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concepts that brandon has used multiple times


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sometimes brandon uses the same concept in different stories. I'm not talking of random similarities, or stretched coincidences. I'm talking that sometimes I really get the feeling that two characters or plots are different twists on the same concept -  though of course that's subjective. I'm also not talking about a general theme, like "the guy that's introduced as the big bad at the beginning, isn't", which happens in almost all his books.

and I'm not saying that's bad, either.

the strongest for me is

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there are two brothers. the elder is great and is doing something important, the younger is unruly and unreliable. something happens, and the younger brother has to step up and do the job of the elder. not only the younger brother does an excellent job, but it is discovered that the elder brother wasn't actually well suited to the task in the first place

this is the story of siri and vivenna, but as soon as I read the oathbringer prologue, I realized it is also the story of dalinar and gavilar. the moment when it is revealed that gavilar the great king was trying to free the voidbringers, and wasn't such a great king after all, felt similar to the moment when vivenna sees t'telir and finds it revulsing, and the reader understands that she wasn't suited to marry the god king. It's really the first thing I thought, this is like with vivenna

and

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the protagonist spend most of the book in a quest, chasing something. when he finally finds it, it doesn't solve his problems, and he has to find another way.

this is both the quest for the atium in mistborn 3 (which is referenced as a quest in the annotations, brandon saying that he wanted to twist the general archetype by having the quest not turning up a miracolous solution) and the search for sandra of stephen leeds.

with those two cases, i really get the ffeeling that brandon was using the same idea. And again, that's not bad, it works both times.

there's also

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a street urchin with mystical powers she doesn't fully understand

vin and lift

 

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A man caused a terrible war in his past, now he's trying to atone for his misdeeds

vasher and dalinar

 

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The hero is in a hopeless situation, together with other doomed people. his only hope is to lead the others into overcoming it, but first he must give them hope, as they have no motivation to follow him otherwise

raoden in elantris, and kaladin in brodge 4

but I don't feel such a strong correlation for those.

gaotona in emperor's soul also tickles something in my mind, but i can't figure any other instance of "only honest man in a corrupted court"

 

Do you also feel sometimes that different story arcs are similarly related?

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No mothers are named fathers are mostly terrible.  Food in cities in desperate times causes riots which lead to deaths.  The leader remains honest and as such looses his position.  Religious institutions hide secrets from the general public.  Conspirators meet during courtly balls and people talk a lot during combat.

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Dead moms in the Cosmere, dead dads in the YA stuff. 

On 9/10/2019 at 5:28 PM, king of nowhere said:

there's also

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a street urchin with mystical powers she doesn't fully understand

vin and lift

This also works for Spensa, given her outsider status and rat-hunting.

For the YA books...all three start with the main character obsessed with a group that they've spent their whole lives around yet aren't allowed to join (Rithamitsts for Joel, pilots for Spensa, both Epics and Reckoners for David). They end up joining the group - or at least a fringe aspect of that group - and by the end of the book are the best in their skill group. Their social status has also changed by the end of the book (Spensa and David more dramatically than Joel). 

Alcatraz is just weird. Awesome, but weird.

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16 hours ago, Snorkel said:

The one that struck me from the first two books/series I started was:

 

Class prejudice, not just the expected snobbery, but the deep prejudice of the lower classes towards the upper.

 

9 hours ago, The Last Post said:

SA and MB?

not only. in rithmatist, we see people having a lot of hang-ups with rithmatists.

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The word maladroitly.

He uses it five times in the first MB book.

 

On 9/15/2019 at 8:16 AM, Singer said:

Beginning of the book/series; These are the rules of magic and facts of history that we all know to be true.

End of book/part way through series: Everything we know is a lie.

This is so true! It's also part of why i like his writing. He makes you try to find out how things will go wrong and when then how they get past it, rather than just how will they win.

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A some of his books have situations or problems that can’t be solved peacefully or easily.

Alethikar was united under one king and helped the kingdom, but doing so brought death and destruction.

The Lord Ruler killed thousands and did terrible things, but also prepared and fought against Ruin and ultimately helped stop him.

Elend wanted to create a peaceful and fair  kingdom, but to save humanity, he had to take control by force.

These things are terrible but needed to happen.

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  • 1 month later...

I was thinking about this recently, specifically with regard to Hero Who Unites Societal Outcasts and Gives Them Hope Again in Raoden and Kaladin.

 

I also think he has a strong tendency to write varied male characters, but way less varied female characters. His *principle* female characters tend to be very intelligent and often witty and they are regarded as unusual for it- implying that the majority of women in his various settings are decidedly not that way. Furthermore, female characters providing significant aid in areas other than intelligence are rare.

There are exceptions of course and he is getting better about this, imo. But within what I have read- Elantris, first Mistborn trilogy, and Stormlight- it is something I noticed.

I don't object to the genius girls, of course... *is a bit of a Jasnah stan* ...but since this thread is about repeated trends in his stories...

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  • 7 months later...
On 9/15/2019 at 8:00 PM, Use the Falchion said:

Dead moms in the Cosmere, dead dads in the YA stuff. 

This also works for Spensa, given her outsider status and rat-hunting.

For the YA books...all three start with the main character obsessed with a group that they've spent their whole lives around yet aren't allowed to join (Rithamitsts for Joel, pilots for Spensa, both Epics and Reckoners for David). They end up joining the group - or at least a fringe aspect of that group - and by the end of the book are the best in their skill group. Their social status has also changed by the end of the book (Spensa and David more dramatically than Joel). 

Alcatraz is just weird. Awesome, but weird.

Right on the money. Wish I could give you another point for that.

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