gjustice99 Posted January 7, 2015 Report Share Posted January 7, 2015 So there is an indescrepency in the time between Steelheart and Firefight. In Steelheart it had been either 8 or 10 years since Calamity (can't remember which). In Firefight it has been 13 years. That's fine but as David was 18 in the first and 19 in the 2nd that doesn't add up. He couldn't have aged a year in 3-5 years. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hafje Posted January 7, 2015 Report Share Posted January 7, 2015 I think you are mistaken as David's flashback in the first book was ten years before Steelheart itself. And his flashback took place two years after Calamity, so it adds up. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kobold King Posted January 7, 2015 Report Share Posted January 7, 2015 If we assume 2013 A.D. to be the year Calamity rose, based on the publication year of the original novel, then we can construct the following timeline: 2013: Calamity rises. Firefight prologue takes place. 2014: Roughly a year later, the first Epics begin to manifest powers. Sometime in 2015: Annexation Day. Steelheart seizes control of Chicago, Illinois with the Great Transference. Nightwielder plunges the city into perpetual gloom. Steelheart prologue takes place. Ten years pass 2025: Events of Steelheart and Mitosis take place. I have a big official-looking timeline that we used on the Reckoners RPG, and I've had these specific events worked out for a while now. Here soon I'll be updating it with Firefight dates. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eefara Posted January 7, 2015 Report Share Posted January 7, 2015 If we assume 2013 A.D. to be the year Calamity rose, based on the publication year of the original novel, then we can construct the following timeline: 2013: Calamity rises. Firefight prologue takes place. 2014: Roughly a year later, the first Epics begin to manifest powers. I don't have my copy of Firefight on me, but didn't David mention during the prologue that almost immediately after Calamity rose, screaming started? I had assumed it was because of Epics manifesting and starting to kill people; I can't think of another reason people would suddenly start to freak out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kobold King Posted January 7, 2015 Report Share Posted January 7, 2015 I don't have my copy of Firefight on me, but didn't David mention during the prologue that almost immediately after Calamity rose, screaming started? I had assumed it was because of Epics manifesting and starting to kill people; I can't think of another reason people would suddenly start to freak out. The screaming is an anomaly. It does not mesh with the chronology as we know it. Here's a quote from the Steelheart prologue: I believed him. A lot of people thought like he did, back then. It had only been two years since Calamity appeared in the sky. One year since ordinary men started changing. Turning into Epics—almost like superheroes from the stories. This quote tells us that people did not change into Epics within moments of Calamity's arrival. It seems fairly definitive that a full year took place between the rise of Calamity and the first Epics. My guess is that the screaming was either due to Calamity itself scaring people (people have panicked over far less), or an as-yet unknown element. Another anomaly with the chronology as we know it is Dawnslight. I'm fairly sure there's a reference in Firefight that claims Dawnslight's effects started "just after" Calamity, which would be... kind of astounding, really, since that'd make him one of the earliest verified Epics. I'll try to find quotes to flesh out the exact timeline we're talking about later. It'll take time to synthesize all the information Firefight provided us with. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gjustice99 Posted January 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2015 I think you are mistaken as David's flashback in the first book was ten years before Steelheart itself. And his flashback took place two years after Calamity, so it adds up.That makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterAhlstrom Posted January 8, 2015 Report Share Posted January 8, 2015 I asked Brandon about the screaming, and he said "that was something else." 16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argent Posted January 8, 2015 Report Share Posted January 8, 2015 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordofsoup Posted January 8, 2015 Report Share Posted January 8, 2015 I asked Brandon about the screaming, and he said "that was something else." David has been an epic all along! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kobold King Posted January 8, 2015 Report Share Posted January 8, 2015 I asked Brandon about the screaming, and he said "that was something else." Words of Radiance spoilers: I think young David's popsicle was actually a dead spren. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewStirlingMacDonald Posted January 8, 2015 Report Share Posted January 8, 2015 So is the screaming confirmed as RAFO? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow Guardian Posted January 9, 2015 Report Share Posted January 9, 2015 Words of Radiance spoilers: I think young David's popsicle was actually a dead spren. But wouldn't that mean that David suddenly formed a Nahel bond right as Calamity rose? What has actually kept him alive all this time is stormlight healing. Calamity is a spren, he tried giving David powers, but he rejected that, so what will actually kill Calamity is the broken Nahel bond... I'm finding too many holes in this 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sand Master Posted January 9, 2015 Report Share Posted January 9, 2015 Words of Radiance spoilers: I think young David's popsicle was actually a dead spren. Oh my god. Y u do dis to me. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CCQ Posted April 23, 2015 Report Share Posted April 23, 2015 The screaming is an anomaly. It does not mesh with the chronology as we know it. Here's a quote from the Steelheart prologue: This quote tells us that people did not change into Epics within moments of Calamity's arrival. It seems fairly definitive that a full year took place between the rise of Calamity and the first Epics. My guess is that the screaming was either due to Calamity itself scaring people (people have panicked over far less), or an as-yet unknown element. Another anomaly with the chronology as we know it is Dawnslight. I'm fairly sure there's a reference in Firefight that claims Dawnslight's effects started "just after" Calamity, which would be... kind of astounding, really, since that'd make him one of the earliest verified Epics. I'll try to find quotes to flesh out the exact timeline we're talking about later. It'll take time to synthesize all the information Firefight provided us with. here are some useful quotes "like on that 1st night so long ago when calamity had come and the world had changed. Impossibilities, chaos followed by epics" firefight hardcover 343 "...but i do remember calamity. The glows came immediately afterward... " ibid 72 Here is a theory, we know only from Davids point of view that epics came a year after. What if powers came slowly when calamity started but since people were scared to show them it wasn't general knowledge and a year later the majority got them. This answers some problems such as if the glows came right after calamity and dawn slight made the glows now it makes sense how it can be right after calamity. Also, the "rending" that when an epic first gains their powers goes on a killing spree, why didn't that happen to prof, regalia and that group? why didn't it happen to conflux? maybe the rending only started after a year so the good epics can stay good if they don't use their powers but the epics that gained power after a year also had the rending and so all start out bad now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwiLyghtSansSparkles Posted April 23, 2015 Report Share Posted April 23, 2015 here are some useful quotes "like on that 1st night so long ago when calamity had come and the world had changed. Impossibilities, chaos followed by epics" firefight hardcover 343 "...but i do remember calamity. The glows came immediately afterward... " ibid 72 Here is a theory, we know only from Davids point of view that epics came a year after. What if powers came slowly when calamity started but since people were scared to show them it wasn't general knowledge and a year later the majority got them. This answers some problems such as if the glows came right after calamity and dawn slight made the glows now it makes sense how it can be right after calamity. Also, the "rending" that when an epic first gains their powers goes on a killing spree, why didn't that happen to prof, regalia and that group? why didn't it happen to conflux? maybe the rending only started after a year so the good epics can stay good if they don't use their powers but the epics that gained power after a year also had the rending and so all start out bad now. That the Rending only became a thing later on does make sense, but it doesn't explain how Prof and Regalia—two Epics who may not have had Rendings—were corrupted anyway. It's certainly plausible that it only happened to later Epics, since Prof says he got his powers earlier than most and Dawnslight appeared around the same time as Calamity; but there has to be another explanation as to why Prof and Regalia were corrupted but Dawnslight wasn't. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CCQ Posted April 23, 2015 Report Share Posted April 23, 2015 That the Rending only became a thing later on does make sense, but it doesn't explain how Prof and Regalia—two Epics who may not have had Rendings—were corrupted anyway. It's certainly plausible that it only happened to later Epics, since Prof says he got his powers earlier than most and Dawnslight appeared around the same time as Calamity; but there has to be another explanation as to why Prof and Regalia were corrupted but Dawnslight wasn't. they can still be corrupted by using their powers. Of course if they use their powers while facing their fears or that whole thing it helps of course even prof. Steelheart 379 prof says "its passing quickly this time" and he says on 378 that he had powers since calamity so... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterAhlstrom Posted April 23, 2015 Report Share Posted April 23, 2015 Remember what Prof said happened to the school he taught at? 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edgedancer Posted April 23, 2015 Report Share Posted April 23, 2015 (edited) Remember what Prof said happened to the school he taught at? Yep, I'm personally still of the opinion he killed them in his Rending. Edit: Twi, Regalia claims she went through a Rending, if I remember right. Edited April 23, 2015 by Edgedancer 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CCQ Posted April 23, 2015 Report Share Posted April 23, 2015 I hear but if every epic goes through a rending now you have to come up with a reason for why prof and his group became normal maybe even a seperate reason for all of them, as well as for conflux. Did dawnslight have a rending? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwiLyghtSansSparkles Posted April 23, 2015 Report Share Posted April 23, 2015 Yep, I'm personally still of the opinion he killed them in his Rending. Edit: Twi, Regalia claims she went through a Rending, if I remember right. I suspected that was Prof's Rending. And I thought I recalled Regalia saying something to that effect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackhoof Posted April 24, 2015 Report Share Posted April 24, 2015 I hear but if every epic goes through a rending now you have to come up with a reason for why prof and his group became normal maybe even a seperate reason for all of them, as well as for conflux. Did dawnslight have a rending? His Rending was probably lighting everything up. He is a unique case, anyway. A good epic, very powerful, happened with Calamity. And perhaps they became good again through sheer force of will, like how Prof has stayed good for so long. Perhaps something snapped them out of it? We don't know, maybe it will be answered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edgedancer Posted April 24, 2015 Report Share Posted April 24, 2015 His Rending was probably lighting everything up. He is a unique case, anyway. A good epic, very powerful, happened with Calamity. And perhaps they became good again through sheer force of will, like how Prof has stayed good for so long. Perhaps something snapped them out of it? We don't know, maybe it will be answered. Do you mean Dawnslight? I'm honestly still not convinced that he's actually "good". If his fruits turn out to alter a persons mind so they live out his dream paradise, I would not be suprised at all. Prof is the only one of his group that managed to turn good and he can transfere his powers, seems like that's what saved him. The time they tried to play heroes I'm not counting as them not being corrupted. Thinking they have their powers under control as well as their mind, even if they clearly do not, seems to be a "normal" phase of the corruption process. At least that's how Prof described himself feeling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwiLyghtSansSparkles Posted April 24, 2015 Report Share Posted April 24, 2015 If Prof proves anything, it's that willpower doesn't work in staving off the corruption. Not in the long run, anyway. He made it look like it did, partly because he held out for so long, but I think he would've wound up sliding into full corruption even without Regalia's ploy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSpartanDuck Posted April 25, 2015 Report Share Posted April 25, 2015 Here's what we know: •Dawnslight- A very early Epic, we know this because they said in the books,'The glows started right after Calamity' If he has been in a coma since he was young, his Rending didn't do any real outside damage. His powered are like that movie Insomnia, where whatever he dreams, it comes true, so the city's powers came from his powers, not his Rending. The only reason the Reckoners thought New Babliar was strange, was because they were used to the glum NewCago, so the possiblilites of him being evil is swept under the carpet, especially with the fact that he helped the Reckoners. (Granted it could've just been to get rid of Regalia, be he is omnipresent and couldve dreamed of her death by ,oh I don't know, oxygen deprivation or something) •Prof- His history is not so well know, all we know is that he was friends with 3 other Epics, two of which he killed, he dated Tia, he was a 5th grade Science teacher, he didn't like contest, and that he was interested in space. If anyone were to know his weakness,'it could've been the students. They knew him well. We don't know what Prof killed one of his Epic friends, however we know the other's reason. It would make sense that Prof would kill his students, since they knew him best. However it again is demolished like a wrecking ball by the fact the he Rended (Frazzled) when he stopped the bomb, so he wouldve Rended TWICE, which has never been recorded (that we know of). He also formed the Reckoners, a group of regular humans who would all be very close to him, that he could annihilate at any given moment. Hope this shed some light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackhoof Posted April 28, 2015 Report Share Posted April 28, 2015 It wasn't really a Rending when he stopped the Obliterbomb. He was just hit with a huge blast of corruption when he used his powers so intensely, to the point where his willpower was overwhelmed and it occurred to him that these Reckoners could kill him. So he killed them using his powers, which hit him with more corruption, and so on so forth like a snowball down a hill, unstoppable. He can't control the corruption until he wants to, and he doesn't want to while he is corrupted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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