Question and Answer

[Zas678 he/him]

Well, it does seem to be messing with him. In Well of Ascension, he's trembling a LOT. He seems pretty weakened. But maybe that's his acting, and he has some healing abilities from a different magic system.

 

And I imagine that he was able to become an Elder because of his age (who would've thought?) and because the Terrisman were used to depending on the Keepers, who were all now extinct, so he just filled a void (and only minorly really. I don't think it would take a lot to become a leader of pacifist refugees)

 

As to why he did it, I imagine he went to the Terris mountains to find the Well and get a bead, found out it wasn't there, saw the mass destruction caused by the Inquisitors, then decided to help the refugees escape so that they could live. He helped them get to Luthadel, then (eventually) left them and went to Fadrex where he nearly ran into Vin.

[entropicscholar he/him]

@Pestis:I beleive Moogle has actually answered this question quite well. (post #495) I'll summarize:

 

Question:

Why are essentially all the people we've seen throughout the Cosmere human, rather than human-oid, or alien?

 

Answer:

All humans in the Cosmere derive their origin from one of two places.

1. they migrated from Yolen.

2. they were created by Shardholders, modeled after the people who lived on Yolen.

 

It's true that there were more people who lived on Yolen, rather than just humans, and also that not all shardholders are human. (we know that at least one is a dragon). Even so, MOST Shardholders are human. It's reasonable to assume that they hold a slight bias toward their own race, when choosing to people a world.

 

There are some non-human sentient races that have been shown, even if not many. Two of which live on Roshar. (There are theories about Roshar being very nearby to Yolen, so it makes sense that some non-humans would show up there, minicing the other races.)

Edited January 13, 2015 by entropicscholar

[Pestis the Spider she/her]

@Pestis:I beleive Moogle has actually answered this question quite well. (post #495) I'll summarize:

Well, I did read that post, but thanks. 

Edited January 15, 2015 by Pestis the Spider

[AerionBFII he/him]

Does anybody else think it's strange how Shallan was able to understand the man named 'Taln.

He was described as speaking perfect Alethi yet Dalinar and Elhokar didn't understand him?

[Blaze1616 he/him]

Does anybody else think it's strange how Shallan was able to understand the man named 'Taln.

He was described as speaking perfect Alethi yet Dalinar and Elhokar didn't understand him?

 

I understood that scene as they did understand him when he was loud enough, but he was mumbling that whole scene and the words he did say coherently made no sense to them. Plus he looked like a beggar, if I recall correctly, so they probably thought nothing of the raving madman, as he would seem to them.

[Moogle]

Does anybody else think it's strange how Shallan was able to understand the man named 'Taln.

He was described as speaking perfect Alethi yet Dalinar and Elhokar didn't understand him?

A possibility: Taln is using Hoid's reverse Babel fish trick when he's speaking in Kholinar and maybe when he speaks to Shallan, giving him perfect speech, but stops using it most times/only uses it partially, which means he's speaking in an ancient dialect of Alethi and is hard to understand by others (or just gains an accent).

 

I agree with Blaze however, that he was probably just talking too quietly for Dalinar and Elhokar to hear.

 

I think there's something going on with the Reverse Babel Fish at some point, though, due to how his accent shifts.

 

WoK:

The man finally noticed the two guards, who stood, terrified, with spears leveled at him. He raised his empty hand toward them. “Go,” he said raggedly, speaking perfect Alethi, no hint of an accent. “Run! Raise the call! Give the warning!”

 

WoR Shallan:

“The time of the Return, the Desolation, is at hand,” he whispered. She would have expected an Azish accent from him, considering the skin color, but he spoke perfect Alethi. “We must prepare. You will have forgotten much, following the destruction of times past.”

 

WoR Taln Interlude:

“The time of the Return, the Desolation, is near at hand. We must prepare. You will have forgotten much, following the destruction of the times past.”

“I can make out some of it, Elhokar. It’s Alethi. Northern accent. Not what I’d have expected from one with such dark skin.”

 

Actually... apparently Hoid's translates both ways, so it's not a reversed Babel fish... it's a... dual Babel fish? A complemented Babel fish?

 

Anyone have any ideas for a term we can use for that? (I like 'complemented Babel fish' personally.)

Edited January 16, 2015 by Moogle

[AerionBFII he/him]

Yeah it doesn't seem consistent. It's just been bugging me and the fact that he is not Taln but speaks about the Heralds so familiarly.

Completely off topic and chancing the risk of sounding stupid could somebody explain Miles from AOL abilities to me?

I know that he's a double gold twinborn, since he has feruchemy gold and allomancy gold this ability allows him to compound and get much more

Out of his metals it's just the process that confuses me. Does he store his health in his feruchemy gold then burn it using allomancy? Or does he burn gold the place it in his golden feruchemy.?

[Blaze1616 he/him]

Does he store his health in his feruchemy gold then burn it using allomancy? Or does he burn gold the place it in his golden feruchemy.?

 

Both, if I remember Compound mechanics correctly.

[Moogle]

Blaze is correct. You put some health in your goldminds, and then you burn them. The issue, though, is that this releases a huge burst of health, and you don't want it all at once, so you instead store this burst you got from burning your metals in a new set of goldminds.

 

(Also, edited my last post with quotes.)

Edited January 16, 2015 by Moogle

[Blaze1616 he/him]

A possibility: Taln is using Hoid's reverse Babel fish trick when he's speaking in Kholinar and maybe when he speaks to Shallan, giving him perfect speech, but stops using it most times/only uses it partially, which means he's speaking in an ancient dialect of Alethi and is hard to understand by others (or just gains an accent).

 

I agree with Blaze however, that he was probably just talking too quietly for Dalinar and Elhokar to hear.

 

I think there's something going on with the Reverse Babel Fish at some point, though, due to how his accent shifts.

 

 

Actually... apparently Hoid's translates both ways, so it's not a reversed Babel fish... it's a... dual Babel fish? A complemented Babel fish?

 

Anyone have any ideas for a term we can use for that? (I like 'complemented Babel fish' personally.)

 

I would first like to note that I was fine with Babel fish. Adding the word "complemented" makes the phrase a little too long, though. I recommend we just call it Hoid's Babel ability, capitalization intentional. We could call it his RS ability (Rosetta Stone), though that implies he knows the languages.

 

I also want to say that I do not think Taln is using a similar/identical ability. I think that, as a Herald, one of his "abilities" is to speak the language that would be understood by his recieving party. Given the time between Desolations, they would have to just know the language to be able to communicate effectively. It probably has to do with the Oathpact. I guess if you want to consider this similar, fine, but I do not think he's making deliberate use of magic like Hoid is.

[Oudeis he/him]

Did Amaram understand Taln while Shallan was hiding in the room?

Taln had what was prolly his honorblade, and he could be understood by the guards. Then he lost it and Elhokar could barely make out a few words. Then a Surgebinder was able to understand him. Then the guy on the cart with Hoid seems to understand him and claims he's been repeating those words since Kholinar. I don't understand any of it.

[Pestis the Spider she/her]

I have 2 questions:

 

1. Regarding Pulsers and Sliders: do the time bubbles also affect you aging? So can you live for, for example, 300 hundred years, if you're a Pulser and do you age faster if you're a Slider and use your powers a lot?

 

2. This Coppermind page states that TES is set about 30 years after Elantris. However there is no citation, and therefore I have this question: How do we know TES is set 30 years after Elantris?

[Kurkistan he/him]

1. Regarding Pulsers and Sliders: do the time bubbles also affect you aging? So can you live for, for example, 300 hundred years, if you're a Pulser and do you age faster if you're a Slider and use your powers a lot?

 

We don't have any word either way, but I would imagine that aging is affected appropriately.

[Meg]

I have 2 questions:

 

2. This Coppermind page states that TES is set about 30 years after Elantris. However there is no citation, and therefore I have this question: How do we know TES is set 30 years after Elantris?

 

The Coppermind doesn't "state" that The Emperor's Soul is set  30 years after Elantris, to the contrary it says "possibly 30 years after Elantris" which is a huge difference.

 

You might have seen this:

 

A lot of people keep asking. But after them, but not so far after them that the technology level has shifted, which I allow, in my worlds, to happen. And also not so far after that the Emperor's Soul- if you keep your eyes open you will see a Derethi priest in full armor. And so, not so far after that the kingdoms we are familiar with no longer exist. They do exist and the tech level has not shifted dramatically so you can use that to kind of ballpark for yourself, a range. It's certainly not thousands of years later, in other words.

 

 

source

 

and this

 

It happens shortly after Elantris (I believe that this meant shortly in comparison to the other novels, but not a specific # of years)

 

source

 

So "possibly 30 years" might be nearly right.

[Pestis the Spider she/her]

The Coppermind doesn't "state" that The Emperor's Soul is set  30 years after Elantris, to the contrary it says "possibly 30 years after Elantris" which is a huge difference.

I said it states it is set about 30 years after. And even if that wasn't exactly correct statement I do have an explanation for my way of thinking.

Well, I actually thought that "~30 years" (which, as I understand, means "about 30 years") and "possibly 30 years" (not "possibly ~30 years", there's a difference) together suggest that the Coppermind Wiki is sure (hence "states") that it was about 30 years, and just is not sure if it was exactly 30, or for example 29 or maybe 31, etc. But maybe I understood it in a wrong way, sorry for that.

 

 

So "possibly 30 years" might be nearly right.

But, from what you say, it looks like "possibly 30 years" is actually a guess. How did someone came up with "possibly 30 years" idea? Why not "possibly 40 years" or "possibly 20 years"?  Is there anything that suggests that 30 years is the best guess? 

Edited January 20, 2015 by Pestis the Spider

[Darkness he/him]

Question for the masses. Does Kaladin's clothing/surroundings also get cold or make frost condense when he uses stormlight, or is that a peculiarity of Szeth's blade? Also, does anyone know why that happens?

[entropicscholar he/him]

Question for the masses. Does Kaladin's clothing/surroundings also get cold or make frost condense when he uses stormlight, or is that a peculiarity of Szeth's blade? Also, does anyone know why that happens?

it hasn't been explained, but it happens to both of them

[Moogle]

Question for the masses. Does Kaladin's clothing/surroundings also get cold or make frost condense when he uses stormlight, or is that a peculiarity of Szeth's blade? Also, does anyone know why that happens?

 

We don't know why it happens, but if you're looking for theories, it seems likely that Stormlight consumes heat like Awakening consumes color. Brandon's RAFO'd questions on this.

[Pestis the Spider she/her]

Questions about Warbreaker:

 

If Returned's Breath (I mean the single powerful one) grants them the Fifth Heightening, why is it noted at teh begining of the book, that Vasher only gets the Perfect Pitch after receiving Breath from Vahr? Do you need to turn this Breath "on", somehow, for it to work, or something?

 

And if Vivenna is able to notice that "gods" have single powerful Breath, why doesn't she notice the same thing about Vasher and Denth? Is it because Vasher had more than this single Breath? If yes, then there is still the Denth problem, because I don't remember her noticing that he has anything more than a single normal human Breath. (But maybe I just missed it.)

Edited January 22, 2015 by Pestis the Spider

[Blaze1616 he/him]

Questions about Warbreaker:

 

If Returned's Breath (I mean the single powerful one) grants them the Fifth Heightening, why is it noted at teh begining of the book, that Vasher only gets the Perfect Pitch after receiving Breath from Vahr? Do you need to turn this Breath "on", somehow, for it to work, or something?

 

And if Vivenna is able to notice that "gods" have single powerful Breath, why doesn't she notice the same thing about Vasher and Denth? Is it because Vasher had more than this single Breath? If yes, then there is still the Denth problem, because I don't remember her noticing that he has anything more than a single normal human Breath. (But maybe I just missed it.)

 

The Divine Breath that is granted to a Returned is capable of being "hidden." The mechanics of this are not known to us, and only some Returned know how to do it (i.e. Five Scholars only at this point I would think). Vasher hides the Divine Breath so that him being a Returned is not obvious to just about everyone. It had never occured to me, but I suppose the prologue is evidence that hiding the Divine Breath causes the Returned to lose the abilities granted by the Heightenings that the Divine Breath grants.

[Pestis the Spider she/her]

Ok, thanks a lot!

[WeiryWriter he/him]

Also if you re-read the prologue Vasher mentions he could have up to the fifth heightening:
 

“Keep your part of the bargain,” Vahr said. Vasher noted the tones in his voice, the beauty of each one, how close they were to harmonics. Vasher had gained perfect pitch. A gift for anyone who reached the Second Heightening.  It would be good to have that again.

Vasher could, of course, have up to the Fifth Heightening at any time, if he wished. That would require certain sacrifices he wasn’t willing to make. And so he forced himself to do it the old- fashioned way, by gathering Breaths from people like Vahr.

[Pestis the Spider she/her]

Also if you re-read the prologue Vasher mentions he could have up to the fifth heightening:

 

Yeah, he mentions it, I know. What I mean is that, when he mentions it, the reader still doesn't know why he can do that, and the "gods" are presented and they seem to have the Divine Breath abilities all the time, and you cannot switch other Breaths off, and in general it is not actually explained that the Divine Breath can be hidden, so when you learn, that Vasher is Returned, it is sligtly confusing why he and Denth have their Divine Breaths "turned off" and how. 

[Guest]

Questions about Warbreaker:

If Returned's Breath (I mean the single powerful one) grants them the Fifth Heightening, why is it noted at teh begining of the book, that Vasher only gets the Perfect Pitch after receiving Breath from Vahr? Do you need to turn this Breath "on", somehow, for it to work, or something?

Vasher is suppressing his Divine Breath. Similar to how Kaladin views his scars as part of himself, so they don't heal when he draws in Stormlight. It has to do with Cognitive Identity. Vasher views himself as not Divine, so the breath is suppressed. I will edit this once I find the direct annotation.

And if Vivenna is able to notice that "gods" have single powerful Breath, why doesn't she notice the same thing about Vasher and Denth? Is it because Vasher had more than this single Breath? If yes, then there is still the Denth problem, because I don't remember her noticing that he has anything more than a single normal human Breath. (But maybe I just missed it.)

Denth is also suppressing his Breath. Remember, these guys were Scholars. They know lots of cool tricks.

Edit: *sigh* ninja'd again.

Edit 2: *facepalm* Just realized that the post I replied to was not actually on the last page of the thread.

Edited January 22, 2015 by inexorablePanda

[Darkness he/him]

I thought there was a question about this already (actually I think it was about how skilled awakeners would partition their breaths so as not to use it all in one go, and keep a backup supply), and Brandon said something like 'they could store it in objects about them, use whatever was still in them, and then recover what they set aside.'

I always assumed that Vasher was just storing his divine breath somewhere for when he needed it, and took in other breaths when he started feeling weak. Also, that would be very helpful for when he was wielding Nightblood, as a backup in case he left Nightblood out too long.