happyman

Agreed. The really weird weather is quite the anomaly. It's nothing like the real world, or any world we know. Given the high-storms, this isn't surprising, but it is food for thought. Especially given that the seasons change with the Highstorms, IIRC.

It's good as far as it goes, Zas678. I agree with you that the Powers of Creation are probably limitless, not least because the Shards seem to represent philosophical constructs as much as anything else. However, the Shard's are definitely limited in their immediate access to power, although the only thing that could really challenge them in practical terms that we have seen is another shard.

From what we saw of Ruin, I'd have to say that death definitely falls under his powers. He seemed to enjoy it far too much, for one thing. (See Elend's death for an example. Ruin definitely enjoyed that.). I'd also say that, with this insight, that in the Cosmere, death is not inherently bad. Death makes way for new life, after all.

I'm afraid that Silus is quite correct. I've seen that answer, too.

Ye, that's about it. There's definitely more to it than we've been shown, but for the most part, it's just an odd cultural quirk. People may find it annoying, but I find it very true to human nature, especially the part where Kaladin unwillingly stares at the prostitutes uncovered hand. It seems bizarre, but it isn't really. Or if it is, it's because we're bizarre; we've just come to terms with ourselves.

Yeah, the Herald's torture was floating around in my mind when I wrote my main entry. There may well be a connection, but I didn't want to distract from my main points by bringing it up. I agree that it seems 100% in character for Odium to be responsible for the Herald's torture, though.

Once again, I don't know what to think of the theory, but it seems viable to start with. Just have fun.

Since Vasher is a Returned, I seriously doubt it. He seems like what the local-grown, endowment-spawned magic-user should be.

It seems like the Shardholders get molded to their power; thus Ruin would want to destroy. It would quite literally be all he could think about or enjoy. It would be his only imperative. On the other hand, Odium is not destruction. It is Hatred. Odium could create something, or preserve something, as long as it was an expression of hatred. He could hate the entire universe; that seems to me to be logical end of the Shard he holds. True expressions of hatred, however, do not have to end in destruction. Just torture. Lots and lots of torture. In fact, the vilest extremes of hatred don't involve killing; just pain. For the truly vile (and there is no reason to think that Odium falls in any other category) that may be preferable. Imagine a universe in which all sentient life is in a physical hell and cannot die. This seems to me to be the ultimate end from Odium. Ruin would be far preferable. And the entire universe would be involved to avoid a fate quite literally worse than death. This would be true even if death were oblivion, but the Cosmere apparently has an objective afterlife, which only makes things worse (at least, assuming it isn't already "torture for everybody").

I'm not sure about what would happen with those techniques. It's occasionally been asked why people don't pass their breath on to their descendants when it's obvious they are on their last legs. Given what Brandon has said about the strength of Breaths (it apparently does depend on the health of the donor), I suspect that giving away your single, normal breath while dying of natural causes would result in extraordinarily weak Breaths, far less useful for Awakening than most, and would hardly be worth the risk of just keeling over on the spot from the shock of having given it away. It's possible that Hemalurgy would have the same problem. In my mind, though, the real cost of Hemalurgy in any form would be to leave yourself much more open to manipulation by Soothers and Rioters.

Well, yes. Agreed. Devotion should not be the only good; that's why, in the context of Elantris and a Shard holding only Devotion, it would become effectively evil, just like a Shard holding only Ruin would be a serious threat to life as we know it.

I'd want anybody practicing Hemalurgy to immediately stop. They would be a mass murderer, remember? At least useful genetic engineering on Earth generally doesn't require killing humans.

Good find. Well, I suppose that's good, but it puts one simple non-beating-the-crap-out-of-random-people snapping method out of play.

I think this is unfair. It depends on which oaths you give. Devotion isn't all bad on its own. It's when it's considered the only good that things become a problem. Hence, in the context of Elantris, it could become quite bad. But I don't think the concept is inherently wrong. It is a good example of why Adonalsium shouldn't have been shattered, though. I actually think that Love is a good name for Aona's shard, simply because it's the term the Aons use to describe their feelings for humans. I admit that the term Love is rather ambiguous, but in this case I think it should be clear that it is strictly platonic.

No, it makes sense. It's important to remember that Odium will have been bent by his long Shard ownership, so even if he started with a rational (if evil) rationale, he may not have been able to hold the course over the eons.

I didn't think much of the original Mistborn paperback covers, to be honest. On the other hand, this cover looks really, really good. My gut feeling is, this style of cover goes much better with the genre shift. As for Twinborn: Yeah, probably Misting+Feruchemical Misting. It seems extremely likely. Somebody who is a misting in both powers would be even more powerful, though. I wonder if Marsh will make an appearance?

Gah! It's so terrible, yet beautiful. I vote you up as well, despite my winces. Well done, sir! As for the snapping---good question. Maybe people still get snapped by the mists? It would hurt, but it also has the lure of power. As long as they do it consensually, maybe it's considered ethical. Or maybe, in some cases, they didn't do it on purpose but rather just got caught in the mists at the wrong time.

Well, I read it for free online. Then bought the hardback. So, net win for Brandon there. Although I had already read and liked Elantris (and IIRC, Mistborn) by that point.

True, but I think he confirmed in the Goodreads interview that both Szeth and Kaladin were Windrunners. This is probably so we have some idea what Kaladin can do when he does it and we don't have to go through a training session like we did with Vin from Mistborn. I suspect that we will get multiple people from each order. It seems likely, at any rate. They'll need a lot of magic to handle what is happening to their world!

Oh, OK. Well, best of luck fixing it. I only commented because this was where the Wiki navigated me to most easily , and I was lost as to where to go to get to the rest of the forums. It's easier now. I hope the system gets fully functional again soon.

Possible, but I can't help but suspecting that parts of the other shards are floating around. Their influence hasn't disappeared, I'm certain. It just doesn't feel like Odium's influence, to be honest.

I'm pretty sure Brandon has said that Nicrosil/Duralumin effects don't stack. E.g. you burn all your power in one sudden flash, so stacking them just means---you burn all your metals in the same flash. Check the Q&A thread on Timewasters, IIRC.

My suggestion is to not have the wiki as the main page. It's really disorienting and hard to navigate. E.g. IMO it's the wrong tool for the job.

I'm assuming that Odium wasn't actually able to completely destroy all of the Shards or their powers, even if he did kill the consciousness attached to the Almighty. He weakened or compromised them, though, that is certain. There seem to be limits on Shards powers, and I got the feeling from tWoK that although Odium's influence is dominant, he isn't anywhere close to exercising his full power unconstrained. We don't know what the rules are, but they are definitely there. Possibly his influence is strong, but he isn't completely back on Roshar? Who knows.

I have to go with the theory that the Shard's ability to see the future is very similar to Atium, except far more potent. Then, like others said, two fighting Shards would tend to neutralize each others ability to see the future. My theory is that the variability of the future isn't any different for the Shards as it is for the people burning Atium. It's just that the mental abilities of the Shards are expanded sufficiently that they can comprehend and adapt for all the possibilities in extremely flexible ways. They can also see events that are either inevitable or which their existence will make inevitable. But yes, it does have limits.