junior

The only confirmation is the video, in which it appears she only drew her weapon after Sam did. David thinks that she's avoiding the topic, but he never actually discusses it with her. He does make a note at the end that he's going to need to speak with her about it at some point. So I suspect it'll come up again in 'Calamity'.

Yup. The discussion of the pendant's shape came up after the first book was released, and that seems the most likely conclusion. In particular, Steelheart is essentially Superman without the latter's morals. As such, it's very unlikely that the similarity between the pendant as described and Superman's 'S' is a coincidence.

In and of itself, I suspect he'd survive even if he pulled the trigger all six times. However, I think we're generally on the right track here. There's just something that we haven't figured out yet.

iirc, Abraham's "religion" (I wouldn't actually go so far as to call it that) has no name, but it's followers are referred to as 'The Faithful'. I'd have to double check, and I don't have my book handy, but I thought Steelheart was a high school jock (in addition to being a bully)? Though given that he did badly beat someone at one point, it's likely that he spent time in prison.

My guess for Nightwielder is that he had a thing about skin cancer. Remember - his weakness was UV specifically, not just the sun. And the UV rays from the sun (and tanning devices) are a big cause of skin cancer. Given how it's already known that receiving epic powers messes with your head, it's possible that an epic can't become unafraid of their weakness.

Unfortunately, this can't really be discussed here, imo. A proper discussion of why Steelheart was pretty much guaranteed to *not* rise above it requires inclusion of the info we learned about him in Firefight.

Yeah, I suspect that the nightmares aren't just limited to Megan and Obliteration. So far we've learned the weaknesses of six epics. Of those six, the only unexplained weakness is Nightwielder's weakness to UV light. The other five are all linked to either the background or the personality of the epic before they received their powers. Two of the weaknesses (Kool-Aid and fire) are linked to known events that would traumatize anyone who lived through them. One (compliments) is linked to an apparent backlash against feelings of inadequacy and family expectations on the part of the epic. Another (lack of fear) is a concern for bullies, and we learn that the epic in question was a known bully before his transformation. And the last one (specific music) appears to be linked to something that the guy developed a complex over before he became an epic. I can see all five characters having bad dreams (some more severe than others) about the items in question even before they became epics. Once the characters became epics and knew that the items were their weaknesses, it's not hard to believe that even the mere bad dreams would become out and out nightmares.

"So I make a note of a person, by pointing them out, and then they suffer instant death. So I think I'll call myself Dea... Wait, what? It's been used? By who? Oh, really? But they're not... Oh. Otakus. Yeah, right. Sorry. What was I thinking..."

Prof's powers do appear to have an upper limit. iirc, Steelheart actually did have Prof down and out when David finally stepped in at the climax of the first book. So presumably at some point his regeneration simply slows to a crawl. But he took an incredible amount of punishment to reach that point, and Steelheart himself basically says, "You're the toughest epic I've ever fought."

As I mentioned in the other Obliteration thread, I suspect that he's being motivated by something in his nightmares. I suspect that Obliteration confused his nightmares with some sort of vision of the future, or possibly a calling from God (his "Here am I" comment is along the lines of the latter), and was trying to influence events as a result. The information provided by David about nightmares presumably caused Obliteration to realize that he'd been wrong all along.

Eddy - It's not clear. I don't think we have enough information about that. However, there are two items that suggest he did. The first is his "inspiration" regarding the "meaning" of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. This "inspiration" almost certainly happened before he arrived in Babilar. The second is Regalia's comment regarding how Obliteration had never recovered from receiving his powers. This also suggests that his current mental state is not a new thing. On an unrelated note, I think Obliteration's nightmares are his prime motivator. Based on his final conversation with David, I got the impression that Obliteration is being directly influenced by something in his dreams. He dreams about something that he's either trying to prevent, or trying to bring about. And David's information about nightmares at the end helped Obliteration to realize that what he was dreaming isn't necessarily the truth.

The sticky bomb suggests quite the opposite, in fact - i.e. that he has no control over what comes with him. He had to physically remove his shirt in order to get rid of the bomb.

David felt something even before Calamity spoke to him. He *knew* that he'd been granted epic powers. Presumably he no longer feels that "something", and this is one of the reasons why he believes he no longer has whatever Calamity offered him.

The theory regarding David that I've been considering is that Calamity has an opposite. Calamity makes his presence felt in a very open way, and his agents are very noticeable. Calamity's opposite, on the other hand, uses agents that don't appear to be anyone out of the ordinary. But, as Megan notes about David, these agents are capable of inspiring others.

I don't think Obliteration's touch burned David at the end there. David was already suffering from - at best - massive first degree burns. Imagine a really bad sunburn over your entire body. Then a guy walks up to you and grabs you by the shoulders. It's gonna hurt a *lot*.

Prof seems overly stuck on planning for everything. If you can't plan for it, then it's not worth it. On the one hand, it's good sense, particularly in the business that he's in (i.e. killing supervillains). On the other, he sometimes seems just a touch obsessive about it. And I got the impression that it was part of the reason why he was clashing with David. - David is a seat of the pants kind of guy. Don't get me wrong. David makes plans. But he also improvises at the drop of a hat (something that Megan comments on at one point). And one of Prof's conversations with David indicates that Prof has specifically *avoided* trying to recruit people with that particular talent in the past. - As already mentioned in this thread, Prof sat out the NASA random drawing contest. There was presumably no downside to entering the drawing. But he refused to do so simply because he doesn't like that sort of thing. A random drawing is, by its nature, something that's impossible to plan around. - On one of the instances when David visits Prof while the latter is in seclusion, Prof is performing a simple chemical reaction that he used in the past to impress his young students. Chemicals react in very specific ways when mixed, and that's something that can be planned for. The suggestion is that he's using the familiar predictability to help himself feel grounded and return to his normal mind. I don't think that Tia knows what Prof's weakness is. I suspect that the usual epic paranoia about it applied even to him. But I also suspect that - assuming she went to ground before Prof could kill her - she knows enough about him to figure it out using David's new revelations regarding the connection between weaknesses and fear.

RE - Abraham's pendent The pendent was important. But it was an element of David's character development. David's realized that he no longer hates epics just for being epics. In fact, he feels somewhat sorry for them now that he knows why they're all evil. And probably as a result of that, an important sub-plot of the novel is his attempt to get Prof to become a hero. Toward the end - when he bargains with the street vendor after escaping from Regalia - he has the option to trade the pendent for an item that he needs. Instead, he keeps it and trades his rubber-soled shoes instead because he realizes that he's adopted the creed that the pendent represents.

Even when she's trying to be nice in this book, she has trouble with her sociopathy. And that's after very minor uses of her power. We see similar personality swings from her in Steelheart. The reality warping stunts that she pulled while confronting High Epic Phaedrus should have had an effect that she would have been unable to hide. Despite her best efforts (and that's assuming that she would have even cared at that point), something would have leaked through any facade she tried to put up. The fact that David spends several hours around her and finds no evidence of it strongly suggests that the corruptive aspect of her powers is (at least temporarily) gone.

I don't think Kaladin would go for it, either. Not necessarily because Shallan's a Lighteyes. But because 1.) she's attempting a long-term relationship with him under a fake identity, and 2.) she's using the fake identity because she's betrothed to someone else. In Shallan's specific case, he'd probably claim that the reason why he didn't like it was "more Lighteyes games". But I don't think he'd be happy if a Darkeyes was doing something similar. Disguises might be appropriate for quick trysts. But a long-term relationship shouldn't work that way.

It's possible. But we know that Jasnah can soulcast "on the fly", as it were, due to the incident where Shallan was poisoned.

While possible, I'd be surprised if Renarin's spren turns into a shardblade at this point. Given that it appears he's only been aware of the bond for a short time, I suspect that he's still got a little more work to do before his spren grants him the blade.

Bandoliers don't only hold ammunition. That's merely what we're most used to seeing them associated with. A bandolier is any strap that goes diagonally across the chest. They're typically used as a convenient point to attach things to, though that's not a requirement. I used to own a bandolier that was meant to hold the canteen that it was sold with (although I never used the bandolier to do so). Edit - While there's no mention of anything actually attached to the bandolier, there are likely small pouches or similar containers hanging off of it. And something like that could easily carry spheres. Though imo a more likely place for any spheres would be the backpack, since she doesn't need to touch them to draw stormlight from them. That's not what I got out of it. What he says is that she didn't start out with it. i.e. she didn't have it when she entered shadesmar (probably when she fled the ship after being attacked). A culture like Roshar will have people who do lots of traveling and need a way to keep lots of things close at hand when they do so. The optimal solution to such a problem is a wagon or cart, but not everyone can afford such a thing. The alternative is things like backpacks and bandoliers... and that appears to be exactly what we see here. Jasnah has spent a lot of time away from her usual conveniences (at the very least, she's spent a lot of time in Shadesmar). She's needed a way to carry supplies such as food, and likely writing implements. The backpack allows her to carry lots of stuff easily. But she has to take it off and unpack it to get something being carried. The bandolier allows her to make sure that some things are readily available in the event that she needs something in a hurry.

The Stormfather specifically calls Dalinar's shardblade an "abomination". Given the Stormfather's obsessions, that sounds more like the name that he'd use to refer to a dead spren blade, and not a blade handed over by Honor.

Whoever he is, he's not just a random madman. Shallan creates an illusion in his presence, and he *immediately* identifies it as such and recognizes what she is. He even identifies the Herald associated with her order. *Very* few people in Roshar should be able to do that, and a random madman is not going to be one of those people.

I think a better example would be the English language. Sure, you can say you're speaking English. But is it English English (i.e. English as spoken in England)? Or is it American English? Australian English?