Argent

It sounds like some of you are treating the nightmares too literally, almost like something supernatural. It could very well be a figure of speech - our nightmares are our fears, and the Epics are human enough to experience terror just like ordinary humans.

If I were to ask that question, I would rephrase it to include a scale of some sorts. For example: Not actually needed Useful, but on par with other materials Useful, and preferred over other materials Mandatory

It may be simpler than that. The Returned have their bodies reshaped to fit the "average" idea of a perfect male or female (of a given age) at the time, so most people will naturally like them - they are perfect, after all. Not necessarily - in fact I'll headcanon that it's unlikely. We know the Lightweavers (the Order) are often, if not always, the creative types, so Shallan's drawing makes sense in that context. The Truthwatchers, however, aren't related to art (according to the in-world excerpts of Words of Radiance) in any way; I feel that their powers are more internal, in a way, so when they create Lightwoven illusions, I suspect their "crutches" are also internal (i.e. they imagine the illusion more than they manifest it artistically). But obviously I am speculating wildly here.

Come on, guys, piggybacking on Chuck Norris' fame to make Brandon more impressive is easy. You can do better than that When the first book of a new series comes out, Brandon Sanderson outlines and finishes the entire series as a writing exercise. New releases in the series are simply the other authors publishing crude summaries of Brandon's outlines. Brandon Sanderson once had a bear more epic than Pat Rothfuss', but he gave it to Pat as a sign of respect. Brandon Sanderson doesn't invent new magic systems anymore, he simple recalls the ones he created when he was using the pseudonym Adonalsium. Brandon Sanderson inhales oxygen and exhales Divine Breaths. When he was young, Brandon Sanderson woke up in the middle of the night with a mild nosebleed. The napkin he used to wipe it off became known as Nightblood. When Brandon Sanderson needs to fuel his Allomancy, he drinks a vial of metal. Not metal flakes. A vial of liquid metal. When Brandon Sanderson attends events wearing superhero T-shirts, he is secretly a little afraid that people will recognize him as the face of every superhero ever. Brandon Sanderson is actually the father of the fantasy genre. The only reason Tolkien gets the credit for it is because when Brandon first decided to be a professional author, he went back in time and gave Tolkien his ideas, so that the genre could develop and mature for a few decades before he started publishing. He only did that so his readers would have something else at least a little enjoyable to read between his own releases.

I don't think it works quite like that. Hosting a Divine Breath doesn't mean creatures of limited mental capacity or experience - animals and children - automatically like you, no matter what. The way I see it, it's more of a predisposition, first impression kind of thing, a little like a mild form of emotional Allomancy. I am reminded of the child whose Breathe Lightsong had to feed on - the kid was terrified, if I recall correctly.

Or the male!Firefight got out of range and Megan could no longer maintain her... interdimensional summon, for the lack of a better term.

The way I read it, she was surprised David could resist in the first place. Or that he had a choice. Or that he would turn out the gift.

Perhaps we've taken the thread a little sideways from its original purpose?

I had the same idea a while back. Here's the topic where we discussed it, it has some valid and thought-worthy points.

Nope. Most likely not 2015.

Also, Regalia has Class F prognosticative abilities according to Tia. Further, what defines a High Epic is simply whether they have any protective powers: And one final tidbit I found: "Faultline was a tier-one Epic, by Tia's classification, without an immortality benefit."

The classes go from A down and decrease in strength. So a Class C self-transmutation is stronger than Class D, but weaker than Class B. Some abilities have their "borders" hinted at in the books. To expand on the self-transmutation example: What we learn from this is that: Self-transmutation is an Epic ability Changing one's own mass, by itself, is enough to achieve Class C self-transmutation Retaining one's original thought process, by itself, is enough to achieve Class C self-transmutation Transformation frequency ("whether there are limits like how often he can change") and versatility ("if he can take other shapes") are two "borders" or "qualifiers" (I can't remember the term David uses) which, by themselves or together, might elevant Knoxx to a Class B self-transmutation Epic, as long as they exceed a certain threshold A quick search in both books doesn't reveal much more... Prof's forcefields are Class A Refractionary is a Class C Illusionist and Class B personal invisibility

Actually, yes. I now doubt it's failure. He floated away on his force fields after failing to kill David - so his weakness wasn't engaged. I'll need to take another look at his behavior in Steelheart, as well as what else he could be afraid of that's related to gambling and contests.

This is more or less what I was thinking - it would be just like Brandon to tell us that Calamity was root of all this, only to then reveal the root cause for the root itself.

I came to this thread to tell you all we don't know anything about Prof's weakness. But... failure kind of makes sense. I think it's a little too generic and a little inconsistent to work without a qualifier of some sorts (e.g. failure to do something), because failure itself is such a broad term. I mean, what if Prof trips when walking down the street - is that a failure to walk? Would it trigger his weakness? Or when he stubs his toe (because let's face it, even Epics are not immune to stubbed toes)?

Heh. You, of course, have the right to join the wrong Denna camp

This is an interesting idea.

Not necessarily. If The Ones Above are Scadrians we could see Sixth in the sci-fi Mistborn series (Era 4 books, as it is apparently known internally)

It actually seems like the problem comes from Writing Excuses' website itself. The RSS episodes feed podcast aggregation applications usually use only lists the last 10 episodes. I'll contact WE and ask them about it.

Given that it's in the pre-production stage, I doubt it. Things could still fall apart.

Are you thinking of David's organization system?

This makes it sound so... I don't know. It doesn't sound the Kingkiller I read, the magic is not there. Source: New Regency (reddit)

Hmm, that may be it.

I don't like Soundcloud because of how (poorly) it handles large / long recordings. I stick mine in the cloud, Google Drive for example, and let people download it if they want to listen and / or transcribe. Not as convenient as a web player, but it allows me to keep the thing in a single file.

It always depends on the event - and the bookstore/library - itself.