Leyrann

16 minutes ago, Fanghur Rahl said:

It’s a little like classifying both bats, birds, flying insects and pterosaurs in the same group simply because all of them are able to perform true flight, never mind the fact that they couldn’t be much more different otherwise. That’s a common theme I’ve noticed in the Cosmere, but especially on Roshar (spoiler: Roshar does NOT have ‘plants’ or ‘crustaceans’, at least not native to Roshar. Some of their flora and fauna just superficially resemble them). As a biologist, that’s always been a beef of mine. Even though Roshar is arguably the most scientifically advanced world other than Scadrial, they have some of the dumbest classification conventions I’ve ever seen.

I would argue that Roshar's plants have to at least be similar to our plants, as otherwise they wouldn't be able to provide nutrients for humans. Heck, there's plenty of actual plants that have a hard time doing that or may just get us killed for other reasons.

8 hours ago, hwiles said:

For those still reading, the whole concept of spren falls apart when examined closely...

I'm looking forward to the day Rosharan scholars find out themselves.

Not unlikely. It's very hard for a lot of people with autism to lie, but the truth isn't always welcome. So you learn to either talk around it or not say anything at all.

Nah, that's just establishing the Adolin/Sadeas relationship. The murder is simply the culmination of the relationship.

Foreshadowing would have been if Renarin had said "I always get worried you just get out your dagger and stab him".

16 minutes ago, Child of Hodor said:

I mentioned Secret History several times in my post. 

Then you should know Sazed didn't talk to Vin and Elend when they were already in the Beyond, but rather when they were in the Cognitive Realm, as shown in Secret History.

The odd thing about aluminium isn't that it's investiture resistant, but rather that you can actually do things with it with the Metallic Arts.

So as said above, chromium probably doesn't do anything.

I feel proud of, when I read this thread title, figuring out Brandon's answer to the paradox by myself.

Then again part of my understanding of the cosmere can probably be traced back to Brandon talking about the Ship of Theseus...

6 minutes ago, Isilel said:

Which is why F-Steel needs to be limited, lest it become unstoppable as compounding becomes easier due to the medallions. IMHO, increased likelihood of severe injury, even death, when operating at higher speeds, as well as the rising difficulty of timely thinking and reactions should prevent human compounders from replicating Paalm's stunts.

What I meant to say with that is that speed bubbles, therefore, will also become more common. So allomancy becomes more common, but the same holds true for it's counter (other allomancy). Not to mention society being on the cusp of discovering electrolysis and, therefore, cheap aluminium.

11 minutes ago, galendo said:

Not a pattern exactly, but everything else magic-related reflects the number 10, so having the Oaths and only the Oaths reflect the number 5...it's not a pattern, but it is a break in a pattern, and requires some sort of explanation.

(I mean, the explanation could just be that Brandon couldn't think of more than 4 Oaths for each Order, but that seems a little bit like a cop-out.  Both as an explanation and as an instance of world-building.)

Out of universe I think the explanation is very easy: 10 is too much, too complex.

In-universe, the same might actually hold true. 10 steps is a lot of progression to make, and it would make every step that much less meaningful. So instead, we divide exactly by two, and get 5 instead, a number that is still related to 10.

20 hours ago, Isilel said:

Well, a kandra did it. Whether a human would have been able to as well is still an open question. I hope that Sanderson does limit F-Steel somewhat, because otherwise it is really OP and can't be defended against.

Except we saw Wayne defending against it with a speed bubble.

Keep in mind that allomantic technology will become more and more common. (also I just spent several seconds wondering whether I had misspelled "allomantic" because there was a squiggly line under it...)

I think it's also important to not see this as a single "true or false" post. It's actually a whole lot of small theories that are in the same direction; it might be that some assumptions are wrong while others are right. I think the general idea of the post will end up being true, however.

Foil: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Foil

Just now, Jenet said:

What do you mean is stretching it? I find it interesting to see how they are coping differently. Would be interesting to see if Gaz ends up teaching other one-eyed people "one-eyed Alethi jokes" just to make them feel better. But thinking about it, he might just do things like that after Shallan has influenced him for a while.

I mean that just both of them missing a body part doesn't mean they're foils of one another. Kind of like saying Vin and Elend are foils of one another because they're both Mistborn.

2 hours ago, Fanghur Rahl said:

Touché. Though I don’t think it’s quite the same thing. My thinking though was that Trell in Thomas Covenant ended up having an extremely ‘discordy’ feel about him toward the end, both externally and internally. And Discord IS a Shard that has been canonically referenced, and we generally assumed it referenced Sazed, but maybe not?

Actually we can be quite certain about Discord.

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/96-holiday-signing/#e3187

Quote

chasmfriend's friend (Paraphrased)

My friend asked for Brandon to write something about Harmony in her Alloy of Law.

Brandon Sanderson

There's another name Harmony could go by if he weren't able to control the conflict between his halves… *to Zas* Have you guys figured that one out yet? Oh, I'm not going to say anything. You have it on recording… I was pretty sneaky with that one so I don't know if you have it or not.

2 hours ago, Jenet said:

7: Gaz and Lopen: Both struggle with missing body parts: Lopen missing an arm, Gaz missing an eye. 

I think this one is stretching a little.

That being said, Brandon loves having characters functioning as foils of one another, and it functions as a good way of making readers think about choices; why does Kaladin choose one thing and Moash, despite having Kaladin as an example, choose something else?

Just now, Calderis said:

Fair enough but I still don't agree. While she's obviously laying plans now and working actively to undermine Odium, her presence on Roshar is completely ignored by most, and even the Spren that call her mother think she's withdrawn and cares nothing for humanity since "his death." 

If it were her own plan with honor, I don't think that withdrawal would have happened. 

Actually I would argue that, if you want to work from the shadows, nothing is more beneficial than everyone thinking you're not involved.

1 hour ago, Calderis said:

Then she would be bound by here word not to interfere, which would make the WoB false. 

She would if this was their plan against Odium. It's not about killing Honor in the WoB, it's about "helping Honor versus Odium" in the WoB.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThanatosGambit

A great post!

Which, to be honest, I expected when I saw the author.  

5 hours ago, Calderis said:

I find this very very hard to believe considering this WoB. 

I've had this opinion for a very long time as well, but @Confused actually convinced me, on the condition there is a significant degree of truth to this theory in it's entirety. And let me ask you: What if she didn't help him against Honor, but did against Tanavast? Or what if she simply promised Odium not to interfere, something she might even have agreed upon with Honor before.

51 minutes ago, Szmit said:

So I think that five is importand but as a patr of 10

Agreed here. Similar to how in Mistborn you could say 4 and 8 are important, but because 16 is.

Regarding Shard numbers, I am very disappointed about one thing: The complete lack of 12 as important number anywhere. Imo it's a really beautiful number, even beating 16 in a lot of ways.

14 minutes ago, Bigmikey357 said:

I would have leaned more towards 2 as her Shardic number. All KR have 2 powers. Why 2? Why not one or all of them? Then the Nightwatcher visit with boon/curse dynamic. 

Two because one power means no overlap between orders and no interaction between surges, which is just boring, and three powers means you overlap with four of the other orders, which is just too much. The boon/curse is simply opposites.

Don't feel like either of those would reasonably point towards a Shard number. The Oaths then make more sense.

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/47-firefight-portland-signing/#e678

Quote

The Only Joe (paraphrased)

Do all shards have a number they're associated with?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Some do, (most/some) don't.

I don't see a particular reason to assume 4 or 5 would be Cultivation's number, as a single instance doesn't make a pattern.

3 hours ago, Draginon said:

It'd be funny if Brandon did Cosmere versions of our names for the in-universe group when they do show up. It'd be funnier if they were all about bickering over the smallest detail going on in the worlds

He should just write a non-canon (or even canon!) short story of totally-not-us arguing for all our weird theories.

(hey, my name is already straight up fantasy-proof; that's what I made it for)

On 10-10-2018 at 8:34 PM, Inklingspren said:

double steel, so you can be the flash

Sorry to disappoint you.

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/360-legion-release-party/#e10858

Quote

Steeldancer [PENDING REVIEW]

So if a steel compounder became an Edgedancer... 

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

Oh, here we go. [Audience laughs]

Steeldancer [PENDING REVIEW]

If a steel compounder became an Edgedancer, how fast could they go?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

[Dramatic sigh] They could go quite fast. They are not going to ever reach superhero levels of bending reality for speed. So, I will say quick, but not thatquick. We aren't outracing an atom bomb, as the Flash periodically does. 

(I can only imagine @Steeldancer's disappointed face after this)

17 hours ago, Cameron said:

I'd personally prefer Jasnah wasn't seen as having autism. There's a common thread these days of labelling gifted children as autistic because they share certain characteristics when young. I want there to be a character who's gifted and who struggles early one but who growths past it as they age.

 

All of those could also be explained by being highly Gifted. One of the key ways psychologists distinguish between gifted and autistic children is their ability to tackle complicated abstractions. Jasnah's specialism as a scholar is all about abstractions.

This is a really good resource for folk trying to discern giftedness and autism:

https://mumsinthewoodeducation.com/teach-them/special-needs/gifted-and-talentedaspergers-syndrome/

Well I'm sorry to disappoint you, but having autism doesn't mean you can't tackle complicated abstractions.

Relevant WoB:

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/2-jordancon-2016/#e210

Quote

Questioner

As the Cosmere gets a lot bigger, what is your biggest worry going forward writing the books?

Brandon Sanderson

Going forward, my biggest worry is making sure that I do things like get The Stormlight Archive done as a solid, complete whole, rather than letting it become... like, too distracted about the Cosmere. Like, I'm not worried about that for Mistborn, but I'm worried about that for Stormlight. Stormlight needs to be a self-contained whole, it needs to be a self-contained epic, and I have to be really careful not to-- in the later books in particular-- let it turn into the Avengers, something like that. So that's my biggest worry right now, is that I will let too much of that seep in. I'm being very careful about it.