Nerd3.14159265358979

2 hours ago, ElephantEarwax said:

I am attempting to do just that. If you would like to help, say, "My life to yours, my Breath become yours."

Um...my Mom told me to, um...to make life good decisions...er life decisions good...well, um, to do stuff good, so...*breaks under the pressure and runs away sobbing*

When you're more excited about an email from your friend about a Sanderson book than most anything else.

When you notice someone from your car and they turn around and see you and your automatic assumption is that they noticed you because they found a way to get extra BioChromatic Breath.

When your sister asks what BioChromatic Breath is and your brother says "It's Brandon Sanderson" and continues to explain that wen you say something he doesn't understand, he just assumes it's Sanderson.

10 hours ago, Sahin the Just said:

Or when you are cleaning up boards with nails in them w/o you knowing. And when some tells you, you are like "someone almost spiked me!"

Or you have to pull nails out of the floor or other wood and you're thinking angry thoughts toward anyone who would spike a piece of wood in the first place.

When you see a nail on the floor and think "That's a really small hemallurgic spike".

Has a bacon division been considered? Cause that way you could spike draw in introduce Hoid and Hoid fanatics to your wonderful hemalurgic cooking skills.

2 hours ago, Leyrann said:

I think it's because of your name.

Yeah...probably

Mistborn (Final Empire and Alloy of Law)

19 hours ago, Tesh said:

Oh! It wouldn't surprise me if that did appear in one of his books sometime, though. The Dustbringers are coming!

You're right-it wouldn't be at all surprising.

15 hours ago, Tesh said:

Wasn't it in Mistborn?

No, it didn't actually happen in any of his books (to my knowledge). This was meant to be kind of like a Chuck Norris joke, but for Brandon Sanderson-sorry to mislead you!

i also posted this in another thread first, and it's not the best ever, but still:

5 hours ago, lu-tze said:

I think the Parshendi are an exception, in that we will see certain parallels to human cultures, but nothing on which they are clearly based. This is because the Parshendi are unified by their ability to simultaneously attune the same rhythms. This should be (and is) at the core of their culture; yet is completely alien to human societies.

I think that is true to an extent, but (using the example Sanderson used-I can't remember exactly where) a unicorn is a compilation of things we know-we know about horses, and we know about horns, so we can imagine a unicorn, even though we've never seen it. In a related vein, however, we can't cognitize something completely new-we can combine elements, and we have the capacity to make our combinations incredible complex, which I believe is what Sanderson is doing with the Parshendi/Listeners, or whatever you call them in various sections of the book. So, I believe that it is largely correct to say that they are not based on the Neanderthals-it's much more complex than that. It isn't necessarily correct, however-I still think the Neanderthals were part of the basis of the Parshendi/Listeners. It is definitely more complex than I originally stated however-that much is definitely true. For example, Native American culture likely had a large impact, as @RShara said, and music definitely had an influence, as you said (though, if you check my title explanation, the Neanderthals likely spoke to the rhythm of music as well). The music basis definitely changed the cultures, but that doesn't mean the culture wasn't a basis. For example, Sanderson has stated that the Alethi culture is based on Korean culture, but this doesn't mean that the two are the same. I think that the Parshendi/Listener culture just happens to be one of the most complex cultures in his books (if not the most) as well as the most different from ours, which means that the basis for the culture will also be incredibly complex. I find it all to be quite beautiful.

You're right! that could work.

The only problem is that none of the more modern cultures (such as the Native Americans) aren't physically different (to a great extent)-Neanderthals are, and we know next to nothing about how their culture was, just some of the results. This also, fits with the Parshendi/Listeners (though, I admit, to a lesser extent). When I look at them both (Native Americans and Neanderthals) together, it looks like elements of inspiration could have come from both-combining elements of different cultures in fiction isn't unheard of-in fact, it's quite common. 

14 hours ago, Nymeros said:

I don't think they were based on Neanderthals at all....

The similarities you mention seem superficial.

That could be, but Sanderson has said himself that all his cultures are at least loosely based on Earth cultures, and this makes the most sense to me. Do you know of a culture that works better? If so, I'd love to hear about it!

34 minutes ago, Calderis said:

@Nerd3.14159265358979 I'll edit this with a response to your theory after I finish making dinner but

OB spoilers. 

  Hide contents

Please edit out the word singers unless this is moved to the OB board. That name was not linked to them until the new book. 

 

Sorry! This is done now. Thanks for the pointer!

12 minutes ago, RShara said:

Mmmmm why is everything bolded?

I think you're underestimating the Singers.  They seem to have had reasonable technology and sophistication (for the time period) before the Desolations and the incident that deprived them of their minds.

They're only less artistically inclined because they lost the knowledge of artisanform (or whatever it'll be called) when they fled the domination of Odium.  Ditto with pretty much every skill that they're lacking right now.

There might be some influence from Homo Neanderthalis, but it's fairly slight, as the Singers are waaaaaaaaaaay different, other than being a sapient species co-habiting a planet.

I tried to unbold it, and it didn't work.

Yeah-on most of these points I was mostly referring to the Listeners as they exist in WoK and WoR, as these do parallel rather well. Also, the Neanderthals weren't way behind the humans in tools and weapons, they just had less variety. I guess I could've phrased that better.

I’ve heard that every culture in Cosmere has basing in culture(s) on Earth, as it’s impossible to cognitize something completely new. I theorize that the base inspiration for the Parshendi/Listeners came from the Neanderthals. Here are the reasons I believe this:

• Neanderthals were less artistically skilled than us, which may have contributed to their demise. The Listeners were also less artistically skilled, as of Words of Radiance, which Eshonai worried would be key to their demise.

• Neanderthal language would have sounded like singing-the same holds true for the Parshendi/Listeners. (The Neanderthals because their faces were situated farther forward, the Parshendi/Listeners because they hear rhythms-but the principle holds true.)

• Both are stronger than humans.

• Both have about the same size of brains as humans, but their brains are composed/were developed differently from ours.

• Both had conflict with humans (I don’t believe humans and Neanderthals had all out war, but still conflict).

• Both were harmed greatly by humans-as a result of humans moving into their lands.

• Both the Neanderthals and the Listeners had less advanced/varied tools and weapons than humans.

(There are other similarities as well, but I am excluding those, as they may give spoilers for Oathbringer.)

Thoughts?

When you spend every class in school in which you're allowed a computer on the 17th Shard...This isn't my most productive math class ever.

1 minute ago, The Forgetful Archivist said:

What would make you think that? Don't ask questions just eat the cookie pie...

Sure, I'll do that-or not.

I've heard that double posting is annoying, so

1 minute ago, Droughtbringer said:

Welcome to the Shard! Tis great to have you,

As for Warbreaker: there are some... interesting scenes, but it never gets too bad. I am a fairly sensitive soul, and as soon as I was like "Maybe I should put this down" it didn't get worse, and the scene ended pretty fast. I'd suggest giving it a read, and enjoying it, it is one of my favorite magic systems, has fun characters, and is Sanderson. So read it

Thanks for the analysis! Will do.

1 minute ago, Snorkel said:

...skip...parts of a Sanderson book?!  HERESY! :-O

Seriously though, I did find Warbreaker to be a bit hard to follow in parts, and I didn't enjoy it as much as other Cosmere books.  But regardless, I can't think of any part that I would recommend skipping entirely, it would get very confusing.  It's not a very long book (well, not compared with many of his other books anyhow ) so I'd recommend just reading it anyway.
 

 

PS, beware the cookies

Alright. Thanks! It hurts me inside to consider skipping too (in any book-especially Sanderson)-which is probably why I haven't sought out a marked version. After your post, I'll probably just read it. Thanks for the cookie warning too-I've heard it has something to do with Hemalurgy?

2 minutes ago, The Forgetful Archivist said:

Welcome to the Shard have an upvote and a cookie. I'm guessing that you might prefer pie to cookies though...

Thank you! You're right-I'd probably prefer a pie-pies are bigger..

Hi all! I'm new to the forums in the sense that I haven't had an account for very long, but I have read a fair amount here for the time that I've been a Cosmere fan. Speaking of that, I've been reading the Cosmere for about 6 months, and I've read everything but Warbreaker, as I've been told it has some sketchy sections that I may want to skip, and I haven't yet had access to a copy with those sections marked. I have, however, read the synopsis in order to gain any Cosmere content I may want (I'm glad I did this, cause Oathbringer). I've also read the Reckoners and the Rithmatist. 

Warbreaker is now finished.