Vindicator

I was right then, about Wax not having any special kind of Resonance and that his 'perk' was the steel bubble. Would have felt somewhat cheap had he gotten some other special ability.

So Gavilar WAS a potential Bondsmith! That is news to me. I wonder just how much he knew...

Sebarial will in charge of commerce (the man is a great businessman) and logistics, I believe. He's got a knack for it. As for Aladar, scouting perhaps? He's a decent general in his own right, albeit not on the Blackthorn's level, and seems to enjoy a challenge. Makes sense he'd want to face the enemy first.

Emotion spren likely react to a person's emotions being affected. I don't think spren necessarily can be Rioted or Soothed, since they're fragments of a Shard's power. If a normal spren has roughly the same amount of Investiture as a Radiant spren, I would say it's a definite no, given that Shardblades (which are living or dead Radiant spren) are hard to physically manipulate. So the question should really be 'how much Investiture does a normal spren have, compared to other Invested things in the cosmere?'

I don't think there is anything on the subject of a Shardic force being held by more than one intelligence. However, the original Shattering only created 16 Shards (and Hoid was there), so it seems to cast doubt on such a thing. Personally, I think it can be done, but it would require a very strong Connection between the potential Vessels (like twins, perhaps?). Otherwise it just goes to the most worthy recipient. Autonomy seems to be a bit of a trickster god, so I'm not surprised she has a ton of alternate identities.

Pretty much. On another tangent, Shinovar could have ruled the world with those Honorblades. Their restraint is amazing.

Nine. Nalan initially discarded his too. There is a WoB that states one of the Honorblades was retrieved after the Oathpact was (partially) broken.

That city looks like the Shattered Plains, coincidentally. There's even a Stormseat analogue in the very middle. I'm not sure the Aimian we saw was the one who wrote it; he did say the other Sleepless were more interested in Kaladin, Shallan, Szeth and Dalinar instead of Lift, while he thought differently. Tashi sounds like a name for a Herald.

I think it's because Ishar lied to him; of all the Heralds it seems he understands the Oathpact the best. Consider this from TWoK: Since he was patron of the Bondsmiths, it would make sense that he knew far more of it than the other Heralds ever did. This would explain why Nale was keeping his own Surgebinders around while killing others; if he thinks it's tied to the amount of Radiants around, then it would be sensible to keep the ones he's the leader of alive, while cutting down the others that aren't, as Skybreakers follow the law. I will concede this then, although it is strange that Shallan is a step above. But yes, the regression could explain it... I did, and yes that could explain it - when Kaladin swears the second oath in TWoK, he does not have an explosion of Stormlight: The Stormlight that comes out of him is implied to be the one he sucked out from the gemstones the Parshendi had. So yes, it does seem to be a more subtle initiation than WoR's scene.

Given that Nale would have hunted down any Surgebinder - Skybreaker or not - that were not under him, I highly doubt it can be any but the Skybreakers. There's also the Honorblade a Herald recovered; since Nale Surgebinds, and can fly it's likely he who recovered his own Blade. I do not see it being any other Radiant order. The original Skybreakers likely died out over the years, and I think Nale is simply the sort who prefers to have as little Surgebinders as possible. He wouldn't have killed the ones after the Desolation, but I figure he has no interest in swelling their numbers overmuch. And even if that is not true I think we have yet to see all the Skybreakers. There may well be full-fledged Radiants under Nale. Given that the Stormfather mentions not wanting to be killed, I don't think this is likely. You say the Bondsmiths would not break their oaths. What about the Skybreakers, whose Second Words are literally 'I will uphold the law before all else' according to WoB? Seems a lot more likely. Is this WoB pre or post-WoR? Because in the novels she has only given two 'truths', the same amount as Kaladin's oaths. I don't think it's likely she's progressed beyond that, even if she can summon Pattern. As for Helaran, agreed. Like I said, I have my doubts as to whether he really was a Radiant, given the lack of glowing from either Blade or Plate. Which means I have further doubts about him meeting the Skybreakers.

Given that the initiates are capable of using Surgebinding, I think it's safe to say this was the order that remained; the Stormfather seemed rather miffed about being bonded again so I doubt the Bondsmiths did not break their oaths. The relevant quote regarding Radiant rank is here: And Shallan is on her third oath (or truth, the way the Lightweavers do it). She has said the 'life before death' part which isn't binding, and two truths: That she killed her father and that the Davar family was in part, destroyed by her. So, three. We haven't seen anyone with four, unless Helaran managed to get there. But I have my doubts, given that his Shardblade or Plate wasn't noted to have glown...

I've just finished Edgedancer, and my thoughts are: 1. We finally know who are the ones writing the blurbs for each book -- and a hint of their power is shown. It's enough to kill two initiate Radiants, so whoever they are they are not pushovers. 2. The Skybreakers are indeed the Order that remained. I was so sure it'd be in name only, but they are actual Surgebinders. This brings further questions. What about Helaran? Did he progress enough to obtain his own Shardblade and Shardplate? Were they dead ones, granted for usage? Did he meet the Skybreakers or someone else? 3. There's a rank for Radiants. Initiate seems to be for those who have sworn the first 'binding' oath, Shardbearer for those who have gone to the second binding one (and third overall). This would make Kaladin and Shallan Shardbearer-rank, and Dalinar (possibly Renarin as well) initiates to their respective orders. What are the last two ranks, then? 4. The Heralds aren't working together. Ishar is implied to have lied to Nale. Now that he knows... I wonder what the implications are? If Szeth still goes after the Stone Shamans, will it be because they are tied directly to the Heralds? Perhaps Ishar told them to stow the Honorblades? 5. And Szeth himself. He has an... afterimage. Is it a Radiant ability, or due to his bond with Nightblood? What we know is that he seems to be considered 'worthy' to hold it, at least. Beyond that, I thought Edgedancer wasn't quite something you'd expect of Brandon; it lacks the Sanderson avalanche we all know and love (The Emperor's Soul did it pretty well). Nale being so unstable is oddly like Szeth and incredibly weird, but I can chalk that up to several millennia of pent-up guilt. Lift hugging him is odd too, for the climax of a story, but I guess Lift has always been an odd one? Arcanum Unbounded-wise, looks like Bavadin is a she, which is something I was not expecting, and Ambition's power + Adonalsium(?) is behind the shades on Threnody. Nice to get a name on another Shard Odium has splintered, though, and it seems like this is the first one that happened. Also implies that Splintering is a process Odium refined over time, although we need a more definite timeline to place the Shattering, the Last Desolation and Selish prehistory with each other. Also... Sel is a sentient planet. That one is... wow.

Time to take bets! I'm betting Threnody or a previously-undiscovered planet.

So Brandon has finally awoken and answered. "Silverlight is mentioned in the Cosmere collection, I believe, in one of the essays. It's a city somewhere in the Cosmere*, with some relevance you will discover eventually." I guess this means one month until we find out. *edited his typo for the Cosmere

You do realize creating Godzilla from random bones you picked up is less 'for the art' and more 'for the nightmare-inducing memories' right?

That actually doesn't confuse me. I get what you mean - history is a warped tale, and if you go back to prehistory it's even harder to get the objective truth, because of the lack of records. On another note, I loved The Emperor's Soul, I think I consider it the best short story I've ever read. Maybe he has a 'tantalizing Cosmere WoB to drop on Reddit' counter and he just hit it, eh?

Agreed on the writing part, intrigued by how you assert that history is partially art - but that may be a discussion for somewhere else! I now have this mental image of Brandon gleefully rubbing his hands, thinking well, this guy has been trying his best to avoid a RAFO and asking questions about mundane stuff in an attempt to get somewhere! I'll throw him a bone and mention something I won't even write about until about two decades later so he gets curious, asks too much, gets a RAFO and I can scurry away to write another novel nobody knew I had in mind! HAHAHAHAHA! *Lightning flashes outside Brandon's Hemalurgic lab, briefly revealing tons... upon tons of tons of... half-written novels*

I feel like you could make a song out of this. But I'm a writer, not a music composer... As for Silverlight, I am eagerly waiting for Brandon to answer. It's 10.24 am here, I woke up a couple of hours ago, took a look at his reply and went 'did I just inadvertently get a new Cosmere WoB'?

But you ask for bones! Then again, bones are probably not as NSFW-worthy as what I had in mind...

I'd ask but I really don't want to know what NSFW stuff Tumblr has come up with in the Cosmere.

Wait, are you implying we're all kandra!? *tries to make flesh melt*

First of all, you're welcome (that was me on Reddit asking around, just woke up and did an O_o when I saw Silverlight). I'm wondering whether it's set on Threnody myself, given the obvious 'silver' in the name. That comment link has a few other interesting things too, so take a look.

I don't necessarily think he was confusing the two, although that is a possibility (it has happened). It's also a possible deflection or misunderstanding of the question. Unless he clarifies this though, the evidence seems to point more to him talking about expertise and practice with one's powers.

It was this quote specifically, not Wax's being a steel savant: Savantism was not brought up, correct. Brandon has mentioned, however that having more powers means you're less of an expert on any one power in particular. And savantism is an example of said expertise - you use it for so long that you get incredibly familiar with it. Given that, and this annotation, it seems likely that he was thinking of unique effects like Wax's steel bubble, which in turn was a direct result of being a steel savant. Basically, I don't think that savantism and something like the Radiants' supernatural talents are necessarily in the same category. However, because of the context of the question based on previous statements Brandon has given, I believe that he was including it in this WoB.

This is something I've always wondered as well. I think there are arguments both for and against. For: - Vin burnt it regularly over the course of several years. Spook became a savant within a year by flaring his metal. Even had Vin not been flaring pewter, she would have had enough time to become a savant, assuming she was inclined to. - All the Allomancers in the crew during the original trilogy are better than the average in a certain metal or metals. Kelsier had steel and iron, Breeze had brass, Marsh had bronze. Vin's seems to be brass (look at how Kelsier initially gets fooled and Marsh actually falls for it for a while after she learns from Breeze) and pewter. Maybe steel and iron too, but she was never as precise as Kelsier or Zane. - Near-death. She survived an Inquisitor's axe, numerous beatings in her childhood, being thrown around by the Lord Ruler, assassination attempts. All of which are arguably enough to turn her into a savant. - Duralumin. I suspect this may help accelerate savantism by expending the power in a massive burst akin to a mega-flare. How many times did we see Vin use it to strengthen her body while she steelpushed an army away from her? Against: - You would have thought Sazed might have mentioned it. However, she did choose to go Beyond, so there was perhaps, no point in bringing it up. - Pewter savants are notoriously hard to create, according to Sazed. This may have been because he got a good look at Vin's spiritweb and saw that she was no savant despite knowing how often she burnt it. - She didn't seem to flare pewter all that often beyond duralumin, and in bursts (as Ham taught her) and it seems like flaring is what widens the cracks in one's Spiritweb. - This is specifically for the OP, but pewter-dragging does not indicate savantism. Vin was definitely not one the first time she tried it. Kelsier wasn't an expert in pewter too, and still knew how to use it. Pewter-dragging is more of a technique than something only acquirable by savants. My verdict would be that she was possibly quite close to reaching it, but never quite got past the finish line. However, I do think Marsh and Clubs were savants.