Yezrien

I meant instead. I think you should try to create a symbol for both issues, rather than using some of each. That's just my two cents, though. I'm not a graphic designer, or anything with any authority on this subject.

We can reveal a few things without getting too spoilery. (no plot details, just some general knowledge that fans have discerned over the years)

Doesn't he know that leaving it to our imagination is guaranteed to get our hopes up? When he leaves a title blank, I fill it with unreasonable expectations! Maybe 2018 won't be The Year Without Cosmere after all! Already the hypespren gather in great numbers! They float around my ears and whisper Nightblood, Nightblood. And disappointmentspren are waiting in the wings, knowing their day will come.

This is a great theory. I vaguely remember Gavilar (or someone close to him) talking about limiting his conquest to Alethkar, resisting the urge to take over the world and build an untenably huge empire. He says the Shin invaders (much like the Sunmaker) lost their empire shortly after conquering it because they overreached. But maybe the Shin let their empire disintegrate. Maybe they just wanted shards, and they let their conquered territories go once they'd confiscated all the plate and blades. Alternatively, I had another theory while reading yours. Maybe the Shin attitude toward warriors isn't all that ancient. Maybe the Shin Invasions were Shinovar's version of the Hierocracy: the warrior class took control of the country and tried to take over the world. Once the Stone Shamans (the religious class) regained control, they permanently reduced the status of soldiers to prevent another coup. It's like the Hierocracy in reverse!

Chickens. Darles Chickens.

The real crime is that he uses "cliche" as an adjective. It's a noun until you put a D on the end! Everyone knows that! But I'm sure he didn't mean to denigrate the sophistication of thirteen-year-olds. He was just saying that Eragon is an effective gateway novel: appealing to uninitiated young readers (albeit tiresome for genre veterans). In that respect, I think you proved him right.

Two quick points on snapping: Hemalurgy damages the soul, so receiving allomancy via hemalurgy probably has a built-in snapping. When Elend burned lerasium, he had been snapped already by his traditional beating. So we can’t say for sure that lerasium mistborn don’t require snapping. (Unless there is a WoB that I don’t know about. Is there? I checked the Arcanum, but I couldn’t find anything.)

Maybe you could get both issues into a single slogan. “Out and Armed” or something like that.

I think we’ll meet Ba Ado Mishram in book 4. Since Odium is worried about being drawn into a duel without his champion, he’s going to withdraw from directly managing the war effort, and his forces will need a new leader. They’ll find one buried under Kholinar. This will probably come with revelations about the capture of BAM, which connects nicely with the history of the Listeners. For additional interludes, I’d predict something about Nale joining up with the Singers. I bet they’ll have some mixed feelings about their new “ally.”

Just a joke. Sorry about that. To be honest, I think the patch is a bit confusing. Without your explanation, I might have assumed it was just a pro-gun patch with an ironic background, or else a really militant gay rights flag. If there's a large and well-defined LGBT gun community, I'm sure they could use a symbol like this. If not, it might be simpler to just wear two patches, one for each cause.

Please understand that what I'm about to ask should not be read as passing judgment on your views, or as a condemnation of your lifestyle. I am simply curious, because you are so different from me in this respect. (spoilered due to possible trigger.)

Interesting stuff. Blood seems like a dark/organic/extra-strength counterpart of water, so maybe one of the other elements could have that as well. Breath for air? Bioelectricity for fire? The elements could form pairs, each with one world-element and one body-element. I don't know if you've planned this out yet, but are the two magic systems connected in any way? Or could they be?

Galonites? Galonids? I like that you're being creative with the four elements, but I think you could take it further. You've replaced one of the classical four, so why not two or three? Right now, the challenge isn't coming up with ways to use these elements, but coming up with original uses. Between Avatar and Wheel of Time, you'll find pretty much every clever use for fire, water, and air. And could you tell us more about Derys?

I love this theory. To add to it, I'd conjecture that invested diseases might be very adept at crossing over to different species, like from human to singer. And the singers, who evolved on diseaseless Roshar, would be ill-equipped to fight off infections. Maybe the First Desolation wasn't a war at all, but an outbreak of Ashynian diseases spreading across singer-occupied Roshar, devastating the population. That should even the odds when the humans start expanding. Because obviously this story doesn't have enough uncomfortable historical parallels.

I like this theory. I'm not convinced Odium will be the ultimate Big Bad of the cosmere, but I can see Roshar and its magic systems being hugely influential in future wars and interplanetary empires. It reminds me of Dune, which was one of Brandon's influences early in the development of the cosmere (most directly on White Sand). In Dune, the harshest worlds breed the hardiest warriors. Clever emperors settle on the most inhospitable planets and raise unstoppable armies there. They say God made Arrakis to train the faithful. Maybe Adonalsium made Roshar with similar intentions.

@MasterJack, when people "drink to forget," they're not actually forgetting anything. Booze can temporarily dull some emotional pain, and distract you from unpleasant thoughts, but it doesn't erase the memories, or prevent you from accessing them. You can easily recall painful memories while drunk, and since your willpower is impaired, you end up dwelling on them even more. This is generally referred to as "maudlin." If you're really, really drunk, you black out, which means your brain has trouble forming new memories for a few hours. When you sober up, the previous hours will be a blur, and you'll never get them back. But all your memories from before the blackout should be perfectly clear. So if your character can't remember certain events of his past, he must have been blackout-drunk during those events, which means he will never be able to remember them. If he was sober during those events, and he's temporarily forgetting via self-medication, you'll need to give him something a little stronger than alcohol.

Nonbinary food is an abomination unto Vorin law! If you pray hard enough, the Almighty will cure you of these unwholesome cravings.

The Bondsmiths seem to have been leaders and guides to the entire Radiant war effort. I suspect their ideals are tied to that. Dalinar's self-forgiveness oath is about staying strong for the benefit of others, and not letting his own issues get in the way of the fight against Odium. I suspect his subsequent oaths will be about priorities, like the Windrunners'. He'll have to be ready to sacrifice entire cultures to save Roshar.

I highly doubt those are battle uniforms. They're too decorative, and too loose and flowing. In combat, open jackets and long coattails make it easier for the enemy to grab you and tangle you up. You can get away with that kind of thing when war becomes a matter of firearms and artillery, but In a world where combat is still done with swords and spears, soldiers need to go into battle with simpler, more practical uniforms, and at least some armor. I recommend looking at soldiers from relatively prosperous pre-gun civilizations. Rennaissance Europe Roman Republic circa Julius Caesar Imperial china Ancient Persia, Mesopotamia Mamluk Egypt Early Ottomans Obviously the known Alethi uniforms look very European, but other Alethi fashions (havah, takama) feel much less western, and their language is inspired by semitic languages. So you can mix and match influences. As a general rule, plate armor is expensive, and probably only for high-ranking lighteyes without shardplate. Most common soldiers will wear chain mail, leather, or scale armor. Here's how one artist imagined a darkeyed Alethi spearman.

It's also worth noting that much of the asymmetry in the recent map is on the eastern side, which suggests highstorm-related erosion. Over thousands of years, even a mountain can only protect so much.

One thing we do know is that Hoid was offered a Shard, but declined. In both of these, the questioner takes for granted that Hoid was offered a specific Shard, and Brandon doesn't correct that. It's subtle, and it's not strong evidence, but I think this suggests that they did know what each Shard represented. Even if the names weren't set in stone yet, they had some idea of the intents, and they knew which one they were offering Hoid. If they didn't know the intents until picking up the Shards, if it was just random, then it wouldn't matter which Shard was offered to Hoid, and Brandon would have indicated that. He might have even clarified that Hoid wasn't offered a specific Shard, but just the opportunity to be one of the 16. That's my interpretation.

Yes, Aharietiam has nothing to do with the Ardentia, and probably predates its existence my many years. The Hierocracy is a more recent event, occurring long after the Recreance. It was an attempt by the Ardentia, which was once a powerful church, to establish a theocratic empire over the Vorin world. When the Hierocracy was overthrown, the ardentia was robbed of its power, and now all ardents are slaves. This event had nothing to do with the heralds.

Thank you! I've been grumbling about this for years. These bloated, boring, dead-end political plotlines really bog down those early books. I'm just glad Brandon's gotten over it in recent years. In fact, I think there's a nod to this in Bands of Mourning. At the fancy mansion party, Wax has to play the lordly politics game, putting on a decorous face and ferreting out information from a bunch of privileged liars... and he just has no patience for it. This kind of a scene does not belong in a fast-paced, tightly-plotted Era 2 book, and he knows it. He's thinking exactly what I'm thinking: the plot will ultimately be resolved by action and magic, so why are we wasting our time on canapes and well-mannered barbs? Then, of course, Brandon subverts expectations by giving me and Wax exactly what we want. The party devolves into an action scene. Bravo, Brandon.

I like this beginning. I'd open with all of them in a room, wondering what's going on. They've all been dragged from their cells and shoved in this room with no explanation. What's going on? Everyone has a theory. Someone's having a breakdown. Someone shoots down everyone else's theories. Arguments break out. A fist flies. It's good to open with conflict. Then some official comes in and tells them all what's about to happen. Voids and such. Then you get to reveal a little more about the ensemble-members by showing how each one reacts to the news of imminent death. Someone cries. Someone shakes their head and opts out. Someone is disturbingly comfortable with this. The official explains that they'll all be pardoned if they survive the voyage, which is good because they're all on death row. They exchange their backstories on the ship. It's a great way to distract themselves from the uncomfortable fact that they're hurtling toward a cosmic abyss at thousands of miles per hour. What do they find beyond the void?

I never saw Navani as particularly extroverted. She has a small circle of intimates, enjoys solitary work, and rarely has emotional outbursts. Typical introvert. Her extroverted behaviors, like leadership and political maneuvering, are things she's been forced to learn. They're the price of survival (and her family's safety) in Alethi high society. I bet the teenage Navani had a terrible time learning courtly ways, and resented people who told her that her destiny as a great lady would leave little time for her little fabrial hobby. But she showed them. She was intelligent and driven enough to have it both ways. Think of a mother with two small children and a full time job, who also manages to write novels. People like that exist. Are they cheating? Or are they just awesome?