Timewaster's Guide Archive

Splinters. Looks like when a Shard is destroyed - Splintered - it turns into a number of... beings? things? essences? Judging by the Returned, who have been confirmed to be Splinters (or have they?), the destruction of the Shard is not necessary for Splinters to spawn.

Are they like side effects of the presence of a Shard (and a holder) in the world? Do they only appear when a Shard is destroyed, and does that imply that Endowment was not the only Shardholder on Nalthis?

EDIT: Turns out most of this is old news. Can disregard.

As I was reading some other The Way of Kings-related topics here, I noticed that the chapter images I had assumed to be pseudo-random may actually convey meaningful messages about the story. So I sat down and spent a few hours going through the book, making some tables. Let me present my findings first, and then I'll go into some speculating on what those things might mean. If I am out of date on some things, bear with me.

• Many people agree that the faces around the map on the back of the front cover, which also appear on the header images above almost every chapter (excluding Prologue, Epilogue, Kaladin's past, and Interludes), are the Ten Heralds. This image was linked in another thread, and while I don't know how those labels came to be, I used them for convenience.
• The Way of Kings has three major viewpoint characters - Kaladin, Dalinar, and Shallan. One could include Szeth as well, but he has about 5 chapters, and despite his interesting and well-developed story, is hardly a main character. I went through all of the chapters and recorded their viewpoint character(s), the two Heralds featured in the header image, as well as any major themes or events in those chapters. Here's the breakdown, by character:
• Kaladin
  
  Vev & Taln/Talenelat: 21. This would make him Loving/Healing & Dependable/Resourceful.
  Jezrien & Nalan: 14 and 13 respectively. This would make him Protecting/Leading & Learned/Giving
  Everyone else: 5 or fewer.
  
• Dalinar
  
  Jezrien: 16. This would make him Protecting/Leading.
  Nalan & Chach: 5 and 6 respectively. This would make him Learned/Giving & Brave/Obedient.
  Everyone else: 4 or fewer.
  
• Shallan
  
  Palah: 12. This would make her Just/Confident.
  Shalash & Ishar: 8 and 7 respectively. This would make her Creative/Honest & Pious/Guiding.
  Everyone else: 2 or fewer.
  
• So every viewpoint character has one primary Herald (except for Kaladin, but his two are tied, and it could be because of the end, where he and Dalinar share chapters), as well as two secondary ones. The attributes, taken from the Ars Arcanum, seem to fit nicely too.
• Some of these results were surprising. I expected to see stronger connection between Kaladin and Jezrien, as well as between Shallan and Shalash.

I am actually not sure where to take this now =\ I think I expected some grand secret hidden in those headers. I'll post this regardless, just as a bit of information out there. Maybe I can decide on what kind of analysis to do with later - or maybe somebody else will.

_-* SPOILERS *-_

It's been a while since I have posted in these forums. One thing surprised me when I first joined, and it surprised me again today, as I decided to start visiting again - there isn't a single place where all of the non-books information is compiled. I often see threads refer to Adonalsium, Shards, Hoid's nature, and a number of other things that one couldn't have found in the books.

Well, I would like to make a compilation. I know quite a bit about Brandon's universe, but the majority  of my knowledge is restricted to what he has written in his books. I know very little about interviews & Q&As, so I'll need the more knowledgeable forumers to help me out on this one. Simply... post whatever you know. It doesn't have to be organized, it doesn't have to be much, and it doesn't have to relate to any other posts. It may be easier to pick a world, and just summarize what you know about it - not about its geography, or nations, or peoples. Origination, magic system, religion & deities, interaction with other worlds, those are the kinds of things I am interested in.

I am going to try to make an encyclopedia-like entry, formatted and organized nicely, so new forum users can quickly get to knowledge level of everyone else in here and be able to join the discussions with fresh ideas.

I shall update this thread as we go. Hopefully enough people will participate, and over (a short period of) time I'll be able to transfer everything to a new thread and petition it for a sticky.

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General Lore
Cosmere, Adonalsium, Shards, Shardworlds, Shardholders.

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Shardholders

#	Name (host)	Shard	World	Series	Status (Living?)
1	Ati	Ruin	Scadrial	Mistborn	Dead
2	Leras	Preservation	Scadrial	Mistborn	Dead
2	Vin	Preservation	Scadrial	Mistborn	Dead
1&2	Sazed	Ruin/Preservation	Scadrial	Mistborn	Living
3	Aona	??	Sel	Elantris	Dead
4	Skai	??	Sel	Elantris	Dead
5	Rayse	Odium	Roshar	Stormlight	Living
6	Bavadin	??	??	??	??
7	??	Cultivation	Roshar	Stormlight	??
8	Tenevast	Honor	Roshar	Stormlight	Dead
9	??	Endowment	Nalthis	Warbreaker	Alive
10	??	??	??	??	??
11	??	??	??	??	??
12	??	??	??	??	??
13	??	??	??	??	??
14	??	??	??	??	??
15	??	??	??	??	??
16	??	??	??	??	??

World-Specific Lore

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Elantris

• Name: Sel
• Magic:
  
  AonDor:
  

[/li]
[li]Theology:

Domi: Benevolent and loving, Domi is the unseen god of many Aonic people.
Aon Dor: Although technically not a real religion, many people of Aonic heritage choose to worship the Elantrians as their gods.
The Jesker: The Jesker is the dead religion of the Duladen Republic.
The Mysteries: An offspring of the Jesker, the Mysteries are more of a cult than a real religion. Key elements of the Mysteries include worship of the (full) moon, as well as animal and human sacrifices.
Jadeth: Worshiped in the Fjordell Empire, Jadeth is the one and only good of its people. The Wyrn, ruler and head priest of Fjorden, is his prophet, a mortal manifestation of his will.
[/list][/li]
[/list]

Mistborn

• Name: Scadrial
• Magic:
  
  Allomancy: Allomancy uses 16 specific metals to fuel various Allomantic abilities. The metals are divided into several overlapping groups based on their effects - Pushing/Pulling, Internal/External, and Physical/Mental/Enhancing/Temporal. Atium and larasium are the only two that don't follow any of those categories, for they are known as the god metals.
  Feruchemy: Feruchemy is the art of using one of the 16 metals in order to store various attributes for later use. Unlike Allomancy, Feruchemy is a balanced magic system - in order to store up strength, one must spend time being weak; in order to store up mental speed, one must spend time being slow-minded.
  Hemalurgy: While Allomancy uses the 16 metals to fuel magic, and Feruchemy uses them simply for storage, Hemalurgy can use those metals to steal Allomantic and Feruchemical abilities. This bloody art requires the recipient to kill the Allomancer or Feruchemist from whom he wishes to steal an ability. The murder must be done with a metal spike, which then stores exactly one Allomantic or Feruchemical attribute, depending on the metal used. The recipient must then drive the metal spike through his own body and remain in contact with it - no spike means no attribute.
  

[/li]
[li]Theology:

Lord Ruler: The Final Empire worshiped the demigod Lord Ruler for a period of a thousand years, up until his death. The vast majority of his followers now count themselves members of the Church of the Survivor.
Church of the Survivor: Founded by skaa workers after the death of Kelsier, the Church of the Survivor is a young religion with still vague dogmas.
Ruin & Preservation: Known only to the extinct kandra, the former Terris religion accurately defined the gods of Scadrial. After the events of the trilogy, both Ruin and Preservation are dead, their power and godhood obtained by Sazed.
[/list][/li]
[/list]

Warbreaker

• Name: Nalthis
• Magic:
  
  BioChroma
  

[/li]
[li]Theology:

Austre: As the unseen god of Idris, Austre's teachings are ones of avoidance of colors and ostentation.
The Iridescent Tones: The vague religion of Hallandren seems to require little of its followers. Their gods - the Returned - require very little of their followers; a Breath a week per god, to keep them alive. In many ways, it is the exact opposite of Austre - vivid, colorful, and full of life.
[/list][/li]
[/list]

The Stormlight Archive

• Name: Roshar
• Magic:
  
  Surgebinding
  Voidbringing
  Old Magic
  

[/li]
[li]Theology:

The Almighty
[/list][/li]
[/list]

Other Worlds
There are Shardworlds other than the four described above. Below you will find the names of not-yet-written books/series taking place in those other Shardworlds.

• The Silence Divine (standalone novel)
• White Sand (trilogy)
• The Liar of Partinel (the first novel in a series of two). Magic: Lightweaving
• Dragonsteel (epic). World name: Yolen

My issue actually was with the two types of bridge carrying. I can't pull the book right now, but if I recall correctly the "standard" way to carry a bridge is... shoulder carry? Does that mean that the entire crew is spread somewhat evenly around the sides of the bridge, carrying it on their left or right shoulder? I don't think they can be underneath, I think Kaladin tried that later on.

Also, the new model was... bridge on the side? So lifting the bridge vertically? I may be just retarded here, but "side carry" of an object with 3 different sides didn't make much sense my foreign mind...

I think of it not as reaction times, but as experience. If you are new to the whole concept, you are a lot more likely to create your spell at the wrong time, possibly even the wrong place. When there is a charging berserker running towards you, and you know you have to block his attacks at the exact moment, things can get pretty intense.

I am going to consider your comment though. Not sure what else I can add, but it may come to me - I haven't spent enough time on it to be confident about its functionality.

I've been tinkering around with the idea of instant magic. I haven't worked out the limitations and specifics, but I think I like the concept of being able to do almost anything... and it barely lasts a second.  You can stop a blade aimed at you, but only if you create your shield at the right moment, at the right place.

Pretty cool! I was pretty certain the spoiling has to do with Rand, but I was attributing it to him being extremely strong channeler and using the True Power. But the "one with the land" thing is way cooler - I had forgotten it.

You people are really making me feel like an inferior fan for liking Mat in this book... I'll have to go back, re-read it more carefully and see what throws you off.

It is probably the fact that I've read books 1-10 in a different language, so I don't have a feeling how Mat sounds in English...