Because when we have to go through stuff like this, it's Lost-level speculation. I liked that show a good bit, and even posted my opinions on certain episodes or a few theories, but I didn't really try to suss out how the relatively unimportant stuff worked out. And who killed Asmo isn't a particularly important issue, as it almost certainly won't go anywhere (e.g., involves a person who is presently sitting in Caemlyn's palace and causing trouble)...

I'd never expect to type the words in this following clause: RJ did an uncontrovertibly bad writing job once [see below], and the result has been a mystery that's engendered obsessive levels of contemplation. This shouldn't be interpreted as me saying that Etzel (who deserves credit for this) or anyone else *is* obsessive; just that the attention needed, especially considered in total, is obsessive.

Nor do I think I am superior in this regard. Although I haven't really tried a grand-Asmo theory, I have frequently pondered the killer's identity, and I've read many of the ideas posted on this topic. So it's eaten up a bit of my time too, and I now see the folly in the time wasted.

I say that RJ failed, not lightly, because our deeply-missed Author never intended to create a mystery. The fact that he felt it only required a little thought - yet it doesn't and has created a giant uncertainty in the minds of so many(!) - is all the proof that's needed to use the word "fail" comfortably (if unwillingly). Even typos slip through the cracks on a major literary work (and valuable intellectual property), everybody makes mistakes, and it's the readers who have to suffer for it. And, of course, the Author and associated staff, since they have to be pestered with a zillion questions about it.

A writer communicates ideas; communicating them well mixes with how clear or opaque a writer wishes to be in a particular instance. RJ intended this to be fairly transparent, and instead it's a great big nebulous brick wall. It sounds like a syllogism that may not be accurate at all, but still: when all facts are considered, this question is still like a black hole where you can barely definitively know *anything* about it. So I guess RJ messed up, because it's never seemed irreducibly certain. I congratulate the person who got it right; yet even s/he had to actually ask RJ to confirm their idea. So it wasn't even certain then. I sincerely hope I'm not suffering from selfishness or jealousy masquerading as reason.

For me, at least, there's two big realizations that I got from reading an intelligent second-by-second analysis of what happened to Asmo:
(a) the manner of death must've been really special for no-one to notice even a quick burst of nearby OP ("TP'd to Death" would read silly/stupid/funny), so Fain is a still a great candidate since perhaps being stabbed by his knife (or his Powers) can prevent a soul from being retrieved
and
(b) thinking about this requires too much brain power that I should put elsewhere, and I now feel badly about any extra reading I may have done on this topic.

I deeply hope that RJ and Sanderson give us an answer on the first or second page of ToM - even better if it's in the Prologue, so everyone gets the answer when the advance prologue is available on Amazon or B&N or Borders online. That way we can put aside all the hyper-observation around this topic and just enjoy the whole book a month later with this issue off our collective minds (those of us who spent serious time on this). It's getting to the point where I could almost envy the casual readers, and envy isn't a natural emotion for me.