Lewis Nethur

This is...a very helpful and also a very unsatisfying answer. I Think I'm going to simply treat it as headcannon for now that electrum-Oracles are just spiritually more stubborn and difficult to snap than other mistings, possibly due to some kind of design-artifact or conceptual-blending with their electrum-ferring relatives at a shardic magic-system level.

I don't believe "dissonance" is the correct word, otherwise I mostly agree; I would phrase it more along the lines of, "a discontinuity or scar at the interfaces between the PR/CR/SR." What is a "crack?" It is a scar leftover from a past stress-concentration which resulted in a sufficient magnitude of strain to push an object/material beyond its breaking point. Breaking in this way, technically speaking, relieves said stress (supersonically in many cases...). In the cases where such breakage is non-catastrophic, an object/material might mostly return to its initial appearance after cracking, but it will forever bear a deep blemish and subtly altered flexibility, susceptibility to stress, internal friction, and many other properties. Being bullied can cause stress/strain, living with schizophrenia can cause stress/strain, torture can cause stress/strain, and even common processes like the daily labors of being a skaa in the final empire was shown to capable of causing adequate stress/strain to initiate spiritual cracking... Edit: to your points on the intended poetic nature of spiritweb cracks, I think that the interpretation I'm trying to suggest would make someone like kelsier, who is both literally and figuratively riddled with scars inside and out, even more iconic.

Oh my! Nope, i don't think you miswrote and please do not stop doing exactly what you're doing, that was in zero way intended as a critique or criticism, I only try to speak for the benefit of anyone else who happens to roll in. Probably one of my most annoying habits. I've read your posts; you're beloved in the community.

(Emphasis added) I think these two lines truly reach to the heart of WHY it is impossible to approach the subject of Moash with anything other than debate (at least until Sanderson's ends the story). I don't expect that polling can work in a general sense for taking a fandom's metaphorical temperature on a "Moash." Human beings tell fantastical stories, and particularly fantastical war-stories, for a lot of reasons, both personal and social, but they evolved to do it persistently as a species because it helps them teach each other how to react to and engage with circumstances wherein: 1) there may legitimately never be an acceptable, correct, moral, ethical, positive, or good resolution, and, 2) sitting out or refusing to engage may result in a summary death sentence by those who do. The (intellectually) richest and most informative of fantastical stories make no effort to tell listeners what to see or how to behave, they simply demonstrate circumstances and consequences which are generally inspired by the storytellers observations, musings, and imaginative transformations on past, present, and future human history/behavior. I realize that it may sound like I'm trying to "end" the debate, but I promise I am not. I'm only hoping to communicate that the debate cannot be ended, for the exact reasons you called out: having strong feelings one way or the other about Moash indicates that a reader has seen something within him or his circumstances that can't technically be fully reconciled by somebody else's explanation. They will all eventually reach closure on the dissonance within their own mind due to that fact, assuming the story gets finished eventually and they all keep reading/listening to the end, but even that closure will take a unique shape and form in their minds. I certainly don't object to anyone trying to poll or experiment on seeing how people want Moash's arc to end. But I would caution against ever trying to suggest how it should end, if that makes sense. yours was a very well articulated summary though, I do have to give you that.

I would offer the opinion that, if nightblood's ability to reach into the cognitive realm when cutting a target can be taken as precedent, then a cloak that can bend light around its wearer by manipulating one's presence in the CR should totally be plausible if it was endowed with enough Breath to achieve sentience. I'd guess that it would almost certainly blind the wearer though, so they would need to rely on other senses. Others are a little more difficult to speculate on off the cuff...

One point I want to hit on here is that the concept of a "best available option," is fundamentally merely a constraint of time and innovation. All that to say that: yes, in a vacuum, isolated from outside interference, attack, or awareness of the actions/Intents of others Shards, I would opine that each and every Shard could/would ultimately act in a way that was, if not exactly benevolent or just, would be widely perceived as "good" in a general sense of the word. There would, of course, be inhabitants contributing information-pollution to their internal spaces who blamed them unfairly/irrationally as a matter of emotional projection, but...this can't be helped... Now this...this is just absolutely and totally true...

My understanding is that, for all real world intents and purposes, being good friends with at least one truthwatcher is just as good as being one yourself, since you can simply ask them what they would think or do in any given situation. and you have apparently walked right into their central hive by being here, so you couldn't be more well-positioned! Me? I'm trying to memorize on an intuitive level how each and every one of them feels and acts in any particular scenario; hopefully that one isn't an impossible pursuit.

So...I understand that this hasn't been codified on page yet, but...recalling the atium retcon, the soldiers who served as atium-Seers in the final lead up to the catacendre seem to have just been electrum-Oracles who were given atium but never tested properly with electrum (because it would have broken the era1 economy). So my question is...if they were just regular Mistings like everybody else who got sick, why god why was snapping via the mistsickness so much harsher on them than everybody else (except the folks who outright died)? Further...does this translate to electrum-mistings simply being more difficult to snap than other variants by "normal" means, thus requiring spiritual cracking of a more severe magnitude in a general sense...? Would this disparity have been resolved in era2/3, or is it just baked into the process that Oracles take more force to snap into place?

First, your username is totally awesome, i absolutely love the reference and stylizing. Second...under normal circumstances: 100% outright no. Third: I do believe it is possible to cheat that system under extremely exotic conditions though. By my current understanding, it would always require the informed consent, cooperation, coordination, and engagement of another person (or, more likely, a whole bunch of people) in the physical realm (or the spiritual realm if you're actually crazy and ambitious enough to try to manifest something into a greater dimension of freedom instead of a lower one!) To get the operation to fully come together successfully. I'm still giving it 50/50 odds that some process like this is how Kelsier got his body back in the first place when that was always supposed to be impossible (at least if you believe what Shards and their acolytes tell you...)

I think you pretty much hit the nail on the head with this one. Plus...I would add that, at least when he isn't acting full-blown psychotic and lusting after power, he is exceptionally assertive and charming, and...while that doesn't directly make him a sympathetic villian in and of itself, it does lead many people to want to empathize with him...and, as soon as they succeed, they understand what he is a product of and why he is the way he is. And, for better or worse, no person anywhere is capable of hating something that they fully understand. They can still hurt or kill it if they choose to, but they cannot still hate it.

Because...Sanderson finished the Wheel of Time...he understands that evil and despicable people exist for a reason, and that reason is not so that they can be tortured by "good" people... That said, Moash is a raging dumpster fire of a human being; it just isn't totally his fault.

Try playing with the search function in the "Arcanum" section of the forums directory of this site! It's much more of an art than a science. The real world data scientists that I know were absolutely horrified when they realized that people were organizing questions and answers that way (it totally works, just...only for works of literary art; may God have mercy on the person who attempts to cultivate such a system in any other space...)

Yes! With the caveat that I don't anticipate the high-level grand war to actually be the focus of the story so much as merely its backdrop which indirectly explains the tension, anxiety, and general behavior of the wider cast of characters. So like...I expect travel directly between the two regions to be powerfully limited, artificially inflating the value of our main characters making the journey and creating an imperative for others to support them. I expect there to be war but for it to not really ever go anywhere substantial; basically, i don't believe either side will "win," just like in real war. I believe this backdrop will create the absolute perfect opportunity to compare, contrast, test, sample, and hybridize northern and southern technologies and techniques. The two sides have so little in common that war is inevitable, but only at first! Lastly, I would offer the prediction that peace between the warring regions (and their warring internal factions for that matter!) To be a requirement for the initiation of era4 and the planet's induction into the interstellar space age. So like...a lot of crazy bs (pun intended) is going to go down.

I don't recall it being discussed on screen, but I assume that they're printing books using arrays of spanreeds at this point to partially simulate a printing press. the results probably have some quality control issues, and the manual labor would be kinda intensive, but a single scribe could write 10 books in the same amount of time as it takes to write one traditionally with Rosharns' existing IT resourcing capability.

No evidence that I'm aware of certainly, but in-world characters do engage in profane practices for the sake of efficiency, (like the stormwarden writen language which is...like the real world equivalent of doing all your math in hexadecimal; totally sensible and arguably more succinct and mathematically perfect, but also will make 99% of people look at you like you're a witch...) so I wouldn't put it out of the realm of possibilities for someone like Jasnah or scholars like her to engage in for their private personal notes or journals! Edit: thinking about it a little more, I would think that once Rosharns advance technologically to be writing on lined sheet paper instead of (I think?) The plain parchment sheets that are currently used, they would actually be able to obtain maximum information density on page by writing a line of script using tops only, then writing another line of text with bottoms only, for each line on the sheet. This would make the characters and text look absolutely insane for anyone not used to reading it, but would be very compact.

It's been a long while since I thought about that early section. Would you accept that it may be possible someone was maintaining it? Like...an Inqisitor just reapplying it with a low-tech clear coat every few years? It would start to peel eventually, but it would just need to be gently sanded by hand (very little damage to the underlying metal) and reapplied with a thin layer of sealant to restore. If not, then we may need a archeologist to address this.

Whoa. Opening up by trying to predict reveals that aren't due for 20+ years is a very bold move, well done. All I can add here is that: 1. It seems entirely plausible to me at this point that Adonalsium was able to see the shattering coming and either could not, or simply chose not to, stop it. 2. If a Shard can architect an avatar, then Adonalsium could definitely have architected a better avatar. (If they had wanted to) 3. Hoid seems to specifically work to avoid picking up the Investiture of Shards who's magic systems override personal autonomy (small a) or directly damage the user's soul. So, he pretty much carries no representation of Ruin's power within his body. (And, it's been a long time since I read Elantris, but I think he wasn't super hyped on Dominion either? I'm not totally sure on that one, please don't quote me unless you double-check) Now...that said, those points do not disprove your proposal. Ruin is primarily known for his Hemalurgy, buuuut...those Southerners Medallions reek of blood magic if you ask me, and Hoid is willing to use them as long as it's always only someone else's soul being excised or damaged. Sooooo...maybe! Hoid was definitely present when and where he was for a reason.

Who knows? Maybe he'll just ditch Roshar and become an interplanetary criminal on the run Most of the Radiants simply can't ever leave the system. Edit: Minor sixth of Dusk flag just to be safe...

It probably wouldn't hurt, but it's a simple fact of life that excellent work inspires emulation. Any artist who inspires emulation bordering on fraud or defamation is merely too ahead of their time for their own good. Dragonsteel has good people, they won't be preyed upon. Hopefully this other person can support themselves and anyone they manage to inspire.

Oh gosh. Fair points, sure. I push back that Navani's pain is as much Moash's fault as the crimes against Moash are her fault is all. He's objectively a very bad man, no question. All someone needs to do to render him helpless as far as I'm aware is cut his sword arm with a shardblade while he's wielding and knock him unconscious with a rock though, so...I still don't think he's some kind of God or demon. Imposing in a duel? Yes. A terror to behold for any not of full radiant status? Definitely. But...two 4th ideal skybreakers should be able to beat him to death with Shard hammers without breaking a sweat while cracking jokes... Never said he was a hero. He was probably always a bully. But...i grew up reading RJ's wheel of time. "No man can walk so long trapped in the darkness that he cannot find the light again." Cannonically, that specifically included blind men, war criminals, and murderers. Redemption doesn't necessarily mean to survive; lots of the redeemed die the same day they return...=/

This was good! I truly don't care if Moash lives or dies, so...I err towards he should probably be allowed to live. But again...to play devil's advocate... Does said grieving mother's complaints and suffering, given the greater context of her complicity, inaction, manipulations, deceits, and political maneuvering for personal advantage throughout said 5-year genocide, legitimately constitute a moral or ethical reason to wish death on a man fully 20 socio-economic classes below her station who was personally harmed, tortured, and enslaved by the authority of the crown? Or...like...would this just be an absurdly rich person trying to rub the face of an extremely poor and broken person who, against all odds, actually kinda managed to get even against her family when they thought they could do whatever they wanted, into the mud for petty revenge? I'm really not sure. He doesn't legitimately seem to me to be "too powerful to be allowed to live." So...idk. imprisonment is inelegant, but would probably be safe and fine, his friends don't seem that Invested to come get him. Execution would be...lackluster. Edit: sorry, alloy of Law spoiler tag added. Death in battle? I mean...that would honestly probably be a mercy for the man... I like where your head is at though.

We may have to adjust our perception of "natural" a little (recall: scadrial itself was an artifical habitat to begin with) but otherwise? Unequivocally and 100% yes. Completely foreign Investiture was leveraged by the Ire to successfully capture Preservation for a brief period of time. It...didn't exactly pan out the way that the invaders wished, wanted, or hoped for...but it demonstrated that an outside attacker can, with extreme preparation, Investment, and coordination, at least theoretically influence how a dying Shard gets inherited or reconstituted (at least temporarily). I would argue that, if it's possible for a group of totally unaffiliated actors in the CR to seize Preservation (the literal source of Mistborn), then there is no plausible way that it is impossible for in-world actors to, either through manipulation, hacking, breeding, or pure random chance, to produce at least one mistborn eventually. Not to put too fine a point on it...buuuuuut...For example: if you gave 100 trillion monkeys 1 quadrillion chances to write a full length novel, at least one of them would (and did!) successfully write Romeo and Juliet. (they only have to get it correct once, they can collaborate or compete as hard or soft as they want, and they don't have to show their work or prove how they did it for it to legitimately count. That's a recipe for guaranteed success as a function of time.)

I...do not like Moash either, but I would caution you from being too certain about any given fandom's capacity for forgiveness. Like you said, the groundwork is there. And, I would add, the grievances and his reactions to them that ultimately led to him being evil were...kind of valid from the perspective of several (certainly not all) popular real world philosophies on ethics and personal morality. He did basically betray kaladin...which...is very not good. They probably can't be friends or coworkers again even if they were under duress when it happened. Just to play devil's advocate, and please do not feel obligated to entertain the question, because honestly I'm struggling to come up with an answer: "What do you think could plausibly be a satisfying end to Moash's arc other than redemption and some form of reassignment/isolation away from the people he has hurt?" (There doesn't seem to be anyone left who would be justified wishing to see him die from what I can understand so far. Most of the people involved in the crimes he committed, or who committed crimes against him, are dead I think.) @PiousMongoose please don't choose this answer as any kind of head-cannon or realistic prediction, but i want to give your proposal 70/30 odds, even if i can't totally back it up.

I strongly suspect that what we're going to gradually find is that, almost any alloy which is composed in majority of elemental aluminum is going to have a dampening and resistive effect on Investiture, ranging from the trivially weak and barely detectable to the almost completely inert. I suspect that in era3 or maybe era4 mistborn it will eventually be revealed that even pure elemental aluminum is not perfectly inert, IE: an obscenely over-the-top mechanical-allomancy based steel push (like an interplanetary PR spaceship transitioning through an orbit) will be able to toss a block of pure aluminum just fine; the reactionary force might be dampened by several orders of magnitude or more, but it is never actually outright canceled. All that to say: I would find it very difficult to believe that Duralumin isn't noticeably very similar to aluminum in its Investiture blocking, reflecting, and dampening properties on a mathematical level, however, those values have not been canonized on page yet so...how similar remains a simply unconfirmed principle as yet for Cosmere metaphysics. To clarify, I'm suggesting (opining) that the dampening effects of aluminum probably approach an asymptotic limit as a function of elemental purity that only simulates outright inertness for 100% (99.999% if we wanna get super technical) pure aluminum. Best guess? Duralumin is probably going to be somewhere between 3% and 97% as robust a dampener relative to pure aluminum depending on the fine details of how copper doping functions in practice. That could translate on page as anywhere from a very slight, "pushing on this block is slightly more difficult than I was expecting, but it doesn't really matter outside of extremely precise allomantic machine design," to, "holy heck! I have to push hard enough to get a nosebleed to even move this insane block an inch! It's not aluminum or a filled metalmind! What is it!?" Edit: Just in case I'm correct eventually, here's a sketch of what I was thinking. (Unitless for example of course)

I think I would definitely lean hard towards mistborn over stormlight if you're considering it for an adolescent. My argument being: mistborn generally maintains much firmer lines and definitions about which side is "good" vs. "Bad" and, while severe emotional trauma and some violence are discussed, much less of it is focused on untreated mental illness, self-sabotage, or intentional manipulation and gaslighting by trusted family and friends. I wouldn't be too aghast at either option though. Goodluck!