Beautor

Except that in the Q&A in this thread Brandon said that Braize is a planet. I agree with Argent's idea that the desolations may be related to planetary orbits and planetary allignment when Roshar and Braize are close to each other.

I don't know that I totally agree. Harmony would be a good example to counter your idea. Ruin and Preservation are two intents that oppose each other, however when held in balance by Sazed he maintains Harmony. I don't know if all the other shards match up with an opposite shard or intent, but based on the limited information we have regarding the shards and Adonalsium I think that as long as balance was maintained the shards and intents coexist fine. That being said, Sazed hinted in Alloy of Law that if his actions lean too far towards one shards intent it causes imbalance and unknown problems. Perhaps this is what happend to Adonalsium, similar to what you have proposed.

Is it possible that the reason that Szeth's shardblade only changes his eye colour when he's holding it is because the blade does not belong to him? We know the blade was given to him when he became truthless, and that the Stone Shamans will recover the blade when he dies. It is also a belief in world that obtaining a shardblade turns an individual into a lighteyes. We also know that shardblades can be loaned to another person (the Alethi king's personal shardblade and shardplate are available for duels for a fee). My theory is that Szeth's eyes only change colour when he is holding the blade because he does not have a permanent bond to the blade like other shardblade holders.

I'd say that Sazed's systematic consideration of the various religions of his world is a path many people follow in their lives, and it was something that really drew me to his character. Even people who have been raised in a particular religion often spend some time questionning the things they've been taught by others. I certainly can empathize with his struggle to find truth and importance in life, and I also espouse the belief that most if not all religions contain truth. One trait that it seems to me (based on my somewhat hazy memory of reading almost everything he has written) is that Brandon's main characters who deal directly with religion tend to do so from a very analytical point of view. Sure there are zealots in the books, but as far as I can recall I think that most of his characters tend to be more moderate thinkers regarding religion.

Thanks everyone! And Morks, your non-joke made me laugh too. As for reading shampoo bottles, it's just when I don't have my phone. I have more space taken up on my phone by books than I do music!

Just a quick post to say hi, and introduce myself. I'm an avid reader and Fantasy/SiFi are my preferred genres but I read almost anything, including the back of the shampoo bottle if I don't have anything else when I'm in the bathroom. I'm from Alberta, Canada and have been lurking on the forum here for several years. I actually signed up almost 2 years ago, but never got around to posting anything.

No signings or Steelhunt locations anywhere close me either. I think there have been a couple of codes given out online on Twitter and Facebook but I haven't gotten lucky enough to score one of those yet. Hopefully the prize information from the Steelhunt will be released at some point for those of us who haven't been able to find a code.