ILuvHats

I couldn't find any WoBs that explicitly answer this, but I'm sure you searched the Arcanum already. Here are some WoBs that are relevant though. Since the original spirit web is still there, this makes me think that the underlying object will age. Spirit webs record time passing, and when one extends one's life with either atium compounding or reaching the 5th Heightening, removal of the life extending effect will cause the body to snap back to its original age. Forgery is a little different because the original object is no longer visible like it is with the aforementioned effects, but it appears to me to use a very similar underlying mechanism.

Plus, Yelig-Nar is known as the Blightwind, which literally sounds like an inversion of the Windrunners.

I like your take on the 4th oath, but I’m not sure about the 5th. The particular passage you drew on feels too clinical and clean for my taste. Even rewording it to sound more personal, I’m not a big fan of the prevention over curing idea. It doesn’t feel broad enough for a 5th oath. Without looking at the Hippocratic oath for inspiration, the core of what it means to be an Edgedancer seems to me to be caring for those with no one else. So my impression of the 5th oath would be “I will care for those with no one else to love them.” I don’t know if you can find something in the Hippocratic oath to correspond to my take.

Thanks. @Pathfinder, you and Karger seem to have similar objections, so I'll just respond to Karger instead of both of you. I will say that we just have to agree to disagree on Lightweavers using lasers. The WoB doesn't provide enough info about whether pre-Recreance Lightweavers could use lasers. If they couldn't and we assume Lightweavers can use lasers like they can in the future, I don't see why Mistborn can't then use medallions at that point, if we're allowing something we've never had confirmed on screen. Until they run out of stormlight. And I'd favor Mistborn in a battle of attrition since metals don't leak and are easier to conserve when using their powers. If we're assuming the Radiants are coming in prepared with a crem-ton of gems, I don't see why the Mistborn wouldn't come in with potentially dozens of vials, and metals are still easier to conserve than stormlight as long as duralumin is used very sparingly. But what do you have to say about A-bronze? A Mistborn should always be able to pinpoint a Lightweaver from their illusions. I'll admit I failed to consider this. Of course, this is only if the battle isn't urban where anchors are plentiful. And a Mistborn could potentially outrun the range of Cohesion, so I think they stand a better chance then you're thinking, though I agree that Stonewards and Willshapers are favored. We're coming from different assumptions about the fight. I'm assuming that in such a hypothetical fight, they each have somewhere between zero knowledge of their opponent, to general knowledge of what they could be capable of. And random chance is always going to be significant in such fights. IMO, adding a year or more of preparation isn't enough to reduce the variables by that much, especially because if the Awakener has such knowledge of the Mistborn, then the Mistborn could anticipate the Awakener's countermeasures, and you get into this loop where whoever is smarter and better anticipates their opponent wins. So agree to disagree.

I’m aware that Elsecallers are more proficient at soulcasting than Lightweavers. Perhaps I shouldn’t have compared Shallan to Jasnah. Personally, I think that Jasnah is an exceptional user of Transformation, even for an Elsecaller. After all, she’s exceptional at everything else, so why not at using that surge? Another part of the reason for my belief is that otherwise, Elsecallers seem so OP it’s ridiculous. An Elsecaller with Jasnah’s skill with Transformation plus control and practice with Transportation could OTK every other order unless their opponent is really experienced with their powers or they flee. So my head canon is that soulcasting is a lot harder than we’ve seen, and that not even all Elsecallers ever attained the skill needed for ranged soulcasting. Perhaps Brandon intends for the high stormlight cost to be Transformation’s limiting factor instead, but even so, Elsecallers are extremely powerful. If there’s a WoB that contradicts my head canon, please share it. And I might as well share who I think would win for each Order, so here we go. - Windrunner vs Mistborn Windrunner wins because more flexible flying, combat experience in a militant order, and uses of adhesion Kaladin hasn’t discovered but most Knights used to know. - Skybreakers vs Mistborn Skybreakers cuz of the same reasons as the Windrunners plus Division. - Dustbringers vs Mistborn. If Division is ranged, Dustbringers win since they also have the maneuverability that comes with Abrasion. - Edgedancers Mistborn win because Edgedancers have no ranged attacks. - Truthwatchers vs Mistborn Mistborn. Because again, no ranged attacks, even if they heal super quickly on top of armor and Blade. As for lightweaving, my impression has always been that lasers are a super advanced, theoretical application never used by Radiants before the Recreance. If there’s a WoB saying it’s been used to form lasers before, let me know. Otherwise, I’d rule lasers out. Also, simply creating illusions won’t win the combat, particularly since a Mistborn who knows what they’re doing can use bronze to distinguish the Truthwatcher between any illusions they create. - Lightweavers vs Mistborn If the Lightweaver can use ranged Soulcasting, the Lightweaver wins. - Elsecallers vs Mistborn. Basically the same as Lightweavers, except more favored because Transportation is much more useful than illusions that the Allomancer could potentially see through. I don’t know who would win for Willshapers, Stonewards, and Bomdsmiths, since we haven’t seen two of them and the third is weird and unique. I’d probably favor Mistborn over Stonewards since Cohesion doesn’t seem particularly useful against aerial opponents and my gut instinct is that Tension seems about as useful as adhesion. Which is to say not very except in the case of advanced applications. What you’re proposing requires vast preparation, advanced knowledge of both Awakening and their opponent, as well as the willingness to permanently part with a lot of Breath, something I feel like most Awakeners are loathe to do. Also, Awakening is much more poorly understood than Allomancy considering the difficulty in amassing Breaths. I think you’re describing a borderline case, and I would still generally favor Mistborn.

Barring Atium, I don't think Mistborn are that OP. Sure, they're powerful, and even in one-on-one open combat, I think they could easily give Knights Radiant a run for their money, depending on the experience/talent of each as well as the particular order of Knights. I'd probably give the win to orders focused on military training, while mistborn have a slight edge against other orders. Particularly in the case of Elsecallers, I get the feeling that people think they're incredible fighters because soulcasting, duh. I just think Jasnah is incredibly talented with it, and most Elsecallers or Lightweavers won't come close to her skill in combat, particularly with the steep price in Stormlight necessary to use Transformation. I mean look at Shallan. She's crap at soulcasting. Except for an extremely rare set of Awakeners with vast stores of Breath and centuries of practice with Awakening and combat, I think Mistborn trump Awakeners almost every time. Unless we want to include Awakened blades, but they're insanely rare, and I assume we're pitting relatively average magic users against each other. It's been a while since I've read White Sand, but from memory, I think Sand Masters are a bit unfavored against Mistborn. They can essentially fly and have ranged attacks using tendrils of sand, but lack physical enhancements and all of Allomancy's other little tricks. Of course, the fight's only close as long as it's on the light side of Taldain. Nobody on Sel can compete with Mistborn except an Elantrian near Elantris. In this case, I think the Elantrian would wipe the floor. Elantrians are so versatile and so powerful, especially considering most of them have lived for centuries, so if they've focused on combat, they are absolutely deadly. Feruchemists would probably win simply because of F-steel and F-gold. Combined with pewter, it takes only a moment to crush the Mistborn's skull in. A prepared Mistborn might be able to stall by keeping in the air until the Feruchemist's store of F-steel is gone, but the Feruchemist is definitely heavily favored if both combatants are skilled fighters.

I just want to add that making people feel emotions, even if they don’t like those emotions, is what art is all about. The scene you’re talking about is meant to be extremely impactful, though I don’t think Brandon intended to overload you with the emotions. The fact that you felt so strongly for Kaladin is IMO a sign of good artistry. If you have subjective problems and it seems too brutal for you, that’s completely fine, we all have our own opinions and experiences. I will advise you to at least finish Oathbringer if you haven’t already, and also to consider reading some of Brandon’s other works since it sounds like you’ve only been reading Stormlight. I have read ASOIAF, and I can assure you that in my experience, Brandon writes stories much more hopeful and optimistic than Martin, despite a few tragic scenes. Mistborn Era 1 in particular is filled with a constant theme of hope despite the dark setting. So if you can, keep on reading because I can promise you the eventual ending will be cathartic.

Never watched any seasons before the ninth doctor, but of the ones I have seen, I’d have to choose the tenth. I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for David Tennant’s performance.

Oh storms. What if the epilogue that Brandon’s so excited about is Hoid speaking one of his truths? I can’t even imagine what kind of juicy cosmere secrets could be alluded to.

What could Odium promise them? Safe passage for one. The Fused control Cultivation’s perpendicularity, the only stable way to enter Shadesmar apart from the Oathgates, which the Iriali surely didn’t know of at the time. Even if they do now, they don’t know how to operate them. As for why the Iriali didn’t leave earlier, who knows, but it’s not particularly relevant to their deal with Odium. The past is the past as they say.

@Use the Falchion I’ve thought about the B Team before (didn’t think of the name though). But you, you are a god of alliteration. I have been humbled. Please, teach me your ways O Alliterative One.

A collaboration with Brent Weeks could be fun. They’re both great with hard magic systems, so it’d be interesting to see what they come up with. Plus, I feel like their writing styles would meld together well.

I have to say, the sample panels have got me really excited. The color scheme of Mirandus is so much better than Taldain in my opinion; the red shades combined with black work so much better than sand here, sand there, sand everywhere! The color palette on earth wasn't as exciting, though the art style felt like something out of a DC or Marvel comic book, which was pretty cool. Plus, while the color palette of earth wasn't terribly exciting, it's taking place in a city, so a blander, gray color scheme is to be expected. There could be opportunities to make scenes on earth more colorfully dynamic later. And we don't even know how much time we'll be spending there. The character design of the big baddy is epic. I'm totally getting grim reaper vibes from his outfit. Seemed like a chill dude till he just killed his friend out of nowhere. I will say that Paul felt a bit like Stephen Leeds with the whole attending a psychologist thing and seeing somebody who isn't there. The similarities seem to end there, though, and hopefully they won't end up too similar. The differences in plot along make me feel like they won't. Oh yeah, and from the one or two strips we got of Paul and his sister Nikka talking, they seem like they've got a lot of chemistry. Overall, I really liked it. I'm seeing vast improvements over White Sand already graphically, and the story has me intrigued. Though I thought we might get it in 2020, but now I have to deal with the crushing realization that we might have to wait for more than two years to see it.

While I can see why this is concerning, I think (and hope) that if Brandon ever does get one of his works adapted, especially cosmere, he'll return to an offhand approach and not focus on TV adaptations as much. I get why he is doing this because it feels like something should be happening adaptation-wise for him considering he's one of the most popular fantasy authors, and there's a high demand for fantasy adaptations with the new wave coming after GoT ended. It just hasn't worked out, and I think he's excited about the possibility, and hoping that a little bit of extra involvement could be the catalyst that gets something greenlit. So I'm not too worried as long as he backs off more once something gets rolling. Also, another thing to consider is that writing side projects have slowed Brandon down a lot over the last few years, but he's hoping to finish up all these loose ended series. Worst comes to worst, involvement with TV adaptations will basically replace these side projects as he wraps a lot of them up (though knowing Brandon, he'll come up with more). Honestly, though, I can't see how TV adaptions can take more of his time away from the cosmere than Skyward, White Sand, and everything else he has going on. He's looking ahead to ensure he can finish the cosmere in a timely manner too, which also makes me more confident. Hopefully my rambling has alleviated a little of your fear. TLDR; I don't think Brandon is going to become the Stephen King of TV adaptations by a long shot.

“I kind of lost track of time...""For two hours?""There were books involved.

This is a sequel to a previous post I made about the Burnt, the magic users in a world I’m developing. If you haven’t seen it yet, it would probably be a good idea to check it out before reading the rest of this post. You can see it here. If you’ve already read Part 1 but want a refresher, here’s a summary. Even if you don’t need a review, you might want to skim it because I’ve updated some terms. Summary I’ve done a lot of work on this world, and I have a fleshed-out history up to the present day that I’m really excited to share. I even made a map, so I can show off my surprisingly dreadful cartography skills! But this post ended up being so long that I don’t want to make it twice as long by adding in the history. So, there will be a Part 3. Hope you enjoy what I did find the space to fit though. There are three types of Burnt, each of which originally had equal populations since the chance of turning into any one of them was the same as the others. They are the Consumed, The Charred, and the Inflamed. The Inflamed don’t really have a magic system, and instead have passive abilities. On the other hand, they are very closely tied with the history of the world, and are responsible for the general hatred of the Burnt (because the devastation caused by the Consumed wasn’t enough). So, I’ll leave them for Part 3 when I talk about history, and spend this thread discussing the Charred and the genetics of magic. The Charred Genetics of the Burnt And finally, since I’ve introduced the concept of Burnt tribes/civilizations existing separate from the rest of humanity, here’s a summary of their philosophical views of themselves as the three aspects of fire.

This idea has been mentioned both by you and others already, but I just want to comment on how crazy Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle is. And I don’t mean crazy in a not true way, I mean crazy in a freakishly mind bending way. My understanding is that it states our ability to predict position/velocity is inherently limited. The part that blows my mind is that the Uncertainty principle technically applies to everything. It only becomes significant on the subatomic level, but it applies to matter on the macroscopic level as well. So even though we know where some object is, we don’t “know” know because we can’t differentiate between it being in position A and some position B a thousandth of picometer distant from position A. Philosophically, it means to me that true knowledge is an illusion; information is by nature probabilistic. We simply don’t have to treat it as such unless we’re looking at the subatomic level.

Oathbringer's cover was released in March, so we probably still have a few months to go. Still, this announcement is making me so excited to see the cover. I'm hoping it's not as monochromatic as OB's was.

No! Don't jinx it!

YES! We don't have to wait until 2021! YESSS!

It's definitely one of my favorites as well. It used to definitively be number one on my list, but recently I've been leaning more towards Words of Radiance. Probably because it's been longer since I've read Stormlight Archive (I'm saving my next reread for right before SA 4 is published).

*looks at title* Same. Welcome to the Shard! Looking forward to seeing you around on the forums. What's your favorite book you've read by Brandon?

Definitely agreed. Violence feeds violence. I really do agree with you, and even in the situation I mentioned it’s better not to escalate the situation, though civilly pointing out some of their errors is fine IMO. I was just trying to play devil’s advocate to your devil’s advocate, and point out a caveat you hadn’t explored in your original post.

How did this message slip past my radar? Well better 2 months late than never. Unfortunately, I haven’t read the independent books. I actually didn’t realize there were any until I finished A Little Hatred and went on reddit to look at discussions about it. I feel bad for missing so much, especially because people seem to love Shivers, but I didn’t even know he was an established character. I’m sure there’s a lot else I missed too.

@1st of Lunch Here’s a thread explaining what the ookla thing’s about.