Kav

I finished grad school a year ago focused on getting a very good job in a specific industry. I knew it was going to be difficult to break into, but it's what I wanted to do and I told myself to be patient and not to settle for something else. I've had some rough days - it's been very tough at times not to give up. Today I got the best job offer I could have hoped for. I'll be pulling insane hours for a long time but couldn't be happier to do it. So to anyone who's been grinding away for something and is struggling to keep at it, don't give up it'll happen!

Apologies if this is old news to some, but I just wanted to bring this to people's attention as it seems to have flown under the radar. The following book personalization was recently posted to Arcanum: While many people have speculated that Hoid's goal is the reforming of Adonalsium, this is the closest that I have seen Brandon coming to confirming this. He obviously doesn't come out and say it but I can't think of anything else it could be referring to, so for now its good enough for me!

All I have to say is... 77 pages?! Really?!

Anyone else absolutely love the new trailer? The book is fantastic but the first trailer was vague and didn't sell me on the movie. This one knocked it out of the park, looks like there's a great balance between real world and OASIS scenes. I really like the casting choices too, Ben Mendelsohn is perfect for the villain. Super excited for this movie now - and that Tracer cameo was awesome!

I once spent the better part of a year inside a large stomach, being digested.

Great theory, though I also think the timelines don't really work. Nohadon did rule fairly early on in the history of the KR and the evidence seems to suggest that the Sibling withdrew towards the end. I think it's pretty unlikely that it withdrew much earlier and it took them all that time to notice - it's potentially thousands of years. The other option is that he did bond his cognitive aspect with it in the way you suggest but the Sibling continued to bond regularly with others for a period of time, though I think this is also unlikely as I feel the next Bondsmith would have noticed. Is there any reason Nohadon could just have found a way to make himself a cognitive shadow without the Sibling's involvement? There's definitely other ways to go about it, there's at least one other major character hopping around the Cosmere in this way.

I'd love this!

I’m going with Renarin having regular Surgebinding Regrowth and Voidbinding Illumination. Why would Brandon point to that page if Renarin just had a corrupted form of Surgebinding? Assuming that this is the case and that Sja-Anat will actually change sides, do we think she may purposefully corrupt other Radiant spren to give them access to voidbinding? It makes for a huge set of new powers and more interestingly resonances that haven’t been considered before, after all we’ve seen what Renarin can do with just one combination.

I think the answer to this one is that they realize they could be permanently ended in the same way. If that knife can kill a Herald by somehow capturing a piece of their soul and preventing rebirth, I’m betting it can do the same for the Fused. Which is why I see this being VERY important going forward.

Yeah I posted above and then thought alright just the prologue wouldn’t be too bad now I guess... ...in other news I loved chapter 4 and 5 is off to a storming start.

I haven't read anything either, though it's taken some serious willpower! I haven't done it for any reasons related to edits though, I just thought reading it piece by piece for weeks would drive me crazy. I just felt it would be more satisfying to have the whole thing before I begin - I prefer to sit down with a new book and power through it. I cannot wait to actually have it tomorrow, I've made sure I have absolutely zero other things to do!

Yep, they must've edited it since I posted. I'll edit my first post to reflect the change.

FYI Tor has just released Brandon's tour schedule, http://www.tor.com/2017/08/02/brandon-sanderson-oathbringer-tour/. I'm posting them here too for convenience. Is it just me or does this seem a little light on stops? I was certainly hoping he'd come to the East Coast! MIDNIGHT RELEASE EVENT – Monday, November 13 @ 7 PMBYU BookstoreProvo, UT Tuesday, November 14 @ 7 PM Mysterious Galaxy San Diego, CA Wednesday, November 15 @ 6 PM Borderlands San Francisco, CA Thursday, November 16 Powell’s Books at Cedar Crossing Beaverton, OR Saturday, November 18 @ 2 PM Murder by the Book Houston, TX Tuesday, November 21 Anderson’s Bookshop Held off-site at Community Christian Church 1635 Emerson Lane Naperville, IL

@Yitzi2 I know, that why I said it obviously couldn't have been done in the exact same way. However I can certainly see it being possible that she gave up/is using some of her power to contain him.

In regards to the theories about which order of Radiants Adolin will join (if any) I'm convinced he will become an Edgedancer after reviving his blade. I just finished rereading WoR and while there's a few reasons I'm on board with this, the following scene in Ch.85 jumped out at me. “Adolin cursed and lunged for the assassin, but a fluttering tarp—brushed by the assassin in passing—leaped toward Adolin. The monster could command inanimate objects! Adolin sliced through the tarp and then jumped forward to swing for the assassin. He found nothing to fight. Duck. He threw himself to the ground as something passed over his head, the assassin flying through the air. Szeth’s hissing Shardblade missed Adolin’s head by inches. Adolin rolled and came to his knees, puffing. How . . . What could he do . . . ? You can't beat it, Adolin thought. Nothing can beat it." I'd advise reading more of the chapter around it for context but it seems to me that "Duck" could be the first time the blade speaks to him. His instinct to duck comes from nowhere and saves his life. He is immediately confused by how he knew to do so, but before he can think about it he is distracted. I think it's the kind of subtle foreshadowing Brandon uses all the time. To me at least it's fairly convincing evidence. Has anyone noticed this passage before? Sorry if this isn't formatted too well I'm having to type and copy from my phone right now.

Could Cultivation have created Odium's prison in the same way that Preservation created Ruin's - of herself? The word 'slammer' is after all a slang term for prison. Obviously it can't have been done in the exact same way as she hasn't lost her mind, but I'd say it could at least be an implication that she is in some way his jailor. For some reason I imagine Honor and Cultivation working together to imprison him, maybe Honor managed to bind him to some sort of Oath (hence the Oathpact's involvement) and this allowed Cultivation to imprison him.

So this theory just occurred to me and it appears that it hasn't been discussed before. Obviously the gemheart is an extremely important part of a Greatshell's biology, though we haven't been told so far what exactly it's for. Despite the name, I would imagine that these animals still have regular hearts pumping blood around their bodies and the gemheart serves a different function. We also know from WOB that these animals are so large that they have to enter into symbiotic relationships with certain spren to survive. What we don't know so far is exactly how this works. My theory is that the gemheart inside the animals works in the same way that the gem in a fabrial does - it contains the spren inside it. The power of this specific spren contained in such a way is what allows it to grow so large. When it dies the spren are released and this is why you only see these Greatshell spren at that point. What I can't decide is whether the spren are contained in this way by choice or are somehow forced by the animals. This theory makes sense to me but let me know what you guys think!

My initial reaction was it was just a regular knife he used to be very attached to, or perhaps had ceremonial purpose, but has been unable to use it since taking up Preservation. I think this is most likely, but your post definitely has me thinking. It could well be some sort of proto-shardblade which was the inspiration behind the Honorblades and Shardblades. I doubt that they were used to shatter Adonalsium though, I just think that would take something on a different level completely.

Thats why I'm saying the reason is probably not because everyone is dead, as our best guess Frost is still there, and still alive. So its more likely being hidden in some other way, possibly by Frost and others like him. Or by a Shard or Hoid or anything, we really have no idea. I just doubt everyone there is dead.

Pretty sure it can't be Atium or Lerasium. If those reacted as ettmetal does with water, your head would explode as soon as you put it in your mouth before you could even swallow the stuff!

We actually knew he used this name before, and that it isn't his real name either. Peter gave us the full name (Cephandrius Maxtori) in this thread here: http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/45901-shadows-of-self-byu-midnight-signing/page-2 And I'm pretty sure I remember seeing it a long time ago in some old threads related to Liar but don't remember exactly where, so it seems to be a name that Brandon's been using for a while. Still tells us nothing useful unfortunately!

I think it's more likely that Yolen is being actively hidden. I can't imagine a way to kill the cognitive aspect of a planet while leaving the physical intact (resulting in mindless animals maybe?). And while this is pure speculation, my guess is Yolen is where Frost and his kind are still hanging out - meaning that there are still thinking beings on the planet. It could even be that they're the ones hiding the place somehow.

This doesn't affect a whole lot but seems an interesting tidbit: Q [59:00:00]: I was wondering, is Nightblood a Shardblade? A: Nightblood is an attempt by someone who didn’t know how Shardblades were made to create a Shardblade using a different magic system. This seems to imply that a certain someone knew what Shardblades were before creating Nightblood - meaning he'd been to Roshar before. Did we know this already?

When you start thinking Kal would be a great name for your firstborn...