StormingTexan

via Imgflip Meme Maker

I wasn't s teenager in the 80s (next decade) but grew up on all the games, movies and music they talk about its funny to remeber some of the stuff.

I've heard so many good things about the trilogy I'm going to keep going. It's also possible in just not in the right mindset. There are things I like about it just nothing super compelling to me yet.

I am finally getting to two on my TBR list. The Blade Itself which gotta admit I am having a hard time getting in to. And Ready Player One which grabbed me from the first page.

If not I'd say Dalinar. Shallan as a close second. Szeth would be my third I think we will eventually see a whole new side to him.

It is funny you say that because I was "SHOCKED" at the sexuality (which was comparatively PG-13 described). Just because I was so preconditioned to not seeing it in Sanderson's works. It was really nothing compared to most books and/or TV. Still when I read it I was like whoa! I am by no means a prude and it takes A LOT to shock me in regards to sexuality in books yet this did it with something I would not blink an eye at in a book by another author. I completely see where you are coming from with your initial thoughts. I felt similar first read through of Sixth of the Dusk. I'm not sure if its fair or not for me to do so but I try not to compare Brandon's shorts with full novels so I think of them as bonuses. They typically leave me with a lot more questions than answers but I think thats kind of the idea. It's like a teaser a bonus to the amazing Universe Brandon has created. The exception being TES but I think that may be because I didn't have to learn about the world I already knew it from Elantris. That felt like a lot more of a complete story. This one is a little different since it was non-cosmere but I tried to take it for what it it a fun little bonus. I really hope Brandon decides to turn this in to more but if he doesn't I will just leave it with my own little speculation. I think that's hard for us to do sometimes with regard to Brandon's work because we are use to eventually getting answers or at least knowing we will.

There is a WoB that is something along the lines of "Do the desolations come when a Herald breaks from torture." Brandon gave a vague answer like "This person is asking good questions" I thought that kind of implied there is a presence there physically torturing the Heralds instead of a spiritual "hell" like place I initially thought. This sounds like further proof.

These are funny. "Hey baby I'm thinking a little Adhesion could solve this Tension between us."

This is like asking what kind of pizza is your least favorite. I love them all but some more. I was glad someone else was brave enough to say WoK. Kal was actually not the main character I liked the least though it was Shallan (which I did a complete 180 on after reading WoR). I wanted to skip most of her sections of the book. I felt like way too much of the book was dedicated to her trying to steal the soulcaster. Kal would be my second least favorite character although he grew on me towards the end and in WoR. I think my biggest gripe was it seemed really slooooowww. I absolutely loved the last 100 pages but that is only 10% of the book so 90% of it was not flipping my skirt. Now I am saying this as I reflect on what I thought of it when I read it the first time. If I went back and read it again I think I would feel different because I love the epicness of SA after reading WoR. All that being said WoK is not my least favorite cosmere book. It is actually Elantris. I am actually ok with forgiving the fact it was not as polished as his later books. I couldn't put my finger on exactly what I didn't like until I read this: Yep I think that is it. I just couldn't picture AonDor being used in combat. Plus the fact that to become skilled you need to be able to draw in the air well. Sorry just seemed lame. Not only that but we do not see it used successfully until the very end of the book. Thinking on that more that may be one of the reasons I feel the way I do about WoK. It was an extremely slow build up to get to see magic badassery. I read the Mistborn trilogy first and one of the things I loved about the books was we got to see the magic badassery early on and even got a lesson on the rules of it early. This of course develops over the books as we learn more and only gets better. The fight scenes kept me interested though even through slower parts and think that is what the difference is. The one book I would have said I would hate until I read it was Alloy of Law. I absolutely loved it. But.. I hate westerns and I hate steampunk and I usually hate spinoffs of my favorite series. Brandon made it work though in an awesome way. The evolution of the magic system and characters (Wax and Wayne are among my favorite) completely changed my preconceived misconceptions. Warbreaker is actually one of my favorites but an understandable choice for others. The characters just weren't that great. But awakening/breath is awesome! Oh and Knightblood I mean come on he's a freaking talking sword that kills people and has black smoke! I do agree with someone else the ending was meh and felt very cliffhanger'ish to me. Speaking of that Brandon please put the non-cosmere stuff on hold and write Knightblood I really wanna find out how you know who gets you know where and how you know who got you know what! I think of the short stories as bonuses Brandon blesses us just when my withdraw starts to hit and therefore wouldn't compare them to the full length novels. I thought TES was amazing the rest meh.

This is interesting to me because when I see "Kelek's breath" I think Heralds=Returned. I guess it could just mean Kelek had some dragon breath but with the other tie-ins to Warbreaker it seems like a huge clue. In the Warbreaker Ars Arcanum it says

According to Vivenna Nightblood is five feet long.

Very true but I am just trying to explain the use of the Oathgates (not by the KR) at the time Nohadon walks to Urithiru and he presumable united the kingdoms (although not sure that is really confirmed he accomplished) so this could have been while the Kingdoms are united similar to present day. Also Jasnah said this and if it is correct then the kings probably used the Oathgates of course that does not specify before or after KR.

When I said nobility I do not necessarily mean the king himself but maybe one of his surgebinders possible. I just think they would have had to have some kind of organization to it. Meaning any old surgebinder couldn't just walk up and use the Oathgate. The Oathgates were placed in one of each f the kingdoms so I think it is a possibility the nobility ran them at least monitoring their use.

That is very true it is very possible the gates were only operated by KR later and normal surge binders (or perhaps the nobility in the Silver Kingdoms) ran them before. That takes away a lot of the mystery. I think Brandon's RAFO about Nohadon being a bondsmith at least hints he was a surgebinder and would explain getting to the gate.

I really liked it too. In fact I would say it ranked right behind TES as far as Brandon's Novella/Short Stories go. This was actually my first non-cosmere book I have read. I kind of felt teased like Kai on the rooftop when I finished it wanting a lot more but hey sometimes a peek is satisfying enough. I admit didn't see the Sophie twist and really liked it. Also that Melhi was female. I had to re-read that sentence to make sure I read it right. My theory is the last person on the list was actually Melhi and she just sent her Sophie bot instead of going herself. Just goes to show you "Hell hath no furry like a women scorned". I actually think you are on to something here. To expand on this (pun intended) this sure does sound like an expansion in a MMO game. Just like an MMO once you get bored an expansion comes and gives you new places to explore.

Except Shallan says this. So although she could be at the gates looking up at the tower the gates are probably still inaccessible to the ground or she wouldn't have said this. She has been to the gates yet still has not found a way to leave besides the Oathgates. I think I am focusing too much on how he got the the gate and it is probably simple he used surgebinding. We have already seen Szeth go there so it is completely possible he walked all the way (to be as a peasant) then used surgebinding to get to the gate. I'm overthinking this. The most important part of this is he says his family took the direct method implying Oathgates so then we go back to who built those? I still think it was the Heralds or Honnor and it makes sense to build those to shuffle around people quickly during desolations. But no Heralds should have been around to operate them during the time Nohadon walked to Urithiru unless it was during a desolation (seems like Haradon would have better stuff to do than walk to Urithiru during a desolation) and yet his family used them (of course this is just an assumption) and were waiting on his arrival. So that leaves the KR to run them, meaning in between the vision and when he walked to Urithiru the KR was up and running. It would have had to span at least one more desolation although I would think more than one so Ishar can officially form the KR. So easiest answer is Nohadon lived a really long time. Or there are some falsities lost in translation and Nohadon never actually walked there.

^^ No it is The Liar of Partinel where Hoid is first introduce.

That was my initial thought too that Urithuru was moved after Nohadon walked there and I think it is a possibility. This paragraph made me think it had possible been moved a few times. Sanderson, Brandon (2014-03-04). Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive, Book 2) (p. 547). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition. The only reason I think it is not the case is there are a couple of things that elude to traveling to Urithuru via Oathgates. Bolding mine. Sanderson, Brandon (2010-08-31). The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, Book 1) (p. 513). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition. Sanderson, Brandon (2010-08-31). The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, Book 1) (p. 817). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition. Of course the "direct method" could mean by way of horse instead of walking but that seems like it would have been described as the easy method not direct.

It is possible only a very limited amount of people knew at least his uncle did. I doubt many knew though and trappers made their money selling birds right? It would not be in their interest to allow this secret to get out people would just brave the jungle eat a worm. Of course we have no idea what powers a human would get. Each species of bird seems to have varied powers.

I went back and reread all the relevant parts in both books and I agree with you. I think Nohadon is getting too much credit for founding the KR (at least by me). The only thing I could find was that the KR followed the teachings in the book he wrote. Nothing I saw said he founded them only that they adopted his teachings. It is eluded by Talenel Ishar created the KR in an effort to prevent knowledge being lost on how to fight the voidbringers between desolations. We do not really have a time frame between the vision and when the KR was founded Talenel just says "several" desolations ago. So nothing I see says the KR had to be founded in Nohadon's lifetime. In the vision he is "young" according to Dalinar and it is said he wrote WoK late in his life. It is possible Ishar was inspired by Nohadon's book and used it for the KR to follow. Its an assumption that the KR built the Oathgates and possible Urithiru mainly because we know they operated them (using live blades). I agree if you make that assumption then the KR have to be founded, the Oathgates and Urithiru possible built all within Nohadon's lifetime and that would more than likely mean Nohadon lived a very long life or there were multiple Nohadons and the one in the vision may or may not be the author. However it could be that the Oathgates and Urithiru were built by Honor or the Heralds. This didn't make sense to me at first why would Heralds need Oathgates to travel? They probably didn't but ordinary people would. They could have been created to transport people to a safe haven or at least more defensible place Urithiru during the desolations. This explains why they are in major cities. It was only later they were run by the KR. So the last big mystery for me is how did Nohadon arrive at the gate of Urithiru? The easy answer would be he used surgebinding. But it is pretty heavily implied his family used an oathgate as the easy means to travel there. That completely contradicts everything i just said. If the Heralds ran the Oathgates before the KR then that would mean Nohadon traveled during a desolation which does not make sense at all to me. It then implies the KR were around at this time running the Oathgates which goes back to the seemingly unexplained timeline of Nohadon's life. So I agree with some points made by the OP. But really all that had to happen within his life is the formation of the KR which was done presumable by Ishar and would have had to be done during a Desolation meaning Nohadon had to live through at least two Desolations. We do not really have a firm time between Desolations although I agree with what others said it seems like it would have been at least 100 years for people to forget how to fight the voidbringers. It still seems pretty unlikely even if two desolations happened in Nohadon's there was time to found the KR within one desolation be proficient enough and running Oathgates. Something does not add up and now I keep thinking that Nohadon actually going to Urithiu by walking may be a red herring or meant to be a metaphor as implied.

To me this implies Oathgates were around at this time used by his family. Nohadon used an alternative method possible surge binding to get there (the gate) but explicitly walking to experience it like the common folk. I do not know what proof we have that Oathgates did not exist at the time of Dalanar's vision or were discovered (yet already existed). Or that Urithiru did not exist at the time of the vision. It is possible that later the KR ran the Oathgates or discovered them in Nohadon's time. So in his lifetime after the vision he had to found the KR and write WoK. That leaves one big discrepancy. Both Nohadon and the Ishar seem to be credited with forming the KR. So I wonder if Nohadon was somehow bonded with Ishar and Ishar used him to create the KR while in damnation. Can heralds bond with humans? The Storm Father apparently can.

The fact that this is even a discussion (and a divided one) is testament to Brandon's greatness. I mean how often do people think the second bookin a series is better than the first? Sure maybe the the third in a trilogy if it had an awesome ending but hardly ever the follow boom after the first. I liked WoR better. Not that I didn't like WoK but let's be honest it took a loooong time for 100 pages of awesome at the end of WoK. WoR just had more action and I guess I like that more than world building (even though I really like Brandon's world building). I also really liked how Brandon changed my opinion on Shallan who's pages I wanted to skip half the time in WoK to some of my favorite parts in WoR. I liked how we saw Kalidin fall and rise again. I loved Adolins duels. I liked Dalinar's internal battle of how to lead. I REALLY liked seeing the war on the plains from the "enemies" POV. Then the ending just epic.

Easiest question ever. Shai of course.

Just to add there were a couple times when specific gemstones were described for specific purposes as mentioned emeralds for soul casting food and rubies for spanreeds (also amethyst to create the opposite of what a spanreed does) . So I agree it is not out of the realm of possibility that sapphires could also specifically be used for shardplate however I do not see a correlation between it specifically being for boots or any particular part of the plate to serve a specific function(from what I found the shardplate we know of seems to be solely powered by sapphires) but could be for windrunners. Meaning the shardplate we know of could have been from windrunners. Which may or may not explain why the old KR glowed with the color of their orders (not sure why it wouldn't do the same now though). Really just not enough info either way. Personal speculation I am with the camp that believes KR do not need gems to power their shardplate. I think it was an addition made to the shardplate so non surgebinders could use shardplate. Just like the gems added to deadblades to summon them. Biggest proof we have so far on this is Kalidin using the helm powered by his stormlight instead of gems.

I was wondering the same thing and tried to do some searches in the books and I could not find any other gem (when specifically named) powering shardplate.