FeatherWriter

I will take all of your upvotes with great thanks. Eh, I'll just give everyone in this thread an upvote so we're all happy.

Truthfully, I think Kaladin is actually my favorite Brandon character, Dalinar is a close second, and Shallan was originally one of my least favorite. I don't need to tout Dalinar's awesomeness thanks to Zarepath, but Kaladin is waaaaaay more interesting than Shallan IMO. First off, Kaladin gave up his dreams to do what his father wanted instead. Then he gave up that plan again to protect his little brother. After only a few years he became a squadleader. Even after he lost his brother, he spending all his own money to intentionally get poorly trained recruits and protect them, as well as bribing medics to save his team! He killed a shardbearer, got betrayed in the most spectacular way, then got sold off as a slave. As a slave, he organized multiple revolts and escape attempts over the course of nine months, got "Dangerous" stamped across his forehead, and attracted the most adorable sidekick ever. After sent to the Shattered Plains, he gets sent to the bridge crews, survives the deathpoint, and lives longer than anyone else on his first run. Depressed to the point of suicide, what does he do? Jump off a cliff and end it all? No. He decides that rather than ending it all, he's going to take over the bridge crew and change everything for the better. AND THEN HE DOES. He turns the sorriest, most downtrodden depressed group of human detritus into a nakama, bridge-running, spear-wielding crew. Even when given a perfect chance to escape, he decides he'd rather go save Dalinar Storming Kholin's sorry shard-bearing butt from an entire Parshendi army just because it's the right thing to do! To top it off, he can also defy gravity. And survived a highstorm while tied to a pole. AND HE'S NINETEEN. THAT'S LIKE MY AGE! Gah, Kaladin makes me feel so inferior! Sorry, but I don't care how many fathers Shallan's killed. The only one who comes anywhere close to Kaladin's awesome is Szeth and he's had twice as long to get there (not to mention he's kinda fighting for the wrong side at the moment).

This theory's been discussed a couple times now and has a pretty good following, but good catch!

Ummmmmmmm... Nope. There's really not anything to say to that. Interesting.

because they were

A man walks into a restaurant with three floors. The first floor was appetizers, the second was main courses and the third was drinks. As the man enters the first floor, a waiter comes up to him and says, "Hello sir, what appetizer would you like?" The man says, "I don't know. What do you have?" The waiter replys, "Well, we have a soup, which is really good. We have a salad, which is kinda good. And we have a breadstick, which is not really good at all." So the man chooses the soup and gets into the line for it. But, by the time he gets through it, he's so hungry that he ate the soup, salad, and breadstick and had to pay for all three. Disheartened, the man walks up to the second floor. Again, a waiter comes up to him and says, "Hello sir, what main dish would you like?" The man says, "I don't know. What do you have?" The waiter replys, "Well, we have a steak, which is really good. We have chicken, which is kinda good. And we have fish, which is not really good at all." So the man chooses the steak and gets into the line for it. But, by the time he gets through it, he's so hungry that he ate the steak, chicken, and fish and had to pay for all three. Rather annoyed, he goes up to the final floor. True to form, a waiter comes up to him and says, "Hello sir, what drink would you like?" The man says, "I don't know. What do you have?" The waiter replys, "Well, we have wine, which is really good. We have water, which is kinda good. And we have punch, which is not really good at all." Having learned from his previous experiences, the man decides to look at the lines before deciding which to get. The line for wine is incredibly long, the line for water is somewhat long, and there is no punch line. Also, my Grandfather was very fond of "Why do bees buzz?" "You'd buzz too if someone took your honey and nectar (necked her)"

Yeah, I assumed that the h in Valhav was for English pronunciation purposes early. I really ought to practice reading and writing in Alethi more. It's so interesting! Also, Peter, what kinds of punctuation does the Alethi script have? I know there's the mark at the beginning of lines, which I'm assuming shows what the longest marks are, but are there any others?

So, I totally came in here to argue that Shallan's ability is completely natural photographic memory, but you've convinced me that there's something more to it. I like the idea that she originally had a regular photographic memory, but the truthspren augmented it to where she sees perfectly true images, including the truthspren themselves. I might even espouse this one!

Welcome, welcome! I too was a lurker-turned-poster, so I get it! It's good to have you!

Wow. Now all I can think of are realllllllyyyy nerdy pick-up lines using Awakening and taking my Breath away. Haha/

claiming tin-foil hats

Gah, this book is just going to be awesome. No matter what happens.

Perhaps soulcasers can work with other orders to augment their abilities with other essences? That'd be interesting. Or perhaps it just takes practice to create the other essences.

Ah! Demoux! I love Demoux! I'm so glad he's still alive and has somehow joined (what is most likely) Seventeenth Shard! That's so awesome!

So I found something awesome on the internet today. http://www.brandonsanderson.com/blog/1045/Soulcaster-Fan-Jewelry-Writing-Excuses-Season-7-and-MYTHWALKER MY HAND IS ON BRANDON'S WEBPAGE!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!

I actually just started reading the book in French on Amazon, Fils-des-Brumes. The names slip very well into French pronunciations, and I definitely pronounce them differently. eh-LEND vin-CHUR becomes AY-len VAHN-tyur. VIN becomes VAH (just the barest hint on an N on the end). KEL-see-ur becomes KEL-see-yay. Even the planet name, Scadrial works really well in French. It's so awesome reading about "l'allomancie" and "ferochimie" and actually understanding it. Though I have to admit, I laughed out loud at Breeze's name. Unlike most of the others, which are spelled exactly the same way. Breeze actually became "Brise" which would be pronounced exactly the same and is actually the French word for it! Gah, I want to read to read the whole book in French, but it's sooooo expensive. I have a feeling the first few chapters are not going to be enough! Also, I really want to read Stormlight Archive in French!

OH MY GOD!!!! I LITERALLY JUST SCREAMED FOR LIKE 20 MINUTES AND CALLED EVERYONE I KNEW AND SCREAMED AT THEM TOO! MY LIFE IS COMPLETE! I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS IS HAPPENING! THIS IS THE GREATEST DAY EVER!!!!!!!! Okay, okay. I'll try to compose myself. Wait, one more. SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! Okay, now really, I'm done. I'm totally going to wear it to school tomorrow, I don't even care. Also, in response to your question, No, the fish is no longer my ego because that fish EXPLODED!

which was confiscated

Remember spren are attracted to very strong attributes. We're not saying that you can't have the attributes of other orders. You certainly can! And it's possible that even a strong show of protection or wisdom or creativity or whatever wouldn't attract a spren. Because in order to do so, those attributes have to be off the charts. Crazy high. Kaladin is just so determined to protect for months and years and even when he's cast down to his very lowest, it's still what he focuses on. THAT'S why he attracted Syl. Same for Shallan. Assuming she's in order #6, Shash I believe, it's the fact that she's constantly focused on creation and she's done it for a long time. That's why she attracted the Symbolhead spren. I don't know, maybe it is impossible to join another Order. Maybe you just can't have more than one Nahel bond at a time. But even if you can, I have a feeling it would be incredibly unlikely to join another because it'd be nearly impossible to show that kind of dedication to more than one Order's attributes. I don't think you can fake something like that. It has to just be who you are.

Ah, thank you! I was looking for an actual line, and I can see why I missed those!

Oh, Eero, thank you! What a silly mistake for me to make!

Stormlightning, I pretty much want to see Amaram's face when he sees Kaladin again. That blend of shock and horror will just be epic. I don't know if I want Kaladin to be smug about the meeting or furious and attack. Either would make for an awesome scene.

But, I'm pretty sure that Brandon said that there wasn't any more atium. I can't remember why; perhaps because Kell destroyed the crystals and Elend and his army burned it all up? I guess the crystals haven't come back yet, though I feel like there was a more permanent answer to that...

Hmm. Now that you mention it, that does sound familiar. It just seems a little weird I guess. If you hit someone with the back or flat of a Shardblade, it would bounce off? Seems strange.

(ate the raw) egg-chocolate smoothie Sorry KChan, but this board is too awesome to die!