Ytsken

Has it been confirmed that Shallan’s mother is also the mother of her brothers? Because I agree that it is rather odd for a cognitive shadow to suddenly have 5 children in so short a timespan. Of course, the very fact that cognitive shadows can only have have offspring in a “non-traditional way” leaves everything wide open. What if Chana was not so much ‘having children’ as ‘experimenting’? Remember how the God Kings were revealed to procreate in Warbreaker?

In my copy of Cytonic, Brandon wrote what would happen if Lift and Spensa would ever meet,

I just reread the beginning of Sunreach and came upon this quote: ”This was Jorgen. He probably did think being cytonic should have come with a manual.” After Evershore, I think we can all agree that boy can do miracles with a manual.;)

So yeah: I think it's pretty clear that this letter exchange is what lead Harmony to grooming Wax to become his sword.

I too believe the present Thaidakar is Kelsier. And with regards the whole 'but the GBs are so evil' dilemma... I refer to Hoid's comment to Dalinar: Hoid, the familiar outsider, recognizes that Dalinar is an enlightened despot, but he is still a despot. To true outsiders like Kelsier, Roshar is a place where humanity has enslaved not only themselves but also the native sapient species, and where the dominant culture is very violent. In the past, there were true heroes but the Heralds abandoned one of their own, and the Radiants betrayed their allied spren. Quite frankly, Kelsier may see presentday Roshar as being little better than the Final Empire. We, the readers, have gotten to understand the Kholin family by reading their points of view. So we know these are good people. But the present Kholins are not traditionally good Alethi. And we literally had Kelek's pov when he chose to abandon Taln... more importantly, we know of Taln's gratitude that the other Heralds let him carry the burden on his own. To us, these are good, if flawed, people fighting to defend their homeplanet from evil. Much like Kelsier himself in Final Empire. And what was the first thing Kelsier learned after Final Empire? That there was much more going on in the Cosmere than he knew. That the Final Empire itself was the result of games among the Shards. So him no longer caring about the Shards and the games they play on a single planet? Especially one where he has no reason to like the native population? Makes sense.

I just want to say: I absolutely love what you guys have written here. Before, I was absolutely horrified at the thought of Lift as Cultivation (and she's my favourite character), but this made me realize that she would remain Lift. And Lift... she cares, she listens and she understands. Combining that with the power of Cultivation would actually make a pretty good match. Completely different from Cultivation as she is now, but if there is a greater Cosmere-wide plan.. that'd actually make sense. Now I'm wondering if Cultivation will contact the Ghostbloods in order to make that happen.

You are completely right. Urithiru is the Sibling's 'body', as is quite humorously made clear in the following quote:

So Rhythm of War gave us quite a few interesting tidbits about Mistspren. I'll start with the most startling observation: at the end of the book there are only 4 known bonds, and 2 of these have chosen to be corrupted by Sja-Anat. Considering that only a handful of higher spren have chosen this, it's rather interesting that the only 2 confirmed ones are Mistspren. But after consideration, I realized that it actually makes sense that if any type spren would volunteer, it's them. First, look at the humans the uncorrupted ones bonded or, in Ym's case, wanted to bond: misfits who try to help those even less fortunate than them, and have accepted 2 things: 1) no one is going to praise them for their work, 2) an imperfect world requires imperfect solutions. Hence why Ym tries to find the best type of shoes for the orphans he has in stock and why the Stump is willing to engage in money laundering. Secondly, the ancient Truthwatchers were 'scientists, scholars, and tinkers', and 'concerned with abuse of power, as well as finding out the truth'. Thirdly, the ancient Truthwatchers were involved in the binding of Ba-Ado-Mishram, and they may thus be aware of the links Kelek mentions between the Unmade, spren, and all of Roshar. Some residue of this knowledge may still be known among their (surviving) spren. Fourthly, according to Kelek several spren were considering joining Odium's forces. And fifthly: the 2 corrupted Mistspren have chosen candidates with the same criteria as the uncorrupted ones. Now imagine a type of spren which is inquisitive, interested in esoteric truths, and willing to use unorthodox methods. Wouldn't this type of spren be interested in exploring the phenonom of Sja-Anat's corruption as an alternative means to end the conflict? So my theory is that the Mistspren (or else: a group of them) deliberately agreed to let Sja-Anat corrupt a handful of them in order to study the effects of this corruption on them and on the Radiant bond.

Given the fact that a lot of Reachers had disappeared from Shadesmar at the start of part II, I think we can conclude that the 'hundreds' of Spren that accompanied Venli were indeed Lightspren, looking to bond the ultimate freedom seeking people: the Listeners. However, given what happened both in the Tower and in Shadesmar during RoW, I wouldn't be surprised if a few other types of Spren would become curious about these people and seek them out as well. I personally hope that Kaladin will persuade a few Honorspren to seek out Leshwi and her handful of supporters in order to see if they could become Windrunners after all.

"Nazh is a lanky man with a narrow, pinched face, blonde hair and blue eyes." (https://coppermind.net/wiki/Nazrilof) So it does not appear that Sixteen is Nazsh. But thanks for making me check his decription because we do know Nazh is actually around on Roshar during this time (diving up Shallan's art, copying Bridge Four's tattoos, and studying under Navani's cartagropher), so this was a possibility. The description doesn't match Demoux either, right?

Wasn't that letter meant for Frost, the writer of the firt letter in way of kings?

Isn't there a WoB that Shallan was (except for Jashnah) the most advanced in her oaths after WoR? So I like your idea of Radiant having her Shardplate because Shallan doens;t feel she's able to wear it herself yet.

No overt level of compasion? Seriously? Dalinar and Kaladin are also natural leaders, but they do not go out of their way to comfort the widowed and orphaned spouses and children of their fallen men, as we see Adolin do. Nor would they, in the middle of a climatic battle, forget all about it and just comfort a grieving mother, like Adolin does in Oathbringer. Honestly, to say that Adolin isn't Edgedancer material is an insult to both to him and the order.

Most likely they feel it to be more correct since humans were revealed to have been the original voidbringers.

Call me crazy, but is it possible that they made a mistake on this blurb? Because 'the one that is tree''s mission sounds like Navani's mssion, and 'the mother of machines' sounds like Shallan's mission.