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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?

Hi Everyone, I am continuing my first reread of Oathbringer and trying to ask any questions I still can't find answers for, here on this subreddit. Three previous posts gave me some much insight, so I am encouraged to keep posting similar topics The links to the previous question posts are below: Ch 83 to Epilogue: https://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/92532-oathbringer-questions-from-chapters-83-to-the-epilogue-33-questions/?do=findComment&comment=1099577 Prologue to Ch 18: https://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/92700-oathbringer-questions-upon-first-reread-prologue-to-chapter-18-33-questions/?do=findComment&comment=1102910 Ch 19 to Interlude 3: https://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/92745-questions-upon-first-reread-chapter-19-to-interlude-3-end-of-part-1-33-questions/?do=findComment&comment=1104220 Questions for this part: 1- Evi tells Dalinar that The One can be seen in the Valley of the Old Magic. Does she believe that the Nightwatcher is part of The One? 2- Why can't Rock see Glys? 3- Did Skar help Rock draw Stormlight? - because after he helps Lyn, he mentions this fact 4- Did anyone from Bridge Four bond with the leader of the Honor spren that Rock and Syl saw on the shattered plains while Bridge Four was training? 5- What were the Rock Formations that Navani saw while she was with Dalinar in his vision and she described as being like liquid frozen mid-motion? 6- What was the main reason the humans and the listeners fought during the desolations? 7- Why did some humans take the listeners' side in these desolations? 8- The Stormfather mentions to Dalinar that the blade retrieved from Taln in Kholinar is not his original honor blade. Do we know what happened to that blade? 9- Do we know when did Honor die exactly? Was it during the last desolation or after it? 10- Why couldn't the Stormfather see into Kholinar after the Fused conquered it? 11- Jasnah mentions to Shallan that a full radiant has armor as well as a blade. Has any radiant we know acquired a plate through the method of soeaking advanced levels of oaths? 12- Jasnah wonders how was Shallan able to find Re-Shephir in Urithiru while none of the soldiers in the tower could. Do we know the reason for this? 13- Pattern tells Shallan that the meeting room in Urithiru has memories in Shadesmar. Jasnah asks her to press him for more info. Do we know anything additional? 14- In the letter that the Ghostbloods left for Veil in her coat, they tell her that Nale either destoryed prospective knights radiant or recruited them to become Skybreakers, because Nale believes that people speaking the oaths of any of the other 9 orders hastens the coming of the desolations. Can Nale recruit a prospective Windrunner or Lightweaver for example into the Skybreakers order or is every prospective Knight locked in the order where he / she might fit in? 15- Did Helaran know about his mother's relation with a Skybreaker acolyte? Do we know who was her lover? 16- Who was the member of Amaram's army that bonded a spren and then was eliminated as per the Ghostbloods' letter to Veil? 17- Is the woman that Teft sees reflected in the water of the well, his future spren? 18- Why does Teft say that he was mistaken about his family, and that they weren't heretics? 19- Why does the Stormfather tell Dalinar that what happened between Lift and the Nightwatcher was "unnatural"? 20- Why did the Diagram want to kill Elhokar, and by doing that, giving the throne to Dalinar, while at the same time trying to murder Dalinar as well? 21- Do we know the status of these 3 shardblades in the Fused's possession: blades of Eshonai, Graves and Moash? 22- How did Renarin know that all the fabrials in Urithiru are just one big fabrial? 23- Why didn't the Fused lash Moash up in the sky while transporting him instead of carrying him? 24- Why doesn't Moash have slave brands like other Bridge Four members? 25- Is Teft light-eyed? - because it is mentioned he has dark green eyes 26- Kaladin was wondering why were the Fused attacking trading caravans? Do we have an answer for that? 27- In Taln's ramblings that Jasnah was reading about, he says that in the last desolation, the humans have discovered something unexpected. Any clue what that might be? 28- Why does Ivory tell Jasnah that if they want to find Taln, they should look in Shadesmar? 29- Jasnah mentions her childhood illness which apparently no one other than her remembers in addition to a single event in her life where she didn't use her brain. We probably will have to wait for book 10 to get this story but do we have any additional details or WoB I might have missed on this subject? 30- Which order is Ivory talking about when he tells Jasnah that only one of the orders survived through Death? Is it the Dustbringers or the Skybreakers? And what does that have to do with Death?

Spoilers through Oathbringer!

Hi guys, I just finished the first reading of Oathbringer, just in time before the release of Novella 3.5 and Book 4, and I am delving through this forum to read theories now that I am caught up on the SA books. I am planning to listen to OB on Graphic Audio soon but starting with the last 35 chapters or so, I started taking notes on some of the unclear things to me. I am reading analysis articles about the book and the various events, but thought to ask you here the questions I have in mind because I am sure I have missed most of these answers. So thank you again for those who have some answers to the below: [SPOILERS BELOW FOR OATHBRINGER] . 1- Interlude I-7: Venli mentions that the Alethi mistakenly thought that the greatshells were the gods of the singers. Has this been discussed elsewhere? Is there more info on this point? 2- Interlude I-10: Is the Hog that attacks Sheler a greatshell or a new animal? 3- Interlude I-11: Did Venli bond two spren: the voidspren in her gemheart and Timbre? Can humans and other singers do the same or is it a unique case for Venli? 4- Ch89: Are Nightblood and Vivenna / Azure's sword shardblades? Do swords on Nalthis and Roshar contain the same type of Investiture? 5- Ch 89: Can a certain type of shardblades be summoned / used in Shadesmar: Honorblades, Dead Shardblades, Sprenblades? 6- Ch 92: Why do some people call Szeth by his dad's name (Neturo) and others by his grandfather's name (Valano)? 7- Ch 92: What does Szeth mean that he knew a voice similar to Nightblood's in his youth? We probably have to wait to his flashbacks to know more? 8- Ch 92: Why does Nightblood only burn eyes on Roshar? 9- Ch 92: Is Shashara from Nalthis the same person as Shalash on Roshar? 10- Ch 92: Is Nightblood's consumption of Stormlight on Roshar the same mechanism as him consuming Breaths on Nalthis - as both are types of Investiture? Is Nightblood a spren on Roshar? 11- Ch 99: Do the Spren use the copper on the ship in Shadesmar to communicate through vibration? Is this related to some Cosmere metallic quality (Should I find something in Mistborn about this)? 12- Ch 100: Why can't Dalinar use the Stormfather as a shardblade? 13- Ch 100: What is the metal that falls from the sky and can block a shardblade (is it also a reference to a metal from Mistborn)? 14- Ch 100: Why do Vedens look Alethi but speak a foreign tongue? 15- Ch 101: Are screaming blades only the ones left during the Recreance by the Knights Radiant? 16- Ch 101: Do we know who Ico's daughter is? 17- Ch 106: What does Nin mean when he tells Szeth: "The others must interpret what they have sworn before and I hope they will see the truth?" 18- Ch 108: Mythica book mentions that the Midnight Mother was destroyed at Aharietiam. How is she still in Urithiru? 19- Ch 109: What does Venli mean when she says that the spren betrayed the singers for the humans? 20- Ch 114: Why did the Nightwatcher call Dalinar both son of Honor and son of Odium? 21- Ch 114: How does the Nightwatcher know about Nightblood? 22- Ch 114: When Dalinar returned after meeting Cultivation, he hears only leaves rustling and thinks he should hear something else. What should have he heard? Screams of children? 23- Ch 115: Does Odium change his appearance depending on who sees him - Dalinar sees him human, Venli sees him as a parshman? 24- Ch 116: What are the yellow spren leading the Fused? 25- Ch 117: Why did Lift say that the Nightwatcher lied to her? 26- Ch 119: In the battle of Thaylen Field, there were 3 Un-made? The 2 in the Thunderclasts and Yelig-Nar as the Black Smoke, or there were any additional ones? 27- Ch 120: Amaram's transformation of the ground to liquid after ingesting the crystal (Yalig-Nar??) - is that some form of Voidbinding? 28- Ch 121: Why did the Fused instruct Moash to kill Jezrien? 29- Ch 122: What does Adrotagia mean when she tells Taravangian: "The Herald's insanity prompted us?" 30- Ch 122: Is Renarin's spren, Glys, still corrupted after the end of OB? 31- Ch 122: How did Jezrien's honorblade go from Szeth to Leshwi (who then gives it to Moash?) 32- Ch 122: Nohadon knew how to write and read. When did the men stop reading and writing? 33- Ch 122: Why did Dalinar "accept the sword "only through the cloth"? What does it mean? Thank you for answering any of these; I know they are too many to be all answered by one contributor

So, I was rereading Oathbringer to get ready for RoW. And this came up. When Stormfather is talking about the Heralds and how they left one of there own behind when they abandoned the Oathpact, Dalinar immediately says Taln like he knew which one it was specifically. But its only a few paragraphs later where he realizes the Madman calling himself Taln really was him. So how did he know which one it was? I feel like it must have been something in WoR I missed or was it something else? As far as I can tell nothing about what happened to Taln is known or in the scripture so how did Dalinar immediately know? Am I forgetting something aboutfrom WoR or a WoB? Thanks for any clarification

So the story between salus and queen sah seems to imply that queen sah was a bond Smith, since she was able to crate a magical agreement with a “god” that was rendered null when the terms were violated. however I also thought of two other interpretations 1. the three moons represent the three bondsmith spren nomen stormfather, salus is the night watched and the wise sister is the sibling (with the sibling this theory becomes a little thin) and maybe the salus character is a bondsmith of the night watcher 2. the three moons represent honor, odium and cultivation, this makes very little sense though since odiums gender woudl have had to be switched which I’m skeptical of since as bondsmith sah woudl know of odium.

I'm sure this is a not uncommon theory, but I believe that Renarin is both a Surgbinder and a Voidbinder. The corruption of Glys allows him access to the Surge of Regrowth and the Voidish Surge of Illumination. That's why he can see the future instead of create illusions. It is manifesting differently. This would also fit in with how Brandon dances around confirming if Renarin is Voidbinding. As far as I can tell, the core ability of the overlapping Surges work the same way for each order- for example, the Windrunners and Skybreakers both use Gravitation in the same manner. Now, the Bondsmiths do seem to be an exception to this, but they seem to be the odd order out in a lot of ways. I think then, by extension, bonding one of Odium's sapient spren could make someone a true Voidbinder, granting two Voidish surges. It's probably not something Odium ever had his spren try. But, perhaps after learning of Venli and Timbre, he'll start trying it with his troops. What do you all think? Am I wildly off base?

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?

Prologue: How I got to this idea. Skip to Part 1 if you just want the speculations. Maybe you've read my post about Hacking Feruchemy and fueling it with the Investiture from other Key-based Magic Systems than Allomancy, namely AonDor. That got me thinking. Compounding, reduced to the Investitural workings, is: Powering End-Neutral Magic Release with another type of Investiture, an End-Positive one. Now, I've already speculated about the possibility of replacing Allomancy with AonDor as the End-Positive System, but what about the other half. And what other End-Neutral Magic do we know? Source: https://coppermind.net/wiki/Investiture#End-positive_Investiture BioChromatic Breath Like Feruchemy, BioChromatic Breath is End-neutral. No power is gained or lost, and both use the users Innate Investiture to do something rather than getting their fuel from elsewhere. However, that means that they are limited to using only the Innate Investiture. I'm not sure if we can count Returned as End-neutral, a) since they're not a magic system and b ) since they're part of BioChromatic Breath as a system. However, they have to use up one Breath per Nalthian week to stay alive. That said, we have confirmation that this only requires the amount of Investiture that is One (1) Breath rather than specifically a breath, as seen with Vasher/Zahel. Source: https://coppermind.net/wiki/Returned Fueling Awakening with Stormlight Returned can be categorized as Type I BioChromatic Entities. Sadly, we don't know if Vasher uses some kind of Conversion method, or if he is just able to consume Investiture in any form in the physical world to fuel his Awakening (aka his life). I write "in any form in the physical world" to make a distinction between something like the Dor or Preservation's Investiture and Stormlight or Breath. The former only enter the physical realm by activation and instantly take the form of whatever their key directs, while the other two are Investiture that is present without performing magic, sometimes even able to be stored in non-human carriers (see the broams on Roshar). Where am I going with this? If one Type of Awakening can be fueled by other Investiture, maybe others can too. Stormlight is basically endless, or alteast its a refilling ressource. On something like Scadrial or Taldain, Vasher would have a very hard time getting Investiture to stay alive. (He'd have to become a Metalborn to access Preservation's Investiture, for example), so Roshar is a good choice. Now, finally, what I'm trying to get at: I speculate that, with some methods that we don't yet know of or without, an Awakener holding Stormlight could use one or more Breaths in conjunction with their Stormlight to Awaken with a lot more power than they have Breaths. Imagine sticking a Hose into a Water container. The water won't flow upwards by itself, but if you suck on the hose until water flows out of the top, you can stop sucking and it will flow by itself for a while because the stream is established. (Yes, that's a very basic breakdown of how physics work, shhh.) That's basically how I imagine Awakening with more Investiture could work. I assume you'd need atleast one Breath to perform this. The Breath would act as a kind of spearhead, enabling you to perform the Awakening / speak your command. Only afterwards would you pull Investiture from the Broams around you (/ The Stormlight inside you / your connection to Preservation that is open because you were burning a metal at the time of speaking your command / etc etc etc) to fuel enough Investiture into the object to perform the Awakening. First Question to the readers: Do you think I'm onto something? Do you think this could work? Actual Theory This one I'm throwing out there to present a theory of what this could enable. Lifeless are already super cheap breathwise, so Type III or IV Entities are what you might use this for. So here's my theory: I think Azure's blade might was made with not just Breath. It's similar to Nightblood, but "weaker" and probably with a different command. Azure hasn't made a name for herself on Roshar long before the siege of Kholinar so maybe it wasn't exactly Stormlight that was used to awaken her blade, but I assume we might see another (shard)world in the Nightblood novel. Whether it were the Scholars of Silverlight, experimenting to see what the least amount of Investiture needed to Awaken a Type IV BioChromatic Entity was, or users of a Magic System we haven't even seen yet - maybe Aether - I think Azure's Blade is more than just a Nightblood 2.0 with a better command and less Breath, but represents a new step in BioChromatic Scholarship: Entities that aren't only BioChromatic. And who knows... Maybe Vasher is stockpiling insane amounts of Stormlight somewhere to use them for a massive Awakening somewhere/sometime in the future. Maybe he wants to Return someone (Shashara?) with it, or something like that. Anyway, would love to hear others thoughts on this.

Is the girl who looked up about ash? I just thought of this possibility but it seems possible. to my understanding right the heralds except ash are all from ashyn with ash having either come over young or been born on roshar, this means that the girl who looked up only makes sense if it happens very soon after arriving on roshar which means ash is around and considering the similarities between Shallan and the girl that’s constantly implied when the story is told is it possible it’s ash? another hint to this is that while shallan is showing pattern the story the image of the girl has her hair turn white without shallan intentionally doing so. The same color as ash’s hair. so after the story and even before hoid tells kaladin of fleet people see an inhuman shape striding through the highstorms, this appears to be fleet, but what is he. Hoid claims to have never told the story of fleet before and every time someone sees it they kinda ignore it, so why has the story seemingly fallen into the obscurity or been forgotten. Then the question become what is fleet is he a spren? Like a unique sentient wind spren kinda like the winds are sentient in many mythology, a cognative shadow?, maybe a combo like the stormfather the shadow of fleet?

Okay, I spend WAY too much time on Coppermind, but I was scrolling through and I saw a nice little tidbit that Allomancers burning bronze can detect feruchemists to some extent, but have trouble as they detect more physical uses of Investure. This immediately reminded me of the Screamers in Oathbringer, who could detect people using surges, except for light weaving. So are the Screamer Spern using bronze (Clarification, I am not saying they're burning metal, am saying are they using the same power) and could a Mistborn like Hoid put up a coppercloud to hide himself and others? Can a Mistborn using bronze detect what kind of surge someone is using?

I was deeply moved by Dalinar's pivotal moment in Oathbringer; this song is the result. Enjoy!

Hey everyone! I ran with brilliant ideas from @Graulas and @parchmentEngineer and had this game printed a few days ago! It's from the beginning of Oathbringer Here are some pictures of it:

This is my first post, so please go easy on me as this is a bit of a disjointed theory. Speaking with a friend while reading through Oathbringer, we were talking about what might be the other 2 Bondsmith Spren. I think everyone assumes the Nighwatcher is the 2nd. The "one that slumbers", I don't think is a crazy stretch to assume is possibly a spren somewhat entangled with Uruthiru. If honor and cultivation are responsible for half of the surges on the Surgebinding chart, how is the 3rd Bondsmith spren connected to the magic system? My thought is that the 3rd spren, Uruthiru's spren, is connected to the ancient fabrials. In a similar way that Shardblades and Shardplate are bastardizations of what was originally wielded by Surgebinders, I believe modern fabrials apply a misunderstanding of the original fabrials. Where Shardblades are dead spren, the fabrials trap or enslave spren to perform a function. Bringing this all together, I believe Navani starts to make some discoveries when it comes to fabrials, and eventually bonds with the spren of Uruthiru. She will come to be horrified about how modern fabrials have enslaved spren. I'm not a big fan of the possibility of all the Kholins becoming surgebinders, but this just seems to straight forward.

So the Horneaters (Unkalaki), and the Herdazians descend from humans and singers and have singer ancestry. In Horneaters this gives them extra back-teeth, red hair, larger size, and are closer to the cognitive realm. For Herdazians it just seems to give them rock-like carapace fingernails. The Natan people and the people of Babatharnam descend from humans and Siah Aimians and have Siah ancestors. The Babatharnam manifest this with blue-ish veins visible beneath the skin and the Natans have faintly blue skin. They may also have other Aimian characteristics but this is all we know about so far. What's with Thaylen Eyebrows? Where did this come from? Does anyone have any idea?

This theory is more like two theories that are loosely connected. My first theory is born from the ravings of Jezrien, when he is in the form of the Ahu on the beggar's porch in Kholinar: These three quotes from Jezrien seemingly establish several things: Jeizren hears voices in his head, much like Dalinar's and Szeth's. These voices have been confirmed by WoB to be tied somehow to the realmatics of the Cosmere, and I don't think it would be terribly contentious to say that they're specifically tied to the regional conditions found on Roshar. Seeing Dalinar's suffering, Jezrien leaps to the assumption that it is the consequence of one of the Unmade. He is correct on this, as Dalinar's actions at the Rift were being influenced by Nergaoul. In his third quote, Jezrien shows surprising wisdom given his current state. He is acknowledging responsibility for his actions, in a way which parallels Dalinar's moment of triumph at the battle of Thaylen Field, where Dalinar rejects Odium and accepts responsibility for being driven to kill by Nergaoul. In addition, Jezrien disturbingly seems to describe being tortured by the Unmade. Looking at theses statements, it becomes easy to wonder whether the Unmade have had a hand in Jezrien's current condition. After all, he seems to be correctly conflating Dalinar's experiences with his own. Additionally, Jezrien's emphasized use of "we" in the third quote can be interpreted to refer to himself and Dalinar, but perhaps it could refer to all of the Heralds. However, something's definitely not fitting the picture here. Although Dalinar was under Nergaoul's influence during the actions which led him to hear these voices, Szeth wasn't. The commonality between Dalinar's and Szeth's conditions doesn't seem to be the Unmade, but rather the regret they hold over the slaughter they have committed. To explain this, I bring you this quote from Chapter 90 of Oathbringer: Notice, first of all, that Szeth's case is actually weaker than Dalinar's. Szeth doesn't hear his voices as constantly as Dalinar does, but rather when he closes his eyes or when he thinks about them—they're in the back of his mind, and they don't dominate his thoughts unless he clears his other senses. Secondly, notice that Nale claims Szeth's condition is related to the powers he held. The powers of a Herald. My conclusion may be controversial, and I see room for doubt despite with the evidence I have presented above, but I believe that part of the Herald's madness comes from torture by the Unmade. I still believe that regret plays a large role in the madness experienced by Dalinar, Jezrien, and Szeth. After all, Odium's speech to Dalinar seems to claim that he would escape his regrets and the voices in his mind if he gave in to his control and that of Nergaoul. The Thrill seems to prevent people from feeling remorse. I believe that these voices don't come from the Unmade, but rather from the profound pain of denying their influence and recognizing the horrors they have forced you to do. It is some form of backlash after Connecting with the investure of one of the Unmade. Szeth experienced this same phenomenon because he drew upon powers tied to Jezrien. It's clear that Jezrien regrets something. His voices must represent some group of people, and he explicitly states that it was his fault that he "attracted", "befriended", and "courted" one of the Unmade. But as far as we know, Jezrien isn't some sort of mass murderer, right? At least, I doubt he regrets killing the Voidbringers who threatened humanity. Instead, I turn to Kaladin for this one. As a Windrunner, Kaladin must share some characteristics with Jezrien. The whole ideology of his order is modeled after Jezrien. Now imagine how Kaladin would feel if his "weakness" lead to the return of a Desolation and the deaths of thousands. Thus, I think Jezrien, much like Kaladin, has regrets over the people he failed to save. The screams he hears in his head are the people (perhaps both human and parsh) who died in battle because Jezrien gave in to torture. More specifically, this torture associated with one of the Unmade, who Jezrien could have blamed in the same manner that Dalinar could have blamed Nergaoul for his murders. A have a variant to this theory, which I'm not sure I fully believe, but which think deserves some thought: the Unmade were un-made from the Heralds. They are twisted, warped, and corrupted aspects of the Herald's souls that have been separated throughout their many millennia of torture. This explains why Jezrien says that they "ripped my brain out and made it dance! I watched." This might also explain why Ishar is said to be "whole": there is no Unmade created from him. (Thus 9 Unmade and 10 Heralds) Regardless of whether they were created from the Heralds, I believe that each of the Unmade were bound to a certain Herald, and that they inhabited Braize between the Desolations. This would give them the ability to be directly involved in the torture of the Heralds. I'm also not sure if it makes sense in the first place for the Unmade to have hung around between Desolations, since they would be the lone forces of Odium and would leave themselves vulnerable to the Knights Radiant. That said, there's an excellent counterpoint for this in the Midnight Essence from Dalinar's vision. One of the Knights in the vision says: Dang, now I'm dying to know what she was about to say about Harkaylain. Since that info is missing, the implications are rather ambiguous. It would be a reasonable argument to say that this implies that Re-shephir is being contained on Roshar at the time, but also that Harkaylain is taking the appearance of the Essence as a sign that one of the Heralds has broken and that the Unmade has been allowed to return. Anyway, that little debate aside, my theory is that Ishar is the Herald not associated with one of the Unmade, because of this WoB that Bondsmiths do not have a corollary among the Unmade. This means that, until Taln's breaking in Way of Kings, only eight of the Unmade were on Roshar, and leads to my second theory: that one of the Unmade, specifically Chemoarish, has been missing from Roshar. This probably seems like the wildest claim I've made yet, but it comes from analysis of Hessi's Mythica. While Hessi certainly seems to hit the nail on the head quite often, she admits that she isn't completely confident in her findings. Notably, she was only able to confidently name eight of the nine Unmade. However, she does accurately propose Dai-gonarthis as the ninth Unmade. But as a twist from Sanderson, this doesn't make very much sense. He cannot expect us to doubt that Dai-gonarthis was one of the Unmade, since he has been referenced many other times as the Black Fisher. Sanderson could, instead, be telling us that Dai-gonarthis is more sneaky and less well-known, but this is odd because Hessi was able to tie it to the scouring of Aimia. Instead, I think that this is a misdirection. Hessi worries that "There are many legends and names that I could have misinterpreted, conflating two Unmade into one." Conversely, I believe that she has made the opposite mistake in an attempt to reach the value of 9. Why? Let's take a look at all the information we have on the Unmade outside of Mythica and see how Hessi stacks up: Ashertmarn: the Heart of the Revel, whom we see in action. Hessi's ideas are supported. Ba-Ado-Mishram: mentioned in the epigraph of chapter 80 by one of the Radiants who left behind a gemstone. Supports Hessi's claim that she empowered the Parsh during the False Desolation, and implies that Melishi somehow severed this connection and captured her. Chemoarish: Nothing. This name is never mentioned by any character outside Mythica, although somebody in Bavland swears by the Dustmother (which Hessi claims is a nickname for Chemoarish). This, however, is not a concrete indication that the "Dustmother" is an Unmade. Dai-Gonarthis: mentioned a Death Rattle, which also calls it the Black Fisher. Jezrien also refers to the Black Fisher. Despite Hessi's doubts, it is unequivocally an Unmade. Moelach: first described by Taravangian as the source of the Death Rattles. Jezrien says he can feel Moelach scraping at time. Hessi was spot-on with this one. Nergaoul: also first described by Taravangian. Literally seen in the open and captured by Dalinar at the end of Oathbringer. Completely follows Hessi's description. Re-Shephir: her Midnight Essence is seen in Dalinar's vision, and then she is mentioned in a death rattle as the Midnight Mother. Shallan encounters her in Urithiru. Hessi correctly named her but didn't seem to know much about her characteristics. Sja-Anat: we see her active in Kholinar during Oathbringer, corrupting various spren. Fits Hessi's description. Yelig-nar: Nohadon describes Yelig-nar killing his servants. We see him in Oathbringer inhabiting Aesudan and then Amaram. Hessi was also pretty spot-on about him. After seeing this, doesn't Chemoarish kind of jump out at you? We have seen hard, textual evidence for all eight of the other Unmade, but Chemoarish has never even been mentioned. In addition, we have evidence of all other Unmade besides Yelig-nar being present on Roshar before the onset of the new Desolation: Ashertmarn probably was in Kholinar even before the True Desolation began, Ba-Ad-Mishram is imprisoned, Dai-Gonarthis did something to Aimia, Moelach and Nergaoul have been drifting around, Re-Shephir was in Urithiru, and Hessi seems to have documentation of Sja-Anat's influence on villages. Finally, this is what Hessi herself has to say about Chemoarish: I do not believe that this is a coincidence. Chemoarish may be the real name of one of the Unmade, but the myths ascribed to Chemoarish over the past 4500 years are actually myths about the Nightwatcher. The mish-mashing of Chemoarish lore from before Aherietiam and the lore of the Nightwatcher is what makes her so hard for Hessi to characterize. This makes sense considering the opinion that those in Vorin culture have of the Nightwatcher and the Old Magic being evil and pagan. Instead, I think that one of the Unmade, quite probably Chemoarish, has been trapped on Braize up until the moment that Taln broke under his torture. This explains their absence from the past 4500 years of mythology and lore, during which they should have been roaming free to influence the world. If this theory is true, I'm excited to see what their true nature might be. TL;DR: Jezrien's ravings seem to indicate he was tortured by one of the Unmade, so I think that the Unmade were actually trapped on Braize between desolations. Ishar doesn't have an Unmade counterpart, leading to 9 Unmade. Taln, however, does have a counterpart who has been stuck on Braize for 4500 years. This is why Hessi is only able to pin down 8 Unmade in Mythica, and why we have conspicuously little information about Chemoarish. Edit 2: It just occurred to me that Chemoarish may not have only been mixed together with the Nightwatcher, but with Chanarach, patron herald of the Dustbringers. They're names are kind of similar, and this could be why Chemoarish is called the Dustmother. If this is true, then the figure that Hessi calls Chemoarish is actually born from confusing the mythologies of the Nightwatcher, Chanarach, and the actual Unmade Chemoarish.

In the afternoon of the day he died, Gavilar offers the gem containing Ba-ado-Mishram to Eshonai with the intention to return the Listener gods and the cycle of desolations. In Szeth’s prologue in Way of Kings we see Gavilar give the gem to Szeth and tell him not to let the Parshendi have it. Did he change his mind in the meantime? It seems like he has had a change of heart about his plans in the six-eight hours between events. Did Nale and Kalak speak to him? One of the other Heralds? it’s my speculation the sphere contained Ba-ado-Mishram but there is no proof. I’m assuming the sphere Gavilar shows Eshonai is the same he gives to Szeth. is this the same gem both times? Does Gavilar get it back or does he have more than one? did he change his mind or does his plan just require the Parshendi don’t have that sphere?

I just wanted to start a list of minor questions people have going into Rhythm of War. Put them all in one place so maybe we can put our heads together to solve them. This is meant for minor questions, not major plot points. my Questions: Was Danlan Marakothra a member of the diagram or just working with Graves because she believed his stated goal? What happened to her and will we ever see her again? Where is Kalak? I’ve never seen any theories I find credible about where he is, what he’s up to. Who is Dova? Is she really a herald? Is it Battar, Paliah, Vedel? Who is Navani’s family? Is she from the senior Kholin branch? A family killed by the Kholin brothers? Sister to another high prince? Same questions but for Aesuedan. Where are Hesina’s parents? Is she a bastard daughter or a lord or is one of her parents just a low dahn lighteyes that married a darkeyes? What happened to Tarah? Will she come back into the story? Kaladin’s story? Will Laral? What happened to Redin after he killed his father? What does Brandon have planned for him? Who will be the first Stoneward we see? Who will be the next member of Bridge 4 to attract a Spren? is Lys the assassin one of the Heralds? Is she Chana? Vedel? What are the oldbloods? How many are there and when did they rule? let me know what your minor questions are?