Flywinged

So I've read a lot of conflicting thoughts on Szeth recently, and I wanted to make a poll in order to better judge the community's opinion of him. He is personally my favorite character as of now because he is the most interesting character for me to read about. He is at the center of the current conflict happening everywhere on Roshar, and despite being, for all intents and purposes, forced to kill against his will, I argue he has still kept his sanity. Basically he is just really interesting to me. I'm really interested to see opinions on Szeth compiled into poll, so please go ahead and vote!

Sorry if I was unclear here. I know you can't just think a certain way, and the magics will work that way. But a moving bubble seems right on the edge of one of those nuances that could possibly be affected by how the user perceives the magic to behave. There might just need to be something else to make it work too, though. Or maybe it just isn't possible. Thank you for linking this! I've never read that before. So assuming its not possible to move a time bubble, (I'm with you in that there has to be some way to make a moving bubble, I just don't know what it is yet. maybe its just perception, or maybe it has to do with how Sanderson has said you can use shard powers of some planets on other planets, but only if you know how. Which kinda leads into using the shard power in space. Those seem like similar concepts to me which shows it's possible in my mind) couldn't this same concept work with stationary bubbles? So assuming the mechanical manifestations of the Shard power work in a similar way to the human manifestations, you could just put a machine on the front of a ship that makes a bendalloy bubble with a radius slightly larger than the ship. Once the ship moves to the other side of the bubble and the nose is about to poke out, the machine lowers the bubble and creates another one to allow, essentially, a tube (not continuous of course, because it keeps getting broken and remade in spheres) of bendalloy bubble to travel though. Because we don't know exactly how bubbles within bubbles work, we can't say for sure this is a valid way to do it, but with 7 or 8 of these machines on the front of a ship, practically instantaneous travel anywhere is possible. (paired with a similar setup with cadmium for the passengers again so they perceive the instantaneous travel affect) Of course, if it is possible to move the bubble with a moving ship, then the machine would just be placed in the middle of the ship and it would have the same affect. Sorry if this is worded confusing, I nerd out and ramble when talking about anything sic-fi-y. edit: I forgot to include something because I'm a dork

[spoilers for WoK/WoR] I actually have a thought on this. Of course the bubbles would have to move with the ship, or else nothing would happen, but Brandon is very insistent that many things happen because of what the people performing the magic think should happen. The best example are with shardblades from Roshar. Because people like Shallan thought it should take 10 heartbeats for her to summon her blade, it did. Similarly, because cadmium and bendalloy mistings think their bubbles should stay put (relative to the planet spin and move through space) it does. So merely shifting their perspective to make it stay motionless relative to ship *could* do the trick. Actually, didn't Brandon say something about the southern half of Scadrial having a different group of people who harness the shard's power differently? For some reason I feel like he said it was through machines. Does that ring a bell for anyone else? If so, maybe a machine which constantly makes this bubble would do a better job as it could repeatedly move the bubble by timing it correctly. edit: spoilers

This is genius. No idea if this is how Sanderson plans to make space travel work in future books, but this is something I never picked up on. Upvote for you! Edit: because I have more thoughts on this and don't want to double post So if there was a way to add bubbles together, as in, put to bend alloy bubbles inside of each other, the ship could reach almost anywhere apparently instantly. Just put 4 of those suckers on top of each other, and poof, the outside world basically stops moving, allowing virtually in ship to travel faster than light apparently to the outside world. All you would need is 4 overlapping cadmium bubbles where the people are staying on the ship to counteract the affects of aging on the people inside, and boom, faster than light travel. (I think this is basically what supersciguy was going for, but just in case, I clarified what I was thinking)

Back on topic . Am I the only one who wants to see Vasher fight Szeth for Nightblood? We don't know exactly Vasher's current relationship with Nightblood, but I'm pretty sure there's a WoB saying he misses him very much. Also, I'm incredibly interested to hear Szeth backstory. He is my favorite character, and I want to find out why he is the way he is. Also want to find out more about the Shin as a whole. They seem to be living in the only "earth-like" part of Roshar.

When people ask you on the bus if you're reading a dictionary. You reply no and then spend the next hour trying to convince them to read what they thought was a dictionary. Then you realize the person is no longer on the bus.

I could not agree more. Hrathen is one of the most respectable characters in any of the novels Sanderson has written, in my opinion. He is my favorite character in Elantris mainly because he stands up for what he believes is right, despite that contradicting what he has dedicated his life to. edit: Typo

So I really like this theory. I was actually about to post my own theory on this (which I'm still going to do after I talk about yours) when I found this. I agree with there not being predators, at least prior to the war. And I'm almost 100 percent sure there is a WoB somewhere which says the spren in Chasmfiends are what assists them in growing so large. Or something like that. It helps their bones support their frame. In that sense, maybe they do need the storm light in order to help those spren help them? Some sort of weird symbiotic relationship like that. Anyway, I like this theory, I'm not feeling as good about mine anymore. My thought was, after reading the Eshonai chapters in WoR, what if the chasmfiends bond with a spren during the high storm? Potentially maybe every great shell is the same species, like the Parshendi and they just change form in a similar manner. What really got me thinking this was the similarities between the description of the thunderclast in the prologue and chasmfiends. If chasm fiends are just waiting on the Shattered plains to bond with a voidspren, that could spell trouble in the future. I like your thought too! And to answer your first question, I'm on the fence on whether or not I think they require storm light to aid the gestation process. It seems likely, but spren have weird properties, and the spren seen around chasm fiends might be exhibiting the affects storm light might otherwise have.

It's not a dislike so much as a "bringing down to earth". I originally had him held at such a high level, that after reading about him here, I realized he isn't actually the most amazing character in m opinion. I still think he's really awesome, I just have started to pay attention to other characters more. So basically, the forum made way for me to like more than just one character.

Kaladin would have to be mine. He was originally my favorite character. After reading many of the more recent posts, I've started to realize he is always depressed (which I guess is to be expected in his situation). It's not like I hate him now or anything, just after reading about him on the forums, I've realized characters like Szeth and Dalinar strike me as more interesting. Although I might have to reserve a special spot here for Stick. I hardly even considered him a character after my first read through of WoR, but after reading some topics, Stick has earned a special place in my heart. ... "I am a stick"

Everything in the Cosmere except White Sand (Which I guess is not officially released yet). I'm on my fourth rereading of SA. The only books I've read of his which aren't in the Cosmere are Rithmatist and Steelheart.

I've been stalking the forums as a member for awhile, and have recently decided to start being active in the community. Thought I'd say hey to everyone throughout this forum! SA is my favorite series by far, but I really love everything Sanderson writes.

I really enjoy Kaladin as a character. I was really tempted to vote him, but Szeth just strikes some chord within me. He is easily the most badass character Sanderson has written (In my opinion, and Vasher and Dalinar come in a close second). I cannot wait to read his backstory. Plus a mentally unstable, incredibly talented swordsman, with Nightblood... Can't wait.

So just had a spontaneous, crazy thought, tell me what you think. After reading some WoBs, I came across : Q: I was looking at the map of Roshar and it kinda looked like a spiral galaxy to me like it was flipping a certain way. A: That was intentional. You are on to something that no one's figured out yet. So what if this spiral galaxy he says roshar looks like is the Cosmere, and this is how you travel between the worlds? So when you go into Shadesmar, or the Cognitive Realm, you travel to the designated place on the galaxy where the planet you want to go is, and "poof", you're there! Or maybe Roshar is like a central hub to get to all the other planets? So there are locations in Shadesmar which take you to the respective Cognitive realms of each planet. I seems to recall people speculating about travel from Sel was done through some mysterious door in Elantris (I can't remember all the exact detail, but something like that). So maybe the respective location on Roshar's cognitive realm takes you to that portal? or something like that. I know this is ramble, but I just had this thought, and it seems rather likely. But I must be missing something really obvious if nobody has mentioned it yet.

Yeah, this is possible. The main point of this thread though was to figure out what we know about Aimians as a whole, through what we know about Axies. Although I guess its fine to debate his importance to the plot, I'm more interested in what Aimians are. We know their homeland was scoured, and they're almost people of myth to the people of Roshar, or at least in Iri (Way of Kings, interlude-5). But I don't know why this happened, or the scope of powers Aimians have. The changing of body parts is also pretty cool, and we don't know how they do that. (Axies sculpts his nose so he doesn't have to smell the trash while in the alleyway with the beggar). Anyway, I'm looking for more facts and theories about Aimians in general, because those are very scarce at the moment and they seem like very interesting people.

That's what I'm thinking. Maybe he won't even get any screen time. But I just have this feeling he's going to play a role, most likely by giving information dealing with his spren studies. I do think the most likely place for him is meeting up with the ardent couple, but he still strikes me as someone who can't be easily forgotten. there's something else to him. He was one of the few interlude characters that showed up in both published books (although he didn't have a chapter in WoR, he was still present). Rysn being one of the other ones I can think of off the top of my head.

So I just finished a reread of tWoK and WoR and it occurred to me how little information is given on Axies the Collector. He has his own interlude in the first book where we learn: 1. He's Aimian 2. He's a scholar documenting spren 3. He goes to jail a lot (presumably while searching for spren) 4. His shadow points the wrong way (like Jasnah's) 5. He can write on his own skin (or rather make his skin write on his skin, if that makes sense) 6. From the two interludes he appears in, he seems to have a good sense of humor, or at least is optimistic I've been trying to speculate his purpose, I mean obviously he is documenting spren, but I'm trying to figure out how he will play into the rest of the SA. He not only appeared in tWoK, but as the Aimian who was captured on the Reshi Island Greatshell from the Rysn interlude in WoR. I feel like Brandon would only have included this if Axies turned out to play some sort of role in the series. That being said, I have no idea what his role could be. Hopefully others might be able to shed some more light on his role. Also, I've been thinking about his ability to change the markings on his skin at will; also, his shadow points the wrong way, which indicates a strong connection to shadesmar (as shown through Jasnah, or at least that's the public consensus). So my theory is, like soulcasting, Axies is able to change what his body thinks of itself through shadesmar and can thus change the markings on his skin. In essence, he would have a very strong ability to control what his mind thinks in the cognitive realm. All this is just speculation, but I would love to hear more information and theories from others about Axies. He's a huge enigma in my mind and I can't help but think he's going to play a major role at some point in the SA.

I'm not sure I completely agree with that theory. I faintly remember reading somewhere that there were very few bondsmiths (three if I remember correctly?), and each had a specific spren. The stormfather is a very specific spren (as there is only one as far as we know), so it would make sense for him to be Dalinar's spren, although I'm sure the stormfather will act differently than Syl or Pattern.

I've actually been thinking about his wife for awhile, and after doing a reread of WoK and WoR, it struck me that what if his wife was Shalash? While I was reading the Baxil interlude, it occurred to me that Shalash has been trying to erase all images of herself, wouldn't erasing herself from the one who knew her best, her husband, be a good place to start? Just a theory without much solid evidence behind it, but it's interesting to note.

I will consider others' opinions, even if they contradict my own.