1000CremlingsInATrenchcoat

For those who aren't up to speed, there are going to be a few Intentionally Blanks in a row that are from a Quorum that Sanderson held at Dragonsteel Nexus with Dan Wells, Robin Hobb, and Matt Dinniman. On the topic of whether adaptations of fantasy should be preferentially done in live action versus animation, it seemed like it was broadly agreed that animation serves the genre far better. I have always felt this way, even as a big fan of some good live action fantasy films. Sanderson has pushed for having his biggest stories, particularly Mistborn to be done in live action because it has a higher potential to reach a broader audience than just his readers. I do believe he is right, and I think Scadrial would be easier to do in live action than all his other worlds, but the fact that at his core he believes animation is better for fantasy, but live action has to be the direction for the sake of business... it just really bums me out. I absolutely adore animation and have since I was very young. I am not a visual artist or an animator myself, but it's just always felt like more fun to me. You can tell crazier stories with fewer grounded elements, and good animators and VAs can create just as deeply moving an experience as anything live action. I don't think Sanderson is a sellout for being of two minds about this; getting a show of any kind made is a massive amount of work, so if you're gonna take that swing once, you should probably shoot for big reach. I just wish it didn't have to be this way. I wish people didn't feel like they had to try and recapture the magic of LotR (you can't these days anyhow because studios don't take risks), and that we could just move on, accepting that high fantasy in live action just invariably creates CG messes that annoy fans of the original works, taking away from the power and beauty of the original. It's a first world problem of a sort, yes, but it's just something I feel passionate about. Lord help anyone who ever tries to adapt SLA for live action - the actors will be bored to death standing in front of green screens all day. Anyone else catch this episode and have any thoughts or feelings on this discussion or others?

I agree with most of your observations; the Sleepless seem very very ancient in name and mannerism, so they probably date to early Shattering or before. The Iriali's Long Trail and Oneness stuff does feel like some big cool thing set in motion by a long forgotten god, and that whole "God is the universe experiencing itself" philosophy feels like it must relate to a more "true" god. Personally I feel like the less tenuous connection is to Virtuosity and Komashi. Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow are the three colours in the subtractive colour system, and that bright, glowing neon yellow is strangely missing from the scene on Komashi. Adonalsium has been Shattered for 10,000 years and in the span of less than a thousand years we know they have transited 4 of the 7 planets (Roshar, Scadrial, Lumar, and wherever they left Lumar for) on their journey which feels like quite a short journey. Not eliminating the possibility that they just had 5000 years of stuff to do on Roshar for whatever reason, but it kind of feels to me like a 2000 year journey not a 10,000 year one. That said, I agree that it makes sense that Investiture would hold the Sleepless together. I think that weird Dawnshard reaction would be rough for all cognitive entities, and like the Kandra, they probably need some pretty rigorous Invested Arts to keep them together because they kind of aren't alive.

I was assuming that his "blade" was just replacing Jezrien's Windrunner blade. I've gone back and listened to day 10 again and Szeth narrates as if/Ishar speaks as if there are 9 blades, discounting a Windrunner blade, as if that weapon were no more. I think its connection to the pact may have been severed.

Of course this is true, but it has been the case thusfar that nothing has mimicked the behaviour of godmetals all that closely. The godmetals work within the framework of all the extent magic in the Cosmere and so they could replicate other things. However, from a meta writing perspective, and based on how individualistic the Shards are, it's unlikely for a Shard to make their metal copy someone else's or do something that can be done by other magical means.

My current going theory is that the core of Braize is made of Raysium. We don't know yet what was attracting souls back to Braize, but that's my guess. Doesn't make the stuff easy to recover, but it's maybe not out of the question. There may be some way to split this new godmetal, of course, although Trellium does feel pretty specific to have a copycat out there. I don't necessarily think the violence of splitting Harmonium has anything to do with the competing powers though, I think it has to do with splitting axon bonds. I'm pretty sure it would still be quite dangerous. I think we will see the dividing of lights and perhaps some sort of means of dealing with the earthshattering kaboom. Anti-lifelight could turn Towerlight into Stormlight, I'm pretty sure. However, metals being solid objects and all, splitting those powers is probably nearly impossible without Trellium. Tanavastium and Raysium are theoretically useful, but not quite as game changing as Lerasium and Atium. Some people might pursue them, but not many.

From what we know about waterboarding, I think this method would still be more problematic as psychological damage than physical damage, which, as we've often seen, is one way to harm an invested being. As someone else said, the sand would be pushed out of the skin. It would be suffocating, yes, and lung-fulls of sand would be incredibly hard to heal from, for sure. If you're talking about Splinter levels of Investiture, it could potentially drown them slowly, but yeah someone like Wayne would go down pretty quickly to that.

Definitely nice to have characters who "just get on with it". Adolin doesn't have time to suffer, which is a very intense reality of war. So he just sacks up and makes it work.

I have read all of the Cosmere, plus SP1. I don't have plans to read more of his books for now as I am moving onto some Robin Hobb.

Ever?! Goodness... it probably is still Kaladin just because I've been on some of his journey and I cherish the perspective he brings to the story, despite it being tough at times. However, Wayne is a very close second for me, because his true superpower is his personality and ability to listen to the people and I think that's very cool. He's also a risky character to give a redemption arc to and I think it was executed beautifully. Tress fights for the top as well, she is so genuine and clever. No compounding twinborn... I gotta say A - Bendalloy and F - Steel. I would also take A - Nicrosil. I like powers that make things happen, that lead to action, so those are my takes. I also walk about 30% faster than anyone else ever wants to walk, and I walk a lot, so I think I could actually practically use Steel. Neutral, but a terrifying prospect for the future of Scadrial. Like almost anything dangerous and powerful, it will depend whose hands it's in, but it doesn't bode well. Least favourite is tough. It's very easy to hate Moash, and in that sense, it's Moash. In terms of who I'd actually despise in real life though, it's Mraize. I do not empathize with anything he has gone through and I think he's a lucky scumbag who has survived far too long. He's compelling as heck though! I love bagels. I would say I average 4 bagels a week. I love breads and spreads!

Nice. It's always cool to feel seen by a story. Sanderson does seem to have a decent knowledge of neurology and kinesiology - enough to write about Adolin in a way that makes sense and matches with what human bodies do.

I don't think Shallan sucked in this one at all, but pointing out the lead female role "sucks" is an annoyingly common reprisal that I suggest learning to tune out. More times than not, on the internet, that's not a critique coming from an empathetic or honest position. Female leads are a lightning rod for dingdongs to launch their opinions at. I doesn't matter how you write them. I thought Maya calling Adolin names and such made a lot of sense. Edgedancers historically had the largest vocabularies, so she'd have words for everything under the sun. I found Syl saying "for real" instead of "sincerely" or "in earnest" to be the most jarring linguistic choice. That and some of the therapy language was a little too textbooky. Sarqqin's introduction was definitely more to show what a "mensch" Adolin was and how easily he got to know those around him with little judgement. Sarqqin was definitely being seeded as an Era 2 character in Adolin's Power Ranger squad too, so I am super stoked for that. I would say, in general, just dismiss out of hand anyone who uses "woke" derogatorily. There is a much too popular subset of media who feed on this anger and who are not arguing from a sincere place because as soon as they see anything that isn't just a bunch of straight cis dudes, they just go off the handle. They're programmed by social media, and that same machine wants to feed on you too, which is why it's pushing all this ignorant nonsense your direction. You gotta reject the algorithm and get away from those bullies and bigots.

Thanks a bunch! The name just leapt off the page to me when I read about Arclomedarian in Edgedancer, as if it were written in the very pages.

Oh goodness, I hadn't even thought to put that somewhere, but Edgedancer, for sure. I think I'd be a happy Lightweaver, but Edgedancers are the order that has my heart and the quiz agrees!

I've been waiting in the wings to join up here for a while. I started my Cosmere journey about 14 months ago and by the time I caught up, the WaT preview chapters were out, so I just kind of avoided forum-diving till I finished Wind and Truth. What a wonderful journey it has been! I love discussion and off topic chatter too. I'm excited to have a place to nerd out here, since these books have basically become a part of my soul at this point; my mind is flooded with excitement for the future of The Cosmere!