Iarwainiel I

My feelings, which are solely my own & not at all meant to disrespect those of others:

 

I got through books 1-4 OK, was frustrated during book 5, & had to force myself through the grinding agony that was book 6, at which point I hated all the characters so much that I wanted them all to die. The only one I really liked was Hopper - Brandon inscribed my copy of AMoL with a Hopper reference.

 

So I abandoned the attempt after book 6 & headed straight for Leigh Butler's online synopses (supplemented by the online WoT Encyclopedia) for all the rest up until Brandon's books.

 

I made up intentionally wrong pronunciations of the characters' names, & saying them in my head as I read gave me some fiendish pleasure - especially "Edge-weenie," who was one of my least favorites.

 

I don't feel bad about using this process, since the only reason I started reading WoT at all was because I wanted to read everything that BS writes.

 

What I would not do is just jump in with book 12, or jump straight from the early books to book 12 - if you don't read the interim books, I recommend at least reading through the synopses. Otherwise you'll be totally lost in The Gathering Storm ... without an umbrella, as it were.

I for one am jealous of "Hello" who is reading this now for the first time, and feeling the same things we all felt - and that we're supposed to feel.

 

The way Kaladin and the others are so downtrodden, and the ways each one finds to heal their spirits, to learn and grow and rise up to better things ... this is the genius that is Brandon Sanderson. We feel deeply about these characters, whether love (like for Kaladin) or hate (like someone I won't mention, for fear of spoilers).

 

Keep on reading, Hello! When it all starts to fit together (even as little as we know now, in book 2 of 10), you'll see it will be well worth it.

 

And welcome to the 17th Shard!!

From what we know of Galath, I had been hypothesizing that he represents an author: he has full control over all the other characters, directing what they will do and say and even what their personalities are like. Of course the IB wouldn't kill him since, from his PoV, it's "fiction."

 

But after thinking about it, maybe he's more like a game designer, and the Siris character somehow evolved and developed to the point where he could step at least partly out of the "game" and impact Galath's real reality - sort of like an inverted Tron, or Professor Moriarty from STNG.

Hey, does anyone know why "Sixth of the Dusk" is shown on Brandon's completion status chart as "Proofs - 100%"?

 

Isn't the novella already published? Or is the novella just part of what will be a full novel, and that's what is being proofed?

 

Don't mean to nit-pick, but it's the first time I've seen the chart appear to be wrong (and also I really want more of this story now!).

 

(Is Peter lurking nearby with a clarification Aviar on his shoulder? :-)

Just an idea - not really a theory ... What if the Ones Above are from Nalthis, not Scadrial? Do we know how [you-know-who] got to Roshar from Nalthis? What if [that person] came on a ship, instead of the way Hoid arrived?

 

It seems like most commenters have the same feeling that I did: that the Ones Above are looking for more resources to fight against Odium, not support him, and it's interesting to me that this is our instinct. It's probably because we're so used to looking for plot twists, and having the space-travelling aliens be evil would be what someone less well-versed in the cosmere might think. :-)

 

I agree that this story is a little rough around the edges, but overall I really liked it and want to read a lot more of Sixth in days/years to come.

Well, after several days of frustration, I've decided to just give up on IB3. It's a shame, because the actual storyline is really interesting and complex. But evidently CHair (the app developers) chose to make this game waaaaay harder than IB1 or 2 - many of the titans/bosses can't be stopped except with a "perfect" parry or block, and I'm just not good at those. Also, my poor level 10-12 characters are constantly facing enemies that are level 30-40, or even 100. If you try to go back a level (like you could in IB1 or 2), once you defeat one enemy at that lower level, the very next one you face is right back up to level 30-40. I read online where CHair is trying to push people to do in-app purchases to get better gear, etc., and that's why the game is so hard. It makes me sad, but life is too short to spend hundreds of hours trying to get through the initial levels of this game.

 

My reason for posting now: I'd appreciate it if anyone can (with appropriate spoiler tags, of course) provide a better explanation of the plotline of IB3 than is given on the IB wiki (http://infinityblade.wikia.com/wiki/Infinity_Blade_III). I had expected some kind of explanation of the "Holy Band" ring, but haven't seen much on that so far. The "IB Origins" video hints that the Infinity Blade actually has a corrupting influence - that by having it / wielding it, a person would become corrupted by evil - but there's not much information on that either.

 

Speculations are welcome! ( - an IB3 book from BS would be even MORE welcome!)

 

... and thanks, Feather - your encouragement here led me to much enjoyment in the first 2 installments of IB. :-)

These are the first games I've played that have this type of format, so plz excuse my noob-ish-ness. (I'm mostly a Bejeweled and Plants-vs-Zombies gamer - hey, what can I say? :-)

 

The thing I'm enjoying most about IB is the story, and I rushed "Siris" through IB2 as fast as I could to get to IB: Redemption, which I just finished.

 

I'm here with a question for Feather & the rest of you -

 

I wasn't any good at the "XP Bonus" tasks in IB2, so I never did those Negative Bloodlines (though I did so successfully in IB1). I figured, why bother since I won't get past the first bloodline.

 

Also, I got to the Worker's prison faster than I had expected ... had to hock a bunch of gems just to get good enough equipment to finish the game. I never defeated the [whatever you call the monster with the Vile Sword in his head], and never got the rest of the Vile Armor or any of the Gem Set.

 

Do I need to have done those things in order to understand IB3 and do well in it? I know I can't port the actual equipment from one game to another, but maybe I need some kind of skill that I would have picked up while obtaining it?

 

I'm really only good with the Light weapons - my blocking is with Heavy is, to be honest, really lame. It seems like Isa is shown with a Heavy weapon, so maybe it's more important in IB3 than previously?

 

So my main question is: Should I go back through IB2 and build up more skills, before moving on into IB3?

 

Thanks, all, for your input!

Brandon has said that each of the 10 books will focus on one of the Orders, and that the main PoV character in that book will be from that order.

 

However, there's no reason to think that any given book will contain one-apiece for the 10 KR Orders. I think Brandon will just create whatever characters, in whatever Orders (or non-Orders), that he needs to tell the story best.

 

I think we'll ultimately have dozens if not hundreds, of KRs from each of the Orders, though not all wil be main or PoV characters.

 

Look at the Wheel of Time: you had gobs of Aes Sedai from every ajah - I think it'll be something like that, once the conflict intensifies and Surgebinders start popping up everywhere ... there'll be too many for Darkness to nip all of them in the bud. :-)

 

The only Order that we "know" had a limited number of members historically (from the Chapter 44 epigraph) is Bondsmiths. I say "know" because we don't really know if the in-world Words of Radiance book is reliable or not.

 

There are several other threads where folks are thinking that there can only be one character for a particular Order, @maxal, so you're not alone in your reasoning, & maybe I'll be proven wrong.

 

Oh - and I like your idea re: Lirin!! It would be too sweet if that was part of the Stormfather's meaning when he called Kaladin a "Child of Honor."

I've always had a feeling that Helaran was part of the 17th Shard group. I have no particular evidence for this - it just kept occurring to me when I was reading tWoK. Now that we know there are so many other groups, maybe it's not the best fit, but then again ... it just feels like that could have been his alignment, to me.

Also, on my 2nd reading of WoR, some of the flashbacks gave me the impression that both of Shallan's parents were Ghostbloods, or that her father was at least a sympathizer. But when it turned out that his own little girl was a Surgebinder, he turned against the society to protect her from his wife/her mother.

This is just the BEST! Awesome work, Maffu17!

Wow - I just figured this out yesterday on my 2nd read of WoR - the same day you posted your observation Moogle! Well done!

If there had been a poll choice for "No one," I would have selected that - I have a feeling that Kaladin will ultimately sacrifice himself for the cause and die a single man.

The fact that Kaladin killed Shallan's beloved brother Helaran seems unforgivable enough that a Shal/Kal pairing would be nigh impossible.

I'm hoping he and Shallan will be more truly brother-and-sister (and Brandon can surely pull it off way better than JK Rowling tried to do with Harry & Hermione). I think that kind of quasi-family relationship would be healthy for both of them, and it would add a diverse dynamic to all the relationships. During the chasm sequence, I kept thinking that it would be "of honor" for Kaladin to try to make up for the brother that he unknowingly stole from Shallan.

Also - Jasnah is about 35, which is a little old for Kaladin, while Lift at 13 is probably a tad too young, at least for how these books usually go

@ Sphinx #20 - Point taken re: reliability of these epigraphs. :-)

I still think that Elhokar will be a Willshaper, though. I think we'll ultimately have dozens if not hundreds of KRs from each of the Orders, though not all wil be main characters of course. And Brandon needn't limit himself to one PoV character per Order.

But back to Eshonai -

Re: the endpapers at the back of tWoK - Might the Listeners have 10 "orders" too, with different Surges? So that "Explorer" might actually be one of their orders? Or do you all think that those different symbols stand for the same things as those in the KR diagrams in the front end papers, just written in a different script/language? (Confession: I haven't searched the forums to see if this has already been addressed.)

The richness and depth of the world-building behind the SA is just too fun!

Train of thought:

• We see what "Darkness" is doing with nascent Surgebinders in the Ym and Lift interludes.
• Darkness was talking to Elhokar in tWoK Prologue.
• Elhokar is at least seeing spren, and may be in the process of bonding one.
• Szeth has a new "master" at the end of WoR.

Upshot: Elhokar might now have real reason to fear the Assassin in White.

“And now, if there was an uncut gem among the Radiance, it was the Willshapers; for though enterprising, they were erratic, and Invia wrote of them, 'capricious, frustrating, unreliable,' as taking it for granted that others would agree; this may have been an intolerant view, as often Invia expressed, for this order was said to be most varied, inconsistent in temperament save for a general love of adventure, novelty, or oddity.” (WoR, chapter 50 epigraph)

"Capricious" and "unreliable" do not sound like Eshonai very much, IMO.

To me, this sounds like Elhokar. We know he sees "things" in the mirror, so it sounds like a spren has chosen him already.

Maybe both of them are Willshapers?

Or maybe Eshonai is an Elsecaller, like Jasnah? Elsecallers were "prime liaisons with the great ones of the spren" (WoR, chapter 50 epigraph), which might be the same as a highspren.

 

Also, @ CalebTheGeek, I thought the same thing - Shen/Rlain will end up a Radiant or at least a squire.

This video (

) says that fractals have another dimension in between 2 and 3.

 

This is seriously weird and really cool stuff!

 

Wish I'd known about this before attending the WoR signing ... My wingman for the event is an extreme math geek who stronly prefers sci-fi to fantasy for the hard science aspect. Can't wait to tell him about this; maybe I can convince him to read WoK after all!

@ #7 RShara & others - I like that theory!

@ #11 WeiryWriter - I guess I though that if Lift could basically resurrect a young man from the dead, that the same type of Surgebinding could repair the brain damage that steals the minds of the elderly? I feel a good deal of compassion for Eshonai's mother, having watched mini-strokes do the same thing to a member of my own family. 'Guess I just wanted to give the dear lady a chance to be a hero. :-)

 

I really hope we see this plot line developing in Stones Unhallowed.

I just searched this topic and didn't see that anyone has theorized this yet -

 

What if Roshar was assembled from pieces of other worlds, to serve as an arena where good and evil fight it out? So many different kinds of plants and animals, not to mention sentient humanoids.

 

IIRC, there are a total of 10 planets in the cosmere, and there are 10 areas on the map of Roshar in the Silver Kingdoms.

 

I also like the theories re: fractals above - there are just too many 10's, and too many instances of symmetry, for it not to be something like that. And I thought about it all being a greatshell too, though I agree that's not "math-related."

 

(My initial theory was that Roshar was actually a plane, not a planet at all, and that Shadesmar would be the back side of the plane. But that theory got shot down by Brandon at the WoR signing - shucks, I thought I really had it figured out...)

This is a great topic for theory-izing!

 

Wouldn't it be fantastic if Lift or another KR with Progression (i.e., Healing or whatever we're calling it) could heal Eshonai's mother's mind? Then she could remember the whole song about the "old days" and all 100 forms, etc. Maybe in those 100 verses / 100 forms there's a key to fighting or escaping from the transformation.

 

Also, doesn't it say somewhere that Urithiru is unaffected by the Desolations? So maybe if the Listener-Parshendi could get there, they might be safe?

 

So many possibilities!

All of these theories sound plausible to me. That said, ...

 

There's a niggling in the back of my mind that we are in for a paradigm shift regarding these Heralds.

 

What if they weren't really virtuous? The things we actually hear them say and see them do, except maybe for poor half-crazy Taln, don't seem all that good or right, including tWoK Prologue. What if they were actually evil, and fighting on humanity's side during the Desolations was something they agreed to do to have a break from punishment they actually deserved?

 

When they abandoned Taln to the torture, maybe the other 9 opted for entering a kind of limbo, which they are actively trying to prolong by killing nascent Surgebinders, sowing chaos, etc.

 

I'm not as strong on Cosmere theory & Realmatics as most of you are, but it just seems like the kind of thing Brandon would pull the rug out from under.

 

Do we know if Heralds can be killed, permanently? Do we know if they are, or were, actually human?

 

Not saying I believe in this quasi-theory, but it's interesting to think about, eh?

Now I am wishing I hadn't given my copy of Warbreaker away. It's really my least favorite of Brandon's books. To me, and I only read it once, the female characters were just off, somehow - not very believable, even less so than the main female character in his first novel, Elantris. I liked the magic system in Warbreaker, and all the male characters and especially the plot twists; the two female characters were its only weakness ... at least we haven't seen either of them on Roshar yet - have we?

I thought the same thing re: the "paperweight." Seems like none of the royals know what it is - wonder which volume they'll find out in. Re: the Lift interlude, it brought Chromium to mind and, if that be the case, it wouldn't be a "battery." Maybe the crystal acts as a stasis field. So many details!

I noticed that same thing, @Thought.

 

There is << that thing >> in WoR that seems to indicate a sort of opposite-ness going on.

 

18 months between each of these books is feeling more like an eternity.

Wow - so many unhospitable worlds ...

At the Dayton signing, a guy had 2 Radiant Order pins - the Windrunner one and (I think) a Lightweaver one.

 

There was supposed to be a whole series of them - one for each book/Order - and they were "limited release," so not available long.

 

I got the Windrunner one last time by ordering some swag, but I didn't see any announcement about a new pin with WoR.

 

Does anyone know how I can get the new pin?  - a must-have item!!

 

Also, the same guy had an awesome replica of the Freedom/Bridge 4 tattoo drawn on his forehead (hopefully with eyeliner, not Sharpie!). Seems like an obvious swag item: stencils to help less artistically-inclined fans do the same ...