king of nowhere

Well, if the main characters talked to each other, they would have defeated the dark one at the third book already. as it is, they will start putting some effort in cooperation only much later in the book. the womed in wot (and also most men) are unsufferable. apparently randland is filled with arrogant people believing they know everything and never listenining to others. real closeminded people, even when their heart is in the right place. However, I think elayne is ok. yes, she expects to be in control, but, well, she is an heir to a throne, so she has quite a right to be; but as far as I remember, she is a person you can talk to and reason with. I don't remember any specific moment (will need another reread), but I have the distinct impression that, if you're not trying to bully her or taking power from her (something the other girls do all the time), she will actually listen to you and include your informations in the plan. While ninaeve will just keep thinking that she knows better than anyone, that two rivers ways are better and you should just listen to her, and egwene will tell you that you're getting a big head for thinking you know something that she doesn't and bully you into doing what she wanted anyway. Moiraine is also much more reasonable that the two river guys give her credit for. In her case, she is in fact right, she really does know much better than anyone else (at least at this stage of the story, before the others take several levels in badasses) and resisting or questioning her instructions at any step really is something that the two river guys could avoid. She still is arrogant and with an urge for controlling everything; it's just that she is the only character who actually is experienced, informed and smart enough to have some right to behave that way. Yeah, it is a wonder humans still managed to reproduce in that world. I'd pick min for myself, she's probably the only female character in the whole series with whom you can afford to disagree while still remaining in friendly terms. Not that males are much better. it happens somethimes that two characters are separated for long periods of time, and they will wonder what the other is doing and come up with the most outlandish theories based on wild connections from rumord and hearsay. then they will meet the character in question, ask them what actually happened... and then they will ignore the answer and keep using their outlandish theory. They are llike conspiracy theory guys, only instead of imagining absurdly complex conspiracies made by the government or the corporations and then ignoring all the contrary evidence, they will imagine absurdly complex conspiracies from their friends, and then ignore all the contrary evidence. Again, it's a wonder humans manage to reproduce. If I were a girl, probably the only men I could even take into consideration would be rand's father. He's very wise and treat everyone with respect, but won't stand for abuse. Now that I think about it, also gareth bryne is a nice one. Oh, and fortune pricked you, captain domon do be in future books. he's a nice side character, and i liked his appearences.

Do the ghostbloods even know that it was kaladin, and not amaram, who killed helaran? I doubt they do; they have spies, but only a half dozen people witnessed kaladin killing helaran or amaram killing his companions and branding him. So, the ghostbloods probably assumed amaramm did the killing. As for kaladin, I think he'll be too afraid to tell shallan. So the most likely scenario i see is that adolin or dalinar will tell, probably without realizing the importance of the fact. Still, I doubt shallan will be angry. she perfectly understands that kaladin was fightin an enemy in the battlefield, and according to what he knew at the time, amaram was the good guy and helaran the bad one. In facct, it's been far from the last time when kaladin makes a bad decision on missing information. see side carry on plateau assault, or trying to challenge amaram after winning the duel, or deciding to let the other guys assassinate elokar for having been accomplice of roshone.

well, book one has a few cliches, but the series get its own identity later. I'm not a great expert in fantasy, but I doubt anyone ever did a plot so complex with so many characters interacting. and as far as I know, it was the first time someone tried to write a 14-book single story. there were some other long fantasy sagas, but they were structured so that any book was mostly a complete story by itself, with a definite beginning and ending, that could be read separately from the rest. in wot, the middle or later books make absolutely no sense if read without the ones before. As for names, there are some two thousands and spare named characters in the wot (mmost are innkeepers who are seen only once, but still). So it's not all that unlikely that a different book may use some of the same names. there are only so many meaningful ways you can mix letters, unless you want to call people Xwytkl (hey, that actually sounds a taylen name!). On the other hand, since brandon was a fan of jordan and wot was what inspired him to become a writer, then it would make sense that he would recicle some names or something else as a sort of tribute.

No, I mean the order of the stick by rich burlew. I'm not a fan just of sanderson.

On the other, hand, even if the blade is the same, I like the idea that he really officially became a shardbearer only four months prior, after acquiring a second set of shards from another assassination attempt. not very likely, though

Yeah, I think that's a good analogy. tapping zinc would give you the time to think more, so you could have that kind of analytical mind and notice all the details and think what they mean. However, it don't help you with phylosophical questions or big projects, stuff where the time you have to think about them is not the limiting factor.

when we make an imaginary world we tend to make it more intersting than the real one. plus, every intersting topic becomes boring if you have to know it well enough. generally when it starts involving complex math and stuff that is not intuitive anymore. That said, textbook writers could make an effort at least. But again, I've seen textbooks that tried to be engaging, and they were downright pityful. They weren't any more engaging that regular textbooks, and gave the impression that the authors considered you a retarded. I say, Sanderson's books can already be used for educational purposes, for learning language. I remember in my english classes being forced to read stupid books that were just as intersting as the phone book; if only I'd been asigned to read mmistborn over the summer vacations! Actually, my english was rather mediocre, before I started reading english stuff that was actually engaging; first the order of the stick, then i found the wheel of time, and then sanderson. I tried to get all my little cousins into sanderson, hoping I could get them to read my books in english (more to increase the fandom than to teach language, I admit). But so far, no success. I got one to become a sanderfan, and his little brother may follow him one he grows up, but he read the italian translation. Now I have some hopes to get him to read alcatraz in english, as there is no italian translation of it. The main obstacle is that I live in another country and only see him during vacation. Oh, and i have to give alcatraz to, like, a dozen people. It could be just the perfect tool to introduce sanderson to someone who isn't into epic fantasy. So my cousin will have to wait

i think it depends on the metal content of the ink. I have no idea what they put into it, but most dyes are metal complexes, so an inquisitor should sense them. Huh, one could make an ink only with non-metal dyes that would be invisible to inquisitors, or one with colorless metal salts that would only be visible to them

I think zinc gives you mental speed, not mental acuity. you can think faster, and you can control your body at superspeed when using steel, but you don't become smarter. plus, he was influenced by ruin the whole time

traditionally, all those other senses like balance, temperature and proprioception were lumped under touch. So maybe also with feruchemy it applies. otherwise, it could be intersting to store some of the more exotic senses. the sense of temperature would be quite useful in the nordic winters; tap it to put your hand out of the wondow and feel immediately and exactly what's the temperature. Knowing whether there are -5 or -20 degrees tell you what kind of coat you need to put onnote, and storing it will make you feel less uncomfortable when you stay outside. just stop storing for a minute every ten to make sure that you notice if you're actually freezing. Dieing of hypotermia just out of your home because you were storing temperature sensitivity while outside and never realized you were cold is darwin award material. Tapping balance could be fun too, but would probably be near useless. you'd become very sensitive to the sensation of being off-balance, so you'd have the feeling of falling at every moment. and you won't get that better at balancing, because tapping will let you feel that you are off balance, but won't give you the muscle coordination to fix it - it would be like trying to turn someone with parkinson into a sniper just by giving him a better scope. On the other hand, balance is sensitivity to acceleration, and tapping it may be like being your own acccelerometer. So I could see a windwisperer being put into a closed carriage and brought somewhere, only to be able to find the place thanks to his feruchemical balance and time sense (the carriage accelerated by one meter per square second for two seconds, then it went at a constant speed for 127 seconds, then it turned left by 85 degrees...). It ccould be an awesome scene. Proprioception, knowing very well where your body parts are, could be useful to tie or untie a knot with your hands behind your back, or while blindfolded. In general it could have some uses if you're stuck in a dark room. note: since I started working in finland, I have 4 different coats for different temperature ranges. The problem is that if you wear the wrong one you won't notice immediately; the cold will take a couple minutes seeping in (or your body will take that time to overheat the coat), so when you start feeling too cold or too hot you already left home and going back will make you late at work. To solve the issue, every finn home has a termometer out of the window, so you look that and see what kind of clothes you need - but doing it with feruchemy would be much cooler.

The way i understood it, szeth never really died. the heart stopped beating, the body shut down, but the brain still remain functional for a few minutes. It's the magical equivalent of reviving him with a cardiac massage.

I think there's a good point to raise here, something I believe captain cosmere was addressing himself. Namely, how much being influenced counts as losing free will? I mean, we are all influenced all the time, by the constraints of the physical world, by our own ideals, by the boundaries of society, by the actions of other people. yet we say that we have free will. if someone orders us at gunpoint, we say instead that we are not acting in free will, even if we could actually decide to disobey and get shot. So what's the actual definition of free will? what count as such? Take kaladin. yes, if he chooses to break some oaths, syl will die. so there is a strong influence in him. Also, if he chooses to break is oaths, some people who were counting on him will be let down, some people may die, other may likely not die as a result of the former people being dead. Why syl's death is so special and not just one of many consequences of the actions he can choose? And how much is dalinar influencced by honor, and how much he is honorable himself? is he losing his free will for it? breeze would love to argue against it; it's proably no more powerful an influence than a small soothing. which is no more powerful an influence than a charismaticc person just convincing us with mundane means. I personally don't see the conflict of the shards as causing people to lose their free will (except for odium's control over eshonai). it however forces people to make choices in determinate situations that would not have arosen without shards.

I really think it goes bacck to the shard. it makes the most sense; aafter atium is used, the investiture is not lost forever, but it reforms over time. i guess it's the same for all other cases. shards are a renewable resource.

that actually made me think of an article I read a few months ago, about a guy who went to a writing lecture that was apparently attended by some third-rate authors whose goal was not to teach people how to write, but to discourage a possibly future cuncurrence. It was titled "ten advices on writing you'd never want to receive", and while it is in italian, I'll do my best to translate it faithfully (unfortunately i can't really render all the style and the slang; my translation lacks the same verve and is not as funny as the original). So, you guys are pretty lucky to have brandon and his writing excuses. It's funny, but most of those advices are also given, in some way, by brandon himself. For the little i follow, they are the same advice, and yet they are radically different at the same time. It shows how a little difference in the spirit of the thing can make all the difference.

would be pretty difficult for alcatraz to bestow his oculatory power that way because, if he bestow that, then he's temporarily not an oculator anymore, and he stop bestowing. he would have to only bestow part of his power.

we know from what hoid does that you can do much cooler stuff than we're used to with realmatics. so yes, probably it is possible in some way. however i don't see it happening. bringing back characters from the death too often removes suspence from the books. As much as i liked kelsier, he will stay dead. Also, i felt since the first few chapters of mistborn that kelsier was going to die because he's way too much competent, and there's not enough tension in overcoming a challenge if he is the one doing it.

wait for the chalkling to step onto a movable object, then take that object and suspend it over a magnetic fied. there, the chalkling is trapped forever.

I got the impression that the reason joel wasn't bonded was the coin in his pocket. shadowblazes are related to chalklings, and both would be scared by clockworks. the shadowblaze seemed panicked when joel tried to touch him. and the scene of joel pocketing the coin was very vivid just before the inception, and strikes me as an attempt to hide the fact in the background.

he definitely was the hoid, disguised, and his trickster personality shows (albeit camouflaged by his acting like an informant). but you got me the idea, it would be a nice trick if brandon named a random character "hoid" (no a worldhopper, just some random guy) just to confuse us.

too many of them to mention them all, but lopen is the one that sticks the most.

well, there will certainly be tensions between the radiants, but I think you are overstating them. historically, there has never been anything to unite people like a common enemy. So I'd say the voidbringers and various conspiracies will keep them, if not working together, at least pointed in the same direction for the time being. Relevant quote: "Can we please fight the voidbringers and wait after the battle to discuss our differences? Thanks" (yeah, i totally made it up, but it fits)

Oaths of the order of responsible laziness: Oaths of openmindedness Oaths of reciprocity and consistency spoilered for brevity. i really have a tendency to write walls of text. maybe i can use that to become a fantasy writer myself

Harmony is virtually omnipotent as far as scadrial's inhabitants are concerned, and he's bent on protecting his people. However, he also tries hard to not intervene personally, least he takes away free will from people. So, for example, bloody tan was free to kill his victims, and wax's uncle to pursue his evil plans and have women kidnapped and raped, without harmony doing much. I have to say I kinda agree with him, mankind would never progress culturally or technologically if a godlike being solved all the problems, but that's beside the point. the point is that, as the ultimate protector of mankind, harmony would actually intervene if something really big happened, wouldn't he? Of course his first attempt would be to subtly influence events. for example, he manipulated wax so that he would fight the vanishers. but wax failed to rescue the women, or to stop his uncle, and harmony didn't intervene directly. So, let's assume that his attempt to intervene subtly did go wrong, and the only solution left for harmony is to do some real supernatural shard mojo or just sit and watch. I devised a few scenarios (spoilered for brevity) and a poll where you can vote which of them are more likely to cause a direct intervention. Most of them are divided into three levels of severity, with the first causing millions of death but not putting human society in danger, the second causing a significant amount of the world population to die and partial collapse of society, but with a good chance to recover, and the third threatening human extinction or regression to stone age. 1) War 2) Alien invasion 3) Ecological catastrophe 4) Politics 5) Asteroid impact 6) Pandemia 7, 8) Free for future use If some other idea of a potential catastrophe get suggested by many, it can be included in the poll Start the vote!

I don't think he was sexist, but I do wonder what kind of relationship he had with his wife... I don't get the reference to this one, can someone enlighten me? And now for my predictions... Rock will have a bsod moment when he will discover that his ancestors were forbidden from cooking Someone will try to kill the radiants, because hey, the radiants are returning to save us from the desolation, so if we kill them we get no desolation right? next are spoilered i fear