Use the Falchion

Apparently others who have a better memory than me are stating that Brandon did confirm there would be retail versions, but he's unsure if they'll be the same fancy hardcover versions that the Kickstarter has. And I honestly can't imagine Brandon having a limited release for his books in perpetuity. Brandon's a brilliant writer and a smart businessman. He's not going to try to lose out on future sales and future fans for short-term gain.

Give us ALL the speculation! The Apocalypse Guard would be an awesome release! Although since Brandon co-wrote it with Dan, I'm not sure how that would work...still, I hope to see soon! The kid's book graphic novel we actually know about! It's called "Super Awesome Danger" and features a robot frog!

Seconding others, I think: Secret Project 1 - Kingmaker Secret Project 3 - YA Kite-based magic system Secret Project 4 - The Silence Divine Admittedly, I'm not sold on these, since Kingmaker and the Kite-based magic system have been pitched as YA books, and Brandon is calling this adult. Secret Project 2 is a massive toss-up, and I have no idea what to theorize about it. I'll just randomly guess Soulburner, but I imagine it'll be something even more quirky. (I also think Soulburner may still be a videogame.) EDIT: Silverlight makes more sense than The Silence Divine at this point and due to some of what Brandon has said, but I'd still like The Silence Divine more right now, so I'm keeping it up.

I've been saying "Why Brandon" while laughing/crying for the past ten minutes.

Dan Wells talked a little bit about the Dark One novelization in his interview with the Sandersonian Institute of Cosmere Studies tonight. He didn't mention much, but he confirmed that Dark One: Forgotten is turned in and complete, and he's about 84% done with the Dark One novelization. The novelization and the graphic novels will be doing their own things, separate from each other but based on the same outline Brandon wrote. Sadly, as far as Dan knows, the show version of Dark One is dead in the water at this time. There's some behind-the-scenes information that Dan knows a little more about, such as who else was attached to the show besides J Michael Straczynski at times, but his information was pretty limited. Still, an update this small is leagues more than what we've had for a while. I don't know if this information will be present in or have any impact on tomorrow's announcement, but we'll have to wait and see. (I'll also be posting this to the Dark One subreddit tomorrow after the update.)

She had a few POV moments in BoM IIRC. She talks about her sister gaining the Bands not making the appendix, and there's an earlier time where she's a PoV, but I can't remember what the conversation was about. Still, I think the idea of her being a Misting (maybe one who who snapped because of the kidnapping?) to be a really cool twist!

He and Peter have mentioned a couple of times looking for someone of the right ethnicity and history to help write it, so I think that one's already in "co-writing" territory in his mind. Now that we know it's not health related, my guesses are: He's leaving Writing Excuses. He hasn't been on in months, if not a full year at this time, and he doesn't have the time anymore, so he may just be waving the white flag here. More collaborations, fewer side projects. He'll be handing off the Cytoverse completely to Janci and Darci, working with Dan on Apocalypse Guard, and leaving Reckoners to Steven Bohls. This is good news since these people can continue doing what they've been doing and can end with Brandon announcing a co-writer for The Atzlanian. No more teaching or touring. He has too much work to dedicate to doing that now, sadly. Stormlight 5 is being delayed because a Mistborn movie is coming possibly in late 2023 or 2024. The producers/director/team behind it and his own publishers want a Mistborn book out by that time, and Brandon still wants to write all three back-to-back. He also wants a larger part in the script and just more control overall. That means once he's finished TLM, he'll go straight into MB Era 3 stuff, and while revising Defiant and looking over the scripts and pre-production stuff. On the bright side, that might mean there's a year where we'll get both a Mistborn Era 3 book and a Stormlight book! All of the above. His workplace is becoming unwieldy and stressful, so he took a break from teaching and is now dropping it altogether. Then the movie news came in, and Brandon has been struggling with how to approach it. Thus Brandon is "jettisoning" some other responsibilities in order to streamline his workflow...but that still leaves the behemoth that is Stormlight 5. What does Brandon do? Does he acknowledge that he can write Stormlight now and not have a Mistborn book ready for the movie, or can he delay Stormlight for a couple of years and get Mistborn Era 3 up and running now, and then write Stormlight 5? But what happens to his 5-year Stormlight hiatus then? Does he just ignore it, and restructure the series to be one, long-form series? (Not unlike ASoIaF where GRRM planned a 3-6 year time-skip but ended up changing his plans, and that's part of what contributed to the delay in books.) Or does he write Book 5 after years away from it, then take another break to write Elantris 2, Elantris 3, & Nightblood, and then come back to it? Or does he jettison those books too? ...or maybe he finds someone else to help co-write them?

That makes sense! Thanks! I still don't like it and find it asinine since this is a show being created in a time when diversity matters more than ever, but it makes a little more sense. That is not to say that diversity for the sake of diversity is an inherently good thing, but rather it's a point that should be judged on the storylines and subtext that comes with the diversity whenever possible IMO. If there's no storyline or subtext there, then move on and let it be. I just find it befuddling that something that can make some kid's day is somehow a problem because it doesn't fit into lore that the kid isn't going to care about, and that the show may not even use. It's not gatekeeping, but it's...well, it's something. I guess since I'm a superhero fan first and foremost, I'm used to seeing changes in adaptations and looks of actors and roles, so it doesn't bother me as much. Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, they can all be changed to different ethnicities and I'd be fine. Heck, Spider-Man has been changed to different ethnicities to tell different stories in different cultures, and I welcome it! But I guess to me the skin tone change would be like if Steve Rogers aka Captain America was now a minority during WW2. But when I think about that, the problem for me isn't about the race/ethnicity change, it's about how they'll implement that into Steve's character. So for ROP, what do these skin tone changes mean for the world, if anything at all? If fans think it means something, then shouldn't the speculation focus on that instead of whether or not it's true to the text? If there isn't meaning involved (which is 100% fine too), then shouldn't the focus be on the story outside of these changes? That shouldn't be the show's problem to deal with, and it doesn't speak to the quality of the show. It speaks to the rigidness of the fans. Eh, it is and it isn't. It involves time travel, and it's not written or treated like an extension to the book in any real fashion (i.e. new covers and versions, limited editions, etc.), so YMMV on whether or not it's Canon. But it shouldn't have been a problem for fans in the first place. If they want to consider it canon, then they can imagine that the Hermione in the show is white and enjoy the story. If they like the story and don't like the cast, consider this cast an alternate universe. Or they can try to read the books in a new light. Makes for a fun reread. Regardless, the problem isn't just the fans in the Hermoine case, but I consider her an outlier to what's happening here. Although maybe I shouldn't... JK used book evidence - or rather lack of evidence - to support her claim, or rather an open acceptance to fans to view Hermoine as they please. Yes, the movies had existed before, but that doesn't mean a new person can step into the same role and play the same character differently, particularly in a different medium. To use the example above, fans were free to interpret this as Way B in Version 1 or Version 2. It shouldn't have mattered in the way that it did. JK's comments weren't saying Way B is how Version 1 MUST be viewed from now on!", but rather "Way B is how fans can view it with my blessing." It was like a softer Pre-RoW version of Shallan's bisexuality. Brandon admitted that it wasn't intentional by design, but he fully encouraged it and eventually wrote it into canon. Here, JK isn't say that Hermione was Black by design, simply that she loves the idea of Hermione being Black and supports it personally. Fans are free to take this or leave it as they choose. By the time Noma played Hermoine on stage, the Harry Potter franchise had outgrown its own fans, honestly. It's a brand name now, despite all of the controversies of the creators and actors. They can - and will - do whatever they want despite what "the fans" want, for better and for worse. Then why is skin tone the first, second, and third thing I hear about when I try to find a nice community (again, outside this forum. Y'all and the rest are great here) to talk about this show with? If it shouldn't be a big deal, then I'd like to see the conversations about this show stop treating it like it's a problem. Ultimately, @Thaidakar the Ghostblood and @Frustration thanks for helping me understand. I doubt I'll agree, but at least I have a clearer view of what the changes actually mean to fans of the property and how they feel about them.

Me too! But alas, it's stuck in pre-production for now. We've got a few more years before anything comes of it. Keeping the spirit while making the necessary changes elsewhere, yup! The MCU movies are masters of this. This gets into two things IMO. The first is fan expectations. The second is who the adaptation is for. Fans aren't wrong for expecting things, but when that expectation gets in the way of the enjoyment of a product or blinds fans to what it is because they're consumed by what it should have been in their own mind, then the problem isn't the movie/show/book/etc, it's the fans. Good expectation: A good show or adaptation that keeps the spirit of the material. The best adaptations inspire people to seek out the source material. Bad expectation: A show that's 100% accurate to the books/source material without any changes or fully in-world explanation for changes immediately. I'll use a controversial but personal example, and then a lighthearted example from Rhythm of War. The Last Jedi - A lot of people expected Rey's heritage to be something big, be it a Skywalker, Solo, Kenobi, or Palpatine. When it was revealed that she was a Nobody, there was a very vocal side of the Star Wars fandom that was upset. Heck, there are those who are still upset almost five years later. Because they had built up an idea in their head about what TLJ was going to be, who Rey was, and what the story would be in order to please them, and when the movie couldn't measure up or didn't go how they predicted, they were hurt. This is understandable and not a problem. I've felt this way many times. But the problem is when fans like these - who are usually hardcore ones - claim that the movie/adaptation/story is bad because it didn't go how they wanted it to go. That's not true. Sure, they may not like the direction, but not liking a direction isn't a quality issue IMO. It's a mix of personal and pride issues. Rhythm of War - Pre-RoW, I shipped Kaladin and Jasnah pretty hard. I felt like they'd make a great "opposites attract" sort of couple, if given time to explore the lots of common ground they have. Then this behemoth comes out and now we have Jasnah and Wit. And while I'm still not a giant fan of the relationship for a myriad of reasons, that speaks less about the relationship and more about me as a reader and fan. (And mostly my problems are that my backup relationship for Jasnah was her and a certain smiley someone with scars.) Still, I'm all aboard the Kaladin and Leshwi ship now! Now, the uncomfortable truth, as I see it anyways - Adaptations are not for hardcore fans or the diehard fans who have been following the source material. ADAPTATIONS ARE FOR THOSE WHO COULD BE FANS OR WHO COULD LIKE THE STORY, IF GIVEN A DIFFERENT MEDIUM. These fans be part of the adaptation at its most critical time (the beginning) regardless of whether or not they love or hate the premise. These fans aren't the target demographic, because they're assumed, at least for a while. No, the target demographic will be people who watch with their Significant Other or say "I'm into ABC, but I'm open to XYZ." About what percentage of viewers started Game of Thrones without picking up the books first? How many picked up the books in anticipation for the series after hearing good things? How many would have said that they liked the Fantasy genre because they read/watched Harry Potter and LOTR, but those are really their only experiences? (Plus-or-minus Narnia.) It's people like those that shows like WoT and ROP are trying to draw in. Hardcore fans are a starting point, but they're far from an ending point. Why does this matter to your point? New incoming fans will not care about the changes made from the original unless they decide to read the source material. Because they won't know any better.* So why should these changes be such a big deal to hardcore fans? The promise of an adaptation isn't the promise of a pure translation or even your (the general "your", not you specifically)/the fans/the general populace's desire for something to be adapted. Agreed Hermoine is an outlier case. I think we're agreeing maybe, but I may have misread you. I think you were saying: Changing a character who is seen as Way A way in Version 1 to be seen as Way B in Version 1 doesn't work. What I heard: Changing a character who is seen as Way A in Version 1 to be seen as Way B in Version 2 doesn't work. I agree with what I think you were saying. And Hermione isn't? Hogwarts doesn't exist. Nynaeve is also from a series that was older than HP, had multiple versions of her on cover art, and has been depicted in art books and graphic adaptations. The difference is Robert Jordan and/or Brandon aren't going back to say "Nynaeve was always Black!" Brandon and Rafe are saying "this is a different timeline/alternate universe/turning of the wheel." The point is that the pushback based on preconceived notions of the skin tone happened to them both, just one because the author got involved and made a big retroactive deal instead of taking another route. Also, looking back, using Hermoine is an even weirder case that we thought! Apparently, someone was/people were upset that they had cast a black woman (Noma) for the HP&CC play, and tweeted about it, noting a time when the word "pale" was used to describe Hermoine. JK tweeted back that she never said Hermoine was white in the books, pointing out that the only canon things about her was "brown eyes, frizzy hair, very clever" and that she "loves Black Hermoine." This was taken then taken to mean that JK was retroactively claiming that Hermoine was black rather than "this version of her is black" or even just "black girls can now see themselves as Hermione." Of course! The biggest debate and discussion for the upcoming show I've seen has been about skin tone. (I've seen lesser comments about the dwarven women not having beards, but only in passing.) It's felt racist, excusatory, unwelcoming, and overall, it's been a turn-off because I don't want to have to deal with this every time I talk to someone online about the show, if I do watch it. I'd talk about it to my friends, but they aren't guarantees to watch the show. To someone who isn't a hardcore fan, this sounds like a silly (at best) line to draw and an outdated thing to adhere to, if it was that way in the books. That's why I ask why it matters and who cares if it's like that in the books or previous outings. If this is a different era from the other LOTR movies, who cares about how they portrayed it during a different time? If this is in the same timeline, why should a new show trying to reach new audiences stick to old demographic patterns? There are more important things to talk about in the show than the skin tone of some characters. The fact that the skin tone change in a negative light is has been the most memorable and constant thing outside of the talks here on this thread...well...it doesn't paint a very flattering picture. And like this picture to be flattering thank you very much! *Now ideally, this adaptation will inspire the new fans to check out the source material. From there, a productive and engaging discussion over what changed and why, and what that means for future seasons and/or stories can be discussed.

There are light-skinned Black people (and it is possible for Black people to have a reflection in the moonlight, but it will look different), but I definitely understand the sentiment here, since the re-imagining of Hermoine was as a dark-skinned Black girl. The problem here is multi-stepped, but it mostly goes back to the Death of the Author mindset. The first problem is marketing and audience. Even if JK hadn't said anything about pale skin, Hermoine had been portrayed as white on the covers of the Harry Potter books as well as in the movies, meaning that the audience had a certain assumption about the character's skin tone, one that became culturally accepted. The second problem isn't the portrayal of Hermione, but the JK's retroactive interpretation of events and timing of it. This rarely ever works - George Lucas did something similar with the Star Wars OT Special Editions, and all that did was backfire to the point that "Han Shot First" has been a rallying cry against Lucas' revisionist habits for decades at this point. Lucas wanted Han to shoot second because he thought that it would be less heroic if he shot first. (Never mind that Han wasn't a hero at the moment.) A similar thing is true for JK and Black Hermoine - IIRC, she saw artwork and wanted to be more inclusive, so she retroactively changed a character's ethnicity and skin tone to line up with modern day sensibilities and major sociocultural movements. The third "problem" is that Black Hermoine does exist. In the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child play, Hermoine has been played by Noma Dumezweni, Paula Arundell, and Yonna McIntosh, all Black actors of various ethnicities and backgrounds. I use the quotations because I don't think this is a problem in and of itself. It's a choice an alternate universe version of Harry Potter chose for casting and diversity, and it should have no impact on how people feel or perceive the books or movies unless they decide that this is the better version. The problem is that JK used the above two arguments to justify this one, when in reality she didn't need to. She could easily have said "hey, yeah, we're changing Hermoine to be Black," or better yet, nothing at all. But because of the desire to be internally consistent, JK had to go back and make sure that the book version of Hermoine matched this new one. Or at least that's how I see it. Because it now runs opposite of how they imagined and have seen it. It's the same thing that WoT went through, and the same thing that LOTR is going through. For decades, fans have imagined a certain set of people looking a certain way, as backed up by the books. The previous adaptations be it movies, comics, or shows, have all backed this up. Now, something new is coming out that doesn't reaffirm this belief, so either the show must be wrong, or the audience must be wrong, because they both can't be right, can they? It's that mindset that I don't agree with or care for. The new version is an interpretation of the old version, or of a set source material. Of course it won't be the same - different mediums and times require different methods and talents. The problem with this is that for the non-LOTR fans, this doesn't fully matter. All I've seen is fans who seem unwelcoming to a change that can only be for the better because of arbitrary reasons in a fictional world. Who cares about what the books said in this case? Why does this show, from a different time period AFAIK, need to justify what the movies did or didn't have?* Good news is that we may get it soon enough! IIRC, Michael B Jordan is producing a Black Superman movie. You'd be surprised at some of the pushback I've seen. Slight Tangent: The problem with Black Clark Kent is that there's already a Black Superman named Calvin Ellis, who becomes the President of the USA while also being Superman. (He was a loving homage to Barack Obama and came out during Obama's presidency.) As much as I love him, this character isn't Clark, and that's not even going to mention the controversy this character can cause if those who dislike the character decide using him is a political agenda. What I want is to see a Clark with different dimensions due to skin tone rather than one who just happens to look different. That's a big debate, because several other Black people I've talked to agree with the latter - they'd rather see more original Black heroes than heroes who were turned Black for the sake of diversity. The problem, though, is that coming out with a superhero that ISN'T attached to a legacy character but can stand their ground is very, very, very hard to do nowadays. Make that character a minority, and they have a major uphill battle to climb. The cheat is to get a show about said character, but most characters with shows today are still related to more famous heroes. I have to disagree with this. I think it can and absolutely does work. Nick Fury is a living example. Nick Fury was a white character for most of his existence. Roughly 20 years ago in an alternate universe, he was Black. Then that universe became popular, so people started associating Nick Fury with the Black version. The Iron Man came out, and Nick Fury was played by Samuel L Jackson. (Who, ironically, the Black Nick Fury was based off of.) Then this version of Nick Fury became so popular that in the mainline comics, they replaced the white Nick Fury with his Black son...also named Nick Fury. Or a more recent example is Nynaeve from WoT. For the nearly 30 years of her existence, fans had seen her as white. When the news broke that she was going to be played by the lighter skinned but still Black Zoe Robbins, fans were...not happy. But when the show came out, Nynaeve was towards the top of people's favorites characters from what I can tell. My sister in particular liked Nynaeve...although that may also be because I liked her character and she thought I had a crush on her. A reverse is with Iron Fist, although that's a loaded example. Basically, the character is seen as a version of the Whitey Mighty trope, and when there was a plea from fans for Netflix to cast an Asian-American actor in the role, they went with the comic-accurate version. This was FAR from the only reason the show was not as well received, but it was one major talking point at least. (Bad choreography with behind-the-scenes drama between cast and crew, terrible scripts, and unlikeable characters make up the other talking points.) Ultimately, I see the perspective you mention to be one that hurts everyone involved, except for the people who care about skin tone. The show won't reach nearly the audiences it could if it doesn't diversify, meaning less revenue and fewer ratings, which means a less likely chance for renewal, which ultimately leads to a dead project that will forever be touted as "gone too soon." Diversifying the show by adding different skin tones and ethnicities won't fix all of these issues, but it may just reach a larger audience than before. *I say this with irreverence, but I do understand the importance of this, even if I don't see it myself. I feel annoyed when Star Wars shows don't reference the larger canon. The same was true for the Marvel Netflix shows back in the day.

Thank for understanding. I'm just always confused on why this should matter in the first place in a fantastical world. Sometimes I get the argument, like the debate about how it would change things if Clark Kent or Bruce Wayne were of a different race/ethnicity. But even then, the change can lead to good social commentary or connecting with audiences that have historically been left out, so I'm always a proponent of that type of change if it means more representation or a different story. (Black Clark Kent raised by white parents can help the character reach out to transracial adoptees; Black Bruce Wayne can be used to underscore the sometimes "Oreo" feeling that Black people feel if they aren't "urban' enough, or even highlight the simple fact that tragedies and crimes that happen to minorities are less likely to be covered or reported.) In the case of fantasy adaptations, I guess I don't see why it would matter. Having more people see more characters that look like them onscreen should be a good thing. For the little black girl who always loved fantasy but never saw herself in those fantasy shows, why should she feel left out because it wasn't explicitly in the books? Then again, as of WoT, I've started realizing and approaching adaptations with the mindset that these aren't made to be 1-1 adaptations, nor are they truly made for the hardcore fans.* We as Brandon Sanderson fans have the luxury of seeing this firsthand, so that when (and not if, but when) Mistborn and Stormlight and other works by Brandon are adapted, we don't fall into the same traps. Vin may not be a pale-skinned black-haired girl like she is in the books. Kelsier may have scars on his shoulders and face instead of primarily his hands. And that will be okay. Stormlight will be harder of course, but it's already a step ahead due to having its ethnographic information built in and some parts such as eye color and hair color even classified as important. *It's more of that I had accepted this and all different versions when it came to superhero stuff, but I'm transferring that over to fantasy as of WoT and all of Brandon's talks about how different the Mistborn screenplay treatment is from the book.

I'm not a LOTR fan at all, but I've seen the original movies a couple of times throughout the years and watched the Hobbit movies in theaters with friends when they came out (and I remember not liking much outside of the casting). With that mindset, I was excited to see the trailer, and I really liked it! I thought it teased the world very well and looked very good for a show. The saddest part to me has been the reception from the fans. I get it not looking like the books, but WOW was I not expecting the levels of racism and vitriol I found on even the good YouTuber's channel. As a black man, this made me deeply uncomfortable. I looked to other parts and people to try and see if it was just an awkward place and time, but the controversy over skin tone seems fairly, to the point I wondered if I should watch this show at all. Not because it may be bad, but because I'm going to want to talk to it with people if I do watch it, and I don't want to deal with things there that I have to deal with in other fandoms and aspects of life. That isn't to say other fandoms haven't dealt with this - WoT was subject to this as well, but that quickly left the picture when 1. the actors nailed the characters regardless of the looks, and 2. the plot changed, meaning fans had "more important" things to deal with. Star Wars dealt with this, but it felt more like an esoteric civil war than what I can see with LOTR. Superhero movies deal with this, although far less than they used to nowadays, and mostly about specific things like race lifts vs original characters. I understand that these things aren't reflections of the whole of a community, but when it's your first impression and one that hasn't really been proven wrong, can you blame someone for dipping out and/or calling the community toxic? THAT BEING SAID, I AM NOT CALLING THE LOTR TOXIC. I've heard it called toxic before, and my first impressions certainly didn't help that, but I'm simply not involved enough to make that claim.

I've been thinking it could be the Bondsmith book because every book sort of has this bookends or parallel theming going on. In TWOK, we start the book with a Herald's death and Kaladin as a free man turned into a slave. The book ends with Kaladin being freed from slavery and with a Herald's return. WOR, we start off with the death of Shallan's mother and end in that same place. There's also the theme of responsibility for one's actions throughout. Shallan feels responsible for her family. Kaladin struggles with what's justice and what's revenge, and how much is his to take. Szeth is broken by his sense of responsibility and lack of accountability. OB, we start and end the book with a wedding. RoW, we start the book with Kaladin being forced out of duty, and end with Kaladin openly setting himself aside from the active-duty role, or at least acknowledging he isn't fit for it anymore. I think Book 5's parallel story could have been the story of Dalinar and Tanalan Jr. In OB's flashbacks, we see how Dalinar doesn't kill a child and it leads to the death of his wife, his own sanity breaking, and his nigh corruption at the hands of Odium. I think this could have easily been Book 5's arc in a different world. The Tanalan's death would have worked as it does in OB, as a point of horror for the audience, because as horrible as Dalinar had been up to that point, he hadn't killed a child yet. When we find out later that Dalinar didn't kill the child, we're relieved. This would contrast the present, where Dalinar is faced against another child, this time his own great-nephew/step-grandson, and we the audience may be actively rooting for him to kill the child, lest worse things happen. We're rooting for him to kill the child, because we're seeing the consequences of Dalinar not doing so in his own life. But this is where the book tells us we're wrong for having caveats and exceptions in our morals. Dalinar's lack of killing the child back then freed him up to be the man who he could become (eventually). So Dalinar isn't going to fall to the same temptation again, even if it dooms all of Roshar. But in that tragedy, there may be victory to be found...the themes of a child picking up his father's banner - from Gavilar picking up the ancient Kholin banner, to Dalinar picking up the Knights Radiant banner, to Tanalan picking up his father's banner - would be carried on, but this time with Kaladin, Son of Tanavast, picking up Honor's banner and ascending. Some of this could still happen. I believe some of this will happen, but it will be with different themes and meanings rather than the ones that could have been. Maybe, like Book 1, our final chapters will be with Kaladin, then Szeth, then the Heralds and Wit together.

Definitely splurging for the book and the shirt. Hope they sell it separately!

Kaladin with an Honorblade is something that I really want to see now, but I think it may happen a little differently. I'm still a proponent of the theory that Dalinar, to "win" the contest, is going to have to manipulate his Connection to various things...including his Connection to the Stormfather himself. Dalinar's going to do this at a moment where he's about to ascend, and then push it to Kaladin, who himself will have said his Fifth Ideal, and the power of the that new bond, along with Tanavast's Cognitive Shadow (?) and the ability to see just how many people Kaladin has a Connection to and has influenced will push him to become Honor. But yeah, I'm with you on Kaladin Ascending. From little things like "Honor is dead, but I'll see what I can do" having so much more impact to things like being called the "Son of Tanavast" making a little more sense.

I played some Horizon: Zero Dawn New Game+ waiting for Pokemon Legends: Arceus, and I have been switching between the two ever since. Tonight though, I played the Triangle Strategy demo, and now the game has been upgraded from "Might Buy" to "MUST BUY." That means March will see the release of three new games for me (which, combined with PLA, is already twice the number of games I bought last year): Triangle Strategy on March 4 Rune Factory 5 on March 22 Kirby & the Forgotten Land on March 25 Those should ideally keep me busy for the next year until Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes on June 24, and those five games will hopefully last me the entire year. Maybe restarting Dark Deity and actually finishing that will help as well. If I need a break from the above games, I can always jump back into HZD to finish up the NG+ playthrough. Then in 2023, I'll buy a PS5 just in time for Insomniac's Spider-Man 2, any Horizon: Forbidden West DLC, and potentially KOTOR's remake and Persona 6 (alongside any necessary updates for games like Gotham Knights and Forespoken). Who knows, maybe Brandon's videogame will release by the end of that year also. Maybe they'll even have demo stations at Dragonsteel Mini-Con 2023. EDIT: I forgot the sequel to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. If that comes out this year, I'll play it on the PS4. If it's good, I'll play it again on the PS5. If it comes out next year, I'll just play it on the PS5.

I'll be honest, I'm never going to play this game. I enjoy Chuggaaconroy's videos too much to play the game. So I'll probably just end up waiting 4-5 years until he LPs it...but it'll be so good when he does! For those who are going to get this, congrats! I hope it's awesome and amazing and is everything the rest of the series is for you. And it coming out in September is far earlier than expected!

My own thoughts, after sleeping on it, I'm feeling a lot more excited about this idea than yesterday. I'm generally not a fan of sequels erasing the choices/decisions/consequences of previous games, but since Three Houses has a Time-Reversal mechanic built in, it's not too bit of a leap. My personal theory is that Byleth isn't the one to rewind time. Someone else does, and Byleth, having a similar power, remembers what happens in the future and is now working to avert that fate. This doesn't go as planned, and while things seem to be going down the same route as before, now two (or maybe, depending on a route, all three) House Leaders will team up to change their fate. YES, I THINK THIS WILL BE THE SILVER ROUTES PATH I HAVE BEEN PROMOTING FOR OVER A YEAR NOW. My evidence for this is scant, but I think certain lines of dialogue and scenes in the trailer hint at this being the case: We see Claude and Dimitri fighting in one scene while being back-to-back in another. I think this might come from two different paths, one where Claude is still the enemy and one - probably Dimitri's - where Claude and Dimitri team up. A different path sees Claude team up with Edelgard, once he explains to her (as said in the trailer), "I have ambitions, Edelgard. Real ones." We also have scenes where Edelgard fights Judith (associated with the Alliance and thus the Golden Deer) and one where Dimitri fights...someone who is from the Empire. Breaking it down, we have at least five paths so far then: Edelgard vs the Alliance: Dimitri vs the Empire: Dimitri and Claude together: Dimitri vs Claude: Edelgard vs Dimitri interrupted by Claude: (Golden Route?) There's also a theory that Byleth wasn't asleep during the time-skip this time around; so this is the same events from the first game, but because Byleth is awake, she can change things. Other notes: Jeralt seems to be getting up from his death, which raises a LOT of questions as to whether someone changed it or revived the Bladebreaker after he had originally died. We see something splitting a beam from Rhea's Dragon form into two. Of course, Rhea will be an enemy during this game, but is that a scene from the final part of the game, or just an alternate route? Hubert was obviously seen in the trailer, but apparently Hilda was there also! So, we're probably going to get at least our House Leaders and their retainers as playable characters. Here's to hoping we get everyone else! FE Warriors had longer single support conversations than most FE games up to that time, and they focused on characters who didn't support each other in their own games (Hinoka & Elise, Camilla & Sakura, Chrom & Owain, Lissa & Lucina) or crossover supports. If the trend continues, then we'll probably see some supports from characters who have already supported each other, such as the Retainers, but more from those who haven't. I can't say for sure what we'll see, but I can hope for: The House Lords (Dimitri/Claude, Dimitri/Edelgard, Edelgard/Claude) Ignatz & Sylvain - Art Bros Ashe & Bernadetta - Hoodie Duo Dimitri & Dorothea - She's good friends with Ingrid and can marry Dimitri's other two childhood friends. I find it weird that these two don't support each other. Claude & Dedue - Foreign Bros Petra & Dedue - Foreigners Unite! Marianne & Dorothea - If only as an allusion to Marianne's popularity as a Dancer Dorothea & Shamir - The first game had Matt Mercer talking to himself with Chrom & Ryoma, why not do so again? (And then do the same with Greg Chun in an Ephraim/Ike Support in a proper Warriors 2?) Seteth & Shamir - Seteth can support every other church member but her and Rhea. That needs to be rectified. Serenes Forest also has a great breakdown of the trailer, so check that out too! Overall, like how Persona 5 Strikers and Age of Calamity were received, I can imagine this being a gem and a nice sequel for those who play it and choose to view it as such.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZyZB-Zjxxo So, apparently, we're getting a new sort of sequel/potential Cosmic retcon of Three Houses in the Warriors style. What you y'all think of this?

I read the first Shadow & Bone book, and I was...not impressed. I liked it, but I had read so many similar or similar-feeling YA books at the time, I just didn't see this one going anywhere special. I read Six of Crows and loved it though! I haven't gotten around to reading the sequel, but I'll do that someday. I'm really not interested in the rest of the world or series or in the adaptation either, but I'm happy for the series' success. Bardugo's earned it. (I also try to leverage the series' success to influence those who have read it to read Mistborn as well.)

Could there be a third type of Best Girl? Like, one who is neither a main character but is majorly influenced by the main character? I'm veering more into game territory, but I think of many of the non-Phantom Thieves girls from Persona 5 (Royal) and Marianne, Bernadetta, and Annette from Fire Emblem: Three Houses could count. (And certainly, Hinata Hyuuga from Naruto.) Makoto and Haru can certainly count as main characters, but Marianne isn't one. The main characters of FE:TH are Byleth, Claude, Dimitri, and Edelgard, with characters like Rhea and Seteth stepping up to the plate depending on your point of view. Marianne is a playable character, but she doesn't shape the story in any way, nor does she shape the character. Heck, if you're not playing Golden Deer and don't recruit her, she disappears from the game entirely. But people still love her, to the point that in Fire Emblem Heroes' annual popularity contest, she won first in the Woman's Division last year. Marianne's character development is seen as one of the best in the game. She goes from depressed (and worse) and insecure to opening up about her issues, to resolving to live on and live with those around her, and even proposing to an S-Ranked Male Byleth. (She's one of the three characters that does so IIRC - Marianne, Rhea, and I think Constance. Either way, it's a limited group.) Between this and her malleability as a unit (she's great as a Dancer, Falcon Knight, Holy/Dark Knight, Mortal Savant, Gremory, and most of the DLC classes (although she is outclassed as a Gremory by Lysithea, Flayn, and possibly Dorothea)), Marianne is considered top Best Girl material by many. Bernadetta and Annette are other characters like Marianne, although I'm not myself a fan of Bernadetta. Annette is interesting in that she's often shipped with Felix instead of with the MC, which is something Best Girls are often seen as doing. But all three are positively influenced by Byleth but do not change him in any way and can have their arcs skipped over if they're not recruited or if the player doesn't raise their Supports during the game. (Which is hard to do and recruit the character in a single playthrough. Not impossible at all, but supports lower the recruitment requirements, so it really doesn't make sense to not raise the supports.)

BoBF Episode 5 is not a BoBF episode. It'll make sense when watched.

I would say Revolution fits the best. A revolution is about growing something out of the ashes of what came before, but it also needs passion to survive. (Ideally because one loves their view of something so much, that they have to fight for it any way they can, or they hate something so much that they must overthrow it and replace it with something better.) Revolutions start small but grow into big things if kindled. Revolution may feel like Autonomy, but I think that's only because of a certain Shard's actions - Revolution isn't about being free from all oppression, rather, being free from the current one. Thorns are interesting, but they're self-defense mechanisms. I think Revolution embodies the internal and external aspect of Cultivation + Odium. I can even see this applied in a weird way: Imagine a world where the head of states all have superpowers, and the superpowers they had, all of their subjects would be forced to use. All of the previous heads of states would have been violently overthrown by someone who can use that power better, or had a better power in general, not unlike the Sith Rule of Two from Star Wars. Eventually, peaceful transitions of power were put in place. But now someone whose power is to suck the life out of others is in charge, and someone with a power that's generally seen as weak must revolt in order to correct the system. Or something like that. I'm honestly just spit-balling here.

I'm glad you liked that! I definitely caught the parallels as well, as did others I've talked to. I wasn't a fan of those flashbacks for a couple of reasons, mainly I felt it to be infringing upon the Mighty Whitey trope, and it seemed that Boba maintained his awesomeness everywhere but when it came to the Tusken Raiders. Taking down an alien monster while be dehydrated and severely weakened? Sure. Taking down a biker gang? Fine. But taking down a Tusken? The hardest thing in the world! My own personal favorite takes on the Tusken culture are from the non-canon book Kenobi and from the Mandalorian. Both times you have two cultures that are explored and at odds (the residents of Tatooine vs the Tusken Raiders) and both sides feel justified in their assaults against each other. Both times you have someone from outside the culture who is part of neither, but works with both to help achieve a harmony - or at least a temporary piece - that would have been impossible without them. They don't save one culture from oppressors, nor do they join either side at the end - this character is an intermediary and I find that to be a tad more respectful IMO.

I saw it too. I chose to opt out instead of putting in something that I didn't trust. I know some of the mods here are also mods of the Sanderson-related subreddits, and I almost went to go ask them what is up if I couldn't post here.