Straff Venture

No, I see where you're coming from, though I personally think szeth can be a badass when he's fighting. But yeah, I never got why he didn't just kill Taravangian on sight if he was so 'moral'. Supposedly he's absolved of any sin as long as he follows his mater's orders, but with someone like szeth you would think he would do the moral thing in that situation

you know what i mean

I'm interested about your view on szeth, care to elaborate?

I thought Shallan's were really interesting because they showed a lot about Roshar's history and prehistory, but I guess Dalinar's visions did too.

Hooks of guilt and the fire of self-loathing?

I'd agree with Observer. Adonalsium would have the whole spectrum of personality already by having all sixteen of the shards making them, which implies a host would not be needed

As much as I would agree with that, I find it interesting how in the Alloy of Law Ranette comments on her hazekiller rounds being effective for each of their specific targets, but tineyes were very hard to find in the first place. I'm guessing in a city environment tineyes would be very useful with the right cover

I saw someone doing favourite characters for Elantris, and I thought this would be an interesting thread to start. Mine is Shaor, as her whole image just makes me feel sick.

People are assuming at the moment that Odium's place as the most powerful is because he hasn't invested his power in many outlets. Aona and Skai had AonDor, the Dakhor symbols and Chayshan all stemming from them. The only power from Odium we know about is voidbinding.

Oh, I didn't know about that. Yeah, it doesn't really add up then.

I've seen you have been confused on other threads too, so have a look at the coppermind (its a wiki for brandon's books), it should help you learn about the shards and other things

Maybe Adonalsium simply created the universe and then shattered. The creation of the shards may have been essential for allowing variety of life in the universe.

Galladon, because of his awesome pessimistic wit and little lines in Dula

To compare it to something we might have done (unless you walk on jelly a lot ) I would say it would be like walking on ice - if you press too hard, you fall through. Plus at that weight i slight gust would blow you away so it isn't very practical, but then I guess the thread's name excuses that.

But what about Wayne? I'm guessing you read it as Wax, thats something I always do when reading the Alloy of Law.

The thing about Brandon's writing is that it mostly stays with normal physical laws, but then you have to remember that in the cosmere the shards affect reality profoundly and are definitely going to break a few rules. The three realms are also a wild card, and as they are only really touched on slightly so far, I think they will have some interesting effects in the cosmere. I do agree though that its great how Brandon always has an explanation and keeps his magic as 'hard magic'.

It was a long shot, and I'm not up to date on interviews.

Nice to meet you too, and hope to see you a lot round the forums don't stop at Elantris!

Just a small topic really, but I noticed a few things in the Alloy of Law that suggest Miles is not a natural twinborn but actually a compounding hemalurgist. I'm not sure if this would have any lasting effects on the trilology, but it does explain some of Miles' behaviour. Here are the points. 1) Metalminds: Miles has metalminds driven into his skin as well as in his body. Only contact is needed with the metal for feruchemy while hemalurgy needs contact with the blood. Of course, there are two problems with this; Miles consumes his metalminds in compounding and Miles still has his powers when the constables strip him of his metalminds. The solution to these problems are that Miles' hemalurgic spike(s) (multiple spikes might explain why he can heal so quickly, as compounding might not even be capable of this) and that because they are pierced inside his body he would not use them for compounding anyway. 2) Change in behaviour: Miles turns from a devoted (though ruthless) lawkeeper to an outright criminal. A quote from Ranette on page 235 shows the unusual change in Miles' views. The scene where Miles uses his powers as an augur also shows the unusual path that he has followed. 3) Miles' death scene: While he is gunned down by the firing squad, he shouts out about 'the bears of the final metal'. I have no idea who the bearers are but the manner in which Miles says this, especially as it is in his final moments, sounds like something that would come from a more powerful force controlling him. So from what I've seen, it looks like Miles was spiked early on in his life without knowing, perhaps so that he could be later controlled by a powerful force. This force would have caused him to later commit the actions he does within the Alloy of Law, when he finally succumbs to the influence of the being using his hemalurgic spikes against him. Perhaps Miles' growing bitterness was similar to Vin's doubts about Elend, in this case causing Miles to increasingly hate modern civilisation on Scadrial.

I agree. Even if you're not being forced to love its not always good. If you saw on the news when Kim Jong Il died you would have seen the crowds of thousands, mourning the death of their beloved leader. It is easy to assume that they are only doing this so they are not killed for lack of 'devotion', but people who have escaped from North Korea have said how that's how people genuinely feel because of the way they have been taught. So in some ways, devotion can be worse than say, Ruin or Odium. Devotion can just as well be deceit as it is love, so I wouldn't say it was necessarily a good shard.

Easy for you to say, I'm in two pieces on a field covered in ash in the middle of nowhere!

Awaken pieces of straw so that they stand up.

For the first time ever people would be able to watch real-life timelapses, which would be amazing

My mistake. I hope that Bavadin is the 'lawyerism' shard as mentioned on another thread

This is unsettling