Elegy

Yep. It also means that Tanavast and Koravari were a human dragon relationship, which is really interesting. Koravari being the only dragon to take a Shard also leads me to believe that the other dragons had some reason to keep out of it (maybe cultural, or maybe they agreed on a non-intervention procedure like Frost seems to rely on nowadays), which Koravari obviously ignored - presumably because of her relationship to Tanavast? It makes her a quite a bit more interesting as a character, I think. This WOB makes it seem like she was an outsider, when I think about it.

I imagine making Stormlight solid must be really, really difficult. Not for any in-world reasons, but because making Stormlight solid would mean making it into Tanavastium which an Allomancer could burn. Brandon is always super aware of overpowered stuff, and this seems overpowered. Hoid, for example, is an Allomancer, so as soon as he can make Stormlight into a metal, he can basically constantly burn Tanavastium, since on Roshar, he's constantly surrounded by it. That said, I think as soon as people figure out how to turn liquid Investiture into metal, there will be those who want to harvest the Perpendicularities - especially if that happens in space age Cosmere, since then they won't be as valuable for off-world-travel as they are right now.

It's possible that Ishar is involved, we'll see! Some things: The Veristitalians are not a secret society, although their members are mostly anonymous. If there was a Herald involved with the Ghostbloods, Thaidakar wouldn't have tried to capture Kalak. If one of them is, the Ghostbloods themselves definitely don't know. This is the WOB referenced that mentions 9 secret societies: But "on Roshar" is very vague. Considering all that we know, the Ire and the 17th Shard both qualify as "currently working" "on Roshar". It seems unlikely that those are involved with the Heralds, but who knows. We also don't know if the Envisagers are included in that number, since there's no clear implication that they are still working - and now that the one character who was connected to them isn't part of the story anymore, it doesn't seem like it will turn out that they are. They also might have been a splinter group of the Sons of Honor, in which case they wouldn't be counted to begin with: So, hard to say at this point, but as of now, it seems unlikely to me that the Heralds and the secret societies add up (also because Shalash has shown no sign of being involved in one, but that could still be the case). I can definitely see Ishar being involved in the Shin government though. After all, Szeth swore to fight it, and having Ishar on top of it makes for a good story for book 5.

This is the Dalinar one I find most accurate to the description: Often, his portrayal in fan art is a bit too polished, considering that Shallan basically describes him as pretty ugly with a nose that was apparently broken several times. I definitely understand why artists make him a bit more presentable for their art. But this one, Randy Vargas, has created a great work of art with a rough Dalinar. Really fantastic.

Savantism is an addiction like alcoholism, and Stormlight didn't heal Teft's alcoholism. That said, healing it can technically be done, even if it requires the power of a Shard. We've seen it happen once, since Harmony healed Spook's savantism. Regarding the healing of mental flaws etc., Brandon has said this: So he doesn't really seem to know how it would work. But either way, what he says is very theoretical: No Radiant we know of could heal Kaladin's depression, and it's pretty safe to say no Radiant we know of could heal savantism. So Regrowth as a Surge can't normally heal savantism. Cosmere healing in general evidently can, but as it seems only in a supercharged version that's mostly just possible for a Shard to do.

They look fantastic! I'm actually surprised how much I like them because it's also hard for me to get used to new layouts on sites that I visit often. The only thing I'm a bit skeptical about is the new color scheme for the Arcanum. The traditional dark blue + white combination is much easier on the eye, in my opinion. Great job altogether though!

There's some interesting discussion about it in this thread: It's in the general Cosmere discussion forum though. I think there's some really good ideas in there.

It's that time of the year again . . . I listened to the soundtrack this morning. Went well with the weather outside! It's beautiful. All orange and misty.

Probably a lot like Zane. She saw herself in him, after all - the side that Kelsier tried to silence and that her and Elend together eventually succeeded to. Rhythm of War spoilers: Now there's another scenario that's interesting and that could have plausibly happened: What if Mraize was trained by Vin?

As per WOB, spren can't become vessels: But Nightblood is a different case. We don't know what would happen there.

Nalthis (Warbreaker) is missing. It's Scadrial New Orbit for me, since it's the most advanced. The other worlds have their places too though, especially Nalthis. Darkside Taldain also sounds like an amazing vacation.

Some WOBs about this: Also, regarding which planet is most Earth-like in the Cosmere: But Yolen is cosmere standard and that's also Earth size.

White Sand has some more Dustbringer style characters. Ais in particular, but also potentially Kenton.

A lot of great points in here, great work! One thing though, there is a dark-eyed female main character, and that's Lift.

The answer to this is no, and that's because of perception. Cognitive Shadows are formed according to the self-perception of the person whose body died. Since that one talking koloss in Hero of Ages refers to himself as "Human", it seems likely that koloss generally still perceive themselves as deformed versions of their human selves. That's the case with the dying koloss in Secret History. We have enough kandra POVs to be certain that kandra don't see themselves as mistwraiths, but as kandra. What they appear as in the Cognitive Realm might depend on what form/body they are accustomed to by the time of death. Either way, their Cognitive abilities of interaction should not be influenced by that.

I'll put these in spoilers since it's at the end of the book this thread is about: You know, when I wrote that comment, I actually thought someone would come up with that But I disagree that it's a similar situation. I still hope that Lost Metal will wrap it up in a way that makes the mess of this series feel satisfying though, and I've been vaguely optimistic ever since those WOBs above dropped

Brandon's treatment of the pillars of plot: Promise, progress, payoff. He's good at establishing information, working with it in a way that feels like the plot moves somewhere, and then using the information in unexpected ways to solve the conflicts of the story, often with a special twist. He's become so elegant at that, I've found it's hard to read anyone else attempt the same thing, he's just mastered it.

The answer is no:

I guess a Ghibli ranking is a fair way to spend a 700th post! 24. Tales from Earthsea 23. From Up Poppy Hill 22. Ocean Waves 21. The Cat Returns 20. Pom Poko 19. Mary and the Witch's Flower (Studio Ponoc, but I still count it) 18. The Red Turtle (a collaboration with the French studio Wild Bunch) Every film from here on is fantastic: 17. The Wind Rises 16. Howl's Moving Castle 15. Porco Rosso 14. The Castle in the Sky 13. My Neighbor Totoro 12. Only Yesterday 11. My Neighbors the Yamadas 10. Arrietty And I love every film starting here: 9. Princess Mononoke 8. Ponyo 7. Kiki's Delivery Service 6. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind 5. Spirited Away 4. Grave of the Fireflies 3. When Marnie Was There 2. The Tale of Princess Kaguya 1. Whisper of the Heart Whisper of the Heart is probably one of my top 7 favorite films

Character and plot/storytelling, which is missing in the list. Brandon is the most accomplished storyteller I've ever come across and his story developments are most often logical, clever, and unpredictable in satisfying ways. He's also really good at exploring themes and asking qeestions with his stories. I'd also suggest adding "prose", which hardly anyone will vote for, but that's the same with romance and that's included

It's very overlooked, but one of my top 5 Ghibli favorites (which says lot in my case)! A "comfy tear jerker" classic. Absolutely beautiful! I also think it has some of the best character work of any Ghibli movie. Anna is such an unconventional protagonist for the studio's purposes, and she really feels like a real person. I believe that's one of the reasons why that film feels so heartfelt and human

This might be what he planned initially (and I was mad when I read it): But he seemingly changed his mind: And promised: I'm honestly still kinda shocked that Brandon even considered leaving that open. To me that's just miserable storytelling, introducing a major mystery at the end of book 1 and not resolving it even three books later, but in a completely different story. Just the thought of it ...

It's not a fantasy adventure but on the slice of life side of Ghibli (like Marnie or Only Yesterday). I guess it's not the main thing people go to Ghibli for, but it is so, so beautiful and lovely and cozy and gorgrous. It also inspired that lo fi study girl art that's all over YouTube

I've seen them all (except for Earwig and you know why ) and Whisper of the Heart is my favorite. There's only two or three that I didn't like. Also, each film directed by Hayao Miyazaki is fantastic. More people should check as many of them as possible. Most of them are such a good time, and astonishingly high effort at that.

I'm also among those who think that Era 2 is rather weak (for Brandon's standrads) and am open to discussion about its strengths and weaknesses (it has both in spades). But this doesn't really seem like it's aiming at discussion as much as belting out your opinion, which is totally fine but would probably be more at home in the Unpopular Brandon Sanderson Opinions thread. To add a bit to the discussion, one of my personal main problems with Era 2 is the lack of plot progression from book to book. Plot threads that are left open at the end of individual books are left hanging and a lot of them are still waiting to be resolved. The abducted nobles? Still waiting. Who's Trell? Still waiting. It's been 10 years, 300,000 words! This made the two sequels feel like side-quests to me (even though I'm aware that they technically aren't).