TheCruelSadist

This part especially made me chuckle.

Happy Birthday to my birthday buddies @polkinghornbd, @Green Fire, @Vindicator, @Ketek, and @Earendil1982! I hope you all have / had a nice day today

Chronic conditions in a nutshell. How are you doing now? Still need a hug, or is a high-five in order? Ouch *hug*

Sure, the only real point I wanted to make is that the three (CE disorder, psychological damage, and both combined) can be looked at separately, so "least / most sane" depends on which lens you're viewing things through. Personally, I don't count the CE disorder because it's not always there, it's just a response to external stimuli. Imagine you're walking down the street when you see one stranger run up to another, stick a syringe in his arm, then run off. You go to check on the victim and they become incredibly agitated and aggressive. Their behavior may be crazy, but what if they were just shot full of PCP or meth**? In my mind, that's all the CE disorder is: an IV drip of insanity. As a result, I'll argue that it's antithetical to the definition of "insanity," which should only relate to those who are mentally ill even in good circumstances. **I used PCP and meth here not to imply that they inherently turn people violent (they don't), but because mindset is a huge part of how an individual reacts to any chemical. Any drug would have an incredibly jarring, shocking effect on someone at too high of a dose. Propoganda is a tool used to keep us feeling superior to, and hating, each other - empathy and communication are the only response.

Well. we know that the insanity of the Heralds is largely magical, and not entirely psychological https://wob.coppermind.net/events/445-rhythm-of-war-preview-qas/#e14135 So are you asking about psychological sanity or Cognitive Entity sanity? The first can only be judged by their moments of lucidity, when the CE insanity is lessened (healed?). By this metric, Taln is ridiculously sane: his conversation with Ash is basically her still hating herself and him trying to make her feel better - he clearly feels proud of what they accomplished, which I'd wager is exactly what he was like as a Herald). The second... I'm not even going to touch that right now lol I got stuff to do. If I remember, I'll come back to this.

I like the theory that Honor swore to protect the Singers, and 'began to die' when the Singers felt Tanavast wasn't keeping his promise. Or, mirroring Kaladin's story, maybe Honor made promises to both groups and found he couldn't keep them (remember, the dude's foresight isn't that great). He protected 'Elhokar,' but had to break an oath to 'Moash,' and in doing so, damaged himself. Actually, as I type this, I realize the power likely would have prevented him from making a choice, because he CAN'T break an oath. So where Kal could say "I made a mistake, I need to break this oath," and essentially fix his Spiritual problems, Honor couldn't, and it began to wear away at him.

I agree that those WoBs are the best evidence that Roshar was created specifically for these Shards. My personal theory adds that Cultivation is aware of Adonalsium's long game. Either Cultivation is the piece of Adonalsium which 'remembers' the plan (keeping in mind we've seen tons of examples of memories being stored in Investiture), or Kora simply figured it out through the expanded awareness brought on by powerful foresight (which implies other Shards may also have figured it out). Regardless, I suspect she's been keeping things on track since the moment she suggested to her hubby that they take a vacation.

Amen. Understanding and respect are learned behaviors, and we are all teachers.

The Sleepless straight up told Rysn that the Dawnshard could be used to do ludicrous things with Surgebinding. Assuming that they mean Invested Arts in general (or just that it applies), the idea of Kelsier holding one is... disconcerting, to say the least.

Honestly, I would LOVE to hang out with Dalinar and just ruminate on the nature of leadership and unification and whatnot. Or Cultivation, if 1) I'm going into the Valley to meet her and 2) I can do shrooms before going in lol

Fair enough. I mean, I would be shocked if Mraize didn't go to Patji for his Aviar, I'm with you there. I just don't buy that Kelsier managed to figure out how to get to Yolen before Silverlight.

Physically: Goodyear, AZ Spiritually: Keanae, HI

Honestly, I gave up trying to find pre-established labels because I realized, in looking at various labels and saying "that's not me" over and over again, that I do know me, even if I can't find the word that sums things up. That's good enough for me. We gonna get real vulnerable in here now: anyone else feel like they have no right to talk about pride? I never really "came out" because 1) I don't share anything with my family [they're sincerely some of the worst, most toxic people I've ever known - at least if they were clinical sociopaths they'd have an excuse, but nope] and 2) When I started making friends as an adult I already knew, so that's all they've known about me. I've never had to risk losing someone or something, so I don't feel like I've had to do anything difficult enough to be proud of.

I haven't even read past the thread title yet, but I'm glad this thread exists. I'm sorry. I can't imagine what you're going through. Typically, death is what takes our loved ones from us, and it sucks, but we accept there's nothing we can do about it. But this... geez. Hopefully enough hugs will get you back in place *hug* Have you considered looking for a local who takes in aggressive dogs? At least then you may have chances to visit. Oof. My mom retired early this year from teaching elementary school because the district she worked for is basically dumping aaaaall of the additional work and stress of adapting to online teaching on the teachers. And so my 58 year-old, mentally-unwell mother is going to try to work some low-wage job for the next year or two until she can draw on her retirement. I hope things go smoother for you and your mom than I expect they'll go for me and mine *hug* What that means for me is that she'll likely expect the children she abused until well after adulthood to take care of her if she can't find a job, and I guarantee my siblings aren't going to be any help. I was preparing myself to burn a bridge or two this year, but now it just feels too cruel. Blood complicates things, that's for sure I'm good, there's nothing I can do about it now beyond what I know is right, but I needed to vent

lol yuuuuuup I used the Coppermind and Arcanum, and knew about the forums, for quite a while; I just never bothered to check the place out until I had to make an account