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Messages - ROSHtafARian

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Brandon Sanderson / Re: *Spoilers* General Shard List
« on: October 16, 2010, 10:54:04 PM »
Well Brandon already said Elantris took place after Odium's visit.  As for the voice in the pool, that can be a little misleading, because rereading that passage, there's no actual voice speaking to Raoden.  It's very carefully phrased as the water SEEMED to be saying to him, its okay, relax, let go...its more like the pool imparted a general impression, rather than in Warbreaker where a voice is said to very specifically offer Lightsong a choice to go back. 

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Brandon Sanderson / Re: *Spoilers* General Shard List
« on: October 12, 2010, 04:53:37 AM »
So I was rereading Elantris, and I think I have an idea as to what Aona and Skai's shards were.  Although we know not all shards come in pairs with polar opposites, some like Ruin and Preservation do, and I think its a pretty safe bet that Aona and Skai were a pair of opposites, from Brandon's annotation that Skaze are like evil Seons, little things dropped here and there in the book about Jaddeth, and just the nature of the monks and their power.  Anyways, after rereading, I think Aona is Harmony and Skai is Discord.  Harmony fits with the nature of the Seons, the relationship between the land and the Elantrian's power, the fact that the medium through which the Elantrians use the Dor is the alphabet or language, a means of promoting harmony and unity, and the way the pool of Dor urges Elantrians to relax and let go....I'm betting that it doesn't actually kill the Elantrians, it more dissolves their corporeal form and individual identity, and their energy becomes one with the res of the Dor.  They live on as spiritual energy, part of the land, but with no further need of consciousness.  Skai, then, would be Discord, or the disruption or perversion of Harmony.  Brandon said somewhere that Odium did not cause the Reod, at least not directly, and I'm inclined to take him at face value.  I think the Reod was caused by Skai, disrupting Harmony and breaking the Elantrian's tie with the land and the Dor as part of a power play against Aona, and Odium merely seized on that opportunity to take Aona and Skai out.  We know that even polar opposite Shards can work together, as Ruin and Preservation did to create life, and I'm assuming the threat of Odium could have gotten even Aona and Skai to work together to fight him, so he waited until they were already fighting and there was no possibility of them allying. 

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Brandon Sanderson / Re: Brandon's Secret Project
« on: October 08, 2010, 07:51:56 PM »
I edited the post, but it didn't keep.

The way the market is now, there is no way that Brandon will not be able to find a publisher for anything he writes (as long as Brandon himself is happy with it). So while it's not under contract currently, that's not a problem.

There are a number of authors out there who only write under contract once they have established careers. For some authors, that is detrimental to their creativity. Lois McMaster Bujold mentioned that before she wrote her Sharing Knife first two books (it was one big book to start with, and IMHO should have stayed that way). Writing the books with no contract was much less stressful.

Brandon is doing something similar now. He has no external demands or expectations on his time for the rest of the year (except for touring). So he can write something that's fun and relaxing.

Peter, does this mean we might yet see books like Dark One, Steelheart or The King's Necromancer after all, if finding a publisher is no longer an issue?  Or is the problem with those books now simply that Brandon doesn't like them enough to sell them?

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Brandon Sanderson / Significance of Ten Viewpoint Characters? - SPOILERS
« on: October 04, 2010, 01:21:32 AM »
Just had a wild thought....there are supposed to be ten books, and around ten viewpoint characters.  The possible exception is Brandon's apparently said Kaladin might get a second book.    But I was reading this epigraph:

Quote
“Above the final void I hang, friends behind, friends before. The feast I must drink clings to their faces, and the words I must speak spark in my mind. The old oaths will be spoken anew.”—Dated Betabanan, 1173, 45 seconds pre-death. Subject: a lighteyed child of five years. Diction improved remarkably when giving sample.

and now I'm wondering....which old oaths will be spoken anew?  We've already had Kaladin speaking the old Windrunner's Oath and it seems pretty obvious there's going to be a revival of the Knights Radiant, with different characters like Kaladin, Shallan, Jasnah etc reviving the old magics and ideals of the Radiants through their storylines, but will it stop there?  Or is it possible that some of them might end up forming a new Oathpact to contain Odium or combat the Desolations/Everstorm, and replace the old Heralds?  Talanel, the only one who didn't forsake the Oathpact is thought to be getting his own book and with some people already speculating that Jezrien and some of the other Heralds might be more antagonists than protagonists in this series, maybe the Knights Radiant won't be enough, as Kalak figured they wouldn't be when he spoke to Jezrien about it in the Prelude.  Maybe a new Oathpact is needed and these viewpoint characters aren't destined just to be the heads of their respective Orders, but the new Heralds those Orders correspond to?

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Brandon Sanderson / Re: Herald Chapter Pictures--Identities *spoilers*
« on: September 27, 2010, 07:02:40 PM »
Giftspren or sacrificespren?  If Shallan has to admit a truth to a truth or honesty spren, and Kaladin has to act with honor, I would think that the spren powering Jasnah would have to be attracted to some kind of selflessness.  Like maybe to Soulcast she has to give a bit of knowledge precious to her.

Especially if Jasnah's interests in academia and learning and increasing her knowledge was not for personal gain or status (something that definitely seems in keeping with her character) but for the good of mankind.  She's trying to find the truth about the Voidbringers, to protect humanity, discover who killed her father and why the Parshendi are now so hostile to humans...all things that don't benefit her personally, but she seeks to learn in order to give that knowledge to help everyone.  A givingspren sounds about right to me.

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Brandon Sanderson / Re: Splinters - SPOILERS for TWoK and Elantris
« on: September 27, 2010, 06:57:42 PM »
And also because the shards over time change the nature of their holder.  He's already experienced it himself, even if Rayse as a person was already closest to the true nature of Odium the shard.  But I really doubt a being as fearsome or as terrible as Odium really wants to mess with possibly changing his whole nature just for a power boost when he's already convinced of his own badassness.  Especially if Aona represented Love or some kind of goodness or positive trait of Adonalsium, it'd basically be watering him down.

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Brandon Sanderson / Re: WoK: The Heralds *Spoilers*
« on: September 27, 2010, 06:51:32 PM »
Well that could be the point, that the Heralds aren't gone.  The speculation about Shalash being Baxtil's mistress would seem to indicate that they haven't performed their duties, but they're still very much alive and wandering the earth...which would mean their superspren (lol) are still bonded to them and not really evident to other people.

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Brandon Sanderson / Re: Herald Chapter Pictures--Identities *spoilers*
« on: September 27, 2010, 05:39:44 AM »
Wow, thanks Peter.  That makes a huge difference, and makes me even more convinced that Jasnah is associated with Palah.  Learned/giving fits her a hell of a lot more than Just/Confident.

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Brandon Sanderson / Re: Herald Chapter Pictures--Identities *spoilers*
« on: September 27, 2010, 02:44:52 AM »
Damn.  It could be referring to her then, because Shalash/Garnet fits Navani a lot better than Elkohar at this point.

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Brandon Sanderson / Re: Herald Chapter Pictures--Identities *spoilers*
« on: September 27, 2010, 02:24:53 AM »
Hmm, well I can't think of anyone else who shares chapters with Elkohar who would fit the same mold as Shalash/Shallan with the exception of Navani.  And I don't think she has any potential Radiant powers, but she is creative and honest, so maybe it could still be her...except I don't remember her being in that chapter.

My gut instinct is that Elkohar's more likely of Shallan's order than Jasnah's, even though he is related to Jasnah.  The attributes just seem more like him, plus he sees the wavy headed spren.

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Brandon Sanderson / Re: Herald Chapter Pictures--Identities *spoilers*
« on: September 27, 2010, 02:00:38 AM »
Well, do the Emerald, Garnet or Zircon Heralds show up at the headings to any chapters with Elkohar?  Depending on if the line headed spren are associated with any kind of soulcasting, or if there are two different kinds of spren for the two different versions of soulcasting, Elkohar as a potential Soulcaster could reveal a lot.  If Shalash is one of the images with chapters he's in, that would seem to indicate he's potentially of the same order as Shallan...but as I think he's more likely of the same order as Jasnah, if Zircon or Emerald head any of his chapters, that might indicate that one is the other Soulcasting order.  Personally I think Emerald is the other Soulcasting order, as I think the attributes fit Jasnah better than Wise/Careful, especially with all her talk of ethics and morals....whether you agree with her stance on morality, SHE'S completely convinced of the rightness of her moral stance, and maybe that's what attracts Just or Righteous spren or whatever you might call them.  I don't think Zircon fits Jasnah as well, personally, and I think it might have been there because the Zircon Herald has something to do with Shadesmar, specifically.

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Brandon Sanderson / Re: Herald Chapter Pictures--Identities *spoilers*
« on: September 26, 2010, 11:31:45 PM »
Yeah, I'd have to say I don't see how Shallan could possibly be anything other than Garnet, with the spren requiring a great Truth from her to Soulcast, and with some kind of power with her art.  And given Shalash's preoccupation with art, there's some power in the creation of certain kinds of art, or the things or people depicted in that art, and she pretty much has to be the Herald attached to that order.  Plus creativity and honesty definitely seem like the attributes of a godlike figure called Lady of Dreams at some point throughout history.

Which means I'm pretty convinced you're dead on with the other identities as well.

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Brandon Sanderson / Re: WoK: The Heralds *Spoilers*
« on: September 26, 2010, 11:26:56 PM »
Hmm, that's possible.  There clearly are spren much larger and more powerful than Syl, such as the sea spren in Axies the Collector's interlude, and that could actually be the point of that particular interlude....showing us a glimpse of these godlike spren that bond with the Heralds. 

In fact, a few people have proposed that spren are splinters of the Almight's shard, much like Seons are thought to be the splinters of Aona's in Elantris...the problem with this theory has always been that spren and the Heralds and the Knights Radiant seem to be in existence while the Almighty is still alive, before Odium kills him....but is there anything to say that the Almighty couldn't have splintered his own power or shard long before his death?  Not enough to leave him powerless, but definitely carving off slivers of his own Shard or power to share amongst the Heralds and Orders in the form of spren, segmenting his own divinity as it were.  This could be what enables Odium to kill him in the first place...his power is too spread out, shared amongst his Heralds and throughout the world in the form of lesser spren to effectively fight back.

I'm thinking about how Brandon's confirmed that the Returned in Warbreaker are supposedly Splinters, but nothing in the book or elsewhere suggests there is another Shard on that world other than Endowment, who definitely seems to be alive still, at least as there's a voice that talks to the Returned before they are sent back.  Who says Shardholders have to be dead for their Shards to be splintered?  Maybe they can splinter their own voluntarily.

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Brandon Sanderson / Re: Herald Chapter Pictures--Identities *spoilers*
« on: September 26, 2010, 11:17:53 PM »
Hmm, I don't have the table in front of me, but what are the essences or attributes associated with Shalash and Shallan's presumed order?  The Garnet one?

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Brandon Sanderson / Re: Herald Chapter Pictures--Identities *spoilers*
« on: September 26, 2010, 10:39:05 PM »
I posted this in the Heralds thread, but bringing it over here, some additional things to think about that could support Shallan being of the order Shalash is tied to, and Shalash being Baxil's mistress is if there are two Orders that use Soulcasting, Shallan and Jasnah seem to be of the two of them, instead of them both being of the same one, due to specifics of Shallan's Soulcasting experiences that Jasnah is surprised by.  Added to Shallan's artistic skills and how they're tied to a seemingly mystical kind of Memories and that Jasnah has no appreciation or respect for art, it would seem to follow that art and Memories are part of what's specific to Shallan's order and sets it apart from the other Order wielding a form of Soulcasting.  Baxil's mistress being Shalash and her obssession with artistic representations of herself would definitely seem to tie into the idea that she is the Herald of Shallan's order, and art plays a big role in their specific nature.

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