Argent

Lift's Darkness - whom I (and not a few others) believe to be the Herald Nalan - could be on the right track when he claims that Surgebinders make the Desolations come (faster).

*chuckles*

Two remarks. I am pretty sure he is alive. Every time - and I mean every time - Brandon has answered a question somehow related to the epilogue, he has used something along the lines of "someone who claims to be a Herald" instead of Taln's name. I still think that it is him we see materializing outside Kholinar, but I am slightly bothered by how Brandon never refers to him directly by name and/or title.

I wouldn't use that picture for anything other than trivia. It's a draft, so anything there is subject to change - maybe two of Eshonai's interlude take place over a relatively short period of time, so Brandon originally wrote them one after the other.

A Sliver is a human who has held (most of) the power of a Shard for a short period of time, and has then lost it - see the Lord Ruler and Vin. A Splinter is a "living" construct of a Shard's power - it was never alive, it was created in an animate form. We know this.

Uh. This feels... wrong. Art on the right pages, that's okay, but interludes starting there on occasion - it feels weird. I feel betrayed, Tor.

Was, I remember it. Most of those were in Inkthinker's / Inkwing Arts' store, but somebody is hiding their goods from us...

This is a reasonable theory, I like it. I don't think that's the only, or maybe not even the main difference between the Cryptics and the Honorspren*, but I am sold on the idea that it is one of them. Things fit - Wyndle was sent to Lift, Jasnah is convinced Pattern was sent to Shallan (or both of them were sent to her, or something like that; either way, the Cryptics influenced the physical realm). On the other hand, Syl was forbidden from going to Kaladin, and Nohadon said that not all spren were as discerning as the honorspren - which could easily imply that most spren that bind with humans are not honorspren, as the latter would be much pickier. * It kind of bothers me that the Cryptics are capitalized in the book, but honorspren are not...

"A Radiant is never late, Shallan Davar, nor is she early. She arrives precisely when she means to." -- Jasnalf the Grey

Hopefully, but not necessarily. It could be something as simple as a piece of gear (similar to Kaladin's chapters' spears).

Brandon said that each SA book will have a "main interlude character" - one side character that shows up in all of the interlude groups. In The Way of Kings it was Szeth (damnit, even after all this time I keep trying to type Sazed...). In Words of Radiance it's Eshonai - he told us so somewhere sometime. --- Now, on the topic of Soulcasting being more dangerous now than ever before. I agree that it's very possible that the reason for this heightened level of danger lies somewhere in Shadesmar, or is related to the death of Tanavast / Splintering of Honor. I have two alternative and equally feasible explanations, however: Soulcasting in and of itself is a pretty dangerous Surge. You could do all sorts of nasty things with it. We've seen how deadly Szeth can be, but with all his skill and magic, the dangers he poses are kind of avoidable. I am not saying it's easy to avoid them, but even if he Lashes you in some random direction, you still have a chance to grab onto something and wait for the Stormlight he Invested you with to run out. On the other hand, for a Soulcaster (Elsecaller or Lightweaver) blood is one of the easiest essences to work with - how easy would it be for Jasnah to turn your blood into anything? At a distance. That's pretty unavoidable. I imagine an inexperienced Soulcaster might run into issues to this. There are no Heralds to teach the Radiants how to do stuff properly and efficiently. In all of the previous Desolations they've had teachers. Now they don't. So, of course it would be more dangerous to Soulcast now than ever before - in modern Roshar nobody really knows what they are doing.

Double post, because this is a whole new topic. Video games. It very much depends on what kind of game all of you have in mind. Minds. Whatever. Obviously those are not spires for something like Mass Effect 3. Are you thinking Pokemon*? Card game? Exploration game? RPG? Because some of those can be developed by a relative amateur - I once coded up a basic Tower Defense game in a grand total of a few days worth of work. Anyone dedicated, even inexperienced, could have a working something in a few months. * Sprenmon? Pokespren? Gotta bind 'em all?

You are so hot right now I never had the link handy, but I am pretty sure I can find it. If work is slow this week I'll do it in the next couple of days. If not, the weekend. Re: Art Pretty much every one of the characters has a sprite that looks either creepy, funny, or disturbing. Adolin's #2, for example, makes me think of those "Where will you be when diarrhea strikes?" memes. All in good humor, of course, I like them all I'll need to revisit Elhokar's descriptions, however, this is not at all how I pictured him. I think I've been casting him as a blond in my head (which I know to be wrong), but I want to make sure that it's me who is being silly about this. As my last line of defense, I think he should look a little more... mouse-y. Shifty. Paranoid. Worried. Jumpy. I assume the two sets of brothers are Gavilar & Dalinar and Kaladin & Tien? If so, Gavilar & Dalinar look really good. The WIP Shardbearer has a very unique Blade design Elend and Vin are adorbs, of course. Aaand now I want to see you draw Shallan in her winter clothes. With Puppy Pattern, because it'd be fun to see how you imagine the unimaginable geometries of her spren.

I think it's a little early for her to die. There hasn't been enough build-up in my opinion. She seems to be driving herself pretty hard, and she believes she doesn't have much time left (which sounded personal to me, more like "I've got terminal cancer and two months to live," not a general "something is coming in 62 days, I don't have much time to stop it"), both of which could suggest she is aware (or thinks she is aware) of some disaster coming her way. But that's the best support I can muster for the "Jasnah will die" theory. Relying on literary tropes is a really bad idea with Brandon, because he likes to stomp them pretty hard. Yes, he follows some, but he also rejects or flips many more. I try to avoid casting the characters as their obvious stereotypical roles - Kaladin the Hero, Jasnah the Mentor, etc.

I was wondering when we'll get more chapters... Chapter 6: Terrible Destruction Dramatic chapter name, dun dun dunnn... Heh, silly Navani. Jasnah totally had it (almost) figured out.Oh, wait, that's neat. Parshendi willingly assumed their "no form" form to go spy on the Alethi armies? "She’d occasionally seen snow and ice in Jah Keved, during the odd winter." - temperatures in Chicago just dropped again. I now hate Jah Kaved like I hate all countries that lack real winter. Hmm, Pattern seems to have troubles speaking. Syl didn't have this problem, and presumably neither did Ym's spren. Hey, interestingly, both Jasnah and Shallan named their spren, as opposed to asking for their names - like Kaladin and (I guess) Lift did. Aaand there goes the dramatic chapter name. Maybe, just maybe, Pattern feels that Shallan is eating the food's spren? Or something? So Shallan and Pattern first met around the time of Shallan's father's death. I am not sure if and how this is significant. Woah, Pattern actually turned the deck green? Wait, nevermind. Shallan has access to two surges - I've been thinking about her as a Soulcaster, not a Lightweaver. Makes sense that her spren would be able to create illusions. Alai - and presumably the academia - seems pretty certain that the Nightwatcher is a spren. Is it possible that she is not Cultivation but a proxy of hers? A Sliver? A colossal Splinter? Okay, Pattern's obsession with lies is starting to get a little creepy. "And how much time remains to me? Not long. Not long…" - woah, lady, what's going on? This reeks of either some kind of a terminal disease or knowledge of the future. That sound you just heard? Yea, that was the sound of the plot thickening... I wonder what Jasnah is hiding. I don't see how her worries about the Voidbringers could summon a fearspren - not after such a long time getting used to the idea. She might be worried, but not terrified. Emotions dull after a while. WOAH, CLIFFHANGER MUCH? Chapter 8: Knives in the Back | Soldiers on the Field "He believed anyway. For he suspected his own hand had written those words." - Huh. I guess it fits... Heh, Dalinar and Amaram are BFFs. The plot solidifies. Chapter 9: Walking the Grave Gods, but I like Syl! Spren like red lightning? "Oh, that question." - oh, you wonderful, wonderful, little honorspren. Kaladin, stop being such a grumpy cat! "Lie?” Syl said, aghast. “Kaladin! What do you think I am? A Cryptic?" - oooh. Nice touch, Brandon. "So important that I left everything, defying the Stormfather, to come. You saw him. In the storm." - Implications, implications... The Stormfather was the one to prevent / prohibit the spren from leaving Shadesmar and binding with Surgebinders? Why am I getting the feeling that this book won't make everything clearer, but foggier instead? Man, and I still don't fully understand the interplay between windspren and honorspren. What the hell does "cousin" mean for a spren? "Sigzil sent me. He wishes to know if you are ready to practice your abilities." - give me this chapter NOW!

That's interesting, I use Chrome as well and clicking on a topic's name just opens the topic - first page, first post. Always.

I just want to put emphasis on this. 1088 is the physical limit of Tor's press. They literally could not print the book if it were a single page longer.

I've kind of been holding back on board games until I decide to buy a tablet (playing them on my phone is alright, but bigger screen is bigger). I got Elder Sign: Omens a while back, but it applied too much boot to my posterior, so I let it wait for the time when I have a tablet at my disposal during bathroom breaks...

This is the Internet, you can't TMI here. We've seen it all. I have to ask though, why is your avatar holding a voodoo doll of Mr. T?

Maybe. It could also be the first time he has done something like that - after all, he did it because Dalinar appeared inappropriately disinterested in his paranoia. So it's very possible that this is his first (major) stunt - which was, in a way, successful.

This is very much how I feel. There is so much knowledge to be picked from Brandon's brain, it feels like such a waste to ask him the same questions over and over again. I have (almost) no issues with new questions about writing, I understand people could use his advice - but it feels like I will start murdering people if I have to hear him tell aspiring writers that the best advice he can give them is to just write. Regardless of how bad it is. This being said, I won't be asking Cosmere questions. He might answer some (he has done so in the past, even if the interview/seminar/talk considers it offtopic), but I personally would feel bad for... exploiting the opportunity. But I will be no less delighted if someone else asks something interesting

I don't know if the whole fiasco with the saddle is enough of a secret / lie to make him start seeing Cryptics. Shallan's secret was not only a significant one, she had also buried it pretty deeply, refusing to even think about it.

I like most of this, but I am not sure it's entirely consistent. Namely: If Jezrien had taken up a large chunk of Honor's power, it would make him something unique - not a Sliver (which would require him to only hold the power briefly), and not a Shard (which would require him to, well, have the Shard). Slivers don't go insane, but they also don't hold the power for too long. Shards do hold the power for a long period of time, and they also avoid the insanity part. So while it is possible that holding a fraction of the power has some weird side effects, nothing points to that. Why would his mind be separated from his body? Jezrien's age is unlikely to be the cause for any kind of mental damage. My best guess is that he has been alive for the 99 Desolations before the Everstorm, and unless those used to happen every generation or so, 4,500 years is not a very drastic amount of time for him.

Dalinar wouldn't talk about full sets because... well, because it's unclear. If one Highprince has 3 Plates and 1 Blade, Dalinar would say the Highprince has 4 Shards, not 2 sets, or 1 set and 2 spare Plates.

Aye, careful with the assumptions.