robardin

In the scene from Shadows of Self where Wax goes into the museum/mausoleum ("musoleum?") in the Field of Rebirth, he passes through an open foyer "with its murals of the Originators. Hammond, the Lord Mistborn, Lady Truth, Wax's own ancestor Edgard Ladrian", whose familiar and accurately captured self-satisfied look made Wax want to punch him. The Originators depicted there, of course, would be the leaders of the remade world - primarily those of Kelsier's surviving crew, but also figures like Yomen and Ashweather Cett that Elend had recruited to lead his New Empire. There were not many women in that number. So who was "Lady Truth"? The Coppermind has no entry for such a name, and the Arcanum of WoBs have this where someone straight up asked Brandon this question, and got a RAFO (with the caveat that he said it is likely a case of "I know the answer to this, it's not a big secret, but I am not ready to just pin it down"). Maybe it's just me, but there is something just a tad chilling about a name like that. It seems... Stern and unforgiving. Like there's a bit of a dark story there to be told. The way I see it, unless she was someone who only rose to prominence after the Catacendre (a period we readers know very little about), Lady Truth would have to be one of the leading characters we saw survive in The Hero of Ages to be considered a peer of Hammond, Spook, and Breeze, and to have later earned that sobriquet. Which means either Allrianne or Beldre. Allrianne is in fact mentioned by that name elsewhere in Shadows of Self, when Marasi recalls that woman constables having to also be "ladylike" had a tradition "going back to the speeches of Lady Allriane Ladrian soon after the Catacendre". If Allrianne was involved with establishing the constabulary force, and maybe showed her tough side more openly than before, that could well earn her a name like "Lady Truth". But then, wouldn't Marasi the constable naturally think of her as "Lady Truth" rather than "Lady Allrianne Ladrian"? On the other hand, Beldre was a "pampered rich girl" in the Last Days of Urteau, seemingly unlikely to end up a "Lady Truth"; but with her marrying(?) Spook who would then become The Lord Mistborn, leading (ruling) their new world for a hundred years, she would have had plenty of time to grow and to change. And power, too. Add in the offhand WoB about Spook being "a stud" after the Final Ascension and fathering over a dozen children, combined with his long life and length of rule... Does that suggest him being a "player" who either set Beldre aside at some point, or simply had women on the side? Either of which could serve to harden Beldre.

You just blew my mind. That's what I love about this site, so many people with recall of WoB's that I may or may not have read at some point but didn't have something click at the right time, and now I get to go back and re-digest. This speaks both to the level of detail Brandon's building in the Cosmere and the high Geek Factor of the fanbase

Interesting observation. But that's one case where We Don't Really Know What Heightening He Is (at least the Second - this would imply a much higher one), Or What Else He's Got Going On.

I'm pretty sure Brandon has referred to Oathbringer interchangeably as "Dalinar's book" and "The Bondsmith book", same with WoK = Kaladin = Windrunner and WoR = Shallan = Lightweaver book 1, Way of Kings: Kaladin / Windrunner book 2, Words of Radiance: Shallan / Lightweaver book 3, Oathbringer: Dalinar / Bondsmith book 4, Venli/Eshonai : Willshaper book 5, Szeth : Skybreaker (Books 4 and 5 may be swapped in ordering) The back five books - ordering TBD, but with known main POV characters and Order affiliation: Lift / Edgedancer Renarin / Truthwatcher Jasnah / Elsecaller Taln / Stoneward ? Ash / ?? Dustbringer ?? So it would seem that Taln will eventually follow suit with Nalan and "join the Order he originally headed as a Herald", but that Ash will "go Dustbringer." That, or Taln goes Dustbringer and Ash goes Stoneward, which would also be interesting, but less sensible from what we know after Oathbringer.

I like your linking of Kelsier to them based on "Cognitive Shadow = Ghost, Hemalurgy = Blood", as whatever Kelsier is shown to have done to have "re-tied" himself to the Physical Realm is likely to involve hemalurgy. He also has the approval or cooperation of Marsh in whatever he's up to, as when Marsh gives Marasi the proof copy of The Lord Mistborn's Guide To Hemalurgy (First Ed.):Spikes For The Placing, Wasing The Wanting Of Knowing, he comments that he wishes Wax to be informed of hemalurgy despite the wishes of Harmony, who nevertheless must allow him to do so, as Wax "does my brother's work, and that is something I feel inclined to encourage." The idea of either or both Kelsier and Marsh being involved with the Ghostbloods is very intriguing.

BTW you left out "The Emperor's Soul" from your list, not to mention the shorter stories like "Sixth of Dusk", "Shadows For Silence", and "Edgedancer", all of which are in Arcanum Unbounded. If you pick up that book to read all of them, just read them straight through in the order they are in that compendium.

Another aspect of an Allomantic gobstopper nugget of metals is that you'd only be burning the outside layer, reaching the next inner layer after the outermost one was burned away. So a Mistborn would have to be very sure of the timing and sequence of when they'd want their "metal" (no longer plural), which could never really be advantageous to do. And a Mistborn experiences different allomantic metals as them creating different reserves within them: you can't trick them into burning a metal unexpectedly by nesting it inside something else, which would be the only reason I could see to want to do something like this (e.g., putting an aluminum core under a thin layer of atium).

Another reason I think that is that Marsh and other Inquisitors are described as seeing with Steelsight (or Ironsight, I guess), and yet they still turn their heads to see things, and can get snuck up on from behind (as when Ham clobbers Marsh to save Sazed as he went to the Well of Ascension). If they could just "Steelsense" in all directions, that would be something of an affectation, wouldn't it?

In the case of Kelsier and the ingot, he may not have been looking at it, but he knew where it was from having seen it earlier. I conceded that an Allomancer doesn't have to maintain a constant Pull on an object to use it from behind them, however I do think the Allomancer has to know more or less exactly where it is behind them to Pull on it, using the analogy of someone being able to put something on a table, turn around 180 degrees, close one's eyes, and still be able to grab it based on spatial sense and object permanence. That's different from being able to arbitrarily reach back and Pull on something as if they could be "sensed" initially with A-iron, in such a way as to know their relative location and size (can you Pull as an anchor, or will it fly towards you?). And in Vin's case, that scene is one of reasons I think of it this way. She's testing the blue lines with a mental Pull (that's what "tested the lines with her mind" means, as she then "gave it a slight tug"), and it's an object in front of her, not behind her. It flew at her face, not her back, as I read it (though it's not explicitly described either way). And just one paragraph earlier, the ironsight lines were described as follows: So the lines appear in front of her, and disappear behind her when out of her line of sight. And the Pull is described as mentally "tugging" on one of those lines. Ergo, if you can't see a line, you can't Pull on it, with an exception for an object you just saw a line to not long ago, and can assume is still where it is relative to you when you saw it (especially if you placed it there in the first place with Allomancy, like Vin's Cloud of Horseshoes Highway trick). While I do think it's clear an Allomancer can Pull (or Push) on a metal object based on knowing where and what it is, I don't think that means there's a "feel behind me to know what's there" ability, and that a moving object would not be usable that way (it'd have to be big and stationary for the "object permanence plus spatial perception" mental thing to work).

Inquisitors did use obsidian edges mounted on wooden handles in exactly that way, both as axes (which is what I pictured when described as "obsidian axes", not fist-held "hand axes" like Neolithic tools would be) and as macahuitl style weapons with multiple blades mounted on a club, as seen when the Inquisitor chases Vin after she and Kelsier have their little expedition into Kredik Shaw in the first book (Mistborn: The Final Empire, Ch. 14)

I see what you mean. But I guess that phrase, "Pull in the direction of the gate", is what gets me - a Coinshot could obviously Push (a coin out of his hand) in any direction he chose, but can you just "Pull" in a direction without focusing on a specific point or object to Pull on? I say no, that's not how Ironpulling was described to us originally in the first book, and we've never seen an allomantic POV that would say otherwise. If a Lurcher knew of a metal gate they'd just passed by like ten feet behind them, I think it'd make sense that they could go "Pull ten feet behind me in that direction on that gate that was there", as long as their sense of distance was reasonably accurate: a kind of allomantic extension of proprioception and our normal mental ability to spatially project objects in 3D relative to ourselves. But I think they'd have to have made special note of it as they passed, like thinking about using it as an anchor - I don't think a Lurcher could "flail" (not "flare", heh) their Ironpull in desperation at "something, anything big and metal! Wasn't there, like, a gate or something?!" behind them that they weren't sure of being there, and if their sense of distance were off (or if the object were moved), they'd draw a blank. Anyway, I'll start a separate thread later in the Mistborn forum about this. What was meant to be a side comment on the idea of being a Lurcher in a big modern city in a thread about being a Twinborn Iron Compounder has segued into a question of exactly how Ironpulling works, which is very interesting on its own, but is kind of a hijack here.

Who says paired metals are equivalent for purposes of combat or flying? They're balanced in effect, not interchangeable in operation. Plus, there are settings (like the steel cage match I mentioned) where a Lurcher would be advantaged over a Coinshot. As for an iron "bubble", I guess that's possible but mainly useful for beachcombing for coins

How about this: can anyone find a reference to an Allomancer Ironpulling on something behind them without having first seen and Pulled on the object from in front of them (or turning to look at it)? We don't actually see Pulling as much as Pushing, and I've already explained why you wouldn't need to see the "end" of a Push but would for a Pull on my It's All Based On Those Blue Lines model, so if I'm wrong, there would be a counterexample.

Right. And as I think of it, you don't gain mental "spidey-sense" or ESP like awareness of metal with Allomancy, you gain the ability to see lines of blue that are thicker/deeper the larger the metal object is. If you Push or Pull on something continuously that's one thing, but you can't Push/Pull on something you've Allomantically released that is no longer showing the blue line to you. If a Lurcher tied in a chair in a dark room could just "know" there was a metal door behind them, why is the Allomancy always described as having "blue" lines instead of the way spidey-sense is described? I am not saying it couldn't work the "spidey-sense" way, just that I have always thought it worked the way I describe it from the very first Mistborn book, and have never read something to contradict it. It could be, for example, that the lines are actually side effects of a "metal sense" that takes time with use to develop, but is only what a first-time burner like Vin In Training notices. But that's never shown in a POV, is it? As for Vin's Pushing match with Zane in midair that involved Pushing on stuff behind her without looking, that's exactly why I think A-Steel is more useful for flying in a city than Iron (what started this whole tangent), because you'd only need to see/know the coin in your hand as you Pushed it away from yourself, in the "constantly maintained Push" not "burst fire Push" mode, until it hit a large building or the ground that would serve as an anchor instead of getting moved itself. You could do that in any direction. But. Lurcher has the opposite requirement, he has to know his anchor to Pull on.

The main reason I think a literal line of sight is needed for Pulling on a specific anchor is because the lines are always and consistently described as "blue". You don't feel "blue", you see it, unless they're lines of emotional pathos or BB King guitar licks they can "hear"

I dunno, if Vin ever managed Kelsier's trick of using both iron and steel to create a swarming metal shrapnel cloud, only the Fourth Ideal granting Shardplate would prevent her from being able to literally shred Kaladin from a distance in a one-on-one fight. Stormlight would heal him almost immediately, but over time she'd literally grind him down, as both iron and steel burn slowly. A Sylshield wouldn't be effective protection since she could push/pull the metal bits at him from all directions. And to Lash Vin, Kal would have to get close enough to touch her. A close quarters fight would be bad for her, as she has no way to block a Shardblade. If she weren't cognizant of how dangerous the Blade was, though, and assumed pewter and a koloss sword or something was good enough as her standard defense as Kaladin drew in, she could be in big trouble if there weren't large enough metal anchors around for her to Pull or Push on to counter the Lashings until they ran out. If her eyes weren't burned out by then.

It's already happened. Nalan is himself a Skybreaker of the Fifth Ideal, remember? The only Herald (so far) to have joined their own Order.

He's already a full Shardbearer, and one of the most skilled at it, in his fighting prime. Yet he feels outclassed by facing the Voidbinding Fused, thunderclasts, the Midnight Mother and other Unmade... And rightly so. Another thing to note, Adolin is the only Shardbearer we've seen other than Dalinar who has had "spells" in the middle of combat when The Thrill was lost and turned to horror and dismay, even before Dalinar trapped Nergaoul in the King's Drop gem. It may be that Alethi in general don't talk about The Thrill, but both their POVs suggested it was unusual and had never happened to them before. I think it's indicative of another spren starting to "fill in the gaps".

I would be quite disappointed if Adolin did not end up reviving - and presumably bonding - with Maya. No other dead Shardblade bearer has ever been known to talk to their Blade enough to hear a name, summon it in fewer than ten syncing heartbeats, or to hear it talking to them in their head, as Adolin did... And it wouldn't make much sense for Adolin to be able to bond to Maya as a Shardblade alone, and not become a KR, though I wouldn't be surprised if reviving/bonding a "maimed" spren resulted in other limitations. Remember that becoming a Surgebinder isn't about having sDNA or whatever makes the Shaod happen to an Arelonian on Sel - even offworlders like Hoid can attract and bond a spren, it's up to the spren to select a matching person, and there surely are more matching people than there currently are spren looking to form bonds. That's one of the reasons, I think, the Kholin family is so rife with Radiants - Renarin, Danilar, Gavilar, Elhokar, Jasnah - is that once spren start swirling around a location or group of people, other spren start looking, too (kind of like how people will stop and try to figure out what a crowd is looking at, thereby making the crowd bigger and more likely to attract other people into doing the same thing). And as for why Adolin has been seemingly "passed over" by the spren despite this... It could be that they sense his proto-bond with Maya. As for a narrative/writing reason, I don't think Stormlight is the kind of story that wants or needs a balance of "magical" versus "normal" people to drive it. It's all magic, baby. With there being TEN Orders of Knights Radiant and a Final Desolation coming up, and all, we're going to have a lot of them. I think it's enough for a character like Adolin to have to "go a different route" towards it.

Jazz-nuh Ko-linn. Queen Regnant of Alethkar!

Remember, this is Rashek. He likes showing off how invulnerable he is by walking around with a couple of spears stuck through him, before killing someone else with the spear meant to injure him. It's part boredom, part arrogance, part rubbing-your-face-in-it.

If you could literally make a lookalike Lifeless of yourself, wouldn't you? And I really wanted to share that image of TLR taunting someone, "Whaddya want, my head on a platter? Here, have one. I gots plenty. HAHAHA I CANNOT BE KILLED, I AM GOD!"

Oh no, I agree, the sword's formally given name is "Harold". As in, "Sheathèd Blade, who art with Vivenna, Harold be thy name", right? I'm just on much more familiar and casual terms with Hank the Sword than you are.

Ah dang it, I must have missed that one. So we'll just have the God-King with 50K Breaths somewhere in the background. Hmm. If Susebron isn't involved in making Hank, I'm verrrry curious how that happened now.

Hmm, I guess I am maybe guilty of making an assumption here, based on how Warbreaker itself ended, in the Epilogue? And the two WoBs in the Coppermind about Nightblood (the sequel novel to come) said that Brandon plans to set its events close after Warbreaker and before Stormlight (Way of Kings), and that it would "answer all your questions" about how Vasher/Zahel "lost possession" of Nightblood. (Another hint there: In one scene in Oathbreaker, Nightblood proudly says to Szeth that he doesn't belong to anybody, that "I'm my own sword. Vivenna told me that!" or something to that effect.) So I infer from this that the big conflict in that sequel would be between this "tyrant" who's "trying to restore" the main rivals of Hallendren dating back to the Manywar, presumably doing so by making a beef with modern day Hallendren, with who Yesteel the Fifth Beatle Scholar is now aligned, providing them with some kind of Lifeless Super-Soldier Serum. I'm sure Hank would be very useful in a conflict like that.