lol_king

Also just saw this WoB http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/13720-worldhoppers-from-roshar/?p=171020 According to this the Heralds are bound to the Roshar system, and haven't left it in the past 4500 years. On a side note it also means Nalan didn't get Nightblood himself and used someone else, or it was already in the Rosharan system.

I don't think it is certain that Taravangian holds the secret yet, the epigraph seems to be written in a to-do list sort of way, that Taravangian should hold the secret, it may be needed, but if he already had it there was no need to refer to it as a secret or make that point at all. So it is entirely possible Taravangian has no idea/wrong idea what the secret may be, as he can't divine information, he needs some source and it seems highly unlikely that the radiants told anyone. Or he may have acquired the secret since then but we still don't know if it can be used to cause another recreance, Taravangian was probably guessing that it can be and at that intelligence he could have problem contemplating that the feelings or emotions of the radiants themselves could be a possible cause.

The parshendi didn't lose, they fought to a stalemate, and succeeded in summoning the everstorm which would have decimated the Alethi if not for the oathgate which the parshendi didn't know about, even Rlain didn't know. Also neither the Alethi nor the parshendi had anything to do with the surprise highstorm which combined with everstorm may have destroyed the stormform parshendi but no confirmation is given, do they may still be alive. So i don't see it as much of a plot hole. It was a pretty good plan and it kind of worked.

I know, i was just going for another character who doesn't like gender restrictions, but you're right, thinking back on it as she is an atheist it is kind of like against the point i was trying to make. So never mind, ignore that line.

What i meant was that vorinism wasn't the source of division of feminine and masculine arts so Amaram is not actually going against his vorinism. for example if vorinism had a source book like Bible or quran, it wouldn't say that men and women should have exclusive duties. The main point being that Amaram is knowledgeable enough to know that by following what are known as feminine arts he's not going against his belief in vorinism. Jasnah too didn't like the gender restrictions. The ardents let the people follow their beliefs of feminine arts & masculine arts and changed their system of devotaries and callings accordingly, but they didn't want to restrict themselves so they said ardents don't have gender, or that's how i imagine it went in the beginning, I mean there's no one to question ardents on right or wrong is there. All speculation of course.

The gender system was not a part of vorinism initially, and still not but it is so ingrained in the society that the two seem inseparable. Note that the ardents don't follow the gender system. And the gender system was created to control the sbardblades (there's a WoB on that somewhere), and is based on a book and does not originate from vorinism. Now Amaram seems pretty knowledgeable about the history, desolations and probably knows the reasons for the gender restrictions and probably thinks there's no reason to be bound by them.

I doubt Adolin will be chosen as the champion based on his fighting skills, we know Taln is going to be a main character later on and he's a Herald so he's already kind of honor's champion and i doubt any radiant at least in there present state can come close to him in fighting skills. There is dalinar too, and now that he's a radiant his age will be not that much of a factor. Also i doubt it will be in the hands of the humans, the Stormfather will probably decide. And if there is going to be a champion of honor wouldn't cultivation get one too? Lift serms a likely candidate for that as she's already gifted by the nightwatcher. Also Lift is not a surgeon, just a healer.

I think you'll enjoy The Old Kingdom/Abhorsen trilogy, it has a pretty unique magic system and also The Bartimaeus sequence if you liked Harry Potter, it's also a trilogy plus a stand alone novel.

Well Taravangian is a king, and probably has access to normal soulcasters, so he could very well know how it is supposed to work, and i wouldn't be surprised if he actually knows how to use one, his minions sure can. Also, i may be remembering wrong but i think jasnah tells everyone to clear out of there, but Taravangian stays, so maybe he stays so that he can spy on jasnah. And as i said he has access to soulcasters, so if jasnah couldn't rescue her granddaughter he could still have saved her, still risky but not as much of a sacrifice.

A rare case where i liked the Movie better than the Novel was with Stardust. The book imo tried too hard to be Adult and 'dark', and some scenes seem out of place and forced. And also the ending was pretty bad, it wad unfulfilling and anticlimactic and served no purpose more so because there is no sequel. There was a secret society too which remained a secret to the end. Comparatively the Movie was lighthearted and much better than the book. Although i saw the movie first and only went to the book because i was intrigued by the world and wanted to know more (and was kinda disappointed), so that might have affected my opinion. I also liked LotR movies better than the novels, but again i saw the movies first. I tried to read the Novels, because i like fantasy, and LotR seems like a novel every person who calls himself/herself a fantasy fan must read, but i gave up halfway through the two towers. The world building was too much for me, the descriptions dragged on for too long, and there was a stark lack of female characters. but i think the Movies cover pretty much everything in the Novels except for worldbuilding, which i think is something pretty rare among movie adaptations, so i think i can still call myself a fantasy fan.

http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=768 This link has Brandons description of Aons and how they were discovered and used.

Szeth regularly uses stormlight present in his surroundings, while assassinating gavilar he used a lot of stormlight from the lamps present in the hallways etc. And he still had to use stormlight from gavilar's shardplate to heal himself completely. And in a neutral territory for Szeth vs. Vin fight he would probably have only what he could carry. Same for vin, but her metal reserves last a lot longer, and if she runs out of something due to duralumin, she can just down another vial, and they are a lot les bulky than spheres szeth has to carry. Also Szeths stormlight will run out whether he uses it or not, so his Time is limited, Vin has no such restriction. Also sphere pouches can also become vulnerable targets if Vin figures out their purpose, even if all it does is inconvenience him.

In the words of radiance chapter 60 epigraph, the reply to hoids letter - "Have you given up on the gemstone, now that it is dead? And do you no longer hide behind the name of your old master? I am told that in your current incarnation you’ve taken a name that references what you presume to be one of your virtues." The writer of the letter chose the words "... In your current incarnation..." this could be another clue that hoid has the ability of resurrection/reincarnation. Because if he only changed names and looks, the word disguise, form etc would have been better.

I think Szeth's stormlight reserves will last less than Vin's metal reserves, so vin could just hide and keep track of him using bronze, and stay out of sight until his magical pulse starts to fade, then come out and kill him. She could also try knocking the sword out of his hand maybe by atium combat or throwing a projectile at his hand. Do we know if lashings work on aluminium? If they if they don't, then a good pewter/tin/atium enhanced throw at his hand or even his head would do it. And lastly, if she has access to metals discovered later such as cadmium or nicrosil, then she could use time bubbles. slow down the time, think of a good strategy, or even sling a coinshot at him if she is skilled enough to pull it off from inside the bubble. Hide and speed up time until szeth runs out and then kill him. Maybe nicrosil could be used to make szeth use all of his stormlight at once. This is all theoretical of course, but could work.

In the past there were hundreds or maybe even thousands of radiants, if including squires, who i think are basically radiants in training. And i seriously doubt each and every one of them went through a traumatic event like murdering their own parents, losing their sibling, being made a slave etc. And then we have a radiant inviting dalinar (in his flashback) to Urithiru, he didn't know if he was broken or not, but he thought there was a chance he might become a radiant, maybe by attaching him as squire to a radiant. So, being broken to that level probably wasn't a requirement, it certainly helped but wasn't necessary. Also pattern says her lies are what drew her, not her brokenness. Maybe he's referring to her art, or maybe she lies to herself that her mother loves her, but being broken in and of itself is not what drew him.

Why is killing inherently wrong? I think because it takes away another's right to live. So the way i see it, if you take someone's right to live away, then you don't deserve it either. Subject to circumstances and exceptions, of course. So jasnah is justified in her killing, as she had good intentions, she's within the law, and we know it wasn't a misguided decision and it would ultimately help people.

About Nalan vs Adolin, i don't think Adolin stands a chance. Zahel/vasher is not known as the best swordsman in warbreaker, and barely does any real swordfighting, and just throws nightblood around. But he's pretty old and experienced now, and so he beats the crap out of Kaladin who's also known as very skilled without magic. So with their millennia of experience i doubt Adolin would stand a chance against any of the Heralds, much less Nalan who's been active all this time and is head of a fighting order. For example, Taln even in his crazy state catches a blow dart out of air just on his reflexes.

Wyndle refers to nightwatcher as 'mother' so i doubt she's human.

I didn't say Adolin is a flat character, just that he is not as conflicted as the others, comparatively speaking. he has depth, and he's written pretty well that doesn't mean he's complex. He is a character we can trust to do the right thing, he's like breath of fresh air among all these characters we keep wondering about what they will do. For example: Will kaladin tell dalinar about Amaram or not? Or about being a radiant? Will shallan join the ghostbloods? How come jasnah can stand up to an entire mysterious and powerful organization by herself? And what's the deal with her and men? And what the heck is going on un Renarins devious mind? We don't know (until the story tells us) and we keep wondering, Adolin is comparatively pretty straightforward. And bravery for the sake of being brave is not bravery. Shallan is shown as pretty timid and under a ptsd type situation in her flashbacks, yet she does so many things for her family, she even kills her own father to protect her family. She goes around the world after jasnah the heretic, an enigma and one of the most powerful people in the world to steal her soulcaster even though she hasn't even left her fathers estate before in her life. That's what i call being brave, doing something even when you're afraid. I don't think we see Adolin being overly brave, his stunts during fighting can be defined as recklessness and (over)confidence. And When he rescued the prostitute, he had a sbardblade and he was Adolin kholin, he didn't have to be brave to do it. Edit: and i accidentally downvoted someone again, this time moogle. Someone balance that please.

I think a lot of people are arguing for Adolin being a Dustbringer just because it would be cool and he's a fighter and Dustbringer is the most destructive order. But i would like to point out that surges don't define the order attributes do, or Kal would be an Edgedancer, because he does a lot of healing. And even for his fighting skills edgedancer suits him better as edgedancers are defined as graceful and deadly which would make him a much much deadlier swordsman, while Dustbringers seem like people who just blow things up. And he shares another thing with lift that he's not a complex character, he's not hard to read, he just wants to do the right thing, and dedicated to only what he likes - dueling (for lift it's food of course). He doesn't have a dark side. He did murder sadeas, but for now we don't know how that will affect him, he was doing the right thing after all. Dalinar, kaladin, jasnah, shallan all have that darkness built into their character, even Renarin gives me that vibe. Of course he won't be exactly like lift because radiants are still people. As for Dustbringer attributes fitting him they would fit almost any of the main characters, even shallan as much as Adolin. And for me the bravest character is Kaladin, and most obedient szeth (who i think fits Dustbringers better).

I accidentally downvoted windrunner's post above, can someone upvote it pls?

I think it's given in the books that each set of shardplate was unique. Shallan uses the excuse to update the records of shardplate and shardplate to meet amaram and other purposes (don't remember). And When szeth first sees gavilar in shardplate he remarks that he didn't recognize it, he would only say that if there was something special about each plate. Paint is not reliable as they keep changing it.

In Dalinar's Purelake vision the Female Radiant has Adolin like shardplate, and also has abrasion surge. Not an in world evidence, but i think it could be foreshadowing of Adolin's order. So it could be either Dustbringer or Edgedancer. I'm leaning towards edgedancer, because Adolin fits the loving trait (because of his friendliness and dating history and all). And the other radiants also had one attribute in the forefront and develop the other during the journey towards full radianthood. But the female radiant seems like a Dustbringer, because her shardplate glowed deep red, and squires (to me edgedancers don't seem like an order with squires), and also a sbardblade described as enormous (a beeter description would have helped though). So it could go either ways between the two.

Kaladin is also the only darkeyed/unprivilaged main character and radiant (except maybe lift, but she's in the back 5) who had to work for everything he has, if he's moping around i think he has earned the right to do so. He went from spearman to squadleader, bridgeman to captian because of his skill and dedication. Unlike adolin and dalinar who were made commanders just because they were born lighteyes (of high rank). That said, my favorite character is jasnah because she is just so damnation intelligent (and cool). And also an atheist. I hope both of them hook up...

Tien could be the other lightweaver, we know shallan and kaladin started showing signs very early, so he's not too young. He's much like shallan in how he can see beauty in simple things (rocks). and he's good at art (he carves a detailed horse for kaladin). So even if he died he could have been a proto radiant, ym died too and he was one.