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wargames
Mar 16, 2008

official yospos cat censor

socialsecurity posted:

I'm sorry but flashbacks in this are designed to be as depressing as possible so it will focus on whatever happened to his wife.

is it her name he can't remember or anything about her?

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Pong Daddy
Oct 12, 2012

wargames posted:

is it her name he can't remember or anything about her?

I think it's everything about her. You never know, though, his new bond with the Stormfather might change things.

Karnegal
Dec 24, 2005

Is it... safe?

wargames posted:

is it her name he can't remember or anything about her?

He doesn't remember anything about her. Other people say stuff about her and he has no recollection of it, though he can hear it - just not her name.

Iunnrais
Jul 25, 2007

It's gaelic.

Karnegal posted:

He doesn't remember anything about her. Other people say stuff about her and he has no recollection of it, though he can hear it - just not her name.

He's also asked other people... obliquely... for details about his wife, and what she was like. He doesn't want to let anyone know he can't remember her, but he still tries to find things out about her anyway.

New Yorp New Yorp
Jul 18, 2003

Only in Kenya.
Pillbug

Iunnrais posted:

He's also asked other people... obliquely... for details about his wife, and what she was like. He doesn't want to let anyone know he can't remember her, but he still tries to find things out about her anyway.

And doesn't he also forget the details he hears pretty quickly? Something interesting regarding the Nightwatcher that someone pointed out: All of the curses she gives appear to be neurological in nature. Memory issues, inverted vision, etc

Benson Cunningham
Dec 9, 2006

Chief of J.U.N.K.E.R. H.Q.

Ithaqua posted:

And doesn't he also forget the details he hears pretty quickly? Something interesting regarding the Nightwatcher that someone pointed out: All of the curses she gives appear to be neurological in nature. Memory issues, inverted vision, etc

Yes but We don't know if the same is true for what she grants, as you can literally ask for anything. I don't know if you can infer any important meaning from the observation.

Tunicate
May 15, 2012

Yeah, didn't a guy just get a bunch of stuff to sell to feed his family?

Rumda
Nov 4, 2009

Moth Lesbian Comrade
And Lifts curse is being partly in shadesmar so widen that definition to cognitive and your golden.

DarkHorse
Dec 13, 2006
Probation
Can't post for 3 hours!
Nap Ghost
I'm pretty sure Sanderson has cursed in some of his books, though they're rare and pretty mild, just the occasional "drat" and possibly a "poo poo" or "crap" once . I remember thinking, "Wow, I thought he was a Mormon and never cursed."

Xachariah
Jul 26, 2004

DarkHorse posted:

I'm pretty sure Sanderson has cursed in some of his books, though they're rare and pretty mild, just the occasional "drat" and possibly a "poo poo" or "crap" once . I remember thinking, "Wow, I thought he was a Mormon and never cursed."

I think people put too much stock in Sanderson being mormon with regards to the no swearing thing. It seems he's just emulating Robert Jordan style setting appropriate curses in Stormlight, Robert Jordan used bloody, flaming, burn, blasted. Sanderson uses damnation (herald hell), storming and shard names in vain.

He used stuff like drat and hell in mistborn though, here's a comment he made:

Sanderson posted:

I’ve taken a little bit of criticism from certain readers for the swearing I put into these books. I know that most of you consider things like ‘drat’ and ‘hell’ to be very weak curses, if even swear words at all. However, to some people, they can be offensive. Since I didn’t use them in Elantris, some readers were surprised to find them in this series.

A writer must choose how to convey his ideas, and it’s hard to make a choice that will please everyone. In the Final Empire, using curses like these–rather than just making up ones for their world–was necessary. I feel that a few (if relatively weak) ‘our world’ curses were needed for this setting, as made up ones just didn’t work. The tone they set wasn’t right.

Karnegal
Dec 24, 2005

Is it... safe?
"Some people may be offended" is the weirdest argument when you're working in a creative medium. Some people might also be offended that you have 0 representation for gay characters because you believe gay people who act on their love for their partners are sinful. Just cop to the fact that you aren't comfortable swearing. It's your book, you get to make the choice of what goes in.

I think those comments make it pretty clear that he personally has an issue with swearing. "Most of you consider" implies that he is not putting himself in that group. He recognizes that the average person doesn't even really think of "drat" or "hell" as a big deal, but it's his big compromise to put those in. Again, fine your book your rules. (Though why are you even trying to please everyone in the first place?)

TL;DR: They're his books, he can write what he wants. Just say you have a problem with swearing and be done with it.

Xachariah
Jul 26, 2004

Karnegal posted:

"Some people may be offended" is the weirdest argument when you're working in a creative medium. Some people might also be offended that you have 0 representation for gay characters because you believe gay people who act on their love for their partners are sinful. Just cop to the fact that you aren't comfortable swearing. It's your book, you get to make the choice of what goes in.

I think those comments make it pretty clear that he personally has an issue with swearing. "Most of you consider" implies that he is not putting himself in that group. He recognizes that the average person doesn't even really think of "drat" or "hell" as a big deal, but it's his big compromise to put those in. Again, fine your book your rules. (Though why are you even trying to please everyone in the first place?)

TL;DR: They're his books, he can write what he wants. Just say you have a problem with swearing and be done with it.

If he personally was religiously uncomfortable with swearing then he wouldn't have included (even comparatively minor) real world swears in the Mistborn trilogy. He just seems to want to have his books be as PG as possible and actually contravened that self imposed restriction to add swears for creative reasons.

They're his books and he wrote what he wanted to. If he actually had a personal aversion to swearing what does he gain from being enigmatic about it?

Karnegal
Dec 24, 2005

Is it... safe?

Xachariah posted:

If he personally was religiously uncomfortable with swearing then he wouldn't have included (even comparatively minor) real world swears in the Mistborn trilogy. He just seems to want to have his books be as PG as possible and actually contravened that self imposed restriction to add swears for creative reasons.

They're his books and he wrote what he wanted to. If he actually had a personal aversion to swearing what does he gain from being enigmatic about it?

He considers himself a liberal among his community, so I imagine this is him saying he's out there, but when you look at him in a wider social context, he still has rather conservative values.

Like in his Dumbledore post how he pretty much positioned himself against the hardline religious stance but he still ends by saying that gay people should never ever act on their feelings.

Xachariah
Jul 26, 2004

Well yeah he's definitely homophobic but I don't really see him as being a religious whack job about swearing.

I could be wrong, never met him.

Karnegal
Dec 24, 2005

Is it... safe?

Xachariah posted:

Well yeah he's definitely homophobic but I don't really see him as being a religious whack job about swearing.

I could be wrong, never met him.

Well, I mean, I've seen him write before about following what the church says, and it seems like he generally tows the party line here. I spent some time Googling and the LDS literature on swearing says:

"Do not use profane, vulgar, or crude language or gestures, and do not tell jokes or stories about immoral actions. These are offensive to God and to others. Remember that these standards for your use of language apply to all forms of communication, including texting on a cell phone or communicating on the Internet."

From what I can tell, the really hardline Moromons are also opposed to "Mormon swears" which they classify as words like "flip" and "darn." So from what I can gather, there is an official Mormon position on swearing, and I don't see why he would break with this. I can't think I've ever seen him write any profanity outside of a book without putting it in quotation marks as in the link you gave.


On a book note. I finished WoR and I wanted to know why people seem to be upset that Adolin killed Sadeas. Is it just an "honor" thing because at this point the dude has pretty much said he's angling to take his family out and has proven that he's willing to see thousands dead to accomplish that. I am 100% cool with him murdering the dude, though 'm sure the books will frame this as bad because the Knights Radiant wouldn't do such a thing. But as a reader, I'm not sure why people object to it.

computer parts
Nov 18, 2010

PLEASE CLAP

Karnegal posted:

On a book note. I finished WoR and I wanted to know why people seem to be upset that Adolin killed Sadeas. Is it just an "honor" thing because at this point the dude has pretty much said he's angling to take his family out and has proven that he's willing to see thousands dead to accomplish that. I am 100% cool with him murdering the dude, though 'm sure the books will frame this as bad because the Knights Radiant wouldn't do such a thing. But as a reader, I'm not sure why people object to it.

It's because it came out of nowhere and that a significant part of the book was kind of devoted to that antagonist, even though there wasn't really much else you could do with him.

Karnegal
Dec 24, 2005

Is it... safe?

computer parts posted:

It's because it came out of nowhere and that a significant part of the book was kind of devoted to that antagonist, even though there wasn't really much else you could do with him.

I mean, it was the end of the book, which feels like an appropriate place for ending a character's arc. Sadeas was starting to seem fairly redundant with Amaram and the Ghostbloods. Both of which seem to have actual motivations beyond self advancement. I mean,at this point there was very little for Sadeas to do. His political career pretty much hinged on, "Dalanar is a crazy pants," and now that Dalanar is pretty demonstrably right about his visions and the Radiants and such, the other high princes would have to be pretty giant idiots to throw their lots in with Sadeas. If he were alive, his narrative is declining political power and irrelevance. The only thing to do with him then is have him lash out in a destructive way. His murder actually does more for the plot in that it creates a power vacuum in his domain, and sets Adolin against Dalanar in terms of beliefs should he find out (he will). I mean, the event itself comes out of nowhere only in the sense that it was pretty minor next to all the other stuff going on at the same time. Sort of< "oh yeah and this happens too"

Odette
Mar 19, 2011

Requesting thread rename to 'Brandon Sanderson: gently caress poo poo Whoremonger Cockgobble Cunthammer Thread' please.

Tunicate
May 15, 2012

"Brandon Sanderson: He's written more than just the Stormlight Archives, don't you see?"

Eric the Mauve
May 8, 2012

Making you happy for a buck since 199X
I think the Sadeas angle is a very long way from over. WoR invested a little space in establishing that Sadeas's wife is quite possibly even more of a horrible monster than he is, so it's probable we're going to find out Adolin made a big mistake killing Sadeas. Also, it seems obvious that Adolin is going to be found out sooner or later and Dalinar is going to wring a lot of angst out of having to choose between doing the "right" thing and giving up his son for execution, and doing what is actually the right thing and protecting him and perhaps giving him a medal.

It also seems obvious to me that Adolin ain't long for this world, between the conspicuously being the non-Knight Radiant among the main cast and the fact Shallan is going to be Kaladin's.

Democratic Pirate
Feb 17, 2010

I dug that part of the book. Plus Sadeas got stabbed through the eye into the brain, then had the knife twisted around in his brain which means he's 100% dead.

calandryll
Apr 25, 2003

Ask me where I do my best drinking!



Pillbug
I hope so, because as mentioned before that part of the story felt pretty much done.

Benson Cunningham
Dec 9, 2006

Chief of J.U.N.K.E.R. H.Q.
I feel like Sanderson is the Dragonlance of a new generation.

Karnegal
Dec 24, 2005

Is it... safe?

Eric the Mauve posted:

I think the Sadeas angle is a very long way from over. WoR invested a little space in establishing that Sadeas's wife is quite possibly even more of a horrible monster than he is, so it's probable we're going to find out Adolin made a big mistake killing Sadeas. Also, it seems obvious that Adolin is going to be found out sooner or later and Dalinar is going to wring a lot of angst out of having to choose between doing the "right" thing and giving up his son for execution, and doing what is actually the right thing and protecting him and perhaps giving him a medal.

It also seems obvious to me that Adolin ain't long for this world, between the conspicuously being the non-Knight Radiant among the main cast and the fact Shallan is going to be Kaladin's.


I got the impression that something was up with Adolin. Like in his duel he's getting hammered on by multiple shard blades and his armor holds up for an inordinately long time. I though the implication was that he was putting stormlight into repairing it somehow. I have a hard time believing he isn't also going to be a special snowflake since it seems like everyone in that family has special powers. The king is the same deal with his shadows out of the corner of his eye bit.

Also, if Shallan ends up with Kaaladin, I'll probably throw up in my mouth. Though I would be really surprised since stealing your buddy's girlfriend seems like a very non-Sanderson move. I mean, they've kissed, which I think sets them up to be married in a Sanderson world.

Eric the Mauve
May 8, 2012

Making you happy for a buck since 199X

Karnegal posted:


Also, if Shallan ends up with Kaaladin, I'll probably throw up in my mouth. Though I would be really surprised since stealing your buddy's girlfriend seems like a very non-Sanderson move. I mean, they've kissed, which I think sets them up to be married in a Sanderson world.


Exactly right. Which is why I expect it'll happen after Adolin is dead.

treeboy
Nov 13, 2004

James T. Kirk was a great man, but that was another life.

Xachariah posted:

I think people put too much stock in Sanderson being mormon with regards to the no swearing thing. It seems he's just emulating Robert Jordan style setting appropriate curses in Stormlight, Robert Jordan used bloody, flaming, burn, blasted. Sanderson uses damnation (herald hell), storming and shard names in vain.

He used stuff like drat and hell in mistborn though, here's a comment he made:

This is the actual answer, he has no issue with swearing, sex, or violence in literature he reads and if you watch his BYU lectures on creative writing Sanderson actively encourages people to read Martin and other "saltier" authors. If he personally felt so strongly against swearing he wouldn't recommend those works so regularly. He also makes note that the content is more mature because to some BYU students it's a big deal.

People who keep pointing to his religion as the explanation every time he makes a creative choice they dislike/disagree with is ridiculous.

Back on topic I'm bummed because my signed copy of Alloy, given to me by Ben McSweeny has gotten really badly sun bleached. I need to order one of the signed book collections off his website to replace it.

treeboy fucked around with this message at 06:20 on Jul 20, 2014

Karnegal
Dec 24, 2005

Is it... safe?

treeboy posted:

This is the actual answer, he has no issue with swearing, sex, or violence in literature he reads and if you watch his BYU lectures on creative writing Sanderson actively encourages people to read Martin and other "saltier" authors. If he personally felt so strongly against swearing he wouldn't recommend those works so regularly. He also makes note that the content is more mature because to some BYU students it's a big deal.

People who keep pointing to his religion as the explanation every time he makes a creative choice they dislike/disagree with is ridiculous.

Back on topic I'm bummed because my signed copy of Alloy, given to me by Ben McSweeny has gotten really badly sun bleached. I need to order one of the signed book collections off his website to replace it.

This will be my last post on his religion since I think I've pretty much run this into the ground and you either agree that it shapes his choices or you don't. But one last try anyway.

I think his writing is very much shaped by his religious views. Just because he consume media from other authors who don't share his views doesn't mean that his views don't strongly shape his own writing. For example, GRRM has gay and bisexual characters in his novels and, as noted, Sanderson reads those books. However, Sanderson doesn't have any gay characters. Gay people don't even exist in his worlds. I'm not talking about writing graphic depictions of sex, I mean that there are no gay characters in any major role (or hell, any role period as far as I can tell). I'm pretty sure the reason is because as he says "I accept and sustain the leaders of the LDS church. I believe that a prophet of God has said that widespread legislation to approve gay marriage will bring pain and suffering to all involved. I trust those whom I have accepted as my spiritual leaders. I feel that what they have said is God’s will."

It's pretty clear he believes gay people are sinful not because he personally has come up with a reason for this, but because the church elders say so. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy to pick and chose which parts of his religion he will buy into - I can't think of any examples of him saying things that would indicate he does. Therefore, I have a hard time believing that he doesn't try to keep swearing out of his books because his religious officials say that Mormons shouldn't swear (even if it's not actually him swearing so much as characters in his books).

Alright, that's the end of my religion discussion. If you really want a back and forth on it, you can PM me.

Another Poster
Apr 12, 2008
Just finished WoR. Feeling a little bit sad for Adolin. I liked him. At least I hoped we can see more Lift. Lift is full of awesomeness.

When is the next book planned to be release? Hope it's not 4 years between each.

computer parts
Nov 18, 2010

PLEASE CLAP

Another Poster posted:

Just finished WoR. Feeling a little bit sad for Adolin. I liked him. At least I hoped we can see more Lift. Lift is full of awesomeness.

When is the next book planned to be release? Hope it's not 4 years between each.

Supposedly Spring of 2016, the delay between books 1 & 2 was reported as being due to him finishing up Wheel of Time.

e: He wants to have it out by fall of 2015 but his editor is thinking probably in 2016.

Subvisual Haze
Nov 22, 2003

The building was on fire and it wasn't my fault.

treeboy posted:

This is the actual answer, he has no issue with swearing, sex, or violence in literature he reads and if you watch his BYU lectures on creative writing Sanderson actively encourages people to read Martin and other "saltier" authors. If he personally felt so strongly against swearing he wouldn't recommend those works so regularly. He also makes note that the content is more mature because to some BYU students it's a big deal.

People who keep pointing to his religion as the explanation every time he makes a creative choice they dislike/disagree with is ridiculous.

Back on topic I'm bummed because my signed copy of Alloy, given to me by Ben McSweeny has gotten really badly sun bleached. I need to order one of the signed book collections off his website to replace it.

Actually he does have a personal (not necessarily religious) issue with sex in novels. In the annotations for Warbreaker he mentions that he found the sexual/nudity scenes between the God-King and Princess difficult to write. He claims that this is because he's by nature something of a prude. And honestly after being subjected to Robert Jordan's spanking fetish, GRRM's glistening fat pink masts, Goodkind's obsession with almost rape and S&M, and Rothfuss' sex fairie and sex ninjas I'm perfectly fine with a fantasy author leaving the sex scenes to our own imagination.

Rumda
Nov 4, 2009

Moth Lesbian Comrade

Another Poster posted:

Just finished WoR. Feeling a little bit sad for Adolin. I liked him. At least I hoped we can see more Lift. Lift is full of awesomeness.

When is the next book planned to be release? Hope it's not 4 years between each.

she is supposed to be a major viewpoint character in the second half of the series

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE
Aug 1, 2004

whoa, what just happened here?







College Slice

Karnegal posted:

This will be my last post on his religion since I think I've pretty much run this into the ground and you either agree that it shapes his choices or you don't. But one last try anyway.

I think his writing is very much shaped by his religious views. Just because he consume media from other authors who don't share his views doesn't mean that his views don't strongly shape his own writing. For example, GRRM has gay and bisexual characters in his novels and, as noted, Sanderson reads those books. However, Sanderson doesn't have any gay characters

Wrong already.

Matthaeus
Aug 1, 2013

api call girl posted:

Wrong already.

I know there is a gay Asha'man in Memory of Light (At least I think that was the book?) but are there others that I've missed in Sanderson's other works?

Benson Cunningham
Dec 9, 2006

Chief of J.U.N.K.E.R. H.Q.

Bearserker posted:

I know there is a gay Asha'man in Memory of Light (At least I think that was the book?) but are there others that I've missed in Sanderson's other works?

I can't think of any in the cosmere but that guy clearly just wants to be inflammatory.

eszett engma
May 7, 2013
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2011/01/your-questions-for-brandon-sanderson-answered

quote:

For instance, in The Way of Kings, Drehy, a member of Bridge Four, is gay. He’s based on a good friend of mine who is gay. There is a lesbian character in The Allow of Law; again I don’t make a big deal of it though it’s a little more obvious.

The lesbian character in Alloy is Ranette.

mallamp
Nov 25, 2009

Brandon Sanderson isn't exactly high lit, he writes to entertain. Majority of people are straight and not aroused or excited by gay love stories so why not write stories that majority finds appealing..
I'm sure there are enough gay books that you can read if that's what you want.

Karnegal
Dec 24, 2005

Is it... safe?

Bearserker posted:

I know there is a gay Asha'man in Memory of Light (At least I think that was the book?) but are there others that I've missed in Sanderson's other works?

Haven't read that one. So, I can't speak to it.


I don't remember Drehy. Does he do anything significant or is he a super minor character who we never really see developed?

So, fine, I was wrong on the parenthetical, but I'll go back to the primary assertion, and ask for counterexamples. Are there any major characters in his work who are gay? I mean characters we actually see developed or care about, not minor side characters. Again I have no idea what Memory of Light is, so is the person mentioned there a main charcter?

Khizan
Jul 30, 2013


Karnegal posted:

I don't remember Drehy. Does he do anything significant or is he a super minor character who we never really see developed?

The latter.

Habibi
Dec 8, 2004

We have the capability to make San Jose's first Cup Champion.

The Sharks could be that Champion.

Karnegal posted:

Haven't read that one. So, I can't speak to it.


I don't remember Drehy. Does he do anything significant or is he a super minor character who we never really see developed?

So, fine, I was wrong on the parenthetical, but I'll go back to the primary assertion, and ask for counterexamples. Are there any major characters in his work who are gay? I mean characters we actually see developed or care about, not minor side characters. Again I have no idea what Memory of Light is, so is the person mentioned there a main charcter?

Kaladin. He just hasn't realized it yet.

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Matthaeus
Aug 1, 2013

Karnegal posted:

I don't remember Drehy. Does he do anything significant or is he a super minor character who we never really see developed?

So, fine, I was wrong on the parenthetical, but I'll go back to the primary assertion, and ask for counterexamples. Are there any major characters in his work who are gay? I mean characters we actually see developed or care about, not minor side characters. Again I have no idea what Memory of Light is, so is the person mentioned there a main charcter?

Memory of Light was the last book in the Wheel of Time series that Sanderson finished following the original author's death and the character in question is named Emarin. All of the characters mentioned are relatively unimportant in their respective books and easy to forget which is why I asked.

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