LightReader

Szeth's reaction when he realized Kaladin was a Windrunner, and learning a bit about why he was named Truthless. Adolin's "I knew it" moment when Kaladin shows up and saves Dalinar. All of Shallan and Kaladin's interactions. Young Shallan meeting Hoid. Finding out what happened to Gaz.

I think the orange line is the horizon at sunset, the land in the distance is just hazy. I really like the updated cover. Kaladin is much better, a lot more like how I picture him in my head. Also, the storm clouds and the ground around Kaladin are more detailed and the lines are cleaner throughout. He also removed the strange beetle-like flying creatures from the middle.

I'm really excited to see all our main characters interact with each other finally. How will Adolin, Renarin, and Kaladin get along? Dalinar and Jasnah? Navani and Jasnah? Jasnah and Elhokar? Shallan and Adolin? Shallan and Renarin? Shallan and Wit? Also, will Amaram and Dalinar turn out to be friends, or enemies? And of course the inevitable conflict with Szeth. Plot-wise I'm mostly looking forward to all the things none of us have anticipated or imagined could possibly happen because Brandon is just that good, and we know he's going to surprise us all at least a little bit. Edit: Also I totally second that about the artwork. Way of Kings was a beautiful book, and with the newest edition of the cover art, that Shallan painting, and the Santhid in the shardhunt, I'm fully expecting book two to be equally gorgeous.

I'm a little late to the topic, especially the question of who wrote the cover blurbs, but my thought is that it is not Hoid. I don't really think Hoid writes the Ars Arcanum either. My theory is that this is what the Seventeenth Shard organization does. As non-interventionist observers, I'm thinking the whole point of the organization is to study the cosmere and record important events and information. So they compile Ars Arcanum info about the magic systems, etc. and record the major events on the various planets as they unfold. This also leads me to speculate that someday, Jasnah will learn world-hopping (she already knows Shadesmar), and join the Seventeenth shard. It would be cool if in the third Mistborn series we came across an enormous library where the Seventeenth Shard keep all the records they've gathered over the millennia. Sorry for getting off topic a little... I have a tendency towards wild speculation and rambling...

Thanks for directing me to that thread. It looks like most of what I've said has already been talked about over there.

My first edition hardcover has the same error. Chapter 24, page 216, last paragraph. I wrote an email about it way back when the book first came out. I think it was Peter who responded and confirmed that it was an error. Something about how Clubs was originally going to be a Seeker, but then Brandon changed it and in the re-writes and they must have missed that spot. I don't have the email anymore though so I'm not sure. I think the error may have been fixed in later editions of the book.

So as I was trying to come up with more good ideas for shard names, I was thinking, that when it comes to his magic systems, Brandon is a great one for having rules to limit things, and he usually comes up with some naming conventions for all his books and so I wondered if he has any rules or conventions for how he chooses the names of the shards. ISo I asked myself what do all the shard names we know so far have in common, linguistically speaking? The known shard names include: Honor, Cultivation, Endowment, Preservation, Ruin, Devotion, Dominion, and Odium This is what I've been able to come up with so far: 1) They all have multiple uses in various contexts. All of the known shard names have multiple definitions (I used Merriam-Webster.com. Interestingly, they have 10 definitions for the word honor) 2) They are all nouns which can imply a state of being: to be honored/honorable to be cultivated/cultured to be endowed to be preserved to be ruined/ruinous to be devoted to be dominated/dominating to be odious 3) Most of them can also imply action. Odium is the only one of these words that doesn't have a direct verb form. to honor (someone or something) to cultivate to endow to preserve to ruin (someone or something) to devote to dominate the closest I have for the word Odium are verb forms of its synonyms such as "to hate" or "to condemn" So using words already associated with Shards, I think the most important rule for choosing shard names is that they must imply an intent. (a thing that you plan to do or achieve : an aim or purpose). So does anyone with more knowledge of linguistics have any other insight into this? Do we have any ideas for shard names that fit these criteria? Edit: Sorry this isn't very lighthearted. Should I have started a new thread? I don't want to hijack or anything...

Reason Intuition Perception or Illusion

"The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon." -Hoid

Dalinar's journey through the Way of Kings reminds me a lot of Moses and of the way Mormons understand the purpose of the Law of Moses. Dalinar at first wants people to adopt the codes on their own and understand the spirit of them, and lead by example instead of force, however he realizes that the people are too steeped in their ways and need to be educated as though they were children, because they need a foundation to build on. Similarly, after the Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt, Moses took that same kind of approach at first and received the 10 commandments. When he came down from the mountain and saw how wicked the people were though, he realized he would need a much stricter law, and so the Law of Moses came about. In LDS theology we often refer to the Law of Moses as a preparatory law so people would have a foundation to build on when Christ came and delivered the law of the gospel. I don't really know how other Chrisitan religions regard this though, so it might be a more general Christian influence than a specifically Mormon one. I also see a potential LDS influence in the concept of doing what's right because its right even if its unpopular or leads to ridicule, as Dalinar exemplifies. As a member of the LDS church growing up in an area with very few other members, I have occasionally experienced similar feelings of ostracism as Dalinar does from the other light-eyes because holding to my beliefs meant not doing the popular thing. Again, I realize that these are not really Mormon-only ideas or issues, but if he grew up LDS like I did, then it is probably where Brandon had his first exposure to them. I recognize that I probably only see these as LDS themes because that's the culture I was raised in and so I see the world through that lens. I also realize I'm a bit late to this thread, but since no one else had mentioned these, I thought I'd add my two cents.

I liked the way the names of the Returned in Warbreaker were all compound words, and was trying to come up with one that would describe me somewhat. I love all the light/dark/illumination imagery in Stormlight, and obviously I love reading, so I came up with LightReader. It was only after a comment in my "introduce yourself" thread that I realized I had made an unintentional reference to the phrase "a bit of light reading." I've since decided that I rather like that reference.

I'm totally imagining a love triangle with Tanavast, Rayse and Cultivation's shardholder being the main romantic arc in the pre-shattering Dragonsteel series. Tanavast gets the girl because he's actually a good guy, and Rayse really hates him for it. So now the reason our lady Nightwatcher hasn't been splintered yet is because Rayse still wants Cultivation's shardholder and doesn't know how to splinter her shard without killing her. (I suspect he's not really capable of love at this point considering his Shard's intent, but it could totally be one of those evil-guy-wants-the-pretty-girl-as-a-trophy things). So now Cultivation is kind of a prisoner of Rayse/Odium, and she's depressed and angry. I like the idea that she's mad at humanity for giving up on the Oathpact and failing to be honorable thus weakening Honor enough that Rayse could kill Tanavast.

I think the best thing about Stormlight is that it is a completely original epic fantasy story. There are so many "chosen-one from a small town gains magic powers and defeats the dark lord" stories out there. Even Wheel of Time, as great as it is, follows that basic fantasy trope. I love Stormlight especially because it is not that. There is no prophesied hero, only prophesied destruction. So for once our heroes are going to be heroes simply because its the right thing to do, not because some prophesy told them to. All the major POV characters so far have been well rounded and dynamic, they all learn and change over the course of the book, and yet they all have room for growth. I am really looking forward to watching them use what they've already learned, as well as seeing their future growth. I am really excited about the way Brandon is structuring the series so that each book has a complete story arc. Also, I love that Roshar is a completely alien planet, and so beautifully described, with completely alien plants and animals, and the way the magic is such a natural part of the world. Brandon's worldbuilding is phenomenal. It really is a beautiful book.

Definitely keep up the good writing Feather. You have talent. Thanks for sharing.

I had been leaning towards a Shallan/Kaladin ship (thinking perhaps she would remind him of Laral, although the more I think about it the more I imagine she would see him more as an interesting specimen for her collection than as an equal), but after reading this thread, as well as browsing through some of that Tumblr stuff and FeatherWriter's fanfic, I am swayed towards Shallan/Renarin instead. I really like the gender-role flipping idea, especially within a culture where gender differences are so significant and clearly defined. And after WoT where the whole masculine/feminine magic thing made everyone mistrust everyone of the other sex, it would be cool for the magic itself, being so clearly gender-neutral, to actually bring the sexes together instead of separating them. As for characters potentially turning anti-hero, I don't really see it with the current POV characters. I can imagine Adolin having a hard time with Kaladin for a while, as he probably wasn't too happy about Kaladin giving him orders at the Tower, and there could be some friction between them if Adolin percieves Dalinar as favoring Kaladin. Renarin just seems too genuinely nice and understanding of people to ever resent anyone for almost anything (although I do see him resenting his own limitations). The person I can see most as an anti-hero is Elhokar actually. He's so wrapped up in his own little world, paranoid and self-conscious, worried about people thinking he's weak, I can see him making bad choices. We've already seen it to some extent I think. I'm realizing that none of this has much to do with Renarin's special spren, and adding my two cents that if Renarin becomes a KR, then I like the Skybreakers or the Bondsmiths but I can't decide which I like better for him. Bondsmiths seems more compatible with the artifabrian side of him, if indeed that is the order that makes the shardplate, etc. Although I do like the idea about having the first trait and needing the second. I like the idea of Renarin becoming a Radiant, but I'm also considering the possibility that the spren Renarin sees that no one else does is related to his ASD (like maybe he has a special and unique connection to the cognitive realm because his mind works differently from other peoples').

I don't think the Parshendi's motivation for dressing Szeth in white had anything to do with Darkness, but your idea did get me thinking. If Darkness is going around killing Surgebinders, then why hasn't he tried to kill Szeth? He's pretty much the most famous Surgebinder out there, and I'm sure there are plenty of rumors about his powers to let Darkness know that he is one. So maybe Darkness will be the one who stops Szeth from killing Dalinar. Or maybe Darkness knows that Szeth doesn't get his powers in the normal way, and recognizes that he will never be a Knight Radiant, and so he doesn't care to kill him. Anyway, a fight between Szeth and Darkness (especially if he really is the Herald Nalan) would probably make for a totally awesome scene. Ooh, maybe Adolin and Kaladin will be fighting Szeth, barely holding him off, then Darkness shows up, and he's trying to kill Szeth, but gets distracted because he notices that Kaladin is also surgebinding, so Szeth runs cuz he realizes he's no match for a Herald, and so Adolin and Kaladin have to fight Darkness instead, although how they would handle that, I have no idea. Wild speculation, yay.

That's a good point. How is Szeth getting around to all these distant places in what appears to be a such a short time? Maybe Taravangian has a transportation ability surgebinder working for him too. Or maybe some kind of teleportation/transportation fabrial that no one else has. Pure speculation though.

I was thinking something along the same lines, that Syl's lack of cognitive function before bonding with Kaladin was related to Honor's splintering and Tanavast's death while Cultivation is so far intact and therefore her spren are fully cognizant before bonding. Interestingly, it would seem that the cultivation spren are so far mostly male while the honor spren we've seen are female, opposite their shards' holders. I wonder if that pattern will continue.

Maybe Wyndle could be something like growth-spren, as that is related to the surge Lift uses. Or maybe something more related to the loving/healing attributes. Maybe a teaching-spren, as he does seem to have an interest in Lift's education, even if she doesn't. I'm also interested in the ways Wyndle is different from Syl. Wyndle's complaining about how he came to be bonded with Lift, because a group of spren (assuming that the Ring Wyndle refers to is in fact a group of spren) apparently decided she was a good candidate, indicates that these kind of spren already possess a significant amount of self-awareness and decision making ability, not to mention some kind of leadership system among themselves. The Cryptics appear to be similarly self-aware, so maybe the more cultivation related spren are more cognizant of themselves before their bonds than the more honor-related spren like Syl. That could be related to Honor being splintered and Tanavast's death while so far Cultivation appears to be intact. So perhaps in the same way that Syl is an Honorspren, perhaps Wyndle is a Cultivationspren. Its not a complete theory or anything and I'm too lazy to do all the research required to formulate it in its entirety, but I'm of the inclination that there are subsets of Honorspren and Cultivationspren. Something like Syl is a wind-type Honorspren, maybe Wyndle is a growth type Cultivationspren, and the Cryptics are truth type Cultivation spren? This whole thing needs more thinking through, since I can see arguments for the Cryptics being in the Honor category more than the Cultivation category, and vice versa. Edit: Heh, it took me so long to write all this that by the time I hit post the ideas had all been discussed already and I just didn't see it until the page refreshed. I guess that's what people call getting ninja'd.

I have a feeling that a big part the Stormlight Archive will be the protagonists each coming to understand what honor really is. The people in book one are just starting to realize that there is a better way to live, and they are seeking to teach that to others. I'm hoping that as the series progresses they will grow from the imposed chivalry/militaristic sense of honor and start establishing that more modern sense of honor, as integrity and respect. Honor in its current state in the Stormlight Archive is broken, and someone needs to take it up again and repair it.

That would be totally awesome! My husband and I were just talking about that possibility the other day. I suspect it would be a very difficult soul stamp to make though.

I just finished, read it all in one sitting this evening. It was awesome! Some of my favorite moments: Also, the Skeletals, particularly the fact that Brandon Sanderson created an awesome Cosmere magic system that can replicate the effects of necromancy and allow skeletons to attack people with swords. I actually really enjoy the short length, because I can read the whole thing in one sitting without having to feel guilty about not getting anything else done that day.

Sazed and Syl.

I always assumed that the Tears of Edgli flowers came in multiple colors, like tulips. Each color flower could produce a different dye color, which is why Hallandren is so colorful.

This isn't my own idea, I think I've seen it tossed around on other threads, but I haven't noticed anyone mention it here. What if Szeth's stone is just a stone, but has a spren trapped inside it like a fabrial gemstone? Then Szeth's oaths as truthless could be binding him to the stone's spren to create a sort of simulated Nahel bond, giving him his windrunner abilities.