Elegy

No worry, you're in good company! For anyone thinking there should be more discussion about actual ships, there' this:

Possibly, but my point wasn't that it doesn't make sense. My point was that the reader has had no opportunity to feel some kind of bonding between them. They literally had one on-page dialogue together before becoming involved in a relationship. It's not about what's logical, it's about what's been set up, and this hasn't been set up.

Yeah, but internet languages moves faster than dictionaries: https://amp.knowyourmeme.com/memes/cultures/shipping

Yeah agreed, beautiful but confusing movie. The manga series is one of my favorites though and I was happy to see it done justice visually, so I'm mostly satisfied. But the story is far too esoteric and complicated to be adapted in 2 hours, I guess. It's less confusing in the manga. There's a mind-bending aspect to it, but it has enough time to set it up and it feels very intentional, in contrast to the movie where it can feel like they had no clue what to do with it and just went nuts in the end.

It's interesting that you don't include it as one of the points but then still mention the lack of set-up for the relationship as one of your reasons. Because that's definitely the main reason for me (and obviously one of the main reasons for you). Brandon sure could make them work together, but he didn't even try, he just made it up on the fly, and went from not even thinking about them being a pair to them suddenly being one from one book to the other: That's not how you write relationships that people are on board with, Brandon!! Don't! >.< I think it's not necessarily their personalities or that they don't fit. It's just bad writing.

Brandon once said that in cases like that, "it would not be the cosmere, it would just be be coincidentionally an identical version of the cosmere that just through random happenstance popped up". He really wants the Cosmere to stay out of interdimensional stuff ^^

Something like this: Kaladin Dalinar Syl Kelsier Vin Shallan Sazed All of these are among my favorite characters of all time, including all narrative media, and no. 1 is my no. 1 ever, for always

Maybe somehow every person in the Cosmere gets an equally large part of Adonalsium, similar to the Breaths on Nalthis? Just with immense restrictions as to how that power can be used? Giving one person all the power definitely isn't a good idea, even if it's an agreeable person like Sazed/Taln it would still be an authocratic system. Even 16 didn't work out well. Noone should be able to desert whole planets, and that could be a solution to that. Of course, we know of no cosmere mechanic that could lead to this, but it's not impossible and we definitely haven't seen all important cosmere mechanics yet.

But that would mean reading Alloy of Law between Way of Kings and Words of Radiance, and Shadows of Self plus Bands of Mourning between Words of Radiance and Oathbringer. Also Oathbringer between White Sand volume 1 and 2, which is even more incoherent. I don't think it's a good way to go about it. In fact, I think that those who join in only now are privileged to get to read the series in one piece instead of jumping between them like Brandon does when writing them (and we do when he releases them). @OT: You should be fine with where you are now. White Sand is definitely not required for anything at all. Finishing what we have of Era 2 right now might be kinda cool, but not really important.

One of the pillars of our justice system is the principle that innocents have the right to not be actively harmed by the state. As soon as that principle falls, a huge chunk of modern Western morality falls with, since it effectively means that the state could also do similar things that violate this right, like experimenting on innocent people in dangerous ways against their will in order to prevent crimes, diseases or the likes. That is not something that a state worthy of its power should be allowed to do. In a state that functions on a just basis, you should not live in fear of being abducted to be murdered by the state for no reason, and this would be a legit consequence of Taravangian's line of arguing. And to prove my point: He's doing just that to get the Death Rattles, it's in the book that this is a consequence of his way of thinking. I don't think Brandon is actually asking the reader which side they're on, especially since Taravangian is so obviously framed as a villain beforehand. It's more to establish his internal logic, his recklessness, and the way he (and much of Vorin culture) views leadership: As something not to protect the innocent, but something to use to destroy until things are your way, with not much regards to what you break along the way. Taravangian is just a more feeble version of that, because it takes him feeling guilty about it into account. But this whole way of thinking needs a figure of authority that is allowed to destroy innocent lives if they think it's right. In modern thinking, state should not have that authority, and you as a civilian under that state have the right to not be murdered by the state for nothing. So, rather than a "hey guys, who's side are you on" from Brandon, I think of it more as a way of saying "This is the way they still think, it's going to be a long way from here".

Interesting idea! There are two problems though, one in-world and one meta problem. The in-world problem: Vasher created the Phantoms specifically to awaken them. They have human bones built in to work. Humans on Roshar soulcast to stone are completely stone as soon as they are transformed, so they would be significantly harder, I'd guess close to impossible to awaken in a way that would allow them to move. It would make for a cool moment, but I don't think it works within the framework established in Warbreaker. The meta problem: It would provide an important plot development that would require reading a non-Stormlight book to understand. That's something that Brandon does not do since it contradicts his first law of magic - the law that the solution to problems should only ever work on the basis of what the reader understands - and not every reader understands Awakening, by far. He explained his crossover method in this WOB (fittingly using Zahel Awakening in Rhythm of War as an example): Which means that he does things like this to create a mysterious effect, but not in a way that resolves important conflicts in a way that can only be properly understood by people who have read specific books outside of the Stormlight Archive.

Brandon has confirmed that there isn't a strict "primary" Surge - the tendency that the clock-wise Surge is often the first to be shown in the story is real and intentional, but it has writing reasons and only "a little bit of an in-world reason":

A relevant WOB about Connection and "coincidences" like this:

Well it seems that Heralds don't possess bodies of existing people, although that was what it was like in Way of Kings Prime (I removed a Mistborn Secret History spoiler from this WOB):

Interesting theory, especially the Radiant part! the main argument against it: Gemhearts are a distinctly Rosharan phenomenon. The Heralds, however, were humans from Ashyn, so they definitely didn't have gemhearts when they were born. They would have to have had them transplanted at some time. But if that's the case, there would have to be a reason for that. I don't have an idea what that reason could be. Sure, they could bond spren more easily that way, but they didn't need to bond any of those since they had the honorblades already. Similarly, Chana isn't a horneater because she's from Ashyn, she's one of the very first humans to come to Roshar. Horneaters are offsprings of Parshendi and humans (those from Ashyn that Chana belonged to), so those only started to exist a long time along the line between then and now. Chana is way older than the very first horneater

Dawnshard was written directly after and released a few weeks before the release of Rhythm of War. It's probably going to be similar to that. The date was not set until a few months before its release. So it's not overdue, it will be, like, at least a year until he can say anything reliable about it.

We have an idea: So hundreds but probably not thousands of years. Maybe the Shades in the Forests of Hell are some kind of bug to a feature that works on Threnody as a whole. After all, Nazh says that becoming a cognitive shadow is a sacred process, which means that there is another way to do it than the one that creates Shades. Then again, that's by the time of Mistborn, which means that the Evil probably hasn't overtaken the homeland yet (since that happen 150 years before Shadows for Silence, and Warbreaker is "a few generations" before Stormlight). So there could have been a change between Mistborn and Shadows for Silence, although Sigzil definitely wasn't a Dawnshard by that time.

What makes you think she didn't already splinter herself? Is there any reason to believe she was still around at the time of earlier Cosmere books? I see more evidence for the opposite - Harmony couldn't contact her, which makes it seem like she's already splintered by the time of Stormlight, and there's also this WOB that suggests that there are a lot of splintered Shards in the Cosmere present: My guess would be that Yumi takes place somewhere around Mistborn Era 3 and Virtuosity was Splintered some time before the founding of the Final Empire, something like that.

Amazing! And all the more poetic considering the significance of the number 4 in the Cosmere It's almost as if Brandon outlined it to be like this

I might be misunderstanding you, but it's 300 years: (Chapter 2) It would be a major spoiler because it would mean that Hoid survives Era 4 as one of its major characters. Also, Brandon has been pretty clear about his plans to make Era 4 the definitive chronological end of the Cosmere. He once said that even if he writes more Cosmere stuff after finishing Era 4, it would take place before that - though I can't find the WOB right now (I do find referenced to it on Reddit without a source, so I didn't just imagine it). There is this WOB though: -- My guess is this: The Iriali are an established culture on Lumar by the time they vanish, so they have to have been there for at least a few generations. I'd say 200 years at least. Plus 300 years since they left, so at least 500 years after they left Roshar (might happen in the gap between Stormlight 5 and 6?). That would mean more than 500 years between Stormlight and Mistborn Era 4. My favorite theory about the Era 4 timing is 600 years after Era 3, which would mean 660 years after Era 2, which means 1000 years after Era 1 - a full cycle of the Well of Ascension. I know that the Well would probably not refill, but I like the irony/poetry of the story ending at that point. Anyway, the Iriali have at least 300 years (plus the time between Tress and Mistborn Era 4) to spend on a sixth planet before potentially finding their seventh and final world in Era 4. After all, their story will be continued in space age Cosmere: These are just some thoughts.

It's something entirely different from the broadsheets: The side character being alluded to in the second WOI might be Nazh, since that's Isaac's other very own pet character who's appeared in a newspaper - since Nazh and Nicki don't seem to know each other during the broadsheet story, it would have to be after that one. Maybe between Bands of Mourning and Lost Metal, would be my guess.

S1 - possibly Brandon's best prose writing yet in my opinion, also a very interesting atmosphere and I adored the dialogues. Had the vibes of a Song of the Sea style animated feature film. I love it and am super stoked! S4 - One idea that I myself once had for a story was a chosen hero starting their typical journey, then late in the game becoming immortal and spendig the whole last act on an eternal battle over hundreds of years while his entire group of companions and everyone he originally fought for are long dead and he's all alone. This story seems to be basically that, and I am still fascinated with that idea. Of course, the Cosmere-centric stuff is kinda nice as well (although I first and foremost want a good story - I think I'm not as obsessed with these details as a lot of people on here). We'll see if Brandon manages to make a story with this much action not fall flat on the long run. The Hoid scene was my favorite scene of the four samples! S3 - I had a hard time imagining what Yumi's planet is supposed to look like, but Painter's story is cool, and Brandon going full-on anime (after having had a lot of anime tropes since forever) is also very interesting. It's hard to really say what this story will actually be about at this point though, since we basically got two half beginnings instead of one full one. The noodles scene was fantastic, ha ha. S2 - I still like it and it seems like a lot of fun. But it's not on the last place just because it isn't Cosmere, but because I feel that Brandon's writing when he does goofy action can be a bit cringy and on-the-nose (also what I didn't like about Reckoners). I love the dry humor of the guidebook inserts though, and am very much looking forward to those! I am excited for all of them, that's for sure. But most of all, I am just excited that these are going to exist. The Cosmere has already grown so much through the sample chapters alone, and that's just beautiful to witness.

First off, I really hope that Sanderson not only maintains this ambiguity, but also gives some legitimate hints and evidence in favor of the Aether's position, so that there's a real discussion about it to be had. I love the idea of extra-cosmere aliens messing with the things happening in the books. It's so ominous and adds an extremely fascinating wild card to it all. But on top of that, I think Brandon can definitely build it so that they would be invaders to the cosmere. After all, the cosmere is not the universe, it's the galaxy (well, star cluster), as explained in these WOBs: ... and although Adonalsium seems to have created the cosmere, the question whether or not they actually created the whole universe beyond this star cluster will probably/possibly never be answered. We do know that there is an outside, something beyond the cosmere: I think the set-up for such a thing is definitely there. And yes, there are WOBs that contradict this, as in confirming that everything in the cosmere is actually Investiture, but those aren't really recent (not as in, "written Secret Project #1 and therefore really pinned the Aethers down" recent), and Brandon changed his mind about the Aethers in several ways and has seemingly only recently truly decided what he wants to do with them (figuring out their number, deciding that there's more than one Aether world, etc.). So I think it's likely that his plan right now is that the Aether's origin will be decidedly ambiguous, despite what he said in the past. And I'd love that. Just when I thought there couldn't be more wild cards added to the Cosmere, here we are with something that could potentially be beyond even Adonalsium and Investiture.

Another one could be: Are the Night Bridage and the Dust Brigade the same or at least closely related? And the one I'm probably going to ask: Would the protagonist of the possible kite magic story you talked about be Sigzil or yet another of Hoid's apprentices?

That is true! But his priority doesn't seem to be to stay there until something important happens, while Hoid does just that. Sigzil is more concerned with running away, preferably to just another planet - which means that he is constantly in motion. He must be, since he is being chased. So he wouldn't stay a King's Wit at one place for years like Hoid did on Roshar by the time of Stormlight.