Mistbreaker

So, I just opened my email a little while ago and was pleasantly surprised to discover that my Alloy of Law/Shadows of Self Leatherbound Bundle pre-order already started getting shipped. I am excited but also surprised. When I made the preorder just a few days before New Year, it said that it would be released on early 2023 but I wasn't actually expecting it to be THAT early. I mean it's the 4th of January as of the writing this post.

 

But regardless, I can't wait until it gets to me! Been intruducing the Cosmere to one of my friends and and he has been loving my Mistborn leatherbounds so far so this will expand the collection. Also, what about the rest of you that preordered it? Did your order also started getting shipped on your end today? Sorry if it sounds a bit personal but I am honestly surprised at how quickly after New Year this leatherbound bundle got shipped. Although, I did heard the Dragonsteel team has doubled in size or so, so that might explain it.

 

Anyway, happy new years everyobody. 

Here it is: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27117209/chapters/66217577

 

It's definitely the most uniquely intriguing and plot heavy smut story I have ever read on Archive of Our Own. Also, it hasn't reached actual, full blown crossover levels with World of Warcraft yet, at least as of chapter 109. So far, any refereces seem to be either aspects borrwed to fill in prehistoric, religious or magical gaps about Planetos that we don't know enough yet or perhaps some partial set up for later. 

 

Happy reading! Hope you enjoy it too. It was quite the experience on my end.

Alright, so, this is going to be different from my usual posts but I really felt like sharing this and asking for a second opinion to be sure I wasn't imagining things.

 

Basically, I started reading a really unique Game of Thrones fanfic compared to what I usually find and starting on chapter 88, during its 7h story arc which concludes Act 1 the tale according to the author notes, the writer started adding epigraphs to the beginning of each chapter of that arc. And I am really pretty sure that the style is based on Hoid's letter to Frost in Way of King's in terms of style and partial content but it's instead altered to fit the vast worldbuilding (for fanfiction standards anyway) that the writer has been working, expanding, and aluding to for and more. Long story short, as far as I can tell, the writer has been filling in the gaps of the ancient and prehistoric past of Planetos (the world of Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire book series) with some World of Warcraft cosmological lore, particularly when it comes to the origins of the deities from the religions of that world. Among other things anyway.

 

But regardless, I started getting extra intrigued by the inclusion of the epigraphs and what I suspect they may hint at. So, I thought I might share it here and maybe get a second opinion from you all to see if anyone else agrees that he at least partially based own epigraph on the Way of King's one that had Hoid's letter to Frost (although in this one, it appears the one getting the letter is instead R'hllor, the Lord of Light from one of the religions of that world). Anyway, I found i most curious for I have never seen anything like it in all my years reading fanfiction so, here is the copy/paste in case any of you wants to check it out:

    

 

To the last of the Prime on Planetos,

 

Old friend, I have spent a considerable portion of my power to ensure this missive reaches you. And for what it is worth, I hope it finds you well. Though, as you are essentially immortal, I would guess that wellness on your part is something of a given.

 

Even if the relative impotence caused by your imprisonment fills my words with irony.

 

I realize that you are probably still angry, even if the Light fills the very core of your essence. That is pleasant to know. Much as your perpetual health, I have come to rely upon your dissatisfaction with me. It is one of creation’s great constants, I should think.

 

Let me first assure you that I know what you are up to. I felt the Prophetic Quake and I have tracked its source at the Wall. Furthermore, it has come to my attention that you spoke with the new cosmic player when he was still on Braavos. The winds told me, you might say.

 

You do not agree with my quest, and I understand that, so much as it is possible to understand someone with whom I disagree so completely.

 

Might I be quite frank? Long ago, you asked why I was so concerned. It is for the following reason: Once upon a time, Leaf’s human lover and the Lion of Night were some of the kindest, most promising men I have ever known.

 

And you saw what became of them.

 

Wyk, on the other hand, was among the most loathsome, crafty, and dangerous individuals I had ever met. And despite his frightening and terrible powers, he hasn’t been able to prevent the Great Other from meddling in his domain.

 

Ponder on all this for a time, you old Naaru, and tell me if your insistence on believing in this ascended mortal is based on a logical pattern or emotional stupidity.

 

Because I assure you, this Jon “Stark” will not be similarly inhibited in the end, not with the Night King’s god stirring at long last and his influence growing. The temptation of unleashing the full might of his new powers will eventually surpass the restraints of his weakened flesh.

 

One need only look at the aftermath of your ancient enemy’s manipulations on Yeen right after the Doom to see proof of what I say.

 

In case you have somehow managed to turn a blind eye to that disaster, know that Hrazef, Pantera, and Balerion are all dead, murdered when they sought shelter on Sothoryos. Presumably to prevent them from rising up to challenge his icy champion after overwhelming Westeros.

 

And try as I might, the Winter Queen remains elusive.

 

We were fortunate enough to be able to count on Azor Ahai in the first Long Night. Even more so to count on the Last Hero during the second one. But I remain unconvinced that we should risk putting our hopes in this new Incest God, of all things, for the third Long Night.

 

Even if his ascension had a Titan’s seal of approval.

 

Unrestrained power has always been a problem for beings like us and despite his limits, there are simply too many ways for your so-called Promised One to reshape the wrong thing due to his limited perspective and ruin everything.

 

Honorable upbringing or not, his raw potential defies description and that should scare us all.

 

Of course, there are not that many of us left to fear these possibilities. I suppose that’s, in part, your point. After all, even the Light of your Seven closest allies has been shattered by now. Between all that and your imprisonment, enthusiastic hope must be hard to come by.

 

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be cautious.

 

To make matters worse, the Oracle of the Weirwood has been restored; its nature god that Greenseers used to worship finally awakening in full. I would have normally rejoiced at the return of one of our brethren in these dangerous times, but it seems that he has sided with your champion too, my warnings be damned.

 

Even the wise cannot see all ends and that includes deities with foresight.

 

You have accused me of arrogance in my quest. You have accused me of perpetuating my grudge against Wyk to our collective detriment. Both accusations are true.

Neither point makes the things I have written to you unworthy of consideration.

 

I am being chased. Your friends from the Xenedar I suspect. I believe they're still lost, following a false trail I left for them on the island of Ibb. They'll be happier that way. I doubt they would have any inkling of what to do with me should they actually catch me.

 

Especially if I tell them who exactly you have been backing on this planet.

 

If anything I have said makes a glimmer of sense to you, I trust that you'll call them off. Or maybe you could astound me and ask them to do something productive for once.

 

The Void is ultimately a more dangerous threat to existence than Sargeras’ armies, after all and like I said, the Great Other is finally stirring.

 

Regardless, I have never been dedicated to a more important purpose. You may find that hard to believe but despite our disagreements in the past, you cannot deny that the incredibly vast potential of this ascended mortal could easily make too much noise across the stars.

 

So, if we err in our judgments, the very pillars of the sky will shake with the results of the wars to come once the Third Long Night approaches...should this new god attract HIS unwanted attention to our world.

 

So, I ask again, R’hllor: Support me.

 

Do not let your faith in this clueless mortal blind you to the point you’ll let disaster consume our world. Use him to get him to release you from your prison if you must but do us all a favor and slay him the first chance you get.

 

I've never begged you for something before in all the millennia we have known each other, old friend.

I do so now.

 

I truly hope this letter reached the confines of your prison and that we can reach an understanding...for our world's future may change considerably depending on what we ultimately decide.

 

Sincerely,

 

The Storm God that the Ironborn and their thrice damned Drowned God grew to fear, but better known to you as the Elemental Lord of Air native to Planetos.

 

 

 

So, what do you think?

3 hours ago, offer said:

It is too late

The "big reveal" is mentioned in TLM part 2.

But don`t worry, RoW is still a great book even if you this already (I read RoW before mistborn so I didn`t understood there was a reveal when I first read it).

I see. I take it the big reveal had to do with that so-called Moonlight character and the chat about that non-Scadrial Shard?

 

Regardless, more and more I am thinking of making 2023 my own version of the Year of the Sanderson. I am curious to see if I can read Words of Radiance, Edgedancer, Oathbringer, Dawnshard and Rhythm of War this year since I was too broke for the sudden Year of the Sanderson/Secret Books kickstarter. Throw in the Therondy and First of the Sun novellas too and may have finally caught up with all the non-secret book projects. So, anyway, thanks for hyping RoW so much. Sounds like it's gonna be epic one way or another.

16 hours ago, Tglassy said:

I will be honest, the reveal at the end of RoW made my head explode, because I didn't know about it.  When that same reveal happens in TLM, it is much, much less impactful.  It's just treated as if the reader already knows about it.  But when i read RoW and this one little comment came and was basically a throw away line, I went WHAAAAAT!?!?!?!1!

But you can do either or.  I've relistened to all of Stormlight after knowing the reveal, and it does put a different light on things, but I would be lying if I said it is more impactful if you don't know going in, whereas TLM treats it as if you already know.  

 

Hmm...I have finished Part 2 of Lost Metal by now. Still waiting for the rest of the Graphic Audio adapation to be released in a few days...it is too late to back out since I have just Part 3 to finish?

I have been thinking of getting some acrylic book displays for the beautiful leatherbound editions I have bought so far so that they are preserved better when I am not reading them (or to at least get some Mylar book covers for the same purpose if the alternative becomes too expensive).

Regardless, before I buy any of the options I found I need to know the exact dimensions of the leatherbound books so that I know the sizes I should be aiming for with this. And so far, I hadn't been able to find answers in google.

 

So...does anyone knows? For references, the ones I have are the leatherbound editions for Elantris, Final Empire, Well of Ascension, Way of Kings in its two-volume format, and, soon, Alloy of Law plus Shadows of Self now that I have pre-ordered them. 

 

If anyone could help me with this it would be most appreciated. Thanks in advance.

1 hour ago, Captain Coffee said:

Yeah, Rhythm of War (SA 4) has a reveal at the end that Lost Metal will spoil, but I think reading Rhythm of War knowing the answer the whole time would add a different kind of tension. So, it depends what you think is fun. I would say Rhythm of War and The Lost Metal both add to each other, so you could read them in either order.

 

 

Hmm...interesting...

 

Thank you for the additional perspective. I might indeed or go for that different kind of tension.

What it says on the title. Also, sorry if this has been asked before but I am trying to avoid stumbling into major spoilers by accident.

 

So, speaking for myself, I have read all the Mistborn books and short stories/novellas so far aside from the recently released Lost Metal, along with Warbreaker, the Emperor's Soul, Elantris, and White Sand. It is with the Stormlight Archives that I suspect I may have a problem with, reference-wise. I have only finished the Way of Kings so far, although I finished part 1 of Words of Radiance the other day so I am trying to catch up. Thing is, I still have still several thousand of pages to cover between the point I am at and the remaining Stormlight volumes that have been released, not to mention the in-between novellas like Edgedancer so I am not sure if I will be missing Scadrial-related connections that would be worth spending a year or so reading through (the amount of time I expect it will take me to fully catch up with Stormlight at his rate) before I actually start Lost Metal. And since Mistborn is my favorite series of the Cosmere and the anticipation i killing me, I wanted to ask if it would be safe for me to read or if in your more informed opinion as fellow Cosmere fans, I should wait however long it takes for me to catch up with Stormlight before finishing Mistborn Era 2.

 

Oh, and I have also not yet read the novella set on Therondy or Sixth of the Dusk either, should that also be relevant to this discussion.

 

Thanks in advance for the replies. 

On 28/11/2022 at 5:02 PM, Lucy said:

Thank you for pointing me the right direction! Yea those are pretty pricey. I might check out our library and see if they have it so he can see if he likes it first. I knew someone on here would have a better idea of where to look! Really appreciate it!

 

For what it's worth, right now in December they have a special discount on graphic audio for the set of all the audio drama parts for the first 6 Mistborn books, the Secret History Novella, the Allomancer Jak short story, and the Eleventh Metal short story as well. Here is the link but as if this writing the whole set minus the recently released Lost Metal adaptation costs less than 165 bucks in total: https://www.graphicaudiointernational.net/mistborn-series-set.html

 

Most importantly, they are absolutely fantastic adaptations. 

Also from the same series, the song Let's Just Live reminds me of Kaladin during his Way of Kings character arc. Maybe not as much as the previous one makes me think of Ruin but there are several parts that resonate with me there:

Let's Just Live

I agree. Personally, I am partial about this piece of art that reminds me of Ruin:

Divide

It's technically the theme song for the Big Bad of the RWBY series but if you switch the singer from her to Ruin and imagine he is singing to Preservation, it sounds remarkably fitting, especially if you also imagine the main characters like Vin, Elend, and Kelsier as Preservation's allies/agents to better match the lyrics. The result is a very ominous song about an extinction level event, just like Ruin likes it! Enjoy!

2 hours ago, SleepyWordsmith said:

This is actually a problem I have! I have a 40 page google doc with 29 story ideas, and I write out like a description and rough timeline for each one, but it's really hard to find the time to write them all. I've only written out 3 of them so far, but I'm hoping to get through them this summer and post them to my Archive Of Our Own account

Interesting. Are all of them Cosmere related fics?

3 hours ago, Archer said:

Dude, where were you nine months ago? We could have equated souls and Breath, then used Scrivener's Bones logic to put an end to the intro thread Breath poaching skirmishes by declaring that none of the participants had souls to forfeit to begin with because they’d all given them to Rubix. (Who, based on a site-wide membership count of 22,617 should be at the fifth heightening right now.)* Kudos to him. 

 

*I’m assuming he spent ~20,000 of them on awakening the sword in his profile picture. That seems like something he'd do. 

Rust and ruin! Fifth Heightening?! Talk about an insidious plot carried out in secrecy, Rubix...

I am impressed.

 

 

 

2

39 minutes ago, mtthgn said:

@Mistbreaker I have heard of it! I sounded like something I would enjoy, but I haven't buckled down and purchased it yet. When I was reading the Wheel of Time, I'd do a mix of reading the physical books and audiobooks as well. Sometimes its nice to be able to advance the story while washing dishes and whatnot .

I couldn't post a link to it earlier because of how new my account is, but here's my Stormlight Archive Glossary. Since I'm so new to the series, I'm trying to make it friendly to other new readers by being able to select which chapter you're on. Any feedback would be awesome!

I see. Well, here is the link to part 1 if you ever decide to give it a shot:

https://www.graphicaudiointernational.net/the-stormlight-archive-1-the-way-of-kings-1-of-5.html

Yeah, the producers broke this one down in 5 parts to get content released faster since Stormlight books are so long. The site has new discount promotions every week though so that can reduce the extra costs like the current 25% discount off everything. Their Cosmere productions are worth every penny even without that though. Let me know if you have any format questions.

As for your Glossary, I have to say I am impressed with your dedicated thoroughness despite just beginning the book. Very well done so far!

 

Anyway, welcome to the Shard! Hope you enjoy your time here!

 

 

1

On 5/5/2019 at 8:30 AM, mtthgn said:

Hi everyone! Last year, I completed the long journey that is The Wheel of Time, and since then I've been itching to get lost in another epic fantasy series. I just started reading The Way of Kings, and I can already tell that I'm going love where this story takes me. 

Ahhh, I remember when I first started The Way of Kings. Quite the epic journey. Though, I am pretty sure the already incredible tale was made even more fantastic for me by reading it at the same time I was listening to its full cast audio drama of mindblowing production values. There were plenty of scenes that were enhanced due to that and come to think of it, this audiobook from Graphic Audio will probably fit your style of slow reading to understand everything better and write your glossaries; not to mention help you understand how to pronounce some of the stranger made up words. Have you heard of this audiobook production?

Wow. And here I thought that Warbreaker breath reference was as far as it got with that soul joke. Rubix, don't tell me you intend to claim your property later on with Hemalurgic spikes. That would be mean.

 

 

 

 

 

4

On 4/27/2019 at 5:10 PM, cbgenoseven said:

I wanted to especially since I finished the trilogy. However in the audible format they don't have the story standalone it is merged into arcanum unbound. So I am finishing up rest of cosmere before I start that.

Well, then allow me to bring you good news. There IS an audiobook for Secret History (and 2 other Mistborn short stories) that you can check out.

https://www.graphicaudiointernational.net/mistborn-secret-history-the-eleventh-metal-and-allomancer-jak-and-the-pits-of-eltania.html

Only, it is not from audible but from Graphic Audio. The main difference between those companies is that Graphic audio focuses on quality over quantity. You see, they hire different professional voice actors for every main character and most secondary characters so the voices are really distinctive. Not to mention well acted. I remembered being so engrossed when I first listen to Final Empire not just because of the amazing story but because of how much I loved the performances of pretty much everybody but especially for Kelsier, Breeze, and Sazed. They also compose an original soundtrack for their audiobook adaptations that make the scenes in Mistborn more intense and epic and also have special sound effects. Also important to note is that while the GA adaptations have a few hours less of content than the audible counterparts they are not actually abridged. More like, some sound effects allow them to summarize some text (like, say, the sounds of horses running making it unnecessary to narrate every detail from that moment) which speeds up the production and when characters have their dialogue it never ends with the narrator finishing their sentences with things like "he said" before the other character replies. So, the essence isn't lost at all despite being a little shorter.

I thoroughly recommend this option for you. Every Cosmere story in Graphic audio has fantastic production values so they would also be great alternatives for you if you ever want to reread the Cosmere in the future. I am particularly fond of Warbreaker and the Stormlight Archives among their other Cosmere productions. But for now I really hope you like this and if you give it a shot, I hope you let me know what you thought at some point.

Happy binge listening!

So, I guess I will begin by giving an example of one of my fanfiction ideas and share some of its points.

Working title:

The Lord Ruler: Slayer of Kings and Gods

 

It would be a Lord Ruler fanfic split into three main parts/chapters where the point of divergence is that he actually won at the end of Final Empire and will now get another chance to hold the power at the Well of Ascension. My ideas began as a thought experiment where I was imagining ways to kill a Shard without becoming one. While I think it's still debatable as to whether or not my fanfic method would work, I am convinced that if the Lord Ruler could have tried something like this then he would have gotten closer than any non-Shard entity shown so far given the circumstances. Okay, here it goes:

After getting rid of Vin and the rebellion, it wouldn't be long before his next opportunity to pick up the power at the Well of Ascension. Also, we know from a WoB that:

 

 

the first time Rashek held the power he was able to reach out into the Cosmere far enough to figure out his people weren't alone in the universe but due to all the things he needed to course-correct in Scadrial he didn't have the time to look very far. But if he could have endured the thousand year wait to become a sliver again, I suspect he would have tried a lot harder to learn more of the other Shardworlds, world hopping and most likely a way to finish off Ruin once and for all because he would know that Ruin remains the biggest existential threat to both his planet and himself. 

So, let's say that in this alternate timeline where TLR lived to hold the power another day, he learned through his temporary near omniscience that it would be too difficult for him under his circumstances to take over another Shard. He would then try to look for a way to kill Ruin with more conventional means and that's when he learns of Nightblood in Nalthis, a blade that can cut through all three realms and eats investiture. With his rapidly expanding mind he plots his new plan and discovers what he needs to do to get to Nalthis and back and how to better connect the magic systems of Biochroma and Allomancy through Duralumin Feruchemy, as it has been confirmed that can also change one's Spiritual connection to a planet, which can help worldhoppers with magic systems.

Once he gets there, he overpowers Vasher and takes the blade that can cut through all three realms. Then, he would need to find a way to coerce the God King Susebron into giving him his massive amount of breaths. Once the mighty Lord Ruler gets a giant power boost as he reaches the 10th heightening, he returns to the place of the Well of Ascension with Nightblood in tow.

Now, this is the key part to make any of this scenario even remotely plausible. We know Ruin is trapped in the well. Not weak of course but his powers are contained, maybe even to the point he would be unable to directly fight back against Rashek although I am not so sure about that point. Regardless, now the Lord Ruler has both Nightblood and the treasure trove of breaths. His new power source is very important, as the 10th heightening could plausibly allow him to properly sense where around the vicinity his blade should strike right before attacking the restrained Ruin with Nightblood. After all, the well would disappear from the naked eye not long after becoming a Sliver again. If it's not enough, maybe he could compound on his tin simultaneously to heavily increase his 5 senses even more. Then, once he would be able to see where to direct his blow through combined, high tier powers of the magic systems, he could compound on his vast Peweter reserves for strength while simultaneously directing his compounding of Duralumin to ensure Nightblood would eat through all 50,000+ breaths at once in a single, shattering blow against Ruin.

Now, would actually work? I am not entirely sure, but it is the most plausible scenario I can think of to take down a shard without becoming one, based on what we currently have in the Cosmere. Regardless, this fanfiction plotline is open to anyone here that wants to take a crack at it, or just take inspiration from it for another story. Please let me know if you end up using it though, as I would like to read your take on this.

Hello everyone. I thought it might be neat to add a forum section for the distribution of fanfiction ideas and requests. By that, I mean that if some of you are like me and have some ideas that you think would make interesting Cosmere-centric fanfics but lack the time to write them in the foreseeable future, then maybe we could find a fellow fan that would have the time to write but is still looking for a cool idea to write a fanfic about. In other words, the point of this forum would be to discuss these potential fanfic ideas so that we can help each other bring these stories to the light of day. I hope this helps fuel our collective creativity.

On 1/14/2019 at 5:38 PM, ZenBossanova said:

I think he would be wise to collaborate more in his writing. Imagine if he did the outlining for a book (for instance, Mistborn Era III) and co-wrote with someone else. He could cover a lot more ground this way. This might be similar to how White Sand or Death Without Pizza is being done.

Didn't he also said he was teaming up with one of his old students to finish the Alcatraz series?

I personally would be Full feruchemist but probably not for the reasons you think. You see, I am historical tour guide so the idea of filling tons of different aspects of Panamanian history into my copperminds and then accessing them at will for tours, classes and more would be amazing, and really useful in my line of work.

23 hours ago, Gray to said:

Can you please direct the show because this sounds amazing!

Heh, I wish. But you know, I actually wrote down some extra stuff I would like to see in the show since that older post. Here it is if you are interested:

1. More of Iroh's backstory.

Pretty self explanatory. I just want to see an episode that truly focuses of his younger days even if they still have to show scenes in the present day. Having an appearance by Lu-ten and getting to see their close relationship would also be a bonus.

2. A bigger role for Suki: One of my favorite characters and I think an undervalued extra member of the group.

3. More background for Ozai: As much as I liked the climax of the series and his role in it, the man was more of a walking plot device than a fully developed character despite the fact they had three seasons to work with him and much reason for hype leading up to the series finale. And as controversial as Legend of Korra ended up being with part of the fandom, I have to admit they did a better job developing their excellent villains and their reasons for following the ideologies that fueled their convictions, especially with Zaheer, Amon and Kuvira. I think the producers would do well to learn from the things they improved upon in Legend of Korra now that they have the benefit of hindsight, especially if they intend to add extra content in the live action seasons.

4. A secondary spirit antagonist: This option may seem less valid if they don’t intend to expand the content but if they do, it might make an excellent original side plot. I know Ozai and Sozin's comet will still be the main conflict no matter what{at least, as far as we know}, but what if they upped the ante a bit by saying that Ozai's victory will pave the way for darker, more otherworldy things. I'm talking Koh or some of the other malevolent spirits working behind the scenes to make things harder, attacking the Gaang outright and whatever else is needed to make their own plans for the world a reality. And there is precedence in the franchise to have that make sense. After all, the world and, by extension, the Spirit World went out of balance when Sozin exterminated the Air Nomads and Ozai was going to orchestrate his own genocidal plan for the Earth Kingdom if Aang hadn’t stopped him. Take that, add the fact that Admiral Zhao probably enraged a large chunk of the Spirit World’s population when he almost destroyed the ancient Moon Spirit for good, and I can see the more ambitious spirits taking a more active role in retaliation.

5. Korra foreshadowing: Let's say that Vaatu is the reason for the actions of the spirits I mentioned above and maybe, just maybe, Aang is shown a bit of what his successor will have to go through with the help of the Tree of Time and made to believe that things will be smoother if he makes a pre-emptive strike now and not let her worry about it later; only to realize later on that he will still have to leave it in the hands of a future generation because Harmonic Convergency is still 70 years away, and so Aang gets back to the present problems he needs to solve instead of being tricked into straying from his path . This one's probably asking a lot, but who knows?

6. A cameo by Dante Bosco: Because why not?

7. A more Avatar Kyoshi centric episode full of interesting flashbacks during the Avatar Day re-imagined version, just as we got an Avatar Rooku-centric episode in Book 3 of the animated series. Moreover, by the time they get around to filming that episode, the first few books of the upcoming Kyoshi series that will deal with her rise to power should already be published so they would have more canon lore to work with by the time they get to that episode than at the time they produced Book 2 episode 5 over 10 years ago.

What I hope the most is that they take their time. By that I mean that while this show only had 3 seasons and the episodes had a run-time of under half an hour, it was so visually intensive, epic in scope, and adventurous in terms of long distances traveled that they would probably be better off making the jump to live action by splitting the Books into at least 2 seasons, especially if they will just have 8–10 episodes per season ala Game of Thrones and other shows from Netflix with a massive and expensive scope like Marco Polo. If the episodes themselves end up being around 45 minutes long then all the better because it will give them time to breath, improve upon the world building and characterization, make the distance traveled seem less irrelevant so they don’t run into trouble like the 7th season of Game of Thrones did when they had to rush their armies all over the continent and ensure there is more screen time for training with the elements.

Personally, I think the first live action season actually has a perfect spot for a season finale before reaching the adaptation of the 10th animated episode: The episode where Aang goes to the Fire Nation to learn what’s at stake if he doesn’t master the elements before Sozin’s comet and sets the stage for the rest of the series. Then the second season could take its time, probably skip the critically panned and lore useless episode The Great Divide to better focus on the better stories and save some of the budget for the grand finale of Book 1 with the Siege of the Northern Water tribe.

Book 2 has so many important events and new characters that I could actually see them divide it into three seasons for release and narrative purposes but if they go down that route they might try to film more back to back so that the actors physically age less. In that case, my personal preference would be to divide it into the following story arcs:

Season 3 would adapt the Book 2 episodes 1–8, ending with the The Chase episode against Azula where Zuku and Iroh team up with Team Avatar for the first time. Add in the cliff hanger of the lightning attack that nearly killed Iroh, especially for those that never watched the animated show and its a good place for the end of the arc.

Season 4 would adapt the Book 2 episodes 9–13. Might seem like few episodes for a 8–10 episode adaptation but there is a LOT going on those episodes that the live action show could do in a grand scale and would likely need more budget for less screen time. From the Earthbending training at the beginning, to the investigations in the Spirit Library to learn of the eclipse, to getting stranded in the desert after Appa is kidnapped (that alone should realistically take them a few episodes to solve as they wouldn’t be flying for once) to getting through the treacherous Serpent’s path and while trying to escape the massive apex predator and finally an epic action sequence to prevent the gargantuan drill from breaching the walls of the last stronghold of the Earth Kingdom for the season finale.

Season 5 would then finish the remaining Book 2 episodes, ending with the Crossroads of Destiny season finale as the stakes had never been higher with Ba Sing Se falling, Aang being nearly killed in the Avatar State, Zuko betraying them after the viewers were rooting for him a lot more these last few seasons and more.

As for Book 3, I am kind of torn there as my preference to divide it into 3 seasons as well would start getting in the way of reality, mainly the aging of the younger actors but if they can film it all the way and release them one arc at a time while they improve post production for the subsequent ones, I would end season 6 with Book 3 episode 8, the fan favorite Puppet Master episode.

Afterwards, we can jump almost immediately into the invasion of the Fire Nation with the allies they gather through the series for a very strong opening act for Season 7. Then we go through the long awaited moment of Zuku joining Team Avatar, meeting the dragons and end it with the Boiling Rock prison break two parter for a satisfying season finale.

And now, at long last we can go to the final arc for Season 8. After a strong premier where Azula forces them to flee the Western Air Temple it goes on with Katara and Zuko teaming up to hunt down the one that killed Katara's mom and end up finding closure. I am indifferent as to whether not The Ember Island play episode should be adapted but it would make for some good calm-before-the-storm comedy if they do it well. And then, the final showdown we have all been waiting for finally arrives when the original producers adapt the magnificent 4-part series finale.

So, yeah, I think netflix and the producers would do well to divide the books into multiple seasons so that we get all the highlights and more and reduce inconsistencies that would inevitably arise when making the jump to live action. In reality, I doubt they would actually do 8 seasons for it even if I find it most ideal but I seriously doubt Netflix intends to just burn through the storylines in three years. If they play their cards right, this has the potential of being their greatest show yet and they would know it. But I guess we will see. 

2 hours ago, Quantus said:

I dont think the treasure trove of breaths would be necessary, the lord ruler could fuel him much easier and more efficiently with allomancy and/or compounding, and the Heightenings themselves wouldnt be specifically useful. 

If he's getting the temporary glimpse of Perfection to formulate and understand this plan, that might be enough for him to get how to just Make a TypeIV entity with his own chosen Command, rather than stealing nightblood. 

I don't disagree that he could probably empower a Type IV entity with compounding but from what I gathered in Warbreaker, the more Nightblood eats investiture the more powerful it gradually becomes and the bigger the damage it can inflict on all three realms. As a result, I would say it stands to reason that if the LR would compound his Duralumin so the already powerful Nightblood gets a boost the simultaneous might of the 50,000+ breaths the instant before slashing Ruin, it would be an enormous force multiplier. I am still not entirely sure that would have been powerful enough to kill Ati in one blow though. Maybe if he also allows Nightblood to drain a large chunk of his Bands of Mourning with or without Duralumin?