Hi everyone, you may be wondering, "Eric you said this would be out Tuesday/Wednesday, then this weekend, and it's real late this weekend!" You would be totally correct so if you care to read, behold the amount of nonsense I've had to deal with. So months and months ago, I had a "great" idea. We record the secret project episodes the Saturday after release, and I just grind through and edit them for Sunday. I ground through tons of Lost Metal episodes, what could go wrong? Well for one, I got pretty big burnout from all the TLM stuff, so that was great, and also, turns out much later I had family come that weekend. Anyway we recorded this on the 7th, family is town so no way to edit it by Sunday, so cool, I'll do this Monday and Tuesday. Other stuff happened where it made sense to push to the weekend. Annoying, but hey, weekend Shardcast is okay. Friday editing goes well, and I'll have it done Saturday early afternoon. Easy peasy. So I get it done Saturday, awesome, time for me to upload and relax, and my entire section of town is hit with a power outage. This lasted almost 24 hours. My favorite part is that the ETA for it being fixed was given... twelve hours later. Thanks a lot, PG&E. Sigh. I've been having a great time. I hope you enjoy the episode at least. Time for me to throw out my entire fridge. Next episode will be aethers, roughly two weeks from now. -Eric
So sorry to hear that. When i didn't see an episode pop up by saturday, i knew something had gone terribly wrong. I think having multiple "reactions" episodes for a book release sounds like a bad idea in every way, scheduling, editing and also content-wise (is that even a word? I mean that it gets somewhat repetitive). At least not in quick succession. Hope you have a great rest of the week at least
Going to disagree about Tress's agency at the end. It comes down to the agency of a manager/ leader vs. an individual. The others were able to help Tress because she had helped them learn and grow. Without her influence, they wouldn't have been able to help her.
I also loved how a theme in the book was subverting the protagonist tropes, and even tress still fell into "I've gotta do everything myself" and I thought it was a beautiful way to provide one final subversion to her being "the hero". She grew to the point where she realized her friends could help her more than she could help herself. This has been my favorite writing by Brandon so far.
I have to strongly disagree with Argent about Tress not being involved enough in the final confrontation. Literally every character who was instrumental in her rescue was in some way put in a position to do so by Tress’ positive impact on their lives. She unknowingly put all the pieces in place to make her rescue possible. Primarily and on a general level, the fact the crew loved and trusted her enough to risk going to the sorceress in the first place, but also creating the cannonballs required to trap the awakened army and access the island at all, figuring out Hoid’s curse would be resolved by coming to the island, giving Laggard a new perspective on being a good person so he encouraged and helped Ann when firing the cannon, who could only see properly because Tress got her the glasses in the first place. Salay had the determination to live on because she knew about her father, Fort could communicate because she got him a new board and he also understood the midnight essence because of Tress demonstrating that you need to bargain with them. Charlie had the courage to get past the cat and open the door because Tress encouraged and believed in him, not to mention figuring out who he really was in the first place. I’m sure I’ve missed more examples, but Tress DID save herself from the sorceress by enabling those around her to fulfil their own potential. ALSO! It was a critical part of Tress’ personal arc that she learned to accept help from those she loved and trusted, rather than placing the burden of responsibility solely on herself. She could have ordered them to leave when they asked over Fort’s board, but she didn’t. So fundamentally, she utilised the tools at her disposal to resolve the situation.
I figured out that Charlie was the talking rat when he comforted tress by rambling to her about what he discovered at port. It was very cute to realize
You gotta love the rat of unusual intelligence (ROI) So I was pretty sure that Huck was Charlie for a few reasons. First there was Hoid's mention of how a lot of fairy tail problems could have been avoided if the character had checked to make sure what they were looking for was with them all along. Also both Charlie and Huck are described by Tress as being "loquacious." Finally I just assumed that Brandon wouldn't just abandon Charlie's character until the end. He was too important to Tress' story for him to only show up at the end and he was too fun of a character, so as the story went on and we didn't see Charlie, the more I felt sure that Huck was Charlie.
Agreed. We'd already learned that there was a Sorceress out there cursing people and Charlie had been sent to her. So the moment a talking rat showed up I immediately thought "and there's Charlie". Didn't detract from the book at all, simply wasn't a very well hidden secret
Yeah for me it was that Hoid mention and that something about how Charlie spoke about an island he was from it kind of occurred to me he wanted to get to the Trisses island and then it hit me pretty early on. What if then became more and more cemented until when he betrayed her I was like yup 100 percent.
@@Morfeusm yeah, the moment he said he was on his way to the island I was like "huh, i wonder if he's Charlie. He got sent to the sorcerer right?" And then once I had that thought there was just so much evidence throughout the rest of the book. It was truly enjoyable to just nod sagely anytime more evidence or suspected proof was thrown on the pile
Notice how Hoid said “Sazed” freed the Kandra. Sneaky Brandon avoiding the shard terms so we don’t know if Space Era Cosmere will have Discord confirmed!!
@@xcalibur8884 I think that if you haven't read Mistborn yet you won't even know what is happening, I mean, the fact that there is a kandra outside of Scadrial is already a spoiler
knew huck was charlie right away. Brandon said it was inspired by princess bride so I was looking for a mysterious character to be the romantic partner from the beginning of the story. really clicked in when tress mentioned he rambled.
It felt very obvious to me, there is a line very early on that eludes to the thing being searched for being there all along. As soon as I read that I knew the rat was Charlie.
A few people have asked about the chapter icons animation, so here it is, for your convenience: www.tumblr.com/anshostin/705291303749058560/tress-and-the-emerald-sea-chapter-numbers
I love Grace's theories so much! It's like she just zooms out more than everyone else then squints and sees the connecting lines forming a picture hiding in plain sight. Just amazing, and hilarious, and weirdly plausible lol
I guessed Huck was Charlie when Huck was explaining about how you could sort of trick the curses by talking about someone else's curse. Hoid had sent Tress to Huck to talk about his curse, but Huck was also using that to talk about his own curse. And since Charlie was the only other character we knew had contact with the witch it just was the obvious guess. Also with regards to Tress being the damsel at the end, I thought it was perfect as it was. I think what's important to realize about it is that everyone who is helping her is doing so because of her actions from the entire rest of the book. Up until that point the other characters had done very little with Tress being practically the only driving force in the story. Her arc was clearly to learn to impose on others and accept their help. But that help came not simply because she was a damsel in distress, but because she had spent the entire book earning the trust, loyalty, and friendship of the crew. Her being saved by them wasn't just the payoff of her learning to accept help, and wasn't just the end of the arc for the characters helping, but it was what her actions all throughout the book had been building up to.
It reminded me of her father's scene at the beginning, "he wasn't por, he just didn't have money, but he has the kind of currency that mattered",with tress at the end it's the same thing, she didn't have the strength or the power necessary to defeat the sorceress but by helping the crew she got what she needed to rescue Charlie Bye the way, i love that scene with his father at the beginning and how he asks for a favor without saying anything about needing it
I'm with Jessie. I think this is my favorite Brandon book to date. Edit: Just to chime in on what everyone else in the comments is mentioning, no, I did not know Huck was Charlie till they were actually at the Sorceress's tower. So don't feel bad if you didn't catch it; I'm usually fast at realizing these sorts of things, but I was just like "oh wow new talking rat character, amazing!" And Eric, for a little bit I thought the Sovereign was the Lord Ruler too. Edit 2: I'm also with Ian on Rings of Power. I'm a Tolkien fan and I enjoyed it too! I'm tired of people telling me my opinion about the show is invalid because it's "objectively bad" or whatever.
I genuinely bought into "oh there is just a community of intelligent rats" for awhile. It was only when they were talking about the curses the sorceress did later that I realized huck must be charlie
1:48:46 I've rewatched this so many times. The first time I was too busy reacting myself, but then I went back to focus on each reaction and they're all amazing. Especially Evgeni.
I guessed it would make sense for Huck to be Charlie basically immediately. It fit with the strong fairy tale vibes (if i remember correctly there is even an allusion to kissing a frog to turn them into a prince early in the book). And as the book continued it seemed more and more certain. The characterization was so similar, with Huck talking a lot, telling stories. Plus he already seemed to know Tress and want to help her and protect her when they met. Also when it became clear that the sorceress cursed people and then let them free, as in the case of Hoid, and Huck had a connection to the sorceress that was another part that made me think it was very likely as I was reading.
30:11 the one art piece where the _Crow's Song_ is about to cross into the Crimson, and it's a two-page splash of the green-tinted ocean on one side with the ship, and the red-tinted ocean on the other side... mwaa, chef's kiss, excellent.
If I ignore my Warbreaker nostalgia (I started reading the Cosmere as Warbreaker was coming out on Brandon's website), I think this is my favourite Cosmere standalone. He clearly put a lot of love into this one, the authorial voice works beautifully and I enjoyed these characters so much. It's such a relief as The Lost Metal and even Rhythm of War have not been my favourite entries, but this was bloody fantastic.
I've been waiting for this since I devoured the book in like 5 hours. lol I definitely disagree about the dragon. I don't think it needs to look anything like a traditional dragon at all. I also liked the pose and the proportions for it. It's not the dragon of Earth mythology. It's a Cosmere dragon. It's kind of just like how Cosmere magic is not the magic of Earth mythology. It only needed to be close enough to see how it could be called a dragon, and it only needed that for the audience's benefit. The Cosmere characters wouldn't necessarily have a different reference like we do. To them this dragon probably just looks like their archetypical description of a dragon would. Also, for lulz it's Reye-eye-nay for Riina isn't it? :P Also, Riina is basically playing out the fantasy that the second secret novel is themed about. Think about that.
I just started but I have to admit that hearing people talk about this book gives me the same warm feeling like the book itself and it just feels great. 🤗
Stormlight and Tress Spoilers I was completely sure that Huck was a Sleepless and couldn’t believe he was Charlie until like the second to last chapter
@@Haxerous Right? All the signs were there. Suspicious behavior. Him saying that Tress wouldn't be able to pronounce his name, saying his home wasn't there anymore (or something like that) and him saying that he came from a family of talking "rats". Not to mention that when Tress asked if he was a Familiar, he got all weird about it. I was so sure, but turns out I was just overthinking it
. . . . I had a feeling Huck could be Charlie almost at once. All we knew about Charlie at that point was that he'd travelled to the Sorceress and then here's a talking rat that made some reference that made me think he already knew something about Tress and was also very talkative. Loved the book, with all the lovely quirky characters.
So the problems with the dragon, I think Brandon was trying to go for a mix of both the Chinese and more western dragons in how the dragon looked and I can definitely see the issues. But I didn’t really have expectations about what the dragon would look like going in, to me the dragon definitely didn’t disappoint. It is possible that this is just one of the cosmere dragons and they vary, some look more western, some more eastern. But we won’t know for a while. My main annoyance with the art was at the end, it is clearly said ‘Hoid was there in front of tress with a magical shield’ and in the art he is clearly not in front of her and that bugged me. I loved the book, can’t wait for secret project 2.
I figured out the Huck thing the same way Jess did. Huck had a bit a few chapters after he was introduced where he started rambling and had to get cut off by Tress and I was like "haha that's just like- OH wait a second".
I realized Huck was Charlie as soon as I noticed the rat's ADHD symptoms and it was confirmed by how comforting Tress found his rambling. The characterization in this book is beautiful.
I guessed Huck was Charlie around the time Tress started playing with aethers. He dissuaded her from going to the sorceress, he rambled a lot, and he wrang his paws/hands. That was when they talked about curses a lot so it clicked. On a reread, it's frighteningly obvious from the initial meet in the brig.
I guessed that Huck was Charlie in chapter 14, was fairly confident about it, and only grew more confident as I read further. During that chapter, Huck starts telling a story about how he meat a deaf human dancer, and that his time with her was interrupted in an abrupt way. I had reread the preview chapters at the start of this book, and that description immediately reminded me of Charlie's last betrothal from chapter 5, where he barfs on the deaf princess to make her disinterested in him. I very quickly realized this was a classic fairy tale trope of having the treasure with you all along. I'm quite surprised how few people picked up on this.
I'm not done listening yet, but looking at the comments I haven't seen anyone bring up the fantastic narrator(spoilers) explanations of things like Heroism, Irony and being a person who 'misses'. It's some of my favorite writing from Brandon ever! I shared with some of my friends and they might have a intro cosmere novel now. Honestly, I love the passages and want more!
I finally got around to reading this book (in one sitting, of course) and it was SO GOOD. I don't know if I've ever read something so unbelievably charming, and, as someone whose favorite character is Hoid, it was incredibly fun and I adore this new trend of making him look stupid. There were also so many incredibly important things in throwaway lines that had me constantly texting my friends.
Regarding her agency at the end, it helps me to think of it like this: her actual battle, she had already won, with flourish. The end fight, her job was to bring hoid
I think the reason the ending worked for me is that while Tress didn’t do anything, the people who did would not have been able to do it without the gifts or words Tress gave them earlier in the book. It was payoff from her work earlier
I mean, I felt like the ending was pretty solid. She spent all that time and effort building up the crew. And you talked about quite a few things she did at the end, regardless. Contacting the crew, giving people the information they need to do their thing, building up Charlie to go open the door... To me, it felt like the payoff to all the effort she'd put in through the whole story. It also mirrors the "man in black" in Princess Bride.
Tress of the E̶a̶r̶t̶h̶ Emerald Sea. I kid, but only a little. I adored this book. It had the exact same feel as Wizard of Earthsea to me. Our erstwhile hero goes on a series of semi self contained adventures focused on personal growth until they fight a dark sorcery on the sea beyond the world. Best book Brandon has written in years, absolutely wonderful.
The piece with Marsh / Death that kind of gets me is that it's not just that Tress has heard of Death, but she mentions it herself without context. So that's not just one scadrian came and off handedly mentioned it. That strikes me as someone coming over and preaching on Death. Even Marsh coming here wouldn't have resulted in that unless he was teaching about himself in that way. So either we have a worldhopper who is a true believer, or someone is putting these out intentionally I think? And then I kind of have to agree with Grace's theory that Kelsier messing with his brother using the Ghostbloods seems 100% on brand lol. For everything else Kelsier may be, he's still a little brother at heart.
random thought, dragons spikes are made of dragonsteel, as stated in this book. El, the fused, replaces his carapace with metal. Is he trying to imitate dragons? If so, why?
Spoilers… So I guessed Huck was Charlie fairly early on as soon as Huck started to ramble on about a story but I didn’t spot the direct repetition of loquacious. My other main thought while reading was, oh this has to be Charlie because Brandon had stated that this story had a stronger romance plot line and a good romance novel wouldn’t keep the main two characters separate for the majority of the novel
The moment Hoid mentioned his curse I instantly thought “sigh* the rat is Charlie isn’t it” then presided to gas light myself into thinking that couldn’t possibly be true
WOA spoilers I did not pick up on Charlie being Huck until the book spelled it out for me. I am not American, so I could not have picked up un Charlie->Chuck->Huck. But mostly, I think my mind had latched on to other alternatives. I thought either he was a weird sort of Aimian, or some of Hoids intelligence was trapped in Huck, or that he actually was a familiar and that BS just wanted to introduce that concept. I was like, oh, now I have to look out for familiars in other stories going forward. All of this feels completely opposite of in WOA, where I picked up on the Kandra twist immediately and got all these confirmations in text along the way strengthening my thoughts. This time, I did not clue in, and therefore did not get the confirmations along the way :) I really loved the twist!
Haven't watched the princess bride, the rat being Charlie was immediately obvious as soon as Huck starts going on tangents and Tress relaxes to it, it was the most obvious twist ever and I love it so much and it's great
I figured out the Huck reveal when Hoid said that stories would be shorter if the lady of the story would "look and realize she already had what she had been looking for all along." He gave three examples of how characters could be smarter, and I have read enough Brandon that I was already looking for hints at the ending so that stood out to me, and there was only one way for Charlie to be close to her already.
I loved this book so much, it really hit home in a lot of ways and it's a perfect little Cosmere book. I also have to agree that it is a great intro book. It's the Cosmere's Fairy Tail. The Podcast Argent mentioned is called Inking out loud if anyone is curious
I don't love all the art but I do love the shipwreck one so much I actually contacted HL on his website to ask if a metal print of it would ever be made available. (his team said maybe - they hope so)
I guessed it like three chapters after Huck showed up...and then completely convinced myself it wasn't the case and forgot about it until the like a few lines before the reveal
In the spanish version, Hoid says that he said "I did this for your own good" TO 16 other people. Like, he said that TO the Shards, not to other people along with the Shards
As soon as the rat talked my mind went to three possibilities: kandra, sleepless, or Charlie. I discounted kandra, because we've never seen them that small, but I was on the sleepless train so much that I forgot about my Charlie idea. As the story went on and Huck kept saying he was going to land to talk to his fellow talking rats I started to think he was just a talking rat, forgetting that every time we're at dock our POV is conveniently away from Huck. I felt so dumb once I figured it out around Huck's "betrayal".
Is anyone else weirded out by the line “that’s why the father invented scalpels.” Isn’t that what the kandra use to refer to the lord ruler? Did the lord ruler invent scalpels? Also, up until the “they can fly” clue, I was convinced it was the cobbler from the stormlight interludes. Very much a glass half full kinda guy, bonded to a spren, and his shoe making skills are in high demand
I was able to guess that Charlie was huck. Mostly because it fits the story. The person you've been traveling with ends up being the person you're looking for all along. The prince is shapeshifted. I think in text support came from the obvious curse of the rat not being able to talk about the sorceress the same way hoid isn't. But i wasn't really put off by the talking rat. It seemed like a small jump from the ryshadium to talking familiars via some kind of bonding familiar magic
I ending up guessing Huck's identity beacuse there was a line along the lines of "finding out what you were looking for was in front of you all along" in reference to heroes. that set the lightbulb off.
Random thought: Tress could definitely become a knights radiant. Definitely has journey before destination figured out Random thought 2: could Hoid be a dragon?
Super late to the party but I guessed Huck was Charlie when he started telling Tress about his visit to the island and was rambling about bell towers and gardens. Also if Huck wasn’t Charlie I was positive we’d have gotten a Charlie perspective from his prison.
Look at the dragon in this book then go look at the Whelan cover for Dragonsbane. It's pretty clear he wanted Cosmere dragons to be a homage to the book that got him passionate about fantasy and changed his life.
Now that I've finally read Tress (after borrowing a friend's physical copy because I hate reading any other format and waited as long as I could for my own) I was finally able to listen to this podcast and it was great, and also here's my comment for the algorithm, even if it's less effective after the first month or so afaik
I did guess basically after Huck's first appearance in the book, who he really was. besides the fact that I just had an intuitive feel that this was the kind of story where we gotta get to see the main boy invovled from early on and not absent for the entirety of the actual journey, the thing that got it confimred for me was how his rambling comforted Tress just the same way she was comforted by Charlie. so I'm quite shocked the cast of the podcast here mostly didn't guess it. it looked to me as clear as day from the getgo. so when the doppleganger arrived, I was so mad at Tress for not having realized the truth immediately.
I guessed the Huck thing when Hoid literally said that people goes on adventure just to find out that they had what the wanted on their shoulder. The hint was so straight up blunt and funny.
Honestly I just love the romance in this book! It's just so...Vaniila. They're so nice to each other and that 'pair of gloves' was very Awwwww. Charlie and Tress are a breath of fresh air in fantasy. Also, it's funny that their romance is so cute in this terrifying world of spores
I figured out Huck was Charlie as soon as we met him on the smuggler ship. There was some line about how sometimes girls go on adventures and find that the thing they were searching for was something they already had. Something like that and it was within a chapter of meeting him and I immediately knew that Huck was Charlie. And then he kept talking a lot, just like Charlie and it was basically confirmed.
I genuinely believed during half of the book that Huck was part of a Sleepless swarm, cuz I remember them saying that they mutated members of their swarm to imitate common pests from the place they are exploring/staying in
I guessed immediately that huck was Charlie. Because that's just how fairy tales work. There is even foreshadowing in one of the stories that Chuck said when he was pretending to be the gardener.
Regarding this novel as an "introductory" Cosmere novel, I would agree that for the most part this is great. I happen to be guiding my younger brother through his first read through of the Cosmere, and he's in the middle of MB Era 1 at the moment. So for him, given the casual references to Sazed in a manner that somewhat implies the ending of HoA, I told him, "read Tress after you finish era 1+SH." But for the most part, despite the massive wealth of Cosmere that was present in this novel, the characters aren't expected to understand it- so it doesn't come off as condescending if a reader doesn't understand it. So basically, no matter where you slot it in, this book just works really well. 10/10 book, I am incapable of being normal about it.
I agree with this. I feel if your someone who likes this kind of fairy tale style book could pick it up and become interested in the wider cosmere. It really only spoils MB Era 1 imo. And you could start them with elantris so the name sazed might not be immediately present in their mind so after the conclusion on Era 1 they might have a nice facepalm.
Before I watch the video I just want to say how much I appreciate you guys and all the work you do. Wish you all the best for this new year that just started!
As a small defense of the not glowing elantrian art- i was just listening to the elantris graphic audio and found the following lines: "Elantrian skin was so silvery some people claimed it glowed" "It did, not brightly, but when my father walked into a dark room you could see his outline." (Elantris graphic audio part 3 ~8min) Seems likely you wouldn't illustrate the glow, though the skin could have been more silver
I guess the rat reveal when he was telling Tress about how to find out if someone is cursed if you "ASK THEM DIRECTLY" which seemed loaded with hope that she'd ask him, especially with all the talk about how the curse can't block all attempts to stop them from seeking help.
The following is a series of Discord Messages I sent to my homie on January 18th 2023: Also, I'm only on chapter 18, but this rat is definitely Charlie It was talking about how Tress was the only person who hasn't tried to capture, kill, or sell him, and that has an interesting double meaning if the rat is Charlie. Hoyd was even like "there's a lot of things I could tell you about why the rat and her got along so quickly" or something like that.
I love the chapter numbers, the aether changes and grows around the number Edit- also another piece for it being in first of the sun is that hoid said that although sea creatures are common for you but for tress they dont know what those are so its unnatural for a spine to move like that
Just wanted to throw this out there, I feel like their are stories about the moon being an egg. Specifically Dragon egg. What if each of the Aether moons corresponds to a dragon? The Emerald feel like Cultivation
Huck reveal.... I guessed it pretty early. I don't remember which happened first, but my two big clues were when Huck was describing the Soceress's curse, supposedly talking about Hoid but "to me" obviously talking about himself, and then after the shore leave Huck telling stories about his time in the town. One gave me the idea and the other sealed it for me.
Having the context that it was inspired by/along the lines of The Princess Bride, I suspected the rat right away- then he gave his name as Huck, and I knew for sure. I began to doubt approaching the reveal, but was vindicated not long after.
I really liked this book. It is definitely among my favorites. I'm with my lady GatorGirl, I don't love to rank them as they are all good. However, I really loved how this story was told. I loved how fun it was to listen to.
I knew Charlie was Huck because when Charlie talks about hoids curse, he says “it’s HIS curse so it won’t matter if I talk about it right” which implied he has a curse on him as well
Regarding the Talking rat Reveal: my wife and I have been reading out loud. And I stopped and guessed that he was Charlie right after the spy mission play recounting. It just felt so much like something Charlie would do. It Felt very confirmed about halfway through the book when she is working on spores and he is soothing her by just talking and talking about the island they left.
I thought I was smart for figuring it out right as they entered the midnight sea but others figured it out immediately. I was expecting them to be captured and I started thinking what would be the curse that the sorceress would put on Tress and when I thought of it I realized immediately that he said he was specifically heading to the rock when we first met him and it all clicked.
I'll share my theory from when I was about 25% through - I thought the talking rat was a part of Hoid. It was because of the bit where he insisted on Tress acting out the other roles in the conversation he spied on. It just seemed like such a Hoidish thing to make someone do so I theorised that Hoid's curse involved splitting a piece of his personality off and dumping it in a rat leaving two Hoids that are both a bit crazy. It seemed sound at the time but the back up theory won in the end.
You know, historically speaking, Ian and I have seemed to hold similar opinions on Cosmere matters. So, needless to say, when I heard his opening opinion I had a moment of revelry, knowing that Shardcast was once again representing my-very clearly always correct-opinions via Ian. But then, comments were made regarding Rings of Power......I am betrayed......I no longer have representation among Shardcast......and I am okay with that. Anyway, to more important matters, I kind of did and didn't see the Charlie reveal coming. When Huck was first introduced, I was very bothered by the idea of a talking animal in the Cosmere. I lost myself in the science of the magic and was trying to figure out how such a thing occurred. I quickly noticed the similarities to Charlie, and the fact that Huck didn't seem very experienced at being a rat, but I dismissed the possibility of a full body transformation because we've not seen magic in the Cosmere deal with that big of a mass discrepancy before. So I was convinced that Huck was either a familiar that had become bonded to Charlie, and thus was mimicking some of his character traits, or Huck was a rat that had been stabbed with a hemalurgic spike containing Charlie's intelligence. I knew there had to be some connection, but I was very wrong about what that connection ended up being. In my defense, I read the book in one sitting, so I didn't have a lot of time to theorize.
Hi everyone, you may be wondering, "Eric you said this would be out Tuesday/Wednesday, then this weekend, and it's real late this weekend!" You would be totally correct so if you care to read, behold the amount of nonsense I've had to deal with.
So months and months ago, I had a "great" idea. We record the secret project episodes the Saturday after release, and I just grind through and edit them for Sunday. I ground through tons of Lost Metal episodes, what could go wrong? Well for one, I got pretty big burnout from all the TLM stuff, so that was great, and also, turns out much later I had family come that weekend. Anyway we recorded this on the 7th, family is town so no way to edit it by Sunday, so cool, I'll do this Monday and Tuesday. Other stuff happened where it made sense to push to the weekend. Annoying, but hey, weekend Shardcast is okay. Friday editing goes well, and I'll have it done Saturday early afternoon. Easy peasy.
So I get it done Saturday, awesome, time for me to upload and relax, and my entire section of town is hit with a power outage. This lasted almost 24 hours. My favorite part is that the ETA for it being fixed was given... twelve hours later. Thanks a lot, PG&E.
Sigh. I've been having a great time. I hope you enjoy the episode at least.
Time for me to throw out my entire fridge.
Next episode will be aethers, roughly two weeks from now. -Eric
You say a bunch of Dougs came over?
Take a rest man, you deserve it !
So sorry to hear that. When i didn't see an episode pop up by saturday, i knew something had gone terribly wrong. I think having multiple "reactions" episodes for a book release sounds like a bad idea in every way, scheduling, editing and also content-wise (is that even a word? I mean that it gets somewhat repetitive). At least not in quick succession. Hope you have a great rest of the week at least
Sorry to hear things have not been going your way. Well worth the wait on our end, thanks for all of y'all's hard work. Take care
I was super excited for this episode. I have been checking my RUclips everyday for this. Finally! Just blame hoid for messing with your shardcast!!!
Going to disagree about Tress's agency at the end. It comes down to the agency of a manager/ leader vs. an individual. The others were able to help Tress because she had helped them learn and grow. Without her influence, they wouldn't have been able to help her.
Came here to comment this, big ups
I also loved how a theme in the book was subverting the protagonist tropes, and even tress still fell into "I've gotta do everything myself" and I thought it was a beautiful way to provide one final subversion to her being "the hero". She grew to the point where she realized her friends could help her more than she could help herself. This has been my favorite writing by Brandon so far.
Yeah how was she realistically going to defeat an elantrian
I have to strongly disagree with Argent about Tress not being involved enough in the final confrontation. Literally every character who was instrumental in her rescue was in some way put in a position to do so by Tress’ positive impact on their lives. She unknowingly put all the pieces in place to make her rescue possible.
Primarily and on a general level, the fact the crew loved and trusted her enough to risk going to the sorceress in the first place, but also creating the cannonballs required to trap the awakened army and access the island at all, figuring out Hoid’s curse would be resolved by coming to the island, giving Laggard a new perspective on being a good person so he encouraged and helped Ann when firing the cannon, who could only see properly because Tress got her the glasses in the first place. Salay had the determination to live on because she knew about her father, Fort could communicate because she got him a new board and he also understood the midnight essence because of Tress demonstrating that you need to bargain with them. Charlie had the courage to get past the cat and open the door because Tress encouraged and believed in him, not to mention figuring out who he really was in the first place.
I’m sure I’ve missed more examples, but Tress DID save herself from the sorceress by enabling those around her to fulfil their own potential.
ALSO! It was a critical part of Tress’ personal arc that she learned to accept help from those she loved and trusted, rather than placing the burden of responsibility solely on herself. She could have ordered them to leave when they asked over Fort’s board, but she didn’t. So fundamentally, she utilised the tools at her disposal to resolve the situation.
I figured out that Charlie was the talking rat when he comforted tress by rambling to her about what he discovered at port. It was very cute to realize
me too xd
You gotta love the rat of unusual intelligence (ROI)
So I was pretty sure that Huck was Charlie for a few reasons. First there was Hoid's mention of how a lot of fairy tail problems could have been avoided if the character had checked to make sure what they were looking for was with them all along. Also both Charlie and Huck are described by Tress as being "loquacious." Finally I just assumed that Brandon wouldn't just abandon Charlie's character until the end. He was too important to Tress' story for him to only show up at the end and he was too fun of a character, so as the story went on and we didn't see Charlie, the more I felt sure that Huck was Charlie.
Right, also how she kept trying to interpret Huck's expressions the same way she did with Charlie's smiles.
Agreed. We'd already learned that there was a Sorceress out there cursing people and Charlie had been sent to her. So the moment a talking rat showed up I immediately thought "and there's Charlie". Didn't detract from the book at all, simply wasn't a very well hidden secret
Yeah for me it was that Hoid mention and that something about how Charlie spoke about an island he was from it kind of occurred to me he wanted to get to the Trisses island and then it hit me pretty early on. What if then became more and more cemented until when he betrayed her I was like yup 100 percent.
@@Morfeusm yeah, the moment he said he was on his way to the island I was like "huh, i wonder if he's Charlie. He got sent to the sorcerer right?" And then once I had that thought there was just so much evidence throughout the rest of the book. It was truly enjoyable to just nod sagely anytime more evidence or suspected proof was thrown on the pile
Notice how Hoid said “Sazed” freed the Kandra. Sneaky Brandon avoiding the shard terms so we don’t know if Space Era Cosmere will have Discord confirmed!!
It also tracks with Hoid always referencing Shards by the Vessel's name rather than the Intent.
I really disliked that this pretty much spoiled the biggest twist in hero of ages.
@@xcalibur8884 I think that if you haven't read Mistborn yet you won't even know what is happening, I mean, the fact that there is a kandra outside of Scadrial is already a spoiler
Crow breaking that tablet really broke my heart. 😭
The real question, "Is Charlie an apprentice of Hoid now?"
knew huck was charlie right away. Brandon said it was inspired by princess bride so I was looking for a mysterious character to be the romantic partner from the beginning of the story. really clicked in when tress mentioned he rambled.
Same lol. the princess bride hint, and explicitly how the rat hesitated and looked at Tress strangely.
Really? That was y’all’s takeaway? I spent the whole book wondering why the rodent of usual size could talk.
It felt very obvious to me, there is a line very early on that eludes to the thing being searched for being there all along. As soon as I read that I knew the rat was Charlie.
It look me until half way thru the book, the line “What Tress was looking for was there all the time” I knew it since then ahahaha
I haven't read Princess Bride but I told myself "if the rat ended up being the guy, I will riot" LOL
A few people have asked about the chapter icons animation, so here it is, for your convenience:
www.tumblr.com/anshostin/705291303749058560/tress-and-the-emerald-sea-chapter-numbers
I love Grace's theories so much! It's like she just zooms out more than everyone else then squints and sees the connecting lines forming a picture hiding in plain sight. Just amazing, and hilarious, and weirdly plausible lol
I guessed Huck was Charlie when Huck was explaining about how you could sort of trick the curses by talking about someone else's curse. Hoid had sent Tress to Huck to talk about his curse, but Huck was also using that to talk about his own curse. And since Charlie was the only other character we knew had contact with the witch it just was the obvious guess.
Also with regards to Tress being the damsel at the end, I thought it was perfect as it was. I think what's important to realize about it is that everyone who is helping her is doing so because of her actions from the entire rest of the book. Up until that point the other characters had done very little with Tress being practically the only driving force in the story. Her arc was clearly to learn to impose on others and accept their help. But that help came not simply because she was a damsel in distress, but because she had spent the entire book earning the trust, loyalty, and friendship of the crew. Her being saved by them wasn't just the payoff of her learning to accept help, and wasn't just the end of the arc for the characters helping, but it was what her actions all throughout the book had been building up to.
It reminded me of her father's scene at the beginning, "he wasn't por, he just didn't have money, but he has the kind of currency that mattered",with tress at the end it's the same thing, she didn't have the strength or the power necessary to defeat the sorceress but by helping the crew she got what she needed to rescue Charlie
Bye the way, i love that scene with his father at the beginning and how he asks for a favor without saying anything about needing it
I'm with Jessie. I think this is my favorite Brandon book to date.
Edit: Just to chime in on what everyone else in the comments is mentioning, no, I did not know Huck was Charlie till they were actually at the Sorceress's tower. So don't feel bad if you didn't catch it; I'm usually fast at realizing these sorts of things, but I was just like "oh wow new talking rat character, amazing!" And Eric, for a little bit I thought the Sovereign was the Lord Ruler too.
Edit 2: I'm also with Ian on Rings of Power. I'm a Tolkien fan and I enjoyed it too! I'm tired of people telling me my opinion about the show is invalid because it's "objectively bad" or whatever.
I genuinely bought into "oh there is just a community of intelligent rats" for awhile. It was only when they were talking about the curses the sorceress did later that I realized huck must be charlie
1:48:46
I've rewatched this so many times. The first time I was too busy reacting myself, but then I went back to focus on each reaction and they're all amazing. Especially Evgeni.
It's amazing, I love it so much. -Eric
I guessed it would make sense for Huck to be Charlie basically immediately. It fit with the strong fairy tale vibes (if i remember correctly there is even an allusion to kissing a frog to turn them into a prince early in the book). And as the book continued it seemed more and more certain. The characterization was so similar, with Huck talking a lot, telling stories. Plus he already seemed to know Tress and want to help her and protect her when they met. Also when it became clear that the sorceress cursed people and then let them free, as in the case of Hoid, and Huck had a connection to the sorceress that was another part that made me think it was very likely as I was reading.
30:11 the one art piece where the _Crow's Song_ is about to cross into the Crimson, and it's a two-page splash of the green-tinted ocean on one side with the ship, and the red-tinted ocean on the other side... mwaa, chef's kiss, excellent.
If I ignore my Warbreaker nostalgia (I started reading the Cosmere as Warbreaker was coming out on Brandon's website), I think this is my favourite Cosmere standalone. He clearly put a lot of love into this one, the authorial voice works beautifully and I enjoyed these characters so much. It's such a relief as The Lost Metal and even Rhythm of War have not been my favourite entries, but this was bloody fantastic.
I've been waiting for this since I devoured the book in like 5 hours. lol
I definitely disagree about the dragon. I don't think it needs to look anything like a traditional dragon at all. I also liked the pose and the proportions for it. It's not the dragon of Earth mythology. It's a Cosmere dragon. It's kind of just like how Cosmere magic is not the magic of Earth mythology. It only needed to be close enough to see how it could be called a dragon, and it only needed that for the audience's benefit. The Cosmere characters wouldn't necessarily have a different reference like we do. To them this dragon probably just looks like their archetypical description of a dragon would.
Also, for lulz it's Reye-eye-nay for Riina isn't it? :P
Also, Riina is basically playing out the fantasy that the second secret novel is themed about. Think about that.
I just started but I have to admit that hearing people talk about this book gives me the same warm feeling like the book itself and it just feels great. 🤗
Stormlight and Tress Spoilers
I was completely sure that Huck was a Sleepless and couldn’t believe he was Charlie until like the second to last chapter
Honestly I was kinda disappointed that it wasn't a sleepless.
@@Haxerous Right? All the signs were there. Suspicious behavior. Him saying that Tress wouldn't be able to pronounce his name, saying his home wasn't there anymore (or something like that) and him saying that he came from a family of talking "rats". Not to mention that when Tress asked if he was a Familiar, he got all weird about it. I was so sure, but turns out I was just overthinking it
My favourite part of reading Sando books is you figure out 'the secret' just as the character realises it
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I had a feeling Huck could be Charlie almost at once. All we knew about Charlie at that point was that he'd travelled to the Sorceress and then here's a talking rat that made some reference that made me think he already knew something about Tress and was also very talkative.
Loved the book, with all the lovely quirky characters.
So the problems with the dragon, I think Brandon was trying to go for a mix of both the Chinese and more western dragons in how the dragon looked and I can definitely see the issues. But I didn’t really have expectations about what the dragon would look like going in, to me the dragon definitely didn’t disappoint. It is possible that this is just one of the cosmere dragons and they vary, some look more western, some more eastern. But we won’t know for a while. My main annoyance with the art was at the end, it is clearly said ‘Hoid was there in front of tress with a magical shield’ and in the art he is clearly not in front of her and that bugged me. I loved the book, can’t wait for secret project 2.
I figured out the Huck thing the same way Jess did. Huck had a bit a few chapters after he was introduced where he started rambling and had to get cut off by Tress and I was like "haha that's just like- OH wait a second".
I realized Huck was Charlie as soon as I noticed the rat's ADHD symptoms and it was confirmed by how comforting Tress found his rambling. The characterization in this book is beautiful.
I fully think Tress is the finest example of Brandons writing yet. It's so impressive in so many ways.
I guessed Huck was Charlie around the time Tress started playing with aethers. He dissuaded her from going to the sorceress, he rambled a lot, and he wrang his paws/hands. That was when they talked about curses a lot so it clicked. On a reread, it's frighteningly obvious from the initial meet in the brig.
I guessed that Huck was Charlie in chapter 14, was fairly confident about it, and only grew more confident as I read further. During that chapter, Huck starts telling a story about how he meat a deaf human dancer, and that his time with her was interrupted in an abrupt way. I had reread the preview chapters at the start of this book, and that description immediately reminded me of Charlie's last betrothal from chapter 5, where he barfs on the deaf princess to make her disinterested in him.
I very quickly realized this was a classic fairy tale trope of having the treasure with you all along. I'm quite surprised how few people picked up on this.
I'm not done listening yet, but looking at the comments I haven't seen anyone bring up the fantastic narrator(spoilers) explanations of things like Heroism, Irony and being a person who 'misses'. It's some of my favorite writing from Brandon ever! I shared with some of my friends and they might have a intro cosmere novel now. Honestly, I love the passages and want more!
I finally got around to reading this book (in one sitting, of course) and it was SO GOOD. I don't know if I've ever read something so unbelievably charming, and, as someone whose favorite character is Hoid, it was incredibly fun and I adore this new trend of making him look stupid.
There were also so many incredibly important things in throwaway lines that had me constantly texting my friends.
Regarding her agency at the end, it helps me to think of it like this: her actual battle, she had already won, with flourish. The end fight, her job was to bring hoid
I think the reason the ending worked for me is that while Tress didn’t do anything, the people who did would not have been able to do it without the gifts or words Tress gave them earlier in the book. It was payoff from her work earlier
I mean, I felt like the ending was pretty solid. She spent all that time and effort building up the crew.
And you talked about quite a few things she did at the end, regardless. Contacting the crew, giving people the information they need to do their thing, building up Charlie to go open the door... To me, it felt like the payoff to all the effort she'd put in through the whole story. It also mirrors the "man in black" in Princess Bride.
Is the crimson sea representing the essence of blood? But like coagulated blood in the form of spikes?
Tress of the E̶a̶r̶t̶h̶ Emerald Sea.
I kid, but only a little. I adored this book. It had the exact same feel as Wizard of Earthsea to me. Our erstwhile hero goes on a series of semi self contained adventures focused on personal growth until they fight a dark sorcery on the sea beyond the world.
Best book Brandon has written in years, absolutely wonderful.
I guessed Huck's identity when he trailed off after seeing Tress
The piece with Marsh / Death that kind of gets me is that it's not just that Tress has heard of Death, but she mentions it herself without context. So that's not just one scadrian came and off handedly mentioned it. That strikes me as someone coming over and preaching on Death. Even Marsh coming here wouldn't have resulted in that unless he was teaching about himself in that way. So either we have a worldhopper who is a true believer, or someone is putting these out intentionally I think? And then I kind of have to agree with Grace's theory that Kelsier messing with his brother using the Ghostbloods seems 100% on brand lol. For everything else Kelsier may be, he's still a little brother at heart.
She was a Bespectacled Spectacle was my favorite line in the book
Does anyone know where Design is? I think there is no mention of her.
random thought, dragons spikes are made of dragonsteel, as stated in this book.
El, the fused, replaces his carapace with metal. Is he trying to imitate dragons? If so, why?
Spoilers…
So I guessed Huck was Charlie fairly early on as soon as Huck started to ramble on about a story but I didn’t spot the direct repetition of loquacious. My other main thought while reading was, oh this has to be Charlie because Brandon had stated that this story had a stronger romance plot line and a good romance novel wouldn’t keep the main two characters separate for the majority of the novel
The moment Hoid mentioned his curse I instantly thought “sigh* the rat is Charlie isn’t it” then presided to gas light myself into thinking that couldn’t possibly be true
WOA spoilers
I did not pick up on Charlie being Huck until the book spelled it out for me. I am not American, so I could not have picked up un Charlie->Chuck->Huck. But mostly, I think my mind had latched on to other alternatives. I thought either he was a weird sort of Aimian, or some of Hoids intelligence was trapped in Huck, or that he actually was a familiar and that BS just wanted to introduce that concept. I was like, oh, now I have to look out for familiars in other stories going forward.
All of this feels completely opposite of in WOA, where I picked up on the Kandra twist immediately and got all these confirmations in text along the way strengthening my thoughts. This time, I did not clue in, and therefore did not get the confirmations along the way :) I really loved the twist!
I accidentally called Huck "Chuck" in my head, and then everything slid into place
Haven't watched the princess bride, the rat being Charlie was immediately obvious as soon as Huck starts going on tangents and Tress relaxes to it, it was the most obvious twist ever and I love it so much and it's great
I guessed the Huck reveal in chapter 29, when Huck said he grew up on a lonely island very far away.
9:00 Ian, have you read Robin Hobb? Ship of Magic is excellent sailing fantasy!
@17thShard Glad you're all ok, Eric! So excited for this one 🌿✨
I figured out the Huck reveal when Hoid said that stories would be shorter if the lady of the story would "look and realize she already had what she had been looking for all along." He gave three examples of how characters could be smarter, and I have read enough Brandon that I was already looking for hints at the ending so that stood out to me, and there was only one way for Charlie to be close to her already.
I loved this book so much, it really hit home in a lot of ways and it's a perfect little Cosmere book. I also have to agree that it is a great intro book. It's the Cosmere's Fairy Tail. The Podcast Argent mentioned is called Inking out loud if anyone is curious
I don't love all the art but I do love the shipwreck one so much I actually contacted HL on his website to ask if a metal print of it would ever be made available. (his team said maybe - they hope so)
I guessed it like three chapters after Huck showed up...and then completely convinced myself it wasn't the case and forgot about it until the like a few lines before the reveal
In the spanish version, Hoid says that he said "I did this for your own good" TO 16 other people. Like, he said that TO the Shards, not to other people along with the Shards
Even in the English edition, it's pretty clear that he's alluding to the original Shards there.
As soon as the rat talked my mind went to three possibilities: kandra, sleepless, or Charlie. I discounted kandra, because we've never seen them that small, but I was on the sleepless train so much that I forgot about my Charlie idea. As the story went on and Huck kept saying he was going to land to talk to his fellow talking rats I started to think he was just a talking rat, forgetting that every time we're at dock our POV is conveniently away from Huck. I felt so dumb once I figured it out around Huck's "betrayal".
Is anyone else weirded out by the line “that’s why the father invented scalpels.” Isn’t that what the kandra use to refer to the lord ruler? Did the lord ruler invent scalpels?
Also, up until the “they can fly” clue, I was convinced it was the cobbler from the stormlight interludes. Very much a glass half full kinda guy, bonded to a spren, and his shoe making skills are in high demand
The game changer audience crossover :)
I was able to guess that Charlie was huck. Mostly because it fits the story. The person you've been traveling with ends up being the person you're looking for all along. The prince is shapeshifted.
I think in text support came from the obvious curse of the rat not being able to talk about the sorceress the same way hoid isn't.
But i wasn't really put off by the talking rat. It seemed like a small jump from the ryshadium to talking familiars via some kind of bonding familiar magic
i love the smaller channels popping to my recos since the release of tress of the emerald sea 💚
I ending up guessing Huck's identity beacuse there was a line along the lines of "finding out what you were looking for was in front of you all along" in reference to heroes. that set the lightbulb off.
I had a feeling that Huck was gonna be Charlie when he started telling Tress long and involved stories to soothe her 💖
"Who else when they got _Dawnshard_ did a CTRL-F for 'Dawnshard'?"
Not me; that would have been a great way to hit massive spoilers!
Yeah, that's the idea. -Eric
Random thought: Tress could definitely become a knights radiant. Definitely has journey before destination figured out
Random thought 2: could Hoid be a dragon?
Super late to the party but I guessed Huck was Charlie when he started telling Tress about his visit to the island and was rambling about bell towers and gardens. Also if Huck wasn’t Charlie I was positive we’d have gotten a Charlie perspective from his prison.
So excited for this episode! Thanks for all your efforts and getting it out so soon!
Look at the dragon in this book then go look at the Whelan cover for Dragonsbane. It's pretty clear he wanted Cosmere dragons to be a homage to the book that got him passionate about fantasy and changed his life.
Now that I've finally read Tress (after borrowing a friend's physical copy because I hate reading any other format and waited as long as I could for my own) I was finally able to listen to this podcast and it was great, and also here's my comment for the algorithm, even if it's less effective after the first month or so afaik
I did guess basically after Huck's first appearance in the book, who he really was. besides the fact that I just had an intuitive feel that this was the kind of story where we gotta get to see the main boy invovled from early on and not absent for the entirety of the actual journey, the thing that got it confimred for me was how his rambling comforted Tress just the same way she was comforted by Charlie. so I'm quite shocked the cast of the podcast here mostly didn't guess it. it looked to me as clear as day from the getgo. so when the doppleganger arrived, I was so mad at Tress for not having realized the truth immediately.
Haven't finished the book yet. So only listening to spoiler free section for now. Hope to listen to the rest shortly!
I guessed the Huck thing when Hoid literally said that people goes on adventure just to find out that they had what the wanted on their shoulder. The hint was so straight up blunt and funny.
Honestly I just love the romance in this book! It's just so...Vaniila. They're so nice to each other and that 'pair of gloves' was very Awwwww.
Charlie and Tress are a breath of fresh air in fantasy. Also, it's funny that their romance is so cute in this terrifying world of spores
Finally! Can't wait to get to the cosmere connections episode, so much more than I thought we'd get
I picked it up when Hoid said “and sometime what you’re looking for is right in front you and you never know it” or something like that.
I figured out Huck was Charlie as soon as we met him on the smuggler ship. There was some line about how sometimes girls go on adventures and find that the thing they were searching for was something they already had. Something like that and it was within a chapter of meeting him and I immediately knew that Huck was Charlie. And then he kept talking a lot, just like Charlie and it was basically confirmed.
I genuinely believed during half of the book that Huck was part of a Sleepless swarm, cuz I remember them saying that they mutated members of their swarm to imitate common pests from the place they are exploring/staying in
I guessed immediately that huck was Charlie. Because that's just how fairy tales work. There is even foreshadowing in one of the stories that Chuck said when he was pretending to be the gardener.
Regarding this novel as an "introductory" Cosmere novel, I would agree that for the most part this is great. I happen to be guiding my younger brother through his first read through of the Cosmere, and he's in the middle of MB Era 1 at the moment. So for him, given the casual references to Sazed in a manner that somewhat implies the ending of HoA, I told him, "read Tress after you finish era 1+SH."
But for the most part, despite the massive wealth of Cosmere that was present in this novel, the characters aren't expected to understand it- so it doesn't come off as condescending if a reader doesn't understand it. So basically, no matter where you slot it in, this book just works really well. 10/10 book, I am incapable of being normal about it.
I agree with this. I feel if your someone who likes this kind of fairy tale style book could pick it up and become interested in the wider cosmere. It really only spoils MB Era 1 imo. And you could start them with elantris so the name sazed might not be immediately present in their mind so after the conclusion on Era 1 they might have a nice facepalm.
I guessed that Huck was charlie when it is first mention ofhandedly that Huck was intentionally going to the rock
Ian says Howard Lyon blew it out of the water. I def agree but I'd say he blew it out of the spores lol.
Before I watch the video I just want to say how much I appreciate you guys and all the work you do. Wish you all the best for this new year that just started!
As a small defense of the not glowing elantrian art- i was just listening to the elantris graphic audio and found the following lines:
"Elantrian skin was so silvery some people claimed it glowed"
"It did, not brightly, but when my father walked into a dark room you could see his outline." (Elantris graphic audio part 3 ~8min)
Seems likely you wouldn't illustrate the glow, though the skin could have been more silver
I guess the rat reveal when he was telling Tress about how to find out if someone is cursed if you "ASK THEM DIRECTLY" which seemed loaded with hope that she'd ask him, especially with all the talk about how the curse can't block all attempts to stop them from seeking help.
The following is a series of Discord Messages I sent to my homie on January 18th 2023:
Also, I'm only on chapter 18, but this rat is definitely Charlie
It was talking about how Tress was the only person who hasn't tried to capture, kill, or sell him, and that has an interesting double meaning if the rat is Charlie.
Hoyd was even like "there's a lot of things I could tell you about why the rat and her got along so quickly" or something like that.
I love the chapter numbers, the aether changes and grows around the number
Edit- also another piece for it being in first of the sun is that hoid said that although sea creatures are common for you but for tress they dont know what those are so its unnatural for a spine to move like that
The chapter title "The Survivor" is one hell of a good troll
Just wanted to throw this out there, I feel like their are stories about the moon being an egg. Specifically Dragon egg. What if each of the Aether moons corresponds to a dragon? The Emerald feel like Cultivation
I figured out the Charlie thing pretty early, when he said his name was... Huck.
I also loved the art so much!
Huck reveal....
I guessed it pretty early. I don't remember which happened first, but my two big clues were when Huck was describing the Soceress's curse, supposedly talking about Hoid but "to me" obviously talking about himself, and then after the shore leave Huck telling stories about his time in the town. One gave me the idea and the other sealed it for me.
A friend of mine figured it out immediately when Huck introduced himself.
Having the context that it was inspired by/along the lines of The Princess Bride, I suspected the rat right away- then he gave his name as Huck, and I knew for sure. I began to doubt approaching the reveal, but was vindicated not long after.
I really liked this book. It is definitely among my favorites. I'm with my lady GatorGirl, I don't love to rank them as they are all good. However, I really loved how this story was told. I loved how fun it was to listen to.
I knew Charlie was Huck because when Charlie talks about hoids curse, he says “it’s HIS curse so it won’t matter if I talk about it right” which implied he has a curse on him as well
Feels like I've been waiting forever for this episode!
I guessed Huck was Charlie when Tress was listening to him tell stories from going onshore to the dock.
I guessed it when Huk was talking about how you could talk about a curse with a cursed person if you talk about "someone else" or a "story"
Regarding the Talking rat Reveal: my wife and I have been reading out loud. And I stopped and guessed that he was Charlie right after the spy mission play recounting. It just felt so much like something Charlie would do. It Felt very confirmed about halfway through the book when she is working on spores and he is soothing her by just talking and talking about the island they left.
I thought I was smart for figuring it out right as they entered the midnight sea but others figured it out immediately. I was expecting them to be captured and I started thinking what would be the curse that the sorceress would put on Tress and when I thought of it I realized immediately that he said he was specifically heading to the rock when we first met him and it all clicked.
I'll share my theory from when I was about 25% through - I thought the talking rat was a part of Hoid. It was because of the bit where he insisted on Tress acting out the other roles in the conversation he spied on. It just seemed like such a Hoidish thing to make someone do so I theorised that Hoid's curse involved splitting a piece of his personality off and dumping it in a rat leaving two Hoids that are both a bit crazy. It seemed sound at the time but the back up theory won in the end.
You know, historically speaking, Ian and I have seemed to hold similar opinions on Cosmere matters. So, needless to say, when I heard his opening opinion I had a moment of revelry, knowing that Shardcast was once again representing my-very clearly always correct-opinions via Ian. But then, comments were made regarding Rings of Power......I am betrayed......I no longer have representation among Shardcast......and I am okay with that.
Anyway, to more important matters, I kind of did and didn't see the Charlie reveal coming. When Huck was first introduced, I was very bothered by the idea of a talking animal in the Cosmere. I lost myself in the science of the magic and was trying to figure out how such a thing occurred. I quickly noticed the similarities to Charlie, and the fact that Huck didn't seem very experienced at being a rat, but I dismissed the possibility of a full body transformation because we've not seen magic in the Cosmere deal with that big of a mass discrepancy before. So I was convinced that Huck was either a familiar that had become bonded to Charlie, and thus was mimicking some of his character traits, or Huck was a rat that had been stabbed with a hemalurgic spike containing Charlie's intelligence. I knew there had to be some connection, but I was very wrong about what that connection ended up being.
In my defense, I read the book in one sitting, so I didn't have a lot of time to theorize.
Midnight Essence _is_ the "Aether of *Night".*
The suggestion to look at the pdf was great! such awesome artwork!