MasterGhandalf

As we're all familiar with by now, each of the Stormlight books has, in addition to the main POV characters, a recurring interlude POV who gets their own mini-arc spanning the novel. Now that we have four main novels under our belts (and only one to go in the front five), I'd started thinking some about the traits those characters have in common to see if I could figure out who the most likely interlude POV for the fifth book will be. Looking back, there do seem to be some traits that the 'interlude novella' characters have shared. For one thing, they've all been antagonists to some degree (though Taravangian is the only one I'd go so far as to call an outright villain). They've also all been someone we've met in previous books rather than a new character (Szeth is the obvious exception, though one could still argue we met him in the prologue before the book proper); with the exception of Taravangian, they've also generally not been POV characters before. Their storyline also tends to be somewhat separate from everyone else's in content (and often geography) but nonetheless get tied together with the book's main plots by the end. With those traits in mind, I can think of a couple of characters who might fit for the interludes for book five. The one who most immediately springs to mind is Moash/Vyre, who's been left in a bit of a bind as of the end of RoW, failing to kill Navani or turn Kaladin, forced to confront the emotions he'd thought he'd purged from himself, and been blinded to boot - I can think of a couple of interesting directions his arc might go in. We could also get the POV of a Fused; Leshwi's a possibility there, though the possibilities of El interludes, from the little we've seen of him so far, intrigue me. One of the more intelligent Unmade might also be interesting for a somewhat more inhuman take on things; Sja-anat seems like the obvious choice there. A Ghostblood might be another option, now that we're getting more into the goals of their organization (not to mention its leader...); Mraize would be the obvious choice here, but Iyatil might also work. Finally, we could also get a Herald POV, though Brandon might be wanting to reserve those for the back half, which he's indicated will be more Herald-focused (and any of them probably knows secrets of Roshar and/or the Cosmere at large he's not ready to reveal yet). Ishar might work for this, since he seems set to play a big part in this book with Kal and Szeth being sent to Shinovar to hunt him down; Kalak, Ash, Nale and Battar also jump out at me as possibilities. Anyone else have thoughts on this, and/or responses to my thoughts?

Having given other people time to respond, I just wanted to throw my own hat into the ring and say I think Taravangian/Odium feels like the most likely candidate for me; both T himself and the Shard Odium have been given enough buildup that the combination of them feels truly frightening, and he feels very well positioned to not only pick up on but also improve on Rayse's pre-existing schemes. That said, I could definitely see it ending up being Cultivation as well, depending on what her actual endgame turns out to be, and I certainly wouldn't rule out one of the other people I mentioned managing to pull off an upset, or the second arc having a different main antagonist than the first. I'd also say that I've been thinking for some time that Bavadin/Autonomy may end up being the true big bad of the Cosmere as a whole (assuming it has one, and that it's someone we've heard of) and Rayse's death makes that feel even more likely, but that's a different (albeit related) question.

So, one of the biggest bombshells in the series so far came near the end of Rhythm of War; Rayse is out of the picture for good, and Taravangian has ascended to become the new Odium. I'll admit it took me surprise; I thought there was a decent chance Rayse would die before the end of the series (and Taravangian was on my shortlist for people likely to take up his Shard) but I didn't think it would happen until Stormlight Five at the earliest. Which does lead one to wonder - with the apparent 'big bad' of the series dead four books in, who will end up taking his place as the greatest threat to Roshar? I have some thoughts of my own, but I'm curious as to where the overall opinion of the fandom is leaning at this stage.

This is just something fun I thought I'd throw together, but I thought people might find it interesting (or amusing). I was thinking about songs that I think fit well with various Cosmere works, and since a lot of them fit with Mistborn, I thought I'd do a brief writeup focusing on songs most people have probably heard of - namely, Disney movie songs. For this list, I'l go through each song, roughly in the order I think they fit in the books, and provide a link and a brief blurb as to why I chose them. A couple of notes - one, this is mostly going to be for Final Empire and a few for Well of Ascension for various reasons, but mostly because they were my first two Brandon books and I found them easiest to make connections for. For another, I'm including some songs from The Prince of Egypt as well, even though that one's not technically Disney, because a)., it's the same style of animated musical extravaganza, b)., most of the songs fit too well with Scadrial and the Final Empire to ignore, and c)., Prince of Egypt is awesome anyway, and so is its music. With that out of the way, away we go! Final Empire “Deliver Us” – Prince of Egypt A perfect scene-setting for Scadrial under the Lord Ruler's dominion. “Strangers Like Me” - Tarzan Vin is introduced to and intrigued by Kelsier and his crew. “Through Heaven’s Eyes” – Prince of Egypt Sazed teaches Vin and helps her find her confidence and her place in the world. “Make a Man out of You” – Mulan Or make an allomancer out of you, rather:). Kelsier trains Vin in the use of her powers. “Let it Go” – Frozen Vin, gaining confidence, begins to open up and take pride and joy in her abilities. “Part of Your World” and “Part of Your World Reprise” – The Little Mermaid Attending her first balls, Vin becomes increasingly fascinated with the world of the nobility, and with Elend. “Playing with the Big Boys” – Prince of Egypt Vin and Kelsier fight the Inquisitors at Kredik Shaw, barely escaping with their lives. “Reflection” – Mulan Caught between her dual life as Vin the mistborn and Valette the noblewoman, Vin questions her identity. “All I Ever Wanted” – Prince of Egypt Elend becomes increasingly dissatisfied with the state of the Final Empire and realizes that he is on a different path from what his father expects of him. “God Help the Outcasts” – Hunchback of Notre Dame Vin and Kelsier visit the skaa tenements. “He Lives in You” – Lion King II The anthem of the fledgling Church of the Survivor after Kelsier's martyrdom. “When You Believe” – Prince of Egypt The rebellion triumphs after Vin kills the Lord Ruler. Well of Ascension "Into the Unknown" - Frozen II Vin becomes increasingly preoccupied with the call of the Well. “Be Prepared” – Lion King A paean to Straff's ambitions to seize control of Luthadel and become a new emperor. Also a better song than Straff (my personal most hated Cosmere character) deserves, but hey, it fits. “Hellfire” – Hunchback of Notre Dame Zane's destructive obsession with Vin grows. "Not One of Us" - Lion King II After the attempted assassination and her assault on Cett's keep, Vin fears the crew - and Elend - will reject her. "Love Will Find a Way" - Lion King II Vin and Elend reconcile after Zane dies and are married. "Savages” – Pocahontas The battle for Luthadel, culminating in Vin's return. That's what I have. Anyone else have thoughts? Or ideas for Hero of Ages or Era 2?

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Welcome back, everyone, to the next installment of my ongoing space fantasy saga Realm of the Stars! For those just joining us, this is the third volume of a series I pitch as "Star Wars meets King Arthur meets Dune" and is the ending of the initial trilogy I have in mind (though I still have plans for more works in this universe!) - if you're looking for the Arthurian parallels, then this story's events would roughly correspond to Arthur's war with Rome. If you're interested in checking out the previous installments of this series, then Volume I is here, Volume II is here and some character portraits are here. And here we go! Prologue and Dramatis Personae:

I've been playing around with some character portrait creators lately, and managed to get some images I'm fairly happy with for some of the main characters from my Star Wars meets King Arthur meets Dune space fantasy saga Realm of the Stars. The program I used for these is Rinmaru Games' Mega Fantasy Avatar Creator; it's geared more towards conventional fantasy than space opera, but Realm of the Stars has enough of a fantasy type aesthetic I thought it worked pretty well. If you're interested in checking the stories out, Volume I, The Unclaimed Crown is here and Volume II, The Endangered Crown is here. Anyway, here we go! Arta: Karani: Mardoban: Pakorus: Midaia: and Latharna: And for those of you who've been following along with this saga as I've been posting it here, I've begun work on Volume III and intend to start posting on Friday!

Revised OP to include recent updates, mostly from State of the Sanderson 2019 and Stormlight 4 release announcement.

New chapter! With this one, I officially pass 50,000 words total and thus meet my NaNo goal; I therefore won't be updating as frequently from here on out, though I do still hope to continue with this at a somewhat slower pace. A big thanks to everyone who's been following along!

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