AquaRegia

I think it's mostly to remind us that Hoid has known all these people since, well, they were still only people. He had personal relationships with them before they became Vessels. He was there, at the Shattering, trying to talk them out of it. However, if thinking of them as people serves to reduce their power, or lessen the effect of the Shardic Intent, even a tiny bit, I'm sure Hoid is all for it. Interestingly, the only current Vessels Hoid doesn't have long history with are and, to a lesser extent,

If we are going down the rabbit hole on this, we might also postulate that it would be probably be easier for someone to set up a secret facility on the floor of the bead ocean in Shadesmar than under the Physical water ocean on Roshar. I also think the most likely explanation is that Xisis is Foil. His full name is Xisisrefliel.

Was there anything in the story to support the claim that sea levels are constantly rising? That's not something that people living on an island would fail to notice, and I don't recall anything being mentioned about it.

They are moving a sufficiently large number of boxes each month that it's reasonable for them to be be spread out over several weeks. I got my box - the Hoid box, which was scheduled for later but got promoted to January due to book delays - but that doesn't mean you should panic if your box has not arrived yet. There is still plenty of January left.

I have not put Hoid anywhere cool yet either, but in related news: As witty as this shirt is, I already have way too many t-shirts that I need to explain to people. Frankly, it's becoming exhausting - I'm out of breath. I just don't see myself wearing this one. Therefore... *drumroll (+ flute)* FREE (with my compliments) to the first 17S nerd who messages me their address, one brand new size L "Hoid for President" t-shirt. Note: My hope is for someone who didn't (or couldn't) pledge the kickstarter to get a free goodie. If you have one already, let someone less fortunate in on the fun.

It was a comment by Khriss (in RoW Ars Arcanum) about someone named Foil, who many of us assume to be Xisis.

When in doubt, read things in the order in which they were published. That way you get exactly the "spoilers" the author intended.

I'm agreeing with @Leuthie. I also did not get the impression that Hoid is Returned, simply that he knows he's not really a "human being" anymore. I won't be surprised if it turns out Hoid is some kind of cognitive shadow, but we don't yet know for sure.

No, you didn't miss it - it's not there. It remains an open question. Many of us have speculated... but we don't know.

Not sure why you think air resistance would suddenly stop at Mach 1. Meteors routinely enter earth's atmosphere at Mach 60... and they heat up and vaporize.

Here's a link to a previous thread about this topic: Also, this particular forum is "Tress only", with no Cosmere spoilers, so you might want to edit your title and keep the discussion going in the other thread instead.

I think one piece of the puzzle might be that because Brandon writes books that celebrate ideas like true friendship, diversity, and inclusion, he naturally attracts an audience that treasures those values as well. So of course we have a friendly, diverse, and inclusive fan base. (Is my amazingly awesome modesty showing? )

I see, that makes more sense... thanks for posting. I agree we don't seem to know enough yet, and it's very Brandon for in-cosmere characters to be confidently wrong about stuff. I do worry about how WoBs get spoken (sometimes poorly, often distractedly), recorded (sometimes badly), and transcribed (sometimes misleadingly). There can be an awful lot of room for error and lost meaning in that chain. Is it possible that when he said what he was THINKING was "all the Investiture that Adonalsium held at the time of the Shattering got assigned to one of the 16 Shards"? If so, that would not preclude there being Investiture NOT associated with Adonalsium, and thus not now associated with a Shard. Given that WoBs are not canon, this one's from 2017, he does sometimes misspeak or get misquoted, and he sometimes just plain changes his mind, I think it's at least possible. But you are right, overall that quote seems to be pretty clearly saying "all Investiture that exists is related to a Shard".

Nightblood's sheath is canonically aluminum, at least, according to the Coppermind. Again, no. He wanted silver to have the "internal pulling" spot, the one which amplifies the senses. He even named said Mistings "Silvereyes", which is objectively super storming cool. Later, he found out that pewter was mostly tin, with little or no silver, and had to bump silver out and replace it with tin. So we got Tineyes instead. I think it's an awesome story - silver is unique throughout the Cosmere because some 1980s hobby shop employees didn't know what pewter was.

Well heck, I hate being wrong. But thank you! My ego does need periodic deflation. I guess if Brandon tends to use a term incorrectly, Khriss is likely to as well. ;-)

moons ≠ sun LOL As noted by several others, this is almost certainly just a case of an electrical device with solar charging. @Oltux72 for the win - 3/3. The role of water in Aether magic is paralleled by that of metals in Allomancy. I'd love to see any evidence you have for this. My understanding was that Aethers 1) predate Adonalsium, and 2) represent Investiture wholly separate from the Shards.

I dislike the use of the word "catalyst" in this case. In chemistry, a catalyst increases the rate of a reaction (usually by providing a lower energy, i.e., easier, pathway) but is not itself consumed in the reaction. This does not match the role of water in sprouting Aether spores; water is definitely consumed. Same for Sand Mastery. It reminds me of the role of metals in Allomancy. The metals are consumed and need to be replenished, but they are not directly transformed into Investiture; instead the metals are described as being a "key", unlocking the Investiture somehow. Nobody ever refers to Allomantic metals as "catalysts". And correctly so. The idea of the Midnight Mother being an Aether or an Aetherbound entity is certainly tantalizing... and it seems very On-Brandon for "this thing we've seen on one planet" to turn out to be a version of "this other thing we've seen on a different planet".

I agree with @lacrossedeamon. We know from both contextual clues and WoBs that TotES is "far future" Cosmere, decades or centuries after MB E2 and SA E1. For whatever reason, whether it makes sense to us now or not, I think Brandon wants us to know that by Tress' time, Marsh-as-Death has a Cosmere-wide reputation.

I have no problem accepting that The Sorceress could pull off a Lightweaving like that. I have no idea what the reptilian creature is.

I don't disagree that TotES would be a reasonable My First Cosmere Novel™. But it's a fair point that a reader who is not familiar with Elantrians or AonDor might very well finish reading the final showdown and have no clue what just happened. I'll also agree in principle with the OP: seeing the same characters (or clans thereof) over and over does strain credibility. But I don't think the Cosmere is nearly as bad as Star Wars ended up getting... in terms of callbacks it's more like Star Trek. ;-)

Sorry, I neglected to actually make the point I intended to. Very true, and I agree with your estimates. A sailing ship that small traversing ~30% of the planet should take several months, not a few weeks. But given the number of other physical impossibilities we see in the cosmere, this one seems like small potatoes. Fine, it's a Mars-sized planet whose atmosphere is magically retained and/or renewed. Maybe it's more dense than average, for higher surface gravity. I don't recall any mentions in the text of how long the day/night cycle is, so that could be significantly different than cosmere standard as well. The size of Lumar and the stability of its atmosphere over astronomical time are open questions, agreed. They bother me less than the twelve streams of spores being endlessly dumped on the planet... and don't forget that said spores must be flying UPWARD from the surfaces of the moons somehow. I guess my real point is that the number of things for which the answer has to simply be "magic" is VERY large for Lumar.

I think I can answer without giving anything important away - yes, he is a kandra, and we don't learn the answers to any of your other questions. Enjoy!

I've also been bothered by the astronomical "realities" of the Lumar system. Back in the "SP1" days, there were several discussions about it; I'll pull over some quotes. @cometaryorbit @platnumkid This entire topic, kudos to @Ixthos, @Oltux72, and others: FANTASTIC work by @Oltux72 here: Flat-topped: this configuration has 3 fold symmetry: 4 offset rings of 3 moons each. I'm fairly confident that this is closest to what Brandon has in mind. Each moon has 5 closest neighbors, consistent with each sea being a pentagon. Among the many problems, of course, are that they are impossibly close to the planet (Roche limit), and moving impossibly slowly. If they are big enough to "cover 1/3 of the sky", they must be practically touching the planet. Not only do the various "facts" we have about Lumar and its moons not make sense, they literally cannot be made to make sense. Even with "magic", we're really stretching things.

If there is one character in SA who would care absolutely ZERO about how his hair looks, it's Kaladin. That said, Adolin is frequently jealous of how hot Kaladin looks (without even trying!), so it follows that his hair must be consistently good.

I would love nothing more than for Kelsier and Marsh to have a serious character arc together ONSCREEN in the future, especially given the way they might find themselves in opposition. "You know how I feel about you, brother... but you are wrong and I can't let you keep going." It's hard to imagine a scene packing a bigger emotional punch. Perhaps my skepticism regarding whether we'll actually GET that story is really just me trying to protect myself from disappointment. I looked forward so much to TLM, and for the most part, my high hopes were dashed. I don't want to get burned again. Storm it, past Brandon is ruining both my enjoyment of present Brandon and my anticipation of future Brandon!