Use the Falchion

Hard disagree. Past Dalinar arguably would have, depending on how high on the Thrill he was. But, Dalinar didn't kill Tanalan Jr. when the latter was a kid. And when they met as adults, he offered Tanalan Jr. a chance to live. Gavilar and Mr. T on the other hand... He has, but now he's actively trying to be better. If he was the same man as before, he may have genuinely considered Jasnah's genocide plan. Instead, he looked for alternatives, and continued to do so. He's NOT the same man, even if he bears the same crimes. Potentially two: This one is quoted as a Death Rattle on the Coppermind, so I'm inclined to count it. And this sounds like someone saying that the Good Guys will lose because they choose to honor life over death. In what scenario could that be readily applicable?

Once you finish, will you watch (or rewatch) The Dragon Prince? I binged Digimon Tamers in about four days. I love the show, but I don't recommend binging it like that. Digimon Tamers is seen by a decent amount of people as the best Digimon show, and it's the one I remember most fondly as a kid - I loved Digimon Adventure, and I enjoyed Digimon Adventure 2 (I didn't like any of the characters, but their Digimon were cool - so finally revisiting it was interesting. It's over 16 years old at this point, so things have CLEARLY aged. The voice acting isn't always the best, the animation is clearly not up to par at times and kind of slow, and CGI has improved a TON since Tamer days. But beyond all that, the show I still remember fondly is still there. Takato is a kid who learns to be confident in himself and his friends, Rika is a young girl who learns to let people into her heart and show her affection, and Henry learns that not everything is in his control and when to fight. The digi-modify sequences are still awesome (except for one hilariously creepy swipe) and show off the children's personality. The story also is darker than what I remember, yet is somehow less frightening, if that makes sense. Some of the dialogue that went over my head as an adult makes the show a joy to rewatch. Overall, I would recommend watching this show like it originally aired, one to two episodes per week. 7.9/10 as an adult, 9/10 as a child. This show is on Hulu. Edit: I finished watching all of the episodes Netflix has of Beast Morphers before starting Digimon Tamers. While my initial thoughts haven't changed much, I do see who in some ways this show can also serve as a spiritual successor to RPM as well. The team formation, and relationship to the parents are reminiscent of RPM, but the characters are VERY different. It's also a different situation, so I'm not entirely sure how well that works.

Welcome to the "Baby is Odium's Champion Theory" club! It's not a fun place, but at least we have Death Rattles to back us up!

They locate someone who Dalinar is clearly connected to and has tried to help before, but she's now ready to receive that offer if it still stands; she tells them her location but prefers a separate meeting place, and things go south, making this (arms) race one to remember. Sorry I skipped over the assumption that before Jasnah "just sends them," they prepare because I thought that was built in. Let me rephrase. They prepare, Jasnah sends them into Shadesmar at a pre-scouted location (since both Jasnah AND Shallan can see into Shadesmar, it wouldn't be impossible, only increasingly challenging). And from there the two are on their way. Which I am presupposing. As we saw in the Kholinar mission, preparation doesn't mean a perfect mission. And that's fair for you. It makes perfect sense to me, but we can agree to disagree about it. After engaging someone on Reddit, I thought of another way to group most of the characters that may be interesting. I'm not subscribing to this grouping for this book, but I do think it would be fascinating to see. Group One: Jasnah, Venli, Navani, Shallan, and Adolin on a mission to Shadesmar. This could allow for all of the Shadesmar things (Urithiru, Spren allies, Sja-Anat, Maya, etc) to happen with one group. And since most of the group has had some meaningful interaction with Shadesmar, it wouldn't come out of nowhere. This makes Shadesmar sort of "quest-y," and it doesn't fix the problems associated with Shadesmar in general, but it's a possibility. Group Two: Kaladin and Rlain on a mission to save the rest of Rlain's people. I don't really have more to add here, since this raises more questions of how Rlain and Kaladin have been in contact (assuming they've been in contact) and/or how they can find each other. To me, it makes sense for Rlain to be the In-Between for Venli and Team Good Guys, but hey, I'm open to speculation. Group Three: Still Dalinar and Szeth.

I mean, you answer the question in a way. Sanderson did state that all of the viewpoints start in the same place. While I personally think that means Dalinar's highstorm visions, it could be literal, and Venli could send Adolin and Shallan to Shadesmar. Or maybe Jasnah simply sends them there. But as you say in a later response, the couple's transportation to Shadesmar may not be intentional. Can't Jasnah and Shallan see into Shadesmar? What if they looked around the area in Alethkar in order to see a viable place to go into Shadesmar and just walk/journey from there. They don't HAVE to start in the middle of nowhere. As an aside, walking in Shadesmar could be pretty interesting. We can explore it some more and see all of the wonders this new place has! He can recharge spheres and he's more than Bondsmiths of the past, so who knows honestly. But we also have to remember that the Ghostbloods are a world-hopping organization. They might have a way to get into Shadesmar others haven't discovered yet, and that's how Shallan and Adolin arrive there. Or maybe the Ghostbloods sneak the two behind enemy lines. Heck, maybe the Ghostbloods are the reason Jasnah can't go with Shallan. There's also that world-hopping postal service, but I doubt that will come into play. Which is why I think she's needed on the main mission, because if things go south with that group, they're FAR less likely to make it out than if things go south with Adolin and Shallan, who have survived in Shadesmar previously and are prepared to do so again.

That's a pretty dope theory. I really like it!

Yup, that's where the prediction came from. Otherwise I think I'd still think that the Sja-Anat mission was the only possibility.

I had the same thoughts as well! To me this means that either Adolin and Shallan are going to Shadesmar in order to help some refugees escape, to turn on the Oathgates that refused to work in the last book, or to capture Sja-Anat (my personal guess). Or maybe some combination of the three.

FINALLY finished my NG+(+) run of Verdant Wind! My endgame team was: Byleth (War Master) Raphael (War Master) Claude (Barabossa) Seteth (Wyvern Lord) Ashe (Wyvern Lord) Petra (Wyvern Lord) Flayn (Gremory) Lysithea (Gremory) Marianne (Gremory) Felix (Swordmaster) Leonie (Bow Knight) Hapi (Valkyrie) MVP of this run (not counting Byleth and Claude) was clearly Petra, followed up by Seteth and Ashe. Most Surprising Unit was Marianne when her Magic stat surpassed Lysithea and Flayn's by reaching 51...without adding the extreme amount of stat boosters I obtained (most of which I spread out evenly...and the rest went to Byleth). Most Amusing Moment goes to Byleth and his 100% Crit rate with a Wo Dao+. Least Valuable Unit was Hilda, but that was because I spent the majority of the game forcing her to learn Bolting. Due to how long that took and Hilda's messed up stats as a result, she was pretty bad by the end. Next time I play, however, I can just automatically raise her Reason to the appropriate level and go from there. My S Support ending was Constance, surprising even me! I thought I was going to romance Hapi, but her and Ashe are so cute that I can't ever see them NOT being together from now on. Constance has GREAT S Support art and is a fun character (one of the few who proposes to Byleth first!), so I have absolutely no regrets there. But I think Marianne will always win my heart first and foremost, so Marianne and Shamir are Best Girls. Next up...well...unless my friend who said would get the game actually gets the game, I'll probably do a Blue Lions Bylass route again. But that might not be for a while, since I deal with multiple periods of burnout while simply playing this route (I'm pretty sure I started this run back in October/November, according to some of my previous posts...)...or I might start later today. I don't know yet. Unfortunate Update: I accidentally saved over my NG++ data, so now I have no data of Hilda with Bolting, or my near perfect route, or Claude maxing out Hero, Assassin, AND Wyvern Lord, or any of the other things I just did. It's very, VERY annoying, but not the end of the world, and there's nothing irreplaceable, so it's not that bad; besides, I have other NG+ files to override. But, man, losing over 70 hours and Bolting Hilda hurts...

I think a full mix of live action and animated like what Star Wars does is extremely viable. Have Mistborn be the mainstay (or movie, television show, movie for Era 1 that Sanderson plans, and then television show for Era 2). Warbreaker can work as a live action movie almost as well as it could for an animated one (although for this one, you better go above and beyond on the colors!). Stormlight and White Sand are the animated shows, and Arcanum Unbounded could then be the anthology show with 5-6 episodes per season, all dedicated on a specific novella.

Skyward's universe officially being named the Cytoverse, Mistborn Era 1 conceptualized as a movie, then tv series, and then a movie, and Reckoners potentially as an animated series? There were some pretty good gems in this signing!

Big YAY and Big OOF. But you did your best with the information you had! As others have added, Kaladin's imprisonment (including Wit's story and Adolin's imprisonment), Kaladin learning to ride a horse, Eshonai and Venli interludes, and maybe the one with Ym.

As of this morning, I romanced the character I set out to in Fire Emblem Awakening, recruited Morgan, changed her to the optimal class, and used stat boosters to max out her magic. When all was said and done, my Sorcerer Morgan had 53 Magic, with 10 extra magic due to Tomefaire and the Valflame tome equipped. Training her up was hilarious because I had her inherit counter, and that worked REALLY well with Vengeance, Nosferatu, and pairing up with Morgan's mother. She'd get hit by a physical attack, activate Vengeance, and use Nosferatu to gain back every single point of health. Now I'm not sure if I want to romance Panne (I like her better as a mom for Morgan and I like brown-haired Morgan, but I HATE Yarne) or Say'ri (I like the idea of her passing down Amatetsu, but I don't want Morgan Sword-locked...or maybe I do?), but I don't think I want to do either any time soon. MVP was Maribelle. Maribelle had the best RNG out of all of my magic users, and pairing her up with Lon'qu meant that she could double nearly everything (and anything she couldn't double, Lon'qu would kill with pair-up). I didn't recruit the resulting Brady this time through, but maybe another time. Next on my list is to finish up Fire Emblem Three Houses, and then catch up on all of the reading I'm behind on... Edit: I have just learned that Sage has a higher Magic cap than Sorcerer. However, that wouldn't leave me with a Morgan that can use Goetia and Book of Naga in that class, so I guess I'll stick with my other magical Morgan. It was fun while it lasted.

Movie-wise I watched Crazy Rich Asians...TWICE with my family because my mom and I enjoyed it so much (my dad had some hang-ups about it, so the first night it was just me and my mom. The next week we loved it so much we finally convinced my dad to join us). This may go down as one of my favorite movies ever. It won't beat out 12 Angry Men or Inception, but I think it rounds out spot #5. (Top Rankings are: 12 Angry Men (1957), Inception, The Great Gatsby, Pacific Rim, and now Crazy Rich Asians. Superhero movies, animated movies, and Star Wars have different ranking systems). We watched Detective Pikachu last week, which was WAY over due for me. The movie was good, and it was a nice take on the Pokemon world. I just hope the sequel has more "detective" in order to balance out the "Pikachu." The next day we watched Spider-Man: Far From Home again. Still holds up, and Peter and MJ's relationship is still super cute! In terms of television, I'm actually watching Power Rangers Beast Morphers...until I get bored of it at least. I've been feeling down, a little stressed (classes are ending, so final papers are due), and nostalgic all week, so I've been going back to Power Rangers as if it's a warm childhood blanket. This time I'm focusing far more on the actual characters and story than the action, leading me to skip over action scenes entirely. RPM and SPD - my two favorites - still hold up, but I hadn't seen anything good or bad about the latest season. As such, I'm checking it out. I think the continuity (as if Power Rangers really ever cared about that) makes it a nice successor to MMPR...or at least a better successor so far than Megaforce was.* The theme song isn't catchy, and the characters don't have the same charm as Dino Charge's do just yet. The new security guards are the new Bulk and Skull, and while they are genuine and genuinely helpful, I'm finding that their antics take away precious screentime from the main rangers, who need as much screentime as they can get to develop. That's not to say they don't have problems, but they haven't...popped for me as characters yet. Then again, I'm only a few episodes in, so I should give them time. What I DO like is how the Rangers each have real relationships with their parents: the Red Ranger's father wants his son to live up to his potential, the Yellow Ranger's mother is very supportive of her, but also worried, and the Blue Ranger's mother is the Mentor of the group, meaning that every time there's a battle, she willingly sends her son into danger. Add in the twist that the Rangers' identities are a secret, and you've got some nice potential there. And the two dragons are really interesting! They're hammy and devious, and they steal any scene they're in. It's not a BIG spoiler as to who they are, but I'd rather not say yet either. Overall, Beast Morphers isn't automatically a standout, but it's not terrible either. If you like Power Rangers, then this is a good background show. *And let's be real, Dino Thunder was the TRUE sequel and successor to MMPR.

Probably not until September at the earliest. Sanderson still needs to finish Draft 4.0 and then do Draft 5.0 (the 10% trim), and then you have the line edit and copy edit by Peter after that I believe. So yeah...the book's not going to be done for a while...

That would be an interesting turn! It raises a lot of questions about the aging process of the Heralds. However, I feel like The Stormfather would have said something to Dalinar. The Stormfather recognizes the Heralds and even points them out on occasions, so him NOT doing so with the flimsy excuse of "you didn't ask" would feel very out of place. I do agree that Navani is hiding things, but her hesitance to lead Alethkar may just be self-doubt or something similar.

WOOT WOOT ONE OF US! ONE OF US! If your wife thinks Tabasco is the "spiciest of all shards," I can't wait for you to explain Autonomy to her. She did a great job with the movie poster cast! Granted, Renarin would be pretty impossible to guess right now, good jobs all around! Thank you again for posting these - they are hilarious and we love them.

Started a Fire Emblem Awakening playthrough in order to romance I'm blasting through this game so much faster than my previous playthroughs, mostly because I'm focusing less on pairing everyone up (and I got lucky with how many Second Seals I was able to buy from Anna before Chapter 14). Marribelle, Lissa, Cordelia, Panne, Cherche, and Chrom are all paired up and they are more than enough. Sully, Miriel, and Libra are on standby; Anna is used when Robin needs a pair-up or on a map that has chests. Unfortunately my characters haven't been as blessed by RNG as they usually are: Miriel barely has any magic despite her time as a Troubadour and Valkyrie (although her resistance is through the roof), Chrom is usually much faster than his opponents even as a Great Knight, Lissa and Maribelle get magic every other level if I'm lucky (and Lissa isn't hasn't even gained good strength gains to make up for it!), and Robin's stats have been very disappointing. This isn't a giant problem due to the excessive amount of grinding I do for Galeforce (look, I've done my time without grinding in the years before it was even a thing to the multiple playthroughs and literal DAYS I spent with Awakening before buying the DLC map), but it is mildly annoying. But now that I've started, I want to romance Say'ri instead. I'm not changing course, but it does give me some inspiration for next time (in about three months or so). I'm also two chapters/months or so away from beating my NG+ DLC included Golden Deer run in Three Houses. I'll probably finish it during this upcoming weekend and put it away for a bit. I'm behind on my reading goals for this year (only by a book, but still), so after all of my papers are in, that'll be my focus of the month. Ideally. Surprsing MVP's have been my Wyvern Squad (Seteth, Ashe, and Petra), my DLC girls (Constance and Hapi), and my Late-Bloomers (Raphael, Mercedes, Marianne). Making Ingrid a dancer was funny but ultimately not what I want or need from her. Ingrid had the levels, but not the magical or physical bulk I wanted. I'll probably go back to Marianne next time, since she can be an all-purpose unit that way.

YKYASFW inside of those "Happy Star Wars Day" texts you send, you also remind people to pick up the free e-book of The Way of Kings...even if they already own it...

Happy Star Wars Day! May the Fourth Be With You all! Watched all four episodes back-to-back (I hadn't seen "Shattered," or "Victory and Death") with my dad this morning. That was the perfect way to cap off the series. It was rough, it was sad, it was bitter. But it wasn't sour. Just...bitter. A bitter end to a senseless war. I. LOVED. IT. Ended up watching Twilight of the Apprentice right after, because my dad loved the ending but was VERY upset about all of the unresolved aspects. I'll show him the episodes of Maul and Mandalore going forward. On one hand, that's great news! Taika did great work on The Mandalorian and Thor: Ragnarok. He will probably do great work on Thor: Love and Thunder. His other stuff I haven't seen but they look pretty funny and quirky (I DO want to see Jojo Rabbit eventually). If his movie comes to fruition, it'll be a great addition to Star Wars. On the other hand, if we take away the shine of Star Wars Day and strip away the shine of the other cool Star Wars things, this is another announced project that may or may not happen: Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney+ show is confirmed and was put on hold indefinitely before the pandemic became what it is; Colin Trevorrow, Josh Trank, and Benioff & Weiss were ALL tapped to write and/or direct a Star Wars movie, but we all saw how that turned out (admittedly not all of it was Lucasfilm's fault - B&W left the Disney deal to work with Netflix before being dropped there too). And even if the movie starts production well, that doesn't mean directors are safe - look at Solo (which I also love but I can't deny the controversy surrounding it). Rian Johnson's trilogy seems to be dead in the water (although I really, REALLY want it to happen). Combine all of that with Star Wars movies "taking a break" for a couple of years, this just doesn't feel like the optimal time to announce this, and I'm very skeptical this will be made. I hate that I'm this skeptical and jaded with Star Wars movies now, but that's just how it is. On the other OTHER hand, announcing projects ahead of time with surety is EXACTLY what I want from Star Wars. I want them to be so sure of their schedule that they aren't afraid to release info early, for them to stop being so cagey with what's coming next.

That's a really cool theory!

Because we got de-railed. But we're re-railed now! And there is so much more to the books than ships, absolutely! But that doesn't mean that we can't also ship characters either. If it hasn't happened, we can count it as a prediction. Very solid point! Unfortunately, that's not always how life turns out. Many parents don't solve their own problems before having children. Some even bring children into their lives, thinking said children will solve whatever issues they currently have. It would be interesting if Shallan gains a surrogate mother relationship with Navani through becoming a young mother - Shallan lost her mother at a young age and her relationship with her step-mother wasn't...as strong as it potentially could have been (no fault to either of them, but just a note). Shallan about to become a mother could allow her to confront own mother issues (and lead to some flashbacks to Shallan as a child becoming a Radiant). But that feels like a Book 5 prediction rather than a Book 4 one...although if this is "Navani's" book, then it might work here too...there could be a contrast Eshonai and Venli's relationship with their mother with Navani and Shallan's budding mother-mentor/child relationship...hmm... ...but you did spark a different theory that I'll have to ponder on...hmm... There's also the fact that at the end of WoR, Sanderson noted that "something in Adolin finally snapped." To me, that always screamed Snapping like in Mistborn. Like a crack in a spiritual web formed, and now Adolin's starting to fill it.

I wouldn't say that the thought hasn't passed my mind, but I'm not sure so I can't say either way at the moment. And so you DO ship characters! Well, I don't think it'll turn out this way, but you keep on. They're a cute couple! But as much as I like their ship, it's not nearly as fun. Going the predictable route isn't always the fun one, after all. To scratch an itch she may have so she can focus on other things? So long as it's discreet, absolutely. I'm aware of that quote, and I'm saying until she decides TO discuss it, there's no harm in shipping. So long as it doesn't overpower her non-romantic arcs (which Kaladin most definitely wouldn't), there's no problem. Finally something we can agree on! We just differ on which should be non-romantic and which shouldn't. I could believe that! I also agree on the Shadolin baby. I'm not sure I can agree with the rest at the moment, but you make a really interesting (and probably true) point about this being Sanderson's darkest book. Our heroes haven't won, per-se, but they haven't lost too much yet either. I think people usually mean both asexual and aromantic when referring to Jasnah. Parsing out the difference is...not worth the hassle for discussions sometimes. One must pick their battles after all. I hope Lirin stays alive! He's a unique view in Stormlight. ...I just wouldn't put it past Sanderson to kill him... @PathfinderThanks for the tags and quotes...and killing my long-held theory about Adolin and Awakening You make a really interesting point about Dalinar Bondsmithing them together. I still think Adolin can find a way to use the process of Awakening while using Stormlight (similar to what Vasher does to get Investiture that's not Stormlight, but now in the reverse of sorts), but I'll give your theory some thought too! We agree to disagree on Jasnah, but as you say we've already had that talk.

I can't entirely disagree with this, but Sanderson does have a good bit of good will stored (...like a Feruchemist? ;)) because many of his fans will read both Stormlight and Mistborn. And he's not masking the fact that's been...sidetracked...sometimes because books don't work out (The Apocalypse Guard the first time around), other times for personal dream projects (MTG novella). Besides, the pressure from publishers might outweigh any good will the fans he erodes (which, let's be honest, will come back as soon as the book is released). Ha! I think it's more of "THIS is what I want to be remembered for, and I need to start buckling down if I want to complete it." All of Sanderson's books put carbs on the table. His books are best-sellers, he has/had a few million dollar deals going on, and has stated before that if he never wrote another book he could live pretty comfortably as is. But I see your point. I think he has more time than you're giving him credit for. Sanderson's not trying to get Stormlight 5 out before 2023. If he starts writing January 1, 2022, Sanderson will still have a a little less than a year and a half to write and release a book that takes up maybe a little less than half of that time-frame. So ideally it'll look something like: Wax & Wayne 4 Draft 1-2: August - October/November 2020 Skyward 3 Draft 1-2: November/December 2020 - February 2021 Wax & Wayne 4 Draft 3: March 2021 Skyward 4 Draft 1-2: April - June 2021 Wax & Wayne Draft 4-5: July 2021 (FINISHED, 2021 Release) Skyward 3 & 4 Draft 3: August - September 2021 New Project*: October - December 2021 Skyward 3 & 4 Draft 4-5: December 2021 (FINISHED, 2022 Releases) Stormlight 5: January 2022 - December 2022 *In this scenario, the new project could range anything from: The Dark One novel (very unlikely), The Apocalypse Guard 2 (unlikely but still possible), YA kite-based Cosmere Magic book (less likely but still very possible), The Atzlanian (highly likely if he wants to clear off his plate), Rock novella (the most likely if he has no time for longer projects). ALTERNATIVELY: Skyward 3 Draft 1-2: August - October 2020 Wax & Wayne Draft 1-2: November 2020 - March 2021 Skyward Draft 3: April 2021 Wax & Wayne Draft 3: May 2021 Skyward Draft 3 4-5: June 2021 (FINISHED, 2021 Release) Wax & Wayne Draft 4-5 July 2021 (FINISHED, 2022 Release) Skyward 4 Drafts 1-3 or 4: August - December 2021 (workshopped while working on Stormlight 5, 2022 Release) Either way, Mistborn 7 is finished by July 2021. But both assume Sanderson ISN'T writing Skyward 3 & 4 back-to-back, which isn't a guarantee. I'm not saying I don't want TLM first, I'm just saying it's not a guarantee we'll get it in 2021. I hope I'm wrong though. Heck, I hope that somehow Sanderson pulls a miracle and writes BOTH in 2020 so we can reach that miracle Five Book 2021. But that would probably be putting a lot of people at health risks...

Over the course of the year, Sanderson has really changed his tune on TAG. It's gone from being dead in the water and "maybe I'll release it some day," to "I think if I have some extra time I can fix it now." This culminated in February. During his LTUE panel with Dan Wells, Dan read some of the first chapter, and more recently on Reddit in March: So if Sanderson can get that revision done and pass it along to Dan for one final revision (if that's even needed at this point), then we have a good chance of seeing the book next year. So now we have Alcatraz 6, Songs of the Dead, The Apocalypse Guard, and lastly Skyward 3 OR Wax and Wayne 4. This one's tricky. The sardonic answer is that TLM was supposed to see a 2018 release. More seriously, Sanderson has two publishers he needs to please, Tor and Delecarte. Tor gets all of his fantasy books, so they'll be nice and happy with the Stormlight book later this year. Delecarte gets his YA stuff, and it would have been two years since Sanderson last delivered. They might be patient, but that won't stop them from being antsy. Sanderson would be aware of this and would want to deliver Skyward 3 ASAP to them (also he may be on the edge of burn out out with epic fantasy between the slog to get Stormlight 4 finished, writing the Stormlight novella, and writing the Mistborn screenplay). So he could write Skyward 3 in a relatively short amount of time (say, three months or so?) and then either go to Mistborn in late 2021 for an early 2022 release date - something he mentioned as a real possibility - or write Skyward 3 & 4 back-to-back and write Mistborn 7 later in 2021, solidifying a mid-2022 release. It's not like Sanderson can't push back TLM one final time, so long as it's out before Stormlight 5. The other possibility is that Delecarte gets The Apocalypse Guard (since it was supposed to be the sequel to the Reckoners trilogy and theirs to begin with), which would hold them over until Skyward 3 comes out; Sanderson writes Mistborn 7 because writing the screenplay for TFE has invigorated him, and then he finishes Skyward 3 in early 2021, but finds a way to speed up its revision and release window (not sure how, but it's a possibility).