master

Does anyone know international release dates for th harcover memory of light? South Africa specifically. Be nice to know now whether I should just bother to order it online. Beebing kindle is supposed to be under a minute. Not three months.

isnt that what hemalurgy does?

the only problem is that allot of these superpowers in the series are a lot more usefull. ferromancy [sp?] may allow you to attract bad luck, but you can use the stored good luck when you need it.

It's awfully situation specific, but I can think of a pretty neat use for these powers. First, the Twinborn drains their weight into their iron metalmind until they're almost weightless. Then they launch themselves into the air; maybe they strap themselves to a kite, get hurled from a catapult, or have a Coinshot Push them up. Anyway, thanks to their extremly low weight, they'll be able to go up really high and drift back to earth really slowly. And, while they're spending all that time up in the air, they can burn tin, letting them see everything for miles around in incredible detail. Cartographers would love them.

while I'm no expert or anything, weight has nothing to do with how fast you fall. its the drag caused by the air that decides it. I believe its mentioned in alloy itself.

thanks.

don't have that chart in my copy. is there anywhere else I can find it?

or it might just mean that gavilar thinks his brother is a surgebinder and finding the ideals would turn him onto the path of a radient. thats my take on it.

if I had to guess i would say its the Ideals.

I disagree with it interpreting what its owner says its basic camand is to obey. If the basic command defines its personality than making its basic command be okay would probably remove al independence. it would require a certain amount of babysitting, but so does nightblood in its current state.

By semi-sapient, you refer to a sword that has the mental capacity just equal enough to justify everything around it as 'evil', and 'destroyable', thus giving itself freelance to slay them all given the chance? And you want to give it enough power to act on every whim of the user?

'I wish she'd just shut up.'

Women no longer has a mouth three seconds later.

On the first point I mean that a semisapient being would be able to think, but wouldnt have morals or the ability to understand evil. so if given a command to destroy evil it would kill anyone it assumes is evil.

2.what? how the hell would a sword be able to remove a mouth. maybe a pair of needles and thread. but a sword? that said giving a sword a command to "obey" wouldn't really have a morals clause attached to it. becuase assuming that the sword wouldn't be able to understand human morality, it would be up to the weilder to decide what it does. I can see how this could be abused by the weilder, but would having a sword that can kill anyone who goes near it be any better? the best thing to do would be to not create one in the first place. but if one ius created I'd rather want to tell it to shut up than listen to constant nagging about destroying "evil".

It's a good idea for them to have left in a backdoor to alter Nightblood's Command, but I'm not sure it's possible. Brandon says that the Command becomes the fundamental basis for the construct's personality, so it might be impossible to change. Complex commands also require more mental gymnastics, so 'Destroy evil when I draw' or "Kill people whose names I say following the word 'kill,'" might have been too abstract or difficult a Command for them to visualize. I hope "Nightblood" goes into more detail about how Nightblood was constructed.

I wonder if a command such as 'obey the wielder" would've worked. the sword is semisapient so it should be able to understand the command and would remove all problems of independence.

on another note, I wonder what would happen if endowment [the shard] used one of those superbreaths on an inorganic object. would it be able to understand concepts such as evil? actually I wonder if it were possibly for a returned to give a superbreath to an object instead of healing. it might be that the duty they've decided to come back for is fighting evil by figuring out a way to make a sword that understands what evil is.

I wouldnt be surprised if both were fake. but that would mean surgebinding is more common than it seems to be.

They're called the Oaths of the Knight Radiants for a reason.

odd, my copy calls them Ideals.

Another interesting thing- Do you remember the piece of stone that decides who Szeth's master is? The name of it? An Oathshard. It was actually the name of The Way of Kings, back when Way of Kings was the series name when Brandon published Hero of Ages. It's possible that his spren is contained in there, much like normal spren are caught in fabrials.

makes sense. I wonder if the historic name for the oathstone [or whatever its called] is a voidstone or voidshard.

Also, we don't know what happens when a Nahel Bond is broken, or what happens after a spren leaves their human. How long is the Nahel Bond in effect? Maybe Szeth had a spren, but it had to leave, because it couldn't bear to watch all that destroying and killing.

I guess it would be possible, but brandon saying he is something different makes it unlikely. at least in my opinion.

the Parshendi get the same effect, as do the chasmfiends, so if you are right this would imply they are not Voidbringerrs.

I'm not entirely certain the parshendi are the bad guys of the story. when rescuing brightidiot [in that specifc incidance at least] dalinar from the betrayal kal specifically says that the parshendi were going easy on the wounded members of the crew defending the bridge.He even refuses to go on the offensive agains them [at most protect dalinar on the field]. they have acted with more honour then the alethi and the alethi still get their eyes burned out.

Garnet for the Blood to run through the flesh.

Helidor obviously for the muscles and flesh itself.

Emerald for hair etc, and organic substance.

Amethyst if you were doing the arm and hands, you might require nails.

Topaz because bone falls under 'Talus' as a specific Essence, and you WILL need some of that.

From what I understood from the book and ars arcanum the soulcasting properties are separate to the body focus. Emerald makes plants which has nothing to do with hair except they are both organic., nd if I remember correctly amethyst is metal, so it has even less to do with nails.

Of course I may be wrong.

I chose to interpret that pronoun (this) as meaning the whole business of being Shardic in general. Somehow I feel like giving a character the ability to resurrect people is a storytelling trap that will make death seem inconsequential.

A lot of urgency is removed from life-threatening situations when the reader knows it can be fixed.

It would depend on how willing the shard is to ressurect them. I assume kelsier would have spent years trying to get sazed to resurect him, but harmony felt no need.

to me ressurection is fine as long as its not too common. either a neutral character has the ability or its so difficult that it doesnt happen often. And I'm sure it could be said that harmony is neutral. even if sazed doesnt like whats going on harmony won't interfere except with tiny nudges. and ressurection is not a nudge.

I wonder if name windrunner comes from flying in highstorms. I'm guessing it would be difficult to carry enough stormlight for long journeys, but if they could absorb stormlight directly froms storms they wouldnt need to hold a lot stormlight.

I'm not sure what to think of the oaths but if I had to guess I'd tentatively say that since some of the oaths of each order are different each oath is based off of the spren the order is bound to. defending people is honourable, so saying the oath would booste kaladins connection to honour. not really anything divine, just a confirmation that he is loyal to the path of honour. I'm guessing if shallan is on the path to becoming a radient her oath would be based around truth [if you assume that the symbolheads are truth spren, which is my only guess for what they are].

getting back to the topic.

still don't think Szeth has stolen his powers from anyone. One idea, Nohadon mentions Surgebinders that aren't Knights Radiant, could Szeth be one of these?

I think even non-radient surgebinders would have spren.

chapter 59, an honour

vision of nohadon

Alakavish was a surgebinder. And yet the Nahel bond gave him no more wisdom than a regular man. Alas, not all spren are discernng as honour spren

that kind of prooves that even non radients would have spren. since as far as we know this is before the radiants. and since szeth doesnt have any spren he can't be a non-radiant surgebinder.

I still don't think Szeth has stolen his powers from anyone. One idea, Nohadon mentions Surgebinders that aren't Knights Radiant, could Szeth be one of these?

I read that chapter yesterday. and if I remember correctly it was said that it was probably before the radients. its possible when they formed that all surgebinders joined. or daliner msy be wrong, but I doubt it. whatshisname under kaladin said that the radients were guided by a book that sounds a lot like the way of kings. and if there oaths came from the book theres a good chance it came before.

I would say that there are ten surges natural to the world.

but each shard uses them slightly differently. in the sameway that the are sixteen metals on Scadrial, but each shard uses it in a different way.

for example, honours use of transformation would be soulcasting, while devotions use of transformation may be making someone lose all memory of their wife [its a stretch, but we don't know all of the surges,, so I had to improvise a bit].

though I wonder if ferro is just an anomoly or we'll be seeing combos of magic sysstems

My explanation is about how Hemalurgy is Ruin's system, it doesn't change on each world because it is tied to him. All that matter's with magic is where the Shard is, not where you are. (Although if you're an Elantrian on another world you'll be weaker

what I read from his post it's the ability to transfer powers is whats important to the topic. using the name might be a mistake, but I've just assumed that its a term we all understand. He's talking about transfering powers, not ruins magic.

b4dave did say something about using actual spikes.

I think I didn't focus on my point, what I was trying to say is that spiking is the way to steal powers via hemalurgy on Scadrial, but what if its not the same for every planet/shard? All we know for sure is that it steals part of the spirit web, but unless I'm missing something, I don't think Ive seen it anywhere that spiking is always necessary for Hemalurgy, just that its how its done on Scadrial. Since each of the Shards are different, maybe the way to steal their powers is as well.

My explanation is about how Hemalurgy is Ruin's system, it doesn't change on each world because it is tied to him. All that matter's with magic is where the Shard is, not where you are. (Although if you're an Elantrian on another world you'll be weaker)

nope, he's talking about not using spikes in any place besides Scadrial. while his understanding of terms and concepts might be slightly wrong, he's talking about stealing magic or other traits from some people and giving them to someone else. not the actual system seen in mistborn.

The problem is that Hemalurgy is Ruin's system, using spikes is just how it works. Short of Ruin leaving Scadrial and going to a different Shardworld I don't see the focus/physical aspect changing at all. Hemalurgy doesn't change from world to world just like Allomancers on different worlds would still need to burn metals, Awakeners would still need Commands/color, and Elantrians would still need Aons. The metal itself is important, it is actually charged with a part of a person's soul.

who said anything about using actual spikes. I think the op used it becuase it was the best example for understanding.

from the op these examples are given.

Elantris - the dakhor(not sure if thats right, dont have my book with me)- they forcibly draw aons onto the bones of those who will join their number. We arent sure of the process, and it may be a stretch, but it seems somewhat hemalurgic to me.

Warbreaker - Endowment - the giving of Breath. A part of the persons spiritweb is transfered to another, leaving them a Drab.

Now, what if the process of transfering one's spiritweb is also different on Roshar? What if Szeth has gained his windrunner powers through a hemalurgic process, having has someones elses spiritual DNA transfered to him.

Is it completely far fetched? Is it crazy?

maybe the Spren that was stolen is trapped in his Oathstone...which he seems pretty bound to obey who holds it

its possible that the oathstone gives his powers. but I think the control is more of an honour thing.

So since the Tears of Edgli appear in-book does this mean they aren't Endowment's physical aspect? Did Brandon just forget such a throw-away appearance or add them on a late edit? What does everyone else think?

@Josh: Is Edgli Endowment's real name?

RAFO, however the flowers are related to Endowment somehow...

and about the throwaway line

17th Shard: Is Cultivation a Shard on Roshar?

Brandon: Yes, Cultivation is. (very inquisitively) Where did you get that word?

17th Shard: It's in the book.

Brandon: Is it in the book? Okay.

17th Shard: It's mentioned once.

Brandon: Okay, one of the Shards form Roshar is Cultivation.

so he does get a bit forgetful

source

http://coppermind.17thshard.com/wiki/Brandonology

I don't think it's likely that that is all regrowth is but I definitely think that soulcasting could be used to similar effect. But you'd have to be exceptionally good at soulcasting organics and be a surgeon to be able to do so, but it would definitely work in a similar way.

I guess it would depend on how soulcasting worked. could you combine two gems together, like garnets for blood and heliodor for the musles and organs. also how much do soulcasters control the process. do they just ask a spren to copy a certain pattern [not likely based on jasnahs version of strawberry jam]. it also doesnt seem likely that they control it to the finest detail, becuase creating the proteins in flesh would probably be impossible for a human mind to handle.

also, wouldnt you need a pattern to work with. say a carved arm to turn to flesh. but would that carving require bloodvessels or do they come with the flesh. you'd probably need to combine the heliodor with a garnet to have them come at the same time. also, would bone be considered a part of flesh, etc. etc.

I'd say that there is a low chance of all the laws governing soulcasting working to allow for advanced healing or creating new organisms. But ultimately its brandons dicision. so it really doesnt matter.

Although, I remember BS saying that who gets magic on Roshar is related to actions people take, not genetics. In that case, it seems a little less likely that powers could be stolen from someone.

Isnt that becuase actions attract spren. and if the spren [say an honour spren like syl] was bound similar to how fabrials are made [if i remeber correctly spren stuffed into the gems that power the fabrials] it may be possible to forcibly create a bond allowing the magic. it might also be that the soulcasters ardents uses have the symbolheads trapped in them.

I guess that it could be similar to hemelurgy in that actions draw spren in. so to steal a spren you have to take it from someone who has already attracted them.