Oltux72

It needs the device called the exciser. We do not know what that is or how it works. It being developed in the south and southern arcane technologies based on Harmonium we may speculate that the exciser also does so. Lerasium can be used by people who should not be able to use it. In fact, if we go by the history of the metallic arts burning Harmonium should turn you into a Feruchemist. Now I agree it would be simpler to understand if the medaillons themselves contained Harmonium, but filling them with a special device containing Harmonium may also do the job.

Well, Odium cannot leave.That is the point of the Oath Pact. In a way Honor was sacrificing the people of Roshar to stop Odium. But a line her people have no problem understanding and interpreting. Now. The arrival of the Evil did not coincide with Ambitions demise. (Scadrial)

These catastrophes on Roshar predate Honor's splintering by thousands of years. (Scadrial) The conclusion that a splintering is necessarily a catastrophe has quite little support. His stay in the Rosharan system is involuntary. We can conclude nothing from that.

Well, another magic girl coming from the country side to help her endangered people. But why not? The rest is actually interesting. IMHO plot is the major problem of the novel. But I think it could be remodelled. For example in three books The War against the Shadow Army - end it with a cliff hanger about a second army forming, but slowly, so they have a few months to years The Investigation The Resolution The abrupt reformation of the Shadow Army invalidated the heroic struggle to save the land. And we really got a lone genius emperor revealing a conspiracy on his own. This need not be done. Amberite looks to be canon now. The problem is that the Aether of Night is a bit unbalanced compared to the Aether of Light. It would be a shame for it to be lost. It would add another sentient species to the Cosmere. So we have the Shard of Competition which had an internal conflict between its aspects of Individualism and Cooperation, which it needed to resolve. Yes, it needs to be boosted, but that can be done. Yes. But the Aethers are still fascinating. And they could play a large role in the Cosmere as such. I can imagine for example, that SIlverlight subsists on Verdant as a staple food for poor people. And that the trade caravans through the CR are using Corpate walkers.

OK, how about the ruler dies a few weeks into his reign, unwed and childlessly, so the monk has to be reactivated, as he happens to be the second son? If you see his brides as sent to the king/emperor as an institution, not the person of the ruler, everything can just proceed more or less as depicted. The mixup really does not add that much to the story. Aether of Night is a comedy of confusion, a war novel and a mystery novel and a kind of relevation piece with the back story being discovered. These pieces are ill joined, but I think necessary to make the whole thing work. But the mixup is bogus. Just kill the oldest son, who just inherited during the sacrifice at the Black Pool and transfer the crown to his monk brother and the crisis can unfold.

Well, that is a possibility we can say nothing about. We can look at the other picture with Adolin holding a sword. Also no scabbard. No. Consider how long the sword is. It would hit the ground if pointed straight down from waist level. A scabbard has to be at least as long as the blade. It would stick out, as it cannot be worn vertical. It has to be one of those with a triangular system of straps that keeps them at an angle.In fact this sword is rather close to the upper practical limit for a sword to carry on your belt. A reason to not consider this a dress sword. The cover is on the jacket, not the dress. Her uniform jacket is also considerably shorter. It is a different version, apparently for female wearers. Storm? In Shadesmar? For Shallan and Adolin to be together is just a natural assumption coming from their marriage in Oathbringer, yet otherwise how would they meet? Arranging a rendezvous in Shadesmar is even harder to explain. Or only the very finale of the book is in Shadesmar. Does it end with Urithiru regaining its old glory? How sure can we be Shallan is in the CR?

If this were a part of a uniform, it should include the scabbard. Theoretically he might have removed it at that instant, but that is a complicated explanation. Sorry for being unprecise. Her outfit is not limited to a dress like it would be in doors. Yes and it is open. Meaning that is not just a borrowed male jacket in a shorter version. This is modified for a female user. Simplest explanation: It is hers and she is wearing it because she had been ready to travel. No, the winner. If we compare all four you may note that Adolin is holding a sword in two of them.

Another question arising from the Lift reading. Who are the others whom Wyndle did art for? Can we safely conclude that the Edgedancers are back in numbers and Wyndle is creating an art club?

So has Adolin if he has a bit of change in his pockets. What she does not have is the apparatus used to condense water. She would have to improvise it. Nor is she likely to have a bead for a chunk of ice. Although that really depends on their location. Can you soulcast something into ice and then manifest it? The most serious problem is water. Shadesmar is literally a desert. No standing water, no precipitation. If they are spren. They could also be soul flames. No way to tell be looking at them. In fact a pond or tidal pool should have fish and cremlings in it. They do. Also Shallan is wearing a glove and those boots Adolin is wearing look like sturdy boots for outdoors. Shallan is wearing a jacket, not a dress. In fact it looks like a modified Kholin uniform jacket. Yes, this looks very much like a planned expedition.

Yes. As far as we know every kind of filled metal mind is invested and will show the classical signs of being hard to push or pull (of cause aluminium is hard to prove that way)

That is most likely. But not nearly absolute evidence. An unplanned trip to Shadesmar is usually a death sentence, unless you are carrying a lot of water or Stormlight and know how to use it. You are dropped into a desert for all practical purposes. That means you have two days or so. The first trip to Shadesmar happened to happen to a troop that carried canteens EDIT: Looking at the picture again I noticed that Adolin is not wearing a scabbard. This need not mean anything. It may just be back where his bedroll and backpack that we aren't seeing either are located.

They must have used a pair of an Electrum Misting and a Nicrosil Misting.

I suppose he is carrying a conventional sword precisely it cannot be Maya. Last time in Shadesmar they met Fused. Arming yourself is just prudent. It tells us almost nothing. He may have planned to go to Shadesmar, or have bought a sword in Shadesmar or be carrying someody else's sword.

How do you fit the time line? They locate Venli, whom they know only out of visions of, by unknown means, get to her location and she just agrees to transfer them in an operation she has little to no experience in? The thing is, this happened already. And if you go into Shadesmar without preparation you most likely die. The last time they happened to carry provisions. Well, there is the inconvinient issue of land and water being inverted. Sure you can start out with a boat. But that presupposes preparation. Of course. Please note that I never opposed a voyage to Shadesmar being real. I just said that attributing this to group#2 makes no sense.

In the PR Cultivation's perpendicularity is on a mountain top. That counts as dry land, hence it would be in a sea of beads in Shadesmar. That is a problem. If it is really exactly mirrored, you'd need a submarine to reach it. That would be detrimental to trade and passage. So is a mountain lake an extremely steep undersea mountain in Shadesmar? Is there a ring of dry land around it? Is it still a pool or a droplet?

They seem to be standing on solid ground. Urithiru is located on high mountains. It would be in a sea of beads. This would require either the influence on Urithiru to be located elsewhere and conviently on dry land in Shadesmar and them to have located it and getting there and for some reason to cross over alone there, or for them to plan to travel from that point back to Urithiru. If the latter is the case, how?

My apologies for causing doubt that they are in Shadesmar. That is the entirely reasonable assumption. I share it. My criticism was limited to identifying them as group#2. That hits numerous obstacles. Now I realize that I made the assumption that they are voluntarily in Shadesmar. That is true. Should that turn out to be not the case my objections are moot. True, but then why not send the ex-squires? It seems to me that we could discuss this for ages. I feel the basic issue it boils down to is military logic. If this expedition was prepared for, Dalinar must consider it very important. It would have taken considerable resources to prepare such an expedition. That does not make it unreasonable. On the contrary. Shadesmar must hold at least a full record about past desolations, strategies and weapons used in them. Going to Shadesmar makes sense. Should I have created any other impression, I am sorry. The Knights Radiant are fighting immortal foes. They need a way to change the game and will think out of the box, as they have people who are very good at logic and facing unfortunate truths (That is basically a description of Jasnah.). Now what does a general do at that point? Something that will mean a lot of risk. Military thinking and civillian thinking totally diverge here. You do not plan for a partial success. You have a plan that is costly and risky. You do not have a plan B, likely. So what do you do? In poker you would say that you go all in. You do not send expendable people. You accept that if this mission ends in a disaster, the war is lost. So you put as many resources into it as you can. If they succeed, the losses will be worth it. If they fail, you lose. But you would lose anyway. There is no point in holding something back if that would not be enough. There are no silver medals in war. Yes, that will hurt elsewhere. You have no way to avoid that. He who tries to defend everywhere and to cover all considerations, loses. You win a war by chosing one way to concentrate your resources and neglect all other approaches. Hence sending two people and only two people is extremely problematic. You'd have to argue for convoluted circumstances that allow only two people, those two people in particular and still make this mission worthwhile and sensible. In fact why do they not send an army? Logistics. Transport capacity and supplies are limited. But then you send the people who give most use per capita. All of them you can possibly send, including the radiants of the highest oaths. Kaladin, Jasnah, Shallan. And your top project manager and diplomate: Navani. Hence I am forced to repeat my conclusion. You have identified the mission of group#1. The best scholars they have are Jasnah and Navani. And no, there is a point you send essential people. I need to point out that Jasnah is nobody's wife. Yes, the drawback you describe is real. But there is no plan without drawbacks. Strategy is the art of deciding where resources need to go and to decide what must be neglected. Exactly. And that is the place military thinking diverges. If you are in that situation, you must pick among those missions. You give priority to a subset and completely abandon the others. The resulting losses must be written off, you consolidate your forces and withdraw. And you realize that you are at a disadvantage and losing. You need to risk everything. To pick the right one you need to be a great general. To understand the basic principle that forces you to pick, a basic reading of Clausewitz or Sun Tzi is enough. Yes, but there is no point in running anything at less than 100%. I cannot escape the conclusion. You have identified group#1's mission.

That is a reason not to send him. A deadeye on a diplomatic mission is a problem. Nor is Adolin all that useful as a fighter in Shadesmar. He is used to a shard blade. Alternatively, assuming he will have revived Maya (I still think that is foolish - but lets go with it for now) he is a truly irreplacable asset. You surely do not send him with Shallan alone. That would be mindblowingly stupid. Shallan is the only Lightweaver they have (her squires are useless without her). Adolin is a High Prince. If you send only those two and lose Shallan, Adolin will die from thirst. Not expendable at all. If you wanted to go by expendability, you'd send Teft and a professional diplomat. Or Renarin, as he is only the heir and a healer, not the ruler, if it has to be a Kholin. Pulling ships. Nobody has ridden them. And you would have to be sure you have correctly identified them in the PR. And you have no idea how a captured spren fares if you transfer them. Nor do you know how they would react, after they had been set free. You may have to deal with extremely angry, huge spren, which you cannot afford to seriously harm or drive off. Great joy - you are describing a suicide mission. This would need testing. And if this is tested, you'd send the testers. And the testers would need to include an Elsecaller or Willshaper. Right, but also applies to Adolin and Shallan, albeit to a lesser degree. And Jasnah has a Vorin excuse to not be on the battle field, not so Adolin. And Jasnah can be impersonated as long as you have Shallan. Then you do not send that expedition at all. Standard operational logic. You do not send irreplacable assets on a mission of no likely return, unless this mission is most important. If it is, you bet the farm and send your best people in a sufficiently large group. Compromise is deadly, for it combines the drawbacks of both options with the advantages of neither. Still a suicide mission. All untested. It points to Jasnah going on that mission, too. You have identified the mission of group #1.

Well, I am afraid we have to ask the obvious question. How? The oathgates would refuse the partial transfer. They need a perpendicularity or an Elsecaller (or Willshaper). Has Dalinar learned to repeat calling up Honor's perpendicularity at will? Have they fought their way through the Horneater Peaks? Alone? Sneaking in? A High Prince and his wife? These two would be reduced to walking in Shadesmar. That means that their range is limited to the supplies they can carry on their backs, even if we allow for Shallan to pull off the feat of condensing water. Sending horses or chulls with them would worsen the supply issue. And they would have to rely on Dalinar reforming the perpendicularity at prearranged times at prearranged places for them to return. And if they miss that, it means death. And keep in mind that a perpendicularity is hardly inconspicious. You'll get unwelcome visitors if Fused are in the area. Yet you have to be close to your goal in Shadesmar. I am sorry, this group is too small to go to Shadesmar. And if you go to Shadesmar, Jasnah is likely to be with you. She is the only person to have ever returned by herself. Is that a mission you would send Adolin and Shallan on? You would send at least two people who can condense water. Again, if that is the mission, that would be a real reason for Navani and Jasnah to go out on an expedition. And to include a Windrunner or Skybreaker for transport. It looks to me that if we get an expedition to Shadesmar, that is the mission group #1 is formed for.

Why? The oaths are not wholly independant. We are sure of that among the Windrunners. The 3rd oath is arguably fully redundant.

Survivorism. Kelsier really fought for freedom and the common man. He is a hero worth admiring.

The gem archive states that one should not want to protect everybody due to the fourth oath.

Your body does not contain elementary iron. It contains some iron salts and many complexes of iron. (Incidentally it contains a whole load of zinc, too) Alloys are different from the base metal. Yet the right duralmunium contains just 4% copper. The iron atoms in your blood are a lot more different to raw iron than steel is. All indications are that metals to burn must be in their elementary form.

Shadesmar. They illuminate there.

But then who is who while they are still standing on the ledge? If we really wannt to be certain we can identify only The Lopen (lacking his left arm) and Rock (huge). I guess we can safely assume that the one with the spear standing in the middle is Kaladin. But the others?