TheCruelSadist

This part especially made me chuckle.

Happy Birthday to my birthday buddies @polkinghornbd, @Green Fire, @Vindicator, @Ketek, and @Earendil1982! I hope you all have / had a nice day today

Chronic conditions in a nutshell. How are you doing now? Still need a hug, or is a high-five in order? Ouch *hug*

Sure, the only real point I wanted to make is that the three (CE disorder, psychological damage, and both combined) can be looked at separately, so "least / most sane" depends on which lens you're viewing things through. Personally, I don't count the CE disorder because it's not always there, it's just a response to external stimuli. Imagine you're walking down the street when you see one stranger run up to another, stick a syringe in his arm, then run off. You go to check on the victim and they become incredibly agitated and aggressive. Their behavior may be crazy, but what if they were just shot full of PCP or meth**? In my mind, that's all the CE disorder is: an IV drip of insanity. As a result, I'll argue that it's antithetical to the definition of "insanity," which should only relate to those who are mentally ill even in good circumstances. **I used PCP and meth here not to imply that they inherently turn people violent (they don't), but because mindset is a huge part of how an individual reacts to any chemical. Any drug would have an incredibly jarring, shocking effect on someone at too high of a dose. Propoganda is a tool used to keep us feeling superior to, and hating, each other - empathy and communication are the only response.

Well. we know that the insanity of the Heralds is largely magical, and not entirely psychological https://wob.coppermind.net/events/445-rhythm-of-war-preview-qas/#e14135 So are you asking about psychological sanity or Cognitive Entity sanity? The first can only be judged by their moments of lucidity, when the CE insanity is lessened (healed?). By this metric, Taln is ridiculously sane: his conversation with Ash is basically her still hating herself and him trying to make her feel better - he clearly feels proud of what they accomplished, which I'd wager is exactly what he was like as a Herald). The second... I'm not even going to touch that right now lol I got stuff to do. If I remember, I'll come back to this.

I like the theory that Honor swore to protect the Singers, and 'began to die' when the Singers felt Tanavast wasn't keeping his promise. Or, mirroring Kaladin's story, maybe Honor made promises to both groups and found he couldn't keep them (remember, the dude's foresight isn't that great). He protected 'Elhokar,' but had to break an oath to 'Moash,' and in doing so, damaged himself. Actually, as I type this, I realize the power likely would have prevented him from making a choice, because he CAN'T break an oath. So where Kal could say "I made a mistake, I need to break this oath," and essentially fix his Spiritual problems, Honor couldn't, and it began to wear away at him.

I agree that those WoBs are the best evidence that Roshar was created specifically for these Shards. My personal theory adds that Cultivation is aware of Adonalsium's long game. Either Cultivation is the piece of Adonalsium which 'remembers' the plan (keeping in mind we've seen tons of examples of memories being stored in Investiture), or Kora simply figured it out through the expanded awareness brought on by powerful foresight (which implies other Shards may also have figured it out). Regardless, I suspect she's been keeping things on track since the moment she suggested to her hubby that they take a vacation.

Amen. Understanding and respect are learned behaviors, and we are all teachers.

The Sleepless straight up told Rysn that the Dawnshard could be used to do ludicrous things with Surgebinding. Assuming that they mean Invested Arts in general (or just that it applies), the idea of Kelsier holding one is... disconcerting, to say the least.

Honestly, I would LOVE to hang out with Dalinar and just ruminate on the nature of leadership and unification and whatnot. Or Cultivation, if 1) I'm going into the Valley to meet her and 2) I can do shrooms before going in lol

Fair enough. I mean, I would be shocked if Mraize didn't go to Patji for his Aviar, I'm with you there. I just don't buy that Kelsier managed to figure out how to get to Yolen before Silverlight.

Physically: Goodyear, AZ Spiritually: Keanae, HI

Honestly, I gave up trying to find pre-established labels because I realized, in looking at various labels and saying "that's not me" over and over again, that I do know me, even if I can't find the word that sums things up. That's good enough for me. We gonna get real vulnerable in here now: anyone else feel like they have no right to talk about pride? I never really "came out" because 1) I don't share anything with my family [they're sincerely some of the worst, most toxic people I've ever known - at least if they were clinical sociopaths they'd have an excuse, but nope] and 2) When I started making friends as an adult I already knew, so that's all they've known about me. I've never had to risk losing someone or something, so I don't feel like I've had to do anything difficult enough to be proud of.

I haven't even read past the thread title yet, but I'm glad this thread exists. I'm sorry. I can't imagine what you're going through. Typically, death is what takes our loved ones from us, and it sucks, but we accept there's nothing we can do about it. But this... geez. Hopefully enough hugs will get you back in place *hug* Have you considered looking for a local who takes in aggressive dogs? At least then you may have chances to visit. Oof. My mom retired early this year from teaching elementary school because the district she worked for is basically dumping aaaaall of the additional work and stress of adapting to online teaching on the teachers. And so my 58 year-old, mentally-unwell mother is going to try to work some low-wage job for the next year or two until she can draw on her retirement. I hope things go smoother for you and your mom than I expect they'll go for me and mine *hug* What that means for me is that she'll likely expect the children she abused until well after adulthood to take care of her if she can't find a job, and I guarantee my siblings aren't going to be any help. I was preparing myself to burn a bridge or two this year, but now it just feels too cruel. Blood complicates things, that's for sure I'm good, there's nothing I can do about it now beyond what I know is right, but I needed to vent

lol yuuuuuup I used the Coppermind and Arcanum, and knew about the forums, for quite a while; I just never bothered to check the place out until I had to make an account

It's an actual WoB, but to be fair, the implication I mentioned is just an assumption I made: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/402-starsight-release-party/#e13324 Who knows what Brandon thought they were asking about. Maybe he thought they were thinking 'this person will Ascend and show up on Scadrial,' in which case 'they're an Avatar' would be "more obtuse" than the direct connection. I assumed the questioner was thinking "are these the same Trell," and that Brandon knew that and responded accurately. My bad

Today I realized how badly I want a 'Cosmere Companion' book written (or at least annotated) by Kelsier.

My head canon for now is that Rayse's "greater war" was pure BS. He got trapped in the Rosharan system like a punk so he made up a story about how he totally wanted the people from this system for his army, you know? That's why he's here (cause he could definitely bust out whenever he wants), it's cause he needs his army

If you have a coconut from Hawai'i, possessing that coconut doesn't mean you've been to Hawai'i. All it means is that the coconut was, originally, from Hawai'i. The islands could sink into the ocean tomorrow, and it would still be *from Hawai'i*. Same with the branch. I'm not saying it's impossible that the Ghostbloods have made it to Yolen, but it's certainly not factual (unless I managed to miss a massive WoB). Edit: I forgot I only opened the thread to share this old beauty with anyone else who missed or forgot it. Cheeky Brandon... https://wob.coppermind.net/events/100-rbooks-ama-2015/#e3585

IDK about you, but whenever I've been dating someone for a while and they become a god, it reeeaaaallly changes the relationship.

I agree that it reads like they didn't simply talk, but presumably Valor would be more of the "you have to pass these dangerous trials to speak to me" type than the... idk, the "join my harem" type?

That's actually why I called them "Odium's Order," because I think they're a perversion of the OG Skybreakers I can see how it could muddy some peoples' opinions of Honor-able Skybreakers, though, so I'll just stick to Classic and Current from now on. I meant that in Kholinar, Adolin -did- have a code of law that Dalinar passed down to him, he obeyed it even as he questioned it, and eventually he came to see the wisdom in seemingly-pointless codes. IMO, that's the first step for any Classic Skybreaker; in contrast, Current Skybreakers seem content with simply accepting the laws of current authorities, never questioning whether or not it fits with the will of the people. In Oathbringer they didn't bother to talk to any Singers, Odium just spoke for them and the whole order accepted that utter domination was what they'd want. Basically, he's conscripted them into the system of belief that might makes right, rather than unity, and Nale is backing him up. I hope in book 5 we'll get to see some Current Skybreakers who follow something other than Nale's judgement, but a nascent Skybreaker may have to form the bond entirely within Urithiru to avoid Nale corrupting them first... Anyway, my hope is that Adolin remains a mediator: between spren and humans, between different Orders, between Urithiru and the general public - any one of these would take advantage of the way he's been written, the capacity to empathize with and understand the motivations of various types of spren and humans.

1) 'Storing' means the same thing in this context as any other: placing Investiture in a container. Breaths can be stored in clothing (any object? I haven't reread WB in a while), Stormlight can be stored in gems, fragments of the spiritweb can be trapped in a Spike, a massive Splinter can be trapped in a gem, and even a SHARD can be trapped by mechanisms we don't understand. It may be more complex, requiring a deep understanding of Spiritual attributes, but why couldn't you trap a Dawnshard? 2) I didn't say the Dawnshard died, I said the Topaz died. I think we shouldn't conflate the two, as we have no reason to believe the Topaz is the Dawnshard's physical form outside of individual interpretation of text and WoBs. We DO, however, have a reason to believe the Topaz is a container - we've seen the same system before with the mural, for a Dawnshard specifically, and all across the Cosmere with other methods of generally containing Investiture. Referencing the Shattering [though to be fair, I don't think Brandon's said there were 17 people exactly], the implication being that if Adonalsium itself can be Shattered, Dawnshards can be broken down as well (and given that Shards can be Splintered and Splinters can be... something, it seems like a safe assumption. Regardless, again, it's not the argument I was trying to make. I don't think Hoid broke the Dawnshard itself, I think he just didn't realize he would be unable to re-access it and it leaked out as Investiture tends to do.

Reading through the thread, I suspect "[Bearer of the] Dawnshard" and "Bearer of the First Gem" are two distinct titles that shouldn't be conflated. They're related, which only means that one lead to the other: For all we know, Brandon means that Hoid's title as "Bearer of the First Gem" is what lead to him holding a Dawnshard. Pure Speculation: I think Hoid, realizing the Dawnshard was affecting him, tried to contain it within the topaz (the same way Change was 'contained' in the mural) so he could access its power without holding it constantly. That's why the only notable change is his inability to inflict harm; he didn't hold it for long. At first he succeeded and, no longer the Dawnshard's Vessel, returned to being Cephandrias, only now bearing the first gem to contain a Dawnshard. Unfortunately, he couldn't get it back out and the topaz eventually 'died.' Maybe he actually held Change, and the act of storing it to avoid changing dis-Connected him from it and it just leaked out of the topaz. Hey, perhaps he called himself Topaz because he felt that he was just like the rock - something which held immense power and did nothing but let it go. I don't know, I just work here.

I was expecting a guessing game, if anyone wants to take a stab at these. 1) Jackass. 2) Only acknowledges Gods... and inanimate objects. 3) Thinks they're the life of every party. They show up, drink all your good booze, then try to start an adventure - regardless of what was going on when they arrived. 4) The Official "This is Fine" Fan Club [btw if you've never read Gunshow comics or any of KC's other works, I highly suggest it. Here are some of my favorites, but some of the other comics aren't strictly SFW] 5) NEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRDS [same for DBZ Abridged]