Jeckal

My guess would be they are using highly controlled progression to grow their carapace into different shapes.

Mine revolves around art criticism more than anything else but Separating Art from the Artist/Death of the Author is not always the best stance to take

"You cannot have my pain." Strangely enough, Dalinar (I feel) genuinely thanking the thrill for its friendship as he's capturing it hit me in a weird spot. Sometimes friendships are just bad for you, doesn't mean the emotions involved were any less real. Child Renarin getting Dalinar some wine with his allowance because he doesn't want to see his dad in pain. Renarin taking over the situation with the Thunderclast was a good fist pump moment, along with Teft unlocking the Oathgate.

Ah, thank you both for clearing that up!

Are we sure that the desolations started before Honor was splintered? The timeline in my head was always Honor sacrificed itself to trick odium to get it stuck in the system, making a pact with the heralds knowing he was going to his death to protect Roshar from what are presumably Odium's attempt to escape. Although that doesn't fit with Dalinar's visions, assuming the almighty was alive during the events portrayed in the visions

@Calderis I think I found the WoB that at least somewhat implies the Stormfather existed in some form before Honor's splintering: https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/2ytg2h/im_novelist_brandon_sanderson_ama/cs5msy4/

I did a bit of digging on WoBs as well, and it definitely seems like, for the most part, Cognitive Shadows 'are' the continuous consciousness of a person, at least in the cases of people like Kelsier and I'd assume Szeth. However Cognitive Shadow is a bit of an ambiguous term, and I think some of the things scholars in the Cosmere would call Cognitive Shadows are merely echos. Brandon also confirms there is an afterlife, and he doesn't quite consider still being alive in one of the realms it, he considers that not 'quite' dead by the sound of it, which again I think implies a continuation of consciousness. http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=1182#52 http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=1099#1 http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=1082#1

Thank you both for your answers! I think your both probably right, I think also for me personally its more satisfying if it is the actual person and a continuation of consciousness. Calderis your thoughts on the Stormfather make total sense. Is that your own speculation or is that a WoB? Either way I like it.

So I had a question about the nature of Cognitive Shadows. I've seen Brandon compare them to a concept of ghosts, however, ghosts in mythology are often just an echo or residual energy of the dead, not the actual consciousness of the dead themselves, so I am wondering if this is the case for a Cognitive Shadow as well.. I get that they are created when someone gains enough investiture in life, but is the Cognitive Shadow the actual consciousness of the person? Or is it just an echo/copy created when they died? The fact that the Stormfather is considered a Cognitive Shadow is what makes me ask, because he seems to describe himself as a separate entity of Tanavast/Honor in talking to Dalinar, and he is frequently called a Spren. To me the Stormfather sounds more like a copy of Tanavast/Honor that has been corrupted into a spren by what people 'think' of him, but I suppose that could have happened to the actual Tanavast too. In either case though, I'm also curious if say, Jasnah for example died while physically in Shadesmar, would a cognitive shadow just pop up were her body died or does her body just combine with her mental self so they'd both die at once? Sorry for the rambling question! *EDIT* Last time I was here the Cosmere QA section didn't exist I don't think, so it didn't occur to me to put this there when clearly it should be, whoops!

1. Dresden Files - Jim Butcher 2. Gentlemen Bastards - Scott Lynch 3. Stormlight Archive - Brandon Sanderson 4. Johnathan Strange & Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke 5. Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman

Another thing to note is Axies is apparently immortal due to an interaction with magic, whether this is the case for all Aimians or just Axies is unknown Source: http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/4875-interesting-note-on-axies/

http://coppermind.net/wiki/The_Stormlight_Archive According to the wiki, Brandon has apparently said in a Q&A that he has changed the working title of Stormlight 3 from Stones Unhallowed to Skybreaker.

This really piqued my entrance when I read it, I certainly hope we learn more about prolonged soul-casting soon. I'm very curious, in particular, about the effect on the eyes, and the fact Adolin doesn't consider them human, because 'crystalline' was used to describe Aimians (Like Axies) eyes, and WoB said the Aimians are not human; but perhaps they once where. Maybe they are the original creators of the soul-casters. Not sure I actually believe that, but just throwing it out as a thought.

I'm currently bouncing between The Eye of the World, The Final Empire, and Assassin's Apprentice, but I just got my february audible credit so all other books stop for the time being for Grave Peril, the third Dresden file book. I enjoy the audiobook of the first one so much, I decided I would do the whole series as audiobook, and its quickly shaping up to possibly be my favorite series.

Give it 50 seconds or so, that's when the song really gets started

I picked up this book early today and am in the middle of the fifth chapter, I'm really liking the tidbits of the world given and all the characters seem likeable enough in there own way. I forget who was promoting it on twitter, but I'm glad I bought it when I saw it being talked about.

I really liked John Childermass and Vinculus in Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. My other favorite characters all tend to be side characters who hardly show up at all, Axies the Collector in Way of Kings for example and Thoros of Myr in the A Song of Ice and Fire series.

I hate to be the "hey guys! What are we talking about" person, but uh, what are we talking about? Hahaha, I don't remember a God Beyond being mentioned in the books I've read, is this something mentioned outside of MIstborn and Storm-light? (I haven't read Warbreaker or Elantris, so it could be from there and I wouldn't know)

While I agree Rothfuss' writing is very pretty (though I don't think I was quite as impressed with it as you were, though I'm certainly not faulting you for really liking it!) there are too many books for me to read that I'm interested in the characters as much as the prose. For me at least, plot and character are more important than the language (though its not unimportant to me), so good prose doesn't necessarily make up for a deficiency in my enjoyment of one of the other two. I hope that makes sense! Like I said, Rothfuss has the potential to be a writer I could really like; I guess I'll just need to see what he comes up with after KCC

My all time favorite anime is Mushi-Shi, though I don't think I could explain why other than its such a change of pace. Its very relaxing, and kind of like a nature show in a way, with Ginko the host going from town to town helping people with their spirit creature problems I'm really glad to see a mention of Wolf's Rain, I adore it but it doesn't seem like many others have seen it unless they were watching Adult Swim 7 or 8 years ago. Outlaw Star, Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell SAC and 2nd Gig, Paranoia Agent, Trigun, and Monster are all favorites of mine, and I'm sure there are more I'm forgetting. (A terrible habit of mine, forgetting things I like while things I dislike stay in my head.) I really wish 20th Century Boys (my all time favorite manga) would get an anime. It got a live action movie trilogy, but the second and third movies, while visually stunning changed the plot just a little too much for my liking.

Kingkiller Chronicles for me. I think Rothfuss has a ton of potential and I for the most part really enjoy his writing style, but there were just certain phrases he got hung up with using just a little too much that bothered me some, however this is not my main complaint with the first book. The problem is I just don't like Kvothe, which is weird because I like Kote, and you'd think I'd be interested in finding out how the one became the other...but I just don't know if I can deal with Kvothe long enough to find out. He always comes across to me as the typical arrogant entitled teenager, except he's got the skills to back it up, so he can never be put in his place. Now I know from Kote he at some point does become humbled and broken and a much more interesting sounding character, but I don't know if the journey to find out is worth it. I haven't read the second book yet, but I've heard Kvothe mostly acts the same, and I'm not sure I'm willing to commit to that.

So i wonder if the comment about Axies being immortal due to an interaction of magic applies specifically 'to' Axies, or if being basically immortal a trait all Aimian. I think personally its probably just Axies, since there was a collapse of their island and they are incredibly rare now. Now I can't be sure obviously what Sanderson meant by 'an interaction with the magic.' Maybe its just a weird phrasing choice, maybe he means the Old Magic? Or maybe Voidbinding? People in Roshar do apparently view Aimians as evil and in the interlude reading Axies shows up in they refer to his shadow as a 'Voidbringer Shadow'.

Oh wow, really cool piece of info, thanks for telling us!

Thank you kindly for pointing me in the right direction, great read and some interesting tidbits on Aimia.

I updated my first post with the picture of Sanderson's inscription. I'm glad people are finding this bit of information interesting! I thought maybe people may have heard this before (I'm afraid I haven't had as much time as I wish I did to find out what sort of bits of info have come out from WoR readings and the like), I'm happy it appears to be something new. Oh hey thanks for letting me know! Is there a thread that talks about this in the WoR section that may have more info on the nature of the appearence?