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On 2/26/2024 at 6:08 PM, Green Hoodie Mistborn said:

Personally I hope that if we ever get an adaptation we only see the lines/etc when a misting/mistborn is burning iron/steel, but I hope we get the visual clues of the mist swirling and I'd be open to really subtle low tone pulses in the soundtrack kind of thing

I think you could have a near-constant low-tone pulse whenever the viewpoint is in Luthadel that swells when a character uses emotional Allomancy, which also works because of the Lord Ruler's soothing stations and soothing aura. It foreshadows that reveal.

14 minutes ago, Returned said:

That's a great catch that honestly never occurred to me to check. I just searched the text of all of the Mistborn books, including Secret History, and the term isn't there even once! As a fan term it's likely created by fans like us on 17th Shard, and we're a detail-oriented enough lot to have chosen a more properly descriptive name.

It's just a combination of parts of the terms "full feruchemist" and "mistborn", although you're right about the impression it lends. Chances are any fullborn-like beings we see in the future will not actually be born with all the powers (and neither was any past fullborn).

4 hours ago, Colors said:

The more I think about it, I think Lightweaver is the best choice in real life if you're adept with your abilities...providing the oaths work with you as a person. Soulcasting is great for obvious reasons...and of the abilities one can have both are on the easier side of the spectrum as far as being able to be concealed. 

 

As far as oaths go, you basically just need to be able to say the First Ideal, then be lying to yourself about four things. Not hard. And maybe be creative in some way.

On 2/22/2024 at 1:10 PM, Colors said:

I think this would come down to are we living in "the real world" or are we on Scardial/in the Cosmere? On Scadrial people would definitely be looking for that kind of thing, but in the real world you'd have to be really clumsy or pushing/pulling really hard for you to "get caught". People are going to have natural emotional responses to natural stimuli. If you get good at reading or providing the right stimuli you'd be very effective in just boosting/reducing the emotions correspondingly in a very effective way, if you flow with their natural expectations/emotions then it would be extremely hard to pinpoint what was happening. Perception is a funny thing, people will not perceive such a thing is possible so it will take a lot of evidence for them to even consider it. People will likely just think you're charismatic, particularly if you already have some of those tools. 

Even if you are really bad at predicting someone's responses, odds are your target would think something is wrong with themself emotionally before they suspect you of being the world's only allomancer. However, I definitely think that out of zinc/brass and pewter, no one either wants to emotionally manipulate people or admit to wanting it, so pewter comes out as the preferred allomantic metal. We have virtually no reason to pewter drag, so there is little risk of savantism in real life. It has no other downsides and is not immediately noticeable like iron/steel or cadmium/bendalloy, and isn't useless (in real life) like aluminum/duralumin/nicrosil/chromium/copper/bronze. Gold and electrum are situational at best in real life, and I don't think anyone really prefers them. Tin is the only comparable metal, imo. But the real-world choice probably has to be between tin, pewter, zinc, brass, cadmium, bendalloy, and maybe gold and electrum. And out of those, I'd prefer pewter

I thought of this as well, although I think you put it into words better than I would have. The first Divine Attribute also draws the spren in the first place, I would add. One other thing though, is that following Shallan's arc, I think that the Lightweaver Truths also follow the direction, commitment, nuance, incarnation pattern guided by the divine attributes. Not necessarily in their character, but in their effects on Shallan. The Truth progression is that her first truth solidified her bond to Pattern (maybe), her second showed her commitment to the Truths, and her third (where she reintegrated Veil) showed nuance by not having her integrate Radiant. Furthermore, Cryptics are naturally drawn to people who lie to themselves (Creative), and the Truths help the Lightweaver embrace honesty. 

14 hours ago, alder24 said:

A side note about F-copper, I think you overestimate how great it is and you're not taking into account the insane memorisation skills Sazed has. Having a coppermind is handy, but not when you are just bad at memorizing, and the memory you want will fade after 2 or 3 times of tapping. Unfortunately this doesn't work well with people who have a bad memory, you need to work on it first and improve your memorisation skills to be just half as good as Sazed. Without that it's still handy and very helpful, but those memories will fade and be distorted faster than you expect. 

  Reveal hidden contents

Brandon Sanderson

Chapter Forty-Nine - Part One

Sazed's Memorization Skills

Okay, long chapter here. I'll bet I have to split this annotation in two. But, let's launch into it. First off, you should know that Sazed tends to gloss over just how hard he had to work to memorize those copperminds of his in the first place. Keepers like him go through intense memorization training early in their lives, learning how to build near-photographic memories even before they use their metalminds. The goal of this, of course, is to train the mind to hold a perfect image of what it has read so that knowledge can be kept as pristine as possible before being shoved into the coppermind.

Generally, a Keeper can keep the entire contents of several books memorized in their head even without use of Feruchemy. Like a Muslim who memorizes the Koran, Sazed could take a book and memorize it word for word, then repeat it all back to you. He's trained himself in this skill for so long, however, that it seems mundane to him. Beyond that, the application of Feruchemy changes his abilities—and how he uses them—somewhat.

The Hero of Ages Annotations (Dec. 24, 2009)

This is probably true. For someone without a photographic memory or intense memory training, the most use a coppermind would get is probably to store the contents of a textbook chapter into the coppermind, then tap while taking a test. And for most people, this would be a one-time use memory. I kind of doubt that most people could keep a library or even a book's worth of content in a coppermind forever the way Keepers do.

On 11/4/2023 at 8:33 PM, teknopathetic said:

I completely agree that whatever the relationship was between the Singers and True Spren was different than a Human Nahel Bond

However, we do know that the spren were more attracted to the bonds that spren could have with humans over the bonds they had with Singers. I think this implies there must have been something similar going on. 

Venli’s conversation with the stones says that Nahel Bonds with Parshendi are new, but that new things come from old things. That to me implies there was some sort of relationship going on in the ancient past. 

We know that humans as a whole feel their emotions more strongly than singers do, since singers rarely draw spren. This is what frustrated Listener scholars who tried to attain more forms in the Eshonai/Venli viewpoints. So already this appeals more to the spren. 

I believe that the Dawnsingers would take True Spren into their gemhearts and attain forms of power that granted one surge each. (This is why the Heavenly Ones betrayed Lezian and Raboniel during the battle; they all have personalities that would draw Honorspren, and so would not hurt defenseless people) This would also be why the Fused believe that Adhesion is not a true Surge; because "Adhesionform" would only be granted by Bondsmith Spren, and they did not ever enter a gemheart. Perhaps human bonds were more attractive than Dawnsinger bonds because humans don't have gemhearts.

Humans arrive and start to draw emotion spren and True spren more readily than the Dawnsingers do, and they begin expansion out of Shinovar.

The Dawnsingers approach Odium in order to stop the humans' expansion.

Either this drives the spren out of Dawnsinger gemhearts, and Odium reconnects them with their previous Surge by turning them into Fused, or Odium corrupts the spren in their gemhearts to Fuse the Singer and spren.

Whatever Odium does drives all True Spren away from the singers until Eshonai bonds Timbre.

17 hours ago, AvonZapper said:

The Skybreaker oaths have a theme of dedicating yourself to the law more and more, and then the final oath kind of flips this on its head by becoming the law. Maybe if we can find the inverse of the trend of the Windrunner oaths we can easier predict the fifth one.

Except I'm not so sure the Skybreaker oaths do that. The second one is intended to be about following the law, (Szeth's was not though) the Third Ideal is about following a code of the Radiant's choice, and the Fourth Ideal is about completing a just quest of the Radiant's choice. The Fifth, which is about actually becoming the Law (which I believe is about having the confidence to create justice yourself). Essentially, each Ideal trains the Skybreaker to have the Confidence to create Justice themself, rather than seeking it elsewhere

On 1/4/2023 at 3:32 PM, Lightspine said:

Also, I've taken another glance down the list of the Ten Essences and am thoroughly disturbed by Heliodor/Sinew/Flesh. If that corresponds to an Aether, does that mean there are spores which sprout... meat? Ick.

Aether of Night spoilers:

1 hour ago, HavingTheHasHoidAPurpose? said:

Im pretty sure if a kandra has a bit of your blood, they can craft a new organ from your own dna and cells, making a perfect organ donation

That's how MeLaan healed Marasi that time in Bands. The real question is what Ulaam's healing concoctions are. Forton's potions, perhaps? Or liquid kandra juice?

On 1/9/2023 at 6:03 PM, Treamayne said:

But also, Re-Shephir doesn't seem to be the only source of Midnight Essence on Roshar. TWoK Chap 19:

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“The Desolation,” [Dalinar] said. “That means the Voidbringers, right? Those are what we fought this night?”

The knight sniffed dismissively. “Voidbringers? These? No, this was Midnight Essence, though who released it is still a mystery.” She looked to the side, expression growing distant. 

 

That could make sense if Re-Shephir was a Core Aether. The question of who released Midnight Essense would just be a question of who sought her out and bonded a corrupted Midnight Aether.

On 1/9/2023 at 5:42 PM, Bzhydack said:

 

Definitly Re-Sephir wasnot full Aether, but just an Aetherbound, probably Corrupted (Unmade) by Odium. Also, there is another possible Aetherbound among the Unmade. Remember Yelig- Nar the Blightwing? This Unmade need host, and when absorbed (or maybe I should tell: gestate?) transforms its host into somthing rocklike, with purple color. And this is fatal. For me, it looks very much like Roseite Aetherbound, or maybe more like Roseite Spore Eater, with additional powers (Parto of Odiums power maybe).

Additionally, this aligns with Aesudan's "Radiants". If Yelig-Nar is some kind of Roseite Core Aether, it could have distributed buds to the Queen's Guard, and to Aesudan and Amaram (assuming the crystal isn't literally Yelig-Nar). 

3 hours ago, Frustration said:

Not really.

Mistings are 1 in a thousand(BoM 190)

And feruchemy is limited to a small subset of the population.

  Hide contents

Kaymyth (parapharased) (paraphrased)

I asked another question about the population levels of Mistings, Ferrings, and Twinborn.

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

The numbers in the [Alloy of Law Mistborn Adventure Game] supplement are off. (It states the occurrence of Mistings/Ferrings is 1 in 50 people.) He said that they're not terrible, but they definitely are shown as somewhat more common than they really are. But he also said that they're not nearly as rare as people seem to think; for example, he stated that virtually everyone would know at least one Coinshot. So there are definitely a lot of Allomancers around.

And the occurrence of Twinborn would not be a normal statistical spread (alas).  As folks opined before in this thread, the Terris folk do tend to keep somewhat to themselves, so there's not a huge amount of population mix.  So Twinborn will be rarer.

I did point out that there had to be some mix, else we'd be seeing full Feruchemists around, and to that he mostly just smiled and looked mysterious.  As he does.

Footnote: Kaymyth later clarified that Brandon said that the MAG numbers are too high.
ConQuest 46 (May 22, 2015)

And on top of that allomancy and feruchemy genes interfere with each other

  Hide contents

Travyl (paraphrased)

Why do the Twinborn in Alloy of Law have only one feruchemical power, when all previous feruchemists, in spite of breeding programs, could use all the metals? 

WetlanderNW (paraphrased)

Or were Ferrings always part of the system and we just didn't meet them in Mistborn?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

The Ferrings are a new development since Mistborn, as the Feruchemists have been interbreeding with the Allomancers. Basically, the Allomancy genes interfere with the Feruchemistry genes, breaking it down and creating the limitations we see in Alloy of Law.

Footnote: Brandon's response was very enthusiastic. He noted how perceptive the question was, and obviously enjoyed the discussion. The reporter has expressed their regret at lack of an audio recording to share his enthusiasm.
Alloy of Law Seattle Signing (Nov. 11, 2011)

 

So twinborn on their own are rare and there are around 265 possible combinations with only 16 of those being compouners.

There have only ever been three crashers and a-steel is one of the more common powers.

to add to this, the Terris people have begun a project to breed a Full Feruchemist, which reduces the mixing between allomancer and feruchemist bloodlines. I think that we readers have come to overestimate the prevalence of twinborn because we see three in AoL (and Forch later on). 

On 12/20/2022 at 5:34 PM, bmcclure7 said:

"Yelamaiszin sent. It had a smooth, calming buzz. It was First, the oldest of the swarms on Roshar. Nikli was the Twenty-Fourth, youngest of them. I like the Bondsmith, for example, though I know he will destroy us. He will not, Zyardil sent. Its buzz was punctuated and sharp. He has made the decision of Honor. That is why he will destroy us, Yelamaiszin replied. He is more dangerous now, not less."

Dawnshard.

Dalinar is the destroyer 

The Sleepless seem to disagree on whether Dalinar is the destroyer. To me, it seems like this could be a misdirection. But even if it holds true, it says nothing about the redeemer.

2 hours ago, trav said:

Cultivations Perpendicularity is still besieged and Honors is still unstable or does not exist at all. This would be the easiest explanation. Or someone got shattered Ambition style.

Still, something would have to happen to make the Oathgates dangerous/inaccessible. Sja-Anat Enlightenment, total destruction, or maybe the Radiants just ended travel through the CR again.

1 hour ago, SpinningSky said:

As @trav just posted, it's a matter of how Brandon has decided to define God metals, not what I think they should or shouldn't do

Though I believe that whether exactly all of them can be burned by anyone is still up to debate, he wanted them in general to be usable by many and unrelated to allomancy

The part that makes the least sense to me is whether God Metals are burnable by anyone in the Cosmere or just any Scadrian. Because the potential to burn metals is not (known to be) a fundamental part of the spark of life, but rather a specific effect of being Connected to Preservation. I understand Lerasium and maybe even Atium and Trellium being burnable by anyone in the Cosmere (since they are consciously incorporated into the Metallic Arts by Shards), but it seems like a leap to say that (for example) Raysium would be burnable by a random Rosharan.

2 hours ago, trav said:

Wax just needs to be killed once. Which is fairly easy. Steel compounder and Wax has little to no chance.

Wayne relies on rushing down enemies and outlasting them via healing. A gold compounder would completely destroy him.

There is no need for any extra spikes or abilities. Set got hit hard by plot required stupidity.

You cannot compound with Hemalurgy anymore (other than Marsh), so useful compounders are stupidly rare. The plot is the main reason they wouldn't work, though (Miles Hundredlives was a gold compounder, so there's pretty much no way we'll ever see a second one born). 

6 minutes ago, Ookla of axi said:

The relevant comparison of Era 2 Scadrial to exploration-era Earth also invites the consideration of another fundamental human quality: greed.  Every major advance in mapping Earth was made by someone looking not for a fight, but a way to GET RICH.  We've seen plenty of textual evidence that Scadrians like accumulating wealth just as much as we do.  The Allomancer Jak stories demonstrate that there is a hunger in Elendel both for adventure and for seeking ancient or mythical treasures.  They have legends of "lost metals" and magical artifacts objectively based in reality; it seems to me that that alone should have been more than sufficient to motivate someone - at the very least - to rusting circumnavigate the coastline of their rusting continent!

We know that many of those gentleman adventurers are phony and just make up or exaggerate their stories. Wax even says of Jak that he at least leaves his manor (implying that others of that type do not). Furthermore, after Wax discovered the Sovereign's Temple, artifacts of the Sovereign began appearing in adventurer stories. People on Scadrial like imagining adventure, but the comfort of the Basin has made them less likely to seek it outside of the Basin. 

On 12/15/2022 at 9:13 PM, lacrossedeamon said:

In the most recent Intentionally Blank Sanderson mentions Midnight Essence when talking about stuff pulled from AoN.

we knew for a while that Midnight Essence and Re-Shephir are inspired by the way the Night Aether works in Aether of Night, but (SP1)

So perhaps since the Night Aether is dubiously canon, Midnight Essence is a convergent manifestation of Investiture. Or perhaps it's directly related to the Aether.

11 hours ago, bmcclure7 said:

Don't suppose you know what form the Aether seed took in AoN?

AoN spoilers (obviously)

At least in the original draft, most Aethers were not crystals. I think the real question is if an Aetherbound would keep their bond and powers through becoming a Cognitive Shadow and becoming corrupted by Odium, which of course we do not have precedent for yet.

1 hour ago, Marabout said:

Shallan, destroyer of worlds

that's a good point, it could be referring to the Shallan's Mother theory (if it's true), in which case, Shallan's actions will have caused the True Desolation. It could then be in the future tense because the ramifications of those actions would not have occurred until after the Synopsis was transcribed (the True Desolation does not begin until the Epilogue, when Taln appears)

Quote

Now there are four whom we watch: the surgeon, forced to forsake healing and fight in the most brutal war of our time; the assassin, who weeps as he kills; the liar, who wears her scholar's mantle over a thief's heart; and the prince, whose eyes open to the ancient past as his thirst for battle wanes.

One of them may redeem us. One of them will destroy us.

I think the Way of Kings synopsis refers to the contest of champions. Kaladin, Szeth, Shallan, or Dalinar will either be a champion or (as others have theorized) disrupt the contest in a way that breaks the deal. Personally, I think Szeth will be either the redeemer or the destroyer, just based on a gut feeling.

Furthermore, since Sixth of the Dusk is at the end of the Cosmere, the planet is probably even further behind in Stormlight/Era 2 (what is generally considered "current" cosmere). Do we know how much FotS tech is given by the Ones Above, anyway? 

We do already know (from the most recent spoiler stream) that Brandon plans for Elantris 2 to begin with Wyrn Wulfden the Fourth truthfully announcing the return of Jaddeth because he says Aonic people and Rose Empire people don't really count as "all mankind". 

It is implied in Secret History that shades exist in Threnody's subastral and are considered an active threat, at least to the Ire. In fact, the Ire (and shadegun) imply that those shades might be able to leave Thenody's subastral. Lastly, the Homeland's Cognitive Realm reflection is dangerous due to the presence of the Evil. 

On 12/5/2022 at 10:33 PM, Olmund said:

I do think we run the risk of giving Transcendent Taravangian too much credit here -- there are plenty of things the diagram gets wrong, which is why the members of the (secret organization) Diagram notice that it becomes less reliable over time, and no matter how smart he was I don't think he had access to any information that would have let him understand shardhood well enough that he could concoct a specific method to kill a vessel and take his place. Szeth was in the diagram, but Nightblood was not (iirc), and certainly Szeth and Nightblood could not have been associated in the diagram since that didn't happen until later.

Anyway, I think Taravangian's initial interpretation of the line "you must be king of everything," is still most likely what his transcendent self was after -- he thought that if he was powerful enough he could have the bargaining power to make Odium leave the majority of Roshar alone after he was released to rampage across the Cosmere.

I also think that it was the unique strength of his "dumb" self (i.e., heightened emotions) that allowed him to kill Odium and take his place. That also seems to be a specific blindspot of his hyper-intelligent self (i.e., he doesn't understand or see the value of human emotion while hyper-intelligent), so it doesn't quite make sense that the intelligent self would bank on his emotions as a means to victory over Odium.

Cultivation, on the other hand, did have access to all of the information necessary to see the possibility of Taravangian killing Rayse, as well as the ability to mask that future from Rayse by introducing so much chaos into the mix -- so I think the credit for the kill does belong to her (even if it was a long shot that she wasn't confident would work), rather than Diagram Taravangian.

It's possible, though, that the errors and omissions in the Diagram were intentional, at least until Taravangian made his deal with Rayse. Because they all led to that meeting, which was a success. The only question (imo) is whether the events of the following year were predicted by Transcendent Taravangian. Actually, there is the question of whether the machinations of Transcendent Taravangian are still active. But I do think that parts of the Diagram were purposely misleading.