kaellok

Metal seems to be uncommon, rather than rare. Think of the difference between two gemstones on Earth: jade (uncommon but plentiful) and sapphires (very uncommon, or rare, and used mostly for ornamentation.) It's also quite likely that there is plenty of metals in the earth just waiting to be mined, but due to Highstorms in the east and religious prohibitions in the west (Shinovar), the prospect of mining for metal is a daunting one; when you add Soulcasters into the mix, there's even less reason to throw away lives and resources to make the attempts. Back on topic, I'm increasingly becoming a fan of Adolin 'reviving' the Shardblade that he holds. I don't necessarily think that that is very likely, but I would very much like to see this be his path to Radianthood (assuming that it happens.) And, honestly, I think it could prove very interesting and illuminating if he were able to revive his Blade without becoming a Radiant in the process.

Exactly this.

Hoid could very well have been what led Szeth to become Truthless to begin with. I mean, the man does seem to get around; appearing in Shinovar and speaking with Szeth seems no more unlikely than meeting Shallan when she was a child. Regarding the Cosmerical importance of some things that Hoid has said, specifically regarding beauty and et. al, well: when an author says something once, perhaps it is of no more importance; when they say it twice, you should pay attention; when it's mentioned three times or more, it is either a vital clue or a very, very red herring. Given who Hoid is, I find it incredibly likely that there are two different layers to the discussion of beauty, one important to Roshar and one important to the Cosmere as a whole. The two blind men of Roshar could easily be Hoid and Szeth (although I think it more likely to be Kaladin and Szeth), while the two blind men of the Cosmere would be Hoid and someone else (not Rayse; Hoid is very anti-Rayse, and the story implies that there is a mutual connection between the two that seems utterly absent between Rayse and Hoid.) My guess is that the two blind men of the Cosmere are Hoid and "the old reptile" he exchanged letters with, except that Hoid is the blind man who no longer sees or experiences beauty. His friend can see the wonder and beauty inherent in the Cosmere as it is today, and so is against forcing change; Hoid, on the other hand, is constantly reminded of the loss of Adonalsium, and this constant pain is what drives him in his personal quest.

When Szeth "died", it broke his bond with his Honorblade. It's not a large leap to think that when a Herald dies, the bond is also broken. I tend to think that he materialized in much the same way as Shardblade do, and the damp on him is from similar reasons. It honestly makes much more sense than "he sure has been swimming a long ways!" After all, I don't recall the passage saying that his clothes were completely soaked the entire way through, which would be the case if he'd gone for a bit of a swim.

I can't recall for sure, but I seem to remember reading that Dalinar came to the conclusion that what he saw were events that happened as witnessed by Honor; I think that the Stormfather explains this at the end of WoR, but I'm stuck at work right now and can't check. Assuming that this is correct, then that would indeed mean that Honor's Splintering happened post-Recreance. I do remember for sure the Stormfather saying that he was, essentially, given a command to transmit the visions to people; a command that he could not disobey. Given the message of the Almighty (unite them! let the Knights Radiant return once more! etc.) I would bet lots and lots of my own money on Splintering happening post-Recreance. Semi-related, there's a WoB that while the Heralds breaking with the Oathpact certainly didn't help anything, there wasn't a direct tie between that abandonment and Honor being Splintered.

We don't know if Honorblades can change their size and shape or not, but we do know that sprenblades can do so freely and Shardblades can do so incredibly slowly over long periods of time; it's not crazy to think that Honorblades can change size and shape as well. I would posit that there is a maximum size that a Blade can be, and when the KR murdered their spren in the Recreace, the Blades 'defaulted' to this maximum size. There is likely some advantage to having a Blade only 2/3 as long as it can be rather than it fullest size possible (If anyone has read I, Jedi then you should have some of the same ideas I do).

1. There is a limit of Stormlight that can be absorbed by a gem when it's left out in a Highstorm, a point in time with mind-boggling amounts of strength and intensity. I would assume that forcing more Stormlight into a gemstone than this would result in it cracking/breaking. 2. One thing that seems constant is that Stormlight runs out. Even sitting around doing almost nothing (ie, a gemstone in a covered goblet), it still runs out. 3. If the people in question had some semblance of a bond similar to the Nahel bond, then they could probably pass Investiture between themselves (which is what Shallan did with Pattern that one time). Otherwise, we've seen nothing to suggest that it would be possible, so I'm leaning towards a "no" on this one. "Definitely no" if the person who you're trying to pass Investiture to is patently incompatible with said Investiture (like, how many people couldn't be Allomancers in the Mistborn series? A whole lot.) So, could Kaladin and Shallan pass Stormlight back and forth? Very highly unlikely, but not nearly as impossible as Kaladin trying to give it to, I don't know, a cat. 4. Syl and other spren don't seem to use Stormlight in order to manifest. Even Shardblades made of dead spren don't require the gemstones to be infused. So, if they absorbed the power of 1000 breaths, it could make them into a kind of super-spren; perhaps like one of the Unmade? Which would then probably let them roam wherever and however they wished without need of the Nahel bond. I don't think in the same way that you mean, though.

Incredibly unlikely that they were a band of slaves he tried to free. The sentence lets us know the approximate point in time when Tukks and the Takers died--after Tien's death, but before Kaladin was branded a slave. That puts it square in the middle of his time spent in Amaram's army.

Well, there IS a rather weird and odd spren that we see that seems a bit--chaotic--in WoK. It goes by the name of Cusicesh. Also, Odium is hate--not chaos. Where Hate walks, chaos naturally follows. So your confusion is understandable.

Sorry, I didn't mean to come across as angry. Maybe it's because I was at work, and I'm always annoyed when that happens haha It's obvious that we fundamentally disagree at a very, very basic level on what it means to "win Shards" from a Shardbearer in a fight. Kaladin won the right to do whatever in Damnation's name he wanted to do with them by doing the impossible. To take that from him is to deny the foundation of the myth itself. What you are saying implies that the Shards aren't really his until he's done bonding with them. If that were really the case, then I would expect to see far more duels immediately after someone got Shards but before they were done bonding with them. Or straight up assassinations for them. That's what I would do if I were an Alethi lighteyes with money but no Shards, and I know that there are those are smarter and more ruthless than me that would see the exact same opportunity. The importance of the tradition for maintaining discipline and hope amongst the darkeye soldiers is immense. If you were in the army and expected to use spears and arrows to try and bring down a modern day battle tank, would you? Hell no! No one would! What if you managed to get the 'killing blow' on it? Well, at that point then maybe you would--still only a 1% chance of holding your line and maintaining discipline, but better than 0%. And in the Alethi army, they rely on formation fighting, which means they rely on discipline. Once troops start scattering, they all lose. Maybe the lighteyes actually see it as you do; it's possible. But I guarantee that the darkeyes wouldn't, because it doesn't make sense. He killed a Shardbearer, by himself, and then couldn't give the Shards to his friend? Once that becomes public knowledge, Amaram won't have an army anymore.

1. To defeat a Shardbearer is to win their Shards. That's what is 'known.' Think of it this way. A friend stops by Wendy's and buys two hamburgers, one for you and one for him. When he comes by your house, he tries to give the one to you, but you're all, "Nah man, give it to Bob here. I already ate, but he's hungry." You're saying that that is wrong, and can't be done. Which is ridiculous. Think of it another way; your wealthy grandmother dies, and leaves you as sole inheritor to her vast fortune. You actually don't have to take the money in most cases; you can donate it to charity, or to Bob, or Jane, or the drug dealer down the street if you wanted. Possession is not required to determine if you have the right to give something away or not, only if you have a legal claim to it. You agree that Kaladin had a claim to the Shards, and passed that claim to Coreb. That's as legal and legit and right as it gets--only an inherently corrupt system would say that's not allowed. Further, Adolin tries to give Kaladin a set of Shards, and Kaladin gives them to Moash instead. Adolin's reaction is one of shock at the Shards being turned down because it's ridiculous to refuse such a vast wealth, not because it wasn't Kaladin's right to do so. If you win a prize or are given a gift, there's very little others can say if you immediately give it away to someone else. 2. Renarin is untrained and unskilled in swordsmanship and fighting or being a soldier at all. Are you really arguing that it was a crime for Dalinar to give the Plate to Renarin? No. Because the Shards belonged to Dalinar, and so he has the legal right and responsibility to use them as he sees fit. There's an entire set of Shards, Plate and Blade both, that are deliberately held separate and not used except in cases of a challenge against those with Shards. How criminal is it for Elhokar to reserve those Shards, instead of putting them into use against foe that the Alethi are currently engaged in war against? Again, it's not wrong--it's bad strategy, it might even be stupid, but it's not wrong. And what, exactly, was Amaram doing with his Shards after he stole them from Kaladin? Oh, right--fighting border skirmishes against other Alethi. Definitely putting them to good use there! The tradition of the Blades going to whoever defeats a Shardbearer is so strongly ingrained in the Alethi that it likely has a sanctity far more important than Vorinism to the soldiers. How else are you going to get people motivated to face death incarnate on the battlefield? There's a chance that your battlelines will last longer if the people involved think they have an honest chance of winning Shards of their own, should a miracle occur. There is literally no reason at all to stand against a Shardbearer otherwise. And this tradition isn't that whoever defeats them gets "dibs" on the Shards, but that the Shards belong to whoever defeats a Shardbearer. If I give my cousin my car (which belongs to me) then it would belong to him; if he immediately sold it or gave it away or wrecked it, then there's not a damnation thing I could do about it--because at the moment it became his, he was free to do with it whatever he wanted. And it becomes his when I sign the Title over to him, not after he's driven it for Five Days and Bonded with the car.

I really don't see Kaladin 'being ok' with it. The greater good and saving the most lives is an argument in favor of the Diagram, which is diametrically opposed in methods to Windrunners. That is, to a Windrunner there are some actions that are never okay, eg, assassination. The arguments you make in favor of Sadeas's death mirror almost exactly the arguments Kaladin was using to convince himself that Elhokar was deserving of death. I agree with Aleksiel's take, that Kaladin will see it as wrong and be silently judgmental, but not openly stand against Adolin. I also think that, hopefully, Elhokar will have learned a little bit about being a leader after having spent time with Lopen's family. Or maybe just learned about people (which is an excellent first step in learning to be a leader.) Dalinar should not be the one effectively leading or controlling Alethkar anymore. That time is done, and he has far more important things to worry about, like the fate of the world. If he keeps getting dragged into local politics, then it will be a disaster. Honestly, I think the largest problem that Adolin is going to have is going to occur directly because he tried to hide his involvement in the murder. If he had, instead, concocted some story and stuck to it, (for instance, the two of them met, exchanged words, and then decided to move up the date of their duel, but without Shards or witnesses) then people would know what had happened--but quietly let it go. The same way that they quietly let go of the way that Sadeas was directly responsible for the deaths of thousands, and the attempted wrongful deaths of a Highprince and his heir. Hiding and skulking in shadows isn't the way of the Alethi warrior, and so the Alethi will judge Adolin harshly for his actions.

Last night I went to a friend's house. I opened the freezer, to get some ice cream, but the strangest thing is that she was apparently keeping Ithaqua the Wind-Walker and Lord of the Frozen Wastes prisoner there. He is now free, roaming the Earth again and killing everyone and everything, and the worst part is that I didn't even get my ice cream because he ate it all.

Except that people pre-date the shattering of Adonalsium. Mistborn spoilers!

Desolation isn't the same thing as the Everstorm. The visions may have increased the rate of the Everstorm occurring (like jefftucker said, Eshonai's sister and her assistant had already changed to Stormform), but we have no real reason to think that the Everstorm is the same as a Desolation; after all, it's something that's very new. Desolation's start-point is tied to the Heralds, according to WoB (at the very least, asking if Heralds return when they 'break' is a question on the right track, and if Heralds stay on Roshar for too long after one Desolation ends, then another one will begin.)

Look, ice cream is delicious, no matter what the flavor. Rocky road is very good, too, but the best is chocolate mocha almond fudge; that's just a fact. And if you've never had any other kind of ice cream than chocolate mocha almond fudge, you can't appreciate just how good it is. Or, to use your example of rocky road, we could say that if the only flavor of ice cream you have ever had is rocky road, then you can't appreciate just how good it is. As far as obnoxious male lead and female lead butt heads, fight, and then eventually resolve their differences--man, like, almost every movie ever? Star Wars. Pacific Rim. Space Balls. Iron Man (to a degree). One of the Lethal Weapon movies (I think 4? the one with Rene Rousseau). The Princess Bride utilizes this trope as well, but turns it around as spoilers. Hell, even Frozen did this. (Also, I love all of those movies I've mentioned, and have seen them all multiple times.) Why? Because it's effective and powerful, meaning that despite how often and prevalent its use, it's not cliché; it's a trope. I may have digressed a bit; I got distracted about why we were talking about movies, so I'll just end it there hah.

There's a few WoB that help to feed this thought, I think. I'm sure that most of us are familiar with those by now, but re-posting just in case haha. So, anyway, Shallan could have enough of a problem with Adolin murdering Sadeas and his actions afterward, to create enough strain that they break apart. Since we don't know what Adolin is going to do, it's hard to predict how plausible that really is. Sanderson clearly plans on there being conflict in the Adolin/Shallan relationship. And, although he said he doesn't like the traditional love triangle, he certainly laid out that framework. An Adolin/Shallan break would allow for exploration of other options for both of them. This would serve narrative purpose well (learning more about more characters, hopefully in interesting and amusing ways, woo!) and could also give greater depth to the relationship if they do end up together in the end. After all, one of the key complaints that so many point out is that the thoughts towards each other that we see tend to be fairly superficial (even though I would argue that the actions are a fair bit deeper). Sometimes you don't know why you like someone until you spend time away from them or with someone else, and you remember all the little things you miss.

I would assume that Lift can use the Stormlight from spheres as well. However, this doesn't change the amazing uses of her food-transforming trick; remember near the end of WoR, how Shallan says that Stormlight itself, and not just spheres, would become increasingly valuable. If she has a way to fuel her Surges without needing Light from a sphere, that means that it can be saved for someone who doesn't have that advantage. And if she becomes able to infuse spheres with Light that she has metabolized, then it's possible that doing that all day every day (and eating) is the most effective way for her to use her powers. Another way to look at it is like this. When coal is easily accessible, cheap, and plentiful, then people tend to use it as a power source. When it becomes more scarce, they look to other alternatives. Stormlight will likely become scarce indeed in the coming days, so an alternative way to get it will be critical.

For the portions of words like "arthis" and "sja," I propose one of two things happened: Sanderson smooshed two names/gods together to form an Unmade, and so we need to find what Sja and arthis refer to, or he added those bits of the name to conceal the origin and make the names fit in with Roshar. As for what we can do with this knowledge? Well, how were these old gods defeated or dealt with? That may give some clues to what can be done with/to them.

And the horse.

I will await the next GRRM book as eagerly as I did Dance of Dragons, because that book was just so zomgwtfbbq good.

I think that MadMartigan is confusing "cliché" and "trope." A cliché is some element of an artistic work overused to the point that much, or all, of its original meaning is lost. A trope is a literary device or convention that authors can rely on the audience to be familiar with. Certain elements are present that the audience expects to see, while still retaining the freedom to change and alter them so that they seem fresh again. Case in point, maxal's post explains how Sanderson has twisted the prototypical trope that MadMartigan identified as cliché.

BLASPHEMY! Stick cannot be made anything; Stick simply IS.

There was a thread similar to this posted awhile back, that has a lot of really good suggestions, as well as meandering conversation (Of course, I highly recommend you check out my post near the bottom of page 1, but your taste may vary haha)

Psh. He's made of sturdier stuff than that. Pattern'll be the one pitying Mr. T, not the other way around!