Necessary Eagle

Probably. My theory is that specifically Diagram!T was in on it. Though I appreciate that the line between Diagram!T and Culti-manipulating-Diagram!T could be seen as a bit thin...

I have a theory that Diagram!T is using regular!T to fool Odium, so maybe we'll get a yea or nay on that. (Or more likely, a few hints that may or may not work out to anything more than a RAFO... but a girl can dream).

Maybe non-fallen Moash would have been a better fit for a different order. Okay, that's straying a bit from the premise of my OP, but just because he was in Bridge Four doesn't mean he was Windrunner material. People keep speculating that Rlain or Rock, for example, are going to join the Willshapers or Bondsmiths or what-have-you. Maybe Dustrunner-- "I will obtain self-mastery" seems to be a a good complement to Moash's flaw of not accepting responsibility for himself. But I agree, Windrunner-Moash would present a lot of issues that I'm not good enough at AU's to untangle. Something would have to give, and would have to do so in a constructive manner.

For the record, I read Warbreaker today. And for next Saturday, I... won't have Rhythm of War, because barring some extremely unforeseen circumstance I'll have finished it already. Maybe I can do a really short-term reread?

To be fair, Tien was male. And if you count killing the person yourself as fridging, Mr. and Mrs. Davar still leave the "killed for MC's angsty backstory" count at 50-50 genderwise.

Back in-- when was in? Chapter 8, I think? When Renarin did his atium shadow thing at Moash. If what Renarin works like actual atium shadows-- and why not, similar Cosmere powers tend to work on similar principles-- Protective Moash could have been a thing. I mean, people talk like Moash's character flaws made it inevitable he would go bad, but there was a real possibility, however small the chance, that he would have pulled his head out of his chull and gotten away from Graves's conspiracy before the point of no return. The possibilities have been haunting me. What would Words of Radiance have been like without Moash as the secondary villain? What sort of redress might Moash have gotten out of Elhokar for the deaths of his grandparents (and he should have had redress, he was absolutely right to be angry at the horrible deaths of the only family he had), and would anything have been enough for him (should anything have been enough for him)? Would he and Kaladin have told anyone about the plot? What would Kaladin's arc look like without killing Syl with potential treason? Storms, would the climax have been Moash saying the Third Oath somehow? Who would Radiant Moash have given away his now-useless Blade to? If Elhokar hadn't died. Would he have grown into being a better king? Would he have continued with the "highking" business? How would Elhokar have dealt with all the stress and insanity of the Rhythm-era world? Would Wit have taken up a sort of advisor role the way he seems to be doing with Jasnah? Speaking of Jasnah, would Elhokar be open to using the chaos for reforms, or would he have clamped down and tried to hold on to the social order he'd known? Who would be Vyre? Were there other people among the human slaves with the Passion and martial skills to impress the Fused? Or was Moash an anomaly? Did they need a human to kill Jezrien? If the "Vyre" was a singer, as apparently was traditional, how might things have changed? I can't stop thinking about this. EDIT: this should probably have gone into character discussion, sorry, mods please move this?

Ooh, good catch!

I didn't really like Sixth of the Dusk at first, because I fundamentally misunderstood its premise. Based on references I came across on TV Tropes, I thought it was going to be a First Contact story. People encountering new weird cultures is my jam, so I was all excited to see how the typical sci-fi tropes would play out in a Cosmere setting... and was tremendously disappointed to see that the Ones Above never even appeared on page! There wasn't a super-exciting plot to distract me from this lack, either: guy rows a boat, guy is walks through the jungle... sure, it's an everything's-trying-to-kill-you jungle, but most of the story is Sixth being careful and avoiding danger. My overall impression was "okay story, I guess" . On subsequent reads, without the burden of expectations, I started to appreciate SotD more. Particularly the nuanced critique of cultural imperialism. Sixth avoids being a Symbol of anything; he bemoans the death of his people's traditions while noting that his modern boots don't look like the pictures, but they protect his feet better. What the Homeislanders do to the Eelekin, and what the Ones Above are trying to do to the planet, is ultimately wrong, but in the short term, his feet are warm. Both things are true, because the human condition is messy and contradictory. (I don't know if I'm managing to say what I'm trying to say right; this is the best I can do on my phone and before dinner). I'll stop before this turns into an essay, but SotD is now one of my Cosmere favourites. What books or series or short stories did it take you a while to appreciate?

There's been a lot of talk that the Mink might be a traitor, because his military advice is going to bring Dalinar and Jasnah away from the tower... but I really hope that doesn't turn out to be the case. Because I've been in love with him since his OB interlude, and I really want him with us on Team Honor, sassing the Alethi and doing random escape artist stuff. I'm going to be sitting here biting my nails until I get it confirmed next week that he's, sure, Cultivation's champion and Lopen's ultra-cousin and also Rosharan Batman (Larkinman?) for good measure.

Beautiful! My cat is sitting on me right now, so I can show it to her and see if she gets the idea.

And running out of upvotes.

Fortunately, I am immune to such grave dilemmas... by not even trying. Gonna lock myself away with RoW right away, and to Damnation with stuff like "real life".

It's agony, having the book doled out in drips every week, but I learn so much from the discussions.

I was personally really annoyed about Restares. All that build-up and it turns out he's just three minks in a havah? I was expecting more. Speaking of Minks, though, I thought the bit where he accidentally conquered Tukar in the name of Herdaz was pretty funny. I know it's probably not going to happen, but I hope New Herdaz is going to actually be a thing in book five. Lopen can be their king.

Sigzil is mentioned, along with Kaladin and Teft, as having said the traditional "I legit hate this person" form of the Third Oath, and I wonder who exactly aroused his ire. "Storm it, I gave them the Voidbringer Attack Evacuation Forms, not a single one of them is in formation, they're not even fully packed-- serve them right if I just left them there for the Fused... *sigh* No, I must rescue even those who didn't bother to read Section 32(b)..." *icy glyphs* THESE WORDS ARE ACCEPTED.

I can't believe I didn't see this thread before. Hoiditthroughthegrapevine, you are a Shard to me. Can you Awaken a dustbunny to "Distract cats from my toes"? Certain people around here think it's funny to try to eat my feet when I'm in bed.

IKR? I don't think Hoid's travels would be quite as extensive if he had to subsist on canned tuna and PBJ throughout most of his Cosmere journeys. *is not at all bitter about that trip to Greece* On the other hand, if he merely kept kosher he'd at least have a reasonable bacon substitute.

It's a suffix, actually. One chatul, two chatulim and so forth. The word for heaven is shemayim... come to think of it, that has a plural-sounding ending for some reason. *deletes irrelevant linguistic speculation*. Uh, anyway. Yes, it is very similar.

Maybe he can eat it if it's just an additive? Like, a steak looks like meat, maybe it sets off the Veggie Alarm, but you can't see "cooked with lard". (Or maybe he can eat if he doesn't *know* it's cooked in animal fat. "Hey Hoid, how's that vegetable stir-fry?... Thanks for the offer, Hoid, but I keep kosher... I know, but I'm pretty sure it was fried in lard... Hoid? Hoid?!? Someone help me, there's a man projectile-vomiting here!")

I found myself in the ironic position of trying to stretch out my OB reread so that I'd have it to read for this shabbat... but I finished it. At eleven thirty last night. Should I take a crack at Warbreaker or do a second read of Dawnshard? Or do you think I should take a Sando break and go find some books I haven't actually read yet?

That I don't know whether to laugh or cry about my sense of timing.Thursday night. I made that post about hypothetical trans Radiants that's we'd definitely never actually seen on screen yet, Thursday night. Friday morning, Dawnshard came out. In regards to the actual story... well, I'm too busy running around screaming to properly comment. Anyone know of any nearby Oathgates that I can use to go to Amia? Because I just want to grab Nikli and start shaking him until he explains more, sharddammit! (Nikli: crumbles into crabs and runs them posthaste away from the crazy screaming lady).

There's a word for it. Welcome to the club.

I've been wondering how exactly that would go over in modern Alethkar, especially among lighteyes. I mean, they've got such strict gender roles they don't even eat the same food. Imagine previously-unremarkable Brightlord So-and-so, vaguely recall seeing him at a party once, I think he's maybe from Vamah?-- bonds a Cryptic and "his" first truth is "I am a woman." Suck in some Stormlight, and voila, Brightlady! Not just female-identifying or female-presenting, but actually biologically female. Even the most hidebound Vorin can't explain that away. I keep trying to imagine how things play out from there both for Brightlady So-and-so and the people around her.

It's when you've got extra neural connections between your senses, so you might see music or smell colors or whatever. I have a fairly common type where I have specific colors for letters and numbers.

I mean, I pictured atium as gold, but that's (probably) because I'm a synesthete and the letter A looks yellow to me.