Arondell

Has there been any Words of Brandon on what the precise effect would be on the spren if hemalurgy were used on a surgebinder? Killed? Captured and effectively slaved?

This is an imprecise statement. Only one person can bond a spren blade. At least until the Radiants death. It can certainly be loaned out for brief periods of time. Such as when Shallan loaned out Pattern to Kaladin in the Chasms.

Two Steps from Hell specializes in dramatic "cinematic" music. Since there are so many dramatic scenes in Mr. Sanderson's books it is kind of a natural fit. You can actually find a lot Two Steps From Hell music in film trailers when a lot of action is portrayed. The song "Freedom Fighters" was used in the first Abrams Star Trek trailer. I think "Black Blade" was used in one of the Mass Effect 3 trailers. Its what they do.

I vaguely recall a comment by Mr. Sanderson that of all the shards Cultivation was the one that could best get along with Ruin.

Part of my objection is that in the past Mr. Sanderson has said that he likes his magic systems to work with normal physical laws. They overlay normal physical laws not replace them and you can see that in most of the stuff he has written in the Cosmere. It is easy to point out times where he fudged that a bit but on the whole he has done a good job following that guideline. Allowing viable offspring from direct interbreeding between two different species without magical intervention pretty much discards that particular guideline. There is precedence in the Cosmere for genetic modification and/or complete re-engineering of life so I'm not objecting to the concept that Horneaters have some parshendi DNA. It is how it got there that I'm picky about.

Because biologically it wouldn't work. Significant gross differences in the color of the blood is evidence enough that there are major differences in biochemistry between humans and parshendi. It would take major tinkering on the genetic level to permit some kind of hybrid to show up. Fortunately Roshare has the shard of Cultivation in residence which provides a ready to hand god like entity that would likely take an interest and have the ability to implement genetic tinkering.

For the time being I'm going with the idea of genetic engineering. Specific parshendi gene sequences spliced into the human genome, probably by cultivation, to better adapt humans to Roshare. There is precedence for that kind of tinkering in the Cosmere and in my opinion falls under the general intent of cultivation to have done so. Direct interbreeding pretty much makes my suspension of disbelief get up, pack its suitcase, and walk out the door.

Well if Dalinar's book will cover most of Navani's background as well it is all good. I don't see much need for a Navani book just for the sake of having one. It is the information that is really important. If Mr. Sanderson feels that there is anything particularly important about Navani that isn't in Dalinar's book I'm sure he can slip it into the story in other ways. Jasnah and/or Renarin's books as well as Navani point of views.

As it has panned out the Kholin family already have three members getting flashback books. Dalinar and Jasnah in particular are probably going to overlap with Navani quite a bit. Renarin too but I would guess not to the same degree. This is probably a big reason why Navani got bumped out of getting a book.

Total agreement on this. Seems pretty obvious the parshendi are the result of an entirely different ecosystem. No way they could possibly interbreed with humans without very sophisticated external intervention. You would have a better chance of a human and an oyster interbreeding.

I don't know if there has been a Word of Brandon on this but are all the characters who are getting a book and the characters who potentially could have gotten their own book considered potential Knight Radiants?

I'm pretty sure it has been mentioned, at least in passing, at some point.

In the scene where the Alethi army charges the void bringers I happened to be listening to by Two Steps from Hell as the song hit the creshendo just before the three minute mark in the song. It kind of caused a permanent association between that scene and the song in my head.

According to Dalinar's recreance vision the Windwalkers and Stonewards alone equaled somewhere around two hundred so I would guess somewhere around a thousand Radiants under normal circumstances. Possibly more when a desolation was imminent since according to Jasnah they would get an influx of new members at such times. We also know that Urithiru was often used as a sort of Junction city. I believe one of the WoK epigraphs specifically mentions the Radiants charging a fee for using it for that purpose.(I'm guessing in gems for the stormlight.) Based on this I believe that most of the time under most circumstances all ten portals were operational. Jasnah also states the Urithiru was abandoned even before the Recreance. So I have to conclude they simply transported everyone out at the time of abandonment via the Oathgates in a reasonably orderly fashion. As things stand I find it likely that prior to the abandonment of Urithiru given the general numbers there was always at least some Radiants in residence. It was their base of operations after all. I can't imagine them wanting any kind of "secret" back door under those circumstances. They wanted a darn near impregnable fortress. Secret back doors are not conducive to that. That being said right now only one portal works. The reformed Radiants are still weak. Only four known to exist and only two with usable shardblades. The city wasn't designed for these circumstances though.

Urithiru has ten portals to widely placed locations around Roshar. So the only way that normal people would be truly trapped is if all ten portals were blocked by an enemy on the other side or if there were no Radiants in Urithiru. In the case of the former then Urithiru would be effectively under a state of siege in which case the primary goal would be breaking the siege and not leaving as such. Even then it might be possible for Radiants to get small groups of non-Radiants out in various ways. In the later case...well...why would their be non-radiants but no Radiants? Urithiru was a fortress city made by Radiants for Radiants. Having a normal back door wouldn't be all that useful except as a plot point to let in the bad guys. I would hope the Radiant's weren't so foolish as to install a built in weakness like that. I'm reminded of the Girl Genius comic when the title character is talking to the sentient castle of her ancestors and asks if their are any secret words or such to sneak past the defenses of the castle. The castles response is "Dear me, no! Such things are merely weaknesses to be exploited by enemies! I was constructed better then that."

It was brought up a while back. No hard and fast conclusions were come to though at least a couple possibilities were brought up. One was that were not sure exactly how long Dalinar was on top of that tower so it is possible that either Shallan or Kaladin had time to activate the Oathgate then get to the top using either the elevator or by flying up. Another possibility was maybe the honor blades can function in that capacity. I don't know if anyone ever asked Mr. Sanderson about it. I personally find it unlikely that either Kaladin or Shallan could loan their blades out since to activate the gate you have to be on the other side and that would put their spren hundreds of miles away. It has been strongly suggested that a Radiant's spren can't be that far from their bonded person because it might damage or weaken the bond. The scene where Syl searched out a leaf of blackbane is a case in point.

One of the subjects I'm looking forward too in book three is more insight into the Shin culture. Specifically the consequences to the Shin leadership for declaring someone a truthless in error. Ok yeah Szeth showing up with Nightblood is going to be one of them but I'm curious more on a societal level. Since all the death and destruction that Szeth caused can ultimately be placed at their feet.

Erased? No. The actions he took when younger can never be erased. Nor should it be. GIven those are exactly the questions Dalinar is already asking himself I would say he is at least pointed in generally the right direction. Certainly swearing the first two oaths could be viewed as a positive step. I wonder if its a ten step program...

Actually during the scene when Dalinar is helping to carve out the latrine he does express regret over the actions of his younger self. He doesn't explicitly say "I regret" or "I'm sorry I did this." but the tone and phrasing imply, to me at least, a deep regret over his younger selfs actions. Also in words of Radiance there is the following quote. So yeah...I think Dalinar regrets the actions of his younger self. His whole character arc has been about trying to find a better way of doing things. Given the state Alethi society has fallen too that is an uphill fight both with himself and all the other highprinces.

I thought there was a Word of Brandon that killing as many chasmfiends as the Alethi had will have some kind of consequence. Possibly ecological. This speculation makes me wonder if... Mistborn spoiler :

Wow. Given how Card practically raves about how good the Stormlight Archive is along with all of Sanderson's other works I would hate to see how people would react to a lukewarm review. With a concluding comment like that and several other glowing comments throughout the review I think people are being a little oversensitive about this.

Assuming you've read the first two books I don't think reading the first chapter of the next book counts as a spoiler. At least not in the sense of it spoiling the story for you. It is just a looong wait between chapters.

According to the reading Kaladin had a large number of gemstones on him when waited out the everstorm in a small alcove in the rock he carved with his blade. This makes me think that if they can infuse any light from the everstorm then it can't be done without some kind of extra aid.

I suspect before the recreance these kind of situations were handled far better. At least with older knights around to mentor the new recruits they could give them a better idea of the pitfalls and exactly what it is they are agreeing too when they speak the oaths. From the spren point of view I find it interesting that Pattern expects to eventually die from broken oaths. To him it seems inevitable but worth the cost.

Does simply renouncing the oaths necessarily kill your spren? I had the impression up until the bridge collapse that the bond was simply dissolving. I thought it wasn't Kaladin renouncing his oaths but Syl forcing stormlight through the almost broken bond that caused her to nearly die. The brief fight between Kaladin and Adolin on the training grounds shows that Kaladin can't force Syl to give the stormlight when she thinks he shouldn't have any.