RedBlue

The point I was trying to make is that the Sibling’s injury and Ba-Ado-Mishram’s imprisonment are not currently dependent on each other. As in, fixing the Sibling does not free BAM, and freeing BAM does not fix the Sibling.

Interesting thought, but in my opinion, the discrepancies between the Sibling and what we know about Ba-Ado-Mishram are too large for this theory to hold water. First and foremost, BAM is an Unmade, and the Sibling is not (in RoW, they tell Navani that they will become an Unmade if Raboniel keeps pumping voidlight into them, which indicates they are currently not an Unmade). Also, the Sibling is not trapped in a gem. They happen to have a body made of enormous tower studded with gems, which is different. One might argue that the Sibling being debilitated could have been somehow confused with being stuck in a gem, but if that were the case, the Sibling being fixed/healed at the end of RoW would presumably end the effects of BAM’s supposed imprisonment. Since we do not see anything like that happen, I think the Sibling’s injury and BAM’s imprisonment are not linked (though they could have been caused by the same events). Side note: your topic title is extremely good

This is a very good point, and it makes a lot of thematic sense if Odium is intrinsically tied into the magic system. In ROW, we see characters grapple with who the ‘real Rosharans’ are, and Navani being able to hear and sing the pure tone of Honor indicates that humans have been on Roshar for long enough to count as ‘real Rosharans’ just as much as the singers. By the same logic, Odium is Rosharan just as much as Honor and Cultivation, so he should be represented in the magic system.

I’m not sure it has been strictly confirmed in canon (if it has, I don’t remember) but I would be shocked if Kelsier is not the founder of the Ghostbloods. Why would he join a shady secret society when he can start his own, much cooler shady secret society??

Hi! Sorry I couldn't get to this earlier. As I read: p1 - I like her creative method of taking out anger p2&3 - I think W's conversation with Am and N need to be two separate conversations. There are two very different relationship dynamics going on here and trying to deal with them both at once takes away some impact from both of them. p8 - Not sure how watching a movie on a home TV would be too much sensory stimulation? It's not like they're going to crank up the volume super loud or anything like that? p9 - N knows that humans aren't scared of iron, right? (I do like the banter in this section, though.) p10 - W thinking about whether what she's doing counts as leading N on feels repetitive. I'm pretty sure she's already thought this a few times by now. In general, I found this chapter engaging. I thought the date was cute. The pillow punching session was a good way to show W getting her emotions under control. The convo with Am and N could have been tidied up for more emotional clarity (having N there for the bit where we find out the details of the mom's cancer feels like it clutters the scene). The resolution to W's problems seems obvious (spend time with the mom while having other relationships at the same time! She can have both!), but I'm interested to see how W is going to get there. It might be a good idea to show where this 'all or nothing' mentality comes from in W, though. N continues to be cute and charming. I picked up on the comments about iron. I'm starting to wonder if he's a normal human raised by fairies, a human raised by and magically altered by fairies, half-human half-fairy, or literally an actual fairy. I'll be paying close attention to how he acts around iron objects now

I assumed that Mraize never revealed his appearance to the brothers in Oathbringer. Maybe he approached them in disguise (hiding his face), or through a junior Ghostblood, or just left separate written instructions with the note for Shallan.

Let’s not forget that Lin Davar did murder his second wife because he found out that she was planning to leave him. He may not always have been the monster everyone thought he was, but he absolutely became that monster by the end.

I think you mean @Ace of Hearts? I’m skipping a week as I’m on a brief trip

4^2 is four squared, which means the same as 4*4 (only written in a different notation). As you said, this has been a fairly common assumption for a while now about how to divide Adonalsium into 16. As far as I can tell, the way you could apply ‘4^2=16’ to the Shattering would be ‘divide Adonalsium into quarters, then divide each of those quarters into quarters’ which gives us 16.

I can't promise I'd participate, but it sounds like an interesting idea. You could make the thread and see what happens. If it doesn't work out, nothing lost, right?

Minor correction: Ishar hasn’t sworn any Ideals that we know of. He hasn’t bonded a spren, and isn’t a Radiant. What he does have is unfettered access to Bondsmith Surgebinding via the honorblade, and many years of experience more than Dalinar. But yeah, I expect he has many tricks up his sleeve that Dalinar hasn’t even thought of.

I agree that Moash deserves some sympathy due to his circumstances. But I don’t think it’s correct to say that he has no agency. He’s a grown man who is smart enough and capable enough to make his own choices. He chose to kill Elhokar or Jezrien. He chose to accept Odium’s emotions-numbing deal. He chose to kill Teft, and to go after Kaladin and Navani. He didn’t have to do any of those things. He could have walked away, but he didn’t. I do feel sorry for him, and if he decides to do better, I’ll be rooting for him. But I also think it’s important that he bear responsibility for what he has done, including the bad parts.

Good to see you back! As I go: p1 - The parents are using W's name in dialogue a lot. Once or twice is fine, but a bunch of times in succession sounds unnatural. p3&4 - W is guilt tripping herself a lot. I know she has self-blame issues, but I think they might be coming on a bit too strong here. p5 - This back and forth about support and boundaries drags a bit. Also, the dialogue feels quite stilted. p6 - 'frolicking in flower fields' sounds unnatural in N's dialogue. p8 - Oh wow. Timing, W! p10 - It feels like we could dig into W's emotions a bit more before she locks herself in her room. Generally - I'm on the fence about these developments. We had quite a bit of build-up to N and W having a proper first date, and then they have a very un-date-like conversation before W figures out the situation with her mom and the date falls apart. It feels like an anti-climax to the main plot, which is not ideal, as this has the potential to be a very exciting and dramatic moment. Also, the dialogue had issues with sounding stilted throughout, which doesn't help. On the positive side - there is definitely plot movement, learning about N's tragic backstory was interesting, and it doesn't feel dull apart from one spot on p5, so the lag problem is mostly fixed? One other issue - having N's backstory match up almost exactly with what's going on in W's life honestly feels like a more contrived way for her to find out than the 'N can smell chemo' thing from before. It just feels like a bit too much of a coincidence. Your questions: 1. I think this version and the previous version both have the problem that the date stuff doesn't land, but for different reasons. In the last version, the date wasn't engaging enough. In this version, the date doesn't come across as a date. The conversation about supporting each other and N's story about his mom just don't read as 'date' to me, especially not 'first date'. 2. My thoughts about W's parents are pretty much unchanged from before - their decision to keep the illness secret makes me seriously question their judgement, but I can kind of understand why they did it. Kind of. I feel like we found out some new things about N here. I was not expecting to learn that he considers himself to have an inner rage problem that he's working on, and I wasn't expecting that to be the reason he feels drawn to W. I'm interested to see where that goes, but not really sure what to make of it right now as I haven't really seen what he's saying come through in his behaviour. In general I don't think W has a likability problem, but the amount of wallowing she does in her guilt is a bit much in this chapter, as I noted above. Also, I think we could see a bit more of that infamous rage she's always going on about when she finds out her mom's secret. The ending felt like it wrapped up a bit too quickly.

Firstly, disclaimer: there isn’t going to be one singular atheist point of view on something. Because we don’t have religious leaders or sacred texts, we don’t have a ‘right answer’ that comes from a place of authority that all of us agree on. But I can tell you my take on this thought experiment, and as far as I know this is a fairly uncontroversial view among atheists. The downside of stealing the $1mil is that you will feel guilty about doing it. The reason you will feel guilt is that human societies work better without theft, so billions of years of selective pressure have resulted in (most) humans feeling guilt if they steal. You won’t be thinking about this while you’re feeling guilty - you will probably be thinking about how the person you stole from is upset, or how you don’t deserve the money - but that’s the underlying reason why the guilt exists. Most atheists believe that humans hold themselves to moral standards, and they do it because that’s how humans work. This doesn’t mean morals or being a good person are unimportant. They are essential to being human. They just don’t come from outside of ourselves. That’s my view on the subject, of course you are free to disagree. I hope that helps you to understand where non-religious people are coming from.

Hi everyone, Thank you for your feedback on chapters so far! This week is chapters 15 and 16. Usual questions: 1) Any boring or confusing bits? 2) Do the characters’ thoughts and actions make sense?

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! I've trimmed the GM conversation down to remove the less necessary back-and-forth, and I've added a line to indicate that C is worried about V's absence rather than just passively noticing it (although she isn't really in a position to do much about it at this point). And yes, it is deliberate that GM is no longer a threat to C in the same way she was before. You'll have to let me know over the next few chapters whether the change in direction for her character is working Thanks!

I definitely recommend Going Postal and the Tiffany Aching series. The early Discworld books are the weakest for sure, and not necessary to enjoy the rest of them. My favourite Discworld books are probably the Sam Vimes ones. They’re a really fun take on how policing would work in a fantasy city.

Yes, I’m pretty sure this is how it works, at least for Bondsmiths bonded to the Stormfather. Other Bondsmiths’ abilities remain unclear. They probably can open up some kind of perpendicularity. I assume you’re suggesting that Ishar has been opening a pathway from the Cognitive to the Physical Realm using his honorblade and pulling spren through that way? I think it’s quite likely that he’s doing this, as he needs to transport the spren (and the human kidnappers) somehow and he doesn’t have easy access to Radiants or Oathgates. I think he must also be doing some Connection manipulation on the spren themselves, not just physically moving them. Otherwise, I don’t see why the spren wouldn’t manifest naturally as they do when transported by an Oathgate.

I would like a spot for Monday, please.

Thank you for sharing this. I have relatives on both sides of my family who have struggles with various addictions. There are a lot of sad stories there, and so far none of them have recovered. It’s really nice to know that somebody out there managed to overcome their addiction, that it’s not a thing that only happens in books.

I’m not sure if you classify me as a Moash hate/disliker (I think he’s 100% in the wrong but I have some sympathy for him). I feel a very similar way about Taravangian. I think he’s absolutely in the wrong, but I have sympathy. Of the two of them, if I had to pick I would say I have more sympathy for Taravangian, because of the difference in their motivations. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to elaborate on that without skirting RoW spoiler territory. (I mean, I could make broad statements about their reasons and what makes both of them tick, but it would be frustrating to try to explain what I mean without getting into specifics.) When you’ve finished reading RoW, maybe you can make a sequel to this topic in the spoiler boards? It would be fun to discuss this topic in the context of the full story so far.

Hello everyone, Thanks for the feedback on chapter 12 and 13. I’m thinking through ideas for adding a bit more foreshadowing of the twist to the early chapters in the book without breaking the plot. Chapter 14 this week. Content advisory for magical injury. Questions: 1) Any boring or confusing bits? 2) Do the characters’ actions make sense?

Sounds like the only major thing you’re missing is Mistborn: Secret History, which has quite a bit of Cosmere lore stuff in it. Other than that, the things you see being discussed around here come from WoBs (Words of Brandon), things Brandon Sanderson has said on the Internet, at signings, on tour etc. These are considered secondary canon (not as canonical as what makes it into the published books). There’s also a lot of wild speculation and fan theories based on obscure hints people find on their umpteenth reread, as you have probably gathered

I would like a slot for tomorrow please.

This got me thinking about how the bond might work. I’ll start with laying out what we know about how traditional Nahel bonds work: 1) The spren, which would otherwise exist mostly in the Cognitive realm, is pulled through to the Physical realm 2) The human gains the ability to manipulate Surges, due to their Connection to the spren (because the spren is kind of a personified force of nature) 3) The spren gains the ability to learn, grow and think in more human-like ways, due to their Connection to the human From this point, all we have is speculation. My guess is that, if a ‘reverse’ Nahel bond is possible, points 2 and 3 would remain more or less the same. It seems to me that the abilities gained by the human and spren are gained because the bond exists, and would not be fundamentally altered by the polarity of the bond (though details of the Surgebinding would probably be different, because apparently the details of regular Surgebinding come down to Ishar and his shenanigans). The first point, though, could work the other way around. A reverse bond could cause the human to be pulled into the Cognitive realm with the spren. I have no idea what that looks like in practice. The form a spren takes in the Physical realm is often very different from how it looks in the Cognitive realm, so I don’t think a human pulled into the Cognitive realm in a similar way would just be walking around as if they’d come in through an Oathgate. So, going from this train of thought, we get a more aware, capable version of Maya and her bestie Adolin with Edgedancer-adjacent abilities running around in Shadesmar. And this. I want this very much. And Adolin is the exact sort of person who would get a kick out of turning into a sword.