Cracknut

Yeah but maybe it's because 'old magic' was never ever explained. Magician just had to read books, wave his wand, shout out some words in made up language and thunder and flames were all over the place. Maybe he entered Shadesmar and made air believe it was thunder and flames, stuff he was shouting in physical realm was just dismembered and mixed up version of his cognitive dialogue with air and wand/staff were just used for looks. And there you have, old magic, explained like ability. Take away those explanation's from Soulcasting and have people transforming stuff into flames and you'll get classical magicians.

Could mountain relief be some kind of script? They look evil oO Gonna sleep now...

Don't know which spoiler you're talking about but Odium is a trespasser on Roshar.

There are 16 rays coming out of sun!!

We can't know how old he is. He doesn't knows it himself as he forgot everything that happened before his death/return which must have happened after Heralds gave up on Oathpact. Vasher should be around 500-1000 years old, but nobody knows who he was before he returned.

Adolin + Shallan isn't working as far as I know. At this point Renarin has better chances with Shallan then Adolin. Kaladin killed her brother and most likely he's ex will be showing up at some point so there will be lots of trouble for them as well. But lets face it, she'll most likely end up with Lopen.

Nah, Kaladin would break just like any other Heralds broke. He's our main hero at this point but I doubt Heralds were less honorable or heroic when they were becoming Heralds. Taln did withstand more then other Heralds. He didn't have choice in the matter of 4.500 years but he made his choice about one more 450 at least. He wouldn't have risked himself if he was ready to give up Oathpact. Of course Kaladin will raise higher then those characters at some point but its too early for that imo. You're assuming that Heralds were weak. They wouldn't be able to lead KR if they were weaker than Kaladin. Yes they gave up but they were there for millenniums. If Kaladin is already at the same level as Taln then this series should be a trilogy.

What if you make it believe that it's your hand. Then you forge yourself into someone who believes that mechanical arm is actually he's hand. Wouldn't that make that hand 100% functional just like normal hand?

There are lots of Worldhoppers at this point and Mraize being one of them doesn't makes him that important. If Diagram calls him Wanderer because he's from another world then they simply don't know about other worldhoppers. If they're aware of Cosmere and know about Hoid's existence then Hoid is only person they would call Wanderer and someone who doesn't makes any sense. So there's what I think. Genius T saw most important stuff concerning Roshar and wrote it down, he also saw Hoid as he is already playing very important role but he wasn't able to grasp his greatness. I mean, Hoid isn't trying to save Roshar nor is he trying to destroy it, but he could do both. He's so far out of league that Genius T simply didn't understand him but he understood that he was not from this world. Hence him being one that doesn't makes sense and why his called Wanderer. Members of Diagram simply can't grasp that amount of hoidiness, so they suspect that Genius T was referring to Mraize.

Never thought about that. They might be from another world but I find that unlikely. Most likely because of their names. Most of their names read same way from both sides, which I believe is Rosharan thing...

Returned forget everything that happened before their death.

I don't know why this one get overlooked. I can totally see Vasher as one of the Heralds. Not sure which one it is though. Warbreaker happened after Elantris and before Mistborn and we know that Stormlight Archive is set after events of Mistborn Trilogy as well as that Alloy of Law and SA are happening roughly at the same time so that's 300 years after Mistborn Trilogy. I doubt it has been 4000 years between WB and Mistborn. Most likely less then 1000 years and more then 500 years. So timelines work well enough as far as I know. I find it hard to believe that Heralds weren't aware of cosmere and worldhopping. And even if they were before giving up on their oaths they had about 4500 years to figure it out. I will be surprised if they still don't know about another worlds and will be seriously disappointed if one with Elsecallers abilities wasn't able to travel to another worlds. So for me its a must that at least one of the Heralds must be worldhopper. Vasher fits in perfectly. Even if we can't prove one way or another right now, its too good not to be true. But there are some reasons why I'm totally buying "Vasher is one of the Heralds" theory that isn't even a theory at this point: As I said before, its a must for at least one of the herald to be a Worldhopper. Also its another must for one of them to died in past 4500 years if they can die at all and if they could die it's more likely that it would happen on another planet. And there's another thing I've been thinking about recently and this is why I'm betting my honor on this theory. We know that Endowment can see future. We know that Endowment is returning people to lives so that they can do something important. And most likely to accomplish that very important thing they have to give up Divine Breath and die. Vasher is Returned, he is still alive and he is on Roshar. I know this isn't much but... hell, this is too good.

Superabilities = Magic. Except one is used in sci-fi and another in fantasy. If you think about it, there's no difference at all. I believe it all just comes down to explanation of how it works and why. If its explained with spiritual stuff or not explained at all then its magic, if it all started with scientifically mutated spider biting main hero then its an ability. As OP stated, there are some similarities in the way they affect story and Sanderson's Laws of Magic actually work same way in superhero stories. You simply can't have main character with magic/ability without those limitations. Without limitations there would be no challenge. It's obvious why a book/comics like that wouldn't work.

Raven's Shadow/Blood Song by Ryan Anthony is one of the best reads I've had in 2013 and one of my favorites. It has a lot in common with Kingkiller Chronicle, but at the same time it's totally different. Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson. You'll either hate it or love it. Lots of really well done military action. It's something between Joe Abercrombie and Brandon Sanderson, but not really Three main problems with this series is that: 1. Author wrote it really fast and didn't take his time to edit them so its a bit rough at times and there are some inconsistencies. 2. Nobody cares whether or not you understand whats happening in the book. You have to make it all out yourself and first 100 or so pages are especially hard as you're thrown into one of the greatest fantasy worlds, get lots of time skips, different places and a lot of characters. 3. This one is more of a personal thing. This book has hundreds of characters, and dozens of main characters and every book follows different storyline as well as characters. If I remember correctly there are 3 major storylines that get tied together later on. I love this part about this series but I've found some people don't like it so there it is Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch is a good one as well. It's not your normal fantasy book with lots of magic and/or epic wars. If you like heist movies you'll most likely love these books. Broken Empire by Mark Lawrence if you're okay with 12 year old boy killing and raping with style.

He heard "dead" as well. Misunderstood Spren maybe?

Don't forget Diagram and the best part about it? they're all trying to save the world :D

She could Soulcast air around Shardbearer into stone as far as we know, or Soulcast stone into air beneath Shardbearer. There are many ways to use Soulcasting so I doubt Shardbearers without any magic could stand against Jasnah. Not to mention that we still don't know how strong Jasnah is, she might be even 'more radiant' than Kaladin at the end of WoR.

I believe Heralds > Thunderclasts because there are only 10 Heralds out there and as far as I know there could be hundreds of Thunderclasts + But we don't know yet how strong Heralds actually are... All Surgebinders are > Shardbearers Tier 0: Wit

Would Stonesinew be able to bear giving up Oathpact? Would he bear killing innocents, doing all the stuff his honor and judgment deemed wrong? As I said he's best Herald out there and that blowdart scene was sick but Szeth will be at least closest to something like Taln if he ever gets better. EDIT: I'm not saying Szeth went through it all without breaking. He's insane at this point and he doing some wrong choices but he's one of main characters and he's getting his own book, so there's a chance that he'll get on the right path and recover and after that he'll achieve what no other Herald could. I don't and can't know how Stonesinew would fare if he gave up on Oathpact but we've seen what one of those 9 has become, and its apparent for me that he wasn't able to recover even after 4500 years and I doubt others are in better shape. So yeah, there's a chance for Szeth to turn out something as good if not better than Taln imo.

It might do just that, if Nightblood calls him evil. But you've got some nice points there. Although I believe he knew from the beginning that those death's were on him, that was part of punishment. Most likely he would've taken his life if not for restriction. Guilt isn't breaking him when he lets Kal kill him, he's already broken and he's been wishing all the while that someone could take his life and when he realizes that he was right all along it isn't bringing him any joy anymore. He believed he deserved what he was doing, but it appears he had no reason to do all those stuff and its a bit complicated because he believed it was right what it did to him, but at the same time he knew that it was wrong what he did to others. And after that realization the rightness of his punishment disappeared and only thing left was his grief and freedom to die, so he let himself die. But I agree with bolded part... That's not cool at all

He sees it as his punishment and he takes it even though he doesn't likes doing it and sees its wrongness. He believes he deserves it. I believe if Szeth had been one of Heralds he wouldn't back down from Oathpact. Why? Because his convictions are so strong that he can withstand going against them, while Heralds gave up what they were because couldn't face pain. I'm sorry but I don't have anything good to say to 9 Heralds who betrayed Oathpact. Taln was going through same exact thing with them all those times between Desolations but he was going to go through it all as he died in fight giving it all he had because he wasn't giving up at least just yet. So yeah, for me Taln > all other heralds combined and Taln wouldn't be able to bear what Szeth went through. If Szeth ever gets better, he will stand above all heralds in my eyes.

He did break and betray Taln just like other 8 Heralds and gave up on Oathpact. Shouldn't Herald know better than kill Surgebinders to stop Voidbringers? And what about him telling himself that he's doing it in the name of justice? He just couldn't face what he did and made himself believe he's doing the right thing again. Thing is, he's taking easy path there and that's exactly how a coward would act.

On the other hand Nin is a coward =))

About Szeth being spineless... I shared Nin's point of view of him from the beginning. I find what he was doing very honorable. That's why I didn't buy stuff about Honorblades, because I believed he was KR.... Although he is broken at this point, but so far every person that turned out to be KR and we got his backstory has been at some point broken, so it may be just me but I believe Szeth is something like Sazed of this story. I believe he will become Skybreaker but he will not agree with Nin's understanding of justice, even with Nightblood trolling him on every step he takes to becoming what Skybreakers actually were back in the day.

I believe Nin is about to turn him into Skybreaker so he will have some additional abilities, as well as Shardblade of his own and a way to draw Stormlight to fuel Nightblood. Dual wielding omg omg omg omg omg