Nethseäar

What time were you thinking? I just made a commander deck that I'd like to try out! I'll see if I can get some others to come, as well.

Indeed! I'm exceedingly excited for Shadows of Self, though it looks like I won't even finish The Final Empire before the release tonight. Thanks for the welcome! Hopefully I'll get caught up to the point that I don't repeat others' theories too often. Thanks! I know nothing of forum cookies; what should I know?

The focus of Selish magic, as I understand, is form-based. So, with that (and not much else), I have a theory -- or, more of a hope, really -- that: The Shaod happens when some change occurs in the body, such that some part of the body is shaped like an Aon. This is attractive to me because 1) it ties back into Aons and form-based magic, and 2) if it were true, one could be surgically altered to become an Elantrian. And now some reasons why this is almost certainly not the case: (1) could potentially fit; perhaps those of Aonic ancestry have some genetic predisposition to natural, practically undetectible, Aon-related body distortion (yeah, it's a petty big stretch), but (2) and (3) don't fit well at all. Besides which, Dakhor monks already access the Dor by surgical(?) modification. Why repeat the concept? And, finally, the Shaod is very similar to Mistborn's Snapping (which, notably, has nothing to do with metal). So, there's a theory some wishful thinking, somewhat checked. What do you think?

In my (admittedly brief) search, I saw no such topic. Therefore: This is a topic for brainstorming neat ways to combine Allomancy and technology. To start, the idea that inspired the topic: Steelpushing and squirrel suits/gliding devices! You could fly without metal infrastructure, and perhaps even use coins with parachutes for additional height/maneuverability.

A fact for which I am grateful; such an incredible ending! I'm proud of him for it. XD It's interesting what he points out in the Annotations; the mirroring situations and lines from The Final Empire in The Hero of Ages, and all. I would totally have missed this! Thanks for pointing it out. I quoted you above, and found the reference (it's right where I'm at, presently).

I just started a re-read of The Final Empire, and FORESHADOWING. I mean, everywhere. So, I thought it would be fun to make a thread about the various hints I'm finally picking up on. I haven't seen anything similar in searches; hopefully I'm not missing anything. Basically this will demonstrate how blind I was to foreshadowing on the first read-through. I will only include long-arc foreshadowing, I think, perhaps with a few exceptions. Though, I'll note that names of significance were dropped much earlier than I thought -- Kelsier references Lord Renoux in the prologue, for instance. Henceforth there shall be spoilers for The Final Empire, The Well of Ascension, and The Hero of Ages. I'll be re-reading the whole trilogy, and intend to update the original post as I go. References to page numbers are for the paperback editions, and as there will be a section for each book, unspecified page numbers are for the book of the section they're in. Mistborn: The Final Empire Page 1, Epigraph to the Prologue: They say I will hold the future of the entire world on my arms. Page 29, Chapter 2: If all went well, there would come a time when Kelsier would want to be seen and recognized. Page 32, Chapter 2: Sometimes, Kelsier felt that a skaa Misting's life wasn't so much about surviving as it was about picking the right time to die. Page 48, Chapter 3: In her mind, she thought she heard a voice whispering to her. Reen's voice. Page 65, Chapter 4: "The mistwraiths are out there. They'll grab a man and take his face, sure as the Lord Ruler." Page 77, Chapter 4: "And the koloss?" Ham asked quietly. Kelsier paused. "If he marches those creatures on his own capital city, the destruction it would cause could be even more dangerous than financial instability. In the chaos, the provincial noblemen will rebel and set themselves up as kings [...]" Page 85, Chapter 5: Yet, overthrowing the Final Empire? They'd sooner stop the mists from flowing or the sun from rising. Page 92, Chapter 5: As he stood, the mists curled slightly around his body. They twisted and spun, running in a slight, barely noticeable current beside him. The mists knew him; they claimed him. They could sense Allomancy Page 92, Chapter 5: And you can't change how much you weigh -- you're an Allomancer, not some northern mystic. Page 104, Epigraph to Chapter 6: I can feel our goal now, can sense it, though the others cannot. It . . . pulses, in my mind, far off in the mountains.

Greetings! I joined way back when, after encountering Sharders (is that the correct term?) at a signing, but didn't do much here. Then, I was only just barely Cosmere aware. (The Ars Arcanum of The Alloy of Law tipped me off. Form-based investiture of Sel? WHAT?! It was an adrenaline rush unlike any previous book-related experience. =-P To have a Sanderson ending followed by such revelation! But what did it mean? What could it possibly mean?) I did not grasp the implications. But recently I completed re-reads of Elantris, Warbreaker, The Way of Kings, and Words of Radiance. It's amazing what Cosmere-related clues you find when you're looking for them! And reading through the Brandon Q&A threads has been all kinds of mind-blowing. I love how fruitful theorizing can be in the Cosmere -- Brandon's systems are so consistent that it's possible to correctly discover yet unknown parts of them. I just started a re-read of Mistborn, in anticipation of Shadows of Self (I'll be at the midnight release, of course), and I'm looking forward to spotting Hoid and who knows what else. For my part, I hope Brandon does write the 1940's-era Mistborn trilogy. And I'll be happy for any other such surprise trilogies! (Provided, of course, he does eventually complete the Cosmere-spanning long-arc, and continues to be as incomprehensibly prolific as he presently is.) In other words, I'll read whatever Brandon writes, at this point, and I hope he never stops writing. I've never yet been disappointed, and I've consistently had my expectations so far exceeded that I don't know what to expect anymore, except excellence. I'm also a fan of Writing Excuses, and the authors Brandon works with there -- Dan Wells, Howard Tayler, and Mary Robinette Kowal. So, hi! I'm officially joining the ranks of actively theorizing 17th Sharders. Though I've a ways to go before I am likely to say anything new, I'll probably show up here and there as an appreciative audience to others' theorizing. Post Script: Nethseäar is intended to be pronounced, 'Neth-say-are.' It's a diaeresis.

I've got a few, mostly from being in a religious choir during a re-read of The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance: Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise, an LDS hymn, for a simple, silly reason: It has the word, 'heralds.' The 2nd verse is the relevant one: Then also Sine Nomine (For All the Saints) by Ralph Vaughn Williams, for its imagery reminiscent of Vorin afterlife doctrine / Kaladin and Dalinar on the Shattered Plains: *Though, now that I think of it, 'distant triumph song' reminds me of the Parshendi. Not the kind of victory song the Alethi want to hear. Last, for now, is the Battlestar Galactica cover of All Along the Watchtower:

Excellent theory! (Shardplate-is-Spren, that is, though I like that there are other theories being presented here). It feels right based on what we've seen so far. I mean, we now know Shardblades are spren; the naming and material similarity of Shardblades to Shardplate is therefore suspicious. A sort of spren hierarchy is a fascinating direction to take. I was browsing a Sanderson Q&A and came across this quote: http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=1052#13(Section 25 -- Is there a way to link to an isolated section?) Intriguing. Another direction for speculation is the Oathgates. They are giant fabrials, as far as I understand, but they have Shard-strength slots for Shardblades. While they could possibly be half-shards (fabrial-enhanced steel), I recall something about it shifting to match the shape of the Shardblade? (My copy is presently lent out, or I would check) Which, if true, is a link to being made of spren. Assuming the Shardblade slots in the Oathgates are some form of spren, how does that fit in this theory? Are they commanded to take that form and then left there? I suppose minor spren might not mind, being effectively mindless.