Captain.Kaulu

I've gotten better at spotting Brandon's tricks. Pretty much everything blindsided me back when I read Elantris. UBER-SUCCESS: The first time I was told about atium, before I had even read Mistborn, I thought of watching someone who is burning atium carefully and using their "reactions" to what you're about to do in order to change your actions and circumvent their atium power. When none of the characters thought of that for a book and a half, I just assumed that atium's mental enhancements made such a pre-reaction impossible. Then I got annoyed when that was the climactic move in Vin's last fight with Zane. That might have been my least favorite moment in any of Brandon's books ... it's a good thing it came right after TenSoon's Crowning Moment of AWESOME when he switched sides and saved Vin. SUCCESS: I figured out Shallan's shardblade pretty early. I figured out Vin's earring pretty early in Hero of Ages, and even guessed that was going to be Marsh's contribution to the good guys at the climax. I figured out how Marasi's allomantic power was going to help the good guys, pretty much as soon as we found out she had it. MUSHY: I caught Kaladin's magic powers before they were completely obvious, but not the first time they were hinted at. I guessed that the Mistfallen were going to end up being atium-Mistings, but not until a few pages before it was totally revealed. FAIL: Denth's betrayal shocked me. Sazed being the HoA (i.e. the one writing the epigraphs in HoA) should have been obvious from the tone all along, but for some reason my mind kept setting that possibility aside. "OreSeur" being the spy/impostor wasn't something I ever really considered -- like Vin, I took him at his word about when exactly the switch had happened, and therefore logically eliminated him as a suspect. Sigh. I didn't think of Lightsong healing Susebron's tongue until, like, one paragraph before it happened. I didn't get the hints of the parshmen being Voidbringers until Jasnah said so. But more than any of the others, I can't believe I didn't catch on to Ruin's ability to alter writings. It's foreshadowed in THE FIRST BLASTED LINE OF THE BOOK. "Anything not written in metal cannot be trusted." How did I overlook that???

Just as reciting a Command in Nalthis activates an Awakening, and directs what that awakening will do, magic in Roshar might be activated -- and its purpose or strength determined -- by the user committing verbally to a particular bond. Kaladin recites a new Oath to do some new tricks with his Windrunning. Shallan has to tell the truthspren a powerful truth -- a type of bond -- to enter Shadesmar. Szeth has taken an Oath to obey the holder of his Oathstone. Dalinar started having magical things happen to him after he committed to following the Code. Admittedly, it's clear that Kaladin and Szeth don't need to take new Oaths every time they use (some of the powers of) Windrunning, and we don't know enough about the others to know if they have to use their Bonds every time they perform magic. Although the Truthsprens' statement to Shallan sure sounded like she has to focus every act of Soulcasting with a new true statement (preferably powerful) to them. There were examples of these quoted earlier in the thread -- Szeth blinking when he is performing Lashings, and Jasnah taking a deep breath during her massacre of the alley thugs.

I am really curious why Vin's super-intuition told her to avoid contact with Hoid in Hero of Ages.

I love the idea that the body parts might be the foci, but I think the focus being Oaths and Bonds is a lot more likely. For one thing, it goes very well with the Intent of the Honor Shard (assuming that all Surgebinding is of Honor, which I believe to be correct). It fits well for Kaladin, Dalinar, Shallan, and Szeth alike. And it seems to be possibly compatible with the idea that it shapes what they're trying to do with their magic, too. What turns me off to the Body Focus list is actually some of the examples that have been given of these body parts featuring prominently in the different characters' use of magic. Certainly "Soul" seems to be tied to Jasnah and Shallan's, and Inhalation tied to Kaladin and Szeth's; but Szeth also uses Eyes, and Jasnah uses Inhalation and/or Exhalation, as well as her hands (which could be Bone, Flesh, Nails, Blood ...) and I think she's also said to close her Eyes to Soulcast as well. So it seems more likely to me that all of the body focus list can be used by all of the Orders of Surgebinding. I do think Soul is an oddity in the Body Focus List, like Chaos commented a few times. This is especially interesting given that "Soul," in Mormon jargon, means "the whole person -- the whole body, the mind, the spirit, the emotions, all of it." (Not that the Cosmere is always compatible with Mormon theology, of course. But I thought that might give a clue to what "Soul" really means on this list ... and it doesn't.) My current theory is that "Soul" is a mistake on the list, much like Atium never really seemed equal to all the other Allomancy metals ... and it turned out not to be one of the sixteen base metals at all. Perhaps as the series progresses, we'll learn that a different (more specific) aspect of a person is actually the Third Body Focus. Back to the original theory, trying to figure out exactly what role Spren play in Surgebinding ... it's evident that they're the Trigger, but it seems like they should be something more -- but [citation needed] didn't Brandon at one point confess that Stormlight is actually a bound form of Spren? Those of you who are more well-read in the Brandonthology than I, where did I get that idea from? [Possibly should be in a different thread] Finally, as regards the "30 magic systems" thing, that makes me think that each of the 10 kinds of Surgebinding might be correlated to one kind of Voidbinding (which I assume is related to Odium), and correlated to one kind of Old Magic (which, by elimination, I've assumed for a while is related to Cultivation). Which opens up some very interesting ideas about why some people are more or less satisfied with the boon and curse that the Nightwatcher gives them -- perhaps it correlates to what Order of Surgebinding they're aligned towards (regardless of whether they are actually Surgebinders or not) ...

While I'm not personally a big Apple fan, I have to admit that making Adonalsium 2.0 an Apple product (especially a tablet) would work well with trying to incorporate Brandon's non-Cosmere writings into the whole theory a la the Alcatraz connection ...

Radiation shielding seems a rather good reason. Also, temperature control. There are more things in space that will kill you than lack of oxygen.

You had me* until this part: Whatever else Hoid is, he's certainly creative enough to come up with a meaningful cover name. * Not really. Although I could see him as a morally-gray in between character rather than a hero.

BOOYAH! Good work, all -- especially DiscipleOfHoid! OK, so Blunt is indeed the "still missing" member of the trio. Demoux has gotten longevity somehow, whether by compounding Atium like Marsh or something else. And this is additional evidence that the Seventeenth Shard Hoid-Hunters are good guys, although it's still possible that they're deceived into thinking they're doing something good when they actually aren't.

Sure, but Brandon told me it was someone we should be able to guess, based on the description of their appearance. ... which could mean it's not a Returned. Hmmmmm ...

Ah, interesting. Perhaps the Roshar myths of Roshar being a secondary world for its people, after they were kicked out of the Tranquiline Halls, are more literal than I suspected. Perhaps the original world they lived on was the other planet in the same system; the one Bavadin is occupying.

AKA "Anything not written in metal cannot be trusted" syndrome.

From what I've gathered ... meaningful, yes; important, no. Brandon's said that, to avoid the exponential growth of viewpoint characters that has happened in Wheel of Time, he wrote the Interludes as a way to take "sneak peeks" at other parts of the world, without committing himself to explore deeply in any of those directions. It was implied that most of the Interlude characters other than Szeth (and Taravangian) won't really get explored much more in the course of the main plot. That said, of course they'll have an influence. Brandon hinted that the discovery the old couple of Ardents makes about measuring the spren (*cough quantum physics references cough*) will end up having a huge impact on the technology that fabrial engineers will be able to invent in the near future. But that doesn't mean we'll ever hear about those two again. I don't think we'll ever see Ishikk again (the Purelake dude), except maybe as a cameo. I think that interlude is probably mostly just to give us clues about the wider storyline of the worldhoppers and the Seventeenth Shard hunting Hoid. (After all, this interlude has already gotten almost the most attention in the book, just on that basis!) I bet we'll see more of Nan Ballat when we learn more about Shallan and resolve her family situation in some way, but I don't think he'll ever become a major character. This interlude is mostly to give us insight about Shallan's backstory. I don't think we'll ever see Rysn and Vstim (the Shinovar-journey merchants) again, except maybe as a cameo. This interlude is mostly to give us hints about Szeth's backstory. I kind of doubt we'll see Axies the Spren scholar Aimian again, except maybe as a cameo. This interlude was probably mostly just to get us thinking about spren and what they really are. I doubt we'll see much more of Baxil, Av, and their mistress (the art-destroying burglars) ... this interlude was probably mostly to get us thinking about the Nightwatcher. Although this one is more of a puzzle than most. Why the heck are they smashing art? OK, maybe this one will tie into a future sub-plot more than most. As a side note, it's kind of weird that none of the interludes give us any views of the parshmen or Parshendi. I suspect they will in future books, now that we've gotten a few key hints about the parshmen that were intended as major plot twists.

Question: since Atium is not one of the base 16 metals, then why were 1/16th of the Mistings in Hero of Ages, Seers? Was that just Preservation messing with the normal order of things as part of his plan to checkmate Ruin? Or were the "Seers" actually Mistings of some unknown metal (probably a temporal metal, Cadmium or Corrobend), who were able to burn Atium due to its similarity to their actual allomantic power?

Hummmmm, when Brandon told me that all the Ars Arcanum are written by the same (in-universe) character, for some reason I thought he was referring only to the four Scadrial AAs. Does anyone have a statement from him that specifically references anything in the other worlds? If not, this could explain why they have very different writing styles in their AAs. I personally think it's Hoid. Judging by his storytelling skills, he certainly seems to be enough of a know-it-all to write such notes. I do think it's someone who, along with the reader, is clearly learning more and more about Allomancy/Feruchemy/Hemalurgy as the different Scadrial books progress.

Both the implication in my own conversation with Brandon, and (more importantly) Peter's post earlier in this very thread confirm that only Galladon is from Sel. Did Warbreaker ever describe Vasher as having dark skin? Vasher seems an unlikely guess to me, just because ... his story's not really complete yet, so it would be weird for him to go off worldhopping. Until the sequel to Warbreaker is written, that is. (Of course, chronological order is a foolish axiom to assume. But Brandon has said he doesn't tend to like prequels.)

Brandon repeated the 36 Cosmere Novels statistic to me at the Alloy of Law signing, so it appears to still be the plan. It sounded like Alloy of Law and any other "short" books don't count, however -- only "epic"-length novels are counted in the 36. (Non-Shard worlds of the Cosmere could, like Alloy of Law, end up being short "break" books that he writes.) So ... 10 Stormlight 9 Mistborn (epic-length) 3 Elantris 2 Warbreaker 3 White Sand (assuming the trilogy info on it is still up-to-date) 1 Silence Divine 7 Dragonsteel = 35 books. Meaning the other three worlds would all have to be covered in one book ... or, as was theorized, in cross-over books, like the space-faring Mistborn trilogy.

Update on this stuff ... I got Brandon to discuss it a little bit at the end of his recent signing in San Diego. He said that out of the three characters chasing Hoid in the Purelake, besides Galladon, the other two characters are also worldhoppers. It was strongly implied that all three of them are from different worlds. He said that one of the three characters is from a book and world that have not been written yet, so there was no way it could be guessed. (I don't know for sure if this is true of people who have read his written-but-unpublished works ... I suppose it could be from one of those worlds.) But he said the third character is one that can be guessed from his description in Way of Kings, but that no one (to his knowledge) has correctly guessed yet. So ... some character from Warbreaker or Mistborn is with Galladon. Brandon said that the character's physical description is quite similar in Way of Kings and in the original source material. (Of course the Way of Kings description is colored by the Purelake narrative perspective, though.) I got the idea that it was a pretty minor character, but I could be wrong about that. So ... someone, quick, go through Warbreaker and the Mistborn trilogy all with a fine-tooth comb and see which minor character is described the same as Blunt or Thinker!