Shadowmancer

The link I have still works. Is it alright if I post it here @Pagerunner or would that be subverting the subscription requirement?

And a dog? Seriously? A dog. Against an immortal being of thought and power. smh I'd like to think that I would vote for the obvious winner in cases like this, but I think it really is just a popularity contest. It's like if we were to have a vote on whether a black hole named Fred could defeat Channing Tatum. Reality wouldn't matter, only the fact that Fred has no friends, since he ate them. Sorry, weird example...

I think it's bomb! One thing you could add is glyphs on the cape or something. You could throw in some Ryshadium for them to ride, too.

On 12/13/2017 at 6:17 PM, Stece said:

Too late, honestly I think this is where Brandon's going: "Siah Aimians, who are characterized by deep blue nails and eyes, have been known to sculpt their bodies to temporarily suppress their senses (e.g. to avoid smelling foul odors), produce tattoo-like markings on their skin, or heal from injuries. They also *****cast shadows in the wrong direction*****" all of these abilities and the discription apply to honor spren.

And we have the story about the moons in OB, where a human has a child with a moon as the origin for Aimians, which sounds a lot to me like interspecies relationship, perhaps between a Bondsmith and one of their spren.

@King Cole Right there with you, buddy

@Robinski Your Rep title is especially appropriate right now, lol.

Alright, yeah, I've been slacking  I have been doing life and just kind of getting by. But I'm not on a road block! I'm just taking my time with my story. Thanksgiving will hopefully be a good time to catch up. Either way, I feel like I've been winning this month just because I'm writing a good story and practicing my art.

But I haven't given up on NaNo yet!  

@Tesh haha, you are in for a WILD ride, my Surgefinder friend.

When you read from 7:30PM to 6:30AM STRAIGHT through Oathbringer, and take a quick 30 minute nap so you don't die at work. Then you dissolve into "GAH!!!" and "Finish Word of Radiance already so I can give you Oathbringer then finish Oathbringer so I can flip out about it with you!"

Also, when you have trouble explaining the Sanderson/the Cosmere to your friends without sounding like you're having a psychotic breakdown.

And when you get really frustrated that Chrome doesn't recognize "Sanderson" or any other Cosmere-y words and underlines them in red. I know how to spell, storm it!

I thought I had through some strange means gotten a restriction put on my account -- I'm glad to see this is actually a system-wide change  (not that I've used down-votes more than like three times, I swear )

14 minutes ago, Dryone_2 said:

Tien? 

I'm almost 90% sure Tien was a proto-Radiant, and the Ghostbloods very well could have targeted him, since they had a way to get Heleran into the enemy army. As to which order, I'd say either Lightweaver or someone sharing a Surge with them, since Kal says that Shallan reminds him of someone who had the ability to lift his darkness (and I'm inclined to regard any phenomenon as magical in Sanderson's works).

I think, perhaps, that we'd have to find their main manifestation, as they seem to be spread out over a wide area. That is, they don't seem to have a physical body anymore, more like a physical presence that has been merged with the rest of creation. So the main manifestation of this could be their perpendicularities. If we can spike one of those with something the size of a railroad tie, or even larger, then theoretically we could steal recruit a large amount of their power for our exploitation experimentation.

WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERY MATERIALS FOR A NEW-ISH SANDERSON NOVEL THAT SHALL REMAIN NAMELESS

14 hours ago, FirstSelector said:

I think that this is a very interesting theory, but I think that the destruction of the palace is for another (possibly additional) reason.  I think it was instead to retrieve the Cryptic that Elhokar summoned and that Hoid saved.  For what purpose they wanted it, I don't know.

Perhaps there is something special about this Cryptic, as there is something special about Syl and Glys. The ones who come over are often very important individuals/spren.

23 minutes ago, rush said:

Teft. Brandon's description of addiction and Teft's situation was perfect. Teft's self-loathing (especially and even after his spren wanted to bond) was as close to the real thing as I've ever experienced externally.

I loved Teft. That character ... wow. I bawled when I saw him finally accept himself, broken as he was, and decide to start standing up for himself against himself. Sanderson did it so well. My own addictions, my own self-loathing, when I beat them back even if only for a moment -- it does not feel as heroic and majestic as this. Seeing it happen with someone else, I finally got a glimpse of how heroic and majestic it actually is. I sobbed like a child.

Dalinar's acceptance of his pain and his past, fighting against Odium's offer to take it away, take away responsibility and pain, was also one of the most heroic things I've ever seen. Did anyone else get major Star Treck vibes a la "The Final Frontier," with Sybok as Odium and Dalinar as Kirk? "I need my pain" vs "You cannot have my pain." Wow. This was the other scene I cried at.

I at first felt disappointed that Kaladin didn't swear the fourth ideal, but now I see it was brilliance on Sanderson's part. It would feel cheap to have him come by it without effort. Showing him in this crucial moment, then taking away his deus ex machina because no matter how badly he needs to save people he simply can't -- that is going to make it mean so much more when he finally does swear it. Whatever it is, I'm sure it has something to do with letting go of the people he cannot save.

Lastly, I think we finally saw Hemalurgy used outside of Scadrial. No wonder even Vessels have been scared Witless over it.

So now we know why the Recreance happened, but not why Honor and Cultivation agreed to accept a new god among them. I still believe they did it as a way to trap him and keep him from destroying the rest of the Cosmere. But how did he get there in the first place? Did he create humans somewhere else while he wasn't going around Splintering up every shard in sight? It likely happened sometime after, and I'm 90% positive that he did create these humans since Dalinar is referred to as a Child of Odium by the Nightwatcher, but what planet did he Invest in to create them? And why did he choose to save some? Or did they flee him, but by virtue of being his creations bring him with them? And how and when exactly did the switch occur when men adopted Honor and Cultivation as their gods, and Odium became the god of the parshmen? The Listeners claimed their gods abandoned them for men; were those gods the Unmade, or Honor and Cultivation?

So many questions. So much excitement. I need the next book, Brandon! But this one was sooooo worth the wait.

18 minutes ago, Green Hoodie Mistborn said:

As I understand/read all those sections, Humans were never native to Roshar. They were only ever refugees from a destroyed world who were graciously settled in Shinovar as it is the most hospitable of Roshar locales. They were originally Odium followers who eventually turned to Honor after coming to Roshar. 

I thought we had a WOB that said humans lived on Roshar before the Shards' arrival, but now I'm unable to find it. In fact, all I could find was this

Quote

Brandon Sanderson

... people did not migrate from Yolen to Roshar. Roshar was inhabited before the shattering of Adonalsium.

Argent

Hmm. I am rusty on my Roshar history, I'll have to review what we know the topic. I know Roshar existed before the Shattering, and it was presumably populated, but I didn't think there had been humans there. They don't feel native. I've been working under the assumption that the Parshendi were native (maybe), but the humans came from somewhere - the Tranquiline Halls myths also kind of support that.

Or have I missed something?

Brandon Sanderson

Technically, what I said doesn't actually contradict anything you just said. But just to be extra safe: RAFO. I have to keep a FEW secrets safe from you people to come out in the books.

And also this

Quote

Questioner

So, if spren are caused by thoughts, and the Shards caused some of the humans, and humans cause thoughts, then there were people alive before

Brandon Sanderson

Then there were people on Roshar before the breaking of Adonalsium.

Parshmen and Aimians technically count as "people." Which makes me think all humans are immigrants to Roshar. In answer to @Bridge Boy, I think the Shin are direct descendants from the first invaders, the original Voidbringers, but that's purely my speculation.

I'm still confused a bit, and maybe I need a re-read to get it straighter. If humans existed on Roshar before the Vessels arrived and Invested, then was this a new group of humans that came to Roshar that were of Odium? And did the Heralds come out of the old group or the new group? Or were humans even the group that came to Roshar? What if Spren came to Roshar and that was considered the invasion? Or another group entirely?

So were some humans originally of Honor/Cultivation, then some came that were of Odium? And the parshmen were originally of Honor/Cultivation and then were corrupted by Odium and then Honor/Cultivation teamed up against Odium with the humans?

I'm still not quite clear on all this...

22 hours ago, IndigoAjah said:

The Light is metaphorical and represents connection to and favour from Honor and the Spren, IMO

So could this be the story of where the humans first connected to Honor and began bonding spren?

The spren of Urithiru, huh? A giant stone tower. That would make it a spren of ... stone? Perhaps there is more to the "God of the Stones" theory. The spren of Urithiru could either be this "god" or else a portion of his power.

So yet again we see that there are multiple ways to do something. Lightweaving is done on Roshar and Yolen, Fortune can be manipulated via Feruchemy and another unknown magical system, you can create a shardblade without using a spren, and so on.

I'm still curious as to the identities of the letter-writers Hoid contacts. One I'm fairly positive is Harmony. What do the rest of you think?

22 hours ago, Ryshadium said:

Adolin summoning Maya in under 10 heartbeats was one of the more surprising moments in the book for me. I had to read it a few times to really register it.

I also noticed a striking similarity to Maya in Shadesmar and Ash scratching out her own eyes in all depictions of Herself. Not sure that’s relevant to anything, but I actually thought briefly that Maya was Ash in the Cognitive at the very beginning of that sequence, partly out of confusion since it was about 2 AM, and partly because of the scratched out eyes.

Same. I briefly considered that Azure was Ash, until it explained who Maya was and it became very very very VERY clear who Azure was.

2 hours ago, Blazenella said:

Syl is great match for Kaladin, but I don't even WANT to know the logistics of that relationship. Her form is in Shadesmar, which mens he would need an Elsecaller (Like Jasnah) to take him in and out if they wanted to get freaky.

And with her perception of Honor, would either of them end up doing something with each other? I love them, and they are perfect for each other, but perhaps a romantic relationship is too far of a stretch.

We've been discussing such possibilities here 

What if she was climbing the Horneater Peaks in Shadesmar to Cultivation's Perpendicularities, and this is a record of the First Desolation when humans entered Roshar? The no light idea makes more sense that way to me.

21 hours ago, Steeldancer said:

Honorblades used to provide direct connection to Honor. I know that because I got the WoB that says so. 

They don't anymore, I think. But still. 

Also, what was up with that Odiumblade? It was a little freaky. 

17 hours ago, Herdazian said:

So my interpretation is that the Odiums blade worked on the similar principle as capturing spren. However, what the blade captured was either the soul of Jezrien or , more likely, the divine aspect granted to Jezrien by Honour which sent his soul to Braize after he died. If he somehow captured that blessing bestowed by honour then Jezrien soul would not go to Braize but would pass on and that would result in a permanent death.

7 hours ago, Pattern said:

Moash (who earlier killed Jezrien for good with a strange Odiumblade, sucking something of the Herald into a gemstone. Reminded me somehow of a hemalurgic spike with a container for extracted Investiture). So Moash + Jezriens Honorblade + content of the gemstone = corrupted Herald?

33 minutes ago, IndigoAjah said:

I'm gonna say it's a spike-gem combo. Spike to damage the soul and steal Connection/Investiture/Identity, gem to store it without leakage and with more practical, almost metal mind like, access

I personally think this is exactly what has had everyone scared Witless about hermalurgy. It can steal divine aspects when applied correctly. I'm very, very intrigued to see where this goes. If it can steal that large of a Connection, then I have no doubt Odium will corrupt it to his own ends, as he seems to have done with the spren on Roshar in large measure already.

Well now we know from the EPIC FIGHT SCENE that yes, indeed, Lightweaving and Soulcasting can be combined in a unique manner to create something more than an illusory army. Wow.

8 minutes ago, Leyrann said:

I loved how it [their relationship] was barely more than an offhand mention, nothing that required pages of discussion one way or the other.

And how the entire Bridge Four crew rallied to Drehy's defense, but Kaladin's line about calling Renarin "feminine" killed me.

"Drehy, you are literally courting a man."