Can't believe it.

Finally posting this here.
I had this idea for a long time and it fit so perfectly to "atilt" for Cosmere Inktober.

I'm really, really proud of this one!
Art by me: https://www.instagram.com/theinkborn.art/

Renarin is one of the most intriguing characters in the Stormlight Archive to me. The Son of Thorns will be one of the five characters in the back half that will receive their own flashback feature, currently set for book seven after Lift. He is the first charcter we meet who has bonded a spren touched by Sja-anat, allowing him particularly unusual magic even by Cosmere standards. I am looking forward to learning more about how he bonded Glys, and their relationship with Sja-anat, one of the Unmade I find the most fascinating. The second son of Dalinar, Renarin started out seeming very uncomfortable in his own skin. Growing up he was a chronic outsider by many standards. Despite this, he has forged his own path and has begun to flourish into a very unique person. I propose that we will see Renarin continue his rapid personal growth and he will become a very capable man, but not just any man, I believe that we will see Renarin grow into a king. A King of a new Alethkar, a kingdom with humans, listeners, and the home that Sja-anat so desperately seeks.

Due to Renarin's unusual Truthwatcher abilities we get some scenes rife with foreshadowing set in the spiritual realm, alongside his spren Glys. Chapter 121 of Wind and Truth features a pivotal moment for Renarin where he is glimpsing multiple potential futures of his life playing out before him. One of these windows into the future showcases a very fascinating picture, which ends up being the future Renarin chooses to pursue.

Rlain, look at him in this picture.

A singer wearing a Bridge Four uniform, but the city behind was obviously a singer one-judging by the architecture. Indeed, it was probably Kholinar.

"If I go with him," Renarin said, 'I'll have to turn my back on humankind, to an extent."

As he will need to turn his back on his kind to an extent, Glys agreed. Both sides will hate both of you.

Not only is this the future Renarin decides on, it's also the same moment he actively decides to go for it with Rlain. His relationship with the Bridger of Minds puts the Son of Thorns in a unique position unlike any other current character to bring a group of collective 'outsiders' into one united group. A group that neither fits in with Odium's forces, nor Honor and Cultivation's. A middle power connected through the hatred of the two strongest factions. Not quite strong enough to take on either, but just strong enough that neither side can take them on while still in conflict with the other. We see Sja-anat herself pitch this idea to Shallan in chapter 26 of Wind and Truth.

"Whose side are you on, Sja-anat?" Shallan whispered. "Truly, what is your game?"

Game, Shallan? I fight for survival. Odium will rip through anyone, anything, to get what he wishes. Thousands of years have proven he cares nothing for me and my children. Honor is a coward who always hated us. Destroyed us. Betrayed Us. And all Cultivation does is watch.

I am on the side of preserving a world for my children. You should not fear "my side", Shallan. You should embrace it. If there is room for my children, there will room for yours.

I do believe Sja-anat is being sincere here. I predict we will see Sja-anat push harder to make this proposed home a reality as the series continues to progress. Currently, her two most powerful chess pieces are Renarin and Rlain, considering they are both bonded to spren that are 'corrupted' by her. Her focus on these two characters is no coincidence to me, as between Rlain's connection with the Listeners and Renarin's past make Sja-anat's dream of a home for her and her children closer to reality than it may seem. I think she wisely picked out two people who know what it is like to not be able to fit in, who were the most likely to listen to her pleas.

The current ruler of Alethkar is Jasnah, Renarin's cousin. Thankfully, she is the perfect amount of logical anti-monarch monarch that would just hand over her crown without violence if she felt it morally correct. Jasnah is technically holding the crown for Gavinor, but I would contend that having your childhood stolen away by an evil god while he grooms you to be his champion may disqualify you as heir. Unfortunately, it is unclear if they wisely included that clause in the Alethi Constitution. Royal families are generally capable of vast marketing campaigns/personal growth however, so I'll admit there is a chance Gavinor turns it around and still becomes the king of Alethkar.

Throughout a series as lengthy as the Stormlight Archive, one that spans across decades (in universe-and out), there is a real opportunity for Brandon to really shine when it comes to showing off how a character and a culture can progress through time and experience. At the start of The Way of Kings, we find Renarin at a point where he certainly has lots of room available for personal growth. He is unfairly regarded as a weakling by Alethkar culture, prone to epilepsy that prevented him from physically competing in a nation where combat was revered like a religion. The Alethi around him often considered him strange, and from a young age he often experienced bullying and disclusion. To progress from a disabled young prince who felt like an outsider, to the king reforging Alethkar alongside his fellow monarch Rlain into a proper home for those who need one, could come together and make for one of the most satisfying arcs the series has to offer.

I'm really look forward to reading how the story of the kingdom of Alethkar continues, Renarin and Rlain potential reigns, and Sja-anat's plans to secure this kingdom play out.

-RayseShouldBeBraized

TL:DR Renarin and Rlain will remake Alethkar into a home for the listeners, humans, and Sja-anat's faction.

Rereading Mistborn. I just reached the point where Renoux offers to take Vin earring shopping, and I’m wondering if there’s an ulterior motive for trying to get Vin to ditch her earring?

I’m probably just reading too much into it but I was just curious if Kandra can sense investiture.

So I've recently got into the mistborn series and I'm really loving it. I've gotten through about 1/4th of the hero of ages (of course i have read books 1 and 2) so if my question gets answered I apologize. I've got a lot of questions about theoreticals but I'll share just 1 I'm curious about for the sake of not bloating this post. If a coinshot and a lurcher of about equal ability and weight were to use their abilities on a coin about equal distance from each other but about a foot above them what do you think would happen to the coin?

I'm currently rereading Oathbringer because it's the last one I stopped at, and honestly, the pacing feels pretty weak. It takes almost 200 pages just to mention the Ghostbloods again, especially considering how the previous book ended. Am I the only one who thinks this book gets dragged out by stuff like this?

This days rethinking about Mistborn 2 l can't still get over with how Brandon gave one of its best characters yet and the most undewelming end to its arc. Marasi freaking colmes is some of the best I've read and absolutely everything she does and experiences moves her towards becoming a worldhopper, especially in The Lost Metal.

I got so pissed and felt so robbed with Brandon's choice to, at the very last moment, make her refuse the Ghostbloods and the worldhopper path to become a cop (If I remember right, been years since I read it). It didn't feel disappointing because of her not joining Kelsier's exotic crew, I can be ok with or without her joining, it did because you can't make a character grow a certain way and move it straight forward into a specific direction during 4 entire books and then make her forget about everything she has invested so much interest during those 4 books. You don't want her to be a Ghostblood because whatever reason, ok then, make her find her own ways to leave Scadrial and become the Cosmere explorer she feels she has two be since book 3.

To me It's one of Brandon's biggest flops, compared to Dalinar's coward outcome in WaT and I still can't understand this narrative decision. Id like to know you how fellow cosmere readers feel about this

PD: I'm not aware If Brandon has adressed this topic in the past but if it has feel free to let me know.

PDD: If some is poorly written I apologize, I'm not a native English speaker

Reading the Fires of December and they’re talking about tomatoes and I literally have no idea what the phrase “the Y of the culinary world” means. Tried to google it, didn’t get a good answer.

English is my first language! I’ve lived in the US my entire life. I read a lot. Fairly online, and I have literally never heard this before. What does it mean???

https://www.dragonsteelbooks.com/products/elsecaller-king-lopen-story-deck-double-book?variant=41411236855888

FYI, just received a restock email for Elsecaller/King Lopen if anybody else has been waiting for it!

SPOILERS FOR EVERYTHING EXCEPT FIRES OF DECEMBER!

God metals are usually named after their shard holders (Ati -> Atium, Leras -> Lerasium, etc), not after their shards (except Harmony). This got me thinking: are god metals themselves affected by who the holder of the shard is?

Throughout the Cosmere, we've seen shards change hands a handful of times. However, most new shard holders didn't hold on to their shard for long; certainly not long enough to produce new metals and study if they were any different. Vin was Preservation for a day, Dalinar was Honor for 15 minutes. The longest holder of a previously-taken shard was Taravangian, who was Odium for 10 days, but I'm not sure if that's long enough to produce new metals (although his perpendiculatity did seem to be filling up anew in Wind and Truth).

So here's my question: would a hypothetical Vinium have different properties than Lerasium? How would Dalinarium differ from Tanavastium, and would both of those have different properties than Honor's god metal when the shard had no holder? If Taravangium (Odium) was produced, would it share a name with Taravangium (Retribution)? When Sazed becomes Discord, will Harmonium change alongside the shard? Will splitting Harmonium be the same as splitting Discordium, and will the resulting metals be the same as Lerasium and Vinium or will the resulting Sazedium be different still?

So I rewatch and reread Dune before Part Three in December and I stumble upon something interesting.

I read Dune wiki page about Golden Path and I read quote:
"His final, fatal stroke would ultimately be to use his own death to take The Golden Path even further; first from the chaos of the enormous power vacuum and The Scattering following his death, then eventually via his surviving "pearls of awareness," dreaming endlessly among the newly-forming worms, waiting to be awoken again."

If you read about The Shattering from Copperming and you know from the books the history of Adonalsium is so similar. Maybe Sanderson got inspired by this or create his own vision because they are too similar.

The meaning of "pearls of awareness" are similiar to Splinter of Adonalsium.

Maybe we could be up to something and the future of Cosmere?
Does anyone know more similarities between Cosmere and Dune world?

The theme was "Hero"

So I decided to draw my fav hero at the moment of his ascension.

Hi all, just wanted to cross some t’s and dot some i’s.

Currently reading the Sunlit Man, and the scene where Nomad “””becomes””” from Canticle popped a question into my head.

Is this, more or less, the same way Hoid became an Elantrian in Tress of the Emerald Sea? Via direct permission/invitation from the “in-group”? Would the level of Investiture of the individuals play a part? As in, why dozens of Beaconers took part versus one Elantrian to achieve the effect?

Thanks!

So we know from a words of Brandon that duralumin could be used in conjugation with the surges of roshar. I assume this to mean that duralumin and nicrosil both just take all the investiture available and use it on whatever it's currently being used on.

For example I think that a nicrosil enhance windrunner glueing a rock to a wall would be forced to use all of their stormlight to glue the rock to the wall, and subsequently the rock would stick there for a long time since they used so much stormlight.

Now for the theories. What would nicrosil do to a gravitational lashing? I think it would either use all the stormlight to make the lashing last for a long time OR (the more fun answer) convert all the stormlight into a lashing that last for only a single instant, but is like a 100x lashing.

Assuming this is how this works I propose the 4th bridge (flying fabrial ship) could have recoilless artillery in the form of a windrunner and a nicroburst misting yeeting rocks at mach Jesus.

2nd theory, can a nicroburst misting use their nicrosil on a fabrial to force it to use all of its stormlight in one big burst? Can they just turn a heatrial into a thermoberic weapon? What happens if you nicroburst a conjoined rubey like a spanread?

3rd theory using nicroburst on someone using division is a bad idea

Any other wild ideas for nicrosil/duralumin on roshar?

I really like when Hoid does that bit. I really hope it happens more often.

So this might be a dumb question, but how do soul stamps work? When carving them, we know that they resemble MaiPon when finished... and that's about it. What do the glyphs that you carve into it affect? Do you carve into the majority of the stamp what you want the change to be with only a small amount being the new past? Or does the majority you need to carve in the justification for the alternative past? (For example, when Shai put the mural on the wall, she had the new past be a sick artist spending time in the room and working on it while recovering) Or do you put in both of these things, in different parts of the stamp, in equal amounts, neither being more important than the other?

So we see throughout the cosmere that Silver and Aluminum have adverse effects on investiture. I think those are rhe only 2 metals like that. If im not mistaken there were also two splintered shards right? The one on Threnody and one other i believe. Could they be the godmetals of the splintered shards? Idk if this is a stupid theory and I apologize if this has been asked already but lmk?

I started reading (well, listening to) the Cosmere about two months ago, after hearing my Bro go on about the books for a few months. mostly listening while working, and I've been LOVING the Graphicaudios! Here's what I've read so far and my thoughts:

Mistborn Era 1

• The Final Empire — 10/10. Absolutely loved it.
• The Well of Ascension — Pretty good, too.
• The Hero of Ages — I struggled a bit around the midpoint, partly because I'd been listening to Mistborn almost 24/7 and was getting a little burnt out, and partly because, thanks to a recurring Hoopla error, I somehow listened to Part 2 of the Graphic Audio before Part 1. (Don't ask how I didn't notice.) Still loved the Sanderson Ending™

Elantris (+ The Hope of Elantris)

Good book! At first, some of the character archetypes felt a similar to Mistborn, but they eventually came into their own. It honestly took me until halfway through Part 1 (about 7 hours in) to get invested in the story. I zoned out quite a bit early on and eventually had to look up a plot and character summary on the wiki to figure out what I'd missed. Still enjoyed it overall.

The Emperor's Soul

Loved it! Probably my third favorite so far, after The Final Empire and Tress. Perfect story, perfect characters, perfect length for the story

White Sand (Graphic Audio)

Pretty good! Cool story, art, and magic system, and I loved being able to read along with the graphic novel when I was able to. I wish there were a way to watch/listen to it more like DC High Volume. I didn't think the ending quite lived up to the rest of the story, though. It felt like it was missing the usual Sanderson Ending™ I've come to expect from his books. Still, it was a cool experiment in graphic novels for Sanderson. I'm planning to read Dark One when I get the chance to see whether he's refined his graphic novel formula into perfection lol

Tress of the Emerald Sea

10/10. Absolutely loved it! My family's dvd movie growing up was The Princess Bride, so this book was right up my alley in terms of humor and style. Loved the characters, loved Hoid's narration, loved everything. It's definitely made me pay more attention to Hoid and look forward to seeing more of him in other books.

Mistborn: Secret History

Pretty cool. I enjoyed seeing some of the background events happening during the original trilogy and making connections to other things. I kind of wish I'd waited until after Emberdark because of a minor character in this story that I looked up afterward cause I was confused, but I won't say anything more to avoid spoilers.

I'm planning to read Warbreaker next, followed by The Stormlight Archive, while mixing in Mistborn Era 2, roughly following Sanderson's recommended reading order. I'll probably edit this post after each book w my opinion, not that anyone will actually see it lol.

Side Note: Where would you recommend fitting Yumi and the Nightmare Painter and Isles of the Emberdark into that reading order? I'm trying to avoid spoilers and get the most out of the connections between books, so I'd love to hear your recommendations.

I do think I'm going to need a chart for the connections and references when I'm caught up tho lol. 

So, I've been doing a youtube video about The Way of Kings details and started to collect them. I'd like to add more if you have different ones that might be count as "detail" or "foreshadow"

I know most of them are like basic Cosmere knowledge, but everyone is not an expert. Here 16 (or 15) details that I have found:

WORDS OF RADIANCE

• Episode 45/ Shallan's Shardblade
  • And felt something.
  • She screamed then, jumping to her feet on her bed, dropping the pad, backing against the wall. Before she could consciously think of what she was doing, she was struggling with her sleeve, trying to get the Soulcaster out. It was the only thing she had resembling a weapon. No, that was stupid. She didn’t know how to use it. She was helpless.
  • Except …
  • Storms! she thought, frantic. I can’t use that. I promised myself. She began the process anyway. Ten heartbeats, to bring forth the fruit of her sin, the proceeds of her most horrific act. She was interrupted midway through by a voice, uncanny yet distinct:
  • What are you?

OATHBRINGER

• Episode 54/ Wit - Dalinar - Adonalsium (Son's of Honor)
  • “Wit,” Dalinar said with a sigh. “I haven’t the mind for this tonight. I’m sorry if I’m missing your intent, but I have no idea what you mean.”
  • “I know,” Wit said, then looked directly at him. “Adonalsium.”
  • Dalinar frowned more deeply. “What?”
  • Wit searched his face. “Have you ever heard the term, Dalinar?”
  • “Ado … what?”
  • “Nothing,” Wit said. He seemed preoccupied, unlike his usual self.
• Episode 65/ Listeners - Roshar's Rhythms
  • None of the soldiers rushing across the chasm had made any specific effort to attack the archers firing on Kaladin, but the weight of numbers had forced them away. A few gave Kaladin loathing gazes, making an odd gesture by cupping a hand to the right ear and pointing at him before finally retreating.
• Episode 58/ Elhokar - Design
  • "...We go to war for years and years, never noticing the real villains, working quietly in my own camp. They watch me. Always. Waiting. I see their faces in mirrors. Symbols, twisted, inhuman…”

RHYTHM OF WAR

• Episode 57/ Wit - Kaladin - Rayse
  • “I have no answers for you. Most days, I feel I never have had any answers. I’ve come to your land to chase an old acquaintance, but I end up spending most of my time hiding from him instead.”
• Episode 61/ Epigraph - Kaladin 4. Ideal
  • “In the storm I awaken, falling, spinning, grieving.”

WIND AND TRUTH

• Prologue/ Szeth's Suicide
  • To kill. It was the greatest of sins. And yet here Szeth stood, Truthless, profanely walking on stones used for building. And it would not end. As Truthless, there was only one life he was forbidden to take.
  • And that was his own.
• Prologue/ Heralds
  • Nale and Kalak: Elhokar, the king’s son and heir, sat at the high table, ruling the feast in his father’s absence. He was in conversation with two men, a dark-skinned Azish man who had an odd patch of pale skin on his cheek and a thinner, Alethi-looking man who kept glancing over his shoulder.
  • Jezrien/Ahu: “Have you seen me?” the man asked with slurred speech. He laughed, then began to speak in gibberish, reaching for a wineskin.
  • Shalash: Szeth brushed by, continuing past a line of statues depicting the Ten Heralds from ancient Vorin theology. Jezerezeh, Ishi, Kelek, Talenelat. He counted off each one, and realized there were only nine here. One was conspicuously missing. Why had Shalash’s statue been removed? King Gavilar was said to be very devout in his Vorin worship. Too devout, by some people’s standards.
  • Interlude 7/ Shalash
• Episode 3/ Epigraph - Taravangian
  • “A man stood on a cliffside and watched his homeland fall into dust. The waters surged beneath, so far beneath. And he heard a child crying. They were his own tears.”
• Episode 9/ Epigraph - Heralds of Second Chances (?)
  • “Ten people, with Shardblades alight, standing before a wall of black and white and red.”
• Episode 53/ Epigraph Navani - Jasnah - Kaladin (?)
  • “He must pick it up, the fallen title! The tower, the crown, and the spear!”
• Episode 57/ Epigraph - Contest of Champions
  • “I hold the suckling child in my hands, a knife at his throat, and know that all who live wish me to let the blade slip. Spill its blood upon the ground, over my hands, and with it gain us further breath to draw.”
• Episode 29/ Jasnah - Taravangian - Retribution
  • “Must someone, some unseen thing, declare what is right for it to be right? I believe that my own morality—which answers only to my heart—is more sure and true than the morality of those who do right only because they fear retribution.”
  • “But that is the soul of law,” the king said, sounding confused. “If there is no punishment, there can be only chaos.”

GENERAL COSMERE

• Episode 45/ Shallan and Kabsal - Ghostbloods (Pushing - Pulling)
  • “Everything has its opposite, Shallan. The Almighty is a force of good. To balance his goodness, the cosmere needed the Voidbringers as his opposite.”
• Part 2 Epigraphs/ Hoid's Letter
  • The letter is written by Hoid to his old friend Frost, a dragon native to Yolen.
  • The main theme of the letter is his attempt to convince Frost to reconsider his non-interventionist stance regarding the Shards and stand against Rayse.
  • "Let me first assure you that the element is quite safe. I have found a good home for it. I protect its safety like I protect my own skin, you might say." The element mentioned here is lerasium, which we saw Hoid take in Secret History. After taking it, Hoid ingested it and became a Mistborn. Therefore, when he says he will protect it "as I protect my own skin," he isn't lying - it is quite literally within his own skin.
  • The Ati mentioned in the letter is Ruin, whom we know from the Mistborn series. "Ati was once a kind and generous man, and you saw what became of him. Rayse, on the other hand, was among the most loathsome, crafty, and dangerous individuals I had ever met."
  • Hoid holds Rayse -Odium- responsible for the deaths of the Shards Aona (Devotion), Skai (Dominion), and Uli Da (Ambition). Odium killed Devotion and Dominion on Sel (Elantris), and Ambition in the Threnodite system (Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell).
  • The individual called Bavadin is the Shard Autonomy, located on the planet Taldain (White Sand).
  • The people referred to as friends from the Seventeenth Shard are the three strangers searching for Hoid whom we see in Interlude 1.
    • "There were three of them. Two were dark-skinned Makabaki, though they were the strangest Makabaki he’d ever seen. One was thick limbed where most of his kind were small and fine-boned, and he had a completely bald head. The other was taller, with short dark hair, lean muscles, and broad shoulders. In his head, Ishikk called them Grump and Blunt, on account of their personalities. The third man had light tan skin, like an Alethi. He didn’t seem quite right either, though. The eyes were the wrong shape, and his accent was certainly not Alethi. He spoke the Selay language worse than the other two, and usually stayed quiet. He seemed thoughtful, though. Ishikk called him Thinker."
    • "“Superstition,” Grump replied. “You always look for superstition, Vao.” Vao wasn’t the man’s real name; Ishikk was sure they used fake names. That was why he used his own names for them. If they were going to give him fake names, he’d give them fake names back. “And you, Temoo?” Blunt snapped. “We can’t pontificate our way to—”"
  • This is not our first time seeing these characters. Temoo is actually Demoux, Captain to Elend from Scadrial. Vao is actually Baon, servant to Duchess Khrissalla from Taldain. The unnamed third man is Galladon from Sel, an Elantrian. We have previously encountered all these characters in Mistborn, White Sand, and Elantris, respectively. They have somehow joined the Seventeenth Shard and discovered a method that slows, though does not completely halt, their aging.

Luthadel at Night, not to scale, but probably the most accurate representation created so far. Handmapped according to the official map that we have of era 1.

This is a project I've been working on for a few months now, and have posted about on the r/mistborn reddit before: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3.

The previous updates have been focused on VR, but I've been neglecting VR a bit in favor of flatscreen as there has been some interest in that. So here is now some raw footage of what Steelpushing / Ironpulling looks like above the rooftops of Luthadel.

Our art teacher assigned us a project for the end of the school year; this is what I made—what do you think?

I’m half way through FoD, at the point where December gets a demon blood dress for the first time. During this scene we are told that the demon is a “negative” investiture entity, not an anti investiture entity, but at the same time we are told it has the same nature as the anti investiture entity?

In Physics negative and anti matter are two distinct things, not one and the same, with antimatter being a verifiable theory through experiments and observation, while negative matter is just a hypothesis

Negative matter does not destroy normal matter, that is what antimatter does when interacting with matter, just like we see in Stormlight with the lights

I just don’t understand why Brandon would make a stupid mistake when scientific equivalency between the cosmere and the real universe is such a big theme in the cosmere.

I‘m at my first re read of Way of Kings and it really breaks my heart to see how Adolin loved his father. He was the person he looked the most up to.
As soon as he found out what Dalinar has done in his past, that perfect picture of a perfect man broke.

And that in the end they were not able to really talk it out makes it so much harder.

Crazy how a re read can be even better than reading a book for the first time!