Argent

Those are some serious leaps to conclusions I am reading here...

Huh. I always thought that came from a signing. Cheeky.

Anyone notice that the photo source at the bottom of the event page is "Nazrilof"? a.k.a. Nazh?

There is no correct pronunciation, as far as Brandon is concerned (and this applies to all of his books). There are pronunciations that are correct in-world, but even Brandon doesn't always use those - so whatever sounds right in your head is correct. This being said, Arelon has a very specific (in-world) way of pronouncing names - the first two vowels are always stressed and open. So Raoden would be something like RAY-OH-den and Shaod would be SHAY-ODE. Which unfortunately means Elantris would be EE-LAYN-tris, but nobody says it that way There was a very old blog that explained all that, you may be able to find it on the website somewhere.

I don't think the question was mine - my name probably shows up there because the transcription came from my audio.

I've been considering trying to include some questions about the constellation map...

Honestly, no. I was going to bet on intent myself, it's kind of a big deal in the Cosmere. Either that or non-Euclidean geometry.

More or less. Yes, the core of futuresight is looking into the Spiritual Realm (where space and time are virtually non-existent) and somehow interpreting what you see. My belief (somewhat supported by Secret History, I think) is that it's all about seeing and interpreting Connections. I think I'll put my thoughts in a thread sometime... Who knows how much control Shards have over their Splinters? Syl directly disobeyed the Stormfather when she went back to Kaladin after he spoke the Third Oath, so there is some argument to be made that the Stormfather at least couldn't stop her. He is not a Shard, of course, but he is the next best thing we know of, so maybe there is something here. I do wonder now if that hypothetical traitorous Unmade has been on Honor's side this whole time, and so it's not so much that Renarin is unique in his abilities, but all Truthwatchers, ever, somehow bonding with the same Unmade (or even tinier Splinters of it). I don't think this is terribly likely, but it's an interesting thought I had.

The term you are looking for here is that aluminum is magically inert. It's not just that it has dampening/negating effects in Allomancy, it's properties span all magic of the Cosmere (to an extent, I imagine - aluminum matalminds are a thing, after all). So no, silver is not like aluminum in this regard. Silver's anti-Shade effects on Threnody seem very much a Threnodite thing. On the topic of glowing metal, I think we may need to review the kinds of metal Kelsier notes are glowing. I think it's very much possible that only Allomantic metals glow in the Cognitive, but because so many of the metals we (or at least Scadrians) encounter are Allomantically active (iron and steel being very dominant here), Kelsier might just not notice when a non-Allomantic piece of metal doesn't glow.

And my thoughts run very much along similar lines, @emailanimal. Far too many of the constellations are obviously related to their most notable Shardworld for Sel's lamp to be a random image. There has to be a connection.

I don't think Hemalurgy victims lose that much investiture. It's certainly a significant amount, enough to damage or kill them, but I think the reason for this damage is more how important that piece of the soul is (or, rather, how important the soul's completeness is), not that a certain quantity of it is missing. Maybe we do. We know this a little better in the context of the Radiant Orders (e.g. Windrunners have strength of squires - whatever that means...), but I am curious about how much variation there is within each Resonance (or set of Resonances). The Lightweavers' mnemonic abilities, for example, sound like something that could be varied.

That would be interesting. It also makes the Diagram quote fit better in a theory than the "Ishar is a traitor" idea (which I also like, independently of this).

I am just as convinced that's just a way of describing the visual effects of Jasnah's portal

Okay, let's say I am done. Argent's Arcanum Unbounded Tour Questions The questions are organized in five categories, each category (except for the last two) loosely ordered by how badly I want a question answered. I might change the phrasing and the order a little bit prior to the signing, but I doubt I'll make major changes - unless a really interesting question pops up in the next 16 hours. I will also review the previous pages of this thread, I know a couple of people wanted to squeeze some extra questions in, so I'll look out for those.

I do like the "mobile perpendicularity" theory @Yata posted recently. I've had a similar theory for a long time, but I think his version fits a little better in the Cosmere (my theory was that the eye of the highstorm is a moving window into the Cognitive Realm - which is kind of what a perpendicularity is...).

Depending on your question, I may be able to sneak something in. I've just about finalized my list, and it's not as short as I thought it would be Turns out most of my questions are actually fairly long, so I don't know how many extras I can fit in.

Can you give me an example where an Ars Arcanum has been wrong?

Redditor /u/Ray745 reported something interesting a little earlier - something that I at least have had missed, and it sounds like I wasn't the only one. Turns out that the group known as "the Diagram" is actually not as unified as I had previously believed: How would Dalinar become their ally if Graves was purposely keeping Kaladin away from Dalinar so Szeth could kill him? Is Graves lying to Moash there? That part I never fully understood. It seems as though Graves understands Dalinar is going to be assassinated, yet from what he says to Moash at the end he seems to expect Dalinar would not have been killed. Brandon Sanderson Answer - Graves is supposed to (though people missed this, so perhaps I didn't do it well enough) indicate that the Diagram is not simply one group, following Taravangian. They follow the diagram itself, not him, and some think his interpretations are wrong. Graves was ordered to remove the Alethi leadership entirely--though Taravangian was sending Szeth after Dalinar (the more dangerous one) and Graves was to remove Elhokar. Graves, however, interpreted the diagram differently. He thinks that Dalinar cannot be killed by Szeth, or anyone, and is hoping to remove Elhokar, have Dalinar step up, and help them. He has passages of the Diagram that indicate, to him, this is the natural outcome of removing Elhokar. The actual passages, and what it is they're trying to accomplish in specific, has yet to be revealed in full. The Reddit thread has a couple more of his questions (the second one featuring medium-level spoilers for Edgedancer), but I don't think they reveal anything interesting (or at least new).

Considering that you are probably already spiked, I doubt you have much control over that... I've never understood where the whole thing with the spiked cookies came from, or why it's still a thing. But that's probably because I am grumpy and scowly.

I think that's the best way - it shows off how clever I am, but doesn't make me look crass. I like you

See, the fact that Vorinism shuns anything that has anything to do with seeing the future only makes me more suspicious of Vorinism. We've seen time and time again how... if not corrupted, then twisted this religion has become when used as a source of historical information. Given how many things they are wrong about (and the fact that we know futuresight is not necessarily evil), I really wouldn't put too much stock in that belief. Yes, it had to have started from somewhere, but it doesn't have to be anything ominous, or even significant. This being said, I do like the idea of something fishy going on with Renarin.

I think that's reading too much into it. I believe this description is just Brandon describing her as a silhouette of light that doesn't actually glow.

My perpetual expectation that everyone is a disappointment brings me endless joy when people turn out to be disappointments. I could try to joke about my only real companion being my sword, but I think that's just a tad heavy on the sexual innuendo side...

I don't have the WoB handy, but I am reasonably certain it was given in the context of Hoid showing up at both the right places and at the right times all around the Cosmere - so it is very likely something he's had even before Elantris.

Except for me. I am grumpy and live with a permanent scowl on my face.