Arondell

To be precise the quote was "Their power... well, Alakavish proves the allure that Surgebinders have for the common people." Yeah I know it is a might pedantic of me to say so but I feel the difference bewtween "Surgebinder" and "Windrunner" is important. Kind of like the difference between Szeth and Kaladin.

I'm reminded of Jasnah's comments about power being an illusion of perception. I have always had the impression that Jasnah carries and dresses herself in such a way so as to project authority. She certainly tends to dominate *most* situations she has appeared in.

Harmony is arguably the most powerful being in the cosmere at this time. On the other hand I get the feeling that Odium is kind of tied down to Roshar and needs to resolve that before he moves on to others. With the exception of Odium shard holders as a group seem to be kind of aloof from shards on worlds other then their own. It might be a side effect of the shardic intents making them rather monomaniacal.

I didn't think that the dying statements were prophetic in nature. To me they always seemed like statements made by entities saying something about current or past events.

Given that it appears that both Dalinar and Kaladin are likely to have interactions in the immediate future it is beholden for him to inform Dalinar that he has a prior relationship with Amaram. He doesn't even have to tell the truth. The "official" line would be good enough. It is after all the "official" public version of events. If nothing else I would expect Dalianar to ask *some* questions about his past. Stuff like "where did you train" or "why were you made a slave?" I feel that letting Dalinar walk totally blind into an explosive situation like that to be a bad idea. In addition Dalinar not being an idiot would probably notice the odd discrepancy between the crime Kaladin was accused of and the behavior Kaladin displayed in saving his army.

So you don't think that the head of Dalinar's body guards, the guy in charge of the safety of Dalinar and his family, should give any warning when an issue with dangerous legal, political, and military implications comes up? This isn't just a personal issue for Kalidin. Stealing a set of shards then murdering to cover it up isn't a trivial crime even for lighteyes. The potential for this to blow up in some really bad ways is pretty obvious. Saying some variant of well-you-didn't-ask probably wouldn't fly very well after the fact. As for issues of trust between Kaladin and Dalinar. Well Dalinar just gave up his shard blade for the bridgemen and placed the lives of his family into Kaladin's hands. If that isn't enough for Kaladin to trust Dalinar then I'm not sure what would be enough. Oh and Syl thinks Dalinar is a good man.

Heh...As Hoid says in the last chapter. What men value most in others is timeliness.

I have a vague recollection that Mr. Sanderson stated that people could stick around post-death if they wanted to and that Kelsier did so because he was something of a troublemaker.

That reminds me. In his new position Kaladin now has an ethical obligation to warn Dalinar about his prior service with Amaram before any difficult situations arise. Blindsiding your commanding officer about something like this is a great way to get said commanding officer royally pissed off.

The flashback where he mentions sending a message to his parents only occurred about eight months before the start of the story. Granted it doesn't mention precisely when he sent the message but bringing it up on the day he saved Amaram's life at least implies that as of that time he still didn't intend to ever return. Now in the fullness of time he may eventually come to regret that and try to discover what became of his parents but not yet at least. Especially since his new responsibilities will be taking his attention for the foreseeable future.

I feel Kaladin deciding not to return home to face his parents was his only real moral failing in the story. Even if he choose not to take up surgeons training he could almost certainly re-enlist. Granted given the time frame he would never have gotten the chance even if he had chosen to take the news of Tien's death personally instead of by letter. That being said I also feel the Lirin carries a great deal of responsibility in Tien's fate as well as Kaladin's. Not *fault* but responsibility. In standing up to Roshone as he did he effectively put the town's welfare over that of his family. He brought hostages to fortune into danger with him. As the surgeon who has a responsibility to the town he was doing the right thing. As a father with a responsibility to his family he failed.

I agree that it isn't likely that Kaladin is going to have any kind of romantic relationship with Laral in the future. That being said I don't have such a harsh view of her. I got the distinct impression that Laral didn't have a lot of control in her life and there was a lot going on off stage with her that we didn't see. In any case I have a very hard time believing that Laral actually wanted to marry Roshone. Edit : It suddenly occurred to me that one reason she may have been so frantic when Rillr was killed was that she might have suspected that Roshone would still want a marriage. The man is a living happiness sink.

Some time back Mr. Sanderson was apparently asked why Kelsier acted as a place holder for Vin with Preservation. Apparently he gave a vague response that something "bad" would have happened had he not done so. So we can now say with confidence that whatever the bad thing was it wasn't splintering from inattention. Though that still leaves me wondering what the bad thing that Kelsier prevented from happening was.

It is my understanding that a shard shatters after it's holder is killed. To be more precise when a holder is killed the shard is dropped. It is in my opinion unclear if further effort is required to shatter a shard or if the shard will eventually shatter on its own if it is not taken up within a certain time period. The shattering itself is fairly self explanatory. The power falls apart into small pieces that manifest in various ways. These "splinters" usually manifest some aspect of the shards original intent.

Actually police use the same methods to catch criminals all the time. I believe the slang term is a "sting". Set up the circumstances that seem tempting to a potential criminal and then arrest them. I also feel Jasnah's moral ground isn't based on the attackers being muggers. It's that they were obviously intending to assault, rob, and based on prior history, murder Jasnah and Shallan. Obviously Jasnah is in some ways not a nice person. Its implied that she has suffered some injustice in the past and it has likely affected how she views these things. She hasn't done anything I could honestly call evil but she can be quite ruthless. Which I think is the real objection here. Her methods didn't endanger anyone except the Bad Guys but they were unseemly.

I got the Enemy Within expansion a week ago and I like it a lot. A new secondary enemy and mission type to deal with them and several specific scenario missions. Also a new set of abilities and trade off choices can be made to expand your troops capabilities. You can now add genetic modification to your soldiers capabilities *or* make them into cybernetic combat machines. Personally I'm favoring the genetic modification so far because while the cybernetics are good combat platforms they loose a lot of flexibility. e.g. The genetically modified soldiers can still be tested for psionic capabilities while the cybernetic ones can't.

Don't sugar coat it Inkthinker. Tell us how you *really* feel. In any case you obviously have an opinion that is set in stone on this issue.

That is a point that has been debated among fans actually. There is a large group of fans of Japanese animation that point out that when they speak of anime they are specifically talking about animation from Japan. I tend to side with that group my self most of the time since well...face it if some one says they are an anime fan you don't think about Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Bugs Bunny and old Tex Avery shows. You tend to think about stuff more like Pokemon, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop, and My Neighbor Totoro.

Given how closely behavior is associated with spren and by extension magical abilities I don't find it all that much of a stretch. With a father/uncle like Dalinar as an example of honorable behavior it kind of skews the probabilities.

I think to do the story justice it would really be best as a television series either animated or live action. That being said given the differenece in format there would have to be some changes but if the director/screen writers truly want to stay true to the story such changes can be fairly smooth. If the makers are fans of the work then it could turn out great. On the other hand even if the director and writers are competent if they aren't fans they will inevitably make changes to the story that they think makes it better.

I would like to suggest Roshone as a possible. I found the scene with Roshone at his dinner table to be particularly suggestive. "Roshone fell still, skewer held limply in his hand, brillant green eyes narrowed, lips pursed tight. In the dark, those eyes almost seemed to glow. Kal had to stop himself from cringing under the weight of the disapproving gaze." We have had enough examples of glowing being associated with power or at least extra ability that this scene made me rather suspicious. Add in that Roshone is arguably the single most relentlessly bitter and hateful character introduced so far that I think it possible that he might have a bit of investiture from Odium.

From a certain point of view that sounds too much like what happened with Kaladin. Until the end of Way of Kings at least.

I can't disagree. Most of the shards though seem like they can have multiple aspects. Harmony is not simply about balance but I still feel that balance is a part of its makeup.

Not really. Like the shards themselves the two intents have been combined into something new. From what was revealed in Alloy of Law the new intent is about balance. Which is I guess another way of saying Harmony. Something neither Ruin or Preservation had any particular interest in. I guess I feel that saying Harmony is two shards is like saying Adonalsium is sixteen shards or that a shard is a bunch of splinters. True in a way but they are still their own thing.

As far as I can tell Harmony has its own intent independent of Ruin and Preservation. From what we have seen it appears to function as a single shard including what happens if the bearer dies. In almost any way that matters it no longer appears to be two shards. The only apparent exception being the level of power involved.