My Signing Questions

[Luke.spence]

Ok, I'm going to the Dayton signing tomorrow, and have been struggling over what questions to ask him. I want to get you guys' opinions on these and to make sure they haven't been asked before (I've read all the WoB threads, but am in no way an expert).

 

I know I wont be able to ask all of these most likely, so make sure to note which ones you guys think are the better questions. I'll add more if there are other, better questions that I haven't thought of. Also, check my wording to make sure I wont get a correct, but wrong answer. 

 

1. After Kaladin betrayed his oaths, was syl as dead as the spren that died during the Recreance? (This is more of a personal question, since I don't think she was truly "dead".)

 

2. Does Taln still have his Honorblade? (Help on wording this appropriately is welcome.)

 

     2b. Can normal humans bond Honorblades?

 

3. What caused a desolation to end? Was it just the defeat of Odium's forces? (Since he's basically confirmed that a Desolation was started when the Heralds broke in torture, there might be an additional element to the end of a desolation as well.)

 

4. If the Parshendi/Parshmen are the VB, then why weren't they wiped out after the end of the Desolations? 

 

5. Are the events in WoR before or after the events in Warbreaker? 

 

6. Which map contains the easter egg?

 

All comments are welcomed.

 

Edit:

 

I am not sure if this is answered already or not. If not, and anyone going to this signing would kindly ask, my question is:

"Three of sixteen ruled, but now the broken one reigns"
Is Odium one of the three?
If not who is the third?
Is Odium the broken one?
If so, how is he broken?
If not, is it Cultivation (broken by her loss of Honor)? or could it be the third (if the third is not Odium)?

 

This is a pretty good question. Anyone know if he's answered it? It seems a little RAFOy to me, so I'm not sure if I want to risk it.

Edited March 18, 2014 by Luke.spence

[Rybal]

1. No - she was still alive (as far as I can tell), but separated from him, presumably by the Stormfather, given her conversation with him.

 

2. Yes, but it wasn't the blade that Taln had at the end of WoK.

 

3. We don't really know for certain at this point.

 

4. I'm convinced that the Parshendi/Parshmen are NOT VB and are strictly hosts. Based on the epigraphs, I'm fairly certain that the Listener gods are the Voidbringers and are probably the Unmade or Odiumspren at the very least.

 

5. After

[RShara]

2.  Is the blade that Dalinar had in Urithiru the same blade that he took from Taln? (Help on wording this appropriately is welcome.)

 

We're pretty sure that it isn't the same, so maybe ask, "Does Taln still have his Honorblade?"  That might be more likely to be answered

 

5.  I'm pretty sure it's been answered that Warbreaker happened first.  It's sort of a prequel giving Vasher's backstory.

[Luke.spence]

maybe ask, "Does Taln still have his Honorblade?"  That might be more likely to be answered

 

Ah, that's much better, thanks! I know that he'd probably sneak around this one if the wording wasn't right. But then again, I might just get RAFOed :/

[RShara]

Also you can bring a recorder, and ask to put it next to him, so you can record the entire signing (not just your questions)

 

Odium, Cultivation and Honor are confirmed as the 3 shards on Roshar.  I'm not sure if it's been confirmed that Odium is the Broken One, however.

[Edgedancer]

Lets see

1) We know that the Shardblade Spren can be revived, so I guess they are also "just as dead as [the associated] oaths," as Syl said, as well.

2) Most question on this topic will most likely get rafoed or not yield a proper answer but how about something like "Can Taln still summon a/his blade?"

3) Good question.

4) As Jasnah put it, because humaity could still use them.  How about "How could they be enslaved?" instead.

5)Warbreaker first from what I know.

 

Another question that is kind of floating around: "If Honorblades can´t be bonded why does Nalan think that Szeths had a bond to his blade and it broke?"

[Kurkistan]

Another question that is kind of floating around: "If Honorblades can´t be bonded why does Nalan think that Szeths had a bond to his blade and it broke?"

 

To clarify this one a bit: Could you (very very much) please get some clarity on this whole "can people bond Honorblades" question?

 

Source:

Q:  Can someone bond more than one honorblade

A:  Honorblade?  You can't bond an honorblade, though it can be given to you. Shardblades, however, come from a spren bond and it is possible to bond more than one.

 

People are interpreting this as "BUT HOW CAN SZETH BOND ONE THEN!?!?!?!!?", ( ) but it seems that there might either have been some mis-communication or that Brandon is trying to convey some subtlety about how they're "bestowed" or something, a subtlety that we've missed.

Edited March 18, 2014 by Kurkistan

[Argent]

1. No comment
2. Refer to my reply here for some scenarios that could explain what happened with the Honorblade. It might help you phrase the question better (though, if answered, its current form works well for me). You could ask if Bordin is truly loyal to Dalinar. You could also ask whether the queen has seen Taln and his Blade. 
3. I would also like to know that, but it's RAFO bait. My feeling is that you might get some hint about it by limiting the scope of the question. I can't give you an example, however...
4. Good question, but it sounds like something that would be explored in a future book and is therefore literal RAFO bait.
5. After

I can't think of much you can ask that's not RAFO material, actual. But I'd be curious to find out why Szeth was employed by the Parshendi on the night of Gavilar's assassination. Because they decided to kill him on that very night. 

 

I also think it would be useful to know whether Brandon considers parshmen and Parshendi in the "normal" forms (war-, mate-, nimble-, worker-, and dullform) to be Voidbringers, or if he reserves that name only for those who bond with voidspren.

[+rhaiynebow]

Something else that I found in another thread was about the Oldbloods. I searched the coppermind as well and it seems we know very little about them at this point. Not sure if you want to ask about them or not, but thought I'd bring it up since someone else suggested we might want to ask Brandon about them at some point. Soooo bummed I have to miss the Chicago/Milwaukee signings as we're going to be out of town  or I'd ask the question myself

[RShara]

You should ask, Which Map has the big hidden thing that Peter said we hadn't found yet   (WoR color, black and white, WoK color, black and white, Shadesmar, Silver Kingdoms, etc)

[Grayv]

I don't think that just because you have a shard and god like powers doesn't mean the people of the planet will consider you a god. Also it says "ruled", so maybe it is him, but then, are they talking about him ruling the voidbringers? Who was was ruling whom? And it will still be interesting to know who is the broken one who is still ruling.

[Luke.spence]

I forgot, my brother is coming with me, so I can have him ask some questions too (he hasn't read the books yet, so I won't have him ask anything too spoilery).

[Luke.spence]

To clarify this one a bit: Could you (very very much) please get some clarity on this whole "can people bond Honorblades" question?

 

Source:

 

People are interpreting this as "BUT HOW CAN SZETH BOND ONE THEN!?!?!?!!?", ( ) but it seems that there might either have been some mis-communication or that Brandon is trying to convey some subtlety about how they're "bestowed" or something, a subtlety that we've missed.

 

Hmm, how would you suggest wording it? I put down a generic question, "can normal humans bond an Honorblade?"

[Grayv]

Just thought of something, are the nightwatcher and Cusicesh broken? There is talk in the forum that these two are like the stormfather, and if this is so, could they be the ones ruling (over the Spren) and the stormfather is currently the one still doing his job in ruling?

This was kind of a spur-of-the-moment thought and wanted to see where it will go.

Edit: Now I know it is "3 of 16", but do we know how many big Spren there are? Axies says a few but does he mean a few = 3 or a few = not a lot but enough to be noticed?

Edited March 18, 2014 by Grayv

[Kurkistan]

We can be more blunt, I think. Something like "You've said 'You can't bond an honorblade', yet clearly Szeth had some connection to his. Could you please clarify what you meant? Is it accurate to call Szeth's connection to his Blade a 'bond', and if not what would you call it?"

[RShara]

maybe like, There's some confusion about Bonding Honorblades.  You said "Honorblades can't be bonded although you can be given one."  However, at the end, Nalan tells Szeth that his bond to his blade has been broken.  Can you clear that up?

[Grayv]

Ask him for information about one of the orders that is unknown yet that would have a very high chance of making the minds of us at the 17th implode (because explode is too cliche).

[Luke.spence]

Ask him for information about one of the orders that is unknown yet that would have a very high chance of making the minds of us at the 17th implode (because explode is too cliche).

 

This is a good idea. My avatar has the Dustbringer glyph, so as you might guess, I'm very interested in seeing what's up with them.

 

Maybe something as simple as, "What can you tell me about the Dustbringers?"

 

Edit:

 

I was just thinking about the letter in WoR, and thought of another possible question. Is the letter's author on Roshar? We know the author is from Yolen, but we don't know how connected he is to the events in the SA books. 

Edited March 18, 2014 by Luke.spence

[Argent]

Really, I am more curious about how those letters get around...

[Luke.spence]

Really, I am more curious about how those letters get around...

 

Email probably

[darkanimereal1]

Actually, I'm going to jump in here too. I was just about to make a topic about the same thing, but why do it twice?

 

I'm going tomorrow, but I want to make sure that my questions haven't already been answered. I've done some research and haven't come up with anything sound yet. (Even knowing if similar questions have been RAFO'd would be helpful.)

 

One of my biggest questions is about the Weepings. We know that Kal gets seasonally depressed by them, but that Shallan feels rejuvenated by them. This makes me wonder if the Weepings are more closely related to Cultivation than to Honor. Especially after learning that Roshar has a two year cycle -- one year a highstorm in the middle, one year without a highstorm in the middle -- it almost feels like a yin yang type of situation to balance the two out. However, I also have a gut feeling that the highstorms have been around longer than the shards, since most of life on Roshar has adapted so well. 

 

So, on that note, my questions are:

 

1. Were the highstorms around on Roshar before Honor and Cultivation came? (This seems like a likely RAFO target...)

 

2. We know that the Stormfather is a splinter of Honor and related to the highstorms, but does Cultivation have any hand in the highstorms as well? (The fact that lifespren are very active after the storms leads me to believe this may be the case.)

 

3. (Very similar to #2) Are the Weepings related to Cultivation?

 

4. Is the obsidian fortress that Dalinar sees in his vision that he believes is the Purelake somehow related to the fact that the Purelake is represented as mountains in Shadesmar? (Since we know land in Shadesmar is obsidian.)

 

5. Similarly, is the Purelake mountainous in Shadesmar because the lake is so shallow? (Basically, is it opposite?)

 

6. Did Taravangian go to the Nightwatcher before or after Gavilar's death? 

 

For that last one in particular, all evidence seems to point to Taravangian going after. I know there's been quite a bit of discussion about it, although I'm not sure if anyone's asked Brandon yet. That being said, the epitaph from chapter 78 ("CanwemaketouseaTruthlessCanwecraftaweapon") seems to imply that Taravangian purposely aimed to create a Truthless. If his Day of Brilliance came after Gavilar's death, why would he need to "create" a Truthless? He would just need to "obtain" one.This really bothers me, which is why I want to ask about it.

[Argent]

Maybe I can shed some light on some of your questions.

 

First, I don't think the highstorms are as ancient as you believe they are. In one of Dalinar's visions, the one where he plays the role of Heb and fights the Midnight Essences, he remarks on how none of the architecture seems designed with highstorms in mind. If I recall correctly he even sees glass windows in multiple sides of buildings - something he assumes is a product of the area being sheltered by natural rock formations or somesuch, but this line of thought felt... ignorant when I was reading it. Like something Dalinar would think because he doesn't know better. Also, one of the Radiants he meets there refers to Alethela and Urithiru, so the time period must be somewhere during the Silver Kingdoms epochs. All this being said, I've been wondering about the two-year cycle, so there might be something there.

 

Second... there is no second. I don't have anything interesting to say about the other questions.

[darkanimereal1]

Maybe I can shed some light on some of your questions.

 

First, I don't think the highstorms are as ancient as you believe they are. In one of Dalinar's visions, the one where he plays the role of Heb and fights the Midnight Essences, he remarks on how none of the architecture seems designed with highstorms in mind. If I recall correctly he even sees glass windows in multiple sides of buildings - something he assumes is a product of the area being sheltered by natural rock formations or somesuch, but this line of thought felt... ignorant when I was reading it. Like something Dalinar would think because he doesn't know better. Also, one of the Radiants he meets there refers to Alethela and Urithiru, so the time period must be somewhere during the Silver Kingdoms epochs. All this being said, I've been wondering about the two-year cycle, so there might be something there.

 

Second... there is no second. I don't have anything interesting to say about the other questions.

 

Ah, I had completely forgotten about that vision. I need to re-read TWoK (was just joking with a friend today that we should get paid to read.... lol). Thanks for pointing that out.

[Tempus]

Axehounds, Chulls, whitespines and the native vegetation have all evolved with the highstorms in mind - it seems weird to think they could have evolved in only a few thousand years. Especially since we know at least axehounds were around when humanity migrated to Roshar (from Wit's 'hound' comment). So the highstorms should be really old.

[Argent]

Axehounds, Chulls, whitespines and the native vegetation have all evolved with the highstorms in mind - it seems weird to think they could have evolved in only a few thousand years. Especially since we know at least axehounds were around when humanity migrated to Roshar (from Wit's 'hound' comment). So the highstorms should be really old.

 

I am not so sure here. The way I imagined it, there was a period on Roshar when all life was pretty Earth-like. So they had normal hounds, dogs, back then. Then the highstorms started showing up, for one reason or another, and all life had to adapt or die. Since you are right about the timescale being too short for evolution through natural selection, I am going to use my "A wizard did it!" card. Which I get to do, because we've already seen a case where a single Shard has modified entire species, if not an entire world, all in what would be considered an instant on the astronomical and evolutionary scales. I suspect Cultivation pulled some strings...