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105-570: The Stormlight Archive is a high fantasy novel series written by American author Brandon Sanderson , planned to consist of ten novels. As of 2023, the series comprises four published novels and two novellas, set within his broader Cosmere universe. The first novel, The Way of Kings , was published on August 31, 2010. The second novel, Words of Radiance , was published in 2014 and debuted at number one on The New York Times Best Seller List , followed by Oathbringer in 2017 and Rhythm of War in 2020. A fifth novel, named Wind and Truth ,

210-538: A preservation bias . During the late Ordovician (~458.4 Ma), the particular configuration of Gondwana may have allowed for glaciation and high CO 2 levels to occur at the same time. However, some geologists disagree and think that there was a temperature increase at this time. This increase may have been strongly influenced by the movement of Gondwana across the South Pole, which may have prevented lengthy snow accumulation. Although late Ordovician temperatures at

315-444: A Shardblade are Shardplate, shields called "half-shards", another Shardblade, or an aluminum blade (according to "Rhythm of War"). Those who own a Shardblade can summon their blade from thin air in ten heartbeats and can make their blade disappear at will. The blades are rare and highly valued, and there are estimated to be fewer than one hundred known blades in the world. Shardplate is full plate armor that both protects and strengthens

420-408: A broad term to include a number of different flavors of the fantasy genre, including epic fantasy , mythic fantasy, dark fantasy , and wuxia . It typically is not considered to include the sword and sorcery genre. High fantasy has often been defined by its themes and messages. " Good versus evil " is a common one in high fantasy, and defining the character of evil is often an important theme in

525-409: A childlike figure, but matures rapidly, experiencing a considerable gain in fighting/problem-solving abilities along the way. The progress of the story leads to the character's learning the nature of the unknown forces against them, that they constitute a force with great power and malevolence. The villains in such stories are usually completely evil and unrelatable. "High fantasy" often serves as

630-466: A common basis for many fantasy books and many other authors continue to contribute to the settings. Supercontinent Moving under the forces of plate tectonics , supercontinents have assembled and dispersed multiple times in the geologic past. According to modern definitions, a supercontinent does not exist today; the closest is the current Afro-Eurasian landmass, which covers approximately 57% of Earth's total land area. The last period in which

735-563: A devotary based on variances in beliefs, talents or personality traits, and may change their selection at any point in their life. Some examples are the Devotary of Sincerity, who are encouraged to learn and ask questions, and the Devotary of Denial. Adolin Kholin's calling, for example, is Dueling. The priesthood of the Vorin religion are referred to as ardents. Those who reject the existence of

840-524: A five-part version of Words of Radiance from September 2016 to January 2017, a six-part version of Oathbringer from April to September 2018, and a six-part version of Rhythm of War beginning December 2020 with the 6th installment scheduled for release December 2021. GraphicAudio also published a version of the Stormlight Archive novella Edgedancer in December 2018. In October 2016,

945-664: A group of ten magic systems that stem from Honor and Cultivation, two of the three Shards of Adonalsium present on Roshar. Each of Surgebinding's ten systems revolves around 'binding' two natural 'Surges,' for instance Gravity and Adhesion, to the Surgebinder's will. Surgebinding is powered by Stormlight, and the ability is granted to humans through bonding with a Spren, a type of elemental spirit native to Roshar. There are ten Surgebinding's branches, with Windrunning and powers of Lightweavers (Transformation - Soulcasting and Illumination - illusions), described most thoroughly. Windrunning

1050-444: A lot of great humor", concluding that "Sanderson needs to keep things fresh if their battle is going to be worth continuing." Aidan Moher for Barnes & Noble said, in a more positive review, that "Three volumes deep into the Stormlight Archive, Sanderson continues to deliver on every promise the genre has ever made. It’s got a ton of action and warfare and it adds new layers to his trademark magic systems." Rhythm of War , like

1155-550: A low number of passive margins during 336 to 275 Ma, and its break-up is indicated accurately by an increase in passive margins. Orogenic belts can form during the assembly of continents and supercontinents. The orogenic belts present on continental blocks are classified into three different categories and have implications for interpreting geologic bodies. Intercratonic orogenic belts are characteristic of ocean basin closure. Clear indicators of intracratonic activity contain ophiolites and other oceanic materials that are present in

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1260-458: A more positive review, Bill Capossere of Fantasy Literature gave Rhythm of War four out of five stars, stating, " Rhythm of War is absolutely a fun read, an interesting read, mostly a compelling read despite some bogging down here and there." He went on to state that "It’s not my favorite book in the series (that would be Words of Radiance ), but Sanderson, besides being amazingly prolific, is also amazingly consistent, almost always falling for me in

1365-578: A period of time by attuning themselves to their owner's heartbeat. Shardblades wielded by the Knights Radiant are the Knight's spren taking the physical form of a weapon (often a sword, but can take the form of any weapon or a shield). Hence, these Shardblades are a physical manifestation of a living spren. 'Living' Shardblades can be summoned instantly, and do not require the summoning period of ten heartbeats. There are also ten Honorblades that grant

1470-578: A single lava flow is also undetermined. These are important factors on how flood basalts influenced paleoclimate . Global palaeogeography and plate interactions as far back as Pangaea are relatively well understood today. However, the evidence becomes more sparse further back in geologic history. Marine magnetic anomalies, passive margin match-ups, geologic interpretation of orogenic belts , paleomagnetism, paleobiogeography of fossils, and distribution of climatically sensitive strata are all methods to obtain evidence for continent locality and indicators of

1575-401: A slab of the subducted crust is denser than the surrounding mantle, it sinks to discontinuity. Once the slabs build up, they will sink through to the lower mantle in what is known as a "slab avalanche". This displacement at the discontinuity will cause the lower mantle to compensate and rise elsewhere. The rising mantle can form a plume or superplume. Besides having compositional effects on

1680-632: A struggle between forces of the Voidbringers and humanity. The Voidbringers forced humanity out of its afterlife, called the Tranquiline Halls. They believe that upon death the soul continues in its past role, but towards the regaining of the Tranquiline Halls. In Alethkar, a man's highest calling is as a warrior in life to remain a warrior in the afterlife. The religion also tells of the Lost Radiants, an order who once fought against

1785-529: A supercontinent would have to show intracratonic orogenic belts. However, interpretation of orogenic belts can be difficult. The collision of Gondwana and Laurasia occurred in the late Palaeozoic. By this collision, the Variscan mountain range was created, along the equator. This 6000-km-long mountain range is usually referred to in two parts: the Hercynian mountain range of the late Carboniferous makes up

1890-506: A supernatural weapon in this world; however, this is exceptionally rare. Spren are spirits in the land of Roshar which are drawn to different conditions or emotions. There are thousands of varieties. One character, Hesina, the mother of Kaladin states, "Spren appear when something changes - when fear appears, or when it begins to rain. They are the heart of change, and therefore the heart of all things." Their intelligence varies, with Cryptics (also known as liespren though they themselves dislike

1995-660: A work of high fantasy, such as The Lord of the Rings . The importance of the concept of good and evil can be regarded as the distinguishing mark between high fantasy and sword and sorcery. In many works of high fantasy, this conflict marks a deep concern with moral issues; in other works, the conflict is a power struggle, with, for instance, wizards behaving irresponsibly whether they are "good" or "evil". Role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons with campaign settings like Dragonlance by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis and Forgotten Realms by Ed Greenwood are

2100-647: Is almost as simple as fitting together the present continents bordering the Atlantic ocean like puzzle pieces. For the period before Pangaea, there are two contrasting models for supercontinent evolution through geological time . The first model theorizes that at least two separate supercontinents existed comprising Vaalbara and Kenorland , with Kenorland comprising Superia and Sclavia . These parts of Neoarchean age broke off at ~2480 and 2312 Ma , and portions of them later collided to form Nuna (Northern Europe and North America). Nuna continued to develop during

2205-442: Is an ability where the wielder uses the power of Stormlight to affect gravity and adhesion. It is described in three methods known as the "Three Lashings". A Basic Lashing changes the direction of gravitational pull for an individual (causing the person to be pulled towards another object or direction instead of towards the center of the planet). A Full Lashing is described as creating an almost unbreakable bond between two objects until

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2310-569: Is an association between the rifting and breakup of continents and supercontinents and glacial epochs. According to the model for Precambrian supercontinent series, the breakup of Kenorland and Rodinia was associated with the Paleoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic glacial epochs, respectively. In contrast, the Protopangea–Paleopangea theory shows that these glaciations correlated with periods of low continental velocity, and it

2415-503: Is based on both palaeomagnetic and geological evidence and proposes that the continental crust comprised a single supercontinent from ~2.72 Ga until break-up during the Ediacaran period after ~0.573 Ga . The reconstruction is derived from the observation that palaeomagnetic poles converge to quasi-static positions for long intervals between ~2.72–2.115 Ga; 1.35–1.13 Ga; and 0.75–0.573 Ga with only small peripheral modifications to

2520-448: Is concluded that a fall in tectonic and corresponding volcanic activity was responsible for these intervals of global frigidity. During the accumulation of supercontinents with times of regional uplift, glacial epochs seem to be rare with little supporting evidence. However, the lack of evidence does not allow for the conclusion that glacial epochs are not associated with the collisional assembly of supercontinents. This could just represent

2625-517: Is considered to be exclusive to Honor by the Fused, who cannot access it. Voidbinding includes various other types of magic associated with Odium, such as some of the forms that Parshendi/Singers can take on that align them to Odium's ideals. Very little is known about the Old Magic, a set of powers exclusive to the goddess Cultivation. Its most common effects are those granted by her powerful spren,

2730-581: Is described in detail in the book but mostly consists of a world made from tiny glass beads. Once within Shadesmar, the power from a Stormlight-infused gem can be used to manipulate objects. In an interview with Brandon Sanderson, Shadesmar is described as a Cognitive Realm connecting all the worlds in the Cosmere. Sanderson has confirmed that Hoid is very good at using Shadesmar, that this is how Hoid moves between worlds, and that people on other worlds within

2835-546: Is evidence for a large orographic barrier within the interior of Pangaea during the late Paleozoic (~251.9 Ma). The possibility of the southwest–northeast trending Appalachian-Hercynian Mountains makes the region's monsoonal circulations potentially relatable to present-day monsoonal circulations surrounding the Tibetan Plateau, which is known to positively influence the magnitude of monsoonal periods within Eurasia. It

2940-464: Is expected to be released December 6, 2024, while writing for the latter half of the series will begin after Sanderson finishes writing the upcoming Era Three Mistborn trilogy and the two Elantris sequels. Sanderson completed the first draft of The Way of Kings in 2003, though the original manuscript differed significantly from the published text. Sanderson referred to the prospective series as The Oathshards Series in 2004. The first draft of

3045-523: Is right . At the climax of "Rhythm of War," he speaks the Fourth Ideal: I accept that there will be those I cannot protect. Soulcasting is a practice where objects are changed from one form to another. It has proven able to turn rock into smoke, purify blood of poisons, and create food, among many other applications. Soulcasting is done by means of a device called a soulcaster that is powered by gems imbued with Stormlight. The type of gem placed inside

3150-477: Is seen today in Eurasia , and rock record shows evidence of continentality in the middle of Pangaea. The term glacial-epoch refers to a long episode of glaciation on Earth over millions of years. Glaciers have major implications on the climate, particularly through sea level change . Changes in the position and elevation of the continents, the paleolatitude and ocean circulation affect the glacial epochs. There

3255-477: Is the fifth oxygenation stage. One of the reasons indicating this period to be an oxygenation event is the increase in redox -sensitive molybdenum in black shales . The sixth event occurred between 360 and 260 Ma and was identified by models suggesting shifts in the balance of S in sulfates and C in carbonates , which were strongly influenced by an increase in atmospheric oxygen. Granites and detrital zircons have notably similar and episodic appearances in

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3360-439: Is the opening and closing of an individual oceanic basin . The Wilson cycle rarely synchronizes with the timing of a supercontinent cycle. However, supercontinent cycles and Wilson cycles were both involved in the creation of Pangaea and Rodinia. Secular trends such as carbonatites , granulites , eclogites , and greenstone belt deformation events are all possible indicators of Precambrian supercontinent cyclicity, although

3465-466: Is therefore somewhat expected that lower topography in other regions of the supercontinent during the Jurassic would negatively influence precipitation variations. The breakup of supercontinents may have affected local precipitation. When any supercontinent breaks up, there will be an increase in precipitation runoff over the surface of the continental landmasses, increasing silicate weathering and

3570-504: Is thought that the Earth's oxygen content has risen in stages: six or seven steps that are timed very closely to the development of Earth's supercontinents. The process of Earth's increase in atmospheric oxygen content is theorized to have started with the continent-continent collision of huge landmasses forming supercontinents, and therefore possibly supercontinent mountain ranges (super-mountains). These super-mountains would have eroded, and

3675-474: Is thought to have been approximately 10 degrees Celsius warmer along 90 degrees East paleolongitude compared to the present temperature of today's central Eurasia. Many studies of the Milankovitch cycles during supercontinent time periods have focused on the mid-Cretaceous. Present amplitudes of Milankovitch cycles over present-day Eurasia may be mirrored in both the southern and northern hemispheres of

3780-458: Is usually set in an alternative, fictional ("secondary") world , rather than the "real" or "primary" world. This secondary world is usually internally consistent, but its rules differ from those of the primary world. By contrast, low fantasy is characterized by being set on Earth, the primary or real world, or a rational and familiar fictional world with the inclusion of magical elements. The romances of William Morris , such as The Well at

3885-693: The Audible list, No. 2 on the New York Times combined print/ebook bestseller list and No. 6 on the Sunday Times of London hardcover list in the United Kingdom. In a review for The A.V. Club , Samantha Nelson commented that " Oathbringer shows that Sanderson’s story might not be powerful enough to last the 10 books the author has planned. The book does have some surprises, with heroic deeds not always going as well as planned, and there’s

3990-530: The Mesoproterozoic , primarily by lateral accretion of juvenile arcs, and in ~1000 Ma Nuna collided with other land masses, forming Rodinia . Between ~825 and 750 Ma Rodinia broke apart. However, before completely breaking up, some fragments of Rodinia had already come together to form Gondwana by ~608 Ma . Pangaea formed through the collision of Gondwana, Laurasia ( Laurentia and Baltica ), and Siberia . The second model (Kenorland-Arctica)

4095-403: The upper mantle by replenishing the large-ion lithophile elements , volcanism affects plate movement. The plates will be moved towards a geoidal low perhaps where the slab avalanche occurred and pushed away from the geoidal high that can be caused by the plumes or superplumes. This causes the continents to push together to form supercontinents and was evidently the process that operated to cause

4200-588: The 4 to 4.5 range." Unabridged audiobook versions of the first four books were released by Macmillan Audio and read by narrator team Kate Reading and Michael Kramer . The Way of Kings was released in August 2010, Words of Radiance in March 2014, Oathbringer in November 2017, and Rhythm of War in November 2020. GraphicAudio published a five-part version of The Way of Kings from March to July 2016,

4305-595: The Almighty, such as Jasnah Kholin, are referred to as heretics. Followers of other religions mentioned in The Way of Kings are Stone Shamans, Ysperists and Maakians. Shardblades are powerful swords that have the ability to cut through any non-living matter with ease. When used on living creatures, they can kill or maim with a single cut by the blade passing through the living soul. They can also render limbs useless when they cut through them. The only known defenses against

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4410-479: The Cosmere have ways of accessing Shadesmar which are different from those the characters in this book use. Similar to Surgebinding, Voidbinding has a collection of surges that the third god of Roshar, Odium, makes available to his selected servants, called Fused. Unlike Knights Radiant, each Fused can only access a single surge, from a list of nine: Gravitation, Division, Abrasion, Progression, Illumination, Transformation, Transportation, Cohesion, and Tension. Adhesion

4515-463: The Elderlings epics, every fantasy fan worth their salt must read and be familiar with. This will be one of the giant series that will help shape the entire scene. Take a week off work now and go and buy The Way of Kings . You won't regret it." In its first week of release, Words of Radiance debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times Hardcover Fiction Best Seller list. It also reached No. 1 on

4620-782: The Heraldic Epochs, Roshar was ruled by a coalition of ten nations known as the Silver Kingdoms. In the Era of Solitude, following the departure of the Heralds and the demise of the Orders of Knights Radiant, those kingdoms split into smaller ones, some of the more important being: The Stormlight Archive features several different races, the majority of which are different ethnicities of human or partly human. Some of these races include: Much of The Way of Kings takes place within

4725-598: The Highstorms by the high peaks of the Misted Mountains. Most plants that grow in Shinovar, which resemble real-world plant life, cannot grow in other parts of Roshar. Highstorms come frequently and, though they do not appear to follow a simple pattern, storm wardens are able to accurately predict their schedule through complex mathematics. Flora and fauna have evolved to cope with this condition. During

4830-618: The Nightwatcher, who will grant boons and curses to supplicants who come to her for assistance; any boon granted is offset by a mandatory applied curse. Supplicants will often find that a boon is not granted as they expected it to, as the Nightwatcher does not always understand human desires and customs; poorly-worded requests can have unsatisfactory results. The curses applied can be anywhere from mild to fully debilitating. Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destination. In its first week of release The Way of Kings

4935-402: The Protopangea–Paleopangea solution implies that Phanerozoic style of supercontinent cycles did not operate during these times. Also, there are instances where these secular trends have a weak, uneven, or absent imprint on the supercontinent cycle; secular methods for supercontinent reconstruction will produce results that have only one explanation, and each explanation for a trend must fit in with

5040-532: The Shattered Plains , developed by Arcturus VR, was released on March 2, 2018. A popular mod for the grand strategy game Crusader Kings III based in the world of Roshar and named after the first book, The Way of Kings, was published in 2020. High fantasy High fantasy , or epic fantasy , is a subgenre of fantasy defined by the epic nature of its setting or by the epic stature of its characters , themes , or plot . High fantasy

5145-481: The South Pole may have reached freezing, there were no ice sheets during the early Silurian (~443.8 Ma) through the late Mississippian (~330.9 Ma). Agreement can be met with the theory that continental snow can occur when the edge of a continent is near the pole. Therefore Gondwana, although located tangent to the South Pole, may have experienced glaciation along its coasts. Though precipitation rates during monsoonal circulations are difficult to predict, there

5250-533: The Stormlight dissipates. A Reverse Lashing causes an object to have a much stronger gravitational pull, causing other objects to be pulled towards it. The Knights Radiant originated through spren copying the abilities which the Heralds obtained through their Honorblades. The Knights Radiant gained power through spren by creating a bond with them called the Nahel bond. The bond gives the spren sentience while giving

5355-410: The Voidbringers during the wars against them on Roshar (known as Desolations). Vorinism gave the Knights Radiant the moniker "Lost Radiants" after they apparently betrayed humanity at some point in the distant past. Vorinism is arranged in devotaries, whose ardents aim to assist people in advancing their Callings, which are tasks to which one dedicates their life as a method of worship. Each person selects

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5460-677: The World's End , set in an imaginary medieval world, are sometimes regarded as the first examples of high fantasy. The works of J. R. R. Tolkien —especially The Lord of the Rings —are regarded as archetypal works of high fantasy . The term "high fantasy" was coined by Lloyd Alexander in a 1971 essay, "High Fantasy and Heroic Romance", which was originally given at the New England Round Table of Children's Librarians in October 1969. Many high fantasy stories are told from

5565-399: The accretion and dispersion of supercontinents is seen in the geological rock record. The influence of known volcanic eruptions does not compare to that of flood basalts . The timing of flood basalts has corresponded with a large-scale continental break-up. However, due to a lack of data on the time required to produce flood basalts, the climatic impact is difficult to quantify. The timing of

5670-456: The book "an old-school, '90s fantasy-style behemoth", also commenting, "While Sanderson continues to build his characters and reveal who they are (especially in the case of Shallan's past) it still clings to one overarching plot that drives relentlessly to an ending that can only be described as 'epic'." Another review published by Tor Books commented, " Words of Radiance capitalizes on the groundwork provided by The Way of Kings , building up

5775-533: The book a mixed review, praising Sanderson's writing and creativity, but criticizing its extreme length and overall dearth of action. SF Reviews pointed out, "The ride is luxurious, the scenery is often breathtaking, but The Way of Kings is truly a long and winding road." KeepingTheDoor.com commented, " The Stormlight Archive is a series that, like Robert Jordan 's The Wheel of Time , George R. R. Martin 's A Song of Ice and Fire and Robin Hobb 's The Realm of

5880-424: The book consists of 112 chapters, plus differently numbered interludes, a prologue, and an epilogue. Rhythm of War was published on November 17, 2020. Ten books are planned in the series, broken down into two sets of five books each. Sanderson describes the planned story arc of the second set of five books as a "sequel" to the first set, with some appearances of characters from the first set. The biggest timeskip in

5985-400: The break-up of supercontinents and die during supercontinent assembly. Pangaea's supercontinent cycle is a good example of the efficiency of using the presence or lack of these entities to record the development, tenure, and break-up of supercontinents. There is a sharp decrease in passive margins between 500 and 350 Ma during the timing of Pangaea's assembly. The tenure of Pangaea is marked by

6090-414: The breakup of Precambrian supercontinents and the lack of land plants as a carbon sink . During the late Permian, it is expected that seasonal Pangaean temperatures varied drastically. Subtropic summer temperatures were warmer than that of today by as much as 6–10 degrees, and mid-latitudes in the winter were less than −30 degrees Celsius. These seasonal changes within the supercontinent were influenced by

6195-435: The characters Rysn and Lopen, was published in November 2020 and takes place in the one-year gap between Oathbringer and Rhythm of War . Roshar is the native name for the planet on which The Stormlight Archive is set. It is also the name of the supercontinent on which the main events of the series take place. The planet was settled by the two Shards Honor and Cultivation, while their rival Odium exercises his influence on

6300-422: The climate of the planet drastically, with supercontinents having a larger, more prevalent influence. Continents modify global wind patterns, control ocean current paths, and have a higher albedo than the oceans. Winds are redirected by mountains, and albedo differences cause shifts in onshore winds. Higher elevation in continental interiors produces a cooler, drier climate, the phenomenon of continentality . This

6405-723: The combined print/ebook bestseller list and the Kobo Bestseller list. It was at No. 3 on the National Indie Bestseller list, and at No. 6 on the Southern California Independent Bookseller Association bestselling hardcover fiction list. The UK publisher of the book, Gollancz , debuted with Words of Radiance at No. 2 on the Sunday Times of London Bestseller list. A review written by io9 called

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6510-739: The consumption of CO 2 . Even though during the Archaean solar radiation was reduced by 30 percent and the Cambrian - Precambrian boundary by 6 percent, the Earth has only experienced three ice ages throughout the Precambrian. Erroneous conclusions are more likely to be made when models are limited to one climatic configuration (which is usually present-day). Cold winters in continental interiors are due to rate ratios of radiative cooling (greater) and heat transport from continental rims. To raise winter temperatures within continental interiors,

6615-456: The contemporary Earth became dominant only during the latter part of geological times. This approach was widely criticized by many researchers as it uses incorrect application of paleomagnetic data. A supercontinent cycle is the break-up of one supercontinent and the development of another, which takes place on a global scale. Supercontinent cycles are not the same as the Wilson cycle , which

6720-426: The continental landmasses were near to one another was 336 to 175 million years ago, forming the supercontinent Pangaea . The positions of continents have been accurately determined back to the early Jurassic , shortly before the breakup of Pangaea. Pangaea's predecessor Gondwana is not considered a supercontinent under the first definition since the landmasses of Baltica , Laurentia and Siberia were separate at

6825-465: The cost of most of their self-awareness for the higher, more exalted spren, which they can regain by making bonds with humans. The sea and land are reversed in Shadesmar—what would be land on Roshar is a sea of black beads in Shadesmar, each representing a physical form on Roshar. Shadesmar also contains cities and a strange type of flora. Much of the world follows the Vorin religion. Vorinism tells of

6930-470: The cultivationspren Wyndle, who bonded with the thief Lift, allowing her to surgebind. Dalinar Kholin also bonds a spren, the Stormfather, though he does so in an unconventional manner. Jasnah bonded an inkspren named Ivory. Some spren, such as flamespren, share characteristics with current observations in quantum mechanics, and are based on them. For example, when they are observed they remain stable in

7035-416: The early continental crust to aggregate into Protopangea. Dispersal of supercontinents is caused by the accumulation of heat underneath the crust due to the rising of very large convection cells or plumes, and a massive heat release resulted in the final break-up of Paleopangea. Accretion occurs over geoidal lows that can be caused by avalanche slabs or the downgoing limbs of convection cells. Evidence of

7140-656: The eastern part, and the western part is the Appalachian Mountains , uplifted in the early Permian . (The existence of a flat elevated plateau like the Tibetan Plateau is under debate.) The locality of the Variscan range made it influential to both the northern and southern hemispheres. The elevation of the Appalachians would greatly influence global atmospheric circulation. Continents affect

7245-425: The end of The Way of Kings , Jasnah Kholin and Shallan are capable of doing magic that has very similar effects to Soulcasting but does not require a soulcaster to be used, and does not require that the magic user is in physical contact with the object they transform. This book does not go into great detail, but the magic involves mentally communicating with an unknown source to enter a place called Shadesmar. Shadesmar

7350-440: The environment throughout time. Phanerozoic (541 Ma to present) and Precambrian ( 4.6 Ga to 541 Ma ) had primarily passive margins and detrital zircons (and orogenic granites ), whereas the tenure of Pangaea contained few. Matching edges of continents are where passive margins form. The edges of these continents may rift . At this point, seafloor spreading becomes the driving force. Passive margins are therefore born during

7455-749: The exception of the Order of the Lightweavers, having only the First Ideal. Lightweavers instead must admit truths to themselves in order to progress. Towards the end of The Way of Kings , Kaladin utters the Second Ideal for the Order of Windrunners: I will protect those who cannot protect themselves . Near the end of Words of Radiance , Kaladin whispers the Third Ideal for the Order of Windrunners: I will protect even those I hate, so long as it

7560-434: The first draft of A Memory of Light , Sanderson revealed the book would be pushed back to a 2014 release, almost four years after the first book. The second book was initially titled Highprince of War (referring to Highprince Dalinar), but Sanderson decided to focus the second book on Shallan, tentatively titling it The Book of Endless Pages and eventually settling on Words of Radiance with Highprince Dalinar's book as

7665-533: The human Surgebinding abilities. Two examples are Sylphrena, an Honorspren, who shares a bond with Kaladin, giving him the power to Surgebind; and Pattern, a Liespren (Cryptic), who shares a bond with Shallan, granting her power to Soulcast and create Illusions. The Knights Radiant lived by their order's Five Ideals, called The Immortal Words, with the First Ideal being the same for every order: Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination . The other four Ideals are different for each order, with

7770-474: The lack of iron formations may have been the result of an increase in oxygen. The fourth oxygenation event, roughly 0.6 Ga, is based on modeled rates of sulfur isotopes from marine carbonate-associated sulfates . An increase (near doubled concentration) of sulfur isotopes, which is suggested by these models, would require an increase in the oxygen content of the deep oceans. Between 650 and 550 Ma there were three increases in ocean oxygen levels, this period

7875-467: The large size of Pangaea. And, just like today, coastal regions experienced much less variation. During the Jurassic, summer temperatures did not rise above zero degrees Celsius along the northern rim of Laurasia, which was the northernmost part of Pangaea (the southernmost portion of Pangaea was Gondwana). Ice-rafted dropstones sourced from Russia are indicators of this northern boundary. The Jurassic

7980-557: The manuscript was among over a dozen books written before his debut publication Elantris (2005). The book was substantially rewritten between then and its 2010 publication. Six chapters of this early version were included in the anthology Altered Perceptions (2014). The original version of the book is available on the author's official website. From June to August 2010, Tor Books published sample chapters from The Way of Kings on its official website, along with an introduction by Sanderson. In its first week of release, The Way of Kings

8085-433: The mass amounts of nutrients, including iron and phosphorus , would have washed into oceans, just as is seen happening today. The oceans would then be rich in nutrients essential to photosynthetic organisms, which would then be able to respire mass amounts of oxygen. There is an apparent direct relationship between orogeny and the atmospheric oxygen content. There is also evidence for increased sedimentation concurrent with

8190-470: The nahn, they range from slaves in the 10th nahn to full citizens with the right to travel in the second and first nahn. In the dahn system, lighteyes in the 10th dahn are considered only slightly better than darkeyes, and a very rich darkeyed man or woman may marry into an extremely poor lighteyed family, in very rare cases. The first dahn is composed of the king alone. It has been known for dark eyed individuals to obtain light eyes through obtaining Shardblades,

8295-532: The nations of Alethkar and Jah Keved. Both of these nations divide their people into classes, primarily based on the color of their eyes. Those with dark eye colors (brown, dark green, charcoal grey) are mostly peasants (and can even be made slaves). Those with light eye colors (blue, yellow, tan, green, violet, orange, etc.) are the nobles and generally more educated ruling class. Within these classes, there are further class distinctions known as nahn (for darkeyes) and dahn (for lighteyes). Both have ten levels within. For

8400-502: The planet. People from Roshar are called Rosharans. Roshar is the second planet from its sun and has three moons, each of which waxes and wanes separately from the others. The world is regularly assaulted by Highstorms, storms characterized by a very violent storm front traveling from east to west (beginning at the Origin), followed by weaker rains. The lands in Shinovar, farthest west on the main continent of Roshar, are mostly protected from

8505-581: The powers of one order of Radiants. These weapons do not appear to be physical manifestations of spren, dead or alive, and were wielded by The Heralds until nine of them were abandoned at the end of Aharietiam, or the last desolation. Szeth, the assassin in white, uses an Honorblade of Jezrien in the first two books, and the Herald, Nalan, wields the Honorblade of the Skybreakers. Surgebinding refers to

8610-583: The previous two novels in the series, debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times Hardcover Fiction Bestseller list. It also debuted at No. 1 on the NY Times combined print/ebook list and the Amazon Top 20 Most Sold Books of the Week list. In the U.K., Rhythm of War debuted at No. 3 on the Sunday Times of London hardcover list. Joshua S Hill of Fantasy Book Review gave the book a 4/10, stating that " Rhythm of War

8715-479: The rate of heat transport must increase to become greater than the rate of radiative cooling. Through climate models, alterations in atmospheric CO 2 content and ocean heat transport are not comparatively effective. CO 2 models suggest that values were low in the late Cenozoic and Carboniferous-Permian glaciations. Although early Paleozoic values are much larger (more than 10 percent higher than that of today). This may be due to high seafloor spreading rates after

8820-527: The reconstruction. During the intervening periods, the poles conform to a unified apparent polar wander path. Although it contrasts the first model, the first phase (Protopangea) essentially incorporates Vaalbara and Kenorland of the first model. The explanation for the prolonged duration of the Protopangea–Paleopangea supercontinent appears to be that lid tectonics (comparable to the tectonics operating on Mars and Venus) prevailed during Precambrian times. According to this theory, plate tectonics as seen on

8925-419: The recorded state, but when tested more thoroughly, they change as though at random. As revealed in the second book, Spren are "concepts and ideas" given physical form by the human collective subconscious. Among the many forms of spren, some are intelligent, possess self-awareness, and have even built their own cities. They reside naturally in Shadesmar, and often cross over into the physical realm. This comes at

9030-557: The rest. The following table names reconstructed ancient supercontinents, using Bradley's 2011 looser definition, with an approximate timescale of millions of years ago (Ma). The causes of supercontinent assembly and dispersal are thought to be driven by convection processes in Earth's mantle . Approximately 660 km into the mantle, a discontinuity occurs, affecting the surface crust through processes involving plumes and superplumes (aka large low-shear-velocity provinces ). When

9135-623: The rights to the entire Cosmere universe were licensed by DMG Entertainment which was working on an adaptation of The Way of Kings . Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan were hired as screenwriters. DMG founder Dan Mintz was to produce the film, with Sanderson and Joshua Bilmes serving as executive producers. In 2016, DMG also intended on simultaneously adapting the first book in Sanderson's Mistborn series. As of December 2020, all rights except those to The Stormlight Archive have reverted to Sanderson. A VR game, The Way of Kings: Escape

9240-471: The rock record. Their fluctuations correlate with Precambrian supercontinent cycles. The U–Pb zircon dates from orogenic granites are among the most reliable aging determinants. Some issues exist with relying on granite sourced zircons, such as a lack of evenly globally sourced data and the loss of granite zircons by sedimentary coverage or plutonic consumption. Where granite zircons are less adequate, detrital zircons from sandstones appear and make up for

9345-591: The second period of oxygenation occurred, which has been called the 'great oxygenation event.' Evidence supporting this event includes red beds appearance 2.3 Ga (meaning that Fe was being produced and became an important component in soils). The third oxygenation stage approximately 1.8 Ga is indicated by the disappearance of iron formations. Neodymium isotopic studies suggest that iron formations are usually from continental sources, meaning that dissolved Fe and Fe had to be transported during continental erosion. A rise in atmospheric oxygen prevents Fe transport, so

9450-529: The series will occur between the fifth and sixth book. As of 2020, two novellas have been published. The first novella, titled Edgedancer and featuring the character Lift, is set between Words of Radiance and Oathbringer and was originally published in Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection in 2016. A standalone edition of Edgedancer was published on October 17, 2017. The second novella, Dawnshard , featuring

9555-472: The soulcaster determines what the caster can transform. With each use of a soulcaster, there is a chance of the gem cracking and being destroyed, especially when a large amount of matter is changed. The main practitioners of soulcasting are the Ardents of the Vorin religion, however, there are a few exceptions. Shallan's father's steward knew how to use a soulcaster, as he used Shallan's father's soulcaster. By

9660-561: The supercontinent Pangaea. Climate modeling shows that summer fluctuations varied 14–16 degrees Celsius on Pangaea, which is similar or slightly higher than summer temperatures of Eurasia during the Pleistocene. The largest-amplitude Milankovitch cycles are expected to have been at mid-to high-latitudes during the Triassic and Jurassic. Plate tectonics and the chemical composition of the atmosphere (specifically greenhouse gases ) are

9765-403: The suture zone. Intracratonic orogenic belts occur as thrust belts and do not contain any oceanic material. However, the absence of ophiolites is not strong evidence for intracratonic belts, because the oceanic material can be squeezed out and eroded away in an intracratonic environment. The third kind of orogenic belt is a confined orogenic belt which is the closure of small basins. The assembly of

9870-445: The term) and honorspren among the most intelligent, and more common spren, seen as forces of nature/emotion having little to no intelligence. Jasnah Kholin also mentions that the 10 orders of the Knights Radiant drew their power from spren. Some notable spren are Syl, an Honorspren who shares a bond with Kaladin, giving him surgebinding powers of Windrunner; Pattern, a Cryptic who created a bond with Shallan, allowing her to surgebind; and

9975-519: The third novel, titled Oathbringer . The first draft of the fourth book was completed in December 2019. The title, Rhythm of War , was announced on the Tor website on February 10, 2020. The cover was revealed six months later, on August 17. The book was finished in July 2020. In a Facebook post, the author revealed that the final word count is "roughly 460,000" words, around the length of Oathbringer , and

10080-658: The tide of battle on its own. Kaladin and Syl express a revulsion to the Shardblades wielded by the Alethi. During Dalinar's visions, he sees the Knights Radiant wearing Shardplate and wielding Shardblades, but he notes that the plate when worn by the Radiants glows. Additionally, the number of Blades and Plate worn by the Radiants is much greater than the number left in the world at the main timeline of The Way of Kings . Most Shardblades are actually dead spren that come alive for

10185-404: The time. A future supercontinent, termed Pangaea Proxima , is hypothesized to form within the next 250 million years. The Phanerozoic supercontinent Pangaea began to break up 215 Ma and this distancing continues today. Because Pangaea is the most recent of Earth's supercontinents, it is the best known and understood. Contributing to Pangaea's popularity in the classroom, its reconstruction

10290-485: The timing of these mass oxygenation events, meaning that the organic carbon and pyrite at these times were more likely to be buried beneath sediment and therefore unable to react with the free oxygen. This sustained the atmospheric oxygen increases. At 2.65 Ga there was an increase in molybdenum isotope fractionation. It was temporary but supports the increase in atmospheric oxygen because molybdenum isotopes require free oxygen to fractionate. Between 2.45 and 2.32 Ga,

10395-422: The two most prevailing factors present within the geologic time scale. Continental drift influences both cold and warm climatic episodes. Atmospheric circulation and climate are strongly influenced by the location and formation of continents and supercontinents. Therefore, continental drift influences mean global temperature. Oxygen levels of the Archaean were negligible, and today they are roughly 21 percent. It

10500-415: The viewpoint of one main hero. Often, much of the plot revolves around their heritage or mysterious nature, along with a world-threatening problem. In many novels the hero is an orphan or unusual sibling, and frequently portrayed with an extraordinary talent for magic or combat. They begin the story young, if not as an actual child, or are portrayed as being very weak and/or useless. The hero often begins as

10605-404: The wearer. The armor provides protection against Surgebinding, as one wearing the armor cannot be "lashed" directly. Repeated strikes at the same spot on the armor by regular weapons or Shardblades can cause the armor to crack and break. The armor can be repaired or "regrown", though it takes a long time. A full shardbearer, one wielding both Shardblade and Shardplate, is a force capable of turning

10710-522: The world and system while revealing many more potential points of speculation." It also said, "So to you, lucky reader, who have the choice of whether or not to buy the book, I give this advice. The journey will be worth it. Yes, you should buy this book. Yes, this is a series worth following to the end. I'm glad to be taking this journey, and I hope you will as well." Similar to its predecessor, Oathbringer debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times Hardcover Fiction Bestseller list. It also debuted at No. 1 on

10815-430: Was No. 7 on The New York Times Best Seller list . In subsequent weeks the book was No. 11, No. 20, and No. 25. In October 2010, Brandon Sanderson revealed that his tentative plan was to release the second book in the series in 2012, approximately two years after the release of the first book, due to writing the final book of The Wheel of Time , followed by the third book about a year later. However, after completing

10920-410: Was No. 7 on The New York Times Best Seller list. In subsequent weeks the book was No. 11, No. 20, and No. 25. An early review from the website Unshelved gave The Way of Kings a positive review. A review from Elitist Book Reviews pointed out small problems with the book, (black-and-white characters, too much exposition) but gave an overall positive opinion of the book. The website SFReviews.net gave

11025-446: Was more of a slog than it needed to be", going on to state that "Not only does this book bring with it any of the normal difficulties with reviewing one book in the middle of a much longer series, or such a lengthy book as this (1,220 pages), but Sanderson is quite obviously positioning 'The Stormlight Archive' as the great magnum opus of his career and, therefore, the foundational connection upon which all other "Cosmere" books hinge." In

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