StrikerEZ

I wish I had upvotes to give, because this is how exactly how I feel about the coming/already here Desolation. Odium got really cocky after 4000+ years, so he figured he'd be able to wipe out the humans pretty quickly. Dalinar, through luck/Shardic intervention by Cultivation, completely messed up his plans at the battle of Thaylen City. Plus, because of Venli's efforts, there will probably be a growing movement in the Singer populations to defect from Odium. The year gap between Oathbringer and Song of Secrets (I really want that to be the next book) will give Odium some time to regroup and attempt to gain more control of his armies.

Rithmatist was the second Sanderson thing I read, after Steelheart. I'm also dying for that sequel. My favorite character right now is Venli for OB spoiler reasons. If I could choose a magic system, I'd totally want an Aviar(s). Something about the magic on First of the Sun is so cool.

I don't have any upvotes right now, but this is amazing.

Well, the Shin are Caucasian-ish. Semantics . I just have a hard time imagining what anyone looks like in my head. Especially faces. Faces are the worst.

So, I know how that forum works in regards to the order of the posts. It automatically shows them in the order of most upvotes. I really hate that and it bothers me so much, so I always switch to date posted when I look at those threads. Is there any way I could set this to automatically be in date order instead?

@TheManKnownAsHoid Hey, welco to the Shard! Have a free, spiked delicious cookie! DISCLAIMER: Side effects include, but are not limited to, hearing voices, gaining supernatural powers, having the sudden urge to kill everyone, and completely losing control over your mind and body. The Dark Alley™ claims no liability for any damage done to/by the eater of this cookie. Wow, you have some true dedication to the Cosmere. I've only reread some of the Cosmere short stories (Sixth of the Dusk and Emperor's Soul, specifically) and SA. I can't imagine reading everything more than a dozen times each. Anyway, what's your favorite Cosmere book? Who's your favorite character? If you could get just one of the magic systems, which would it be?

@SassyNightblood Hey, welcome to the Shard! Have a free upvote and a spiked delicious cookie! DISCLAIMER: Side effects include, but are not limited to, hearing voices, gaining supernatural powers, having the sudden urge to kill everyone, and completely losing control over your mind and body. The Dark Alley™ claims no liability for any damage done to/by the eater of this cookie. I'm not quite sure how a sword eats a cookie, but I'm sure you'll figure it out.

@StarrFall Hey, welcome to the Shard! Have a free upvote and a spiked delicious cookie! DISCLAIMER: Side effects include, but are not limited to, hearing voices, gaining supernatural powers, having the sudden urge to kill everyone, and completely losing control over your mind and body. The Dark Alley™ claims no liability for any damage done to/by the eater of this cookie. I'm glad to hear you're enjoying discovering the Cosmere! I also don't have anyone to talk to about the Cosmere in real life, except for my little brother. I've tried getting other people to start reading his books, but I just can't get anyone into them. That's why I spend so much of my time on here lol. (Also, WoK is the name of the first book; the series is Stormlight Archive. You might already know that, but your first post was a little confusing at that part). You should definitely read Aether of Night. It's not as good as Brandon's newer stuff, but it's definitely a lot better than a lot of fantasy out there. It's a really good story, with some writing flaws, but that's understandable. Which Cosmere book is your favorite? If you could pick one magic system to have, which would it be? Who's your favorite character in the Cosmere?

The book was really good. I looooooved Perrin's arc in the Two Rivers. That struggle of wanting to save the people, but not wanting to become a leader. Perrin Goldeneyes does have a good ring to it though. The end of the book with Rand was freaking glorious. I love how Rand is finally getting the hang of being the Dragon Reborn and was able to trick two Forsaken. Also, what the heck happened with Mat in Rhuidean? I wish there was more of him. He seems so interesting, but he just doesn't get enough spotlight. Also, Elayne and Nynaeve (sp?) had a really cool thing going on in Tanchico, and Egeanin was so interesting (also, I've started the fifth book-where the heck is Egeanin? Did I miss something at the end of the fourth book?). This book was definitely my favorite so far.

......thanks? Also, (late) congratulations on becoming a Herald! How's the torture going?

Just curious, why don't you feel comfortable calling Nightblood it? Would it be better to use them/they/their? Those pronouns can be used for gender-neutral.

The rest of them are zero. Not really what I was expecting. I never really considered myself anything like the Truthwatchers at all. I don't consider myself much like the Elsecallers either, but more than I do Truthwatcher. We don't even know any of their Oaths yet.

Yeah, that's basically how it works. Nightblood doesn't have a gender, so they'd kind of intrigued by the idea of gender. It doesn't really matter what gender Nightblood is at any given time, they probably just decided randomly, if the person wielding them doesn't affect it at all.

I got Elsecaller after retaking it a long time after the first few times...I'm quite surprised. Personally, I think the Edgedancers' Ideals are the best of the ones we know and I'd love to be one, if I could, but I know that by the way I live I'd probably end up a Lightweaver. Though, I guess my philosophy reflects the Elsecallers pretty well, except for the fact that I don't think that there is an absolute truth. There are some things which are facts (sky is blue, water is wet, earth is round, etc.), but a lot of what truth is individualized. We often believe certain things to be true while others can believe completely opposite things to be true. If people could realize that, the world be a lot better place.

@Drelnor Hey, welcome to the Shard! Have a free upvote and a spiked delicious cookie! DISCLAIMER: Side effects include, but are not limited to, hearing voices, gaining supernatural powers, having the sudden urge to kill everyone, and completely losing control over your mind and body. The Dark Alley™ claims no liability for any damage done to/by the eater of this cookie. (Don't worry, you'll understand that eventually) Anyway, I'd recommend starting with Mistborn if you are going to get into the world of Brandon Sanderson's books. While it was only his second published novel, I feel it is easily one of his best stories, to date (Stormlight is only better because it was written after he finished WoT and progressed as a writer). The foreshadowing and plot of the entire trilogy is the best I've ever seen and the characters are absolutely amazing. It doesn't really matter where you start, but I try to have new readers to Brandon Sanderson start with Mistborn because it's not that long, has a really good magic system, and is pretty easy to understand, compared to some of Brandon's other works. Either way, welcome again to the Shard! I hope you enjoy reading and theorizing about Brandon's amazing books!

@goody153 Finished book 4 last night. Damnation. I hope Asmodean is a cool character in the rest of the series.

I finished book 4 of WoT last night, and I started book 5 today. I'm really enjoying this series so far and I'm pretty hooked to it now.

@Eluvianii I'm a little late to the party, but Jackaby by William Ritter is the first book in the series of the same name that is really good. It's basically a fantasy version of Sherlock Holmes set in late-1800s America (I think). The titular character basically solves crimes that could be supernatural in nature. The main character is the "Watson," so to speak. She's a really interesting character and the dynamic between her and Jackaby is amazing. The supernatural aspects are slightly separated from the natural world, but it's still really good.

She probably had ideas of how bad Amaram was, but I think she just really didn't like him. Probably because he was a jerk and a slontze and a douchebag. Also, on topic, I think Jasnah will be an interesting character, though I don't really like her yet.

I could've sworn there was another one, but oh well. For in-book references, Vasher (and Vivenna, I think) both hear Nightblood as male, So, the gender you hear Nightblood talk as probably just depends on the person and possibly Nightblood at that moment.

The Horneaters (and technically the Vedens since they have Horneaters ancestry) and Herdazians are the only confirmed races with Listener blood in them. The Coppermind article is most likely vague in case we learn that there are more than just those two (or three) races with Listener blood. I personally don't think so; there are only so many combinations of letters that sound good together. I think that's just a coincidence.

That's an interesting theory. It has absolutely no factual basis (sorry), but I really like it. It's always felt weird to me that the Old Magic is just what the Nightwatcher does. Maybe the Dustmother is similar to the Nightwatcher, but was just made/unmade into an Unmade. That'd be super interesting.

We still don't know a whole lot of the pre-Desolation Cycle history of the Rosharan system. Personally though, I don't think the Ashyn humans were ever directly "of Odium" in the same way that Scadrians are "of Ruin and Preservation." That was, presumably, before Odium got trapped in the Rosharan system, so why would he have completely taken control of a population? He specifically didn't want to Invest himself anywhere, and that would go against that. However, I do think he was fundamental in the cataclysm on Ashyn and the event she leading up to the human invasion of Roshar from Shinovar. How much is unclear at this point. I don't think the humans ever directly worshipped Odium, but I doubt it looked that way from the Dawnsingers' perspectives.

Dalinar

Personally, i don't think there was any outside influence causing Shallan to bond with Pattern. She was just young enough to bond, was exhibiting the qualities of a Lightweaver, and Pattern decided to bond her. We do know that there was some Odium influence on the Davar household, but I think that is unrelated to Shallan's Radianthood. Also, I think it's a bit too early to presume that Cultivation sent Glys to Sja-Anat.