A Traveler

Ok, so a couple random questions that came to me while listening to this episode. 1. Did Hoid willingly give up the Dawnshard? We know he was a Dawnshard, and that he was in the plans to become one of the 16 Vessels. We know the Dawnshards were used to shatter Adonalsium. 2. A question regarding Kelsiers nature. In Secret History, we see Hoid slap Kelsier around in the cognitive realm (also referenced in ROW). Could Hoid do that to Kelsier in the physical realm now? Either way, that would tell us something about Kelsiers current nature.

This is EXACTLY what I was picturing!! Can you imagine how terrifying Lift would be with her native awesomeness AND some Mink training?!!! There would be nothing she couldn’t do, no pancake she couldn’t steal!!

@mdross81 yeah that’s a lot of random minks mentioned, so you’re probably right, just a coincidence. Ah well. It just FIT so well!! She’s sneaking around, sees the occasional *mink, obvs that’s THE Mink!! It was just so clever to not be a real reference!! I am sad now. As for the awakened minks, that’s a great theory for why he seems to know so much. Though if I recall, Vasher didn’t actually get any intelligence from the squirrel spying, he just used it as a distraction. I don’t think an awakened mink could tell him anything. A cremling mink just sounds glorious though. If it’s not a sneaky Mink sighting, then I want it to be a Sleepless mink.

I’m doing a reread of Rhythm of War, and just noticed that in Lifts interlude, when she’s talking about hiding in Urithiru’s air ducts and other places (pg 1055 in the ebook), that “Up here in the network of stone ventilation shafts, she found the occasional mink or other scavenger, but it was actually her domain”. One would expect a mouse or rat to be mentioned if Brandon was going to mention a non-shell based rodent, but he chooses mink. And I think he’s definitely trying to be sly about mentioning our favorite escape artist here. They could probably learn a lot from each other. No real point here, I just think it’s a cool reference that I didn’t pick up on in my first read through.

It’s also interesting that his Torment is getting worse. The enforced non-violence wasn’t automatic as of him picking up the Dawnshard, it’s happened over time. Possibly a lot of it. I would have assumed that it was instantaneous, but even though it’s been years, he still generally expects to be able to commit violence, and is surprised when he can’t. I wonder if his oaths DID override the non-violence, but when his oaths “ended” and Aux became dead (whatever that means for spren post SA5), it started to become dominant over his “ended” oaths. Edit: Meant to also add that the oaths overriding the non-violence would also explain the moments where he’s acting in accordance with his oaths and can suddenly manifest Auxiliary as a Blade, or can suddenly make a spectacular leap from one ship to another.

Any chance one could be Sixth of the Dusk? We know from the Sixth 2 reading that he’s going to be stepping into a perpendicularity, so there’s a chance that he meets Hoid. If one is Kriss, and two is Sigzil, then we have one from quite a long time ago, one from generally current events, and one from the furthest future we have so far. Also, Sixth is amazing, and I think that would be cool.

Definitely 4, 3, 1, 2 for me. 4 just sounds amazing. I love the interconnectedness of it. It’s almost a Hoid-lite story. Powerful magic user that’s using multiple sources of magic, and can get “fuel” from ANY investiture and power his magics with it. We’re going to get so much info about how Investiture actually works. His oaths “ended” but his spren isn’t a deadeye, though still dead. Threnody connections. 3. This just seems like a fascinating set of worlds, and odd magic systems. Not sure we will get much that matters cosmerically, but it should be a fascinating read. 1. it’s cosmere. It’s aethers, so it WILL be relevant, but for whatever reason I just can’t get excited about aethers. They just don’t do anything for me. I LOVE Hoids voice in this one though, and the dry wit and one-liners (“jawline so straight it makes men question if they are” is just brilliant). It’ll at least be a super fun read. 2. This one seems fine. It’s interesting. Seems fun. It’s a book I’d read in between books that I WANT to read. I’m a series guy, so a one-off fantasy book doesn’t really do it for me.

I think an interesting way that Brandon could obliquely address the weirdness here is if we see a bonded spren get permakilled by the anti light knives, and the bonded radiant bonds another spren. Is their spirit web already changed so their new bond is at the same level as the old one, or do they progress very quickly back to that point? Are their new oaths different than their original oaths?

Definitely nightblood. Nightblood and Szeth make a great pairing. I’m interested in what the sword is going do in the next two books. I’m also very interested in the inevitable meeting between Zahel and Szeth/Nightblood, given that they are both in Urithiru. I don’t think Azure is gonna have much more effect on the story.

If having two powers creates a resonance, then what is Harmony’s resonance?

Hoid. Because he’s Hoid. I’m a sucker for the mysterious and mischievous Then Dalinar. Absolutely LOVE his storyline. He’s the fulcrum upon which this world turns, and he’s up for the challenge. Lift is fun to read. Shallan can be fun, but she can be very frustrating to read, too. Pattern is my favorite spren, though. “No mating!” Jasnah reads to me like Cadsuane from Wheel of Time. All knowing, all powerful. More, as a character, she just seems flat. Not well developed. That’ll change, I’m sure, when we get to her novel, but that’s ages away. Nale is my least favorite, though. By a long shot. I just can’t stand characters who abrogate their free will choices to “The Law” or “Vorinism” or some such nonsense. You’re not a robot; you’re a human being (-ish, I guess, in his case). You don’t get to just lay all your choices at the altar of whatever absolute you serve.

Haha, I did indeed. I’ve lurked here for awhile, but this opportunity was too good to pass up.

Tien (a proto-lightweaver) was very good at carving. Shallan was very good at drawing. Jasnah was very good at sarcasm and snark.