The Invested Beard

So here's the thing. This argument all comes down to an author's tightrope walk between creating a believable world and sticking to his own convictions. One of the things that you have to consider is that the intellectually honest person (no matter what their moral leanings) is going to have to admit that whether or not they like it, certain things that go against their own convictions exist in the world and should be represented. As a Christian myself I feel it is especially tragic when other Christians try to pretend that just because they don't believe it's right it doesn't exist. It's like a little kid with his hands over his ears and yelling "I can't hear you!" at the voice of reality. To be an adult is to be able to know the world for what it is and try to present why how you see things is a good way of seeing them. I can't fault Brandon for including stuff like this because to make his world feel authentic, he needs to include "bad things". I had a very interesting background to say the least before cleaning my act up, so this may be why seeing things like this doesn't bother me. Just my two cents.

This is exactly how I cook bacon. It is truly an enlightening experience.

Not to be confused with a d-hole.

Well, the question I would have: Do you have to divest yourself of your memories to effectively divest all identity?

Seemingly useless at first glance, but once you figure them out you find them quite powerful. A raven is like a writing desk.

Also keep in mind that if you read all the rest of the cosmere stuff you will know a bit more than is even in the cosmere 101 thread as it hasn't been updated recently. But it does give some good insight.

That is the one yes.

People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw goats.

Yes but even if that were the case, how at that point did it become a hereditary trait of the Terris people?

I would suggest reading the rest of the cosmere works and then head into the cosmere 101 topic here: http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/491-cosmere-101/

Also there is no telling what sort of training in fighting Hoid had before the restriction was placed on him.

Apologies in advance if there's another topic specifically for this, but I thought I'd posit a loose theory on something. My brother and I were having a conversation about Feruchemy and the question came up, "If Allomancy comes from Lerasium/Preservation and Hemalurgy comes from Ruin, where does Feruchemy come from?" It seems obvious that it would come from both Preservation and Ruin, however for this to be true, I would think that it would only be possible if the shards were being held by the same vessel. Now we know that Sazed currently holds both shards, however Feruchemy existed long before this came to pass. So we then asked ourselves, when was the last time Preservation and Ruin were held by the same vessel. The answer? Adonalsium. So what we're thinking is that Feruchemy was one of the original systems and was broken up into allomancy and hemalurgy once the two shards became separate. As a bonus, this would also explain how Hoid is in possession of Feruchemical abilities. He could have come into that gifting before Adonalsium was split. His ability to use Feruchemy always bugged me because I could never figure out how he would have gotten it in the first place. Any thoughts? I'm probably way out in left field on this, I know.

Well Liar isn't really canon at this point, however I can't see Brandon completely scrapping all the ideas in it. From the first 6 chapters it appears that your idea wouldn't be keeping with what we know so far.

Not really a typo, but Peter have you seen this? http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/52636-shadows-of-self-dust-jacket-synopsis-anyone-else-put-off/ The question is how the blurbs on the jackets are vetted/written. They seem fairly inconsistent with Brandon's writing and off-putting. Any illumination on this would be welcome.

This all makes so much sense. I wouldn't put it past Brandon to be sitting back in his chair and smirking while wondering how we didn't see the connection sooner.

Actually I'm right there with you.

Good DAY sir!

My kids love banana phone. I will not allow it to be forgotten.

So the commercials kinda sucked this year. Bummer. Only really good one was the one with Christopher Walken.

And the last half just didn't understand percentages.

Good for you. Intellectual honesty is a valuable asset these days.

Okay now that's just stupid.

It speaks for itself.

I believe the root Aon is what actually powers the whole thing and the modifiers are merely more specific directions on what to do with the power from the original Aon. As such, only the base Aon needs to have the chasm as it's the only part that depicts the geography.

Now all we need is the proto-twinkie.