Stark

You've just discovered the origin of gemhearts I think...

I know this is old, and a little necro-y. But If they were going to do anything VR for stormlight, I would want to be able to get Dalinar's visions as mini VR playgrounds, where you don't always have to follow the same path, much like Dalinar's actual visions. That would be nuts. With Morgan Freeman providing the voice of Honor, of course. Or Liam Neeson.

I think the deduction we are supposed to glean from this implication is that the sphere houses a spren. The question becomes: Which Unmade? Chances are that the one Szeth hid contains the top Unmade, Ba-Ado-Mishram. The one given to Eshonai is interesting - not likely any of the ones we have seen on screen, because it left with her to the shattered plains, so it would not be any of the free ones we have seen. Things went weird in Kholinar before the Everstorm returned, so it likely is not Asherterman, Sja-Anat or Yelig-Nar. Nergoul and Moelach are also out as they were still loose. Re-Shepir was in Urithiru, so also out. So I think Gavilar found the spheres trapping Ba-Ado-Mishram and either Chemoarish or Dai-Gonatharis, the only three who have not yet had screen time. And I don't think that either of those prisons have been opened. Szeth's is in Jah Keved somewhere (Taravangian territory, sadly) and Eshonai's is likely somewhere in the shattered plains, either lost again, or with the listeners that escaped from Narak when Eshonai turned Stormform (most likely).

I honestly think this is the best route for the Cosmere in general. There is no place on Earth that will be able to replicate the alien landscape of the Shattered plains, or Roshar in General. No location will be able to give us the ashmounts and semi-perpetual gloom of Scadrial. Even getting the shadows to be consistent while filming in the desert to replicate Taldain is a ridiculous feat to accomplish. A friend of mine and I have been discussing this. You either get poor replications, ghastly amounts of expensive CGI, or a handful of talented artists to animate the Cosmere. I think this would be the safest way to approach the Cosmere, in animation. You get the landscapes and set pieces, you don't have to worry about finding actors who poorly represent the Cosmere's diversity, you have greater facility showing the violence to the right degree, or not. Same goes for the sexuality, which is not extensive, but is present, especially in Warbreaker. I fear for film or TV adaptations of these books. Animated, or anime adaptations? The idea of those give me a huge sigh of relief. But I don't see the license holders going that route. It would appeal to the core book fans, but if they are trying to get a large televised following of non-readers, it falls into a narrower niche. Storms, I hope I'm wrong and they go animated.

There could be two reasons for it. The first, and most likely is that Brandon has said not all orders follow the same progression system. They don't all get Plate at the same Ideal, so by extension, they may not all get blades at the Third. This seems especially likely as the Highspren only seem to bond at the Third. By comparison, Syl is present, and seems to be bound by the second Ideal for Windrunners. So Szeth may not have access to his blade yet. We have yet to see him even interact with his spren, or learn its name. So this is distinctly possible. The second option, is that he does get the blade at the Third Ideal, but it is not sworn yet. Nale indicated to him that the Third Ideal for the Skybreakers involves swearing to uphold a specific code, or person's law. If swearing to treat a person as Law, I would assume that they would need to be aware of that Oath. Me swearing to treat Brandon's personal Codes as law is useless if he has never met me, has not communicated his codes to me, or accepted my Oath. So Szeth has indicated that he would swear to uphold Dalinar's code as law (Stormfather help soldiers out of uniform, or drunk on duty), but if Dalinar has not accepted the charge, how could the spren accept those words? There was no time in that battle for Szeth to formally swear, right? Unless I am misremembering. If this is the case, the oath has form, but is not sworn. Like when Lift was Listening, but not living it. Or Shallan's pain of an Ideal sworn, but not overcome. Likely the truth is somewhere in the middle. I think Nale's apprentices in Edgedancer were advanced enough to likely have their own blades, even if we never saw them. But I don't think Szeth's bond was formalized enough for him to wield. Either its not the right Ideal for blade due to different progression systems, or the Ideal was discussed but not formally sworn in the hearing of the target of the Ideal. Or it was, and the spren said "Screw that, I'm not physically manifesting anywhere near That thing," while looking in horror at Nightblood. Take your pick, but I think, personally, if Szeth is swearing to uphold Dalinar, then he needs to swear to Dalinar, where Dalinar can hear him and accept the words before it will work for the spren.

Same here. He never seems to come to Montreal, and rarely the rest of Canada at that. And I have very limited funds (read: none) for travel. So I ask my one to two questions a year through pre-ordered books. For everything else, I live vicariously through the people who can actually attend. I do make a point of asking for a quote if I get RAFO'd, or if there is enough space in the request. He does tend to use the same quote for each signing of the book and it is usually 2-5 words, which is nice, and I enjoy that too. The hard part is deciding which question to ask, and phrasing it in 90 characters or less. That is tough.

I'm not sure I agree with this. Would you consider an adopted child to be a sibling to a genetic one, or a clone? I would. And the Stormfather, a sliver sized spren blended with Honor's cognitive shadow could be described as a clone, in the loosest possible way. The Nightwatcher is a spren - a splinter. And a child of Honor and Cultivation would be genetic, and a sliver at least, if not more. If 'raised' together, the three of them would likely view themselves as siblings. Granted, that is a very human-centric way of looking at things, and we cannot confirm that Honor or Cultivation are human, though it is likely that Honor was. And a lot of rules get fuzzy with shards, given how much Investiture they contain. I do acknowledge your point that a genetic individual, sliver or not, would not behave like a spren for the sake of nahel bonding a Bondsmith. Definite flaw. But given how cagey both BS and the Stormfather have been about the third Bondsmith spren, and how protective the Stormfather is when the sibling is broached, I don't think I am too far off. But ultimately, we do see genetic siblings, half siblings, adoptive siblings and all other manner of sibling type bonds forming between people all the time and only in one of those examples is the genetic parentage of the siblings identical.

Post Catacendre, what was Ham's title, if any. It seems like each surviving team member got a posthumous title in the world that came after. Did Ham get a title, or did he choose to live the rest of his life out of the spotlight with his family? Vin - Ascendant Warrior Elend - The Final Emperor Kelsier - The Survivor Spook - The Lord Mistborn Sazed - Harmony Tensoon - Guardian of the Ascendant Warrior Breeze - The Counselor of the Gods Marsh - Ironeyes Ham - ???? Dox and Clubs also do not seem to have titles, though I would assume that is more due to them not surviving to see the Catacendre and therefore not becoming big players in the world after ash. But Ham survived. So what was his title? Or did he not have one, and if not, why?

As a potential alternate to number 1, reviving dead blades. If via awakening you can poor enough Investiture into the dead blades, you could potnetially, at worst make them lifeless, at best return them to life. But seeing as the deadeyes already seem to behave like lifeless, an awakener may be able to return them to life.

I've been thinking in a different direction actually. We know Tanavast and Cultivations bearer were romantically involved, right? So what if they, after settling in Roshar, had a child together? A child with the genetic make-up of both Honor and Cultivation? I have zero proof for this. But, we know that non-odium spren are a blend of Honor and Cultivation, without showing red-corruption signs. This would indicate a collaborative effort in splintering, or a blending. We know, from Mistborn, having children did not diminish a Mistborn's power, but the child would have power based on the genetic lottery from its parents. We know something got Odium to target this world next. We know the Stormfather is the child of Tanavast, and the Nightwatcher the daughter of Cultivation (really need to learn her name) - Could the sibling not be the child of both? Then, Tanavast sacrificing himself to block Odium makes sense. Cultivation not striking back and seeming to hide suddenly makes more sense, especially after we have the WOB: So what if she is not hiding, but raising and protecting the child, who may well have a Shard, or near shard capacity as a blend of their parent's intents? And the sibling be the splinter of the two, younger than either the Stormfather or the Nightwatcher, protected by both?

And the last two are Jezrien and Vedel. Honor and Cultivation's descriptions were pretty awesome in the book, but the four characters depicted in the end papers were Ishar, Ash, Jezrien and Vedel. Brandon confirmed these pre-release when the art was shown.

I don't have enough upvotes to give this wonderful reference. I think they will get there with Szeth eventually, but I don't think the rest of the world knows Szeth through the Emperor into the Death Star core yet. Mostly because I don't think that Szeth through the emperor into anything yet. But oh will it be glorious when it happens. It pairs super well with its sibling syndrome: Moash Syndrome: There is no enemy so reviled, discouraging, and loathsome as an enemy who was an ally until they betrayed you and everything you stand for a couple of minutes ago.

Oathbringer question:

For me, I'm less concerned with how the lead protagonists are going to respond to Szeth, or deal with his sudden appearance and mildly creepy loyalty to Dalinar once the post bttle high wears off. Dalinar figured out that Taravangian is a bad guy. Connecting the dots to see Szeth as his tool is not a huge reach. That is not easy to swallow, but doable, and desperate times make for strange bedfellows. The big hurdle I see is the other leaders. They just got over Dalinar not being fully communicative and being set up to be High King. Now he shows up with the Assassin in White as his personal body guard? Holy hell, that is going to cause trust issues. Even the Thaylens, who just got saved by Dalinar and the Assassin, from Dalinar's own corrupted army. The Azish who said screw it, we're out. Now the guy who has been murdering their leaders and neighbours works for the guy who wants to be High King over them all? Dalinar will naturally point out that Taravangian was behind it all. But given the choice between believing that Taravangian, the kindly simpleton who builds hospitals and accidental king of Jah Keved being a merciless murderer, or the Storming Blackthorn offering peace and unity with one hand while the other sends an assassin to eliminate all rivals, including his own brother , so that he can ascend to power - which do you think the rulers will believe? Dalinar is totally going to look like the mastermind behind all that death and terror. Taravangian, almost by accident, undermines him again. Szeth showing up is going to be a major blow to Dalinar's coalition. And, as he has learned, not coming clean right away makes it worse. So he has to handle that right away. That is going to a bigger hurdle to overcome. Faced with that, who cares who the mains handle it? Jasnah is nothing if not pragmatic, and even if she hates Szeth for her father's death, she knows he was just a tool. The listeners admitted as much. I desperately want to read that conversation though. Kaladin saw how broken the man was in the clash over the two storms. Lift never had a real issue with him - she'll likely be one of his biggest champions, hugging him while stealing his snacks. Renarin, Adolin and Shallan will follow Dalinar's lead, all seeing a man more broken than they, trusting Dalinar's word, and Szeth's oath. They'll have their own reservations, sure, but which of them is guiltless? Renarin with the corrupted spren? Shallan the broken, who murdered her own family? Or Adolin, killer of Sadeas? Heck, I see Adolin going to him to learn how to spar - needing to learn how to fight a powered individual as an unpowered. I see Navani having the hardest time of it, but by all reports, she and Gavilar were not that close, and more pressing to her will be the loss of her son and the return of her Grandson. It will be exciting to see how it plays out, and the principals will each likely have to have their own resolution with him, but that is nothing compared to the rest of the world showing up to negotiate with the Blackthorn and seeing the Assassin in white in his shadow. How can they be unified and trust Dalinar if they think he killed the kings by proxy? Completely unrelated thought: This is the post that made me a Torturer of Heralds. I got to see that level! Yay! Saved for posterity.

That depends on whether or not you believe that you can have a romantic relationship without a physical component. As love is a thing of feelings, and concepts, it could be a purely cognitive and spiritual experience, not requiring any physical intimacy. They share a deep, intimate bond. Physical gestures would become more interesting, as it would be more about the thought behind them, rather than the actual act. I think it is entirely possible to have a romance completely devoid of the physical. Now, before anyone accuses me of being entirely too serious, they do have some loopholes. They can always have dates together in the cognitive realm, where Syl has tangible substance. Just a quick jump on the Elsecaller Uber service to go to the girlfriend's realm. And if they go for off world dates, they could always end up meeting Kelsier, who may be able to teach Syl how to Pinocchio herself into being a real girl. I mean he did it, with some interesting, albeit indiscreet piercings. Syl is smart enough to adapt Kelsier's techniques to find a far more wholesome route to becoming fully present in the physical realm. And then there are still other avenues for them to physically express their relationship that I don't actually want to discuss, so I'll leave that to your imaginations.

You should mark this as [OB] to start.

That's where I was aiming with the Lyn angle. But let's go off the deep end with this. Is Shallan like Evi, or is Adolin like Shallan's dad?

As you say, the only tenuous link here is that Kaldin is Man, Lyn is Woman, and they know each other. This is a very good reason for it to not happen, and thankfully, Sanderson has yet to give us a forced, shoe-horned in romance for the sake of romance. It is possible that Kaladin will exist in the stormlight dedicated to his friends, not a romance arc. That said, Lyn has challenged his views on gender dynamics by refusing to join Bridge four unless she can try for Radiance. Kaladin needs someone in his life who challenges his perceptions, first as a friend. There are many in Bridge four who fit that bill, but Lyn is the first woman in Bridge Four to do so, which is good. I really hope they become friends and she calls him on his crap. If it naturally becomes more, so be it. Shipping is not big on my list of things to read. I want Kaladin to have friends who don't hero worship him, and who call him out for being stupid. But, the other woman in Kaladin's life who challenged hi to think more, not less, was Hesina. If he starts thinking in terms of how Lyn's personality reminds him of how strong a woman his own mother was, I will begin to worry. And fully agree. Liftadin is too ridiculous. But no one had said it, so I just had to have fun. That said, headboard commentary from Wyndle and Syl?

So... Second arc Liftadin? When she is older? Or go down the dour route, Ashadin? I can see it: "I'm so sad, I couldn't save a random NPC from dying because of their own poor decisions and war and stuff." "That's nothing Kal, I left a good friend of mine to be tortured endlessly for four and a half thousand years, and he won't be mad at me." "Damnit Ash, you always bring that up, why won't you let me be properly dour." "Because, for one, context. Nothing you've done, or failed to do, is worse than that. For two, Syl won't leave me alone until you sstart smiling again. She's persistent." Realistically, Ash-Kaladin won't be a thing, there seems to be more likely some history between her and Taln. Lift-Kaladin is just ridiculous, but enough so to be entertaining. Realistically, Kaladin needs not someone who is happy, but someone who is capable of happiness, and pointing out when he is being stupid, or has his head buried in his own backside. Seeing as Navani is already taken, the scout Lyn, once she becomes more confident, more Radiant, seems like just the person to call him on his BS, and challenge his perceptions. So I'm hoping for an eventual Lynadin.

I saw that. But I was not sure I trusted it. I'm going to feel like an idiot If I could have expanded my question there. I did use that section to ask for a quote if I get an RAFO.

Ordered mine. Rust the 90 character limit on personalizations. Asked the following: "Atium was not a basic metal. Does the Era 2 table of 16 have a similar mistake?" Would have expanded the question if I could, but I'm hoping to confirm, or destroy, my pet theory that Aluminum does not belong in the basic metals. Super excited for the art though, some of what has been posted looks amazing.

That makes a ton of sense as to why it did not show in my search, but you could pull it in seconds. Now I am super curious about your theory. Looking forward to reading it!

I completely missed you thread, and began speculating elsewhere about this very topic due too some Oathbringer info:

Well darn. I had done a quick search for this topic before starting a new thread. Knowing that Roshar is the fourth planet, my bets are Nalthis, Scadrial and the planet of the author of the second Oathbringer letter, the one who speaks of avatars. I think in this very short chapter, Evi gave us the biggest glimpse yet of the previous stops on the path. Thanks for the info! And I finally cleaned up my quotes.

Nice catch. Both Nalthians do use "Like white on black" as their idiom for something obvious. I latched on to the use of colour, as we have seen Rosharans focus more on gemstones for colour references, and I think Nalthis does fit better, but Taldain could also be an option.