I'm reading The Stormlight Archive for the first time

[Amira]

SA2½ chapter 15: Wow, Szeth looked at Lift! So his new spren is a smoky sword? And what's up with that after image? And if all of Darkness' folks are Skybreakers, why is Szeth the only one who has an after image? So many questions. It's weird to suddenly not know anything about Szeth's powers.

[JohnnyKaizen]

What Cosmere novels have you read outside I’m of Stormlight Archive?

[alder24]

8 hours ago, Amira said:

SA2½ chapter 15: Wow, Szeth looked at Lift! So his new spren is a smoky sword? And what's up with that after image? And if all of Darkness' folks are Skybreakers, why is Szeth the only one who has an after image? So many questions. It's weird to suddenly not know anything about Szeth's powers.

Szeth and the sword will be back in Oathbringer, with some answers.

Szeth's afterimage is a thing, if you want to know why he is that, here is a WoB, with no spoilers, that answers this question:

Spoiler

Ray745

Is Lift the only one who is able to see the afterimage around Szeth when he moves? And would she have seen that afterimage around him before he was brought back to life by Nalan?

Brandon Sanderson

Lift is seeing that Szeth's soul isn't quite attached to his body any longer. She is not the only one that can see it, but her special physiology is certainly helping her see it.

General Reddit 2016 (Dec. 5, 2016)

 

[Treamayne]

14 hours ago, Amira said:

SA2½ chapter 15: Wow, Szeth looked at Lift! So his new spren is a smoky sword? And what's up with that after image? And if all of Darkness' folks are Skybreakers, why is Szeth the only one who has an after image? So many questions. It's weird to suddenly not know anything about Szeth's powers.

Well, if you have been looking at the 'double eye" graphic at the front of Way of Kings you may (or may not) have realized how the Orders and Surges overlap (very slight spoilers if you haven't)

Spoiler

Windrunners are top-right, with the surges of Adhesion and Gravitation. As you go clockwise around the graphic, you can see that each pair of orders have a shared surge (though how they use it may be slightly different); so you can see that Skybreakers are to the right of Windrunners and they share the Surge of Gravitation. However, their second surge is shared with the Order of Dustbringers. Slightly more spoilers - worldbuilding:

Spoiler

Windrunners    Adhesion    Gravitation
Skybreakers    Gravitation    Division
Dustbringers    Division    Abrasion
Edgedancers    Abrasion    Progression
Truthwatchers    Progression    Illumination
Lightweavers    Illumination    Transformation
Elsecallers    Transformation    Transportation
Willshapers    Transportation    Cohesion
Stonewards    Cohesion    Tension
Bondsmiths    Tension        Adhesion

 

12 hours ago, JohnnyKaizen said:

What Cosmere novels have you read outside I’m of Stormlight Archive?

Amira started with Stormlight Archive and requests no spoilers for other Cosmere works. She did recently complete Tress with a reading group; but we are still keeping this thread as Stormlight centric as possible and spoilertag everything please. Sometimes we will answer her question with spoilers inside a spoiler tag - explain why it is tagged so she can decide if she wants to peek at the spoiler or not. For example:

14 hours ago, Amira said:

So his new spren is a smoky sword?

Spoilers for Sword-nimi's history:

Spoiler

The sword's name is Nightblood, and most of the history and information on him was introduced in Warbreaker. Warbreaker also has two other charachters that appear in Stormlight Archive - one of whom you have already seen in Words of Radiance under a different name.

 

Edited April 15, 2023 by Treamayne
SPAG

[JohnnyKaizen]

6 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

  Hide contents

  Reveal hidden contents

Windrunners    Adhesion    Gravitation
Skybreakers    Gravitation    Division
Dustbringers    Division    Abrasion
Edgedancers    Abrasion    Progression
Truthwatchers    Progression    Illumination
Lightweavers    Illumination    Transformation
Elsecallers    Transformation    Transportation
Willshapers    Transportation    Cohesion
Stonewards    Cohesion    Tension
Bondsmiths    Tension        Adhesion

 

Amira started with Stormlight Archive and requests no spoilers for other Cosmere works. She did recently complete Tress with a reading group; but we are still keeping this thread as Stormlight centric as possible and spoilertag everything please. Sometimes we will answer her question with spoilers inside a spoiler tag - explain why it is tagged so she can decide if she wants to peek at the spoiler or not. For example:

Spoilers for Sword-nimi's history:

  Reveal hidden contents

The sword's name is Nightblood, and most of the history and information on him was introduced in Warbreaker. Warbreaker also has two other charachters that appear in Stormlight Archive - one of whom you have already seen in Words of Radiance under a different name.

 

Ok, I need a tutorial on how to quote only what I want..I assume there is a topic on that out in general somewhere?

It didn’t seem like @Amira had read much outside of SA. And I didn’t want to answer anything that would spoil a bunch of other stuff. SA really is the hub of the Cosmere at this point and SO much stuff connects to other books. I think I’ll let y’all answer most of those questions until I get the hang of this interface down a little better.

[alder24]

30 minutes ago, JohnnyKaizen said:

Ok, I need a tutorial on how to quote only what I want..I assume there is a topic on that out in general somewhere?

You can select the text from the post, and a option "quote this" will appear:

Spoiler

At the bottom left of a post you will see a "+" icon, a "Quote" link, and (your posts only) and Edit link. On the bottom right you will see an up arrow.

• The Up Arrow is how you thank people or "like" a post
• The "Quote" link is exactly that, when you click it the quote will be added to the reply at the bottom of the thread wherever the cursor is
  • So, if you have already started to reply before you decide to quote you can then add the quote before or after your text depending on the cursor location when you click "Quote"
• The + icon is multi-quote. As you read a thread, if you want to quote multiple items you click that for each post
  • As you click +, you should see a toaster pop-up on the bottom right of the browser window showing how many quotes you will have
  • They are added in the order you click the + icon, not in the original post order, so you can set the order of quotes for your reply
  • When you are ready to reply, click on the toaster pop-up and it will take you directly to the reply section and add the quotes automatically
• Finally, you can also highlight a small section of a post and, when hovering over the highlit portion, click the "Quote" button that pops up.
• Also note that you can move quotes after they have been added to your reply.
  • For example, you add a quote and realize there are no empty lines below it for you to type - so you can hit "enter" before the quote to make an empty line then when you hover over a quote you will see a 4-way arrow at the top-left that you can use to drag the quote up (or down)  and move the quote to before the empty line. . .
• Use the Edit link to make changes to a completed post or add information to your post if it is the most recent (to avoid double posting)
  • Quote buttons will still send a quote to "Reply" if you have a post open for edit, but it is easy to cut/paste the quote to the Edit box
  • Editing allows you to add a reason for the edit (Spelling and grammar (SPAG), formatting, clarification, new information, etc.), but it is not required.
• Next to Edit you will also find an "options" dropbox, you can use this to hide your post if you want to remove it after posting
• At the top of a post you will find "Report Post"
  • Use this if you do accidentally double-post (sometimes it's the browser or a slow link that causes a double post) - just leave a message that it was an accidental double post and the Mods can fix it. If it was the first post of a new thread that doubled, they usually can merge the threads if they both have answers, so all of the content is retained.

Hope that helps.

 

Edited April 15, 2023 by alder24

[Treamayne]

49 minutes ago, alder24 said:

You can select the text from the post, and a option "quote this" will appear

Ninja'd by Alder. Wonder where you found that. . .<grin>

[alder24]

8 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

Ninja'd by Alder. Wonder where you found that. . .<grin>

I... "borrowed" it 

[JohnnyKaizen]

2 hours ago, alder24 said:

You can select the text from the post, and a option "quote this" will appear

This feels like a miracle  Thank you @alder24

[Amira]

21 hours ago, JohnnyKaizen said:

What Cosmere novels have you read outside I’m of Stormlight Archive?

Tress, and half of TFE.

SA2½ chapter 16: Yes, thank you, the way Lift reacts to seeing people fly is the proper reaction. I would react like that too. Lift talked to Szeth!! I like how Lift calls the archive building a different name each time it's mentioned. So wait, why was Darkness able to resurrect Szeth if Skybreakers don't share the growth power? Is it because he's a herald? And why is Szeth following Darkness around? Didn't he want to go back to Shinovar and tell his people they were wrong? I'm not even sure why I like Szeth so much at this point. I just get super excited every time he shows up!

[king of nowhere]

3 minutes ago, Amira said:

Tress, and half of TFE.

SA2½ chapter 16:  So wait, why was Darkness able to resurrect Szeth if Skybreakers don't share the growth power? Is it because he's a herald?

it was shown at the end of words of radiance, so no spoiler here: he just had the proper fabrial. Like they have soulcasters to make raw materials, there are also other ancient fabrials that emulate other kinds of radiant powers. those appear to have been lost in the present day, because while every army has a few soulcasters, nobody mentioned a healing apparatus.

Quote

And why is Szeth following Darkness around? Didn't he want to go back to Shinovar and tell his people they were wrong? I'm not even sure why I like Szeth so much at this point. I just get super excited every time he shows up!

why not? to his culture (and most cultures on roshar), heralds are gods. if jesus (or other religious figure of your choice) appeared out of nowhere and resurrected you from death, I bet you'd follow him too. so szeth follows. for now. you can see he's starting to question the wisdom and divinity of his new mentor. the two will have some more direct arguments in book 3 - this is a teaser, not a spoiler. And I will say no more, else I will stray into spoiler material.

[Treamayne]

On 4/15/2023 at 9:21 PM, Amira said:

Tress, and half of TFE.

SA2½ chapter 16: Yes, thank you, the way Lift reacts to seeing people fly is the proper reaction. I would react like that too. Lift talked to Szeth!! I like how Lift calls the archive building a different name each time it's mentioned. So wait, why was Darkness able to resurrect Szeth if Skybreakers don't share the growth power?

Edit: Ninja'd by King of Nowhere

Here's the scene in WoR (Ch 88):

Spoiler

“Why am I not dead?” he whispered. “I released my bond to the Shardblade. I fell into the storm without Lashings. Why didn’t I die?”

“You did die.”

Szeth opened his eyes again. He lay on an empty rock expanse, his clothing a wet mess. The Frostlands? He felt cold, despite the heat of the sun.

A man stood before him, wearing a crisp black and silver uniform. He had dark brown skin like a man from the Makabaki region, but had a pale mark on his right cheek in the shape of a small hooked crescent. He held one hand behind his back, while his other hand tucked something away into his coat pocket. A fabrial of some sort? Glowing brightly?

“I recognize you,” Szeth realized. “I’ve seen you somewhere before.”

Even as of Rhythm of War there isn't much known about Fabrials that can access Surges (at least partially); except Soulcasters which, if you recall from WoK, they have said "like Shardblaes and plate, these work and we have no idea why" (which is part of why they are valuable). You may also recall having seen the Regrowth Fabrial in one or more of Dalinar's Visions. WoK Ch 19:

Spoiler

Moving fluidly, Plate clinking, the man struck at the beasts. He effortlessly sheared a monster in half, flinging pieces into the night that trailed black smoke.

Dalinar pulled himself to Taffa. She was alive, though her side was torn and flayed. Seeli tugged at her, weeping. Need to…do something… Dalinar thought dully.

“Be at peace,” a voice said.

Dalinar lurched, turning to see a woman in delicate Shardplate kneeling beside him, holding something bright. It was a topaz entwined with a heliodor, both set into a fine metal framework, each stone as big as a man’s hand. The woman had light tan eyes that almost seemed to glow in the night, and she wore no helm. Her hair was pulled back into a bun. She raised a hand and touched his forehead.

Ice washed across him. Suddenly, his pain was gone.

Quote

I'm not even sure why I like Szeth so much at this point. I just get super excited every time he shows up!

Isn't that enough to know you like learning more about a complex character that would damage his own psyche to fulfill his traditions and honor? Won't it be interesting to see how he recovers and deals with realizing he was unjustly accused?

Edited July 26, 2023 by Treamayne

[Necessary Eagle]

23 hours ago, Amira said:

So wait, why was Darkness able to resurrect Szeth if Skybreakers don't share the growth power? Is it because he's a herald?

IIRC in the WoR chapter Nale says that he used some sort of advanced fabrial.

Of course, that doesn't rule out using Weird Herald Powers with the fabrial.

 

Edit: ninja'd, by which I mean the other replies saying the same thing didn't show up for me until now for some reason.

Edited April 17, 2023 by Necessary Eagle

[AFdooda]

Darkness is a great character I think and he will feature more which is even better.

Prepare thyself @Amira for you are entering the Cosmere...

[Kendelian]

The amount of restraint needed to not spoil the story is immense. But, I will respect your wishes. I will say, i do like your theories.

[Amira]

On 4/15/2023 at 9:31 PM, king of nowhere said:

why not?

Just because I thought he wanted to return to Shinovar and tell his people they were wrong about surgebinders returning.

On 4/15/2023 at 9:44 PM, Treamayne said:

Here's the scene in WoR (Ch 88):

  Reveal hidden contents

“Why am I not dead?” he whispered. “I released my bond to the Shardblade. I fell into the storm without Lashings. Why didn’t I die?”

“You did die.”

Szeth opened his eyes again. He lay on an empty rock expanse, his clothing a wet mess. The Frostlands? He felt cold, despite the heat of the sun.

A man stood before him, wearing a crisp black and silver uniform. He had dark brown skin like a man from the Makabaki region, but had a pale mark on his right cheek in the shape of a small hooked crescent. He held one hand behind his back, while his other hand tucked something away into his coat pocket. A fabrial of some sort? Glowing brightly?

“I recognize you,” Szeth realized. “I’ve seen you somewhere before.”

 

How do you quote the book like that? Do you have the text online somewhere?

4 hours ago, Kendelian said:

I will say, i do like your theories.

Thank you!

SA2½ chapter 17: Lift runs to the orphanage and gets her third meal there. She hears someone scream, but I'm guessing the old man she wanted to save isn't dead yet. I think she will manage to save him.

[king of nowhere]

50 minutes ago, Amira said:

Just because I thought he wanted to return to Shinovar and tell his people they were wrong about surgebinders returning.

he does want to, but he's got some more immediate business. you don't exactly turn away from an herald (whom, let's keep remembering, is basically jesus for your culture) to pursue a personal mission. szeth still wants to return home. eventually.

also, you may or may not have realized that his surgebinding powers came from his old sword. without it, he cannot surgebind. he's still a very capable fighter, and he's still got a very powerful weapon, but he's no longer the one man army he was before. right where you are reading, he's got passive stormlight use (that is, he can take in stormlight for increased physical capacity and healing) as a squire of nale, but he cannot use surges. so, if he wants to go to shinovar right now, he'd better be prepared to take a long, long walk.

by being a squire of the skybreaker, he can eventually bond a spren and gain again radiant powers. then he can go to shinovar.

 

Quote

SA2½ chapter 17: Lift runs to the orphanage and gets her third meal there. She hears someone scream, but I'm guessing the old man she wanted to save isn't dead yet. I think she will manage to save him.

you have no idea.

welcome to the beginning of the climax

 

[Treamayne]

1 hour ago, Amira said:

SA2½ chapter 17: Lift runs to the orphanage and gets her third meal there. She hears someone scream, but I'm guessing the old man she wanted to save isn't dead yet. I think she will manage to save him.

This made me grin

Quote

How do you quote the book like that? Do you have the text online somewhere?

I have the eBooks, as well as the physical books. I use Calibre (freeware) to manage my digital library, so I can also open the eBooks on my computer (and search them easily). Also, I'm a bit . . . obsessive about my eBooks and like to tweak them, if needed (see Project Thread here - be advised there is one spoiler in that thread, but it is spoiler tagged). The Sanderson books don't tend to have as many "issues" as many others; but, for example, the Mistborn Trilogy Omnibus eBook was obviously a rush job (see below if you care). 

Spoiler

Whoever built it for the publisher just "merged" the files for the original three books. This means that there were three different CSS "standards" which (for those non-computer-geeks) means that each book displayed differently so you had to adjust text size and other parameters on the reader just moving from one book to the next in the same eBook. Super annoying - so I made one standard that applies to the entire Omnibus so each chapter displays teh same way throughout the trilogy. This is a common problem with Speculative Fiction Omnibi. 

 

Edited April 19, 2023 by Treamayne
Clarity

[Amira]

On 4/19/2023 at 3:19 PM, king of nowhere said:

he does want to, but he's got some more immediate business. you don't exactly turn away from an herald (whom, let's keep remembering, is basically jesus for your culture) to pursue a personal mission. szeth still wants to return home. eventually.

also, you may or may not have realized that his surgebinding powers came from his old sword. without it, he cannot surgebind. he's still a very capable fighter, and he's still got a very powerful weapon, but he's no longer the one man army he was before. right where you are reading, he's got passive stormlight use (that is, he can take in stormlight for increased physical capacity and healing) as a squire of nale, but he cannot use surges. so, if he wants to go to shinovar right now, he'd better be prepared to take a long, long walk.

by being a squire of the skybreaker, he can eventually bond a spren and gain again radiant powers. then he can go to shinovar.

Oh, the others were already flying, so I didn't realize Szeth couldn't yet.

SA2½ chapter 18: WTF was that thing? Makes me think I must know nothing about Roshar. Who knows how many other different creatures are about? Also, is Axies Hoid? As soon as he said the surgebinder was someone else, I thought for a moment and realized it had to be the Stump.

Edit: I looked it up and Axies was the guy who's cataloging spren. He's immortal??

Edited April 21, 2023 by Amira

[Treamayne]

2 hours ago, Amira said:

I looked it up and Axies was the guy who's cataloging spren. He's immortal??

It was only implied when he appeared in Way of Kings Interlude 5, not explicitly stated:

Spoiler

“Well,” he said to himself, making a final notation as one of the guards grabbed him on the shoulder. “It appears I’ll have another chance to search for captivityspren.” Odd, how those had eluded him all these years, despite his numerous incarcerations. He was beginning to consider them mythological.

The guards towed him off toward the city dungeons, but he didn’t mind. Two new spren in as many days! At this rate, it might only take a few more centuries to complete his research.

Grand indeed. He resumed whistling to himself.

By the way, you also saw his "possibly mythological" captivityspren - back in WoR Ch 62:

Spoiler

 With a groan at stiff muscles, Kaladin sat up and regarded his meal. Flatbread stuffed with bean paste. He stood, waving away some strange spren like taut wires crossing before him, then forced himself to do a set of push-ups. Keeping his strength up would be difficult if the imprisonment continued too long. 

 

2 hours ago, Amira said:

chapter 18: WTF was that thing?

You'll learn more about Arclo's race as this series progresses. I don't want to say too much unless you ask. But I will note this: you remember how he shows up in the chapter - the cremlings coming together? Consider other times you may have seen a random/suspicious cremling. . .  such as (WoR Epilogue):

Spoiler

This is a lot more satisfying,” he said, “when I have intelligent life whom I can render awed, rapt with attention for my clever verbosity.”

The ugly lizard-crab-thing on the next rock over clicked its claw, an almost hesitant sound.

“You’re right, of course,” Wit said. “My usual audience isn’t particularly intelligent. That was also the obvious joke, however, so shame on you.”

The ugly lizard-crab-thing scuttled across its rock, moving onto the other side. Wit sighed.

 

Edited April 21, 2023 by Treamayne
SPAG

[alder24]

11 hours ago, Amira said:

SA2½ chapter 18: WTF was that thing? Makes me think I must know nothing about Roshar. Who knows how many other different creatures are about? Also, is Axies Hoid? As soon as he said the surgebinder was someone else, I thought for a moment and realized it had to be the Stump.

Edit: I looked it up and Axies was the guy who's cataloging spren. He's immortal??

My favorite chapter! Pure nightmare fuel!  

Remember all those times someone saw a cremling near them? Well, now you know they might have been something else.

You want more nightmare fuel? Non spoilery information about Sleepless in the past:

Spoiler

They used to look like spiders at one point in time

 

[Necessary Eagle]

8 hours ago, alder24 said:

You want more nightmare fuel? Non spoilery information about Sleepless in the past:

  Hide contents

They used to look like spiders at one point in time

 

Wait, what? Is this a WoB somewhere?

 

Edit: found the WoB on Arcanum. Fascinating. And uncomfortable to think about for very long.

Edited April 21, 2023 by Necessary Eagle

[Amira]

SA2½ chapter 19: I feel like Lift took down Darkness/Nale a little like Kaladin took down Szeth. If only it were that easy to convince people they're wrong in real life! It was definitely entertaining to have her hug him.

Only one more chapter left!

[alder24]

58 minutes ago, Amira said:

SA2½ chapter 19: I feel like Lift took down Darkness/Nale a little like Kaladin took down Szeth. If only it were that easy to convince people they're wrong in real life! It was definitely entertaining to have her hug him.

Only one more chapter left!

Everyone deserves a hug, even Darkness! 

[Treamayne]

6 hours ago, Amira said:

SA2½ chapter 19: I feel like Lift took down Darkness/Nale a little like Kaladin took down Szeth. If only it were that easy to convince people they're wrong in real life!

Well, to be fair, Nale has "known" he was wrong since before he revived Szeth; he's just been doing the Heraldric equivalent of sticking his fingers in his ears and saying "la, la, la, la, I can't hear you. . . "

Quote

It was definitely entertaining to have her hug him.

I was hoping she was going to admit to eating his pancakes. But an awkward hug works too:

Spoiler

Nearly as awkward as the the Voldemort/Draco "hug" in Deathly Hallows pt 2

 

Edited April 22, 2023 by Treamayne