The One Who Connects

Oh. Misread you I guess. It.... could work, but I doubt it, mostly because that means the one and only pool just happened to form near the same place that they built Elantris. Feels too convenient for my taste, but who knows.

D&D are both splintered and shoved into the cognitive realm. Speculation follows: The fact that one shard pool exists indicates there should be two. The shard pools would have have to form before the arrival of Odium most likely. OR The one and only shard pool formed from the Dor itself in Elantris for some reason. They should each have a Pool of their own. The Pools still exist because their Investiture is still there. It's not like D&D left the planet and took their Investiture with them, which would remove the pool if they took the time to fully Divest. (This is one of the reasons why Odium doesn't like staying in one place for too long. He either has to leave that invested power behind and be weak, or spend however long consolidating that power back into himself, leaving him vulnerable/distracted for a while)

Have a more definitive breakdown The search functions are.. interesting, to say the least. Maneuvering the search function on the Shard is an acquired skill, so don't get too annoyed by it yet.

Vin wonders the same thing as you, either in the TFE Epilogue or in Book 2. She realizes that the people he gave the beads to can't have been Feruchemists, since they would have been able to do the same stuff that he could. For completeness: The original 9 Mistborn were foreign kings that supported him when he took over the world and built the Final Empire. He gave them the beads as a gift, and if I recall right, they founded the Great Houses too(since TLR became the only King, they got demoted). No clue if the original Great Houses match the current 9 Great Houses in Book 1, but they might. They had the most time to get set up and acquire wealth/influence, so it stands to reason that several of them were Great Houses for the full life of the Empire.

Of all things to pull me back on here... And of course it's a think-piece too. Anyway, enjoy. You appear to be technically incorrect. Here's Dyring correcting me on the subject: guess I remembered the wrong line. Figured the "in her body" that she used at a later point was referring to the metals in her stomach. Actually, given that he had enough strength to push Vin, rattle the doorframe, and push pieces of his stained glass window.. It's the glass that makes me think he might know he can do that, since he can assume metal door hinges and Vin's metal reserves, but no such shortcut for the glass. Spoilers for Liar of Partinel(I believe, this is operating from memory of someone else's post centuries ago) Actually, you can ignore the LoP spoiler, I have a WoB on surviving decapitation. Here On a semantics level, the man with the godly reputation admitted to having been beheaded, burned and even flayed by mere mortals. I don't think he's lying about it, and I don't think an head chop counts as "beheading" if a head doesn't roll. As previously stated, he can remove the offending limb(in this case, head) that is soaking up his healing via impaled aluminum. However, you make me wonder... You stated that "it might be a slightly different situation since each half would have half his brain." If Miles could heal even with a bisected brain, would having a spear impaled through it be that different? Yes it's aluminum, but it's something to think about. While true, it depends on when TLR started the Final Empire Project. If that plan was conceived while he was still at the Well, then leaving the existing infrastructure was never an option in his mind. I'll give you the impatient line, given his aggressive timetable when it came to world domination. However, there's still some things to argue. If they don't fall in line, TLR is gonna be fighting armies. Consider: He just waltzes into your throne room and threatens your life and liberty, insulting/humiliating your kingly reputation, even making demands about how things are gonna be run in the future of your kingdom. He has no powerbase for you to topple beneath him, no people to threaten/enslave, no holdings to seize. Not to mention that he's imbued with the power of the gods. I can't imagine them sending anything less than an army to kill him off, especially if he does something... dramatic to prove his godly stature and powers. Sending an army against someone like that is not overkill, it's justifiable fear. The shattered remnants of that army either comes back as TLR's pawns, or they come back in a bag. With Koloss, it's yet another layer of fear to prevent insurrection, an army that he and only he(for a while) can control, and an occupying force that has guaranteed loyalties. Sure, the tattered remains of the army used against him probably follow out of fear, but fear breeds resent and rebellion. I see it as a good trade-off compared to going it alone and "trusting" foreign kings that he threatened to their face. Wounded pride turns even the greatest of leaders into mere children who don't think. Granted, we know that TLR kept Inquisitors on too tight of a leash(somehow) for Ruin to actually take control of them, so he may have thought he could do this with Koloss as well, making it 4-1 in favor of Koloss in his mind. You are right, but you also have to consider that TLR eventually reached a point where he started to believe in his own immortality. Blind faith to the point of stupidity, so he isn't without fault here either, but we don't know if he started making inquisitors right at the beginning do we? (Genuinely curious about this one) He could have started/expanded the Inquisitorius much later on, after he stopped believing he could actually die. At that point, the threat is considerably lessened in his mind, even if it isn't actually any safer. There is also the mystical control he had over them, preventing Ruin from taking over. I wouldn't put it past him to think he could physically control them like Kandra/Koloss and have them remove their own linchpin spikes. A TLR level Soothing Savant with Duralumin is a scary prospect, and I genuinely think he could do it. It's more foolish blind faith, but when you're powerful enough to prevent a god(a weakened one, granted) from possessing people, I think a little overconfidence is warranted. It's not smart, but I can't blame him for it. Ruin definitely stunted some aspects of his learning, but the best teacher is experience, and Ruin can't prevent that. Not to mention that he likely gained all manner of knowledge when his mind was expanded by the power of the Well. He understood the usefulness of having allies, hence gifting the Lerasium beads to the kings that supported him. The Koloss(and possibly Inquisitors) come in handy when it was time to make those 'allies' bend the knee so he can be Lord Ruler rather than Coalition Leader. I admit he could've avoided needing the Koloss if he won over his allies armies, but by that point, he had already made the Koloss so the point is moot.

You are forgetting about the Tai-Na. And the Yu-Nerig, come to think of it. I'm not currently disputing Santhids being Greatshells, only that using the WoB as proof is insufficient.

Av specifically said that his father received a heap of cloth from the Nightwatcher. If Av is to be believed, his father went to the Nightwatcher empty-handed and returned with cloth.

I also believe that artwork depicting a "voidbringer" had been debunked as well, with Brandon stating that the artist drew the most terrifying thing they could think of. Actually, that might've been an in-world speculation by Adolin/Dalinar...

You'd be surprised. Bit of logic is that the smartest survive because they are too smart to walk into a trap, while the dumbest survive because their lack of logic makes them unpredictable enough that you can't make a trap for them. Now I don't think Aesudan is anywhere near that level of stupid, but if she had an advisor who did know what they were doing... Unless Navani thoroughly grilled Aesudan on everything regarding kingship(queenship?) and related topics before going, then certain inadequacies may have been overlooked. We all have lapses in logic from time to time, and as a certain crew leader in Mistborn shows us, it's better to have multiple experts to work with than to become an expert in everything yourself. Regarding outside influences, who is more dangerous? The person who tells her what she should do, or the person who tells her that what she's done is a good idea?

Chana. We've seen/heard mention of the other 9 Heralds in WoK, but Chana is still an unknown. So uh.. women, suspicious or otherwise. Preferably not ones that we see die, not ones that appear to get older(that'd be people in Kaladin's flashbacks), etc.. Otherwise, I can't think of too much to look out for before reading Oathbringer. After it, sure. But before we get the revelations in OB, I think most of the cryptic things you'd be looking for will still mean nothing.

They are all skilled at subterfuge and subtlety. Any one of them would make a deal with one of the others if they saw an advantage to it. It all depends on the situation, which is kinda how Hrathen operates in Elantris.

His lack of an underhanded scheme is his underhanded scheme. Plotters and Posturers biggest disadvantage is that they idly glance at what you openly say/do, and give the importance to what you secretly do. They'd overlook his preaching as a facade and get paranoid due to his apparent skill at keeping the under-the-table deals under-wraps. They'll eventually realize that he has no ulterior motives in play, but by that time it might be too late for them.

It's not theoretical, it's contradictory. Brandon has said that you can, and that you can't. We haven't gotten a clarification yet, so it's still up for grabs.

I could've sworn that Vin took control of Human via Duralumin. Elend might've been able to to it without, but I'm fairly sure she couldn't.

I doubt they did it on purpose, but it might be a reference to this WoB.

Oh. Yea that makes sense now. Vasher certainly did, we have confirmation about Denth and Shashara, but I don't think we have anything about the other 2.

Thanks. (insert less generic happy face here) I noticed it a little bit too, but WoB posting sprees are quite fun.

The Nobility didn't have Aluminum. From the Annotations: As for killing TLR with Aluminum weapons.. not really. He walked up to Kelsier with two spears impaled into his chest. The wound didn't heal around them, and it wouldn't really heal any differently than it would if they were aluminum. It healed up to the spears, but they were still there, blocking the wound from fully healing. Besides, the man has been beheaded before and lived. I see no reason why he couldn't just remove the offending limb that has aluminum soaking up his healing and move on. If it's in his chest, he can use F-Steel and A/F-Pewter to rectify the situation pretty quickly. Daydam also makes a good point about Feruchemy being more obscure, so the "in the wound doesn't heal" logic isn't known. That said, they would still use them for their lack of push/pull, but when he can push you away via the metal in your blood, nobody can really hold him down. Heck, unless you catch him outside, he could tap F-Iron for weight, and steelpush you into a wall(shatter bones on the impact like Vin did, maybe even kill you if you get slammed hard enough into stone pillars). Your weapons might be push-proof, but you aren't when dealing with TLR. And that's something that nobody could learn without going against him to test it. Regarding where he hid his Atiumminds, Daydam is right. It's a display of power, like his plethora of rings and bracelets. Yet another thing exemplifying his utter lack of fear in the face of potential dangers. @Daydam Sazed does know what F-Atium does. He mentions it to Vin at some point in TFE(something about not too useful beyond disguising your age here and there). Getting back on topic, TLR had a Bracer on each arm, so unless they cut both of them off at once, he'd be fine. Ok, maybe not fine, but he'd live, and F-Gold with F-Steel rectifies the lack of an arm right quick. Regarding your surgery idea, I don't think it'd work. He'd have to not heal in order to have an open area to put the bracers in, because F-Gold would prevent him from opening his skin long enough before it closed itself. Which makes we wonder, if he saw them coming, would preemptively tapping F-Gold prevent the limb from actually being severed to begin with? Miles doesn't end up in scattered pieces when holding exploding dynamite after all.. Ruin whispered to TLR about Kandra, Koloss, and Inquisitors while TLR was using the Well. It's one of the reasons why TLR had made no further progress with Hemalurgy in the following millennium: Ruin wasn't being helpful anymore. Kandra were the double-agent plan, so that's their validation. As for Koloss, you are right that TLR could conquer the planet by himself, but that'd take far, far longer than the Koloss method, not to mention Koloss keep the people in line while he conquers some other kingdom. Like the Lerasium beads, the Koloss hordes could have been a "gift" to the kings that supported him, to supplement their forces in controlling captured territory. And to destroy said kings if they betrayed him, but that's basic insurance. Inquisitors were his Mistborn equivalent, ones that he could ensure the loyalty of through spike control somehow(which is what prevented Ruin from directly controlling them for all those years too, TLR kept them on too tight a leash for Ruin to get to them). A crack team of supernatural bodyguards and enforcers goes a long way towards enhancing divine reputation, political control, and much more. While they may seem like stupid decisions, many of his actions are practical and understandable when you think about them.

I feel so missed I was only out 12 days though, which is almost nothing.

I may have found a pseudo answer to my own question. Eh, it happens. Source. Haven't seen this one before, so that's fun.

Have a few entries from Pagerunner's List. Not sure about the "group of others," but... And as for your idea, the only thing that would stop him would be not being able to draw it out of gems like the KR. Otherwise, yea he could do that.

She's only 1 ahead of Kaladin, which is 4 out of 5.

Here.

Not feasible, and actually lacks the deadliness provided by a Blade. Feasibility: With exception to the Stormfather, Spren cannot go very far away from the KR they are bonded to. A Shardbow won't break(because Shard Metal), and normal arrows can be launched much farther. Deadliness: Shardblades are so deadly from slashes, not stabs. You can't reliably kill the core of a limb/spine if you cannot actually slice the entire core. A Shardarrow is too thin. Go outside and knock down a tree with a machine gun. Takes centuries because you only put a small hole in the trunk, whereas a saw slices the entire length of it. Bladeform is miles ahead in the deadliness factor, and has more surface area to actually make contact, whereas a bullet/arrow will miss if it's off by maybe half an inch.

Yea sorry about that. Chasmfiends are the first thing to really jump into our heads if you say "Greatshell" and "monsters in plain sight." I only half-disagree then, regarding Chasmfiends specifically You make a valid point about a Desolation Spren granting the same effect, but then we get into the argument of how/why the Chasmfiend would switch out the Spren it's bonded with. Listeners have different forms, but I don't think Chasmfiends have that same functionality, or at the very least, don't use it very often. The Everstorm cannot force a Parshendi to bond a Voidspren if they already have a Spren bond. The same should hold true for Greatshells and the KR.