Stormrunner1730

Thanks for posting this here (although I'll definitely be following the Discord)! My hype is steadily increasing haha.

That sounds good! I'll use the Discord then. That makes sense. There are a few panels my friends and I want to go to, but it would be really cool to meet some people from the community!

Okay, so I have a few questions in regards to meeting up. Are people from the site/community planning on meeting up at any particular time (I also don't want to be awkwardly presumptive/intrude on any plans that have been made)? And are people planning on going to any of the panels together (I have a few that I'm definitely looking at- besides all three Saturday Sanderson track ones)? Would it also be better to talk about this on the Discord? Sorry for the many questions haha.

I'm not sure if people have done many in-person meetups before, but I was wondering if people living in Chicago would want to meetup sometime. It would be great to meet more Sanderson fans in person!

Yeah I'll be there all three days! I'm excited for the panels and official content, but am looking forward to meeting people from the community in an informal context even more. I've been listening to fan podcasts (Shardcast, The Legendarium and Inking Out Loud in particular) for years (as well as recording my own with my friend), so I'm super excited to meet people from the community in-person.

Okay! That sounds pretty cool. And ohh that makes sense as far as pivot charts go.

That sounds really cool! Excuses to use new dice are always fun haha. I would definitely want to meetup with people from the site if possible.

No problem! How does the ebook let you pull word counts for POVs? Or is that not the right question? Haha. And that's cool! Did you generate the graphs and charts in Excel as well?

For anyone going the Jordancon 2021, are people planning to do some sort of smaller social gathering there? Maybe to discuss more Brandon/cosmere stuff? I've never gone before and wasn't sure if people from the site got together or anything (I'll also be going with two friends who I record fantasy/sci-fi book podcasts with). Obviously, this year will be different, but I was wondering what people typical do as far as socializing goes.

I really liked the episode and kind of wanted to be part of that discussion live haha. This was probably one of my favorite episodes you've done- because of the different perspectives/challenges to some of the unintentional consequences of Brandon's plotting. I particularly liked your discussion of how we (as readers) react to different characters (and different types of evil). Grey made some great points about righteous anger not really being a thing in Brandon's books. I hadn't really looked at anger in Stormlight from the perspective of "Kaladin gets superpower powers because he falls in line. Even though he was totally right to be pissed at Roshone, Amaram, etc." (I'm paraphrasing you guys, but I hope you understand what I mean haha). I also totally agree that the Kaladin v. Amaram fight in OB wasn't nearly as satisfying as it could have been (which is honestly kind of okay since the rest of the book's climax is so incredible haha). I think it was Eric saying this, but I agree that it could have been a more personal confrontation and another milestone for Kaladin's character. It could have been a reckoning for Amaram's hypocrisy, but was instead Kaladin vs. an incomplete Unmade crystal monster haha. However, I think this goes to something you guys were talking about a few episodes ago- Brandon could probably write slightly "better" books, but then he probably wouldn't be able to write everything he wants to write (cosmere and not-cosmere-wise). For the record, I'm team This post has been reported for attempting to skirt the rules Moash haha. I hope he doesn't get a redemption arc (I think it's likely that he'll end up in a place where we'll pity him, but not sympathize with him by the end of book 5- like you guys said). However, I think the conversation you had about who is "allowed" to be redeemed is important. Said redemption must also involve the character doing the work (ala Zuko or Endeavor from My Hero Academia- that one is more complicated though haha). If done correctly, a Moash redemption arc could possibly work, but I don't think the story has been setup for that. Anyways, great episode and I'm looking forward to the next one!

@Ramona TehradinI like this alot overall. I generally agree that it's odd that people find actions like the Blackthorn's more acceptable (in light of his redemption) than how Kaladin deals with his depression. I personally really liked that Kaladin's arc in this book was not about him swooping in and saving the day (although he does do that at several points haha). However, I can see how people could be frustrated with how Kaladin deals with his depression (particularly if their own personal experience would lead them to react this way). People having different opinions about characters (not named Moash haha) makes the series more interesting to me. I think it's a testament to Brandon's writing that he can have characters as different as Kaladin and Shallan, but have people equally excited about them for different reasons.

@Kingsdaughter613Hmm. I'm really sorry about your experiences. I think that this is a case where different people can deal with stuff differently? Obviously, not all instances of depression are the same. So I think it's totally possible to have some people really relate to how Kaladin is written in this book and for other people to really not like it (and understandably so). I think Brandon made a strong creative choice to really go in-depth with Kaladin's feelings and depressive thoughts. That was really powerful for me, because I was able to see one of my favorite characters experience those thoughts and overcome them. I personally don't see this as Kaladin "wallowing" in the pain, but rather really going to a dark place to come out stronger on the other side. However, I can totally see how those POVs would be really tough to read and be more unhelpful if they could be triggering, etc. So it makes sense to me that seeing Kaladin deal with the same thoughts over and over would be draining for you (given what you said about your suicidal thoughts and how you try to push through those weeks). Basically I think it's possible to both see Kaladin's struggle as relatable and inspiring, but also frustrating from a dfferent point of view (i.e. we're both "correct" haha). I hope I didn't misconstrue or misrepresent what you were trying to say! I also think it's important to have discussions like this about different points of view on these deeper and more personal issues (even if we don't agree with people on a given topic).

This is awesome! What tools/programs did you use for this?

I think I heard somewhere that it was the Wit/Hoid epilogue? He's definitely mentioned being excited about this particular epilogue before (but I'm not sure if it's the same the big Stormlight/cosmere scene that he's also talked about. Probably that scene or the Odium switch?

I'm sure this has already been posted about, but I really appreciated Kaladin's arc in this book. I think it was important for him to have a more introspective/internal conflict (even though he still does alot of fighting haha). It's great how his depression doesn't just "go away," because that's not how it works (at least in my experience). I haven't dealt with PTSD, but I've dealt with (at least what I've viewed as) more situational depression, and I think the depiction of that part of Kaladin's mental health was spot on. I've been where Kaladin was (in the scene where he breaks down in his room) and that was depicted pretty realistically to my experience (so I appreciated that authenticity alot). I also loved how Adolin and Syl collaborate/conspire to take Kaladin out to the bar so that he's with friends. I adore the subsequent bar scene and really appreciate that Brandon included this scene to show that even this seemingly small gesture by Adolin helps Kaladin get out of his head for a few hours and relax. Syl and Adolin know that Kaladin needs to be with people and to not feel alone, and think that's super important and really sweet.