Zea mays

That does look very intriguing. Thanks for letting me know about this Weiry! You should definitely get back into the Dresden Files. The series isn't perfect, but it does get progressively better, and to me it is a ton of fun.

How about Yalb? Yalb could become a Lightweaver, no? He has the same affect on shallan the she has on other people. Maybe he can be her squire when they meet again (which they of course will).

I really really want Adolin to become an Edgedancer, simply so I can see Kaladin snicker at him (and he would) for being an "Egdedancer".

The Trolling is strong with this one. Wasn't there a recent word-of-Brian that Hesina came from a very highly ranked family, and marrying Lirin was a "step down" for her, in terms of Alethi social ranking? I have suspected for some time that (very short) Lirin might not be the biological father of (invariably described as extra-tall) Kaladin. Then there are all the physical differences between Kal and Tien. Something's fishy in the family.

So, which order are you speculative speculators speculating Rushu into? For my part, I noticed Mr. sanderson implied there may be several KRs amongst the background characters. Maybe those expecting Lirin (Kaladin's father) to become a Truthwatcher have it right? It has to be the glasses...

I wonder if for some reason Renarin is incapable of hurting anyone. His attacks have happened when he tried to rush oit into battle. Maybe he's "allergic" to the thrill? Maybe the function of truthwatchers is to be medics, and one of their oaths is "Do no harm"? If each of the Silver Kingdoms was associated with an order, that the precursor of Shin was probably associated with the Truthwatchers. It seems to fit. I would also love some Ren POV chapters in book 3.

Do pardon the double post, but seeing this on Weiry's transcription of a recent signing rather made my day. To the question asker - if you are reading this, please join the forum and post, so that I may grant you a some of the upvotes that you deserve.

About a letter - it is said somewhere in WoK that Hesina is the only woman in Hearthstone that can read. I think that was before Roshone and his retinue arrived, and I do not know if it included Laral (did Hesina teach her?). The point is, who will read the letter? Will they trust it, or assume it is a forgery? Kal's folks, if they are still in Hearthsone, which I highly doubt, would believe him with or without a letter. Roshone's people will be disposed to suspect him. The rest of the town can't read.

Oh, I did not mean to imply their fingers were the thing. I was agreeing that it is a flint (or emery, or something unique to Roshar) that they wear on a chain. I imagine them running their fingernails on it to raise sparks. Hopefully they do not burn their fingertips in the process.

Very interesting find Botanica. Well spotted, as they say. My scay first idea- maybe they use their fancy fingernails and this sparks-flicker (a flintstone or Rosharan specialty) to start fires.

Another even more minor point: the only other person with a palindromic name we know of so far (deep breath; sorry 'bout the run-on sentence) is Laral from Hearthstone. I always wondered if there is some connection between the two.

My guess would be that the Shaman holding the Truthwatcher blade and the Shaman bearing the Elsecaller Blade would cooperate to locate Szeth's sword after he died. If they had been constantly watching him all along - they had a moral responsibility to intervene.

Er, egregious sarcasm and false equivalency might not be the best way to make your point. Lin Davar, Szeth and Amaram have all commited cold blooded murder. Renarin, as far as we know, has not. In fact, so far, he has not performed any malicious act of any kind. He had problems communicating with his family. Asking folks to consider how an autism spectrum disorder might exacerbate those problems is not unreasonable. Asking people to excuse a vile action like murder because the perpetrator suffer from ASP or a similar condition would be "PCness run amuck", but that is not what I see happening here.

This is a really interesting idea. For some reason it brings to my mind the word 'bridge' and the number 4.

Here's a handy link to the thread Maxal mentioned.

Something to note: from the "True Glory" chapter in WoR we learned that these visions are not gender specific ( the "two men" emerging from the pit were actually a man and a woman). My suspicion is that "I stand over the body of a brother..." Might actually be about two sisters: Eshonai and Venli (in some other thread somewhere I have speculated that "in the storm I awaken..." Is from Eshonai's perspective). Oh, and I think there is some general agreement that "all is withdrawn from me..." Is again a book climax from Kaladin's perspective: his final confrontation with Moash. Ok one more: my guess that the person who must "take up the title and the crown and the spear" is ( you guessesd it) everyone's favorite windrunner (in grand high-fantasy tradition)

Forgot, or repressed? This is sweet tradition! Happy birthday Peter, with a healthy helping of high-fructose syrup!

My native language is Hebrew, but after so many years in Nebraska, English is the language I think in. I also know a smattering of Arabic and Spanish, and a bit of Japanese. You should definitely get into written Arabic steel - calligraphically, it's just gorgeous. You feel like your notes are a work of art.

Granted. But you have to sit through 3 full congress procedurals before you cast any veto. I wish I could think up a good wish.

Shallan later remembers that her father took the blade (Pattern) from her and locked it in the safe behind the painting (yes, in that room, upstairs, where his wife tried to murder his daughter). Neither of them was thinking straight at the time - they both would know that it is pointless to try physically lock someone's shardblade away from them. When Father looks at Helaran's sword he only recognizes that it is a different one from the blade Shallan had. My wild utterly unsupported guess about Helaran's "new friends" - that hetero-chromatic-eyed bastard might have some connection to Nale's organization, and helped Helaran connect with the 'skybreakers'. Edit: storming ninjas!

Szeth is a supreme 1337 hacker that can take down any site he targets. Currently he's been brainwashed by sinister mastermind (hiding in an undisclosed location) who uses him to disrupt the workings of governments and organizations he wants to take over.

I have to disagree with you there, because Amaram didn't just take the shards from Kal and enslaved him, he also had 4 men murdered. Those men were not just innocent of any wrong doing, they have just showed more courage and loyalty than his so-called 'honor' guard, and helped save his life. Killing Coreb and the others wasn't just morally reprehensible, it was also stupid and wasteful. Why not take them (and Kaladin) into his inner circle, and have them work for him? If he really believed that his motives for keeping the Shards were so noble and honorable, why not try first to convince them of this? [he can always reserve the option of killing them later] It can't be more difficult than covering up 4 murders and a frame-up. I will need to know more before I make up my mind about the man. When he first arrives on the Shattered Plains, Amaram is considered a hero by Dalinar's soldiers. Is any part of his reputation truly earned? Is he a formerly great man that has lost his way? How many crimes like the one inflicted on Kaladin and his squad has he committed?

Agreed about the numbers. Though I'd blame Mr. Sanderson for writing it that way. What's a reader to do? Overall I enjoyed both reader's performances. The only slightly jarring bit was during the chasm scene where Kaladin alternated between sounding like a (grouchy, but still) man and a mopey 15 year old. Why didn't I fond Kate's voice for Adolin as distracting as her voice for Kaladin? I don't know. Maybe I'm biased.

You know what would be funny? Adolin encountering Veil, getting strongly Attracted to her, and feeling confused and torn about this.

Cool. So being Kaladin, if his life someone else's life depended on it, he could suck it up and use the sword. And no, I was not trying to start a 'ship', merelysuggest a one-sided fascination. One of the sort-of endearing things about Nightblood in Warbreaker is that he is one of a kind, and he does not really know who or what he is supposed to be. His only references are humans, who are quite different from him in feeling and thought process. How exciting would it be, for him, to meet other sapient weapons? What would spren like pattern of Syl make of him, me wanders.