Jazzy Kandra

I'm pretty sure that Kelsier's major issue was more than he didn't have a body, and, on top of that was Connected a lot more to Ruin than Preservation thanks to his past choices which led to chaos and anarchy... If he had a body though, it would've been easier to pick it up, and he probably wouldn't have needed the help of the weird-white-stuff from the Elantrians (and this might mean there's something up with those Elantrians, too...) So, as long as you're alive, you can pick up a Shard, but if you're dead, you need help (except, I would guess, if you are especially Connected to it...). Anyway, his problem is his lack of presence in the Physical Realm, not just his Connection...

I'm going to suggest thata closer thing to that is the tumblr community, right now, but it's a lot less formal than tarvalon.net and it might not be your cup of tea (though there are a few more rp there, too, which might interest you). It's been years since I was on tarvalon, though, so...eh.

I really need better names for my topics. Anyway, one of the better-known theories out there right now is that Harmony's pool is in the mountains (SoS). I agree with this, but... I also think there are more pools on Scadrial, or at least there might be another possible location for a on Scadrial Perpendicularity. In Alloy of Law, Marasi mentions this in the narrative when thinking about the Field of Rebirth: ~172, The Alloy of Law That sounds a little...super natural, even for a hot spring, but if it's a hell of a lot of Investiture (or an Invested hot spring pool) that sounds natural. It also fits with the basic, especially Elendel, being particularly blessed by Harmony. Plus, that hot spring would be located under the Field of Rebirth, which is also the location of the kandra homeland (and Ruin's 'old' Shardpool because the pits are also there), meaning that the servants of Harmony could guard Harmony's (or Ruin's?) Shardpool and chose who comes in and who comes out, however, I feel there are probably more ways to get in than just this one pool in Elendel... (I'll say more later, but I'm not feeling great...) xD

I think that it's likely he gained it the old fashion way (like the first feruchemists did, and presumably Hoid as well)... Not just because Kelsier gained more advanced knowledge of Investitures like Allomancy and Feruchemy (the LR received a great amount of knowledge on the arts and he had held the power for a shorter amount of time), but because it gives Brandon a chance to show us how that crap works first hand. In other words, it's just good writing. xD Either way, it might be that Kelsier fell out with Sazed, or (and I think this is a bit more likely...) he hasn't been in world for awhile (read: for the period in which AoL, SoS, and BoM takes place in; my headcannon is that, as he's best at leading small, specialized teams, he is doing just that and looking into things on other worlds to help Scadrial and whatever. It's basically his job, and it keeps him occupied, which is important with a man like Kell...). They do have disagreements (probably on Hemalurgy), since Sazed sees it as 'pretty much always bad', and Kelsier is more likely to use it if he thinks it's necessary (for his plans--to protect Scadrial). That probably means that they have disagreements about "how things should be done" (just as Marsh and Harmony have in AoL), but I think that both have the same goal and are willing, still, to put their differences aside and work together...

I'm going to say Kaladin probably wouldn't be able to because that stormlight is Connected to Szeth (has his signature). If he knew enough to hack the system and get rid of that marker, suuuuuuuuuuuuuuure, but that's rather advanced knowledge cosmere wide (you might even need to be a Feruchemist for that hack to work...easily, anyways).

I think it's actually Dominion in a more cultural-linguistic sense. Sarene isn't from Arelon but Teod; however, her culture is part of the same cultural-linguistic block (which is arguably a diverse block in itself...), she and most of the people from her country could still become Elantrians just like the people from Arelon. The same for some of those from Duladel, like Galladon, depending on the amount of Aonic blood is in their veins, their cultural traditions (and how far removed those are from Aonic cultures), and their locations in Duladel. Basically, Investiture is distributed on Sel according to which cultural-linguistic block has hegemony in that given area. Just as Anglo-Western civilizations are all part of the same cultural-linguistic block, so are several countries (at times) on Sel. Sometimes its just small ethnic groups of in certain empires (as per forgers in Emperor's Soul). Either way, what matters is what cultural-linguistic block a person is from and if they are in/near a local where that culture is most dominant (in the minds' of the local citizenry). It means everything is determined in the Cognitive Realm...and I guess if you Elantrilized a culture, 'interesting' side effects might result (I do not promote such behavior in real life, though). Thus, access to a particular set of Dor-Investiture is not so much related to literal territory, but dominant culture and your personal connection to it. In other words: Connection to culture/social norms in these given countries is what's powering their Investiture. In the end it's all about Connection, because Connection rules.

Or he has a good (enough) understanding of Investiture from studying it to use it in a more subtle way (we could even argue that this is always how it works, but let's not go into that here). Given that he studies Investiture as a scientist (and even other-worldly forms would probably interest him), it seems logical that he could figure out how to use color more subtly, probably... The only thing left to do, I guess, is to figure out what the hell he was Awakening... xD (Also, it's been years since I've seen the word 'pointilism', dear Harmony).

Maybe he created the Spearhead because he realized that while it's great to be a Fullborn, it would be rather useful (from a tactical point of view) to create a weapon that he could give his allies/followers, making someone he trusts a Fullborn for a limited amount of time. You know, because TWO super powerfully Invested individuals are pretty much always better than one... Second, as already mentioned in the thread, he created the Spearhead as a test for the Southerners, so that they would meet the Northerners one day on their own terms (not too soon), hoping it wouldn't go too poorly. Testing people (often in stupid ways, but this is Kelsier) is a thing he likes to do, so using the Bands as a test for the people of Scadrial (will they go to war or not?!) seems completely in character. Plus, I have a feeling that when Harmony was talking about trust to Wax, he wasn't just talking Marasi...

Or: only tell them once they are knee deep in the abyss though, then be like, oh, btw, this story takes place over 10k years and NOW YOU'RE TOO INVESTED TO LEAVE. Evil laughter, activated.

But my point really was that it was based on a similar concept...maybe.

White Sand and amazon are having issues. It's been selling (in their minds, at least) unexpectedly well, so, it's better to get it from another retailer at this point. I ordered mine early and it came a few days late despite that I have amazon prime. Go with someone else right now, it will be easier.

Now I'm going to look through the whole novel looking for faces...great. It's like the great hunt for VenDell's fabulous shade-changing coat all over again. <.<

As I pointed out to Weiry earlier today on the page where Kenton, Khriss, and company arrive at Kezare; there is a MYSTERIOUS FACE FLOATING IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE THE CITY on the right hand corner of page 9 of chapter four. Either it is a red herring (which I doubt) or a reference to the Sand Lord/Bavadin; whether or not he actually sometimes does so, though, I do not know... It's not nice that he stole Stormfather's style, though...(but I guess SF might have stolen it from him, maybe). I would take a picture of it, but someone else will have to be my evil sidekick on these matters, as my phone is no where to

I found it after searching for "Brandon" in my email server (which is on gmail); so, it should be there... She's thirteen. I don't consider teenagers all that sane to begin with, and really, she's acting like someone of that age (too many teenagers in novels are way more mature than they should be in many ways). I'm actually enjoying her viewpoint a lot more in these two first sections of Edgedancer than I did in her interlude in Words of Radiance, so, there is that.

@Alfa: They will explain what's going on eventually...but yeah, there's a bit of that. TBH, I do like it. I'm not quite done, but I think for a first graphic novel, it's pretty good for what it is. There are ways to foreshadow those kind of things using just images, or minimal prose, but it can be difficult to make a prose-novel like White Sand originally was into a graphic novel. Part of this is that oddly enough, there is too much telling in it (which was a problem with the original novel too, as I recall), and the artist/scriptwriter don't use the pictures well enough to move the story. Taldain's lightside should be a highly visible world, given that its this desert with a lot of rich environments, cultures, cities, and characters. Some of the text could've just been thrown out, since the panels showed those things, like the scene where Kenton's dad dies. I don't think it needed the flavored prose or any prose at all. The creators need to learn to let the pictures tell the story as much as their words. Show don't tell, etc. I also think part of the issue, though, is that every single chapter ends with some kind of cliffhanger. That's not needed, and its annoying. Plus, all the cliff hangers feel the same. Kenton nearly dies (twice!); Kenton loses his powers; Kenton gets his powers (and more) back! You get the drill. Yes, these things happen in quick succession, but like, there should've been more lows too. Like, perhaps, Kenton, Khriss, and the professors journey could've taken longer, and Kenton and the readers had time to process what had happened to the Sand Masters. Khriss...should've been expanded upon. I don't need a cliffhanger every chapter of a book that I already have and intend to finish, there's no point, and it actually hurts the overall story. Yes, I think there should've been more pages of stuff and with more panels, but not just because I'm greedy for anything Sanderson. It's mainly because if they had more, they could've slowed the pacing (make it less hurried and awkward) and showed more of the world, magic, fights, etc. It might really be, ironically, that there wasn't enough pages to properly show things to the readers, and that's why I think we're all finding it a bit lacking. It's not that White Sand is a weak story (it's not, and Kenton's character development is some of my favorite in the cosmere...), but that the adaption needs some work.

Me either. I've been waiting for it, yet I never got the email...

In history writing and other forms of academic papers, it has long been the tradition to refer to your reader(s) as 'they', or to call a hypothetical person 'they'. While some people use a binary-gendered pronoun, it's not actually proper English in academia (so, if you're doing it for readers or a hypothetical person, don't do so) because you don't know who will be reading your book/article/paper and 'they' has been the 'go-to' since at least the time I was in middle school in the early 2000s. For characters, though, I think in the end it should depend on that specific character. If it's in character for them to use 'they' as their pronoun, then they ought to do so, if it's in character for them to use 'xe/xer/xem/etc' or some other pronoun of their choosing, then they ought to do so. Use the pronouns that the character would use, know your characters well enough that you know their pronouns. Leinton, you're not supposed to kill my thunder. xD

For whatever reason, I always took the one from tWoK to be something written or produced by the Highspren or spren in general. That...just seems like an opinion that ancient spren who can remember those things might very well say, but that's neither here or there. Considering the Khriss is depicted on the cover of Arcanum Unbounded and has written essays on each of the Shardworlds, I think it's not just 99.9% anymore.

The...opposite eye as Marsh's is spiked. Marsh's other eye spike is fake? Really...? He's PUTTING in a fake spike as part of a con, well, at least he didn't have to respike his eye... Marsh shared...? And that's... It's the right eye, it says so somewhere in Bands of Mourning (I'll get the page number in a bit), but this is awesome... [Pfft. Does that mean Hemalurgy is somewhat related to the HLA-blood groups and siblings have a 25% chance of being perfect matches in that area in the physical realm...it's like finding a blood-marrow donor...] xD

My 2521 km now seems like a walk in the park.

If anything, both Marasi and Wax became Splinters of Harmony when they used the power held in the Spear. That is, Sovereign's Spear almost has the same amount of power as a spren-Shardblade from Roshar, or a "strong" Splinter of Honor/Cultivation. While it isn't quite a shardblade, it's so close that I think we can recognize both as Splinters despite that spren-shardblades are technically stronger. That's why I call them Splinters (not Slivers) of Harmony. A Sliver, I think, has to hold a lot more of a Shard than what either Wax or Marasi held when they took up the spear. That doesn't mean that aren't Slivers of that particular Splinter (the Spear, in this case), and thereby changed by holding it and letting it go (by that definition). Also, sure, they could feel like they held a Shard for a moment, but I doubt the Spear held enough power to get them up to Shardic levels or anywhere close to recreating the world like the Lord Rule did when he took up [part] of Preservation. The Spear's powerful, but not that powerful. I find the idea that the Spear is a Splinter of Harmony (or close enough) much more interesting, because it kind of tells us what Fullborn might be too, or powerful ones, at least... Their souls are said to be "deflated"; so I'm guessing there is some kind of difference, because a "deflated soul" just seems like purposefully vague terminology because telling us what that means, exactly, would be spoiling important things we're not supposed to know yet. Holding Preservation and letting it go must change someone; even if it just means that they're more Connected to the Shard than before, can hold onto the Cognitive Realm no matter what, has more knowledge in general about that particular Shard's Investitures, knowledge about the future (if one holds Preservation, a person should recieve at least a little information on what is to come), or changes certain parts of the Soul, warping the SDNA in certain ways that we do not, as of yet, understand. I think it does, however, leave a person's Soul permanently warped and changed; other wise, it just wouldn't make sense.

I doubt it's as simple as using a spike or healing the body, but I think it might have aspects of both. That is, I believe that Kelsier would need something that is Connected to him in the physical realm (i.e. a rebuilt body using his bones) to even reconnect his cognitive self to his physical aspect. In short, Kelsier's problem is that he needs to be able to reconnect, or realm-hop into a physical form that Identifies, still, as part of Kelsier, too (probably Kelsier's bones). I think it's much more likely that Sanderson has said that Kelsier's bones are still around several times now in multiple WoBs is something of a hint. Those bones, for lack of a better way to put it, are probably keyed to Kelsier. They remember being Kelsier's bones and containing his flesh, and that memory is probably emphasized by Survivorism in some strange way in the cognitive realm (the idea that Kelsier is alive) and so, the bones 'want' to be alive too. I think that one key to the puzzle about how Kelsier got back into the physical realm has something to do with his skeleton, and what the skeleton wants to be alive. Similar to the fire that would like to be fire and remembers being fire in the cognitive realm. Assuming the cooking fire has been out for weeks, and assuming something that was formerly part of the physical aspect of a person wants to be again for years afterwards especially when the religion/beliefs of people in the physical realm are telling it that it should, in fact, be alive. The building blocks probably need to start with the one part of Kelsier's physical aspect that still exists (and wants to be him). The puzzle, of course, is that TenSoon probably still has the skeleton. I think there is another solution to the puzzle, one which fits with his nature of a con-artist. Considering that Kelsier knows something is up with the South, and assuming that the Power of Creation (that is, the power to directly terraform the world, move said world, and change parts of its citizens' physical aspects, in this case) is limited to a short amount of time, even for those holding two shards, especially two shards that while in Harmony, also are in content conflict (they're both Discarduous and Harmonuous). Due to his Shardic intent, Harmony ran into a Catch-22; that is, Harmony could do very little to help the Southerners directly, instead, he needed to send someone else to go in his stead. An agent of Harmony, so to speak that wasn't busy trying to rebuild Northern society. Rebuilding a society after "the end" is a lot of hard work, especially when you have limited tools, people, and supplies. Logistically, no one else was available... So, considering Kelsier's character, I think Kelsier made a bargain with Harmony. He probably pointed these things out to Sazed, and that he could go and help (especially if he has Feruchemy), because he isn't busy rebuilding society (like everyone else). It's a bit of a con, of course, because he is conning Sazed into helping him get reconnected to his physical aspect and become a Fullborn, but it's a rather innocent ploy and one in which everyone gets what they want. Like Sazed did to Vin and Elend's bodies, he could presumably rebuild Kelsier's body using Kelsier's bones (which TenSoon holds), and with the help of an Inquisitor spike, Kelsier hops his Cognitive Aspect in through the tear created by the spike reconnecting himself to the physical realm. Or, if it's not that specific spike (which is a possibility), he does the same thing with an aluminum spike, using it as a bridge (or mini-perpendicularity) to drag himself back into the physical realm, however, I think he needs something physical already there for it to work. It's a scenario that fits with his character, especially after the events of SH. He's trying to help Sazed (his friend) get out of a jam; he's trying to help himself (the most important person) get out of a jam; and he's trying to inspire the Southerners and get them out of a jam. Three birds with one stone, so to speak. Now, that might not be how he does it exactly. This presumes that Harmony would be willing to work with Kelsier's (crazy) plan to get back into the physical realm and play games with people. I guess they could get a Mistwraith to eat the bones and spike some aluminum Blessings into that (as aluminum, being a base metal, gives blessings, and Identity seems to be the logical aspect for it; it's also something they could have), but that's a lot more hackneyed, too.

As long as Wax was holding the Spear, he should have had no problem checking the belt for Investiture, even if he couldn't tap it (because it's supposedly keyed to Sovereign). I imagine that, in all likelihood, the belt really was for decoration. Sovereign is that much of a cad. We should expect him to hang a bloody expensive belt on a statue in the middle of nowhere, it's a bit like throwing a rude gesture at the wealthy/nobility... Red herrings happen; or in this case, characterization. It's just another hint towards who did this.

Oh, how fun! *rubs hands together* He was in the room before the antechamber of the church where Wax and Steris were before they entered the main dome room, that means, he didn't get wet (the water tower fell on the dome). (BoM, page 9) It's likely that he left again (through the antechamber's doors) and was not there to 'get wet' when the tower fell on the dome. Either way, he wasn't in the part of the church that got flooded. Why would that effect Awakening? Vasher made a Lifeless squirrel, that does NOT have a human shape. Awakened things don't HAVE to have a human shape to Awaken, it's just easier because it's easier for humans to imagine them being Endowed with life and doing human-like things, but other things that can have life (Squirrel, dog, etc.) can also be Awakened, so...yeah. The limits of Awakening, to some extent, are limited by the Awakener's imagination. A kandra who obtained Breath would obtain Breath like a human, why would it be any different? Kandra can speak the Command, they also have Spirit Webs that Breath can attach or unattach to. There really is no problem here. Also, kandra have cognitive awareness, and, while they have a kandra brain kandra prefer to use humanoid True Bodies for the most part (that is, other than TenSoon). I think a kandra could understand that, to use this bit of Investiture, they need to conceive of picture of that strawdude (like Vasher uses) acting a certain way. Why would they have any issue conceiving a Command like "pick up keys"? Kandra know that hands/fingers pick up keys, and could imagine a strawdude (or a cloak with tassels) doing so like a humanoid would. They would have no issues, yes,they are blobs, but they are shapeshifting blobs that are mostly in a HUMAN(OID) SHAPE and, for the most part, prefers that shape. No, kandra should have no logical issues with Awakening, their nature might make it a little easier because I imagine they...have some interesting ideas of what body-parts can do (lips on hands!)... Maybe they can imagineer weird Commands because of their nature as shapeshifters, I can only really see that as actually advantageous in Awakening, flexible minds seem way more useful for that sort of thing. Well, he does seem to have a somewhat good grasp on Investiture and how things work, so, hijacking a system to do something cool for kicks seems plausible to me, especially because Sanderson said we are seeing people use Awakening in "interesting ways" (the WoB is on the first page in the intro to the topic). All this is to say I agree with Argent, luckily, this is one of my more sane theories, too.

Honestly, I find Sanderson's books more realistic than their grittier counterparts. It's not like there's no grim, blood, whatever in his work, but it's not to the same unrealistic extent as in Dug Age-esque Game of Thrones or Erickson. Grit doesn't equal realism; grit is just our modern expectation for the medieval period.