Truthless

I love this. It's so elegant. And that's exactly the kind of clue Brandon would leave. And what Chaos said is making we wonder - do we have a specific definition of what a focus is? We're assuming it's literal, I think - that it's the physical focus of the magic system. I have a half-formed theory, but I'm not sure... Edit: So Chaos' edit basically answered one half of my question. Seems that a Shard is blind to the Physical component of their magic system. But what makes a focus? We know so little >.<

I can't imagine a Surgebinder would keep from using his powers to defend himself, even against another human.

I'm planning to be at the Houston signing, if circumstances allow

Just a side note - we need to be careful about trying to pair off every single shard. I think it could easily lead us to some "creative" interpretations of the shard's power and intent so that we can force it into a pet pairing.

I actually haven't been able to read TWoK a second time. Something about Kaladin's arc puts me off now that I know how it turns out. Maybe I just don't have the stamina to wade through that mire of self-pity Kal spends most of the book in. I do go back to read the interludes, though. Those are lovely.

I rather hope so. The Wii U is odd, but it's a very capable system. I'm hoping to get one once the version with decent memory has had a price cut or two.

I skipped pages 2 and 3, so this is going back to an earlier discussion. The Shardblades were created to fight the Voidbringers - no proof of that, of course, but it is very reasonable. When fighting a Voidbringer, some massive stone beast, the Shardblade would be the only effective weapon. It's possible that it's their present use which has degraded them - that being used to sever the cognitive aspect (again, reasonable speculation) has lowered them to something unintended, quite possibly something of Odium. Although that's assuming that Voidbringers have no cognitive aspect, which we certainly can't do. That's an interesting line of thought... It would require knowing the first thing about Voidbringers to progress, though, and we just don't. Ah well. More on topic - modern Shardplate seems fundamentally different from Radiant Shardplate in a manner similar to the blades. But for them, it can't be use, so it must be the users. It's a safe assumption that many of the limits of Shardplate are in fact limits of the wearer - only limits to someone without a Surge.

Just saw an interview with Brandon about Steelheart, and found this gem: "It's a good thing I'm not a supervillain, because I would totally blow up your car." We need to get that on a book cover. Immediately. The interview. I wasn't really sold on this story until reading the interview. The anti-superhero has, in my mind, been done to death as thoroughly as the superhero. But there really isn't anything else quite like this. What really sold me was that quote, I guess, the idea (which I am extrapolating) that most normal people given superpowers would end up villains, at least in the traditional sense of seeking selfish gain. Because I feel that's very true. Maybe God knew what he was doing after all, makin' us so lame and normal

In my mind, this is about as straightforward as Brandon gets. Elhokar has soulcasting potential. Yuuuup.

It does seem that the technical term is splintered. I guess shattered only applies to Adonalsium? In any case, it's true that we only know of two (likely three) Shards we have been splintered, even though most Shards we have met were limited in some form. Also, I think we can say with some certainty that Honor is splintered and Tanavast is dead. Based on Elantris, it appears the the state of the Shard doesn't particularly affect its associated magic system. A dead Shardholder means there is no one to wield the god-like powers, and a splintered shard means there are no god-like powers to wield. The term splintered would imply that a Shard cannot be destroyed in any sense, only dispersed, so it would continue to fuel its magic system infinitely, only without any sentient oversight. We don't really know anything about the effect of the juxtaposition of Harmony's Shards. I would say the way he chooses to interact is representative of his personal philosophy, and not some cancelling-out effect his Shards are having. And proactive vs. passive Shards is an interesting distinction.

I think the main point here is a good one, and thought provoking, although it may be more a question of what an uninhibited Shard considers ideal than a question of actual limitation. Harmony is the most powerful entity in the cosmere pretty much, and he chooses very limited intervention. In Alloy of Law, he says something along the lines of leaving people free to choose is the whole point. It seems apparent most Shards agree with this. Also, let's take a look at the Shards we've met: Ati/Ruin: Bound by an agreement with Preservation and further inhibited by his additional sacrifice. Separated from his Physical Aspect. Definitely limited. Leras/Preservation: Sacrifices self to give humankind an edge over Ruin; this slight imbalance eventually leads to his death. Definitely limited. Endowment: Appears to be fully sentient and fully empowered. Has no apparent involvement other than sending back Returned with a vague sense of purpose. Which is definitely some involvement. No limitation, but chooses only indirect involvement. Aona/Devotion and Skai/Domination: Shattered, mindless, their power running wild. Definitely limited. Tanavast/Honor: Shattered. Some kind of lasting contract he made with Odium appears to limit the way he can influence the planet. His splinters continue to grant access to his magic systems. Definitely limited. Cultivation: Fully sentient and empowered to the best of our knowledge. Is likely a central player in keeping Odium from obliterating Roshar on a whim. That's all, right? Only two of these Shards are unimpaired. The accounting changes when you factor in Harmony, but still.

Oh, that's right. This would predate his first published novels, I suppose. And I don't mean to lash out at Brandon, it's just interesting how very different this is from the final product and even Brandon's other work. Also! I love the keteks in your signature.

To me, the ambiguity of it all suggest strongly that Shallan didn't actually kill her father. I think it's more that she feels directly responsible for it - a personal truth, but not, strictly speaking, true. Either way, of course, she has his Shardblade.

I liked that too - really made me think. When I read a broad statement like that, I usually ponder it for a sec before I accept it. It's really fun when I realize it's a great observation. Also: I think what put me off so much about this piece is that the structure seems to be designed to show off all the clever plot twists. Really doubt that that was Brandon's intent, but with a pet project like this, I guess it's possible. And clever plot twists are fine. Obviously Brandon pulls them off all the time. But they need to serve a much greater purpose than impressing the reader, I suppose.

Oh wow - I don't think I would have liked Way of Kings Prime at all. Jek is really annoying. His internal dialogue is just painfully expositiony, and the names start seeming silly by the middle of the excerpt. The whole section is hitting the bull's eye on cliche while aiming for originality. It's kind of blowing my mind how different the final Way of Kings is from this.

Does FilmEngine have any kind of reputation? I don't know a thing about them, other than that The Butterfly Effect looked quite silly. This is quite cool, at least, even if it hardly guarantees anything.

I got mine at the end of last week - a really nice surprise! The book was a tad beaten up, but it's just awesome. Planning to pore over it on vacation in a few days

Well! *cough* I'm rather a fan of Szeth. I don't personally believe the oathstone is just a rock. Szeth mentions how it both forces him to obey its holder and prevents him from killing himself. I presume this means Szeth had tried and found himself blocked. If it was just his own honor holding him back, even if he believed it was somehow the rock, I think it would have been presented differently. I do think it's a magic rock. As to what he did to become Truthless - not sure. It revolves around the Shardblade for sure, although whether his acquiring it earned him the title or he was given it as part of his punishment I don't know. A Radiant would lose power over time if he or she stopped acting honorably, yes, most likely. That's not necessarily breaking their word, though. There might be a situation where they had to break their word to do the right thing. That why I hesitate to speculate on why Szeth is a special case. He has to obey whoever holds his stone, and obedience is a kind of honor, but assassination is not honorable. Could lead to speculation that whatever force determines if a person is honorable is not a thinking force,

I don't have a clue what type of spren it is, but I think there's an easy answer about both its size and the energy/emotion it drains from the spectators. It's eating. And it eats a lot, so it's gotten really big. Speculatively, I would say that it is a perversion of the Nahel bond that gives honorspren sentience. One spren bonded with/drawing from one human gains enough to have its own thoughts and personality. One spren, drawing in a similar way from hundreds, would become more substantial over time, like Syl did, but have no defined intelligence or personality because it draws from so many disparate sources (different people). Yes. Extreme speculation But with as little as we know about the Nahel bond, spren, and... well, everything, speculation is all we can do, right?

Reading through these, I can't really picture any of these people in Mistborn =/ Most everyone brought up feels too old. I don't think anyone in Mistborn is far past thirty. Most of the cast is in their early twenties, aren't they? I don't see the point of just shoe-horning actors we like into the roles of our favorite characters.

The database is all kinds of awesome. Just looked up Mashadar, bloodknives, spren, silence divine. So much tasty info right at my fingertips

I would like to announce that I'm writing a story for a class, and it's hard D:

I can't quite wrap my head around this. Both the shardblades and shardplate are made of metal, with the plate being powered by gemstones and the blades having a hilt. It is a safe assertion, I think, that God-elements are a single element, meaning that the Shardblades and Plate would only incorporate (but are not wholly composed of) the physical aspect of their Gods. But honestly, I don't buy this theory. Shardblades seem to slice through the cognitive aspect of a person, burning out their nervous system and thus their eyes. I don't think a physical-aspect weapon would do that. And Shardplate seems simply like an advanced suit of armor - it's even mentioned that some researchers thought they were close to being able to reproduce it. I think the situation on Scadrial where the physical aspect of two Shards were available for human use was an uncommon one. Odium, at least, would never allow it. I guess Honor wouldn't have much say in that matter nowadays though

I love the speculation so far, but I don't think we should be ignoring what little information we have just to make fun theories. “Though many wished Urithiru to be built in Alethela, it was obvious that it could not be. And so it was that we asked for it to be placed westward, in the place nearest to Honor.” We KNOW that Urithiru was in the west. Jasnah has access to the same information we're given, so that's likely why she dismissed Shallan's idea of the city being in the jungle, and it's why there's no chance that it crashed in the middle of the Shattered Plains. And as we're given a physical direction for the city, it's unlikely that it is actually in the Cognitive realm. As far as I can tell, the city is likely a ruin somewhere in Shinovar. It might be the source of their reverence for stone, now that I think about it - an ancient city (which would be built of stone), filled with knowledge and magic. It would seem holy to a people even a little less civilized.