Gloom

How would Szeths blade be at a disadvantage against a thunderclast? Yes, it has a slightly shorter blade, coming in closer to say four feet in length instead of six. This still leaves at least three and a half feet of ultra light, ultra sharp, impervious blade to kill with. It means the swordsman will need to get closer, possibly be better, and likely fight with a different style, but it by no means makes the blade Szeth carries ineffective. A thunderclast is a spindly 30 foot tall monster made out of stone. It's not a hulking twenty foot wide boulder of a monster as thick as it is tall. Any blade capable of slicing through those limbs is effective. That means Shardblade that is at least three feet long is more than enough to get the job done. The Romans conquered our world with 28 inches of steel. Szeth has assassinated some of the best protected people in the world with that sword. In the hands of a warrior that had over a thousand years of combat experience using it, I'm fairly certain that should the sword be Jezriens, he had Knights Radiant wondering why they used such large swords when his smaller blade was so much more effective. I'll close this argument with this. Thunderclasts are not the only type of voidish creature. They are a singular type. Other Viodbringers may be small and fast, dangerously quick for someone with a weapon as large as a Shardblade. Edit: Spelling

I'll buy me a Hardcover on release day, and see if I can hold out on the e-book until I can find it on sale. I'll probably end up buying the e-book at full price though because it's so much easier to find quotes in and do research with.

I'll agree that an eleven year old is capable of a lot. I Will agree that in most cases a secretary would make the delivery of two separate packages clear to her boss. I will say that the very same secretary is not likely to tell me how many times she was shot, but rather that she would just keep repeating that someone shot her. Were not just talking about an eleven year old, were talking about an eleven year old in trauma.

I would agree with this mostly. The 40 Parables are the key to reaching a higher level of synchronization with each of the different types of spren. If a KR initiate aspires to live up to the appropriate parables, they should find it easier to reach a point where they know the words to speak. I only say mostly because not all Orders are concerned with Honor. This could also lead one to wonder if the words are always the same, or if they vary slightly from person to person within an Order. I imagine that they can and do vary since Kaladin spoke those words in modern Alethi, and the Knights Radiant spoke them in a long lost language. I don't believe that Kaladin spoke Dawn Chant when he said the words. If it can vary by language, it can vary in phrasing as long as it means the same thing to the person saying it.

Upvote for the Just/confident tone of the post

Shallan is good at lying to herself, very good. She is good enough at it that she managed to attract a Cryptic. There are three ways one can come into possession of a Shardblade. You can inherit the weapon. You can kill the owner. You can win the weapon. We have no reason to believe that Shallan inherited her Shardblade. We have every reason to doubt she won it. We have good reason to believe that, at the very least, she was the first person to pick it up after its previous owner was killed. I would say that there is at least circumstantial evidence to support that Shallan not only claimed the blade from the previous owner, but killed the owner herself, and has used the blade at least once in violence. If she never used the blade she would not fear it like she does. This is a POV written from the memory of an eleven year old. I get that the author who wrote that POV wasn't eleven, but to an eleven year old, a monster is a monster. All monsters are monsters. I think too much is being read into this.

I'm skeptical that Highlord Amaram would be personally involved in the branding of slaves. I believe that Kaladin would be an outlier here. The branding of slaves is more than likely a function of the magistrate. This being the case, no one would have reason to suspect that Kaladin would have been personally branded by the Highlord. I am not disputing the Highlords authority to personally brand someone, I'm simply suggesting that most of the time this authority would be delegated down to the magistrate. Even in the case where a slave is personally branded by a Highlord, which may occur on occasion to deserters and thieves within a military camp, it would be assumed that the person found guilty and branded for said crime was guilty, and had no one but themselves to blame for their branding. In this case it wouldn't be expected that the slave would hold animosity for the person who branded them so much as perhaps those that caught him. It would, in my opinion, likely be considered rude to ask someone who just saved your life, your sons life, and the lives of 2500 of your soldiers what kind of criminal he is, so I'm not surprised that Dalinar hadn't broached the topic as yet.

I agree that this is a good question, and while expensive, should be something of a no-brainer to people who walk past soulcast buildings daily. The only detractors that I can see is that permanent bridges create bottlenecks that are easily defended, and soulcasting bridges would, as I said earlier, be expensive.

I think that Kaladin, whom I believe will be the first full Knight Radiant in this series, will speak the third ideal early to mid book, and the forth ideal at the end of the second book. This would give him the third book to rebuild the order, the forth book to just about lose everything, and the fifth book to triumph over evil.

Eh, well, since I get a password or username error every-time I try to sign up, it isn't doing a very effective job at getting me on their list.

I'm leaning towards the idea of the first ideal being a unifying ideal of the Knights Radiant rather than something that strengthens the Nahel bond. A set of principles that all spren were able to agree upon. On the other hand, if it is a set of principles that all spren were able to agree upon, adopting those principles could effectively bring a person closer in line with what is required to attain the later ideals and thus result in a stronger Nahel bond. Regardless, I don't think that it is a requirement to speak the First Ideal, so much as it is a requirement that you accept and adopt the tenets of the First Ideal in your life. I think it's a starting point from which one begins the journey to Knight Radiant, not a stepping stone to greater power. @Dreamer I think that before the KR Orders were established, most surgebinders existed at a lower level of power. I don't doubt that some stumbled upon those principles that strengthened the bond, but since they weren't codified, they may have varied slightly from person to person, spren to spren. This would have made it very difficult for knowledge to be passed on in any meaningful way. This is why what Nohadon did, however he did it, was so revolutionary as far as I can tell. I don't think telling another surgebinder the words would help. I'm sure this was tried at some point. This is a good reason why Nohadon would use the forty parables rather than just list out the ideals.

I think it's pretty clear that the Parshedi have children. I find it difficult to believe that Parshmen don't. Slave form is a lack of form. It isn't work form, yet Parshmen work. It isn't nimbleform, yet parshmen are left to care for human children. This means that while slaveform is limited, it is capable of being coaxed into doing things aren't intrinsic to its nature. Procreation is a strong motivation in any successful species. If you can convince the Parshmen to work, then it shouldn't be beyond reason that they can be convinced to mate as well.

Even if it was possible, the first thing that would be sucked through would likely be ambient radiation and atmosphere. This would kill the surgebinder long before a stable anomaly could be established. He would either be blown into the anomaly or freeze to death. A pinpoint sized black hole opened in someones brain for a fraction of a second would be pretty effective though if that level of control was possible.

Kaladin is a Windrunner. He won't choose vengeance. Kaladin isn't really all that hard to figure out. He holds life sacred, and while I don't see him getting all cozy with Amaram, I don't believe that he will put on his red bandana and go all Rambo Kaladin on him. Instead he will more likely glare at the man and act civil and do what he sees as his duty to Dalinar. He will almost certainly warn Dalinar that the man is a snake and that he isn't to be trusted, their may be tension, and this may lead to problems between Kaladin and Dalinar, but Kaladin will do what he sees as the right thing for his men and his people, which is to remain in Dalinars employ and help him achieve his goals. I'm on the fence about whether Kaladin will share his secret with Dalinar willingly, or be forced to show his abilities in order to save Dalinar from Szeth.

The monster doesn't have to be the source of the glow. It's a strong box. This is where you would keep your infused gems if I'm not mistaken. I don't know what the monster is, but I don't think Shallans father was all that frightened of it. That being the case, if he found it to be an object of value, then it would not be surprising if he put it in his strong box along with his other wealth. As far as a Shardblade goes however, the only reason I can think of to place such a valuable object in a strongbox instead of safely in the ether is that the person who is bonded to it is unwilling or incapable of sending it back. The only other reason I can conceive of is that you are unwilling to chance being assassinated with the Shardblade in the ether because this would cause the Shardblade to materialize next to you, where as if the blade is in a strongbox it is unlikely that it would disappear, then reappear next to your body.

I think the answer is more dependent upon on Amarams reaction to Kaladin more than Kaladins reaction to Amaram. If Amaram devotes himself to destroying Kaladin than Kaladin will probably end up gutting Amaram like a fish. On the other hand, if Amaram openly plays dumb, or is even conciliatory towards Kaladin, Kaladin won't be able to bring himself to taking action against Amaram. This could be a great opportunity to get more out of Moash as well. If Moash gets wind of the situation, how Kaladin reacts to it could easily affect their relationship for better or worse.

Thanks Doc, that's along the lines of what I was alluding to. The Vorins may believe that Elithanathile is a secret name for the Almighty now, but they may have once known that is was Cultivations name in the past. If they have forgotten about Cultivation, and have attributed her power to a completely separate and pagan power such as the Nightwatcher, they may not have any reason or means in which to correctly apply the name they have. This could result in them thinking that the name is some special secret name for the Almighty. I find this unlikely since we actually know that the self proclaimed Almighty is named Tanavast.

Tor has its own time wardens. They are very hard core. The only way to bring back paper copies is to scan them or rewrite them because Tor uses a chrono-reactive ink in all of Brandons publications. As soon as these publications are brought backwards in time, they are detectable, and agents are dispatched to retrieve them and mind wipe anyone who had contact with them. Digital versions are also problematic. The file formats of most future books are incompatible with existing technology, and they have contracts with existing hardware suppliers to inform them if any of their unreleased works show up on existing hardware. Any and all leaks are vigorously sought out by previously mentioned time wardens who have 20-20 hindsight. For your own safety, I would advise against trying to obtain copies of as yet unpublished works through time manipulation. It is too much work to transcribe them safely, and everything else can potentially result in a very unpleasant experience.

This is probably one of my favorite quotes by Brandon. My interpretation reads "This is the mythos so far, but the mythos I've given you is incomplete or wrong, so don't expect me to stick to it."

Kaladins Honorspren makes him a Windrunner. I think that pretty much establishes that Sylphrena and any other Honorspren that can create a Windrunner is closely related to Windspren. It looks like what you're really asking is are Windrunner spren the only Honorspren, and I believe that the answer is no. I'm pretty sure that several orders of the Knights Radiant have Honorspren. If this wasn't the case, then their wouldn't be a debate about which spren are considered Honorspren. If Windrunner spren were the only Honorspren, then their would be nothing to debate.

Perhaps this is Cultivations name.

Poorly. Ninety percent of the population was killed, and this was with the help of the Herlads. We don't even know when surgebinders appeared, but we know that while they may have made a difference, they certainly didn't provide an overwhelming advantage. After the Knight Radiants were founded though, Jezrien felt that they would be enough should another desolation occur. A new desolation without Knights Radiant or Heralds would likely mean annihilation. The quote you listed was from the prequel IIRC, and while Kalak said surgebinders, we know that Knights Radiant existed at that time. They were almost certainly included in that statement, but in the event that not all Surgebinders were Knights Radiant, using the word surgebinders lumps them all together into one group. The question then is were there free ranging surgebinders unaffiliated with the Knights Radiant, or were the standards of the Knights Radiant such that unless you have attained your Shards you were not considered to be a Knight Radiant regardless of your bond?

I'm certain that gems can be mined, I don't have any evidence except that they are a natural part of the formation of a planet. That being said, Roshar has little to no tectonic activity, so gem mines may be quite rare.

I hate to be a critic, but.... Your Axehound reminds me of a German Cockroach. The segmentation on the Axehound is very different from what I would expect to see on a crustacean and closer to what I would expect to see on an insect. It looks cool, but just looking at it without knowing what type of creature it was supposed to be, I'd place it somewhere between an insect and an arachnid.