Spoolofwhool

That sounds way too complicated. I thought it was just a Feruchemist who managed to get in quick with steel then tap pewter to deliver a super-strong strike. The expectation is that that would've worked since enough gold to regenerate a head was unheard of without compounding.

True. It's mainly the practice. If you keep the mindset of keeping everything of different series in spoilers, then it greatly decreases the chances that you accidentally let something slip. If you fall into the practice of just casually throwing around terminology, you could accidentally expand into ruining the book for someone.

When did Taravangian ever discuss Helaran?

It was probably near the start of his reign when he wasn't that powerful and didn't have a following of inquisitors to protect him.

Interesting, but I don't see how that's relevant considering we were discussing non-spiritual physical damage and how it can affect whether someone can heal using gold feruchemy. Evidently spiritual damage would impact it since the power is spiritual in origin.

Cute. You have a picture of the lovely strap?

I wasn't aware there was a TV Trope community. I just thought the universe updated the site.

Still, good motivation. I'm generally too lazy to actually write anything I think about.

Good motivation Twy.

Miles has most definitely not been making any effort to avoid nervous damage. Also, while yes Hoid has significantly stronger powers, what that does prove is the cognitive is not connected to your head, which invalids your argument.

Decapitation means the head is removed. Since the premise of him being decapitated wasn't challenged, I see no reason why not to doubt that he completely lost his head. Also, we have another WoB that the head is not necessary to enable to power magics, as Hoid could regrow his head if his were removed. In any case, while your example with removing the arm does work, it doesn't with the head, as the WoB with Miles states, the spiritual and cognitive would remain with the greater physical portion, which in the case of a head removal, would be the main body holding the metalminds. As such, the cognitive would still be able to continue the tap.

@cometaryorbit Watch the Mistborn spoilers. You're revealing some rather significant plot points. Make sure to hide those in the quotes as well.

I'm referring to the Investiture which is manifested in the physical realm such that it becomes the physical metal. Also, with lerasium, the Investiture which forms the metal is the source of the power, not the conduit.

First thought, I doubt would work. Even if you got it in through anext eye socket, if he's tapping gold at that point, then he would live, just the wound wouldn't heal. More crippling wounds with aluminum are better. Second idea, see first. Also, having enough gold charge wouldn't be a problem as long as they keep providing him with gold to compound it. Third. Once again wouldn't work if he's paying any sort of attention since he can just burn a gold metalmind to compound the charge and heal the spiritual damage to regain the feruchemical power and the physical damage from the spiking. Overall all three ideas would successfully work and kill him immediately if he's not tapping gold or doesn't have a gold metalmind on him at the moment. Since he can though, chances are that he's always tapping health like Miles, rendering them largely unviable.

Think of it not as destroying the metal, but rather releasing the investiture which was previously trapped in a physical state and allowing it to spiritually return to Preservation, in the process increasing the user's power so that they can more easily preserve their power in the future. In any case, the mechanic of burning the metal is likely due to Scadrial's influence, not Preservation's, so not that weird.

The joke would've been better if you had just said "dares to Elend into", because then we would've had to make the connection to venture, versus you just giving it to us. Makes the reader feel smarter.

Physical damage? In any case, hyper-invested would probably at best make someone resistance to a high degree, not completed proof to investiture-based attacks.

I don't recall anything which has attributed those attributes to the Evil. Do you have any sources for them?

Here's the WoB that @Belzedar was referencing regarding tension.

Oh, chances are that all ten of the Heralds fought in the actual Desolation once they had done preparing the people. The prelude to WoK indicates that fairly strongly. My opinion is that all ten of the Heralds were of a strength fairly beyond what we've seen so far, and even without offensive surgebindings were on the level of one-man armies. As even said in an in-Roshar book, Ishar, the patron of Bondsmith, possessing the powers of Tension and Adhesion, threatened to destroy the KRs entirely if they didn't follow his regulations.

The number of ideals a KR needs before being able to manifest their spren physically is not a fixed number across all orders. So it could be that she only needed the second ideal in order to do so. That, or I think personally that it's all about the cognitive embracing of the ideal. Saying it aloud doesn't actually matter, except in most cases, people can focus on an idea more easily when it is said aloud versus internally.

The plateau isn't vanishing, just everyone on it.

Brandon has confirmed it as well IIRC. Interesting. Didn't realize that. I believe Brandon has said that Sleepless is another name for Dysian Aimians. Can't find where though. More exactly, all Dysian Aimians can identify as a Sleepless IIRC, so it could be open to other entities being termed a Sleepless as well.

Axies is a Simian Aimian, not a Dysian, and therefore not a sleepless and not composed of a hive. Good call on the quote, I must've missed it when I read Edgedancer. It does point towards the Skybreakers performing the subterfuge. I'm still of the opinion that Helaran never found the Skybreakers and was a Ghostblood when he died. The shardblade he possessed being from the Ghostbloods as well. I don't see the Skybreakers keeping dead sprenblades around either, it seems that they only recruit people who fit the profile of a Skybreaker. Szeth's afterimages is because his cognitive shadow or soul isn't properly bonded to his body, so a bit of lag is occurring. Chances are that he won't bond a spren but will gain powers from his bond with Nightblood instead.

Except Helaran wasn't a surgebinder since his shardblade was a dead sprenblade, not a live one. That or he was somehow able to withstand the agonizing screams which those touching a dead sprenblade here when a nahel bonded person touches it. Dysian Aimians is the name of their race. They're the ones writing the blurbs on the back of the books.