king of nowhere Posted September 11, 2019 Report Share Posted September 11, 2019 sometimes brandon uses the same concept in different stories. I'm not talking of random similarities, or stretched coincidences. I'm talking that sometimes I really get the feeling that two characters or plots are different twists on the same concept - though of course that's subjective. I'm also not talking about a general theme, like "the guy that's introduced as the big bad at the beginning, isn't", which happens in almost all his books. and I'm not saying that's bad, either. the strongest for me is Quote there are two brothers. the elder is great and is doing something important, the younger is unruly and unreliable. something happens, and the younger brother has to step up and do the job of the elder. not only the younger brother does an excellent job, but it is discovered that the elder brother wasn't actually well suited to the task in the first place this is the story of siri and vivenna, but as soon as I read the oathbringer prologue, I realized it is also the story of dalinar and gavilar. the moment when it is revealed that gavilar the great king was trying to free the voidbringers, and wasn't such a great king after all, felt similar to the moment when vivenna sees t'telir and finds it revulsing, and the reader understands that she wasn't suited to marry the god king. It's really the first thing I thought, this is like with vivenna and Quote the protagonist spend most of the book in a quest, chasing something. when he finally finds it, it doesn't solve his problems, and he has to find another way. this is both the quest for the atium in mistborn 3 (which is referenced as a quest in the annotations, brandon saying that he wanted to twist the general archetype by having the quest not turning up a miracolous solution) and the search for sandra of stephen leeds. with those two cases, i really get the ffeeling that brandon was using the same idea. And again, that's not bad, it works both times. there's also Quote a street urchin with mystical powers she doesn't fully understand vin and lift Quote A man caused a terrible war in his past, now he's trying to atone for his misdeeds vasher and dalinar Quote The hero is in a hopeless situation, together with other doomed people. his only hope is to lead the others into overcoming it, but first he must give them hope, as they have no motivation to follow him otherwise raoden in elantris, and kaladin in brodge 4 but I don't feel such a strong correlation for those. gaotona in emperor's soul also tickles something in my mind, but i can't figure any other instance of "only honest man in a corrupted court" Do you also feel sometimes that different story arcs are similarly related? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lunamor she/her Posted September 11, 2019 Report Share Posted September 11, 2019 Arranged marriages that work out really well in the end seem to happen a lot, like with Siri and Susebron and Shallan and Adolin. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karger he/him Posted September 11, 2019 Report Share Posted September 11, 2019 No mothers are named fathers are mostly terrible. Food in cities in desperate times causes riots which lead to deaths. The leader remains honest and as such looses his position. Religious institutions hide secrets from the general public. Conspirators meet during courtly balls and people talk a lot during combat. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paalm Tree Posted September 11, 2019 Report Share Posted September 11, 2019 Dead moms. New magic, learning how to use magic(which I love and is awesome) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaladin-Stormblessed Posted September 11, 2019 Report Share Posted September 11, 2019 Immortal god kings that may or may not be the big bad of the story. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wander89 he/him Posted September 11, 2019 Report Share Posted September 11, 2019 Shards!! I'm not sure I get this game.... /s 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Doomstick he/him Posted September 12, 2019 Report Share Posted September 12, 2019 @king of nowhere for honest man in dishonest court you have raoden and Dalinar and elend 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Singer she/her Posted September 15, 2019 Report Share Posted September 15, 2019 Beginning of the book/series; These are the rules of magic and facts of history that we all know to be true. End of book/part way through series: Everything we know is a lie. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Use the Falchion Posted September 16, 2019 Report Share Posted September 16, 2019 Dead moms in the Cosmere, dead dads in the YA stuff. On 9/10/2019 at 5:28 PM, king of nowhere said: there's also Quote a street urchin with mystical powers she doesn't fully understand vin and lift This also works for Spensa, given her outsider status and rat-hunting. For the YA books...all three start with the main character obsessed with a group that they've spent their whole lives around yet aren't allowed to join (Rithamitsts for Joel, pilots for Spensa, both Epics and Reckoners for David). They end up joining the group - or at least a fringe aspect of that group - and by the end of the book are the best in their skill group. Their social status has also changed by the end of the book (Spensa and David more dramatically than Joel). Alcatraz is just weird. Awesome, but weird. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
overlord stick Posted September 17, 2019 Report Share Posted September 17, 2019 On 9/15/2019 at 10:00 PM, Use the Falchion said: Alcatraz is just weird. Awesome, but weird. You could say it breaks through our expectations. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snorkel Posted September 18, 2019 Report Share Posted September 18, 2019 The one that struck me from the first two books/series I started was: Class prejudice, not just the expected snobbery, but the deep prejudice of the lower classes towards the upper. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Doomstick he/him Posted September 19, 2019 Report Share Posted September 19, 2019 6 hours ago, Snorkel said: The one that struck me from the first two books/series I started was: Class prejudice, not just the expected snobbery, but the deep prejudice of the lower classes towards the upper. SA and MB? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snorkel Posted September 19, 2019 Report Share Posted September 19, 2019 Stormlight Archive and Mistborn, indeed. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king of nowhere Posted September 19, 2019 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2019 16 hours ago, Snorkel said: The one that struck me from the first two books/series I started was: Class prejudice, not just the expected snobbery, but the deep prejudice of the lower classes towards the upper. 9 hours ago, The Last Post said: SA and MB? not only. in rithmatist, we see people having a lot of hang-ups with rithmatists. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tesh Any pronouns Posted September 22, 2019 Report Share Posted September 22, 2019 The word maladroitly. He uses it five times in the first MB book. On 9/15/2019 at 8:16 AM, Singer said: Beginning of the book/series; These are the rules of magic and facts of history that we all know to be true. End of book/part way through series: Everything we know is a lie. This is so true! It's also part of why i like his writing. He makes you try to find out how things will go wrong and when then how they get past it, rather than just how will they win. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGirlWhoLookedUp she/her Posted September 23, 2019 Report Share Posted September 23, 2019 A some of his books have situations or problems that can’t be solved peacefully or easily. Alethikar was united under one king and helped the kingdom, but doing so brought death and destruction. The Lord Ruler killed thousands and did terrible things, but also prepared and fought against Ruin and ultimately helped stop him. Elend wanted to create a peaceful and fair kingdom, but to save humanity, he had to take control by force. These things are terrible but needed to happen. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackout8444 he/him Posted September 28, 2019 Report Share Posted September 28, 2019 (edited) Full Shardcast episode covering the major ones. http://www.17thshard.com/news/shardcast/shardcast-tropes-brandon-overuses-r501/ Also, actual physical differences between classes when prejudices are present. Edited September 28, 2019 by blackout8444 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giveuptheghost Posted November 21, 2019 Report Share Posted November 21, 2019 I was thinking about this recently, specifically with regard to Hero Who Unites Societal Outcasts and Gives Them Hope Again in Raoden and Kaladin. I also think he has a strong tendency to write varied male characters, but way less varied female characters. His *principle* female characters tend to be very intelligent and often witty and they are regarded as unusual for it- implying that the majority of women in his various settings are decidedly not that way. Furthermore, female characters providing significant aid in areas other than intelligence are rare. There are exceptions of course and he is getting better about this, imo. But within what I have read- Elantris, first Mistborn trilogy, and Stormlight- it is something I noticed. I don't object to the genius girls, of course... *is a bit of a Jasnah stan* ...but since this thread is about repeated trends in his stories... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spencer Nightshade Posted July 1, 2020 Report Share Posted July 1, 2020 On 9/10/2019 at 5:34 PM, Lunamor said: Arranged marriages that work out really well in the end seem to happen a lot, like with Siri and Susebron and Shallan and Adolin. And Sarene and Raoden. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spencer Nightshade Posted July 1, 2020 Report Share Posted July 1, 2020 On 9/15/2019 at 8:00 PM, Use the Falchion said: Dead moms in the Cosmere, dead dads in the YA stuff. This also works for Spensa, given her outsider status and rat-hunting. For the YA books...all three start with the main character obsessed with a group that they've spent their whole lives around yet aren't allowed to join (Rithamitsts for Joel, pilots for Spensa, both Epics and Reckoners for David). They end up joining the group - or at least a fringe aspect of that group - and by the end of the book are the best in their skill group. Their social status has also changed by the end of the book (Spensa and David more dramatically than Joel). Alcatraz is just weird. Awesome, but weird. Right on the money. Wish I could give you another point for that. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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