GreyPilgrim

I'm waiting as long as possible to start Martin's books. I figure it will be easier to just get through all of them at once than to have to wait five years in between the next books. I will probably give in soon though, because at this rate the series won't be done for another decade.

and a koloss

Although it is kind of hard to say he was a villain when he saved all of Scadrial by holding onto Preservation after Leras died until Vin took it up.

Hello, Sarevok! Can I assume you know about the cosmere? Because as good for theories The Wheel of Time was, the cosmere is even better! What books have you read?

Ah, another Nokia user! I only know of about two others in existence! I myself use a Nokia Lumia 822, from which I do most of my posting here. I'm not a huge fan of the mobile site (it is way less convenient), but I use the full site on my phone when I need to.

This post is to supplement my topic in General Brandon Discussion about our favorite of Brandon’s opening/closing lines. Here you can post any of your favorite opening/closing lines of any book you’ve read! I encourage you to vote in the poll on the Brandon Book forum too. Same rules apply as in the other topic: Opening/closing line can be disputed to some degree for some books. Is the first line of a prologue the first line of the book? What if there is an epigraph? So just choose your favorites and share them. Please spoiler tag last lines, out of respect for those such as myself who would rather wait until the whole book is read to know the last line.

So recently I was wondering to myself what Brandon's best opening lines and closing lines were, and I looked around to see if there was a topic on it. Not finding one with the search function (sorry if it does already exist), I decided to make it myself! I made a thread in the General Discussion forum for favorite opening/closing lines in general. There is obviously some room for interpretation of what is the opening/closing line of some of Brandon's books. I haven't read his short fiction, but in some of the novels there are ways to interpret the opening/closing line. For example, the Prelude to the Stormlight Archive in The Way of Kings could count as having the first line, but you could argue that it is the opening line of the series and not just that book. You could then say that the first line of the Prologue is the first line, but the Prologue has an epigraph, so that could also be the first line. Same for the epigraphs in Mistborn, and you could go with either the Prologue or first chapter of any other book. So just choose whichever one you want and click the book it is from in the Poll. Please put a spoiler tag on a closing line if you post one. I hate reading the last line of a book before I get to it. Maybe it's just me, but have some respect. The opening line is more up to your discretion, as some may spoil previous books in a series, some may not. My favorite opening is the that of the prologue in The Way of Kings: "Szeth-son-son-Vallano, Truthless of Shinovar, wore white on the day he was to kill a king." It really draws me in every time I read it. It has so much mystery to it. Perfect. My favorite closing line is also that of The Way of Kings: Note: I have only included works of novella length or greater because of restraints on the number of options per question.

Out of curiosity, was I the only one who got wicked excited when I saw "Way of Kings Annotations" as a link on the WoK book page and was really disappointed when the link brought me back to the main page? I really hope Brandon does the Words of Radiance Annotations during the copyedit like he normally does.

I agree Aetae. Of the few things I don't like about Brandon's works, his persistent use of "said" as opposed to more descriptive words probably bugs me the most too.

Welcome Rime! I agree that that is an interesting take on the man of red and gold. Actually, AoL and WoK occur at roughly the same time, at least within a few decades of one another.

I haven't read them myself, but I believe they are in the 9-12 age category. So, basically, they are the perfect level for a fourth grader. They are definitely beneath the Harry Potter reading level (which is more of a true young adult, at least after the first couple books.)

I like when main characters die, personally, particularly in fantasy fiction. I get annoyed when characters survive dozens of situations that should kill them. It is nice when the deaths are fitting, but honestly I prefer when deaths are unfair. In the real world, good people die every day, and it should be the same in fiction. (There is also the savage part of me that laughs when characters die ) I felt the death toll in Mistborn was fitting. The amount of Kelsier's crew that died was appropriate, and Vin and Elend's deaths were essential to the plot, and unavoidable. There is nothing wrong with that. Maybe my point of view is different because I don't really attach to characters ever. I like some characters more than others, but I rarely actually feel anything for them as people. I like character development and growth because it is interesting to look into a human mind and human behavior and analyze them. When I feel pain, it is usually only a feeling of how terrible it would be to have to endure something, not out of feeling bad for a character having to endure it.

and Stormlight. The

flames concealing it

the Mistborn burned

He saw a

I don't think there is anything else you missed there, but I suck at quotes so there could well be something else.

I hope to be able to theorize with you! I only wish I could have been around way back on TWG, but I only came to Brandon about a year and a half ago and only joined here about a month ago. See you around!

An interesting idea, but I think you have a few misunderstandings at the base of it. We don't really know anything about Feruchemical nicrosil. All we know is that Soulbearer Ferrings can store investiture with it. You seem to assume that they can store any investiture, but remember that Feruchemy takes the stored trait from the Feruchemist. Thus, as I see it, a Soulbearer can only store their own Investiture. In order for Hoid to invest a Shardblade/plate with something stored in nicrosil is for it to come from him. If he is trying to create/strengthen Shardblades then he would need to be invested by what ever Shard/s invested the blades, which I do not believe he is, and even if he were I am not sure it would work. It would not because you cannot grant someone else a trait from your metal mind, which is what you are saying would occur if you Compounded nicrosil. Compounding releases the stored Feruchemical trait in a large burst. As I see it, Compounding nicrosil would release the stored investiture to the Compounder in a large burst, either able to be used in large amounts for a short amount of time or permanently strengthened. You would not be able to put that investiture into a Shardplate/blade.

Thank you for pointing that out, Peter. The Wikipedia article says 85,000 words for Alloy of Law, which is probably where that belief on the length comes from.

Seconded. A less direct piece of evidence is that we don't have new magic systems. I would imagine that if Ruin and Preservation had become one inseparable power with its own intent, the magic systems would have changed as Allomancy would not be able to be fueled from Hemalurgy. Harmony is not the intent of Sazed's powers. It is how he likes to think of the combination of powers he now holds.

It's a very interesting idea, though some holes pop out at me. I just want to note that Odium is invested on Roshar. I was also under the impression that he was not, but such is not the case. So there is a lot more than just the Oathpact holding him on Roshar. I also do not believe that Odium wants to leave Roshar, for the very reason that he has Invested himself there as well as the fact that he has put such efforts into fighting the Rosharan humans. Also, if breaking the Oathpact would allow Odium to leave Roshar, then wouldn't the Heralds have broken it a long time ago? Yes, he would probably destroy them if they had, but I get the sense that the Heralds would rather die and leave humanity in peace than have to go through the horrors of the Desolation over and over again. Clearly there is strong incentive to hold the Oathpact. While the binding Odium again idea is interesting, we have seen it before: (AMoL spoilers) Shardet: I don't really see Dalinar becoming anything other than a Radiant, particularly since (in my mind) he is going to bite it relatively early on.

Well, there's this: Since the Almighty said this, I am even more convinced that there is a direct connection between Shards and Shardblades and plate. Moogle, I like your take on that quote. My only issue is that, unless the death cries are Heralds reaching out into people, which I don't believe is the case, then Taln could not have said it. It is possible he influenced it somehow, but that doesn't feel right to me. (I should note that I have no idea what is going on with the death cries.) Why do you think it is his tortuous cry? I agree with Shardlet that we also don't really know anything about the Heralds. I am also really excited for WoR and beyond so we can continue to piece the little things together. I really can't wait for Taln's PoV!

The way I see Shards goes along with the normal definition of the term, meaning a fragment. If you drop a vase, it breaks into a bunch of shards. But if you glue two shards back together, they don't become one shard. They are two shards stuck together. Similarly, if you take two Shards of Adonalsium, as Sazed has, you don't get one Shard, you get a composition.