Oudeis

As I already said, in the Taln interlude, somewhere between your point 3 and 7, Dalinar sets up his plan to see if Amaram really is as honest as he claims. He might believe that Amaram is, in fact, honest, but he's at least willing to accept the possibility that Amaram is scum.

Just realized that one of the Fighting Styles, presumably the one based on the essence of Plants, like emerald, is called Vinestance. Do you think this means emerald spheres are called vinechips and vinemarks?

Hrm... I started this thread mostly as a joke, but now I'm noticing something. It was in Taln's Interlude that Dalinar hatches his plan to test Amaram to see if he's really the slimy, evil cremling we know he actually is. So he's at least entertaining the possibility that Amaram actually is a murdering chullhole. What was the rush? Why did he have to name Amaram already? Why do it while not entirely convinced that this man doesn't slaughter his own loyal guards out of greed?

Ah. I have not read, nor do I plan to read, the pre-release stuff for SA3. Thank you for leaving it behind a cut, and in case there's something there you were expecting me to respond to, I wanted to let you know I will not be doing so. Sorry!

Hrm... how did he know exactly which tree Shallan would end up underneath so he could sit there waiting for her? I'm not asking rhetorically; I absolutely believe that this is a thing Hoid can do. He pretty much did it with Kaladin in the chapter Wandersail. This is 100% an excellent way he could have done this thing. I just wonder which power he has that lets him do it. Is it whatever feruchemy Mr. Sanderson has said lets him know where and when he "should" be?

Dalinar picks Amaram to be his first Knight Radiant. Dalinar could hardly have swung a dead ugly lizard-crab thing without hitting a Radiant among his closest allies. 50% of his offspring, the halfway-sorta-maybe-bride of the rest, his chief bodyguard, at least half his niblings... Adolin, Navani or Amaram were pretty much his only close compatriots who are probably not Radiants. And a lot of people think Adolin will be, Navani might well have the potential. Pretty much Amaram was the one and only person near to Dalinar with absolutely no chance of being a Surgebinder. C'mon, man.

I concur, as I initially stated, that we know that sometimes a cognitive phenomenon can influence Investiture. But writing the entire issue of how the Stormlight infuses a gemstone inside a chasmfiend, when it won't do the same for spheres in a far thinner and less sturdy wooden structure, off as "because cognitive" is not only boring, it assumes that because we know cognitive has a say, it must be the one and only reason. It may or may not prove to be a factor, but I for one would find it far more interesting if we eventually learn that there's something physiological in a chasmfiend (as I believe someone alluded to) which taps into the stormlight at joints in the carapace and channels it all into the gemheart. I hasten to suggest the opposite. People in Scadrial do almost nothing to try to keep out mist, and yet it gets the message and stays out. On Roshar, people have to design every aspect of their lives around trying to keep the Highstorms out of their homes, and it still leaks into even the King's Palace on the Shattered Plains. If people's capacity to simply decide "this is indoors, Highstorm stay out," they would have to take far fewer precautions, and the precautions they do take would be much, much more effective. Clearly, Highstorms are less susceptible to a cognitive influence than the mists are.

That is... not even slightly the case.

In Chapter 45, Middlefest from Words of Radiance, Part 3, Shallan sees Hoid in a tree. As soon as he moves, the leaves and branches all retract. I find this notable. How did he get up in the first place without prompting them to withdraw? Which magics do we know of which could account for this? I considered allomantic pewter. It strikes me that however light you move, however gentle you are, there's simply no way for an almost 200 pound man (or more, he is after all quite tall) could sneak so quietly an entire tree wouldn't hear. This is not cultivated plant; it lives in a basin. There's no water to draw it out. Plants are shown to be incredibly sensitive on this planet. It's possible, but I think very unlikely, for someone to simply move so quietly they literally don't alert the tree they are in that they are in it. That seems like a preposterous stretch. This is modified slightly by the fact that he might also be using iron feruchemy to reduce his own weight... but there would still be his clothes, the metalminds themselves, and the fact that he still has to physically grasp and step upon the tree to get where he is. Our impression from Shallan is that the fronds of this tree are simply too numerous and dense for a man to make it in without brushing them, even a little. I'm not sure allomantic bendalloy would be much good. He could get in before the tree reacts, but it would still react. I suppose maybe he was standing behind the tree, saw the axehound, put up his bubble (which is only, what, five feet across? How big a bubble can Wayne make, again?) and then climb barely off the ground, before dropping the bubble and speaking so quickly he draws her attention... yet still, it's not until he starts moving that they retract. Clearly after he talks and she looks. Allomantic brass? Can you Soothe a tree into complacency? (Someone ask Kwaan if trees can think). Do the trees use any manner of Investiture to detect people to retract from? Could allomantic copper help him? That seems needlessly complicated. My personal bet is on feruchemy. Either aluminum or duralumin. Could storing your own identity, or storing your connection to others, make even a plant not realize you exist? The possible application of iron feruchemy has already been considered above. Steel feruchemy is much like bendalloy above. Who knows what "luck" does. It could have worked, but how do you control something that nebulous? I suspect Hoid tries to rely on something as unpredictable as "luck" as rarely as he can. I don't see any specific uses for hemalurgy, unless Hoid secretly has so many spikes he's turned into a hemalurgic creation with the power to climb a tree without causing it to retract until he wants it to. Noted as a possibility. That's Scadrial mostly taken care of, but if anyone can think of something I've missed, point it out to me. Nalthis? Being a Drab might help, see copper above, but I don't think Hoid can be a Drab. I don't think you can give away your personal "Breath" unless you're a Nalthian. It's possible he's found a way to hack the system, however. I don't see how Awakening or any of the other Heightenings would help. Sel? Who knows. AonDor is almost certainly incapable of being practiced off-world; if Hoid can, he officially does not need any other magic, because AonDor can do literally anything. Forgery... erm, I suppose it could possibly replicate these effects? Seems like an odd way to go about it. Bloodsealin? ChayShan (Or whatever the Jindoese clearly-Tai Chi is)? I would be surprised if he has Dhakor bones. An Aviar? I feel like that would be conspicuous, and would rely on a principle like copper above. I can't think of any arcanum we've seen from Threnody which might help. Roshar itself? This doesn't seem to be under Progression's purview. Lightweaving, perhaps? Can you use Lightweaving to trick a tree into thinking you are nothing? What we've seen of Transportation makes it seem like a jarring enough experience that it would shake the tree, but perhaps it could be done with more finesse. Gravitation could theoretically be used with careful skill to move your body slowly through the air until it's in the right position, but there's still the matter of actually getting through the fronds; however little you weigh, getting through a solid wall of fronds with no man-sized gap isn't a function of weight. Abrasion? Again, I feel like however slick you are, this doesn't change the fact that you're touching the fronds. He clearly was not wearing Shardplate, not that I think it would have helped. I guess just "a fabrial" which is sorta starting to be Rosharan code for "you can do pretty much anything, like AonDor" or the Old Magic, I'm not seeing a Rosharan arcanum that would bring about these effects. So, in conclusion, my personal suspicion is that it's feruchemical duralumin, or an arcanum we've simply never seen before (I'm pretty sure we have it confirmed that he has magics we know naught of.

I do not believe the Radiants ever did "rule"...

A single example makes it approximately one quantum more likely to be that way. By this logic, if I'd only read the Mistborn books, I'd actually have three examples of types of magic, and they all need metal, so at that point I would consider it three times as likely that all Investiture requires metal, as to believe that stormlight penetrates a chasmfiend body for no other reason than whether or not Rosharans think the inside of a body is considered "outside" or not. And I would have been wrong. You still might be right. I'm just saying, there's hardly a mountain of evidence. Also, if the answer does boil down to something as simple and lazy as "whatever people believe will happen, happens," I for one will be disappointed. And underwhelmed, and a little bored.

Oh, fine, be right and cite an unimpeachable source and everything. See if I care. =p ...He could still totally be Hoid's son, though.

Shallan comments on how much Mraize reminds her of Hoid. (I'd also like to point out that, as far as Shallan believes, Mraize isn't his name, it's his title. He doesn't indicate one way or another which it might be, but it's possible that Mraize is an honorific.) They look alike, and they're almost certainly both worldhoppers. What if Mraize is from the same planet as Hoid? What if they're related? WHAT IF MRAIZE IS HOID'S SON?!?!!?

Hrm... this raises an interesting question. Did Blushweaver lose her Breath when she died? Does anyone recall if something happened to her aura? I'll need to re-read that scene...

First, you mean Heightening, not Awakening, I presume. Second, I believe you mean the Eighth Heightening? You cannot even tell another object is Awakened until the Seventh, and it's the Eighth that allows you to take control.

Source bookmarked. Thank you! EDIT: While I'm here, can anyone remind me the most recent thread where we're talking about Adolin's mom? I just found a scrap of information so wildly out there it fascinates me.

Eh... this plays into the "cognitive trumps everything, nothing else matters" mindset I don't personally see much support for. Yes, there are absolutely and undeniably examples of times when a cognitive aspect proves most important. There are also times physical things prove important, and times spiritual things prove important. If cognitive were truly the one and only thing that mattered, crazy people would be able to fly. It's possible, but I don't think it's presumptive.

The gemstones themselves are encased in glass, in spheres. Clearly the stormlight can get through that. It becomes a matter of, what can Stormlight penetrate, and what can't it? We know that it can penetrate a few millimeters of glass, and it cannot penetrate a wall of stone. The body of a chasmfiend is apparently something in between all that. Perhaps there are 'vents' which open in the carapace which allow the ingress of Stormlight? Or the carapace has somehow evolved to be porous to the energy? Or the unique phenomenon of growing gemhearts pulls the stormlight through the carapace? Hrm. What materials are more porous to stormlight, and which are less? Is there a metal especially conducive, so one could put their spheres safely in a locker outside without fear of loss or theft? Is there a metal especially resistant? If I'm walking along with my spheres in a purse lined with aluminum, would they be safe from Shallan taking my Stormlight?

When Kaladin is Invested, Stormlight specifically "rises" from his skin. When he's Lashed to a wall, which direction does it travel? Up-to-him? Typical-up?

Interesting, do you have proof to support your claims? Also, the Unmade cannot be direct opposites of the Heralds (also your post lacks consistently, since you say they are like both the Heralds and the Stormfather; do you think the Stormfather is a Herald? We know he's not.) because there are not ten of them. (I'm trying to find the quote... people keep referencing it, but no one is linking it, and my google-fu is weak this morning...)

I know some conditions exist on a "spectrum." Is it possible Kelsier was only 98% of a psychopath? Or do we know that psychopathy is a totally binary thing (you either fully are or fully aren't)?

Spren were first raw power, given shape by people's thoughts in the cognitive realm. Firespren represent what people think of, when they think of fire.

I read it as, "They are the souls of those ancient. Those ancient are they who gave of themselves to destroy." i.e., the Unmade made voidspren, the voidspren are the 'gods'. Just my interpretation.

Addressing the second point first, because it is simpler. Venli was a scholar of the songs. Of the songs we see, none are as blatant as, "You should take stormform, try it at least, summon the Everstorm, which blows west to east." Apart from one song which flat-out says that artform requires creationspren, the rest we see are all really obscure. Even if we assume that the ones in the epigraphs are the only obscure ones, and the rest are simple recipes, why then would they need scholars? The songs clearly require study, comparison, and interpretation. I happen to agree with you that Venli prolly has an additional source of information, but it's not impossible that she's discovered clues hidden in the songs that aren't obvious if you simply listen to them as Eshonai did. As for the first part, I had actually believed this, too, until my most recent re-read of Words of Radiance. Epigraph of chapter 25: "Though crafted of gods, it was by Unmade hand." This passage implies, at least, that the Gods and the Unmade are two separate groups. Epigraph of chapter 34: "Our gods were born splinters of a soul, of one who seeks to take control, Destroys all lands that he beholds, with spite. They are his spren, his gift, his price, But the nightforms speak of future life, A challenged champion. A strife even he must requite." For this to mean the gods are the Unmade, the Unmade would have to be nothing more than spren. I think this is a pretty good indicator that their definition of "god" is closer to the shinto definition (the one that's more like spren, anyway) than like a greek pantheon; they see each individual spren as a god, not just a court of Unmade gods. Obviously none of this is definitive, but I think an unbiased look at the evidence would at least say that the Unmade are no more likely to be what the listeners consider to be gods than the voidspren.

There isn't a clap slow enough.