[Poll] [Discuss] Did Jasnah do the right thing?

[SomeRandomPeasant]

1 hour ago, Pathfinder said:

So just dropping in to explain this aspect. Water is the only known nonmetallic liquid that expands and floats when turned into a solid. Everything else constricts and sinks. 

As to the interaction frustration is referring to is the conservation of density regarding soulcasting. That is why the Boulder soulcast to smoke blasted out with such force. By changing the stone (very dense) to smoke (less dense), she made a whole lot of smoke super compressed in a small area. The environment seeking to reach equilibrium causes the smoke to violently shoot out. Apparently in the real world it would be as violent as TNT but for the sake of magic Brandon made it less violent.

So regarding your idea. By changing the rock to oil, the oil would overflow because there would be so much of it. The assailant might even be shot into the air depending on if Brandon would have it act like a geyser (also depending on how deep and narrow the pit was). 

But assuming that did not happen, and the assailant plopped into the liquid calmly, then changing the oil back to stone would be changing it to something very dense. We have not seen anyone become encased in stone in the manner you are suggesting so it may very well crush them. Think in a way what happens to water freezing in a Crack of cement. It pushes the cement out, widening the Crack. Just in this case, the action would be in the reverse direction.

Would it expand so much that it would kill them? Every time we have seen transformation used on Roshar, there is no violent TNT explosion when rock or flesh is changed into smoke.  When Shallan transformed a solid ship into water, and everyone on board just fell.  They weren't blasted away or get shot into the air like a geyser.

18 minutes ago, LewsTherinTelescope said:

Also, better hope none gets into their pores or skin or nose or mouth, otherwise they are dying a very excruciating death when it gets changed back.

How much oil would get in someones skin in the 10 seconds that they would be submerged in oil.  Skin is made to block liquids like oil.

Edited January 28, 2022 by SomeRandomPeasant

[Pathfinder]

20 minutes ago, SomeRandomPeasant said:

Would it expand so much that it would kill them? Every time we have seen transformation used on Roshar, there is no violent TNT explosion when rock or flesh is changed into smoke.  When Shallan transformed a solid ship into water, everyone on board just fell.  They weren't blasted away.

I think where the confusion is coming in, is the oil changing to stone is constricting not expanding. When the boulder was changed by Jasnah to smoke, it exploded outwards. That is due to the change in density. Taking stone, high density, into smoke, low density. It is why when they soulcast air to stone, Adolin comments on feeling a rush of wind moving towards the soulcasting. Because you need "more" air to equate the density of the stone they used to make a windbreak. Technically when a person is turned into stone or quartz, they should shrink, but for narrative purposes Brandon kept that out because it would look silly to take a corpse and make it into a figurine (not that extreme, but you get the idea). So the stone would constrict someone encased in liquid when turned to stone. They just may not pop like a bubble, but be crushed, or be unable to expand/contract their ribcage to breath. Maybe if I post a bunch of WoB on the subject matter that would explain it better than I would. 

20 minutes ago, SomeRandomPeasant said:

How much oil would get in someones skin in the 10 seconds that they would be submerged in oil.  Skin is made to block liquids like oil.

It is the idea that it is being constricted/compressed, and things will always move from that of most resistance to that of least resistance and the human body and its various orfices are spots of lesser resistance. Sorry to be gruesome/morbid. Have you ever seen the youtube videos of what happens to things when put into a hydraulic press?

 

 

Hmmm, for some reason I have been having trouble finding the WoB I know for a fact exist lately. There is a rather long one where someone explains how much force the boulder changing to smoke should be and about changing corpses to stone would result in them shrinking, and Brandon explains he had to pull back a bit on the reaction for that reason, but it is still there. So far I only found this one that alludes to it. 

 

Sorana (paraphrased)

Is Soulcasting volume- or mass-preserving?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

It's mass-preserving, but there are some strange things going on and that's why we don't get as much explosions as we should. You can see a bit of what is going on when Jasnah Soulcasts air, there are some little reactions, but not as strong as you ought to get.

Stuttgart signing (May 17, 2019)

Edited January 28, 2022 by Pathfinder

[Frustration]

9 minutes ago, SomeRandomPeasant said:

Would it expand so much that it would kill them? Every time we have seen transformation used on Roshar, there is no violent TNT explosion when rock or flesh is changed into smoke.  When Shallan transformed a solid ship into water, and everyone on board just fell.  They weren't blasted away or get shot into the air like a geyser.

The mass of the stone should be the same once it switched back, but now someone's feet are in the way, and stone is coming in on all directions.

14 minutes ago, SomeRandomPeasant said:

How much oil would get in someones skin in the 10 seconds that they would be submerged in oil.  Skin is made to block liquids like oil.

Oil is a small non-polar molecule so it can get a lot of places.

3 minutes ago, Pathfinder said:

Hmmm, for some reason I have been having trouble finding the WoB I know for a fact exist lately. There is a rather long one where someone explains how much force the boulder changing to smoke should be and about changing corpses to stone would result in them shrinking, and Brandon explains he had to pull back a bit on the reaction for that reason, but it is still there. So far I only found this one that alludes to it. 

Yeah I remember that one, I just looked for it, but Can't find it at the moment

[SomeRandomPeasant]

10 minutes ago, Pathfinder said:

I think where the confusion is coming in, is the oil changing to stone is constricting not expanding. When the boulder was changed by Jasnah to smoke, it exploded outwards. That is due to the change in density. Taking stone, high density, into smoke, low density. It is why when they soulcast air to stone, Adolin comments on feeling a rush of wind moving towards the soulcasting. Because you need "more" air to equate the density of the stone they used to make a windbreak. Technically when a person is turned into stone or quartz, they should shrink, but for narrative purposes Brandon kept that out because it would look silly to take a corpse and make it into a figurine (not that extreme, but you get the idea). So the stone would constrict someone encased in liquid when turned to stone. They just may not pop like a bubble, but be crushed, or be unable to expand/contract their ribcage to breath. Maybe if I post a bunch of WoB on the subject matter that would explain it better than I would. 

 

Hmmm, for some reason I have been having trouble finding the WoB I know for a fact exist lately. There is a rather long one where someone explains how much force the boulder changing to smoke should be and about changing corpses to stone would result in them shrinking, and Brandon explains he had to pull back a bit on the reaction for that reason, but it is still there. So far I only found this one that alludes to it. 

 

Sorana (paraphrased)

Is Soulcasting volume- or mass-preserving?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

It's mass-preserving, but there are some strange things going on and that's why we don't get as much explosions as we should. You can see a bit of what is going on when Jasnah Soulcasts air, there are some little reactions, but not as strong as you ought to get.

Stuttgart signing (May 17, 2019)

If you don't like my idea, fine.  But if it is actually impossible to Jasnah to do anything but kill the footpads than that would be so lame.  Jasnah is the most powerful soulcaster on Roshar and she can't even find a way subdue three men?  If she her only two options were to leave them alone or execute them than that would take away her agency as a character.  

[Pathfinder]

21 minutes ago, SomeRandomPeasant said:

If you don't like my idea, fine.  But if it is actually impossible to Jasnah to do anything but kill the footpads than that would be so lame.  Jasnah is the most powerful soulcaster on Roshar and she can't even find a way subdue three men?  If she her only two options were to leave them alone or execute them than that would take away her agency as a character.  

I am sorry, the reason why I quoted the portion I did and said I was only commenting on that, was because my intention was not to prove your opinion right or wrong. I meant to just inform on the function because I felt there was a fundamental misunderstanding that resulted in you two talking past each other. So I just wanted to clear the air a bit on how soulcasting works. 

Now separate from that, we don't know if it is possible to soulcast directly around someone anything really. Bonds, stone, water, or what have you. People have asked if a person's innate investiture interferes with that. But we also have WoB that state soulcasters (the fabrial) are experienced in getting through resisting investiture, so one would imagine a radiant soulcaster would be more proficient. I agree Jasnah is incredibly skilled. Shallan commented on how when Jasnah ran out of ink, she would soulcast portions of the page to fire to etch words into it. Jasnah was able to soulcast air into stones attached to the wall while actively running up the steps she creates. I am just not sure about some of the mechanics presented.

Also to clarify I was not intending to seem like I supported or was against Frustration's point about her being unable to subdue the assailants. Personally I feel it is immaterial because apprehending them, in my opinion accomplishes nothing. But that is my own opinion and understanding on the situation, not the function. Up until that sentence, I was only commenting on the function. Hope that clarifies things .

Edited January 28, 2022 by Pathfinder

[Frustration]

27 minutes ago, Pathfinder said:

Jasnah was able to soulcast air into stones attached to the wall while actively running up the steps she creates. I am just not sure about some of the mechanics presented.

Small point to note, that was difficult for her to do, even with Dalinar having made soulcasting easier by forming a perpendicularity.

And while that does give us a referance point that's not her baseline skill.

Other than that good analysis

Edited January 28, 2022 by Frustration

[Pathfinder]

17 minutes ago, Frustration said:

Small point to note, that was difficult for her to do, even with Dalinar having made soulcasting easier by forming a perpendicularity.

And while that does give us a referance point that's not her baseline skill.

Other than that good analysis

Ehhh, at this point we may end up digressing from the topic at hand, but I have had this type of conversation before, and if I recall correctly, if you line up the events in the book with when Dalinar opened the perpendicularity, Jasnah did all that before it opened. She had already ascended the steps, and Renarin followed her, when Glys then told Renarin to look, and Renarin peeked over to see Dalinar unite the realms. So even thought we "read" it first in order in the book, there were multiple things happening at the same time. So Jasnah doing the steps actually preceded the uniting of the realms. But if you give me a moment I will pull up the scene to recall. I know I looked it up in the past for certainty, but now I am going on memory

 

Pulling up the scene helps explain the confusion. Jasnah makes steps from air on two separate occasions. One from Renarin's PoV, and one from her own PoV. The first time, she does that prior to the uniting of the realms. It is on page 1138, and here is the quote (spoilered for length):

Spoiler

 

Renarin fell to the last level of the city, the Low Ward. he stumbled to a stop there, his hand slipping from Jasnah's. Soldiers marched through these streets, with eyes like embers. 

"Jasnah!" he called. "Amaram's soldiers changed sides. They serve Odium now! I saw it in a vision!"

She ran right toward them

"jasnah!"

The first soldier swung his word at her. Jasnah ducked the weapon, then shoved her hand against him, throwing him backward. He crystallized in the air, slamming into the next man, who caught the transformation like a disease. He slammed into another man, knocking him back, as if the full force of Jasnah's shove had transferred to him. He crystallized a moment later. 

Jasnah spun, a Shardblade forming in her gloved safehand, her skirt rippling as she sliced through six men in one sweep. The sword vanished as she slapped her hand into the wall of a building behind her, and that wall puffed away into smoke, causing the roof to crash down, blocking the alley between the buildings, where the other soldiers had been approaching.

She swept her hand upward, and air coalesced into stone, forming steps that she took - barely breaking her stride - to climb to the rooftop of the next building.

Renarin gaped. That - How-

"It will be.....great..... vast..... wonderful!" Glys said from within Renarin's heart. "It will be beautiful, Renarin! Look!

A well blossomed inside of him. Power like he'd never before felt, an awesome, overwhelming strength. Stormlight unending. A source of it so vast, he was stunned.

"Jasnah?" he shouted, then belatedly ran up the steps she'd created, feeling so alive that he wanted to dance. Wouldn't that be a sight? Renarin Kholin dancing on a rooftop while...

He slowed, gaping again as he looked through a gap in the wall and saw a column of light. Rising higher and higher, it stretched toward the clouds.

 

So as you can see, Jasnah did the "disease" soulcasting of three men, soulcasted a wall to smoke, and soulcast steps from air while she ran up them, all before the realms were united. Renarin did not feel it till after she accomplished all of that. 

Edited January 28, 2022 by Pathfinder

[Frustration]

50 minutes ago, Pathfinder said:

Ehhh, at this point we may end up digressing from the topic at hand, but I have had this type of conversation before, and if I recall correctly, if you line up the events in the book with when Dalinar opened the perpendicularity, Jasnah did all that before it opened. She had already ascended the steps, and Renarin followed her, when Glys then told Renarin to look, and Renarin peeked over to see Dalinar unite the realms. So even thought we "read" it first in order in the book, there were multiple things happening at the same time. So Jasnah doing the steps actually preceded the uniting of the realms. But if you give me a moment I will pull up the scene to recall. I know I looked it up in the past for certainty, but now I am going on memory

 

Pulling up the scene helps explain the confusion. Jasnah makes steps from air on two separate occasions. One from Renarin's PoV, and one from her own PoV. The first time, she does that prior to the uniting of the realms. It is on page 1138, and here is the quote (spoilered for length):

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Renarin fell to the last level of the city, the Low Ward. he stumbled to a stop there, his hand slipping from Jasnah's. Soldiers marched through these streets, with eyes like embers. 

"Jasnah!" he called. "Amaram's soldiers changed sides. They serve Odium now! I saw it in a vision!"

She ran right toward them

"jasnah!"

The first soldier swung his word at her. Jasnah ducked the weapon, then shoved her hand against him, throwing him backward. He crystallized in the air, slamming into the next man, who caught the transformation like a disease. He slammed into another man, knocking him back, as if the full force of Jasnah's shove had transferred to him. He crystallized a moment later. 

Jasnah spun, a Shardblade forming in her gloved safehand, her skirt rippling as she sliced through six men in one sweep. The sword vanished as she slapped her hand into the wall of a building behind her, and that wall puffed away into smoke, causing the roof to crash down, blocking the alley between the buildings, where the other soldiers had been approaching.

She swept her hand upward, and air coalesced into stone, forming steps that she took - barely breaking her stride - to climb to the rooftop of the next building.

Renarin gaped. That - How-

"It will be.....great..... vast..... wonderful!" Glys said from within Renarin's heart. "It will be beautiful, Renarin! Look!

A well blossomed inside of him. Power like he'd never before felt, an awesome, overwhelming strength. Stormlight unending. A source of it so vast, he was stunned.

"Jasnah?" he shouted, then belatedly ran up the steps she'd created, feeling so alive that he wanted to dance. Wouldn't that be a sight? Renarin Kholin dancing on a rooftop while...

He slowed, gaping again as he looked through a gap in the wall and saw a column of light. Rising higher and higher, it stretched toward the clouds.

 

So as you can see, Jasnah did the "disease" soulcasting of three men, soulcasted a wall to smoke, and soulcast steps from air while she ran up them, all before the realms were united. Renarin did not feel it till after she accomplished all of that. 

That is a point however I woud like to point out two other quotes.

this one from page 1151

Spoiler

"Once their souls would have resisted mightily. Soulcastinf living things was difficult; it usually required care and consentration-and along with proper knowlegde and porcedure. Today, the men puffed away to smoke at her barest thought."

and this from page 1157

Spoiler

"Individual axi of air lined up and packed next to each other, then soulcast to stone-though in spite of the realms being linked, this was difficult."

So making steps was harder than soulcasting people.

[Pathfinder]

14 minutes ago, Frustration said:

That is a point however I woud like to point out two other quotes.

this one from page 1151

  Reveal hidden contents

"Once their souls would have resisted mightily. Soulcastinf living things was difficult; it usually required care and consentration-and along with proper knowlegde and porcedure. Today, the men puffed away to smoke at her barest thought."

and this from page 1157

  Reveal hidden contents

"Individual axi of air lined up and packed next to each other, then soulcast to stone-though in spite of the realms being linked, this was difficult."

So making steps was harder than soulcasting people.

Put side by side like that, that may certainly be the case. My intention on the reference was to show Jasnah at baseline, no perpendicularity, could soulcast people, and air at speed. Now regarding difficulty gradients between the two, I couldn't say. Maybe the reason for the quotes is since air is very transitive and hard to "fit in a box" as it were, versus people who are very much "I am me" so easier to single out, might indicate the difference? Jasnah does also comment how broken chunks of rock were easier to soulcast so Shallan could practice, rather than soulcasting a layer of rock into oil to be ignited into flame like Jasnah did. 

Edited January 28, 2022 by Pathfinder

[CryoZenith]

20 hours ago, Pathfinder said:

Now separate from that, we don't know if it is possible to soulcast directly around someone anything really. Bonds, stone, water, or what have you. People have asked if a person's innate investiture interferes with that.

Wouldn't it be really weird if a person's innate investiture was enough to interfere with soulcasting around them, but not enough to interfere with soulcasting them? Unless I'm missing something.

[Pathfinder]

3 hours ago, CryoZenith said:

Wouldn't it be really weird if a person's innate investiture was enough to interfere with soulcasting around them, but not enough to interfere with soulcasting them? Unless I'm missing something.

I would pull up some WoB, but the Arcanum has been a bit sketchy of late. WoB's that I know for a fact exist, I cannot locate anymore, and another individual has confirmed that they experienced the same thing. So going off of my own recollection, there were WoB that discussed how an individuals natural investiture can interfere with some magics. That the individual has like a "investiture field". We know this interferes with cohesion. I agree with you, as I said, we have WoB that soulcasters (fabrial) are experienced pushing through innate investiture to transform things. We even have a WoB that a soulcaster (fabrial) could soulcast a 

Spoiler

full metal mind.

So my instinct is to say they can, but we also don't know if someone moving affects it. Now we have seen targets that are moving being soulcasted without difficulty, but that is with focus being on an individual target. Would lining up axi of air and keeping it lined up around a target that is moving through space, snug enough to ensnare a person be just too difficult? I don't know. Now an individual could simply soulcast a lip of stone just in front of the running person, causing them to trip and fall, and then soulcast a long block of heavy stone or metal over the person (not around nor binding, I mean a heavy slab of stone just above the person so it drops onto their body spread out). That way the weight of the slab would keep them immobilized. Now the weight could be measured incorrectly, resulting in crushing the person, or not being heavy enough to immobilize. Further another individual could come over and try to free him. But just musing on the function. Not trying to prove or disprove that someone could be apprehended. 

(also have to keep in mind no one was running till after Jasnah soulcasted the first guy. So if any of what I said would work, it would be after the inciting attack)

Edited January 29, 2022 by Pathfinder

[CryoZenith]

1 hour ago, Pathfinder said:

I would pull up some WoB, but the Arcanum has been a bit sketchy of late. WoB's that I know for a fact exist, I cannot locate anymore, and another individual has confirmed that they experienced the same thing. So going off of my own recollection, there were WoB that discussed how an individuals natural investiture can interfere with some magics. That the individual has like a "investiture field". We know this interferes with cohesion. I agree with you, as I said, we have WoB that soulcasters (fabrial) are experienced pushing through innate investiture to transform things. 

Nono, perhaps I wasn't clear enough about what confused me about what you said. I totally agree that innate investiture might interfere with soulcasting around a person. I also agree that soulcasting without people nearby is easier than soulcasting with people nearby. The only thing I find confusing is, as I said, the idea that soulcasting around a person is harder than soulcasting the person. That soulcasting objects, such as rope, around someone is harder than turning the person into rope.

It might be that the innate investiture field, as you called it, has a weird shape, such that its maximum amplitude is slightly above rather than below the skin, but that doesn't explain how steelpushing works. If interference worked like that, rings would be harder to Push than earrings, which is not the case.

[RedBlue]

I’m seeing a lot of discussion here about whether Jasnah could realistically have captured the men alive, but I don’t think anybody has mentioned that Jasnah’s soulcasting was a secret at that point in the story. If she had used soulcasting in front of the thugs and then turned them over to authorities, stories about her would have been floating around beyond Jasnah’s control, and people who know what they’re looking for would have put the pieces together and known that Jasnah was a Radiant. 

In short, even if Jasnah were capable of capturing the thugs alive, this would have jeopardised her own safety.

[Frustration]

32 minutes ago, RedBlue said:

I’m seeing a lot of discussion here about whether Jasnah could realistically have captured the men alive, but I don’t think anybody has mentioned that Jasnah’s soulcasting was a secret at that point in the story. If she had used soulcasting in front of the thugs and then turned them over to authorities, stories about her would have been floating around beyond Jasnah’s control, and people who know what they’re looking for would have put the pieces together and known that Jasnah was a Radiant. 

In short, even if Jasnah were capable of capturing the thugs alive, this would have jeopardised her own safety.

Her soulcaster was public knowledge

[Anomander Rake]

30 minutes ago, RedBlue said:

I’m seeing a lot of discussion here about whether Jasnah could realistically have captured the men alive, but I don’t think anybody has mentioned that Jasnah’s soulcasting was a secret at that point in the story. If she had used soulcasting in front of the thugs and then turned them over to authorities, stories about her would have been floating around beyond Jasnah’s control, and people who know what they’re looking for would have put the pieces together and known that Jasnah was a Radiant. 

In short, even if Jasnah were capable of capturing the thugs alive, this would have jeopardised her own safety.

Unless she's also displaying her Soulcasting ability to the authorities, I'm inclined to believe it would get written off as wild rumor.

Three street thugs pronouncing that the Princess of Alethkar has turned their fourth vagrant friend into smoke without a working soulcaster.

It's almost like an Onion article written by the Ardentia XD

[Anomander Rake]

6 minutes ago, Frustration said:

Her soulcaster was public knowledge

I think he meant foregoing the guise of using the fabrial and just using the surge to do the deed, though I may have misinterpreted what he wrote!

[NameIess]

5 minutes ago, Anomander Rake said:

Unless she's also displaying her Soulcasting ability to the authorities, I'm inclined to believe it would get written off as wild rumor.

Three street thugs pronouncing that the Princess of Alethkar has turned their fourth vagrant friend into smoke without a working soulcaster.

It's almost like an Onion article written by the Ardentia XD

But she had a working soulcaster. Shallan only swapped it after Jasnah killed the men.

[RedBlue]

3 minutes ago, Anomander Rake said:

 

11 minutes ago, Frustration said:

Her soulcaster was public knowledge

I think he meant foregoing the guise of using the fabrial and just using the surge to do the deed, though I may have misinterpreted what he wrote!

 

Yes. Unless I remember wrong, what Jasnah did was clearly beyond the normal use of soulcasters.

And while many would have written off the resulting rumours as a tall tale, there are people like Taravangian and the Skybreakers around who would hear about this and join the dots. 

[Pathfinder]

And we know Jasnah was attempting to maintain the ruse even then. WoB below shows she broke the smoke stone on purpose to appear like a normal soulcaster. I beleive there is another WoB that is even clearer but I am on my phone ATM so finding it is a little interesting 

 

Coltonx9

Why do the gems in Jasnah's Soulcaster break when she is using her own ability in the first book?

Brandon Sanderson

Jasnah is very good at fooling people.

Footnote: This may be a mistake. Shallan has also caused gems to crack when Soulcasting in Words of Radiance chapter 7.
Skyward Pre-Release AMA (Oct. 22, 2018)

[Frustration]

17 minutes ago, RedBlue said:

Yes. Unless I remember wrong, what Jasnah did was clearly beyond the normal use of soulcasters.

And while many would have written off the resulting rumours as a tall tale, there are people like Taravangian and the Skybreakers around who would hear about this and join the dots. 

Soulcaster capabilities aren't public knowledge, no one who would know would be able to tell.

And on top of that theives are known for exagerating tales, there would be no reason to trust them.

[Pathfinder]

26 minutes ago, Frustration said:

Soulcaster capabilities aren't public knowledge, no one who would know would be able to tell.

And on top of that theives are known for exagerating tales, there would be no reason to trust them.

It looks like it was Shallan, not the theives that Jasnah was worried about seeing her true soulcasting. Jasnah hid her true soulcasting three times in front of shallan. The alley was just the second time.

Edited February 1, 2022 by Pathfinder

[Anomander Rake]

5 hours ago, Nameless said:

But she had a working soulcaster. Shallan only swapped it after Jasnah killed the men.

forgive me - I wrote what I did under the assumption that in that situation Jasnah was displaying her ability to Soulcast via radiant powers, not a fabrial.  The limit of what wild stuff jasnah could or could not have done with the normal soulcaster + her powers to still abate suspicion i do not know, but yeah, normal soulcasting, even stuff that skirts the limits of normal, would not have done anything to be questionable 

5 hours ago, RedBlue said:

Yes. Unless I remember wrong, what Jasnah did was clearly beyond the normal use of soulcasters.

And while many would have written off the resulting rumours as a tall tale, there are people like Taravangian and the Skybreakers around who would hear about this and join the dots. 

Absolutely yeah.  She'd def have her cover blown, but only by those well in the know, who'd probably figure it out pretty quickly.

[NameIess]

Just now, Anomander Rake said:

forgive me - I wrote what I did under the assumption that in that situation Jasnah was displaying her ability to Soulcast via radiant powers, not a fabrial.  The limit of what wild stuff jasnah could or could not have done with the normal soulcaster + her powers to still abate suspicion i do not know, but yeah, normal soulcasting, even stuff that skirts the limits of normal, would not have done anything to be questionable 

Well, actually you were right that Jasnah didn't have a functioning soulcaster, but everyone thought she did.

 

[Anomander Rake]

2 hours ago, Nameless said:

Well, actually you were right that Jasnah didn't have a functioning soulcaster, but everyone thought she did.

 

fml XD.  I meant what RedBlue originally did, that she was purposefully letting people know she had the ability to soulcast.

[Pathfinder]

So was re-reading a section in rhythm of war page 755 for another thread when I found an interesting tidbit about soulcasting. It seems difficultly not only depends on the material but the mood the material is in at the time. So in this case air is normally harder than stone, but because the air was stagnant and "bored", it was easier than the "happy" stone

 

"Steady stone, a part of her mind thought. Happy and pleased with its life on the plains. No, it would resist her requests to change."

"She reached out to the air, which was stagnant and morose today. Draining Stormlight from the gemstones at her waist, she gave it a single command. Change. No begging, as she’d tried when younger. Only firmness. The bored air accepted, and formed into oil all around them."

 

Edit: oh and it is also mentioned how when she changed the air to oil, everyone in the area ended up with some of it in their mouths causing both sides to gag and cough. I am assuming because it changed while being inhaled.

Edited February 3, 2022 by Pathfinder