The Thinking Herald

Granted. It appears 5 times larger because it is 5 times closer. Thus, all the tides are messed up. I wish for the powers of the Ebony Maw - that is, to be able to use my voice to persuade anyone to do anything I wish.

Granted. However, you become mute, so you can't use any of them. I wish that no harm outside of the natural cycles befalls me, be it in the physical, cognitive, or spiritual, from this day on.

Well, now that Swedish House Mafia is back after their five-year hiatus, it's time to binge-listen to all their music.

@Isilel As I put in my disclaimer, I wasn’t disagreeing with anyone else’s ideas, or saying which idea was more likely, simply putting up an idea - though, admittedly, one that now I think about more, I like more - drawing out a single possibility out of a sea of infinities. Especially given the existence of Harmony, it seems unlikely that Sanderson will go the exact same route. However, I believe that this idea is different enough from that plot to be used, and as I said, a main point of the entire post was finding a possibility that fulfilled the balance between a victory of a kind for our heroes while leaving a legitimate threat out there to be dealt with in SA arc 2.

@Toaster Retribution It was meant to be a joke. I’m sorry, since it appears that I either have a poor sense of humour/sarcasm, or I have no idea on how to properly translate that sense of humour/sarcasm through typing on Internet forums. Probably should have learned the first time I attempted a joke about Rshara’s constant theorybusting, to her chagrin. Then again, I suppose being a naive 14 year old hasn’t helped. But, yeah. I agree with you. In my edit, I stated that I believe that Odium would not consider the “make every city into Kharbranth” idea as in the spirit of the original agreement, or the polygamy idea. And if it didn’t seem to include the latter, I apologise for my poor choices of words.

Yay! Now the Rosharans have two easy solutions to their problem. Either all marry into Kharbranth families, or rename every city Kharbranth and think that the cities are Kharbranth enough so that their cognitive aspects are altered. Either way, Odium can’t storming do anything. But, to be serious, I think Odium wouldn’t consider that in the spirit of the agreement made with T.

He lost. The Splinter of God, the Shadow is the Almighty, the Stormfather. He is dead, and a dog killed him. Now, there is but a shadow left of his presence. A shadow of a shadow. I suppose it’s a befitting end, yet.... Alas, if only others had known his strength.

Disclaimer 1: I am not disagreeing with anyone on this board. I'm simply pitching another idea, another perspective on what could be done. Disclaimer 2: @Calderis came up with the basis of what I grew this idea out of. Basic storytelling principles say that each book ought to have 3 disasters before the resolution. So, what I'll be pitching is that book 5 ends with a major, major disaster for the heroes of our story. This is Roshar's Nightmare Scenario. Let's say the heroes actually completely defeat Odium mid-book 5. They shatter him, spreading his Splinters all over Roshar. Yay, everyone is happy! However, Cultivation shows up, determined that it's time to cultivate her power in the Cosmere. Either that, or she's decided that the best way to Cultivate the Cosmere is if she's the one in charge. Surprise surprise, she picks up a Splinter of Odium. Commence sequence with our heroes attempting to re-seize the Splinters. In the end, the heroes are forced to become Slivers of Odium themselves. Let's say two Splinters go to Dalinar, who's already reassembled Honor at this point, furthering him on the path to becoming Unity. Kaladin either picks up a splinter of Odium, or dies in the process. Shallan may pick up the "Ecstasy" splinter of Odium. In the end, Cultivation has gathered 2/3 Splinters to herself, and the rest go to our heroes. Dalinar uses the Splinters in his possession, as well as the Splinters of the other heroes, to make a binding on Cultivation's power. The time gap will consist of another drawing of battle lines. Dalinar will attempt to convince the Singers to remain with him, but a portion will join up with Cultivation, as she was their original Goddess, while Dalinar may be seen as an impostor of Honor. Either that, or the Parsh, being more Honorable, could stick with Dalinar, whilst the entire Aimian race joins up with the baddies. In the back half, Hateful!Cultivation will provide a more three-dimensional and more relatable villain than Odium alone ever could have presented, and ideologically could come up with legitimately good reasons for scrubbing our heroes off the face of Roshar. Inevitably, however, Dalinar, or perhaps someone else (Adolin/Jasnah/whoever) in case of his death defeats Hateful!Cultivation, and joins the three shards together to form Unity, ascending beyond Harmony, and becoming the most powerful Cosmere being. I believe that this arc progression would provide a tenser conflict in the back half than just having Honor!Dalinar and Cultivation ganging up on Odium. As I stated earlier, I could genuinely see Hateful!Cultivation presenting legitimate arguments as to why she should take over the Cosmere, as opposed to Odium doing it solely because he wants to. In addition, the heroes would be hard-pressed to find a victory against a Shard with innumerable more years of experience at tinkering with the Power. Generally, I think this plot addresses the main arguments currently in the thread, which is finding the balance between giving the heroes a victory while providing a tough time for them in the back half of the Stormlight Archive.

The entire storming film of Your Name. ( the anime) Kelsier’s death made me shed a single tear, if I recall. Besides from that, I hardly think I’ve cried when recently reading novels or watching film.

Thanks to Del-light-ful and Mestiv for the words of encouragement. I didn’t really have an opportunity to go do any of what the two of you recommended. School has been busy, and I’m not even in the same class with that girl, so there was little chance for interaction. However, my friends in the same classes as her went on my behalf to talk to her. And, of course, it’s 3 for 3. Luckily, she’s apparently just not into dating as a whole at the moment , and it’s jot that she’s not into me. The next course of action should be to forget this all ever happened and let go, shouldn’t it? I can’t help but feel as if there’s still some hope for something to happen later down the line - and that all I need to do is, really, wait. Please shock me back to reality if I’m wrong.

Alright, folks. As I've let on in my AMA and my profile, I'm an aspiring writer. So, really, it was inevitable that one of these posts was coming. My fantasy world is something I have been working on for ages with a co-author and brainstormer of mine. I'm not entirely sure where he gets his inspiration from, but I myself am heavily influenced by other fantasy which I've read or experienced - ASOIAF, the Malazan Book of the Fallen, and Stormlight being currently the three main influencing works. I plan to build a story with thematic influences from Malazan and Stormlight - moments of sombreness, moments of heroism, moments of despair and hopelessness mixed into one, and where ASOIAF will factor in will be the politics and realism of the world. However, I'll save the plot critiquing for Reading Excuses, if I ever get around to actually joining it. I'm here to talk about magic. My magic system works in an elemental manner, similarly to the MBotF, but with twists from Stormlight. There are higher planes of existence, different dimensions, realms of the past, from which people of the present harness ancient, raw elemental magics. Fire, water, you name it. These higher realms of existence channel their magic back into the current world through the presence of dragons and gems. Dragonsblood is magic, and so are the gems. The process is this. Gems are mined under the earth. All gems found will have a certain amount of magical potency to them, a certain amount of magical energy in them. This originally is dependent upon several main factors: Size of gem (the larger the gem the better), the fineness of the gem (similar to Stormlight, the more facets, the less leaking), and the color of the gem (green gems harness the nature energy better, etc.) Sooner or later, the base magical energy in the gems is used up in battle or whatever. In order to "recharge" the magic, a dragon must be killed, and the blood stored. Gems are boiled in the dragonsblood, and can absorb the magical, elemental essence of the dragon. Once entered into the gem, it reverts to raw power, accessible to all magic users. Who are the magic users in my world? Everyone in my fantasy world has some chance of tapping the magic. However, due to the demand for the magical energies, the gems and dragonsblood, only those government-sanctioned in the main country of the world (I.E. army mages) or those rich enough to afford them, can access the materials required to perform magic. And, of course, like any other normal, human skill, it depends on willingness to learn and develop the skill. Please critique my magic system. Is it too similar to Malazan or Stormlight? How could I flesh it out more? Thanks in advance.

Well, let's see. I am The Thinking Herald. In essence, a walking, talking, living oxymoron, seeing as how Heralds are all insane, and probably none of them can think properly. Either that or I'm so insane I actually believe that I can think. And taking either of these options, extrapolating from them, I saw how this name really reflected my true insane nature as an oxymoron. Yeah, storming deep, I know. But, to be honest, it just sounded cool, and also functioned as a very subtle reference to any Malazan fans on this forum - TTH, anyone?

@Niteshado Well, I've tried running a D&D campaign with some classmates, without proper dice, or rulebooks, or most of the stuff necessary to run a D&D campaign. Therefore, I'll just say that I've never played D&D successfully, and due in part to my obsession with running the story - and thus being the DM - I have never had a character that I've played, let alone a favourite one.

Well, not sure if this is more appropriately put into the “Good News” thread, but anyway, here goes. Today, I confessed to my crush. She’s probably already known that I have a thing for her for any amount of time between less than two weeks to a year (I can elaborate on that if anyone wishes me to), and she’s the first of my crushes to respond by not directly rejecting me. Instead, she said “Thanks for telling me. I appreciate that.” That’s not great, but it’s progress from my past track record. So, what I came to this thread was to inquire about the best next choice. What should I do? Apologise for my cringeworthy delivery of the confession (and boy was it cringeworthy)? Thank her for at least accepting the fact? I have no idea what to do.

@Nathrangking Let's see. 1. Nothing 2. Scadrial Post-Ascension or Shinovar, including Urithiru access (I would never travel to the rest of Roshar) 3. An anime called Kimi No Nawa (Your Name), since it was the only movie I've watched that elicited a violent emotional reaction from me. 4. Optimistically speaking, Cultivation. 5. Ryshadium 6. Dalinar Kholin, because god-like abilities and also, reading. 7. Coke. 8. Lasagna is great. Depending on how it's done, it could have just the perfect bite of bolognese and pasta. 9. Hesina, I would think. My mother seems pretty similar to her in attitude. 10. Depends on new books that I havent read and business. It could range from 1 to 4. And, of course, it depends on which books I'm reading and their quality- it took me about 3 months to force myself through SE's FoD (No hate to other Malazan fans out there, it just was a slog), but about a week to finish Oathbringer. 11. Well, I don't know what his specific method is, but I can't argue with the superb results. 12. Chuck Norris, in a heartbeat. @Niteshado 1. I'm kind of on the fence on this one. On one hand, dogs don't give you stares of death. On the other, they could chew up furniture. Not like it's relevant to me, seeing as how even if I wanted to I couldn't get a pet (I'm, unfortunately, allergic to their poo and dust). 2. Hardwood. Carpets are far too dusty for me. 3. They must have some level of survivalist instinct, but I don't believe it goes any further than that. 4. a ) Finish my novel plan and the first manuscript in the reasonable future. b ) Solve some of my school's issues in some form of capacity before abandoning it c ) (I hope that this comes true one day) Take Sanderson's BYU course on writing. 5. Nothing, probably. 6. I'd burn - just a little - some of the possessions of a teacher who I absolutely abhor at this point in time. 7. If I could fly, I'd use it for good, probably? D&D alignment seems to suggest I'm Lawful Good, so I don't know. I always think that I'm acting evilly, but that may just be a product of my Christian background and having higher moral expectations for myself. @TheVillageIdiot 1. Superhero, probably. (For reason, see my answer to Niteshado's 7) 2. Smooth-talking. Even though I'm not currently good at it, I feel it's the last thing needed to round out my "set" of abilities. 3. Dark meat. There's so much more variety. 4. Probably put myself in a situation where they wouldn't be able to reach me. 5. I'd make all rice white, regardless of it actually being black or red or brown rice. (I swear I'm not a racist, I just like the look of white rice more. Black and brown and red rice remind me all too much of being "healthy" and stuff.) 6. Fantasy. I can't seem to help falling into the trap of writing fantasy - I really should read around the block more and get more SFF into there. 7. Third. It seems so much more easy to handle. Despite First Person giving added emotional depth and connection with the character's narrative voice, I prefer to use Third in a pinch. 8. Yes. 9. Blue/Black/Red/Gold.

Uh, fire ahead. Topics of interest (for reference): authoring (am a wannabe writer) cosmere I also reserve the right to not answer sensitive questions.

@Queen Elsa Steelheart I liked frozen. And I’ve heard great things bout Steelheart (never read it, unfortunately). So, I like your username. And you’re modest and humble. And graceful. You are a good human.

Buy. And in doing so, gain the mandate of Uniting things, much as holders of Ruin must ruin things, and holders of Odium must hate things.

So, I was thinking about Oathbringer, and it’s flaws, and one I just returned to was that it wasn’t long enough. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s pretty heavy as a novel. What I’m talking about is that there were other plot elements that could have been fleshed out for a far more well paced and “realistic”, I suppose, experience. So, this thread is for discussion of plot points that you feel could have been picked up, used, or generated in order to make Oathbringer a more well-rounded novel. I’ll start off with one. I feel, personally, one of the threads that could have been explored would be Amaram’s turn to the dark side. As stated in another thread (of which name I have forgot), there could have been exploration of how he came to side with Odium. Instead of having merely a verbal spare with Jasnah, there could have been other scenes showing him realising that Honor is truly dead, realising the sham of Vorinism, but refusing to accept the facts, until Odium appears and does mental manipulation. Such manipulation could include offers of vengeance on Dalinar, proof that since Honor is dead, the default god on Roshar is Odium, etc. Discuss.

Buy. Odium would reshape Roshar into a land full of ramen after he defeats Dalinar.

Buy. I always buy into theories explaining Adonalsium and the Shards. Odium may seem menacing, but in his free time, he dresses like Snoke from TLJ - that is, with fluffy slippers and a golden bathrobe.

We know from a WoB that Hoid, “like any normal person, likes his ramen.” (Rough paraphrasing). So, sell. Instead, I’m going to re-put up that Hoid perpetuates his grudge again both Bavadin and Rayse because their end game is to hoard all the ramen of Taldain to themselves, and Hoid simply cannot let that happen.

I trust Brandon as a Mormon wouldn't condone letting any planets burn, or watch any of them burn without doing anything. So, unfortunately, sell. Rayse likes the colour gold because it reminds him of the yellowness of the one, the only, Taldain Ramen.

Buy. Why not? Only a god would have such fashion sense. Sja-anat is actually working for Odium while being deceived into thinking she has free will.

And when he’s 24, as his birthday gift he gets all the shards together minus Autonomy and Odium. Embarrased, Rayse hands over his shard, and Gavinor invades Taldain, becoming Adonalsium. The God Beyond says “Alright, these humans know what’s up”, and vacates his position to Gavinor, leaving a 25 year old to become the most OP Sanderson character ever. When this is all revealed to be true, remember that you heard t here first. And, by the way, sorry for derailing the thread. I couldn’t resist.