PorridgeBrick

[shamelessplug]Why not both? If Surgebinding is both Honor and Cultivation, why can't Voidbinding be of Cultivation and Odium?[/shamelessplug] Oh, and we don't actually know that one is confirmed as the 10 categories of fabrials. The WoB just says fabrials are a part of it– and the Ars Arcanum only says that there "must be some other magic even more esoteric and unknown" than Surge/Voidbinding (paraphrased). Something as well known as fabrials doesn't fit that, unfortunately, though I thought so too before seeing that quote. I don't think the Old Magic is one of the three, however. I'm pretty sure it's just the Nightwatcher using her magical oomph to screw around with everything and grant strange boons and curses.

The power of the shards might be artificially keeping the planet in a slower orbit than should be possible. This is magic, after all.

Didn't Blushweaver die from bleeding out? The reason you die from blood loss is because your body is no longer receiving any of the oxygen it carries. If Returned didn't need to breathe, I don't think they could die from bleeding out.

More likely that every order has an unrelated ability in addition to their surges. Windrunners have ridiculous battle senses, Truthwatchers can predict the future, Lightweavers have extreme Memorization abilities, Bondsmiths have some ability related to other's spren bonds, Skybreakers can see someone's sins, etc.

I really want to see him fight as he is now. With both Allomancy and Feruchemy, he's already at TLR level. But add in his Lightweaving, Awakening, and whatever allows him to worldhop, be immortal, travel through time, and survive decapitation, and he becomes so ridiculously powerful that even massive armies shouldn't be able to take him down. It would make an awesome fight scene, and give some cool info on how all the systems interact.

I think he's recovering after storing. To combat the low health, his body got drained up it's resources, so now he has to sleep to get it back.

I doubt they will have any interaction beyond "My name is Jasnah Kholin. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

They likely do come from all over. It's a different world from Earth, so Sanderson would likely avoid taking from just one culture. So in those German/Italian manuals, you said that #1 isn't a very useful stance, right? Kendo, though, uses it a lot. So it's probably from the Kendo usage rather than the European. #2 and #4 probably aren't from the fencing manuals, either, since you described them as hybrids of three stances there. I'm not sure what school it would be from then. #4 looks like something you'd do with greatswords, which are older than fencing, right? #3,5, and 7 are probably from those manuals like you say though. They certainly look exactly like typical European style fighting, though you're the expert here. Oh, and I found Flamestance irl from a google search for sword stances. It says it's from a Korean martial art called Kuk Sool Won. Edit: Just remembered that Brandon was a missionary in Seoul. This could very well be his inspiration for Flamestance. Too bad nothing online will actually say what the stance is used for.

Hmm... The hands before him does mess up everything. But it still makes no sense as #1, unfortunately. #1 is in perfect position for the kind of overhead axe chops he's described performing in Ironstance. If you've ever seen kendo (I don't play it, but I've seen a bit of it), the way they go on the offense is exactly like that. They hold it above their head in the same position as #1, and then bring it down onto their opponent with rapid, powerful chops and a few side chops mixed in. That's how Adolin attacks: he chops straight down three times, then does a powerful sideways chop into his breastplate once Salinor catches on and parries the third. Adolin has zero reason to move to a different stance to do that, since that kind of rapid offense is the whole point of being in Stance 1. I'm not sure else it could be, then. Maybe the hands are before the main plane of his body? His torso is twisted to the side in #4 such that his hands could conceivably be described as before it even if his head isn't necessarily facing the same way. But that's still stretching a lot. It may also indicate that the depicted images are different forms of the stances than are in the books, though I think that would be really overly evil on Brandon's part. As for stances being based off Radiant Orders: possibly, but not necessarily. Note how Smokestance requires two weapons. Unless spren can manifest in two points at once, a Radiant can only have one blade. And Smokestance is meant for inferior weapons, when any Radiant should have the best possible weapon, a Shardblade. Oh, and to compound things further, here's Adolin's chapter heading. http://coppermind.net/w/images/Adolin_Chapters.svg What stance is this?

This is in the arena scene where Adolin is mauling Salinor with Ironstance. Notice how he's hitting down onto his helm. That sounds like a straight overhead strike. In #2, that would be a very awkward strike to make. You would have to do twist your body forward to be able to do so, and the resulting pose would happen to look very similar to #1, or maybe #2. Adolin specifically mentions twisting when he transitions to Ironstance, in fact. Ironstance has to be #1 or #2 just because those are the only stances set up for the chopping motions mentioned, just like adbf was saying. They're both utilitarian stances as Rust and Ruin mentioned, just like Ironstance.As for Windstance, it can't be #1. While it does point up and backwards, it's certainly not sweeping and majestic, and the elbows are hardly bent. And instead of being turned to the side, it's the most forward facing of all the stances after Vinestance. But what does fulfill all those requirements? #4. The edge is out for a sweep, he's turned to the side, the tip is up and back, his elbows are bent, and he's pretty damnation majestic looking. Additionally, the transition between it and #1 is a twist of the torso, just like between Windstance and Ironstance.

I approve of this Tineye. He is an able succesor to the legacy Herwynbe left. Oh shoot, I'm dead. That kinda cramps my style.

That still doesn't necessarily mean Radiant- it could just be an Honorform equivalent. But yes, I do think there will be some form of Parshendi surgebinder, almost certainly Eshonai or Rlain maybe.

Yo.

Remember the prismatic effect, though. That white become colorful again, he drains it, splits the light and it's colored again, etc.

Oh, thanks for correcting me before I misled too many people then. I must have misremembered the WoB. However, I do think the bond will be different. The Listener Song of History has that bit about how the spren abandoned the Parshendi because humans give them what they want and Parshendi can't. So the spren will probably remain stupid in the physical realm or be unable to manifest physically as a Shardblade.

We still don't know if the screaming was her or the spren. I'm still inclined to think it's her own voice, but your theory is much more plausible now that we know the other half of it is right. It is strange that this is a comet-like spren. That sounds like Skybreakers or Dustbringers, but the epigraphs make it sound like Eshonai would be a Parshendi Willshaper analogue personality-wise. I guess it could be she revived her shardblade, but WoB is that that is very difficult.

Parshendi can't be Radiants. Whether they have some Honorform equivalent remains unseen, however.

Bleck. This kinda ruins his character, IMO. It was far more interesting when he was complex, being a good guy that destroys himself and turns into a monster. Now that magic is in the picture it seems too... pat, simple. I hope there isn't too much of this with other characters.

So the cometspren is some form of nahel spren.

Is there a way to determine, just from the intents of the Shards inhabiting a planet, how many magic systems there will be and which shards they will be made from? Could you know that Dominion and Devotion would have one combined system, Preservation and Ruin two pure systems and a balance magic, and Odium, Honor and Cultivation three? If there was a planet with Ruin and Cultivation, how many magic systems would there be?

Is Nazh in any of the unpublished works?

I'd specify a little on that: What connection is there between the color drain of Shardblade wounds and the color drain of Awakening/Lifeless?

Windrunners- Recon, air cavalry, rapid response Skybreakers- Military police, recon, air cavalry, rapid response Releasers- Artillery Edgedancers- Battlefield medic, Special Forces Truthwatchers- Bedside doctor, Intelligence Analyst Lightweavers- Espionage, Propaganda, Supply Elsecallers- Supply, Transportation, Communication Willshapers-Transportation, Communication, Demolition Stonewards-Engineers, Demolition (toppling walls with a touch), Heavy Infantry Bondsmiths- General Principle roles in bold.

It's really amazing how Brandon manages to put such depth into a long dead side character. He's far more complex and interesting than the majority of main characters in books, and he only appears in the flashbacks of a single book. I just hope he doesn't turn out to be magically manipulated like the OP hints, since all that would be undermined. I think it's quite likely that Shallan's mom is just a very devout Vorin who thought Shallan was a Voidbringer. If she was a Skybreaker, she'd be way more cautious and probably tell others. Her friend does put a bit of doubt into that, though. Malise doesn't seem in the know to me IMO. The wording to me seems like someone just lashing out indiscriminately, wanting to blame someone else. Seeing as Lin was able to kill her, I don't think he's attached enough to her to tell her about Shallan.

Well, I don't know his martial arts interests, but I do know Peter watches anime, so Brandon might too. I don't believe he consulted anyone on martial arts since I don't remember anything mentioned in the Acknowledgements, but I could be wrong. I'll check now. Edit: Yep, nothing in the Acknowledgements.