Llarimar

A few people have said that they were hooked on Sanderson after reading The Final Empire, and some of my friends have told me this as well in person. However for me, while I loved the Final Empire, I wasn't "hooked" on Sanderson, I wouldn't say, until I had finished the entire first Mistborn trilogy. What really hooked me on Sanderson was seeing all of his incredible plot connections and his foresight as an author, which only became really apparent by The Hero of Ages.

Their genetics are the same and they age the same. Their concept of a "year" is just different. There are 365 in the Earth year, based on our specific planetary orbit. Of course it makes sense that on another planet, that planetary orbit would be different and the year would therefore be a different length, or alternatively, they base their "year" on something completely unrelated to astronomy - some cultures base their year on the human gestation period (nine months) or something else. When a person on Earth is 1 years old, they are 365 days old, but on Roshar a 1-year-old baby would be over 500 days old. This doesn't make a huge difference in the context of the story, so it doesn't really bother me - it doesn't change the story that much if Dalinar is in his fifties or his sixties, or if Kaladin is 19 or 21.

This is wonderful. I laughed out loud. Here are a few. Bondsmiths, you are now required to inform visiting dignitaries that you can learn their language just by touching them. There are a few who are very upset that you were intentionally eavesdropping on their gossip. Elsecallers, please use the hallways instead of Transporting through Shadesmar whenever you feel the need to take a shortcut. We suppose this is better than Soulcasting walls into blood but it still can really startle people (not to mention an axehound hopped behind one of you and was lost into the sea of beads recently). Skybreakers, please stop dragging people to the ministers of justice and exposing their minor offenses. There is law enforcement in place to handle these types of things (and seriously, the boys who are drawing uncovered safehands in the bathroom stalls are not worth our time so stop harassing them).

Shallash seems to have changed a lot as a person from when she was originally a Herald during the Desolations - of course we can only get this through the current context of the story since we haven't seen her back then, but to me she seems bitter and angry, and very neurotic, mainly from her incessant defacing of Herald-themed artwork. I think that we will learn as time goes on that Shallash has changed drastically as a person from when she was the Herald of Lightweavers, and that her personality and priorities are now very out of sync with someone the Cryptics would look for in a Radiant, and much more in line with the Order of Dustbringers. The fact that she used to be associated with Lightweavers is essentially a coincidence - now, she is very oriented towards the ideals of the Dustbringers, which is what matters the most to the spren.

I don't think that Dalinar is a reincarnation of Tanavast or the Sunmaker, mainly because he's a very strong character by himself and that if anything that would cheapen him in my opinion. However, I have thought before that Dalinar is indeed old, at least older than we realize while reading the book, because of the fact that the Rosharan year is longer. I think he is said at some point to be in his fifties, which I think translates into him actually being in his sixties (remember, Jasnah is 40 so he must be at least 20 years older than her if not more). Not that 60 is very old, but it still puts him in a new light for me at least to imagine him as a 60-something man, wielding the power of the Bondsmith and standing front and center as the main character of Oathbringer. It's very unusual for a fantasy book to focus so heavily on an older character like that, and I really appreciate it - I think it gives the story much more perspective and maturity.

I personally thought it was funny and understood from the OP that Gancho Libre was half joking. I think that pretty much everyone who's commented here is "laughing" in the way that was intended, Royal Dingus, and it doesn't seem to me that Gancho is acting defensive and pretending like the OP wasn't a joke, and so there's no need to make fun of the attempt at humor. I also don't think anyone's mad, Gancho, although I can only speak for myself - I think it's an interesting theory, honestly, if easily disprovable. I think it's fun to throw out random ideas like this just to stir the pot. And I think it would be great for you to share you other fake theory, I would love to read it. I don't want to be a troll or anything Royal Dingus, but you did mention Gancho Libre's 800-post content count as part of your argument, so I supposed it's free game, but I would just point out that you probably don't have enough posts yourself to be talking about your "reputation," or to say that half of your reputation came from one thread. To respond to a joking, three word OP - "Think about it." - which such a thorough takedown is a little over the top. EDIT: This is courteous response, Royal Dingus, I hadn't noticed it when I wrote my original post. Like Royal Dingus, If I were to make one suggestion, Gancho, I would say that you might want to label these things with "joke theory" in the future. Great talking, I hope no one's upset!

Llarimar is my favorite character from Warbreaker. An original character that you wrote? If so then that's really cool, were you working on a book, or was it just a character you invented without a story? I don't know why, but this is hilarious to me. A '"three alphabet" name.

Thanks! Also, I was looking at the thread you posted and it's very interesting. I think it's still possible for gemstones to have formed at the surface naturally, but it makes more sense for all of them to have come from fossilized greatshells, just for the sake of consistency.

The idea of this make sense to me, but I think it just leaves too much wiggle room, as @Iridium Savant said earlier. What we're talking about is Spiritual healing altering the body so that it more closely aligns with a person's perception of themselves. It seems to me, though, that Spiritual healing would only work towards healing injuries, like cuts or severed limbs. I don't think a person with a healthy body could change that body through Spiritual healing, because... there's nothing to heal - no injuries or wounds. If this is how Spiritual healing works, then it wouldn't make sense for a person to be able to change their biological sex if they perceive themself as a different gender, because healing originates in the Spiritual, not in the Cognitive, which is where a person's perception of themself would lie. If a transgender person could change their sex so that their body matches their Cognitive perception of themselves, then it seems that other dubious things would be possible as well - if you Cognitively saw yourself with huge, ripped muscles, then you could use Investiture to "heal" yourself and achieve that ideal, or if you ideally saw yourself with sparkling pink eyes then you could change your eye color. Just because you identify a certain way, I don't think your ideal self in the Spiritual Realm would change to match it. Although at the same time... this does become confusing because your perception of yourself must make some difference. Kaladin, for example, is unable to heal his slave brands because he sees himself as deserving them, even though I'm sure his ideal Spiritual self doesn't have slave brands.

I think that there are ways for gems to be created at the surface through chemical reactions or water pressure. I was looking around for information about this online and found THIS quote from UCBerkeley. So what they basically say is that gems can be formed at the surface or near the surface through water reacting with minerals in specific environments, or from cooling magma (although if there aren't plate tectonics on Roshar I'm not sure how there could be magma...). I think that you're right, @Obnoxiousspren, about most gemstones on Roshar being farmed from creatures bodies - that makes the most sense. But it's interesting to see that it's possible for them to form without plate tectonics - I wonder if Brandon researched that for the book. Not to change the subject, but I've been wondering for awhile, how do you post thread boxes like this? The only way I can figure out how to insert a thread link is by clicking the "Link" icon and inserting the URL, and then writing THIS THREAD in the Link text for people to click on. I don't know to make it appear like a nice, sectioned square.

Yes, I think that Kaza did transform into smoke intentionally. She was already starting to fade away, because she had used the Soulcaster so much, and so she allowed herself to disintegrate because she wanted to die by her own power instead of being killed by the cook

Welcome to the Shard! I'm pretty sure you've read Warbreaker since you knew that Azure and Zahel are Worldhoppers, but just in case... Warbreaker spoilers:

You're right, I should have realized that! I'll put my comment in a spoiler bubble.

Spanish pronunciation is so much easier than English! I wish our vowels were always the same, then there would never be a debate about how to pronounce these names.

OB spoilers:

I have seen this WoB before, and interests me because one of the only ways I can see spren wandering to Scadrial would be through a Radiant bond. There are few options here: 1. They are just lower spren like rainspren who wandered to Scadrial aimlessly (unlikely, especially if it's "really hard" for a spren to travel - that suggests volition) 2. They are higher spren like honorspren who intentionally traveled to Scadrial of their own volition (again, unlikely I think, because we have not seen spren to be very ambitious or proactive by their own merits) 3. They traveled with a Knight Radiant (the most likely possibility, I think, because they wouldn't particularly have a reason to go there alone, and also because they might need a Radiant bond to help them if travel off Roshar is difficult) Perhaps Hoid has traveled to Scadrial with his Cryptic, or Elsecallers have traveled there through the Cognitive Realm and then have Elsecalled into the Physical with their spren. Also, why Scadrial in particular? Scadrial doesn't have any special link to Roshar, so far as we know - if anything Nalthis seems to be the most closely associated world. So when Brandon says "Yes, there are a few spren on Scadrial," did the questioner just happen to guess the right cosmere world where spren have traveled, or are there spren present on any given world in the cosmere, like Nalthis or Sel or Threnody?

The thing that annoys me is that the spelling doesn't really make sense - Brandon is just trying to create a certain look when he spells her name, at the expense of logical pronunciation. The fact that the "j" is pronounced like a "y" in Jasnah makes her name look very Middle-Eastern, very Semitic, which is the intended effect since Alethkar has a vaguely Semitic culture. However, when you say above that the "j" letter in Alethi makes the "y" sound in English, it's just confusing to me because Alethi doesn't use the same alphabet - "j" and "y" are English letters. So whatever letters they use to spell Jasnah's name, you would think that Brandon would try to transliterate it into English so that it bears the closest possibly approximation to the Alethi pronunciation. And in English, the language into which Brandon is translating these names, the "j" sound does not make a "y" sound. The "y" sound does. That's just why it annoys me - we have a letter that makes the "y" sound, so why not use it (Yasnah) instead of using "j"? I guess it just goes back to the fact that Brandon wants the names to look authentic and Semitic-style, and so he uses the "j" for that reason. But as far as how letters are pronounced in English, spelling it with a "y" would make much more sense. In Elantris, there is a character named Fjon, which I assume is pronounced "Fi-yon" like the word "fjord." Once again in this example, Brandon is trying to make the name look authentic - Nordic or Scandinavian in this case (which is which the Derethi culture is based on I think), and so he uses the "fj-" combination like in the word "fjord." This doesn't bother me as much, however, partially because there is some precedent in English (if only because of the word "fjord") to pronounce "j" like a "y" in this circumstance - making a hard "j" sound in "Fjon" (like F-John) would be quite unnatural. However, the fact that the "j" in Jasnah is at the beginning of her name just draws a lot of attention to the letter, and for me, when I first read the book, emphasized that the pronunciation was a hard "j". The letter "j" never makes a "y" sound at the beginning of the word in English, so the spelling just doesn't really make sense to me.

I didn't include Adolin on the poll because I thought his name would be relatively uncontroversial - I say it with long "a," AA-doe-linn (like the "a" in "cat"). Because there are so many different "a" sounds in English it's hard to know what someone means when they say "short a" or "long a" (because there are more than two "a" sounds), but I can definitely imagine different ways that Adolin could be pronounced - AH-doe-linn (like the "a" in "car"), AYE-doe-linn (like the "a" in "plane"). But I think at least the second two syllables of his name ("doe-lin") will be pronounced the same by most people. I feel the same way for the most part... if Brandon pronounces a name a certain way, that's how I feel like I have to pronounce it. But I do appreciate that he says you can pronounce the names however you want, because there are a few idiosyncratic pronunciations I have that I just can't let go of. One for example is "Elantris." Most people say it ee-LAWN-triss (the middle part sound like "lawn"), but I have always pronounced it ee-LANN-triss (the middle part sound like "land"). This sounds so much better to me because I think it sounds more elegant and centralized in the mouth. The second two-syllables ("LANN-triss") also remind me of the word "lantern," which reminds me of the glowing seons and the light of Elantris. I also cannot bring myself to say "YASS-nuh" when I'm reading (for Jasnah). If I were talking to Brandon at a signing, I would probably say "YASS-nuh" just because I know that's how he pronounces it, but her name has always been "JASS-nuh" to me.

I personally really like the fact that so many of the relationships in Sanderson's books are arranged marriages which actually work out, if only because this is very rarely seen in fiction. Arranged marriages are always depicted as oppressive and distasteful, so it's very interesting to see an author who approaches them in a different way, and understands their practical value within the context of the story. I know what you mean about modern, Western sensibilities, but the fact is that there are many cultures in the world where arranged marriages are a tried and tested formula that has been established for hundreds of years and remains quite effective today. There is often a perception in Western society that people who are placed into arranged marriages are having their lives stolen, and their freedom taken away, but quite frequently everyone involved is pleased with these arrangements and consider them to be very culturally significant and fulfilling. Of course... I may be projecting my thoughts too much because I was not raised in such a culture, but I have just heard and read this opinion in a couple different places - that arranged marriages aren't always as bad as they're imagined to be by the Western viewpoint. I like the fact that arranged marriages are positively depicted in Sanderson's works because of the fact that there are real, intelligent cultures existing today that do accept and practice arranged marriages. I always embrace it when fantasy authors break free of Western philosophy or cultural norms, because fantasy is typically written in the style of a very monotheistic, medieval European tradition, and it's exciting to see something different in the genre.

I don't think it's a secret that Cultivation is more worshiped by the western lands than she is in the east. The Reshi Islands may not count as part of that because they're so far to the north, but Jasnah straight up says to Shallan in Wok, "In the east they worship a male deity named Honor, and in the west hey worship a female deity named Cultivation." So it may reveal something about her to learn that her name parallels that of a geographic region or Roshar, but we already know the regions where Cultivation has been traditionally worshiped, so it probably wouldn't tell us that much. EDIT: However, if her name were Aimia, that might start an interesting discussion.

Three-syllables does make the most sense for Ialai's name if you're going by English pronunciation, I agree. I have always pronounced it with four syllables, just out of trying to twist the name so that it matches Alethi symmetry, but I agree that a more natural reading is I-al-ay (which you're right, is not symmetrical when read backwards). I don't use this philosophy on all the names, however - maybe it's just because the symmetry of Ialai's name is specifically emphasized in the book, but I don't worry about pronouncing the other names symmetrically. Shallan's name, for example, I pronounce "Shall-inn," which is definitely an asymmetrical pronunciation. A more symmetrical reading of her name would be "Shall-anne" or "Shawl-awn." This was discussed on a recent thread I started under the Oathbringer spoilers section about the pronunciation of Stormlight names, where someone pointed out that Shallan's name is supposed to be symmetrical, which means that the majority of people (who say "Shall-in") are probably wrong about their pronunciation - or at least, it wouldn't be said like that in-world.

That honestly makes sense - a lot of words in English have a silent "g," usually with the "-ing" suffix - "walking," talking," reading." People don't usually pronounce the g in those words.

When talking about "symmetry," there are two things to think about. 1. The spelling of the word. 2. The pronunciation of the word. The degree to which these reflect each other depends on how phonetic the writing system of a language is. English uses an alphabetic writing system, in which each letter represents a different sound in the language. In most alphabetic writing systems, the writing system will be a direct phonetic reflection of the spoken speech - in other words, if you knew how to pronounce each symbol in the alphabet, you could perfectly pronounce a paragraph of writing, even if you had never heard any of the words before, because there is only one sound that each symbol could possibly represent. English is not like this - even though English is alphabetic, any given letter may produce a variety of different sounds depending on the word in which it appears. Take for instance, the letter "s," which makes a different sound in each of the following words. 1. sand - /s/ sound 2. dreams - /z/ sound 3. version - /ʒ/ sound, a soft "j" 4. Christian - /ʃ/ sound the "sh" sound The vowels in English are even more of a pain. There are five vowel symbols - "a, e, i, o, u," but about thirteen different vowel sounds present in the language. Spanish, on the other hand, has five vowel symbols - "a, e, i, o, u" - and only five vowel sounds, so each symbol always corresponds to the same sound. Much easier. This is why the whole debate over "how do you pronounce Sanderson names?" exists - because there are multiple pronunciations possible. You say that the name Ialai "works in English" - but there are probably people who pronounce that name in a variety of ways, not all of them perfectly symmetrical. Just because there are two A's in her name does not mean that English readers will pronounce both of them the same way. Take another symmetrically spelled name - "Hannah." Even though that name is spelled symmetrically, it is not pronounced symmetrically - the "h" at the end of the word is not pronounced, and the A's make different sounds. Being symmetrical in spelling and pronunciation are different - I can't think of very many words in English that are pronounced symmetrically - one example is "eerie" (ee-r-ee), and you can clearly see that that word is not spelled symmetrically. Native speakers of other languages, however, will probably not have this problem when pronouncing "Ialai," because in most alphabetic languages, the letters "a" and "i" will always make the same sound. So they will actually pronounce her name symmetrically, whereas some English speakers may not. I don't know how phonetic the writing system in Polish is, but it is probably more phonetic than English writing - English is kind of famous for having impossible spelling that does not phonetically reflect the language. So a Polish reader will likely see the name "Ialai" and will pronounce it symmetrically, since they know from their language that each letter will always make the same sound (but again, I don't speak Polish... so I'm not sure). I know that if a group of Spanish speakers all saw the name "Ialai," they would all pronounce it the same way - symmetrically. There would be no debate. I don't know exactly what you're saying here. There are weird spelling rules in English, but even those rules are frequently broken, and so there is no "correct way" based on English pronunciation to say the word "Ialai." I don't think that the name "Ialai" is based on English spelling or the way that vowels typically behave in English, but rather on the fact that the name is pronounced symmetrically in Alethi, and so Brandon tried to craft a word using the English alphabet that would best reflect the symmetry of the pronunciation. And the name "Ilalai" is definitely less symmetrical than "Ialai" - just look at the two names broken down (at least, in the way that I pronounce them, which may be different from you). Ialai: ee-aa-l-aa-ee (perfectly symmetrical - they read the same both ways) Ilalai: ee-laa-laa-ee (not symmetrical - if you read it backwards the word is different)

I agree with Vissy here - YA novels can definitely have very dark, very serious themes sometimes. If you were to describe the plot of the Hunger Games to someone for example - "It's about an oppressive future where kids are forced to kill each other" - it sounds pretty bad. Saying that a novel is YA or has YA-style writing should not be insulting, even if the book deals with heavy themes like clinical depression or borderline personality disorder. Young adults often personally struggle with these heavy themes - as much as if not more than adults, and so you will of course see serious topics in literature that is geared towards the YA demographic. While I wouldn't make the comparison myself, I can see how someone could justifiably make the comparison between Stormlight and YA, and the comparison doesn't really bother me that much. YA novels, when written well, can be just like any other type of great literature. Brandon himself writes a good amount of YA books, and if you were to ask him whether or not Stormlight is YA, he would probably say no, I imagine, but it wouldn't offend him I don't think - he writes YA fiction himself, and so he's clearly not "above" it, and it would be unsurprising if some YA styles or themes sometimes slipped into his adult books. One of the reasons why I can understand the comparison being made between SA and YA is because Brandon's books are very serious and intellectual, but they are not graphic and they don't contain extremely adult content which would be inappropriate for teenagers to read. When you say "adult fantasy" I think most people think of things like Game of Thrones - books that are specifically made for adults and include a lot of gruesome violence and sexual content. Sanderson's cosmere books are much more "tame" in that regard, so that they are not written specifically for adults or for teenagers but can be enjoyed by both. The biggest reason why I personally do not label Stormlight as YA is because of the level of intense and intellectual depth that Sanderson invests into his worldbuilding, which you almost never see in YA fantasy, or even adult fantasy for that matter.

The cosmere books are categorically not YA novels, no, but it's not so terribly offensive for someone to suggest that they are. I know plenty of adult people whose favorite genre is young adult fiction. There are lots of really good YA novels out there. The theory you posted to begin this thread is interesting, and in my original response I expressed how much I appreciate it. However to say that you know you are correct is taking it a little too far - just because you have found compelling evidence for a theory, that doesn't necessarily make it true. You said in your post "I tried to explain the reason to you..." (for the "mistakes" in OB) as if you know the reason, but you only have a compelling idea, and someone could easily disagree with it. I personally do not agree that all of the perceived faults in OB were intentional, even though I do like the concept. Like @The One Who Connects posted earlier, some of these "mistakes" could genuinely be the result of Brandon reaching his limitations as an author. For one example in particular - the way he dealt with the murder of Sadeas and the character of Amaram - I agree with Toaster Retribution below: Even if many of the seemingly flawed elements of OB may have been intentional (which we can't know for sure), this is one that I think was a genuine oversight by Brandon that will hopefully be remedied in future books. On a side note, you're from Sweden? That's so cool. I wondered when I saw that you wrote your post "45 minutes ago" because that would make it 5:00 am in the part of the United States where I live (not sure what time it was in Sweden...). Not that people aren't awake at 5 in the morning, but most people who I know aren't!