kuchapel

agreed....a manifestation of their deepest desire for control. Slight tweak Your under high stress.....you realize you have no control...and you snap!...boom your an epic. And whatever made you lose that sense of control is now your weakness.

I think Epics are like Lions....No fears and always seeking to be on top. The "Calamity syndrome" kind of makes them lose their normal logic mind and just drive to be the strongest...and to survive. When someone or something takes out the prides leader...who you know is stronger than you....you dont question it...you just submit or bail. And we all know how bad epics are at submitting. Survival instinct is the key though...epics want more than ANYTHING else to survive...a very base instinct. So when a new animal arrives and kills the big dog...instinct kicks in and you bail. My thought is....even though everyone knows David is the steel slayer...they havent forgotten he has a very powerful epic working with/for him "limelight". And how powerful must you be to have an epic that powerful working for you.

i much prefer Prof. Green...Monster or if its trailer for the movie.... (Remix- Heavy bass...kinda like profs Sound wave powers) Cant you imagine the trailer for the movie already...imagine it....The camera panning up on the prof in his lab coat in the middle of a city and everything looking normal...then when the music starts getting wavy....it flashes back and forth from that image to him in "Limelight" gear and the city around him destroyed. Then Slow mo Flashes to the other Main characters moving in VERY slow mo and flashing between their "normal human version" and their "Epic Version/hero version" the same way -.megan and Firelfight...Steelheart and Human version in prison clothes....Etc... and then the last 10 seconds Shows weakling david...and flashes between normal him and him sighting down his rifle...and the camera zooms into the scope and its aimed at the Profs head and tia jumping in front of the sight.....*Goes black*.....Gunshot sound...then the last words of the song....*Ill find a way to turn you into a monster*... THAT...my friend....would sell some movie tickets... SIghs...wish i was better at film and editing ...sucks to be an idea guy with no execution talent. Obvoiusly would need to be saved for the 3rd movie once all the secrets are let out from the second book.

*cough* tia forshadow *cough*

OR..... She was a youth with a troubled past who never got the acceptance she wanted from her parents...so she ran away...and was afraid of being caught. He greatest fear could be the idea that her parents did accept her and thus made her running away and all the trouble it caused pointless. So she continues to run and avoid being caught...but deep down inside fears that shell be accepted and it was all for nothing.

2 weaknesses questions... A: The one major problem i have had with book one and steelheart's weakness is...So he can pull a trigger and set off an explosion (Set by someone who did intend to harm and fear him) but...i cant imagine that they never setup Trip mines or other booby traps that steelheart himself would have triggered and thus...set-off the same criteria. But heck...maybe they ran out of stock on trip wires and claymores. B: I cant remember, do they ever explain how David finds out about the Kool-aid and bad rock music?? I know Tia asked him about source field but did he answer her or evade the question?

Yes and No...could be that she just feels "more herself" or "more under control" with soda inside of herself...i don't know...i don't really trust Tia right now and the group she works for and all their secret information. I swear that crew has more to do with this than they have let on. I mean...being fair...Her and Prof have known calamity was an Epic for ages but never told david or anyone else...what other useful info have they been controlling?

Yup... DNA most likely from the water Epic.

So if being a epic comes with these assumptions... Weakness = Biggest fears and Powers = Some semblance of control over those fears (Regalia thought David would get water control powers because he was afraid of water) What could have given Megan reality controlling powers? Bonus question: If alt reality Megan was a human torch because Megan weakness is fire (her opposite) would alt reality Megan's (who's a human torch) weakness be reality? Loss of reality? Reality TV?

Seemed a little vague and foreshadow like for Regalia. I feel like if the answer was that easy she would have just said it vs. being vague. But assuming that she was talking about the operation, im still curious why some can be gifters and others cannot. If gaining powers has a unified connection (dealing with fears) then what is the variable that allows them to be gifters.

good catch... 30-35 years.

ROFL

He kills tia.....enrages at her loss...fireflight realized that she can pull a reality without calamity into our reality and wipe out what has been done...but that means wiping out current version of david too...its tough but he talks her into it... Prof unable to accept what hes done goes full Dark and try to stop her because he will lose his powers...FF confronts him with alternate reality Tia/Prof that are married and happy and have a kid...FF tells him to trust her and she will make his dream come true...he has to trust...goes weak...lets her poof out the calamity reality...Happy days and kittens for everyone. ......Except firefight who realized that david has forgot about her when he got wiped by the new reality to and so she lets alt reality FF overtake her and has to have faith that her and david will find each other again in this world... *ties bow*

"All epics can become Gifters under the right circumstances " -Regalia What do you think those are? I wold like to know from the simple fact that Megan gifting David her powers could have made things about 100 times easier in so many situations. My guess....Humility: Mostly based on the concept that Conflux didnt become a true gifter until he killed his wife...and well....Gifters are so rare because so few Epics exhibit any humility.

i don't think becoming weak would make you susceptible to being able to get powers from others.But just a thought.

I think the easier answer is he is insane. He was kinda sane at first, took over Houston....Cared for his "Flock" for some amount of time.....used his powers too much...became crazy... saw the corruption in his city.... decided that humans couldn't be redeemed (like his old pastor days) and to kill them instead. Now he goes from city to city judging humanity on behalf of god and the arch angel that gave him his power. Thats why he didnt care about giving Regalia access to his powers...because it would only speed up the human cleansing. something David said made him snap and gain a greater understanding and regain a shred of sanity.

did it say how old he was? For some reason i pictured him as as someone born a LONG time ago...thus why his childhood dreams/powers are so innocent vs. now adays when a kid would dream up Pokemon and video games. Maybe if he was old enough...a radio is all he knew...and his moments of happiness...listening to it with his family.

does steelheart need to eat/breath? Though it would make sence....when was the last time your grilled cheese(food)intended to harm you? but not eating it would be bad for you.

LOL instabam is Emril Lagasi of this universe.... "Lets spice this college meal up...." BAM! Instant potatoes.....BAM! Cup of noodles

My best guess.... Regalia (being so close and able to talk to "the angle....aka Calamity) she promised him if he plays along she would help him find his purpose. As for why she risked revealing her location...simple...she overcame her fear of death...it was inevitable...and once she got his core to make the bomb her plan was set in motion...she spent the whole book gloating and appreciating her work more than actually doing anything. Obliteration needed to understand his and the Epics purpose...and that's why at the end David told him what he needed to know to make a judgement as to why he exists. He believed he was sent by god/angels to cleanse the land (4 horsemen)...but i think he wanted to believe differently.

One question....one wild speculation.... A: Why didnt prof gift the tensor ability to david mid way through the book? He told him to use the Spiral instead and said something about the powers would mix....i feel like there's something there beyond lazy storytelling (eg: Author doesn't want him to be too powerful) or is it simplly since the machine works on Epic DNA....you kind of....become an epic sort of when using it or if your gifted powers....that would explain why all the diggers eventually went mad...and why david gets so reckless when he has gifted powers or Epic machines. Surely even with gifting there is some consequences.... anywho... B: Wild Calamity Speculation....what if we really look at this from the Brandon Sanderson eye...The multiverse eye....What if "this reality" was never meant to have calamity....aka: there is no logic to its/his arrival.....but there is a meghan from another reality, whos big fear was dieing alone and she broke into "a reality where the potential exists that she didn't have to be alone" and brought calamity with her to set the chain reaction that would eventually bring her to David...or someone she loves. Thats why love "is really the secret" because if your weakness is your fear then your strength (how to avoid madness) is overcoming your weakness/fear.

what if TIa is an epic...but cola is somehow her weakness? She forces it on herself to keep her in control. (this book talks WAY too much about her cola addiction without it being something.

I think its Luck...his weakness is a scenario where he has to rely or accept...luck...Faith... (The book looks to be taking quiet a lot of time foreshadowing religion and faith - The faithful, Angel, 4 horsemen, David's unwavering faith in people being good inside, etc...) To make him lose powers...you have to confront him with a situation where there is no logic...he has to trust his gut or luck or Have faith. Unfortunately this could be hard for them...when your practically indestructible...there's not a lot of "lucky based" scenarios you can force someone into. Ex: A: Goes by professor, his identity is tied to his drive for logic. B: feels most in control when experimenting (notice the experiments didn't calm him in fireflight as he claimed...but the science instead prodded him into using his powers) , or planning out details to a plan, and doing things his way and by the plan on a mission. (Not and exact quote)..."The Reckoners are not brave and fool hearty...they plan and execute detailed traps against minor epics" C: Lost to a bluff...he lost a rather calculative and logical game to pure luck (not a loss of power as much as a foreshadow of character. Unable to "bet against logic" D: Appeared to be himself the most around David a "unpredictable, brash, go with his gut" kind of guy. That's why he keeps David around...his defiance of logic...his luck in SO many situations help prof stay normal. E: Cant have faith in Meghan or Regalia being redeemable. All of his logic and evidence says otherwise. (Thus why he had to gift away his powers when David showed up to save Meghan...he couldn't do it himself when he realized he was wrong) F: Why he trusted Meghan...her no nonsense love for planning and logic and hatred for improvising and luck was right up his alley. G: Finally...and yes its cheesy...there is no logic to love...he especially keeps Tia around to remind himself that some things cannot be explained...they just are. As for why this insecurity : Just a bit of fan fiction...I think him and Tia were trying to have kids (notice the professors love for his kids... teaching...etc..) but eventually The sonogram showed there being problems....and he lost their child during pregnancy. Defying logic (they took all the right pills...and did all the right steps) and planting the insecurity of his inability to protect Tia and his child. Hes always had problem with "Bad odds" and its killing him that they are against him having a child...thus his emotional "Reach out and acceptance" of Calamity. So....since we're pretty certain your powers are based on your fears....He is gifted the ultimate protection (force fields), Healing (even from the brink of death), Sonic vibrations (the sonograms telling him something was wrong) -that one's a stretch I don't know... Too dark for a YA series? too mature for the teen crowed...probably. Easier answer is epic blew up his school and he got the powers to dig out the kids, protect them from falling debris and heal the injured. *Edit* Also...how much prof freaks out when meghan comes back and starts messing with his powers...david says it himself..."Epics freak out when you do things to them they cannot explain"...he kept trying to take the most logical approach *bubble squish* but saw real fear because it was illogically getting messed with (he couldnt comprehend the dimension powers)

Firefight: (my Favorite) Why candidate: A beautiful and talented young woman who at a young age learned that she a master at manipulating people with intelligence and charm. Preferring to be the silent partner in any social situation, she worked to make her closest friends popular and desired, thus enhancing her popularity. She was always one step ahead of her rivals in school by often destroying them by making them chase rumor and lies while she was busy building her reputation. Carefree...reckless...and believed she could do anything. She was like a flame, bight...seductive...and burned anyone who crossed her. Trigger: Megan and her father did a pretty good job of hiding from the epics and relocating from build to building as things got bad. Megan just wanted to avoid all of it...to hide away...to distract people away from her and her dad so that they could escape. Once, the epic battles got close to where Megan and her dad were living. It was too late for them to run safely as the 2 epics were fully engaged in the street. Her dad hid her in a small closet in the house telling her to Count to 60 and then run through the alley way, he would cause a distraction. Having done this before...Megan prayed "Please make them go away, please distract them, please keep us safe!" Her father raced outside with his pistol to try and either kill the epics or pull the their attention away from the building Megan was in. He ran across the street and took his first few shots, hitting the arm of the fire epic, causing him to enrage and immolate the surrounding area. Megan's building caught on fire and began to collapse trapping her. Her father dove towards the rubble and began desperately trying to his dig baby girl out. The fire was consuming the rubble, and her breaths became more and more labored as she slowly suffocated. Covered in burns...unable to control the fire her father scream in desperation "Megan Where are you? stay awake! I'll get you out" Megan was right in front of him trapped between a few beams, but was concealed by the fire and smoke. She wanted to call out but she didn't have the breath...her lungs felt like they were full of dirt and she couldn't speak. " Take me" he screamed "...I give my life willingly if it will save my daughter." He opened his heart to calamity. Before she passed out she noticed a subtle change in his eyes, it looked like he was on fire! but surely that was from the lack of oxygen. As he stood up, appearing to blaze in glory, he walking towards the epics shouting...."you worms...you are beneath me...you will pay" and Megan desperately prayed "please save my father...help us hide from the Epic"...and she passed out. Several hours later she awoke in a pile of ash. She searched high and low for her father but couldn't find him, the only trace left was his pistol she found in the rubble. She crouched there...sobbing at the loss of her father...never asking how she survived...and demanded the universe give her dad back so that they can go on living their life together...in hiding...but together. She opened her heart to Calamity. In shock and in fear she cloaked herself and ran away, desperately clinging to her dads pistol, and hid in on of their "safe locations" Hoping he would come and find her. As the night grew long and she became cold and lonely she saw the image of a man made of fire walking towards her. Though he was clearly an epic...for some reason she did not fear the man. The man walked up slowly to her and placed his arm over her shoulder, surprising to her it didn't burn, and whispered in her ear...."Im home baby, ill never leave your side again". This was not her father however this was just an illusion she made for herself....she no longer had a father...he was consumed by the newly born epic: Phoenix. With the miraculous power to control fire and resurrect in flames. If only he knew about the gift he gave his daughter when we born...he might have not ended up the way he did. SO: Megan gains illusion powers, and her ability to resurrect (through fire...like a phoenix) is actually a gifted power from her father that she got before she became an Epic and stuck with her through transformation into an Epic so that the flames from Strengths: Strongest when her opponents are distracted or being mislead. While not desiring the same anonymity as Night wielder she preferred to have a strong shield to stand behind or a good story to distract them (perfect for the spy mission). Thus why she rarely went invisible, preferring instead to use other images (firefight) as a distraction. (or why she was seen at the final battle) Weakness: Suffocation: After the house fire...she fears nothing more than suffocating and being unable to take action (couldn't scream out for her dad). This is why shes extra paranoid about the tensor dust getting into her lungs. The way to defeat her would be drowning. No fire to resurrect and suffocation to weaken her.

SteelHeart: Why Candidate: Prideful Jock and perfect physical specimen of a man. He was an All state quarterback known for his "laser arm" accuracy and ability to scramble and fly down the field. (Team mascot was the knights) and the alpha of his social crew. Everyone in school feared him, and wanted to be him. He was a god amongst high schoolers and his gang ruled over all. The halls were his Chapel (where all praised him), his crew were his priests, and all the students his subjects. And those who didnt pay proper homage...beware. Trigger: After High school....while going to college for football he got into a drunken car accident and busted his arm, which ruined his career, forced him to drop out and began begging his "once friends" for work. A laughing stock, known as a drunk who blew away his chance at greatness, and no longer feared or respected...no one cared about him. One night, while drunk and depressed he took out his revolver pointed at himself and demanded of the universe "Why me? What happened? I use to be a god...I would give anything to be that again...to go back and make time stand still!" and opened his heart and mind to Calamities influence. He pulled the trigger...and the bullet bounced off (as he feared himself and what he was doing) He became invulnerable (no more knee injuries), Could shoot energy out of his hands (Laser arm), Flight (like the way he flew down the field), and the ability at times of great stress to Turn everything into Metal or freeze it in time. His mental reflections of his old team mascot (knight) gave him a metal affinity to his powers...his time was now... Strength: Being Feared and Respected. He is a bully at heart and strongest when feared. That's why he wanted a functional society of people...because he needed them to want to stay and continue to fear him. And he subjugated other epics so that people wouldn't fear anyone else above him. Weaknesses: Of course...someone not fearing him. As with all bullies, their only strong until someone stands up to them and doesn't fear them. Nightweilder: Why Candidate: A master thief and assassin who worked for the mob (used to having a boss) and who prided himself on being the best in Chicago. He had a remarkable ability to disappear into the shadows and evaded the authorities on many occasions. He also had a spectacular ability to make people "disappear". In his mind, as darkness fell the city became his kingdom, and he was capable of doing whatever he wants and getting away with it. He refused to be seen during the day, using anonymity as his shield and armor. Trigger: The Mafia needed a whiteness eliminated that was in FBI custody. The safe house was considered un assailable by most. NW's decided that it was best to wait until nightfall to attack. NW got a tip that the FBI was going to move the asset early, using one car, incognito, to throw off any would-be assassins. NW's was hesitant to attack but the boss demanded that the asset be eliminated now or NW would be the next on the hit list. Against his better judgment he attacked the car as it parked in a dark parking garage awaiting transfer to a new vehicle. As he approached the dark corner the lot flooded with lights and he was cornered by agents. NW refused to be taken, not until he had his revenge on the mob boss. He backed himself into a corner...surround by agents he though..."I would give anything for once chance...one simple escape so that i can have my revenge. " And as he backed into a tiny dark corner to get some needed leverage to push off of and make a desperate run through the agents...he slowly began phasing through the wall...into the shadow. The last thing the cops saw was the outline of his smile. Strength: Anonymity/Darkness. Primal memories of when we felt the strongest as a mortal. The more he feels he is out of sight or unknown the more powerful he is. (the more shadow tendrils he can control) Weakness: UV light triggers memories of his only failure and weakens him to become more corporeal. His natural reaction is to run and hide, this time...he will ignore orders and escape.