What were your reactions to the biggest Sanderson Reveals?

[danex]

Basically the title. I missed out on a lot of the big reveals through spoilers or other accidents. For example, in WoR I was just flipping through the book trying to find my spot (I wasn’t using a bookmark) and I saw the words “Jasnah said” so that was ruined for me. Also, I read Warbreaker after Stormlight, so when Nightblood showed up I didn’t get it at all. I also found out that Zahel and Azure were from Warbreaker before I read it, so my reaction was just “oh, they’re from that one book, okay then”. Also, I read secret history before Bands of Mourning, which is technically fine, but knowing that Kel was alive at all kinda took some punch out of BoM in my opinion. 
 

So what about you guys? What were some of your reactions? Which ones were ruined for you? What about some reveals that aren’t even explicitly stated in the books, like Vasher and Vivenna being in Stormlight? Did you figure out it was them while reading? If not, how did you find out, and what was your reaction?

Edited November 23, 2020 by Danex

[Eternal Khol]

19 minutes ago, Danex said:

which is technically fine, but knowing that Kel was alive at all kinda took some punch out of BoM in my opinion. 

It wasnt supposed to be a huge spoiler. In the annotations of Hero of Ages, Brandon confirms that Kel was getting around and doing things. Plus in the epilogue, there’s Harmony’s comment about Kel requesting that Spook be made Mistborn.

 

I kinda had a similar experience. I read most of the Cosmere books without actually knowing about the Cosmere. Then i found this site and went and looked up everything, on the Coppermind and was just like “oh, this guy is from the White sand world.” 
“Oh, so ruin and pres were shards... Wow”

I hadn’t even read Era 2 yet and had it all spoiled by questioning “who’s harmony?”

Edited August 29, 2020 by Eternal Khol

[Victory]

I got spoiled about Jasnah coming back too. I saw a post about Jasnah becoming queen in book 3, so I knew she couldn't stay dead. I was spoiled for Elhokar's death and I knew Nightblood, Vasher and Vivenna show up in Stormlight, so I wasn't surprised when they did. And I was also spoiled about who the kandra was in Shadows of Self. 

I had no idea who the three guys were in the interlude in Way of Kings, I didn't even think they were relevant until I saw people talking about it. And somehow it completely slipped by me that it's Kelsier at the end of Bands of Mourning the first time I read that scene. 

But there were still a bunch of twists  that caught me completely by surprise (humans being the Voidbringers, Denth's betrayal in Warbreaker, Vin's earring), so getting spoiled about some stuff didn't really take away from my enjoyment of the books. 

[Mat]

5 hours ago, Victory said:

Denth's betrayal in Warbreaker,

Me who hasn't read Warbreaker yet: I have an example!  

It's fine, though, I already knew about that, it's pretty hard to browse the Shard without major plot points coming up  

[danex]

Anyone have any positive reactions? What about the Nightblood reveal? People who read Warbreaker before Stormlight, what was that like?

[TheGirlWhoLookedUp]

The first thing that comes to mind is when I first read Oathbringer on the day it was published. I had finished WoR about a month earlier and absolutely could not wait for OB to come out. It’s nothing big, but the chapter where Kaladin returned to Hearthstone made me so happy and giddy. I mean I had been waiting for a reunion since WoK and now he had a brother too. I just remember the combined happiness of that chapter and a new book lasting for a while.

[trav]

the most interesting thing about Brandons cosmere books is the magic systems for me.

the means each and every reveal is only of small interest to me anyways.

I had the biggest reaction when I found out that Sazed was already protecting Scadrial from an outside force he did not know.

oh, and the reveal about what made the Knights Radiant quit. that one really made me smile as it is very much how I would have reacted in that situation. its a very relatable outcome.

[Hoidolasium]

When Dalinar pulled the heist trope of bonding to Taln's Shardblade before Amaram could decieve him, I laughed out loud.

I can't find the TVtropes page on it but the heist episode from Rick and Morty makes fun of that trope a lot, if you don't know what I'm talking about.

Edited September 1, 2020 by Hoidolasium

[ShrubSeph]

I figured out Vin's earring and who the hero of ages was about a chapter before the reveal, but I still thought those were great plot twists. I had read somewhere that Elhokar died before reading OB, but I didn't know It was Moash, and it still shocked me.

[Innovation]

I read Oathbringer before Warbreaker, so when I first read about Nightblood in the prologue, I was shocked. I kind of had some knowledge of the cosmere at that point, but this basically made me fully aware.  

Edited September 5, 2020 by Innovation

[Elsecaller_17.5]

I rage quit Warbreaker for a week when I came to Denth's betrayal. 

[Necessary Eagle]

Denth's betrayal was like a physical punch in the gut.

The Recreance reveal was kind of "meh" to me because Brandon had already said that humans weren't native to Roshar.

I was about 60% certain Sazed was the Hero of Ages by the end of WoA. Didn't see Vin's earring coming, though.

When Nightblood turned up at the end of WoR I think I screamed and ran around the room. Nale + Szeth + Nightblood = DOOOM FOR EVERYONE!! (I was shocked to see Szeth as a moderating influence in OB).

[Kingsdaughter613]

Mistborn:

Era 1: I figured out Vin’s earring as soon as enough Hemalurgy stuff happened, long before it was removed. I did NOT expect Saze to be the HoA, though I knew it wasn’t Vin at a certain point. Did not expect Kell’s sacrificial death plot. 
 

Era 2: Did not expect the Lessie is a Kandra thing, but I figured it out before Wax. Her being the governor surprised me.
 

I figured out the Sovereign was Kell as soon as Allik started talking about him. Threw my kindle down and started jumping up and down in delight. (My FIL was dying at the time, so the revelation happened exactly when I needed it.) I had read the annotations, so I knew he was around, but had not expected him to physically return that way. I did not figure out where the Bands were, but I knew it wasn’t in the temple. Too obvious.

 

Elantris: I figured out what was wrong with the city once the reveal of Aons being maps happened. I also figured out the earthquake was responsible before the characters. I figured out the real villain fairly early too, but not the motive. Did not expect the other magic system.

 

Stormlight Archive: Did not expect Dalinar to create a perpendicularity or to bond the Stormfather. Did not expect Taravangian’s ‘clinic’ or deal with Odium. Did not realize Cultivation chose to interfere directly with Dalinar. I did not recognize the three worldhoppers, but I wasn’t paying enough attention to them. Did not expect the Dyssian Aimians to be those weird bugs who’s name I’m not remembering.
 

The Recreance was a let down. I... never understood why Kaladin was so enamored with Moash and the betrayal was obvious. I did not expect whatever is going on with Jezrian’s death. (What IS that weapon?!) Nightblood was a shock.

 

Jasnah’s return came out of nowhere, and I found it annoying. It should have been better foreshadowed. Maya waking up a little was a pleasant, but not completely unexpected surprise. The scratched out eyes thing WAS. (And freaky.) 

 

White Sand:

I was UNpleasantly surprised by the loss of the sub plot involving a power shift in the non-human religion. Also disappointed in Ais’ gender swap; she should have faced additional cultural issues for not only being a Tracht, but also for defying female gender roles. This bothered me. Even in the prose I knew the obvious bad guy wasn’t the real one though.

Pleasantly surprised by Kenton choosing to stay on Dayside. VERY surprised by Baon being able to use Sand. Disappointed not to learn more about sky colors.

 

Shadows for Silence:

I don’t think much surprised me in that story, actually. It was cool though.

 

Can’t think of any more right now.

[garlick]

I've been reading the cosmere nearly from the begining, I guess the only surprise I was spoiled on was kelsier was still alive because Brandon made it clear to the fans that kelsiers story wasnt finished. So the instant the story of the lord ruler going south to help them learn the medallions I made the instant connection. 

 The reveal that made me loose my mind was Seth getting nightblood, then having to wait for oathbringer to see what he did with it. I mean the storming assassin in white got his hands on nightblood what good would come from that. Though I did always see him as the most honorable person on roshar, even if he wasn't ethical.

[+robardin]

On 8/29/2020 at 10:40 AM, Matrim's Dice said:

Me who hasn't read Warbreaker yet: I have an example!  

It's fine, though, I already knew about that, it's pretty hard to browse the Shard without major plot points coming up  

D'oh!!!

I got minorly spoiled for some Cosmere details I hadn't really noticed, like the whole thing about Hoid ("Who's that?!"), but in general when I discovered this site I'd read almost every Cosmere work plus The Emperor's Soul, needing to catch up on only the short stories (Forests of Hell, Sixth of the Dusk) for printed stuff.

People also dropped mention of White Sand as an unpublished work, which I ignored until I could read the "canonical" graphic novels. Similarly, I have managed to willfully ignore or to maintain official ignorance of anything about Yolen, fain, or aether as coming from unpublished works (though I obviously know the terms, and know the name "Frost" as the target and respondent to two of Hoid's letters and that he is a dragon originally from, and apparently still residing on, a world/planet called Yolen, whence came Hoid and presumably most or all of the 16 Vessels involved in the Shattering), and why I won't read The Way of Kings Prime. Sure it sounds like fun, but I am afraid it would just muddy my head as to what is canonical and what is not, until the whole cake is baked at any rate (which I should be so lucky to live to see, as I am turning 50 years old soon!).

I had not figured out that Zahel = Vasher until I had it pointed out to me here, even with the hint about him falling asleep still expecting to hear a voice in his head talking to him; but I definitely picked up immediately on Azure = Vivenna (not that hard once the first equivalence was revealed), same with the three worldhoppers in the Purelake (except of course, at the time I read that scene White Sand had not yet been canonically published, so I did not recognize Baon). Well actually I may not have identified Demoux.

The biggest "reveal" moment to me - other than something intentionally epic, like the climactic ending to The Hero of Ages - was near the end of Words of Radiance, when Nalan resurrects a just-killed Szeth and throws a sheathed sword at him that said, would you like to destroy some evil today? (I would like to think that I would have picked up on Zahel = Vasher on a subsequent re-read of WoR, but I saw other people's realization of that here before I did my first re-read of WoR.)

[Innovation]

4 hours ago, robardin said:

I had not figured out that Zahel = Vasher until I had it pointed out to me here, even with the hint about him falling asleep still expecting to hear a voice in his head talking to him

I thought that was a Spren that had broken a bond with him. Still, I was very confused about Zahel. Then I decided to browse the coppermind late at night, discovered this, and couldn’t sleep for hours. 

Edited September 15, 2020 by Innovation

[Shard of Reading]

Me after finding about the cosmere: What. What. What. Oh my gosh!!!!! (Keep in mind this was in the middle of science class)

Me 3 hours later: 

Me before I go to bed: ZZZZZZ.....

 

[Chasmgoat]

This isn't cosmere but it is Sanderson. (Calamity)

I was flipping around trying to find my spot and only saw these four words

Spoiler

Calamity is an epic

and so I put the book down and stared at a wall for ten minutes

 

[ima willshaper]

Not a lot of things were spoiled for me, probably because I didn't really start reading things on here or on the Coppermind for a while. A lot of the things I figured out and got super excited about figuring out were things that I realized later had been figured out for a looong time already... which was a bummer. There was a long couple of years where I didn't know a lot about cosmere stuff as a whole, but I did know that the cosmere connected everything and finding Hoid has been my favorite kind of easter egg for basically forever.

The biggest, most exciting reveal for me that I can remember was Szeth getting Nightblood, at which point I definitely hopped up and down screaming. I did figure out that Zahel and Azure were Vasher and Vivenna without help... but other than that everything else has mentioned (Vin's earring, Denth's betrayal, who the Hero of Ages is, the thing about humans not being native to Roshar) was a big shocker to me. Partly because I hadn't read anyone else's theories yet.