Sweetness

But that would shift the balance, wouldn't it?

No, Saz hasn't got an ounce of Dominion in him.

Like say you mapped out these various intents and you have a neutral starting Point A. Ruin and Preservation are diametrically opposed...you'd have to go in completely opposite directions to get to them, extreme ends of the same spectrum. Whereas Devotion and Dominion are both branching off points from the same root intent - let's call it say, Sovereignty, or Leadership - rule, or commanding loyalty/obedience through different channels, love and fear, respectively.

This made me think of my freshman Art class in high school. Like on a color wheel. Ruin and Preservation are opposed, like say, blue and orange. Whereas Devotion and Dominion are more like green and yellow.

This thought has absolutely nothing to do with anything, but it amuses me.

As mentioned above, SH is one letter, making Shalash and Ishi perfect. I think likewise, Jezerezeh is perfect in sounds but written differently (Maybe it's pronounced Hezerezeh, or maybe Jezerezej was just awkward, or maybe final Js are silent?)

I'm off topic slightly and currently quotehunting to back this up, but I'm almost certain the letter shash is mentioned in Warbreaker too. Knowing Brandon's tendencies at this point, I doubt it's coicidence. Or has someone else already pointed this out?

Oh god. I have spent the last two years with a bag over my head for shame that I couldn't make it through the first WoT book. Now I feel better. Thank you.

Technically, Captain Hammer was the Hero, Doctor Horrible was the Villain. For the record. But Nathan Fillion does pull off the douchebag role very well.

As a Shard, Reason, as in logic.

I'm sorry, I have a deep personal grudge against Natalie Portman for what she did to V for Vendetta. She was absolutely wrong for that role, she cannot pull off the innocent thing nearly as well as people give her credit for. Age aside, it would be exactly the same if she were to play Vin. She just doesn't have the right feel. Although, admittedly, I feel she could pull off Shan well enough. I always pictured Shan as being a little older than Vin and Elend, although I'm not really sure why.

I like Alexa Davalos for Vin. Or Lyndsy Fonseca, but she may be a little too pretty.

*feels special*

Pure speculation, but it seems like it would be difficult to hold multiple Shards. Based on what Chaos said, it stands to reason that every time you picked up an additional Shard, you'd (metaphorically) start being pulled from another direction. You'd be ripped apart after a while.

Also, a sort of related note. I'm seeing potential for confusion here, but as I understand, "harmony" is not an aspect of a Shard, it's just a name for Sazed. Sazed is the shard, with aspects of Ruin and Preservation. Right?

I was rather under the impression that the soulcasters didn't really do anything. The jewelry, not the people. I remember reading in the book (and I may have to go quote hunting again) that soulcasting was only done in the middle of the night, under controlled circumstances, by a select few. Jasnah didn't need the jewelry, why should anybody else? The jewelry is (in my personal Soulcaster Conspiracy Theory) kind of misinformation. The average citizen believes they need the jewelry to soulcast, so they don't try to do it without the jewelry. See?

I don't think Jasnah is wrong, personally. While we're spitting out random theories, consider this; The Knights Radiant had all sorts of cool magic that has since been lost to humanity. Why couldn't the Parshendi have had something similar? They have Shardbearers. Maybe "Voidbringer" was just a name for a sect, their elite warriors, or magic-users.

The conclusion was that the parshmen were the Voidbringers. I'm looking for the passage now. "Created" was not the correct term, but rather "enslaved." Give me a second.

Got it. Page 979-980

Beings of ash and fire.

"We fought with them," Jasnah said. "We fought so often that men began to speak of the creatures in metaphor. A hundred battles - ten tenfolds..."

Flame and char. Skin so terrible. Eyes likes pits of blackness. Music when they kill.

"We defeated them..." Jasnah said.

Shallan felt a chill.

"... but the legends lie about one thing," Jasnah continued. "The claim we chased the Voidbringers off the face of Roshar or destroyed them. But that's not how humans work. We don't throw away somehing we can use."

Shallan rose, walking to the edge of the balcony, looking out at the lift, which was slowly being lowered by its two porters.

Parshmen. With skin of black and red.

Ash and fire.

"Stormfather..." Shallan whispered, horrified.

"We didn't destroy the Voidbringers," Jasnah said from behind, her voice haunted. "We enslaved them."

So yes, they could well be native to Roshar. But I think this passage shows that the disparity between parshmen and Parshendi is something that the humans did, not Honor. Which I think was the point I was making. I'm not really sure anymore.

Weather Girl, Shiny Toy Guns. Girly techno, it's awesome.

There's nothing wrong with fairies in general. I'm just not particularly fond of them. And I feel like Pat's world would have been just fine without them. He dwelt on them In Wise Man's Fear for too long. Plus they don't follow normal rules, and that bugs me.

It could be one that he later discarded.

This feels functionally like pride (people tend to derive pride from status), though maybe I am just crazy in saying that. Of course, he wrote this quote after he wrote The Way of Kings, but does Hoid really count as using it? I am not all that familiar with Brandon's style of writing when talking about his fiction, so I really couldn't guess what counts and doesn't count.

Sounds like the Breath system to me.

Rothfuss is definitely compelling. I'm a huge fan of his. But, come on, the guy uses fairies.

I distinctly remember Shallan coming to the conclusion that the human race created the parshmen. So maybe the humans figured out a way to remove the spirit from the parshmen?

Now there's a comparison. Paolini and Rothfus. Neither of them are very original, but Rothfus has WAY better prose.

You sir, have earned my respect for this remark.