Morsk

I can see Kaladin not personally killing him, if it's just not something Windrunners do as leaders and protectors. If Skybreakers are anything like Darkness, they're the ones that do justice. I'm not interested in a redemption story for a murderer though. I suppose they could say that all lighteyes are terrible so there's no point trying to apply justice to them. They have to be overthrown, not punished individually. And Dalinar's already trying to do that, by making them act like a nation, not a bunch of backstabbing nobles. But I'm reaching so much to come up with excuses to spare him. Murder is like, really bad. It's murder.

Dilaf?

I think Jasnah has too much sense to alienate him. Kaladin is a huge resource to her family. We've seen she can treat Liss with respect, so she should be at least as cautious with Kaladin.

Do we know if Wayne is a Survivorist? Demoux says this towards the end of Chapter 17 in Hero of Ages: Demoux doesn't call it the God Beyond, and we don't know it's the same thing, but it could be. That would make it fairly benevolent though.

"Thrilled" and "awesomeness" in the first sentence? We have fairly good reasons to believe those experiences are mutually exclusive!

It could be a quirky Order 3 thing that isn't a Surge, like Kaladin's storm-riding and breath-holding. Order 3 is Bravery/Obedience. Maybe they can inspire this in normal soldiers who are sufficiently obedient to them, and brave.

I'd enjoy Feruchemical bendalloy now that I think about it. The need to continuously acquire and eat food is hugely annoying, never mind hunger and blood sugar playing with my mood. If I could eat 10 pizzas on Saturday night, and not even think about food the rest of the week, that would be great. The Fifth Heightening is so much better though.

I think of it basically the opposite way. Ruin is a universal principle, and I see investing in Scadrial as changing the way Ruin works everywhere, and making Hemallurgy possible everywhere. And I think it's the reason magic requires intent in the cosmere. That way when a Shard literally changes the nature of reality by investing in one planet instead of another, they aren't going to break how stars and organic chemistry and who-knows-what works. That would just be a mess. Whatever they change will always involve intent.

I figured it was the glyphs on the KR armor, and that you have to etch the right glyphs into the armor to let the wearer's Surgebinding go through it.

I also think Densities is Scadrial for this reason. The Mists are iconic, but there's misty stuff on other worlds, like Breath and the white Stormlight that leaks out of Surgebinders. I see that as a cosmere thing not a planet thing. Scadrial has more because of Preservation's sacrifice, not because of the planet's nature. The planet's thing is that metal is power.

Sigh. I wasn't going to read it, because these early chapters always get me worked up for the books months before they come out. But I started anyway and it's JUST TOO GOOD.

I support this because I think if Sazed could change Hemalurgy it's the first thing he'd do. He likes using existing spikes to talk to his faithful, and to have kandra running around doing his bidding, but he could at least change the magic system so new spikes can't be created. Or (say) make all spiking require atium, and keep atium as a kandra secret. Or whatever; he's a god; he'll think of something. Since I don't think any of those things will happen, it suggests Sazed can't do much to change them.

Calling it "canon" causes it's own problems. It's leading to in-world explanations for why Hemalurgy is so horrible, like it destroying souls or causing torturous pain after death. Those aren't supported by the text, and conflict at least partly with things we know. Ruin is not evil. The true afterlife is beyond the Three Realms. And permanent death has serious theological consequences. What kind of God can't or won't save the innocent from permanent death, especially in a universe we know has an afterlife? Is Hemalurgy proof that there's no God in the cosmere then?I see it as cheapening the books, and particularly unfair to Shadows of Self which hasn't even come out yet, to say that any moral issues raised about Hemalurgy are pointless because we have a canon statement. Hemalurgy is obviously very disturbing if considered seriously, but the difference between that and a canon statement is that the latter invites us to draw sweeping conclusions based on an infallible premise.

I think he oversimplified, and views it as a white lie because he's concerned about the public image of RPGs and related games. He "has problems with some of the things" games like Skryim do. Yet he has no problem RPing characters like Ruin or the Lord Ruler when he writes villains, even going to lengths to explain how they weren't evil. It's inconsistent. He offered a fig leaf in the game, because our society freaks out about morality in games, that's all. It may also be a typical RPG rationalization. Hemalurgy is overpowered, but "Don't because it's overpowered and will ruin the game," is metagaming and some people get uncomfortable with it. Telling them it's always evil is a workaround.

If you're still enjoying them that's great. I'll warn you of two things that ruined them for me.One was Goodkind interviews where he talked about his writing. I used to excuse a lot of the flaws as "quaint and amateurish, but he's really trying and putting his heart into this". The interviews made him a lot harder to sympathize with as a person. The other is the Ayn Rand cut-and-paste which starts in book 6. I'd already read Ayn Rand, so I get this huge "uncanny valley" reaction to seeing almost-Ayn Rand pasted into Goodkind novels. It totally creeps me out. I find the amount of racial slurs used extremely disturbing. The majority of people's willingness to "adapt" to it and ignore it as normal is even more disturbing. It's the last part I think we're very lucky Rand didn't remember on Dragonmount.

Friendship. Because then it will be a world where Friendship Is Magic. (I can't believe I posted this. I blame Swag. Something about it made me feel every boundary had already been crossed...)

I almost posted the same thing! But I didn't want to admit to having read 6+ books of Sword of Truth. Thank you for making this sacrifice so others didn't have to. Why could he not have remembered punk rock? I'd have saved the world for punk rock. But not online gaming. Love the games, hate the communities... If I remembered too much of it, I might've let Shai'tan win.

I guessed sort-of what would happen, but not exactly how it would happen. There were still some big surprises. edit: Okay you said no spoilers, but that doesn't mean we can't post spoilers for each other. Just don't read it.

I haven't seen this mentioned, but I may have missed it. Stormlight and Mists are both strange about not coming indoors. Gems have to be recharged outdoors, even though we know the recharging is a lot more magical than physical. It has the power to sweep across a continent in a huge pulse recharging gems everywhere, but it can't get through a wall. Mists also just didn't like coming inside, even when there was nothing physical (heat, etc.) stopping them.

I guess I'm bumping this 19 days late, but Nalan's icon is on the chapter. Twice. I've always felt it was there because Nalan's wearing a hood and Szeth is a ninja, but that's probably not the real reason. I don't know the reason. Is a single smoke soulcasting enough for two Nalan icons?

This is just scaring me. I've now imagined this scenario: (Not a spoiler, just making it smaller.)

I do think of them as "heralding" the Desolations, but it's worth noting that "angel" means "messenger". Brandon may have been looking for a synonym for "angel" when he named them.

I'd much prefer a movie. I don't care about plot because the plot is already in the books. A movie could hash together some Star Wars plot to fit in 2 hours and be fine. I just want to see the world with the storms, and the spren everywhere, and the spheres glowing with Stormlight, and clothing for safehands, and Plate and Blades.

Szeth has the Attributes backwards if anything. He's a killer and a slave, not a protector and a leader. I have another theory that this is from an Honorblade, and that Szeth took Jezrien's place as a Herald, but like all the Heralds he's really screwed up and doing it wrong. I see it as separate from this theory though. It's hard to get them to work together. Szeth obviously hasn't sworn these Ideals, because he's bad at holding Stormlight, and there's no way he's bound to protect those who can't protect themselves.

I already think Vedeledev is in Taravangian's death room, because her icon is on the chapter. And if she's anything like Darkness and Shalash, she'd be drawn to her thing, like justice or art, but "doing it wrong". Being in a death room in a hospital fits. Then I remembered Lift's Second Ideal: I will remember those who have been forgotten. And this, She could be in the room because she's bound by the same oath Edgedancers are, and even more important than healing to her is to remember these forgotten people. Even as she helps kill them. If this is how it works, then Nohadon didn't create the Ideals, but discovered a way for Surgebinders to access them. Spren had figured out how to bond with humans, but it might have been a human who found out how to add the Ideals to make it stronger. It should be easy to confirm or deny, once we see more Radiants and Heralds. In Shallan's arc especially, if her Second Ideal doesn't help explain why Shalash destroys art but feels a Shardblade would make it too easy, then the theory's probably wrong. Also Jezrien would have the Windrunner oaths, and would have to protect those who cannot protect themselves. The Shin, maybe?