Khmauv

On 2/3/2017 at 0:29 PM, 1stBondsmith said:

It is possible that the lights that wink out "that he hadn't noticed before" are the gas giants of the Roshar system, not all the Cosmere. Just a thought.

What about his own sun dimming? In my mind that connected the lights winking out to other stars being extinguished

I just finished a reread of The Way of Kings. Something in the last vision Dalinar receives stood out to me. He is obsessed through the whole book about uniting the High Princes, because of a vision he had. He has that same vision again at the end of the book but it is extended. In the extended version we learn that Honor is the one who sent them and that Odium has killed him. He is again told to "Unite Them". But who must he Unite?

Quote

 

[Honor] looked into the sky. “I don’t even know if anyone will ever see this. I am gone, you see.” Dalinar didn’t respond. He looked over the pinnacle’s sheer edge, down at a void, horrified. “This isn’t just about you either,” the figure said, raising his hand into the air. A light winked out in the sky, one that Dalinar hadn’t realized was there. Then another winked out as well. The sun seemed to be growing dimmer. “It’s about all of them,” [Honor] said. “I should have realized he’d come for me.”

The figure still stared into the sky. “I leave this, because there must be something. A hope to discover. A chance that someone will find what to do. Do you wish to fight him?”

“Someone must lead them.”

“Someone must unite them.”

“Someone must protect them.”

 

Note: I removed Dalinar's thoughts and dialogue for clarity. 

It is right after Honor points out the star systems being destroyed by Odium, while still looking at those star systems, that he tells Dalinar "Someone must unite them".

Honor is not just saying Unite the High Princes, or the Knights Radiant, or even all of Roshar. Honor is thinking on a much, MUCH bigger scale.

Unite the Cosmere!

Forge a forged item to have never been forged.

Awaken a Furby with the command "Annoy."

WINNER! for redundancy.

Tap Feruchemical zinc to come up with a clever response to the thread about useless uses of useful powers.

The one thing in Steelheart that broke immersion for me was when the character with the southern accent (only read it once, so I forgot his name) used "y'all" to refer to a single person. I've lived in Georgia my whole life, and while I try not to use it, I know plenty of people who do, and hearing it used as "you" singular and plural drove me nuts. I mean... it has "all" in the word... it should be kinda obvious it's plural...

I am sorry if I am showing my ignorance here, but if "y'all" is plural what is the purpose of the term "all y'all" 

Crazy thought here. What if there is something similar to the spren crossing into the physical relm happening here? He is not quite all there yet, but over time will regain his mental aptitude.

or...

We don't even know if the Heralds are Human, splinters if Honor, or something else entirely. But they do live a really long time. Each of them have some "intent"... I'm just sayin'...

EDIT: Clarification

Honestly, Hoid is great. The ship is subtle.

So subtle it defies interpretation...at least for me. Care to elaborate? 

Something probably no one else is going to complain about, but it matters to me: the abuse of number 7. In alloy of law, most times random statistics are mentioned, the number 7 will be involved: 7 constables in 10 will miss a man at ten paces, wax was wounded 7 times, and a few other instances were something ahppened 7 times in 10, mostly quoted by marasi.

This is not accidental: if asked a random number between one and then, most people will say 7. 1 and 9 are too close to the extremes and don't feel random, 5 is exactly in the middle, and 2, 4, 6, and 9 are too close to the above mentioned. So people having to choose a "random" number will generally pick 7, 3, and 8, in that order of likelyhood. If asked a 2-digit random number, they will mostly say 78 or 87 or 37.

Knowing this, i tend to pay attention to random numbers. seeing that kind of pattern is a moderate blow to my suspension of disbelief, cause it keep pointing me that the story is fake. So I suggest brandon in the future use the random function of a calculator to get random numbers. Although I'm probably the only one who pay attention to that specific detail.

 

Other than that, there are a few things I'm not really satisfied of, but they are all a matter of personal taste, nothing that could objectively be pointed as flawed.

Have you thought that perhaps there is significance, beyond pseudo-randomness, in the number seven? 

Well ... just replace "Sneaky" by "Snaky"  then ...

I like it

@morsk

I see it as a fun exercise. and I agree on your interpretation of gibletish. however this:

 

"Nonsense. Balderdash. Figgldygrak. Isn't it odd that gibberish words are often the sounds of other wrods, cut up and dismembered, then stitched into something like them-yet wholly unlike them at the same time?"

It just screams, "Chop up these words up and rearrange them to make something new and unlike them!" Added that it seems so out of context and delivered by the lips of Hoid... 

I am just saying that I would not put it past Brandon to drop a little Easter egg in that we will look at later and think, "How did I not see that?"

After reading Hoser's post. It got me thinking of the role Szeth plays in all of this. I think you are on to something. Particularly this:

Just to add to the pile. 

• Whatever Szeth is being punished for is nearly coincident with the start of the death rattles, and a year before Gavilar was killed.
• This quote from Szeth in the prologue seems to indicate much to me: "He had heard that the Voidbringers could hold it in perfectly.  But, then, did they even exist?  His punishment declared that they didn't.  His honor demanded that they did."

Is it possible that whatever Szeth did triggered the beginning of the desolation countdown or did he take up an honorblade in response to a belief in the coming of a desolation?

Now things seem to be coming together in my head. Let me see if I can paint the picture: 

-The Honorblades are in Shinovar where the Shin people have been sworn to protect them.

-The Shin people believe the Voidbringers to be defeated and the Desolations long since halted. Therefore, they detest the very idea of violence and war since the Heralds put to rest the need to continue such practice.

-Szeth, a radical in Shin society that doesn't swallow this belief whole, pulls the sword from the stone in response to an event that makes him believe that the Voidbringers have returned.

-When he refuses to return the blade they bind him (somehow) to an oath stone and cast him out of their society.

Now this...

 

"He had heard that the Voidbringers could hold it in perfectly.  But, then, did they even exist?  His punishment declared that they didn't.  His honor demanded that they did." 

...makes a lot more sense.

note: I know it is wild speculation but, isn't that what we do?

edit: punctuation...even though it is still pretty bad.

Yes. But it is a perfect anagram for Shardblade, and HOID uses it. HOID. Everything Hoid says is significant. Unless Brandon was having a bad day and decided to do a little trolling.

It's also a perfect Anagram for Bad Heralds

I am not sure what advice to give on this one. I have read and reread this series a number of times while waiting for Brandon's epic conclusion. It wasn't until the 4th time through that I really struggled with these books. there is a lot in there of redeeming quality. I really appreciated the Perrin arc when I first read it. He was and still is the character I resonate the most with. There is a LOT of character growth that happens in these books for all of the characters. The endings were all great IMO. I think they are worth reading. 

With that said however I feel like rereading some of these parts is as bad an idea as reliving Junior high. I grew a lot but...

So...I guess my advice would be, If you can read them with out too much suffering, read them. If it becomes a chore at least read the endings.

Shard of Mustaches

um...Did you read the title of the post properly? We're posting BAD shard ideas. This sounds awesome! Magnum P.I. or Ron Swanson would be the shard holder for sure.

Shard of Imitation: Everyone would look the same... Act the same, and your abilities would let you change to look and be like anyone else. Shame that everyone else is already you.

 

*Gasps, looks at friend at the exact same time friend gasps and looks at me.* 

 

Like a mirror..

Sounds like the perfect shard to couple with the shard of redundancy.

When anticipation for WoR gives the turn of phrase "March Madness" a more literal meaning.

When you ask your son why he has to try and break everything he touches and he answers, "Maybe I'm like Alcatraz."

edit: True Story!

*Scratches Head* 

I see it now that you mention it. But I crossed out the letters as I wrote them....weird

edit: Still hunting for something better

edit2:  "BLADED HERALDS SINGING FREAKY SONG" (double checked)

I looked at all three words "Nonsense. Balderdash. Figgldygrak" and came up with something interesting. 

--Sneaky Heralds forging bad legends---

I see this as a solid possibility. The Heralds creating legends of the Knights Radiant casting them as bad guys to keep the group from reforming. I think this is supported by Darkness's motives for killing those on the path to becoming Radiants. They (the Heralds) are trying to suppress another Desolation.  

It makes me think...What other histories are they trying to suppress?

I know its a stretch but this is fun! 

EDIT: Apparently I used an extra 'e'. Whoops!

My immediate thought is that the Expanse of Vapors refers to Mistborn's Scadrial due to the mists, which would mean the Expanse of Densities is either Elantris' Sel or Warbreaker's Nalthis. Neither makes any particular sense to me.

 

Frankly, Expanse of Densities could be Scadrial too.

 

For anyone who wants an image: http://stormlightarchive.wikia.com/wiki/Shadesmar

Moogle already did...

edit: and now I see that PorridgeBrick has also.

I think that honor is a thing that cannot be gained in isolation. One can act honorably in isolation but they cannot be honored until those acts, performed in isolation, come to light and are viewed by the populace as honorable.

So in one way I think that Bartbug is correct, that for the Nahel bond between a person and an Honor Spren to happen the person must be perceived as honorable. However, I am not sure that the evidence supports that this honor must be based in the cognitive relm. 

The Shard of Truth is the one that can only be used by the True Seeker, isn't it?

 

I almost down-voted you for the Sword of Truth reference but then I would have to down vote myself for having read it. 

EDIT: I guess in the context of this thread that truly would be a bad idea, so...up-voted instead.

As long as he only listens to things above the waste line, he shouldn't get into too much trouble

I beg to differ. If I don't listen to my knees every once in a while that will CERTAINLY cause trouble.

EDIT: emphasis

I do not find this entirely convincing, as it is more the area between the poles that would be diminished, not the sky itself. I still find it more likely for Taldain to be behind "the Expanse of the Broken Sky".

I am not entirely sure how things are manifest in shadesmar but I imagine clouds in one pole and not on the other. that would stand out quite starkly in my mind. 

That being said, my gut does tell me that Scadrial is the Expanse of Densities. Though I can't justify it logically.

EDIT: For clarification...My minds says Scadrial is EoBS but my gut says it is EoD.

Something stood out to me when I was thinking about how Scadrial would appear in Shadesmar. I recall reading that places where there is no intelligence will not be represented in Shadsmar. In other words if there is empty space between worlds, Shadesmar sees it as no distance between the worlds. I imagine this would result in a continuity jump in the appearance of the surroundings. If I misinterpreted this idea please stop reading and correct me.  

Now I realize things will have changed since Harmony was born but at least in the beginning of Mistborn life was only found on the north and south poles. So I am thinking to myself, "How would that appear in Shadesmar?" The North pole, a continuity shift, and then the South pole. Right?

I present to you "Expanse of the Broken Sky"