Treamayne

But we do have possible evidence that the circumference of Roshar is smaller than that of Earth. In one of the highstorm threads:

I'm not sure that's true. Shardblades are sized for fighting Voidbringers and <Warbreaker Spoilers> So, most likely, Nightblood is thinner than the average shardblade, but not necessarily smaller overall.

I'm not sure that's obvious. I think that is what Dalinar thought (and what BS wanted us to believe at the beginning of WoK); but I think Gavilar really wanted his brother to discover the Oaths. Some of the Sphere threads: here, here and here.

Frost from surgebinding doesn't have to be the KR transitioning; it could simply be the Spiritual power of stormlight. In my mind, the effect is so small, though, that it would take excessive amounts of stormlight being used for frost to form (which is pretty much what happens). If this is the case couldn't the "misting" off of stormlight from a KR's skin just be the physical manifestation of stormlight returning to Spirtual?

I doubt it was similar to Elsecalling. When we see Jasnah appear, it is in a swirl of light and without condensation (or at least none is mentioned). However shardblades (and possibly Taln) appear, it is different from the way an Elsecaller steps from Cognitive to Physical. M:SH Spoiler: The description implies heat and light. If heat/light is a consistent theme of transition from Cognitive to physical, is it possible that mist/frost is transition from Spiritual to Physical?

I'd imagine the champion Dalinar tried to ask about (without a reply) will play a big roll in his activities as well.

Wasn't Syl already with him when he defeated Shallan's brother (even if he didn't know it). I think his early aversion to Shards (plate and blade) were because of: 1) The burgeoning Nahel bond includes an aversion to dead shards. 2) He knew taking the blade and plate would make him a light eyes, something he disliked when he turned down the shards in Amaram's army, and couldn't bear the thought of after what Amaram did to him and his squad. Neither of these precludes character development as he and Syl explore their bond and he says more Windrunner Oaths.

But, could the connections also be based on "type?" Gravitation and Transportation are both "movement" based surges. Friction and Adhesion are similar as well (maybe closer to opposites) and seem to manipulate the same "force" (one to prevent two surface from moving next to each other, one to ease the same movement). If this is the case, I'd probably expect some kind of relationship between Growth and Division (not that we really know what Division does yet). If the remaining pairs are a "mirror plus" conversion, I can see a possible pattern in Cohesion/Illumination* where the top of cohsion is the bottom of illusion (gaining curves for elegance) , the bottom of cohsion is "mirrored" to the top of illusion (straightening curves, same reason maybe). Then illusion adds one element to each, the outside swirls on the bottom and the extra "L"s on top. That may be a stretch thouhg. As soon as I have time, I'll work up a step by step of the possible metamorphosis. * possible relationship in that Cohesion seems to change physical objects - like the hand print in a table example - where Illumination makes ephemeral "changes" via illusions.

So, it's been forever since I had time to review and work on my idea (been working midnights all summer, no internet at work). What I alluded to above was that I think I found two pairs of glyphs that are "related;" in that they seem to be mirrors of each other. The remaining six do not obviously follow the same pattern, but it makes me wonder of there are thre more pairs with a different or similar relationship. Anybody else see connections like this among the Glyphs?

I'm not sure this is the case. For one, we haven't seen Dakhor's use inside Fjorden's borders to compare with it's use in Arelon and Teo. Also, I think it's partly a difference between active and passive abilities. As I recall, Raoden didn't lose any speed or strength by being in Teo, so teh passive augmentations of being an Elantrian were unaffected by distance (Ch 62) It seems to me that many (if not most) of the abilities in the Dakhor monks are passive augmentations. Speed, strength, etc all seem unaffected by distance for either side. Also, note that Dilaf's resistance to Aons seemed unaffected by distance, but Dilaf was able to cancel the illusion at the wedding from a distance, but he touched the barrier in Teo to cancel it. We don't know if contact with the barrier was required, but we do know he was not required to touch the illusion in Arelon (which is closer to Fjorden). We haven't seen very many active abilities in Dakhor, where most abilities in AonDor seem to be active (draw an Aon to channel the Dor for an effect). Even if the physical augmentations of Dakhor are partially active (due to the bone "symbols" drawn in flesh) we don't know how effective they are in Fjorden to compare to how we see them in Arelon. As far as sacrifices, there seems to be a mismatch. Abilities such as Dilaf's resistance appear to be a permanent mutation based on a single set of sacrifices (50 in this case) to enable the change and make a permanent ability. However, teleportation seems to require a sacrifice for each use. Does this mean any Dakhor monk can teleport, given a willing sacrifice? Do only certain monks have the ability to guide a teleportation, but each use require a sacrifice? I think there just isn't enough information on Dakhor to know.

When reading the book, it reminded me of the bit of RPG work I did in COBOL I back in the late 80s/early 90s. Not so much the RPG programming itself, but the UI for the projects we worked on that resulted in output based on how input was modified by the user. Almost similar to many Access databases in businesses 5-15 yrs ago, it's set up for "provided input a,b,c... results in x,y,z." You can also think of it like Madlibs, give a list of input (words/modifiers) and what you use determines what you get.

You would probably need something more specific that just Elendel, like the tomb for Vin and Elend. Also, since we know Sazed (Harmony) moved everything when he first took up the shards (he moved all the Cache locations to the same basin so the survivors would all be close) are we even sure of the new location for the original WoA? We saw the new Pits in SoS IIRC, but I don't remember a reference to the new Well location. Alternatively, Harmony's well could be in the Northern roughs, amongst the Crags that used to be the Terris homeland.

I was really hoping for a POV break on the Space Station. Just a paragraph or two from Megan or Prof on what they saw in the sky as Calamity's red light went out, then saw the start (and aborted stopping) of a nuclear detonation where Calamity should be. That said, I think I am mostly satisfied. I think the biggest hanging question in my mind was why/how David dreamed Larcener's nightmares. I expected it to be part of his "thematically appropriate" powers (which I originally thought would be appropriate because of the Epics he has killed... a way to discern the fears of others, or possibly cause/transfer them.Basically an Epic that's a predator of Epics), but that idea was crushed when he became Steel Slayer (with abilities similar to Steelheart). I read Calamity ending as if he was either 8 yrs old (or one of my Co-workers), as if saying something over and over would make him right. Then, I interpreted the very abbreviated Goodbye as him being recalled by his people/bosses (poss. against his will) once he subconsciously accepted his mistake. I also thought Brandon left the ending as open as it is so that it was defined by reader interpretation. If you go back and (re-)read some of the classics (e.g. Fahrenheit 451, Robots of Dawn, etc) they rarely have cut-and-dry endings and allow the reader to consider multiple paths for the characters to continue with. This felt similar, many implications with few definite paths forward.

If not Peace Talks (depending on how far through completion it is) , then Cinder Spires 2 is possible.

Yes, Prof says after Calamity leaves that the orbit has been degraded and that only Calamity kept the ISS from re-entering the atmosphere. My impression was that Calamity put it in a Stationary position on Earth's Dark Side (so it was always visible at night and hidden during the day - Obliteration mentions that he must charge the bomb where Calamity can't see because he hasn't "risen" yet. This also jives with Calamity's nightmare aversion to "Loud" and "Bright"). Combined with the change to glass and his own glow the result is as you see through the books. Also, with no orbital velocity, it would degrade and fall into the atmosphere rather quickly (sans Epic interference).

Or Worldsingers. Given that Mistborn is a while before current SA, could be he was developing the idea of one from the other.

Luck as a trait has a fair literary history. Example: Correia's Grimnoir series features luck magic. Ringworld also dealt heavily with luck as a trait. So it is possible that, in the Cosmere, Luck is a trait and there could be a Fortune Shard because of that. That said, having it in the same Feruchemical "group" as Connection, Investiture and Identity, and knowing that those three traits are world/shard generic, seems to imply that Fortune is a trait that everyone on every world can/does have and that the trait can be manipulated by magic systems. If you take the quote and replace "Fortune" with "Investiture" or "Connection," for example, it would make sense that the feared unknown "intruders" would be using some magic system to manipulate a spiritual trait. So, I think, Fortune is another spiritual trait that is largely untapped, but can be manipulated by some magic systems (including Feruchemy) but that the Ire were not necessarily talking about Chromium Feruchemy specifically. Has anyone made a timeline of how far after the events of Elantris this would have taken place? It seems it would have been difficult to impossible for the Elantrians to have studied Scadrial enough to know much of Feruchemy (when TLR had all but wiped it out at this point) unless they had been studying it prior to TLR's Feruchemist purges. It would seem the chances of that quote being a Feruchemical reference are rather slim.

SH does mention, at the Inquisitor funeral, that the spikes are removed and stored in blood so they lose less charge and can be granted to other Inquisitors. Also, wasn't it also implied in WoA (when Marsh and Sazed go to the Inquisitor temple) that spikes were re-used there? I'll try to look up the actual references when I can next get to my eBooks.

I'm not convinced there is one good answer. I think a recommended reading order really needs to take the preferences of the person to whom you are recommending into account. Amongst a few friends, to one who preferred more cerebral fiction, I recommended starting with Elantris and Warbreaker (first two, in either order, depending on which synopsis sounded more enticing). Another friend that I know gets bored without an action driven plot (until hooked) I recommended starting with the Mistborn Trilogy. Another consideration is that Alloy (and the Scadrial second Trilogy) should be far enough after Mistborn that they are ready for the huge amount of change. A few years back (2013) a coworker read Mistborn first (and loved it) but went straight into Alloy of Law. He gave up half-way through and never finished the book or continued with other Brandon books.The change from the Final Empire setting was too drastic and he wasn't invested in the Cosmere enough to keep his interest.

Mistborn vs Knight Radiant also seems to me as something of a false comparison. As far as we know there is no way for a KR to access all ten surges, so a fair comparison would likely stop at Twinborn (two abilities compared to two Surges). Do we have a WoB that a Nicrosil Compounder would be as powerful as this discussion makes it seem? Otherwise, I would think that a Nicrosil Twinborn (N Ferring + another Allomancy ability) would likely be better in a fight.

Well, that would beg the philosophical question as to whether Honor is related to - or - independent of the traits Good and Evil. Is Evil inherently dishonorable? Can a being be both Evil and Honorable?

Edit: Random double post. Sorry.

In the interest of completeness, are we sure Ym was stabbed? IIRC, as a Truthwatcher his other Surge will be illumination and everyone assumes we never saw him use it. Just because Shallan has to draw to use Illumination, doesn't mean everyone has to do so; especially if it's a different Order's use of a shared power (Jasnah's use of Soulcasting sure doesn't look like Shallan's from the outside).

If the collection date was Tanatanev 1173, wouldn't that put it before Lopen joined bridge four? So, even if it was a cousin, it would not have been one we met on page.

Re: Taln's possible blade(s). Earlier people were remarking on how ornate Honorblades (including Szeth's) are, but the quote in the prologue doesn't really say that. We know they are "works of art" and have a "flowing design" but that does not imply "ornate." A Katana from Feudal Japan is likely a work of art, but not necessarily ornate. A Ghurka can be considered to have a flowing design, but also does not imply ostentation. I would agree they are likely stylized (the inscriptions imply as much) but I don't think they would be as elaborate as I inferred from the descriptions earlier in the thread. Do we know for sure that the second blade Dalinar bonded really came from the Madman known as Taln? We know that's what he told Amaram: But it seems just as likely that it was one of the Dual-won Blades that was used for the ruse. Especially if the Madman's blade had had no gem and Dalinar did not want that revealed. Civilian Airliners typically fly FL350+ (35,000 ft Mean Sea Level) when transiting more than 2 hours. Small Passenger Aircraft (like B350 King Air have a service ceiling below 30,000 ft, and more commonly fly around 20,000 ft MSL. They are generally undetectable by the unaided eye at those flight levels. With moderate humidity (causes haze at altitude) and or cloud cover, they are generally not visible at 12,000 ft. UAVs, which range from about 2 ft to almost 30 ft in length, are generally undetectable by the unaided eye at 6-10,000 ft. Especially without auditory cues. Air pressure is such that unpressurized aircraft do not require supplemental oxygen for passengers at 10000 ft (when over 10k ft, supplemental oxygen is required and the time of useful consciousness decreases exponentially with each 1000 ft of altitude). In the final battle, we know Szeth and Kaladin got above the cloud tops, which for a normal thunderstorm (and this was a Highstorm) can be anywhere from 15-35,0000 ft MSL; but I would say it is often 22-24,000 ft. Terminal Velocity of a skydiver in freefall is about 195kph (120 mph) when splayed with wind resistance, and can reach over 320kph (200 mph) when arrowed forward, limbs tucked to reduce air velocity. So, with a single lashing and assuming Rosharan gravity is about equal to earth's, the average Windrunner trying to fall quickly over distance would be about the speed of a C-130 Hercules over distance. All that said, even a few hundred feet would seem high to somebody new to this, so Kaladin's estimate of how high he thought he was when first experimenting over the shattered plane is not reliable. We know he can go higher, but I doubt he was over 5000 ft since the terrain he describes would have lost significant detail at higher altitudes. Roads can blend in and be difficult to see that high; and the chasms aren't a contrasting color, especially at night with only moonlight. All that said, I think both theories for Nalan are equally viable, including the third possibility that we don;t know enough about the Heralds and they could have an innate ability to travel through Shadesmar without the Surgebinding of Transportation, like other known Worldhoppers.