Oudeis

I wonder what they did with his body/bones... Once he was dead, would the aging continue? I realize that it's not technically "age" that causes bones to decompose, it's time; aging very rapidly would not cause them to weather or bleach or suffer fungal decay or anything. But would they suffer all of the osteoporosis they would have suffered in a thousand years of life, even after the body's death?

Isn't there also a real H, though? We know that it's not that the letter "H" is used to replace a letter. Shallan notes that the word is written symmetrically (Nohadon is actually written Nodadon) but the diacritical mark is added to let the reader know to pronounce it like an h. So Jasnah is more like Jasna!j. So it's possible Vathah isn't "vatha!v" with the marked V being pronounced as an H, it's possible his name actually is written "vathah" and is thus off-symmetrical. Also, we know from Ialai that perfectly symmetrical names might be a touch scandalous, but not beyond the pale.

I'm sorry, I did not mean to imply your existence bothers me. Your convictions confuse me sometimes, but I can handle being confused. When my position gets misrepresented and dismissed (in a somewhat brusque way), that does bother me, but you do that infrequently enough.

The Highprinces are supposed to do what they're told. They don't, usually, but they're supposed to. Those are the laws. Before the War of Unificiation, scant decades ago, they basically were separate Kingdoms, not a unified Alethkar. Gavilar bound them and set himself as King. Presumably, it's not impossible he would have given himself strong powers, such as the right to appoint a Highprince in the absence of one. First of all, I never said impossible, just very unlikely, and second of all, I never said child. I said heir. You're right. Maybe Ialai was never able to bear a live child to Torol. Who cares? A nephew would work, a cousin, failing all of that, he could have taken a trusted lieutenant and done whatever you do in Alethkar, "adopt" him or simply appoint him your legal heir. In the reasonably small chance that they've been married this long without fruit, there are still many, many other options for Torol to have an heir. And before you go ahead and spin me a tale, yes, I know that there could still technically be ways for him to be without heir. Providing an anecdote will mean nothing, however, so please resist the urge. it's possible, but in the circumstances would be unlikely. Still, it is why this thread is something other than pointless; because there's a chance, however small, that the Highprincedom is without a clear ruler. It still boggles my mind that you have no problem acknowledging the possibility not only that Torol somehow doesn't have an heir, but that a disgraced and fleeing proven murderer would be appointed Highprince because a widow who has no reason to aid him would somehow find proof that Adolin killed Sadeas and use it to blackmail the King... but you will not consider the possibility that Kaladin might be appointed, because you feel he lacks administrative skills. You know that they are typically inherited positions, right? Meaning no Highprince ever has to have aptitude or training in running a Highprincedom? This is a place where "Who died and made you Highprince?" applies. Even Dalinar himself didn't bother starting to teach Adolin how to run an army (let alone a Highprincedom) until he'd more-or-less made the decision to abdicate. What has Adolin done to make him more qualified as Highprince than Kaladin?

This was stipulated to in the original point; when Sadeas killed whoever, King Gavilar appointed Aladar. We're not saying that Alethi laws of primogeniture would automatically issue Sadeas's seat to Kaladin. We're saying, if there is no clear heir, there's precedent that the King gets to assign someone else to be a Highprince, and that he'd assign Kaladin. The plain fact is, all of this is almost certainly ridiculous speculation. Sadeas had a wife to whom he'd been married for many years and who he seemed to be greatly attracted to. While it's odd that no one has mentioned his heirs yet, he almost certainly has at least one.

Being a little nitpicky here... they HAD eight Blades. With the loss of Jezrien's Blade, they have seven.

Threnody does not have a Shard.

...Except that there's not been a single Highprince in Alethkar for years, and plenty of killing has been going on, both between Highprincedoms and across the border with Jah Keved and/or Herdaz. I mean, it's because they themselves have been genociding listeners and chasmfiends. So, it's just that there's too much killing for any one man to do.

I've had a crazy week and much has been said since I last had the chance to weigh in... My apologies for not addressing every point that's been brought up or quoting people, there would simply be too much. Bureaucracies exist so that no single man can sink the ship. Look at Elhokar. He's an idiot and a terrible king. He hasn't been within his own borders in years. His even-less-competent wife runs the kingdom for him. Yet, Alethkar is one of the greatest nations on the planet. Dalinar felt uneasy putting Kaladin in charge of a thousand men when he would be directly and personally in charge of a thousand men. He's not in charge of every subject in the Highprincedom. There are local Citylords, and I think there was a word for the people like Amaram in charge of armies... Marshallords, perhaps? Almost all of them would have to be replaced. And this is EXACTLY what we see Sebarial is amazing at. Especially with Dalinar's forced depleted, he must have some higher-ups with no one to be above, surely Sebarial and the King himself can spare some bureaucrats. Establish a few general policies, make a couple of decrees, let everyone get on with governing. When Wistiow was in charge of Hearthstone, Sadeas's influence was minimal if not entirely non-existant. The fantasy trope of a kingdom is that the King is either wise and rules a good kingdom or wicked and rules an evil kingdom; in truth, if the incompetence of a king could sink a kingdom, no monarchy would have made it past four or five generations of inbreeding. Mr. Sanderson has a tendency to model things off what's actually plausible or what's happened in real life, rather than what tends to happen in fantasy cliches or fairy tales. Warbreaker Someone talked about Radiants not taking part in politics. That was absolutely the policy of the ancient Radiants, and there's no reason to feel the new ones would feel any desire to conform to that old standard. Dalinar built Alethkar with his brother for his nephew and sons; even if he abdicates the Highprincedom to focus on Radiant duties, there is absolutely no way he is renouncing his Alethi nationality any time soon. And there's no more reason you couldn't be a Radiant and a Highprince than that you couldn't be a Highprince and a Shardbearer.

There was a WoB once which gave me the impression that at the Shattering, Ati and Leras realized they had opposite intents, and that Ati would eventually need to be balanced. This is hugely speculative from me, but my impression was that they both ran immediately to a world and Invested in it, knowing it would be something Ruin would have difficulty doing once he lost the battle against his Intent. Given a choice between a populated world like Threnody or a barren one, perhaps in that moment of omnipotent panic and indecision, they chose to play it safe, not being sure exactly how things would turn out? Then once Preservation realized the only real solution was to kill both himself and Ati and allow someone else to take up both Intents at once, he came up with this whole plan which required life. Just my head!canon.

One end of the board says Problems Erupt... that seems... ominous...

I've long suspect it's a perversion of the way Kaladin gets when he fights. Like, something about Kaladin's prowess is "good" and of Honor, so Odium crafted The Thrill. Perhaps also worthy of note, that first scene of Dalinar when he's racing Elhokar, he mentions the lesser Thrill of Competition. Which is apparently a different thing than the Thrill of Combat? Or the same thing to a different degree? I wish we knew more about it.

Yes, I saw that thread. I was hoping for an exact list, possibly with prices attached. I don't believe there's anything I want or, to be frank, would keep right now, besides the die. I will just end up purchasing the literal cheapest possible option, keeping the die, and handing whatever I got to the next person who wants it.

I'm sure I read a WoB somewhere saying Kelsier definitely did not have a hemalurgic piercing... Normal metal simply piercing you isn't enough; Ruin can only affect you with a hemalurgic spike. And since atium isn't really mined and doesn't come from ore, I doubt if there was any atium dust to get into wounds, though the cuts themselves did come from those crystals, so you might have a point. Nevertheless, there was plenty of stuff around Kelsier, sending him in the right direction. From the link above, you learn that someone in Kelsier's life at one point was almost certainly a hemalurgist.

That is what I said. They are selling things at gen con, and the die comes "with purchase." I cannot, however, get a list of specifically and exactly what they are selling, at what prices. From what little I can determine, there's nothing they are selling I want/don't already have, so I'm motivated to just purchase the absolute cheapest thing, give it to someone else, and keep the die.

What are they selling at gen con? I was able to get a partial, general list. If one wanted to get an aluminum die "with purchase" what's the easiest way to do that? Do you think they'll sell just the die?

This was something covered much further back in the thread; Torol is never mentioned to have any children. Presumably, he does, and this is all therefore irrelevant. Perhaps he has a very young son, and Ialai will rule in his stead as Regent for some time.

Maxal: Please list what a spoiler is for, especially if you're spoiling something like a pre-release chapter. Spoiling the first Mistborn book in this thread is one thing, but that's something that hasn't even come out yet. I am trying to avoid reading anything about SA3 before it comes out. Putting up "spoiler" doesn't help much if you don't tell me what it is you're spoiling.

Thunderclasts are giant T-Rex fossils with huge arms.

All Amaram would have had to do would be to dismiss the Shardblade. Now he's no imminent threat. First, Dalinar would not kill an unarmed man in those circumstances. Second, it's unlikely Alethkar has the kind of laws that would allow you to kill an unarmed man in those circumstances. If the cops in America see a criminal, and he has a gun, but he puts it in his holster, they are not allowed to shoot him just because he can draw his weapon again. Well, except for Florida. Storming Florida. ... Amaram has fled Alethkar in disgrace and defeat after stealing an insane man, and you still think he'd make a logical Highprince, but Kaladin is where you say no? First of all, from the end of Words of Radiance, his eyes are permanently light now. When Moash's eyes turned light, he was allowed to own land. Kaladin killed the Assassin in White, the man who killed Gavilar. (Even in the new ending where he didn't deal the blow, as far as the Alethi nobility are concerned, he killed Szeth.) He's a Radiant. He's a war hero. Also from Dalinar has been refounding the Knights Radiant and it was going over... okay, not amazingly, but pretty decently in Alethkar. Having an actual Radiant show up will only solidify that. Frankly, if Sadeas doesn't have an heir, I'm starting to wonder if it won't at least be offered to Kaladin. He doesn't personally have to run the entire Highprincedom. For years, Sadeas has been here, mostly running nothing more than his own army, bureaucrats back home taking care of his lands following his broad instructions. Kaladin could do most of that pretty easily, with perhaps more help from his lieutenants than Torol needed. Since we have precedent for the death of a Highprince and the award of his lands to a supporter of the King, I can think of no one more qualified than Elhokar's savior, bodyguard, personal favorite, and now new Radiant, with eyes so light they glow.

Yeah... I'm with natc. Amaram is still lighteyed. I would be very surprised if Dalinar could legally just kill him, or even demand the forfeit of his Blade, without something approaching due process. If they'd had even a few more hours, that might be something different, but they had to leave right away. The question then is, why not hold this confrontation two days earlier when there could have been a trial?

Yes, it is completely far-fetched. Dalinar denounced Amaram and proved his theft of a Shardblade in front of Highprinces and armies in the middle of the warcamp, as the last action he did before going off on a mission that ends with a bunch of people, himself included, refounding the Radiants (as a good thing, we have proof from the people in Urithiru) and basically proving himself generally right. People would ostracize Amaram just to get on Dalinar's good side. And Kaladin just proved himself not only a Radiant, but a hero, saved the King's life, defeated the Assassin in White, and recovered an Honorblade. To paraphrase Vin, your conviction is admirable. But sometimes you have to know when to just give up.

Hyperbole and a half gives a good account of why most people believe you can just "will" yourself out of legitimate psychological issues and why that absolutely is not a thing that works in real life. Part two is also a great resource.

Lift doesn't have cause to specifically hate Amaram, but while we're talking other Radiants, we know Jasnah hates him. I wondered this once. Succession does seem to work along terms similar to Earth primogeniture. Sadeas never mentioned having a kid, but seeing how long he's been married I'd be surprised if he didn't. If he doesn't, what happens? Does the King simply get the right to hand over the Highprincedom? I feel like there was someone Gavilar elevated to Highprince after the current Highprince was killed in the Unification War. That would be... so ideal for the Kholinar clan. Give it to Renarin, or Shallan. Or braize, give it to Kaladin. At this moment, all of Alethkar would accept any of those choices. Ialai would be upset, but almost all of her power is contingent upon being the wife of a Highprince (Highprincess?). Surely she'd still have some wealth, a few connections, and of course her own mind, but her spies need to be paid, and without the constant and large revenues of ruling a small country she'd lose a lot of her agency. Eventually, even if the truth does come out, it won't matter. There will be upcry and hue, but unless someone else rises up there's no one to champion the call. It would be like the Tower; Alethi nobility is excellent at adapting to circumstances as they are. None of them will be so interested in "Truth" or "Justice" that they'll push to get a KennedyKholin convicted of murder. Maxal: Why on Roshar would any of that happen? Worst-case scenario, Adolin gets caught. We already know Elhokar can simply pardon any crime. The literal worst thing likely to happen is that Dalinar gets upset at Adolin for his disgraceful act, and/or Adolin suffers shame and exiles himself or accepts punishment. If the Highprincedom is vacant for Amaram to be nominated, then who is it Dalinar is trying to appease? And if Sadeas has a successor to step up and challenge the Kholins, then there's no need to promote anyone. And why would Ialai or anyone else want Amaram pardoned? What would they have to gain by that? Torol himself barely liked Amaram; certainly no one else in the Sadeas house seemed enough on his side to spend incredibly valuable political capital restoring him to favor. And even if his actual crimes were forgiven, he's been humiliated and shown to be a craven fool. Alethi politics are cutthroat and vicious. Amaram wouldn't find allies or last a season if he were given a Highprincedom now.

...all of which is STILL easier than constructing literally anything molecule by molecule. Two grams of water is an entire mole. If it were as simple as counting, you could still do all that stuff to make a microchip faster. Just counting every molecule in two grams of water would take 1x10^17 years assuming you count a number a second. I cannot find good information on the average weight of a microchip but even if it's a quarter of that, it's still millions of years before you have one microchip. Also, that's not how the Surges Tension or Cohesion work.