lDanielHolm

Likely the reason his hair changed color was because he was consciously able to change his shape, which he lost control of as he lay dying. The other Returned we see aren't capable of consciously controlling their shape; they simply become their ideal selves over time.

That would depend on the reason why they adopted one another in the first place (if that is what they did). Remember, they weren't the only Returned at the time. The Cult of the Returned likely cared for many more, similar to the Court of the Gods. Perhaps the Cult of the Returned considered Returned to be siblings if they died and Returned after the same event (or perhaps on the same day?). That seems more likely to me than them being actual flesh-and-blood siblings.

Right, I wasn't thinking of the Oathpact at all. What I really meant was, you could reason with Ruin -- at least to a point. I don't think you can reason with Odium. It seems more likely that the Oathpact uses the nature of Odium's Intent to bind him in some way. Yes, but their level of power is still roughly the same. If Ruin could obliterate Scadrial in the blink of an eye at full power, Odium should be able to pull off equally powerful stunts--even if they weren't the same kind, due to their difference in Intent. Given that Odium was able to destroy Aona and Skai, it is unlikely that he is Invested in much (the way Preservation was Invested in humans on Scadrial), so he is probably at full power, or at least closer to it than the average Shard. My point was, the Shards' individual powers is not what makes Odium the most terrible of them. His Intent--i.e. his personality--is.

The Last Desolation took place 4500 years ago--we see the aftermath in the prologue. One of Kabsal's talks with Shallan places the Last Desolation "thousands and thousands of years ago". It is more likely that it is after the Day of Recreance.

You may want to look here.

Magic on Sel is related to its geography in some way -- that, at least, is the general assumption. In TES, Shai fancies that the setting mark that finishes all soulstamps looks like her homeland MaiPon, similar to how all Aons are built around Arelon. Shadesmar reflects the geography of the world that you enter it from in some way. (The one map we have of Shadesmar is from the perspective of one entering it from Roshar, and the map is Roshar inverted: land becomes sea, sea becomes land (and in some cases, mountains).) This probably has a great deal to do with why it is difficult to travel to Sel from Shadesmar.

The various Shards are equal in power--anything Ruin could do at "full power", Odium could do, too. Ruin doesn't hate things -- he simply wants to have his place in the cycle of birth and death. In order for new things to emerge, old things must vanish. That is why Preservation and Ruin together make up Harmony. You can make a bargain with Ruin, as Preservation did. But with Odium? No, I don't think so.

Spren also have something to do with the collective unconsciousness. Spren are attracted to certain things, be they concepts or objects or even states of mind. Syl is attracted to Kaladin's sense of honor and duty, of how he exemplifies the Second Ideal.

The Cult of the Returned cared for them, yeah. They might not have been literal siblings -- they could simply have adopted one another.

It's possible... but why? It doesn't make sense to make a switch like that. Occam's Razor applies, in my opinion.

A friend of mine -- whom I have not actually talked to in many, many years; we fell out of touch, sadly -- sent me the first four books as a present. I was hooked from the first couple pages.

The bracelet would be non-effective on the damane's wrist--you cannot be linked to yourself. If she moves, she'll be incapacitated, as if the a'dam hung on a peg. That could potentially be dangerous. Burning out (or dying in pain, similar to when a man who can channel is brought into the link) is a definite possibility, for all the women involved. Unless the chain starts with a woman who is not controlled by an a'dam, the circle would be... flawed. I would also not increase the circle to more than 13. It is dangerous to test the known limits. The woman is linked to both at once, forming a three-manned circle. The sul'dam is in control, but given the peculiarity of the a'dam link, both damane would still be able to channel. Unless the sul'dam is aware she can channel, she would likely not realize that the two damane are also linked to each other through her; she would just treat the situation as having control of two damane. Not a good idea. Seems to me it would result in a sort of feedback loop. Burning out is a likely possibility. You cannot have two people be in control of a circle. Again, dangerous to mess with. The sul'dam is in control of the circle an a'dam creates. You cannot be linked to two separate circles at once. Perhaps if the sul'dam were already linked with each other... no, still probably not something to mess around with. I doubt anything would happen.

Hoid is in Alloy of Law, at least according to this footnote (though the beggar in question appears in chapter 4, not chapter 5). Brandon has corrected the timeline; Alloy of Law happens AFTER the Way of Kings:

Full of good stuff! My mind is a-tinglin'.

Not everyone goes through to the afterlife. Kelsier, for instance, hung around. Likely, the people who become Returned are similar -- they hesitate before going through, and Endowment can step in to give them visions of the future, then offers them the chance to go back.

I disagree; I strongly believe Dalinar is correct in his identification. The scene is set in the aftermath of a Desolation (and they had a war before that). He has not had time to have a pampered, easy life. He speaks of 11 years of war, and he is considered a youthful man by Dalinar -- so he has likely been at war for most, if not all, of his adult life. If this man is Nohadon, there are likely decades till he dictates the book. He is, I'd say, in his early thirties at most, to be called youthful. He likely doesn't dictate the book till his late sixties, if then. It is simply another reinforcement of the point that he isn't yet the wise king that Dalinar heard of. He is not yet the person who has the book written. He has to unite the Alethi first, after all. This doesn't really support either situation. Every old man was once young. We obviously cannot conclude anything, but I don't feel there is enough supporting evidence for this theory -- in fact, I don't really think there is any. I freely acknowledge that the evidence for him actually being Nohadon is flimsy, but there is more evidence for him being the man than there is for him not being him. The strongest piece of evidence is the quote Dalinar takes from Nohadon's book, which the man immediately attributes to himself.

That is circular logic -- the destruction seems minor because the entire ecosystem has evolved around the highstorms. That doesn't make them any less dangerous.

Because they are deaths? Syl can't even remember all of her history -- nothing guarantees that she recognizes Parshendi as Voidbringers. But even if she does, there is no reason why she cannot dislike their deaths regardless. She is honorspren, after all.

You're looking at it from the wrong angle. You calculate weight by multiplying an object's mass by the force of gravity. The force of gravity is measured in acceleration -- on Earth, that is 9.81 meters per second per second. Every second, a falling object within Earth's gravitational pull increases its speed by 9.81 meters per second--though only in a vacuum. In air, it falls at up to a maximum of its terminal velocity. As Pagerunner says, this is Newton's second law of motion: force equals mass times acceleration. Since we have an increased force without an increase in mass, the only thing that can change is the object's acceleration. Sazed would get the same net result--an increased force--by increasing his mass instead of his acceleration. No, not at all. What you are speaking of here is terminal velocity -- the point at which an object's drag through a fluid (like normal air) is equal to the pull gravity has upon it, making further acceleration zero (and making the object's speed constant, i.e. the theoretical maximum speed). With increased gravity, you have a higher terminal velocity. (Or, as Pagerunner put it: on the moon, you have less.)

You misunderstand the physics involved. He is not making himself weigh twice as much. He is making gravity pull twice as hard. Instead of being pulled towards Gavilar at 1 times Roshar gravity, he's pulled at double Roshar gravity.

Well, reading isn't required, that's for certain--Dalinar has it read to him by scribes, as he can't read himself. Perhaps the stories in the book are told among darkeyed, and it is enough, combined with a particularly honorable personality. But you're probably right; I had forgotten about the potter. It just seems like an odd coincidence, that the reading of the book and Dalinar's visions begin more or less at the same time.

I think it has more to do with the book--the Way of Kings--than it has to do specifically with Dalinar acting honorably. Perhaps it's a combination of the two? We know that he only began having the book read to him a few months prior to his first POV, whereas he has presumably been acting honorably for a while longer, due to following the Codes. Gavilar may also have received the visions; he was not in a warcamp at the time, so he would probably have had a far easier time hiding the visions from the public.

They don't have to be corrupted for Syl not to like them, though. The simple fact that they have been used to kill humans--rather than thunderclasts--could be enough for her to dislike them--that perversion of their original purpose would probably be more than enough. It doesn't mean much either way, but I think it is a mistake to assume that the Shardblades are somehow "broken" simply because Syl dislikes them.

I've seen this argument quite a lot, and honestly, I don't buy it. Brandon will introduce plenty of new puzzles and twists for us to be amazed by over the course of the series. There is already a wealth of them, in just the first book. Revealing one of them at the end of a book is fine in my estimation--personally, I hadn't seen it, and the reveal took me by surprise. In fact, this discussion may be the entire point: revealing the truth of the Voidbringers so early could be designed to make us question whether or not it is the truth. (Personally, I believe that it is... but I also believe that we have not gotten the most pertinent details yet. For instance, I doubt the Voidbringers are 'the big baddies', as you put it.)

Jordan first--I started reading Wheel of Time in the early 'noughties--I remember waiting for Crossroads of Twilight to be released. When I heard Brandon was finishing the series, I looked up some of his books, though I didn't start reading them till some time early last year, I think; I read Mistborn (only the trilogy, though), then later the Way of Kings. Actually, now that I think about it, I read excerpts of the Way of Kings when they were posted on tor.com; that was my first exposure to Brandon's writing, and I remember what I read was tantalizing (though I'm afraid too long passed between that and when the Way of Kings was available; I forgot about it). While I think Brandon is a fantastic author, I don't think he has quite reached the level of Jordan yet. With the Way of Kings, he's getting very close, however; I enjoyed that book every bit as much as I enjoyed any of the Wheel of Time books. Brandon certainly has the potential to become my favorite author, though my current favorite is George R. R. Martin. I have no doubt that Brandon will shoot to the top of the list if the rest of the Stormlight Archive is as captivating as the first (though Pat Rothfuss certainly will give him competition in that regard). That being said, I'm not 100% sold on the idea of the cosmere. I think it's a very interesting concept, and I think it's an excellent way to build bridges between his various novels, but it does mean that I personally feel forced to read the other books, as I want all the information on the cosmere I can get, and I generally hate feeling forced to do anything... though since this is reading, it is not really an unpleasant feeling.