Shadowmancer

Since Sanderson has confirmed that each prologue is going to be a different character's POV from that night when Gavilar was assassinated all those years ago, I wouldn't be too surprised if we don't get one from Elhokar's. What must he have felt, the mantle of the kingdom falling upon him? Did he mourn his father's death? What are the "twisted, inhuman shapes" he sees? I really hope we get some of his POV soon!

I have to mention, we already know a way to destroy beads. Soulcasting. You turn an entity into a new substance, destroying it's cognitive presence and creating a new one -- or just spreading it out among a mass of other presences, like when Jasnah So yes, it is possible to destroy a bead -- by Soulcasting it. A flame? You can affect that too, as far as we've seen. All it requires is Investiture and (we assume) a Nahel bond.

You know, I wish I had a few more scenes from Jasnah's POV. I mean, we're pretty sure to get some come Oathbringer, but still, those would be nice. Also, I'd like to know a bit more about what's happening in the capitol with the queen and all.

I think part of it could be that Nightblood is Invested up to his spheres. We know that a fair amount of Investiture is required to Soulcast an object. What if this is the Awakening equivalent of that? They turn into ash if I remember, but that might just be a side-effect of complete physical disintegration. I don't know, it's just a thought.

I like the idea of a twinborn. Doesn't matter if I can't compound, honestly. I just want to be able to do two magics instead of one. And Lord Ruler doesn't have to be tortured for millennia, and I just like the idea of Allomancy/Feruchemy/Hemalurgy better than Awakening.

Hi @Rutabagas&Swords! I started out with AvsEL too! Such good stuff You're in for quite a ride my friend.

Tin/Atium: various mental and temporal effects could include being able to hear/see/taste/smell/touch something that was present at a location previously (super forensics anyone?) or maybe being able to experience someone else's sensations (body-hopping anyone?) or even being able to re-live an event from your past with super sensation and perfect recollection (now how cool would that be?). The Feruchemy aspect, however ... store/steal others senses without needing a spike? Or maybe it allows you to use a Tinmind without having to store it, and making you pay for what you use later on in the future???? Pewter/Atium: enhance the strength of those around you? Could be useful for a support character. Feruchemy uses: store/steal others' strength, or allow you to steal strength from your future self. Guys, I'm really digging the idea that an Atium-alloyed metalmind can allow you to use Feruchemical abilities before you store them! The downside being, the next time you touch that piece of metal it begins to draw back what you used previously to restore the balance. Throwing away Atium is dumb [citation needed] and if a person created such a large deficit they might have to hide away that piece of metal so that it can't be used against them by an enemy. Would melting it down and alloying it with something else destroy that deficit? I couldn't say. But it is a cool idea to think about! Think of all the applications! Malatium metalmind: stay young and/or healthy until age 80 and then die in a heartbeat!

First-time lurker here. Thanks for the cookie! It had delicious hints of tormented souls, mingled with the crippling dread of non-being. The chunks of unrequited time spent in unseemly internet hovels added a nice touch, too. I've got to ask, how do you do it? And what, exactly, does lurking here entail? Do I introduce myself, just jump right in, talk about Lord of the Rings, initiate rap-battles...?

Arclo vs Raoden: I'm not so quick to give it to Raoden here. For one thing, we have no idea how old Arclo is, and from the spoilers we've seen from Oathbringer ... well, it appears that the Sleepless have more than just one trick up their sleeve. He has no doubt survived much of his long life by avoiding attention where possible, but he's given the throwdown on two Skybreakers at once. That said, here's how I think it plays out. They confront each other, and Raoden goes Aons-berserk on Arclo, who promply splits himself into his hoardlings (we assume to kill Raoden). Before we say that Raoden can't possibly be hurt, remember he had a hard time healing himself once he was injured (by a simple knife, mind you, not some potentially-Invested hoards of cremlings specialized to do Domi-knows-what to people Arclo doesn't like), whereas our Sleepless friend took out two Radiants with one of the most over-powered regen bonuses since Gandalf got sent back from the doors of death with a staff upgrade. They didn't have to draw out any sort of Aon to heal themselves, they literally only had to breath in. So did his hoadlings just overload their healing abilities (which I find unlikely), or ... did they suck out their Investiture? Ponder on that. We've already established there is an animal on Roshar that eats Potential Investiture (I believe it's not Kinetic when a Radiant is holding it in, right?). Is it so hard to imagine that a Sleepless might have hoardlings in their employ to combat the Radiants? Even if they aren't able to suck out Raoden's innate resurrection investiture (which I know far too little about for my liking, to be honest) then they certainly would go after his Aons. If Raoden can't fry them or teleport away fast enough before the first wave hits him, then he's completely at the mercy of those bugs. However, we've established that Raoden is fast. Given that, I think he manages to avoid the attacks from the bugs and deals the death blow to Arclo (if such a thing is truly possible, because again, we don't know quite enough about his nature or abilities). Winner: Raoden. Marsh vs Vin: guys, I don't even have to tell you what happened the last time Vin went against Marsh. She beat him. Soundly. And that was with Marsh fighting against Ati who was forcing him to kill her in the first place. Plus, the last time he was using F-steel it still didn't seem to do him much good. So if we assume that Marsh has the same number of spikes as the last time he faced her down, and assuming they both have equal amounts of metals, I can't see this going very well for him. Except for if he has Soulcasting or a Shardblade. Those would be tricky. But Vin has faced down unique and new threats on the fly before. She is smart. And she is strong. She is a natural Mistborn, and Marsh is a patchwork job. Stealing powers makes you strong, but not skilled. No matter what time frame we put him in, I think Vin is going to beat him in an all-out battle. That said, if he can Leech her reserves and get a lucky strike with the Shardblade (which, if she's burning Pewter, would she be Invested enough to block the blade, or is that not how Shardblades work and am I just a babbling cretin?) then he would be able to take her out. But Vin (assuming we bring her back from the dead) has held the powers of creation and used them to fuel someone else's Allowmancy before. And she's curious. Give her the metal reserves, she's going to burn them and find out what they do. Maybe not fast enough to counter all of Marsh's assaults, but enough to land a decisive, finishing blow and pull out that last eye-spike or the linchpin spike. All in all, Vin is a killing machine. And she has an uncanny knack of winning even when she shouldn't. I just have to give this to her. Winner: Vin. Zane vs Kelsier: Again, Allowmancy is about the dirty tricks. Zane is strong, but Kelsier isn't kandra-crap insane with a spike through his chest, so he's got that going for him right off the bat. Kelsier isn't cheap in the power department either. He killed a rusting Inquisitor. He's faced legions of Hazekillers. Zane? He's manipulated Vin and shot a few men with come coins. Yes, he did lay waste to Cett's soldiers, but that was with Atium. He won't have the edge this time. Given what I've seen of Kelsier (smart, cool, collected, not entirely crazy, and incredibly devious) and what I've seen of Zane (creepy, conniving, backstabbing, very entirely crazy) it seems obvious to me that Zane doesn't stand a chance. He's a strong Mistborn, but strong doesn't cut it in Allowmancy. Smart does. Winner: Kelsier.

Still worthy of an upvote

Lol, you totally stole this from Alcatraz, but I'm not even mad. XD On a side note... Alcatraz vs the Evil Librarians

You have late night discussions with your (very patient and loving) brother about Investiture and why you were laughing about a comment he made on "awakening" You are frustrated yet happy when you can't finish a book in the normal 24-hour span it takes you, because it's so long and so deep Cloud from Final Fantasy makes a lot more sense to you You look suspiciously at Asian art with stamps on it...

"I faked the Shaod" -- this gyorn tells all! 6 signs your friend is being Soul Forged "I can hear Odium" -- what this heavily-pierced mystic claims to know, and what it means for Alethkar Kaladin had no idea we could see him from the Cognitive Realm when he did this! Elhokar's wild trip to the Reshi Isles -- yes, we made sketches! You won't believe what this Returned used their Breath for!

Didn't consider that. And since Raoden can draw Aons fast, he could potentially write some very nasty "programs" in a matter of seconds. Siphoning off Investiture? Freezing time?? That makes me think about giving Vasher more Breaths, or at least letting him use Nightblood. Very interesting thing to think about, Awakening being largely unexplored. Which makes me wonder how it will feature come the Nightblood book we all want sooooo badly. I so want there to be some more Awakened objects, but not necessarily weapons. Like a mirror that critiques your outfit, or a shoe that ties itself. Mundane, self-aware objects that are incredibly Invested but don't really do anything super useful. Anywho, sorry for my ramblings. Thanks for the insight!

I think I remember reading somewhere that it takes 10,000 hours to become a master at something. Even with the thousands of years Raoden will have by that point, there's a peak to any skill or ability. Leveling up maxes out somewhere, and I think both Vasher and Raoden hit it somewhere after the first hundred years. That's how I see it, anyway. Time makes you good, but only so good.

First off, sorry for the long post Kaladin might take this one. He has only a few short moments to realize what Arclo is and what he's capable of. If he misses that shot, he'll be dead. However, if he shoots up into the air with Gravitation, then he'll most likely escape the worst of Arclo's first assault. We can assume there are hoardlings that can fly, so that would be his next opponent. If Syl can work out some fun, spinny-bladed death machine he might fight off some of these, but Acrlo still isn't taking too much damage. So Kaladin gets smart and heads for the ground. He infuses some object with a Reverse Lashing to take out the flying Hoardlings, then goes for a Full Lashing to immobilize the ones coming on the ground (but only as long as he's got enough Stormlight). Syl can go spinny-blades-of-death on Arclo, assuming he's holding together in a physical form at this point. Now, if we assume there is a "queen" to the hive mind, and Syl can kill it, then all good and well for Kaladin. But if Arclo is alive as long as one hoardling remains, and since we have no idea just how many he has at his command, then he could still win the day. All in all, I'd say too little info to call on this one. But boy, would I love to see a full Radiant in a fight against one of the Sleepless! Draw. We need some parameters for this one, since Raoden needs the AonDor and Vasher needs Breaths. Assume that Raoden doesn't have the full might of the AonDor, and to make it even we take away Nightblood from Vasher. This leaves both men weaker but by no means defenseless. Next we factor in experience. If we set this in the Stormligh Archive era then both men would probably be even, experience-wise. Next, materials. Since the AonDor is weaker for Raoden, then let's only give Vasher 2500 Breaths, enough for the Fourth Heightening and to spare. This prevents Raoden from sneaking up on him, but does not cancel out the surprise factor of teleportation. Given these parameters, it would be a very fair fight, in which Vasher's blade-master and super-speed would edge out Raoden's teleportation and fireballs, with some handy commands of "Protect me," and "Strangle people who aren't me" thrown in. Even with the full might of the AonDor on Raoden's side, I see it hard for Vasher to lose if he can get just one Awakened object onto his target. Ranged fireballs and teleportation rocks, but if you're fast enough to dodge and can throw Invested object to latch onto your opponent, it wouldn't be a factor anymore. Vasher. Marsh would probably win with compounding, but say he didn't move fast enough, then I would give Jasnah the win on this one. She can Elsecall into the CR at will, but it seems to be a process that takes some time, so let's not consider that a deciding factor. She can also heal most wounds, and she can Soulcast people into friggin' flames! With that power she could easily 1HKO Marsh. Marsh's spikes are invested, but he is not, so he would definitely be susceptible to this attack. However, he has all the powers of a Mistborn with some Feruchemy thrown in, so he only has to dodge her attacks (I think I remember Jasnah shooting the people, but that might just be a physical manifestation of something happening in the CR), shoot a few coins to distract her (ouch!), and then tap speed to crush her skull. But historically, Marsh doesn't like killing people. Marsh under Ruin's control did, but when given even the tiniest bit of freedom he tried to fight it. He might hesitate and give Jasnah her chance. However, in a strict power-on-power fight, he could take her out with little difficulty. Marsh. Vin is a shoo-in on this fight. No matter how fast or skilled Denth is with a blade, Vin can Push it away, match his speed and strength with pewter, and fly through the air. Even with a fair bit of Breath, Denth doesn't stand a chance against Atium or steel, and Vin can 1HKO him with a coin to the face. Vin. Kelsier ... well, my heart wants him to win, but given what's been posted about him not knowing about duralumin or electrum, I can see it going in Elend's favor. Add to that fact that Kel knows that Vin loves Elend, and his heart just wouldn't be in it. Since Elend has the added boost of strength from the Lerasium, he has a pretty clear edge. Hooooowever (you knew that was coming, didn't you) it's not quite the shoo-in we might expect. Allomancy is nothing but tricks, as the man once said. He can sneak and hide, whereas Elend likes to dress in flashy white and meet his opponents head-on. Since he doesn't know when Kel is going to strike, he can't be burning Atium all the time. So if Kel can sneak and hide and ambush, then he will win. Allomancy is not about who is stronger or has more metals, but about who has more skill. Kel has the most skill, years of assassination and thievery, where Elend only has a few years by the end of HoA, and he is used to facing foes head-on. The Inquisitors, after all, are not known for their subtlety. All things considered, and biased as this may be, I still hand this one too ... Kelsier. Thanks for taking the time to read! Feel free to pick apart my analysis.

I just want to jump in on this and mention how killing someone with a shardblade burns out their eyes. Basically, their cognitive or spiritual connection has been severed. Which leads me to think that the eyes being the window to the soul is eerily more accurate on Roshar -- or even in the Cosmere -- than I've thought about before. Could it be that the eyes represent the bond of the human to the CR/SR, which is why the parshmen and Parshendi get red eyes when they bond with voidspren?

I also heard Brandon confirm we've seen hemalurgy, but that it wasn't obvious and we probably wouldn't find it even if we searched. So likely there are no visible spikes, and no grand abilities manifested. But there are probably enough clues that when he reveals it we'll all go, "Oh yeah!" So, what's one of these "Oh yeah!" ideas? Where we can see someone doing something they probably shouldn't be able to do, even if only subtly?

It is an interesting thought, actually. If everyone has the potential to be a Rithmatist, as the church claims, then the population should have a much more random dispersion. But at the end of the book the Forgotten/whatever/thing that is now Nalizar, he mentions that the Shadowblazes didn't want Joel. So something happens on a entity-by-entity level that determines who gets the power and who does not. The gears that Joel sees when he enters the little box seem significant. They only line up at certain times. Perhaps some families with enough money can buy off the church to get their children in the proper order of alignment? Sounds like this could get a lot more serious the further a non-Rithmatist like Joel delves into it

Perhaps the perpendicularity occurs when a person is taken by the shades and becomes one themselves. When a person becomes a cognitive shadow in such a manner, it draws upon the remnants of the Shard and creates a brief connection to the cognitive realm. And if this is the case, then it has ramifications for the Desolations and the return of the Heralds on Roshar...

Thanks for the info @Calderis

Ok, here are my two cents. One thing I find important in the Cosmere is the idea of a Shard Investing itself in a system. One thing that kept Ruin from wrecking havoc on the Cosmere was his heavy (as in, created matter from his own energy) Investment in Scadrial. However, Odium, as far as we know, doesn't have anything Invested on Roshar. Aside from his Splinters. So the question becomes, why does he have Splinters in the first place? I haven't heavily researched this, so I may be wrong, but one of my theories is that he has Splinters because Honor and Cultivation do. Honor was Splintered beyond repair, but Cultivation seems to have willingly Splintered part of herself to form a prison for him, in much the same way that Preservation did. Because Odium balances the forces of Honor and Cultivation, he was forced to divest himself of some power to match theirs upon that world. The Heralds were made Splinters-by-proxy through the Honorblades. Now I get to my other cent (I told you I had two). The Oathpact, in my mind, wasn't made with Honor, but with Odium. That thought may seem ludicrous, but hear me out. The prologue of WOK has two heralds debating whether the enemy would be held by only one of their number keeping the Oathpact (while the rest of them broke it). An Oath seems to only apply to the Shard and the person who made it (that is unless the Heralds were filling in for Honor somehow, maintaining a balance between him and Odium, but he seems to have Splintered sometime after the Recreance). So if the Oathpact was made with Odium, then he was bound to Roshar, but prevented from entering it fully, as long as it was maintained. That was the long game of Honor and the Heralds -- to keep him from roving the Cosmere, murdering the other Shards willy-nilly (or as the Bard would say, "Will he nil he" [Hamlet]). Now that the Oathpact has been broken (at least it seems to have been broken), we can presume he is more free to manifest himself on Roshar, as evidenced by the Everstorm. Now to answer the question of a champion. In either scenario, Odium is bound in some part by rules and guidelines, whether connected to Honor's interference or his own basic Shard-liness. When he chooses a champion, as the Stormfather says he could be forced to do, that means he will be heavily Invested. Heavily. What would happen if that Investiture bond were to be Shattered (as in, the champion dying)? We see what effect death has on the wielders of Shardblades -- their spren are trapped in broken form inside the physical realm. While the death of a Knight Radiant doesn't seem to permanently damage a spren, it might be quite a traumatic experience for a god. There is, of course, an inherent flaw to this argument. The Oathpact was broken. Odium isn't dead, so if the Oathpact was with him, then that would challenge this theory. If it was with Honor we see a similar problem; Honor didn't appear to die for quite some time after the 9 Heralds abandoned their Oath (unless all his visions to Dalinar were his interpretation of the future). Perhaps, then, there is something different about a champion than we've seen so far. Dalinar made an Oath with the shattering Stormfather, and that's as close to a champion of Honor that I can think of. But the champions haven't been chosen yet, as far as we've been told. Something tells me it's a much more intricate process than we've seen so far with the Oaths, and that it would have much more lasting consequences for all parties involved -- Shard and "Shardbearer" alike. So tl;dr version: in choosing a champion, Odium would Invest himself tremendously, almost dangerously, to the point of vulnerability. Killing the champion would in some way kill Odium, whether simply killing Raise (the Vessel) or Shattering the Shard entirely. I'm sure others have said basically the same thing in not so many words, but this is my theory. There are many theories like it, but this one is mine.

I agree with @StrikerEZ, you should wait until you've at least read Elantris, Warbreaker, and probably White Sands before getting into Stormlight Archive, but that being said you're going to tremendously enjoy your journey to Roshar as much as you enjoy the destination

Haha, well aside from Alcatraz I enjoy the Reckoners series.

Haha, thanks for the cookie! I like all the Alcatraz books, but maybe my favorite book out of all authors (if that's what you meant) is East of Eden. Dang, that book makes me think so much every time I read it.