Pagerunner

Okay, time for an update to incorporate Secret History learnings. Obviously, Secret History spoilers ahead, and a few Bands of Mourning spoilers as well. I'll also be adding this text to my original post.

Relevant WoB about this topic from the Seattle Calamity Sighting. No direct quote yet in the transcription, but the indirect quote currently there is: (SoS Broadsheet was Southern Scadrian, he just wanted people to think it was a listener) Looks like we don't have Parshendi on Scadrial, but a simple case of an author trolling his super-fans.

There was a theory going around a while ago that Sel's magic was regionalized because the bulk of the Dor's energy was in the Cognitive Realm (location-based), as opposed to the Spiritual Realm. (http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/47451-why-the-magic-is-wonky-on-sel/?p=346445) I find it to be a much better explanation than anything involving the Intents of the Shards.

Don't tell me what to think! But I thought about it anyways. Of my own free will and volition, not because you told me to. Where do you think the Hemalurgic spikes came from? Did Sovereign kill Allomancers from the north to give their powers to the south? Would old Inquisitor spikes hold enough of a charge, or have the requisite abilities (would there be a reason for an Inquisitor to have a F.Aluminum spike)? While the first SoScad Metalborn might have come from spikes, I think they would have passed down their newly acquired powers to their descendants, so Alloy-era Metalborn wouldn't have spikes. See the following quote: (http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=1078#10) Not a confirmation, but better than a RAFO. The Sovereign could have given them old Inquisitor spikes, which didn't give powerful abilities, but successive generations would have had an increasing number of Metalborn. I've suspected that the SoScads utilized Hemalurgy, as well, but I was taking a different approach. When Allik mentioned "Excisors," I thought it would be an appropriate name for a Hemalurgic spike, and he says that they need the Excisors to create the medallions (as well as enough Metalborn). My theory was that the medallions couldn't be used to Compound and fill other medallions (either because too many different powers are required to fit into a medallion [F.Brass, A.Brass, F.Identity, A.Nicrosil, and F.Nicrosil were all involved in a proposed mechanism, IIRC], or because powers from the Medallions didn't align correctly to pull off the Compounding hack), so they needed to use Hemalurgy to give one person the ability to Compound and fill a lot of medallions. These spikes might have been acquired the methods that Spook was considering - spiking a near-death Allomancer or Feruchemist to pass on the power. That long tangent aside, I'm just saying that I do agree that the SoScads have Hemalurgy, and they have their own name for it - Excisors.

Yeah, it's dangerous to use because Ruin is there. But it's also hard to get to; why is that, since it's not that different from the Pits? Both were underground.

So, all the connections we saw: Svrakiss/Shades, Odium/Evil, Sel Magic/Simple Rules... we see what we want to see. It's the Wizard's First Rule: People will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they are afraid it might be true. (Not accusing the OP or question-asker of lying; just that we ran with it way too eagerly.)

But the Pits were also underground, and Hoid said they were easier to access than the Well.

Yeah, but Khriss and Nazh were on the lake outside of Luthadel. Wouldn't they have needed to cross the real-world ground to get out of Scadrial's Cognitive Realm?

People have asked questions about Frost (i.e. why he is functionally immortal, as referenced in the letter) which Brandon has answered, so even though I cannot find a direct confirmation, I can assure you that Frost is the recipient of the first Letter and the author of the second. When Brandon was asked if the recipient of the Letter was immortal because he was a Shard, or from magic, or from his species, Brandon said that it was because of his species. (http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/45901-shadows-of-self-byu-midnight-signing/?p=337201) It doesn't rule out that he is a Shard, but means he doesn't have to be a Shard to be immortal. The Intent of the Shard who wants to hide and survive is only tangentially related to how it's acting (http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/52009-bands-of-mourning-release-party/?p=392615). The Shard knows a lot about the Cosmere, and is smart enough to hide. Frost's non-interference policy as described in the letter sounded like more of a moral dilemma, as opposed to a self-preservation tactic, but we will need to learn more about Frost to know for certain. (Hopefully, we'll get some juicy tidbits in Oathbringer.)

You actually have that backwards, Pechvarry; Brandon attempted to repurpose Aethers in Liar of Partinel. Last he mentioned it, he didn't plan on leaving them there. http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=1094#45 Elsewhere, Peter has said that Aethers are canon, but hasn't explained why (http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/21542-the-status-of-aether-of-night/) . I do agree with what Observer said, that the pinkish crystal was either an Aether of the byproduct of an Aether, even though Brandon hasn't finalized the backstory behind the Aethers yet.

I don't want to be a Debbie Downer (apologies to anyone named Debbie), but the out-of-universe history of the name seems to imply there are not any Cosmere secrets behind it. From the preface to SSFH: So, the planet's name is inspired by the story; the quote where Brandon says it was "named in memorial of something" might just mean Isaac named after the shades of the dead that inhabit it. (Interestingly enough, Threnody is never mentioned in the text of the story; they only refer to "Homeland" and "Hell.") That being said, the Threnody/Sel connection is still something incredible, which I think we can really go to town on. I find it intriguing that the idea for this world occurred in 1999-2000, the same time as when Brandon wrote Elantris, White Sand, and Dragonsteel. So, it doesn't seem like a stretch to think that the concept of Hell came about as part of the extended worldbuilding for Elantris, and possibly the Cosmere in general. (Are Shades only from Threnody? Can they be people from Sel? Can they be people from any world in the Cosmere?) Since the concept of this story has existed for as long as Elantris has, it definitely throws some weight behind the theory that Svrakiss are Shades, and were always been meant to be Shades.

Welcome. There's been a lot of discussion in the Bands of Mourning subforum about this - I'd recommend looking there to get brought up to speed. To sum it up though, Iyatil is not from Scadrial, but her heritage is from that world. (i.e. ancestors from Scadrial). She was born on another world, one we haven't seen yet.

When was this? Right before Vin was captured? It's a good point - I only looked at the climax of the novel. Even if it wasn't Kar (wealthy merchant doesn't necessarily fit with hardened soldier), it may have been another Inquisitor.

I think you're not R might not be C: There is a mention of Kar's history a few paragraphs later, though - TLR mentions that Kar was a soldier before he was an Inquisitor. That might be what you're thinking of.

http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/3573-phoenix-comicon/page-2#entry58108 So, based on Brandon's hemming and hawing, popular opinion is that Hoid didn't burn it. What he did do with it, though, is another question. He might have used it Hemalurgically, based on the quote in The Letter (saying he protects it like his own skin.) And there's always the possibility he used it with a magic system from a world we haven't seen yet, so we wouldn't even have all the pieces to figure out what he did. (He might have used it in a tattoo, if there's a magic system on Sel where you tattoo yourself to get powers.)

Put your aluminum foil hats on, boys and girls. Remember the antagonist's name, Theopolis? It's a combination of two Greek words: theos, meaning God, and polis, meaning city. Combined, they mean "City of God" or "City of the Gods." Brandon named the bad guy after Elantris.

Can you provide a definite quote that says that? There is a strong implication, but it's never mentioned definitively. Silence refers to Lastport as the most powerful fort on the continent, but Homeland is never referred to as another continent, just another place, IIRC. (And I just reread the story a few days ago, with that question in mind, so I'm pretty confident. Like, 95%. Maybe 94.) But you're definitely right that the Evil couldn't be the Shattering of Skai and Aona. Silence's grandparents were among the first of the first to explore Hell, and considering that William had a teenage child at the time of SSFH, the Evil hadn't occurred more than 100 years before the story. Couple that with Brandon's comments about timeline - that it's the later half of the overall Cosmere sequence, but before Stormlight - and it doesn't seem like it could fit in the 3500 years before Odium was trapped on Braize. (I, personally, think that it's happening concurrent with Mistborn, which is why Hoid wasn't able to be in SSFH.) So, of the four major Shardworlds we've had books set on (Sel, Scadrial, Roshar, Nalthis), two of them have confirmed minor Shardworlds in their systems. I wonder how many Shardsystems have multiple Shardworlds in them? That could be an interesting follow-up: what's the highest number of Shardworlds in a system? Maybe there's another minor Shardworld in the Sel system, which is where Homeland originally was?

From when Kelsier first made it to the Fortress:

I've been rereading Secret History for a serious theory I'm working on, but I had to stop in the middle because... I need to learn more about Spanky. Could he SpanKey, the Kandra spirit? What secret murmurings does he carry to the denizens of the Cognitive Realm? And then, what happened to him after He was so kind to give Hoid a ride (proving that Ati and Leras aren't the only vessles in Scadrial), but once Hoid leaps off of him to use the Shardpool... where does he go? There's no more mention of the once-great ship, the U.S.S. Spanky. (U.S.S. stands for Useful Sailing Spirit). Where did he go? Did he sail away? Did he set a open course for the virgin sea? Alas, Spanky, we hardly knew ye. Silliness aside, I am surprised no one has discussed this macabre detail. (Or if they have, I just couldn't find it.) Hoid refers to Spanky as a spirit - is he a Cognitive Shadow, like Kelsier? Did he pass from the Cognitive Realm to go Beyond after Hoid was finished with him? Since he stuck around long enough for Hoid to use him as a boat, does that mean he was Invested, a user of some world's magic system, and he stuck around just long enough for Hoid to use as a boat? And then, where did he come from? All we know is that he had white robes, and I speculate that he was a magic user. What magic users had white robes? Not Awakeners, obviously; they need more colors. Not a Radiant, either, since they have armor. (Though the Soulcasters wore robes, right?) Elantrians had robes, and I think they were white, but I'm not confident. The White Sand preview pages show a character in white robes. So, Hoid might have been coming from either Taldain or Sel, and hitched a ride on a heavily Invested individual to reach the Well of Ascension. As to why Hoid needed to use Spanky... the Pits are just as far inland as Luthadel, so doesn't that mean Hoid would always need to use a boat like Spanky? Same with everyone else who used to use the Pits; how did they get there?

If you struggle with waiting between books, then, yeah, I can see how it's hard to keep up with a relatively new author like Brandon. I'd recommend looking at some series that have been completed (or at least have had a good chunk of the series completed). Not sure what you've read or not; Lord of the Rings is always a classic, Wheel of Time, Dune (if you're into a space-fantasy kind of a series). I've heard good things about Malazan Book of the Fallen, but haven't read it myself. Shannara, Discworld, and Dragonriders of Pern are other popular series that I can't vouch, but they do have a lot of books to keep you busy. I had a blast with the Star Wars Expanded Universe, but I'm not sure if a lot of those books would hold up if I didn't have such a nostalgia factor. (Don't get me started on the new Star Wars books, though. But if you read the Star Wars books in publication order, some of the newer big series work really well, IMO.) Some series that have closed still have very active fanbases, like Harry Potter or the aforementioned Lord of the Rings. (Heck, you can take classes on Tolkien, in some universities.) Long wait times is a fairly common feature (or bug, depending on how you look at it) of book series, because it's the brainchild of a single author. Whereas TV series or film franchises (looking at you, Marvel) can put out a lot more content in a year, it's because they have a larger team generating content. One reason I because a fan of Brandon is actually because of the same thing you have a problem with - the wait between books. (Yeah, sounds crazy when I put it like that.) I got late into Wheel of Time, and then looked through the archives of Dragonmount, and I saw all these crazy theories that were developed around the foreshadowing and prophecies in the series, and how they had changed over the years as the community came together and theorized. So, I relish the chance to look at a series like Stormlight when there is so much we don't know, and try to piece together what we have. Sure, there'll be a lot wrong (I used to subscribe to a fourth Shard on Roshar, and I'm currently working on a theory about a new interpretation of the First Oath that will be off-the-walls), but I think it's awesome that we, the fans, have a chance to look for the huge secrets that are buried somewhere in the series. So, yeah, I don't think there's anything wrong with reading through another series for a year and a half, then rereading Stormlight 1 and 2 in preparation for the new release, if you're wired to work that way. I'd bet that, once Kingkiller 3 or ASOIAF 6 comes out, you'll be able to get back into the mindset quickly enough. Oh, and there will be a Lift novella coming in December in the Cosmere short fiction collection, along with possibly a Lopen story. Neither of those characters are my cup of tea, but they might help tide you over.

What are you comparing it to? When looking at Fantasy novels of similar length, you've got both Pat Rothfuss and George Martin, who haven't released a new book since 2011, whereas WoR was released in 2014. (I don't follow either of the other authors that closely, so I don't know if they're on track for releasing a new book before SA3. But if they're not, then Brandon halves their writing time.) When looking at smaller novels, I'll take R.A. Salvatore as an example. He puts out a couple of books a year, but they are much shorter than Stormlight books. Brandon has described one Stormlight book as being comprised of three novels, one novella, and one short story collection, which he releases all at once. So, while it might be slow coming, we get a lot when it do comes. (The WoR hardcover takes up more space on my bookshelf than the two most recent Mistborn hardcovers put together!) Robert Jordan wrote about one book a year, when he was starting the Wheel of Time series. Brandon gets one SA out every three years, but over the course of that time he's writing a YA series and another Cosmere novel or two (or three or four). If the sentiment that you're expressing is that he could write so much quicker if he didn't write spinoff Mistborn and YA fiction... well, on one hand, I feel you. I don't follow his YA stuff, so I'm not thrilled when I read in a State of the Sanderson how much time has been devoted to Rithmatist or Steelheart. (No offense, Rithmatist or Steelheart fans.) On the other hand, Brandon has said that the way he jumps from project to project keeps him from getting burned out, a problem that has reared its ugly head on authors like Martin or Jordan. So, if he was just writing Stormlight, it might still slow down to a once-every-three-years.

I like the concept of "filling in the gaps," especially with Copper/Bronze alloys affecting Feruchemy. (Although I personally think that Copper and Bronze already have those abilities, but no one has discovered them yet.) That's keeping in line with how Malatium fills in a gap in the Temporal powers. But I think there is a deeper pattern than just internal/external flip going on, related to how atium and lerasium actually work. We've seen applications for each of these metals, but we know that neither metal has been used to its full potential. (i.e. if you knew what you were doing, you could get other abilities out of pure atium or pure lerasium, no alloys needed.) First, there is some pertinent info included in the Table of Allomantic Metals on alloys: It looks like all atium alloys will either have mental or temporal effects, not physical or enhancement (which are filled by Lerasium alloys). So if an Iron-atium alloy (for example) has a mental or temporal effect, then I don't know how we'd go about using its normal Allomantic power to figure out its atium-alloy's power. But, why are they divided the way they are? Why don't atium alloys give physical effects? Why don't lerasium alloys give temporal effects? Now, I'm going to extrapolate a bit, but it seems like atium's abilities (which, again, haven't yet been fully explored) have to deal with accessing the Spiritual Realm, which is a major component of viewing the future. When Elend burned duralumin and atium, he looked into the Spiritual Realm; just regularly burning atium, however, only gives you enough of a glimpse to see the immediate future of those around you. So, what other Spiritual manipulations can be accomplished that produce Mental or Temporal effects? Identity manipulations, like Soul-Stamping in The Emperor's Soul, might be possible by "changing" something that happened in the past. Connection, another Spiritual property, can be used to communicate directly with someone's mind. (We get some in-depth realmatics of Connection in Mistborn: Secret History, but I'll stay away from spoilery details for now.) Possibly looking at Connections someone else has, to learn specific information about their past (which, hey, sounds a lot like malatium!). What about lerasium alloys? Lerasium alters your spiritweb to give you Allomancy. If you knew how to use it, though, what other alterations could you pull off? Remember, Hemalurgy steals a piece of someone else's spiritweb and tacks it on to yours; if lerasium can alter your own spiritweb, you could also give yourself strength, senses, or other attributes that can be stolen with Hemalurgy. So, Physical (modifying your body) or Enhancement (modifying your magical abilities) have both occurred by altering your own spiritweb. I've considered that anything that can be done Allomatically by a god metal alloy can also be done by the god metal itself. It's just that there's so much potential with the god metals, and they're so rare, so Mistborn just use the first and easiest application they discover. Alloys block out other applications, so a previously undiscovered application can be used. Not sure how strong I stand by this guess, but it's just something I keep in mind as a possibility. It's more that I have a difficult time thinking of 16 extra powers for the alloys, and extra powers for the god metals themselves, and this will help simplify the magic system. So, yeah, there's a lot we don't understand about how the God metals work in the first place, which makes it challenging to see how their alloys might react. I think we might even see a lot of overlap between Feruchemy and Allomancy, especially with respect to the Feruchemical Spiritual quadrant; they are separate magic systems, so I don't think it cheapens Atiuim Alloys if some of them modify Connection or Identity on the Spiritual front, or your respiratory or digestive system on the Hybrid front.

Yeah, that's what I was saying - that the Purelake is a normal body of water, with a Shardpool present somewhere in it. However, it's the wrong Shardpool; it's Hoid's false trail. He actually used the Horneater mountains, but tricked the Sharders into going to the Purelake. Taking a closer look at the Interlude, I need to retract my statement about the Sharders having just shown up. They had been there for five months already. (I had a mental picture of the three of them, showing up in the middle of the Purelake, running up to the first person they found and saying "Have you seen this man?!? We should be right behind him!" Which is still a possibility, but it can't be the encounter shown in the Interlude.) But I still think they are focusing their search around the Purelake because they think it's the Shardpool that Hoid uses, whether or not it actually is.

Just the other day, I had a brain blast about this topic. The "false trail" that Hoid left for the 17th Shard was that he used the Purelake's Shardpool to get to Roshar. In the Interlude, the Seventeenth Sharders had just worldhopped using the Shardpool; they had literally just arrived on Roshar, and they asked the first people they found if they had seen Hoid, trying to pick up his trail out of the Shardpool and track where he went on Roshar. But, since Hoid had actually arrived through the Pools in the Horneater Peaks, so the witnesses that the Seventeenth Sharders were looking (a.k.a. Rock) for weren't in that part of the continent at all. And about the size of the Shardpool. Mistborn: Secret History Spoilers:

He was using Atium to store youthfulness, then burning it to get more youth out of it than he put into it. In Alloy-era, we have Marsh surviving by using the same technique.