elihaun Posted October 11, 2024 Posted October 11, 2024 So, I am doing a re-read (well, listen, as I am listening to the audiobooks as I work), and have been jotting down questions/thoughs as I move through the books. Sorry for the spellings, as I am listening and dont KNOW the spellings. Here we go... 1) Was the breaking of the oath pack (start of the way of kings) reminiscent of the shattering of aldanisum? They left, and agreed to not search out the others, just like the shards did. A literatury device? 2) Did Jasana start studying Urithiu/the knights radiant because of her spren, or did the spren find her because of the research? which came first, the chicken or the egg.....? 3) In all of Kaladins killings of brightlords while in Amarans army, did he actually kill the lighteyes that he was hunting for? Would he even know them when he saw them? 4) There is VERY little known of shalans mother. Could she had been a ghostblood, but NOT from roshar? Could she have been a worldhopper, and perhaps a twinborn (Sazed is known to store memories in his metalmind, then write it down when tapping it. could shalan be doing the same with her drawings?). I have also seen a theory that shallans mother is a herald 5) Related to the last point, could shalan be a gold misting/twinborn? It seems to be very similar to how she made veil and radiant: she imagined how she could have ended up if she had a different life. that sounds like what a gold misting does. It is also what she does with Bluth (the slaver): it says (paraphrasing) that she drew the man that Bluth COULD have been. that sounds like a gold misting 6) In WoK, we see that soul casting can displace the smoke, pushing it out due to difference in density. If you tried to turn something into, say, lead or perhaps plutonium, would it do the opposite, pulling air in? Could that be used to power engines? changing states of matter rapidly to achieve pulpulsion? (Turning air to a solid in the front of the ship and back into a gas at the aft, so that it sucks in and then pushes out, kind of how a turbine engine works) 7) In WoK, Syll can barely tote the Blackbane leaf. Now that she has spent more time in the physical realm, would she be able to move it easier, either by the fact that she is more in the physical realm/oaths, or perhaps due to just straight body training (muscle growth)? Could it be possible to take the gemheart from a singer or chasemfiend with a spren still trapped inside? Could they do that as a way to study the odd gravity spren that inhabits a chasemfiend? 9) Are the rocks that Tien finds with the paterns related to uritheru? There are also odd stratta in Kolinar. 10) In the first vision (WoK chapter 19: starfalls) the female edgedancer states that alethela learns to fight so that all other kingdoms might have peace. Were all/most of the radiants alethe? 11) Did the Stormfather pick dalinar (and gavilar?) because he was one of the only alethli who followed the codes? or just that they led? 12) What is the logistics of infusing gemstones inside the panalaem? it is underground, so they need the light to see, but to take all of the gems (which shallan belives is the royal treasury) outside every weeks seems dangerous. same for the kohlin emerald reserve. You would be forced to leave your treasury outside once every few weeks to keep them infused, but that seems off 13) Is stormlight addictive? investature in general? It sounds like people are going through withdrawls when they lose their powers. Kaladin seems to want to keep using the stormlight in WoR Ch. 68, when syl is acting weird due to moash and the shardblades. so is it like cocaine, where it gives you energy but the more you use it the more you WANT to use it? how would the addictiveness of stormlight have affected Teft if he had lived? in the same vain, could one become a 'savant' like spook, getting so used to the power that when it is taken away it numbs you? 14) Who did sigzil try to kill that caused him to be a Bridgeman? 15) Why did Jassna using the 'fake' soulcaster cause the smokestone to break if she was not actually using it? Nowhere else that I can think of has drawing stormlight resulting in broken gems (not many non-sphere gems at lease. I know that the gem beads in the parshendi beards are not covered in glass, and the ones they use to grow food often shatter, but cant remember any breaking that are encased in glass) 16) The gems used in buttons are 'cut', but do they hold light? i cant remember if the suit buttons/necklaces that the light eyes wear to feasts are said to glow 17) When would Jasanna have told shallan that she (jasanna) was a radiant? I assume she knows that a ward might figure it out in time. was she hoping to get her trained so that she could convince an ink spren to bond her? was she trying to, whether on purpose or not, found an order of radiant instead of just being a lone elsecaller? 18) Was there anything going on with the garnet brhome that kapsal tried to give shallan in return for her drawing? it seems a bit odd the way he insist she takes it. 19) Is there a 'limit' to how long before a spren comes you can say the words? if you say the words at age 5, will they still be acceptable at age 70? or do they have to be within a certain time frame. How FAST can a radiant advance? If someone who lived a long life of reflection said the oaths (Budha for example), would it be possible to just say the oaths quickly, or is there an internal timer before the next level can be spoken and accepted. 20) When entering shadesmar with an item, does the bead leave, or can be bead persist? can you use stormlight to grow an item from a bead while HAVING the original item there with you? does the bead follow you, or stay where you first transitioned into shadesmar? If you brought a chunk of ice, and then used the water making machine with the bead of that chunk of ice, would the machine stop working when the real ice melted, or would it continue? 21) How many bridge runs did kaladin do? was the final one, where they saved Dalinar, the 100th? 22) WoK, Chapter 61 - Could the legend of the woman climbing the mountain and making 10 children out of rocks be about cultivation opening the perpendulatiry in the horn eater mountains and allowing humans to enter roshar? It is implied over and over that honor was closely related to humans, but the storms and therefore the parshendi are related to him. Cultivation does not seem to have a 'connection' as it were with any of the native populations, unlike odium and honor. 23) The storms in the east are powerful enough to throw boulders and whip kaladin around like a rag doll. So, how do the wagons not get flipped? if it is like a normal wagon it would just tip over. it it was wider instead of tall but still had wheels it would cause a pocket underneath that would result in the wagon flying off like a kite. are there any illustrations of the slave wagons? 24) The soul cast meat/grains kind of sound/fell like soylent green. few WANT to eat it, but it is often all there is. 25) In WoR (CH18), an ardent states that Elokhar's second set of plate/blades were inherited from his father. How about the first set? Did he inherit both sets from his father (one given before his death and one taken after), or did he win them in a duel? (nevermind. It was a gift from Dalinar the day he almost attacked Gavilar and swore to never take the throne himself. Found it myself) 26) Other than Dalinar and Adolin, who in the war camps have a Roshadium? It never really mentions any other than those two and High Prince Hatham 27) By Rhythm of war, does Shallans brothers know that she killed their mother. They know she killed their dad, but do they know she killed the mother as well? 28) How is so little known about aluminum on roshar, considering it can be soulcast? 29) What happened to Hav? He was with amaran on the shattered plains, but not mentioned after. Also, What happened to the the Parshend's daughter that gave Kaladin the water skin? 30) Continuity error in the audiobooks - Words of Radiance, Chapter 52, 31:48 - Shallan says that even on tippy toes, she is shorter than the 'high prince', but amaran is a brightlord, not a high prince (well, not YET). Just a fun little accidental foreshadow I found 31) Once windspren become shardplate, are they still windspren, or are they now shardplate spren? is that why they dont care if they stay as plate, because they are no longer wind, and changing WOULD actually kill them (because they would be nothing)? 32) Was the Cremling that Marize killed with the blowgun (WoR, Ch 54) a part of one of the sleepless? are they watching the ghostbloods, and if so, why? 33) When did Kaladin say the first oath? 34) Of all of the times that Kaladin advanced his oaths, twice was when he thought he was going to lose syl (either fading because of Kaladin leting Moash assassinate Elokhar, or suppressed in the tower. second oath was when he thought he was about to lose all his men. Is there something to that? He has to be on the VERY close to losing everything to say the next words. Compare this to Teft, who only says his oaths when he is super down on himself, or lopen, who says it when he is incapable of being the center of attention. 35) What was the thing that kaladin saw in the storm when he and shallan was marooned 36) Szeth did not disobey Taravangian. The orders were: "stay away from the man with the honor blade, kill dalinar". As far as I can tell, Szeth has not ever face another with an honor blade, and he DID try to kill Dalinar. So, while he did fail the mission, he did not disobey 37) What happened to Redden (the Jakaved highprinces/king's bastart son)? will he make a play for the throne, now that Teravagian has gone missing? I always like him. He might have been hard, but he seemed to CARE about the Davar murder plot, and was emotional even delivering the killing blow to his father 38) We know that Jasana has killed or taken hits on MANY people. It is stated in the WoR prologue that she hires many assassins. How many of the ghost bloods did she kill before they decided to take her out? Marize implies that SHE was the first one to start the killing. Did they have spies that she killed, or was it an accidental coincidence, where the people that she thought were threating to her family just so happened to be part of the ghost bloods? 39) Who was the woman with king gavilar when eshonai found him in the palace while exploring? 40) Gavilar says that 'this world is traped, stuck in a dull lifeless state of transition'. That sounds a lot like what Raodon says about Elantris and the elantrians, being stuck mid-transition. did gavilar know about Sel? 41) Durring Dalinar and Navanis wedding, the storm father says that Navini has broken oaths before. What oaths? is it the "to love and cherish" part to her oath to Gavilar, or something deeper? 42) Shallan often notes that Pattern hums to different patterns that she interprets as confusion, joy, etc. Is pattern humming/pulsing to the rhythms of Roshar? 43) Abjectly speaking, are pain spren like the Cenobites? 44) As someone online one stated, the 'shin' sounds like the back of the work the "ashean" (not sure on spelling). Maybe, the shin WERE invited to roshar by the singers, but maybe the rest (alethi, vaden, etc), came from the horneater peaks by cultivation. that would make sense in the creation myth (woman makes people from mud at top of mountain). everyone always assumes that all humans have the same origins. Maybe they are NOT the same people. it is often stated that shin look different. well, maybe they ARE. To add to this, when Dalinar meets Odium for the first time in the feverstone keep vision (oathbrinager chapter 56) dalinar notes that odium looks shin 45) Maybe the Shin come not from Ashyn, but from Elantris? It is stated that the voidbringers brought their god, well, maybe the shin fled after the Destruction of D&D, and Odium followed? that could be why in art the shin resemble the elantrians more that other rosharians 46) In Oathbringer, Dalinar has to touch oathbringer (the sword) and notes that it does not scream, but 'whimper, the sound of a man backed into a corner". is this like Maya? could dalinar have renewed/healed Oathbringer if he didnt bond the stormfather? 47) How far up does the highstorm restore stormlight? is it at the edge of the atmosphere? the surface of the moons? Or does the investiture 'taper off', thinning out like the air getting thinner the further into the sky you go? 48) Could Moash be affected by the 'heart of the revel' MORE than just odium? In Oathbringer, Shallan hears it call to her to give it her pain, her fears, etc. That is what moash does. Maybe he is 'posessed' by the heart the same way Lin Davar was affected? 3
alder24 Posted October 11, 2024 Posted October 11, 2024 3 hours ago, elihaun said: 2) Did Jasana start studying Urithiu/the knights radiant because of her spren, or did the spren find her because of the research? which came first, the chicken or the egg.....? She started studying because of Szeth, but she was already developing the bond with Ivory. WoR prologue: Quote In the shattering of her world, Jasnah caught hold of this fragment. She had seen something tonight. Something that should not have been possible. Did it relate to the strange spren? Her experience in that place of glass beads and a dark sky? [...] That night, Jasnah had seen the impossible. She would learn what it meant. 3 hours ago, elihaun said: 3) In all of Kaladins killings of brightlords while in Amarans army, did he actually kill the lighteyes that he was hunting for? Would he even know them when he saw them? He did kill them. He hated them and it was strategically useful - he was killing high ranking officers. WoK ch 1: Quote He impassively regarded those who fought nearby. Then one of Kaladin’s knives took him in the right eye. The brightlord screamed, falling back o the saddle as Kaladin somehow slipped through the lines and leaped upon him, spear raised 3 hours ago, elihaun said: 5) Related to the last point, could shalan be a gold misting/twinborn? It seems to be very similar to how she made veil and radiant: she imagined how she could have ended up if she had a different life. that sounds like what a gold misting does. It is also what she does with Bluth (the slaver): it says (paraphrasing) that she drew the man that Bluth COULD have been. that sounds like a gold misting No, very unlikely - no gold in her stomach, she's using Stormlight. But certain abilities from one invested art can be replicated by another in a different world. Shallan is doing a similar thing to what gold Mistings are doing, but that's because of her double bond, which makes her reach for more Fortune and peer into Spiritual Realm. This was confirmed in WaT ch 5: Quote “Not simply sketching, child. Do you often draw upon Fortune? Glimpse someone’s possible selves, and pull one forth… touch, in some small way, what could have been. What might still be…” He glanced to her, and must have seen the utter confusion in her eyes, as he sighed. “Is this a skill commonly employed by Lightweavers during your time?” “Not that I know of,” she said. “But I don’t exactly understand what you’re saying.” He glanced toward Pattern and Testament. “Two spren. Of course… you’ve bonded two. Strange things happen when the Nahel bond is imbricated. There were rules against it once, I believe. How long have you had them both?” 4 hours ago, elihaun said: 6) In WoK, we see that soul casting can displace the smoke, pushing it out due to difference in density. If you tried to turn something into, say, lead or perhaps plutonium, would it do the opposite, pulling air in? If you Soulcast air into metal, then yes, you will pull air into it from a large area. Soulcasting is in most cases mass preserving - that's why Jasnah created so much highly pressurized smoke, its mass matched stone's mass. 4 hours ago, elihaun said: Could that be used to power engines? changing states of matter rapidly to achieve pulpulsion? (Turning air to a solid in the front of the ship and back into a gas at the aft, so that it sucks in and then pushes out, kind of how a turbine engine works) Kind of, not in a way you described it but why would you do that? They already have much better ways of using fabrials to create motion - the Bridge Four. 4 hours ago, elihaun said: 7) In WoK, Syll can barely tote the Blackbane leaf. Now that she has spent more time in the physical realm, would she be able to move it easier, either by the fact that she is more in the physical realm/oaths, or perhaps due to just straight body training (muscle growth)? It's not about time spent in the Physical Realm, it's about her bond with Kaladin and its strength. The higher Ideal, the more Syl can interact with the physical Realm, because she is pulled more into it. She can do a bit more now. 4 hours ago, elihaun said: Could it be possible to take the gemheart from a singer or chasemfiend with a spren still trapped inside? Could they do that as a way to study the odd gravity spren that inhabits a chasemfiend? No, spren inside that gemsheart are there because they are bonded to that person/animal. Killing that animal to extract that gemheart would break the bond, allowing those spren to escape that gemheart. 4 hours ago, elihaun said: 9) Are the rocks that Tien finds with the paterns related to uritheru? There are also odd stratta in Kolinar. Just regular rock: Spoiler Questioner Is there anything more significant to Tien's obsession with rocks? Or is that just an example of him being a unique kid? Brandon Sanderson There is a little bit to the way he's seeing color in mundane things. It's less the rock, and more the things about the world he finds interesting. So I'm going to say it's the second. It's an aspect of who he is; the rock itself is not the important thing. Skyward Atlanta signing (Nov. 17, 2018) Strata in Kholinar are most likely related in some way to Urithiru, but we don't know anything about it yet. Kholinar is a Dawncity, it's possible that it was created just like the Tower was (just rocks, not the Sibling) - Stoneshaped. 4 hours ago, elihaun said: 10) In the first vision (WoK chapter 19: starfalls) the female edgedancer states that alethela learns to fight so that all other kingdoms might have peace. Were all/most of the radiants alethe? No. That very vision takes place in Natanatan and Dalinar was a Natan - yet he was invited to Alethia. They were just maintaining the knowledge of fighting to train future generations and Radiants, but Radiants came from all over Roshar. 4 hours ago, elihaun said: 12) What is the logistics of infusing gemstones inside the panalaem? it is underground, so they need the light to see, but to take all of the gems (which shallan belives is the royal treasury) outside every weeks seems dangerous. same for the kohlin emerald reserve. You would be forced to leave your treasury outside once every few weeks to keep them infused, but that seems off Cages. Massive, strong cages. They had to do it, everyone was doing it. 4 hours ago, elihaun said: 13) Is stormlight addictive? investature in general? It sounds like people are going through withdrawls when they lose their powers. Kaladin seems to want to keep using the stormlight in WoR Ch. 68, when syl is acting weird due to moash and the shardblades. so is it like cocaine, where it gives you energy but the more you use it the more you WANT to use it? how would the addictiveness of stormlight have affected Teft if he had lived? Stormlight heals, gives energy, makes you tireless - no wonder no Radiant doesn't want to be without it. But it's probably not like cocaine, however this effect is intentional. Spoiler Questioner In Mistborn, Allomancy tends to get a little addictive, is that something that's going to happen with Stormlight—holding it just because it feels good? Brandon Sanderson You are noticing a similarity. That is intentional. Words of Radiance Philadelphia signing (March 21, 2014) 4 hours ago, elihaun said: in the same vain, could one become a 'savant' like spook, getting so used to the power that when it is taken away it numbs you? Yes. Soulcasters who use Soulcasting fabrials are prime examples of this. They are slowly becoming Savants, turning into the substance they create. Radiants can also become Savants but they are immune to some negative effects of this (turning to smoke etc). Spoiler Questioner 1 Do all Soulcasters risk turning into the element or is it only those using the device? Brandon Sanderson All Soulcasters have an affinity but the ones using the device are locked down much more than the Soulcasters who are Knights Radiant. Questioner 1 So they are protected from being turned into-- Brandon Sanderson Oh no they-- I wouldn't say protected... *clarification* Protected is the wrong term but that event, the savanthood and how it affects them and things like that is much less pronounced if you are a [Knight]. Questioner 1 Or is that counteracted by the healing as well? Brandon Sanderson Healing doesn't have to do with it because-- in cosmere terms there's nothing wrong with your body, your spirit is actually drifting, and so it's not hurting you physically by what's happening with the magics. So it's not the healing but if you have an active bond with a spren it takes a little different path. Let's just say, in simple terms-- Questioner 1 You are not losing body parts to smoke. Brandon Sanderson Yes, you are not losing body parts to smoke. Questioner 1 What timeframe does it happen for the normal Soulcasters then? Brandon Sanderson For normal Soulcasters? It takes-- I mean, you've seen it happening in the books. We are talking [about] a process of years even decades, depending on the person. It happens to some-- Questioner 2 Depending on how often they Soulcast? Brandon Sanderson It depends on how often they Soulcast, and it depends on the person. Oathbringer Leeds signing (Dec. 1, 2017) 4 hours ago, elihaun said: 15) Why did Jassna using the 'fake' soulcaster cause the smokestone to break if she was not actually using it? Nowhere else that I can think of has drawing stormlight resulting in broken gems (not many non-sphere gems at lease. I know that the gem beads in the parshendi beards are not covered in glass, and the ones they use to grow food often shatter, but cant remember any breaking that are encased in glass) Gems break quite often if you withdraw Stormlight rapidly from them - Jasnah most likely did it, she is quite good at pretending and she purposely broke the gemstones. Gemstones in Jasnah's Soulcaster weren't in a glass sphere, all Soulcasters and fabrials have gemstones embedded in them without any glass. Spoiler Hut on a Hill One last question, why do gems crack when Stormlight is drawn out of them quickly? Brandon Sanderson When the Stormlight is coming out--you'll notice that there's the slightest physical presence of lots of spren, seons. A lot of this Investiture does have a physical side to it you can feel and that much Stormlight coming through... like when it's leaking out, it is generally going through micro cracks in the structure--where the crystal lattice didn't line up or flaws in the structure--and it coming out quickly like that, it's like hitting it with a hammer from inside along those fault lines. Much less likely to happen based on how good your gemstone is. YouTube Live Fan Mail Opening 1 (Oct. 30, 2021) Spoiler 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) 4 hours ago, elihaun said: 16) The gems used in buttons are 'cut', but do they hold light? i cant remember if the suit buttons/necklaces that the light eyes wear to feasts are said to glow All polestones can hold light, some better, some worse. It depends how they were cut, they should hold light for some time at least. 4 hours ago, elihaun said: 17) When would Jasanna have told shallan that she (jasanna) was a radiant? I assume she knows that a ward might figure it out in time. was she hoping to get her trained so that she could convince an ink spren to bond her? was she trying to, whether on purpose or not, found an order of radiant instead of just being a lone elsecaller? Ivory was and still is the only Inkspren who's willing to bond, there was no other Inkspren like Ivory. Jasnah didn't want to reveal that to Shallan at all, from all we know. She feared how the world would react to heretic Jasnah becoming a treacherous knight Radiant. Unless a Desolation would have started, only then Jasnah would reveal who she really was. 4 hours ago, elihaun said: 18) Was there anything going on with the garnet brhome that kapsal tried to give shallan in return for her drawing? it seems a bit odd the way he insist she takes it. Not really. He was just impressed by Shallan's skill. 4 hours ago, elihaun said: 19) Is there a 'limit' to how long before a spren comes you can say the words? if you say the words at age 5, will they still be acceptable at age 70? or do they have to be within a certain time frame. How FAST can a radiant advance? If someone who lived a long life of reflection said the oaths (Budha for example), would it be possible to just say the oaths quickly, or is there an internal timer before the next level can be spoken and accepted. First Ideal is weird, not every Radiant we have PoV said the words, but all at least lived by it - which seem to be enough to be accepted. But you have to have a spren Bond for those words to be accepted. Theoretically, there was a WoB confirming that someone could be ready to swear all Ideals at once, so it's possible (can't find that WoB). There is no timer, you just need a spren bond and you have to know what the words are. 4 hours ago, elihaun said: 20) When entering shadesmar with an item, does the bead leave, or can be bead persist? The bead becomes the item. The bead IS the item - it's the Cognitive manifestation of that object. You can't physically have an item and its bead at the same time. 4 hours ago, elihaun said: 21) How many bridge runs did kaladin do? was the final one, where they saved Dalinar, the 100th? We don't know, but Kaladin spent approximately 90 days as a bridgeman. 4 hours ago, elihaun said: 22) WoK, Chapter 61 - Could the legend of the woman climbing the mountain and making 10 children out of rocks be about cultivation opening the perpendulatiry in the horn eater mountains and allowing humans to enter roshar? It is implied over and over that honor was closely related to humans, but the storms and therefore the parshendi are related to him. Cultivation does not seem to have a 'connection' as it were with any of the native populations, unlike odium and honor. That is an interesting theory, never thought of it. Seems there might be some connection between this and Horneaters but not humans in general. Humans arrive on Roshar via massive Elsecalling powered by a Bondsmith (there weren't any Radiants on Ashyn, Rosharans would call it this way). Spoiler Questioner Could you use AonDor to manipulate Connection? If so, would a real AonDor smarty be able to do something similar to a Bondsmith? Brandon Sanderson The short answer to your question is: yes. Let me give some explanation. Even when you are seeings some things happening in Elantris itself, you are seeing them manipulate Connection. It is mostly reinforcing Connection, but it is, in a way, manipulation. Rewriting Connection, rewriting Identity are both things that they can do. So with enough power, with enough smartiness, what a Bondsmith can do can be done. In fact, we have seen short-range Elsecalling done by… Obviously Elsecalling’s not Bondsmithing, but you know that a Bondsmith powered a big Elsecalling [to migrate from Ashyn], one of the big things you’ve seen a Bondsmith do is get people between planets. And you have seen people use AonDor to Elsecall. You’ve seen them Lightweave, you’ve seen them do a lot of these things. They also could do some of this same stuff. Basically, rule of thumb is: almost anything in the cosmere that is possible can be replicated with AonDor with the right program. But you may need an injection of Investiture in certain ways. Dragonsteel 2022 (Nov. 14, 2022) Spoiler Argent In the Syl interlude in Rhythm of War, she is speaking with Dalinar about his powers and the things those powers have done in the past. And what she says is "a Bondsmith bound other Surges". First of all, what other Surges? Brandon Sanderson One potential interpretation for you on this, remember they use Surge and spren sometimes interchangeably in-world. Just making you aware of that. Argent Yeah I'm aware of that. Bound other Surges.... Brandon Sanderson That might be what she's talking about. I'm not guaranteeing it. Argent Then the term Bondsmith. To me it seems like she's talking about Ishar and the Ashyn stuff. So would they use Bondsmith to describe him in that place? Argent And that would be maybe the power of Connection, the way Lightweaving is the power of illusion? Brandon Sanderson So one other thing to keep aware of in the cosmere - for instance they call "Lightweaving" any illusion-based magic working on the same fundamentals. And so you could argue - and people will use it that way in-world - that Bondsmithing is both an order [of Knights Radiant] and a power that exists outside the order. Brandon Sanderson Yes. And for instance, there were not Elsecallers to get people between Ashyn and Roshar, but on Roshar they would explain what happened there as Elsecalling. Does that make sense? Argent I mean, as much as these things make sense, yes. JordanCon 2021 (July 17, 2021) 4 hours ago, elihaun said: 23) The storms in the east are powerful enough to throw boulders and whip kaladin around like a rag doll. So, how do the wagons not get flipped? if it is like a normal wagon it would just tip over. it it was wider instead of tall but still had wheels it would cause a pocket underneath that would result in the wagon flying off like a kite. are there any illustrations of the slave wagons? They are chained to nearby stones. 4 hours ago, elihaun said: 26) Other than Dalinar and Adolin, who in the war camps have a Roshadium? It never really mentions any other than those two and High Prince Hatham Kalanor had one, but was killed by Dalinar. We don't know any other Ryshadium owner, but probably because they weren't mentioned. 4 hours ago, elihaun said: 27) By Rhythm of war, does Shallans brothers know that she killed their mother. They know she killed their dad, but do they know she killed the mother as well? I don't remember, but I don't think so. 4 hours ago, elihaun said: 28) How is so little known about aluminum on roshar, considering it can be soulcast? It's rare and there are just a few Soulcasters capable of producing it. Without Radiants aluminum's properties weren't really that useful and ancient Radiant knew of its unique properties (the tunnels under Urithiru were lined with aluminum after all). Fabrial technology advanced only in recent years - the heating fabrial was invented just before WoR started. Simply speaking, they would have no use for aluminum before and no opportunity to discover how it interacts with spren and investiture. 4 hours ago, elihaun said: 31) Once windspren become shardplate, are they still windspren, or are they now shardplate spren? is that why they dont care if they stay as plate, because they are no longer wind, and changing WOULD actually kill them (because they would be nothing)? They are still windspren, just physically manifested as a Shardplate, just like Syl physically manifests as a Shardblade. Different orders have different Shardplate spren - for Windrunners it's Windspren, for Elsecallers Logicspren, Lightweavers have Creationspren etc. They don't "care" about being deadeye, because they aren't sapient, or rather they care but just are content in their deadeye state. Probably because their bond weren't as deep as True Spren bond, they weren't hurt that much by the Recreance (but still enough to make them deadeye). 5 hours ago, elihaun said: 33) When did Kaladin say the first oath? WoK ch 59 - that's the first time he said them out loud. But he was contemplating them and heard them several times earlier. 5 hours ago, elihaun said: 34) Of all of the times that Kaladin advanced his oaths, twice was when he thought he was going to lose syl (either fading because of Kaladin leting Moash assassinate Elokhar, or suppressed in the tower. second oath was when he thought he was about to lose all his men. Is there something to that? He has to be on the VERY close to losing everything to say the next words. Compare this to Teft, who only says his oaths when he is super down on himself, or lopen, who says it when he is incapable of being the center of attention. Windrunners Ideals are focused around protection, so it makes sense for Windrunners to swear an Oath when put into a hard position, like Kaladin. Teft also swore his 3rd Ideal when Odium forces were invading Urithiru in OB and his Oath were needed to save the situation - he was also about to lose a lot. But Teft struggled with self-hatred, so his Ideals will reflect that. Kaladin on the other hand struggles with the thought that he can't save everyone. But Kaladin couldn't say the 4th Ideal in OB despite him knowing the words and despite him thinking he needs to say them to save everyone - he wasn't ready to say them. This is not a rule, it depends on the individual. Simply speaking Windrunners are more likely to swear a next Ideal during combat because of the nature of their Oaths. Lopen is a great example that it's not a rule - it wasn't about being the center of attention, he was protecting others in his own way, protecting the wounded from the darkness of their own mind (at least that's how I see it). 5 hours ago, elihaun said: 35) What was the thing that kaladin saw in the storm when he and shallan was marooned Stormstriders - a type of Spren. Dalinar saw them too in one of his flashbacks. We don't know much about them. 5 hours ago, elihaun said: 36) Szeth did not disobey Taravangian. The orders were: "stay away from the man with the honor blade, kill dalinar". As far as I can tell, Szeth has not ever face another with an honor blade, and he DID try to kill Dalinar. So, while he did fail the mission, he did not disobey He was never Truthless, he didn't have to obey anyone. And the orders were to stay away from Kaladin, so yes, he did disobey (at first). 5 hours ago, elihaun said: 40) Gavilar says that 'this world is traped, stuck in a dull lifeless state of transition'. That sounds a lot like what Raodon says about Elantris and the elantrians, being stuck mid-transition. did gavilar know about Sel? Most likely not. He was probably referring to the fact that there Heralds and Radiants were absent. 5 hours ago, elihaun said: 43) Abjectly speaking, are pain spren like the Cenobites? Don't know what those are, Painspren are just spren attracted to pain. 5 hours ago, elihaun said: 44) As someone online one stated, the 'shin' sounds like the back of the work the "ashean" (not sure on spelling). Maybe, the shin WERE invited to roshar by the singers, but maybe the rest (alethi, vaden, etc), came from the horneater peaks by cultivation. that would make sense in the creation myth (woman makes people from mud at top of mountain). everyone always assumes that all humans have the same origins. Maybe they are NOT the same people. it is often stated that shin look different. well, maybe they ARE. To add to this, when Dalinar meets Odium for the first time in the feverstone keep vision (oathbrinager chapter 56) dalinar notes that odium looks shin There were two migrations on Roshar - the first one from Ashyn, when humans arrived and settled in Shinovar, then spread across the whole Roshar, the second one is the Iriali migration, when Iriali with golden skin and hair arrived and created the nation of Iri. Other than Iriali, all humans on Roshar originate from Ashyn and were brought to Roshar via Elsecalling. And those ethnic differences already existed on Ashyn - all Heralds were born on Ashyn (except for Ash), Ishar looks like a Shin, Taln and Nale look like Makabeki, Jez looks like Alethi etc. Alethi and Shins came from the same place - Ashyn. Odium - Rayse - on the other hand is Yolish. He's from the first planet Yolen from where humans later spread into other planets - all of that happened before Adonalsium was Shattered. Spoiler Argent How many waves of human populations have migrated to Roshar? So I'm thinking the Ashynites coming from Ashyn, right? Was that just the only humans that ever came as a population? Brandon Sanderson It depends on if you count the Iriali? Argent That's specifically the one I'm thinking of. Brandon Sanderson They came in a separate migration. Argent Not from Ashyn? Brandon Sanderson Not from Ashyn. Argent From whatever the Third Land was. JordanCon 2018 (April 22, 2018) 5 hours ago, elihaun said: 45) Maybe the Shin come not from Ashyn, but from Elantris? It is stated that the voidbringers brought their god, well, maybe the shin fled after the Destruction of D&D, and Odium followed? that could be why in art the shin resemble the elantrians more that other rosharians No, Ashyn. Odijm first killed Devotion and Dominion on Sel, later found Ambition on Threnody and killed her somewhere else and then he came to Ashyn and Roshar to kill Honor and Cultivation - humans were already on Ashyn, they came there most likely from Yolen a long time before that. 5 hours ago, elihaun said: 47) How far up does the highstorm restore stormlight? is it at the edge of the atmosphere? the surface of the moons? Or does the investiture 'taper off', thinning out like the air getting thinner the further into the sky you go? Up to 100 feet above the clouds of a Highstorm. OB ch 60: Quote It turned out he could still draw upon the storm’s power while flying above it, so long as he stayed within a hundred feet or so of the stormclouds. 5 hours ago, elihaun said: 48) Could Moash be affected by the 'heart of the revel' MORE than just odium? In Oathbringer, Shallan hears it call to her to give it her pain, her fears, etc. That is what moash does. Maybe he is 'posessed' by the heart the same way Lin Davar was affected? Probably not because Ashertmarn seems to work only on those close to him and drive them towards mindless revel. Moash doesn't party. I think he's affected by Dai-Gonarthis only because of this Death Rattle: Quote Let me no longer hurt! Let me no longer weep! Dai-Gonarthis! The Black Fisher holds my sorrow and consumes it! Lin Davar was affected by an unknown Unmade, just like all in the house, but we don't know who that was. Again, it's unlikely it was Ashertmarn because he makes people give in to their desires - nothing like that happened in Shallan's home. That's all I know. The answers to questions I've skipped are most likely "we don't know." 1
elihaun Posted October 12, 2024 Author Posted October 12, 2024 (edited) That's a LOT to think over! I have read some of the WoB, but there are so many that I have not seen. Thank you for all the info! I do have some follow-ups: on point 3: I was referring to the line in WoK, Chapter1: "That's one of Hallaw's officers. He might be the one" ... " regardless, he is a batallionlord, if we kill an officer that high, we are all but guaranteed to be in the next group sent to the shattered plains" That 'regardless' makes it seem that the reason to kill him in PARTICULAR was not because he was a brightlord, but because he was one of hallaw's officers. The being sent to the shattered plains was not the main objective, he was searching for 'the one'. I have assumed it was Kaladin trying to hunt down the brighteyes that lead the charge that killed Tien, but am not 100% sure On point 5: Where are you reading the chapters of WaT? I have read the prologue, but have not seen any other chapters. On point 6: you said 'They already have much better ways of using fabrials to create motion - the Bridge Four." But that wont help much. I am thinking more of actual ships: steam style engines, Internal combustion, etc. The issue with bridge four is the logistics. you have to have teams on the shattered plains to move the ship. Could 'wire' like the sibling uses in the tower be moved through a ship, and a soulcaster (person, not object) use it like one of the airships on Scadrial? instead of a machine to amplify pushing, you could use the ship to alternate states of matter powered by the soulcaster, giving thrust without the inherit issue with the bridge 4 fabrial on point 31: I think I was more interested in the idea of: can a spren change? Are they fated to be what they are, or is it possible to become a different kind of spren? It seems to me that the spren name themselves, but what if the idea changes over time? Men view honor differently then they did 4000 years ago, and I do think that is why some of the spren in Shadesmar in RoW act in ways we might consider dishonorable: because the way men view the concept has changed, the spren themselves have changed. the deadeyes don't change because they are dead, but what of others? COULD the spren become plate spren? On point 48: something seems off with that. Not ALL of the people affected by Ashertmarn are driven to mindlessly revel. The cult of moments walk around town and preach, telling people to give up their emotions. The guards don't revel, instead standing and feeling nothing but emptiness, proably because they don't wat to think of how they failed the people of the city (like moash and bridge 4). seems to me that the unmade works like alcohol: to some people it makes them excited and willing to partake in excess, and in others it dulls everything, leaving you numb on the inside. Other than those, I really like all the answers! I need to take time to just read ALL of the WoB, but it is a bit hard to find the time. I am hoping to finish my re-read around the time WaT comes out, so I am a bit excited. Edited October 12, 2024 by elihaun format
alder24 Posted October 12, 2024 Posted October 12, 2024 12 hours ago, elihaun said: on point 3: I was referring to the line in WoK, Chapter1: "That's one of Hallaw's officers. He might be the one" ... " regardless, he is a batallionlord, if we kill an officer that high, we are all but guaranteed to be in the next group sent to the shattered plains" That 'regardless' makes it seem that the reason to kill him in PARTICULAR was not because he was a brightlord, but because he was one of hallaw's officers. The being sent to the shattered plains was not the main objective, he was searching for 'the one'. I have assumed it was Kaladin trying to hunt down the brighteyes that lead the charge that killed Tien, but am not 100% sure Oh, that's a good catch, I haven't realized that before. Reading on Coppermind it seems you are right: https://coppermind.net/wiki/Hallaw 12 hours ago, elihaun said: On point 5: Where are you reading the chapters of WaT? I have read the prologue, but have not seen any other chapters. Here: https://reactormag.com/columns/wind-and-truth/ 12 hours ago, elihaun said: On point 6: you said 'They already have much better ways of using fabrials to create motion - the Bridge Four." But that wont help much. I am thinking more of actual ships: steam style engines, Internal combustion, etc. The issue with bridge four is the logistics. you have to have teams on the shattered plains to move the ship. Could 'wire' like the sibling uses in the tower be moved through a ship, and a soulcaster (person, not object) use it like one of the airships on Scadrial? instead of a machine to amplify pushing, you could use the ship to alternate states of matter powered by the soulcaster, giving thrust without the inherit issue with the bridge 4 fabrial Using a Soulcaster to create an engine is just a bad idea. You can just use attractors and repeller fabrials instead, or even better a fabrial manipulating pressure, like the ones keeping Urithiru pressurized despite being so high up. Soulcasting fabrials are way too rare and expensive to be used like this, not to mention you need a person to use them. Anyway, the Bridge Four is a bit clunky now, but Navani just discovered she can pair up two gemstones of different size to multiply forces. This is setting the direction that Roshar is taking with their technology. I wouldn't be surprised if they manage to put the paired gemstones on board of the airship itself, which would drastically cut logistics and manpower required to operate those airships. 12 hours ago, elihaun said: on point 31: I think I was more interested in the idea of: can a spren change? Are they fated to be what they are, or is it possible to become a different kind of spren? It seems to me that the spren name themselves, but what if the idea changes over time? Men view honor differently then they did 4000 years ago, and I do think that is why some of the spren in Shadesmar in RoW act in ways we might consider dishonorable: because the way men view the concept has changed, the spren themselves have changed. the deadeyes don't change because they are dead, but what of others? COULD the spren become plate spren? They can't really change to a different type of spren, but spren do change based on self-perception and perception of humans. However those changes are small over time and probably won't result in Honorspren changing into some totally different type of spren. There are other ways of changing a spren, but this involves Corruption - what Sja-Anat is doing or Odium when Unmaking. As for Honorspren acting dishonorable, I personally believe that their nature never prevented them from acting like that. Sure, they are called Honorspren, but they have free will, they are sapient, they can decide on their own what to do. They can lie, they can be unjust and dishonorable. I think it's an issue with their society rather than something to do with Honor and their nature. They fear another Recreance and hate humans so much for it that they are willing to do anything to prevent it from happening again. As clearly seen by Syl, Notum and a few others, not everyone is like that, Honorspren are divided - which speaks to me that it's not about their nature changing, just their society. Not every spren can become a platespren. This was probably tied by Ishar when he created the Knights Radiant and it seems to be bound by Connection and kinship between True Spren and Lesser Spren - like Windspren are closely related to Honorspren. 12 hours ago, elihaun said: On point 48: something seems off with that. Not ALL of the people affected by Ashertmarn are driven to mindlessly revel. The cult of moments walk around town and preach, telling people to give up their emotions. The guards don't revel, instead standing and feeling nothing but emptiness, proably because they don't wat to think of how they failed the people of the city (like moash and bridge 4). seems to me that the unmade works like alcohol: to some people it makes them excited and willing to partake in excess, and in others it dulls everything, leaving you numb on the inside. You have a point. Ashertmarn works by proximity, it is the proximity to him that drove people on the Oathgate platform to a mindless revel. But he does encourage the other members of the cult to give up their worries and embrace the end. Those members were probably affected by Sja-Anat as well, as they worship Corrupted Spren in particular. And there was also Yelig-Nar in the palace. We don't know how the Queen's Guard were created, so it can't be said with certainty that they were the result of Ashertmarn's influence only, when there were 3 Unmades in Kholinar back then. Can Moash be influenced heavily by Ashertmarn? Possibly, but I still doubt it. Ashertmarn himself is a mindless spren, someone under his heavy influence would be driven to perform mindless revel - that's what Ashertmarn does. Then there is also the proximity issue, he works just like a Thrill and is affecting only those in a certain range, but this range seems to be much smaller than that of the Thrill - Moash was jumping all over Roshar while maintaining his emotional numbness. Lastly, Lin Davar was most definitely not affected by Ashertmarn - he wasn't numb, contrary he was easily irritated and prone to aggression, but was also soft to Shallan. He was not feasting, not embracing the end or anything like this. Shallan and her brothers also show no signs of Ashertmarn's influence at all. He wasn't the Unmade casting darkness over Davar house. OB ch 68: Spoiler “The cult has control of the Oathgate platform,” she said. “Do you know what they do up there every night?” “They feast,” Wit said softly, “and party. There are two general divisions among them. The common members wander the streets, moaning, pretending to be spren. But others up on the platform actually know the spren— specifically, the creature known as the Heart of the Revel.” [...] “Their proximity to the Heart drives them to feast and celebrate.” 13 hours ago, elihaun said: I need to take time to just read ALL of the WoB, but it is a bit hard to find the time. Good luck, there are almost 16,000 entries on Arcanum 1
Recommended Posts