FeatherWriter

It's great to see you over here! Thanks again for helping us out! Your stuff is wonderful and you're awesome!

Glad to be of service! Upvotes, comments, monetary contributions and blood sacrifices are all appreciated. I've got classes and then I'll be on the road for a few hours, but after that, I'll see what I can do! And thanks about the Kaladin pic, Windy! Exmakina's also got a scruffier, bearded Kaladin without Syl, but I like the one that's up now the best!

I believe so. Tumblr's been fighting the "Most Rosharan peoples are not white-looking, stop doing that, you're being racist" battle since the cover for WoR came out. These portraits were mostly done before this signing though, specifically. As for others, Botanica Xu (http://botanicaxu.tumblr.com/) is wonderful, and has pictures of quite a few characters. Recently she's been doing cute little stylized pictures of just about every named character in Way of Kings, which she calls "Stormlight Kindergarten." She has also done pictures of people all over the Cosmere. Also, she draws me shippy Shallarin fanart based on my fics sometimes, so she's kinda one of my favorite people ever. (http://botanicaxu.tumblr.com/post/59101775254/shallan-renarin-oh-my-theyll-be-so-cute). I'll send her a message! She's super nice! Paper Pie hasn't done anything recently, but she did a character lineup a while ago. (http://paperpie.tumblr.com/tagged/brandon-sanderson). She might be amenable, so I'll ask her too! As for other artists, I'd recommend Adonalsium's art tag (http://adonalsium.tumblr.com/tagged/art). Any of those artists might be up for asking! I can do so if you guys see one you like! I may throw a call for artists to donate on Adonalsium as well, if you all like! EDIT: Oh, and sorry about the ugly links. I'm on my iPadand don't have the nice editor.

After completely refurbishing the Renarin article, I decided that what was needed next were some good pictures. Thankfully, the tumblr Cosmere fandom has quite a few amazing fanartists, so I decided to see if I couldn't use some of the lovely portraits that we've seen around. Exmakina has some of the most professional looking character art that I have seen for the Cosmere, especially in her headshots and portraits. I thought these would be perfect for character page images, and that using them would be a great idea! I sent her a message on tumblr, asking if she would be okay with this. Here is her response: With her permission, I've uploaded some of her character portraits and have begun using them as page images. The pages for Dalinar, Renarin, Adolin, Navani, Jasnah, and Shallan now feature her art! I have also uploaded her portrait of Kaladin and Syl, however, because Kaladin's page already had an image from Ben McSweeney. However, as that image is concept art, I might suggest that the portrait be used at the top, while the sketch be used as an image beside the text?

I would agree. That kind of thing could easily be put under Trivia, I think.

Hmm... I'll take the sweet bookish adorable type over the superpowered muscle crazies any way.

Just gotta let you guys know that the tumblr fandom is basically throwing parties right now over a cover redesign. There was quite a bit of discontent when the original cover was released, so it's welcome news to us!

For those wondering, yes the Renarin article is mine. I pretty much just rewrote it from scratch, and it's an example of how present tense would work. I was telling Chaos over skype, if you all want to give me free rein, I'll sweep over these character articles like a grammatically concious highstorm! I'm trying to decide if I want to work my way through the Kholins or go touch up poor Vin's article. For being arguably the most important character in her series, she's got little more than a plot summary in there right now! I can see history or abilities going either way for which comes first. Content-wise, I'd put history first, but in regards to length, it might be best to have abilities first. It's up to you guys. Can someone explain to me what exactly the "development" section entails? And perhaps we should rename it? At present I can't tell if we're meaning something like character development over time or Brandon's process in developing the character before writing, or what. Something to clear up that ambiguity might be nice.

I think I may have come off a little harshly before. I've been persuaded to reconsider my non-intervention policy and am working on some edits right now. I am going ahead and using present tense. If that's a problem, I'm sure someone can edit it away later. Pouring some much-needed love into this wiki is something I'm going to try to do, though. As it seems that there isn't a set tense convention yet, just trends that people have used, I'd highly suggest that present be adopted universally. Perhaps there should be a vote taken or something such? @Weiry: I think a standard for similar types of articles is an excellent idea. I'm doing some heavy revisions on a character article, and it would help to have a framework to work off of, rather than trying to come up with headers and sections on one's own.

Hey, it's you guys' wiki! I'm not necessarily trying to convince you that you should change! I'm a linguist! I'm all for people speaking/talking/writing however they want! I'm not trying to tell you that it's wrong! Not at all! You guys want to use past tense for articles? Go for it! You want to make the standard of writing Early Modern English instead of Late Modern? I pray thou dost find fortuity in thine endeavor! You want to use "ain't" and slang and such? So long as everyone can understand it, I ain't got a problem with it! As long as all of your contributors are on the same page, you guys can do whatever you want! Nothing wrong with that in the slightest! These changes might make the wiki seem less "professional," but it's certainly your choice to make! However, the use of past tense in literary discussion situations is counter-conventional. Of course, there's nothing that says you guys have to follow all conventions and such - of course not! - and we've seen plenty of other fanwikis that don't! But I, as an individual, am going to choose not to participate. I have to write things for other literary circles which do care about those kinds of conventions and where, if I am not following "the rules," I'm not going to be taken seriously. (Or in the case of my English classes, get marked down for it.) I've trained myself to write in literary present instinctively, and I just don't want to compromise that. I like not having to think too hard about my tenses because I've trained myself to do it correctly without too much effort. If a past tense form makes sense to you all, and you decide that that's what you want to do (which seems to be the case), then I wish you good luck in it, and will simply say that I'm sorry I won't be able to help out!

Yeesh, that's unfortunate then. It seems that past-tense is the accepted mode of formatting for the Coppermind... Which means, I probably not be contributing much. I can't risk getting into the habit of writing past tense about things like this, because I'd probably slip up and do it in my papers and articles, which would be really bad. I write essays and articles all the time, and I have to be sure I'm doing it right. I've got to keep my stylistic integrity over here. I don't think I want to train myself to do it incorrectly and start to read the past-tense as normal. I've worked too hard to do the opposite and think naturally in fictional present tense. Sorry guys. If the Coppermind ever does decide to make the switch to present tense though, I will happily reformat articles all across the board and celebrate!

Yes, Argent and Weiry, I concur. Events that take place within the books should all be present. Backstory and history should be past, I believe. Wikipedia uses this convention for fictional works. So, we might write something like: "The Lord Ruler is the supreme leader of Tte Final Empire throughout the thousand years of his reign. He is both an allomancer and a feruchemist, which gives him incredible power by which he claims to be a divinity. He is killed by Vin on the night of the skaa uprising when she manages to separate him from his metalminds, before then stabbing him through the chest with a spear. In the time before his Ascension, he was a packman the then supposed Hero of Ages, Alendi, and was known as Rashek." This convention (present for novel events/eras, and past for historical) is the standard on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mistborn. (Tense emphasis is mine) It is also the standard for something like a literary article, such as this one on Tor, about the events of a novel: (Tense emphasis mine.)

For those still wondering about more Shallan Shardblade evidence, there is also this quote in Chapter 7:

Yeah, I looked through the style guide and didn't see anything, though now I'm seeing that there is a statement at the bottom saying past tense except for magic systems. (Which I'm assuming you added because of this thread, Meg?) I would argue with you against this style guide, Argent. If we haven't actually set down a guide I'd say present tense should be standard. It's more of an omnipresent tense, especially when talking about things outside of a real world timeline, such as fictional works. It's the convention that is used almost everywhere else, and it would certainly make the articles read more professionally and correctly. Past tense should not be used to talk about fictional things. They exist in the narrative present. I'll see if I can't catch Joe's attention on skype or somewhere, because I'd like to get an admin's final word on this. I realize that if we do come down on this issue and establish a style, articles will have to be edited. I'd probably take some of that project if need be. (Honestly, I'm really tempted to go in right now and start rewriting things to present tense, but I don't want to cause a bunch of issues if the admins declare we're not going to do it.)

I've been thinking about possibly starting to do some editing and trying to add info to some Coppermind pages, however I noticed something that threw me off a bit. Many of the articles are written in past tense, especially character articles. For example, Vin's page states that: "Vin was a half-skaa Mistborn from the world of Scadrial." Should that not be "Vin is a half-skaa Mistborn from the world of Scadrial."? Is this the convention here? Or is it just inconsistency? If so, is there a reason why past tense is being used over present tense? In my experience, present tense is almost always used when talking about fictional characters. It's the convention on wikipedia as well as within the conventions of literary analysis. Perhaps it's just the English major in me that cringes at all the past tense. But especially for characters whose stories aren't finished yet, it just reads strangely.

I can provide those from the Infinity Blade novellas. I think you guys got the rest of the ones that I've got access to. Infinity Blade: Awakening Infinity Blade: Redemption (This one is kind of hard to pick a real 'first' line for.)

I think it was churchofthesurvivor who originally grabbed that URL, but never did anything with it. They offered it to me since I'm pretty active on tumblr and asked if I wanted to use it. I decided if that wasn't the name to put up an awesome Cosmere blog, I'd probably never find a better one. And thus the Adonalsium tumblr was born. (glares at all of the good canon URLs that are taken...) I suppose I can't complain though. I managed to nab "alwaysanothersecret" for my personal blog. And we've got some pretty awesome Cosmere URLs floating around that are being put to good use.

"I will protect those who cannot protect themselves." //Listen Here// (Début) + Godspeed - Anberlin {They lied when they said the good die young} Bleeding Out - Imagine Dragons {When the sky turns gray and everything is screaming, I will reach inside just to find my heart is beating.} Exile Vilify (Rain Version) - The National {You’ve got sucker’s luck. Have you given up?} After The Storm - Mumford and Sons {And after the storm, I run and run as the rains come, and I look up. On my knees and out of luck, I look up.} Hurricane - 30 Seconds to Mars {Tell me would you kill to save a life?} Buckets for Bullet Wounds - House of Heroes {There are no doctors. Only victims. Only butchers.} Circus Circus - Silversyde {Broken, wounded you lie, captive to your fight, letting hurt and sorrow dictate your life. Emptiness closes in, crushing you within. Reaching up for light, now your cleansing begins.} Dark Horses - Switchfoot {Born for the blue skies, we’ll survive the rain. Born for the sunrise, we’ll survive the pain.} Vox Populi - 30 Seconds to Mars {Ever want to just stop? Do you want to surrender? Or fight for victory?} You Can’t Go Back - Fully Functional {One by one, death steals them away, and somehow you survive.} A few months ago, I made a fanmix for Mistborn, called Knives in the Mist, and that was super fun so here we go again. This one's not an overarching mix like that one, nor is it as strictly chronological. Nope, this one's character specific, and it's all about Kaladin! It is slightly chronolgical, though, so you'll see groupings that might suggest events and such. Any and all feedback and comments are welcomed and appreciated! EDIT: Added important lyrics for each song.

Update: Added song, "Stabat Mater" by Woodkid. This one falls within the timeframe of Well of Ascension, and is actually the first WoA song after the TFE songs!

You know, sometimes I feel like all I ever do over here is link to stuff on tumblr... (since the Cosmere Fandom on tumblr is Still the Best Fandom) but I'm gonna take this time to plug the Adonalsium tumblr as well. It's a pretty good compilation of all the stuff that's being created over there. We've got some awesome stuff that's being made, and I'm just trying to collect and share it all! Edit: Also the username of the person who made those valentines is lunarubato, though she also goes by Emma! (She has the best cosmere liveblogs, I swear. She leaves me on the floor everytime. She's done quite a few, but I think her Way of Kings ones are my favorite.)

I've gotten some teasing from friends that all I ever do is link to tumblr posts over here, so I'll go ahead and post it here. Let it never be said I didn't do anything for you guys. You're welcome. The guide follows below: --- First of all, what the heck in Infinity Blade anyway? Infinity Blade is a trilogy of RPG swordfighting games for the iOS platform (mobile Apple devices run iOS, like iPad, iPhone, and iTouch. If you have an iOS device, stop reading this now and just go buy the apps. Trust me. They’re worth it and you should support the company. The gameplay is fast and intuitive and fun and the graphics are gorgeous. I know what you’re thinking: it’s a mobile game app? How could it have good graphics? Well, prepare to be amazed. What the heck, Skyrim doesn’t even look that good. How did you fit those graphics on a mobile device? It’s sorcery. Go get the games if you can. For the rest of you who can’t get to them though, fret not. I’m here to help. Why should I care? Here’s the thing: the Infinity Blade games only tell half of the story. And the other half is told by BRANDON SANDERSON. Did you get that? Brandon Sanderson has more fantasy books out and you might not have read them. I’m assuming if you’re on this forum, that means something to you. You should fix that immediately. Because they’re amazing and will leave you sobbing on the floor and throwing pillows across the room. That definitely didn’t happen to me or anything… Brandon has written two novellas for the series, Infinity Blade: Awakening and Infinity Blade: Redemption. The games and the novellas present a continuous storyline, so it’s really inadvisable to try to play the games without the novellas or read the novellas without playing the games. You’ll be super lost. The chronology of that is (games bolded, novellas italicized): Infinity Blade Infinity Blade: Awakening Infinity Blade II Infinity Blade: Redemption Infinity Blade III Each one picks up where the last leaves off, so the opening of Infinity Blade 2 is you playing through the epilogue of Awakening before going on to the next part of the storyline. Super cool. Unfortunately this means you can’t just jump into the novellas without knowing the story. Very sad. Which is why I’m here. This post will give you all the info you need to read the books and understand what’s going on, because they’re incredible. Obviously, this is going to have spoilers for the games. I’m telling you what the story is. If you plan on playing the games yourself, you should probably stop here. Ready? Let’s do this! Infinity Blade I CONGRATS! You know all you need to about Infinity Blade 1! You can now go read Infinity Blade: Awakening! You can buy that by clicking here! I’ll wait here while you do that. Don’t come back until you’ve finished it though, because GUESS WHAT, there’s gonna be spoilers as we move into Infinity Blade 2. Go. Read and enjoy. Maybe message me with your reactions as you do. Come back here when you’re done. … … … Finished then? Want more? Alright, let’s keep moving. I’m gonna assume you’ve read Awakening from here on out, so if you get spoiled, it’s not my fault. Infinity Blade 2 And CONGRATS AGAIN! You’re now cleared to read Infinity Blade: Redemption, which can be found by clicking here. May Brandon have mercy on your soul. (Who are we kidding? He totally won’t. Prepare for feels.) I may do a storyline thing like this for Infinity Blade 3 if people say that they want it, since I’m assuming people might want to know how it all ends. These posts take a lot of work though, so if there’s no interest, I won’t. Hope you enjoyed this! Welcome to the Infinity Blade Fandom!

Also, I have word that those who receive the codes from someone else (via private message or something such) should probably not share the codes again to others. The only person who should be giving out access to their code is the person who originally found it.

(I am somewhat distraught that I have to type this twice because my browser ate it and the autosave recovery is not working. >:C) I think I might be the odd one out in this group, in that I think I maybe enjoy rereading books more than I like reading them the first time. So as someone who considers herself a veteran rereader, allow me to give a few tips? I wasn't always a rereader, but I started reading books aloud to my sister as a way of sharing them with her. (Which is an awesome experience. Best way to share a book, hands down.) Since then, I've started reading Mistborn to both my mom and college roommate. It's an amazing experience to be right there with someone as they experience a book for the first time, and to be a part of that experience is even cooler. The closest you can get to reading something for the first time more than once: getting to do it by proxy through someone you know. Anyway, while I was doing this, I realized that there were two amazing aspects of rereading that I hadn't ever realized before, and for that reason, I was hooked: Rereading allowed me to 'pick apart' the book, so to speak. I'm a writer and going back and looking at works that I really love and trying to figure out what it is exactly about them that I love is one of my favorite things to do. When I understand why the author wrote something the way they did, I can use that knowledge myself. (I do this with movies too now...) I can see intentional development of characters and how each scene contributes to the end goal. I can watch foreshadowing as all the hints move forward to the big reveal. Seeing how all of the parts of a story come together to make the whole is incredibly fascinating to me, and when it's done well, I want to study it over and over again to figure it out. I like books better when I reread them. I appreciate them more. Honestly, I'm almost ashamed of the way that my first readthrough of The Way of Kings went. I'll admit it: I liked Kaladin's storyline much better than the others - and it definitely clouded my judgment. Not that he's not awesome, but it's just Shallan and Dalinar and the interludes and EVERYTHING ELSE is so awesome too, and I feel awful for having not appreciating them! I just wanted to see what happened with Kaladin and Bridge 4, so I felt bored in the other parts and definitely didn't give them even the love they deserve! Now? After... I don't know, probably close to five or six readthroughs (with smatterings of reread scenes here and there) ... I have a much more thorough appreciation of the book. You want me to pick a favorite story arc now? Uh, I don't think I can! They're all so amazing! How could I ever read and not appreciate the growing relationship and mentoring in Shallan's arc? How could I not love Dalinar for his struggle to do the right thing, despite the hatred of his peers and even doubts to his sanity by his own family? And dear, sweet Renarin - who may now be one of my favorite characters of all time - how could I ever not notice his heartbreaking adorableness in the background? My lack of correct appreciation my first time through is pretty much appaling to me, and when Words of Radiance comes out, it will not be repeated, this I swear! Nowadays, I feel like my reading of a book is sort of naked until I've at least been through it twice. I don't really understand it or appreciate it until then. I want to be able to quote words at the drop of a hat, remember the exact progression of scenes, know every detail I can! I feel this way about The Emperor's Soul at the moment, which I only read once so far. Honestly, it doesn't even feel like I read it at all, sometimes! So, for those who haven't tried rereading books that they love, I cannot recommend it highly enough. I actually tend to get more emotional about great scenes when I reread them than when I go through it the first time. (And wow this got really long. I'm so sorry for this wall of text...)

For those who are looking for a guide to the storyline of the games, I wrote one up a little while ago for the Tumblr Cosmere fandom. The games and the novellas present a continuous storyline, so while you may be able to get into Awakening without playing the first game, it's a LOT harder to understand Redemption without playing the second I think! So, for those wanting to see what the games are like and what their storyline is (along with links to videos of plot-critical scenes), you can check that out here: http://featherwriter.tumblr.com/post/62660317005/feathers-guide-to-infinity-blade-and-why-you-should

My reasoning as well. A girl's gotta hold on to the advantages she can get! Plate's bulky too, and takes a while to put on. Blades are in your hand in ten heartbeats everytime. (I think I'd probably just summon and then drop my shardblade a lot whenever I was alone just to see it coalesce and dissapate. That's got to be incredibly cool to see/do!) Not to mention, I'm always more a fan of agility and dexterity in a fighting style over strength and power. Plate may be more protective/usefull/easier to use, what have you, but I'm gonna say, an unPlated Blade wielder is so incredibly awesome and beautiful in the most amazing way. Szeth's fight scenes would be so amazing to see, and I'm praying that Shallan will have an excuse to learn to use hers too!