AndrewStirlingMacDonald

Elantris: 4 The Hope of Elantris: 2 The Emperor's Soul: 3 Mistborn The Eleventh Metal: 1 Mistborn: The Final Empire: 3 Mistborn: The Well of Ascension: 2 Mistborn: The Hero of Ages: 2 Mistborn: The Allow of Law: 3 Mistborn: Shadows of Self: 2 Warbreaker: 3 The Way of Kings: 3 Words of Radiance: 2 Shadow of Silence in the Forest of Hell: 5 Sixth of the Dusk: 5 Non-Cosmere: Rithmatist: 0 Steelheart: 2 Mitosis: 2 Firefight: 2 Wheel of Times - 0. I've tried four times now to get through the series, but always seem to run out of steam somewhere in book five or six. I was super determined this last time, because I'd discovered Sanderson in the interim, and he is now my favorite author. But I simply could not do it. I think I may just read a detailed summary of what happens leading up to his, and then read the Sanderson three. Perfect State: 1 Dreamer: 0 Elysium: 1 Firstborn: 1 Infinity Blade: Awakening: 1 Infinity Blade: Redemption: 1 Legion: 1 Legion:Skin deep: 1 Alcatraz vs. Evil Librarians: 1 Alcatraz vs. Scrivener's Bones: 1/2 - reading it now. Alcatraz vs. Knights of Chrystallia: 0 Alcatraz vs. the Shattered Lens: 0 I haven't read any unreleased works. Want to save myself for the canon versions.

Yeah, I doubt that he would've been trying to get himself worshiped, but even if he just presented them the basic facts: "Here's what happened, here's what I did to save you, see you in 10k years," it wouldn't be out of the question for a religion to evolve around their savior. In fact, it's often easier for people to accept their god when they don't have direct interactions. Look at Wax and Sazed. Or, for that matter, at religious figures from our world. Generally, the further removed from those figures we get, the easier it becomes to canonize them.

Interesting, I was just musing about the possibility that the SoScads, who we know are more technologically advanced, are gearing up to finally come and meet their beloved hero, The Lord Ruler, face-to-face. If that happens, I somehow doubt they will be thrilled to find a whole nation of people who celebrate his death as a wonderful event in history.

It's true that [barring some shocking and very unlikely deus-ex-machina revelation] SoScads didn't have any contact with The Final Empire. That said, Rashek did do some work on them, trying to help them survive. And he didn't age, so he could've definitely left them some kind of legacy, even knowing that it would be one that he couldn't shape the effects of (or even see the effects of) for a few millenia at least. We know that percieved time alters somewhat during ascension, and that huge, sweeping, changes as well as tiny, intricate ones can be affected. Saze wrote the entire Words of Founding and dropped it out of the sky in a hot minute. It doesn't seem far-fetched to me that Rashek might've left them a written account (obviously subject to editing by Ruin, but we know Ruin prefers to work in subtle ways, and it would've most likely been left largely intact with perhaps some key important changes) telling them who he was, how he saved their butts, and how to use some of the investiture to survive the millennia before they got to see their all-important savior again. ​Ooooooh, actually, that's kind of an intriguing idea. When the SoScads finally make contact, they are all ready and excited to finally meet their bountiful savior and worship him, only to find that the Elendel Basiners have killed him and decried him as an abomination. I'll bet they won't like that much.

It seems to me that the earring itself would have to be the thing that pierces and makes the hole in her ear for it to "count;" am I wrong about that? Also, Wax hasn't noticed boosted powers when wearing the earring (and I'm pretty sure there was a WOB that the earring is not responsible for the boosted strength that Wax sometimes mentions not being able to account for), is it likely that it would have a significant metalurgic effect on Marasi? ​The main way I could see Marasi spiking herself in a "radically power-altering" way is in a do-or-die moment, in which she can justify it on some moral level--to save someone's life, for example.

Yeah, and personalization is not available for them.

I got one very satisfying Cosmere question answered in a personalization: the fact that the cognitive realm is linked to location, but the spiritual realm is not, which affects the magics. At this point, I'm content with simple personalizations for my books going forward. Especially for my nice, hardbound (and leatherbound, as they release) volumes, which will be heirlooms for my kids... Eventually the guts of the Cosmere will be opened up to everybody, and all of the RAFO's will be indexed somewhere, and my great-great-grandchildren will be much more excited by the book they hold that says "To the MacDonald Family" than they will by one that says "If Hoid could visit Earth, his favorite kind of sandwich would be a Reuben." Actually, wait. That would be an amazing one. I take it all back. Anyway, I think what Brandon SHOULD sell, in his store, for maybe $25 a pop, are just little nice certificate-sized pieces of high-quality cardstock, maybe with a Dragonsteel embossed seal or something. You order the certificate, you ask a question. If it gets RAFO'd, you'll get a couple more chances, so you agree when you place the order that you might not actually get the thing for a couple months, depending on Brandon's email-backlog. Once you ask an answerable question, it gets printed on the top of the certificate, and then Brandon writes his answer in the middle, in between your question and what I now realize should totally be an embossed Dragonsteel logo stylized as a soulstamp. So maybe $30 a pop. Anyway, this should absolutely exist.

I have to admit that I've been tempted to move to Utah literally just so I can be part of a bigger community of Sanderson fans. But then I realize that those of us in the Far East have an important duty: to spread the word of Brandon to the poor huddled masses unknowingly suffering in their ignorance of the Cosmere. It is my personal goal to bring the Words of Brandon to Pennsylvania with so much force that Allentown actually becomes like the Mecca of the Cosmere fandom. Every time a new Cosmere book is released, the whole community will have an officially-sanctioned, citywide public holiday so that everyone can get a full day to start reading it with no distractions. The night before the release, people will throw giant elaborate Cosmere-themed parties in their homes, and the local theatres will put on staged readings of scenes from the Cosmere, and the Allentown Symphony Orchestra will play a concert of selections from some of the Cosmere film/tv adaptation scores that are eventually coming (part of my convoluted daydream is also to be the composer of some of those scores...) and sometimes there will be even be a parade. The line parties will be the most amazing line parties ever, and when the clock strikes midnight, a roar of celebration will echo across the entire Lehigh Valley. This is my fondest dream, friends.

"Glorp" definitely needs to be part of the official nomenclature when describing speed bubbles.

Of the ones mentioned above, I think the ones that "feel" the most cosmere-linkable to me are Fullmetal Alchemist and Dishonored. I also never noticed the thing about magnets not existing on Shardworlds before. Is this phenomenon discussed in a thread somewhere?

Did any of you notice that the new Lego theme "NexoKnights" has a Parshendi-looking minifig? Definitely going to pick up the set for fun SA fan MOCs. http://shop.lego.com/catalog/productLargeView.jsp?modalView=true&productCode=70312&scene7Video=0&scene7Spin=0 EDIT: It actually looks like there are bunch of likely Parshendi. This one could even have uncut gems instead of the included horns! http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Knighton-Battle-Blaster-70310?fromListing=listing

I laughed for a good minute at that Gandalf gif.

This is a thing that I want to exist so badly that I made fanart of it. Someday. Someday.

I really enjoyed it. My best friend and I watched the prequels three times in a row on opening day as they came out, and we decided to uphold the tradition, even though we now have wives and children and real jobs and whatnot. It was definitely the best experience I had watching a Star Wars film in the theater three times in a row on opening day. It felt like a much smaller film than the prequels or RotJ, which I believe worked in its favor. It allowed for more humor and subtle personal moments, and it gives the story a lot more room to grow in later installments. It left a lot of questions open-ended, setting up arcs that one hopes will have satisfactory payoff down the line. One of the mysteries to which I'm referring is Rey's backstory, of which we only get tiny glimpses and hints towards. Right off the bat, the minute I saw Rey, I was struck by how much she reminded me of Padme and her handmaiden decoy. Throughout the picture, an implication seemed to be clear to me that Han, Ren and Leia all recognized something in Rey that they could perhaps not quite put their finger on. My theory is a lot of conjecture, based quite a bit off of "that COULD work in the Star Wars galaxy" and "that sounds like something JJ Abrams would want to do," with just a pinch of "It would be waaaaaay too obvious for Rey to be the kid of one of the original trio, but she clearly has some connection with them." So here is what I think happened. THE ORIGIN OF REY (a theory by Andrew Stirling MacDonald) She's a clone of Padme Amidala. During the events happening at the end of "Revenge of the Sith," Palpatine takes a genetic sample from Padme. Believing that he could use it as some measure of ensured loyalty from Anakin, Palpatine clones Padme. Shortly after her birth, the clone is frozen in Carbonite, halting her aging process. For decades, the clone is stored in a secure facility unbeknownst to Vader. Some time after Palpatine's death, the clone is unfrozen. The people who unfreeze the girl decide to raise her as their own. The First Order rises. They come looking for the clone of Padme. The girl's adopted parents leave her on Jakku, hoping to throw the First Order off of her trail. They succeed, but are unable to shake the First Order themselves. They die protecting her location. How is she force-sensitive? Perhaps Palpatine tampered with her DNA? Or perhaps it is just the Force itself, working its mysterious will on the galaxy. Honestly, the weakest part of this is that she is specifically a clone of Padme. The main thing that made me think it was the uncanny resemblance. But she could also totally be a clone of Shmi - Maybe Palpatine was trying to produce a backup Anakin? In any case, I got a strong feeling from Rey that she was displaced in time, and we certainly know that her past is shrouded in mystery, even from herself. That's all I got, so far. Feel free to build on my theory/speculation, or poke some holes in it. I can't wait to see how it all actually pans out!

Ha! Kansas. I'm really glad that I went to the Boston SoS tour now! I mean, I was glad anyway, but now doubly so. I hope Philly is on the Calamity tour. Or Allentown, maybe.

Ok, I transcribed the relavant (or at least somewhat relavant) questions that I recorded during the pre-event signing line. I asked Brandon if it would be ok to follow him and record audio for the 17th, and he said "definitely," so I did my best to record without being obnoxious or getting in anyone's way, although the rep from the bookstore seemed to be extremely annoyed by me I didn't get as much as I would've liked, but some good tidbits here and there. The last questions, about true bodies, were from the end of the night, when I got back in the very end of the line to request a set of the Mistborn earbuds for a huge Sanderson fan I am friends with but couldn't make it up to the event from Pennsylvania. Brandon: Alright, Mr. Kilt! Any questions? Me: Yes. I have a question about the way that the brass symbol changed. It looks like brass no longer has a dot. Can you talk about that? Brandon: That is just Issac deciding how he wants the symbols to look. It is nothing of Cosmerilogical import. Me: Is there anything of cosmerilogical import about the way that the symbols have changed over time? Brandon: Yes, slight import. I mean, it's just the idea that as things have evolved, and we are moving toward typesetting; we've moved into typesetting in the modern era, you're going to see the symbols change to kind of match different eras. Me: So Wax, in the prologue of Alloy of Law thinks of himself as Wax, and then as Waxillium for the rest of the book, and then that's reversed in the second one. Is that a thing of Cosmeric import, or is it just a - Brandon: It kind of indicated how he feels about himself. Me: Could it have any impact on his ability to use investiture? Brandon: Not really. The investiture on Scadrial is not going to care how you're feeling about yourself. On other worlds, that's important, but not on Scadrial. Me: Is being a little bit crazy a prerequisite to becoming a Knight Radiant? Brandon: Um, well, so, for many of the Cosmere magics to work, you have to, um, it has to get into the soul somehow. Right? Sometimes you ram it in by spiking someone else's soul and ripping off a piece and sticking it into yours. Ah, sometimes, it just seeps in the cracks. Um, sometimes the bond allows it to kind of bypass some of this, but it's usually traumatic experience. So crazy is not required, but there's got to be a place for the magic to go, to get in. Me: Are there any other Davars that are invested? Brandon: [laughs] That is TOTALLY a RAFO. Me: I mean, I knew it, when I asked.. Brandon "Are there any?" is an odd question. Depends on what time you're talking about. But let's just say there are few people in all of Roshar who've gotten as far as Shallan. [Obscured question] Brandon: So Roshar's also high-oxygen, which does some weird things. That's how we justify the crustaceons. Which does weird things to people as well, so. [another obscured question] Brandon: For some of the planets you definitely need to have some kind of magical adjustment happen, otherwise it's very difficult. Others are easier to get between. Q: How does the density of Roshar compare to the density of Earth? Brandon: Roshar's density? So, Roshar is less dense than Earth. As well as being a bit smaller. I mean, we're at .7 gravity, so you can run the numbers. I'm sure the people on here (nods at my smartphone) will. And they'll figure that out. Q: I've been listening to the audiobooks of Stormlight. There are some really great character voices. Have you told him how to do the characters? Brandon: I have not told him how to do characters. I leave that to him. I give him pronunciations. Q: So the Australian Lopen is all him. Brandon: Yeah, the Australian is all him. Which is weird, because they're, they're based off of Hispanic cultures, so, hearing the Australian - but at the same time, they're not Hispanic, because there are no Hispanics on Roshar, so an Australian's probably just as accurate as anything else. But yes, I intended the Herdazians to have a Hispanic flair to them. Q: Does double copper give you perfect memory? Brandon: Good question. I haven't answered that one yet. Q: Who is your favorite living author? Brandon: Favorites right now, writing. Probably my favorite right now is Guy Gabriel Kay. It was Terry Pratchet until he passed away. And it was Robert Jordan until HE passed away. So I hope Guy stays safe. Because getting picked as my favorite author is apparently a death sentence. Q: Has anyone figured out what the secret in the map was, in Words of Radiance? Brandon: Yeah, they have. That it's modelled after the Julia Set. Which is meant to indicate that Roshar was designed specifically. Me: Did it happen through crem buildup? Brandon: No. Me: Is it possible for a kandra to use invested material to form a true body? Brandon: Yes, that's a possibility. Me: Could they use shardplate? Brandon: They absolutely could. The part about Roshar being modelled after the Julia set indicates that it was designed specifically was very interesting to me. I threw the crem question in because I'd seen someone posit the theory somewhere here in a forum, but I hadn't seen the idea that Roshar was a deliberately designed continent discussed yet. ​ ​ I also recorded the Q & A from the signing itself; I'll post the transcription sometime this week.

Elmyndreda, I did successfully catch the bus, just got back home to Allentown about 30 minutes ago. Getting the book signed for your husband's birthday was a great idea! ::files away idea for wife's future birthdays:: I recorded the full Q & A, as well as a bunch of questions from people in line. I'll get 'em transcribed asap. I had an amazing time, and riding the T back afterward full of Sanderson fans was a wonderful, surreal experience. I also took a picture of that Mistborn cosplayer who was sitting on the T with us as she walked down the stairs at the transfer station, tassles spreading out behind her as she moved. I tweeted the picture and Brandon RT'd it, so my twitter has been blowing up like crazy all night long, which is one of the best feelings ever.

Signing is actually still going. I got back in the end of the line to see if he'll sign a broadsheet for me...

I asked questions and recorded some other questions as well from the pre-reading line. I'll get transcriptions up asap.

I'm going to be asking him about the changes to the Metallurgic symbols between the eras - specifically why Brass lost its dot, but no others did.

As in, it was just an artist's error? Or a Scadrian error? I feel like it's pretty unlikely to have been a Brandon error. Perhaps I will ask him about this at the signing in Boston tonight.

Greyhound tickets purchased! I'm leaving from Allentown tonight at 8, hanging around NYC until 4am, then arriving in Boston at 8:30 am. I'm going to spend the day in town, any other 17thers going to be wandering aimlessly all day? Maybe we can meet up for lunch, or supper, or just to hang out somewhere. I'll be the big bearded guy in a kilt. I might also spend a few hours hanging out at the bookstore trying to strike up Cosmere-centric conversations. I've also been working on developing a Mistborn Duel strategy game, a two player game not entirely unlike chess, if there are people who'd enjoy test-playing it. My bus back home leaves at 1 am.

Argent, there is a WoB that Brettin was actually TenSoon at the end of AoL. He had an abrupt change of personality, so presumably he wasn't just TenSoon all along.