CabbageHead

Interesting.... If Adonalsium indeed had an "opposite", does that include opposites of its own intrinsic undesirable qualities (Odium etc.)? If the plot failed, was the shattering a deliberate long term power play?

I'd actually lean more towards believing it was Ashyn rather than Braize. Maybe its the name "Silence Divine" making me think of somewhere tranquil. What little we know is that it is barren and sparsely populated, so the few people left could be those who didn't flee with Tanavast. I also find the little I've heard of the magic system there, to be not the same, but somewhat similar to what we know of the Nightwatcher's "Old Magic".

Hi all, I skipped the last few pages of this thread because the arguments were getting repetitive, so apologies if I'm saying something that already been said. This whole thread seems to center around our perceptions of cowardice, honour, and justice. I think that is a very big mistake to make when thinking about the Shin, because they very obviously have a vastly different worldview than either us, or the other major viewpoint characters we have met. I could sit down, pull out the books and try to get as many examples as I can from what little we know of the Shin, but I'm not going to bother. One simple thing shows how alien these people are. They found what they believed to be the most evil possible person amongst them, made him a slave, and exiled him with an Honour blade. That's a bit like the US justice system finding the most heinous serial killer, giving him a carrier fleet, amphibious unit, tank squadron and a few army divisions, and then chucking a little rock into the midst of their enemies and telling him he needs to obey whoever holds the rock. There is something very strange about the Shin, and the Shamanate, and trying to understand Szeth is pointless without more information.

Was doing a little thinking about this, and I think Brandon has a wonderful little play on the privileges and duties of command going on here. Kaladin, as a windrunner, gets the most squires, so outsiders might see him as having the most power. However, Kaladin, the ex slave, is now free, but with each oath is sinking deeper and deeper into a self-chosen slavery; the duty to protect others. This is reinforced a few times through the book; Kaladin's freedom tattoo will not take, and when he arrives in Urithiru the thing that strikes Shallan most about him is not that his eyes have changed, but that he still bears his slave brands.

...boomstick! The twelve-gauge double-barreled Remington. Shades-Mart's top of the line. You can find this in the sporting goods department. That's right, this sweet baby was made in Kondeon, Arelon. Retails for about a hundred and nine, ninety five. It's got a walnut stock, cobalt blue steel, and a hair trigger. That's right. Shop smart. Shop Shades-Mart. You got that?

I can think of one inherent problem in trying to achieve such a feat: forging relies on having some knowledge of what you are forging the subject to be. Forging seems an unlikely art to be used in an exploratory manner.

Hahaha! Yes, I'm going to pretend that that was deliberate and I don't suck at drawing a few simple lines

This is really a stretch, but what if "Broken One" is used in the sense that it has been "broken by its master"? If the Shard Odium really does despise itself, perhaps its Intent is not powerful enough to affect its bearer the way the other Shards do theirs, and the Shardbearer is in control. This could be very dangerous with someone like how Hoid descibes Rayse.

I didn't say 16 can be divided by 3 into whole integers, I was saying that you can have a symmetrical distribution of sixteen parts in a closed system of three non-orthogonal axes in 2 dimensions. See http://www.anony.ws/kujKfor a very rough drawing illustrating this.

Actually, dividing into 3 works quite nicely. If you think about it like saying you have 3 attribute points, and can spend them any way you want in 3 categories, you have 10 options. 3 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 3 2 1 0 2 0 1 1 2 0 0 2 1 1 0 2 0 1 2 1 1 1 Or, if you instead draw an equilateral triangle, and divide it equally, you can have 16 equal parts with an equal distribution around the 3 vertices.

I wonder though... Odium sounds like the kind of sado-masochist who cuts himself as well as attacking others. As long as the blades are used for killing things, they're probably in line with his intent. Edit; OH!! on this bit: "That still doesn't explain how Dominion was defeated, though. Perhaps he was simply weaker than Odium." The followers of Dominion in Elantris seem hellbent on destroying Elantris. Not dominating, but destroying. If you destroy your enemies, you cannot dominate them.

The Cultivation related quote from the past was in present tense: The figure squinted at the horizon. “I cannot see the future completely. Cultivation, she is better at it than I. It’s as if the future is a shattering window. The further you look, the more pieces that window breaks into. The near future can be anticipated, but the distant future… I can only guess.” On the whole Shin thing, I agree that it is likely a stronghold of Cultivation. Especially when you consider that, from the little we know, it appears that farmers, the cultivators, are the most hightly esteemed members of the society. But I think that this has been the status quo for a great amount of time; there is some evidence the highstorms have existed throughout Roshar's history, back into the days of legend and myth, a long time before Honour was killed. If that is the case, plant life then would have been adapted to the environment then as now. Finally, on the quote "Three of sixteen ruled, now the Broken One reigns!", I would find it quite easy to imagine that that could apply in circumstances where 1 of the 3 ruling parties is removed. There are many, many brilliant and wonderful people in this world who will retreat into their shells when they feel threatened, and will only come out when they are protected by their friends. Those friends might be in awe of them, but not be in the least bit intimidated by what their friends fear. When their support is gone, those people will hide away, and the third party they felt intimidated by will reign.

That is possibly the most awesome idea I've read here. It would also help explain Hoid's unnatural longevity, if he is able to keep doing this. +1

I guess you could tie in the different emission spectra of allomantic alloys to the different effects that are produced by them as well.

Got it and all read, cost me about €15 (about $19). Still better than any e-book crap.

Not desperate, and I only buy things.

Completely irrelevant to your post, but this made me sad I like a lot of things about Szeth. He has an over-zealous and unquestioning devotion to duty, but definitely has moral qualms about his actions that those who order him do not. I have hopes for him still.

There's only 1 reference to Dysian Aimians, but there are other references to Aimians. Specifically, in the interlude with Axies the Collector, who is himself Aimian. They are there described as being able to rearrange some aspects of their physical nature, such as creating tattoos on their bodies at will.

I would agree with that, but also I would suggest that Kaladin's starting point was further along the path than Dalinar's. Dalinar comes from a priviledged but completely amoral background. Acting with not just a "Code" of honour, but a morally responsible code of ethics, is something that was drilled into Kaladin from an early age. This is even something that Dalinar himself comes to realise about the Alethi people as a whole, and that he expresses in his "lesson" to the King at the end of the book. Edit: capitalised Code. In Dalinar's case, it is a rulebook to be followed without many questions, until you begin to understand. In Kaladin's case, it is his nature because it has been explained to him throughout his upbringing.

Maybe Syl's aversion to the Blades has nothing to do directly with Odium. Perhaps the Blades are somewhat akin to Nightblood, feeding from their bearers. If the bearers are no longer Radiants, and not feeding the blades Stormlight, what exactly are the blades now consuming...?

Grrr.... still waiting for my copy to arrive. Not yet published in Ireland or UK, some kind of publishing rights kerfuffle. Waiting on a copy to be shipped in from the US.

Bwahahahahahaha. Good one Crem is coming from the ground. It is abraded and scoured from the surface rock in every Highstorm. Wind and water erosion combined on a massive scale in regular short bursts.

Ruin is very general though, destruction or decay that is not specific to particular items, while Cultivation is quite specific; the flourishing of plant life on a landscape. The opposite of Cultivation would be.... Desolation.

I'm wondering if the answer is in another of your threads, Clues in signed things. The reference to the PBA as an "old reptile" at first made me think of someone who was cold-blooded, or if I was in a more fanciful mood, a dragon. But a Shard who "just wants to hide and survive" makes me think of a chameleon, and would certainly be rather non-interventionist.

I like this line of reasoning, and it ties in with my belief that the KR did not use gems to power their Plate: if they did, the armour should not have lost it's glow in the Recreance scene in Feverstone Keep. They can apparently remove and instantly regrow parts of their armour at will, as in the scene with the midnight essence. This takes days with a continual supply of gems for modern Plate wearers. And with the Windrunner in that same scene, the glyphs on his armour start to glow more brightly when he jumps off into the night sky, using huge amounts of stormlight. It makes more sense to me that the KR themselves are channelling power from somewhere else into their equipment, and that no gem large enough to hold that power would fit into a suit.