Honorless

Sorry about the necro but I just found a really good source talking about the same topic and I think it might be of interest and help to future readers: https://www.tor.com/2013/07/05/the-ecology-of-roshar-continued-quest-for-blood/

The Marksman? The robber from the slums who was hunted down by Wax, Marasi and Wayne but shot in the neck by an assassin sent by the Set

Please do

I like the Lightweavers because of their system of Ideals. Self-realization, self-acceptance and self-actualization are far more appealing to me than the more rigid oath structure of the other Orders I'd probably want to be a Nicroburst but if we're talking strictly era 1, probably Bronze. I can't quite tell you why, just that the idea resonates with me

That's exactly the point. I'm trying and I'm so tired of every author who's put us through "not yet", "I'm not homophobic but..." to downright "this is against my religious beliefs"

Thank you, both of you @Koloss17 and @Elsecaller_17.5. Vin and Elend are such favourites that I was afraid of what this thread might've looked like when I came back to see it

No probs, Karg, credit goes where credit is due. Now come back to Cosmere Discussions forum to a certain topic of mine, chop, chop!

Thinking back on it, I think both what happened and the comparison with Hemalurgy would make more sense if instead of trapping Jezrien's soul, the dagger simply ripped out part of his Spiritweb, the part which sends his soul back to Braize when killed

Credit goes to @Karger, I forgot about this connection completely

Oh yeah! Taoism fits even better, Yin and Yang, Preservation and Ruin, forces in harmony

How do you remember Drehy?

Intriguing thought... also welcome to the Shard!

@RShara, thank you for the WoB. So Dalinar's visions were a fair bit complicated to construct @Ixthos, good point! The Well of Ascension is definitely among the most closest to what I was looking for @TrдVψLшR 0115, I don't remember where this was, I'm afraid RShara, help?

Confucianism is the closest real world analogue that I can think of

This is both an observation and rooting for a non-pro-monarchy setting

A cynical way of interpreting that, Karg. I've noticed Brandon has been pretty vague about this issue

There is, it's called Sliverism, believing in the Lord Ruler and the Last Inquisitor aka Ironeyes And while he might be a Satan like figure to some, Grim Reaper would probably be a more accurate description

Not the correct situation to use that turn of phrase, Karg Because writing a gay male lead is how you loose readership? Also, source?

The Conventical of Seran?

The gay male protagonist. Bane of mainstream literature. But things are better now™. *sigh* LGBT literature is still very much- actually hold that thought. The existence of that term alone shows the problem: that LGBT literature is a separate thing from straight literature. We rarely have fantasy, mystery or sci-fi whose main character happens to be gay, we have gay fiction which happens to have a fantasy, mystery or sci-fi setting, rarely. Mostly it's just romance. Written by women. *sigh* It's mostly erotica, basically not even aimed at the same gender. There are gay authors: Adam Silvera, TJ Klune, Will Walton, Benjamin Alire Sáenz,... well-known LGBT authors. Special thanks to Richard Morgan who finally wrote a non-romance with a gay male character as the main protagonist. Also Robin Hobb. Gay characters are almost never the main protagonist in the mainstream literature. Gay literature is still a niche genre and generally not taken to be a part of mainstream literature. When gay characters do appear in the mainstream and they're not badly written, they're usually secondary characters or at most, the deuteragonist. These authors are then treated like the bastion of LGBT literature and everyone else would remember their example for the next ten years as completion of the required dosage of gayness they can handle on their reading list. They will then cite these books everytime some poor sod mentions we need more representation, "wasn't that one book from 5 years ago with that one gay character (who probably dies later on) enough?" And these authors too, even after all this time, are in the minority compared to those who simply ignore that gay people exist. These are the books most likely to have a lot of romantic subplots. Love triangles, ahoy! "But we need romance in our books!" "Why do we need to have a gay character?" "what does it add to the character?" Female gay characters are, of course, fine. I mean there's also less gay female characters because it's not as daring and "female lead" is still something that can be used to sort books but at least people aren't directly opposed to them. Gay male characters on the other hand are an insult and a threat to masculinity everywhere *long exhale* So we have Ranette and Drehy filling the quota of gay characters in the Cosmere and they're tertiary characters. So far, we have maybe-promises from the author regarding gay characters in the future. On a completely unrelated note, how many love triangles have we had in the Cosmere so far again? This post is my anger and this post is my logic: Also check out this comment by @The Awakened Salad which addresses the question of why a character would "need" to be gay:

Thanks for putting up with my incessant questioning! What's the coolest Order of the Knights Radiant, according to you? Do you think that's also the Order you would fit in? If not, which one do you think you would rather be in?

The epic fantasy genre is still relatively young, at least compared to other literary genres. The foundational work of creating an entirely new category of literature, one defined by the creation of an entirely new fictional world where the story takes place, is attributed to J.R.R. Tolkien. Everything Tolkien had done have become standard fantasy tropes: dark lords, medieval settings, elves and dwarves. Of interest here is the medieval settings part, which defines so much of the fantasy genre: fantasy world settings are mostly based on Europe, around the medieval time period in thought and technology and the nobility. I'm not referring to the quality here, which is it's own trope, but the idea related to class & bloodline & the divine right of kings. Brandon Sanderson is Mormon, so the portrayal of religion in his works is something that has been discussed a lot. You can find answers to most questions you might want to ask him regarding this on his site itself and there's plenty of discussion here on the forums, on reddit, etc. The trope of nobles and commoners in his works, however, is something that is not discussed enough in my opinion, and when it is, it's usually mentioned as a throw-away comment: "yes, we get it, Brandon, not all nobles (are bad)" This trope has evolved over time from its origin, the divine right of kings. In the Lord of the Rings the only difference between the line of Kings and the line of Stewards is their pedigree. Some people are apparently inherently superior and thus have the right to rule over the rest of them. Let's not get into the other critiques of LoTR like race or apologetics (I suggest looking into CS Lewis for more on this). Denethor was a bad ruler not just because he was a bad ruler but because he wasn't the rightful ruler. Aragorn comes and he's the rightful heir and everything's chill now. The themes are still kinda there in Sanderson's works too, the trope has been transformed but not truly subverted. In Mistborn era 1, book 2, Elend institutes a constitutional monarchy which is still very skewed with only 1/3 of the representatives being skaa. This assembly then boots him out, rightfully through Elend's own laws but Vin goes on a rampage of murdering and/or forcing his competitors to submit to his rule. In book 3, he decides that the time for debates and legislatures is later somewhere in the indeterminate future when the crisis is over. I do understand what the stakes were that motivated him to do the things he did. I'm simply pointing out a plot point. In era 2 of Mistborn, the legislative branch is divided into two halves: half elected and half aristocrats. The main protagonist is one of the aristocrats and one of the overarching character arcs for him was about accepting the responsibility of being an aristocrat. There are forces from outside of Scadrial who are involved in trying to topple this system. In Warbreaker, the God-King of Hallandren, Susebron was a figurehead ruler with the power being concentrated in the Court of Gods. The other main characters all belong to the ruling classes as well: two princesses, one of them also the queen, a member of the Court of Gods, and an enigmatic former ruler. The antagonists wanted to overthrow the system but are thwarted at the end by Susebron who comes into his powers after having been educated by the princess-queen and given back his tongue by magic. Hallandren's future looks just a bit brighter with its rightful ruler in power. In The Stormlight Archives much of the story revolves around the Kholin family, who reunified the broken kingdom of Alethkar. The idea of fighting against the Lighteyes does exist but that stuff is less important than unifying under them to face a greater threat. Also, Lighteyes are mostly descended from the ancient Knights Radiant whose eyes glowed the colour of their Order, that's where both the colour and the notion of superiority came from. In Elantris, the kingdom of Arelon moves on from plutocracy to monarchy, but we shouldn't worry because Raoden is pretty chill. ~spoilers for Aether of Night~ I'm not saying that these issues might not get resolved in future sequels. The Mistborn era 2 broadsheets seem to be hinting at civil unrest and discontent. And if @asmodeus's theory* is right, it might become a major plot point in eras 3 & 4 Stormlight might not just be about the fight against Odium but a fight against hatred. And again, I'm aware of the plot, circumstances and characteristics behind these noble characters. I'm just pointing out that these were actual plot points in the stories. Brandon has broken quite a few tropes in his prolific career but for now at least, it seems, that this is the trope that would not break *asmodeus' theory: Also, go read Powder Mage you guys! Edit: There is a subversion of this trope in Sanderson's work: White Sand. Making the Diem less dictatorial and more accountable is one of the most integral parts of the plot.

Do you know what Words of Radiance and Oathbringer are called? Hmm... I'm feeling apprehensive about the last one