Hoiditthroughthegrapevine

I got some personalized books awhile back and asked this very question for Calderis. Here's the signed book WOB: Not 100%, but a good indication that they would probably just rapidly age.

Funny stuff brother!!

Sorry to double post, but @Lunamor I finally got around to doing your Stew, awakened to "Subjugate Soup". The awakened stewpot, with Rock's Michelin rated 5 star stew, is a 5 star general of course, and the poor Campbell's tomato soup has been thoroughly subjugated.

Thanks! I use a mixture of different types of markers. I have Prismacolor (my favorite), Copic (good, butnot quite as good as prismacolor and expensive) and cheap alcohol markers that you get pretty cheaply on Amazon with a bunch of colors. I use mostly the cheap ones for these because I'm not worried about wasting the ink, and I really like having a cheap set of Gray alcohol markers that you can use to create the shading and then color over with the color.

I have a feeling that in Era 4, we'll see fabrials that are essentially soulcasting synthesizers, like the food synths on Star Trek except that they can create any material in any form. Kind of like a 3d printer where the two inputs are dirt (or whatever matter to be transubstantiated) and investiture. Don't worry, you can still have your 70's orange plastic Stanley Kubrick style chairs on spaceships and space-stations. This would be strange, except for the fact that all of the Vessels of the Shards that were involved in world creation had a common homeworld as a basis for their knowledge of how planets work/are structured, namely Yolen (which has been confirmed to be an earthlike planet, though with two ecologies). And when a Vessel ascends, they gain a giant intuitive leap in understanding of matters of Cosmic significance, so it's not unreasonable to assume that with their new Shardic Powers they could have understood intuitively how the planet Yolen was constructed and then create a planet based on that template (ignoring the fain life), replete with features that would normally require processes that take place on geological timescales that instead were just created en toto. I think that when Shards are using their power, a lot of the fiddly bits of world creation are handled by intuitive knowledge of the application of their power. This is a dramatic oversimplification, but I think it's kind of similar in process to when you make a snowball, you don't have to understand the chemical composition of the snow, or understand the physics of the subtle alterations of the crystalline structures of the lump of compressed snow you are forming. You just intuitively make a snowball, and if something is off as you are forming it, you intuitively correct it until you are happy with your snowball. It's a process with feedback built into it, and with the insane levels of power that Shards wield and their expanded consciousnesses, I think it's quite probable that starting with an Intent to fashion a planet with a specific trajectory (like Scadrial) a lot of the necessaries for the purposeful trajectory of the planet were intuitively inserted (like coal deposits, or maybe even Harmony put those in because he wanted to be able to listen to Old Time Radio style Western Serials sooner).

I have to say I'm not very impressed with this chapter. I was looking forward to this, Zahel/Vasher is one of my favorite characters and Kaladin is also one of my favorite characters, but this chapter totally fell flat for me. First major complaint, using the largest known gems (the gemhearts from Chasmfiends) as grow lamps to produce small rockbuds that have a small amount of grain is just silly. The whole setup with the Ardent beating a drum and singing to a Rythym, like he's at a hippy drum circle, in order to just barely grow crops is a ludricous setup. And the fact that the largest gems they have barely provide enough investiture and crack in the process makes this process even sillier. They can't scale this methodology up (thry're already using the largest gems) and they are inefficiently and destructively consuming a scarce resource that would be better used to soulcast grain directly. I understand that this is really most likely here to show the mechanism the Sibling will be using to make crops grow at Urithiru, but the whole setup with giant bolted down Stormlight grow lamps, drumming and chanting Ardents, and the anemic rock buds is just too ridiculous for me And the new line that Brandon is taking about Cosmere bleed through didn't work at all with the fight between Vasher and Kaladin. If I had no knowledge of Awakening going into that scene, the fight wouldn't have made any sense. And the restrained way Awakening was described and even how it was utilized by Vasher was unsatisfying in the extreme. It's a cool magic system with a very fun visual manifestation, but this hesitancy to use it and the awkward way it was described really didn't work for me. I was hoping for more. Really, RoW is shaping up to be my least favorite SLA book so far. Navani's airship was disappointing, the minutiae of the pseudoscientific workings of fabrials is tedious and not compelling to me at all (logicspren are used to dim or increase light, really?, there's an overlap in allomantic type effects with fabrials too, how droll.) I honestly have not been looking forward to the preview chapters with the same level of anticipation that I had on the eve of Oathbringer's release, with the exception of the scenes with Mraize, not much has been working for me with these chapters.

Thanks Cal, all good points about the blackbane and that's interesting about Iyatl's dart. I'm not sure I agree with my theory either, it's just I really don't like the alternatives. Kinda fun to speculate too. Yeah, I get what you're saying, but it still seems too obvious to me. I really hope this is resolved before the trip to Lasting Integrity, it's an exciting enough plotline that it doesn't need the ratcheted up tension of wondering who can be trusted.

I agree with you that Ishnah is the most likely culprit, but I guess it doesn't seem satisfying because she is so clearly the obvious suspect. I personally don't want it to be Formless, Gaz, or Vatha, so the way to still achieve a satisfying twist is to have it be the obvious suspect but then have that suspect be more than she first appears. Thinking about it more though, it does seem like a ham fisted means of assassinating Ialia if Ishnah is really Iyatl, basically killing her in a manner where she is left as the prime suspect. I really don't want it to be Formless. I'm just barely on board with Shallan's DID and if she has a functional Ghostblood assassin alter I think it might just ruin for me what has been one of my favorite characters in fiction. Already the uncertainty and self-doubt about whether she has unknowingly killed Ialai is almost too much. There's no moral agency if there's no volitional control of one's actions. It's a circle that can't be squared. I'm a fan of redemption arcs, so I don't want it to be Gaz or Vatha either, which leaves me hoping it's Ishnah, but also being somewhat unsatisfied with how obvious that would be, unless there were some sort of twist. It's been awhile since I reread Oathbringer, I thought that Vatha was showing signs of protoradiancy before Shallan was contacted by Ishnah, but even with that not being the case, it's a feature of how Knights Radisnt operate that they take on squires and their squires have a higher likelihood of attracting spren to form Nahel bonds. The Ghostbloods, as an organization that specialize in information, I'm sure would have been aware of this.

Pagerunner put together a very solid analysis of the differences between Shallan's and Hoid's telling of the story on this thread:

Really nice work Ghander!! This is my favorite, it looks fantastic! It looks like an Aubrey Beardsley drawing, such nice use of black and white and the forms are just fun to look at. Great work!

Congratulations @I Am A Fish, your roast was fishtastic! Congratulations too @Hentient, your roast was great!

I see them more as the Cosmere Illuminati, a secret society obsessed with power that is Machiavellian in their unrestrained willingness to do whatever they need to achieve their aims. I would imagine that on Shardworlds other than Roshar, where possible, they are likewise exercising their power to achieve their ends. Their motivations are surely more than merely economic, why would they truck with such fell forces as the Unmade if they are only interested in mere economic renumeration. Just as Investiture is convertible into energy and matter, power is a commodity that is also convertible (reversibly as well) into money and opportunity. Especially after Mraize's speech during the Aviar hunting the mole scene, they seem like an organization that takes a wider view of affairs, and they have larger farther reaching aims. Like Hoid, I believe the Ghostbloods are willing to watch Roshar burn to achieve their objectives. But unlike Hoid, I believe they are willing to make Roshar burn if that achieves their objectives, which surely are greater than a just a mafia style criminal energy concern. To say that Investiture in a raw form is just energy is to ignore that it can also be converted to matter as well. It is power, distilled, contained (and if housed in perfect gems), storable until it's needed. The Ghostbloods most likely recognize that it has applications far more numerous and useful than just running Scadrial Air Conditioners or Rosharan heatrials. To take the real world analogy of crude oil, it's a limited view to say that this promethean substance is merely something to refine into high octane gasoline for running engines. It's also a precursor to the essential petro-chemicsl supply chain. Most varieties of commercial plastics have as an input of their production crude oil, the utility of the commodity is not uni-dimensional. Energy is itself an abstract commodity, and so serves somewhat as a stand-in for a subset of what raw Investiture could do. How handily the Ghostbloods eliminated Thanadal and Ialia shows that they are competent in the extreme. We know that they recruited Iyatil from the 17th Shard, and Mraize's trophy case shows they have ranged far across the Cosmere, so it's safe to infer that they are active in the wider Cosmere. I think we might see subtle signs of their machinations when we finally get The Lost Metal and the War Breaker sequel, and I am excited to see the conflict that I believe is building between the Ghostbloods and the Sleepless in Era 4.

Thanks! As per your request, one magic 8 ball, awakened with the command "Run for President" What command were you thinking about for awakened stew by the way?

I tried a few drawings, but they weren't working out, and I kind of feel like the ultimate awakened sword has already been drawn, the lounge singing, Frank Sinatra looking, singing sword from Who Framed Roger Rabbit: Of course, here you go (I think Stick really should have chosen the fire route, probably a less painful way to go).

Sorry to double post, but @Bzhydack the recent revelation from Chapter 14 definitely confirms that Unmade have been active at the tower, even with the defenses working (making your theory far more probable): With the Sibling malfunctioning on the eve of the Recreance, seems like that would be the perfect time for Unmade shenanigans. Send in Dai-Gonarthis and Sja-Anat.

@Hentient that was amazing! Nicely roasted, can't wait to see your toast @Truthwatcher! @I Am A Fish, ouch, that was brutal! Well roasted my fish, well roasted!

I think your mom was wrong. The Taj Mahal is as beautiful in construction and the surrounding grounds are likewise as beautiful as Versailles. The Chand Baori, Modhera and Rani Ji Kabori stepwells are some of most beautiful buildings ever made in form and function. I've never been to India, but before I die, I would like to visit one of the prettiest spots on the face of this planet, the Rock Garden of Chandigarh. I loved Gaudi's Park Guell, but Chand's rock garden seems even more elaborate and integrated better into the environment. I get your point about the buildings that were destroyed as an expression of imperial power, but Europe too is strewn with the corpses of once beautiful castles and cities. It's likewise tragic that the Taliban destroyed the Bhuddas of Bamiyan and that ISIS destroyed the Temple of Jonah. Hopefully someday humanity will realize that true power is moving beyond conflict and working together to create more beauty in the world. I think, just like the Listener conclave that we saw in WoR where the leaders represented every known form of Listener, the Nine are likewise a ruling body representing each respective brand of the Fused. The fact they the nine have their backs to the gathered assembly and are permanently stationed facing each other, is very reminiscent of the 1st Generation Kandra, rule is by the consensus of the ruling elite. The gathered Fused of high Station are really just their to report to the nine, it's not really a deliberative assembly.

One of the Shards of divinity has taken time out of her busy schedule to pop out of the spiritual realm to roast a guy named after a bit of stone. Without further ado here's Edgli:

I think the simple answer to this closed system is that the Fused have gemhearts, investiture applied to themselves returns to their gemheart unless it is an application that is consumptive because it is the creation of new matter (like you said when healing, or when Lezian grows carapace daggers). I think the answer here is that Lezian is not really using the surge of teleportation, he's rather dropping his physical form (the husk that blows away like dust) moving quickly in his pure spren form (which we found out in Chapter 14 that all Fused can do) and then using something akin to spiritual regrowth to regrow his body. The fact that he can shape weapons out of his carapace makes me think he's one of the class of Fused we saw at the Battle of Thaylen fields that could manipulate their carapace.

I think that the fact that the mask was described as having her skin growing over it establishes clearly that the mask is permanent, the idea of a permanent mask is not dependent upon knowledge of some obscure tribe on a different planet. Skin is growing over her mask, hence she can't apparently remove it. Removing a seemingly permanent mask, to basically don a mask of being unmasked is in and of itself a compelling twist. The threat to kill anyone who sees her unmasked is likewise not dependent on knowledge of Southern Scadrial culture, and if viewed without the bias of being a cultural significant detail to an alien culture, the threat is even more menacing and hints at a secret about her true identity that she is willing to kill to keep.

Based on my book signing question and what Brandon said after his written answer at the Skyward Release party in Seattle, I'm pretty sure Felt is not Thaidakar, but he could possibly be aligned with the Ghostbloods currently. The fact that he's been a rogue agent I think is the operative bit that rules him out from being Thaidakar. The more I think about, the more I like this theory. Basically an obscure dark eyed woman has somehow managed to attach herself to one of the most powerful men on Roshar. There's also the alignment of Sebarial's form of power with the stated aims of the ghostbloods, namely control of markets and the concentration of commercial wealth. It is highly suspicious that Highprinces and Highladies that were in positions to contest control of the markets at the shattered plains were taken out by the ghostbloods. Pallona also got access to Urithiru and the Oathgates through her association with Sebarial.

That is absolutely one of the best songs of all times, but its equal is actually the song I had playing in a boombox when I proposed to my wife. I know if you haven't heard this already it will be one of your all time favorite songs. I'm sensing a theme here... I LOVE Starset! Beautiful melodies and beautiful lyrics. I don't have a specific general recommendation for you, so I'm just going to give you recommendations based on each song. 1) Die for you/Gravity, this is from a band I'm sure you know but there's a sci-fi theater through line here, Black Star by Radiohead: 2) Richochet, this is purely thematic, but this is one of my favorite songs of all times, Revolver by Mark Lanegan and Isobell Campbell (I know I recommended it earlier in this thread, but it's so good it's worth a second recommendation: 3) Satellite, this again is purely a thematic recommendation, but holy crap this is one of the best songs ever made by one of the most talented songwriters who has ever lived, Elliot Smith's Satellite: @Orlion the Platypus, you cantankerous platypus you! I did it, I finally found the time to listen to your whole playlist. The songs were amazingly good, but this reminds me of the time when I went to a party at college and put on this song: Even the crickets stopped chirping. I'll always click on your posts, you are one of the true authentic voices on the shard. At heart I'm a grouser just like you. Kindred spirit. The lyrics for this song were super pretty, I liked it a lot but I liked your next pick even better. This is a truly beautiful song! Really good! This is my second favorite of your songs. There is a melodic through line between these songs that makes me think you also love Chris Cornell. If that is the case, I have a special treat for you, a somewhat obscure Alice In Chains song featuring some vocals by Chris Cornell, the song Right Turn from the EP Sap. Such an amazingly beautiful song. If you are as suitably impressed with the beauty of that song as you should be, you should really listen to the best song off of that EP, and possibly the best song by Alice in Chains, Brother: I expect nothing less from you, I have 2 years of high school spsnish, but the message is crystal clear, hell in a handbasket. This was by far my favorite of your songs. Post your other favorite 20 minute songs and I will gladly listen to them! One of my favorite songs of all times could be broken up into smaller chunks, but i like to listen to the whole thing like it's one song, kind of like a novelette in song. Rimsky Korsakov's Sheherezade.

Thanks! As per your request, here's a little comic about an awakened mouse, the first in what might be a series, Awakened Pranks, or maybe I'll call it Smile, you're on Awakened Camera. And here's a closeup of what the cute little awakened mouse looks like:

The mask could be a fake, Iyatil would be wearing it not to impersonate a Southern Scadrian (who on Roshar would even know or care what a Southern Scadrial Hunter is) but rather because she saw in the Hunter's mask the ultimate means of hiding her true identity, namely a mask that seems unremovable. A permanent mask is an apparent contradiction of terms, and it does imply heavily that there is something important to hide. If she is invested in the ruse of her identity being masked Iyatil, then the fact that her true identity has been compromised is just as believable a motive (or more believable really) to kill the people who have seen her true face rather then killing them because of some Southern Scadrian Hunter taboo. Think Kaiser Sose. I read WoR before I read Bands of Mourning, and without knowing anything about Southern Scadrian Hunters, Iyatil's mask was incredibly effective at establishing her alien menace. The fact that her skin was seemingly growing into the mask conveys (without additional cosmere knowledge being necessary) that she never takes off her mask, and just made her scarier and more mysterious. The idea that the mask is her true identity is established by the symbol itself, but I think that it's very compelling for this permanent mask to be a subterfuge. And this deception would be incredibly useful if her role in the ghostbloods is to be the deep cover operative that watches new inductees. Also, adopting the mask of Ishnah she would have a clear path towards becoming a Lightweaver, which is an explicitly stated goal of the Ghostbloods. I actually don't agree with this. I think the whole hunter vs prey thing is the defining aspect of Mraize's world view, in a world were morality is an axis that is of no concern the only thing that matters is power. And the proof of the power comes in its application, the strong are the hunters the weak are the prey. Iyatil (admittedly she was pretty taciturn during the Amaram base camp infiltration) doesn't espouse any such ideology, she seems more like a spider that watches and waits for the right time to apply her power. The characters actions are different because of fundamentally different world view. I don't see that it follows that that is the simplest view. While reading WoR I wondered if her seemingly permanent mask was itself just a cover for a different secret identity. The idea of a permanent mask is cool and bone-chilling in and of itself, but there's also the possibility that it is just a mask. I agree that Ishnah isn't necessarily Iyatil, but the fact that Ishnah wears heavy makeup, pencils her eyebrows and wears lipstick makes me suspicious that the persona Ishnah is just a mask. Whether the true identity of Ishnah is Iyatil or some other member of the Ghostbloods doesn't really matter, but I do think it would be a compelling twist if it turned out to be Iyatil.

Granted, it is in fact the Awakened Burrito that plays the role of Aaron Burrito in the musical that is taking Hallendren by storm, Spamilton. Your bane (or is it your true boon) is that you need to check out the full details of Spamilton the musical: I wish that turtle necks were back in style.