Oudeis

I, too, am fascinated at the idea that Lerasium adds, rather than over-writing! This completely blows out of the water my theory that it might heal spiritual damage. Well, it mostly blows it out of the water. Hrm... I hope I don't sound lewd to ask if you have this verbatim? I ask because I'm less interested in specifically gender preference; two small but provocative tidbits have indicated that she seems to have a special hatred for men who commit violence against women. (Well, one for sure, and a second I might be reading too much into.) I figured in her flashback sequence we would see that specific trauma. If we're not going to learn anything at all about her and the whole messy business downstairs, then I was apparently mistaken in my interpretation of those events. Or, he's hinted as much as he's gonna, and will leave it at that.

Voidbinding has ten levels per the ars arcanum, not forms

...A weapon? This is the first I've heard of this. Can you please tell me what you mean by this? I am fascinated!

I'll try to find it... I am almost positive I read a WoB somewhere saying that hemalurgy has absolutely been attempted at some point not on Scadrial. He gave a RAFO to the follow-up, "was it successful?" If I'm recalling correctly...

There's a WoB flying around somewhere saying that even more technically, it's not just bad things. He specifically mentions that if a person were an unSnapped misting and experienced a certain threshold of joy, he'd Snap. I got the impression that it's even harder to Snap out of joy than out of pain/stress.

::stares at the three weeks of insanity and effort he hopes will be enough to accomplish the feat of "a cloak but in tatters":: ...They're not for everyone.

I assume that no one on Roshar has medium eyes. Another quirk of genetics like the hair or the frequent heterochromia.

My plan is infinitely more complicated than that, as most of my plans are. I say this not with pride, but with shame. I plan to buy two physical copies this week, one for me, one for my buddy who can't make it to the signing. I also plan to call the store in the upcoming weeks, hoping that they have other books of his in stock, so I can buy something there. Ideally, they'll have the first Alcatraz book, which I plan to buy for my buddy's kid. She's a little young but I think it would be cool to start her library with a signed book.

Only physical copies? Do digital copies count for either? How important is it to be on bestseller lists?

The Ruin/Preservation thing. I need to find the quotes to back all this up... Ruin and Preservation caused pain, not by attacking each other, but simply by contact, not because any two Shards will do so, but because they are so specifically and diametrically opposed. And we know that no other pairs of Shards are as utterly opposite as those two. Their situation is, by WoB, unique. There might be something to your theory, but a big part of your basis seems to be predicated on the idea that Honor against Odium is the same as Preservation against Ruin, and there were factors at play in the second that simply aren't there in the first. A good theory, though. I'm going to ponder the other points you brought up for a bit.

I actually have a competing theory; I realize I have no specific support for it, but I think it's a plausible second option. Remember how expressly little we know. Humans as we know them came to Arelon and found the city whole-built. Were they built by people? Was it direct Shardic intervention? Is there a hidden Forgery symbol made out of mountains in MaiPon? Anyway. My theory is this. There was once, lost in history, a group of people who lived in Arelon. Like Forgery, AonDor was something anyone could do if they learned enough, but it was very, very weak. Unlike Forgery it could do literally anything, but getting enough power to actually accomplish a thing was difficult. People born there with the proper knowledge and within its borders could draw any Aon on a sheet of paper, or craft it from metal, or carve it into wood, and it would function as an incredibly weak Aon. I think Elantris was their answer to this. A decision was made to concentrate the power. The Dor was like the purelake, just a few inches deep spread over all of Arelon. Using the power of AonDor itself, they crafted one huge Aon whose very purpose was to dam up this power, withdraw it from "everyone" so it could be concentrated to be used by a very few people. The result was the Shaod. Rather than let literally any Arelonian do minor magics, a selected few now had vast power at their disposal. As a side effect of this much power in one body (like how one's natural Breath doesn't give you any noticeable arcane capacity, but hundreds gives you an aura and the potency of Heigthenings), Elantrians glow, heal miraculously, and are able to enforce aons by simply gesturing in the air, rather than needing a visible medium. I realize it's a bit out there, and the idea that the Shaod simply always existed and Elantris simply modified how it works is a lot simpler. This is absolutely an insane, wholly speculative theory that I simply think would make a good story.

A question specifically to Peter, but I'll accept an answer from anyone in the know. What's the best way to support Mr. Sanderson with my purchase of Firefight? I thought I heard from someone that buying a physical copy specifically the first week it comes out gets counted towards some important number that business-type people care about. Is that accurate? Should I buy my physical copy in the store, and should I do it within the next few days?

I love stuff!

Another metric which Shallan didn't bring up to Jasnah, but did think about to herself. Again, let me re-iterate that we're talking morality, which is subjective. So, I'm going to talk for a moment from the perspective of a common person on Alethkar, judging her based on what he or she thinks happens. I suspect such a person would claim she was acting immorally, for one very specific reason. A lot of people, at least in the Vorin East if not all of Roshar, believe Soulcasters to be holy relics. A woman, a heretic, using one to murder, would strike them not only as immoral, but as blasphemous. Please keep in mind, I'm not saying this is my view or an objectively "correct" one. In part I'm pointing out the inherent subjectivity of morality, which after all is the point of this thread, as we're trying to guess how Ivory would judge her acts of that day. In other part, I'm pointing out one specific Rosharan opinion that encapsulated Shallan's own initial reaction, as valid as any other reaction or judgement is.

I was simply commenting that it was odd. I will now comment that "the crucial one" is the only one that really gives you any idea that they are related at all, and I'm not sure it's even technically a paraphrase. Is that the most concrete WoB we have on the subject? Keep in mind, I absolutely believe there is a connection between Knights Radiant and Rhyshadium. This, therefore, makes it very interesting that we see Radiants with Plate. We see Radiants with Blades. We see Radiants Surgebind and use fabrials. Why don't we ever see them with Rhyshadium? The Purelake vision, at least, is an example of a time that having a Rhyshadium would be tremendously useful, even if no other vision were. And, of course, there's the Prelude. What can we speculate about the conspicuous absence? It might be something simple and boring like coincidence. I wonder if maybe there's more?

No no no... we'll be the creepy GROUP of 30-somethings at a children's store. I'll be in costume! Stares? What stares?

None of Dalinar's visions ever showed any Radiant with a Rhyshadium...

First, I'm still in danger from the bat, even if I'm not in deathly peril. Jasnah would be, at the absolutely most, inconvenienced by his actions. Let's say someone cuts me off in traffic. It's illegal, and it affects me since I will now be that much later for whatever I am going to. Following your logic, I can now say to myself, "This man illegally shifted lanes without signalling. I am choosing to make a citizen's arrest of him. Also, he's in a car, and actively engaged in traveling away from me. Since I'm worried he's going to shift lanes again, I am fully justified in pulling out my gun and shooting him dead, because he is fleeing me." Obviously, that's ridiculous. It's also a close approximation to the scenario you suggest. I fully concede that there have been times and places where her actions would be legal. In caveman times, there were no laws, and nothing was illegal. But that is not what you said to spark this conversation. You said it would not be considered murder anywhere IRL. Do you still maintain that position?

((Sorry for delayed response... parents came to town and knocked on my door while I was typing)) Have you ever heard of the School Bus experiment? People are shown a brief video clip of a busy street. Afterwards they are asked a series of questions. One of the questions was, "What color was the school bus?" Most people answered yellow. A few people said blue. Almost no one correctly answered, "There wasn't a schoolbus." It's against human nature to reject the premise of a question. The question itself presupposed that there was a bus. People weren't lying, but human memory is an imperfect thing, and their brains provided a recollection they believed of seeing a bus as they'd expect to see one. That's exactly what you're doing here. Your question presupposes that feruchemical healing DOES leave scars in some instances, which we do not know to be fact. You assume that Mr. Sanderson, genius though he is, will nevertheless be the only person in the world immune to psychological trickery at a stressful and complicated time in his life. If you ask your question presupposing that it's already a proven fact that feruchemical healing leaves scars, his brain will tend to naturally assume that you're right, whether or not you are. Obviously, ask whatever you want. But you specifically asked me what was wrong with your phrasing, so I'm telling you. If you ask this question and he does break with tendency and rejects your premise, that will give us an unimpeachable answer. If you phrase it like this, depending on his answer, it could cast doubt. Did he answer because the premise was actually correct? Or did he answer because people's natural tendency is to answer as though the presumed premise is correct, even when it's not? You say my phrasing is too "expansive." I say taking seven seconds to ask a question that we know for sure won't confuse him is better than taking four seconds to ask a question phrased in a way which has been shown to get inaccurate answers. And with regrets, I'm afraid I must inform you that this is my last word on the subject. Someone seems to be downvoting me when I talk about this, so while I wish I could rebut whatever reply you have, it's not worth feeding whoever has decided he's (or she's) got a beef with me. EDIT: It's worth noting that you've only got the one example, and I've pointed out how in the circumstances it could be simple imprecision on Vin's part. You've said "with the underlying assumption being that at least one of the set of Kar, Marsh, and Sazed healed themselves using Feruchemical gold and still had scars at the end of the day." As I've already pointed out, neither Marsh nor Sazed have infinite resources. Marsh has a permanent issue building up gold reserves, and Sazed was completely empty at the time. In both of their cases, it's a simple matter of resource conservation; it was a wiser choice for both of them to heal until the injury was no longer life-threatening, then reserve the rest of their store and allow nature to heal the rest, which would result in scarring. It would first have to be explained why they would choose to waste a precious resource on a non-essential before it even becomes a matter of possibility that feruchemical healing left them with scars. So your "underlying assumption" is therefore based on a single vague casual observation Vin makes while her attention is focused on things like the fact that she's probably about to die. I'm just saying, that's not a strong enough basis to assume the premise of a question. I don't understand your objection to my suggestion that, at the cost of a few seconds, the question could be made clear without the need for assumptions.

I just spoke with a lawyer on this topic and a few interesting things came up. First... you're the one who started this by saying, "And there's not a single legal system IRL that would consider it murder, either." If you'd like to retract that hardline statement, we can put this issue to bed and stop discussing it. However, your argument has now shifted to, well, a defense lawyer could kinda sorta claim that Jasnah had deputized herself and was making a citizen's arrest, meaning she was legally a police officer, and thereby would have been allowed to do these actions in one jurisdiction forty years ago... that's hardly a strong support of your initial statement which left very, very little wiggle room. Also, please note I did not say "shoot him with a gun". I said, "empty a clip into his head." If someone's coming at you with a knife, you will almost certainly remove him as a threat with a single gunshot wound to the head, which he could still very well survive. The fourth or fifth bullet into his skull is unequivocally excessive, since it will do almost nothing to reduce his threat at that point and is clearly just an attempt on your part to make sure the man dies. Also, as I explained the scenario to this lawyer, one fact came to light which throws most of the rest of this out the window. Absolutely none of this was (legally) self-defense. Jasnah was in absolutely no danger. She could have been stabbed fifty times, and the Stormlight just in her Soulcaster would have kept her alive. The next book she apparently recovers from being stabbed through the heart after another attack that should also have killed her. Now, the obvious rebuttal is that she kept her powers a secret, so no jury would have found her guilty since they would have believed she was in danger. But that's not what you said. You didn't say she'd get away with it, you said the act itself wouldn't be illegal. Jasnah knew full well that Stormlight would keep her alive and that the man posed absolutely no danger to her, and she chose to kill him anyway. This is the only point I'm trying to make. You've said that it would not be considered murder anywhere in the world. It was a premediated successful attempt to end a man's life when she was in absolutely no danger. That's the legal definition of murder in at least a few places.

I'm frankly not entirely sure what the underlying question is... if the question is "why does feruchemical gold heal into scars when it shouldn't"... then... like I've said, we don't actually know it does, so the entire question has to be re-worked since it's based on a shaky premise. Much is being made of a single throwaway reference to a reasonably minor character when a lot else is going on and it's possible the whole thing has a far simpler explanation. So I guess if you really wanted to ask, I would phrase it as, "Rapid healing, even when it doesn't fully close the wound, shouldn't instantly form what would technically be called a scar. Yet, when Vin sees the Inquisitor Kar a short time after pushing arrows through him, she thinks his wounds look like scars. Were those simply partially healed wounds and she was being imprecise? Or does feruchemical gold somehow more rapidly form scar tissue?" Does that address the central question being asked? Understand I'm not personally very much invested in this question. I was just trying to offer some constructive criticism about taking care how we phrase our questions, as a whole, trying not to base them on premises from our own theories or mistaken recollections. I know what a fan you are, Kurk, of pointing out when someone recalls something wrong.

I'm going to the Philly signing on 11/27, but this sorta affects more than my own signing and I sorta want to get the word out, so I'm posting it here. I would never have thought to do this at my first event, despite all of the people (some of whom personally know him, like Mi'ch) telling me he totally loves being asked questions. However, I've now gone to two events, hearing in person and on the transcripts how excited he gets when he asks his readers, "Do you have any questions?" and how dejected he gets when he says, "Oh... oh, no, that's fine. I'll just sign your book, then." So basically... I plan to show up with a small box filled with questions to ask Mr. Sanderson, which I will put on the table next to my phone, which will record the event. The box will be labeled, "Don't have a question? Ask one of these!" and it will be for people who show up without something to ask. (At the last signing, I met several people who didn't realize that was an aspect of events, and ended up bumming questions off my personal list because they wanted to get in on the action).The simplest way seems to be to use Weiry's Ultimate List. Would anyone mind helping me? Basically, what I'd like would be if people could do some of the grunt work for me. Unless someone can suggest a more efficient mechanism, I figure I'll start a Google Doc, where I can make a table dividing each page into three columns, transcribe all the questions one-by-one into a box on the table. Once all of that is done, I would take it upon myself to print out the document at my home, cut out the questions, and put them all nice in a box. So my two questions, can anyone think of a better way to do this? And two, would anyone be willing to help me plow through all the questions and transcribe them in a printable format? The obvious flaw with my plan... the event I'm going to is almost at the end, meaning by then surely several of the questions would be duplicated. I cannot think of a very good way around that. As transcripts get posted, I'll try to check them against my list and physically remove the questions I've printed. If anyone else looks through them and notices a question on the Ultimate List has been asked, please feel free to PM me and make sure I know to remove it. Honestly, I don't know how many strangers will take me up on this offer, so it's not like it's a big problem, and if a question gets asked twice, not the end of the world. I guess finally... does anyone have a problem with the intent behind the plan itself? Am I "cheating" or betraying the spirit of signing events? If there's a lot of pushback to my plan, or if people as a whole think it's in poor taste or that Mr. Sanderson wouldn't like it, I'll scrap it.

Just pointing out that he dies before the very same night is over. So... it's not like the had the scars for very long, nor was there a ton of time for them to change, either due to arcana or natural progression, nor was there all that much time for Vin to take a second good look at them and reverse her initial assessment. Of course, I would never stand in the way of anyone asking Mr. Sanderson any question they'd like. A meeting with Mr. Sanderson is a very personal experience, I've found. My main concern is, I've seen questions end up telling us practically nothing, because they were phrased ignorant the facts we actually know, and pre-supposing someone's personal theory. If someone wants to ask this question, I'd just like to make sure they ask it in a way that gives us the clearest answer. The man will be on a flight almost every day, missing his family, sleeping in a new bed each night, meeting hundreds of people at every signing... I simply think it behooves us to make sure that whatever questions we ask are phrased as simply, accurately, and precisely as possible. If the question is asked phrased like "quite some time after he heals" or "all the way up to his death", those imply longer periods of time than "three or four hours". I know the man's a genius, but he's not infallible, and he's pretty polite. In the seconds he's got to answer your question, in between questions about Stormlight Archive, Elantris, and general Hoid and Cosmere, trying to reconcile his own memories about a reasonably minor character against the way you phrase it, he might give us an answer that seems unclear. That's all I'm saying.

Yes... I think you missed the point of my question? I know she absolutely uses the word "scars". What I'm saying is, is it possible she doesn't have a word in her personal lexicon for "half-healed slits in your skin with no scar tissue but still abnormal flesh-mass" and so she just simplified it to scars? Recall that this is a big difference between her and Elend. If he saw something somewhat like a scar, he would be bothered until he found out exactly what it was and how it was different from a scar. Vin sees something "like a scar" and doesn't care what it really is, she just starts questioning how it affects her ability to kill him. And for both of them... you seem to be presupposing infinite reserves like Miles had. These are both people with extremely limited health, people who must spend hours sick in bed for a few additional minutes of healing something like this. In their position, would you spend your whole reserve of healing, risking that the next killing blow would actually do the job, just so you wouldn't have a scar? Or if you were in either position, someone with an inefficient, hemalurgically decayed power, or Sazed, tapped out on all of his reserves and eager to get the rings out of him before they poison his body, would you really spend every last drop of healing? Or would you husband your reserve, using enough to "heal" the wound until it was no longer life-threatening, then allowing it to proceed on its own? Granted, this still wouldn't explain why the Inquisitor had "scars" so quickly, but I'm still not positive she meant literal scars. It could be the accelerated healing scabbed them over, and "scar" was accurate enough for Vin. Maybe his "idea" of partial healing meant he knew it was going to scar over, and this affected his cognitive ideal, making the gold hastily spackle on some scar tissue rather than expend the energy to do a proper job. Or I could be wrong. I just don't think your sources are as concrete as you assume. ...Silver is already inert to users of the Metallic Arts? You can't burn it, store anything in it, or steal any trait with it. Or are you refering to the fact that iron or steel can still shove it around? Or that there's some silver in electrum?

Are we willing to accept the possibility that Vin saw partially-healed wounds and just said "scar" as the closest thing she knew of to them? Also, please remind me where it says Sazed got scars after healing using Feruchemical gold? Must've been somewhere in Hero of Ages, yes?