happyman

@Elwynn: If we are right that Dalinar, Kaladin and others are going to be Knights Radiant of some sort or other, they will all need to represent the Almighty and start taking responsibility. I mean, the Almighty was a shard. That's a lot of power. If it's been spread around, the holders all need to pull together to make anything useful. The reason I say this is because Hoid told Kaladin the story for a reason. Kaladin then came to his own conclusions. I would be very disappointed and surprised if Hoid told the wrong person the story at the wrong time, or if his conclusions weren't relevant. Certainly he didn't get the full impact, though. As Peter said, it's the kind of insight that makes you go "Oh, duh. Wow. How did I miss that?" On the other hand, I think he came to the right conclusion at that time and place, and it definitely relates.

This is all true. It's entirely likely that there are external threats to Hallandren, especially with the development of other awakening techniques. Internal threats, it seems to me, are much less likely now, though. There's nothing like being attacked to bring a country together. As for the wealth of breaths, it does give Susebron enormous personal power. Using it, he was able to single-highhandedly stop the coup within the palace grounds itself. That kind of power is very, very real. It's symbolic power is also useful though, as Sublesser noted.

Possible, obviously. Brandon usually lets his cultures drift as they please. On the other hand, it would seem that black=Ruin and white=Preservation is something that the Cosmere itself respects independent of people, making it (a) far more fundamental and less susceptible to change and (B ) much more likely to keep popping up in cultures because it is more fundamental, and would be repeatedly reinforced.

Elwynn, I cannot tell you just how much I appreciate that insight. I wonder if this connects to Kaladin's insight about responsibility. Since Honor is dead, could he be considered Honor's representative? One of the folks who has inherited his power, and therefore needs to start using it rather than trying to pass responsibility on to the Almighty?

I actually lean towards the colors having inherent meaning. Wasn't the ash black at the end because it was Ruin fueling its rapid growth? That seems pretty darn basic to me, and not remotely cultural.

I think the idea I like best is that you get absolutely perfect recall with no decay to due sitting in your mind. It would allow for superhuman memory beyond even what Sazed developed, and what he had was pretty darn good. It would definitely explain TLR's perfect memory. Also, given how long TLR had to live, perfect memory was probably the only way he could keep anything straight any more.

As how common Mistborn are, I think there are a few things that happened: (1) Many of the barriers to intermarriage were removed after the rebirth of the world. This would have accelerated the dilution that was already canon by the end of HoA. (2) People now know that they can get Allomancy without being nobility. It is unclear how it happens, but it is public knowledge, and apparently the common folk snap into Mistings regularly. This would make Allomancers, specifically Mistings, much more common, thereby making Mistborn seem even more mystical, even if it is just the ratio that has shifted. (Remember, by most standards they were pretty rare even in the original trilogy.) (3) There was probably a certain amount of culling over the first trilogy. Ruin certainly culled the world of all the Allomancers he could find, especially Mistborn, in order to fuel his Inquisitors. Also, with all the fighting and whatnot that happened, especially in the areas that managed to survive at all, Mistings of all stripes, and Mistborn especially, would have been on the front lines in many cases. This would have served to further dilute the infusion of Allomancy from Lerasium.

That might be a problem, yes. We'll see what happens with Szeth. I'm not sure Szeth would be happy with a good relationship. Or happy staying alive, at this point. I think his story will go elsewhere. At least Brandon doesn't seem to have a pathological need to pair off every character in his books.

Good catches. Yeah, other folks have noticed this stuff too. I tell you, rereading the various books again sure gives a different feel to everything.

I'd suspect that the amount of power in the world has a limit, but that it is very large and nowhere near what humans on Roshar have actually tapped into.

I'd think that classical references to folks named Jason would be more compelling. The whole thing has a kinda mythic feel to it, even while being sci-fi. (As if the title wasn't hint enough...)

Wow. Just wow. OK, well done Brandon! I even know German.

My talent is absent-mindedness. (Think absent-minded professor. There's a reason it's a stereotype.) Usefulness, usefulness. Hmm. Maybe if I don't notice that something happened (like that somebody shot me), it didn't really happen! Of course, it would have to have an important caveat not to be over-powered.

I actually caught that one on the first read-through. It's a special kind of fanservice. If I had any inclination to be active at Theoryland, I would make it a faction right next to the Apathy about Asmodean faction. Edited to say: Yes, I know it's been revealed in the books. No, I don't want to discuss Asmodean seriously here. Many of you probably don't want to either; this warning is strictly pre-emptive.

For me, book 4 took things a little bit *too* far with the unreliable narrator stuff. It's one thing for him to be unhelpful and awkward. It's another to rewrite scenes in a way they definitely didn't happen, and where you don't even believe they could have happened that way. (I'm looking at you, quotation of Hamlet.) My suspension of disbelief was strained way past the breaking point at points, even though I know Alcatraz said he was going to do it. That's my major complaint. It is also a very weak ending for the series as well, since it wasn't meant to be the end. But that's really only to be expected. I do think, though, that five is going to have to be good (and somewhat less silly) to really end the series well.

Llarimar as the new High Priest for Susebron sounds like a good idea to me. He was competent, intelligent, dedicated and loyal, and all-in-all a decent guy. I think he would fit the role quite nicely. Susebron is really, emphatically, in charge of Hallandren at the end of Warbreaker. Tradition is firmly behind him (he was already the nominal ruler), he survived an attempted coup from a power most Hallandren will consider foreign, and as a side effect took charge of the greatest army his world has ever seen. On top of all that, he is also the most potent Awakener around. He has all of the trappings of power that his world recognizes, and he is legitimate in the eyes of the nation that provides him with that power. Seriously, from Hallandren's point of view, he's not just the God-King, he's also a Hero. And if gets out that Peacegiver gave him an implicit endorsement... Well, there may be other powers in the world capable of challenging him, but I doubt they are internal, and they would all need serious awakening to do it. Swords like Nightblood would be one option. I also suspect that Idris, if push came to shove, will from here on out be more closely aligned with Hallandren than its enemies. Culturally, they have more in common than they admit, and with a marriage established, they also have common interests. A child from Siri and Susebron would make things just about rock-solid, at least from a nation-state perspective.

It would be more than paranoia. It would be Ruin, pushing on his mind. Remember how Vin thought the Mist Spirit was malevolent? It wasn't. That was just Ruin (instinctively?) using his power to influence her attitudes. It is unlikely Alendi was experiencing anything else.

I have to disagree with most of this. Preservation was fighting against Ruin the entire time. Both of them were playing the long game, relative to human time-scales. Both of them could presumably see into the future to some extent. Given how balanced the game was, Preservation had to lose some pawns in order to get to check-mate. The best chess players set up situations so that even if a key piece gets taken, they still have a victory condition. That's how I see Preservation's setup: He moved pieces around, essentially blindfolded (e.g. from the very distant past) and still managed to get a win condition, even against Ruin playing with his full cognitive powers. Not even stalemate: checkmate. Vin was taken? Marsh freed her. The prophecies were corrupted? The corruptions were short-sighted, the Kandra had backups, and the most important bits made it through unscathed. The mists were corrupted? They figured out a way around it by the end. Basically, you describe some of the short-term losses Preservation experienced/considered acceptable as a build-up to a much bigger win. Sure, if Preservation had had his way completely untrammeled, the world wouldn't have been blighted (although it wouldn't have improved much from feudalism either...), but with Ruin around and more powerful, not blighting the world just wasn't an option. It was going to happen one way or another. Better, from the view of Preservation, to go the way that ultimately has life survive the experience "essentially" unchanged. Also, I think you are underestimating the prophecies and overestimating Ruin's modifications. I managed to guess that Sazed was the Hero of Ages even before the book HoA came out, from what I was able to glean from FE and WoA. There are many other prophecies that survived, such as the Kandra prophecy that the Hero of Ages would come to the Kandra Homeland and bring an Army of Allomancer's with him that would save them all. (For those who don't get it: Sazed went to the Kandra homeland and protected the Atium from Ruin long enough for Elend to come. He gave Elend the Atium, which was in turn distributed to all the Seers, who then protected the Homeland and burned the Atium long enough for Ruin to not get it. This also gave Vin motivation to kill Ruin and Sazed the option to take up both powers. Ding! Prophecy preserved and fulfilled.) Also, TLR, with just a hint of Preservations power, told the Kandra about the need to remove their Blessings, which was very much a prophecy, and very much a part of the longer game between the two powers. In short, despite setbacks, Preservation definitely managed the deeper game. That's all we are claiming!

Looking at all this, I have to agree that (part of) the Ardentia is up to something. It does seem extremely likely that Kabsal is sincere in his religious beliefs, and wasn't actually faking being an Ardent. Human nature and the abuse of religion make a "break-away" sect that never really abandoned the Heirarchy seem very likely, and given Kabsal's attitudes, he seems a prime candidate to be associated with it. It's entirely possible that the Ardentia is either the driving force behind the Ghostbloods, or they have found a sympathetic audience/ally in the old-school Ardentia. The relationship to Taragavinian is weak, but not impossible. The trouble with untangling this is that politics makes strange bedfellows, as history shows very clearly. Groups who disagree on important points and might even be at war in other circumstances will sometimes join forces (usually temporarily) if they see a common threat to their interests. I'm not going to cite real-world examples; I'm sure you can all come up with a few yourselves. All this means is that "acting together" does not mean "Same goals."

Since we know there is more backstory than we have gotten, even in our detailed study, all Brandon really needs to do is bring out more than he has hinted at. In other words: The stuff we've worked out will probably be only a part of the reveal when he gets to it. I mean, Hemalurgy came as a major revelation in HoA, despite the "ink" spilled on it before. I expect similar things here.

In this case, I would go with tradition and convenience on TLR's part. Gold is useful as currency mostly because it is easy to work and doesn't tarnish. It is rare enough to be hard to just go mine, but common enough to support a moderate-sized economy. And in Mistborn, its power is useless enough in combat that TLR wasn't threatened by it in any way I can see. Also, it was probably already a currency in general use before the Ascension. Thus suppressing it would be difficult and pointless.

Well, you have to remember that the Dragons are from some of Brandon's earlier works. It may be that he had somewhat more stereotypical dragons in them, and just built on it. One thing, though: If they started life as stereotypical, they won't stay that way. I doubt we will be disappointed. I've long suspected that the recipient of the letter was a dragon, but dragon is such a general term. The variations within it have actually been quite rich already in "standard" fantasy. Some are good, some are bad. Their life-cycles vary enormously, as well as justifications. I don't find it the least bit worrisome.

Yeah, that book is one serious ride. It caught me in the prologue, and kept me hooked all the way to the end. And there was some amazing foreshadowing about half-way through. I knew it was important when I read it, and it made sense when I reread that bit again after finishing, but wow. I think the thing that impressed me most was how well Dan combined real schizophrenia with the real speculative fiction aspects. The insanity reflected the equally-bizarre reality in odd ways, but unlike many books with a similar premise, he really was honestly insane.

Given Wayne's character, he'd make a great standup comedian. He could make doing just about anything fun to watch. Wax would have to be his straight man, of course.

Given the powers that we've seen in Way of Kings (Soulcasting), I would guess that there is something more than/which replaces our real-world atoms and molecules. There is no reason, in the real world, why soulcasting blood should be easier than any other organics. Thus our speculation must, alas, be kept separate from how atomic structure works.