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Fanghur Rahl

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  1. Fanghur Rahl
    I think it very much depends on exactly what you mean by ‘anime’. I mean, the original Pokémon and Attack on Titan and Sword Art Online are all technically ‘anime’, but they clearly also belong to completely different reference classes, only the latter of which is even remotely suitable for the Cosmere.
  2. Fanghur Rahl
    With respect, I have to disagree with you on this. Sword of Truth is actually one of my all-time favourite fantasy series (along with Thomas Covenant, Eragon, and as of recently the Cosmere), and it’s actually a lot less hardcore Randianism than is commonly claimed; sure it uses some of those themes, but of a very moderate (and in my opinion quite reasonable all things considered) type. Don’t get me wrong, the series does have quite a few problems with it in hindsight, but that isn’t one of them, anymore than the fact that the society on Roshar is based on a decidedly immoral social system is a problem with Stormlight. For the record, yes, I think Cosmere is much better.
  3. Fanghur Rahl
    Fair enough. Either way, my basic point was still valid.
  4. Fanghur Rahl
    Well, like I said, my suspicion is that if the Stormfather ever does become a Shardblade, it would only be under the most extraordinary circumstances, like where if Dalinar doesn’t win the Stormfather will die either way.
  5. Fanghur Rahl
    I wish I could forget about it. And the TV series based on the Sword of Truth books wasn’t great either.
  6. Fanghur Rahl
    Wasn’t Vasher the one who instructed her? Sorry, I haven’t gotten to Warbreaker yet.
  7. Fanghur Rahl
    *cough* Eragon *cough*... *coughs until he dies from lack of air. In all seriousness though, I completely agree. I’d rather no movies be made than have a movie that’s ‘Stormlight’ in name only like the piece of cinematic blasphemy that was the Eragon movie; even after all these years, I’m still extremely bitter about that.
  8. Fanghur Rahl
    I just meant that he could have done away with the hemolurgical aspect altogether and just made them a full species; technically, as I understand it at least, as I’m not at Era 2 yet, they’re still basically horrifically mutated humans. Regardless though, I think my general point still stands even if I concede that point, since he clearly could have at least made it so that the adults didn’t have to suffer their skeletons outgrowing their skin and essentially skinning themselves alive. Again, pretty douche move there.
  9. Fanghur Rahl
    Then again, he DID choose to let the Koloss remain more or less as they were rather than modifying them into a species unto themselves that reproduces and grows like anyone else; that was kind of a douche move in my opinion, so who knows?
  10. Fanghur Rahl
    That doesn’t really strike me as an attitude Sazed would take. More than pretty much any other, Sazed seems to be undeniably benevolent, at least immediately after he took the power.
  11. Fanghur Rahl
    Well, Odium IS a god, at least if we would also consider beings like Zeus, Odin, Shiva, etc. as gods.
  12. Fanghur Rahl
    Well, even though Brandon has explicitly said that he’s never going to give any definitive answers as to exactly what happens in the Beyond, I don’t think there’s any harm in speculating. Personally, my favourite theory (or model if you prefer) is that it’s something vaguely akin to what happens when people die in Peter F. Hamilton’s ‘Night’s Dawn’ trilogy. Basically, everyone has a soul that survives physical death, and it’s basically some kind of mind-imprinted quantum energy as opposed to mind-imprinted Investiture, and once a person dies their soul enters what is coincidentally also referred to as ‘the Beyond’. If they aren’t able to accept their death, they basically stay trapped there, able to get glimpses of the world they left behind (kind of like Kelsier in the Well) and still long for, but if the person is able to come to grips with and accept their death, their soul moves to the end point of the universe, called the Omega Point, where all souls merge together and effectively become the God of whatever the next universe is. I very much doubt that this is what happens in the Cosmere, but hey, it’s as good a conjecture as any (and a pretty good series itself by the way, if you’re into fantasy-in-space).
  13. Fanghur Rahl
    Yeah, but Sazed seems to have a radically different view of Ruin’s intent than Ati did, something more akin to Death from Supernatural (yes, I know I use that analogy a lot, but in this instance it does seem to fit) or at least that’s how it appears. And also presumably a more reasonable view of Preservation as well. Leras and Ati both seemed almost strawman extremists when it came to their respective intents, whereas Sazed seems much more moderate, at least at this point.
  14. Fanghur Rahl
    But Shai did say that eventually the forgery might become permanent, analogized to repeatedly drawing the same image on a stack of paper until it eventually bled through to the bottom sheet. I mean, the fact is that people change all the time, so clearly souls in the Cosmere are not at all immutable. So it’s confusing why this would be any different.
  15. Fanghur Rahl
    I just finished listening to Emperor’s Soul, and I’m a little confused about something. Shai implies that the more ‘plausible’ and ‘correct’ a Forgery is, the longer it will tend to last before having to be restamped. But the ending of the book implies that she managed to recreate the Emperor’s soul so perfectly (other than one or two things that the book implies would have eventually happened anyway) that for all intents and purposes the term ‘forgery’ arguably doesn’t even apply. She didn’t so much create something new and ‘false’ as recreate what was already supposed to be there. Which should seem to suggest that the ‘forgery’ should have been if not permanent then at least lasted a very long time, but for some reason he has to be restamped every morning (at least for a while) or he’ll become a vegetable again. Why exactly is this the case? Why should a perfect recreation of what a person is supposed to be only last a day whereas something trivial like turning a chamber pot into an ornate vase last indefinitely? Is this just a plot hole or did I miss something?
  16. Fanghur Rahl
    Time Lords work in mysterious ways.
  17. Fanghur Rahl
    Yeah, that’s true. Actually now that I think of it, did she even manage to get out by herself or did Hoid somehow get her out? Or did he just conveniently manage to use his powers to be in the exact spot she eventually emerged from?
  18. Fanghur Rahl
    Well, there ARE some definite Mormon themes in the Cosmere, probably the biggest being mortals ascending to godhood, and also the idea of there being three distinct realms and one nebulous and ill-defined fourth ‘realm’ that God’s God presumably dwells in. Suffice it to say, Brandon’s story is vastly superior to Joseph Smith’s though. lol. As an aside, I literally did a huge double-take when I read that Brandon was a Mormon; based on pretty much all of his writing, I had been sure that he must have been at the very least an agnostic.
  19. Fanghur Rahl
    Yeah, you may be right. But then again, I don’t think answering in the affirmative would kill discussion; quite the opposite in fact, it would merely change the direction the discussion takes.
  20. Fanghur Rahl
    Look I’m just saying that there are some types of questions for which ‘no comment’ is for all intents and purposes the same as just saying ‘yes’. Maybe this isn’t one such case, but regardless, I still think it would be something worth asking him sometime.
  21. Fanghur Rahl
    That’s exactly right, although it’s way more prevalent in Bacteria and Archaea than it is in higher animals. But you’re right that a significant percentage of not just our own genome but also that of at least all animal life (I don’t think there are retroviruses that infect plants, but I could be wrong) is leftover junk from past retroviral integration into a species’ germ cells. It’s actually a pretty handy way of determining how closely related two species are; humans and chimps for example share something like 99.2% of ERVs, humans and gorillas around 96%, and so forth. It’s a really interesting finding. But technically I don’t think retroviral integration would be considered horizontal gene transfer; if I recall correctly, that term is reserved for natural processes by which two different organisms exchange genetic material. Viruses absolutely play a significant role in shaping genetic evolution in the long run, but I think it’s considered a separate process than HGT. I could be mistaken though.
  22. Fanghur Rahl
    What would you conclude if someone got evasive and refused to answer whether they ever abused their spouse or not? If someone asked “Is it possible that there are others like Adonalsium beyond the Cosmere?”, pretty much any response other than a definitive ‘no’ is basically a confirmation that, yes, such a thing is not impossible.
  23. Fanghur Rahl
    Not at all. In fact I definitely think that’s something someone ought to ask Brandon sometime, whether Adonalsium was the only one of its kind or just one of many similar beings throughout the greater Cosmere universe. He’d pretty much have to answer too, since a RAFO would basically be a confirmation in this particular case.
  24. Fanghur Rahl
    Am I the only one who thinks that the guy who played Ramsay Bolton in Gane of Thrones would be absolutely perfect for Zane? After all, Zane is basically just a non-Complete Monster version of Ramsay.
  25. Fanghur Rahl
    Honestly, I think it was just a matter of pride on the Stormfather’s part; he kind of views himself as being above humankind, so the thought of submitting himself to Dalinar like that is distasteful. Which isn’t all that surprising considering that he’s a Sliver of Honour. That being said, I suspect that at some point in the series he will let Dalinar summon him as a Shardblade, just under extraordinary circumstances.
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