Author Topic: ***SPOILERS Official Hero of Ages Spoilers Thread. Includes Q&A w/Brandon****  (Read 335690 times)

sirbeefstew

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Brandon, you have created an excellent work.  I first discovered your work after finding out you were to be the author of AMoL, and I must say I am happy to have done so.

1) I think I may not be alone in this, but I would enjoy being able to see the full text versions of the epigraphs, most of which appear to be excerpts of larger works.

2) I am an engineer and therefore I enjoy the whole world-building story.  I would enjoy reading a tale set in the years following the end of the world.  It will no doubt be less epic in scale, however there are many issues which can arise in a budding nation with little to no infrastructure that suddenly finds itself surrounded by strange plants and animals and a changed geography.  I love books like Swiss Family Robinson, and could see incredible potential for some nation/world-building tales in this situation.

3) I am happy that Spook was able to grow into his own, however I felt that he grew too fast.  His growth seemed to happen on a very short time scale, so I would like to have seen it start more clearly in WoA, but I am happy that he did grow into his own.

Again, a wonderful job.  I look forward to reading many more works of yours in the future.  Keep writing and I will keep reading with great enthusiasm.

mildred

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Wonderful ...

It's been a week now that I've finished reading Mistborn, and I didn't write earlier because I thought I had to read all that was written in this thread ... and it took me some time. I also had the opportunity to read Elantris (I ordered it along with Mistborn 3) and I really enjoyed it.

In this topic, many are talking on how they don't really like the ending. When I read it, I was quite disappointed and I felt really sad, but I continued. The sadness came from the death of Elend and Vin who I think deserved to live, but also on the “death” of all the kandra. During the book, I strongly came to be attached to those creatures. I think even if it may not be as we want, it's still the correct ending and all happened as it should have been. Eventually, everything comes to an end, and realising that ... I don't know ... This makes my mind blank and peaceful.

Throughout the series I was often disappointing with the behaviour of Vin or Elend, or how things turned out to be. Especially, I really would have liked to see how it would turn to be if people had met instead of not finding themselves or had talked instead of keeping secrets from each other. I really would have liked TenSoon to meet with Vin a last time. And why the hell Vin did not came to see Elend back in the first book right after she saved him despite of his betrayal? Why didn't she tell her about the truth of who she was?
But I guess this is not always possible. Often I would have like to see the story happening in a perfect world where everybody were perfect. But then, there would be no story to tell, isn't it?

For me, the best books of the series were the first and the last. Possibly because of the ball scenes (for the first) ... The Well of Ascension was difficult for me since I couldn't bear how silly both Vin and Elend were, always thinking they were not worth the love of the other. And political scheling of Elend in Luthadel wasn't really interesting for me.

That was really a great story, congratulations.

Questions

Now, there is something I don't understand well in the Hero of Ages. It's about the 16% who fall sick in the mists. Those were all allomancers who hadn't snapped yet. But then:
- Why the nobility isn't affected by the mist sickness? Is it because they were often beaten to make sure they snapped, so there was no one to snap in the mists?
- Most important, why exactly 16.000% fell sick? I guess that allomancers are determined at birth, right? So in a group, there would be statistically about 16% of allomancers. I don't see how it could be more precise than that. Or was it that Preservation, in order to give away clues, choose exactly 16.000% of the population not exposed, leaving out few allomancers, or making sick some who weren't?

That last question really troubled me.

Really, thanks so much for you books. I always find it difficult to start a book (I'd like to know the content before reading it). I read your books because of the Wheel of Time and I wasn't deceived. I'm so glad that you are continuing the work of Robert Jordan, so I could discover you.

Mildred — somewhere lost in France

firstRainbowRose

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Well, I just thought I'd tell everyone something that I find very impressive.  I was just talking to my Grandma who has my copy of HoAs, and she said she wasn't sure who was doing the blurbs in HoA, but she thought it was Sazed because he did the first two.  When I asked her why she thought that she said it was because he was the story teller.  So, my grandma (only on chapter 10) totally beat all of us because she's known forever.
"The custom of royalty in referring to oneself is to naturally employ the royal 'we'.  We are very happy, we are very sad, we are bored and suffer from ennui.  For a royal prince there's no such word as 'me', It's always 'we'.  So rightfully I should be two or three, don't you agree?"

sporkify

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I was rereading the book, and I found the whole #16 thing interesting...Apparently Preservation uses a base 10 system...16% and all...
Gorram Frakking Woolhead!

Tyrfang

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I was rereading the book, and I found the whole #16 thing interesting...Apparently Preservation uses a base 10 system...16% and all...
Could be base 2/4/8/16, and still make sense....


Cosmic_AC

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There was a lot of discussion going on (especially on pages 6 and 7) about the connections between Elantris and Mistborn.  And I think that's really interesting.  So here's my two cents, whether you want 'em or not:

Far be it from me to claim that either Elantris or Mistborn is formulaic, let alone built from the same formula, but there are some definite patterns in the religious and magical systems in the books.  For instance, the Jindoeese are "soft-spoken and uncombative", calm and level-headed.  Sounds a LOT like the Terris.  Not only that, but the Derethi have a rigid structure like the Obligators and -- to an extent -- the Inquisitors.  And, of course, the Korathi are the most "free" people, which inherently leads to class differences like nobility but also generally content "common" people who speak for themselves and have their own ideas.  Although some of the Skaa were oppressed in the Mistborn trilogy, the Skaa/Nobility were a LOT like the Korathi in that sense.

In a similar way, it seems to me that there are actually three forms of "magic" in Elantris as well.  Though we haven't seen much other than the Dor, it has been shown that the Derethi are able to manipulate bone structure to create creatures that live a long time and have super-strength, and who knows what other powers.  Similarly, the Jindoeese seem to have some sort of speed augmentation power and superior concentration (Blessing of Presence?  Just kidding), though they may also have others.  And, in keeping with the themes present in Mistborn, Aon power is fueled entirely by the Dor, while Bone-Twisting (I dunno what you're going to call it) causes a great deal of pain and undoubtedly requires some kind of sacrifice.  In addition, the fanatical devotion of affected Derethi to their cause seems uncannily similar to the influence of Ruin over those who are pierced by metal (on the other hand, Hrathen kept his sanity in spite of his augmented arm and didn't seem to need to struggle with any voices...)  Meanwhile, if I remember correctly, the Jindoeese martial arts -- ChayShan -- required a period of slow movement that eventually built in speed -- which reminds me of Feruchemy -- just without metals.  These ideas (I refuse to call them "theories" as a reader's ideas cannot be backed up through experimentation -- only by what an author chooses to reveal about his OWN ideas) are probably riddled with holes in their present form, but maybe that's because it's been a year and a half since the last time I read Elantris and we didn't really get to see many examples of Jindo or Shu-Dereth power.

There's also that thing in the Glossary about how many who enter Dakhor are never seen again.  This may be simply because of how secretive Dakhor's warriors are, but it might also be because some of the initiates are used as sacrifices to empower others.

I do wonder, too, whether Domi and Jaddeth are "real" deities in Arelon, or if there's something else going on here.  Is Domi the current "spirit" wielding the power of the Dor, while Jaddeth is master of that creepy thing they do in monasteries?

...Also, a thought on "Lerasium":  Does this imply an alloy called Mallerasium or something similar which does...something?  If that's the case, doesn't that bring the total to 18?  Maybe there are 20!  And since the "temporal" metals show multiple possible alternate realities, perhaps Lerasium and the quartet it fits into has something to do with alternate realities/dimensions/futures/pasts as well.  This is all just off the top of my head, but since Lerasium grants Allomancy (and, apparently, other powers if it's alloyed with other stuff) perhaps Mallerasium permanently inhibits powers.  Meanwhile maybe there's still ANOTHER pair of metals even Sazed doesn't know about (or simply didn't want to tell about) that similarly affects time and space.

And and and...

...Even Warbreaker has two "magic" thingies: the Harmonics and the Hues.  Hmmmm.  Aside from that, I still wonder what the Pahn Kahl actually do believe.  Several characters described that religion as "simple", but there's never an explicit definition of the Pahn Kahl religion.  Then, too, there's ichor-alcohol, which seems to enhance the powers of Breath when used for the creation of a Lifeless, but which (as far as we've seen) is just a special chemical otherwise unconnected to BioChroma.  Is there some other form of magic in the Warbreaker world that we somehow don't know about yet?  Alchemy?

If not, there's still something interesting about the ways BioChroma can be used:
-In creating a Lifeless or similarly imbued artifact (such as Nightblood), power is eventually lost as the Lifeless will eventually "run down" and the Breath cannot be recovered.  This is especially true with Nightblood, since he "eats" Breath.
-In Awakening, power is maintained since it can be recovered in the exact same amount after its job is done.
-In Returning, power is gained since an incredibly powerful Breath is bestowed on an individual who did not have that much before (unless said individual was an extremely rich and powerful Awakener...but such an individual is unlikely to Return, given what we know of the Warbreaker theology).  Although the Returned also consume Breath, they do so at a slow rate and only one such as Vasher would have consumed enough to constitute "loss" of Breath (even if a Returned lived for decades, I think the Breath it was granted from the beginning is still more powerful than the sum Breaths consumed).

This follows the same pattern as the other books.  The only anomaly is Alcatraz (both Talents and Lenses essentially derive something from nothing, and both can be used for either good or ill), but many of us speculate that Alcatraz's magic is unrelated to the "adult" novels.
« Last Edit: October 27, 2008, 08:35:12 AM by Cosmic_AC »

sporkify

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I had thought that, but the % killed the possibility of non base 10; it is per 100-an offshoot of a base 10 system
Now it's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay likely that this is reading too much into it, but this would imply that Ruin and Preservation were human before.  (Humans use base 10, likely as we have 10 fingers.)
Gorram Frakking Woolhead!

Roader

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I would say that since the text is translated magically by the author, that that would inherently include the translation of their 16% into our 16%.

GoryCat

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I had thought that, but the % killed the possibility of non base 10; it is per 100-an offshoot of a base 10 system
Now it's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay likely that this is reading too much into it, but this would imply that Ruin and Preservation were human before.  (Humans use base 10, likely as we have 10 fingers.)

Since the system of mists Snapping people was designed by Preservation to leave hints that couldn't be corrupted by Ruin, it would be to his advantage to form the hints in a way that people could interpret.  It would have been equally plausible if he had made 1/16 of the population Mistings, but as it is, the choice of base 10 to represent the number is basically a screaming clue that the system is unnatural...if not a clue that was ever used by the characters.

I am a little "mistified" that the number is so big; 16% is just short of 1/6, which is hardly the level of scarcity that Kelsier claimed for Mistings in book 1.  Of course: that's just among skaa; the nobles were never affected by the mists (probably because they were all already Snapped by their beatings).  It's possible that Allomancy, along with children, really is rarer among the nobility.

Curious: we know that Mistings existed before the Ascension.  It is implied that all Allomancers today are descendents of the original nine, and therefore ultimately get their powers from the lerasium nuggets.  However, if the percentages are really different among skaa and nobility, I wonder if in fact skaa Allomancy is "natural" where noble Allomancy is induced.

Cosmic_AC

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Re: ***SPOLIERS Official Hero of Ages Spoilers Thread. Includes Q&A w/Brandon*
« Reply #324 on: October 27, 2008, 05:45:59 PM »
Actually, my understanding of that was that the "Mistfallen" were ALL either Mistborn or Seers -- Elend believed that Preservation had been that specific to maximize the number of people who could burn Ruin.  The Mists didn't only cause Snapping, I think -- they actually imbued those who would otherwise not BE Mistings with atium powers.  (since EUOL has said that the Mists can act like any metal or alloy, I would assume this means that the Mists actually enter the individuals chosen and act like the proper alloy of Atium and Lerasium to imbue someone with Seer powers)

GoryCat

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It may well be that the mists were creating Allomancers, but they weren't creating Mistborn (at least, not everyone): On p. 530, Elend tells Demoux to "Divide your men by the metal it turns out they can burn"; given his recent extensive experience with the mistfallen, it would appear that they all turned out to burn just one metal.

It does make sense that the mists would create Mistings, though (aside from the name, another gigantic hint that everyone missed :) ), since it would otherwise be impossible to get the right percentages every time.

Shadowkiller

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Actually the mists were NOT creating mistings nor mistborn.   There had been 1000 years of interbreeding that allowed exactly 16% of the population to have blood relations to the original mistborn.   The proof behind this is NO nobles got sick at all.   This is because the nobles all had been snapped already.   It was part of family tradition to beat their children in order to cause them to snap.   On the other hand, I suspect that every noble was some form of misting and that either they didn't know the metal they used or the metal didn't cause a discernible effect(Like Duralumin or Aluminum).

The ones who stayed sick longer, either the mist wanted to separate them out to take notice(as Sazed kind of indicated in one of his blurbs), or the fact that they were atium mistings which technically isn't one of the base metals meant the mist had a different reaction in them.

Cosmic_AC

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Sorry, you're right.  On re-reading various passages, I remember that the mists Snapped 16% of the Skaa, with an even distribution of Mistings (1/16 of each).  Dockson and the others who were sick for 16 days were Atium mistings (Seers).

Elmandr

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Re: ***SPOLIERS Official Hero of Ages Spoilers Thread. Includes Q&A w/Brandon*
« Reply #328 on: October 27, 2008, 10:23:42 PM »
The title of this thread should also mention that there are some Spoilers for Elantris....just to be safe.
"I love you."
"you dont. You just think you do because i'm all you know."
"Really? So whats this burning sensation i'm having in my stomach?"
"Too much ale."
"Not love?"
"No. But i can see how you confused the two."
"I don't feel good."
"They do that to you."
"my legs, their numb."
"Hahaha!"
"haha!"

Mellington the loony Gold Misting

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Conjecture:  Since Atium/Malatium breaks the rules...and technically isn't a metal in the manner that the others are (the rest are just transition or poor metals, common enough on our Earth and found on the periodic table)...I was thinking that it's just a case of mistaken identity.  The similarity of one of the potential effects of cremating a god apparently was similar enough to the effects of burning gold to confuse people.

I suggest that perhaps our REAL temporal metals which would follow the rules were never discovered (because, let's face it, if there was any known alternative to Atium people would have been using it too or instead of Atium) and the mistake was never uncovered because they're things people would never dream of ingesting.  Like Platinum (generally rarer and more valuable in real life and fantasy), Mercury (because if it turned out you COULDN'T burn it...you'd have just poisoned yourself), or one of a host of other toxic and rare transition metals (because most of the Allomantic metals are among that group).