Argent

I don't see a good enough reason to standardize individual WoBs. Not unless you - or someone else - can come up with a way for people to submit WoBs in a universal way, independent of the forum structure itself (e.g. a webapp or a tool of some sort). I think this way of getting information out of Brandon - the asking of questions either in person, online, or in books - will remain dominant in the future, so the earlier somebody comes up with a good system to organize (or at least store) this, the better. Theoryland is great, but it's always been a bit of a hack. My reply is starting to encroach on a different topic altogether though, so maybe that's something we can discuss another time.

That's fair then.

Europe in general, and Eastern Europe in particular, has good Internet. Actually, it might be the case that the US has bad (and/or overpriced) Internet, which is why we are excited to finally get something good. I too had something like 50 Mbps for the equivalent of $5-10, and that was over 10 years ago.

Technically, that's not something you can talk about here I know a lot of people are excited about Brandon's confirmation that the fain is still a thing, but it's also a thing from an unpublished book, so most readers wouldn't know anything about it beyond what Khriss shares. Which doesn't involve the spreading.

Right, that's what I am saying. The major Shardworlds are ten (last we heard, at least) and we have seen Scadrial, Nalthis, Sel, and Roshar. Maybe First of the Sun (depending on how you count it), and maybe Threnody. Ashyn and Yolen are still in the future, as is (maybe) Braize. So with so much unknown, it's not safe to make assumptions about the grand story just yet (or ever, but that's a different topic).

Eh. The Shardworlds we've seen are only a little more than half of what Brandon has planned for us in the long run. I don't think you can apply this kind of induction with any measure of certainty, not yet at least.

I was excited it was planned to come to Chicago, but then budget cuts happened, and it looks like this is not happening Fortunately, one thing Fiber did, it scared all the big ISPs, and they all started offering gigabit internet at various prices. My own RCN, for example, is now offering 1 Gbps internet for $70/mo (for 12 months, then I imagine it will jump to 80 or 90), which is still stellar compared to the 75 Mbps (plus data cap) for $70 I was getting from Comcast several months back. So I probably won't be able to join the Fiber club, but I might join the gigabit internet one, and that's almost as good

I know, and it's still what I was targeting. I guess it was the part about enforcing this that sounded off to me. The edited version looks better.

Depends how you look at it. It's not forcing if it's just something that happens in the Cosmere (which is what I suspect is going on). Investiture gets used (largely?) in the physical realm, it makes its way back to its source Shard, and it may bleed back into the physical under certain conditions. The difference between Preservation and other Shards, at least in this regard, is that Preservation wasn't able to keep the power for himself (probably because he gave up much of his mind), so his entire pool of power would return to his Shardpool - as opposed to tiny droplets of it, as seems to be the case with other Shards, such as Ruin or Endowment. So what you (might) see as potentially forceful restriction on Brandon's side, I see as cohesion in the Cosmere.

There are ways you can explain the availability of the power. Instead of a mechanism where Honor's power pools over time, he might be willingly handing it to them each Desolation. Or maybe the power gathers fast enough so that it's always available when a Desolation begins. Or maybe the Heralds need to make sure they endure long enough for the power to gather, otherwise a Desolation will start without the source of their strength being available.

I've been catching up on the forums, and I saw @Yata mention this quote in a different thread, but it made me think of something. If Roshar exhibits similar bursts of power, it could be one way of explaining how the Heralds were as powerful as they were even when everything we've seen from them suggests they were no stronger than your average Radiant. If we assume - and I understand this is not the strongest assumption in the world - that Roshar has events similar to the Scadrian Ascensions, then it may be that the Heralds become Honor's champions (similar to how Tanavast suggests to Dalinar that he may be able to force Odium to choose a champion) briefly during the Desolations, thus becoming incredibly powerful, powerful enough to be remembered in history as (demi)gods, even if their followers, the Radiants, were a lot more numerous.

I think you need to be careful with how you enforce something like this. Information is very valuable to many people on this forum, but forcefully asking people to share their findings in what is kind of arbitrarily chosen place leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I personally would love if new information was organized as you suggest. But I also don't necessarily agree that enforcing this is healthy for the... less zealous members of the community (who, coincidentally, are less likely to respond to this thread because they are more prone to lurking). So, in summary, I myself like the idea, but I also think you need to be careful about how you handle violations.

Yeah, that sounds fishy. I thought at first that Khriss is referring to the Mistborn here, but being a Mistborn doesn't really match with "grand bursts of strength."

This is more nonsensical than cryptic...

Eh, I wouldn't even call it a term. No more than "bilingual" is a term - it technically is, but I don't find it all that exciting. It's more of a natural language adaptation, I think.

I think there may be some logistical problems with setting up professional equipment in a place like this. I would check with the library.

Have fun. Some of my best experiences on signings have been with other fans. Standing in line for a few hours just for a minute or two chat with Brandon is not the best way you can spend your time.

Eeehhh, I think that may be overanalyzing it, @maxal. In my experience most people don't look at the details of every character's description, they go with what feels right with the image they have in their head. Often it can be about the vibe of the actor.

Brandon Sanderson = Brian Singer 10/10 confirmed

A tiny spoiler for (unpublished and non-canon) Liar of Partinel:

The fact that the only concrete knowledge we have of their bond forming comes from their words, and both of them report this happening in the army. This may be tenuous, but also consider that Syl almost definitely makes herself known to Kaladin no later than the day he kills the Veden Shardbearer (we know this because in his flashback chapter from the same day there is a windspren - very likely Syl - playing tricks on him), and likely not much earlier as he doesn't consider her pestering him as odd. At this point Tien had been dead for... I don't remember exactly, but over a year. Year and a half I think. If Syl had been playing tricks on him this entire time, he definitely would've remarked on it when she does it again in this last flashback chapter. So her interaction with him must be a recent thing as of that time. Furthermore, consider how quickly Syl matured after that. Several months of imprisonment, and another several in Sadeas' bridge crews, and Syl becomes almost human in her personality. It's possible that she had been aware of Kaladin for a long time, but I can't imagine them having a bond, even a weak one, for years prior to his arrival on the Shattered Plains.

Fair. Here's the source, in that case: Credit to @Axies

She does now. She didn't when she first started bonding with Pattern. No, I don't think that's safe to assume this. Both of them report seeing each other first in the army. I don't see a good reason to discard literally 100% of the evidence we have and assume their bond started forming in Hearthstone.

To be fair, the question explicitly asks about Hoid's physical aspect, so it makes sense that Brandon responds in kind (regardless of whether he is being shifty or not). Regarding Hoid's humanity, I've seen a couple of confirmations (one very recent) that he is human in the same way Steel Inquisitors are human. In other words, mostly, but with a lot of Spiritweb hacks. Reminds me strongly of sci-fi people with a lot of body augments.

Good questions, both of you