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Brandon Sanderson / Re: Official WoK Fan Art (Here there be spoilers)
« on: April 15, 2011, 06:48:54 PM »
Thanks for the compliments! I'm glad you like it. I may try my hand at a ketek, but those are harder.
News:
"Magic is what makes fantasy fantastic," someone says, "you can't apply rules to them or else it loses wonder!" I respond, "Sure, but if you want to write them you will certainly want to know how they work." Writing is all about execution, and I find applying some basic laws of physics to magic systems make them more understandable and realistic. Here, I'm going to outline my basic method for developing a magic system.
Column by Chaos2651
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Brandon Sanderson / Re: Official WoK Fan Art (Here there be spoilers)
« on: April 13, 2011, 07:49:07 PM »
While a different kind of art, I thought I'd post this poem here. If it belongs on a different thread, please point me in the right direction.
I've been participating in the poem-a-day challenge for National Poetry Month over at my blog (mythoughtorchard.blogspot.com), and today's offering was inspired by the WoK. It's not a ketek, but it takes a similar form (reverso rather than palindromic). Thoughts?
Dalinar
He is weak,
a man who thinks
the world relies on him.
To be saved
he obeys
these words and teachings,
following
a forgotten king.
This man may become
our only hope, though
it is
so difficult to see.
Remember this truth:
Strength before weakness!
Remember this truth,
so difficult to see.
It is
our only hope (though
this man may become
a forgotten king)--
following
these words and teachings
he obeys.
To be saved,
the world relies on him:
a man who thinks
he is weak.
I've been participating in the poem-a-day challenge for National Poetry Month over at my blog (mythoughtorchard.blogspot.com), and today's offering was inspired by the WoK. It's not a ketek, but it takes a similar form (reverso rather than palindromic). Thoughts?
Dalinar
He is weak,
a man who thinks
the world relies on him.
To be saved
he obeys
these words and teachings,
following
a forgotten king.
This man may become
our only hope, though
it is
so difficult to see.
Remember this truth:
Strength before weakness!
Remember this truth,
so difficult to see.
It is
our only hope (though
this man may become
a forgotten king)--
following
these words and teachings
he obeys.
To be saved,
the world relies on him:
a man who thinks
he is weak.
3
Brandon Sanderson / Re: Alloy of Law Information?
« on: January 18, 2011, 05:43:09 AM »
The recent Tor-sponsored Q&A (link below) had some neat hints about what might show up. See especially the RAFO'd question about allomantically burning hemalurgic spikes. That sounds super exciting to me.
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2011/01/your-questions-for-brandon-sanderson-answered
I'm anticipating some new and brilliant feruchemical tricks, but that's mostly just wishful thinking rather than based on real information.
Also, having just finished a re-read of the trilogy, I have to say that I really want a metallurgist character--someone who makes the alloys for allomancers, feruchemists, and company. That would be an interesting perspective on the world. If we don't get one in Alloy of Law, I hope Peter or Brandon will see this post and realize they are missing an important demographic.
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2011/01/your-questions-for-brandon-sanderson-answered
I'm anticipating some new and brilliant feruchemical tricks, but that's mostly just wishful thinking rather than based on real information.
Also, having just finished a re-read of the trilogy, I have to say that I really want a metallurgist character--someone who makes the alloys for allomancers, feruchemists, and company. That would be an interesting perspective on the world. If we don't get one in Alloy of Law, I hope Peter or Brandon will see this post and realize they are missing an important demographic.
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Brandon Sanderson / Re: Inside Cover Artwork in WoK
« on: October 11, 2010, 04:12:39 PM »
Okay, here is the comparison. I've used the simplified names from Ars Arcanum. A few things to note:
The large glyphs are the symbol for each herald and his/her order of Radiants. Jes' glyph is the one that is pressed into the front cover of your book, looking like a sword.
The small glyphs represent a power accessible to the two adjacent orders (e.g. Windrunning, Soulcasting, etc.). A few of the other threads have been postulating about what each of them are, but this thread is about the art so I will refrain.
If I have made any errors in this, let me know and I will correct it.
Now that they are all next to each other, a few of the herald symbols (esp. Palah) seem a bit of a stretch for my background/foreground inversion theory. Others (like Jes) seem to fit. What do you guys think?
I'll try to get a higher-resolution image uploaded soon.
The large glyphs are the symbol for each herald and his/her order of Radiants. Jes' glyph is the one that is pressed into the front cover of your book, looking like a sword.
The small glyphs represent a power accessible to the two adjacent orders (e.g. Windrunning, Soulcasting, etc.). A few of the other threads have been postulating about what each of them are, but this thread is about the art so I will refrain.
If I have made any errors in this, let me know and I will correct it.
Now that they are all next to each other, a few of the herald symbols (esp. Palah) seem a bit of a stretch for my background/foreground inversion theory. Others (like Jes) seem to fit. What do you guys think?
I'll try to get a higher-resolution image uploaded soon.
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Brandon Sanderson / Re: Inside Cover Artwork in WoK
« on: October 09, 2010, 04:41:26 PM »
Except that the glyphs really are the same. Maybe I didn't explain it well enough. If no one beats me to it then next time I have access to a scanner I'll put together a side-by-side of the glyphs, along with the color/spatial inversions I'm talking about.
I agree that we don't know enough, but that hasn't exactly stopped us from wild speculation before.
I agree that we don't know enough, but that hasn't exactly stopped us from wild speculation before.
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Brandon Sanderson / Re: Inside Cover Artwork in WoK
« on: October 09, 2010, 09:47:48 AM »
Bit of a tangent, so this gets its own post: These relationships should give us hints about how Shadesmar and Roshar are related. Since it has been said that Shadesmar is the cognitive realm of the cosmere, this should also help us figure out how it interacts with the physical realm. Note the obvious inversion in the map of land and sea. There's probably more that I'm missing, and the existence of disparate rules in inverting the two classes of glyphs hints at a fair level of complexity.
By extension, we also have potential related "inversions" as we overlay the spiritual realm (still very off-screen) on the cognitive and physical. Hopefully we can extrapolate what we learn about Shadesmar in the next several books to teach us something about the nature of the cosmere as a whole.
By extension, we also have potential related "inversions" as we overlay the spiritual realm (still very off-screen) on the cognitive and physical. Hopefully we can extrapolate what we learn about Shadesmar in the next several books to teach us something about the nature of the cosmere as a whole.
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Brandon Sanderson / Re: Inside Cover Artwork in WoK
« on: October 09, 2010, 09:39:03 AM »
The first thing I did when I bought my copy was gape at the inside cover art and try to wrap my head around the complexity of the glyphs and faces and maps. Actually, just the maps at first because I was in way over my head with the glyphs. Just seeing these endpages convinced me that all the hype was totally justified. (Then the story blew me away, but that's a different topic).
Anyway, thanks to the great analysis of the herald pictures in another thread (http://www.timewastersguide.com/forum/index.php?topic=7910.0) I feel like I have a handle on the glyph/herald bit, and I'm revisiting the pattern I saw that first day. I'm going to just describe it in text and let someone with better image skills than mine take care of posting illustrations/scans.
Others of you have probably noticed that the glyphs on the brown Roshar page and the blue Shadesmar page are the same, just permutations of each other. Not just stylized versions, though--they follow the symmetry rules of Roshar in interesting ways:
The gem glyphs (the smaller circles) in Shadesmar are the Roshar glyph with the right half inverted vertically. The herald glyphs (the larger circles) are a different kind of inversion--the blank space and character space change places. That is, the Shadesmar herald glyphs are like a negative image of the Roshar glyphs. Invert the colors of one and you get the other, with allowances for style and script.
It took me a while to figure this out, partly because of the similarity of some of the herald glyphs to their inverted counterpart, but mostly because I had the schematic oriented wrong. In both cases the map page defines "down" for the double eye of glyphs.
Anyway, thanks to the great analysis of the herald pictures in another thread (http://www.timewastersguide.com/forum/index.php?topic=7910.0) I feel like I have a handle on the glyph/herald bit, and I'm revisiting the pattern I saw that first day. I'm going to just describe it in text and let someone with better image skills than mine take care of posting illustrations/scans.
Others of you have probably noticed that the glyphs on the brown Roshar page and the blue Shadesmar page are the same, just permutations of each other. Not just stylized versions, though--they follow the symmetry rules of Roshar in interesting ways:
The gem glyphs (the smaller circles) in Shadesmar are the Roshar glyph with the right half inverted vertically. The herald glyphs (the larger circles) are a different kind of inversion--the blank space and character space change places. That is, the Shadesmar herald glyphs are like a negative image of the Roshar glyphs. Invert the colors of one and you get the other, with allowances for style and script.
It took me a while to figure this out, partly because of the similarity of some of the herald glyphs to their inverted counterpart, but mostly because I had the schematic oriented wrong. In both cases the map page defines "down" for the double eye of glyphs.
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Brandon Sanderson / Re: WOK: Navani's Notebook Translation *MAJOR SPOILERS*
« on: October 09, 2010, 08:15:46 AM »
Also, did the fabrial makers tie the double eye of emotions on the bracelet to the more fundamental double-eye of the almighty on the front flap? That is, can we assume that "joy" is linked to Jes/sapphire/protecting etc. from ars arcanum, and likewise for the others?
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Brandon Sanderson / Re: WOK: Navani's Notebook Translation *MAJOR SPOILERS*
« on: October 09, 2010, 08:09:34 AM »
Re: notebook page 2 and the emotion bracelet.
Do you think Navani has one of these? I don't remember any descriptions of jewelry, but in the picture it is on her safehand, which would be hidden from all viewpoint characters except herself. It may be a (small) part of why she is such an effective politician.
Do you think Navani has one of these? I don't remember any descriptions of jewelry, but in the picture it is on her safehand, which would be hidden from all viewpoint characters except herself. It may be a (small) part of why she is such an effective politician.
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Brandon Sanderson / Re: *Spoilers* General Shard List
« on: October 09, 2010, 06:07:47 AM »
Is there any confirmation that the letter is from Hoid? I read it as being from someone originally from Roshar way back when.
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