jamskinner

On 1/5/2025 at 5:09 PM, Raven Wilder said:

I think it's important to remember that, when Jasnah took the throne, Alethkar was already a nation in exile. Continuing their traditional form of governance wasn't really possible anymore - they were a feudal society, where the lords and highprinces derived power from the lands they control, but those lands are all now under enemy occupation. With that backbone of their governmental structure removed, something has to take its place.

Ya, a monarchy. Isn’t that more of the same? 

On 12/29/2024 at 3:33 PM, Argenti said:

Well, the orders are going to decide how it's ruled. Via a democracy. Traditionally, they're ruled over by a bondsmith, not anyone else. The common radiant won't do (my order is better than yourrrss) and you can't have a normal person in power. that's just silly. Their only good option is a democracy, or at most like an oligarchy. By merit of the radiant orders, you have a bunch of groups of people with very different ideas all in some objective power. You can't favor one over the other.

I do like reading about non-democracies, but here at least it makes sense.

Or they could be dysfunctional and break into tribes like before. Much more likely especially now. 

On 12/14/2024 at 5:27 PM, Silverblade5 said:

It's mostly people in recovery from Concord and Dragon Age being on hair-triggers for the things they thought were wrong there. I personally thought it was fine.

Your examples are  2 games that were gigantic failures?

1 hour ago, Argenti said:

What  do you mean? Whimsy? 

Look at the ending of the line. It almost spells it using a y. Seems strange to be that close to an uncommon word.

Is it coincidence that the end looks like wymsy. Not exactly but close. 

On 12/4/2024 at 7:20 AM, CtrlAltDepressed said:

This is fair, but I do see it a different way. 

 

I agree that Taravangian has not been Honorable by standard definitions. He has lied, cheated, and killed to achieve his goals. 

 

But, what are those goals? To save everyone. This is certainly honorable, even if the execution of that goal is not. 

 

He desires no praise or recognition for his work, and has even accepted that many will hate him for what he does, but that is his burden to bear as King. We see that compassionate Taravangian weeps for those he has hurt, and for what he has become / done. This is certainly honorable. He hates what he has to do, but he believes it to be the right thing and so he does it anyway. That is the definition of Honor. 

 

 We know that Honor was obsessed with oath keeping at the end, and didnt care about the contents of that oath - just that it was upheld. Honor is not about being a nice person, it is about sticking to a code of conduct. Taravangian does that. 

 

From Taravangians perspective, he has acted with Honor. Not all the time, but who does ? Even Kaladin falls short sometimes. (Taravangian is definitely a villian and a terrible person, that is not what i mean)

 

Yes, I think this is the point. This would be a semi permanent solution to the Odium problem. Taravangian doing 'the right thing' would be taking up Honor to temper Odium, even though he doesnt want to. That act, if he chose to do so, would itself be a great example of Honor. 

I doubt most people believe that the ends justify the means. Journey before destination. 

9 minutes ago, The Stick said:

I think that you might overestimate spren agency. We know that all spren are derived from the Shards, or perhaps Adonalsium with the Wind and whatnot. Regardless, we know that the investiture of a Shard is completely dominated by its Intent. This will eventually bind even the Vessel. I would say that spren have freedom within some range, but not enough freedom to do something against their fundamental Shard-derived Intent.

You didn’t address any of the points they brought up.  Not much of a discussion to just ignore them.

8 hours ago, Bridge Boy said:

Yes this! I find myself losing immersion, and unable to continue to suspend my disbelief given the lack of setting, odd/clunky dialogue, and characters acting like caricatures in contrast to complex fleshed out individuals of WOK & WOR. 

It is becoming more like a super hero comic book in terms of character depth and decision making. I suppose for some that may be a good thing. For me that does not work and feels like a departure from where I thought the series was going based on the first two installments. I expected characters that feel real experiencing fantastical circumstances. 

Maybe he is just getting burned out on the series.  Maybe the break will help him.

On 11/24/2020 at 9:37 AM, TheTuninator said:

I wasn't really bothered by it because everything Veil was exists within Shallan. Veil arose from Shallan trying to play a part. If you look at it from the Cosmere theological perspective, I'd imagine that Veil, Shallan, and Radiant are almost certainly all the same entity from a Spiritual perspective. There's no need to mourn because the thoughts and "cognition" which make up Veil were always there within Shallan and Shallan is still alive.

Maybe each one represents one of the 3 gods on roshar. 

On 11/21/2020 at 10:19 AM, lightweaver spy said:

I like this theory - I think indeed T-Odium will appoint a child as his champion, and Dalinar will be unable to kill them. However, I think that this will result in T-Odium still “winning”. The hint for this appears in Renarin’s vision that he showed to Dalinar:
 

 

Dalinar is not fighting someone other than Odium - he is fighting for Odium, as one of the Fused. As per Dalinar’s agreement with Odium:

Maybe dalinar is facing the wrong enemy.  Either not odium or maybe because rayse was killed.

 

On 11/18/2020 at 7:08 PM, robardin said:

Rayse: "When you have an agreement with me, I will honor it in spirit and not only in word."

Taravangian: "Hi. I'm the new Odium!"

Could lead to his death by trying to wiggle out of it. 

9 hours ago, Pattern said:

Concerning that metal that is a conductor for stormlight: For me, Moash's dagger with which he killed Jezrien came to mind. That was yellowish or golden IIRC. What if it's Odium's godmetal (Rayseium?) - analogue to shardblades and honorblades essentially being Honor's godmetal?

Why not just copper?  It conducts electricity.  Maybe investiture is similar. 

7 hours ago, Honorless said:

*spits out water*

A metal that conducts Stormlight?! Hmm... could it be Nicrosil?

Pressure differential, huh. That does make some sense but I didn't expect Investiture to behave this way, maybe under certain conditions or if it's free Investiture? I'm thinking Stormlight (as it's crucial to the ecosystem of Roshar and that shapes how it behaves) and the Dor (simply because it's pressurized) but the Mists don't behave that way (not entering houses) but Preservation's power leaking through the Spiritual via metals seems to

Maybe like electricity. 

2 minutes ago, Zelly said:

He applied for the position of Ardent and was denied.

Where will he look next?

I'm guessing he'll try the surgeon's tents. Main issue with this is he's going to see people get hurt here.  Potentially people like his Windrunners.  Which will make him think he failed to protect them, which is not what he needs.

Where do you think he's going to try to end up?

Where do we think or where do we know?  Because we already know. 

6 hours ago, Innovation said:

Do logicspren assist in making Fabrials somehow? 

Maybe programmable?

6 hours ago, Chaos said:

Just FYI, homophobia is not permitted by the Code of Conduct. 

Please feel free to report posts. We have removed some already.

6 hours ago, Chaos said:

Just FYI, homophobia is not permitted by the Code of Conduct. 

Please feel free to report posts. We have removed some already.

I saw no instance of homophobia. Where was that?  I saw someone express there distaste on a certain match of two characters. How is that not allowed?  Is Brandon a homophobe based on religious views?  Come on. 

1 hour ago, Bliev said:

I thought at first that it was a ruse (see some of my earlier chapter reactions), but after chapter 11, I'm not so sure. She doesn't seem attached to him in any way, and I don't ship Kal with anyone bc the poor boi needs to live a bit, but I do think she's genuinely fascinated by him. I think this is the first time she's fought without having the hated Heralds as her nemeses, and a human that actually embodies what Honor *should* be, has struck her interest. 

(Importantly, I also want to say that I think particularly associating her in a malen body as a reason to be disgusted by the ship to be unnecessary. You can make the argument that she is a monstrosity fighting for Odium, which makes her a "disgusting" match to Kal, but the type of body she has seems irrelevant to that descriptor, and could be interpreted as hurtful for some in our group. IMHO)

Wow here you are again trying to tell people how to think. If someone thinks it’s disgusting let them. You can disagree. Quit trying to force people into your views. 

7 hours ago, Fallohidden said:

I love Adolin in this chapter. I love Kaladin in this chapter as well for different reasons. Feeling very shocked by the sudden finality of him never seeing Rock again.

One thing I felt really strongly while reading, and maybe this is an unpopular opinion, but I’m feeling Veil is approaching the fine line of become toxic for Shallan and also Adolin. In past books I kinda put up with Veil because she helped with all of Shallan’s sleuthing and espionage but the more she lingers around, the more I have this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. Brandon writes her in a fun way, but then there’s little hints - like how Veil can hold more alcohol than Shallan (even though it’s the same body, brain, weight, biology as Shallan, just with an illusion over her) so that gives Shallan an excuse to put more alcohol in her body. It’s Veil’s choice to drink but it’s Shallan’s body she’s dumping it into. Adolin senses she’s not dealing with condition well either and that she’s escalating to something. I feel an underlying discomfort from Adolin about it despite how wonderfully understanding he is. 

Does anyone else cringe at the Veil persona?

Nope. Not a single soul. Better luck next time. 

5 hours ago, robardin said:

Rock was able to draw Stormlight as a squire in Oathbringer, I assume he hasn't "pulled back" from that; and I think it's implied he could bond a spren if he wanted to, but that whatever allowed him to draw a Shardbow (even with Stormlight) is the clue.

And yes, it's probably related to his ability to see spren as a alaii’iku, whatever exactly that is; and I'm almost certain whatever role it is that his wife implied he should have become or assumed after his brothers died at the hands of Torol Sadeas, is now thrust upon him after raising a weapon in combat.

Since he recognizes Wit as the same "god" he saw emerge from the Shardpool all those years ago, and in fact live clustered around Cultivation's Perpendicularity which the last we saw, was taken over on the Shadesmar by the Fused... Maybe he's got a mission there? But why be so certain he'd never see Kaladin again (at least, not in the Physical world)?

Maybe he’s moving to the cognitive realm. 

4 hours ago, Oltux72 said:

With an Unmade residing in Urithiru and apparently doing so even while the Knights Radiant were still there, how could they not?

So they just happen to decide to attack Urithiru for no apparent reason and without preparation? That would require a level of stupidity Odium's side has not shown so far.

Or something unforseen has happened, forcing their hand. But then the unforseen event is the real reason. It would boil down to the Sibling reawakening or having reawoken.

She would of course be right. If would be the Heavenly Ones more or less alone into an environment where flight is useless. In other words: suicide
And everybody knows it.

So what can it be?

The Sibling reawakening, well yes, but what do they hope to gain by a desperate immediate strike on Urithiru? And - agony? Really? What does make it/them so dangerous?

From the book description it does say the singers initiate a dangerous operation that leads to an arms race and unlocking secrets about the tower.  An attack on Urithiru may make some sense from this paragraph though I am not positive. 
 

Quote below

Now, as new technological discoveries by Navani Kholin’s scholars begin to change the face of the war, the enemy prepares a bold and dangerous operation. The arms race that follows will challenge the very core of the Radiant ideals, and potentially reveal the secrets of the ancient tower that was once the heart of their strength.

7 hours ago, Lemiltock said:

What do cloths have to do with gender identification?

I also thought you had issue with Kaladin not noticing stubble mid fight to the death and not whether Leshwin was wearing clothing or not.

Don’t be obtuse. It was a response to mammals gender being difficult to tell apart. 

On 9/17/2020 at 9:01 PM, Lemiltock said:

Is it, how would one tell wombats apart without looking at their genitalia?

The fact that Kaladin didnt remark on Leshwins stubble when it is not a defining characteristic of them during a fight scene is not Brandon taking a stance. It would be weird if he did as it would break up the pacing (out of wolrd) and would also not be something someone thinks while fighting for their life (in world).

I only know of one mammal that wears clothes so ya it’s easy. 

7 hours ago, Kingsdaughter613 said:

Can you explain it to the pet store? They keep giving people the wrong gendered gerbils (usually discovered when two ‘males’ or two ‘females’ have babies... LOTS of babies.)

Maybe they need a magnifying glass. 

7 hours ago, Oltux72 said:

That turns this into a useless remark. Kaladin surely never fights with anything but the Sylspear if he can help it.

It is a different species. With reduced sexual characteristics in the non-breeding form. Can you tell most male and female mammals apart?

Ya. It’s pretty easy to tell the difference. Hope I don’t need to explain it to you. 

1 hour ago, Bliev said:

Good point. He probably doesn't. Nor would he care. But *we* know Leshwi is female. Alternatively, they've gathered intel on the main Fused.

Regardless, it's an irrelevant detail. Let's not be all Vorin and weird about gender roles up in here. lol

Please don’t tell me how to think. Your free to feel how you want. Allow me the same.