Puck

All of this self deprecating lately, Chaos. Not good for you, not at all

tautologies are tautologous EDIT: sorry. couldn't resist

I like the quantity theory, however I feel like Brandon's phrasing implies a qualitative difference (the way in which they're linked to a Shard) between a Splinter and a Sliver. For instance, here's the bit of data that keeps jamming me up (if only because of how vague English can be at times): My confusion comes from the phrasing of "to the pure essence of a Shard or a to a Splinter" Now, is that an inclusive or an exclusive "or"? - "the pure essence of a Shard - which is to say, a Splinter" = a Splinter is the pure essence of a Shard - "either to the pure essence of a Shard or to a Splinter" = there is some significant difference between a Splinter and, say, a huge pool of Preservation The first answer would be helpful in clarifying the nature of a Splinter (which is the definition we're most vague about), so that'd be good. If the second meaning is true, it brings with it other questions. If there is a difference, what is it? How is a Splinter not the pure essence of a Shard? What is diluting/filtering it? Stuff like this keeps tripping me up. I get the feeling that it's more than how much of a Shard the individual has. I am clearly over analyzing here. Feel free to smite.

pupae. Interestingly enough,

Not to mention humility

crinkled extremities into

tears. Once felled

I like that Brandon agrees with us on the ridiculousness of some of these matchups

You forgot to mention status updates!

yeah man! Nader all the way

Ruin and Preservation were often represented in the Mistborn trilogy in terms of black and white. Is this imagery limited to that series, or do other Shards also have an associated hue?

Yeah. By his logic, atium wouldn't have been able to do jack against koloss

Maybe a Shard predicting a Shard is like two people burning atium fighting each other. EDIT: dang it CrazyRioter! Twice in one night on one thread!

All I've gotta say is that Vin's fight wouldn't have been nearly as close as it was in the description.

This gels with one of Brandon's answers to my questions in the last Open Call: we really need a consistent understanding of the difference between a Sliver and a Splinter. One that would explain why one would be able to see into the future and another wouldn't (assuming Slivers can't that is. It's possible that Vin would have been able to see into the future with more time & practice, since she actually possessed an entire Shard. I digress) EDIT: Rioter, you beat me to it

we're building an army of Lurkers! soon, we will do a drop behind the Terran base and shred their entire SCV line!

Delusions of Grandeur For no particular reason, in my own head I have declared myself the Elantris expert here at 17th Shard. (I know: pride goeth before the fall, right?) There's something about Elantris that has always drawn me. I think I've read it at least twice as much as any other Sanderson novel (and I'm reasonably sure that I've read the Mistborn trilogy four times). I feel like it has so many keys to the Cosmere that are so subtly planted that people don't even think they're there. Plus, it was my first Sanderson (I'm in the strange, middling position in this community of having been introduced to Brandon's public work since the beginning, but having absolutely zero experience with his unpublished stuff.) The Plan So, anyway, when I discovered that the 17th Shard existed, and had a wiki that was all tabula rasa and ready to be filled, I knew where I would start. A few months ago I began the Great Elantris Reread. The plan was to make sure that our wiki had academic-level accuracy and documentation; I wanted my new Sanderson home to be the envy of all other Cosmere resources. And I would make sure that the Elantris entries would match that quality. It's definitely going slower than I'd hoped, but I'm getting lots of good stuff. The project is basically divided into three parts: 1) Reread: it's all about ignoring the plot, and writing down any objective data on character, location, timeline, magic, etc. It is definitely a strange way to read a book (although it helps if you've read the book enough to be able to ignore plot). Included in the reread are Brandon's Annotations 2) Note Shuffle: I then compile my notes into a biiiig document (which I'll make available as soon as I'm done with Part 2, a la Zas' Brandonothology) 3) Wiki Entries: using that document, I create some kick-butt, detailed wiki entries. Where I'm At 1) 66% (406 of 615) 2) 42% (261 of 615) 3) o% (waiting until 1 & 2 are finished) So that's where my current project is at. Let me know if there are any Elantris questions/people/etc. that you'd like me to dig deeper into. I'm shooting to have part 1 (at least) done by the end of March.

Brilliant. I really have to read through that Brandonothology

Wow! A blag on a site with forums and a wiki! How am I going to decide what to write and where? I think I'll use this as a platform to write about the progress I'm making with my 17th Shard-related projects (and maybe as a place to emote on future Sanderson books). Sound good? Let's do this.

Interesting. Now I'm really curious about the mechanics of that transaction. nice! Thanks Crazy. I haven't been keeping up with the Warbreaker annotations. I have yet to re-read that one. It's next after I'm done with my Elantris project

So, when Vin took over Preservation (the mist funnel, etc), that wasn't her taking over an unused Shard, that was Kelsier transferring all of the power to her? I never would have seen that (though it does explain the uncharacteristic kindness of "Ruin's" encouragement of Spook at the end there).

[Most of these are Elantris-related. I apologize for my fixation ] Here are some of my questions that Brandon RAFOed during the last open call for questions: - Can Returned have children? If so, who was the first Returned to do so? - How did Wyrn see into the future? Here are some that Brandon didn't answer from the last open call: - Regarding Dilaf's flashback: Did the 'spell' that messed his wife up go wrong because of human error? Or was it because Dilaf was, in some way, inadvertently interfering? - If a Dhakor (Dilaf) could erase a symbol written by an Elantrian (Raoden), could an Elantrian erase/heal a Dhakor bone-symbol? - Is Jesker and/or the Mysteries simply another religion? Or do they have DulaDor (as opposed to AonDor, FjorDor, and JinDor, as I refer to them in my head)? - (probably another RAFO) the "expensive, burning rocks from the south:" are they parallel to Atium/Larasium/TearsoE? - Ashe says to Sarene "your god" (emphasis added). Do seons have a religion/god? - Were mistcloaks inspired by the funeral shrouds in Elantris? - You've said that, at the end of the trilogy, Kelsier had become a Sliver (http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/264132-q-a-with-brandon-sanderson?page=2). When did this happen and how? Did Sazed just go "here ya go, buddy; here's a bit of my power for ya," or was it something more subtle/universal? [Note: I feel like someone here may know the answer to that one] Here are some that I posted on TWG almost a year ago: - What is the other oval on the mural supposed to depict? (not the blue lake oval, but the second, white sphere). If it's a realm, which is it? - Why can Elantrians heal while Dakhor can't? Does this conflict with the fact that FjorDor is able to keep Hrathen alive past when he should be dead (p. 609)? - What happened to Iadon "over the last few years" (p. 151) that made him less of a man? Was it just the pressure of his duties, his paranoia, the Mysteries? If the Mysteries: was it just the act of killing people, or was it something Dor-ish about the Mysteries? - Why was AonDor forbidden around the pool ascent? If the pool is the essence of AonDor, why can’t the power be used near it? Why is it located outside of the city (over an hour away), which is presumably the center of AonDor’s power? Is of a different essence than AonDor or is the pool the real center of the power and the city a red herring? [I know we've discussed this thoroughly here, but it can't hurt to have it ready to ask] And here are some that I've thought of so far during my re-read: - Why did Ien hang around Raoden when, typically, Reod-ed Seons avoid people? If it's the same reason that the Dor decided to build a 'bridge' through Raoden, then why weren't all Seons drawn to him? What was different about Ien? - Ashe says “We had nothing to do with the fall of the city. There is nothing to fear from a Seon. I wish… But , well, that is irrelevant.” What was he going to say? What does he wish? [That one will clearly be RAFOed, but hey] - How many monastaries are there in Fjordell empire? Are there any specialty monasteries other than the 3 mentioned? - It's said that the Shaod usually comes at night. Does it always come at night? If so, why? - Elantrians more flammable than the average person (p. 258). Is this more related to the Shaod or the Reod (i.e. - is this a symptom of being an Elantrian or a symptom of being half-transformed)? - What happened 300-ish years ago in Fjorden? The empire collapsed and they adopted Shu-Dereth (42, 487): was this natural or somehow Shard/Splinter-related? - What happened 100-ish years ago in Fjorden? Why does no one have any info on Fjorden in the past century? (p. 476) - What happened in Teod 50 years ago that made them banish Derethi priests?