AquaRegia

As I've said in other topics (here and here), romantic relationships between mortals and immortals are loaded with both emotional and ethical issues; exploration of this theme is at least as old as Greek mythology (where, if I recall, it NEVER ends well for the mortal). I'm reminded of Heinlein's Time Enough for Love - his best work, IMO - in which Lazarus Long and his near-immortal kin refer to the rest of us as "mayflies" with whom serious relationships are strongly discouraged. An immortal can be "friends" with a mayfly in the same way we are friends with dogs or cats... but romance is unwise and ultimately unfair to both parties. My guess is that, while Hoid and Jasnah may indeed both be sincere in their appreciation and affection for each other, their different agendas and worldviews (and possibly the knowledge of their differing lifetimes) will ultimately result in this fling being a short one. Brandon may just be laying the groundwork for a deliciously acrimonious and adversarial relationship between two powerful people who used to love one another, e.g. Obi-Wan and Anakin. My speculation is that this ship, while fun now, is heading towards an ugly breakup, followed by an EPIC "evil ex" dynamic - two powerful, resourceful, and dangerous people who still care about other but are now bitter enemies, working at cross purposes. Nothing would get Jasnah fired up more than Hoid betraying her trust and throwing all of Roshar under the bus... and he's already said he'd do exactly that.

While I agree with @Ixthos that the True Scotsman fallacy is a little trickier to apply to a group like "Christians", it is not invalid. One can make that same nebulous "membership" arguments about Scots: is a Scot living in London still a True Scotsman™? How about if one parent was English? How about someone who moved to Scotland as a wee baby, or someone born to Scottish parents in America? The concept of group membership is ALWAYS fuzzy. If someone says "I'm a Christian", and they attend a Christian church, well, that's enough for me to operate under the premise that they are, in fact, Christian. If I observe them violating the precepts of Christianity, I don't say "oh, they're not REALLY a Christian," I say "oh, they're one of THOSE kinds of Christians." This, to me, invokes a different logical fallacy - the appeal to authority. Not only that, it's an authority that some of us don't recognize. Similar to "How do you know that the Bible is the Word of God?" "It says so in the Bible." These kinds of spiritual or theological questions are simply beyond logic, and we are each left with the challenge to do the best we can with our imperfect knowledge.

Here is my review of Waterman Mysterious Blue: I like it, but it's not perfect. It's not as green as I'd like, and it seems to "age" in the pen and become darker and purpler with time. Here's some photos contrasting Waterman Serenity Blue (above) and Mysterious Blue (below). The Mysterious is a deep teal blue when freshly refilled, but within days it writes a noticeably different color. On the bright side, it is MUCH more smudge-resistant than the Serenity.

I agree. Further discussion is unlikely to change anyone's minds. No point in alienating fellow Sanderson nerds. Peace! One point: Seamus O'Toole is NOT a Scotsman; THAT guy's definitely Irish. The fellow you want is Angus MacTavish. ;-)

Some ideas occur to me. I find that I make a fairly explicit distinction in real life between a person's beliefs and their actions. Bottom line, I can't know your mind or heart - what you believe (your faith or whatnot) is irrelevant to me. That's between you and your higher power. I'm only interested in your behavior, i.e., how you treat me and your other fellow creatures. So what exactly do we mean when we say "a follower" of x? Someone who claims to believe in x, or someone whose actions demonstrate adherence to x? They are emphatically not the same thing. I'm not a Christian, but I can read and understand the Bible. If the Bible says "The foreigners residing among you must be treated as native-born," and I see Christians supporting anti-immigrant policies, I see a problem. If Jesus says "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God," and I see TV preachers buying Cadillacs and private jets while asking for more money, I see a problem. The No True Scotsman fallacy applies very well here, I think.

I do not know if it will happen but I LOVE IT. If it does happen, your brother wins a FutureSight Award!

The other feruchemist would be Gereh: https://coppermind.net/wiki/Gereh @Isilel well said. I agree with all your thoughts and opinions, most especially the observation that As someone pointed out earlier, Honor is the Shard of Oaths, not the Shard of Always Telling the Truth.

The biggest surprise (I'm tempted to say "disappointment") for me in the prologue was the utter lack of evidence that Gavilar was Invested when he died. I was willing to bet ALL my emerald broams that he was destined for Cognitive Shadowhood. While I'm not yet ready to completely give up on my dream of Gavilar making a spectacular comeback in SA5, I am bummed that we didn't see at least some hints at the beginning of that process. RoW seemed to imply that Gavilar 1) thought he had already done what he needed to do to be "immortal"; 2) knew he was working with Heralds; 3) had knowledge of Shadesmar, Braize, other planets, and Worldhoppers; 4) had access to multiple forms of Investiture; 5) might even hold Biochromatic Breath (some speculated about Lifesense when he noticed Navani peeking through the door); 6) had at least a proto-bond with the Stormfather. Every one of these is either explicitly UNsupported by the prologue or completely demolished. I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the idea that what I thought was tons of foreshadowing for Gavilar's return may instead have been a giant pile of red herring. I don't even LIKE fish! I spent the last six months believing Gavilar was a dangerous storming genius... and now he looks like a putz. I'm a bit sad.

There was never ANYTHING in the safe. It was always a visual metaphor - young Shallan visualizing the "fruit of her sin" or whatever. Nobody else ever saw it. I'm still not happy with the "Shallan's mother was a Herald" thing, despite the increasing preponderance of evidence supporting it... but I'm at least open to the possibility now. I agree with @king of nowhere above - it doesn't seem to add much to Shallan's arc and strains credibility. If it does turn out to be a thing, I hope we get more details that make it make more sense. I'm also not convinced of the "StormFaker" idea (although I LOVE the term "StormFaker"!). I have no problem believing that the Stormfather would behave differently with Gavilar than with Dalinar. I also have no trouble with the concept that a Godspren could be changed by interaction with Gavilar and other possible candidates before Dalinar. The Stormfather admits on multiple occasions that his Bond with Dalinar is changing him. I strongly dispute that he "lies" to Gavilar in the prologue; show me ONE instance of a direct lie onscreen. Allowing someone to believe an erroneous conclusion they have jumped to is not "lying", and he does this to Dalinar as well. While it's POSSIBLE that someone has piggybacked their own message onto Gavilar's communication with the Stormfather (I like Cultivation best as a suspect), I don't think it's necessarily a slam dunk.

I'm suddenly really craving ramen right now. I also did not get the impression that being a coat rack was voluntary, although - being Hoid - he passes it off as if it's all part of his plan.

"The Warden" has a name. I find it interesting, in your discussion of Liyun's character, that nobody chose to refer to her by her name. Yes, we're obviously supposed to dislike her that this point in the story... but let's not depersonalize her! We know very little about this world and this culture. My guess (hope) is that as the novel progresses, Liyun's motivations will become more clear. We may gain a more sympathetic (or at least more balanced) view of her, or she may go through some changes herself later in the story. Brandon seldom makes any of his characters completely one-dimensional. Yumi's situation definitely reminds me of the Returned in Warbreaker. Honored and pampered? Sure. Prisoners? Definitely.

Chapter 2 Not sure... but "Revels" would make more sense. Chapter 3 Should be "jars" plural, I'm guessing. Callous is an adjective; the noun is "calluses". "dispersed" Chapter 5 It's "cosine". Chapter 5 and 7 Could be an intentional "alternate" spelling, but "wisp" is standard. Chapter 7

Do you mean the Midnight Mother? Or the Nightwatcher? What does that mean? I very much doubt it. ;-)

I can empirically confirm that @cometaryorbit and @Serack are correct about reflected light being polychromatic. I work in the dyehouse lab of a fabric mill; one of our jobs is to make sure the color of dyed fabrics matches a standard. Color perception is a ridiculously confusing combination of three individually complicated factors: the light source, always polychromatic (we use at least 4 different "standard" light sources, none of which is the same as natural daylight or direct sunlight); the infinitely complex absorption curve of the object; and the way our eyes and brains work (three different pigments, each with its own unique absorption curve, sending signals to our squishy brains to be coded somehow into one perceived "color"). For one specific example of the nightmare that is color matching, check out this article on metamerism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamerism_(color)

One in a long line, I fear, of illustrations done by an artist who has not read the work. (To be fair, if you're a professional artist, you may have neither the time nor the inclination to read all the books you do art for.) Adolin was my first guess as well, based on how pretty he is... but that sure doesn't look like the "tiny, distant sun" of Shadesmar to me.

I always have a problem with the whole "favorite" question. There are too many different ways I can appreciate a character. The one I think is most compelling and realistic? Wax. The one I enjoy reading about the most? Steris. The one I most aspire to be like? Wayne. The one I find most personally relatable? Marasi. One big reason Mistborn e2 remains my favorite SanderSeries is how much I love all the characters.

I chickened out and just bought a bottle of Waterman Mysterious Blue. But I also ordered a pen as a birthday present for my wife, so I'm sure we'll use up the Serenity Blue. It's a bit too purple for my taste, and becomes noticeably more purple when dry.

Agreed. She's old compared to our garden-variety humans, but she's not 11,000 years old. I think there is ample evidence (gemhearts, carapace, orange blood, etc.) that Singers are evolutionary cousins of all the other native Rosharan lifeforms.

1) If I recall correctly, there is a WoB to the effect of "it's difficult to move Spren off Roshar, nobody has figured out how to do it yet," which implies it IS possible, and characters may very well be working on it. 2) Obviously several characters already think exporting Stormlight from Roshar is possible, and have been actively working on it. I agree with your list of limitations and difficulties. I also note we Earth humans went from no airplanes to walking on the moon in less than 70 years, despite considerable limitations and difficulties (and no magic). Also, a WoB in which Brandon, discussing Kelsier walking through the Cognitive Realm to the Ire fortress, seems to agree with my view of travel in the CR as FTL:

I see what you did there

All of this is true; TAKE MY STORMING UPVOTE.

Given the way we've seen matter both imported to and manifested in the CR, I see no reason to rule this out, except that it may not fit with the stories Brandon has in mind. ;-)

Am I mistaken that both Elsecallers and Willshapers have the Surge of Transportation? That's two orders of Radiants who can a] move to and from the CR anywhere and b] take armies and equipment along - it's just a matter of scaling, the ability already exists. And if one magic system grants this ability, it seems likely others will also.

I suppose my fundamental question is this: why does it matter whether someone figures out a technological way to make FTL spacecraft when there is already a much easier way to get from point A to point B? Why are people hung up on "who will invent FTL and when"? Characters already can and do travel from planet to planet. I think a better question is "how long until everybody figures out a way to do what a few already can?" Gavilar would say "I'm working on it."

Unfortunately I only have the one pen so far. The ink in question is Waterman. Sounds like your advice would be to just buy their blue-green ink, rather than experiment?