nightwatcher

So basically, all the points so far are: 1) If crem is just random sediment broken down and carried by the storm, what could potentially explain its physical characteristics and nutritional properties? 2) Given the intensity of highstorms, what properties of crem allow for Rosharian "Reverse Erosion," so too speak, to occur? 3) Where are these eastern sedimentary deposits, large enough to cover the entire continent with just their outer layers, located? Assuming they exist, and there is not some alternate psuedo-realistic construction of Brandon's mind in their place. 4) How do these sedimentary deposits replenish themselves, fighting the consistent erosion of highstorms? Did I miss any?

With the Stormlight Archive, we often make the mistake of thinking the Highstorms are the most influential aspect of Rosharian life. Widows all face Leward, massive windbreaks created on the Stormward side of any community. The life has evolved to resist the powerful winds of the endless, scouring storms, the very ecosystems built around surviving the desolate land. And yet, while we give our attention to the temporary devastation of Highstorms, many of us ignore their more permanent affects. The most significant of these is so commonplace among the Rosharans, it's easy to forget how remarkable it is. Crem. It's everywhere. The world literally drowns in it. The entirety of Roshar is covered in thin layers of the stuff by the highstorms, which eventually builds into thick layers of strata. It covers the world like clay, hardening as it dries into solid stone. It covers corpses left in the sun, turning them into clay statues melting into the rock. But what is it, and where does it come from? It seems to have similar properties to clay. However, It appears to be harder when it dries, and it's runny enough to splash in directly after a storm. It could, of course, be the same chemical composition, but I doubt it. And where does it come from? It falls with the highstorms, but not the weeping. This means it doesn't form in the sky, and fall to earth in the rains. It could be created by the highstorms themselves, but then it would cover ALL of Roshar, rather than leaving Shinovar untouched. It seems to pick it up overseas, then dump it on Roshar, running out as it moves. So where does it come from? The Ocean? But where would it get the sediment from straight water? Maybe another continent, across the waves? Can anybody tell me? its driving me nuts.

I'm more curious to know what would happen if Hoid had kids. With Jasnah. By Telenel'elat... That's a terrifying thought. They'd be zebra-headed monstrosities wrapped in the skins of men.

There is some commonality between the two, as far as I can tell, but also distinct differences. Could it be, perhaps, that men served honor, parshendi odium, and greatshells served cultivation? Perhaps in the last battles, the greatshells helped the humans in an uneasy alliance. However, as cultivation no longer gives a crap about humanity, they've now abandoned us to the voidbringers. At the very least, I've found a snippet that seems to confirm, or at least heavily imply, that the greatshell's characteristics are at least partially dependent on its spren. This quote is an obvious reference to the spren inhabiting the Reshi isles. Notice how it implies that the size of the Reshi Isles is dependant upon its spren, rather than the power of the spren being determined by the greatshell. There is a possibility that Axies, being mildly obsessed with spren, is simply inclined to think of the spren as more important than the island, but I doubt it. The wording seems to imply that he, at the very least, believes greatshells to rely on spren to determine physical characteristics. But that makes me wonder. The spren inside the Reshi isles is powerful- Powerful enough to move a human body, when Syl had trouble with leaves. And yet, its seems... docile. Benevolent. What could happen if spren of similar power, but more aggressive nature, were to inhabit greatshells?

What if greatshells, like the parshendi themselves, change form in association with different kinds of spren? They have gemhearts, after all, which could be used to store the symbiote. Then, when necessary, they simply... change. Altering forms under odium's direct supervision, becoming bigger, stronger, or smarter, in accordance with the spren in their soul. Taking on supernatural abilities, like the parshendi do in stormform. What if the creatures we see now are in the greatshell equivalent of dullform? Desolations seems fairly appropriate, when you put it like that.

The Honorblade itself doesn't cause inefficiency- it's just because the human body is too porous a container, according to Szeth. The nihil bond, therefore, counteracts this inefficiency, rather than the honorblades creating it. which means that an honorblade in the hands of a KR would do one of three things- Give additional surges, strengthen existing surges, or nothing at all.

You have a valid point, but still. The knights radiant could hold stormlight better that weilders of the honorblades, and have abilities that are implied to be directly connected to the nihil bond. Things like superhuman reflexes and battlefield awareness, in Kaladin's case, or a perfect memory for Shallan. Taken together with the honorblades, those abilities would massively compound. For instance, even underdeveloped and inexperienced with his abilities, Kaladin defeats Szeth, who's had an honorblade for years and training specific to it's use. Imagine that kind of raw power, then throw in a few additional surges, or double the power of the surges he already has? That is A LOT of power for one man. Almost heraldic power, I'd think. Personally, I don't think its too much of a stretch to think something similar is what created the heralds in the first place.

At the beginning of WoK, the battlefield is drenched in red, orange, and purple. It seems rather coincidental that these are the colors of Human, Parshendi, and greatshell blood, respectively. In addition, when Jasnah finds a picture of a voidbringer, it's a Chasmfiend. Alone, I wouldn't think twice. Together... perhaps there's more to the chasmfiends than we know. And wait... Chasmfiends have spren, don't they? so what would happen if a parshendi used a chasmfiends spren to morph? Can the listeners use the spren of greatshells? Perhaps that is what the voidbringers were. Neither parshendi nor greatshell, but both taken together.

What would happen if you gave a Knight Radiant an Honorblade? My first impression was to say that it was impossible. Seems far too overpowered- the magics would have to cancel each other out, or something. But then I thought back on Sanderson's style. In mistborn, when a man is both an allomancer and a feruchemist, the powers don't weaken, they compound. Though the two worlds are very different, I think the Stormlight Archive has something similar. The Heralds. As far as I know, there is no concrete explanation for the unique attributes of the Heralds. From what I can see, the heralds should have been weaker than the knights. For instance, While he held his honorblade, Szeth consumed stormlight far more quickly than Kaladin. And while the stormlight enhanced his physical abilities, he seemed to show none of the innate benefits granted by the nihil bond. Without stormlight, he had no more power than a normal man. Why, then, was Taln able to catch a poison dart midflight, plucking in from the air as though it were no more dangerous then a fly? The cell was dark, which means he was NOT imbued. In addition, there is no indication that the Honorblades offer the powers of reincarnation. When taken together, we can, at the very least, assume there is more to the heralds than the blades they hold. There is an alternate explanation, of course. That the Honorblades are now dead, just as the Shardblades are. That while still living, the enormous spren of the Honorblades granted the Heralds almost divine power. Those who weild the honorblades of today grasp only a fraction of their true power, much as modern day shardbearers. But if so, why don't the Knights hear the screams? All taken together, the only definite, as stated, is that there is more to the heralds than their Honorblades. I personally believe it is the nihil bond, or, at the very least, something similar. There's only one way to find out for certain-- Send Kaladin into battle swinging around Szeths sword, and see what happens. Thoughts?

Joy. Pure Joy.

all the ftl theories seem somewhat overcomplicated to me, considering that we dont even understand how ftl would work in real life, where the physics are much better understood. allomancy, feruchemy, and hemalurgy are not truly understood well enough to make an actual, verifiable hypothosis on how faster than light travel would be accomplished. still, my bet is they find someway to transfer scadrial's investiture to inanimate objects, and use compounded steel feruchemy for incredible speed and iron feruchemy for an infinite fuel source. and why would i say such a thing? simple: readability.

Kaladin never overcomes his dislike of swords, thinking them to be weapons of very limited flexibility. People throughout the series are intimidated by his tall, broad shouldered frame, and his incredible spear-fighting skills, but believe him to be unintelligent and savage due to societal constructs. However, he eventually returns to the ways of his forefathers, finally giving up the path of the spear in order to promote peace and tolerance. His hair turns red, and he is actually named "Couladin."

Alright, I think we've talked wheel of time to death. Who wants to do Game of Thrones, instead? Everybody dies. The end. Alright, back to wheel of time.

Might? His women were all basically arrogant men with boobs and wimpy magic. I'd say we're a little bit past "might." There's a good one. If stormlight archive were the wheel of time... everyone would be a man.

This raises another question for me. It says clearly in Mistborn that you're either a misting or mistborn, with no middle ground. Is the same thing true of feruchemy, though? Could a person posses multiple metals without having all of them? Maybe Feruchemy has some sort of halfway point not seen in allomancy. Is there any WoB, or anything in AoL against that?

Will there be mistborn in the third trilogy? They've disappeared in AoL, according to Wax, but some form of Cosmic danger could , theoretically, convince Harmony to make more Leresium, no? If they did, I feel like some of the problems discussed in this thread may disappear. What would happen if a Nicrosil ferret burned leresium? Could he gain the ability to compound nicrosil while simultaneously burning dulalumin, giving him access to a near infinite amount of investiture, then use that investiture to form a bendalloy bubble for an instant? If you had several of these operating sequentially, could you get the bubblehop working? BTW, this just musings. I'm not even going to try and theorize on this thread, where i'm obviously outclassed in terms of access to the cognitive realm- i'm just curious if that, or something similar, would work.

Adolin probably has a greater understanding of combat tactics and Alethi society, but that's about it. Kaladin is both brilliant and intuitive. He's not a bookworm by any means, but that doesn't change the fact that he has the ability to retain massive amounts of information, and to correctly identify and creatively solve problems. I love Kaladin as a character; in the first book, he's one of very few that have ever been written that are deep and layered enough to actually be real people, instead of just words on a page. I didn't get that feeling from WoR. I felt like Brandon almost hit the reset button on his development, pulling him back to square one. His revelation of the oaths at the end was basically just a more specific rephrasing of his previous oaths, the circumstances for obtaining them extraordinarily similar. He whined some in the first book, but i felt like it added to his character rather than detracted then- It made him seem more real. When real people are in what is essentially hell, they whine. In the second, it was just irritating. In the end of the first, a lighteyes saved him. He, being brilliant, should take this as a sign that they're not all bad; instead, he just whines and complains about how the lighteyes took everything from him. Then, he goes and decides to kill the king, based on a petty, thoughtless slight. That doesn't seem like Kaladin to me- this is the same man who charged a shardbearer to protect the man who'd gotten his brother killed. If he was going to kill the king, he'd do it honestly, at the very least. In summary, he did a lot of acting out of character, and "grew" into the same person he was at the end of the last book.

I agree with serendipity; the book was fantastic, especially the last third or so. It was merely the character development that was disappointing, not the book itself. I completely forgot about Adolin. You're completely right, he develops in leaps and bounds over the course of the book, in terms of moral and personal depth. I don't really think his talent with a sword contributes much, though; if all an author needed to make a great character was incredible fighting skills, some of the worst, most ridiculous characters I've ever seen would suddenly be considered amazing. I guess it doesn't hurt, though. Oh, and I forgot to add Rlaith. I feel like there's some cool potential there. I already mentioned Pai. I loved her because she had a relatively minor part in the book, only around for a few pages, but still managed to change the coarse of history. That kind of dedication is the most admirable trait a person can posses- if everyone in Roshar was a Pai, Odium would be crying and running for mama. Pai = respect (insert bridge four honorary salute here)

Yeah, the girls can't seem to get over shiny men. Just look at Twilight.

This thread is just an opportunity to talk about our favorite characters from Words of Radiance. I'm not alone in saying the character development in Sanderson's latest was somewhat sub-par. Kaladin was almost entirely static (not to mention whiny), Shallan's backstory was almost identical to what was expected (with the exception that she didn't kill anyone to get the shardblade, which actually made it less awesome), and Szeth, who was so interesting in the first book, was... disappointing, to say the least. There were a few interesting ones though. Eshonai comes too mind immediately; cool to see things from the Parshendi's point of view. I also fell in love with Pai, even though she was just around for one interlude. Others?

I'd have to disagree with you on that point. As far as I can tell, the surgebinding abilities of the order truthwatchers are progression (healing), and illumination (illusion). No where on the list of surges is precognition. I believe what Renarin is doing is actually closer to Teravangian's diagram, a form of mathematically oriented precognition separate from his surgebinding abilities. Similarly, Shallan's is is some form of mnemonic ability, though the details of how it works is beyond me. I say this because it seems to include two aspects- her eugenic memory (take a moment to notice how she has no perfect memories from before the time Pattern came to her), and some form of Retrocognition. Kaladin's ability is essentially watered-down Atium. Fairly simple, and a common theme in brandon's writing. My question is, what is Jasnah's ability? the other KRs haven't developed enough to be accurately predicted (although I may be missing something), but Jasnah is a different story. Any Ideas on what her super-special-bonus-power could (possibly) be?

Generally, I was disappointed. I felt like this was a more "set the stage book," a deepening of the plot, explanation of the world, and introduction to the cosmere for those who are currently NOT on this site. I understand the importance of learning rosharian history and gaining a deeper understanding of the world in which they live, but still, it was definitively not as awesome as I thought it would be. I can only hope that brandon makes subsequent books much better as a result of this book's existence- otherwise, I will feel as though My years of waiting were all for nothing.

Extremely interesting topic... Could it possibly be that breaths and spren are essentially the same thing, except that breaths require a physical host? (probably totally flawed, but it seems worth checking out...)

Lopen is the funniest, Szeth is the coolest/most interesting, but all in all, I'd have to say Kaladin. I'd say Hoid, but I think this thread should only include characters specific to Roshar.

Black is so monotonous you can forget all about it, but red... you'd always be thinking, "at least that evil force of doom that's trying to destroy me has style. -- Breeze (its probably misquoted) Anything said by Wayne and lightsong Wasing the Where of Needing-- The aluminum pistol I am a fish-- alcatraz