CaptainRyan

Current plan: The wife and I will fly to Utah around Nov. 11th or so. We will line up stupidly early on the 13th to get our pass to the midnight release. Show back up the evening of the 13th and participate in the release party. Wait hours to talk to Brandon for a minute or two (I have a Google doc with all of my questions prepped and ready haha). Proceed to the place we are staying and read. If I read uninterrupted I estimate it will take me roughly 16 hours to finish the book and I definitely plan on my first read through being as fast as possible. I will re-read this book for years to come so I will have time to savor it, dissect it, and squeeze every last theory drop out of it later. Also, on release day I will buy the ebook and Audible edition because SA is that good. Whenever Graphic Audio puts out their version I will buy that too. P.S. Perhaps any local Sharders/visiting Sharders could meet up sometime on Monday before the release event? I will try to remember this idea closer to the release and post it in the event's page.

Ooops! And it was only a few posts ago too. >< That's what I get for not rereading a thread before posting in it.

To be fair, Szeth had no unique powers when he "died". That "resurrection" was a bit deus ex machina; though, to be fair, it probably would not have been as big of a deal if Jasnah and, presumably, Eshonai did not also "die" and "return". Three, more or less, fake deaths in one book was a bit much for me.

I am unaware if there is a thread where I have discussed my issues with "Shadows of Self". I did not want to derail the thread by airing my grievances here haha. "Bands of Mourning" is a fantastic book. I am really happy it was released so close to "Shadows of Self" or else I would have been so bitter haha. Vatha I believe.

1. I would keep the original ending to "Words of Radiance". 2. Kill someone (relatively) important in the Stormlight Archive and have them stay dead. Dalinar, Jasnah, Renarin, Adolin, or Elhokar would be the list I would choose from (in order of most recommended to least recommended). 3. Postpone (or cancel) the Apocalypse Guard series and focus on Warbreaker 2 and Elantris 2 instead. [Not a huge fan of the Reckoners series.] This next one is not about SA but... 4. I would ask him to somehow fix the travesty that is "Shadows of Self". [For a number of reasons I will not get into in this thread.] Note: I just want to reiterate that these are simply my ideas and I am not making definitive statements about what is good/bad writing.

One thing to add, is that Kaladin's father Lirin tells Kaladin that the Thaylen's are merchants and traders. From the kindle version of the Way of Kings location 2803: "They're [Thaylens] mostly tradesmen and merchants. Every one I've met has tried to swindle me [...]" - Lirin I think is a safe assumption that, for the most part, Thaylenah is a mercantile based society/culture.

Excellent point. To be honest, I frequently forget that something lived in the tree.

It is my understanding that a person has to be living the "standards" (for lack of a better word) of a certain Order to attract the spren of that Order. Kaladin attracted Syl because he showed true leadership and a desire to protect those weaker than himself through his actions as a squad leader. Ym attracted both a Truthwatcher and an Edgedancer spren because he exemplified the attributes of those Orders through his actions. My opinion (and it is just that, an opinion) is that someone who does not exhibit the traits of an Order will, generally, never attract a spren of that Order. e.g. If someone lacks the ability to be a leader they will not attract an Honorspren.

I always imagined the Nightwatcher as a tree. Am I boring? Or am I too much a fan of the Kingkiller Chronicles and subconsciously modeled the Nightwatcher after Cthaeh?

@andrewrobins Congrats on the signed hardcovers! As an fyi, I believe international orders for signed copies are generally available for pre-order a few weeks (months?) before the release. Keep an eye out in September and October for posts from Brandon on Facebook/Twitter about where you can order them from.

Crap [Storms?]. I quoted it from your quote instead of from the original comment. Thanks for the catch. I will try and edit it!

That certainly is one possible character arc. Another could be that Dalinar did his job by refounding the KR and by sharing the knowledge the visions provided. Now... well, if all that is needed is leadership than there are others who can provide it. If Bondsmiths do something unique then we need another Bondsmith haha. I would argue that it is not only whether or not it is the next "logical step" for the character but also the needs of the overall story come into play. Sanderson has said he realizes that he can make death (and therefore any tension the readers might feel) a non-factor if he keeps resurrecting or "fake" killing characters. I agree with that sentiment. In Words of Radiance we saw at least two, if not three, obvious deaths negated (Jasnah, Szeth, Eshonai). I really do think we need to see some serious consequences (read: death) for our characters or else the story is going to be the worse for it.

Honestly, someone important needs to die. Too many resurrections and near deaths. Dalinar is a good choice and I think it could add a lot to the story because it would impact so many people so intensely.

Welcome @Crawgdor! Does your name, by any chance, stem from a certain dragon with a beefy arm coming out of its neck?

On that note, I was reading an article today when I came across this sentence: "The investiture of Jews, as a people, [...]" It kind of makes me want to convert to Judaism. Or apply for citizenship in Israel. Honestly, whatever it takes to get this Jewish investiture that the author is writing about!

I teared up a little bit reading this. Beauty in prose. Patrick Rothfuss himself could not have written a more moving piece.

Oooo, good point. It would be recoverable, eh? Depending on how skilled you were as an Awakener you could probably swap suits of armor pretty quickly. And, depending on how you made the armor, it could have some versatility beyond even Shardplate. We saw instances of Vasher's clothing preemptively protecting him before he even knew he was in danger. Plate armor reinforced with Awakening that also had cloth or leather straps on it... well, a skilled Awakener with enough Breath could make a devastatingly protective set of gear!

I think this theory is pretty sound. You would have to have a very firm grip on the visualization aspect so that the armor responded to the verbal command appropriately but it is, fundamentally, the same thing Vasher has been doing. Obviously, Awakening the metal involves a lot more Breath and control but it should be doable. The real disadvantage, in my mind, is that Shardplate can be regrown using Stormlight whereas Awakened armor probably would not have a self-repairing ability. How often would you have to recreate the armor I wonder?

I always recommend Warbreaker before the Stormlight Archive but, alas, no luck there. With what you have already read and your desire for deeper Cosmere knowledge then Mistborn: Secret History is your go-to. Tons of Cosmere knowledge there. It does have teeny, tiny spoilers for Mistborn era 2 (Wax & Wayne novels) but it is hardly worth mentioning.

Warbreaker is the big exception to this in my opinion. I always recommend to people that they read Warbreaker before Stormlight Archive as there is one mind-numbingly obvious easter egg and one less obvious, but still fairly noticeable, easter egg.

I agree with The One Who Connects. I just wanted to add that if you had 5 separate tin minds to use I believe you could compound all five senses at once.

In Dalinar's flashback involving the Midnight Essence I believe we see two Radiants, of different Orders, and their eye color matches the color of their armor. I think each Knight's eyes glow the color of their order. i.e. All Windrunners will have blue eyes while using Stormlight, all Stonewards will have, erm, tan (?) eyes, and so forth.

I'm on my mobile atm so I am limited (and, honestly, a bit lazy haha) but there is a WoB where Brandon hints that Sazed is doing something with the extra Ruin but, as far as I know, Brandon has not clarified what that "something" is.

Hello there @Tars_Tarkas! Welcome to the 17th Shard! Happy to have you! Vasher is an interesting topic, eh? One of the more prominent worldhoppers for sure. I love that you posted a theory and I apologize for taking shots at it haha. The color and shape of camouflage is quite important. Breaking up the human form into something the eye won't recognize is essential. You can read about ghillie suits as a read world analogy to the theory Kelsier is explaining here. Color is a bit less important but, again, still very much an integral part of camouflage. I expect a bright pink Mistcloak would be less helpful, eh? Camouflage is not invisibility so, if the hiding aspect of the Mistcloak fails then it becomes a symbol of authority and power. Perhaps the two explanations are not contradictory but, rather, are more of a layered response. If layer 1 (the camouflage) fails then layer 2 (the symbol of authority) takes over. Agree... to an extent. While the tassels on a Mistcloak would aid the Awakener with certain commands it would also, probably, increase the amount of breath required to Awaken the cloak as the tassels do not help make the cloak more human shaped. Remember, Vasher's clothes/cloak had tassels that appeared as the legs/arms of a person - a Mistcloak has so many tassels I would think it would make Awakening it harder. Vasher is not thousands of years old in our current timeline. As of the Stormlight Archive he is, most likely, anywhere from 400 - 700 years old (give or take a bit - see this section of the Coppermind or this post). As far as I am aware, Warbreaker, the book, takes place after Hero of Ages. Now, in Warbreaker, we think Vasher Returned about 300 years before the start of that book so it is possible Vasher visited Scadrial before the events in Mistborn era 1 but it seems that Mistcloaks have been around for a long time so it is doubtful Vasher started the tradition. If anything, it is more probable that Vasher got the idea for his cloak from seeing Mistborn haha! One small caveat, I do not think we are sure that Vasher could use Stormlight to sustain Nightblood with his current understanding of how to use Stormlight. Granted, I think it is entirely probable Vasher could but I just wanted to point out that I am not sure this has been confirmed. Vasher can use it to feed his Divine Breath. Doubtful. Beyond the earlier reasoning that Vasher isn't really that old, I think we would have seen hints from Brandon that Vasher could use Allomancy. It would be really, really weird if Vasher gained Allomantic powers before the events in Warbreaker but never used them against Denth & Crew. Anywho, I might be off on some of my points so don't just take my word for it! Keep searching out WoBs (words of Brandon) to help you flesh out your theories. Thanks for posting!

I will first say Dumai Wells is tops. Just an excellent scene. I open up and read the end to "Lords of Chaos" at least once a year. One of my personal favorite scenes, however, is when Mat is complaining to Talmanes about women during Mat's first scene in "Towers of Midnight". It is about three pages worth of Mat ranting and it cracks me up every single time. I reread this scene every year or so as well.