Mulk

Creeps me out too, Delightful. I'm on salary and not subject to an hourly time clock, but many people at my work are not on salary and thus are subject to it... With regard to your question, we won't have a post-scarcity world until we have a post-selfish world. We already have enough food or nearly so; just the rich countries tend to throw away the excesses, eat it themselves in huge amounts, or feed it to livestock for higher quality steaks and what-not. We have enforced scarcity of things like diamonds and of oil (at times, depending on the whims of OPEC) to keep prices up so that the owners of the land where those things are found become ever more wealthy. Even with laws against price gouging, that tends to happen in times of distress (natural disasters and such) where scarcity or perceived scarcity drives up demand to insane levels and those who have supply decide to make a buck on it. If we ever actually do become post-selfish, hunger will vanish pretty quickly as a killer of large numbers of people. Water will take some more work - lots of places don't have sufficient clean water right now. A post selfish world won't try to limit education to the most wealthy or those willing to take on huge loans, so more people will be able to pursue law or medicine or research or engineering or whatever. A post-selfish world will have little to no warfare. Which is probably the only way we start making real headway on fusion or alternate fission sources (thorium?), curing AIDS, Ebola and other incurable killers, learning the causes of cancer and how they are genetically keyed so that we can come up with treatments that don't amount to dissect and poison, research how to stop and maybe reverse the desertification of the Sahara and its surroundings and the stripping of the Amazon rainforest and other such wildernesses... and then (this is kinda key) purvey those things to all nations and all peoples so that they have all of the advantages we in the first world enjoy. And because all of this can't happen except in a post-selfish world, I don't believe the end result of such a world is ennui/death/suicide, because our interest in and care for others will direct our pursuits more..philanthropically. Sure, we have individuals motivated in this fashion now. But that doesn't describe the world as a whole. It's not that I think people are overtly evil in the majority...it's just we're selfish. Most of us tend to prioritize me over us, even if prioritizing us will eventually benefit me more. And the more we have, the more we tend to cling to it.

how this one ends is just GOLD... I love xkcd

My best guess on Odium being wounded was when he took on Ambition. That was sort of drawn out, and likely would drive his desire to kill the rest even more quickly. As to why we haven't seen her...I don't know if her Intent lends itself well to death, destruction and vengeance. It may be that Odium has to come at her directly for her to be able to defend herself and attack him with her full power. In a way, it may be that Honor signed his own death warrant by directing so much of Odium's hatred at himself - the Oathpact and all that appear to be things of Honor's design, possibly even to deflect Odium away from Cultivation. Cultivation may have seen it as her role to help restore, rebuild after Desolations and that Honor saw his role as defending against the Desolations and Odium's intrusions, so that she was restrained from bringing the full might of her Shard to bear on Odium until and unless Honor was out of the way and he came for her instead. I may be way off base here, but that's what I'm thinking right now.

I don't know about the others, Steel, but I'm still kinda processing it. I think I may wind up with a quibble (or maybe it's more of an elaboration?) with your assertion on the Elantrians - the Dor itself is regionalized on Sel, and given the way spiritwebs and Investiture work in the Cosmere, I think it's probably fair to say that Investiture itself works differently in the various regions and that drives the connection to the land, not the other way around. If I may digress for a moment, that world is a weird one in any case. Given how long ago that Odium's visit had to have occurred, it seems a reasonable assumption to me that the Dor as we know them are not something the two created, but a byproduct of the way in which the two were Splintered - with Devotion driving the practices themselves and Dominion driving the location requirements. Devotion and Dominion seem to be all mixed together, so that if one could heal the Splintering by Odium enough to take up either shard you'd probably have to take up both. I'll be curious to see how/if that ever plays out. As to your greater overall point - I think I'm leaning toward agreement for now. But, as I said, I'm still processing.

Jerick's in the spot of Kaladin where the bridge crews are concerned...did he get renamed and moved or left behind in favor of a new similar character?

Pretty sure Peter Jackson's thinking was he's from Mirkwood, the Dwarves go there, there's no way in hell they wouldn't have met him so he has to be on screen at some point. From a movie standpoint, I get it and I didn't mind him showing up. I too am kinda bleh about the movies. It's not what he tried to do in terms of fleshing in what happened off screen - that's all stuff I'd have loved to see. It was the changes to people's stories, motivations and actions to serve the movie he was making. I just don't think you mess with a beloved book in that fashion I'm likely the biggest Tolkien nerd you'll ever meet unless you know Coulter or one of the professional Tolkienists... For myself, you're know you're a Sanderfan when someone uses the word inappropriate (if you've read the Oathbringer stuff you know why, if not, you will know why) and you giggle. You also know when your wife gets you the first four Mistborn books and even with full days of work, three kids, and church duties interfering you clear them in less than three days.

honestly, I think the Honorblade is eventually going back to Jezrien. He'll come for it, or the stone shamans will come for it and give it to him, or Dalinar will meet him when he finally meets Ishar (isn't he the Herald attached to the Bondsmiths?) or something along those lines. It might wind up with someone else for a bit in the interim but I'm pretty sure that's where it is going.

voidspren I would assume are little splinters/slivers/whateve the right term is of his power so I'd assume spren can't vary from their originator. Parshendi though...aren't they native to Roshar and therfore not originally subject to Odium? I thought I'd read that somewhere, gonna have to backtrack and see if I can find that, but I thought they were some of the original inhabitants of Roshar.

If the Heralds are going to find the Oathpact isn't as dead as they thought (wasn't there a WOB about that?) then I imagine there won't and can't be any new Heralds until and unless one of the current 10 dies permanently. Being as they were connected directly to Honor himself, I don't think they can actually break vows and get away with it forever so it won't surprise me if they get yanked back into Damnation the next time around. Anyone offering odds on whether they can actually die for real now? or if they die, do they go back to Damnation? I wonder if there is any way out of the Oathpact...or if that's what the back 5 will revolve around.

Agreed that whatever was bad happened to Shallan alone. Also agreed that Lightweavers probably don't have a set number of truths. If you recall, Syl did regress a bit - acted more like a child, more like a windspren before she (almost) died, with a few serious moments so it may not be quite as useless to compare. It's entirely possible that Pattern's inability to do anything other than bump into walls is related to nothing more serious than the amount of time between Shallan's first truths/Words and when she finally began to progress again. I would gather she actually is one step further along. She could already summon Pattern as a blade, as she did when a child, and has spoken one more truth. Though, it could be argued that she has regressed back out of that since speaking that truth. Sigh. I like Shallan. I don't want to see her lose herself. On a different subject, the fact the murder investigation is slow feels like real life to me - police don't generally move too quickly when the murdered person is someone who was almost universally hated. That's been true since there was such a thing as police. The only reason anything is happening at all is Dalinar wants both the appearance and the fact of trying to do right, so the fact that it's eking along like molasses feels appropriate.

@Pattern I get all that. And perhaps she did start almost all the way over, though clearly she didn't have to completely restart as we don't ever see her retaking the first Words and Pattern was her blade and spren as a child. I'm still rather interested in what her first set of truths were and how it was she was so cracked as a child that a spren could bond with her; and how a child could know to speak the Words at all. All of the really bad stuff we know of from her life (aside from Mom wanting to kill her - which in the minutes between when that happened and when Shallan kills her I don't know how that would be enough time to bond a spren and progress up the chain enough for a Blade) is after and/or a result of her summoning Pattern in blade form. As to your last, that may very well be the case...I hope not, but it might be. Brandon is certainly devious enough for that to happen. It really all comes back to what I'm after in the first place though. I've got the feeling that as bad as we know the Davar household to have been, it was probably worse.

I was pondering on the speculation on Shallan's oaths/truths. According to her flashbacks, she was able to summon a blade at a young age. Clearly, from the Cryptics' perspective, she was already bonded and moving along the path to full Radiance when she was a small child, else Pattern would not have been able to manifest as a Shardblade for her. I think what is more likely is she reverted some (perhaps similar to what happened with Syl and Kaladin in WoR) and only after slowly becoming more honest with herself was she able to begin moving along the path again, so her first ideal beyond the original oath and possibly her second were actually well back in time, something we haven't actually seen on page. I say this as I'm not sure admitting she killed her father counts as a level up truth as we never see her denying it except to outsiders who did not know she was behind his death or that he was dead at all. Thoughts?

Had a thought about Odium. Granted that Rayse is not a good guy, and therefore is interpreting his shard in the most dangerous possible way. I still think, however, that whoever holds Odium would eventually take up the same quest Rayse has. Maybe not for the exact same purpose (supposedly to be the most powerful being in the Cosmere though I've not seen that in print), but the same ultimate goal all the same of destroying all other shards. Think about it for a moment, if Odium represents the divine hatred of God bereft of all context or virtue, what could be (from the perspective of the original power/holder of all the power) hated more than those who destroyed Adonalsium, however well intentioned? A different holder might seek to kill all the rest for the purpose of punishment or for reassembly, but destroy he/she would all the same. I wonder a lot whether this is Hoid's eventual goal, the reassembly of Adonalsium. The way he seeks investiture wherever he goes...I don't know. Either that, or he's going to have a go at Odium and Autonomy until they are both dead/Splintered before he gives over.

The oncoming confrontation between the Vorin church and Dalinar and his followers looks like it has the capacity to be as messy as the Reformation. Maybe more so. I did love him sparring while talking religion and politics at the same time...that was freaking fantastic. I did NOT see him hearing Evi's name...hell of a cliffhanger that Brandon just left us. Not surprised at all that some countries would attempt to trade/barter their way out of a fight. I'm curious how exactly that will pan out. I see a lot of people wondering if it was holding Stormlight that did it. I see two possibilities currently - the first (and most likely in my mind) is that the investiture he was holding interfered with whatever it is the Nightwatcher did for his boon/curse. To know for sure we need to know if he can hear her name without holding Stormlight or not. The second I see is that at least on screen we don't see him having inhaled all that much stormlight to this point and it seems to prioritize the most serious physical wounds in the healing process. It could be that until this point he hasn't taken in enough at one time to make the difference. I find that unlikely at this point but who knows? Kaladin's chapter was about what I expected except in one respect - I didn't realize the extent to which the parshmen had been limited following Aharietam. I do wonder if there can ever be longterm peace between the humans of Roshar and the Parshendi/parshmen/listeners, but it seems like this is our best shot. Shallan...oh my she's a mess. Her mind isn't better, it's worse and that's bothersome.

They also lose a lot of their memories upon crossing to the physical realm - it's why Pattern and Syl have both become increasingly mature and complex the longer the bond is there and stable. So will they know? Eventually, possibly or even probably. Do they right now? I don't think so. Syl didn't know until Kaladin actually did it after all.

Perhaps I shall. I...struggle with that. My overall philosophy on believability is a bit different from yours, as it starts from the assumption that we don't know nearly as much as we think we do. If you'd like a real world example, I'll point you to the 2002 Canyon Lake, Texas flood. As a TL;DR, this event showed water has the capability to break down rock WAY faster than anticipated in a big flood event like the one that occurred, such that a 2+km long canyon with an average depth of 7 meters came into being in the course of, mostly, 3 days. Starting from that point, and also assuming that the scientific laws need not necessarily work exactly as they do on Earth in an alternative reality...well, I had some fun. My map is littered with features that would be considered impossible or nearly so on Earth, and there are explanations for all of them, mostly based in a supernatural event that happened far into the past. All manner of beliefs/mythology have arisen as a result of this event, which can make for some interesting things as well, but the core reason they all exist is I think they are fun. But hey, to each their own I do love what you have, and I hope you'll keep at it.

right now...as far as we know, only Kaladin, the Heralds and Szeth know that a shardblade wound can be healed. And Taravangian I guess, is that right? Anyway, whatever can be done with Regrowth, it may be that Renarin doesn't know that it's possible. Not to say it shouldn't be brought up - I just wouldn't necessarily read anything into lack of action by Renarin on this item. "Everyone knows" nothing can be done for a Shardblade wound, and has done so for hundreds of years at least, so it may not even occur to him to try it unless someone brings it up.

Correct - her father said otherwise, and all of them believed he had murdered their mother and that Shallan knew it, but was unwilling to say so.

I don't think pacifist is the right term for Rock - he believes it is beneath his dignity based on his order of birth to do so, not that it is wrong to fight in and of itself. Nonetheless, I do agree with you, Rock should not be made to fight.

For me, the only parts of these tests that skew accurate/repeatedly is the I/E section - I'm an extroverted introvert so I like people but they exhaust me, and I tend to run 75-80% introverted on any such test. All of the rest of these I'm really close to the 50/50 line. So basically, any variant that starts with the "I" I have tested as. Some pieces of me it gets wrong, some it gets right. *shrugs*

Thanks. ultimately, I guess doesn't really change anything downstream as falling from that height still kills Szeth. I still prefer the first, like you. FInally found the link on his site where he describes the why. Don't know that I agree with it, as I don't think as told the fight is as much about vengeance as it was about removing a real threat to the man who is the chief object of his protection, but it is what it is.

Or it could mean they are struggling to produce enough food between high storms, or to stock up enough food for the Weeping so that they don't have to skip meals in their rationing. A new gemheart might have made the difference in that respect

I've seen this a couple of places and it's made me curious - Brandon changed the ending of the second Kaladin/Szeth fight? I own a hardback copy of WOR, and in it Kaladin stabs Szeth with Syl/Shardblade so his eyes burn out and he plummets down. Is that not the current ending?

In order to have a change of fortune at the last minute, you have to take your fortune to the last minute. Death, in Thief of Time, by Terry Pratchett

As to one - I rather doubt it. The reason the arm is dead is the spirit is cut there. When the person dies, the rest of their spirit leaves the body, so you have a whole body ready for being a lifeless. As to two - I don't think so but I can't provide a reasoning at this point.