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Hey, this is my first post, but I’ve hung around the forums for a while. I thought for a while about how other forms of Compounding -other ones than Allomantically powering Feruchemy- and I came up with a few ideas that made a lot of sense to me - I also created it, so it might sound completely ludicrous to someone else - and I decided to make this theory about them. I apologize for the length of this post in advance. So I worked off of 5 basic conjectures. I will explain them more fully and their implications later, but here they are: Each Metallic Art has specific benefits and disadvantages to using it. Compounding doesn’t change the output of the magic, only the form in which it comes. Compounding gains Both the disadvantages and the benefits of the transit magic system. Compounding is done by beginning one magic system, then, before completing it, beginning a second system, then utilizing the Investiture. Both magic systems must be able to be used by the initiator and the utilizer of the power (who are the same person until you add Hemalurgy in to it). First: Each Metallic Art has specific benefits and disadvantages to using it. This is kind of obvious, but is important later on, so I thought I’d point out the specific qualities that distinguish them. Allomancy - Benefits: Allomancy is end-positive. You gain power in the process. - Disadvantages: Allomancy consumes the metal uses. Feruchemy - Benefits: Feruchemy allows you to store an attribute until you need it. You can also tap it at a much higher rate than you stored it. - Disadvantages: You can only tap as much as you store. Hemalurgy - Benefits: Hemalurgy can steal attributes, or in other words, grant something to you that you didn’t have originally. - Disadvantages: Being end-negative, Hemalurgy has a lot of these. You have to spike someone; you have to stab yourself; you lose power due to Hemalurgic decay; you have to know the bind points or its useless. Second: Compounding does not change the power output, only the form. In other words, if you begin with Feruchemy, you will end with Feruchemical power, though it might be in a different form (Allomantic, Hemalurgic). This is basically saying, “If you store Speed and burn your metalmind, you’re still going to be getting Speed out of it, not Steelpushing. However, it will be released in a burst of power, as you are working with Allomancy.” Third: Compounding gains Both the disadvantages and the benefits of the transit magic system. Transit here refers to the second one you do, the one you are compounding with. This explains why you would Compound. Allomantically powering Feruchemy (the kind in Alloy of Law) gains the benefit of Allomancy (a boost in power) and its disadvantage (the metalmind is consumed in the process). The reverse, Feruchemically powering Allomancy, would come out in Allomantic powers, but you would be able to store it and then tap it much faster than normal, so you would be able to boost your Allomancy without duralumin. Fourth: Compounding is done by beginning one magic system, then, before completing it, beginning a second system, then utilizing the Investiture. So, in Alloy of Law compounding, they begin Feruchemy, storing an attribute, but before “completing” it by tapping the power, they begin Allomancy by burning the metalmind, then utilize the power automatically because it is Allomancy. Feruchemically powering Allomancy would be begun by Allomantically burning a metal, and then storing the power in a metalmind. They could then tap it to utilize the stored coppercloud or whatever. Fifth and Finally: Both magic systems must be able to be used by the initiator and the utilizer of the power (who are the same person until you add Hemalurgy in to it). So the Compounders in Alloy of Law must be both a misting and a ferring in their metal. The same is true for Feruchemically powering Allomancy. So here are the six kinds of Compounding and how they should work according to the above ideas. 1. Allomantically powering Feruchemy -> Store attribute, burn metalmind, gain powers! - Gains Benefits of Extra Investiture - Also consumes metalmind - Must be a Twinborn for the same metal. 2. Feruchemically powering Allomancy -> Burn metal, somehow store power in a metalmind, tap to use. - You can tap without the need to burn a metal. You can also tap it at an increased rate, so you don’t need duralumin. - However, you do have to burn all this metal sometime. You don’t get free power. - Must be Twinborn for the same metal 3. Allomantically powering Hemalurgy -> Spike someone, burn spike, gain power! - Major Boost in Hemalurgic quality stolen - Consumes Spike so you can’t have the ability forever, just until it runs out. Now you have to go spike someone else. - Must be Misting of metal Spike is made of 4. Feruchemically powering Hemalurgy -> Spike someone, store power from spike, tap from metalmind to use. - You can tap it without the need to have a spike in yourself. (I’m not sure if you have to stab the spike in yourself and gain the power first, or if you can store it from the spike itself.) - You might (IDK) be able to tap without running out, but you might only have a limited amount of power in a Spike you can store. If you do have to stab yourself, then if the spike is in somewhere vital, removing or even possibly by storing away the energy might kill you (You have a big hole stabbed in you by a chunk of metal without Shardic power to keep you alive). - You have to be a ferring of the spike metal. 5. Hemalurgically powering Feruchemy -> Store attribute in metalmind, stab someone with your metalmind (you might want to use a pointy one) and they can tap it (?) for the attribute. - Someone else can use the attribute you stored. So your good Bloodmaker buddy is slowly dying, and you (a Bloodmaker) store some health by being miserable for a while, stab him with the metalmind, and then he taps it, healing from what seemed certain death. - You need to both be the same kind of Ferring. - You don’t get anything out of the time you spent weak or sick or blind.You also have to know bind points for this, which are probably pretty obscure. 6. Hemalurgically powering Allomancy -> You burn a metal, somehow storing it in a spike, then give it to someone else, who then gets the Allomantic power for however long you burnt the metal. - Someone else can not burn metal and have a massive amount of power in one spike. - You have to spike people, know bindpoints, lose power, etc. - I think you both have to be the same Misting.

The most Masculine of all the Masculine Arts: To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women.

I really like the idea of a "good" Thrill, this passage immediately came to mind when I read the OP: Also, for the sake of conversation, how about calling it "the Drive"?

"Rutabaga".

I already think Vedeledev is in Taravangian's death room, because her icon is on the chapter. And if she's anything like Darkness and Shalash, she'd be drawn to her thing, like justice or art, but "doing it wrong". Being in a death room in a hospital fits. Then I remembered Lift's Second Ideal: I will remember those who have been forgotten. And this, She could be in the room because she's bound by the same oath Edgedancers are, and even more important than healing to her is to remember these forgotten people. Even as she helps kill them. If this is how it works, then Nohadon didn't create the Ideals, but discovered a way for Surgebinders to access them. Spren had figured out how to bond with humans, but it might have been a human who found out how to add the Ideals to make it stronger. It should be easy to confirm or deny, once we see more Radiants and Heralds. In Shallan's arc especially, if her Second Ideal doesn't help explain why Shalash destroys art but feels a Shardblade would make it too easy, then the theory's probably wrong. Also Jezrien would have the Windrunner oaths, and would have to protect those who cannot protect themselves. The Shin, maybe?

This is a neat idea and may be fundamentally true, but I believe there is at least a semantic issue. There is WoB that Kaladin is immune to the thrill. It has been speculated that this is due to his relationship w/Syl. I doubt that Kaladin would be immune to Honor's thrill, so your hypothetical "thrill" should probably have a different name to fit with canon terminology. The case for your theory would also be stronger if you could provide an instance of someone possibly under the influence of "Honor's Thrill" in your OP. from the Spokane signing:

Renarin's laugh making the spheres glow just a little bit brighter...Feather, how do you do it? Each chapter you write is fantastic and each chapter also has one or two lines that hits me right in the feels and I love it.

I have a feeling that Lift just walked up into the Nightwatchers valley and asked to be "Awesome." Then, Cultivation laughed her divine chull off and happly obliged.

Could you imagine... "Bureaucracy", the middle management shard? The focus of the magic system would be filling out forms...

As an exercise in the ridiculous, my friend and I decided to see if we could think of some Shards who would make the world they Invested just unbearably awful. Here are a few of our suggestions, what does the audience think? Misery. Denial. Sarcasm. Clowns. Pranks. Paranoia. Irony. Boredom.

This theory is motivated by dramatic irony more than evidence. Szeth thinks that when he dies, he'll be tortured forever. Well, Heralds get exactly that as an afterlife between Desolations. How ominous will it be if Szeth dies, and the PoV hints that he's beginning an eternity of torture but at least he's content that the killing is over. The reader is then in a position to realize this is really bad because it means exactly the opposite: the killing isn't over at all, and Szeth is still a threat. He'll be back. So start with the theory that Szeth has Jezrien's Honorblade, and upgrade it to Szeth taking Jezrien's place completely, and being a Herald. Sure he's a bad Herald, but 90% of Heralds are bad these days so he'll fit right in. Shallash is destroying art as Creative/Honest. If Szeth kills world leaders as Protecting/Leading, that's fine too. One problem is that Taln already respawned at the end of WoK. If it only happens once per Desolation, Szeth missed it. That's where dramatic irony comes in. Szeth has to die and be tortured, so that he can interpret it as Stone Shamanism while the reader recognizes it as the Herald afterlife. That's too cool not to work, so we can infer that Heralds get to come back multiple times during a Desolation until it's over, or something.

So I noticed on my profile that I have "Reputation Points." Where on earth did they come from? How do I earn more? What can I do with them?

What are some of your favorite quotes for sanderson's work? Any bits of wisdom, humor or awesomeness that particularly stick out to you? some of mine are: "Always another secret" "Somebody has to start, son. Somebody has to step forward and do what is right because it is right. If nobody starts, then others cannot follow." "Power was not in wealth, but in control--money was worthless before a man who refused to be bought." “By now, it is probably very late at night, and you have stayed up to read this book when you should have gone to sleep. If this is the case, then I commend you for falling into my trap. It is a writer's greatest pleasure to hear that someone was kept up until the unholy hours of the morning reading one of his books. It goes back to authors being terrible people who delight in the suffering of others. Plus, we get a kickback from the caffeine industry...” And just about anything Lightsong said.

The Inquisitors spiked Sherlock Holmes and had him working on the case, duh. "Alamantary, my Dear Watson"

"The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon." -Hoid

This has now been rectified, sorry for the inconvenience. We have to turn it on and off manually and it had slipped my mind. It was not intentional.

The biggest thing that attracts me to the Stormlight Archives is the whole Categorical Imperative feel to it. For those of you who don't know or who aren't interested enough to investigate for yourselves, the Categorical Imperative is a system of moral philosophy proposed by Immanuel Kant. Kant proposes that there are certain actions, duties, or moral responsibilities that are absolute. They are both a means and an end. Most moral systems are Hypothetical Imperatives which are very situational. Something like, "Don't ever kill anyone. Except in self defense. Or in the defense of another. Or to defend your property." A Hypothetical Imperative is very situational. As you can see in my example, there are a lot of exceptions to the Imperative. You could even add more to it than what I listed. Like a Utilitarian twist to it. Something like, "Never kill an innocent person unprovoked. Unless the killing of that individual will save multiple other individuals." Human beings are NOT rational creatures. We are rationalizing creatures. Much like the Alethi, with enough thought we can do despicable things and convince ourselves that we're good and noble. Not so the Categorical Imperative! It is black and white. Do and do not. A Categorical Imperative might be something like, "I will defend those that cannot defend themselves." There's no wigggle room there. It's an Imperative that is both an End and a Means. And it's such an unnatural way of thinking that I'm sure most people are entirely unfamiliar with the concept. So, to watch characters struggle with this and not just automatically do it like an automaton, is really captivating, compelling, and it feels authentic. Even Kaladin struggles with his Ideal. He was very hesitant to help Dalinar Kholin at first. Not because he didn't want to, but because Categorical Imperatives, which will be referred to as Ideals from here on, are such an unnatural way of thinking that you cannot help but try to rationalize them. In this case, Kaladin thought it would be a lost cause that would accomplish nothing. He was still seeing his Ideal as a End whose Means influenced it and not as both a Means and an End simultaneously. Sorry if that was too lengthy and/or boring. But it's a really fantastic concept that I have difficulty talking about without getting in depth. The second biggest thing I love about the Stormlight Archives is its portrayal of the many faces of leadership. I spent four years as an Infantry Marine and am very, very well acquainted with both exceptional and incompetent leaders. I don't know if readers without a similar background would find it as enjoyable, but when I saw Dalinar Kholin dig a latrine...I swore that if some dark magic sent me to Roshar, I would follow Dalinar Kholin to the ends of the Cosmere. That small act meant more to me than his reputation as a legendary warrior. It told me, "This man cares about his men. They are more than just resources to be used economically and numbers in a ledger to him." That type of leadership is precious and rare. In my experience, more leaders are concerned with, "What extra or dangerous duties can I volunteer my men to perform in order to make myself look better to my superiors?" Or, at best, indifference. Not a small amount are petty and bullies and they use their authority to show their dominance because that is their only sense of self worth. Brandon Sanderson has done a remarkable job portraying leadership. For those of you who are inexperienced with it - take my word for it. He does it so well that its sublime. The third reason slightly contradicts the OP's instructions but...do you see my Avatar's mustache? A mustache that size plays by its own rules. That being said, the third season I love SA is this website. It's an excellent community and I now have a pathological need to check this site for new theories evey few hours. If I wake up in the middle of the night to take a leak, I'll check 17th Shard. Edit: Spelling.

The Shard of Death: Your powers become stronger the closer you are to dying, but you cannot use them to save yourself. We probably would have a whole lot of main characters in a story with this guy.

I believe Darnam's confusion about the Arelish forming the same kind of government from you conflating "dominion" and "government" in post #12. On the discussion of Elashe and the first Elantrians. People first began to be taken by the Shaod several decades after King Raoshem settles in Elantris. Also, there is no indication that Elashe was the first to be taken by the Shaod (which is a "fact" I've seen mentioned in this thread) she is only described as the first of Raoshem's line to be taken. Link discussing first Elantrians Link for Devotion to Dominion theory

I'm the cute one. The Seons look better in the dark, and a bit more close-up so you can see their Aons. I only have this one pic on my phone, maybe Paperclip can post his pics, and I'll try to get them from my friend. Between the hugest signing line, and the only fans who brought props, I like to think Brandon "won" this multi-author signing...

I've long been a proponent of the theory that the drained gems were a result of Elhokar unknowingly draining them himself. Note, though, that he doesn't have to actually do anything useful with that stormlight though, in order to drain the gems. He probably simply held the stormlight for a short time and let it drain out without using it for much. At his stage of development, he can probably hold it for only a few seconds, much like Szeth. And regarding the Cryptics - we have no confirmation at this point that they are the spren exclusive to the Lightweavers. In fact, there's a lot of circumstantial evidence to the contrary, in my opinion. Every other Radiant order we've seen so far (which is 3; the Windrunners, the Edgedancers, and order 5) bonds with a spren that resembles a "regular" spren, but has awareness and directly communicates with the Radiant. The Cryptics are markedly different on several fronts; they travel in a group rather than singly; they have no resemblance to "regular" spren types; and at least for Shallan, they seem to require an "exchange" in order to produce a surgebinding effect. Also, Elhokar and Shallan perceive them very differently; she sees them subconsiously in her drawings while he sees them in mirrors. Now, it's possible that this all has to do with the somewhat unique nature of the Soulcasting surge. But it's also possible that the Cryptics are an entirely different class from Honorspren, and may represent a separate way of becoming a surgebinder. My point here is that just because Elhokar sees Cryptics doesn't mean he's going to be a Lightweaver.

Nice one again =) Keep going Lady Feather =)

I like the theory but I think we need just a little more information to either confirm or refute it. Umm...it's a stretch, but maybe Illumination can...bequeath Stormlight? Like Dalinar catches the claw and, rather then being serial crushed by a huge friggin' claw and having his armor and body exploded, Elhokar infuses his Stormlight into Dalinar's Plate. Think of it like your bank automatically transferring some money into your Checking account from your Savings account to prevent you from overdrawing.

its blooming adorable is what it is

I don't mean to back out of what I said earlier, but I had really muddled #3 in my mind. What I thought was suggested was not even close. We are both late to the update, but Meg's post above clarified what was being asked for me. EDIT: That is to say, I am proven wrong by my ignorance of the actual question and accept my fate. But would still like an explanation by someone who knows how it was settled. Also 4 I would give a Yes to, but 5 I need to pass on as I know nothing about that bird. Anyone able to reference a thread about it?

*drops a new chapter in and flees* http://featherwriter.tumblr.com/post/67318367285/a-strange-mix-of-both-5-overestimation

Upvote for the transcription style (especially "blah, blah") And the Adonalsium question is quite new, as far as I can tell. And that is why, on each signing, there should be a member from 17thShard giving out "official 17thshard question cards" flyers for people without their own Completely mandatory optional, of course I am rambling, am I not? (goes away) P.S. Where are the Seons pictures?

Shard of Tipsiness - Alcohol-based magic. Different kinds of drinks give you different powers, and mixed drinks can do weird things - but if you pass out or get too drunk to do anything (or hit anyone) you're screwed in a fight. Some people are incredibly alcohol-resistant, chugging rum and whisky for pure power, while others less able to hold their drinks make up for it with original drink mixes and cocktails. The book would include a scene where the main character tries to take a swig of his 299 proof superpowered mixed drink to start knocking holes in mountains or something as a last resort, and - gasp - someone replaced it with non-alcoholic beer. Then he passes out from all the alcohol he already ingested during the preceding climatic extreme drinking contest with the big bad vodka superconglomerate CEO, and wakes up in a dungeon beneath the planets largest, highest security vodka distillery. The operation is in fact producing black-market non-alcoholic beer, which it is using to sabotage Alcomages everywhere. The Shardpool of Tipsiness is in fact a literal lake of Invested alcohol. It rains beer. There are ginmists, scotchstorms, and underground coffee rings. The Bartenders Union is second only to the Federated Distilleries in terms of political power. The religion is oriented around attaining a state of drunkenness so perfect that everything becomes clear, and the priests have a holy obligation to never be sober. Liver failure is unsurprisingly the foremost killer on the planet, even though through Tipsiness's shaping, their livers can handle many times what one of us could. Alcohol related birth defects don't happen for this reason as well. Strong Alcomages, or many weak ones working together, can turn literally anything into alcohol.

This is reaching back a few pages (but in this thread, what isn't), but I'd like to contest the claim that a lerasium-created mistborn could not benefit from instinctual use of more lerasium. Keep in mind that the process of becoming a lerasium savant is one and the same with the process of Ascension. If I recall correctly, Brandon's words were "that's basically what Ascension is," implying that the two processes are not merely equivalent - they are the exact same thing. This means that when Vin is takes in the mists, she is essentially burning vast quantities of gaseous lerasium. The effect of this (apart from becoming a god)? She notices an enormous boost in her allomantic strength, which continues to increase as she takes in more of the mists. Before the end of it, she has become powerful enough to collapse the largest structure in Luthadel. If, say, Elend were to burn more lerasium, I feel that it would have a similar effect. An alternative defense: If the mistborn created by a sample of lerasium has the same power regardless of how large the sample, are we saying that the number of full-power mistborn you can create with a single bead of lerasium is limited only by the number of flakes you can shave off of it? No? Well, if less lerasium creates a weaker mistborn, it should follow that more lerasium creates a stronger one.

I maybe be wrong. But Teft said that which order had different ideals based in the "Way of Kings" that had 40 parables. So 10 order x 4 unique ideals( the fist one are shared among all) = 40 ideals. One ideal for parable. This make sense given the fact that Nohadon wrote the book was a guide book for the KR. What is futher confirmed given the fact that Gavilar was "studying" the book to understand what are the "Most important words that a man can say" AKA the 40 (plus one) Ideals. So Jasnah ideals wasn't revelead yet =)

I was looking for info about Szeth when I noticed something odd. We see a lot of spren, but there are only a dozen or so explicit mentions of how spren appear. While searching through the novel for them I noticed a pattern. Here are all of the instances where spren are appearing that also include how the spren is appearing. I've bolded the method in each case. We see two broadly different types of spren; spren that represent emotions and spren that represent concepts or things. Almost all of the emotionspren seem to come directly out of the stone (ground, walls, or masonry), or out of something sitting directly on the stone as in the case of the fearspren in chapter 6 crawling from the bridge. The only exception here is the gloryspren, which are said to "pop into existance" or "wink into the air". The third gloryspren instance is "sprouted around him", which could mean either coming out of the ground or just appearing out of the air. In contrast, the lifespren and rainspren appear out of or nearby the things they represent; the rainspren sprouts out of a puddle, and the lifespren fades into existance beside a plant. There are many mentions of creationspren, musicspren, etc, that don't explicitly say where they're coming from but I believe they're in this second catagory. They represent things. The second catagory makes sense; if Spren represent things, they appear near said things. It works. The emotional spren, on the other hand, confuse me. Why do all but the gloryspren manifest themselves in stone before appearing? After some thought, I may have an answer. "Glory" isn't really an emotion at all, but something attributed to a person, group, or event by others. You feel pain, anger, fear, and anticipation. You would also feel pride and satisfaction in victory. However, you wouldn't walk up to someone on the bus and say "I feel glory-full today". They'd look at you funny and edge backwards. If glory is a thing rather than emotion, then we have a pattern. And so, I present the following theoryspren: Emotionspren emerge from stone. Thingspren (for lack of a better word) emerge around the things they're drawn by.

Thunderclasts also emerge from stone - probably from a corrupted (emotion) spren. Edit: emotion being hate/odium?

(1) In this case there is no immortality - shards are not immortal, since they can be splintered, shardholders are not immortal, since they can be killed. Instead of reserving the word for a concept that does not exist/will not exist/it's impossible, let's use it for something that exists - which is something like "capable of living forever". Heck, even the "deathless" can die in Brandon's work Such as kandra would live forever if not bathed in acid, shardholders would live forever if not killed by other shards, and heralds would live forever, if not [... this thing that we will probably see in SA book x]. (3) yes, well, some things should surprise everyone, right? We all love a plot twist. (4) Per WoB, there are 4 shards in the Roshar greater system: H + C on Roshar, Odium on another planet, and a fourth shard on yet another planet. There has been talk about why the 4 orders in the corner of the radiant map have one extra connection, and my theory is that those orders use a spren that is full splinter of a shard, e.g. windrunners spren is 100% honorspren, edgedancer spren (wyndle) is 100% cultivation, shallan's cryptic is 100% maybe adonalsium, leaving the great unknown for the stonewardens.

Exactly, thanks! Yes, we know that Szeth doesn't have a spren. But he uses Stormlight for his lashings (he inhales it from infused gems as does Kaladin). I don't know whether he could be called a "surgebinder" but the things he does are similar to those of Windrunners. And he refers to himself as somebody with the abilities of the Windrunners of old (totally paraphrased, I don't have TWoK at hand now). He must have knowledge about the Windrunners. So why should he refer to them, if there is no connection? Do you believe he was taught lies? Edit: here's the quote from TWoK I-6 I referred to (emphasizes mine): (I added this for completeness.)

I like Gloom's theory that the shardblades of today are different than the shardblades before the recreance, and that event is what created our third type of blade (honorblade, radiant shardblade, modern shardblade). Stealing his quote, this is from the recreance: This also helps explain why Syl seems to hate a weapon that probably used to belong to a Knight Radiant. Shardblades seem to be "off" in modern Roshar, however no one seems to question shardplate. Looking back at Dalinar's flashbacks, modern shardplate seems to be less capable than the radiant's shardplate. The radiant's plate was covered in glowing glyphs and the helms at least seemed to disappear and reappear whenever the radiant wanted. During the chasmfiend fight it seems that Dalinar's plate may have glowed a bit. Szeth thinks he can't use his lashings while wearing plate because he thinks it will interfere with the gemstones in the plate. In Dalinar's vision, one of the radiants "falls upward" back to the town. It seems like he is lashing himself in order to fly. I think there was a theory that only people in plate felt the "Thrill" but I think that was debunked as not being only limited to plate. Looking over the Recreance vision again, the swords were glowing and faded, but there is no mention of armor glow or any change. Kaladin didn't just reject a blade, but also the plate. However, he only thinks about the blade. So, is anything up with shardplate? If something is wrong with shardblades, and it was caused by the Recreance, would it have also affected the plate? Maybe the Recreance only corrupted (or allowed a certain odius presence to corrupt) shardblades. We don't seem to have any indication that shardplate is bad in any way, no recreations or revulsion to it. But, if it doesn't elicit the same reactions as the shardblades, can we assume that whatever causes Syl and Kaladin to hate the blade did not happen to the plate (IE, if Syl and Kaladin hate blades, but not plate, can we assume the Recreance didn't cause the issue with shardblades?) I thought that maybe shardplate was just not working because no one in modern Roshar seems to be able to make it glow or disappear, so its corruption just wasn't seen. However, when Kaladin kills the shardbearer, Amaram states that the shardbearer is dead: It looks like shardplate is bonded to its wearer in some form, and when the wearer dies, it just falls off. So, it seems that shardplate is still working, at least in some minimal form. We also have Dalinar, who seems to almost glow when protecting Elhokar from the chasmfiend, so the shardplate seems like it might still be connected to the ideals of honor, and it might still work if worn by a KR. Where does that leave my ideas when it comes to shardplate? Confused! The quote from the Recreance makes it seem like something really bad happened there, but it doesn't seem to have done anything to shardplate, and I like the idea that it is the cause of modern shardblades being disturbing to Syl. I also like the idea that shardplate and shardblades are related to the oaths of the KR, but modern shardplate seems to be just waiting for honorable people to pick it up and put it on, while the shardblades are being rejected by our two main honorable characters. It would make more sense if both plate and blade were corrupted, or if both plate and blade could be made to work properly by an honorable person. Am I missing something that might imply plate is also bad in some way? Could the difference between the two mean something important?

Hi everyone, first time poster here. I will just toss this as an idea, I have no idea if it has been proposed before (or if it should be discussed here): I don't have any real evidence, but I think that the torture is not more intensive just longer than usual. If I had to guess, I'd say 10 times longer since he was the only Herald in Damnation (or wherever they actually go between Desolations) this time round. It would also explain why this Desolation is so long in coming, say, if the Heralds need to be subjected to a "fixed" amount of torture between Desolations (in accordance with the Oathpact perhaps?) and there is only one instead of ten... It's just an idle thought, so don't be upset if this is outright wrong or something...

What we do know is that Darkness was present the night of Galivars assassination. We have reason to believe that Darkness was aware even before the assassination that Szeth was not a Surgebinder. We can feel relatively certain that should Darkness have sought a warrant to pursue Szeth, Elhokar would have given him every blessing to do so. It should also be considered a given that Jah Keved would also be more than happy to sign a warrant for Szeths head. So long as Darkness cornered Szeth in a territory that Szeth was wanted in and received the appropriate permissions he could legally hunt Szeth down. Darkness isn't interested in Szeth because he isn't a Surgebinder. Darkness has known this for over five years.

Maybe you guys remember a while back when Brandon posted a bit of Amaram dialogue in Morse code on reddit? Well, he's done a similar thing again, here! Pretty sweet, no? Unless I'm mistaken, we haven't seen much of present-day Shallan from WoR, yet.

What are the chances that the only thing she asked of The Nightwatcher was "I want to be awesome" ?

At the moment the different Cosmere-"magics" and such are rambling around in my brain: Ash - Shallash - Lightweavers - Illumination | Light/Illuminaton - Aon Ashe Unfortunately I'm not a Returned ... I can have headaches. Edit: This thought comes, too, from a quote which says that all languages in the Cosmere kind of derive from the same (I might have a look for it later).

Just for future reference, it appears that Brandon reads a little bit further each time he re-reads a section of the book. If he appears to be reading something that was already read, it might be a good idea to record it anyways if you brought the equipment.

Can I use this quote as my sig? Or do I have to wait until stuff from the WoR spoilers are allowed to be discussed on the whole forum?

Let's look at all potential KRs - they all somehow show the traits, but are in conflict about it. Shallan has issues with telling the truth. (she lies/does not want to tell the truth) Kalladin has issues with protecting/leading due to Tien (he does not want to protect/lead) Lift obviously had issues with caring/remembering (talking to Darkness: "I tried to be like you" - only after she stopped being like Darkness would she have been able to get Wyndle) All potential KRs are defined by their conflict with their KR attributes. They do not start with these traits, they acquire/perfection/come to live with them. What is Dalinar in conflict with? He's in conflict with his beliefs about the Almighty because of his visions (pious). He is in conflict with guiding. He wants to give up his house's leadership. He does not want to guide anymore. He does not trust himself. He's been a highprice for a long time, but not truly "guiding". He's been complacent with things on the shattered plains. Now, he wants to guide. He wants to unite them. Now, he is attracting the spren.

I think that the part of "all" of the Shards being on Roshar is clarified in a recent signing.

IIRC, the Well itself wasn't the prison, but rather, the prison was at the well (as seen by the cloud of smoke that Vin and Elend saw there). The well was an accumutation of the power of Preservation. When Vin released the power, the rush of power broke the prison. I don't have a problem with a Shard manifesting physically. What could they do in physical form (ultimately) that they could could not do in some other form? Kill you? If they wanted/needed to, couldn't they kill you, regardless of what form they are manifesting as. Ruin couldn't do it because he was incomplete as a result of not having his 'body'. I doubt a physical manifestation would be necessarily accompanied by a substantial weakness that could be exploited by humans(oids?). Other Shards, perhaps. Even in Ruin's weakened state, he was not able to be harmed by humans. All they could do was frustrate his plans. It took Vin-Shard (Vinservation? PreserVin? ) to kill him.

What if the NightWatcher is the physical representation of the Oath Pact? It honors all agreements, and curses all who visit. That would be Honor and Odium, still not sure where Cultivation would come into it. Perhaps the ability to see the long term affects of the curse and limit the damage it can do, or the ability to alter and rearrange things to meet the requirements of the punishment, IDK. It's been speculated that a control of some sort must exist in order to keep all parties bound to the Oath Pact. If a Shard can manifest physically as a pool, why wouldn't the power invoked by such a pact also have a physical manifestation. This manifestation could be sentient or it could have been given a guardian in order to better arbitrate violations of the pact. The NightWatcher doesn't easily fall into any one category, but could far more easily fall into a mixture of the three.

If you take all the metal in a tattoo, even a very large one, it wouldn't amount to much. Which means it wouldn't be able to store much. Still though, it's a very good last resort reserve, not to mention a surprise one. So, for replacing normal metalminds? no. But as an added ace in the sleeve? yes.

Problem is, every full Windrunner that has appeared has been wearing Shardplate. So there's obviously some way around it. I think that there's indication that Plate was once bound to individuals like Blades are still, so that could be a potential solution. Another is perhaps that, while Szeth uses the powerset of the Windrunners, he is not himself a Windrunner and is not bound to an honorspren.

Someone must have been getting too close to the truth and Peter threw a red herring through a window. Quick, look the other way.

I don't think he's dead. I think he's a spy for Taravangian, and he left the Shattered Plains to report on the alliance between Dalinar and Sadeas. Why do I think this? Well, I was struck by something odd when reading Way of Kings again recently. Near the end, Taravangian orders Szeth to kill Dalinar to stop him from uniting the Alethi highprinces. Why? Why does Taravangian think Dalinar is a threat right then, and not before? He mentions "recent events," but what are those events? It can't have anything to do with Dalinar becomming Highprince of War, that hasn't been announced yet, and so no one but Dalinar and Elhokar should know that. And even if Taravangian did somehow know, would he really consider that a bad thing? Elhokar seems to think this is going to cause all the Highprinces to try to assassinate him and Dalinar, and Dalinar seems to kind of agree with him. It seems like any objective observer would feel there's a very good chance that Dalinar is going to bring about the complete collapse of Alethikar. But regardless, Taravangian shouldn't know about that yet. So what recent events was he talking about? Sadeas betraying Dalinar and nearly causing a war between the two most powerful Highprinces? Certianly not that. That would be something Taravangian would be happy about. The only "recent events" that make sense would be Dalinar and Sadeas's initial alliance, which seemed to be going well at first. This implies that Taravangian does not know about the most current events on the Shattered Plains. Either his spies have been lax in reporting to him about something as important as Sadeas and Dalinar's alliance collapsing, or Taravangian doesn't have enough spanreeds in his possession to give them to all his agents, and thus his Shatterd Plains contacts have to send him information the old fashion, and slower, way. What is the point of all that stuff I just typed? Well, I noticed that Gaz disappeared right after Dalinar and Sadeas formed their alliance. In fact, unless I remember wrong, the first bridge run where they worked together was the last bridge run Gaz ever went on. The timing seems a bit coincidental. Why would Gaz have disappeard right then? His old blackmailer was dead, he was specifically ordered not to murder Kaladin because it would make him a martryr(and thus Gaz wasn't likely killed by Wit or someone trying to protect Kaladin), and his current Lighteyes would have just made Gaz a bridgeman if Kaladin went too long without dying. Why would Gaz have disappeared then? Perhaps he had something to report to his master, something so important he needed to deliver the message in person (which of course provided an escape for him). I don't have too much hard evidence for Gaz working for Taravangian, but if you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Taravangian wants to collect the visions dying people see. He's not going to be content just using people in his own city. He's going to want to have agents in places of death and bloodshed, to hear what other dying men say. But that presents a problem. A common soldier is going to be busy trying to stay alive and unable to focus on what his dying friends are shouting out, and is also has a high chance of dying himself on any battle. An officer who stays behind the lines in safety won't be near the dying as they gasp their last breaths. But Gaz? He's never in danger. Safest job in the entire army. And he goes on every run. And he's always around the bridgemen, who always die. Perfect position to hear the visions of dying men. Also, consider Gaz's eye. He lost an eye, and nearly died. Put another way, if he had not gotten some good medical treatment, he would have died. And who has the best doctors in the world?