Elegy

The aethers don't belong to any Shard: I think the similarities come from just fundamental cosmere mechanics, similar to how several worlds have Lightweaving.

Silverlight is not an organization. It's a city and the home of several organizations, among them the 17th Shard and the Ire. We haven't seen enough of most of them to really say. The 17th Shard is probably very powerful, but definitely not influential at all, they specifically don't want to be. I don't think we're at a point in the Cosmere where any galaxy-wide organization is actually influential. That's something that will come with time, as more and more people become cosmere-aware. And until then, I'd guess the Ghostbloods will be on the forefront, solely based on their importance for the main plot of both Cosmere core series.

(Honestly, just an excuse to use this template)

Another possibility is that Elantris 2 will deal with a threat that is related to Autonomy: So that sounds like Jaddeth is a Trell-style persona for Bavadin and she's found someone to take that name and become her avatar. Which would mean that Elantris 2 would deal with a Lost Metal-type of situation where Autonomy threatens to claim a planet. Maybe Shai, once she's cosmere-aware, notices that the force that threatens Scadrial is the same that once did the same thing to her homeworld.

Definitely a problem, you can also see this in Rhythm of War with Zahel, except that one isn't even explained at all (despite Brandon saying that there is a reason ... thanks Brandon, we really would have liked to know...). To be fair though, Kelsier couldn't have done anything since he doesn't have powers at all at the moment. I'd even say it's possible that he even lied about not being able to get there in time, because if he had gotten there, he couldn't have pretended to be an Allomancer anymore. Also, at least Harmony sent TenSoon, so that is at least something. But like I said, I agree with the general sentiment. (As long as we're talking about Scadrial and Roshar. Less central stories like the Cosmere Secret Projects presumably won't have this problem.)

They are so confusing. At one point it's mentioned that their skin is golden - so they have skin. Then later they are described as "inhuman" and "living statues". Inhuman, living statues with skin? Seems weird to me. Seems like at least one of these things is metaphorical. The question being, which one? 1) Maybe they don't have skin, but the parts that would show their skin if they were human, like their faces, are golden. 2) Maybe they just look like living statues because they move so unnaturally due to being controlled by something else. Like, puppets. 3) Maybe they are human, but seem inhuman because of the corruption. Similar to how people corrupted by the Thrill on Roshar - also with red eyes - might seem inhuman. The problem with 2) and 3) is that they kind of have to go together. Because if they are statues, they are also inhuman. That would mean that two of three actual statements about them are only half-truths, which would be extremely annoying. Which leads me to believe that they actually aren't human and the "skin" is the metaphorical part, or they actually have skin while being statues, which is honestly pretty hard to imagine. That makes my initial theory - them being Daysiders - unlikely because then they would be humans. But them having rifles seems to point towards Taldain as their homeworld. Which doesn't make much sense, because Taldain doesn't seem to have anything that could turn out like this. It hurts my brain. Edit: Another thought: Maybe we should consider the bias of the person perceiving them. Marasi notes that their weapons seem advanced, so their culture seems to be further than Scadrial's (again, pointing towards Taldain). So maybe they only look "inhuman" and like "living statues" to her because they use some kind of armor that Marasi isn't familiar with. If they had something similar to Shardplate, most people from worlds other from Roshar would probably call them "living statues", think about it. Am I saying that they actually wear Shardplates? I think it's very unlikely, first, it should be hard to get plate off Roshar, second, Autonomy's influence on Roshar seems to be weak and subtle at most. That could change in Stormlight 5, but these creatures were not created in Stormlight 5, they have been used in the past, probably for hundreds of years in one form or another. So it's unlikely that it's actually Shardplate, but there's certainly similar things. Some kind of war suit that was maybe developed on Taldain (maybe even just a technical thing without the use of much magic) and now used. I think this makes the most sense to me - them being human but appearing in a very futuristic armor that gives Marasi the impression that they are statues.

Another relevant WOB: So it doesn't seem to have come from Roshar, it's just a not-as-usual manifestation of Investiture. There seem to be several worlds in the Cosmere without a Shard that still have developed some kind of magic system (albeit probably not nearly as complex).

Maybe if you actually want a good discussion, try explaining yourself instead of waiting for other people to do the work for you. That's lazy.

Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment is one of my favorite novels, I also think it's pretty accessible, so definitely worth a recommendation. Apart from that, Kafka's The Metamorphosis and Goethe's Faust (the sequel as well, if you want to feel completely lost, it's probably one of the most complex pieces of literature of all time). Honorable Mentions to the Kalevala and Paradise Lost.

I love Steris, but her plot in this book felt kinda useless. I get that someone had to evacuate the city, but it still never came together in a satisfying way like, for example (similar word count, also in the final book), TenSoon's arc in Hero of Ages. There were several chapters with her that felt severely underdeveloped. TenSoon popping up in a very anticlimactic way and all the skeptics being like "oh, now we're changing our opinions" felt unearned, and the already infamous Bands scene that introduces a mystery that just fiddles out. Just very bewildering in general. The ending should have been less open-ended in my opinion, but I believe I understand what Brandon was going for. He has said that Wax & Wayne is some kind of prologue ot the huge second era of the Cosmere, the modern, more cosmere-centric era (the third and final era being space age Cosmere), so it makes sense that this story ends with the feeling of a new beginning along with the ending. But still, I am slightly worried for future Cosmere series endings (including Stormlight 5), because I have the subtle feeling that Brandon is kind of unable to actually end a story. It's come back to bite him a few times (with a Lux sequel being uncertain, and, most prominently, the promised Rithmatist sequel that still won't be out for years!) Sometimes I feel like he just hasn't been able to let go of any chance to prove to the readers that he can bind them to future entries of the series since Hero of Ages. But there is a reason why Hero of Ages is hailed as one of the best series endings of all time. Because it's complete. So please, Brandon, let this be an exception and give us actual series endings at the end of series in the future. It's really been a while. Not really a Lost Metal thing, but the book is completely overstuffed. North versus South, Elendel versus Belming. Ghostbloods, Aehters, the Set, Autonomy, Harmony, the Bands of Mourning, Marsh, TenSoon. It just stumbles under what it has to tell, even at 160,000 words long. I think it just shows the failings of the previous entries in the series. Things introduced both in SOS and BOM were mostly irrelevant, while the actually important stuff needed to be introduced in the FINAL BOOK, which just shows how poorly-planned this series was (for Brandon's standards). He should have introduced the Ghostbloods in SOS, all the Autonomy/Trell stuff in Bands of Mourning. Then these things would have been spaced out better instead of having three books of "fun adventures but few things of consequence happen" and then one books that has to do almost everything at once. Resulting from that, the whole sequence with the underground Community seemed like a huge thing that should have been explored further. It should have gotten a huge section of the book (like, Spook in Urteau level huge) instead of a few chapters. As it was, the sudden change of heart in the Allomancers seemed incredibly rushed. You don't just change the opinions of dozens of people who have been living a lie for years on end in the matter of minutes. It should have been a slow process, but this way it felt forced. And they could have had the time for that, if the previous books had done a better job setting up this book. like I stated above. I still like this book for a lot of reasons, but these things didn't felt up to standard. After Rhythm of War, it's the second Cosmere book in a row that had parts that felt incomplete and not as well thought-out as I would like. Either way, I'm definitely relieved that Brandon stated he would take his time with Stormlight 5, because I really want that book to be more thorough and meticulous than these last two.

I thought the finale as a whole was very satisfying. Wayne's arc was predictable but very well executed, and his last scene with Harmony was one of those larger-than-life Cosmere moments that I've loved since Hero of Ages. The character writing in general was very well-done. In that regard, it's up there with Brandon's best, although in general, I see this book more in the middle-range of his work.

In word counts, Wheel of Time is actually still roughly double the length of Dresden Files - 4.4 million versus 2.3 million. Stormlight will presumably reach 2.3 million as well with book 5. Some book lengths differ widely, and even page count often isn't reliable because of formating (like Stormlight books having 400 words per page, 250-300 being normal). I actually believe it's hard to find a series longer than Wheel of Time (although Malazan easily surpasses it if you count all spin-offs, sequels, etc.). Stormlight might come close when it ends, but only if he keeps up the length of those

This is a great bit of information. We don't know how long Alethi words are on average, but if they are comparable to English in length, that would be circa 80,000 words. Alloy of Law, for reference, is 90,000 words, Warbreaker 200,000, Way of Kings (the real one) 380,000.

Watched The Secrets of Dumbledore. Such an amateurish script without any actual purpose or aim. And yet, astonishingly, so much better than the second one. In between this, the Star Wars sequels and the Hobbit films, the three biggest franchises of my teenage years sure have fallen deep over the last ten years. I'm so glad to have the Cosmere now

Good Omens. Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett are a power duo! The story feels more like Gaiman, the writing feels more like Pratchett. A very interesting combination!

Finished Better Call Saul ... The franchise that started the golden age of the series is done! Man, it really feels like the end of an era.

The original question was if the Sons of Honor are a splinter group of the Envisagers, so when he says it's backwards, it means that the Envisagers are more likely a splinter group of the Sons of Honor - I can see how the phrasing is confusing though ^^ Good point with the Turaki! That's a good possibility

I don't have the source right now, but I believe I have read that the Windrunner percentage is automatically increased by some points to imitate how they've traditionally been the Order with the most members (and probably also the one that readers like most because of Kaladin and the fact that we know most about them). Similarly, the Bondsmith percentage is automatically lowered by 10 points or so to make it way harder to get Bondsmith - since it would be odd to have many of them when in the books, there's never been more than three. Edit: It should be noted though that on this site (and in the fandom in general), Truthwatchers are the most present Order, which is probably because we kind of specialize in reading books, looking for clues, finding truths, etc. ^^

There's a common theory that there might be a Shin organization that keeps the honorblades. Nothing's confirmed though. There is also the possibility that the Envisagers don't count, since they seem to be an offshoot/splinter group of the Songs of Honor: Which would mean that there could be one more secret society yet again.

A few thoughts about Well of Ascension: Certainly one of Brandon's darkest and also most cumbersome books. The first third in particular has many repetitive scenes and internal monolgues that make it hard to really feel like the story progresses. But it all pays off nicely, and it has one of the most rewarding endings I've ever read. It goes from tiresome to awesome. My least favorite of the trilogy for sure, but still a fantastic book in its own right. Hero of Ages is definitely more eventful and exciting. Not sure if I like all the different plots going on at once in the first half, but the way it concludes things is immaculate. Certainly the best finale to anything I've ever read or watched. I also did a re-read of Emperor's Soul. Odd how such a short work can have story-telling and character work this impactful. Gaotana in particular is such a fantastic character (probably my favorite Brandon novella character). It's just so good. I've wanted to re-evaluate these (and Elantris and Warbreaker) for years now, glad to have done it. Conclusion: Warbreaker and the Mistborn trilogy still hold up easily, Elantris, on the other hand, seemed kinda shaky now in comparison, while Emperor's Soul is even better than I remembered. And now I'll probably read something entirely different. Oh yes, Crime and Punishment is probably my favorite non-fantasy novel ever! Really left an impact. You're right though, it is pretty heavy.

The WOB actually refers to stars: But I think you're still indirectly right. In the Drominad System essay, Khriss notes that the three inhabited planets in that system are only matched by the Rosharan system, so no more than two inhabited planets per system other than those, it seems. That makes 200 planet at the most - but only if we assume that every system has inhabited planets, which admittedly is unlikely. So 50-100 is probably still a very good guess. (On a side-note: In Secret History, Khriss says there are "dozens" of planets, not hundreds or the likes.) (The Drominad System essay also mentions that it is not normal for a world in the Cosmere to have a Shard in residence, it's just that those worlds that have are 1. more interesting to her 2. actually within her reach since they usually have perpendicularities which she can use to travel)

Generally, beings don't really seem to become more or less powerful that way. The level of Investiture is still the same, whether people believe in something or not. Like, a Shard that noone believes in is still a Shard with its immense amount of Investiture. That said, there is a certain influence that believing has in Cognitive entities: ... which is not exactly a question of power but a question of Connection. That said, of course more/stronger Connections can lead to more power, in a way, but that's probably not what you meant Also, of course, beings like the spren are formed by human beliefs/concepts. But again, this doesn't really seem to affect their level of power. On a side-note, I think even if Kelsier was powerful enough, he wouldn't really work against Harmony. They are still friends, in a way, and trust between friends is basically the one firm principle that Kelsier ever had.

The Shattering is explained in Mistborn: Secret History. There's very straight-forward references to it in the Arcanum Unbounded essays as well. These two things are the most Cosmere aware of everything out yet, so as soon he's read those, he's in on the important stuff.

The Stoneward oath similarity is indeed something very fascinating. Either way, the Heralds were meant to fight off Odium's armies, and Hoid can't hurt people, so I would be very surprised to see him fight with Taln's honorblade. I do think that the question who the original 10th one was is significant though (although it's probably that we've never even heard of that person yet - after all, they probably remained a simple mortal and died).

Interestingly, I don't even disagree with that regarding the whole world, because everything outside of Luthadel definitely feels very empty and uninteresting But Luthadel itself is a masterpiece imo, a few reasons for that: (Very mild spoilers for Mistborn Final Empire) But yeah, Scadrial itself is not the most interesting Cosmere world to me as well, even though I am heavily invested (no pun intended) in what happens on it because of the story and the characters ^^