AquaRegia

While I admit this is a possibility, I really hope it does not come to pass, because both the story and Shallan need him. He's one of the few POV characters who doesn't challenge the reader to empathize with constant self-doubt or serious mental illness; without him I fear the story gets unbearably dark. And if he dies, I can only see Shallan going completely off the deep end, with absolutely nothing good coming of that. I don't even think I'd want to keep reading. I think Venli and/or Kaladin are our most likely future casualties. I'd also note that two of your poll options - Taln and Jasnah - are already known to be flashback POV characters in SA Arc 2 novels. Doesn't NECESSARILY rule them out, but...

While I understand the point you make here, I can't help but wonder: who really were the "victims" in this scenario? Jasnah is, in essence, a superhero. Magical healing, soulcasting, etc., and she knows this. The bandits do not, and neither does Shallan. If Captain Marvel walks down a dark alley in a bad part of town and some petty thieves wind up dead, is she a "victim"? I think that earlier characterizations of this as "hunting" are more apt. I agree that Jasnah's disregard for Shallan is a problem. I feel that Jasnah's disregard for the lives of the people she used as objects in her "lesson" is also problematic. I further stipulate that if Jasnah were a vanilla human (without Radiant abilities), her behavior would be far less culpable. "Self-defense" in that case is much more defensible.

If I understand correctly, there is no reason a Radiant cannot leave Roshar... but as far as anyone knows (so far), spren cannot. Either Hoid is NOT Radiant while he's off Roshar, or he found a way to bring Design with him that we are not yet aware of.

I just want to say how happy it makes me to see this topic. 1) I was very confused by the late reveal in HoA of how near the pole the Last Empire was. Should there not, then, have been GREAT differences in length of day between summer and winter? No mention of that in any of Era 1 that I recall. 2) I also noticed the clear similarity between the Elendel basin Era 2 map and the LE Era 1 map, and wondered just how much Scadrians knew about their planet. 3) I'm glad people both smarter and harder-working than I am are still confused; it reassures me that I'm not a total moron. Something doesn't add up about the geography of Scadrial.

I (like Kaladin as quoted earlier) am strongly of the opinion that killing should always be the very last resort. Jasnah clearly had multiple options to incapacitate those men, or otherwise neutralize the threat they posed, without jumping right to murder.

I've been saying similar things to my wife for years now: "Sanderson can't possibly live long enough / stay healthy enough to finish all the books he claims to have planned." It was unlikely even if he had been able to keep writing at his initial rate... and his rate has declined over the years, which is quite normal for most serious authors. I have a very difficult time picturing anyone able to continue the Cosmere Saga in Brandon's absence, at least, not with a Brandon-worthy level of quality; he's simply too good, and our expectations are now impossibly high. I think future generations will have to live with an unfinished Cosmere arc, perhaps supplemented by "lesser" work from other authors which may or may not represent his vision. Not me, though. I'm ten years older than he is, so I expect I'll be off to the Beyond before he stops writing.

I like it. Makes a ton of sense, and nothing I can think of rules any of it out. Fits well with my speculation that Jasnah and Hoid are heading towards an ugly breakup, followed by an EPIC "evil ex" dynamic - two powerful, resourceful, and dangerous people who used to love each other but are now bitter enemies. Nothing would get Jansah fired up more than Hoid betraying her trust and throwing all of Roshar under the bus.

I find myself largely in agreement with @Vin(Diesel)'s well-reasoned post above. A romantic relationship between a mortal and an immortal would be 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 ended well for the mortal) and has been covered in modern speculative fiction many times. 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.

Why rule out north or south? It's not a REAL sun... it could be anywhere. ;-) Like many other details about Shadesmar, it doesn't really make any sense and, as a result, I find it vaguely annoying. I don't recall any specific mention of which direction one must face to see the tiny "sun"... but now I'm curious too. Hopefully someone else finds one, I'm too lazy.

It's the Cosmere - "dead" doesn't have to mean DEAD. Maybe it's a Cognitive Shadow of a topic! ;-)

Logically, this makes sense. Emotions, however, are not logical. Humans are not Vulcans; we all - even the best of us - sometimes make poor choices, destructive decisions, and hurtful actions based on emotion. Sometimes, when someone has made a bad choice, their emotions won't allow them to admit making a mistake, and they double down even more strongly on that choice. The pain of "being wrong" is perceived as greater than the pain of the consequences of the original bad decision. Pride and ego can be subtly powerful... and fear even more so. This would not have made much sense to me when I was 18 or 20... but now that I'm old (I've got about 10 years on Brandon) I can see it more clearly.

It can be amusing or infuriating, depending on my mood. I've seen so many different awful attempts at "Taravangian" that I can't even bring myself to repeat them.

It's hard to understand for people who DON'T have "shameful" pasts or serious mental health challenges... but it's quite normal to keep secrets from the ones you love most. The fear of losing their love once the truth is out is an incredibly powerful motivation, even in cases where it's unfounded. \WE know Adolin would never reject Shallan, no matter what she did, but deep inside, her emotional core is not capable of accepting this. She is so ashamed of the things she has done, she can't trust that Adolin won't be repulsed once he finds out. I've been in this situation. Despite the fact that the reality of "coming clean" is never as catastrophic as we fear, the fear is still quite real and can be paralyzing.

Seems to me that the human members of the Set are also playing very much out of their league. As Uncle Suit found out, the goals of the Set (power over the people Scadrial) are suddenly no longer in alignment with the new goals of the red-eyed "Immortals" (sterilization of Scadrial). The Set may have been an appendage of the army of Trell, but it's one Trell apparently no longer needs. Conflating the two is misleading at this point. As far as the GB and the Set being related, it also seems unlikely to me. Kelsier's philosophy of radical freedom doesn't jibe with the Set's mission to rule... not to mention the slave breeding program.

Just wanted you to know I'm reading and enjoying your posts here. Nothing much to add, other than that I'm looking forward to seeing how you connect the RL stuff to Navani's research!

I voted for characters, and I'll happily explain why. I love ALL the categories you included... but none of them can really work if the characters are not interesting and relatable. Fights are fun, but only when the characters have believable motivations for fighting. Laughter heals the soul (thanks, Steris!), but the humor in Brandon's novels is only as good as the characters acting it out for us. Romance is only emotionally moving if we identify somehow with the characters experiencing it. At the end of the day, we are all people, and our favorite stories are the ones about people we can understand and empathize with. IMO, it's character development which sets Brandon's work so far above that of other fantasy writers.

Alloy of Law is a different kind of novel than Mistborn Era 1 - it's practically a novella. Two main factors conspire to result in a much shorter and simpler read: 1) we've already read three novels about Scadrial, and 2) it's obviously (now) the Sanderson planet most similar to our Earth. This means we don't need nearly as much worldbuilding as we are used to getting in other Cosmere works; we already know a lot about how Allomancy works, the mythology and lore of this time stem directly people and events we know very well, and the pseudo-turn-of-the-century situations and settings are much more familiar to us. I think it's supposed to be a relatively light, fun read - a detective mystery - with just a bit of groundwork being laid for connections to the grand story of the wider Cosmere. I feel the best feature of this series is the characters. Wax, Wayne, Marasi, and Steris are all complex, nuanced people whose strengths and flaws move the story forward in an interesting way. I also love the broadsheets! Both the text and artwork do an amazing job of placing the action in the context of a known historical period... plus they are an important part of the story, chock full of hints and easter eggs. If it's Allomancy-driven combat you are longing for, there is definitely more in the next two books, although I agree the fight scenes never quite rise to the epic level of those in Era 1. But I think this series absolutely measures up in terms of character and emotional content - perhaps not at the beginning, but very much so by the end.

I sit corrected, thanks. Someone else also recently posted a WoB confirming that Nightblood has indeed become more Invested over time.

I've also been wondering about this. The word "bearer" implies someone who could not only carry Nightblood, but WIELD Nightblood... which could only be someone Invested (or capable of being Invested); that narrows the field of possible candidates considerably. While "to bear" could also simply mean "to carry", I have a really hard time imagining a non-Invested person carrying Nightblood around without ever drawing it. Also interesting is a close examination of Azure's word choices: she says she's hunting a "criminal", described as "the one who brought it to your land", and later says about Zahel "warn him I'm looking for him." I assumed Zahel WAS the criminal... but there's nothing there to rule out the possibility that she's actually on the lookout for two different people.

If I recall correctly, there is no reason a Radiant can't leave Roshar... it's their SPREN that would pose a problem.

No, I'm simply calling attention to one particular anti-Shallan argument, which struck me as vaguely hypocritical. I've already tried to make clear in my previous post here (in August) that everyone is perfectly entitled to like/dislike anything they want, and it's not something that needs to be "blamed" on anyone. I'm not looking for a fight, and perhaps I should have kept my thoughts to myself.

That's fair, thanks for clarifying.

I'm making no effort to list specific members of any group. You are free to decide for yourself which groups you belong to. ;-)

I don't think Nightblood "stores" the Investiture that it eats; I believe that Investiture is returned to its Spiritual "home" in the same way any other expended Investiture goes back to where it belongs. So I don't think Nightblood is getting more powerful over time. I believe Szeth is still carrying Nightblood at the end of RoW, although we don't see this directly. I feel that if Nightblood had turned up missing, that WOULD have been worthy of mention.

Untrue. We do not know how bodies were provided for the Heralds when they returned.... but if they were indeed normal "true physical bodies", Kalak would have been able to walk away from Roshar and Worldhop to another planet, as he desperately wants. The fact that the Heralds are some kind of Cognitive Shadows, tied to Roshar, prevents this.