ptoss1

ME ME MEI

I'm currently reading Under Heaven right now. I get the feeling it's going to be a slow burn.

Shinovar has no spren and all the magic is sort of tied to spren, so...

I re-read a lot for the world building. The plot itself is fairly linear and predictable. Sanderson's writing doesn't lend itself to the melody of the scene. I don't know if you can understand that, but in some stories, you just want to read over and over again because of how well the words fit together. In Sanderson's case, I want to read because the world is interesting, as is the case with most epic fantasies.

You don't have to be a good person to attract honorspren. Would be interesting to see somebody unlike Syl.

Ya, I just reread the part you're talking about. Shallan said something about how gems can't be Soulcasted into existence, but it's not explicitly stated within the context if already existing gems can't be Soulcasted into something else. It doesn't necessarily have to be gems either. I'm just surprised this hasn't been done before, or if Sanderson has thought about it. Of course Soulcasting requires gems and Stormlight so it might not be too large of an issue. Converting materials into another requires energy, in this case Stormlight and gems, we just don't know how easily accessible these materials are, or how Soulcasters are made. If I had a Soulcaster, Hell it would be super easy to kill somebody. Get a gas mask and cast the air into a toxic gas concentration. Boom, whole room of people dead. Probably takes less energy too since air is less concentrated than humans. Or, soulcast a certain part of a building to be less stable so it collapses in the next highstorm.

Well it would be relatively easy to destroy the entire Rosharian economy if some evil genius just Soulcast all the gems out of existence. Like, just hoard everything, and then Soulcast it into air. A bunch of neat things on Roshar would be nearly impossible without Soulcasting. Also didn't realize we could turn one element into another now. Have to go search that up. High school chem and physics probably not the best scientific education.

All for Kaladin's bridgemen. They all die anyways, but they'll be epic doing it.

Has Brandon Sanderson talked about the various problems with Soulcasting? Like, what happens if you Soulcast all of Roshar's air away? Wouldn't the transformation of one type of material into another entirely change the nature of reality? Like, in real life as we know it, you cannot just turn one element or compound into another. All we do is combine and break down, but Soulcasting can turn rocks into food, air into rocks, and all that, so isn't that kind of dangerous? Or is there some unknown penalty for Soulcasting that prevents overdoing it, besides just Stormlight and casting gems?

Well I don't think we know if Parshmen could interbreed with other races, but I don't think it ever happens because you know, they're apparently mentally retarded and slaves. I'm not even sure how Parshmen procreate. Like are they ordered to or is it instinctual or do they just live forever. Weird stuff.

Race is weird. Most of what we recognize today as race is really just a set of visual traits combined together. There are oddities all over the place though, mostly in central Asia, eastern Europe, and western China. Personally I just define a race as unable to procreate with another species, so technically everybody on Roshar is human. Here's what an Alethi might look like in real life. Probably more tan and less dark though. But really cool eyes. Blonde Mongolian, probably a mix between Russian/Polish and Mongolian. Apparently her parents look 100% Mongolian, but there aren't any pictures, so I'm pretty skeptical about that. It's rare enough as it is between 50/50 mixes. Chinese guy from western China with grey/blue/green eyes. Apparently the area he lives in was supposed to have been visited by a captured Roman legion way way back. Most likely he's just part central asian or got so old his eye pigments died or something. Here's Hamid Rahimi, a proffesional Afghan boxer. Ethnically he's Hazara, or at least his culture is. Notice how he has an epicanthic fold: the folded skin usually attributed to eastern Asians. Not really how you would picture an Afghani to look. He could pass for a Hungarian or a Russian/Chinese hybrid. It's incredible that the kingdoms even kept their names through 4500 years, not to mention genetic drift. Assimilation and cultural competition all play a role to determine who looks like what. For example the Shinovar probably have this problem a lot less than everybody else on Roshar, since their land is geographically inaccessible most of the time. Less worries about war and such. Plus Rosharians all depend on them for stuff like chicken, horses, strawberries, etc. In the long run, that means less genetic drift, less assimilation. Jah Keved/Alethkar on the other hand, might switch lands a lot, experiencing rape, cultural synthesis, shared relgions - Vorinism, and all that other random weirdness.

Ah good point. Didn't think about why they needed to leave the chasms to pupate, but perhaps that also has something to do with what they pupate into. LoL, giant butterflies of doom.

So where the hell has Taln been for the last 4500 years? He's obviously not fighting the Desolations anymore since Roshar seems to be alright.

I kind of think the chasmfiends feed off of Stormlight. Maybe their bodies are porous, so their gemhearts gather Stormlight to feed chasmfiends, and that's how they get so big.

While I don't know where/what Damnation is when referring to the place that Heralds go after death or Desolation, I believe that Honorblades are intrinsically tied to the power of the Heralds as well as the source of their supposed immortality. Here are some reasons why: 1) If the Heralds die in every Desolation, then why don't the Voidbringers, assuming they're Parshendi or at least their overlords of some kind, pick up the Heralds' Honorblades and use them themselves? Of course they wouldn't be able to if the Honorblades didn't appear beside the Heralds' dead bodies or if the bodies themselves dissapear/teleport to wherever it is they go after death. So there are some possibilities as to why this is: a - the Voidbringers and their minions can't use Shardblades b - the Honorblades disappear after death c - the Honorblades do appear after death, but besides the Heralds' bodies after they've been teleported elsewhere d - Honorblades can only be used by Heralds 2) The fact that the Heralds left the Honorblades in the first place probably means they had something to do with the Oathpact. Since I don't see why they HAD to leave them behind, considering they're immensely powerful and all, I believe they were the objects that forced the Heralds to go to damnation. This would fit it in with the fact that Heralds kept their Honorblades after death. So if the Honorblades were the source of all the Heralds' powers, given by Honor, and linked to the Heralds themselves by some Oathpact, then essentially the Heralds gave up their powers when they left the Honorblades behind, leaving them mortal.

Or maybe Shallan is actually Shallash reincarnated... baseless, but it explains... oh wait, the Shardblade. Dun dun dun... I don't really think Shallash hiring people to destroy any likenesses of her is plausible. It's been over 4500 years, so any drawings or statues should be reinterpretations at best, plus there's bound to be thousands of art pieces all over the place. Either she can track them down magically, or else it's going to take a hell of a long time. My theory is that Shallan is Shallash's reincarnation. That's why her father treated her so well over the years, and when he revealed Shallash's Honorblade to her, Shallan kills him out of anger or for whatever reason. Probably also why the Ghostbloods supported Shallan's father. They probably have a few Honorblades, but realized they couldn't be used by anyone except for descendents of the Heralds, thus Shallan. When her father gives her the Honorblade however, a part of Shallash's soul possesses Shallan, killing her father. I bet Shallan is closest living female descendent of Shallash, which makes her able to use the Honorblade, which requires a woman since Shallash is a girl. Or maybe the Ghostbloods are trying to save the world by reviving the Heralds... maybe Well rant over. By the way, I don't think the Heralds are immortal in the traditional sense. In my first reading, I thought that wherever they went was a place that reconstructed their bodies, perhaps making them anew for the next Desolation. They got to keep their memories through an extremely painful process, thus Kalak quit, but their descendents still possess some part of the original Heralds' souls. Since Taln never quit the Oathpact, he fought the next Desolation until Odium or the Voidbringers realized the other Heralds had left. They then kidnap Taln, trapping him in a prison or somewhere, waiting until the world forgot them so they can destroy Roshar... but then he escapes.

Any of you notice how both Szeth and Kaladin didn't want their Shardblades. Then suddenly Syl starts following Kaladin around. Maybe Szeth can't see his Honorspren because he's still forced to use his Shardblade, so it doesn't appear to him, but he still gains the powers anyway.

Good theory and very plausible. My personal take on it is that Odium didn't corrupt the Shardblades, as they were meant to fight the Voidbringers, or whatever enemies Shardbearers faced during the Desolations. They were supposed to damage the soul of the enemy because of their resistance to conventional weapons. However you bring up a good point about Spren and souls. I wonder if perhaps other Spren could also gain intelligence or consciousness some way or another. Maybe Honorspren aren't so special.

Off topic, but how did the Parshendi even get Szeth's oathstone, or did I miss that somewhere? It seems to me like that's one of the major puzzles besides why the Parshendi even decided to assassinate Gavilar in the first place. It's a little too convenient, don't you think?