Irishlawyer

37 minutes ago, Nameless said:

That doesn't mean he'll be bad at combat, or that he won't fight at all, (he's the Blackthorn, after all.) but I think that he's going to be a leader as opposed to a fighter.

I feel as though he may transition to a role where he cannot fight at all.  It'll get to a point where committing himself to the battlefield would be too much of a liability, either because he cannot fight as well against other Surgebinders/Fused/whatnot, or he's more needed in a command role.  It'll end his character arc, no longer the Blackthorn of old.

No problem, there's a whole lot going on in this series.  I know there isn't much to it, but I like the low-key symbolism of nine honorblades left at Aharietiam, the breaking of the Oathpact, when nine is also a symbolic number for Odium.  

22 minutes ago, Hyarmenatan said:

How is it even possible - and even more confirmed by WoB above - that the blade the madman had in the Kholinar was actually the Honorblade? They gave up their blades and Shins hold them. I thought that the Heralds not only left the swords and went the other way, but also severed the bond with them. Those were not THEIR swords anymore. But now, out of nowhere, Taln-madman has the Honorblade on his person. Did he go to Shinovar, fought off the shamans and took it back? Or maybe they never actually gave away the swords and the bond was not broken? In that case, how come the Shins had been able to train multiple people in using Surges?

To me, the entire giving up on Honorblades in the WoK Prologue would not make sense unless the bond is also broken. The only possible explanation of the above is that the blade knows it belongs to specific Herald, no matter who wields it at the moment, and the rightfull Herald can summon it anytime. Otherwise, I have no idea how the Taln-madman could have had a Honorblade shortly after going back to Roshar.

 

In the WoK Prologue, there are only nine honorblades; seven when the Heralds show up, and the two present put theirs in the stone.  The Shin acquired those nine blades, but they never had all ten.  Taln had the remaining sword with him in Braize, it was not on Roshar ever since he died during Aharietiam.  It appeared with him when he came back to Roshar. 

Probably something simple, like Blast or Zap.  One syllable, keep it quick.

So, my title is kind of a simplification of the full question, but it's the model I've been using in my head while thinking about it.

The desert would have beads for each grain of sand, but what about combinations of sand?  Sand dunes are temporary in deserts, with winds blowing about the grains, but would the sand dune itself have it's own bead?  Would it require humans/sapient beings to imagine the dune?  How do objects that aren't truly cohesive work in the Cognitive?

Did my rambling question make sense?

I assumed that, since Nightblood may/probably have been on Roshar at the time, the NW just knew about it's existence (likely due to Vasher using Cultivation's perpendicularity, perhaps) & had the ability to retrieve it for Dalinar, not necessarily that the NW could produce a copy of Nightblood.  

I believe all of the worlds we've seen have been confirmed to be spheres, but it's not impossible for non-sphere 'worlds' to exist, in some way, shape, or form.  It's not impossible, with crab gods running around.  

On 2/18/2020 at 0:55 PM, Harrycrapper said:

The Eila Stele references the Singers' gods "of spren, stone, and wind." This is widely believed to reference the Nightwatcher, the Sibling, and the Stormfather respectively. 

God of stone, you say?  Could that potentially be related to the Shin's reverence of stone?

We also don't know the full extent of Nalthis' military might, outside of Hallandren & Idris.  Vasher does make some offhand references to interesting uses of Awakening in other nations (using ropes as siege engines, to launch stones, for example); and most societies on Nalthis would probably have Awakeners be prevalent just enough to matter in battle.

On 3/1/2020 at 10:35 PM, Dreamer said:

Welcome to the Shard, @Irishlawyer! Favourite moments from the books? 

Oh man, let's see (This is a spoiler for all Cosmere books in no particular order, here goes):

And thanks for the welcome!  I'm excited to be a part of this awesome community.

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Breath isn't something that hemalurgy can steal, meaning it also shouldn't be possible to alter.

That's a fair point, I just figured a Command would become part of a Lifeless' Spirit Web, possibly as part of their Identity.  'Would Commands be part of a Lifeless' Spirit Web?' Is probably a better question, because if it is, then it may open up the possibility of mucking about with Hemalurgic spikes.  Or are Commands just inherently Breath/Investiture overlaid on top of the Lifeless?  Do they not show up in the Spirit Web at all?

As an aside, from what you posted, along with 

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Djarskublar

I'd like confirmation/denial of a theory of mine. Is the reason people can recall breaths from objects but not Lifeless or sentient awakened objects because they no longer have the same Identity as the awakener?

Brandon Sanderson

You are on the right track.

It seems as though Lifeless somewhat retain their original Identity (I'm probably treading ground others have covered on these forums here).  

(Also sorry for posting the full quotes, I can't post links yet.)

So a Hemalurgic Spike can be used to 'steal' or alter the bond between a 'dead' Shardblade and an individual.  Could a Hemalurgic Spike be used to alter the Commands of a Lifeless, if the proper metals & points were used?

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NotOJebus

As the continent was specifically grown by Adonalsium

WHAT????!!!

Brandon Sanderson

Roshar predates the Shattering. I've spoken of this before, haven't I?

NotOJebus

Maybe somewhere before, and obviously most planets existed before the shattering (Planets are pretty old) but I don't think you've ever mentioned Roshar (the continent) being specifically grown by Adonalsium.

Is this a normal thing that Adonalsium did or was Roshar special to him in some way?

A quick search reveals that you have mentioned that Roshar was named Roshar before the Shattering but nothing mentioned about it being grown by Adonalsium. It makes sense though, that shape is obviously not natural.

Brandon Sanderson

There are many things that are unique about Roshar, but it wasn't the only world created in this way.

This kind of explains why

Hi, I'm new here (clearly).  I just finished Warbreaker this week, which completes the entire Cosmere for me, for now, although I definitely have to re-read several of the books now.  I've been doing a lot of wiki deep dives over the past couple weeks, and I'm excited to join all of the theory crafting & discussions that go on here.