Narcoleptic Axolotl

On 11/16/2017 at 7:12 AM, Leyrann said:

this theory is moot.

Maybe not. It could easily have been a complicated plan to let Cultivation know how to defeat Odium. If there's any truth to this theory, then I'd bet Honor was in on the plan. It certainly does seem an honorable act to sacrifice one's self to bring about the end of a malevolent power. This is very easy to believe, if you were paying attention for the last hour or so of Hero of Ages. Preservation made a complicated plan to defeat or incapacitate Ruin, despite his inability to attack Ruin himself. He just needed someone whose goals hadn't been corrupted by the Intent of the power. Honor and Cultivation just needed to trick Odium into giving up his secret. That said, I know Brandon's pretty clever, but I doubt he'd do this to us.

6 hours ago, Apollyon said:

True that. Re-reading the Five Kingdoms series hurt my Sanderson-enhanced eyes.

I'll say the same for Fablehaven. (another Brandon Mull series) It was pretty good, but the comparison is like a whitespine trying to rival a chasmfiend.

Thanks @Archer

I love the idea! I'd read it if you made a full story out of this.

On 8/26/2017 at 7:02 PM, Dragon314 said:

For some reason I feel like this info was in WoK. @Slowswift, I really like it. Lisarasil as name?

Actually I think it was in OB. I may just think that because OB is all about Gavilar and how he became king. I'll probably know by my next listen-through.

As for the name, it's too symmetrical. Ialai's name is considered blasphemous because it's a perfect palindrome. You'd have to add a suffix.

23 hours ago, 1st of Lunch said:

First Cosmere story was WOK, recommended by a friend. At first I tried to read an ebook version and "couldn't get into it" but probably a year later found the audiobook version (LOVE Micheal Kramer and Kate Reading) and was pulled in! Listened to the Mistborn Trilogy between WOR and OathBringer, then second Mistborn Trilogy after OB. Just finished Arcanum Unbounded.

Same. My uncle and cousin like to recommend audiobooks for me. One of them was WoK. From there I listened to Steelheart, Rithmatist and Warbreaker and loved them. Eventually got WoR, then Emperor's Soul. What books have you read, and (of most interest to me) do you think an Honorblade or Nightblood would win if two swordsmen of equal skill got in a fight?

I'm relatively new myself, though I've been a Sanderson fan for years. I have one piece of advice - don't take the cookies!  (tbh I still don't really get it but any family needs some inside jokes)

I must know, how does one join the Church of the Stick? Does it involve getting beat with a stick? Do you play a lot of baseball?

On 3/29/2014 at 8:22 AM, Fifth of Daybreak said:

If Adolin is to be the stick, I must be the feather

Does this mean there's a church of the Feather? Wait . . . should I be praying to my Heavenly Feather? LUKE! I AM YOUR FEATHER!

Spider-man Szeth is the greatest wall crawler walker.    or     Spider-man Dalinar is the greatest wall crawler temple-fixer      or     Spider-man Adolin is the greatest wall crawler stone-walker

A chick and a bunny-rabbit went frolicking through the grass on a sunny day. (you can use Hoid's adaptation or make one of your own)

4 hours ago, Mistspren said:

I wish that I, as the bearer of Cultivation, could defeat Odium.

Fine, but as soon as you do, a spaceship arrives from Scadrial. Before you know it, the Set rules Roshar. You defeated Odium, but you're much weaker for it and you can't save Roshar from the Set, who have developed overpowering technology while you've been worrying about desolations. By the way, the Set have teamed up with the Ghostbloods. They create super technology by combining fabrials with their already great machines. The people of Roshar will be slaves forever. And the worst part is, you know Odium would've been able to stop this.

I wish to be a kandra. And, like Bleeder, I know how to get spikes that let me use allomancy/feruchemy.

Thanks, guys. Nice to know I got something right for once. Just for clarification though,

On 5/1/2018 at 10:58 AM, RShara said:

We know he was involved in the cataclysm, but not whether was there just long enough to influence people and mess it up.

What you say is officially true, but in OB, the Eila Stele says:

Quote

A new god. Their god.

Now, it's worth noting that the Dawnsingers' perspective wouldn't be 100% accurate. But the wording implies that the voidbringers definitely belong to Odium. (or the other way around) Any more thoughts?

Obviously take this with a pinch of copper. But it is my theory that Investiture manifests differently depending on what planet it appears on. I noticed that the magic on Scadrial is based on metal, hence the "Metallic" arts. Both Atium and Lerasium are metals, but come from different shards. Then on Roshar, Honor's power is stormlight. Now, I don't know about Cultivation, but Odium's power seems to be an opposite to Honor's, called voidlight. We don't know where Odium came from before, or how his power manifested there, so I don't have more than these two examples, though I find it hard to believe this is coincidence. Maybe it was the easiest way for Brandon to tell a good story, without having to get too technical and explain too much about the magic, but maybe there's something to this theory.

On 3/23/2018 at 10:51 AM, Spoolofwhool said:

More accurately he probably is able to use a different light system which has similar functionality to Roshar's lightweaving.

So maybe an AonDor disguise? I remember reading a WoB where Brandon said it's theoretically possible to "hack the magic system" so AonDor could be used on a different planet. Kind of like how Vasher goes to Roshar to use stormlight instead of breaths. Maybe not though. I'm pretty confused by the magic of Sel.

I got one.

What is Shallan's biggest fear?

A one-armed herdazian walks into a bar. The bartender asks him how he lost his arm. And the herdazian says: "I can count on one hand the number of times I've been asked that." 

(I can count on one hand the number of people who laughed at that.)

What can a one-armed herdazian do with one hand tied behind his back?

How did the one-armed herdazian beat the chasmfiend?

Thanks @CrazyRioter.

@Stark Where did you get the idea I haven't read OB? I have listened to it. Several times. I talked about the Battle of Thaylen Field and a little bit of the part where they go to shadesmar.

Okay, I was just listening to WoR at the part when Pattern is talking about the nature of spren. He says the spren "aren't born as men are, and don't die as men do." He says that before gaining sentience, spren are just sort of in everything all at once, though the translation is difficult to explain. He tells Shallan of the old cryptics that had been bonded to radiants, and how they were returned to their non-sentient state after the recreance, that nothing anyone could do would bring them back. (That actually kind of reminds me of how AonDor stopped working, only this change was brought about by the radiants changing, not the land.) Thing is, Maya is being brought back. Remember that Adolin refused to name his blade, presumably out of respect for it, or at least its previous life. I don't have a clue what to think of Shallan's past, but she can summon her blade (Pattern???) in less than 10 heartbeats. So did Adolin in the Battle of Thaylen Field. I think being a dead-eye is about the equivalent to a human being catatonic. Maya is recognizing Adolin's virtues and wanting to serve once again. I think Adolin is probably bringing her back to life. I wonder if he'll get to bond her when the process completes. I'm sure you guys will find about six things wrong with my explanation, so go for it.

P.S. Do we know what kind of spren Maya was?

On 6/8/2015 at 4:31 PM, Slowswift said:

Yay! Snickerdoodles are the best. And props on the interesting theory!

NO, Slowswift! Don't take the cookies!

Do I get any kind of reward for spotting @WayneSpren as a DA member? Probably not. Worth asking though.

As for the theory, I very much doubt this is the case. Fitch knew the line of silencing was rithmatic, but he had little reason to believe he could make it work this time, despite what Joel said. He'd drawn it a lot of times before and it didn't do anything then. The book "Origins of Power" talks about stuff like "chaining of a shadowblaze," which implies that one need not be incepted to become a rithmatist, instead seeming to say that you need to find and capture one of these creatures, much like the Nahel bond, now that I think about it. 

On 10/10/2014 at 9:54 AM, king of nowhere said:

So joel will not be the protagonist?

It certainly feels like he should be. Nalizar said some stuff that I want an explanation for. As it is, I don't think I'd be too disappointed if the focus switched to someone else.

I doubt that's possible. 

On 3/22/2018 at 7:08 PM, Weltall said:

Given the mind-blowing amount of Investiture that a Shard represents . . .

By all means, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the Shards themselves are Investiture. They're sentient beings, and Investiture is manifestations of their power.

On 3/22/2018 at 9:56 PM, RShara said:

Odium's trapped by Honor and Cultivation.

Are you 100% sure? Once again, if you have evidence to the contrary then bring it forward. If Dalinar is capable of setting Odium free by simply giving him permission, then clearly it's not the Oathpact that's keeping him there, since Dalinar isn't part of the Oathpact. But Honor is dead (but lives on in the hearts of men . . . Reminds me of Preservation.) and Cultivation, it doesn't seem to me like she's doing much to hinder Odium. Not actively, at least.

On 3/22/2018 at 7:08 PM, The One Who Connects said:

It doesn't actually say that. Per the Notebook: "The cut and type of the gem determines what kind of spren are attracted to it and can be imprisoned in it."

I always tell myself to learn from others' mistakes and not make assumptions. So my understanding of fabrials is: the type of gem/spren along with the shape of the metal surrounding it determines the function of the fabrial. The logic behind my claim was that, since the cut (in correspondence with the type of gem) determines what spren would be captured in it, and the type of spren in part determines what the fabrial will do, then the cut has an indirect affect on the function of the fabrial. It doesn't say it outright, but after a little reasoning it makes a great deal of sense. Thanks for calling out my unproven claim used as if it were fact, but after all, I was only asking a question. The wording of that particular question is kind of dumb, since I've just said that I think a fabrial's function is based on the kind of shape of metal and the kind of spren inside, not the cut. I should have said, What kind of fabrials could be made with Nergaoul as the spren?

I noticed you all had something to say about Odium being trapped in a gemstone. You provided convincing arguments, so here's a follow-up question: Do you think Odium could be neutralized like Ruin was when Sazed took both powers? I'm not asking if it's theoretically possible, I know that is, I'm asking if you think there's a realistic (in the cosmere sense, not IRL, obviously) series of events in which someone takes the powers of Odium and another Shard to balance them out.

It's hinted at in Oathbringer that the big pillar of gemstones in the library is part of a fabrial, or that the city itself is a fabrial. Is it unlikely that the spren in this fabrial was the Sibling? We know that all fabrials require a spren, and the Sibling is just another spren. Indeed, Re-Shephir has once been trapped in a gemstone, and at the end of the book Nargaoul is in the gemstone called King's Drop, which is a gemstone that doesn't lose stormlight and which the unmade supposedly would be incapable of getting out of. This idea has got to have some measure of accuracy.

Also, the King's Drop brings up more questions:

• Must the gemstone be cut perfectly* for the spren inside to be incapable of escape, since other fabrials lose stormlight and their spren don't escape.  * cut perfectly, meaning stormlight doesn't leek from it
• So if it wasn't the cut that mattered (which is still under debate, by the way), was it the size of the gem Dalinar needed? Because there were plenty of other gems around to use.
•  What would a fabrial with that cut (and with Nargaoul inside) do? We know from Navani's notebook that the cut of the gem influences what the fabrial does.
• Are there multiple ways to cut a gem so that it doesn't leek?
• Could such a gem trap Odium without having to make an oathpact? 

And what does the Urithiru fabrial do anyway? The elevators seem to work independently of that. It's in the middle of the library, so that might be a clue.

I actually imagined it in different ears at different points in the books, but the first time I imagined it was in the left.

For one thing, a wound isn't really an object, but the state of a body being broken. And a cut-off arm I think would act as a class 3 awakened object, but might be sort of a combination of class 2 and 3, since it's very much in human form and the breath might stick to it, but it wouldn't be quite like a lifeless, because it wouldn't have a brain. That brings up another question: What about an awakened severed head? That I think would qualify as a lifeless, but it wouldn't be useful at all. 

On 10/18/2017 at 1:07 AM, Knghtstlker said:

Yes, Hoid is pretty similar across all of the Sanderson Novels . . .

I wonder what impact it would have to speak of the color of life to people that have experienced no color. Thoughts?

Michael Kramer reads Hoid's voice different in Final Empire, but I think that's because he's acting as an informant, deliberately changing his voice and appearance.

While I have no first-hand experience with this, one of my friends is deaf and I think his circumstances are close enough to make a compatible comparison. He has a hearing aid, so he can hear some things, but he won't be able to distinguish words. That's mostly because he hasn't had a hearing aid for the first ten years of his life, which is when hearing children learn such skills. So I believe a blind person might have an idea in their head of what's going on, but I don't imagine it would be particularly accurate.

I'm actually listening to it right now. It's obviously nice to have him as a narrator, but I disagree with the way he pronounces Vivenna, Susebron, T'Telir and a few other words.

Once when Spook is talking to Breeze, it says "Spook raised his eyebrows." when it's clear that Breeze was the one to raise his eyebrows. I noticed more, but I forgot them all.