Jeckal

My guess would be they are using highly controlled progression to grow their carapace into different shapes.

Mine revolves around art criticism more than anything else but Separating Art from the Artist/Death of the Author is not always the best stance to take

"You cannot have my pain." Strangely enough, Dalinar (I feel) genuinely thanking the thrill for its friendship as he's capturing it hit me in a weird spot. Sometimes friendships are just bad for you, doesn't mean the emotions involved were any less real. Child Renarin getting Dalinar some wine with his allowance because he doesn't want to see his dad in pain. Renarin taking over the situation with the Thunderclast was a good fist pump moment, along with Teft unlocking the Oathgate.

Ah, thank you both for clearing that up!

Are we sure that the desolations started before Honor was splintered? The timeline in my head was always Honor sacrificed itself to trick odium to get it stuck in the system, making a pact with the heralds knowing he was going to his death to protect Roshar from what are presumably Odium's attempt to escape. Although that doesn't fit with Dalinar's visions, assuming the almighty was alive during the events portrayed in the visions

@Calderis I think I found the WoB that at least somewhat implies the Stormfather existed in some form before Honor's splintering: https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/2ytg2h/im_novelist_brandon_sanderson_ama/cs5msy4/

I did a bit of digging on WoBs as well, and it definitely seems like, for the most part, Cognitive Shadows 'are' the continuous consciousness of a person, at least in the cases of people like Kelsier and I'd assume Szeth. However Cognitive Shadow is a bit of an ambiguous term, and I think some of the things scholars in the Cosmere would call Cognitive Shadows are merely echos. Brandon also confirms there is an afterlife, and he doesn't quite consider still being alive in one of the realms it, he considers that not 'quite' dead by the sound of it, which again I think implies a continuation of consciousness. http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=1182#52 http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=1099#1 http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=1082#1

Thank you both for your answers! I think your both probably right, I think also for me personally its more satisfying if it is the actual person and a continuation of consciousness. Calderis your thoughts on the Stormfather make total sense. Is that your own speculation or is that a WoB? Either way I like it.

So I had a question about the nature of Cognitive Shadows. I've seen Brandon compare them to a concept of ghosts, however, ghosts in mythology are often just an echo or residual energy of the dead, not the actual consciousness of the dead themselves, so I am wondering if this is the case for a Cognitive Shadow as well.. I get that they are created when someone gains enough investiture in life, but is the Cognitive Shadow the actual consciousness of the person? Or is it just an echo/copy created when they died? The fact that the Stormfather is considered a Cognitive Shadow is what makes me ask, because he seems to describe himself as a separate entity of Tanavast/Honor in talking to Dalinar, and he is frequently called a Spren. To me the Stormfather sounds more like a copy of Tanavast/Honor that has been corrupted into a spren by what people 'think' of him, but I suppose that could have happened to the actual Tanavast too. In either case though, I'm also curious if say, Jasnah for example died while physically in Shadesmar, would a cognitive shadow just pop up were her body died or does her body just combine with her mental self so they'd both die at once? Sorry for the rambling question! *EDIT* Last time I was here the Cosmere QA section didn't exist I don't think, so it didn't occur to me to put this there when clearly it should be, whoops!

1. Dresden Files - Jim Butcher 2. Gentlemen Bastards - Scott Lynch 3. Stormlight Archive - Brandon Sanderson 4. Johnathan Strange & Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke 5. Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman

Another thing to note is Axies is apparently immortal due to an interaction with magic, whether this is the case for all Aimians or just Axies is unknown Source: http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/4875-interesting-note-on-axies/

http://coppermind.net/wiki/The_Stormlight_Archive According to the wiki, Brandon has apparently said in a Q&A that he has changed the working title of Stormlight 3 from Stones Unhallowed to Skybreaker.

This really piqued my entrance when I read it, I certainly hope we learn more about prolonged soul-casting soon. I'm very curious, in particular, about the effect on the eyes, and the fact Adolin doesn't consider them human, because 'crystalline' was used to describe Aimians (Like Axies) eyes, and WoB said the Aimians are not human; but perhaps they once where. Maybe they are the original creators of the soul-casters. Not sure I actually believe that, but just throwing it out as a thought.

I'm currently bouncing between The Eye of the World, The Final Empire, and Assassin's Apprentice, but I just got my february audible credit so all other books stop for the time being for Grave Peril, the third Dresden file book. I enjoy the audiobook of the first one so much, I decided I would do the whole series as audiobook, and its quickly shaping up to possibly be my favorite series.

Give it 50 seconds or so, that's when the song really gets started