poll Who is the best cosmere viewpoint char?

[Entr0pic He/him]

Just curious on y’all’s opinion on this. Note that I’m asking who you think makes the best viewpoint character, not the best character in general. For example, i like serene, but I don’t think she made a very interesting viewpoint character. 

I think i got everyone, but if I missed anyone, please tell me me.

Edit^2 i rlly thought vin would be more popular tbh

Edit^3 guys why do you like kelsier so much he literally has like half the TFE chapters and a novella. I mean i love kel too but how is be beating kaladin?

Edited February 27, 2025 by Entr0pic

[Treamayne]

45 minutes ago, Entr0pic said:

Just curious on y’all’s opinion on this.

Have you considered separating the list into Main Characters and Secondary Characters?

Alternatively, remove the secondary characters and limit to only Primary PoVs.

It seems a bit unfair to ignore half of the cosmere because you could only fit Scadrial and Roshar - not to mention Characters like Jasnah get very little screen time compared to somebody like Vin, Wax or Shallan. 

Notably absent:

• Serene
• Lukel
• Shai
• Gaotona
• Siri
• Vivinna
• Vasher
• Old Chapps
• Kenton
• Khriss
• Ais
• Silence
• Sixth of the Dusk
• Miles Hundredlives
• Nikli
• Axies

Hoid should remain absent, as that would skew results.

Shai would be my choice, if she had made the list. 

Edited February 25, 2025 by Treamayne
Clarity/SPAG

[Entr0pic He/him]

I would have put them all there, but as i said, there can only be 30 choices, and I figured the rosharan/scadrian characters deserved priority. And plus, axies had i think 1 viewpoint chapter, gaotona had 2 i think, and miles had 2 or 3 i think. While I’m not saying those are bad characters, i personally like axies, they are bad veiwpoint characters, for the virtue of not having much to go off. Although admittedly, i should have had probably exchanged jasnah with someone like moash.

Edited February 25, 2025 by Entr0pic

[Treamayne]

1 hour ago, Entr0pic said:

I would have put them all there, but as i said, there can only be 30 choices, and I figured the rosharan/scadrian characters deserved priority. And plus, axies had i think 1 viewpoint chapter, gaotona had 2 i think, and miles had 2 or 3 i think. While I’m not saying those are bad characters, i personally like axies, they are bad veiwpoint characters, for the virtue of not having much to go off. Although admittedly, i should have had probably exchanged jasnah with someone like moash.

Which is why I said splitting the polls. Possibly more total choices when you have 1 poll of only major viewpoint characters, and a separate poll of minor and ancilliary viewpoint characters. For example, Lift had a total of 14 viewpoint chapters (including her entire Novella) compared to Serene's 26 PoV chapters - but you randomly left off one of the major PoVs of Elantris for many minor POV characters (for example, Spook had only 14 PoVs and only in one book of the Era 1 trilogy, Jasnah had only 21 PoV chapters in three of five books for Stormlight - but both made this list while actual Primary PoVs did not). 

The part I am unsure of, is if you can have a full 30 options for each poll in a two poll thread (Example two poll thread).

1 hour ago, Entr0pic said:

Although admittedly, i should have had probably exchanged jasnah with someone like moash.

No. Moash has only 10 PoVs across three books - much less coverage than most options - and not a primary PoV in anything (Unlike Kenton, Khrissalla, Lift, Dusk, Silence, Shai, etc.)

Edited February 25, 2025 by Treamayne
Clarity

[Entr0pic He/him]

4 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

Which is why I said splitting the polls. Possibly more total choices when you have 1 poll of only major viewpoint characters, and a separate poll of minor and ancilliary viewpoint characters. For example, Lift had a total of 14 viewpoint chapters (including her entire Novella) compared to Serene's 26 PoV chapters - but you randomly left off one of the major PoVs of Elantris for many minor POV characters (for example, Spook had only 14 PoVs and only in one book of the Era 1 trilogy, Jasnah had only 21 PoV chapters in three of five books for Stormlight - but both made this list while actual Primary PoVs did not). 

The part I am unsure of, is if you can have a full 30 options for each poll in a two poll thread (Example two poll thread).

No. Moash has only 10 PoVs across three books - much less coverage than most options - and not a primary PoV in anything (Unlike Kenton, Khrissalla, Lift, Dusk, Silence, Shai, etc.)

So, i just checked the poll, and apparently i can add more questions… so i shall be using you advice and making a separate poll for less important characters

[#1 Taln Fan he/him]

@Entr0picThe poll options contains some pretty major Wind and Truth spoilers, so I've moved this topic to the WaT spoiler board. 

[Entr0pic He/him]

Just now, #1 Taln Fan said:

@Entr0picThe poll options contains some pretty major Wind and Truth spoilers, so I've moved this topic to the WaT spoiler board. 

Ah, sorry about that, and as always, thank you taln

[The Stick]

Justice for Raoden and Hrathen! 

How did Dilaf make the list, but neither of those two did?

[Entr0pic He/him]

Mb. I’ll get them on there.

[Nitpicking]

The obvious answer is Navani.

Note: obvious to an older science guy who has spent his career working with engineers.

[SwordNimiForPresident the sword/that sword]

On 2/25/2025 at 11:29 AM, Entr0pic said:

Just curious on y’all’s opinion on this. Note that I’m asking who you think makes the best viewpoint character, not the best character in general. For example, i like serene, but I don’t think she made a very interesting viewpoint character. 

I think i got everyone, but if I missed anyone, please tell me me.

Edit^2 i rlly thought vin would be more popular tbh

Edit^3 guys why do you like kelsier so much he literally has like half the TFE chapters and a novella. I mean i love kel too but how is be beating kaladin?

There's a big difference between my favorite and the best.

Best goes to Taravangian (because Hoid is excluded). In a handful of interludes he gives us more background on the Cosmere than the entire rest of the series.

My favorite is Wax, because I enjoy reading him the most. He has some of the most powerful scenes IMO. An example would be the climax fight scene in Alloy of Law when he tells Harmony that he should help people, and Harmony responds "I did, I sent them you". Another standout would be when he dies in Bands of Morning and goes on a walk with Sazed.

As for edit 3. Kelsier is an interesting character because he is kind of an antihero. His motivations are easy to sympathize with but his methods are grisly. For me personally, most characters beat Kaladin. He is easily one of my least favorite main characters in the entire Cosmere. I find him to be overwhelmingly whiny. Reading his PoV is basically just listening to him say "whoa is me, no one has ever had it this bad" for three chapters, and then he finally does something cool for one chapter. Rinse, repeat. He has gotten better in the later books thankfully, but I definitely read Stormlight in spite of him, not because of him. Actually the only thing that really kept me engaged with Stormlight for the first three books was Dalinar.

[QuantumAce]

Maybe not the best. but you have to give honorary mention to anyone who opens their first viewpoint with "I, GOD"

[Entr0pic He/him]

3 hours ago, QuantumAce said:

Maybe not the best. but you have to give honorary mention to anyone who opens their first viewpoint with "I, GOD"

I did enjoy his chapters. Good shoutout.

[Elegy he/him]

I'm nitpicking, but Elhokar is not a viewpoint character 

It's Kaladin for me, with Kelsier close by!

[Entr0pic He/him]

The coppermind lists him as one, but i suppose  they can be wrong.

5 hours ago, Elegy said:

I'm nitpicking, but Elhokar is not a viewpoint character 

It's Kaladin for me, with Kelsier close by!

 

[Treamayne]

 

43 minutes ago, Entr0pic said:

5 hours ago, Elegy said:

I'm nitpicking, but Elhokar is not a viewpoint character 

It's Kaladin for me, with Kelsier close by!

The coppermind lists him as one, but i suppose  they can be wrong.

Elhokar's Viewpoints were in The Way of Kings Prime (non-Canon) which is why he is listed in Category: Viewpoint Characters

[Entr0pic He/him]

1 minute ago, Treamayne said:

 

Elhokar's Viewpoints were in The Way of Kings Prime (non-Canon) which is why he is listed in Category: Viewpoint Characters

Ah, alright, that makes sense. Thanks for the clarification.