Fourth of the Knight

On page 207 of Bands of Mourning, a woman darker-skinned than most Terris and wearing braids intruded on Wax's dance with a Lady Demoux in New Seran. She was curious in the science behind a crasher's powers, and had statistics concerning the frequency of their birth. She also said, and I quote, "Infant mortality on Scadrial is not as bad as some regions, but still shockingly high." She seemed comfortable in a social setting, going so far as to lead in the dance steps. Now, does this or does this not seem like Khriss of Taldain? I apologize if there has already been a thread concerning this, I conducted a quick search but I didn't put all that much effort into it so I might have missed something. Thank you for your time.

I'm just curious about what's going to happen with Ialai, Sadeas' wife. There's no way she's just going to let that pass. She might not do anything publicly, but she'll surely blame one on the Kholins and exact revenge.

I find that some of Brandon’s books don’t receive the recognition they should, merely because they are shorter and less involved than the Stormlight Archives. Don't get me wrong, I love that series, but lots of people ignore everything else. I’d like to try to remedy that, for the Emperor's Soul at least. I'm not sure about other readers, but for me reading is all about the characters. I don't often try my hand at writing, but when I do I find that I can't plan my characters, because when I do they no longer fit the plot. They feel forced, because that's what they end up being. I have to take a different approach. I allow my subconsciousness to create the character that will react correctly to the plot; Instead of having the character do certain things, I set up a situation and write down their reaction to that- all without consciously knowing the character. The strange part of it all is, it works. The correct character sets up a story for either success or failure. The plot itself is important, but not nearly as. Stories are centered around characters. The stories are told through them, focused around other people, and the viewpoint character's feelings influence the reader's perception of events and people. A good writer can saturate a book with hints of a character's personality without even a sentence describing it. When I read the Emperor's Soul, I was immediately captured by the magic system. Not only is it artistic in nature- something I imagine most readers would enjoy, as writing is itself an art- it's very focus is centered around souls and the ability to understand them. That is, in effect, the very essence of reading as well- at least to me. The connection I felt with Shai was instantaneous, and only continued to grow as she was required to search for the personality not just of people around her, but through words the person had written in description of events in their life. The parallel between our situations was not lost to me, as I began to feel a bond deeper to Shai than any I had ever felt with anyone. Through that, I felt a bond with Brandon- I will probably never know him, but I’ve always held that a writer's books can often tell you as much or more about them than it can about the characters. The most amazing scene, however, was of course when Gaotona held the book in his arms. The connection with him, though not as complete as the one with Shai, was magnified because of the one with Shai as both I and Gaotona sat marveling at the book. Meanwhile, the more removed part of my brain sat marveling at the book I held in my arms. In other words, it was a double whammy. I found it ironic, then, when I turned to the postscript and read the words written there. Write what you know. I'm sure by now you'll understand the types of thoughts that were running through my mind at this time. Brandon, however, wasn't referring to how similar forgery was to writing characters. The point of all this is, of course, to try to help you realize that internal struggle is what makes a story. The plotline itself may have been boring, with the viewpoint character locked in a single room. But to connect so deeply… that's the mark of a truly amazing story. I can't change your personality with these words, so you might still find the Emperor's Soul to be boring, but I hope that I've been able to nudge you towards having a certain, more favorable, attitude toward this book. Thank you for your time. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to explain this all that well.

There are so many amazing things I could quote. I'll stick to four: "A man discovers himself when he's alone. There's only one person to chat with, only one person to blame." - The Bands of Mourning "'People,' Shai said, rising to fetch another seal, 'by nature attempt to exercise power over what is around them... Or why your employer hired you in the first place.'" -Shai, The Emperor's Soul "It wasn't just the Stormlight. Teft had only a fragmentary recollection of the things his family had tried to teach him... It perfected." - The Way of Kings "Fitch stood directly above Joel and Melody and just watched... It became six on two. Even that should have been impossible odds. It wasn't." - The Rithmatist Obviously I didn't put the whole quotes on here, but I put the beginning and end of each section, and marked the missing parts with the classic... There you have it. My favorite of the four is Shai's quote.

Ah, but it would be perfect for using and deflecting lines of vigor! Just think about the Osborne defense- nobody uses that one for it's bind points, but for the open space available. I just think that this option would be even better for such purposes. Besides, I don't really care as much about the practicality of it at the moment, but the theory. The ability to do this could open up a whole world of other options, who knows!

Sorry, that's not what I meant. When I said small circles I was referring to the binding circles, I just didn't know what they were called.

I actually created a thread just of the many random theories I came up with for the rithmatist. It's called 'Billions of Theories.' Most of them are really ridiculous and I don't actually think they would work, but I really enjoy coming up with these, so I posted them anyways.

Every time I try to add something to the gallery it tells me the site cannot be reached. Then when I go check, it has the name but no photo. I checked the files, and it says that jpg works, so I don't know what the problem is.

I think Nalizar said that because he was trying to act normal. Also, he didn't say he didn't notice non-rithmatists, just that he tends to dismiss them as unimportant. As for the gears, not only did the king discover rithmatics with the watch, but because of the watch. Is it possible that, while wild chalklings are scared of gears, shadowblazes are attracted to them?

I decided not to take the time to read through two pages, so sorry if this is a repeat. I don't think that Joel is a rithmatist. I thought the shadowblaze came but left because he was intended to team up with Melody, and they were trying to nudge him into it or something. I figured that they wanted him to show everyone that that was a possibility. I thought the strategy of it was really cool, because if you think about it that changes the way lines of vigor work. Joel was able to set up a line with the perfect angle and get it ready, then wait for the perfect time, rather than having to wait for an opening then having to rush the line. That said, there is also a disadvantage, because if you wish to deflect lines there would not be enough time to trace a line of forbiddance.

Sorry guys, I didn't see the dark talent spoiler board when I made this, and now I don't know how to move it... If anyone is willing to help me, that'd be great.

When Alcatraz turns the shaper's lens on his mom, it shows a world where the hushlands and free kingdoms live side by side. My thought is, if they live next to each other like that, it means that it would be impossible for the librarians to control information. Everyone would know about physics being a lie (or at least incomplete), and they would know about sands being important. She's taken all of the evil out of the hushlands. In a way, she's being less controlling than the free kingdoms, because she allows them a choice between our technology or theirs. In the fourth book, the King of Mokia tells Alcatraz that their way of life wasn't more advanced, it was just how they preferred it. Well, Shasta is allowing people to choose either the simple or the complicated lifestyle, or even a mixture of both. So I feel like Shasta isn't evil, and I was just wondering other people's opinions. Also, what were your thoughts on the black bubbling liquid she was trying to keep down? Was that the evil of the other librarians, or something warring inside of her? Alcatraz seemed to think it was the other librarians, and I suppose he would know, but it's possible he was mistaken. Honestly, I have no idea what I think about that.

The one change that I was specifically looking for was in the fourth book. There's that part with the 'missing chapters' where they were discussing how cool it was that they went to space, and should have done it in the second book so the cover would make sense. Fortunately, they changed it to first edition cover in the book, so that's good.

I asked Brandon this question, but he didn't have time to answer, so I now open it up to all of you. If you were to use iron to pull something from behind someone using atium, would they see the line connecting you to the object, or would they only be able to notice it if they turned around? If you guys have any more ideas on how to defeat someone using Atium, please post them here, I'd love to hear them.

I emailed all of this to Brandon, but he wasn't able to answer, so I decided to post my thoughts here. If you were to put the small circles of warding on the inside of the large one, would that be alright? It says in the Taylor defense that they have to be concentric, but it sounded like that was just so the bind points would line up. Also, would doing that with a mark’s cross in each have enough stability to forgo other lines of forbiddance? The Line of Revocation was described as a mix between lines of vigor and forbiddance, so is it possible other lines can create mixes as well? My major thought is that if a Line of Vigor and a Line of Warding mix, they could create extra curves for the circle to add strength. It was implied that this type of thing could work when Fitch and Joel first inspected the Line of Silencing and thought it could be a strange Line of Warding. Does that work? Lines of Vigor have always been shown as the same degree curve the whole way. Does it have to be like that, or could it change throughout? If so, would it continue out following the pattern, or the outermost curve? Joel suspected the Line of Silencing at the crime scene had faded as time went on. Yet it still registered as a rithmatic line from the chalkling. Does that mean nothing, or had it perhaps faded only to the point where yelling is the only thing sucked in? I was thinking it might have not worked because the Scribbler was not directly present (Harding was in control at the time), similar to the way the chalklings changed back to people when the Scribbler was beaten. Or maybe, since the rithmatist’s intentions change the lines, the Scribbler made it stop working just by not wanting it to do so. If that is the case, could people do something like that? Perhaps by not waiting the full 4 seconds for a line to disappear? The way chalklings pause when touched with chalk implies that this could work, but then again, most of this probably means nothing. Nalizar wondered why ‘they’ hadn’t picked Joel. Was he referring to the Shadowblaze? The Master is singular, so do rithmatics really have nothing to do with the church at all? Will anyone ever make more specialized chalk? For instance, the rain was supposed to be a problem in Nebrask. Will they find a way to waterproof it? Or might they add bleach or some kind of base to make it kind of immunized to acid? The historians have trouble finding whether the Isles were ever inhabited. Were there any natives that were turned into chalklings? Of course, a related question is whether only rithmatists can be turned into chalklings- the Calloway servants were killed, but that could be because the rithmatists were being kidnapped because they have a limited number. That would indicate that the natives were rithmatists, which could also explain the Shadowblaze seen by Estevez. Or are Shadowblazes themselves the natives? Could one line have multiple purposes? For example, could a Line of Silencing be used as a chalkling if you intend it to be so? I ask this not really because it would be a good chalking, but for the purpose of determining whether Shadowblazes could really have life only because of lines of making, as speculated in the book. Your intent obviously affects your lines. Could your opponents’ also? Perhaps for a line that could keep people from lying? Though now I think of it, I realize that rithmatics are more likely to do that for everyone rather than just the opponent. Could they not just dig a moat around Nebrask and fill it with acid? Surely there aren't enough chalklings to dilute an entire moat. Do all wild chalkling return to life when defeated, or just the human ones? Well, those are my thoughts, though I'm sure there are some I've forgotten. I'll be sure to add them if I remember any. Some of them are pretty simple, but hey- you can't solve 5x = 15 if you don't know that 5*3 = 15.

My Smedry talent is that I'm oblivious. Of course, I'm not much like a Smedry, I don't get nearly as much action as them. My dad says I got shot once, but I didn't notice. Kylie told me her talent is that she never picks clothes that match. She's always wearing horrible things like bulletproof vests. Once she wore a snorkel, and sure it was nice when she was pushed out of a plane into the ocean, but still! Then there's the time she wore a gas mask... I shudder just thinking of it. It looked horrible with her sweater. Okay, both of those were fake. But I do have some powers in real life. Whoever I root for on Super Smash Bros. wins. I did it some two hundred times in a row once. I always win at cards, even when I'm trying desperately to lose. I know there were some other things, but I can't remember them at the moment.

I am here to introduce to all who care to look the awesomeness that is me. Just kidding, I'm not that cool, even if I did choose a great username. I wanted to be Knight, but... that was already picked. So the extended version it is. My favorite non-cosmere book is The Rithmatist, and I really love Words of Radiance. Surprise surprise, I am a reader. Bet you never thought you would find one of those on this site. If you haven't already guessed, I am a little heavy on the sarcasm. I play bassoon, and this is way wordier than I intended it to be. So, in short... I exist. I'd also like to state that I say that all the time, so even if I wasn't told to tell everyone I exist, I still would've said that. I wasn't being snarky or anything.