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I am not familiar with what the writing tropes in literature actually are and i was wondering to what extent does Brandon, and other authors, use them? What are common Fantasy writing tropes? Does Brandon ever make a mockery of the use of them? I felt like that is what he was doing in The Stormlight Archive with Rosharan society having such strict Gender specific roles. To me it made me look at the whole idea of Gender specific roles as ridiculous. Did he ever do something like that with other writing tropes that i never noticed? Finally, is there a trope that Brandon consistently uses across most of his books?

The new Elantris maps are here, guys, as revealed in Brandon's blog post today. Oh, Nazh. Also: Rose Barbarians. This map also explains why the Syclans don't go further south; there's a giant desert! Well this one is just a bit on the nose. It's awesome, though. Maybe this is the Coppermind editor in me coming out, but ahhhh the plantations are all on the map. Don't judge me. Also, jeez, Elantris is way near the mountains. Obviously it needs to be, but it's still strange to see on the map. What do you think? I am a little rushed, as I need to pick up Joe and Kalyna from the airport about now. Let me know!

The focus of Selish magic, as I understand, is form-based. So, with that (and not much else), I have a theory -- or, more of a hope, really -- that: The Shaod happens when some change occurs in the body, such that some part of the body is shaped like an Aon. This is attractive to me because 1) it ties back into Aons and form-based magic, and 2) if it were true, one could be surgically altered to become an Elantrian. And now some reasons why this is almost certainly not the case: (1) could potentially fit; perhaps those of Aonic ancestry have some genetic predisposition to natural, practically undetectible, Aon-related body distortion (yeah, it's a petty big stretch), but (2) and (3) don't fit well at all. Besides which, Dakhor monks already access the Dor by surgical(?) modification. Why repeat the concept? And, finally, the Shaod is very similar to Mistborn's Snapping (which, notably, has nothing to do with metal). So, there's a theory some wishful thinking, somewhat checked. What do you think?

I was aimlessly wandering through the 17th shard and The Coppermind, and I started delving into the Derethi Church. I noticed at the end of the Coppermind article it mention a mythical sword. Link here. "The original Wyrn had a mythical sword named Gretgor" "Gretgor is a mythological weapon used by the first Wyrn, founder of the Fjordell Empire." This is the first time I can remember hearing about this sword/weapon. We know that Elantris is chronologically first, in regards to the currently published cosmere works. Could this mythical sword/weapon be somehow related to shardblades, or awakened swords (nightblood)? Is this mythical sword the idea/seed for how nightblood came to be? I have no more information on Gretgor, so I am interested to see what people think, or if people have any other information regarding this weapon.

Hello Everyone, For a School project that i am doing i have to make a presentation to my Librarian on seven books that i have read, and in the presentation i must recommend whether the book should be added to the library's collection, or i can recommend that it be removed. The decision to add or remove must be based on the gender stereotyping found in each book and what people will learn about the role of gender from reading it I am basically done with the presentation but i feel like i am repeating myself throughout the presentation and i have run out of good ideas/examples. So i thought that i would turn to the community that i know best and that i have found to be extremely intelligent and fair in regards to discussion/argument of a topic. Which is why i humbly come to you now. The seven books (Note that i can use an entire series as a single book) that i have chosen to analyse in terms of Gender stereotyping are as follows: 1) Stormlight Archive 2) Mistborn 3) warbreaker 4) Elantris 5) The Painted Man (Peter V. Brett) 6) The Name Of the Wind (Patrick Rothfuss) 7) The Black Prism (Brent Weeks) I look forward to the discussions we will have around this sensitive topic. if i do use any ideas or comments from our discussion i will reference it completely.

It's official: Sign ups are now open for the Elantris game that Tulir and I will be co-GMing! This will be a typical Long Game, and follow all the outlines for that format. Day phases will last 48 hours and Night Phases will last 24 hours (though if it turns out that players need more time for the night phases then we will extend those to 48 hours also). Please review the rules below, and let me or Tulir know if you have any questions about them. Shadows of Elantris Rules Setting For Roleplaying purposes, the entirety of the game will be held inside the King's Palace, centered on the King's court, with the exception of those players who are taken by the Shaod and cast into Elantris. At the beginning of the game, all the players are gathered in the Court to hear a grand announcement to be made by Patriarch Seinalan. Also, if there is anyone who would like to sign on as a "pinch-hitter" (someone who stands by to take over for someone who goes inactive) for whatever reason, please PM me and let me know. Quick Links

I have no cliue what I am doing here, as I have only read all Alcatraz books (1-4), Elantris, The Emperor's soul, and Steelheart and Firefight. Ah well. I made my username, Saonae, out of the symbols in the back of the Elantris book. "Sao", means intelligence or learning, and "nae", means sight or clarity. I look forward to posting with everybody!

As the title states, which team do you think would win in a duel, given that all of the magic systems work simultaneously. Team 1: Pre-Radiance Kaladin; unconsciously uses Stormlight as he did in Bridge Four, and has no shards. Vin at her strongest (But not as Preservation); plenty of Allomantic stores. Hrathen, ability as shown in Elantris. Enough said. Team 2: Raoden at his best, able to make use of AonDor. Denth in Warbreaker, plain beast. Eshonai in Warform and in full plate. Place of Battle: Elantris, Sel. Who do you think will win? Feel free to justify below

Has anybody else noticed a correspondence between the meaning/attribute of Aon's and some of the names of people in the Cosmere? Like Dalinar and Kaladin. I can't remember off the top of my head what Shallon had to say about letters that could represent others in order to make a name symmetrical, but perhaps this could be another aspect to the whole thing?

Realized that today is the 10 year anniversary of when Elantris was first published, which launched Brandon to where he is today, with many wonderful stories, a great community, and many hours sunk into reading and re-reading his books to discover the many secrets, because as we know, "There's always another secret." This is a thread to congratulate Brandon on 10 years of fantastic writing, and wish him many, many more. Also, feel free to say how his books have inspired you, how they changed your life. Allow me to be the first. I cannot see how my life would be without Brandon's books, they inspired me to become a writer, and that's what I've spent the last 6 years of my life going towards, and I know that if I can write books the tiniest bit of an iota as good as one of Brandon's I can be a success. I have a purpose for my life, and I owe it all to Brandon Sanderson. Now my speech is constantly littered with references to books that other people don't get, which is part of me. I am so grateful to Brandon for his long years of writing, leading, and inspiring with his books. I wish you the best Brandon, and many many more years of writing in front of you. Happy anniversary.

What's your least favorite Cosmere novel IF you had to choose one?

From the blog: http://brandonsanderson.com/three-stories-in-new-formats/ I'm excited about the maps, but then again, I just like maps. Maybe we'll get a little more info and understanding about how the Aons work with this too. He also talks about the newly edited WoR and the standalone release of Shadows of Silence in the Forests of Hell. I wonder if I'll have to purchase a new version of WoR or if my e-book will update itself...

I was perusing the list of Aons for enjoyment today, and I noticed something that I haven't seen pointed out elsewhere. The Aons hold a fair number of references to other Cosmere doings. Some fun things I've found: [edit] Ashe is "Light, Illumination." Illumination is a surge on Roshar. I find it odd that Raoden's illusion trick was through using Aon Shao, when Shallan's lightweaving seems more based on illumination than transformation (see Shao below). As a lightweaver, though, she has both of those surges, so I suppose the lightweaving itself uses both (I just got the feeling from the book it was mostly illusion and not transformation). [/edit] Are is "Unity, Cohesion." Cohesion just so happens to be one of the surges on Roshar. I presume Surgebinders with access to cohesion will have similar abilities to what Aon Are does (not that it is shown in the novel). Ata is "Grace, Smoothness." This reminded me of the abrasion surge and how slicking works. Perhaps it is similar? Ati is the aon of Hope. Hope isn't exactly how I would describe Ruin, but I thought it was interesting his name was also the name of an aon. Deo is "Gold, Metal." Though I think this one simply exists due to the language needing a word for metal, I thought it was interesting that it is an Aon specifically mentioned, and Brandon had a metal based magic system in a later book. Ene is "Wit, Cleverness." Makes me surprised Hoid went by Hoid in Elantris, and not Ene. As we all know Wit is a common name he takes. Eshe is "Gift, Endowment." That's interesting that the exact name of a Shard shows up... Also, given the almost exact wordings of some of the Surgebinding parallels, I wonder if this could be used to Awaken after some jury-rigging. Mai is "Honor." Yet another exact name of a Shard... Shao is "Transform, Change." Yet another parallel to Surgebinding. Tia is "Travel, Transportation." Another parallel to Surgebinding. I'm willing to bet this is one way Elantrians get to the Cognitive Realm. So I thought those "coincidences" were interesting. The parallels to other magic systems (namely Surgebinding and my possible Awakening tidbit) means that hints to the rest of the systems could be hidden away in the current list/complete list that I'm sure Brandon has. In addition, the inclusion of two Shard names got me to thinking that the names of the other Shards could be in here too. Though I am usually opposed to us wildly guessing, some interesting candidates are "Wit, Cleverness," "Loyalty," "Chastity" (this would be a little odd), "Intelligence," "Affluence," "Punishment, Retribution," "Love," "Justice," "Solemnity," "Wisdom," "Mercy, Forgiveness," "Willpower, Endurance," "Protection, Safety," "Stability, Security," and "Bravery." Also of interesting note is Ati's name being an Aon. There are various theories floating around that could explain this. I've read that some think Aona and Skai were directly in contact with the Selish people's prior to being splintered by Odium (explaining the occurence of both Aona's and Skai's name being in world). This would also explain why so many other interesting Cosmere "coincidences" occur. Another theory was the origins of the shardholders, and whether they were all from Yolen or not. Could Ati be from Sel? This would depend on whether Sel and it's peoples were made by Aona and Skai (I can't find any information regarding this, though it seems likely given the importance of Aon Aon). Anyways, I simply thought all this was interesting, figured I'd share. Have fun reading into this way more than we probably should (like I am).

I've decided to run an Aon drawing contest. To enter, simply post a reply containing an image of your hand-drawn Aon. Bonus points will be awarded for combinations of Aons. Chasm lines not required. I'm accepting entries until Tuesday, February 10, so start drawing now, amateur Elantrians! (Also, PM me if you'd like to help judge. Judges cannot enter.)

I saw some older threads mentioning the possibility of a ten year anniversary edition of Elantris, published April 21, 2005. But I'm curious, if you had a decent but reasonable sum of money and the authority to finance a project of some sort, as a fan, how would you use it to commemorate the anniversary of Sanderson's first book? Think book, comic book, or animated short budget, not national monument, theme park, or Hollywood blockbuster budget. Examples: An illustrated edition of Mistborn, Elantris, and/or Warbreaker. An annotated edition of Mistborn, Elantris, and/or Warbreaker. A favorite scene turned into an animated short. A sequential art book showing highlight scenes from one book in order from beginning to end.

Hrathen's name is very easily misspelled as Heathen. Which Hrathen is definitely not. Wierd

Pretty self explanatory. I usually get a few chapters in to gain a natural knowledge of the system, and then I'll check the Ars Arcanum, skipping over things I feel might be spoilerific. This topic may contain much spoilers. Read at your own risk.