Samaldin

Just finished part two. I don´t believe for one second that Pattern is the ghostblood spy, at least not willingly or intentionally. And Kaladins interaction with Lirin is hard to read for me. The more i read about Lirin the less sympathetic i find him, i see it as an interesting contrast to Dalinar. The later wants Adolin to be a better man than he is/was, while Lirin wants Kaladin to measure up to Lirin himself.

And when Maya picked up a sword to help Adolin...Man, i almost got tears in my eyes. I mean i realize it wasn´t THAT emotional a scene and we saw Maya actively rescuing Adolin before, but it somehow just connected with me. Mayas revival is the plotthreat i´ve been looking forward to the most since i started speculating about Oathbringer.

6 hours ago, ZenBossanova said:

Obey Asimov's Law of Robotics? 

I haven´t read Asimov, but from what i´ve heard aren´t many of his stories about robot rebellions using loopholes in his three rules?
 

I´m not completly sure about this interpretation, but i think it´s not just what the brands represent for Kaladin (loss of control, loss of hope, loss of trust etc.) but that they represent THE defining moment/timespan of his life. Cosmere healing does seem to not just be about the selfimage, otherwise Renarin could not have healed his eyesight (i find it unlikely that he envisioned himself with perfect vision, when he probably had eyesight problems his whole life), so i believe it is also important wether you let the wounds/problems define you. Renarin and Lopen never let themself be defined by their ailments and were healed when they got acces to stormlight, on the other hand Kaladin and Rysn both accepted their fate and made it a defining moment of their being and both were unable to be healed. 

I think "humans were the original voidbringers" is only half of the reason with the other half being "we also destroyed the mind and enslaved (nearly) all the native people". I don´t think the Shattering would affect radiants that much, as they would have no emotional connection to Adonalsium, while they would probably see parshmen an a near daily basis and would have to live with the guilt of destroying (and not merely killing) the saviors of humankind (as far as they know)

If what we´ve seen of the first generation KR (Kaladin, Shallan, Jasnah etc.) is any indication to what characters are wanted in the different orders i can absolutly rule out Elsecallers (since i don´t beliece in their absolut pragmatism) and Skybreaker (since i believe no code/law can always be aplied regardless of the situation). Lightweaver are also out, since i´m no artist and aren´t even interested in any of form of artistic expression, and i would be a terrible Bondsmith since i don´t like being in charge. Besides those i find the goals of most orders admirable but i can´t see myself in them.

I like to think i could fit in with the Stonewardens, stubborn and refusing to give up, they seem like the manifestation of hope to me (i wouldn´t be surprised if their 5th ideal is "I am Hope").

I don´t remember the last time (if ever) i was as moved when i read something, as when Taln was so happy humanity had had time to actually heal, grow and progress. He didn´t even seem to actually forgive the other Heralds, it seems it never really crossed his mind he was betrayed, all he thought of were the people he was protecting never of what was done to him...I just don´t know how to express how i think about Taln, i was actually nearly moved to tears...

22 minutes ago, djammmer said:

right, Szeth had an honorblade... Then he lost it to kalidan?  And got a new one from nale?  And didn't taln have one? (that dalinar baited amaram into trying to steal?). So isn't shinovar short at least 3 blades?

Taln took his with him to Damnation when he died, (probably) Nale went back after the Heralds broke the Oathpact and the remaining 8 Honorblades had been with the Shin. Szeth was later given one of the Shin Honorblades, which he lost to Kaladin. What Nale gave Szeth wasn´t an Honorblade but Nightblood (for more info on Nightblood see Warbreaker). So right now the Shin have 7 of the 10 Honorblades, but they only ever had at maxmimum 9, depending when the Herald who took his/her blade back did so.

About the numer of Desolations: We know it has been 6000ish years between the Shattering and the Breaking of the Oathpact. Odium needed some time to search, find an kill other Shards, so let´s say about 500-1000 years for that. Now we have 5500 to 5000 years for desolations. We know the 4500 years since the last Desolations was much longer then there ever was between Desolations and after a Desolation we (at least sometimes) are looking at 90% of humanity gone. Humanity needs some time to repopulate, or there would simply not be enough humans for the species to survive, if the Desolations come too soon after each other. Humanity also managed to get their technology level back up (i believe they managed stone-age to bronze-age sometimes?) after a Desolation. Taken together i would say we´re looking on average 500-1000 years between Desolations, possibly a bit lower. If my estimations are correct that would put the maximum number of Desolations about 11 and the minimum about 5. Of course Brandon could decide there was more time between the Shattering and the Breaking of the Oathpact so there could be more Desolations, but even with that we would be looking at maybe 15-20 Desolations maximum. If we assume that in the beginning the Heralds managed to hold on longer (because thousands of years of torture will probably slowly break your resolve) i don´think the notion of only 9 Desolations is unrealistic.

1 hour ago, Leyrann said:

Eh. I still don't get what's so inherently evil about Taravangian. He literally asked the Nightwatcher the boon to have the knowledge to save the world, and now he's acting on it.

He asked for the capability to, not the knowledge how. Even on his most brilliant day he´s still failable, the Diagram can be wrong. Right now i think there are two options for how the Diagram turns out 1. it fails absolutly and completly because of factors Taravangian knew absolutly nothing about and couldn´t considere because of that 2. It works but in a way no diagramist thought of (like Mr. T becoming Odiums champion and the duel is on his day of ultimate compassion so he kills himself)

It seems like the vast majority agrees Adolin was to blunt/straightforward when he told Shallan it was Kaladin who killed her brother, but honestly i think he did the right thing! When he realized she didn´t connect the dots what else should he have done? If she would have found out he knew later it could have severly damaged hers and Adolins relationship. If she found out, while talking to Kaladin no one knows how she would react and Adolin likes both of them, he wouldn´t want them to have a, potentially extrem, falling out. I honestly see no better option than to tell her immediatly.

8 hours ago, Alderant said:

So are you saying that Amaram is more despicable because he’s excusing what he’s doing, while Mr. T is admitting what hes doing is terrible?

Basicly yes. Being willfully blind to the evil you´re doing is worse, than accepting it. But that is my interpretation on an individual/character level, from an objective viewpoint (like they have in-universe) Taravangian is worse because of the sheer number of deaths (but given time Amaram will probably catch up^^)

The reason, i at least, find Taravangian to be less despicable than Amaram is, Taravangian knows he is a monster. Amaram does what he thinks is for the best of the world, same thing with Mr. T, but when Amaram made Kaladin a slave i found it obvious he did it to ease his conscience. Best way i can put it is T accepts he´s doing despicable things for the best of the world, while A does despicable things, but because he believes them necesary he thinks them just.

Of course this interpretation only works because i can see both T and A as individuals in the books, if i only heard about their actions (for example in real life) T would be much worse than A

I agree with @SLNC Also i think our opinions about Malata/ her spren could be colored by a few things, mainly we first see her with Mr T. who we know is probably the most dangerous and ruthless person on Roshar and her interations were with people who almost instantly found her annoying. My guess would be Pattern also just doesn´t like the Dustbringer spren, just like Syl doesn´t like cryptics.

Also the line about Destroying things to see what´s inside, sure can sound like a sociopath, but the first thing i actually thought of was a child which takes apart its clock, so my thoughts went to "childlike"curiosity" instead of "uninhibited by compassion".

33 minutes ago, Argent said:

I find this incredibly presumptuous. Sure, it's possible that his chicken is an Aviar, but to claim it with such conviction with virtually no evidence... I don't like it. 

Come one don´t take my fun away, Sixth of the Dusk is one of my favourite cosmere storys^^

Also Mraize (or someone else who told him) could have known about Aviar simply by observing the planet from the cognitive realm, Khriss mentions that that is a more or less common practice for places without a perpendiculary

I think i wouldn´t be that difficult for him to get an Aviar. I´m going to spoiler the rest since we´re in the Stormlight board.

1 minute ago, Steeldancer said:

I wonder what way people orient their toilet paper on Roshar 

Did you bring that up to screw with the "what is the last topic befor the new chapter" statistic? If so well done^^

Personally i don´t care if he becomes a KR, but the thing i want to see the absolute most is Adolin revive his blade. I think he could be something between a Shardbearer and a KR and basicly just be a guy with a Sprenblade friend, as for how that could happen: Revive the blade by Nightwatcher, be cursed to not become a KR.

49 minutes ago, Yata said:

I really doubt you could move the Cognitive of something so great as Urithuru and I don't mean for the size but rather the steel-like imprinting that thousands of mens left in it.

We know you could move Cognitive but this work mainly for object with a weak "self-identity". A Place so legenday would not accomodate you and Will revert back to his rightful status.

PS: the Fortress you refer in the OP is Probably not taken as a Cognitive Aspect from another Place too but rather physical builded in the CR.

But nobody was/is really sure where Urithiru even was/is, everyone just put it somewhere near his own kingdom. That unsureness of it´s physical location could give a strong cognitive aspect the ability to be at multiple places at once, or at least have parts of it at multiple places.

I really like this theory

Endowment is basicly doing that on a small scale as each Divine Breath is a Splinter

Does anyone know where to find the answet for the last poll? It was supposed to be answered last friday if i remember correctly...

Maybe Investiture (or the visual representation of Investiture) get a different color depending on the source of it. So Preservation would be blue (the Steellines), Odium red (the Stormspren and Voidbringer eyes), white could be either Honor or Adonalsium i´m not sure if Stormlight is older than Honor (i believe Highstorms are), Ruins color is described in Mistborn Secret History as (probably not necessery to use spoilertags but save is save)

Regarding the slave trade, wasn´t it mentioned that the bodies of the Skaa were returned after they died in the Pits so that there was no doubt that they´re dead? Officially i think it was because they wanted to show the pits are the ultimate prison and noone could escape (until Kelsier came along), the real reason was probably that TLR didn´t want to risk the knowledge of where Atium comes from to get out there. If enough Skaa disapeared to make the slave trade lucrative i think TLR would have gotten VERY curious about that and a "standard" worldhopper probably wouldn´t survive long if TLR became curious.

I think it was basicly normal trade of luxurious items, since every shardworld is self-sustaining and thus have no need for basic off-world material, and those items most likely have a nice weight/size to value ratio so it´s not to difficult to get them past the guards while still making a decent profit.

First of the Sun trapper: Third of the Noon

Vorin: Jakab (Shouldn´t Vorin Names be almost symmetrical but off a letter of two? i remember Ialais name was considered slightly blashphemous because it was symetrical)

Unkalaki: Mahatemikuluminitolukhinasiahitumas

Shin: Jakob-son-Reinhard

Korathi: Kieob (because Kie means circle and that´s kind of my bodyshape^^)

Returned: Jestbringer (i really like to prank/troll peope)

Threnodite: Wilhelm Mort (because why not)

I´ve been thinking about getting the Cosmere Symbol on my left chest, probably never will but i like to think about it