CaptainRyan

My wife attended a signing by Sanderson in San Francisco last year and she asked him a question I once pondered out loud to her: "What would happen if a shardblade and a lightsaber hit each other?" Sanderson first clarified if this was occurring in the Cosmere or in the Star Wars Universe to which my wife responded "The Cosmere." He then wrote in my copy of Words of Radiance: "They would bounce off one another!" So, I think it is Brandon's view that, if "magical" items from other fictional works were brought into the Cosmere, it is assumed they are Invested to some extent and would react with Cosmere items in a fashion similar to how they work in their own universe. This leads me to believe that Captain America's shield would be able to block a shardblade but ymmv.

Indeed, the armor seems to offer some sort of cushioning enhancement as well; it is kind of like a fantasy-level equivalent of the "inertial dampeners" used in sci-fi books to overcome the fact that accelerating (or decelerating) a starship (at a reasonable pace) to fractions of C [the speed of light] would turn squishy humans into bloody pulps. Shardplate somehow negates the damage of Renarin's hard impact with the ground in a way that no normal helmet/armor combo could hope to mimic.

This is an excellent question that I am not sure we have a complete answer to. In another thread I was discussing Intents and their origins and some people feel as if the original Vessels had some sort of influence as to what the Intent of each Shard became while others thought differently. Without further information from either future books or Brandon himself I do not think this question can be given a definitive answer.

Hoid about the history of the Cosmere. I am oh-so-interested in all of the historical events, accounts and tidbits! I WANT TO KNOW! Would you rather be an alpha reader for Sanderson and get early access to all the books/give feedback OR get two all-expense paid trips to Cons that Sanderson attends per year?

@WarriorMark16 This is exactly how I feel and how I voted. Well said, Sander-twin!

This got me thinking - when shardplate is not being worn does it drain the gems faster than if the gems were just sitting on a table or in a wall-mount? Do they store shardplate with infused gems inside it or do they only put fresh gems in when a battle is coming up? And then, of course, your question: if a shardplate wearer was simply standing still would the gems drain at the same rate as a shardplate wearer who was exerting themselves in some way? Good stuff! The weight of the armor is certainly a factor but the strength enhancement is such that it more than compensates for the weight. page 187/1008 from the kindle version of the Way of Kings (emphasis mine): The strength enhancement allows Dalinar a standing vertical of 8+ feet and also gives him the strength to use one hand to lift his dead weight (which includes the weight of the armor) up and over the ledge. Certainly the plate is heavy and that would slow a person to some degree but it seems pretty clear to me that shardplate provides strength that not only negates the weight of the armor but gives the wearer greater (relative and absolute) strength/speed/dexterity as compared to an unarmored normal human. Shardplate would allow someone, with training, to move faster, react quicker, and, overall, be harder, better, faster, stronger (Daft Punk reference woot woot!) than a normal human soldier. Whether or not this enhanced speed, strength and dexterity is equivalent to a Thug is, as I mentioned earlier and in my opinion, impossible to determine at this point. edit: Weirdly, everything I typed showed up twice so I removed the repeat stuff.

Whether shardplate's enhancements are > (greater than), < (less than) or = (equal to) a pewter burner's is somewhat impossible to determine without a direct confrontation between the two or a WoB. My post did not make any direct comparison between to the two but, instead, highlighted the fact that shardplate is not merely a strength enhancement but also improves the speed and dexterity of the wearer. You are, of course, welcome to your own opinion as to how the enhancement shardplate provides compares to pewter but I think the provided quotes make it quite clear that shardplate does provide more than just strength to the wearer; it also provides enhanced speed and enhanced dexterity.

Overall, it is different! Hooray! I think, after some time, I will become more accustomed to it. In just the time it took me to read this thread I have gone from mild dislike to neutral. Also, as a programmer-by-trade I want to thank all of the staff for the immense amount of work they put in to this site. I know enough about website upkeep to know that it is a massive undertaking so bravo to @Chaos and all of the other staff who put blood, sweat, tears, time, and unbelievable amounts of consumed pizza into this effort. You are the unsung heroes of the Cosmere and I hope you know you are truly appreciated for all you do. If I ever meet you at a signing or what-not then I will buy you a drink/food/something-not-too-expensive-because-I-am-saving-for-a-new-computer-haha! Pros: editor. Woohoo! fixing downvotes. I have yet to accidentally downvote but I know it will happen and I am glad that I can fix it now. better mobile support. THANK! YOU! Cons: Storms this site is BRIGHT! I think some of the contrast is whitewashed out by the brightness. The distinction between each reply is barely noticeable (the light gray bars outlining each reply are washed out by the super bright off-white background), the contrast between read/unread topics is harder to see etc etc. Perhaps, over time, it will be less noticeable but I miss the easy, at-a-glance nature of the previous iteration Please know that the "Cons" are given in the spirit of feedback and not criticism. I love this site and would use it even if you colored it black, pink, orange and banana!

On another thread there was a discussion about whether shardplate enhanced the wearer's reflexes in a way similar to pewter burning Allomancers or if shardplate only enhanced strength. I started a re-re-re-re-re-read (I think that is correct - this is, as far as I can remember, my sixth read through haha) of the Way of Kings yesterday and came across this: page 183/1008 of the kindle version of the Way of Kings: Also, on the next page (184/1008) there is this line: I submit to the community these quotes as proof that shardplate does not merely enhance one's strength but also enhances the speed and dexterity of the user. Unlike pewter, however, shardplate is not instinctive and requires practice and training. With the proper training one can achieve battlefield reflexes far above that of a normal human.

Gotcha. Well, welcome to the forums! It is a wild, Cosmere-y place in here. Have fun! P.S. Avoid the Reckoner's RPG!

No worries, I added an upvote to negate your accidental downvote. It has been a while since I read the Well of Ascension but I do not remember anything explicitly sexual and only pretty vague references to implicit sexual content. Are you referring to or to something else?

Shalash (or Ash). I think this is a highly unlikely possibility as the "final" Desolation (prologue of the Way of Kings) was 4500 years ago on Roshar and the Heralds had fought in many, many desolations before that. So, ballpark, 6000+ years? 10000+? Who knows but the point is that the Heralds have been around for thousands and thousands of years so it is highly unlikely that Vivenna is one of the Heralds. Furthermore, we have WoB that Vasher based the design of Nightblood on shardblades which means Vasher visited Roshar, saw shardblades, returned to Nalthis, made Nightblood and then the Manywar etc. etc. So, the timing for Vivenna to be Shalash is very wrong.

A fabrial for vegetable slicing? Early Rosharan attempt at making a knife gun? Cosmere Steampunk Wolverine?

Sorry for the confusion, my post was simply in response to the general discussion. I would have replied directly to you if I was specifically responding to your post.

If forcing Cultivation to trap Odium was the only way to save Roshar would it be an honorable action? Or would it be more honorable to allow Roshar, and everyone on it, to die?

Brandon states that Hoid is older that he should be in the sense that he time hops but that Hoid is also much older than he should be even counting the time hops. So, he has not lived all of the years since he was born due to the hops but he also has lived far more years than a human should even adjusting for the hops. edit: Relevant WoB: http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=622#106 edit2: Thanks to "Green Hoodie Mistborn" from an older thread who posted the link - I just used the forum search "hoid hops" haha to find the link

While I don't, off the top of my head, have anything that would necessarily disprove this theory I would rate it as "Super clever but highly unlikely" haha. Cheers to you if you end up being right though!

Depending on how much dependency Tony's weapons have on auto-targeting then lowering your temp enough to not register as human might be sufficient? edit: Whoops, double post. Sorry!

After reading through this thread (and it was awesome!) I thought I would just weigh in real quick with my opinion because I know all of you are simply dying to read what I have to write! 1: If Tony and Vin go into a fight with no other knowledge except that they have to fight to the death then all my money is on Vin. She can be a stone-cold killer when she needs to be. I feel like Tony would hesitate and, therefore, die in this scenario. 2: If both Vin and Tony have full knowledge of each other's capabilities and are given ample preparation time then all of my money is now on Tony. Vin is scrappy and has killer instincts (pun intended) but Tony simply outclasses her in the intelligence category and he has (nearly) unlimited resources. Tony's schtick is counter-measures and with a solid understanding of Allomancy he would be able to (relatively) quickly design and implement a suit of armor that would be a Mistbuster. Finally, if the mists come into the equation then it simply does not matter what Tony does - he is no match for a god.

That is also something I have been thinking about as I have discussed this theory. Granted, speculation in this direction is even less grounded in facts and WoBs than my current theory is so... yeah. Haha. 1: Not all of Adonalsium's power is contained in the 16 Shards. We know that various bits of Investiture exist that pre-date the Shards (e.g. spren). Perhaps the missing Intents were diffused into this extra-Shard-Adonalsium-power that exists in the Cosmere. Spren could be the Intent of Creativity? *shrug* 2: The Intents are made up of smaller intents (little 'i' intents). As your comment guessed, those little intents can form different big-I Intents depending on how they are mixed. Much like blue and yellow make green but blue and red make purple. Perhaps the little-i intents mixed to match the 16 Vessels? Or formed the way they did based on Adonalsium's precog? Luck of the draw? The weapon used to Shatter Adonalsium had some influence in some way? *shrug* The part that gets me is that everyone is so willing to dismiss Intents existing in Adonalsium and, instead, believe they are somehow a product of Adonalsium's Shattering; as if the Intents never existed in any fashion before the Shattering. Yet, we see with Harmony that a fusion of two Shards does not remove the Intents but, instead, simply creates tension between them. If Harmony takes up a third Shard, we could speculate that he would have the tension of three Intents pulling him in three directions now eh? If Harmony took a 4th... the same, no? Yet, if Harmony took up all 16 Shards, would those Intents (and their tension) "magically" (realmatically?) disappear and Adonlasium, with no Intent, would reappear? Or is simply combining the 16 Shards not enough to reform Adonalsium? I realize my theory is not the only possible answer. I recognize that is makes some sweeping assumptions about Adonalsium, the Shattering and the Vessels. On the other hand, I have trouble reconciling why the Vessels would Shatter Adonalsium and why Adonalsium would allow it. I feel as if this theory satisifies both of those concepts rather neatly based on the information we have.

Dominion is a possible candidate for countering, or at least restricting to some degree, Autonomy's intent. If a double shard of Dominion and Autonomy formed I imagine the Vessel would suffer a similar, but not exactly the same, creeping paralysis as Sazed is struggling with. Also, as mentioned before, Adonalsium could have Shattered into different Intents which means Adonalsium might have had a mixture of Intents different than the 16 we will know of. Also, as mentioned before, the speculation is not *just* that Adonalsium became paralyzed but that Adonalsium might have ended up heavily favoring a certain (mixture of) Intent and therefore, over time, became unstable.

It could be three LoFs, right? Draw the vertical one first and then do the left and right horizontal ones? 1: | 2: --| 3: --|--

I want to see epic airship battles involving artillery shots, gunfire and coinshots/lurchers leaping from ship to ship and fighting in the sky! Basically, the Scadrial version of the Red Wings from Final Fantasy II (US, SNES version).

There are kindle apps for smartphones, tablets and (some) computers - you could probably snag an English ebook that way. Or, if you are truly stuck and cannot get one I will, in 100% complete honesty, mail you a copy because no one should suffer from a lack of access to Sanderson books! Drop me a pm if you cannot get a copy of Elantris. Consider it a uhh, early Christmas present haha