Radiant Returned

Yeah it wasn't Kelsier. In fact, the amount of times "Kelsier appearances" in Mistborn 2-3 were actually Kelsier were surprisingly low compared to my expectations going into Secret History. 

Or it could be Brandon screwing with people and throwing people for a loop while avoiding the question. Elantris could take place thousands of years before Mistborn, that would qualify to me as "really, really, old"

Still, I agree that that WoB seems to lean more toward the Ire being pre-Reod. If that is the case, I hope there's a book with them or at least an explanation later for what they were doing mid-Reod, none of the explanations I've read or thought of seem viable enough to explain. 

Rashek had some semblance of Preservation in him because he didn't just kill Alendi because of jealousy, part of it was also him thinking it was the right thing to do and wanting to save the world. 

Hemalurgy is of Ruin, just like Allomancy is of Preservation, while Feruchemy is kinda a mix. So anyone spiked couldn't take on Preservation's power. 

I disagree. Nightblood's insanely powerful, it can seemingly cut through almost anything (and can be propelled through a body easily even when sheathed) and causes anyone who isn't pure in mind to kill others and themselves with it. It's a pretty potent machine. 

Also, in comparison, Sanderson has described Nightblood as "a more powerful Shardblade" in relation to the SA series. For those that haven't read that series, they're pretty powerful and they're considered to be worth as much as many kingdoms, and Shardbearers change the landscapes of battles and wars. So if Nightblood is a MORE powerful Shardblade by comparison, it's pretty safe to say that it's a pretty powerful tool. 
 

1 hour ago, skybreaker30 said:

it seems really powerful compared too a regular weapon but anybody with enough Breath could replicate what Vasher did with any weapon.

Technically you're right, but you have to keep in mind that one must reach the Ninth Heightening, or 20,000 breaths, before you can use the 1,000 breaths needed to awaken steel. And the only people in Nalthis history we know who have reached this Heightening are the Scholars and the God Kings. And even the scholars it took an arms race and lots of studying to figure out how to do it. I'm pretty sure the putting the correct intent into the command for the awakened object is pretty hard, especially when you see how two of the smartest magic users on the planet messed up in how they gave Nightblood his command. So it's theoretically possible, but still insanely difficult and wouldn't undermine how powerful Nightblood is. 

With every shard not having an opposite, I think it's wise to not assume two are opposites unless it's really clear. Devotion "could" mean to an offspring or something noble like that, but it could just as easily be devotion to a cause or a nation, which isn't always good. So it doesn't seem like a good opposite to Odium IMO which is pure hate. Honour is closer because it's a polar good, but the opposite to Odium to me would theoretically be Love or Compassion. So I agree with @goody153 that either Odium doesn't have an opposite or it hasn't shown up yet. 

1. The Reod made all Elantrians, whether in the city or not, lose their power. So if they were alive during the Reod it stands to reason that they would've lost their power, and that link that ties their fortress to "a place between worlds" in the Cognitive Realm presumably would've stopped working? 

2. It also seems a stretch to me that if they were off-world and somehow their magic continued to work without Elantris, that they wouldn't have friends/family in Elantris. The Elantrians in the city were brutally murdered then barred inside and left to starve. It seems illogical to think that some powerful Elantrians like the Ire wouldn't take the time to go and try and help their brethren and/or fix the problem. Especially if they're That cosmere aware it would seem that they would've figured out that all magic on their home planet is geographically based so it shouldn't take a bunch of Elantrian scholars too long to figure out they might need to add the huge chasm to Aons. The in-book reason for why early Elantrians didn't do this was because of the initial shock and quick riots by the people. But a group outside from those dangers would presumably be able to figure it out pretty easily. 

There's been some speculation that she is Cultivation or at least a Vessel, but there's so much we don't know. First, Senna could just be an old lover/friend of Leras from before the Shattering who didn't become a Vessel. Then if she DID become a Vessel, there are still 8 Vessels whose names we don't know, so it's only a 1/8 chance it's Cultivation even if you make the "Shes a Vessel" assumption.

Yeah the problem of where White Sand fits in seems to be the biggest question mark in the cosmere chronology. Just have to wait and see. 

As far as the Ire I never thought they were pre-Reod. Pretty sure that they would've had problems being a thing during the 10 years of no magic, and if they were around back then, I would think they're cosmere knowledge would've enabled to lead them to figure out the chasm line relatively quickly. So all that makes me think that they are definitely post-Reod Elantrians. 

One thing to keep in mind is we don't know how large of a time gap is in between Elantris and Mistborn. It could be hundreds to even thousands of years. They would've had plenty of time after the Reod to re-discover the magic system and become this advanced. 

45 minutes ago, ROSHtaFARian2.0 said:

tl;dr - We're all so impatient to see the big picture revealed that we're taking Information A + Information B and jumping all the way to Conclusion Z....not because that makes the most sense, but because we don't want to wait for Information C through Y and see how that affects the equation.

That's kinda the point of debating any theory on here though? So I don't see that as a problem. 

Also just an extra note, of the 7 shards we don't know yet, one "just wants to survive" (so almost certainly not with Odium), another isn't on a planet (could be with Odium but no evidence to say either way), and another unnamed one was already shattered by Odium. So really there are only 4 more Shards that we know absolutely nothing about. 

14 hours ago, Kolten said:

SH spoilers

 

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It would seem there needs to be a fairly strong connection to either the power or the intent to truly ascend to a shard. It mentions how kelsier's connection juice trick did not really let kelsier truly control preservation very well because he had more ruin in him anyway. Also it mentions that part of the reason Sazed could ascend was because he had developed a connection to ruin and to preservation. So I would think that to some degree the original 16 had to be at least somewhat aligned with the shards intent. Unless of course the intents came later . . .

 

I think it's very possible though that the method for the original shard holders was different, specifically because the description of Ati doesn't seem to have any similarities to Ruin's intent. 

Also SH spoilers 

Even though Vin is the main character of the series, to me Kelsier dominated Book 1. So mine would be a dark black/brown background with the Lord Ruler's shadowy outline dominating the back, with Kelsier facing his way, back to the poster, Inquisitor's spike in one hand and ash falling around him. Tagline: There's only one answer when ruled by an evil God: SURVIVE

This is pretty spoilery for Warbreaker so here's my explanation for Vasher:

The exception is like @Landis963 said and Szeth views himself as trying to fix the evil he had done and blames his actions on his people. But, with how much guilt Szeth has I think it's likely that there are at least a few moments where he struggles controlling Nightblood. I mean IIRC he talks about constantly hearing the voices in his head of those he's killed. That's some serious guilt and self-hatred. 

My theory for the Shattering has always been that Adonalsium's personality was shattered into 16 different pieces, and the Shardholders took them up with some pre-meditation but without maybe all the details figured out among themselves because they didn't know exactly how the pieces would come out. Sanderson's exact words:

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Um...it...Adonalsium could have been shattered in other ways.

To me that just means obviously you could separate a person's personality in more than just one way, I never gleaned that the Shardholders made their own intents. The fact that Ati was a nice guy but turned into Ruin comes across to me as him understanding the dangers of the Shard, but thinking that with who he is that he would be the one best able to fight off the Shard's natural desires. After a while, it finally warped him. The same holds true to Rayse, except he wanted to remain the person he was except powerful, so he took on the hate-fueled Shard (probably without the direct permission of his colleagues) out of greed and lust for power. 

I just finished re-reading Warbreaker and I noticed something pertinent Sanderson mentioned about Nightblood in one of the annotations:

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So, he pretty much just lets whoever is holding him decide what is evil. And if the one holding the sword determines - deep within their heart - that they are evil themselves, then they will end up killing themselves with the sword.

So my question is if we could see Szeth run into some very big problems when trying to use Nightblood in SA3. We know that throughout the story he has suffered from the guilt of the murders he's committed, and the agony he has at realizing he was never really Truthless drives him almost insane to the point to where he just lets Kaladin kill him. This to me points very strongly to Szeth "determining deep within his heart that he is evil", so if that's the case isn't there a good chance Nightblood will try to kill him?

I think intrinsically if you're material you put out is good, people are going to be willing to buy it. I knew it was available for free online before I read it, but reading online isn't quite the same to me as reading an actual paper book, so I spent the rather small price of $8.99 to have a copy. And I enjoyed it so much, along with his other works, that if he makes a leatherbound edition for $100+ in a few years I'll gladly fork over the cash for my copy.

As far as WoR goes, I'm not sure how much it directly influenced Warbreaker sales because of one line at the end referring to Nightblood, but indirectly I bet it helped a lot. Fantasy fans in general have always been very author-loyal in my experience, so whenever a great new book is released, like WoR, it's going to draw in new readers and a lot of those new readers now are going to want to read his other works in the 3-4 year gap between novels. 

This isn't based on any actual fact, but I've always gotten the feeling that Endowment is a kind god, sorta like Sazed. She gives people the ability to go back and help others because she wants the world to be a better place and it might be somewhere in her Intent to want to continue endowing people with power. That being said, she doesn't want to mess with free will as previously stated so I doubt she ever has/ever will Return someone twice, even though in some cases it might be possible. 

Just finished my re-read, love so many characters from this book. Love Lightsong and after my initial read last year I probably would've gone with him, but now I'm going to go with Vasher. Just love that character type. Denth might be the best villain Sanderson has ever done though, and Nightblood makes my life every time he talks. He kinda gives Vasher some bonus points though so I'm going with him. The book IS named after him after all.

I've been trying to figure out how to create those hidden windows for spoiler content, as well as the windows for quotes from WoBs. Couldn't find a page that has those listed out though? Thank you in advance for any help

There should be a map in your book, complete with examples of Aons in the back in the Ars Arcanum. Elantris and the four cities connected to it form the Aon Rao, which means "spirit" in-language and is used as a power amplifier in Elantris magic. The city of Elantris is built as a power amplifier for the Elantrians in general and grants them their divinity-like powers. So with the chasm being there, Raoden had to draw a line to match the chasm for the city. I would assume that after the story he works to make that line-in-the-dirt a more permanent structure. 

As far as the Rose Empire, it's huge but because if the mountain passes separating it from Teod and the large sea between the two countries they mostly ignore each other at the time of Elantris (though yeah Svorden with it's well known navy and trade ships have made some contact). Remember that the Fjorden are religious zealots who get their doctrine from the emperor, or Wyrn. The Wyrn essentially wants to dominate every other nation, so he uses his religion as an excuse to try and take over Arelon and Teod. But per a WoB, due to his inability to take over Arelon, Wyrn is going to "re-interpret" scripture to say it's fine the "world" only extends to the Arelon mountain range. So I would assume that if they had been able to take over Arelon and Teod, obviously Jaddeth isn't real so eventually Wyrn would re-interpret scripture to expand to the Rose Empire to keep his zealous followers in-line.

I'm relatively new to this site but over the last couple months I've poured through Theory land and some of the Q&As with Brandon Sanderson on here, but I was wondering if there was any place that had all the WoB in order, or more specifically a way to know whenever a new interview has been posted?

IIRC he didn't mention the leatherbound Elantris until November or so last year, would expect the same for The Final Empire this year. Can't wait!

51 minutes ago, CaptainRyan said:

Ah, I see. I definitely favor his Cosmere works. Don't tell the people over at the Reckoner's RPG but I only liked "Steelheart"; I thought "Firefight" and "Calamity" were weak sequels and I did not enjoy the Reckoner's series overall. Legion is a great non-Cosmere work that I wish Brandon would explore a bit more - I have a weakness for Sherlock Holmes-esque stuff I guess (which explains why I think Wax is such a great character).

Anywho, I'm sure you were deeply interested in my non-Cosmere Sanderson opinion haha.

Actually I 100% agree. Loved Steelheart and then was disappointed by the sequels, which now have me not really wanting to by this sequel series. Never read Legion, but I do love detective stories, might have to go check it out. 

1 minute ago, CaptainRyan said:

@Radiant Returned: I'm not sure if you are only listing Cosmere books but Sanderson is also releasing a novella entitled "Snapshot" in early 2017 and he is also doing another novella for an anthology that is being released in November of this year (I do not have a name for this second novella. Also, I am not referring to Arcanum Unbounded haha).

Yes sorry I was only referring to Cosmere books. I didn't know about "Snapshot", but I know he's also working on a sequel YA series to the Reckoners trilogy. I tend to only buy his Cosmere works though so those books I listed were the only one I had written down. 

On 7/19/2016 at 7:19 AM, tennischamp5 said:

That said, glad to see it isn't just me that felt like this next book was taking a while. Not that I mind waiting, but it's not something I expect with Brandon's writing. I noticed someone mentioned above that we got two new Mistborn books in the past year. Any idea what we can look forward to in the coming year as we wait for SA3? I know about the Lift novella, but any other novellas or series that are finishing up or in the works?

Sanderson likes to surprise people a lot with projects he's kept under the wraps, so this list isn't definitive, but from now through 2017 we should get: 

Arcanum Unbounded (November 2016)
Leatherbound Mistborn #1: The Final Empire (December 2016)
White Sand Graphic Novel #2 (Summer 2017)
Stormlight Archive #3: Oathbringer (Fall 2017)
Leatherbound Mistborn #2: The Well of Ascension (December 2017)

We know that the final Mistborn Era trilogy will be a space opera story, presumably with a lot of Cosmere connections and answers and a finale to the Shard situation. My worry though is how far behind technology wise Scadrial may be from other planets. 

In Era 1 of Mistborn, during SH, we can assume that at least three other planets have far surpassed Scadrial in technology and Cosmere awareness: 
Sel - The Elantrians have a firm understanding of Realmatic Theory and world hopping since they have the technology to not only establish a base "between worlds" but also because they have magic that could have been used to allow them to take over Preservation's power. 
Threnody - The Elantrians worry that the Threnodites have infiltrated their base (actually Kelsier), so while the Threnodites are innocent here, this suggests that they and the Elantrians have not only made contact, but that the Threnodites have technology/cosmere awareness similar to Sel. Nazh is also from Threnody and is traveling with Khriss. 
Taldain - This is where Khriss is from, and she does/says several things that suggest Taldain is very Cosmere aware. She points a gun at Kelsier, which means that she either took this weapon from some other planet that has said technology, or guns are common on her home planet. She also mentions to Kelsier that she has been exiled, which could indicate that the Taldainians are cosmere aware enough to know there are other worlds and have told her not to return to theirs. 

Mistborn Era 2 takes place 300 years after Era 1, and is chronologically around the same time as SA. So while Scadrial has now surpassed Roshar in technology, and they have advanced to gun-level technology, they are still only marginally cosmere-aware and the planets mentioned above have also had a further 300 years to develop. My concern is, by Era 4 will Scadrial still be miles behind other major players in the universe?