AquaRegia

I'm glad others have started this conversation, because it's something I literally cannot help but think about while reading the novels. I often find myself reading dialogue OUT LOUD to myself, trying to get the starvin' accents right. But I also think it's appropriate for us to muse upon because Brandon has put serious effort into giving us so many different cultures, and he even goes out of his way to describe accents to some degree in Stormlight and quite a bit in Mistborn Era 2. Obviously, as a native U.S. English speaker, I picture everyone on Roshar 1) speaking English, and 2) having some variant of recognizable accent. I know neither of these is realistic... but how can I help it? Rock definitely sounds Russian to me; I even omit the word "the" from his lines to make it extra realistic. The Lopen is absolutely Mexican (think Cheech Marin from Cheech & Chong), while the Mink is more suave, like Antonio Banderas. Szeth will ALWAYS, in my mind sound like David Carradine in the old "Kung Fu" TV series. It's taken me a while to adjust to the idea of the Shin being the caucasian-looking but asian-sounding culture, but I'm pretty much there now. I also can't help but take the clues from Brandon regarding style of culture and skin colors when assigning accents on my head, so Makabaki people usually sound African, Purelakers Indian, and the Azish remind me most strongly of Persians, so Sigzil has a faint Middle-Eastern accent, although of course his Alethi is better than many native Alethi members of Bridge Four! I love the way (did anyone else notice this?) the Heralds speak in a more casual "modern" style than any other characters? Ash is the only person in 4 novels to use the word "yeah", and Kalak especially reads like a straight-up present-day Earth human. So I picture them using the most familiar standard US dialect. Nale sounds like Samuel L Jackson in my head. I picture some stuck-up Alethi lighteyes with British accents; also Taravangian - highly educated Oxford dialect. I really don't have a clear mental image of what singer accents would be like; sometimes, it's Caribbean (like Jamaican), sometimes African, and sometimes Native American. Although we are told explicitly that former-parshman singers simply spoke the language of the places they lived, so really only the Listeners and the Fused would have their own unique native languages and accents. Moving to Scadrial, the obvious "wild west" motif in Mistborn Era 2 makes "cowboy" the obvious choice for denizens of the Roughs... but Wayne is CLEARLY speaking with an Australian (or Kiwi) accent. There is just no other reasonable way to read his dialogue given the way it is written, especially when he thickens it on purpose. So maybe we're supposed to be inferring Aus/NZ for everybody in the Roughs. Elendel, equally obviously, is the cosmopolitan center and melting pot, so upper-crust Londoner or rich New Yorker for the nobles, and a wild mix of Cockney, Aussie, Irish, Brooklyn, and generic redneck hick for everyone else. Constable Captain Aradel definitely sounds like the classic overworked New York cop. For some reason, I always pictured the Terris speaking like "British colonial" Indians; Sazed sounded like Morgan Freeman (but with a faint Indian accent) to me even before he Ascended to Godhood. Wow, I didn't intend to type for so long. Seems like I have some opinions about this!

Have to agree - the UK covers are not my top-20 of the ones shown. I also agree the French covers for tWoK absolutely knocked it out of the park! (That's good, for those unfamiliar with baseball idiom)

Sazed inherited knowledge of 1) Adonalsium, 2) the existence and names of the other Shards, and 3) the ability to communicate with them, among other things. Seems reasonable to assume he also "remembers" things they did while they were Vessels, but my impression is that he WOULDN'T necessarily know details about Leras and Ati's lives before they Ascended. Likewise, Taravangian gets access to anything Rayse DID with the power of Odium, especially anything that would affect or restrict his use of the Shard's power. But I'm betting he doesn't get any of Rayse's thoughts or memories that are unrelated to the use of the power. No evidence, just my guesses.

Prologue: The Way of Kings. Love them all, but the one that started it all has never been topped. The way the mood is set, the way the Palace and guests are described, our first look at Surgebinding, the start of so many mysteries... and I will never stop loving Szeth as a character. Epilogue: Oathbringer. I loved the insults, followed by the realization - "you don't speak Alethi, do you?" I think it's one of the most enjoyable insights into Hoid's true character. And seeing him find and bond a Radiant spren was VERY unexpected and awesome. Cover: The Way of Kings. Just LOOK at it! They are all artistic and impressive... but tWoK is STUNNING. Head and shoulders above the rest. The way our view is drawn to the distant horizon gives a breathtaking feeling of the vastness and emptiness of the Shattered Plains; it's like the feeling you get at the edge of the Grand Canyon. Sunset is the most emotion-laden time of the day for me. The clouds, the light, the rockbuds, the mist in the chasms - everything about this cover just looks more REAL than the others. I also agree that the others are a bit too spoilery. Honestly, RoW is my least favorite cover so far - Shadesmar looks a bit cartoony and Shallan looks both too young and too... umm... topheavy.

Just one more specific example: Mraize says "Lord Thaidakar is too busy and important to visit Roshar in person, only as his Avatar." Brandon explicitly confirmed this week that Kelsier can DEFINITELY NOT make an Avatar, and he is completely unable to leave Scadrial in any way. Even characters who know A LOT are still spectacularly wrong about very important things. Don't think of these as "red herrings", think of them as "delicious complications". I'm sure that's how Brandon sees them.

Brandon has confirmed in the 17th Shard Interview January 23, 2021: El's title was "He Who Quiets", and it was given to Moash.

A cool idea, but unfortunately I don't think it matters if they get labelled as "squires". There are only three Bondsmith-level spren in the world, so Bondsmith "squires" can't bond spren or gain Radiant powers. Plus, nobody around Dalinar is considered a squire, as far as we've been shown. How super fun would Radiant science nerds be though...? I'll buy THAT novella for sure.

Yes, but those quotes are from in-world CHARACTERS. They believe wrong stuff all the time. How many times has the Stormfather declared something is impossible, only for that exact thing to happen later? How about "Deadeye spren can't talk"? Just because characters say or believe something doesn't make it true. Nobody knows everything, not even the Shardholders.

I don't think this is true - or, at least, it's not completely true. My impression is that Radiants of the 4th Ideal are Connected enough to overcome the blocking power of the Tower's suppression fabrial. Kaladin was basically there - he had "reached" the 4th Ideal, he just hadn't spoken the Words yet. All the other Windrunners were unconscious. Lift, of course, is a special case - her Progression doesn't need Stormlight; she makes food into Lifelight. She's also approaching the 4th Ideal. All the other Edgedancers were out cold. Neither of these requires "little to no effect" on specific Surges to explain... although I agree there are still mysteries. The unconscious Windrunners were "closest" to being awake; Lift can use Progression but NOT Abrasion. Navani bonds with The Sibling and becomes an Invested (and conscious) Bondsmith BEFORE the polarity of the Tower fabrial is reversed. If Dalinar had been in the Tower when the fabrial was corrupted, would he have fallen unconscious? Clearly it all means something, but we don't know enough yet to answer all the questions.

Oathbringer, Interlude 13 However, I'm sure you are correct that the easy-to-get gemhearts of "normal-sized" animals are fairly small. That's why they put currency gemstones in glass spheres, right?

Oh, I'm definitely in agreement... I'm just looking for more evidence. "Life sense" is a Breath-related ability; I was asking here specifically about Stormlight, again, just to see if there were any hints I've missed. I agree it is possible - likely, even - that he'd found a way to get some kind of Investiture from offworld.

Rust and Ruin, I forgot all about that. Just goes to show how dangerous it is to deal with (or cross) a Herald... Or offworld Investiture? Invested items from other planets? Maybe "a chain from the lands of the dead, said to be able to anchor a person through Cognitive anomalies"? Anything seems possible now.

There is certainly mining on Roshar - Shallan's family made their wealth from mines. Granted, it turned out that the mining was really just a cover story for the use of Soulcasting... but in order for it to be a useful cover story, people must know what mining is. The easy availability of gemstones is not due to mining, however, but to harvesting gemhearts from animals. That's really good question. It's unlikely Roshar has coal deposits - as a recently created planet, it lacks the geologic history necessary for coal to be formed. But you can make charcoal from wood, which then makes steel a reasonable discovery. It's also possible that Roshar was created with coal present, but we have not seen it. Honor's Drop is described as being the size of a human head, so considerably larger than a softball. And that's a CUT gemstone - fashioned from one even larger. I picture the chasmfiend gemhearts being at least as large as basketballs. It is somewhat disappointing that we've never seen or heard much about how they are cut. I had the same reaction a few weeks ago LOL It's not anywhere in the text, but multiple WoBs confirm this. He's not "implying" it, he has clearly stated it - the entire Rosharan system was created by Adonalsium. I find myself asking many of the same questions... but I'm trying not to get my hopes up. Of all the things Brandon is terrific at, biology isn't one of them. Expecting things like ecology or evolution to make sense in the Cosmere in the same way they do on Earth, I think, has been shown to be unreasonable. The fact that humans and singers - unrelated, different physiology, created at different times and on different planets - can mate and produce viable progeny is enough to show me that we can't expect Cosmere biology to be consistent with our own.

I'm amused by the idea (just hinted at in RoW) that

If this is the case NOW, what would the moons have looked like during the 5000+ years before Odium came to Roshar? Mishim is green, Nomon is blue, and Salas is just white? No, WHITE is Preservation's color! Salas would somehow be invisible, perhaps...? I can imagine Honor and Cultivation thinking "I sure hope another Shard isn't drawn here by that unclaimed 3rd moon" LOL

"Godly", "infinite" and "verdant" strongly imply that this is Cultivation. Gavilar would not be ANY of those three things, and "verdant" means green, lush, growing. I find the evidence of Gavilar being Invested rather underwhelming, but lack of evidence doesn't prove anything. We clearly can neither confirm nor refute the possibility of other types of Investiture being available to him. I can accept that the Stormfather was giving the visions to Gavilar - makes sense, in fact. That was literally his only job at that point, to choose someone important and show them the visions. Is there any evidence in Words of Radiance, when Dalinar is seeing the visions but before he explicitly bonds the Stormfather, to support the idea that he could draw in Stormlight? I don't remember any. Certainly some degree of Spiritual Connection can be inferred, but enough to permit a Cognitive Shadow to persist? And if so, why would the Stormfather fail to ever mention this to Dalinar? Seems like an awfully important item to keep your Radiant in the dark about. Also, semi-related Gavilar question: what are we supposed to make of the fact that Nale was well aware that Szeth was in town to kill the King... and not only didn't bother to warn him, but seemed completely unconcerned that Gavilar was about to meet his end? I get that they were not "friends", but they were sharing information and making plans, right?

VERY compelling... I think you may really be on to something. One question: what is the evidence Gavilar was Invested when he physically died?

I've spent YEARS now wondering about those stupid storming fascinating moons, including how their orbits can possibly work (turns out, they can't). I agree; it just doesn't seem like it could possibly be a coincidence - 3 moons, 3 Shards, and the colors match... yet Brandon has explicitly said the Rosharan system was wholly created by Adonalsium, which mean the moons must predate the Shattering. So I still don't know what we're supposed to think. I'm really hoping that once the Cosmere includes space travel, we'll learn more about those moons.

In the Stormlight Archive Call to Adventure board game (which I just got for my b-day), one of the Challenge cards is titled Thwart an Evil Agent and the picture is of Mraize with his stupid green chicken. Mraize = Agent of EVIL, it's canon. Just saying.

Brandon has confirmed that Odium could not READ Hoid's memories, only REMOVE them. More recent info and conversation here:

YES. The gemstone archive Epigraphs clearly show that "something is wrong" with the Sibling at the same time that plans were being made to capture BAM. That had slipped my mind; thanks, @Gilphon! I figured the Raboniel quote was a reference to BAM, and I still lean that way... but I don't see any compelling reason it couldn't be Adonalsium, other than the fact that, unless I'm mistaken, NOBODY in the Stormlight Archive - not even the Shards/Vessels - has mentioned that name. The "typical" modern Rosharan has certainly never heard the name "Adonalsium"... but the Fused in general (and Raboniel in particular) are supposed to be both ancient and knowledgeable.

As several others have pointed out, Breath - the Investiture of Endowment - can only be given freely, not taken without consent. I'm going to choose to believe that 1) Hoid set this meeting up on purpose for a really good reason, 2) he anticipated and planned for some of his Breath to be "stolen", and 3) he has the whole thing under control. I freely admit that I may turn out to be wrong on all these counts. But, for now, it sure is making me feel better!

From the Coppermind: "Mistspren in general are curious; the idea of seeing something through a new perspective, or finding out how other creatures think, seems interesting to them. Perhaps for this reason, they are the most willing to be Enlightened by Sja-Anat, and many go to her willingly to be transformed. They seem highly empathetic and supportive of their Radiants. They aren't opposed to bonding singers, though it's unknown how prevalent this attitude is among them."

During the occupation of Urithiru, Lift can use Progression, but not Abrasion. That's got to mean something. Just because an in-world character says or believes something does not make it true. One of the constant themes in ALL the Cosmere novels is the way knowledge becomes history, then myth, then legend, and sometimes eventually, religious dogma. Like the old "telephone" game, things get lost, garbled, and mistranslated over the years. I think the whole "true surges" thing is a modern misunderstanding. Part of it has to do with what Roshar was before the Shattering: spren existed, the Highstorm existed, the Singers existed. The moons and the other planets existed. The three realms existed. All of that was "true" somehow. Part of it is due to the fact that Honor and Cultivation were Invested in Roshar for thousands of years before Odium and Humans came, so what they did gradually became "true". We don't understand LOTS of important things about all that history, and neither did the Heralds or the Fused. Everybody is operating with a version of "true" that makes sense based on what they know... but nobody knows everything, so everybody is partly wrong. Some of them have believed "wrong truths" for literally thousands of years (~looks sideways at the Stormfather~).

The more I read and think on it, the more I think Kaladin HAS to die in book 5. I don't LIKE it, but everything points to it. He has been, by far, the character with the most screen time over 4 novels. We know him inside and out; we really have nothing left to learn about him. We've seen him beat down, ready to give up, over and over. We've seen him get back up, over and over. It makes narrative sense that we'll see him have one last moment of despair, one last crucial fight, and make one last spectacular sacrifice, then head off to the Beyond. The MAIN character, the one we've been following the most closely all these years, makes the final sacrifice so that all the other characters can go on with more stories in the back 5. Mistborn Era 1 spoiler: I also think the "5 books, 5 Ideals" thing is spot-on. Sanderson loves numerical relationships and symmetry. And I agree that, given who Kaladin is, if there are innocent people in need of protection in the back 5 books (and OF COURSE there will be), he'll have to be involved if he's still around... ergo he will not be around. Syl will be, though - there's still lots of things we don't know about HER backstory. I predict she will have a tough time for a while, but will eventually bond a new Radiant. Maybe someone we already know... Kaladin will swear his 5th Ideal just in time to save the day in a bigger, badder, and more amazing way than anything we have seen so far, then die. And we will have tear splotches all over our expensive hardcover pages.