AquaRegia

omg i think i just sharded my pants that was priceless

This. Fused still return to Braize when killed. Also, we've seen characters spend weeks in the Cognitive Realm in each of the past two books; the Highstorm is barely noticeable, and the Everstorm is never even mentioned that I recall. But it makes sense that the Everstorm is related to Braize and the Oathpact somehow.

I LOVE the mechanic of "in the Stormfather's visions, Dalinar can speak whatever language the other characters are using". And sure, now, his Bondsmithiness gives him instant touchy-talkie ability. I don't see how that can explain Lift being able to talk to Dabbid, though. That's an interesting idea, and it would be neat if this turn out to be the case somehow - now that the tower is fully operational, the built-in Universal Translator function is working! But the conversation between Kaladin and Leshwi happens outside the tower, at the Oathgate platform.

Those are excellent questions. All I will add right now is that, so far, it's been very easy to view Cultivation as a force for "good" simply because of how evil Odium is. This may turn out to be an egregious oversimplification. Regarding the Vessel's personality, how much do we know about Koravellium Avast? All *I* know is what I've read in the Coppermind, and I don't even know where that information came from.

I would LOVE this, for research purposes. Having only physical copies of the novels means it's often a ridiculous chore for me to find a particular scene or passage. For example, recently it occurred to me that someone said something to Dalinar at some point that I didn't understand at the time, but now might have better context. It's somewhere in Words of Radiance or Oathbringer. Well, that's only 2500 pages of text to look through, right? Unfortunately, I seem unable to "skim" Sanderson. Five hours later, I've re-read 43 chapters (and missed an appointment) but still have not found the conversation I was after. Having access to a "Dalinar cut" would make this much more possible. I also agree with @Dannex that it's NOT a good way for first-timers to read the series.

@Frustration in the process of making a post on the tech forum, I finally realized how it works LOL. Thank you and sorry for that brief detour.

Thanks, but that doesn't work on my Mac - I assume it's a smart phone thing?

I agree with @Leuthie here... ...and I agree with Sara here. We KNOW we'll be learning a lot more about Gavilar's arc in later books, and some people have even speculated he might return as a current character (perhaps as a Cognitive shadow). I'm confident he knew more than we are so far aware of. His plans may certainly have included "immortality" in the manner of Heralds or Fused; it's possible he might have been angling for Ascension somehow. The fact that he got killed supports the idea that he may have been in over his head, but I wouldn't go so far as to put him in the same category as Helaran. And who knows? Maybe he didn't even see physical death as the end of his plans. Newbie question: how do I do the cool tags with other people's usernames in posts?

I guess it's predominantly a regional dialect issue. Where I live (central PA) EVERY Sara(h) I've ever met is a S-arr-a... and I've never heard anyone say "s-air-a". To me, that would sound like a short "e": Serra, rhymes with Terra.

Any WoBs or other answers to the questions "how much do the Sleepless know about Hoid?" and "how much does Hoid know about the Sleepless?" My hope, of course, is that the Sleepless will turn out to be a force for good...

As far as I know, we have no way to tell how much Breath Hoid was holding at the time, other than it must have been at least enough for the 2nd Heightening. It may have been much more. The above WoBs show memories were removed and destroyed, not "stolen" or "read". This scene horrified me on first read... but Leuthie's comments give me a slim hope. Todium didn't learn anything, except that Hoid was, in fact, on the Shattered Plains, and that he's still a wise ass. I would LOVE to think Hoid had anticipated this possibility, planning ahead by holding JUST enough Breath to leave evidence if any - any at all - were removed. Perhaps Hoid is crafty enough to use himself as bait in order to learn something about his "old friend's" state of mind. The sooner Dalinar learns about Odium being under new management, the better... and this event just might be the first step towards that. Even better: the whole build-up to the meeting was Hoid musing on the need for concealment, misdirection, and misrepresentation in telling stories. Now I have hope that this very intentional meeting was designed purposely to hold Odium's attention in one place, while someone else did something important somewhere else - something that Hoid really doesn't want Odium to know about.

Mishim (the story of the Queen in the tower and the cleverest moon), chapter 67 in Oathbringer edited to remove spoiler, thanks AonDii

I’m new, so my apologies if this has been discussed (I searched, but came up empty). I find I’m vaguely yet persistently troubled by how easy it has become for characters who don’t seem to share a common language to speak freely. I’ll cheerfully admit it’s my lack of understanding/reading skill, rather than any shortcoming on Brandon’s part. Can you help? In addition to current Rosharan languages (Alethi, Veden, Azish, Shin, Thaylen, Herdazian, Listener, etc., a complete list would be neat – is there one?), there are all the known old dead languages (e.g., Ancient Alethi, Dawnchant), plus who knows how many unknown ones that may suddenly come up (e.g., Fused). I love the idea that some forms of Investiture or Connection allow innate knowledge of any language, as we see with Dalinar and Venli, but that doesn’t seem to be enough to explain ALL the ways language barriers are being overcome. In the case of educated people like Jasnah and Sigzil, it’s reasonable to expect them to be able to speak multiple languages. But many of our main characters are poorly educated at best. Specific examples: Lift grew up in Rall Elorim and Azir. She speaks to Dalinar in a vision (in Azish, I assume, same as with Yanagawn), but I don’t see any credible reason to think she would have learned Alethi. Dabbid, Teft, and Kaladin have never shown any ability to speak Azish. So what language are they using to talk? The Fused can hardly be expected to understand “modern” human languages, which probably didn’t exist 4500 years ago, and indeed, at first, they all seem to require translators like Venli. At the beginning of RoW, the only communication between Windrunners and Heavenly Ones is accomplished by gestures… yet by the end of RoW, Leshwi and Kaladin seem to be conversing easily. In what tongue? Please help me get past this stupid detail which is diminishing my enjoyment!

Great discussion... so many interesting questions. We've been told repeatedly that the Recreance (and surrounding events) changed how spren and surges work, and that things are fundamentally different now. I get a good laugh at the impressive number of times the Stormfather says "this is not possible" about something that is clearly happening. I won't say using past examples to predict future events is wrong, per se, but - knowing Brandon - my spheres are on Adolin and Maya becoming something completely new that has NEVER been seen before. Not only do we NOT know what will happen, we CAN'T know. But it's still fun to guess!

I certainly could be wrong, but I have the impression Elsecalling is VERY MUCH like a personal perpendicularity, although we have not (yet?) seen any connection to the spiritual realm. I have not seen anything to indicate it can be used to move from place to place within a realm; after moving to Shadesmar to escape the assassins, Jasnah still had to spend weeks hiking to a safe place from which to return. Granted, this remains the only onscreen example of Elsecalling we've seen... beware conclusions drawn from one data point.

It's easy to miss, certainly. Chapter 11 (p. 153 US/Can hardcover). It's casually yet clearly stated in the two middle paragraphs on the page.

Agreed; I have now seen the relevant WoB. I sit corrected, thanks. He does explicitly state that she was killed (by Cord) last time. I really wish that their first meeting had happened on-screen!

I am honored to join the Eternal Thread. I’m sorry I missed the beginning… but I see it as a blessing that I was forced to read 12 pages of heartfelt discussion before responding. I’m confident we can all agree: we crave divergent points of view in our heroes, done convincingly and authentically. Some of us prefer to wait, rather than see it done poorly; others want it NOW, perfect or not. I see the allure of both opinions. I really just want to give everyone here a hug, and thank you for all the thought, effort and passion that has gone into this glorious work of messy art. We are all flawed humans, trying to cope in an imperfect world. We all deserve love, respect, and storms yes, representation in literature. Thanks to AonEne, Comatose, Kidpen, The Awakened Salad, likehephaestion, and to Honorless, especially, for being willing to reach out to others and share their (sometimes painful) realities. Isn’t the point of fiction to help us understand each other’s stories? This topic has definitely done so for me. From this vanilla white male cis/het, thank you all. Finally, while I know the OP specifically asked about gay male protagonists, I do want to call attention to another incremental Sanderson triumph in RoW - our first trans viewpoint character. I love that Leshwi is unquestionably a "she" to literally everyone, even people who have ONLY EVER SEEN HER in a malen body, e.g., Kaladin. I found the writing so natural and convincing that I was finished with the book before I realized: “wait - so Leshwi is trans…?” Well done, sir. EDIT: I have re-read some of the Leshwi scenes, and I was mistaken (thanks to Daggon Forescout). Kaladin HAS seen Leshwi in other bodies (presumably at least some were femalen) before their first ONSCREEN meeting. Also, Leshwi isn't a "viewpoint" character... but we do see her quite a bit through Venli. I apologize for being a little overenthusiastic.

Well, I must say this sounds ABSOLUTELY STORMING FABULOUS. FanFic writers, get busy.

I can't say this is impossible, but I find it extremely unlikely. The only people living in Urithiru are those who were living in the warcamps, right? The Oathgate to Kholinar was never activated (except for the raid to get Jezrien's honorblade, maybe?). My guess is that the most likely reason for a RAFO is that Tarah might show up later, married to someone else, just to give Kaladin yet another thing to be depressed about and then to eventually work through.

I agree very much with this, and I'm one of those (up until recently, anyway) relatively casual readers. Six Mistborn novels, Warbreaker, Elantris, check, but no "extra" content, no WoBs, no podcasts or vlogs, etc. I didn't have ANY notions of what Rayse/Odium "should be" before now except what I've got from the pages of Stormlight novels. I agree it was a very abrupt reversal for Rayse to suddenly be gone... but I think that might be the storytelling point. Sometimes everything changes because of a spilt-second lucky break, and even gods can't see everything that might happen. I have no problem with the idea that Rayse was worn down from all his millennia of war against other shards, and had gotten to the point where his personality was barely hanging on and losing control of the power. Now, we have a relatively fresh, energetic vessel for Odium, which is way scarier. I love how T.Odium has these deep inner conflicts: hate and destroy vs. plot and save, brilliance vs. compassion. My hope is that having been touched by Cultivation will turn out to be an important factor in his arc going forward. And as far as Wit/Hoid goes, I'd really like to see him finally DO something, ANYTHING! For the "most powerful non-shard being in the Cosmere", he sure has been frustratingly absent and/or inert for four novels so far. Same with Zahel. I expect to be shown what these jokers have really been up to all this time.

I don't see any reason why the two can't be related, but not the same thing. The Cosmere is chock-full of things that are "similar but not the same" - it's one of Brandon's favorite answers. Part of the fun is finding out that something we thought we understood is really just a small part of a larger whole. I won't be surprised when we find that highstorms, perpendicularities, elsecalling, and other stuff we haven't even seen yet are all revealed to be manifestations of the same underlying mechanism of investiture moving between realms. I just reread the "Jasnah returns form Shadesmar" scene in WoR - Wit asks her "couldn't you have elsecalled somewhere closer?" This implies 1) she DID use elsecalling (or at least he thinks so), 2) while he knew where she was going to arrive, he thinks she could have done so other places as well. Still not clear exactly what it means, though.

I'm glad to know that my honey and I were not the only ones who failed to deduce this from the text. We'd still be completely ignorant of this apparently-coming-in-the-very-next-novel relationship without the WoBs. I'm also glad we had a robust discussion of "romantic attraction as distinct from sexual attraction", as that's the reply that immediately came to my mind upon reading Necessary Eagle's OP. PLENTY of folks have romantic love without the urge to make babies. In fact, given the realities of population pressure, economics, and aging, I'd guess it's the most common situation. I'll add a few things I've been wondering. In another post here on the shard, someone mentioned "singers have 4 genders"... is that canon? I don't recall any gender descriptors ever being used for parshmen/parshendi/listeners/singers beyond the familiar he/she pronouns and malen/femalen for both noun and adjective. I think it's very well-established that they are identifiable as malen or femalen no matter what form they happen to be wearing, and mateform and mating were described pretty explicitly as a "pairing". Whence comes "4 genders"? I also have a ton of questions in my head about Leshwi and her current malen body. I love that she remains "she" to literally everyone, not only other fused who have known her for centuries, but also her servants, who can see the body is malen, and people who have ONLY EVER SEEN HER in that malen body, e.g., Kaladin. How did THAT play out, exactly? Do fused as disembodied souls exercise control over which singer body they take? If so, do some care more about gender than others? Would, say, Lezian the Pursuer Defeated One (were he to come back again) be equally satisfied with a femalen body to inhabit? And what are the limits to which their soul can re-mold that new body? But I really love how Brandon very naturally worked into the story a character inhabiting a malen body - which needs to be shaved - yet is still unquestionably SHE to everyone.

No, I cheerfully admit I'm under-read in modern fantasy. I'm all caught up on Butcher's Dresden Files and enjoyed his Codex Alera; I thought Nora Jemisin's Broken Earth series was quite good; and Patrick Rothfuss, sure... but that's about it for fantasy, as I'm more of a science fiction guy. However, my wife and my son got me started on Mistborn and now I'm all-in on the Cosmere. I mean, I never joined a Jim Butcher forum, did I? No, I did not.

But... it's kind of my specialty! I might have been of great use to Wax against Miles.