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happyman

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Everything posted by happyman

  1. happyman
    This. So totally this. I agree 100%. I think that some of the reason Kaladin was trying to help assassinate Elhokar were: (1) His comrade-in-arms and friend, Moash, really wanted to, in order to get vengeance. Kaladin knew that that was the real reason. (2) His hatred of light-eyes made it easier for him to see only the bad in Elhokar. (3) By the end, he had convinced himself that Elhokar was responsible for the tragedies in his own family (via Roshone) and he wanted revenge as well. (4) The "for the good of the kingdom" bit really meant "For the good of that part of the kingdom that was my friends and my family, the jerk." At least when I read the book, every time Kaladin thought that, I felt an undercurrent of unease along the lines of "Is that really the right was to handle this?" My two cents.
  2. happyman
    Oh fear not, young one. For to one secure in their stickness, it tells us that questioning is a not a sin of itself, but that it is possible to remain pure even after such thoughts from the Firebringers.
  3. happyman
    This question has come up before. Without WoB, I'd assume that it's a change that's theoretically possible, but astronomical amounts of work and Investiture would have to be used. Well beyond what any mortal can do. After all, Shai's soulstamps took years of her life, and they only recreate her well after she is born.
  4. happyman
    I honestly don't think so. It seems to me that Brandon is really playing up the idea that Spren are living ideas. They were killed because the Radiants broke their oaths! In a very real sense, the Spren were the oaths that the Radiants broke. To come fully alive again, I suspect that they need their core idea to be revived, e.g. somebody needs to keep the oaths associated with them. This makes the ability to bond them as most Shardbearers do rather odd, I guess, but in the Cosmere, ideas have a certain amount of ontological inertia; hence the realms.
  5. happyman
    I think I just caught something. Aren't black, white and red the standard colors for the different forms of Listeners? And it does sound like Surgebinders standing against them. A representative of every order would seem appropriate. Maybe during a seriously important fight, protecting humanity or something?
  6. happyman
    Y'know, this may be the best short piece Brandon has every written. This masterful composition dispels all doubts about the world, establishing within it the kind of serenity only possible to one who truly knows himself. While it admits to the possibility of doubt as a prerequisite for this inner peace, such troubles are quickly swept up in the true Stickness of the protagonist, avoiding the dreaded flames with a certainty that we can only admire and seek to emulate. Indeed, it i truly a parable for all of us, for in our stickne... Err, Agh. Oh, sorry. Got my tongue stuck in my cheek somehow. Where were we?
  7. happyman
    Didn't we do this one?
  8. happyman
    Try http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/7275-church-of-the-stick/ for more stick silliness. That should probably go for everybody else who wants to join in as well. It's off-topic for this thread.
  9. happyman
    Since this is now a thing, I hereby proclaim myself High Priest of the Stick, leader of the First and True Branch, and the human closest to understanding the true meaning of the ideal "I am a stick!" No Splinter groups are allowed unless they are Splinters of the True Stick. ...By the Leaves of my Master, what have I created?
  10. happyman
    What have I done? .... Hail the Stick!
  11. happyman
    Minor disagreement: I believe that this rattle is refeurring to that single moment where Kaladin is hanging in the air jumping over the chasm ahead of his men getting the bridge in place while Syl demands that he speak the words. Same basic event, but just a tad bit more literal. Interesting how the Parshendi are apparently referred to as friends. Also, I'm pretty sure the rattle about "two dead men" is using the term in reference to the species "man" in contrast to other species. It's an unfortunate accident of English history that the species name and male sex name are the same (and it is not true in other languages; it wasn't true in older forms of English either), but it is a sensible and literal interpretation of the rattle.
  12. happyman
    Seeing how Szeth develops will be interesting, and more than a little nauseating. He's been abused in ways that I can barely imagine; on the other hand, I know of no moral system that wouldn't place at least some of the guilt on him. I will be interested to see where he goes, but I would not be surprised if he remains an antagonist.
  13. happyman
    Ah, yes, this subject. You missed some of the, ah, excitement, trendkill. When this was first proposed (that trees can think in the Cosmere and that Kwaan was honestly studying it), it apparently became a bit of an argument, for reasons I've never understood. Apparently real life philosophies got intermingled. But yes, with the Stormlight Archive and Emperor's soul for background, trees thinking (or at least, having a cognitive aspect, which isn't really the same thing, but could easily be seen as such by a non-scholar such as Alendi) suddenly became a lot less ridiculous. It became obvious, even without WoB, that Kwaan was honestly studying aspects of Realmantics. There are some earlier hints if you look for them, but easily the biggest are in the Annotations for Elantris where Brandon describes some of the background behind the meaning of the Aons.
  14. happyman
    You know what I want now? I want that blasted stick to be the thing that finally gains all the powers of all the Shards and ascends to true godhood over the entire Cosmere. And still just say "I am a stick." Because, why not?
  15. happyman
    I agree with Swimmingly. They are a useful part of the world, and we will probably see multiple characters use them over the course of many books. They probably aren't so much Chekhov's gun as they are yet another tool.
  16. happyman
    Quick correction to this: Both the God-king and Vasher (and maybe Denth as well) have breaths beyond their divine one, the God-king to absurd levels. However, we never see them try the staying-alive-without-divine-breath trick.
  17. happyman
    These added bits, I believe, might shed a bit more light on what Hoid is trying to do. I think he honestly wants to save Roshar, at least partly because it is the best way to defeat Odium, but he doesn't want anybody consciously relying on his help, and he thinks its destruction might be necessary. Given his other actions, though, I am guessing that he sincerely hopes it is not.
  18. happyman
    Looking back on this thread, every death rattle that we have managed to decipher is pretty unambiguous when we actually see what happens. All the pieces fit, nobody really argues. This is in contrast to the wild speculation that we do when we haven't seen the event yet. Examples of death rattles which were fulfilled in WoR show this very clearly. So unless you can explain every word and sentence in a meaningful way, I would bet against any interpretation of any unfulfilled death rattles.
  19. happyman
    I agree that it was Wit in disguise. It seems like something easy enough for him to do, all things considered. However, I expect that he did it strictly for his own amusement, i.e. because he could. Sounds like a good reason to me.
  20. happyman
    We don't know the what the relationships between the Herald's were before the Oathpact. It's entirely possible for Jezrien to have been king to one or some of the other Herald's, but not to all.
  21. happyman
    Given just how important this party would be, given that it could start a new desolation, I would say that it might be a tad bit easier to get everybody there than a random night out with friends. I mean, what else would the Herald's do if they heard about such a thing? They aren't doing what they are supposed to be doing, which probably leaves their schedule's kind of open when something they really care about comes up. I mean, when you just invite friends over, sure, they can have a dentist's appointment which interferes. But when your mother dies? Dentist appointment cancelled, new plans, the whole family makes it unless they are physically/financially constrained, and sometime even then. If the Herald's deliberately attended, it would be the same thing. As for them dying, I seriously doubt it. First of all, my best guess is that if they die, they go back to Damnation. So, big motivator there for them not to. Many people wonder if there is life after death. They don't wonder; they know and would seriously rather not. Secondly, they are apparently pretty powerful in their own right. This is just a guess, of course, but it seems likely.
  22. happyman
    I strongly believe that this scene can be described somewhat easily. Ash is Shallash, b4dave mentioned. I believe that the other two men are Heralds as well (I haven't checked, but one of them apparently fits the description of Darkness, aka Nalan, Herald of Justice). The "my Lord" they are referring to would then be Jezrien, whose Honorblade Szeth has on him. As to what is getting worse, that's hard to say, but since its been all but confirmed that Shallash is going around wrecking artwork of herself, I would guess that we are seeing some form of insanity (or worse) in all of them.
  23. happyman
    I think we can say this for certain: Something is different about the Heralds beyond just their weapons. For one thing, they seem to be functionally immortal. If just wielding an Honorblade did that, I suspect others would have found out at some point. I also agree with other people that an Honorblade must be more than what we have seen Szeth do with it. "Underpowered" is the only way to describe it's effects so far, even if it did grant him the powers of a Windrunner.
  24. happyman
    Which is an odd statement, because the Wheel of Time is chock-full of time skips, most of them going unnoticed by the readers because nothing interesting happened in the meantime. The exceptions to that rule,on the other hand, produced all kinds of complaints. Rightfully.
  25. happyman
    If I absolutely had to choose a one of the knownish factions to put that ardent into, it would be Sons of Honor, just for the church connections. I don't view any of the others as at all likely. My second guess would be "unknown" rather than any of the others.
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