The One Who Connects

On 4/1/2021 at 11:59 AM, Bejardin1250 said:

why was each desolation so bad humanity forgot literally everything.

That one's actually pretty easy: Destroy the wrong city or kill the wrong people, and everything falls apart.

Take your computer, consider all the various parts that are necessary for it to function, then go backwards. Take one of those parts, and consider the parts/steps necessary for those to be created/function. Consider the specialized knowledge and equipment that's needed to do all of this. If you lose the ability to do one of those steps, the entire process grinds to a halt. Obviously things were less advanced than computers back then, but there's still a lot of complex operations involved in running each of the Silver Kingdoms.

Kill people who know how to make the infrastructure, kill people who know how to use the infrastructure, destroy the infrastructure, destroy tools needed to make the infrastructure, destroy texts that contain info on the hows/whys, kill people who decide what infrastructure is important, destroy something that actually is more important, any combination of these could prevent or delay rebuilding long enough that the specific knowledge could be lost, especially when you consider that Desolations started happening more often in the later centuries, compounding those losses with each successive Return.

Quote

THE CYCLE REPEATED. AT FIRST THE RESPITE BETWEEN DESOLATIONS WAS LONG. HUNDREDS OF YEARS. NEAR THE END, DESOLATIONS CAME SEPARATED BY FEWER THAN TEN YEARS. THERE WAS LESS THAN ONE YEAR BETWEEN THE LAST TWO.

Oathbringer, Chapter 38: Broken People

Based on the Stormfather quote above, they could've experienced upwards of 5 Desolations in the final century alone. The early Returns may very well have been relatively easy to bounce back from, but the modern characters simply don't have any record of that because so much of it was lost in the devastation at the end. The modern Vorin Church lacks the critical information, and simply assumes that the Desolations detailed in the records they do have are indicative of the ones that they don't.

On 11/29/2020 at 7:49 PM, IndigoAjah said:

Someone on Facebook posted proof that Shallan used two separate Blades (Dalinar style).

no screaming though...

I’ll devil’s advocate the color difference. The blade is silver in both passages, and the glowing lines are just that, a glow.

Dalinar notes something quite similar with Shardplate in his visions, no? It’s why we figured the woman in the Thunderclast vision was a Dustbringer, from the red glows.

the reason it’s not mentioned in the first scene is because Tyn’s body is blocking it, whereas Kaladin has an unimpeded view later.

By making it Pattern both times, there’d be no screams.

That’d work, right?

14 minutes ago, Toaster Retribution said:

Brandon has said there is only one Herald with Mr T,

The spirit animal of Devil's Advocacy is specific wording. (I feel like I spent more time trying to make this sound clever than I spent on the actual post... Also yea, I'll be around now and then.)

Quote

R'Shara
A long time ago, where you said that Pailiah was the elderly ardent in Kharbranth that Shallan saw, is that right?

Brandon Sanderson
Yes? If you say I said that, then I did.

Questioner 2
Does that mean it is still true?

Brandon Sanderson
Let's just say there is a Herald in close proximity to Taravangian.

R'Shara
It was in a signed book but we never got a picture of it.

Brandon Sanderson
There is a Herald in close proximity to Taravangian. I'm not being sneaky about that.

R'Shara
Is there more than one?

Brandon Sanderson
There have been in the past, but there is only one that you would call influencing him right now. But there have been others in the past.

He says there has been more than one Herald in his proximity at one time or another, but only one is presently influencing him. If we assume that Pailiah and Battar were both in the city, then there's no contradiction if Pailiah left during WoR/ED(there is a herald in proximity) and/or she was in the city for research purposes rather than influencing Taravangian and co(only one influencing rn).

On 10/30/2020 at 11:24 AM, Toaster Retribution said:

On Pailiah: why would she be old? Is it because of the theory that she is Taravangian's ardent?

No actually, this one's from back in 2013:

Quote

A light flickering through nearby bookcases startled her, and she tucked away her folio. It turned out to be just an old, berobed female ardent, shuffling with a lantern and followed by a parshman servant. She didn’t look in Shallan’s direction as she turned between two rows of shelves, her lantern’s light shining out through the spaces between the books. Lit that way—with her figure hidden but the light streaming between the shelves—it looked as if one of the Heralds themselves were walking through the stacks.

We wanted to know if Brandon had the audacity to pull something like this, so we got curious:

Quote

INTERVIEW: Oct 14th, 2013

Steelheart Signing Report - Shardlet (Verbatim)

QUESTION

Is the Palanaeum named for Palah?

BRANDON SANDERSON

Yes. In fact, it was named based on—it was Greek in our world—the Athenaeum? It was based off of that.

WETLANDER

Did we see Palah?

BRANDON SANDERSON

I believe every one of the Heralds is mentioned or shown somewhere in the first book.

WETLANDER

Someone was wondering whether the old woman who was wandering around the Palanaeum was her.

BRANDON SANDERSON

That is a very good guess. I won't say specifically, because some of them are intended to be more obvious and some of them are intended to be red herrings. So, that was a very good guess.

---

The Sovereign: There is a scene in WoK where Shallan comments on seeing someone wandering the stacks of the Palanaeum, Brandon has confirmed this is indeed Paliah. WoB referencing this from 2013(and linked above); Brandon confirmed this theory was actually correct in person for me last year at a signing when I brought it up to him.
The Sovereign: The inside cover of my Bands of Mourning Copy <3. A friend is borrowing my Era 2 books at the moment but I'll take a picture of it when I get it back.
Source.

On 10/9/2020 at 9:58 PM, Innovation said:

Probably true. However I will hold on to the hope that duralumin-Division can break atoms.  

You may be a little disappointed.

Quote

Questioner
The Division Surge: does it actually split atoms or does it split the bonds of molecules?

Brandon Sanderson
It splits the bonds of molecules, it does not split atoms. I have done an atom splitting magic originally in Dragonsteel. And wooow it was overpowered. So really, this is fiddling... You'll see what it does when I use it, but we'll not be splitting atoms. We're not creating nuclear reactio... or fission, so.

---

Snipeexe
Could you create a nuclear bomb using the Surge of Division?

Brandon Sanderson
Not Division, but there are cosmere powers that are built around splitting atoms.

Source One, Two.

As for the topic itself, I'd say Elantrian Awakener. Given enough available power, what you can do is only limited by your own imagination.

1. Rysn

2. Szeth

3. Dalinar

4 is Taravangian right now, but Venli could potentially break into the list once RoW comes out.

Dalinar and Szeth are pretty easy to explain, they're awesome and powerful with a lot of potential. Taravangian and Venli are a little less powerful right now, but they've still got a lot of potential going forward(though I confess I'm more interested in the Fused/Singer worldbuilding than Venli herself right now).

Rysn is more of a personal quirk. In addition to my penchant for villains, I have a habit of latching onto less.. central characters. Luna and Bellatrix in HP, Angie and Toko in the Dangan games, Darcy in the Thor movies, Rysn, etc.. a lot of franchises seem to have a character or two with some sort of endearing charm that I end up gravitating towards, and it's difficult to pin down what exactly hooks me in because the characters are often vastly different, but there's a consistent pattern of enjoying their time on-screen and always wanting more.

2 hours ago, Koloss17 said:

We know that A-steel steals physical allomantic abilities. It’s on the official hemalurgy chart.

I think you misunderstood me. I was asking about the concept of Steelsight. If it's tied to Hemalurgically granted A-Steel/A-Iron, then it's highly likely that his eye-spike grants one of those powers, and it'd be very clear what metal it is.

But if Steelsight is simply what happens when viewing the world through eyes of metal, then his eye-spike could be made of any metal and/or grant any power that works with the eye bind point.

As an aside, I believe you meant to say H-Steel?

14 hours ago, Aspiring Writer said:

It's not confirmed, though I would think that would be the case, as steel inquisitors had steel spikes for eyes, which I don't think is an accident,

Yea it's definitely more likely that it's a metal we already know works with eye bind-points, but Hemalurgy is a famously uncharted craft. It wouldn't surprise me if Brandon made this something new as set-up for further fleshing out the magic system when we learn how Kelsier did it.

On 10/1/2020 at 7:40 PM, Koloss17 said:

Pain; Is it distinctive enough to count as a sense?

As Aspiring Writer put it, pain itself isn't a sense. That said, now that you've clarified, you're essentially talking about nociception(the thing behind feeling pain).

I'd say it's always been distinctive enough, but it'll only be storable once people's perceptions are altered enough for them to think that it's a distinct sense(individuals could've done it prior to Era 1, but the common man might have to wait for a "medical breakthrough" before they get clued in).

Just gonna drop in and play devil's advocate for a moment.

On 8/20/2020 at 9:00 AM, Bzhydack said:

We know that on Scadrial Godmetal condensate near the Perpendicularity. And we know what Godmetal of Harmony is - its ettmetal. And isn't known on the North, it appears only on South. So straight deduction - Harmony Perpendicularity is in the South.

We know the Pits and the Well are no more, but we don't know if that was an instantaneous process do we? Spook could have used one of those to "spike a ghost" if need be, and then Kelsier exits the Ettmetal pool at a later date. Though you guys do make a good point about Hoid and Khriss being in the North.

On 10/3/2020 at 2:19 AM, Aspiring Writer said:

his spike appears to be either steel or iron, as he has steel sight in one eye, meaning the spike was from an allomancer, so he didn't get his feruchemy abilities from that.

Do we know for certain that Steelsight is tied to an A-Steel/A-Iron spike, or if it's simply a consequence of having a spiked eye? You're definitely correct if it's the former, but his eye-spike could be any make and model if it's the latter. More likely to be Steel/Iron based on prior knowledge, but maybe not impossible to be something else.

On 10/4/2020 at 3:52 AM, Pattern said:

Common main viewpoint characters in these parts are Kaladin, Dalinar and Adolin - since the glyphs corresponding to Kaladin and Dalinar are accounted for (Jezrien Honorblade and Ishar Honorblade), the glyph decorating those parts would represent the honorblade of Adolin's order of Knights Radiant. 

I'm not entirely certain that this line of logic holds up, as the symbol in question is Nalan's, making it Skybreaker imagery. And though it's a bit of a pain to find, the Wiki has the symbols documented.

Book 1 had Glyphs for Jezrien, Nalan, and Chana. Book 2 had Glyphs for Shalash, Battar, and Kelek. Book 3 had Glyphs for Ishar, Jezrien, and Nalan. Oh...

It's numeric. Jeseh, Nan, Chach is 1, 2, 3. Shash, Betab, Kek is 6, 7, 8. Ishi, Jeseh, Nan is 10, 1, 2(which loops back around). If the pattern keeps up, it would actually take both remaining front five books to fill in the gaps(4 and 5 can be done in one, but 9 is too far away).

On 9/23/2020 at 2:34 AM, Gilphon said:

The lecture is dated to the same year OB takes place in, so it's before RoW starts,

Oathbringer ended on day 100 of the year 1174. The Lecture is dated Jesevan 1175, roughly 8 and a half months later. I'll grant that it may still be dated as before the start of RoW, but I think it's worth mentioning, if only because that time gap is also part of the reason why the "Repellor ≠ Steel" arguments have had so much steam, see below:

• At the end of WoR, Navani called Attractor Fabrials a "new invention," and was worried about safety (though Mraize had one half a book earlier that seemed to work perfectly). Navani's people would've had a year and 4 weeks(~520 days) between then and the Lecture to have tried making Repellors.
• If the tidbit about polarity means what some of you think it means (inverting the fabrial effect), Navani had a Painrial that could both reduce and cause pain at the end of Oathbringer, which means at least 8.5 months(~425 days) worth of knowing about the steel/iron connection with regards to making Repellors.
• They've had enough spare time to dream up and actually build the bloody airship as well, so it isn't like they've not had the time to test out Repellor designs.

Jofwu and Innovation make good points about there being more factors at play in Fabrial creation, but Navani's exact words were "we don’t yet know the metal to use," and years spent WoB-Hunting & RAFO-Dodging have taught us the value of specific wording, so barring another revelation in the epigraphs, I shall remain on Team Not Steel.

I meant to make this post on the 23rd, but apparently never hit submit. As an aside, I finally found the passage people on Reddit were going on about, WoK Chap 37:

Quote

"Spren live in everything," Hesina said.

"This longroot," Kal said, holding it up skeptically.

"Has a spren."

"And if you slice it up?"

"Each bit has a spren. Only smaller."

Some people were saying we already knew about splitting Spren from Hesina in book one, and as expected, it's not as definitive as they thought it was. Could still be some nice foreshadowing though.

1 hour ago, ND103 said:

The only other explanation I can think of is that Rosharans are presently all flatearthers...

I am fairly certain that they know the planet is round. The Ardentia/Stormwardens have been arguing if the Origin of Storms is a creator or recharger of Highstorms, but they don't argue about the capacity to circle the planet(something necessary to the recharging theory). And Hoid's "revelation" to Dalinar makes it seem like where Rosharan understanding fails is they don't run a heliocentric model.

1 hour ago, ND103 said:

From everything I know, I'll never circle back to that point, but drift off Roshar. That's the part I can't seem to wrap my head around.

I have issues with that too. I truly feel that, no matter where we are on the PR of the planet, if you and me are 5-10 meters apart and enter the CR, that we should still be within 10 meters(non-thinking geometry willing). But as you say, these "edges" create the possibility of us being nowhere near each other, and I don't like that.

I'm half tempted to say the CR is what would happen if reality went up a dimension or 2 without actually going up a dimension.

7 hours ago, ND103 said:

Kelsier didn't really have the intent to go off world but he didn't end up walking spherically in secret history. That does suggest that's not possible...

2 hours ago, ND103 said:

Let's say it is locally flat, how does that work with the spherical nature of a planet still? You still have the issue of a sphere on which you can get back to point A by walking all around, which wouldn't be the case with a flat CR. no? 

In the post I linked yesterday, I got corrected on my usage of toroidal, and looking back at that exchange has got me thinking again. Imagine if you will, that it only directly wraps one way. Cardinal points probably don't work in the CR, but we'll call it east-west for now. A toroid is functionally a donut, so the hole would always be east or west of you. If I cut out a small piece of the donut and called it Scadrial, there's still a direction one can travel that would wrap around without leaving the planet, ie: towards/away from the hole.

Now imagine that each "slice" of donut is a planet's CR, and that Roshar's slice is right next to Scadrial. No matter where you are on Scadrial, going "north"(relative to the donut hole) will take you towards Roshar, and going south will take you towards a different planet. That sounds like it is functionally flat, no?

In the long run, I guess this is less magical Intent and more physical intent. It'd be the direction you choose to travel in that determines where you go(much like the PR, come to think of it)

I still think it has to do with perception and intent, even if I haven't put that vision into words. (Edit: There was an explanation, but the search function on this site has apparently gone kaput during my hiatus)

Quote

One of my friends explained it as, since it is the Cognitive Realm, if you don't intend to leave Roshar, but intend to walk around the planet in Shadesmar, it is essentially a flat map with a scroll feature on it, but without this intent, you walk off a plane.

So in your friends idea if you want to explore Roshar's Cognitive only, you've got a toroidal map. If you want to wander the worlds, each world is a piece of paper, placed next to each other. And now that I've got a headcanon that seems to make sense, I really want your friend to be right

---

As was explained to me before, if you are using the CR to traverse the planet you are on, the CR is essentially a globe(minus most of the uninhabited areas)
If you are attempting to cross over to another world, then edges "appear,"(because of cognitive perception) allowing you to go into the interplanetary section of the CR.

Quoted from to these two posts.

Granted. With his extra speed, he has now written so many books that you can't find SA4 either.

I wish I was better at remembering useful things, as opposed to random facts.

2 hours ago, Hyarmenatan said:

Kharbranth with their famous hospitals / surgeons (so Battar?)

Vedel. Per Taln, Vedel would train surgeons before a Desolation.

I've said it before and I'm sticking with it.

Quote

If I don't have to deal with the region-lock(I'll take powered down if need be), I'd pick Elantrian. There are no limits when programming reality.

But if the region-lock is non-negotiable, then Feruchemy. The spread of attributes you can store and the applications of them are practically limitless.

I'll add a close 3rd to Awakening, because it also has massive potential for experimentation. It isn't as obviously useful in modern life compared to Feruchemy, but humans can come up with some pretty ingenious things if given the opportunity to try being clever.

1 minute ago, Calderis said:

I think you may have swapped some acronyms. 

And welcome back! 

fixed, and thanks

SA: Szeth, Taravangian
EL: Hrathen
WB: Lightsong
MB: Rashek, Sazed, Ruin

3 hours ago, LiquidBlue said:

Has it ever come up, confirmed, or theorized that the sense of pain is one of the senses that can be stored?

I have some references to it on the notepad of my iPod, so I think it's been theorized before. Whether that conversation went anywhere, I don't know. And nothing has become of the question I posted in the ultimate list, so we don't have a solid WoB on it yet. The closest WoBs we have are "more is possible," "storing A-Bronze sense is possible," and "platypus electric field Tinmind should work."

Pain Sense is an actual thing though, so I wouldn't be surprised if it could be stored in the future once it's recognized as a sense on Scadrial.

With regards to the complaints about the ending "feeling rushed," I think I understand why they would think that.

Brandon's books are saturated with characters being wrong about their assumptions and having to refocus what they are doing once they realize their mistake. In most instances, this either happens early enough in the story(Dalinar's revelations in OB) that we can ponder and think for ages, or directly at the climax(like Sazed's Revelation in HoA) where we have to "read now, think later."

This time, we as readers got hit with revelations and were given just enough time to start thinking about them, but not enough time to really understand them before the book hit the climax. The ending itself is perfectly fine, it's just the timing messes with our heads because humans are wired to work in certain ways.

That's why I feel like people are having issues with this ending. Important things happen late enough in the story that we don't have enough time to process them, but far enough from the end that we start processing them, so most people either stop reading and think(which you wouldn't do that close to the end), or finish the book while still half-confused.

On 6/22/2018 at 2:48 PM, minima said:

Could you give me some advise - If I've read books from Stormlight Archive and I would like to read other Sanderson's books - where should I start? Mistborn? Elantris? Is it really important what I should read first?

The only thing that should be read "first" is Mistborn Era 1 before Era 2. Otherwise, the series are self-contained enough to be read in any order.

The containment may change by the time Mistborn Era 3&4 rolls around, but until then, any order is fine. The only thing you'd be missing out on is the easter eggs/cameos, which you'd only notice on a reread anyway.

If we're talking about a starting point for the Cosmere Cinematic Universe, I think it's useful to note that Marvel started with Iron Man, the first in what would become a trilogy. Tony was also a primary focal character in Avengers, Age of Ultron, and Infinity War. For the past 10 years, Tony has been the spine of the MCU, and the fans have loved it.

On 6/19/2018 at 0:40 PM, Jonathon said:

Perhaps this is how there’s gonna be “mistborn” in Era 3...

By definition, that would probably count.

Quote

leinton (paraphrased)

Would a person who had enough spikes to have all the Allomantic powers would be considered a Mistborn?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

They probably would be called a Mistborn.

On 6/14/2018 at 9:52 AM, NoiseSpren said:

Lerasium is of Preservation. Preservation and Hemalurgy cannot be used in one sentence. I think Lerasium is not friend with Hemalurgy.

Any Metal that works in one of the systems will work in all three.