Smye

I'm thinking more along the lines of a connection between 'shadows of self' and the 'approximations of identity' that seem to be possible through aluminum feruchemy. After all, if aluminum can store identity, wouldn't that potentially leave one only a shadow of themselves or - perhaps more curiously - able to become a shadow of another (such as by storing all of their ID, 'downloading' the sDNA of another) and then use his/her metalminds? I'm surprised not to have heard more discussion of this connection on the boards - especially with what seems to be the reappearance of TLR's metalminds in Bands of Mourning.

@KoboldKing, If I may be so bold, BWS has ALREADY included several alien race - the Kandra & Parshendi serving as two phenomenal examples. Just because they exist on a planet alongside humans, what's to say the Parshendi (or the mistwraiths from whence the Kandra were drawn) did not predate the humans on Scadrial? As near as I can remember, several of the shards put humans onto their given planets. Is this not akin to humans colonizing a planet that already had life on it (if, in the case in question, another race predated the humans arrival), only appearing to be native by having been there so long by the 'modern' day?

@Bort, here here!

Thanks Panda!

Hello fellow sharders, After being clinically obese since I was 2 years old, dozens of medically-supervised weight-loss attempts, and cortisol levels off the charts preventing me from being successful, I'm finally going in for bariatric surgery (VSG for those in the know) on Feb 12. That said, I'm going to be laid up for a while recovering before I can return to work, tooling around the yard, or hiking. As one Sanderfan who's read all of his works several times over to the rest of you, any suggestions for other books or movies I might enjoy while still on large doses of painkillers?

Weiry, do you have WOB on that?

Thanks.

I'm guessing it will be the 3rd book of the Wax/Wayne trilogy. Edit: Titan, How do you know SOS2 comes today?

Well done Peter ("heh heh heh heh heh") this is almost harder to wait for than when I thought the State of the Sanderson might be involved sometime this weekend (almost, but not quite).

Thanks Peter. Although I'm disappointed to know the blog post is still a ways off, having solid info is really nice, not to mention something else to eagerly await.

Yes, SOS2 is State of the Sanderson 2. Good thinking with the Firefight skin... that would make more sense to cause so much hassle AND pair well with SOS2

Blaze - fixed. I also suppose that even if you're right and magic is, in fact, required for access to Shadesmar, the flute itself could be invested by Hoid or others and thus be a tool for non-uber-invested types. I know Blaze that you believe the WOB above decribes superior vs inferior ways of reaching Shadesmar, but I disagree. OR it's not related to bringing its holder to Shadesmar at all, but somehow still resting in Amaram's collection for later significance.

Not to mention the apparent merging of the physical, spiritual, and cognitive realms when Hoid played the flute for Kaladin that seems to go beyond simply lightweaving. I wonder if it's connected to the merging that takes place in WOR when Kaladin speaks the third oath "Behind Kaladin, frost crystalized on the ground, growing backward away from him. A glyph formed in the frost, almost in the shape of wings."

Bummer.

In thinking more about recent WoB regarding non-magic users accessing Shadesmar here, here, here, and, most imporantly here: I keep coming back to the flutes. Given everything we know about investiture being deposited into non-living objects (Nalthis, etc), I'm guessing Hoid's flute in Amaram's hands is going to prove very ill for all. Thoughts?

When trying to access brandonsanderson.com I keep getting a 503 error or "no data received." Hopefully this means the SOS2 is coming soon. Any thoughts?

Anybody else get the heeby-jeebies when Shallan heard about Amaram's collection of flutes within just a few pages of Wit bringing up the flute Kaladin lost? All I can think of is that either: A) Wit's flute will end up among Amaram's collection to resurface later or In his work with the Sons of Honor, Amaram or his fellows have stumbled across some flute-related magic or splinterization and his flutes are the brethren and sistren of Wit's flute. Thoughts?

Hear me out here: At the beginning of WoK during Gavilar's assassination, Szeth notes that he has a choice between surgebinding and shardplate, that something about shardplate prevents/interferes with his surgebinding (likely specific to surgebinding granted by an honorblade as we see other KR surgebinding in shardplate in Dalinar's flashbacks). Gavilar always wore his plate while wielding his blade (on screen at least) and so would not be able to surgebind. I think it's likely he didn't even realize exactly what he had given the apparent conflict between plate and honorblade-surgebinding. Also, when on the practice grounds training under Zahel in WoR, Kaladin hears no screams while holding and practicing with a blade similar in description to Gavilar's old blade. We know Kaladin is between oaths 2 and 3 at this point, and that he hasn't progressed any further during the full disadvantaged duel in which he first heard the screams when touching an enemy shardbearer's blade - so it's unlikely that during training he would not have heard screams if he were using a deadspren-blade. He also cannot use Syl as a blade yet as he hasn't given the third oath. This leaves only 2 options - he's using someone else's KR spren-blade (though this seems doubtful as I can't see a KR leaving their spren around a training ground for others to use as practice) OR he's using an honorblade. Thoughts? Contradictions? Figgledegrak?

Well that kills my Sigzil-as-worldhopper theory. Thank you Meg!

Do we have WOB as to whether Sigzil is a worldhopper himself/native to Roshar? I have a mini-theory regarding Sigzil's role in SA but want to make sure we have/don't have WOB on this. My apologies for vaguery and figgledigrak, but it's how I roll.

So I've been thinking about the Cosmere and a number of the things Brandon has said about Worldhopping. We know that Hoid, Gallodon, and Demoux are able to Worldhop using Shadesmar, but also the Sel is no longer such a great place to access Shadesmar (WOB). Yet we also know that Hoid was on Sel, left Sel, and will either still be on Sel or else return there for Elantris 2 depending on where in the Cosmere timeline Elantris 2 lines up. He also was on Sel to steal the Moon Septer from Shai in The Emperor's Soul, ~30 years after Elantris - so again he came and went (I sincerely doubt Hoid just hangs around anywhere for that long). So how does he do it? Is he able to somehow overcome the "very bad idea-"ness Brandon described in regards to accessing Shadesmar from Sel? Or does he also utilize the Spiritual Realm. We know certain individuals can 'hop' into the cognitive realm, so why not the spiritual? And given the little we know about the nature of the Spiritual Realm, it would make sense that Hoid's access/utilization of this realm contributes to his ability to have not actually had to 'live all those years' between the various books. And if this is so, who else can access the Spiritual Realm? And what role will this play in the Cosmere? Thoughts?

Hello all, Although a Sanderson fan before his Wheel of Time work, I've only just gotten up the courage to join 17th Shard. I'm not to be found elsewhere online, but to be part of the community, I decided to take the leap. I love my 3 kids, fantasy novels, hunting (and eating) gourmet wild mushrooms, and making cheese from my goats' milk. I think that about sums it up. I'm interested in getting involved in 17th Shard, so if you have any suggestions, send them my way. Take care, Smye