Timewaster's Guide Archive

Anyways, we know from the epigraphs that Rayse (who I think most of us are assuming to be Odium) killed Aona and Skai, the Shardholders on Elantris, and then proceeded to Splinter their power so they couldn't be taken up by someone else and used to oppose him.  Now we also know, from Dalinar's visions, that Odium killed the Almighty, who seems to be his prime opponent on Roshar.

I asked this on a different topic but this is more relevant. Why did Odium splinter the Shards of Aona and Skai? Why not take them for himself?

Yeah, this has already been mentioned. Some guy named wolverinehokie brought it up about 10 seconds before this post.


I don't know. It's hard to see Shen as a potentially evil character. Even the Parshendi don't come off as demons. They seem to fight with too much honor and respect to be absolutely chaotically evil.

Maybe there were Parshmen/Parshendi on both sides of the conflict. Heck, it doesn't sound like all the thunderclasts were evil either, especially since they ripped themselves out of the ground to join in the battle, meaning fighting had already started without them.

Maybe something about the Parshendi hivemind makes them vulnerable to Odium's influence. But that sounds a little too similar to the Mistborn trilogy.

I just really want to see the spren rebel. They are obviously pivotal to the functioning of Roshar, and the conduit of the Knight Radiants powers. Its just not right that such carefree and powerful spirits should be imprisoned so some egotistical bastard lighteyes can have his dinner cooked for him without using a fire.

(P.S. this post is meant to be some light humour as well as a place that people can post theories about different spren. Don't take it too seriously, but please don't be afraid to play along )

Heh, I was trying my hand at being an evil corporate lawyer. I got that this was supposed to be light-hearted, and I was trying to disagree while playing along.

However, I don't think fabriels are inherently wrong because they "imprison" spren. For whatever reason, spren are attracted to certain things. If a certain type of gem attracts a certain type of spren, that is not wrong. If that spren is then tied to the gem in a more permanent manner, that's not necessarily bad either. After all, we could very well say that Roshar is a massive fabriel designed to capture and use gravityspren to hold things together, and hold people to the surface.

And as for your egotistical lighteyes: if he cooked his food with a fire then he would be using flamespren to heat his meal. Fabriels simply mirror natural processes and forces. They're just much more efficient.

Also: If you're idea of a lousy prize is shardplate, im convinced you're impossible to please

Yeah, Kaladin is pretty picky.

I figured his curse and his boon were the same thing. He asked to forget his wife, thinking to lose the pain, but now years later, he realized what a curse it is.

Nightwatcher was probably jumping for joy when he heard what Dalinar requested. He didn't even have to think of a curse to match the favor.

They don't have to Soulcast the wood into stone (though I imagine they could, with some thinking). They could slowly Soulcast from thin air.

And it's mentioned that each highprince was responsible for the bridges closest to them. I don't know if that was official, or if they just protected their route to the plateaus. But even if there was no unified effort led by the King to establish Soulcast bridges, I would still expect to see a highprince try it out (especially Dalinar). That and the Soulcast outposts.

Those structures are built on a foundation, though. The bridges stretch over empty air.

For a good comparison, look at how they used to construct buildings out of solid concrete. They could withstand an impact from an airplane (look it up), but they tended to be a safety nightmare in case of earthquakes.

A good point, but look at the Roman Aqueduct then. Still standing, still functioning, after ~2000 years. Built on a foundation, but much more like a bridge than a building. I'm sure it's seen a few earthquakes in its time.

And surviving impacts like boulders or Parshendi attacks is a more useful feature than surviving earthquakes. They can always repair the bridges after the rare earthquake.

I'm also starting to think that Soulcasting a bridge might not be possible (under current conditions). Given the circumstances (Parsheni attacks/raids, highstorms), the time it would probably take to Cast, and that Dalinar would probably have tried to implement it already (he only one not thinking about wealth, and he's always concerned for the well-being of the bridgemen), leads me now to think that as long as there's a war on the Shattered Plains we won't see Soulcasted bridges.

They don't have to Soulcast the final assault, or even any distant plateaus. They can go out at night (since most Soulcasting is done at night to hide it from the common soldier), and Soulcast the plateaus close to camp. Then move outward. When they're  far enough away that they start to worry about Parshendi raids, they can send a force with mobile bridges to hold the surrounding plateaus, and Soulcast in safety (and if privacy is still a concern, erect quick tent-like walls to hide their work).

It's not easy, but after hearing about the Parshendi burning the occasional bridge (even if it was happening less and less frequently), and the fact that they're staying in the warcamps and taking forever to get to the gemhearts, I expected to at least see Soulcast bridges mentioned. I think it's an effective method, but even if it was dismissed in the books, I'd be happy.

if I recall rightly, the existence of soulcast buildings was unusual in and of itself.

I don't think so. I thought I remembered it being treated as regular military procedure, for any kind of extended campaign. The fact that Sadeas made Soulcast barracks for his bridgemen seems to indicate they're not unusual or outrageously expensive. Otherwise I would bet Sadeas would make the bridgemen shelter under their bridges or in some crummy "shelter" built like Tvlakv's wagons.

When does Way of Kings take place relative to Mistborn, Elantris, and Warbreaker? It may be that Sazed has been Shardholder for a while, or that Alendi isn't even born yet.

I thought I remembered the books were scattered all over the Overall Timeline. I think Elantris was either very early or late, comparatively.


Though maybe you're right, because now that I think about it, the epigraphs did seem to mention Ati as finished.