AquaRegia

Reminds me of Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden series... there must be 20 important characters in there whose names start with M.

From Chapter 31:

Definitely Odium, not Rayse. I don't think Taravangian even knew about Rayse until after his Ascension. If I recall, the agreement was to "serve Odium" in the context of the war, and Taravangian was given very specific orders - place certain Veden generals and units in particular locations, then turn on Dalinar and the Alethi/Thaylen/Azish alliance at a critical moment. Taravangian faithfully carried out every instruction. He had done everything he promised to do, fulfilled his end of the agreement, and was captured and jailed, waiting for death, when a crazy "hail-Adonalsium" plan unexpectedly worked and brought Szeth (and Nightblood) within his grasp. In my opinion, he did everything he could possibly do to satisfy the contract, and did nothing that would constitute breaking it, right up until the moment of his physical death. I believe the contract - requiring Odium to protect and preserve the city of Kharbranth and all its citizens - is still in effect. I expect (hope) that the continued existence (or the future breaking) of this contract will have an important effect on TOdium at some point. I will be disappointed if it does not... if not, why put it in?

@The Sovereign thanks for that! I suppose we're to infer that she has gotten much better at keeping quiet... although when this new maturity had time to develop is a mystery to me; it's been mere hours since the TOdium scene, and she seemed to be just as "endearing" then as she'd ever been. "I have bonded a literal monster." LOL

YESSSSS. Hadn't occurred to me, but I LIKE IT! Having unkeyed metalminds on a serious away mission would be a tremendous advantage; but without the ability to refill them, one would use them VERY sparingly and only in the most critical of circumstances. Such as fighting for your life.

30+ chapters of WaT, many involving Hoid, and so far not a single mention (that I can recall, I could be wrong) of Design. She's been utterly IRREPRESSIBLE until now. What's going on?

a) I love the idea that Iyatil might be using emotional allomancy on Shallan, the idiot Windrunners, or both. b) I literally laughed out loud when Pattern spotted Lift spying (again). I assume the other soul with her is Gavinor - they were recently together, and the last thing she told him was "sometimes you HAVE to do things you're not supposed to do." c) Is this our first confirmation that all the Oathgate spren are in fact giant-sized Inkspren? Also, why has there been no particular interest among the residents of Urithiru in them starting choose Sja-Anat's "Enlightenment" and refusing service to Knights Radiant? There is just way too much going on in this story, my head is spinning.

Disagree, we've discussed this before. Taravangian did everything he said he would do for Odium, and that agreement was completely satisfied. The later attack with Nightblood was not related to the agreement in any way, thus no promise was broken. I completely agree that Odium's end of the deal - to preserve Kharbranth and its residents - seems like it should be super important at some point, perhaps merely that in choosing to break it, TOdium opens himself up to some Shardic consequences... although as @Slayd_07 points out, that might be allowed without consequences. Do we KNOW this? If so, how? WoB? That seems like an AWFULLY big plot development to just throw in on the fly...

@teknopathetic FOR THE WIN

@Confused, a most excellent and thought-provoking post #500! Thanks for sharing. Alas, your literary and philosophical bona fides are FAR beyond me; I'm woefully underqualified to express opinions about much of what you've said. I share your deep appreciation of Brandon's... Intent, shall we say - the very careful way he crafts both the structure of the novels and the stories themselves, so that as more is revealed, we realize we had clues lying unnoticed before us the whole time. No other novels have given me that delicious feeling of "Oh, so THAT'S what that was about!" as often or as satisfyingly as Brandon's Cosmere works have. It's certainly possible. In fact, it's possible we've never even seen the real Mraize, he may have been a kandra the whole entire time. The fact that Iyatil thinks something has changed is bound to be important, and clearly something is going on since not one but TWO aviar seem to have disappeared. It is the God Beyond. Dalinar now believes in him. RoW ch 10: Again, possible... but I'm not buying it, at least, not yet. I'm also not learned in the ways and lore of WoBs, but I know Brandon has said that the existence of "The Beyond" and of "God Beyond" will never be canonically confirmed (or refuted). Some in-world characters believe, some don't, and that's all we can ever hope to get. My spheres here are on The Wind, The Stone, and The Night - Dalinar is feeling something from one (or a combination) of Roshar's OLD gods. Roshar itself? Could be. But... many have speculated on the role of Dawnshards in TSA; we know there is at least one on Roshar, so that might be it. Also, we know Autonomy is expanding her attention toward Scadrial... perhaps her influence is reaching Roshar as well. It might even be Harmony, or another Shard. I decline to speculate further, because Brandon has shown me enough times already that he is well-capable of blasting so far past ALL my expectations that I never even had a chance. Which brings me to another point. Here, in the presence of these illustrious 17th Shard deep thinkers, I'll ask the question that has vexed me for years: is there any possible way we can unmake the current usage of the word "theory" around here? As a scientist, it pains me to see that word used (and often abused) the way it is. I have seen a very few ideas - big, inclusive and predictive ideas, well supported by numerous pieces of textual evidence - that meet the bar to be described, in the literary sense, as a theory. Most of what folks post, though, are simply guesses. Some might charitably be called hypotheses. Given that we are not applying our ideas to understanding the natural world, but rather a work of fiction, experimentation is out (with the exception of asking direct questions and eliciting WoBs of course). I know it's a lot to ask, but I'd love to see the word THEORY given a bit more of the respect it deserves.

I have no idea what El will end up doing, but I am pretty storming excited because I think it will be both terrifying and AWESOME.

I'm not sure Hoid will volunteer to let anyone actually see an event in which someone else gets the better of him. It was hard enough for him to admit to everyone that it happened. Although I would certainly love to see Dalinar or Navani notice something about that memory that helps them get closer to learning Taravangian has Ascended; that's obviously a really important detail they are missing at the moment. I have a feeling it will be something new (to us), and knowing Hoid, something seemingly silly, but secretly deeply meaningful.

Totally agree that Hoid is describing the events at the end of Well of Ascension, when Vin takes the power of Preservation, but chooses to NOT use it, releasing it instead and freeing Ruin from his prison. When Kelsier held the power, 1) he was no longer human, and 2) it rejected him, not the other way around. When Rashek Ascended, he used the power... but Leras was still alive at that time, thus not technically a "full" Ascension. In fact, I think neither Rashek nor Vin in WoA had the option of fully Ascending to Preservation and becoming the Shard, as in both cases, Leras still lived. Perhaps at the end of Hero of Ages... but she chose to use the power to thwart Ruin, ultimately sacrificing herself to kill Ati as well, which is arguably MORE selfless than her previous choice. My question is - how does Hoid know this so intimately? He speaks as if he was there, in person, witnessing the events at the end of HoA: We do know (from MB:SH) that he arrived on Scadrial during the events of WoA, and that Kelsier's Shadow warns Vin away from a meeting with him, but I don't recall if he was mentioned any other times during that story. I get that he can read Harmony's Words of Founding and would know what happened... but he really seems to be implying he WATCHED it happen. Do we have any idea where he was and how he might have inside knowledge about what went down? I think it's pretty clear that Sja-Anat is the one who has been giving Mraize and Iyatil inside "intel" on Dalinar's plans.

Fortuitously, he just happens to know the rudiments of the flute (a WIND instrument) now!

This lovely list reminded me that we have neither seen nor heard of El yet in KoWT. Now I'm a little more excited.

Dalinar is far too professional a soldier to allow PERSONAL conflict to affect any policy decision, especially one this important. My impression is that the recon mission to Shinovar is considered too critical; Kaladin and Szeth will not be recalled. I agree with @Atlas333 that the narrative momentum supports the idea that Dalinar would ask Adolin to serve in this case, although Jasnah is also a good candidate. Nice Niven/Pournelle reference, one of my all-time favorites!

I like it. There can be no doubt that something is going on with Maya and Adolin that cannot be explained by the "regular" Nahel bond mechanics, and this seems as likely as any other idea at the moment. Take my upvote!

That's a very reasonable idea. Personally, I do not think the inclusion of these 10 or so chapters would have made me feel that RoW "dragged", nor do I think it would have been made worse. I OFTEN feel good novels end too abruptly, leaving a feeling of unfulfillment (apparently that's not a word). I'll have to read the rest of WaT, however, before I can make a judgement about whether it can be improved.

It is becoming more like a super hero comic book in terms of character depth and decision making. I suppose for some that may be a good thing. For me that does not work and feels like a departure from where I thought the series was going based on the first two installments. I expected characters that feel real experiencing fantastical circumstances. Completely agree. I just commented to my honey yesterday that the shift in style and tone - from The Way of Kings to these preview chapters - is ENORMOUS. tWoK was truly epic, weighty, atmospheric, and THAT'S what I want from a fantasy series. These chapters feel more like Brandon's juvenile works, e.g., Skyward or Alcatraz. Nothing wrong with those, of course... but it's not what I want, nor is it what the first two novels promised. I chuckled, of course, at the Evil Librarian, but that entire chapter does seem somewhat forced and awkward. My hope is that there is simply SO MUCH STORY to be told in this book that Brandon has been forced to rush through the opening chapters, turning the world descriptions, atmospherics and mood-building way down.

Maybe... but, I mean, we don't know she's not capable of forming a triple bond. Shallyne?

1) New guess at the in-world author of Knights of Wind and Truth: Syl. 2) OK, from now on, I will mentally replace the name "Shallan" with "Shallene".

1st page: "tizzy of white hair".

These are two very good questions which had also occurred to me. There's always another secret, storm it!

When is Mystery Hunt this year? Is there a topic? Any other Puzzlehunts coming up? I guess I'm in the mood.

I have just a few observations. 1) There are 16 shards. In order for each one to have a single distinct and characteristic color for its Investiture (and YatNP implies some may have two), Brandon will necessarily have to look outside our traditional ROYGBIV set of color names. I like the "stygian violet" he's invented for Odium. 2) I do not think it is a coincidence that Roshar has three moons - one green, one blue, and one violet. We know these moons are not natural, and their orbits are not stable over astronomical times. I doubt that WaT will shed any more light (see what I did there?) on the mystery of Roshar's moons, but I very much hope they will become important in the second SA series.