Mutantspicy

I actually wonder if all of the unmade are something akin to the stormfather. Meaning they were in Roshar prior to Odiums arrival. And like the stormfather who became something different after accepting Honor as his shard. The made became unmade splinters of Odium perhaps his answer to the stormfather and maybe the heralds. Do we know if the the unmade became splinters of odium before or after the heralds? There are two reasons I feel this way. First the name the unmade, which infers they were made at some point. To your point why would Odium make and then unmake them. Perhaps they were already in place and odium unmade them into his vision. The second reason is they seem awfully pagan at their roots, the old magic references, etc. it just feels like to me BS is hinting at them being ancient.

Thank you. Yeah after doing some more reading in the coppermind that became apparent to me.

And its seems like they would have better engineering to create a sealable lid out of aluminum. It also seems like it would be more effective for mistborns in general and hopefully there will be more of those by then.

Just curious if it would be possible to make aluminum viles to stealth your allomantic solutions, or would the aluminum corrupt the metals within? any thoughts?

I liked the story and the format. I feel the first edition was too short though. However, I have some confusion as to Taldain's place in the cosmere. Mostly surrounding Khriss, as she's never left Darkside until now but we know from other cosmere stories she is a world hopper and writes the Ars Arcanum. Does this story take place way before mistborn and stormlight? Also this would seem indicate there will eventually be a perpendicularity discovered? Like I said I not sure I understand the timeline of this story.

For one because of geological separation there are no mistings or feruchemists in the south. And 2 we have zero understanding of how a non feruchemist can use a medallion. We don't understand the nature of the excisor is it a new metal or alloy within the device or is the device power by something else from another planet in the cosmere. It is suggested also there are a bunch of unknown metals in the south which will all have different types investiture. That said in the future once trade routes become established this can all change. However, as it stands currently the northerners cannot imbue objects with magic that can be used by anyone, and southerners cannot invest magic in themselves. It is said the Lord ruler kept investure from the southerners as a control for his experiment. I'm agreeing with you. Magic isn't limited by geography, but it just happens to be at moment by design from the Lord Ruler.

Well you are right in the way that allomancy and feruchemy work planet wide. So the magic isn't limited geographically like Sel. But the magic is different geographically As you say suppression of information on one hand, but also geological separations. Ettmetal is foreign to the north and the South do not have lerasium or at least know about it. There is also the suggestion in ars acanum of 32 potential alloys from the south we haven't learned about yet. But your right Allowmancy, feruchemy, and hemalurgy allow for tons of speculation and high concepts for the metals we do know about especially when you add the technological advances of the south. Its a physicists dream. it just seems to me a door to all sorts of new possibilities has been opened.

The power is most definitely geographic on Sel. Which may mean there are certain thin spots, perpendicularities where they are able to tap into the cognitive and spiritual realms. It makes sense for Elantris since the lake is a perpendicularity. It seems like there must be others in the Jindo Region, the Rose Empire, the Fjorden regions, etc.

Given the nature of Stormlight I've always felt the varying annunciations are appropriate given the amount of cultural variation in that realm. I mean who am I to judge. I like Kramer, and I love Reading, But I found myself missing Garrett in the reading of Hope of Elantris. To me it will Ho-eed not hode. It will be Shay ode, not showd.

Welcome! I'm new here too. But I wanted to ask do we really know allomancy. Afterall we just found out there's an entire other half of the world whose investiture has similarities is based more on the metals themselves rather than the human interaction, making them more technological by default. Similar to what goes on on Sel, different parts of the planet do investiture differently based on location, Culture and maybe which shard is dominant. I don't know whats actually happening, I'm really curious about book 4 of Wax and Wayne. I'm really curious if harmony will split, and what will change as result. The creation of Harmony seemingly overtime changed allomancy to where no mistborns or full on ferochemists are around, thats the effect of balance. No overpowered investiture in either direction. To me we feel like we know allomancy better, simply because we have more history with it, but it very well maybe ready to flip upside down again, damnit Trell.

Thank you! It looks like a good community and lots of interesting theories floating about here. Maybe it'll help feed my fix while waiting for the next Mistborn to come out.

I have a feeling the Ghost Bloods will cause much more havok in the future. The murder of Sadeas, and Shallan's dealings with the Ghost Bloods will cause their marriage to break down at some level. I think this will break Adolin and his dead spren will awaken to eventually save him and they'll become radiant. This is my crazy prediction.

However, isn't this the beauty of the stories. Vin's ability to transcend until it was her time to chill, Kaladins constant defiance of even his own passions , Shallans quest for truth, but ultimately Dalinar's ability to face his own ugly truth. All of them were under the influence and were able to stand against their own demons. And to your point Sazed stuck as Harmony is heart breaking, but I have to think that will change.

So thank you very much for the incredibly thoughtful post. I'm learning about this world and your information was very helpful. But I cut out this region because I'm not really sure about. I feel like the unmade are like our version of Pagan spirits who rule the world, and the shards or gods or fake gods whatever are manipulating or in cahoots with them. I feel like the Unmade are the wild card in this story. But at the moment odium seems to have them under his thumb.

Good to know. Thank you.

Arcanum Unbounded is totally on the list next. Warbreaker is one I didn't really consider too high of a priority. I have a lot of books on the list Sanderson is new for me. That said, this story is so thought provoking I'm glad to be getting into it. And I had never really read any reviews of Warbreaker being a prequel. Though all of the cosmere is somehow connected.

Not yet

I've read the mistborn series and elantris. I'm new to Brandon Sandersons world completely. Only been reading for a couple of years. I keep my views based on the actual books I've read and my own speculations. As to your statement, I never felt like the shards are even remotely close to gods. Ruin, Preservation, Honor, Odium, Cultivation are the Gods I'm aware of. I think Ruin and Odium are falling for the same trap a bit. the more they get involved with life the less godly they become.

I think it was implicit in my question. I wonder if the ghost of person is different than the ghost of a god. Also can a god project shadows before death? This is the question I get from this story. But not the total question because did Roshar have its own Gods before the shards hit. Were they dead? and did Honor and Odium kill them?

Ok sure. But I think the questions go beyond that now. What happens when a God dies? or Doesnt't? Do you think the rules are the same? I don't.

Regardless of the semantics. Whether you call them Shadows or Splinters, sorry I'm new here and not in with your hipster lingo. My suggestion was simply Odium essences can exist without him being dead. And those essences because they are now able to connect with people or parsh can be independent or corrupted. Taker of Secrets for instance. On the other hand, maybe the old magics are exactly that. And the unmade were the shadows of the old gods, and existed on Roshar before humans and shards. Did human gods already kill the old gods before humans invaded and leave the shadows of the unmade? What it comes down to for me is Did Odium corrupt the unmade or did he create them? But at the end I feel that they have the ability to separate themselves from Odium.

Thank you! These are very interesting details that help my thoughts. The one thing that hasn't really been addressed is did Humans bring Honor and Cultivation or just Odium. Does this suggest that the Parsh and Roshar existed without divine interference prior and the Human gods corrupted the Roshar energies that bread life? So does this mean the Nightwatcher and Stormfather maybe existed as some kind of energy before Honor, Odium and Cultivation showed up?

I don't think its clear when exactly Odium destroyed Honor. And when the essences and corresponding Heralds were created. I think this is all still very much up in the air. But you do add that extra element to argument. The division between the cognitive shadows and physical ones. Its mind bending for sure. But I think you are quick to assume that a god cannot cast a shadow upon all 3 realms whether dead or not. In fact Dalinar and the storm father pretty much opened all 3 realms for a quick minute.

The Storm Father considers himself to be a shadow of the the almighty. Many insist he means splinter, perhaps thats because he was destroyed and people think he broke in to 10 parts or essences. But the shadow of the almighty existed before his death, The unmade do not have to be a splintering of Odium, which implies a weakening, but rather a shadow left by a god. These nine essences can simply be the shadow of Odium. Similarly the almighty created a shadow of 10 essences on this world. Many seem to be assuming this shattering effect of his death created the essences, but maybe the essences were there all along and the stories are once again all unclear. Since the shadow of the almighty can exist past the death of their origin the almighty. That would suggest that not only the 10 essences of Honor but the 9 essence of Odium can be independent. This is the real power of Dalinar's defiance of Odium. He simply said no.

I there with you. I'm 44 and just got turned on to Sanderson about a year and half ago. I had Stephen King and Tolkien back in the day. But Neil Gaiman is the one got me back into fantasy, but I'm so happy. He's vibrant writer putting out alot of material which is encouraging.