elihaun

So, the game of towers seems to have changed a bit between what we see in Oathbringer and Wind and Truth. in Oathbringer it seems very abstract, but gets a lot more detail in WaT. So, what are your theories about what the game is like/any real world games it can be compared to? My guess is it would be a game like 'the duke' (link) because it mentions having your back against a mountain and the duke has a mountain tile, and the movement seems kind of similar, or 'For the Crown' (link) because it has cards like mentioned in Oathbringer, but still have unit tiles that can adapt to terrain like in WaT. Or maybe it is more of a rank and flank wargame like old-school Warhammer, but poor people use cards instead of miniatures because its cheaper. I know Onepagerules used to have a 'demo' game for some of their systems that can be printed on paper, including the miniatures AND terrain (link)(here is a link to a TTS version of the demo game I converted a few years ago). So, what kind of game do you think it is really like? has Brandon stated anything about his inspirations? the fact that it has named moves/techniques makes it sound more like chess than Warhammer, but the bit of gameplay we see looks more like a mix. do you want an 'official' version, and if so, do you think the game in book was made with that in mind?

Pretty sure this was made in SFM? the inquisitor is the sniper as well I like it @Anyar! We need more animations and fan art for our favorite books

Agreed. I was mostly engaged with the Adolin arc, but got mentally booted whenever Kaladin started trying to be a therapist. I have said it before, but I think Sanderson needs to slow down. WoK took what, 3 versions before we got to the masterpiece that it is? (WoK is a conglomeration of Dragonsteel prime, WoK prime, and it is to be assumed that there were revisions/rewrites). by having a 6 month -1 year timeline on most books now a days, we lose ANY chance of there being rewrites or books just being completely scrapped/shelved. When you are contractually obligated to get a book out... you got to get a book out. by making his own publishing house/warehouse/ shipping center, Sanderson has kind of forced himself into keeping up the unrealistic standards. If he does not write a book every 6 months, he will have to lay people off since there will be no books to ship, so he is going to feel forced to push a book out, even if it isn't ready.

No, I don't think realistic is what I want, but I do want it to be addressed. and I do know that he is repressing it. but the character does not FEEL like the one I know. In mistborn , Vin grew and improved through the series, at no real point do I feel like vin ceased to be and new-vin appeared. She still had her flaws. Same for Kelsier, Breeze, Sazed, and spook (but spook did feel a little TOO different...). Same for Perrin, Rand-al-thor, Alcatraz, and even spensa. Sanderson CAN have a character change and improve throughout a series. He has done it again and again (which is why I am on a fan site! I love the cosmere). I just feel that we did not SEE kaladin improve like we saw all of the others improve. we were told he improved I will say this: I WANT him to be able to address it while in the SR-bubble, but to do so he needs it to be there for him to address it. Instead of him becoming a herald to give people time and pause the war (something that I think the kaladin we know and love would do), he does it to help the heralds get better with their mental health (which felt WAY too rushed). the end would have been the same, but it would have been more in line with what the Kallidin we know and love would have done. the BONES of what was done was great! I just wish the meat was a bit more inline with the kaladin we love

I know he is not cured, but we don't really see him addressing it. What I was saying is that the tone/internal dialogue we get from kallidin does not match up. What I am talking about is the fact that you don't just wake up one day (quite literally the next day after a suicide attempt) 'able to enjoy life'. I get what you are saying, but because we as an audience don't get to see kallidin addressing his issues in a realistic way, it does not fully feel like kaladin

I think a LARGE part of it is not (just) that kaladin is now a therapist. It is that it is written as if kaladin has fixed himself. In the last few chapters of RoW, (less than 24 hours before the start of this book) kaladin tried to kill himself. He turned to rage and practically assassinated the pursuer. He was death incarnate. And he flung himself off a building. And then... He is magically better? We never really got to see kaladin address all of that. We never got to see him working through what he tried to do, or see him address the rage and love of war/love of the martial power that he has for all of the books. Im not a therapist myself, but I know that if someone tries to kill themself, you don't just ignore it. you keep them under observations for a few days. you have to help them, because even though they ended up not succeeding in ending it all, they will start to spiral when they think about the fact that they TRIED. The book just never addressed it. So in seeing Kaladin instantly start helping others -WE- are robbed of seeing the character we have come to know and love being helped. That really makes his entire storyline feel hollow, because the kaladin we see is barely the kaladin we know

So, the parshmen (not singers, but pre-everstorm parsh), had basic low-level intelligence. So, if you go the OTHER way from 'shelled', it would be like us having a relationship with a dolphin. They are supposed to be pretty intelligent for an animal, and the parshmen were considered just a step above animals. you don't just ignore your whole life of lived experience just because last year you learned dolphins have scientist and were using us for free fish.

I don't think much is spoiled at all. There might be hints, but most will be missed unless you already know their source. But DEFINATLY read warbreaker. There wont be spoilers for SA in WB, but there IS spoilers for WB in SA

Not sure if Brandon has been asked this, but what would happen if you made glass from white sand? Would it be regular glass, or would it be invested? That might have interesting implications, because the steel inquisitors used glass daggers and were better than most at seeking Also, how about an AonDor drawn onto a regular metal spike? or the things that turn people into cinders in sunlit man? or any awakened object (like... not nightblood, but something with just a little breath?)

So, we know that the shards used the dawnshards to break Adonalsium, but what was Adonalsium like? Was it a good god, a malevolent god, or just... there? What got me thinking of this is now that we have seen 2 of the shards merge, and they are having huge internal struggles to DO anything that goes against their merged intent. Well, it seems that all of the shards put together would cause Adonalsium to just... do nothing. It could not create with cultivation because of ruin, it could not act due to counterbalanced intents. So, is that why it was shattered? because it was capable of doing NOTHING other than simply existing?

Another thing to note is when considering the number of possible heralds, Tanavast gave a few different numbers. He DID say that one was possible but would be too much of a burden (I don't have the book next to me to look up the quote), so It might not be '10 heralds' anymore. It might now be thought of as "nine and one". I know this seems like semantics, but it is something to consider. and in a way, it WAS one for a LOOoooooong time. So there is precedent.

Bands of mourning is what, 3-5 years after shadows of self? It just seems that Harmony would be more worried about Retribution than Autonomy, or Autonomy would be more hesitant to attack

I have said it before, but I think this book (and rhythm of war to be honest) should have been written and then sat on for a few years. The issue is that now Brandon Sanderson does not have time to REALLY revise the series. the bones of the books are still great, but I feel that we have put such a 'schedule' on the series that kaladin helping others in the towers HAS to evolve into him becoming a therapist. instead of taking a year to think about it and rewrite it in a way that is not 'on the brow', Sanderson just had to write it like this. the same OUTCOME could have happened if kaladin had gone with seeth not to be his therapist, but to make sure the mission got finished. It would have done the same thing. What if Kaladin didn't TELL seeth to 'follow his heart' and question orders, but instead is showed Kaladin following his heart and questioning orders with seeth watching? same outcome could have been achieved, but it would have been more organic and less 'preachy'. An adage in videogames and movies that works well in book is 'show, don't tell". I just feel that this book did a lot more talking about personal growth that it actually showed personal growth, unlike the first 2 books in the series.

I think the Devar brothers have more to them. Balat would be perfect at interrogation, Wikim at planning, and Jushu at fitting into a crowd. I think the ghostbloods didn't 'rescue' the Devar brothers, I think they recruited them.

The thing about the 10 heralds, one for each order, is that maybe there is a change happening there. Since Retribution is no longer bound to the deal, the humans are no longer restricted to the oaths as well. we could have unbound surge binding in the next arc. Either that, or there might be 19 orders of Knights (if the 10 orders of KR and 9 orders of fused are now both under retribution)