masaru

Reason is this paragraph in Ch.49 To Care: “It was odd. It fed his nagging worry that he was subject to some kind of supernatural curse of the type that were supposed to happen to people who sought the Old Magic. There were stories of evil men made immortal, then tortured over and over again—like Extes, who had his arms torn off each day for sacrificing his son to the Voidbringers in exchange for knowledge of the day of his death. It was just a tale, but tales came from somewhere.” Sounds an awful lot like the Heralds' situation.

No idea if this was pointed out anywhere in this thread so apologies if redundant, but I remember some discussion about how many previews we will get and when. From BS blog about chapter previews (through 6, 8, 9) being up and other news:

Hopefully it's not depicting Kaladin's induction into The Hero Tropes Hall of Fame: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThreePointLanding

Yalb was big into Lost. This is still annoyingly imprecise to me, even with the added italics. Maybe it's just me but I still am not sure whether "my lord's" refers to Azish-looking fellow (Darkness) or if the speaker is referring to the speaker's lord. Erm…. Peter?

Oh yes. Please and thank you. Also this got me wondering something.. How in the world do people who have read Dragonsteel deal with the all the discussions about Hoid on here? I've never tried to track down the BYU copy and probably never will, but I know others have. Must be really difficult to separate what you know from there and what is being discussed on the forums.

Requesting this be added to list: "Is there a correlation between the The Way of Kings parts 'Above Silence' and 'The Silence Above' and the fact that The Silence Divine takes place in the same solar system?" Or: "What is the significance of silence in the Greater Roshar System?"

I've been meaning to ask if someone could ask a question that has been in my brain for awhile now. There might be a better way to word it but if you are taking any question suggestions: "Is there a correlation between the The Way of Kings parts 'Above Silence' and 'The Silence Above' and the fact that The Silence Divine takes place in the same solar system?" Or: "What is the significance of silence in the Greater Roshar System?"

Oh, well if you are going to use actual examples.... I stand corrected.

@WeiryWriter Well.. has he ever actually confirmed that travel and transport = teleportation? It's kind of a big deal. We have steam engines and gasoline engines, but we don't have things that instantly send you to one location with zero distance in between. @Kurkistan He's tense is pretty present in that article/quote.

Small tidbit in Brandon's WoT post today:

But book 4 WILL BE AWESOME.

Yeah that's what I was trying to say with hoping that BS clarifies it in a rewrite/edit. He could be referring to the person he's talking to, not someone else. If he was talking about a mutual lord, he would say "that creature carries our lord's own blade." Which could honestly mean the second man isn't a Herald at all, but rather an underling of Nalan/Darkness. Also, I'm not sure I'd much stock in the idea that Jezrien is the "leader" or "lord" of all the Heralds. His words might carry a little more weight, but didn't he basically say "I was chosen to stay behind and tell you" to Kalak? Doesn't really sound like he gave orders or ruled the Heralds. Kalak even says "even though he hadn't worn a crown in centuries, his royal manner lingered." Sounds a bit more like he was a king in the past AND a Herald, not King of the Heralds. Kind of another topic, obviously, but something to consider.

Thank you everyone, this really helps me see it. It's not that I doubted the idea very much, but I couldn't figure out what the evidence was by reading various posts. While I was very convinced he was a Herald, I didn't see how it led to Nalan. The chapter header evidence is probably the best evidence, with the justice focus backing it up. Aside, not convinced Szeth has Jezrien's blade. The description of that blade in the prelude doesn't indicate it's particularly short, which I believe Szeth's is. So that talk between him and the other Herald might be about something else. It's difficult to understand if the other Herald is referring to Darkness as "my lord" or if he is referring to a third person. Perhaps it's something BS will rewrite to be more clear (I hope he does, honestly).

I feel like I'm missing the original conversation that led people to thinking Darkness is Nalan. I've done a search and most of the posts start out with "If Darkness is who we think he is aka Nalan…" or something similar. What are the prevailing theories on this that have convinced so many?

It's interesting how much Brandon uses "Silence" in the Cosmere. - Silence as a name here. - The Silence Divine forthcoming book. - 'Above Silence' and 'The Silence Above' as Parts in Way of Kings. I've always been fascinated by the fact that The Silence Divine takes place on a planet in Roshar's solar system, which makes me wonder if those Part titles relate to whatever is happening on that other planet. I know Shadows takes place on a less important Cosmere world... but I wonder if it's possibly in Roshar's system as well.

Been away for awhile... but came back to catch up and read the mega Q+A with Brandon today. I'm sorry I didn't get a question in on time, because there's an old concept I really want to get a reaction from Brandon on. Oddly enough, I can't find the post where I first made this revelation, but here goes. Roshar is in the same system as The Silence Divine's planet. Is that why there are Parts in The Way of Kings titled "Above Silence" and "The Silence Above"? I acknowledge that these phrases are part of the ketek in the endnote. Still... the phrasing makes me wonder the relation between these two planets.

I'm extremely interested in this bit from the "Questions for Brandon" topic in General Theories: 5 Heralds have been seen in WoK? 1. Kalak (prelude) 2. Jezrien (prelude) 3. Taln (epilogue) 4. Shalash (Baxil's mistress) 5. ??? The first 3 are for sure, #4 is fairly sure, so who is the 5th Herald we see in WoK? I can't imagine Brandon counts Nalan from the illustration, so there must be a Herald in WoK masquerading as someone else?

With 3 for sure and 1 almost sure, it means there is 1 more Herald in WoK that hasn't been speculated upon...

5 heralds, eh? 3 obvious ones: Kalak and Jezrien (prelude) Taln (epilogue) 1 possible: Shalash (Baxil's mistress) Leaves 2 more in WoK?

Thanks Peter. I tried that, but didn't get a response. It's obviously not a big deal and totally up to Brandon, who as Chaos stated is probably just busy! Can only imagine how much email he gets.

It's likely that: Nahel bond = what the bond between human and spren (any spren) is called. Honorspren = Spren specific to Windrunners (evidenced by Kaladin, mostly) and any other Radiant order that used Honor's contribution to Roshar's magic systems.* So Alakavish could have been a Surgebinder, but not a Windrunner. *I like the idea that different orders come from a combination of Shard intents. Brandon has described the magic chart in the front of the book by saying you take 1 big glyph and 2 big glyphs to make a Knights Radiant order. 3 glyphs = 3 Shards on Roshar...

I've asked twice with no response.... so no idea what the parameters are...

I suppose they are a bit bland, but those concepts seem to be Shard-ish... Order is somewhat the role that Harmony serves now, anyway, a balance.

Control and Domination could be synonyms for Order, of course. And Order/Chaos have got to be Shards, right?

Brandon just dropped a nugget for us Cosmere geeks: Source I can never find the nice tables of Shards identities/locations that have been made, but we have some new info.