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I have had this theory for a long time now that Cultivation cultivated Syl as a part of her gambit. But listen to me for once. This might sound crazy but might make sense in a minute. I guess we can all agree that Syl is different from most of the honorspren. She is just too jovial and lighthearted than most honorspren we have seen. Well... also Rua, but that's probably due to his bond with the Lopen. Then I reread the part in Oathbringer when Kaladin returns to Hearthstone. Another pure voice. Pure being the keyword here. I'm certain that spren can hear the Rhythms of Roshar. And the tones of the three Shards are described to be the pure tones of Roshar in RoW. Honor is dead. Why would Odium bother Syl? It is Cultivation's voice. Like tapped crystal. Dalinar described Cultivation's voice to be like 'tumbling stones'. Tapped crystal. Tumbling stone. Maybe I'm overthinking, but both of these voices are of Cultivation. What else did she do? Probably kept Syl sleeping for that millennium. I mean, we can't take the explanation to be Syl's mind being childish. That... doesn't sound Brando's style to me. 'Cause there is only her. Only her. A single spren slept for a thousand years after breaking her bond. Coincidence? I think not. Why? The bigger question is why. Ok now. Hear me. There is too much in my head that I can't remember now or can't explain. But here is my theory. Kaladin is the 'Son of Tanavast'. The successor of Tanavast (refer to this WoB). And Cultivaton wants him alive. Syl is mostly the reason Kal is alive. And that's why we love her. In Book 5, Dalinar loses the contest of champions. Yet, somehow, he will be able to reforge Honor. Instead of bearing the Shard himself, he gives it to Kaladin because now he is bound to serve Odium. And Kal ascends to Honor. I don't have much to support this other than: Kal's first chapter being 'Honor is Dead'. Kal saying 'Honor is Dead'. Cultivation only influences people who will somehow be related to godhood. And Dalinar being too obvious a choice for Honor.

does anyone think cultivation was just abess glass from book of the ancestor but a dragon before becoming cultivation. (If you don’t know who that is it’s one of the most fun characters ever and a good example of characters whose plans always work out not stealing any narrative tension) Ok so i’m a believer that cultivation has been manipulating everyone and has some massive master plan and I think there are some interesting things about kaladin that make me suspicious of her having a hand in some of the events surrounding him. 1. Kaladin spends a good amount of book one believing he is cursed with bad luck and speculates it was the night watcher. What if he is right, considering what we now know about cultivation It seems legitimately possible she had some hand in it. 2. Why did nobody know about kaladin, heleran at the command of the sky breakers came to kill amaram, it seems that the sky breakers knew Tien was a proto radiant nobody ever knew about kaladin or came after hmm despite him killing their shardbearer. On top of this the sky breakers seem to take some level of orders from cultivation since she must have given nightblood to nale who then was to give it to szeth. 3. when syl describes her early time coming after kaladin she describes a pure sound that called her there, this has been assumed to be mean Tien by pretty much everyone but what if it wasn’t what if cultivation woke syl up and led her to kaladin? 4. Kaladins spear feedback loop- basically the feedback loop through the spiritual realm is really really strong. We see plenty of others who are natural and gifted warriors and none of them ever display a similar degree of it affecting them. Neither adolin nor Dalinar or anyone else ever describe the degree of affect on them outside the influence of the thrill or odium but kaladin despite significantly less training or experience compared to either is at least as good as if not better then them. It’s specifically odd because these are two incredibly talented people he degree his natural skill enhances his abilities is abnormal. but we do see someone who displays similar natural aptitude, vin, no I don’t know if this whole idea was thought out previously as in when mistborn was written but I think in hind sight it seems very likely that vin had a similar spiritual feedback loop(in fact it’s likely that the idea of “talent” in general in the cosmere is related to this). Now it’s possible that they just are more talented since they are main characters but that doesn’t explain other similar symptoms like the relationship they both have to their respective talent. Both vin and kaladin seem to have an almost physical need to exercise this talent, kaladin picks up a spear and it takes over completely changing him, vin after being stuck inside for long time becomes restless and feels a need to use her powers it’s very similar to the way kaladin picks up a spear and needs to fight. Now other characters have similar things like Dalinar has an addiction to the thrill and adolin loves dueling, but adolin while he loves it never displays a similar bordering on physical need to fight. Dalinar does display this and that is related to the thrill and direct shardic influence. Dalinar also has a similar but slightly different relationship to the thrill, I think his is related to much more active shardic influence. He never displays this as a passive thing the way vin and kaladin do, for them it’s part of them for Dalinar it’s an effect being put on him. So basically we have 3 cases of this strange talent/addiction/ physical draw to a power/ fighting/ whatever else, one of them is different from the other two and is clearly due to direct shardic influence, one of them being vin seems very likely to be due to either direct shardic influence since she was groomed by cultivation I think either the spiritual feedback loop that grants skill, or the loop was naturally stronger because she took up a shard. Kaladin I think in this instance is unlikely to be dealing with direct shardic influence because his thing is more similar to vins then Dalinars, it is possible that it is due to him taking up a shard depending on how vin got her feedback loop enhanced. but it cannot be that honor enhanced the loop so there are two possibilities I think. 1. Kaladin will take up a shard(or become some other powerful entity)- which I do think is very possible considering the strange other abilities he has shown and the fact he is called son of tanavast. or, and this is the one relevant for my crazy speculation 2. Cultivation must have enhanced the spiritual feedback loop, it cannot have been honor since he is dead and idk why odium would do it.

I wrote the first verse for a song/rap based around the opening song from Hamilton, Alexander Hamilton. I might come back and write some more verses. Let me know if you have any suggestions for improving this verse or what to do with the other verses! (I originally had the line corresponding to "What's your name, man?" as "What's your name, gon?" But it didn't rhyme with "Kaladin, Knight Radiant" or with "what little strength I haven't spent," so I decided to switch it for something that fit better, even though it was fun.) I'm not totally happy with the "Keep them safe," at the end, it doesn't sound quite right, but it's the best I could come up with in the middle of the night. Which is, of course, when it came to me to write this thing. EDIT: This should be in Sanderson Fan Works, sorry. Not sure if there's a way to move it. I also tweaked a few words to make some stuff sound better, and correct a couple typos. (Also, @Cheyenne Sedai and @voidlightx created a completed version, which is pretty amazing! Click here to check it out.)

Everyone seems to be betting that shallan may become a world hopper but what about kaladin? He was specifically told about other world any zahel and more interestingly had cognitive shadows explained to him. Or perhaps a better question why was kaladin made cosmere aware? Like what is the plot reason what role does it serve? A few reasons I can think of that this needed to happen. 1. so kaladin can understand how cognitive shadows work which was sorta relevant for fighting the pursuer. Then so he can later help ishar with his mental health. this is possible but idk seems kinda like there wouldn’t have also been a need to tell him about other worlds and have him fight a Dude from a different magic system. 2. He goes world hopping for some reason. But why would he do that? I think it would have to do with dalinars fate. so what will happen to dalinar at the end of the book we have a few options rn that seem clear. A. Dalinar is just fine on roshar as a mortal in this situation kaladin does not need to world hop B. dalinar ascends to honor i think dalinar may want to send someone out into the cosmere to maybe counte odium or explore or deal with other threats. Kaladin would be the ideal choice narratively. Presumably by the end of the 5th book kaladin will be 5th ideal quite possibly at the end of his character arc and I think not dead. On top of this kaladin is insanely op his combat feats are so insane that it’s almost counter productive to tension for him to be around, now he could take dalinars place in a leadership role or he could die or he could become a therapist but none of those work, since rn nothing prevents dalinar from leading since he doesn’t seem likely to straight up die, I don’t think he will die and even if he isn’t a soldier anymore he loves the fight far too much to just become a therapist full time. But generally because of kaladins high power level and drive to protect and the fact he likely won’t sit on the sidelines in most likely situations I think he woudl leave in this scenario as dalinars representative/ envoy. C. dalinar becomes a fused In this situation I think dalinar forces kaladin to swear to stop him when he becomes a fused and basically kaladin goes around the cosmere following dalinar being kinda like hoid and making sure dalinar is defeated every time odium tries to use him to screw stuff up. I know a lot of people have been wanting kaladin to maybe become a professional counselor but I think as a lot of people point out to him in the book he can’t give up the fight he loves it too much he just can’t take the stress of war and the battlefield anymore. he has also been talked to by hoid more than any other character we have seen (excluding jasnah but i mean as in like compelled to show up there to help out) which I think Indicates his importance. Honestly it would be kinda awesome if kaladin and syl go around the cosmere like in these theories and basically act like a second hoid Show up and talk to people about their problems then like drive dalinar off or do what honor needs done then leave. Plus he has the flute so maybe. also kaladin is hands down the most naturally skilled person in the cosmere when it comes to combat

So Vasher and Shashara came to Roshar to learn how to make an Endowment analogue of Shardblades. They return to Nalthis, and create the absurdly powerful and destructive Nightblood. This made me wonder, why is Nightblood so powerful. 1000 breaths is a lot of investiture, but is it comparable to Honor’s perpendicularity or that vessel he murdered (don’t know how to do spoiler tags, and I don’t want to ruin it for anyone). I didn’t think so, and it made me think maybe Vasher and Shashara took a Dawnshard and gave it to Nightblood, which would explain how he is so powerful. Kaladin also has some over the top feats as well. He was able to deflect a highstorm, fight two shardbearers on even ground; unarmored and lacking a shard blade. He is the only character (aside from Dalinar - but he has been bonding to a super-spren, partial shard, I have no idea what the storm father is) who is describe as having preternatural combat abilities. And I mean this in terms of pure combat abilities and not incorporating the surges into fighting styles. When he saves Adolin, he is basically fighting two shardbearers with his eyes closed. He completely outclasses Szeth in WoR. He defends a bridge, by himself against an entire squad of Parshendi. Every time this happens his inner monologue describes him as the wind, you cannot stop the wind, etc. No other wind runner is described this way either. Teft was arguably closer to the 4th ideal in RoW, and he needed to be treated by lift to stay awake, so it wasn’t because of that. Maybe Kaladin has a Dawnshard about Protect/Defend/something along those lines, one that Tanavast also had before the shattering. Maybe that is why he is called the “Son of Tanavast” so much. Maybe that is why Vyre said Kaladin was basically a force of nature. Maybe the poem: “Taking the Dawnshard, known to bind any creature voidish or mortal, he crawled up the steps crafted for Heralds, ten strides tall apiece, toward the grand temple above.” Is about Kaladin.

In Shadows of Self, Wax asks Bleeder who she is. Bleeder says that she is the surgeon. We know that Era 2 happens after SA 1-5. Is it possible that either Kaladin or Lirin are in someway connected to Bleeder? Maybe they were killed and became a spike for her? I don’t have any evidence, I just want to hear people’s thoughts and see where this goes.

Three facts that we know: 1) Tanavast and Koravellium were romantically involved (https://wob.coppermind.net/entry/2786) 2) There are probably descendants of the original Vessels still alive today (https://wob.coppermind.net/entry/6383) 3) The Stormfather calls pretty much everyone a Child of Honor, but calls Kaladin a Child of Tanavast (https://wob.coppermind.net/entry/12688) Could it be that Kaladin Stormblessed is a living descendant of Tanavast, the original Vessel of Honor?

In RoW we saw Kaladin's first arc come to a close. As Kaladin is SA's main protagonist it's pretty hard to believe that he'll be killed off in the next book or completely written off in the back 5. I'm theorizing that Kaladin will be taking the role of Bondsmith in books 6-10, maybe as early as partway through book 5. It's pretty clear that Dalinar is setting himself up for failure in book 5. He'll be competing against a much more competent version of Odium who will be playing on a separate level compared to the old one. He's also going into the contest of champions from a really odd perspective. Dalinar claims that he's the greatest warrior in the Knights Radiant, but throughout RoW he's been trying to step away from the warrior role and take on a supporting role. While he does have a powerset with high versatility, he has a limited knowledge/experience with it. 10 days is not enough time to learn higher Bondsmithing techniques, even if he's sending Szeth and Kal out on a road trip to get Ishar. So I think Dalinar is going to lose his position as Bondsmith by one of: Becoming a Fused Dying The Stormfather dying Ascending Losing the Stormfather's bond Kaladin, on the other hand, has been set down a new path. The end of RoW sees him come to terms with his status as a soldier, forgiving himself for his past failures and accepting that he'll make more in the future. At the same time, he's begun to see himself as a person who can help people with PTSD and similar conditions. Book 5 might have Kaladin start the healing process with Ishar, and maybe Szeth as well. His fame has taken on a life of it's own, giving him legendary status in Urithiru and perhaps other places as well. It's Syl most of all that makes me think things are going to change for Kaladin in a big way in the next installment. For those that don't know, Syl was given her own icon for her interlude chapter. Character icons are important as they illustrate scenes that have happened or will happen. There's a wob somewhere explaining this but I couldn't quite manage to find it. Syl's clearly shows her wearing some kind of pack (Which is a really odd thing for a spren to do), looking behind her. To me, this provides extra credence the the 'Syl becomes fully corporeal in the physical realm' theory. This might cause Kaladin to lose the bond in some form, leaving him open to some other bond, ending with him as the Bondsmith. Here's a few separate ideas on how that might happen: Bonding to the Stormfather after Dalinar loses his bond Syl bonds to the Highstorm after the Stormfather is killed Kaladin finds Taln's blade (He would have gravitation, adhesion, cohesion and tension allowing for bondsmithing stuff) Kaladin takes Ishar's blade Kaladin bonds Bah-Ado-Mishram and unites the two storms (honestly this is a whole other thing) There's a few reasons I think Kaladin makes sense as the next lead Bondsmith. I'll list them here. Kaladin's first steps in dealing with mental health have begun as highlighted in RoW. Since Kal is about to go on a journey to find one such person with mental health problems stemming from battle shock, it might inspire him to continue it. In the gap between books 5 and 6 Kaladin might go on to unite the Heralds once more. Another group that needs uniting are the humans and the singers. Having someone revered by singers as the head of the Knights Radiant could go a long way to uniting the two groups. Or at least opening up talks between them. Kaladin is the only other character besides Dalinar who has received Highstorm visions. This indicates that Kaladin might have been a candidate for the Stormfather had Syl not taken him first (I'm aware that Radiants can bond multiple spren, Brandon just says it's highly unlikely). Feel free to poke holes in this, it's just an idea I've had bouncing around in my head for a few days. To be honest it's mostly because I can imagine a scene at the end of book 5 after the Radiants have pushed back Odium for a time with Kaladin brooding at the top of Urithiru looking out to the horizon and then the last line we just get : Unite them.

I want, to ask how is it that Kaladin 'defltects' the highstorm in Oathbringer chapter 31? Adhesion brings things together, and gravitation creates forces, but neither of these seem to actually work to deflect the highstorm. also, are the windspren there watching him deflect it, like gloryspren, or are they there because they are doing the work, and somehow Kaladin was able to command them. Finally, is this something that technically any windrunner could have done as part of their powers, or was this special to Kaladin because of something unique to him, to Syl and her connection to the stormfather, or something else?

So previously we have been told things like a good solid hit to the spine with a shard blade or crushing the head of a radiant will kill them, we also knew that the abilities of radiants became far more efficient as they go up in ideals. in the opening of rythm of war we see kaladin have his spine severed over and over and over again, and he doesn’t just not die, he walks it off heals fast enough taht he can move between cuts and doesn’t use up all his stormlight. Up till now the best two feats of healing were crossbow bolt to the brain and being completely crushed though they second one may have been because of the fact that he has regrowth and a weird spren. On top of this kaladin is now fourth ideal making himself more efficient and presumably makes his healing better, this also makes me wonder how did the heralds ever really die, was taln in that last stand like crused by like 3 thunder lasts for a good 5 minutes just pounding away until he died?

So any theories on how Kal went super saiyan rage mode even with the radiant blockers in place and not saying the 4th ideal towards the end of his fight with Lezian? What power was he using to move with such speed?

I'll cut to the chase: Dalinar is Honor. Rather, Dalinar is the future vessel of Honor. Hear me out... "Unite them" This has been Dalinar's driving motto from the beginning. "Unite" who? The highprinces? The Radiants? The people of Roshar? I don't have a copy of the books in front of me, but here is my logic: We know that all spren are splinters of investiture that gained sentience. Some other spren have gained sapience as well. Radiant spren, for example. We know that all the 'original' Honorspren, except for Syl, where killed in the recreance. We know that Odium "killed" Honors vessel, Tanavast, splintering the shard. Tanavast knew he was going to die and prepared. He 'super-invested' the stormfather. He gave the stormfather the visions and the ability to manipulate them. He probably did other things too that we don't know about yet or that I am forgetting. The driving impetus was for the stormfather to find someone worthy to give the visions to and impart the drive to "unite them". Dalinar exhibits power and abilities that the stormfather doesn't know of. ** Dalinar somehow has the ability to accept the oaths of rising Radiants. ** Unless we are missing something about bondsmith abilities, this shouldn't be possible. Only the Radiant spren or their 'parent' can accept the 'Words'. Dalinar is still a Radiant, albeit of the most powerful order. Thus, in terms of the overarching hierarchy, Dalinar is still at the same level as any other radiant in terms of advancing in ideals. Yet he was still able to accept Kaladin's oath. It is said many times in all the books that "Honor live on in the hearts of men". Which explains why there are still Honorspren. Since Honor lives in the hearts of men, and humans must have been heavily invested before Tanavasts death, then the 'new' Honorspren are formed formed through the Honor of humans and their investiture. My theory, then, is that while Odium may have killed Tanavast, Tanavast splintered the shard of Honor, heavily investing the stormfather and also investing humans. As such, the "Unite them" impetus is referring to Honor's splinters. As in, unite the splinters of Honor back into the shard and take it up as the vessel. Dalinar is on the journey to become the vessel of Honor. Other predictions: Kaladin is a dawnshard. He became such through Syl, who was given the shard to pass on to a worthy individual. Syl, the Ancient Daughter and only surviving Honorspren from when Honor was still 'alive'. No other theory *really* fits with Kaladin's abilities throughout the books and meshes with other well researched theories. Adolin will 'awaken' Maya and they will bond... thus setting the precedent for waking all the deadeyes, if given the chance. That is all, for now

Hey! I collected all of Hoid's stories in a document! This is for your theorizing pleasure, and for potential memorization! Hoid's Stories I was interested in reading all of them, so I collected them, and couldn't think of a better place to share them than here!. I included the Wandersail (Way of Kings Chapter 57), Fleet (Words of Radiance Chapter 59), The Girl Who Looked Up (Combined both Shallan's Version and Hoid's, Oathbringer Chapters 25 and 82), Mishim and Tsa (Oathbringer Chapter 67), The Dragon and the Dog (Rhythm of War Chapter 80), The Origin of the God Kings (Warbreaker Chapter 32) Hoid’s Stories.pdf Hoid’s Stories.txt

You know how Kaladin in SA hates how the darkeyes are treated and absolutely loathes the lighteyes? Well, I was just thinking that compared to the skaa on Scadrial, the darkeyes have it real good. I would be curious to see what Kaladin thought about the skaa compared to the darkeyes' situation, and I also wonder how a conversation between Kaladin and Kelsier would go, seeing as they both hate seeing oppresion.

Yes, I know it’s a bit soon and all considering Kaladin said the Words less than a week ago, but what do you guys think his fifth oath is going to be? I’ve really got no idea, do you guys have any thoughts?

Considering the deal that Dalinar has made, there is a chance that Dalinar might fall. And Jasnah being..... well Jasnah, would probably be one of the first folks to call a meeting to decide who would succeed Dalinar in case he falls. Odds are the next book could start with this meeting since it's an important decision to be made, and getting Dalinars opinion would be appropriate as well. Based on a bunch of Death Rattles it seems like Kaladin is the obvious candidate to succeed. Especially after the entire populace of Urithiru pretty much rallied behind Kaladin during his one-man physical resistance against the Fused Besides Kaladin, who else do you people think would be well suited to lead the Radiants and Urithiru?

I was just a bit curious about when Odium mentioned Kaladin's soul had literal holes in it, which allowed him to give Kal the nightmares. Even Hoid, who best understands Kal's situation, didn't understand how Odium made the connection, which implies that he doesn't know about the holes? I guess my point is I wanted other people's opinions on this because it seems important to me.

Kaladin declares that he can't save everyone, and it's one of the most heartwarming moments in the book. Ironically, this leads to him getting the ability to save more people. Todd declares that he's going to save everyone, and it's one of the most chilling lines in the book. Ironically, his plans for "saving everyone" would lead to mass death. I know it's been said before that Mr. T is the anti-Windrunner, but here it's practically text.

When Kaladin said the words of his 4th ideal . A curious thing happened . A voice that wasn’t the Stormfather said these words are accepted. It’s a small thing but it has me thinking it’s foreshadowing something. I considered it could of been Dalinar.. maybe the sibling , idk it’s more to it ! Does anyone have any ideas

So the question is I thought Brandon Sanderson had said that it would leave the Beyond be, but this confuses me. Any help to understand it? Thanks

Honor died, but we have several clues in RoW indicating that he may be re-emerging. We've known since OB that Dalinar has taken up Honor's perpendicularity. Rayse believes Dalinar ascended, but I don't think Dalinar is the one ascending, actually. Like ... like ... like Odium. Everywhere we see red and gold together, it is Odium. Perhaps this is merely an indication that Kal is close to becoming a Child of Odium at this particular moment, howling after losing Teft and then these eyes. At the same time, Odium-red eyes have previously always been caused by a bond with voidspren, which seems not to be the case here. And why would soldiers fear a child of Odium, like themselves? Instead, perhaps these colors point to Kaladin's coming ascension. Honor's robes are gold, as well. Moash's continual insistence surrounding Kaladin's immortality certainly points to ascension. Finally, Tara-Odium notices a "growing" and "verdant" power, which is clearly pointing toward Cultivation. However, just as the back of RoW falsely implies that Navani will be a Lightweaver with its half-dozen references to truths and lies, I believe this most obvious allusion to Cultivation is not the one actually intended. Verdant can also mean brand new and budding. Growing points to something new.

So I just finished RoW and there was a little section in Part 2 that I really wanted to talk about. This is the epigraph to chapter 29, a part of Sazed's* letter to, presumably, Hoid (I'm just assuming that's the case from now on). While this first made me think of Nightblood, Nightblood's purpose was to destroy evil, which matches neither the word choice nor the theme of the sentences. But the wording "both protect and kill", is extremely similar Kaladin's character arc, as his main struggle throughout the books has been trying reconcile the idea that he can kill to protect with the morals that he has grown up with, and that his radiant oaths align with. And so I suspect that Kaladin is Sazed's champion. Though that is not the only reason I think so, even though it is by far the best. Kaladin's name sounds a lot like Kelsier's (Kal, Kel), and they do share some similarities in their character. Most noteworthy however, is Kaladin's ability to inspire others, assuming Sazed wanted to influence Roshar using a person, he would probably try to mold them off of influential figures in his past *cough cough* Kelsier *cough cough*, and so may end up making them (intentionally or unintentionally) inspirational. (does the crowd chanting "Stormblessed" not remind anyone else of how the people of Luthadel treated Kelsier and their idea of the survivor when they revolted against the Lord-Ruler). Assuming that Thaikadar is Kelsier for a minute (I remain skeptical, though Kelsier's "end justifies the means" attitude would make him a perfect antagonist for the SA), this would also create a parallel between kelsier/Shallan and Sazed/Kelsier, with the latter being scaled up (with a Sazed and a sword replacing of Kelsier and a knife), and this theory also sets the precedent of Scadrians actively operating on Roshar. I also think that there were some lines in Kaladin's chapters that felt suspiciously like allomantic tampering (surviving things that he shouldn't by being tough, people's emotions being not matching up to what they should be [I'm thinking of Kaladin's owner who gave him the Shash brand, but also I think I remember a line near the end of RoW where his stress/anxiety/nervousness are drained away, described similar to soothing, though I couldn't find the scene so I think I may be mis-remembering it]), and that feels a lot more like the work of Sazed than Cultivation. This does not, however, explain the whole "Child of Tarnavast" thing. *I don't want to use Harmony because of the statements that were made previously that Sazed was acting against the intent of the power he held (sorry if that's not the way those words are supposed to be used)