Shardlet

Welcome Random. Just a couple of reminders, though. We know that Jasnah knows of the cryptics, but we do not yet know that she has seen them. Since the cryptic enabled Shallan to enter Shadesmar, and Jasnah can also enter Shadesmar, then I would suspect that she can see/interact with them. But we don't know that for sure yet. Also, Elhokar apparently can see them as well and it doesn't appear that he has a scholarly bone in his body.

Well, in your plastic example, your benzoyl peroxide is not a catalyst, but rather is an initiator. The reason it would be soft and gooey if you had too much is because instead of producing, let's just say 10 long polystyrene chains (for the sake of simplicity), you get 100 short chains. Each chain would be terminated with at least a portion of the benzoyl peroxide. A catalyst, by contrast, and by definition, facilitates a chemical reaction without directly participating in it (i.e., it never reacts with any of the reactants and is the same before, during, and after the reaction).

This was a very good scene in a very good trilogy. I really felt Lewis/Llew's emptiness here. For any of you who may be wondering, this is Stephen Lawhead's Song of Albion trilogy comprising The Paradise War, The Silver Hand, and The Endless Knot.

So many simple work-arounds to your arguments. Put a small ring or loop at the other end of the wire. the spike goes through the ring and the spike has a reasonable point on it. It freely spins with no winding. Rithmatist 1 holds the spike in place while rithmatist 2 draws. The point should enable relatively easy stability eve without being driven. With a marginal amount of care with such a tool, you should be able to quickly draw a very good circle. Such a tool does not replace developing freehand drawing skills. It is simply another tool. Just like when you go to school to become an engineer. They teach you all kinds of math skills that you will frequently not use because you have a software package to do the actual number crunching (not a perfect analogy I know). There will be times when using the wire is a good idea and there will be times when freehand is a good idea. Sometimes a framing hammer will work more effectively than a machinist's hammer and vice versa.

Surely a single LoR would not be able to break a wall any more than a single LoVigor could break through a LoForbiddance or a LoWarding. Also, it takes a substantial amount of force to knock someone off their feet unless it hits them at a point to knock them off-balance. Even taking a bullet on a BPV (better distribution of force over the body) would not be enough to knock some backwards off their feet unless they were already off-balance (yes, I'm sorry, Hollywood lied). I also agree that Joel's lines were carefully placed to hit targets. I did not get the impression that he did a lot of missing. LoRs do not appear to be like lines of making (chalklings) at all. I saw no indication of any need for modification or instructions given beyond drawing the line. It also appears clear that LoRs affect more than chalk since both Nalizar and Harding were tanked by one. Yes, the have an essence of chalk attached to them. but they still are human bodies.

He wouldn't be able to do anything true. But, his disillusionment would've began long before his first plateau assault. One of Kal's first observations upon arriving at Sadeas's camp is that it is completely different from what he expected the warcamps to be like. Disarray, poor discipline, and general laxness. I think the use of the bridge crews would have been the final straw and he would've deserted or at least not re-upped. Especially after he figured out the secondary purpose of the bridgemen.

His identity certainly. But the thought I was addressing was "a devotion to a dominion". Galladon did not seem like he was overly keen on Elantris or even Arelon at large.

I think that is likely deddinty. Personally, I can't recall a single book cover I have seen that depicts an actual scene from a book. However, the elements are compelling in and of themselves.

This is indeed new information to me. Thank you for the tip.

This isn't a huge issue, but I noticed that a new WoR posting or thread does not appear on the forum index page. Instead, you see the most recent posting or thread in the general Stormlight Archive section even if that posting is way older than the new WoR posting. Is there a way to adjust this so that new postings in subsections show up on the index page? Or is it just another limitation of the software?

So, I thought this might be a nice variation on the "Your biggest 'WHAT THE ---?!' " thread. What is the most perfect scene or event from any book that you have read? And why? For me, it is in the Way of Kings when Dalinar summons Oathbringer in Sadeas's warcamp and drives it into the rock in front of him and offers it to Sadeas in exchange for his entire complement of bridgemen. All through the book you hear about Dalinar's honor; From lighteyes, from darkeyes, even from slaves. The perception of Dalinar's honor is highlighted repeatedly throughout the entire book. We see hints of it in his behavior and in the things he says and the ideals he aspires to. But, we never see it truly in action. Until... After he is betrayed by one he trusted implicitly, his life, the life of his son, and the lives of thousands of his men are saved by the lowest of the low...a team of Sadeas's bridgemen. At the lead of these bridgemen is a slave who personally saves Dalinar from death at the last moment. In return, Dalinar commits to freeing the bridgemen from Sadeas. After returning to the warcamps, Dalinar finds an intransigent Sadeas who refuses to sell the bridgemen to Dalinar for any price. What does he do? Does he hedge? Does he beg? Does he renege on his promise to Kaladin? No, he summons Oathbringer. Sadeas practically pees his pants. Everyone present (including Sadeas) knows that Dalinar would be well within his rights to strike Sadeas down where he stands. Instead Dalinar thrusts his blade into the ground and offers that which no Alethi would ever offer willingly in exchange for the lives of these wretches. In one dramatic moment, everything we have been told about Dalinar is validated and affirmed in astounding volume and clarity. This scene was right. This scene was perfect. Now, your turn.

As to the uniform, I expected Kholin blue to be a darker blue color. I mean, the elite bodyguard unit is called the Cobalt Guard. But whatever. The only thing I really don't like about the uniform is that dang white collar lapel thing. The blue-green thing could be a pouch of spheres, it might be a gemheart. I like the pouch idea better. Why would Kaladin or Szeth be concerned about a gemheart if they were brawling. The value means nothing if you are dead and both can suck in the stormlight from it without touching it. Since Szeth is standing on top of a pile of bodies in armor (suggests Kholin heavy infantry), I would expect that Szeth and Kaladin are fighting against each other. I suppose it could be an Alethi on Alethi fight where Kaladin and Szeth are fighting together. But, seems less likely. The cracks, though, I doubt they came from a hard landing. Our boy's stormlight boost is potent; But, that would have to be as potent of an effect as shardplate. Seems unlikely. But, it does look an awful lot like there are cracks sourced at his foot and cracks sourced at his knee. Seems like something funky is happening.

If you compare a line of revocation (LoR) to an arrow (archery, neh?), I would liken the angle formed at the end of the straight line of the LoR to the arrowhead and expect the direction of travel to be like an arrow. I would assume an LoR could react to any 3D body that is in contact with the plane upon which the LoR is drawn. So, conceivably, you could knock holes in walls and such. Since the LoR hitting someone knocks them back, rather than knocking their feet out from under them, I would assume that that the force is applied not just at the point of contact. After thinking about it that way, I wonder if the 3D body needs to be in contact with the drawing surface.

I would recommend his other stuff as well. It is a bit lighter. But the Alcatraz books are fun, The Rithmatist is a great story, and the short stories are excellent also.

For me, Dalinar giving up Oathbringer was a punch the air moment. Dalinar's character and the value he places on human life had been established over the course of the book. What better way to make a moral stand than to make an exchange that would be viewed by the Alethi as being more significant? It was perfect. It was surprising because it was so powerful, but not unexpected in a lot of ways. For me, Taravangian being revealed as directing Szeth was a bigger, more surprising reveal.

Welcome ampman, I look forward to hearing your insights into the workings of the cosmere.

Ah, but this begs the question: If such cracking actually occurs in the book, how is it that Kaladin accomplished such a hard landing without cracking his feet and knee? With a hard landing even shardplate cracks. There is nothing in the three lashings which would allow such a feat. If gravity was affected to soften the landing for Kaladin, then surely there would not have been enough energy transferred to crack the ground.

The strategy you choose is always going to be based upon the circumstances you are in. The book makes it pretty clear that you select your strategy based upon your abillities and the circumstances of the fight. There is no 'best strategy' for all circumstances. Sometimes a quick and simple defense (e.g., Ballintain or Sumsion) is better while at other times a more elaborate defense (e.g., Taylor or Easton) is better. Just because you have chalk on a wire doesn't mean you have to use it. But, can you deny that it would be a very useful tool?

I think it is probably this quote that he is referring to: Quote I couldn't find the source for it though. I suspect that this is a twitter question due to the #Seattle hashtag. It is probably a reference to a signing in seattle which took place at around that time. Apparently Suvudu posted a recording of the Q&A http://sf-fantasy.suvudu.com/2011/11/event-video-brandon-sanderson-qa.html'>here. I have not followed this link, so I don't know if it is still good or if there is a solid confirmation of the basis of the above quote. Enjoy!

It depends on what material the string is made out of. There are several ways (as well as materials) I can think of off-hand that would mitigate stretching and fraying. A fine braided wire should do the job nicely. Should be durable, have minimal stretching, and be very flexible with minimal kinking. I can't help but think that the benefit of near geometric perfection would outweigh a few moments extra time spent to make it. In any case it would take a fair amount of time to freehand draw a circle of the size you would need for a LoW that even approaches reasonably perfect. I would think that with two rithmatists working, it would not only be more perfect, but would also be quicker. I agree that there is more to Joel's ability than just practice. Certainly the practice makes a difference, but it is clear to me that he has a substantially heightened apptitude. A compass the size necessary to draw the circles would be necessarily huge and cumbersome. This certainly would take up more time.

Are you sure he had two copies of each memory? I was under the impression that the Keepers read everything from their own metalmind to the new Keepers (still leaving the memories in their own metalmind as well), not physically gave the metalmind to new Keepers. For the first part, it could be possible that an alloy with a minor amount of atium would produce an atium misting while a 50/50 alloy would produce a feruchemist. For my part, though, I think that it would be unlikely for one to become a feruchemist by burning anything. For the second part, a keeper could not use the coppermind of another keeper. Sazed spoke rather plainly about this in TFE with Vin. A feruchemist cannot access the feruchemical stores of another feruchemist.

Interesting thought Windborne, but since anybody burning lerasium (not an alloy) would become a mistborn (whether misting, mundane, or feruchemist), and mistborn and atium mistings burn atium, I suspect that burning atium would not to anything outside of what we know. That is not to say that there may be some other means of doing something special with atium. Its god-metal status may be accounted for in it's universality for hemalurgy. Thus, I would posit that a lerasium spike would not be hemallurgically viable or at least would not share atium's universality (it could only be used to spike one attribute from feruchemy or one from allomancy). In other words, lerasium is universal in allomancy, in that it grants the ability to burn any allomantically viable metal. This is because allomancy is sourced from Preservation and lerasium is a pice of the body of Preservation. In comparison, atium is universal in hemalurgy, in that it can be used to take any attribute hemalurgically. This is because hemalurgy is sourced from Ruin and atium is a portion of the body of Ruin.

Consider Takeshi, TWoK is Kaladin's book, but Kaladin is not on the cover. It is Eshonai and Dalinar.

I can see a couple of ways that hemalurgic feruchemy could be less effective than genetic feruchemy. While you still would get out what you put in, it may be more difficult to put in. Think of the difference between using a 1/2" diameter hose to fill or drain a tub of water versus using a 5/8" diameter hose. Also, a hemalurgic feruchemist may not be able to store the same quantity of an attribute in a given metalmind as a genetic feruchemist could in the same metalmind.

The Devotion to a Dominion idea sounds nice. But I got the impression that Galladon had/has a lot more devotion to Duladel than to Arelon. Yet, he was taken by the Shaod and given access to the Arelon based system.