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Torrannor
Apr 27, 2013

---FAGNER---
TEAM-MATE
I wonder if the next book will still be called Stones Unhallowed. I'm really looking forward to Szeth flashbacks, especially since we now know why it's forbidden to walk on stone.

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Streebs
Dec 6, 2003

RIP

team overhead smash posted:

That was good, when's the next one out?

2020. Yeah :(

Fezz
Aug 31, 2001

You should feel ashamed.
Yeah. Late 2020 or early 2021. He's got that new mystery YA project he did a reading at the signing/release party, the Apocalypse Guard (on hold while he gets feedback on how to retool it as he felt it wasn't working right) and the third Era 2 Mistborn book to come out in between. We'll know more once he does his annual State of the Sanderson blog post.

Proteus Jones
Feb 28, 2013



Fezz posted:

Yeah. Late 2020 or early 2021. He's got that new mystery YA project he did a reading at the signing/release party, the Apocalypse Guard (on hold while he gets feedback on how to retool it as he felt it wasn't working right) and the third Era 2 Mistborn book to come out in between. We'll know more once he does his annual State of the Sanderson blog post.

A new one would be a 4TH Era 2 book. (Alloy of Law, Shadows of Self, Bands of Mourning already)

Wasn't he going to wriggle a 2nd Rithmatist book in there if he could, too?

Fezz
Aug 31, 2001

You should feel ashamed.

Proteus Jones posted:

A new one would be a 4TH Era 2 book. (Alloy of Law, Shadows of Self, Bands of Mourning already)

Wasn't he going to wriggle a 2nd Rithmatist book in there if he could, too?

Oops. The third book of the trilogy since AoL is pretty much stand alone.

And a second Rithmatist has been on his to do list for a while along with Elantris and Warbreaker sequels in addition to other cosmere works like Aether of Night, Dark One and White Sand pre-graphic novel.

Proteus Jones
Feb 28, 2013



Fezz posted:

Oops. The third book of the trilogy since AoL is pretty much stand alone.

And a second Rithmatist has been on his to do list for a while along with Elantris and Warbreaker sequels in addition to other cosmere works like Aether of Night, Dark One and White Sand pre-graphic novel.

He needs to go on more international flights, so he can knock some of this out.

quote:

Legion is a novella I wrote on the flight home from France in the summer of 2011. It came from an idea I’d been kicking around in my head for a few months, and the time seemed right to explore it on paper.

Leng
May 13, 2006

One song / Glory
One song before I go / Glory
One song to leave behind


No other road
No other way
No day but today
Done! And oh my goodness, I just love how with every book Sanderson just goes further than I expected in answering questions from the previous books. For me, Sanderson has officially ousted GRRM on the epicness scale. I guess this now confirms Eshonai as the flashbacks from a dead character. I also did not expect Elhokar's death just as he was about to finish swearing the First Ideal - that really gutted me good.

Now that the urgent frenzy to binge read this has been satisfied, I am really looking forward to going back and doing a re-read of all the Stormlight Archive books again to see what I can pick up from the foreshadowing. Especially since WoB says the end to the whole series is contained in the first two books.

Lawlicaust posted:

While I'm 90% sure Azure is Vivenna as well, I think there's a small possibility that she is Vivenna or Siri's kid. She had the royal locks so she has to be of that bloodline. However, there are some comments that Azure makes in Shadesmar that don't quite mesh with her being Vivenna. She references learning about ruling from her father and uncle (Susebrone and Vasher?), she references turning down a kingdom, she would need to be several hundred years old to be on Roshar during Stormlight (possible if she has thousands of breaths), and some others I can't remember off the top of my head.

On ruling/turning down a kingdom - Vivenna WAS trained to rule - remember all her studies in preparation to be wedded to the God King? Until her father decided to send Siri instead and decided Vivenna would make an amazing queen after him. Then Vivenna freaks out about being useless and displacing her brother who was supposed to be heir and then runs off after Siri.

And remember, Sanderson hasn't written Nightblood. At the end of Warbreaker, Vivenna decides to follow Vasher to figure out what Yesteel has been up to and acknowledges her identity as an Awakener. I'm pretty confident she's figured out how to get to the Fifth Heightening.

(there's also a WoB somewhere confirming it is Vivenna for sure which I can't find at the moment)


Edit - list of other reactions I had:
Humans are the REAL Voidbringers - pretty satisfying, typical Sanderson twist on things
ARGH, Wit stole Elhokar's spren!
Moash, how COULD YOU! Are you going to be Odium's new champion at some point, now that Dalinar has rejected the role?
Sja-anat's potential defection - I sure hope Shallan finds some way to double cross the Ghostbloods, binding Sja-anat for them seems like a Very Bad Idea, especially when "morality is an axis that does not concern us"
Related to the above - does this mean that there could be some way of uncorrupting Glys?
Jasnah as queen - cannot wait to see how this plays out
Gavinor - wonder if he's going to be a main character for the back five? He's 3-4 now, so after a 15 year gap, he'll be the same age as Adolin
Adolin and Mayalaran - I am so glad!!! I hope they find a way to save all those dead spren
So Dalinar can now SUMMON HONOR'S PERPENDICULARITY?! Now Azure/Vivenna's passed on the word about these being ways to travel between worlds, no wonder Stormlight Archive is so important to the overall Cosmere. Also, Dalinar's not a Vessel because Honor's splintered, but...this is kind of unprecedented. He's like...a pseudo Vessel, I guess?
Taravangian - you idiot of no faith. Or maybe I'm just a hopeless romantic instead of a pragmatist at heart. But seriously?!
On that note, Cultivation, what is your game? She is supposed to be better at seeing the future than Honor, and her bet on Dalinar played out. So WHY did she give Taravangian the boon/curse that she did? I'm inclined to agree with Mrall; the Diagram is deeply flawed...just what is Odium thinking now?
I am sad that Kaladin held back from swearing the Fourth Ideal. I wanted to see Sprenplate this book!!!
Confirmation by Nale that you can bond both Honorblade and spren! I found the Skybreaker Ideals interesting and I'm guessing Szeth's book is going to be all about his Fourth Ideal.
Venli taking up the Willshaper mantle from Eshonai was definitely not what I expected!

Leng fucked around with this message at 08:20 on Nov 17, 2017

team overhead smash
Sep 2, 2006

Team-Forest-Tree-Dog:
Smashing your way into our hearts one skylight at a time

Leng posted:

On that note, Cultivation, what is your game? She is supposed to be better at seeing the future than Honor, and her bet on Dalinar played out. So WHY did she give Taravangian the boon/curse that she did? I'm inclined to agree with Mrall; the Diagram is deeply flawed...just what is Odium thinking now?

That presumably wasn't Cultivation's doing. I believe it mentions how her appearance to Dalinar is the first in hundreds of years with the Nightwatcher usually doing the actual work

Leng
May 13, 2006

One song / Glory
One song before I go / Glory
One song to leave behind


No other road
No other way
No day but today

team overhead smash posted:

That presumably wasn't Cultivation's doing. I believe it mentions how her appearance to Dalinar is the first in hundreds of years with the Nightwatcher usually doing the actual work

You are right...but presumably she left Nightwatcher with some instructions, like how Honor told the Stormfather to take over on creating honorspren, choose a Bondsmith and pass on the visions?

team overhead smash
Sep 2, 2006

Team-Forest-Tree-Dog:
Smashing your way into our hearts one skylight at a time

Leng posted:

You are right...but presumably she left Nightwatcher with some instructions, like how Honor told the Stormfather to take over on creating honorspren, choose a Bondsmith and pass on the visions?

For one, we don't know if even Cultivation can see the future. She says she approaches him because others are paying attention to him, so it seems more like she's keeping an eye on what's going on in the present and sees Odium's manipulations. As for Nightwatcher, she seems to have no clue that there's anything special about with Dalinar so I don't see why she'd see anything special about Taravangian..

Proteus Jones
Feb 28, 2013



team overhead smash posted:

That presumably wasn't Cultivation's doing. I believe it mentions how her appearance to Dalinar is the first in hundreds of years with the Nightwatcher usually doing the actual work

Right but is there anything to say Taravangian didn't deal *after* Dalinar? Or was there something I glossed over during my 1st read through?

I'm fully on board with Vivenna as Azure train. I just re-skimmed Warbreaker to refresh my memory and had forgotten for some reason that Yesteel was the only Sage (other than Vasher) left at the end of the book. Tbf the last time I read Warbreaker, it was only available as an RTF doc for download from Brandon's site.

OAquinas
Jan 27, 2008

Biden has sat immobile on the Iron Throne of America. He is the Master of Malarkey by the will of the gods, and master of a million votes by the might of his inexhaustible calamari.
Ha, I was right! Eshonai did survive the fall. It was the flood that killed her. Welp!
Shame about Elkohar not becoming a lightweaver...so I guess future Hoid appearances are going to be really interesting, since he can now lightweave and soulcast. Along with full allomancy. Looks like he had Sand with him too, but that's a limited resource.

That poor toddler. How the hell did drehy get him back and away from kholinar? They were surrounded by a literal army with flying Fused.

Also, Just :lol: at Dalinars Big Damned Moment being a Kirk speech rehash from Star Trek V.

Looking forward to seeing Adolin steadily keep awakening his Blade.

The Gardenator
May 4, 2007


Yams Fan

team overhead smash posted:

For one, we don't know if even Cultivation can see the future. She says she approaches him because others are paying attention to him, so it seems more like she's keeping an eye on what's going on in the present and sees Odium's manipulations. As for Nightwatcher, she seems to have no clue that there's anything special about with Dalinar so I don't see why she'd see anything special about Taravangian..

In Way of Kings, Chapter 75, the vision to Dalinar from the Stormfather:

quote:

The figure squinted at the horizon. "I cannot see the future completely. Cultivation, she is better at it than I."

Of course the vision could be inaccurate; however in Oathbringer, Cultivation does mention that in helping Dalinar, "I PROVIDE FOR HIM A WEAPON". Which supports that idea that Cultivation can see into the future.

The Gardenator fucked around with this message at 19:33 on Nov 17, 2017

seaborgium
Aug 1, 2002

"Nothing a shitload of bleach won't fix"




OAquinas posted:



Looking forward to seeing Adolin steadily keep awakening his Blade.


That part I thought was cool as hell. Hopefully it continues.

Torrannor posted:

I wonder if the next book will still be called Stones Unhallowed. I'm really looking forward to Szeth flashbacks, especially since we now know why it's forbidden to walk on stone.

And I'm sure I read this, but for the life of me I can't remember why now. Could somebody refresh my memory?

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE
Aug 1, 2004

whoa, what just happened here?







College Slice
I wonder if Taravangian managed to extract what will turn out to be a really significant concession from Odium for doing his low-key bidding.

Torrannor
Apr 27, 2013

---FAGNER---
TEAM-MATE

seaborgium posted:

And I'm sure I read this, but for the life of me I can't remember why now. Could somebody refresh my memory?

Consider the tenets of Stone Shamanism: Don't walk on stone. Don't use stormlight for surgebinding or in fabrials.

Shinovar was the original home of the human refugees who destroyed their own homeworld with surgebinding. Then some of those refugees conquered the land outside of Shinovar, using surgebinding in the process, being named Voidbringers by the native Parshendi. The Shin are the ones who kept the original deal with the Rosharan natives. It's unholy to set foot on stone because the soil-less land outside Shinovar doesn't belong to the humans! It's profane to use stormlight because surgebinding already destroyed their original home.

The Stone Shamans were the keepers of the nine Honorblades, they must have know the truth about the Oathpact and human immigration to Roshar.

So I'm super excited about Szeth flashbacks, I bet there's a lot of interesting things to learn. How did Szeth know that a new Desolation was coming up in the first place??

Proteus Jones
Feb 28, 2013



VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE posted:

I wonder if Taravangian managed to extract what will turn out to be a really significant concession from Odium for doing his low-key bidding.

I'm hoping that Taravangian on one of his ultra-smart/amoral days foresaw having to deal with Odium on one of his limited facility days and planned accordingly, screwing Odium over in a manner no one sees coming.

th3t00t
Aug 14, 2007

GOOD CLEAN FOOTBALL
Just read chapter 76, An Animal. Oh Dalinar... :smithicide:

Velius
Feb 27, 2001

Proteus Jones posted:

I'm hoping that Taravangian on one of his ultra-smart/amoral days foresaw having to deal with Odium on one of his limited facility days and planned accordingly, screwing Odium over in a manner no one sees coming.

I expect the opposite to be true, actually. That it’s his dumbest/most moral days which make a difference in the end. The only reason for that dichotomy to exist is if it matters in some fashion, and if Odium can see the future (with the caveat that future vision is not infallible, as Renarin showed) then he can presumably interpret the Diagram and it’s conclusions to a much greater extent than Taravangian. I think he’s going to be defied in some way by Taravangian acting counter to the predictions on a day when he would otherwise have his minders prevent it.

I’m convinced it’s going to be all of the characters showing hidden depths in a moral way that helps defeat Odium. Particularly since we now know he’s actually Emotion, filtered through the personality of a being who (if you believe Hoid) was hateful and cruel prior to ascension to divinity. Emotion or Passion isn’t inherently evil, so I don’t think Odium is going to be as free to act against the protagonists than say, Ruin was. Then again, that may not be his plan either - the Parsh are good tools because they’re fueled by the past betrayal and enslavement of their people, but the endgame of Odium is escape, not necessary destroying the humans or saving the Parsh. I’m not sure we know enough to have a good sense of what the endgame is yet.

OAquinas
Jan 27, 2008

Biden has sat immobile on the Iron Throne of America. He is the Master of Malarkey by the will of the gods, and master of a million votes by the might of his inexhaustible calamari.
Odium's endgame is the destruction of the other shards. He's calculating, but that task alone will take eons, so he probably just has a few bullet points for outside that list. His immediate goal is to break free from Roshar and/or murder Cultivation.

So it makes sense what happened with humanity. The parsh are NOT passionate--not in the same way as humans--but they were malleable. Odium could make them more open to his advances, but he needed a goad to get them to adopt the forms and Rhythms that leave them more open to his control.

So human refugees were brought over by Odium. Their previous world he probably destroyed--maybe that was part of the destruction of the Ambition shard. Humans are quite open to Odium's effects, especially if they really were descended from a population that Ambition looked over.

Honor and Cultivation are invested in Roshar. They have a lot of power locked up in the population and the world. By adding humanity to siphon off/requiring more of that power, and causing widescale destruction, they could be distracted and might slip enough to enable Odium to strike. It apparently worked well enough against Honor, but Cultivation was able to hide and keep her guard up.

Honor managed to pull a Preservation though and anchor Odium.

Curiously, Odium ran from the Thaylen City. It suggests that he's a conniver that dislikes improvisation--the moment his fulcrum failed (expeting Dalinar becoming the Blackthorn and championing him) and embraced the Honor splinter, he peaced out. He either is intensely paranoid of Cultivation shanking him or he really, really doesn't like acting outside of his nth dimensional chess moves. He isn't threatened by Dalinar directly--he could easily take the Stormfather splinter any day of the week...but it would take concentration/focus.

Fezz
Aug 31, 2001

You should feel ashamed.

Torrannor posted:

Consider the tenets of Stone Shamanism: Don't walk on stone. Don't use stormlight for surgebinding or in fabrials.

Shinovar was the original home of the human refugees who destroyed their own homeworld with surgebinding. Then some of those refugees conquered the land outside of Shinovar, using surgebinding in the process, being named Voidbringers by the native Parshendi. The Shin are the ones who kept the original deal with the Rosharan natives. It's unholy to set foot on stone because the soil-less land outside Shinovar doesn't belong to the humans!

It probably has something more to do with stone turning into monsters, the thunderclasts.

Torrannor
Apr 27, 2013

---FAGNER---
TEAM-MATE

OAquinas posted:

Curiously, Odium ran from the Thaylen City. It suggests that he's a conniver that dislikes improvisation--the moment his fulcrum failed (expeting Dalinar becoming the Blackthorn and championing him) and embraced the Honor splinter, he peaced out. He either is intensely paranoid of Cultivation shanking him or he really, really doesn't like acting outside of his nth dimensional chess moves. He isn't threatened by Dalinar directly--he could easily take the Stormfather splinter any day of the week...but it would take concentration/focus.

This is what hyper-intelligent Taravangian wrote to himself for when facing Odium: "You have agreed to a battle of champions. You must withdraw to prevent this contest from occurring, and so must not meet with Dalinar Kholin again. Otherwise, he can force you to fight. This means you must let your agents do your work. You need me."

So Odium fled because his scheme to make Dalinar his champion failed, and he could have been forced into a contest of champions if he remained. I think this suggests that he now cannot easily take out the Stormfather anymore.



Fezz posted:

It probably has something more to do with stone turning into monsters, the thunderclasts.

That's what we all assumed before Oathbringer. We will see who's right in the Szeth flashbacks.


By the way, some of the Listener Songs get really interesting after Oathbringer:

Nightform predicting what will be,
The form of shadows, mind to foresee.
As the gods did leave, the nightform whispered.
A new storm will come, someday to break.
A new storm a new world to make.
A new storm a new path to take, the nightform listens.

Our gods were born splinters of a soul,
Of one who seeks to take control,
Destroys all lands that he beholds, with spite.
They are his spren, his gift, his price.
But the nightforms speak of future life,
A challenged champion. A strife even he must requite.



Tis said it was warm in the land far away
When Voidbringers entered our songs.
We brought them home to stay
And then those homes became their own,
It happened gradually.
And years ahead ’twil still be said ’tis how it has to be.


Listener Song of Spren
9th Stanza
The spren betrayed us, it’s often felt.
Our minds are too close to their realm
That gives us our forms, but more is then
Demanded by the smartest spren,
We can’t provide what the humans lend,
Though broth are we, their meat is men.

10th Stanza
But it is not impossible to blend
Their Surges to ours in the end.
It has been promised and it can come.

Or do we understand the sum?
We question not if they can have us then,
But if we dare to have them again.

Torrannor fucked around with this message at 07:48 on Apr 18, 2018

seaborgium
Aug 1, 2002

"Nothing a shitload of bleach won't fix"




Proteus Jones posted:

I'm hoping that Taravangian on one of his ultra-smart/amoral days foresaw having to deal with Odium on one of his limited facility days and planned accordingly, screwing Odium over in a manner no one sees coming.

See, I got something different from that. Renarin is a blank spot, I think Odium can't see his future actions because he's not really a surgebinder, and he's not really of Odium. He's a blend, and his actions can't be accounted for with Odium's future sight. That's what I got out of Renarin's actions being all in black, but the rest lit up when Odium was looking at the Diagram.

OAquinas
Jan 27, 2008

Biden has sat immobile on the Iron Throne of America. He is the Master of Malarkey by the will of the gods, and master of a million votes by the might of his inexhaustible calamari.

Fezz posted:

It probably has something more to do with stone turning into monsters, the thunderclasts.

Nah, I think the other suggestion is more correct. It makes sense--Shinovar was the Human preserve. No real highstorms, soil instead of rock, survivable landscape for birds and horses and other animals. The Parsh lived on the storm-swept rocks, so the prevent their descendants from trespassing they claimed the rocks were holy and shouldn't be trod upon. People being people, that restriction got ignored by the ambitious and greedy. Thunderclasts were much later developments.
Surges being forbidden is a bit dicier, but if they really did wreck their previous world (I doubt this since magic systems have thus far been contained to their respective worlds aside from individual worldhoppers---though maybe they previously lived on Braize and accidentally made it a hellhole?)



Edit:

seaborgium posted:

See, I got something different from that. Renarin is a blank spot, I think Odium can't see his future actions because he's not really a surgebinder, and he's not really of Odium. He's a blend, and his actions can't be accounted for with Odium's future sight. That's what I got out of Renarin's actions being all in black, but the rest lit up when Odium was looking at the Diagram.

Interestingly, Sanderson is being consistent here: In Mistborn, you can see the future with Atium. But if you face someone else burning atium, you get a bunch of uncertain 'future shadows' and the ability is basically shot. Similarly, Odium can kinda see the future, but since Renarin has a brand of this and now recognizes it as a "what if/probable" instead of an unavoidable fate, he can act as a spoiler by fuzzing those future visions. So anything intersecting Renarin gets a twist of uncertainty, ruining predictability.

OAquinas fucked around with this message at 23:53 on Nov 17, 2017

Proteus Jones
Feb 28, 2013



God drat. I love these discussions almost as much as the books themselves.

team overhead smash
Sep 2, 2006

Team-Forest-Tree-Dog:
Smashing your way into our hearts one skylight at a time

Is it ever mentioned what Venli's Form of Power is?

aparmenideanmonad
Jan 28, 2004
Balls to you and your way of mortal opinions - you don't exist anyway!
Fun Shoe

team overhead smash posted:

Is it ever mentioned what Venli's Form of Power is?

Envoyform toward the end of the book IIRC.

Lets her speak and understand language, some sort of connection powers involved.

Tunicate
May 15, 2012

OAquinas posted:


Curiously, Odium ran from the Thaylen City. It suggests that he's a conniver that dislikes improvisation--the moment his fulcrum failed (expeting Dalinar becoming the Blackthorn and championing him) and embraced the Honor splinter, he peaced out. He either is intensely paranoid of Cultivation shanking him or he really, really doesn't like acting outside of his nth dimensional chess moves. He isn't threatened by Dalinar directly--he could easily take the Stormfather splinter any day of the week...but it would take concentration/focus.


He picked Dalinar as his champion, too. If Dalinar is ever around when Odium is, he can just select literally anyone else to be Honor's Champion, then lose the battle deliberately.

Xemloth
Mar 27, 2011

Wait, what?



What if the humans coming to Roshar was what the story of the girl who looked up was really about? If their old destroyed world was the place in darkness

OAquinas
Jan 27, 2008

Biden has sat immobile on the Iron Throne of America. He is the Master of Malarkey by the will of the gods, and master of a million votes by the might of his inexhaustible calamari.

Xemloth posted:

What if the humans coming to Roshar was what the story of the girl who looked up was really about? If their old destroyed world was the place in darkness

That's interesting, since when she returned she brought with her stormlight, and storms. While there probably wasn't a literal sky-high big beautiful Wall around shinovar, this is probably an allegory about how humans left the preserve and came back saying "see? it's totally fine to walk on rocks and leave. Plus, cool stormlight! Let's go!"

Torrannor
Apr 27, 2013

---FAGNER---
TEAM-MATE
Rereading Oathbringer is fun:

quote:

Chapter 8

"The enemy's champion," Dalinar said, eyes narrowing. "In the visions, Honor told me our best chance of survival involved forcing Odium to accept a contest of champions. I've seen the enemy's champion - a creature in black armor, with red eyes. A parshman perhaps. It had nine shadows."
Nearby, Renarin had turned toward his father, eyes wide, jaw dropping. Nobody else seemed to notice.

Benson Cunningham
Dec 9, 2006

Chief of J.U.N.K.E.R. H.Q.
I wish I didn't know anything about BS himself, because hearing him speak and listening to him try to explain things on his podcast has entirely ruined this book for me.

I'm 26% of the way through. I will finish it, but man is it going to be a struggle. Hope it gets better.

Edit: I am so weary of being lectured on gender issues and sexual morality by a guy who is comfortable writing about killing in intricate detail but is horrified by sex and it's depiction.

Benson Cunningham fucked around with this message at 03:08 on Nov 19, 2017

Evil Fluffy
Jul 13, 2009

Scholars are some of the most pompous and pedantic people I've ever had the joy of meeting.
Jesus what did I just finish reading. The entire book felt like a building Sanderson Avalanche and then in the last stretch it's like it collides with another Sanderson Avalanche. :stare:

It is going to be a very, very long wait for Book 4.


Some brief thoughts on certain characters:

Kaladin - infinitely better than the last two books.
Adolin - if he doesn't revive Maya in a future book I'm going to be mad at all this teasing. Either he's going to die or he's going to revive his blade though. Seeing him revive the blade without swearing the Ideals would be interesting.
Shallan - Honestly couldn't stand her for much of the book but by the end she was bearable again.
Szeth - Good growth as a character, use of Nightblood was pretty much what I'd expected and hoped for.
Lopen - Lopen :allears:
Rock - A better person than even Bridge Four deserves. I suspect his actions late in the book are going to have... consequences for him. :(
Mraize - He's either working with the 17th Shard or probably uses them to some capacity because he's a Worldhopper and not giving a poo poo about morality is something the 17th Shard would fit with.
Hoid - I just want Dragonsteel already.
Dalinar - :worship: :ssj: :worship: His flashbacks were really good and that revisit to the Rift, especially the, uh... rerevisit during the book's climax and what happens after it. :suspense:
Moash - rear end in a top hat who needed to be killed by Kaladin, multiple times. But that dagger seems to be a truly terrible weapon and I have to wonder what would happen if it was, say, used against Odium.



M_Gargantua posted:

That was my gut feeling too. If I'm not the only one then I'm fairly certain that's what Brandon intended

love that her sword sucked the color out of its victims

It also affects her too, which is why every time she used it she kept having her hand/arm wrapped up. Everyone around her thinks it's just an odd shardblade when it's probably more like a much less powerful/dangerous Nightblood. Draining color and not just vaporizing people, but also not draining the wielder as fast as Nightblood does too.

It's also very, very interesting just how many worldhoppers are coming to Roshar during this war.


VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE posted:

I wonder if Taravangian managed to extract what will turn out to be a really significant concession from Odium for doing his low-key bidding.

He realizes that Odium cannot see any of the Diagram about Renarin, thus he strikes a bargain knowing that he has information Odium cannot possibly know and therefore what Odium does know can be incomplete or outright wrong, while thinking it's right.

Torrannor posted:


So I'm super excited about Szeth flashbacks, I bet there's a lot of interesting things to learn. How did Szeth know that a new Desolation was coming up in the first place??


One of the surges involves Foresight, Szeth was trained in the use of all Surgebindings (which means Shin trains some exceptionally dangerous people since we just saw how simply knowing the working of a Surge you can't use is still a huge help.

Yeroc2
Aug 13, 2003

"The glow is the combination of all your past lives, focusing their energy through your body."
Grimey Drawer

Evil Fluffy posted:

It also affects her too, which is why every time she used it she kept having her hand/arm wrapped up. Everyone around her thinks it's just an odd shardblade when it's probably more like a much less powerful/dangerous Nightblood. Draining color and not just vaporizing people, but also not draining the wielder as fast as Nightblood does too.

I'm fairly sure she's just Awakening her cloak like Vasher used to do in Warbreaker.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE
Aug 1, 2004

whoa, what just happened here?







College Slice
Interestingly, Kaladin's very first flashback in book 1 is an object lesson on the detachment a surgeon cultivates to be able to prioritize and save those he can.

Ethiser
Dec 31, 2011

Finished the book and I still get giddy every time someone starts to speak the oaths.

Potato Salad
Oct 23, 2014

nobody cares


hhhooolllyyyyyy ffffuuuuuuuuuuuuck its sazed

Potato Salad
Oct 23, 2014

nobody cares


I get the sense that some of the 17 Yolen adventures who took on Adonalsium are pretty fallible to the boiled frog problem. It's like everyone who recognizes that Rayze is a major problem--or more specifically that the other vessels are so aloof that they'd rather tell themselves that "bitch had it coming" is a good excuse for turning a blind eye to splintered shards--is jumping the shared universe shark and piling into Roshar for this one war.

M_Gargantua
Oct 16, 2006

STOMP'N ON INTO THE POWERLINES

Exciting Lemon
I want to reread Words of Radiance and Oathbringer again, because I had lots of theorys pop into my head that I should have written down.

I'm suspecting that the Unmade were the spren of the original 10 dawnshards that cultivation and honor brought into the world. Originally Honor was on Ashyn, but ended up fleeing to be with cultivation on Roshar. Odium and men wound up corrupting 9 of the 10, the nightmother being the 10th. (Since Brandon says one of the 10 is different, which I would interpret as uncorrupted) Much like the deadeyes highspren. However cultivation's influence within them allows them to continue to grow and think and break free of the corruption of Odium. I'm actually partial to thinking that the seed of cultivation combined with the strong emotions of odium actually makes it inevitable that they will eventually find their sanity again. I also suspect that the golden knife is essentially a fabrial with the essence of one of the unmade at its heart, a corrupted shadow of the dawnshard it used to be made to destroy.

On the bright side I think Sanderson in his more religious talks has made it clear that nothing can ever destroy someones soul in the cosmere. So the knife didn't destroy Jesriens Soul so much as broke apart whatever sliver of Honor that was granting him physical immortality. "Go straight to final rest in the spiritual realm, do not pass go, do not collect 200 broams." Since he hinted that Nightblood also doesn't completely destroy souls, just instagibs them to the afterlife.

I really want to know what powers besides futuresight and prediction Odium's Investiture. Rennarian definitely reverse-corrupting a void spren is going to be interesting.

Now I want to reread and piece together more coherant ideas from the rest thats popped into my head.


Potato Salad posted:

hhhooolllyyyyyy ffffuuuuuuuuuuuuck its sazed

I'm fairly certain it isn't at all. Even not knowing specifically who you're thinking of.

Although Dalinar is now a Sliver of Honor like the heralds and weirdness may occur. Touching the power of a shard temporarily has always ended in weirdness before.

M_Gargantua fucked around with this message at 18:47 on Nov 19, 2017

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VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE
Aug 1, 2004

whoa, what just happened here?







College Slice
Going back and reading Kaladin's return to Hearthstone, still feels good.

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