Toaster Retribution

Yay, Szeth is back! He seems to be really good at being a prisoner.

Also, am I the only one who gets wierd vibes from the Mink wandering around learning about the security and everything? Could he be a spy for Odium (or the Ghostbloods, or someone else?)

Furthermore, tossing Nergaul into the ocean is dumber than the time the Sons of Honor decided to revitalize religion by ending the world. Odium is just gonna call Dai-Gonarthis, aka the Black Fisher, and Nergaul will be free again. 

On 2020-10-15 at 9:48 PM, Aspiring Writer said:

Moash (prepares for battle) is a great character.

Agreed. The kind of reaction he has gotten shows that. However, he is decidedly unlikeable, but that doesn´t make him a bad caharcter. In fact, I think he is similar to Jasnah in the regard. Both are (in my opinion) unlikeable, but also very well-written. 

Ehhhh.... probably, with school or something. I’ll say yes. 

Never have I ever attempted to cheat at a test in school.

The only Pratchett book I have read is Guards, Guards (I know, I know, I should read the others, and I will). I was excited for this though, and I think Richard Dormer is great casting for Vimes. I love his portrayal of Beric Dondarrion in GoT. So it is a complete mystery to me why they chose to have Dormer do Jack Sparrow instead of Sam Vimes. Sure, Dormer is a surprisingly good Jack Sparrow, but that is not how I remember Vimes. 

I think it looks like it could be fun, as long as you manage to forget what it is supposed to be based on.

21 hours ago, Karger said:

Shallan's fourth alter.

Thanks. Read the Formless-thread directly after posting that comment, so I’m up to speed now :-)

17 hours ago, Jaywalk said:

Amen to that. There’s plenty of Fire Emblem characters who aren’t generic sword characters (we really didn’t need Chrom, honestly).

I’m biased against removing Chrom since he is one of my favorite characters in Awakening. But I get your point, his moveset doesnt offer anything new. I would have personally preferred if they had added Chrom instead of Lucina in Smash 4, and swapped Robin for another mage character who actually has a personality (like Tharja, Henry, or even Anna). Byleth could have been any of the house leaders (or just all three of them with a swap-mechanic). Corrin probably wins the award for most boring character in Fire Emblem ever, and thus shouldn’t have made it into the game. Put in Leo instead. 

They should add more Fire Emblem characters to Smash. Like, actual characters, not the player-insert protagonist. Give me Anna, Edelgard, Xander, Hubert, Basilio, Shamir, Frederick, Ryoma, etc. 

I honestly dont want multiverses to be a big thing in the MCU. 

The 100 is one of the best tv-series ever made.

Playing Three Houses at the moment, and I can´t stand Rhea. She is either annoyingly boring, or a manipulative bag of crem. I never buy that she really cares about the people she hangs out with either.

Also, while I´m at it: basically every supernatural dragon/fairy character from Fire Emblem. The dragon-thingy (Lilith was her name, I think) in Fates was the worst one, but pretty much all of them are either boring or annoying, often a combination of the two. 

I broke my toe when I was like four years old. Fell off the kitchen bench when climbing on it. So I think that counts?

Never have I ever 100% completed a video game.

I agree with Bliev, I dont buy that Formless is one of Mraizes operatives, or that Formless killed Ialai. It doesn't really make sense, and the implication in the text is quite clearly that Formless is not established as of yet. 

I do think though that the as-of-yet nonexistent Formless is a distinct personality, and not various different potential ones, like Cal is suggesting. Shallan and Veil seems to be scared of "Formless" in singular, which I read as a single, specific persona.

Who is Formless? Im drawing a blank on him/her/it.

Also, regarding the morality of the Ghostbloods, they are a self-interested third party, willing to play any side to get what they want. I think they are something like a more evil version of Hoid or the 17th Shard. Pretty sure that they will be mostly villanious down the line. 

On 2020-10-07 at 7:15 AM, Eluvianii said:

the general consensus is that only hard magic is good and worth reading, but there's plenty of soft magic still being written and it works just fine.

I´d argue that this is the general consensus on the Shard, not necessarily in the wider sci-fi/fantasy community. But I agree: both have their charm. Just look at Lord of the Rings. The magic system is incredibly soft (I honestly still have no clue as to what Gandalf can and can't do, or how) but they are still praised as the foundation of the fantasy genre.

Late to the party, but I just wanna throw in that the fact that people still, ten years after the final book, are still debating wether or not Snape was a good guy, means that he is an incredibly well-written character. I personally really like him, not necessarily as a person, but defenitely as a character. Writing-wise, he is Rowling at her best.

Just now, robardin said:

I thought it was interesting that there are so many insane Fused, who just sit around staring or giggling. Why are they even coming back into a physical form? Is it a cycle they cannot control? Like, wouldn't Odium be better off "unplugging" them so that the sacrifices of bodies for housing Fused aren't essentially wasted?

They are on a five-Desolation contract, and Odium will be in trouble with the Fused workers-union if he fires them, even though he would very much like to. But he can't risk a general strike on Braize, so he has to put up with the antics of those insane Fused. 

Just now, Bliev said:

but this could result in Leshwi's attempting to protect him? I don't know. So many possibilities. The foreshadowing  here with Venli's  comments  about Leshwi's interest in Kal is surely important. 

I think this might be a really good prediction. Could defenitely see Leshwi being killed by Lezian while defending Kaladin, and then has her spirit obliterated by Odium, leading to her permanent death (pretty sure Odium can do that, he threatened Turash with it at the end of OB. Also, where is Turash? He was cool). 

1 minute ago, The Ryshadium said:

I'm almost certain Lezian will kill multiple characters Kaladin cares about in his pursuit of Kaladin. Someone from bridge four is dying by Lezian. 

I can defenitely see this, even though I think the most likely Bridge Four-killer will be Moash. Would feel a lot more emotional, since he has a personal connection to the bridgemen, which Lezian doesn't have. And also, Moash is on a killing spree at the moment, and he shows no signs of slowing down. 

Honestly, with both Moash and Lezian running around, Odium defenitely has enough unhinged serial assassins. 

On 2020-10-05 at 7:33 PM, Oltux72 said:

Amaram -> reported to Restares

Amaram with multiple personality disorder?

Just now, Gilphon said:

Mhm. That comment really makes me think specifically of Lezian. Like his entire schtick is aggressively going after people who have beaten him in the past, and I think he has a pretty low chance of actually managing to kill Kaladin. So I find myself wondering how that's gonna be handled. 

The predictable thing would be him going after Kaladin and dying permanently at the end of the book somehow. Therefore, that wont happen.

I wouldn´t be surprised if he, as a way of "taking out" Kaladin, kills one of, or maybe even both, of Kaladins parents. Would certainly be easier than beating Stormblessed himself.

Really enjoyed this chapter. I have long wanted distinct and cool Listener/Parsh/Singer/crab-people characters, and I finally feel like Brandon is starting to deliver for real in that department. So far we have had Eshonai, who was kinda boring, Venli, who, until now, has been kinda boring, a bunch of random parsh with no screen-time from WoR, who we havent seen since, and Rlain, who is ignored on purpose, which doesnt really make him very engaging. But this chapter really made their culture a lot cooler (especially with how it pointed out that a lot of the Fused are basically just tired old warriors, forced to fight an eternal and unjust war for a dark god who doesnt care about them). I really enjoy how the Fused are growing more and more desperate, and that Brandon made us believe that, despite the fact that they seemingly have all the advantages. 

Anyway, Lezian the Pursuer seems like the unhinged bad guy the story needs, to create some chaos and mayhem. And Raboniel feels like she could become an anti-.Jasnah, which could be great. Leshwi is getting some development too, which I defenitely didn't think would happen after OB. 

I do wonder where Nale is though. No mention of him or the Skybreakers, which is wierd, since they might be just as useful as Taravangian when it comes to invading Urithiru.

And also, who else thinks that Urithiru might fall at the end of RoW? We have had three "good guy wins" endings in a row, and having Urithiru fall would be a suitably dark ending to set up the finale of the first sequence.

Just now, lightweaver spy said:

I wonder, Mraize says that the Investiture ties people to a planet through Connection, but it seems like it isn’t that simple. 
 

Kelsier as a cognitive shadow couldn’t leave Scadrial, but Felt the misting could. 
Vasher, a Returned, has been to Roshar, back to Nalthis, and then to Roshar again with varying levels of Breath. Apparently with no big issue. 
The Elantrians don’t seem to have a problem moving around. 
 

So certain powers tie you more strongly to the planet? Radiants have a spren bond which certainly makes a difference, but Mraize says you can’t even take stormlight in a gem very far.. Weird. 

I think has to do with how invested you are, and how Connected you are to that investiture, as well as how Connected the investiture is to the planet. A misting, for example, really isn´t that invested, while a Cognitive Shadow is basically only investiture with an Identity. Similarly, the breaths aren´t really strongly connected to anything, given how freely they can be passed around. 

Stormlight seems to have a very strong connection to Roshar as a place, so I´d say that is why it cant be moved around as much. Now, Im not very good at these kinds of things, so I hope someone like @Calderis can correct me if Im wrong. 

Am I the only one who felt like Mraize was using the mole as an analogy for how humanity came to Roshar?

Quote

"An invasive species from Shinovar, slowly making a home in the mountains? Where Rosharan creatures cannot live. They lack the fur, the adaptations, you see.” - Mraize, 2020.

The first part, about an invasive species from Shinovar, fits perfectly with how humanity expanded from Shinovar to the other parts of Roshar. The second part, about living where Rosharan creatures cant, and lacking the adaptions, could be some kind of vague hint about how humans bonded with Honor, settled in Urithiru, and gained the Surges and the spren bonds.

Or am I just reading to much into this?

Just now, robardin said:

I may have said too mu--

Oh, storms! Robardin, you okay? 

22 minutes ago, Child of Hodor said:

Did she soulcast someone into fire as a child? Obviously not her 4 brothers

Maybe there was a fifth brother?

6 minutes ago, Ghanderflaffle said:

Since Fezzik took two places and has now roasted for both of those, it is full. I can keep you on a waiting list in case someone backs out though!

Its fine! I can be on the waiting list, but I dont know how much time I have to write good roasts at the moment though :-) Mostly just wanted to see if you needed my help.

7 minutes ago, Bliev said:

HI STONESINEW *waves*. 

;-)

(no, but seriously, I don't think Leshwi could ever consider a Herald "good" no matter what. I think they are all tainted in her mind. It does make me wonder, though, how much the Fused interacted with the Heralds, or if they were more like symbolic avatars of the enemy and caricatured as such? So, as a Heavenly One, she'd have fought the Windrunners under Jezrien's leadership forever and ever. But did she ever face off against Taln or any others? The way she fights it makes me wonder.)

She presumably fought Nale and his Skybreakers as well, since they also fly. But agreed, she might have considered all of them just bad people.

On 2020-09-20 at 5:06 AM, hoiditthroughthegrapevine said:

If no one else joins I say let Fezzik be two people.

Hey @Toaster Retribution, there's one more spot open in the cosmere/non-cosmere roast tournament, want to sign up?

Whoops, had a month-long hiatus from sharding. I assume that the spot is taken by now? Otherwise, I'll join if you need an extra guy.