kaellok

Do you have a reference for this? All I can remember are the fairly solid, steady light that it gives off. For example, using spheres for light instead of candles or torches in the surgery room to provide even light, the goblet full of spheres that Lirin used to chase off the townspeople, etc. (There've been at least three separate occasions prior to this where I seem to have made up stuff regarding gemstones based on memory, so it's an honest question.)

Only if they wanted to prevent the Desolations from occurring non-stop!

Typing on my phone at work, but there's a few points that are related. First, there is a WoB (words of Brandon) that the oath pact does not include Odium, but is originally between the heralds and honor (my wording is not the same as his, and it is from memory.) Second, Brandon has all but confirmed that Desolations occur when a Herald "breaks" while in Braize. (We know a new Desolation occurs if they all stay behind for too long, and asking if the Heralds return to Roshar after breaking is on the right track.) The interactions between Shards should not be limited to just what we have seen from Preservation and Ruin... those two were literal direct opposites. They were also pleasant enough fellows to begin with (unlike Rayse/Odium, who was a right bastard.) Also, final quibbling point. Even if Desolation occurs because the Heralds break, that doesn't mean they are the cause. Odium is still the actor initiating them, and is the one responsible, and so is the cause. (Unless you think they would still exist without Odium, as long as the Heralds still lived.)

Knowing where Blades come from? I'd go with Plate. Probably. Like, 90% chance. Not knowing? I'd choose the Blade. I'm already a walking contradiction--I'm loud, noisy, annoying, and for some reason absolutely no one ever, ever notices me coming up on them (also happened more than once when I happened to literally be driving a tank at the time on multiple occasions, so I just assume everyone is unobservant as all get-out, but whatever). I figure with a Blade I'd just finally quit my dayjob and make the transition into uber assassin/serial-killer. I also wonder how much of the Blade appearing/dropping into someone's hand is due to the expectation that that would happen, and how much is the necessity. Some people are able to will their Blade to stay after they've set it down, or thrown it, and stuff after all. Makes sense that I should be able to will it into my teeth so that I can swing my head around and just lop off everyone's heads even while tied up. Or maybe just in front of my foot as I kick it and send it flying through someone before it dissipates and I do it over and over again. That'd be funny!

Minor quibbling point to what The Only Joe said; Lashing wouldn't be impossible, just really really difficult. There's a WoB I'm too lazy to find that talks about affecting Shardblades, and Brandon says that a Duralumin-infused push would definitely affect a Blade. Then again, Lashings may not have the ability to have a super-infused push to them, so it may still be impossible. Using Surgebindings against Radiants is really not the purpose of them, too. So it doesn't surprise me that it's really difficult for them to attack/kill each other, even though they're great at killing massively powerful beasts/monsters/supernatural baddies. All of your ideas would still work against the types of enemies that we may expect them to face in a Desolation. I'm personally waiting to see a chasmfiend-type voidbeast to be lashed to the moon until it breaks orbit. Edit: Also, how good was Lies of Locke Lamora, right?! Book 2 was solid, but not special. Then Republic of Thieves. Man. Can't wait for the next one. Scott Lynch is as gifted a storyteller as Sanderson, just not as prolific.

I am a stick. I am a stick. I am a stick. I am a stick? I. AM. A. STICK.

Or maybe she is disturbed because someone about to win just ran or screaming in fear instead. Random insanity generally makes most people uncomfortable, after all.

It took me a very long time to come up with a theory that explains the Recreance to my satisfaction; nothing that I have seen posited by others allays every concern that I have (and most just scream WRONG! to me). It took a wild night of insomnia-fueled mania explaining something else entirely that I stumbled upon it, and it still seems a bit off, but here it is. Mistborn spoilers. You have been warned. Not big ones, though, really. Although, also really. But you need to read them for my theory to make sense. The Recreance was caused by someone sucking in as much Stormlight as possible (during a Highstorm?) through an Honorblade, focusing it through an amplifier (that "wicked thing of imminence" and probably also the "secret" that destroyed the Radiants) and forced them all to abandon their Oaths. Maybe not every Radiant at once; possibly only a couple hundred at a time. Or there could have been more than one amplifier--and we know who had a lot of Honorblades. Really, though, the "secret" is not going to be an actual, literal secret. It won't be "Bobby is cheating on Suzie but don't tell anyone!" and when it's found out Suzie breaks up with him and then also breaks his nose. The secret is going to be the Eleventh Metal. Edit: Because apparently using won't end a spoiler tag for some reason. An Admin should look into that.

Posted my thoughts in a different thread, but galendo summed them all up rather nicely. I feel the tweaks added nothing that was beneficial, actually harmed the scene, and set a dangerous precedent of ex post publish tweaking. (I'm okay with the edits to Elantris because they don't affect the story that I read, just the spatial-ness of it all.) Still love the book and stories Sanderson has written, and will continue to fully support him by buying each book as soon as it comes out--but I'm now cautious about it, where I never was before.

Not a fan of the original climax scene in its entirety (reading it, it was the most forced scene that I can recall reading since the end of Memory of Light--that is, a scene that occurred because the author decided it needed to, and then forced events to make it happen, disregarding what would have made actual sense within the story itself). I'm less of a fan of the scene after the edits because absolutely nothing that I found problematic was altered/fixed/changed/edited/revised to make it flow better. Problems with the original add nothing to this conversation, so I'll focus comments on the changes /rant on I disagree with everyone who feels that the changes are "more in character" for any of the characters. Szeth commits actual-suicide, which is against his little crazy Oathstone thing he's got going on. I mean, that's one of the only three rules that still govern him. It completely invalidates everything he's done prior as anything other than the purest of evil. If he was going to break one of those rules that meant more to him than life, honor, or being a human being that is worth leaving alive, he could have helped ensure the peaceful transfer of the Honorblade. You know, by like, flying to the ground and stabbing himself with it. That would have been better. Syl flat out telling Kaladin what to do, rather than what not to do is off, and wrong, and doesn't feel right. She has been the voice of his conscience. This sets up something interesting with Kaladin, too. Either Kaladin killing Szeth is fine, and was fine originally, or letting Szeth fall to his death is fine. And we know this because Syl told us that the Honorblade was more important than a human's life. And Kaladin listened. Maybe it is--but Kaladin shouldn't think so. With the changes, he's accepted that he doesn't need to kill Szeth, and tries not to; fine, whatever. I think that's dumb, but that's still a decision that Kaladin makes, and then seems to immediately regret as he waves goodbye to the human cannonball falling to the ground. The characterization of all are weaker for the edits, because they are conflicting with the primary driving motivations that led them to the point that they are at, as well as key decisions that are happening within the moment itself. I did not like the original climax, but this one is objectively worse. (When you prove to me that how Kaladin the Protector of Life deciding to not kill a mass murderer can change his mind seconds later for a weapon, for a Shard, then I'll change that objectively to subjectively. He's given up Shards twice before, and now lets a man die to go chasing after one. No.) I still like the book, and plan to buy Book 3 within the first week of its release. These types of edits are an incredibly dangerous, and slippery, road to travel down, however--even when they objectively make the story better. If it happens again, I'll wait until the story is complete and read them at that time. I don't fully buy into the "It's Brandon's story" argument; sure, he's telling it. But I paid to hear it. If you pay to see a musical or go to the theater, you may go on an off-night where there are some hitches and struggles; but you expect the story to be intact and correct. Going on two different nights, you may notice that the actors don't flub their lines as much, but you'll be surprised if suddenly the The Music Man ends without there being a band after all. /rant off

Hard to say. For me, WoK is consistently good; even after 3-4 read-throughs, I'm not dreading specific parts, or feel like I have to trudge through scenes and places. Its highs (in terms of scenes and quality of writing) aren't as high, but neither are its lows (again, in terms of scenes and quality of writing.) Put another way: both the most enjoyable and least enjoyable parts of the Stormlight Archive so far have occurred in WoR, while WoK was just plain good all 'round. The more I think of this, the more I think WoK gets the slight edge--just for the climax, if nothing else. In WoK, it was awesome, meaningful, and the route taken to get there was both logical and passionate and irrational--so very, very human. WoR, it felt like Sanderson had a vision for what the ending would be, and so that was the ending we got; the ending was good, but the path we took to get there requires not looking down over some of the holes we fly over. And, honestly, for Shallan's book she had rust-all to do with the climax--and that means something to me. I liked both, a hell of a lot. And it pains me to vote against WoR, because I absolutely love 70% of it (and love 10%, and like 5%, and dislike 15% and hate 0%)--but I love 100% of WoK. edit: just read Cheese United's post, and sig. Wish I could give you more than one up-vote. However, zucchini is pretty damned good. Avocado, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, broccoli, broccoli, cooked spinach, broccoli, cooked cauliflower, and broccoli are all the devil.

Or even due to our favorite book-changing Vorinists going through and changing things in books to better fit in with their own interpretation of the world. If this included Cultivation previously, removing that name helps to emphasize the importance of Honor/Almighty/Stormfather in the world, while also making what the Radiants did that much more blasphemous (mere people, bonded to the Holiest of holies, and betraying Him? It's--dude, that's like...imagine you're Catholic, and one day the Pope has a press conference saying that he's done with God and turning his back on him for all time. Except worse than that. I'm having a hard time coming up with a good analogy here.) Also, even if all Bondsmiths bonded to the Stormfather, that doesn't mean that they couldn't have bonded with other god-spren to achieve essentially the same result. eg, bonding Syl gives access to Windrunner powers, but bonding Syl is not the limiting factor--bonding an honorspren is. The question to be answered remains: Are the Stormfather and the Nightwatcher the same type of spren? Or, "What Order would someone belong to who formed a Bond with the Nightwatcher?" edit: my brain hates me tonight. Fixed mention of Cultivation when I meant Nightwatcher. Thanks natc

Yup, pretty sure this is at least 2/3 what Naln meant. In the paragraph, it is clear that the new Prime, Gawx, is the reason or cause for praise. The viziers use "Praise to Yaezir, Kadasix of Kings, may he lead in wisdom," only shortly before. Darkness, who we suspect is Naln, is clearly following their format as part of his disguise of being a constable of Azir. Although, there is a secondary interpretation that is equally valid because of the break after saying "Praise Yaezir." It is possible for the "Herald of Kings" to be seen as the new subject, and the implication that this Herald of Kings may be able to lead in wisdom if he stops drooling (where drooling here still implies an infirmity of the mind, which makes the whole wisdom thing doubtful.) All in all, since Sanderson is more than capable of saying two things with one sentence, I'd think that Darkness was referring to both--Azir making an idiot their ruler, and a wish for Jezrien to be as he once was.

And who created anal sodium? NAZIS. BOOM!

I disagree with this, actually (not saying you are wrong; just that I come by my answers rather differently). I think that motivation/intent behind actions can act or serve as mitigation for doing bad/evil/terrible things, but only to a limit--and actually nothing at all to do with whether they are a good person. (So I find it incredibly useful for a judgment metric of guilty/innocent, but not necessarily good/evil, if that makes sense.) Of course, someone who intends evil with their actions will generally be more evil than someone who intends good, but--let's face it. Slaughtering innocents is evil, whether done in the name of good or not (I'm looking at you, Mr T.) To be good requires action, after all. (If someone next to you is choking to death, and you do nothing to help or hurt them, that's a little bit evil. If you choke them yourselves, that's definitely evil. And if you try to help them, even if you fail, that's definitely good.) For me, Szeth and Mr T are up in the air as far as which is the most evil. Mr T has good intentions, which helps, but he's perpetrating slaughter on a national scale (the hospitals, the civil war in Jah Keved, the plague in the Purelake, deliberately using Szeth to destabilize many of the rest of the nations--which likely increases the amount of violent crime if nothing else.) If he were good and true to wanting to save humanity, then at the very least the ones he killed in the hospitals would be volunteers who knew what was asked of them and why; instead, I see him as evil and wanting to save humanity. Very, very evil. Szeth is special, because he knows what he is doing is wrong, destructive, and evil. But he does it anyway. And he tries to blame others for his own actions. A man who is referred to as a Desolation, a mythic event that periodically occurred to destroy the world; that is how they see him. And yet he cannot turn against one person, and say to him 'no'? It's hard for me to differentiate between the massive, crippling weakness of self-respect that he must have to make this so, and the evil that he perpetrates.

Definitely Hrathen. Everything about Hrathen's character worked on its own, and the interactions with others simply allowed for reinforcement of why he was so awesome. Galladon, who was very enjoyable, would not have worked as well without the direct and constant contrast to Raoden, imo. And, although I also liked Sarene, without Hrathen she would have been less interesting. All of the characters worked, and worked well, but I just felt that Hrathen was the only one that worked well on his own, rather than due to the interactions with others. And, he and I have similar thoughts and beliefs regarding faith, which I've rarely seen or found in others--whether in fiction or the real world; I'm sure that this helped to color my own perceptions quite a bit

Something that would be an interesting exercise, although require substantially more work/effort, would be to run characters through IBM's Watson User Modeling service (found here). Someone did this with LotR and posted their methodology and results here (which is what gave me the idea). Undoubtedly the best results would be from someone with oodles of time and the e-book versions to copy/paste...

what is this "root beet" soda? m've had root BEER, and i'm a fan of it. but root beet? hmmm...i smell another clever conspiracy led by my girlfriend to try and get me to eat/consume vegetables. well, you know what? I'M ON TO YOU!! AND IT WON'T WORK!!!!

I recall specific mention of Surgebinding abilities using Szeth's Stormlight, but nothing about his Stormlight depleting while just wielding the Blade. According to your theory, it should be feeding off of his Investiture even when he's not using one of the Surges, right? (Similar to Nightblood, I would assume, but perhaps in a different way altogether.) If there actually is mention of this somewhere, I think that would be a large nod to your theory being correct or at least headed in the right direction. Lacking that, however, Moogle makes some good points. Still, an interesting idea.

I thought he had worked past it when he turned back to save Dalinar, Adolin, and the remnants of their army at the end of WoK. I was wrong, then. I'll not be making any presumptions in that regard again without definitive proof.

Kaladin really hasn't worked on getting past it. That's why he has the unstoppable anger towards all light-eyes that caused him to kill Syl in WoR. Shallan avoided accepting the reality of what had happened, and Kaladin turned to anger and blaming others for all of the bad things that occurred (remember his epiphany? that it wasn't some curse causing him to live and suffer, it was him not doing as much as he could that caused people to die?). Neither of those methods is really "getting over it" or "healthy." The continually added stress of fighting a war that is to prevent the literal end of the world probably doesn't make this any easier, either. And saying that just because Person A has experienced worse trauma than Person B, that Person B should just 'get over it' is monumentally naive, and damaging to everyone that has had to deal with that kind of rust in their life. (Granted, these are fictional characters, but it doesn't take much imagination to see someone transferring this same type of thinking to real life--because it happens every day already.)

Very interesting catch. It likely serves as the root for multiple things, but may indicate something more. Regardless, welcome to the forums. Have a complimentary upvote cookie!

omg...that section where he's talking about being an author with children is the best. I love the story about Tad Williams, and I also love that he just immediately was all, "I'm gonna make my kids read Jane Yolen's Dragon's Blood." ty for posting the recording, and the transcription.

Not sure if you've seen this WoB: This certainly has at least some implication for your theory. The core of it may still be sound, though.

I've solved the riddle of What Exactly Is Hoid Anyway?! He's an AI (for Artificial Intelligence; not Al, short for Albert). Or the Cosmere equivalent.