DarkJester

Yeah. Storm light is what you want to build up to. It's the crown jewel of the cosmere collection. At least so far. It'd be like starting at the dessert bar, then eating your meal, and then going back to the dessert bar...     ....    what am I saying?! Start with Stormlight! 

Yea there are era two that takes place several hundred years later. They feature new characters, and a few old characters in different ways.  Look for Alloy of Law, Shadows of Self, and Bands of Mourning. Read them and enjoy.

No problem. I'm sure you'll enjoy them. Glad to have you here at the shard.

Yeah. Elantris was really good. In the land around Elantris, there is something that can happen to people that changes them. It is random and strikes young and old, male and female. It used to turn people into "Gods" at least in the eyes of the people. The Elantrins were beautiful and powerful. They could turn dirt into food and heal the sick and wounded, and many many wanderful things. They were kind and generous, and gave freely of most everything they had. But something happened. In one night the change changed. An event occurred, and instead of becoming Gods, you became a corps that still "lived." Elantrians feel pain, but since they are basically a walking corps, they don't heal. They are doomed to suffer that pain for the rest of their days. Which should be a long long time since what is dead can not die... They still get hungry, but since they don't die they can never starve... 

Elantris is really good, and has a lot of political maneuvering. It's told from a couple different points of view and each one is done well. 

Then we have Mistborn. Again, we have a lot of political maneuvering in this series. The first book really has a heist type feel to it. They are in a world where having the wrong parentage doesn't label you an outcast, it gets you killed. The land is under control of The Lord Ruler. The sliver of infinity. The one who has not only touched, but held the power of a God. He has ruled for nearly 1000 years, and in all that time he has survived assassination attempt after assassination attempt. He rules with absolute authority and plans to preserve things the way they are. A group of people come together though with a plan. A plan that requires... Special skills... I loved this series. The magic system in it is amazing. It has a wide aray of people's and species. The heros in this series are forced to not only overcome their enemies, but their own worlds nature, as mist and ash try to cover the land. 

They are both really good. Aside from a few short stories, Elantris is the only book out in that story arc. There is another book planned for this one but it'll be a while. Mistborn is a trilogy, with a set that follows. People tend to love all of Brandon's books, but Mistborn and Stormlight seem to have the two biggest followings. It's really up to you which one you want to start with. You'll not go wrong ether way you go.

I've found many things are possible for Hoid. Stick is possibly just as likely to turn up in other books as well. 

Yeah, Mistborn if great. The end of the original trilogy broke my mind because I thought I had it figured out and well... I just wasn't. I really didn't see the ending coming.

Ok. Before I start, let me say, I am absolutely just joking. Don't take any of this serious because I am just messing around. 

Now! On to the theory!

Hoid is known to be a world hopper, turning up in I believe every cosmere book out. (Or at least close to it.) He just can't hold still. Hoping from world to world. But where did he come from? Well, he already told us he stole himself. He started out as an idea. Words on a page. If your not aware of it, you should never take Hoids words lightly. Here we have a Meme that shows just how someone theorized that Brandon obtained his writing speed. (Sorry to anyone not familiar with Patrick Rothfuss' writing.) 

Lets build on this shall we. I was going through The Name of the Wind earlier, and something struck me. There was a character that seemed familiar to me. Denna's patron. He had white hair and a noble look about him. Later on he was described as being a "cryptic  prick." Most everyone here is familiar with Hoid, and I believe it is safe to say, he can easily be described as a white haired cryptic prick. Denna's patron is a very mysterious character, prone to disappearing, and is very secretive about his true name. Admittedly, this character has been known to be prone to fits of violence, but so has Hoid in the right circumstances. He beat Kelsier 10 shades of black and blue in Secret History. (Ok so maybe not quite that bad, but he does give him a good beat down...) So I'm thinking that Hoid is more of a world hopper than we originally thought. He fits the description of Denna's mysterious patron. But how would he hop, not from one world to another, but from one author and his universe to another?

I think that perhaps the Meme above may hold the answer... When Brandon created and used his writing speed syphoning shard, Hoid did exactly what he said, and stole himself. He used the shard like it was a shard pool, to world hop from Patrick to Brandon's world.

In all honesty, I don't believe that Brandon actually has full control of Hoid ether. Perhaps that's why he's described as a wild card. That's not to say that Brandon hasn't been working to do something about Hoid. After all, he has managed to put some restrictions on him, such as his inability to physically harm any living character in Brandon's worlds. So basically, Hoid is an unexpected consequence of Brandon using his shard to write faster... Now he has a rogue Hoid running amok all throughout his cosmere. 

Thoughts?

4 hours ago, Rasarr said:

Heal Bendalloy, hurt Cadmium.

15. Cadmium--18
16. Bendalloy--21 

I like it how head-to-head the metals are going; I still have no idea who's going to win.

Just fixing the numbers.

Cadmium should be 19

and Bendalloy is 21

I went with steel and iron. Wax is cool, but feel like we still haven't seen him at his absolute full potential. I'm still waiting to see him get completely serious and pull a Kelsier vs the Steel Inquisitor. 

Bah! The cookies are barely spiked. Just one little spike. Hardly worth mentioning. There is way more flower, sugar and butter in them, but you don't see them being called flower, sugar, butter, chocolate-spiked oatmeal cookies. Just call it a cookie and let the ingredients live in Harmony. ;p

On 1/4/2017 at 0:58 PM, Pagerunner said:

Yeah, I'd been saying all those points as well, since WoR was released. But Brandon has recently confirmed that Ym was a Truthwatcher.

Huh... I guess that since Brandon has confirmed it, it must be true, but the way I understood Edgedancer, Wyndle was the Spren that had started bonding Ym... I always liked Ym and had hoped deep down that he had somehow managed to escape death like another character had... But based on on the way Wyndle spoke, it sounded like he had been that Spren and since he died, he was forced to bond Lift instead...

Bah! Welcome to the forum, and don't listen to these blasphemers. Have a cookie. They are high in iron. Here. I will pull one out for you. If you want, feel free to steel a few more. Careful. No need to push. 

(Oh god! The puns!!! They're contagious!!! Save yourselves!)

Ummm...at what point was David ever supposed to be a BA? I always saw him more as the awkward nerd that was willing to do the things that needed to be done. He grew as a character and I really enjoyed it. As for the last book, I loved everything but the very end. I was a little disappointed in the final confrontation simply because it seemed a little anticlimactic. That being said though, it was still a solid book and it wrapped the story up in a rather pleasing way. I think that I'd have rather seen the reconers being a 5-6 book series so that the final confrontation could have had time to build. 

Seriously though, Brandon is an incredibly fast writer, especially when you consider all of the hidden details he puts in his stories. If Patrick Rothfuss ever manages to finish his third book, he will likely go down in history as having wrote the best trilogy of our generation. However, that being said, Brandon in my opinion is still the best author I know. His output is extraordinary. The level of depth and creativity is just insane. I'm sorry you were disappointed in Calamity, but if that is an example of his writing done poorly, (and trust me it's not) then we can expect great things from him. And he's proving that it's alright to expect great things because he's constantly delivering high quality material. Thanks Brandon!

Welcome to the shard! You probably shouldn't accept to cookies... this is the one I got... 

4. I'm starting to think that Adonalsium is just a god like force. I kinda think that it was wielded just like the current shards are. Don't get me wrong, it was a sentient force, in the same way Spren are sentient forces. It has been around since the beginning and actually created all of creation, but just as the shards have been picked up and become something more through their bond, I'd say that Adonalsium was bonded too at some point. To what or who, who knows... but I'd say it works in similar, yet far more complex ways than Spren do. Spren existed before man because they were forces of nature. It wasn't until after the advent of man that they became something more. I'd venture that Adonalsium was kinda the same...

Ok, I was just looking at the bottom of the page and noticed that Brandon tweeted that Beta read invitations have been sent out. Is anyone other than me jealous? Cause I'd be tempted to cut off my right arm for a chance to get to read it. (I wouldn't actually do it though, because it has my page turning hand. And no I couldn't just use my left hand. Ain't nobody got time for that.) Congratulations to those who were chosen to be Beta readers. You've now officially become some of the luckiest people I know...

Nice one bleeder. I love theories like this that just add a little more depth to the story. Is this theory correct? WHO CARES?! From now on, when I reread that part, this is gonna come to mind and it will just make that part that much more special. Thanks for this.

2 hours ago, Exalted Dungeon Master said:

You think so? 'Cos mere puns like the ones we have here aren't even close to the worst I've seen...

(Wow, first pun in the thread! And it didn't even involve Ruin! )

I really need to stay off this section. All the puns have me face palming to the point that I'm going to develop a hand shaped dent in my forehead... That one was a little better than normal though... lol

Ok. Let me start off as saying this isn't exactly something I believe. It's just a thought I had that struck me as kinda cool. I'm just going to jump right in and then flesh it out a bit, then you guys can tear it up or do with it as you please. 

Hoid, the real Hoid that is, was actually Adonalsium. (I'm going to refer to our current Hoid as his other alias, Wit for ease.)  I propose that Adonalsium was the name of the power before it was shattered, and that it was attached to a person, in this case, Hoid. After all, the shards have each been taken up by a person to wield, and we know that one person can hold more than one power, actually giving them a new form. Example being Sazed taking up Ruin and Preservation, dual wielding them in the form of Harmony. If one person were to take up and wield all of the shards, they would wield Adonalsium. So Hoid may have been the person that actually wielded Adonalsium. 

Now being a god and living forever would probably get a little lonely after a while. Hoid needed a companion. We know that Hoid had a student/partner/companion. (We can assume that Wit was more than a student considering he said Hoid was someone he should have loved.) We know that Wit is actually thousands of years old at this point, but his longevity has yet to be explained. Hoid/Adonalsium wouldn't profit much from an apprentice that he had to replace and train every 50 years or so, so it would make sense for him to make Wit semi-immortal. Aside from his long life span we have to assume that it includes actually protecting him from most physical harm. Proof being the fact that he spent a long time in the stomach of a chasm fiend and coming out alive and well. (It was several years I think he spent in there. Someone correct me on this please.)

Now Hoid isn't going to just hand over immortality to someone without some safety measures. So he made it impossible for Wit to physically harm anyone. It wouldn't be wise to make someone immortalish and let them retain the power to run amuck unrestrained. (I just realized we may actually see something similar to this in Secret History and Preservation's feeling for the Lord Ruler) That's why it's not that Wit chooses not to hurt people, but that he physically can't do it. That's why it surprises him when he actually manages to attack Kelsier in the cognitive realm. 

So now we have Wit as the personal assistant to Hoid. Over time, Hoid begins to teach Wit about the inner workings of the Cosmere. He teaches him about the physical, spiritual, and cognitive realms. He learns to not only see things from behind the scenes, but how to manipulate them. He teaches Wit, and over time Wit gets to know Hoid better and better. Just as in any relationship though, flaws begin to appear and imperfections begin to show. Hoid is just a man after all... A man imbued with the power of god, but still a man.

Wit begins to become disenchanted with his god. Eventually it gets to the point where he decides that Hoid has to go... Wit ether begins to plot his downfall and gathers a group, or a group approaches Wit and begins convincing him to help bring Hoid down. How ever it happened, Hoid is brought down and is stripped of his power. His power is shattered and others take It up in his stead.

Fast forward several thousand years and we have a Wit that sees how the shards have been ruining (no pun intended) everything that he loved. Wit misses the good old days, and realizes his mistake. He realizes he should have loved and appreciated Hoid and the things he did as Adonalsium. Thus he begins his journey to reunite the shards and potentially bring about the return of Adonalsium. Wit turned down the power before, but he was chosen and groomed by Hoid himself. Wit intends to eventually take up the mantle of his former master and teacher, Adonalsium.

So there it is. Have fun with it. Like I said, tear it up or flesh it out. 

2 minutes ago, DeanaMCW said:

Puns don't scare me.   I'm (in-active) SCA and was a part time herald. (The medieval type, not SA type.)  They love making puns.  :-D

Puns are all fine and good, but these tend to be particularly bad puns... 

Yeah, I'd recommend the original mistborn trilogy to start with. It gives you a good look at how Brandon world builds and rights. It will give you a close look at two shards as well as how they can interact with things. God, I loved the ending of that trilogy. After those, then yes, Elantris and Warbreaker are great. By the time you finish those, you should start seeing how the magic systems, though completely different, kinda follow similar rules. Once you've got that, then stormlight is great. There are quite a few other cosmere stories out that add depth to everything. The books are all great on their own, but it's their reread potential that make them great. By the time you finish the books, you'll want to reread them and see what you missed. There are all sorts of interesting things to find that are all interconnected, and for now, stormlight seems to be the primary crossroads for it. Not saying those roads don't travel both ways, just that stormlight is a treasure trove once you've finished the other books and know how to read between the lines.

I think I'd rather stay Autonomous in the use of these bad puns...

My head just imploded...

I like a lot of the suggestions so far. Dahkor monks would be cool but I'd love to see The Lord Ruler from Kelsier's point of view right there at the end. Burning his eleventh metal, seeing The Lord Ruler standing side by side with Rashek. 

Also, I want Blue Fingers. Not an impressive figure, but after having a blue pen decide to self destruct in my hand, leaving me with blue fingers, and a sudden urge to plot the downfall of my employer, I'd like to see him...

Pagerunner I haven't had a chance to read that yet but have an upvote just for the dedication and typing that much.