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First of all, apologies if this has been mentioned before. Also, Major WoR spoilers to follow. Dalinar bonded the Madman's blade. It is (almost) certain that the madman was in fact a Herald. Furthermore, he was the only Herald that remained faithful tot he oathpact, as far as I can tell. It has also been suggested that the blades of the heralds (the Oathblades) are different from Shardblades. It is said that Honor created the blades and gave them to the Heralds, and the spren just learned how to copy the effect. This leads to my question(spoilered out as this contains spoilers for the ending of WoR):

Hey everyone! I guess this topic is mainly for other writers. I just posted a Writer's Review of Words of Radiance on my writing blog. I briefly discussed just a few of the more general writing techniques Brandon used from which any writer can learn. I'd love to get some feedback on the post on any other techniques that you felt were used well in Radiance (or I guess in Brandon's writing style in general). I was also wondering, from any of the writers out there, what were some other books that made you a better writer? You could comment here or on the blog itself. Either way. Thanks everyone! Here's a link to the blog: https://anovelexchange.wordpress.com/

There are a few things about Nalan that have me curious about his (possible) abilities... and possibly the Skybreakers' as well. It's not really a proper theory or anything... but maybe you guys can help me figure this out and clear up my confusion. How many Nalan are we really dealing with, here? Here is where my confusion begins in Words of Radiance: Distance - (Interlude-2) We see Nalan in Iri hunting Ym. (Interlude-9) We see Nalan (aka Darkness) in Azir hunting Lift. (Chapter 88) We see Nalan in the Frostlands reviving Szeth (and offering him Nightblood). Iri, Azir, and the Frostlands are pretty far apart on the map of Roshar. Iri is far NorthWest, the Frostlands are far SouthEast, and Azir is nearer to the middle (but it's a little closer to Iri than the Frostlands). In any case, Nalan seems to be covering a lot of ground awfully fast during the events of WoR. How? I wonder how much time it really takes to travel across practically all of Roshar like that. If he is 'flying', then isn't that about the most overt way of getting around that he could possibly choose? If he is traveling by foot, then how would he cover so much ground so fast? Nalan's Minions- When he hunts Ym in Iri, he has no minions. When he appears in Azir, he has two minions. When he appears in the Frostlands, he again has no minions (and is carrying Nightblood). His minions are extremely knowledgeable about stormlight, investiture, and the like. One of them even has a shardblade... So I doubt that these minions were a couple of nobodies just drafted to help Nalan out in Azir only... and only for one case. Time - I'd be willing to believe Nalan simply travelled in one single direction during the events of WoR (First Iri, then Azir, then to the Frostlands) if it weren't for the time he spent on each case. In each case (Ym/Lift/Szeth) Nalan made it a point to explain how much work he'd put into each person. Nalan to Ym = "I had to look very hard to discover your indiscretion." Nalan to Lift = "Even the chaotic can be predictable with proper study.” (Presumably referring to her escape patterns, habits, etc.) Nalan to Szeth = "You? Not worthy? I watched you destroy yourself in the name of order, watched you obey your personal code when others would have fled or crumbled. Szeth-son-Neturo, I watched you keep your word with perfection..." On top of this, Lift already had prior experiences with him and knew he was dangerous. By the time she first saw him enter the palace during her story arc, she already had a name for him in her mind - Darkness. He seems to spend an awful lot of time and energy in each case and location he visits. Even understanding their laws and abiding by them. The mountains of paperwork he and his minions prepared in Azir to apprehend Lift could not have been an overnight task. To some extent, Nalan seems to have some roots in these places. His emotionlessness - When talking to Szeth: "He spoke the words calmly, without emotion." While chasing Lift: “'What was that?' Darkness asked, his voice cold, emotionless." Talking to Ym: “'You were an accomplice to murder,' the man said, pulling his gloves on more tightly, first one hand, then the other. He spoke with such a stark lack of emotion, he could have been conversing about the weather." Notable words from Lift: "He didn’t curse in annoyance. A fellow should curse. Made people feel real when they did that. But of course, Darkness wasn’t a real person. Of that, though little else, she was sure." and she also referred to him having "dead eyes" when she first saw him. All of Nalan's emotionlessness makes me feel like something more is going on than just a personality flaw. Are we dealing with more than one Nalan? Is it possible that we are dealing with Nalan's self-puppets somehow? ...mere husks of "Nalan Prime" whom we haven't really seen yet? Can he somehow use his Division surge to split thereby making "copies" of himself? Is the Nightwatcher involved? ...Or is he getting the help of an Elsecaller? Is he 'flying' and somehow avoiding detection from the general population? What the crap is going on? Am I missing something super simple, here?

I am going to quote the wiki on Ym's religious belief: (http://coppermind.net/wiki/Ym) Religious Belief He believes, long ago, there was only one being which he simply calls One. One knew everything but had experienced nothing. And so One became Many in order to experience all things. As each experience is different, it brings completeness to One. Eventually, all will be gathered back in when the sum of land is attained and they will once again become One. Every person is a different mind of a single being experiencing different lives. As Many, they need ignorance. Each fragment of the One’s mind has its own body with different passions and inclinations. They exist in variety to experience all kinds of thought. That means some people must know and others must not. Just like some people must be rich and others poor. This is why he is interested in collecting other people's experiences. In light of Khriss's words on who Shattered Adonalsium, I think, this needs a revisit. When I first read the Ym Interlude I felt that this was *way too close* to the truth to ignore it. There is a mystery of how such a belief - easily describing a version of the Shattering - could have reached Ym. But now, after Khriss's revelation, I want to go back to this and ask a question: what if this is indeed a version of a description of the Shattering? If it is the case (and I think it is the case), then, the second line there: "One knew everything but experienced nothing" appears to be crucially important. Beyond Khriss's description of the motivations of the 16, this is the only possible evidence of what that motivation might have been. Or, alternatively, the post-Shattering hagiography and apologia. The other important thing to notice is that this belief presents us with two opposite notions: knowledge and experience. * Adonalsium: omniscent, but not omnipresent * Shards after the Shattering: omnipresent (collectively) but not omniscent. It also explains why (some) Shards further splinter themselves! (think Endowment - this religion described what she is doing on a daily basis). If there is a master list of questions for Brandon, how about this one: "What would Hoid think about Ym's religion?" Thoughts? (PS. This is, incidentally, why, of all single-Interlude characters thus far I liked Ym over Lift).

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?

Ok, Friends. Help me out here. For I have gone and convinced myself of something crazy! Sorry, I'm new to the forum and I don't know how to do that cool "spoiler" button yet. Please be aware that this theory mainly concerns The Stormlight Archive: Way of Kings and will have spoilers for the stormlight series. But because of said theory, this post will also contain spoilers from the Alloy of Law. So please continue reading at your own risk! If you have read both books, please give your thoughts on this theory. Many thanks! Toward the end of Interlude-6 when Szeth finds Gavashaw dead along with his [former] master Makkek, he's greeted by this dark figure who bears Szeth's Oathstone and gives him Taravangian's kill list. I'd like to discuss who this dark figure might be... Because I don't believe he's just some unimportant messenger. Szeth doesn't recognize this man's accent. This seems to be a gentle suggestion that the figure might originate off world. I figure Szeth would have traveled many places since becoming Truthless and having his Oathstone traded so frequently. Szeth guesses that the dark figure's accent might be Alethi, but he isn't sure. No real description of the dark figure is really given except that his voice is "male and deep" so a physical match can't really be made. The figure even wore a mask. So all we can really go on and take clues from is the shrouded man's words. Monologuing - This shrouded figure is heavily opinionated for someone who is presumably unimportant and needs to only deliver proof of the Oathstone exchanging hands and the new orders from the new master. That being said, what the man starts monologuing about is, i feel, key to discovering his true identity. He says things like: "Are you satisfied with this... are you satisfied with trivial crimes?" "What a waste... You are squandered." "You are a work of art... a god." “But do you not rebel against this frivolous use of your skills? Were you not meant for greatness?” "It's time you stop wasting your talent." Very interesting statements. He had virtually no reason to monologue to Szeth... and combining that with his strange accent, I keep feeling like this shrouded figure is more important that the interlude makes apparent. He shows up nowhere else in the series (as of yet) to pick apart more clues. These statements come dangerously close to many things said to Waxillium Ladrian back on Scadrial. My vote is that the masked and shadowed man giving Szeth his new orders is Miles "Hundredlives" Dagouter who is now on Roshar. As implausible as it seems, he may not actually be truly dead. It was never explained how he was still able to heal after all of his metalminds were apparently removed. Therefore we don't know to what extent his death was an act or irreversible (including his missing pulse). We know nothing of the remains/body of Mile Dagouter. Beyond that, the cosmere has "Returned" and fabrials that can revive people from the unthinkable (like with a certain someone at the end of WoR). Miles Dagouter is my best guess as to who this man might be... he doesn't actually have to have survived his experienced on Scadrial to be alive on Roshar right now. He's Miles Hundredlives Dagouter... he's been through a lot worse. He probably had gold implanted in his bones. He was very confident when he went up for execution. Why would he have been so confident if he knew he'd eventually run out of gold during the execution and die anyway? As for what he'd be doing on Roshar? Probably doing the same thing he was doing on Scadial. Serving someone, believing in a higher cause. Like Taravangian. Thoughts?

So I was flipping through Words of Radiance and I noticed that the name of the spren that causes the death rattles is named Moelach. See Taravingian's POV chapter I-14 for more details. Mr. T describes Moelach in the Diagram thusly: "There is one you will watch. Though all of them have some relevance to precognition, Moelach is one of the most powerful in this regard. His touch seeps into a soul as it breaks apart from the body, creating manifestations powered by the spark of death itself. But no, this is a distraction. Deviation. Kingship. We must discuss the nature of kingship." -Epigraph Chapter 82, page 986 hardcover edition According to the questions Brandon answered on Tor.com, he based some of the Roshar magic system on the Jewish mysticism of Kabbalah. With this connection in mind, I realized that the name 'Moelach' sounds an awful lot like "Moloch", a Mesopotamian god mentioned several times in the Old Testament with a negative connotation as a foreign and false god. Moloch is rather infamous because according to the biblical text, worshippers would sacrifice children to Moloch's flames. But we're not done yet. In Mr. T's POV chapter, he brings up another evil spren named Nergaoul, who many readers think causes the Alethi Thrill: "The Thrill is at least as strong here as it is in Alethkar. Maybe stronger. I will speak to our scholars. Perhaps this will help pinpoint Nergaoul." -Chapter I-14, page 910 hardcover edition Well wouldn't you know it, but Nergal is also a Mesopotamian deity, also brought up in the bible. And Nergal is, among other things, a god of war. I don't think any of this is a coincidence. Are there any other mentions of the names of super spren? Also worth noting is that "Moloch" in Hebrew uses the same letters (מלך) as the word for 'King'. Not sure how deep Brandon got into this, but it is a bit funny that Mr. T went from Moelach to Kingship in the Diagram. Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nergal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moloch http://www.tor.com/blogs/2014/06/brandon-sanderson-answers-your-questions-about-the-way-of-kings

Ok in the Prelude to TWoK Talenel (Taln, Talenelat, Talenel'Elin) dies and his honorblade vanishes, so that there are only 9 left in the circle. In Words of Radiance, doesn't Dalinar bond Talenel'Elin's honorblade? And if Dalinar DID bond the honorblade, as WoR mentions in multiple places that Dalinar had bonded "that madman's blade". Why, at the end of WoR, does the blade that Dalinar has bonded start screaming inside his head after Dalinar swears his second oath, and The Stormfather refer to the blade as a "monstrosity"?? Especially if Szeth had an honorblade, and it did not scream in Kaladin's mind.

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.

Here on earth, the year is measured by how long it takes our planet to make one trip around the sun. On Roshar, the year is measured by the Highstorm cycle; 1000 days of 10 10-week months. This would imply that the characters in the Stormlight Archive are older than we might assume given the number of years they've lived. Let's take Shallan for example: In WoR, she says she's 17 years old, meaning she's been alive for roughly 17,000 days. If we were to convert that into earth time, that would mean that Shallan is about 46 earth-years old.

Hey all, I've been starting to create new individual chapter summaries for Words of Radiance and I ran across an issue with the Chapter Summary Template not allowing more than one viewpoint character. This isn't too big of an issue as most chapters focus on one character but later in the book some chapters jump around quite a bit. Is there a way to add this functionality? I'm a nooby at this and don't want to go breaking the official template . On another note, right now the main summary page contains most of the information for a given chapter. Do we want to change this to be more in line with the Way of Kings summary, which just includes the summary and epigraph, and move the additional information to the individual chapter summary? I would like to work on improving and unifying the look of the summaries and just wanted the vision that you guys have for them! Thanks for your time!

So in one of the recent Q&As for the Firefight release, Peter made a sly post about how there's a character in the Stormlight Archive who he guessed correctly, without external help, was going to eventually become a Knight Radiant, and that he hadn't seen much talk about them in particular on this site. It got me to thinking what characters I think have enough evidence to be considered, that no one has talked about much prior to his post. After thinking about it for a few days, I came across Sebarial. Oh how I love Sebarial. In snooping around for info in the book, I came across two passages. The first is in Chapter 63. "Actually, she hadn't been to visit Sebarial's ardents very often either -- though when she had gone, she'd found them surprisingly devout, considering who owned them" - Words of Radiance, Kindle edition, page 759 The second is in Chapter 81. "Teleb was supporting them with some of Sebarial's troops, who were surprisingly good. The man himself was practically useless in battle, but he knew how to hire the right people -- and that had always been his genius." - Words of Radiance, Kindle edition, page 984. Both of these passages tell of Sebarial as a leader. Though he often comes off as obnoxious and apathetic, he is very serious about his people. This is evident in his warcamp and it's construction, as well as his economic policy and foresight. These two passages show that Sebarial pays attention to who he hires for various jobs. He wants the best for his people, as any good leader does. Particularly when you take into account that Sebarial has a strong military force, when he himself despises war, and he avoids it whenever he can. So what does this mean? Well, as the title to this thread says, it means I think Sebarial is Knight Radiant material, specifically Bondsmith material. Bondsmiths are leaders, and particularly effective ones, so Sebarial fits right in. But what of his spren? Well, Dalinar bonded the Stormfather. Many people on here seem to be thinking that Bondsmiths had such low numbers because they each bonded special spren, such as the Stormfather and his ilk. Well, that allows Sebarial to fit in too! Daliner is a very honorable leader, leading by example and such. He bonded the Stormfather, a special spren with ties to Honor. I think Sebarial will bond a spren tied to Cultivation, as he leads in a much more cultivating way. He cultivated his warcamp so that his people could live in relative comfort. He cultivated his employees so that his people would have the best services. He cultivated his economic policy to ensure his camp would see plenty of cash flow. ultimately, he has cultivated life for his people. No good theory, though, is complete without it's share of doubts. Mine come in the unlikely hood of two Bondsmiths being so close to each other. Considering how small their numbers, in comparison to the other orders, and how large Roshar is, it strikes me as odd that two would appear so near each other. In addition, outside of the Nightwatcher (possibly), we have yet to be introduced to a spren similar to the Stormfather which corresponds to Cultivation. If it is the Nightwatcher, what will cause Sebarial to go to her? Now, I'm not sure if that is who Peter was talking about, and I have seen people mention it since his post, but I didn't see anything about it before he did. EDIT: Due to discussion below, I've changed my mind. I now think Sebarial will become a Willshaper. For reasons, see ensuing discussion.

Hey all, first-time poster, but I had a theory about Spren and the 'Secret that broke the Knights Radiant' So, on the back cover of WoR it says "It is the nature of the magic. A broken soul has cracks into which something else can be fit. Surgebindings, the powers of creation themselves; they can brace a broken soul, but they can also widen its fissures" And somewhere in WoK or WoR, it says that the number of people who bond with spren increases right before a Desolation. Think about this for a second; The people we see in Dalinar's Vision of the Recreance (Windrunners etc. abandoning their oaths and shardblades/plate) were full knights. Kaladin, after swearing 3 ideals, gets to use Syl as a Shardspear/weapon. We learned that all shardblades are spren, living or dead (excluding blades like Szeth's) The question is, why would these Knights, who had bonded with their spren, probably having a good relationship with them like Shallan/Kaladin have with Pattern/Syl, abandon their oaths, KILL their spren buddies, and walk away? What IS the secret that broke them? Here's where theorizing comes in. We know that a person has to be 'broken' to allow a Nahel Bond (see back cover quote), and that more people bond to spren before a Desolation. Chances are, people aren't suddenly becoming more attractive to spren. I think the spren, acting on their nature left from Honor's splintering, believe it to be honorable to save mankind by giving them surges. To do so, they are forcing bonds onto people. Example 1, Shallan. She was terrified by the symbol-headed Cryptics that followed her around until she said her first truth and went into shadesmar (soulcasting the goblet). I realize she had already bonded partially, but I think that her broken household may also have been inluenced by spren or some other force (Her father's hate is unnatural, don't remember the WoB, but I know he said it wasn't just him) Example 2: Jasnah. In the beginning of WoR, she's freaking out about the whole 'backwards-shadow' thing. Then, abunch of spren attack her, forcing her into shadesmar, where she fights back, and eventually bonds with Ivory. This, to me, is the most overt example we have of spren forcing a bond. Example 3: Lift. She grew up in Rall Elorim, City of Shadows. I think we have further WoB somewhere saying that there is some nasty spren-like stuff going on there. Furthermore, Wyndle says this "I wanted to pick a distinguished Iriali matron. A grandmother, an accomplished gardener. But no, the RIng said we should choose you. 'She has visited the Old Magic,' they said. 'Our mother has blessed her,' they said. 'She will be young, and we can mold her,' they said." emphasis added Example 4: Kaladin. I think this might actually be the odd one out. Syl left, she said, without permission from the honorspren leadership in shadesmar. She truly was simply attracted to his honorable life. Finally, we know from Jasnah's return at the end of WoR that the spren in shadesmar actually have civilization. "It's been a long time since the spren had to deal with someone alive" pg 1078 and also the earlier quote from Wyndle. It's been mentioned a couple of times in the books that spren want a bond with humans because it gives them intelligence. But, they have civilization in shadesmar. they already are intelligent. So why do they really want the bond? Feel free to rip it to shreds

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

I apologize if this has already been answered somewhere else. I searched and couldn't find any answers. In both Way of Kings and Words of Radiance, Shallan deliberately uses the ten heartbeats of summoning a Shardblade when summoning Pattern. However, we know this is not necessary when the Knight's spren is alive, as Pattern obviously is. I feel like there's some significance to why she makes it the full ten heartbeats. Maybe in her mind summoning Pattern immediately would be the same as admitting to herself that everything she tries to avoid thinking about in her childhood actually happened. That doesn't seem quite right to me though, so if anyone knows why, or has any thoughts on it, I would appreciate the input.

I was wondering if anyone has a Table of Contents for the Audio-book version of "Words of Radiance". I have been listening to the book while reading along on my nook, but the version of audio-book I have is in 6 files around 8 hours each. I was writing down each of the ending times when I stopped reading for the moment. Usually on the chapter end. If anyone has the duration of each chapter that could be useful. Update: 01, Nov Using the link anyone can comment on and read what I have put together. Link to Google docs: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Kw8bzfjkyCmeO_d9lqC96-rfiATDGPgMLWsZWwd7xnQ/edit?usp=sharing

Words of Radiance is out now, so it's time for the obligatory general reactions topic. You already know my initial reactions, but what did you guys think? Obviously, this thread will have spoilers. If you don't have the book, stop right now. Seriously. Go. I mean it. And if you have the book and you haven't finished, what are you still doing on this site, go read it, dummy. Here are a great many empty lines so wandering eyes don't go here. If it's a major spoiler, probably put some spoiler tags on it. I'll post my spoilery reactions in a bit, but first, I want to know what you all think.

It's not much to go on, but I still remember the section of the plate from WoA where he wrote: "Some of you may know of my fabled memory. It is true; I need not a Feruchemist's metalmind to memorize a sheet of words in an instant." There has to be a deeper explanation to this than the simple fact that he had an amazing memory. This is Brandon Sanderson we're talking about. This leads me to think that somehow, Kwaan was a Lightweaver. He has a mnemonic ability very similar to Shallan's, and it is mentioned in WoR that Lightweavers did, in fact, all have varied memorization skills. I'm not sure how solid this is, as this is the only section that got me thinking on it. Kwaan was a Worldbringer, a scholar, and as far as we know, not an artist. That breaks with the pattern somewhat. Does anyone else have another possible explanation? EDIT: Sorry, I probably should have posted this in the Mistborn section. Honest mistake.