Jondesu

Salt

J as in jar. My real name is Jonathan. jW

Don't treat the difference in years as a reason to adjust ages. If he says someone is 50, consider them equivalent to 50 on Earth, because they obviously (based on examples like Kaladin, Tien, Shallan, Adolin, etc) age equivalently. They act like the age we are told they are, not the one you have to do math to reach. Besides, Dalinar is the Blackthorn. He'll probably be incredible well into his 80s. jW

I've got Pandora's "Today's Christmas" radio playing now. Yep, I'm that weirdo. (To be fair, I'm trying to write Christmas music before Christmas arrives. Also to be fair, that's not why I'm listening to it. I just like it, and it helps keep my depression at bay.) jW

Yep! Your turn! jW

Sorry for the delay, here's mine (should be easy). jW

Yeah, I think I'd portray it sort of in bullet time still, but with both people moving at the same speed. Just show the shadows branching out, and each of them eliminating and reacting to them (perhaps have one shadow begin to solidify as they move, merging with the person as the new shadows pop up?). Might not need to go as slow as bullet time usually is, but it'd be really confusing for both of them to be full speed along with the shadows (not that it wouldn't be nice to include some fights like that too, or portions of them, but only after the mechanism of Atium has been explained). jW

Honestly, reading those doesn't imply to me anything of the sort. The corrupted Breaths are black. There may be some mixing of Investitures. That doesn't mean that the black smoke is combined Investiture or that it is in any way connected to Gavilar's sphere. It could be, but I don't think those quotes say nearly as much as you're reading into them. jW

Thanks, I thought I remembered some reference to them. I just wonder if Brandon chose not to show them to us for a reason, or if it merely wasn't something he felt he needed to include yet. jW

We've decided as parents to treat Santa like Mickey Mouse. We talk about him, we enjoy the stories, even pretend to have presents from him maybe, but we'll never let our kids think he actually exists; he's a fictional character that's lots of fun. Same with the tooth fairy and similar ideas. jW

Related to that spoiler: The slave brands will definitely be an interesting twist, and I wouldn't be surprised if he works past those within that arc, though he may retain them either permanently or until the end of the first half of the series, we'll see. jW

There's a lot we don't know about the Stormfather, however, and the Rider of the Storms as the Parshendi call him (who was almost certainly around before Honor's splintering, even though we believe the Stormfather was the result of the merging of Tanavast's Cognitive Shadow with the Rider of the Storms, although that's admittedly not confirmed yet). We don't know if he was broken because he was bonded and a Bondsmith broke his oaths (or if the Bondsmiths previously bonded with the Stormfather anyways, or if Dalinar did something new), or because he seems to be in control of at least some of the Radiantspren (perhaps as a remnant of Honor?). We know he was at least partially responsible for holding Syl back from Kaladin after he broke his oaths, and was opposed to her bonding him originally. It's possible he is broken because he's the remnant of Honor/Tanavast, who was broken in the splintering, and it wasn't just the Recreance (or even that at all), which may or may not have been related to the splintering of Honor, and certainly seems to have happened before as you mentioned. jW

I'm almost counting on Rlain becoming a Knight Radiant himself, but if not, he would likely be counted among Kaladin's Squires, and probably would be able to use Stormlight like The Lopen. I know there's been discussion about which order he'd be in if he does become one, just like Eshonai's possible orders have been debated if she becomes a Radiant. jW

I find it intriguing that in all the glimpses we got of the Parshendi culture, we never saw a child. Even when the entire nation was gathered to divide into the ones who would and wouldn't agree to take Stormform. There were 20,000 Parshendi there. Older ones were mentioned, like Eshonai's mother. Not a single mention of a child (even though we saw Mateform Parshendi "romping" around). Where are the children? jW

I think another key point here is that we don't even know if Voidbringers are the ones who perform Voidbinding (unless there's a WoB I haven't seen). Voidbinding could be what was used to lock away Odium, or it could be magic used by someone else other than the Voidbringers, or of course simply magic that we haven't seen them use yet. If Voidbinding was part of just the magic of the Voidbringers, summoning the Everstorm would have likely counted as Voidbinding, but the WoB indicates that it is not. As for Eshonai, I think it's almost certain she survived, between the added strength and resilience that Stormform seems to bring, the Shardplate, and possibly the control over the winds that Stormform also holds to a lesser degree (when she leaped the chasm after transforming, she described that it felt something like the wind swirling around her and pushing her, IIRC). jW

I always assumed that he was using that to cover the fact that he'd been disguised as someone else just prior, and knew that he'd still smell like perfume from that; drinking the perfume provided a convenient excuse, but he may not have even actually been drinking it and most likely wasn't drunk. That said, Hoid definitely seems to feel angry and/or guilty about something, and we see it in his little moments with people like Dalinor and Kaladin in addition to some of the other things stated. I have a feeling it's more than just the Shattering, though; most likely related to something he did to someone else, or a loss like a loved one. jW

Not all perpendicularities are Shardpools, from what I've understood from WoB's (though I don't know that he's come right out and said it), and we don't know if Pajti's Eye is one. I agree somewhat that Shardpool can be a confusing term when it's not a Shard's pool, but the whole Major vs Minor Shardworld debate does kinda fly in the face of that distinction. :-P I submit we should call them all Pools (with a capital P), with Shardpools being the ones on Major Shardworlds (or if there can also be other pools of investiture on those worlds, then only the ones containing the Shard's power), and keep Perpendicularity as a separate term for now. EDIT: Should Honor, Devotion, and Dominion's Shardpools be called… Deadpools? *ba dum tss* jW

Yeah, just download the Kindle app. :-) jW

Szeth sitting up on a post/rafter watching the room while employed by the crime boss, right? jW

I really doubt his parents would be upset with Kaladin, unless they thought he'd run off instead of being enslaved. They also might have reason to think he's dead, since I don't know exactly what Amaram would have told them if he sent any news to them at all. As for Roshone, a Skybreaker would probably judge him and serve a sentence, possibly even execution, but Kaladin will likely have to protect him. I'm hoping for some justice in Kaladin perhaps needing to kill Roshone to protect someone else, such as his parents or Laral, though. I don't see Laral likely trying to sidle up with Kaladin. She's likely matured a bit now, and I suspect Kaladin will be shocked at what he sees, good or bad, but I don't think she'll really have even much romantic interest left for Kaladin, if she ever truly did. What Roshone may have done to her in this intervening time could have drastic effects, since I see him either not being very kind, or even being overly amorous. Being his wife cannot have been a pleasant experience for her, so only seeing the results will tell us if she became forlorn or vindictive, or something else. jW

Definitely read Secret History, though it won't give it completely away. You'll want that knowledge before really getting into this, though. jW

Down home

That's the view from over the hill of the caravan that was ambush (that Tyn was protecting) and the dead men, with the burning wagon, right? IIRC, Shallan and Bluth are the ones who see it. jW

One big question would be whether Mistings (as opposed to Mistborn) can even try to burn anything other than the correct alloy or pure metal. There was a thread about that, and I'm personally of the opinion that a Thug simply couldn't burn an alloy that was off, unlike a Mistborn. jW

Pretty sure he meant in the original picture at the start of the thread. The other two possible Cryptics have heads shaped quite differently from what we assume is Pattern. jW