AquaRegia

Koalas of Western Terrain Kittens on Wife's Tummy I know nothing about Dan Wells... but I can see why he doesn't name most of his own books. :-)

I think the true revelation here is that it's PATTERN, rather than SHALLAN, who brings up the idea of a broken spren bond. Shallan doesn't seem to really know what a deadeye would be like ("not exactly, I'd guess"), or to consciously recall what happened to Testament... but we now know Pattern was fully aware of both of these things. Even back this far, Pattern is trying to lay the groundwork for Shallan to remember what happened with her first spren. He really has become one of my favorite characters, as shown in this topic: And I'm in full agreement with Brandon's 100-level author sneak! LOVE IT.

Totally fair - nitpicking is what we DO! When I make a mistake (and boy, do I make mistakes) I EXPECT to be corrected. You are of course correct, I said "Alendi" when I meant "Rashek". Thanks!

Hard agree with @Nameless: It's MAGIC. Investiture allows users to do impossible things, in the same way it gives them resistance to disease and tooth decay. I try not to overthink it.

Well, obviously not a LAW (Sazed and Alendi as counterexamples); just that "three weird syllables" is a very common pattern. As soon as I saw the name "Axindweth" I thought "must be Terris". Could be. I wouldn't overhype the ancient wisdom of the Shin, though - I won't be surprised if they are just as ignorant and self-deluded as anyone else on Roshar. My guess will be that while yes, the Shin remember some specific pieces of history that have been forgotten in the East, there will also be an awful lot they DON'T know... and they will have misinterpreted or misconstrued some of what they do know.

Well, I like them both just fine. I do tend to be more interested in character than in plot, although of course both are needed to make a truly great story. I loved Dalinar's flashbacks and getting to see the journey that has made him who he is. This may be an unpopular opinion, but my least favorite part of the Stormlight Archive is the time spent in Shadesmar. After teasing the Surge of Transportation for two books, and building up expectations of the Cognitive Realm, the payoff, to me, was both disappointing and vaguely silly. A Realm of pure thought where objects from the Physical Realm are represented by spheres...so what reason is there to expect AIR there, let alone air with the exact same composition our human friends are used to? How is there both air and water vapor, but no clouds or weather? What is the deal with the tiny cold sun that never moves? Way too much about it strikes me as random and nonsensical, Alice-in-Wonderland-style, which is something I've never felt about any of Brandon's other work. Too many spren seem to be just a little too cute or funny. It feels like "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", when they finally go to Toontown and everything is zany and hilarious; the vibe just doesn't match the rest of the novels. This applies to RoW as well as Oathbringer.

Lots of interesting questions... almost too many for one topic! My thoughts: I agree that this felt external somehow. I interpreted it as the influence of Cultivation on Taravangian... but Valor is also an interesting speculation. I'm betting that Cultivation's "gifts" to Mr. T are going to turn out to be extremely important at some point. I simply filed it under "stuff the Diagram knew"... they did have an extensive spy network covering much of Roshar. But it's also possible Mr. T was paying special attention to Shinovar, and perhaps even had some direct contact. That's how I read it, yes. Not an expert, but with the proper metalminds, Fortune, Connection, and Identity can be stored, so many possibilities can be inferred. Regarding Axindweth's Terris heritage, it seemed obvious to me. Other Terris names we've seen: Vwafendal Asinthew Idashwy Handerwym Not disagreeing with anyone else's observations, but to me this simply demonstrated that appearance (or "ethnicity" or whatever) is not as important as some in-world characters make it out to be, and that cultural norms have changed many times over the long years of Roshar.

Thanks. I looked at the relevant WoB: I agree that the groundwork was NOT properly laid in the book. I'm fine with the whole "in-world characters don't really know the rules, and sometimes what they think is wrong"... but I guess this was back when Brandon was still getting the hang of it. ;-)

I was having a conversation about Warbreaker yesterday and realized I'm unclear on the rules for Returned giving away their Breath. We are told that the reason for Returned existing is to find the right time to give away their Breath. Common understanding is that when a Returned gives away their Breath, they can bring about a healing, and then they themselves die, as we see with Lightsong. I had the impression that while you can store some Breath in external objects, you can't give SOME of your Breath to another person - it's either all or none. Yet Vasher does not die when he gives all his Breath to Denth. Help?

Of course you are correct and now I'm just embarrassed. ;-)

My impression of how spanreeds work: they only move by themselves when placed with the tip in contact with paper. I don't recall ever seeing a spanreed float out of a case and position itself over a desk; I think a person needs to put it in place over the desk before it "connects" to its mate. By no means do I consider myself an artifabrian, though, I could be wrong.

What scares me most about the Cosmere: Brandon being unable to finish it. Do you really see Rashek as Chaotic? The Final Empire was suspiciously stable and well-ordered... in fact, I'm not sure about Evil either. He was the GOOD guy in his own story.

I cannot get out of my head the image of Syl (who finds the idea of HAIR disgusting) watching Kaladin being intimate with someone. And commenting. The WHOLE. STORMING. TIME. "Is... that how that's supposed to work...? EWWW." I know it's a scene we will never see. I'm mostly glad.

Agree. I think the Prologue will be an eye-popper, the opening salvo in what promises to be an action-packed series finale. @KaladinWorldsinger, I found it amusing how your premise "there won't be much revealed in the Prologue" was followed by TEN STORMING PARAGRAPHS of exciting things you think might be in the Prologue. You make it sound like "character moments" aren't juicy reveals... but for me, it's the characters that enable the story to be interesting, and reveals about character relationships in this case will be SUPER juicy. I think there is plenty of plot and magic cued up for a Sanderlanche later even after LOTS of dots get connected in the Prologue. In short, there's more than enough dots to go around!

I definitely agree. It's so much easier to identify and empathize with a character when you are seeing from their POV, and we have not had nearly as many Jasnah POVs as others. For the same reason, we have a pretty extreme view of Gavilar... which I think will be shown to be fully justified soon. ;-) I do identify with Jasnah, especially her exasperation at feeling like the only rationalist in a sea of overemotional, superstitious dimwits. I mean IRL - nobody HERE, of course! Conversely, I really enjoy how the significant number of Taravangian POVs has resulted a troublesome Shard we can identify and empathize with. It's going to make conflicts MUCH more intense, personal, and, well, believable going forward. I know, right? I, for one, LOVE our storming automods! Welcome to the Shard!

Welcome to the Shard. I agree. I expect the 5th Prologue to give us a better look at what old Gavilar was up to - his explorations of Shadesmar, his relationships with Kalak and Nale, the degree of his Cosmere awareness, how he came to possess both Voidlight and Anti-Light. I'm confident that it will continue connecting the dots of how he returns to be a serious player in SA5.

It's mostly science fiction, rather than fantasy, but anything by David Brin. My 2nd favorite author. He's got several collections of short stories, so you can start small... and he's also done a vast epic multi-novel saga if you want one. Very believable and relatable characters, fantastic worldbuilding, compelling stories, solid science. Really, he's the most Brandon-like non-Brandon author I can think of.

I am not religious, in the sense that I attend no services, perform no rituals, and claim membership in no denomination. As a U.S. citizen, I find Christianity troubling; I fear that too few self-professed American "Christians" practice (or even know) the things Christ actually taught. That said, I'm not an atheist. As others have said, certain knowledge of the infinite is beyond our finite brains. I'm agnostic in the literal sense - I can't say "yes" or "no", it's simply unknowable. I have found recently that spirituality does not require religion. If I choose to believe that there IS a higher power who wants the best for all of us, I feel differently and act differently. Prayer, to me, is not about telling god what's up - an all-knowing god, if there is one, already knows. Rather, prayer is a way to remind ME what I should be doing: gratitude for what I have, thinking less about myself, and helping others more.

Seems to me, in retrospect, that both the quote and the title might actually refer to Kelsier. He Ascended and held the Power of Preservation, and he is a Cognitive Shadow. Thus he is literally both a Sliver (by the accepted Cosmere definition) and a "shadow of himself". Is there any evidence that the Kandra knew he was still around during HoA, even though none of the human characters (nor we as readers) knew at the time?

There is this guy: https://coppermind.net/wiki/Riino And of course the Ire: https://coppermind.net/wiki/Ire

I absolutely LOVE all three of them!

I don't understand how this constitutes proof of a "breeding program". We know there are Allomancers on Scadrial; we know that they hire out their abilities. Occam's Razor says this explanation makes more sense, unless there is evidence that Push and Pull were born in captivity. I don't recall any such implication. No one is arguing that the Set is less than several years old. We DON'T KNOW (because Brandon has not decided yet) how many years there will be between SA5 and AoL, right? It could be 20, it could be 40 or more. Telsin is a few years older than Wax, so, mid-40s... what better way to be a high-ranking leader in an organization than to "get in on the ground floor", as they say? "The Series" may be offworlders, while Telsin may be among the first of the native Scadrian Set members. It's all just speculation, of course, and I understand why one might not like it. But I still don't see anything that rules it out as impossible.

I disagree that it's impossible. Unlikely, perhaps... but deliciously possible, I think. Is there evidence in the text that the Set has been breeding allomancers for "so long", or indeed, AT ALL? I know it's the conclusion that Wax and the others come to, but do we see any actual evidence? If I recall, the kidnappings were a quite recent development at the beginning of AoL. I recall no reason to think that Push and Pull need to be products of kidnapping and rape; why couldn't they simply have been hired professionals? Miles' crew was certainly not hurting for money, and there are numerous references in Era 2 of allomancers for hire. To my knowledge, we do not yet know how long the time gap is between SA5 and SA6, nor do we know where in that gap AoL will sit. We have only the roughest of guesses at how much time the Set will have to become an organization... but organizations can appear quickly with the right motivation. We may very well see the birth of that organization during SA5. I love the symmetry: the Ghostbloods - an organization founded by Scadrians - is perceived as a shadowy menace on Roshar, while the Set - founded by Rosharans - is the mysterious threat to Scadrial. The question NOT addressed, of course, is: how does Trell get involved?

For us on Earth, no, it doesn't - at least, not in any way I know of. Sanderson, however, has invoked the idea of "ferromagnetic volcanic ash" that somehow interacts with Scadrial's magnetic field, making the magnetic north pole region somehow cooler than the actual geographic pole. At this point, I'm OK with saying "it's just a fantasy novel, it doesn't HAVE to makes scientific sense." ;-)

By Adonalsium, I think you are on to something here. We know Cryptics in general, and Pattern in particular, see the world in terms of mathematics. The members that control the Set are known as the "Series." Known members include "Sequence", "Suit" and "Array". Coincidence? I think not. I'm on board. Not sure how I feel about what I've always thought of as an evil organization being founded by characters I love... but I cannot deny the logic here, and honestly, I have the same misgivings about the Ghostbloods. Well done, @ChickenChaser. Have an upvote and my hearty congratulations for your fine insight.