Krelian

Ah, this is true. Wasn't thinking about the Allomantic component there.

I'm not saying it isn't a LOT. But we know for sure that Marsh has an expiration date, even if it's still thousands of years off or whatever.

Miles had the durability of the Lord Ruler, essentially (though Brandon has said they used their compounding differently, IIRC). The LR could take spears to the chest and not even blink. If Miles is using the exact same mechanisms (even if in a different way) to do his healing, why are Miles' feats surprising?

At the very least, we know that when two Keepers use the same metalmind, it is partitioned so that each only accesses their own attributes. I've always assumed that metalminds have a capacity, it's just that to fill them totally would be crippling for a long period of time, which most Keepers can't afford. I don't think Brandon would have let Feruchemy be unchecked like that. Especially because, if that were so, the powers of a being like the Lord Ruler would be absolutely ridiculous. If you can save hours of strength every day for hundreds of years, you could level mountains by compressing that into an instant. It didn't seem like Brandon wanted that kind of power for anyone on Scadrial, outside of Vin during the brief time she was a Splinter, but still corporeal.

They both had no idea what they were getting into, but the God King looks like he'll be, at least potentially, truly fulfilling his place as savior of a deceived people. The Lord Ruler did his best, but ultimately his solution was a stop-gap, ramshackle operation. I think the wording (God King, being a stronger label than Lord Ruler) is telling.

Hadn't seen that before, thanks!

Kaladin is pretty clearly the more powerful of the two, based on feats in the novel. However, as everyone has said, Szeth is clearly much, much better at using his abilities at the moment. However, remember that strongly Invested individuals are resistant to attempts to manipulate them with any of the magic systems we've seen thus far. If Szeth and Kaladin are relatively immune to one another's powers (at least directly), I think Kaladin has the upper hand, since he's apparently a genius at close combat.

I'm mostly interested in whether the methods can be extended past what we know from Mistborn books and annotations, but yeah, if you have Q/A stuff other than "you can do crazy stuff with Hemalurgy" and that it's not world-specific, then I'd love to see it.

Have we seen instances in-text of Hemalurgical transfer without the initial target dying?

Ok, awesome. Well, you can count on another order a few weeks from now then I really like this idea, btw, good luck with it!

At the suggestion of Kurkistan, reposting this as a new topic. My original post; Ok, from a science point of view, this is going to be a hideous mess of mixed analogies, but hopefully it makes sense as a visual analogy (inspired by the physics comments) and fits this theory fairly well; Imagine taking a whole bunch of little bits of string and tying them together in various ways to make a gigantic snarled ball of string. This ball of string is floating in space, and is considered a solid object. (There's your string theory ) Think of the knots in the ball of string as the nodes we've been talking about for the Spiritweb, while the bits between knots are the connections. Now place a piece of paper under the string, and shine a light on it from above. The light (more precisely, everything about it - angle, intensity, duration, etc.) is the cognitive aspect. (Look up the Holographic Principle if you want the physics side of that part as I'm really envisioning it. And probably a headache). The shadow cast on the piece of paper is the object's existence in the physical realm. Pretend for the moment that our concept of "shadow" allows for actions upon the shadow to have some effect on the object casting it. As I said, the analogy is meant for a visual connection between everything only. You can change the shadow both by manipulating the string while still keeping it a solid object (manipulation of the spiritual), and also by changing the aspects of the light (manipulating the cognitive). Various mixtures of the two are your normal forms of Investiture. It's possible to treat the ball of string as a collection of little bits of string, but for most basic manipulations, it's a single object. And, in special cases, you can punch through knots and physically remove/graft on different snarls of string. Voila, Hemalurgy! Oh, and sDNA is the instructions for making the ball of string in the first place. Edit: And Forms, I think, in this analogy, would be best thought of as sets of combinations of string and light that are similar, and cast similar shadows. For example, every combination that gives a stained glass window of the proper size and shape in Shai's cell. The lack of absolute specificity is what allows Forgery to work at all without needing to describe every single little bit of string and every photon of light. The original intent was to provide a workable, visualizable model of Realmatics. The above post was inspired by a topic (http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/3033-nature-of-forms-forgery) which involved various allusions to physics and math, which led to this analogy. For those who are versed in topology/physics, I think (hope) this probably makes some sort of sense. But, I'd love to get input on a visual model that reflects what we know so far that is easily accessible to all, as a means of discussing this stuff. I'm not trying to discuss the minutiae of the theoretical details of Realmatics here, just trying to create visual analogies that are consistent with text and Word of Brandon thus far, and let people talk about how they envision things in their mind. Thoughts?

Is this a limited time offer? I'd like 1-2, for sure, but it'll have to wait until I pay all my bills later in the month. I'm terrible at balancing a checkbook, have to go on current balance

Can the idea behind Hemalurgy be modified to allow people to completely swap bodies/ability sets without death being necessary? Or, more specifically - is the Hemalurgy we see on Scadrial the only possible way to utilize end-negative investiture/transfer of power?

The best part of Moiraine's return is that it set up Thom to casually murder Black Ajah throughout the finale

Breaking the fourth wall CAN be done without just being humor. I've seen a few instances in comics where it didn't seem silly. However, in a series with the weight and scope of the Cosmere novels, I'd rather doubt it would work.

Brandon has said that the exact way that Vasher and Denth disguise their divine Breath would be covered in the next book. Additionally, if they had stores of Breath (which Vasher at least certainly did), those can be consumed at the pace of one per week instead of needing an offering every week. Denth must have been storing his in clothing or something and then re-absorbing them just when he needed to use one up, I guess?

Now I'm picturing Szeth's attack on Gavilar as a music video set to Still Alive.... I do like this theory - I'm not sure which way I'm leaning on the spoken words vs telepathic communication thing yet, but the overall idea sounds like a great explanation.

Awesome! Definitely well deserved.

Brandon said something about Sazed not being able to truly use both Shards at full power at the same time, since they work against one another. So Sazed might fair better than any individual Shard against Odium, but it wouldn't be a sure victory by any means. I can't remember where exactly it was, someone with a better feel for where the various interviews are catalogued can probably find the quote a lot faster than I could.

Hey now. It's very elegant, if you happen to have the exact same background in physics and topology I do, and happen to think of both in terms of fantasy magics anyway! Oh, and live in my head. That too... Haha, I thought it'd be a visualizable example of what some of the topic was discussing anyway. I apparently failed rather badly....

I agree, the example I linked is awkward as hell, it was really only appropriate to other things going on in that topic. It makes sense in my head, but I know it's not exactly an illuminating analogy... Yeah, Aons are the forms for Sel, but Elantrian intent is what births them. I guess when I say "intent" I mean conscious will from individuals who can tap Investiture? Ie, the decision to burn a metal, for allomancers? It seems trivial for some systems, but for AonDor I think it's an important distinction.

Well, "forms" for Sel, I think, isn't the focus, exactly. The intent focuses on the form there, IMO. The focus is kind of a merger of ideations in the Spiritual and Cognitive realms. If that makes any sense... Had a rather awkward example from another topic; http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/3033-nature-of-forms-forgery/?p=50856 I think on Sel, it is indeed more complicated than other worlds. And that's likely why Brandon said by this point they're more aware of Realmatics than most other denizens of the Cosmere. As for Roshar, I think we need more information, I agree. But my initial impression is that intent, on a very personal, intrinsic level, is the most important thing there. Of course, I'm thinking of the KR orders here. I'd guess when we learn more about how Szeth does his Lashings, that idea may well go out the window.

I'd be interested in grabbing one with one of the Ideals, for sure. Let me know details once you figure them out (space on the paper, payment, etc.). Looks like they'll turn out great!

I'm a guy. And that wouldn't shock me, I just really liked her as a person from the brief glimpse we got of her.

I agree with the feel of everything abruptly ending, but a lot of that was inevitable. When Jordan started writing the series, he didn't think it would grow to the size that it did. He even acknowledged that it had run away on him to a degree, in length and complexity. Overall, I was satisfied with how all the various plot lines were wrapped up, but yeah, the series easily could've stretched another 2-3 books in wrapping up everything. And it still would probably feel rushed in places