Pagerunner

It sounds familiar. Have you checked through the Mistborn 1 annotations? It might have something to do with when he had originally written Vin as a boy. The other bells it rings are when Brandon was writing Liar of Partinel, or even Wheel of Time. Liar, he finished the book, and didn't like it; if you search for "Dragonsteel" on his website, you'll get a few posts about that. While he was finishing up the Wheel of Time, he would throw out something he had worked on to rewrite it. Push comes to shove, if you really can't find it, this seems like the sort of thing you could tag him in on Reddit, and he'd come along and share some thoughts. Just get a new quote entirely!

I don't think it has been posted yet. Brandon must not have been able to find time to write up an answer before the holiday weekend. I expect we'll see it soon, unless Adam decides to save it until this coming Friday.

This has actually come up before. When you think about it, only the Enhancement quadrant has the Internal and External metals having similar effects. Pewter/tin aren't like steel/iron, and copper/bronze aren't like zinc/brass. Atium is not like the other metals; not only because it isn't a real-life metal. It also has many Allomantically viable alloys, which have various mental and temporal effects.

That is accounted for. The parametric push graph will change when depending on the distance between the Allomancer and the target object. 100% of your strength when you close to the object corresponds to a greater maximum force/speed when than 100% of your l strength when you are far away. When Vin reached her "equilibrium distance," the maximum force she could exert at 100% of her strength is equal to her weight. EDIT: I added some more math to the OP. It's a better analysis all around, but the equations operate on a much higher level.

You know how the physics regarding Steelpushes have always been kind of screwy? (And I don't mean in a rotational dynamics kind of way.) I've dove deep into the math, looked at five different models I've seen proposed, and debunked them all. I've also developed my own model, which will all the perceived inconsistencies with Allomancy. I don't like my model, but it works. Here's my model in a nutshell: An Allomancer does not directly define either the speed of their Push or the force of their Push. They define the "strength" of their Push, which in turn is used to find both the maximum speed and the maximum force they can Push. Whichever of the two limits comes into play first limits behavior, and the most peculiar effects of Allomancy happen when the changing components of the force balance result in switching from one limiting factor to the other. The relationship between maximum speed and maximum force at a given strength is not based in physics whatsoever; it is an entirely arbitrary connection, made so the math matches how we've seen Allomancy function. The full explanation is attached as a PDF. I try to explain most of the math as I go along, so I don't think you need a thorough understanding of physics to follow along. Please, if anything about the physics is unclear, please let me know. The Impossible Physics of Allomancy.pdf No, I will not do your physics homework. EDIT: I have gone through and done a tighter mathmatical analysis. Understanding it requires college-level mathematics that are several courses in, so I decided not to try to make any of these accessible to the uninitiated. That, along with with referencing points I already made in the earlier document, let me limit this to exactly one page. But it will be very hard to understand on its own. Make sure you at least skim through the first document before opening this one. The Impossible Physics of Allomancy Addendum.pdf

Just keep reading... He used to localize and edit manga translations. She must have heard stories. She doesn't actually talk about fain life - she compares Scadrial to the non-fain Yolish ecosystem.

Most of the good stuff made it into Theoryland already. Some people get a real kick out of reading Peter's old posts, wondering if it was really the same Hoid or if Stormlight was part of the cosmere.

Having just read the LoP sample chapters again, I'll stumble into this tangent. During Liar, they have not figured out how to push back the fain life, except through finding natural trune rings. But the original Hoid, and the Aethers, all believe it is possible, and it appears that they solve that problem by the time Dragonsteel Prime takes place. (Which Brandon was going to call The Eternal War, interestingly enough.) During Midius's tale, he speaks of how the skullmoss and fain life spread from the bodies of the dead gods. He is an admitted liar, but he and Theus both swear by the "Betrayer." So, I don't think the fain life killed the old gods. Something was left behind by their death, that brings about fain life. If fainlife is a symptom of a deeper phenomenon (I like the idea that trune rings are bubbles of safety in the Cognitive Realm that protect from whatever it is that turns life fain), then that could be what's responsible for the Physical Realm transformation of a star. It's not a 'fain star,' it's just been twisted until it begins to change. (I think the biggest argument against it is that the stars are turning red, not white. But that's neither here nor there.) We don't see much of the Aethers, and we don't see them in action at all. But we do learn that there are Corrupted Aethers, that come and steal children from Partinel. As I said above, the problem of the fain life is at least somewhat solved by the time of Dragonsteel Prime. During the time of Liar, fain life is twisted forms of regular life. Trees will change shape and begin to emit skullmoss. But the skullmoss doesn't appear to be the cause of the fain life; it can be brought inside a trune ring and cause no problems. I think it's backwards; something causes the life to go fain, which then produces skullmoss (which might just be fain microorganisms, for all we know). Okay, just dropping some tidbits about Liar. I don't subscribe to the Rip = Fain theory, but I will say it's not without merit. Here's where you can download the first draft of several chapters, here's a revised first chapter, and here's an old thread where Brandon (EUOL) talks through some feedback while writing Liar.

Ironically enough, I can't access So Spake Martin. It looks like westeros.org is down. Theoryland is a pretty useful tool, although it does have its limitations. There are two ways to access the information within: you can look at a particular signing report, which will have have all the information from an event, blog post, reddit AMA, etc... with each distinct question having its own header on the page and any important tag words beneath the quote. (That actually lets you link to an individual WoB, which is quite an essential thing to do for those of us making and breaking theories.) Or, you could do a search for all tidbits on all pages that have a certain word either in the quote itself or as one of the tags, if you're looking at a broad topic. At the very least, I'm sure the new implementation will not lose any of this functionality. The three big problems that Theoryland has that will be corrected are: slow to update (because it's a Wheel of Time fansite, not a Brandon fansite) and lots of quotes from Robert Jordan (because... it's a Wheel of Time fansite, not a Brandon fansite!), and an inconsistent tagging system (it works fine for characters and places, but Realmatic topics and magic systems are a little hard to follow). Even if they were just copying the Theoryland platform onto our site and repopulating everything, it would still satisfy a good chunk of what you're looking for (although you can't combine a date search and a tag search, like "everything about Kaladin before 2014"). So, I don't think you'll have anything to worry about, even though neither of us can compare TL and SSM. But the great part is, since the new thing is in-house, we'll be able to bug them to fix stuff if it doesn't work! (I've been toying around on my own personal WoB database for a while, and once I get a look at the new system I expect I'll have some suggestions to pass along, as well.) As long as we ask nicely and are patient, if anything comes up, I'm sure Weiry and Mestiv will be happy to listen.

Jasnah scene will not be in Oathbringer. Brandon wrote an entire Jasnah novella that is for "his eyes only," to work out the references to what happened. (Same reason he wrote Szeth's flashbacks for Stormlight 4).

Allik does speak of medallions that hold 2 or even 3 powers, which are as far as they can go. And the Bands, obviously, have 32 powers. That is the current limit of our understanding; they might be made through different Metalborn collaborating, or they might need to spike all relevant powers into a single person. Even whether or not the Nicrosil charge is a consumable is under debate. Some of us think using the medallion slowly depletes its charge, while others of is think it's more like a copper metalminds, and you use a power and put it back in.

A Nicrosil metalmind can store either Allomantic or Feruchemical powers. Those particular medallions had Iron Feruchemy stored in them, but it is possible to make them to hold Allomancy. I'll do an analogy: A Feruchemist can store any one of his senses in a tin metalmind. A Feruchemist can store any one of his memories in a copper metalmind. A Feruchemist can store any one of his magical abilities in a nicrosil metalmind. The thing that is being stored is not the power that allows storage. A Feruchemist won't store their nicrosil Feruchemy in a nicrosil metalmind; that'd be a total waste of time. They'll store one of their other abilities, like their iron Feruchemy or their steel Allomancy. Or whatever other abilities they might somehow have. Realizing that they were metalminds allowed the team to tap the nicrosil metalmind in the first place. If you don't know what a cell phone is, it's just a fancy brick; in the same way, the medallions were useless until they realized what they really were. But what's inside the metalmind isn't determined by perception or intention, it's determined by whatever particular kind of Investiture was stored in the nicrosil metalmind in the first place.

First, I'd like to make a correction: the date is an error in my WoB collection. If you follow the link, you'll see that the comment in question is actually from 2011. Apologies for the confusion, but this is some out-of-date, pre-WoR information. But, some further clarification: Way of Kings Prime had six main characters: A young peasant soldier (Merin) A middle-aged sister to the king (I believe her name was still Jasnah) A battle-hardened nobleman general (Dalenar) An honor-bound assassin serving an evil master (Jek) A young lady-in-waiting (who wasn't actually Shallan) An immortal protector of mankind who is slowly breaking beneath the pressure of his station (Taln) Shallan replaced the fifth character. (I have a memory of Brandon saying that, unlike Merin and Jek, he does not consider this the same character under a different name. I wish I could find her name... I'm pretty sure I've seen it before.) Then, as Brandon rewrote Way of Kings and set the structure of the series at 10 books, each with a flashback character, he needed to find four other characters to take those viewpoint roles. Those are the ones that have changed over the years as Brandon refines his plans. Here are the instances where Brandon mentioned a character other than the Dalinar, Kaladin, Shallan, Szeth, Jasnah, and Taln: September 2010, we have met all the "major viewpoint characters" for the series (which would seem to exclude Lift) October 2010, maybe a second Kaladin, maybe an Adolin July 2011, Adolin, Navani, Taravingian, and a second male Herald who appears in Way of Kings August 2011, (the quote in question), Adolin and Navani April 2012, either Navani or a character he can't tell us yet. March 2014, Eshonai (reaffirmed several other times on the WoR tour) March 2014, Lift (also reaffirmed several other times on the WoR tour) March 2014, Renarin April 2014, Lift (claiming she was in the series outline from the beginning) February 2015, Lift, Ash, Renarin September 2015, Renarin, Lift, Ash September 2016, Eshonai, Lift, Renarin, Ash Adolin and Navani were pretty frequent mentions in the year after WoK was released. You can see the gap during the second half of 2012 and all of 2013 where Brandon was writing WoR, and he didn't talk much about it. Then, after WoR was released, he was extremely consistent in mentioning Eshonai as the remaining member for the first five, and Lift/Renarin/Ash as the remaining five in the back. Brandon has plans for more than just ten characters. Renarin was important in WoK Prime, Lift had been a planned Radiant from the beginning (even if she apparently hadn't originally been devised as a flashback character), Taravingian and the Diagram still look to be a big part of the series. It just depends who Brandon feels will tell the best story in a flashback situation. I, personally, think that he took Adolin off because his backstory doesn't have anything especially tragic or mysterious in it. He's not as old as Dalinar, hasn't had as rough a time as Kaladin, doesn't have secrets like Renarin or Shallan. He can be important in the present day, but maybe his backstory isn't well suited to hold up an entire book by itself in a flashback sequence. He also may have lost his book to even the gender ratio, which is currently 5-5 but was originally 7-to-3 in favor of men. The other concern that I raise is that, while we have a pretty strong pattern that we'll be getting one of each Radiant, that does not need to hold true. I think it still will (which would mean a really interesting story for Ash, who is the Herald aligned with Shallan's Order), but Brandon has to leave the option open. Same way he keeps insisting that a character can die before their flashback book; it doesn't mean he is killing someone before their book, just that he needs to allow dramatic tension of Jasnah or Renarin dying. So, if he has planned out one book per Radiant Order, then that would mean Kalak was the male Herald (the Willshapers are the only unrepresented Order with a male Herald), and Adolin/Navani/Taravingian would have split the Edgedancer/Dustbringers/Truthwatchers. (Unless, of course, one of the male Heralds would join another Radiant Order. Which is what I suspect may happen for Ash.) And since Adolin's blade is an Edgedancer's... All that to say, no, the flashback characters are not set in stone. Brandon has changed them, and he may do so again. But he didn't change them while writing Oathbringer, and the more he writes the more he'll be locked in to his choices. It looks like he's settled in to his final decisions.

Before he wrote Words of Radiance, the flashback characters we knew were: Kaladin, Dalinar, Shallan, Szeth, and Navani; and Jasnah, Taln, Adolin, Taravingian, and another Herald. But Brandon has said that was never set in stone, and after WoR, it appears Lift, Eshonai, and Renarin replaced Adolin, Navani, and Taravingian. He's also been careful to say that it's not guaranteed we'll get all ten Orders represented in the flashback characters. On the Arcanum Unbounded tour, I actually asked Brandon if he had revised the list any further while writing Oathbringer. He said he hasn't, and it was becoming increasingly unlikely he would, but there's still a chance.

There are a few patterns; I don't know if we've uncovered everything yet, or the meaning behind it all. The elements of the symbols are drawn from the three Metallic Arts: spikes for Hemalurgy, arcs for bracers for Feruchemy, and dots for beads for Allomancy. Dots are all on the outside for pure metals, inside for alloys. The metals who have double-arcs match up to vowels or semivowels when used as an alphabet. If you look through the in-universe older versions of the alphabet (look under the Artwork tab on Brandon's site, there's one for each of the first four Mistborn books), it looks like spike orientation (coming into the arc or out of the arc) doesn't matter, since the older 'spikes' are just lines, and you can't tell which direction they're going.

Shoot them an email. They're nice guys; I'd bet they'll send it along to you. You can find contact information on their website.

I'd think Reddit links would stay, since they are still the primary source, while both Theoryland and This-Thing-We-Want-To-Know-The-Name-For are secondary sources, like the Coppermind itself. Depending on the actual information, Theoryland may be the primary source for some older interviews (like a signing report during a Wheel of Time tour, done by a Theoryland member), so it might be beneficial to continue linking to Theoryland in some cases. But you're right, most links should probably be updated, especially those that could get linked to an audio snippet.

You get a digital version when you buy the MAG core book. I would not recommend it, though; it's not good, it's not canon, so don't waste your time or your money.

A good catch. There were fewer than 99 Desolations. We're not sure exactly what causes a Desolation to begin. Nale thinks he has delayed it by killing Surgebinders. Some of us think it happens when a Herald breaks under torture, and that since the only Herald there was the unbelievably stubborn one, he kept from breaking for much longer than any of the others would have. These are the right kinds of questions to be asking. Especially in Stormlight, there is much mythology that is based on facts, but has been distorted. Look at the names of various gods in Lift's viewpoints, too, and try to connect them to Heralds. Brandon has built things much better than the characters in the story know about! Welcome to the Shard! If anything else strikes you odd, feel free to ask around; someone else has probably wondered the same thing.

Isaac Asimov's Foundation megaseries is a good comparison, and an inspiration. There are three separate series that can each be read individually. I've only read the Foundation series, which mentions the Galactic Empire series (but you don't need to have read it). Asimov wrote the first Foundation trilogy, which stands alone, then went back and wrote two sequels and two prequels that tie in with the Robots books.

Such a shame another fansite already took the name Hoid's Compendium...

Blog posts, signed books, notes written on napkins, murmurings in his sleep captured with a parabolic microphone... the whole nine yards.

It's about time! Palanaeum is a great name, though. Whatever name you'll actually use had better be even cooler. As far as openness, is it as public as the Coppermind? Where anyone who signs up for an account can add something? Or will it there be more of a 'submission queue'? I guess this is the sort of thing that will be clarifies during the beta testing phase, but the fundamental problem with crowdsourced information is avoiding the wrong stuff. (Someone transcribes a word wrong, or maybe someone references a forum post where someone else is "absolutely confident" we have a WoB.)

The full quote, for those interested: "through" is an interesting phrase, almost as if Scadrial was just a pit stop. Overall, I suspect that Scadrial is primarily a consumer of off-world goods, like flowers and such that can't be grown in the Final Empire. There might also be colonies from other worlds (Remember, there is a Kenton St in Luthadel), who would pay for stuff from their homes. When my family was in Mexico, whenever we'd take a trip up to the States, we'd stock up on good American peanut butter. Or maybe it's more of a straightforward black market, with guns or Breath or something like that. I don't think Scadrial has anything to offer, except for the services of kandra. But since they work for atium because of their secret allegiance, I don't think they'd be interested in going off-world.