Argel

Killing all humans or oppressing all humans? Either way, the humans fight back. And the aliens started the war because they decided humans were not civilized enough for FTL.

Seems pretty clear from DE. According to the aliens, humans are not considered civilized yet, but only civilized races are supposed to have FTL. So once the humans reveal they have FTL, the aliens have to contain the humans. Doesn't matter who fired the first shot, because the aliens set the parameters that triggered the war. That means the aliens in-effect started it. The only way that's not the case is if there is someone else manipulating events (e.g. giving humans FTL before they were ready, or manipulating the aliens to use the "civilized" criteria). There are some hints this is possible (the eyes), but nothing substantial to support that so far.

Why are you assuming that? The quantity? They probably have every battle recorded the same way, and those alone would clearly be state secrets. There's no way they would let e.g. cadets listen in on what the command staff are saying. And e.g. Jorgen did know, so it wasn't entirely a secret. As for Cobb, by that time the concerns/politics surrounding the "defect" were heating up. Cobb was worried that she might end up like her father. He also knew Spensa would learn the truth, and better to let Spensa find out on her own terms when she had time to process it vs. being blindsided or back stabbed with it by someone else. And arguably Spensa needed to know to continue moving forward/growing as a person, and Cobb probably saw that as well. Though with all of that said, it did seem a bit too easy. But maybe Ironsides thought Cobb would never help her see it. Or that if she did, the truth would crush her, and problem solved. Or it's another example of Ironsides' incompetence.

I have to disagree. She had gained enough experience while a cadet to do what the situation called for, and those experiences allowed her to transcend what others thought of her. It just happened to be she did not eject. But that second eject sequence could have been removed from the book, and the quoted section below would (with some minor tweaking) work just as well describing her taking on the bomber and its overwhelming number of escorts in a barely working ship without shield. EDIT1: For example, the paragraph about ejecting could be removed, Though, as written, she does focus on ejecting, but I think that's more about what the DDF might believe and her transcending that. I mean, are we suppose to believe that she would not have transcended that if the second eject/don't eject sequence had never occured? She got into the barely working poco Arturo almost died in that didn't have even have a shield and flew that into a swam of escorts. She was imo already there, even if she didn't realize it. Side note, just noticed this is my 999th post!! EDIT2: The whole fighter-pilot culture felt over the top, but Brandon talked to real fighter pilots, and I wouldn't be surprised if it's on point. It's more like Igneous + Alta form one giant Airforce base. Brandon did have to cram a lot of world building into a short number of pages, including enough character development to make us feel something when characters die. Though it does feel a bit forced at times, and I'm not sure if he completely pulled it off. It does highlight how destructive their culture was becoming. One thing I don't get is why they didn't completely cover up what Chaser did. I guess to strongly discourage Spensa, but it amplified the unhealthy culture that formed. It's interesting how much the humans were helping the Krell out and how terrible Ironsides is at leadership (i.e. Cobb should have developed a training program that the other classes had to follow). Hopefully Brandon is setting things up for the younger generation to step into leadership roles (this is a Young Adult series after all). It's easier to justify Skyward members stepping when the current leadership is clearly incompetent. Here's hoping at least -- Brandon seems a bit more hit or miss lately with endings (e.g. Calamity, the pulled epilogue from Perfect State, the inconsistencies at the end of Oathbringer).

We see UG used alone at the end of the story, suggesting it should be the UG military (lower case 'm').

I read all 3 back to back. So much I had forgotten about the middle book. Overall I really enjoyed reading trough all three again, and really enjoyed the third book. Very impressive setting overall. Would not mind seeing a prequel or something that takes place in between 2 and 3.

I think a lot of readers overlook how harsh/brutal Roshar is. In that context, it's not so drastic to come up to the precipice but then pull back. Sadeas lures Dalinar and Adolin and the Kholin army into a trap and nothing can be done about it politically. Look at what Dalinar has done in the past. Mr. T confesses about using Szeth and he's still in the fragile alliance. Szeth is now Dalinar's bodyguard.... Another aspect is the nahal bond/how people become Radiants. Arguably this was part of Kaladin's arc needed to move forward as a Windrunner. If the spren (in this case Syl) is okay with how things worked out, who's going to challenge a high spren that is a piece of Honor over the matter? The gut wrenching moment may be when Kaladin learns everything Moash has been doing (assuming he continues assassinating heralds). But I think overall that we're applying our world's sensibilities to a much harder world, and making a bigger deal out of events like these then we should be. Adolin murdering Sadeas comes to mind as another example of that. It could also relate to Kaladin's final two oaths.

SA could be an opportunity to show a "reaL" marriage. Also, while an arranged marriage, they had plenty of time to get to know each other and it could have been called off (in fact, we see Adolin try and bow out). How "arranged" is that? Feels a bit too close to friends/family setting someone up for a date that ends up working out. Obviously it's not that, but arranged marriages usually have connotations of being a forced marriage, and I wouldn't say Adolin and Shallan fall into that category.

Azure has seen glimpses of Kaladin on a good day, but most of the time was after the PTSD events at the palace, then in Shadesmar where his depression was beginning to weigh him down, then with Syl imprisoned. She never really gets a chance to see him at his best, and that "vision" thing tainted things even more. Regarding Jasnah, we need to be careful equating pragmatism with maturity. Considering Kaladin's age and what he's accomplished I don't think she views him as immature or a hothead (given the baggage associated with that word). Probably more along the lines of being too passionate and idealistic at times. An immature hothead would not be able to go toe to to with her, at least not over the long run. There's also Jasnah's comments to her spren about being more emotional than he believes, which could increase Kaladin's appeal to her (i.e. both are passionate and smart). Throw in Gavinar and I don't have any problems shipping them. Though with everything going on, it could take a long time to happen.

Honor is dead. Plan A was to trick Dalinar into becoming Odium's Champion. Now we're onto plan B. Or maybe Plan C or D, or X given that Odium didn't expect Dalinar to pull off what he did. But I think we're seeing Odiu making his next big move and Cultivation's counters to that. I don't see why Nightblood directly factors into that. For all we know, killing the Heralds was part of the current plan. And if not, it is likely part of a contingency plan that Odium has also been working on for a long time. I doubt Odium is so arrogant to not have something for a backup plan. Unless his future sight is unreliable, like Renarin's. You'd think he would be aware of that, though that brings up an interesting idea -- what if Cultivation has tainted future sight in the Roshar system?

Wouldn't be the first time a friendship develops into a relationship. If they do ship, I wonder if we're going to have to wait for Jasnah's book.... SIGH.

No, but Jasnah is smart enough to know that power can get to her, and having someone as a check against that could be a good thing. We've seen that the smarter Mr T gets the less empathy he has. While that's likely in large part due to the Nightwatcher's curse, it does stand out as an example of the dangers of taking logic too far. WOuld the Jasnah at the end of OB killed those thieves? Would the Jasnah that killed those thieves killed Renarin? I think we've seen a small shift in Jasnah. There are definitely potential problems for the two, but I don't think they are insurmountable. Regarding if either of them needs a romantic relationship, Sly tells Kal he does. Ivory's comments to Jasnah may get her thinking about it. Regarding the OP's premise, Kaladin has a lot going for him in that he has overall been a good protector of her family. Not just in saving lives -- he also took Renarin into Bridge Four (which she might put on equal footing with saving family member lives). Also, in that same "Notes" meeting Kaladin talks to Dalinar in a way few ever would/could (and survive), but more importantly actually sways Dalinar to considering negotiating an end to the war. Dalinar is arguably the man she admires most (at least that's still alive), so that whole interactive likely raises her overall opinion of him. Kaladin is smart, is not intimidated by her, is accepting of others for who they are (even lighteyes), and has earned the trust of maybe everyone in her family. And now he has Land as well. That does seem to make him ideal (also, being a KR doesn't hurt). With that said, I'm not sure Kaladin would enter into a "just friends" relationship. And I don't see how Jasnah goes into a "just friends" relationship with someone she is friends with that she respects and trusts that does not evolve into a romantic relationship (assuming she's heterosexual). Also, maybe she feels she can get all of the benefits of Kaladin's friendship and trust just the way things are. Though if pressed to marry, Kaladin seems like an obvious choice.

If it was SA, then wouldn't Shallan have seen corrupted spren when she was young? In which case, shouldn't seeing them in Kholinar trigger childhood memories?

The artist change was really jarring, but maybe they lost the original artist (left/quit, family emergency, etc.)? Amazon did push the release date out a couple times, so maybe this is why. Still, at the end of the day, changing artists is common in a series, but not in a graphic novel. Still, the foreman name drop and the political intrigue were enough to save it for me. Looking forward to WS3!

I haven't visited here in a while and regret that I did now because of the bazillion threads a new member necro'd. I think every thread I looked at in Cosmere Theories was necro'd by the same user. I saw one or two comments about necro'ing, but no clear warnings and lots of responses. The only acceptable response to a necro'd thread should be a warning explaining not to do it. Note: I don't care about necro'ing say a 6 month old post -- but a year plus, to several years -- this needs to be enforced better somehow. Maybe not allow new accounts to reply to posts more than a year old? Do-able? The occasional necro doesn't bother me, but every single thread I look at (5+) in a forum?! That's a problem.

I thought we had a WoB that confirmed Mraize was from Roshar?

Sorry for Necro'ing, but I plan on reading the graphic novels first, then checking out the prose version. Generally speaking, I think anything not considered canon should require spoiler tags. Even more so in this situation, which if allowed without spoilers, would mean Q&A, Cosmere Theories, etc. are no longer "safe" to read for anyone that wants to wait till the graphic novels have been released. It might be useful to create a subforum to Cosmere Theories that allows inclusion of unpublished, non-canon works without spoiler tags.

This would also help explain how Shallan could have progressed as a Lightweaver at a very young age (she then regresses to the point of almost losing Pattern, then progresses again).

There are (were) also three races on Yolen, including humans and dragons. It's really hard to imagine that some of the vessels are not dragons considering Brandon's introducton to Fantasy was reading stories about dragons. I'm pretty sure there is a WoB out that that implies or outright says that not all of the vessels were human.

Liars of Partinel spoilers:

Has Vax been confirmed as a planet?

In my Kindle version, it's at the end of the Preface / just before The Selish System. Page 14. Regarding the constellations... We do not know why e.g. Nalthis's magic uses breath, beyond that magic manifests differently in each planet, or maybe planetary system. If the latter, then perhaps the constellations came first and that influenced how the magic manifested, suggesting a CR tie-in. Scadrial was created by Ruin and Preservation so could be an exception to this. Constellations have to be viewed from somewhere, so is this a point of view image? Given Dragonsteel is the origin story, it seems likely Yolen is in The Scar. So are we viewing these from an unknown world?

We still don't know the origin story for the city of Elantris. The "prehistory" comment likely (or at least could) tie into that.

Liars of Partinel unpublished work spoiler

So, named after the Heralds, or vice versa? Or each Herald came from a different gas giant? Stormlight behaves sort of like a gas, so another potential tie-in....