Dalenthas

Good point Kobold King. I vote Eshonai/Adolin. What would that be, Eshonadolin? Seems too long. Hmm...

Why wouldn't spren gender be fluid? I mean, at least until someone writes it down.

Liftarin for ever! As for the (massively thread derailing) topic of non-straight protagonists... I would not be surprised to find out that the reason Jasnah never married is because she's not interested in men, either because she's homosexual or asexual. Thus, if/when we get a viewpoint book for her, it'd be a non-straight protagonist in a Brandon Sanderson work...

I think Moash will become our viewpoint from within the Diagram, and I agree with the assessment that he'll eventually make a Heroic Sacrifice to save Kaladin and/or Bridge Four.

Indeed, it's implied that the event they are attending takes place in Urithiru, making Oathgate travel the most likely explanation. Remember that all the other orders of Knights Radiant were in attendance too, so flying was not a prerequisite to get there in time.

Marsh would call him Saze and know a ton about Hemalurgy...

I've posted this on another thread, but my theory is that Lerasium spikes would steal lifespan. You add whatever was left of the life of the person you spiked to your own life expectancy. One reason I love this theory is that it's something that's incredibly Preservationy (living longer), but leads to incredibly Ruinous behaviors (most efficient use of Lerasium spike? Killing babies). And I like that it does such horrors despite the fact that you can already become immortal without serial infanticide using the other Metallic Arts.

I think it is important to remember that you're still using Allomancy to burn Atium. You're using the power of Preservation, channeled through the body of Ruin. Remember that though Atium is made of Ruin's body, it was created by Preservation as a way to fight Ruin. So by burning atium, you're helping further Preservation's plan (though the power will eventually find its way back to the Pits of Hathsin, as Preservation cannot actually destroy Ruin, even in part...). So, when you burn atium, you're still using Preservation's power, not Ruin's. It grants such godlike power simply because it's basically metallic Investiture. I imagine that Atium's use in Hemalurgy is quite potent, I wouldn't be surprised if a single Atium spike (placed properly) could steal all of a Mistborn or Feruchemist's powers. A Larasium spike, on the other hand, I imagine would be potent (on the same 'raw Investiture' argument), but in a different way. Perhaps it steals Lifespan? Punch Lerasium through a baby, add its life expectancy to your own? Seems properly twisted enough misuse of Preservation's power for Ruinous Intent, especially as immortality is already possible without becoming vampiric in the process... On a mostly unrelated note, what would happen if a Mistborn were to burn Raysium, or Tanavastium? Hmm...

I imagine when Szeth gets to Shinovar, there will be much destruction and death, but nowhere near 100% casualties. Indeed, I imagine that the Everstorm won't do nearly as much damage as everyone fears that it will, though where Everstorm and Highstorm meet will be in for a shock. In the East, where most of the buildings are built assuming that storms only come from one direction, the Everstorm will be weak, having travelled over so much of the continent already. In the West, where people aren't prepared at all for harsh storms... there'll be a ton of damage, but nothing outright catastrophic. The Everstorm marks the beginning of the Desolation, it'll be a while yet before things get quite Desolate.

That would require a complicated process, involving spiking Taln to give him copper Feruchemy, then making him dump his memories into the coppermind, then removing that spike and putting it into someone else... not to mention you killed a Feruchemist to get the copper in the first place...

Vasher knows some way to suppress his Divine Breath, hence why he doesn't look Returned. While its suppressed, he's effectively a normal person, and if he gives away all his non-Divine Breaths, he's effectively a drab. While a Drab he could unsuppress his Divine Breath, but then he'd look like a Returned (on the plus side, he'd get the Fifth Heightening that comes from being returned). This is all in Warbreaker, though it's not spelled out quite so concisely.

Taln's eyes are a dark brown.

He said artists, not hacks.

I wrote something up about this on the Wild Mass Guessing page of TV Tropes for The Stormlight Archive. Also, you have to remember that the Nightwatcher doesn't necessarily give you what you want, you ask for a boon and she gives you what you feel you deserve. Sometimes it's good, sometimes, not so much...

To further Jeiel's theory, take a look at Kaladin, he's able to draw a group of people to him, then bind them together into a single unit. Spiritual Gravity and Adhesion, anyone? Shallan illuminated what the deserters could be, transforming them into protectors. Based on this theory, Dalinar should be just as good at Kaladin at making men working for him work together, but not as good as Kaladin at drawing people to his cause. This seems to make a lot of sense given the first two books. I'm still not convinced we've got Tension figured out correctly...

I'll offer the counterpoint here. From a storytelling perspective, I see why Jasnah 'died', it was necessary for Shallan's character growth and to provide more conflict, if Jasnah didn't get separated from Shallan, then things would have gone too smoothly for her when they arrived in the Shattered Plains. On the other hand, Jasnah still has too much to do to die so early. By separating the two of them, Brandon lets BOTH of them grow as characters. Jasnah's been changed by her travels, and she's learned a whole lot that the other characters don't know, while also being forced out of the loop, though Wit is with her now and he knows enough of what happened to fill her in to the big things. Jasnah's reappearance will cause more strife for Shallan, especially as her infiltration of the Ghostbloods and her oath to never lie to Jasnah again come into conflict. There will also be much rejoicing for clan Kholin to have her return, hopefully avoiding the soap opera conflict of Navani assuming Shallan was lying by having Jasnah tell her mother that Shallan had good reason to assume she was dead. So, the way it was done, Brandon gets to have it both ways. We get the shock value of Jasnah's death, without cutting off the storytelling potential of her character arc. I'm glad it worked out the way it did. Though I do admit that a main character death would shake things up, personally I see Adolin as the Sacrificial Lion, as he serves little use other than as a foil to other characters.

The Way of Kings implies that a Truthless who disobeys orders is annihilated upon death, and that nonexistence is worse than their version of Hell. It's an interesting take on religious dogma, as it produces undeniable evil not because the worshiper fears Hell, but because he views oblivion as worse. I can't comprehend that viewpoint, but I can also say that I know that there are people in this world who hold the same view.

ST4RK, if you can teach a computer to read and comprehend natural language, then there are a lot of computer scientists who would like to speak with you. Natural Language Processing is one of the most difficult frontiers in programming, because the way humans construct sentences and the way computers understand them are not at all similar. As for reading/learning languages quickly, it shows up in a number of Brandon's works as a sign of intelligence. Susebron learns to read quickly in Warbreaker, and the fact that the Parshendi picked up Alethi quickly is a sign to Jasnah and Shallan that they aren't the primitives that everyone else assumes they are.

Hating the upper class on principle is a recurring theme through Brandon's works. Kelsier hates the nobles, Vivenna hates the Hallandren, and Kaladin hates the lighteyes. Getting over their prejudices is a big part of the Sandersonian flavor of the Hero's Journey. If you don't get over your prejudices, you end up a villain, like Dilaf from Elantris. Though, at the time of the novel, it could be argued that Dilaf's hatred wasn't of the upper class, but the lower class, and not even Brandon is skilled enough to make someone who irrationally hates the poor come off as sympathetic...

So, please forgive me if this has come up before, I didn't see it in my (admittedly brief) review of the topics at hand. I have a theory about what powers a Bondsmith would have, and why they are so rare. As we all know, Surgebindings are created through bonding with spren. What if the power of a Bondsmith includes the ability to simulate that kind of bond? As in, empower other people with Surgebinder like powers? I'm sure most of you see where I'm going with this. Of course, half of this hair-brained theory comes from the fact that I'm just guessing wildly at what "Axial Interconnection" means. I, of course, have NO idea what makes one version "Soft" and another "Strong". My only other theories involve Quantum Mechanics, and I highly doubt that Bondsmiths have powers over gluons and mesons... There are still a few holes in my theory, the largest being that the Stonewards, who also have access to the Surge of Tension couldn't possibly have access to the same powers, as their much (historically) greater numbers would basically mean that nearly everyone on Roshar would have access to Stormlight usage...

Did anybody consider that Shashara's destiny was to create Nightblood? Taking the long view, Nightblood is good for the world, when properly channeled by Vasher... she could have seen some horrible fate that could only be stopped with the creation of Nightblood, or perhaps she saw that creating a Type IV was *possible* and she had to Return to try it.

Just had some theories I couldn't hold in, so I decided to sign up to the forums to share. Now I'm off to appropriate subforums!