Mistdork

Relevant:

Not to bring this up again but...this is the REAL CANON, after all: "The Stick reigns," said the Stormfather. That explains everything.

The Godbeyond. Probably just a manifestation of the Stick. Whatever Adonalsium was exactly? Another manifestation of the stick! It's all the stick, that's why B.A.R.K. and B.I.T.E. really are hiding. The Stick reigns.

So, I've been rereading the Alloy of Law recently, and the first thing I always noticed is how stiff, socially awkward, and insanely organized Steris is compared to most people. In fact, her personality seemed to fit the description of Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disordered (which is not to be confused with OCD, it's cousin)...

OCPD often includes a need for perfectionism in all aspects of life (stern and proper to a fault), preoccupation with things like list and organization (the Courtship/Engagement/Marriage Contract she gives Wax), strict morals, and a devotion to 'work' over other aspects of life. Many of these traits fit Steris to a "T". They also can make a person appear stiff, stern, and even somewhat crazy because of their need to keep everything organized, perfect, and inflexible. OCPD effects the way a person views the world. They want it organized to their standard, and this can make them hard to live with and sometimes, hard to have a relationship with. When the woman you're trying to court wants to reform to her rigid standards, relationships become difficult (thus explaining why those three suitors who tried to court her before Wax ended their courtship...and why she has had such problems in the courting department before and in their relationship...)

(For a better explanation than I can provide, here's a link: https://iocdf.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/OCPD-Fact-Sheet.pdf )

I know that paragraph is a bit piecemeal (Steris would disapprove of my poor organizational skills), but I just wanted to point this out... I could, of course, be barking up the wrong tree, or seeing phantoms that aren't there, but I just wanted to point out that I think Steris is, at the very least, not neurotypical.

Eh I don't know about that.  Like the hit was definitely orchestrated by Edwarn but I think the spy was unrelated to that?  Like why send in a spy when you are just going to kill everyone, easier just to capture a few and torture them?  I do think that the kandra is working for Harmony, since Winsting dismisses the notion of him watching as "superstitious nonsense", that's just a fool tempting a "god".

Yeeeah, I know, I just have an evil desire to see what a kandra criminal could do if they set their mind to it, but that's just me... You're probably right, though, since Winstring's a bit of a special kind of idiot who had it coming...xD

It must be that time of year again...time to spoil ourselves silly with excerpts and then wait like a horde of children in line for the next Pokemon game...(err, the '90s happened!) as we wait, impatiently, for this book. I'm great at similes! See, I should get a gold metal.

 

On the "spy": Did anyone else get the feeling she was a kandra?

Yeah. They're probably working for Edward Ladrian or someone like that. Or maybe I just want an "evil"/rebel kandra...<.<

I really liked it. I know some of you had issues with the humor, but it's important to remember that in AoL, Wax is, well, old and has been through some terrible things, so yeah I imagine his demeanor would change over time. I think it makes sense that he would crack jokes like that, but that's just me.

I wouldn't say that he's "old" (he's only 42/43), though, I guess that makes him relatively old in protagonist land...(but I wouldn't expect someone to get back to their past self either after losing their spouse...) He also matured, middle-aged, etc.

Wax explained/mentioned this in AoL (60, hardcover; where Wax and Wayne are discussing Wayne trading things the first time):

"My humor isn't lost, Wayne," Waxillium said, "just strained. What I told you was true, and this bullet doesn't change anything."

Also, Wax is a bit more..."humorous" in the prologue before Lessie gets shot. When she was killed, his sense of humor went with her (to an extent...).

Lessie said "god beyond"! What does she know?

Now it's time to make a theory about Lessie being a member of the 17th Shard or secretly a worldhopper from Threnody. Let the madness begin! xD

I think a few people did behind spoiler tags. They're obviously top-secret giraffes!

The giraffes are Agents of Harmony. Shesh. Of course they had to be hidden by spoiler tags! D:

The humor - or at least the levity - of the conversations made an impression on me as well. It's been a while since I read The Alloy of Law, but I don't remember Wax talking like this, I remembered him as more... solemn. Not entirely, but more in that direction. Still, I like him. 

 

I also now ship him and Lessie. Waxie is now a thing.

Hmmm, is there something in the air? It smells like character development to me. (Considering that Breeze is his ancestor, I was wondering where the snarker was in AoL. Now we know...poor Wax...) 

Huh...considering that the Roughs are on the Northern Continent...Does that mean that Scadrial is still in the same orbit that it was before Sazed took the Shards (the one TLR put it in when he was messing around with that kind of stuff...)? Since the Savannah is found near to the equator on earth and it seems that Scadrial is nearer to its sun than we are, I guess this makes sense...

So, are there elephants too?

@Kurkistan: Just checked my ebook of the original trilogy, and it seems like "shove" wasn't capitalized in those books. However, I can't say if it was that way in Alloy of Law (I'll check that later, I only have a hard cover of that book..., I'm now kind of curious to see if it was...)

Just one bit of nitpicking from me: (Sorry...) D;
 

"The kid–round-faced and seventeen, with barely a hint of stubble on his face, despite weeks of trying–nodded with a solemn expression."[/size]

 
This sentence seems a bit awkward to me...

Also, I just realized that (mentally) I always change Waxillium's name to "Wax" when I read his perspective... >.>
 

I do think the humor felt a little forced, but I'm super excited for the book regardless.

I feel that it's a bit out of character for Wax, personally but it might be that we're so used to him being cold(er) and stern(er) that it's kind of strange to think he didn't have a stick up his...anyway. I find it much more weird than forced, personally, it...oddly reminds me of someone else...heh heh heh (and not Wit).
 

Also, man, catching your spur (or any part of your boot) on the stirrup really, really hurts, just fyi. *past experience* -.- 

When I first read Way of Kings (way back 2011 before I was even a member here), I never saw the characters as Asiatic in appearance. I didn't realize that I was supposed too at the time, though, I can't say I saw them as European either (neither or, probably closer to Middle Eastern, believe it or not!) So, when I found out I was totally wrong, oh well. The only character who I pictured someone accurately back then was Shallan, I always see her as looking kind of like a Hungarian or Slavic ginger...;P

I see Nalthians (especially the Hallandren) as Greek-ish in appearance; like, with thick, curly/wavy hair, hooded eyes, prominent noses and cheekbones, that kind of thing. I don't think this was how I was supposed to see them that way, but unfortunately, the image is there to stay...So, yeah, Vasher has dark, wavy hair in my mind...hehe.

I only remember Shallan thinking that (but it's been awhile since I've read the books...). Whether or not  Navani agrees is another issue entirely (I think she'd say he's a "hot dad" too, lol). Dalinar isn't Shallan's type. Dalinar is like fifty-something. I'd be weirded out, a little, if Shallan found him attracted (despite that she's an artist, and aesthetics is her thing..., different artists find different things aesthetically pleasing!). So, going on this, I think I'll go with my theory that he is handsomer than Shallan's own opinion of him. Hot dad all the way.

Fine then. Goku does get killed by an Aonic equation, travels to the afterlife... where Kelsier is waiting in ambush and uppercuts him as soon as he arrives.

I bet Kelsier was getting kind of bored by that point, too. He probably hadn't killed for awhile...and...*cough*

But since this is Goku, he'd probably somehow find a way back from the 'deeper' afterlife (a Shard did it?) and fight them again. The guy's a menace. He just can't end. -.-

(What a Marty Stu). xD

For thesis/dissertation/book length research (and for fun, besides), I think someone ought to write about the historical developments of the (modern) epic fantasy as a sub-genre. Like how it's evolved since Tolkien wrote the Lord of Rings. It's like an excuse to read the (important) fantasy books throughout the decades and to dive into interview databases and stuff. Though, whether or not you could sell that to your adviser is another question entirely...hehehe...(I'd personally call it, There and Somewhere New Again: an epic's tale, from Middle Earth to the Cosmere, I'm totally a nerd/dork sometimes, do I win the nerdy paper contest?)

Or, you could write on Captain America, doing a comparative history piece based on the original comics and the films and linking it into how we viewed patriotism in the past and how we view it today. This is more like an undergraduate history paper though, but stilllllll pretty geeky...

Unfortunately (or fortunately, ha!), I never did any of these things. Oh well. xD

(At least none of these are my actual thesis topic, I'm afraid that's private and it's also a bit boring to most people, haha).

I'm not sure it's so much as barren, as it is that wildlife was adapted to the ash landscape by TLR. I imagine that something like a deer might be smaller and they probably don't produce like crazy like they do in Michigan or other places (there numbers are lower because there's less food but not as low as we would think. Given that Luthadel is a huge city, I think that we would be surprised at how well animals, like humans, did in this period...)

Anyway, considering that many skaa lived on plantations (which, as I realize don't have flowering plants...), and it seems that many people ate things like bread (comes from wheat, which, is a kind of grass and has "flowers", though not pretty ones) and vegetables. They also drank things like wine! (Hmmm, what kind of wine were they drinking? Where did the grapes come from? Was it actually honey wine [mead]? Was it some other kind of non-grape based wine?) Perhaps, we have something weirder going on, or the flowers are just not that colorful when they blossom and/or the flowers are pretty small (like the aforementioned grapes) and non-showy...

And perhaps, the real kicker, I doubt that Vin or any of the main characters really knew all that much about botany (at the time, Sazed, of course being a special exception later on).

Commanding Awakened ropes to trip indiscriminately.

Peace, not throwing people off skyscrapers.

Snark and entropy, best pals forever.

I'm alive; the universe ended yesteryear.

"The Stick reigns," said the Stormfather.

(Thus, the meaning of Stormlight has changed and the villain is the Stick who refused to change).

Here is a response I got in the (incredibly stil-ongoing) AMA on reddit. (source)

 

Looks like the geography-based analysis was spot on. Props to ecohansen for spotting this! (Also, great discussion so far. Lots of good points from all sides.)

Now I am definitely going with the theory that the reason the Shard Pool leaked/bled into the surrounding area was due to a major earthquake sometime in the past (before the city was settled, because the Tears of Edgli seemed to be part of the reason it became a cultural center). This is just awesome, ecohansen.

July I think, 100% by the end of summer. Art takes a while.

Who's doing this art?

I actually just reform your body and remake you into your new title. I'm still holding the power of creation right now. This entire timespan of 17S has really just been a few minutes to me.

So, you have time dilation powers too? How does this work in the context of the theory of relativity? D:

Agreed, and I think that having the ability to "cancel" (is this more like canceling or undoing?) is satisfactory to me. I figure if something was done in "anger" most people would come back later and fix it...(or I'm an idealist, I probably am, oh well!)

(But if you HAD a warning, you could always make it, "Remember, Sazed is watching", though Harmony wouldn't really care...for the most part)...xD

I worry about giving powers to someone that follows a moving coin for more then 1 push.

To make it work, you're a Riotor; stroke their sense of greed each time the coin moves until it's overwhelming! Then...PROFIT.

Whenever I see these covers, I suddenly really really wish I could move to the UK!

...then I remember: nope, to poor, grad student nowz. *le sigh*

Maybe the man in the mirror is Sazed? He looks scarily similar to how I picture him.

Plus, one side of his face is covered by the mist while the other is somewhat skull-like

I hope it's Sazed (I wouldn't mind if we got a...weird...Shard perspective bit, hehe), but it could be whoever the villain is too. Or someone else. Who knows.

When it gets foggy at night, you smile, and think, finally, the Mists are out! Time to kill some noblemen.

You guys need to burn more pewter, guys. This would be a lot easier if you remembered to always bring a little metal with you. ;D

Seriously, though, this is why I prefer reading it on kindle. xD

Wowza, that's impressive. I can't say I knew that was why this sometimes happened despite knowing that it could...awesome. Now I can invest more knowledge into the knowledge bank...

Anyway, I think to some extent, Endowment is doing something to the environment, making it weird at the very least, here's some WOB:

Q: Is there a similar relationship between Endowment and Hallandren's jungle as there is between Harmony and Elendel Basin ?

A: Yes and no. The flowers are being fed by something that's very similar to what you might find on other planets. So the ground is saturated with something that producing a similar effect as Elendel Basin. But it's not the same thing. Elendel Basin was just crafted really really well, and then it was endowed with a little bit of extra help. Here [in Hallandre's jungle] we have this extra seeping into the ground from the pool, which is saturated around and causing the flowers and causing what's going on around there. We'll wait until you've read Words of Radiance.

http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/4290-heres-some-late-stuff/

It could just be a the leaky shard pool. Or maybe the pool leaked because of a giant earthquake. Just because it's happened, doesn't mean that the characters know about it or think about it often...

Ugh, I think that the best way to get rid of misplaced/accidental downvotes might be to somehow give a "warning" when you try to downvote a member. That way, if you're scrolling through the forum on a touchphone, tablet, or kindle fire, you will be informed that you almost accidentally downvoted someone (that's if this works on phones, I don't know if it can). Such a "defense mechanism" against accidental downvoting could also act as a reminder that downvoting others can sometimes be hurtful and done without considering their feelings. It can protect users from malicious downvoting, and act as a member's conscious to make them think before they downvote while still staying anonymous and keeping most of the current system in tact...

In theory, I mean, but I don't know if it's possible to provide a warning on downvotes in practice (and it might get annoying, too).