Pathfinder

I think there are four really big things that would result in Roshar jumping ahead in cognitive realm access/travel. (some is theoretical) 1. Roshar used to do so normally. Elsecallers have worldhopped in ages past. There is already a strong trade presence in the cognitive realm, and Brandon has said there is regular travel between Nalthis and Roshar 2. Honor's perpendicularity is mobile. It moves. That lends greater access to the general population "in the know". People don't have to all travel or funnel to one place. They just have to know what time to be at a certain place to "hitch a ride" 3. Dalinar can create a perpendicularity. Elsecallers and Willshapers create mini perpendicularities. Yes to coincides with the earlier point of Knight Radiant regulation, but proliferation lends to availability. If there is only one way to on the block, it limits who has access to it. If there are multiple, even if regulated (like the airline industry for example), it still increases access 4. So I had a fourth one in mind, but in the process of typing it totally left my head, so I am leaving this space for when it comes back to me. edit: for number 4. Just remembered! Oathgates theoretically can allow transfer from the physical to the cognitive normally. If that is the case, then not only do you have a mobile perpendicularity to use, or one created by Dalinar, or ones created by who knows how many Elsecallers, and Willshapers, but you also have 10 locations (oathgates) across the globe where you can transfer.

Hordlings can only be so far from the full group, so theoretically if you find one, the rest are not far behind. Now what that range is, I do not believe we know, but that would at least give the hunters some means of narrowing down the search to a degree.

They are also mentioned earlier as guarding a box. Oathbringer page 953 He looked down at the box, which was locked to the table and guarded by small orange spren that looked like people.

Brandon wrote what happened to Jasnah after Shallan thought she was killed. Jasnah was in the cognitive realm, and Ivory warned of the coming pain spren. She said they were harmless, but Ivory said here they "harm-more". Considering anger spren is blood pooling and we find out that is only their saliva, while with anticipation spren is waggling tongues, one can only imagine what is sourced from sinewy hands. I feel like the painspren on the cognitive side might be bigger than the tiny hands we see. Here is a quote from the scene "A sudden screech broke Shadesmar’s silence. Jasnah jumped, spinning. It sounded a trumping beast, only overlaid by the sounds of glass breaking. The terrible noise drove a shiver up her spine. It sounded like it had come from someplace nearby."

If I recall correctly, the big thing with Preservation and Ruin is that they were counters for each other. Whenever one took an action, the other could take an equal action to counter that action. Preservation is all about preserving and couldn't attack. Vin having picked up the power recently, and not been subsumed by it, could attack. Her attacking Ati, allowed Ati to attack her with the same amount she attacked him. So if Vin used all her power to kill Ati, Ati could use all his power to kill her. Which is why I believe they both died.

Adding to this thread because I found something interesting on my re-read. Harkaylain is also mentioned, in the same vision, in Way of Kings. Way of Kings Page 306 The knight sniffed dismissively. "Voidbringers? These? No, this was Midnight Essence, though who released it is still a mystery." She looked to the side, expression growing distant. "Harkaylain says the Desolation is close, and he is not often wrong. He-" This is making me think Harkaylain is a bondsmith leader of the radiants at this time. He is both the person to predict the coming desolations as well as speaking regarding armor. Armor which theoretically is made up of spren which the bondsmith power set seems to be leaning towards (augmenting radiant surges and so on). If this is the case, this lends even more credence (to me) to my theory that a bondsmith is needed to help revive a dead shardblade.

I could see an argument being made in both directions. Honor is all about oaths, bonds, and keeping to them which would appeal to the wise and careful aspect of the elsecallers. Cultivation is all about guided growth, which I think would also appeal to the wise and careful aspect of the elsecallers. I would lean a bit more towards cultivation though because the elsecallers are not as rigid into the letter of things as the skybreakers are.

I think, or at least hope that is the purpose of Book 4 being from the perspective of the listeners. Kaladin can certainly sympathize with a fellow abused minority, but at the end of the day their experiences are going to be different, and it should come from the listener perspective to avoid the "white savior" and "noble savage" stereotype in media. I think it is important for them to have their own voice in speaking about the persecution they experienced. We see bits of that, but all from Kaladin's perspective, which is a very human/alethi worldview. To truly understand the centuries of history that the fused are bringing to the present, in order to truly portray that treatment, I do think the listener perspective is crucial. To add to what Karger was saying, kings and such could gift lands to their people, raising them up to the nobility. Usually it involved a knighthood, but other service also counted. My own family on my mother's side can trace that back to Italy. We have a coat of arms and everything via knighthood. Now it could be said that happens on Roshar with shardblades, but given the apparent rarity of the shardblades coupled with they tend to be heavily guarded to the point that you either have to already be a shardbearer or bring an army with you to entrap them, would seriously limit what a poor darkeyes can do. Kaladin very much is the exception to the rule, and that is due to a lot more going on with him than what is typical. As to the lands, Dalinar waiting till Kaladin was a radiant before he gifted him his own land, raising him up. I do not think Dalinar waited till Kaladin's eyes turned light to do so, but the time is ironically convenient. For all intents and purposes because Kaladin is a radiant, he is a lighteyes. That is why I think radiancy will upset the whole system. But prior to radiants returning, darkeyes had only one real way to be of that level, and that is shardblades. A avenue artificially made practically impossible by the ones in power. edit: correction, actually it looks like Dalinar did in fact wait till Kaladin was considered a "lighteyes". He did it because Kaladin is a shardbearer now. Oathbringer page 583 "You're a Shardbearer, kaladin. That makes you at least fourth dahn, which should be a landed title. Elhokar found you a nice portion along the river that reverted to the crown last year at the death of its brightlord, who had no heir. It's not as large as some, but it is yours now. " I think we all used the word racist because it is familiar. What it comes down to is when people are treated differently and negatively due to a physical difference. On Earth it is race, ethnicity, and sex (not ignoring sexual orientation. I am speaking only of physical characteristics. Discrimination due to sexual orientation is very much a problem). On Roshar it is due to the color of your eyes, to a degree the color of your hair, and to your species. But the horrendous treatment still falls in line. It is discrimination based on a physical trait the person has no control over, and the projection of certain characteristics on individuals that share that physical trait. We can call it colorism. We can call it being eyeist. We can call it specist. But at the end of the day, what is being done is the same. It manifests differently, and the abused minority all have their own individual experiences of it. But to me it still involves irrational hatred, animosity, and etc via projecting characteristics that do not uniformly apply to a group that happen to share a physical characteristic.

Kaladin did, or was going to, but he grew as an individual, and realized that would be wrong. Words of Radiance page 1014 "If I protect..." He coughed "if I protect.... only the people I like, it means that I don't care about doing what is right" If he did that, he only cared about what was convenient for himself. That wasn't protecting. That was selfishness. Oathbringer page 79 (this is after Kaladin punched Roshone in the face) Suddenly, the perspective of it crashed down on him. Since leaving Hearthstone, Kaladin had met true evil, and Roshone hardly compared. hadn't he sworn to protect even those he didn't like? Wasn't the whole point of what he had learned to keep him from doing things like this? He glanced at Syl, and she nodded to him. Do better That is character growth. Kaladin did not want to give Dalinar a shot. Syl pushed him, and eventually he learned to. Maybe part of the disconnect is by labeling some actions Kaladin took in the past as racist is that it is being said he always will be. To me Kaladin held a worldview that was enforced by individuals. His anger towards those individuals and the system was justified. Some of his other actions and comments to me were not. Those were said or done out of pain. As he got to meet and know individuals that challenged his world view, he grew as a person.

Doing my best to write this adequately. For myself I am not saying Kaladin is wrong to be angry. Nor am I saying Kaladin is wrong to fight injustice. What has been done to dark eyes, and is continued to be done to dark eyes is horrendous and should end. It should be discussed and rallied against. That the lighteyes tend to be the source of these horrors mete upon the dark eyes should also be realized and rallied against. But at the same token, at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s march on the white house, there was people of all colors and creed welcome and urged to join. People of all colors and creed did march together on that day. Kaladin joking with Sigzil that if Sigzil was a murderer he would be in good company, and if the person Sigzil killed was a lighteyes, Kaladin would buy him a drink, however is problematic. That does not mean Kaladin is wrong to rally against the systemic racism mete out by the lighteyes. But toasting the death of a lighteyes just because he or she is a lighteyes also has issues. Hopefully I wrote that well. edit: for reference Way of Kings Page 577 "I like to know the men I lead" "And if some of us are murderers? Sigzil asked quietly "Then I'm in good company" Kaladin said "If it was a lighteyes you killed, then I might buy you a drink."

Thank you. I feel this is what I was trying to say.

The issue I keep coming back to regarding racism versus classism is the nahns and dahns. As the system as it stands, there will never be a darkeyed of any dahn (I confused the two last time lol. darkeyes normally are of nahn, and lighteyes of dahn). The only way someone can move from the darkeyes nahn, to a light eyes nahn is changing their eye color via winning a shardblade. Marriage does not work as we know via in book and WoB, that it would only affect the children. The darkeyes would remain darkeyes, and remain within the nahn. If the child ended up being born with lighteyes, they would then be of the dahn, and outrank one of their parents. If the child was born with darkeyes, they would be of the nahn and the parents would keep trying till they got a lighteyed child to inherit. So the reason I feel it is a "race" issue (I used quotes since we are speaking of eye color), is because there is a very real ceiling to how high a darkeyes can climb. A darkeyes will never be a ruler. Period. Not through monetary means nor marriage. It is literally stratified based on the color of your eyes. It divides the "haves" from the "have nots". Theoretically in medieval times a commoner could marry a noble, and attain such a rank. A individual who distinguished themselves could earn a knighthood, and even be gifted land. Not so with darkeyes. I think a good illustration of classism is the movie "Parasite". The lower class characters have no definable difference than the upper class other than their bank accounts. They are able to literally hide in plain sight without issue. The "smell" becomes the only physical characteristic indicating any difference between the "haves" and have nots". The income disparity is massive, and the likelihood of the lower class shown in the film ever attaining such a height is beyond unlikely, but there is still not a physical trait being used to exclude them. That is why personally I still think the issue is a "race" or eye color sourced than class. The one thing I would add here though is the parshendi are met. The term literally means "the parsh that can think". The Alethi have met a thinking and reasoning version of the parsh. They realize this enough that they are actually concerned about having the parsh near the battlefield. That whatever got the parshendi thinking, could spread like a cold, or that the parsh seeing their "cousins", they would rise up. Kaladin holds back from allowing Shen a spear for a long time for that reason. All the other bridgemen are convinced Shen will try to kill them in their sleep, and he should be put at the front of the bridge so he will die quickly. Kaladin refuses that. It is a lot to type out, and I could have sworn there was a portion where Kaladin says he wants the lighteyes to keep it so they can be poisoned/destroyed by it, but I will need some more time to find that part. Otherwise here is the page number (I will try to type of the quote later when I have time): Way of Kings Page 651

I like the analogy. For you, you need to be able to to accomplish your goals quickly and short term, so you would rather keep an eye on a resource, and accomplish the goals in front of you, while the low cost no data cap would more be for leisurely use. Hadn't considered that aspect. If that was the case, it would certainly add an appeal to the voidbringers. Here is a follow up question. If the sprenblade, and plate were on the table, would that cause you to change your decision to radiant? Just curious what appeals to people versus not.

I agree. To add, just because someone may then be educated on their racism, and change their ways, does not erase the racism they once upon a time perpetrated. Can they be forgiven, and move on? Totally. But it does not change that at that time their actions were racist. Regarding the superior portion of the definition, Kaladin has made numerous comments that all lighteyes are corrupt to the core. That they will always take the worse action they can. By proxy darkeyes are different and have to stick together. That is denoting an ethical/moral superiority to the lighteyes. Further, just because individuals have in the past validated such a world view, does not mean the worldview is ok and not racist. It just means the individuals Kaladin has been exposed to, have validated that world view. It is only after being exposed to individuals that run contrary to that world view that Kaladin begins to change his worldview. Which is commendable, but at the same time does not change that the original worldview was damaging and harmful. And it doesn't change the racist tones of that worldview. In addition, by noting such comments and treatment as racist towards a privileged class does not belittle, or erase the horrendous treatment being done to the marginalized group. But by realizing it falls to the same pitfalls, and that all are people, equal in their rights, that understanding can be brought together on all sides. Finally, regarding classism versus racism. Economically a darkeyes can raise their nahn, and travel, true. However, only darkeyes can be made slaves. Further no matter how much money a darkeyes attains, even if they are richer than a lighteyes of the tenth dahn, they are still viewed socially as lesser than the lighteyes of the tenth dahn. And when I say lesser, I don't just mean in the economic eyes. Mentally and emotionally lighteyes are seen as superior by the society when compared to the darkeyes. Spiritually they are seen as superior. So for myself, when it does not matter how much money you accrue, by law, culture, and religion, based on the color of your eyes you are still treated as inferior? That is racism, not classism (to me). Now having said that, racism is a supremely individualistic experience. What one person experiences as being part of a marginalized group can be similar but at the same time incredibly different. There is also positive racism. Positive not in that it is beneficial or good, but positive as in the generalizations made are sounding favorable (i.e. all members of this group tend to be very good at math), but are still very very damaging. So racism can mean many very different things for different people, which I believe is what led to whole range of dialogue on this topic.

I say cats, but it is more due to my own personality. I would rather my pet share my space and give low key affection. I am an introvert and don't like something getting too much in my face. Then again, the breed of cats I own are very dog like (wait for you at the door when you come home, sleeps in my lap every morning and evening, comes when you call, and rubs against your leg, and hand, sleeps with you in bed). My wife likes both cats and dogs.

For the purpose of this poll, just surges as sprenblades and shardplate would be a rather heavy pro convincing people to jump to radiants. I am more curious to see which people prefer, upfront power, or extended use/utility.

Nope, you are totally right. Willshapers get cohesion. While Stonewards are the ones that get both Tension and Cohesion. Guess I pulled a Stormfather lol.

For now it is RAFO, though there is another WoB that I am having trouble locating at this time that says as @SwordNimiForPresident said, that there is not a bondsmith analogue among the fused, so theoretically the missing surge would either be adhesion or cohesion. Considering I believe the fused that makes weapons and tools with his carapace is cohesion (though I could be totally wrong), then potentially the missing surge would be adhesion. Pagerunner (paraphrased) Which Surge is missing from the Fused repertoire? Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased) RAFO. Skyward Houston signing (Nov. 19, 2018) All good points. If, and this is a big if, I am correct regarding how the surges for the fused work regarding transportation, then I would lean myself towards radiant. I would rather save up stormlight and use transportation to (potentially) teleport to a far greater distance, than only have mini hops.

No problem. There is a link at the bottom of the WoB that will take you right to the Arcanum Entry that is attached to the audio file for listening. Really happy with what was done with the Arcanum. Makes referencing a breeze. No problemo. Just to make sure I have the right scene, is the line this? "Inside the room, a mess of guards, servants, and members of Bridge Four stood around, looking confused or embarressed. Leyten was there - he'd been on duty with the King's Guard - as was Moash." If so, then yeah it sounds like a typo. I was checking my kindle version, which I figure gets updated. I agree it would have been cool. Sorry!

Interesting way of putting it. Honestly I am having trouble deciding myself. On one had having two powers to play with sounds better, but on the other, being able to make one power basically "normal" as in can use so often it becomes fully part of my life is also appealing. Yeah, I feel with voidbringer powers (as presented in this thread), would lend to more utility as we see with the fused. Relaxing in midair while reading. Always having whatever tool you need in the moment right on hand. Being able to change your appearance in a moments notice whenever. Potentially short teleports like nightcrawler. Continual healing like regrowth (though stronger since voidbringers can heal with voidlight). And so on.

For myself, a lot of Amaram's actions make more sense when viewed in the below WoB: Coachdorax Did you write Amaram as an opposite of Dalinar or was he simply a bad guy meant to spur Kaladin? Brandon Sanderson I meant Amaram to be the representation of the corrupt side of the Alethi. Meaning they are all talk and very little heart. Very little of what they say, to the worst of the Alethi, gets to who they really are. They would rather be known as someone honorable than be actually honorable. And this I consider a major problem with their society, and I needed somebody to represent this. Part of it is, to represent a contrast to Kaladin’s ideals. This belief that lighteyes were these paragons of virtue. But I also needed somebody, you may say an opposite to Dalinar. In a way, he is an opposite to Dalinar, but more he just represents Alethi society. And I did want it to be that he wasn’t just all the way corrupt. When he makes his decision in Book One in the flashbacks, he is making a decision. There is a moment where he is considering. By the time you are seeing him in later books, that decision has taken him down a path that leaves him very far from any sort of redemption. But it was a choice. And he wasn’t just corrupt from the get go. But yeah, he represents what I feel would be bad about Alethi society. A kind of honor society that is more about looking honorable than being. YouTube Livestream 2 (Jan. 20, 2020) Now I am among some individuals that believe that Amaram has Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Some disagree and that is their right. But in the vein of narcissistic personality disorder, Amaram wanted to bring back the heralds. He urged Dalinar to go alone because it would further their glory. Remember for the Alethi nothing is (on the surface) more honorable than the fight. To go to battle and win. The greater the conflict, the greater to overcome, the greater the triumph/honor. He switched to Odium's side when (in my opinion) he felt he could not be seen as honorable on Dalinar's side. I checked the scene, and Natam wasn't mentioned a second time. It was Leyten there with Moash. Unless I saw the wrong scene. edit: still glancing via word search so I could be wrong but I think I see where the confusion came in 1. Natam runs to get Kaladin about the King 2. Kaladin ran to check on the King 3. Kaladin sees King is ok, and see Moash and Leyten 4. Later when riding horses, Kaladin talks to Natam about that night So I believe Natam was on guard when the banister happened. Natam ran for Kaladin. Kaladin got back. Moash claimed he had just left and heard the yelling so ran back. Other guards and bridgemen were there but no mentioned of Natam. Kaladin speaks with Natam later

Keeping with some other posts regarding asking which powers you would like, I am offering a narrower choice. Which power system would you rather? Radiant or voidbringer? (disclaimer: Forget involving Odium, and being "the enemy". Just looking at the pros and cons of the powers, which would you prefer. Also I know there is a theory going around that the powers we have seen the voidbringers use so far, is not voidbinding. Not discussing that. Just using the term voidbringers for expediency sake. Also to level the playing field a bit, let us discount sprenblades. We are comparing purely the way the power suite is used) Pros and Cons of Each Radiant: Pros: Gets two surges. Can use as much stormlight as they have access to, to result in greater and more sudden effects. Cons: Limited use based on resource availability. Can burn through resource relatively very quickly and then be powerless. Short duration, so more limited in personal utility day to day. Voidbringer: Pros: Almost unlimited usage duration. Near constant gravitation, illumination, cohesion, etc. The fused that fly sit, or relax in the air. The cohesion fused makes random tools to assist in working, while also able to create weapons and armor. Personal utility theoretically limitless day to day in the right hands. Cons: Gets only one surge. Relatively limited use of said surge (cohesion seemingly only affects user's body or decreased utility on external uses, illumination also seems to only work on the user's body or decreased utility on external uses, slower acceleration via gravitation and external use is more difficult (see Moash))

Hmmm, although a kandra could theoretically (depending on size) take the body of a cremling bred by a Dysian Aimian, it is true they could not truly experience life as one as they would only be able to maintain a part, rather than the whole (the hive that is an Dysian Aimian). As to biased towards other Kandra, technicaly a kandra cannot know another kandra is another kandra unless shown/told (hence the problem in Shadows of Self). So if the judge didn't know which one was actually a kandra, there couldn't be any preferential treatment.

Lol, well it could still theoretically work, just instead of saying "T....L....A", you would have to say "tea-la". Just like SKU is "Stock Keeping Unit" but is frequently pronounced as "skyew".

Just for informational purposes, an acronym is when an abbreviation can form and be used as a word in its own right. If the letters of the abbreviation are just spoken (such as FBI), then it is an initialism. Some examples of acronyms are: NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration LASER - Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation SCUBA - Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (to clarify, not saying that to correct anyone, or mean to change the title of the post. just thought it was an interesting tidbit)