Timewaster's Guide Archive

The bridges couldn't be weighted otherwise they'd fall into the chasms when they were pulled across from the other side.

Hmm... Having reread the pertinent scene I see what you mean, although what actually happens is quite vague.  Vivenna notices the girl's aura "flicker" then wonders if Denth was lying to her about the all-or-nothing rule.  Is there an annotation elucidating this issue?

At any rate, assuming you are correct, that darkens my view of Awakeners in general and Vivenna in particular a great deal.  There is, then, no excuse not to return her ill-gotten gains to those in need.

Annotations for Warbreaker have just started to be posted but there was a Warbreaker Q&A on goodreads.com where this issue was discussed.

From the Good Reads Warbreaker Q&A
http://www.goodreads.com/group/comments/10915.Fantasy_Book_Club?user_id=3145554-brandon-sanderson

The "You must give up all of your Breath, not some" line was mostly perpetuated by Denth, who is saying it to Vivenna to stop her from giving away her Breath to all the people she passes. It is a lie. Now, it's a lie that's commonly accepted by a lot of people. But it's still a lie—as we find out midway through the book, you can stick some of your Breath in an object and bring it to life, and then recover that Breath. So it's very easy to give some of your Breath to someone if you know the logical steps to take. Invest most of it into an object, give what you have to someone else, then pull back what you Invested. So it's flat-out proven in the novel that what Denth is telling her is wrong. Now, he could dance around that lie by pretending to be the ignorant mercenary—he's just perpetuating a falsehood that many people believe. But it is a lie. In fact, a lot of the things people believe about BioChromatic Breath isn't true.

...

Vasher has learned to suppress his Returned Breath. When it's suppressed, it's as if it doesn't exist to him. He's Invested it into a place within himself, much like you can Invest your Breaths into a shirt, and when he gives away the rest of his Breaths, he doesn't give that one away. He could split off others of his Breaths if he wanted to—he's learned to do that, so that he could give a few Breaths and not all. It's just a matter of practicing as long as he has. But even people who aren't as practiced as him do it all the time when they Invest an object with not all of their Breath but just enough to bring it to life.

Quote from: Ookla The Mok on October 17, 2008, 11:00:43 PM

Quote

Readers have met four shards other than Ruin and Preservation.

Have we met these four by name, or just by influence? I can't think of a name that would go with the one that the Elantris lake is a manifestation of.

Hoid could be one? I know nothing his purpose other than that he shows up in lots of different books, sometimes begging and sometimes telling stories. Since most of these series happen on different planets (though two of them may happen on the same planet as each other), I'm assuming he has mad planet-hopping skills.

...Nightblood...

Ookla, I'm going to be tight lipped on this, as I don't want to give things away for future books.  But I'll tell you this:

You've interacted with two directly.
One is a tough call.  You've never met the Shard itself, but you've seen its power. 
The other one you have not met directly, but have seen its influence.

That makes six canon shards so far and IIRC there's going to be ten in The Stormlight Archive.
One of the "other four" is Endowment (voice from Warbreaker).
Another likely shard is the Dor; Hoid is also most likely thought to be somehow connected to a shard, however, if he is, it is not one of the previously mentioned six.

<edit> Apparently my head wasn't screwed on right when I originally posted, sorry bout that.

Actually that is exactly what they do. The Ministry would spike the drinks at a ball with minute amounts of Atium and then scare the people present, usually by simply having an Inquisitor or two show up, causing them to instinctively burn their metals. The Inquisitor(s) would then burn Bronze and see who burned what metals.

Obligators, especially high-ranking ones, were also often specifically tested for the ability to burn Atium. Those who tested positive tended to rise through the ranks very quickly.

Also, Yomen isn't the only seer we meet, the others, Demoux and the Mistfallen,  just don't know they're seers until the last few chapters of Mistborn 3.

There is one other way to determine if someone is burning Copper. Emotional Allomancy. Burning Copper protects the burner from all but the strongest of emotional Allomancy (ie. TLR). Therefor, if you were to say flare Zinc and riot fear the sudden shock would stun anybody else in the area not burning Copper. All you'd have to do then is look for the people without shocked expressions and you've found your Smokers(s) and/or Mistborn(s) currently burning Copper, which, if you'll recall, burns away very slowly and so most Allomancers capable of burning it just leave on all the time.

No, the red head is Ati. Short of stature, black hair and prominent nose is Leras.

I've got number 41 in a stainless steel frame (which, btw, looks real snazzy) on the wall beside my bedroom door facing the side of my desk. I can't wait for the other two to come out; I've already got the money set aside.

Quote from: Comatose on April 18, 2010, 09:07:32 PM

Nightblood is steel right?  What if a feruchemist stored speed in it?  Maybe nightblood could steal it, maybe the feruchemist would get a surprise when he/she tried to withdraw his or her speed.  What it was used as a hemalurgic spike?  Scary stuff, the possibilites are endless.
Oh, I got it.  Nightblood has speed stored in it, then is stabbed through the body of an elantrian, into it's waiting hemalurgic host.

but Hemalurgi spikes steal allomantic powers, would it steal the powers of an Elantrian?   Plus Nightblood would just suck it's new host dry if it were used as a spike.

Actually a hemalurgic spike can steel allomantic powers, feruchemical powers or just plain human qualities depending who kill with it and where it's placed int he recipient.