Nethseäar

Shipping aside, I think the better question is: Does anyone not love Steris at this point? As someone who wasn't so sure about Steris, I am thrilled that Sanderson let her win us over. The Era 2 cast is superb, without exception!

How do people write such short ones? =-P I think I'm just wordy about how I say things, and enjoy saying things on top of that. I really do need to work on being more concise if I expect people to respond to what I say.

Bands of Mourning spoilers (topic doesn't say so, so I thought I'd be safe). EDIT: While I was certain that was Vin's earring, I am certain no longer. VenDell and MeLaan say in Bands that they make Pathian earrings from old Inquisitor spikes. So, it may or may not have been Vin's earring. Since Hemalurgic spikes decay when out of a body/blood, and the earring has likely been out of a body for several hundred years, I think it's unlikely there's enough power left for any noticeable Seeking (or other Allomantic/Feruchemical use).

Spoiler'd for length. How does one even begin to digest this book? It's a wild ride from start to finish. I positively loved it! Though, admittedly, I was feeling some whiplash toward the end. The realm of possibility expanded enormously, what with Southern Scadrians/airships, the Bands, unrest in border cities, and unkeyed Feruchemy. We were introduced to so much in so short a time, after having kept basically to Elendel. Most jarring for me was the influence of The Lord Ruler/Kelsier. It felt like it came out of nowhere, and was hard to reconcile with the existing world and plotlines. And yet, it works. Of course there's unrest in the border cities, and of course the Set is fanning the flames. It's a natural escalation -- the Set has gone from kidnapping Allomancers for an army to destroy Elendel to inciting riots that would destroy Elendel to hunting (maybe atomic) bombs for destroying Elendel. Of course they're reverse-engineering Southern Scadrian tech, of course they're orchestrating distractions for Wax. It meshes together nicely in hindsight, although it feels disjointed along the way (as well it should, since it's orchestrated to appear unconnected). While I was really having a hard time with The Lord Ruler, the Kelsier revelation made it possible to accept. I recall reading WoB about Kelsier possibly coming back, so although I was surprised about it being so soon, I wasn't really surprised to see him back. Of course Kelsier is meddling with things. How could he not? I will accept Kelsier's involvement, pending the inevitable explanation of how, per Vin's use of the Mists in The Final Empire. "Survive" was quite the chill-inducing last word. What I loved most about this book was so much character! Steris most of all (STERIS!), but also everyone else.The hotel scene is a definite stand-out moment, a delight to read! The book works so well because of the strength of the cast and the passion of the characters. I will be sad if we don't see Wayne and MeLaan worldhopping together. It's great that Era 2 is shaping up to mirror Era 1 in the slow reveal of a Shardic conflict. With Era 2 continuing/establishing the pattern, Mistborn books have consistent themes of overthrowing or maintaining governments in the midst of a war over the planet itself. I also really appreciate the genre-changing scheme of Era 2. A little Sherlock Holmes and James Bond (Ranette supplying neat new gadgets) mixed with Western/reverse-heist, Thriller, and now Indiana Jones/action-adventure. So much fun! I'm very interested to see how the Bands are handled down the line, especially if they can be recharged. I do wonder how Bands will read for people who aren't Cosmere-aware and haven't read the original trilogy. The Survivor has had enough set-up per Survivorism, but if I felt whiplash having read every Cosmere book and having read a bunch of theories and Sanderson Q&As, I imagine Southern Scadrians will come as quite a shock.

Ha! Maybe. Vin did

EDIT: Somewhat Ninja'd. That's what I get for being carried away and writing this monster. I am intrigued by this concept. An important question is: Do God Metals come from Shardholders (as their names suggest), or do they come from Shards? or is it some combination of the two? Spoilered for Length: To sum up, I argue that: God Metals are created by Shardholders out of Shards, and different Shards/combinations thereof create different God Metals. These are physical manifestations. (Or, if based only on Shardholder, we could have Rashekium, Vinium, and Kelsierium. That gets out of hand really fast when Shardholders change. No way to prove or disprove it, at this point -- Maybe they could have made their own brands of 100% Preservation God Metals. As far as we know, they didn't. But that doesn't necessarily mean they couldn't.) The fact that there needs to be a Shardholder seems important. In Mistborn, we only see God Metals come about when a Shardholder wills them to or uses violence against another Shardholder. They do not naturally occur, unlike the magic systems themselves. (Allomancy existed before Lerasium). What are God Metals? To sum up, a tentative definition of the God Metal category of Investiture: Manifestations of pure Investiture, intentionally created by a Shardholder out of a Shard, in the form of a Focus in the magic system. DIRECTLY ON-TOPIC: If it's true that a Shardholder must be involved, any Selish equivalents to God Metals would need to have been created prior to Aona and Skai's death. Aons are focuses, certainly. But how can an Aon be pure Investiture, in addition to channeling Investiture? You could . . . make an Aon out of a God Metal! Ha. Aons are based on the land. So, for there to be a God Aon, perhaps there needs to be some element of the land made of pure Investiture? Aons are largely undocumented and uncategorized. They are apparently capable of doing just about anything, provided the right knowledge and application. Atium and Malatium were mistaken for ordinary Allomantic metals until the categories of metals were better understood. How can we know whether an Aon 'fits,' since we don't know how Aons are organized? But possibly God Aons do exist. As for Seons, Skaze, and Spren -- They are all Splinters. Notably, WoB says that Atium and Lerasium are not Splinters. That has me leaning toward them not being God Metal equivalents, but maybe they can be both. As I understand it (though I'm having a hard time finding the WoB I thought existed - correct me if I'm wrong), they arose because their respective Shardholders are dead. The Shards, having been left without direction, began self-organizing, and became sentient. If so, there was no Shardholder Intention in the creation of Seons, Skaze, or Spren. (And that may or may not be an accurate criteria). Then again, Seons and Skaze are presumably 100% Devotion/Dominion Investiture, and have and can activate Aons (thus making them Focuses). So I think I'll say they're plausibly God Metal equivalents. Spren . . . I don't know. We know there are Spren from two of the Shardholders on Roshar, so that's something. And they are Focuses in that they determine which Surges can be used. I think Divine Breaths are most obviously equivalent to God Metals -- They are both the focus and the power, are not themselves sentient (matching the God Metals), and are created by Edgli out of Endowment. The most interesting aspect of all of this, if true: There could be Seon-like creations for every Shard and combination of Shards. And maybe the same for Divine Breaths -- similar, but with different passive and active abilities. Whereas Endowment Divine Breaths heal, maybe a Ruin-Breath destroys?

Alas, and my apologies. My search was pretty cursory before I posted, and only within the Shadows of Self spoiler board. I fully expected a more specific explanation. Thanks for the WoB!

Indeed, I think it may be. Although it seems to refer to the remnant of Preservation's mind. Maybe Ruin fragmented his mind before he died? But then, dying would probably have gotten rid of that fragment. Looking around the forums, after being gone a while, I discovered that I was a week late with this connection. Ah, well.

Prior to the release of Shadows of Self, I recall speculation about the title -- did it refer to Allomantic gold shadows. As we now know, Allomantic gold didn't make an appearance in the book. So, why the title? The Alloy of Law made a wonderful appearance in Miles' speech to Wax. What on earth does Shadows of Self reference? I just finished my re-read of the first Mistborn trilogy, and I came across this intriguing tidbit: The Hero of Ages, Chapter 75, page 660 (2008 paperback):

Exactly. These are Brandon Sanderson books, and there are still 8 of them to go. We don't have anywhere near the full picture of what Surgebinding can do. I believe both of your suggestions -- crushing with Pressure and speeding chemical reactions with Abrasion -- are theoretically valid uses of those Surges. I have suspicions that the Shattered Plains were shattered by a Lightweaver, using the Surge of Soundforms. Cymatics works as foreshadowing for this.

Before I type anything sensible, I'd like for you all to know that I consistently type 'Surgebinging' before I manage to get the correct spelling. My insincere apologies for whatever image that causes you to conjure. Actually relevant: If I recall correctly, Adhesion is actually the surge of Pressure -- not Friction or Electromagnetism. I don't have my copies of the books at the moment, but this should be verifiable by way of a glance at the Ars Arcanum. So, though adhesives use friction, Adhesion does not. Balancing issues aside (physical balancing, that is), I do wonder about the usefulness of the aforementioned, awesome, flame-throwing stops, assuming palms or feet are used to make them -- wouldn't stopping that way burn off/tear the skin? Or even destroy shoes? I guess Stormlight would heal the body, but that would get expensive. Both monetarily and magically. Then again, I see no reason why you wouldn't use such quick stops in a dire circumstance. And Brandon Sanderson would, of course, build up to the moment appropriately. Even knowing that Adhesion is the surge of Pressure, I do wonder about this. Friction could, indeed, be used to achieve a similar effect. In addition to the mention of nails, phone books make a lovely demonstration. We could look at it in the light of Pewter and Iron/Steel -- both can be used to travel quickly, but with different mechanisms, and both have unique uses in addition to the ones they share. I expect we'll see more uses of the Pressure surge -- I highly doubt that the 3 Lashings are all that can be done with Pressure and Gravitation. EDIT: Dunkum beat me to it! But I'll leave the post, since it adds 'Surgebinging' and stuff. And, more seriously: I believe the confusion over Adhesion and Pressure was intentional, and reflects an in-world misunderstanding, much as the early Mistborn Ars Arcanums had certain things wrong.

Spren are Cognitive entities manifest in the Physical realm, and exist in their varieties because of human thought and perception, and perhaps also because of fundamental natural forces (or do the natural forces exist because of spren? If I recall correctly, Syl hints at this in Words of Radiance), though that probably also falls under human perception as well. Whatever enough people think about and/or perceive (for long enough) also has a variety of spren associated with it. So, assuming there isn't a hard-and-fast rule that all varieties of spren are general, shouldn't there be spren associated with legendary figures? Heraldspren? Shallashspren? Highprincespren? Dalinarspren? EDIT: FOOL THAT I AM, I only did a search for 'Heraldspren' after I posted this. And, behold, this is a duplicate thread. First posted here.

I was thinking along the lines of WeiryWriter, so I used the 'Contact Brandon' feature on his website to send the message yesterday. That done, Isaac Stewart probably doesn't get quite as many messages as Brandon, so if a few weeks go by with no response, I could try there. Though, I don't see any contact info on his site. There's also Twitter. So, my main challenge will be remaining courteous by not spamming messages to every possible source. =-P Wish I'd thought to ask during the Shadows of Self release, as both of them were there, at the very same table . . .

Ah, alas! Thanks for the reply! and thanks for your diligence in discovering and documenting the various Sanderson scripts. It's awesome to have the keys available, and be able to look at your process. Thanks for the suggestion! I shall send such an e-mail.

I am working on an art project which will involve a large Alethi 'thath' glyph. I saw that a speculative 'thath' was drawn here, but I'm wondering whether we've seen 'canon' versions of the glyph in-book. As I understand, the Surgebinder glyphs correspond to their respective Heralds, and the Surge glyphs to their respective surges. I'm fairly certain that 'thath' has not made a canon visual appearance, but I don't have my copies of the books, at present. Anyone have an idea how I can get an accurate 'thath' glyph?

I don't mean to say that it's right or just or good that people with lots of power will tend to have more influence in world-significant events -- only that it makes sense that it would tend to happen, and mirrors our own world. And therefore it makes sense that main viewpoint characters will tend to be Invested, because it's easier for them to be involved in big, dramatic events. It makes sense that if you have Shardplate and a Shardblade, you're likely going to be more successful on the battlefield than if you don't. In the same way that if you have body armor and weapons on a battlefield you're likely going to be more successful than someone who doesn't. Because when you are, yourself, effectively a gun and an airplane (Coinshot), you objectively have an advantage in combat or travel over everyone who isn't. It's uncomfortable, perhaps, but it's reasonable. Just as someone who isn't paralyzed has an advantage in movement over someone who is -- of course, the paralyzed person may be incredibly intelligent, in which case each is better at one thing than the other. It doesn't mean that one is significant and the other is not. It just means that each will likely shine in different environments. And the kinds of environments magical problems create are the kinds of environments Invested people tend to thrive in, so it makes sense that we see more of them excelling there than elsewhere. Note that in a world where there are Coinshots and Pewterarms and Tineyes, Elendel's constabulary is still mostly made of non-Invested people, and these people make a huge difference in Elendel. What I learn from Sanderson's Cosmere novels, over and over again, is that everyone deserves respect and kindness, and it shouldn't matter what ability or privilege you or they have or don't have. With that, unfortunately, is that to many people it does matter, and so there must always be a tension and a struggle, to ensure that the powerful do not abuse those with less power. The Rithmatist and Steelheart are powerful examples of ordinary people striving against villains who have magic and coming out on top. Another reason I don't find fault in the existing trend is because many characters have had mental challenges to deal with, written so they resonate -- depression, abandonment, abuse, and so forth. Yes, most of these people are Invested. But it's their choices that make them heroes, and their challenges have scaled with their power. The message is still that challenges can be overcome. Yes, I would love to see a non-Invested person, say, face a Mistborn and win, or be in the right position to intercept the Awakened Commands, or be instrumental in the long-arc endings. It would be wonderful to see how they could pull it off.

They're not Cosmere, but have you read The Rithmatist or Steelheart? That's more than lip service. The rest of this response turned into a long essay, so I'll spoiler-hide it: For my part, I don't believe Wayne is part Kandra, and would be disappointed if he turned out to be. Perhaps his skill with disguises is an effect of his Twinborn power, but I like to think he's just practiced a lot. It does not, after all, seem to follow from his particular abilities, except that it works well with his time bubble (being able to rapidly change disguises). It definitely does not follow in the same way that Wax's steel bubble follows from his abilities. On the other hand, it would be fun in Wayne became a Kandra, and I wouldn't be opposed to that.

Initially I was thinking that, like the Herald chapter headings in The Stormlight Archive, the symbols referred to something that would happen in the chapter. Toward the end, the Duralumin symbol appeared with various metals, and I thought, "This is referring to the intensity of the end chapters," but then I realized it was probably, as Argent said, just the chapter numbers in the modern Steel Alphabet. Which is still awesome. I love having those symbols spread through the book. I'd like to see a version of the broadsheet written in the Steel Alphabet.

Thanks! That was actually my brother's question, so it's good to have something to tell him. YES. Excellent question, and satisfying answer! My brother had another question: Could one Hemalurgically steal the power of the Aviar/ (from Sixth of the Dusk)? If so, would the person Hemalurgically granted that power be able to make use of it themselves, or would they only be useful to others? EDIT: Just read this in the BYU Midnight Release thread: So, a new question:Can awakened metal be used as a Hemalurgic spike?

Oh, awesome! Why did that never occur to me? I need that Elantris sequel even more now. Related to that, a war with Elantrians, in which the opposing side understood the magic, would largely revolve around protecting Elantris itself. So: Elantrians are hugely powerful, but also have a huge weakness in how easily Elantris can be disrupted, and cut off their access to the Dor. I concur about the genes -- the number of abilities an Elantrian has, both passive and through the drawing of Aons, is vast. I wonder how they separate, Hemalurgically. Is Aon-drawing one power? Or does it have subsets? Any ideas how melting metal changes the received Investiture for Allomancers? Or, related: I wonder whether melting a Feruchemical store would change it -- both if you tapped it while it was molten, and if you tapped it once it hardened again.

I wondered. Thanks for the pointer! What has me curious about this question is that if you take an object and physically apply sufficient pressure on two opposite sides of it, you can hold it up. Granted, this requires friction, but why shouldn't a similar force be applied to Steelpushes and Ironpulls? So, I suppose the question is actually about whether they have friction, as it were. And I can see the answer being, 'no,' but it seems interesting enough to be worth asking, in my mind.

Here are 3 questions I got answered at the BYU Midnight Release (I was uncertain where to post them). Unfortunately, I was very tired by the time I asked them, and didn't get a recording or written record. So, I will be paraphrasing Brandon's answers. Perhaps these questions and the paraphrased responses will inspire further, more scientific questions, asked by people with more scientific rigor than I. Q - Could an Allomancer or Feruchemist Burn or Feruchemically Fill molten metal? Would that affect the Investiture? A - Something to the effect that it would be very painful and damaging, but yes, one could Burn and Fill molten metal, and yes, it would affect the Investiture. Q - Do Highstorms manifest in Shadesmar? If so, how? A giant wall of glass beads? A - Yes, they do manifest in Shadesmar. You will need to read to find out how. Q - If one used Hemalurgy to give a fallen Elantrian Feruchemic gold, would they be able to Fill health? A - (pondered for an extended period of time) No, they would not be able to Fill health. [here I asked whether a huge reserve would appear if they had been trying to Fill health while fallen and then were restored] No, it would not stack and then suddenly appear once they were restored. [here I began to feel I was slowing the line too much, and was trying to let Brandon move on, but the question interested him enough that he went on. The following is extremely paraphrased and my remembrance (written not too long afterward) might be affected by my tired, overwhelmed mind:] Hemalurgic spikes would do very strange things to Elantrians. You could get more from an Elantrian with a Hemalurgic spike than from most other people.

Here are 3 questions I got answered (I was uncertain where to post them). Unfortunately, I was very tired by the time I asked them, and didn't get a recording or written record. So, I will be paraphrasing Brandon's answers. Perhaps these questions and the paraphrased responses will inspire further, more scientific questions, asked by people with more scientific rigor than I. Q - Could an Allomancer or Feruchemist Burn or Feruchemically Fill molten metal? Would that affect the Investiture? A - Something to the effect that it would be very painful and damaging, but yes, one could Burn and Fill molten metal, and yes, it would affect the Investiture. Q - Do Highstorms manifest in Shadesmar? If so, how? A giant wall of glass beads? A - Yes, they do manifest in Shadesmar. You will need to read to find out how. Q - If one used Hemalurgy to give a fallen Elantrian Feruchemic gold, would they be able to Fill health? A - (pondered for an extended period of time) No, they would not be able to Fill health. [here I asked whether a huge reserve would appear if they had been trying to Fill health while fallen and then were restored] No, it would not stack and then suddenly appear once they were restored. [here I began to feel I was slowing the line too much, and was trying to let Brandon move on, but the question interested him enough that he went on. The following is extremely paraphrased and my remembrance (written not too long afterward) might be affected by my tired, overwhelmed mind:] Hemalurgic spikes would do very strange things to Elantrians. You could get more from an Elantrian with a Hemalurgic spike than from most other people.

I'm jumping in here to say: I asked and had answered 3 questions last night at the Shadows of Self release. I had other questions which were not asked because of time, but I'll post them here (both to see whether they've been asked, and to see if anyone else thinks they're worthy of asking). Unfortunately, I was very tired at this point, and didn't get a recording or written record. So, I will be paraphrasing Brandon's answers. Perhaps these questions and the paraphrased responses will inspire further, more scientific questions, asked by people with more scientific rigor than I. Q - Could an Allomancer or Feruchemist Burn or Feruchemically Fill molten metal? Would that affect the Investiture? A - Something to the effect that it would be very painful and damaging, but yes, one could Burn and Fill molten metal, and yes, it would affect the Investiture. Q - Do Highstorms manifest in Shadesmar? If so, how? A giant wall of glass beads? A - Yes, they do manifest in Shadesmar. You will need to read to find out how. Q - If one used Hemalurgy to give a fallen Elantrian Feruchemic gold, would they be able to Fill health? A - (pondered for an extended period of time) No, they would not be able to Fill health. [here I asked whether a huge reserve would appear if they had been trying to Fill health while fallen and then were restored] No, it would not stack and then suddenly appear once they were restored. [here I began to feel I was slowing the line too much, and was trying to let Brandon move on, but the question interested him enough that he went on. The following is extremely paraphrased and my remembrance (written not too long afterward) might be affected by my tired, overwhelmed mind:] Hemalurgic spikes would do very strange things to Elantrians. You could get more from an Elantrian with a Hemalurgic spike than from most other people. Unasked questions (Some of these I worry about being ridiculous. But science.): 1 - Can one use a multi-pronged Hemalurgic spike to simultaneously steal multiple aspects from a Mistborn/Feruchemist? (Can a single Hemalurgic spike be charged with multiple abilities? If so, can it do so with a single stabbing?) 2 - Does Burning metals actually involve heat? If so, would that heat be sufficient to create new alloys in an Allomancer's stomach? Could a Feruchemist-Allomancer use heat to create alloys in their stomach? 3 - What would happen if one burned duralumin and aluminum simultaneously? (I feel like this was asked before, but I don't recall where). 4 - If one simultaneously and equally Pushed and Pulled a metal object, horizontally, would that tension cause the object to float, in spite of gravity? 5 - If two metalminds are touching, but not fused, are they treated as one? 6 - Does Feruchemic Investiture Fill evenly through a piece of metal? or from one side to the other? or in some other way? 7 - When not already influenced by other Lashings, do downward Lashings cost more Stormlight? (since Lashings replace gravity, a downward Lashing would effectively do nothing. So, a downward Lashing would essentially count as a double Lashing).

Excellent! I'll plan to be at the Wilk at about 7 PM. And hopefully with at least one other person.