Youngy

I'll be purchasing the e-book... Until the smaller sized paperback is released that is the same size as all the other cosmere works on my shelf, then I will grab it as well. (Yes, this is obsessive compulsive, so sue me... Still waiting on The Emperor's Soul / Legion to be released in the smaller paperback... (Might be waiting a long time yet)

Was this directly stated? He has hinted at it before... With the "And while we're at it I'll bring Hoid along too - because there's no way he's letting Rand lose." That and that the 17th Sharders wouldn't know what to do if they did find him.

I have a feeling there is a theory somewhere that one could. What they would have to do would be to alter the base form (symbol) to that of the area they are in to draw the power from it. It's all about that first symbol that is put down - which looks like the nation the power is being drawn from. EDIT: And I have just found a WoB that crushes this theory. http://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/1ced7z/iamstilla_novelist_named_brandon_sanderson_ama/c9fosdo

The next clue came on the walls. I did not ignore this sign, but neither did I grasp its full implications. I think that this statement implies something which I'm not sure someone has pointed out yet. 'walls' not 'wall' This to me would say that either there are more messages to come - or the message has been carved in more places than just Dalinar's room.

I had a feeling that "carries my lord's own blade" referred to one of the heralds, not the Almighty himself. Carrying on this... I thought this would refer to Szeth carrying one of the Herald's blades (most likely Jez, seems he has gained the Gravity and Pressure surges). That's probably all wild speculation though.

As for the attract spren and act a given way - I think they are one and the same condition. Kaladin acting this way makes Syl attracted to him. However we must remember 'not all spren are as discerning as honourspren.'

The idea came up earlier in the year at some point... Or maybe mid last year. I remember because I came here, posted it, and someone told me that it had been discussed in the chat room the day before. That said, I don't think Brandon had confirmed it until now.

Biggest ones... Shallan's ten heartbeats comment ...although it was literally that entire scene. I was absolutely freaking out. Like, couldn't put it down, but really wanted to because I thought something horrible was about to happen. Otherwise... Dalinar giving up the shardblade and Kelsier's death.

Kurkistan, that is beautiful. All the more happiness to a combined theory I think.

Yeah, they kind of complement each other in a way. KChan specifies that it is a persons Devotion to a Dominion that allows them to use a specific ability (Arelon for Elantrians, MaiPon for Forgers) where as mine covers the 'where' magic is drawn from, and how the identity of a nation as a whole affects that. Actually Kurkistan covered the basics of it in this here. So the two things: Devotion to a Dominion is what gives the people of Sel access to a particular power - their cognitive identity of self. However, it is the 'setting stamp' - related to the cognitive identity of the Dominion itself - which allows the magic to be drawn through a particular Dominion.

I had a quick scout of the forum, and couldn't find anything related to this, so I thought I'd give it a shot. For starters, all Forgery Shai performs includes something that appears like MaiPon (her homeland) as its basic form. This is in the same way that the Elantrians have the basic lines that make up their Arelon (their homeland) as the basic form of their work. So it is this basic symbology - the shape of their homeland - which I would be assuming all magic on Sel includes. Then there is this quote from Brandon and Viper from this thread. The first thing I would be suggesting from this is that the magic would regionally-drawn. What I mean by this is that it is drawn from a particular country - nation - according to the basic symbol used in the magic form (in the case of both AonDor and Forgery, drawn/stamped). This would mean that using Arelon as the base form instead of MaiPon would make the power for Forgery drawn in Arelon, meaning that the Forgery would be stronger in Arelon than using the base form of MaiPon. This got me thinking of why on earth the shape of a nation would be important to a magic system (a nation to me is a group of individuals living in an area of land) ie. Why would we draw Arelon, and not half of Arelon and half of the nation next to it? Or just half of Arelon - or my proof that this cannot be done - all of Arelon except the area where the scar is. Which really, I believe is the point. These base forms - the reason that it is important for it to be a nation rather than just an area of land - is due to peoples understanding of the invisible boundaries that make nations - the cognitive aspect of a nation as it were - what the nation believes it is, due to what the people of that nation believe it is. eg. The people of Arelon believe that their nation runs from here to here and includes Elantris, the scar etc. So that is what must be drawn - as a whole - to draw magic from that area. My reasoning behind it not just being having to use the base form of an area of land is due to the scar itself. If they just needed to include major landmarks from the area they were drawing the power from, excluding the scar would not have mattered - because the magic system would have just drawn it from all the land, exuding the area where the scar was - which is where the cognitive identity of the land as a nation comes into play. That probably wasn't very well worded, but to me makes sense. What do people think?

Thanks for clarifying that. I must have miss-read it (and someone else has my copy at the moment).

Yeah. Which is what I thought. But why does the Ars Arcanum say 'ten levels' rather than 'ten kinds?' That is the point I am getting at. Or am I just misunderstanding?

"there are ten levels of Voidbinding, like there are ten levels of Surgebinding." Just something that cropped up in the Ars Arcanum from tWoK... Does the wording of this statement stand out to anyone else? Levels to me implies heights of power, or an order of power rather than ten distinct (but different) sets of powers. Would this just be me reading into it too much? Or is Kaladin's surge of power when he speaks the "I will protect those who cannot protect themselves." somehow related to this? (Ie. He has moved from 'level 1' to 'level 2,' whatever that would entail... Thoughts?

I am up for this if they are willing to mail to Australia.

Yeah, I'm struggling with that one a bit - because we don't have any other 'internal' shards known at the moment. My biggest reason for that split was the fact that each of the others is all the others affect others. Dominion, Cultivation etc, where as Honour is very much an attribute that a person can have you can be Honourable, but you cant be Ruinable, Endowmentable, Dominionable etc, It's a characteristic of a being rather than a concept.

I love it - and you know, its not a bad metaphor to bring all of the theory together (if you have some knowledge of OOP)

Thanks Windrunner, I think I'll be giving them a listen through now! I've been out hiking the last few days (absolutely freezing cold), and I've been looking forward to listening to them when I got back.

Just a quick question. Has anyone compiled a list of the Words of Radiance readings that Sanderson has given somewhere with links to them? I can't seem to find any.

Sorry, I was referring to the shard that Brandon said 'Just wants to survive', rather than Preservation's intent. I meant the intent of this other shard. Ruin compatible with Cultivation? What are the current thoughts on the intent of Cultivation though? Is it not to grow something through effort? Which really seems almost the reversal of Ruin's entropy-like intent.

Yet, the way they have been grouped really does seem the most logical straight forward method of categorization them. Is what he was implying here that the powers weren't necessarily formed that way? That they just fell out like that rather than breaking apart nicely? Or was he implying that although this lot came out that way, there was no real underlying concept why they should. I don't know, the big thing that stands out to me about the Shardic Intents is that there are several clear opposites. Devotion - Odium Cultivation - Ruin (Although I would really like to know whether Cultivation implies just growth or rather giving something and then having it grow) The whole Preservation-Ruin duality never struck me as right. They're not opposites... Preservation is just an inaction. Maybe change would make a better opposite to it.. The other thing that struck me, and still does is the Preservation - "One that just wants to survive." relationship. Maybe I am seeing things that aren't really there, but survival does seem very 'Self-Preservation.' I guess the big problem is that we wont discover any new Shards until we see new Shardworlds (or we get some more nice information like The Letter). And the other thread is certainly interesting. I'd never considered grouping them as Physical, Cognitive, Spiritual, Temporal. I did try for a Devotion - Apathy - Odium Cultivation - Preservation - Ruin style of grouping, but the problem is that threes don't go into 16 nicely.

So I spotted the following in the Q&A with Brandon Sanderson topic, and kind of ran a bit with it... Grouping the Shards in my head. Just going to throw it out there to see what people think... Good question. ... RAFO Groupings: Like with the Allomantic Metals, I have grouped the Shards in several different ways. Four categories, three of which I am content with, Internal and External... and I am missing the fourth kind of grouping... but it works like this.. Internal/External: Internal Shards: These are generally characteristics that people show, or about the self. Examples of this would be Honour or Survival (one of the Shards just wants to survive, was something Sanderson said). External Shards: These are about doing things to others. Odium, Dominion, Endowment, Preservation are all about the other. The Four Categories: Growth: These are all about creation and destruction. Ruin and Cultivation are perfect examples of this, destroying other things, or prompting other things to grow. Emotion: These are all about the base emotions currently. Odium and Devotion are perfect examples of this, hating others or loving others. Control: These are about control... Or lack of maybe. Dominion, the control of others... and possibly Honour, the control of self (not certain, it doesn't quite fit the bill) I am unsure how to label the last category, but its about either keeping things as they are, or changing them through give/take... The Last Division: I am unsure how else to divide them... But it does seem like there is a selfless and a non-selfless split. Giving compared to keeping. Hating compared to loving. Destroying compared to creating. Lack of control instead of control. See the attached file for the current image. Anyway, would certainly be glad to hear what you think about it. Youngy.

I'm intrigued about this. Has there been any evidence that says so? I mean, something had to shatter Adonalisium at some point... There is a possibility that this was malicious intent / caused by something other than Adonalisium, rather than him just shattering. Which to me would imply there are things out there powerful enough. Which would mean that Sazed would not necessarily be so. And we are missing a good 8 Shards, with a few of them likely to be on same Shardworlds. Why not have some other being that has picked up two? What if the force that shattered Adonalisium wanted one or two shards for itself? All random conjecture. Sorry. But to me, the fact that Adonalisium shattered in the first place should be the greatest threat, not the 'little' vendettas the Shards have against each other.. That said, the fact that the dragon feels no need to intervene kind of tells us that maybe there isnt..

Recently I have had a few thoughts on the letter, and wonder if they have been discussed before. "Ponder on that for a time, you old reptile, and tell me if your insistence on nonintervention holds firm." This first one, to me says two things, one I have mentioned before here. -The words 'old reptile' to me would seem to indicate a dragon. Coupled with the fact that the name of one of the series will be Dragonsteel, I would be guessing the letter is written to a dragon. -The other thing of note is the non-intervention. This - once again - to me says a few things, one of which is that the being who the letter is addressed to, the dragon has the ability to intervene in a war between Shards to an effect. Which kind of implies if he isn't on par in power to a Shard, he may be a lot closer than most beings in the Cosmere that we have seen so far. -The non-intervention statement reminds me of Harmony a lot, not intervening with the troubles of people. But this dragon is not intervening with the troubles of Shards. "Though, as you are now essentially immortal, I would guess that wellness on your part is something of a given." This one is also rather interesting, emphasis mine. The dragon was not always immortal (and so dragons being immortal is not a given. Which is interesting, because it means this creature has found some way of procuring immortality. (Whether this is from Shard-based magic or something else) Could it be holding multiple shards, the same way that Sazed is? Anyway, that is some of my thoughts over the last few days reading the Way of Kings. Enjoy.

If both could exist within the same being's sDNA, I would assume so, seems it would be just combinations of sDNA from both of the parents.