Search the Community

I searched the Arcanum & can't find where Brandon has ever said anything on this, & neither does it seem like anyone has posted it here on the Shard, so I'm gonna be brave and theorize in public (amongst us Sander-fans, anyway). Please be kind, & know that I realize that I'm rarely if ever right about these things... Anyway, here goes: What if Hoid's role in Cosmere history, post-Shattering, is like that of a prophet? - the "voice crying in the wilderness," etc.? This came to me after reading (what some of us call) the "minor prophets" of the Old Testament in the (Christian) Bible - the books from Hosea to Malachi. Sometimes these prophets made their point using snarky and sarcastic humor, and some of them used their own real-life events to communicate their message. I dunno - something about it just reminded me of Hoid. YMMV, of course, but I'll be looking for indications of "prophet" on my next read-through. And if one of you would like to pose this question to Brandon on the next livestream or event, please do - I always find out about those too late to get my questions in.

Someone may have already thought of this so if there is another thread discussing this please link it. So we've seen Hoid use some form of lightweaving before he bonded a cryptic. He was also very ecstatic about bonding a spren, this got me thinking. Could Hoid's goal perhaps be to master all types of investiture? Would the mastery of all investiture possibly make him the closest being to adonalsium? Just my thoughts on this hoping to hear what all of you think of this idea.

Intro I have returned for yet another attempt to theorize and understand one of the many magics of the Cosmere. This time I am tackling breath, one of my favorite magic systems, though I do love them all. As many of you undoubtedly know, everybody's favorite wanderer has shown us a less than well known use for breath. While there was prior evidence of breath being tied to memory from two scenes in Warbreaker (the little girl, and the offer to Denth) this aspect has yet to be explored or explained much. I apologize in advance if their is a WOB that already talks about this, I keep forgetting to read them all. Some Background In very typical fashion for me, I felt compelled to try and understand this more. So I turned to the wonderful coppermind and Warbreaker itself. In it I found a most peculiar note, "If enough Breaths are collected, they can start to affect the personality of the person holding them. "Breaths do bring some things along with them,", but they are not "terribly individual" depending on their original owner. For example, Vahr's resolve was strengthened because of the similar mindsets of those he collected his Breaths from, but the effect only manifested due to the large amount of Breaths he had." The Theory one: How Breath Connects To The Bearer Now given textual evidence and assuming this is accurate I propose. Breath actually has an impact on a person in all 3 realms to a greater extent than the average magic system (which to me makes sense for Endowment). Though one could argue it is simply because one can acquire more of it more easily than most other Cosmere magic systems. The physical is easily seen, as many of the heightenings provide benefits that are at least tangentially physical (and arguably cognitive). As for the cognitive aspect, I think that like a cognitive shadow, breaths imprint slightly upon a person's spirit web and or their cognitive aspect. Hence how they can influence a person's personality if they collect a lot of it. However, due to the relatively small amount of investiture per breath this effect is greatly diminished. Likely only picking up a modicum of a person's thoughts and feelings that is only noticeable if those you get the breath from have a similar mindset. Finally, there is the spiritual aspect to consider. While there is really only one concrete example I think Susebron gives us some idea what this entails. Although he is no sliver, the sheer quantity of investiture bound to him would in my eyes on some level expand his soul in a similar if lesser manner. Given we do not know as much about the greater levels of heightening I sadly cannot back this up with much evidence. Though I do believe the way in which the more breath you have makes you better at awakening when you first begin might tie into a spiritual connection with endowment and awakening as a magic system. Yet, I could see an argument for this being a cognitive not spiritual effect. Theory two: How This Connects To Memory Now assuming I am at least on the right track. Then the question is, how does this allow you to store memories in them? I would propose given the ties to multiple aspects of a person (particularly cognitive and spiritual) there is a way to exploit this to impact memory. When Vasher tells the little girl to speak a certain command, Vivenna notices her breath flickers. To me this implies a portion of the breath and the cognitive tie to that memory have been severed from the girl. As for Hoid using it as a memory storage, once again. Given the impact memory can have on your cognitive aspect, and how are memories shape our identity. It does not feel like a great leap in logic to assume that one could use those breaths to store those memories. As the breaths in question are tied to a person in just about every way. Though whether using them to awaken or storing the breaths in something like clothes would degrade or destroy the memories I do not know. Granted I imagine it requires a great knowledge of investiture to do this, but many things are possible with the right application of knowledge. Afterword Just wanted to say thanks for reading everyone. Happy to discuss further if you feel so inclined. Sorry if my thought process is hard to follow or I seem to be making too great a leap in logic. Also hope people like the new format I am using for my theories. Feel like it helps make them more digestible and easy to follow.

What if cephandris was the weapon. He could have held "Destroy" long enough after that it warped his spirit web to the point that he was dependent on its existence to "destroy" anyone/thing or be destroyed. The reason he can't be harmed/harm is because in the spiritual realm his spirit web is literally missing the piece that let's another web hurt it or be hurt by it.(It's mumbo jumbo-ey. I know.) He worked with the 5 scholars to bind "Destroy" so no one could use its power. The impossible thing he's trying to do is change "Destroy" to "Destroy Evil". That's also how a dawnshard is different from the others. That dawnshard is nightblood. Actually I guess it should be Nightblood.

So Hoid clearly "pushed the boulder" in order to steal the Moon Scepter and possibly to cause Shai's imprisonment. Do we know if he or possibly another world hopper may have set the failed assassination attempt in motion? This novella could contain some of the highest levels of Hoid's influence if so in my opinion.

Through use of forgery it is shown that one can take different paths in their past for different results to become different versions that could have been Since it has become apparent Hoid had an opportunity to become a shard at some point could forging his soul turn him into one?

In the epilogue of Rhythm of War, Hoid refers to the coins from his magic trick as cents, I deduce that this either a translation of a word from one of the languages of the Cosmere (unlikely), an error on Mr. Sanderson's part (once again, rather unlikely), or, last but not least, a hint that Hoid is aware of Earth's Unniverse, Earth, and specifically the United States (which does provide some degree of a time frame). This could imply that Hoid can hop universes. What do you all think? Any other theories upon why Sanderson chose this word beyond that it made a convenient pun?

Hey I'm Noahdon. In real life my name is Noah so if nothing else, I am here on 17th Shard to claim one of the best screen names in the fandom (though I think the Rosharans may dismay at the asymmetry, I couldn't resist the poignant pun). I got into Brandon Sanderson in 2018 by listening to Michael Kramer and Kate Reading read The Way of Kings on a 10hr road trip to visit my significant other over break. I was happily surprised that after the 20hr round trip there was still so much story to be had and I was hooked. Wanting to see how the fantasy names were spelled I picked up a hard copy of book and started lurking on Coppermind and 17th Shard forums. I expertly avoided many spoilers and learning about the expansive Cosmere I was goaded to finish all of Brandon's published works within it so I could start making more solid connections in my brain. Brandon and all of the other epic fantasy authors I would pick up after sparked my love for reading again as an adult. After listening to the audiobook in bed my significant other was became interested in Shallan and I was able to convince her to start reading as well. We now have a thriving SFF book club that meets over Zoom and I have someone to discuss my theories with. However, she has not finished all of the Cosmere yet, so after listening to Shardcast I knew there was a larger community I could engage with. So hello everyone! Happy to be here! Other than being a Cosmere and all-around nerd, I am also into Brandon's Writing Excuses Podcast and have started my own novella. I am a musician so naturally, I'm chasing after Hoid and plan to write music with some investiture magic inspiration at some point. I also am a DM and tabletop RPGer. Can't wait to hear your theories and talk fantasy with y'all!

Did Hoid have any contact with Drewton? Wax assumes that Drewton found the coin at the end of BOM but I wonder if Hoid either influenced Drewton after Wax left New Seran to make sure the coin would get to Wax or more interestingly is it possible that Hoid is Drewton? We know that he has no trouble playing a role for a while and I think he already has full lightweaving by the time we see him in Era 2 right? It doesn’t seem like he would enjoy playing a character like Drewton but it just seemed weird to me that the coin ended up with Wax again at the end so it seemed like Hoid probably made extra sure to get it to him.

On my first read of mistborn I didn’t like many of the characters . Do not get me wrong I loved both series but the characters didn’t interest me first . Chief amongst all these was Spook . I thought him useless , and had no idea of his potential . I read the whole series and started on era 2 before I snapped to who Spook was inspired by or similar too . This only happened after a drawing I saw Spook with his blindfold on and two dueling canes . I stood up in my seat and was like Omg “ Spook is Daredevil .!!! So I was shocked I missed that . He became so much more interesting to me . Not because I liked daredevil. But because I now realized what Spook could do being a tin-eye Savant who flared his metals constantly ! Now he was interesting . So I reread and I starting seeing other similarities all throughtout mistborn . Raynett was “q” from James Bond . Wax reminded me so much oh Jim west . I don’t know why but I always picture Kelsier as “ Magneto” Hoid as “doc who” . Mr suit “ professor Moriate” Sherlock Holmes . I’m going to stop at calling Wayne “Deadpool “ Wayne is my favorite character in both books and he hates guns Does anybody else see any characters in the Cosmere that you said remind you of someone else very strongly ?

Here is a poem that I made about Hoid its not great but I like it Perpendicularity alight Glowing like stars in the dark of night The traveler moves through worlds of shards Causing mischief with motives unknown Through eons and worlds he roams Seeking to restore what was lost His name unknown He is the Wanderer The Traveler The Dust The Drifter The teller of tales, A conspirator A thief A Fool He is Hoid

*TInfoil hat on* According to the ars arcanum in RoW microkinesis, or Stoneshaping, was present on Yolen with more destructive abilities: So there are now two Surgebinding abilities on Roshar that also was present on Yolen. The second one being Lightweaving which is something Hoid already is able to do. According to a WoB microkinesis is not capable of splitting atoms however Brandon also says that it was capable of doing that in his original dragonsteel books. So what leads me to believe Hoid has been a stoneward? For a while Hoid was going under the name `Topaz` in reference to him being the bearer of the first gem. Topaz is also the gem associated with stonewards. Now this doesn't really make a strong point and could just be coincidence. However in chapter 68 in OB when Shallan and Hoid is talking he mentions this: This is also the subtitle given to the Stonewards in the quiz about the ten orders. However he says `vow` and not instead of `oath` but that could be Brandon making sure he doesn't set off our cosmere alarms too easily. *Second tinfoil hat on*

A while ago, I posted a thread, in the RoW area, asking what landmasses people thought could exist. My evidence chief evidence for another landmass was this: Puuli's interlude Hello there! Remember Res. The next clue is at work, you know... A shop. The story of the Wandersail Spiked Chasmfiends anyone? Now most people agreed with me, that there probably was another landmass, but that's irrelevant. Today I want to talk about the tales Hoid tells in SA, and like the wandersail, how I believe that they are relevant, to the plot of SA... OoOoH You found a link At first glance, Hoid's stories seem to be nothing more than little Easter eggs. But... We know that's not the case, because of the Girl Who Looked Up. The Girl Who Looked Up seems to be directly relevant to early human history in the Rosharan system. Probably telling of the consequences of Surgebinding, or the humans venturing out of Shinovar. I've already shared my thoughts on what I think the Wandersail is, and quite frankly the tales of Fleet, and the clever moon continue to stump me. What do you think? Post thoughts below:

What gave me this idea was Hoid's telling of the Wandersail in Way of Kings, specifically this paragraph: The Rhythm of the Lost has been described on numerous occasions as soft and slow, but with sharp, staccato notes. Of course, (Secret History spoilers) There isn't much evidence for it, but there isn't much evidence against it, either. So, can Hoid hear the Rhythms via some Hoid thing, or only through bronze, or am I just crazy?

Does anyone else think that Thom Merrilin somehow worldhopped from Randland and is now hopping around the cosmere? It actually fits pretty well. Both Thom and Hoid are politically savvy and pull strings behind the scenes. They are always somehow in the right place at the right time. And obviously they both have a penchant for telling stories and playing instruments.

huge fan of the cosmere and hopefully will have some cool discussions on here

So here is Brandon's first comment about this shard on reddit: So there you have it, based on Brandon's comment Whimsy is as close to Caprice as it gets which to my mind makes it the most terrifying shard out there (regardless of what Cultivation says about Odium!). A good question to ask Brandon would be why he chose Whimsy and not Caprice. Is that related to the vessel's perception of the shard? Or is there an actual difference between Whimsy and Caprice?

Hey, does anyone know if there is a place where you can find all of the stories Wit tells in all of the Stromlight Archive?

The Coppermind mentions that there is a reason for why Hoid's hair is white, but that the reason is unknown. I wonder if it is somewhat related to the process of Awakening. We all know that Awakening drains color, and this is what it reminded me of. Obviously, it wouldn't be exactly the same - something that might be related to him being a former Dawnshard(?) - but maybe related in the way that Yolish Lightweaving is similar to Rosharan Lightweaving. Thoughts?

Okay, so I was having a thinky think in the shower and realized that Hoid was storing memories in Breaths like how a Feruchemist would store memories in a Coppermind. Useing one investiture for the use of another, kind of like compounding, using allomancy to get feruchemical traits. The metallic arts have the most crossover of all the magic systems, but they are by no means the only ones, and I think this is a nice example. I'm not sure if Hoid is a feruchemist (The coppermind doesn't say so, and we do not know any other way of getting it after birth. Maybe harmonium would grant it if burned, or Sazed can make people Feruchemist like he can make Spook Mistborn.) but it's still the same principle, instead of using metal to store memories, he is using breaths as its container. Thoughts?

Who has good interacted with the most, as in like meaningful character moment interaction like his stories to kaladin not like him showing up as adolin and shallans carriage driver just because. because I feel like it’s probably kaladin or shallan thinking about it which to me I plus something important in their future.

During Hoid's retelling of the story The Dog and the Dragon, he mentioned that the story was originally told to him by a barkeeper at an inn that can only be found by the lost. Is there really an inn like that? Is this just how Hoid chose to add flavour to his story or was this story really told to him by this barkeep? With how the Spiritual and Cognitive Realms work, with how attributes like Connection and Fortune work, with how Visions work... it's actually quite possible that such an inn might actually exist. It was rather suspiciously specific too. Or maybe it was just a normal barkeep who told Hoid a story when he was feeling lost that he's recounting now to Kaladin? I recall that Hoid mentioned that he once shared a drink with Tanavast... What do you think?

Hoid's 100% Correct true Cosmere Facts Hoid decides to have a bit of fun with his new penpal Harmony. Full Mistborn & Stormlight spoilers. My first-ever Cosmere fic, inspired by this thread. Feel free to comment with your own Correct True Facts.