Knotai

I have to say, I read the end of Part 3 and was pretty stunned. That was an awesome climax. Nothing, though made me drop the book like I did...(spoiler for non-Oathbringer texts) (pls remove if this isn't allowed under the spoiler policy)

I want to consult Occam's Razor and throw out something I haven't seen yet (although I haven't read many of the recent forum posts on this topic). What if Dalinar's boon was to forget Evi, and his curse was to remember her again? What if Dalinar did not include the quantifier "for eternity" in his boon, and the Nightwatcher decided to curse him by eventually bringing back painful memories of her once he had changed as a person?

I'm glad other people noticed a bit of a stylistic change from WoR into Oathbringer. For me, it was a little bit of a surprise at first, but I'm definitely coming to like his "new style more. I say "new" because I feel like it's a change that started around the transition from SoS --> BoM and into the later books of the Reckoners, where Brandon seemed to start writing a little more "improvisatorily", as he calls it, and less "planned" (although a huge amount of planning still goes into these books). From what I've read in Oathbringer, the new style takes away from some of the gravitas and epic quality of the prose in WoR and sometimes reads a little cliched or awkwardly, but there's a huge improvement in characterization. You learn more about the characters, they're deeper in a different way, and funnier; a move away from a Jordan character and maybe a bit towards one from Pratchett. I find it hugely effective when discussing Shallan's identity issues. Pardon the comparison, but to me it seems an awful lot like the composer Stravinsky's Russian style (very heavy, myth-based, derivative of earlier works by others) to his Neoclassical style (lighter, more original, with a thinner texture, and more comical, but still accommodating of large-scale works). I'm still not sure which "style" I like better, but the change certainly isn't for the worse.

I definitely had issues with a couple passages, but I felt that it started to ease into a normal standard midway through the second chapter. The description of the abilities of each person who'd gained powers recently seemed a little awkward to me, but maybe that's just me disliking authors dropping facts in readers' faces. I'm definitely intrigued by May as a possible Radiant/secret society member--I think she'll return, as Brandon doesn't usually name-drop characters and leave them in Jordanian fashion. Also, it's probably nothing, but her name seems surprisingly un-Alethi, especially for a daughter of a highprince.

After Shadows of Self, which I think is Brandon's most well-constructed Cosmere book, I was really let down by Bands of Mourning. Bad character writing, deus ex machina, and too much expansion. There was also a bit too much Cosmere infodumping only in the context of "look, here's an Easter egg!" I haven't read the White Sand graphic novel, but I was really impressed by Eric's character in the original manuscript, which managed to overcome some of the problems with the plot and Khriss.

I seem to recall there being a (possibly separate) thread that pretty much narrowed these guys down to Moelach and Nergoual. Which is which, I'm not sure. But if the skinnier one is what Dalinar sees when he is in the midst of battle, that points to it being Nergoual (who grants the Thrill).

If you consider it in terms of particle physics, you could imagine an iron metalmind almost like a graviton capacitor in a sense. In that case you could store gravitational potential energy...

Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised at all if Eric shows up in later books, either as a revenge-seeking worldhopper or a Shardholder. Last time we saw him, he was walking away from Kenton's appointment (or whatever it was) depressed. He doesn't even get a proper ending. Which is tragic, but it also opens the door for his story to continue. It's one of the things I want to ask Brandon if/when I get a chance.

It seems like each system of investiture is closed e.g. changes in investiture on one planet do not have effects outside of that planet. That said investiture is universally compatible to different degrees across the cosmere. The 2nd Law of thermodynamics still applies as well e.g. entropy of the Cosmere will increase when a spren turns into a shardblade. IMO the 1st law is not being violated because no matter is being created or destroyed, only converted using energy taken from the environment/Shard, when a spren turns into a Shardblade or something like that. Because matter is being neither created or destroyed and we use the matter-energy paradigm we use today in relative physics, we can assume that neither the First nor the Second Law is violated in the Cosmere.

We have a WoB that the kandra worldhopper is female and we are unlikely to have seen her in a male form.

I don't think it's feasible that Hoid has swallowed the bead of Lerasium. He and is most likely keeping it for someone in the future; putting it in his mouth could have been a red herring to fans. That said, with Iyatil being a descendant of the South Scadrians, it would not surprise me if there were several Allomantic capacitors lying around Roshar somewhere.

Moelach is the one who causes the Death Rattles--King T notes that whenever he is close, the death rattles increase. That said, the movement of the Unmade in the physical Realm is linked to their motion in the Cognitive Realm, so I do agree with that he is doing something to people as they pass through the Cognitive Realm on to the Spiritual on Roshar.

From Alloy of Law annotations, chapter 17:

I was wrong about Warbreaker. It happens after Mistborn I, not before. But the kandra could not have appeared in Elantris because that happened about 6000 years before the Way of Kings prologue...they didn't exist yet. Which eliminates any worldhopping or mission to another planet under TLR's auspices.

Two additional points brought up earlier in this thread that will help narrow the search process. There was a WoB that he would not write a female kandra as a male character. I'll try to look it up but I think it's somewhere earlier in this thread. ​ Whoever is the kandra in SA has to be alive to appear in Mistborn books set afterward (Alloy of Law onward). Therefore they cannot die in the non-Mistborn book they appear in.

Well, if we have WoB on that, WalDo is hiding elsewhere on Roshar in some obscure (or not) character. With the theory of connections between Paalm and the Lord Ruler, keep in mind that TLR is dead at the time that we would see Paalm in WoK or WoR. Therefore, she would be under Harmony's command. The only situation in which the Lord Ruler would be her master would be if she showed up in Elantris or Warbreaker, but that would be unlikely--see my points above. Any ideas on who this Kandra could be impersonating on Roshar? An interesting idea would be the one ardent who fights Kaladin and beats him.

Your mention of the orders brings up an interesting point--what if there are general personality traits similar to MBTI linked to each order, and if a character's order/spren is driven by his/her personality. Each order of Radiants has a unique personality, and we see Brandon's descriptions of each of the orders in the Ars Arcanum, which could help form MBTI characteristics of each of them. Here's a quick summary of what might be deduced for the unique personality of each order. Please correct me if you feel another personality type is better. Windrunners--Protecting/Leading--ISFJ Skybreakers--INFJ Dustbringers--Brave/Obedient--ESFJ Edgedancers--Loving/Healing--ESFP Truthwatchers--Learned/Giving--INFP Lightweavers--Creative/Honest--ISFP Elsecallers--Wise/Careful--INTJ Willshapers--Resolute/Builder--INTP Stonewards--Dependable/Resourceful--ENTP Bondsmiths--Pious/Guiding--ESTJ

Kandra have two genders-male and female. Her identity hasn't been confirmed, but Brandon has said we have seen the female kandra before, which means (90%) she is MeLaan.

mckeedee123, that trait belongs to the Siah Aimians, who were placed under a curse. We don't know much about the Dysian Aimians, and Axies only refers in his interlude to the curse being placed upon Siah Aimians.

There has been only one female kandra mentioned in the cosmere. That is MeLaan. I think Iyatil is a perfectly normal choice if we consider the following crazy theory. Scribes are very easy to come by/learn positions, and kandra education is excellent. MeLaan could have easily gotten a job as a scribe in Dalinar's camp, started flirting with Adolin, and disappeared. Some of you discussed above the fluidity and mask of Iyatil. Her race is never discussed due to these odd characteristics. What if she is indeed not human? In fact, what if she is a Dysian Aimian, the race we have not seen yet? In this case, MeLaan could kill her without violating the Contract and would enable the Worldhoppers to infiltrate the Ghostbloods. It would be relatively easy, after spending time in Dalinar's camp as a kandra, to analyze Iyatil's actions and murder her one night, infiltrating her body after the kill. Because kandra and Aimians could have such similar skin-shifting abilities, the mask could work just as well for MeLaan as it did for Iyatil. Just a couple crazy thoughts...

Jasnah is above philosophical essays. She writes her own. She prides herself on writing letters to Charles Krauthammer on how he should vary his topics in writing.

There are 2 explanations for this. 1. In Sanderson's world, each person has 92 (or some other multiple of 4) chromosomes. In this combination you would be able to have XXYY and XXXX combinations be male and female, respectively. In females, 1 of the 2 X chromosomes (random) is not expressed in phenotype and becomes what is known as a Barr body. A male Barr body would enable Adolin to have both black and blonde hair. This would also explain the four genders of Parshendi. 2. Hair is a codominant phenotype in Roshar, which would enable Adolin to inherit a dominant gene and recessive gene and still express both genes. For example, if black hair is dominant (H) and blonde recessive (h), Adolin's genotype would be Hh, which would correspond to mixed hair. I'm pretty sure Renarin has black hair--he would be HH, which means Adolin's mother must have had black and blonde hair. Just a hint when Dalinar goes looking for his wife. Adolin is not XXY (Klinefelter syndrome). This would result in slightly feminine attributes and typically also includes some degree of mental disability. Adolin isn't the brightest chap, but he is arguably the most manly character in the novel.

Remember: Brandon has not confirmed that Sadeas is dead.

Lopen works as a server at Chipotle. His specialty on the secret menu is chouta. Because of this, he will soon be promoted to executive chef. Hoid occasionally goes to Chipotle, but he's a more fancy type of person. Kaladin thinks that Chipotle's hygiene is disgusting, but he decides to try it after Lopen comes and visits him to treat his regrown arm. Adolin goes to Chipotle with a gaggle of girls daily. Shallan goes to Chipotle, uses BuzzFeed's tricks to get the most out of her order, and then pays the cashier with counterfeit money while Pattern steals a bag of chips for her.