junior

Alright. I just had a completely "way out there, no way that this is even possible" idea. We don't know anything about what Jasnah has bonded with, but her surprise at seeing Shallan's truth spren seems to suggest that Jasnah is bonded with something different from what Shallan is bonded with. What if Jasnah bonded with some form of death spren? Now admittedly, we don't know if this is even possible. But it might help explain that odd scene in which Jasnah deliberately sets herself up as bait for a group of thugs. If she's bonded with a death spren, then that scene isn't Jasnah deciding to play vigilante for the sake of being a vigilante. Rather, she needs deaths to maintain the bond with her spren, and the only way that she can do that in any sense that's even remotely ethical is through setting herself up as bait for a group of criminals... at which point she can kill them and legitimately claim self defense. How she would actually have created a bond with such a creature is, admittedly, beyond me. Perhaps its a "lawful execution" spren?

Keep in mind that this is the same woman who intentionally set herself up as bait so that she could play vigilante. While the two actions are different (one is focused, the other looks for targets of opportunity), both suggest an easy familiarity with killing people.

And that clergy has already been smacked down once for trying to take too much power. I don't think that trying to upend Alethi culture is going to work very well, no matter what kind of authority the upender might be able to show.

The destruction/survival of humanity might not have been the focus of the last desolation. The fight might have been over an intermediate goal, with humanity's destruction expected to be the result of the *next* desolation - i.e. the one that's referred to multiple times as the Final Desolation.

Maybe, maybe not. We've yet to see how the Radiants fought in a mass battle. If they fought in formation even occasionally, then it would make sense that they'd all carry the same weapon - and it would be whichever weapon the culture advocated using. If the ancestors of the Alethi were more egalitarian regarding who could carry a sword, then it would make sense that all of the Radiants would use swords. A more restrictive view by the modern Alethi on who can carry swords might mean that it makes more sense for any low-born Radiants to carry shard weapons similar to what they're used to using - i.e. spears.

I think Harmony might disagree with you...

Did they? There are indications throughout the book that the humans were tricked into thinking they won, when in reality they lost. It's not entirely clear when this loss occured, what the result of the loss was, or why the humans were able to be tricked in the first place. But what if it's tied into the reason why Parshmen are everywhere in human society?

There's one other place in the Cosmere where we know that hair is important, though it's difficult to find a connection. The sign of the Royal House in Warbreaker is the ability to change hair color. iirc, at one point it's suggested that this is due to a Returned ancestor, indicating a connection to the local magic system. It's not clear how a Returned ancestor might affect the hair color of descendents, or that there's anything that might indicate a connection to Roshar's exotic hair colors. But it might be worth leaving a footnote in the Roshar file just in case it turns out that there really is a connection.

Hard to say. Remember that early on in the book it's mentioned that a properly prepared Line of Forbiddence is capable of stopping a cannonball. When compared to that... The real issue might be that it's not entirely clear what "powerful" means in relation to LoVs.

He used the traditional phrasing! I can see the look on your face, and I know you're wondering why I said what I did...? I guess I need to provide an example... "What's black and white and red all over?"

One possible reason is because something else (perhaps another spren, perhaps not) has already latched onto him. Something's causing his visions, and it might be connected to his seeming lack of spren. Not all spren are immediately apparent, after all. We only know about his nephew's (probably) truth spren because of a single throwaway line. Another possibility is that Dalinar's lack of honor spren is connected to the magic that affected his memory and perception of his wife. It's possible that the spren can't bond with someone who's been affected by it.

I don't think that it would be a good idea to try. At one point Joel intentionally tries to test a Line of Forbiddence, and iirc it's compared to two magnets repulsing each other as you attempt to push them together. If nothing else, the lack of friction in that situation would probably guarantee that you'd be unable to stand up.

Here's one more for you - there's a cop named "Orson". I don't really see the similarity between the short story and Worthing myself. Worthing Saga had a very strong focus on Bad Things that's not present in Defending Elysium. But if you want to run with the idea, then I'm not against tossing a little more fuel on your fire.

It's explicitly stated during the tournament that LoR are not much more powerful than LoV. Joel primarily uses them for the morale effect (the other students aren't familiar with them, after all).

There might be even more to it than that. There's probably a good reason why the chasm fiends pupate at the top of the plateaus instead of down in the chasms where its much safer (and where they ordinarily lurk). Given the fact that they have great big glowing gemhearts, it's not too much of a leap to figure that they're gathering Stormlight. Why? What do they do with the gathered Stormlight, and why do they have gemhearts to begin with?

Fair enough.

I twinged to Denth early on. I've noted the tendency of some authors to include protagonist-centered morality (i.e. if the protagonist does it, then it's automatically okay), and I'm not overly fond of it. As a result, I tend to keep an eye out for it and realized quite quickly that Denth wasn't as warm and fluffy as the story seemed to be pushing you to believe. Dalinar and the shardblade totally caught me off-guard, though. I knew that there was no way he would break his word. But I didn't expect that particular play. The stinger at the end of TWoK was also a "What the-?" moment for me when I realized who had just collapsed on the ground.

Would it be a bit more accurate to start calling it the third Mistborn trilogy, since Alloy of Law got promoted from stand-alone to the start of its own trilogy?

Strings stretch and fray, and that would end up distorting the distance involved between each point. Compasses are explicitly mentioned in the book, but with the caveat that free-handing everything is much faster. So people are aware of the potential for tools to help. It's just that they slow the process down. On another note, I'm wondering if Joel's abilities are purely the result of his practice. He's scarily good at not just eyeballing geometric figures, but at math in general. He supplies the answer to Layton's question just by glancing at the board while Layton is writing the problem - while Joel is simultaneously completing the homework that he'd forgotten about. Sanderson's not above slipping in hints about additional magic systems in the stories that he writes. Elantris has an example with a character (a foreigner) who suddenly reveals that he's quite a bit more capable than previously thought when push comes to shove (without stealing the limelight from the main characters). Perhaps there's a third non-human force in the conflict that's been helping humans, but in a way that has gone unnoticed up until now? Come to think of it, steampunk definitely makes itself felt in the book. And a character at one point proclaims that 'Da Vinci' (presumably Leonardo) was a hack. Maybe there's something important about that?

There's one other important distinction.

That's right. A bit of misremembering on my part. That's assuming that the glow color is based on skin tone. But since we don't know the specifics, it's entirely possible that the Parshendi could glow a different color that's only coincidentally the same color as their skin. Or there might be a relationship between the glow color and the color of the Parshendi's skin that doesn't apply to the Alethi. In any event, there's one more item that I forgot to throw in. If the voidbringers (i.e. Parshendi) had used Stormlight in the past and glowed white like Kaladin, then the old stories probably would have indicated that in at least some cases the voidbringers glowed light instead of dark. Instead they all seem to focus on smoke and flame. The dialogue and train of thought in the sample chapter seem to suggest that the Parshendi are relearning old forms that they knew in the past, which means that this new Storm form of theirs' is one that the humans who wrote the old stories should have been aware of.

I finally listened to this, and it triggered a sudden thought... At the end of the first book, Jasnah discusses the stories about the Voidbringers with Shallan. Jasnah brings Shallan around to the former's way of thinking about the descriptions of the voidbringers - that the smoke and flame are all figurative references to the black and red marbled skin of the Parshmen/Parshendi. But what if the references aren't to their skin? As Kaladin starts to develop his new powers, he tends to suddenly find himself glowing with Stormlight. He's able to suppress it, but only with a (minor) act of will. What if the "smoke" and "flame" that the old stories speak of are, in fact, a reference to what Stormlight (or an equivalent) looks like while radiating from a Parshendi? If the aura generated were a mixture of cloudy black and red instead of glowing white, then it would generate an appearence very similar to fire wreathed in black smoke. Which still leaves another very important question. The Parshendi could have deflected blame for the whole thing. "It wasn't us! It was a human assassin, after all!" The festivities would have been the perfect cover for anyone to send an assassin after the king. But instead I believe we're told that they admitted sending the assassin, and promptly packed up and left (which also would have been a strong suggester of guilt, even if they hadn't flat out admitted to doing it). They appear to have wanted the treaty, and probably could have maintained it with Elhokar if they'd played dumb. But they didn't. Why didn't they?

He is rather boring at the moment. "Slave, go kill so-and-so!" "Yes, master." But presumably he's going to fail an attempted assassination of Dalinar in the next book, and survive. And that might end up providing a little bit of greatly needed character development. In fact, the fallout of a botched assassination attempt against Dalinar, and it's effect on Szeth's mental stability, might even provide a good primary plot for the third book. Hmm... I'm suddenly reminded of the story that Wit related to Kaladin in the Shattered Plains.

Point noted. On the other hand, we see them adapting to fight Kaladin. When he initially engages the Parshendi, he uses the gemstones in their beards to keep himself powered. They realize what he's up to and send guys without gemstones to keep him occupied. So they do show signs of being able to adapt. And if you're going to teach your race (particularly one that appears to have some sort of hive mind or ability to think in synch over long distances) how to fight, picking a fight with the best warriors on the planet is certainly one way to do so (provided your race as a whole survives the lessons...). Just one more possibility.

Hah! Wouldn't that be a plot twist!