Wolpertinger

Something that I've always wondered - Is everyone not from the Warbreaker world a Drab? Is a breath 'something extra' they have due to humans in that world being of Endowment? If a Breath makes you more resistant to disease and be more vibrant and see color and art better, and if you've had it all your life, then the loss of it may seem unnatural, but that doesn't really say anything when you've adjusted to having this slightly more vibrant life for your whole life. If the breath IS 'something extra', then the act of gathering large quantities of breath is at least somewhat less terrible, but if it ISN'T like that, and giving up Breath is giving up a piece of your soul or something, then the whole thing seems even more sick sick - with gods and the rich not only living a life far more beautiful and wonderful than everyone else, but doing it by constantly consuming the souls of those beneath them. The fact that Returned need to constantly consume Breath makes the whole concept of giving them a constant diet of it seem such a horrid waste, considering how limited Breath really is - one person will live their entire life in relative misery for a week of some pampered godling's life. And, for those that hit the extremely high heightenings, they seem flat out monstrous - the relatively minor benefits after agelessness all require tens of thousands of Breaths, all for the ability to sparkle, be a better artist, and be better at Commands.

Dammit, I read way, way too fast.. I just got it about three hours ago on kindle and I've already finished it! Aggh - to be as spoiler-free as possible, he's left the ending just dying for another book, or possibly series! It feels like he's just popped the lid on an almost entirely new world and that even after all that's happened, you've only barely scratched the surface of what's REALLY going on in the world. Now I've got to wait however many years for the next books to come out! And with WoT to finish up, and Stormlight, and any other side projects too! He writes so many series so quickly compared to most authors, and yet.. it's never enough.

Ahhh, I see. Though.. if there were 16 shards, what about the titular '17th shard' (that a lot of people here seem to refer to) then?

I've been a fan of Brandon Sanderson for a while, and have read all his non-Alcatraz books (including Way of Kings, now), but I was only extremely vaguely aware of an overarching cosmology, and was too into the plot of the current books to realize a lot of the deep meaning and significance. After reading a bit of this forum and a few interviews, I've realized there was a lot going on 'behind the scenes' in books which I missed out on. However, the people in this forum seem to be talking as if they know a lot of information about the cosmology that I never noticed a thing about in any of the books I read, and apparently Brandon Sanderson has been posting tidbits all over the internet. Is there some sort post or wiki or summary of all the information and theories going on? Because, while this forum is certainly interesting, I only half-understand who they are referring to, and honestly have no idea how people are figuring these things out or thinking up some of these theories.. (people from Elantris in The Way of Kings looking for Hoid? whaaat?!)