Shardlet

Syl clearly can physically affect things in the physical realm (such as in the leaf example you pointed out). But, does she visibly manifest in the physical realm or is she visible due to some cognitive resonance between her and Kaladin. This would explain why nobody else can see her (except in a couple of notable cases). I would liken it to the movie "ParaNorman" where Norman can see the spirits of dead people whereas no one else can. Norman has some kind of resonance with spirits which are present in the physical realm which allows him to see perceive them while those lacking such a resonance (everyone else) cannot. On Roshar, perhaps mundane spren have a general cognitive resonance with everyone while sentient spren have a more selective cognitive resonance.

I am wondering if I have become a cheerleader for Crysanja , but you make another good observation. The church's adoption of rithmatics is fairly atypical for a religion (at least as we have generally seen historically IRL). And rithmatics does seem like it would have been crazy freaky to people for at least a couple of generations. Granted, I don't recall whether or not we know when the church adopted rithmatics, but for it to have the monopoly it has, it seems like it must have done so fairly early on. You would expect a religion to be very leery of something so new, so different, and so powerful. I smell a significant backstory.

Now that you say that, I recall it. It seems to me that such a threat would be somewhat limited in scope. Clearly, keeping them on Nebrask is ideal, but how frequently would that problem present itself. Clearly, if the Aztecs had substantial Chalkling wars, then log sailing and other methods are a substantial risk. Though, I seem to recall a passage about driving all the chalklings back to Nebrask. So it appears, they were once far more widespread. This line of thinking causes me to wonder about the extent of wild chalkling sentience and intelligence as well as the nature of wild chalkling reproduction. Are wild chalklings born or simply drawn by a Forgotten?

I don't know that I would go so far as to say Brandon implies spren are created by the human mind. I think, given the fact that the same spren can seen by multiple individuals and the fact that Syl has a distinct personality that is perceived by Rock as well as Kaladin, it may be more accurate to say that Spren can only be perceived by a sentient mind that is in their presence (i.e., a camera, having no sentience, would not be able to record a spren because it cannot be perceived by the film [or for you younguns, a sensor]). But that is only if a camera cannot record a spren in a photograph. Recall, Brandon does not tell us whether a spren would show up in a photograph.

I am sad that Skaa reads me as being a woman. It is a blow to my male ego . Oh well, I suppose I will survive somehow. And I guess I will have to start posting with a deeper voice . I suspect that the indication of Szeth's blade being smaller than other shardblades cited in the OP would most likely primarily refer to it's length. Although I would also suspect that there is an associated relative slenderness to it as well. It can clearly be very effectively wielded by someone not in plate. This would make the blade very effective for fighting a smaller adversary since it would be more nimble and could be effectively wielded without plate (making the blade more utile to a broader population). As to Shallan's blade, we have not yet seen it or had a description of it. It is very possible that she also has a Szethblade (or in the spirit of this theory, an Odiumblade, if you will).

The way I see it, Brandon tends to tends to give somewhat of an overall balance to religion in his books. The Cosmere complicates things a little since we have not yet seen any actual Gods per se. Certainly the Shards have some very godlike qualities, like the power of creation for example. but there are limits to that even. Recall neither Ruin nor Preservation could create human life on their own. They had to work together. And we have seen manipulative corrupt religions in Brandon's books, such as the Steel Ministry. I do however doubt that we will see the church as a major antagonist in the Rithmatist books. Especially since this is a YA book.

I think Crysanja's most recent post has some strong merit to it. It is difficult to say, since we have seen so little of the church so far. But, I got the impression that the church adjusted a ceremony (at least now known as inception) to include generating rithmatists. The church now holds an exclussive monopoly (at least in North Americas) on the creation of new rithmatists. This gives the church substantial power, control, and influence. Clearly, not all rithmatists doctrinally adhere to the church (or, I should say, are devoted to the doctrines of the church). But, the church determines when people are incepted and there does not appear to be any reason why an inception ceremony could not take place on a day other than July 4th. This could potentially lead to the church excercising at least a modicum of control over who becomes a rithmatist by allowing off-date inceptions to increase the chance of one becoming a rithmatist. Edit: I completely changed the substance of this post since it was kindly pointed out to me that there may have been a critical error in my thinking unrelated to the substance I am posting about. I know this kind of edit is unorthodox. But, I determined that there was no need to unnecessarily upset anyone.

Being 2D creatures that move across a 2D surface, I suspect that chalklings could not traverse a space lacking a continuous (constant physical contact) surface. Interesting idea, but I expect that the chalklings could simply travel underneath the plywood (movable) surface. That is of course, unless the field extends both above and below the drawn line of forbiddence. In the which case the moveable surface would no longer be effectively moveable. What lead you to this conclusion Observer? In the book, we have only seen lines of forbiddence drawn on fixed surfaces. So I don't see anything to suggest an anchoring. If the line extends below the line of forbiddence (This is really cumbersome. From here on out, in my posts, a line of forbiddence shall hereafter be known as an LoF) then the field must penetrate solid material beneath the LoF. Since the field interacts with the 3D world, I don't see how this could be reasonably possible without leaving a field shaped hole in the material. If they can move across a field of grass, I would expect that they could also move across a chainlink fence. Wow, I liken this post to throwing a bucket of acid on a lot of peoples ideas. Kind of a downer of a post. Sorry for the negative vibes. Here is some food for thought that will hopefully be a balm to any of those I may have harmed: So, the wild chalklings are on Nebrask which is an island. How could the chalklings traverse a fluid surface effectively? Seems tricky. Significant enough that I'm sure Brandon has an answer, though.

Silly Sharders, the men of Red and Gold are clearly Iron Men .

I think the dinner party quote is not specific enough to say that Kelsier and Hoid hate each other. I suspect it is more a conflict of vision and personality. We have only seen Hoid in a position where he is trying to nudge events. We have not seen him in a conversation with someone who may have similar goals. I suspect Hoid will turn out to be very driven and self-assured. Kelsier is also likewise driven and self-assured. If the two of them have conflicting ideas about how things should be done, even if they have the same end goal (perhaps especially so), then I would expect them to have heated unbending arguments about it (i.e., they don't get along at all).

Tricky business, this. I referred to the blur of physics partly because I haven't figured it out yet (I think more in-depth explainations for some of it could be teased out with a little thought, I'm feeling a little lazy though). As to sound versus time, hmm. Tricky. Consider, light is a wave in the macro sense, and a particle in the quantum sense. In contrast a sound is not an independent particle. Ever. A sound is a result of a vibrational frequency of interacting particles (i.e., in space, no one can hear you scream). Sound cannot exist or be transmitted without a medium (comprising particles) to transmit it. Clearly sounds may be encoded as electromagnetic signals, transmitted over a vacuum, received and decoded back into phononic vibration. But such a consideration does not apply (as far as I can so far see) in the condensed sound after bubble drop. It seems that the sound would have to be a higher frequency; But; if that is the case, it does not seem like coughing would cover it adequately. I also can see no reason why the magnitude (or amplitude) would be altered by the bubble drop. It seems that the duration of the compressed sound would be directly proportional to the time compression caused by the bubble. It seems that the difference in passage of time is merely perceptional, but that would result in a actual increase in the speed of thought and action for the person(s) within the bubble. This would also fail to account for the deflection of objects as they traverse the border of the bubble. I'll have to think about it more tonight when I have more time. Nope Edit: spelling, etc.

Well, I suppose the question is, do you really want to know the answer? There is a definite and ironclad answer, but it would be a spoiler for you (to an extent). I'll let you decide: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11zLjKT0JSSw0oKZ-nQxEpQLHSVO6v_vZkfOt2gp-LoU/edit'>Here is the definitive source. A non-spoiler version would be to point out that in the last vision in WoK, Dalinar recalls that he has previously seen the vision.

No, I meant the one about something essentially being inside and outside of a bubble at the same time. Someone asked Brandon how it would work if someone put up a bendalloy bubble in front of a moving train. Judging by the answer, I think Brandon mis-interpretted the question. I just thought of how my example breaks down (to an extent). Wayne would not be 8 minutes older than Wax because when the bubble drops, time inside the bubble resumes correlation with time outside the bubble. This is shown by the muddled sounds their speaking makes (which they cover by coughing) when the bubble is dropped. So in essence everything happens in a massive blur of physics when the bubble drops. I still think that Wayne was and will continue to move 5 mph and thus still have the same momentum, etc. I think the velocity reconciliation would just be a part of the physics blur. Edit: I just did some searching for that quote. I admit that I remembered it a little funny. Also interestingly, it was your question Kurk and the answer does indeed include the cognitive aspect of the issue. In general, a large object going through a time bubble is not going to notice. An object is either in or out, and it depends in part on how the object views itself. People inside the train would be inside of its influence, and wouldn't notice the bubble. The spear would go from one to the other, but would never be in both.

Yes, the "train hits a bendalloy bubble" answer is quite perplexing and I can't figure out how to reconcile it.

There would be no stumble because time inside the bubble moves quicker than time outside the bubble. So, 5 mph (or kph if you prefer) inside the bubble is the same velocity outside the bubble. This means that if Wayne is moving 5 mph inside the bubble and drops the bubble, he is still moving 5 mph. His time is simply now consistent with time that existed outside his bubble. For example, let's say that time passes 5 times as fast inside a bendalloy bubble as it does outside the bubble. If Wayne had a watch and Wax had a watch that was synchronized with Wayne's and Wayne put up a bubble at 12:00 PM sharp for 2 minutes of outside-bubble-time (time as perceived by Wax), then Wax's watch would show 12:02 and Wayne's watch would show 12:10. If Wax and Wayne were precisely the same age when Wayne put up the bubble, then Wayne would now be 8 minutes older than Wax. The takeaway is, if Wayne's speed (5 mph) was able to be measured by Wax outside the bubble, it would appear that Wayne was moving 25 mph. But Wayne would not actually be moving 25 mph, he is only actually moving 5 mph. The perceived difference is a result of the different rate of the passage of time between the inside and the outside of the bubble.

Based on the short story http://brandonsanderson.com/library/32/Elantris-The-Hope-of-Elantris'>"The Hope of Elantris", edit: grammar

Quote See, the funny thing about that quote is, it only says that non-Nalthians do not inherently have 'Breath'. A non-Nalthian may gain the ability to awaken and a non-Nalthian may receive "Breaths". It does, however, imply that something other than obtaining sufficient breath is required for a non-Nalthian to become an Awakener (presumably other than getting 5 upvotes on 17th Shard). It is important to note, though, that the quote does not exclude the possibility of a non-Nalthian becoming an Awakener by simply obtaining sufficient breaths.

Although, Rock refuses to fight. So, I would not expect him to participate in the guard. I am curious to see what role Rock and Lopen will play in the new arrangements since neither of them are fighters.

Allow me to be the first to welcome you Yolena. I also stumbled into the cosmere after consuming all of his books and I have not yet left. I also spend far to much time here. This is the only online socialization that I participate in. I don't even have Facebook.

That is a really dang good point Notbridge4. If Odium created the shardblades as a requirement of the Oathpact, then why are they fancy? I doubt that, under these conditions, Odium would have cared a whit about how pretty they were. @Carcinios- This idea that, for a shardblade to remain when released, it needs to be driven into stone, is very pervasive. But I don't think it is justified. When Dalinar describes his shardblade while fighting, he only says that for it to remain when released, he needs to will it to stay. Yes, whenever we have seen a blade stay, it has been driven into stone. But, if you are in battle and you want to put down your sword, you are going to drive it into the ground so you can grab it again easy. You are not going to set it down flat. It just so happens that in Eastern Roshar the ground is stone everywhere. So, if you drive your blade into the ground, it will necessarily be driven into stone. In the end scene with Sadeas, Dalinar is not going hand the blade to Sadeas, because how are you and your soldiers going to react if a rival is approaching you with a summoned blade? He's not going to throw it down, because these things are special and you just don't treat them that way. He also is not going to set it down on the ground gently, this would be weak. The situation demanded that he drive it into the ground to make the offer. Long story short, I don't think it needs to be driven into stone.

Here is the quote and reference: Quote From here: http://www.theorylan...in.php?i=836#49 Edit: Nevermind, Isomere beat me to it while I was reading another post. Pico de Gallo!!!!

Well, we absolutely know from the end of the Battle of the Tower and the reading that Eshonai is specifically looking for Dalinar. As to Kaladin, I think it would have had to have been a pretty specific prophecy to tune them into Kaladin early on. As time progressed, they could have recognized that there was a bridgeman who they couldn't hit. But even this is unlikely given that there are so many bridgecrews. Now at the Tower, they definitely recognize his nature at least. So they could have been looking for him generally (i.e., looking for someone who can do what he does). But, if they were looking for someone as a result of a prophecy which indicated that the person would likely be a bridgemen or someone of that ilk, then firing on the bridge crews could be a tactic to flush him out.

Do you have a link to that story PM? I haven't even heard of it until now.

Once Kaladin put on the carapace armor, the Parshendi definitely focus in on him exclusively. But in the OP I was referring to how the Parshendi fired on all the bridge crews (even before Kaladin arrived at the Shattered Plains) in an apparent effort to prevent them from setting the bridges. When bridge 4 is fighting on the tower, they are definitely treated with respect by the Parshendi.

I'm not sure if we've seen enough examples to give us a solid basis to decide that clear gemstones are universal to shardblades. I am, however, looking forward to a greater understanding of how and why shardblades change eye color and burn out the eyes of the victims.