Brandon Sanderson Community discussion
Words of Radiance: Done
Lance wrote: "Just finished. Wow. About the death of Syl, she said "I was as dead as your oaths.""
True, but Pattern notes that when a spren dies, the cognitive part of them dies as well. I would assume that means that a dead spren can't communicate the way Syl did.
Luke wrote: "Lance wrote: "Just finished. Wow. About the death of Syl, she said "I was as dead as your oaths.""
True, but Pattern notes that when a spren dies, the cognitive part of them dies as well. I woul..."
Syl made it seem as if spren never really die. Not in the way that we view death. She didn't explain it very well.
No, they don't truly "die" but they basically become vegetables. I don't believe that "dead" spren can communicate the way that Syl was still able to.
Maybe it's only honour spren that can die, such as they do, because they are the only ones who reach a level of sentience that is beyond the other types. As far as we know anyway. I imagine void spren can become sentient as well.
Obaid wrote: "Maybe it's only honour spren that can die, such as they do, because they are the only ones who reach a level of sentience that is beyond the other types. As far as we know anyway. I imagine void ..."
It's looking like each order of the KR have an order of spren as well. Honorspren (like Syl) bond with Windrunners, Liespren (or Cryptics as they like to be called) bond with Lightweavers, and Highspren bond with Skybreakers most likely. There are most likely 10 orders of voidspren as well.
Maybe she didn't really die. She just left to let him make his decision. If he chose incorrectly she probably would have died. The stormfather state that she was dead because he assumed that kaladin would make the wrong choice. When syl realized he would make the honorable decision she returned despite the stormfather's wishes.
Luke you are right. I was using Honour spren to refer to all ten orders but that was both inaccurate and confusing. I will use the term Radiant Spren from now on. It contrasts nicely with Void Spren. Unless there is a proper term I'm unaware of?She wasn't dead because he never actually broke his KR oath. Yeah he was about to but he never actually did. As he travelled further down the path to killing Elhokar, Syls behaviour became more and more like a common wind spren. And when he regained his radiance, she regained her sentience.
I think you're right. The Stormfather assumed Kaladin would make the wrong choice which was why he flat out said she was dead.
It seems that Stormfather isn't the most pleasant entity. Seems to be a very bitter spren. It will be interesting to see how the character builds through interactions with Dalinar.
Definitely Lance. Wonder how helpful he is going to be?
Yeah and I wonder what sort of spren he is going to be, storm spren?
Luke wrote: "Eon wrote: "Who will Nightblood target though? Sadeas wouldve been nice, but Adolin changed that..."Well, Szeth is now part of the Skybreakers, or Skybreaker wannabes. They seem to target "bad" p..."
So I am a little confused when it comes to Nightblood. Did Vasher give him to Szeth or was it Nalan that gave NB to Szeth? If Nalan gave NB to Szeth how did he get NB?
We don't know how NB got there. We know that Vasher had him last we knew, but it's been a long time since then. Somehow Nalan got his hands on NB since then. I'm assuming that we'll get more on that in the third book.
I'm assuming that is what brought Vasher to Roshar in the first place. Followed the cursed blade he helped create
Brandon also said that Vasher likes Roshar because "he can get something that he needs easier on Roshar than anywhere else". So Vasher somehow has found a way to substitute stormlight for breaths.
Obaid wrote: "I'm assuming that is what brought Vasher to Roshar in the first place. Followed the cursed blade he helped create"Where did we see Vasher in WoR? I think I missed him. So we are thinking that Nalan stole/took nightblood from Vasher?
It is a common belief that Zahal (spelling may be incorrect) was Vasher. The Shardblade instructor. Well aren't ALL magic systems in the cosmere said to be related?
Obaid wrote: "It is a common belief that Zahal (spelling may be incorrect) was Vasher. The Shardblade instructor. Well aren't ALL magic systems in the cosmere said to be related?"
Ah! Zahal as Vasher that makes sense. That comment he made about "home" made me think he wasn't talking about somewhere else on Roshar. Thanks for clearing that up!
Josh wrote: "Obaid wrote: "It is a common belief that Zahal (spelling may be incorrect) was Vasher. The Shardblade instructor. Well aren't ALL magic systems in the cosmere said to be related?"
Ah! Zahal as V..."
He also talks about colors and that "this" language doesn't work for explaining things correctly.
And yeah, all magics in the cosmere can be mixed up. They're all based off the same base concepts usually, I believe.
That's what I thought. Which makes me wonder two things. 1. Can a user of one magic system use them all?
2. Were they all created at the same time? Ie when Adolnasium shattered
Wow I would like to see what a mistborn could do on roshar. Do y'all think that we will see magic from other worlds in the stormlight archive?
Obaid wrote: "That's what I thought. Which makes me wonder two things. 1. Can a user of one magic system use them all?
2. Were they all created at the same time? Ie when Adolnasium shattered"
It would make sense to me if they are all shards of adolnasium that a user of one magic could use the other. However how would the magic be manifest? Would a mistborn still "burn metals" but just with stormlight?
We know that Hoid has some Allomancy powers (the scene where he's talking to Shallan's father and dumps something in his drink). And he has at least enough breaths to get to the second heightening (when he mentions perfect pitch earlier in the book). Who knows what other powers we might see appear on Roshar. We know that there are other worldhoppers around that come from other planets and probably brought their powers with them.As far as I know from reading Brandon's comments, you could hypothetically use all the systems, but that it requires interesting thinking to work magic system A on planet B.
Speaking of Scadrial, has anyone figured out why Demoux is on Roshar looking for Hoid?
He's part of 17th Shard and we know one of their objectives is to catch Hoid. Now, exactly why they want to catch him, we don't know.
I think a mistborn would burn stormlight, just like Vin did when she was fed off the mists and got reloaded with her metals and burned the mist, stormlight will just fill in. In fact I bet some of the allomantics like coinshots would be of a particular order of radients.
But we know that Hoid used metals, so we can't be sure of exactly how easily allomancers can draw stormlight.
Luke wrote: "But we know that Hoid used metals, so we can't be sure of exactly how easily allomancers can draw stormlight."It would make sense to me that a mistborn would have to have stormlight to burn the metals.
All the magic systems apart from Elantrian magic use fuel. Breaths, metals, Stormlight etc. They obviously equate in some way or another as Brandon has hinted as much. What is curious is the Aons used by Elantrians. It's like the power is stored somewhere and is shaped by the design.
This is fascinating stuff. I can't wait to read Hoid's book though I believe it's a long way off. Why doesn't Nightblood kill Szeth? Has Nightblood given up on trying to destroy evil? Changed its definition of evil? Or is Szeth not evil?
NB's ideas about evil are... interesting...I think that since Szeth was "just following orders" that that might exempt him from being seen as evil by NB, but I'm not sure on that.
I also think he was just following orders and could not ignore them due to the oathstone. As Nightblood doesn't know what it means to be human, I don't think he really understands what constitutes evil. He doesn't have any context to base his judgement on.
That's how I thought it was eonHis concept of evil comes from within the person holding him.
But if someone held it and knew they had done an evil thing, would end up killing himself.
This is where i think szeth would have killed himself as he knows the things he had done were wrong. And As he embraced death knowing what he had done surely would still think he had done evil things??
Great points. It seemed that Szeth took responsibility for the things he had to do bc of the oathstone. I can't wait to learn more. Nightblood was one of my favorite characters.
Warbreaker is getting a sequel right?
Yeah, probably 4-6 years away if not longer :(
On the positive side - we will have read Skybreaker by then.
4 to 6 years is anywhere between 6 to 12 Sanderson books. I think we'll be fine
Obaid wrote: "All the magic systems apart from Elantrian magic use fuel. Breaths, metals, Stormlight etc. They obviously equate in some way or another as Brandon has hinted as much. What is curious is the Aons..."
I don't know about the others, but I'm pretty sure burning metals is something like a "temporary key" which grants access to the shards' power. So the magic in Mistborn isn't actually fueled by metals.
I have to admit. Sanderson's writing speed is a big part of why he's one of my favorite writers right now.
Okay, so i've been discussing it with someone on Facebook, does anybody see any evidence at all for Vasher being in Stormlight Archive?Because they seem to think he's in there?
WoR was bloody brilliant, and Nightblood's appearance made me so happy.
Yep , he is - cant remember all the things pointing to it though. He knows for instance that Kaladin is about to knock on his door. This points to his heightened senses as we are familiar with in Warbreaker. Also, he says somewhere that he hasn't heard the voice in his head for a very long time. This sounds like its pointing to Nightblood who he could always hear talking in his head. I'm sure there were quite a few more references though.EDIT: I also remember reading somewhere that Brandon has confirmed that Zahel is Vasher.
I've read too that Zahel is Vasher. From what I understand, Book 3 will be Szeth's book so we should be seeing a lot of Nightblood, and perhaps Zahel.
Yes, Zahel is Vasher. Brandon actually wrote Vasher into the Stormlight books when he first started them a long time ago. It was only later that he decided to write a book for Vasher and Nightbloods' back story, and that became Warbreaker.
Finished yesterday!! And I agree with those who thought it could have been longer. (Who'd know I'd think that after 1088 pages of goodness!)And I kinda like the suggestion that the king may be a radiant his own self. That could be interesting as I didn't see Renarin as one until the screaming Shardblade incident and then kinda dismissed that idea as the kid just being odd.
And great to see Jasnah appear again right at the end!
Now I need to go back and re-read Warbreaker, I think...
What did you guys make of the Kaladin and Shallan bit in the chasms?
Actually Donna I don't think it could have been longer. I remember reading somewhere that the final manuscript Sanderson turned in was the absolute maximum the publishers could have printed! There's a scene in Way of Kings where Elhokar describes the people in his mirror exactly like the ones Shallan saw following her. So they may not be the same order but I'd say he's definitely a Radiant.
Kaladin has got it bad. That's plain enough to see. The fact that she's been through so much and still smiles happily really resonates with him. She gives him hope. And Shallan is quite taken with him too but she doesn't seem the type to court both or sneak around.
I imagine she'll either get over Kaladin if/when the mysterious woman from his past shows up. Or she will leave Adolin after she finds out he killed Sadeas in cold blood.
I think kaladin and shallan make great friends. Their banter is adorable. I think kaladin and jas will hit it off.
Yeah, that was an interesting section cause even before the book came out there was some speculation about whether or not anything would happen between them.
I also hope that Kal and Adolin become better friends - can't wait to see where their friendship is taken. The scenes when they were together were some of my favourites.
About the death of Syl, she said "I was as dead as your oaths."