goody153

Tbf Elhokar isn't as bad as you would think after the first book. He's just Elhokar, a average but well-intentioned king. His Heart is in the right place and he so much pressure around him (his fathers legacy , actual ridiculously awesome people around him like Dalinar and Kaladin etc). He's just not a great choice for a king in a apocalypse. And he even gets better at Oathbringer with him admitting his faults and trying to be better. How many prideful or people in high position do you know who would admit they're wrong and actually tries to learn from their mistakes. That is what makes Elhokar fine. Besides the king could've been Sadeas lol Jasnah is really close to a Mary Sue character so i really hope Sanderson has some means to balance her in the upccoming books.

Stormfather is my father because uhm the stormfather can respond Isn't Tensoon's name also a curse ? (i seem to recall a passage from SoS where Tensoon remarks that Sazed just added him to the Word of Founding so that drunks can curse his name)

Vin Kelsier Sazed Rashek Spook Beldre Ham Breeze Dockson Tindwyl Clubs Demoux Wax Wayne Steris Marasi MeLaan Kaladin Syl Shallan Teft Rock Pattern Dalinar Stormfather Renarin Jasnah Lift Wyndle Szeth Tien Navani Gavilar Vivenna Vasher Siri Nightblood Susebron Lightsong Bluefingers Sarene Raoden Hrathen Dilaf Galladon Karata Ashe Roial Ahan Kaise Daorn Kiin Lukel Jalla Adien Wyrn Eliminated Blushweaver. I always associated her while reading Warbreaker as somebody who smells nice for some reason. Even if it wasn;t describe(maybe her actions or her entire persona caused it idk) Who would you pick to replace the current vessel of Odium ?

This doesn't need to be a single person. Everybody who helps him/his-plans in a destructive way is his Ruin. Like if Kelsier helped the southern scadrials to survive then he is his Preservation even if Kelsier doesn't acknowledge it (Harmony surely doesn't care about that since everybody is a piece of the board to his perspective even if he cares about them). Or if Kelsier took care of goons that is detrimental to Scadrial or Harmony's great plan then he is his Ruin. I bet all those who aren't even aware that they're doing him a favor like the constables or even just a murderer/enemy who killed somebody who would cause Harmony some complications in the future are all his Ruin. Whether they know or not they're all his Ruin if they are helping him through the path of destruction. If you are looking for a champion figure or a concious agent of Ruin then maybe Marsh is the closest or most probable. I don't see Kelsier following orders from anybody and Sazed doesn't sound like somebody who would order Kelsier around. Marsh on the other has no qualms working for somebody's plan and is quite friendly with Sazed.

So long as Sanderson finds a way to not make being a Fullborn easily reproducible i think it's fine.

This "still not canon but probably is" shard is so interesting conceptually

Admittedly i didn't really find her that interesting at the earlier parts of Stormlight Archives. I thought she was just there for Shallan then Oathbringer happened and well she is intriguing now at least.

Secret History cover shows he's blonde lol Now i think Marsh might've been blonde as well. No i refuse to follow Sanderson's description even if he was blonde

For some weird reason the "radiants turning into herald" does while sounds poetic in a tragic sense of heroism. It also seems predictable in a story pov(which is saying something about how Sanderson writes his plot) Besides isn't the whole point of the oathpact was to stop the fused from returning. How does that work with the everstorm existing ? I don't think the known function of it works anymore, maybe it's secret function(since Odium is still trying to kill heralds) related to his prison. The oathpact is kinda flawed solution to begin with. It merely meant to delay and there might be other fundamentally better solutions to Odium I mean if we're gonna be onboard with the renewing of Oathpact thing why not as well put the best of the profession on field xD

I pictured Mr. T as somebody similar to hunchback and has cartoony expressions for some reason. I was surprised when i saw the picture of Kelsier as blonde. In my mind he's never been not blonde. Idk why i have the same mental image of Breeze and Sebarial Lmao i did the same. When i first saw a picture of Inquisitors i went "that can't be right". Cause i always pictured the spikes being so huge you literally can't ignore it.

I think OP may not actually know cosmere. Since he's thinking that Stormlight is standalone from his story plan(granted it's really standalone but the story conclusion here is most likely connected to cosmere just like mistborn did) Yep yep. Sanderson's version of moral ambiguity is already uniquely portrayed (example would be his religious fanaticism from Mistborn) we don't another grimdark portrayal style. You have Malazan/ASOIAF for that. Idk why alot of people assume that having a much darker style like ASOIAF or Malazan would make a fantasy better. Dark is not always better.

It's probably not safe to assume that Kelsier is still one with "good motivation". Sanderson has been stating so many times about him possibly being a villain and just got really lucky with Mistborn Trilogy since his "passion" was channeled in the right place at the right situation. Besides Scadrial is in a particularly good hands now(they can't do any worse than a kind former keeper who is well suited for holding two shards and who infact sees himself as their official caretaker) so Kelsier isn't obliged to keep watching that place anymore. Then we also have Odium garnering hype from well everybody(fans, cosmere inworld haters(Hoid as an example lol), Sanderson) but i think he's just a temporary problem which Stormlight already seems to be solving. If i think about Starwars prequel trilogy equivalent then Odium is just a Count Dooku and well Autonomy(or somebody else) is the equivalent of Sidious. It has to be either Autonomy or somebody else.

Probably worth noting that Odium directly talked to Taravingian who he has no link of(unlike his fused or the singers who took in his spren)

A bit of a tangent to the topic but reading this topic i just realized that Kaladin and Szeth has been beating opponent(s) who has shardplates(and blades) without having their own plates .And plate holders basically have enhanced speed/strength and partial invulnerability. I just realized the gravity of how ridiculously good they actually are in combat. They're doing it through sheer skill, surge of gravitation and stormlight. I knew they were already one of the better fighters but damnation they really might be close to the literal most skilled fighters in Roshar.

Since you mentioned 3 anime/manga/LN's then i recommend Strike the Blood. Sure it's cliched, sure it has vampire, and yes it has romance but it does explore the concept of supernatural. Maybe don't watch the anime it cut so much content from the LN's. This sounds oddly like Percy Jackson but not entirely sure if this was what you're looking for.

Dragonsteel will most likely be set upon Yolen considering it's the "road to shattering" story and we know all shards came from Yolen. At least that series will showcase Yolen Maybe future cosmere stories like Mistborn era 3/4 too

They don't seem like they really care if people knew about them. Or at least the less "egosistical" ones seemed not to mind if people knew about them( somebody like Honor or Odium sounds like a classic ruler who wants recognition and acknowledgement). I mean if preservation has some level of mind-reading then maybe other shards also have. And since shards have some way of predicting the future/possible-future then they probably already have some existing prejudice about people they are observing and don't really care enough to talk to. Also like others have pointed out that Harmony probably has a much easier time due to the specific Ruin/Preservation literally creating Scadrial out of thin air thing. But i don't see it really being difficult to send people messages for solo shards or those unopposed if not solo. They probably aren't just that into communicating with people. Minor correction Ruin sees everybody who does his will as a tool. I think all shards are like this to some extent even the ones who loved humanity(Preservation, Honor, Harmony, Endowment). If the less morally ambigious(Harmony) is capable of doing really manipulative stuff then i believe all shards who rule a world at least to some extent has some level of apathy towards their own charges. After all none-of-them(the people they govern) are exactly permanent and in their vast perspective it's probably just that way they think even if they still care enough about their own people that they won't let them burn to the ground. I also don't think shards are against amusing themselves. I mean Sazed gets amused by Wax's responses to him. I bet he isn't against following some funny person's life and just laughing from the background. Even Leras as Preservation watches the Kelsier vs Inquisitor from era 1 as some kind of boxing match. I can already imagine a scenario where one Scadrians wondered all his life if he should've asked some person out then he died. When the obligatory Harmony talk comes and the first thing Sazed says "You should've totally asked her out ! What were you doing ?" lol They probably snickered alot behind the scenes seeing mortals doing stupid things but yeah this sounds about right. At least Harmony isn't completely bored with him having servants(kandra) and friends(marsh) to talk to none-stop. I also found this kinda intriguing WoB that i really wanted to see happen.

Canon explanation for sure . Speculation explanation from me is that Lift has some way to hide from the shards vision(which we know people have some means so hide from them)

The title alone makes you sound like you are one of those Azier politicians at the end of OB screaming "RADIANTS ARE A DANGER" xD Besides heralds are cray-cray , I mean surely they can say some relevant stuff but how much of their own delusion do they probably believe.

What about Moash ? He killed our hopes and dreams for him. (seriously tho what about Szeth ? Didn't he a couple of named characters like at least in his massacre some were named and then there was kaladin's bridgemen too)

Yep. I actually only knew 2 people from my circle of friends/family/colleagues that have read any Sanderson. And they haven't even finished it so i literally have nobody to talk with Except well forums

You're not even close to half of the world building yet lol So i guess you'll be pleased of the clusterstorm that is mid-late series.

I am assuming that whoever nightblood obliterates still go the beyond but has nothing left in the Cosmere world. If the fused are irretrievable does that mean Nightblood is basically Cosmere's balefire ? Some inworld cosmere citizens like Wayne would argue that gender is far more interesting(especially the opposite gender) and that realmatics would make him yawn xD

Maybe in their last moments xD

Followup question: does that mean the fused and thunderclast that nightblood blew up in OB aren't completely dead ? Or Just returned to Braize or however Odium recycles the cognitive spirits ? I was under the impression that whoever nightblood blew up is dead dead(which i thought was the difference between him and rosharian shardblades)