cfphelps

On 1/4/2022 at 5:43 PM, Symphematric said:

I have a similar question. Just finished the second novella and found out there was a third. Should I read that first or should I get on with reading Cytonic?

I read Cytonic before Evershore (3rd novella) because I read Cytonic when it came out and Evershore wasn't out yet.  I just finished Evershore the other day. I didn't really get into any situations during my Evershore read where I wished I had read it before Cytonic, so I'd say you are good either way!  If you really want to see what Spensa is up to, get on with Cytonic, if you'd rather see what the rest of Skyward flight is up to while Spensa is Spensaing in Cytonic, then doing Evershore first would be totally fine, IMO.

On 6/19/2021 at 9:21 AM, AquaRegia said:

Slowly rereading RoW and came across this account of Taravangian's take on his agreement with Odium (Interlude-6, pp 572/3):

I think two things are made abundantly clear from this passage.  1) Taravangian certainly views his action here - ordering the Veden betrayal against Dalinar - as the fulfillment of his promise to Odium.  He knows that since he has now upheld his end of the bargain, the safety of Kharbranth is ensured.  2)  He's already planning to throw a monkey wrench into Odium's plans (in the form of a certain heavily Invested Awakened sentient object)... but he sees that as COMPLETELY SEPARATE from the Kharbranth deal which has now been completed.  "He needed to keep his agreement," and he did so.

The terms of the deal have not been violated by either party and should still be in effect; I don't see any reason why Taravangian's Ascension would change that.  Kharbranth is indeed still safe, and I fully expect that this will tie Todium's hands in some important way in Book 5.  Maybe someone very important will turn out to have recent Kharbranthian ancestry...?  Presumably, he could choose to break his agreement (with himself), but doing so will somehow make him vulnerable to dangers he's otherwise safe from.

I'm in the camp that he devested himself from the Diagram and disbanded it, and had fulfilled his agreement with Odium, but reading your quote did bring up another interesting point though.  He makes a point to think that actions that do violate the agreement are acceptable as long as they can be hidden from Odium's knowledge.  Now that he's holding Odium, Odium knows what he knows, so does that violate things?

On 6/19/2021 at 8:28 PM, Malim said:

There is something else I wonder.  In the contract between Odium and Taravangian, it was essentially being enforced by Cultivation, even though she wasn't a party to it.  How?  As Rayse said, violating the contract would leave him open to an attack from her, and it is heavily implied that she would not pass up the opportunity.  That seems to be moot now since Cultivation basically placed Taravangian into Odium, or at least started the events that led to that happening.  She seems quite content with the current state of affairs.

From Harmony's letter, it seems that no other Shard either wants to, or currently can, attack Odium.  There is no enforcer.  I think that if Taravangian wanted to break that agreement, he could probably do so with immunity, at least in the short term.  The only question in my mind is why he would want to.  It costs him nothing to keep it, and as an individual, he has no reason that I can see to break it.

I always sort of assumed he'd leave himself open to Cultivation being able to convince other shards to help against him, similar to the letters trying to garner support against Odium.  If it is shown that Rayse isn't following the "shard rules" then it would be enough to convince the other shards that he was indeed a danger to the entire cosmere.  I now wonder if him not upholding his deals somehow opens himself more literally to an attack by Cultivation.

As an aside should some of the Shard examples used in arguments be inside Misborn spoiler tags?

I found on my first read through that I really got slogged down towards the middle/end, and the Sanderson books really supercharged my interest again.

I started a re-read semi-recently and flew through Eye of the World, thinking I had forgotten how good it was!  So I guess I sort of feel like if you're already struggling, the series just may not be for you?  I think it's a great story and lots of cool lore and definitely worth the read, but if you already find book 1 not interesting enough that you question finishing it, I am thinking some of the mid/late books will be really hard for you.  But by then you may have more momentum and be more invested in seeing it to the end.

On 4/5/2021 at 2:30 PM, nehalem said:

I think there are a number of things that would have increased the performance of Odium's forces in the past

 

(6) Overrating of Knights Radiant combat abilities.  Windrunners are one of the top fighting orders, and Kaladin was basically a prodigy even before becoming a Radiant.  Jasnah, even at the 4th oath, was not as impressive.

 

I agree with you in general but I have a nitpick.  When was Jasnah not impressive?  She was devastating at the Battle of Thaylenah.  In RoW she was fighting to "experience how it is on the front line" and was purposely restricting/hiding her surge binding abilities, so I don't think that particular battle is a fair representation of what a 4th oath KR was capable of.  The other times we've seen her fight was pretty impressive, I think.

On 3/21/2021 at 10:33 AM, Bejardin1250 said:

After you kill someone you can’t get the breath back

I gotta say it’s pretty weak your twisting the words meanings and pronouns.

I mean Vasher doesn’t even have many breaths left he’s using Stormlight to survive.

He also doesn’t have Nightblood

Although a point in your favor would be that Szeth heard whispers in Shinover that could have been some early Odium meddling  

Vasher is shown to have life sense and awakens in the spar with Kaladin. We don't know what he's using to power that, but it's possible between the ending of Warbreaker and SA he ended up with many breaths that don't get depleted because he's using Stormlight to "eat" instead. 

You mentioned he doesn't have Nightblood anymore, but this theory doesn't require that he have it? The whole point is he might be best suited to face Szeth with Nightblood. 

That said in not sure I'm sold myself, but it's definitely an interesting theory. 

On 1/26/2021 at 8:29 AM, robardin said:

 

My guess is that the gift was intended to impress Odium, who when he learned of it, would have realized (and would still realize) what it could do for him or one of his minions in effecting his will in the wider Cosmere. Perhaps not a Fused, who is bound to Roshar, but... Hmmm.... Vyre?

Dalinar if Odium wins the battle of champions? 

A potential reason why Sig and Wit don't act in the meeting in a way that would be expected with their prior relationship is the time gap. There's been enough time for the "oh man! My master is back!" / "you did well, Sig!" conversation(s) . Now a year later Sig is just being professional in his new role and Wit being involved in things isn't a new revelation for him, so they each are just doing their jobs at that meeting. 

It's also possible that the GB could have influenced Sig and his spren to think the envoy was a good idea without actually recruiting him, by having their operatives present data to them in a certain way. My recollection is that Sig knows it's not going to be easy or necessarily successful, but thinks it's the best chance they have at getting Honorspren help. So he doesn't necessarily think it's a good idea so much as the best option with the only alternatives being worse. 

So I can see him just proposing the mission as the only thing left to try at that point without any outside influence, but I could also see GB or someone else either suggesting it or manipulating him into thinking it has a higher chance of success than he normally would, without him even knowing it. 

Great theory! 

On 12/24/2020 at 3:03 PM, WasingtheWhy said:

I think Brandon is considering Cultivation to have 3 plans. A plan, a backup plan, and an ace in the hole. Dalinar was plan one. She changed him first, before Gavilar's death. Taravangian was the backup plan. He was after Gavilar's death. Lift is the ace in the hole. 

Didn't Dalinar visit the Nightwatcher/Cultivation on the way to the shattered plains to avenge Gavilar's death? 

2 hours ago, Honorless said:

1) 

The simplest Fused weapon against us isn’t truly a fabrial, but instead a metal that is extremely light and can withstand the blows of a Shardblade. This metal resists being Soulcast as well; it interferes with a great number of Radiant powers.

Fortunately, the Fused seem unable to create it in great quantities—for they equip only themselves, and not their average soldiers, with these wonders.

Aluminium!

Also, sounds like Brandon won

 

Do we actually know WHAT those weapons are shaped like though?  I know we've heard about the ones that can discharge a radiant, but have we seen the ones that can block a shard blade described yet?  My interpretation of the disagreement was magic cutting vs. physical cutting.  I thought Peter's point was that if the aluminum is thin enough like foil, the shard blade could smash through anyway just based on physics.  So in this case, if the aluminum is thick enough to withstand the physics then it might be Peter won.  You might also be able to combine them such that a thin sheet of aluminum foil over steel can stop a shard blade because the steel supports the foil from physically breaking, and the foil prevents the shard blade from magically cutting through the steel.  I see that as compatible with Peter's position as well.  So I guess my point is we may not know enough about the weapons to see which way that really fell?  if it's a super thin piece of aluminum with no support, but it magically prevents being cut and doesn't break behind a sword swing, then I'd say Brandon won.  If it's an aluminum covering or inlay that is supported by something strong enough to withstand the physical force of a sword attack, then I'd say Peter did.

2 hours ago, Karger said:

This is obviously the most important take away from the chapter.  It will probably become one of the most hotly debated topics until we get a strait answer but.  Are Jasnah and Hoid a thing?

Haha, I definitely had a raised eyebrow with that part!  I agree with what others have posted though, that since Jasnah is aware of Wit being more than he seems based on their end of WoR interactions, and she's becoming more and more cosmere aware, it makes sense she'd make use of his council and there would be much for them to discuss.  A male and female being seen together having secretive discussions can definitely lead to rumors of romance when there may be none.

2 hours ago, yulerule said:

Regarding Lyn's and Alice's speculations from the Tor Discussion, my thoughts copied over from Tor thread:

 

Regarding Jasnah and Hoid. I think we’re seeing this from Navani’s point of view, plus the rumors, and everyone is making the incorrect assumption. I feel like maybe Hoid has been telling Jasnah something. About the Cosmere, or Realmatics, or something.  And she probably knows that he’s more than he lets on. I have no idea what information Hoid’s been sharing with Jasnah, but that’s probably what causes others to assume else is going on.

Exactly!

2 hours ago, Eternal Khol said:

I love Ash’s nonchalance/irritability when discussing things that, while commonplace to her, are completely dumbfounding to others XD

Just any Ash scene really

scenes like this are what ive been waiting for since ive first read SA

Me too!  I definitely had the thought about how the immoral herald development might work.  Her personality might still be immature from never really "growing up" to full adult hood before getting the immortal Herald gig where she physically developed to a certain spot but maybe didn't develop as far mentally.  Or maybe that's just how she is, or part of her insanity.  She obviously hates being worshipped, being short with people might help dissuade them.

12 minutes ago, Bliev said:

Do you think he did this on purpose? Dropped Navani's theory/rumor there because he knows how his fandom gets about shipping? Because it really  seems like it was teed up beautifully for these boards. 

(And I know I am way too Very Online now because my response to half of the comments I'm reading is popping into my head as memes.)

At this point I'm very convinced that Brandon never does anything in writing by accident!

5 minutes ago, Child of Hodor said:

Yeah good call. That's what I thought of too. I hope the Mink isn't double-crossing them. I guess since his wife and child were killed in a war with Alethkar (or implied to have) he has a lot of hate in him and motive to hurt Dalinar. RoW Ch. 16:

Could definitely see this as well.  It will come down to if he subscribes to the "enemy of my enemy is my friend" way of thinking and sees the Fused and Odium as the bigger threat.  I imagine since he needed to be rescued he knows he can't defeat the fused and Odium on his own, and since he was resisting at all he isn't apt to give into them either.  Joining the coalition would seem to be his best move, but the points you raised also make it a convenient betrayal twist later on that Brandon could give us.

7 hours ago, Necessary Eagle said:

They DID let Szeth keep his freaky black sword with him!

And Sword-nimi used to talk to passerbys. I wonder what he said.

"Szeth is almost as boring as Vasher, come grab me so we can distroy some evil! "

On 9/27/2020 at 2:28 PM, Ixthos said:

I just checked the prologue chapter again, and while I like this theory I don't think the second person is the steward using atium, as it appears to be Kalak. From the prologue:

 

Good info.  From your quote, the prologue says the man's mannerisms (specifically wringing his hands) remind Navani of the steward, but not that anything else about him does.  In this case I think his age (and her trouble placing it) is more a clue that he's a Herald than that he's the steward.  It's an interesting theory though!

On 8/20/2020 at 6:43 AM, rjl said:

You're referring to the chapter 7 annotation not chapter 8.

I think it applies to the entire book that he plans on transitioning from past "mortal" antagonists to more supernatural ones. 

The annotations for chapter 8 talk about how he wants to move on from "normal" threats like Sadeas and get into increasingly dangerous and Cosmere aware antagonists. This pruning of "lesser" antagonists seems consistent with that. 

It read to me like Adolin had the infused spheres specifically to resupply Shallan. 

As for glowing Shardblade I noticed that too but it seemed within the realm of a description for a dead blade. 

1 minute ago, Gderu said:

I definitley agree. I read a pretty convincing theory over on Reddit that said that it was actually Shallan who did it. Notice that events happened in this order:

-Shallan grabs Ialai to lightweave her a disguise

-she feels a surge of hatred towards Ialai

-she lets go of Ialai, and reaches into her satchel, and becomes Radiant

-Radiant grabs Ialai again, and brings her to the soldiers

That seems very suspicious to me. There is a problem with the fact that she turned into Radiant right before grabbing Ialai, but it seems obvious to me that Shallan at least attempted to assasinate Ialai. The fact that Ialai dies a short time later heavily implies that she succeeded.

This is a good theory as well!  Especially since Shallan notes that she has been studying poison lately.  She even suspects her self...which could me a point for or against the theory with her mental state.

3 hours ago, TMC29ZX said:

Well this answered my question as far as Adolin knowing about Shallan's other personalities. Imagine getting into an argument and then realizing you're arguing with a completely different personality.  I think my wife would kill me if I asked "which one are you"  ever under any circumstances but she seems to take it in stride and keep rolling. The implications for their marriage are pretty staggering and it's just thrown in they're like "Oh, you're you and not the other you, ok, no problem." 

Pretty sure when Shallan and Adolin were taking at the end of OB and she chooses him, she asks him which one he wants and explains who Veil and Radiant are, so he knows then. 

3 hours ago, rjl said:

This gave us a more sinister angle on the ghostbloods than we've seen since Words of Radiance, and also raised a question of who among Shallan and Adolin's men is actually for the Ghostbloods.

My money is on Ishnah!  She set off the Spidey sense from the second Shallan has her see Ialai off. Maybe it's too obvious though since she admitted to Shallan that she's very experienced with the poison. I was cringing when Shallan tasks her to look for signs that it wasn't self inflicted, since I think she was the one who inflicted it!  Parallels to Dalinar asking Adolin to investigate Sadeus' murder!

Brandon hinted at it with his opening "refresher" of who Ishnah is, saying she's one of Shallan's most trusted. The fact that she approached Shallan means it's easier to see her as a plant all along. 

I could see Gaz as well since we know he has a history of getting in debt and desparate for money to pay it off, so that's something that can be exploited. 

19 minutes ago, Kesamijr said:

Or what if Restares is her 4th personality??

YES!

Nah but seriously, I kind of felt like Brands was hanging a lampshade on Ishnah, cuz he specifically pointed out how Shallan (or whoever of the Three was in control at that point) was questioning Gaz and Red, who had been with her since the beginning but not Ishnah. Ishnah seems like she makes the most sense too as a Ghostblood plant cuz everything Shallan knows about her comes from the Ghostbloods, but twice we see Shallan just completely trust Ishnah without question, I think a lampshade for sure.

She says that she's been with her a little over a year, and along with Red and the deserters, was among her most trusted. So to me that's a little different than saying she hadn't been there from the beginning like Red, but I agree he's pointing out to us that Shallan trusts her which could be a hint that she shouldn't trust her. 

Quote

“Ishnah,” Shallan called, drawing the attention of one of her agents. The short Alethi woman hastened over. She’d been with Shallan for over a year now, and—along with Vathah, leader of the deserters that Shallan had recruited—was one of those she trusted most.

1 hour ago, Subvisual Haze said:

Well the Ghostbloods themselves told Shallan that Ishnah was someone of minimal importance and relatively trustworthy, thus she clearly couldn't be a Ghostblood  

Or she's been a Ghostblood plant from the beginning and they told Shallan that specifically so Shallan would trust her...

Possible continuity error, Kaladin notes that of the soldiers he is about to fight on the manor one has a sword and the rest spears,

Quote

Five soldiers, Kaladin noted. Four with spears, one with a sword.

Then during the fight 

Quote

The two soldiers on his left recovered and leaped for him. Kaladin felt the wind encircle him as he spun between the two of them, catching one sword—aimed low—with the butt of his spear as he caught the second one—aimed high—right behind the spear’s head. Metal met wood with a familiar thunk, and Kaladin finished his spin, throwing off both weapons.

That reads to me as if both blows he blocks are swords, but "the second one" could just mean weapon. 

On 7/31/2020 at 6:39 PM, GudThymes said:

You're not wrong about the culture comment, although I don't think the Alethi really view what Adolin did as bad, illegal maybe, but it wasn't bad. Where are you getting that it's bothering Adolin? It's been a while since I've read the book and can't remember it specfically, but I also found this WoB:

From this it's clear that Adolin does not think it's murder, while the morality is still up for debate. I'm just not convinced Adolin is "broken" (as what others in the thread were claiming) because of the murder of Sadeas.

I think he comes to terms talking about it with Shallan in Shadesmar.  By the time he admits it to Dalinar, he also says that he doesn't regret it.  But I think he also doesn't fully think it is moral, since he uses it as a reason why he's unfit to be king.

In Chapter 4, Shallan says:

Quote

Hopefully Pattern was still following at a distance as instructed. Once the group stopped and began initiating Radiant, the spren would fetch Adolin and the soldiers in case she needed extraction.

So pattern is watching for when to trigger Adolin to arrive in the case of extraction, and not babysitting. 

This is probably an unpopular opinion but I personally don't have a huge interest in reading about the characters raising their families. I guess it's too much like my real life vs. the reality escape of reading about the fight against Odium. 

13 hours ago, Truthless16 said:

I think this would be possible, because it might explain how Shallan was able to travel to Shadesmar in the first book. Shallan is a Lightweaver, meaning that transportation is not one of her surges, but if she were also Jansha’s squire she would be able to use Transportation. 

I always thought that Shallan is able to enter Shadesmar as part of her soul casting ability. 

The slave wagons that Kaladin rides in have sides that go in to protect them from Highstorms so I think you could build a rail car to withstand them. 

What is you used wheels similar to Dalinar's siege engines and just used steam propulsion but no track? 

His honor demands that he follow his people's laws and customs. He was (wrongly) judged to be Truthless, and was thus required to follow the orders of whomever had his oathstone, as punishment for claiming the Radiants were returning. Nothing about the stone itself had any power over him, it's just a symbol of what it represents. As much as he hates having to kill, he's not willing to dishonor himself by breaking the law and not following through with his punishment. That's why Nale is impressed with him, he follows the law rigidly until it becomes undeniable that the Radiants are really returning, and that revelation that he's wrongly judged Truthless shakes him to his core. 

On 8/5/2020 at 4:13 AM, Szeth_lz said:

In the world of Roshar, where there is magic and all and proven existence of beings such as Odium, Nightwatcher and other entities which may well be easily be termed God, i really can't see any basis for Jasnah's atheism. It's idiotic, illogical. 

I mean, if this was our world, where such magical elements and godly entities aren't found, being atheist is simply preventing oneself from believing in the 'presumed' or 'mythical' existence of God and not needing any sort of belief system to keep one going, which has logical grounds all right. But in a world like Roshar, well, there are clearly Gods. They exist. They existed. They have powers beyond contemplation. We can't even directly look at their full form or their full being directly (as in the case of Odium, of course). Also, the presumed 'good' god, the Almighty, clearly existed too. 

So why is she still an atheist? What is her thinking, her ideology? Im sorry if it has been discussed before, but i would really like to know what you all think, cause i really can't make any sense of her atheism. It's defined as ' disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of God or gods', but as i mentioned earlier, Gods do exist in Roshar.  

Don't get me wrong, I do like her as a character, she's badass( although a bit too cocky sometimes), but this one thing just puts me off.

The Vorin religion is the main one that she is most popular in rejecting. They are worshiping the Almighty and sending him prayers when he's long dead and gone. Is she really wrong? 

23 hours ago, Karger said:

This confrontation is chapter 7/8.  The interlude you are referring to probably does not happen until later.  I personally hope it is not one big thing but a pile of little things that really pushes Kaladin over the edge.  I think that would be more believable.  I also don't like the idea of Gavilar being a terrible person as a result of Unmade influence.  That is already too much of a cop out.

We don't know how long it has been since he switched duties or how long between this chapter it is until Syl's interlude so the argument that her PoV probably doesn't happen until later doesn't really hold water. Totally respect your preference for there to be more small things that add up to cause it though. 

There was a lot of speculation after the Syl PoV about Kaladin getting moved over to the medics. I wonder if this confrontation with Moash is what tipped him over the edge to make Dalinar change his role. Or how he treats Moash once in his custody. Or maybe whatever okay Moash is after starts to work on him and he gets pulled in two directions again. 

Also get to see a much less likeable side of Gavilar. Hopefully that is influence of the unmade and he at least has a little bit of a cop out. 

4 hours ago, robardin said:

Will one have to have had to have ... Umm... That seems like way too many auxiliary verbs, let me start over.

Will Dawnshard be available to people who didn't participate in a leatherbound Kickstarter? Those things are out of my price range for what they are, gorgeous though they be.

The first tier is digital package including the ebook and is only 10 dollars, which is about what I spend on ebooks anyway so it was totally worth it to me.