The One Who Connects

Up for a bit more debate than you think. Following what happened last time Roshar vs Scadrial got discussed, I think we are ignoring them on purpose. I mean, if we include them, why not just include TLR in an Era 1 discussion and end the war right then and there? Why not include the Shards themselves? It's much more fun to discuss is there isn't some "I win button" waiting in the wings.

I'd quote myself if I had finished my post in the other thread, so have a normal quote bubble: Edit: Also, what in Karzahni are you even on about? A normal sword does less than nothing to Shardplate. Shardblades are far from "normal" swords. Kaladin needed Adolin to make cracks in their opponent's plate so that Kaladin could actually damage it with his spear.

I agree with Calderis, but since their arm isn't cut off, the Metalmind is still on their wrist. You can easily grab your wrist with your other hand, so the Metalmind can be tapped that way. Actually, depending on how much clothing you wear, that Metalmind might be in contact with your hip/thigh as your arm hangs limp(though a limp arm would swing around as you move, making this contact inconsistent). As long as the Metalmind is touching part of your body that still has a Spiritual Aspect, it'd be able to be tapped.

While I am essentially agreeing with everybody here, I think the reason that Obsidian Knives became a trend is because of the proven effectiveness of the Inquisitor's Obsidian Axes. I mean, the beheadings/executions at the fountain lasted for hours, no? The Inquisitors needed a material that would last for hours without breaking. They'd prefer not having to sharpen it during that period too. (Even though I don't think TLR cared, a clean beheading is as preferable to the one doing it as it is to the ones watching it, something Inquisitors would understand) Obsidian checked all the boxes(as well as being allomancer-proof), the people got very strong proof that Obsidian weapons were viable, and the rest is history.

Case in Point: Elend's new government in The Well of Ascension. Their lack of big-picture skills and forethought got to the point of "at least TLR kept us from freezing" and (IIRC) several settlements reinstating the nobility b/c it was a system that actually worked.

From the Coppermind Article: So... you are essentially correct. Trellium is just a placeholder for the name of whichever Vessel is actually responsible.

No worries. We get such a large and constant influx of information that it was only a matter of time before someone else mixed up one thing with another.

We don't know that. In fact, we previously knew the opposite: The only thing we know is that Elantris has to be finished before Mistborn Era 3 happens.

Dragons can take human form. I don't know how far that actually goes, but given that we already have precedence for inter-species in Stormlight, it wouldn't be too out of place for Brandon to use that elsewhere. I also agree with Wandering Investor that we don't actually know if Tanavast is human.

Additionally, the WoB is a quote from Harmony. Not Sazed specifically. He could be dead by then for all we know(probably wont, but the option is open)

Like Uli Da, her name could be an indicator of species. It'd be entertaining watching the fallout on here if she turned out to be Dragon. Or there's always option 5, he hasn't decided on a name for her yet.

In the modern era, this would absolutely be true, but in the olden days, only knowing that the iron came from the blood of a person could very well be enough to count as "from something alive" thanks to the perception aspect of the Cosmere. This is probably one of the better contention points to ask Brandon about so we can learn just how far perception can go while overriding the facts.

Elend would have to use Duralumin in order to replicate TLR's mass soothing. Elend is a Lerasium Mistborn. It seems pretty clear that he was stronger

Do remember that this is just a side effect of Lerasium. A Mistborn could burn Lerasium for an actual power too, a power which we know nothing about. There is a consistent theme to Atium Alloys, but it might not be what you're thinking. You seem to be thinking that God metal alloys are centered around the base Allomantic Metal(like Gold). Brandon makes it seem that the powers of God Metal Alloys are centered around the specific God Metal they are alloyed with. Why not? Bendalloy exists: I know we don't know the exact ratio for Allomancers Bendalloy, but I'm not sure you can change the above ratio into just two metals and still have it qualify as Bendalloy.

This reminds me of an old discussion about one of the Wheel of Time books. For those who don't know: WoT has dozens upon dozens of characters, enough to warrant a separate wikipedia page listing them. You eventually get to the point where you have to choose between showing all of the stories and advancing the stories. Robert Jordan decided to show most/all of the stories in one of the books(think it was book... 7? not sure), and what ended up happening is that we had a massive book where lots of things happened, but in the grand scheme of the series, nothing happened. There were so many character/story arcs to visit that we spent very little in-world time with each of them, and none of the stories got any meaningful advancement because of that time constraint. Something noted in those old discussions is that the opposite side of that balancing act is just as problematic, giving us something like Oathbringer, where the focus was on advancing some of the stories, at the cost of several characters/arcs having minimal screen-time, and in Robert Jordan's case, half of the characters not even being in the book at all, as Andy92 noted above. This also happened in the Song of Ice and Fire books, as Tyrion's book by book chapter counts go 9, 15, 11, 0, 12. Jon Snow goes 9, 8, 12, 0, 13. Daenerys is 10, 5, 6, 0, 10. Bran is also missing from Book 4. I know Brandon's character list isn't that extensive yet, but every person has different limits. Considering Brandon was both a reader and eventually writer of the Wheel of Time books, he probably understands some of the dangers of this balancing act. What it seems like happened in Oathbringer is that Brandon is reaching/exploring his personal tipping point between how much he can balance and how much he can't. Do note that I'm not brushing off the complaints about Oathbringer by saying it's "literary genius" or somesuch nonsense. What I'm saying is that this seems like as much of a learning experience for Brandon as it was a book for the readers. Looking at how well Song of Secrets works as a followup is a good start, but where we'll really see what Brandon took from this experience is when he writes SA8. Being the "book 3" of the Back 5, it's the most equivalent comparison we'll have for a long while.

In addition to what Calderis says about Connection, you are gonna have a lot of trouble picking up a Shard that's already held by someone. You'd either have to kill the Vessel(something an average humanoid has no idea how to do) or take in all of their Investiture(what Vin does by absorbing the Mists). Most everything in the Cosmere is in all 3 Realms, but things can be primarily based in a particular realm. Living beings have a Physical body, a Cognitive aspect & a Spiritweb, but they exist primarily in the Physical Realm. Cognitive Shadows are primarily in the Cognitive(duh), but still have Spiritwebs. Shards(Investiture in general) are primarily Spiritual, unless moved elsewhere(like the Dor), but can affect/invest things in the other realms. There's this kinda reverse waterfall(thank you for that term Kurkistan). Barring some very specific circumstances: Something in the Physical Realm automatically has something in the CR and SR. Something in the Cognitive automatically has something in the SR, but doesn't always have something in the PR. I don't think we've got any purely Spiritual entities(a Shard that isn't invested in anything might be the closest thing we've got). In addition to what Dunkum said, here's a simple way to look at it. Spren(and Seons) are splinters of Shards, so you can look at them as very, very, very small Shards. Swap out the Spren brain for a human/dragon/shodel one & supersize the Investiture and you've got the basic idea of what a Shard is. Supersize the Investiture again and you've got Adonalsium, who may have had a mind of it's own, like the Spren do. Shards are fragments of a being, making the sword an inapt metaphor to use.

State of the Sanderson 2015. (It's things like this that make me realize just how much content Brandon puts out) His roadmap from SotS 2017 is pretty empty compared to this one, but I don't think they've been pushed back too far in the wake of Apocalypse Guard/Skyward, since this WoB exists. Sel will Return.

If we assume that the physical/mental strain is from the intense power of the Dor constantly coursing through them(Raoden's pains during Elantris support this, imo), then his relatively youthful appearance could actually indicate how long he spent on Sel(and in contact with the Dor), rather than how long he's been an Elantrian. Following that train of thought, that'd mean that the Seventeenth got to him relatively soon after the events of the Elantris trilogy. Makes me even more curious what Sel will be like at the end of the trilogy.

Perhaps this book was really SA book 3 part 1 and the next one will be spectacular. Isn't this basically The Well of Ascension all over again? Sazed and the Prophecy, Vin and Preservation/Ruin, Elend and Leadership. Sure, those plotlines hit a minor resolution at the end of WoA, but they all continued into The Hero of Ages, where they were not only resolved, but tied together quite well. In Oathbringer, we have Dalinar and Odium, Kaladin and Amaram/Moash, Shallan and Shallan, Taravangian and the Diagram, Venli and Timbre/Fused, etc... They've all hit some form of milestone, but are nowhere near completion, and they certainly aren't well tied together at the moment. But by the end of Song of Secrets(another ~1,200 pages of storytelling), I imagine that we'll see much more progress(and actually have an idea of where the front five story is heading)

So what I'm reading here is Sebarial/Sibling 2020.

So... my thoughts: If Navani becomes a Squire/Radiant, it should complement her Fabrial-Tech in some way. I do not think she will become a Radiant, of any order. I'm not opposed to her becoming a Squire, but I don't want her to be a Bondsmith Squire. I imagine she's gonna stay as the non-powered Fabrial expert, but if she does become powered, my money's on Willshaper Squire.

The Lord Ruler did not use Lerasium. He rebuilt himself with the power of the Well of Ascension, which put him a good step above a mere Lerasium Mistborn. Slimy_Slider is correct that not being shown ≠ cannot happen.

You make a valid supposition about their cognitive perception of themselves, something I'd never considered. There's also this WoB, which could have something to do with this. Edit: Ninja'd by Oversleep b/c I didn't get the "somebody has just posted in this thread" pop-up

The presence of a Shard is like the presence of a black hole. Instead of the realms being warped by intense gravity, they get warped by massive levels of Investiture. If someone knows the signs, they can find out where a Shard is. I don't think there's some fancy power that lets him sense them, and thanks to the WoB, there doesn't need to be a power like that either. If you have questions, ask away. We'll answer anything that we can

The biggest theme of the Metallic Arts is that if it gets called a "rule," odds are it can be broken by adding more power. We don't even make it to the end of Final Empire before that revelation is thrust upon us, as the Lord Ruler so handily demonstrates: Multiple mentions of "and in her body" show pushing on the trace metals within one's body is possible, and her earring is little different from an Inquisitor spike.