Weltall

Being the emperor of a continent-spanning power doesn't fit Hoid's usual MO at all and doesn't fit with what Brandon has told us of Hoid's appearance in the story: Skathan (whose name got changed in the adaptation) is mentioned multiple times and never in this context. Ergo, Skathan is not Hoid.

You really need to read Bands of Mourning. What you're suggesting is unnecessary (and quite dangerous, for reasons you'll see when you read the book) because the means of granting someone allomancy or feruchemy have been described to us and harmonium is not required. We don't fully understand the mechanics of it but we do know that much. I'm not sure I understand what you're suggesting here. The fact that Harmony can't locate/control Paalm while she's using trellium spikes isn't the power that the spikes themselves grant, it is instead a secondary effect of their being made from the godmetal of another Shard. The spikes themselves are able to steal different powers, given that we see Paalm use them to give herself allomantic and feruchemical abilities.

That wouldn't work. As mentioned, hemalurgy does not have a Spiritual component that can be spiked. Anyone, anywhere in the Cosmere can do it as long as they have the necessary knowledge plus (and this is the really important bit) the intent to create a spike. The only way you could 'give someone hemalurgy' with hemalurgy would be if you spiked them with F-Copper and separately gave them a coppermind with knowledge of the system. Which would be redundant since you could achieve the exact same result by simply telling the person how the system works. Harmonium probably does not grant feruchemy for two reasons. First, the whole 'explodes violently when it gets wet' thing is a bit of a hurdle to overcome. Second, feruchemy got into the Teris population thousands of years before harmonium could have existed, which makes it unlikely that the metal has such an effect. Also, Brandon has stated that lerasium's primary function is not 'make the user a mistborn' but something else that he hasn't yet revealed to us.

There's lots to Mormonism, which isn't terribly surprising as Brandon is LDS so it's obviously a major influence. He's mentioned that he doesn't generally do it consciously but it obviously comes out in some of his concepts. There's also some specific examples where he's mentioned he did intentionally draw upon it, like having The Way of Kings (the book) being inspired by King Benjamin's speech from Mosiah. The importance of writing engraved in metal in Mistborn Era 1 is probably an unconscious influence from Mormonism as well. He's also drawn a lot from Korea/China/Japan, inspired by his time there as an LDS missionary and then subsequent trips but those don't generally have specific passages in a book you could point to (a lot has to do with writing systems and their influence on Selish magic, for example). He has mentioned Sun Tzu as one direct inspiration, so I suppose you could find a specific quotes from there if you sat down with a copy. For example, during WoK Dalinar echoes The Art of War when he decries the strains that the prolonged campaign on the Shattered Plains is putting on Alethkar economically and politically. There's a recent topic where people have discussed the subject and there's probably more you could find with a search.

Given that Skyward itself was a 'Secret Project' until he formally announced it, this could literally be anything he's ever mentioned an interest in writing (that isn't predicated on some other work being finished first) or something we've not yet heard of. I'd love it to be the Aztlanian, though he didn't sound like he was close to it at the Oathbringer signing I was at when someone asked him about it, or in the SotS. And Adamant sounds like it could be lots of fun, but I doubt he'd work on two sci-fi projects back to back. Brandon has said that for certain Cosmeric reasons he won't reveal, we aren't getting Era 3 until after the Elantris sequels are done. Their release date in turn is 'some time after The Lost Metal is finished' and that isn't slated for release until Fall 2019 so the odds of this new project having anything to do with Mistborn aside from maybe a side novella are similar to the odds that I'll wake up tomorrow a Truthwatcher. Whose powers I would totally not abuse to spy on Brandon and see what he's writing...

Okonomiyaki is indeed delicious but it's also generally not salty. At least, not the examples I've had.

The 'real' explanation probably has to do with the tenth pancake being symbolic of one of the Heralds. Given what Oathbringer told us about Ishar as both the 'Binder of Gods' and his current activities, the Tashi in whose memory the tenth pancake is dedicated could well be him; he's mentioned as the Binder of the World for example. Somewhat less likely, it could be Taln (the obvious 'Herald left out') but OB makes me suspect Ishar is the most likely candidate. Of course, if you think that Ishar is knowingly or unknowingly working for Team Odium then it doesn't hurt your argument any. However, I am entirely in favor of explaining Life, the Cosmere and Everything via Pancakeology. There is the in-universe Palates of Personality which indulges in jam-based psychoanalysis, after all. So I'll start on some Pancake=Unmade correlations: - There's one with sugar in the center. I submit that this is the Pancake of Ashtermarn. His whole thing is mindless indulgence. Clearly he is the Unmade who would encourage you to overeat sweet things and thus, develop hardened arteries. And what is Ashtermarn's appearance? A heart. QED. - The one that's covered in crunchy seeds must refer to Chemoarish. She's the 'Dustmother' and the seeds are actually symbolic of the grit implied in that name, thus the pancake is eaten in memory of her. - There's a pancake that's eaten for prosperity in the coming year. What can this be other than the Pancake of Moelach, the Unmade so associated with seeing the future? Eating this pancake is an attempt to symbolically become closer to the Unmade by invoking his aspect. - The pancake that's salty and contains chopped vegetables must be Re-Shephir's pancake. Why? Because she's known as the Midnight Mother who gives birth to abominations and that pancake sounds storming disgusting. xD - My last thought is that the one that's fluffy and almost insubstantial but comes with a dipping sauce must be of Yelig-Nar. The 'insubstantial' comment makes a clear reference to the Unmade's smoke-like form while the separate dipping sauce is in recognition of how he works by possessing a host, thus two things becoming one.

There are some differences but nothing major so far, and what has changed can't be discussed outside the Prose-specific board. Ask again in a day or two once we've had time to read the second volume and the answer might change.

Well darn. Of course that opens other possibilities (like Subvisual Haze's 'Division stealth') explaining their powers of judgment so I'm not too broken up about the idea being shot down. xD

Huh, never thought of the possibility before. Given the whole 'Spiritual Adhesion' thing that Bondsmiths are revealed to be capable of (something very different from what Windrunners can do) I imagine that it's possible there are other neat applications of surges that particular Orders can make use of. A form of stealth (even if it's just making it harder for someone to sense your presence rather than a flavor of invisibility) would fit with known Cosmere mechanics and would work well in the context of the Order that serves as the 'Radiant Police' of sorts. My guess on the 'divide the innocent and guilty' thing is that it's the Skybreaker 'Resonance' in the same way that Windrunners get more/stronger squires, as those perks don't necessarily have to be explained as strictly as the powers and their combination alone can manage. If it was just being able to observe stealthily, I don't think the in-universe Words of Radiance would have mentioned that this talent was believed to be unrelated to the Skybreaker surges. You can make a mental roadmap to the Windrunner perk by looking at their surges (attracting people to you/binding them together as a group) but not entirely certain how you get 'judge guilt' from the combination of Gravitation and Division. The latter's pretty obvious but I'm not sure how Gravitation fits in, except for a silly quote from the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise about 'souls being weighed down by gravity' that won't get out of my head. But I do think that's probably the source of the power rather than a clever application of Division that's unique to the Order. Like the Windrunner perk, it seems to be a passive thing rather than an active use of the surges. Mind you, I don't think this says anything against your 'Division-based stealth' idea, I'm just thinking there's a different mechanism at work in this specific area.

Another possibility, if you're running something like NoScript it might interfere with your ability to see the progress bars.

Welcome to Kaladin's WoR character arc. You love him but at the same time you sometimes want to smack him upside the head. xD

Yeah, aside from Edgedancer being set after (and thus spoiling parts of) Words of Radiance there's nothing you should have to worry about considering the books you've finished. And you've used the common fan abbreviation right. You can find a collection of common ones here if you're curious about others.

Roshar has aluminum via soulcasting, Sel has it naturally (they call it Ralkalest) and they have access to it on Nalthis as well since Nightblood's sheath has been confirmed to be made from aluminum. Consequently, the only major shardworld where we do not have any mention of aluminum so far is Taldain.

It's emphasized during the final battle that he trained in all of the surges, which means that he's trained with multiple Honorblades.

Yay, more Aether discussion! xD Here's a topic where we've talked about how we'd go about 'fixing' the book which should provide some good reading. Without recapping my thoughts there too much, I expect some combination of the following to happen, with the working assumption that Brandon retains both halves of the plot (the 'mistaken identity/wedding' plot and the 'Zombie Forgotten Apocalypse' plot) to some extent. - The backstory involving the Former, Decay and the Fell Twins gets massively revised. My current idea involves Preservation and Ruin playing a backstory role but not an active one and they essentially take Decay's role in imprisoning the Twins. The Twins were the children of a new Shard that originally Invested the world and each have half of that Shard's power. See the linked topic for all the details. - The ending omits the hook for a sequel that's never going to happen and the Twins stay dead. I haven't decided in my head yet what happens to the power of the Shard. - Aethers get much more explanation since Brandon didn't fully have the mechanics of the Cosmere set out when the original story was written (he's mentioned that it was during the writing of Mistborn that a lot of things started getting solidified in his mind) which includes a more prominent role for the Ferrous bonds. I'm assuming the four types (plus the two 'God Aethers') remain largely unchanged and the last State of the Sanderson certainly suggests this will be the case. - The number of bridal candidates gets reduced by a sudden attack of the plot early on, allowing only those who are significant characters to remain, keeping this plotline from bogging down with extraneous characters. This would be D'Naa, Nahan, Alean and Tae (see the other topic for why I include her). - The 'Forgotten come back after being defeated the first time' plot is dropped entirely as a narrative cheat. Instead Laene is prompted by the Patriarch to stage a coup at the end which drives the cast out of the capital, puts them in the position of looking elsewhere for allies and getting the backstory infodump currently found in the trip to the Verdant source. This also sets up Laene for comeuppance which he doesn't really get in the existing story. Alean is removed from the bridal plot either by direct involvement in the coup or by association, thus removing the extremely uncomfortable way she was written out in the draft. - The Shentis get developed earlier on rather than serving as something of an afterthought and the Gol and Viglix are removed completely as they don't really contribute anything.

It definitely predates the Iridescent Tones. I don't think that the Tones were literally influenced by Dadradah (just Brandon mentioning an idea he had which he wanted to explore in more detail, a la Lightsong being an exploration of an unbuilt idea from Elantris) but since we know Scadrial was tied into the wider Cosmere it's at least possible there was some influence. The books up through Alloy of Law were published in in-universe chronological order, so we can be confident in stating that Dadradah existed for at least four hundred years longer than the Tones, by working backwards: Warbreaker happens at least a little time after Mistborn Era 1 and by implication from Brandon closer to Era 2, but let's just pretend they follow back to back for purposes of argument. The Tones' development can be traced back to Vo, who lived about three hundred years before the Manywar per Hoid's story, which itself happened about three hundred years before the events of Warbreaker. Thus the Tones are about six hundred years old. Dadradah predates the Final Empire, which means it was an extant religion at least a thousand years before the events of Warbreaker, giving it four centuries of lead time on the Iridescent Tones at absolute minimum.

Only if you completely ignore that Brandon refers to Ash and Shalash as the same person, in favor of a ridiculously strained interpretation that because the former is a nickname for the latter, they could somehow be two different people with one assuming the other's identity. To say that this explanation throws logic completely out the window would be an understatement. Also, bear in mind that in the WoR Prologue, Kalak says that Ash is getting worse. This statement makes absolutely no sense if he and Nale do not both understand this to mean Shalash.

Brandon has answered this question, right here.

Because the idea that Mraize and Hoid are the same person requires just as much twisting of the text as the idea that Ash and Shalash are not the same person, requires one to ignore the obvious reading of several WoBs and whose plausibility also pretty much boils down to 'it hasn't been absolutely positively disproven, so it could still be true'. As for what kind of argument this is, it's called an analogy. If you can see why the Hoid=Mraize argument is absurd, you can perhaps see why the Ash=Anyone But Shalash argument is also kind of absurd.

Interesting questions both. Assuming you could physically affix a stamp to a Shade and not get killed in the process (which seems rather tricky on both fronts) I imagine that it's technically possible you could temporarily revive a person with it in the same way that you can heal with Forgery or you could technically Forge someone to death but.it would probably have all the usual issues of plausibility, require the right knowledge of the human and the manner in which they first became a Shade and you'd have to work past the extra Investiture they have on account of being a Cognitive Shadow. And it would probably do some funky paradox things. My guess is that the insubstantial nature of a Shade would probably make it impossible right from the start, but who knows? As for turning a human into a Shade with one, I refer you to the WoB I linked to. I imagine it's possible you could do that if 'this person died and became a Shade' was something sufficiently plausible that you could get the stamp to take. Probably not going to work anywhere but Threnody if it works at all, and it might not hold even if it were possible since they'd become insubstantial, then the Physical aspect that the soulstamp is stuck to would go away, then the stamp would fail just like they do when you physically pry them off a Forged object. There's also the question whether or not a soulstamp has the necessary Investiture to carry out the Forgery in question (in this case, giving a human the Investiture needed to become a Cognitive Shadow) but Brandon has implied that a Forger could get external power boosts to do things that wouldn't normally be possible so it's not likely to be an insurmountable obstacle on its own.

It's possible in the same sense that it's possible that Hoid and Mraize are the same person, based on the argument that the latter somewhat reminded Shallan of the former at first and that two haven't been seen simultaneously in separate locations so we can't absolutely declare that Hoid isn't using some secret magic system to whisk himself from spot to spot to make the timelines work. However, it would require a huge amount of unsupported assumptions and would require us to place undue weight on one single line of text while ignoring the mountains of evidence that they're different people.

Good call on the death rattle, it does say that and it also calls her 'the vandal' and the daughter of winds as well, reinforcing the Jezrien connection. It all lines up very neatly. On Liss and Szeth (my bad, I goofed on remembering how to spell her name), it's at least possible to reconcile it with the idea that she's Chana if you assume that Szeth kept his possession of the blade a secret. We know he very much wants his masters to not know about it so there's nothing unusual with that idea. We do have the conversation between Nale and Kalak indicating that they knew he had an Honorblade but it's quite possible that Nale already was aware of that (he's been watching Szeth for a long time) as opposed to their having some method of sensing that he was carrying one. So if Liss is Chana, she wouldn't necessarily have the means to know Szeth was carrying Jezrien's blade unless the latter revealed it in some way.

Thing is, Brandon has effectively confirmed that Ash is Shalash. He mentioned back in 2014 that we've already seen Shalash (not 'Ash', Shalash) running around. He also soft-confirmed that 'Ash' is indeed Shalash, although the WoB is a paraphrase. Here's another. It's simply impossible for Ash to not be a Herald since she and Taln both feel Jezrien's death and every single piece of evidence lines up to her being who the text and her own thoughts paint her as. For example, she reacts to the aforementioned death of Jezrien by saying that her father is dead. You'd have to be a special kind of insane to go that far in your delusion. The fact that Taln recognizes her as Ash makes it even harder to buy the idea that she's another one of the four pretending to be Shalash. Especially as the only Herald other than Shalash who could possibly disguise her appearance.with Illumination is Pali and she is (at last report) in Kharbranth. And couldn't even surgebind because her Honorblade is currently in Shinovar. So the only way Ash could disguise her appearance (if you really want to assume she's not Shalash against all the evidence) would be... to already have a Nahel Bond and be a Lightweaver or Truthwatcher. As for Chana, if she's anyone we've seen so far (Brandon has implied we have) Lyss seems to be a rather good candidate.

Rashek learned a lot from his time Ascended but he didn't have anything close to the full knowledge of a Shard. Brandon's mentioned that Rashek's method of prolonging his lifespan wasn't terribly efficient (and would eventually have failed him) and that there are much better ways he could have done it. He's mentioned manipulating Connection as something that would have been more difficult to do but also far more efficient. Rashek didn't know enough to do that, whether such manipulation would require the Well's power or if it could have been done with some cunning and currently unknown applications of the Metallic Arts. We know the Well did have the power to grant a form of immortality but Brandon has said that the trick would have worked with any sufficient source of Investiture so it wasn't directly related to Preservation's power as such. And that produced a Cognitive Shadow, which wouldn't have suited Rashek's purposes at all. So while there are ways Rashek could have made himself immortal with all that power, it's highly unlikely that he could have learned how in the limited time he had (especially since he spent most of that time trying to stop the Deepness, then correct the problems he caused in doing so) and it must have been more complex than just willing it to be so.