Brandon Sanderson: There's always another secret project.

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Algid: Oct 10, 2007

Affi posted:

Did anyone extrapolate anything interesting from the "last words" �that were at the header of each chapter?

They seem to be from a mix of sources since it's pretty obvious that sometimes they're acting like they're being possessed, but other times they're actually lucid. I remember the one with the sailor from Shin telling them to gently caress off and saying that he's not going to tell them anything he saw, and another one where the person was asking them why they were draining his blood. When they are prophesying (or whatever it is), there also seems to be different sources, there was one where it was obviously Talenel talking, another where it was a random Radiant, it's pretty hard to tell what the others were supposed to be.

# ¿ Sep 5, 2011 02:03

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 16:30

Algid: Oct 10, 2007

Jellibean posted:

I was pretty sure it was like a hell dimension leaking through, like a Shadesmar link, specifically the one Radiant who was left behind screaming as he's tortured about the incoming apocalypse.

That's Talenel, he's a Herald not a Radiant, the Radiants were the knights that the Heralds founded.

I think the hell dimension was set up to somehow punish violence, since there are sources that seem to think in Roshar at least violence == bad. Syl doesn't feel good about killing, or about shardblades, and the Radiant that Dalinar talked to in his vision mentioned how they were set up to fight so others wouldn't have to and how fighting somehow stains their souls or something. Szeth also fully expects to go to hell for what he's done. Hell might have been set up just to punish people like the Heralds to discourage them from reincarnating, or maybe Odium just hates everyone and happened to create a setup that the other gods could also agree to.

That is sort of depressing though if (a certain amount of) violence is all that's needed to condemn someone to hell in Roshar, there's basically no way to win a setup like that. It's almost as depressing as the hell from The Prince of Nothing.

# ¿ Sep 5, 2011 06:38

Algid: Oct 10, 2007

pakman posted:

That said, wouldn't the shards be pieces of the god(s) as well? I've only read WoK and the Mistborn Trilogy so far, but judging by that (the atium), I would imagine the shards would be in that vein as well. Possibly even the spren in some way.

There's supposed to be a lot of magic systems in Stormlight. There's 10 just in the different orders of the Knights Radiant, though we've only really seen surgebinding and soulcasting so far (there was mention of "dustbringers" that seem to have some sort of fire based power in the prologue). That's why when Kaladin was asking about what the radiants were supposed to be able to do, the accounts were so confused, some of them could teleport or fly, but the powers were split according their orders so an individual knight is limited to their own powers.

It's been hinted in one of Dalinar visions that the whatever is behind the desolations are split into 10 factions as well. Then there's stuff like the old magic, sprens, the guy with a reversed shadow, lucky fish, etc.

Algid fucked around with this message at 16:19 on Oct 10, 2011

# ¿ Oct 10, 2011 16:16

Algid: Oct 10, 2007

Lascivious Sloth posted:

I just finished Way of Kings, in audiobook format. Holy.. poo poo. What an amazing book. Sanderson is an insanely entertaining and talented writer. Is this his best writing? Mistborn has always sounded like an amateur teenage read, totally unfounded I realise. However, I was blown away by Stormlight and now I'm curious. Of course i love his contribution to WoT, so with those two considerations, is anything else he has done been equal or above these two amazing pieces of prose?

Aside from his wot books and Stormlight, I've read Mistborn and Elantris, he definitely improves as he goes along and Stormlight is significantly better than Mistborn (any of the three books) just like Mistborn is better than Elantris.

# ¿ Dec 2, 2011 16:16

Algid: Oct 10, 2007

soru posted:

Sanderson is without a doubt dramatically better at writing Wheel of Time books than Jordan was. It's night and day.

Actually it's mostly just that Jordan left too many plot threads hanging and died right after he started tying them together in KoD. Gathering Storm and Towers of Midnight are good because they resolved so many things. On the technical side of the writing Sanderson is better in that there's less skirt straightening and braid tugging, but he's worse in that his vocabulary isn't as consistent as Jordan's and he uses some ananchronisms.

# ¿ Dec 4, 2011 16:17

Algid: Oct 10, 2007

keiran_helcyan posted:

It does make it a bit odd that she's concerned enough about her family's financial future to attempt to rob from royalty but never considers hawking the priceless sword. It'd be risky sure, but compared to robbing the princess it seems like a decent option to at least consider

I'm pretty sure that no one knows she killed her father and the shardblade would have been a pretty big giveaway.

# ¿ Dec 7, 2011 04:52

Algid: Oct 10, 2007

Metropolis posted:

Way of Kings spoilage:

Plus, a person without a lot of resources and protection saying they have a shardblade for sale is probably a death sentence. The powers that be would be in a race to assassinate her and steal it first, rather than trying to outbid each other. But when she tries to steal from someone, she has the Shardblade as an ace up her sleeve if things go south, though it's still dangerous. Plus if she is successful she is rich AND has a Shardblade.

I don't think that last part is really relevant, she doesn't seem like she really want to keep it, it's just that getting rid of it has its own problems.

# ¿ Dec 7, 2011 05:15

Algid: Oct 10, 2007

Lascivious Sloth posted:

Crap.. I didn't even pick that up and I've finished it! I remember that she killed her father, but when is it revealed she owns a shard blade?!

When was it revealed early on? I don't remember any of this.. and that she wants to get rid of it?

She thought about using it on the letterheads when she locked herself in the room (even then it wasn't stated outright). There were earlier scenes referencing it I think, ~~I just can't recall what they are right now~~ she thought about it after the fact when Shallan murderized those dudes in the alley. There's no indication that she really wants to get rid off it, it's just that she doesn't like to think about it (given that she didn't even consider using it during the alley incident), and there's the obvious fact that it's a secret (which is tied to her father's death).

# ¿ Dec 7, 2011 07:34

Algid: Oct 10, 2007

ConfusedUs posted:

That's a bit too obvious. I'm betting that, since she's attached to the foremost researcher in the world, she'll discover how they're somehow far more than they seem.

There's indications that there is an afterlife of some sort in the Sanderson multiverse, and in Roshar at least, part of that involves some sort of hell analog.

Szeth thinking that he's going to hell, whatever it is that happens to the heralds, and what Dalinar was told by the female knight in his vision all point to that. I'm guessing the shardblades are tied to that somehow.

# ¿ Dec 11, 2011 17:57

Algid: Oct 10, 2007

keiran_helcyan posted:

This part really confused me, because in the flashbacks shardblades were the Knights Radiant's defining weapon. They were bigger back then though. Maybe Syl didn't like that a non-Radiant was holding one? Or maybe they've been corrupted over the years?

The knight in Dalinar's flashback specifically said that fighting was not a good thing (regardless of the reason), and then we have the flashback with the knights giving up their weapons.

I'm guessing that the metaphysical makeup of a particular world is determined by the god(s) on that world, I mean, it didn't look like Sazed chucked Elend and Vin into some sort of hell. If that's the case and I can see a compromise between Cultivation (fanatically anti-violence) and Odium (presumably a dude that hates everyone), resulting in some sort of not-so-great afterlife for certain types of people.

# ¿ Dec 11, 2011 22:23

Algid: Oct 10, 2007

arioch posted:

There IS a difference between the Dawnshards and the Shardblades as well, apparently.

That was mentioned in the prologue, so yeah.

# ¿ Dec 12, 2011 10:44

Algid: Oct 10, 2007

No, he was the last herald, presumably once a regular human, but now regularly reconstituted from some sort of hell like limbo where they're held in reserve to fight in each desolation. They seem to be linked to the almighty.

The knights are the 10 orders each founded by one of the heralds, which survived long past the point where the other 9 heralds gave up. Then the knights also disbanded for some reason.

edit: I guess I'll spoiler the second part, but the first is literally all from the prologue, which is like 3 pages long (and free).

Algid fucked around with this message at 00:04 on Dec 13, 2011

# ¿ Dec 12, 2011 23:58

Algid: Oct 10, 2007

Lascivious Sloth posted:

Who was the elfish women smashing stuff in some palace and what was the deal with that? Was it just a way to introduce or expand on the dark magic?

No idea really. It could be some sort of magic system I guess. The other interlude chapters seem to have a lot of those, there's observation controlling spren, the guy with the inverted shadow, healing factor, and tattoos, the weird wish granting deity that Dalinar dealt with, and possibly lucky fish.

Judging from the covers and the story, there's supposed to be at least 10 magic systems tied to the knights/heralds, and possibly another ten tied to whatever agents Odium fields in the desolations. Surgebinding is just one magic system associated with one order of the knights, soulcasting seems to be another, and then there's whatever magic allows teleportation, and a group that seems to control fire (or possible just somehow burns stone).

# ¿ Dec 13, 2011 00:56

Algid: Oct 10, 2007

Vaevicti posted:

Kaladin is such a badass. The ending of Way of Kings was so amazing that I can't wait to read the next offerings. Also, a theory about Dalinar that I have is Dalinar is one of the Heralds. Specifically Kalak, the herald the walked off in the prologue.If true, that might make him even more of a badass compared to Kaladin.

He's definitely not Kalak, seeing as how Kalak shows up in that last scene with Hoid.

The visions Dalinar gets probably have something to do with the wish/renumeration he got that went along with his wife being erased from his memory. I'm really looking forward to seeing whether that was the wish or the price for the wish. Or it could be something else entirely like the Almighty somehow implating subliminal messages in "The Way of Kings", I dunno.

Algid fucked around with this message at 22:20 on Dec 21, 2011

# ¿ Dec 21, 2011 20:52

Algid: Oct 10, 2007

arioch posted:

Nah, the last guy is Taln.

Oh right, Kalak was prologue pov guy :doh:

# ¿ Dec 21, 2011 21:28

Algid: Oct 10, 2007

keiran_helcyan posted:

If I had to make a wild guess I'd say the Knights were just psychologically exhausted. They'd spend their entire lives selflessly fighting for humanity, and probably just got repeatedly poo poo on by people who wanted them to conquer their rival neighbors, or thought they were too mysterious. Also I can't imagine that the mass enslaving of the Voidbringers gelled at all with their philosophical beliefs.

There's definitely something wrong specifically with the blades and fighting though. There's an entire country that just happens to not have the highstorm, and appears to extremely non-violent, while we hear about some sort of god-being called Cultivation that's distinct from "the Almighty". Then there's the other flashback Dalinar had with that female Knight telling him that they fight so others wouldn't have to and that even fighting against the Desolations have consequences.

The Herlads broke the Oathpact because they were being tortured in some sort of hell-dimension for it. If that's the consequencing of fighting, then yeah, the Knights would have had a pretty good reason to not want to fight anymore.

# ¿ Jan 8, 2012 20:41

Algid: Oct 10, 2007

Conduit for Sale! posted:

What I thought was funny in WoK is Jasnah and that King guy were arguing about the existence of god and Jasnah was making pretty solid arguments for atheism, but the King didn't have poo poo.

The king is also an evil mastermind who goes to great lengths to cultivate his reputation of being a not particularly intelligent or aggresive dude and just sits around and builds all these hospitals for some reason. He isn't really the sort of character an author uses as a self-insert.

# ¿ Feb 19, 2012 01:12

Algid: Oct 10, 2007

Maytag posted:

Except you can't affect metal in another person's body.

Pretty sure your can if you try hard enough, use duralumin, is aided by god-mist, etc. Wasn't that how Vin ripped off those bracelets from the Lord Ruler even though it was pretty much attached to his body as implants?

# ¿ Mar 14, 2012 03:36

Algid: Oct 10, 2007

keiran_helcyan posted:

If I had to guess, the Knights earned their shard blades, just as they presumably earned their powers by binding to a spren. Current shard blades are won through killing of previous owners. Maybe all that murdering and backstabbing has tainted the nature of the shard blades.

The important thing isn't that the knights had the blades, it's that they gave them up for some reason. They felt that doing that was preferable to continuing to fight, possibly having something to do with how the only Herlad who still has his blade is tortured in purgatory before coming out to fight every couple hundred years.

ShadowGlass posted:

That's not a theory. It was actually mentioned in the book.

We don't know if that was the wish or the cost though.

# ¿ Aug 21, 2013 15:32

Algid: Oct 10, 2007

Phummus posted:

I would say that while Worm is certainly an OK web serial, it hardly matches up to Sanderson. It is a fun read with lots of superhero action, but beyond that there's really not much. Superheroes fight each other, then fight big bad monsters, then each other, then big bad monsters, repeat. Each big bad monster is tougher than the last, but you don't get a "So and so just leveled up" feeling at least. As I read it, I didn't get the sense that the author had a story planned out, but rather would write himself into and then out of a corner, sometimes with some pretty heavy handed deus ex going on.

Given what the current "big bad monster" is I don't think that's a very valid accusation.

# ¿ Sep 24, 2013 19:36

Algid: Oct 10, 2007

I figured it out around there, but now it just makes me more curious about who Knighthawk is and what sort of cellphone based powers he or she has.

# ¿ Sep 30, 2013 05:38

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 16:30

Algid: Oct 10, 2007

I'm wondering how gifting is really supposed to work. For Conflux it seems to require physical contact, but it didn't really seem that explicit with Prof. Also Knighthawk must be gifting or is otherwise just incredibly powerful. I'm guessing the mobiles are basically just bricks that people use as a placebo to generate especially vivid illusions, even to the point of projecting it across the world in parallel and using that as a form of communication.

# ¿ Oct 1, 2013 06:57

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