT were no higher than those of any other person, as in, the only way it could have happened would be through direct Authorial intervention. Platypus, on the other hand, is a being far more dangerous to the worlds outside TLT than any Narrator. He is incredibly unstable and could, for all we know, go mad or explode at any time. To explain in simple terms what I mean by this, letting Nameless exit would be like allowing aliens to sell humans an empty ICBM. Sure, they might fill it with explosives, but humans already have the capability to make similar missiles. This won't cause an apocalypse. Letting Platypus leave because he's "not a Narrator anymore" would be like selling an ICBM armed with an antimatter-warhead just because it's now got the option to switch between three extra types of antimatter (meaning it is now capable of using not one but two different kinds of antimatter that are explicitly banned from being sold to humans because of the apocalyptic destruction they'll inevitably cause) using scientific principles that haven't been fully explained even by your advanced alien technology, and that could cause an explosion that would be apocalyptic even by your alien standards. It just doesn't compare in the slightest." Nameless lawyer barely paused for breath before walking over to Hacob and snatching the book from his hands. "Yes, I saw this in the evidence pile. Thank you for making my case at the risk of your own life by breaking the Authorial Accords of the Ten-thousandth Page Referendum, which specify that you cannot take anything from the afterlife without consequences." He flipped all the way back to the first page of the book, cleared his throat, and read. "This is a work of fiction­­2 . Names, characters, businesses, events, and incidents are the products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual or fictional persons, living or dead, or actual or fictional events, is purely coincidental." Nameless' lawyer turned to the judge. "As you can see, this book is entirely fictional2. Nameless has never met Hacob. He was merely improving upon Thaidakar's work, without knowledge that Hacob was a real person. So he cannot be convicted of anything, because libel requires intentional falsehood."

"You think Narrators remain trapped in TLT after death? This is untrue. When a Narrator truly dies, when any of Nameless character's die, they go to The World of Dreams, the place that is also known as tst. The Enullers cannot stop this. So far as I know, no one can stop this. From the perspective of TLT, Nameless' soul was destroyed utterly. His connection to his Author lost, everything that made him up vanished. Nothing that was him "escaped" to The World of Dreams. For Enullers to stop that, they would have had to prevent Nameless' death. But even if you don't believe me, Nameless was not a Narrator at the time of his death, and so even if the Enullers could prevent someone from entering the World of Dreams, they would not have prevented him from doing so." Nameless' lawyer paused for a moment to take a sip of water before continuing. "Furthermore, your arguments are all moot, as there is no reliable way to prove Nameless did anything illegal. Unless you happen to have a copy of the book he wrote?"

"Perhaps technically that is true, but canonically it is not true. Nameless cannot canonically exist in TLT except under very specific circumstances, and canonically his actions did not affect anything other than the afterlife, which is canonically not TLT."

"Actually, he currently resides in tst, the designated afterlife for all of Nameless' TLT characters. His Author can still mention what actions he takes in tst, just as he could mention an action that one of his characters like Nameless from the Insanity Clinic takes. It doesn't mean that the actions took place in TLT, or that the afterlife is in TLT.

Thanks. Here's my water bottle that's been dropped so many times that it has a sharp piece of metal sticking out of it. I have a hemalurgic spike charged with the ability to drop things.

I reveal that the sandwich you all have stolen is an almost-convincing fake created using quantum engineering. Then I run away with the real sandwich in a box with a cat that might be dead.

I can't think of a reason, other than that Brandon normally has at least one character death in his series finales, and I guess people think Adolin's arc is complete enough that his death wouldn't matter too much in the grand scale of things? I don't buy it personally. I think that among the main cast a Dalinar death is the most likely, followed by Syl and/or Kaladin.

"That code only applies for crimes committed in TLT. Nameless no longer resides within TLT, and as such you cannot punish him using that code."

Nameless' lawyer cleared his throat. "My client is unable to show up, as he is dead. Furthermore, his estate owns no assets other than a trust fund intended solely to pay for lawyers, as specified in his will. That trust fund is secure against all legal recrimination in accordance with the High Ghanderflaffle legal codes. Everything else either went to his successor, Subversion, or to his friends or avatar. As they have committed no crime, none of them can be punished. Because of this, unless you want to go to the afterlife to claim compensation, I think we should adjourn this case."

Nameless' lawyer pointed out that because Nameless was dead and hadn't spread any copies outside of the afterlife, there was no damage to Hacob, especially since Nameless' fanfiction didn't even include Hacob at all.