Ashfalls

[darxbane]

What?  Plants use ultraviolet light to make food.  They are green because of chlorophyl.  If the green spectrum of light was somehow stopped, then nothing would have any green in it at all.  Since the people in the story are aware of what the color green looks like (by saying how weird it would be if plants were green), then I highly doubt this is the case. 

What if the names of the Ashmounts are those of particularly rebellious cities/countries that TLR felt he could do without?

That's a sexy idea  . That's  a very creative way to eliminate enemies and send a reminder to everyone else just who they are messing with.  Defiance = volcano up the arse!!!! 

[AvalonDreamer]

Chlorophyll is green because that particular wavelength of light penetrates the atmosphere best, exhibited by the fact that green light can penetrate almost 50 meters further in water than any other color. They may be aware of the color green, but that could just be due to artistic remnants and such from Before. There are NO green plants at all, there are brown, yellow, and pink even, but no green.

[Chaos]

Actually, plants reflect green light. It seems totally backwards, but what we see of objects is what the object doesn't absorb. So plants actually absorb everything except green, and the green wavelengths of light is reflected back into our eyes, so we perceive plants as being green.

[AvalonDreamer]

Damnit... I know the logic behind it, but there was something about why plankton is green at depths of 200 meters while there are no other pigmentations that deep... Hold on, need to go to school, I'll ask my bio prof about it.

[darxbane]

I read the end of WoA again last night.  Did anyone else wonder what the thick black smoke that filled the last room before the well room was?  I didn't even remember it the first time, but it was only in that room, and they could still breathe normally, it was just hard to see.  There is something about this that is important.  Black Mist, possibly?

[Vambram]

Yeah, I am thinking that there is something definitely very odd about that black smoke. The mist spirit showed up there also, and was actually able to later cause physical damage to Elend. So, just how significant is that black smoke?

[AvalonDreamer]

darx et al: My bad, you were right. I guess staying up to the wee hours of the night DMing doesn't set the greatest mental foundation for carrying out a debate...

I never noticed anything about smoke in the last scenes of WoA, guess I'll have to reread.

[darxbane]

Cool.  Don't worry about it.  Brought back memories of Junior High School earth science, and it is comforting to know that I can still remember things I learned 20 years ago  .  Anyway, I also wanted to point out that the black smoke was not in the well room itself, nor was the mist.  Despite this, however, the mist spirit was still visible.  Any ideas as to how that was possibel?

[Vintage]

The same question applies for when the Mist Spirit appears into Sazed room. There are mist in the room because Vin had opened the window, but it did not fill the room. It seems that the Mist Spirit does not necessarily need the mist to be visible. Moreover, I find interesting that when Sazed asked it if it was him that killed people, it shooked its head, I guess, in negation. That is interesting.

[darxbane]

I felt the same way.  Of course, the Mist Spirit could be lying.  The beauty (and frustration) of this book is that it is hard to tell what is fact and what is mere opinion, or even flat out lies, kinda like these boards. 

[SarahG]

The beauty (and frustration) of this book is that it is hard to tell what is fact and what is mere opinion, or even flat out lies, kinda like these boards. 

Absolutely.  It's like how Aes Sedai cannot lie, but can twist the truth till it's unrecognizable.  Then in later books it turns out some Aes Sedai - the Black Ajah - CAN lie, but we still have no idea which Aes Sedai are Black.

[darxbane]

I know.  That's why I get upset when Egwene talks about continuing to use the oath rod.  Since the oaths can be broken, they are no longer reliable.  In fact, they create a false sense of security, which is more dangerous than none at all.

[SarahG]

It's like Hrathen said (or thought) in Elantris - his policy was to keep his promises, partly because that made it easier to lie convincingly when he had to.

[darxbane]

I am reading Elantris now, so don't get too specific! 

[SarahG]

I am reading Elantris now, so don't get too specific! 

Sorry, I wasn't thinking.  I don't think I gave anything away there, though.