Borio Singaldi

I think that if nothing arose to oppose it, meaning that if there was no further antithesis, then what we had would be the final synthesis that reigns unopposed, the achievement of perfection. Both in the case of dialectics in general and regarding your Harmony question. Brilliant connections! I hadn't thought of that. Maybe this thread will have to be moved beyond the Mistborn section. It would appear so. Thanks for the pat. *pat back* The story with Elend I wanted to use as an example. Final Empire: Thesis: Elend the bookworm nobleman vs Antithesis: the advent of the skaa rebellion = Synthesis: Elend the king of the new kingdom with little experience Well of Ascension: (Syn)Thesis: Elend the king of the new kingdom with little experience vs Antithesis: opposition of enemy kingdoms and his own kingdom = Synthesis: Elend the Final Emperor trying to unite the world Hero of Ages: (Syn)Thesis: Elend the Final Emperor trying to unite the world vs Antithesis: becoming a controlling tyrant like the Lord Ruler = True Synthesis: Elend the Final Emperor who makes the honorable choices while still helping to save the world Perhaps a new antithesis and synthesis would have been possible for Elend -- had he not died.

Aha! So it WAS you! I was the young man with glasses behind you in the Starbucks line holding Arcanum Unbounded who asked you about your Roshar map and talked with you about what Sel could have been like before Odium's interference.

As a result of being hunted for tax evasion, Butt became good friends with Yoshi.

How about an actual song that was made for Sazed?

Late response, but thanks, Ink. If only more people would pay attention to this and contribute to it. I didn't mean for it to be a one-post thread. I'm hoping others will expand upon this, because it's something to go super in-depth into! If you read this, please do! This is one of the reasons I often feel ignored on the Shard. Because I often really am. I'll throw this out to start discussion: how does this Hegel's Dialectic apply to Elend in the first trilogy, for example?

Wait, @the.fulgid, are you in that Skyward backdrop photo? I met a couple people in that photo at the release party!

*I will let you down*

Woah, I really oughta set up notifications for this thread. Thanks, @Inklingspren. Now @TheVillageIdiot, which I feel uncomfortable typing because it feels rude to call you such, onto your questions. $: Kamjvaje. A language I made up a while back that I am still trying to figure out myself. I put the rules of the language down somewhere, but forgot where. It's a language very similar to English, yet very different. A hint as to how the language works: "kamjvaje" is the Kamjvaje word for "language". 54: Hurricane. Because like the Purelake in a highstorm, the reach of a hurricane would be much tamer where I live. $#2: I like it. Depending on the brand and how it's prepared, I really like it. It's not my favorite type of pizza, but it's still pretty good. H: In a hidden location. !3$: Tomatoes, because I could get used to it and they would eventually grow on me. PJ: No $223: Liberty 74: Another human. 63g: Depending on which shirt you're asking about, my shirt is green, white, or sea green and white and yellow and navy blue. Yes, I am wearing three shirts. 4#3: Ehhh, no. Not in the house, it would just be a bother. Y: Dell Weird symbol: As an anthropomorphization of fantastical creatures retaining a semblance of humanity in order for them to be understood as fictional beings and not as simple animals or simple humans. Keyboard: Yes, that would be awesome. 45532: Hi!

Ha! Same here. I only dressed up on the Shard as the Joker.

But why couldn't IT be called... THIS or THAT? Or... SOMETHING?

Borio Singaldi became R E A L.

La La La La la la La La La la la La La La la la La la la la HEE

Groot was the Awakened form of the Stick which Hoid picked up and carried to Scadrial before dropping it on the ground and leaving it for Wayne to pick up and pair with his lucky hat. When Wayne became Wayne the Worldhopper (subsequently starting the hit TV show Wayne's Worlds) and went to Nalthis, Vasher stole the stick from him and Awakened it, with his only command being "Groot". Groot went on a journey of his own, traveling across the recently repaired universe until he met Rocket Racoon, who he left after five minutes because Butt Venture and Uncle Brandy and the Cornfather were cooler. And thus was the tale of Groot. This is what happens when we post at the exact same time.

Mistborn’s Dialectic Spoilers for Mistborn Eras 1 and 2 In my critical theory of literature class, we were discussing the topic of Marxism in its original form (not going into too much detail about that), which led to the introduction of a phenomena known as Hegel’s Dialectic. To give you a crash course overview, it’s founded upon the principle of there being a thesis, an idea or concept or practice in action that is enforced as a natural “law” or way of living or doing things, so to speak. And with it comes an antithesis, a challenge and an opposition to the thesis that arises naturally. And they clash with one another until reaching a point of compromise in which aspects are taken from both the thesis and the antithesis to combine what is known as a synthesis, a new way of things working that incorporates opposing aspects to become something new completely. (You may understand where I’m going with this.) But as there is an opposition to all thing, an antithesis verily shows up in contrast to the existing synthesis, leading to it becoming another thesis on its own. Eventually, they meet this compromise once again and become something new and different. This cycle continues in which a synthesis is found that eventually become a thesis to a new antithesis, or a new form of opposition, constantly reaching a better compromise with each step up until the point that a truly perfect synthesis is formed that can have no contrast to it. You can look up how it pertains to Marxism if you so desire, but I won’t go into detail about that now, as it is not my main focus. You may wonder what this has to do with Mistborn, so now onto that! I’ve noticed that this series is very prevalent in its usage of such a dialectic, even if not intentionally. To my knowledge, Brandon Sanderson has not stated any direct intention of representing it in the books, but a theme can exist without an author intending to, as dictated by readers and whatnot. Anyway, pedantic thoughts aside, I noticed a very clear Shardic example of the dialectic in Mistborn right as I learned about the concept of it. So on Scadrial, we have what I would consider a thesis: Preservation, a representation of stability, stasis, keeping things as they are. This is countered by a directly opposing antithesis: Ruin, a representation of change, destruction, dynamics. (You can pedant about which of them is a thesis and which is an antithesis if you so desire, but that’s a different discussion.) At the end of Hero of Ages, Ruin and Preservation are finally brought together, despite their great oppositions, to form into one different entity, becoming something new and more. A perfect balance of stasis and change, a synthesis of opposing laws that have become something better than either of the two were alone, one step closer to perfection in that the synthesis is somewhat better than what came before. And here’s where I get to the clincher of the dialectic comparison: In Era 2 (and this will most likely be prevalent in Era 3 as well), there is a new supernal entity known as Trell coming around and messing with things. A being opposed to Harmony. I believe Trell is the Shard of Autonomy in some shape or form, but since there is no way of telling for sure, I will simply avoid specific Autonomy talk (I’ll get more into that stuff at a later date) and focus on the nature of Trell we know of and can assume/speculate enough about. Anyway, we have this synthesis, Harmony, acting as this perfect combination of Ruin and Preservation, which of course may lead us to wonder what could go wrong after that after a perfect balance has been found. And then Trell comes along and throws things out of whack. We get a hint at Trell’s goals, specifically with Paalm and her objective. And the Set, due to their willingness to work with her and their own devotion to Trell. It seems to me that Trell is going against Harmony in an attempt to free the world from Harmony’s control, because, well… Sazed isn’t doing such a great job of letting people go their own way, as his Path dictates (ahem, hypocrite). He even admits to the mistake of interfering with human affairs too much, leaving them to fall behind in progression. He has helped people toddle along, giving them all they need to survive, stunting the growth of society basically crippling advancement of civilization. He has interfered so much with humanity (Waxillium as a case in point) that it almost seems reasonable that one would want to fight this and free people from Harmony’s controlling hand. So we have our original synthesis of Harmony, who now represents not only a balance of change and stasis but more importantly a representation of controlling the affairs of people to great extents, challenged by this new antithesis of Trell, or in other words, an antithesis representing an endeavor to free people from control of a Shard and truly let them live as they would and should live, progressing on their own separate from Harmony’s interference. In the first trilogy, we dealt with the opposing natures of protection and destruction as an overall subject of the series, with the main conflict revolving around the destruction of the world, and now with Eras 2 and 3, we are dealing with the opposing natures of control and freedom instead as a result of the formation of a new synthesis inviting the presence of a brand new form of antithesis, in which the main conflict is one of freedom on a deific level. Who knows how such a solution could be solved? We will just have to RAFO about what possible synthesis could be made out of the Harmony/Trell struggle, what kind of compromise could be made between controlling people and leaving them free from Shardic influence. And if some solution is found, which I can assume is so, since we’ll get a futuristic Era 4, I am left to wonder what new antithesis will rise up against whatever new (syn)thesis that we will be provided with during Era 4 as a final conflict before a possible synthesis into… what? A final state of perfection, a synthesis that cannot be countered at the end of the cosmere? We’ll have to RAFO. I just wanted to bring up this topic for the sake of discussion and because I wanted to get this off my chest. Thoughts? Any further examples you can think of regarding Hegel’s Dialectic and Mistborn that are more specific than Shard-level conflicts? I can think of a couple already to use as continual examples of how prevalent the dialectic can be used in Mistborn, but I’ve ranted long enough, and I want to see your conclusions and thoughts on the matter. P.S.: I am sorry if my phrasing bored you all to tears; I tend to be a very wordy person. I also wish I could have made a visual representation of the dialectic, but I don’t have a current means of doing so. Oh, well.

Mixed with epic cellos solos like the one Narrator Firerust was listening to while writing this. Narrator Firerust also felt inclined to bellow "HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!" to the universe.

*I will make you hurt*

I know I want to do a Stormlight parody of Men At Work's "Down Under" involving Gavilar, Dalinar, and Eshonai, but I have yet to figure it out. Just putting it out there that I want it done, and if I can't do it, I leave the suggestion up to others. That parody you just did there is the best, Wyndlerunner. (Formatting is being weird.) @Wyndlerunner

*My empire of dirt*

But everyone ignored the Fourth Wall, except for Borio Singaldi, who was smashing his Awakened cane against it.

When you see an article of clothing lying on the floor of the retail store you work at, and the first thing that comes to mind is the quote: "Kaladin reacted with swift, immediate rage." (Oathbringer, Chapter 84, I think.) When the "Assassin in White" song from the Kaladin album is the theme song playing in your head as you're sprinting from your car to the library because Brandon Sanderson is there. When you feel a really strong urge to be Kelsier for Halloween even though you can't because you don't have a mistcloak and don't know how to make one. Entirely separate thought: why do we put "when" at the start of all our posts when it's already in the title? By doing that, we're just repeating it when we continue off the title, saying "when when". Not a huge concern, I'm just being pedantic.

@Pagliacci That is frickin awesome and needs all the upvotes. Also: IGNITE THEM And we love him for it. This is all of us, I reckon. Also, I can't resist inserting this last one...

This sounds awesome, can I join?