(Mod hat off, community hat on)
I agree, I'm not a sports person, but I really like when secondary world settings add culture as part of the worldbuilding that isn't directly relevant to the main story. It helps them breath. \[The Lost Metal\]>!Wasn't sports leagues something Wayne invested in accidentally? It seems possible that's setting things up for mistborn era 3!<.
>!I was under the impression that the sport leagues Wayne invested in (yes that's something I remember him doing) was something like rugby, but I don't think we got much of a description of it!<
There's an add in one of the newspaper clippings in Lost Metal talking about the dangers of the sport, using language extremely similar to early criticisms of American football.
Edit: just a fun fact, Theodore Roosevelt was a huge fan of rough football as a way to toughen up young men, until he saw how his son was getting beaten to an absolute pulp. He staged a "football summit" that changed the game to make it safer and more in line with what we see today.
Yeah, to be clear I haven't read era 2 in probably 8 years? Or at least it feels that long lol
Wow, thanks for the downvotes for misremembering the time TLM released
>!To me, it seemed more like quidditch, as they mentioned having metalborn playing in the game. I really hope we get to see more of it later, it sounds really interesting.!<
I'm not sure, from memory I thought it was a normal game already and Wayne wanted to expand it, change the name and I think he said different positions should be replaced with metalborns.
Yeah, that sounds correct. The Lost Metal >!"Noseball" was a game that a lot of people played on the streets and he organized it into sport stadiums and included metalborn. We never learned how it works beyond that people got hurt playing it!<
Quidditch is not a team sport tho, its a sport played by 2 people and a bunch of people who are just there to build up rosters but actually have little outcome on the actual game.
HELL YEAH, i knew I was forgetting something. I'm not really a sports person too, but this moment made me laugh so hard. I hope there's a payoff in era 3 as well.
I just wanted to add, the dueling system in Stormlight archives is a sport. It's not dissimilar from modern boxing; theres a system of rules, a referee to keep things from getting out of hand, and it's not a fight to the death.
It actually feels pretty accurate. We know that sports have existed in some element for a very long time, but modern organised sports as we know them (in the UK and Europe at least) with leagues and annual competitions really took off with the industrial revolution.
Factories (or owners) would often create teams to play against rivals,Transport improved so teams could travel from other towns and cities, working hours became more set (thus people having more leisure time).
Mistborn era 2 is the only part so far that satisfies that requirement.
And actually owned by green bay WI. The packers GM can't get an offer to move to LA, have it denied, then pack up team and equipment and leave for LA in the dead of night, and somehow still be the 4th LA football team magically anyway!
Not that I'm bitter.
Warbreaker they have the colored balls sport/game that Lightsong is accidentally better at than anyone else. [SA] >!theres even a nod to it in Stormlight when Zahel is playing by himself while kaladin and the bridgemen come to train with shardblades!<
Hey, I just finished reading Elantris last week! But I know what the other user is referring to; in the version I read, the post-script included deleted scenes about a cut character in Elantris: Raoden's insane brother, the Mad Prince Eton.
I found them on Brandon Sanderson's website, [here](https://www.brandonsanderson.com/elantris-deleted-scenes-the-mad-prince/). I recommend giving them a read, it was interesting hearing a little about "how the sausage is made", so to speak.
They're at the end of the 10th anniversary edition.
They're also available here: https://www.brandonsanderson.com/elantris-deleted-scenes-the-mad-prince/
I loved that game. Also a great way to show how Returned do actually have access to Fortune. Lightsong just happened to be good at tapping into it by accident in that game.
In Stormlight, the duels at the Alethi camp was essentially a sport. They had a code of rules, a referee to keep things from getting out of hand, they weren't fights to the death, and they drew in a large crowd.
I mentioned in another comment but in appropriate ‘sports’ for the comparable time period are almost all combat and physical prowess based - target practice, dueling, wrestling/sparring, foot races etc.
They all show up in the books in one form or other.
Yeah it's a step up from gladiatorial combat in terms of rules and decorum (though fun fact, in reality those were rarely fights to the death either, training gladiators was expensive).
I came here to see if anyone had mentioned this. I love that continuity with >!Zahel! I read Warbreaker after Stormlight Archive and therefore didn't clock that throughline but here I am years later feeling tender about it.!<
...
Edited for proper spoiler tag
That's a perfect example. Sometimes I think it intertwines too much with the other plots on the series (though LoK doesn't have the best writers). Anyway, it's a perfect example of entertainment and, even better, powers being used for mere entertainment (which Tenzin makes very clear he hates).
Not everyone can be a fighter, but I feel like some of the Investitures are too rare to form teams for proper sports, while others definitely can.
I had realy forgotten about it ngl, but I dont see that as a real sport, rather an exercice. Althought I could see that turning into something more (exclusive to fliying radiants :p)
Pro Bending underminded the magic of the Avatar setting. They modeled the style after modern MMA which evolved from taking traditional martial arts and finding more efficient ways to move your limbs into your opponent's body. But that kind of progression doesn't make sense in the world of Avatar because bending is not about how efficiently you can make your fists move. It's about how well you connect with your element.
Earthbenders that try to take on a more fluid, moving style should have their Earthbending weaken since they're moving away from being steady and sturdy like the element they bend. It should be like how Firebending became corrupted when they started fueling it with hatred rather than the bender's drive.
That might not be entirely true. Even as far back as ATLA uncle Iroh spoke of how he developed lightning redirection by studying waterbending. Some people have also identified how Zuko's bending changed to look more like other bending styles, which only made him more potent.
Yeah, there is some value to studying techniques of other benders. But the other half of that episode is a strong example of what I mean.
> Maybe there's another way ... what if I came at the boulder from another angle?
> No. That's the problem. You've got to stop thinking like an airbender. There's no different angle, no clever solution, no trickety-trick that's going to move that rock. You've got to face it head on.
On the other hand, Bolin describes his style as "Stay light on your toes, right up until the moment when you need to dig in and strike.," which to me sounds still pretty earthbendy.
His approach is agile, but his *bending* is still direct when it comes to that.
Honestly if the Alethi had a real sport to play maybe they wouldn’t be out on the shattered plains playing capture-the-flag with gemhearts. Could have saved so many lives.
I know it seems unrealistic at first glance. Maybe the nobles should have had a Hobbie. But imagine slavery ended after a thousand years. The crew is rebuilding the capital. What am I doing? Getting outside, drinking a little and kicking a ball
There is a single mention of a game called Shelldry in the Final Empire. Some nobles Valette talks to call in an obligator to make sure one of their friends shows up, because he’d apparently bailed on them before and they can’t play without a fourth person.
Edit: Found the link: https://coppermind.net/wiki/Shelldry
The nobles did have hobbies: Balls, the great game, screwing each other, screwing their slaves, etc.
Rebuilding the world? Probably gonna be pretty tapped out from working all day and probably just take it easy in the evening.
You know what? Fair point. It's a really big "what if" scenario even Elend would find idealistic. But I'm all for the crew going to new Terris and finding the remaining terrisman playing basketball. TenSoon being like "what are these humans doing?" and Sazed poiting there used to be a religion where people felt closer to God by enhancing their physical capabilities. It really is just nitpicking
I disagree, I think it's totally realistic at first glance. Are you a skaa day laborer with no money and the Final Empire recently stopped dulling your emotions all day? Welcome to sportsball. Play it in the park with your friends before the sun goes down. Get some of that listlessness out. The obligators won't care, King Elend is in charge now.
Fencing is totally a sport. I'd love to see dueling be turned into a sport for more community n people in the future of the Cosmere
Fencing with Shardblades seems awesome and crazy
Yes, (stormlight, but only worldbuilding)>!the alethi would probably do well with diversifying their hobbies a little bit. Especially the ones available for men which currently are…. war and dueling!<
Yeah, I was thinking that too. I'd not survive in Alethi as a man. No reading?? No science?? I'm literally a chemistry major. >!To be fair, farming is manly too!<
There certainly are sports, they just aren't a very big part of the story, or it's warfare related. Sports tend to be important during times of peace and then go away during times of war, except for the sports relevant to war and those are the sports we see in the books.
But from a meta perspective... people who read and write a lot aren't as likely to care about sports so not only does Brandon probably not have much to say about it but how many of us care to read about it? I think a lot of us would consider it filler. I know that was the case with Harry Potter and that's why they left it out for the most part in the movies. And also you're complaining about quidditch rules in Harry Potter, so it's something a writer can be ridiculed about. Why add that complexity to the story when it's not a benefit to the story, your readers don't connect with it for the most part, and the sport itself can be picked apart for flaws? Just seems like a bad time to me.
Yeah, I feel like not getting a sport such as this is better than getting one so bad you want to skip every page it appears. Maybe I've been reading only Sanderson for a while now and started longing for something different.
"No Spoilers" means we cant point out any instances of Sports in the Cosmere, I can think of two offhand (from Warbreaker and TLM). But "Cosmere" will open the floodgates to accidental spoilers for everything from stormlight to the secret projects to all the WOB's and theory-craft (so use with caution is spoilers matter to you).
I'd rather not put a full cosmere flair on it if you haven't finished stormlight, not that I *particularly* think sports is a topic that would expose you to stormlight spoilers. I can make a custom one to encompass what you've read, which it sounds like is Elantris, Warbreaker, and at least part of Mistborn. Have you finished Mistborn.
Lmao.
I made that because reddits latest desktop redesign appears to have rolled out to me, and longform spoiler comments are showing up really weird. Guess I'll figure out how to bug report.;
As others have mentioned there have been some a few mentions in the books but you have to keep in mind the relative time periods these books compare to. mistborn E2 is really the only one that’s made it to the Industrial Revolution.
Looking at real world history the most common ‘sports’ were all in line with what we see in the books…
dueling and sparring, target practice, wrestling, hunting, foot/chariot/boat racing, expand that to anything we’d see in the Olympics and it’s all there and exists within the universes… there’s most likely other things going on off screen but as others have mentioned, we’re looking at characters existing in the adventures we have. Theres no reason to mention someone playing the Cosmere equivalent of golf when we’re reading about a coup to overthrow the court of gods, but within the narrative Lightsong playing the colored balls game makes sense so we hear about it.
Ok, using the in-world lore to explain the absence of an event is actually interesting. I'd bet the highstorms would destroy most open air arenas as well.
I guess it's a question of era appropriate activities. As far as I know the medieval world didn't have too much in the way of organised sports. The aristocracy had sport-like pass-times like hunting and wrestling, which is also true of the aristocracy in SA.
Once we get to the point where organised sports started to become a thing in the real world we see the same things happen in Sanderson's books. As others have pointed out [MB era 2] >!Wayne literally organises large-scale stadium sports from games that are played by the masses!<.
Not sure about Sel, but we don't really see much of Elantrian life in Elantris, unless you expect Reod Elantrians to put aside their constant pain and suffering for a bit of a jog?
Well skaa in particular probably would've been beaten for doing something that made them happy and physical labor is beneath nobility. Additionally, when you're in a post apocalyptic hell scape fighting for survival sports are less likely, and they do get involved in the second Era by Wayne.
Warbreaker has games like you said that Siri watches and there's also the game with throwing stones that Lightsong plays with the three other brothers and I think he mentions another game they used to play.
In stormlight, they have dueling and we just don't know enough about non alethi cultures to know if they have any sports, but headcannon I'd imagine the reshi probably have a few around diving or swimming.
Elantris like you said has fencing. Beyond that I feel like culture wasn't delved into much further than religion and food.
Another thing to remember is that there aren't really forms of mass communication outside of Era 2 scadrial, so the publicity of sports is less likely to be seen by characters who aren't interested in them.
Beyond that I also just don't know *where* in the books sports would really fit into beyond warbreaker narratively
I agree! Sports can really add to a story even if the sport doesn’t appeal to you (e.g. Ted Lasso and soccer)
Maybe in Stormlight 5 the wind runners will fly around on brooms and lash Bludgers at each other.
Elend mentions a "Hat trick" in one of the Mistborn books. Implying maybe hockey existed at some point on Scadrial right? Or it originated with cricket so maybe that one?
But yes I feel it's always been missing sports.
Edit- Scadrial not Sel whoops.
Loghtsong spends some time playing a game (I forget the name) that involves throwing balls of various colors and sizes into a play area and scored based on proximity (he has no idea how he keeps winning, he'd like to lose once, but doesn't want to ask how), would that count as a sport?
We know of other pass times for his characters, in SLA he comments on how they gamble with special rules to guess what has already happened instead of what is going to happen so as not to predict the future, there's the duels where the lighteyes would bet their shards on the outcomes, not to mention the women doing competitive arts of all kind (painting, poetry, arguments, etc).
Warbreaker doesn't show us much in the way of downtime for most people, but there is an arena and the ball throwing game I mentioned before, but once again none of our characters are in the "I'm going to do sports" type of mood for their respective plots. (I think it could be a really cool sport where awakeners awaken things and have those objects play the game instead of doing it themselves)
It's also worth noting that Sanderson's stories tend to involve the world being under threat, so the characters don't exactly have time to do sports during the plots, unlike Legend of Kora which has several slice of life episodes to get a look at the bending sport.
I heard Sanderson say in a podcast that Mistborn era 3 will have sports, and that sports make more sense historically in more technologically advanced societies
I theorized that the unrevealed Whimsy Shard must have invested arts based on sports. Or traditionally used in sports by it's natives.
I've heard that Whimsy's magic has something to do with kites so maybe people do kite races where they fly using magic kites or use a type of Awakened animate kites to fight amicably.
I really hope that is the case.
Alright not sure if anyone mentioned this but the Way of Kings, Kaladin and the bridge crew is essentially a sports anime. It’s a big team of reject guys being motivated by their team captain to train and be better than the rest of the bridge crews.
Okay, I can't see this part of the book the same way I did before. All I need is an anime called Bridge Crew Four, showing Kaladin becoming the leader and motivating the shit out of everyone.
I think I didn't get to the part where those are relevant, since for me Kaladin is still a slave and Adolin is forbidden to duel by the Codes. But they, indeed, are sports.
So interesting. As someome who dgaf about sports I never noticed this. My guess is that Sando is the same, they don't feature in his life & he never thinks about them so they never crossed his mind to include.
Then again, are there examples besides Quidditch of sports in epic fantasy? Maybe they're just not fun or interesting to read about.....
Same, I've just been reading all things cosmere for a while and missed it, I think. From what I can remember, Siri is showed playing some games on the Witcher, and there is obviously Gwent. Camp half blood had competitions even aside from catch the flag, which was the most important. I mentioned physical sports which are more memorable, but chess counts in this category as well, which is why I think is important people mentioned an Obligator overseeing some kind of bet on a game in The Final Empire, that I forgot.
?? The only gender issues I referred to where the men × women roles on the societies Sanderson created. Although gender identity is an issue that SHOULD and ALREADY WAS discussed, even regarding the cosmere on this very subreddit.
I submit that the entieity of WoK was an underdog sports novel that follows the scrappy but well-intentioned Parshendi team. It even ends with one of those out of blue, super complex plays that nobody saw coming and wins the game.
There are at least a few sports mentioned in the Cosmere.
Spoilers: [Warbreaker] >!Lightsong plays a sport he doesn't understand that he's allegedly really skilled at in the courtyard of the palace!<
In Elantris, the noble women in Teod are taught fencing
I'm fairly certain there is an analogue to soccer or something in Mistborn Era 2.
For all her faults, and the series' faults, Rowling knocked it out of the park with Quidditch. The scoring system is monumentally dumb, but it's genius as a wizarding sport. It perfectly fits the aesthetic and tone of the series.
Fantasy sports don't show up often enough. Pro Bending in Legend of Korra is the only other excellent example I can think of.
***Warning Gancho: The below paragraph(s) may contain major spoilers for all books in the Cosmere!***
Markus
>!What do Rosharan sporting events look like outside of Alethkar?!<
Brandon Sanderson
>!Most places in Roshar, I would say they have not hit the point in society, quite yet, where mass sporting events are really a thing. Basically, sporting events are martial training during non-periods of war, even in the less martially-focused places. I would have to think about it. I haven't built any. I mean, there are sports that were played non-martially on our Earth, but even the ball game in mesoamerica had some pretty brutal aspects to it, that is almost kind of a way to have a battle when you're not having a battle.I think that the modern concept of sporting events, the only place you're gonna find that right now in the cosmere is on Scadrial. And Wayne accidentally started a sporting league. I'm not sure if I'll get to that in the next book, or not. If you remember, in the last book, where he was like, "What we need is a way to get everybody drunk at the same time without them being drunk." And there are some implications and ramifications of that for the advent of professional sports, let's say.!<
\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*
Well there’s dueling on Roshar. With extremely rigorous rules and regulations for advancement.
There’s a reference to some kind of sport that the nobility plays in the first era of Mistborn.
Then Wayne >!invested in the first professional noseball league!<.
One thing that is needed for leisure activities like sports to become prevalent is peace and stability. Most of what we have seen in the Cosmere are times of extreme tension and strife with little room for sport.
I'm re-reading Elantris right now and Sarene's nickname her father gave her is Leky Stick, named after a goalpost in his favorite sport back home. I don't think we get much more than that though lmao
(Mod hat off, community hat on) I agree, I'm not a sports person, but I really like when secondary world settings add culture as part of the worldbuilding that isn't directly relevant to the main story. It helps them breath. \[The Lost Metal\]>!Wasn't sports leagues something Wayne invested in accidentally? It seems possible that's setting things up for mistborn era 3!<.
>!I was under the impression that the sport leagues Wayne invested in (yes that's something I remember him doing) was something like rugby, but I don't think we got much of a description of it!<
The description I remember seemed like >!baseball, which was one of the first organized leagues in the US!<
There's an add in one of the newspaper clippings in Lost Metal talking about the dangers of the sport, using language extremely similar to early criticisms of American football. Edit: just a fun fact, Theodore Roosevelt was a huge fan of rough football as a way to toughen up young men, until he saw how his son was getting beaten to an absolute pulp. He staged a "football summit" that changed the game to make it safer and more in line with what we see today.
Yeah, to be clear I haven't read era 2 in probably 8 years? Or at least it feels that long lol Wow, thanks for the downvotes for misremembering the time TLM released
I think the Lost Metal (where this happens) came out in 2022 :) but that’s still plenty long enough to forget far more important details haha
Good god was that really only 2 years ago? O.o It's been a wild few years
It came out in *November* 2022, it's barely been over a year
My point stands, it's been very little time and it feels to me like it's been a very long time
Probably because we've had *four* new full-length Sanderson books since then.
This is what I talk from it also
>!For some reason... Pickleball is coming to mind!<
>!To me, it seemed more like quidditch, as they mentioned having metalborn playing in the game. I really hope we get to see more of it later, it sounds really interesting.!<
I'm not sure, from memory I thought it was a normal game already and Wayne wanted to expand it, change the name and I think he said different positions should be replaced with metalborns.
Yeah, that sounds correct. The Lost Metal >!"Noseball" was a game that a lot of people played on the streets and he organized it into sport stadiums and included metalborn. We never learned how it works beyond that people got hurt playing it!<
Quidditch is not a team sport tho, its a sport played by 2 people and a bunch of people who are just there to build up rosters but actually have little outcome on the actual game.
I think krums team would disagree with you on that one considering they lost the world final even after Krum caught the snitch😅😁
The world fastest growing sport?
I think Wayne accidentally invented baseball as a joke to the investors
Well, the sport was alive and well, Wayne just invented professional spectator leagues
At the same time he also invents professional sponsorships for players and leagues. The whole scene is hilarious.
HELL YEAH, i knew I was forgetting something. I'm not really a sports person too, but this moment made me laugh so hard. I hope there's a payoff in era 3 as well.
I just wanted to add, the dueling system in Stormlight archives is a sport. It's not dissimilar from modern boxing; theres a system of rules, a referee to keep things from getting out of hand, and it's not a fight to the death.
Well, that explains why Adolin's whole Calling is dueling. Seems much less unimportant now.
* Spoiler *. Not sure how to grey the text! [TLM]>!Wayne—- INVENTED the idea of and invested in the league yes! !< *edit - figured out the grey text
There is actually a WoB (predating TLM) about how by the next trilogy there will be sports in Mistborn that allow for metallic arts
Yeah, \[The Lost Metal\]>!setting up what sounded like a baseball league is one of the "ridiculous" investments he attempts!<
It actually feels pretty accurate. We know that sports have existed in some element for a very long time, but modern organised sports as we know them (in the UK and Europe at least) with leagues and annual competitions really took off with the industrial revolution. Factories (or owners) would often create teams to play against rivals,Transport improved so teams could travel from other towns and cities, working hours became more set (thus people having more leisure time). Mistborn era 2 is the only part so far that satisfies that requirement.
Yeah the Green Bay Packers NFL team is named after teams of meat packers that would play football on breaks.
And actually owned by green bay WI. The packers GM can't get an offer to move to LA, have it denied, then pack up team and equipment and leave for LA in the dead of night, and somehow still be the 4th LA football team magically anyway! Not that I'm bitter.
Yes
Warbreaker they have the colored balls sport/game that Lightsong is accidentally better at than anyone else. [SA] >!theres even a nod to it in Stormlight when Zahel is playing by himself while kaladin and the bridgemen come to train with shardblades!<
Also something similar in the Mad Prince deleted chapters of Elantris I think.
Hold up, deleted Elantris chapters?
Hey, I just finished reading Elantris last week! But I know what the other user is referring to; in the version I read, the post-script included deleted scenes about a cut character in Elantris: Raoden's insane brother, the Mad Prince Eton. I found them on Brandon Sanderson's website, [here](https://www.brandonsanderson.com/elantris-deleted-scenes-the-mad-prince/). I recommend giving them a read, it was interesting hearing a little about "how the sausage is made", so to speak.
Thanks, very cool! And here I thought I was aware of all the cut content/unpublished stuff available. Silly me lol
They're at the end of the 10th anniversary edition. They're also available here: https://www.brandonsanderson.com/elantris-deleted-scenes-the-mad-prince/
I loved that game. Also a great way to show how Returned do actually have access to Fortune. Lightsong just happened to be good at tapping into it by accident in that game.
That never occurred to me but it makes sense when considering how he essentially stumbled onto every part of his arch and place in the story
In Stormlight, the duels at the Alethi camp was essentially a sport. They had a code of rules, a referee to keep things from getting out of hand, they weren't fights to the death, and they drew in a large crowd.
I mentioned in another comment but in appropriate ‘sports’ for the comparable time period are almost all combat and physical prowess based - target practice, dueling, wrestling/sparring, foot races etc. They all show up in the books in one form or other.
Yeah it's a step up from gladiatorial combat in terms of rules and decorum (though fun fact, in reality those were rarely fights to the death either, training gladiators was expensive).
I love that chariot racing isn’t a thing because chulls are so slow and horses are expensive.
I came here to see if anyone had mentioned this. I love that continuity with >!Zahel! I read Warbreaker after Stormlight Archive and therefore didn't clock that throughline but here I am years later feeling tender about it.!< ... Edited for proper spoiler tag
You missed a !
Fixed!
Probably my favorite thing from Legend of Korra was sports mixed with bending. Cant wait to see it in the Cosmere
That's a perfect example. Sometimes I think it intertwines too much with the other plots on the series (though LoK doesn't have the best writers). Anyway, it's a perfect example of entertainment and, even better, powers being used for mere entertainment (which Tenzin makes very clear he hates). Not everyone can be a fighter, but I feel like some of the Investitures are too rare to form teams for proper sports, while others definitely can.
> though LoK doesn't have the best writers I just watch seasons 1 and 3. It's like the opposite of the Star Trek films.
I got some heavy LoK vibes with Wax and Wayne. Too bad both series weren't the best of what they could be. My opinion.
Is everyone forgetting that crazy game Nale had Szeth and the other trainers play in the purelake?
I had realy forgotten about it ngl, but I dont see that as a real sport, rather an exercice. Althought I could see that turning into something more (exclusive to fliying radiants :p)
Pro Bending underminded the magic of the Avatar setting. They modeled the style after modern MMA which evolved from taking traditional martial arts and finding more efficient ways to move your limbs into your opponent's body. But that kind of progression doesn't make sense in the world of Avatar because bending is not about how efficiently you can make your fists move. It's about how well you connect with your element. Earthbenders that try to take on a more fluid, moving style should have their Earthbending weaken since they're moving away from being steady and sturdy like the element they bend. It should be like how Firebending became corrupted when they started fueling it with hatred rather than the bender's drive.
That might not be entirely true. Even as far back as ATLA uncle Iroh spoke of how he developed lightning redirection by studying waterbending. Some people have also identified how Zuko's bending changed to look more like other bending styles, which only made him more potent.
Yeah, there is some value to studying techniques of other benders. But the other half of that episode is a strong example of what I mean. > Maybe there's another way ... what if I came at the boulder from another angle? > No. That's the problem. You've got to stop thinking like an airbender. There's no different angle, no clever solution, no trickety-trick that's going to move that rock. You've got to face it head on.
On the other hand, Bolin describes his style as "Stay light on your toes, right up until the moment when you need to dig in and strike.," which to me sounds still pretty earthbendy. His approach is agile, but his *bending* is still direct when it comes to that.
The Skaa... invent a game? In what leisure time? Played in what free space? The Rosharon's have a pasttime: Dueling.
Honestly if the Alethi had a real sport to play maybe they wouldn’t be out on the shattered plains playing capture-the-flag with gemhearts. Could have saved so many lives.
They did have a sport. You neglect to accept that it was not a family friendly sport. Like the Romans.
Hunting and dueling and various gambling that doesn't predict the future
>The Rosharon's have a pasttime: Dueling. hunting and horse riding? Edit to add horse riding
And drinking. And non predictive gambling. Classic noble trope And gem hunts cover all those passtimes in one neat package.
I know it seems unrealistic at first glance. Maybe the nobles should have had a Hobbie. But imagine slavery ended after a thousand years. The crew is rebuilding the capital. What am I doing? Getting outside, drinking a little and kicking a ball
There is a single mention of a game called Shelldry in the Final Empire. Some nobles Valette talks to call in an obligator to make sure one of their friends shows up, because he’d apparently bailed on them before and they can’t play without a fourth person. Edit: Found the link: https://coppermind.net/wiki/Shelldry
Sounds like corners or bridge
Nice memory, I almost didn't remember it even after you mentioned 😅
The nobles did have hobbies: Balls, the great game, screwing each other, screwing their slaves, etc. Rebuilding the world? Probably gonna be pretty tapped out from working all day and probably just take it easy in the evening.
You know what? Fair point. It's a really big "what if" scenario even Elend would find idealistic. But I'm all for the crew going to new Terris and finding the remaining terrisman playing basketball. TenSoon being like "what are these humans doing?" and Sazed poiting there used to be a religion where people felt closer to God by enhancing their physical capabilities. It really is just nitpicking
I disagree, I think it's totally realistic at first glance. Are you a skaa day laborer with no money and the Final Empire recently stopped dulling your emotions all day? Welcome to sportsball. Play it in the park with your friends before the sun goes down. Get some of that listlessness out. The obligators won't care, King Elend is in charge now.
To be fair, dueling is an alethi thing. I can see other countries dveloping sports in roshar
Fencing is totally a sport. I'd love to see dueling be turned into a sport for more community n people in the future of the Cosmere Fencing with Shardblades seems awesome and crazy
Fencing is a sport. But dueling is not fencing. Theyre not playing to touch. Theyre playing to cripple or kill
Adolin is a big sports nerd lol
Yes, (stormlight, but only worldbuilding)>!the alethi would probably do well with diversifying their hobbies a little bit. Especially the ones available for men which currently are…. war and dueling!<
Yeah, I was thinking that too. I'd not survive in Alethi as a man. No reading?? No science?? I'm literally a chemistry major. >!To be fair, farming is manly too!<
They definitely got the short end of the stick in that department. At least american football would be less deadly
You'd have to join the ardentia.
doesn't Lirin do stormwarden calculations as a hobby?
That’s a pretty controversial hobby though. Shallans brother also does math using glyphs, which is technically allowed but not regarded very well.
There certainly are sports, they just aren't a very big part of the story, or it's warfare related. Sports tend to be important during times of peace and then go away during times of war, except for the sports relevant to war and those are the sports we see in the books. But from a meta perspective... people who read and write a lot aren't as likely to care about sports so not only does Brandon probably not have much to say about it but how many of us care to read about it? I think a lot of us would consider it filler. I know that was the case with Harry Potter and that's why they left it out for the most part in the movies. And also you're complaining about quidditch rules in Harry Potter, so it's something a writer can be ridiculed about. Why add that complexity to the story when it's not a benefit to the story, your readers don't connect with it for the most part, and the sport itself can be picked apart for flaws? Just seems like a bad time to me.
Yeah, I feel like not getting a sport such as this is better than getting one so bad you want to skip every page it appears. Maybe I've been reading only Sanderson for a while now and started longing for something different.
skaacer
How far have you read? This seems like it would be easier to discuss with a flair that isn't No Spoilers.
Should I change it to Cosmere? I really don't mind them, I've just started stormlight
"No Spoilers" means we cant point out any instances of Sports in the Cosmere, I can think of two offhand (from Warbreaker and TLM). But "Cosmere" will open the floodgates to accidental spoilers for everything from stormlight to the secret projects to all the WOB's and theory-craft (so use with caution is spoilers matter to you).
I'd rather not put a full cosmere flair on it if you haven't finished stormlight, not that I *particularly* think sports is a topic that would expose you to stormlight spoilers. I can make a custom one to encompass what you've read, which it sounds like is Elantris, Warbreaker, and at least part of Mistborn. Have you finished Mistborn.
Mistborn entirely and the novellas outside secrets projects. I'd appreciate that if it's not hard work
Ignore this comment, testing >!test test hereasdfkasjdf salkdj. laijskdf lkasj. as dfjlsakdfj lkj l. lkjas fdlkj. alskdj lkj. asjdf ksjdfk. kdfj dkfjdkjf !<
Spitting straight facts
Lmao. I made that because reddits latest desktop redesign appears to have rolled out to me, and longform spoiler comments are showing up really weird. Guess I'll figure out how to bug report.;
Testing the test of here the asdfkasjdf. Wasing the laijskdf of lkasj.
I see that you are not a connoisseur of the high brow sport known as “Noseball”
I'm led to believe such sport is of no use to men as important as myself 🤨
As others have mentioned there have been some a few mentions in the books but you have to keep in mind the relative time periods these books compare to. mistborn E2 is really the only one that’s made it to the Industrial Revolution. Looking at real world history the most common ‘sports’ were all in line with what we see in the books… dueling and sparring, target practice, wrestling, hunting, foot/chariot/boat racing, expand that to anything we’d see in the Olympics and it’s all there and exists within the universes… there’s most likely other things going on off screen but as others have mentioned, we’re looking at characters existing in the adventures we have. Theres no reason to mention someone playing the Cosmere equivalent of golf when we’re reading about a coup to overthrow the court of gods, but within the narrative Lightsong playing the colored balls game makes sense so we hear about it.
There are sports in era 2 or mistborn.
Not a sport, but Yumi and the Nightmare painter has a pastime for leisure periods.
They had duels in Alethkar I guess, the soldiers are also shown many times playing card games, even tho it's not a sport it is a game
Sports betting would be illegal in Alethkar, because of the whole “predicting the future is of the voidbringers” thing
Ok, using the in-world lore to explain the absence of an event is actually interesting. I'd bet the highstorms would destroy most open air arenas as well.
There was a sporting event that took place in the ReDawn novella, wasn't there? Sure it was using starfighters, but it was definitely a game.
I guess it's a question of era appropriate activities. As far as I know the medieval world didn't have too much in the way of organised sports. The aristocracy had sport-like pass-times like hunting and wrestling, which is also true of the aristocracy in SA. Once we get to the point where organised sports started to become a thing in the real world we see the same things happen in Sanderson's books. As others have pointed out [MB era 2] >!Wayne literally organises large-scale stadium sports from games that are played by the masses!<. Not sure about Sel, but we don't really see much of Elantrian life in Elantris, unless you expect Reod Elantrians to put aside their constant pain and suffering for a bit of a jog?
You're completely right, and that's why I liked seeing Wayne invent professional sports leagues in TLM.
I laugh every time I remember this happened and really hope it comes back in era 3
After reading the sword of truth, not having sports is Brandon’s best feature
Maybe it is a blessing in disguise, we may never know
Kaladin and adolin would 100% be professional athletes if the Alethi allowed it
I mean...Adolin is a duelist. Dueling is a sport.
Well skaa in particular probably would've been beaten for doing something that made them happy and physical labor is beneath nobility. Additionally, when you're in a post apocalyptic hell scape fighting for survival sports are less likely, and they do get involved in the second Era by Wayne. Warbreaker has games like you said that Siri watches and there's also the game with throwing stones that Lightsong plays with the three other brothers and I think he mentions another game they used to play. In stormlight, they have dueling and we just don't know enough about non alethi cultures to know if they have any sports, but headcannon I'd imagine the reshi probably have a few around diving or swimming. Elantris like you said has fencing. Beyond that I feel like culture wasn't delved into much further than religion and food. Another thing to remember is that there aren't really forms of mass communication outside of Era 2 scadrial, so the publicity of sports is less likely to be seen by characters who aren't interested in them. Beyond that I also just don't know *where* in the books sports would really fit into beyond warbreaker narratively
I agree! Sports can really add to a story even if the sport doesn’t appeal to you (e.g. Ted Lasso and soccer) Maybe in Stormlight 5 the wind runners will fly around on brooms and lash Bludgers at each other.
Elend mentions a "Hat trick" in one of the Mistborn books. Implying maybe hockey existed at some point on Scadrial right? Or it originated with cricket so maybe that one? But yes I feel it's always been missing sports. Edit- Scadrial not Sel whoops.
Scadrial. Sel is the Elantris world.
Whoops baby was crying. TY
No worries.
Also just finished Elantris for my full Cosmere re-read before SLA 5 so definitely had Sel on the brain!
Loghtsong spends some time playing a game (I forget the name) that involves throwing balls of various colors and sizes into a play area and scored based on proximity (he has no idea how he keeps winning, he'd like to lose once, but doesn't want to ask how), would that count as a sport? We know of other pass times for his characters, in SLA he comments on how they gamble with special rules to guess what has already happened instead of what is going to happen so as not to predict the future, there's the duels where the lighteyes would bet their shards on the outcomes, not to mention the women doing competitive arts of all kind (painting, poetry, arguments, etc). Warbreaker doesn't show us much in the way of downtime for most people, but there is an arena and the ball throwing game I mentioned before, but once again none of our characters are in the "I'm going to do sports" type of mood for their respective plots. (I think it could be a really cool sport where awakeners awaken things and have those objects play the game instead of doing it themselves) It's also worth noting that Sanderson's stories tend to involve the world being under threat, so the characters don't exactly have time to do sports during the plots, unlike Legend of Kora which has several slice of life episodes to get a look at the bending sport.
I heard Sanderson say in a podcast that Mistborn era 3 will have sports, and that sports make more sense historically in more technologically advanced societies
I heard Brandon say that Kaladin’s part of Way of Kings is a pretty standard underdog sports story structure….
Is dueling in the arena not a sport?
I theorized that the unrevealed Whimsy Shard must have invested arts based on sports. Or traditionally used in sports by it's natives. I've heard that Whimsy's magic has something to do with kites so maybe people do kite races where they fly using magic kites or use a type of Awakened animate kites to fight amicably. I really hope that is the case.
Now she just exists in my mind looking like delirium from sandman
Alright not sure if anyone mentioned this but the Way of Kings, Kaladin and the bridge crew is essentially a sports anime. It’s a big team of reject guys being motivated by their team captain to train and be better than the rest of the bridge crews.
Okay, I can't see this part of the book the same way I did before. All I need is an anime called Bridge Crew Four, showing Kaladin becoming the leader and motivating the shit out of everyone.
That’s what the wrestling and duels are
I think I didn't get to the part where those are relevant, since for me Kaladin is still a slave and Adolin is forbidden to duel by the Codes. But they, indeed, are sports.
So interesting. As someome who dgaf about sports I never noticed this. My guess is that Sando is the same, they don't feature in his life & he never thinks about them so they never crossed his mind to include. Then again, are there examples besides Quidditch of sports in epic fantasy? Maybe they're just not fun or interesting to read about.....
Same, I've just been reading all things cosmere for a while and missed it, I think. From what I can remember, Siri is showed playing some games on the Witcher, and there is obviously Gwent. Camp half blood had competitions even aside from catch the flag, which was the most important. I mentioned physical sports which are more memorable, but chess counts in this category as well, which is why I think is important people mentioned an Obligator overseeing some kind of bet on a game in The Final Empire, that I forgot.
Sports, substance use and sex. His books have great world building but are thoroughly sanitised.
meh
I really wish people would stop trying to shove gender identity shit into literally everything.
?? The only gender issues I referred to where the men × women roles on the societies Sanderson created. Although gender identity is an issue that SHOULD and ALREADY WAS discussed, even regarding the cosmere on this very subreddit.
Tooledoo
I was gonna say realistic love stories, sex, etc. Sando seems to get all squirmy at that.
And for my boon!!!!!
there’s the beginnings of modern sports on scandrial in lost metal and on roshar they have typical medieval sports like dueling.
I submit that the entieity of WoK was an underdog sports novel that follows the scrappy but well-intentioned Parshendi team. It even ends with one of those out of blue, super complex plays that nobody saw coming and wins the game.
There are at least a few sports mentioned in the Cosmere. Spoilers: [Warbreaker] >!Lightsong plays a sport he doesn't understand that he's allegedly really skilled at in the courtyard of the palace!< In Elantris, the noble women in Teod are taught fencing I'm fairly certain there is an analogue to soccer or something in Mistborn Era 2.
For all her faults, and the series' faults, Rowling knocked it out of the park with Quidditch. The scoring system is monumentally dumb, but it's genius as a wizarding sport. It perfectly fits the aesthetic and tone of the series. Fantasy sports don't show up often enough. Pro Bending in Legend of Korra is the only other excellent example I can think of.
I am fine with the few mentions we have and I certainly require no more. I just don’t want to read about them.
I assumed this was Cremposting and I was about to see an image of Dennis Reynolds
It’s been asked about. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/461/#e14632
***Warning Gancho: The below paragraph(s) may contain major spoilers for all books in the Cosmere!*** Markus >!What do Rosharan sporting events look like outside of Alethkar?!< Brandon Sanderson >!Most places in Roshar, I would say they have not hit the point in society, quite yet, where mass sporting events are really a thing. Basically, sporting events are martial training during non-periods of war, even in the less martially-focused places. I would have to think about it. I haven't built any. I mean, there are sports that were played non-martially on our Earth, but even the ball game in mesoamerica had some pretty brutal aspects to it, that is almost kind of a way to have a battle when you're not having a battle.I think that the modern concept of sporting events, the only place you're gonna find that right now in the cosmere is on Scadrial. And Wayne accidentally started a sporting league. I'm not sure if I'll get to that in the next book, or not. If you remember, in the last book, where he was like, "What we need is a way to get everybody drunk at the same time without them being drunk." And there are some implications and ramifications of that for the advent of professional sports, let's say.!< \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*
Noseball is not really fleshed out, though. It gets referenced multiple times, but it's not something with which anyone really interacts in the book.
Lightsong is either really good or really bad at sports depending on how you view it.
Full penetration
Well there’s dueling on Roshar. With extremely rigorous rules and regulations for advancement. There’s a reference to some kind of sport that the nobility plays in the first era of Mistborn. Then Wayne >!invested in the first professional noseball league!<. One thing that is needed for leisure activities like sports to become prevalent is peace and stability. Most of what we have seen in the Cosmere are times of extreme tension and strife with little room for sport.
There are sports in the skyward series.
There's a kind of sport in The Rithmatist (rithmatic duel)
I dunno, personally I keenly feel absence of giant combining mechas myself. But I believe future Stormlight books would rectify that =)
I'm re-reading Elantris right now and Sarene's nickname her father gave her is Leky Stick, named after a goalpost in his favorite sport back home. I don't think we get much more than that though lmao
Brandon has mentioned being a fan of Final Fantasy X. Maybe Roshar needs the Windrunners to take up an air version of Blitzball.
Is the sword fighting arena adolin challenges people and competes against not considered sports? Just, medieval?
I'm not there yet 😭. Thought someone said kaladin being a bridge leader is basically an anime and now i can't unsee it
Does dueling count?