Elegy

I see and acknowledge your point, but I gotta disagree. First (although this isn't really my point), to name some instances where this has been treated differently in recent years: Jasnah proposes genocide as a solution to their problems in Oathbringer, Wayne is a morally uncomfortable character to a degree that bothers a lot of readers of Mistborn Era 2. You could call Harmony one of the "good guys" of Era 2, and the ending of Shadow of Self is all about difficult, morally questionable decisions that were the best option. I haven't read Lux yet, but from what I've gathered, the main characters in there are morally more in a gray area than in the original Reckoners books ... to name some examples. Now, I agree that most of Brandon's main characters still tend to be heroic, by a long shot! But that's not something that ever changed, because that was always the case. It was the same with Elantris and Warbreaker, for instance. Mistborn is actually the exception across the board. I think you should also keep in mind that the main characters in Stormlight would basically break their bonds if their weren't heroic, so them being the good guys is written into the magic system. So at least there's good reasons for it in this series: If they weren't "good", most of them wouldn't have their bonds anyway and therefore wouldn't be important for the story. As a result, I also disagree that the heroic nature of the characters in his stories is a result of his attempts to be more inclusive. Instead, they are a conscious attempt at reflecting his own view of mankind, which is an optimistic one in contrast to the pessimistic one that was popular in the genre when he got published (and is still popular now). He talks about it a bit here and here. So I believe that you (understandably) came to this conclusion because Mistborn is the story that has the most antihero characters and was incidentally one of his first published stories. But apart from that one he was always on the side of "many heroic characters that have to make some hard decisions here and there, with a few morally gray characters thrown in there". Even before he got published. There's not a lot of antiheroes in White Sand, if you read the unpublished manuscript. He didn't change in that regard, but he bent his rules a bit for Mistborn, which was early enough in his publishing career to make it seem like he changed. But looking at it more closely, I think it's safe to say that he didn't. If you're looking for the problematic main characters, you won't find more of them in the pre-Mistborn stuff than after it. (All that said, much respects to the careful way you phrased your comment!)

Well, the Set had no idea where the Bands of Mourning were, and there's no good reason why Kelsier wouldn't tell them where his most powerful weapon is if he's on their side. We also have a WOB that Kell and Sazed still understand each other and to some degree see each other as friends (despite disapproving of each other's methods). So it's at least extremely unlikely. Regarding the main question of this thread, the Ghostbloods probably tried, but they are active in the whole Cosmere while the Set - as far as we know - is specific to Scadrial, so their efforts might not be as focused? I don't know. I guess there's a good chance that we'll find out in W&W4.

Oops yeah, thanks! I had that in the back of my head because I read the German version of Alloy of Law back when it came out. But that was 10 years ago and I wasn't quite sure anymore. For non-German speakers, you could translate it as "The Harmonious One" (male). Again, more a title than a Shard name, comparable with "Bebauerin" (a female person who cultivates in the agricultural sense) for Cultivation. The actual word "Eintracht" (basically Harmony) might be associated with a soccer club, so I understand not going for that one. But "Harmonie" is a word in German, and although that one is more closely related to music that the English equivalent, it would still have worked well in my opinion. Definitely worth mentioning, yeah. That said, I personally think "Grattänzer" is not nearly as evocative as the Englisch word. There's a YA steampunk style fantasty series called The Edge Chronicles that had a flying ship also called Edgedancer, and it was translated as "Klippentänzer", which sounds way better in my opinion. It is more clearly a physical edge (like a slope) in that case though. I can't really imagine a picture of someone dancing on a "Grat" since that's a very vague word ... nothing really visually evocative in my opinion, which I would try to go for as a translator. But it goes to show how much of translation is a matter of personal preference Which is why I mostly try to read the original text if possible nowadays Edit: It is weird that they used two different translations for the Order of the Edgedancers and the novella title Edgedancer. I guess the publisher didn't think the ring was nice enough to make it a book name?

The Ire are involved in the things on Roshar. The lighthouse keeper Riino is an Ire, and we have a WOB about it: Nevertheless, it might not be a fabrial in the strict sense, but we can be pretty sure that Rosharans would call it a fabrial either way

Ashyn as a planet was created by Adonalsium: Of course, mankind on it can still originate elsewhere, but we haven't seen the ethnicities of some of the Heralds (specifically the Alethi looking Jezrien) elsewhere in the Cosmere.

It really isn't, according to Brandon: But they aren't really complimentary, since they are both different interpretations of the same thing, passion. Ruin and Preservation represent the complete lack of each other's concepts. So I think Odium and Devotion are more comparable to Cultivation and Ruin, both representing change, but pulled towards opposite directions, growth and decay. Brandon put it this way: So, going off this, I think Odium and Devotion would go very well with each other, plausibly as Passion. (The thing that Odium claims to be but is only a part of. After all, there is no way Adonalsium's passion would be only a sixteenth of their whole power, is there?) Dominion and Ambition could add up as something like Megalomania. But I have no idea what a combination of Megalomania and Passion would be called

It's admittedly kinda brilliant how it literally means Storm Tones, which would work as a Rhythm of War title perfectly well. It's an interesting coincidence. On a side-note, they actually went back changed the original name of the Hero of Ages translation. That was "Herrscher des Lichts" = "Ruler of Light", which didn't make any sense since the Hero of Ages is, well, the ruler of both light and darkness, not only of light. Now it's the literal translation of the original title, "Held aller Zeiten", which sounds kinda clunky but at least reflects the concept of the book. Interestingly, they did not change the stupid translation of Well of Ascension, they just left it as it is. Why, we will never know. I guess it's what one should expect from the publisher who released countless series with names based on traditional fantasy races. "The Elves". "The Dwarves". "The Orcs". "The Trolls". I have no idea how many of those exist. I don't think they were the right choice in the first place . . . That said, Brandon switched publisher for the most recent Mistborn books, they are now published by Piper. Last time I checked, they left some words in English for Bands of Mourning. They just called the Lord Ruler ... Lord Ruler. Literally, in a German book. The Heyne translation had him as "Oberster Herrscher" - "Supreme Ruler", which I have no problem with. Then again, I have no idea how they are going to manage translating the Cosmere broken up over several publishers. I have no idea how Piper translate the Shards. The German editions are so messed up. I really wished I could recommend these books to German-speaking friends, but it's kinda hard. One of my friends finally started reading the Stormlight Archive, but in German, and it's literally impossible to discuss it with him without cringing every time he mentions "Sprengsel", Wüstwerdung" or "Strahlende Ritter" (accurate translation but it sounds really silly imo). Ah, well.

Yes, I think a lot of the Shard name translations are kompletter Müll, to put it lightly. (Lässt mich außerdem an die Übersetzung für "Desolation" denken, die man einfach als "Verwüstung" hätte handhaben können. Stattdessen schreibt der gute Mann: "Wüstwerdung". I don't get it.) I don't even want to start with the book titles which often have nothing to do with the actual books. (The worst offender being "Krieger des Feuers" = "Warriors of Fire" for Well of Ascension, which has nothing to do with fire, let alone warriors of fire.) Brandon has adressed this in one of his streams and said that the publisher wants the titles to sound more traditionally fantasy. But that's not a good justification. Heyne just doesn't care about giving the audience the best possible representation of the source material. Which is an enormously popular source material, so why even worry in the first place? As much as I, as I said, respect the translator's work, despite all its flaws, and acknowledge that he has a tough job - I'm not that forgiving with the publisher. Heyne is just dumb and they dropped a lot of balls on this one. Brandon would be way more popular in Germany if they hadn't messed this up, and I really hate them for it.

I'm afraid not Hoid tried to become an Elantrian there, but he didn't figure out how to actually do it - which is why he reverts to stealing the Moon Scepter: Sel is also not Yolen for several reasons. The Cosmere standard is Yolish, and Sel's size is 1.5 Cosmere standard. Also, Yolen has no Shards:

So, German. I have to add that I read my first few Sanderson books in German before switching to English pretty early on (when Words of Radiance came out and wasn't translated yet). I do respect the German translators and don't want to blame them too much - translating all those unique words and word combinations must be a pain - but the translation really lacks flow, a lot of the words feel wrong, and it just isn't a nice reading experience that way, in my opinion. Switching to English took Sanderson's work to a new level, which is why I always recommend reading the English originals. It's actually quite usual to be basically semi-fluent in English in Germany, so the language barrier isn't a problem for most as well. As an important side-note, I am aware that translating these novels is a tough job though, so no bad feelings. Now I did check on the German translation of Rhythm of War's first half (they're released as two separate books) when I found it in a book shop, to check all the Shard names in the second letter. I actually considered making a thread about it, but it felt too much like poking fun at the translator in bad taste, so I didn't. But I guess this is the right place for it, so don't read this as me being super mad at the translator. Anyway, here's the translations they chose, and they do not make any sense: Ruin = Ruin. This kind of works. It's an actual German word, but I'd say that more often than not, it refers to economic ruin in particular, which makes for a few weird moments when characters actually mean that at one point in Hero of Ages and use the word "Ruin" in that context (note that substantives in German are always capitalized, so there's factually no difference between the word for the Shard and the word for economic ruin, and they use it for both in the same book, which is kind of awkward). But as I said, it works okay and sounds good. Odium = Odium. This makes sense. Invention = Invention. It's pronounced differently. I have no idea why they kept it - while Invention is a very usual word in English, noone ever uses the word Invention in a casual German conversation. The better word would be "Erfindung", in my opinion (which also keeps the double meaning of both the virtue of invention and an invention as a result of that virtue). Devotion = Devotion. Same here - pronounced differently, and I have no idea why they didn't go with "Hingabe" or "Hingebung". Noone ever uses "Devotion" in casual conversation, in contrast to the English word. Now it gets weird: Ambition = Ehrgeiz. The reason this is weird: "Ambition" is a word that is used frequently in German. Other than "Devotion" and "Invention", it is an actual word that people would know the meaning of without inferring it from an English word. Yet they went with a completely different word. The word that they used itself is the right one, and I have no problems with it. But it's so weird that they went with this word here of all places, when this would have been the only place where a "-tion" word could have been kept while keeping the meaning and impact of the original word. It's the exact other way around compared to what it should have been like (regarding Invention and Devotion)! Dominion = Dominium. Another case of a kind of usual English word being translated with a word that few people in Germany will ever have heard of. "Herrschaft" would have been a good translation, although I guess that's more along the lines of "reign" (as a substantive). I don't dislike this translation though, it works for me personally. Endowment = Gabe. This works very well, nothing to add. I guess that this is the reason they didn't go with "Hingabe" for Devotion, since that would have been too similar. Still, "Hingebung" would have been another option that would have been the same in meaning but not as similar to "Gabe" as a word. Valor = Mut. Works well! I personally feel like "Mut" is more along the lines of courage, while valor would be better translated as "Tapferkeit", but I could be mistaken. So nothing to complain here, all good! Mercy = Gnade. Also works well! Now we get to the really weird ones . . . Whimy = Schrulle. Well, I guess it is the right word, in a way. But I also know the word "Schrulle" as an insult for a, well, whimsical person. That might be a regional thing where I'm from. But I literally whinced when I read that word referring to a Shard. That said, I also raised an eyebrow on Whimsy when reading the epigraph the first time, so I guess it kinda works? I summarize: I dislike it, but maybe it works. Preservation = Bewahr --> Bewahrung. Another weird one. In the original translation of the Mistborn trilogy, Preservation was translated as "Bewahr". Note that this is not an actual German word. The actual translation for Preservation is "Bewahrung", but since that word doesn't sound like a name at all (well, just like the original word with its -tion, the equivalent of the German -ung), they cut off the last few letters. It's comparable to something like "Preser", I guess. Which, in my opinion, doesn't work at all and does not reflect the way the English original handles the Shard name, since that one doesn't shy away from straight away using a word which clearly isn't a name. It's also weird because Preservation is introduced along with Ruin, which, as explained above, stayed the same and is literally just a word (even one that is used within the same book!). Why do it differently with this one? In later translations, they apparently changed it. In Rhythm of War, they use the actual German word for it, "Bewahrung". Which makes the next one even weirder! Honor = Ehr. This is not a German word either. It was created using the same principle as "Bewahr" above. The German word for Honor is "Ehre". They cut off the last letter to make it sound more like a name. As of the Edgedancer translation (which includes the Roshar essay from Arcanum Unbounded, mentioning the Rosharan Shards), released last year, they have not changed it. I don't know if they changed it for Rhythm of War. I couldn't check that because Honor is not mentioned in the letter, and I didn't know where to look for a mention that Shard. But as of the Edgedancer translation, they did not change it, while they changed Preservation, so now it's even more inconsistent than before, if that is possible. I don't think it's that bad, but certainly a bit irritating. Now for the weirdest of them all. Cultivation = Bebauerin. Also going off of the Edgedancer translation. This is not a translation of the word Cultivation, it's a word for a female person who cultivates something. I have no idea what this is supposed to be and what it's doing here. Complete nonsense. The Shard isn't even a person, so why assign a gender to it? And even if you do that, why do it only here? It breaks what little is left of any sense of consistency. Autonomy has not been translated yet. It will probably be translated as "Autonomie", which would be the best and easiest way to do it. But who knows, it seems it's impossible to predict. Again, I feel kind of bad writing all of this since I know that translating Sanderson books is a tough job, especially at the rate that his books are released, so if by any chance you are reading this, Michael, I know that it's hard, I really do! But I do not get behind these particular translations, I really don't. Thanks for coming to my TED talk

That one's actually on my list! I'll get to it eventually. I love how distinctive the art style is! Yeah, it has that same peacefulness. I wouldn't be surprised if she is somehow influenced by Inuyasha. She has done a version of the Ballad of the Wind Fish for a trailer for the Link's Awakening remake, by the way

Trell's metal doesn't look like Raysium, so very unlikely. --- That's actually confirmed: Furthermore, it wouldn't make sense for the Set to look for the Bands of Mourning when Kelsier obviously knows where they are, so Kelsier and Trell/the Set are almost certainly unrelated.

This is the Reddit thread about it: It's a very interesting read, especially how the very last sentence of the chapter fits in. I never would have thought of that!

I also agree that the question whether they truly can be considered gods is not important for this topic at all. Whether or not they are gods, they definitely act as god-like beings on their worlds, from the perspective of those that live in those worlds, and the question is how good a job they do under those circumstances. It's like asking who has been the best therapist in the Cosmere. As far as we know, Hoid and Syl are both no certified therapists, but they function as such to certain characters, so one can still think about who did it best. Saying "they are no therapists" may be a valid answer, but not a good one since it ignores the core of the question. I expected people to be much more harsh with Harmony for what he did in Era 2. But I would still agree that he comes closest, along with Preservation. I'm sure Harmony would be the best if there was a way for him to overcome the conflict between the Shards. That might be a theme for Era 3, so I'd be curious to see how we'd answer this in 5 years!

That Elliott Smith song is really good, I should go through his discography once again, it's been a while! I haven't read many books this year, but I've written one Still not sure what to do with it. If manga counts, the series Emma by Kaoru Mori (historical romance drama) was very moving. I've recently gotten into the work of Ichiko Aoba, a Japanese folk musician who recently gained a lot of traction in the west due to music rating websites like RateYourMusic. There's some M83 songs that make me think of the Stormlight Archive and Stormlight moments: Also, there's this song that Brandon apparently listened to as he wrote the Oathbringer climax, and it's impossible for me to separate from chapter 119: There's a bunch more, I'm actually constantly working on Cosmere playlists, but I'll leave it at that for now Thanks for returning the question

What was your favorite new book and music discovery this year? Also, any songs that you associate with specific Cosmere characters or events?

I'm also in the "doesn't really matter" camp. As long as you keep the individual series in order, anything goes. I think it's a beautiful thing about the Cosmere - everyone having their own individual journey and exploration. If there was one thing I'd recommend (nothing extremely important, just a slight suggestion), it'd be having read as much as possible before Rhythm of War since that one has the most connections and the most implications of things that happened elsewhere. But again, even in that case, the order doesn't matter. For similar reasons, maybe Warbreaker before Oathbringer. But as I said, I think it's one of the Cosmere's selling points that you can read them in any order and they will still all make sense. These are just suggestions.

The difference is that the POV characters now are also important for the main story of the book. And that's a huge difference. Take any interlude from ROW and make it a normal chapter, there's hardly anything or even nothing that makes it stand out. At that rate, the Renarin scene or the two Jasnah POV chapters could have been interludes as well. The interludes are mainly interludes because they are identified as such. All the while in the first two and a half books, most of the interludes would always have felt like interludes, no matter if they're called that or not. I don't think that's bad, I think it makes sense. But there is a strong difference between the approach. But this also makes clear that book 5 will continue that pattern. The "old" style of interludes will possibly/probably return for book 6. On the other hand,, those interludes might also be a chance to show what front five characters that aren't important for the back five are doing after the ten year time jump. Book 6 is gonna feel surreal, I believe.

Yeah, you're totally right. To support this with some WOBs . . . Yes, Awakening with Stormlight is very hard to do: Vasher has not figured out how to do it: Allomancers can use Rosharan metals: And transferring one form of Investiture into another seems to be hard in general, not just for Breaths and Stormlight:

Brandon doesn't like to kill non-antagonist characters, so I believe that most of them (including the main three) will make it. Non-antagonists that I can see dying in book 5 are Szeth, Kalak, possibly the Stormfather (since the question what would happen if he died was explicitly raised by the honorspren). Renarin, Jasnah and Lift are confirmed to survive.

I don't think that Rhythm of War was too long. But it could have used its page count more efficiently. Kaladin is my favorite character ever, but there was too much of him running around, looking for the next node and punching people. Those parts didn't have much sense of progress and dragged. All the while characters like Renarin, Szeth and Dalinar were shoved to the side. So it feels like it's too short (because it doesn't find time for a lot of important characters) and too long at the same time (because it still finds time to make some developments extremely thorough).

(Edit: Just noticed that I forgot the actual title of the thread while writing this and went for most emotional scenes in general instead, but I guess some of them work this way as well ) "What's a man's life worth?" in Way of Kings. "What's the most important step a man can take? Always the next one." in Oathbringer. Hoid's stories in general. From "Fleet kept running!" over The Dog and the Dragon to The Girl Who Stood Up. Definitely the Fourth Ideal, especially with Teft's "Say it, lad!" thrown in there. Kelsier's death, especially Vin's reaction to it. Their short reunion in the Cognitive Realm. Marsh managing to pull the earring and Vin exploding into Preservation's power. The Catacendre, of course. Ham didn't die, and Kelsier didn't watch Dox die, he was told by Leras after the fact, so that scene's probably what you mean? It is impactful!

We will presumably find out between Stormlight 5 and 6:

I'm also German and I'd like to add that the German publishers don't seem to contact Brandon for cases like these. At least that'd explain why they didn't call Shards Scherben but Splitter, which is basically the translation for Splinter, a separate Cosmere phenomenon. I have no idea how they're going to translate that. So the German translations are not really fit for theorizing, as far as I'm concerned.

I'm not sure if Shallan is actually worse than others. The problem is probably not that she's Shallan, but the fact that she's trying to change objects by begging them. This passage is from Jasnah's perspective, in chapter 64, Rhythm of War: "Draining Stormlight from the gemstones at her waist, she gave it a single command. Change. No begging, as she'd tried when younger. Only firmness. The bored air accepted, and formed into oil all around them." I might have missed an obvious clue, but I'd guess that anyone trying Shallan's method would have the same results, because it's implied that Jasnah didn't succeed when she tried it herself.