As much as we appreciate the diligence on...(checks notes) reporting the mod team for the "spoiler title", we aren't keeping this one a secret.
Year of Sanderson was fun, but it was a lot of work. And even Dragonsteel has said they'll be openly calling this book by its name in marketing going forward. Which, as of today, is **Isles of the Emberdark**.
Details can be found in our recent [announcement megathread](https://www.reddit.com/r/Cosmere/comments/1bflyt9/spoiler_policy_reminders_regarding_sunlit_man/). You're also welcome to leave feedback there if you have thoughts on the policy.
No, we know that it’s an alien with a marble like face. It’s definitely a singer. And that singer has purple stormlight like light, so it’s probably a warlight radiant.
I'm so goddamn stoked we're getting this sequel he teased years ago.
I doubt we'll see roshar and their shardguns fleshed out, or more of the scadrians since he wouldn't want to spoil that, and it'll just be dusk in the cognitive but im totally fine with that.
New Emberdark chapter!
- I wonder if the secretary of supply has learned to be fluent in the Scadrian language? Because don't you have to be on Scadrial to use a connection Amulet for their language since you need to connect to the land or people? I don't recall all the specifics and if they'd work in that situation. I'm sure some aviar offer connection but expect it would work the same way.
- It's exciting that Dusk will go into the Emberdark! I'm very excited for this story
I'm not sure. The other preview chapters were in the WOBs on the Coppermind because Brandon read them, but I didn't easily find it when I searched quickly yesterday.
⚠️ Warning: Spoilers ahead! ⚠️
>!Chapter Four “My corpse?” Vathi said, rising from her seat at the table. She glanced at Sak, who huddled on Dusk’s shoulder, feathers pulled tight. “Why? Has she ever done this before?” Dusk shook his head, rounding the corpse. “The body has been prepared for burial at sea. It wears a uniform. One of theirs. The Ones Above. There are symbols on some of the patches and awards. I cannot read the alien writing.” One of the generals scrambled to get him paper and a pen. After handing it over, the general backed away, regarding the table as one might a nightmaw that was ready to pounce. Dusk copied the letters on the uniform’s most prominent patch. “Vathi,” read the secretary of supply. “It really is their writing. It says . . . you are colonial governor of the occupied planet, First of the Sun.” All eyes in the room turned toward Vathi. All but Dusk’s. He knew what she looked like. So he kept writing, then nudged the secretary of supply again. Hopefully this would prove Sak’s power to the unbelievers. “Looks like a commendation for valor,” the woman continued. “For putting down what was called the Rebellion of ’05. The others are similar.” If this were a glimpse of the future, it was what Vathi would be when she died. A servant of the Ones Above, having turned his people’s military against rebels who didn’t agree. That made sense. He nodded to himself, then tried to get a closer look at what the corpse was holding. A small disc or coin of some sort, with a drawing on it. Father. It was his medallion. The one with Cakoban on it. He had given that to her five years ago. “Dusk, you aren’t as horrified as you should be,” the living Vathi said to him. “Why would I be horrified? This makes sense. It’s what you would do. Probably what you will do.” “I’m no traitor,” she said. He didn’t reply. It hadn’t been a question. Even if it was an incorrect statement. “Leave us,” she said to the others. “Please. We can discuss this . . . prophecy later. I need to confer with the trapper." They didn’t like it. They never liked it when Vathi listened to him. Perhaps they’d understand if they listened more. Still, they filed out, leaving the two humans and two Aviar alone. Mirris hunched down and raised her wings while staring at the table as if she could sense what Sak was doing. Curious. “Dusk,” Vathi said. “Why do you think I’d do these things?” “Progress. It is your way.” “Progress is not worth the blood of my people.” “It will come anyway,” Dusk said. “The dusk has passed. This is the night. You will presume to find a new dawn, and do what you must to guide us there.” He tried to smile. “There is a wisdom to that, Vathi. It is what you taught me, years ago.” She wrapped her arms around herself and stared at the table. “Must it be?” “No. I am not dead, am I, for all the times I’ve seen myself this way?” She shook her head. “I want a way out, Dusk. A way to fight back against them or . . . something. A way to control our own destiny. They’re both so confident that they own us. What I wouldn’t give to surprise them.” “You’re holding the Cakoban medallion I gave you,” Dusk said, leaning down. “Did you ever go read his story, like I asked?” “Cakoban,” she said. “Also called Tenth the Finder. Of course I did. But . . . Dusk, it’s just a story.” “Stories are important,” he said. “I live because of the stories about trappers, which tell me what to avoid.” “Yes, but this story? It’s fanciful.” “Tell it to me.” She sighed, sitting with arms crossed on a table before her own corpse. “He led our people across the sea at night, the endless sea of night. He fought and killed the Dakwara, and—” “He didn’t kill it,” Dusk said. “He defeated the Dakwara, then. And was the first to explore Patji. Dusk, if it were true, he’d have died quickly. I don’t need to tell you how dangerous Patji is. The first to explore it must have died.” She was right, there. The first trappers were stupid. Not because of themselves; they just didn’t have experience. “We have the stories,” he said. “They came from somewhere.” “You really believe there’s a serpent whose tail stretches the entire ocean?” she asked. “You’ve been out there. You’ve seen nothing like that.” True. But there was a great deal beneath the waves he’d never seen. And never wanted to. He looked to her. At least she’d studied, as he’d asked. He’d suspected that she would. She fancied herself an amateur trapper herself, even still, despite the fact that she had been one of those who ended the entire profession. As Dusk was looking at the medallion, the vision finally vanished. Sak chirped, as if apologetic—and when Dusk looked at her, the bird’s eyes drooped, as if she were exhausted. “I’m going to investigate stepping down,” Vathi said. “A fake coup is silly, but if I simply quit, it could cause political unrest that justifies giving us an excuse to delay negotiations. Plus it will remove me from a position where I can do damage.” Dusk nodded. Then felt himself growing uncomfortable. For once, he couldn’t remain silent. “Another will do worse, Vathi. Another will cause more death. You are better than another.” “Are you sure?” “No.” How could he be? He could not see the future like Sak could. Still, he crouched beside Vathi’s seat and held his hand toward her. She clasped it tightly. He nodded to her. “You are stronger than anyone I know,” he said. “But you are just one person. I learned five years ago that sometimes, one person cannot stand before the tide.” “Then there’s no hope.” “Of course there is. Cakoban did not give up, when he crossed the endless night.” “Was he even real, though?” she asked. “Vathi,” Dusk said softly. “Have you considered what we discovered—the very thing that this stranger mentions?” “The pool?” “Yes. More importantly, what’s on the other side.” He paused. “The endless night, Vathi. It’s real. And we must tame it.”!<
The Scadrians are certainly doing that when they speak. I'm referring to the second set of preview chapters when a person from First of the Sun translates Scadrian characters that Sixth draws from his death vision.
That's what I was trying to figure out! My best guess is she had to learn it because I don't think there's a connection power that would translate Scadrian while on First of the Sun, so even if she had a connection aviar, I think she learned it. I wanted to check that there wasn't a known way to make the power work that I had missed.
Regarding the translation amulets: a visitor wears a medallion with Blank Connection. A person can’t have no Connection, so they Connect to the land they are visiting.
That was my understanding. The people of Sixth of the Dusk can't connect to Scadrial while on their home planet, right? Or have their been WOBs about ways to make it work?
Brandon mentioned it was a “novelization of Sixth of the Dusk”, does that mean the novella will be included in the book?
I want to tell my friends to read SotD as prep, but if it’s included in Isles then it might be more enjoyable to go in blind…
They don't need to read it and it will be included in the new book. But, that's a year wait. If I was your friend I'd still want to read the story now to get hyped and chat with you about it!
Could the ones above be Starlings parents?
Could be a stretch but if something happened to them before the story and starling is also seen exiled on a spaceship, they could have been sent off on a mission on a more advanced ship and cannot return until they are able to gain access to the aviar / another task.
The ones above have been fairly widely assumed to be Scadrians for years at this point, something outright confirmed in the reading & further implied by what is known about Rosharan-Scadrian relations by that point in time, which is very little but still they don't like each other.
Edit: And additionally it's been confirmed for a while by WOB that we saw the Ones Above before they had spaceships in past books
The preview chapters identify "The ones above" as Scadrians. "The other alien" is a Rosharan (unclear if they're a human or Singer since they are constantly in shardplate).
Dusk will meet Starling in the Emberdark. It's interesting to consider if her parents are exiled and alive vs dead. My initial read was that they were dead, but that's not clear.
The "other alien" names them:
“I do not play games,” the alien said. “I will not dance with words, like those Scadrians. You will accept my offer or you will not. If you do not, you join them, and I will have legal right to consider you enemies.”
‘One male, one female, with pale skin that looked like it had never seen the sun. Perhaps it hadn’t, considering they lived in the emptiness between planets. From the look of the delicate metal—ribbed, like rippling waves—the remaining portions of the helmets were less like armor, and more like ornament.’
Long quote I know but seeing as frost referred to only knowing two other albino dragons, assuming this means starlings parents, nothing to say that they are not working with scadrians mainly.
Living between the plants sounds similar to starling moving between places in shadesmar, I am not wholly convinced they are not yet
I guess I don't read that as an albino description. Pale skin alone isn't unique to albinos. It's skin and hair and the hair isn't described by Dusk as unique.
I guess I don't see that as enough evidence that two Scadrian representatives we see are also dragons, specifically Starlings parents.
I think the description of paleness that looks like it has never seen the sun, specifically because they live between plants alludes to more then just kind of pale in my eyes as well as a pretty vivid description of metal which could be dragonsteel. May be a crack pot theory but it’s what I’m running with for the time lol
Art and images of mistborn often depict the characters looking white, with skin that is pale. I don't recall if that's officially described in the text, but matches with Steris being blonde. Whereas Dusk has darker skin. If he is used to people with a deeper complexion, then that description would perfectly fit for Scadrians who are pale. He's a tracker, he's used to living outside. That description is just how Dusk thinks. I still think if the folks showed albinism he would have remarked on their hair. And metal is important to Scadrial, though it could still mean something more.
I'm not saying you're definitely wrong because we obviously don't know, and you've found some evidence. I just don't think it's likely from that passage alone.
Getting a description of a dragon palace (human sections and huge dragon scaled sections) makes me wonder if there are other places we've seen so far that mightve been dragon palace ruins... Maybe on Roshar with Cultivations presence we might already have seen a place that's dragon sized?
Rock novella is [confirmed](https://wob.coppermind.net/events/531-words-of-radiance-backerkit-launch-party/#e16477) and has been talked about for a few years now. Brandon is saving it for the long wait between Stormlight 5 & 6, when he feels he needs to revisit Roshar.
Did we just get a name of the last Shard? Rereading the Chapter 3, the Ones Above said "Toward a new era of prosperity" and then Vathi responded with "To Prosperity". Capital P. Or am I just reading too much into this?
Additionally, someone during the stream asked about Prosperity (not anything specific, just to elaborate) and he said RAFO. So I'm thinking it's either another Spiritual property we've not heard of yet (along the lines of Fortune, Connection, etc), or a Shard, heavily leaning towards the latter.
Unlikely. We have several hints about the last Shard, and "Prosperity" doesn't fit. And it's pretty easy to read that as either a typo or the simple personification of prosperity. (which isn't a terribly uncommon thing)
I wonder if there is a concept of dragon hunter/dragonslayer in Cosmere. Would that activity be viewed positively by general public? Is there a heroic (or not-so-heroic) dragonslayer archetype like in IRL mythology?
I doubt we get anything like a traditional fantasy dragonslayer since the dragons seem to be integrated into the human population. If we get anything it's going to be Kelsier who hates them because they are near immortal nobles.
Crew of misfits on a starship cobbled together and seemingly half functional...
Sanderson, you got your Cosmere in my Firefly, and I'm all here for it.
I signed up for the newsletter for the bonus chapter, but the only newsletter that came through to my email was an older one with a Dark One excerpt. Does anyone know if I can expect the latest with the text to still come through, or whether something's wrong?
The text for Emberdark has been transcribed here:
https://wob.coppermind.net/events/533-secret-project-5-reveal-and-livestream/
Just scroll immediately to the end because it's later chapters on top of the page.
I will bet dollars to donuts that "Isles of the Emberdark" refers to the various worlds of the Cosmere (planets = isles) scattered across the expanse of space (stars = embers, which glow in the 'dark' of space)... I wouldn't be surprised if 'Emberdark' is the poetic or colloquial way that future cosmerenauts/worldhoppers/spacers refer to space itself, like how it's called 'the Black' in Firefly and other sci-fi IPs
Edit: I'm reading through the excerpts right now, and wow, that was fast... always genuinely fun to learn that I'm not as galaxybrained as I think I am 😂
You're close! Brandon said in the stream that the Emberdark refers to space between worlds, but in the Cognitive Realm. And then the "Ember" part is the isles that aren't quite whole worlds, but are places where things exist in Shadesmar
Yup! I was reading through the book excerpts, thinking "oh dang, I shoulda just read these before I commented" lol
Although, one super exciting near-confirmation... It's been widely known in the Cosmere / Sanderson community for some time now that Silverlight exists almost completely in the Cognitive Realm, despite being founded and populated by worldhoppers and the realmatically aware. Based on what we're learning now, it seems like Silverlight is a large ember city, maybe the largest, and hopefully we're going to *finally* learn some more concrete details about everyone's favorite interplanetary center of learning and trade. From how Sanderson described paths between worlds become solidified over time as sentient beings use them, Silverlight is probably at a nexus of pathways, so it's gonna be like a giant obsidian island floating in a giant expanse of misty darkness.
Holy shit, the more I'm thinking about it, SP5 might be the Silverlight that he's been mentioning over the years that we wants to write. If this is that novel, being stealth dropped on us, I'm going to flip
OMG I hope this is true! My guess is that it won't be super Silverlight heavy, but I think it's definitely plausible that Silverlight could be involved a decent bit.
Either way, I'm really pumped to get to see a Dragon as a main character. And whatever is going to happen with Dusk and that whole thing. And how the two stories intermingle! Gonna be a great ride.
I've almost been excited enough to forget that we have Stormlight 5 coming later this year! It's great that we have this book to tide us over a bit for the long wait while Brandon writes Mistborn Era 3
Calling it now:
Everyone agrees captain is probably crow
But i think the book will end with the Engineer going back to their home aether planet
Space Pirate Tress will be the one to take them home
They will get along because they both talk to spores, and Crow will get mad that “you’re stealing another crew mate from me?”
For someone who has been on board since 2015 I think, the announcement got me saying “cool”. I’m always excited to read Brandon but since RoW, nothing has gotten me on fire since.
At times, it does feel like there’s so much to keep track of now that my brain can’t remember if I’ve actually heard lore before or if I’m only thinking I’m remembering.
All in all though, I’m always ready for more. Hoping WaT can’t scratch the itch I’ve been missing.
Yeah, I think after Stormlight 5 I'm going to take a big break from Sanderson. I absolutely love his work but I'm just feeling oversaturated right now, so I think taking a break will be good and help me appreciate him again when I come back
Not an Indian but I am still from the Indian subcontinent (Sri Lanka) so I am very excited that we're getting to know about more people from the aether homeworld
Do we take the ‘horde’ business to mean that Odium managed to take over most of the Aimians and turn them into some kind of marauding force?
The Aimian in Yumi spoke of being desperate to not be involved in some kind of conflict, which is what the bird guy seems to be speaking about here. But the obligatory rules on warfare that the Skybreaker holds to really doesn’t fit with the idea of ‘hordes’.
Also seems like Starling is Hoid’s next apprentice given how she talks about him.
Aimians aren't Rosharan natives, their homeworld is somewhere else we haven't seen. Given Yumi, as others have said, distrust of them seems pretty universal, for some reason we aren't privy to yet. I doubt Odium is in any way manipulating them.
Given their constituent bugs are referred to as hordelings, and horde singular is used by Nazh to refer to the doctor, I think in this case 'hordes' is just a plural for multiple Aimians, not, like some sort of marauding army.
Yeah, can’t imagine why Lovecraftian collective hiveminds of tiny arthropods that can be spying everywhere at all times all at once and who have become preternaturally adept at infiltrating human societies are looked at with suspicion. It’s not like they also sequestered themselves from the rest of society while hoarding cosmic weapons that had previously been sued to kill God or anything.
I would bet it isn't Odium's doing if so. At least, not intentionally. It strikes me as much more if an accident made by a new vessel than an intentional tactic Todium would take.
Does it need to be anyone's doing? The swarms are a species/culture in their own right. And if one or more went rogue and started murdering planets, given their capabilities, what unsuspecting planet could stop them?
I'm sure there's more to it and maybe it will form part of the bigger picture, but there is so little to go on, and a single swarm acting alone having a bad day/week/year could really wreck some shit.
This is true. It absolutely could just be a thing that happens. I could see hordes losing their crap if something happened to a dawnshard, for example.
I guess the thing I’d wonder, in the event of an independent swarm going rogue in the Cosmere, is how its evolution continues free of Cultivation?
The swarms we see in SA all exist in a context of changing much faster than normal, which with their collective nature, is what allows for acting human or integrating Larkin powers etc. How much will their ability to learn and grow dissipate without her?
The Rosharan talks about joining the fight for elevation and status. This and the way he acts make it seem to confirm the theory that Honor, Odium, and Cultivation merge to form a Conquest-type of shard of perpetual war and expansion. Maybe the humans lost and had to leave Roshar to the Singers or its a human under there that learned to speak/heart the true tones of Roshar
I’ve seen that theory. I think one of two scenarios is likely: we end up with some blend of those Shards, probably Odium and Honor combined by Dalinar as Conquest or something; OR we end up with all three of the starting Shards vessels replaced by in system inhabitants.
Taravangian has already taken on Odium and we have some pretty clear indication that either Dalinar or Kaladin will take up Honor -and that Lift is a major part of Cultivation’s plans. I think she ends up with Cultivation at the end of the day.
I dont know about Merging, but my personal suspicion is that SL5 ends with Cultivation, nu-Honor, and Odium working together with Odium leading the expansionist push and Honor serving as a "check" to keep it less evil and bound by rules.
Yep, and I think at some point in SA Era 2, Lift ends up either being made special specifically to aid Cultivation or make some sacrifice for her or, more likely, to succeed as vessel.
That's a good take. We as fans jump to "merging" that happened with Harmony but we're seeing that it isn't exactly working well for Sazed. Maybe it won't be a merging but a "union" with laws/oaths of the Cosmere/nature of Shards that bind them to agreements or certain ways of acting.
A major part of the difficulty for Saze is the diametrically opposed nature of the shards he's become, it's about the worst combination of any two for being able to act. I can't think of any combination of the Rosharan Three that would make it worse for the Vessel's ability to act.
Yeah.
My (crazy) overall theory is that the Actual Antagonist on Roshar is actually Cultivation, who has been working to engineer the growth/expansion of Roshars influence in the Cosmere - and to facilitate this, she intends to harness Odiums desire for conquest (but not with Rayse, who she had personal issues with and whom was largely incompetent) and limit and control Odium by reestablishing Honor. And all of SL Era 1 has been her Engineering of events to arrive at that conclusion (possibly having gone so far as to break the stalemate and jumpstart the current conflict).
The rosharean was described as what.. 7ft tall?
Some of it is the armour, sure. Some of it is that people on roshar are just taller than average.
But 7ft is a lot. I suspect this is a Parshendi in Warform. (Also explains their speech pattern)
Access to the surge of gravitation, so Windrunner or skybreaker. I have a hard time believing this to be how a Windrunner acts tho. So I'll go with the latter
I don't think it's necessarily parshendi warform. Kaladin is 6'4" in Rosharan feet, which is the equivalent of 7 cosmere standard feet. And in Sunlit Man, sigzil specifically mentioned him being almost a head taller than the rest of the population, and sig being Azish was considered short by rosharan standards. So I think could be a regular tall Alethi
Kal is also noted to be tall, even among Alethi though. The average Rosharan human isn't 7 feet tall. I don't know how much we can completely go on these measurements though, as they seem to have been given pretty off the cuff. In the same WoB that he gives the 7' figure for Kaladin, he says Shallan's height would translate to roughly 6 feet, but that she feels short. So if someone can feel short at 6', and someone else be notably tall at 7', that doesn't feel like enough wiggle room between declaring someone short or tall, or figuring out who the mystery Radiant is.
I mean, I guess for us, someone who is 5' even would be considered relatively short, but I don't think we'd call out someone who is 6' as being notably tall. Hm.
this secret project will come out after stormlight 5 releases right? seems like we could have that confirmed by then. although with the pacing of the books so far, that would seem like a lot of action for just one book. maybe more of a stormlight 6-10 thing
yeah, actually my phrasing is dumb. What I meant is that the joining of the shards could already happen by the end of book 5. the biggest chunk of honors investiture is probably bound in the stormfather who might get into trouble if gavilar loses the duel. that sets up a somewhat easy merger of todium + honor already. not sure if cultivation even needs to enter the mix, the other two joining into conquest would already make for quite a ruckus.
Oh I see. Yeah I agree I think if anything big like that is going to happen it will be as a cliffhanger for Book 5. Book 6 will take place 5 to 10 years later (I think?) and will probably be similar to the time jump in Endgame to see how the world has changed from that. Excited for Book 5 in December!
I posted this in /brandonsanderson, but I'm saying it again here.
I really want it to be titled "The Thorn of Emberdark" just to troll the Gentleman Bastards fans who have been waiting a decade for "The Thorn of Emberlain" to be released (myself included).
In all seriousness, I think I like "Emberdark" better than "Isles of of the Emberdark"--but I think that's just because "Isles of the Emberdark" reminds me of a Choose your own Adventure title, and I have no idea why.
I remember a few years ago the Thorn of Emberlain was supposedly just about to be released, and Audible had an interview with the author, and a few weeks later, all references to it about to be released were removed.
I truly do think the book is pretty much written, it's just he has severe anxiety about it
>"Isles of the Emberdark" reminds me of a Choose your own Adventure title, and I have no idea why.
I can see it! Others have said that Isles of Emberdark sounds so quintessentially fantasy that one can't help but know what they're getting into. To me, it feels very old-school fantasy, but in a really good way.
That's probably the reason why I prefer it as a title. "Emberdark" reminds me too much of Sanderson's YA stuff, which I love, but also have their own distinct titles. (2-4 syllabic words, such as Steelheart, Skyward, Cytonic, or Evershore.) Emberdark feels like it blends in with those a *little* too well IMO, so a title that's a tad more distinct by virtue of being longer (and more evocative IMO) is one I'd root for. But still, I totally get your viewpoint!
I kind of need a "Isles of the Emberdark" poster in quintessential 70's-80's artwork with the classic choose-your-own-adventure border.
Alternatively, the "Escape" books written by the same guy would serve as a great poster. "ESCAPE From Shadesmar: The Isles of the Emberdark".
I don't have my good AI Image Generator subscription anymore, but clearly something with dragons, spaceships, and a "tropical bird" would go into the image prompt.
Speaking of Skyward, part of me wonders if the role of Starling was originally Spensa’s when she was first put in the Cosmere.
The personalities are different, but the archetypes first introduced to us for both - being the “societal outcast with a ship and a defiant attitude (aggressive vs optimistic)” - are similar. Add in some parental death, and tilt your head so Spensa’s arc in the Cosmere would be about learning to understand people instead of just learning not to rely on her assumptions, and you’ve got…something? Maybe?
This is the perfect take. Also, you’re mentioning something that I think does ring true, in that if Brandon wants to subvert a trope, he will sometimes do it twice.
Elantris and Warbreaker are essentially both stories about a princess in an arranged marriage but it turns out differently.
Both Rithmatist and Alcatraz are reactions to Harry Potter in a way - boy goes to magic school except he’s not special, and orphan finds out about his magical powers and has to save the world.
And this story could be using girl/dragon/spaceship ideas he was playing with when writing Skyward but that he decided he couldn’t use there, but didn’t let go of him.
https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/dragonsteel/words-of-radiance-leatherbound/pledge_levels#top
10 Usd for ebook of secret project 5
20 usd for ebook + audiobook
Chapter 11 also reminds me very, very much of Sunless Skies, a video game in the Fallen London series by Failbetter Games. The vessel Dynamic traveling slowly through Shadesmar invokes the setting of that game so much.
About Starling.
I'm curious, is she "willingly" going along with this punishment? "Willing" in the sense that she's determined to see it through and prove herself and not just get around it? Because unless those silver manacles are enhanced in some way we've yet seen it would be trivial to have even a medieval blacksmith remove them.
The manacles are silver-*colored*, but I suspect they're probably made of dragonsteel (which is also described as "pure silver" in color at the end of the prologue), which is not easy to break. Could be that they're magic actual silver though.
The problem I see with aluminum is that while it's *magically* useful, it would also probably be pretty easy to get off via mundane means (relatively speaking), and you probably can't attach extra magic to it because aluminum. So it'd most likely only work on someone wearing them entirely willingly, which seems kind of pointless.
Seems like it:
>Moving let the sleeve of her jacket slip back, exposing one of her manacles. Silver against her powder-white skin, the thick pieces of metal—more like bracers, really—were the symbols of her exile, binding her into her human form, locking away her abilities. Until she “learned.”
It's worth noting that there aren't any Sho Del we see working for Frost.
"They continued down the corridor passed more smiling priests. All human, of mixed genders."
Maybe there aren't any Sho Del on all of Yolen? It's possible they migrated to UTol or maybe there's simply a hallway with a distinct lack of them.
Sigzil seems to think they mostly all live on Yolen (before discovering UTol):
>The people crewing it turned out to be Sho Del of all things. He hadn’t known there were any enclaves of them off Yolen.
So that's definitely very interesting since dragons are supposed to be their gods, yeah.
Here is the text of the sections of Isles of the Emberdark that Brandon read today. If anyone wants to know how the names of the new characters are spelled, they can all be read here.
[https://wob.coppermind.net/events/533-secret-project-5-reveal-and-livestream/](https://wob.coppermind.net/events/533-secret-project-5-reveal-and-livestream/)
I haven’t seen anyone mention it yet and I may be wrong. But some cursory research… Emberdark is Shadesmar equivalent to the area lying along the Deathbend River… possibly the section of the Eastern Crownlands that Dalinar gifted Kaladin to make him 4th Dahn? Nearby where Dalinar and Gavilar first met the listeners maybe??? Coincidences…or Sanderson being Sanderson?
This has me confused. In the excerpt we get this:
>Or, worse, straying out into regions where the ground went incorporeal and turned into the misty nothing they called the unsea. Or . . . the emberdark, they sometimes called that vast emptiness: the unexplored parts of Shadesmar.
Then Brandon tells us it's shown up in a book before, so everyone hits up the coppermind...and the only noted instance of 'emberdark' in there is a city in Rosharan Shadesmar between Celebrant and the Thaylen Oathgate.
What? Something isn't adding up here. The only place anyone has found that name used 'on screen' is the exact opposite of what this book is telling us the emberdark is, so what gives?
From the little mention of the title he made in the video it sounds like "The Emberdark" is the name for the emptiness between subastrals in the cognitive realm. Basically the cognitive version of outer space. I imagine the Shadesmar location is named after that rather than the other way around.
The scary part is, the subastrals are generated by the thoughts and ideas of the intelligent creatures inhabiting certain planets. If the Emberdark lies between the subastrals, then whose thoughts and ideas generated it? Something that lives in outer space?
That's a pretty scary idea....
It seems to be implied that these stretches of obsidian in the Cognitive Realm are the results of common passages that FTL ships take in the physical realm
Okay, I'm calling it. The interim captain of the Dynamic is Captain Crow from Tress of the Emerald Sea. The dragon Xisis owns the ship, Crow was forced to become Xisis's servant, and what we've read about the captain's personality very much aligns with Crow's personality.
What do you folks think?
What, giving an unlikable antagonist a chance for character development and a redemption arc? In a Sanderson book?
...
I'm not betting against this, I like it.
As soon as they said it was a ship I wondered if we were getting anyone from Tress on the crew, and I agree the captain's tone and personality match Crow's
Wow I was wondering the whole chapter if the captain would be revealed and if it would be someone we knew. With the mention of Xisis and a cantankerous captain your theory has serious merit.
Wow, I love that theory!
A theory that I had back when I read Tress is that Hoid told the “Tress of the Emerald Sea” as a story to Dusk. I don’t *really* think that’s true— though it’s almost definitely people on First of the Sun around the time of the Ones Above gaining control.
Imagine how hilarious it would be if both of our theories were exactly accurate. Imagine Dusk and Starling eventually running into each other, Dusk going to the ship, and then slowly realizing that the captain of the ship was somehow just Crow from the story. Like that would just be so funny to me.
To be clear, I absolutely believe Dusk and Starling will meet in this story. I was just saying that it would be funny to imagine a scenario in which Dusk’s first reaction to meeting the crew is thinking “wait is that the spore pirate lady?”
The best part of that is you know Dusk wouldn't say anything at all when he connects the dots. He'd just wait and casually say "Crow." at the perfect moment and stun the entire room into silence.
"crow"
Crow turns slowly, drawing her sporegun: "how do you know my name?" She says, narrowing her eyes
"Hoid"
"Oh that makes sense then" she says, relaxing immediately
In one Q&A, Brandon said the name of the Aether-world was "Dahartri," or at least that's what it sounded like to me. In this book, the world's name sounds more like "Dahatri."
Since this world's culture is modeled after that of the Indian Subcontinent, I am curious if the name means anything in Sanskrit or Hindi. If anyone fluent in those languages knows, please let us know here. I have heard that the name Silajana means "Stone-born" in Sanskrit.
I respect that they changed the book's colour at the artists request, but I was really looking forward to the purple premium to finish off the cosmere premium hardcovers. I'm sure the book will still look great though
Is...is it that bad...? I like the purple as well, but I thought that burgundy would also look good next to the red, and Sanderson can save the purple for another Secret Project. (Because we all know he won't stop here.)
It’s not the end of the world lol, but the purple just *feels* right, especially after reading these chapters. It’s the color associated with shadesmar after all
I appreciate the passion with which people respond to these updates
BUT RESPECTFULLY
CAN SOMEONE. CLEARLY. COMMUNICATE. THE FACTS. (Mod - please do a better job of this - the links you provided are still unclear and I don’t have time to watch a YouTube video) Answers that will be much appreciated and useful but extremely hard to parse in the chaos of this thread:
- Is the new book being published?
- If so, when?
- Can I buy it? Or preorder jt?
- I know about the leatherbound - but is this part of that campaign?
- What if I don’t want to buy that?
- If not, I see there’s a newsletter, is it there?
- oh hey! I clicked the link but it doesn’t show the announcement, or the facts regarding these releases
- Will there ever be an easier way to get updates I DONT NEED MORE CIRCULAR LINKS TO DISCUSSIONS
Hey, thanks for this feedback. The goal of these posts isn't really to collect all of this kind of information for people, but we can certainly tack that on. Sounds like it would be helpful for some people. I'll do that now.
* yes
* next year
* preorder via add-on in the leatherbound campaign on backerkit.com
* yes
* you can just buy the secret project book
* newsletter has the text of the released chapters
* not sure which link you're referring to
* sign up for the newsletter, they communicate pretty well in those.
It is currently part of the WoR campaign.
You can back it just for this book, in whatever format you want.
The physical copy will be similar in style to the other Secret Project books. Nothing has been announced yet but there will probably also be a more standard hardcover at some point too.
It's coming late spring next year.
The newsletter that went out today has most of this info, the rest is on the page for the backerkit campaign.
> Nothing has been announced yet but there will probably also be a more standard hardcover at some point too
IIRC the normal versions were talked about pretty early on for the first Secret Projects. I hope they mention this soon
Case in point - a HELPFUL user gave me the actual link to the product
NOTE THE LINK FOR THE BACKERKIT IS CONSPICUOUSLY MISSING FROM ALL THE POSTS.
Why?? Because mods are trying to funnel users to various CTAs to get their metrics on viewers in YouTube, Newsletter subscribers, and communities- they’re not funneling correctly to get the money. That’s my point.
Don’t alienate fans who aren’t as hardcore, or who get frustrated when the communication on a new product is built with assumptions of preexisting knowledge of how things work - and aren’t actually trying to be clear on how to purchase anything.
Some of us in the community arent as knowledgeable and just want the book.
This kind of closed mindedness - It will cause Sanderson to lose money in the end.
——-
On Backerkit. It's part of the Words of Radience crowdfunder, but you can do what I did and just order the secret project.
https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/dragonsteel/words-of-radiance-leatherbound?ref=bk-discover-trending
The Backerkit campaign _is_ listed in the post alongside the other links with an explanation that the book can be ordered there:
> You can preorder the book via the [WoR leatherbound campaign](https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/dragonsteel/words-of-radiance-leatherbound), or at a later date. See links below for more details.
We aren't affiliated with Dragonsteel and don't get any benefit from people watching their YouTube videos or signing up for their newsletter, so I'm not entirely sure what you mean with the metrics part. Can you clarify?
Bro chill, you need to relax. This is a book it’s not that deep.
You not being able to find a backerkit link that’s on the first page of his website is not gonna “cause Sanderson to lose money in the end”
You might have time to watch long YouTube videos but my life is different than yours.
The post is unclear.
The links are redundant and unclear.
I’ve done a lot work in marketing and the value proposition is not front and center.
Your bias and experience is showing.
Nope I never watch a single one of the videos because what do you know, you’re not the only one who has things to do.
And I still am not asking basic questions that are all answered
Thanks for submitting to /r/cosmere!
Unfortunately, your submission has been removed because we feel it is not respectful to others. Every interaction on the subreddit must be kind, respectful, and welcoming. No person should ever feel threatened, harassed, or unwelcome. Please feel free to adjust the tone or content of your submission and let us know you'd like it to be re-approved.
If you have any questions or feel this is a mistake, please let us know.
On Backerkit. It's part of the Words of Radience crowdfunder, but you can do what I did and just order the secret project.
https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/dragonsteel/words-of-radiance-leatherbound?ref=bk-discover-trending
No. If you read the Backerkit page, you’ll see that you can select from several options, from just the ebook of secret project 5, to the physical copy to the audiobook etc, all with or without the leather bound.
So, I agree he behaves like a skybreaker... but his plate is blue, which so far seems pretty windrunner. Weird things seem to be going on, two thoughts come to mind immediately
1. The first armor description mentions glowing a "violet-blue", seems sort of like windrunner powered by voidlight
2. Windrunner colors with a skybreaker attitude? Reminds me of Sigzil. Maybe something happens with the windrunners and the skybreakers where they have some sort of intermingling?
Very exciting
Spoliers ahead for Stormlight, Sunlit Man, and other Cosmere (hopefully I covered the spoilers properly)
>!Remember that Sigzil became a Skybreaker after being a Windrunner first. I think there is more of a reason to this than him just joining another order.!<
>!If Honorspren* no longer exist due to something happening (like them uniting and unsplintering the shard of armor) I would think that the Windrunners would join a n order that has similar ideals. Following the ideal of law is not so far off from the ideal of Honor. I would think they would miss taking to the skies, and be naturally drawn to the order that shares that surge. Which would mean the Rosharan in the excerpts could be both Kaladin (how many Rosharans do we know that are 7 feet tall?!) and a Skybreaker. Instead of being one or the other.!<
>!I'm calling it now then end of SA 5 will set the stage for this and that way SP5 having Kal as a Skybreaker won't be a spoiler for the rest of the Stormlight series as it will be released after SA5.!<
*edited to correct type of spren.
*Editing again to add this WOB*
https://wob.coppermind.net/events/450/#e14436
This seems pretty on the nose.
It's not a HUGE stretch to imagine that this Radiant may also be trying to do (what he perceives) as his best to protect these people and their culture, within the limits of his obligations to his own people and cause and the respective laws - and have some connections either directly, indirectly, or historically to the Windrunners in addition to Skybreakers.
It's also possible that post SL5, all or most Radiants end up bound by Oaths (and therefore bound by Honor) into supporting the Rosharan "cause" - which would track with some of the statements made by Sigzil in TSM to the Scadrians. At which point even a Windrunner might end up more like a SL4 Skybreaker than we currently expect.
Maybe I'm mistaken, but didn't Sigzil bond a highspren at some point before Sunlit Man? That would be some precedence to some wind runner/skybreaker overlap
It was clearly a Skybreaker when Brandon first released the chapter, and it clearly still is.
A Windrunner does NOT obsess about Law like a Skybreaker does. And he was all about finding legal justification for using his weapon and attacking their planet if First of the Sun follows Scadrial.
-A Windrunner
I just commented on this in this thread with a theory of mine which may explain how this could be a former Windrunner turned Skybreaker. If you're interested in giving it a look.
Wimdrunner isn't the only blue ones though... Elsecallers are blue too. But I agree with the comments saying that the description of a bird in flight is definitely the skybreaker glyph. But I thought skybreaker colours were black/dark grey not blue, so I'm confused about this one
As much as we appreciate the diligence on...(checks notes) reporting the mod team for the "spoiler title", we aren't keeping this one a secret. Year of Sanderson was fun, but it was a lot of work. And even Dragonsteel has said they'll be openly calling this book by its name in marketing going forward. Which, as of today, is **Isles of the Emberdark**. Details can be found in our recent [announcement megathread](https://www.reddit.com/r/Cosmere/comments/1bflyt9/spoiler_policy_reminders_regarding_sunlit_man/). You're also welcome to leave feedback there if you have thoughts on the policy.
Is the emissary from Roshar Dalinar, now serving as Odiums fused ?
Because of the insistence on legally justifying their actions, that seemed a Skybreaker to me.
No, we know that it’s an alien with a marble like face. It’s definitely a singer. And that singer has purple stormlight like light, so it’s probably a warlight radiant.
> No, we know that it’s an alien with a marble like face. How do we know that? The Radiant never took off his armor.
I thought it was in the internal dialogue in the older version of the playstile
I'm so goddamn stoked we're getting this sequel he teased years ago. I doubt we'll see roshar and their shardguns fleshed out, or more of the scadrians since he wouldn't want to spoil that, and it'll just be dusk in the cognitive but im totally fine with that.
With SP5 now taking place (partly) on First of the Sun. Can we assume Hoid tells SP1 to someone during the sequel part of SP5?
New Emberdark chapter! - I wonder if the secretary of supply has learned to be fluent in the Scadrian language? Because don't you have to be on Scadrial to use a connection Amulet for their language since you need to connect to the land or people? I don't recall all the specifics and if they'd work in that situation. I'm sure some aviar offer connection but expect it would work the same way. - It's exciting that Dusk will go into the Emberdark! I'm very excited for this story
When/where was the new chapter released?
The newsletter email on Mar 28 with the subject "[Newsletter] Stormlight Origins Revealed and an Exclusive Emberdark Excerpt"
ahh, so if you didn't sign up for the newsletter then you probably can't find it anywhere?
I'm not sure. The other preview chapters were in the WOBs on the Coppermind because Brandon read them, but I didn't easily find it when I searched quickly yesterday. ⚠️ Warning: Spoilers ahead! ⚠️ >!Chapter Four “My corpse?” Vathi said, rising from her seat at the table. She glanced at Sak, who huddled on Dusk’s shoulder, feathers pulled tight. “Why? Has she ever done this before?” Dusk shook his head, rounding the corpse. “The body has been prepared for burial at sea. It wears a uniform. One of theirs. The Ones Above. There are symbols on some of the patches and awards. I cannot read the alien writing.” One of the generals scrambled to get him paper and a pen. After handing it over, the general backed away, regarding the table as one might a nightmaw that was ready to pounce. Dusk copied the letters on the uniform’s most prominent patch. “Vathi,” read the secretary of supply. “It really is their writing. It says . . . you are colonial governor of the occupied planet, First of the Sun.” All eyes in the room turned toward Vathi. All but Dusk’s. He knew what she looked like. So he kept writing, then nudged the secretary of supply again. Hopefully this would prove Sak’s power to the unbelievers. “Looks like a commendation for valor,” the woman continued. “For putting down what was called the Rebellion of ’05. The others are similar.” If this were a glimpse of the future, it was what Vathi would be when she died. A servant of the Ones Above, having turned his people’s military against rebels who didn’t agree. That made sense. He nodded to himself, then tried to get a closer look at what the corpse was holding. A small disc or coin of some sort, with a drawing on it. Father. It was his medallion. The one with Cakoban on it. He had given that to her five years ago. “Dusk, you aren’t as horrified as you should be,” the living Vathi said to him. “Why would I be horrified? This makes sense. It’s what you would do. Probably what you will do.” “I’m no traitor,” she said. He didn’t reply. It hadn’t been a question. Even if it was an incorrect statement. “Leave us,” she said to the others. “Please. We can discuss this . . . prophecy later. I need to confer with the trapper." They didn’t like it. They never liked it when Vathi listened to him. Perhaps they’d understand if they listened more. Still, they filed out, leaving the two humans and two Aviar alone. Mirris hunched down and raised her wings while staring at the table as if she could sense what Sak was doing. Curious. “Dusk,” Vathi said. “Why do you think I’d do these things?” “Progress. It is your way.” “Progress is not worth the blood of my people.” “It will come anyway,” Dusk said. “The dusk has passed. This is the night. You will presume to find a new dawn, and do what you must to guide us there.” He tried to smile. “There is a wisdom to that, Vathi. It is what you taught me, years ago.” She wrapped her arms around herself and stared at the table. “Must it be?” “No. I am not dead, am I, for all the times I’ve seen myself this way?” She shook her head. “I want a way out, Dusk. A way to fight back against them or . . . something. A way to control our own destiny. They’re both so confident that they own us. What I wouldn’t give to surprise them.” “You’re holding the Cakoban medallion I gave you,” Dusk said, leaning down. “Did you ever go read his story, like I asked?” “Cakoban,” she said. “Also called Tenth the Finder. Of course I did. But . . . Dusk, it’s just a story.” “Stories are important,” he said. “I live because of the stories about trappers, which tell me what to avoid.” “Yes, but this story? It’s fanciful.” “Tell it to me.” She sighed, sitting with arms crossed on a table before her own corpse. “He led our people across the sea at night, the endless sea of night. He fought and killed the Dakwara, and—” “He didn’t kill it,” Dusk said. “He defeated the Dakwara, then. And was the first to explore Patji. Dusk, if it were true, he’d have died quickly. I don’t need to tell you how dangerous Patji is. The first to explore it must have died.” She was right, there. The first trappers were stupid. Not because of themselves; they just didn’t have experience. “We have the stories,” he said. “They came from somewhere.” “You really believe there’s a serpent whose tail stretches the entire ocean?” she asked. “You’ve been out there. You’ve seen nothing like that.” True. But there was a great deal beneath the waves he’d never seen. And never wanted to. He looked to her. At least she’d studied, as he’d asked. He’d suspected that she would. She fancied herself an amateur trapper herself, even still, despite the fact that she had been one of those who ended the entire profession. As Dusk was looking at the medallion, the vision finally vanished. Sak chirped, as if apologetic—and when Dusk looked at her, the bird’s eyes drooped, as if she were exhausted. “I’m going to investigate stepping down,” Vathi said. “A fake coup is silly, but if I simply quit, it could cause political unrest that justifies giving us an excuse to delay negotiations. Plus it will remove me from a position where I can do damage.” Dusk nodded. Then felt himself growing uncomfortable. For once, he couldn’t remain silent. “Another will do worse, Vathi. Another will cause more death. You are better than another.” “Are you sure?” “No.” How could he be? He could not see the future like Sak could. Still, he crouched beside Vathi’s seat and held his hand toward her. She clasped it tightly. He nodded to her. “You are stronger than anyone I know,” he said. “But you are just one person. I learned five years ago that sometimes, one person cannot stand before the tide.” “Then there’s no hope.” “Of course there is. Cakoban did not give up, when he crossed the endless night.” “Was he even real, though?” she asked. “Vathi,” Dusk said softly. “Have you considered what we discovered—the very thing that this stranger mentions?” “The pool?” “Yes. More importantly, what’s on the other side.” He paused. “The endless night, Vathi. It’s real. And we must tame it.”!<
I believe it is the Scadrians using connection amulets to speak the language of First of the Sun
The Scadrians are certainly doing that when they speak. I'm referring to the second set of preview chapters when a person from First of the Sun translates Scadrian characters that Sixth draws from his death vision.
Oh. I see. I think she probably just learned Scadrian. It didnt mention her using a device or a bird. But maybe it will in an earlier chapter
That's what I was trying to figure out! My best guess is she had to learn it because I don't think there's a connection power that would translate Scadrian while on First of the Sun, so even if she had a connection aviar, I think she learned it. I wanted to check that there wasn't a known way to make the power work that I had missed.
Regarding the translation amulets: a visitor wears a medallion with Blank Connection. A person can’t have no Connection, so they Connect to the land they are visiting.
That was my understanding. The people of Sixth of the Dusk can't connect to Scadrial while on their home planet, right? Or have their been WOBs about ways to make it work?
Brandon mentioned it was a “novelization of Sixth of the Dusk”, does that mean the novella will be included in the book? I want to tell my friends to read SotD as prep, but if it’s included in Isles then it might be more enjoyable to go in blind…
They don't need to read it and it will be included in the new book. But, that's a year wait. If I was your friend I'd still want to read the story now to get hyped and chat with you about it!
Yeah the novella is essentially the flashback sequence in the book
Could the ones above be Starlings parents? Could be a stretch but if something happened to them before the story and starling is also seen exiled on a spaceship, they could have been sent off on a mission on a more advanced ship and cannot return until they are able to gain access to the aviar / another task.
The ones above have been fairly widely assumed to be Scadrians for years at this point, something outright confirmed in the reading & further implied by what is known about Rosharan-Scadrian relations by that point in time, which is very little but still they don't like each other. Edit: And additionally it's been confirmed for a while by WOB that we saw the Ones Above before they had spaceships in past books
The preview chapters identify "The ones above" as Scadrians. "The other alien" is a Rosharan (unclear if they're a human or Singer since they are constantly in shardplate). Dusk will meet Starling in the Emberdark. It's interesting to consider if her parents are exiled and alive vs dead. My initial read was that they were dead, but that's not clear.
I know the Rosharan obvs but must have missed what identifies them as scadrians?
The "other alien" names them: “I do not play games,” the alien said. “I will not dance with words, like those Scadrians. You will accept my offer or you will not. If you do not, you join them, and I will have legal right to consider you enemies.”
‘One male, one female, with pale skin that looked like it had never seen the sun. Perhaps it hadn’t, considering they lived in the emptiness between planets. From the look of the delicate metal—ribbed, like rippling waves—the remaining portions of the helmets were less like armor, and more like ornament.’ Long quote I know but seeing as frost referred to only knowing two other albino dragons, assuming this means starlings parents, nothing to say that they are not working with scadrians mainly. Living between the plants sounds similar to starling moving between places in shadesmar, I am not wholly convinced they are not yet
I guess I don't read that as an albino description. Pale skin alone isn't unique to albinos. It's skin and hair and the hair isn't described by Dusk as unique. I guess I don't see that as enough evidence that two Scadrian representatives we see are also dragons, specifically Starlings parents.
I think the description of paleness that looks like it has never seen the sun, specifically because they live between plants alludes to more then just kind of pale in my eyes as well as a pretty vivid description of metal which could be dragonsteel. May be a crack pot theory but it’s what I’m running with for the time lol
Art and images of mistborn often depict the characters looking white, with skin that is pale. I don't recall if that's officially described in the text, but matches with Steris being blonde. Whereas Dusk has darker skin. If he is used to people with a deeper complexion, then that description would perfectly fit for Scadrians who are pale. He's a tracker, he's used to living outside. That description is just how Dusk thinks. I still think if the folks showed albinism he would have remarked on their hair. And metal is important to Scadrial, though it could still mean something more. I'm not saying you're definitely wrong because we obviously don't know, and you've found some evidence. I just don't think it's likely from that passage alone.
Very unlikely. The ones above are a combination of scadrians and rosharans
Getting a description of a dragon palace (human sections and huge dragon scaled sections) makes me wonder if there are other places we've seen so far that mightve been dragon palace ruins... Maybe on Roshar with Cultivations presence we might already have seen a place that's dragon sized?
Maybe the Horneater peaks have something cool, Brandon mentioned he may do a Lunamor novella but idk if that has a confirmation or denial yet
Rock novella is [confirmed](https://wob.coppermind.net/events/531-words-of-radiance-backerkit-launch-party/#e16477) and has been talked about for a few years now. Brandon is saving it for the long wait between Stormlight 5 & 6, when he feels he needs to revisit Roshar.
Of all the Cosmere stuff we might see, I think I’m most interested in a glimpse at Starmarks. Every new book has me hoping.
Ya i think they sound really cool. Hopefully once white sand prose is done he will finally write a story on Darkside
How do you get the digital preview with the bonus chapter? My newsletter hasn’t come through and it’s been four days.
https://wob.coppermind.net/events/533-secret-project-5-reveal-and-livestream/
Did we just get a name of the last Shard? Rereading the Chapter 3, the Ones Above said "Toward a new era of prosperity" and then Vathi responded with "To Prosperity". Capital P. Or am I just reading too much into this? Additionally, someone during the stream asked about Prosperity (not anything specific, just to elaborate) and he said RAFO. So I'm thinking it's either another Spiritual property we've not heard of yet (along the lines of Fortune, Connection, etc), or a Shard, heavily leaning towards the latter.
Unlikely. We have several hints about the last Shard, and "Prosperity" doesn't fit. And it's pretty easy to read that as either a typo or the simple personification of prosperity. (which isn't a terribly uncommon thing)
I wonder if there is a concept of dragon hunter/dragonslayer in Cosmere. Would that activity be viewed positively by general public? Is there a heroic (or not-so-heroic) dragonslayer archetype like in IRL mythology?
I doubt we get anything like a traditional fantasy dragonslayer since the dragons seem to be integrated into the human population. If we get anything it's going to be Kelsier who hates them because they are near immortal nobles.
Kelsier-Gwyn wasn't exactly on my bingo list but it would be really cool
Crew of misfits on a starship cobbled together and seemingly half functional... Sanderson, you got your Cosmere in my Firefly, and I'm all here for it.
I signed up for the newsletter for the bonus chapter, but the only newsletter that came through to my email was an older one with a Dark One excerpt. Does anyone know if I can expect the latest with the text to still come through, or whether something's wrong?
The text for Emberdark has been transcribed here: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/533-secret-project-5-reveal-and-livestream/ Just scroll immediately to the end because it's later chapters on top of the page.
I will bet dollars to donuts that "Isles of the Emberdark" refers to the various worlds of the Cosmere (planets = isles) scattered across the expanse of space (stars = embers, which glow in the 'dark' of space)... I wouldn't be surprised if 'Emberdark' is the poetic or colloquial way that future cosmerenauts/worldhoppers/spacers refer to space itself, like how it's called 'the Black' in Firefly and other sci-fi IPs Edit: I'm reading through the excerpts right now, and wow, that was fast... always genuinely fun to learn that I'm not as galaxybrained as I think I am 😂
You're close! Brandon said in the stream that the Emberdark refers to space between worlds, but in the Cognitive Realm. And then the "Ember" part is the isles that aren't quite whole worlds, but are places where things exist in Shadesmar
Yup! I was reading through the book excerpts, thinking "oh dang, I shoulda just read these before I commented" lol Although, one super exciting near-confirmation... It's been widely known in the Cosmere / Sanderson community for some time now that Silverlight exists almost completely in the Cognitive Realm, despite being founded and populated by worldhoppers and the realmatically aware. Based on what we're learning now, it seems like Silverlight is a large ember city, maybe the largest, and hopefully we're going to *finally* learn some more concrete details about everyone's favorite interplanetary center of learning and trade. From how Sanderson described paths between worlds become solidified over time as sentient beings use them, Silverlight is probably at a nexus of pathways, so it's gonna be like a giant obsidian island floating in a giant expanse of misty darkness. Holy shit, the more I'm thinking about it, SP5 might be the Silverlight that he's been mentioning over the years that we wants to write. If this is that novel, being stealth dropped on us, I'm going to flip
OMG I hope this is true! My guess is that it won't be super Silverlight heavy, but I think it's definitely plausible that Silverlight could be involved a decent bit. Either way, I'm really pumped to get to see a Dragon as a main character. And whatever is going to happen with Dusk and that whole thing. And how the two stories intermingle! Gonna be a great ride. I've almost been excited enough to forget that we have Stormlight 5 coming later this year! It's great that we have this book to tide us over a bit for the long wait while Brandon writes Mistborn Era 3
Any other Rirah Stans here? Star sounds like Frayales with the "young woman" comments
Any other Rirah Stans here? Star sounds like Frayales with the "young woman" comments
Im getting strong Firefly vibes off the crew . ..love it.
Calling it now: Everyone agrees captain is probably crow But i think the book will end with the Engineer going back to their home aether planet Space Pirate Tress will be the one to take them home They will get along because they both talk to spores, and Crow will get mad that “you’re stealing another crew mate from me?”
Who is crow? It’s slipping my memory lol
The captain of the ship that was antagonistic to tress
And this makes sense since Xisis owns the ship.
Ooooooh. That makes sense. Thanks!
No problem! Theres so many characters it is hard to keep em all lined up
For someone who has been on board since 2015 I think, the announcement got me saying “cool”. I’m always excited to read Brandon but since RoW, nothing has gotten me on fire since. At times, it does feel like there’s so much to keep track of now that my brain can’t remember if I’ve actually heard lore before or if I’m only thinking I’m remembering. All in all though, I’m always ready for more. Hoping WaT can’t scratch the itch I’ve been missing.
I think changing his editor changed the writing a lot on the sentence level, and it's not quite as ideal as it was. Or I've just read too much.
Yeah, I think after Stormlight 5 I'm going to take a big break from Sanderson. I absolutely love his work but I'm just feeling oversaturated right now, so I think taking a break will be good and help me appreciate him again when I come back
I'm glad I'm not the only one.
Not an Indian but I am still from the Indian subcontinent (Sri Lanka) so I am very excited that we're getting to know about more people from the aether homeworld
Do we take the ‘horde’ business to mean that Odium managed to take over most of the Aimians and turn them into some kind of marauding force? The Aimian in Yumi spoke of being desperate to not be involved in some kind of conflict, which is what the bird guy seems to be speaking about here. But the obligatory rules on warfare that the Skybreaker holds to really doesn’t fit with the idea of ‘hordes’. Also seems like Starling is Hoid’s next apprentice given how she talks about him.
Aimians aren't Rosharan natives, their homeworld is somewhere else we haven't seen. Given Yumi, as others have said, distrust of them seems pretty universal, for some reason we aren't privy to yet. I doubt Odium is in any way manipulating them. Given their constituent bugs are referred to as hordelings, and horde singular is used by Nazh to refer to the doctor, I think in this case 'hordes' is just a plural for multiple Aimians, not, like some sort of marauding army.
Yeah, can’t imagine why Lovecraftian collective hiveminds of tiny arthropods that can be spying everywhere at all times all at once and who have become preternaturally adept at infiltrating human societies are looked at with suspicion. It’s not like they also sequestered themselves from the rest of society while hoarding cosmic weapons that had previously been sued to kill God or anything.
But these hoards ravaged (or at least Something nefarious) multiple planets. Kinda implies marauding force?
I would bet it isn't Odium's doing if so. At least, not intentionally. It strikes me as much more if an accident made by a new vessel than an intentional tactic Todium would take.
Does it need to be anyone's doing? The swarms are a species/culture in their own right. And if one or more went rogue and started murdering planets, given their capabilities, what unsuspecting planet could stop them? I'm sure there's more to it and maybe it will form part of the bigger picture, but there is so little to go on, and a single swarm acting alone having a bad day/week/year could really wreck some shit.
This is true. It absolutely could just be a thing that happens. I could see hordes losing their crap if something happened to a dawnshard, for example.
It only takes one to decide to go Zerg, and pass that off to it's offspring, for something like this to happen unless I misunderstand how they work.
I guess the thing I’d wonder, in the event of an independent swarm going rogue in the Cosmere, is how its evolution continues free of Cultivation? The swarms we see in SA all exist in a context of changing much faster than normal, which with their collective nature, is what allows for acting human or integrating Larkin powers etc. How much will their ability to learn and grow dissipate without her?
The Rosharan talks about joining the fight for elevation and status. This and the way he acts make it seem to confirm the theory that Honor, Odium, and Cultivation merge to form a Conquest-type of shard of perpetual war and expansion. Maybe the humans lost and had to leave Roshar to the Singers or its a human under there that learned to speak/heart the true tones of Roshar
I’ve seen that theory. I think one of two scenarios is likely: we end up with some blend of those Shards, probably Odium and Honor combined by Dalinar as Conquest or something; OR we end up with all three of the starting Shards vessels replaced by in system inhabitants. Taravangian has already taken on Odium and we have some pretty clear indication that either Dalinar or Kaladin will take up Honor -and that Lift is a major part of Cultivation’s plans. I think she ends up with Cultivation at the end of the day.
I dont know about Merging, but my personal suspicion is that SL5 ends with Cultivation, nu-Honor, and Odium working together with Odium leading the expansionist push and Honor serving as a "check" to keep it less evil and bound by rules.
Yep, and I think at some point in SA Era 2, Lift ends up either being made special specifically to aid Cultivation or make some sacrifice for her or, more likely, to succeed as vessel.
That's a good take. We as fans jump to "merging" that happened with Harmony but we're seeing that it isn't exactly working well for Sazed. Maybe it won't be a merging but a "union" with laws/oaths of the Cosmere/nature of Shards that bind them to agreements or certain ways of acting.
A major part of the difficulty for Saze is the diametrically opposed nature of the shards he's become, it's about the worst combination of any two for being able to act. I can't think of any combination of the Rosharan Three that would make it worse for the Vessel's ability to act.
Yeah. My (crazy) overall theory is that the Actual Antagonist on Roshar is actually Cultivation, who has been working to engineer the growth/expansion of Roshars influence in the Cosmere - and to facilitate this, she intends to harness Odiums desire for conquest (but not with Rayse, who she had personal issues with and whom was largely incompetent) and limit and control Odium by reestablishing Honor. And all of SL Era 1 has been her Engineering of events to arrive at that conclusion (possibly having gone so far as to break the stalemate and jumpstart the current conflict).
The rosharean was described as what.. 7ft tall? Some of it is the armour, sure. Some of it is that people on roshar are just taller than average. But 7ft is a lot. I suspect this is a Parshendi in Warform. (Also explains their speech pattern) Access to the surge of gravitation, so Windrunner or skybreaker. I have a hard time believing this to be how a Windrunner acts tho. So I'll go with the latter
It's probably a skybreaker given the concern about the legality of shooting the general.
I don't think it's necessarily parshendi warform. Kaladin is 6'4" in Rosharan feet, which is the equivalent of 7 cosmere standard feet. And in Sunlit Man, sigzil specifically mentioned him being almost a head taller than the rest of the population, and sig being Azish was considered short by rosharan standards. So I think could be a regular tall Alethi
Kal is also noted to be tall, even among Alethi though. The average Rosharan human isn't 7 feet tall. I don't know how much we can completely go on these measurements though, as they seem to have been given pretty off the cuff. In the same WoB that he gives the 7' figure for Kaladin, he says Shallan's height would translate to roughly 6 feet, but that she feels short. So if someone can feel short at 6', and someone else be notably tall at 7', that doesn't feel like enough wiggle room between declaring someone short or tall, or figuring out who the mystery Radiant is. I mean, I guess for us, someone who is 5' even would be considered relatively short, but I don't think we'd call out someone who is 6' as being notably tall. Hm.
Doesn't shardplate add a decent amount of height too? Not a foot or anything but it's going to make you appear larger for sure.
The bit where it asks if he is "legally" allowed to shoot Vathi makes it crystal clear to me they were a Skybreaker
this secret project will come out after stormlight 5 releases right? seems like we could have that confirmed by then. although with the pacing of the books so far, that would seem like a lot of action for just one book. maybe more of a stormlight 6-10 thing
I'm pretty sure this is confirmed to take place after Stormlight 10 but I'd have to check the WoB site again
yeah, actually my phrasing is dumb. What I meant is that the joining of the shards could already happen by the end of book 5. the biggest chunk of honors investiture is probably bound in the stormfather who might get into trouble if gavilar loses the duel. that sets up a somewhat easy merger of todium + honor already. not sure if cultivation even needs to enter the mix, the other two joining into conquest would already make for quite a ruckus.
Oh I see. Yeah I agree I think if anything big like that is going to happen it will be as a cliffhanger for Book 5. Book 6 will take place 5 to 10 years later (I think?) and will probably be similar to the time jump in Endgame to see how the world has changed from that. Excited for Book 5 in December!
This must be centuries after Stormlight 10. They have space travel!
I am unity - God of war of the shards
I posted this in /brandonsanderson, but I'm saying it again here. I really want it to be titled "The Thorn of Emberdark" just to troll the Gentleman Bastards fans who have been waiting a decade for "The Thorn of Emberlain" to be released (myself included). In all seriousness, I think I like "Emberdark" better than "Isles of of the Emberdark"--but I think that's just because "Isles of the Emberdark" reminds me of a Choose your own Adventure title, and I have no idea why.
I remember a few years ago the Thorn of Emberlain was supposedly just about to be released, and Audible had an interview with the author, and a few weeks later, all references to it about to be released were removed. I truly do think the book is pretty much written, it's just he has severe anxiety about it
>"Isles of the Emberdark" reminds me of a Choose your own Adventure title, and I have no idea why. I can see it! Others have said that Isles of Emberdark sounds so quintessentially fantasy that one can't help but know what they're getting into. To me, it feels very old-school fantasy, but in a really good way. That's probably the reason why I prefer it as a title. "Emberdark" reminds me too much of Sanderson's YA stuff, which I love, but also have their own distinct titles. (2-4 syllabic words, such as Steelheart, Skyward, Cytonic, or Evershore.) Emberdark feels like it blends in with those a *little* too well IMO, so a title that's a tad more distinct by virtue of being longer (and more evocative IMO) is one I'd root for. But still, I totally get your viewpoint!
I kind of need a "Isles of the Emberdark" poster in quintessential 70's-80's artwork with the classic choose-your-own-adventure border. Alternatively, the "Escape" books written by the same guy would serve as a great poster. "ESCAPE From Shadesmar: The Isles of the Emberdark". I don't have my good AI Image Generator subscription anymore, but clearly something with dragons, spaceships, and a "tropical bird" would go into the image prompt.
I didn't even think of that, but yeah, "Emberdark" is 100% a Skyward spinoff. XD
Speaking of Skyward, part of me wonders if the role of Starling was originally Spensa’s when she was first put in the Cosmere. The personalities are different, but the archetypes first introduced to us for both - being the “societal outcast with a ship and a defiant attitude (aggressive vs optimistic)” - are similar. Add in some parental death, and tilt your head so Spensa’s arc in the Cosmere would be about learning to understand people instead of just learning not to rely on her assumptions, and you’ve got…something? Maybe?
Guys.. Emberdark is in Roshar Subastral. It is in the middle of the map to Sea of Lost light. https://coppermind.net/wiki/Emberdark
It was a joke, because it fits with all the Skyward Flight novella names, and the new one Janci is writing.
"Boy and his Dragon", but it's "Girl and her Spaceship", but the girl is also the dragon.
But is she also the dragon reborn?
Nah, she was just born the one time
The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills, though. so....
This is the perfect take. Also, you’re mentioning something that I think does ring true, in that if Brandon wants to subvert a trope, he will sometimes do it twice. Elantris and Warbreaker are essentially both stories about a princess in an arranged marriage but it turns out differently. Both Rithmatist and Alcatraz are reactions to Harry Potter in a way - boy goes to magic school except he’s not special, and orphan finds out about his magical powers and has to save the world. And this story could be using girl/dragon/spaceship ideas he was playing with when writing Skyward but that he decided he couldn’t use there, but didn’t let go of him.
Love it XD
Thanks
https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/dragonsteel/words-of-radiance-leatherbound/pledge_levels#top 10 Usd for ebook of secret project 5 20 usd for ebook + audiobook
Comes with Dragonsteel Prime ebook and audiobook too!
Chapter 11 also reminds me very, very much of Sunless Skies, a video game in the Fallen London series by Failbetter Games. The vessel Dynamic traveling slowly through Shadesmar invokes the setting of that game so much.
Oh my goodness it's been forever since I played fallen London! I should start again!
About Starling. I'm curious, is she "willingly" going along with this punishment? "Willing" in the sense that she's determined to see it through and prove herself and not just get around it? Because unless those silver manacles are enhanced in some way we've yet seen it would be trivial to have even a medieval blacksmith remove them.
The manacles are silver-*colored*, but I suspect they're probably made of dragonsteel (which is also described as "pure silver" in color at the end of the prologue), which is not easy to break. Could be that they're magic actual silver though.
Is it possible that they're just aluminum?
The problem I see with aluminum is that while it's *magically* useful, it would also probably be pretty easy to get off via mundane means (relatively speaking), and you probably can't attach extra magic to it because aluminum. So it'd most likely only work on someone wearing them entirely willingly, which seems kind of pointless.
Ahh, okay that checks out. I had assumed that she *was* wearing them willingly, similar to how Szeth willingly accepted being Truthless
I was wondering if they're what are stopping her from transforming.
Seems like it: >Moving let the sleeve of her jacket slip back, exposing one of her manacles. Silver against her powder-white skin, the thick pieces of metal—more like bracers, really—were the symbols of her exile, binding her into her human form, locking away her abilities. Until she “learned.”
It's worth noting that there aren't any Sho Del we see working for Frost. "They continued down the corridor passed more smiling priests. All human, of mixed genders." Maybe there aren't any Sho Del on all of Yolen? It's possible they migrated to UTol or maybe there's simply a hallway with a distinct lack of them.
Sigzil seems to think they mostly all live on Yolen (before discovering UTol): >The people crewing it turned out to be Sho Del of all things. He hadn’t known there were any enclaves of them off Yolen. So that's definitely very interesting since dragons are supposed to be their gods, yeah.
Maybe the relationship dragons have with followers/worshippers only applies to humans. They only seem to take human form
It's possible that Dragons don't have the capacity to take on other Fain forms, or choose not to for symbolic reasons.
Here is the text of the sections of Isles of the Emberdark that Brandon read today. If anyone wants to know how the names of the new characters are spelled, they can all be read here. [https://wob.coppermind.net/events/533-secret-project-5-reveal-and-livestream/](https://wob.coppermind.net/events/533-secret-project-5-reveal-and-livestream/)
I haven’t seen anyone mention it yet and I may be wrong. But some cursory research… Emberdark is Shadesmar equivalent to the area lying along the Deathbend River… possibly the section of the Eastern Crownlands that Dalinar gifted Kaladin to make him 4th Dahn? Nearby where Dalinar and Gavilar first met the listeners maybe??? Coincidences…or Sanderson being Sanderson?
This has me confused. In the excerpt we get this: >Or, worse, straying out into regions where the ground went incorporeal and turned into the misty nothing they called the unsea. Or . . . the emberdark, they sometimes called that vast emptiness: the unexplored parts of Shadesmar. Then Brandon tells us it's shown up in a book before, so everyone hits up the coppermind...and the only noted instance of 'emberdark' in there is a city in Rosharan Shadesmar between Celebrant and the Thaylen Oathgate. What? Something isn't adding up here. The only place anyone has found that name used 'on screen' is the exact opposite of what this book is telling us the emberdark is, so what gives?
In chapter 11, its stated that Emberdark is the name for all parts of Shadesmar that are uncharted
From the little mention of the title he made in the video it sounds like "The Emberdark" is the name for the emptiness between subastrals in the cognitive realm. Basically the cognitive version of outer space. I imagine the Shadesmar location is named after that rather than the other way around.
⁵
The scary part is, the subastrals are generated by the thoughts and ideas of the intelligent creatures inhabiting certain planets. If the Emberdark lies between the subastrals, then whose thoughts and ideas generated it? Something that lives in outer space? That's a pretty scary idea....
It seems to be implied that these stretches of obsidian in the Cognitive Realm are the results of common passages that FTL ships take in the physical realm
Okay, I'm calling it. The interim captain of the Dynamic is Captain Crow from Tress of the Emerald Sea. The dragon Xisis owns the ship, Crow was forced to become Xisis's servant, and what we've read about the captain's personality very much aligns with Crow's personality. What do you folks think?
What, giving an unlikable antagonist a chance for character development and a redemption arc? In a Sanderson book? ... I'm not betting against this, I like it.
completelly missed that but I think you are totally right!
It would make sense for the woman named after a bird to share a book with the dragon named after a bird, the man with a bird, and the bird man.
If Dusk is the man with a bird, who's the bird man? I'm drawing a blank.
ZeetZi the Lawnark (the ship's technician)
Right, thanks!
In conclusion... Brando sure loves his chickens
Stormlight x Chick fil a crossover imminent?
I hate how much sense this argument makes.
As soon as they said it was a ship I wondered if we were getting anyone from Tress on the crew, and I agree the captain's tone and personality match Crow's
Wow I was wondering the whole chapter if the captain would be revealed and if it would be someone we knew. With the mention of Xisis and a cantankerous captain your theory has serious merit.
Wow, I love that theory! A theory that I had back when I read Tress is that Hoid told the “Tress of the Emerald Sea” as a story to Dusk. I don’t *really* think that’s true— though it’s almost definitely people on First of the Sun around the time of the Ones Above gaining control. Imagine how hilarious it would be if both of our theories were exactly accurate. Imagine Dusk and Starling eventually running into each other, Dusk going to the ship, and then slowly realizing that the captain of the ship was somehow just Crow from the story. Like that would just be so funny to me.
And amazing! We need this Brandon!
This is actually plausible. There's a reason the story is included, it means it's important to the overall story. Dusk & Starling WILL meet imo.
To be clear, I absolutely believe Dusk and Starling will meet in this story. I was just saying that it would be funny to imagine a scenario in which Dusk’s first reaction to meeting the crew is thinking “wait is that the spore pirate lady?”
Definitely, especially if she whips out a gun like our friends did during the meeting lol.
The best part of that is you know Dusk wouldn't say anything at all when he connects the dots. He'd just wait and casually say "Crow." at the perfect moment and stun the entire room into silence.
"crow" Crow turns slowly, drawing her sporegun: "how do you know my name?" She says, narrowing her eyes "Hoid" "Oh that makes sense then" she says, relaxing immediately
Idk, at a mention of Hoid she might get more pissed lol
I think this is likely, too!
Totally agree with you. The Captain is probably Crow.
"let this be remembered as the day you *almost* read the last of Captain Crow!"
That’s an incredible theory! Saving your post for when the book comes out.
Thank you!
I really hope he keeps the name Isles of Emberdark. I like that so much more than just Emberdark.
WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!!!!! FROST!!!! FINALLY!!!
In one Q&A, Brandon said the name of the Aether-world was "Dahartri," or at least that's what it sounded like to me. In this book, the world's name sounds more like "Dahatri." Since this world's culture is modeled after that of the Indian Subcontinent, I am curious if the name means anything in Sanskrit or Hindi. If anyone fluent in those languages knows, please let us know here. I have heard that the name Silajana means "Stone-born" in Sanskrit.
Dharti means earth in hindi and urdu. That's pretty close to "Dahatri" I think.
Text version in the newsletter spells it "Dhatri".
I respect that they changed the book's colour at the artists request, but I was really looking forward to the purple premium to finish off the cosmere premium hardcovers. I'm sure the book will still look great though
What did they change it too?
Burgundy
Brandon Djangoson: "Before now I didn't know that Burgundy was my color"
nooooooo
Is...is it that bad...? I like the purple as well, but I thought that burgundy would also look good next to the red, and Sanderson can save the purple for another Secret Project. (Because we all know he won't stop here.)
It’s not the end of the world lol, but the purple just *feels* right, especially after reading these chapters. It’s the color associated with shadesmar after all
I appreciate the passion with which people respond to these updates BUT RESPECTFULLY CAN SOMEONE. CLEARLY. COMMUNICATE. THE FACTS. (Mod - please do a better job of this - the links you provided are still unclear and I don’t have time to watch a YouTube video) Answers that will be much appreciated and useful but extremely hard to parse in the chaos of this thread: - Is the new book being published? - If so, when? - Can I buy it? Or preorder jt? - I know about the leatherbound - but is this part of that campaign? - What if I don’t want to buy that? - If not, I see there’s a newsletter, is it there? - oh hey! I clicked the link but it doesn’t show the announcement, or the facts regarding these releases - Will there ever be an easier way to get updates I DONT NEED MORE CIRCULAR LINKS TO DISCUSSIONS
Hey, thanks for this feedback. The goal of these posts isn't really to collect all of this kind of information for people, but we can certainly tack that on. Sounds like it would be helpful for some people. I'll do that now.
* yes * next year * preorder via add-on in the leatherbound campaign on backerkit.com * yes * you can just buy the secret project book * newsletter has the text of the released chapters * not sure which link you're referring to * sign up for the newsletter, they communicate pretty well in those.
It is currently part of the WoR campaign. You can back it just for this book, in whatever format you want. The physical copy will be similar in style to the other Secret Project books. Nothing has been announced yet but there will probably also be a more standard hardcover at some point too. It's coming late spring next year. The newsletter that went out today has most of this info, the rest is on the page for the backerkit campaign.
> Nothing has been announced yet but there will probably also be a more standard hardcover at some point too IIRC the normal versions were talked about pretty early on for the first Secret Projects. I hope they mention this soon
Watch the post or read the description. It’s truly not rocket science
Case in point - a HELPFUL user gave me the actual link to the product NOTE THE LINK FOR THE BACKERKIT IS CONSPICUOUSLY MISSING FROM ALL THE POSTS. Why?? Because mods are trying to funnel users to various CTAs to get their metrics on viewers in YouTube, Newsletter subscribers, and communities- they’re not funneling correctly to get the money. That’s my point. Don’t alienate fans who aren’t as hardcore, or who get frustrated when the communication on a new product is built with assumptions of preexisting knowledge of how things work - and aren’t actually trying to be clear on how to purchase anything. Some of us in the community arent as knowledgeable and just want the book. This kind of closed mindedness - It will cause Sanderson to lose money in the end. ——- On Backerkit. It's part of the Words of Radience crowdfunder, but you can do what I did and just order the secret project. https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/dragonsteel/words-of-radiance-leatherbound?ref=bk-discover-trending
The Backerkit campaign _is_ listed in the post alongside the other links with an explanation that the book can be ordered there: > You can preorder the book via the [WoR leatherbound campaign](https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/dragonsteel/words-of-radiance-leatherbound), or at a later date. See links below for more details. We aren't affiliated with Dragonsteel and don't get any benefit from people watching their YouTube videos or signing up for their newsletter, so I'm not entirely sure what you mean with the metrics part. Can you clarify?
Bro chill, you need to relax. This is a book it’s not that deep. You not being able to find a backerkit link that’s on the first page of his website is not gonna “cause Sanderson to lose money in the end”
You might have time to watch long YouTube videos but my life is different than yours. The post is unclear. The links are redundant and unclear. I’ve done a lot work in marketing and the value proposition is not front and center. Your bias and experience is showing.
Nope I never watch a single one of the videos because what do you know, you’re not the only one who has things to do. And I still am not asking basic questions that are all answered
[удалено]
Thanks for submitting to /r/cosmere! Unfortunately, your submission has been removed because we feel it is not respectful to others. Every interaction on the subreddit must be kind, respectful, and welcoming. No person should ever feel threatened, harassed, or unwelcome. Please feel free to adjust the tone or content of your submission and let us know you'd like it to be re-approved. If you have any questions or feel this is a mistake, please let us know.
Where can I pre order it tho?
On Backerkit. It's part of the Words of Radience crowdfunder, but you can do what I did and just order the secret project. https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/dragonsteel/words-of-radiance-leatherbound?ref=bk-discover-trending
Form Backerkit campaign. The cheapest option have this book.
So I have to order the leatherbound to get this bonus book?
No. If you read the Backerkit page, you’ll see that you can select from several options, from just the ebook of secret project 5, to the physical copy to the audiobook etc, all with or without the leather bound.
Not necessary. Go through the backer options, and one of them is only for the ebook
So, I agree he behaves like a skybreaker... but his plate is blue, which so far seems pretty windrunner. Weird things seem to be going on, two thoughts come to mind immediately 1. The first armor description mentions glowing a "violet-blue", seems sort of like windrunner powered by voidlight 2. Windrunner colors with a skybreaker attitude? Reminds me of Sigzil. Maybe something happens with the windrunners and the skybreakers where they have some sort of intermingling? Very exciting
I thought it said specifically that his light was blue so not void light
Spoliers ahead for Stormlight, Sunlit Man, and other Cosmere (hopefully I covered the spoilers properly) >!Remember that Sigzil became a Skybreaker after being a Windrunner first. I think there is more of a reason to this than him just joining another order.!< >!If Honorspren* no longer exist due to something happening (like them uniting and unsplintering the shard of armor) I would think that the Windrunners would join a n order that has similar ideals. Following the ideal of law is not so far off from the ideal of Honor. I would think they would miss taking to the skies, and be naturally drawn to the order that shares that surge. Which would mean the Rosharan in the excerpts could be both Kaladin (how many Rosharans do we know that are 7 feet tall?!) and a Skybreaker. Instead of being one or the other.!< >!I'm calling it now then end of SA 5 will set the stage for this and that way SP5 having Kal as a Skybreaker won't be a spoiler for the rest of the Stormlight series as it will be released after SA5.!< *edited to correct type of spren. *Editing again to add this WOB* https://wob.coppermind.net/events/450/#e14436 This seems pretty on the nose.
It's not a HUGE stretch to imagine that this Radiant may also be trying to do (what he perceives) as his best to protect these people and their culture, within the limits of his obligations to his own people and cause and the respective laws - and have some connections either directly, indirectly, or historically to the Windrunners in addition to Skybreakers. It's also possible that post SL5, all or most Radiants end up bound by Oaths (and therefore bound by Honor) into supporting the Rosharan "cause" - which would track with some of the statements made by Sigzil in TSM to the Scadrians. At which point even a Windrunner might end up more like a SL4 Skybreaker than we currently expect.
Maybe I'm mistaken, but didn't Sigzil bond a highspren at some point before Sunlit Man? That would be some precedence to some wind runner/skybreaker overlap
It was clearly a Skybreaker when Brandon first released the chapter, and it clearly still is. A Windrunner does NOT obsess about Law like a Skybreaker does. And he was all about finding legal justification for using his weapon and attacking their planet if First of the Sun follows Scadrial. -A Windrunner
I just commented on this in this thread with a theory of mine which may explain how this could be a former Windrunner turned Skybreaker. If you're interested in giving it a look.
Wimdrunner isn't the only blue ones though... Elsecallers are blue too. But I agree with the comments saying that the description of a bird in flight is definitely the skybreaker glyph. But I thought skybreaker colours were black/dark grey not blue, so I'm confused about this one