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Lupis

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Posts posted by Lupis

  1. Well after one readthrough RoW is my least favourite, by some margin, of the stormlight books to date. I enjoyed the wider cosmere related things we found out about, and I didn't see what happened with Odium coming, so that was good, but too much of the book dragged for me. The longer the series goes on seeing the same scenes (like Gavilar's feast) from different viewpoints is starting to get tedious. Venli's flashbacks didn't grab be all, and I got to the "oh god, not another one" point by the later stages of the book. I also struggled to engage with both Shallan and Kaladin dealing with their mental health issues in the same book. Those sections just went on far far too long for me.

    I also notice that Brandon seems to have a favourite word in his books, and in this one it appeared to be "regardless". Overall I guess I liked it, but it certainly felt more disjointed than the others and had way too much unneeded filler in it from my point of view.

    On 20/11/2020 at 2:58 AM, agrabes said:

    You're right that one thing Odium (Rayse) wanted was to get free of Roshar.  But he has other equally important goals too.  His main overall goal is to destroy all other shards.  So he's made it clear that we wanted to destroy Honor and Cultivation beyond repair (including destroying all their spren) and then leave Roshar to destroy the rest of the Shards throughout the Cosmere.  Odium's end goal wasn't human extermination, but that was a likely side effect of his actual goal.  In the current Desolation, as in all Desolations, he's trying to destroy Honor and Cultivation's investure, which will have the result of freeing him.  He doesn't care about the Bondsmiths' ability to release him from the Oathpact, that's not his main objective.  If it's offered to him, then he would accept because it offers him a chance of early victory.  But he doesn't need to enter that kind of deal to win, the Radiants have to risk a lot in the deal because Odium knows he would win even without the deal.  This is how it's always been portrayed in the books.

     

    Look at this from Dalinar's perspective - what is Dalinar trying to do?  What is the win state for Dalinar's side?  If Dalinar wins the contest of Champions, Odium will withdraw personally, but the Everstorm will remain and the Fused will continue to be immortal and unrelenting enemies.  So in terms of Dalinar's chances to win the overall war, defeating Odium's champion doesn't move the needle very much toward an actual victory.  It is essentially impossible for Dalinar to win the war, at best he can establish a secure perimeter and defend it from Fused incursions for all of time.

    If Odium's champion wins, Dalinar has to become Odium's servant and it's implied he will be sent to other worlds to do Odium's bidding there.  So Odium gets Dalinar as his servant and gets one additional agent on other worlds.  But there are many men of Dalinar's caliber that are available to Odium and it's strongly implied he has agents and/or allies in other places in the Cosmere.  So Odium gains nothing significant by getting Dalinar - nothing he couldn't have gotten otherwise.  And Odium himself is still trapped on Roshar, unable to leave and fulfill his actual mission and he still has hundreds or thousands of years of warfare until the side of the Radiants is whittled down enough to allow him to fully destroy Honor and Cultivation.

    So neither side really gains anything if they win.  If SA5 ends in either of those states - perpetual war with Odium on the sidelines or perpetual war with Odium on the sidelines and Dalinar forced to switch sides - it doesn't feel like a satisfying ending.

     

    If Odium's champion is defeated, and he can't directly interfere with his forces on Roshar, there is the possibility of an accord between both sides. Now they both have the ability to destroy each other on permanent basis that is not such a stretch as it would have been otherwise.

     

    On 24/11/2020 at 11:03 PM, FudgeHeart said:

    About choosing a champion for SA5:

      Hide contents

    Why not choose Taln to be the Champion?  Don't mess with Ishi, he's mediocre.  Dalinar doesn't even have a sword.  It's fine that Taln's cra-cra.  He can friggin' catch blow darts out of the air with two fingers.

     

    I'd actually be looking at Renarin. He's the only one that Odium can't see the future for, so it's more of a level playing field. And on that note, I fear for Renarin as Odium T knows that he is a threat, where Odium R didn't.

  2. This has probably been asked, and answered, many times before but I couldn't find it. Were the 3 realms previously a single realm and if so was it the shattering of Adonalsium that caused the fracturing of the the 3 realms, or did they exist in that form even before the shattering?

  3. I did a search but couldn't find an answer to this. Has it ever been explained where whatever is placed into a metalmind actually goes? It's obviously not in the metal itself, so I'm presuming it's the spiritual or cognitive realm, or perhaps a bit of both, but I was wondering if there has been anything definitive said on it.

  4. On 09/03/2019 at 2:23 AM, AngryMistspren said:

    Hi. I don’t really like Ham that much. He was a non-entity in the books to me.

     

    I also thought Tindwyl was too hard on my perfect boy Elend 

    I never liked Tindwyl, I always found her to be a bit... off. On a re-read one bit stuck out, which was Sazed talking about her earings, it made me wonder if she was actually being influenced by Ruin. I don't know if she was, but it would make sense to me if she were as it would explain a lot.

  5. On 30/12/2017 at 6:56 PM, Brgst13 said:

     

    29. “All is withdrawn for me. I stand against the one who saved my life. I protect the one who killed my promises. I raise my hand. The storm responds. ”
    — Collected on Tanatanev 1173, 18 seconds pre-death, by the Silent Gatherers. Subject was a darkeyed mother of four in her sixty-second year.[37]

    Refers to Kaladin saving the king from Moash during the storm.

    I am forced to disagree with this interpretation.  While it could be argued that Moash saved Kaladin's life, the description "the one who killed my promises" seems to not fit Elkohar very well.  Kaladin also does not raise his hand until after the Stormfather and Syl have a minor disagreement.  I personally feel that this fits Dalinar much better, as he is the one most likely to be able to make a storm respond by raising his hand.  Also, the "All is withdrawn for me" section seems more inline with an Ascended Dalinar than Kaladin defending Elkohar.

     

    It actually fits more with Syl than Kaladin. "I stand against the one who saved my life" (the Stormfather). I protect the one who killed my promises (Kaladin).

  6. On 30/12/2017 at 6:56 PM, Brgst13 said:
    35. “So the night will reign, for the choice of honor is life... ”
    — Observed circa Ishi 1173 by Taravangian. Subject was King Valam of Jah Keved.[4]

    Prediction that someone will be allowed to live and therefore Odium will win a victory.  Possibly connected to 17.


    I've hypothesised before, probably on this board somewhere, that this should actually read "So the Knight will reign..." as they are writing down spoken words they wouldn't be sure if it is night or knight. I'm taking it as refering to Dalinar taking up some of Honor's powers. And yes I know it isn't in English and the two might not sound the same in their language, but I am assuming they do until proven otherwise.

  7. 8 minutes ago, SilverTiger said:

    Cusicesh is very probably not the Sibling, due to this WoB: https://wob.coppermind.net/basic_search/?query=cusicesh%2Bstormfather%2Bnightwatcher

      Reveal hidden contents

    Questioner

    Speaking of the Stormfather, would the Nightwatcher and the giant water spren be on the same level of spren as the Stormfather?

    Brandon Sanderson

    ...The Nightwatcher, yes. Um... There are, I would say, a level below the Stormfather and the Nightwatcher who are also much-- a much bigger deal than something like one of the sapient spren, and that's what Cusicesh is.

    Questioner

    So the Nightwatcher is a spren you'd say?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The Nightwatcher-- I mean, they call the Nightwatcher a spren. Everyone in the books thinks the Nightwatcher is a spren. That's what they would call-- that's what they would call, if they knew what Honor was, they would call Honor a spren. A spren is Investiture that is alive.

    Bystander

    Nightblood?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So they would call Nightblood a spren. They would call-- That's the word for what all of these things are. They would probably've called Adonalsium a spren…

    Moderator

    What would Hoid call one of those?

    Brandon Sanderson

    What would Hoid call the Nightwatcher? *laughter* What would Hoid call one of what?

    Moderator

    Yeah what would Hoid call the Nightwatcher?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Um… *long pause/laughter*

    Moderator

    If Hoid were to use a non-proper noun?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Unpleasant names. *laughter*

    It indicates that Cusicesh is weaker than the Stormfather and Nightwatcher, when one would assume that the Sibling is their equal.

    Well that is disappointing. I shall cling to the slim hope that it is only a step below the other 2 because it is still slumbering. Probably not though.

  8. 1 minute ago, DeployParachute said:

    But the SF explicitly used "them". My understanding is that Cusicesh is one singular very large spren? Also, I thought there were theories going around that Cusicesh was tied to Odium, considering it leaves people feeling drained?

    I also think it would be interesting if the third sibling was a creation of both honor and cultivation combined, sort of like a weird love child of theirs since it's canon that Honor and Cultivation were romantically entangled at some point. I would also expect the creation to have some form of sentience, which Cusicesh doesn't seem to possess? I dunno, just some rambling thoughts on my part...

    It does appear to be a single spren, but one that cycles through many faces...

    As far as sentience goes, according to the stormfather the sibling is slumbering. That could refer to cognitively.

  9. 7 minutes ago, DeployParachute said:

    So... Just rereading the part where Dalinar is talking to the SF about the third sibling...

      Reveal hidden contents

    There is … a third sibling. They are not with us.

    “In hiding?”

    No. Slumbering.

    “Tell me more.”

    No.

    “But—”

    No! Leave them alone. You hurt them enough.

    And I kind of got the "we are legion" vibe from this text. Has anyone considered that the third sibling might collectively be the Dysian Aimian yet? I think it is pretty interesting to note this conversation between Lift and Arclo

      Reveal hidden contents

     

    Your war is my war, and has been for millennia. Ancient Radiants named me friend and ally before everything went wrong. What wonderful days those were, before the Last Desolation. Days of...honor. Now gone, long gone. 

    — Arclo to Lift

     

    I'm more in the camp (of probably one) that thinks the sibling might be Cusicesh the Protector.

  10. 19 hours ago, Sigsyl said:

    Hmm. I like this idea but there are a couple of things that make me think it’s probably not true. The first is that presumably the Stormfather would be able to tell the difference between Odium and an Unmade. The second is Dalinar experiencing the divine, burning power. That would seem to be beyond the capabilities of an Unmade.

    I did wonder about that myself, but I was thinking it might be tapping directly from Odium. Possibly Odium wants everyone thinking the Unmade IS him, and it isn't just doing it on its own, but as a distraction while he is doing something else. He is allowing it to access some of his power, to make it look legit.

  11. OK, I have to say I felt really underwhelmed by Odium. He just didn't ever really seem the major threat I was expecting him to be. Then Dalinar saw him off relatively easily, it just didn't sit right with me. Then it occurred to me, what if what we saw wasn't actually Odium, but one of the unmade pretending to be Odium. Dalinar's power level would be similiar to an unmade, so it fleeing from him would make more sense than for Odium itself to do it. I actually think it might have been Dai-Gonarthis:

    Let me no longer hurt! Let me no longer weep! Daigonarthis! The Black Fisher holds my sorrow and consumes it! Tanatesach 1173, 28 seconds pre-death. A darkeyed female street juggler. Note similarity to sample 1172-89.

    Which sounds pretty similar to what the "Odium" Dalinar encountered appeared to want him to do. It might also explain why it said "we killed you", rather than I.

    Admittedly I haven't delved too far into how possible this actually is, and I'm probably reading too much into my dislike of how Odium was portrayed and acted in the book, but I'd be interested in others thoughts on it.

     

  12. I have to say, for the first time ever having finished a Brandon Sanderson book, I have been left underwhelmed. It was good in places, severely lacking in others. It almost felt like the Calamity element was tagged on at the end to give an element of closure, not to further the story.

    Probably he's just set the bar too high and I'm being over critical. Maybe it'll click together better in a reread.

  13. I propose Camren Bicondova (she plays Selena Kyle in Gotham) for Vin. I think she'd be awesome. 

    Now bearing in mind I have only seen season 1 of Gotham, this could have changed but she does have the look and could handle the physical stuff, but she is a poor actress in my opinion. If she has improved dramatically I could maybe see it though.

  14. I think I prefer Alan Cumming for Sazed. Vosloo's not lanky enough in my opinion and Malkovich is too old.

    Alan Cumming is far too short. I thought Chris Heyerdahl as Sazed, but then changed my mind, I think he would be a better Marsh.

  15. That might be possible, considering that TLR messed with the biology of the Scadrians to better live in the World of Ash

    I think it is very likely Harmony undid most of those changes. They would no longer be required and if he didn't make changes it is very likely that the people would be highly susceptible to things like skin cancer in his new world, where sunlight isn't being mostly blocked by ash..

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