Bromo_Sapien

So I'm scrolling through the Arcanum questions and found: I'm wondering if you could burn a tattoo, then. There are apparently lots of metals in tattoo ink so could you burn that?

Are the gemstones *themselves* being infused with Investiture or is there something in them that is holding the Investiture? I have a half-formed theory that each gemstone has a spren (possibly dead) trapped inside it. We haven't seen non-sentient items hold a charge like gemstones supposedly can and it would explain why gemstones are what allow Shardblades to be summoned and dismissed. It would also explain why the Listeners need gemstones to transform.

So I haven't read any of Oathbreaker yet so it may have been answered there (though I would be shocked) but are Shin originally native to Roshar? I'm waiting for a flight to board so I don't have much research ability to see if there's a WoB on this already but they are so foreign to anyone else on Roshar. They look different, they act different, they have completely different animals and plants. It's like their entire land was picked up from a more "Western" world and dropped onto Roshar.

That's interesting, especially because I thought he wrote Cadsuane well. But I wonder why he didn't like her since strong, forceful women aren't exactly unknown in his works. I mean, I don't necessarily see a huge difference in personality between Cadsuane and Jasnah.

Sorry in the delay in replying, work has been crazy. I was trying to figure out if there was a difference between Kelsier and Jasnah / Hoid when they travel into the CR in an attempt to figure out if it would be possible for Kelsier to leave the CR through a Shardpool. The answer is clearly no, since there would be no Physical Self for Kel to move back into the PR (at least that we know of right now). From memory, Brandon made it seem like the Physical Self was carried through the Cog Realm when they went in or that the two seemed to merge. At least that was where my head went. And then when they left, the Physical Self separated from the Cog Self and returned to the PR. Switching to speculation, it makes it more unlikely, to me, that the being at the end of BoM is actually, physically, Kel, since he has no way to return to the Physical Realm right now. I think it's still Spook and that the two have been working together long enough and Spook believes in Kel enough that he has adapted some of Kel's mannerisms.

On Friday, I asked (paraphrasing) what happened to a person's Physical self when they traveled into the Cognitive Realm. He replied that it depended on how they did it: Elsecalling and worldhopping via Shardpools vs Soulcasting. When Jasnah or Hoid are Elsecalling / Shardpooling, their Physical Self goes into the Cognitive Realm with them. He described Soulcasting more like astral projection: the body is still in the Physical Realm but the mind peers into the Cog Realm. I then asked for clarification on the Elsecalling / Shardpooling part, specifically that the Physical Self was actually in the Cog Realm so there are two "levels" of self there (paraphrasing) as opposed to someone like Kelsier who only had two "levels" of self and he said yes, that's right. One last thing: In my personalized book, he wrote " 'Are you listening?' " (he put quotes around it in the book). I'm not exactly sure when he wrote it during his answer so I'd be interested in listening to the audio recording to see if there's something I missed. I got the front of the line late, around 6 o'clock, I believe.

Bumping with an answer from his Feb 10 AMA:

I tried a simple one: Is there a naming connection between tonks the beasts and Tonk Fah? He replied late last night with "Nope. (Sorry)" so it looks like he's still answering and willing to engage on simple cosmere Qs. But ya, most of this AMA seems to be going into his writing process.

That's right, my bad. But that kind of helps my point. As Argent said, I can't imagine Ati calling himself Ruin and I can't imagine Leras willingly aligning himself with someone who calls himself Ruin (discounting my other theory that Leras and Ati were lovers. Def asking about that at Boskone). Same with Rayse: even if Rayse was seen as a terrible person by everyone ( and Hoid is not exactly impartial), I doubt he would see himself as pure hatred. Nobody believes that they themselves are evil.

I might actually be able to go to the Friday signing, depending on what time I get out, my first Sander-signing. What's the format for all of this? He does a signing line where you can ask as many questions as possible while he signs and then he does a general Q+A with three questions per person? I think I saw that somewhere, but correct me if I'm wrong, either in general or for Boskone I hadn't expected to be able to go, so I only have one (or two) questions prepared right now (both of which are about Shards, so I fully expect RAFOs), so if anybody wants to shoot me a few to ask on their behalf, let me know.

As the title says, who named the Shards? It seems as if Hoid and other Yolenites of that time all refer to each other by their given names (at least, in the Letters, Hoid and The Recipient call everyone by their actual names and I don't have my Mistborn books to see about Leras and Ati and Harmony). But who decided to call Ati's Shard "Ruin" as opposed to "Change"? Or Rayse's "Odium"? Or Tanavast's "Honor"? They seem... slanted, and not based on the person (after all, Rayse was a good man). It has to be someone Realmatically aware to an extremely large degree, since they know the very nature of these gods, not just their short term goals and accomplishments, which means more so than Khriss and Nazh. A head honcho at Silverlight maybe? A new Yolenite?

It's an offshoot of wotanian flu (scientific name: A. Sedaitis).

So I've been mulling this theory over for a few days now and decided to post it to get some feedback. After rereading BoM, I think I've talked myself into Leras and Ati being gay lovers on Yolen (and pre-contract breaking on Scadrial). I first thought of the idea when the Allik mentioned that that Southern Scadrians believed that Ruin and Preservation were married. Now that in an of itself doesn't say much; they could very easily be just plain wrong. However, the more spitballing I did, the more it made sense: · Despite going against both of their Shardic intents, Leras and Ati created life out of nothing, literally combining pieces of themselves to create a new human. They are the only ones to create their planet wholesale. Doesn’t this fit with the idea of a gay couple, who could never have biological children of their own, finally being given the ability to create life themselves, literally mixing parts across all three realms of each person? It also appears as if Leras still cares about Ati, despite the war between them. Leras frequently appears at Ruin's prison, and not merely to speak to Kelsier. The first time he comes, he doesn't even acknowledge Kelsier, just stares into the Well and paces back and forth. Indeed, Leras describes his betrayal of Ruin as death; I always assumed that referred to how he knew he was weaker than Ruin now (and it could still mean that to an extent) but it could also refer to the literal betrayal of the person you love the most, a death of the soul, so to speak. Finally, and probably weakest, we have only seen three planets with multiple Shards: Scadrial, Roshar, and Sel. On Roshar, we have a confirmation of the two shards being lovers. On Sel, it's more tenuous but I believe they were lovers as well. IIRC, there was a recent WoB where he said that Odium splintered D+D early because he was more worried about them than all but Ambition. Why would he be most worried about two people with opposite Shards; we saw how that would play out with L+A. He could have simply left them alone and they would have inevitably attacked each other eventually. There had to be something that united them enough to make him think they wouldn't attack each other: love. Also, when asked about the relationship between Aona and Skai in February of last year, he gave a RAFO as opposed to a denial. So we have three dishardic planets, one of which is confirmed to have lovers, one of which it makes sense that the two were lovers, and Scadrial, where the two people literally created life by mixing their essences, their cosmeric DNA, so to speak. · What if Leras and Ati were married in their Yolen days and wanted to stay together after the Shattering? They created a home and children and lived well together for awhile. However, the Shards began to change them drastically and separate them. As Hoid says, “Ati was once a kind and generous man.” Ati descended into Ruin until Leras felt he had to betray his lover in order to protect their children. That leads us to the Well and Rashek and Vin releasing him, etc. etc.

In Alloy of Law, Wax returns after the "death" of his uncle, sister, and aunt. I know that Edwarn and Telsin both obviously survived and are high up in the Set; have we had word about what happened to Auntie Ladrian too? Given the closeness she had to E and T, she is probably a member of the Set as well, or otherwise they killed her since she knows they aren't really dead. I tried to find her on the Coppermind and couldn't even find an entry on her. Have I missed a WoB on her?

We have a WoB on it as well: http://twg.17thshard.com/index.php?topic=7302.msg0#msg0

Can Lopen and Wayne become Hoid's answer to the Demoux/ Galladon/ Baon Group? DGB is trying to find Hoid while Lopen and Wayne (Layne? Wapen? Wopen?) try to cover for him and hide his tracks. That would be hilariously awesome.

TLR became Realmatically aware at the same time; I wonder if he kept a lerasium bead for the same reason Hoid took one: experimentation of the Spirit Web. I don't know how much he would be able to use lerasium for Feruchemy or Hemalurgy; I don't imagine the beads are all that large (I imagine them to be roughly pill-sized, considering they were dry-swallowed with ease and can be hidden under Hoid's skin). However, given how he witnessed first-hand the manipulation of the spirit web with the first nine Allomancers (and knew what was happening, since he had already Ascended), I wonder if he wanted to experiment with adding more power to himself. It's just that he's not smart/ realmatically-aware enough to actually do it like Hoid can.

Got it. Thanks. I updated it on the Coppermind for future reference.

So while rereading White Sand, I noticed that the riding beasts on Taldain are called tonks and my mind immediately jumped to Tonk Fah. I wonder if there is a connection in the name. It seems much to random a word to be coincidental, especially for a created word. It would be simpler to just create a completely new name for one or the other, depending on when you realize they were the same. It could be that Brandon originally used the word for White Sand prose and then repurposed it for Warbreaker not anticipating a return to Taldain (or at least planning on having a more direct role in the return to Taldain, where he could change any words he needed) but I would imagine he or Peter or someone on their team would have looked over the graphic novel before its release and noticed that. Pure speculation in an attempt to answer my own question, but Tonk Fah could be a nickname given to him by Denth. Denth is a known worldhopper, based on a recent WoB, and could have gone to Taldain before it was closed off, seen the idiotic beasts known as tonks (they think any attack is a sandstorm and bury themselves in the sand) and nicknamed Tonk Fah after them as an inside joke that only he got, calling him an idiotic pack animal to his face without Tonk Fah knowing.

So i just reread the White Sand graphic novel and I'm a bit confused as to who is who. When Kenton introduces himself to Khriss and her party (I would reference a page number but I don't see any), the bald man in blue introduces himself as Professor Jon Acron and says that the man in all white with the goatee is Professor Cynder. However, a few pages before, as they are leaving the tent just after reviving Kenton, the man in white asks "What's he doing, Cynder?" and the man in blue replies, implying he is Cynder. This happens many times throughout the graphic novel: After the Kerztians attack Kenton and Khriss' party, the man in blue says "Jon Acron, for once, please shut up," after the man in white speaks, implying the goateed man in white is Jon. Then, when they arrive in Kezare, the goateed man in white calls the man in blue Jon. When they arrive in the Darksider enclave, the man in blue calls the goateed man in white Jon. Finally, when the group is going around to the different Taisha, Khriss herself calls the man in blue Professor Cynder. So I ask: Who is Professor Cynder and who is Professor Jon Acron?

It could also explain how Spook became powerful enough to be worshipped as a near-deity so quickly. He wasn't a particularly important member of the Crew but becoming a powerful Mistborn and wandering the world will get you some recognition. I wonder how savant Allomancers compare in strength to Lerasium Allomancers. Obviously TLR, being both, is inarguably the most powerful Allomancer of all time, but is Savant Mistborn Spook as powerful in terms of raw ability as, say, Elend?

Hi, my name is Bo Jackson. I'd like to introduce you to my good friend Deion Sanders. I would also like to introduce you to my friends Jameis Winston and Russell Wilson, but they got too important to be in our friends' group anymore. They used to be, though. This group was started by Jim Thorpe and Babe Didrikson way back in the '30s, fyi. I think it's a great metaphor: extremely rare where it would be highly remarkable but not impossible. You just have to be supremely talented/devout.

I love the theory on the distribution of the Shards (not sure I buy the "Hoid Reforges Adonalsium" part as much. I remember a WoB disproving this, though I could be mistaken). I don't think it necessarily makes them one-dimensional, just gives them all a primary motivation. Think of it as a heist movie like The Sting where everyone has a different motivation for taking the bad guy for all his money. This makes a lot of sense, especially when you consider how the AonDor is connected to the land of Sel. A few of the others: I wonder if Tanavast joined to act as a balance to Rayse, to make sure that A was splintered honorably, the "right way," so to speak. Maybe he felt he was honor bound to do what he could to rein in Rayse's hatred and keep the focus on destroying A in order to effect positive, honorable change. Also, I wonder if the initial "Intent" of the Shards were always "named" what we see them as now. For example, what if Ati's shard wasn't always named Ruin but was initially something like "Change" (still a clear counter to Preservation) but Ati quickly came to see Change as Destruction (he sees how the change the resulted from A's shattering blew up in their faces and forced them to leave Yolen; maybe fainlife flourished after the Shattering instead of retreating as they planned). When Ruin talks to Kel in SH, his description of himself more focuses on change and how Preservation would keep everything the same more than it does the destruction of the world (though he talks about that as well). That would explain him being a nice man before acquiring Ruin: a slight change of perspective. It would also explain the growth of the Shards influence over time: if the Shard starts out malleable but grows more firm as the Vessel's idea of the force solidifies. This (extremely) recent WoB from yesterday's signing lends some credence to idea of perspective influencing the Shard's Intent (Thanks to @Necarion for the unbelievable timeliness):

This WoB from r/Stormlight_Archive is probably relevant: They were talking about how every bird is called a chicken and Brandon chimed in with this. Given that he said "small" crustaceans, I doubt any are chull-sized. But it does show that there is a wide variety; it could be that the Sleepless are only made up of one type of cremling, but due to the lack of other words for it, Lift simply identified it with the generic "cremling". For example, maybe all centipedes are Aimian spies but all crabs are unique individuals.

Does this imply that Lift is more heavily invested than others? What about Nale; does he see the after-images and just not comment on them? I would imagine Heralds are more heavily invested than normal KRs and have some Connection to the CR via the Desolations.