WhiteLeeopard

When I read that WoB my first thought was standing out due to words and language used, or mannerisms. 

20 minutes ago, StormingTexan said:

That is correct on his eyes. Hmm I remember now the WoB where Brandon states his lineage. With every answer there are only more questions.. 

 

Slightly Shin is just how all offworlders look like in Roshar. If worldhoppers look like standard Rosharans (with epicanthic fold) its because they are usually using some form of magic or lightweaving to blend in.

Felt went to the NW but she didn't appear to him. Remember the "She doesn't like foreigners" comment Felt makes later.

1 hour ago, Zellyia said:

I just want to see Lift's interactions with pretty much everyone.

Shallan: Both trying to figure out who they are.  Big point in Edgedancer and obviously for Shallan's personalities.  Also both have absent mothers, though for very different reasons.  Each thinks the other is crazy, but also respects them.

Navani:  Surrogate mother for Lift?  She's smart and crafty enough to manipulate Lift pretty deftly.

Kaladin: .....Very different personalities clash (stormcloud vs rainbows), but maybe she reminds him of Tien?

Jasnah:  Can see them NOT getting along and Lift greatly trying Jasnah's patience.

Renarin: Buddies.

Adolin: He gets along well with everyone (except for Sadeas).

I suspect Lift will be the mental healer of many KR. Maybe all Edgedancers were like that. So I wouldn't be surprised if she spends a lot of book 4 with Szeth, as he is so wacky even by our current KR standards that he needs all the mental glue he can get. 

I had once seen a suggestion the differing rates of acceleration might be due to the Fused using a differen planet's standard gravitation for Lashings, but this theory that the difference is due specifically to the different properties of Voidlight makes sense. Nevertheless, I still wonder if KR and Fused use the same planet as base for their abilities. Random question, does anyone have handy the mass of Ashyn, Roshar and Braize?

What is still bugging me is where the Fused get the voidlight from, and whether they store it somewhere or just keep it on them indefinetely. At the momment voidlight seems massively OP. A source of power nearly as a good as stormlight which never runs out ? The closest I can think of is Breath, and that source of magic had some very big limitations and was quite hard to get to a large enough mass to become useful. 

6 hours ago, galendo said:

You said something like this before, but I didn't get it then and I don't get it now.  Venli and Eshonai are basically the same.  High-ranking Parshendi in Odium's army?  Check.  Have knowledge of Parshendi culture from before the Everstorm?  Check.  Able to secretly convert huge swaths of Parsendi to their cause?  I actually think Eshonai would be better than Venli here, but whatever, check.

Differences between Eshonai and Venli:

• E hates anything to do with their old gods/Fused and was tricked and semi-forced into a voidform. V was working for 5 years to get the Fused back.
• E was slated for execution by the voidspren and would have been killed by the Fused themselves before Part 2 was over. Why?
  • Because the Fused hated the Listeners for turning their back on them mighty ancestors millenia ago, therefore they were wiping out every single Listener either by sacrifices to the Fused or by putting them in danger.
  • Because the Listeners represented a threat to the Fused much bigger than the humans ever could, by giving the Singers an alternative culture and role models in their new awakening.
  • Because Eshonai in her right mind was the leader of the Listeners, and the first Listener the Fused would execute.
  • Because Eshonai was resisting her voidspren and the Fused disliked that.
  • Venli is the only one that was spared of the Listeners as a reward for being the one to bring them back.
• Eshonai is a warrior, a explorer and a general. V is a scholar and a searcher.
• E always did the right thing and had a lot more empathy and compassion than V, and generally saw the world in a very positive and optimistic light. V was a lot more bitter and ambitious, and generally thought worse of people and the world than E.
• E cared about her people first and foremost, and always put their needs above hers. V is power hungry, and all she ever wanted was power, control and authority. She always cared about herself first, then a far second came her people.

Addressing your points. E wouldn't be a high ranking member of Odium's forces as she would have been executed (unless she managed to flee first). Yes, both know Listener culture, but that wouldn't matter when Eshonai was dead. If by some miracle E could have stayed alive inside the Odium force she would have completely lacked the subtlelty to turn the Singers against Odium. Eshonai would have probably decried Odium openly, or been quite obvious about it, if for no other reason than she hated anything voidy. Venli will probably be more subtle about it, able to play the long game. 

I hope this explained my thoughts on how I liked Eshonai more, but believe Venli is in a better position to help the Singers .

9 hours ago, galendo said:

Lots of people seem to disagree with me, and this is fine -- I'm glad that Venli works for you guys, even if she doesn't for me.  I really don't get what you guys see in her, since you obviously see something more than a poor Eshonai replacement, and no matter how I look at her, that's all I can see.  I see a character with less complexity than Eshonai, a character with less potential than Eshonai, a character given less development than Eshonai, who was shoe-horned into Eshonai's place.

Don't misunderstand me, I loved Eshonai and was always fond of her, and I either hated or was indifferent to Venli throughout the 3 books. And I still am. But at the end of the day Venli is in a much better position to earn gains for team Honor. I am taking this as an example of "Sometimes the character I love isn't the best character to do her job, and a character I care nothing for can be the difference between victory and defeat". At the least I think it will be interesting to read.

Honestly speaking Venli is in a position to gain a lot more for the Singers than Eshonai ever could. Eshonai could become a KR, fight, find the Listeners and make a pact between Listeners and humans. Venli can become a KR, sway a percentage of the Listeners and eventually figure out a pact with the humans. Eshonai would have fought from the start just because their legends said their gods were bad news. Venli will have to figure out and see with her own eyes why the Fused are bad news.

Is it my imagination or has the 17th Shard become meaner in recent months? It used to be one of the nicest places in the web.

The meaning of Kaladin's name is known. Brandon has said before there are sometimes similar names between planets which are chance and have no particular link.

Quote

Questioner

Did Kaladin’s name come from anywhere in particular?

Brandon Sanderson

No. I'm sure the word paladin was in the back of my head, but it's not like he shares much with like an actual paladin. His name was Merin in the initial version and it was-- it didn't work, he wasn't a Merin and all the fans-- all the readers were like "this name just doesn't work" so I spent years hunting for the right name for him, and that's the one I ended up with. It's really based-- it's Kalak, which is the Storm-- not really the Stormfather but people y'know. Most of the names you'll find are based off one of the Heralds in some way. So he's KALA + DIN, Kalak and din is a suffix.

Isaac Stewart

We do have a meaning for it though. Can I tell them the meaning?

Brandon Sanderson

Ehhh, have we canonized it?

Isaac Stewart

We have canonized it, and we have told people before.

Brandon Sanderson

Then yeah.

Isaac Stewart

It means "Born unto Eternity".

Brandon Sanderson

...I mean, it means that in the same way that names mean something, like my name means-- But when they're naming him that they aren't thinking that. What they are doing is picking one of the Heralds and making a name out of it. But my name technically means "Dweller by the Beacon", but really what it means is "He was the son of Alexander".

source

Kaladin did some good improvements in OB, he wasn't as gloomy as on TWoK and WoR although he still has a long way to go. Kaladin is generally a well loved character that you somtimes want to slap.

Old post, keep in mind its before OB.

Ash seems a version of compulsive disorder, which makes her destroy all imagery of herself as Herald. Battar seems to be helping the Diagram, which seems like a great insanity for the Herald of scholars and wisedom, as the Diagram is the epitome of lack of wisedom plus stupidity hiding as brilliance. Jezrien was drowning his sorrows in a bottle, classical . Nale we know pretty well. Ishar is the godpriest of Tukar, and until further notice I am mentally calling him Masema 2.0 . Taln is so much of a wildcard I will have zero expectations for him in the next 20 years, as he could do anything from drooling on the floor for the next 2 books to leading entire armies against the Fused.

1 hour ago, Song said:

Given the Heralds have been around for Millennia, if they can have children I would assume there would be thousands of people decended from them. It would be so common as to be pretty insignificant.

If the Heralds can have children they would probably have to jump through some hoops to achieve it, so I don't think it would be so common to be descended from them. Mainly because they are cognitive shadows, and we saw in Nalthis how CS can't easily have children.

1 minute ago, Fifth of Daybreak said:

"And I missed it?!!! Why did Fortune not take me there...did my metalminds break"

2 minutes ago, Belzedar said:

But @WhiteLeeopard, I'm assuming he did abandon her, and the man Lirin met was not Hessina's real father. Either he's a decent man who stuck around to raise a child that wasn't his biologically, or his wife never told him that he's not the father.

That could work. I assumed someone that disapproved of Lirin (surgeon of the second nahn and very good man) for their daughter and that could afford to take in an entire family or send them money would have to be lighteyes. A darkeyes wealthy enough to have that much money, and ambitious enough to be unhappy with a second nahn marriage, would have to be so influential for darkeyes that it seems unlikely a lord could get away with raping Hesina's mother.

Remember the Roshone affair was a huge scandal because the king and Roshone went too far and came close to breaking the law, something which was talked about for years. As often happens in these kinds of societies the top can take advantage of the bottom of society, but the higher you go in society the harder it is to do so. First nahn and second nahn seem tricky for even highlords to abuse, and they need to use the law for it (although as Nale showed us loopholes in the law are great stuff for many people in Roshar). 

21 minutes ago, Belzedar said:

It's ugly, but shouldn't we acknowledge the more cynical possibility? Kaladin's maternal grandmother was an ordinary but attractive darkeyed girl, and some lighteyed lord wouldn't take no for an answer. The big dramatic twist will be that the lord has a name we recognize.

Possible but unlikely. 

Lirin met Hesina's parents and was very nervous when he did so. When Kaladin's family was struggling in Hearthstone because of Roshone Hesina's parents offered to take them in or send them money. Hesina been a child of a lighteyed lord that forced himself on a pretty darkeyes doesn't quite ring true when considering those two pieces of knowledge, as in those cases the lord would abandon the girl he forced and the child he had.

1 hour ago, ElephantEarwax said:

If you listen to the podcast, they thoerized this because he may have to overcome his hatred of lighteyes, because he himself is almost one.

I think he is pretty much past his hatred of lighteyes by now. Dalinar, Shallan and Adolin were the start. Then his own eyes turning light forced him to face some truths. His time with the Wall Guard was probably the last drop in the medicine of getting past that toxic hatred.

7 minutes ago, IronBars said:

Doesn't it say in the books that a high ranked darkeye family can marry into a low ranked lighteye one, and that there children cam be dark or light eyed ?

Therefore its probably as simple as thats what happened in hesina's case no ? One light and one dark eyed parent and she just happened to be darkeyed.

 

That is most likely the case. But when have we ever accepted the most reasonable explanation without exploring the crazier ones too? 

Its nice to have a theory semi-confirmed. Now to wonder what the second part of the WoB means.

• Both grandparents are lighteyed and Hesina got weird genetics
• One or both grandparent is a worldhopper
• Kaladin is a Herald's descendant
• I'm overthinking it and simply one grandparent is lighteyed

36 minutes ago, MountainKing said:

Red Investiture is when Investiture that was already given a purpose is unwillingly forced or unwilling mixed with another shards investiture. Like if Odium corrupts a sapient spren against their will.

Or another way to see it is to say red happens when a Shard meddles in another Shard's Investiture. The meddler Shard can get results but there will be physical signs of the interference.

59 minutes ago, Oversleep said:

I think I have a theory of Realmatics cooking that would try to explain all that

Have fun, and nice job getting so much new info!

1 hour ago, Draigon said:

What seems to be happening with the Shards is that omnipotence and omniscience are being forced through a mortal perspective. The mortal holders of the Shards are changed quite completely by the experience but can't fully access all investiture related to their Shard because while the Shard knows the mortal filter does not. Once the mortal filter is made aware of what it knows or has access to, it can start using and affecting it.

Continuing on this line, it would seem Harmony is a baby Shard, compared to the others. Mentally, and considering what he is aware of, as he was a mortal just 300 years earlier. Which could explain the problems we see on Era 2, despite his been twice as big/strong as the other Shards. This may seem obvious, but since we are told from very early on how "infinite" Shards are it always seemed hard to understand (for me) the problems of Era 2 with corrupted Shard entering under Harmony's nose.

6 minutes ago, MountainKing said:

Another shard can manipulate another shard's investiture, but it would be the same as a regular person trying to manipulate investiture that is just laying around.

Maybe that is the red Investiture we keep seeing.

I think I'm just going to ramble for a while about this WoB, if I ever say anything coherent about it.

So, a rough way of putting it is to say all shards can "claim" pieces of investiture when they find those pieces? Ignoring all the knowing and not knowing. 

So I'm assuming that highstorms and stormlight were present before the Shattering, and Honor was the Shard to claim the Adonalsium investiture in Roshar first, so it became his. 

16 hours ago, Ciridae said:

I'm not sure Venli could even have a Shardblade. Timbre is inside her gem heart, so it's an interesting question what would happen if she tried to manifest her as a blade. 

Glys also stays inside Renarin's heart to hide, but can become a Shardblade when needed. At the momment my head canon is that Timbre is doing the same, hiding inside Venli's gemheart to hide from the Fused and trap the voidspren so it doesn't give them away, yet can come out and become a Shardblade once Venli reaches that point.

49 minutes ago, hypatia said:

Shortly after Gavinor was back, all grandmothers I had known came into memory - every one of them you would have to physically restrain to hinder them to do something "stupid" like going to save the only grandson and showing the Fused the wrath of a grandmother.

But Navani - all Dalinar and teaching to read and write and whatever.

It was so distracting for me I developed a aversion against her - what I don't believe was the intention.

Following that line, most mothers would have been shattered to lose a son, yet we saw no reaction to Navani losing Elhokar.

The only thing that comes to mind is that highborns probably gave the children to the care of nanies and may have a more distant relaitonship with their children than we are used to, at least while they are younger.