kaellok

I just don't see this. While I had a pretty terrible childhood, and I'm more acceptable and inclined to violence than any of my friends (by far), I've never once thought "you were just using me all along, pretending to be my friend all those years... so now I'm going to murder you in some bizarre ritual reminiscent of drinking the kool-aid in a cult to perform a mass suicide. " It's an interesting thought, and i can see the fun in exploring it, but i don't think it's what actually happened.

What you are actually theorizing is a bit muddled to me. I'd you're saying that the spren forcing a bond caused the recreance, two problems aren't addressed. One, entire orders of Knights abandoned their Oaths all at once; i see zero chance of them waiting around for years under the brutal yoke of am oppressive spren that forced some (but definitely not all) of them into a bond they had no interest in just so they could do so with a few hundred friends. Two, the recreance occurred way, way after the so called final desolation, so there shouldn't have been increased levels of spren "recruitment" anyway.

Lol axcellence. I pretty much think the very opposite of you. With exception of Heinlein. And i thoroughly enjoyed Card's Shadows of Ender series nearly as much as the original (heartily recommend avoiding all the others, tho.) Love how you gave examples of what you liked and not, as well as why they didn't work for you. Really helps to match up tastes more, since different people look for different things even in several books they like in common.

Found it again, and on re read, i may be reading more into it than is there.

I'm frustratingly on mobile, so cannot post link, but there is a WoB that says that when Ruin created humans on Scadrial with Preservation, he created a "back door" in them to allow easier access and influence. None of the other shard world humans were created by their resident Shards, so far as we know. I also would not be surprised if Endowment is capable of interacting with the living world mostly in ways that are a rather literal interpretation of the Sharp's intent: by giving its power to others. The exception being when people are not in the Physical realm. I do think that it's rather interesting how much influence Endowment seems to have over those who have died; more, by far, than other Shards we have seen.

Echoing suggestion for Jim Butcher, Scott Lynch, and Brent Weeks. Seanan McGuire has a great urban fantasy (book 1 is kinda meh, but quickly gets much better in 2+.) She also writes horror as Mira Grant. Her Newsflesh trilogy has some of the best written, most enjoyable, relatable, and sympathetic characters I've ever read. I used to not care about zombie apocalypse genre, and actively stayed away from it because it is, in general, awful. She brings it, and the world, to life ina way that very few authors can do. Michelle West/Michelle Sagara also creates incredibly vivid and believable worlds and characters to populate them. Under West, the stories are slower paced, and with a surreal fairy tale-esque feel to them. (I've been told that's a horrible description, but i stand by it.) Under Sagara, think Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but fantasy. Glen Cook's Black Company series, and stand alone novels, are amazing. Better, by far, than GRRM.

Hello! I enjoyed reading your theory so much that decided to take the time to demolish it. That's because I ruin everything (not like Ruin, though.) Because text can be funny, I'm absolutely serious when I say that I enjoyed reading it. There are some neat/interesting/good thoughts in there, and some of them might even be true. 1&6. The original people involved in the Oathpact are specifically Heralds and Honor. Pertinent WoB below: Now this is a theory that is mostly based on speculation but I wanted to see what other people think of it. Warning mindless rambling may happen at times, just stay with me. Now lets get to it. 1&6. The Heralds and Honor are the only original participants of the Oathpact. Others (such as Radiants) may have come to it later, but we don't know that. Answers from Sanderson (frequently abbreviated as WoB) are hidden behind spoiler tags. 2-4. Pertinent WoB below: 5. Almost definitely done to contain Odium I find this thought to be particularly intriguing and interesting. Forcing a Bond of sorts on Odium to contain him? And, as a result, likely fueling the immortality that the Heralds possess. Also brings all kinds of interesting thoughts, like, "Oh, so that's why an Honorblade just gives you the access to Surges, rather than requiring you to Bond a Splinter." I mean, the how of that is still up in the air, but having a shard of Honor attacking Odium from the inside? That's a pretty awesome plan. Unfortunately, this is probably not true. There is a WoB that seems to say that Highstorms predate Honor/Cultivation's arrival: The wobbly nature of the latter part of that answer gives some room for error, but seems strongly on the "Highstorms predate Honor/Cultivation." I thought there was a better WoB than this, but failed at finding it. And it turns out that Honor/Cultivation either have less care with people than you'd think, or had less choice in destination than they wanted. Edit: Stupid spoiler and quote tags were destroying me. Apparently although they may be in a relationship, they currently need their space.

My only regret is that i have but one upvote to give.

Canned food does not equal infrastructure. Even tho the Americas didn't have much when first colonized, there was still significant impact from European nations coming across. No infrastructure support means no large growth rate trends. Too, so many of the people in colonial US were already skilled at what was necessary. You didn't have skilled thieves turning to farming, you had well to do and successful farmers turning to farming in a new and more hospitable land. All the knowledge in the world cannot compensate for actual skill (Look no further than Elend for proof of this even in world.) Tl;dr /disagree

Well, it IS turtles all the way down. I...somehow, someway, I completely missed that Stick could have been FIRE, but chose not to. You don't know me irl, so this means nothing to you. But I'm not allowed to play with fire. The last time I did, it was safely, under supervision, next to a rather large pond in a woods. We nearly lost the woods because of the fire. I don't even know what happened...I was just there, and zoning out gazing at the fire, and the next thing I knew it was...bad. And I was sad, because I knew that I couldn't be allowed or trusted to play with fire ever again, because the next logical step is lighting an entire state on fire (first was self, then house, then woods, so it's an exponential growth pattern.) So now, damnation you, now my heart is broken. I loved Stick. But Stick could have been so much more.

Population growth rates for humans are basically as high as they have ever been in history ever ever due to a large number of technological advancements, infrastructure, etc. If you look to the growth rates of Europe in 1000 AD were around 0.2% overall. And this was also considered a time of "boom" population growth. It's hard to find a good measure of what the growth rate would be, simply because their situation is so different than happened on Earth. However, looking at charts is really, really fascinating. Global population rates are basically flat at at under half a billion for 8,000 years before skyrocketing to 7 billion+ in the next 1000. I'd guess Scadrial would be experiencing a mostly flat-line growth for the first 100 years as infrastructure is re-built, and that much of the actual population growth has been within the last century. With a starting population of 5mil seeing 0.1% annual growth for first 100 years, we'd end up with ~5.5mil. If they then saw 0.5% annual growth for another 100 years, we'd see ~8.2mil. If they then saw 100 years of 1.1% growth, end result would be population of ~14.8mil. Also, I'm pretty sure that all life would have been affected, not just human. And we're still looking at a ~95% extinction level event for the planet.

Do you know whose it is? Because, seriously, it's pretty awesome. And upvote for sharing, but I'd like to make sure author knows others think it's awesome, too!

First, I agree that the Diagram brings about pain, chaos, and destruction. It has destabilized the world, and directly led to the deaths of thousands (at a minimum). The question that is yet to be resolved is if it actually can succeed (and, if it can, if it's worth the cost.) There've been a few other threads discussing the Diagram. One particularly strong argument that I remember Moogle (I think it was Moogle. Apologies to whoever is responsible in case I'm wrong) making in the past in favor of it is that, essentially, it's better storytelling if the Diagram can succeed in saving Roshar from Odium. Giving the reader two drastically, diametrically opposed viewpoints and methods of success that are both viable is much more interesting than one very strong option and one very large strawman that is built to fail. Even if the Diagram were the only way for people on Roshar to survive, it's still very much an act of evil. (The deliberate murder of innocents for the possibility of getting a hint at how to survive is evil, I'm sure we can all agree.) I think that it's wrong, and the conflict that will come about with the Radiants will likely be disastrous. And the Diagram, honestly, may not be worth pursuing--even if it would lead to victory. Some costs I'm just not willing to pay, ya know? But having "good" and "evil" plans competing for the survival of a planet is actually pretty awesome, when ya think about it.

Call me a crazy, madcap jester dancing on top of an elephant riding atop a turtle, but i love how we can come together to intelligently discuss why fictional characters have made us angry, while remaining calm and civil about it.

My timeline knowledge for some things is a little bit wobbly. Mostly Dalinar-related, really. But anyway. I was reading this thread this afternoon, and a thought struck me: Could Dalinar have asked for help to become a good/worthy man? And the curse is that he forgot his wife. Of course, that gets into larger issues like, "That means that his boon didn't happen until 2 years later when his brother was assassinated--and that the boon was his brother's assassination." ...I like baseless speculation, and seeing where it can take you. Because those places are fascinating. (And sometimes super-dark. Other times, you can see clearly--and really, really wish you couldn't because those clouds have teeth and they are coming right for you!)

I was typing up a response to a thread, when I realized that the OP was asking if they should read SA--and I realized it would be bad to post this response in that thread. So, now I create a new thread! A place to rant and rave about characters that you liked or loved, until they did something that pissed you off so much you can never see them the same way again. I'd also like to make special mention that I don't waste my time with characters that don't speak to me. Even though I may disagree with virtually their entire outlook on life, they are still vibrant and lively enough that I can't simply ignore them. And that speaks to good writing. For me, there's two of these miscreant characters! Spoiler tags for what they've done. They were also two of my favorite characters from WoK. Kaladin Szeth

Thinking a bit more about this, I'm starting to believe that there won't be a "liberate Hearthstone from the clutches of Roshone" that so many people are expecting. Why? Because it's what people expect... ...and you can do such interesting things with Kaladin that way. For all we know, Laral helped Roshone have a stroke, so he's now mostly bed-ridden, and she rules things in a relatively amicable way. Or perhaps Roshone actually changes of his own volition (incredibly doubtful, but if Kaladin arrives post-Everstorm hitting he could see an entirely different Roshone in charge.) I still think it's unlikely for Kaladin to find his parents alive and happy in Hearthstone with Roshone present, but I also find it equally unlikely for them to be there at all. And in my opinion the far more interesting story for Kaladin's development would be for Kaladin to show up to save the day, only to find that he's not needed, and the people he was there to save already left.

For you, it would. For me, it wouldn't work. At all. But the books are so damnation good I'd keep reading and enjoying them anyway. Knowing maxal, tho, they were referring to Adolin ☺ and I'd love to see more of him and less of Kaladin in future books.

Go the old-fashioned route--take a picture, and then do a poor job photo-shopping it into a mist-covered city!

Just apply horror-movie logic to Game of Thrones, and you'll be able to predict who dies next with incredible accuracy. Add in the "attempting to go for biggest shock/twist, rather than what is best for story" lens of viewing things, and books 1-3 you'll have near perfect. Arya and Sansa remaining the sole exceptions that, according to this logic, should have died long ago, but haven't. For Sanderson's work, any killing any of the major characters from Kaladin's past (parents, Roshone, Laral, etc.) won't be for us as readers to feel the loss directly, but rather to feel it through Kaladin. That he did basically the same thing with Tien means it's not super likely to happen again, but it may. Honestly, I don't see Roshone stopping his campaign against them just because he 'won.' He's the type of person that would want the domination of complete and utter victory, which cannot occur while Lirin is alive. Remember that Roshone was fighting against Lirin, and Lirin was fighting for Kaladin. Kaladin leaving, and Tien dying, simply means that Lirin has much less to fight for--but Roshone is still very much in it. And what townsperson is going to stand with Lirin, against Roshone, when they know that it could cost them their children (as standing against Roshone cost Lirin both his sons)? I absolutely do not see Kaladin's parents still living in Hearthstone. If they are, I don't see it being a happy and/or supportive environment for them.

TLR has atium, which is a pretty easy win... if he uses it.

Vin has atium, so Vin wins. If she has others on her side, they win, too, but are not necessarily critical.

I thought as you did, and spent around 20 hours of work looking for something more. If it's there, i couldn't find it. They seem to reflect the "tone" of the chapter, or in some cases the main character of the chapter. I was frantically studying for finals during this time, and used the scrutiny of chapter titles and Herald effigies as a decompression method, so there is very definitely that.

A very, very common response haha.

Send it to: North Pole Brandon Sanderson -- c/o Santa Claus It should get delivered to Sanderson on Christmas eve by good ol' Saint Nick. And YES, Santa Claus is real. Just check out this thread full of proof (but...if you haven't read Mistborn yet, maybe don't. Spoilers. Although not really any big ones.)