Cuendillar

No one "wins" an argument except by walking away with a greater understanding. Reading your viewpoint has made me rethink my feelings toward Stormlight, and although they are still different then yours, I thank you for giving me this opportunity. If you just surrender and cease discussion, everyone loses. I made disagree with your point of view, but I still want it to be expressed and discussed.

Why would they be executed? They were slaves, forced into a profession with guaranteed fatality, and intentionally doing what they had to survive. If anything, Sadeas should be executed for forcing them into that position (oh wait). Even if none of that was true, desecration of the dead, despite being a disgusting disrespect for humanity (or listenerdom), it's not an offense we execute people for! In addition, Kaladin later apologizes to Rlain. This in no way excuses it, but shows they've grown significantly. Every time an action like this occurs, the protagonists' actions are repeatedly condemned by side characters, other protagonists, the antagonists, their spren, and eventually themselves. Lying usually only occurs on infiltration missions with Shallan or the protagonists lying to themselves. It's still fairly rare that it actually happens though. Breaking promises only occurs for Kaladin and Dalinar really... I have no idea what you're thinking about putting desires above duty, other than Kaladin's decision to take leave (which I would disagree), and the only extremely pragmatic/results oriented character (don't understand how this is "dishonorable") is Jasnah, and maybe a little bit of Navani.

So if you add Whimsy, it's the Joker shard

Yes, I agree. I actually don't think so...Nightblood has killed a vessel! I think a metalmind could not block it; a regular shardblade might be another story. I don't believe TLR has chromium actually...maybe he did and there's a WoB I can't find. Yeah, probably. If he can get over his ego. Where is this shown? If there isn't a text example, I'm not certain about this. The minimum temperature to fuse hydrogen on earth is about 100 million Kelvin, which I don't think TLR can even get close to, considering diminishing returns. You should probably say the spoiler is for Dragonsteel Prime outside of the spoiler tag. I don't even think we need to mention Dragonsteel, as Hoid (kinda) healed from complete obliteration by a shard. Although he obviously couldn't heal if his metalminds were completely obliterated, TLR could likely heal similar levels of damage.

I don't think soulcasting him would be feasible because TLR is a sliver and powerful mistborn. It'd be even harder than soulcasting a radiant spren.

Sorry, that was a bit of an overexaggeration, saying he would beat a herald. But Taln is very much not the average herald. I do think (rational) TLR would take most of them. Honestly yeah. I'm mostly talking about current Lift w/ nightblood, because we really have no idea what she could be capable of. Even now, if she used Nightblood to exit the CR right in front of TLR, then she could probably assassinate him with it.

Imo, the "playing field" is between TLR's arrogance and pragmatism unless Lift teleports from CR and assassinates him almost immediately (which is both out of character and begins to move away from the presumed premise) That's a neat theory. I like it, and it makes sense.

I agree, but a fullborn could absolutely rush Lift before she had a chance to react, let alone do something like this. I don't actually think so, given that anyone can use metalminds as long as they have the "key" identity. Lift might be able to take his connection to Preservation though. This is pretty much useless because either TLR ganks Lift before she can react, or TLR is stupid and lets Lift use Nightblood/Bondsmith powers because he thinks he's a god. This is the main reason I think Lift would most likely win, not because of her abilities, but the fact that Rashek doesn't care. He'd probably try to teach her a lesson instead of actually using most of his powers. I actually change my mind. We know that the Nightblood compulsion is like rioting, and as soon as Rashek realizes, he'll probably turn on his superpowered coppercloud.

I think we can look for the answer in the Wheel of Time, of which Brandon wrote the last three books. Wheel of Time Spoilers

I concur. I don't have TFE on hand to give quotes, but I recall Rashek saying that he could put down the rebellion himself and WoB confirms he could have conquered Scadrial completely with the sword instead of using diplomacy. Sazed and Wax both suggest that Feruchemical power when using compounding is multiplied tenfold. With the metals we know for certain that TLR had access to that means the following atttributes are near-infinite compared to the average person: Weight (might be mass) Physical Speed Sensory Perception Physical Strength Mental Speed Warmth (or cold if you choose to store a large amount) Wakefulness Identity Health (means near instant healing) Determination Youth We know that gold can heal from shardblade wounds to the head and restore abilities lost to hemalurgy which, although not relevant in this case, shows how powerful gold healing actually is. He is also probably the most powerful Mistborn ever, considering how he can easily pierce copperclouds, push/pull on metal in bodies, and even cause depression-like effects in 10k people at once. He's also a near or full savant in every metal. A rational TLR would absolutely destory a Herald, let alone Lift. However, TLR isn't completely rational. Not knowing what it is, he'd probably be dumb enough to let himself get stabbed by Nightblood as a show of force, which would probably destroy him. Even if that doesn't occur, when TLR beats Lift, I suspect Nightblood's draw to "evil" people would cause him eventually to stab himself and all his inquisitors. Remember, TLR's willpower and drive to live has been worn down by Ruin for a millennia. So, Lift would probably win, but possibly at the cost of her life. Edit: Or, if TLR isn't paying attention, he could get ganked by a Lift who could elsecall w/ nightblood.

Sorry, I worded that oddly. What I meant it that TLR is more of a looming threat rather than someone we actually know who takes action to stop the protagonists. He's a goal, not a rival, sorry if my wording caused confusion.

We know that planetary subastrals grow similar to the host planet as you travel through them. I'm assuming that as you get closer to another planet, the air concentration grows more and more similar to the planet. Note: (This could be interesting on Roshar if sailing from the Horneater peaks to someone else changed air concentration despite unchanged elevation in Shadesmar)

Actually, it doesn't say that, the numbers are a bit different: (pg 535 on kindle) La Paz, Bolivia is at about 12,000 meters about sea level. According to a study Google found, high-altitude pulmonary oedema develops in about 15.5% of the population when ascending 5,500 m by airlift. Untreated HAPE has approximately a 50% fatality fate. Fortunately, none of the Rosharans are going to be going to Scadrial instantly, (except Hoid in WaT), but even elevation changes in our world have a dramatic effect. Roshar has a lot of oxygen, fire is mentioned as being dangerous and unpredictable for worldhoppers (who at the time of Arcanum Unbounded are sure to have seen some stuff), something it's not even close to being at sea level. Luckily for Rosharans everywhere, Shadesmar travel between planets is not short, and (IoTE spoilers)... Hypothetical travelers are going to have enough time to acclimate. If instant teleportation is ever developed across planets for relatively non-invested individuals (before healing minds/fabrials become commonplace), Rosharans could be in lethal trouble.

If someone was blanking their identity, could you take their breath directly?

I mean, TLR is more of a plot device than an actual antagonist.

I disagree mostly because I think Brandon does just fine with lower powered protagonists. Kenton, Tress, Siri, Marasi, Steris, Nikaro, Sarene, Hrathen, TWoK Kaladin, Dusk, etc. are straight up weak compared to their peers and they are in very engaging books. It's even one of Brandon's laws of magic (of which you say his franchise is built on) that limitations are more interesting than powers.

I feel like star wars isn't the best comparison, as the main characters for nine movies have "mysterious powers from another age" or "the chosen one."

I mean, aviar and rhyshadium create nahel bonds and we've never seen a deadeye one of those. Irc, though don't quote me on this, deadeyes are a new thing since Ba-Ado-Mishram's capture.

I'm actually kind of annoyed because I had this exact WoB posted to my clipboard as was going to respond, but you beat me by 10 minutes. Honestly, the exact percentage probably doesn't matter that much if you're firing spikes past being able to shoot straight. You wouldn't be able to hit a bind point reliably enough; it would probably be best to just aim for immobilizing pain (can't find WoB) and spiritweb damage.

Oh, turns out I lied. 3 hours is not a great track record. Yes, WoB says it can, although it may be tricky to figure out material+bind point for two spikes. You may need a lot of atium. I agree, but eventually we would break down the premise of unified planets. If the Malwish and the Basin break with each other (imo very likely), then Roshar could probably pull off an invasion. Although Retribution would lose non-Skybreaker and non-Dustbringer radiants, the Scadrians would lose some powers either way (medallions or lots of Metalborn) and half their manpower.

We actually have the confirmed location of both. Harmony's is somewhere in the South and controlled by the Malwish; Retribution's is under the Shattered Plains in Narak. As we ca see both historically and in BoM, stealing technology is much more complicated than stealing a schematic; even if they can build a prototype, production on the scale needed for an army is something else entirely. What exactly do you mean by this? Enforcing breeding programs is a very long term strategy and would require them to control Scadrial already. I honestly think this topic is an extremely fun exercise, but it has been argued to death every time a new book comes out. My conclusion is that neither planet can likely occupy the other. As a result, I'm probably going to be less involved in this discussion, as it isn't really being very productive.

I don't think that the BoM are normal metalminds. We still don't know why they mysteriously ran out in TLM.

What I meant is these are the characters that could directly enter the Physical realm outside the perpendicularity. I didn't think of Deepest Ones though, that could pose an issue. I was planning for the Scadrians to use explosives like dynamite and automatic weapons, which I suspect will take a lot to heal. Also, they have to go back to Roshar in any case to come back. It's mentioned at the end of TLM that they have a small stockpile. I would agree, but Scadrial will likely produce their bombs faster as they actually have an industrial base. That was mostly just me theorycrafting. If Brandon ever brings fullborn back (other than a potential TLR novella of something), they're probably going to be nerfed hard. Not going to lie, totally forgot about him. I agree, which is why I think that...

Which one is it? These are kind of contradictory. I will assume that they can use the perpendicularities as PoV characters in the books do in my response. What exactly does this mean? If Retribution can directly give Radiants stormlight or help them divide Warlight, that changes the entire calculus. I'll go through Rosharan and then Scadrian capabilities: Roshar Without Retribution's help, only the corrupted radiants will have any power that they can actually use and most of them are locked in Urithiru, which they would require Retribution's aid to leave. Without the oathgates, Narak will become a chokepoint for Shadesmar access, being both defensible, but probably also hard to send the armies of an entire planet through. However, mention of armies gets us to another point. Without Retribution's help (again), soulcasters are unavailable. This presents a serious issue as the number of Fused and corrupt Radiants able to soulcast will be limited, only allowing a fairly small force of Rosharans to get anywhere after leaving the planet. As seen in the map I attached (from Arcanum Unbounded), Roshar and Scadrial are not incredibly close, likely requiring a large amount of light and resources to get across what is essentially uncharted CR. Food especially, will spoil and most of Roshar is covered with endless rain, making food growth difficult. Defensively however, is an entirely different game. Fused, radiants, and spren can all make the journey into the Rosharan subastral extremely difficult for the Scadrians. The only access into the Physical is through Narak and the Shattered Plains, an easily fortified region. The Scadrians also lack any ability to shift realms except at perpendicularities. Scadrial Similar to Roshar, but much more extreme, I believe with confidence that Scadrial will win a defensive conflict. As before discussed, Scadrial is unlikely to see much of a force at all, but in the worst case scenario, all of Roshar's armies, they would be well prepared due to warning from kandra. Innovations like automatic weapons, steam engines, airships, and a lack of reliance on outside investiture makes the Scadrian troops an incredibly effective and mobile force on their home world. While individual Fused and Elsecallers could pose issues if they enter the Physical Realm outside of the only perpendicularity, which is controlled by the Malwish, they could be taken down fairly quickly. At the perpendicularity, explosives and firearms will destroy most who exit said perpendicularity, even radiants will likely run out of stormlight fairly quickly. Note: I have excluded the heralds from this, as they are actually on Braize, not Roshar after WaT, but their presence in an invasion puts a successful invasion within the realm of narrative plausibility, although I still think the Scadrians would win. Scadrial would do much better invading Roshar than vice versa. While I've mentioned the Rosharan defense, Scadrial has other tools. These include the kandra, Ghostbloods, machinery, and aluminum. Both the kandra and Ghostbloods have a high possibility of presenting the Scadrians with weaknesses in Rosharan defenses, exploting those weaknesses, and perhaps securing small strike forces' entry into Roshar. Machinery, like flight and motors, allows the Scadrians to cross Shadesmar much more effectively and swiftly, even if they are hampered by Rosharans on the way. Aluminum, which Scadrial is on the verge of discovering how to get through electrolysis, allows the Scadrians to store food through cans and protect against surgebinding. They don't rely on outside investiture, allowing them to be much more self-sufficient than Rosharans, both on Roshar and going towards it. Harmonium-trellium bombs present the possibility of Ghostblood/kandra spies destroying whatever fortress conceived at Narak, allowing free entry for the Scadrians. Once they figure out how to get lerasium and atium, they could create fullborn, which everyone in this community knows are op, to further their advance. However, much of these Scadrian offensive is hypothetical. While it is plausible that they could get it together, the short-term and probable mid-term is the maintenance of the status-quo, as neither planet has developed offensive power. Long-term, Roshar will probably develop their offensive and defensive capability beyond what is mentioned and Scadrial will too. Of the two planets, I think Scadrial is more likely to find allies, but not too many. Roshar's real, as of right now, capability is incredibly powerful, so I like Brandon's decision to put them in time-warp time-out so everyone else can catch up.

Sorry, being a bit nitpicky here, but Nightblood doesn't identify as female or any other gender, unlike spren. We've already seen that Nightblood can control itself far better, so I agree that Nightblood is changing. I'd also like to mention that we have never even seen or heard of Nightblood in anything set past WaT. I actually am not sure about this. I suspect that the cause of Kelsier lacking powers is the fact that he is a cognitive shadow stapled to a mistwraith through hemalurgy and subsequently being unable to burn the metal inside this mistwraith. But it is possible that Nightblood might be able to allow Kelsier to use his abilities. Although Nightblood might just eat Kelsier, due to him being composed of investiture. A thought that occurred to me as I was answering this is the possibility that a bond of some sort might be required. We've been seeing new and different types of bonds throughout WaT, so many Nightblood needs to connect to the user. Perhaps that's what grants it the increased sapience in the first place, like how spren lose themselves in the Physical Realm without a bond.