AquaRegia

I'm interested in discussing the real-life aspects of Brandon's Secret Project novels and the Kickstarter campaign. I'll start with two thoughts: The biggest Kickstarter campaign (until now) was Pebble's 2nd smart watch, at $20,339,000 in 2015. As of 4:30 a.m. March 4th, 2022 (fewer than four days since it started), the "Four Secret Novels" project is at $20,341,000 - and counting. Brandon now owns the record for highest-funded Kickstarter campaign of all time. This strikes me as both faintly ridiculous and mighty cool. The plan is for the physical copies of the novels to be published in-house by Dragonsteel, which means they have just agreed to print, by my count, at least 173,000 premium hardcover novels. Does anyone know if they have the capacity to accomplish this?

I'm very happy to see that others noticing the difficulties with the description of this planetary system. Upon reading it I began trying to visualize this arrangement of moons, and it took about 30 seconds for me to realize "this doesn't make any sense at all." I mean, I struggled with Roshar's moons - and read some terrific analysis by other 17th Sharders - over a period of weeks before giving up (they also don't work without magic)... but this is a slam dunk. In addition to all the issues noted by @Ixthos and @Oltux72, there is also the Roche Limit: an orbiting moon can't be too close to its planet without getting torn apart by tidal forces. The Roche Limit for Earth-Moon system is around 10,000 km. At 120 km, these would be RINGS, not moons. In the real universe, there is no way an Earth-sized planet can have 12 objects big enough to block 1/3 of the sky in a synchronous orbit. Luckily, we have 1) magic, and 2) Hoid to smooth over our objections and allow us to suspend our disbelief.

LOL agreed - it's IMPOSSIBLE to read that book without missing some important foreshadowing. There is SO MUCH. And it would be equally impossible for any of us to point out everything that's foreshadowing without spoiling a bunch of stuff that will be DELICIOUS for you to figure out yourself. Most of us still regularly find MORE foreshadowing from tWoK every time we reread it, and then, when we read the other Stormlight novels, we say "oh, THAT'S what that paragraph from tWoK meant!"

Perhaps better title for your topic would be "awesome features of LIVING Shardplate", since that's what you are really talking about, not the fabrial versions we've mostly seen. And I don't think we're all guilty of "underestimating". I think it's also reasonable to assume that, being formed from spren, living Plate doesn't weigh as much as the "dead" fabrial versions. The scene where Kal briefly lends his Plate to Adin confirms, however, that it also enhances strength: I certainly agree that it should not consume Stormlight, just as a living Blade does not. I strongly disagree here - the text is very clear. The Plate is still there, NOT dismissed, faintly visible but not a solid barrier. The Plate is not noticed or mentioned by anyone in Kaladin's subsequent chapters, from which I infer that it CAN be truly dismissed. But chapter 110 definitely describes a previously unknown state that living Plate can be in: summoned, worn, but insubstantial. Presumably, like a living Blade, it can respond to the Radiant's mental commands, converting instantly between spren form, worn-yet-permeable, fully solid, or fully dismissed. I wonder if, like a living Blade, living Plate can assume different physical forms as imagined by the Radiant.

As a big science and science fiction nerd, I love speculation about things like this. Cosmere Ringworld? Yes, please! Unfortunately, I think Brandon's treatment of the Cognitive Realm has, so far, been just too fantastical to allow much reliable hypothesizing here. If you can enter the CR of one world, walk for a while, then exit the CR and be on a different world, I'm sure travel to and from space habitats will be similarly possible... but that's about as far as I'm willing to go. I decline to make any guesses regarding what that might look like. Given what we've seen of Shadesmar, the Sea of Mist, the Dor, Perpendicularities, etc., my guess is that it will look any way Brandon wants, and the explanation will simply be "magic". Honestly, I wish there was more of a rational underpinning for how the Cognitive Realm works. But as he's often said, he writes fantasy for a reason.

Thanks! I'm not sure very many people get the reference. I was a HS chem teacher for 26 years, and have some pretty vivid college flashbacks of Aqua Regia myself! I could definitely tell a few stories of things one should NOT do with it. I hate to contradict you... but I don't think Steris ever had any POV chapters. If she did I can't think of them now. I agree, I don't recall her ever explicitly denying having Allomancy. My feeling, though, is that she is nothing if not honest; to a fault, and even to her own detriment. After all the painful truth she's willing to confide to Wax - about her life, her past, how she relates to people and they to her - it doesn't feel true to her character for her to hide something like that, at least not from him. It's "catacendre", which, in keeping with the French language theme of Northern Scadrial, probably does more or less rhyme with "cassandra" when pronounced correctly. I'm also not real clear about how snapping works now, so I don't think we can rule out the idea that someone might develop latent Allomancy as an adult. The thought of Steris flying effortlessly through a cloud of hostile fighters, tassels on her mistcloak flapping, makes me chuckle... but I don't think it's in the cards. ;-) PS: Double-posting in a topic rubs some people the wrong way - feel free to edit a previous post to add new thoughts.

Just finished a reread of MB2 and nothing comes to mind that would disprove this. While I dislike the idea that every important character needs to end up with magic powers (I feel the same way about the Stormlight Archives), it certainly doesn't seem impossible. If Steris is an Allomancer and is aware of it, I feel like it would be out of character for her to lie directly to Wax about it, or even keep it a secret from him. However, if she DOESN'T know... it could be a tasty SanderTwist™ for her Allomantic ability to suddenly be revealed to all of us - readers and characters alike - in TLM.

Well, I'm recalling the arguments made here: Perhaps "debunked" is too strong a word, but the arguments against it are enough to convince me it's wishful thinking. Specifically, 1) Shallan's mother was involved with the Skybreakers and thus presumably known to Nale; 2) no 11-year-old child would credibly pose a deadly threat to a 4000-year-old Herald trained by centuries of combat, especially when said Herald already KNOWS the child is a Surgebinder; and 3) Brandon has admitted while Heralds can "procreate", it would NOT be "in the traditional way". Shallan had four brothers.. I think Lin Davar (and everyone in town) would know if those five children had been brought about in some "nontraditional" way.

The Cryptics decided to send Wyndle to bond with Lift because of the weird power granted to her by Cultivation, so, admittedly, another weird realmatic event. As far as trauma goes, Lift lost her parents as a very young child... just like countless other orphans. Sadly, there is nothing particularly special about that trauma. I think Brandon's words, quoted above, make it clear that "trauma" (or being "broken") is not the real issue. EVERYBODY has trauma; whatever is the worst thing that ever happened to you, it is, by definition, the worst thing that's ever happened. Just being alive is traumatic. Regarding Shallan, I agree the influence of one or more Unmade on her family could be related to her early Radiant Bond. But I feel that the "Shallan's mother was a Herald" idea has been pretty thoroughly debunked.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but I think "popular" may be an oversell for this idea. I don't think any amazingly supernatural realmatic events are needed to explain Shallan's bonds - Lift also became Radiant as a fairly young child. Sometimes it happens that way.

Loved it the first time I heard it, oh, 6 or 8 months ago... love it now. I have absolutely no doubt that Gavilar is coming back to play an important part in SA5, and I completely agree he makes an extremely dangerous (and satisfying) rival for Dalinar. Gavilar, more than anyone else, has all the right history to swing a figurative emotional wrecking ball at both Dalinar and Navani. More top-notch work, @Jofwu!

milliBreaths microBreaths nanoBreaths I can do this all day. Or, at least, until I run out of prefixes. ;-)

My intention is not to muddy the waters... but it seems to me that there is another factor nobody has considered: the RATE at which your Allomancy consumes Investiture. Is it possible that a small person, like Vin, "cashes in" the pewter benefit at a lower rate than a more massive person? Maybe the small person can, given the same amount of pewter, burn it twice as long. The ability multipliers may scale for both strength AND time.

All we need to do now is figure out the conversion relationships: 1 Breath = x Perfect Broams 1 Breath = y grams of Standard White Sand etc.

Here in central PA, we put chicken on our waffles. Also gravy and mashed potatoes. https://www.goodfoodstories.com/amish-chicken-and-waffles/

Some very interesting speculations here. I agree that we get a "too perfect" vibe for Jasnah so far, largely because her character has been illuminated predominantly from others' points of view. I also agree that seems intentional on Brandon's part, and could very well foreshadow some big challenges for her in upcoming novels. I will mildly disagree with this: Jasnah is supremely - even pathologically - rational. I don't think she would ever do anything more important (or permanent) than trim her nails based on a "mood". In every case mentioned, she has thoughtfully considered a course of action and made a decision whether to carry it out based on what she feels will result in the most good for her people. As with any of us, her knowledge is imperfect, but she decides as best she can using reason, not emotion. I definitely don't share the feeling that she has been, or will be, a traitor.

I will try... but it might take some doing. I only have a flip phone, so I don't have a good way to take and post pictures. I'll have to borrow my wife's phone and figure out how to make it work.

I have joined the sophisticated crowd. My wife just bought me a Hongdian pen and a bottle of Waterman Serenity Blue ink. Still getting used to it, but I love it already!

Another VERY important difference between the Lost Radiants and Shallan: the Radiants of old and their spren jointly agreed to end their bonds. All the "normal" deadeye Shardblades we've seen were made by bonds being voluntarily and deliberately broken from both ends. Testament (from what we've seen) did NOT agree to break her bond with Shallan, and there is ample direct evidence in the text that that bond continued to exist, and still does. One obvious example is her last chapter in RoW - "Shallan had not one BUT TWO Shardblades." Nobody except Shallan ever had the ability to claim Testament. The TestamentBlade was NEVER in the safe; she spends the entirety of her time as a spren in Shadesmar, with the exception of the times Shallan summoned her again (to kill Tyn, for example). Regarding Lin... I can't agree with the classification of any person as "good" or "evil" - that's simplistic and honestly childish. Even the phrase "good people can do bad things" requires the postulate that "good people" exist. There are only people, and we are complex. Every choice we make might possibly be classified one way or another (although I doubt even that), but everyone is capable of making a good or bad choice each time. Lin Davar was in a position where he had to make some VERY difficult choices, and I do find him both flawed and sympathetic... as I think we ALL are.

Previous relevant discussion:

Agreed. I never thought the Set's agents were kandra, although I understand why some readers were confused by the use of the term "Faceless Immortals". Makes sense to me that a Scadrian like Suit would naturally use that term to describe an immortal bodysnatcher, whether kandra or not. "Your service is accepted; you will be allowed to serve in the next Realm" is also not a very kandra-like (or Harmony-like) promise to make. While my feeling is that the red-eyed entities are likely powered by Trell, others have speculated that Odium might be involved. It certainly can't be ruled out at this point.

I really did enjoy and identify with what you (both) said, this part most of all: Every time a new Cosmere story comes out, I get a feeling of anticipation, as if "oh, I finally get to go HOME again for a while!" Brandon's worlds feel more like home to me than any place in this crappy so-called "real" world. How can we be homesick for a place we've never been, and doesn't even really exist? Books ARE magic.

New marketing campaign: "The Unmade are watching... EAT MORE CHICKEN"

As a scientist, I normally dislike the way the word "theory" is used here in the 17th Shard forums. Typically applied to "random ideas someone had while reading a Cosmere novel", it offends my sense of scientific pride; a much better word would be "hypothesis", meaning a guess that could very simply be tested and disproved, if false. THIS, however, deserves the word "theory". It 1) describes and relates multiple pieces of evidence we've seen in the Cosmere, 2) explains how things have come to be the way they are in a new and interesting way, and 3) makes multiple predictions about what kinds of things may happen in the future, and WHY. A terrific work of observation, deduction, imagination, and insight. Well done, @Kingsdaughter613! Alas, if only we, like Navani, had the ability to perform our own in-world experiments! While I'd guess very few in-world characters are in a position to do useful experiments on the Cognitive/Spiritual aspects of immortals... although as I type this, I find myself thinking we may have already seen multiple examples of just such research. We, as mere outside observers, are forced to make do with new works as they are published - and, of course, the cleverly constructed questions which produce useful WoBs.