Pathfinder

I totally agree. In my post, I explained that the original intention was a one on one battle. As I said the purpose of my post, was the explain the mechanics and thought behind the idea. To explain that the concept is not far fetched. Not meaning to give Karger a hard time, but basically I felt the concept was misrepresented and I sought to clarify that. Although true, a Herald, theoretically fueled by an honorblade, would be invested enough to still attract an invested object such as a metal mind Here is where we slightly disagree. To me, are the Bands monumentally invested? Sure! They are granting the user not only the storage, but the abilities. Very strong versions of the abilities. So yes I would say the Bands are greatly invested. I still think a herald fueled directly by honor via their honor blade could potentially soulcast it, but now regarding the Lord Ruler's metal minds. I will go over compounding (not because I think I need to explain it to you, nor that you misunderstand something regarding it. You probably know and understand it far better than me. I am only going over it, to make sure we are going off the same premises.) 1. take a normal hunk of gold 2. store health into the gold. Could be 1 second of health. Doesn't matter so long as it is now registered as a gold metal mind of health 3. burn the metal mind to get a preservation fueled health 100s of times more than what you stored. 4. either use that health that is being burned right at that time, or store it into other metal minds 5. those other metal minds holding that health that you burned is a normal metal mind, no different than any other metal mind that a feruchemist could make. The only thing that makes those metal minds unique is that they are: 1. filled to the brim 2. the amount is gotten for "free" from preservation as it were But we also know all metal minds have a limit to what they can hold. Which is why you wear multiple bracers, rings, etc. So unless The Lord Ruler is carrying around a hunk of metal the size of a building (which I acknowledge he could do with his strength lol), then the metal minds on the Lord Ruler's person are the average metal mind that any feruchemist with enough time could make. The WoB I referenced regarding a normal fabrial soulcaster soulcasting a full metal mind. So my logic is it would not matter if the Lord Ruler had one metal mind, or one hundred. They could still be soulcasted away, by a fabrial no less. Now creating a scenario where that could be done without the individual getting killed by the Lord Ruler is something completely different. I presented one I think is possible. I do not think that could work out in the war as described because there would be additional variables. Just explaining that there was a logic, and reason behind the statement that a soulcaster could soulcast away the Lord Ruler's metal minds. The reason I call them normal, is because they are. We did not see him use nicrosil. Could he have? Sure! But the metal minds he had on him when he went against Vin did not include nicrosil, so those metal minds would still be the same type of metal minds any other feruchemist could make. According to that WoB, a fabrial soulcaster could soulcast away a full gold metal mind. Size of metal mind determines storage capacity. Unless he carries around giant hunks of metal, there is going to be a limit to how invested those metal minds are. Again, not counting nicrosil, which we did not see him have, nor use.

Marasi saw the preservation and ruin that was in all people and all things on Scadrial. That does not mean she was peering into the cognitive. How would the lord ruler know to dodge around? And dodge away from what? The herald is aiming to soulcast away the metalminds first. When a radiant has stormlight in the cognitive realm, the beads rush towards the radiant because they want stormlight. So the Lord ruler can zip around all he wants in the physical, that does not change that the herald could still get the beads associated with the normal metal minds and soulcast them all away. Not underestimating the fullborn's abilities. I had just presented a scenario where those abilities are negated. Once you reach a certain power level, it becomes an all or nothing action. There would be no drawn out fight. So I gave an example of the scenario where the lord ruler could not affect the herald, but the herald could affect the Lord Ruler Regarding the point of my post was to better explain the idea mentioned by Karger. That is was not as far fetched as initially presented because there was real thought, and evidence behind it. You are perfectly entitled to disagree as we do not have anything concrete, but it does have its merit. edit: further, regarding what is being seen by a holder of the Bands of Mourning, here is what Wax saw when he had it: Bands of Mourning page 406 The blue lines spread from him as a brilliant web, seeking sources of metal smaller - and farther away - than he could normally sense. At times this seemed to flicker, and for a moment he saw the radiance inside of each person and thing. It felt as if he might be able to move those too WoB regarding that scene: Argent At the end of The Bands of Mourning, Wax starts seeing what seems like souls, as he’s holding the Bands. He sees lines. He ponders that man/metals they’re same thing. Is he seeing Investiture there? Brandon Sanderson Yeah, to an extent he’s seeing—yes. He’s seeing the Cosmere equivalent of atoms, Investiture, and energy waves all being the same thing. Argent Okay, so kind of a building block of things. Brandon Sanderson Yes, it’s almost like he’s seeing the axi, right, the atoms. Calamity Chicago signing (Feb. 22, 2016) No mention of a dark sun, shadows pointed the wrong way, etc which were evident in Secret History. So to me, he was not peering into the Cognitive Realm.

Mistborn Era 2 spoilers

First, personally I do not know why Scadrial gets to have the Lord Ruler at his full power, but Roshar does not get to have the Heralds with their Honorblades at full power when they were able to draw directly on Honor. Second, regarding soulcasting the Lord Ruler's metal minds. I am the one that brought that up elsewhere, and the logic was taking Battar, or Shalash, Heralds with honorblades fueled directly by Honor as they were originally, being able to match the level of investiture regarding the Bands of Mourning. That as per WoB, soulcasters are used to pushing through investiture that resists change. So by bringing up the power of soulcasting via honorblades fueled directly by honor, I reasoned it could push through the resistance of another highly invested object such as the bands of mourning Third, we have WoB confirming the a soulcaster can soulcast a normal metal mind, destroying what is stored. The Lord Ruler's metal minds are not the Bands of Mourning. They are normal metalminds used with compounding. What I presented at the time, was a scenario where the Lord Ruler, unknowing, and minding his own business, while an elsecaller in the cognitive realm soulcasts his metal minds to another metal, and then soulcasts him to smoke. Or to go further, if the Lord Ruler is not actively tapping his metal minds, or burning them, theoretically he could be soulcasted to smoke. A Herald using an honorblade that grants soulcasting and transportation, fueled directly by Honor, to soulcast all his normal metal minds from the cognitive realm I think would be even easier. This is an extremely specific circumstance that would not occur during war, but is theoretically possible based on the example I gave. Hopefully that clarified things. I will add the WoB I was referencing when I have the chance. edit: to add further, another point I had made on that other thread is if both combatants were on a plain, facing each other, with a countdown to fight a la Mortal Kombat, then activating powers in Sanderson's universe seem to be at the speed of thought unless otherwise stated. Key word is activation. So a mistborn could activate a steel push with the speed of thought, but the coin still needs to travel right? So if the countdown finished, and the lord ruler activated steel speed at the same time the herald activated transportation to transition to the cognitive realm, then the herald could get to the cognitive realm before the lord ruler raced up and killed the herald. Then the herald in the cognitive realm, fueled by honor, could soulcast the lord rulers metal minds that were being tapped at that time. Potentially with the level of investiture that the herald would have access to, she could possibly soulcast the metals the lord ruler is burning away in his stomach, leaving the lord ruler with nothing to fuel his abilities. And then the lord ruler is soulcasted away. That was the argument I made elsewhere WoB stating Fabrial Soulcasters could soulcast a normal gold metalmind and are used to pushing through investiture Questioner Can you Soulcast an Invested object? Brandon Sanderson Yes, but it's much harder. But humans are Invested, and you can soulcast humans. Questioner So, suppose you had a goldmind that was filled. And you tried to Soulcast into iron. What would happen to the Investiture inside it? Brandon Sanderson So, the Investiture would remain in there, but it's keyed to the wrong thing, so you wouldn't be able to get it. It'd be much harder to Soulcast that, by the way. The more Invested, the harder it is. But Soulcasters are used to it, because everything has Investiture, and most of what they're Soulcasting. They deal with this, so it's something they're kind of expert at. So, this is not outside reason, that it could happen. You could give it to your average Soulcaster on Roshar, and they could make it happen. You just wouldn't be able to get the Investiture out of it anymore. Arcanum Unbounded release party (Nov. 22, 2016) WoB showing Honorblades were originally fueled directly by Honor (his essence) and WoB showing Heralds at access to levels of raw power no radiant ever had Steeldancer The Heralds, back before Honor died, were they directly powered by Honor? Brandon Sanderson Yes. You’ll find out more about that, but the Shardblades [pretty sure he means Honorblades here] were pieces of Honor’s soul that he gave them and direct access to his essence. Steeldancer Like Vin and Elend? Brandon Sanderson Yeah, a little like that. That’s why Honorblades don’t work like Shardblades do, like Radiants do. Steeldancer The second part of the question is, what would happen if they were directly powered by Honor and they were holding Nightblood? Brandon Sanderson RAFO Boskone 54 (Feb. 17, 2017) WindRunner88 (paraphrased) So far during The Stormlight Archive we've seen that the spren bond appears to have some distinct advantages (i.e. armor, more efficient Stormlight consumption, access to a variety of weapons) over what Tanavast via the Oathpact provided the Heralds. With the exception of Nale, and the fact that the Heralds had no need for Stormlight, can you please tell me one way in which a Herald had a distinct advantage over a level 5 Radiant of their corresponding order? Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased) Rebirth. *pause* The Heralds had access to raw levels of power that no Radiant could obtain. BookCon 2018 (June 1, 2018)

So not saying you cant post or shouldn't. Just pointing out there was another thread with this exact premise called something to the effect of "Moral Miscalculations of Mr. Sanderson in Oathbringer". Any points I would say here have already been stated there.

This is debated due to the wording of the WoB, but my own understanding of it is you can take a lump of coal, and soulcast it into a lump of aluminum. However soulcasting that lump of aluminum into a lump of coal is going to take far more investiture than is feasible. Some people feel the WoB mean you cannot soulcast anything to or from aluminum. I will add the WoB I am referring to in a moment. WoB Regarding Shallan saying it can only be gotten through soulcasting, and Brandon says not to believe her Questioner So, I'm intrigued by aluminum, especially the fact that it can only be found by Soulcasting on Roshar. So, how was it discovered in the first place? Brandon Sanderson ...Did I say you can only get it through Soulcasting? Questioner In the Shallan flashbacks, she has the pendant. Brandon Sanderson Don't take what she says at 100% truth. Oathbringer release party (Nov. 13, 2017) WoB saying aluminum can (possibly) be soulcasted from but not to Questioner So, we know that things can be Soulcast into aluminum. But can aluminum itself be Soulcast into something else? Brandon Sanderson It resists all forms of Investiture trying to change it to things. Oathbringer release party (Nov. 13, 2017) WoB saying it is very hard to soulcast aluminum into anything else ChickenBites Can you Soulcast aluminum into other materials? Brandon Sanderson Aluminum would strongly resist any sort of Soulcasting. Billy Todd Would that resistance be overcome? Could be overcome? Brandon Sanderson This is the question. Everything can be, right? Aluminum, in the cosmere, was created. And can be created. So, people ask me this, "Can? Cannot?" Like, with a powerful enough magnet in our world, what can you do? Like, is water magnetic? ...But, could you make water respond to a magnet? Yes! You can make anything if you really try hard enough... It's, like, this idea, that when people are like, "Can you, yes or no?" Well... yes! Would it take the power of six Shards of Adonalsium working together? Maybe! Can you? Yes, you probably can. Like, we're talking about a fantasy universe where almost anything is possible, and the impossibilities are contradictions, it's "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin" sort of questions when you get into "can you?" Now, could you Soulcast aluminum using a reasonable amount of energy that an individual could conceivably have in a normal setting and situation? No. If that's what you're looking for. JordanCon 2018 (April 21, 2018)

Don't know. There is some conflicting information regarding aluminum on Roshar. I would imagine Odium knows. Shallan believes that aluminum is only made via soulcasting, while we have a WoB to not necessarily believe her. We have remarks of aluminum being in rocks that "fall from the sky". Roshar does not have any tectonic activity, so no volcanoes that we know of (or that I can recall), so naturally occurring aluminum is unlikely. So the availability might be called into question.

Yes with the caveat that the metal is still relatively physically weak, and you have a 7 foot long blade hitting it, so the shardblade would not phase through the aluminum, but it may be broken from a strong enough strike unless alloyed with something for strength.

There is also the idea that the elantrians sent through the pool potentially did not die (WoB RAFO this). We do not know what happened to them. Theoretically once Raoden learns enough to access the cognitive realm, they could potentially return. There is also the IRE.

So you acknowledge that if hypothetically the people of Rathalas forgave Dalinar, then it is not for you to determine whether he was redeemed or not, nor suffered enough, nor whether it makes sense to you or not. The aggrieved party felt it was enough, and gave him redemption. Then your thought experiment has failed in its goals, because it is illogical. Coming up with an arbitrary action that does not fit the character would not color how said character is received because the character would not have taken said action. Again, apply the same rationale to Adolin and answer your question.

Elantrians do not need to eat. It would only be for the taste and sensation. The Dor sustains them Questioner (paraphrased) [Something about whether Elantrians are immortal or long-lived] Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased) Elantrians have no physical limitations on their lifespan. The power will sustain them, but it's emotionally and mentally exhausting to be an Elantrian, so as far as immortality goes it's actually harder to be an Elantrian than other forms of immortality that exist in the cosmere. GollanczFest London (Oct. 17, 2015) Brandon Sanderson Chapter Ten Are the Elantrians zombies? I've been asked this question before. The answer is a little bit yes, a little bit no. I very intentionally don't make any references in the story to them being zombie-like, and I certainly don't call them "undead." Both words bring a lot of baggage with them. No, the Elantrians aren't "zombies." However, they certainly would fit the standard fantasy definition of being "undead." After all, their bodies aren't really alive, but they can think. Still, I resist comparisons to established fantasy traditions. I wanted the Elantrians to be their own genre of creatures. In the world I have created, they are simply "Elantrians." They are people who don't need to eat, whose bodies only function on a marginal level, and whose pains never go away. For the function they fill in the world and the story, I'd rather that they be compared to lepers. That said, I always have wanted to do a story with a zombie as a main character. Elantris Annotations (July 8, 2005)

Do you remember the guy in the book Elantris that took such pride in cleaning the gunk away? Bringing out the beauty of Elantris? That was never mentioned in the books nor in WoB But that is every single time you make a new Aon. Not debatable. I showed you the WoB that said it is very complex. That the complex ones we see Raoden use are actually the simplest ones. That it takes weeks to figure out and write them out. And the people who can figure it out enough to do so are few and far between. As per the WoB I showed you in another thread, there is interplay, but the level of complexity would prevent it from getting to that level Why wouldn't soulcasting me analogous? The distance and directiong from where he was standing. If he stepped to the right, he would need to make new calculations. If he stepped behind himself. He would need new calculations. If you placed that aon in a different part of the city, you would need new calculations.

Not first generation that still speak the language of the land they were born in. Maybe not even the second generation that grew up bilingual with the culture of their parents to speak to them, while being able to speak to the locals. Maybe the third or fourth generation, that speak the language fluently, and grew up in the culture they live in. My ancestry may be Italian and Irish, but when someone asks what country I am from, I say America. When my great grandfather came to america, he spoke Italian, felt Italian, and was viewed as Italian. When my grandfather grew up in America, he was seen as Italian and heard quite a few slurs regarding his ethnicity. He could speak both languages. When my mother grew up, she spoke english without an accent and thought of her ancestry as italian and irish, but she didn't know Italy. she had never been. How can she hold an identity with a place and people she never experienced?

And those Dulas could consider themselves part of the country where Elantris is, over Duladel

That is what I said though. Whatever pursuits gave them personal meaning. So Galladon's father was a scholar. He pursued knowledge for knowledge sake. One of the rulers of Elantris was originally a sculptor. He could sculpt for the love of the craft. It does not seem to be the case based on the book. The only thing preventing Iadon from taking Raoden when he was younger was the idea of going to the elantrians for help. But there was no mention of any money exchanging hands I posted a response regarding merchants in another thread and you commented. A lot of what you are saying is covered in that. Aons are extreme complex and very few people have the capability to make the more complex ones. So Elantrians would not be creating full meals all the time. I would imagine it is more like basic necessities that taste bland. If you want good tasting food, you pay for it. If you are poor and have no money, you get aon created food. Farmers still make money. Lobsters were once considered garbage animals and given to prisoners. Now it is considered a delicacy. Just because food can be produced, does not mean all other food loses value, especially when the food produced is basic. And you need spices to flavor it. Depends on what you are replicating. Lets say you make a teleport aon string. Then you copy that string and place it elsewhere in the city. As far as we know there needs to be a original location modifer in the aon, that if you do not alter it for where you go, the whole thing fails or causes problems. So I do not think aons can be so easily mass produced.

So although this is not concrete, from what I recall it seems each time Syl transformed she puffed to mist and then reformed into the weapon in question. Then again I am recalling that pattern changed his length for Shallan, so I will need to pull up the scene to see how it is described. edit: found the scene. So with Kaladin Syl did keep puffing to mist before each transformation, but in Shallan's case, Pattern did actually shrink in her hand Words of Radiance page 863 Standing on one and clinging to the highest one, she summoned the Blade again and tried to cut a step even higher, but the thing was just so blasted long. Obligingly, it shrank in her hand to the size of a much shorter sword, really a big knife.

No problem. Soulcasters can get confusing because there are the fabrial, and the radiant types which act differently from each other. Brandon likened the fabrial to a computer drawing a circle over and over again, versus a radiant who can "draw" a variety of shapes.

Spren can be used as plural and singular. I will pull up the scene, but Kaladin and Co in the cognitive realm, or Venli being able to see into the cognitive realm, notice a large number of spren prior to them hopping into the bodies. I will edit this post to reflect that quote once I pull it up edit: found it! it was Kaladin and Co, watching the army of spren disapear from the cognitive realm as they transitioned to bond sadeas's men in the physical realm. So definitely multiple spren. oathbringer page 1091 They joined him and watched as the strange army of spren began to vanish too, winking out in waves.

The reason Sadeas's men were able to be bonded was they had been subject to the Thrill for a long time, causing intense emotion which lets someone become susceptible to shardic influence. We have WoB that Kaladin is resistant to the Thrill due to his bond with Syl. LadyKnightRadiant Kaladin not ever feeling the Thrill. Is there a reason for that? Brandon Sanderson There is a reason for that... What do you think? LadyKnightRadiant I think it's because he's too good and too pure for this world. Brandon Sanderson That is, I would say-- Let's just say that there are points where Kaladin could have felt the Thrill. But once he had the attention of certain nebulous spren, somebody was watching out for him. LadyKnightRadiant That was gonna be my second. I thought "He's probably just too good for it," and then I was like, "It's probably Syl's fault." Brandon Sanderson There's a bit of a war inside of Kaladin. Skyward Denver signing (Nov. 15, 2018)

So few things: 1. soulcasters (the fabrial) are more limited in what they can do than soulcasters(the radiant) 2. What a gemstone can do has more to do with its color, which differentiates gemstones, than stormlight capacity. 3. Cut deals with how efficient a gemstone is in holding stormlight. Size deals with how much stormlight a gemstone can hold 4. Depending on the soulcaster (fabrial), or skill as a radiant, you can make multiple things. So for instance a radiant soulcaster could make plutonium so long as the radiant understood it, and could get that concept across to the spren. So interesting idea. I disagree, but interesting idea! If you are curious to learn more about soulcasting, go to the arcanum tab, type in soulcast to find every WoB associated with it, and it is very informative!

And I respect that is how you view it, but for myself if in the other WoB, Brandon says it makes sense for a culture to be further along regarding a resource that is important to them (Metal on Scadrial), and then another WoB states at least one aspect of gemstones is more advanced than one would expect, then I do not think it is implausible to think it could be more advanced, or could become more advanced at an accelerated rate. But I did not post the WoB to beat a dead horse. It has already been well established what everyone's opinions are on this thread. I posted the WoB as added information. I am not going to rehash the same arguments made repeatedly over the course of this thread.

Came across this while looking up Elantris stuff for another thread: Brandon Sanderson Chapter Eight The economy of Arelon is one of the interesting features of this book. Even still, I'm not certain if I made things a little too odd here. The idea of nobility being tied directly to money is described so often by the characters that I worry that readers will think the system too foolish to have arisen. However, I think that by establishing the king as a former merchant—and by pointing out how the system was created quickly, to fill the void after the fall of Elantris—I manage to keep the economic and social situation in Arelon within the realm of possibility. I think that too often fantasy writers are content with simply throwing in a slightly-original spin on magic—ignoring the fact that their cultures, governments, and religions are derivative. There is this idea of the "general" fantasy world, and writers draw upon it. However, I think an interesting cultural element can be just as fascinating—and as useful to the plot—as an interesting magic system. In the best cases, the two are inter-woven, like what one can find in brilliant genre books like Dune. Of course, the strange economic/governmental system of the book is only a descendant of another strange economic/governmental system. Sarene and Lukel discuss a few of the problems presented by having a race of people who can create whatever they want through use of magic. I don't get to deal with that aspect of AonDor very much in this particular book, since the novel is set during a time when the magic of Elantris doesn't work. However, there are a lot of interesting ramifications AonDor would present for a book set during Elantris' heyday. What good is gold if someone can create it from nothing? In fact, what good is a monetary system at all when everyone can have as much food as they want? What need is there for invention or ingenuity in the face of a group of people who can re-create any good, no matter how complex, with a mere flick of the magical wrist? The truth behind the Elantrian magical abilities is far more limited than Sarene or Lukel acknowledge in this chapter. If one were to go back fifteen years, one would find that the Elantrians who had the skill to fabricate complex materials "out of nothing" were actually quite rare. As we learn later in the book, AonDor is a very complicated, difficult skill to master. As I was writing this book, I imagined the complicated Aons that Raoden eventually learns how to draw being only springboards to massive equations that could take weeks to plan out and write. Fabricating something very complex would require a great deal of detail in the AonDor recipe. Even still, I think the tension between the Elantrians and the merchants is a natural outgrowth of this situation. Elantris Annotations (June 27, 2005)

Perhaps part of it is seeing yourself as part of a people. The Duladel Republic sees itself as separate. Shuden still sees himself as Jin Do. People still treat him as Jin do. I have come across some WoB that may also illuminate: Brandon Sanderson Aons are an interesting part of this book–perhaps my favorite of the world elements. If you think about the system I've set up, you'll realize some things. First, the Aons have to be older than the Aonic language. They're based directly off of the land. So, the lines that make up the characters aren't arbitrary. Perhaps the sounds associated with them are, but the meanings–at least in part–are inherent. The scene with Raoden explaining how the Aon for "Wood" includes circles matching the forests in the land of Arelon indicates that there is a relationship between the Aons and their meanings. In addition, each Aon produces a magical effect, which would have influenced its meaning. The second interesting fact about the Aons is that only Elantrians can draw them. And Elantrians have to come from the lands near Arelon. Teoish people can be taken, but only if they're in Arelon at the time. Genetically, then, the Teos and the Arelenes must be linked–and evidence seems to indicate that the Arelenes lived in the land first, and the Teos crossed the sea to colonize their peninsula. Only Elantrians can draw Aons in the air, so someone taken by the Shaod must have developed the writing system. That is part of what makes writing a noble art in Arelon–drawing the Aons would have been associated with Elantrians. Most likely, the early Elantrians (who probably didn't even have Elantris back then) would have had to learn the Aons by trial and error, finding what each one did, and associating its meaning and sound with its effect. The language didn't develop, but was instead "discovered." There are likely Aons that haven't even been found yet. Elantris Annotations (Feb. 14, 2006) Questioner In Elantris, you have this array of people who are essentially gods, immortal, but they appear with absurdly high frequency. How come they basically don't take over the planet? Brandon Sanderson ...There are a couple reasons for this. One is that magic on Sel is very strongly tied to location, and was even back when the Elantrians were at the height of their power. So, this is a big part of it, location-based magic. Meaning, the further you get from Elantris, the less powerful your magic was, and the Elantrians really didn't like going places where they were not super-powerful. And so this is certainly part of it, and I explored this idea in Warbreaker, where the people who happen to be gods are really aggressive and kind of slowly conquering outward and things like that. It felt right for me in Elantris to be doing it that way. Questioner Why can't they just increase their numbers. Because their numbers increase over time? Brandon Sanderson ...The number of Elantrians had certain thresholds and upper limits, that I haven't described in the books yet. Oathbringer San Francisco signing (Nov. 15, 2017)

So I did like all the changes done in White Sand 3. The art is better, the writing, and the explanations. So I am glad as Sanderson said, that they learned a lot from the experiment, and are hopefully going forward with these lessons to release better quality graphic novels for the rest of the White Sand Series. Now having said that, this whole experience has caused me to dread the movies. When the first White Sand was being worked on, Sanderson said how they found writers and artists that he feels really appreciates the source material. He said how he is not a comic book writer/artist, so trusts them to work their craft. Only after it came out, and everyone had a problem with it, did they try to change things up and fix it a bit for Volume 2, and then finally Volume 3. Now a foray into a new medium for your brand is going to have pit falls. I didn't expect a perfect product, but Sanderson made it very clear he stood behind and was happy with Volume 1 before it came out and got the reaction it did. He has been saying the exact same things about the companies that have options his various properties for movies and television. I am now not as trusting of the statements Sanderson says regarding the adaptations of his properties. I do not know if it is the best course of action for him to give up so much creative control, and just trust the individuals working on it are going to understand the work they are working on. I understand his work is unique and problematic to put on the big screen, so he has to kind of take whatever offer he can get, but maybe he should be more discerning and hesitant to agree. So I guess just have to wait and see.

Good point regarding Szeth, though I was meaning Connection with a capital C. True Szeth wasn't personally close with any of his victims, but it appears to me he formed a cosmeric connection. I also theorize that like strong emotions will allow you to communicate/be influenced by Shards (As we have seen with Odium, Ruin, and ), that strong emotions regarding people can result in forming a cosmeric Connection. So I do not think you have to know the person on a personal level to form a Connection to them.