Rainier

Click on the link where the text says 1 Point, 9 hours ago. I also struggled finding the proper link to click.

Glyphs and Greatshells?

Here's what I think. Short stories are the right length for movies. Novels are the right length for a single season of a television series. These are not your typical novels, however, and I'm not sure how well they'd work in that format. Looking at Game of Thrones, with 10 episode seasons, the first of which lined up with the book exactingly and was the best season, gives me hope, but I'm worried you couldn't do justice to The Way of Kings in 10 hours.

The back five books are about five of the Radiants. Two of them seem to be (former) Heralds, but the other three are just normal people. Plus, as we know from Nale, just because you're a Herald doesn't mean you're a Radiant. You still have to speak the oaths and bond a spren to become a Radiant. Nale is the only Herald so far who has become a Radiant in his own order. Taln could become the second, but he's still going to have to speak oaths. And even though there are two Heralds, one of them is Shalash, who is the inspiration for Lightweavers, and we've already got one of those. It's much more likely that she fits our missing Dustbringer role, which also aligns with the fact that she's spent her time destroying things and breaking them apart.

What, nobody wants to link Cosmere the Musical?

For expense, I'll just point out that animators and animation isn't cheap, either. I'm all for animation, personally, but that's not a guarantee that it will be cost savings. However, that doesn't matter to me as much as... Genndy Tartakovsky, director of many animated shows, including The Clone Wars. This is the man I want adapting my favorite fantasy novels into animated TV Shows and movies. Another great opportunity in animation is the ability to have voice actors that don't match their character like (Tartakovsky's) Samurai Jack who is voiced by Phil Lamarr, or in Aaron McGruder's The Boondocks where both Huey and Riley Freeman (young boys) are voiced by Regina King (woman). But, until we see a big-budget animated show actually enter the mainstream and do well, we're going to see nothing but GoT clones. It will take a real sea-change to get this off the ground, or a trailblazer to show it can be done.

I didn't? I didn't even use the word perception. His arc with Maya can serve multiple purposes, and right now I don't even care about his arc here, just that details from his experience can inform the question at hand. There's a reason why I didn't use the word perception, despite the WoB, because will and intent are better words for what I'm trying to get at. Perception is what you see in the world, Intent is what you're doing to it. Perception is knowing that a shardblade is a dead spren. Intent is throwing a shardblade and willing it to stay solid. Adolin treated his blade like it was a real person. He talked to his blade. He cared for his blade. When he Intends for his blade to stay together when he throws it, he's exerting his will to hold it together cognitively. It's his Intent which allows him to do these things. It's his perception that allows Maya to communicate back to him. Again, you're going way beyond what I wrote. I never said the only thing that matters is force of will and intent, I'm saying that those things matter, and matter greatly. And there's more in the Cosmere with will and intent than just people. Stick wants to stay a stick, after all, and will continue staying a stick until overwhelmed by the intent of another. Furthermore, there's only so much attention and effort you can exert. Just because everything is based on our perceptions of them, and our intents can change them, doesn't mean we have the ability to change very much at once. As for the mentality, I point you to the Lord Ruler, whose Intent combined with massive power to reshape the entire world, all without any genuine interactions between him and other people. So yes, with sufficient power, it really does come down to will and intent, and when we finally see a Shard get splintered, I'm betting it's going to be force of will that does it.

Haven't we seen exactly this with Adolin? I recall he summoned Maya in something like 7 heartbeats during the battle of Thaylen City. Similar to how he throws the blade and it stays solid for a distance instead of disappearing immediately. So we're already seeing this in action, and with a 'dead' blade, too. I think this just goes to show how important force of will, and intent, are to everything in the Cosmere.

We're talking past each other here. Of course she'd be responsible, that's why it's a test. If she fails they kill her, or try, and if she passes then they know she's loyal. The whole point is to make her culpable without making her literally kill her mentor with her bare hands, and the test won't work if the signal Shallan sends is too cheap. The signal has to be costly enough to show her loyalty, but not so costly as to spook her. Besides, she's already responsible for their actions, by your logic. By consorting with them without immediately turning them in to Dalinar or Jasnah, she's become complicit. But not very complicit, at least not yet, and she hasn't done anything too bad herself. There are gradients here, shades of gray between black and white. If the Ghostbloods are smart, they'll boil the frog slowly so Shallan keeps lying to herself that she's not responsible for their actions, or their plans, especially if she doesn't know them.

Teft reminds me of Duiker from Malazan. He's not there to die, he's there to witness. He's entirely equipped to deal with the trauma of it all because that's all he's ever known. If he's anything like Duiker, he'll know trauma. I suppose because it's the apocalypse again. Typically people die during those. We spectators like to make grisly predictions about who's about to die. The truth is any character that gets enough spotlight also gets plot armor right up until the point they need to have been unarmored the entire time. So everybody in their shadow becomes suspect. Kaladin isn't dying for his men in book 4, as much as he wishes he could. Instead, his men will die for him. So, which ones are dead meat? I'm hoping that Lopen bites the dust. Personal preference is all, I find him and Lift a chore to read, and while I can't rid myself of the latter, I can at least hope the former gets himself killed heroically. Sadly, I'm expecting Lopen to be carried around as comic relief forever. I hold out hope that second era Lift is significantly different than child Lift, and I end up appreciating the distinction. Another character, besides Lopen, that I hope dies is Lyn. She's a fan insert in the first place, which makes it both easier and harder to kill the character. I'm rooting for Drehy and Skar are perfect people to play significant roles and die significant deaths. They're original B4 crew, which makes them well developed and sentimental, and they are set up for a bigger role as Radiants of the same tier as Kaladin at the end of book 2. They are the minibosses that die to let you know the threat is real. Until that's needed, they stay alive. Both could die before the end of book 4, but it would have to be within the same sort of climaxes in Oathbringer. Think the final confrontation in Kholinar, which was about 2/3 through the book. That's where I expect these two, or one of them, to die. Rock is the mystic, cleric, and King-in-exile. No way he dies until we get something from those leads. We need to see the Horneater peaks, and see more of his people react to him, since he'll never give himself away. He's alive through most of book 5 at least. No way he's dying in book 4. Sigzil is in the same boat, in that he's distinguished himself as a character of note for logistics. Unless the Fused plan is trying to disrupt logistics by killing Sigzil, I think he's safe. And yes, Teft. I agree that he's so very vulnerable. Yet I'm not sure that means he's doomed to die, instead that i think he's doomed to be there to watch his comrades die, so we can view their deaths in character. His POV is already pathetic enough, I think we're being conditioned to see some great tragedies preceding some great triumphs from Teft's POV.

Oh, of course not. I never suggested and wouldn't expect peace. Shallan will stall as long as possible, but eventually she'll be forced to choose. She must reveal Truths to progress, such as to whom she's really loyal, even if it isn't either Jasnah/Radiants or the Ghostbloods. Now that you mention it, I could see another reason why Jasnah would ally herself with them, or at least call a truce: knowledge. They traffic as much in information and knowledge as in artifacts and power. Jasnah would value knowledge of realmatics , other worlds, and the rest of the Cosmere that she probably didn't get from the Cryptics and definitely hasn't gotten from Wit. Besides the Ghostbloods, and my boy Vasher/Zahel/Warbreaker, there aren't many worldhoppers on Roshar. Although in this case, the Roshar is the star system, not the planet. Yes, passive party, tacitly approving. Her job is to watch. To listen. To let everyone else do their jobs while she does hers. To demonstrate her loyalty by not interfering. Like I said, a test. No guarantees she will pass, but just like Kaladin had his temptation (Moash's assassination of Elhokar), Shallan will have hers. The key is here: They're not going to tell her fully, I should hope. They'll tell her to do her job and not ask too many questions, and she'll investigate and find out or come right up to the brink before realizing what's going on. What's a Voidbringer? As far as I know, it's all of humanity, or at least the refugees/invaders from Ashyn. Wasn't that the big reveal at the end of Oathbringer? So saying he's after the power of the voidbringers isn't an answer at all. What is the power of the voidbringers? There are meager answers, such as the difference between Kaladin's surgebinding and the similar voidbinding done by the Fused at the Oathgate in Shadesmar. @Pathfinder is right about one thing: Voidbringers and Voidbinding is the antithesis of Radiants and Surgebinding. So assuming that Mraize means the power of the Fused, and not the power of humanity/spren, then he'd be working off a different chart. Yes, it's an excellent plan. The Ghostbloods want to capture Sja'anat in a perfect gem the same way Dalinar captured Nergaoul, in order to be able to access Voidbinding. If they're harvesting spren from proto-Radiants, but the spren are bound to oaths, then corrupting those spren with the Unmade can unlock their power for more nefarious means. Capture the spren by saying oaths you don't intend to keep, corrupt the spren so you can use their powers without upholding the oaths, and take all that power offworld while Roshar goes to rust. Although now that we're talking multi-planet motives... And the desolation is nothing but an opportunity to people like the Ghostbloods, and Hoid. An opportunity they can't afford to miss.This casts Hoid's action at the end of the book, bonding Elhokar's spren, as similar carrion-feeding. Hoid is unimpressed because he's old and arrogant, and he's not taking these mere mortals seriously. Yet at the same time, they're doing the same things he is (finding, understanding, and hoarding investiture in all its forms). I wouldn't be surprised to see Hoid rue the day he underestimated the Ghostbloods, but we'll have to wait until the end game for that.

Of anything that can be certain, this is it. That's what Brandon's been building towards for three books: Shallan's dual loyalties to opposing factions. They could try to have it both ways, though, if they didn't think they could get Shallan to turn. Test her loyalty not by making her kill or betray her mentor, but by standing idly by and doing nothing while the rest of the organization operates around her. To know that the Ghostbloods are targeting Jasnah and her only job is to not give it away. Or, as you say... The only reason to kill Jasnah is because the war is about to be won before the Ghostbloods are ready to take advantage of whatever power Mraize refers to. Speaking of which, what power is that, exactly? The power of Odium? The fused specifically? No, it's got to be the return of the spren. The spren are going to be bursting forth in the next two books, and the Ghostbloods want to soak up as much of that power as possible while it lasts, which means they want to hold the window for acquiring spren (aka massive investiture) for as long as possible while they get their agents onto Roshar, get them bonded, and keep them alive or get them out. After all, we've seen them recruit a Radiant already. I bet that they'll have many Radiants as members in the back 5, either through recruitment or by getting their members bonded.

I don't think Hoid is trying to bring back Adonalsium, I think he's trying to forge himself a Shard with no intent, that he can wield as he wants to without being corrupted by the shard's intent. He would need to perfectly balance all 16 shardic intents to do so, but your spiritweb thoughts point that this should be possible. In order to avoid being corrupted by the intent of the shard, he'd have to collect all 16 before he's able to do anything with it, so that explains both his long game and his relative reticence to show his power. He can't afford to draw attention to himself, anymore than he has as the most notorious man in the Cosmere, and he can't afford to make powerful enemies until he's ready to launch the plan into motion. Agree completely on Nightblood being the first artificial spiritweb, although that has somehow raised my anticipation of Nightblood (novel), which I didn't think was possible.

I'm with you here, this seems like a pretty straightforward metaphor. The infinite sea is the cognitive realm where they 'live' endlessly, being blown whichever way the 'sea' pushes them. I think the most likely outcome is what you predicted: a ton of radiants come from the Origin riding a Highstorm, and Puuli goes nuts when he sees them. Anything else beyond that gets more speculative, but in order of decreasing likelihood, here's how I assess these theories: 1. Radiants riding a Highstorm get seen by Puuli, fulfilling his expectations 2. Those sailors lost at sea are dead spren who have been revived en masse 3. They are arriving in Natanatan 4. They made a deal with BAM to revive the spren Great thoughts!

Hoooo boy, do I have a thread for you... I'll chime in that I thought Shallan and Kaladin were pointed directly towards each other at the end of WoR, engagement be damned, and I still think that Shallan is the most likely partner for him. I really don't want to drag up old arguments, and that thread got closed for a reason. If you see some fatigue on this topic, that thread is why, and you should see some familiar faces there. The summary linked at the top by @Ailvara is pure gold, however.

This is a great point. Kaladin is so intense, he's not going to balance anything. He's going 100% on his way, especially after getting spurned in OB. It will take something really significant to get him to prioritize anything on the level of protecting his men. After all, he's not that far removed for abject slavery where he was sent to die on a weekly basis. You can't just slip that attitude off like a coat when you come inside. Kaladin's love life will likely be what gets him to progress as a character, because something has to get to care about himself and his happiness instead of just his safety and the safety of the people he protects.

A man can always dream, I suppose, but unfortunately I think she'll also be alive at the start of book 10. 100% alive at the start of book 6. I think he wants us to like Lift because he likes Lift, and wants to write a juvenile character because he enjoys it. My only hope is that adult Lift is significantly different from child Lift, but somehow I don't think that will happen. The only character that I'd really be surprised and sad to see die is Kaladin. I know it isn't just his story, but it's always felt that way because the series started with him.

Let's just say that I expect all of these characters to be alive at the start of book 10, then.

Two objects of different mass will accelerate at the same rate due to gravity. The larger mass is pulled harder by gravity, but also resists more due to inertia. The acceleration is what gets doubled. Force = Mass * Acceleration. Weight is a force. The acceleration of gravity (on earth) is ~9.8 m/s^2. We know gravity is different on Roshar, but this is the factor that gets doubled, or halved, by lashings. Mass stays constant, and so changing the acceleration is what changes the force (gravity/weight) applied.

That was the name I wanted. I agree with you on this. She's the only named character so far that I think Kaladin might connect with romantically in the future. Not that they will, I still think someone new or no one at all are more likely, but I fully expect to see Tarah in the next book, and not just in flashbacks but in real-time. You mean the same military that we see in the interludes, feeding people to greatshells? I wondered what purpose that interlude was serving. Just like the interlude in WoR set up the mess in Kholinar, I suppose this could have served to introduce us the law-men in charge of a territory teeming with refugees fleeing the singers.

The first arc sounds like Urithiru, so Dalinar, Navani, Jasnah, probably Shallan, and the political might of Alethkar and the burgeoning alliance. I don't think Adolin gets the main focus here, as there are just too many characters here to spend much time in his head. I think we're mainly going to hear about Adolin from the perspectives of the other characters. The second arc is probably going to be Venli's, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Vyre as one of the related people here. Maybe Kaladin, too, as he's the most connected to the singers. I don't think R'lain counts as a main character. He'll be around, but he's not going to count as one of the 9 major focus characters. This should the no-man's land between the two peoples, and the people passing from one to the other. Vyre is going from human to singer. Venli appears to be poised to traverse the same ground in the other direction. And Kaladin sits squarely in the middle, refusing to see either side as the enemy, and refusing to pick sides or resenting being forced. The third arc has to be Szeth and Nightblood. Didn't Szeth swear at the end of OB to confront the Shin and purge the leaders who cast him out? I don't expect the purge to come in book 4, but the set up, the investigation, the necessary steps required, I'm thinking fit the two characters off on their own. Gimme that sweet Szeth and sword-nimi quest, even if it means I have to wait for my inevitable Nightblood-Vasher reunion.

Right now, there simply aren't any good candidates. I don't buy Lift or Rysn, they're just two young girls with screen time, which makes them spring to mind. I don't buy Jasnah, for many reasons, and I simply don't see them together in any committed way. Jasnah, as queen, will probably marry someone in her role as queen, not as an individual person, because she's logical and suppresses her emotions, and it's the logical thing to marry for alliances. We've got Laral, who's both married and very unimpressed with Kaladin, and we've got his partner from the army, who is by far the most likely of any of the aforementioned characters to become romantically entangled with Kaladin. Syl is not a real option. She is not a person, she is an idea, and she has no business getting romantically involved with a mortal. The sooner this pairing dies, the better. You might as well ship Kalladin with a Ryshadium, at least they're both sentient and mortal. Besides that, we're left with even more minor characters (May Aladar?), brand new characters, or no one.

Hopefully: Lopen, Adolin, Gaz, Davar brothers Regretfully: Dalinar, Szeth, Nale, Taravangian, Teft, Rock Plot Armor Protects Them: Kalladin, Shallan, Renarin, Lift, Jasnah

I think he realized he did it poorly because everyone is still talking about it, so he wanted to put it to bed well ahead of book 4 to set those expectations early. Get ahead of any hype, put down any misconceptions, to avoid angst in the future. I'd love to believe that 'Shallan' the persona made the choice and that she still needs to reconcile her fractured personality, but even if that's the case, I don't see her changing. Frankly I'm pretty disappointed with how that entire arc went (through two books!), so the best outcome for me is if it disappears into the background and never shows up again.

You forgot Azir, which we see a little of in OB. I think we'll see much more of it in Book 4.