News maybe?

[DjangoJe]

I dont get on here often but i spotted something in the words of brandon that i think was maybe missed, or perhaps just isnt as significant as I think. Alternatively, maybe it has already been noticed and no ones updated the coppermind article yet. 

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B-more_freshout

I think [Brandon] would benefit a lot from finding some kind of way in-universe to convey when we can be certain that the character is dead. Something like what we see of Vin and Elend in Secret History after they die. I think that he was trying to prove how definite their death was.. I don't know how he could realistically or smoothly accomplish this, but I think that until we see some proof beyond what is normally expected to see for a death, we can't be 100% sure that anyone is dead.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, I've been thinking about this. Spoilers below.

The issue is, resurrection is a major theme of the cosmere. The very first line of the first chapter of the first cosmere book starts with someone dying. The story is about his return to life.

The death of Adonalsium, and the questions surrounding the persistence of his power, is THE single pervasive theme of the works. And so, I've returned to this theme multiple times--from Sazed's more metaphorical rebirth in Mistborn Three to Syl's more literal one in Words of Radiance.

At the same time, the more this theme continues, the more it undermines the reader's ability to believe someone is really dead--and therefore their tension at worrying over the safety of characters. So we need a better "Dead is dead" indication, otherwise every death will turn into Sirius Black, with readers being skeptical for years to come.

So, let's just say it's something I'm aware of. Josh, of the 17th Shard, was the first one to raise the issue with me years ago. We need a balance between narrative drama and cosmere themes of rebirth.

dce42

I figured nightblood was your answer to dead is dead.

Brandon Sanderson

He's certainly AN answer. But there are way more ways to kill someone in the cosmere--I just need to be more clear on how that works, giving the right indications to readers.

source

What I'm talking about is the part where Brandon seemingly confirms that Adonalsium was a person and in fact, a man. 

"The death of Adonalsium, and the questions surrounding the persistence of his power..."

Maybe not a human, but it definitely seems to confirm that Adonalsium was a male gendered entity. 

[Weltall]

Welcome to the Shard! Enjoy yourself but watch out for any cookies you may be offered...

We've known about this for quite some time. About a year before that WoB, Brandon wrote that 'Adonalsium shattered because he was killed' which was also implicit in the summary of the Shattering that Khriss and Nazh gave Kelsier in Secret History, published right around the same time.

That said, just because Brandon uses 'he' doesn't necessarily mean that Adonalsium was male as we would understand the term. Brandon has also used male-gendered terms for Nightblood, who as a sentient sword doesn't really have a set gender identity and is apparently trying to work this sort of thing out in 'his' spare time. Adonalsium may well have emerged as a discrete entity due to the known property that Investiture left alone can develop sentience, rather than having started out that way. Whether this emergent mind self-identified as male or whether that's what people in the Cosmere think is another issue.

Edited February 26, 2018 by Weltall

[The One Who Connects he/him]

22 hours ago, DjangoJe said:

definitely seems to confirm that Adonalsium was a male gendered entity. 

So I can see a few reasons why Brandon is using "he" without it meaning anything.

1) Nightblood and(probably) Adonalsium both have a consciousness, but do not necessarily have a gender. People don't like referring to beings that can think as "it," so they use something else. (This leads into 2 and 3)
2) People use gendered terms for both genders all the time, one example being "dude." Eventually, these terms lose their sense of implied meaning.
3) The preconceived notions of "He" and "She" dig rather deeply into people's vocab, and this (combined with 2) reflects in their speech. I use "they" as a singular gender neutral term all the time, but I'm in the minority.

[Wandering Investor]

I would chalk this up to the English language having no gender neutral singular pronoun, and thus Brandon defaults to the use of 'he'.