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DrakeMarshall

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Everything posted by DrakeMarshall

  1. DrakeMarshall
    I have a feeling that the original radiant's shardplate didn't require gemstones in it. When Kaladin had a shard helmet on his hand, it was able to hold together using his own stormlight reserve. I think that the plate could very well just power itself with the stormlight contained in the radiant themselves. The gemstones might have been an invention that allowed non-radiants to use the abandoned shardplate. A full radiant would just carry the gemstones in their pocket to fuel the plate; they wouldn't need to install a bunch inside the plate itself (which would also be inconvenient when you dismissed the plate because the gemstones would just, clatter to the ground or something). Yeah I'm almost certain the radiants didn't have those gemstones installed in their plate originally. Either way, yes the general idea is that a radiant's own shardplate wouldn't interfere. Also I happen to agree that shardplate comes from those lesser spren, although we have yet to see this theory proven.
  2. DrakeMarshall
    Might as well put this under a spoiler because it pertains to the ending for Words of Radiance:
  3. DrakeMarshall
    You should have told them that they already could travel through time. Exclusively forward and at a fixed rate. Anyway. Granted. The nightwatcher bestows upon you an assortment of fire related abilities, including the ability to make yourself less fireproof (non-reversible), and the ability to magically extinguish any candles you are close enough to that you could blow them out. As your bane, you can no longer feel hot or cold. That doesn't mean that extreme temperatures no longer damage your body, you just don't feel it anymore. I wish for a regrowth fabrial (and, presumably, a way of using/fueling it).
  4. DrakeMarshall
    Well thank you... It was indeed my birthday yesterday.
  5. DrakeMarshall
    Granted. You are given an awakened electric guitar with the command "be loud". It feeds off your life force when you use it, but it plays very well on it's own accord. And it looks awesome (if maybe a little disconcerting with all that black smoke). Your bane is that you are made hard of hearing (this is sort of helpful when you are playing the awakened guitar but otherwise it's annoying). I wish for something.
  6. DrakeMarshall
    Friends, Yolenese, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Adolnasium, not to praise him. The evil that gods do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones; So let it be with Adolnasium. The noble Tanavast Hath told you Adolnasium was ambitious: If it were so, it was a grievous fault, And grievously hath Adolnasium answer'd it. Here, under leave of Tanavast and the rest-- For Tanavast is an honourable man; So are they all, all honourable men-- Come I to speak in Adolnasium's funeral. He was my friend, faithful and just to me: But Tanavast says he was ambitious; And Tanavast is an honourable man. He hath brought much investiture to Yolen Whose benefit did the general coffers fill: Did this in Adolnasium seem ambitious? When that the poor have cried, Adolnasium hath wept: Ambition should be made of sterner stuff: Yet Tanavast says he was ambitious; And Tanavast is an honourable man.
  7. DrakeMarshall
    When I re-read WoK I was certain that guy was a herald as well. I don't remember though, is there anything to suggest that he is Jezrien in particular? Also Duhchappers welcome to the 17th shard! Have an upvote on your first post.
  8. DrakeMarshall
    The arrival of the Goglafrinchams had one other key result: they devalued the leaf as a currency. Also. I just realized that this question and answer setup sounds suspiciously like Heisenberg's uncertainty principle.
  9. DrakeMarshall
    So it's raining cats and dogs... Literally? Granted. Since the nightwatcher regrettably does not have the power to change the minds of people so profoundly, she gives you the second option. The axehound the government took from me is tested extensively on in a lab and somehow gains superpowers. The axehound, being able to turn invisible, escapes from the lab and you find him. You can't control him telepathically but you can speak with him telepathically. Your bane is that several important government agencies are after you now. You are a rather high priority target for stealing an alien organism with superpowers. I wish for a row of tamed chasmfiends that I can teach to dance and sing an ode to Hoid, so as to surprise Dalinar.
  10. DrakeMarshall
    You know, I never really thought of the possibility that the Stone Shamans relate to Talenel I guess that makes a lot of sense though. There is something there. EDIT: Also another interesting though about this... The diagram doesn't necessarily require Taravangian that much anymore. I could potentially see Taravangian dying in a future book, but the diagramists moving forward with everything with only a slight agenda change. Just an interesting thought.
  11. DrakeMarshall
    Yes... But Talelenel didn't really have any skills to teach them this time. Once upon a time, the Heralds taught humanity to relearn their culture and reclaim basic technology like bronze forging. Without desolations holding it back, society has advanced normally for many, many years. Alethkar has developed beyond what the heralds would probably be able to teach them (In technology and culture, anyway. I daresay the Heralds could still teach modern Roshar a thing about the radiant orders or the nature of the oath pact). Anyway. Those details aside. It is true that Hoid probably called Taln late because the desolation was nearly there. What I am saying is that this implies that Taln's presence is not firmly fixed to the desolations, or so Hoid thinks. But Taravangian's diagram seems to directly contradict that. He seems to attribute the coming of a desolation to Taln's will slowly fracturing and him not being able to stay in damnation forever.
  12. DrakeMarshall
    Earlier I said this. It is still worth considering why so many people think this way. But it is also worth noting that Taravangian disagrees with this view. It is written in the diagram: "Obviously they are fools The Desolation needs no usher It can and will sit where it wishes and the signs are obvious that the spren anticipate it doing so soon The Ancient of Stones must finally begin to crack It is a wonder that upon his will rested the prosperity and peace of a world for over four millennia" "The Desolation needs no usher" means that Taravangian does not agree with those who believe radiants cause desolations. Now, Taravangian isn't infallible by any menas from what I have seen, but this is still interesting. Also, "Ancient of Stones" obviously means Talenel. So according to the diagram, the desolation was delayed because Talenel deliberately endured torment to keep it from happening. This means that the diagram believes the heralds coming will cause the desolation, not the radiants. Taravangian seems to believe that once Talenel cracks and chooses to return from damnation, the next desolation will be unleashed. Hoid calls Talenel "late" however, which implies that he should have returned earlier and not later like the diagram implies. So Hoid does not agree with the diagram on this matter. The implications are rather interesting in all of this. There seem to be multiple views on what actually causes the desolations. We don't know enough about the oath pact I think.
  13. DrakeMarshall
    Storms... Another one of these... I haven't read many non-cosmere Sanderson works so I'll sit this one out I think. Good luck all.
  14. DrakeMarshall
    Greetings. Welcome to the 17th shard and all. I would actually recommend reading Stormlight Archive after Warbreaker because it will help you understand some things about the second Stormlight Archive book, Words of Radiance... Do whatever you want though. They are all great books to read if you decide to pick any of them up. Ah yes. Those excellent and delectable works of hemalurgy baking. Check out the dark alley section of the forums if you are confused by this.
  15. DrakeMarshall
    The Final Empire's normal, non-supernatural forces are much weaker than most all of the ones you listed. However. Not counting the Lord Ruler himself, the final empire has koloss, inquisitors, kandra, and allomancers. Thugs and koloss are both absurd tactical advantages. Kandra are a type of spy that none of these societies would reasonably be able to protect against. And the steel inquisitors could frankly probably just walk up to the rulers of any of these countries and murder them, terrifying the populace and throwing the nations into utter chaos Most historical societies would quickly fall to the Final Empire unless they knew exactly what to expect. I agree that the Mongols have the best chance here, but even they do not have an assured victory by any means (under genghis khan they were strong in great part due to their unity, and kandra and inquisitors are great at undermining unity so the Final Empire might well pull through). Modern society, of coarse, would destroy the final empire. With utmost ease. But most of the developments that would let us do that are quite recent, historically speaking. The Final Empire was more powerful than most of our civilizations in human history I think. Oh also it sort of matters who is attacking or defending. The Romans would have an advantage if the Final Empire was actually invading them I think. As for if these empires were attacking the final empire... Well at that point the Lord Ruler might get involved and it would be over.
  16. DrakeMarshall
    This is reminding me of something. Sazed once described to Vin a religion that believed in a finite amount of bad luck. They celebrated when something bad happened, because it meant they had used up a lot of their bad luck and the future was likely to be good. Maybe there was something to that religion? Maybe their beliefs were founded on chromium feruchemy?
  17. DrakeMarshall
    WoR spoiler:
  18. DrakeMarshall
    That almost sounds like something Sanderson would do, too. But probably the people themselves gave Talenel that label, not a drunk Jezrien. Like you said it already logically makes sense to bestow such a title, and it isn't so far fetched to assume that over the centuries someone thought to bestow that title on a religious figure like one of the heralds. Also, I will note that "Talenelat'elin" was not his real name, I'm pretty sure it was just Talenel. Over the years the people ended up calling him that, much like "Jezrien" changed to "Jezerezah". This means that the unnamed bridgeman probably wasn't a herald, because the heralds called Talenel by his real name.
  19. DrakeMarshall
    We don't know a lot about the different powers that be. The diagram and the radiants are definitely two major world powers right now... But there could be others. The ghostbloods might not have as central of a role, but being cosmere aware they are also somewhat transcendent over some of the factions which might have more raw power. I also wonder what role exactly the heralds are playing in all of this, because I have a feeling that their interests are likely to be represented in some way or other (we know some small amount of what Nalan is up to but very little of the others). Also speaking of what Nalan is up to... Does it seem really strange to anyone else that he would kill off other radiants, but then end up initiating someone into his own order by the end of things? Maybe the coming of the desolation changed his mind though (after all, why get rid of the radiants if the desolation has already started?).
  20. DrakeMarshall
    Hm... That's something I hadn't considered. We see a lot of people (even a herald like Nalan) assuming that the coming of the radiants will cause the coming of the voidbringers, not the other way around. Now, it's easy to just say that the sons of honor are misguided and all that is a big mistake. But it keeps happening. What if the radiants really are literally causing the desolations by their presence? What if their presence is like a challenge to Odium, and it causes them and the voidbringers to inevitably clash? That might be a reason why radiants would stop being radiants. To stop desolations. And yet... I think that's not why they broke their oaths. Frankly, in Dalinar's vision it really just didn't seem like they were doing what they did as some kind of selfless sacrifice for the prosperity of the human race. It seemed like they had been broken somehow. Also, while it could have been some kind of momentous event, I really do not think it was honor leaving them. Because Tanavast was alive during the recreance, else he wouldn't have been able to show that vision to Dalinar because he is bad at future sight.
  21. DrakeMarshall
    I feel that binding a gold shadow would be challenging. But probably possible, with the right magics... Also, I wonder... Can Lift touch gold or even atium shadows, like she can touch spren? How about the cognitive shadows of the dead? Interesting thoughts.
  22. DrakeMarshall
    "I write these words in steel" is actually the very first words in Well of Ascension, if I recall correctly. Sanderson always has those small passages at the beginning of a chapter and "I write these words in steel" is the beginning of the text he puts in those chapter beginnings. So it definitely isn't a spoiler. I mean, yes, they do kind of relate to the ultimate plot of the entire book. But when I saw those first words, I sure didn't realize that until much later in the book.
  23. DrakeMarshall
    Well I think the only way that this could be someone important in hiding is if they somehow didn't die. But I suppose this is a question the OP should answer. Were you implying that they aren't actually dead? If they aren't actually dead, that would mean they would need to have the ability to identify Kaladin from a distance and track him down to bridge four, infiltrate it, and fake their death, all to share a few words with one of the up and coming radiants on Roshar. That simply isn't a sensible thing to do. The only person who has both the ability and the personality to pull something like that is hoid, like spoolofwhool said. I kind of doubt Sanderson would put a cameo of hoid there because usually he likes to make hoid appearances a little more obvious. And plus the king's wit is already the biggest hoid involvement in a cosmere novel to date, so I'm not sure why Sanderson would make another small one like that. Like I said, I harbor some skepticism of the theory but I still definitely like the idea.
  24. DrakeMarshall
    Not a few weeks. As I understand it, they spend all the time between desolations in damnation. And since the last desolation was a long time ago, I doubt the heralds would want to risk their lives and join Taln at all. It turns out that in this case it would be a few weeks, but for all they knew, it would have taken many more centuries in damnation before a desolation allowed them to return. This is very true. Taln was the head of the stonewards, and Words of Radiance says that both Taln and the Stonewards were remarkably steadfast. He could be known as a bearer of agonies in Vorin mythologies I think. Even so it's an interesting theory. The details of that bridgeman are a little odd. I frankly still doubt he is someone in disguise (especially since very few people would probably be able to identify Kaladin as a proto-radiant this early in the bonding process, and there isn't really any other reason to infiltrate bridge four). But it's a clever thought anyway, and would be cool if it turned out true.
  25. DrakeMarshall
    This. But seriously, couldn't you hook up that toothbrush to a generator and get a slow but infinite source of electricity? Anyway. The nightwatcher gives you what she feels you deserve. You are transported to Roshar during a desolation. At this time, spren are bonding people more frequently, so you have the opportunity to attract an honorspren. But while you have the opportunity, there are no shortcuts. You still have to be exceptionally honorable to become a windrunner. Your bane is that you don't remember your life on earth, you only remember speaking with the nightwatcher and then waking up in Kholinar without prior memories. You have even forgotten how to speak English, but fortunately the nightwatcher gives you a knowledge of Alethi. I wish for a domesticated pet axehound.
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