Naurock

Then I guess it needs to be explained why Makkal was able to escape his prison. Time? Vo-Dari constantly bonding Illumination? Made a deal with Decay? My original point was still that Raeth "sacrificing" himself and now the threat is over is a weak ending. How is a tiny piece of Night infused with Agaris's conscience that he bonded enough to equal a literal shard pool and destroy them both? I was disappointed in how the conflict ended. Are we sure their buds came from the same source? This conversation seems to imply that Hern and Raeth should be equally powerful and the only difference should be their ability to bond with their Aethers. But after Raeth's bud was split the new piece wasn't able to bond a new host or regrow. Also, does anyone know the age that Aedins are given a bud? Is it shortly after birth? Because I wouldn't wanna see the terrible twos a magical armored child, that can choose any weapon of destruction.

I really enjoyed this story as well @Pagerunner! My only qualms were that: 1) The defeat of Decay was a little anti-climactic and kinda confusing. Somehow it became a battle between Agaris and Makkal, which again was wrapped up a little too easily considering the whole book kinda built to that moment. 2) It was never explained why Vaetayn gave Hern a better quality Amberite bud than Raeth. I can understand that Raeth didn't have a quality connection to Amberite but it's pretty clear his bud was not as good of quality as Hern's. But honestly it was really neat to see the similarities in storyline and magic from Elantris, Warbreaker and Stormlight. I couldn't stop reading this though, every break I had from work and the past few nights have been spent reading this. Fix those two issues and IMO this is better than most of Brandon's books.

If there was ever a time for someone to Soothe themselves it would have been Breeze when the city was under attack by Koloss. He didn't even try, so I would guess it's a no.

Yes, but Arcanum Unbounded hints that Adonalsium originally invested on Threnody. Threnodites apparently knew how to become Cognitive Shadows upon death (See Nazh from Mistborn: Secret History) and when Odium and Ambition fought in space nearby the damage Ambition took literally sent massive waves of investiture twisting everything on the planet. Seems like that's what created the Shades. Idk why the rules are so important to them, though, just corrupted beings.

I'm flipping through the Way of Kings ebook and came to the chapter of Kaladin after the high storm. He said he's delusional, but he sees Syl chase off deathspren which have red eyes. This seemed like a good place to bring this up. My original thought process was like others, the red eyes are a symbol of another shard exerting force on a planet that's already heavily invested by other shards (a la Odium on Roshar, Trell on Scadrial).

White Sand. I've read a story about a mage that isn't as powerful as others and uses their magic in different ways but still ends up being the most important mage in the world. That book was The White Order by L.E. Modessitt Jr and it was extremely well written and had great twists and turns. White Sand was predictable, kinda angsty and kinda boring.

@Oversleep I have AU, and haven't read the Allomancer Jak parts yet, so I guess my statement is slightly premature. I read Secret History after the first trilogy. Wasn't a big fan of White Sand. SotD was amazing.

Great book and probably one of Brandon's better endings, IMO. And now I'm officially caught up on all Cosmere novels. Wonder what we will see in the next novel with the southern tribe. Also, with the name The Lost Medal, does this mean atium will be rediscovered? Does anyone know why Kelsier left the spearhead? He said he's coming back for it, is he even still alive? Does he know Marsh is still alive? Now I can read some other books I've heard about but put off like The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, heard it's awesome.

Probably the only one capable of this is Hoid with the Moon Scepter, and that's a giant MAYBE. Because while it was canonized that it's a "Rosetta Stone" for investiture, he also threw in symbols. Nalthian magic doesn't seem to include symbols, only commands, visualization, breath (investiture), and color. Also, worth noting. Humans are terrible containers for holding stormlight. Apparently after speaking oaths a human becomes more "leak proof" but Vasher has spoken no oaths. He would've drained all his stormlight within a matter of hours, so it couldn't have become the God King's trove. I believe it was stated in Arcanum Unbounded that the storms on Roshar are Adonalsium's doing. So in essence stormlight should be able to be used in Endowment's magic system. But it would be difficult.

This is my new favorite thread, because SotD is my favorite short story in Arcanum Unbounded (closely followed by The Emperor's Soul). I also wondered why "the Ones Above" wanted either the Aviar or the worms so badly. But @hwiles may have stumbled across the answer! I just started reading Second Era Mistborn with Wax and Wayne (now on SoS), and since there's only Mistings now, maybe they're there to collect Aviar to build a spiked Mistborn army!

Be me. Good luck with that visualization!

Does it just start too slow for you? If that's your problem then I'd agree with you, but I absolutely love the story. The characters are very compelling, and the story definitely picks up. I agree with @StormingTexan, because the story is fascinating to me. Also, because while Elantris is good both Serene and Raoden are a little unbelievable to me because they're so hyper competent. Bad at nothing and perfectly suited for every situation they face, kinda takes away from the story for me. In a world full of flawed people they're pretty much alone, except for Hrathen. My recommendation if you hate slow stories is never pick up Lisey's Story by Stephen King. Super slow...

well then wait no further for Warbreaker! http://brandonsanderson.com/warbreaker-introduction/. It's a great read as long as you don't mind being on a computer or phone.

Yes, you're missing something.

I think the most important factor of Sel is the group that built Elantris. In previous WoBs I've seen it was literally build and then abandoned. This group had massive understanding of the Dor, Aons, and knowledge of a shard pool. Also, you need to read the first three Mistborn followed by Secret History. If you've read those, you will know why.

Is there a WoB that someone couldn't invest in just a specific part of themself, like say your hair? Revisiting this thread made me think about this, reread specific chapters, and think about the Cosmere. While Vasher is explaining awakening to Vivenna he explicitly states a "deceased host" in chapter 46. Then there's the whole part of where he teaches the girl that was kidnapped commands to change her cognitive view, so she forgets in chapter 49. This isn't a one off, either it's expanded upon slightly in chapter 57. What if the commands for bodily enhancing were just never investigated? After all Vasher says back in chapter 46: When someone asked Brandon about the similarities of the Cosmere magic systems he said: What if this person just asked the right question but compared the wrong magic systems? What if Nalthian magic, which is extremely specified with the correct phrases and visualization, could imitate investing one specific aspect (or bodypart) of a person like Scadrian magic (pewter or tin) but with a more specific purpose than just make me stronger/faster/dextrous? I look forward to one WoB destroying this post that I spent almost 2 hours researching and writing this post.

What @Jondesu said.

This makes me want it to be the merchants from the interludes of SA. I have 0 clue how these people gained incredible technology on a kind of primative world, but they had some strange rules...

The Ire party consisted of a group of Elantrians, and already had a cracked spirit web. They were chosen by Devotion already. Is there a WoB saying your spirit web needs to be cracked to hold a shard? I guess this is something we would need info about the original shard holders.

@Landis963 fair distinction and probably a good reason why Preservation couldn't leave.

I saw your call for feedback on another forum, so I've listened to the podcast 3 times and it's a very tight explanation you guys weave between the RAFOs, WoBs and just the fact we cannot know some of these things because there isn't enough information. Something I would like to bring. At the 58:25 mark you guys start discussing whether Ambition invested in Threnody. You cite the essay and the fact that some measure of investiture was on the planet before the battle. It's debated that it could be Adonalsium's latent investiture, but it doesn't seem the investiture is still there. My question and thoughts I would like to interject is that the only investiture we see are in the Cognitive Shadows and we hear about "the Evil" an incredibly vague entity. Now why would it matter if Ambitions original invested investiture is still there? It says the battle itself where Ambition was wounded "had a profound effect... the ripples of destruction and changed washed through the system." So even though we do not know how Ambitions investiture reacts there's a good possibility it was twisted if it's still there. Also, referring to Secret History, Preservation tells Kelsier that "I cannot depart this land. I'm too invested in it, in every rock and leaf. We... grow attached easily and it takes one particularly dedicated to leave", and it seems because they have to pull their investiture back in and cannot leave it behind or maybe only a small fraction of it. Maybe Ambition had only started to invest when Odium descended upon him. He pulled his investiture back readying to flee and the battle began. That's about all I could bring so far, it will take a couple more listens and skimming the book to help. I'm very interested in the Ire and Aviar, hope to see more about them.

@Pagerunner Thank you for the link to that thread! Fantastic read. I'm also a giant fan of Sixth of the Dusk. Very interesting storyline, and I'm curious why "The Ones Above" are so interested in the Aviar, or if it even is the Aviar. Also, has anyone else gotten a confirmation from Brandon about what other abilities the Aviar grant? We have only seen Sak and Kokerlii, but did it seem to anyone else like more abilities are possible/known? Have we seen anyone in the Cosmere with the ability to Why else would "The Ones Above" want the Aviar? Or do they want to test them to see if other abilities can be granted? Maybe they are just interested in the worms?

Looking forward to an Arcanum Unbounded Episode. It may run very long, due to the amount of information in the book, may I suggest you do several mini episodes regarding each story? I've read everything but the Mistborn series, only finished the first book and starting book 2 now. Doing several mini episodes would prevent spoilers and also maybe help people get in the mindset of each story. Good luck!

Aha, my bad @maxal. My speed reading failed me.

I understand you want to read Adolin's story, but calling Dalinar a minor character is a major misrepresentation of him. He is the BONDSMITH, going out to unify all. The next book is literally centered around him. Navani is minor now but her fabrial inventions have a very large chance of becoming super important in the future. But I do agree that Adolin will have a larger role than just being the supportive spouse type, he's too useful and helpful to do that. Save a spot for me in this boat, I'm not a fan of this pairing and I enjoy reading the Adolin/Shallan blooming love.