Stark

I have this horrible image that I can't scrape out of my mind after reading this: Someone in the Dominator/dominatrix getup saying "I am your God now". And interacting with Saze, who might go along with whatever they suggest to maintain Harmony... Thanks for that.

Huh, this is really neat. I always focused on how he seemed to be talking about whether or not reconstructing Adonalsium would be a good idea, or if it even result in the same entity. The whole part: "I wonder if you could do that to a man. Pull him apart (into 16ths), emotion by emotion, bit by bit, bloody chunk by bloody chunk. Then combine them back together into something else" seemed to be a discussion on what you would get if all the shards were recombined. Would you get the same, or an anagram? I never looked past it to try to decipher an anagram from Adonalsium. Really neat stuff guys! Too bad that " Figgldygrak " does not seem to be an anagram of anything yet...

Wow, nice. Thanks @The One Who Connects!

I'm not sure if the following has been asked yet or not, but here goes: If someone brought a Seon to Roshar, could they develop a Nahel bond with it? If yes, would they develop surges related to the Seon's Aon, the existing surges in a new pattern, or something new and scary/interesting?

Thanks for the vote of confidence @The One Who Connects! The motivations of the original 16 are among my top curiosities. I know that we have years before we learn anything, and they are massive RAFO bait, so I won't even bother asking for a WoB on those. But I figure, no one wakes up one morning and decides to kill God for no good reason. The decision to band together with fifteen other people (one of whom will eventually betray and try to kill the rest of you) who all have different motivations, murder God, and graft a portion of God's fresh corpse onto yourself? That cannot be a choice anyone came to lightly. And I have to figure, the reason they came to that group has to colour how each of the sixteen chose which Shard they grafted to. Something had to make Leras desire to have the power to Preserve, and then get stuck with the Intent to preserve all things without change. I can see the loss of a loved one, be it a spouse, a child or other. And then, at his moment of death, after thousands of years shepherding Scadrians into the Great Beyond, I can see him uttering her name as he finally goes to join her in the realm beyond his sight.

I can even see this being taken a step further, where Cultivation and Harmony would not get along, as their intents would come into conflict. Harmony has outright stated that he made a mistake, providing the Northern Scadrians with a bountiful garden to grow in where they have become almost technologically stagnant (especially when compared to the southerners). He created a Garden and let it grow wild and do as it pleased with no plan, as long as the balance was maintained. Cultivation would have pruned the heck out of the Northerners and given them suffering to force them to learn and evolve according to her plan. It would not surprise me to find that the Highstorms were of Cultivation - a periodic, rhythmic scouring of the world to that would remove the weak or foolish, leaving the strong and innovative behind. It would not surprise me to find her as the guiding hand behind fabrial research. I really don't see Harmony and Cultivation getting along. One would have the wild, overgrown garden with everything growing as it could. The other is neatly arranged rows of flowers according to a planned design. As for scheming, well, all of the original vessels have to be schemers to one extent or another. No group is going to get together to kill god and not have some sort of plan. And they likely wont keep someone incapable of planning or plotting in the group for long. (Like Kelsier's team on a more cosmic scale. The 16 made up the core crew. Anyone else was the Skaa rebellion, a distraction not in on the core plan)

Given TenSoon often takes the form of a giant, dark furred dog, similar to a wolfhound, could he eventually become the origin for a Black Dog type mythos, or omen set? Especially seeing as he tends to appear where Harmony needs him at portentous events?

This makes me think of the gardener, clipping the rosebush, or hedge maze, or bonzai tree, or whatever, just so, so that it grows according to plan. Sometimes you clip healthy branches as well as dead to get the result you want. Also, many times in films or books where the villain is a gardener, a past time that allows them to cultivate a perfectly controlled system according to their plan. I agree completely, Cultivation is not necessarily good. Sometimes you have to martyr a hero to preserve a city. I don't think Cultivation would hesitate much to do things for the greater good of what she is cultivating...

I agree with this sentiment. I guess I was trying to express that it is a difficult subject to include without it appearing to either be token, or a statement of the author's beliefs, especially if it is added to a series later on. I'm not having much success expressing myself today. Done right, having something like homosexuality in the background would definitely make it more real. Done wrong, it would feel token and trite. That is what I meant to say. It is one of those things that makes me glad that I am not a writer, as I have no idea how I would write it right and do the subject justice. In either case, I seem to have knocked this thread into a tangent deviating from the original subject of Shallan. I hope that if this becomes cannon (as the WOB implies it might) that Brandon can do the topic justice. I just worry it may feel forced, as we have not really seen it addressed as anything more than a mention, and definitely not with a major character.

@maxalI must apologize I think, I was not looking to start an argument. I was not trying to imply anything about any character's sexuality, which is why I took care to state that Adolin's relations are not homosexual, nor an indicator of being homosexual. I should have taken care to state that in another character, they may have been indicative of someone who is still discovering themselves, especially in a younger character. I am not aiming to point fingers and say this character is x or y. In Adolin's case, we know because we have been in his head that he gets bored, because many of the women have interest in him for his status as heir to the Kholin seat rather than as a person. The whole courting thing becomes an exercise in rote disappointment as no one everyone seems to be interested in being with Adolin Kholin, the shardbearing heir, not being with Adolin, the person. I had no intention of saying friendship leads to romantic feelings, as that is a thought pattern that seems overly simplistic and dismissive of the many other reasons to be friends with someone. And you are completely correct that if varied sexuality is accepted, we would have seen more of it in the background. But I also get the feeling that if there had been a sprinkling of background mentions, there would be an entirely different set of complaints leveled because it would be a token addition to the background, unimportant to the main story, why is it included, etc. etc. Safe to say that it is a touchy subject to approach. I am pleased to know Shallan is who she is. I tried to use Adolin as an example as what could maybe have been if he never met someone like Shallan. I will disagree that a man appreciating a women's beauty by default makes him straight, you can appreciate beauty without having romantic or sexual interest. But you are absolutely correct, and I have never doubted, that Adolin prefers women. It is how he is written.

Yeah, I agree with @Savanorn, I read this as Bavadin has her fingers in so many different religions that she likely has many different and conflicting stances about the acceptability of homosexuality. More so in the Pantheons where she is everybody, including those that conflict... I read it as a "Don't get me started, because she takes so many different stances on different things to further her agenda, it is hard to pin down what she actually believes on a given subject." In any religion, she likely promotes whatever will serve her agenda there. If on world X, promoting Homosexuality in religion A, banning it in religion B, and being neutral towards it in religion D all suit her purpose, that's what she will do, if she is involved in those religions. As a result, discussing what she actually thinks becomes such a complicated and long subject that I don't blame Brandon for saying "Nope, not touching that right now"

I don't think it is necessarily a strong argument against. If we use Adolin as an example, not all men care about reading, to the point where some don't even bother to learn glyphs. So not being able to read will not stop someone. With Adolin in specific as an example, we have seen that he often courts women in a very serial fashion, with very little embarrassment when the relationships go awry. In fact he often seems more embarrassed that his father finds out, not concerned that the relationship is over. But he is devastated when his friends don't stand by him. One could find basis to argue that Adolin may have a more deep emotional connection to the men around him than women. Which is not homosexuality. But it could be a platform leading in that direction. All this to say, I don't think that an inconvenience like not being able to be read to as easily will stop people from loving those they love, or from pursuing happiness. In this at least, nothing is true, and everything is permitted, until Brandon writes it in metal.

I missed my delivery over Christmas and finally got mine too! Had not seen the notice in all the running around. Because it's so small, my question was "Do powerful magnets affect metalminds or metal reserves in a metalborn?" I had wanted to ask "Do powerful electro magnets, like an nMRI, affect metalborn reserves or metalminds, and if so, will we see them having security applications in future Mistborn eras?" But I had to pare it down due to character limit. His answer was "Yes. But.... That has a "*" on it." So yes, but no idea if they will be involved in anti-Allomancer security systems. And the star seems to hint that the investiture might hack physics a bit, as it has been known to do.

@BlackYetiSorry, I should have been more specific. Is a human the only option for a vessel on Sel. I do believe we have a WoB indicating that Devotion and Dominion are conflicting Intents, which is part of why the Dor seems so violent. The rest is nonsensical musings on my part. Though if non-sentient, unbound intents can develop their own intellect or sentience over time, theoretically, they could also choose to bond to a life form that has the correct emotional range, or capability of intent, if not necessarily sapient. And upgrade them. Hence my musings on a dog being properly capable of Devoted Dominion being the ideal vessel for that combination of intents. And, we have a WoB that non-sentient animals can accidentally worldhop if the stumble into a perpendicularity.... So the dog option could be real...

We recently had a WoB that part of the reason Odium splintered Devotion and Dominion was to prevent them from finding new Vessels, or worse, combining into a hybrid Shard like Harmony, gaining some form of sentience and seeking out a Host. This got me to thinking, who could possibly have embodied the opposing forces generated by Devotion and Dominion well enough to absorb both Shards? Who has a strong desire to dominate those around her, while remaining devoted to them? Is a human the only option for a Vessel? This is the point where my musings become far less serious: The only answer I could come up with was my dog. She has an Alpha personality, and feels the need to dominate and subjugate others around her, thoroughly. Yet she remains completely devoted to her family and the members of her pack, willing to put herself in harms way to defend them. So my proposed candidate for a bearer of the fused Shards of Dominion and Devotion after they un-splinter, is a dog, who will proceed to gain greater intellect from absorbance of Investiture.

@sprocket It depends a bit on the timeline. Mistborn spolier-y things: So I think the ten mentioned at the beginning of HoA are the most basic. But more are possible, and the locations are likely variable and not limited to the torso only. you would probably need a WoB to confirm. Safest bet is probably to stick with the ten. As for the size/thickness, if we are using the eye spikes as a basis, they were long enough to stick out the back of the head, potentially allowing them to be nailed to things (See Kelsier's fight in Mistborn) and the head of the spike was thick enough that was bigger than the eye spike (See Vin's fight later on in HoA, when she punches Marsh's spike deeper - it deforms the socket based on every subsequent description of him)

I get why there is a character limit, but I found 90 to be super restrictive. I was not planning on writing him a novel, but I had to greatly reduce the specificity of my question to get it to fit. a 250 character limit would have been nicer.

With tension and cohesion, I can see them being the bulwark group. Building walls, reinforcing defenses and the like. I see them being part Dwarven Defender, part FMA Alchemist, strengthening defenses around them and being the last ones to retreat. Conversely, on the attack, I see them undoing enemy defenses. But with the hinted ideal of "I will stand when others fall".. That feels more defensive to me. This is hinted at in the prologue of WoK, Which I'll Spoiler tag just to be safe: I feel the Stonewards are the war masters. They will be the unbreakable wave leading the charge on the front lines, and the un-pierceable shield on defense.

Another relatively simple out is the mechanics. Using Lestibournes as an example, he was burning tin non-stop. which pushed him over the edge into being a Savant. Wax burns a lot of steel, but is not constantly burning. He mostly burns it for combat, or flashy transportation. But he is not constantly fighting or flying through the cities. He may be approaching Savantism, but he is not yet burning steel all the time, night and day. He hasn't reached that addicted state we saw with Spook. His Iron though, that is a bit more problematic, as I think he mentioned that he is almost always running at 75-80% his normal weight.For that, he should have likely reached iron ferring savantism. But you could argue that he is dangerously close to the line with steel, but not quite over it yet.

I completely agree that all original vessels are from Yolen, and therefore she is from Yolen too. We have semi-canon confirmation that there are at least three major species on Yolen. But there is nothing to say that Bavadin is not a Yolen analog to the Rosharan life form I had referenced. If humans can develop naturally (and unnaturally) on numerous planets, so too can other life forms. It is within the realm of possibilities that that species exists on Yolen, and that Bavadin is one of them. @emailanimal, I like the 11-dimensional chess visual. And I very much hope that she ends up being a major Cosmere villain, as the master manipulator planning schemes within schemes is far more interesting than Odium's "I hate everything! Hate all the things! Hate! Hate! Hate"

We did get a few new interesting tidbits about Bavadin recently. That she has multiple personas (not personalities) and likes to insert herself into various pantheons. That there are some pantheons made up entirely of her personas. And we know that there are more than just humans in the cosmere, and more specifically on Yolen, which could lead to non-human vessels. While I like her not being human, I'm not sure about a dragon. Her ability to be everywhere, involved with and aware many things seems very reminiscent of a newly revealed species. While Shards tend to be closer to omniscient, there could be a more mundane reason why she is able to be a little bit everywhere: Edgedancer Spoiler:

I think Brandon has hinted that a different group of 16 would have had different Shards after the shattering. Which, if true implies that the original intents of the shards was coloured by those that did the shattering. So what if Senna was someone Leras lost pre-shattering, leading him to blame Adonalsium for her loss? Which resulted in him taking up the shardic intent of preservation to keep her memory, and prevent others from experiencing that loss. Maybe Senna is not another vessel, but Leras' reason for joining the group that eventually killed God?

Hmm. I disagree. Seeing as Feruchemy as a whole seems to be getting weaker, especially given that in Wax and Wayne's era there are no Fullborn Feruchemists, just ferrings, the same way Allomancy is, I don't think it is part of the original genetic make up from when Preservation and Ruin populated the planet. If anything, it would be the recessive gene, which would lead to why they need breeding programs to increase/decrease its prevalence, and why you would want two people with Feruchemy to have children to increase the chance of producing a ferring. That would not be as necessary if Feruchemy was the dominant gene. But still does not explain why it is getting weaker. Blue eyes are recessive, but we do not see people having the recessive pair bb with eyes that are less blue than 300 years ago, or 1300 years ago. There is a genetic component, and to me it must be recessive, but there must be another component that explains why the powers are getting weaker and more dilute over time.

@Rob Lucci you may have to set your hopes on Gallant and Dalinar... WOR Spoilers:

Depends. How much did it need to chew? Depends. Is its ability to withstand Wit's personality and respond to mockery as delicate as an Alethi Highprince? They seem to have fairly delicate guts, and they have not yet tried to eat him.