Shardlet

Yeah, it seems to be at least a very difficult skill. Kelsier was exceedingly skilled with iron and steel and Zane had a spike that enhanced his iron? I think. I don't even recall seeing Kelsier controlling the strength of his pushes or pulls except by flaring.

I wasn't fishing for upvotes. But, thank you just the same. I just thought it was funny how much we love to hear from Peter (and Brandon) and that circumstance seemed to perfectly illustrate that.

Since hemalurgy is fatal to the donor in every case unless certain actions are taken, it seems unlikely that Ruin would have chosen to carefully stab Fedik in order to leave him alive. Also, what would be the point of leaving him alive. Doesn't seem to jive very well with Ruin's intent. Since Fedik did not seem to do anything after he was stabbed to significantly help Ruin, it seems unlikely that Ruin would not have just killed him. On top of which, Alendi was on board with Ruin's plan already. Unless Fedik was trying to convince Alendi to do things outside of Ruin's goals (which i don't recall any indication of), there would be no reason for Ruin to kill him.

Does anyone else find it strange that Peter laughing got more upvotes than the comment he found funny?

Yeah, that's new to me also.

Masculine arts would be business, soldiery, leadership, dueling, farming, etc. Farming could appeal to you in a manner of speaking (so long as you were always trying to improve yields or overall efficiency). As an alternative to the aforementioned stormwardenry or ardentry, you could shoot for being a surgeon.

Criticism of Honor and the Heralds is premature. We don't know what the Oathpact was, how it came to be, what the goal was, what the victory conditions are, the stakes, what Honor's expectations were, what the Herald's roles were, how they were chosen, the effect of the nine abandoning the Oathpact, how much time they spend on Roshar v. in Damnation, whether Taln would not have made the same choice if he survived, how Taln feels about the nine abandoning him, or really much of anything. If the Herald's screwed everything over and they will not and cannot be redeemed in some fashion, then there is little point of them still existing in the story unless they will be key antagonists. And I don't think that that will be likely. I also think it is unlikely that all nine will make it back, as it were. I personally suspect that Dalinar is being groomed to become a replacement Herald rather than just a KR.

I can get behind the idea that many of the nine were actively attempting to stave off the desolation any and every way they knew how. I would not put them in the same camp as Sadeas and Amaram. S&A have not endured torture for thousands of years and certainly not on behalf of others. For the entire span of the Heraldic epocs, the Heralds were the embodiment of unselfishness. They made sacrifices and endured torments that we can't even begin to fathom. They reached a point when they just couldn't do it anymore. I don't begrudge them that. It is unclear how they have spent the last 4500 years. I'm sure that along the way there have been periods of self-indulgence for each of them. But, where did they put most of their energy? Are they still fighting the fight in their own way? Are any of them mental jello? I don't know. We'll find out as SA unfolds. I suspect that each has spent a great deal of time working against the Everstorm as best they knew how. Shallash's guilt appears to be the most acute. I suspect that She will be the first to re-up and that will happen (a wild and baseless prediction) in book three. And I think that by book 5, each of the nine will have faced Taln in some way or another.

I would think that the arrival of a Herald would likely signal the inevitability of a desolation. I also think that the Heralds, while perhaps twisted, are not depraved. They will either be redeemed or replaced in SA. My suspicion is that most will be redeemed. Darkness would be the biggest impending threat, but, if he is who many here think he is, then I think it unlikely that he would seek to end Taln. I think he would realize that his plan to stave off the desolation had failed. The Heralds know that when the Heralds return from damnation, the desolation is knocking at the door and hiding behind the sofa and pretending not to be home will not make it go away. Their shared history is too long and I think their internal guilt is too great for them to go hunting for Taln's head.

Welcome, jcoop. Glad to have you with us. Some book knowledge would have been cool with the Shardhunt. But, it appears that they thought it a good idea to give everyone a tour of the site to highlight its many fine features. So, what kind of engineer are you? I'm a metals and materials guy.

It seems incredibly unlikely to me that any of the Heralds would attack Taln. If for no other reason than they abandoned him as much as they did the Oathpact. They would have to have fallen very far before they'd attack him. Why would you crap on the dude that just took your licking for the last 4500 years?

As to the ink rejection in the story, I don't think we have much information about the way stormlight healing takes place. Does the healing happen top down, bottom up or equal across the board? If top down, then ink rejection would be unlikely since the skin at the surface would heal first thus effectively trapping the ink. If across the board equally, then also unlikely since it seems like everything would heal around the ink. But, if it is bottom up, then ink rejection seems more likely since the deepest part of the injury heals first. This would effectively move the ink upward out of the damaged tissue as it heals.

My guess is that Dalinar will not find out about it until at least halfway through the book, if not longer. I would be very surpised if the book ended without Dalinar finding out somehow.

It depends on what events motivated Taravangian. I am inclined to think it was Dalinar's joint assault efforts and the implications of that. I think Taravangian made this choice before Sadeas's betrayal. No, there is no timeline confirmation yet that I know of.

I just thought of something that the chapter does confirm. No Alethi highprinces or anyone else of note has been killed by Szeth (excepting of course Gavilar). Dalinar is the first Alethi on Taravangian's hit list.

It appears that since not much time has apparently passed, that the journal entry is from a future time. It smacks of looking reasonably far back. Looking forward to more of Navani's journal entries. I forgot about Shen. Thanks, Riceloft. It definitely looks like Shen will become very important.

Welcome, NoFear_MSL! I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the WoT universe is closed indefinitely. Brandon has said it is up to Harriet (R. Jordan's wife) whether there will be anything else. But, his vote is for no more. He feels that finishing the series was good, but that anything beyond that is like milking the world Jordan created and the idea makes him squirm. Personally, I am glad he is not planning on it. But that may be selfish of me because those projects take him away from the cosmere. However, if you are unaware of this, there is a deleted chapter of sorts from one of the Brandon WoT books that is released or being released in the complilation book called Unfettered (I think). You may enjoy that.

Welcome to Wonderland, lonelymagician! Glad to have you in our rabbit-hole.

Brandon usually doesn't arrive until near the scheduled start (said drawing upon my vast experience of two signings and a con ). But frequently you get a good seat if you are there early and can get to the front of the signing line. The earlier time accounts for a potentially large audience since it is in NYC and also coupled with two other authors. I have no idea what kind of crowd the other authors are currently drawing. Paolini is only promoting a special edition Eragon, so I have no idea how many might come for that. I got to the Seattle signing an hour early and there were about 7 or 8 people there already. Within 30 min. there were about 20. At about 15 min. before the start there were about 40. Each location is going to be somewhat different though. At Spokane, there were about 30 or so people at the start of the signing.

Like Rainbow said, costume is a strong way to get one. Also, make sure ytou get there a couple of hours early (maybe more since it will be more than just Sanderfans). He only brings X amount of cards with him to a signing and even if you impress him with a great costume and witty remarks and you came to the signing by way of China, if he doesn't have any cards left, then he can't give you one.

I liked the chapter. It wasn't particularly plot rich, but a lot of good character development. Moash is rapidly becoming a character whom I will be watching closely. He's got an important history it seems. I liked Rind. He seems to be of good character and did not appear to resent Kaladin's high rank despite being a darkeye. I agree cem that the epilogue is very interesting. It apears that at some point in time following the Battle of the Tower that the Parshendi are no longer fussed about gemhearts. I suspect they are now looking for Kaladin.

It's up. And it is a Kaladin chapter titled: "Bridge Four"

Also, it is important to note that although Odium hangs out on Braize, there is not yet any indication that he has invested there. In contrast, we do know that he has a significant portion of his power tied up on Roshar.

Precisely. Even if you cut the world down to just the United States, it will still take a very long time to get from Los Angeles to Vegas when you are crawling.

Dwarf galaxy or not, how close are we to our nearest star? Proxima Centauri at 4.24 light years. At 0.5 c the trip would take 10 years give or take including acceleration and deceleration. Not exactly a convenient distance in any terms.