Oltux72

Oops. Right. Overlooking the blindingly obvious. That would scream Innovation's world. Possible. I would associate Innovation with #3 as Brandon liked it best and Brandon likes Innovation, but the idea makes sense.

You want wild speculation? We will see the worlds of Innovation and Valor in those four books #1 is set on the Aether planet #2 is Apocalypse Guard (the cover showing many version of Earth is giving that away) #3 is the big mystery. I tentatively expect it to be set on Innovation's world, as Brandon likes that Shard. #4 is featuring Demoux on Valor's world the one to be a graphic novel is kite magic and set on Whimsy's world

The early days would refer to Elantris, The Final Empire or White Sand. I think we can rule out unpublished novels, as the character is known. That would rule out that #4 is centered on somebody from First of the Sun or Threnody. But Hoid would not be a character that would otherwise be overlooked, would he? And Hoid is not referenced in Arcanum Unbounded outside The Emperor's Soul. If you go by experimentation, he'd not experiment on Hoid. Well, so let's narrow this down. Male worldhoppers from early works. The list is surprisingly short: Baon Galladon Hoid Riino Felt Demoux If the cover features the protagonist, Galladon will be unlikely, as he is bald. I'd like to read about Baon, but if their is a connection to Arcanum Unbounded, then it points at Demoux.

Sure

Does that mean that #5 will be kite magic?

... & island That's what I read.

Each of the guesses by itself is plausible. But taken together they raise the question who the known Cosmere character would be.

The woman is facing to the left of the cover. Right of her and somewhat lower on the rock a chalice or cup with a long stem is placed. To the left of her body her legs may be with her knees propped up, if she is wearing a skirt. She seems to be wearing some kind of pendant like enough to be lifted by the wind. The moon itself is heavily createred with larger craters and no maria.

I doubt that on the grounds that we are supposed to get a novel featuring Nicelle Sauvage. I always understood that to be based on the Ghastly Gondola, hence already featuring Nazriloff. It would seem strange to steal his show. That said, we have one character we haven't had a view point of and Taldaine has a moon. The cover of #1 also seems to feature an adult woman. So could that be Khrissalla and this be the story of how she leaves Taldaine?

That leaves #1, #3 and #4 in the Cosmere by implication. #1 must be on a world with a moon. A fairly big moon at that. That rules out Scadrial, Threnody, Ashyn, Braize and, if the moon is to scale, also Roshar #4 seems to be in an urban environment with something in the sky. That may be clouds obviously. It may be something else. Ashyn?

That in itself seems certainly possible but why would it be so noteworthy? You can store a Dawnshard in a mural or in people. Why do you care that it will not longer fit into a specific gemstone to that extent? Indeed. But are you absolutely sure human habitation of Ashyn postdates the Shattering?

Better or worse for whom? And the refusal to qualify the question that way is the core of utilitarianism. Harmony treated Waxillium like a tool not like a man who deserved making his own informed decisions. Of course he had a reason. Yet following that reason means that the ends justify the means. I would not go as far as saying that that is wrong. In fact I am not sure that there is a way beyond personal taste to say so. But I would demand honesty and consistency/ And I find Harmony lacking in that regard. In contrast I find Thaidakar not to have that particular attitude and flaw/ He has others. But from that you cannot say that he is worse than the other side.

We do not. You are right. That is merely consistant with the proposal, not proof of it. Sorry, you misunderstood me. The target of the deception there is Waxillium, not Lessie/paalm/Bleeder. He did not tell Waxillium that his wife is alive, a Kandra and his oponent. I am sorry, but that is about as bad a deception as you can make. Anything Kelsier ever did in that regard pales to inobservability besides that.

I have to challenge that factually. He has changed and learned from his mistakes. But in the manner he saw them, not as some readers based on cultural assumptions think that he should. And he is entirely rational and bases his analysis of his shortcomings on facts. He almost doomed his home planet. How? By acting without knowing all the facts. And he absolutely has fixed that. And a being of divine power told him to be less manipulative. Has he heeded the call and kept his promise? Again: yes. Look at his agent. Mraize is arguably a murder, a blackmailer, a kidnapper and many other things. But he does not lie to you about certain things. Harmony used Lessie. Kelsier wouldn't. Harmony would not have you knifed in a dark alley. Kelsier would. That is the key difference.

I am afraid I cannot support this view. The problem is that Moash was absolutely right. Kaladin should have died there. I'd even say that he expected to. His was the action of a man who draws his sword and throws the scabbard away. Instead he became death incarnate. Moash knew that. The question how Moash knew depends on the question of what happened there.

Now we probably need a discussion about politics in a fundamentally anarchic world and the core difference between a gang and a government. Such discussions are rarely fruitful. Thaidakar himself would likely say something that could be paraphrased as: He chose to play the game. If you do that, you go all in. If you donate part of your income to the protection of rainforests, you are a laudable human being. If you donate the trust fund you hold for a minor child to that cause, you are a criminal. OK, that turns the conundrum up to 11, but it is basically what Honor and Cultivation did. It was noble, but in a certain sense disloyal. And it is what Harmony would do. For the same reason it is what Thaidakar would not do. Precisely because it is the ultilitarian thing to do. Yet he died for his people, while Hoid (to some extent) and Harmony (fully) trick others into doing the dirty work.

Hoid being named Topaz likely predated human habitation of Roshar or at least the use of gemstones as currency. Soulcasters are a late invention comparatively speaking. Apparently gems can be used to store many forms of Investiture, including gadgets or weapons.

Presumably it was a weapon. Therefore Hoid cannot use it.

Well, that works both ways. If it does not matter, why not do to another planet's people what you need to do? Who kept his personal enemy in a system to the detriment of the people in it.

Why is that bad? To be perfectly frank, aren't the Heralds imperialists taking away a planet from its natives? People who cooperated with a nonhuman force - a Shard - to put their own people into an endless cycle of wars?

Jasnah fully expects that to happen. "Keep your friends close; keep your enemies closer." In her case that is very close indeed. If you look at their relationship as based on romance, you are mistaken.

I see him keeping that promise. But what does it really mean? Kelsier will treat you as a partner. Mind you, not as an equal partner, he is clearly in charge. But he will order you around, not manipulating into doing what he wants you to do. He contrasts most starkly with Harmony on that. Is he utiltarian? I would not see it as that. He is simply nationalist. He will protect Scadrial. The rest of the Cosmere does not matter all that much to him. Well, no. Hoid has a clear interest in this. He fights Odium. That is not identical to defending Roshar. He straight up told Dalinar. Hoid is the ultimate utilitarian here. A whole world is a tool to him. And going by the numbers he is right. Sacrificing Roshar to save the rest of the Cosmere is the logical thing for an outsider to do. The great thing about Brandon's books is that even the villains have sensible motives and the stories cannot be reduced to a simplistic good versus evil. It really shone in Oathbringer when Kaladin understood whom he had been fighting.

Very reluctantly for the topic is associated with racism in the western hemisphere for historical reasons. But hiding does not help here. Sure and you can clearly find examples of economies based on slaves failing. Prime examples would be the late Roman Empire and indeed the antebellum South of the USA. So we know that there is a potential for having too many slaves or unrestricted slavery leading to failure. But are we picking cherries? Egypt in the age of the pyramids, Sumer, Babylon, the city states of the Late Bronze Age, Mykene, the Hittite empire, classical era Greece, the Caliphate during the golden Era of Islam, all were slaveholders and arguably pinnacles of human civilization during their place and time. Hence the data is not clear. For all we know the economically optimal number of slaves in an economy may be small but greater than zero or below a threshold it may just not matter. The notion that the optimum number of slaves is zero is not substantiated. We are taking a leap of faith for ethical reasons. And so is Jasnah. She wants this. Her reasons are not pragmatic and in the short run her policies are harmful. I am afraid there are people who to Thaidakar for reasons of class cannot be true, lasting allies. We are talking about the economic impact here, not politics. Illiterate people are fundamentally unproductive people. You cannot store information in such a way that they could access it. How would they keep a log book?

No, for you would have no control group. You could always argue that other factors, for example the Vorin rule of keeping half your population illiterate, are the crucial difference. Thaidakar will do such things to an enemy or a neutral party. He will not do it to a friend. Good and bad are not important categories to him. Friend and foe are.