robardin

Ah, I forgot she was left behind in Urithiru (with Taravangian) while the rest of the Radiants there went off to Thaylen Fields. Have they not figured out it was her, then? At the end of Oathbringer Dalinar knows that Mr. T's actions were motivated by an attempt to consolidate power, but thinks their overall goals still align - he rejects the idea that Taravangian was full on working with Odium and thinks he can still work with him going forward.

True, and yet, @Calderis' conclusion is the one that meets all the information we already have without making assumptions based on information that hasn't even been hinted at: that Oathgates are fabrials powered by Stormlight that are only operable by living Shardblades and Honorblades, and operate on the basis on two large spren in the Cognitive Realm that Sja-anat is able to corrupt. And what Dalinar summoned looked very much like a Shardblade, "but for the Blade part", and the Stormfather (who had begun their bond by declaring "I will not be as a sword to you") is upset by what he did. So the principle of Occam's Razor suggests we should take that as the current most likely explanation - that Dalinar forced something in his bond with the Stormfather to materialize something Shardblade-like, if not a full Blade - until we discover anything else (including WoB, though I'm sure he'd RAFO any straightforward questions like "how did Dalinar open the Oathgate?") Wasn't the attack by Parshendi/Fused on Urithiru done through the Oathgate from Kholiar, opened by the stolen Honorblade of Jezrien by agents who used Teft's Bridge Four coat to do so?

Well, they may not lose their ability to make more physical beings like themselves, but their offspring would not be kandra but ordinary mistwraiths - they've made it clear that they need two hemalurgic "Blessings" each to awaken a mistwraith into a kandra. MeLaan mentions at one point that there are no new kandra for this reason - they are forbidden from creating new Blessings spikes (it would require killing people to make them), and it's against their culture (at a minimum) to reuse spikes from a dead kandra to grant sentience to a new one. Which implies that if they DID have new Blessings, they COULD make a long-delayed Twelfth Generation, presumably by spawning new mistwraiths themselves (the "wild" ones having all burned away like nearly everything living in the Final Empire that was caught on the surface of the world during the Catacendre).

We've seen the "buzzing cubes" charge up with Allomancy, but I don't think we've seen them "charge up" with Feruchemical attributes. In particular, we've seen the "grenades" get charged with a power that is then released from the cube after a time delay, but only powers with external effects: Leeching, Steelpushing, and time bubble forming. It's not clear what would happen if you charged a cube with an Allomantic power with an internal effect, like tin, bronze, or gold. Would it just affect the cube itself (to no obvious effect), or would it settle on the closest person in range and apply the internal effect to them (that doesn't seem reasonable to me)? Or all people within range (seems even less reasonable/more OP to me)? Meanwhile, Feruchemy is all about internal effects - all the tapped attributes go directly to the Feruchemist, and no one else. So even if the cubes could charge with Feruchemy, I think whatever happens when you charge them with an internal Allomantic power would give some insight as to what happens with the Feruchemical charge. Personally, I think if you charged a cube with A-gold, it would just end up having the cube see a second, alternate version of itself that nobody else could see where it was charged with a more useful power, and each would envy/despise the other There have been other posts speculating on using these "grenades" to nest or to stack external Allomantic effects in an exponentially compounding way, like having time bubbles inside time bubbles inside time bubbles. Or "chaining" Nicroburst effects. What I want to know is if A-nicrosil is applicable to other magic systems. Imagine tossing a nicrosil grenade at Kaladin just as he Lashed himself upwards to fly, causing him to put all of his Stormlight into his Lashing and sending him flying up with no more Stormlight to slow himself down when he reached the apex. Oh no.

I believe it's mentioned several times that Soulcasting is the only known way to get aluminum on Roshar, like when the gambler evaluated the value of Shallan's aluminum necklace when she used it and her brothers' fine knives to help ransom her brother Jushu from debt slavery in WoR.

Well Nightblood aside, if Szeth has sworn the Third Ideal of the Skybreakers to follow Dalinar, shouldn't he have access to an ordinary Sprenblade now? Or are the Skybreakers Shardless like the Bondsmiths? Nalan is of the Fifth Ideal and he's never exhibited Plate. And it's not clear if his Blade is the reclaimed Honorblade, or his Sprenblade, or is it?

Whatever the chain is, it's expensive, locked down and guarded, and in a weapons shop among an inventory of hand axes, knives, swords, and harpoons. Yet also not labeled or explained by the merchant, who only says to Kaladin, "You like? Only a thousand broams of Stormlight!" without any spiel as to why it's worth that much, or why it'd be a bargain at that price because of X or Y, the typical acts of a shopkeeper who smells a big transaction. Was it sarcasm (that Kaladin and co. were clearly not big spenders)? Maybe, but an unbonded spren in Shadesmar might not be capable of being that emotionally subtle. Alternatively, it's an expensive thing, and a weapon (or protection), but not unique, and something commonly recognizable to most denizens of Shadesmar, that only looks like a chain to Kal because that's a close analog to it from his perspective, and he can't conceive of it being anything else. Imagine an iPad under glass that wasn't powered on, it might look to someone from 100 years ago as "obviously" some kind of mirror.

Well you'd have to fly up to the ball to Lash it, as Lashing something requires touching it if it's not yourself. And I'd guess that would attract more attention than the ball being stuck in midair (at least at first). Now if you were a quarterback or a baseball pitcher, Lashing a ball as you threw it could be very interesting indeed...

Or "donate your soul today! - Allow yourself to be killed for a Blessing spike and get the maximum hemalurgic payout allowed by law, plus a voucher for a free vacation!"

I was just thinking that this morning, a day or two after I made a post pointing out how an expert Soulcaster like Jasnah would be perfect for a KR-on-Mistborn fight (say, against Zane), as she could Soulcast everything he was carrying to aluminum (coins in pouch for flying, metal flakes in vials) and really, really mess things up for him. She could also just Soulcast whatever metal she wanted out of anything, even thin air, so she'd be a great traveling companion for an allied Mistborn. But yeah... If Hoid does gain Soulcasting through a Nahel bond with a Cryptic, and already has Allomancy, that's amazingly powerful. Metals on demand!

When you read a newspaper article where an automobile industry executive talks about making cars "that have identity and build connection", and you get excited thinking that they're somehow making unsealed metalminds with air conditioning that can go 70 MPH. (Yes, this happened to me for real, this morning on the train) He also talked about the future progression self-driving cars (going from stage 1, just having warning indicators, to where we are now at stage 3, with the car being able to take over in emergency situations, all the way to stage 5, no driver input needed at all), and how designs that allowed for "autonomy" (the ability for the driver to do stuff if/when desired, and not just be human cargo) would be a key area for differentiation between manufacturers. Hmm. Perhaps Adonalsium was originally from Detroit?

Hmm. Now I'm wondering HOW it could be a plot point. For one, you can't note the absence of something you didn't even know could exist, so either a worldhopper brings it up, or someone starts up Scadrial's first ever pro sports league. Maybe the rumored "Full Mistborn" in Era 3 makes a living pretending to be a Coinshot on a team of Allomancers in a sport where he's effectively a hidden second Lurcher as an unfair advantage. Haha! And there are Seeker referees looking for unauthorized Allomancy, but that he is able to expertly flash a Coppercloud to mask his Pulls, but dropping it when Pushing. Eh, there'd be a potential problem with spectator Coinshots or Lurchers intefering with game play while sitting next to a co-conspiring Smoker, though; not sure how to deal with that. Still, that is a very interesting offhand mention of a future plot point.

Rust and Ruin! I was totally picturing the possibility of Allomantic Sports Leagues, specifically a game with a ball with a metal center and position players with some number of Coinshots and Lurchers and maybe a Pewterarm goalie. In fact, when The Alloy of Law introduced a teamed pair of Mistings nicknamed Push and Pull, I mentally made a backstory for the two of them being well practiced in coordinating together to approximate a "shrapnel cloud" like effect that Kelsier and Vin were able to do, largely from having grown up playing a sport where such coordination was part of the training. They never exhibited that kind of teamwork, though, and now the sport doesn't exist, either. But where is it "a plot point" that professional sports don't exist on Scadrial?

I just rewatched the "Toy Story" trilogy and Jessie' song "When She Loved Me" had me in tears, as usual... [OB]

I don't think it's the Windrunner that would be the most effective KR to send up against a full Mistborn, if both parties were educated as to the other's abilities, weaknesses, and prerequisites for use. The Mistborn's main strength would be in using a range attack (shooting metal) from a distance to wear down the Radiant. Picture a shredding shrapnel cloud. If you allowed for "infinite investiture" I think there is no way a Radiant of the Fourth Ideal (with Plate) could ever lose, since they could withstand the shrapnel cloud indefinitely, and just rush the Allomancer, going for the Shardblade Kill Move. Infinite metals to burn would not mean infinite placement of metal anchors, so if the Mistborn had to bring a bag of coins to this fight in order to fly around a large, open field or a stone arena, they would eventually run out and leave the Mistborn landbound. But the real KR to send in with Infinite Investiture would not be a Windrunner, not even one like Kaladin, but an Elsecaller with expert Soulcasting abilities, like Jasnah. We know that aluminum is only found on Roshar via Soulcasting, and that Jasnah can Soulcast things from a distance without physically touching them: she zaps two of the robbers in Kharbranth into smoke with "Stormlight that shot from her hands like bolts of lightning". So I'm guessing she could Soulcast the Mistborn's coins to aluminum right from the get-go, and now the Mistborn can neither fly nor shoot with a ranged attack. Uh-oh. And if the Mistborn had cleverly specified a combat arena filled with large steel columns, anticipating a skyborne battle against a Windrunner, ZAP, now they're aluminum columns. Next step would be Soulcasting the metal flakes in the Mistborn's backup vials into aluminum. There might be infinite vials on hand, but she'd only have to Soulcast the metal in the vial the Mistborn was about to ingest. While that wouldn't trick the Mistborn into burning aluminum (it's not like it could be confused for pewter or steel), it would prevent recharging. And, if you've read Oathbringer,

I think the Heralds having broken the Oathpact is what has driven them to the opposites of their Heraldic idealizations. And Taln is the one who did not break the Oathpact. So I don't think that follows. What's interesting is that they have still lived for 4,000 years. It appears that by unbonding their Honorblades they've lost their abilities to Surgebind (except for Nalan, who not only reclaimed his Blade but has also bonded a spren to become a Skybreaker KR himself), so keeping themselves alive for 4,000 years is still pretty difficult - they may be functionally immortal (somehow), but if they died from getting run over by a massive runaway chull cart or something, and couldn't heal with Stormlight, wouldn't their death send them back to Damnation? They wouldn't just "respawn" on Roshar. Anyway, yes, I do think it's quite possible that Moash/Vyre will be Odium's champion. He may gain Surgebinding from bonding a Voidspren, while also having the Windrunner powers from Jezrien's blade. I don't think it's a coincidence that that's the Honorblade they gave him while also having him be the one to kill Jezrien himself with that special dagger. The fact that he would thus be a Windrunner like the rest of Bridge Four is just gravy, to twist the dagger of betrayal in Kaladin even further.

So the Steel Inquisitors weren't bald as a side effect of the hemalurgic transformation - they were bald because they were a hemalurgically augmented subset of Ministry obligators, for who baldness was part of the dress code. In Mistborn Chapter 1, Vin is with Camon as he masquerades as the destitute nobleman "Lord Jedue" in a meeting with an ordinary, non-Inquisitor Prelan from the Canton of Finance named Laird, described as "shaved bald like all obligators, he wore a set of dark gray robes". But why would the Inquisitors have kept themselves shaven bald after the fall of the Final Empire? They wouldn't need to do so to remain recognizable symbols of terror, the spikes through the eyes would be enough for that. And after Harmony's Final Ascension, there was only one left anyway - Marsh - who would no longer need to "inspire terror". The main reason I can think of for him to do it would be to maintain the claim of succession of authority from The Lord Ruler like he did with Yomen at Fadrex City - who was called "The Last Obligator" after the Final Ascension and apparently a founder of the religious sect of Sliverism, which group is known to revere/worship Marsh. Or, it could be that after all he did as the chief instrument of Ruin, not to mention existing at all for so long past his normal human lifespan, that he sees himself as a Steel Inquisitor, which comes with baldness as a mental image, and tapping F-gold would not only not grow his hair back, it would actively remove or suppress it. It could even be both.

Well the First Generation of kandra have memories going back to before Rashek's Ascension; the Keepers, not so much, as all the living Feruchemists other than the First Generation were turned into mistwraiths and never returned to full sentience. Their knowledge of the pre-Ascension world as passed down to Sazed was all compiled starting from that time on, and with time being required for new Feruchemists to appear and to train themselves without the benefit of senior Feruchemists (if they were lucky, some Terris textbooks on Feruchemy may have initially survived Rashek's purges). But there's another category of people with this knowledge that you haven't listed: worldhoppers. Not just Hoid, either, since he makes reference to an entire ecosystem of trade that used to run through the "easy to reach" perpendicularity at the Pits of Hathsin. There's no reason to think that such worldhopping only began after Rashek's Ascension. And we've seen that at least some of the mechanisms for worldhopping have a side effect (at least) of prolonging one's lifespan, as Khriss is in White Sand, one of the earliest Cosmere settings, but also on Scadrial to talk to Kelsier in Secret History and later to dance with Wax in Bands of Mourning. (And eventually, even appear in Sixth of the Dusk, which is set in the "spacefaring" era of Mistborn 4, isn't it?) In theory, there could even be a native pre-Ascension Scadrian who worldhopped off after Rashek took over, and has been checking back in every once in a while to see if the prophesized Hero of Ages has done his/her/its thing yet. Hmmm... Is that the Secret of Mare? That she was actually an original follower of Larsta from before the Ascension, or a descendant of them, who came back to Scadrial? Seems unlikely since she was a Tineye, but she could be one of the Allomancers who Snapped from the mists in Alendi's time, or be descended from them.

"All These Things That I've Done" by the Killers would been perfect for Dalinar but for the refrain "I got soul, but I'm not a soldier", which of course he totally is. Maybe for Vasher? Side note: Hey, another LDS connection! I just recently learned that Brandon Flowers, the lead singer and songwriter for the Killers, is Mormon.

I definitely have imagined Stormformed Eshonai covering "Red Rain" by Peter Gabriel for the listeners

Yes, but I don't think tearing it apart would be very difficult if it's designed to come apart, especially with a pewter flare

I believe you, but remind me - how do we know this, exactly?

And also be touching it long enough to speak a Command and form the mental image to attack Vin. Plus mistcloaks are designed to be easy to come apart at a pull, to avoid entangling the wearer during ordinary close quarters combat, so after a time of shock and confusion, I think Vin could flare pewter and get loose from it fairly quickly. It'd be mostly useful as a distraction ploy for Vivenna to get a window to do something else to Vin, like stab her, but Vin would probably be Pushing away from Vivenna while disentangling herself from her cloak. If that one stab were with Nightblood, though... Sorry, Vin.

But didn't Nightblood straight out say (and I suppose this this an Oathbringer spoiler), Though I do wonder - is there any WoB type musings from the author himself on how Nightblood would interact with seriously "gray area" characters (who admit to themselves at point or another that they may have "gone too far") like Kelsier, Rashek, even Dalinar, if Nightblood were tossed at them at just the "right" (wrong?) times of their story arcs?

If I could be a full Feruchemist, rather than a Ferring, that would be my first choice. Less flashy than being a Mistborn, the ability to tap metalminds of steel, zinc, pewter, and especially gold in our "real world" (not to mention bendalloyminds for calories - no more dieting!) could be used subtly yet very, very effectively. Why, with those powers, I should be dominant! If I didn't care about standing out, though, even better than being a Mistborn would be gaining AonDor. As a computer programmer, I bet I could get real good, real quickly at Aons. Sure, using the power would require me to stay close to a location, but if Elantris were analagous to NYC where I already live, then that'd be just fine.