king of nowhere

Well, sanderson almost saved kelsier just to filp the "mentor death" trope. And kelsier's death was right for the story. So he may not want to kill mentors. I hope jasnah survives. she's one of my favourite characters, and i want to see more of her. On the other hand, she may end up with a shard, becoming a goddes while still remaining atheist "I don't belive I exist, but you can feel free to do so" (ok, if it ever happened, she would become a naytheist, because that's the logical step in a world with demonstrable higher beings, but still I liked the idea too much)

when you use sanderson's quotes in casual conversation. Ones I used include - narrating the "lesson in practical philosophy" of jasnah to argue for the subjectivity of good and evil - quoting jasnah when there is a talk about religion and atheism - quoting wax against miles when arguing with someone who hopes for a revolution. further adding all the stuff that happened in mistborn 2 as additional arguments for why revolutions should be done only in the most extreme cases - quoting warbreaker about how everyone is the hero of his own story - using nightblood as an example of how a perfectly good intention could end up causing terrible harm when coupled with ignorance When you see the tattoos displayed at page 2 of this thread and spend half a minute rolling on your bed laughing at the awesomeness of it. And then you immediately try to send it to all the other sanderson's fans you know (only 2 in my case). When you start thinking that ppretty much all other fantasy is crap because it has shoddy worldbuilding and a poorly planned magic system

I don't like the idea of reading twelve chapters in smaall batches and then wait. much better to just read all the book at once when it comes out. I think releasing a few chapters at a time like that could be filed as cruel and unusual treatment of the fans.

I can't find "good omens" written anywhere else on the page, so I assume I won ten imaginary superpoints. And to be somewhat referential, I'll propose the shard of self-complacency. You are uber-powerful, but you're not really motivated to use your powers for anything, and you spend your days holed up into unseen university eating and squabbling with your peers.

one also has to be a mistwraith to begin with... for the sake of the argument here, we are ignoring all those kind of problems. Just like we are ignoring that to have many breaths one has to make as many drabs. If we really need to think about that, let's assume that the spikes were donated by my grandparents that, in point of death, specifically asked that as their last gift to me. or they were taken from people sentenced to execution. or from terminally ill volunteers. It's something like organ donation when considered like that.

in fact you'd probably never could forge yourself into an allomancer or elantrian, but there's a shortcut: forge an hemalurgical spike and plant it on you. that has a chance of working. As for myself, if I could choose between everything, I'd pick something out of the list: being a kandra. I would be functionally immortal, immune to most wounds and accidents, even if i broke my bones i could have some new ones remade quickly, and I could try a lot of different things; I could have a perfect body withhout ever needing to excercise, I could go freeclimbing as falling would only inconvenience me (maybe i could bring an extra set of bones to replace those that i break falling), I can do boxing without risking of being hurt for real, i could try to fit different body shapes... the possibilities are endless, and they would work pretty well in the real world too. in particular the functional immortality. i like being alive, and would rather keep doing so if possible.

I don't think kaladin will kill amaram in the middle of the war camp. he would first need to convince dalinar; he would not inimicate him by killing one of his officiers for no apparent reason. And he's not going to talk to dalinar anytime soon. he's still too diffident towards lighteyes. So whatever will happen, it will vastly depends on how the relationships between kaladin and dalinar, and between dalinar and amaram, will develop. Either that, or kaladin will get a chance at causing the death of amaram in battle; maybe in a mirror scene of the battle of the tower in book one, but this time with amaram leading the army iin place of kaladin. In which case, I'm fully confident that kaladin will save the day for the sake of the common soldiers anyway.

clearly it must be lighter than that, or the bridgeman would not be able to carry it. the double advantage of reduced gravity is not only that your bridge will wheight less, but since the troops crossing it will also be lighter you can make a thinner bridge, saving further wheight. And I really loike your drawings. I think they are fairly accurate.

I think those questions aren't answered. It don't mean that they have no answer, just that brandon never had to come up with them. After all, we could spend years coming up with further questions. while brandon makes detailed and self consistent magic systems, and that includes having answers to questions like "where the metal go", there's just no way to plan for all the details and subtlew interactions. You can ask him at a convention, and he's likely to answer.

I think lightsong explicitly stated at some point that he cannot get drunk, but maybe I'm confusing with something else. And I suppose breath would give some improved healing from wounds (would also make more realistic the fact that vasher does all his stuff after being tortured one night), although we'd need more confirmation.

I also assumed that inquisitors had feruchemical healing, but I'm just rereading the original trilogy, and it was stated that regular inquisitors did not have pewter spikes, which would be needed to give Feruchemical gold. So I assumed I was wrong and they got fast healing as a side effect (by the way, it works quite differently from Feruchemical gold; while other metallic arts granted from the spikes work just the same). unfortunately the coppermind do not clarify the matter. Did brandon specifically clarify the matter? I'm thinking if we can draw conclusions from kandra and koloss, but the first are quite peculiar to define what constitutes "healing" to them, and the seconds are given extra fortitude as part of their ccreation.

i never tought about it before, so it is not a big stretch that kelsier also never tought about it. Even if he had, what were the chances that maybe one or two inquisitors were left behind? Maybe it was a trap, maybe tlr wanted kelsier to think that kredik shaw would be left unguarded. kelsier tried twice and twice he got burned, it is understandable that he didn't want to gamble again.

Thinking about it, a similar argument can be made for healing. inquisitors heal quickly as an additional power (they have 9 spikes, the 8 base metals and atium; they have no pewter spike to steal a feruchemical attribute). Holding stormlight heals you. breath makes you resistant to disease. Elantrians also regenerated fast, without needing to heal with aons. Maybe it's just that investiture makes you stronger in general. Maybe it strenghten your healty self in the cognitive realm. Maybe it's coincidence. Or maybe brandon just gave aging resistance and fast healing as secondary powers to allow the story to unfold properly. An action story would face great troubles if the characters had to wait realistic amounts of time to heal after combat, much better to say that a secondary effect of the magic is to heal faster. And increased age allows an author to pull a few other tricks or better explain a few details.

Something I've been wondering in my last reread: what does the lord ruler do in his free time? The question is more complex than it appears. tlr is trying to pass for a god, and I seriously doubt he would engage in any mundane activity, as that would become known and spoil the impression. How would noblemen react if it were known that the palace brought women in? They wouldn't really mind of course, but they would certainly look at tlr with less awe. Less like a god, more like one of them. Same goes for most entertainment. if musicians or actors were called regularly to perform at kredik shaw, it just wouldn't look right. So tlr has to do something, but maintaining his dignified front. he could read, but he don't seem the kind of person to spend much time doing it. It can't be something requiring people from outside, or it would become known and spoil his facade. He also can't go around the city jumping allomantically, or he would be recognized by some passing mistborn and look undignified. And he must do something: the way he arranged politics he don't have to do much, and sitting on his throne staring at a wall would drive him crazy. Well, crazier. So, what do you think a normal day for the lord ruler looked like?

I'm pretty sure brandon stated somewhere that it was an exaggerated legend, and tlr would have died with decapitation (but good luck decapitatijng him fast enough to avoid regeneration: chances are, he can heal faster than you can cut). Other overkill methods like passing a bulldozer over him or exploding him with a big bomb should work. There are ways around gold compounding. But none of them can fit small arms. Except the spike bullet to steal power, which would be very elegant but require perfect aiming and obscure knowledge. For normal Feruchemical gold, I'd go with barbed bullets made in a way to stick into the wounds. So that when the bloodmaker tries to heal, he can't expel the bullet, and it will drain him over time. Such a bullet would be less aerodynamic, and therefore have a lower penetration capability, making it less effective against normal people. For a slider, the best chance is to hit him when the bubble is off. otherwise, I'd go for a shotgun. At least some of the pellets should hit anyway. they have lower penetration power, so the slider shgould survive, but at least he cannot go around the battlefield with impunity. For a steelrunner, I doubt any fering can store enough speed to go faster than a bullet for considerable time. Also, since they require a different metal to speed up their brain, going that fast is probably going to be very dangerous for them, as they could easily trip and fall, or hit something, which at that sped would have dire consequences. Furthermore, unless they are also thugs, their legs would probably break from the strain. And anyway, even if they can run that fast, I doubt they also have enough control to hurt you while doing it. So, just go with regular bullets, and wait for them to stop. I don't know enough of spinners to try a hazekillr round for them.

everyone has different opinions. but if you haven't dropped the books already after 3000 pages, you won't probably stop now. In my opinion the first two books are weaker than the rest, as jordan was still practicing. After that, the quality of the writing is constant. Some people however are put off because after book 6 there is less action and the books become less plot driven and more character driven. As a person who enjoy good characters, I didn't mind. The last three books are considewred the best by many. I personally prefer sanderson's style, but anyway those books are more packed with action, since they are the ones where long standing conflicts get resolved. Also, since you mentioned the sword of truth: in that series, every book is pretty much a free sstanding episode. In the wheel of time that can roughly be applied to the first three books, but then it just become one very big book split into volumes. you can pick up a random book from the sword of truth and read it without reading the others and you'll still understnad what's going on. You can't do that with the wheel of time after book 3.

As far as I understand it, forging only works in a small range around whatever-that-country-was-called. So I doubt it can be used to travel long distances.

the wheel of time is not like any other book. it is a long series with plenty of focus on the characers and most things don't happen in a moment but will slowly change over time. If you like that, you will like the way the character interacts, the character growth, and all the small buildups. If you don't like that, then you don't like the wheel of time. If you think about skipping books, then you're eiher missing the spirit of the series, or you're not enjoying it. If you just want fast paced plot full of action, the wheel of time is not for you. except maybe the last one.

yep, I'm also going wwith "the way he explore interactions and make his worlds internally consistent". Many writers don't consider deeply how magic affects the world, and many writers don't care that much, but I do, and I like that sanderson also does. As an example I keep remembering, in baldurs gate II there was a belt of poison immunity, with the description "the royal assayers of this ancient country used to wear those belts". I immediately found it totaly ridiculous. First, the task of the assayer is to be poisoned by eventual poison in the food, so that the king will be warned. but if they are magically protected, they may eat poisoned food withoiut consequence and then give the ok singal to the king, who will die. But second and most important, just give the belt to the king and save the trouble. the whole concept of assayers is made useless by that belt. in fact, even the belt is pretty pointless in a world were detect poison is a first level spell. There are many mistakes like that in fantasy and sci/fi literature (abeit not that blatant, normally), and brandon is never going to fall like that.

I don't feel an expert enough of the topic to join this conversation (except to congratulate brandon for exposing all viewpoints with fairness and not adopting a biased view, like many in his position, mostly unconsciously, would do) But I just have to drop by to say that every single time I open this forum and my eyes take a quick glance at the page, I always misread LDS as LSD and have a couple seconds of "what the ...?" moment before reading it right. Note: since this is the internet, it's likely that someone will read this as an attempt to link religion with drugs. it is not. it is just a reading mistake.

technically, there's no need for it to have been flirting. maybe she was just a friend. maybe she just talked to him a few times. if kaladin hasn't tought about her in a while, i doubt he was in love. On the other hand, the way stories go, if the hero failed a woman in the past, it's almost certainly a love interest. so who knows. EDIT: but again, in sotries normally the guy who saves the world also find his girl in the process. or man, in case of a female protagonist. one would think that saving the world would leave one pretty busy and with no time to pursue romantic relations, but it's never the case. so kaladin shouldn't have ties in his past, he should be free for whoever comes to him, maybe shallan or maybe someone we never heard about.

I tought I was overly exited about those books, but I see people in a much worse situation than me...

dalinar is honorable, but from the outside it can all seem a ruse for political goal. And T certainly has no way of knowing of his visions. as far as he's concerned, he's just another warlord of alethkar. and as far as being an honorable one, lord harrowmont from dragon age was an honorable guy, but still giving him the crown resulted in political paralysis and hisolationism. being honorable don't mean you can do the job. So as far as T knows, killing dhalinar is still for the best. And that's the main reason doing evil for a good cause is wrong. I mostly agree with the consequentialistic point of view, so killing one thousand people to save a million would actually be a good thing. Problem is, there is no such a thing as omniscience, and you can't be sure of your judgment. So, if you try that way, you know for sure you're doing evil, but you don''t know whether the goood will happen or not. you are likely to kill one thousand people and fail to save anyone. or you save that million, but will build up tension that will result in a bigger war later. or maybe those million people weren't going to die anyway and you just killed your thousand for no reason. or maybe you almost manage it, but are stopped by someone who is equally good oriented but disagrees with yourr strategy - or simply don't know about it. Maybe someone else has a better solution and you're hindering him (which is the actual case here). So, doing evil for a good cause is wrong, because 99% of times it don't work and it only makes things worse. But yes, I symphatize with T anyway.

do we know about the genesys of the shardworld? We know mankind originated on one planet whose name I don't remember, and was then spread to other planets by the shards. But did those shards also create the entire environment, or did they pick a planet where there was already a biosphere capable of supporting human life? At least in the case of scadrial, I think it's established that ruin and preservation made the planet from scratch, but was it the same everywhere? Especially on roshar seems the opposite, I doubt the shards would have made something so alien; they are more likely to have used an already existing planet. And if the shards made the planet, how long has it been since then? how much could natural evolution change the bits? I don''t think we know enough about those questions. Also, sorry if i bring very technical questions. I am a biological chemist (actually it's an obscure subfield of it, but let's not complicae things more than necessary), so it is normal for me to wonder that. I am thinking of even more technical questions about the biochemistry of life in the cosmere, but I'm refraining from posting those in the forum as I cannot write them in a form that would be comprehensible to anyone except another biological chemist.

To me, that article is based on a flawed premise: that the oxygen-carrying protein must be based on something that evolved in the real world. That's not the case. there are millions of ways to do a protein like that, and among those there will be proteins with any possible color. In fact there's no reason to assume that hemoglobin would be present in any alien ecosystem. likely, nature will have evolved a totally different protein to ccarry oxygen. So trying to find parallels is a bit moot. It must still be a protein made of our 20 amminoacids (some tweaking allowed; there are modified amminoacids in nature, and our body can digest them), or humans wouldn't be able to eat them. but it can be a completely different sequence.