FAQ Friday Polls

[Oversleep]

So Brandon is doing these FAQ Fridays... and truth be told, I'm disappointed. Why? See the results of this weeks poll: (here are full texts questions)

We know answers to three of these questions and two of them are on the first and second place! That's  o u t r a g e o u s.

Meanwhile, the one truly interesting question (burning Shardplate... that one should be phrased differently so it's about Mistborn Radiant burning their own Shardplate though) came in third and the other question we do not know answer to (glyphs) got the least votes.

We're missing on the opportunity here, folks. We should mobilize the Shard to vote... and we should answer the questions we know answers to. For example like that:

Quote

"If a bullet is made out of an appropriate metal and shoots through someone and gets lodged in someone else can it function as a hemalurgic spike?"
Yes.
"If it can, would the spike kill someone if it was lodged in an incorrect spot for a spike?"
If spike is not inserted into bindpoint... then you have been severely wounded. So yes, it could kill the recipient but physics and biology are at play here, not Realmatics.

"Why didn't Dalinar get the powers of a Stoneward, when he bonded Taln's honorblade?"
You probably want to check descriptions of that Blade. Compare how it was described when the so-called-Taln arrived in Kholinar and how it was described when Dalinar summoned it.

"Is Hoid aware that he's a character in a book?"
No, he is a real person in the Cosmere universe, he is not breaking fourth wall. We know he used to be human... right now he transcends what we understand to be human.
I think I may have read recently somewhere Brandon outright saying it's not about being fourth-wall breaking but I can't find it right now.

"Can a Mistborn burn the metal used to make shard plate? (Say they got a fragment of shattered shard plate)"
This question should have been about Mistborn Radiant burning their own Shardplate. Otherwise we get this answer:
https://twitter.com/BrandSanderson/status/393564648261181440

BTW, I think I have read somewhere that Hoid just stole himself from a book or something but that was in-universe.

Edited May 17, 2017 by Oversleep

[Spoolofwhool]

I am so storming mad right now, it's not even funny. All that has happened is 720 people will learn that they're not the same blade. 

[Oversleep]

2 minutes ago, Spoolofwhool said:

I am so storming mad right now, it's not even funny. All that has happened is 720 people will learn that they're not the same blade. 

I know, right? That's like the basic Cosmere knowledge for Stormlight Archive, along with Vasher and Nightblood. Simply googling will get you results.

[Pagerunner]

8 minutes ago, Oversleep said:

We know answers to three of these questions and two of them are on the first and second place! That's o u t r a g e o u s.

We're missing on the opportunity here, folks. We should mobilize the Shard to vote... and we should answer the questions we know answers to.

 

We voted, and we lost. No need to get worked up about it. These are supposed to be frequently asked questions, not deep new WoBs. The people who are voted are a representative sample of fans, and there are enough people who want to know this answer to win. This isn't a problem with the voting system; it's a problem with the fan base. And, actually, it's not even a problem, it just means that there are a lot of people who follow Brandon on social media but don't keep up to date on stuff from signings.

[Oversleep]

@Pagerunner, that's why I'm saying it's a wasted opportunity. If we know the answers, we should be there sharing them. What's the use for our knowledge if we're not doing anything with it?

[Pagerunner]

5 minutes ago, Oversleep said:

@Pagerunner, that's why I'm saying it's a wasted opportunity. If we know the answers, we should be there sharing them. What's the use for our knowledge if we're not doing anything with it?

It's not our job to make sure everyone knows things. This is like when people get bummed out general Q&A periods at signings are filled with stuff we know, or aren't about the cosmere. That's not the point of either those sessions or these polls, to get information that no one has ever known before. It's for those who are actively participating. And, in this instance of participation, more people want to know about Taln's honorblade. This is the best way to disseminate that sort of information.

I'll admit, I wish any of the other questions had been picked. But, hey, who knows: maybe Brandon will throw us a bone, a clue as to when it was switched out he's never revealed before. It might not be a total lost cause.

And, some small consolation to me: even though it was dead last, my preferred question (glyphs) still blew away the 2.3% that the Kaladin = Peter Pan question got last month!

Edited May 17, 2017 by Pagerunner

[Oversleep]

1 minute ago, Pagerunner said:

It's not our job to make sure everyone knows things.

But it could be.

I mean, I am not saying everyone should be reciting WoBs from their memory and knowing the most obscure parts of Realmatic theory. But we should actively work so that the basics, the bare minimum is known. Sometimes I browse Cosmere reddits and I chim in to explain why Radiants have to be broken first and turns out people don't know it's similar to Snapping or how Snapping works or what Spiritweb is.

These polls are an opportunity for us to share our knowledge. People are asking a lot of things, but only few questions make it to the polls and from those only one gets anwered by Brandon. But what about all these other questions? If we know answers, we should be there sharing them.

[Argent]

2 minutes ago, Oversleep said:

These polls are an opportunity for us to share our knowledge. People are asking a lot of things, but only few questions make it to the polls and from those only one gets anwered by Brandon. But what about all these other questions? If we know answers, we should be there sharing them.

Yeah... but it's a weird thing. Sometimes when people ask questions it's not about the answer, it's about getting an answer. From Brandon. It's about the fan-author relationship, not about new knowledge. I am not saying this is usually the case, or even often the case, but some people don't want a random person on the Internet to reply to them, they want Brandon to. It's a balancing act.

[Oversleep]

2 hours ago, Argent said:

Yeah... but it's a weird thing. Sometimes when people ask questions it's not about the answer, it's about getting an answer. From Brandon. It's about the fan-author relationship, not about new knowledge. I am not saying this is usually the case, or even often the case, but some people don't want a random person on the Internet to reply to them, they want Brandon to. It's a balancing act.

Yeah, but - like you said - most people just want to know.

While it's true random people on the Internet do not have that authority as the author himself, I happen to know of an official Brandon Sanderson fansite... what was it... Eighteenth Splinter?... Nineteenth Sliver?... something like that?... maybe they could weigh in with these answers?

I don't know, maybe I'm biased because I run Polish fansite and it has already stopped being weird for me when people ask me things about Cosmere. For me, these things just happen.
But I think we - as the 17th Shard - could do something about these polls (and now I don't mean raiding the poll to get to ask our questions but answering what people ask).

[Andy92]

To be fair, I wouldn't have known the answers to any of those before I made an account on this site. A lot of his Twitter followers are probably in the same boat I was. (I did vote for the Shardplate one by the way.) I don't think it's worth getting all worked up about though...the question about Taln's blade may be common knowledge around here, but I definitely didn't catch what was going on the first time I read the book lol. 

[Oversleep]

The answer to the Hoid question I was thinking about is here:

 

 

[+Extesian]

While I wish we could use these for really specific Cosmere questions the Shard and WoBs haven't resolved, I understand the point, understand he doesn't want to have huge spoiler answers on Facebook. And you know what, I quite like the answer. I like the background about Taln in WoK prime, I like the explanation about why he's been trolling us with "the man who calls himself Taln"  and I like that fans who aren't on this site suddenly get to know one of the little hidden twists that may make them start to look more closely at his books and places like this site, where fans pick apart this stuff. 

That said, the original point still remains, we should represent our collective informed voices more strongly for these votes.

 

[maxal]

Question guys... Recently, Brandon told us there was something different about Elhokar's Blade. I do not recall the exact wording, but I recalled the fact it looked different meant something. Now, with this confirming one could be bonded to a Honorblade without knowing it and thus not having access to its power, could it be Elhokar's Blade is a Honorblade? I launched the idea a while back, but I wasn't being really serious, I think all Honorblades are accounted for or are they? 

Is this possible?

[+Extesian]

35 minutes ago, maxal said:

Question guys... Recently, Brandon told us there was something different about Elhokar's Blade. I do not recall the exact wording, but I recalled the fact it looked different meant something. Now, with this confirming one could be bonded to a Honorblade without knowing it and thus not having access to its power, could it be Elhokar's Blade is a Honorblade? I launched the idea a while back, but I wasn't being really serious, I think all Honorblades are accounted for or are they? 

Is this possible?

Here's the quote (spoilers for Unfettered 2/Oathbringer)

 

Quote

Q: And there's one last question from me: I'm really into swords and such. I couldn't help but notice king Elhokar's Blade. It's just... All the others are ornamented, and they may have some glyphs, but it is the only one where it is explicitly told that there are ten fundamental glyphs on it which are the glyphs of the orders. (Spoilers for Unfettered II / Oathbringer)    

  Hide contents
I read some of the chapters from Dalinar in Unfettered II, and I know how he got it for Elhokar. 

Is there also some more backstory to this Blade?
A: There's a backstory to every Blade and everyone is special. That's the problem. But I will be exploring  the origins of some of the Blades. Eventually. Not a ton, but a little bit.

Q: As it is ornamented in such a way... Could it be related to a Bondsmith?
A: Bondsmith's didn't have Blades.
Q: All of them? It's just... Maybe it was just the Stormfather...
A: No. That's a really good guess. Really good guess. I'm gonna RAFO Bondsmiths because you gonna learn a lot about them in the next book because it's the Bondsmith's book. That's a really good theory, but it's not true. But there's a reason to it, why it has all the 10 orders

So I don't think it's an Honorblade but mainly because it has the 10 other orders' glyphs. I thought Bondsmith was a good guess but that's ruled out. But I certainly can't rule out it being an Honorblade. The numbers would still trouble me though. The only way it could be is if everyone, the Shin, Taravangian are wrong and one was secretly switched long ago. That would surprise me a lot. 

Edited May 20, 2017 by Extesian

[Pagerunner]

30 minutes ago, maxal said:

Question guys... Recently, Brandon told us there was something different about Elhokar's Blade. I do not recall the exact wording, but I recalled the fact it looked different meant something. Now, with this confirming one could be bonded to a Honorblade without knowing it and thus not having access to its power, could it be Elhokar's Blade is a Honorblade? I launched the idea a while back, but I wasn't being really serious, I think all Honorblades are accounted for or are they? 

Is this possible?

Knowing that Nale has taken back his Honorblade, all ten are accounted for.

[maxal]

9 hours ago, Pagerunner said:

Knowing that Nale has taken back his Honorblade, all ten are accounted for.

Yes but are we convinced each one of those actually are Honorblades? What if one was smuggled out of SInovar a long time ago and replaced by a normal Blade? Elhokar having a Honorable (though not knowing about it) might actually explain quite a few things.

[Oversleep]

3 minutes ago, maxal said:

Yes but are we convinced each one of those actually are Honorblades? What if one was smuggled out of SInovar a long time ago and replaced by a normal Blade? Elhokar having a Honorable (though not knowing about it) might actually explain quite a few things.

It's possible. Actually it's impossible to disprove unless Brandon says so. Therefore we won't concern ourselves with definite proof and instead we are forced to operate in the field of maybe.

Szeth's post-resurection conversation with Nale implies Stone Shamans use the Honorblades (for example Regrowth). Futhermore, we do not know when Nale reclaimed his - when Szeth talks with Taravangian, he speaks about "other seven Honorblades" (Jezrien's is with Szeth, Taln's was never there to begin with which leaves one more Honorblade unaccounted for - that's Nale's Honorblade).

Now, I was going somewhere with this... Anyway, I think Stone Shamans would have noticed. If they use the Blades, they must have bonded them; swapping one out in such situation without them noticing is impossible. Also, what's a better way to keep a Blade safe, to prevent it being stolen than bonding it? Even if thief somehow makes it to the vault or something with the Blades, all you need to do is to summon it back (as Dalinar cleverly did).

[maxal]

1 minute ago, Oversleep said:

It's possible. Actually it's impossible to disprove unless Brandon says so. Therefore we won't concern ourselves with definite proof and instead we are forced to operate in the field of maybe.

Szeth's post-resurection conversation with Nale implies Stone Shamans use the Honorblades (for example Regrowth). Futhermore, we do not know when Nale reclaimed his - when Szeth talks with Taravangian, he speaks about "other seven Honorblades" (Jezrien's is with Szeth, Taln's was never there to begin with which leaves one more Honorblade unaccounted for - that's Nale's Honorblade).

Now, I was going somewhere with this... Anyway, I think Stone Shamans would have noticed. If they use the Blades, they must have bonded them; swapping one out in such situation without them noticing is impossible. Also, what's a better way to keep a Blade safe, to prevent it being stolen than bonding it? Even if thief somehow makes it to the vault or something with the Blades, all you need to do is to summon it back (as Dalinar cleverly did).

I agree it appears possible, though impossible to prove.

The Shins being said to use the Honorblades is the major drawback of this theory. It had crossed my mind they would have likely noticed since it appears they are actively using the Blades. My thoughts are thus, while the Blades providing healing powers and/or easy to use fighting abilities, would have been used on a regular basis, what about those who's surges aren't so... obvious. Take the Elsecaller's Honorblade for instances, Transportation and Transformation appear to be very difficult to control and to obtain surges: it may be the Shins, without the guidance of a spren are just unable to figure out how to use them and hence, have let this Honorblade rest. The Willshaper's Blade would probably be within a similar situation. Hence, I am thinking it might be the Shins aren't using all the Blades because it may be they are lacking the knowledge for it.

This being said, the physical appearance of the Blade remains problematic. I so agree with @Extesian, the 10 glyphs did seem to point towards a Bondsmith's Blade, but since there are none... we are stil left trying to figure out why this particular Blade looks different. The question should then be, for which order would it make sense to have 10 glyphs written on it? Elsecallers as they served as diplomatic agents? Elhokar's experience with shadows seem to point towards Shadesmar, so either Lightweaver, Elsecaller or Willshapers. The RAFO we got a while back on the question of Elhokar perhaps noticing Kaladin surgebinding: a lot of people took it Elhokar is on his way to become a Radiant. Everyone knows I don't personally believe it, so what if he isn't, but instead has bonded a Honorblade which does serve as an attraction magnet for other sprens, the ones from this order? 

Is this possible? If so, what would it mean for Elhokar to have a Honorblade? Do we even trust him with added powers?

[Pagerunner]

Way of Kings originally provided two clues that Szeth's blade was not a regular Shardblade. First was its smaller size, second was that it did not permanently change his eye color. Elhokar's blade is large, so there is a point against. Elhokar's eye color should provide another indication, but I am not familiar with eye colors. But whether or not they ever change, and what color they are now, can provide a clue to Order and to whether or not it's an Honorblade.

The fundamental glyphs do not appear to be limited to the Radiant orders, as their appearance in AU has them attached to planets. The exact origin and development of the glyphs are still a mystery to us, but the glyphs on the blade do not have to mean Radiant orders.

[maxal]

Just now, Pagerunner said:

Way of Kings originally provided two clues that Szeth's blade was not a regular Shardblade. First was its smaller size, second was that it did not permanently change his eye color. Elhokar's blade is large, so there is a point against. Elhokar's eye color should provide another indication, but I am not familiar with eye colors. But whether or not they ever change, and what color they are now, can provide a clue to Order and to whether or not it's an Honorblade.

The fundamental glyphs do not appear to be limited to the Radiant orders, as their appearance in AU has them attached to planets. The exact origin and development of the glyphs are still a mystery to us, but the glyphs on the blade do not have to mean Radiant orders.

Since Elhokar is already a lighteyed, then bonding a Blade would not have changed his eye color, hence this one can be easily dealt with. 

As for the Blade's size, it is mentioned Blades came in all sizes: some were made to be use one handed so I wouldn't say it dispels the theory. It isn't stated anywhere all Honorblades are smaller than all Shardblades, but it is stated Shardblades can have various sizes. Since they are modeled after the Honorblades, it seems reasonable to assume not all Honorblades would have the same size.

I do not recall if anything was said about the specific glyphs onto Elhokar's Blade. It is true they may not be the 10 glyphs associated to the 10 Radiant orders. Still, the question remains which Herald would be the most likely to have glyphs onto his Blade and does it correlates with the possibility of a Honorblade being swapped without the Shins noticing it?

There has to be a reason why Elhokar's Blade is different and the recent WoB seems to indicate it is indeed different.

[Pagerunner]

 http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=977#156

There are no small sprenblades; a live sprenblade can change size and shape, but the dead ones are all described as as tall as a person. There are one-handed sword forms, but they are possible because the blades are so light.

Eye changes aren't merely light vs dark, but the specific color associated with the Order. Are Elhokar's eyes blue? Gold? That will indicate the origin of the blade.

[maxal]

56 minutes ago, Pagerunner said:

 http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=977#156

There are no small sprenblades; a live sprenblade can change size and shape, but the dead ones are all described as as tall as a person. There are one-handed sword forms, but they are possible because the blades are so light.

Eye changes aren't merely light vs dark, but the specific color associated with the Order. Are Elhokar's eyes blue? Gold? That will indicate the origin of the blade.

Actually there is another WoB which states lighteyes eye color does not change even when they become Radiants. It is why Shallan's eyes aren't turning red. Elhokar's eyes never changed color: they are gold, just like his father.

Also, I think it was Adolin who speaks of how there are shorter Shardblades which can be held with only one hand: some forms were made for those specifically. I would need to find the exact passage.

[maxal]

I am liking this week's question. I can't wait to read the answer 

[Yitzi2]

How does one vote for these, and how does one submit a nomination (he said facebook, but does that mean comment on the previous poll, or what)?

[Argent]

On 5/25/2017 at 6:25 PM, Yitzi2 said:

How does one vote for these, and how does one submit a nomination (he said facebook, but does that mean comment on the previous poll, or what)?

Voting is as simple as waiting for Adam to share a link to the current poll on any one of Brandon's social media accounts (I know he posts on Facebook and Twitter, and it looks like he is starting to create blogs for them as well), and then visiting said link. As to submitting questions, I don't think there is an official way - my impression is that Adam just monitors what people are talking / asking about, and picks a few questions that either show up a lot, or sound interesting to him. But that last part is pure speculation on my end.