soulcastJam

This is classic manipulation technique. You ask someone to do something that they would do anyway to get them in the habit of listening to you. Even if you don't like them, you are associated with them.

I'm not sure that nativity to a land gives you the moral rights to it. That is one system of land ownership that is often used, but it doesn't follow that it is the best one. And if we do use nativity as the deciding factor in who has the rights, then what version do you use? Do we have some complicated definition of seniority that we apply to make the moral argument? IE, do I have more right to land because it was in my family 4 generations, while it was only in yours 3 generations? But what if your 3 generations were more recent than mine? How does temporal proximity play in this? There is no well-defined right and wrong that will provide a solution for grievances committed in past generations without causing grievances to the current generation, unless the current generation voluntarily (and unanimously) sacrifices its interest to correct the past. Historically, that has very rarely happened. Otherwise, it's messy.

Huh, I always thought of the larkins as being little stormlight dragons.

Lol. I hadn't realized it was already up. And clearly, I was wrong. =)

It isn't clear that Oathbringer has been retrieved after it was dropped out the window. Personally, I think the Ghostbloods have recovered it and are not going to turn it back over to Lalai.

It occurs to me that we would have a better idea of the goings on at ancient Urithiru if we understood the quantity of stormlight portioned out to various needs. First, I think we ought to list all of the major things stormlight was used for in Urithiru. Then, those among us who are better suited to the task can estimate stormlight usage for each task and what the weekly needs would be. Then, if we estimate the maximum time between storms and assume that as a minimum requirement for stormlight storage then we can guess at the maximum amount of stormlight, and the quantity/quality of gems required. As part of this exercise I posit that radiants were given a stormlight allowance, but other people had to pay for it. Feel free to add to the list. Also, we can add a list for things you would like to see added with new technologies... =) So, here goes with the list : PUBLIC UTILITIES Elevator lifts Water usage Garden irrigation Hygiene Consumption Lighting Surgebinding Trade ie, trading dun spheres for charged Oathgate travel FUTURE TECHNOLOGY Giant stormlight laser

Ummm.. Did we all forget that there are gardens on the tiers of urithiru? Are you assuming that all the watering comes from the well on the first level?

Yeah, all she has to do is draw

When I got married my wife always put it under because she said kids will unroll it (like the cats mentioned above). But I always put it over because (like the cats and the kids) I like to be able to access the end of the roll easily so I can pull and tear. Having it under just puts a roll of toilet paper between me and my square. And it's easier to spin the roll (to find the end) by batting it down then by using some uncomfortable underhand spin. And my 3 kids have unrolled the toilet paper fewer than 10 times in their lives. So far.

This is an interesting concept, but it holds the problem that history is never objective. It will always be colored by modern ideas and not enough sources. You quote the idea that ancient slavery was a necessary piece of developing modern civilization, but then you conclude that European use of African slaves was pure greed. Isn't it likely that someone in 1000 years will look at modern civilization and conclude that the European slave system was necessary for growth? At what point has a society outgrown the "need" for slaves? I am not disagreeing with the quote, which I don't believe I'm qualified to refute or support. But I do think you are arbitrarily deciding when slavery is good or bad for humanity based on your temporal proximity to it.

I'm actually having a hard time suspending disbelief on this on. The listeners and humans are very different and it seems a stretch that they would be able to interbreed, but perhaps the difference is more in the spiritual dna than in the physical. I guess listeners in mateform are similar to rosharan humans, so maybe it does make sense in a limited way. But it seems weird to me that none of the ability to change form shows up in herdazians or in the horneaters. Maybe that's where the aimians got it, unless they are an original species.

Technically it is not racism if they are of a different species.

Well, if you accept the theory that the parshmen would die without someone to tell them what to do, then it had to be immediately after they were fogged.

I think we are all forgetting that civilization was in complete ruin after the desolation. There was simply not enough structure to care for a large population of beings that could not care for themselves. There was barely enough to allow the humans remaining to pick themselves up to a really low standard of living. So basically, you can let them all die, or you can let them help rebuild civilization. That's how the slavery probably started. And after a while of being around a race that is mostly mindless, it doesn't surprise me that people stopped thinking of them as intelligent creatures. And as for fixing them, you might have forgotten that the listeners tried to wipe the humans off the face of the planet (or at least that's the implication of the only story we've heard so far). Why would they want to make the listeners capable of mass-slaughter again? Now, I'm not denying that it is likely that the historical facts are mostly wrong about how the war went down, so it's possible things will totally change in our view. But here are some things we know now: 1) Kaladin's experience shows the parshmen are similar to humans in intelligence and personality traits 2) Some parshendi have been fully possessed by spren and are unable to exert their free will It is possible that after Kaladin get's to know these great parshmen they will be enslaved by spren and wreak havoc on the world. That is probably what the humans were afraid of, if they ever even considered 'fixing' the listeners. And that, of course, is assuming they had any idea how to do it in the first place. Remember, they were set back to the stone age after the desolation. I think we all know that slavery is a terrible thing. I'm not sure that any of us has come up with a viable alternative for the post-desolation situation, even if every human on Roshar were altruistic and forgiving. Of course, it's quite difficult to speculate on possible solutions because it was so far in the distant past that we don't have a lot of details. So here's a theory that makes space for an alternative: We will find out that the listeners were set up as scapegoats so that they would be enslaved and help humanity rebuild. This was done by the KR or the heralds as a way of saving humanity. That deception was discovered and is what broke the knights radiant.

The question of who fogged their minds is quite important. If we assume that the humans were not responsible for this, then the OP makes a good point. Taking the parshmen in was ultimately helpful to them in preserving their race, even if many of them individually would have preferred death to the fog. If the humans are responsible then it is difficult to argue for the OP on a moral basis. It sounds too much like an opportunistic excuse to enslave them. However, he is probably correct that the parshmen slave situation was better than mass death. That doesn't do much to recommend it though. As an alternative to the humans being fully responsible, I was thinking that the mind-fogging might have been the result of removing voidspren bonds. Like removing a parasite and damaging the host in the process. Perhaps the humans tried to end the war and help their enslaved enemies at the same time by severing the bonds between parshendi and spren. They may not have understood the ultimate consequences, or they may have deemed them preferable to enslavement by evil spren.

I was thinking that it had to do with his boon / curse. If he rejected the boon, would it also remove the curse?

I almost started crying when I saw this. I'm so happy.

Well, regardless of the stone, I think there is a difference between stable and unstable blade releases.

That sounds correct, but I am also recalling Adoling crushing the gem in the blade he won. Do you know what the point of that was?

I've always thought there was a difference between the way Adolin keeps his blade intact while throwing, and keeping the blade intact for lending. In the case of lending, the blade is to remain intact indefinitely until it is summoned back to the owners hand. You take the blade from a semi-stable state, bound to the physical realm by direct contact with the owner, and place it in a stable state in the physical realm where no contact is required. It is locked there until summoned. In the case of throwing, the blade is supposed to stay intact, but only for a limited time. The difficulty for Adolin is that he is keeping the blade in a highly unstable state without the stabilization coming from physical contact. In this case the blade will disappear when he stops focusing on it. He doesn't have to summon it for it to disappear. This is very important. If he threw the blade in a stable state then in the 10 heartbeats it takes to resummon the blade someone could pick up or catch the blade and use it for their own purposes. <del>Or they could break the gemstone, severing the ties to him and he could lose the blade forever.</del> My point is, Adolin's trick is orders of magnitude harder than what is happening with the king's blade. As a further illustration, take this visual. You have a bowling ball and a small hill. You can easily put the ball on either side of the hill (stable physical realm or dismissed blade). You can also hold the ball on top of the hill with your hand (summoned blade). It's very difficult to keep the ball on top of the hill without your hand however (summoned and thrown blade).

So, do we know that this is the only continent? Is there, perhaps, another continent waiting to be discovered?

Ummm.. He IS the Flash. But don't tell. Actually, being the Flash isn't that helpful if you're typing. You can press the keys faster, but you have to wait for them to spring back up which really reduces your typing speed. He would have to write things by hand where he has full control over motion.

I think we will see at least one new character as a radiant this book.

We know that a shard can give up his power, per todays FAQ Friday. But what if he/she wanted to only give up part of his power. Could you create a shard council where all the members shared an equal amount of the power and the personality adjustment? It would be less lonely, and you would have the benefit of multiple points of view. Of course, it would be harder to get things done, but it could be useful.

Does Nightblood need to drain the investiture from a person? Can he just drain spheres that Szeth is holding?