Senor Feesh

I wholly support the notion of remote-access metalminds, simply because it would be AWESOME. Cosmere versions of the Choedan Kal anyone?

I'm staying (mostly) out of this discussion (too heady for me) but I had to give that a nod for pure snark damnation Kurk for beating me to it, but I was also going to say it's worth noting that Shai remonstrates herself for thinking this in the very same paragraph.

I think he's talking about when people from different worlds start to interact, so we can actually witness the effects of different forms of magic system on each other.

Thanks guys, that's very interesting. Clod would potentially also be a special case due to being Returned prior to being Lifeless. I'm not saying it would make a difference, but it's another hole in our knowledge.

By the way Leuthie, you'll have to forgive the temporary lack of quote but Sanderson has stated that magic systems in the Cosmere will have similarities. The explicit example was lightweaving, in that any illusion magic would work in a similar fashion, but the quote implied other parallels. That said, increased speed of thought can certainly help with math problems, but I have not read the WoR excerpts yet, and don't plan to before the book release, so my input in this thread is probably over

Don't forget that freedom can also be expressed ad anarchy

Sorry Phantom, but when have we seen a Lifeless PoV? Vasher and Lightsong are both returned, but I don't remember ever reading a section in Clod's PoV, or any other Lifeless.

I'll second the Bas-lag books by Miéville (they're excellent). The technology and magic do largely take a back seat to the politics, at least in the first book, but that being said there are moments of pure fantasy awesomeness (the Weavers, possibility mining,) and the characters are all interesting and flawed individuals. That said, these CAN be hard to get into. They have a very slow build, but before you even realise it's happening, by the time you reach mid-book you can't stop turning pages, and I'm damned if I can tell you where that happens. I should probably mention that Perdido Street Station, The Scar and Iron Council make up (so far) all the Bas-lag books (plus at least one short story called 'Jack' which can be found in his anthology Looking for Jake which deals with Jack Half-a-Prayer from Perdido Street Station). The Dark Tower, I would term as a post-apocalyptic fantasy western, but it does actually (in the backstory at least) have the feudal European structure of kings and lords etc. If you want something really unusual I'll plug again Adrian Tchaikovsky's Shadows of the Apt series, which is more clockworkpunk than steampunk, and whilst it certainly uses European stylings, it doesn't really go in much for lords and ladies - it's probably more Victorian/Edwardian parallel in terms of the kind of societies (at least in Collegium, where much of the book-time is spent). That's probably all I can come up with right away. I'll post back if I think of anything else.

There is actually word of Brandon on this. There are, I believe, two instances of Kelsier genuinely speaking to Spook. This is possible because Spook genuinely believes in Kelsier as a deity. I would dig up the quote but I'm on mobile. I'm actually surprised Phantom hasn't already

Due to this being the SA and not Cosmere board, the following contains info from Mistborn so I've tagged it.

I would guess that a Returned given a second Divine Breath by another Returned would still consume it within a week, exactly the same way as their own Divine Breath doesn't sustain them for any extended period. A Divine Breath is still a single Breath, just an incredibly powerful one.

Or, as has been theorised, gold-healing is dependent on other factors as well (such as your perception of yourself), otherwise Sazed could have de-eunuch'd himself. Perhaps the user's perception of their own age is also a factor, so you still age normally, just incredibly healthily. This has been a topic of some heavy theorising, I'm sure Kurkistan can point to some relevant threads

I could see that, as Nan is book 2. I could also see the corresponding number of whichever Order Shallan will end up in (often theorised as Shash). After all, Kaladin is on the path to become a Windrunner (Jes) and book one is Kaladin's book, so it could go either way.

Indeed, but to what degree? Note that the above is not explicitly Spren. However, it does cast into question how much of a presence in each Realm any given entity has.

Oh wow, Animorphs... Rubix, you make me feel old I'd forgotten that even existed. Welcome to 17s Dork-Bajir!

I don't think there were any, however there is that one death quote... lemme dig it up... Ah, here we are. That's from Ch. 4. Seems that Cryptics and Shadesmar are likely linked in some fashion, even if it's only down to the ability to see both. Interestingly, as with Shallan's drawings, the Cryptic seems to be in the room with them, otherwise imperceptible. I will not pretend to understand what any of this means.

Indeed, this has been discussed. One of these symbols corresponds to the Windrunners. It's also embossed on the hardcover of the book.

Emperor's Soul would have been a lot shorter if you could

I suspect this doesn't have any deeper meaning personally. A legitimate option just has to mean one which Dalinar would consider, doesn't have to mean legitimacy in the sense of succession.

I would say this: just because the only Splinters we've 100% confirmation on were attached to a sentient something, doesn't make it a requirement. We have no reason to believe that there couldn't be a Splinter with no cognitive force behind them - in Mistborn

I actually started a topic recently which included that quote for similar reasons Don't know if it means anything or not, but it's fun to speculate. Guess it depends how much of the details of this meta-plot Brandon had planned when writing Elantris.

Apologies; I misread. This could mean something then I guess - Considering the effort gone into this diagram, I doubt it any of the lines are unnecessary. It will be interesting to discover what the connections between each order mean. I hereby rescind my previous statement although I'm not supporting the theory as such until we get more info, I'm not going to discount it either.

Well, I did say on that post it was speculation I don't mind if it doesn't hold up to scrutiny. The idea I had though, was that when you're storing Ferruchemically, you're actually storing PoC, but the manner in which it must be stored is down to the access key (metal) you're using. So that if you could change the metal, you'd change the kind of access required to tap it back, so one could store heat and tap weight, if the storage was changed. However, as per PMs quote above, mixing it with other metals DOES destroy the investiture, so that's out. I wonder still if a) using a slightly-off alloy is doable, and is refining it to a 'better' form for these purposes would make it more efficient as per Jaaaade's musings - that doesn't seem to be accounted for.

I would say as long as the process doesn't cause the investiture to be lost, I see no reason why it wouldn't become easier to access. Consider this analogy: you're pouring flour through a dirty sieve into a bowl. It takes a long time because some of the holes in the sieve are blocked. Later you clean the sieve, and put the flout back through the sieve and into the packet. It's the same amount of flour, but now the transfer is faster because it flows more easily.

I could never pick one favourite, and I'm sure I could easily add more and more to this list as they occurred to me but hey... Vimes from Discworld. He's just such an amazingly uncompromising, human character. Tanner Sack, the Brucolac, and Uther Doul from The Scar by Chine Miéville. I could tell you why, but you should just read the book if you haven't. It'd be a crime not to. Lightsong from Warbreaker, for reasons I've mentioned elsewhere. Simply a joy to read. Sanya from the Dresden Files (he's a black Russian who wields one of three swords formed using the spikes of The cross, has spoken with angels, yet remains an atheist, insisting 'They could be aliens. Or I could be mad.' What's not to love? Tyrion Lannister, because dammit he is just that good. Tisamon and Thalric from Shadows of the Apt. One is an amazing badass with a deathwish, the other a deeply flawed and complex character with conflicting loyalties. The Marquis de Carabas from Neverwhere. Hilarious, dangerous, out for himself, and lives entirely on a system of favours. Owing him anything is a bad idea, but almost everyone does. That's all I can think of for now... but I may edit in some more later