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So I was re-reading that really sad Lift interlude in RoW and was curious about one line. Pattern is measuring her height and she exclaims, "That's almost a full inch since last time." I don't know exactly how often Lift is checking her height but this feels regular. So it looks like Lift is growing really fast. Almost as if Cultivation's gift is fading. Hmmm, when have we seen that before. Looks like Cultivation is back to pruning. We know Cultivation loves setting things up for events far in the future. I think this interlude is setting Lift up for a major role in KoWT (Stormlight 5 if you haven't seen the reflection theory). From here it's mostly speculation for major roles Lift could play in the next book. One idea is that she could go with Kaladin and Szeth traveling to Shinovar. We've seen Lift and Szeth before and that was really fun. She could also end up being Dalinar's champion. It would be interesting to see Dalinar struggle with not being able to fight Odium himself. Also, we've seen that Lift has some strange power in the Odium visions back in Oathbringer. So what do you think? Will Lift be a main character in Stormlight 5? Will Dalinar actually end up being his own champion or will his stepping-down arc continue?

What makes Brandon's funny characters and humor work for me even when they aren't that funny:

Just finished my reread of Oathbringer in prep for RoW, and I think it's the best book in the series. I'll admit there's a possibility of recency bias but I thought a lot about it and I feel confident in, well, how I feel about this book. What do you think?

If this has been suggested elsewhere, I'd love for someone to direct me to the post. In reading this short scene about Lift in RoW, I came across this quote from her - the wish she gave Cultivation: “I said when everything else is going wrong, I want to be the same. I want to stay me, not become someone else.” I've been wondering if one of Odium's goals is to somehow end or stop Highstorms, so that it becomes much harder (or impossible outside of Dalinar's abilities) to get investiture on Roshar. If that happens, "everything will be going wrong" and yet Lift won't change; she will still be able to use investiture. What do you all think? Any other clues that support or discredit this idea?

Hey there, everyone! I'm currently trying to read Edgedancer, but I feel like the biggest impediment to my progress is that I didn't read it when I should've. I went straight from Words of Radiance to Oathbringer. Now, when reading Edgedancer, I'm just frustrated because it's basically WoR Lift and her craziness all over again. I know that Edgedancer is supposed to follow her personal journey after her interlude in WoR, and I know that Lift is supposed to be immature and everything, but Edgedancer just feels like a pain to read. Should I keep trying to read it and get to the end, or just take a break and come back later?

I want Brandon to release book 4 early since we're all stuck in various kinds of purgatory. Brandon unsurprisingly did not simply mail me draft #4. So I've decided to release all my best theories about the stormlight archive until he releases the book or sends me a t-shirt or something. It's not a great plan. Blackmail Theory #1: Lift's Gifts So Lift is everyone's favorite character. In a world filled with weird powers she stands out, not just a surgebinder but gifted by the nightwatcher to exist partly in the cognitive realm. Wyndle asks "But why? ... Why did she give you this incredible talent?" (WOR 708) We get one hint. The Stormfather meets Lift in a vision and rumbles "That woman! This is a creation specifically meant to defy my will!" and then adds "That child is tainted by the Nightwatcher" (OB 470). At first glance, I thought the Stormfather just hated eavesdropping but maybe... Lift can heal spren, perhaps with the help of someone prepared to reswear the oaths and bond the spren. I imagine her grafting Maya's soul onto Adolins. People have tried and failed to heal broken spren before. Lift is something new, she can touch them in both the cognitive and physical realms. The Stormfather has lost faith in humans. He doesn't wish for Spren and humans to bond again because he thinks humans will betray and kill them. Lift by healing the dead spren can mend the terrible hurt of the Recreance. Perhaps she can even help the mysterious sibling. The Nightwatcher chose Lift for this gift because she has the soul of an edgedancer and sent her to raise an army of radiants to stand against Odium.

Just like the topic says. Do we have a definitive timeline on when the modern radiants first started forming nahel bonds? I think Shallan is first but I can't find any clear information about Szeth. Jasnah's bond formed around the time of the assassination of Gavilar. Tien probably a few months before he was conscripted, Kaladin probably a few months after? Lift probably bonded Wyndle around this time, but Wyndle says the Cultivationspren decided to bond people after the other spren started doing it. I haven't found anything definitive on Coppermind or in the WOBs.

I’m just doing a reread of Arcanum Unbounded, so I just read through White Sands the other night, and am reading Edgedancer now. I saw something this reread I missed previously. In the beginning when lift is first entering Yeddaw she causes a Lift-style scene while stealing pancakes and getting past the gate guard. Right before she escapes into the city she’s atop a wagon filled with tallew grain. The officer chasing her says the grain glowed, flowed like water out of the wagon and over the cliff edge, and afterwards there was a strange black dust on the ground. And then after she made her escape This sounds an awful lot like Sandmastery, except instead of Invested glowing white sand turned black, it’s glowing golden grain which turns black. The easy explanation is Lift just made the grain “Awesome” and it slid out of the cart, but why the direct comment on strange black dust? It’s been awhile since I read this, or Oathbringer..... are there other examples of her making things other than her own body Awesome? Is this just a scenario where the magic systems are different, but the end effect is similar? Note, she didn’t use the grain to help her fall after going over the cliff, instead using Wyndle and self-healing Investiture to slow her fall and recover.

So, I'm rereading WoR and something struck me from Lift's chapter. Windle mentions that the reason he believes Lift can turn food straight into stormlight is because she is partially in the cognitive realm. Now that got me thinking. Could an Elsecaller do something similar? They are the one's closest to shadesmar because of their abilities so maybe they can, maybe just temporarily, move part of themselves into the cognitive realm so they can get a similar affect. Perhaps is the Elsecaller's resonance. Just a thought I figured I'd throw out here to see if others have had similar thoughts or could build upon/disprove this theory.

Let's start with some basic facts and my assumptions about the third magic system on Roshar: Fabrials are part of the third magic system (WoB) There is more to Cultivation's magic than Old Magic (WoB) and the green mist surrounding Cultivation and Nightwatcher seems to be Cultivationlight (WoB) Given that there are 30 magic systems on Roshar, I assume Cultivation's magic is also part of the third magic system Lift's boon seems to be the ability to use Cultivation's magic (WoB). There are also off-screen users of the same magic – I think the most reasonable candidate are the Sleepless, which are kind of Cultivation's agents (WoB) For Lift, food is the focus allowing her access to external Investiture (like metal on Scadrial, WoB). The exact type of accessed Investiture is a RAFO (WoB), but I assume this is Cultivationlight. If so, it can power Surgebinding (just like Stormlight can power fabrials) Given their short descriptions in Poem of Ista and their connection to Aimia (WoB), the Dawnshards seem vital for Surge fabrial creation I think the relation between Dawnshards and Surge fabrials is somehow similar to Honorblades and Shardblades/Shardplates (Surgebinding fabrial-like items) I assume that the analogy between Surge fabrials and Sharblades goes even further – the spren in these fabrials (unlike in modern fabrials) don't seem to be bound in the gemstones, but form the metal (godmetal) parts of the fabrial (Soulcaster chains, Oathgate keyhole). Or example, breaking the gemstones doesn't destroy the Soulcaster, but breaking the chains does. Gemstones are there to power and control the device (the latter also provides some analogy with bonding a dead Shardblade) What potential effects might Cultivation's magic provide? Here is the list of possible candidates I came up with – as you might suspect, they're generally very spren/fabrial–oriented: Wyndle believes that Lift exists partially in Cognitive Realm and this is supported by the fact that her shadow behaves abnormally with respect to the sun (WoB). It allows her to interact with spren in untypical ways (e.g. touch them). This is possibly the effect of Cultivationlight in her body If the magic system is inspired by the Dawnshards, imprisoning spren might be a part of it (an effect similar to what Timbre does to the Voidspren in Venli's gemheart). Lift even says this to Wyndle: It seems like a friendly teasing, but this might be foreshadowing hidden in plain sight Fixing broken Surge fabrials. Just like Stormlight is used for Shardplate regeneration, Cultivationlight might potentially be used to regrow fabrials (e.g. a broken Soulcaster) Continuing with the regrowth theme, I think Cultivationlight might be the key to reviving deadeyes Changing fabrial settings. Oathgates are currently tied to Urithiru route only, but it seems possible that they once provided transport between each other. Some Soulcasters provide many modes, but most are locked in one (safety measure?). I think Cultivation's magic might be the solution here, allowing its users to change fabrial's behavior I have absolutely no idea how Cultivation's magic can be obtained by humans (except by Nightwatcher's boon), but I believe there are multiple reasons why Adolin would be the perfect candidate for the first guy to achieve it: Killing Sadeas. At first it seems like an unnecessary plot with little to no payoff. But it proves that Adolin has the right mindset – he is ready to make a hard decision that would benefit all in the future (something that Cultivation would probably called “pruning” instead of murder). Such actions directly violate the First Ideal, but I don't think Cultivation's magic would have this type of restrictions. It would allow her agents to operate outside the bounds of Honor's oaths. Just look at Arclo killing two Skybreakers that followed him – it's not technically necessary (he admits it's barely self-defense), but, given their mission to eliminate Radiants, it saves lives in the long run Accepting necessary evil is something Shallan struggles with and Adolin could really help her with this. Kaladin could use some help as well It could potentially help him revive Maya Dalinar is a Surgebinder and Renarin is a quasi-Voidbinder – it would fit if Adolin had access to the third magic system (beyond fabrials, obviously). Also Dalinar can repair items with Tension/Adhesion and Renarin can heal people – it would be really interesting if Adolin could revive spren and fix fabrials Dalinar has access to huge amounts of Stormlight and Navani has the necessary knowledge, but Adolin might provide the catalyst to reboot Urithiru and wake the Sibling up

I have been thinking alot about how OP Lift's ability to metabolizes food into raw investiture is. My question is is this ability universal with all abilities and connections? For example, if lift would eat a bead of lerasium would she be able to use that metabolized investiture to power all allomancy abilities? Another possibility would be if she was able to access awakening would she be able to awaken without the need to use Biochromatic Breath?

With the surge of Abrasion, would Lift be able to give lift to herself? If she spread out her arms, removed resistance from the top side, and (maybe) increasing it on the bottom?

Hello folks, my son (who has ADHD courtesy of dad...) was assigned a "Science Fiction or Fantasy" book report. I have been reading him Fantasy novels for "bedtime stories" since he graduated past Goodnight Moon, The Mini-Masters Board Books, Geronimo Stilton books, etc. Mom convinced me to read to him "The Lightning Thief" at 5, I thought him to young, especially with his (undiagnosed) attention issues. Second book in this vein was "The Hobbit" (which led to Lego LotR and a long standing obsession with all things Tolkien), followed by The Potter books, various assorted "fun" books like Oddkins, Alcatraz (! first introduction), Earthsea, etc. He fell in LOVE with Steelheart (I own the books but I bought it Audible for him, great narrator) and due to the deadline he >>reluctantly<< agreed to put off Firefight since it required an estimate hour and change a day to finish before deadline and that didn't account for report writing. I have him some shorter golden Age SF choices and Edgedancer. He immediately chose Edgedancer (I started with Lift's Interlude 9 from my audible copy snd bought Arcanum in Audible since he could then listen to other stories.) He dared Lift and the story. We decided after Reckoners he is going to listen to Stormlight (yay! will be my 3rd time (1 reads, 2 listens) since he wants more from that world. Wait until he discovers the others. The report requires that it be a travel brochure advertising 2+ site and giving 2+ events from the book. It should have illustrations for cover and various sites either from the book or approximations. It is due tomorrow, we mapped out talking about Yeddaw via Light Orphanage and the Grand Incidium with if I can fit it, Bronze Palace from Interlude. If anyone has other suggestions, that's fine. He plans to write about the pancake festival and treat the whole thing as some of stormin' "pilgrimage" vacation to follow in footsteps of the "Knight Radiant of Azir, Lift" I found for him the B&W Illustration of Lift skimming outside of the carved Yeddaw drawing. I found a pair of good Roshan maps. Not sure if there is any official or fan art of Incidium and/or orphanage. Any tips/links/advice is welcome. Thanks all!

You guys!!! I made the tenth pancake!!! They are fluffy chocolate pancakes doused in more chocolate worthy of no mortal! (Except me, of course, but I am no ordinary mortal) I also made chouta, but it tasted... well... probably how Kaladin imagined it. I mean, it's not deep fried, it's just meatballs, gravy, and naan bread... I had high hopes, but this one has disappointed me. At least It looks nice... I guess...

In the Are Honorblades Spren thread, the diversity of Rosharians was brought up. Given that the Rosharians are not natives, and biologically distinct from the Rosharian ecosystem, I think Cultivation might be messing with the human genome. I think that Cultivation might have modified humans for some reason to make them either better adapted to the planet or for some bigger purpose. Examples: Alethi: Shallan remarks in Words of Radiance that the Alethi are freakishly tall. Herdazians: They have rock like fingernails Horneaters: Have throat teeth and can see spren. I think that the Herdazians are a prototype for the Horneaters and the Horneaters are a prototype for what ever Lift is. I think that Cultivation might be trying to fight back by modifying humans to do her dirty work. A human who can see spren and make their own stormlight would be a huge boon against Odium because they do not have to rely on the Highstorm to fuel their abilities. That is a backup in case Odium manages to destroy Dalinar, the Stormfather, and the Highstorm.

I was always under the impression does not speak outload ! It speaks to his weilder telepathically . When Vasher held him he never spoke to Vivienna. I assume he spoke to Vivienna when she carried him ! So how does lift communicate with him/it. She has never welded him and I’m assuming she hears his thoughts in her mind . Any thoughts ? I was thinking it was part of her Boon/curse. One of her lesser known benefits is she can touch Wyndal . But I think it’s that. She exists partially in cognitive realm !

I might have gotten some of this wrong, but in Edgedancer it seems as though Lift can touch Wyndle. Theoretically, could she hemalurgically spike him and if so what would happen?

So the common theory about Lift is that she is 13. She visited the Nightwatcher 3 years ago . Was granted a greater boon/curse like Dalinar , and Teravangion . It Seems that she is cursed to never grow up , or at least she believes ! But I have a hard time believing she is just 10. “The Stormfather rumbled in frustration. That woman! This is a creation specifically meant to defy my will! “Woman?” Dalinar asked, shaking his head. That child is tainted by the Nightwatcher.” Excerpt From Oathbringer Brandon Sanderson https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/oathbringer/id1198279804?mt=11 This material may be protected by copyright. The Stormfather first refers to her as that woman . When Dalinar remarked the Stormfather changed it to child. Brandon Too good an author to make reference like that for no reason . Also I have a hard time believing a 10 year old girl , would have the ability to search out the Nightwatcher . I suppose it’s possible but I mean really 10 years old , even if she was an urchin ! So I was thinking what if Lift was older When she went to see the nightwatcher? As part of her curse she was reduced to the age of ten and was told she would have that mentality forever? Everyone else that has sought the Nightwatcher was older and facing enormous problems , where they felt the only way was to go to the Nightwatcher as a last resort . What do you guys think ?

I recently finished listening to Edgedancer and I was really intrigued by the Sleepless we encounter, Arclo. Specifically his very philosophical outlook, as I tender to ponder various philosophical issues as well. I was actually surprised when he mentioned to Lift an obscure philosophical theory that I myself had actually pondered several times, or at least something very similar to it. Namely the idea that whenever someone goes unconscious, they effectively die and a new clone soul comes to inhabit their body once they regain consciousness (for the record, while I admit that I've pondered things similar to this long before reading Edgedancer, I do NOT believe that this is actually true, though it is obviously completely unfalsifiable, but I digress). What struck me is how weird it seemed for him to just randomly mention something like this as literally the first thing he says to her once he sees her again in the alley, because while admittedly it does have some tangential relevance to his own philosophy that he's been developing, it seems more like just a random philosophical factoid he mentions on a whim. So I couldn't help but wonder whether there might be something more too it than that; whether it might be intended to be some kind of foreshadowing or hint relevant to either the current situation or future books. Honestly, I have no idea whether it does or not, but as far as I can tell, there have not been any WoBs asking about it, so I was just wondering what everyone thinks. The only thing I can think of off the top of my head which it might have some kind of relevance to is the Heralds, who each time they die during a Desolation they somehow return to Braize in presumably a completely new clone body, the exact mechanics of this process still being largely a mystery from what I've been able to tell. So might it be the case that the Heralds are themselves in some sense clones as well, both in body and in soul? There is at least some tenuous precedence for people getting new souls in The Emperor's Soul, albeit in a completely difference sense than what would be happening here, so that if nothing else makes me think that this idea is at the very least worth considering. Again, I'm not at all convinced that Sanderson didn't have Arclo mention that purely to further his desired image of him as being a highly abstract and philosophical thinker, but then again, it does seem like a very weird thing to put in there for no reason other than show (though I suppose that considering his species is called the 'Sleepless', that might also explain it). So I'm curious what everyone else thinks about this. Is this simply a strange but ultimately irrelevant philosophical factoid, or do you think there may be more to it than that? I definitely think that Arclo's own philosophy will probably have at least some kind of relevance later on, if only because he tells Lift that he'll be seeing her about it again, but what about this one? Any ideas?

New here so please forgive me if this is a repeat. That said, I have questions on Lift... I came across a quote where Brandon had mentioned that Lift converted food into stormlight using similar rules to metabolism, in that sugars process faster but don't hold as much energy over all while more complex, higher calorie foods hold more overall energy but take more time to metabolize. This got me wondering how efficiently Lift converts food into stormlight... It stands to reason that 100% of the food matter she eats could potentially be converted into stormlight as stormlight is a form of Investiture, Investiture is the energy that permeates all things in the Cosmere, and the ability to metabolize food into stormlight does not appear to be tied to (or tethered by) her physical biology. That said there are limits to types of matter that biology can convert into usable energy and so I'm left wondering: does Lift ever need to poo or does her ability allow her to utilize 100% of the matter she ingests? Does food grown on Roshar metabolize into stormlight more efficiently for Lift than food grown on other shard planets, assuming the matter on Roshar may have potentially been permeated with Honor's and Cultivation's brands of Investiture? I'll take it one further. How much stormlight can Lift derive from food compared to the amount of stormlight required to soulcast that food from some other matter? Would this essentially just be a game of Investiture catch, is the exchange lossy, or could Lift's ability actually generate a positive gain in usable Investiture on Roshar at the expense of its' physical matter? If I recall correctly some materials may be easier to soulcast into food than others, so could that factor in as well? This forum is awesome, thanks in advance for any enlightenment you can provide!

In OB at the end of part 2, something happened that made me think there is more going on with Lift and Odium: Immediately following this is when Lift pokes her head up from behind the rocks and starts talking to Dalinar about Odium. Was Odium simply surprised that Lift had broken in to the vision with them, or is there something more? Odium doesn't strike me as someone who gets caught off guard very often. There's a lot we don't know about Lift... so is there some reason that Odium would be scared of Lift?