king of nowhere

in 14 books there's room for all the space opera angst you may eveer wish

Look, the way I understand it he posted exactly because he wanted that kind of reaction. what would be the point of coming here after reading book one and posting all kind of theories if the only reaction he get is RAFO? I assumed he wanted tidbits, while avoiding big spoilers - and I didn't mention any really plot-critical element. So I tried to give enough details to stimulate his curiosity, while avoiding telling really anything. It's exactly what happens when people ask questions to brandon, after all. or when chapters get released in advance - people are all oer their heads trying to discover as much as possible about a new book before reading it.

yes, that's pretty much standard use. as well as stabbing your victim with a knife of a metal you can burn, so that no weapon can ever be produced. but it's way too useful to fit into the theme of this thread.

I don't know, with the kind of power we know hoid to have, he could easily solve all the plots by himself. he could have defeated the lord ruler easily, he could have stopped the listeners from getting stormform. but he prefer to act subtly. maybe it's that. I admit it's not a great explanation of why jelsier dislike hoid; however, if I had to hate hoid, I'd pick that reason.

YEs, the greatshell prefer the eastern edge, but even then, the alethi control only a minimal part of it. as I calculated before, they controlled only some 2% of the shattered plains, so even if the chasmfiends only pupate on the eastern edge, can they only pupate in that 2%? Seem too specific. unless the mistery spren that is symbiotic to them is the spren of narrative causality. I tried to post a drawing, but I cannot find a way to insert an image from my pc. anyway, the alethi controlled area really is small. It covers 2% of the plains according to generous estimates of how much they could march in a plateau run. depending on how we define the western border, it still occupies no more than 10-15% of it. which would still leave the listeners able to get at least 4 gemhearts out of 5 undisturbed. So either my estimate of how much the alethi could march on a plateau run wasn't generous enough (more likely the army moved even more slowly than i assumed), or the chassmfiends were really, really choosy in their plateau.

you know, as soon as i read the thread title i also came to the conclusion that alcatraz shattered adonalsium. and then the shards were given to his father, who lost them, scattering them across the planets. they wrote it down how to fix the mess, but they handed th4e task to their cousing who says nonsense (was it sing?), so no one could read it. would be fine, except that (as you aknowledge) alcatraz is not cosmere.

BY my count, you half-guessed three of those (meaning you went in the general direction, but what happened was still substantially different from your guews). And you guessed correctly only one, which is "mr.-I've-never-heard-of-this-aragorn-now-excuse-me-but-i-have-to-reclaim-the-throne-of-my-ancestors will never develop a sense of humor". EDIT: to expand a bit, while still avoiding any major spoiler: EDITED AGAIN: According to aether, that's still spoilering too much, and he's probably right. So, while this do not contain any real plot-critical information (except one thing that will be revealed in the prologue of book 2, so no surprise there), it's still moderately spoilery and I put it under spoiler. Hoping the OP check the forum no more than daily.

You sure? The way I understood it, a shardblade cutting through a body will kill the soul of the selected part of a body. so a superficial cut will cause your skin to lose sensitivity, a cut through a muscle would cause it to stop working. granted, it's less serious than a regular wound, cause you won't bleed. but it still does harm. Also, there are several instances of someone speared by a blade being killed instantly, most notably shallan's mother and tyn that I remember, but i'm sure there are others. so unless every single one of those people was hit exactly on the spine, it means that stabbing someone in the torso with a shardblade also kill him.

took me a while to figured out what all the images were, but once i got the knack (my main problem was that i mistook the plateaus for buildings and the chasms for alleys) it was surprisingly detailed. you definitely earned your upvote.

You never felt attracted to a girl recently met after having some fun/meaningful experience together, fancied her a bit, and then realized as you get to know her better that she wouldn't really make a good fit for you? I assure you, in my life the kind of situation I described is much more common than the kind of situation you described.

You know, I never tought of that. I always took for granted the alethi version, i.e. the listeners numbers were falling. While it turned out to be the correct explanation, it wasn't as certain to one who didn't read wor as I assumed. I should have put the thread in the words of radiance subforum.

1) i got the impression the listeners were 100k total, of which one fifth warform. i can''t produce a quote, however. 2) those listeners who escaped likely won't change to stormform. they have enough free will to refuse the spren. On the other hand, there is a kind of listener who has no free will and as such cannot resist the transformation: the parshmen, which are employed as slaves everywhere in the world. so, when the storm hit, every single parshendi slave will become a voidbringer. Yes, it's gonna be bad.

I think most men have an instinct to protecct their loved ones. not sure how much is cultural and how much genetic, but it's a normal reaction for most. the difference between being protective and patronizing is that a healty protective instinct do not try to shackle the girl or force her to stay away from harm, while patronizing will boss the girl around. it's different the message conveyed: "i'm here if you need" in the first case, "you can't look for yourself" in the second. i don't have the book here, but i really got the impression adolin has mostly the first kind with shallan.

I'm putting this in the general thread because it don't contain significant WoR spoilers, except the size of the shattered plains (and the fact that the parshendi calledd themselves listener). The official explanation for why they contended the gemhearts with the alethi is that they needed gems to soulcast food. but there are problems with this explanation, once we learn how big the plains really are. The alethi army needed like 7-8 days of marching to reach the center, where the listeners lived. that means that the plateaus on striking distance of the warcamps were a small minority. Let's make some math there. plateau runs lasted no more than one day, so the plateau could not be more than half a day of marching, since they also needed to come back. A small strike force can move much faster than a full army, especially with the bridges acting as choke points, but still it is safe to assume that the alethi never penetrated more than one tenth of the plain. but let's be very conservative and assume the alethi could penetrate to one fifth of the plain. THat means the striking area of the alethi troops was one circle centered on the warcamps, with a radius of 1/5 of the shattered plains, and area of 1/25 of the total. But half that area was outside of the plains (some approximations involved; i figure the bigger circumference of the plains can be approximated to a straight line, cutting the smaller circle of the alethi-treathened area in half; I'm also ignoring the fact that with 10 warcamps, it should be an ellipse). So, by this math, the alethi could only reach 2% of the area of the shattered plains. the other 98% was only reachable by the listeners, who could harvest gemhearts from there undisturbed. So, if the chasmfiends had an even chance of pupating anywhere on the plains, the listeners could avoid confrontation and still get 98% of the gems undistrurbed. I doubt that 2% was the one making the difference between surviving and starving. Even if we assume that the chasmfiends preferred the west side, and that they were ten times more likely to pupate near the alethi camps, that would still leave no more than 20% of the gemhearts within alethi reach. listeners could get the remaining 80%, which sshould still be more than enough. This is especially true if we consider how their numbers dwindled during the years. the listeners took heavy losses in the 5 years war (no spoiler here; dalinar himself in the way of kings remarks how thhey stopped striking the warcamps and are fielding smaller and smaller armies; eshonai merely confirms it). less populations means less food needed, and less food needed means less need for gem racing. So, by that count, the listeners should have been able to thrive undisturbed by just getting gemhearts outside of alethi reach. the only way the listeners could actually need to compete with the alethi is if the chasmfiends ONLY pupate near the warcamps. which don't make much sense; maybe they favor the western edge, but is it reasonable that with all the room available, they only choose that meager 2% (2% with generous estimations to how much the strike forces could march) to pupate? Also, the listeners came from much farther than the alethi, but they could move faster cause they needed no bridges. So, if they really needed the gems on the alethi side, couldn't they just leave a temporary camp one day from the alethi warcamps? that would cut several hours of marching, and would ensure that the listeners could get most gems before the alethi could march to the plateau. at the same time the alethi could never treathen the advanced camp; the tower was the end of the reach of alethi scouts, and the temporary camp needed only be set a little farther than that. plus, if the alethi ever came, the listeners could just abandon it and jump away. their mobility is an incredible advantage on the plains, letting them engage and disengage at will. Maybe the simpler explanation is that eshonai is a grossly incompetent military commander, or at least grossly incompetent at lateral thinking. Makes sense; the listeners had no military commanders, neither any kind of military tradition, before the war. or maybe it's their strange sense of honor, the same that caused the listeners to not chase the defeated alethi, despite the fact that by jumping the chasms when the alethi needed to retreat on bridges, they would never have any problem catching their prey. Because, the more I think about the advantages offered by that kind of superior mobility over the plateaus, the more I am convinced that a listener commander competent in guerrilla strategies should have totally raped the alethi army.

the way i understood it, the dowser was real technology, but it was reprogrammed to give prof a negative. and megan was using her illusion to mask the positive signal.

It hasn't been emphatized enough that the better weapon would be strongly dependent on the opponent you face. And, call me boring, but a sword is really the best for most applications. If you fight humanoid foes without shards, then a blade let you slice a large number of them with good control. you try dodging a 2m long sword. And being easier to control than the dart make it more valuable in that condition. you are facing unarmored foes, you want to kil them quickly and effectively. an unpredictable weapon is not good in those circumstances. But, really, there isn't much point in discussing the best strategy to kill people without shards. everything would be effective. If your opponent had a kind of shard weapon, but not a plate, then I guess a rope would work fine; it is much more difficult than a blade to parry with another blade. So, if you had a spren and plate, and you faced 4 people with shardblades but unarmored, a rope would be a better weapon. the main problem here is that you can use a blade or a spear to block enemy thrusts, but you cannot use a rope to block. so a dart rope against a shardblade, no plate for both, would end very quickly with a victory of the first to strike. I'd give a slight advantage to the blade because the rop is more likely to strike a limb and stop there (i mean, the limb intercepts the rope, the rope coils around the limb, the dart cut the limb, but it stops there). So blade vs rope, unarmored, I'd say ends with the balde guy losing an arm to kill the opponent. If both sides have a plate and a weapon, then again i think the rope is not the best. it lack the capacity to effectively penetrate plate; it would mostly bounce against it, taking a long time to make a breach. a sword just breaks into a plate faster. I don't know about sword vs spear here. And if you're fighting something big, like a chasmfiend or a thunderclast, a blade is an obligated choice because nothing else cut deeply enough to really hurt he creature. In all case, a throwing weapon like the aforementioned chakram could make for a quick surprise shot, only to reform your melee weapon immediately after it strikes. So, the blade is still the most useful weapon in most circumstances, with other weapn having niche uses. Good thing you dopn't have to choose which you want to carry in advance. EDIT: also other considerations on yourself and your opponent would need to be taken into account. For example, if i were in a solo duel against a weaker opponent, I'd want a blade or a spear, a weapon requiring strategy to capitalize on my superiority. if I was facing a stronger opponent, I'd instead wanted a dart rope (assuming i could use it), because it is more unpredictable, and unpredictability gives the underdog a better chance to be lucky.

I never wanted to imply kaladin is not in control of his emotions. If he was, he'd have tried to woo shallan instead of realizing they are not for each other. Just like bravery do not mean "feel no fear" but "feel fear and shove it aside", so being in control of one's hormones don't mean "is not attacted by specific members of the appropriate sex", but "is attracted but do not lose the ability to think rationally because of it". So, as for kaladin's exposure to women: yes, he certainly saw many, but most of them were no more than business relations. With how many did he have some kind of real connection? true, we don't know much, but I see kaladin as the lone wolf kind of guy. notice how all his friends are also his military subordinates, which makes things a bit awkward as far as friendship goes. He also never showed much inclination to seek women. as far as we know, it is likely tarah was unique, not one of many girlfriends he had. We don't even know how much their relation progressed; he mention "failing" her, so she probably left him after a while. Of course there are plenty of prostitutes in the military, but we never see kaladin being intersted in them, and he used all his money in bribes anyway. But, most compelling, this is brandon sanderson writing the book; can you imagine him writing a main character who went with prostitutes regularly? So yes, kaladin had certainly many women around, but he probably never bonded much with them (except tarah). Then he get stuck with shallan in the chasm, and learns to go over her light eyes. they have the kind of experience that really make people bond, they are forced to hug each other because the alcove was small and they were freezing anyway, they share some deep confessions (they were the right people to do so, but they were also strongly influenced by the situation; can you imagine them opening up to each other under any other circumstance?). As a result, kaladin get a hormonal rush from shallan. as he is in control of his hormones, he recognizes they are not right for each other and that shallan fits better with adolin. But while the bond they formed in the chasm was genuine, the atttraction he felt for her seemed more like the result of the situation.

As others have said, brandon himself confirmed that hoid has no shard. every once in a while someone start a thread like this one, by the way. He talks with familiarity to the other shardholders because he knew them when they were all humans. I figured the "only woman his age" was cultivation. Still, even if hoid has no shardic power, it ccan be argued that he is more powerful than most shards; while those are limited by their intent, hoid is free to scheme around and pursue his own objectives. he can surely destroy any shard, given enough time to plan.

I think more likely the ten fools are just a metaphor there, not some group of hystorical people. like we have the 7 sins, cause in our world the arc number is 7, on roshar they have the ten fools, because their arc number is 10. that makes me curious if cultivation has 10 something to match the unmade and the heralds.

I'd be an atium feruchemist (suppose there's enough atium in the real world) and store age from youth. most of my time is spent reading and videogaming, i can do those activites at age 50 or 60 with practically no drawback. I'd get this huge storage of age, planning to use it when old, to get a young body for a little time in case of need, and to use a low tap to lengthen my life by a few decades. And then I'd die in a car accident. I could just be an aluminium gnat, but it has less style

Yes, the characters in the book actually mention this, if only in passing.

What? kaladin will carry her on his shoulders and slam her down between two plateaus?

Kaladin and shallan just don't feel right to me. They respect each other, they bonded in the chasm, but I really don't see them going on in everyday life. It's a feeling more than anything else: sometimees I feel some people are right for each other, and sometimes I feel that they are not. They are completely different people, and unlike elend and vin, who somehow managed to complete each other and felt right to me, they just don't seem to "click". They fit well as good friends, but no more. Another part of it is kaladin: he has been closing himself for a long time, chasing away people to avoid being hurt when he failed to protect them. even in bridge 4, he is their leader but he always held himself apart. it took him a whole book just to admit adolin is a good person. I don't see him entering a relationship anytime soon. That will likely change in later books, I hope kaladin won't stay grumpy forever. As for the attraction he shows for shallan after the chasm, well... he's a man in his mid twenties, who had very little interactions with girls previously (they're not very abundant in the military, you know; and in his year as a slave, he probably never even talked to one, except to be ordered), and who suddenly is stuck together with a sweet and pretty girl (I mean, have you seen shallan's picture from the book interior? she's sooooo cute!), they save each other's life, and then he get to hold her for a few hours while they share some deep confidence. Of course he would feel some attraction afterwards. I would react the same, even if rationally i realized it could never work (well, I could actually fit with shallan, but that's not the point). After the first hormonal impact wears down, it would turn to some deep fondness and a strong protective instinct, and I would end up seeing her as a favourite cousin, which is quite close to what kaladin actually does (also, I have a soft spot for sweet girls, for broken-but-not-emo girls, and for frail-looking-but-thougher-than-they-appear girls, so shallan would likely get that reaction from me anyway, without needing any encouragement). On the other hand, I felt shallan and adolin were right for each other from their first interactions. they actually click together. It's also a common theme in sanderson's books; the girl that don't really fit the courtly stereotype, the boy that don't really fit with the court, they both try to be what they are supposed to be and fail, to discover that they fit better with each other just being what they are; it's happened for vin and elend, for siri and susebron, and for raoden and sarene. maybe brandon will change that, but he always chooses what feels right for the story over what would contradict expectations (if it fits the story and contradict expectations, bonus points)

Given the way her character was set, she seemed to be doing it very deliberately. Also, why would zahel be imprisoned? i don't remember him doing anything wrong. Still, he would not be thrown in prison. at most he would choose to stay into one. really, locking him in prison is quite stupid. you have the same chances of holding him that you would have if you left the door open and asked him to please not run away.

Inspired by this thread: awaken a computer with the command "sell bull****" to create a spambot