Mckeedee123

Evidence? Hmm... No. I was just thinking about how bronze and copper would work realmatically, and I thought of this. Though I might want to change the title to: "Copper might be pretty useful outside of Scadrial"

So, everyone knows that the lamest metal of the main eight is copper, Right? It basically only has one purpose, and that's to counteract bronze (Well, I suppose it does have another use, and that's to counteract emotional allomancy.) But anyway, let's think back to Surgebinding. Szeth comments during the assassination of the king of Jah Keved that he can't Lash a man in Shardplate. Shardplate, and presumably the Nahel Bond, prevents Surges from manipulating the subject's body (like Jasnah soulcasting the thugs into fire, crystal, and smoke). So what I'm thinking is that copper isn't simply a counter to bronze, Since copper also has the side-effect of protecting one's emotions being manipulated, it's reasonable to presume that its true purpose is to protect the user's cognitive aspect from outside manipulation. It's an ability that could be useful on many shardworlds. A smoker couldn't be soulcast or lashed so long as he was burning copper.

In Words of Radiance, Adolin contests a gemheart with Jakamav, and they fight the Parshendi on a pyramid-like formation which is presumably a building that was split in half when the plains were shattered

Nah, but reading through the conversations in the first few cycles, I got some vibes that you were in cahoots with Jain.

I don't really have a good reason to change my mind, so I'll vote Odysa again this round.

"I'd like something more solid than RP that isn't directed towards anything going on" Sitting in his tent, Mek sorted through Kaddar's words. "RP that isn't directed towards anything going on"? Of course I don't do that! Do I? Mek thought back to his posts. First, he had written something about training with a half-hearted poke at Reihmer. His second post had been something random about marching, then his third was a little skirmish. Absolutely nothing about the spies. I'm really losing my relevance here. Or perhaps... perhaps I never had any. I should probably do something useful, or at least something that appears useful. Kaddar's words still stung. -- Okay, I'm looking through the initial thread and I think that Winter Cloud had a suspicious little exchange with Lightsworn at the beginning of the game where she playfully poked at him, so as lame of a reason as that is, I'm putting my money on her being on the same spy team. (And yes, I did just respond to a criticism of my contentless RP's with another contentless RP. I know you're jealous)

Mek watched his squadleader put his ear to the ground, listening for the supply caravan that was scheduled to rumble past in a few hours. This would be his first time in real combat. No more simple training exercises. He was about to kill a man. Or perhaps be killed himself. Whichever it was. He'd imagined this moment for months now, though before, he had thought he'd be preparing for a massive battle, not a routine raid on another Highprince's food supplies. There were no battle jitters. He was ready. Time passed. His squad was hiding in a large hollow of rock. Other soldiers were scattered across this section of road, waiting for the signal to spring out and attack. Mek just looked at his squadleader. The man carried a little fabrial that was set to blink as soon as its twin was turned in its mounting. Every squadleader on the raid had one, and the sergeant had a little device that turned them on at the same time. It was a very basic method of signaling, but worked fine for synchronizing attacks. Mek's squadleader bent down to listen again, and his eyes grew wide. He held up his hand for silence, not that anyone was talking anyway. Soon, Mek heard it himself. The low trumpets of chulls and the squeak of wagon wheels. He still didn't peek out to look. His squadleader was staring intently at the fabrial. The man held up his fist, preparing to signal. The fabrial blinked. Mek's squadleader threw down his hand. Mek rose and charged. Battle cries rise over the plain as over 200 soldiers attacked in unison. The caravan's guards were much fewer in number. A few squads of Vamah's soldiers were marching single-file down the sides of the road, and started at the sudden attack. Mek's squad was the farthest away, and by the time he got to the caravan, the skirmish had already begun. He reached the epicenter of the fighting and fell into an impromptu line with some other soldiers, using his shieldmate for protection while stabbing repeatedly at his opponent's defenses. Other Kholin soldiers surrounded the enemy formation and in the confusion, Mek managed to stab an enemy soldier in the throat The skirmish only lasted a few minutes before the remaining guards surrendered. Other soldiers began to burn the wagons and set the chulls loose. The captured guards would be led back to the Kholin camp, where they could be interrogated or used in prisoner exchanges. Mek smiled. If everyone's raids had gone this well, Vamah's war effort would be crippled. He'd never be able to launch that attack on Sadeas. The Stormfather was on their side, it seemed. So long as those spies didn't interfere, Alethkar would be united without question. EDIT: This feels... out of place among all of the serious discussion, but I don't have any bright ideas on tracking down the spies, so... meh

Mek marched westward, watching rain pour from the sky. Not a Highstorm, unfortunately. This precipitation lacked the vitality he was accustomed to, but made up for it in resilience. It had been going on for days, like a miniature weeping. The patter of rain was accompanied by the constant beat of over ten thousand soldiers marching in step, heading to the border of Highprinces Sadeas and Vamah. Though the Kholin army's objectives weren't completely clear, they would likely end up in a small engagement with Vamah by the end of the week. Things would go well. Probably. The only reason they might lose the engagement was those saboteurs. Yesterday, one of the army's new experimental mobile bridges had been damaged by an arsonist. The boy who had been assigned to watch them had been murdered. The rain had kept the bridge from being completely destoyed, but the fire had still made it permanently unusable. Meller had been enraged, though Mek wondered what was so important about a storming bridge. It's not like we're fighting on the storming Shattered Plains. Armies in Alethkar have managed just fine using the storming permanent bridges already in storming place. He looked back toward the rest of his squad. For the hundredth time, he thought about what a strange crew they were. Reihmer was there, whispering poetry to himself, The Way of Kin... Wok marching behind. Newan was asking Odysa if she would drown him in one of the rain-filled pools next to the road, as Aonaran fingered his mysterious wooden case. Eoldren kept tasting the rain and muttering "nope, not yet." Well, if one of them was a spy, the skirmish coming this week would help to smoke them out. He turned back around, excited for the battle, and marched onward towards Alethkar's future

"Spies?" Mek asked incredulously. "Who? Why?" The messenger sighed. "I don't know anything more than what's written here, but the Blackthorn seems to believe that our army has been infiltrated by enemy informants. It's how they ambushed us so effectively in that skirmish last week. This message is just a heads-up to report any suspicious activity you see. Clear?" Mek nodded, but wasn't sure if posture gave away his inner turmoil. How in the Stormwinds could an Alethi army use such a dishonorable tactic? The messenger moved on to another group. Because they're not real Alethi, of course. There's only one true Alethi army on this continent, and I'm marching in it. Mek threw himself back into his kata. He was working vigorously to improve his form, now motivated by a desire to prove himself to his legendary commander. If I caught a spy, I'd be a hero. I'd be lauded by Dalinar himself. He added killing the spies to his mental to-do list, though he was still convinced that winning Shards was his path to glory. He mulled over some of the personalities in camp. The army did seem to attract some odd folk. He resolved to look first at the recruits who weren't ethnically Alethi. Wok was a strange one for sure. There was an old saying in Alethkar that one should never trust someone who claimed to be a Horneater princess. Her name, too, seemed almost like an acronym for something... And then there was Reihmer. Mek detested his squadmate, despite the man's beautiful poetry. Mek had heard rumors that he had directly insulted the Blackthorn several weeks ago. Perhaps he was trying to undermine Dalinar's reputation! Mek glanced about the darkeyed training field, looking for Reihmer. The so-called poet had given up all pretense of training, mumbling to himself as he tapped his spearhead thoughtfully. Mek scowled with disapproval. Even if he wasn't the spy, how was the man supposed to be ready for battle when he wasted all his training hours composing idle poems? Mek didn't share his leisurely attitude. He had decided he was going to be the best spearman in the army, and that was that. He was sure that if he hadn't been stuck in a reserve force during that ambush last week, he would already have a few kills under his belt. His katas were still sloppy, but he was improving daily. His mind turned back to the matter of the spies. I haven't seen anything even mildly suspicious yet. I'll have to wait until at least after the next skirmish to make any accusations. I will catch that spy though, and Almighty help any fools who get in my way. He trained and trained, until sweat ran down his face and exhaustionspren swirled around him. Someday, the Almighty would give him a chance to win a Shardblade, and he would not waste that chance. He was destined to become a Shardbearer. He knew it! In the meantime, he would just have to root out the spies.

Good post. I like this post. I agree completely. Upvote.

Yeah, I've thought about this sort of thing a lot. The bottom line is that we have to assume for the sake of argument, that the mediums are giving accurate descriptions of what they see. If they made mistakes, there would be no point in even discussing death rattles By the way, what's the backstory behind all the people named Ookla? I've been wondering...

I repeat: He's "likeable", not "awesome" When he entered the arena he was a complete liability. Relis used him as blackmail, for Storms' sake. That is notably not "awesome".

Oh, so Renarin isn't at the forefront of the fandom? That's news to me. I've read The Stormlight Archives several times trying to figure out why so many people are enamored with Renarin, and I just can't figure it out. He wants to be a warrior, but he's not. He wants to step in and help with stuff, but he panicks. Imean sure, the shardblade is screaming at him the entire time, but shouldn't he tell someone he can't use it instead of being so secretive and esoteric? He's likeable, but... He's nothing special Man, fanfiction does weird things to characters...

Well, most of the surges are pretty awesome (Transportation, Transformation, Division sound the best, other than Gravitation), but they are not equal. Tension, for one, sounds almost useless. "What's that? you can increase the Stiffness of an object? I can kill people by brushing my fingers against them."

Hmm... well, he doesn't really pick up the tower, which makes me pretty skeptical. I'll add it anyway. EDIT: Storms... double-post

Hmm... I can't help but disagree to some of these (though I added them). First off, while the word "men" can be used to denote either sex (eg. "What is the measure of a man when he is gone?"), "brother" is gender-specific (though I suppose that's only in the literal sense). Yeah, I already included in #30's interpretation that most of the community is sold on the idea of it being Kaladin standing against Moash. That interpretation of it sort of fits, but I have my doubts. Back before Words of Radiance was published, people kept trying to make connections with that one in The Way of Kings, too. Both people described in it could be practically anyone if you think about it enough. Moash kind of saved Kaladin's life. Elhokar kind of broke Kaladin's promises, but it's really not a very good fit, overall. Not the kind that fills you with satisfaction because of how perfect it all is (the two rattles mentioned at the very top did that for me). To top it off, in a span of ten books, if we see more than one rattle fulfilled in each, we're gonna run out fast (there won't be any left for the climax!)

I'm not sure if they're still in use either, but it seems to have been a point of discussion on this thread. Regardless, I don't think that Harmony would want the kandra killing anyone. Even on Scadrial, they don't make any big waves. Letting an organization unwittingly use one of his immortals for assassination just doesn't seem like something Harmony would do.

Renarin's likeable and all, but the end of Words of Radiance really made me dislike him (where he panicked and fretted about the Everstorm while Shallan got the Oathgate running). Dalinar was right in saying he was a waste of shards. Though if he ever learns how not to get a siezure/panic attack in the middle of a fight, I'd be more OK with him. For the first two books though, all I can say is that being well-intentioned doesn't stop him from being useless I've really liked Szeth in Way of Kings, though the insane version in Words of Radiance got on my nerves (I suppose Brandon did promise such a character in the WoA annotations, though). If Szeth actually learned to think for himself he'd be my second-favorite character, hands down. Given that he has a book (or at least some flashbacks) dedicated to him, I'd say there's more character development in his future. Phew.

Well, that would be an explanation for why the apocalypse started in book 2, instead of a more sensible point in the series. (I mean seriously? At least the Scadrians do it right, waiting until the last book to really push the whole "end of the world" thing.)

Granted, but you'll spend your entire life with random pop-up ads interfering with your vision. I wish that I would never get bitten by mosquitos.

Gravitation would definitely be the coolest (no power could ever be better than the ability to fly, for Storms' sake). Adhesion is just lame though. So the decision between being a Windrunner (Cool spren but lame power) and a Skybreaker (Nale breathing down by back but cool power) is a tough call.

I did some searches, and Urithiru's color isn't explicitly stated in The Way of Kings or Words of Radiance. I did find something interesting related to #26, though. On my last read-through, I apparently missed that the Shin are OK with walking on stone in "Urithiru, with its stones unhallowed". in the beginning of the book, Jasnah mentions that the legends say Urithiru is protected from the voidbringers. It's another possible connection between repect/fear of thunderclasts and Stone Shamanism.

I imagine a sort of free-roaming game, where you travel around the planet collecting breaths and new commands. You would interact with other awakeners and learn what they've discovered, which adds on to your "command encyclopedia" or whatever.

Kaladin also seems to have a strange talent for getting leniency from his superiors, right? Hoid comments that Jasnah has a good sense of direction, too, at the end of Words of Radiance. Some other possible talents related to the bond.

*rereads Axies interlude* Ah. Well, alright then, shadows don't prove anything. I feel like such a tool now. What I was saying before, though, wasn't that being with the Ghostbloods for a long time proves Iyatil's not the kandra (not that any of us can really even prove anything, I guess), It's just that she's such a useful tool for them right now. And anyway, assuming that she still follows the first contract, wouldn't assassinating Amaram kind of violate it?