Shardcast

Recently at DragonCon we got a reading of the Stormlight 4 prologue, and we also got Stormlight 4 Update #5. We go into depth on the Stormlight 4 stuff today!

Today we are talking about the Iriali, the strange gold-skinned people in Iri. We're talking about their religion, the Seven Lands, the One, and more! And you know what we talk about more? Kurth. A lot. You could say we were kurthed to talk about it. Did you think there was enough to talk about a single city? Apparently! 

We're finishing up our discussion myths this episode, starting with a bunch of Hoid stories, like Derethil and the Wandersail, Queen Tsa sleeps with the moon, and Fleet. Then we finish off with Parasaphi and Nadris, and briefly mention the Ten Fools and what's up with them.

It's time we discussed some myths of Roshar, and let's dive into one of the biggest ones first: The Girl Who Looked Up! We're talking about both versions of the myth--both Shallan's and Hoid's--and then... well. We kind of go off the deep end a bit. How is Allomantic gold relevant to this? You'll find out, sort of.

Now it's time for, shockingly, a podcast that isn't on Roshar! We're heading to Nalthis, the world of Warbreaker, and we're here to discuss some of the most important individuals on that planet: the Five Scholars! These are early cosmere scholars and researchers of Awakening, and you know, one of them created this little thing called Nightblood. I'm sure it's not that important... So refresh yourself on all of what we know on the Five Scholars, the Manywar, and more! 

This week we actually talk about the news, a brand-new Stormlight 4 reading! Then we discuss Cultivation and her plans. We carefully stay on the rails this time, even though we kind of go into the weeds with Cultivation's maybe-magic system. Come join us on this episode and maybe you'll grow some in your knowledge of Cultivation! Hah, get it? Okay, I'm done.

This might actually be the funniest Shardcast yet. This time, we have a random number generator pick a pair from about a hundred cosmere characters. Two teams must argue whether they should be shipped, or we should rip that ship. The best part is making people suffer arguing for really awful ships. Or maybe Alyx judging a certain Renarin ship... You won't be sad tuning into this one.

Legends say it is possible that Shardcast can get through Words of Brandon in a single episode, and this time we do it! We also discuss a Stormlight 4 reading, which you can skip past at 20:30. There are some neats Words of Brandon in this one, too, talking about Shards, the survival Shard, and the purpose of the Rosharan system!? It's pretty fun.

Today, a week after our longest episode ever, here's a bit of a shorter one where we have some fun at Brandon's expense. Let's poke some fun at some things Brandon does, a lot. Like dead moms, assassination attempts, and of course, plenty of arranged marriages.

It's time for some Spiritual Mumbo Jumbo! Today we're discussing the "Spiritual properties": Connection, Identity, Fortune. We also talk about Spiritwebs. Things get weird today, as you imagine. Remember, all disciplines are one in the Spiritual Realm...

You know what you need in life? Spiritual Mumbo Jumbo, and it's time we delivered. This time we focus on a very specific aspect: Language, and how it pertains to the Connection magics that let people in the cosmere speak different languages. Think there isn't enough to talk about here? Hah, you've never seen this show.

This week we are continuing going through the Words of Radiance Part Two epigraphs and the listener songs, and we're talking about the objectively more spicy ones. We get into history stuff, forms of power, and talking about the Surges themselves.

This week on Shardcast we thought we would talk about another set of epigraphs that we haven't discussed too in-depth: the listener songs from Words of Radiance! And we naively thought we could finish them all in a single episode, because the Song of Listing didn't have that much in it, right? Well turns out there's a lot of mysteries there! Next time we're getting to the spicy songs in the Song of Secrets, though, so stay tuned.

Today we are catching up on some Words of Brandon from earlier this year in March and April. There was an Orem signing in March and FanX in April that we grind through, and hey, guess what, we did it in a SINGLE EPISODE. Efficiency! In addition, this is Feather's first episode she has edited, and let me tell you, what she did at the ending was amazing! 

This week we have a special episode, where we have an episode solely of Who's That Cosmere Character! And this time, we're keeping score! Who will win this duel of fates? Who will be the best at Who's That Cosmere Character? ...It'll be Ian, won't it? Probably! If you want to send one of these in, send it to [email protected]!

After a short break on Shardcast last week due to sickness, we're back discussing the Lord Ruler, and this time its for PedantiCast action with his mechanics, powers, and abilities. And his powerset is absolutely ridiculous! We talk about Investiture, nicrosilminds, Hemalurgic unicorns... it's everything you want. Maybe. 

This week on Shardcast we are done with Roshar. Take that, Roshar, it's time for Scadrial's time in the sun. (Get it? Because they are closer to the sun in Era 1. Hah, jokes.) Anyway, we are talking about one of the most interesting things on Scadrial: the Lord Ruler! We're talking about his character and history, and we'll talk in detail about his powers next week. We talk about the Ascension A LOT, get derailed from talking about the subjugation of Terris, and of course, get annoyed thinking about the Lord Ruler's kids. 

On this very Tense (yet Cohesive) Shardcast, we actually do finish talking about every order of Knights Radiant, getting through four orders in just over two hours. So yes, it's long, but technically speaking, shorter than the last one. We also go seriously into the weeds on a matter of Surges. But I'm sure it's no big deal and there will be no Tension in this.

We're back with more Knights Radiant, and this time we go even slower, getting sidetracked with lots of Surgebinding PedantiCast action. How does Progression work? Future sight stuff, Soulcasting mechanics, and Shadesmar and astral projection. Oh, we also talk about some Knights Radiant...

This week on Shardcast, we're going to start a multi-week adventure in discussing all the Orders of Knights Radiant, starting with the Windrunners, Skybreakers, and Dustbringers. You should not be surprised we'll talk about this for three episodes. We go into their oaths, their Surges, and more. Also, space whales and MMO jokes.

It's time for Death Rattles on Shardcast this week! Check out our previous episode for our previous analysis. There are some pretty good ones this week, in addition to us not knowing Words of Radiance chapter titles, apparently.

It's been exactly 500 days, one Rosharan year since Oathbringer's release, and so here is an episode where after we reread Oathbringer, we see what we think about the book now that we aren't hyped to oblivion about it. Did our thoughts change? How's the pacing? All this and more this week on Shardcast! 

Did you like epigraph analysis episodes? Well now that Oathbringer is well behind us, let's go back and analyze all the Death Rattles! Will we get it all done in a single episode? Hah, that's adorable for you to think that.

At least a nonzero of you wanted this: an episode on Children of the Nameless, a novella Brandon wrote in the Magic: The Gathering universe, released for free last December. Is it any good? Turns out it's actually pretty good even if you don't know about Magic. We are going to talk about the plot as well as the lore.

This week, it isn't Shardcast, but ShardPLATEcast, because we're talking about Shardplate. We talk about all the details on how Shardplate works, its function, differences between the Radiant version and non-Radiant version. Of course, we hypothesize how one gets Plate and how that works. But wait, there's also Inception noises and Avengers references. Everything you could want, really.