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Do we have WoB concerning whether Hoid will be in each piece of the White Sand trilogy of graphic novels? I know Sanderson stated he would have to put more Hoid in them than was in the prose version, and we also know Hoid appears in every novel, but concerning the graphic novel (since it's one story broken into 3 parts): will Hoid appear in EACH part, or just in the series? -CQ

Alright, so Dune’s been a bit popular lately and it sparked a thought as I was reading a thread discussing Breaths. Essentially, I am asking if there would or is a “best” planet to be born on. Replacing genetics with Connection here and imagining some hypothetical group as a parallel for the Bene Gesserit and their breeding. Unfortunately, Connection is not hereditary and is entirely reliant on the individual person (as far as I know) which removes the possibility of a “natural” tricking of a planet into believing that someone has a Connection with it (from their parents Connection, allowing for natural access to its magics) rather than being reliant on methods like Hoid’s to artificially manipulate Connection. We do have an example of someone gaining access to almost all forms of Investiture in Hoid and could use him as a case study but for the sake of making this interesting rather than just saying “do what Hoid does” we can restrict it to planetary magics. Meaning that your stuck to using whatever is on your planet. This does allow for magics that enable a person to manipulate Connection to do whatever shenanigans they want to in collecting as many magics as they can. Simply put, what would be the best planet to start from and with what magic system?

Hoid is my favorite character in the Cosmere, but I don't think he is a good guy...at all. He's selfish, cunning, and tricky. I think he is ultimately only out for himself in the Cosmere, but he does have a larger goal. Would you want to help Hoid on purpose or do you think the Cosmere would be better off without him?

After mentioning the name Adonalsium to Dalinar Kholin, the King's Wit, aka Hoid, quickly plays it off, claiming he's speaking gibberish. He drops this quote. Interestingly, while he does use two 'real' nonsense words of Nonsense and Balderdash, the term Figgldygrak was apparently a wholly Brandon invention. It was an amusing word, nothing more. Then, a user by the name of Natans had an interesting idea. Balderdash could be anagramed into the word Shardblade. Perhaps, the same could be done to Figgldygrak, in turn revealing some deep truth about the Cosmere. You can find the thread here: Surprisingly, Peter Ahlstrom himself weighed in, calling the people in that thread "Very special people" Clearly, we were reading way too much into this. The theory was basically abandoned, and we moved on. However, the word reappeared in Rhythm of War, this time in Navani's inner dialogue. Specifically, it was used in the context of writing ciphers that meant absolutely nothing. It was literally meant to be a waste of time. I was surprised to see it reappear, but laughed it off as Brandon lightly poking fun at his fans reading too much into his words. Then the secret projects happened. In Tress of the Emerald Sea, Hoid once again uses the word in his narration. It was another callback to the same forgotten joke. It's clearly used as a synonym for mystical nonsense in all of its appearances, but it kept cropping up. Why keep the joke going? The word then reappears a fourth time in Yumi and the Nightmare Painter. At this point, I'm starting to get paranoid. While it does not show up in SP4, this nonsensical word has appeared in four separate places, uttered by three different characters. Some of you might guess that this is a word that Hoid has invented. However, this is tenuous at best. While he was the first to speak it, we have to consider that both Navani and Tojin used it in everyday speech. You could maybe stretch that perhaps Navani overheard Hoid make up the word, but that doesn't explain Tojin. Hoid is a statue for most of that book, and Design wasn't bonded to Hoid when he said that line. It's at least two degrees of separation. Even more interestingly, Hoid claims he doesn't make up words. Again, from Yumi, Admittedly, this is spoken with the indignation of someone who probably makes up words, but the point still stands. Hoid denies that he makes up words. Where, then, does the word figgldygrak come from in the Cosmere? Let's consider that three different characters of wildly different origins and planets have used this word. Therefore, I propose a theory. The word figgldygrak is Yolish in origin. It's the only root language all of these human characters would share. Is this wahoopli and figgldygrak? Probably. Is it fun to speculate about? Absolutely. Leave your own takes on this mysterious word down in the comments.

So, in RoW, it's revealed that Invested beings are Spiritually bound to their world, which is also hinted at in Mistborn Secret History. If that's the case, how is Hoid able to travel so much? He's a mistborn, awakener, sandmaster, and Lightweaver (plus whatever else I don't know about). I have two guesses for this. 1) Hoid's being pulled in so many directions at once that he can get anywhere 2) He's found a way to bypass the Spiritual Connections

(Mild Oathbringer spoilers) The Blue Envelope with the Bronze Seal Rated Teen, 6000 words Summary: In a world in which soulmates exist, Sigzil rejects his to embark on an entirely different kind of adventure. Chapter 1 For being such an expansive auditorium crammed with so many people, it was unnerving to hear such a large silence. Sigzil was half-certain that everyone could hear the thumping of his heart. Certainly he could hear that one of the adjudicators standing against a far wall was chewing something. Focus. He stared at the top sheet of the pages in front of him, hands in his lap, willing the test to start. Would he even be able to concentrate while he was this nervous? He could hear clothing rustling as his fellow applicants adjusted their robes and wraps; the nervous tapping of pens, quickly self-chastened back to stillness; then at last, one set of footsteps, ringing clearly through the hall like bells. “You may begin.” Finally! Sigzil flipped over the first page eagerly, then skimmed through the length of the test, evaluating the difficulty of the questions to ease his mind a little. This would be a good place to start: actuarial questions. Get through those, and then he could start on the history of— The sound of whispering distracted him, and he glanced at the doorway to find a tall, large woman in high ranked scion’s robes in a huddle with two of the guards. They looked up, directly at him. Oh, Yaezir guide me, he thought miserably, and snapped back to the pages in front of him. If I get kicked out just for looking up, my parents will kill me. More footsteps, this time the heavy thud of boots. They sounded like they were getting closer, but Sigzil didn’t dare look up. He frowned, trying to concentrate. Calculate the merchant’s profit, and then subtract the taxes for the Prime, given Hazep’s Rule of Sixths. Consult the table of risks— The footsteps got louder, then louder. He covered one ear as he scribbled. Average distance of goods, value of goods…hold on. Are they delivered by ship or over land? Oh Pali, of course it’s both— Two looming shadows darkened the desk. A gauntleted arm knocked the pen from Sigzil’s hand, and it landed with a crack against the bronze floor. Sigzil watched numbly as his lucky pen shattered into a thousand pieces under the rows of desks. “Oops, I do apologize,” a gruff voice said, but Sigzil felt like the words were travelling to him underwater. Then two large hands grabbed him under the armpits and yanked him to standing. He hardly heard what came next. “I’m afraid you’ll have to come with us, Citizen Cheater.” Keep reading

So Hoid can't hurt people, or seemingly even animals. But what about these things. I figure he still wouldn't be able to hurt Returned, since they still have a normal soul, and I suspect awakened objects would be fine, he can likely harm objects, and just because they are invested with a command likely wouldn't stop that, and I would expect the same would be true for lifeless, but it's a bit harder to say, but they are called "lifeless" after all. But type 4 biochromatic entities is a tricky case. They aren't alive in the way normal things are, but they are definitely sentient. (Also Nightblood is basically invincible but this is hypothetical)

Greeting, Hoid appreciators! This is a place to discuss Hoid and any of his aliases. This is a place for jokes and conjecture. and if any of you aspire to bring Hoid to random parts of the internet, show off your work here! Let's keep it fun and enjoy Hoid together.

Nomad didn't have too many problems getting rid of the Torment imposed by his Dawnshard. How old is he? 200 years at most? And almost casually, he frees himself from his Torment. Hoid was at least 11,000 years old in WoK, and is probably one of the individuals with the most knowledge of the Cosmere. How is it possible that a person –no offense– relatively new to understanding the Investiture has managed to free himself from its torment before a Radiant, Elantrian, Mistborn and Awakener who maintains letter conversations with the shards? Is there a reason Hoid would choose to keep his Torment, or does being a bearer of a Dawnshard for a longer period of time come with more limitations? Or am I missing something completely different?

I recently went down a cosmere rabbit hole(which I do on occasion) and I discovered that Design and Hoid somehow got off of Roshar to get to Komachi without breaking their bond. But I've also seen several articles state that that would be a bit of a problem for Hoid. How does this happen? I haven't read Yumi yet, if it's a spoiler, please don't tell me the answer, but if it isn't, I need answers.

Hello my favourite peeps, I had a thought. We now that Adonalsium was shattered by 16 individuals a long time ago using 4 Dawnshards. Each of these individuals picked up 1/16th of Adonalsium and Ascended to being SHARDS. They had certain agreements in place and they left for their individual pursuits henceforth. We also know Hoid was present at the Shattering. He was offered one of the 16 and he refused ( maybe he was offered one he didn't particularly want). But we know that he was the holder of a dawnshard for a long time ( maybe even since the Shattering ). This particular Dawnshard is unique in the way how it alters the user's spirit web so that he can't cause harm ( I would say the irl Gandhi among the dawnshards preaching non violence etc. ). I further think the 16 stipulated Hoid to be the bearer of non violent Dawnshard to ensure their own safety fearing Hoid would use offensive Dawnshard to attack one or more of the 16. I also assume Frost to be another character present at the Shattering and could have possibly picked up another Dawnshard , maybe an attacking one. Maybe this is the reason none of the Shards had tried to claim Token as Frost is waiting there with a Dawnshard in case some Shards get the wrong idea. Now I'm thinking who took over the remaining 2 Dawnshards? Did one of the 16 take up dawnshards as well? I hope this is the correct part of the forum to discuss this. Any thoughts? Plausible? Cheers guys

Is it just more are did you also get the impression that the first lodestar was hoid?

Got Vin and TenSoon this week. Not finished yet, but I do not recommend getting your elbow tattooed. Very unpleasant! haha hope you enjoy Hey guys, Apologies if this is the wrong place to post this. Thought I would share my recent Cosmere tattoos VID_160141031_142722_599.mp4

At the end of RoW, Odium removes some Breaths from Hoid that contain his memories. I was wondering if he was imitating a coppermind with them, swapping out the form of Investiture, and constantly filling the Breaths with his new memories. Just a thought I had, and wondering if there is any other explanation as to how he would have memories stored in Breaths

Basically the title, do we know the extent of Hoid's restrictions on hurting living things? Hoid's Coppermind article notes that he can't harm people and cannot eat anything he believes to be meat, but I'm not sure if that's the full extent. Is his restrictions on harming living things only sapient beings - dragons, humans, singers, Sho Del, etc., or does it extend to highly intelligent entities like Ryshadium, Larkin, Sleepless, horses, dolphins etc.?At what point does it stop restricting him or would he be majorly inconvenienced if someone were to release hundreds of thousands of flies into a room he was in and he couldn't even make a step or open his mouth without endangering their fragile bodies? Alternately fill his room with hamster or kittens. Could he move when he knows he will probably kill something accidentally? Yes, there are logical extremes to this progression, but I'm not going there just yet. He can make a Cognitive Shadow (Kelsier) think they are hurting, but could he harm an Honorspren made corporeal by Ishar before they died? Can he hurt spren in Shadesmar? You acquire a Bavadium Hemalurgic spike, one of the ones that is repulsed by an Allomancer burning metals. If you were to tell Hoid that you had setup a box with the spike positioned so that if he were to burn metals it would stab a cat inside (named Schrodinger, because), would that stop him from using Allomancy? Barring a stunt like Duralumin Pulling on the spike which is dumb in so many ways. Would he need to see the cat and the setup of the box to be restricted or if he never saw the cat would he still be free to act? Ignoring Lifesense for a moment (maybe he Awakened something), would he be restricted if he believed the cat was there but you hadn't actually put Schrodinger in the box? Mostly I'm interested in the room full of flies scenario as just about anyone could set that one up with barely any specialized equipment or abilities. Thoughts?

At the end of Words of Radiance the following interaction occurs: In the following books it is shown that spren did deal with living people, if not in their own major cities. These people are almost all various worldhoppers and they are not all that numerous, but they are not non-existent. I'd imagine that Jasnah would make a disturbance regardless. There are not that many people and Jasnah is specifically a radiant. It just seems there is a contradiction, perhaps a subtle retcon. Perhaps I am misremembering and there were absolutely no interactions between worldhoppers and spren, but I recall otherwise and I have been rereading the stormlight archives over and over again recently. Still doesn't mean I cannot be wrong of course.

In Tress of the Emerald Sea it says that Hoid would have a 20% chance to kill the Sorceress, but Brandon has repeatedly said that a Dawnshard cannot harm anyone –Hoid can't even eat meat–. Has he managed to change this somehow? What am I missing?

Hey! I am currently rereading both stress and TLM on a beautiful beach in Egypt ( too much lore to digest in one go) I am drawn back to the comment where about implied that he and sixteen other people chattered Ado as they could not trust him to make his own decisions. My head cannon has always been (since Dawnshard anyway) that there would have been twenty people in total, 4 for the Dawnshard and 16 for each Shard. I am aware that Hoid was offered a shard and did not take this up. I wonder why there were seventeen people originally, did one person never intend to take up a shard? Was there an additional purpose for that person? I just think it’s random that they had one extra person lying around to take up the refused shard. I am wondering if Hoid declined the shard before they attempted the shattering but still wanted to be involved in the attempt. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated? I feel I have missed a link somewhere.

We’ve seen Hoid intentionally seek out new powers multiple times now. In Elantris he tried to become an Elantrian, in Tress he succeeded, in stormlight he sought to become a radiant, in secret history he intentionally became a mistborn, etc… Two questions. 1) why is he seeking out these powers? I don’t think it is just to become more powerful in the traditional sense. Rather I think he is messing with some realmatic theory to gain some connection to each of the 16 shards. Maybe with the intent of re-forming Adonalsium? 2) if he is trying to gain connection to all 16 shards, does becoming a mistborn connect him to both ruin and preservation or just preservation. Similarly, does becoming a light weaver connect him to both honor and cultivation or just one of them. Is becoming an Elantrian connect him to just devotion or does it connect him to dominion as well? any other thoughts on Hoids gotta catch ‘em all strategy?

Hey All! Long time lurker, first time poster, so I apologize if the formatting isn't quite right. There will be plenty of spoilers regarding the later Stormlight books and the Dawnshard novella, so please tread lightly if you haven't read those yet. After my most recent reread of RoW I noticed how much discussion there is on Hoid’s flute and it got me thinking that it must be more significant than just a simple musical instrument. Perhaps the flute is actually the Dawnshard that Hoid has had since the shattering? Before people jump down my throat, I am aware of the theorized connection between Hoid’s Dawnshard and the First Gem. However, as we saw in the Dawnshard novella, the receptacle of the Dawnshard can obviously change from items to people. So I went back and started tracing where we have previously seen or head mention of the flute. We know that Hoid has had the flute for an extremely long time when he tells Kaladin that he has carried it longer than Kaladin would believe. The way Hoid explains the flute always seemed odd to me To me, Kaladin’s confusion about this is reasonable. He probably hasn’t seen many people play the flute while simultaneously storytelling. What bugs me about the wording is that Hoid claims he “uses” it instead of simply saying that he plays it. A little later in the passage Brandon describes Kaladin’s reaction to the music The emphasis on demanding here is what catches my attention. Sure, people describe music as demanding occasionally, but perhaps there is a bit more here. After Hoid finishes the story he gives Kaladin the flute and tells him that Which I will admit, on its own, doesn’t seem all that consequential at first glance. But when I start thinking about the little that is known of Dawnshards that passage starts to take on a different meaning. We know from the Dawnshard novella that to properly use a Dawnshard, it requires both Intent and Command. So perhaps “mastering” the flute in this context Hoid is hinting to Kaladin being able to use the Dawnshard. Further, we also know that holding Dawnshards for a long-time changes people (from Oathbringer epilogue) which has obviously happened to Hoid due to his inability to hurt others. Now Kaladin loses the flute relatively quickly after receiving it from Hoid, so he wouldn’t have developed those same effects, but maybe his time with the flute in his possession did have an effect. Kaladin is only one of two known surgebinders who was able to remain awake during the occupation in RoW. I know there are completely logical explanations made in the book as to why he was able to remain conscious, but I think it is possible that this explanation is incomplete and that Kaladin’s time with a Dawnshard in his possession assisted in his consciousness. As I mentioned, there was only one other surgebinder who remained awake, Lyft, who we find out at the end of the book has had the flute in her possession from some time after the move from the Shattered Plains! We all know that Hoid rarely appears or takes action that aren’t absolutely necessary to meet his own goals (whatever they may be). He tells Dalinar himself near the end of WoR that So maybe Hoid felt it was time to pass on the Flute (which I suspect to be the Dawnshard) because he felt Kaladin and eventually Lyft would have greater need of it in the near future.

I noticed this quote on my third read of TWoK and found it of some note. This sort of touches on the fourth wall which is something that basically never happens in cosmere works-but it seems to happen here. It technically could be something else, and I'd love to hear opinions. What does this mean...? Oh, also this which has a small chance of being a fourth wall break as well (But easily could actually mean what it means when taken at face value.) Hoid just seems like the type of person to sneak in a double meaning of that sort. I don't usually suspect this kind of quote, but this in particular feels like something.

Whatever happened to his cryptic Design? We last saw them together in Stormlight 4 and I am not sure a Nahel bond can reach that far. You see no mention of them in the book. Based on the discussion in the thread the book seems to take place way after he made the bond so did he lose Design maybe during the events of Stormlight 5?

So if Hoid is an Elantrian now, can he stop glowing if he wants to? Will it be hard for him to hide? Seems like glowing uncontrollably would really change his MO. Turning someone into a rat seems like a different kind of magic from what we've seen in the Cosmere so far. Is that just a standard Elantrian ability? If so, dang, Hoid is going to be practically unstoppable wherever he can draw a big map. Hoid said that he and sixteen other people told someone "It's for your own good." I guess they were speaking to Adonalsium at the Shattering, though they could have been speaking (metaphorically) to the Cosmere as a whole. Why would the Shattering have been for Adonalsium's own good? I liked that the story wasn't just "Sometimes the princess does the rescuing." That is no longer a clever twist. The end of this story was. Will the duke's nephew still be his heir? That seems legally doubtful. Silver seems to have the ability to thwart or kill living Investiture around the Cosmere - Threnody, Roshar, and now Lumar. I want to see more types of spores and their uses. Or the aethers the spores are connected to. What was Xisis's real reason for letting Tress go? Tress mentions death himself with nails in his eyes. Those Scadrians must get around, huh?

Just a funny thought, then I got to thinking Brandon is Hoid. The collector of stories. The one that was there for the shattering but not one of the shards. Who, Travels to all the worlds and interjects as only an author would (kinda like the neverending story). Whether it is written into the books at some point or not, the two are connected for me now. What do you think? Or is it deeper, in all actuality is Brandon Sanderson really a worldhopper? That's why his books are so good. It's just history, not fantasy.