CameronUluvara

Simply because it can store investiture, regardless of what that investiture is? Is identity even investiture?

And that means?

The feruchemy doesn’t matter because it stores identity. That doesn’t count because identity is a self-aware concept gained through consciousness given to humanity by Ruin/Preservation. It’s still anti-god. Also, no one knows how identity works, and Brandon has avoided talking about it.

It’s a part of allomancy in that it destroys all your other metals. Why do you say that? And once again, do you understand that that doesn’t affect the theory?

Aluminum is unique in that it doesn’t have magical properties. There was a whole discussion a while back about it being some kind of anti-god metal because it’s not affected by investiture. It can’t be soulcast, it can’t be Pushed or Pulled, it blocks emotional allomancy, it can’t be cut by a shardblade. Not only does it resist investiture, it actively cancels it out, which isn’t something we see from the other God-metals. Better theory is that aluminum was part of what shattered Adonalsium, or a result of the shattering.

Considering that Shardplate is created through Connection with the Radiant, I don’t think it’s possible to say that either moves of their own strength. They move with combined strength. Since Connection forms Shardplate, the strength of a Shardplate-wearing-Radiant depends upon the strength of their Radiance, because that’s what forms the Connection. And we know that the strength of Radiance is dependent on how broken the soul is (allowing more power in). So what I’m saying is that it’s most likely that Shardplate neither enhances every Radiant equally, nor dependent on their physical strength, but on their Radiance. Also pewter doesn’t enhance based on physical strength. There are some long talks in Mistborn about this, some fight scenes based around it.

It got better after Way of Kings, but still...it was manipulative, the way she intentionally started rumors about them, and backed him into corners making him feel like he owed her. Kind of gives me Percabeth vibes, but worse. Imagine it the other way around, if the guy was constantly laughing at and making fun of the girl for 'not being smart.' How would you react to that dynamic? I'll admit sometimes it takes me five readings to find the pun.

Don't make me get my RoW copy. DONT MAKE ME--Fine, the theory has been proposed that swearing an Ideal near him would help. But why would he not be bound by oaths if he was still using the blade? I haven't read anything like that. When Syl talked about Szeth in WoR, she said he was dangerous because "no spren guides him." But bridge 4 held, carried, and occasionally used Jezrian's honorblade without it negating their oaths. Are all Bondsmiths unchained? Assuming your argument is 'honor is dead, so he no longer applies his rules to anyone' then by that reasoning all Radiants would be unchained. This lack of regulation is specific to the Stormfather. Therefore, I would propose that not all Bondsmiths are unchained right now: Ishar is because he uses the honorblade instead of being granted power by a Nahel bond, and Dalinar is because the Shard who's spren he bonded is dead. Cultivation remains very much alive and able to apply her rules to Roshar and the Nightwatcher's bond. First, Nalan is insane, but he's not as insane as the rest, and that very well may be because of his Nahel bond. Secondly, though sanity may be the goal, it's not really necessary to this theory. It's just as possible if Ishar is mad. The purpose of the Ideal has been stated as healing his mind, but it's so much more useful (and probable) for the Ideal to chain his power again.

So while I was writing my fanfic The King Is Dead, I ran into a couple of problems with moving off-world and thus a couple of questions. Roshar has big magic, and the more splintered the soul, the more full of magic it becomes. This is regulated by spren and ideals. Without a spren, the levels of magic could get nearly limitless if you have enough stormlight, right? Spren keep Rosharans from getting overpowered. This is often associated with the Honorblades; remember what Syl was saying about Szeth back in WoR? So the idea is, Ishar is so dangerous/powerful because he is a 'bondsmith unchained.' He has no spren, and now that Honor is dead, absolutely nothing is checking his power. Going into Stormlight 5, The Stormfather said that Ishar might regain a moment of sanity if a Radiant swore an Ideal in his presence because of the connection it creates with the Spiritual Realm, supposedly setting up a scenario where a Radiant swears an Ideal around Ishar. That's got to be misdirection--when does Brandon ever tell us what's going to happen and it actually happens? Alternatively, fix two problems with one Ideal...what if Ishar swears an Ideal and becomes a Radiant? It would heal his mind (probably? at least for a time) and more importantly get his powers back under control. Make him a bondsmith chained again. Being the Bondsmith herald, it makes the most sense for him to become the third Bondsmith. "No!" you say. "He's killed spren! No spren would ever bond him!" Well what in Damnation was RoW all about? The Sibling rejected Navani many times because of her enslavement of spren in fabriels. They worked it out. What if all that was a set up for this larger leap of Ishar bonding the Nightwatcher? (Perhaps Cultivation even sends the Nightwatcher to bond Ishar, thinking it will help him help Dalinar help Roshar.) After all, non-honorspren have very different ideals of morality than what we're used too. The ashspren, for example. This could also tie into the 'heralds joining their orders' thing that Nalan did. That storyline kind of went away/remained unexplained. That could have been setting precedent for heralds becoming Radiants. This all becomes even more poetic considering Ishar founded the orders and put a check on Radiant's powers in the first place. Recently someone was talking about how the terms of the contest of champions makes no sense for Odium, because he doesn't get much of a win either way. But Taravangian saw a possibility where he could win, and I'm sure he doesn't count that measly spoil as winning when's he's always set his sights on all of Roshar, and his ambition only grew when he took up the Shard. What stuck out to me is that he must stick to the contract because if he breaks his word, he exposes himself and Cultivation will be able to kill him. Seems to me in order to get what he wants, he has to break his word. The out is Cultivation not killing him. (remember, Honor is not an option here) Theory: Ishar bonds the Nightwatcher, and wily, ever-changing ole Ishar creates a Connection to Cultivation, sucks in all her power, and ascends to Cultivation. Then watches Taraodium break the contest of champions rules, and 1: madness, does nothing 2: struck a deal with Odium, does nothing 3: has own motives, such has wanting the planet to himself, does nothing, allows Odium to escape. Todium flees Roshar, enters as Trell on Scadrial, Cultivation/Ishar (Cultishar?) becomes the main villain for the back half of Stormlight. I'd love to be right but tell me how I'm wrong.

Navani wallows is self-pity all the time, and I hate her because she refused to respect Dalinar's religious beliefs and completely violated his boundaries. I can't understand why he's with her, he deserves someone who respects his beliefs and doesn't insult his intelligence.

Hey, I'm completely new to Reading Excuses. This was very interesting to read. I guess I'll be the first to say that I don't generally like reading they/them characters because I usually find these characters don't get a lot of physical description, and I like to have an clear image in my head of every character. (And I don't like reading super-activist stuff where an author makes their brilliant non-conforming character have one-sided arguments with unintelligent cis-gendered characters defending the validity of their gender/sexuality as a way of expressing the author's personal views.) But done right, it can certainly be an interesting read. My book has a couple of gender-neutral main characters, and by that I mean physically-gender-neutral-alien-species-characters. My main character can take any form, and he (he?) may at any time be in a woman's, man's, or animal's body. Because he's from a species that doesn't place any emphasis on gender or sexuality, I'm wondering what the best pronoun would be for him when his body changes. I don't want to draw attention to gender to preserve the alien feel of it. Reading this especially makes debate over pronouns feel too human and out of character for him. So what do you think would be best? Stick with male? Switch depending on the body he's in? Or go with they the whole time?

Don’t we already have all 16 names? Honor, Odium, Cultivation, Ruin, Preservation, Dominion, Devotion, Ambition, Autonomy, Endowment, Mercy, Fortune, Valor, Whimsy, Invention, Virtuosity.

Am I the only one who thinks Clod is reanimated Arsteel? He seemed a good swordfighter when he defended Vivienna, and Vasher isn’t usually bothered by Lifeless, but he calls Clod an abomination. It just seems like every time they talk about Arsteel, Clod is chillin in the background doin weird stuff. Some other scenes I can’t remember. Clod’s a main character in book two, right? Has Sanderson said anything about this?

Raboniel explained why the Fused don’t use Adhesion-they don’t believe it’s a real surge. She said that the surges must be natural forces of Cultivation, made law by Honor, and therefore a surge purely of Honor (which is Adhesion) can’t exist. She and Navani had a whole conversation about this in RoW that explains all this stuff. Adhesion isn’t a natural force like Gravitation or Friction, and it doesn’t have spren; only those of Honor have access to it. That’s why Odium can’t replicate it, except maybe if he had succeeded in corrupting the Sibling. And, of course, the number of Odium is 9. It wouldn’t be right to have 10 kinds of Fused. And why would Odium grant Yelig-nar’s powers to his followers, but not the other Unmade? Everybody calls him the most dangerous, if he can be controlled surely the others can. It’s a really weird conspiracy that he would intentionally hold back a something that could create a Bondsmith type thing working for him.

Honestly, I think this isn't making sense because you're looking at it like a Skybreaker. Yeah, Roshone committed manslaughter-three times-but it's not Kaladin's oath to right wrongs or even uphold the law. The Windrunners are a balancing force on the Skybreakers: everyone has broken some law at some point, and therefore deserves punishment, but the Windrunners plea for mercy, try to protect people. That's why the drawers back in Oathbringer talk about the conflicts between those orders; they have nearly opposite ideologies and the Skybreakers resent the Windrunners' supernatural ability to discern good from bad situationally instead of lawfully. Another problem is that Kaladin didn't have the legal authority to deal with Roshone. Not to kill him, not even to put him in a jail. Sure, Dalinar probably could have smoothed things over, but that's a really bad precedent to set. People who hate the law dealing out arbitrary justice? Not killing Roshone separates the orders. Kaladin swore his third oath, essentially, to put responsibility over personal grievances. To then have him then turn around and kill Roshone would have been cheap. The Windrunners protect, protect, protect. Anyone. And that's how they temper the harshness of the law. Even when people fail, fall, break the law, they're still people, and somebody still loves them. Like how Raboniel knew Kaladin wouldn't kill her, it's a common theme throughout Sanderson's work that if you're not a direct, immediate threat, you don't deserve to die.

Szeth is bound to Dalinar by his Third Oath. Dalinar could just order him not to fight for Odium, or to fight and lose. Pretty dumb of Todium to pick a guy who's oath-bound to the guy he's fighting.

No doubt, no, huh? Okay, at that section (which I don't have in front of me) I am assuming the wording of 'the final void' to refer to Odium, yah know, the final void that consumes all emotions? the big purple End of It All? and Dalinar does start rising up in the air with the gloryspren, above this odious final void that he almost fell into, no? and that line about Odium looking small? So he hangs, with his army and his wife and his allies and-a lot of people really-behind him, and Amaram, his traitorous friend that he's still trying to redeem, as well as the Sadeas army that should have been friendly, and his boi Nergoual before him. And the feast he must drink, that's The Thrill, and its clinging to their faces, they're all twisted up in horrible grimaces from the influence. He has to drink of Nergoual, his old friend, one last time in order to capture him, and get rid of those red eyes in their faces. If I had the book here, I could find the exact phrases in that scene...but oh well. I might add to this later. I don't deny that practically anything could match practically anything, and you've got decent arguments for this one. I just think 'He must pick it up' matches better.

No. That's not right. There are 'friends behind,' but no 'friends before' him waiting on the other side. A chasm is a void, but not the final void. 'The words I must speak spark in my mind' happens literally every single time a Radiant swears an oath. What is 'the feast he must drink?' To whom's faces does it cling? Explain the fit? it doesn't match up well to Kaladin's second oath, but it does match Dalinar's third oath. And as I have explained above, the 'He must pick it up" Death Rattle fits perfectly. I can also explain why 'Above the final void' fits Dalinar's third oath if you like.

'Above the final void' is his second oath? that doesn't seem right...I thought that was Dalinar's third oath He must pick it up, the fallen title! The tower, the crown, and the spear! The fallen title being Stormblessed. it was what he used to be called, and immediately after the second oath, Dalinar starts calling him Stormblessed, saying he heard it from the men. He took up the title again. The tower and the crown being saving Dalinar, because those are the glyphs on his house banner. And then the spear, because Kaladin wasn't sure if he wanted to go back to the spear. He wouldn't even pick one up for practice. but eventually he takes up the spear and swears his second oath. This Death Rattle fits very well.

Dalinar doesn't really have to match Honor. If he were to ascend, he'd probably be Unity instead. (remember in Oathbringer?) Right now, he's bound to the soul of Honor, but he's pushing that soul to grow and change his beliefs about what is possible, and right. I thought Kaladin as a Wordhopper was set up perfectly when Sazed/Harmony said he was looking for someone to be his sword, who could both protect and kill. Interesting wording, right? It's not the wording generally used to talk about Preservation and Ruin, but it is exactly what Kaladin is all about. Unless Sazed wants Wax.

Considering that it is literally possible for the storm to respond to Kaladin, like it did in Oathbringer, it seems kinda weak to write that Death Rattle and it only refer to Stormlight

There's also a really interesting Death Rattle back in Way of Kings that fits Kaladin well. All is withdrawn for me. I stand against the one who saved my life. I protect the one who killed my promises. I raise my hand. The storm responds. Seems like fifth oath material to me

the idea that Rlain could consider himself to be male but be biologically female, which would show up obviously in mateform, can't be right because in rhythm of war he thought briefly about trying to continue the listener race with Venli, so he must have thought that it was biologically possible, therefore not genderfluid. Sorry for the lack of clarity...maybe transgender is the appropriate term?

Rlain can't be genderfluid in mateform or he wouldn't have thought that rebuilding with Venli would be possible, if not desirable.

Voice of Lights. Because Blackthorn wasn't given by a Fused but by humans, Son of Thorns is just a variant of that, Pursuer was Lezian's title, Stormblessed was also given by humans a long time ago, and Leshwi said that Vyre means He Who Quiets, not the title. Besides, they gave that a long time ago to moash. Lezian wouldn't have thought that El didn't know his title had been given away. Voice of Lights was recent, so it makes since that Lezian would mention it to El. Also, Navani and El are both tremendous thinking outside the box scholars semi-obsessed with the another race. its more interesting to think about if the singers will start calling Kaladin the Pursuer instead of Stormblessed.